Azumarill positioned herself at the edge of the battlefield, taking up a stance to ready herself for the fighters. Across from her, Mawile opened and closed her jaws, stretching her muscles before they began.
I, on the other hand, was currently sitting on a chair off to the side of the field. It had only been two days since I left the Pokémon Center, and Ninetales was still asleep. However, Azumarill just couldn’t wait any longer and challenged Mawile to a spar. More specifically, she challenged Mega Mawile.
Azumarill would be at an extreme disadvantage, but I think that just served to motivate her even more.
“Azumarill, just so you know, I will have to root against you to maintain Mawile’s Mega Evolution,” I said. “Don’t take it personally.”
She just waved me off and grinned in response. Her eyes were completely locked onto Mawile, who was staring back with a similarly determined focus.
I sighed.
“Remember this is a spar, not a real battle. Don’t get too ahead of yourselves,” I said.
With that reminder out of the way, I held my arm up and stared at Mawile, psyching myself up for the incoming battle. Using the tricks Gurkinn taught me, I focused on the goal that I knew Mawile would be following: beating Azumarill.
Mawile’s form began to glow, and a few trainers on the sidelines looked over to watch, amazed. Because I received the key to Kalos (which I still wasn’t over), I had also received permission to Mega Evolve my Pokémon without a Gym Leader present. I was told the fact that I had both received training from the Mega Evolution Guru and had used Mega Evolution to beat Lysandre helped with the decision.
When Mawile’s transformation was over, she snapped both of her large jaws closed to flex her enhanced muscles. The powerful bites caused a sharp snapping sound to ring out. It reminded me of a cymbal, and the growing crowd flinched at the sudden loud noise.
I was wary of the fact so many people had moved in to watch, but it wasn’t every day that a Mega Evolution happened just off the side of a Pokémon Center. I saw a few of them holding out their devices to record, and I couldn’t help but to feel a bit embarrassed.
However, I couldn’t let that distract me. Azumarill wanted to battle Mega Mawile, and Mawile wanted to battle right back. My focus was on the Mega Evolution.
With nothing else delaying them, the battle finally began.
To start it off, Azumarill set up an Aqua Ring to offset the injuries she would sustain from both Mawile and the Life Orb that hung around her neck. Following that up with a speed that made her difficult to track, Azumarill disappeared with Aqua Jet only to appear off to the side of Mawile. Mawile had clearly been caught off guard by that, expecting Azumarill to slam into her front instead, having already set up her jaws to block in that direction.
One spin later and Azumarill slammed her tail into Mawile with an Aqua Tail-like Liquidation, the force of the impact pushing her away. Mawile swung her jaws at Azumarill, but the Water Type simply landed on the ground and hopped to the side to avoid the attack with Splash. With Azumarill so close, Mawile tried to take advantage of Azumarill’s position to crush her between a dual Iron Head.
Seeing the two sets of jaws coming at her from both sides of her body, Azumarill purposely fell to her back as the jaws clanged together only an inch away from her face. Using Splash again, she landed on her tail, then bounced forward to slam into Mawile with a Play Rough.
While Mawile’s Steel Type let her resist the move, the force of the impact still caused Mawile to briefly lose her balance. However, Mawile wasn’t knocked over and was still able to retaliate. Now with Azumarill even closer and unable to dodge any longer, Mawile snapped forward with her jaws to bite down on Azumarill. Azumarill was lifted up in the air, and Mawile sent a burst of lightning into Azumarill with Thunder Fang, dealing super effective damage.
Azumarill spasmed as the electricity coursed through her, but made no moves to try to escape. Mawile started to move her other set of jaws forward to slam into Azumarill’s unprotected face, but for some reason, rather than following through with that attack, she threw Azumarill away from her.
