Warm, that was the first thing I felt as I woke up luckily without the uncomfortable wet that comes when a child has peed the bed. No fortunately this heat came from the same place as the light which poured in through the top of the tent. Taking a second to get my bearings I remember the events of yesterday.

I had done it, I’d made it far enough to find someone who could help me. My brother and I would be safe. Wait, where is my brother?

Feeling panic rise in my chest as I looked around at the otherwise empty tent. The door of which was flapping open. Had he run off? My heart racing I crawl out of the tent as fast as I can and shoot to my feet.

“LEO!” I yell looking around frantically.

Only to be greeted to the scene of him playing with a Cinccino in the grass. A bemused Karly watching on.

“Brother!” he yells back doing his best to stumble up to me.

When he grows close I sweep him up into a hug. Immediately relief floods me and calm returns.

A light chuckle interrupts our ‘reunion’.

“I thought he ran off ok! He likes to wander sometimes.” I defend as blush makes its way onto my face.

That comment only seems to egg Karly on as her chuckle gives way to a burst of laughter. As she laughed I turned to look anywhere else. Which led to me making eye contact with her Cinccino who also seemed to be having fun at my expense. Cinccino was an extremely cute, soft-looking rabbit? Pokémon. That being said this Cinccino was owned by an ace trainer which likely meant that despite its appearance it was probably extremely capable. If I remembered correctly Cinccino often had the ability technician which in and of itself was monstrous.

“Your brother is very lucky to have someone who cares so much,” Karly said, snapping me out of my thoughts and drawing my attention back to her. She was still spotting a smile though it was more kind than mocking.

“Thank you, when are we leaving?” I ask, trying to move the topic on.

“Eager are we? I suppose that's normal considering. We can get going whenever but It will be a long trip so I think it's best if we eat lunch first. I’ll cook, you pack your stuff up.” she said.

With that, I put Leo down and got to packing my stuff up. As I was doing so the smell of Karly’s cooking reminded me I hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday as I had fallen asleep after pitching my tent.

After I had packed I sat down next to Karly on the spare camping chair she laid out for me. My brother quickly came over to sit by me, followed by a slightly tired-looking Cinccino.

“It smells really good” I say looking down at the stew that created a yearning in my stomach.

“Thanks, one thing about being a Pokémon trainer that no one mentions is learning to cook” she responds.

“Really?” I say wondering how people could think otherwise given that all athletes perform and improve physically based on their diet.

“Yep and yet it's one of the most important things. Cooking tasty meals that have the right nutrients is the best thing to do after a hard training session. People are too focused on elite battles and tactics when you won’t get that far if you don’t eat and train right” she lectures somewhat sadly.

“Interesting I’ll make sure to remember that. If it's not too personal can I ask what made you get into training?”

She looks at me with a playful grin before responding.

“It’s awfully personal but since you’ve told me so much about yourself it’s only fair. I got into training to protect people. You see most people aren’t able to fend off wild Pokémon or organised teams, even just a rogue trainer can be dangerous enough to cause widespread devastation and as an Ace trainer you stand up against that.” she replied with a slight look of melancholy flashing on her face for a moment.

“Wow, how noble. If I may ask, though I’ve heard the league has a police force, isn't that their job?” I ask.

“Yes and no. Whilst police are often mobilised to deal with high level threats such as teams they are not used as the main line of defence and are there to ensure public safety more than anything else. They focus on lower level crime such as theft. Whereas Pokémon related crime often requires Ace trainers even just as muscle, it's not an easy job though it’s why it's so hard to gain the title of Ace.” she responds.

With that, a silence emerges as we both become lost in thought. The thing that breaks the silence is not us but rather the stew.

“Here it's ready. Eat up,” she says passing me a warm bowl.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Thank you,” I replied.

It was divine, the meat was tender and the broth was flavorful though I didn’t exactly savour it as my stomach was an empty pit calling to be fed. As quick as it was given to me the bowl was drained leaving the satisfaction of being full along with a craving for the taste in its wake.

“That was amazing thank you,” I say to Karly as I pass the bowl back to her.

“Wow you ate that fast, do you want some more?” she responds.

“No thank you, it was quite enough, plus I need to feed Leo,” I say as I fish Leo's food out of my bag and begin feeding him.

After lunch, Karly packed up all her stuff and took out two Pokeballs then promptly threw them into the air releasing her Skarmory with a screech its metal wings shining dangerously in the sunlight and Unfezant who preened proudly its pink plumage displayed proudly.

Leo looked on with wonder at the birds, the sound surprisingly not affecting him too much. Karly approached them and began putting the harnesses on.

