Who knew a berry blender was so damn expensive? At ten thousand pokedollars for a blender, it was no wonder people didn’t make their own pokeblocks. And that wasn’t even accounting for the pokeblock machine itself, which was twenty five thousand. How did anyone afford this stuff? At least the portable solar battery I got was only two thousand. A comfortable pair of boots also cost me a thousand pokedollars, which I felt was way too much but they were sturdy and comfortable.

The person at the pokemart had been quite confused when I showed up with so much stuff, and an absolutely massive amount of food. Food took much longer to spoil in my spacial bag, and since I bought mostly shelf stable goods, it would all last a very long time. The only thing I had to worry about were the berries, but they weren’t that expensive and I planned to turn most of them into pokeblocks.

I also bought a few pokeballs, just in case. And some special vitamin powder mixtures and herbs to add to the pokeblocks. The powders weren’t anywhere near as expensive as actual vitamins, so I had bought a variety. In the end, of the seventy thousand two hundred pokedollars I had, I had five thousand left. I felt like that would give me plenty of food for a long time.

The last thing I did was spend four thousand on training things and care items. Targets, certain types of tape, colored sprays to make markings, durable striking balls, brush and comb kits, and scrub brushes designed for Pokemon with outer rock layers, or shells. The striking balls were made of extremely hard rubber and of varying weights. Some were hollow, some were filled with sand, others were just solid. I had a feeling these were going to come in handy. The most expensive thing I found was a weight harness, which was a device you could put on a Pokemon and then increase their weight with a remote. It was interesting tech that could go up to one hundred pounds of extra weight, and made me think of weighted clothing.

Nurse Joy hadn’t made any protest to me taking the Eevee. Apparently Pokemon Expert held a lot more sway than I thought. I did notice that my ID actually had a little seal with a note, claiming I was endorsed by the Joy Clan. That probably held even more authority than I could imagine. She had given me the medicine that I was to feed her, and a special shampoo that needed to be used every night until it ran out. She had also warned me that it might take up to a year for her to fully recover. From the way she described the disease to me, and what I had seen, it was like a mixture of the worst kind of Mange and Hyperthyroidism.

The last thing that Nurse Joy had done was complain a lot that I didn’t warn her about Diancie. She had been extremely shocked to see her, and Diancie was a bit upset that I wasn’t there until Dee managed to calm her down and explain things. I had honestly forgotten about how much of a surprise that would be when I had seen the Eevee.

Thinking of the Eevee, I reached back, gently touching the little creature that I had put into my hood. I had tucked her in there, as it was the first place I could think of to carry her. Well, technically the second, but she didn’t fit in my pocket. And I wasn’t going to keep her in her new pokeball, which Nurse Joy had given me. The good nurse had said it would take longer for her to get better if she was in the pokeball too much.

As I reached back, she bit me. She had done this every time I reached back if she was awake, though she didn’t do it very hard. It was more her way of trying to interact with me without speaking, as speaking was apparently too exhausting. It was a good way to know if she was awake or asleep. She apparently liked her new spot in my hood. Though it could also be her expressing frustration that I had taken her.

Not that she had a choice in the matter. She hardly had the strength to sit up. I didn’t think a Pokemon could get to such a state. A normal creature would have died, but she was still alive because of just how tough and hardy Pokemon were. It was hard to tell if that was a boon or a curse in a situation like this. A Pokemon would have to go through so much more suffering before they finally died.

After getting lunch, I went to the room in the Pokecenter that Nurse Joy had given me. It was actually a bit nicer than the others I had been in, and had a television. After releasing everyone, I sat on the bed and explained to them in a soft tone, “We have a new member. But she is very sick.”

I pulled out Eevee, who I took care to be extra careful with, and put her on my lap. Everyone was excited to have another in the group, expressing their own welcomes. The new one seemed conflicted, unsure how to act.

“Are you hungry?” I said softly, petting Eevee.

She made a little noise in response. I wasn’t sure if it was confirmation or denial, but I got out the bottle and straw anyways, offering it to her. She drank a bit from it before falling asleep again. I cleaned up the bit that she dribbled before making sure she was in a comfortable spot. Thankfully I didn’t have to worry about feeding my other Pokemon thanks to the Pokecenter.

Apparently as part of the checkup they fed them, which explained where everyone was getting food. Though I had also seen them in the cafeteria. Which was always an interesting sight, but considering most of the servers were also Pokemon, I didn’t think too much of it. That was also another thing that I found interesting in Pokecenters; most of the staff were Pokemon, and there’s apparently one ‘head’ Pokemon that works the front desk and is Nurse Joy’s official assistant.

There’s also multiple Nurse Joy’s in every Pokecenter. That had thrown me for quite a loop when I came across two of them in the hall. They had it split into day shift and night shift, and I just had never run into them during the change. They had laughed at my clear confusion upon seeing two Nurse Joy’s, before they explained how it worked to me.

“Where did you get this one from?” Cara asked, taking a seat beside me and looking down at the little one in my lap. Cara had a very intense motherly personality that I had seen with the others. Any Pokemon that was smaller than her was quickly adopted.

“Her Trainer abandoned her,” I said softly. Popplio’s attention snapped over to me, all the others also turning to take another look at Eevee. “She took it really bad…”

There was a moment of silence as Popplio scooted her way over to my feet, looking up. Cara picked her up and put her in her lap. “Why?” the little seal asked softly.

“She got sick and they didn’t want to take the time to make her better.” I paused as I continued to gently pet the little brown fluff in my lap. “Since he didn’t like her… I took her.”

“Are you just going to…keep collecting abandoned Pokemon?” Cara asked softly, gently patting Popplio.

I chuckled softly. “Probably.”

“You’re gonna have a lot to take care of.”

“That’s fine,” I said with a smile. “If I could, I’d take them all in. Everyone deserves a loving family.” I put the bottle back into my bag after capping it. “Sometimes you just gotta… make it yourself,” I mumbled.

Popplio nudged my leg with her nose and I reached over and rubbed her head.

“Tomorrow we start training,” I said, getting everyone’s attention. I gently moved Eevee to the bed, making sure to wrap her up as I spoke. “I won’t force any of you to fight. I won’t force any of you to train. I will take care of you all no matter your choice.” I sat down on the floor, looking at all the Pokemon around the room. “I can guide you and make you strong, but you have to put in the effort. You have to want to be strong.”

