Chapter Text

Caroline opened the door to her daughter’s room, peering in at the darkened mess. Ivy was on the floor, a video game controller by her face. Next to her was a Slakoth. He was curled up in a blanket, one Ivy had likely brought down for herself and was then stolen by the Pokémon. Slakoth also had a game controller near him. The two had likely spent the night before playing that new racing game.

A soft meow made her look towards the bed. Skitty stretched and jumped down, purring as she weaved around Caroline’s legs. Caroline smiled as she leaned down to pet the kitten Pokémon.

“So, this is where you’ve been all night, huh?”

Skitty meowed in response before dashing down the stairs. Caroline huffed out a laugh as she entered her daughter’s room properly.

“Ivy, darling, it’s time to wake up. You wanted to watch that report on Dad, didn’t you?”

The lump on the floor made an unintelligible noise as some drool dripped onto the carpet. The smaller lump next to her didn’t even twitch.

Caroline leaned down to shake her daughter. Ivy had never been one to wake up quickly.

“C’mon, sleepyhead, you’ll miss it~!”

The lump shifted position with a groan. Caroline smiled slightly. That was probably the best she would be getting for now.

-

“—and that was Petalburg City’s Gym Leader, Norman! Now, let’s see what the weather forecast for southwestern Hoenn will be looking like for the rest of the week.”

Ivy slumped over the kitchen table, the steady voice of the news anchor barely reaching her.

“Aw,” Caroline said as her daughter stared blankly at the wall, still half asleep. “Looks like you just missed it.”

Ivy made a noise that could’ve been either a groan of despair or resignation.

Caroline barely hid a snort and went back to finishing up their breakfast. “It’ll likely play again later. We can catch it then.”

Breakfast finally done, she set the bowls down. The smell of food did more to wake Ivy up than any of Caroline’s other methods. Within seconds, Ivy was demolishing her miso soup and rice. As her chopsticks began to scrape the bottom of the bowl, she blinked and shook her head.

Ivy put her head on one hand and pouted. “Aw, I missed Dad’s interview, didn’t I?”

“You were very close to making it.”

“Man,” Ivy sighed, slumping over the table again. “Every time.” She leaned her head on her outstretched arms to look out the window.

Littleroot didn’t change much. It was one of the smallest towns in Hoenn and, unless there was an upcoming festival, the view outside the window was always the same. Her mother’s carefully cared for flower beds fanning out before stopping where their yard met their neighbour’s.

Except today, their neighbour’s perpetually empty home wasn’t empty. Today, there was a large van and several Machoke carrying furniture from the van to the house.

Ivy straightened up, intrigued. “Hey, what’s going on there?”

“Hm?” Caroline said, switching her attention from the TV to the window. “Oh, did you miss us mentioning that? The Birch’s are moving back in.”

“The Birch’s…”

Ivy vaguely remembered the Birch family. Her Dad was good friends with Professor Birch; it was partly why they picked Littleroot to live in when they moved from Johto to Hoenn. Norman had visited many times to see his friend and found the town charming. There were four Birch’s—the Professor, his wife, and two sons. One of the boys had been her age, she was pretty sure, while the other had only been a baby when the family moved away. Something to do with the Professor’s job.

“You remember them, right? You played with Brendan quite a bit.”

Ivy snapped her fingers. “Ah, that was his name. Brendan. We stared at a Wurmple for an hour once.”

“…Right. Well, the Professor finished his study up in Fortree and moved back here to his main lab! You’re dad’s been quite excited about it.” Caroline tapped a finger to her lips. “I’m sure if he hadn’t had to do that interview, he would’ve been here to welcome them back.”

Ivy jumped out of her seat, startling Skitty who had been crowding the table looking for handouts. “Well, I can welcome them! I remember them, mostly, so I’m sure they’ll be happy to see me!”

Before her mother could reply, Ivy ran back up the stairs to get dressed. She (just barely) wasn’t impulsive enough to re-introduce herself in her old, ratty, Hi Skitty pajamas.

-

The Birch’s house looked the same as always. Similar to her own house, with a yard just as big. They probably needed it as much as her dad did. A Pokémon Professor probably had as many Pokémon to care for as a gym leader. The door was wide open for the Machoke, so Ivy peered around the doorway instead of knocking.

“Hello?”

A brunette woman Ivy vaguely remembered was in the living room area. “Hm?” She turned towards Ivy’s voice, eyes squinting. “Who are—oh!” Her eyes widened. “Ivy, yes? Norman’s daughter? You look just like him!”

Ivy grinned, an easy thing. “Yeah! He’s very excited you guys are moving back here.” Though Ivy had somehow managed to miss any mention of the Birch’s. Whatever. It’s not like that was unusual.

Mrs. Birch smiled. “I’ve heard. He called earlier to apologize that he couldn’t greet us personally. It’s very nice of you to drop by, however!”

“Mooom! Have they brought in my stuff yet?”

A young, bespectacled dark haired boy stomped down the stairs.

Mrs. Birch rolled her eyes. “Not yet, Max. You made sure your stuff was put in first, so it’s going to be brought out last.”

Max frowned, as if that wasn’t how logic worked. “Oh.”

“Mhm. We’ll just have to wait a bit more. The Machoke move quickly, so it shouldn’t take too much longer.”

“Alright,” Max conceded. “As long as it’s soon!” He finally seemed to notice Ivy, who cheerfully waved. He took a step back in alarm. “Who’s that?”

“I’m Ivy!” she said before Mrs. Birch could introduce her. “I live next door. Just wanted to say hi.”

“Oh. Hi.” The young boy turned shy and looked away. Ivy grinned. Little kids were adorable.

“You probably don’t remember her. You were young when we moved away.”

Max just nodded, edging closer to his mother.

Ivy stretched her arms behind her back and toned her smile down. She didn’t want to make Max uncomfortable. “Well, I do sorta remember Brendan. Is he here?”

“He should be upstairs.”

“Cool! I’ll go say hi then! Nice to meet you, Max.”

Max mumbled something, but Ivy was already heading up the stairs, two at a time.

-

Brendan’s room was easy to find—it was the only one with noises coming from it.

“…and the Pokédex…”

This time, Ivy knocked. Brendan jumped, whirling towards the door.

“Wha-! Who’re you?”

Ivy crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Rude! I remember you but you don’t remember me! Did staring at a Wurmple mean nothing to you?”

Brendan stared at her, mouth agape. “What does that even—wait…” His eyes narrowed, as if finally remembering something. “Ivy?”

“Bingo!”

Brendan still hadn’t looked away. “You… look different.”

Ivy blinked in confusion. She’d never heard that before. “Well, it’s been a few years. People generally look different after that long.”

For some reason, Brendan’s tan skin reddened. “Yeah.” He finally looked away. Brendan cleared his throat. “Anyways! I’m busy so I can’t talk!”

“Unpacking?” Ivy asked, looking around. There was a bed and a desk already set in, alongside several boxes. On the bed was a backpack and, more interestingly, three Poké Balls.

Brendan shook his head. “My dad headed out earlier to go see what’s changed in the area since we’ve been gone. I was going to help him, but accidentally packed away my backpack.” He grabbed the backpack and Poké Balls, attaching the red and white balls to his belt and slinging the backpack over his shoulder. “But I’ve got it now so. Er. I’m going to meet up with him. Bye.”

With that, he abruptly moved forward, brushing past Ivy as he headed towards the stairs.

“Huh? Hey, wait! I wanna see what Pokémon you have! Wait up!”

-

Ivy hadn’t managed to catch Brendan as he departed, first getting caught up saying goodbye to Mrs. Birch, and then having to exchange a few words with her own mom who had also come by to say hello. By the time she was free of pleasantries, Brendan was nowhere to be seen.

She had a hunch where he was likely going, however. There was a small forest right by Route 101 and it seemed like the sort of place a Pokémon professor would like. It had a lot of nature and a lot of wild Pokémon. Ivy often played in a clearing by the route with her dad’s Pokémon, helping train them.

It was a peaceful, relaxing place, so Ivy was alarmed to hear yelling coming from the direction of the clearing. Ivy picked up her pace. Had some kid from Littleroot gone out into the forest to look for a Pokémon? Wurmple and Zigzagoon weren’t exactly the most terrifying of Pokémon, but even they could hurt a little kid. And that wasn’t even considering the Poochyena. The Dark types were mischief makers more than anything, but their bites could cause some deep wounds.

It wasn’t a little kid in the clearing. Ivy watched, befuddled, as Professor Birch yelped as he was chased by a Poochyena with a notch in its ear.

She put her hands on her hips. “Do you… need help?”

The Poochyena nipped at the professor’s heels and Ivy winced a bit. Was it a strong bite? No, but it’d still sting quite a bit. “Yes, please! My bag! There’s some Poké Balls, if you could!” He yelped as the Poochyena made another go for his ankles.

Ivy edged towards the bag, one eye on the Poochyena. It was obviously having fun bothering the professor, but you could never be too careful around Dark types.

The professor’s bag was similar to the one Brendan had. A solid tan color and practical with a large amount of pockets. The bag was on its side, flap wide open. Several Poké Balls were on top of the flap, as if the professor had dropped the bag leaving its contents to spill out.

Shrugging, Ivy picked one of the Poké Balls at random. She tossed it once before throwing it towards the Poochyena. “Let’s see who we got!”

From the glowing beam came a small, orange bird Pokémon. It chirped and immediately leaned down into a fighting stance. Ivy grinned; this Torchic had spunk. She didn’t know its exact move set, but there were a handful of moves nearly every Pokémon knew.

“Right! Let’s start with Growl!”

Torchic let out an angry chirp, getting Poochyena’s attention. The bite Pokémon crouched down and let out a growl of its own. Professor Birch, taking the opportunity given to him, hurried far away from it.

“Now, Tackle!”

Torchic turned to look at her. If it had a mouth instead of a beak, it’d probably be frowning at Ivy.

“Er, got it. You don’t know Tackle. Scratch?”

Torchic let out loud chirp at that, and rushed forward. Jumping feet first, it landed a solid hit against the Poochyena’s muzzle.

Poochyena whined, before immediately turning tail and fleeing. Torchic let out a loud victory caw, hopping up and down.

Ivy let out a whoop of her own. “Awesome!” She’d battled with some of her dad’s Pokémon before, but that’d always been under his watchful eye with his guidance. Battling on her own, with a Pokémon that wasn’t one of her dad’s, was so much more fun.

Torchic rushed back to her. Ivy kneeled down. “High five!” Torchic smashed its head against her palm. “Close enough!”

“Well done, Ivy!”

Ivy very much did not jump, and she definitely hadn’t forgotten that she’d done that short battle to help out the professor. She stood back up and rubbed the back of her head. “Thanks! Are you okay?”

Professor Birch grimaced and shifted so she could see the back of his ankles. While there wasn’t a lot, the Poochyena had pretty clearly gotten in a few bites that had drawn blood. “Could be worse. At least it was only a Poochyena and not a Mightyena!”

“Dad!”

Brendan burst into the clearing, a Poké Ball in his hand. He glanced around wildly, before zeroing in on his dad. He rushed forward. “I heard yelling and then the sound of a battle! Are you okay? Hey, are you bleeding?”

Professor Birch chuckled as Brendan frantically looked him over. “I’m fine, kiddo! Just a small run in with a Poochyena.”

“A Poochyena!?” From the way Brendan reacted, you’d have thought the professor had said he had a run in with a Tyranitar.

“Now, what’s all this fuss? I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be the one who worries over you!”

Brendan finally leaned away from his dad, pouting. “Of course, I was worried! I couldn’t find the clearing and then I heard yelling. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

The professor smiled and tugged on Brendan’s white hat. “Alright, fine.”

Ivy cleared her throat now that it seemed like the reunion was over. She held up the Poké Ball. “Here you go! Now that you’re not in danger, and all.”

Brendan narrowed his eyes. He had finally noticed her. “What’re you doing here?”

Professor Birch tsk’ed at his son. “Don’t be so rude, Brendan! She helped me out here.”

“I like visiting this clearing a lot.” Ivy grinned. “I’m surprised I got here first, though! Did you get lost?”

Brendan’s cheeks reddened again. “No! I was just thoroughly checking out the route!”

“Of course,” Professor Birch said, humoring his son. He turned to Ivy. “You can hold onto him for now. I’d rather like to get back to my lab and find some bandages.”

Ivy nodded. She had kind of forgotten the professor’s ankles were bleeding. She held out the Poké Ball and recalled Torchic.

-

“Not even a full day and you’ve already managed to get injured,” one of Professor Birch’s assistants chided as he patched the professor up.

Professor Birch let out a dramatic sigh. “Not this! Brendan already spent the whole way here scolding me. I don’t need it from you too.”

“Maybe if enough people say it, you’ll try being a bit more cautious.”

Ivy giggled from several feet away. It’d been a long time since she’d visited the small research lab in Littleroot. Every year there was always a school field trip to the lab, but Ivy had begged out of going on those for a few years now. It got old after a while.

The lab still looked the same as the last time she had visited, three or so years ago. Same white floors and walls, same Pokémon healing machines, same bookcases filled to the brim. The only change was that the head researcher was finally back in residence.

“Ahh, I feel better already! Thank you, George.”

The assistant huffed. “Thank me by not getting injured for a week.”

The professor ignored him. “I should probably visit home. The Machoke’s have probably gotten everything out of the truck, and it’d be wrong of me not to help unpack.”

Brendan looked distinctly out of sorts, like he didn’t particularly want to help out.

Ivy’s fingers twitched around the Poké Ball. She probably needed to give it back now, as it wasn’t actually her Pokémon. “Uh, Professor?” She held the ball up once more.

“Hm? Oh, Torchic.” He tapped a finger against his chin. “Hey, why don’t you keep him? Norman’s always been surprised you haven’t found a partner of your own yet, so why not Torchic?” He smiled. “And I’m sure Torchic’ll love it! He’s always been one of my feistier lab Pokémon. We’ve had him in the starter pool for a while, but no one’s picked him yet. He’ll probably appreciate any adventures you go on.”

Ivy held the Poké Ball to her chest. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. Just give me your Trainer ID and I can transfer ownership over right now.”

Ivy jumped in the air and let out a whoop. “Awesome!” She lifted the Poké Ball so it was eye level, grinning like a Gengar. “You know what? We should start that adventure as soon as possible! Wanna try out the gym challenge, Torchic?”

The Poké Ball in her hand shook slightly.

Ivy nodded, agreeing with the Pokémon’s attitude. “I knew you had spunk.”

Professor Birch chuckled as he took Ivy’s Trainer ID, which she had miraculously remembered to shove into a pocket before leaving the house. It was always fifty-fifty whether she did.

“Seriously?” Brendan was looking at her, gob smacked. “You’re going to go on a Pokémon journey, just like that?”

Ivy shrugged. “Why not?”

He shook his head. “Unbelievable.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ivy crossed her arms, not liking his tone.

“There’s nothing wrong with deciding to go on a Pokémon journey, Brendan.”

“I know that! But she just decided it randomly. She didn’t even tell her parents!”

“Oh, right.” Ivy placed a finger against her lips. “I should tell Mom. And get my stuff.”

“See!”

Professor Birch just laughed. “Not everybody is as cautious as you, Brendan.” He smiled down at his son. “In fact, you’d probably do well to learn a little from Ivy. Why don’t you go with her?”

Brendan gaped at his father, and even Ivy raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“Journeys are more fun with friends and rivals! And you already have one badge, why not try for more?”

That was news to Ivy. She wouldn’t have expected that from the easily flustered boy. “You already have a badge? That’s so cool! Which one?”

“Uh, Winona’s.” Brendan stuck his hands in his pockets and looked away. “We were living in Fortree and that’s where her gym is, so Dad encouraged me to try it out before we left.”

“And you won! All that worrying for nothing.”

“Winona…” Ivy remembered meeting Winona once shortly after they had moved to Hoenn. She had seemed aloof and intimidating. “Cool.” She grinned and leaned towards Brendan. “Y’know, you totally should go with me! It’d be a lot of fun!”

Brendan sputtered, turning red. “Euh, I, what? Whatever! We should be heading home! Don’t we have to unpack?” He turned tail and ran away.

Ivy just shrugged. “Ah, well. I tried.” She smiled at Professor Birch. “Thank you for giving me Torchic. I’ll be sure to take good care of him!”

“I’m sure you will!” Professor Birch winked at her as he handed her back her ID and Torchic’s Poké Ball. “And I’ll talk to Brendan. A journey together would be good for the both of you.”

-

Ivy threw the door to her home open. “Hey, Mom! I’m going on a Pokémon journey!”

Caroline looked up from where she was at the kitchen table with her laptop, sorting orders for her online shop. “Now?”

“Yeah!”

Caroline shook her head. Why did she expect anything less from her daughter.

Ivy had always enjoyed helping her dad train his Pokémon for his gym. Both her and Norman had always been a little surprised that she had never bonded with one enough to claim it for her own, or asked her dad to catch one for her. But Ivy was a creature of impulses. Of course, she wouldn’t do what they expected but instead decide it randomly one morning. Hopefully this wasn’t just an attempt to skip out on the new school year starting in a few days and there was some substantial reasoning behind it.

“Did anything bring about this decision?”

Ivy was rummaging through their coat closet. Why, Caroline wasn’t sure. You rarely needed a coat in Hoenn even in winter, and it was firmly spring. But whatever she was looking for was obviously unimportant compared to her reasoning, as Ivy shut the door and ran over. Proudly, she held up a Poké Ball.

“Professor Birch was being attacked by a Poochyena so he gave me a Torchic!”

Caroline merely raised an eyebrow. A bit sparse on details, but she had known the professor long enough to know that that was likely more or less exactly what had gone down. Andy Birch was her husband’s closest friend and a good man, but he wasn’t exactly very cautious or organized. So, she smiled and didn’t ask for more context.

“That’s lovely, darling! I think a Fire type suit you well.”

Ivy didn’t seem to hear. She was already making for the stairs. Caroline sighed and got up. While Ivy would likely (hopefully) remember to pack things like a change of clothing and toiletries, she would probably forget things like food. Norman wouldn’t have a problem helping her get supplies if she made it to Petalburg, but it was better to play it safe now.

Maybe this would be good for Ivy. Caroline loved her daughter, but she wasn’t the most focused girl out there. She flitted from hobby to hobby, starting things but never finishing them. But she’d always loved helping her dad out with his Pokémon. Even after dropping softball, piano, painting, pottery making, swimming and karate, Ivy never said no when Norman asked for help. They’d always assumed she’d leave on a Pokémon journey someday, but Ivy had never shown the slightest inclination to leave home until now. Maybe this would finally be the thing to help Ivy slow down and focus.

Caroline could only hope. She wasn’t sure how they could teach Ivy that lesson otherwise.

It didn’t take Ivy long to pack her things. Within twenty minutes, she was flying down the stairs.

“Is that food? Haha, I would’ve totally forgotten about that!”

Caroline suppressed a smile. She knew her daughter too well.

“Are you going to try to make it to Petalburg today?” Ivy nodded, busy stuffing cans in her backpack. It was stuffed to the brim, but that would be alleviated when she got to a Pokémon Center and could use the PC to hold some of it. “I’ll inform your father then, so he knows to stay late for you.”

Ivy nodded again, her face lighting up at the mention of her dad. She’d always been a bit of a daddy’s girl.

“I can’t wait to battle him. It’ll be awesome!”

Caroline merely kissed her daughter’s forehead. “Be safe, darling, okay?”

Ivy returned with a kiss to her mom’s cheek. “I’m going on an adventure, but I’ll try to be as safe as I can!”

“That’s all I can ask.”

With a wave, Ivy bounced out the door, ready to start her journey.

-

“You’re back early Brendan. Where’s your father?”

Brendan mumbled something before dashing up the stairs.

Irina sighed. That was useful. “Moody teenagers,” she couldn’t help but mutter to herself.

“The worst,” Max agreed from where he was helping her unpack the living room decorations.

The door opened a second time, and her husband entered. “Hellooo, everyone! How’s the unpacking going?”

“As quick as it can,” Irina said, as mildly as she could. “What’s got Brendan in a fit?”

Andy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I got in a bit of a pickle, and you know how he gets.”

“Huh?” Max ran around his dad, as if he were somehow hiding severe wounds under his lab coat. “Are you okay?”

“Not you too, Max!”

“You need to be more careful!”

Irina chuckled. Both of their boys had a strong protective streak. It was rather adorable, if you asked her. “Leave him alone, Max. He’s obviously well enough to joke around, so he’s fine.”

Max gave one last look, before slowly heading back to his commandeered boxes.

Andy sighed. “At least one of them listens to someone.” He headed towards the stairs. “I need to talk to Brendan for a second, but then I’ll be down to help.”

Irina waved absently as she also returned to sorting items. “We’ve been doing fine without you, take as long as you need.”

-

Brendan was on his bed, cuddling Mudkip while Treecko clung to his hat.

“No Taillow?” Andy asked as he entered.

Brendan shook his head. “She and Treecko always fight over who gets to be on my hat.”

Treecko chattered loudly, obviously proud he’d manage to win the fight for the prime real estate.

“Hmm, well, let’s have a chat, then.”

Brendan groaned and flopped backwards, Treecko skittering onto his face to avoid being squashed. “Ughh, you’re not seriously going to suggest the Pokémon journey thing again, are you?”

“What’s so wrong with it?”

“I have enough fun just working with you!”

His dad smiled. “Well, I am glad to hear that. But a Pokémon journey is more than just about fun. It’s about the things you learn on the journey, both about yourself and the world.  Things you can only learn when you strike out by yourself, away from parents. And you’re like me Brendan, you don’t learn best from watching, but experiencing. I know you’d enjoy a journey more than most. And who knows what else you’ll learn! Maybe you’ll find something you like even more than helping me. Just think on it.”

With that, Andy patted his son on his shoulder, and left him to ponder what he said.

Chapter Text

“Thank you for shopping at the Oldale Poké Mart. Please come again!”

Ivy gave a jaunty wave to the clerk as she exited the shop. Littleroot was a small enough town that the only store that sold trainer items was the general store. There weren’t any Devon Co. official Poké Marts that sold things beyond regular Poké Balls and Potions. Ivy and Torchic had taken a long look at the handful of TM’s sold in Oldale’s Poké Mart but, honestly, Oldale didn’t have that big of a selection either. They were going to have to wait until they got to Petalburg or Rustboro before they could do any serious shopping.

And train some more, of course. You could have all the most powerful moves available to you, but they meant nothing if you didn’t have the strength to use them.

She’d also maybe need a bit more money, the kind winning a gym battle would give. She wasn’t in any sort of dire need in the way a lot of trainers were when they first started out (she had a bit saved up, and her parents would probably wire her a small allowance every so often), but TM’s still cost a good amount of money.

Stocked up on Potions, Revives, Antidotes, and Poké Balls, Ivy left Oldale behind. She wanted to reach Petalburg before dusk and, if she moved quickly enough, she would just barely manage to make it that far.

It was a nice walk. Southwestern Hoenn was generally heavily forested, but the paths for the routes made them easy and quick to transverse. It wouldn’t be until she reached Petalburg Woods that Ivy was going to need to pay attention to her surroundings. For now, she soaked in the sunshine and spring breeze, Torchic hopping by her side.

Ivy hadn’t been walking long when a bark interrupted her and Torchic’s strolling. Her heart raced. Either this would be her first proper battle or her first catch!

She whirled around, ready to face the Poochyena growling at them. “C’mon, Torchic! Weaken it so we can capture ‘em!”

Torchic chirped in confirmation and leaped into a battle crouch.

Through trial and error, they’d gone over the few moves Torchic knew on the way to Oldale so Ivy didn’t hesitate in her commands this time around.

“Ember!”

A small burst of flames burst from Torchic’s beak. Poochyena whined and jumped back, but it didn’t run, not like the last one.

Wait, speaking of the last one…

Ivy squinted. Did this Poochyena also have a notch in its ear?

The Poochyena darted forward, Tackling Torchic and sending him head over talons. The little chick didn’t let that bother him however, and he immediately jumped back to his feet.

Ivy put her hands on her hips. “Hey, wait a sec. Are you the same Poochyena that was bothering Professor Birch? Have you been following me?”

Poochyena barked and wagged its tail. Obviously, it was proud of its mischief making and stalking. Ivy sighed and shook her head. “What a naughty Pokémon! Now, I absolutely have to catch you so you can apologize to Professor Birch whenever I see him next. Torchic, use Ember again!”

Torchic complied, small flames hitting Poochyena’s face. The bite Pokémon whined and tried to rub its eyes with its paw.

Ivy grabbed one of her newly bought Poké Balls. “Let’s see if that was enough.” She threw the ball.

One. Two. Three… and it stopped rocking.

Ivy pumped a fist in the air. “Yes!”

She leaped forward, eager to grab the ball. “First catch: successful!” She glanced down at Torchic, who was puffing his chest out in pride. “And thank you, Torchic. You did great there.”

Torchic chirped, and the now trio were back on the road to Petalburg.

-

“Ahh,” Ivy sighed, as she dipped her legs into the pool. She’d flown the routes from Littleroot to Petalburg a number of times with her dad, and this pond was always a great midway point. It was a small, circular pond under a small copse of trees. Kept cool by their foliage, it was the perfect place to take a break and cool down from the searing Hoenn sun.

Torchic didn’t like it much, but Poochyena was having a ball splashing the chick.

“Behave you guys,” Ivy said as she flopped down onto the grass, legs kicking in the water. She’d already eaten some of her mom’s food and when she felt sufficiently cooled down, she’d be back on her path to Petalburg.

Someone above her cleared their throat. “Um. Are you still open to someone joining you?”

Ivy flew back up, genuinely surprised to hear Brendan’s voice. “Wow, really? I honestly thought you’d Torchic out!”

Beside her, Torchic squawked angrily. She sent him an apologetic look. That was a phrase she’d have to take out of her vocabulary. “Sorry.”

Brendan puffed out his cheeks like an angry Qwilfish. “I was always totally going to come along! I just needed to get some stuff!”

“Uh-huh.” Color Ivy thoroughly convinced.

“It’s true!” Brendan pointed dramatically, as if that would make up for his blatant lying. “Just for that, I’m challenging you to a battle!”

Ivy grinned. Now this was more like it!

“I accept! C’mon, Torchic!”

Torchic eagerly scurried over.

Brendan scoffed. “This’ll be over quickly.” He threw out a Poké Ball. “Let’s go, Mudkip. Water Gun!”

Ivy bit her bottom lip. That wasn’t the most favourable matchup, type wise. “Growl!”

Torchic chirped loudly, and Mudkip, who had taken a few steps forward, stopped to shake its head.

“Now, Scratch!”

Torchic scrambled forward, jumping talons first onto Mudkip with a screech. Mudkip squeaked but still sent out a strong jet of water, sending Torchic tumbling. Ivy gasped, and readied her Poké Ball to return Torchic just in case, but it wasn’t necessary. Torchic, albeit a bit wobbly, stood back up.

“Growl, again!”

Torchic roared a chirp, and Mudkip squeaked at the volume.

Brendan frowned, not really sure why Ivy kept using Growl. He expected her to be the kind of trainer to always attack. “Water Gun.”

Another jet of water, this one slightly weaker than the other. Torchic just barely managed to avoid being knocked down a second time.

Ivy bit her lip. Torchic was simply too inexperienced to handle another Water Gun, regardless of his willpower. “Scratch! Put everything into it!”

Torchic burst forward, going right for Mudkip’s eyes. It squeaked and shook its head as Torchic jumped backwards, satisfied.

“One last Water Gun, Mudkip!”

That was the last one needed. Torchic tumbled backwards in a heap. Ivy returned her Pokémon to its Poké Ball. “That went great, Torchic. Now, it’s your turn, Poochyena! Bite!”

They had done a bit of practicing earlier, just to see what moves she knew, but Ivy wasn’t sure how much the playful Pokémon would obey her. During their small practice, Ivy had channeled her dad and his strictness to make her listen. Hopefully, that worked and Poochyena would do as she asked.

“Mudkip, Rock Throw!”

Mudkip shifted through the dirt, kicking up a big rock and telekinetically tossing it onto Poochyena. With a bark, she managed to dodge them all before darting forward and Biting Mudkip on the neck. The mud fish Pokémon squeaked and used one of the rocks still hovering around it to knock itself out of Poochyena’s grasp.

Poochyena growled as she jumped backwards. The hit hadn’t done much, if any, damage, but it was obvious she hadn’t liked it.

Before Ivy could say anything, Poochyena rushed forward, biting down on Mudkip before tossing it into a tree. As Mudkip struggled to its feet, Poochyena was there, Tackling Mudkip so it, again, was slammed into the tree. Ivy winced, but it worked. Brendan, wide eyed, returned Mudkip back to its Poké Ball.

Man, between Torchic going for the eyes and Poochyena repeatedly tossing Mudkip into a tree, her Pokémon were a bit ruthless. At least Poochyena was listening to her, even if she was being a bit violent in doing so.

Brendan didn’t look happy. “Fine. Come on out, Treecko.”

Treecko chirped as it entered the battle.

“Bite, again!”

Poochyena barked happily, darting forward to Bite and toss Treecko just as she had Mudkip. Treecko managed to get up, but it already looked much weaker. Ivy couldn’t say exactly how old Treecko was, but it seemed a lot less experienced than Mudkip.

“Absorb!”

Treecko glowed slightly and, within seconds, Poochyena was glowing too. As the glows died down, Treecko stood taller as Poochyena whined.

Ivy frowned. Self-healing moves were the worst. “Tackle.”

Poochyena rammed forward, headbutting Treecko back against the tree. Despite the Absorb, Treecko had to be recalled.

Brendan gaped at her. He’d known Ivy had a gym leader for a dad, but he hadn’t expected her, a girl with no badges or formal battling experience, would be able to take out two of his three Pokémon with Pokémon she had only caught that day.

“Fine! Taillow, let’s go! Quick Attack!”

Taillow tweeted sweetly as it was released. With an elegant swoop, it dove down on Poochyena, pecking her sharply before wheeling back into the sky.

Poochyena wasn’t doing well. Despite herself, Ivy resigned herself to a loss. Brendan had three Pokémon to her two, and Poochyena wouldn’t last much longer, especially against an airborne attacker. They didn’t have any ranged attacks to use against Taillow. But still! She had to try! She’d come so far that this wasn’t the time to forfeit!

“Poochyena! Try your best to Bite Taillow!”

With a butt wiggle to calibrate her trajectory, Poochyena leaped into the air. She just barely managed to catch a wing, downing Taillow with an indignant squawk. Poochyena barked in pride, while Taillow screeched angrily as it took back to the air.

“Don’t worry, we’ll show her. Use Wing Attack!”

Taillow burst forward, wings glowing. It struck Poochyena, sending her sprawling backwards. With a sigh, Ivy returned her.

“You did great, too.” Still, she couldn’t help but pout a bit. “Ugh! I lost my first battle! I’m definitely not mentioning that to Dad.”

Taillow chirped in pride, flying up to rest on Brendan’s hat, the spot of honor. “Well, it was your first battle. It took me a while to feel comfortable enough to battle Winona.”

Ivy waved a hand. “Yeah, yeah, Mr. One Badge.” She picked up her bag. “But, hey, there is one battle I can win.” She started running back towards the route and looked over her shoulder with a grin. “Race you to Petalburg!”

Brendan sputtered as he tried to catch up. “Hey, not fair! Head starts are cheating!”

Ivy just laughed, and ran faster.

-

“Haaa! I won!”

She was breathing heavily, leaning over with her hands on her knees, but Ivy had a crazy smile on her face. She really liked winning.

With the race, they made it to Petalburg ahead of schedule. Their first stop was the first Pokémon Center they stumbled upon to heal up their Pokémon. Their second was her dad’s gym. It took a while—Petalburg was much larger than Littleroot—but they found the gym.

Ivy always liked her dad’s gym. With its predominately traditional build (paper walls only in the front, however; they were a bit too fragile for a building meant for battling), it reminded her of her fuzzy memories of Olivine City in Johto, where she was born.

She slid open the door, eager to see some familiar faces.

“Gym Leader Norman is currently not taking any—” Alexia broke off as she looked up. “Oh! Hey, Ivy. You’re dad’s in the back office.”

“Thanks!” Ivy waved at the receptionist as she toed off her shoes and entered the back spaces of the Petalburg City Gym.

Brendan glanced over his shoulder as he followed her lead. “I didn’t think it’d be that easy to get into the private parts of a gym.”

Ivy shrugged. “They know who I am.”

To Ivy’s disappointment, she didn’t see any of the other gym trainers in the back. It was understandable—they had all likely gone home for the day—but Ivy was still a little let down. She liked all the people who worked under her dad.

Norman was in the small kitchen the gym had, sipping a cup of tea while he read the newspaper.

As soon as she had the door open, Ivy threw herself forward. “Dad!”

Norman barely had enough time to set the tea aside before Ivy was on him. He chuckled. “I saw you last night, Ives.”

“I’m making up for future lack of hugs,” came Ivy’s voice, muffled from being buried in Norman’s shoulder.

Even though she couldn’t see it, Norman smiled at his daughter. “Yes, I’d heard something about that.”

That had Ivy drawing back. “Right! Can we battle now then?”

“Not now.” Ivy’s face fell. “The gym is technically closed. I shouldn’t be taking any challengers on, no matter their relation.”

Ivy stepped back, a bit awkwardly. “Oh. That makes sense, I guess.” She smiled crookedly. “Tomorrow then?”

“Hmm,” was all Norman said. He glanced behind her. “Is that Brendan Birch?”

Brendan looked up from his socked feet, startled at being addressed. “Er. Yes?”

Norman clapped him on the shoulder. “Nice to see you again! It’s been a while. You’ve grown quite a bit.”

It hadn’t actually been that long since Norman had visited the Birch’s in Fortree, but that was what adults always said to kids after not seeing them for more than a week. Brendan awkwardly nodded.

Norman looked at the clock in the kitchenette. ”Have you guys checked in to a Pokémon Center for the night?” They shook their heads. “Then you can stay here. I’ve already told your mom I might not come home tonight to make sure you settle in, so I’ll be here too. We can talk more in the morning.”

-

“Now can we battle?” Ivy eagerly asked her dad. All the gym trainers had filed in for work, congratulating her on her upcoming Pokémon journey. With them all clocked in, Norman could officially take on challengers. Ivy had excitedly explained that to Brendan once they had started coming in, but he’d made a face and left. Well, whatever. Ivy was excited to get her first badge!

Norman smiled at his daughter, something a little mischievous in it that softened his normally stoic face. “Actually, I had another idea.”

“Huh?”

“I was thinking—”

“Norman, sir? Someone’s here to see you.”

Norman straightened up as his name was called by Alexia. “A challenger?”

She shook her head. “A young trainer looking for help with his first Pokémon.”

Poking out from behind her, was a young boy with fluffy, light green hair. “H-hello, sir,” he said, his voice quiet and shaking.

“Hm. Wally is your name, right?” The boy, Wally, nodded. “And why do you want a Pokémon?”

Wally shuffled his feet slightly. “Well, I… I’m going to Verdanturf Town to live with my aunt and uncle, and, um, I don’t know anyone there, so I wanted a Pokémon to keep me company…” he trailed off looking scared, as if he’d failed some secret test.

“Hm. Better reason than some others I’ve heard.” Norman headed over to a wall holding a collection of Poké Balls. As a gym leader, he had some two dozen Pokémon he used frequently so he could tailor his team to the experience level of his challenger. He took a Poké Ball from a shelf Ivy knew to hold some of the younger and weaker Pokémon. He carried it back over to them and dropped it in Wally’s hands. The boy’s eyes grew three times their normal size.

“Uh-?”

“You can’t keep that one,” Norman clarified. “But you can borrow it to go catch one of your own.”

“Oh.” Wally said, eyes still large.

“And my daughter, Ivy, will help you.”

“I will?” Norman raised an eyebrow. “I mean, sure! Yeah, I’ll go help him. I’m a catching pro!”

The kid still looked beyond awed. “Really? W-well, thank you!”

“No time to waste then!” Ivy grabbed Wally’s hand, and dragged him out the door. The sooner this was over, the sooner she could battle Norman.

-

“So, what’s your family like, Wally?”

“H-huh?”

“You’re family,” Ivy repeated as they finally left behind the city for the relative wilderness of Route 102. “What’re they like?”

Wally, who still looked a little spooked, clutched the Poké Ball to his chest. “Um! Well, my parents own a shop that sells fishing supplies. A-and my mom used to be a coordinator.” He said the last part shyly, as if it were a secret.

“Wow, that’s cool.” Ivy smiled at him, trying to tone down her grin. He seemed like an easily startled boy, and she didn’t want to scare him off with too much enthusiasm.

Ivy knew why her dad had sent her off with Wally. The kid was probably being bullied by the other kids in the area and he wanted her to befriend him and send him off with some good memories. Well, never let it be said Ivy wasn’t good with people!

“Does she still do Contests?” she asked, trying to make him feel comfortable.

He shook his head. “No, not for a long time.”

“Contests are cool,” Ivy said decisively. “I don’t keep up with them much, but they’re really fun to watch. I’m sure your mom was an awesome coordinator when she was doing it.”

“She was!” That had Wally beaming.

Ivy smile stretched a bit more into a grin. Bingo.

“What Pokémon did she use?”

“An Azumarill.” Wally let out a small giggle. “He mostly just naps now, though.”

That sounded like her dad’s Pidgeot. He used to be a beast on the battlefield, but now he mainly just slept and kept watch over the rest of the Pokémon in their backyard.

“Not so useful for helping catch a Pokémon, then. I can see why you went to my dad.”

Wally looked away, his pale face somehow getting paler. “Yes?” he squeaked out.

Ohh, he was doing this behind his parents’ back for some reason. Well, Ivy could respect that. Some parents, even ones who had Pokémon of their own, were weird about their kids having Pokémon. Regardless, it was probably time to change the subject.

“Now, what kinda Pokémon do you want?” Ivy stood with her hands on her hips and observed the area around them. It was hard to tell what kind of Pokémon lived in an area most of the time, but Ivy had a pretty good idea about Route 102 from visiting it so often. “Probably not a Poochyena, they’re a bit of a handful.”

“And a Dark type!” Wally added, eyes wide with fear.

Ivy wagged a finger in his direction. “There’s nothing wrong with Dark types! But they’re pretty energetic and high maintenance as pets. A Zigzagoon, maybe? Or a Wurmple? Lots of kids have those.”

Wally just stared at her. “Um? R-really, anything is good! Um, what about that one?”

He pointed at a spot in the grass. Ivy peered in that direction for a second before her eyebrows flew up. Sitting in the grass was a Ralts.

“Wow, a Ralts!” she whispered, not wanting to spook it. “Those are really rare. And good companions. They’re all about emotions or something, I’m pretty sure.” She lightly shoved Wally forward. “Now try catching it! Just toss the Poké Ball.”

“O-okay.” He did as told, and a Zigzagoon materialized in front of them. It squeaked and, to Ivy’s disappointment, made the Ralts whirl around. Luckily, it didn’t immediately flee.

“Alright, now try a move. Like, Tackle.”

Wally said nothing. He stared at the Ralts pathetically. It stared back, looking equally as pathetic.

“Eh? Something wrong?”

“U-um. Are you sure it wants to be caught? It looks kind of scared…”

Ivy patted his shoulder. “If it really didn’t want this, it’d Teleport away. Ralts are known for doing that a lot, like Abra. The fact it’s still here while we’re talking means it’s interested. If it’s still here after an attack or two, then you’ll know for sure it wants to come with you and get stronger! Now, try a move!”

“Right.” Wally held a shaking arm out. “Zigzagoon, um, please use Tackle!”

Zigzagoon looked at her, as if looking for confirmation, and she nodded. In its usual zig zag style, it ran into the Ralts, knocking it onto its bottom.

Ralts didn’t Teleport away.

“You don’t wanna do too much damage to a Ralts,” Ivy told him, staring at the Ralts. It wouldn’t last much longer. “They’re pretty weak at this point in their life. I’d try throwing a Poké Ball now.”

Wally scrambled for one of the Poké Balls Norman had given him. “Ah, okay! Ralts, let’s be friends, please!” He threw the Poké Ball.

Within a shake, the ball clicked shut.

Ivy whistled, impressed. “Wow! That was quick.” She elbowed Wally, who grinned hesitantly. “Maybe you’re the catching pro here!”

Wally giggled, and Ivy took that as the true success of the day.

“Now, let’s get back to my dad!”

Ivy had a battle to do!

-

Wally held out the borrowed Poké Ball with both hands, head bowed. “Th-thank you so much for lending me your Zigzagoon, Mr. Norman! I was able to catch a Ralts with it!”

Norman raised an eyebrow. “A Ralts? That’s impressive. Well, I hope you take care of your Ralts. Pokémon should always be loved and cared for, alright?”

Wally nodded aggressively, eyes shining. Ivy put a hand on her cheek, ignoring the urge to coo. The cutie pie looked like an entirely different kid when he was happy.

“Of course! I’ll take the best care of him! Thank you so much!”

With that, he ran out of the gym.

“Ah, he’ll be fine—”

“So now can we battle?”

Ivy didn’t want to wait another second. She was buzzing in excitement at the thought of her first gym badge.

Norman crossed his arms and smirked. “Have some patience, Ives.”

Patience absolutely was not a virtue Ivy had.

“Come on! It’s just one battle.”

“No.”

That made Ivy shut up. No? Did her dad really just refuse to battle her?

“O-oh…”

Norman’s posture softened, as if he’d realized how harsh that sounded. “What I meant is, not right now.”

Ivy still felt a bit despondent. There were no other trainers. Why wouldn’t he want to battle her? Did she do something wrong?

“Oh. Sorry…”

He shook his head. “This is coming off wrong.” Norman took a few steps forward and put a hand on Ivy’s shoulder. “I just thought that a battle between us would be much more fun if it wasn’t your first gym battle and I didn’t have to use my weakest team.” Ivy perked up slightly at that, intrigued. “Doesn’t that sound better? A battle between you and me where I don’t have to completely hold back.”

Ivy felt a grin creep up on her face. Her dad was right. He’d have to use a Zigzagoon or a Slakoth if she battled him now. If she battled him later, then he’d be able to use one of his Slaking’s, his formidable and strong ace. The thought of it got Ivy’s heart racing. She practically bounced in place.

“That sounds awesome!”

Norman responded with a small grin of his own. He knew his daughter would find the more competitive battle just as appealing as he did. “Right! How about your fifth badge then. You show me at least four, and then we can battle.”

Ivy beamed. “Absolutely!”

Chapter Text

Ivy clung to her father as Brendan made sure he had everything in his backpack for the fifth time that morning.

“I’ll see you soon,” Ivy promised. She’d get four badges and come back to Petalburg immediately. Beating her dad in a battle was something she had imagined for years, and only now was it possible for that dream to come true.

Norman ran a hand over her hair. “I’ll be waiting.”

Finally, with difficulty, Ivy detached herself from her dad as Brendan shouldered his backpack, apparently satisfied with its contents. She took a deep breath.

“We’re off for Rustboro then!”

Not letting her dad reply, she turned on her heel and marched out the door, Poochyena and Brendan scampering after her as she did.

-

“So, what’s your favorite color?”

Brendan gave her a strange look. “What?”

“You’re favorite color,” Ivy repeated. “If we’re travelling together, we should get to know each other better since it’s been a few years.”

“And my favorite color is important to travelling?”

Ivy shrugged. “It’s a start.”

Brendan said nothing for a minute. “Red. You?”

She gave him a beaming smile. “Also red! Now, what’s your favorite food?”

They chatted idly as they left Petalburg behind in favor of a leisurely road that paralleled the ocean. Ivy could see several families out on the beach, likely hoping to get one last bit of fun in before the new school year started.

In Ivy’s arms, Torchic warily eyed the ocean, but decided it was far enough away that it wasn’t necessary for him to be back in his Poké Ball. Poochyena, meanwhile, seemed disappointed it wasn’t closer. Ivy remembered she had enjoyed playing in the pond between Oldale and Petalburg as well. At least Poochyena didn’t seem too upset. With Torchic being carried (his legs were just a bit too short to keep up) and therefore unable to be bothered, she entertained herself by running into flocks of Wingull. Ivy probably should have told her to stop, but Poochyena was enjoying herself.

In the distance, Petalburg Woods loomed.

While they had travelled through several woods already on the trip from Littleroot to Petalburg, Ivy could already see the difference between those and Petalburg Woods. Here, the trees were taller and closer together, wilder and untamed. The route she was on now was carefully delineated from the grass on each side, but that would slowly disappear the farther into the woods she went. Rangers had signposts and markers up to let travelers know where the main trail was, but beyond that it would look like any off-route forest.

Vaguely, Ivy remembered why from an old school lesson. Hoenn as a region had always prided itself on its harmony between humans and nature. While Johto could have neatly connecting paved roads almost everywhere throughout the region, it was more difficult in Hoenn with its thick rainforests. Having some areas be wilder than others, even if they bisected a route, was a compromise the Ranger Corps had settled on to continue that accord. Those spots, like Petalburg Woods, were the domain of Pokémon, and humans were meant to just pass through.

“Have you ever been to Petalburg Woods before?”

“Yeah,” Brendan said, “with my dad. It was a while ago, though.”

He adjusted his hat so it was covering more of his brown hair. Treecko was on it, as usual, and he had displaced it slightly.

Ivy nodded. “Same. Well, this’ll be fun then! A new experience, or whatever! A great start to a new adventure!”

She took off running. Poochyena barked in delight and chased after her.

Brendan sighed. “Right. Fun.” Slowly, he followed.

-

They had only been in Petalburg Woods for a few hours before they left the main route to make camp. Ivy cheerfully gathered sticks for a fire which Torchic lit with Ember. Brendan got to work cooking dinner, Treecko claiming the honored spot of sleeping on his hat that night. Taillow slept on a low branch, while Mudkip napped away from the fire.

Ivy stretched and got up. Her part of helping out was finished so she could finally go use the bathroom.

“Where are you going?”

“Just gonna go find a tree and pee real quick.”

Behind her, Brendan started sputtering.

“Wh-what!? You can’t just say stuff like that!”

Ivy glanced over her shoulder, both amused and unamused. He was such a boy.

“Really? You think girls don’t pee?” By her ankles, Poochyena let out a bark and lifted a leg to pee right there on a nearby tree. “See? Aww, what a good girl, Poochyena! I’m sure Brendan needed the visual.”

Brendan covered his face with his hands. “I absolutely did not! Just go already.”

Ivy laughed alongside Poochyena as the two left for a slightly more secluded area. It was fun to tease Brendan, but she wasn’t as bold as Poochyena.

-

Ivy really hadn’t been to Petalburg Woods nearly as often as she’d be on the routes south of Petalburg. Her dad had no reason to visit frequently, and it wasn’t near enough to Littleroot for Ivy to visit on her own. It seemed like Brendan hadn’t been in that often either.

That was to say: they had been wrong to leave the main pathway and were now hopelessly lost.

Neither of them were particularly upset about it. Brendan was having a ball observing Pokémon for his dad, while Ivy took the time to train. All the Wurmple and Zigzagoon were no match for her Torchic and Poochyena! She was confident that by the time they reached Rustboro and its gym, the three of them would be more than ready to take it on.

“Do you even know what type of gym it is?” Brendan asked during one of their lunch breaks.

Ivy paused from where she was giving Poochyena belly scritches. “Uh, no.”

The Rustboro gym leader was a newer one, and her dad hadn’t taken her to meet its leader like he had with a few others. She’d met Wattson, Moore, Winona, and Wallace all once when she was younger, and Astra more than a few times. However, both Moore and Astra were now former gym leaders—Astra’s twins had taken over the gym in Mossdeep a few months back, and the Lavaridge Gym was in the middle of undergoing a change, though Ivy didn’t know who was taking over from Moore.

“What if it’s a Water type gym? There won’t be much you can do against that.”

Ivy puffed out her chest. “It’s definitely not the Water gym because that’s Sootopolis. I’m sure I’ll be fine, whatever else it is.”

Brendan looked doubtful and opened his mouth to reply, but couldn’t say anything. Taillow returned from her hunt and was incensed to see Treecko on his hat, her spot. She attacked immediately, causing Brendan to yelp and try to defend his poor head.

Ivy just laughed. Those two did this at every meal.

-

Normally, Ivy didn’t mind being lost. Being lost just meant you were on a sidequest! However, they were nearing a full week of being in Petalburg Woods, and she was beginning to get a bit irritated. It was just trees, trees, trees! Everywhere you looked, trees!

There wasn’t much diversity in terms of Pokémon, either. Did you like Wurmple or Zigzagoon? No? Well, tough luck, because that was ninety percent of what you could easily find. It was repetitive for Ivy to battle them and for Brendan to scan them.

Occasionally, they did stumble upon a fellow trainer. Ivy jumped at these opportunities, excited to battle other people. She didn’t always win, but sometimes she did! Ivy tried not to let the losses get to her. Every trainer had to lose sometimes. It wasn’t healthy to always be winning. Either your ego would get too large, or the eventual loss would be too much. Still, every loss stung a tiny bit.

Worse, every trainer they had met was heading to Petalburg, not Rustboro. They’d always give a few vague directions on how to leave the forest, but they never seemed to be accurate.

“Or maybe we just suck,” Brendan mumbled, fiddling with his Pokédex. It was the most accurate map they had. Ivy had a large, but much more general, paper map. It worked for most routes, but didn’t have any landmarks for Petalburg Woods. His Pokédex, formed through the diligent work of Professor Birch’s many aids, had some holes in its paths, but was a lot more reliable.

Unfortunately, he was right. They really did suck.

-

“Aaaand go!”

Ivy threw the leaves in the air and ducked to the side. Concentrating hard, Torchic let out several rapid-fire Embers. Most of them hit their mark, burning the leaves into nothing. One Ember went wide into a bush, but Mudkip quickly put it out with a Water Gun. Four leaves fell to the ground, untouched.

Torchic flopped down onto his butt. If he had a mouth instead of a beak, he’d be scowling.

“Hey, don’t be like that!” Ivy scooted over and scooped the tiny chick Pokémon into her arms. “You’re getting better and that’s what’s important!”

Torchic’s not-scowl didn’t lessen, but he didn’t leap out of her arms either.

This was their third break that day and it was barely past noon. They were still hopelessly lost and beginning to be a bit pessimistic about travelling further. At least it was good training time. Torchic’s accuracy with Ember had improved greatly.

Brendan sighed, sitting with his back to a tree. “We should just use the Ranger distress beacon and be done with it.”

Ivy crossed her arms. “Absolutely not! What would your dad say if he found out that we couldn’t even get out of Petalburg Woods?”

Brendan’s cheeks reddened and he looked rather sick. Ivy more than understood the feeling. The Ranger branch of the Pokémon League existed for exactly this reason—helping lost trainers out in the wild. But calling on the Rangers for help would be embarrassing. It’d be admitting that they couldn’t do it on their own. That they were little kids who needed grownups to hold their hands whenever the going got rough.

“Right? I wouldn’t be able to look my dad in the eyes and—ooh, a Wurmple!”

Ivy dropped Torchic and went to pet the Wurmple. They were so cute with their little faces!

With a huff, Torchic got to his feet and trotted over to where he had been practicing his aim. Mudkip could probably persuade Treecko into helping him train.

On top of Brendan’s hat, Taillow let out a low caw. The Wurmple shuddered and inched closer to Ivy.

“Aw, Taillow, no! Don’t eat this little guy, it’s too cute!”

Poochyena sauntered over, baring her teeth in both a grin and a threat. The Wurmple curled in on itself, letting out a distressed coo.

“Poochyena! Not you too!”

Poochyena let out a cackle and scampered away. Obviously, she’d only come over to scare the small bug.

Ivy pet the poor thing. It’d only been curious, and it didn’t deserve to be terrorized for its curiosity.

Slowly, the Wurmple stopped its wailing and uncurled itself. It seemed to enjoy Ivy petting it. She had never considered Wurmple for her team, but maybe she could catch the little guy? It seemed to like her well enough, and Taillow would stop staring at it like it was still lunchtime if Ivy caught it. Ivy glanced over to her backpack with her Poké Balls, only to see Brendan sit up, frowning.

“Do you hear that?”

“Huh? Hear what?”

Taillow fluttered off of Brendan’s hat and onto a tree branch. On the other side of the small clearing, the training session abruptly stopped. The only Pokémon to not react to whatever noise Ivy couldn’t hear was Poochyena who continued to untangle a bramble out of her tail.

Even the little Wurmple reacted; it wiggled away from Ivy, letting out a series of squeaks.

Brendan stared at it, his expression turning from a frown into one of alarm. He stood up, grabbing both his and Ivy’s backpacks.

“We really need to get going!”

“What? Why?”

He tossed her backpack towards her and returned Mudkip and Treecko.

“The Wurmple was letting out a distress call! Whatever colony it belongs to is probably heading here right now!”

Now that he said it, Ivy was beginning to hear the noise of flapping wings and a buzzing noise.

She grabbed her bag and ran.

-

They didn’t make it far before the Beautifly attacked.

Ivy had always liked Beautifly. They were pretty. All of her friends from school were obsessed with them. What was there to hate?

Well, nothing like being attacked by a Pokémon to sour your opinion on it.

Most Pokémon moves were more bark than bite. A point-blank Hyper Beam would hurt a lot and probably land you in the hospital for a day or two, but it wouldn’t kill you. Infinity Energy was only usable by Pokémon, therefore it only affected Pokémon. Even then it blunted moves, making them less dangerous and almost completely harmless to humans. It was a topic her dad liked to read about.

That didn’t mean they didn’t hurt.

The Beautifly repeatedly used Gust, or maybe Air Cutter, she wasn’t really sure, sending Ivy stumbling into a tree and Torchic flying through the air. Only Taillow was unaffected, soaring above the winds.

Brendan wasn’t lucky enough to only run into a tree. He’d been flung onto the ground, and a Beautifly quickly seized the opportunity to sprinkle some powder over his prone form. Brendan groaned, and didn’t get up.

Most Pokémon moves were harmless. Stun Spore, however, still caused a mild paralysis in humans, especially if you weren’t expecting it.

The Beautifly left Ivy and her two Pokémon alone. They chittered as they hovered over Brendan, their long proboscis’ uncurling.

Taillow let out a panicked caw before diving down, smashing into one of the Beautifly.

Ivy could only stare.

Torchic rushed passed her, spitting Ember’s out as fast as he could. So far, every flame landed, damaging the beautiful wings Beautifly were known for.

That snapped Ivy out of her frozen trance. She rushed forward, ducking under the Beautifly to grab Brendan by his armpits and drag him away. The Beautifly were too busy with Taillow and Torchic to bother chasing them. Poochyena followed, ears pricked upwards, their bodyguard for the escape.

After only a few meters (Brendan was heavy), one of Brendan’s arms twitched. Ivy dropped him and he let out a deep groan.

“Oh thank goodness you’re okay!”

He let out another groan.

“Well. Maybe not okay, but you’re not having your blood sucked out by Beautifly, so.”

Brendan didn’t groan, but he did weakly roll onto his back.

Ivy glanced back at the clearing. The noises from battle were quieting down. She could only hope it was in their Pokémon’s favor.

“Poochyena, stay with Brendan. I’m going to go make sure Torchic and Taillow are okay.”

Poochyena let out a yip and sat down by Brendan’s head, ears pricked in attention.

Ivy dashed back to the clearing.

Most of the Beautifly had fled. Only two remained, and Taillow was making quick work of them. Torchic…

Ivy scooped up her still Pokémon, heart hammering in her chest. He was covered in a number of cuts, his orange and yellow feathers ruffled and plucked.

But he was breathing. Ivy let out a sigh of relief, clutching him tighter to her chest. It seemed like he had only been hit by a Stun Spore like Brendan.

Taillow let out a cry and a burst of wind swept past Ivy. The clearing was now empty save for her and Torchic.

She made her way back. Brendan was sitting up now, a shivering Taillow huddled against him.

“Potions?” he managed to rasp out as Ivy neared, still unable to work his jaw muscles fully.

Right. That made sense. Gently setting Torchic down next to Brendan, Ivy dug into her bag. It took a hot second (she had a lot of things in her backpack), but she managed to find two Potions. And only two. It seemed like Ivy had used more than she had thought. Hopefully, Brendan had more. He was the type to be overly prepared.

Gently, she sprayed one of the Potions over Torchic. Slowly, the cuts healed, and a feather or two even grew back in. He still looked rather ruffled, and they would have to wait for the paralysis to wear off on its own since Ivy knew she didn’t have a Paralyze Heal, but he was fine. It took a minute to convince Taillow to leave Brendan, but she did the same for the tiny swallow Pokémon.

Ivy sat back on her heels.

“We really need to get out of this stupid forest.”

Brendan grimaced, movement finally coming back to his face. “Yeah.”

-

It was difficult trying to coordinate their maps. Ivy’s map showed the official path they had accidentally left, but was older than she was and almost certainly inaccurate by now. Brendan’s Pokédex had fewer landmarks, but was far more up to date on the few that were there. Somehow, after a lot of arguing, they managed to settle on an area that they figured was most likely the main route. They were a day or two off from it, and they weren’t even really sure that it was the main route, but it was the best they could do.

-

Brendan squinted at his Pokédex. “I think we should be there soon.”

Ivy exchanged an unimpressed look with Torchic. “You’ve said that, like, every hour for the past three days.”

Brendan glared at her. “Well, it’s not like you’re much of a help!”

Ivy magnanimously decided not to reply. Nearly two weeks lost in the woods together had frayed their nerves. Being snippy with each other was pointless.

They continued in silence, Brendan scrolling on his Pokédex.

Ivy paused.

She’d gotten used to the sounds of the forest. Wind rustling through the leaves and Pokémon chirping or barking. But there was a new noise coming from ahead. One that sounded like voices talking. Hopefully talking about how they could get out of this stupid forest!

“Woo!” she yelled, running past a surprised Brendan. Torchic chirped and tried his best to follow, while Poochyena had no trouble running alongside her, tongue lolling out of her mouth.

“Wha-what are you doing?” Brendan yelled after her, starting to jog.

“People!” Ivy yelled back, as she entered a clearing that, indeed, held three other people.

All three turned to her, startled. One was an adult man in a white coat. He was clutching a briefcase to his chest. The other two were teenagers, or young adults, in weird, matching pirate outfits.

Ivy zeroed in on the briefcase. She knew they weren’t near Petalburg, so a businessman from there was unlikely. That meant they really were near the exit to Rustboro!

“Uhh, what was that all about?” the brown eyed pirate asked.

“Please tell me we’re near Rustboro City,” Ivy begged as Brendan finally caught up.

The man in the coat perked up, and scrambled behind them. Brendan eyed him suspiciously. “Trainers! Trainers will protect me!”

The red eyed pirate scoffed. “Protect you? Looks like they can’t even find their way out of Petalburg Woods. I doubt they’ll be difficult to defeat.”

Her partner smirked. “And when we do, we’ll take those Devon parts and be on our way!”

Ivy wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but it seemed like the pirates were living up to their dumb costumes and trying to steal from the guy cowering behind them. Well, Ivy wouldn’t stand for that!

She stepped forward and dramatically pointed at the pirates. “I don’t know what you guys are doing, but I won’t let you steal his stuff!”

“Ivy,” Brendan hissed behind her, alarmed.

The pirates shared a glance before shrugging.

“Your loss,” the red eyed one said before both sent out Poochyena.

“Torchic,” Ivy called out to her own Pokémon. Luckily, she knew pretty well how Poochyena worked by this point.

Someone settled in beside her. “Two on one isn’t fair,” Brendan said, Mudkip joining Torchic in a battle-ready stance.

“Poochyena, Bite the bird,” said one of the pirates, carelessly.

The other shrugged. “Bite the other one.”

“Dodge and use Peck,” Ivy yelled as both Poochyena charged.

Torchic chirped in affirmation and leaped into the air. Ivy side eyed Brendan. He hadn’t said anything yet.

The first Poochyena slid under Torchic, growling. It barked in anger as Torchic’s beak glowed and landed right on the other Pokémon’s head. While it shook its head in discomfort, Ivy yelled, “Now use Ember!”