“You will ride on Unfezant and I will ride Skarmory with little Leo. Before you ask, no you cannot ride together you lack any sort of training. If the circumstances were any different we’d have walked back.” She explained strictly, her tone leaving no room for compromise.

“Are you sure it’s safe for him?” I ask deciding not to fight her on this despite being uncomfortable with it.

Her expression softened as she turned back to me.

“Yes, he’ll be quite safe, not only is Skarmory more than strong enough, Leo will be attached by a harness. As for wild Pokemon that might challenge us, there are few in this area generally and only a few unfezant flocks that could challenge us which won’t be a problem as they tend to be docile.” She reassures me.

“Oh? What other Pokemon are there in the area?” I ask, unable to stop my curiosity.

“There are many lines in the area. Mainly Patrat, Caterpie, Wurmpul, and all sorts of bug Pokemon. However, the one I’m most concerned with are the scyther . They are vicious warrior Pokemon known to be dangerous individually, let alone in their swarms. Luckily they can’t fly too high so we’ll be fine.” She explains.

“That does sound dangerous!” I exclaim, suddenly feeling very lucky. I had gone out of the frying pan straight into the fire and came away without getting burned. ]

“Yes, the fact you didn’t know that is concerning but does explain a lot. What did they teach you in that village anyway?” She asked, sounding somewhat exasperated.

“Not enough” I replied deflecting the question, suddenly feeling vulnerable. Before she could ask more I decided to move the conversation onward.

“Why were you in the forest if it's so dangerous?” I asked.

She looked at me for a second with an evaluating gaze before answering. Her eyes pierced mine as she seemed to look through me at my very soul. It was as if I was being eyed by a predator and as the prey there was nothing I could do but freeze and wait for her judgement to pass. Then suddenly as soon as that feeling came it left and she was back to her cheery self.

“I came out here to train. As it is away from prying eyes while we’re preparing to compete at the Vertress Conference, in the pro division obviously. I was also hopeful that I would catch a scyther for myself as my team could use a new unknown member but fate had other plans.” She said, the last line ending with a smile down at Leo who was still looking at the flying type Pokemon with sparkling eyes, seemingly oblivious to the previous tension.

“What's the Vertress Conference?” I ask, trying to show a lack of general knowledge hoping to ward off suspicion.

“Damn, you really don’t know much huh! The Vertress Conference is the penultimate Pokemon battling tournament of the year in Unova. It takes part in three tiers, the rookie tier for those who have never competed and have trained for less than 5 years, the casual tier for those who don’t train as a full-time job but still want to battle. Finally the pro tier for the Ace trainers and other high level Pokemon trainers. Anyway, you won't have to worry about any of that until you get your trainers licence, if you decide to go that route.” she explains.

“Oh wow, sounds high level.” I say, marvelling at how different despite the similarities this world was to the anime depiction. This did confirm my suspicions though, Karly was the real deal. She was one of the strongest trainers in the region.

“Ok, enough talking we’re ready” she says. With both our backpacks attached to the harnesses all that was left was to get on and fly.

Crouching down to Leo’s level I turned him to face me.

“Leo you’re going to fly with Karly on Skarmory and I’m going to go on Unfezant and we’re going to race to our new home ok!” I say with some excitement in my voice, trying to hide the slight anxiety of being separated or more specifically giving him over to a virtual stranger, not that I had much choice in the matter.

“OK! We're so going to win big bro you're so slow!” he says running off to Karly presumably to get a head start.

Karly just smiled, picked him up and attached him to the harness making sure it was tight before she led me over to Unfezant helped me up and did the same. She also gave me a pair of flying goggles.

“Don’t worry about anything, just enjoy the ride. Unfezant knows what he’s doing,” she reassured me. With that done she climbed on Skarmory and signalled for us to depart.

Unfezzant unfurled its wings and with one powerful flap took us off the ground towards the sky. As we flew upwards above the treeline I got a look at our surroundings. All I could see was endless green, trees in every direction finally ending only as it met the blue sky above in the horizon. The scene was wondrous and I felt more free than I ever had before.

With this take off there was a finality to things, not only could I not go back now but I was going to be thrust straight into civilisation. Fears and concerns started to build in me as anxieties I never knew I had surfaced and threatened to tear me down. Yet despite all of my worries, looking over the horizon as I soared through the air on the back of a real life Pokemon washed the doubts away. Perhaps it was how surreal the situation felt or it was the joyous laughter I could hear from Leo in the wind but I felt at peace ready to face what would come next.