“Team Speed Shell will be the strongest,” Rio said, her chest puffing up a bit. “We won’t lose.” Veny and Popplio seemed to be in agreement.

Diancie seemed unsure, but did nod.

“There’s nothing I want more than strength,” Dee said, standing straight. She had such a determined look on her face that was fairly ruined by how cute she was. But I wasn’t about to crush her determination.

I looked over at Cara. “Don’t look at me, you already know my answer.” She took a deep breath. “The road is long.”

“And rough,” I said as I nodded. “Alright. Rest up tonight, because the next few months are going to be rough.”

~

We all relaxed for the night, as I blended berries and made pokeblocks. The blocks of concentrated nutrition were far more than just things for contests, as they had actual long lasting effects. Ever since I had read in the book that you can increase the strength of Pokemon with pokeblocks, I was determined to make them. With Dee’s help, I was able to make custom pokeblocks for everyone that would best fit their nutrition needs. While curries were good, they needed more. I even made some for myself after confirming they worked for humans, though mine were pretty basic.

A pokeblock would also act as a good meal replacement, as three pokeblocks would keep a Pokemon full for almost an entire day. Although only the first pokeblock would have a large impact, and anymore would lose effectiveness. From what I had read, three was the maximum before it started to become so little that it wasn’t worth the resources. So the plan was pokeblocks through the day, and curry in the evening to restore their energy.

For Eevee we made a sort of smoothie that she could drink that would help recover her strength, with her medicine mixed in. I had no idea what she wanted to do, but I would do everything I could for her. If she wanted to join the training, she could, if she just wanted to be a lap Pokemon, that would also be fine. And although I didn’t like the option, if she wanted to leave I wouldn’t stop her. I had told her this, but she hadn’t responded.

She did seem to like the bath, the shampoo apparently had some soothing stuff in it and actually made the tips of my fingers a little numb. While Nurse Joy said that the spots didn’t itch, they apparently hurt. The stuff was very strong, and smelled of herbs. The instructions were to just put a large glob on your hand and scrub. Pretty simple. With the size of the container there was probably a few months worth.

The next morning we all traveled off. I followed Cara to where her, Rio, and Veny used to live, as she knew of a large open area near a river that would make a perfect training area. It took most of the day to walk there, and so I had everyone out to walk. The trio also battled any wild Pokemon that we came across, though that was very few.

Eventually we reached the location, and it looked perfect. We set up the camp at the edge of the open field, next to the river. The tent had some protection against wild Pokemon on it, similar to a repel, when it was fully up. Though I wasn’t entirely sure how it worked, as only Cara said that she could sense something about it.

Just before making food, I did a nature check on Diancie. She didn’t have any massively positive or negative reactions, so she probably had one of the neutral natures. Thinking about it for a few moments, the only one that I could think that fit was hardy.

Dee helped me make the curry for everyone. Diancie was absolutely delighted at the taste of the food. It was unlike anything she had ever had and it made her very happy. Eevee was roused by the smell, but she couldn’t have any. She was disappointed, but I promised that I’d make her lots of curry once she got better. Thankfully she really liked the taste of the smoothie so it wasn’t a battle to get her to drink it.

In the morning I gathered everyone around to start explaining things. “Today is the day we start. First off, everyone gets a pokeblock.” Dee and I began to give everyone their pokeblock. With Dee’s help I had made enough pokeblocks for everyone to have three for three months. After that, we would have to reevaluate everyone's nutritional needs.

“Oh these are so good,” Cara mumbled as she savored her pokeblock.

Dee was the only Pokemon here that had ever had a pokeblock, and I was glad that they all enjoyed them. “When do we get more?” Veny asked, a hopeful look in the little bug's eyes.

“You’ll get one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one after dinner.” I watched as Dee sat down and ate her pokeblock, a look of bliss on her face. “The harder you train, the more beneficial the pokeblocks will be. But if Dee or I think you’re going to hurt yourself, you’ll have to take a break.” I didn’t want any of them to go too hard and end up with injuries.

They all agreed, looking forward to the idea of more pokeblocks.

“Now then.” I stood up, looking around the field. “Dee, you need to work on your stamina, so you’re going to be jogging laps up and down the river.” Dee grimaced. “Popplio, you’re also going to be doing laps up and down the river.”

“Alright…” Dee mumbled as she stood up. Her and Popplio headed towards the river.

“Oh it won’t be that bad!” Popplio said excitedly, clearly just looking forward to swimming.

“Cara, Rio, and Veny are going to be doing laps around the field. The key to this is speed, so I want you to do as many laps as you can, as fast as you can.”

Cara scrunched up her face a bit, looking at me a bit confused. “This will be helpful?”

“I want you to use Extreme Speed as much and as long as you can. I want you to be able to sustain it for long periods of time without getting tired. And Rio needs to learn it, so this will help her by following your example.”

Veny and Rio seemed excited. “Yeah! Team Speed Shell!” They immediately took off running, Veny instantly gaining the lead.

Cara sighed and nodded, using extreme speed to catch up and pass them.

I turned to Diancie, who looked rather eager to know what her training was going to be. “We’re going to the center of the field so you can show me all the moves you know.”

“Yes!” she said excitedly, obviously she wanted to show off.

I paid a bit of attention as everyone did their laps, Cara was actually one of the runners to tire out first, since she was trying to maintain Extreme Speed for so long. Veny paced herself a bit better, though she had far fewer laps than Cara. Rio used Quick Attack to try and keep up, but it was far slower than all the others.

Popplio was doing her best to match the pace Dee set, shouting lots of encouragement as she did flips and swam circles. Popplio’s species was adept at moving in the water far more than I had thought, but I was glad to see she was making it difficult for herself by performing tricks. Dee looked like she was in agony. She had lived an extremely sedentary lifestyle, studying and helping Joy. But she also seemed like the most determined to improve.

As that went on, Diancie showed me her moves. As I had done with the others, I recorded Diancie’s moves so that I could watch them later. Diamond Storm had surprised me, as it left actual diamonds scattered about. She explained that it was hard and took a lot of energy, but she could absorb them to recover the energy it took to make them, and once they were made she could keep using them as part of the move. I asked her if I could take one, to have it evaluated to see if it was worth anything, and she readily agreed.