Torchic complied, setting some of the Poochyena’s tail on fire. It yelped, and began to run around in a circle.

“Hey!” The brown eyed pirate yelled, as Ivy smirked.

The second Poochyena had no problem Biting the peacefully sitting Mudkip. Ivy felt her smile drop. What was Brendan doing?

“Ha!” said the other grunt. “Bite, again!”

Slowly, shaking off the Bite, Mudkip got to its feet. Brendan threw out an arm. “Now use Counter!”

Mudkip chirped, and charged. The poor Poochyena didn’t know what hit it. Eyes wide, the red eyed pirate had to recall her Pokémon after one hit.

“Uh,” was all she said, looking genuinely surprised.

“Torchic, another Peck!” The other grunt was staring at his partner, so Ivy needed to use his negligence to her advantage.

With one more Peck, both Poochyena were down.

“Yes!” cheered the man behind them.

“Ugh, seriously? I lost to some beginning trainer brats?” The red eyed pirate scoffed and turned around.

The other pirate looked just as flustered. He pointed at the man with the briefcase. “This attempt may have failed, but Team Aqua won’t be discouraged! We’ll get those parts at some point, just you wait.”

With that, he ran off into the forest, the other pirate following at a much more leisurely pace.

Brendan’s shoulder suddenly slumped, as if all the air was let out of him. Mudkip chirped in concern. “Eugh!” He straightened up and glared at the briefcase guy. “What was that all about?”

The man brought his briefcase up, as if it would shield him from Brendan’s glare. “Er, you see I work for the Devon Corporation, and I was picking up some pieces in Petalburg. I was meant to go straight from Petalburg to Rustboro, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to take a bit of a detour off the main path. I wanted to see some Shroomish! They’re very cute, you know. A perfectly acceptable reason for a detour!”

Ivy exchanged a glance with Brendan. “I still have no idea what that has to do with anything.”

“I am very confused myself! They just showed up out of nowhere and tried to steal my briefcase!” The man looked to the side, and seemed to drop his overdramatic persona. “It’s very worrying. I don’t know what this “Team Aqua” are up to, but I know what these parts are for. It wouldn’t do for any ne’er-do-well criminals to get their hands on it.”

Ivy looked thoughtfully at the man while Torchic hopped around her feet. “Hm. Well, we can help each other out! If you show us how to get to Rustboro, we’ll protect you from anymore pirates stealing your stuff.”

The man clapped. “That sounds perfect! And maybe we’ll even get to see some Shroomish along the way! Well, no time to lose!” He marched off in the direction opposite of the one Ivy and Brendan came from.

Ivy whistled sharply and Poochyena bounded over to her. She had prowled the edge of the clearing during the battle, ready for any dirty tricks from the other Poochyena. “What luck, huh!”

“We’re really helping that weirdo?” Brendan asked, giving Ivy the stink eye.

“You want to get out of this forest, right?”

“Ugh, whatever.” He picked Mudkip up. “Let’s just get going. I am so done with Petalburg Woods.”

Chapter Text

“If you ever need help with something, just go to the Devon Corporation’s headquarters and ask for Anderson! I’ll do my best to repay you for your protection.”

Ivy waved Anderson off with a smile before tossing Torchic’s Poké Ball in the air. They had split up at the Pokémon Center right by the entrance to Rustboro from Petalburg Woods: Anderson the Devon worker to his job and Ivy and Brendan into the Pokémon Center to give their Pokémon a proper healing.

Now…

“Woo!” Ivy cheered, oblivious to the looks passing businessmen gave her. “Off to the gym!”

-

Generally, it wasn’t hard to find a city’s Pokémon gym. They tended to be built to stand out, a noticeable landmark anyone could find. Rustboro’s gym was pretty nice. Not as cool as her dad’s, of course, but interesting. Like most of the buildings in Rustboro, it was made of a light, sandy colored stone. Unlike the towering skyscrapers and apartment buildings, it was lower to the ground and took up almost a whole city block.

There was also a huge crowd of people at the main door.

Ivy looked at the queue, worried. “Are there that many people trying to battle the gym leader?”

Someone behind her laughed. “The gym’s also a museum. There’s probably a field trip going on, so it’s busier than usual. You’ll want to go in those doors if you only want to battle Roxanne.”

Ivy turned around to grin and wave at the kind man talking to her. “Thanks!” Without another word, she marched off in the direction the man had pointed at.

The waiting area of the gym was very polished and modern. It probably looked exactly like the receiving entrance of the main museum it was attached to. Just behind the receptionist’s desk, Ivy could see a few small exhibits of fossils and stones.

“Hello, and welcome to the Rustboro City Gym. Are you here to battle Gym Leader Roxanne?”

Ivy nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah!”

The woman nodded. She glanced behind Ivy. “And you?”

“Er,” Brendan awkwardly adjusted his hat. “Sure.”

“Right. Please swipe your trainer cards here. Hm. Zero badges and one badge. Roxanne will be aware of that as she battles you.” The secretary looked at Ivy. “Do you need any explanation of how a gym battle works?”

Ivy shook her head. “Nope! Let’s go straight to Roxanne!”

The secretary pursed her lips at Ivy’s yelling. “Well, not right to Roxanne. Every gym is allowed to have a gym test if they wish, either some sort of puzzle or battling a trainer. Roxanne requires a single win against one of her trainers before you can battle her. You,” she nodded at Ivy, “will be battling Taro on pitch 1, and you will be battling Georgia on pitch 4. If you win, you will meet Roxanne on the main field. Please enjoy your time here at the Rustboro City Gym, and don’t forget to look at the exhibits!”

-

Ivy very much did not look at the exhibits. Most gyms had the same basic structure with only a few modifications. They were training centers first and foremost, so each one sported several battling fields for any trainer to use. Her dad’s gym had each field in its own room along a long hallway, while Rustboro simply had them all right next to each other in a large, open space. The main pitch, Ivy assumed, was the large one at the complete opposite side of the atrium. Pitch 1 was next to the door, and Ivy eagerly planted herself in the challenger’s box.

Her opponent, Taro, was a boy only a year or two older than her. He was also wearing what looked like a school uniform. Ivy craned her neck to look at Brendan’s opponent on the pitch across from hers. She also seemed to be wearing a uniform. Maybe it was the Rustboro Gym uniform, and it just happened to look like a school uniform? Whatever.

“You Ivy?” Taro asked, voice dripping with boredom.

“Yup!”

He sighed and looked at what was either a cell phone or a PokéNav. “No badges… how boring.”

Ivy pouted. He didn’t have to be so rude out loud!

“Anyways… I have one Pokémon I can use, while you can use however many you have. No switching. Whoever is left standing wins. Let’s go.”

Casually, he tossed his Poké Ball and let a Jigglypuff onto the field.

Ivy frowned even as she released Torchic. She knew this wasn’t the Normal type gym considering that was her dad’s specialty, but this place didn’t exactly scream Fairy type either. Well, Roxanne was still somewhat new. Maybe she hadn’t remodeled yet.

“Torchic, Peck!”

“Play Nice.”

Torchic shot forward, beak glowing. Jigglypuff was knocked backwards, bouncing across the ground. It got to its feet and, despite the direct hit, smiled and started squeaking at Torchic. Torchic tilted his head to the side and let out an inquisitive caw back.

“Ember!”

Torchic wasn’t listening. He and Jigglypuff were now having a full-on conversation in the middle of the field. Jigglypuff even managed to get right up to Torchic.

“Torchic! Now’s not the time for talking. We need to win!”

The mention of winning seemed to do the trick. He looked away from Jigglypuff, blinking rapidly as if he had forgotten what they were doing.

“Now, Pound.”

With his back to it, Jigglypuff had no problem ramming its body into Torchic sending him sprawling. He squawked angrily as he got back to his feet. Jigglypuff giggled and gave him an innocent look.

Ivy grinned. That was going to make Torchic mad, so he likely wouldn’t fall for another Play Nice.

“Right! Ember!”

Torchic spat out a barrage of small fires, almost every one striking the Jigglypuff. It seemed like that accuracy training in Petalburg Woods had paid off!

“Now Scratch!”

Torchic leapt forward, talons first, hitting Jigglypuff right in the face. It squealed as Torchic knocked it over, relentless in his attack. After nearly ten seconds, Torchic dropped to the ground when Taro returned his Pokémon.

“You win. A monetary reward will be transferred to your Trainer ID. You can now go meet Roxanne at the main field all the way over there. And I get to finish my homework. Yay.” The last bit was muttered under his breath as he turned away from the field.

Huh. So, he was a student.

Before she sprinted all the way to Roxanne, Ivy looked over at Brendan. His Taillow was currently battling a Meditite. Which was neither a Normal nor Fairy type. So, what was the type specialty of this gym, then?

Whatever. Her and Torchic and Poochyena would be able to take it on!

-

Gym Leader Roxanne was young, just out of her teens. She was much more put together than Ivy, with her ironed grey dress and shiny black shoes. If Ivy weren’t vibrating out of her skin in excitement, she might’ve felt a bit underdressed in her dusty red t-shirt and yellow gym shorts.

Roxanne clapped her hands together. “Congratulations on making it past my test! As it was a battle, if you would like a minute or two for a break, that can be obliged.”

Ivy shook her head, practically shaking from excitement. “Nope! We’re good!”

“Very well. I have two Pokémon I can use, while you can use as many as you want, with no switching allowed on either side. The winner will be decided when one side has all of their Pokémon faint.” Roxanne looked over to the referee standing at the side of the field. He nodded and blew into a whistle, signaling the start of the match. A Lunatone floated by him, silently creating a psychic barrier to protect them from any debris or blowback. “Now, Geodude, let’s go!”

With a flash, the rock Pokémon appeared on the field.

Ivy felt a bit of her enthusiasm dim. Type match ups weren’t the end all, be all of Pokémon battling. If you had a good strategy, a Pokémon could theoretically win against one completely immune to its typing. But Ivy didn’t have any strategy against rock types. She just had two Pokémon, almost all of whose moves were ineffective against Rock types, and zero strategy.

“Er.” Ivy really didn’t want to look at Brendan. Stupid Brendan who had brought up this topic back in Petalburg Woods. “Go, Torchic!” She had to at least pretend to have some confidence!

Roxanne looked rather concerned at her choice. “Are you sure you want to use this Pokémon?”

Torchic let out a barrage of angry chirps. He didn’t like the insinuation that he couldn’t take on some measly Rock and Ground types.

“Uh, yeah!” Ivy said with what very little confidence she had left. She felt somewhat off-kilter. This wasn’t the sweeping win she had been imagining for so long. “Torchic, um, Ember!”

Geodude were better at weathering physical attacks, so a special one would deal a bit more damage. Hopefully.

It barely seemed to phase the Geodude.

Roxanne sighed. “Geodude, Rock Tomb, please.”

With a grunting noise, it complied, sending Torchic tumbling from a barrage of rocks.

Torchic tried to stand up, not quite to the point of fainting, but obviously very close. Maybe she should’ve taken that offer for a break.

Ivy did the math in her head. Torchic, even with his strong fighting spirit, wouldn’t last another hit, and he could only dodge for so long before he exhausted himself. She still had Poochyena, but none of her moves were particularly effective against a Geodude. She might be able to take it down with a bit of trouble, but Roxanne would still have her second Pokémon—and that one was going to be the stronger one of the two.

As depressing as it was to think, there really wasn’t much of a choice.

Ivy sighed and held up her arms in a shrug. She looked over to the referee. “I forfeit.”

Torchic turned to her and let out more angry chirps, while Roxanne and Brendan, who seemed to have finished his battle, stared at Ivy in shock. With another whistle from the referee, the match was over.

“I have to say, from your earlier demeanor, I wouldn’t have expected you to do that.” Roxanne said, hands on her hips. It was hard to tell whether she approved or not.

Ivy shrugged, feeling more than a little deflated. She bent down to pick up Torchic, but the angry little bird pecked at her hand and hopped around so his back was to her. Ivy resisted another sigh. “There was no world where we won. If I had a third Pokémon, I might’ve tried to go on, but there’s no point in putting my Pokémon through a pointless battle where they’d just get hurt and lose because I didn’t think things through.”

At that, Roxanne gave a small smile. “While it’s not good to give up before you even start, it’s always good to be realistic about your situation. And even better to put your Pokémon first, even if they don’t like it.” She glanced meaningfully down at Torchic, before looking over at the stands where Brendan was sitting. “I’m assuming you’re my other opponent. Would you like to battle now?”

Brendan jumped up, still looking startled. “Uh, sure!”

-

Ivy was not jealous of Brendan. She did not envy how he had a Grass type and a Water type and therefore had a much easier time defeating Roxanne than Ivy could ever hope to have herself.

Ugh. At least she now knew what Pokémon Roxanne used for lower level battles. There was the Geodude against her, and the Corsola and Nosepass against Brendan. Ivy was willing to bet that Nosepass was the second Pokémon she would’ve had to face. Despite how the forfeit stung, seeing that, Ivy knew she had made the right choice. There was no way Poochyena would’ve been able to damage the thing.

“And you can have this Stone Badge as proof of your win. Congratulations! You will be able to pick up a TM for Rock Tomb from the reception desk.”

Ivy left the stands to congratulate Brendan herself. She was maybe a bit mad at herself, but she shouldn’t take it out on Brendan. “You did great!”

Brendan rubbed the back of his neck. While Ivy could tell he won that battle handily, it was a little surreal to him. Battling wasn’t really something he considered himself good at. “Thanks.”

Roxanne cleared her throat. “While you both have good qualities at battling, they could be better. As such, I am recommending that you two stop by the Rustboro Trainers’ Academy.” She paused. “I’m a teacher there, and I could let you two sit in on some classes.”

School? Oh, no. No, no, no. Ivy hated school.

“Er, thanks, but—”

“No need to thank me!” Roxanne said, taking each of them by the arm. “Let’s go! Afternoon classes start soon, and we shouldn’t be late!”

-

There was always a chance that the Rustboro Trainers’ Academy could’ve been fun. It was a trainers’ school, after all! They had classes specializing in battle tactics, Pokémon grooming, and all other sorts of cool stuff related to Pokémon training! Littleroot hadn’t been big enough for a trainers’ school, and Ivy hadn’t wanted to either commute with her dad every morning or live in the dorms to enroll in one of Petalburg’s trainers’ schools.

But it wasn’t fun.

Because a trainers’ school was still, at its core, a school.

And, unfortunately, Roxanne dropped them off at her homeroom classroom whose first afternoon subject was the very boring, very horrible math.

The bell rang, and the current teacher, the math teacher left with his cart. Ivy leaned towards Brendan. “You wanna ditch?” she whispered.

Brendan nearly slammed his hands on his desk in desperation. “Please.”

And that’s how Roxanne came ready to teach battle theory, and instead found her students crowded around an open window, watching her two most recent pupils as they ran across the schoolyard and hopped the fence.

Roxanne politely shoved her way through and stuck her head out the window.

“Hey! Where are you two going? This is so disrespectful!”

-

“Uuuugh,” Brendan said, lying on a sandy beach off Route 104, safely away from any academics. “I hate school.”

“Agreed.”

“Sitting still for hours on end sucks.”

“Right?” Ivy was honestly a little surprised. She would’ve thought, with how nerdy Brendan was about Pokémon, that he would’ve loved school. “I kind of can’t believe you agree.”

He tossed a handful of sand over at her. “Oh, shut up. It’s one thing to learn things from a practical stand point, another to sit in a chair and just be told stuff for eight hours.”

Ivy really couldn’t argue against that.

She sat up, glancing behind her. The two of them had hid behind a rocky outcropping, just in case the school had sent someone to follow them. Luckily, it seemed they were in the clear. There were a few houses dotting the beach, but no people were out and about.

Ivy stretched and jumped up, letting her Pokémon out. Torchic took one look at the ocean and squawked in displeasure. Ivy returned him. Right, he had that dislike of water that went beyond normal for a Fire type. Poochyena immediately hopped into the surf, however.

“Right then! Now that that torture is over, let’s go find a Water or Grass type!”

Brendan, still on the sand, looked up at her. “You’re seriously going to go battle her again? After ditching her school?”

She shrugged. “It’d be a waste of a trip to Rustboro, and I want to get a gym badge. Anyways, I’m off to search. Have fun getting sand in your pants.” She made sure to kick up a wave of sand, just because he had thrown some at her earlier.

Running down the beach, Ivy laughed as Brendan sputtered.

-

Surprise of the century: there were a lot of Water types at the beach.

Wingull and Pelipper soared through the air. A handful of Marill bounced across the sand, sometimes accompanied by a tiny Azurill or large Azumarill. And, of course, even from a distance, Ivy could see the telltale splashing of Magikarp further out at sea.

While a Grass type would work, Ivy kind of wanted a Water type more. Hoenn was a region made up of several islands, so it’d be nice to have a Pokémon that could surf across the ocean. She shaded her eyes as she glanced up at the circling Wingull. A Flying Pokémon was also pretty useful for travel. Maybe she could try to catch a Wingull? Two Pidgey with one stone, and all that.

A small burst of water below a nearby dock caught her attention. She crept closer, not wanting to scare a potential Pokémon.

Under the dock, floating aimlessly in a circle, was a Horsea.

“Huh,” Ivy muttered to herself. She hadn’t known there were Horsea in Hoenn. Now, how could she catch it?

She held onto the side of the dock, ignoring the slimy underside, and stuck her head down so it hovered just over the water.

“Hello, Horsea! Would you like to go into a Poké Ball?”

A jet of water hit her face.

Ivy gagged as she pulled herself back onto the dock. “Ugh.” She peered down. The Horsea was still there.

She looked over at Poochyena. She liked to frolic and play in the water but… “Please know how to swim.”

Luckily, it seemed she did. Poochyena let out an unhappy whine as she jumped into the water, but she was swimming. “Hey, it was you or Torchic! Now, see if you can Bite that Horsea.”

Awkwardly, Poochyena dove down. Ivy couldn’t see under the dock, but it seemed like it didn’t go so well. Poochyena resurfaced, growling.

The Horsea was a few feet away from the dock now, watching them.

Well, it hadn’t run away. That meant it probably wouldn’t mind being caught.

“Uh, try again?”

Poochyena growled, but listened. Now, with the two out in the open, Ivy could see what was happening. Poochyena dove and tried to use Bite, but the Horsea was too quick underwater. With more than a little grace, it turned and swam away from Poochyena with a single flap of its backfin.

Ivy narrowed her eyes as Poochyena surfaced a second time. “Okay. Horsea has to face whatever direction it wants to go to get away. When you dive, wait until it turns to attack. It won’t be able to turn fast enough.” Hopefully.

Poochyena barked in affirmation, and Ivy scrambled for one of the empty Poké Balls in her bag. She had to be ready.

For a third time, Poochyena dove down. She swam slower and, just as the Horsea turned to swim away, she darted forward, capturing the Water type in her jaws. Surfacing, Poochyena tossed it onto the dock.

“Gah!” Ivy exclaimed as she readied her Poké Ball. She hadn’t expected Poochyena to fling the poor thing. Still, as the even more disorientated Horsea rightened itself, Ivy threw her Poké Ball.

One, two shakes, and click!

“Woo!” Ivy punched the air. Horsea caught!

Poochyena whined, still treading water.

“Oops, sorry!” Ivy returned her poor, wet pooch. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to give you a good brushing once we get back to Brendan.”

Picking up her newly caught Pokémon, she headed back.

Chapter Text

Brendan’s eyebrows flew up. “A Horsea?”

Maybe Ivy’s original assumption had been right. She paused in toweling Poochyena. “Are they not native to Hoenn?”

He shook his head and readjusted his bag’s strap on his shoulder. “No, they are, they just aren’t found on this coast. Usually, you have to look over by the deeper waters around Mossdeep or Sootopolis. I wonder how it got over here…”

“Probably them currents on Route 132. They’re nasty enough to shuffle a Horsea all the way over here.”

Both Ivy and Brendan jumped at the sudden voice. Behind them were two old men standing on the porch of one of the several beach houses that dotted the strip of land. One had a white beard and a fisherman’s vest, while the other had an impressive mustache and no shirt under his captain’s jacket. The mustachioed old guy seemed vaguely familiar, but Ivy couldn’t immediately place him.

Brendan shuffled backwards. “This… isn’t private land, is it?”

Both old men let out booming laughs. “Nah, lad. You ain’t trespassing.”

A Wingull floated down and landed on the bearded man’s shoulder. “You can call me Mr. Briney. This here’s Peeko and that old fool is Drake. We were just interested in what two kids were doing over here.”

Drake tipped his hat and Peeko twittered.

Now that she knew they weren’t in trouble, Ivy grinned back. “Nice to meet you! I’m Ivy and that’s Brendan. I was looking for a Water type Pokémon.”

Drake nodded. “For Roxanne?”

“Yeah! How’d you know?”

He chuckled. “Only so many reasons for a kid to be by a Rustboro beach looking for Pokémon. It was either Roxanne or a Contest.”

“Huh. There isn’t much to do in Rustboro then, is there?”

That set the old men off again.

“No, it’s not the place people go to for fun.”

Brendan was still more interested in the Pokémon information. “So, you think the Horsea got carried here by currents? Aren’t their tails supposed to stop that.”

Mr. Briney peered at Brendan, a grin under his beard. “Someone knows his Pokémon facts! And that’s true, but if there isn’t anything for the tail to grab, then it can be swept away easily. Horsea are rather frail things.”

Brendan’s eyes were practically sparkling as he took in that information. He hastily pulled out his Pokédex and began typing on it, making note of what Mr. Briney told him.

Drake suddenly looked more interested. “That a Pokédex?”

Brendan seemed more interested in typing than replying, so Ivy spoke for him. “Yup! His dad is Professor Birch, so Brendan likes collecting information about Pokémon.”

Drake stroked his mustache. “Birch, huh?” He peered at Ivy. “…You Norman’s kid then? I remember him saying they were good friends.”

Ivy blinked. Her dad was pretty well known, being a gym leader, but this guy sounded like he knew him personally. “Uh, yes?”

He nodded. “Thought so. You look like him.”

Ivy tugged at one of her lower Tepig-tails. “I hear that a lot.” She definitely got her coloring from her dad. “Do you know him?”

Drake laughed. “Aye, we work together.” He gave a brief salute. “Drake of the Elite Four, nice to meet ya two.”

Brendan’s jaw dropped, and even Ivy’s eyebrows raised a bit. The Elite Four were the best trainers in the region, besides the champion. It felt weird to just meet one chilling on a beach with his friend.

Still, it did explain how he knew her dad. Gym leaders spent most of their time in their cities and the Elite Four on Ever Grande Island, but there were meetings between all members of the Pokémon League every few months and it wasn’t uncommon for them to meet up during tournaments or battling exhibitions.

“It’s, uh, it’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Drake!” Brendan stuttered out, finally looking up from his Pokédex.

Drake snorted. “No need to get formal, son.”

Waving a hand, Mr. Briney chimed in after silently watching the conversation. “Ah, but go back to whatever you two were doing. Don’t mind us old coots sitting here and reminiscin’.”

Brendan looked surprisingly reluctant to go. He probably wanted to see if they had any more knowledge for his Pokédex.

Ivy sighed. She’d probably be here for a while. At least Poochyena would get a thorough grooming. Her Pokémon would love that.

-

The best place to battle other trainers in Rustboro, according to the nurse at the Pokémon Center, was the Rustboro Trainers’ Academy. Considering their daring escape the day before that probably wasn’t the smartest place to go, so Ivy had to make do with the second-best place: asking random strangers coming in and out of the Pokémon Center if they’d like to battle.

More often than not they said yes, but it was always a gamble whether they would completely destroy her or not. Rustboro was a common first and second gym for a lot of trainers, but there were some who stopped by with six or seven badges. Ivy quickly learned to ask people who seemed her age or younger.

The actual battles, the ones that weren’t horrendously one-sided, well…

Poochyena, for probably the first time in her life, was the most well-behaved one. In every battle she participated in, she performed admirably, always listening to Ivy’s directions. She got a ton of head pats and treats for that.

Torchic was still angry over their forfeit. She’d always known the little chick was feisty and full of spunk, but he was now completely refusing to cooperate with her. In every battle, if he didn’t completely refuse to fight, he refused to listen to any of her directions. That, of course, led to him getting knocked out quite often, which really didn’t help his mood.

Horsea was almost the complete opposite. She was too hesitant, to the point where Ivy pulled her aside after an early battle and asked if she even wanted to do this. The little dragon Pokémon had trilled an affirmative, but continued to look over at Ivy constantly during battle, as if asking some question Ivy didn’t know and couldn’t answer.

Ivy lost more often than she won. Which was, honestly, really disheartening. Her dad was a gym leader! She had personally helped him train some of his team! Yet, it seemed like she could barely train her own team.

After a day, Ivy stopped asking trainers to battle. An actual opponent was the best way to hone moves, but if even Ivy was frustrated and discouraged then her team definitely was.

Well, except maybe Poochyena. She seemed pretty pleased with everything.

She could’ve battled Brendan, but he hadn’t seemed interested after one battle. He’d left to go look at Pokémon north of Rustboro for his dad.

So, Ivy trudged alone to that beach they had visited before.

“Alright!” Ivy said, clapping her hands together. “Torchic, you’ll be practicing Scratch on that boulder. Keep going until you’re actually making deep marks in it. I… don’t know if this will actually help you learn Double Kick, because, uh,” she gestured at Torchic’s tiny little talons. He cawed angrily at that. “But it probably won’t hurt to get used to using your legs in battle! Just channel all that inner Fighting type energy within you when you use Scratch!”

Torchic immediately scuttled off and Ivy sighed. He was still mad at her.

“Poochyena, you’ve been doing perfectly fine, honestly.” Her pooch preened at the praise, tail wagging. Ivy took a ribbon out of her bag. Poocheyna’s tail slowed in confusion. “I think you’ve gotten Tackle and Bite down. We could work on upgrading Bite to Crunch, but we might need to wait for your evolution for you to have the strength for that. Instead, let’s work on this move I found on Brendan’s Pokédex that might be useful. It’s called Odor Sleuth and has a bunch of uses! Mainly, it lets you find any opponent on the field, even if they’re using, like, Double Team or Minimize, or you could hit a Ghost type with a Normal type move.”

That obviously meant nothing to Poochyena. She whined as Ivy fit the ribbon around her eyes, but didn’t shake it off.

“Now, go bother all the Wingull on the beach to your heart’s content! Just make sure to use your nose and, um, whatever energy Pokémon have in them to find the Wingull.”

Poochyena barked and ran off. Hopefully, she heard everything after ‘bother Wingull.’

Finally, Ivy turned to Horsea and crossed her arms.

“Now, you.” Horsea seemed to wilt, and Ivy softened up some. Now was not the time to mimic her dad. She needed to be stern, but not scary. “You’re going to have to be honest with me. Do you want to battle?”

Horsea said nothing, just floated from side to side.

“Is that a… shrug?”

She let out a trill at that.

“Sooo, you don’t care if you battle or not?”

Another shrug-like gesture.

Well, that wasn’t much help.

“Horsea, I’m going to be honest with you. I plan to battle. If you don’t like it, just tell me and I’ll release you and—”

Horsea let out a shrill whinny and sailed forward, honking in distress as she hovered around Ivy.

“Eh?”

Something she had said had obviously set Horsea off.

“Was it the bit about being released?”

Horsea dropped into Ivy’s lap, still making those distressed, honking noises. Ivy gathered the dragon Pokémon up into a hug. There weren’t any tears, but it sounded an awful lot like Horsea was crying.

“Shh, it’s okay. I won’t release you, or trade you, even if you don’t want to battle.” A flash of memory abruptly stormed into her brain. Mr. Briney (or Drake?) had mentioned something about the Horsea line travelling in large herds during that lecture to Brendan she had mostly tuned out. Combining that with the fact that Horsea had obviously been torn from her herd by strong currents, Ivy was willing to bet Horsea had some form of abandonment issues. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you, honest! I’ll never let you go. We may not be your herd, but we can be a family, too.”

That seemed to bring about tears as Horsea curled in closer to Ivy’s chest. Ivy let her stay like that for a while. They could continue training when she calmed down.

At least they had managed to work through one of her team members’ issues. Maybe she could work with Torchic next…

-

Once she had Horsea settled and working on strengthening her Water Gun (she also knew Smokescreen and Bubble but those were actually very good; it seemed she had used those more often in the wild), Ivy checked on her other two Pokémon.

Poochyena was, well, making good on Ivy’s order to bother the Wingull. She still had the ribbon over her eyes, so Ivy left her alone.

That left her angry little chick. Even from a distance, Ivy could see Torchic was visibly frustrated. This wasn’t going to be fun.

“How’s it going!”

Torchic hopped around and let out a litany of loud squawks and chirps. Ivy let it go on for a time, nodding every so often, before finally interrupting.

“So, you’re getting nowhere, huh?”

Now, it seemed Torchic was opting for the silent treatment. What a moody little bird.

“Listen. I know you’re upset about the gym battle, but there was no way we were going to win.”

Torchic let out a harsh caw, puffing out his chest. Ivy didn’t know exactly what he said, but she got the vibe. You could’ve let us try.

She shrugged. “Maybe.” Absently, she kicked some sand around with her foot. “I dunno. I was really excited to battle, and I think the reality of how unprepared I was hit me a little too hard. I didn’t want to see either you or Poochyena faint for nothing, so I pulled the plug early. But I guess it was a little mean to not consider what you wanted.”

He let out a decisive caw at that.

There was a long pause between them, then Torchic let out a breath and a hesitant chirp.

“Aww, are you apologizing to me, too? How sweet!” Ivy darted forward and squeezed Torchic tightly against her chest as he protested loudly. “What an adorable little chick! So cute and so sweet~!”

Torchic wiggled his way out of her grip, cawing loudly all the while. He landed on the ground in an awkward heap, glaring up at her.

Ivy couldn’t help but giggle. Torchic was too cute to be that serious.

“Enough of that, though! Let’s see how Scratch is coming along…”

-

Their day of solo training had been beyond successful. When she went to bother the other occupants of the Pokémon Center the next day, her team was much more coherent and willing to listen. On day two, she won almost every battle she initiated.

“I know it might be too soon, but it’s not like there’s a time limit I have to wait out!” Ivy argued with Brendan as she brushed her hair before bed.

When they had first arrived in Rustboro he’d blanched at the thought of sharing a room with her, but she’d argued that it made more sense. Pokémon Centers were always super busy and didn’t always have single rooms open. Not to mention, it made it easier to coordinate what they were doing each day. He’d given in eventually, but he’d been bright red when he had. One day, she was going to break him of that prissiness.

He shrugged from where he was on the top bunk, cuddling Treecko and Mudkip. Taillow had won the right to sleep on his hat that night and she proudly roosted on it over on the room’s small desk.

“Rushing in didn’t work last time.”

“I’m not rushing in,” Ivy said brightly. “I already know she has Rock types!”

“That’s not—ugh, there’s never any point in arguing with you. You just talk around everything…”

Ivy lifted her hairbrush in the air and cheered. “Whoo! I won the argument!”

At the foot of her bed, Poochyena let out a light howl before curling back up into a ball.

Argument won, Ivy was finally ready to sleep. Torchic liked to pretend he was too cool for cuddles, so he slept on some blankets in the corner, but Poochyena had no qualms. She took up nearly a third of the bed. And Horsea… they’d had to come to a compromise there.

Horsea was kind of clingy. If she was out of her Poké Ball and Ivy was more than a few feet away, she started to make those distressed honking noises. The first night after her capture, she’d gotten in bed with Ivy and Ivy eventually had to return her and keep her in her ball all night.

In hindsight, Ivy could tell that had added to her earlier issues, but it had been necessary. Most Water type Pokémon could stay outside of water for an hour or two, but any longer and they started to dry out. That was obviously very not good, but Horsea never seemed to care.

In the end, Ivy borrowed a bucket from the Pokémon Center, filled it to the brim with water, and put it right by her bed. If she stretched her arm out, Horsea would be able to bump against it and reassure herself that Ivy was still there. She was kind of worried about peeing in her sleep since this was nearly that one classic prank set up, but whatever. It helped Horsea.

Ivy hummed as she fell asleep. She couldn’t wait for tomorrow!

-

Ivy was so ready. Today, she was going to face Roxanne (again) and win! But first—

“Are you serious?” she couldn’t help but whine at the receptionist, the same one as before.

Her lips twitched. “It’s protocol. You’ll have to battle another trainer again before rematching Leader Roxanne.”

“Uuugh,” Ivy couldn’t help but groan. “Fiiine.”

“This time you’ll be fighting Marc on Pitch 1. Good luck on your second attempt!”

-

Marc’s appearance made Ivy tilt her head in confusion. Previously, both her and Brendan had fought teens around their age. Marc, however, was a grown man in his twenties or thirties.

“You aren’t part of the trainer’s school, are you?” Ivy couldn’t help but ask as she stepped onto the field.

He let out a roaring laugh. “No, no. Roxanne has two sets of gym trainers: students helping out for course credit at the Rustboro Trainers’ Academy, and actual Rock type specialists. You’re here on a Sunday, so none of the students are in.”

“Huh.”

Well, that explained quite a few things. If only the trainers’ school didn’t teach math; otherwise, it sounded quite fun if the students could intern as gym trainers.

“But you’re here to battle! No badges, hm? Well, let’s see how this goes. I have one Pokémon I can use, no switching allowed, and the battle ends when one side has all of their Pokémon fainted. Come on out, Geodude!”

“Let’s try this again, Torchic!”

Marc raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

“Rock Polish.”

“Scratch!”

With a loud caw, Torchic sprinted forward. Geodude shone slightly, but even its increased defense wasn’t prepared for the fury of a small bird intent on revenge. Torchic bashed his talons into Geodude’s head, creating multiple large gouges as he did.

Geodude let out a rumbling noise and began jerking around, trying to get the crazy bird off its head. Ivy stifled a giggle.

Marc seemed just as amused. Ivy could hear a laugh in his voice as he spoke. “Geodude, Rollout.”

Torchic let out an alarmed chirp as Geodude suddenly rolled forward, briefly flattening him against the ground. He flew off Geodude’s head, stumbling as he tried to regain his balance.

Ivy couldn’t resist her laugh there. It was her Pokémon, but it was funny!

“Okay, let’s do our new move! Double Kick!”

It wasn’t really a proper Double Kick. It was more Scratch with a bit of Fighting type energy imbued into it, but it was the best they could get until Torchic gained actual legs.

Screeching as he complied, Torchic jumped into the air, his talons glowing with the faintest of dark brown energy. He landed right on the gouges he made, the strength of his impact making Geodude crash into the ground. Ivy grinned; hitting exactly where they had previously used Scratch probably made it a critical hit! When Torchic jumped off the other Pokémon, several rocks crumbled off of Geodude’s head.

It didn’t get up.

Marc let out a loud laugh. “Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever been beaten with a Fire type so quickly. Good job! Roxanne should be back on the main field waiting for you.”

Torchic rushed over to Ivy, squawking proudly the entire time. Ivy crouched and raised a hand for a high-five (head-five)?

“Great job!” she said as she returned Torchic. He had won his rematch and now it was time for the others to take on Roxanne.

-

Roxanne wasn’t very happy to see her. The gym leader turned away and pouted as Ivy stepped onto the pitch.

“I went through all that trouble to let you two sit in on classes, and you ditched the second you could.”

Ivy laughed. “I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not, so.” She shrugged as Roxanne scoffed.

“There is a thing called being too blunt, you know. Whatever. Rules are the same as a few days ago.” She held up a Poké Ball as the referee blew into her whistle. “Geodude, let’s obtain a similar outcome as before!”

Geodude appeared on the field, but this time Ivy was prepared.

“Rock Polish!”

“Poochyena, let’s go! Use Sand Attack!”

Immediately, Poochyena used her hind legs to kick sand from the pitch into Geodude’s face. The Geodude growled and began to wipe its eyes.

“Now, Bite!”

Poochyena leapt forward, jaws gleaming with Dark energy, and bit down on Geodude.

Geodude roared and shook Poochyena off. She landed on her feet, tail swishing, ready to pounce again.

“Hm, an actual strategy. Now, Geodude, use Magnitude!”

“Oh, no,” Ivy muttered to herself. That would be next to impossible to dodge. “Try to dodge!”

Poochyena didn’t quite manage it. Geodude hit the ground with its fists, causing tremors. Poochyena did her best, but there was only so much she could do in an open field. Luckily, she didn’t seem too injured.

“Sand Attack, then Bite, again!”

“Magnitude, again!”

Poochyena managed to get that Bite in, but despite her best efforts to cling to the Geodude’s arm, she was flung off onto the ground. A slab of ground from Magnitude’s tremors hit Poochyena directly. She yowled, and fainted.

Ivy returned her. “You did exactly what you needed to. Now, let’s go, Horsea!”

Horsea materialized with a sweet whistling noise.

Roxanne let out a small huff of laughter. “You really did do your homework this time. Too bad we’ll be winning! Geodude, Magnitude!”

“Horsea, use Water Gun to get into the air!”

With a trill, Horsea aimed at the ground, launching her into the air just as jutting rocks from Magnitude would’ve hit her.

“Yes! Now Water Gun Geodude!”

It didn’t take more than that. Roxanne returned Geodude with a small smile on her lips. “You did well. Now, it’s your turn, Nosepass! Harden!”

The Nosepass materialized with a thump, already gleaming with a strange shine.

Ivy didn’t want to waste time. “Smokescreen!”

Horsea blew dark ink out of her snout. As it touched the air, it thickened and turned gaseous, covering the field.

Roxanne let out a barely audible sigh. Ivy grinned. It seemed her accuracy lessening strategy was working! Or at least annoying Roxanne, which was a win in its own way, too.

“Please use Rock Tomb.”

Rocks were hurled through the air, but small and nimble Horsea dodged them easily.

“Water Gun! Make it a strong one!”

The attack landed, forcing the sturdy Nosepass to take two steps back from the strength of it. It also, unfortunately, dispersed the Smokescreen as it tore through the air.

“Aha! Nosepass, Thunder Wave, then Rock Tomb!”

Ivy yelped in shock as a wave of electricity rushed from Nosepass, hitting Horsea directly. Her little dragon Pokémon was paralyzed. Ivy hadn’t realized the Rock type could learn Electric moves.

This time, the rocks hit. Ivy winced as they buried Horsea. Still, her Pokémon hadn’t fainted. Ivy could faintly see her back fin flapping between rocks. They still had a chance.

“Horsea! Try your best with Bubble!”

A second felt like an hour as Ivy attentively watched the battle. Nosepass was weak enough that one move would likely faint it, and slow enough to have trouble dodging one of Horsea’s Bubbles. If Bubble landed, Ivy would win. If it didn’t, she’d likely have to send out Torchic. Ivy was in a much better spot than last time, but she really didn’t want to send out the already injured Torchic.

A bubble emerged from the rocks. One, two, more. They grouped together before speeding towards Nosepass. The slow slab of rock was only able to take a few steps before the move connected, somehow going right up its nose.

With a grinding noise, its arms fell to the side.

A whistle blew. “Leader Roxanne no longer has any Pokémon able to battle. Challenger Ivy is the winner.”

Ivy leapt into the air. “YESSS!”

-

“Congratulations. Despite running from my battle theory class, you did quite well. It was certainly much better than your first try.”

Ivy rubbed the back of her head, reddening slightly. “I’ve been told I can be a bit impulsive.”

“Obviously.” Roxanne cleared her throat. “That said, here is the Stone Badge. You can pick up a TM for Rock Tomb from the reception desk.”

Ivy squealed as she grabbed it. “Yes! Three more badges!”

Roxanne raised an eyebrow. “There’s eight total badges.”

Ivy turned around, thoughts already racing on where she needed to go next. Mauville, maybe? That was probably the closest gym besides her dad’s. Lavaridge was also about the same distance away, but the last she had heard it was closed while the new gym leader moved in. Mauville was the safer choice. “Yeah, yeah. Thank you for the battle!” She took off towards the exit. “Off to Mauville!”

Chapter Text

“No, I think this way is best. Just go over to Verdanturf, then on to Mauville.”

“But there’s no route and neither of us are hikers.”

“Do you want to go through Petalburg Woods again?”

Brendan winced. No, he did not.

Ivy folded her big map back up. Most of the cities that hosted gyms were in the southern part of Hoenn, far away from northern Rustboro. It meant either backtracking or going off the official routes. Either way, Ivy was pretty sure it would take the same amount of time, and they might as well use that time to go to new places instead of old ones.

-

Route 116 was mainly forested, but the closer they got to the Mt Chimney foothills, the sparser the trees became. Whether it was natural or due to deforestation, Ivy didn’t know.

Few people frequented this route. There had been multiple attempts through the years to create a tunnel that connected Rustboro to Verdanturf Town on the other side of the foothills, but each one fell through. Apparently, the Pokémon that inhabited the cave system didn’t like loud machinery. Not many people wanted to get to Verdanturf so badly they’d hike a mountain range, leaving it one of the more secluded routes in Hoenn.

So, it was bit shocking to hear yelling.

Ivy and Brendan exchanged glances. Without hesitating, Ivy ran forward, Brendan trailing behind. When she arrived, she felt a sense of déjà vu.

A pirate looking fellow, someone from Team Aqua, was playing tug of war with a woman in a collared shirt.

“Just give the thing up, lady!”

“Get lost, creep!”

Ivy raised a finger. “Uh, ma’am. Do you need help?”

With a jerk, the guy wrenched the briefcase away from the woman. “Please!”

“C’mon, Poochyena!”

The Aqua guy groaned. “I really don’t want to deal with this!”

He turned tail and ran.

Ivy blinked in confusion. Poochyena wasn’t that scary. She began to run after the man. “Stay with her,” she said to Brendan, barely glancing over her shoulder.

An entrance to one of the many tunneling attempts turned out to be close by. Ivy hesitated only a second before hurtling in. Just because she’d never been in a cave before didn’t mean she should run off without getting the briefcase back!

While it took a second for her eyes to adjust, it wasn’t as dark as she thought it would be. There were lanterns hooked near the ceiling at intervals, giving a good amount of light. The Aqua guy wasn’t anywhere she could see, but there was only one path, so Ivy forged ahead.

-

“Um, are you okay, ma’am?”

Brendan approached the woman with the same wariness he’d approach a hissing Pokémon.

She dusted off her clothing, looking more annoyed than anything. “I’m fine, that guy just jumped out from nowhere. Didn’t even have time to take out a Pokémon.” Her face fell. “Not that it would’ve done much good. My Skitters isn’t much of a battler. I was planning on using Repels to avoid any Pokémon, but those don’t work on creeps.”

“Er, yeah.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I’m guessing you work for Devon, too?”

She glared at him suspiciously, before something seemed to click. “Ohh, Anderson mentioned being saved by two kids. What luck I’m being saved by the same two. Apparently.”

“Yeah. You were delivering the parts somewhere?”

The woman sighed. “Yes. Our boss thought we would have better luck with someone besides Anderson going on a much less used route, but I guess those guys were watching Devon or something.”

Something heavy settled in the pit of Brendan’s stomach. What were he and Ivy running into? Stopping a minor, one-off theft was one thing, but this? Some team of people staking out one of the biggest companies in the world in order to steal from them? That was so beyond two thirteen year olds.

“Ohoho! Two people! That’s two people more than you usually see on this route.”

Reflexively, Brendan raised Mudkip’s Poké Ball. Mudkip didn’t care for battling that much, but he was an old Pokémon with a ton of experience in battle. He was definitely the Pokémon Brendan preferred using for serious battles.

Mr. Briney raised is hands in a placating gesture and laughed. “No need to be so jumpy!”

Brendan’s shoulders slumped. It was just the old man from the beach. “Sorry. Someone just stole from her, so we’re probably both a bit jumpy.”

Mr. Briney’s face clouded over. “Stole, you say? That’s not good.”

The woman glared at him. “Obviously not. Nothing about those Team Aqua guys are good.”

That seemed to alarm Mr. Briney even more. “Team Aqua?”

“You’ve heard of them?” Brendan leaned forward. He’d done some searching on the internet on one of the Pokémon Center’s computers after they’d left the gym, but he hadn’t found much.

He shook his head. “Only bits and pieces. Nothing too substantial. They usually keep to the area around Lilycove, so to see them all the way over here is worrying.”

Speaking of people not being where they were supposed to… “What are you doing here?” Brendan couldn’t help but ask. “Er, if you don’t mind saying.”

Mr. Briney laughed. “No harm done, lad. No, I was just looking for Peeko. That bird of mine has a tendency to fly off and get into trouble.” His face darkened. “I just hope this Team Aqua isn’t like that Team Rocket.”

Brendan didn’t really get what he meant, but the woman gasped.

“For the entire region’s sake, let’s hope these idiots aren’t like them.”

Brendan opened his mouth to ask what they were talking about, when someone cleared their throat behind him. He whirled around, raising his hand with the Poké Ball again, only to find Ivy standing there holding a briefcase, Poochyena by her side and a Wingull on her head. For some reason, she looked more worried than Brendan had ever seen.

“You guys were talking about Team Rocket?”

“You know who they are?” Brendan blurted out, as the Devon woman rushed forward to grab the briefcase.

Ivy shrugged, still looking troubled. “Sort of? I remember my parents talking about them a lot around the time we moved here from Johto.” She paused. “It was never in a good way.”

The woman huffed. “If they did, I’d be worried for you.” She turned to Brendan. “They’re a criminal organization from Kanto and Johto.” She scowled. “And it seems these Team Aqua fellows are similar, considering they’ve taken to stealing important items and Pokémon.”

Ivy reached up to pet Peeko, still on her head. “Oh, they didn’t steal him! Apparently, he just landed on one of them and fell asleep.”

Mr. Briney chortled. “Ha! That sounds like Peeko.” He walked over and carefully took Peeko off Ivy’s head. “I’ll take him from you, lass. Now, now, Peeko, what’ve I said about menacing people? Tsk, tsk. Well, whatever’s to be said about Team Aqua, at least they aren’t Pokémon thieves.”

“A low bar,” Brendan muttered, arms crossed.

“Now, I feel I oughta give you something! I doubt I would’ve been able to find Peeko without your help. Need a boat for anything? That’s about all I got left that’s useful now.”

Ivy perked up. “Actually, yeah! We were planning to get to Mauville through the foothills, but if you’ve got a boat, we can go to Dewford instead!”

Brendan felt a bit miffed at not being included in the discussion, but he had to admit it sounded better. They’d go to Dewford then head over to Slateport. That route seemed more efficient than hiking all over Mt Chimney.

Mr. Briney nodded. “Sounds good to me! Meet me by my house tomorrow morning and we can make the trip then.” He gave a jaunty wave. “Have a good one!”

He left, leaving just Brendan, Ivy, and the Devon woman.

The woman cleared her throat. “I feel I should give you some sort of reward, too. Especially considering how you’ve protected these parts twice now. I can’t give you anything myself, but if we go back to Devon, I’m sure we can get you two something.”

Ivy shrugged. “Well, we don’t have anything to do until tomorrow.” She looked over to Brendan, mouth downturned slightly. It was obvious she didn’t care about visiting Devon and probably would prefer to go check back into a Pokémon Center.

Unfortunately for her, Brendan was more than interested in the concept of going to Devon. “Is it true Devon can revive fossils?”

The woman smiled slightly. “Well, you can come and find out.”

-

Ivy had to admit, the entrance to Devon was a lot more impressive than she had been expecting. Having fossils and rocks underneath a glass floor was definitely very cool. Whatever other boring stuff they did, they had style down.

Sandra, the woman they had saved, was talking to the receptionist.

Ivy shuffled her feet and looked at Brendan. “So. You like fossils?”

Brendan shrugged, looking up from the floor display. “I mean, they’re cool, I guess? My dad’s just always wanted to study revived Pokémon and never been able to. I thought it’d be neat if I could get one for him.”

“Huh.” Ivy was saved from that awkward conversation by Sandra finally coming back over.

“Sorry about that. I had to wait for someone to come get the parts. The good news is that you were okayed for a tour! And the better news is that President Stone himself wants to meet you two!”

Huh? “The dude who owns this place wants to meet us?”

Sandra nodded as she led them up the stairs. “Oh, yes. He likes meeting promising trainers in general, but he feels obligated now considering how you’ve helped us out. Now, let’s start this tour…”

-

The tour was, Ivy had to admit, much more interesting than she thought it would be. She associated Devon with trainer’s supplies—Poké Balls, Potions, those kinds of things. She hadn’t expected them to be tinkering with machines that would let you see dreams or talk to Pokémon.

They were even shown Devon’s mysterious power source that powered all Devon owned buildings and factories. Even Ivy knew about it because of its mystery—it was powered by some strange energy that never seemed to run out. People had all sorts of conspiracy theories about what it was, but no one from Devon had ever explained what it was or how it was created. Sandra didn’t explain either, no matter how much Ivy and Brendan needled her.

Brendan ended up a bit let down by the fossil revival machine. It did work, the scientist in charge of it confirmed, but only people who brought their own fossils were allowed to use it. Otherwise, they would have to pay an absurd amount of money to Devon to buy one of their fossils.

“Well, where can you find fossils?” Ivy asked, wanting to cheer up Brendan who looked way too downcast.

“You can find them nearly anywhere in the world with enough digging, or through paying enough money, but for Hoenn… they’re easiest to find in the Mirage Desert.”

Ivy raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think it’s easy to find anything in a desert.”

The scientist shrugged. “I didn’t say easy, I said easiest. There’s a difference.”

Still, despite her initial skepticism, Ivy had to admit the place was alright.

-

“Now, the president is out of his meeting, and ready to meet you. Please behave yourselves.”

Ivy pouted, kind of offended at Sandra’s stare lingering on her a bit too long. “Why are you looking at me? When have I ever behaved inappropriately?”

Sandra shrugged and did a once over of Ivy, from her muddy sneakers to her oversized Pikachu t-shirt that showed off her sunburned shoulders and bra straps. “My apologies. It’s rude to assume.”

Brendan started snickering. Ivy elbowed him. Sandra sighed as she opened the door. Teenagers.

President Stone was a short, middle-aged man in a funky, purple pinstriped suit. He smiled at them as they entered. His office was more of the same of what seemed to be standard Devon décor—rocks and fossils.

“Hello, hello! Ivy and Brendan, yes? Very nice to meet you!” He enthusiastically shook their hands, grabbing one of theirs with both of his. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done! With those parts missing, we would’ve been set back months on that project. And who knows what those thieves even needed the parts for in the first place!”

Brendan seemed to wilt under the barrage of words from President Stone.

“Uh, no problem,” Ivy said, giving a grin. “We just wanted to help some people!”

“Or get out of Petalburg Woods,” Brendan muttered, barely audible.

President Stone didn’t seem to hear him, but Ivy had to cover a snort.

“Good, good. The world needs more people like you two! And you know, people who do good should be rewarded.” He hurried over to his desk. “Both Sandra and Anderson mentioned you two seeming to have difficulty getting around, and I thought that these might be of use.” He held up two square, yellow items. “The Pokémon Navigator Plus! Or the PokéNav Plus for short. The device any budding trainer needs!”

“Oooh.” Ivy leaned forward, truly interested for the first time since the tour started. She’d heard of PokéNav’s, though she didn’t know anyone who had one themselves. Her parents and the few of her school friends who had personal devices all had regular phones. “What’s it do?”

“Great question! The PokéNav Plus has all the features of the previous PokéNav, plus a sleeker design and even more applications! There’s the map, the phone, BuzzNav, the Pokémon Assessor, the Trainer ID Link—”

“Pokémon Assessor?” Ivy interrupted, curious as to what that was. Though, really, this thing seemed good enough for the map alone. She only caught a glance as President Stone scrolled through the apps, but it already seemed more accurate than her physical map or Brendan’s Pokédex.

“Yes! When you synch your Trainer ID, it’ll also synch all the Pokémon attached to your ID. You can access and see which moves your Pokémon knows, or its gender or ability. It can also give advice on what TM’s would be best for your Pokémon to learn, or what Contest category it might excel at.”

“It does a lot of what a Pokédex does,” Brendan observed. “Just can’t scan a Pokémon that isn’t yours or keep any information if you release the Pokémon, I’m guessing?”

President Stone nodded, impressed. “Correct! When we asked trainers what’d they like in a device, many said something like a Pokédex. It’s not as thorough as it isn’t a research tool, but we did take some inspiration from how the various Pokédexes around the world work.”

“Hm.” Brendan raised a finger to his lips, staring at the PokéNav Plus. “I already have Dad’s Pokédex, but this map is much better, gotta say.”

“And that’s not all! The PokéNav Plus now has internet capability and one of the widest signal ranges of any device out there! You want to check up on BuzzNav but you’re in the deepest parts of Granite Cave? No problem! You can still get reception down there.” He coughed. “Well, actually, the internet connection is still being worked on. These aren’t quite for sale yet, you see. But a full internet connection will be patched in soon enough! We’re working on it. And you can make calls from just about anywhere still!”

That wasn’t even a downside. Frankly, Ivy was convinced this thing was a godsend five minutes ago. The rest of it was just bonus after bonus.

“And you’re actually giving this to us? For free?” Brendan sounded just as awed as Ivy did.

“Of course! You saved Devon big time, and what better way to test out trainer-made devices than giving them to trainers? You just keep doing us favors.” His smile faded a bit. “But, ah, speaking of favors…”

Ivy nodded. “Here’s the catch.” For all this was awesome, she’d been expecting some sort of but.

President Stone vigorously shook his head. “No! Not a catch! Even if you say no, you can still have the PokéNav Plus. Sandra just mentioned that you two are going to Dewford, then presumably on to Mauville, and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind delivering two things for me.”

Ivy exchanged a glance with Brendan. That didn’t sound so bad. “Sure, what things?”

He grinned. “Ah, that’s the spirit! One of them is quite simple. My son has a habit of disappearing for days on end in caves, and sometimes I need to talk to him! Last I heard, he was in Granite Cave on Dewford, and since you were already heading there, I didn’t think it’d be too much out of your way if you delivered a letter to him.”

Brendan tilted his head to the side. “…Didn’t you mention these had signal all the way in the deepest parts of Granite Cave?”

President Stone was still grinning, but there was distinct grimacing quality to it now. “Yes. There’s a reason for that. Unfortunately, Steven likes vexing his poor father and turns his own PokéNav Plus off whenever he goes caving so no one bothers him.”

Ivy hid a giggle. That sounded like something she would do to her mom. “Sure! Won’t be a problem. What’s the other thing?”

President Stone’s smile faded. “That’s a bit more of a difficult task. I was wondering if you two wouldn’t mind taking the parts over to Slateport.”

“…The parts that have almost been stolen twice?”

“Yes, those parts,” President Stone confirmed to Brendan’s hesitant question. “I understand if you say no. We just thought that perhaps they might see a safer delivery if we send them with someone unaffiliated with the Devon Corporation. Trainers go everywhere—there’s nothing off with two young ones heading to the shipyard in Slateport. Anonymity just might be the key to getting them there. Of course, you are free to say no if you want to. I understand you may be wary of the potential danger.”

Ivy immediately shook her head. “It’s no problem. We need to stop by Slateport anyways since it’s the best way to get to Mauville.” She grinned. “And if anymore Team Aqua weirdos do pick a fight, we’ve already beaten them off twice!”

President Stone laughed. “You have a good attitude, Miss Ivy. Very well. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for everything you’ve done for me and my company. Now, let me go put those parts in something less conspicuous than a briefcase, and you two can be off with your goodies!”

-

Ivy browsed the selection of TM’s in Rustboro’s largest Poké Mart. Despite her rocky showing against Roxanne (pun fully intended), Ivy did, in fact, know the type specialties of most of Hoenn’s gym leaders. Dewford’s leader, Brawly, was a Fighting type specialist.

Once again, she was at a disadvantage. Poochyena wouldn’t be much use against him, while only Torchic had any sort of effective moves against Fighting types with Peck. She wanted to see if her Pokémon could learn any TM moves to help make things easier.

TM’s weren’t an instant win—you had to train them up like with any other move. But it did help speed the process up quite a bit. All you had to do was press the CD-like disc against the button on a Poké Ball and bam! Weeks of training skipped! Using too many too quickly could confuse a Pokémon, but buying one or two every so often wouldn’t be a problem.

The main Rustboro Poké Mart, the one by the gym, was impressive. It put to shame nearly every other Poké Mart she’d been to, including several in Petalburg. A perk from living right by the headquarters of the people who made most of the supplies sold there.

After leaving Devon, her and Brendan had split up. He’d gone back to the Pokémon Center to rest, while she’d headed here. Even near closing time, the place was still decently packed.

Ivy took her time wandering the store. Considering they had expected to travel to Mauville by foot, they had stocked up on supplies the day before. Food for them and their Pokémon, Potions, everything they could think of. Even if she didn’t need anything beyond TM’s, it was still fun to browse.

But, really, the TM’s were the main attraction. Shelf after shelf after shelf of the tightly packaged CD’s. There was even a small yet highly advertised section that boasted the newest model of TM’s—ones that could be used repeatedly as opposed to breaking after one use. Ivy remembered how impressed her dad had been when the news broke that Silph Co had figured out how to make TM’s reusable.

Ivy couldn’t get any of those however—they were in high demand and, at this late of an hour, nearly completely out of stock. There was only a single TM left for Swift, which wasn’t exactly what she was looking for.

Not to mention they were expensive. That Swift TM was almost as much as a one-use Hyper Beam TM. Ivy shuddered to think how expensive a reusable TM for that move would cost. Probably an arm and a leg.

She returned to the many, many other TM shelves. She was sure to find something!

-

“Ohoho! You two ever been on a boat before?”

Brendan shook his head, but Ivy nodded. “We came to Hoenn from Johto on a boat! It was a lot bigger than this one, though.”

Mr. Briney’s boat was much smaller than Ivy had expected. All three of them fit on it easily, but Ivy and Brendan could only release Poochyena and Mudkip before things started to feel crowded. Brendan also released Taillow, who flew, while Ivy considered releasing Horsea into the water. Once they got going, however, she decided against it. Her sweet Water type was fast, but probably not fast enough to keep up with them.

Mudkip, at least, seemed to be enjoying himself. The little guy was on the floor of the boat, all four legs splayed out beside him, basking in the sun.

“Wanna learn how to steer one then?”

Ivy perked up. That sounded like fun!

“Sure!”

Brendan groaned. “Don’t crash into any rocks.”

“Shut up. Now what do I need to do?”

Chapter Text

They docked at Dewford in the late afternoon, no accidents at all. Steering a boat was fun! Mr. Briney seemed pleased with how she did, even if Brendan snarked at her.

“Now, I don’t mind being here a few days. Dewford’s always a nice spot to vacation in. Just give me a call with that PokéNav of yours when we need to head to Slateport and we’ll be on our way.”

Ivy nodded. “Thank you for the ride!”

He chuckled, and waved a hand. “It’s nothing. Now, get, you two.”

With a wave of her own, Ivy skipped away from the docks. Brendan trailed behind her, looking at his PokéNav.

“So, the PokéNav’s map says Granite Cave is—”

“Aha! There’s the gym!”

Ivy grabbed Brendan’s arm and started jogging, ignoring how Brendan stumbled.

“Huh, what? I thought we were going to look for that Steven guy?”

“We can do that later. The gym is right there! I wanna see if I can get a battle in before it closes!”

“But what if Steven leaves the island before we manage to give him the letter?”

Ivy shrugged, more focused on the approaching gym battle. “Then we deliver the parts in Slateport and say sorry for failing the other task. Now, come on!”

-

The Dewford Gym was right by the ocean. There was one, low set, traditional-style building hosting the reception area (and probably a handful of office and break rooms hidden where challengers couldn’t see), while the rest of the gym was outdoors, only delineated as belonging to the gym by a wooden fence wrapping around the giant field. The fields themselves were sandy, like the nearby beach; Ivy took her sneakers and socks off as she stepped out of the lobby’s back door. The sand was hot, but sand in sneakers was an even worse feeling.