I was initially confused why she hadn’t attacked, as it had looked like Azumarill wasn’t doing anything at all. To answer my question, Mawile spat out a bunch of water from the mouth that held Azumarill. It seemed that while Azumarill was being held, she had used Surf to conjure water within Mawile’s mouth in an attempt to drown her.
It was an interesting strategy, but Azumarill was currently far more damaged than Mawile was. The super effective attack from Mawile had been far stronger than Azumarill expected thanks to Mawile’s temporary Huge Power allowing her to dig her teeth into Azumarill far deeper than before, and in addition to that damage, the empowering effect of the Life Orb was burning Azumarill with each attack.
Frustrated and injured, Azumarill ripped her Life Orb off her neck and tossed it to the side. Ponyta caught it with telekinesis and brought it over to me. I hadn’t even realized he had developed that kind of control but accepted it without comment anyway. Without the Life Orb, Azumarill’s attacks would contain less power behind them, but the empowered energy within her wouldn’t sear her with every move. Essentially, by removing it, Azumarill wouldn’t faint from her own attacks, allowing her to push past the damage she just took.
Once more, the pair of them stood off facing each other. Azumarill’s permanent scowl twitched as she almost brought up her arm but stopped herself before she could. I had forbid Swagger from being used in this fight due to the danger a confused Mega Pokémon might pose. Considering the ever increasing crowd around the battlefield, it was the right decision.
The battle resumed when Azumarill jumped back to use a move I hadn’t seen in a while, Rain Dance, but Mawile sent forward a Stone Edge to try to prevent that.
This Stone Edge was slightly different than normal. It still followed the same pattern where sharp stones formed on Mawile’s jaws as if she was sweating before flicking that appendage forward to send them at her foe, but here, it happened at a much faster pace.
With Aqua Jet, Azumarill barely dodged two sets of stone coming from both of Mawile’s jaws. As a result, the Rain Dance was interrupted. Azumarill dropped to the ground to avoid one last flick, then popped back up with Splash. Mawile then paused momentarily. Coming to a realization, she then released her next use of Stone Edge a bit differently. Rather than launching the stones from both her jaws at once, she flicked forward one set and kept the other in reserve to reform stones on it, allowing her to constantly fire her only ranged attack like a machine gun.
As interesting as that development was, it still made me frown. While it had improved Mawile’s options from range, throughout this spar, Mawile had barely moved at all. Despite the power of her Mega Evolution, mobility was her primary issue. I would need to think of ways to fix that so she couldn’t be beat by an agile opponent that stayed at range.
Wait, haven’t I seen the perfect technique for Mawile to use to move around? Well, it wouldn’t hurt to try.
“Mawile!” I yelled. Azumarill sent me a glare for interrupting their spar, but I had a good reason for it. “Try to slam your jaws into the ground to launch you forward! Mimic Venusaur and Victreebel.”
Intrigued, Azumarill stepped back as the rapid fire Stone Edge ceased, and Mawile furrowed her brows. She tested it out by lightly tapping on the floor behind her before slamming both her extended mouths down. The only result was that the ground shook, so she turned around and tried a different method.
This time, when Mawile banged her jaws on the ground, but using both of them like levers, tilted herself into the air to launch herself forward. It almost resembled the same motion of using a foot to push off the ground, but with both her jaws at once. She didn’t get very far, only a few feet in a wild and uncontrolled manner. However, it did let her increase her speed a bit more, and I could tell with enough practice, she would be able to move around the field at a significantly enhanced rate.
However, I could also tell this only worked while she had the enhanced strength of her Mega Evolution. Physics just didn’t support it well enough in her normal form.
At that, I clapped my hands to end their spar.
Azumarill looked a bit annoyed that their spar had ended like this, but this was a spar rather than an actual battle, and I didn’t want either of them to get too hurt. Azumarill was already pretty injured from Mawile’s Thunder Fang, and we had plans after this I wanted their help for.
I breathed out and cleared my mind to release Mawile’s Mega Evolution, causing the sudden loss of added weight to cause her to briefly lose her balance. She and Azumarill went back to glaring at each other from across the field.