Of all the moves she had, the one that made me the most excited was, “Gravity…” I muttered, “We can do Gravity training…” That had been a staple of the Dragonball series, and others, and it always showed such drastic improvement. If I could do that here, it would be of immense help. “Alright, use Gravity and cover as much of the area around you as you can.”

I immediately regretted not prepping myself as the Gravity suddenly hit me, forcing me to my knees. Breathing was harder, like the very air was heavier and thicker. It was all I could do to keep breathing, not even trying to get up. “Are you okay?” Diancie asked.

“I’ll…be…fine…” I managed to say, moving my mouth and talking was hard. It took a minute before the Gravity finally wore off and the world returned to normal. I gasped for air, nearly collapsing from the force. Slowly I got up, dusting myself off. “Damn, that was effective…”

Diancie did a little spin. “Yes! It’s very strong.”

Looking around I could see a ring of flattened grass, with Diancie at the center. It spread about ten feet in every direction. “A radius of about three meters. That was at least ten times the gravity…” I nodded a bit. “Okay.” I looked over at Diancie. “Again.”

After a few more times, I asked Diancie to try and alter it. Lessen the force, increase the area and duration. After a few more times she managed to get to five meters and it could last several minutes at only five times the force. That was still a lot, but far more manageable. It still took an hour before I was able to stay standing.

“This is what you’re going to be training,” I said, struggling to speak. “You’re going to work on widening the area, and increasing the duration. Once everyone gets used to this, we’ll work on increasing the force.” This was good training for me, too. I needed to be able to withstand her Gravity at full strength so that I could help everyone else. And actually doing Gravity training was like fulfilling a childhood dream.

We kept at it until lunch time, where I called everyone back. It was a few hours of exercise and everyone looked rather tired. Dee looked absolutely exhausted, barely able to drag herself back to the campsite. Popplio also looked a bit tired, but she also looked like she had a lot of fun.

Cara looked extremely contemplative, as if she had realized something during the training. Rio and Veny looked like they had a blast, comparing how many laps they had done and how fast they could do a lap. It wasn’t in a competitive way, but more of a ‘whoa good job’ kind of way.

I checked on Eevee, who I had left at the entrance of the tent so that she could look out and watch. She didn’t say anything to me, but happily drank more smoothie. It was going to take a long time before she started to get better, if she even let herself. From what Nurse Joy had told me, as long as she took her medicine and kept eating regularly she’d recover, but to what that would look like at the end was up to the little Pokemon.

Returning back to the group, I gave everyone another pokeblock, which they happily consumed. “Alright, so next bit of training is going to be different. We’ll take a break now for an hour, and then all head to the center of the field.”

“Is this the same thing you were doing with Diancie?” Cara asked, looking over at the diamond Pokemon.

I nodded. “Yes. It’s going to be rough, but it’ll be the best way to increase your strength.” They all seemed a bit nervous, but Diancie just smiled at them. Which did not help.

After the break, we all made our way into the center of the field. Dee seemed happy that she wouldn’t be jogging anymore, but I knew that they would all gladly go back to running laps once they feel this.

“Alright, Diancie. Gravity.” I had discussed a lot of things with Diancie once I was able to. She raised up her hand and brought it down in an almost lazy way. Everyone hit the floor. I barely managed to stay on my feet, even though I knew it was coming, it was still hard. “Don’t try and get up,” I said, watching as a few of them struggled. “Focus on breathing.”

It was obvious that most of them hadn’t even realized they were holding their breath, but now they stayed mostly still.

“This is five times Gravity,” I explained. “The weight of everything around Diancie has been multiplied five times. That means you weigh five times as much. That means your hand weighs five times as much. Your muscles aren’t used to this kind of strain, and your lungs are under pressure and it makes it harder to breathe. Breathing is the most important thing you can do right now.”

It was ten minutes before it would run out, however Diancie used Gravity again and again just as it was about to end. Cara was the first one to try and get up, not able to do it, but she had at least gotten up to her knees. I had cheated a bit, as I didn’t have the constant pressure when I got used to it, and I was only barely standing.

Diancie just danced and twirled in the Gravity, completely unaffected because this ability was how she was able to float around. It was interesting to think that she was just reversing Gravity on herself enough to float, but many Pokemon did that. For instance Geodude was a Pokemon that had a strange antigravity ability that it lost when it evolved.

After thirty minutes I had Diancie stop to give everyone a break. Again Cara was the first to get up, clearly annoyed that she had so easily been taken down. It wasn’t that Cara was weak, she was one of the strongest here. But Diancie was a mythic level Pokemon, and had a natural headstart on them.

We continued this, thirty minutes on, thirty minutes off, until it was time for dinner.

“That was exhausting…” Cara said, rubbing her arms. She was able to stand now, but it was still a struggle.

“You’ll get used to it,” I said, unfortunately having to do most of the cooking by myself as Dee wasn’t up to helping. I think she was a bit mad at me since I hadn’t warned any of them what was going to happen.

The trio had thought it was cool. “I feel so light now!” Rio said, hopping around. Everyone agreed with that.

Everyone felt better after dinner, especially when they all got another pokeblock. Before going to bed, I gave Eevee another bath, warming up the water from the river to clean her. Again she seemed quite pleased with the bath and being rubbed down, seemingly unbothered by the fact I was doing so in what was essentially a large cooking pot. The other Pokemon and I cleaned ourselves up in the river as well after. This was going to be our life for quite a while.

~

Two weeks passed like this. Everyone was capable of standing up inside the Gravity, which Diancie had managed to increase the area of by a little bit. Using a move over and over again was a good way of getting better at it, as the books had said. Popplio was the one who struggled the most, since her way of moving around was mostly hopping and dragging herself.

I could walk around, and so could Cara. Surprisingly it was Rio that adapted the fastest. She could move better than anyone else, even her mother. Her strength was honestly incredible. Veny also adapted quickly, though I considered it a bit cheating since she had several more legs than everyone and didn’t have that high to get.

Dee had the biggest leap though. She was actually running pretty fast now during her morning laps, and it took a lot to finally tire her out. From watching her I could tell that there was some sort of desperation to catch up, so she was pushing the hardest.

Eevee was starting to show a lot of improvement. She was able to walk around a bit, though she would get tired pretty quick. She had started to warm up to the group, though she still didn’t talk much and usually just gestured, or gave one word responses. I had found her multiple times sleeping very close to our sleep pile, but never touching anyone as if she was afraid to. I was worried that this behavior was the result of abuse.