Unlike the Rustboro Gym, there was quite a bit of activity, even as nightfall neared. On one of the battling pitches closest to the building, an instructor seemed to be teaching a martial arts class to a group of young children. On another pitch near the middle, a similar class was being given to a group of young Pokémon. Mostly Fighting types, but Ivy spotted both a Kirlia and a Roselia.

The final pitch where gym battles were meant to happen was empty except for a man in a t-shirt and swim trunks.

“Uh.” Ivy’s first idea was to ask if he was Brawly, but she did know what he looked like, and this guy wasn’t him.

He looked up from his PokéNav, expression neutral. “Brawly should be here in a sec. There hadn’t been any challengers all day, so he went surfing. Feel free to chill.” He jerked his head toward a set of nearby bleachers.

Ivy looked over to Brendan, who shrugged. “Uh, sure. Cool.”

-

It was a nearly fifteen minute wait, but Brawly did eventually show up. A figure with a surfboard hopped a part of the fence by the ocean and jogged over to them, a grin on his face.

“Let me put this away and get my Pokémon and I’ll be right over!” He yelled out, before switching directions and heading to a nearby shed.

Ivy got up and stretched. “You wanna go first this time?” she asked Brendan.

He shook his head. “Uh, you can go first.”

“Cool!”

Brawly was back within five minutes. Up close, Ivy could see how his hair was plastered to his head, still wet from the ocean.

“Sorry ‘bout that! It’s been nearly a week since I’ve had any sort of challenger stop by, so I thought I was good to head out and surf.”

Ivy raised her eyebrows at that. Her dad usually had at least one challenger a day. “Really? It’s been that long?”

Brawly laughed and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah… Most people who do the gym challenge usually do the mainland gyms first, and then most of those only ever get a handful of badges before quitting. Us poor island gym leaders don’t get that many challengers.”

Huh. Ivy hadn’t thought about it like that, but she supposed it made sense. Hadn’t she and Brendan basically planned on doing the same thing before Mr. Briney offered them his boat to Dewford?

“Enough of a pity party, though! We’re here to battle!” He looked over at the guy in swim trunks, the referee apparently. There was now a Kirlia by his side. “Everything good? Then let’s get started!”

“Hey! Brawly’s going to battle!”

At some point during the wait, the two martial arts classes had ended. While a few kids and Pokémon were leaving with their parents or trainers, it seemed like most of them had migrated over to the battle pitch, excited to see a gym battle in person.

Brawly looked over at Ivy. “You good with an audience?”

She grinned. “Sure!”

“Ayy, that’s the spirit! Now, I have two Pokémon, you can use as many as you want, no switching. Let’s see what you’re made of!” A whistle blew. “Machop! Go!”

“C’mon Horsea!”

Despite her optimism the night before, she hadn’t actually found many TM’s effective against Fighting types. Or, at least, none that her Pokémon could learn and were within her price range. She’d only found one for Torchic, and she was saving the chick Pokémon for Brawly’s ace.

“Smokescreen!”

“Bulk Up!”

Ivy bit her lip. Horsea’s side of the battlefield was covered in a cloud of dark smoke so it’d be hard to find her, but Bulk Up was not good. She’d have to be on the attack here.

“Jump up and Water Gun!”

Horsea did as told, using Water Gun to clear the smoke then redirecting the jet of water towards the Machop.

“Dodge!”

The Machop tried, but Horsea, ever nimble, turned in air, never stopping her jet of water. She managed to get a glancing hit on the Machop before dropping back into her smokey hideout.

“Hm. Foresight, then Karate Chop.”

The Machop closed its eyes before dashing into the smoke.

“Dodge!” Ivy yelled, but it was no use. Hand glowing, Machop landed a strike directly on Horsea.

“There we go! Now, Seismic Toss!”

“Water Gun! Blast it away!”

This time, Horsea was faster. Though weak, she fired a jet of water as strong as she could against the Machop, dispersing the Smokescreen and throwing it back several feet.

Both Pokémon had taken good hits, but Machop seemed to have more energy than Horsea.

Horsea, while quick, did not have many moves. Ivy’s PokéNav said Twister was a move Horsea could easily learn early on. A Dragon type move, even one of the weaker ones, was going to be super useful and add some nice type coverage. But could learn wasn’t already knew, and wouldn’t be useful here.

So, Ivy had also bought a TM for Horsea to expand her move pool. They hadn’t had any time to practice it, but it was another Water type move so Ivy was hoping it wouldn’t be too difficult for Horsea to perform on the fly.

Oh, well. Pokémon battling included taking risks. There was no way to prepare for every possible scenario.

“Horsea! Surf!”

Gasps rose from their small crowd. Surf was a very strong move when mastered, and one that was very hard to dodge. Ivy was maybe a bit overeager in teaching it to Horsea so soon, but she was confident Horsea could handle it!

Horsea sucked in a deep breath before spewing out water. As it touched the ground, the water expanded, bubbling and roiling as it headed towards Machop. Ivy was lucky she was on a beach—Surf created its own water, but being able to draw from a preexisting source lessened the energy the Pokémon needed to exert. The sand below Horsea turned dark as Surf drew on the water beneath it to create a small tidal wave.

“Machop! Do your best to dodge!”

With a yell, Machop jumped high into the air, but Surf followed, a wild wave reaching into the air to bat it down.

The remaining waves washed over the downed Fighting type. It didn’t get back up.

“Ah, man. You did great, Machop.”

“You too, Horsea,” Ivy said, returning her own Pokémon. Horsea had used Surf surprisingly well, but it was obvious it had taken a lot out of the small dragon Pokémon to use such a powerful move. It seemed like a strong breeze would knock Horsea unconscious, let alone a move from an opposing Pokémon.

Brawly raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. “Your turn now, Makuhita!”

The small, yellow Pokémon materialized on the now rather muddy field. It let out a yell which got a cheer from the audience.

“Let’s go, Torchic!”

Torchic materialized, immediately leaping into a fighting stance, more than ready to battle whatever unfortunate Pokémon got in his way.

His appearance caused a few coos from the audience. Torchic’s head tuft twitched in annoyance, but he didn’t let the noise distract him.

“Bulk Up!”

“Aerial Ace!”

With an angry squawk, Torchic jumped in the air and dove at Makuhita, his body a blur.

Unlike with Horsea, Ivy had managed to get a bit of practice in with this TM on the way to Mr. Briney’s. She’d been astonished at how fast her little chick had moved. It suddenly made sense as to why people said it was impossible for this move to miss.

Makuhita had barely started his own move before Torchic was upon him, hurtling down beak first at high speed.

“Good! Again!”

Torchic jumped backwards, before leaping into the air again.

“Arm Thrust!”

Just as Torchic would hit Makuhita a second time, it threw one arm in the air. Torchic smashed against its glowing hand. Torchic didn’t seem any worse off, but neither did Makuhita. The two moves had cancelled each other out.

“Arm Thrust again!”

“Torchic, dodge!”

Surprisingly quickly, Makuhita surged forward, both fists glowing this time. It swung at Torchic, who managed to dodge the first punch but was hit two more times before he managed to jump out of the way.

“Now, Peck!”

Torchic dove back into the fray, beak glowing.

“Force Palm!”

Just as Torchic would reach Makuhita, it clapped its hands together. She couldn’t hear it with Kirlia’s psychic barrier up, but the noise created an almost visible wave, sending Torchic tumbling. Ivy winced in sympathy.

“Now, Bulk Up, again!”

With a shake of his head, Torchic stumbled back onto his feet. Makuhita flexed, the Bulk Up going through this time.

Ivy bit her lip. That move was still very not good. “Ember, then Aerial Ace!”

“Dodge!”

Inwardly, Ivy cheered. That’s exactly what she hoped Brawly would say.

As Makuhita dodged Torchic’s flames, the chick was allowed easy access to attack right in Makuhita’s face.

“Jump back and use Ember!”

Torchic did as told, sending a hot burst of flames towards the Makuhita. Holding a hand to its head from the pain of an Aerial Ace to the face, it didn’t have any time to dodge.

“Now, one last Peck!”

Torchic dashed forward once more, driving his glowing beak right where Aerial Ace had hit.

Makuhita fell over.

“Leader Brawly is out of usable Pokémon. Challenger Ivy is the winner!”

Torchic let out a victory caw as the crowd cheered.

Brawly didn’t seem to upset with the loss. “Great battle! That Torchic of yours is gonna be a menace when he becomes a Blaziken, I can tell. If he ever wants some Fighting type tips after he evolves, feel free to stop by.”

Torchic tilted his head to the side before letting out a series of enthusiastic chirps.

Ivy giggled. “I think I might have to, now.”

He laughed, before digging into his pocket. “Anyways, here’s the Knuckle Badge! Remember to stop by the main building for a TM for Bulk Up. Thanks for the battle!”

Ivy beamed. “Thank you for the badge!”

Two more to go!

-

Brendan’s battle was, once again, much shorter than Ivy’s battle even though he was now facing three of Brawly’s Pokémon: another Machop, a Meditite, and a Machoke. His Taillow made quick work of the first two, while Mudkip took down the Machoke with ease.

Despite the fact that it took half the time of Ivy’s battle even when facing more Pokémon, he still seemed shocked by his win.

Ivy bumped his shoulder as they headed towards the Pokémon Center. “Why’re you so shocked? You’re a good battler!”

Brendan shook his head. “Not really.”

“Uh, you definitely are! You didn’t struggle at any point against either Roxanne or Brawly.”

He just frowned. “I had the type advantage—”

“—which isn’t everything when it comes to battling. Just accept that you’re an awesome battler!”

Despite her continued praise, he didn’t seem to agree that he had any sort of skill when it came to battling. One day, Ivy would get that to change. She was sure of it! Brendan deserved to think better of himself and his skills.

-

They left for Granite Cave bright and early.

It was a bit of a hike to get there, and Ivy felt sweat pouring down the back of her neck by the time they reached its entrance. Man, she was not really a hat person, but this journey might convince her. It wasn’t even technically summer yet, but she was still covered in sweat with a sunburn blooming on her cheeks. Actual summer would be even worse.

Granite Cave was not like the tunnel between Rustboro and Verdanturf. That had been a man-made tunnel with only one path to follow. This was a proper cave. Immediately after entering, it split into several different tunnels.

“I think we should split up!”

“Huh?!”

Brendan was looking at her like she was crazy.

“Have you seen any TV show ever? Splitting up is a terrible idea!”

“This isn’t a horror movie, Brendan.” She held up her PokéNav. “Anyways, this should work fine down here, so just call if you find Steven.” She snickered. “Or if you get scared and want me to hold your hand.”

Brendan turned bright red and whirled around. “I definitely don’t need that. Fine! Whatever! See you never!” He marched off into one of the tunnels on the left.

Ivy shrugged at his sudden temper tantrum. She let all three of her Pokémon out of their Poké Balls.

“C’mon! Let’s go train as we look for what’s-his-name!”

-

Training in Granite Cave was one of the best ideas she’d had yet. The cave was filled to the brim with all kinds of Pokémon, giving her team a good set of diverse species to battle against.

Ivy had Poochyena jumping in the air to Bite any Zubat she came across. Poochyena took to it with gusto; she was still a bit mad about how little she had been able to do against Taillow in that first battle against Brendan. Within a few hours, she was jumping high enough to clear Ivy’s shoulder.

Torchic attacked on sight anytime he saw Geodude or Nosepass, obviously remembering his uselessness in Roxanne’s gym. Ivy left him to it. He alternated between using his new move in Aerial Ace and practicing his sort of-Double Kick, which was exactly what Ivy had been planning for him anyways.

Horsea took care of any other Pokémon they passed, all the Aron and Makuhita and the like. Ivy didn’t want to risk Surf accidentally flooding the cave, so she had Horsea start learning Twister. The dragon Pokémon was already adept at manipulating one gaseous move in Smokescreen, so it didn’t take too long for her to pick up on manipulating the winds necessary for creating Twister. Being able to imbue those winds with Dragon Type Energy took a little longer, but Horsea picked it up by the early afternoon, to Ivy’s delight.

A Dragon type move! So soon after beginning her journey! How cool was that?

That wasn’t even the only incredible thing to happen that day.

As they passed through another series of tunnels, Torchic took off against a Geodude. Releasing a stream of flames, he chased the Geodude into a new chamber. With a roar, the Geodude telekinetically lifted some rocks from the ground and threw them. Torchic, small and nimble, easily dodged the wild throw. He leapt towards the Geodude, beak glowing. With a mighty Aerial Ace, he sent the Geodude scurrying off.

As he landed, he began to glow.

Ivy gasped, watching in awe as Torchic changed shape and evolved into Combusken.

Her little chick wasn’t so little. Before, he had barely reached her knees. Now, his head tufts reached well above her hips.

Ivy leapt forward, arms open. “Tor-Combusken! You evolved!”

Combusken cooed in pride, letting himself be hugged tightly against her torso. Horsea floated over, trilling excitedly. Even Poochyena let go of the poor Zubat she had been dragging around to bark in congratulations.

Echoed clapping filled the chamber.

Poochyena growled as Ivy whipped her head around.

Her jaw dropped at what she saw.

Standing there was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. His silver hair was artfully tussled. His pale skin nearly glowed in the dark of the cave. She couldn’t really see his eyes, but she just knew they had to sparkle like some gemstone, color yet to be determined. His smile was relaxed, yet proud. Even though he didn’t know her or Combusken he was proud of them! Obviously, his kindness was as infinite as his beauty! He had to be the perfect ideal of a man!

Ivy wasn’t usually one to feel self-conscious, but before this gorgeous beyond belief man, she found herself tugging at her ratty t-shirt. Her hair was so messy, and her skin was probably starting to peel from her sunburn. Ivy felt herself practically dying from embarrassment! Why didn’t this cave have a shower and Rawst-Oran lotion?

Poochyena was still growling at the man.

Ah, right, she should deal with that.

“Poochyena, stop that!” Don’t growl at Ivy’s future husband!

She stopped, but she didn’t look happy.

That beautiful smile was directed right in her direction. If Combusken hadn’t been there, Ivy would’ve swooned.

“Congratulations on the evolution! It’s always a wonderful thing to observe!” He leaned down, so he was closer in height to Combusken. “And it’s an incredible feat to achieve. You must be quite the Pokémon!”

Combusken preened under the praise, puffing his chest out. Ivy nearly fainted at how close Mr. Beautiful was to her. And his eyes were light blue! Just like, uh, a light blue gemstone! The most beautiful light blue gemstone!

He held out a hand. Reverently, she took it. His hands were surprisingly rough and calloused. Obviously, the newfound love of her life was a working man! How wonderful!

“I’m Steven, it’s very nice to meet you.”

“I’m Ivy!”

Steven… her future husband’s name was Steven. A strong, wonderful name! Just perfect for him!

Why did it sound familiar? And why were her Pokémon looking at her?

Right! Ivy slapped a palm against her forehead. “Steven Stone?”

His lovely smile turned slightly confused, though it didn’t waver. “Yes?”

Ivy reached into her bag and dug for the letter. President Stone had given both her and Brendan letters, just for a situation like this.

“We met your dad, and when he heard we were going to Dewford he gave us this letter for you.”

Steven sighed, his perfect smile falling into a more neutral expression. “Ah, yes, that sounds exactly like him.” He opened the letter, shook his head, then crumpled the letter into a ball. “Thank you for going out of your way to deliver it, even if it wasn’t very important.”

Ivy shook her head so hard, she felt something rattle. “It was no problem at all!” She was almost embarrassed to ask anything of this perfect man, but her several days long curiosity was pulling at her. “What’d it say?”

He laughed, and, oh, wasn’t that the most beautiful sound? His voice was surprisingly deep for his boyish good looks, but his laughter was slightly higher pitched. It made him seem younger. (Young enough to date her?)

“Nothing important,” he repeated. He unfolded the wrinkled letter and held it up. “Just, ‘stop turning off your PokéNav.’”

Ivy leaned forward, partly to look, partly to see if she could see what Steven smelled like. While she couldn’t catch a scent beyond damp cave, she did see that, yeah, that’s basically what the letter said. President Stone had even included the trademark symbol next to the words PokéNav Plus.

“Will you? Turn it back on?”

Steven laughed again, a heavenly sound that would make Legendary Pokémon weep tears of joy. “Nope!”

Which, fair. Honestly, Ivy would do the same if her parents sent some kid with a letter telling her to do something. Wow, they were so compatible!

He turned around to stare at the wall and, oh yeah, things existed besides Steven.

There was a small Aron that trotted alongside him, its metal armor gleaming in the dim light. Steven must take such good care of it if it shone that much! Handsome, and good with Pokémon!

Before them, on the cave wall, was a giant mural.

Ivy wasn’t an artsy person, but she had to admit it was pretty impressive. Whoever made it had to have used some sort of floating Pokémon to be able to paint so high up. It stretched from ceiling to floor, wall to wall. On the left was some giant lizard shooting fire which faded into a scene where a whale-like creature in the water roared in a storm.

“They finally finished uncovering this beauty. I’ve been waiting months to be able to see it in its fully restored splendor and I didn’t want to have any moment of it interrupted with pointless calls from my father.” He looked over his shoulder at her. “Ah, that sounds bad. I wouldn’t ignore anything truly dire from him, but he has a habit of calling just to ask what he should have for lunch.”

“That could be annoying,” Ivy said, eager to agree with him.

He chuckled this time! While his laugh was higher pitched than his normal speaking voice, his chuckle was even deeper. A friend had once made her read some dumb romance book which compared a guy’s chuckle to velvet, and she suddenly understood the comparison.

“It can be.” She was now close enough to see his eyes light up as he stared directly at the cave mural in pure wonder and joy. “Especially when I’m looking at something like this! Just look at it! Isn’t it the most impressive thing you’ve ever seen?”

Ivy wasn’t even really lying when she agreed. The mural’s sheer scale was incredibly impressive.

“Not to mention all that it could tell us about the past! Look at the Pokémon in the painting! Look at these—these primal forms! Look at the obvious power they have and the impact they must’ve left on the people who saw such incredible feats. If we can figure out when these were painted, it would be an incredible boon to all sorts of fields! I took a sample of the rocks, alongside…”

Ivy tried her best to listen. She really did. But she did not know a single thing about “chronostratigraphy” or “uranium-thorium dating” or whatever else he was talking about. But, ahh! His voice was wonderful to listen to! Ivy couldn’t complain at all! Every syllable and consonant oozed with passion and love! Obviously, he was a true rock connoisseur who would absolutely know what kind of gemstone to compare his eyes to.

After some time, Steven abruptly cut off. There was a slight blush tinging his cheeks. Ivy nearly swooned a second time. “I’m sorry about that. I find rocks and stones quite interesting and can, ah, ramble at length about them. I apologize.”

Ivy shook her head. “It was no problem at all! I don’t know much about rocks but it sounded cool!”

“Thank you,” he said with a small laugh. “I should really get going now but…” Steven swung the large bag on his shoulders over to his front and rummaged through it, a look of concentration on his face. “I feel I should give you something, not just for doing my father’s chores, but listening to me ramble on for, oh. Nearly an hour. Here we go.”

He held out a stunning light blue stone which darkened into a star shape near its center. Ivy gingerly took it, too awed to speak. Steven was giving her a gift! And not just any gift, but a beautiful stone! A stone even more beautiful because it was originally Steven’s!

“I… thank you so much! It’s beautiful!”

“It’s a Dawn Stone. They’re one of the rarest Evolution Stones out there.” Ivy jerked her head up, ready to tell Steven she couldn’t take something so precious, when he held a hand out. “No, no, don’t argue! I already have one of my own! Several, actually. It’s better for this to go to someone who might use it.”

He shifted his bag back over and gave her a smile. “It was very nice to meet you, Ivy. I hope our paths cross again.” He whistled. “Let’s go, Aron! We still have another branch we need to get through.”

Aron, who had joined a napping pile with Combusken, Poochyena, and Horsea during their talk, jumped up with a bark and trotted after Steven.

With that, Steven left through one of the several tunnels connected to the chamber.

Ivy held the Dawn Stone to her chest. She glanced at her Pokémon, all of them stretching as they woke up from their nap.

“I’m in love,” she announced, out of focus eyes staring at, but not truly seeing, the frightening mural.

Nothing but Steven was on her mind as she made her way out of Granite Cave.

-

“HEY! DID YOU HAPPEN TO FORGET TO DO SOMETHING?”

Ivy held the PokéNav away from her ear. “Sorry?”

Brendan hung up on her.

Chapter Text

Brendan was still mad at her.

He’d been angry when he’d marched into their shared two-bed room at the Pokémon Center. When he heard that she, at least, had managed to find Steven and give him the letter, he calmed down some. Then she had started telling him about how handsome and kind and dreamy and beautiful and perfect Steven was. Brendan had stormed out and spent the night sleeping in the Pokémon Center’s lobby.

The next morning, when she passed by for breakfast, he went up to the Center’s counter and loudly asked for a single room.

Ivy felt bad. She truly did. She was impulsive and forgetful and did stuff like this all the time, but that didn’t mean it was right. She’d been on the receiving end of too many lectures and frowns from her parents to not have gotten that lesson drilled into her head. By this point, she knew this inability to focus on things long term was just a part of who she was, but that didn’t mean she always had to act like a Slowpoke. She could’ve written ‘call Brendan’ on her arm, or set a reminder on her PokéNav, or something. There were tons of things she’d learned over the years that helped.

She wanted to apologize, but Brendan wouldn’t let her. Every time she walked over to him, he walked away. Eventually, she stopped trying.

With Brendan not talking to her, she couldn’t coordinate when they were leaving Dewford. At least this time, she remembered to call Mr. Briney and apologize if they were on Dewford for a bit longer than planned. He was kind and said he had no problem with that. Dewford was a good place to vacation, he repeated.

It was also a good place to train. Despite how she had enjoyed training there before, Ivy avoided Granite Cave. If she ran into Steven again, she’d feel guilty about Brendan. Or worse: she wouldn’t. Ivy wasn’t sure which option was better.

Instead, she spent her time on the beach. Horsea and Poochyena both enjoyed playing in the surf. Poochyena got to do her favorite hobby of chasing Wingull, while Horsea was able to practice Surf in a safe environment. And now that Combusken had evolved into a part Fighting type, she took up Brawly’s offer and signed Combusken up for one of the gym’s classes for Fighting types. He loved the classes, and quickly implemented the morning training routine they recommended.

Her Pokémon, at least, seemed to be enjoying their time on Dewford, even if Ivy was now a bit glum.

-

“Hey. Are you ready to leave?”

Ivy perked up. Brendan was talking to her! Willingly! She bounced to her feet, a grin on her face. “Yeah! Ready when you are!”

He abruptly turned around. “Fine. I’ll call Mr. Briney. Be ready to go in an hour.” He walked off.

Ivy deflated. At least he still wants to travel with you, was all she could think to make herself feel better.

Conversation didn’t magically become less uncomfortable once they were on their way back to the docks.

“I’m really sorry, you know.”

Brendan ignored her.

“I know I’m a bit forgetful, but I really, really, really didn’t mean to leave you behind in Granite Cave.”

“Whatever. It’s over. Forget about it.”

Brendan forged ahead to Mr. Briney’s boat.

Ivy bit her lip. It obviously wasn’t over, but if Brendan was willing to ignore it, then she could too. She wouldn’t bring the incident up again.

-

The journey from Dewford to Slateport was shorter, and much more awkward, than the trip from Rustboro to Dewford. Mr. Briney seemed to sense that and invited Ivy to help steer again, leaving Brendan to brood at the bow. It didn’t seem to fly by like before, but it was still over before Ivy knew it.

Delightfully, brooding on the ride over seemed to have done wonders for Brendan’s mood. He was still a bit prickly, but it was more like the prickliness back in Petalburg Woods when they were irritated at how lost they were. Ivy could deal with that!

She had heard wonderful things about Slateport, particularly its open-air market. She’d never been—the only spot outside of western Hoenn Ivy had been to was Lilycove City once, years ago.

The second they waved goodbye to Mr. Briney, Ivy was bouncing with excitement. “So! Do you want to go to the Slateport Market? I’ve heard—”

“We have to go to the shipyard.”

Ivy blinked. “Huh?”

Brendan rolled his eyes, but, weirdly enough, her confusion seemed to make him cheer up. “The parts we promised to deliver for Devon? Remember?”

“Ohhh.” Right, they had promised to do that. She let out a laugh. “This is why it’s good you’re here, Brendan! I would’ve completely forgotten!”

Brendan rolled his eyes again, but he was smiling in her presence for the first time in days. “Whatever. Let’s just try to find where we need to go.”

-

It didn’t take long. All they had to do was ask one person where they could find Captain Stern’s shipyard and they were directed towards a large, brown building that served as the shipyard’s administrative area near the front of the docks.

Slateport’s docks were a busy place, busy enough that both Ivy and Brendan kept their Pokémon in their Poké Balls so they wouldn’t accidentally get in someone’s way. There were dozens upon dozens, if not hundreds, of boats coming and going. The business didn’t decrease as they reached the shipyard. There were fewer boats (all of which were docked and seemed to either be under repairs or being built) but just as many people.

Even though she probably shouldn’t have, Ivy stopped to watch a Machoke on the end of a crane hold a large sheet of metal straight while several humans, Numel, and one Vulpix welded it to another hunk of metal. It was weirdly fascinating. Ivy had never considered how boats were built but she was now very intrigued.

“Hello? Earth to Ivy?”

She shook her head and gave Brendan a sheepish grin. “Sorry. I’ve never seen this stuff before and it’s pretty cool!”

Brendan looked completely flabbergasted. “Really? This is what you find cool? Boats?”

Ivy shrugged. “It’s new!” She tugged his arm and started walking. “Now, let’s go! Don’t we have somewhere to be?”

-

“Sorry, but Captain Stern is not here.”

Ivy frowned. President Stone had been very insistent that only Captain Stern was meant to receive the parts.

“Do you know where he is? We have parts from the Devon Corporation we’re supposed to deliver to him.”

The secretary hadn’t hidden how much she didn’t want to talk to them, but that made her straighten. “Ah, the parts they promised were supposed to be here a week ago?”

Ivy didn’t like this lady’s tone. “There were problems delivering them. Some group of weirdos kept trying to steal ‘em.”

She harrumphed, obviously unimpressed. “Tardiness is tardiness. Still, Captain Stern was very insistent on being the one to receive these parts. He left earlier today for the Oceanic Museum. He should still be there, but if he isn’t then someone there should know where he is.”

Ivy nodded. “Thank you.” Despite her own feelings towards the rude woman, she still had to be polite.

-

Slateport City itself was just as busy as the docks. She had thought Rustboro was big, but it had nothing on Slateport. Rustboro reached into the sky with its skyscrapers, but Slateport could only be described as sprawling.

“Wow! This place is crazy!”

Brendan wrinkled his nose. “’Cause it’s full of tourists.”

That… made sense. Like Drake had said a few weeks back, there wasn’t much to do in Rustboro, but there was a lot to do in Slateport. Of course it had more visitors. And of course they clogged the streets.

It took them a while to make it to the Slateport Oceanic Museum. It wasn’t that far from the docks, but as it was the early afternoon in late spring, the tourists were out in full force. They had to fight the throngs of people going in the opposite direction towards the beach.

While it was still busy, the area around the museum felt tame compared to the streets.

“Ugh, tourists.” Ivy was unbelievably glad Littleroot was too small to even be known by tourists.

-

“Captain Stern? I’m not sure if he’s still here, but there was a meeting in one of the conference rooms on the second floor earlier today. That’s where he’s likely to be if he’s still here.”

“Thanks!” Ivy said to the much nicer receptionist. She made to move, but the lady cleared her throat.

She pointed at a sign declaring the entrance fee to be ¥500. Ivy sighed, and swiped her trainer ID. It wasn’t much, but she didn’t like it when she wasn’t even visiting for fun!

The inside was like any other museum—full of people and exhibits. It was much nicer to look at in her opinion than the boring rocks and fossils of Rustboro’s gym-museum, though. Everything was in nice shades of white and blue, giving it a much cheerier feel.

She was nearly up the stairs to the second floor when she realized Brendan wasn’t behind her.

Ivy looked over her shoulder, scanning the first floor for her friend. Why’d he stop?

Luckily, with his stupid hat it was easy to spot him. She hopped down the stairs and made her way over.

“Hey, you can’t keep scolding me for getting distracted and then get distracted yourself!”

Brendan shoved a finger against her lips. “Shhh! Look what’s going on over there.”

Ivy leaned back. “What—"

He pointed to an exhibit about… she squinted. Oh, wasn’t that actually what Steven had been rambling about? Rock layers?

No, wait, Brendan probably meant the people in front of it.

She quickly understood why.

The pair were dressed like those Team Aqua bozos.

“Oh, that is not good.”

Brendan nodded, not looking away. “We need to find Captain Stern now.”

She grabbed his hand and pulled him back to the stairs. “Let’s go.”

-

They almost made it. They followed the signs to the conference area, but the closer they went, the more Team Aqua grunts there seemed to be.

“Hey, you! I remember you two!”

Ivy stiffened and looked over her shoulder. It took a second to remember, but that was definitely the brown-eyed guy they met back in Petalburg Woods.

“Oh, no…” Brendan muttered beneath his breath.

Ivy clutched his arm and moved forward. Maybe if they ignored him…

Someone grabbed her arm, and yanked. Ivy didn’t fall to the floor, but it was a near thing.

“Hey! Let go!”

The guy from Petalburg Woods was glaring at her. “You! I got in so much trouble with the boss for not getting those parts! Zinnia completely ditched and left me to get the punishment, that bitch.”

The entire time he spoke, Ivy tried her best to jerk free, but the man had a grip like iron. He yanked again, sending her stumbling.

“Hey, Alton…”

“Let go!”

He shook her. “Nah! Gonna give you to the boss and let him do what-eeeever he wants with you.”

The grunt, Alton, leered at her.

Ivy felt a thrill of fear run through her. Ivy had been fighting, but then—she froze.

“She said, let go!”

Someone slammed into Alton sending all three of them sprawling. Someone in the crowd shrieked.

Ivy skittered to her feet, and saw Brendan doing the same. Alton was still groaning on the floor. Had Brendan seriously just tackled a guy? And he thought he wasn’t a good battler. Maybe he should be the one to go against the next gym leader, she thought nonsensically.

“What the hell is going on here?” A booming voice broke through her thoughts.

A man with an impressive mustache in a turtleneck and jacket weaved through the thinning crowd towards them. He peered around, quickly noticing how nearly everyone in the area was dressed similarly. “What’s going on? You all from some kind of pirate convention?”

One of the grunts puffed out his chest. “We’re Team Aqua! And we’re here to steal those Devon parts!”

Someone in the crowd sighed. “Way to give it away, dumbass.”

“Well, I don’t even have those parts, but I’ll be sure to call the police on you for attempted theft.”

“Those kids have gotta have them!” Alton had gotten back up from the floor, eyes burning from anger. “They stopped us from stealing those parts twice! Who better to deliver the package than its saviors!”

Ivy stepped backwards, hand automatically going to her backpack. How had that dumb grunt figured it out?

“Hey, look at her! He’s probably right!”

“She has the parts!”

“Get her!”

Ivy ran.

-

She didn’t get far. The second floor was crawling with grunts, all of whom had been watching the confrontation. One arm quickly grabbed onto her, then another. Someone tore her backpack off her shoulders, which twinged with pain at the harsh jerk. Another person took the belt that held her Poké Balls off her waist.

“Ivy!” Brendan called out, but he was grabbed and detained by his own set of grunts.

Ivy could only watch as a grunt tossed half the stuff in her backpack out onto the floor. The grunt who had taken her Pokémon’s Poké Balls tossed the belt onto the growing pile. Ivy squeezed her eyes shut as they landed on the floor with a thunk. She opened one and let out a sigh. They didn’t seem damaged, though Combusken’s was twitching even as it rolled into someone’s boot.

“Oh, come on. Who fills their bag with so much junk?”

Another grunt came over and took the bag. Their search was much quicker.

“A-ha! Gotta be this bad boy!”

“So, did you lot finally do somethin’ right?” a deep voice with a slight foreign accent boomed.

The crowd parted like a school of Magikarp for a Gyarados. A tall, brown-skinned man in a wetsuit sauntered over. He surveyed the crowd with an unreadable expression. It was mainly grunts, but a few brave civilians had stayed behind. One or two even had Poké Balls in their hands. Ivy felt her bottom lip wobble a bit at the thought that people would battle these jerks for her.

“We got the parts, boss!”

The man raised an eyebrow, as if impressed his crew managed it. He took the parts from the grunt, inspecting them with a small smile.

“Hmph.” He raised his arms dramatically and looked directly at a teenager filming the scene with their PokéNav. “Well, I think it’s about time to reveal ourselves to the world!” He grinned, wide and sharp. “We here are Team Aqua, the foremost carers of the ocean and all those that live in it! Humans, bah! We pollute the world, leaving our junk and unwanted garbage in the sea. One day we’ll get what we deserve. But what about the poor Pokémon who live in our unfortunate garbage dump? The innocent ones left without a home because it’s been crammed full of human shit?

“Team Aqua fights for them! For the ones who can’t fight for themselves! And if someone calls us extremists, well… someone’s gotta do it, I say! We’ll do what it takes to remove the filth from this world and make it pure again!”

He smirked to the camera as the grunts around him cheered, yelling and stomping their feet.

After a few moments, he waved a hand around. “Now, enough of that noise!” He frowned in Ivy’s direction. “And let go of that poor girl. We don’t go roughin’ up kids here. They’re nearly as innocent as Pokémon, y’know? They can’t help what they’re taught.”

The people holding her back let go, one shoving her forward as she did. Ivy stumbled forward, only to be caught by the strange man.

“You okay, girlie?” Ivy stared up at him. He seemed genuinely concerned for her wellbeing, which was a bit odd. His grunts certainly hadn’t cared.

She stumbled back a bit, saying nothing. Her eyes darted between the guy, Brendan being released from his set of grunts, and Captain Stern frowning.

“Man, what’d you guys do to—”

Ivy snatched the parts from the man and ran.

-

This attempt went better than before. She barged through the crowd of surprised grunts, leapt down the stairs in four steps (almost slipping as she made it to the first floor), and was nearly out the front door before she heard the Aqua boss guy yelling orders to catch her.

The crowd outside the museum was as large as before. This time, that was a good thing. Saying sorry as she shoved people aside, Ivy worked her way through the crowd in order to reach the best camouflage Slateport had to offer: the tourists.

As she merged into the crowd, Ivy did her best to calm down. A panicking girl would be the first person they’d look for. It was difficult, though. She wasn’t sure her heart would ever stop beating so quickly. That Alton creep with his leer… he’d scared her. A lot.

She weaved through, trailing behind families as if she were a part of them. For once, her casual way of dressing was perfect. Besides the oddly shaped package in her arms, no one would question her if she said she was going to the beach.

Now, where to hide on the beach was the next question. Ivy bit her lip. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. Beaches were flat, open spaces, even if they were full of people. Would the market have been better? Ugh, Ivy did not know anything about Slateport. She hoped she’d picked the right choice.

-

Almost all of Team Aqua, including their boss, had run out of the Oceanic Museum by the time the police arrived. A few of the grunts were arrested, but not nearly enough for Brendan’s taste. Especially as the guy who grabbed Ivy and set off this whole thing was one of the ones who had gotten away.

Most of the other museum patrons left, but Brendan stayed behind. Someone needed to pick up Ivy’s things. They’d just thrown all of her stuff, including her Pokémon, down onto the ground.

Brendan wasn’t someone who was easily angered, but his blood was boiling.

Clutching Ivy’s backpack to his chest, he finally left the second floor. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, a hand landed on his shoulder, making him jump.

“You okay there, kid? You’re trembling.”

It was Captain Stern.

Brendan hadn’t realized he was trembling.

“It’ll be fine. No need to be scared.” He nodded his head to the side. “Look who happened to be in town. Your friend’ll be fine.”

Captain Stern thought he was trembling because he was afraid. Oh, no. He was furious. Furious to the point where he was almost scared of how angry he was.

Brendan tried his best to calm down, and looked where Captain Stern had pointed.

Talking to one of the officers was someone Brendan knew. Or he knew of, rather. Practically everyone in Hoenn did. Wallace was one of the most famous Contest Spectacular coordinators in recent memory, and his popularity had only grown when he became the gym leader of Sootopolis City.

He currently looked annoyed, holding a hand to his forehead. “I come to Slateport to help my darling niece with a project of hers, only to hear that there’s a robbery happening several blocks down at a museum. This always happens whenever I leave Sootopolis.” He sighed, rather theatrically, as he flipped his hand away from his face. “Whatever! Such is the life of a gym leader. A dark-haired girl in red holding a package and a large, tanned man in a blue wetsuit? Fine, if I find either of them, I’ll contact the police department.”

He turned, his capelet flying dramatically as he did.

Brendan clutched Ivy’s backpack closer to his chest.

“Wait! I’m coming with you!”

Wallace glanced over his shoulder, looking Brendan up and down. He focused in on Ivy’s backpack.

“Hmph. Sure. Let’s go.”

-

Ivy had no idea where she was. There was a lighthouse nearby, but she was avoiding that. There was only one way in or out of a lighthouse unless you jumped. And Ivy knew herself well enough to know she might be tempted to do that if she was cornered. She wasn’t the smartest person out there, but even she wasn’t dumb enough to put herself in that situation. Not without a Flying type to catch her, at least.

Still, the lighthouse offered shade and a good place to pause. Most people were closer to the ocean or by the lighthouse proper, not relaxing under the small cliff it rested on. She could take a breather there.

“Oho, so this is where you ran off to, little scamp.”

Or not.

Ivy jumped to her feet, heart doing somersaults in her chest once more.

The Team Aqua boss was right in front of her, grinning wildly.

“Gotta admit, that was a good stunt you pulled. You’re quite the fast one, girlie.”

Ivy’s eyes flit about. She wasn’t exactly cornered, but it would take nothing for the guy to catch her. She was exhausted; he was well-rested and much taller. She didn’t have her Pokémon with her, so she couldn’t even stall him by challenging him to a battle.

“And so quiet for one so brave! Now, just hand over those parts, aight? I ain’t gonna do anything to you, promise.”

Ivy backed up. She hadn’t gone through all that just to give up at the last second! She tensed her muscles, ready to sprint.

“Ah, a girl in red and a man in blue. Exactly who we were looking for.”

“Ivy!”

Ivy’s heart soared! Brendan! And… Sootopolis City Gym Leader Wallace? What was he doing in Slateport?

Team Aqua guy turned around slowly. He didn’t seem as thrilled with this development as Ivy was.

“Now, I’ve heard a few things about multiple attempted thefts and how you’re the man behind them. Why don’t you step away from the girl, and we can go down to the police station and have a chat about it.”

Wallace held a Heal Ball in one hand, while the other was on his hip. It looked casual, but anyone who knew the man (which was basically anyone who’d ever watched TV) would see it as the threat it was.

And while Team Aqua guy was a thief, he didn’t seem to be an idiot. Not like his grunts were.

He held up his hands. “Aye, we could do that. Or maybe we could do something else instead!”

Before anyone could move, he threw a Poké Ball. He immediately followed it up with a command. “Flash!”

A bright light enveloped their area, blinding Ivy. She cried out in pain, and heard Brendan do the same.

It took more than a few seconds for her to try opening her eyes again. Everything was blurry and splotchy and painful. Through squinting, she managed to make out some serpentine Pokémon in front of her, and two figures behind that.

Aqua guy was nowhere to be seen.

“Ugh. I hate when they use Flash.”

Wallace seemed to be just as disorientated as her with a hand covering his eyes. He’d manage to release his Pokémon, but he’d been expecting a battle, not a hit and run tactic.

He grimaced, and recalled his Milotic. “I’m sure that buffoon’s already on his way out, but I’ll have to have a look around to be sure.” He glanced between Ivy and Brendan, both of whom were still reeling from the after effects of a sudden Flash more than him. “You two should visit a Pokémon Center. They have products that help with getting rid of Flash afterimages.”

With a graceful pivot, he left for further down the beach.

-

“Are you okay?”

That was the fifth time Brendan had asked the question on their slow walk back to the Oceanic Museum. Both of them were still having trouble seeing clearly, being plagued by splotches and afterimages in their eye sight, but they wanted to deliver the stupid Devon package and be done with it.

“I’m fine,” Ivy repeated for the fifth time in return.

Her heart was still beating three times its normal rate, and her eyes hurt, and she felt beyond sore, and she was still terrified from what happened, but she was fine. A good night’s sleep would leave all those things behind. It’d all be fine.

Brendan didn’t look convinced.

Honestly, she didn’t blame him.

-

“Thank you… President Stone had mentioned thieves trying to steal these parts, but I hadn’t expected them to be so persistent or aggressive in doing so.”

Captain Stern looked troubled, which was fair. Ivy herself felt very troubled.

“That Team Aqua… I don’t know what they’re planning, but nothing good will come of it. Hopefully that boss of theirs is found. It wouldn’t do to have a man like that running around.” He shook his head. “With that all said, I really can’t thank you two enough for delivering this. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go take these to a place where they can’t get stolen.”

He walked off without another word.

“All that trouble over some small package,” Brendan muttered, disgruntled. He was still staring at Ivy like she would disappear. “What was it even for?”

Ivy shook her head. Nothing good. “Who cares? Let’s go get a room at the Pokémon Center. I’m exhausted.”

Chapter Text

They spent the next day resting in the Pokémon Center. Ivy was still on an adrenaline crash. Her Pokémon also refused to go back into their Poké Balls once they were released. They had been just as scared as she had. Maybe even more so, since they had no way of knowing what was going on.

“Sorry, sorry,” Ivy muttered over and over to a shaking Horsea. Combusken tried to act stoic, and Poochyena pretended not to care, but Horsea never hid her feelings. “Sorry…”

Ivy wasn’t one to stay inside and throw herself a pity party, however. She was in Slateport! One of the most famous cities in Hoenn! She needed to explore and see wonderful new things. That would help clear her mind more than anything else.

So, after a day of rest, she dragged Brendan to finally go see the famous Slateport Market.

-

If Ivy had thought the beach was chaotic, it had nothing on the market. Vendors and stalls sold anything and everything imaginable: dolls, furniture, food, clothing, items for Pokémon, items for their trainers, Pokémon themselves. One stall had a Pokémon breeder with a litter of young Skitty. Another was showing off a Pikachu for sale to a group of cooing teenage girls.

That kind of energetic chaos was exactly what Ivy needed! The energy of the market fed into her own energy, like some sort of battery.

Ivy hadn’t really come to the market with the intention of buying anything. She bought a cool hoodie with a Plusle and Minun on the back, alongside some treats that looked good for her Pokémon, but she was content to look. She was here for the atmosphere; shopping wasn’t really her thing.

Brendan was interested in shopping, to her amusement. He lingered at every table twice as long as she did, and only ever bought things when he thought she wasn’t looking. She wasn’t sure why he did that considering she could very much see him gain a new bag every time. He wasn’t hiding that Marill doll as well as he thought he was.

It was nice, though. He wasn’t hovering over her and asking her if she was fine every five minutes like he had the day before. And it was certainly several steps up from the frosty silence from Dewford. Brendan had a nice smile and it suited him better than his brooding or worried frowns. Ivy felt done with the market after an hour or two, but she was content to follow Brendan around, for once.

-

After spending most of the morning at the Slateport Market then having lunch at a small café, Ivy was ready to visit the Slateport Oceanic Museum properly. Some of the exhibits had actually looked pretty interesting.

“Hey, what’s going on over there?”

Ivy’s heart beat a little faster. Last time Brendan had said something similar, he’d been pointing out Team Aqua.

She whirled around, prepared for the worst, only to see a large crowd. And some cameras. Her shoulders slumped a bit. Worried over nothing.

“Are they filming something?” she said, trying not to let show how panicked she’d briefly gotten.

Brendan shaded his eyes and squinted. “I think that might be the Contest Hall, so… maybe?”

She grabbed Brendan’s hand and tugged him along. “Well, let’s go look!”

It took some maneuvering, and they received more than a few nasty looks from some slightly older teenaged girls wearing “Queen Lissi Fanclub” t-shirts, but they managed to make their way to the front of the crowd.

Ivy let go of Brendan’s hand to shake his arm. “Oh, it’s Lisia! That explains it!”

Even retired, Wallace was still one of the most famous coordinators in Hoenn and his niece, Lisia, was on her way to becoming even more popular and well known than him. Within just a few years, she’d become the person to beat on the Contest Spectacular scene.

It also explained why Wallace was in Slateport. He’d probably been part of whatever it was Lisia was doing now.

“Heeello-o-o Hoenn! It’s Lisia here, at the Slateport Contest Hall!” She paused to let the cheering from the crowd die down. She spun in a circle before hitting her famous pose—her left arm flung out to the side while her right bent slightly over her head, three fingers splayed above her eyes. “Dazzling, dizzying, doldrums defying! It’s time for some miraculous Contest scouting! I think everybody should be able to experience the fun that is a Contest, so I’m here today to give a special member of this audience personal Contest tutoring!”

She paused again as the crowd went wild, changing her pose to one with clasped hands while she waited. As the screaming died down a second time, she spun around again. Then, she leaned over while shading her eyes, theatrically turning from side to side, as if searching for something.

Ivy shook Brendan’s arm again. “I wonder who she’s going to pick!”

He snorted. “They probably have someone planted in the audience for her to pick.”

“Eenie, meenie, miny, moe! I choose you!” With a hop, Lisia skipped over to their side.

“Uh…”

She grabbed Ivy’s hand and tugged her out of the crowd. Ivy, still holding on to Brendan, tugged him along for the ride. Lisia’s mouth turned into a small o at Brendan following Ivy, but she quickly adjusted her expression into something more genial.

“Wow! How amazing is this? Two future stars is even better than one!” She turned and winked at one of the cameras. “Now, we have two people to potentially bloom into coordinators! A new story starts today! I’ll call this first chapter… ‘Miraculous Discovery! A Shooting Star Scouting!’”

She did another little twirl as the audience cheered. The Queen Lissi Fanclub section they had been pulled out of looked a little murderous, though.

Lisia turned her back to the crowd, smiling at Ivy and Brendan with her hands on her hips. “Alrighty then! Let’s go inside and get started!”

-

“So! Have either of you ever been in a Contest?”

Away from the cameras and crowd in a decently sized dressing room, Lisia was just as pleasant as she had been before. The strange, purposeful inflection she’d been speaking with before was gone, but her words were just as friendly. Ivy was pretty sure they were roughly the same age, but the turquoise haired girl towered over both her and Brendan. That, alongside being dragged away so suddenly, was leaving Ivy feeling a bit disorientated.

“Uh, do we actually have to do this?”

Lisia’s smile faltered for the briefest second. “Well… we can’t force you.” She leaned forward, taking Ivy’s hands in hers, beaming smile and bright eyes both aimed right at Ivy. “But it’s not bad! I swear! Contests are super fun, and I’ll be here to help you with anything you need!”

Well, how could Ivy say no to that? She’d always had a weakness for cute girls.

She gave Lisia a grin in return, albeit hers was slightly wobbly. “Sure, then. We’ll do it! Right, Brendan?”

Brendan didn’t look thrilled, but couldn’t seem to muster up the courage to say no in the face of two blinding grins.

Lisia let go of Ivy’s hands to cheer and twirl. “Woo! Yes!” She stopped twirling to point at them dramatically. “Alrighty! So, what do you two know about Contests?”

Ivy exchanged a look with Brendan and shrugged. “I just watch them if they’re on TV.”

“Yeah, same.”

“Yes! Perfect!” She drew her hands to her chest and Ivy could practically see the sparkles forming around her. “This would work best with two people who know nothing about Contests! Now, let’s go! I’ll explain everything you need to know!”

She grabbed their hands and dragged them out of the dressing room. Ivy couldn’t help but glance longingly over to the large windows that made up the front of the Slateport Contest Hall. It looked like they wouldn’t be going to the Oceanic Museum that day.

-

Standing on the Contest stage was intimidating. Ivy could barely believe this huge thing was only one of the smaller stages. It was nearly as big as a Pokémon League regulation size battling pitch.

“Right-o! Let’s see those Pokémon!”

Lisia had taken them to a larger area so they could let their Pokémon out. She’d assess each one and say what Contest category each would probably do well in.

With a shrug, Ivy let out her three and Brendan let out his. There was also a seventh released—Lisia’s Altaria, the famous Ali. However, another Pokémon caught her eye—there was no Treecko, but a Grovyle. Ivy bit her lip. It seemed like during their little fight, Ivy hadn’t been the only one to experience their first Pokémon evolution. It was a bit of a punch to the gut, honestly.

“Ohh, so cute!” Lisia had gravitated first towards Horsea. She cleared her throat and suddenly straightened her back. “Alright! There are five categories in a Contest—Cute, Beautiful, Tough, Cool, and Clever. Different moves tend to fit better for different categories, so people usually choose which category to do based on their Pokémon’s moves rather than the Pokémon themselves.” She puffed her cheeks out, like an adorable Qwilfish. “Because any Pokémon can be cute or beautiful or tough! If a Skitty wants to do a Tough Contest, then it should be able to! It shouldn’t be judged by how it looks, but by how it performs!”

“Totally!” Ivy agreed, getting a smile in return from Lisia.

“Yeah! Anyways, the Slateport Contest Hall runs its Contests from Thursday to Sunday. Clever and Tough on Thursday because, ah, they usually have the fewest participants. Then Cool, Beautiful, and Cute on the next three days. That’s why we picked today to start off—Monday gives us a few days to practice even if you pick Clever or Tough.

“There are two rounds to Contest—the Appeals Round and the Talent Round. In the first round, you do a small routine of several moves. In a Normal Rank Contest, what you’ll be in, there’s a time limit of twenty seconds for this part. Normal Rank Contests tend to have a lot of coordinators in it, so the time limit is a bit necessary sometimes. You get a score from the judges and the four highest scores go on to round two.

“In the Talent Round, each coordinator takes turns with their Pokémon using a different move for five turns. There’s a whole host of things judges look for in this turn, not to mention some more mean-spirited coordinators can use this to try to intimidate their opponents and…”

Lisia talked fast with few openings for either Ivy or Brendan to speak up. Ivy tried her best to listen, she really did, but halfway through Combusken started a staring contest with Ali and she wanted to see how that turned out. Combusken was competitive, but Ali had a pretty good blank stare. Brendan seemed to be listening at least. She could always ask him about stuff later.

“Did you get all that?”

Ivy gave a thumbs up. “Yeah!”

Brendan bit his lip. “This is way more complicated than I thought it would be.”

Lisia giggled. “I hear that a lot. Most people think Contests are just people dressing up their Pokémon and using silly moves, but there’s so much more to it!” She put one hand on her hip and held the other up in the air as a fist. “That’s why I want to do this! Spread the word of how fun Contests can be to those who have never considered it! Tell everyone how you don’t need to be a battler to bond with your Pokémon! Now,” she clapped her hands together. “Let’s look at your Pokémon!”

-

“So, you have a Grovyle now. Congrats!”

Ivy tried to be cheery. She didn’t want to tread on uncomfortable ground. They had left the Slateport Contest Hall at dusk and gone back to their shared room in the Pokémon Center. It was cramped with all their Pokémon out of their balls, but Lisia had advised that they let out Combusken and Grovyle to groom them for the Cool Contest they had decided on. Ivy felt bad having just Combusken out, so she let Poochyena and Horsea out too. Brendan followed suit without a word.

Brendan, at least, didn’t seem bothered. He actually grinned. “Yeah! It happened right before we left Dewford. And you have a Combusken, too.”

“Mhm! That happened, uh, in Granite Cave.”

An awkward silence settled over them.

Brendan cleared his throat. “Sorry for giving you the cold shoulder for so long. It was kinda mean.”

Ivy shook her head, hair flying around her face. She’d let it down once they reached their room to brush it. “No! I mean, sorta, but I get it. I left you behind, it’s understandable to be mad about that.”

He looked away. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat a second time. “Anyways, what do you think about this whole Contest thing?”

Ivy shrugged as Horsea floated over to lean against her shoulder. She scooped the dragon Pokémon into a side hug. “Seems neat, I guess. I’ve never thought about doing a Contest before and it’ll be fun, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, same.” He flopped down onto his bed, disrupting Mudkip in the process. He croaked at Brendan before trotting to the end of the bed and curling up there. “Hopefully I don’t completely embarrass myself during the actual Contest.”

Ivy snorted. “Like you always embarrass yourself during your gym battles? You’ll do fine.”

-

Lisia was a surprisingly harsh taskmistress. Ivy suddenly understood how she had risen to the top so quickly if her schedule was anything like the one she gave them.

Each morning involved a workout—not just their Pokémon, but them too. Her training regime would lead a Fighting type specialist to shame. Combusken seemed to view the whole Contest thing more positively after the first workout, so at least something good came from it.

After the workout was an extensive grooming session, then lunch of specially made food, particularly for the Pokémon. The first day, she also taught them to make Pokéblocks. Brendan turned out to be decent at it.

Lisia just stared at the mess Ivy had made, her ever-present smile gone for once. She put a hand to her cheek. “Well.”

After cleaning that up, they’d gone on to pick what moves they wanted to spotlight for the Appeals Round.

“Three or so moves will be fine,” Lisia stated as she scrolled through Combusken’s profile on Ivy’s PokéNav. “That’s about all you can do with the time limit. Hmm. Let’s see what we can do with Ember, Peck, and Double Kick.”

They left at dusk again that night, after Lisia bought them dinner. Ivy fell asleep quickly, and woke early to do the same thing the next day.

That morning was similarly exhausting, even with Lisia letting Ivy skip making Pokéblocks during lunch, but the afternoon proved to be more of a break.

“Dressing up isn’t really necessary for Normal Rank Contests, but it’s fun to dress up your Pokémon!”

She led them to a dressing room, this one much larger than the one from a few days back. Most of the space was taken up by racks of fabric, clear dressers holding accessories, and sewing supplies.

“We’ll just look at the accessories. Something simple, like a bandana! Or a hat! Nothing fancy…”

Lisia trailed off as she hunted through various shelves. Brendan followed her, trying not to look too interested. As Lisia shoved a couple of costume bags to the side, a flash of movement caught his attention.

“Huh?” He leaned forward, managing to catch a glimpse of a pink bow on a yellow and black tail before it disappeared. “Was that a Pokémon?”

“Hm?” Lisia looked over at him before peering in the same direction. “Oh, that was probably the Slateport Pikachu.”

That caught Ivy’s attention. She’d been sitting on one of the benches, waving a scarf around for Combusken to help hone his reflexes. Or at least that was the excuse she used to get Combusken to do it. Mainly, she just wanted to play with him.

“The Slateport Pikachu?”

Lisia nodded. “Yeah. No one quite knows how she got here, but it’s not uncommon to find a Pikachu watching the Contests being put on.”

“No one’s tried to catch her?” Brendan asked.

“Nope! She runs away whenever people get close. She’s even shocked a few people. The owner’s tried a few things but…”

-

Brendan looked at the spot where the Pikachu had been.

Poor Pikachu. That sounded a lot like a few of the Pokémon that lived permanently in his dad’s lab. Pokémon who had been abused and detested humans because of it. He’d been told that his Mudkip had been in a similar situation years ago, but living at his dad’s lab had helped Mudkip grow out of biting any hand that came near him.

Brendan took out Mudkip’s Poké Ball as Lisia tossed a giant pile of accessories onto Ivy’s bench.

Mudkip squeaked as he materialized. Brendan got down on one knee to talk to him better.

“There’s a Pikachu here who might need some help. Can you find her and talk to her?”

Mudkip croaked and wagged his tailfin.

“Good! Don’t worry, I’ll come back here before we leave to find you.”

Mudkip barked in affirmative before trotting off.

Brendan got back up, only to see Ivy shriek as she fell to the ground, the scarf she’d been playing with tangled around her legs. How had she even managed that? He sighed. Why did he like her, again?

-

“I hear you’re entering a contest, darling.”

Ivy gaped at the PokéNav. How had her mom known that?

“It’s on all the gossip sites,” her mom added, knowing Ivy was probably completely bamboozled. “You know they report on anything Lisia does. It didn’t take them long to figure out your dad’s a gym leader and Brendan’s is a professor. They’re having a field day.”

She sounded disapproving of that. Ivy could understand why. Brendan had said it himself that day—he’d assumed they had someone planted in the audience. Most likely, all the gossip rags assumed the same.

“Are you gonna watch?”

Ivy wasn’t sure if she was nervous or not. Contests were always filmed and aired on a special channel, even the most boring Normal Rank one. As her mom mentioned though, people went crazy over anything Lisia. Ivy’s battle at the Dewford Gym had had an audience, but there was a difference between an audience of a dozen kids and being on primetime television.

“If you don’t want us to, we won’t,” her mom was quick to assure her. Caroline would prefer to watch, but if Ivy was this uncharacteristically nervous, then she wouldn’t.

Ivy bit her lip. “No, you can. Dad’ll be watching, too?”

“Yup! He’s been helping Professor Birch out at the lab, and the professor will be sure to drag him to watch.”

That helped clear some of Ivy’s nervousness. “Cool! I’ll have to try my best then! I wouldn’t want to disappoint either of them!”

Her mom laughed. “I expect nothing less. We’ll be cheering for you both down in Littleroot, okay?”

Ivy couldn’t help but beam, nervousness gone. All those nerves before had been so silly! Even if she didn’t make it to round two, as long as she did her best and had fun, it would all work out. “Thanks!”

-

“A-ha, this is where you’ve all been.”

A chair toppled over as Lisia squeaked and ran towards the man in the doorway. “Uncle Wall! You’re back!”

Lisia was very tall for her age, but Wallace easily caught her in a hug and twirled her around.

“My sweet Lissi, I am beyond regretful that I’ve had to miss out on helping you! But duty calls, and I must go when she summons.”

Brendan raised an eyebrow at that while Ivy tried to hide a snort.

Lisia seemed charmed, however. She giggled, likely used to her uncle’s overdramatic ways. “It’s fine! I know you have to do your gym leader stuff first. But, ahh! You’ve got to meet Ivy and Brendan!”

Wallace finally glanced over at them, his expression cool and neutral. Ivy waved.

“The girl in red and the boy with her backpack. What serendipity! We’ve actually met.”

“You have?”

“Briefly.” He patted Lisia on the head as the two of them returned to the lunch table. Lisia’s cheeks reddened slightly as she rightened her chair. “It’s not important.”

Ivy blinked in confusion at that and glanced over to Brendan, who looked just as startled. Was Wallace not going to mention the Team Aqua theft? Ivy would consider that pretty important, actually.

“But it’s fascinating! You managed to pick out a gym leader’s daughter and professor’s son! I’m not surprised you found such a high caliber of trainers, you are my niece of course, but it’s two intriguing choices nonetheless.”

Ivy was beginning to feel a bit unnerved. Wallace’s eyes hadn’t left either of them. His words sounded incredibly casual, but the intensity of his eyes contradicted his voice. She shifted awkwardly as Brendan spoke.

“Huh? How do you know who our dads are?”

This, Ivy could answer. “It’s on the news. My mom mentioned they’re reporting on it.”

“More like on the gossip sites,” Wallace corrected. “They’re the only ones unafraid to go investigating two kids.” Disdain oozed through his words, thicker than his Sootopolitan accent.

“Oh.” Brendan didn’t look thrilled at that news.

Lisia patted his shoulder. “It’s not that bad! They can’t actually publish that many things about you since you’re only a teenager.”

“That’s… not that reassuring.”

Lisia pouted. “Oh.” She shook her head. “Well, there’s nothing we can do now. Will you be able to stay long enough to watch them compete tomorrow, Uncle?”

Wallace smiled at his niece, his intensity softening up some as he finally looked away from Ivy and Brendan. “Of course! Speaking of that, however, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind getting my visitor’s pass for me?” He let out a laugh, one that sounded the tiniest bit fake to Ivy. “Every time I speak to Chandra, she tries to talk me into doing something for her and I would wish to avoid that today. That woman refuses to take no for an answer!”

Lisia immediately jumped to her feet. She didn’t send her chair clattering to the ground this time. “Of course! I’ll get it right away. Be back before you can miss me!”