Mawile smirked.
Azumarill tch’d.
The outcome of the battle was basically what I expected: Mawile had done more damage to Azumarill than Azumarill did to Mawile. With two sets of jaws and a more powerful body, Mawile was far more capable of taking a melee hit than Azumarill was. Because of that, Azumarill could barely put a dent into Mawile and take advantage of the proceeding opening, meaning Mawile dealt more damage than she took.
However, Azumarill’s use of Splash meant she was significantly bothersome to hit, only being able to be caught by Mawile’s best attack: her snapping bites.
I had forgotten about our observers, but a few people clapped once Mawile returned to her non-Mega Form. Most of them started to walk away, looking a bit disappointed. They most likely wanted to watch a real Mega Evolution battle.
Now that I was no longer forced to put so much focus into maintaining Mawile’s Mega Evolution, I couldn’t help but to feel a bit embarrassed at the attention our little training session had brought. I hoped nothing too bad would come of this.
“You two did a good job, but I still see room for improvement,” I said. I smirked when I saw them look at me expecting me to continue. “However, I’m not going to tell you what just yet.”
Azumarill frowned and crossed her arms. Mawile looked to be on the verge of tears. I wagged my finger.
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“Hey. Don’t give me those Fake Tears, Mawile. And Azumarill, you know if I told you, you’d just go off and try to fix your mistakes on your own. Both of you agreed to help me practice for Ninetales after this spar. After all, Mawile’s Mega Evolution did make me pretty tired.”
Both of them reluctantly accepted my point, and I waved my team over to head towards the kitchen we had been practicing in. I quickly used a Potion to restore Azumarill’s injuries while Florges stared on, almost jealous. I could tell she wanted to help, but she was still forbidden from using moves.
Afterwards, I returned everyone and began to make my way out. However, as I started to leave, someone I hadn’t seen in a few days appeared on the path ahead.
Dedenne, the gluttonous little Electric and Fairy Type, stood in front of me on the small path that stretched from behind the Pokémon Center. His eyes looked puffy as if he had been crying, and he stared at me while fiddling with his tail in his paws.
“Dedenne?” I asked, tilting my head. “Are you alright?”
He nodded and stared at me in the eyes. After a few seconds of doing so, he suddenly slapped his cheeks to refocus himself, creating a small crackle of electricity in response.
I wasn’t able to say anything else before he started to run off. That made me think he was leaving again, but he stopped at the end of the path to wait for me.
“Do you want me to follow?” I asked.
Again, he nodded his head then scurried off, and I quickly made my way after him.
Dedenne moved through the streets and alleys of Shalour City, forcing me to take a winding path to follow. I got a few curious looks as I followed the electric rodent, and I swear I heard a few chuckles from people assuming he was a wild Pokémon that had stolen something from me. Honestly, I would have assumed the same thing if I saw myself running like this.
I was already tired from Mega Evolving Mawile, so I was huffing and panting by the time I caught up with him. It wasn’t that I was out of shape, it was just that my body wouldn’t move with the same amount of energy as I wanted it to.
When we arrived at his destination, Dedenne was sitting on the edge of the road, right outside of a shop he was staring into the windows of. As I approached, I realized it was an apricorn shop that sold custom Pokéballs.
Things started to click into place.
“I promised you that I’d buy you anything you wanted after you helped out with Diancie. Did you... did you change your mind about my offer from back when we first left Lumiose?”
I stood next to Dedenne as he stared into the window, and I traced his gaze to where he was looking at a Fast Ball. It was red like a normal Pokéball, except there was a lightning bolt symbol at the top of it, and the sides were circles of bright yellow. It honestly looked perfect for an Electric Type.
Dedenne rocked back and forth in place and squeaked to get my attention. He looked at me as if waiting for something.
I wasn’t going to turn him down.
