"So try from the feet," I urged.

Fay rolled her eyes but she complied nonetheless. She closed her eyes to focus and steadied her breathing.

She had her two paws crossed in front of her chest like a pharaoh lying in a tomb.

Shining white claws manifested from thin air. They were short but looked really sharp, I hadn't dared to touch them because I saw her leaving deep scratches with her claws in solid stone.

The metal claws weren't real metal which was a small relief, it would be hella creepy to find out that the small Riolu had Adamantium blades in her arms.

What her metal claws were made of still remained a mystery, could it be solidified energy or a hard light construct?

Whatever it was, activating them and keeping them up wasn't really energy expensive and could be used without worrying about draining Fay.

Metal Claw was relatively simple which meant I had to find ways to break it. Sadly, after a lot of trial and error, we concluded that Fay could not adjust the size of her claws.

"Ugh, it's not working.' Fay muttered tiredly.

"Keep trying please," I insisted.

{Yes} Luna sent through telepathically, trying to help.

She was drinking apple juice through a straw while sitting on a big boulder. Red eyes were focused on Riolu.

Around us a strong wind swept through the grass and the howling created a mysterious song.

A stone structure that looked like a pillar with holes in it stood on the top of the hill. The wind flowed through the holes creating a hollow-sounding song.

It stood defiantly in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by grass plains with no one except us to listen to its song.

I had decided to take a different route to Jubilife City, mostly because I don't want to see the same trees again on my way back, as a result I came across this weird-music making rock.

I thought the strange pillar already looked neat but the song also had a function, supposedly.

According to the text scratched into the pillar, it was put there by an Aura Guardian long ago. The song would keep out a ghost Pokémon who, 'Swallowed the land.' whatever that's supposed to mean.

We settled down here for multiple reasons.

Fay felt this place was infused with positive Aura and I theorized it might improve my own broken Aura.

I don't know how Aura works and it was only a faint hope. Perhaps it was like a phone in need of charging or maybe my Aura's condition was set in stone. This world's findings on Aura were again classified by the League which was starting to form an annoying pattern.

The second reason for coming here was the ghost Pokémon.

I would love to see it, assuming, of course, it actually exists.

And no, I'm not crazy. Ghost Pokémon are actually smart and could be argued with and I was like 99% sure that whatever Pokémon supposedly haunted these lands was to some extent passive, of course, that was assuming it was even real.

There had been no-kill orders in this area so meeting it would be safe to some degree and perhaps I could convince it to join me, after all, Ghost Pokémon were pretty lonely.

So far though, no Pokémon had made themselves known. Perhaps said Pokémon was long gone or maybe it only appeared after sunset. We still had a few hours of sunlight to burn so that might have been the case.

Fay gasped and I brought my attention to the small Riolu again.

She was covered in sweat. Training today had been exhausting but she insisted on keeping going, even after I said she had done enough for today.

Luna had also trained a lot, although not physically but mentally and eventually she passed out from the mental drain.

Because, as it turns out, trying to teleport a boulder from Oreburgh City to this place could make a psychic pass out.

She didn't have enough energy to teleport it back but personally, I wasn't too worried about that. Roark could probably do with one boulder less.

Fay opened her eyes and witnessed three glowing claws sticking out of her feet. She hesitantly moved around, testing her balance with visible awe on her face.

Honestly, it had been a wild guess if she could do it from her feet and not only from her hands but my curiosity bore fruit.

She experimentally kicked the air in front of her, it was definitely cute, but I resisted the urge to hug the small Pokémon, she wouldn't appreciate it anyway.

"So it does work," I mused.

Luna and I watched how Fay managed to walk with 2 extra sets of claws.

The ones at her feet dug into the earth and I theorized that if she ran fast enough she could probably cut the grass.

Now I finally knew what Metal Claw could and couldn't do I began to think up potential strategies and attack patterns.

Most people saw Metal Claw as just another attack in the move pool but I wanted it to become something more.

Yeah, of course I was waiting for the Aura Pokémon to actually manipulate Aura but that doesn't mean other attacks should be abandoned in pursuit of stronger attacks.

For example, Metal Claw was a quick move that had a weird property which I discovered only after a few spars between Luna and Fay.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Metal Claw could stunlock an opponent for a brief moment which allowed Fay to do a second follow up attack, but if she put more force into the Metal Claw the properties changed and it could be used as a 'get out of my face' attack which knocked her opponent away from her instead of keeping them in place.

It was a subtle detail that even Fay didn't notice until I pointed it out.

Having gathered all the data I began to think about how Fay should fight.

All her spars with Luna the psychic had to be held back and refrained from using more power full combos.

Though that was not to say Fay was weak, her Metal Claw did leave an impact on Luna.

"Fay," I said, "I think I figured it out."

"You did?" Fay asked hopefully with a slight hint of desperation in her voice.

After she had seen the power Lugia displayed she had become more determined to get stronger.

But seeing Lugia's power also made Fay realize that she had a long way to go and she became disappointed with herself, believing she was weak and she would never complete her life goal of killing Hunter J.

This put me in this awkward position of either supporting Fay and telling her that with enough training and friendship magic she could murder Hunter J, if only she believes in herself.

Or I could tell her that it was unlikely that she could ever kill Hunter J and that she should stop obsessing over it and face reality.