Wallace’s eyes stayed on his niece until she was out the door. Then, he turned back to Ivy and Brendan, all softness gone.

“Now that Lisia will be gone for a few minutes, I have some questions to ask.”

Ivy and Brendan exchanged another baffled glance. So, he had been purposefully avoiding talking about Team Aqua in front of Lisia. Because it was classified information? Or did he just not want to involve her in his Pokémon League duties?

“Uh, sure.”

He cut right to the chase. “You two had encountered Team Aqua before. Where and when?”

Haltingly, still kind of unnerved by Wallace’s intensity and abrupt shift in demeanor, Ivy explained their two encounters around Rustboro and how they came into possession of the Devon parts.

Wallace nodded slowly. “That lines up with what Steven reported from his father.”

Ivy brightened at that. Did Wallace know Steven?

“You know Steven?” she asked, trying not to sound too eager to know.

He chuckled and languidly shifted so he was leaning to the side. “Yes, we’re quite close. Now that I think back, he did mention something about meeting a girl in red who didn’t mind listening to him ramble about rocks.”

Ivy clapped her hands to her cheeks. Steven talked about her! To other people! He remembered her! Oh, this was the best day ever!

Brendan didn’t look thrilled at the conversations turn. “Did you ever find that Team Aqua boss?”

Wallace shut his eyes for a second before opening them, the intensity back. “No. We got a name, Archie, from one of the grunts that the police managed to arrest, but he’s gone now. A brief search turned up that he’s an Alolan native who’s lived in Hoenn for over a decade now and that he had a brief stint on the competitive battling circuit, but not much more than that.” He frowned. “Team Aqua have been around for a few years, but they’ve never left the Lilycove area. I’m told the police there will be on high alert for anyone with his description. With his disappearance here, we can only assume he went back to his usual hunting grounds.”

Brendan tapped a finger against the table, nervous. “Nothing bad’s going to happen, right? Back during Rustboro, Ivy mentioned Team Rocket and I looked them up and, well. They seemed pretty bad.”

A look of understanding softened Wallace’s features. “No, no, it shouldn’t be anything like that. Team Rocket was an organization of hardened criminals who spent decades terrorizing the Indigo League before their downfall. As far as we can tell, Team Aqua is made up of teenaged hooligans who are trying to make themselves seem scarier than they really are with their name. Before all this, the worst crime connected to them was spray-painting vulgarities on the façade of the Lilycove Museum of Art.”

Brendan relaxed at that, and Ivy did too. She didn’t remember much about Team Rocket, but none of it was good. Team Aqua was probably just doing all of this for the attention, and not for any malicious reasons like Team Rocket.

“So, about St—”

“I’m back! And I’ve got your pass, Uncle!”

Wallace turned around, opening his arms. In the second it took for him to move, he’d completely dropped his serious demeanor for a smile and relaxed shoulders. “Aw, thank you so much, my sweet Lissi! I knew I could count on you to be my knight in shining armor.”

She giggled while Ivy stared blankly ahead.

Her dad had been a gym leader for a few years now, becoming one around the same time as Wallace. They didn’t meet often, living on opposite sides of Hoenn, but they’d met enough that Norman had talked about him to his family. He was charming and a bit too theatrical for her dad’s taste, but his battling skills were no joke. He could be the champion if he wanted to, he’d even added once. Her dad had never mentioned how he was able to shift between moods and characters so quickly. It was unsettling to watch in real time. Ivy felt uncomfortable next to someone who could hide his feelings so quickly and thoroughly.

But he was a gym leader. Obviously, he was trustworthy. The Pokémon League wouldn’t have hired him if he wasn’t. She had nothing to worry about.

Still, Ivy would prefer it if Lisia still handled this whole thing by herself instead of alongside her uncle.

Chapter Text

The Mudkip was back again.

Pikachu squeaked in irritation and turned around. She was so tired of the stupid Water type! He’d been following her around for the past few days. Whenever she went to her nest in the dressing room, he was there. If she visited the stage or the kitchen or the bathroom, he was there. It was so annoying!

Fur bristling, Pikachu decided she’d had enough. She would get this guy to leave her precious Contest Hall!

She bounded back over to the dozing mud fish Pokémon.

“Will you stop bothering me already?” Pikachu hissed out, electricity arcing over her back. She didn’t like fighting, abhorred it actually, but this was her territory. She wanted this creep out.

Mudkip blinked slowly at her. “Oh, finally talking, huh?”

Pikachu hissed and let some small sparks fly. The Mudkip wasn’t fazed.

“Brendan wanted me to talk to you. He thinks you have trauma surrounding humans and would like to help you get to a place where you can work through that trauma.”

Pikachu was so shocked, she lost all of her charge.

“What!?”

Mudkip shrugged. “I’d wager he’s right. He’s a smart kid and you’re too evasive to be a fully well-adjusted Pikachu.”

All she could do was gape. Just who did this Mudkip think he was! Saying she wasn’t a “well-adjusted Pikachu.” He might’ve been right about the human thing, but that didn’t give him the right to be so upfront about it!

She huffed, fur crackling back to life with electricity. “That’s none of your business! Why do either of you care, anyways?”

Mudkip idly scratched his head with a hind leg. “Brendan’s a nice kid. And I was in the same boat, once.”

Pikachu didn’t let her defenses fall. “Oh? You also lived in a human Contest Hall?”

He snorted. “No. But I had a bad trainer who wanted me to evolve.” His leg kicked at the necklace he wore—a thin piece of rope with an Everstone attached. “Eventually, she grew fed up with me and sent me back to the lab I came from. I wasn’t very happy. She promised we’d be friends forever and then sent me away the minute I was a problem. I refused to trust any of the humans in the lab for years. Eventually, one of them figured out what was going on and made me this necklace. None of the scientists seemed mad I was wearing it, and that’s when I realized one bad human doesn’t mean they’re all bad.”

Mudkip flopped to the ground, his four legs splayed out to the sides. “Ugh. Usually Taillow is the talker. I’m exhausted.”

Pikachu huffed and turned her head to the side. Just because his story was familiar didn’t mean she would end up like him! She had evolved for her old trainer! She’d loved him and taken the leap from Pichu to Pikachu! And where had that gotten them? Nowhere good.

“What a cute story. Now, will you leave me alone?”

He tilted his head to the side. “You watch a lot of Contests.”

Pikachu blinked. Huh? “Obviously.”

“Have you ever participated in one?”

Ohh, that dumb Mudkip knew exactly how to make his words hurt. She turned her back to him, nose in the air.

“Of course not. I don’t have a trainer. A human is needed to sign up for one.”

“Wouldn’t you like to?”

Pikachu wanted nothing more. She’s watched hundreds of Contests in this Hall. Normal Rank ones featuring young children and hobbyists. Contest Spectaculars, where the professionals who made coordinating their entire job shined like stars. It was all so beautiful. Electrifying, even, if Pikachu had been the kind to pun.

From the first time she and her former trainer had visited Slateport, she’d been entranced by the splendor. Contests were miles ahead of battling. Battling was dirty and painful, and she hated it. Contests required the same kind of practice and attention to detail, but were beautiful, wonderful things.

Her trainer hadn’t thought the same. He’d left the Contest Hall before the second round had even begun. He’d left for the beach, where there would be other trainers ready to battle.

Pikachu had been despondent. How could she battle after seeing the glory that could be attained in other ways? She did her best to try to communicate that she didn’t want to fight, but he ignored every squeak. When she ran away from one battle, he’d started yelling at her. Horrible, terrible things a trainer should never yell at their Pokémon. He picked her up and put her back on the field. When she tried to run away a second time, he nearly kicked her.

Her heart broke then. He didn’t want her, he wanted a top tier battler.

She’d run away then. She hadn’t broken her Poké Ball, but she ran away. If he truly cared he’d look for her, was what she had thought.

He never looked for her. Never even put a sign up at the Pokémon Center.

A week after, she felt a strange tugging at her mind that she just knew meant he’d broken the Poké Ball that was formerly hers.

Pikachu had thought her heart had broken before. It didn’t hold a candle to the pain she felt then.

“Hm?”

The Mudkip’s noise shocked her back to reality. He looked almost smug, the stupid mud fish.

“How about a bet.”

“A bet?”

“Mhm.” Mudkip got to his feet and stretched his back. “Brendan’s not very good at being objective about his skills. I’m not sure why, but he’s not. And he’s enjoying practicing for Contests more than he’s been telling either Ivy or Lisia. I’d wager anything that he stops his gym challenge to try out Contests. And wouldn’t that be good for you? A kind trainer, one who’ll let you do what you want.”

Pikachu’s tail twitched. Maybe…

No. She couldn’t let herself be fooled a second time.

She scurried away.

Mudkip sighed. Ah, well. He’d gotten close that time. He deserved a nap.

-

“And coordinator number 13 is Ivy Miyazaki and Combusken from Littleroot Town!”

Ivy waved as she walked to back-center stage. The audience was nearly full. My fault, Lisia had muttered with a slight grimace. People wanted to see how well her supposed protegee’s would do.

Combusken sauntered to center stage. He wasn’t a fan of Contests as it turned out, but he was a fan of being the center of attention.

“Begin!”

As Lisia had told them to do, Combusken immediately leapt into action. He shot a steady stream of fire into the air before jumping up. Through the flames, his beak glowed. As the flames died out and Combusken fell downwards, his beak dimmed while his feet shined.

Lisia had assured them the stage could take even the strongest of Fighting type moves and still stand. Still, Ivy had to bite her lip as she watched Combusken use Double Kick on the stage floor. It trembled slightly, but didn’t give.

As that move ended, Combusken raised himself up, spreading his arms out and spewing flames into the air.

The timer buzzed. Combusken cut his flames off and bowed.

Ivy awkwardly curtsied as the audience applauded. Lisia had somehow talked her into wearing a nice white blouse and a red skirt (“Because Uncle Wall called you the girl in red and it fits Combusken!”). Ivy didn’t hate skirts, but she didn’t really like them either. It had been quite a while since she last wore one and it felt weird.

Combusken trotted back to her as the judges input their scores.

8, 7, 7.5 for a total of 22.5. Not too bad. It was one of the higher scores so far.

“Thank you, Ivy and Combusken!” The announcer boomed through the auditorium. “Next is coordinator number 14, Brendan Birch and Grovyle!”

Ivy skipped backstage, glad it was over.

Lisia squealed and immediately tackled her into a hug. Ali cooed and enveloped the both of them in his fluffy wings. Combusken just barely managed to dodge out of the way, doing his best beak-scowl as he did.

“That was awesome! You did the routine perfectly! I was so dazzled I was dizzy!”

“Huh? Do you need a doctor?”

Lisia laughed. “Let’s see how Brendan does!” She was literally bouncing in excitement. She clutched Ivy’s hands and peered at the stage, an almost manic grin on her face.

Now the one on stage, Brendan looked nervous. Both Ivy and Lisia had told him a million times he would do an awesome job, but it hadn’t gotten through that thick skull of his. It was like he couldn’t believe anything good about himself.

Grovyle, at least, seemed unphased. And that was probably more important in this round. Earlier, they’d watched a confident coordinator grow frustrated as her clearly nervous Poochyena had messed up its routine. The Pokémon had the hard part this go around.

“Begin!”

Grovyle leaned backwards, arms crossed, and Leered at the audience. They ooh’ed. Grovyle did look very cool. Suddenly, he rushed forward in a zigzag pattern, body glowing from Quick Attack. As he reached the edge of the stage he jumped up, the leaves on his wrists glowing as he executed a perfect Fury Cutter.

As Grovyle fell towards the stage, he left behind a trail of glowing marks where he had swiped, each looking as if he’d made three X’s on top of each other. He landed nimbly on his feet, crossing his arms once more as the buzzer rang.

Brendan practically melted in relief as the audience cheered. Grovyle raised his head, obviously enjoying the praise. He sauntered back to Brendan who quickly straightened up and tried to match his Pokémon’s coolness.

“Mm, that obvious nervousness is going to cost him a few points.”

Ivy nearly jumped out of her skin at Wallace speaking from behind her and Lisia.

Lisia squeaked, but it wasn’t from being spooked like Ivy. “Yeah, but look at Grovyle! So cool! He did the best by far today!” Combusken huffed from right next to her. “Oops, sorry! You were definitely second best, though!”

8, 7.5, 8. 23.5.

Wallace squinted. “A bit generous.”

“It’s just a Normal Rank Contest, Uncle Wall! BRENDAN!”

Lisia leapt at him, knocking them both to the floor as she squeaked in frequencies only Electrike could hear. Ali flew from overhead to cover them with his fluffy wings, cheerfully trilling all the while.

Wallace winced. “I should go help them up before someone takes a photo and gets the wrong idea.” He darted forward. “Lissi, dear! Let the poor boy breathe!”

-

Both Ivy and Brendan were through to round two.

“I… was first?” Brendan asked wonderingly, looking way too shocked.

Ivy elbowed him. “How many times did we tell you that would be the result?”

He shook his head.

She’d ended up in third, behind a guy a few years older than them named Camden who had an Electrike. The fourth person to round two was a girl their age, Gianna and her Taillow. They had all of ten minutes before the round started.

Lisia was in tears and refused to let go of them both.

“I’m so-o-o-o proud!” She hiccupped through another wave of tears. “You both did so-o-o-o well!”

“Sweetheart, they may want to actually make use of their break.”

Wallace tried to pry her off of them, but Lisia’s intense morning workouts weren’t for show. She had the cute face of a Mawile, and the steely grip of one too.

Brendan looked between Wallace and Lisia. “I do kind of want to sit.”

That had Lisia immediately letting go. “Of course! Anything you want!” She nearly shoved him to the nearest set of chairs.

Newly released, Ivy retreated over to the Pokémon to snicker in peace. Lisia didn’t seem to know her own strength.

“How’d you like that?” she asked Combusken, who, alongside Grovyle, was wrapped more loosely in Ali’s wings than Ivy and Brendan had been with Lisia.

He shrugged.

Ivy nodded in understanding. Her Combusken was a battler through and through. Horsea might’ve enjoyed Contests more, but Ivy and Brendan had wanted to do the same category.

“How about you?” she asked Grovyle, who trilled in response.

She giggled, as a flash of yellow caught her eye. She turned around, but whatever it was, it wasn’t around any longer.

Ivy shrugged and unwrapped a granola bar.

-

“Welcome back everyone to today’s Normal Rank Cool Contest held at the Slateport Contest Hall! Today we give you: Brendan and Grovyle! Camden and Bolt! Ivy and Combusken! Aaand Gianna and Tailster! Everyone give it up for our coordinators!”

The audience cheered and Ivy waved. To her right, Camden scoffed.

“Real ‘cool.’”

Ivy shrugged. She was just here to have fun.

“…and first up, we have Brendan and Grovyle!”

The duo stepped forward. During the break, once she’d stopped crying, Lisia had given Brendan a long lecture about not appearing nervous. Wallace chimed in a few times too, giving advice. Brendan had looked overwhelmed through it all, but it seemed some of it had gotten through to him. He didn’t necessarily look confident, but he didn’t look like he was about to vomit either.

“Quick Attack!”

Grovyle cut across the stage, a glowing after image left behind him. He returned to Brendan’s side, arms crossed.

The point of the Talent Round was to outshine your competitors, as Ivy eventually figured out. You needed to be the one with the most memorable move. This time around, the judges also took the audience’s reaction into account. If someone got a bigger ooh or aww, they’d likely win the round.

“Spark!”

Camden looked disgustingly smug as the audience cheered more loudly at his Electrike’s move.

Ivy put him out of mind.

“Combusken, Double Kick!”

Combusken leapt into action, kicking twice in the air. He landed softly, before standing up straight.

He didn’t get as many cheers as the first two, which he didn’t seem to like. Ivy bit back a giggle as Gianna had Tailster use Aerial Ace. Combusken may not have liked Contests, but he was still as competitive as ever.

-

Camden won the first set.

“He’s trying to intimidate the other three,” Wallace muttered to Lisia. She barely seemed to hear him with how hard she was concentrating on the stage.

“He probably used his best move first, though. If he uses it again, he definitely won’t win that round.”

“Ah, but if he manages to successfully frighten the other three into confusion, he could. Ivy will probably ignore him, but Brendan…” he trailed off as Lisia sent him a fierce pout.

“He won’t! I have faith in him! He’s going to dazzle everyone ‘til their dizzy!”

Wallace bit back his reply. If his dear niece wanted to ignore the obvious self-esteem issues and imposter syndrome that plagued the Birch boy, he wouldn’t point them out to her.

Brendan did win the second set, however. Maybe Wallace was being a bit too harsh.

-

On set four, Camden made a mistake. He had won the first and third sets, and Brendan the second. The two girls were vying for last, with the Combusken girl cheerfully seeming to accept the dreaded last place.

With the jumbotron saying he had 28 points to Brendan’s 26 (and the girl’s 16 and 14), Camden had thought he was in a good spot. He had Bolt use Spark again. A nice, showy move that was definitely very, very cool.

But the audience boo’ed.

What? Did they not see how cool Bolt looked there? Why were they cheering more for the Mega Drain from the kid in the stupid hat?

Gah, Contests were so stupid.

-

“…and our winner today is Brendan Birch and Grovyle of Littleroot Town! Congratulations! With this Normal Rank ribbon, you can now compete in Cool Super Rank Contests! Good job to our other three coordinators and thank you to everyone in the audience for supporting them! Let’s hear another cheer for our four amazing coordinators!”

The audience cheered as a Contest Hall employee pinned a ribbon on Brendan’s shirt then on Grovyle’s chest. The wood gecko Pokémon puffed out his chest in pride. He’d really taken to Contests, much more than Brendan assumed he would.

Brendan had also enjoyed this way too much. Was he terrified? Yes. He’d never been in front of an audience before. He’d grown up in the wilds around Littleroot and then Fortree. The only audience he’d ever had were the Pokémon his dad studied.

But this…

Brendan covered his face in his hands.

This was pretty cool.

-

Lisia was in tears again. Ivy couldn’t even make out what she was saying as she sobbed into Brendan’s nice dress shirt.

Brendan looked over to her in distress.

“I think there’s snot on your shirt,” she told him, helpfully.

He glared at her.

-

Wallace took them out to eat at what he said was one of Slateport’s nicest restaurants. Ivy was still kind of wary of him, but buying her food was definitely a good first step to getting into her good graces.

“So, how’d you two like Contests, then?”

Lisia perked up at her uncle’s question, staring at Ivy and Brendan with stars in her eyes.

Ivy grinned through her Octillery ink spaghetti. “It was fun! I dunno if I’ll do it again, but I enjoyed myself when I was up there! Combusken did too, even if he’s still kinda mad we lost.”

Lisia deflated slightly at her declaration of maybe not doing it again, but perked back up at the second half. “Well, I’m glad you both enjoyed it! That’s the most important part!”

“Winning is nice, too,” Wallace added nonchalantly. Ivy frowned. He just cancelled out his spaghetti goodwill. “How about you, Brendan? You could be quite the coordinator if you get a handle on those nerves.”

Brendan frowned, not looking up from his smoked Magikarp.

“Brendan?”

He jumped, only then seeming to notice the attention on him. “Huh?”

Lisia leaned forward. “Did you like doing the Contest?” She smiled, wide and hopeful.

“Um, yeah.” Brendan looked to the side. “It was nice.”

Her smile fell. “Oh. Well, um, it’s nice that it was nice.”

Ivy hid a wince. Brendan didn’t seem to notice Lisia’s drop in mood. He was back in one of those brooding funks.

Well, someone would have to fix this awkward tension!

She poked Lisia in the shoulder repeatedly. “What’d you think of it?”

Lisia brightened as she launched into her thoughts on the day.

-

Ivy scrolled across the map on her PokéNav the next morning. With the whole unexpected Contest thing over, they could finally head up Route 110 and on to Mauville City. Once she beat Wattson, then it’d be on to either Fortree or Lavaridge for her fourth badge. After badge four…

Brendan finally exited the Pokémon Center, dragging his feet as he did.

“Hey, what’s up with you? I didn’t even do anything this time to make you brood!”

He didn’t reply for a few seconds. “Hey, I was wondering… could we stop by the Contest Hall before we go?”

Ivy tilted her head to the side. “Sure? It’s on the way.”

Seriously, what had gotten into him?

-

The Contest Hall was just as busy as the day before. Lisia wasn’t there (as far as Ivy knew), but Cute Contests always attracted the most fans.

“So, did you leave something here?”

Brendan was ignoring her. Ugh, he could be so annoying sometimes.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, he looked over at her. “Ivy—”

A bolt of yellow came from nowhere and jumped onto Brendan’s head, sending him rocketing forward.

Ivy shrieked as she leapt towards him, trying to steady Brendan before he faceplanted.

“What—”

On Brendan’s head, was a Pikachu. A Pikachu with two large, dark pink bows at the base of either ear and a matching one on its heart-shaped tail.

Ivy pointed at it. “The Slateport Pikachu!”

She squeaked angrily before kneading her paws on Brendan’s hat, shoving it down onto his face.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

The Pikachu just continued to squeak.

A Poké Ball on Brendan’s belt shook, and Mudkip popped out. He let out a bark. Pikachu chirped in return. They had some sort of fast paced conversation Ivy couldn’t hope to figure out.

Mudkip seemed to win their argument. Pikachu squealed, jumped off of Brendan and…

Ivy squinted.

Pikachu’s tail glowed steel grey, but it wasn’t a normal Iron Tail. No, there were stars surrounding Pikachu’s tiny body as she collided with Mudkip.

“How does that Pikachu know Meteor Mash!?”

-

They were back at the Pokémon Center.

Mudkip hadn’t been too hurt by Meteor Mash, but it was a long way from Slateport to Mauville and it was better to conserve their Potions.

Pikachu didn’t look remorseful. If anything, she looked proud at how shocked everyone was at her knowing a move she shouldn’t.

She also refused to budge from Brendan’s head.

Ivy shrugged as Brendan tried, and failed, a third time to remove the mouse Pokémon from his head.

“Guess you have a Pikachu now.”

Pikachu squeaked, as if in agreement.

Brendan sighed. This was not how he wanted this conversation to go.

“Anyways, what did you want to talk about?”

Well, it was now or never.

“Ivy…”

“Yeah?”

Brendan took a deep breath. “I want to stay in Slateport.”

Ivy blinked. “Like, a little longer? That’s fine, though it would’ve been nice to know before we checked out of our room…”

“No, I mean.” He paused and took another calming breath. “Like, I stay here, and you go on.”

Ivy took a step back.

“Wh… what do you mean?”

Now that he’d managed to get past the first hurdle, words spilled from Brendan. “I want to try more Contests! I don’t know. You keep saying I’m good at the gyms and battling but I don’t see it. But I had a lot of fun doing the Contest! And… and I was at least a little bit good at it! That guy kept trying to trip me up, but I didn’t let him get to me. I’ve never…” he finally seemed to run out of words. “I dunno… I want to try a Contest again, but I don’t want to hold you back. You want to do the gym challenge more than I do. It wouldn’t be fair.”

Ivy clutched at her backpack’s straps. She hadn’t really cared about Brendan joining her or not way back in Littleroot, but it’d been over a month since then. A month of travel where the two of them were each other’s constants. The thought of going on without Brendan left Ivy feeling surprisingly hollow. She didn’t want to be alone.

But she didn’t want to hold Brendan back either. She bit her lip and looked down. Ivy took a deep breath of her own before shoving her pointer finger in Brendan’s face. He flinched backwards, eyes wide.

“Alright! I’ll accept your decision! If… you beat me in a battle!”

Chapter Text

They ended up where Slateport City petered out and became Route 110. It was a wide, open area perfect for battling. A slight rain started up during their walk there, but it wasn’t anything bad. Not so much rain as a handful of water droplets every few seconds.

“Now! Come on! Show me you really want this!”

Brendan nodded. “Pikachu? Do you—”

Pikachu jumped off his hat… and landed behind him. She stuck her head to the side, her tongue sticking out.

Brendan gaped while Ivy giggled at the clear dismissal.

“Uh, um, well, okay. You can… stay there.” He took out a Poké Ball. “Let’s go, Mudkip!”

“Yeah! Come on out, Poochyena!”

Brendan settled back into a battle-ready stance. “For once, we need to go all out. Take Down!”

Ivy gaped. Mudkip knew what?

“Gah! Dodge up!”

Mudkip was fast, but had poor control over where he went. Poochyena easily jumped out of the way. Mudkip stumbled to a halt before jumping to face Poochyena.

“Whirlpool!”

“Dodge underneath and Bite!”

Poochyena did her best to listen, but Mudkip’s whirlpool was too large. There wasn’t any specific boundary for their battle, but the only place away from the Whirlpool would be out of hearing distance. Even Ivy was getting some splash damage from Mudkip’s frankly ridiculous whirlpool. Then again, that could be the rain.

There was a muffled whine as the swirling water engulfed her. Vaguely, Ivy could see her outline inside the column of water.

Slowly, the Whirlpool dispersed, dropping Poochyena to the ground. Mudkip was panting. Ivy’s eyes narrowed. The move was strong, but obviously Mudkip and Brendan didn’t practice it often. Mudkip would have to take a few seconds to recover.

“Poochyena! Bite! As quick as you can!”

Shaking her head, she Howled as she darted forward, jaw glowing as it came down on Mudkip.

Mudkip squeaked as Poochyena shook him in her jaws before harshly tossing him onto the ground. She let out another Howl and—

Ivy clapped her hands together in excitement.

Poochyena glowed, her body turning bright white as she evolved into Mightyena. As the glow faded, she let out a third Howl before dashing towards the teetering Mudkip.

“Yes! Yes, good girl! Go Mightyena!”

“Mudkip! Hydro Pump!”

Ivy gasped. “No! Mightyena, get out of there!”

Mudkip sucked in a deep breath before breathing out more water than Ivy could ever believe fit inside such a small body. She had to jump several feet back to avoid getting soaked. Mightyena skidded as she tried to stop her rapid advance, but it was no use. By that point, she was too close to dodge a point-blank Hydro Pump.

In her gangly new evolution, Mightyena didn’t stand a chance of retaliating. Ivy returned her. “Good job! That evolution was so awesome.”

On the other side, Brendan was doing the same as Mudkip swayed from exhaustion. It seemed that really was too much water for Mudkip to handle.

“Alright, Taillow!”

“Let’s go, Horsea!”

Horsea trilled as she appeared, waving her fin at Taillow who let out a chirp in response. Ivy bit her lip. It wasn’t just Brendan leaving, it was his Pokémon too. She’d miss them, and her own Pokémon would be left without their friends.

“Smokescreen!”

“Quick Attack!”

Taillow dove down as Horsea let out a billow of inky black smoke, covering the ground in a layer of darkness. Ivy waited for a noise from Horsea to see if Quick Attack connected, but there was nothing. Taillow flew back up, squawking indignantly.

“Taillow, blow the smoke away!”

“Horsea, don’t wait for them! Twister!”

With a trill that could one day be a roar, Horsea bounced up, the winds around her growing wild into an air-based version of Mudkip’s earlier Whirlpool.

Ivy leaned back and shielded her face with a hand. Maybe she should’ve stood a few feet back.

“Taillow, fly up! Out of the winds reach!”

But just as Mightyena hadn’t been able to escape the Whirlpool, Taillow couldn’t outfly the Dragon-powered tornado. She tried her best, but it sucked her in and spit her back out. Taillow squawked as she hit the ground, hard.

“Now, Water Gun!”

With a squeak, Horsea blew a jet of water at the downed and disoriented bird, hitting right behind the head. She didn’t get back up.

Ivy punched the air. “Woohoo! That’s gonna be a great move for us!”

“You did your best,” Brendan murmured to Taillow in her Poké Ball. “You’re last, Grovyle.”

On the sidelines, Pikachu tilted her head to the side.

“Quick Attack then Mega Drain!”

“Horsea—”

Ivy couldn’t even get her order out. Grovyle had been practicing his Quick Attacks for Contest purposes, but practice was practice. In the blink of an eye, his glowing form was upon Horsea sending her spinning.

She wasn’t even able to righten herself before she began to glow, the Mega Drain taking effect.

It was over quickly.

“Ouch. You did good there with Taillow. It’s up to you, Combusken!”

Combusken burst from his Poké Ball, materializing in a crouch.

Brendan winced. This was not the best match up for Grovyle. While the ground was damp, the rain had stopped, so nothing would be hindering Combusken’s Fire type moves.

“Ember!”

“Dodge it with Quick Attack!”

Grovyle glowed and zigzagged, dashing between Combusken’s bursts of fire.

Ember, while useful, was far from the best Fire type attack out there. It could either be shot quickly with multiple small fireballs, or in one continuous stream, like with Flamethrower, but it didn’t go far and sizzled out quickly. They’d need to start building up the stream so they could upgrade the move to a proper Flamethrower.

Quick Attack hit, but Combusken was able to spew a jet of flames as he recoiled backwards.

“Mega Drain!”

Both Pokémon glowed, but it didn’t seem to help Grovyle much.

“Right, then! Aerial Ace!”

With a speed akin to Grovyle’s own Quick Attack, Combusken leapt and dove, beak glowing.

Grovyle fell, and didn’t get up.

Brendan recalled his Pokémon, fist clenched at his side. He stared morosely at the ground.

“Wow! That was fun!” Ivy jogged over to Brendan, a smile on her face. “We’ll have to battle again like that!”

Brendan didn’t reply. Ivy’s smile faltered. “Hey, I’m not actually going to force you to come with me, you know.”

His head snapped towards her. “Seriously? Then what was that all for?!”

 “I thought it’d be fun! And it was!” Ivy let out a loud laugh.

Brendan rolled his eyes. Still, he couldn’t help but smile.

-

“I think the nurse is glaring at me.”

“Well, we keep saying we’re gonna leave, and then we don’t.”

Ivy glanced over her shoulder. The Pokémon Center nurse was still glaring at her. “Yeah, but this is her job.”

“Probably still annoying.”

“You’re annoying.”

Brendan ignored her.

“Right. Well. This is it, then.”

Ivy’s mood soured. She would’ve liked more time.

“Right.”

They stared at each other.

“Um—”

“So—”

Both broke off. Ivy began to giggle. Brendan let out a laugh of his own.

Ivy shifted her backpack on her shoulders. “Well. Bye. I better see you soon.”

Brendan nodded, smiling for once. “You will.”

Ivy took a deep breath and nodded herself. “Yeah.”

She turned and headed off on her own.

-

Ivy was a few miles down Route 110 when she suddenly realized—

“Ah man! I never got to visit the museum!”

-

“Ivy! You did so well in the Contest!”

Ivy laughed as she held the PokéNav up to her ear. It was just past lunch and her mom had finally called. “I came last…”

“No, you came fourth. All those other coordinators from the first round didn’t disappear.”

She hadn’t thought about it like that. Ivy brightened up considerably as she chattered with her mom. Her dad even passed by, and they spoke for a few minutes!

It was just her on the road for the moment. While the Pokémon Center had healed her Pokémon from any potential injuries, exhaustion was a separate issue. They deserved to rest while Ivy made the boring trek across Route 110.

“—but I shouldn’t keep you too much longer. Brendan’s probably bored out of his mind there.”

Ivy’s mood plummeted. “Oh. Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t know.”

“Hm? Ivy?”

“Brendan’s still back in Slateport. He wanted to try out Contests more.”

“Good for him! His father was very proud of how well he did. It’s difficult to get a ribbon on your first try.” Her mom paused. “Oh, you’re travelling alone then, aren’t you?”

“Maybe…”

There was another long pause on the line. “Be careful, please. Don’t go looking for trouble.”

Ivy huffed out a laugh. “I’ll try. But adventure doesn’t care about what mom’s want!”

Her mom let out a brief chuckle. “I’ll take it. Well, we can talk soon, okay? Call me more than once a week.”

“I’ll try.”

“Love you! Bye-bye, darling”

“Bye.”

Ivy stared ahead at the large field that eventually gave way to the ocean. She had to cross all that to get to Mauville. Alone.

-

As if it weren’t enough to be alone, right as she reached the raised walking path that connected Slateport to Mauville, the rain started back up. And not as the brief shower from that morning, but a full-fledged downpour. Ivy shouldn’t have been surprised; it was summer in Hoenn. It rained more often than it didn’t. But it sure didn’t help her mood.

There were two direct routes to get to Mauville from Slateport—one was a raised suspension bridge meant only for vehicles or people with bicycles, while the other was a much simpler bridge below it meant for people on foot. Usually, getting across the foot bridge wasn’t a hassle. It was a day or so long walk, with a rest area in the middle if you didn’t time things right.

It was also entirely over the ocean.

Ivy sighed as waves crashed over the bridge and thunder rumbled in the clouds. Even if she got out her rain jacket, she’d have a tough time getting across.

There was also walking alongside the shoreline, but that was a week long endeavor considering this area of land was a small peninsula. It was why the two bridges had been built in the first place.

Luckily, probably for this exact reason, there was a small rest area at the start of the bridge. Ivy hurried over to that, soaked to the bone.

The rest area looked like a mishmash of different Pokémon Center rooms all combined into one area. There was a healing station in the corner, scattered chairs and tables in the middle, and even a small kitchenette. She could only see two people in the part of the room that seemed to be the community room equivalent—a boy with a Kecleon on his back and girl who turned to look as she shut the door.

“Oof,” the guy said. “Glad we managed to get here right before the rain started.”

The girl, around Ivy’s age and a bit younger than the guy, laughed. “We managed to get lucky for once.” She turned to Ivy. “There’re towels in the closet by the door to dry off with and a bathroom upstairs if you want to set your stuff down or shower.”

Ivy looked to the side and, yup. Those were towels.

She gave them a wave and a grin. “Thanks!”

-

Ivy didn’t shower, but she did set her stuff down in one of the unoccupied rooms and release her three Pokémon. Mightyena and Combusken trotted down the stairs at her side, while she held Horsea in her arms. If she was going to relax, there was no harm in letting Horsea be clingy.

“Thanks for earlier! I’m Ivy!”

The girl, now eating some soup, grinned back. “Hey! I’m Bella and that’s my brother Connor. And it was no problem. You heading to Mauville?”

Ivy nodded, absently petting Mightyena at her side. “Yeah! It’s the next gym on my list.”

“Ooh. I haven’t battled Wattson, but Connor has.” She turned to look at her brother. “Was he hard?”

Connor shrugged. “Not if you have a good Ground or Fire type.”

“Fire?” Ivy knew Wattson was an Electric type specialist, so Ground made sense, but Fire? She glanced over at Combusken who had gone from scowling at the rain pelting the window to following the conversation intently.

“Yeah. He always has at least one Magnemite or Magneton on his team, so a Fire type is pretty helpful.” He puffed out his chest. “I don’t mean to brag—”

“—you do—”

“—but my Donphan beat him almost entirely by himself.”

Bella rolled her eyes. “He was the first gym you went to. Of course, you didn’t need that many Pokémon to win.”

Ivy giggled. Brendan preferred staying in their room at Pokémon Centers, but Ivy enjoyed going to the community room to talk with people. “How many badges do you have?”

“Seven! Just Winona in Fortree left.” Connor grinned, obviously proud and loving to brag despite his earlier words.

Bella snorted. “Which is the stupidest thing ever since we’re from Fortree. How you managed to forget to battle her before you left is a mystery.”

He stuck his tongue out at his sister. Over his shoulder, Kecleon mirrored the action with its much, much longer tongue. “I just wanted to save the best for last, duh.”

“Suuure.” She turned to Ivy. “How ‘bout you?”

“Only two,” Ivy admitted, turning around so they could see the Stone and Knuckle Badges she’d pinned to the front of her backpack. It seemed much less impressive compared to Connor’s seven.

“Rustboro and Dewford… you from Rustboro, then? There’re Torchic up by Fallarbor, right?”

“Fallarbor isn’t Rustboro, dummy.”

“It’s close enough!”

Ivy shook her head. “I’m from Littleroot Town.”

Connor raised an eyebrow. “Decided to skip over Petalburg, then? Norman doesn’t get any easier to beat if you save him ‘til later.”

Ivy grinned. “Nope! He’s my dad. I want to battle him later!”

Bella’s jaw dropped. “No way! Your dad’s a gym leader? That’s so cool!”

“Yeah! We have a deal that we’ll battle once I get four badges and he’ll use one of his actual Pokémon against me.” Or that was the implication Ivy had gotten, at least. She hoped that was what he had planned.

Connor whistled. “That’ll be intense.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I actually lost to him. Almost didn’t win on the second time either.”

Ivy probably shouldn’t say awesome to that, but she kind of wanted to. Her dad was a good battler! It was something to be proud of!

She decided to change the subject. “What about you, Bella? Have you challenged any gyms?”

“Mhm!” She rummaged in a pink bag next to her and brought out a badge case. “Fortree,” she paused to give a pointed look at her brother, “Mossdeep and Sootopolis.”

Now those were strange gyms to have challenged first. Ivy remembered Brawly mentioning how the island gyms usually received fewer challengers than normal. If Ivy had to wager a guess, Bella only challenged Mossdeep and Sootopolis because Connor was getting his sixth and seventh badges from them. If the pair hadn’t been travelling together, she likely would’ve gone the more common path of going down Route 119 to Mauville.

“Was Mossdeep hard? I’ve heard it’s a double battle.”

Bella winced. “Definitely the hardest. Though, honestly, all of them were pretty hard.” She let out a small laugh. “They’re probably the only gyms I’ll challenge. It was fun, but I don’t think I’m really into being a trainer.”

“So, you’re not challenging Wattson?”

“Nah. We’re both heading home to Fortree. You should visit us when you get there! It’s so cool, we…”

The conversation followed the afternoon into the night as the rain continued to pour.

-

Ivy woke up that day grimacing. Brendan left her, she’d gotten completely soaked in the rain, and now she’d bled onto bed sheets in a place she was a guest in.

Rain, once again, pounded against the windows, at least giving Ivy the time to wash the sheets and make some of the tea that always helped with period cramps. Thank goodness her mom was the one who had packed her food and put some in. The first time she got her period on her Pokémon journey and of course it had to be on a day like this.

At least there were people to talk to.

“Ooh, is that a PokéNav? I’ve never seen one like that!”

“It’s a new model,” Ivy informed her. She cuddled Horsea against her chest, feeling only a little bit bad for wishing she was cuddling Combusken instead. The tea helped, but she still felt a little shivery. “The PokéNav Plus. I think he mentioned it’s not available to the public yet.”

“How’d you get that?” Connor asked, sounding impressed. With Ivy’s permission, he took the device and scrolled through the various apps on it.

“Uhh,” Ivy really didn’t want to get into the whole Team Aqua thing. “Just some good timing and meeting the right people, I guess.”

Bella gasped, and took the PokéNav from her brother, quickly typing into it. “It has internet access?”

“It does now,” Ivy confirmed. President Stone hadn’t been lying about an eventual internet patch. It’d updated to include the internet the night before their Contest. “Supposedly, you can get it from anywhere.”

“Sick! When’s it release?”

Connor leaned back and snorted. “This is why they gave it to you,” he said, with a worldly air. “Free advertising. Typical capitalist business practices.”

Ivy had no idea how to reply to that. Bella punched her brother in the shoulder. He moved with the punch, causing Kecleon on his back to turn visible with a chirp. The two started arguing about something that was clearly an inside joke.

They didn’t notice Ivy leaving to put her bed sheets in the dryer. She tried not to get upset over that. It wasn’t like she was their sibling. They were letting her travel with them to Mauville. Some company, even company that forgot you, was better than no company.

The three of them ended up leaving just before noon. The rain stopped being a complete downpour shortly after Ivy had woken up, but dark clouds and continued small showers kept them inside a few more hours.

Ivy didn’t like Route 110, she quickly decided. It was stupidly humid out, and the ocean kept splashing up over the edges of the bridge getting her sneakers and socks wet. Not to mention, it was hard to tell if she was bleeding through her pants, or if that was just ocean spray.

They didn’t talk much as they made their way across. All three of them wanted to get across the bridge and into Mauville before another storm hit. That meant hurrying to get to the rest point. Ivy had Mightyena out with her, but besides her and Kecleon on Connor’s back, everyone kept their Pokémon in their Poké Balls. The path wasn’t big enough for large groups, and they needed to speed along.

“If it doesn’t rain in the afternoon again,” Connor said, a cheerful note in his voice, “then we can make it to Mauville before ten. Probably.”

-

It didn’t rain. In fact, most of the nasty looking clouds that had been hanging around all morning cleared up, letting the sun do quick work in drying the bridge.

Unfortunately, that meant it was now humid and boiling hot.

“Ugh,” Bella groaned as she grabbed a hat from her backpack and stuffed it over her brown ponytail. “I almost want the rain back. It is way too hot now.”

Ivy almost agreed. It had been humid all day, but now that the sun was out, her entire body was covered in a thin layer of disgusting sweat. Walking through a sauna was probably cooler than being out here. But…

“At least this means we’ll be able to get to Mauville tonight. The Pokémon Center will have actual showers.”

“Gah. You’re right. I still hate this stupid weather, but you’re right.”

The rest area in the middle of the bridge was not nearly as well stocked as the one they had left. It was more of a shack than anything, with no electricity or running water. It had four walls, a roof, a nearby outhouse, and that was it. Ivy wouldn’t have minded spending the night there, but the thought of a shower and an actual bed in a Pokémon Center was much more enticing. Pokémon journeys were not period friendly Ivy was quickly finding out.

After a quick break to eat and use the outhouse, they moved on.

By the time the sun began to set, they were three-fourths of the way across the bridge. Connor, who had gone over this route before, was optimistic that it wouldn’t be long before they made it to land.

“As long as it stays clear and nothing surprises us, we should be good!”

So, of course, that’s when everything went wrong.

Beside her, Mightyena suddenly stopped. She began to whine and paw at her ears. On Connor’s back, Kecleon, who Ivy was pretty sure had been asleep up to this point, let out a loud croak and jumped onto the bridge’s railing.

“Mightyena?” Ivy asked, approaching her poor pooch. She’d progressed to small yips while trying to use the boards to help cover her ears. Despite knowing that something was obviously up, Ivy recalled Mightyena. “What’s going on?”

Bella inched closer to her brother as he stared out at the inky black ocean. “Probably a noise at levels only Pokémon can hear.”

“That doesn’t narrow it down.”

“No,” Connor agreed with his sister. He gestured for Ivy to huddle behind him as he released a Medicham. “Medicham, what Pokémon are we dealing with?”

The pink, humanoid Pokémon closed its eyes, the yellow dots on its head glowing. When it opened its eyes, Connor let out a hiss.

“Shit,” he said, and he didn’t need to explain more. All around them, possibly enraged by Medicham’s psychic probing, glowing red lights penetrated the darkness of the ocean. The water began to thrash as nearly a dozen Tentacruel rose to the surface.

“Connor,” Bella said, her voice higher pitched than normal.

“Shit,” he said again. “The rain probably messed with their usual food source. Donphan or Aggron would be useful here, but they’d probably break the bridge. Medicham, this is gonna be up to you. Psychic, at as many as you can.”

Medicham let out a short hum, and the dots on its head began to glow again. A wave of water rushed over the handrails and onto them as Medicham telekinetically grabbed one of the Tentacruel and began to use it to beat the others around it.

“Do you just have those three Pokémon?” Connor tersely asked, as he dragged Ivy and Bella away from the ongoing battle.

“Y-yeah.”

“Horsea…” he paused, then shook his head. “No. If it were a Seadra than it’d be useful to help fight in the water, but a Horsea would probably get slaughtered by this many Tentacruel. Bella has a Lanturn, but adding an Electric type when we’re all soaked is a terrible idea.”

A tongue lashed into the water. With its eyes glowing, a strange, almost spiraling beam emitted from Kecleon’s head into the water. A tentacle waved in the air for a second, before crashing down onto one of the red glows.

“You confused it, good job, Kecleon.”

Kecleon chittered, large eyes keeping watch on the churning waves.

Connor looked over his shoulder. “We might just have to run and hope Medicham and Kecleon scared them off enough to not follow.”

Another wave rushed over the railing and onto them. Kecleon let loose another Psybeam, which threw the Tentacruel back into the water with a roar.

“I don’t think that’ll happen,” Bella said, timidly.

Ivy bit her lip. “Bella, didn’t you mention having a Tropius?”

“A small one. He’s not large enough or strong enough to carry us all the way to Mauville.”

An idea popped into Ivy’s head. “But could he carry us if he just hovered in the air?”

“Huh?”

“Connor said you have a Lanturn. An Electric attack from a Lanturn could probably knock all the Tentacruel out. It’d also knock us out, but if we’re in the air…”

“That could work—” Connor was interrupted as dozens of tentacles burst from the water towards them. Ivy and Bella shrieked as Connor jerked them towards the other side of the bridge. Kecleon leapt forward, Psybeam spiraling to meet the tentacles. The Psychic attack worked in pushing the Tentacruel back, but, with a splash, the color change pokemon fell into the water.

“Ah, hell,” Connor swore, letting go of the two girls to fumble for Kecleon’s Poké Ball. “We’re going with Ivy’s plan. Bella, let out Tropius.”

Bella had been right that her Tropius was rather small. It was only barely taller than Ivy. She and Bella fit onto him snugly, but Connor was a single second’s mistake from falling off.

Still, wings trembling, Tropius lifted into the air.

Twin beams of light lit up the night. One returned Medicham from where it’d been in a stalemate against its many foes, while the other let loose a fish that landed into the water with a plop.

“Lanturn,” Bella shrieked right into Ivy’s ear, “Discharge!”

A bright light sparked beneath the surface before exploding outwards, going hundreds of feet in all directions. Shrieks and roars filled the night, and Ivy spared a thought for all the poor non-Tentacruel that got caught up in their defense.

The electricity arced over the water’s surface for several minutes. Soon, all the red glows began to fade, leaving only a small, yellow-white light left in the water. Even as Tropius began to drop in altitude, Connor made them wait a few minutes more to land, just in case.

In the end, Tropius overrode Connor’s wishes. Dropping onto the bridge harshly, Ivy and Connor landed in a heap at its feet while the bridge rocked perilously. Bella gracefully slid off before recalling both her Pokémon and giving them a few words of praise.

The trio was silent as Ivy and Connor got back onto their feet. It was going to be a long trek to Mauville but none of them wanted to stay over the ocean longer than they had to.

-

It was nearly midnight by the time they made it to the main Mauville Pokémon Center. The overnight nurse looked on in concern as the three of them booked rooms. Ivy didn’t care—all she could think about was changing her pad and sleeping.

Chapter Text

“Well, it’s more travelling for us.” Connor interrupted himself with a yawn despite the fact it was almost noon. “It was nice meeting you, Ivy. Remember, Ground and Fire moves for Wattson!”

Ivy waved as they set off for Route 118 and Fortree. It had been nice travelling with them, even if it was only two days. Two terrible days. She would be lucky if those bloodstains ever washed out of her pants, let alone her underwear.

But Connor’s advice had been troubling her the entire walk across Route 110, before the Tentacruel made themselves known. Ivy really wasn’t prepared for Wattson’s Gym. She only had three Pokémon, one of which was extremely susceptible to Electric attacks. Ivy wanted to avoid another incident like her first attempt at the Rustboro Gym. Which meant avoiding using Horsea, which meant she was down to two Pokémon. Meanwhile, since this was her third gym, Wattson would be required to use three Pokémon. Ivy didn’t like her odds. She needed a new Pokémon, preferably one that was part Ground type.

Here, the PokéNav showed its use once more. There was a setting on the map that showed where certain kinds of Pokémon lived. It wasn’t nearly as accurate as a Pokédex—Brendan had looked through the listed areas and mentioned the data was nearly a year old and didn’t account for seasonal migrations—but it was good enough.

For Ground types, Ivy was in somewhat good luck. Most of them seemed to live scattered across the Mt Chimney foothills just north of Mauville, alongside the volcano itself. It would be another few days of travelling but Ivy could tough it out! She had a new Pokémon somewhere to befriend!

Once she bought some new underwear and pads, of course.

-

There were two paths for Ivy to go. If she went northwest, she’d head towards Mt Chimney and find Geodude, Rhyhorn, Numel, and Phanpy. If she went slightly to the northeast, she’d end up in Mirage Desert with its Geodude, Rhyhorn, Sandshrew, Trapinch, and Baltoy.

Ivy tapped a finger to her lips. Well, the PokéNav listed more Ground types living in the desert, so that’s where she’d go!

-

It was maybe taking a bit longer than she’d thought it would to get to Mirage Desert. Two days of walking, and she wasn’t any closer to the strange, bowl-like rock formation that had caused a desert to form in what was an otherwise humid and tropical region. It’d be another day of travel at minimum to get to them, and then who knows how long she’d spend in the desert itself. The humidity wasn’t as bad as it had been the last few days, but trekking for hours under the boiling sun still wasn’t fun.

Ugh. And she didn’t even have Brendan to bother and annoy!

Her Pokémon were with her, or at least Combusken and Mightyena were since Ivy didn’t want Horsea to dry out, but she couldn’t be annoyed at them. They didn’t deserve to be subjected to all of her complaining, so she kept it bottled up.

Mightyena mainly trotted around smelling flowers, ignoring most of Ivy’s training directions (making her rethink the whole didn’t deserve her complaining thing). Meanwhile Combusken used the time to start learning Flame Charge. His only Fire type move was Ember, and it would be a while until they could get it strong enough to be considered Flamethrower. Flame Charge seemed like a good move to learn in the meantime.

When yet another bus to Lavaridge passed them by, Ivy decided it was time to go off-route. There were two easy entrances to Mirage Desert and the one that faced Route 111 was blocked off by a large Ranger outpost.

Oh, she’d be let into the desert easily enough, but they’d send a Ranger in with her to make sure she wasn’t secretly a poacher or something. Mirage Desert was a protected area with a ton of Pokémon who could only be found there in Hoenn, so the Rangers were picky about who they let in unsupervised.

While Ivy enjoyed the concept of being around someone who could speak back to her, the thought of a Ranger hovering behind her while she looked for a Pokémon to catch seemed so awkward. Befriending and catching a Pokémon was a personal thing! Having someone looking over her shoulder the entire time would completely take her out of it.

And it wasn’t like Ivy was a poacher! She wanted one singular Pokémon, then she’d be out and on her way back to Mauville. She was allowed one Pokémon, according to the law. The Rangers had nothing to worry about with her.

So, the harder to find but less patrolled entrance it was!

-

Ivy camped out in the shade of the mountains. She got up earlier than usual, right before dawn. Deserts were supposed to be really hot during the day, right? So, it made sense for her to leave when it was still dark.

The desert wasn’t really what she thought it would look like. She’d always imagined cacti and oases, but Mirage Desert was just rocks, rocks, and more rocks. It was a bit hard to get around, but that was mainly because the ground was uneven and it was dark. Ivy didn’t want to fall and twist her ankle. It’d be embarrassing to have to call for a Pokémon Ranger to come pick her up and help her back to Mauville when she’d snuck in without them knowing.

While she was indeed avoiding any scorching heat, Ivy had to admit that looking for Pokémon in the dark wasn’t the smartest idea. She kept hearing scuttling noises, but she couldn’t see the Pokémon. By the time she carefully picked her way over to the noises, whatever Pokémon that made them was long gone.

Ivy had really been hoping this would be an ‘in and out’ thing, but obviously not.

No worries, though! She would persevere and make a new friend! Everything was going to be fine!

-

A sandstorm kicked up a few hours after the sun rose.

Sandstorms were nothing like she had imagined either. For one, they hurt. She’d been wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt, and there were large welts on her arms before she’d dug into her backpack and took out her raincoat. A few of them even bled a little bit. Not to mention all the grit and sand in her eyes, making them sting and unable to see.

Ivy was lucky she rarely cleaned her backpack out. She’d manage to find the one winter scarf she owned and wrapped it around her mouth and nose after more than a few minutes of hacking out her lungs. Man, she thought she’d lost at that scarf. She hadn’t thought to look in her backpack. Why had it been there anyways?

Clutching her bag to her chest, she didn’t have much else to do than wonder about stupid topics. She’d found a somewhat large rock and hunkered down under it. It didn’t stop the wind from every direction, but it was better than being out in the open.

She wondered how Brendan was doing. Probably something more fun than being pelted by a sandstorm.

…Maybe she should’ve just sucked it up and gone to the Rangers.

There was a clicking noise next to her.

Ivy hugged her bag tighter to her chest. Did she dare open her eyes? It was really painful, and she could barely see more than a foot in front of her anyways. Man, between this and the Flash from the Team Aqua boss, no one had mentioned the strain your eyes would go through when you went on a Pokémon journey.

The clicking started up again, this time sounding vaguely impatient.

Ah, right. There was something next to her.

She squinted open one eye. Right next to her was a little, orange Trapinch.

It opened its large jaws, and Ivy’s eyes widened despite the sand. Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach as the Trapinch bit her arm.

She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for intense pain. Trapinch were supposed to have jaws nearly as strong as a Mawile or a Gible. A brief flash of pain left her hissing, but it was nowhere near as painful she had anticipated.

Ivy peeked open her eyes a second time. The Trapinch was still biting her, but it wasn’t biting down. No, it was just… holding her arm in its mouth.

“Huh…?” she couldn’t help but ask, words muffled by her scarf.

Something behind the Trapinch’s dark eyes brightened now that it seemingly had her attention. It tugged her arm slightly, causing Ivy to wince.

“You… want me to follow you?”

It finally let go of her arm and nodded its large head.

Well. What did she have to lose?

Wincing as she got to her feet, she staggered after the ant pit Pokémon.

-

The Trapinch brought her to a tower.

“A tower?”

What the hell was a tower doing in the middle of the desert? It definitely hadn’t been there before. Mirage Desert was pretty flat, and they hadn’t gone too far from her previous spot.

Still, how it got there wasn’t important. Ivy unwrapped her scarf and let out a hacking cough. Non sand filled air was delightful to breath.

Now that she could see, she looked down at her arm. The one arm of her raincoat was torn in the places the Trapinch’s jaw had bitten and there were some small, but growing, blood stains. Man, her clothing was not having a good time of it lately. Thinking about what to do, Ivy bit her lip, then gagged. Ugh, her lips were covered in dust. Gross.

But the cuts were a problem. Considering how careful Trapinch had been, the cuts probably weren’t too deep, but blood was blood. It should be in her body, not outside of it.

Trapinch made another clicking noise. She looked over. It was staring at the open door. Right, Ivy should close that.

Tugging the scarf back over her mouth for the brief moments she would be near the sandstorm, Ivy trudged over, Trapinch clicking all the while. Why was it doing that? It almost sounded like a warning, or an alarm.

Despite her desire to be free from dust and sand, Ivy peered out into the darkness. It was difficult to make out, but she could vaguely, possibly, see three roughly humanoid shapes standing several meters in the distance, disturbingly still.

A small sweat broke out on the nape of her neck, and she shut the door with a slam. Deserts, humanoid shapes, and lonely travelers… that brought a vague story to the back of her mind, and she did not want to consider it more than she had to.

She looked down at the Trapinch, her probable savior.

“Well, thanks li’l guy.”

-

There wasn’t much in the tower. No furniture or windows or anything. Just tile and dust and a set of stairs winding around the wall. It was honestly kind of boring.

She looked down at Trapinch.

“Well, nowhere else to go but up, right?”

The other floors didn’t have anything either.

“I mean, it makes sense,” Ivy babbled on to Trapinch. She’d take out her Pokémon, but she didn’t want to risk it with the sandstorm (or Sandstorm?) still ongoing and the potential threats waiting right outside the doors. The tower seemed to be keeping the three Pokémon out, but she didn’t want Combusken and Mightyena to potentially exhaust themselves now in case she did need them to battle later. She didn’t even consider bringing out Horsea; it’d be cruel to so in a desert. “This place looks super old. I’m probably not the only person who’s been here. Anything cool was probably stolen decades ago.”

Trapinch croaked, which Ivy took as agreement.

“Yeah, it’s pretty disrespectful. Now, let’s see what’s on the top floor!”

More of nothing.

Wait—

Ivy squinted at a rock that was lying near the wall. Nowhere else had random rocks lying around. Every other floor had been surprisingly clean, aside from the sand and dust.

She looked around. If she picked it up, would she trigger some trap? Like in the Icirrus Jones movies? Was she going to have to outrun a giant boulder? Ivy wouldn’t like it, but she was pretty sure she would be able to. Her period was basically over, so she didn’t have an awkwardly bulky pad slowing her down anymore.

Confident in her ability to outrun a boulder, Ivy picked up the rock.

She waited a minute. Nothing happened.

Ivy slouched over. “Phew! I thought something terrible was going to happen there!”

Trapinch tilted its head to the side.

“I thought a boulder would come out of nowhere and chase me.”

If anything, Trapinch looked even more confused.

“Yeah, it seems silly in hindsight.”

Ivy looked at the rock in her hand. There had to be something special about it, right? This was almost exactly like finding a plot relevant item in a video game, so there had to be something cool about this thing.

It… looked a lot like a rock. Big and heavy. Yup. Definitely a rock.

Ivy sighed, and clutched the rock to her chest. If only her beloved Steven was here! He sure knew a lot about rocks! He’d be able to tell her immediately what she was holding and why it was important!

She quickly retracted the rock away from her body. It was actually kind of pointy on one end.

Ivy tilted her head. After being poked with it, it kind of reminded her of one of Mightyena’s claws. It was a similar conical shape with a pointy end. She held it up for Trapinch to observe.

“Does this look like a claw to you?”

Trapinch paused for a solid twenty seconds before croaking and bobbing its head up and down.

Claws and rocks… why did that seem familiar?

Ivy shrugged. “It’ll come to me eventually. Let’s go back downstairs.”

-

“So, you live in Mirage Desert?”

Trapinch chittered.

“Fascinating. A whole colony under the ground?”

It chattered on some more.

“Huh. Then how come you were by yourself when you found me?”

Ivy had no idea if her assumptions on what Trapinch was talking about were correct, but the two of them had been stuck in the tower for over an hour. She was about to lose her mind from boredom.

Trapinch let out a croak, swinging its large head side to side.

“Amazing,” she muttered, leaning back and seriously considering hitting her head against the wall just to feel something.

A sharp pain exploded in her leg. Instinctively, Ivy jerked her leg away from whatever was causing it.

Trapinch made a sad noise.

“Did you… bite me again?”

It, rather adorably, flopped to the ground, staring her with eyes that would rival Mightyena when she wanted food.

Tentatively, Ivy put her leg back into its previous position. Trapinch squeaked and wiggled forward, lightly clamping its jaws around Ivy’s leg. She winced, but didn’t move away. She warily watched Trapinch as it… fell asleep?

Okay, it was super painful that Trapinch wanted to use her leg like a comfort blanket, but also very cute. She could tough it out for a bit. Probably.

-

Ivy slammed her hand on the ground, startling Trapinch awake.

“Fossils! It reminded me of one of the fossils we saw at Devon!”

That, obviously, meant nothing to Trapinch. She patted its head as she grinned. Brendan had pointed out the fossils and mentioned wanting one for his father. Ivy could give it to him! Wouldn’t that be great? Now—

The tower started to tremble.

“Huh?”

Trapinch, previously calm and napping, scurried all over the floor in a panic.

A rock fell from the ceiling. The trembling turned into a quaking. More rocks, larger than the first, began to fall.

“A-ha! I knew this would be like Icirrus Jones! Let’s go!”

Vindication raced through Ivy, but she had no time to revel in the fact that she had correctly clocked that she was in an Icirrus Jones movie. Ivy scooped Trapinch up into her arms and dashed for the door. A rock hit her shoulder, sending her stumbling and Trapinch flying. It croaked angrily as Ivy hissed and held a hand up to her shoulder.

“Sorry, sorry,” she managed to get out through grit teeth. “Opening the door now.”

The door was stuck. Of course.

Ivy looked down at Trapinch. The li’l guy was panicking, running around in a circle. It was probably too small to bust the door down, anyways.

“Oh, this is going to hurt so badly.”

Still, she steeled herself and rammed her shoulder forward, desperately hoping brute force would be enough to unstick the door.

Ivy slammed through, falling onto her side on the hard desert ground. She immediately yelled and curled into the fetal position.

Trapinch scuttled out after her.