“Well, Dedenne. You might have declined last time, but I haven’t given up just yet. So, I ask again: Dedenne, do you want to join my team?”
He squeaked once, loudly, then nodded fervently and jumped on my side to climb to my shoulder. Once there, he patted my ear excitedly and chittered to try to get me to enter the store. However, I just chuckled and walked in a different direction instead.
“I promised I’d buy you anything you wanted, but I can’t buy you a Fast Ball. No, don’t give me that look, you’re misunderstanding me. See, I already own several Fast Balls. You can get something else, too.”
I felt Dedenne freeze on my shoulder. I looked over worriedly.
He was practically vibrating with energy.
I knew this would be a mistake.
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Putting my planned practice session on temporary hold, I was forced to travel around the town to see what exactly Dedenne wanted. He tried to convince me to just buy a bunch of food, but with a little encouragement, I managed to convince him to choose something more permanent, since he’d be occasionally traveling with me in the future when my team size permitted it. Eventually, he settled on a cotton candy machine that had an attachment for Electric Type Pokémon to power it. It seemed he would be getting a lot of sugar in the future.
I returned to the Pokémon Center before I actually caught him, and when I did, I had a difficult decision to make. I was already carrying my temporary max of seven Pokémon, and with Dedenne, I now had eight total. I went through combinations and splits and plans and all sorts of different ideas of how to do this, until Dedenne practically explicitly told me he was fine going to Professor Sycamore’s ranch alone. There were things he needed to take care of in Lumiose now that he had been caught.
Well, it wasn’t that he “explicitly” told me, but he did make it pretty clear through a brief session of charades I had with him as he tried to talk.
I sent him over with a promise to meet back up with him in a few weeks after Ninetales was better, then left to practice. Surprisingly, he seemed fine with the waiting period. Apparently he had more things to do than I expected.
Over the next few days, my life followed a simple pattern. I relaxed with my team, spending time with them discussing potential changes to how we’ve been training and battling, and then also tried to help Hope and Ramos on and off. I had difficulty doing so most days as my mind was filled with thoughts about Ninetales’s condition, so I resorted to spending most of my time perfecting my surprise for her. I only hoped she would like it.
Eventually, the date rolled around for Ninetales to wake up.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to be in the room when it happened. In actuality, the nurses had lied to me and given me a date for after she had woken up! However, since it was a medical coma, she had been purposely put asleep so she could heal not unlike the move Rest, and as a result, it took time for her to reorient herself and regain full control of herself. They had given me a date one day afterwards to let Ninetales be properly in control of her faculties.
The nurse led me to the room Ninetales was resting in, and quietly opened the door for me to enter. This room wasn’t any room I was familiar with in a Pokémon Center since it was much more clinical and clean. The walls were painted white and there was a counter on one side as well as a simple television above it. However, my attention was on Ninetales.
As an Alolan Ninetales, her mane was long and wild. Normally it stuck out from how big it was, but right now it was flat on the table almost as if someone had poured a bucket of water on it. The rest of her fur was either knotted or matty, and her head was resting on a pillow. What hurt me the most was seeing the number of bandages wrapped tightly around the center of Ninetales’s body.
As I walked in, she lifted her head up to smile at me, and I almost felt like crying right there and then.
“Hi, Ninetales,” I said, wiping tears out of my eyes.
She gave me a soft bark back.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
She tried to shift her front legs up to mimic a shrug, but instead, she winced from the pain it caused. I briefly stopped, worried she just got hurt more, but her face quickly went back to its normal, unpainted resting position.
“You’ve been out of it for a few days,” I murmured. “Lysandre was arrested, Team Flare collapsed, we won.”
Ninetales huffed out happily.
“Oh, and Dedenne is officially part of the team now.”
She immediately snapped her head to face me in shock, causing her to wince from pain again. However, she kept staring at me, eyes wide in disbelief, and didn’t put her head back down.