Once I realized this, I had started shifting her closer so that we were touching. I wanted her to know that it was okay, and that I wasn’t going to get upset at her, but she struggled to overcome that fear. It was something that was just going to take a lot of time, but I was sure that eventually she would feel comfortable around us. She was still on her smoothie diet, unable to manage more solid options. I expected that was also why she didn’t talk much.

The only part of the last few weeks that I was annoyed by was I had been getting quite a few texts from the liaison. None of them were asking for my help, mostly just checking in on me, asking what I was up to and where I was, trying to hype up the Association. From their side, records show me going into a Pokecenter, taking a sick Eevee, and then vanishing. I simply replied with ‘training’ to every message. I had expected followup questions, but they never came. Instead a few hours later I would get a repeat text, as if she had copy-pasted one of her previous messages.

But now that everyone was starting to get used to the Gravity, I wanted to move onto the next step of training. During the lunch break I gathered everyone around. “It’s time for phase two.”

Everyone seemed excited at that. “Oh oh, what’s phase two?” Veny voiced her excitement, wobbling side to side.

I chuckled a bit. “I want everyone to choose what type of defense they want to focus the most on.” They all seemed confused, which I expected. I drew three circles on the ground, which immediately drew Cara’s attention, probably remembering the last time I had done this. “There are three forms of defense. Dodge, block or deflect, and tank.” I gestured to each circle as I spoke.

“Tank?” Dee asked, not sure what the term meant.

“It means to take the damage. To be in front of everyone and simply take a hit; to be so tough that being hit doesn’t hurt.” Everyone seemed to nod a bit. “Tanking should be the last thing on your mind when thinking about defense, though it is a path you can walk, it is painful.”

That seemed enough to dissuade them. Truth was I don’t think anyone but Diancie could be an actual tank in this group.

“The first one is dodge. The principle of it is pretty simple: you can’t be hurt if you can’t be hit.” I looked at Veny and Cara, they were the fastest in the group. “The second is block or deflect. This one is hard, and it means that every attack that comes at you you have either hit it with your own attack and cancel it out or hit it to make the attack miss.”

“I like the sound of that one,” Popplio said with a nod. “Overpower everything that comes at you.”

I nodded. “Exactly. I want you all to think about which type of defense to focus on. You will practice all three methods to some extent, but you need one to prioritize.”

“When are we going to fight more?” Rio asked, clearly wanting to get into more battles.

“It won’t be long now. Once you can comfortably stand in Diancie’s gravity and move around easily, you’ll start practicing moves.” Using moves made you better at them, but it also made you better at using the energy that that move used.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The next day I asked them what sort of defense they wanted to focus on. Rio and Popplio both wanted to use block or deflect, which was obvious. Cara, Veny, and Dee both wanted to focus on dodging. Diancie actually surprised me, saying she wanted to tank. While it was the best thing for her, I wasn’t sure if she was aware of that.

After a few more days, Cara was the first to move into the next phase. I explained to her that she had to use Extreme Speed while under the effects of Gravity. But not just that, she would have to focus her Aura Sphere while doing that, condensing it in her hands and holding it. I put several markers inside the area, and a target on two trees on the opposite side of the field for her to aim at.

I had to tell her several times that it didn’t matter if she hit. She would hit them eventually. She was to gather her energy, use Extreme Speed to hit every single marked spot, and then fire at one of the targets. Then she was to repeat and fire at the other target. There was a specific order to every place that she was to touch, and she had to fire immediately when she reached the final location.

It was a struggle for several days, as she lost control of her aura before she could get to the final spot. When she finally was able to hold it, it had dissipated before even getting near the treeline. But we all celebrated her progress, everyone cheering that she had managed to hold her aura.

Rio was the next one to enter phase two. She demanded that I push her harder, clearly wanting to catch up to her mother. I had agreed, and brought out the striking balls. She was not allowed to dodge, and had to block and deflect them. I’m sure she had thought it was going to be easy, as I couldn’t possibly throw them that hard or fast.

Much to her surprise, it was Diancie who was throwing them, and she could throw them extremely fast and extremely hard. Rio was rather battered after the first few days before she started to manage to start blocking them. I had to remind her that she had moves like Force Palm, and Rock Smash, that she could use to hit them away.

Veny was next, and I set two targets that she was to hit. I had her use a combination of Extreme Speed and Rollout to move around the field, and then hit the target with Poison Tail. She struggled for several days, until to my surprise she evolved. In the middle of training, she had suddenly begun shining with a purplish light and was finally able to succeed in a strike, shouting in celebration.

All training had stopped to celebrate her evolution to Whirlipede. She had also declared that her name would now be Whirly, and she would change it again when she evolved. Training had ended early that day to celebrate. Evolution was an extremely big deal to Pokemon, as it was a big leap in power. When we started the next day, I made her add in Iron Defense before she started Rollout.

Before Veny’s evolution, Popplio had joined Rio in her training. At that point I added in that they could deflect the shots at each other, or at Diancie, and Diancie would just have to take the hit since she wanted to be a tank. I made Popplio use her bubbles and water attacks to deflect, rather than with striking moves.

Dee reached phase two at the end of the third week of training. She had also changed her mind, and didn’t want to do the nonsense she saw Whirly and Cara doing, instead she wanted to tank. I was honestly surprised, as I thought she would want to block, but it made sense because of her high defense and health.

I had her stand near the group, and constantly use heal pulse while also throwing and taking blows. She had asked if there was a way for her to have more weight, so I had strapped the weight harness to her. It was clearly worse than she had thought it would be, but she was determined. There was a crazy amount of determination in this pink Pokemon, and it only took a few days before she was asking for more weight.

By week four, Diancie had managed to double the affected area of her Gravity, which also increased the training area of everyone else. We had shifted from running laps to focusing entirely on Gravity training. Everyone was showing a lot of improvement, much of which must have been from the pokeblocks and curry. Eevee was finally able to start eating the curry with everyone, after I did a quick nature test to see what flavor she liked. She liked spicy and didn’t like sour. A lonely nature.

I also received the thirty thousand pokedollars from the Association, but this also came with another message. Thankfully this wasn’t the liaison harassing me, instead it was actually a request. “There is a problem near Laverre City. Please head there and speak with Valerie.”