“Oww…”

Yeah, that was super painful. Hopefully, she didn’t dislocate her shoulder or anything.

Another rock from the now crumbling tower flew down and hit her ankle. Ivy hissed and pulled it towards her body. Ugh, she was in a ton of pain, but she needed to get away before debris hit somewhere more vital.

Crawling slowly, she made her escape. Pain raced through her shoulder with every movement. Trapinch circled her and made clicking noises all the while. It was a weird sort of encouragement.

By the time Ivy felt she was far enough away, the tower had crumbled into nothing. There wasn’t a single trace of it having existed—no foundation, no debris.

Ivy stared, unblinkingly. What?

She couldn’t wait to be out of this creeptastic desert with its predatory Pokémon and weird, disappearing towers.

-

It took a few minutes to get to her feet. It took even longer to trudge back to where she had entered. Getting back to Mauville was going to be a pain. She should call the Rangers or go to their outpost, but she really didn’t want to listen to a lecture about avoiding their base and not being prepared enough. She’d just have to tough it out and get there somehow.

Even with her shoulder feeling like it was on fire and her ankle already visibly bruising.

It'd be fine.

Trapinch croaked.

Ivy paused and looked down at the li’l guy. Right, it lived in the desert. But maybe…

Inhaling sharply and trying to ignore the stabs of pain, Ivy gingerly shrugged her backpack off and rummaged through it. She knew she had some in there, but where…

“There!” She held up the Poké Ball. She grinned down at Trapinch, who looked as baffled as ever. “Wanna come with me? It’ll be fun, I swear!”

Trapinch took a solid minute to think it over. It tottered over and bit her leg.

Ivy let out a hiss of pure delight and only mild pain. Honestly! “Right! Awesome!”

She really didn’t want to consider leaning over at that moment, so she dropped the Poké Ball on Trapinch’s head. It worked. A single wobble and a click, and Ivy caught the Ground type she’d wanted when she set out.

Now, she had to bend over and pick the Poké Ball up. Ugh.

Maybe she should take a small break first…

Chapter Text

Ivy did not look well.

Combusken’s trainer had blood covering both arms and one leg, with bruises all over her body, from her ankle to her shoulders. She slumped on the ground against the roots of a tree, her bruised ankle raised slightly into the air by her backpack. They weren’t where they had camped out that morning, though he could still see the area in the distance.

He shared a look with Mightyena, the other member of their group Ivy had released. The two didn’t get along well, their personalities were simply too different, but there was respect between them. And at times like this, they were in unanimous agreement.

Combusken tottered forward. Ivy was resting her leg on her bag, but he could still easily reach into the pocket where she kept her Potions and other medicines. He held a Potion up.

“Would this help?”

Ivy couldn’t understand his exact words, but she still knew what he meant. She let out an exhausted sounding laugh. “Sorry, no. Potions don’t work on humans. My dad said they used to but changing the formula from a paste to a spray made it less effective on humans. But I probably should clean this all up…” With a wince, she released Horsea.

Horsea took one look at Ivy before launching into a tirade. “What happened to you?” she whinnied shrilly. “How in the world did you end up like this? You were supposed to only look for a Pokémon not…”

Mightyena cackled, though that didn’t stop Horsea from her rant. Mightyena cackled at a lot of things, the clown.

“I know, I know,” Ivy said, her words actually interrupting Horsea’s impassioned speech. “Do you want to help? I need to wash all the dirt off and I don’t want to use any of my drinking water…”

Horsea immediately trilled an affirmative, letting loose a soft Water Gun before Ivy could even ask. Their trainer winced as the water made contact. Combusken rummaged through her backpack some more. He’d seen her take out a square container for smaller wounds before and he could only presume that was what she’d want next. If only Ivy was more organized; it was practically impossible to find anything in her mess of a bag. Combusken didn’t approve, but it wasn’t like he had any way to get her to organize it. She’d probably blithely ignore the request like she ignored Horsea’s chastisements.

Their trainer could be quite Tauros-headed. Usually, Combusken appreciated that. It was what made them get along. Now, however, it was one of the rare times it was somewhat irritating.

“Thank you, Horsea. Now, can I return you? We’re still pretty close to the desert and I don’t want you to dry out…”

Horsea narrowed her eyes before looking over at Combusken. While he and Mightyena would never truly get along, Horsea was a friend. She could be quite the nervous wreck at times, but she was a hard worker with a strong moral core. Mightyena had his grudging respect, but there was nothing negative about his respect for Horsea, for all she was a Water type (the worst type, in his opinion).

He triumphantly held up the clear square of human medical supplies.

“Oh! Look at that! See, it’s fine, Horsea. Combusken found my first aid kit way quicker than I would’ve! You’re so smart, Combusken!”

Combusken preened at the praise, ignoring Mightyena’s snickering. Was it wrong to enjoy having his deeds acknowledged? It was certainly better than playing pranks for attention, like some Pokémon he could name.

Horsea let out a sigh. “Fine! I am feeling a bit dry already…” She fixed a stare on Combusken, then Mightyena. “You two take care of her! She better be healthier next time I’m out.”

Combusken merely nodded, while Mightyena snickered. “Don’t worry, we won’t let her die in a ditch.”

“Die in a—” Horsea managed to gasp out before the beam of light returned her to her Poké Ball.

“Phew!” Ivy said, oddly cheerful as she took the first aid kit from Combusken. “Hopefully that’s the only lecture I get from this!”

He retreated as she began to babble about nothing particularly interesting. She did that a lot, speaking just to hear her own voice. His trainer was a chatty one. Combusken preferred silence as to give his words more weight when he did speak, but Ivy didn’t seem to care about things like that.

“So, how d’you think she’s going to get back on that lame paw? Hopping like a Spoink?”

Mightyena refused to treat anything seriously, but her concern was real and true. And it was a concern worth voicing. While most of the cuts and bruises across her body seemed superficial, the dark masses around her left ankle and right shoulder both seemed worrying. The fact that she seemingly had walked this far from the desert on an injury like that was worrying.

“I mean, I doubt our dear master will call anyone for help.” Mightyena continued.

Combusken puffed out his chest. “As she should! We are on a journey of self-betterment! Between the choice of the hard road or the easy road, the hard road of self-sufficiency is the one we should travel! If there is a problem, we are the ones who need to solve it!”

Mightyena rolled her eyes. “I’d take the easy road any day, but you two are of the same type so I’m sure she’s thinking the same thing. I think—”

The sound of a Poké Ball opening brought their attention back to Ivy. “Ah, man, I should’ve totally done this back when Horsea was out! Anyways, Combusken, Mightyena, this is Trapinch! We met in the desert.”

The two regarded the Trapinch.

“’Sup,” Mightyena said, not bothering to get up from the ground.

Combusken bowed slightly. “It is good to meet you, new companion.”

The Trapinch stared at them, eyes nearly blank. Not every species of Pokémon were smart enough to make use of the brains given to them by Arceus. It seemed like Trapinch were one of those species. What a pity.

“Hello,” she eventually said after a lengthy pause.

Mightyena rolled her eyes, then rolled onto her back, kicking her legs into the air. “Real genius there.”

Trapinch didn’t seem to hear the insult. Instead, she turned and bit down on Ivy’s leg.

“What are you doing!?” Combusken squawked loudly, as Mightyena hastily rolled onto her feet and growled.

“Guys, guys! It’s fine!” Ivy said, ignoring the blood that seeped through her recently applied bandages. “Trapinch does that sometimes. It’s cool.”

“I’m watching you, bug,” Mightyena growled out, before stalking over to Ivy’s side. Absently, Ivy began to pet Mightyena.

Trapinch ignored the threat. Or didn’t even register it. Combusken tried not to doubt his trainer, but hopefully Trapinch was smarter in battle. Otherwise…

“She should not be walking, if she’s dealing with wounds from the bite of a Trapinch,” he said decisively. Trapinch were only a species he knew of from his time in the laboratory, but the books in the laboratory had emphasized their strong jaws. “I will carry her.”

“Hm?” Ivy said, looking over at him. “That sounded like a grand declaration! What’s up?”

There was no point in explaining things to her. Instead, he scooped her up into his arms, Trapinch included. “Mightyena, get her bag. We are leaving.”

Mightyena cackled as Ivy sputtered out indignations. Trapinch said nothing. If nothing else, this would be fantastic strength and endurance training. It was a long walk back to their previous destination.

-

Combusken had not expected to reach the large city in the few hours before sunset, though he was still disappointed by the fact that he didn’t. His pace was much quicker than Ivy’s, yet they were still at least a full day’s walk away, if not two.

Even after being forced into resting, his trainer still seemed exhausted. There was a trembling in her hands as she scooped food into bowls for Combusken, Mightyena, and Horsea.

“I’ll get you a bowl too, Trapinch,” she babbled inanely, holding a sandwich in her hands but not eating it. “A nice orange one. Or a green one? Flygon are green! Or—oh, okay. Maybe you don’t need a bowl?”

She had put the bug’s food on the dirt. Trapinch eagerly dug in and, when the store-bought food was gone in three bites, ate the dirt beneath it.

“Gross,” Mightyena mumbled. Combusken loathed agreeing with her, but it was rather gross. What kind of self-respecting Pokémon ate dirt?

“Oh, hush,” Horsea said, ever the peacemaker. The meeting between her and the bug had gone similarly to the earlier introduction. Horsea, at least, tried to be kind and attempt to engage Trapinch in conversation, but it was as one-sided as Ivy’s babbling. “She’s a Ground type, isn’t she? I’m sure lots of Ground and Rock types eat dirt!”

Mightyena snorted, but didn’t argue.

Night fell quickly and Ivy fell into an uneasy sleep. By agreement, Combusken had first watch, letting Mightyena snuggle next to Ivy and Horsea dive into the small brook they made camp next to. Trapinch sunk slightly into the ground and bit Ivy’s leg as she closed her eyes.

They didn’t usually have watches, but with Ivy so injured it seemed prudent. She didn’t bother setting up her tent, just fell asleep in her sleeping bag out of pure exhaustion. Combusken had first watch, then Horsea, then Mightyena. They left Trapinch out of the discussion.

His watch was quiet, for the most part. This area didn’t seem to have many nocturnal Pokémon, so there weren’t many noises. Just the wind blowing through the leaves.

Combusken took the time to practice. The Pokemon he had met in the gym of Leader Brawly had emphasized the importance of making the most out of bad problems and training whenever possible. Flame Wheel might be too loud, but he could try strengthening Ember into Flamethrower. Practice was especially necessary here—he could almost feel his inner stores of fire getting stronger each time he held Ember for just a little bit longer. The difference in power between being a Torchic and a Combusken was staggering. He was completely confident that he would be able to form a proper Flamethrower by the time he was a Blaziken.

Moving slightly away from camp, he started up another Ember. The area wasn’t wooded, thankfully, and there were several boulders that hid the light of the fire from his sleeping teammates.

Something glinted off to the side.

Combusken cut off his Ember and squinted into the darkness. He could feel there was another Pokémon nearby, though he couldn’t tell where. There was just the tingling feeling of being watched. He crossed his arms and waited. They would show themselves eventually, or they were cowards who would slink away.

A white Pokémon his height walked into the moonlight. A Zangoose, he believed. He’d never seen one in the flesh before, but he had seen them in the professor’s books.

The Zangoose smirked. Without words, they both readied themselves for a fight.

Combusken couldn’t recall what type the other Pokémon was. He would wager a Normal type, but dual types with Normal were always tricky. He would stick to Double Kick just to be safe. Combusken tensed, ready to jump or for Zangoose to make the first move.

A croak broke both of their concentrations.

Nearly as one, they turned to look at Trapinch who, somehow, was the only one to notice the intruder.

She tilted her head to the side. “Friend?” she asked, only the second word Combusken had heard her say.

“Not a friend,” Combusken said gruffly, moving to stand between Trapinch and Zangoose. Trapinch was a dimwitted oddity, but she was his teammate now. He would protect her until they got a good measure on her abilities.

Trapinch smiled, of all things. With a stomp of her foot, the ground beneath the Zangoose thrust into the air, sending him flying. He landed behind Combusken, right in front of Trapinch.

Quicker than Combusken thought possible, Trapinch darted forward. She bit down with her powerful jaws, and Combusken turned away. The Zangoose didn’t even have time to yell before Trapinch began her meal.

She hadn’t used Bite, just her regular, powerful jaws. Combusken knew it was simply the way of wild Pokémon. Type energy actually hindered attacks, making them less painful. Useful in casual battles or when you merely wanted to scare an opponent, but unfavorable when you were looking to kill, as in the case of hunting for dinner. Forgoing a move in favor of tearing them apart with your teeth was easier and quicker. There was also less opportunity for your prey to faint and shrink down in size if you moved past the damage threshold quickly enough.

Combusken would never openly admit to being squeamish but part of him couldn’t bear the look. He had been born in the wild, but had willingly joined the professor’s lab in the hopes of gaining a trainer to make him strong. He had only been a few weeks old then. He had never hunted for himself. To see it so suddenly and so up close was disconcerting after a lifetime of human prepared meals.

After twenty minutes, the wet, chewing noises slowed to a stop. Combusken turned around.

Trapinch was trotting back to Ivy, humming slightly. There was no signs a Zangoose had ever been there.

Well, that was something of an answer to the question of her skill level. Maybe Trapinch would be useful in their quest for strength and badges.

-

As they reached Mauville’s outskirts, Ivy finally recalled Combusken and Mightyena. She gave the both of them a long hug before returning them. She was sure they were exhausted after two days of lugging her and her stuff around, and they deserved a nice rest.

Ivy looked down at Trapinch. She was still dead asleep and attached to Ivy’s leg. Just sticking right out to the side. It was kind of impressive, honestly. Then again, Trapinch’s head was nearly twice the size of her body.

Cautiously, Ivy took a step forward. It felt like she was lugging a weight on one leg, but it wasn’t too difficult. Twenty to thirty minutes was all she had to deal with it for. Mauville was designed so that you were never too far from the centerpiece mall. Ivy could make it even with Trapinch on her leg. She was sure of it.

Mauville late at night wasn’t nearly as busy as Mauville during the day, but there were still a decent amount of people walking around the city proper. Ivy kept to the shadows and minded her own business. The nearer she got to the mall, the less people there actually were.

It made sense, even though it seemed weird at first. Mauville Mall was the busiest place in Mauville. It wasn’t just a mall where you went shopping, but was the main source of nearly everything in Mauville. There was an amusement park, a Contest hall, a hospital, multiple schools, a TV studio, even a shady fortune tellers shop! (She’d stopped and stared at that one on her way out a few days back) If you could think of it, Mauville Mall had it. There were also a bunch of apartments on the upper levels. Between those and all the trainers staying in the Pokémon Center, the building was almost always packed full.

But it was because of those qualities that there was no one around to see Ivy limp through fluorescent hallways as she trudged onwards to the Pokémon Center in the center. Trainers were mainly kids. Rich people, the main ones who could afford living in such a central location, liked the quiet. When the sun went down and the mall closed (besides for the Pokémon Center, Mauville Medical Center, and a few other places) the crowds died out quickly. When it was midnight? A ghost town. It was kind of strange and creepy, honestly.

In general, Mauville was a strange city. It was the largest in Hoenn, but one of the newest. It had been founded specifically to be the capital of Hoenn once the other cities all put away their disagreements and united into one region. It was meant to be a way of avoiding favoritism alongside making use of a central location. As such, it had an odd, planned quality to it that none of the other cities had.

That inorganic planned quality became worse a handful of decades back. Some company wanted to turn Mauville into an indoor city, but they’d only managed to build the mall before the company folded. Still, they’d succeeded in making Mauville Mall a sprawling symbol in the heart of the city.

She had to admit though, being so rigidly planned had its uses. Ivy, who had only been there once a week earlier, quickly made it to the Pokémon Center without getting lost once. She gave the bored receptionist her biggest smile.

“Hello! I’d like to get my Pokémon healed, and check into a room!”

The Mauville City Pokémon Center nurse, the same one from the other time she’d burst in so late at night now that Ivy looked at her, shrieked.

“Miss, I think you need to get healed!”

“Eh?”

“T-there’s a Trapinch eating your leg!”

“Yeah, she does that.”

“Miss!”

-

“…I know you aren’t the type to prepare much, but, honestly, Ives, you could have at least told someone you’d be going into one of the most dangerous places in Hoenn. That’s why the Rangers are there. This is the exact reason why they built that station! They’re there to help, not to be a puzzle you have to figure out how to avoid.”

Ivy sighed and leaned away from her PokéNav. It rested on the small desk next to the hospital bed the Pokémon Center’s doctor forced her into.

Turns out, she did dislocate her shoulder! Alongside a sprained ankle, multiple other bruises and cuts, and a general bone-deep exhaustion. The doctor was horrified to hear she spent two and a half days walking around like that.

It was fine, my Combusken used me as a training prop, she tried to say, but he shoved a Blissey egg into her face and forced her to eat it before she could even get a word out. Being in a safe place finally let her give in to the exhaustion, and she fell asleep before she could argue more with the doctor.

The second she woke up, her dad called, like he had some weird sixth sense. Before Ivy could even get out a hello, he started scolding her.

“…there’s being self-sufficient, and there’s being overly stubborn and proud. This is one of those times you should’ve put your pride away and just asked for helped…”

Looks like she hadn’t been able to avoid that lecture.

Chapter Text

Ivy thought she’d be able to challenge Wattson right after getting back from the desert, but everyone in her life seemed to get in the way of that. No walking, no leaving, and certainly no battling or training. The doctor forced her to stay in the hospital section of the Pokémon Center for three days. Once she was released to the general dormitories, the Pokémon Center nurses glared at her whenever she left her room, while her mom and dad called her constantly to make sure she wasn’t getting into more trouble. Particularly her dad, which was just weird.

“I’m fine!” Ivy complained to her mom for the millionth time. “Can you tell dad to stop hovering? I wasn’t even that hurt!”

Okay, she kind of did get that hurt, but she was healing up just fine! Blissey eggs were even better at healing than Chansey eggs. They were only used less because they were rarer, especially in a region like Hoenn that didn’t natively have their evolution line. It probably wasn’t a good thing that the doctor made her eat one before switching to half a Chansey egg a day, but whatever. What mattered was that she was fine now. Nothing hurt anymore, at least, even if she still had to wear a sling to immobilize her shoulder.

Caroline had the audacity to laugh at Ivy’s misfortune. “I can try. He’s just reminded of all the dumb, impulsive things he did at your age and trying to help you avoid those mistakes.”

Her dad doing dumb, impulsive things? That was hard to imagine.

“Like what?”

There was an odd noise across the PokéNav, as if her mom had snorted. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll tell him to stop meddling and let you go back to your journey.”

“Finally. Thank you!”

“Of course, darling. Have fun in Mauville.”

Ivy was having nothing but ‘fun’ in Mauville. Her ankle healed well before her shoulder, so the Center’s doctor reluctantly cleared her to wander the mall after six days of mind-numbingly boring rest (mainly enforced by the fierce glares of the Center’s nurses).

It was fun to explore all the stores. The sheer variety was incredible. Ivy still didn’t care about shopping, but even shopping was better than being bedridden and hovered over. With her ankle healed but sore, it took several days to cover everything available to the public.

There were many other things to do besides shopping in the mall, but Ivy was expressly forbidden from basically all of them. Reluctantly, she agreed with the doctor there. Mini golf and amusement parks were both super fun, but even Ivy knew they would just make her shoulder worse.

She did check out the gym when she passed by it, however. While places like Dewford or Sootopolis rarely saw challengers, Mauville was Hoenn’s largest city and right in the center of the region. Ivy wanted to schedule her battle in advance so she didn’t have to wait in the lobby for hours on the day of. Said lobby was full when she entered, and Ivy felt proud of herself for thinking ahead for once.

Looking at all of the stores done with, and being unable to do most entertainment options, Ivy was left to sit in the Pokémon Center, bored out of her mind. Outside of the shops and entertainment wing, most things were uninteresting residential stuff. Businesses and schools and grocery stores. She went into the city proper and got a look at the Pokémon League headquarters and some fancy government buildings (all built before Mauville Mall and never integrated with the indoor city), but that was the extent of interesting things there.

Despite her frequent complaints, Ivy hadn’t minded resting her aching body too much. She really had, just maybe, pushed herself a bit too hard. But she’d been in for Mauville over a week now and she was kind of sick of the place. The last time she’d been in one place for so long was Petalburg Woods and that had gone so well.

With her mom’s agreement on getting her dad to back down, however, Ivy was ready to move on. All she had left to do was talk to her doctor.

-

The Pokémon Center doctor was only barely persuaded into agreeing that she was as healed as she needed to be. Blissey and Chansey eggs worked wonders—a dislocated shoulder like hers would’ve taken nine weeks to heal from in the past, instead of a mere nine days the doctor tried to impress on her. It was still a bit sore, but as long as she didn’t do anything too stupid there wasn’t any risk of damage.

She nearly skipped all the way to the gym. She was free! Free to leave, free to battle, free to—

“I-Ivy!”

Ivy stopped mid-step as someone called her name. A little green haired boy was making a beeline towards her. She squinted, before remembering why the little kid looked so familiar.

“Ah, right! Wally! How’s Verdanturf?”

His face lit up when he said her name. “It’s been nice! Ralts and I are best friends!”

She smiled, genuinely glad the boy seemed to be happy. “That’s awesome! What brings you to Mauville?”

Here, his smile faded. He turned back into the shy, hesitant boy she remembered in Petalburg.

“U-um. Well, you see… Iwantedtochallengethegym!”

“Huh?”

An older man stepped forward and put a hand on Wally’s shoulder.

“He’s been very determined to try his hand at the gym challenge.” The man (Wally’s uncle?) didn’t sound very pleased about that.

Wally’s bottom lip wobbled. “I know Ralts and I can do it! We’ve been getting a lot stronger!”

“It might be too soon, Wally.”

“But I know we can do it!” He turned to Ivy who really didn’t want to get involved. “Ivy, will you battle me? Please? I… I need to show my uncle how strong I’ve become!”

Ivy looked between Wally’s Baby-Doll Eyes and his uncle’s stoic expression.

“Uh, sure?”

Wally’s face brightened. “Really? Thank you so much! Let’s go!” He turned and dashed into the gym. As the door swung shut, Ivy could just barely hear him asking for a battle pitch to use.

His uncle shook his head and sighed. “He needs to learn this lesson somehow.”

-

Beating Wally didn’t take much. Ivy used Trapinch, who needed the formal battle experience, and the ant pit Pokémon wasted no time. With a quick Dig then Crunch, Wally’s Ralts fainted.

He said nothing as he returned his Pokémon, nor as the three left the battle pitch for the gym’s reception. He just stared blankly at his feet.

Ivy really, really hoped she didn’t just crush all his hopes and dreams. She was beginning to feel bad.

“I… I’ll go back to Verdanturf…” Wally’s voice was barely above a whisper.

His uncle shook his head. “Now, now, Wally, don’t be like that! You’ve been doing so well getting stronger with Ralts. You can’t let one defeat get to you like this.” He patted the boy’s small shoulders. “Where’s the harm in a bit more training at home? Rushing into things like this… sometimes it’s necessary to wait and strategize.”

Wally looked over to Ivy, and she nodded as if she actually did that. She needed to set a good example.

Miraculously, it seemed to do the trick. Wally wasn’t beaming, but he looked a bit more cheerful as he slowly nodded.

“Okay…” He turned to Ivy. “U-um! If we meet again, could we…” he shook his head and blushed. “Never mind! Bye!” He rushed out of the gym.

His uncle sighed. “He’s gotten so rambunctious since he got that Ralts. It’s not a bad thing, but it is a bit of a change from how he used to be. I suppose I should look on the bright side; his health is getting better.” He turned to Ivy. “Thanks for the help with him. If you’re ever in Verdanturf, I’m sure Wally would be thrilled to see you.”

He walked off, leaving Ivy alone in the waiting area.

“Oh, the family drama’s over?”

Ivy rubbed the back of her neck as the Mauville Gym receptionist looked up from his computer. “Uh, I guess so. I’d like to schedule a battle.”

-

“…you can go through that door now. Just remember that Leader Wattson likes his puzzles.”

Ivy blinked. “Huh?”

The receptionist rolled his eyes. “A gym leader can set up any terms they want fulfilled before they accept a battle.” He explained it slowly, as if she were a toddler.

Ivy put her hands on her hips, annoyed with this guy’s attitude. “Yeah. I know that.”

The receptionist didn’t seem thrilled with her attitude in return. “Well, Wattson likes having fun. You need to solve a puzzle before you can battle him.”

“What kind of puzzle?” Like, sudoku?

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Ivy opened then closed her mouth. Was this guy serious? “Yeah! I would!”

He ignored her and went back to typing on his computer.

“Rude!” She stomped off to the door he had indicated earlier, slamming it shut behind her.

A buzz immediately hit her ears. Beside her, an electric current ran between two poles. Similar poles were scattered across the room. On the other side was a door.

Ivy breathed a sigh of relief. This was better than trying to figure out a sudoku puzzle!

On the pole was a big red button. Well, Ivy knew exactly what to do! She slammed a fist against the button.

There was a crackling noise, and every current changed position. The one next to her wasn’t there anymore.

“Well, this will be easy!”

Ivy skipped forward through the new path, ready to press some buttons and get her third badge.

-

“Ohoho! Ivy, is it? I think your dad called me the other day, something about not letting you battle if you come in…”

Ivy pulled at two of her Tepig-tails, ignoring the burn in her right shoulder. It was out of the sling, but certain movements still hurt a bit. “What? He did not.” She tugged at them harder as she groaned. “Daaaad, that’s so embarrassing….”

Wattson let out a booming laugh. “It was definitely odd to see ol’ Norman show so much emotion! Wahaha!” He winked at her. “This can be our little secret, then.”

“Aaargh…”

The referee at the side cleared her throat.

“Right-o! I will use three of my Pokémon, no switching, and whoever’s Pokémon is the last standing wins! Now, let’s have a good battle, eh?”

The referee blew her whistle.

“Wa-ho! Magneton!”

Ah, good. Looked like Connor was right.

“Let’s go, Combusken! Flame Charge!”

Combusken let out a roar and burst into flames. Racing towards the Magneton, he jumped in the air as it tried to dodge the fiery advance. It was more of a glancing hit, but it still connected sending the Magneton spiraling.

“Alright! Double Kick!”

“O-ho! Thunder Wave!”

The Magneton stilled and let out a burst of electricity too large to dodge, but too weak to do any damage. It hit Combusken head on, sending him to the ground, twitching. Ivy bit her lip as she watched Combusken drag himself to his feet, electric sparks arcing over his body. Paralysis in battle wasn’t the same as other kinds of paralysis. The Pokémon could still move, just slowly. It made dodging or doing physical moves a pain, though.

Ugh, Ivy should’ve brought a Cheri berry. Why did she never bother to think of these things before the battle started? Maybe she could remember to find a Rawst berry before Lavaridge…

“Spark!”

She shook her head and slapped her good hand against her cheek. Bad Ivy! Focus on the battle!

Combusken hadn’t moved from his spot. He had weathered the Spark decently enough—he just was having trouble moving.

“Try Ember!”

With a deep breath, Combusken let out a small jet of flames towards the Magneton. It tried to swerve, but here, at least, Combusken could do chase. Turning his head let him bathe the Steel type in flames until he ran out of breath. Still not close to Flamethrower, but they were getting there.

Magneton hovered right above the floor, twitching. It wasn’t out, but it would be there soon.

“Let’s try a Thunder Shock!”

Could Combusken weather that?

“Cancel it out with Ember!”

The two moves exploded from the Pokémon at the same time. Bolts of electricity met jets of flames, creating a blinding light Ivy had to look away from. After a few moments, it died down.

Combusken stood in the same spot, but the Magneton was on the ground, fainted.

Ivy pumped her good arm in the air as Wattson recalled his Pokémon. “Woohoo! That was awesome! You good to stay in?”

Combusken squawked, offended Ivy would ever imply he wasn’t fit to fight.

She giggled. “Fine, fine.”

“Good job so far! I don’t know what Norman was going on about.” He winked at her. “C’mon, Voltorb!”

The red and white sphere materialized, looking angry as always.

“Ember! Now!”

“Charge Beam!”

Voltorb were fast. Before Combusken had even taken a breath, the Charge Beam made contact.

Combusken fell back. Ivy recalled him. “You did good. C’mon Trapinch!”

Trapinch let out a yawn as she appeared.

“Wahaha, good choice, but don’t think a Ground type will magically help you win! Swift!”

“Dig!”

Voltorb’s shooting stars only barely managed a glancing hit on her leg as Trapinch moved. She dutifully dug underground with barely a wince.

“Roll around, don’t stay in place for too long!”

Ivy curled her hands into fists. Would Trapinch be able to predict where Voltorb would be? The spherical Pokémon was racing around the field. This went on for nearly a minute.

On the side, the referee cleared her throat. “If Trapinch—”

An explosion of dirt interrupted her, sending Voltorb flying. Trapinch happily croaked.

“Yes! You did so good! Now, Bulldoze!”

Trapinch reared back on her stubby hind legs. As she brought her front legs down, cracks formed under her, spreading out across the field. The whole room shook.

Voltorb were fast, but like many extremely fast Pokémon, it couldn’t take a hit. Between Dig and Bulldoze, the Voltorb rolled to a stop.

“Amazing! That’s an impressive Trapinch you got there, but this isn’t over. It’s your turn, Manectric!”

The large Electric canine growled as it landed with a thump.

Trapinch blinked placidly at the much larger Pokémon.

“Dig!”

“Stay put!”

Ivy narrowed her eyes. Why would Wattson want his Manectric to stay put?

Trapinch didn’t spend nearly as much time underground with Manectric in one spot. She quickly shot out of the ground underneath Manectric, headbutting the Pokémon in its underbelly.

“Fire Fang!”

Manectric howled in pain from the Dig, but quickly obeyed Wattson. Trapinch had no time to move away before being caught in Manectric’s fiery jaws and tossed to the side like she was nothing.

“Trapinch!”

Her li’l guy had so far avoided any major damage, but that had to have hurt. Trapinch wobbled to her feet, unsteady but not down.

They’d have to avoid going up close again. Electric type attacks were primarily long range, and they did nothing to Trapinch.

“Quick Attack!”

“Dig to dodge!”

Right when Manectric would’ve collided with Trapinch, she disappeared under the ground. If her li’l guy had a tail, it would’ve been hit.

“Trapinch! Er…” she wasn’t sure if Trapinch could hear her underground. She had to assume she did. “Get away from Manectric and come up!”

It seemed Trapinch had very good ears, as she did just that, popping up on the other side of the field.

“Now, Bulldoze!”

Trapinch’s stubby little legs once again did a severe amount of damage to the floor.

“Manectric, leap to dodge!”

The discharge Pokémon did its best to comply, but Manectric was not one of the electric types able to hover. It had to come down sometime and Bulldoze hit when it did. The canine growled as the attack made contact, looking more annoyed then injured.

“Quick Attack!”

“Dodge with Dig!”

The same story replayed itself. Ivy bit her lip. Running circles around each other would likely only result in Trapinch exhausting herself. While Ivy would prefer to keep to the long-range strategy, it probably wasn’t the quickest end to the battle.

“Attack with Dig this time, then Crunch!”

“Wahaha! Going on the attack, I see! Manectric, stand by.”

Once again, Ivy had no idea what he was going for.

Trapinch sprung out of the dirt, nailing Manectric once more in its soft belly. As she leapt forward to use Crunch, Wattson called out his attack.

“Hidden Power!”

Glowing balls of energy swirled around Manectric before coalescing into one large, glowing ball. It changed from pure white to a slightly different shade of silvery-white, one slightly blue, almost like Steven’s hair color.

Ohh, no.

“Trapinch, Dig!” Ivy cried desperately, but it was no use. Manectric released the Ice type attack. Hidden Power hit Trapinch point blank.

She returned her li’l guy. “That was awesome. You almost had it.”

So that was how Wattson dealt with Ground types. An Ice type Hidden Power. How lucky was he that his Manectric just so happened to have that inner power.

Now who did she send out? Mightyena was the obvious choice, but her pooch didn’t exactly have many strong attacks against a Manectric. Ivy sighed. It was still better than poor Horsea.

As Ivy reached for Mightyena’s Poké Ball, Manectric ate a Sitrus berry. Ah, man, she really should’ve gotten some berries! Mauville’s huge PokéMart was going to be the first place she went to after healing her Pokémon up.

“Let’s end this, Mightyena!”

Wattson let out a loud laugh. “I like your confidence! Manectric, Spark!”

Blinding with electricity, Manectric burst forward.

“Mightyena, dodge left!” Ivy desperately wanted to avoid another paralysis situation. “Snarl!”

Mightyena Snarled while dodging, letting out an angry cacophony of barks. Manectric’s electricity faded as the noises caused pain in its ears. It leaned its head down and pawed at its ears.

A perfect time to attack! “Fast as you can, Bite!”

“Move now!”

Manectric jerked at Wattson’s voice, but that little bit of extra time was enough. Mightyena just barely reached Manectric in time, wrapping her darkly lit jaws around the other Pokémon’s throat. Manectric whined as Mightyena shoved its head into the dirt, using her paws to immobilize it. Manectric whined and feebly tried to push Mightyena of off it. Mightyena clamped down tighter.

Ivy took a step back in shock. She’d heard about the dirty way of fighting most Dark types had, but this was the first time she’d seen Mightyena be so vicious to an opponent.

Her hesitance was a mistake. While she was reeling from the sight, Wattson was ready with an attack.

“Thunder Wave!”

With a burst of electricity, Mightyena was thrown off, hind legs twitching from the paralysis.

Ah, hell. This is exactly what Ivy didn’t want to happen.

“Howl! As much as you can!”

As if sensing Ivy’s anger, Mightyena let out a mighty Howl, her baying echoing with power. Manectric briefly stopped in its tracks, ears flicking downwards. When the first Howl ended, Mightyena immediately started up another. The constant wailing caused goosebumps on Ivy’s arms.

Wattson frowned. “Manectric, Thunder Fang.”

Ivy raised her left arm. The paralysis was a ticking clock; she had to time this perfectly.

“Dodge!”

Manectric dashed forward as Mightyena wobbled to the side. Manectric edged closer…

“Now! Bite its legs!”

With a tail wag, Mightyena leapt downwards, catching Manectric’s front legs in her jaws. With a yelp, Manectric fell head-first onto Mightyena. It was a tangle of limbs, and who knew who the winner would be.

“Bite, again!”

“Thunder Fang!”

Manectric didn’t have time to comply. With a vicious Bite, Mightyena clamped her jaws around Manectric’s neck and refused to let go. Manectric struggled, but Mightyena used the fact she was on top of the discharge Pokémon to keep it on the ground. Slowly, Manectric’s legs stopped kicking.

Ivy looked on, wide eyed. Manectric was fine, right? It wasn’t shrinking down like most Pokémon when they reached their limits in battle. She’d never heard anything about a Pokémon dying in a gym battle.

A whistle blew.

“Leader Wattson’s Manectric is unconscious and unable to battle. Challenger Ivy is the winner.”

With that, Mightyena leapt off of Manectric, tail wagging as she did so. To Ivy’s relief, one of Manectric’s hind legs twitched before being recalled by Wattson. The other Pokémon was fine. It hadn’t shrunk because it hadn’t been injured, just made unconscious. There was no need to worry. Dark types were brutal, but they wouldn’t kill in a gym battle.

“Wahahaha! Congratulations! I don’t know what Norman was on about, you’re perfectly fit to battle!”

Ivy let out a tired smile. That had been way more exhausting than any other battle yet. “Thanks!”

He reached into the pocket of his Alolan shirt and brought out a shiny Dynamo badge. “And here you go! One Dynamo Badge hot off the press!” He dropped it in her hand.

“Huh? It’s not hot…”

Wattson laughed like that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard.

-

Ivy was in the absolutely enormous Mauville Mall PokéMart when her PokéNav started ringing. She’d gotten a bag of berries, alongside a handful of TM’s, mainly for Mightyena, and she tried to juggle all the items as she reached into her backpack for her PokéNav. Somehow, she managed not to drop anything, though there was a twinge in her shoulder.

“Hello?”

“Ivy?”

She brightened immediately. “Brendan! Hey!”

“H-hey. So, how’ve you been?”

Well. “Just fine! I caught a Trapinch and got my third badge.”

“Congrats. That’s cool.” He paused. “Um. I wanted to ask you a question.”

Ivy shifted all her things so she could carry them more easily. “Shoot.”

“…”

“Brendan?”

“Yeah! Um. You’re still in Mauville?”

“Mhm. I was gonna leave tomorrow morning.”

He cleared his throat. “I was wondering… I was going to do a Contest in Verdanturf on Saturday. I thought that maybe… we could meet up in Verdanturf? Since you’re still in the area?”

Ivy nodded her head vigorously before remembering Brendan couldn’t see her. “Yeah! I can be there by then!”

Brendan let out a deep breath. “Yeah. Cool. I, uh, I’ll see you then!”

“Yeah! See you in Verdanturf!”

Ivy beamed as the call ended. That was just what she needed to hear! She couldn’t wait to see Brendan again!

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long to get to Verdanturf. Two days of slow, easy walking through rolling farmland and flowers fields, and she was there. Mountains loomed in the distance, but Verdanturf was green and peaceful.

The only downside was that she arrived a day early, meaning Brendan (who was taking a bus line from Slateport to Mauville to Verdanturf) wasn’t there yet. It was fine! Verdanturf was the perfect place to relax and train. And maybe she could even visit Wally! Leaving the Pokémon Center, she let out Mightyena and Combusken and set about looking for Wally’s aunt and uncle’s house.

-

Turns out, it’s kind of hard to find someone’s house when you don’t know their names. Who’d have thought? She did manage to get lucky, eventually—some kind older fellow directed her to a house in the suburbs after hearing her ask about a sickly green haired boy living with his aunt and uncle.

A woman squatted in the front yard, tending to some flowers.

“Hello!” Ivy asked cheerfully, causing the woman to jump. “Sorry. Are you Wally’s aunt?”

The woman adjusted her sunhat. “Ah, hello? You know Wally?”

“Sort of! We met in Petalburg, then Mauville.”

Wally’s aunt brightened. “Oh! You must be that girl he’s been talking about nonstop!”

Ivy rubbed the back of her neck, a slight flush rising in her cheeks. Did she really leave such an impression on Wally? They’d barely interacted…

“I guess? Anyways, his uncle mentioned visiting if I was ever in Verdanturf, so…”

The woman pursed her lips. “I’m sure Wally would be ecstatic to see you but… he isn’t here.”

Ivy shrugged. “I can come back tomorrow then—”

“No, I mean, Wally’s gone.”

Ivy blinked. “Is he… dead?”

“Oh goodness gracious, no!” she gave Ivy an odd look, but hey, how else was Ivy supposed to interpret that? “He… well, I won’t say he ran away, but he left yesterday morning to go off on his own Pokémon journey.”

“Seriously?”

How old was Wally? He was small and fragile looking, but that could be attributed to his illness instead of his age. Thinking back on it, if he thought he could challenge the Mauville gym he had to have a trainer ID, so he had to be at least ten.

It wasn’t illegal for ten year olds to go off on a Pokémon journey, though it sure wasn’t recommended. Teachers loved waving around Pokémon League statistics about how younger trainers tended to burn out early and older teens were more likely to form a career in Pokémon training. Thirteen, Ivy’s age, was generally the age most trainers started out, and it wasn’t unusual for someone as old as seventeen to start a Pokémon journey.

“Mhm.” Ivy couldn’t tell if his aunt approved or not. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. His health has gotten much better in the few months he’s been here, but it was very sudden. He only left behind a note saying what he was doing.”

“Huh.”

Ivy had no idea what else to say. Good for Wally? He wasn’t there to receive the encouragement. “Um. Well, thank you for telling me. Sorry for bothering you.”

The woman waved a hand. “It’s not a bother. Sorry you came all this way and Wally wasn’t even here.”

-

Ivy wandered the town after that. There had to be something interesting to do besides the Contest Hall and walking around the many, admittedly very pretty, parks.

By late afternoon, Ivy hadn’t found anything fun. The most exciting bit had been helping a young girl find her Shroomish.

Sitting on a bench in one of those very pretty parks, Ivy sighed and watched her Pokémon play. Horsea and Mightyena splashed about together in a nearby pond, Trapinch nestled into some mulch under a tree, while Combusken trained Brick Break. It was a move listed as learnable in his entry on her PokéNav, and Ivy thought Combusken needed to learn how to work with his arms now that he had them. He’d been thrilled at the idea of a new Fighting type move and hadn’t stopped practicing since they left for Verdanturf. Ivy wasn’t sure how he’d juggle perfecting it while also training Ember into Flamethrower and stabilizing Flame Charge, but if any of her Pokémon could pull it off, it was Combusken.

If only Mightyena had a tenth of his work ethic. Ivy had only managed to convince her to train Thunder Fang twice on the way to Verdanturf before she’d gotten bored. At least the other TM Ivy had bought interested her more. Little wins and all that.

Ivy dully watched as Horsea trilled and splashed Mightyena. She was bored out of her mind. When would Brendan get here again?

“Um, excuse me? Is that your Combusken?”

Ivy started. An older girl with brown hair stared down at her nervously.

“Um. Yeah? Why?”

The girl smiled, still seeming nervous. “I was just wondering if it wouldn’t mind helping me with something. It’s a Fighting type, so I thought it would be useful…”

Finally! Something to do!

Ivy jumped to her feet. “Sure! What do you need help with?”

Agreeing seemed to calm the lady’s nerves. “Thank you so much! I just need help smashing some boulders in a cave. I don’t have a Pokémon myself, so I’ve been looking around the park for trainers who might have a useful Pokémon.” She cleared her throat and held out a hand. “I’m Wanda, by the way.”

“Ivy!” She shook Wanda’s hand. “Nice to meet you!”

Wanda scrunched her eyebrows, looking from Ivy to Combusken then back to Ivy. “Ivy? You wouldn’t happen to know someone named Wally, would you?”

Ivy blinked. “Eh? Do you know Wally?”

She gave a small laugh. “Yeah. He’s my little cousin. He wouldn’t stop talking about you after coming to stay with us.”

Ivy felt herself blush again. Really, how was she that important to Wally that his whole family knew who she was? All she’d done was try to cheer him up.

Wanda seemed to sense Ivy’s discomfort. “Anyways! We need to go just outside of town, so we should get started now.”

Ivy nodded. “Yeah! Guys, playtime’s over. We have somewhere we need to be!”

Returning all her Pokémon except Combusken, the three of them set off.

-

“Have you heard of the Rusturf Tunnel?”

“Uh,” that sounded familiar. Ivy thought for a second. Right! She’d been on the Rustboro side of the tunnel, after Team Aqua had attempted to steal the Devon parts the second time. “Yeah! I’ve been in it.”

Wanda beamed. “Good! We’re going to the Verdanturf side. Most people think that the project was abandoned, and that’s only mostly true. Sure, they can’t use big machines or large, intimidating Pokémon like Aggron to help, but there’s been a small, steady group of people trying to create the tunnel themselves.” She blushed and cleared her throat. “Including my boyfriend. And they’re actually almost done! Riley, my boyfriend, is there right now. The only problem is that we need someone digging on the Verdanturf side, but most of the people still on the project work from Rustboro.”

Ivy nodded, understanding why Wanda had gone looking for help. “But this doesn’t bother the Pokémon? Isn’t that why they stopped it in the first place?”

She shook her head. “No. Having it be just one or two people and their Pokémon doesn’t bother the Whismur. Fewer people also helps the tunnel stay natural. It’s easier to follow the tunnels already created by the Pokémon who lived there instead of brute forcing a new, single tunnel like they had been doing. It’s slightly more confusing to navigate the closer to Verdanturf you are, but it doesn’t disturb the Pokémon’s habitats that way.”

“Well, that’s good!” Ivy wanted to help, but she hadn’t wanted to disturb any poor Whismur. Those little guys were so cute, it’d be terrible if anyone accidentally scared them.

“This is the spot.”

The Verdanturf side was lit up by a string of lights similar to the Rustboro side of the tunnel. Unlike the Rustboro side, which had been a single pathway, the Verdanturf side had multiple branching pathways of various sizes. Most were rather small, but a few were large enough for a human to pass through. When Ivy had asked where they went, Wanda admitted she didn’t really know, but they were likely for the Loudred and Exploud to get around.

The spot in front of them looked like the rest of the cave. Columns reached from floor to ceiling, making it difficult to navigate. However, while before the columns had been rather spaced out, these ones were clustered together, making it as impassable as a rock wall unless you were small enough to go between them. A Whismur probably could, but even the shortest human child would have trouble, let alone an adult or a larger Pokémon.

“We just need to knock down a few of these columns. Not too many, but a few.” She glanced at Ivy. “The Rustboro guys will be able to clear the rest out once they can get here. There’s a wall behind these, and that’s what Riley’s working on right now. With luck, we’ll be able to create a path through here around the same time he manages to make a decent sized hole in the wall.”

Ivy looked down at Combusken. “Did you get all that?”

Combusken nodded seriously.

“Right then! Let’s break some rocks!”

-

It was incredibly boring watching Combusken breaking rocks, but at least this time around Ivy had someone to talk to. Wanda was nice, if a little boring. Any conversation was better than no conversation.

An extremely muffled voice broke through a lull in their conversation.

“Huh? Hey, Wanda? Is that you?”

Wanda’s eyes lit up. She looked like would’ve squealed if she didn’t know it would potentially set off the Whismur. “Riley! Yes, it’s me. I found a trainer and she’s helping me clear the columns!”

“Good! I’m almost done. Maybe just another hour of work and the Rusturf tunnel will finally be complete!”

-

“Riley!”

“Wanda!”

With Combusken kicking one last column down, the two managed to pick their way through and jump into the other’s arms.

“Aw, isn’t that sweet?” Ivy asked Combusken, who didn’t look amused. It seemed her Pokémon wasn’t a romantic. “Well, at least it was good training.”

At that, Combusken nodded. After several hours of acute use, Double Kick and Brick Break were as good as they’d ever get. This solved that training problem, at least.

“—and this is the girl who helped, Ivy.”

Wanda’s boyfriend was very tall and very buff. He bowed to Ivy, and she bowed back. “Thank you for helping! It would’ve taken a few days longer if we didn’t have someone on this side helping out.”

Ivy waved a hand. “It’s no problem! I wasn’t doing anything, so it was fun to help.”

“Still. If there’s anything I can do for you, please let me know.”

Ivy just shrugged. She didn’t really need anything. Except…

“Hey, do you know where any of those tunnel’s lead? Does one go to Lavaridge?”

-

“Brendan!”

Before he could even turn around, Ivy tackled him into a hug.

“I-uh-guh!” He stuttered out, making no sense. When Ivy finally released him, his face was bright red.

She grinned at him, making him turn even redder if that were possible. “It’s only been a few weeks, but it feels like it’s been forever since we saw each other!”

He rubbed the back of his neck, color slowly fading from his cheeks. Finally, he gave her a smile. “Yeah…”

“So, why’re you doing a Contest in Verdanturf anyways? Couldn’t you do any rank in Slateport?”

Brendan shrugged. “I could, but Lisia said it was better to go to every main Contest Hall at least once to get used to them if I want to make it to the Contest Spectacular level.”

Ivy remembered from Lisia’s lectures that Contest Spectaculars were run slightly different from regular Contests. Instead of being done whenever the Contest Hall felt like holding them, they were more like a sport. They had their own season and you competed at specific Contests in order to make it to the Grand Festival at the end of the season. Lisia suggesting he tour the different Contest Halls made sense with that in mind.

But there was another implication in Brendan’s words.

“You’re really going for this Contest thing then, huh? If you wanna make it to the professional level.”

He looked away, but he was still smiling. “It’s fun. I like it. More than, uh, more than I liked battling honestly.”

Ivy could understand that. Brendan was a very good battler, but he’d needed to be dragged to every one of his gym battles. As much as Ivy had enjoyed doing the gym challenge with him, it was better for him to be doing something he liked.

“Well, awesome! I know you’ll be the best coordinator Hoenn’s ever seen!”

All the red that Ivy had thought disappeared rushed back into Brendan’s face. “Uh, um, maybe not that good! But I can try?”

Frankly, that was an improvement over Brendan refusing to believe he had even a small bit of talent when it came to battling. Ivy would take it!

-

Ivy settled into the audience. She’d eventually found out he was doing a Super Rank Beautiful Contest with his Pikachu. It wasn’t the usual type of Contest you’d see a Pikachu in but, apparently, it was Pikachu’s favorite.

Super Rank Contests were only the second rank out of five (if you included Contest Spectaculars as an extra fifth rank), but even then, Ivy could see how much better the coordinators were. The moves were more polished, more precise in their placement and use. There were also fewer competitors. While there had been over thirty Coordinators in the Cool Contest they had participated in, and Lisia mentioned Beauty and Cute Normal Rank Contests usually had an upwards of fifty, there were only twenty Coordinators here.

Brendan, rather unluckily, was the last to perform, having only been able to sign up for the Contest that morning.

Ivy had to give him this—either he and Lisia had worked on his nerves or his poker face, because he seemed much more relaxed than in Slateport. Pikachu seemed even more confident than him, looking very pretty with a blue bow with long ribbons at the base of each ear.

“And last to perform is number twenty, Brendan Birch and Pikachu from Littleroot Town. Begin!”

Pikachu started with a curtsy, before moving into a swaying dance around the stage. Despite being indoors, a handful of clouds formed above the stage and a light rain fell. Pikachu stopped and crouched down, her tail swaying back and forth in the air. Currents of electricity formed around her body, arcing up and down for a few seconds before coalescing into a hovering ball of electricity right above her heart-shaped tail.

With a rumbling crack, the ball of electricity slowly unfurled, creating a net of electricity around Pikachu. All the while, it was still raining. The light from the electric currents reflected softly off the raindrops, creating small pinpricks of light across the stage.

Under the Electroweb, Pikachu twitched her tail. Starting at the top, the net of electricity slowly unraveled as the clouds from Rain Dance disappeared. She sat up as the timer went off and, behind her, Brendan bowed.

Ivy didn’t have to be a coordinator to know that Brendan’s performance was leagues ahead of any other.

Around her, the small audience went crazy with applause.

-

The second round was another easy win for Brendan. It seemed his awe-inspiring performance from the first round (not to mention how his score was leagues ahead of second place) had intimidated a few of the others, leading to visible nervousness in his foes. Two of his competitors stumbled on their commands, while another repeated one of her moves. There was never any doubt Brendan had it in the bag.

Ivy grabbed Brendan into a hug the second she saw him, dislodging Pikachu from his shoulder with an angry screech.

“That was so awesome! You’ve gotten insanely better, dude!”

Brendan turned red as he slowly leaned into the hug. His shiny new ribbon dug into her shoulder as he did, but Ivy ignored it.

“Th-thanks…”

Ivy pulled back, grinning. “How’d you get that poker face so quick? You’ve never been good at hiding your emotions like that.”

He rolled his eyes before wincing as Pikachu jumped back onto his shoulder, chittering angrily.

“This diva here. During practice, she’d shock me every time she thought I looked nervous.”

Ivy snorted as she tried not to laugh. Yeah, that’d help you get a poker face real fast. She scratched under Pikachu’s chin. The mouse Pokémon arched her neck up, giving Ivy more space to pet.

“You did great too! Way better than any other Pokémon there!” She glanced at Brendan. “That was a crazy routine.”

He brightened. “Yeah! And that’s not even the final form! We wanna have the Electroball move with her tail and maybe add in a Thunder at the end, but Lisia said those are things to add in as we move up the ranks.”

Ivy clapped her hands together. “That sounds too cool! You have to invite me to your Master Rank Contest, okay? Promise?”

Brendan looked away, cheeks still flushed. “Yeah. Promise.”

-

“So, where are you going next?”

Ivy glanced over at Brendan. Due to checking in on different days, they had separate rooms in the Pokémon Center, but he was hanging out in her small room until they got tired enough to sleep.

“Lavaridge,” she told him. The only two gyms left on mainland Hoenn (besides her dad) were the ones in Lavaridge and Fortree. Lavaridge was closer to both Verdanturf and Petalburg, so that was the obvious choice to her. Plus, Horsea and Trapinch would be better suited for Fire types over Flying types.

There was a chance that the Lavaridge Gym was still closed from the new gym leader change, but it’d been a few months now. It had to be open by this point.

“Huh…” he trailed off without saying more. Ivy let him. He obviously had something he wanted to say and was trying to figure out how to say it. “Um. Maybe we could travel together again, then?”

Ivy blinked, then leaned forward. “Seriously? There isn’t a Contest Hall in Lavaridge. At least I don’t think there is…”

“There’s a small one, but that’s not where I need to go. Lavaridge is on the way to Fallarbor Town. That's where Contests started so Lisia said I had to visit.” He paused. “And my dad wanted me to visit someone who lives there. A Professor Cozmo.”

Ivy tried to picture a map of Hoenn in her head. Lavaridge was a small town nestled near the foot of Mt Chimney. Fallarbor was one of the northernmost towns, if not the northernmost one, on the opposite side of the volcano. However, Mt Chimney was a pretty big tourist destination so there were a ton of hiking routes all over the volcano. It wouldn’t be too difficult to use those to get to Fallarbor from Lavaridge.

She grinned. She had really missed travelling with someone for the long term. Her Pokémon were the best, obviously, but she missed having someone reply to her chatter in words she could understand. “Yeah! Of course, we can go together!”

Brendan slumped slightly, as if he had somehow doubted her agreement. “Good, good. So, we can backtrack to Mauville, then onto Lavaridge?”

“Backtrack?”

He shrugged. “That seems easier since there’s an actual route between them. Better than going over all the hills in this area.”

Ivy thought back onto her time on Route 111. It had been rather flat. It was only as she neared the desert that it began to get hilly. She’d also seen a bus or two go down the route. Both Mauville and Lavaridge were tourist destinations, so it made sense there’d be a safe way for tourists to get between them. That meant, even if they didn’t take a bus, there’d still be easy terrain for them to walk on.

She still frowned. “I don’t want to backtrack. Verdanturf is closer to Lavaridge than it is to Mauville. Going back there will add on at least two extra days.”

Brendan shook his head. “Yeah but going over the foothills will take basically the same amount of time. The route from Mauville is made with getting there quickly in mind.”

Going over… Ivy shot up straight, her frown transforming back into a grin. “Wait! We don’t need to go over! We can use the Rusturf Tunnel!”

He stared at her like she’d gone crazy. “It’s not finished. And it goes to Rustboro, not Lavaridge.”

“Nah, ‘cause see, I helped finish it!” Ivy explained everything she did with Wanda and Riley the day before Brendan arrived. “And I asked Riley where some of the tunnels went, and he said that one of the tunnels did lead to an entrance near Lavaridge! They had to explore all the tunnels to make sure they were using the right path to connect to Rustboro so every tunnel large enough to fit a human was explored. If we go underground, that’ll half the time needed.”

Brendan seemed to think it over. “Are you sure?”

Ivy nodded, confident in her brilliant shortcut. “Yeah! I specifically asked Riley about it for this reason. C’mon, Brendan! It’ll be fine.”

She grinned at him, hoping the full force of her confidence would sway his opinion.

He looked to the side. “…Fine.”

Chapter Text

“Are you sure this is the right tunnel?”

Ivy rolled her eyes as Brendan asked that question for what felt like the billionth time.

“Answer’s still yes.”

He didn’t seem reassured. If he asked it another time, Ivy was going to yell. Which would be a very bad idea considering they needed to avoid making loud noises. They had passed a worker in the middle of soundproofing the main tunnel, but the side tunnels weren’t a priority for that. Too loud a noise had the possibility of scaring a Whismur herd, and that wouldn’t end well for anybody.

When Ivy had asked him if the tunnel Riley had pointed out went to Lavaridge, the man had shrugged. That had set off Brendan’s litany of doubts. The fact that they couldn’t have more than one well-behaved Pokémon out didn’t help either in calming him. He clutched Mudkip to his chest like the mud fish Pokémon was a life preserver.

Even Mudkip was giving him concerned looks. Ivy was reminded of Petalburg Woods, but, come on. It had taken him over a week to get to that point. Just a few hours in a cave was apparently worse to Brendan. Ivy tried not to say anything because it’d be mean, but she couldn’t help but roll her eyes whenever Brendan jumped at water dripping from the ceiling.

“C’mon. The PokéNav says we’re going northeast. It’s fine.”

-

They had to spend a night camping in the tunnel. Or what Ivy’s PokéNav assured her was nighttime. Obviously, it was impossible to tell in the cave.

Ivy expected that to happen considering the distance between Verdanturf and Lavaridge, but for some reason it set Brendan on edge. He cuddled Mudkip close and stared at the wall. Maybe he just didn’t like caves? He had gotten awfully mad at her for ditching him in Granite Cave back in Dewford. Maybe he really had needed her there to hold his hand.

Well, whatever. Another day and they would (hopefully) be out.

Brendan did not cheer up when Ivy voiced this sentiment.

“What’s got you so wired up, anyways?” She didn’t want to verbally bring up Dewford but… “You weren’t this antsy when we went to Granite Cave.”

He paused for long enough that Ivy thought he was ignoring her. “We’re going to be in here for a while. Aren’t you scared of, like, a potential collapse?”

Ivy blinked. That was what he was worried about?

“Why would I be?”

He finally stopped staring at nothing to stare at her. “That’s never even crossed your mind?”

Ivy shrugged. “I mean, yeah, sure, but what’s the point? Have you ever heard of these tunnels collapsing?”

“No…”

“Then why should I think about something that’s almost certainly not going to happen?”

Her blasé response didn’t sit well with Brendan. He leaned forward, mouth firmly downturned into a frown. In his arms, Mudkip squeaked as Brendan’s grip tightened into something painful. He glanced down, expression softening. “Sorry.”

Brendan loosened his hold and Mudkip hopped down onto his lap. He let out a soothing croak before turning in a circle and lying down.

“How can you not think about it?”

Ivy grinned. “Well, as I’ve been told by every teacher I’ve ever had, I don’t think at all!”

If anything, that made Brendan’s frown deepen. “That’s not a nice thing to be told.”

Ivy shrugged. “No, but they weren’t really wrong. Easier to not bother thinking too hard about topics you don’t like, yeah? Whether that’s math or a cave collapsing on you.”

“You just… don’t think about it? At all?”

“Nope! Out of sight, out of mind!”

Brendan looked at her as if she was crazy. “How? I wish I could not think of things.”

“Well,” Ivy tugged at a strand of hair, unsure of how to answer. It wasn’t like she thought about how she didn’t think about things. Oh, that was confusing. This was why she didn’t think! “I just don’t?”

“You just don’t.” His tone was flat.

“Yup!”

To her surprise, Brendan laughed. As the short bark echoed through their small area, he clapped a hand over his mouth, eyes wide. The two of them stayed silent, waiting for any reaction from any potentially nearby Whismur. Luckily, it seemed their area was clear.

Despite the danger, he seemed to be in better spirits. He was almost smiling as he spoke. “I guess that’s the difference between us.”

“Hey, if you think too much, and I think too little, maybe when we’re together then we think the perfect amount!”

Brendan covered his mouth to muffle his giggles. Ivy did the same.

Good. Ivy wasn’t sure what she needed to do to help Brendan, but this would have to be enough for now.

-

Brendan’s anxiety hadn’t gone away with a night of sleep, though it wasn’t as bad as the day before. He still twitched at every noise and clutched at the straps of his backpack, but he didn’t say it was a mistake to use the tunnels every other minute.

The tunnels weren’t too hard to navigate, at least. Riley had explained that the probable Exploud that lived in the cave also used them to get around, so the ceiling was at least a foot above her head, and the walls were just far enough from each other for her to lie down without problem. Still a little more cramped than being outside, but there was no scenario where they’d need to crawl or anything.

Their PokéNav’s were also a godsend. President Stone hadn’t been lying about them working underground. With its excellent map app, Ivy could tell they were, in fact, making steady progress towards Lavaridge. She didn’t know where or when the tunnel ended, but as long as they continued on this path, they’d get there soon enough.

