Anya wasn't sure how she found herself in such a situation as she was currently in a Pokémon battle against another trainer, while another behind her was shouting orders at her. She mused that the whole situation started with a suggestion from Faesol that maybe being inside a real combat situation would awaken more of her capabilities.

Initially they just battled each other, which in the end was just Faesol blasting her with Psychic attacks. To neither's surprise it did not work out. Next they headed to the nearby public field where they tried to explain their situation to the trainers on site, some of them accepted and others were suspicious of their intentions.

The day continued, Anya getting continuously pelted with all sorts of attacks, then one of the trainers suggested that instead of battling on her own, she would be following the orders of another trainer, which led to her current situation.

Problems arose the first moment after the start of the battle, the eager trainer commanding Anya was stumped as he didn't know any attacks Anya could do and was just shouting 'Attack' over and over again.

Most of the battles ended in a standstill as the opposing Pokémon exhausted all of its energies while trying to deal damage to Anya.

In the end, the day wasn't entirely unproductive as she had found few important things about herself and the protective matrix she had. She found out that her protective energies were quite high and she could take stupidly high amount of attacks without really tiring out, at least against Pokémon at the first badge level and lower which the field was full of.

Another thing she found out while battling was that, now that she felt the existence of the framework covering her body, she noticed that she could slightly manipulate it to cover her clothes with the odd side effect of the affected cloth becoming rigid and part of 'her' for the lack of better word. She wondered if this was how held items and some odd Pokémon habits worked, like Kadabra spoons or Machoke belt and made a mental note to study later.

Last but not least she found out that by activating the battle mode she was also passively enhancing herself with power, her mind sharpened, she could see better, more accurate and her body felt light. It wasn't all that good as after combat when the mode was lifted, her body started to ache and feeling sluggish, due to the overstrenous usage of muscles and mind.

After every battle training session she had to take a short break to steady herself. She had told Faesol about the tiredness, the familiar answer she got didn't surprise her at all, too much energy, too little control, which would only get better by exposure.

-------------------------------------------

The last challenge of the day came from an older trainer, who acted arrogant and cocky. With constant flow of belittling taunts to Anya before the battle even had began.

Referee on the side, called the rules and soon gave the go to release the Pokémon.

Anya activated her battle mode as usual, during the Pokémon release phase. The energy swirled on her skin, limbering all of her body, the added boost to vision was quite noticeable as she tracked the red light releasing her opponent. Now that she was aware of the boost, she wondered why she had not noticed it before.

The opposing Pokémon materialized in front of her, in a blink of an eye a tall figure stood imposing, glaring at her. Anya's eyes analyzed he opponent, a tall bipedal bear brown bear with a yellow ring on its stomach. Anya was taken back by the ferocity it was radiating, slowly a maddening grin appeared on its face. Something felt off with this Pokémon and Anya didn't have time to figure it out as the battle had now officially started, Anya lowered her stance and kept distance. Her instinct was going haywire, her movement slowed down as she fought against the urge to just run away.

Missing hearing the first order from her opponent's trainer, the Ursaring lurched forward on all fours, picking up speed deceptively fast. Anya barely managed to jump out of the way, her body making a quick roll before righting herself.

Ursaring didn't stop there and continued past Anya and making a turn and was coming for another pass. Anya was still recovering from the roll, when the bear started barreling towards her again, this time, she was ready for the attack. Side stepping at the last moment instead of committing to a full roll, during the step she slid her cutters across the side of the Ursaring. Unfortunately, her cutters did not manage to pierce the aura hardened fur, she needed something more, she needed to do something.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

This time, the Ursaring didn't directly attack her after turning, something glinted in its ferocious eyes causing Anya to miss a step and stumble a bit, the Ursaring quickly closed in and used the opportunity to swipe its sharp claws at Anya, the attack connected to Anya's side the force throwing her away, she ragdolled around, ending the battle via boundary break. The referee called for the trainer to return their Pokémon, but the Ursaring's trainer snickered and ignored the referee's call. The Ursaring chased after Anya ferociously, the nearby trainers shouted in panic and ran out of the way. Anya still disoriented by all of the rolling did not notice the fast approaching Ursaring.

The Ursaring bit down on Anya, causing Anya to let out a distorted ear splitting screech. The Ursaring's bite held fast, its fangs trying to pierce Anya's protective matrix. In her panic Anya unknowingly infused her cutters with energy, causing them to have a reflective sheen. Still stuck in the Ursaring's deathly hold she stabbed the Ursaring into its side, the stab pierced the fur and caused the Ursaring to release Anya and roar in anger. Left alone for a second, Anya sprang up and steadied her stance, the fight stopped when another Pokémon appeared out of nowhere and stepped in front of Anya, its rough purple skin adorned with spikes was all that Anya could see. It took a direct punch from the enraged Ursaring and punched back, as if showing how to throw a 'real punch'. Anya couldn't see much behind the other Pokémon but she saw a cloud of dust blasting from the impact, the earth trembled when the Purple Pokémon stomped its foot down along with a sand and dust flying everywhere, the tremor causing Anya to stumble.

The training grounds was dead quiet. When a clear clap echoed through the air and the floating dust disappeared in a gust of wind.

There he stood, a familiar person, Giovanni.

---------------------------------------------------------

The aftermath of the incident was done in an orderly fashion by Giovanni himself, the Ursaring was sedated and the trainer it belonged to was nowhere in sight. A group of police officers were talking with the shocked trainers, trying to get the identity of the trainer who released the Ursaring.

Now having a closer look, Anya had seen that the Ursarings appearance was odd, its disheveled patchy fur with thicker and thinner spots, fangs, claws all distorted and crooked.

While Anya was inspecting the Ursaring, Giovanni had snuck next to her.

"Warforge, such a nasty thing from the past." He said in a low almost angry sounding voice, knowing well, that Anya next to him would hear. Anya glanced at his direction.

"It had its uses during the war, but now, not even the most insane villains use such a thing anymore."

"The reason lies in the drug itself, yes, it gives the Pokémon an immense physical boost, it reduces the Pokémon's mental capability to close to nothing and in some bad cases might even disable the whole thing. What use is for a tool, if it can not be wielded."

Even though he was wearing sunglasses, Giovanni's eyes met the Anya's. Her red orbs staring unnervingly straight at him. A question rolled around in his mouth, held back at the last moment, not letting anything slip, but one thing was clear to him and it made him uncomfortable, Anya knows. He wondered, has she told Samuel? or anyone else?

---------------------------------------------------------

Arriving back home, Anya's mind was in turmoil and Faesol was shocked, Anya felt sorry for the disgruntled feline.

Anya didn't know what to think about the whole situation, the worst part was unquestionably Giovanni and his help. Anya wasn't sure how much of the whole thing was planned in advance, how involved he was in the grand scheme of things. Did he give the order to release the Ursaring. The words Giovanni spoke to her, the words were spoken in a neutral tone, but his gaze, it was laced with anger beneath the sunglasses.

It might have been just pure luck that he was doing a business deal in Pallet of all places.

There are too many reasons for anything and Anya was not a detective.