“I know, right?” I laughed. “I would have thought he’d be fine just staying in Sycamore’s lab and just pigging out forever. Seems he likes hanging out with us.”
She slowly put her head back down, and I loosely rested my hand on her side. I could feel her breathing, but I could also tell it was moderately strained with everything going on.
“I, uh. Don’t really know what to say. Thank you, for sure. I mean, you absolutely saved my life.”
Ninetales closed her eyes and smiled, but I couldn’t. The only movement she could get away with was that of her face, and I could tell she was purposely trying to keep the rest of her body as still as possible to not aggravate her injuries.
“You seriously went above and beyond. You always do. Meteor Falls, Sea Mauville, TV Mauville, and even Mossdeep you’ve been making sure I’m safe. You’ve done so much to make sure I wouldn’t be hurt, yet I keep acting stupid and getting us into more and more danger.”
She nodded her head, as if it was obvious how stupid I was. However, when she opened her eyes again, she frowned when she saw the tears running down my face.
“Sorry. I’m really sorry. I never meant for you to get hurt so badly, or to have you try so hard to constantly protect me. I always say I’m going to get better, but this time, I mean it. I’ve already taken steps to try to prevent something this bad from happening, and I promise, I mean really promise that I won’t put myself into anything near as dangerous again.
“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
In response, Ninetales just shifted her head ever so slightly to place her nose against my hand. It was cold and wet, but I could tell it was a little warmer than normal. Once she started to properly heal, her body would return to its natural freezing cold temperature.
I wiped my eyes again as the injured Ninetales tried to comfort me, when I should have been trying to comfort her. I gave her a big smile.
“Sorry about crying. And about apologizing so much. Just... we’re partners, alright? Just like how it hurts you to see me hurt, it hurts me to see you hurt as well. Let’s... Let’s be safer in the future. We still have a long journey ahead of us.”
Ninetales smiled back at me, and I calmly ran my hand over her head. I reached into my backpack to pull out her brush—
As well to ready the surprise I prepared for her.
After spending some time to calm down and to regale Ninetales of the developments going on in the outside world (honestly, it almost seemed like she wanted to give Mawile a go herself when I talked about Mawile’s battle with Azumarill), I reached into the backpack to pull out the first of what I had prepared.
“This is for you, by the way. I asked the nurses what was okay for you to eat right now, and I made sure it fit into what they told me. Everyone has been working alongside me all week to practice making it, so I hope it’s alright.”
Ninetales didn’t cry when she first got hurt. She didn’t cry when I apologized. And she didn’t cry when I cried as well. However, right now, when I brought out what was essentially Aspear-berry pie filling (she couldn’t eat solid foods yet), Ninetales cried.
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A week later, Ninetales could walk. She was technically able to walk earlier in the week, but it took her a week to recover enough to walk on her own. She still struggled with maintaining a decent pace, and occasionally she had to stop to catch her breath, but she was walking.
When it came to the time needed for a Pokémon to recover from an injury, their healing process was significantly faster than humans. Most battles would only need a few hours to recover from minor injuries, or a night’s rest if the Pokémon became too tired. However, when something overwhelmed a Pokémon enough to cause them serious physical harm, they still had to spend the time properly healing. It was rare for a trainer’s Pokémon to get hurt so badly, but sometimes wild Pokémon would inflict injuries like this. In Ninetales’s case, her injuries were so significant it was taking her two months in total to get back to her normal state. Considering that her injuries were lethal for a human, she got off a lot better than I would have.
However, since she had been hurt enough to necessitate a medically-induced coma, Ninetales needed physical therapy to make sure she would both heal and return to her previous condition properly. The nurses in Shalour were skilled enough, but after a week of waiting, we were recommended to a place in Lumiose that had experts for this instead.
So, we decided to say our goodbyes and head out.