A few hours into day two, the tunnel widened and became brighter. Ivy dimmed the light of her flashlight and picked up the pace, hoping that this would be the exit they were searching for. Behind her, Brendan let out a sigh of relief, easily matching her and Combusken’s speed.

“Finally, I really—”

Ivy stopped, throwing her arm out into Brendan’s gut.

Oh, not good. Not good, not good, not good.

“What was—”

“Shhh.”

She pointed to the cavern entrance, not cave exit, ahead of them.

Slumbering peacefully, was a cave full of Whismur. Dozens, probably hundreds, of Whismur.

The two of them and their Pokémon quickly backed away.

“What do we do?” Brendan whispered hotly, repeatedly glancing between her and the cavern.

Ivy bit her lip. It had been a bit odd they hadn’t run into a single Pokémon throughout their trip. She hadn’t expected to see a wide variety of Pokémon; it was well known that the cave was filled solely with Whismur and its evolution line. That alone was a good enough threat to deter most other Pokémon from living there. But not seeing a single Whismur at all?

Well, apparently it was because they all lived in this one cave.

Ivy shifted and peered back into the cave. Combusken, thankfully, stayed behind. More than one being walking around could be too loud.

It was a gigantic cavern, nearly the size of Pokémon gym. The Whismur cuddled together in clumps. Ivy could spot a few Loudred, and there was even a thing of blue and yellow in the distance she was pretty sure was an Exploud. At the top of the ceiling, there was a skylight. Even though it was daytime, the hole was so high up that its light filtered down into something muted and dim. Enough for her to see, but still easy to sleep through.

On the other side, she could see another tunnel entrance.

She tiptoed back to her group.

“I think we can get through to the other side.”

Brendan clapped a hand over his mouth to pre-emptively muffle his reply. “What? Are you crazy?”

Ivy shook her head. “The Whismur all sleep in little groups. There’s space between them and enough light to see where you’re going.” She gave an apologetic look to Combusken and Mudkip. “If we recall our Pokémon and tiptoe quickly, we should be able to make it.”

Brendan shook his head rapidly. “No. That is insane. If even one Whismur wakes up, then the whole cave will and we’ll probably go deaf.”

Ivy huffed. “Whatever. We’re nearly to Lavaridge. I’m going through.”

Before he could reply, she recalled Combusken and marched off—quietly—into the cavern of Whismur.

As she expected, when faced with Ivy’s stubbornness, Brendan gave in and followed.

-

It wasn’t too hard to get through the cavern. Making sure to step firmly but softly, they made their way through, weaving between groups of sleeping Whismur.

Even in this terrifying situation, they were still adorable. Ivy passed one sleeping all on its lonesome who was snoring. If she wasn’t sure that a Poké Ball’s noise would wake them all up, she might’ve tried capturing it.

She shook her head, looking away from the Whismur. She had to focus. Making a single misstep would be beyond bad. Brendan wasn’t exaggerating when he said waking one Whismur up could lead to them going deaf.

Behind her, there was a squeak.

Ivy whipped her head around, eyes wide.

The snoring Whismur she’d been staring at had rolled over in its sleep. Right onto Brendan’s foot.

They exchanged panicked glances. The Whismur hadn’t woken up after rolling into him, but Brendan couldn’t move. The Whismur was half on his shoe. If he tried to wiggle away, even that small drop could wake the whisper Pokémon and cause it to start crying.

Ivy clenched her fists and brought them to her chest. She had no idea what to do.

Panic rose sharply when she saw Brendan try to inch his foot away.

She bit her lip hard. Whispering might’ve been fine out in the tunnel, but not here. She wanted to yell at Brendan to just wait it out, but she couldn’t.

Ivy violently shook her head, trying to get that point across, but Brendan wasn’t looking at her. He was staring intently at his feet as he tried to maneuver the Whismur off his shoe.

Slowly, slowly, it inched away from the Whismur. With barely a noise, the Whismur dropped to the ground.

Ivy held her breath and clenched her fists. Her nails dug into her palms, probably hard enough to make them bleed.

The Whismur didn’t wake up.

She bit her lip again to avoid sighing in relief. Shoulders slumped, Brendan took a few steps to hurry over to her side.

Okay. That had been way too close.

Sharing a look of pure relief, Ivy turned around to continue to the other tunnel. They were pretty close to it, actually.

Behind her, there was a sneeze. Then a snuffling sound.

Horror creeping in, Ivy turned around.

The Whismur formerly on Brendan’s foot had rolled over a second time, this time onto its face. Some of the dirt on the cave floor had gotten into its ears, the ears that it breathed through, making it sneeze in its sleep. The sudden movement woke the small Pokémon.

Startled at unexpectedly being awake, the Whismur began to cry.

Ivy clapped her hands over her ears.

There was a reason that these tunnels were populated only by Whismur despite them being such weak Pokémon: their cries. Whismur, when scared, were some of the loudest Pokémon on the planet. And because of their childlike disposition, it didn’t take much to scare a Whismur.

The noise rang through the cavern. More Whismur began to wake up, adding their own cries to the growing din.

Ivy crouched over, closing her eyes and digging her hands over her ears. One Whismur was bad enough, but dozens of them? Already, her ears were ringing.

Something roared and Ivy went flying, hitting the ground with an unheard yell.

One of the Loudred was awake.

Despite the pain, Ivy squinted one eye open. Beside her, Brendan curled into a ball, hands over his ears. A few feet away, a Loudred stood tall, staring right at them.

Oh, so not good.

With a hiss, Ivy struggled to get up on her knees. She made a grab for Brendan, but her hand passed through air. Ivy turned her head, wincing in pain, and made sure she caught his arm this time around. She tugged, trying to get him to his feet. This shortcut had been her idea and she would get them out.

It was difficult, and she could hardly think with the pain in her ears and how her skull was ringing from the noise, but she wobbled to her feet and dragged Brendan up with her.

The Loudred roared, sending them flying again.

Groaning through the pain, Ivy tried to think positive. The shockwaves from the yell had sent them right to the mouth of the tunnel.

She didn’t bother getting up fully. Tugging Brendan along, she crawled away from the cavern. Thankfully, this was good enough for the Loudred. With all the Whismur to help calm down, it didn’t bother chasing the fleeing intruders.

-

The good news was that the tunnel did lead to the outside.

The bad news was that neither Ivy nor Brendan could hear a single thing.

No—to be more accurate, all they could hear was a high-pitched ringing that wouldn’t stop, resulting in a constant headache and constant pain. Ivy touched her ear. She winced when she drew back her hand and saw blood. Her shoulder was hurting a bit, too. Not as bad as it had been when she’d been thrown to the ground in Mirage Desert, but she probably had another bruise forming there. Hopefully, the doctor in Mauville never found out about that. Or her parents.

“Well, we’re alive,” she said, though no one could hear it. She just needed to speak to herself. Thinking hurt too much. “And the shortcut worked!”

Out in the distance, she could see Lavaridge with its famous hot springs. It was half a day’s walk, at most. All in all, only a two day’s walk instead of the four or five days it would’ve taken if they’d gone over the hills. Riley had been right about that tunnel being a quick way to Lavaridge, though she was going to have to tell Lavaridge’s Pokemon Center to pass on the information that that tunnel was also where the Whismur slept. The next meeting between people and Whismur might not go so fortunately.

Ivy let out Combusken who opened his beak and presumably squawked in worry over what happened back in the cave. Ivy couldn’t tell; she couldn’t hear anything.

“Combusken,” Ivy said, unsure if her voice was loud enough to be heard. Combusken winced, so maybe she had spoken too loudly. She did her best to adjust her volume, though she wasn’t sure if she succeeded. “We can’t hear right now, so please be our ears until we get help in Lavaridge, okay?”

Combusken straightened and nodded seriously. Ivy smiled. She knew she could count on him.

Ivy grabbed Brendan’s arm and tugged him along a second time. The sooner they reached Lavaridge, the better.

-

The Pokémon Center nurse was saying something, but Ivy had no clue what. She pointed at her ears and grinned. “We can’t hear you. Ran into some Whismur.”

The nurse paled and picked up the phone at her desk.

A few minutes later, a doctor ushered them to the part of the Pokémon Center where they treated severe Pokémon wounds and minor human wounds.

Ugh. Ivy could feel her groan vibrate throughout her whole body. Not again.

Her parents were totally going to be told about a second hospital visit, weren’t they? Ugh.

-

Chansey eggs were miracle workers. When Ivy woke up the next morning, she still couldn’t hear anything, but the ringing was gone. Two more days, and the daily medicine doses of half an egg had healed her ruptured ear drum and she could hear once more. Noises louder than a casual conversation still caused some pain, but it was better than before.

The bruise on her shoulder cleared up as well and there wasn’t any displacement or spraining of any body parts. Ivy hadn’t been able to hear what Lavaridge’s doctor said when he checked her shoulder then her medical records, but his face had been clear enough.

Her mom had called twice during that time, informed of the injuries by the Pokémon Center of course, but Ivy had ignored both of them. It’s not like she’d be able to hear the lecture she was sure to receive.

Neither she nor Brendan had been allowed out of the Pokémon Center when their hearing was still screwed up. Apparently walking around without being able to hear was dangerous if you weren’t used to it!

On the bright side, Ivy was allowed to train her Pokémon this time around. The small gym (the workout kind) and battling pitches were usually decently busy, but Ivy wormed her way in. They were in Lavaridge for a reason after all! They had a gym to beat! According to one of the nurses it wasn’t open yet, but it would likely be open within the week. Ivy could handle that wait time while her aches healed up.

That didn’t stop Horsea from refusing to train, instead snuggling up to Ivy’s side and, presumably, making worried inquiries into her health every few minutes. Ivy couldn’t say no to her sweet dragon; with how much she worried, Horsea wouldn’t have gotten anything done in training, anyways. She was a bit too overprotective sometimes, but it was cute.

The other three were worried too (At least, Ivy assumed Trapinch was. It was hard to tell sometimes with her.) but they had no problem training themselves while Ivy supervised. Even Mightyena put a few hours in and behaved.

As the days wore on, and her hearing got better, Ivy was able to be more involved which was a relief. Horsea even, reluctantly, went back to working on Surf.

It was nice, certainly far better than her stay in Mauville, but Ivy was waiting for the day she’d be cleared to go into the town proper.

“…you should be fine now,” the human nurse finally told her. “In fact, I’d say you should visit the hot springs here. They have restorative properties and I’m sure a soak would be nice after what you went through to get those bruises.”

Ivy perked up. That did sound nice! “They let Pokémon in, right?”

The nurse scoffed. “Of course!”

Well, Ivy knew what she was going to do that day.

-

With a sigh, Ivy sank into the delightful heat of the hot spring. Beside her, Combusken cooed, delightfully surprised by how warm it was. He usually hated water with passion, but it seemed hot water was tolerable to at least stick his legs into. Mightyena was loving it, paddling around with her tongue lolling out. Trapinch took one look at the water and refused to budge from the edge. Ivy understood that. Her li’l guy was from a desert. This much water probably freaked her out.

On her other side, there was a sad whinny and a splash. Ivy cracked an eye open. Despite usually being thrilled whenever they came across a pond, Horsea jumped out of the pool.

Ivy tilted her head. “Is it too hot?”

Horsea let out another sad trill.

Ivy bit her lip. She’d been hoping that Horsea would like it. She didn’t want to return the poor Water type who didn’t get let out as often as Ivy would like.

“We have a cooler pool over there. It’s made especially for Water types who don’t enjoy such strong heat.”

Ivy glanced over at the passing worker who said that. She gave her a grin. “Thanks!”

With a trill, Horsea floated over to the small spring the woman had specified. Ivy waited to hear a happy whinny before sinking back into the heat.

Yeah, this was pretty good. She could see why so many people came to Lavaridge just to take a dip in the hot springs. Her body felt relaxed in a way it hadn’t been since she started her journey. Maybe it’d be worth staying in Lavaridge for a while if she could do this again.

Chapter Text

There was a flurry of activity in the rec area of the Pokémon Center when Ivy returned from her trip out. After the hot springs, she and her team had eaten an early dinner at a delicious sushi restaurant before deciding to head back to the Pokémon Center and relax. Ivy remembered seeing a copy of Pokémon Party 3 in their game collection and wondered if Combusken’s claw-like hands were dexterous enough to play it with her.

Pokémon Center rec areas were pretty chill. With their comfy couches, many TVs, and games of all kinds, they were meant for relaxing after a hard day of training. Most trainers were usually too exhausted to make a scene, while the ones who had the energy were out training. Lavaridge’s rec area had been more of the same—really, if anything it had been more subdued than all the other Pokémon Centers Ivy had been to. There weren’t many trainers in Lavaridge at the moment due to the gym being closed. Almost every trainer Ivy ran into was an older trainer, the kind who had all their badges already. They were training on Mt Chimney and using Lavaridge as a home base. Very few people were like Ivy: trainers still looking to obtain badges.

One of those trainers, a girl maybe two or three years older than her, proudly held up a shiny red badge.

Ivy inserted herself into the group, the girl and three other trainers between Ivy and the girl’s ages.

“No way,” Ivy said, unable to take her eyes off the badge. “It’s finally open?”

“Yup!” the girl bragged, hands on her hips. “Opened up today at noon! I was the very first person to get a badge from the new gym leader.”

“That’s so cool!” another older girl squealed. “Congrats!”

“I’m just glad I can finally leave this place,” an older boy said, rolling his eyes. “I’ve had all my badges except this one for months now.”

“When’s it close?” a boy Ivy’s age asked, looking at his wristwatch. “I want to know if I can make it there in time.”

Ivy leaned over and peered at his watch. It was almost six in the evening—with the time it would take to get to the gym, there was a good chance it may or may not be closed.

“Six,” the first girl said with a grin.

“Shit,” the two boys said, almost in tandem. They took off to the exit at a run.

Ivy rocked back and forth on her feet, unsure if she wanted to follow. She knew she was fast enough to make it there in time, but would she be the first in line?

She shook her head and wandered over to the video games bookcase, looking for Pokémon Party 3. The boys had a head start. Even if she ran, she’d get there after them and probably be turned down and told to come back tomorrow. All she had to do was wake up early the next morning and she’d be guaranteed a spot.

Combusken crossed his arms as Ivy released him. She held up two controllers. “Let’s see if we can do this!”

-

The next morning, Ivy marched to the gym with a purpose. Brendan trailed behind her, but this time he was only going to be there as a spectator.

Looking at the Lavaridge Gym, Ivy felt both nostalgic and restless. With its more traditional architecture, it reminded her so strongly of her dad’s gym in Petalburg. She was hit with an unexpected pang of homesickness, alongside the thrill of knowing that soon she’d be there to battle her dad for a badge. It was strange to feel, so Ivy pushed it to the side. She needed to focus on the immediate battle she was about to get into, not one days or weeks in the future.

“Hello, and welcome to the Lavaridge Gym!” The receptionist perkily announced as soon as they closed the sliding paper door behind them. “Are both of you here to schedule a battle?”

Ivy shook her head. “Just me.”

“Alrighty! Please give me your ID and we’ll get right on making your appointment!”

The receptionist’s perky attitude helped buoy Ivy’s own mood. The guy in Mauville could learn a thing or two from this woman. “Here you go!”

She typed a few things before handing it back. “Right-o! It’s early enough that no one else has scheduled an appointment, so you can go right on back to Leader Flannery! Good luck!”

Ivy gave her a genuine grin. “Thanks!”

-

The Lavaridge Gym’s main battle pitch was one of the prettiest Ivy had ever seen. It looked more like the hot spring she’d visited with its tiered rocks and pools than a battling ground. Ivy wondered how long it took to get it back into such a beautiful state after each battle.

A girl with a spiky red ponytail stood at the other side with her back to them. She cleared her throat before spinning around theatrically.

“So! You’ve decided to challenge me! Prepare to, um! Burn!” She spun around and hunched over. “No, no, no! That was way too intense!” She turned around again, a wobbly but large and rather manic smile on her face. “Not burn! Just lightly singed!” Her shoulders dropped. “Um. Are you ready?”

Ivy had no idea how to react to that. She exchanged a baffled glance with Brendan, who sat himself on a low wooden bench, before turning back to the gym leader. “…Yeah?”

Flannery turned red. “F-Fine! Let’s go!”

The referee cleared her throat and shot Flannery a pointed look. Flannery looked at the referee with wide eyes before straightening up, her back straight as a rod. “I-I mean! I’ll be using three Pokémon! You can use as many as you have! Switching is not allowed! B-begin?”

The referee nodded this time and blew her whistle.

With a sigh, Flannery sent out a Slugma. “Alright. I can do this part!”

Ivy had no idea what was up with her, but who cared! It wasn’t Ivy’s problem. She had a battle to focus on.

“Let’s go, Trapinch!”

Trapinch materialized with a small thud. She yawned.

“Smog!”

“Dig!”

Trapinch was able to get underground in time, but Ivy winced. Whenever she came up, she’d be damaged by the small layer of poison gas now covering her half of the battlefield. The only good thing was that Flannery likely wouldn’t keep it out too long, as it would eventually end up spreading to cover her side as well, poisoning Slugma.

“Stay underground Trapinch!”

Across the pitch, Flannery clenched her fists. “Slugma Clear Smog. We’ll have to use a different approach this time. Harden.”

Slugma breathed deeply in, all the gas flying back into its body. Once the battlefield was cleared, its body took on a metallic sheen for more protection.

Ugh, now staying underground was not good. Too many Hardens and Slugma would be impossible to defeat.

“Come on out now, Trapinch! Hit it, then use Bulldoze!”

The ground rumbled, and Trapinch burst through, headbutting Slugma. It reeled backwards as Trapinch landed on the ground, sending shockwaves as she did. The two Ground type moves in quick succession left the Slugma panting, but it was still standing.

“Yawn!”

Ooooh no.

Slugma let out a huge yawn, the noise of it echoing and becoming semi-visible as it travelled towards Trapinch. Trapinch let out a yawn of her own as it hit her before shaking her head. Ivy bit her lip. She’d have to make these last few moves before Trapinch fell asleep worthwhile.

“Bulldoze, again!”

Trapinch went on her tiny hind legs, sending a shockwave as she brought them down. Slugma let out a strange squelching noise as it was hit, but it didn’t faint.

“Again!”

Trapinch repeated her move, but it was noticeably weaker this time. Once the shockwaves finished, she put her head on the ground and fell asleep.

“Yes! There we go! Slugma, Flame Burst!”

Slugma drew in a breath and released a spit of flames. Right as it would’ve reached Trapinch, Ivy recalled her. The move burst into a fiery explosion, not hitting anything besides the invisible psychic walls kept up by a Baltoy.

“I’m recalling Trapinch.”

The referee nodded.

Argh, that hadn’t gone to plan. Sleep based moves usually just resulted in a small nap, but it was impossible to tell how long the nap would last. It could be thirty seconds or thirty minutes. Trapinch was on the frailer side for Pokémon. Returning her meant Ivy couldn’t put her back in battle, but it was likely she would’ve fainted if she had stayed out.

Ivy bit her lip. She didn’t want to send out Horsea now but with Trapinch out... She shook her head. No, she had two other Pokémon. She needed to save Horsea for later.

“Let’s go, Mightyena.”

Flannery wasted no time in attacking.

“Flame Burst, again!”

“Dodge up!”

Mightyena could jump very high into the air, but the burst part of Flame Burst still managed to singe her fur. With a yelp as she fell, she growled at Slugma once she hit the ground. She stalked forward, ears flattened against her head.

She never did like it when her fur got dirty. Ivy could only imagine how much she hated the idea of it being burnt off.

“Mightyena, calm down! Stay away from it!” Ivy didn’t want to risk a burn.

“Ancient Power!”

Slugma melted against the ground before congealing back together, bringing several glowing stones up from the ground as it rose. The floating stones threw themselves at Mightyena, who only managed to dodge a handful of them. She whined as each hit made contact.

Ivy winced. This was not going well. “Return!”

Shaking her head, Mightyena drew herself up and launched herself forward. A glowing swirl appeared over her chest as she ran, growing larger and brighter within seconds. As it became nearly too bright to look at, Mightyena rammed into Slugma.

The glow dimmed, and Slugma was down.

Flannery grinned at her as she returned her Pokémon. “Not many people go for Return! Probably afraid they aren’t close enough to their Pokémon, but it’s nice to see a pretty strong one! C’mon Camerupt, let’s show her how it’s done!”

Ivy grinned at the compliment. “Get ready, Mightyena. Another Howl into Bite.”

Mightyena Howled as Camerupt appeared on the field. She dashed forward as Flannery gave her command.

“Lava Plume!”

Ivy gasped. “Pull back!”

It was too late. Mightyena ignored her and went for the Bite around Camerupt’s neck. As she did, Lava erupted from the two openings on Camerupt’s back, most of it falling right on Mightyena.

“Mightyena!” Ivy called out, afraid for her Pokémon.

She staggered back from Camerupt, obviously hurt from the hit, but still standing. Patches of fur were missing, while her tail was on fire and didn’t show any signs of stopping. Sleep on Trapinch and now a burn on Mightyena. Like most other effects in battle, a burn wouldn’t seriously harm the Pokémon as long as it wasn’t left unhealed for too long, but it would be painful for her poor pooch.

Not to mention the fur that was burnt off. She was going to demand a thorough grooming after she healed up.

Mightyena whined and shook a blue Rawst Berry out of her mane. Ivy brought her clenched fists up to her chest. She had completely forgotten she had given her Pokémon berries! Thank goodness she had! Mightyena wasn’t at one hundred percent, but with the help of the berry, the flames on her tail died out.

She was still going to demand that grooming, Ivy knew. Whatever. She deserved it.

“Hey, nice job on the berry! It usually takes more badges before trainers start to use those! Now, another Lava Plume!”

Flannery was too nice. Her compliments kept distracting Ivy from the battle. “Uh, run back to our side!”

Legs still wobbly, Mightyena managed to dodge the worst of this Lava Plume, only getting slightly singed.

“Return!”

“Earth Power!”

The glow on Mightyena’s chest formed quicker this time. She started towards Camerupt slowly, exhaustion slowing her down. The ground underneath her rumbled and broke into jagged stones as she neared the other Pokémon. She let out a howl as the stones made contact but didn’t let up on her attack. Instead, she used one of the stones as a platform to leap off of. Slamming right into Camerupt, her howl of pain turned into a proper Howl as she made contact.

Ivy closed her eyes and clapped her hands over her ears. Ugh, that was a bit painful.

When she opened them, she saw Flannery returning her Pokémon. It seemed Return had hit just hard enough to result in a double knockout. Ears still ringing, she recalled Mightyena.

“You did great. Return went perfectly.” Now, she could bring out Horsea.

The dragon Pokémon appeared just as Flannery’s Torkoal did. As the coal Pokémon hit the ground, Ivy felt sweat begin to drip down the back of her neck. The early morning sunshine seemed to get even brighter, and, on the pitch, she could see Horsea wince.

Ivy bit her lip. It seemed Flannery had one of the rare Torkoal with the ability to change the weather. Horsea’s Water type moves weren’t going to be as strong now. This battle really wasn’t going in her favor, huh?

“Smokescreen!”

That would at least give Ivy a few seconds to think. She originally had been planning on Surf, but that wouldn’t be the best choice now, even with a nearby water source. Horsea didn’t know Rain Dance either; that would’ve been beneficial in this scenario.

“Clear Smog!”

Ah, hell. That wasn’t enough time.

“Horsea, Twister!”

Horsea blew out a stream of dark ink. It swirled around her, picking up speed as it did. Soon, a raging tornado was above her small dragon Pokémon. With another spit of ink, the tornado headed towards Torkoal.

“Withdraw!”

Just as the tornado reached Tokoal, the coal Pokémon tucked its head and legs into its shell. The strong winds of the tornado picked up the shell, sending it spiraling around before being shot out on the opposite side of the field at top speed.

Both Ivy and Flannery waited with bated breath. Slowly, Torkoal poked his head then his limbs out. He wobbled on his first step but was otherwise fine.

“Ugh! Horsea use Leer!”

“Body Slam!”

Horsea glared at the Torkoal, her eyes glowing. Torkoal shook his head and began a slow charge towards its opponent.

Urgh. There wasn’t any other way. Water type moves may be weaker, but Torkoal was still weak to them.

“Horsea! Jump as high as you can and use Bubble Beam right into the vents!”

Using Water Gun to lift herself up, Horsea flew into the air. Ivy winced. Water Gun’s stream was far thinner than it usually was.

Flannery’s eyes widened. “Torkoal, wait—”

But just like Mightyena earlier, Torkoal had too much momentum to stop. When it reached Horsea’s former spot, the dragon Pokémon stopped her Water Gun and let herself drop. Right as she would’ve landed on the coal Pokémon, she let loose a mighty stream of bubbles, most of them going into the Torkoal’s shell.

It let out a whine of pain, dropping onto its stomach.

Ivy pumped a fist in the air in excitement. Her sweet Horsea had the Sniper ability. She had an eye for finding exactly where she needed to hit to make it hurt.

“Horsea! Again!”

With a harsh trill, Horsea let out another stream of bubbles. Torkoal put his head down and that was it.

Flannery returned her Pokémon and literally bounced out onto the battlefield. “Wow! What a finisher! You’ve got a crazy accurate Horsea there.”

Ivy rubbed the back of her neck. “She’s pretty awesome, yeah!”

Horsea trilled, floating over to Ivy and rubbing her head against Ivy’s torso. Ivy scooped her up and held her close to her chest. Horsea didn’t get released often, but she was always very affectionate whenever she was out. Ivy did her best to always return that affection, even if it meant keeping a bucket of water by her bed every night.

Flannery cleared her throat and held both hands out, a small badge nestled in them. Grinning, Ivy grabbed it with the arm that wasn’t holding Horsea.

“Anyways! As the official Lavaridge Town Gym Leader, I give you this Heat Badge! Know that with it, er, you can always… burn your enemies?” Flannery had started out with a rather confident tone, but it faded as the sentence wore on.

Ivy raised an eyebrow. “You good?”

She slapped her hands to her cheeks. “Sorry, sorry, sorry! Aaaaagh!”

Ivy took a step back. Horsea trilled and hid her face against Ivy’s chest.

“Uhh…”

Brendan jogged onto the field. “Is she okay?”

“I think so?”

Horsea let out a muffled whinny that sounded like a disagreement.

“Sorry!” Flannery apologized again, jerking into a deep bow. “Sorry! I’m new to this whole thing and I was thinking that I should be more, like, stereotypically a Fire type specialist? But I don’t think it comes very naturally to me and, augh, I’ve been acting so weird, haven’t I? So-o-orry, I’m just nervous and—”

“Uh—”

“—and I really want to make my grandpa proud and not get the gym shut down after a week. I’ve only been a gym leader basically that long, y’know? You’re my third challenger. Ever.”

Ivy exchanged a glance with Brendan. Obviously, Flannery had some things to work through.

“Well, I think you did fine.”

Flannery finally rose from her bow, eyes sparkling. “Really?”

“Er, yeah. Could dial down on the, uh, burning enemies stuff, but you’re a really good battler. And that’s all that matters, yeah?”

Flannery took a deep breath and let out a small giggle. “Yeah. Maybe that was too much.”

“You’ll get the hang of it eventually!”

Flannery grinned at her, fists in the air. “Yeah, I will!” She shook her head. “What is this? Enough cheering me up, go celebrate yourself! Congrats on the badge! Oh! And you can get a TM for Overheat back in the front!”

Overheat? That could be a useful finishing move for Combusken. Though, for now, she was probably going to hide it from him. He had enough on his plate training-wise.

Ivy looked at the red badge in her hand. Four badges, her dad had said. Beautifly fluttered in her stomach. Once they were finished with their errand in Fallarbor, it would be back to Petalburg where she would finally face her dad.

Chapter Text

It took over two weeks of travelling to get to Fallarbor Town. Half of it was spent on the hiking trails of Mt Chimney, the other half going through the farmland that dominated northwestern Hoenn. Ivy had wondered aloud why there was so much farmland right next to a volcano which had spurred Brendan into a monologue about soil. Or something. To be honest, Ivy tuned him out after a few minutes. Aside from that, the journey was rather nice. They’d even come across a rare flock of wild Torchic! Combusken enjoyed that, though he declared it wasn’t the flock he’d left behind.

They probably could’ve made the journey in only a week or so, but they were taking it slow. Ivy also wanted to spend more time training her Pokémon. With four badges, she had filled her dad’s requirement. He would be her next challenge.

Part of Ivy wanted to ditch Brendan and rush right to Petalburg. The other part wanted to turn around do literally anything but go to Petalburg. Was Ivy ready? She wasn’t sure. That had never stopped her from doing something before, but this was different. If she failed to beat her dad… well, it wouldn’t stop her from trying again. As many times as she could. But she just knew he would be disappointed. And she didn’t want that.

So, she channeled all that nervous energy into training her Pokémon. After the win against Flannery, she sat down with all her Pokémon and explained how important their next gym battle would be. How it’d be against her dad, and they needed to do their very best to win. Ivy even convinced Mightyena to take training seriously. How Ivy managed that miracle, she wasn’t sure.

Drills in speed, in accuracy, in endurance, in the TM’s she’d bought back in Mauville. If there was one thing Ivy was glad about, it was that she knew how her dad battled and what Pokémon he’d likely use. That meant she knew what to train for. There was a chance he’d throw out a curveball, but he would have had to train it in the few months she’d been away. It was possible, but she didn’t think he had.

Ivy was lucky that Brendan understood her nervous energy and training. Even though it was taking away from time he could be using to make it to the Master Rank level, he didn’t once say no when Ivy asked to stop and train.

“I need to train, too,” was the only thing he’d said when she’d apologized once. She didn’t pay much attention to what he was doing, but she did see him and Pikachu working on controlling Electroball with her tail. It did make her feel a bit better that he hadn’t been saying that just to be nice.

-

After being out in the wilderness for so long being in a town, even a small one like Fallarbor, felt strange. They healed their Pokémon at the Pokémon Center, had lunch in its cafeteria, then went out onto the dirt roads to look for that professor guy.

Brendan absently chewed on his lip as he scrolled on his PokéNav. “Professor Cozmo’s lab shouldn’t be too far away according to the address my dad sent me.”

Ivy wasn’t paying much attention. Fallarbor was different than any of the other towns she’d visited. There was something rundown about all the buildings. The town obviously wasn’t enough of a tourist spot to get any money to make it look nice.

“Why’s your dad even need to talk to this guy?”

Brendan let out a sigh. Oops. Had Ivy asked that before? Probably.

Still, he replied. “Professor Cozmo studies space so he has a lot of data on the atmosphere or something. Dad wanted to look at something for his study on Flying type migrations in northern Hoenn, but the data hasn’t been sent and Cozmo isn’t replying to his e-mails. Since I was travelling, he wanted me to stop by and remind Cozmo to do that.”

Ivy nodded, pretending to know what he was talking about.

Brendan abruptly stopped, looking down at his PokéNav. “This should be it.”

The building in front of them wasn’t anything to write home about. It was a solid, two-story building. It looked slightly newer than the buildings around it, but not by much.

The two of them entered to a chaotic scene.

Only three people were in the large room—there was no reception area, just a large room filled with computers and machines—but they were arguing loudly.

“I mean, the professor trusted them.”

“Really? The professor would trust anyone if they showed interest in his meteorites. Those guys were bad news.”

“I have to agree. No one wearing matching costumes like that and asking about specific data is up to anything good.”

Ivy and Brendan exchanged glances. None of that sounded good, especially the part about people in matching costumes.

Brendan cleared his throat. “Um, excuse me?”

The three assistants quieted. One of them, the oldest, eventually spoke up. “Excuse me, but who are you?”

Brendan rubbed the back of his neck. “Um, I’m Brendan Birch. My dad’s Professor Birch down in Littleroot. He’s been asking Professor Cozmo to send data for a few weeks, but it never sent so he asked me to stop by. But, uh, it sounds like there’s something going on?”

The younger male assistant shook his head. “The professor isn’t in.”

“He’s been kidnapped, you mean,” the only woman scoffed.

They immediately started up their previous argument.

Ivy and Brendan looked at the older assistant in disbelief.

He shook his head. “He wasn’t kidnapped. Technically.” He sighed and sat down in a nearby chair. “A strange group of people came in an hour ago and asked the professor all sorts of questions. Then, they all left for Meteor Falls. Sienna and I find it suspicious, but there really isn’t a reason to leave and go looking. He did leave willingly after all.”

Ivy bit her lip. “Were those people dressed like pirates?”

The man gave her an odd look. “No. They were dressed in all red, with these odd maroon hoodies with horns.”

Huh? So, it wasn’t Team Aqua?

Still, they were probably right to be suspicious.

“We’ll go looking, then!” Ivy told him with a confident grin. Brendan glanced her way but didn’t disagree.

The older man pursed his lips. “Have either of you been to Meteor Falls before?”

They shook their heads.

“It’s not far from here but be careful. The terrain there gets more difficult to traverse the further up you go. The waterfall causes many of the rocks to be wet, so be sure not to slip.” He looked down at the watch on his wrist. “Professor Cozmo and the strangers left just under an hour ago. If you two move quickly, you should be able to catch up with them. Hopefully before any harm comes to the professor.”

-

The first half of the run to Meteor Falls was easy—it was through more farmland. As white cliffs in the distance loomed larger, things got riskier. A crushing waterfall flowed down a stony cliffside into a large lake. They slowed down to cross the bridge spanning it, otherwise they’d fall in due to how slippery it was. Then, like the man said, it was an uphill hike to find the entrance to the cave while also avoiding large craters in the ground.

Luckily, it wasn’t a small entrance. It spanned nearly a dozen feet above Ivy’s head and two dozen to each side. As they entered, if Ivy hadn’t been so determined to find Professor Cozmo, she probably would’ve stopped and stared. Even in her focused state, part of her found it very beautiful. The pale rock underneath shallow pools of water created a magical scene.

More importantly, however, was the small group of people near a cliff. One man in a lab coat, and three others in red.

The man in the lab coat, Professor Cozmo presumably, held up a decent sized chunk of rock.

“—and this is a rather large specimen. One of the biggest I’ve come across in Meteor Falls, actually. And you see this groove-like pattern? I have a few others in my lab with similar markings, though I’m not sure what they mean, if they’re from the journey through the atmosphere, the impact landing, or something else.”

The large person in red beside him nodded thoughtfully. They opened their mouth to speak before glimpsing Ivy and Brendan approaching.

“Eh? What’re kids doing here?”

Ivy dramatically pointed her finger at the group. “To stop you guys from… whatever it is you’re doing! You may not be those Team Aqua weirdos, but I don’t trust anyone in matching uniforms asking about boring stuff no one cares about!”

Ignoring Professor Cozmo’s sputtered indignation at her comment, the person in red glared at her. “You’ve met Team Aqua, hm? Well, I promise that we are much better than those ruffian lowlifes, so just run along now like good little kids.”

Brendan narrowed his eyes. “So, if we asked you to leave the professor alone and go, would you?”

They laughed. “Absolutely not. We have a job here to do.” They glanced back at the others in their group, both girls. They jerked their head and the blue eyed one bounded forward, taking a Poké Ball off her belt as she did.

The red eyed one grabbed Professor Cozmo and forcefully moved them both back until they were standing right on the edge of the cliff.

The leader laughed again as Ivy clutched Brendan’s arm. “You seem very concerned about the professor, so I would avoid being too demanding right about now. We wouldn’t want an accident now, hm?”

Ivy didn’t know what to do. Obviously, these people were worse than Team Aqua if they were willing to kill someone. They had to do something, but what…

“W-well! I challenge you to a battle then! If we win, you release the professor and go!”

“Hmm. Adelaide? Distract them.”

The blue eyed girl nodded, throwing two Poké Balls into the air, sending out a Poochyena and a Numel.

Ivy glanced at Brendan out of the corner of her eye. He nodded. She sent out Combusken while he sent out Mudkip.

Adelaide winced. With a single Double Kick from Combusken and a Water Gun from Mudkip, the two Pokémon went down. Either she wasn’t a good trainer, or she hadn’t had those Pokémon for very long. Either way, Ivy was feeling more confident as she took a few steps towards the group.

“Ah, come on!” the grunt complained, returning her Pokémon. “Admin Tabitha? Uhh…”

“Yes, Adelaide. I’m only five feet away. I can tell you infuriatingly lost to some children.”

Admin Tabitha had been shoving a pile of rocks into a bag during the brief fight. They hadn’t even managed to get half of the pile in. They pursed their lips, looking between the pile of small rocks and the much larger one held by Professor Cozmo.

Voice still annoyingly calm, they stood up, hoisting the bag over their shoulder. “Zinnia? Get that last one, will you?”

The red eyed girl grinned. With a small twist, she grabbed the meteorite from the professor and shoved him backwards.

Backwards into open air.

“Professor!” Ivy and Brendan screamed at the same time.

Ivy froze, heart lurching. She looked on in horror as the professor’s arms windmilled as he tried to avoid falling.

A blur rushed past her. Brendan. He was running towards Professor Cozmo. To help. To keep him from plunging to his death.

Something in Ivy cracked. Brendan was moving, so she needed to move as well. A single step. She just needed to…

Inhaling sharply, Ivy darted forward, quickly eclipsing Brendan. He had a head start, but Ivy was faster. She needed to get there in time. It was only a few feet. She could do it…

Ivy grabbed onto one of the professor’s windmilling arms. His weight yanked her forward, but something grabbed her arm. Ivy could see a bit of white out of the corner of her eye and assumed it was Brendan stabilizing her.

Using all her strength, she pulled the panicking professor back from the ledge. He stumbled and fell, dragging her down with him.

But they were on the ground.

They were safe from falling off the ledge.

There was the sound of a Poké Ball clicking open.

“Now, please Teleport us back to Mt Chimney.”

Ivy turned her head just in time to see the three red weirdos and a Claydol be enveloped in a white light before disappearing. Only a few seconds had passed in the rush to save Professor Cozmo, but it had felt like an eternity, and she’d forgotten all about the red weirdos. She hadn’t even considered what would happen once the professor was safe.

As the light faded, Ivy’s heart jumped into her throat. Right where the group had been, there was now an extremely large and shirtless man. A man with the Team Aqua logo painted onto his chest.

“Ah, fucking hell, I just missed them. Shit.”

He barely glanced at their group. Ivy didn’t want to make a single noise and bring attention to them. She looked down at her hands. They were shaking.

Pulling out a battered PokéNav with a cracked screen, he called someone, turning his back on their little group.

“Yeah, I just missed ‘em. Fuckers Teleported out soon as I got in.” As whoever was on the line replied, he glanced over his shoulder, right at them. Ivy tensed up, but he looked away. “Nah. Just the science guy and some kids. I did hear them mention Mt Chimney, though. I’d wager they’re doing something up there.” Another pause. “Yeah, got it, bro.”

With a click, he shoved the PokéNav into his pocket and jogged out of Meteor Falls.

-

“Professor Cozmo? Are you okay, professor?”

Somehow, Brendan was the calmer one between them. Ivy stared blankly as he tried to snap the professor out of his shock.

She…

“I… the meteorite,” Professor Cozmo mumbled.

“Professor,” Brendan said, remarkably patient. “We need to get you back to Fallarbor. Ivy and I aren’t strong enough to drag you there.”

Something yellow and orange marched past Ivy. Combusken stood in front of Professor Cozmo, his face as impassive as it usually was.

He slapped the man across the face.

Well, that snapped them both out of their shock.

“Combusken!” Ivy yelled, both appalled and appreciative.

“Ow!” the professor whined, holding a hand to his cheek.

“Good,” Brendan said, looking amused of all things. “It’s going to be a long trek back to Fallarbor. We need to get started so we can get the police and tell them about Mt Chimney.”

“Y-yes. Of course.” Professor Cozmo unsteadily got to his feet. Ivy hastily followed, not wanting to be the only one still on the ground. He palmed a Great Ball at his belt. Soundlessly, a Solrock appeared. “No need to walk, however. Solrock can Teleport us.”

Ivy stared at it.

She hadn’t…

They returned their Pokémon and huddled next to the professor. Another flash of light and they Teleported back to Professor Cozmo’s lab in Fallarbor.

-

The three assistants stared at them as they appeared in the lab before swarming their group.

“Professor!”

“You’re back!”

“Are you okay?”

As the other two fussed over the professor, who poorly tried to explain what happened, the older assistant that helped them out earlier drew Ivy and Brendan to the side.

“I cannot thank you enough for returning the professor. Did something happen?”

Brendan explained what happened while Ivy stared at the door. He was much more succinct than Professor Cozmo.

She hadn’t moved earlier. The professor was about to fall to his death, and she hadn’t moved.

The assistant paled the more Brendan talked. When he finished, he put a hand over his chest. “Well, thank goodness you all came out of that unscathed. I don’t know who those fools were, but its best we report them to the police.”

Brendan nodded, but Professor Cozmo’s voice broke through their conversation. He gesticulated wildly.

“But the meteorite! They took that meteorite! It was one of the largest specimens I’ve ever found, and it had those strange grooves.”

That seemed to mean something to the assistants who gasped.

“What do they markings mean?” Brendan asked.

The older assistant turned to them. “We’re not one hundred percent sure, but the current theory is that they have something to do with Pokémon. If you put two of the grooved meteorites next to each other, they’ll briefly glow which is not something meteorites do. The energy they give off during those moments is similar to the energy waves recorded when a Pokémon evolves. We don’t know how they get those grooves, or why, but it’s one of the things we study here.”

“And we need to get it back!” Professor Cozmo shouted. “Who knows what those maniacs will do with such a precious object! Who knows what kind of power that meteorite holds?”

Ivy stepped forward. “I’ll do it!”

She hadn’t moved. She had stood there, useless and frozen, like back in Slateport. If Brendan hadn’t been there, she would’ve stayed still, and the professor would’ve fallen to his death.

Guilt twisted her insides. Ivy needed to make this right. If Professor Cozmo wanted some dumb meteorite back then she’d go and get it for him, even if she had to fight all of Team Aqua and their red counterpart.

She wilted slightly. “But, uh, I don’t know if I can make it in time. It’ll take a week to get there.”

“No Flying type?”

Ivy shook her head.

Professor Cozmo looked at Solrock who continued to float next to him. “Solrock can Teleport you. It can’t take you all the way to the top, but Solrock’s been to the cable car checkpoint, and you can take that up. It’ll just Teleport back here when you’re done.”

Silently, Solrock floated over to Ivy. She hesitantly reached out and put a hand on the Pokémon’s rocky exterior.

“Thank you for doing this, ah, young girl.”

Ivy nodded. “It’s no problem.” She turned to Brendan. “Sorry I’ll miss your next Contest.”

He stared at her, his mouth drawn down in a frown. “I’ll go with you.”

“No!” Ivy said, perhaps a little too loud from the way Brendan flinched. “No,” she repeated, quieter this time. “You have stuff to do here. I don’t. I don’t want to set you even further back. Maybe we can meet up again in Petalburg.”

“But—"

“Yes, yes,” Professor Cozmo interrupted, nervously wringing his hands. “I’m confident only one of you is needed. The meteorite is large, but not that large. She should get going.”

Brendan obviously didn’t approve of her going alone, but if the professor endorsed it, he wasn’t going to argue. “Be safe.”

“I will.”

With a strange, twisting feeling in her gut, Solrock Teleported her out of Fallarbor Town and back onto Mt Chimney.

-

“Thanks, Solrock.”

The Rock type Pokémon made a strange, echoing noise, before disappearing in a flash of light. It had dropped her off at a cable car service right at the foot of the mountain. After paying the small fee, Ivy started the trip to the top of the volcano.

Or, almost to the top. The cable car stopped at one of the halfway points up the volcano.

“Sorry, miss, but we can’t let people head to the crater at this moment. It’s a health hazard. The volcano has—"

Ivy turned away from the tour guide. It was rude, but she was frustrated. She didn’t know exactly who those red weirdos were, but if they were going to a volcano, then obviously they would be going to the very top!

She rubbed her bare arms. It was the end of June, but she was freezing in her thin t-shirt and jean shorts. Weren’t volcanoes supposed to be hot? Sure, she was pretty high up, but wasn’t there supposed to be magma or something? Ivy had no clue how volcanoes actually worked.

Oh, this probably wasn’t a good idea. Whatever. She was going to get that meteorite back no matter what.

Waiting until the guide was busy talking to some tourist, Ivy snuck away from the group and hopped over the viewing railing. She had a volcano crater to visit.

-

Thank goodness Ivy had hiked Mt Chimney before because it was a climb. By the time she reached the top, between the altitude and those gases the guide mentioned (she had unfortunately run right into one cloud right as it burst out of an unseen vent), she was gasping for breath. Not to mention it was cold. The temperature had to have dropped at least ten degrees Celsius from what it was in Fallarbor. No wonder those red weirdos were covered head to toe if this was where they hung out. That old scarf in her bag came in handy as a mouth cover, while that hoodie she bought back in Slateport kept her arms warm.

But her suffering wasn’t for nothing; as she neared the top, she heard the sounds of battle. Trainers calling out commands and Pokémon barking and screeching as they rushed to follow them.

It was a mess. People in red fought people in blue. Whoever these red people were, it seemed they had a mutual animosity with Team Aqua.

Ivy slinked around the perimeter. She didn’t want to get caught in any of the petty squabbles between the grunts. There had to be someone important around here. Well, actually, she saw the Team Aqua boss, Archie, but he was cornered by three red grunts. That was a situation to avoid. Not to mention he wouldn’t have the meteorite in the first place.

She inched closer and—aha! There, the Tabitha person from Meteor Falls. They were talking to a skinny red headed man with weird glasses. Ivy inched closer.

“Yes, this meteorite matches up with the ones Courtney described. The rest were brought as backup.”

“Hmm, no, this one should do fine.” The red haired man shook his head. “I would prefer if we could locate the orbs, of course, but this might be the next best option.”

Well, none of that sounded good.

Ivy ran forward. “I knew you guys were up to no good!”

The two stared at her.

Tabitha stomped a foot on the ground. “You again? Gah, I really, really, really, really, really, really, really hate kids!”

The red head rolled his eyes. “Tabitha, deal with her while I prepare the machine.”

“Of course, Boss.”

Their boss touched a button on the side of his glasses, and some sort of face shield, or gas mask maybe, expanded from his bulky glasses, covering the lower half of his face.

On more things Ivy had been lied to about volcanoes: the crater wasn’t actually filled to the top with lava. There was actually a solid layer of rock several meters below the edge. There were fissures in the rock, but they only released plumes of ash and gas, not lava. The not-Team-Aqua guys had built an elevated platform over one area with several fissures and then built some strange machine she could barely make out on the platform.

“Ugh. I hate battling. Let’s get this over with.”

Ivy returned her attention to Tabitha. They released a Poochyena. Well, at least Ivy knew how to counter that.

She released Combusken.

“We need to defeat this dude as quick as possible, okay? Double Kick.”

Combusken flew forward with a frightening speed. Before Tabitha could issue a command, Combusken was on Mightyena, kicking it with his strong legs. The bite Pokémon whined as it slid towards its trainer.

“Agh, get up! Use Bite!”

This man really wasn’t a good trainer, Ivy thought to herself as the Mightyena struggled to take hold of Combusken. Her Pokémon easily dodged every attempt, side stepping with grace.

“Brick Break.”

With a single glowing chop from his arms, the Mightyena fell.

“Uuuugh. Alright. Armaldo, you next.”

Ivy’s eyebrows flew up at what came out. She had no idea what that thing was or what typing it was. It was a blue, plated… thing, almost as tall as her.

Tabitha cleared their throat. “Use Ancient Power.”

“Combusken! Dodge as many rocks as you can!”

The best plan she had was to see what moves the thing had and assume that whatever moves it used correlated to its typing. It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it was better than nothing.

The… eyes? of the Armaldo glowed a deep magenta and dozens of rocks levitated around it. With a twitch of its tail, the rocks zoomed forward. Combusken did his best to dodge, but a few managed to make contact, causing the young fowl Pokémon to grimace.

“Aha! Now use Smack Down!”

The few rocks that continued to float converged into one rock that glowed gold. Combusken jumped into the air as it ricocheted to his previous spot. Ivy dove to the side as the rocky sphere blew past her and into a boulder behind where she’d been standing.

Tabitha had used two Rock type moves. With those plates, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume the Pokémon was part Rock type.

Ivy recalled Combusken. The Poké Ball rattled in her hand. “You did fine. We just need Horsea to get this over with quickly.”

She released Horsea.

“Bubble Beam!”

Ivy didn’t want to risk a Surf on a volcano. For some reason, that sounded bad to her.

Finally, the Armaldo moved, dropping to the ground and scuttling away to avoid the Bubble Beam.

“Keep going at it!”

With a trill, Horsea let out another stream of bubbles. As the Armaldo raced over the ground, she slowly moved to follow him. They’d been working on her maneuverability on land.

After a nearly twenty second long Bubble Beam assault, Armaldo fainted. Tabitha returned it with a scowl.

“Seriously? Ugh, Torkoal, go.”

Well, Ivy knew what to do here.

“Horsea, just like with Flannery!”

Trilling, Horsea jumped up high, before sending a deadly accurate Bubble Beam right into one of the holes in Torkoal’s back.

The Torkoal fainted before it could get a single move out.

“Eeehhhh?! No fair!”

Ivy stared at the man. “Seriously? Aren’t you supposed to be old?”

“Hey! I’m only twenty-eight!”

“Yeah, old.”

With the battle over, she returned Horsea and skipped past the man, cleanly avoiding his one attempt to grab her. She pulled the scarf back over her mouth. It probably wasn’t as good as the gas mask the boss guy had used, but it was better than nothing. She ran out onto the scaffolding.

As Ivy neared, she could finally make out the machine. There was a dome on the top and, inside, the meteorite. The red headed man stared at a screen showing lines of data.

“Hey! Give that back!”

He turned around, one eyebrow raised.

“A simple scarf is not adequate enough to block out the negative effects of volcanic gas. I would turn around if I were you, child.”

Ivy ignored him. “Give the meteorite back,” she repeated.

He turned his back to her. “Hmph. It’s no surprise you beat Tabitha, but it is a pain. No, I will not be giving you this meteorite. It may be our only way to awaken the super-ancient Pokémon from its slumber.”

That… sounded bad. Really, really bad.

“Super-ancient Pokémon?”

He shook his head. “I’ve already said too much.” There was a small beep from his machine. “This may be the more imperfect method but all of our research concludes it should work just as well once the meteorite’s power is drawn out. Stand back and see what greatness Team Magma will unfold!”

Despite herself, Ivy took a step back. She had no idea what this guy was rambling on about, but none of it sounded good. She steeled herself.

“I challenge you to a battle then! If I win, I get the meteorite.”

“I reject your challenge.”

“Hey!”

Someone behind her let out a dark chuckle. “You never were one to battle, eh?”

Magma Boss stiffened, and Ivy whirled around to find the Aqua Boss Archie. He stood with his arms crossed, with what looked like a scuba mask on his face.

“Ack, not you. Don’t you have someone else to bother with your boisterous chicanery?”

“Oh, trust me, pal, I’d rather be just about anywhere but here dealing with your idiocy.”

At that, Magma Boss whirled around, marched past Ivy and poked a finger into Archie’s chest.

“Idiocy? You are one to talk about idiocy with that foolish plan of yours! I’ve never heard a more ridiculous plot in my life!”

Archie leaned down so he was face to face with the other man. “My plan? My plan is brilliant! Pokémon deserve a better world than what we’ve given ‘em. Your plan is the one that will end in ruin, ya idjit!”

“I beg your pardon—”

“Then beg!”

Ivy shuffled backwards. They’d completely forgotten her presence in favor of arguing with each other. She managed to make it to the strange machine without either man noticing. None of the buttons were labelled, of course. Because they wanted to make this hard for her. Ugh.

She scanned the screen, but none of the words on it made sense. There wasn’t anything that said ‘click here to release meteorite’ either.

Time to press random buttons, then!

She pressed a grey one near the bottom. The screen turned off. Not too bad.

Ivy coughed into her scarf, then froze. She peeked behind her, but this wasn’t like with the Whismur. The bosses were still too busy arguing too care.

She pressed another button. Nothing happened. She pressed another.

Aha!

There was a click and the latch holding the clear dome shut came loose. It took barely anything to pry it open, and grabbing the meteorite was only difficult because the machine was meant to be operated by a grown man and not a short, thirteen year old girl.

Ivy shoved the meteorite into her backpack as quickly as she could. She coughed again. Her throat was beginning to burn and that probably wasn’t a good thing. Man, if she had to visit the Lavaridge Pokémon Center again and ask for medicine, she was going to be so embarrassed.

She had no idea how to get away, however. The bosses were still, somehow, arguing in the middle of the platform. It wasn’t large enough for her to sneak by them and even she wasn’t stupid enough to try jumping off the platform and onto the volcano.

A phone ringtone went off.

Almost automatically, Ivy went for her PokéNav before shaking her head. She kept her PokéNav on vibrate at all times. She didn’t even know what its generic ringtone was.

Magma Boss cleared his throat and brought a phone to his ear. “Yes, Courtney? I’m in the middle of something important.” He paused. Ivy inched forward. Maybe this could be her escape? “Oh? Really now, that’s fascinating. No, I had not gone through with it. Some oaf,” he glared at Archie, “interrupted me. It might’ve been for the best then if you’ve found the location of the orbs. Yes, goodbye.”

He tucked his phone into his pocket and gave Archie a cool glance.

“Now that was some fortuitous news.”

Archie stared, mouth agape. “You found the orbs?”

Magma Boss hummed before grinning. “We have a location. Now, I bid you adieu. I have some orbs to acquire.”

He walked off.

Archie gnashed his teeth together before whirling around to follow him. “Oh, no you don’t!”

Wow, they really had completely forgotten about her. Oh, well. Better for her. Pressing her scarf to her mouth, Ivy began the hike down Mt Chimney.

Chapter Text

Ivy was forced to visit the hospital part of the Lavaridge Pokémon Center and the nurse lectured her a second time for doing something dumb and dangerous. She had to eat half of a Chansey egg to clear her lungs of potential scarring, all while the nurse glared at her.

It was past ten by the time she was released to a room in the Pokémon Center proper. Her team out, and Horsea and Mightyena curled up on the bed next to her, she finally had the time to call Brendan after seeing his name on her PokéNav screen multiple times.

“Ivy! Are you okay? You didn’t pick up any of my calls and I was beginning to get worried and—”

“I’m fine,” she interrupted. “I was just waiting ‘til I was in Lavaridge to answer.” She’d been a bit too out of breath before. Even taking the cable car and a bus to Lavaridge instead of walking had been pushing the limit.

Brendan let out an irritated huff on the other side. “Still could’ve texted me something.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s whatever. What happened?”

Ivy bit her lip. Leaning against the wall, she petted Mightyena with one hand while Horsea cuddled in closer against her chest. She hadn’t really had the time to process what had happened on Mt Chimney. Those guys—both Team Aqua and Team Magma—seemed to have similar goals. Looking for orbs and some super-ancient Pokémon, whatever that meant.

As best as she could, she explained to Brendan what happened.

He was as stumped as she was.

“I can ask my dad some questions, he’ll probably know something… or maybe Professor Cozmo. They did go after him for a reason.” He paused. “I’ll probably be staying in Fallarbor for a bit longer then. Sorry our travelling plans got canned.”

Ivy shook her head. “It’s fine. Not like you planned for this.” She let out a tired giggle. “And, hey. We don’t have to go back through Petalburg Woods now!”

Brendan snorted. “Yeah, that probably is the best thing about this.”

There was a lull in the conversation. Ivy took the time to change position, so her back was on the pillow instead of against the wall. She was beginning to feel the exhaustion that came with an adrenaline crash.

“So, what’re you going to do next?”

Ivy shrugged. “Dunno. Probably go back to Mauville and figure something out from there.” She yawned and snuggled down onto the bed. Horsea and Mightyena shifted around her body as she did so, Mightyena going down to her legs while Horsea floated over to her pillow. Ivy probably should’ve returned Horsea so she didn’t get dried out, but her brain was starting to get fuzzy. It’d been an exciting day. “I’m about to fall asleep right now, honestly.”

“…And about those two teams?”

She shook her head. “Dunno. That’s a problem for morning me.”

There was a choked laugh on the other end of the line. “Yeah. Well, good night.”

“Night.”

She didn’t manage to plug in her PokéNav to charge, but that was fine. She didn’t plan on leaving Lavaridge the very second she woke up.

Cuddling Horsea to her chest, Ivy was out in seconds.

-

In Fallarbor, Brendan stared at the wall of his own room in a Pokémon Center, thinking hard. This was all getting to be too much for two kids. The Pokémon League was obviously aware of these teams, but they likely had no idea of what had just happened. Ivy could tell her dad what had happened, or Brendan could tell his, or they could even ask Professor Cozmo—

He slapped a hand to his forehead, startling Pikachu off of his lap.

“I forgot to ask about the meteorite!”

-

When she woke up, her PokéNav was dead. Once it booted back up there was a barrage of text messages from Brendan. Telling her to tell her dad about what was happening so he could talk to the rest of the Pokémon League, asking if she had gotten the meteorite, and several other things in a rather long series of messages.

Before she could reply to him, her dad’s number flashed on the screen. He’d likely once more been informed about the hospital visit last night.

How did he always know right when to call? She shook her head and let the call fall through. The nurse’s lecture had been enough for her.

(She was also maybe nervous about the topic of when she would be back in Petalburg to battle him. There were still too many fluttering Beautifly in her stomach for her to come up with a quick response.)

Ivy scrolled to Brendan’s messages, texted back yea suer, and left to go get breakfast.

There still weren’t many people staying at Lavaridge’s Pokémon Center despite the fact that the local gym was finally open again after being closed for several months. It didn’t take her long to realize why.

“A tournament?”

Riva, a girl her age who had been talking loudly with her two friends, nodded. “In Mauville. And it’s Mauville, so it’s a big one. Everyone’s left to sign up.”

“Are you guys going to enter?”

Riva nodded while one shook his head and the other grimaced.

“I don’t have any badges yet,” the guy who grimaced, Adam, sheepishly explained. “And I don’t want to compete against a bunch of little kids.”

The second guy, Xander, shrugged. “I prefer Contests.”

“Adam was going to try to get the Heat Badge today, because Mauville’s gym is either going to be closed or packed. Then we were going to rush over and hopefully sign up on time.”

Ivy nodded, thoughts turning over in her head. Part of her still wasn’t sure whether she should head to Petalburg. A tournament though… it’d be good practice for her dad. No one in her skill bracket would compare to him. If she managed to do well, then maybe that would give her the confidence to face her dad?

“Could I travel with you guys? I need to get to Mauville anyways.”

Riva and the two guys shared a look before shrugging.

“Sure.”

“Why not?”

-

The nurse had not been happy about Ivy leaving Lavaridge, and Ivy received a third lecture from her, but she begrudgingly admitted Ivy technically didn’t need to stay behind. A win, though Ivy felt weirdly demoralized about it.

When leaving the room, Ivy whipped her head around when someone in a maroon hoodie passed her. Heartbeat racing all the way back to her room, she tried to calm herself down as she packed.

There wasn’t much she could do about Team Magma or Aqua. Brendan had seemed more proactive about learning about them and their orbs and ancient Pokémon. He was the smart one; it was better to leave it all to him. Brendan would talk to his dad, do his own research, and everything was going to be fine! Ivy wouldn’t have to dwell on those horrible thoughts and memories anymore once she left Lavaridge!

It took Trapinch gently biting her ankle for her to realize she had been staring at the wall instead of making sure she had everything.

By the time Adam came back, flushed with the excitement of getting his very first badge, Ivy had forced all those bad thoughts away and was ready to hit the road.

Her new friends were nice. They were all from Verdanturf and decided to make the trek over the foothills to Lavaridge to avoid the mayhem that would be Mauville during a festival. Adam and Riva both had just one badge each, while Xander had two Contest ribbons.

“Woah, four?” Both Riva and Adam were impressed when she turned to show them the badges pinned to her backpack.