I simply replied with a “kay” before turning my attention to my Pokemon. “Everyone!” I called out, halting them before they even managed to really get into training. “Gravity off. We have a mission.”

It took a few minutes for us to pack everything up, and then start to head back to Santalune. The walk took much less time for everyone, and I had them all continue to train as we walked, practicing moves and such. I returned everyone but Eevee as we walked into town, the little brown Pokemon looking much healthier and riding in my hood.

I made my way to the train station and got on the one heading to Laverre. It was a town well out of my way and I had not been there yet. It was well past noon by the time we arrived, and I stepped out of the train station, looking around the city. It was a town covered in leaves.

I immediately started to head towards the gym, looking around as I did. All the trees were large and vibrant, but the biggest tree was the one behind the gym. That tree was supposed to be extremely old, if I remembered correctly.

The gym was closed, which immediately looked odd to me since this was the second month of Trainers' journeys, some would have to put this gym off for later. Of course, it being closed didn’t stop me from walking in. There were very few people inside, but I did spot Officer Jenny and made my way towards her.

“Ah- You can’t be in here,” she said as she started to make her way towards me. I saw how her hand moved back towards her pokeballs.

“Where’s Valerie?” I asked, pulling out my ID and showing it to her. “The Association asked me to come here.”

“The Association?” she questioned as she scrutinized my ID for a moment before her eyes went a bit wide and her posture stiffened. “Pokemon Expert?”

I nodded.

“I…” She stood up a bit straighter. “Valerie isn’t here. We had an incident on route fourteen. A rampaging Hydreigon.”

I frowned a bit. “This is pretty far from their territory.”

“It’s not wild,” the man said, the one who had been talking to Officer Jenny. “It belongs to my son. He evolved it with something he bought here in town, and it went berserk.”

Something that evolved a dragon pseudo-legendary? What the heck could that be? “Where’s your son?”

“He’s…he’s in the hospital.”

“Alright… I need details.” I looked over at Officer Jenny.

“It happened last night,” she explained. “He did it just outside of town, and the Pokemon hurt him pretty bad. The pokeball won’t work anymore. We’re looking into the device he used to evolve his Pokemon, but we have no leads right now. We’ve lost track of it, but it was last seen on route fourteen, and hasn’t been seen since.”

I nodded and turned. “Alright, then I’ll go see what I can do.”

“Ah- wait!” She ran after me. “I’ll call Valerie and let her know you’re on your way. She might have more information.”

Again I nodded as I jogged south out of the town. Immediately I could see where it evolved. A lot of damage, scorch marks everywhere, and some really big footprints. I paused to look, and noticed the marks of high energy moves - most likely Hyper Beam or Dragon Breath, - but that wasn’t what surprised me. Judging by the marks it made, it was two or three times larger than it should be.

Looking around a bit more I could estimate which direction it went and quickly started that way. Cara jumped out beside me, not about to allow me to wander the wilderness alone. “So protective,” I teased.

She huffed at me, but didn’t deny it. “I can feel something…big,” she said.

I nodded. “It is. I don’t know what happened…but to forcibly make a Pokemon like Hydreigon evolve, it had to be something dangerous.” Immediately I thought about Team Flare.

“There’s someone over there,” Cara pointed. “They are injured.”

Immediately we changed direction and made our way over. As we got closer I heard a phone ringing and got a really bad feeling. And my feeling was right as I came across Valerie, unconscious and propped up against a tree. I could see her Mr. Mime and Mawile unconscious nearby, and her battered Sylveon immediately got into a defensive stance when he saw us.

“We’re here to help,” I said before opening my coat a bit. “Dee, we got injured.”

She appeared in a flash of red light and immediately ran over, using Heal Pulse and completely ignoring the angry protest from the Sylveon. “Why should I trust you, huh? Who the heck are you, huh? Don’t you dare underestimate me- ah.” They stopped when they felt the Heal Pulse.

Looking around I quickly found the phone, picking it up. “Officer Jenny, Valerie is hurt,” I said immediately, not giving her a chance to speak.

“Damn it, where are you?”

I looked around. “Not sure. But not too far outside the city.” I knelt down and pulled out Valerie’s pokeballs. “Whose who's?” I asked the Sylveon, who was still glaring at me.

“That one is Mime’s, that one’s Mawile’s,” he said after a moment. Once Dee gave me a thumbs up, I returned the two of them and put them back where Valerie had them.

“Where’s the Hydreigon?” I asked, looking around. There wasn’t any damage to this area, but I could see that there was some a bit away in a clearing. Sylveon had dragged everyone under the cover of trees.

“I don’t know. It came out of nowhere, started blasting, and before I knew it everyone was down,” He was doing a good job at keeping his cool, but I could hear the strain in his voice.

“We’re tracking the phone,” Officer Jenny said suddenly. “Don’t hang up, and we’ll be able to find you.”

“Okay. Be careful, it looks like the Hydreigon is still-” I was cut off by a nearby explosion. Without thinking, I tossed the phone onto Valerie and started running. Cara was already running, but Dee stayed behind to continue treating Valerie.

Coming into the clearing I saw it. A Hydreigon that was twice the size as normal, it was the size of an Alpha. It was fighting a group of Quagsire who were attempting to shoot it down, but it was clear they were losing. However the massive dragon did look like it had taken quite a beating. It was covered in the marks of battle, and I could see froth at the corners of its mouths.

I quickly called everyone out and quickly gave orders. “Diancie, ground it. Whirly, armor up and hit it with all you got. Rio, close combat. Cara, Popplio, hit it from a distance.” Everyone immediately rushed to follow orders.

Much to the Hydreigon’s surprise, it was suddenly forced down and unable to fly. Thankfully, despite being a psychic type move, Gravity was one of those things that ignored type immunities. Just as it realized it couldn't fly anymore, it got hit with an Aura Sphere and Water Gun. I made a mental note that I needed to teach Popplio Moonblast, as I rushed off to the side. I needed to move, otherwise I would be a prime target if it had any intelligence to target the Trainer. There were also a lot of Pokemon fleeing. That group of Quagsire continued to pelt it with Water Guns, though some of them were using Mud Shot.