Ramos had lingered around the city as the League official in charge of the “clean up.” Normally, the local Gym Leader, who just so happened to be Gurkinn’s son, would have been in charge, but since Ramos was directly involved it had been passed off to him instead. Hope had initially spent her time here relaxing but had quickly switched over to assisting Ramos instead. She might have had only a little bit of experience as a low-level Gym Trainer, but she still knew the ins and outs of his work day, and made sure he wasn’t bothered by the little things.
Due to that, they were both in town when it came time for me to leave, and when I told them I was heading out, they asked me to give them an hour first.
I met up with them at one of the entrances to Reflection Cave, and I smiled when I saw Diancie was with them. I hadn’t got the chance to say goodbye to her earlier, and I was happy to be able to do so now.
“Well, this is it,” I said. “I’m returning to Lumiose, and, after that, I’m probably going to leave the region. I’m not good at goodbyes, but I’m happy to have met you all. Hope, it was fun traveling with you, and Ramos, thank you for everything. And for you, Diancie, I’m happy everything managed to work itself out.”
Diancie smiled at me, and rather than saying goodbye, Hope nudged her forward. She was holding something behind her back.
Confused, I raised an eyebrow, and Diancie’s expression of a wide smile shifted to one of intense focus. She closed her eyes and pursed her lips as I received a telepathic communication that actually had complete sentences with little emotions leaking through.
“Thank you... for everything, Alex. I have... a gift for... you. Please... send out.”
As she finished that, she breathed out then the bright smile resumed. She briefly sent a glance towards Ramos, who nodded. She looked even happier at that.
Without anything else to say, Diancie held out a Great Ball. Shocked, I also glanced over to Ramos, who also gave me a nod. Without a waiting any longer, I held the ball in my hand then released whoever was inside.
When that Pokémon appeared, I recognized them.
Appearing floating in mid-air was that same Carbink we first encountered. I recognized it by the line of discolored rock on its chest from the attack it sustained from the Seviper during the assault. It looked at me with hopeful eyes, and Diancie returned to focusing on her telepathy to explain.
“They... wanted to come. They... want to see the world. Travel... with... you. Be like me.”
She sent that last sentence as a nostalgic feeling leaked through. Diancie had a sad expression on her face as she looked at Carbink, who was currently forcing themself to not stare at Diancie, holding back tears.
“Carbink. Bink,” they said.
“Asking for... permission,” Diancie translated.
I kneeled down.
“If you want to come with me, you’re welcome to, Carbink. I would love to have you along, and I’m sure everyone else would, as well.
Their eyes curled up in a smile, and they bobbed up and down. Rushing forward, Carbink nuzzled into my chest and said their name happily.
“See, world,” Diancie sent, most likely speaking to Carbink. “Miss, you.”
Carbink turned around, crying, and this time nuzzled into Diancie’s chest. She hugged them and gave them a few pats while making shushing noises, and they backed off after a bit, still sniffling despite Diancie’s gestures.
Carbink then forced themself to stop crying, and they proceeded to give Diancie a speech not unlike the one they had given back in the cavern. I was unsure what they said, but it caused Diancie to wipe tears from her eyes.
“Goodbye,” she sent alongside a bittersweet feeling.
At that, Carbink moved back to me, and taking the cue, I returned them to their Great Ball. I would need to send a Pokémon to Sycamore’s Lab, but since I was just taking Altaria, who had since regrown his feathers, to Lumiose, it wouldn’t be a long time at all. Considering Whimsicott expressed interest in meeting up with Dedenne again, he might enjoy having a day or two to himself (to the detriment of everyone around him). Later, I would need to figure out who would be sticking around in my party in general. I had time to consider it, however, as the Sinnoh League was still over a month away.
I said goodbye to Diancie for a final time, and left with Ramos and Hope along my side. We chatted a bit before I also gave them one last goodbye and a promise to keep in contact, then I unfolded the basket as Altaria and I started our journey back to Lumiose.