Ivy rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed. She wasn’t used to people looking up to her. At the very least, Riva and Adam got over it quicker than Wally. They passed the few days it took to get to Mauville asking Ivy for advice on the gym leaders she had fought so far, particularly during the afternoon thunderstorms that seemed to pop up every day of their travel. It was kind of awkward at times, but nice. Definitely an improvement from her time on Mt Chimney. Ivy had basically forgotten it had ever happened by the time they made it to Mauville, just like she had hoped. No use dwelling on bad things from the past when she had a tournament to enter!

-

Mauville was always a busy city. In the past decade, it had taken its location at the center of Hoenn to make it a business hub to rival Rustboro. With a huge festival and tournament also going on? It was beyond packed. It seemed like all of the tourists from Slateport came north to participate and watch.

Adam hunched his shoulders and gripped his backpack’s straps. They’d gone to the Mauville City Gym to sign up and the line went out the door.

“Uh, maybe we should—”

Riva rolled her eyes and dragged him forward. “Nope. No Torchic-ing out.”

Ivy was mildly offended on her Pokémon’s behalf. “Torchic are great and very brave Pokémon!”

Riva let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s just a saying! Now let’s get in line.”

It took a while, but they slowly made their way forward. There were two people working at the front desk and Ivy was glad neither was the jerk she’d had to deal with last time she’d been here.

Since it’d been their idea, Ivy let Riva and Adam register first. Soon enough, Ivy was up.

“Hello, are you registering for a gym battle or the Mauville City Summer Solstice Tournament?”

“The tournament, please.”

“Your Trainer ID, please.”

Ivy handed it over and waited while the receptionist typed something then grabbed a small packet.

“Alright, you’ll be competing in the Electrode bracket tomorrow morning.”

“Electrode…?”

The woman pursed her lips, as if she heard that often. “Gym Leader Wattson played a large part in organizing the tournament.”

Okay, yeah, that made sense. Wait…

“Tomorrow?”

Behind her, someone shifted on their feet.

“The tournament starts tomorrow,” the woman slowly explained, as if Ivy were some idiot. Ivy bit her lip to avoid saying something. Man, were any of Wattson’s assistants nice? “Today is the last day to sign up. Now, if you have no more questions…?”

Ivy could get that hint when given alongside the lady’s stink eye.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, grabbing her Trainer ID and packet, and fleeing.

-

Ivy had been to more than a few tournaments, though she’d never participated in one. She’d never owned a Pokémon before Combusken so she had no reason to. Each one was broken into skill level-based brackets depending on how many badges someone had. Small, local tournaments usually had only one or two levels. Big ones like this usually had around five.

She squinted at the packet. The Electrike, Magneton, Electrode, Electivivre, and Zapdos brackets. Yeah, Wattson definitely named these. Ivy would be in Electrode (three to five badges) while her new friends would be in Magneton (one to two badges). Electrike was for no badges and, like Adam had complained about, was usually for ten year olds who wanted to battle but whose parents wouldn’t let them go on a Pokémon journey yet. Electivivre was for people with six to seven badges, while Zapdos was if you had all eight.

And, of course, this sort of thing was completely different to the professional tournament circuit run by the Pokemon League whose season was currently ongoing. Those were how the Pokemon League got enough money to keep the gym circuit running. They had sold out arenas, big names, and primetime TV slots. This was a simple festival tournament for amateurs. It was only this packed because it was being held in Mauville.

The professional tournaments were the main ones Ivy had spectated. Her dad had competed back in Johto’s professional circuit for years before receiving the offer to be a gym leader in Hoenn. He hadn’t entered one in a while even though it wasn’t unusual for gym leaders to compete on the circuit while still holding down their gym. The last one she remembered going to had been held in Lilycove, shortly after they’d moved to Hoenn.

Ivy shook her head. She didn’t want to think about her dad. It just made her nervous and that wasn’t great considering she would be competing in the morning.

-

There were a lot of ways to prepare for a tournament, from researching your opponent, to strategizing and training, to meditation. Ivy did none of those things and decided to just wing it. It wasn’t like she knew who her opponent was, anyways. Sign up ended in the late afternoon, so all the pairs were drawn in the morning before they were meant to battle.

The field for the tournament was set up just outside of Mauville. A large stretch of grass had nearly a dozen battle fields set up, and those fields were surrounded by bleachers for people to watch from. Around the field, dozens of fair vendors had set up booths selling things from food to battle items to clothing. There were also fair games, like ring toss or one of those ones you hit with a mallet to test your strength.

Ivy ghosted a hand over the Poké Ball’s at her waist but didn’t release any of her team. They needed to rest now. They could get food and play games after their match. That takoyaki looked pretty good. Horsea would probably like it.

Riva was the first of their group to battle. It took no trouble at all for Ivy, Adam, and Xander to find seats. The Magneton bracket was probably the biggest bracket, but the least watched. The seats would be packed in the evening though, when the Zapdos matches started.

Her new friend was decent. Riva’s opponent also had only one badge, so there wasn’t any clear winner from skill level alone. She managed to beat him with her Skitty and Numel.

“How was it?” Adam nervously asked as Riva returned from healing her Pokémon, a smile on her face.

“Fun! Way different feel than a gym battle or a casual one.”

Adam was the next to compete at a different field. His match was shakier.

Over the week or so they’d been a group, it became clear to Ivy that Adam was doing the gym challenge because Riva and Xander wanted to travel, and he had no interest in Contests. He was always tense during battles or training. She’d never say so out loud, but if he got more than four badges before quitting, Ivy would be surprised.

He also faced off against a one badge opponent. His opponent’s only Pokémon was a Roselia, not a good match up for her against Adam’s Volbeat and Illumise. Still, two he only barely managed to eke out a win.

Adam wasn’t nearly as cheerful as Riva when he returned from healing his Pokémon.

“That went terribly,” he muttered, not looking up.

“Could’ve been better,” Riva admitted while Xander shrugged.

“There’s always the next round to do better in!” Ivy chimed in with, trying to be more positive than his friends.

Adam didn’t look reassured.

-

Her match was last, right around lunchtime. There were more people in the stands, though that was probably because it being midday just meant more people out and about rather than any interest in watching amateur trainers battle.

The referee let out a sharp whistle. “This match will be a three-on-three battle between Trainers Ivy and Tanner! There will be no substitutions or trainer-based healing allowed. Are you both ready?”

Ivy gave a thumbs up and a grin. “Yup!”

Her opponent, Tanner, nodded.

The referee took a step back, standing next to a Spoink. “Then, begin!”

At the second whistle, Ivy tossed Combusken’s Poké Ball out. On the other side of the field, a Grovyle appeared. Ivy grinned. The first matchup was in her favor!

“Alright! Flame Charge!”

As she spoke, Combusken ran, flames flickering over his body as he did.

“Agility into Leaf Blade!”

Faster than Combusken could turn, the Grovyle dodged. Combusken hopped a few times as the flames sputtered out around his body. Before he could start up again, the Grovyle rushed in, its arm leaves glowing from Leaf Blade.

The attack didn’t affect Combusken much, but it wasn’t a good start. Well, if Tanner wanted to play the speed game…

“Aerial Ace!”

Moving just as fast as Grovyle, Combusken darted forward to meet Grovyle in the middle of the field. Ivy squinted. The two Pokémon were moving so quickly it was hard to tell what was happening. Within seconds, the spar ended, Grovyle being struck by Combusken’s glowing arm and thrown across the pitch.

“Grovyle! Get on up! Another Leaf Blade!”

“Flame Charge while it’s down!”

Significantly less injured, Combusken moved first. The flames gathered quicker this time, and Grovyle was barely able to dodge the attack. More used to using Flame Charge in a proper battle now, Combusken pivoted. It wasn’t very elegant, but he was able to keep the flames around him from going out. He charged forward once more.

Grovyle, however injured, was still very fast. It was able to dodge all of Combusken’s charges.

Ivy bit her lip. Combusken would tire out soon from keeping Flame Charge going for so long.

“Combusken! Aerial Ace!”

With a drop of his shoulders, the fire extinguished itself. With Aerial Ace, Combusken was the faster one. He quickly hit Grovyle.

“Now Ember!”

Combusken released a jet of flames far stronger than usual for an Ember, eliciting a few gasps from the small audience. Ivy grinned. The fire Combusken spat out was impressive. Ember was well on its way to becoming Flamethrower.

With Grovyle on the ground from the Aerial Ace, it didn’t have time to dodge.

“Grovyle is unable to battle! Trainer Tanner, please send in your next Pokémon!”

With a grimace, he returned Grovyle and sent out his second Pokémon: Golbat.

Ivy frowned and returned Combusken to the tittering of the crowd. She had a better choice for a Flying type.

Mightyena appeared on the field, wagging her tail.

A whistle blew, signaling the start of the next round.

“Golbat, up high!”

“Mightyena, Return!”

The Golbat flew up high, but that wasn’t a problem. With a glow spiraling over her heart, Mightyena charged forward. As she ran, the glowing spiral spread. Golbat flew up higher, beating its wings erratically, but that meant nothing to Mightyena. With a leap empowered by their mutual friendship and love, she managed to practically soar into the air, ramming her head into the Golbat.

The Golbat crashed down, while Mightyena landed nimbly.

“Thunder Fang!”

Mightyena took no prisoners. While it struggled to get back into the air, she leapt forward, jaws already crackling with electricity. Savagely biting down, she held it in her mouth until it fell limp from the continuous electric shocks. Tanner shouted commands all throughout, but it was no use.

“Golbat is unable to battle. Trainer Tanner, please send in your last Pokémon!”

Tanner looked pissed off now. Jerkily, he threw out his third Poké Ball. Linoone appeared and Ivy nodded. This Linoone would be nowhere as good as her dads, but it’d be good practice.

At the third whistle, Ivy and Tanner called out their commands.

“Bite!”

“Grass Knot!”

Before Mightyena could get far, thick blades of grass grew up and tangled itself in her legs. With a yelp, she tumbled headfirst onto the ground.

“Fury Swipes!”

Despite most people thinking of them as either pets or pests, Linoone were startingly good in battle because they were fast. Before Mightyena could even get one leg free, Linoone was on her, claws out.

Her poor pooch howled as she was hit, struggling hard to free her legs.

“Don’t move! Linoone’s right there! Bite whenever it comes to attack!”

The other thing about Linoone was that they were all very physically orientated attackers who struggled with learning special attacks unless you splurged for some expensive TM’s. With how pale Tanner had gone, Ivy’s guess that Grass Knot was its only ranged move was correct.

“Linoone! Stay out of range of Bite!”

Tanner’s order was a double edge sword. Linoone wouldn’t be attacked, but Mightyena was able to free herself from the Grass Knot.

With a Howl, she leapt forward.

“Grass Knot!”

Linoone obliged, but Mightyena was prepared for the move now that she knew it existed. Deftly, she jumped over the blades of grass reaching for her. She wasn’t able to Bite the Linoone, it was too quick, but she avoided being tangled a second time.

The chase went on for some time. Mightyena trying to Bite Linoone who was simply too fast to be caught.

They hadn’t practiced this move in a while, but Mightyena should still have the muscle memory for it.

“Odor Sleuth!”

Mightyena pulled to a stop and closed her eyes. Sniffing the air, her ear with the notch in it twitched causing it to flop inwards. After two sniffs, she leapt back into the fray. This time, Bite hit.

Linoone yowled.

“Fury Swipes!”

Neck still caught in Mightyena’s jaw, Linoone clawed her chest and sides.

Howling in pain, Mightyena dropped Linoone.

“Don’t let it get away! Assurance!”

Slower than usual from the pain, Mightyena used her whole body to shove Linoone. Despite the rather frail looking shove, Linoone went flying. It didn’t get back up.

“Trainer Tanner is out of usable Pokémon! Trainer Ivy is the winner!”

Ivy punched the air. “Woo!”

Tired, but with her tail wagging slightly, Mightyena let out a woo of her own. With a smile, Ivy returned her tired Pokémon and walked to the center of the field to shake Tanner’s hand.

“Good battle!”

He didn’t look at her and left immediately. The referee stopped him, mentioning something about an extra spot for the top sixteen he could compete for if he wanted. Ivy, however, was free to visit the healing machine set up by the field then head into the stands to find her new friend group.

“Wow! That was awesome!”

Ivy beamed at Riva. “Thanks!”

Riva and Adam both had awed expressions on their faces. Even Xander looked reluctantly impressed.

“I didn’t realize you were that good.”

Ivy shuffled awkwardly as she sat down. “Nah, I’m pretty average. I think I heard them say he had only three badges.”

“Still,” Riva insisted. She looked around as another pair entered the field. “You guys wanna get lunch then?”

-

Ivy had quite a bit of fun at the fair booths surrounding the tournament. Littleroot was small enough that it never had even half the number of tents and booths at any of its fairs. Combusken was delighted by the strength game, while Mightyena chowed down on a frankly ridiculous amount of food.

The battles were also something else to watch.

The tournament was set up so all the more “boring” matches (the ones between people with fewer badges) happened in the morning, leaving the bigger matches for the late afternoon. By then, people would be out of work or school and ready to unwind by watching Pokémon battles.

And they didn’t disappoint. Professionals weren’t allowed in the Zapdos bracket, but that didn’t make it any less fascinating to watch. She was ecstatic to see that Connor was participating. Looked like he’d won his battle against Winona. She made sure to cheer his name extra loud. He seemed to recognize her and gave a wave before his battle started. He didn’t win, unfortunately, but it’d been awesome to see his Kecleon in action again. It wasn’t a Pokémon typically seen in the competitive circuit, but it more than held its own against its opponents.

That night before bed, she made sure to give both Combusken and Mightyena extra treats and pets for doing so well. If all her matches went as well, maybe it was even possible for her to make it to the finals! Wouldn’t that be awesome? If she won, then she’d finally be ready to face her dad, Ivy was sure of it.

Chapter Text

Riva did well in her second match. The poor guy had two grass types who were swept entirely by her Numel.

Adam didn’t do as well.

Riva bragging about her win and how her friends would also do fantastic seemed to have gotten to him. He already had poor nerves, but he just couldn’t seem to focus at all. It didn’t take long for his bugs to fall to his opponents Poochyena.

“Sorry,” was the first thing he said once he returned to them, his Pokémon healed.

Riva, for once, forewent her usual abrasive nature. “Hey, it wasn’t that bad.”

“It’s a learning experience,” Ivy added on. “My dad always says that losing is just a reason to reevaluate what you’re doing, find flaws in your strategy, and train even harder! That with proper determination and willpower, even if it takes a while, you can beat any foe!” She hit a fist against the palm of her hand for emphasis.

Adam didn’t look cheered up.

Xander clapped him on the shoulder. “Yeah, yeah, all that motivational stuff is fine, but y’know what?” They paused dramatically. “Suck it up and stop being a sore loser.”

That, at least, got a laugh from Adam.

-

“This will be a three-on-three match between Trainer Mason and Trainer Ivy. No substitutions or trainer-based healing during battle. Are the trainers ready?”

“Yeah!”

“Yup!”

A whistle blew. “Begin!”

Ivy sent out Combusken while the girl across the field sent out a very cute Bellossom. She couldn’t help but coo a bit.

“Aww! Okay, Flame Charge!”

“Sleep Powder!”

Ivy’s eyes widened. That wasn’t good.

“Cut the Flame Charge! Use Ember to burn the Sleep Powder!”

Combusken, with an annoyed grunt, stopped his charge abruptly. Using the flames surrounding his body, he directed them outwards towards the glittering cloud of dust Bellossom had thrown with a twirl.

“Acid!”

With another twirl of its grass skirt, Bellossom tossed out a hissing jet of acid with a sweet chirp.

Combusken jumped back, but some of the acid hit his clawed feet. With a squawk, he drew back further.

Ivy frowned. This reminded her of her battle with Wattson, albeit with other status effects. Combusken preferred melee fighting over ranged attacks, but both of her ranged fighters were weak to Grass moves. She’d have to rely on Ember. Or perhaps…

“Poison Powder!”

Combusken didn’t need to be told to burn the cloud of poison, doing it himself with another weak Ember.

“We need to finish this quickly, Combusken! Flamethrower!”

Taking a deep breath, Combusken let loose a jet of intense flames to the cheers of the small crowd. It wasn’t really a Flamethrower yet, but the intimidation factor of calling out Flamethrower could make her opponent pause. The move went on for several seconds, Combusken doing his best to make Bellossom faint as soon as possible. As the flames died down, it revealed a mostly intact Bellossom, panting as it dropped a Protect.

The crowd cheered louder at that.

“We need to be quick! Aerial Ace!”

It was obvious that it had taken a lot out of Bellossom to hold up the Protect for so long. Either it had only learned it recently or they didn’t practice the move often. It was panting and barely able to defend itself as Combusken shot forward, his body glowing.

Combusken rammed into Bellossom feet first, sending the Grass type flying into the psychic barrier provided by a bouncing Spoink by the referee. Still, it got back up.

“Another one!”

“Poison Powder!”

It took no time for Combusken to reach Bellossom, tossing it once more through the air. It fell limp halfway through its flight, but not before managing to spray out a small cloud of glittering purple particles. At that close of a range, Combusken had no way to dodge the poison.

A whistle blew. “Bellossom is unable to battle! Trainer Mason, please send out your next Pokémon.”

Mason had a smirk on her face. Ivy could understand why. Combusken was stumbling back to their side of the field, already visibly straining from the poison. Ivy held up his Poké Ball, but he shook his head. She hesitated before slowly lowering her arm. Combusken hadn’t been happy yesterday about being switched out. Ivy knew he preferred fighting to the faint, but this wasn’t going to be pretty. Still, she let him do what he wanted.

Her opponent giggled as she let out her next Pokémon. It didn’t make any noise as it appeared, just floated eerily.

Ivy raised her eyebrows as the small crowd broke into hushed conversation. She’d never seen a Shedinja in person.

On the whistle, both sides yelled out their commands.

“Phantom Force!”

“We only need one hit! Ember!”

Mason smile fell at Ivy’s declaration. Apparently, she’d been banking on Ivy not knowing about Shedinja’s ability, Wonder Guard. Shedinja was immune to nearly all types of attacks, except those considered super effective, with the trade-off being that only one hit would take it down. Even the world’s saddest, most pathetic Ember would take it out.

Shedinja floated downwards, merging into its shadow as it reached the ground. Combusken’s Ember hit right as it disappeared fully. Before he could turn around, Shedinja materialized out of his shadow, surging forward, surrounded by ghostly energies.

Combusken stumbled. The silent Ghost type did more damage than it looked like it could dish out. He whirled around, fire bursting from his beak, but Shedinja had already disappeared back into his shadow.

This dance continued for some time. Shedinja silently disappeared and reappeared from shadows as Combusken tried to land a hit. All the while, Combusken stumbled around, his poisoning from earlier making him weaker and weaker.

No one was surprised when he fainted, unable to land a hit on the annoying Shedinja.

Ivy ground her teeth as the referee did his bit. Mason looked way too smug on the other side of the field. Well, whatever. She still had another Pokémon that could take down the stupid Bug.

“Mightyena! We need to be quick!” The whistle blew. “Odor Sleuth!”

Mightyena closed her eyes to sniff as Shedinja disappeared once more. As it rose from her shadow, she whirled around. Before it could disappear back down, her jaws were around it in a Bite.

Naturally, Shedinja immediately fainted.

The smug smirk fell from Mason’s face. Good.

She sent out her third Pokémon, and Ivy made the executive decision to recall Mightyena for her third Pokémon to the titters of the crowd. Just like Mightyena had been the better choice against Golbat yesterday due to practice, Horsea would be a better choice against a Lairon after all the Aron she’d practiced against back in Granite Cave.

Ivy was tired of Mason and her tricks.

“Harden!”

“Surf!”

The crowd ooh’ed.

While Lairon gleamed, Horsea let out a stream of water. As it touched the ground it bubbled, turning the compact dirt of the field into water.

Surf was a strong move, but even with practice it took quite a while for Horsea to set up. When she evolved or if they ever battled next to a body of water it would be quicker, but for now they had to survive the wait.

Mason wasn’t letting them wait.

“Rock Tomb!”

Dirt from the other side of the field levitated, condensing into rocks before being tossed at Horsea. Still focused on getting Surf strong enough, she wobbled as she floated around trying to dodge the downpour of rocks.

But it’s hard to multitask. A rock hit her, sending her down to the ground.

Surf bubbled around her, beginning to fizzle out as she lost concentration.

“Horsea! You can do it! I know you can!”

Horsea closed her eyes and struggled to float back to her original position. More of the water from Surf evaporated or returned to being wet dirt.

Then, there was a glow on Ivy’s side of the field. The crowd went wild as Horsea’s small body was consumed by light and began to grow larger.

Ivy squealed and pumped a fist in the air. “I know you’ve got this!”

As the glow faded, Seadra shook her head and let out a loud trill. As she did, the water below her doubled in size, before rushing towards the stationary Lairon at an alarming speed.

“Lairon—” was all Mason could get out before her Pokémon was engulfed.

The entire battle pitch was flooded. You could see the walls of the square forcefield the Spoink had set up for moments like this. Ivy hopped from one foot to another, beyond excited. Surf had been decent before, but now it would be a threat.

Slowly, the waves receded and…

“Trainer Mason is out of usable Pokémon! Trainer Ivy has won the battle!”

Ivy punched the air again, letting out a shout. Seadra let out a trill of her own before rushing over. Ivy barely had time to open her mouth before her now very large dragon Pokémon knocked her over.

Seadra immediately floated up, letting out a series of panicked whinnies.

Ivy just laughed. “You’ll get used to your new size eventually!”

-

Once her Pokémon were healed, Ivy retired to her room in the Pokémon Center early to let her team celebrate the win and Seadra’s evolution. She’d picked up lunch and some Pokéblocks on her way back, whistling as she did.

Not only had she won, but Seadra evolved! Joining this tournament had been a fantastic idea!

She let out her team, letting them get the excitement at Seadra’s new form out, then began to serve the food.

The early afternoon went by peacefully. Seadra was slightly too big for cuddles now (she was almost as big as Ivy was) but she still stuck close to Ivy’s side. Right as Ivy was getting ready to leave (it was almost time for the Zapdos bracket matches!) her PokéNav vibrated. Seeing as it was Brendan and not one of her parents, Ivy had no problem answering.

“Hey! Guess what happened? Horsea evolved into Seadra!”

“Oh, congrats. Are you in Petalburg?”

Ivy didn’t let that drop her mood.

“No, Mauville. I’m competing in a tournament! It’s been pretty fun so far!”

She could practically hear Brendan’s frown. “Have you at least talked to your dad?”

Absolutely not! “About what?”

“About-? Ivy! About those Magma and Aqua guys! I thought I texted you to tell him about it!”

That did sound familiar. She’d assumed Brendan would’ve taken care of it by now, but that might’ve been a bit of a mistake.

“I-I just…”

“Just…?”

Brendan would not like her answer. Ivy winced before his reply could even come. “I just… I’ve been ignoring his calls.”

“What!? Why?”

“He’s my next gym battle! He promised! And I’ve been a bit nervous because I don’t want to do badly and disappoint him!”

There was a brief silence on the end of the line and Ivy closed her eyes. She could feel Mightyena brush against her lower legs, as if giving her energy to get through this conversation.

“Are you kidding me?! That’s it? Ivy! They almost killed Professor Cozmo! Whoever or whatever they are, they’re way more important than some stupid badge!”

“It’s important to me,” Ivy mumbled.

She hated fighting. She wanted to get angry and argue with Brendan but things like that just didn’t come naturally to her. Couldn’t they just agree to disagree, and Ivy could tell her dad what was up when she got to Petalburg? Whenever that was? Was it so bad that she didn’t want to think about groups who had shown no problem with attacking children or shoving people off cliffs?

Okay, maybe Brendan had a point.

Maybe she was avoiding some things. Many things.

Also, apparently, he was still ranting. Ivy tuned back in.

“…I thought you had talked to someone! We talked to the police, but who knows if they bothered to tell the League! We can’t control what they do, but you were in Lavaridge! Which has a gym! And you have a gym leader on speed dial! Not to mention, you’re the only one who knows exactly what happened. But all you’ve done is enter some stupid tournament?”

“Brendan…”

“No! I don’t want to talk to you ever again!”

With a deafening click, the other line went silent.

Ivy sat down on her bed. She didn’t feel like going out to watch matches anymore.

Seadra nudged Ivy’s shoulder with her snout. Ivy shook her head, but still put her arms around the Pokémon. The cool scales felt good against her bare arms, but they couldn’t bring Ivy out of her thoughts.

I don’t want to talk to you ever again!

That hurt more than it should have.

Ivy had lots of friends, but Brendan was probably the only person she was truly close to, besides her parents and Pokémon. If he refused to speak to her, she wasn’t sure what she’d do.

Combusken squawked, pounding one set of curled talons onto the palm of his other hand.

Ivy sighed. “No, you can’t beat him up. He…”

He was right, she didn’t say.

But he was.

Ivy should’ve known better. Her dad was a gym leader. There were times when you had to put away your selfish desires in order to help the community. A year or so after they’d moved to Hoenn, they’d planned a short trip back to Olivine to visit a family member who was in the hospital. But right before they were supposed to leave, a small earthquake hit southwestern Hoenn. As the Petalburg City Gym Leader, Norman stayed behind to help take care of the aftereffects, even though it meant not being able to see them one last time.

Her dad hadn’t complained about it. It was his duty to help people.

Just like it had been Ivy’s duty to report to someone about what had happened on Mt Chimney. She was the only person to hear their plans, which meant she was the only person who could tell others what was happening.

Ivy let go of Seadra and brought her knees up to her chest. Seadra trilled sadly, but floated away to where Trapinch was napping in a sunbeam.

Brendan was right.

But she still couldn’t quite bring herself to call her dad.

-

Ivy bombed her third match.

Neither her heart nor her head was in it. Brendan’s anger at her from the night before just kept running through her head.

But all you’ve done is enter some stupid tournament?

Losing didn’t help her bleak mood. She let Brendan down and now she had let her Pokémon down.

Once her team was healed, she stalked off, not even dropping by her new friends to tell them she was leaving. There was one pitch not being used, its stands completely empty. She marched up to the top since that seemed like a pretty good place to brood.

Not that Ivy was very good at brooding. After ten minutes she kind of forgot why she’d climbed up there after staring intently at a flock of Wingull roosting on one of the larger festival tents.

“Wahahaha! Trying to become a Wingull as well?”

Ivy jerked out of her reverie. Blinking a few times (her eyes had gone dry from the staring) she looked down.

At the base of the bleachers was Wattson.

Not wanting to yell when so many people could hear, she carefully hopped down.

“As well?”

He nodded sagely, a huge grin on his face. “Winona likes to come by every so often and stand on top of the mall’s radio towers when the Wingull flock is roosting there. Says it helps her understand Flying types better.”

That made no sense, but Ivy nodded. “Uh, no. I was trying to brood.”

He raised an eyebrow at that. “Brood?”

“Yeah. I don’t think I’m very good at it, though.”

He let out a booming laugh at that. “No, you don’t seem the type. Did you lose?”

Ivy winced. “Yeah, but that wasn’t the reason why?”

“Ohoho?” He sat down on the bench and patted the spot next to him. “If you don’t mind telling an old coot your problems, I might have some advice for whatever it is.”

Gears slowly began grinding in her head. Wattson was a gym leader…

She shook her head before sitting down. That kind of avoidance was exactly what had gotten her in this situation in the first place.

Though she really should tell someone sooner than later. Wattson would have to do.

“You know my dad…”

“Good ol’ Norman! He pretends he doesn’t like my jokes, but I know he finds them hilarious.” He let out a chuckle.

Ivy wasn’t so sure, but she didn’t argue.

“We had a deal that we’d only battle after I got four badges, which I’ve got. But now that I do, I’ve been nervous and putting it off and ignoring all of his and my mom’s calls because I don’t want to face him then lose.”

“And that’s got you trying to roost like a Wingull?”

She shook her head. “No…” she swallowed, unsure of how to continue. She never had a problem dealing with Team Aqua or Magma whenever she came across them—she had no choice in the matter during the fights. But after? She didn’t like dwelling on bad things. Bad things should be left in the past and forgotten. That was her philosophy in life.

But that’s not always a choice.

What had Xander said the other day? Suck it up?

Ivy sucked it up.

“You’ve probably heard about Team Aqua?”

Wattson leaned forward, smile gone. She’d never seen him look so serious before. Haltingly, she described her run in with Team Magma and Team Aqua on Mt Chimney. Wattson didn’t say anything, just stroked his beard as she spoke.

“Super-ancient Pokémon, you said?”

Ivy nodded. “Do you know what that is?”

Wattson shook his head and let out a chuckle. “No, no, unfortunately. I’ve never been one for history or myths. Science is much more my forte. After having been the one to deal with the attempted theft in Slateport, Wallace has been the one assigned to Team Aqua, eheheheh. He, at least, is more than well versed in Hoenn’s history and myths. Even if I don’t know, I’m sure he’ll have some idea.” He patted her knee. “Even if it took a while to speak up, you did good telling someone.”

Ivy took a deep breath. That was one thing off her conscious. She’d have to text Brendan later that she told someone, albeit Wattson instead of her dad.

“And on the other thing…”

She blinked. “Other thing?”

“Wahaha, you already forgot? I thought only old men like me were supposed to be so forgetful!”

Ivy rubbed the back of her neck, cheeks flushing slightly. “I’ve never been good at remembering stuff…”

Wattson just let out another booming laugh. “Ah, you and me both.” He shook his head, back to grinning. “I was talking about your fifth gym badge.”

Oh, right. She had started off the conversation with that, hadn’t she?

“Well, have you been so worried about losing during any of your other gym battles? What was your mindset then that let you win?”

Ivy shrugged. “I dunno? I was just excited to battle so I ran in and scheduled a battle then and there.”

Wattson raised an eyebrow. “Are you not excited to battle your father?”

“No! I’m really excited! I’ve been waiting to do it for years! I’m just also really nervous.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s my dad! He’ll be disappointed if I don’t win…”

“Will he? Or do you just think he’ll be disappointed.” Wattson leaned in and loudly whispered the next part. “Don’t tell him I said this, but none of us gym leaders buy into his stoic act anymore. Not after he spent nearly ten minutes bragging about you at a meeting.”

“He did?” How embarrassing…

“Wahaha! Absolutely! Now, does that sound like someone who’d be disappointed in you if you lost one battle? Even if it was against him?”

Slowly, Ivy shook her head.

“There we go! Now channel all that energy and excitement that let you win those other battles and show Norman what you’re made of!”

Ivy jumped to her feet. Wattson’s positive energy was helping bring back her own.

“Yeah! No more brooding attempts! I’ll go right to Petalburg and challenge him! I can’t let some stupid overthinking ruin something I’ve been looking forward to for forever.”

Wattson gave a few claps. “That’s the spirit!”

She gave him a beaming smile. “Thanks for the help! I should probably get going now.”

He gave her a loose salute. “Thank you for your information. I hope you beat Norman soundly! Wahahaha!”

-

Ivy checked out of her room in the Pokémon Center immediately. If she hurried and left now, she’d probably be able to make it to Slateport by tomorrow afternoon and get an overnight boat to Petalburg. Feeling guilty at ditching her new friends so suddenly, she sent a text to Riva apologizing for it.

Two days later, as her boat neared Petalburg, her PokéNav vibrated in her backpack. Ivy brought it out and smiled.

Good on Riva for managing to come second after only a month or so of training. Hopefully Ivy would have similar luck once she landed in Petalburg.

Chapter Text

Petalburg City’s port was small. It wasn’t a business or trading center like Rustboro or Slateport, just a city that had grown organically from a strategically placed town. Not too rocky, not too forested, and by the water; a perfect place to live and work.

Ivy had been to Petalburg hundreds of times before. Both Littleroot and Oldale were rather small, so getting certain items meant going further away. Ivy always begged to come along, loving adventure and travel, and her parents usually agreed. She didn’t know her way around like a native, but she knew it well enough. Taking a shortcut or two, within twenty minutes she was standing outside her dad’s gym.

She wasn’t the only one.

Standing right in front of the entrance alongside a short man with sandy brown hair, was Wally.

He held up a badge, beaming.

“See! I told you and Uncle I could do it!”

The man (Wally’s dad?) smiled indulgently. “It was better than I thought, I have to say. You’ve got the beginnings of quite the team. Maybe we can ask your mom’s brother for some tips…”

Wally’s eyes brightened even further at that.

Ivy was close enough now that speaking up wouldn’t seem like eavesdropping. “Hey, Wally!”

Both turned towards her, Wally sucking in a deep breath as he did.

“Ivy!” He tugged on the sleeve of his dad’s shirt. “Dad! This is Ivy!”

His dad gave her an appraising look. “I see.”

Wally really had blabbed about her to everyone and their Poochyena, huh?

Ivy shuffled her feet and gave them a wide smile to cover up her awkwardness. “Nice to meet ya! I heard you went off on a Pokémon journey, Wally. How many badges do you have?”

“Two! Rustboro and Petalburg!” He nearly shoved his Balance Badge into her face in his eagerness. “And Ralts is now a Kirlia and I have a Skitty and a Budew and a Swablu!”

That was a pretty good team—many elite trainers favored Roserade, and a Dragon type in Altaria was nothing to sneeze at.

“That’s awesome! Are you going to be in Petalburg for long?”

Wally exchanged a look with his dad.

“He wants to go off to the next gym,” his dad interjected, “but if he doesn’t visit his mother once, she’ll be very disappointed. We only ran across each other by coincidence.”

Wally seemed to wilt under his dad’s look. It seemed he’d been so eager to get his badges he’d forgotten about visiting family. Ivy more than understood, but she had to set a good example.

“Ah, you better visit your mom then! I’m planning to go back to Littleroot when I’m done here and visit mine.”

Wally’s mouth opened in a little o. “You don’t have Mr. Norman’s badge?”

She shook her head. “Nah. We had an agreement that I’d only battle him after a certain amount of badges so we could battle on nearly equal footing.”

Not totally equal—he was still a veteran trainer with years of experience. But more equal than him being her first ever badge.

Wally clapped his hands together, eyes glittering. He turned to his dad. “Before we go visit Mom, can we watch? Please?” He turned back to Ivy, panicked. “I mean! I-if you’re okay with it!”

Ivy shrugged. She knew that any of the gym trainers who weren’t busy would probably be watching their match. What more was Wally and his dad?

Wally turned his Baby-Doll Eyes back to his dad who just sighed.

“If everyone’s okay with it, then fine.”

Wally clapped excitedly, hopping from one foot to the other. Ivy tried not to grimace. Shoving down the fluttering Beautifly, she walked into the Petalburg Gym. It was now or never.

-

Alexia grinned as Ivy marched in, all faux confidence.

“Ivy! We’ve all been wondering when you’d get here. I’m assuming you want a battle?”

“Of course!”

“Good! Norman’s not busy, so you should be able to go back now.”

Mechanically, Ivy went through the movements of signing up for a gym battle. Alexia made a small humming noise near the end.

“Is something wrong?”

Alexia shook her head. “No, Norman just made a note on your ID number saying you can forgo battling a gym trainer and head straight back to him. We’d all been wondering if he had something special cooked up for you, and it seems like it.”

“Oh.”

Ivy didn’t know how she felt about that. She didn’t want special treatment, but it was her dad. She wanted to battle him now; the less time she had to waste on someone else the better.

“Anyways, go on ahead.” Alexia winked at her. “We’re all rooting for you!”

-

Norman smiled as she made her way to the gym leader battle pitch. The few benches around the field were filled with the gym trainers working that day, plus Wally, his Kirlia, and his dad.

Ivy ignored them. She was here to battle her dad. She wouldn’t let nerves overcome her like they had before.

“I’m glad you’ve made your way back to Petalburg, Ives.” He frowned at her suddenly, causing Ivy to stiffen. Had she done something wrong? “We have a few things to talk about after, specifically about making and ignoring phone calls, but those can wait.”

Ah, right. Yeah, she deserved the frown for that.

She tugged on one of her Tepig-tails and grinned sheepishly. “Alright.”

One of the gym trainers, Jody, stepped forward. Given the whistle around her neck and the Girafarig by her side, she was the referee for their match.

Norman cleared his throat, speaking before Jody could. “This will be slightly different from a normal five badge battle. No switching, as usual, but I’ll only be using three Pokémon instead of four.”

Ivy clenched a fist. Was her dad not taking her seriously? She didn’t want him to go easy on her.

He glanced at Jody before continuing. “Technically, I am not supposed to really be doing this. We have the badge levels for a reason.” A small smile stole over his face. “But there can always be an exception or two. If you will.”

Jody nodded and blew a whistle.

To Ivy’s surprise, a Pidgeot materialized on the field. All those nerves turned to excitement. The only Pidgeot he had was a member of his personal team. Her dad was taking her seriously!

Pidgeot was one of his oldest Pokémon, one of the ones he had used back in his days as a teenaged trainer going through the gym challenge in Johto. Ivy hadn’t seen him in a serious battle since she was a toddler—the Flying type had been severely injured in some event Norman was tight-lipped about, alongside getting up there in years. He wasn’t as fast as he was before, nor as capable of taking a hit.

Still, he was one of her dad’s oldest and most well-trained Pokémon. Strategy was going to be their forte.

With a deep breath, Ivy sent out Seadra.

“Tailwind.”

“Twister!”

Immediately, the battlefield became engulfed in howling winds. Behind Girafarig’s psychic barrier Ivy’s bangs barely fluttered, but she could see Seadra hunker down to avoid being swept up into the air.

Norman narrowed his eyes. “Quick Attack.”

It looked like Pidgeot had barely moved from his spot in the air. The only indication he had attacked was Seadra reeling backwards with a trill, the winds around her briefly slowing down from her break in concentration.

Seadra shook her head and regained control of her tornado. With a loud squeak, she set it free to terrorize the battlefield.

Pidgeot managed to avoid being sucked in, but he couldn’t attack while he dodged. The high winds kicked up the packed clay ground of the battlefield. Visibly straining, Seadra intensified the roaring winds of Twister, enlarging the tornado.

With a squawk, Pidgeot was sucked in.

Now that Pidgeot was inside, he wouldn’t only be buffeted by the intense winds, but also the Dragon type energy that let Seadra control its path. He tumbled around, wings beating uselessly in an attempt to get free.

Norman said nothing, merely crossed his arms and leaned back.

Ivy was grinning. This was going better than expected! “Great! Let Twister go and Ice Beam as quickly as you can!”

As quickly as they’d sprung up, the harsh winds evaporated. Pidgeot squawked as he tried to regain his balance in the air, only to be hit by a bright beam of ice. He tumbled to the ground.

“Yeah! Again!”

Across the field, Norman scoffed. “Now that you’ve gotten back into the groove of battling, let’s get serious. Double Team.”

Right as the second Ice Beam would have hit, a dozen Pidgeot spread out over the battlefield. Ice Beam harmlessly went through its original target, merely destroying a copy instead of hitting the original.

Ivy bit her lip. Twister or Surf would be good to hit and dissipate all the copies, but Seadra probably didn’t have the strength to do either move quickly enough. They’d expended too much energy on their first move.

“Use a weak Bubblebeam to find the real one!”

“Feather Dance into Hyper Beam.”

Ivy’s eyes widened.

All the Pidgeot took to the air. Swooping and twirling gracefully around Seadra’s erratic Bubblebeam, every copy released a swarm of feathers into the air. Most of them disappeared as they fell, but enough floated down to cover Seadra in a layer of feathers. She whinnied and tried to shake them off.

“Seadra, no! Just move!”

But it was too late. It had been a while since Pidgeot had been in battle, but Hyper Beam wasn’t a move you forgot how to use easily. Pidgeot released a beam of too-bright light that forced Ivy to look away even with the psychic barrier blunting its light.

Ivy covered her eyes and her heart fell when she opened them. Seadra had fainted. Ivy returned her, chewing on her lip.

“Good job,” she muttered. On the field, a singular Pidgeot landed and, without waiting for Norman’s order, started to Roost. Not good.

Fumbling slightly in her haste, she swapped out Seadra’s Poké Ball for a different one. Mightyena appeared on the field with a Howl. Good.

“Quickly! Return into Thunder Fang!”

Roost helped a Pokémon heal its injuries and fatigue, but it left the Pokémon more vulnerable to attacks than most other healing moves.

Through the power of friendship, Mightyena raced forward, a glow spreading over her starting at the area around her heart. Pidgeot barely had time to move before Mightyena slammed into him. Mightyena didn’t let him out of reach either. As she made contact, she bit down right below the bird Pokémon’s head, tendrils of electricity already bursting from her jaws.

Pidgeot spasmed in her grasp, but she didn’t let go until he fell limp, pumping out electricity all the while. When he dematerialized out of Mightyena’s jaws, she threw her head up and let out a Howl of triumph.

Ivy punched the air. “Yeah! Exactly like that!”

A hint of a smile tugged at Norman’s lips. “A good showing so far! But there’s still two of my Pokémon left.”

Without another word, he released a Linoone.

Her dad had a frankly ridiculous number of Linoone. He’d never admit it out loud, but she knew that he found Zigzagoon incredibly cute and tended to catch any one he came across that showed promise. Ivy didn’t recognize this Linoone by sight, but she’d probably know which it was once the battle started.

“Belly Drum.”

Oh, shit.

“Mightyena! Return into Bite, now!”

Her dad only had two Linoone that knew Belly Drum—one on his personal team and one he used for upper-level gym battles. His personal Linoone was surprisingly small for a battling Pokémon, so this had to be his gym Linoone.

Linoone stood on her hindlegs and smacked her arms against her belly. Ivy couldn’t hear the reverberations, but she could see them echoing around the arena. Mightyena briefly stumbled in her charge towards Linoone.

“Headbutt.”

That brief stumble was enough. Linoone shot forward, more than used to the damage she took from using Belly Drum. While Mightyena got back to her feet, the glow from Return fading, ever speedy Linoone rammed into her.

Mightyena was thrown back. For a second, Ivy thought she might be down, but her poor pooch unsteadily rose to her feet.

“Mightyena, change direction every few seconds! Bite if you can!”

That was how you dealt with a Linoone: they could only run in a straight line. Even her dad’s ridiculously strong and fast ones had to slow down to change direction. It was a biological quirk that Ivy needed to exploit.

“Linoone, hold. Find the perfect moment to Headbutt.”

Norman settled back after he spoke, his face neutral.

Whisker’s twitching, Linoone settled down, intently watching Mightyena race around her.

It was a trap. Both Mightyena and Linoone were physical attackers. Either Mightyena wore herself out running or she got close to attack and the faster Linoone struck. It was Trapinch versus Manectric all over again.

Well, Ivy had won that match. Maybe a similar strategy wouldn’t go too badly.

“Snarl!”

Still running, Mightyena let out a cacophony of barks. Linoone winced and shook her head.

“Now, Bite!”

Mightyena dashed forward. Linoone was faster, even disorientated from Snarl, but Mightyena managed to Bite one of her hind legs.

Linoone let out a howl of pain and wrenched her leg free. Faster than Ivy could shout a command, she rammed her head into Mightyena’s side.

Ivy returned her now fainted Pokémon.

“You did awesome. Trapinch, let’s go! Dig!”

“Fury Swipes.”

Linoone was much faster, but there was nothing Trapinch loved more than being in dirt. She sunk down into the ground immediately, leaving Linoone to swipe at air.

As Linoone turned to move in a different direction, Trapinch popped out of the ground, headbutting her in the underbelly. This time, Linoone was the one sent flying.

She quickly got up, though Ivy could see her avoiding putting weight on the hind leg Mightyena had Bitten.

“Dig, again, and Crunch on her back legs when you come up!”

Norman frowned. Trapinch were small, but they had some of the strongest bites out there. Linoone probably wouldn’t be able to take more than one Crunch.

“When it comes up, dodge Crunch and use Double-Edge.”

Ivy didn’t have time to change her orders.

Trapinch burst from the ground, right into Linoone as planned. She lunged for Linoone’s legs, but even unable to put much weight on one of them, Linoone was still quicker. Pale grey energy spiraling around her, she charged forward, ramming into Trapinch point blank.

Beams of light shone from both sides of the field as the two Pokémon were recalled.

Both Ivy and Norman were on their last Pokémon.

With a deep breath, Ivy released Combusken.

Across the field, a large form that completely dwarfed Combusken materialized.

It was who Ivy had expected: Slaking. Ivy searched its face and—there. A small patch of bare skin above his right eye from a burn scar. He’d tried cooking back when he was a Vigoroth, but had no idea how to work an oven, leaving behind a permanent scar and a mangled oven. Ivy had definitely not had any involvement in that particular shenanigan and she definitely didn’t have a matching burn scar on her thumb.

Norman had only two Slaking. The Slakoth line was a hard one to raise. You needed to completely change your training style with every evolution due to how different each member of the line was from the previous. It was hard to make a Slakoth think it was worthwhile to battle, while it was hard to keep a Vigoroth focused on one task. Her dad had gotten the training licenses of more than one trainer revoked due to them resorting to abusive tactics to train a Slakoth or Vigoroth.

His older Slaking was one he’d caught on a trip to Hoenn when he was a teenager. The same trip that had led to him becoming friends with Professor Birch which led to their eventual move from Johto. It was a huge creature, his ace Pokémon in battle.

This was his younger Slaking—he’d started training it when the family had first moved to Hoenn years ago. Ivy had basically been raised beside Slaking. She’d cuddled him as she fell asleep each night when he was a Slakoth. He’d then been her main playmate as a Vigoroth. Playing together had tired them both out—Ivy to fall asleep at a normal time and Vigoroth to focus on his training. She hadn’t seen him as much since he’d evolved into a Slaking. Ivy knew her dad usually saved him for his seventh and eighth badge gym battles.

Slaking rumbled a low growl on the other side of the field, eyes squinting. He’d recognized her too.

Ivy felt like she could fly. This was exactly what she had wanted from this battle.

“You’ve done well, Ivy. I’m proud of how far you’ve come in only a few months.” Norman smirked slightly. “But we both know how strong Slaking is. Retaliate.”

Yeah, Ivy couldn’t help thinking gleefully. We both know about Slaking.

“Like we planned! Aerial Ace!”

With a groan, Slaking got to his feet. He slowly lumbered forward as Combusken shot towards him.

Combusken struck first. Slaking barely twitched at the strike. He raised his arm for Retaliation, but Combusken jumped backwards and spewed a point-blank Flamethrower in his face.

That made Slaking twitch. He collapsed back into a sitting position, glaring at Combusken.

Yes, Ivy knew Slaking. They were fast, strong, and bulky. Physically, at least. If Combusken landed enough Flamethrowers, alongside a Brick Break or two, they’d have a chance to beat the behemoth. They just needed to be faster and avoid getting hit.

“Aerial Ace into Brick Break!”

“Chip Away.”

Combusken leapt forward once more. Aerial Ace would do basically nothing, but Ivy had Combusken use it to increase his speed. One hit from his claws glowed blue, while the second glowed a dark brown. Slaking winced slightly at the second blow.

Before Combusken could leap back out of range for another Flamethrower, Slaking grabbed him. The lazy Pokémon tossed him over his head like he weighed nothing.

“Good. Hyper Beam.”

“Stop it with Flamethrower!”

The room was awash in light. Ivy had to bring up her arm to block it out even with her eyes closed. She was terrified of what she would see when she opened them.

Slaking was still on the field, yawning into his hand.

Combusken was on the ground, trembling.

Ivy’s heart dropped. He hadn’t fainted, but it didn’t look like he could hold on much longer.

“Combusken!”

He looked over his shoulder at her. There was a slight stain on his beak from the Sitrus Berry he must have eaten to avoid fainting.

“Slack Off.”

With another yawn, Slaking laid down. A faint shimmer surrounded him, evidence of the healing taking place.

Ivy clenched her fists. It seemed like her plan had been working if her dad was opting for Slack Off.

“Flamethrower!”

Immediately, Combusken let loose a jet of flames. It didn’t seem to do any damage, but Slaking was no longer shimmering. They’d stopped the healing process at least.

But Ivy didn’t know what to do. Combusken was too tired to keep dodging and he didn’t have the firepower to keep going with Flamethrower. While it seemed to be even hotter temperature-wise (from his Blaze ability, maybe?), the last one had gone on for a shorter time than the others. Ivy’s eyes began to sting. She’d come so close…

Combusken let out a caw. He glared at Slaking. It seemed he had also come to the conclusion that he just wasn’t strong enough to defeat Slaking. He closed his eyes.

A white glow lit up the field, and it wasn’t a move.

Gentle light enveloped Combusken as his form changed, getting taller and taller and taller.

“Combusken!” Ivy cried out, unable to believe that this was her stubborn Pokémon’s response to being unable to hit Slaking. “I mean—Blaziken!”

With a loud caw, the glow disappeared revealing a very tall bipedal bird.

For the first time since the battle began, Ivy registered the small crowd they had. The gym trainers, Wally, and his dad were all cheering wildly. Kirlia, by Wally’s side, was quiet but stared on with wide eyes.

On the field, Blaziken flexed and preened.

Ivy stifled an almost hysterical giggle. For all he pretended to be the stoic warrior, Blaziken was such an attention seeker.

She theatrically pointed at the battlefield, because she might as well play along with his dramatics. “Alrighty then! Flamethrower!”

The difference between this Flamethrower and his previous ones was immediate. Everything about it was more. The amount coming out of his mouth, the temperature, how long he could keep it going. Even unused to his new body and newfound strength, there was enough raw power to wreak havoc.

After nearly thirty seconds of non-stop Flamethrower, he finally let it fade.

Slaking was still standing.

He did not look healthy, but he was still standing. There were several areas where fur had been burnt off, one of them still on fire and smoking. A burn. And, more importantly for the outcome of the battle, he looked mad.

“Congratulations on the evolution Blaziken, but this is where it ends,” Norman announced, face as neutral as ever. “Slaking, Façade.”

An orange glow gleamed over Slaking as he finally ran at his full speed towards Blaziken.

Blaziken, faster than before in this new form but unused to moving in it, didn’t manage to fully dodge. Slaking’s burn-boosted punch clipped his side.

“Blaziken! As long as you’re close, Brick Break!”

With a grimace, he darted forward, his punch easily landing. Slaking roared, and Blaziken just barely managed to dodge a second punch. He danced back slightly, using his legs to land a Double Kick before moving back in for another Brick Break.

Slaking was panting now, both from exhaustion and rage. Ivy knew he hated exerting this much energy, but he hated losing more. Slaking closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Ivy wasn’t sure what move Slaking had in mind. Her dad hadn’t issued a command and she doubted he would—when a Slaking got to this point, they refused to follow even the simplest of orders. It was the unfortunate side effect of their ability, Truant. But whatever move it was, they had to strike before he did.

“Flamethrower! Now! As strong as you can!”

Blaziken acquiesced. With little build up, he let loose the most powerful Flamethrower she’d seen from him. The flames were so hot, they were nearly blue. A reddish shimmer covered his body, and Ivy knew for sure this time that his Blaze ability had activated.

He kept it up for ten seconds, then thirty, then fifty. At the minute mark, he finally collapsed onto one knee. He panted heavily. There was no way he’d be able to do another move, not even a weak Scratch.

Heart pounding, Ivy gaped at the field. Blaziken was kneeling on the ground, seconds from collapse and Slaking…

Slaking had fainted.

Norman stared wide eyed at the battle pitch for a few seconds before hastily returning Slaking.

“You actually…” he trailed off, shocked at being beaten. He shook his head, not bothering to finish the sentence.

Ivy herself couldn’t believe it. Blaziken had taken out one of her dad’s Slaking? One of the most powerful Pokémon out there? Norman walked onto the field, jolting her out of her shock. With a fist pump and a yell, she bolted forward to tackle Blaziken in a hug.

“You did it!”

With Blaziken kneeling on the ground, it was easy to wrap him up in a hug. She wouldn’t be able to do this as much anymore; she could tell he was already going to be at least a foot taller than her.

He let out an exhausted crow of pride. Not only had he reached his final evolution, but he’d beaten a much stronger opponent and did so in front of a crowd to boot. This was a victory worthy of his standards.

“Oh, you must be exhausted. Here,” she returned him, “we’ll celebrate once everyone is healed up.”

The Poké Ball wiggled in her hand, and she skipped forward to meet her dad at the center of the pitch.

“Dad! I did it! I won!”

He smiled at her and bowed deeply at his waist. “As a gym leader I’m disappointed to see three of my strongest Pokémon defeated…” He rose as Ivy came to an abrupt stop in front of him. “But as a father, I’m both very happy and a little sad. Here, the Balance Badge as evidence that you defeated me in battle. You can talk to Alexia later to receive the TM for Retaliate.”

Reverently, Ivy cupped the small badge in her hands. She’d held the Balance Badge a thousand times before, but this was her badge. She earned it.

Ivy whirled around and held the badge out, grinning at her dad. “Put it with the rest for me?”

Norman raised an eyebrow before chuckling to himself. Taking the badge back, he gently pinned it to the front pocket of her backpack next to the other four badges.

“There.”

Ivy craned her head over her shoulders to stare at it. She’d done it. She’d beaten her dad in a battle. All that worrying felt like a world away. The goal Ivy had worked towards for months, no, for practically her whole life, was complete.

“Ivy! That was so cool!”

Wally had been restrained by his father to let Ivy and Norman have their moment, but with the badge given he couldn’t be contained any longer.

That broke the tension. A handful of the gym trainers came forward to congratulate Ivy while the rest filed back to work.

-

Wally’s father padded over to Norman, watching his son ramble on to Ivy with his eyes sparkling and cheeks flushed from excitement. Kirlia hopped from one leg to another next to him, occasionally let out a quiet squeak of agreement to whatever Wally said.

“I never expected Wally to take so well to the trainer lifestyle, y’know. He was always so frail. But I dunno. It seems like he’s grown more in the past month than he had in all the years before. I can’t help but think it’s because of that Kirlia he caught. So, thank you to both you and your daughter for helping my son out so much.”

Norman shook his head, a small smile on his face as he also watched the two kids chatter excitedly. “There’s no need for thanks. It’s my duty as a gym leader to help with such things. Ivy being there to help was just a happy coincidence.”

“Still.” He sighed. “He’s been away from home for a few months and seeing him now… I can’t help but feel sentimental, you know? It’s startling to see how much he’s grown without me by his side. In no time at all, he’ll be an adult it feels like.”

Norman more than understood that feeling. Ivy had always been a sweet, but flighty and forgetful girl. She loved Pokémon and people, but she didn’t have any strong sense of purpose to grow into. Seeing her go off on her own journey and keep at it long enough to gather five badges was a sign of growth.

In truth, he hadn’t expected her to get four badges so soon. Or even at all, though he’d never admit that to her. Ivy always had a habit of picking something up, getting really into it, then dropping it after a few weeks. To see her keep at something for so long warmed his heart. His little girl was growing up. She was finally finding her own purpose.

He let out a low chuckle. “I know what you mean. They’re growing up, but them growing up means we won’t be there to see the process. It’s…” Norman struggled to find the proper word. Painful? Good? Melancholic? He had never been a man of words, but one of actions. “It’s complicated,” he settled on. “The most difficult part of being a parent. Every Pidgey must fly from the nest someday, no matter how much you want to protect them from the world.”

Wally’s father let out a loud laugh at that, finally drawing the attention of Ivy and Wally. “Too true,” he managed to get out before Ivy dragged Wally over to them.

“Dad! We were going to stop by Wally’s so he could see his mom then go on to Littleroot so I can see Mom. You’ll be there, right? So we can celebrate!”

Norman smiled. “Of course. If you remember to wait, we can even use Pidgeot to fly to Littleroot. It’ll save time.”

Ivy clapped her hands together, squeaking in excitement. “Yes! I’ll do my best! Let’s go Wally! Have you ever flown on a Pokémon? It’s so fun…” Her voice trailed off as the two left the room.

He didn’t let out a laugh at that, though he wanted to. Trying her best to remember something was probably as good as he’d ever get. Most likely, he’d have to get that TM from Alexia as well. Ivy was maturing, but there were some things that were too fundamental to who she was as a person for her to ever grow out of.

“I should get going.” Wally’s father said, watching them leave. “Make sure they actually visit Alma and don’t get distracted. It was nice talking to you.”

“You, too.”

With that, Norman was alone in his gym.

It was a sudden shift after the thrilling battle and the excited conversation afterwards, but rather familiar in a way. Ivy had been a whirlwind since her birth, all enthusiasm and noise. After thirteen years of that, coming back to a quiet home every night was disconcerting.

Her leaving for her journey had hit him unexpectedly hard. He could still hear both Caroline and Wattson laughing at his panic after that first call from the Mauville Pokémon Center. Logically, he’d known going out to explore a region usually entailed some amount of danger, but it was different now that he was a parent. If she got hurt beyond just scrapes and bruises, who’d be there to help? He’d never be able to make it in time, being so far away in Petalburg.

Not to mention how she’d been avoiding his calls. They really had to talk about that plus the other thing Wattson had mentioned once her elation over the battle wore off.

Sighing, Norman left to go to the gym’s personal Pokémon healing machine. He couldn’t ignore his Pokémon because he was reminiscing like an old fool.

Every Pidgey must fly from the nest someday, no matter how much you want to protect them from the world.

Maybe with this battle he could finally internalize those words and lay that worry to rest. Ivy was growing up and she had a fine team of Pokémon to help her out. Even if he couldn’t help her, they would.

That, more than anything, soothed his fears.

Chapter Text

“And so… Mt Pyre is under watch. The Ghosts… ahaha… they’re not the wild ones. When the Elite Four woman isn’t there… they stand guard for her…”

Maxie rubbed his chin, ruminating on Courtney’s brief.

When Courtney had called to tell him that she’d finally, after years and years of research, found the location of the Red and Blue Orbs, he’d been ecstatic. Enough so, that he’d immediately left his spot on the top of Mt Chimney to head to their usual meeting room—his soundproofed office in the Mt Chimney Regional Park headquarters.

(A foolish mistake, looking back. He shouldn’t have gloated at Archie nor forgotten about that girl.)

He hadn’t expected the news that she’d only managed to pinpoint a general location—Mt Pyre.

It wasn’t an unexpected location. Mt Pyre was a holy place. A memorial to the dead. To steal from it would be sacrilegious. No one would ever think of going there.

There was another reason why no one would go there: it was also infested with Ghost type Pokémon. The tears of mourners and the energy of the dead drew Ghosts to the mountain like Dustox to a flame. Those who left the confines of the graves, made safe by Cleanse Tags and other supernatural rubbish, would be set upon by Ghost types within minutes. No sane person would stay there longer than necessary, let alone explore the mountain.

In other words, it was the perfect place to hide objects of unfathomable power.

Maxie had sent out a small reconnaissance group armed with Cleanse Tags and Poochyena the day after. Courtney had been the lead, and he’d had the utmost faith that she’d quickly and quietly discover the location of the orbs and report back to him.

Unfortunately, it seemed luck wasn’t in his favor. Courtney only returned after more than two weeks of radio silence.

The good news was that she had, indeed, found the location of the orbs after only a few days of exploration. At the summit of Mt Pyre, there was a short tunnel that led to a clearing. In that clearing was an altar with two orbs. When she’d first found the clearing, it’d only been guarded by a frail, elderly couple. The couple didn’t have any visible Poké Balls on them, and the only Pokémon in the clearing were Chimecho and Chingling, Pokémon easily taken care of by the Poochyena.

The bad news was that it didn’t stay that way. Courtney had wanted to make sure the elderly couple were the only guardians before trying anything. She’d been correct in that assumption. The next morning, getting as close as she could while covered by a deep fog, she’d managed to catch a glimpse of the Elite Four member Phoebe.

Maxie internally cursed at that revelation. An Elite Four member was bad enough, but the Ghost type specialist? They frequently had unexplainable psychic powers. Just staying too close to the location could possibly tip her off and destroy years of hard work.

Courtney had realized that too. In her work as a historian and mythologist, she had far more of an understanding of the supernatural than he. Despite the threat from the Ghost types, she’d left behind her Grumpig to keep watch while relocating the rest of her squad to a different part of the mountain. Grumpig had been told to come back whenever Phoebe was gone.