However, it targeted Cara and Popplio with Dragon Breath. Cara was able to immediately escape, but Popplio stood her ground. “Popplio, move!” I shouted, but she didn’t. I could see her annoyance, as her water wasn’t stopping the flames. But this wasn’t fire energy, it was dragon energy. Her Water Gun was doing little to stop the breath attack, but she just tried harder. More water, more force. More and more. Before it could reach her, there was an even larger surge of water.

She shone bright in a bright blue light, the force of water and amount increasing exponentially as she solidified into Brionne. But it wasn’t enough and she was engulfed into the purple flames. But just as the flames hit, a flying Rio bashed into the side of its head and changed the trajectory, followed by a full speed Whirly that knocked it to the side.

Brionne screamed out in pain, disappearing in the flames. Cara was rushing back over when there was suddenly a burst of water. I nearly tripped over a fleeing Goomy when I saw the ring of water around her and realized that she had just used Aqua Ring. That was an egg move that she had never demonstrated before.

“Brionne!” I called out. Brionne didn’t look to be in very good shape. “That’s not fire, it’s dragon energy! Your water isn’t going to put it out! Cara, help Brionne dodge!” I turned to the group of wild Pokemon. “Oi, Quagsires! It’s weak to ice!”

Unfortunately my shouting got the Hydreigon’s attention. “Shut up!” it roared and batted Rio and Whirly away. Its mouth opened and a bright light shone to show it was charging a Hyper Beam. There was a moment of realization as I saw it was aimed at me and my muscles tensed.

I quickly started to move out of the way when I caught sight of the Goomy, completely frozen in place and staring at its imminent destruction. Changing course I ran at it, scooping it up and dove out of the way in a rather fluid motion. Then the ground behind me exploded, launching me and the Goomy across the field.

It took a moment before I stopped rolling, and Cara was there immediately helping me up. “I’m fine. Focus on the Hydreigon.” I reached back to check on Eevee, who I could feel shaking softly, but she was still here. Looking down at my arm I found I was still holding the Goomy. It wasn’t moving, seemingly stunned. “You’re okay,” I said, and tried to put it down. However it refused to let go. “C’mon, get off.”

I tried for a moment to get it to let go, but it refused. I sighed a bit and just sort of forced it to stick to my shoulder so my arms were free. It clung to my coat like its life depended on it. Turning my attention back to the battle, I just managed to watch as Rio and the Hyrdreigon clashed, attacks colliding and causing sparks of energy. However Rio was flung back.

Whirly was doing her best to strike and use the Rollout Poison Tail combo that she had been practicing, but despite hitting several times she had yet to poison them. However before she had even landed, the dragon sent a devastating hit into her, using his arm to slam into her like a baseball bat. I completely lost sight of her and almost swore I saw a little sparkle appear in the sky where she disappeared. As I was looking over I saw a little pink Pokemon attempting to help, shooting off a beam towards the large dragon. Unfortunately, despite Espurr's best efforts, dark types were immune to psychic. Wait, how was that little thing here?

Before I gave it any more thought I turned my attention back to the battle. I could think about that later. Cara spent a moment to focus an Aura Sphere, but she took too long and the Hydreigon fired another hyper beam at her. She abandoned the energy in order to dodge. I guess she still needed more training on holding that energy as she moved.

Brionne had switched to using Bubble Beam, which she had apparently gotten the hang of while evolving. That wasn’t a bad choice, if she could succeed at lowering the enemies speed it would help everyone.

There was a second clash between Rio and the Hydreigon, with a massive sparking of energy followed by Rio being flung back. I could tell Cara wanted to go help, but also knew that the best way of helping was to actually hit the thing.

“Rio!” I called out as she got up. She stopped, looking over at me. She had this almost betrayed look, like she was expecting me to tell her to stop and back away, like she was already preparing to argue with me. That was probably something Cara had done many times. I couldn’t help but smile. “You got this!” I shouted, giving her a thumbs up.

Cara gave me a look, apparently having also expected me to tell her to back down. But this was something she needed. This kind of wall was the best thing to strengthen herself against. I had a hopeful thought, and I wanted to encourage her. “Yeah… Yeah!” She started to run at them again.

I wanted her to succeed. I wanted her to know that I had faith in her. I wanted to see her get that strength she wanted so desperately. And my gamble paid off. As she ran she ignited in aura, like a small violet fireball, busting into brilliant light.

The shining light drew the attention of the Hydreigon, and it responded with a massive amount of energy in return. It used Outrage. As Rio leapt into the air, she solidified, having nearly doubled in height as she had evolved into Lucario. The clash between the two was far more than any other before. Outrage verses Force Palm. Hydreigon hadn’t even been using any move before, but now apparently Rio was enough of a threat that it had to properly respond.

The explosion was a magnificent sight of violet, causing the Hydreigon to reel back, having lost the confrontation. But Rio was not without damage, also being launched back and falling to a knee after the blow and holding her arm. “Cara! Now!” I shouted.

Thankfully Cara was a lot closer this time, and delivered the most powerful looking Aura Sphere she had managed. The resulting explosion rocked the massive dragon to the side. Just in time for five Quagsire to hit it with Avalanche. Well, two of them used Icy Wind, but it had the same effect. Half the Hydreigon froze over almost instantly and it crashed to the ground.

There was silence for a few moments as we all stood, waiting to see if it would get up. The silence was broken by an absolutely battered Whirly crashing through some side brush and flying into the field looking for a target. But she stopped when she saw that it was down. “Did we win?” she asked, breathing heavily.

“I…think so?” I said, hesitant to say anything more. But either the dragon was good at playing possum, or it was really unconscious.

A moment later a few more figures burst through the brush, and everyone turned to look at them. This time it was Dee, followed by Officer Jenny and Valerie. Everyone rather rapidly approached me. “What happened?” Officer Jenny demanded, looking from me to the downed dragon.

“Well, thanks to the help of the Quagsire,” I gestured over to the group. “We were able to take it down.” I turned to them, waving a bit. “Thanks for the save!” I honestly don’t think that my team would have been able to win this fight without those five constantly harassing him. This was an eleven on one fight, and we barely won. Rio was down, but not out. Brionne and Whirly were severely injured. Diancie had also taken some hits when I wasn’t paying attention, though she didn’t seem very hurt. Cara was in a similar state, not having been able to perfectly dodge everything thrown at her.

“You’re sure it’s out?” Officer Jenny said as she approached.

“Sure looks like it,” Valerie said with a sigh. “That thing was…far stronger than I anticipated.”