I considered myself a rationalist but telling Fay the odds might put her into a depression and maybe she'll project the anger aimed at Hunter J towards me, the messenger.

There was no obvious 'right' answer, or atleast one I could see. I was not at all qualified for raising a child, let alone a Pokémon with the mindset of a traumatized child with an obsessive coping mechanism.

In the end I decided to be a supportive person and told her shiz like: we figure it out together. It made me feel like I was a liar so that was at least familiar territory.

Although I really do want to help Fay, just not with a suicide quest.

Fay took a step towards me as I leaped from the big boulder. I opened my backpack and took out my laptop.

The grass was really comfy so I sat down and took the laptop in my lap.

Luna snuggled beside me, eating away at a bag of chips, she offered me the bag and I took out a handful, making sure I didn't spill on the keyboard.

Fay sat down on my right, Luna offered her the bag as well but Fay politely refused.

{Tasty} The white psychic shrugged.

"Okay," I began, "So first remember that this is our current strategy and that along with your development your fighting style will change."

Fay nodded, "Yes, the measure of intelligence is the ability to change, you said."

I blinked, I didn't remember saying that specific quote, I said a lot of bullshit but Fay apparently remembered it.

"Fay, I personally think that a rush down- close combat fighting style would fit you."

"A what?" Fay asked, perplexed.

{Brute, Mover} Luna supplied.

"Like a ninja," I tried to explain.

"What is a ninja?" Fay asked.

Ralts dropped her bag of chips and stood straight, she kicked the air in front of her and did a pretty ninja-like kick.

She sat down and gave us a smug smile and took a chip out of the pouch.

Seeing Fay's incredulous stare, Luna obviously failed to convey the definition of a ninja.

I sighed, "You should focus on being a quick hitter, getting close to an opponent. Be right in their face and weave through their defenses. Play aggressive and keep up the pace, force them into making stupid decisions."

I pointed at Luna, "She plays very defensive, baits out an attack and punishes it accordingly with an entire combo once she finds an opening."

Luna grinned evilly.

"You should be the opposite of that, play aggressive but don't commit to any risky moves, instead try to stack up damage and dodge incoming attacks."

Multiple examples came up in my mind, X-23 from the X-Men, Ty Lee from Avatar or Sheik from Smash.

Going up close would force a lot of opponent's to rely on physical combat and Fay's Counter was a perfect...well counter for physical attacks.

"That actually does sound really good." Fay nodded reluctantly.

I smiled, "So I think we should look into martial arts, or to be precise ninjutsu."

"What?" Fay asked again.

"It's a martial art based on dancing around your opponent and wearing them down with quick jabs and attacks."

I opened a tab on my laptop and a website popped up. "I found an online course for learning ninjutsu, it's designed for humans but I think you could use it to form a basis."

It was made by a Gym leader in Galar, dunno the name but apparently she was quite famous for mastering multiple martial arts. The course had cost me quite a penny but it would definitely be worth it.

Finding this course had taken me quite some time and I was definitely proud of myself.

Fay turned her head to me and gave me a slight bow, "Thank you for doing this."

Progress!

"No problem," I smiled, "Just remember that you're not alone in this world."

"I will."

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

The stars in the sky were shining brighter than ever, there was basically zero light pollution around here and I made an attempt to count the stars.

I had discovered a while ago that this world and my own did not share the same constellations which made me wonder, why was it that way?

Was it Pokémon influence or was, unknowingly, a million of years into the future or past which caused this place to have different constellations?

The chilly wind played a howling song that made me feel like I was in Hyrule and not in Sinnoh. The sound was quiet and sorrowful. The stars blinked happily in the sky, no land swallowing Pokémon had made itself known yet.

Honestly I wasn't expecting too much anyway.

It was a pretty good spot to chill anyway, as magical as this world could get. The boulder wasn't too bad to sit on either.

Luna sat besides me, leaning against me and yawning though she tried to fight it.

I took another sip from my drink.

Still no magical monsters.

Fay was quietly sleeping in the tent. She had gotten too tired from the training all day and fell asleep directly after dinner.

"You want to know something fun?" I asked.

{What?} Luna yawned while sending the message.

"Today I'm officially a month in this world." I announced loudly..

"Ralts?" She asked, she closed her eyes and I presumed she began trying to count the days.

I patiently waited for her to finish but to my surprise she began snoring after 10 seconds. She fell over and I caught her with my hand before she could fall to the ground.

I put her on my lap and she curled up to a ball, she tugged a thumb in her mouth and a sheepish smile formed on her face.

Patting her on the head I took another sip from the bottle.

It tasted absolutely disgusting, too bitter and not enough substance but for some reason people still drink it.

I had never done alcohol in my old world despite being legally allowed to. I was just not that interested and considered it a waste of money.

But right now I could use some distractions.

I felt fuzzy inside but I was not sure if it was due to alcohol going through my system, the hypnotizing song that was being spread by the wind or just plain old tiredness.

I figured that I deserved to be drunk tonight, after all I had survived an entire month in this world, starting from zero with only a Ralts.

Staying alive was definitely not as easy as it had seemed to be, for some reason I got into a lot of trouble without even trying.

Knowing Fate I would keep getting into trouble so I should at least try everything before my luck runs out.

I spit out the drink, it still tasted like garbage.

Then I took another sip.

No Pokémon made themselves known that night. Only a horrible headache in the morning.