“Agreed,” I said as I walked over to it. As I started to look over it, I spotted something. I’m not sure how I spotted it, as it was buried in fur, but I had managed it. After a moment of fiddling with it, I managed to pull out a small device. Almost immediately the Hydreigon burst into light, and when it faded there was a regular sized Zweilous.

“What? How did-” Officer Jenny began, but then noticed what I was holding. It was a small round device, with a flat side that had several screw-like protrusions. And these screws were covered in blood.

“A device that forces evolution?” I mused, pulling out my phone and taking a picture. Immediately I sent it to the Professor before calling him.

“Professor Sycamore here. What am I looking at, Jason?” The Professor’s voice came back.

“Not sure. But I think it’s a device to force a Pokemon to evolve. I pulled it off of a Hydreigon that had gone berserk, and it devolved back into Zweilous.”

“It’s true, Professor,” Officer Jenny said before he even had a chance to question me. “It also made the Pokemon twice its average size, and several times more powerful and aggressive than normal.”

I nodded, showing the unconscious Zweilous. “Does it’s pokeball work now?” I asked, looking at Officer Jenny.

“Ah.” Valerie quickly moved up, fishing out a pokeball. “I’ve got it.”

The Pokemon returned without issue. “Hm. Curious…” I muttered. “So the device also prevents it from being returned…” I looked over at my team. “Dee, how is everyone?”

Dee looked up, having been checking over Cara last, since she was the least hurt. “Brionne, Rio, and Whirly are going to need a Pokecenter…but everyone else is alright.”

“Alright,” I said with a nod. “We’re going to head to the Pokecenter. Professor, you might want to head to Laverre.”

He nodded. “I’m on my way.” And then he hung up.

I put away my phone, checking on Eevee again, who had apparently fallen asleep now that all the excitement was over. I nodded, returning everyone but Dee and Cara. “Let’s go.” I looked over at Valerie. “That Pokemon is going to need a full checkup… And I’m sure it’s going to be absolutely distraught when it realizes what it did to its Trainer…”

“Right. Are you okay?” Officer Jenny asked, looking me up and down.

“Hm?” I looked down at myself. “Ah, yeah I’m alright. Just gotta wash up and stuff,” I said rather nonchalantly before I began walking back to town. I looked an absolute mess, not just because I had taken a tumble and nearly been hyper beamed, but also because I’d spent a month out in the wilderness. With how I look, I’m shocked she wasn’t more skeptical of me.

“If you’re sure…”

It was a bit busy back in the pokecenter, but with Valerie there we got priority. I turned over everyone but Eevee and got a room. Valerie split off to deal with things, and make sure her Pokemon got healed. The Association gave me another fifteen thousand for resolving the situation. After about an hour, I was all clean and in some fresh clothes, giving Eevee her special bath when there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” I called.

Someone came in, and then I saw Professor Sycamore poke his head around the corner. “Ah, there you are…” He spotted the Eevee, watching as I gently massaged the shampoo into her fur. Although he might also be curious about the Goomy that was stuck to my arm, as she refused to let go no matter what.

Nurse Joy had informed me that it was a female, and was in rather good health. Though she heavily suggested I should give her a nice bath, because wild Goomy tended to carry quite a lot of bacteria. She had even given me the proper soaps. It was just that this little slug absolutely refused to let go of me, even when I tried to wash it off, it somehow was able to cling.

Eventually I had given up and just washed it and myself. But now it was Eevee’s turn. “And who is this?” he asked as he came up beside me. Eevee eyed him suspiciously.

“The newest member of my little family. Although…” I glanced at the Goomy. “I think she’s going to lose that title pretty quick, considering this one,” I gestured at the thing attached to my arm.

“What’s the story with the Goomy?” He asked, examining the slug attached to me.

“Not sure. Picked her up while avoiding a hyper beam, and she won’t let go.” I paid little mind to the clinging thing, focused on washing Eevee. “She also won’t talk to me.”

“Hm… Where’s her clan?” he asked.

I paused, the thought hadn’t even occurred to me. “She was alone,” I said slowly as I continued with Eevee’s bath.

“Then…” he stopped, realizing that he shouldn’t finish that thought.

“Yes. But it’ll be alright.” I reached up and gently squished the slug. “I’ve got her.”

He looked at me for a moment and then sighed, shaking his head. “Yanno, when I said you had permission to have more Pokemon than normal, I didn’t expect you to immediately amass a hoard.”

I laughed, starting to rinse off Eevee. “Not my fault this world is such shit that there are so many Pokemon that need my attention.”

“Do you plan on taking in every Pokemon you come across?”

“If they need me.” I smiled a bit down at Eevee, rubbing at a few spots that had healed nicely. Her coat had so few missing patches now, the worst part was her face, but even that was healing. “Isn’t that right little cutie,” I said softly, rubbing at her cheeks.

She made a huffing sound at me, but I could see how her tail wagged a bit. “So where is this device?” the Professor finally asked.

“On the desk,” I said as I grabbed a towel and started to dry off the wet little canine.

I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he made his way over, picking up the odd thing. “This was embedded in the Pokemon?” he asked, though it barely sounded like a question as the blood made that obvious.

“Yeah.” After the first towling, I grabbed a second towel that had been warming by the heater and wrapped it around Eevee as I left the bathroom. “From my observation… it seems to be some sort of mixture of a dusk stone, and an artificial mega stone.”

He frowned at it, turning it slowly over in his hands. “Who could even design something like this…and why give it to a new Trainer?”

“I think that’s pretty obvious,” I said as I sat down on the bed, petting Eevee absentmindedly. The Professor gave me a look that made it clear it was not obvious in the slightest. I sighed. “Well, the second part is obvious. Live test. The first part is a bit less, but I have some ideas.”

“Live test…” he muttered, not even looking up at me. “Who do you think it is?”

“The obvious culprit is Team Flare.” His head snapped up as he looked at me. “Yes, I know who they are. I also know vaguely of their plans… or at least I thought I did. If this is them, then this isn’t anything I’m aware of.”

He seemed to mull that over a bit before nodding. “Any…any other suspects?”

I remained quiet for a moment. “The Association.”

Again he had to think over that, sitting down and thinking. After a few moments he asked, “What makes you think that?”

“Timing, mostly.” I sighed a bit, and he waited for me to explain. “Here’s the events as I see them. The Trainer buys the device last night. He tries it, his Pokemon goes on a rampage. I’m contacted and rush over here.”

“That seems like an appropriate response by the Association,” he said slowly, not quite seeing it.

Why does everyone interrupt me when I’m trying to explain things? “That’s not where the timeline feels weird. It takes me hours to get here, but when I arrive, Valerie has just recently left, and Officer Jenny is still doing her investigation.”

He gave me a puzzled look, shaking his head a bit. “Where’s the weird part?”

“Arceus it’s a good thing you’re not a detective…” I mumbled before continuing, “The events are out of order. Officer Jenny’s investigation should have happened before I was contacted.”

“Unless…” His eyes went a bit wide as he came to the realization.

“Unless the Association was aware of it before Officer Jenny.” I sighed a bit and shook my head. “Of course, I might also just be pissed off at the Association from how they treated me, but the timing of stuff rubs me the wrong way. Especially because Officer Jenny didn’t know I was coming.”

“Which means she probably hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to the Association,” the Professor said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“It’s also possible that the Association heard it through other channels, or Valerie,” I suggested, explaining more of the reasons I had my doubts.

He nodded slowly, following my train of thought.

Before he could say more there was a knock at the door. “Come in.” I was honestly done with this conversation and didn’t really want to spitball theories. There just wasn’t enough information.

It was a Wigglytuff who opened the door, with a tray. “I have your Pokemon,” she said happily.

“Ah, you could have just sent Dee,” I said as I laid Eevee down and got up.

“No, no. There’s proper procedures to this. Dee is very much aware of them,” she said as she held out the tray to me.

“I suppose so,” I said with a chuckle while gathering the pokeballs. She simply gave me a smile and wobbled out of the room. I had to resist the urge to pat her head.

Without much thought I released everyone into the room. Rio looked absolutely ecstatic. “Did you see that hit?” she said proudly.

I nodded. “It was very impressive. But it would have been better to deflect the blow and strike with your other paw,” I said. I could see the moment she realized that that was a much better option. “I’ve got suggestions for everyone-”

The Professor stood up. “I’m going to head to the lab with this,” he said as he held up the device. “I’ll let you know what I find.”

“Right.” I nodded. “Oh, and…” I looked at him, and then at the device. “Depending on who comes demanding for that, we’ll have our answer on who it belonged to.”

He paused, but nodded and left without another word.

“Alright. So, Rio.” I sat down, picking Eevee back up and putting her in my lap. “You forgot the second part of your training, which is deflecting. Block or deflect.”

She nodded and punched a fist into her palm. “Right. I could have knocked him down quicker if I had just deflected the attack and struck him while his guard was open.”

“Brionne,” I looked at the newly evolved water Pokemon. “When I give you an order, there’s a reason.”

Her shoulders slumped a bit and she nodded. “Right… I wouldn’t have gotten hurt if I had listened…”

“You still did fantastically,” I said and picked her up, putting her on the bed beside me and began petting her. “It was a good idea to overpower the breath with your Water Gun, but you got tunnel vision and forgot that you can do other things.”

She nodded slowly. “But I’m so slow… What should I have done?”

“We’ll work on that. Just know that you can use your Water Gun to propel yourself, and you have other moves.” I smiled and rubbed her on her back softly. “Switching to Bubble Beam was a very good choice.”

She smiled up at me, nuzzling into my side.

“Cara.” She flinched. Just from looking at her I could tell she was disappointed in herself for her performance. “Your control has gotten so much better, but you panicked and let your Aura Sphere slip too easily.”

Her gaze was locked on the ground as she nodded slightly, not answering.

“But that last Aura Sphere was extremely impressive. It showed off just how far you’ve come,” I said with a smile. “You’re nowhere near the level you were before the training. Have more confidence in yourself, okay?”

I could see her shoulders sag a bit, but she nodded. I’m sure she was going to be extremely hard on herself.

“Oh oh, me next!” Whirly said excitedly. While I was pointing out their shortcomings and failures, I was also explaining where they were getting things right. Clearly the little bug wanted some praise.

“The only thing I can complain about your performance, little bug, is that you failed to poison them even once.” She froze, staring blankly at the air. She hadn’t even realized it. “You also spent too much time just doing Rollout. But that’s because we’ve only had time to train one technique. That’s my fault,” I admitted.

“Oh please, we wouldn’t have stood a chance without that training,” Rio said, patting her mother on the shoulder. I noticed that Rio was nearly half a foot taller than her mother, though neither had seemed to notice.

“Right.” I sighed a bit, and then looked over at the last participant in this battle. “Diancie.” She perked up at her name, smiling. “Your Gravity is fantastic, but I know for a fact you can do other things. Right?”

She seemed to think about this, nodding slowly. “Yes?”

“What were you doing the whole fight?” I tried to prompt her.

“Gravity!” she exclaimed happily, putting her hands on her hips.

“Yes.” I nodded to her response. “Gravity. But nothing else.”

Suddenly she had a realization. “Ah!” Gravity was a move that didn’t need to constantly be managed, and she had gotten it so that the duration was quite long. “I should have… been attacking?”

“Or tanking,” I said with a nod. “You could have moved in and taken some of the hits that Brione, Rio, or Whirly took.” It was a good thing she realized on her own what she had done wrong, even if it took a bit of prompting to have her realize she’d done anything wrong in the first place.

“Oh…” she said softly, looking down at her hands.

“But you still did a very good job. Your Gravity let everyone attack it easier, and kept it from running.” I reached over and rubbed her head. “Well, rest up,” I said as I smiled. “We’re going to start training more tomorrow.” Everyone agreed, eager to become stronger after experiencing a battle like that. We all settled in for the night, though it took a while for everyone to calm down enough to actually fall asleep.

The sleeping arrangements had shifted around a bit now that certain Pokemon had increased in size and changed shape. Cara was the only one who didn’t move. Rio had moved down off my chest and instead laid mostly on my leg using my thigh as a pillow. Brionne still laid on my chest, but she took up a lot more room. Eevee had actually joined into the pile, tucking her head into the side of my neck. Whirly remained under my arm, again placing herself so that my hand rested on top of her. My pillow was replaced by Dee, and finally Diancie laid on the same side as Cara, her hands grasping onto my fingers. Oh and there was the Goomy, who just clung to my arm.

I was going to drown in Pokemon at this rate.