Grumpig only returned thrice.

At the very least, they’d managed to ascertain that Phoebe only left due to her Pokémon League obligations. One of the grunts had the foresight to check the Hoenn Pokémon League website to see if there were any active battles going on at Ever Grande Island. Every instance of her disappearance coincided with the notification of an active Champion Title Attempt.

While that meant there was always a window of several hours where one of the most dangerous trainers in Hoenn was occupied, it still left the problem of her highly trained Ghosts.

Courtney had discovered that problem on Phoebe’s third disappearance. Confident that they’d be able to get to the clearing with Phoebe gone, she’d led her squad back to the summit. Only there, she was met with a Dusknoir. Obviously, Phoebe wasn’t leaving anything to chance.

Once again, Maxie cursed his foolishness for completely forgetting about that girl on Mt Chimney. Maxie wouldn’t have killed the girl; he wasn’t some Team Rocket hoodlum. But kidnapping her and taking her back to their base so she couldn’t talk? That would’ve been good enough. It was likely she’d immediately gone to a gym leader or some such and reported what she’d heard about the orbs. The gym leader then reported to the others in the League and Phoebe, quite possibly already knowing of the orbs from her study of Ghost types on the mountain, made it her job to protect them. It also explained the tongue-lashing he’d received from his boss about the sudden required presence of more Rangers at Mt Chimney’s crater. Which meant, alongside the orb problem, they were likely also going to have to find a new location for the ritual.

He leaned back in his chair and sighed.

“Thank you, Courtney. While this is troublesome, it is ultimately only a minor setback. Once we find out a way to get past that Dusknoir, then we shall lead this world to greater heights.”

Courtney snapped into a salute. “Ahahaha… I’ll look into it… anything for you… Leader Maxie.”

He ignored how she said his name. That was just Courtney being herself.

“Thank you. Now, please, rest and then get back to work.”

She nodded, worship in her eyes.

Maxie closed his. This was just a minor setback, he repeated to himself. Soon, they would have the power to awaken Groudon and no one would stand in his way.

-

“Ah, Mightyena, you remember Professor Birch?”

Mightyena’s tail slowly started to wag.

“I’ve told you what to say, so, please apologize for chasing him!”

Mightyena let out a short bark before dropping downwards, her face on her paws. She tilted her head cutely, her notched ear flopping over an eye.

Professor Birch waved a hand. “It’s not necessary to apologize, but than—”

He cut off with a yelp as Mightyena leapt forward, teeth nibbling slightly on his heels. He danced backwards, but Mightyena darted forward a second time.

“Oh, dear,” Ivy heard him mutter as he took off, Mightyena chasing him with her tongue lolling out of her mouth.

“Mightyena!” Ivy called out uselessly, before sighing. What else did she expect?

-

“You’re a very naughty girl,” Ivy muttered as she ran a brush through Mightyena’s fur. The bite Pokémon let out a cheerful bark. “The naughtiest Pokémon ever. I can’t believe you chased him a second time.”

At the very least, it’d gotten her out of an awkward conversation with the professor. He’d asked a question about how Brendan was doing when Mightyena had made a noise, reminding Ivy she’d wanted to make Mightyena apologize. After, Ivy’d been so busy apologizing that she’d managed to avoid answering Professor Birch’s original question.

“Ivy?”

She looked up. Wally stood over her, Kirlia by his side.

They’d been in Littleroot for two days now. As fun as adventuring around Hoenn was, it was nice to relax. Sleeping in her own bed, eating homecooked meals… yeah, she’d missed those things.

It’d also been nice to make use of her family’s expansive backyard to let her Pokémon run around and play in. She’d had a lot of fun introducing her team to all of her dad’s Pokémon. Blaziken had eaten up the awe of the younger ones when they’d learned he’d beaten one of the Slaking.

Wally had been a bit more hesitant letting out his Pokémon in the yard, despite both Norman and Ivy insisting it was fine. They had that much space for a reason; the more Pokémon the merrier.

“Yeah?”

He cleared his throat. “Um. I, well, I was thinking I would move on now. Or soon.” He turned red and his words started coming out faster. “N-not that your family’s been bad or anything! They’re nice! Very, very nice! I, um, I just want to get more badges! So I can—”

Wally clamped his jaw shut before rapidly shaking his head. Kirlia lifted an arm to touch his shoulder, his eyes glowing slightly.

That seemed to help him calm down. “R-right. Sorry. Um. I just wanted to tell you. And say thank you for letting me stay here.” He gave a small bow.

Ivy stretched her arms up before standing. Mightyena let out a huff of annoyance but let her stand. She took the brush in her mouth before stalking off.

“You know what that means we should do then!”

Wally stared at her blankly.

Ivy found herself faltering, just a tiny bit. “Uh, a battle?”

“Oh.” Wally stared down at his feet.

Ivy hadn’t expected that reaction. “We don’t have to battle if you don’t want to—”

“No!” Wally blurted out, hands balled into fists by his chest. “I-it’s nothing.” He stood up straight and looked her right in the eyes. “Let’s battle!”

-

“How about a one-on-one?”

While Ivy wanted to battle Wally, she couldn’t ignore the fact that her Pokémon had been training longer and were stronger than his. Two of them were fully evolved, while none of Wally’s were. A one-on-one battle would even the odds and give Wally more of a chance instead of it being so one-sided like back in Mauville.

Wally nodded, eyes unfocused in thought. “That’s fine. I’ll use Kirlia.”

Beside him, Kirlia trilled and spun in a circle.

Ivy tapped a finger to her chin before looking off to the side. Mightyena was trying (and failing) to brush herself while Seadra poked her head out of their small pond to watch. Ivy couldn’t see Blaziken or Trapinch.

That was fine. She’d already had a Pokémon in mind.

Skipping over to the pond, she leaned over, hands on her knees. “You wanna battle Wally’s Kirlia, Seadra?”

Seadra trilled out a response before floating up out of the water. Ivy hastily jumped back. She still wasn’t used to Seadra’s increase in height. Or Blaziken’s, for that matter. Who let them get so tall? It felt like yesterday that they barely reached her knees.

“Right then! Let’s go! Smokescreen!”

“Magical Leaf!”

Used to this being her first move, Seadra immediately shot out a stain of ink that quickly formed into dark clouds.

Almost as quickly, Kirlia twirled, sending out a storm of glowing leaves.

Ivy cursed to herself. Magical Leaf had some sort of built in homing system; hiding behind Smokescreen wouldn’t work here. They needed to go on the offense.

Seadra squeaked in pain as the leaves made contact. Dimly, Ivy could make out her still floating form. Kirlia wasn’t a Grass type and not as strong as Seadra so it didn’t do much damage, but enough of them over time would be a pain.

“Stop hiding, Seadra! Twister! Knock him off his feet!”

Immediately, the dark smoke swirled and the wind around them picked up. A few of her dad’s Pokémon that came to watch hunkered near the ground to avoid being caught up in the winds of draconic energy.

Twister was probably not the best move to use as it used Dragon type energy to get the move going, something a Fairy type like Kirlia would be immune to, but the winds it created were no joke. Kirlia wouldn’t be hurt but he would be knocked off balance.

As expected, Kirlia was quickly engulfed in a tornado, tossed head over heels in the air.

“Teleport!”

“Ice Beam his feet when he lands!”

Scrunching his eyes closed, Kirlia Teleported out of the Twister. He stumbled as he landed, still disorientated from the tornado, giving Seadra just enough time to let out an Ice Beam. Ice crawled up Kirlia’s legs, keeping him stuck where he stood.

“Now Surf!”

“Teleport!”

For once, Seadra didn’t have to make the water herself. With a swish of her tail, the water from the pond grew tenfold within seconds and burst out from its bed with a roar. All of the Pokémon that had gathered to watch scattered. Off to the side, Mightyena let out an angry yip at her newly brushed coat getting wet. Even Ivy had to raise a hand over her face as splashes of water went everywhere.

To his credit, Kirlia tried his best to escape. As Surf reached his position, he Teleported away. However, Surf simply went everywhere. Within seconds, the spot he Teleported to was engulfed in water, once more sending the emotion Pokémon tumbling. Even worse, the ice floated to the crest of Surf’s waves, while the rest of his thin body dangled underneath leaving him unable to break to the surface for air.

A red beam of light swept through the water, returning Kirlia to his Poké Ball.

Wally stared down at the Poké Ball in his hand, expression unreadable.

“That was fun! I didn’t know your Kirlia had Magical Leaf.” Ivy grinned at Wally as Seadra tried to put all the water she’d displaced with Surf back into the pond. Hopefully that worked, or else her dad was going to be very mad at her.

“It made me go on the offense a lot sooner than I was planning to,” she continued, trying to cheer the boy up. She was beginning to gather between this battle and the one in Mauville that Wally took his losses a bit too hard.

Wally finally shook himself out of his stupor and gave her a small, albeit somewhat fake-looking, smile.

“I was hoping this time I could win and then… maybe…” He shook his head. He looked up at Ivy, smile brightening into something more genuine. “Thank you for the battle! Kirlia and I learned a lot from it!”

“Good! That’s what battles like this are for!” She tilted her head to the side. “Ah, but you might wanna visit the Professor’s lab and get Kirlia healed up first if you plan on heading out soon. It’s the only spot in Littleroot with a healing machine. If you catch him or one of his nicer assistants, they’ll let you use it for free.”

Wally nodded, opened his mouth, then closed it. He furrowed his brows, obviously thinking hard about something.

Ivy waited a second, hands on her hips, but he didn’t say anything. After a minute, she cleared her throat. “Anything you want to ask?”

That jolted him out of his trance. “Uh! I was just thinking about the future. Seadra… Seadra evolves through an item, right?”

Ivy blinked in confusion at that. It certainly wasn’t what she’d been expecting Wally to ask.

“Uh, I think so? I’ve not really thought about it since she evolved so recently.”

Most Pokémon evolved naturally after a certain amount of training let them grow stronger. Usually through battling, but a coordinator who trained their Pokémon well could evolve their Pokémon just as quickly as a trainer even without battling.

However, some Pokémon had more unique methods. Many required close bonds of friendship, while others required rare stones. Evolving a Seadra into a Kingdra involved some sort of scale she was pretty sure. Or was that a Feebas into a Milotic? Ivy wasn’t one hundred percent sure. She honestly hadn’t thought about it at all.

But Ivy understood Wally’s dilemma. Kirlia was a Pokémon with a branched evolution. Normally, it evolved into Gardevoir, but male ones could evolve into Gallade with a Dawn Stone. Kirlia didn’t seem quite to the point of evolution yet, but Ivy couldn’t blame Wally for thinking ahead.

He wilted slightly at her reply.

“You looking for a Dawn Stone, then?”

Wally shrugged, cheeks reddening slightly. “Kirlia seemed interested in Fighting type moves after watching Blaziken. I think he wouldn’t mind being a Gardevoir but would probably prefer being a Gallade.” He paused. “I… I was just wondering if the professor might have one. Pokémon research labs have all kinds of rare items, right?”

Ivy chewed on the inside of her cheek, thinking. Dawn Stone, Dawn Stone… Why did that give a sense of déjà vu?

“I don’t think he would. Or that he’d be able to give one away even if he did have one. They’re really rare, y’know. One of the rarest Evolution Stones out… there…”

Ivy’s eyes widened. She remembered why talking about Dawn Stones caused such a sense of déjà vu.

She jerked forward, grabbing Wally’s thin shoulders. “Wait a minute! Go to the professor’s lab! I’ll meet you there!”

“W-what!?”

Not bothering to explain, she let go of Wally and ran back to her house. “I’ll meet you there,” she repeated, hollering it over her shoulder.

She pounded up the stairs, skidding to a stop in her room. Ivy had dumped her backpack onto the chair by her desk after she’d made it back to Littleroot and hadn’t moved it since.

Opening it up, she roughly dug through the main compartment’s contents. Her scarf, a bag of pads, the Shockwave TM she’d received from Wattson, a granola bar, the fossil she meant to give Brendan that now gave her a pang of sadness to look at…

No Dawn Stone from Steven.

She opened the second largest compartment. Potions, Antidotes, one Revive, which, wow, only one? Ivy needed to go to Oldale and buy more before she left. No Dawn Stone.

Last was the smallest pocket, the one her five badges were proudly attached to. In school, it’d been where she kept her pencils. Now, it mainly held packets of food.

And one Dawn Stone.

Ivy was furious with herself. How could she have forgotten her gift from Steven! The first gift from her future husband!

Suddenly, she remembered why she’d been looking for it so furiously.

The stone was rather small, fitting perfectly in her cupped hands. Did she really want to give it away? Steven, perfect, beautiful Steven, had given it to her. Wasn’t it rude to give away someone’s gift?

It’s better for this to go to someone who might use it.

That’s what Steven had said, months ago in Granite Cave.

Ivy closed her hands so the Dawn Stone was hidden between them and brought it to her chest. Steven would understand. He’d probably be excited if he knew it was going to be used to make a Pokémon happy. He seemed nice like that.

With a nod, Ivy ran out of her house and over to Professor Birch’s lab.

-

Wally was already outside, Kirlia at his side. He looked nervous for some reason.

“Wally!” Ivy yelled, waving one arm wildly. The younger boy winced and, ah, she was being a bit intense, wasn’t she? Ivy had gotten a bit caught up in her excitement.

“Sorry, sorry,” she panted as she neared, out of breath from her sprint across town. She thrust out her arm, Dawn Stone in the palm of her hand.

Wally stared at it blankly.

“Is that...?”

“Yeah!” She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “Someone gave it to me a while ago. And while it’s a precious gift, he told me that it’s better for it to be used rather than just sitting around. I don’t have a Pokémon that needs it to evolve, so I want to give it to you.”

Wally hadn’t moved.

At his side, Kirlia stared at the stone, eyes just as wide as his trainer’s.

“Wally…?”

He violently shook his head and thrust her arm back towards her. “No, no, no, nonono! I can’t take something so precious!”

Ivy, taller and stronger, easily pushed her arm back in his direction. “I insist! There’s no way you’ll find one again without paying hundreds of thousands of Pokédollars!”

“I… I can’t…”

Ivy used her free hand to pull at Wally’s limp arm and deposit the stone in his hand.

“You absolutely can.”

Kirlia tugged at Wally’s shirt and the boy finally looked at his Pokémon. Ivy wasn’t quite sure what exchange went on between them as she didn’t think Kirlia was quite strong enough for Pokémon-to-human telepathy, but obviously he’d sent some emotion or whatever that made Wally’s willpower crumble.

Wally’s bottom lip trembled, and tears pooled in the corner of his eyes.

“Th-thank you… I don’t, I don’t…” He whirled around and ran towards Route 101. As he reached the start of the route he stopped. “I… I won’t waste this! I’ll do my best to be worthy of this gift!”

Kirlia, still by Ivy, let out a joyful trill as he spun several times in place. A strange feeling of hope and gratitude that wasn’t her own wormed its way into her mind. Ivy put a hand to her head, the slightest of headaches forming, as Kirlia Teleported over to Wally.

“Thank you again, Ivy! And goodbye! I’ll see you soon, I know it!” He took a deep breath as if he were about to say more but he didn’t. He and Kirlia ran off, shortly disappearing from sight.

Ivy gave a wave, slightly put out. And Wally thought she was the intense one. He was intense in own strange way too.

-

“Ivy. I wanted to talk with you.”

Ivy stopped with one foot in the air, ready to go up the stairs. She hastily stuffed the meat bun in her mouth and chewed quickly. She’d been in Littleroot for almost a week now, but she’d barely seen her dad.

“Yeah?” she asked, mouth full.

Norman didn’t even twitch. “Let’s go to your room.”

-

Ivy’s room hadn’t changed at all since the morning she left months ago. Slakoth was still there even! She assumed he’d likely moved at some point, but it seemed her rug was his current favorite napping spot.

“So, what’d you wanna talk about?” Ivy asked, voice now clear. She was a fast eater.

“I’m sure you know.”

Ivy rubbed the back of her neck and looked away. Yeah, she did.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to ignore all your calls. Well, I did, but, uh…” she trailed off, unsure how to continue. She didn’t really want to admit how nervous she’d been. It was so silly in retrospect. It was embarrassing.

“At the very least, don’t ignore your mother’s calls. She worries over you, you know.”

Ivy grinned cheekily. “So, you weren’t the one who called Wattson, then?”

Her dad looked to the side, his face losing all expression. Her grin widened. Yeah, he was definitely embarrassed over that. Well, maybe they could be embarrassed together.

“I was just nervous,” she finally admitted. “I didn’t want to disappoint you if I lost.”

Ivy looked down at her knees, so she didn’t notice Norman’s expression softening.

“Ivy, I wouldn’t have been disappointed.”

“Yeah, I figured that out eventually.” With some help.

She jumped when Norman leaned forward to put a hand over hers. “I wouldn’t have, I swear it. I’ve been nothing but glad at how you’ve grown over these past few months. If you had lost, I’d still only feel proud about how far you’ve come in such a short amount of time.”

Ivy couldn’t help but beam at that. Her dad wasn’t usually this free with praise.

“I also wanted to talk to you about some of the things you encountered on your journey.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Huh?”

Her dad had gone from a slightly slouched posture to stiff as a board. He was staring right at her with a slight frown. This wasn’t Dad anymore, this was Norman the Gym Leader.

“About Team Aqua and Team Magma.”

Oh. Them.

“There was a meeting between all the gym leaders and Elite Four over the information you told Wattson.  Your descriptions of the two leaders and their admins, plus the little you learned of their plans. Wallace is technically the one in charge of this investigation, but I’d like to hear about what you saw in your own words.”

Ivy didn’t really want to go through everything a second time, but she did. Her dad listened intently the whole time, not saying a single word. When she finished, he nodded slowly.

“I hate that you’ve had to deal with them multiple times now. Beginning trainers, kids… they shouldn’t have to deal with this sort of thing.”

A thought struck her. Something that Devon worker had said back in Rustboro. “It’s not like Team Rocket back in Johto, is it?”

“No. Luckily, these guys don’t seem as bad as Team Rocket. The worst thing Team Aqua had been accused of, before the multiple attempted thefts, were all harmless things. And Team Magma…” he frowned. “We don’t have any record of them.”

“That’s good, right?” Ivy tentatively asked.

He didn’t answer her question. “Just try your best to avoid them, okay?”

“I’ll try.” Try being the key word there. If she came across them again, well, she’d help out like before. Ivy knew she was in over her head, but she couldn’t just walk away. Like her dad, she had a duty to help out.

“Good.” Relief made her dad give her a small smile, his shoulders dropping slightly as he shifted out of gym leader mode. “One last question. What do you plan to do next?”

Ivy blinked. Was that ever in question?

“I’m gonna get the rest of the badges, of course.” She tilted her head to the side. “Did you not expect me to?”

His smile turned into a lopsided grin, one that almost looked like her own. “I knew you always had it in you. It’s nice to see you finally have a solid goal. Are you going to try for the Champion title, then?”

Ivy hadn’t thought about it. Even with five badges, Victory Road and Ever Grande Island seemed so far away. She needed to get all the badges first, and the last four were harder to earn than the first four.

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “But I like going around Hoenn and I like training my Pokémon, so maybe. I think I want to get all of my badges first before I even think about doing that.”

Norman laughed and ruffled Ivy’s hair. “Well, I know you can do it. Now, I think it’s almost time for dinner.”

Chapter Text

Wallace’s last few weeks had been headache inducing.

First, there was that Team Aqua drama in Slateport. That was the first time in weeks he’d been able to spend any one-on-one time with Lisia and he ended up having to devote most of it working with the police to chase after some goon. He’d gotten a handful of hours with his beloved niece, but not nearly as many as he’d been hoping for.

But the drama with that team didn’t end. No, they graduated from public intoxication and freeing Magikarp from sushi shops to planning domestic terrorism. It was quite the leap, to be honest. How those idiots even knew of Kyogre, let alone believed they could find and summon it, was the question of the day.

A question that fell to Wallace to answer. Not only had he been the first responder in Slateport, saddling him with the job of investigating Team Aqua for the Pokémon League, but he was also possibly the only person in the world who knew where Kyogre slumbered.

Not that the Pokémon League knew that, of course. No one did. Those kinds of secrets were only known by those entrusted to guard the Cave of Origin and its secrets. It was a startingly small group nowadays, beginning and ending with himself.

It was an unfortunate reality, one Wallace always wished to rectify, but it was difficult. While he was respected, the position of guardian was not. It was regarded as an old-fashioned, ceremonial position of no importance. Something that still existed merely because it always had.

He did his best. He was doing a job meant to be done by several dozen people minimum all by himself. Plus, he still had his gym to look after, and he needed moments to eat and sleep and socialize. If he wasn’t as thorough in his duties as previous guardians, then the only person to judge Wallace was himself.

And judge himself he did, when he had entered one of the deepest parts of the temple hidden behind the large doors that concealed the Cave of Origin from prying eyes. Once upon a time, those doors had been opened for any to come in for worship or knowledge, but as the guardianship dwindled, the gates were shut to protect the secrets inside.

Part of his duties involved dusting the library. There was some strange magic in the air that kept the several thousand year old scrolls from decaying, but dust still formed. It was probably the duty he did the least, he had to regrettably admit. Who liked to dust? Certainly not Wallace.

However, that meant he was fortunate (unfortunate?) enough to see that he wasn’t the only person who had been inside Origin Temple recently. In the furthest reaches of the library, several scrolls had been moved around, as evidenced by the lack of dust around them.

Scrolls detailing the locations of important items and Legendary Pokémon.

The scrolls were written in Ancient Draconian, a language very few people could read anymore. That should have been an obstacle, but luck wasn’t on Wallace’s side. Phoebe’s ghosts had already detected loiterers on Mt Pyre. If they knew where the Red and Blue Orbs were, then they knew how to find Kyogre and Groudon.

If there had been more people than him guarding the cave, then this could have been avoided. There was meant to be a guard in the library every hour of the day for exactly this reason, but Wallace couldn’t live his life in a library. Closing off Origin Temple was meant to deter looters and thieves. It had worked for decades, but it seemed these Aqua and Magma idiots had no respect for the holy and sacrosanct.

No, he couldn’t blame them, though he dearly wished to. This was all on Wallace. He wasn’t performing his duties adequately, and any break-ins were just an unwanted declaration of that fact.

Whatever his past failings, he could make up for it now. Phoebe had Mt Pyre and the orbs well in hand, so that left Wallace to check the other locations mentioned in the scrolls. Jirachi’s rock was undisturbed, as was the Sealed Chamber and all three golems. Southern Island was fine, and he knew that Steven also watched over the herd there. Sky Pillar was barren and abandoned as usual, leaving only the Seafloor Cavern to check.

Unfortunately, Wallace couldn’t visit the actual cavern. It was at a depth so deep that the pressure would kill him before he was even anywhere close to it. He would wonder how his ancestors had trapped Kyogre down there in the first place, but he knew it was no use. The library’s ink never faded, and Sky Pillar only opened if he smeared his own blood in a certain spot. There was ancient magic in Hoenn and he wasn’t going to question it.

An underwater trench ran next to Sootopolis. It fascinated many an oceanographer with its extreme depth, enough so that a submarine was being specially built to survive it. Steven had been so excited by the project his father’s company was partnering with Stern’s Shipyard for. Enough so that Wallace had elected to wait and see whether he should pull rank and discontinue the project. As Head Guardian of the Cave of Origin, he technically had the last say in who could explore the waters around Sootopolis due to several old, but still legal, laws.

Another dire mistake on his part. He’d let Steven’s enthusiasm overshadow his duties. Fascinating as the trench was, it was where Kyogre slept, and he could not let humans disturb it.

Humans, like those wannabe pirates in the boat currently floating over the trench.

Wallace patted the smooth scales beneath his legs. “We can’t do anything too drastic. They need to be arrested if possible.”

Alexander, his Gyarados, rumbled a dismayed growl. He enjoyed playing the terrifying beast but now wasn’t the time for it. Gracefully, Alexander descended to screams of terror from the Team Aqua grunts.

“Excuse me,” Wallace said in his politest voice, making sure it carried over the screams and shouts. “You wouldn’t like to make this easy for everyone and come without a fight, would you?”

“Fuck you!” one of the grunts yelled.

“How crude,” Wallace faux-mumbled, his voice still carrying easily. “Well, Alexander?”

Alexander unhinged his jaw.

“No!”

“Fuck!”

“Randy!”

“Right!” a grunt who was hiding under the cockpit screamed. “Gardevoir! Teleport!”

Fuck, Wallace couldn’t help but furiously think to himself. Before Alexander could do more than lean in slightly, the boat disappeared.

Alexander let out a low whine, whipping his tail back and forth.

“Don’t pout,” Wallace said, before sighing. “It was my fault for not noticing.”

The story of his life lately.

Well, Team Aqua certainly knew where to find Kyogre. He’d have to alert the Rangers to patrol this area, just like they were with Mt Chimney. Hopefully, that would deter those fools.

-

Surfing on a Pokémon was a strange experience. Seadra was just barely large enough to carry Ivy on her back, but not large enough that Ivy could stay fully out of the water. Still, it was no hardship to slip on a one-piece bathing suit, some shorts, and a hat and go on her way. It was cold at first, but between the hot Hoennian summer sun and being in the water for so long, the cold didn’t last long.

Ivy only had the eastern Gyms left. That first meant going back to Slateport and Mauville to get to Fortree City. She could’ve easily gotten there by going back to Petalburg and getting on a boat, but that didn’t seem as fun. Seadra’s evolution meant she was big enough to ride on and Ivy had never surfed on a Pokémon before. Not to mention, it’d be quicker to just surf to Slateport or Mauville instead of trekking to Petalburg first.

Surfing was rather boring, honestly.

Pokémon were nearly as fast as boats, but they tired out quicker than a boat needed to refuel. Luckily Hoenn, particularly its southern ocean, was filled with small islands perfect for resting on. Most of them were even empty, just simple sandbars. Ivy and Seadra steered clear of the ones with Pokémon; they’d probably be territorial, and Ivy didn’t want to battle over something she could’ve easily avoided.

There was also little to do besides talk to Seadra. Which was fine, but Ivy was going a bit stir crazy after only a few hours. And she still had at least one more day to go! She should’ve just taken the boat.

Seadra trilled, shifting slightly towards a new direction.

“Huh? Is there something over there?”

Making sure one hand was wrapped securely around Seadra’s neck (she’d already made that mistake and fallen off) she raised the other to block out the sun. Squinting, she could just barely make out some large shape in the distance. Ivy had no idea what it could be.

“Huh. Well, let’s go check it out!”

Seadra trilled in agreement, speeding up slightly.

-

The closer they got, the more Ivy felt like she’d seen it before. It was a large metal platform, with one side leaning precariously into the ocean. Her trip from Slateport to Petalburg had been an overnight one where she’d spent most of the time sleeping. Her other trip was from Dewford to Slateport with Mr. Briney, the first time Brendan had been mad enough at her to avoid conversation. It’d been an awkward ride, but Mr. Briney had pointed out some interesting islands and landmarks. He’d definitely mentioned it, she just needed to think hard enough…

Aha! Sea Mauville! That was it!

Mr. Briney hadn’t said much, though Ivy did remember him pointing it out. Just the name before he had harrumphed and moved on. She hadn’t dwelled on it, too busy worrying about Brendan and having fun steering the boat.

Her memory proved correct for once as they finally neared the platform. A small sign jutted out of an equally small sandbar right in front of it.

SEA MAUVILLE NATURE RESERVE
A Hoenn Region Protected Area

A nature reserve? There were a few areas of Hoenn either prohibited to humans or heavily patrolled by Rangers in order to preserve the unique ecosystem in them. Mirage Desert and Meteor Falls were both protected areas, Ivy was pretty sure. Shoal Cave and most of Ever Grande Island were two other famous protected areas.

Ivy hadn’t heard of Sea Mauville, though. She squinted at the base of the platform where it met the water. It seemed nature-y enough; mangrove trees had taken over most of the lower side of the platform. There was also a large boat with the Pokémon League Ranger Corps logo on it anchored a few meters from the preserve. The ocean-based equivalent to the Ranger station Ivy had avoided during her trip to Mirage Desert, probably.

A ranger, dressed more formally than rangers usually were, sat in a plastic chair with an umbrella attached. She stared longingly at the boat until Ivy’s feet hit the metal platform with a clang. She straightened up, a fake smile on her face.

“Hello, there! Welcome to Sea Mauville.”

Ivy beamed at her as she neared, Seadra floating beside her. “Hi! What is this place?”

“Yes, Sea Mauville is one of Hoenn’s lesser-known protected areas.” The ranger cleared her throat before launching into an obviously memorized monologue. “Decades ago, Sea Mauville was a facility meant for extracting natural resources found in the ocean. However, the company that owned it went under leading to the facility being abandoned. An ecological survey done by the Hoenn Ranger Corps determined that there was potential for it to be a unique ecological site despite its man-made nature, leading to it being protected instead of torn down.”

She paused before continuing, her voice losing some of that robotic inflection that came from memorization. “Nowadays, it’s mainly visited by scientists and us rangers for ecological study. Being so far out from any city means no one really knows it exists.”

“That’s cool!” Ivy peered around the ranger, at the deck of the platform. There were holes everywhere, but you could easily avoid them. “So, people are allowed in, then?”

The ranger nodded. “While the platform is, er, tilted at a rather precarious angle, it’s still walkable. The interior and lower sections are even more secure, and feature items left behind by the people who used to live here making it quite the historical museum as well. And the Pokémon aren’t particularly aggressive so even those who aren’t trainers aren’t at risk of being injured.” She cleared her throat. “If you wish to explore, look for treasure, or capture a Pokémon, feel free to. We also take donations starting at 100 Pokédollars for the preservation of the site.”

Ivy had no problem scanning her ID and donating some money. She could barely put her ID away she was so excited. Ivy wondered what she might find. A rare Pokémon? These kinds of places were usually preserved because they were the only location in the whole region where you could find certain Pokémon.

Or maybe unique items! Maybe one of the former inhabitants was a top trainer and they’d left behind some of their supplies. Or maybe—

The ranger cleared her throat. She held out a small, black device. Ivy recognized it as a Ranger distress beacon, the kind Brendan always pestered her to get but she never remembered to.

“We require anyone going in to carry these distress beacons. Sea Mauville is safe to explore but has a confusing interior. Should you get lost, you can press the button here and it will allow one of us rangers to find you as quickly as possible.”

Ivy nodded, taking the device.

“Well, thank you for stopping by. We hope you have a good time at Sea Mauville.”

-

Ivy giggled as she held out her arms to steady herself. Back on the platform, Seadra trilled in worry. She had always been a worrier and that was not helped by who her trainer was. A large beam protruded from the facility dozens of feet into the air and Ivy had immediately decided she needed to walk on it. It was wide enough to walk on easily, but falling would be incredibly painful, if not deadly.

Slowly, Ivy made her way to the top. Part of her desperately wanted to hop around at her success but even she knew that was a dumb idea. Still, she couldn’t help but skip back to the platform, Seadra squealing in alarm at every hop.

“That was fun!”

Seadra squawked angrily.

“Okay, fun to do, maybe not to watch. Let’s explore more!”

Ivy skipped off, Seadra flapping her fins as she continued to squawk a lecture.

-

The interior really was more stable than the top. It wasn’t quite even, but it certainly wasn’t the extreme angle of before.

It was also incredibly tacky. The ranger hadn’t been lying when she said it shut down decades ago. Ivy had only ever seen that sort of wallpaper in houses owned by the elderly who hated change.

The first room she came across wasn’t much, just a large cafeteria. The tables were still there, but nothing else. Most of the other rooms on the first level were similar—as the most visited, anything important would’ve been taken already.

She did see some interesting Pokémon though—one room was now home to a colony of Skitty, while another had a handful of Chimecho, Chingling, and strange looking, small, yellow and pink floating… birds? She had never seen the Pokémon species before. They were probably descendants of Pokémon brought by the former workers. Maybe when she was done exploring, she could catch one!

Still, there was no material treasure to be found.

“Well, we’ll just have to find the lowest levels! They’re probably untouched. C’mon!”

Seadra trilled, alarmed. She didn’t like the sound of that.

-

Turns out Sea Mauville had a lot of levels. Twenty of them. Ivy managed to find a set of stairs and a set of signs. One was a map detailing what each level did, ranging from residential quarters to offices to laboratories. The other, well…

“Don’t bring Pokémon to your workplace… lay your life on the line in safety checks… worship and praise the founder...?” Ivy read out loud for Seadra’s benefit in increasing horror. “What kind of place was this?”

Ivy wrapped her arms around herself and, for the first time in a while, felt a chill. Without the sun to dry her, she was now feeling the effects of being in a metal building in wet clothing.

That was why she suddenly felt cold. Totally. Definitely not related to the creepy sign or the Chimecho that had followed her and was now wailing.

She eyed it nervously. “Do you have to do that?”

The Chimecho continued to wail. The hairs on Ivy’s arms stood up. Seadra shuffled closer to Ivy, shuddering slightly. The tips of her back fins were tinged purple—her species natural ability to produce poison showing through. Useful in that it instantly let her learn Toxic upon evolution, but a sure sign that she was growing nervous.

“C’mon, Seadra. Let’s… let’s get going.”

-

Flashlight in hand, Ivy headed down all the way to level fifteen. It was the lowest she could go, with everything below it being flooded.

She studied the map in this part of the stairwell, dark water pooling around her ankles. It seemed most of the lab levels were flooded. The only one remaining was level fifteen. The rest of the levels alternated between residential quarters and offices.

Well, Ivy knew where she was exploring first!

The first door, labelled Lab 15-1, was locked. No matter how hard she tried, the door refused to budge.

“Well, there’s other ones,” she told Seadra, who continued to huddle close to Ivy.

Lab 15-2 was unlocked—and an utter mess. It seemed it used to be some kind of processing room given all the old-school computers with huge monitors. Most of their screens were smashed in; a few even had moss (or mold?) growing in them.

Ivy picked her way across carefully. She was wearing sandals so she wasn’t completely safe from any shards that could be lying around.

Most of the room was taken up by the computers and their frankly ridiculous amount of hardware. Against one wall, was a row of filing cabinets. Ivy opened one drawer. The papers in it were waterlogged, but still slightly legible. Unfortunately, she had no idea anything said on them. It was just number after number alongside a bunch of graphs.

Shutting the drawer, Ivy made to leave when a photo caught her eye. It was a group of men, but the one in front was someone who seemed familiar. He had wild hair and a large grin that stood out from the more respectable looking men around him. He was younger and less bald, but if that wasn’t Gym Leader Wattson, Ivy would eat her hat.

Did he used to work here? He was supposedly some great inventor, so it wasn’t impossible. Plus, he was from Mauville and this was Sea Mauville. There had to be some connection between the two names. Maybe she could ask him at a later point. He’d been nice enough the other two times they’d talked.

A chill swept across the back of her neck. Seadra let out a shrill noise as Ivy whirled around.

Nothing.

Ivy eyed Seadra who shook from nerves. “Do you want to go back to your Poké Ball?”

Seadra hesitated.

“I’ll let out Mightyena.”

Hearing that, Seadra nodded. Ivy quickly returned her poor, frightened Pokémon for one who didn’t spook as easily.

Mightyena let out a cheerful bark as she was released, before tilting her head quizzically when she noticed where she was.

“We went exploring and found an abandoned building,” Ivy quickly explained. “There’s probably some Ghost types around so Seadra was getting scared. Ghost types don’t scare you though, do they?”

Mightyena let out another bark and puffed out her chest.

“Let’s go! There’s a few more labs on this level.”

-

Labs 15-3 and 15-4 were much of the same. Ivy was honestly pretty disappointed she didn’t find any crazy sci-fi tech that showed Sea Mauville was secretly creating evil clones or something. Maybe there were some giant clone test tubes on the lower labs, but them being flooded made it a moot point. Ivy didn’t know how long she could hold her breathe but she was pretty sure it wasn’t long enough to explore.

Level fourteen was the first office area. This one seemed to be for the higher-ranking workers as there were actual doors. She’d taken a peek at a few of the previous floors and not every office had them. Another messed up point for this creepy company.

Mightyena trotted beside her, strangely silent. Perhaps the atmosphere was even getting to the Dark type.

These offices had significantly more items in them than the labs below or the first floor above. The first she went into had a stack of magazines on the desk. The one on top was Coordinator’s Weekly, with an image of two teenaged girls with turquoise hair on the cover. They reminded Ivy of Lisia. Her mom and an aunt, maybe? She had multiple coordinators in her family beyond her uncle, Ivy was pretty sure.

She checked the publishing dates on the magazines. Yeah, they were all from around twenty-five years ago. The girls on the cover could easily be Lisia’s mom or aunt. Neat!

The next few were all different issues of the same magazine, Hoenn Insider. Ivy skimmed through them, frowning. They all seemed to deal with some company called Greater Mauville Holdings. New Mauville terminated, Sea Mauville closing…

One magazine, the then-most recent, caught her eye.

Project Leader Wattson Weighs in on Problems in New Mauville!

So, Wattson was involved! Ivy eagerly skimmed through that issue. While it was legible, most of the flimsy pages were stuck together after years spent in such a damp environment. Ivy tried peeling a few apart, but after tearing one, she stopped. She wouldn’t get the full Wattson story, but she’d at least be able to read page one.

PROJECT LEADER WATTSON SPEAKS OUT ON NEW MAUVILLE: “[It’s] an ecological disaster.”

Greater Mauville Holdings has suffered a string of bad luck lately. Between the recent termination of the New Mauville Housing Project and the impending closure of the Sea Mauville Energy Project, many believe the formerly indomitable wall of Hoenn business is facing bankruptcy and dissolution.

“It was the right thing to do,” stated former New Mauville Housing Project leader Wattson in a public interview with several news outlets. “I can’t speak for Sea Mauville, but New Mauville simply could not continue without completely destroying the habitats of Pokémon. Continuing it would be an ecological disaster.”

New Mauville was meant to be an underground housing project made to withstand the weather disasters that often strike the Hoenn region. Underground to escape a hurricane or volcanic eruption, yet sturdy enough to survive an earthquake. The initial announcement of the project was met with praise, even with the lengthy estimated finish date. Many more cheered when Wattson, long known—

The first page ended there. Ivy tried once more to peel the pages apart, but no dice.

She sighed. That wasn’t anything she didn’t already know. Well, she hadn’t known Wattson himself had been in charge of the project, but everything else stirred up memories of history class. The abandonment of the Mauville expansion had been praised by her teacher as a recent example of people and Pokémon living together in harmony. Obviously though, people hadn’t been as happy back when it was still a newsworthy story.

The only other thing of note was a half-finished letter on the desk.

Veronika—

Finally, the closing date has been announced. I can’t thank Stern enough for inviting us to his shipyard. We would have been adrift otherwise. In fact, I

The note suddenly cut off, a line of ink running across the page implying the author had been forced to stop with a jerk.

Stern? As in Captain Stern?

Who else had ties to this company?

Ivy frowned as she and Mightyena went to the next few unlocked offices. They didn’t contain much. It seemed either whoever owned these offices had the foresight to clean them out before leaving or they’d been picked clean by previous treasure hunters. As she left the third office, a chill swept over Ivy once more. Beside her, Mightyena growled.

Nothing was in the hallway.

Ivy absently pet Mightyena’s mane, trying not to panic. She suddenly remembered that she was in an empty metal husk, probably hundreds of feet underwater. Ivy shook her head. It was fine. Just a Ghost type playing a prank. It was fine.

-

If the last few offices had been pointedly empty, this office was almost comically filled to the brim. A whole stack of papers and files were spread over the desk as if whoever owned the office had gone through them all and forgotten to put them away before they left.

However, Ivy was immediately drawn to a small bookshelf in the corner that had an entire shelf filled with Hi Skitty merchandise. A few dolls, a figurine, and what looked like a kid’s magazine whose whole issue was dedicated to Hi Skitty.

Ivy smiled to herself. She wasn’t a huge fan of Hi Skitty, but all her school friends were. Right when she’d moved to Hoenn, a super popular Hi Skitty cartoon had just ended. They’d been aghast to hear she’d never seen the show and she had fond memories of sleepovers spent marathoning it.

Despite how run down everything else in Sea Mauville was, the Hi Skitty shelf was in shockingly good condition. There was a strange gap in the center, but maybe the previous owner had taken whatever was there with them. Or someone else had.

Ivy turned to the desk, though Mightyena kept staring at the bookshelf.

There were a ton of papers just everywhere. Ivy would’ve faced some choice paralysis if there wasn’t a manila file folder with the words CONFIDENTIAL stamped on it almost falling off the desk. She immediately went for that.

The papers were difficult to read. They were yellower than any papers she’d come across yet, with dates almost a decade before the magazines she’d found in the first office.

Ivy frowned as she tried to sound out what was written. Between the water stains covering some parts and black out ink covering the rest, it was difficult.

“De… Devon Secret… Investigation Re… port.”

Ivy blinked. Devon secret investigation? Did someone from Greater Mauville Holdings sneak into the Devon Corporation and steal something like a spy in a heist movie? It wasn’t clones, but that was pretty cool.

She tried to read the rest.

“Something, something… rumors of energy… sssource… turned out to be true. The device that uses Po… Pokémon Infinity Energy is… ‘dunno. De… details are… something. With… this, Mauville can now attempt… something.”

None of that sounded good. Professors all over the world studied Infinity Energy, the energy that resided within Pokémon and allowed them to use moves and evolve, but Ivy had a feeling simple science wasn’t what Greater Mauville Holdings had been interested in.

The rest of the pages held no answer. They’d been thoroughly redacted with black ink. Not well, though. Ivy had never seen black out confidential papers in person, but she had seen them in movies and video games. Those were all neatly done, with dark lines only hitting the necessary words. These papers look more like someone had scribbled a black marker over the entire page. One of the only bits to not be censored was equally baffling. It was a drawing of a flower. A lily, maybe? Ivy wasn’t sure; she wasn’t exactly an expert in flowers.

Ivy set the folder down and reached for another stack of papers.

These stood out from the rest. Instead of orderly documents written on a typewriter, they were handwritten letters with large, childish handwriting.

Dear Daddy,

How are you? Are you working really hard? I'm doing well. I'm doing all my homework, and I'm helping at home, too. Mommy's working hard and makes us dinner every night. Do you have to work this weekend? Are you going to come home? If you come home, take me to see the star show, OK?

Your son,
Takao Cozmo

P.S. I'm going to send you the picture I drew at the Trainers' School.

Cozmo… like Professor Cozmo? Brendan might’ve said his first name on their trip to Fallarbor, but Ivy wasn’t sure. If he did, then she didn’t remember it.

All the other letters were similar; talking about his day and wondering when his dad would be home next. Ivy’s stomach dropped when one of the letters mentioned a Solrock and how much little Takao loved stars and space. This had to be Professor Cozmo.

Ivy set the letters down. They were too personal.

The next stack of letters were also handwritten, though done in pen by an adult. They all seemed to be about the same topic—a draft of a letter meant to apologize for something. Between the several attempts, Ivy managed to figure out what had happened. Raizoh Cozmo, Professor Cozmo’s father she could only assume, had lost something called an Odd Keystone loaned to them by the Oreburgh Mining Museum all the way in Sinnoh, and he was trying to apologize to them. She had no idea what an Odd Keystone was but, obviously, it was important.

The next few papers made no sense to her. Once more, they were older papers all talking about Infinity Energy. They seemed to be reports, but what they were reporting was incomprehensible, including another drawing of a lily. Brendan probably would’ve understood them though.

Ivy paused. He wasn’t talking to her, but maybe he would eventually? Then he could help her with this! They could figure it out together. Nodding decisively, she added the reports to the confidential folder and shoved them into her backpack.

There was one last thing on the desk—a key with a tag attached. Ivy picked it up. It was a simple key. The kind anyone would have for a door in their house. She read the attachment and a giddy smile lit up her face.

Lab 15-1.

She’d been planning to leave immediately, but she just couldn’t let this go. It was too perfect.

“Alright, Mightyena, let’s—”

A clatter from the opposite side of the room made her jump. Mightyena started to growl.

In the corner by the door were a handful of shining spheres. Ivy’s jaw dropped. Gold nuggets. She’d never seen one in real life. Despite herself, she took a step forward. Gold nuggets were worth a lot of money.

The only non-gold nugget item was strange. It looked similar to a large marble with its swirling colors, but Ivy was pretty sure no one would keep a simple marble alongside their gold nuggets.

“This is a trap,” Ivy muttered to herself before kneeling and quickly picking up all five spheres and adding them to her backpack too. Nothing bad immediately happened; then again, nothing immediately bad had happened back in Mirage Desert when she was in that tower.

Ivy turned around, eyes darting everywhere. Nothing was amiss, besides Mightyena’s low growl. With a sigh of relief, she turned to look at a pair of disembodied eyes.

Ivy fell to the ground with a scream as a cackle echoed throughout the room. Mightyena leapt forward with a Howl, jumping at the now visible Banette. It hovered over the empty spot on the Hi Skitty bookshelf, only disappearing when Mightyena would’ve made contact, letting her poor pooch smash into the wall.

Banette appeared above Ivy’s head. With a cackle, it dove down, through Ivy.

She had never been so cold. Cold and lonely. Blood turned to ice, heart blackened from anger. No one cared, no one ever had. She was a container of dead dreams and false hope. She—

Something crashed into her.

Ivy slid across the floor, shivering. The unbearable cold and unfathomable sadness left, but she was still in shock.

Above her, Banette let out another cackle. It dove down a second time. Ivy numbly stared. She didn’t think she had any energy to move.

Another Howl broke through her thoughts. Before the Banette could reach Ivy, Mightyena leapt, mouth crackling with black energy. Bite. Or, perhaps from how the Banette screamed, Crunch.

Wild Pokémon were not trained Pokémon. They targeted prey that couldn’t fight back. If one did, they usually backed off unless they were particularly aggressive or territorial.

Banette was not, it seemed. With a wail, it disappeared as quickly as it came.

Immediately, Mightyena bounded over to Ivy and licked her face. Her warm tongue and wet saliva did the trick to break through the foggy dissociation Banette had left Ivy in.

Ivy sat up and hugged Mightyena close.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

The key bit into her hand uncomfortably. Mightyena was going to be so mad at her.

Chapter Text

Mightyena stared at her, disapproval written in every inch of her face. Ivy bit back a wince. If Mightyena didn’t approve, then this was a beyond stupid idea.

But still. Ivy couldn’t let that curiosity go.

“Just a quick peek,” she pleaded. “Open the door, look around, then we’ll go back up. I swear!”

Mightyena let out a pointed sigh but got to her feet. Ivy gave her a shaky smile. She still felt a little off from Banette swooping through her, but it was ignorable. Maybe if Ivy asked nicely, the Rangers would let her sleep on their boat. She kind of wanted to leave Sea Mauville immediately, but sleeping out in the open on a small island sounded less and less appealing the more the day wore on.

As quick as her wobbly legs would let her, she hurried back down to level fifteen, Mightyena at her heels.

Despite the decades the key had been sitting around rusting, it didn’t take much force to stick it in and turn the knob. She couldn’t get the key back out, but that was fine.

Ivy stood still in the doorway, unable to believe what was in front of her.

Lab 15-2 had been messy. Almost every computer had been destroyed, with moss and mold covering the other half. Lab 15-1 was not messy. It was completely and utterly annihilated.

Debris covered the floor. There wasn’t a single table, chair, or cabinet left untouched. There was nothing left at all.

Ivy picked her way through, stunned into silence. What could’ve caused such destruction? A Pokémon? Was this why the door was locked?

Once more, a chill ran through Ivy. She shouldn’t be here.

Behind her, the door slammed shut.

Ivy whirled around. There was nothing there.

Mightyena huddled against her legs, the beginnings of a growl humming low in her throat.

Something wet brushed her ankle. Oh, Ivy did not want to look down. If there was anything red down there, she was screaming and running out the door immediately. She was not going to deal with this horror movie crap anymore. She should’ve listened to her Pokémon and gotten the hell out of there.

Peeking through half closed eyes, Ivy let out a sigh of relief. Oh, good. It was regular sea water.

She bit her lip. There hadn’t been any sea water when she entered the room.

Ivy backed slowly towards the door. It was shut, but if she had to break it down, she would. She’d done it before. Or Blaziken would.

Mightyena didn’t move with her. She stood with her haunches raised, her growls getting louder and louder.

“Mightyena,” Ivy whispered. Speaking louder than a whisper felt like it would attract whatever Ghost was haunting them now. “Let’s go-OH!”

Walking backwards, she had tripped over some debris. At her yelp, Mightyena came rushing over, whining in concern.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Ivy murmured as Mightyena’s wet nose sniffed her face. She clambered to her feet, body beginning to really feel its exhaustion. “Let’s just leave.”

Mightyena didn’t say anything, stiffening as she stared at a piece of debris in the center of the room.

No, it was too smooth to be debris. There was a giant crack down the center, but the rest of it was smooth.

The water around them began to rise as the rock let off a sickly green glow.

Slowly, the green glow levitated. It swirled in the air, rising and becoming larger. The green morphed into a sinister face, a whirl of purple energy surrounding it.

There was no cackling like with the Banette. The Pokémon in front of her made no noise at all. It didn’t need to. Its presence alone was enough to terrify her into stillness, its horrifying presence making even breathing hard. It moved forward, its rock making a large thud with every hop. In any other situation this would be almost comical, but with the water almost to her knees, the thud echoed the beating of her heart in her ears.

While Ivy was struck dumb by the terrifying creature, Mightyena let out a Howl and leapt forward, dark energy crackling around her jaw for another Crunch.

The Pokémon didn’t even attempt to dodge. It tanked the Crunch like it was nothing.

Suddenly, it howled.

Its cry was one of the worst things Ivy had ever heard. It wasn’t a single noise, but the voice of dozens, if not hundreds, of beings screaming at once. Some started before the others while others wailed longer than needed. Ivy covered her ears, trying to block out the discordant cacophony.

Mightyena let out a howl of her own, this time from pain. She collapsed to the ground, her face going under the water. Ivy stared in horror as slashes appeared all over her body, leaking out blood that clouded around her as it came into contact with the sea water.

What move had the Pokémon just used to do that?

Thump.

The Pokémon was getting closer.

There was noise now, a crazed, discordant laugh. Some of the voices sounded hysterical, like they were crying while laughing while others sounded angry and malicious.

Oh, Ivy finally realized. This thing wanted to kill her. Not just make her leave by playing a trick like with Banette; it wanted her dead.

Ivy felt lightheaded. This was not how she expected this day to go.

Her fingers fumbled at her backpack’s side pocket. She had dressed for swimming, not battling, so she didn’t have her special belt for holding her Poké Balls on. They were all jumbled into her Poké Ball pocket.

Ivy didn’t have a clue who she was looking for. Her heart was beating so loud in her ears she couldn’t think at all. She blindly grabbed a Poké Ball and clicked the center, hoping to hell that whoever was inside could help her.

The Poké Ball opened with a slight creak, bottom half swinging down to show off the bare inside.

She’d grabbed an empty Poké ball.

The terrifying Pokémon was mere feet away.

Ivy stared at the Poké Ball in her hand.

Fuck it. She didn’t have any other option.

She threw the Poké Ball at the approaching Pokémon with all her might.

The Pokémon’s swirling form warped into white light. The Poké ball fell to the ground with a thunk.

Ivy braced herself for it immediately exploding out. This thing wanted to kill her; it almost certainly wouldn’t want to be caught.

The Poké ball jumped around violently. Once, twice, three times. Ivy braced herself again.

It kept on shaking.

Ivy wasn’t an expert on how Poké balls worked, but she did know that three shakes or less was the usual amount. By the third shake, the Pokémon had usually decided if they liked the idea of being caught or not. She’d never heard of it going on for longer.

Hesitantly, she reached back into her Poké Ball pocket. This time, she was more careful. Mightyena had a sticker on her ball of the Dark type symbol. After picking out another empty one, she found the right Poké Ball and returned her poor pooch. Mightyena’s back was more red than grey by that point and Ivy felt tears well in her eyes. She hoped Mightyena was okay. If her Pokémon died because of her stupidity, she’d never forgive herself.

The Poké ball was still shaking.

It was less violent, though. Before, it had been jumping over a foot into the air, rattling the entire time. Now, it was more of a normal shake, merely moving side to side.

With a click, it stopped.

Ivy had captured whatever it was that just tried to kill her.

-

“I was wondering when you’d—hey, kid, are you alright?”

The voice of another made Ivy instantly burst into tears, alarming the ranger even more.

“Are you okay!? Hey, Jamie! Go get a room on the boat ready!”

-

The rangers were very nice and had no problem letting her stay the night on their boat. Amanda, the ranger assigned tour guide duty who had been so nice to her, even made her a meal and let her eat it in bed.

They even had a portable healing machine for Mightyena and her new Pokémon.

“Do you mind telling us what happened?” Amanda asked, eyes full of concern.

Ivy stared down at her soup. Why did people always want her to recount bad things?

“There… there was a Ghost type.”

Amanda winced before nodding. “That makes sense. We’ve all felt the occasional chill in the lower levels but haven’t recorded an actual sighting of a Ghost yet. Do you know which one?”

Ivy said nothing. She didn’t actually know what Pokémon it was.

“A… Banette.” Ivy said slowly. It wasn’t lying; she had been attacked by a Banette, too. Not to mention, the Pokémon was now in her possession and no longer in Sea Mauville. There was no reason to tell her about it. It wasn’t a threat to anyone anymore. Except for Ivy herself, of course. “On level fourteen.”

Amanda nodded, then patted Ivy’s knee. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. Ghost attacks are scary, but you’ll feel better after a good night of sleep.”

She got up to leave, and Ivy reached out, grabbing her arm. “Wait!”

“Yes?”

“Um. It used a move I’d never seen. It screamed and then my Mightyena screamed and fell to the floor. Then a bunch of… of bleeding cuts opened up all over her. She’ll be okay, right?”

Ivy stared up at her, eyes red and puffy from crying. Amanda cooed and leaned down to give the younger girl a hug.

“Mightyena’ll be fine. Maybe a bit shaken, but fine. It sounded like the Banette used Curse. It’s scary to watch but it’s only as harmful as any other move used by a Pokémon.”

Ivy slowly nodded, Amanda’s blonde hair tickling her face as she did.

“Do you need anything else?”

“I’m good. Thank you.”

“Then I’ll leave you to rest. See you in the morning, Ivy.”

-

The second Amanda left, Ivy grabbed her PokéNav. Its Pokémon database wasn’t as detailed as a PokéDex, but it had at least the basic information of just about every Pokémon out there.

Spiritomb
The Forbidden Pokémon

Dark/Ghost         Sx: ???
Ht: ???                 Wt: ???

No description available

No additional data available

Ivy stared numbly at the screen. She’d never seen the PokéNav have no data beyond the name and typing. She clicked on the Poké Ball icon by Spiritomb’s name. That would show her the personal stats page for her caught Pokémon.

Spiritomb
Trainer ID 27593

Pressure               Sx: N
Ht: .9m                Wt: 108kg

This Pokémon is currently at optimal health.

 

This Pokémon knows:

Confuse Ray
Curse
Dream Eater
Feint Attack
Hypnosis
Ominous Wind
Shadow Sneak

That was slightly more useful. Trembling, she scrolled down to the move list and clicked on Curse.

Curse
Ghost

A move that depends on the type of the Pokémon. With most types, it makes the Pokémon slower in exchange for higher defense and attacking capabilities. With Ghost types, they severely injure themselves in order to cast a curse of long-term damage on their opponent.

That made sense. There was no way Mightyena would have been able to battle very long with the kind of injuries on her. It seemed the Spiritomb was also more injured than it had let on.

Ivy clicked out of the PokéDex app and switched over to the internet. Silently, she thanked President Stone for being an annoying father, letting her access the internet even out in the middle of the ocean.

Searching ‘spiritomb’ immediately led her to a Bulbapedia page to her relief. With how sparse the PokéNav’s entry was, she half expected there to be no page at all.

Still, the Bulbapedia entry was still pretty slim.

Spiritomb is said to be the combined spirits of 108 souls bound to an Odd Keystone,^[3] making it a man-made Pokémon similar to Porygon, made through magic rather than science.^[?]

She skimmed through the rest of the short article, reaching the notable Pokémon list every Pokémon species page had.

There are only two known Spiritomb to exist in the modern day. One is a wild Spiritomb whose location is a protected secret by the Paldean Pokémon League while the other belongs to Sinnoh Champion Cynthia.^[5] While there are records of Spiritomb going back centuries, they are extremely rare due to their unknown means of creation.^[6]

Well, Ivy thought to herself, there’s at least three now.

-

“Are you sure you’re able to travel?”

Amanda had asked the question three times now. Ivy was touched by her concern, but a bit annoyed too.

“I am. I want to get to Mauville as soon as possible.”

The ranger pursed her lips. “Alright. I’ll stop bothering you. But be careful! Don’t go looking for more adventures, okay?”

Ivy shuddered. She could agree to that. “I promise.”

Amanda smiled. “Great! Well, safe travels.”

The rangers, Amanda, Jamie, and two others, had all been very nice that morning. They hadn’t even complained when she let out Mightyena who, after licking Ivy silly, played her favorite game of chasing humans around, Jamie being her victim. He’d just laughed it off.

Mightyena had been hesitant to go back into her ball, but agreed once Seadra was released and gave Ivy the most musical sounding lecture she’d ever been subjected to. And Ivy had been subjected to a lot of lectures in her thirteen years of life.

Ivy patted Seadra right where her fins touched her torso. “On to Mauville.”

-

While Slateport was closer, Ivy was aiming for Mauville. Or, rather, the mouth of the river that ran by Mauville. Mauville River was the longest in Hoenn and made up the majority of Route 119. Following it would lead her right to Fortree City in the north.

Surfing was just as boring as before, but Ivy relished in the monotony for once. She was very glad to not have a near death experience a second day in a row.

Unfortunately, she had nothing to do but think. Seadra wasn’t in a talking mood. She wanted to be done with this as much as Ivy did, leaving her trainer to her thoughts.

Ivy did not want to be alone with her thoughts. Ivy had spent most of her life doing as much as possible in order to think as little as possible. As the whole thing with battling her dad had shown, Ivy did not do well when she thought. It was as if all the time she spent not thinking tried to cram itself into those little windows leading to her overthinking to a ridiculous degree. It never ended well.

And, of course, there was only one thing on her mind. Spiritomb.

Ivy was running around with a Pokémon who tried to kill her.

Most Pokémon didn’t bother trying to kill humans. They only attacked with intent to kill if you had somehow managed to severely aggravate them. She’d heard news stories of poachers getting killed trying to steal eggs from nests. That was the sort of thing that led to Pokémon-caused deaths.

Even Ghost and Dark types, like Spiritomb was, were usually more on the harmless side. Many had tall tales about sucking out your life force or whatever, but most of them were too weak to truly do so. As long as you didn’t fall unconscious or had a Pokémon on you, you’d be fine.

But Spiritomb didn’t seem to be that kind of Pokémon. At least, none of the few articles she’d read had mentioned anything of the sort. Likely, it had meant to use Hypnosis to make her fall asleep before going at her with Curse or Feint Attack or something. Pokémon moves generally did far less damage to humans than Pokémon, but enough of them would kill someone eventually.

Ivy didn’t know what to do. Did she keep it? Or should she give it away? Who would she even give it away to? Her dad? Professor Birch? Neither of them particularly knew how to handle Ghost or Dark types. But it wasn’t like Ivy knew what to do either.

Brendan would probably know what to do. He was a nerd like that.

Ugh. Thinking about Brendan didn’t help bring up her mood.

Ivy leaned her head against Seadra’s cool scales. She missed her friend. Ivy had had a lot of friends in her life, but she’d never gotten as close to any of them as Brendan. They’d only properly known each other for a few months but spending almost every waking moment no more than five feet away from the other really helped you get to know someone.

Maybe… maybe he’d just been exaggerating when he said he never wanted to talk to her again. He had eventually talked to her after her forgetfulness in Granite Cave. Maybe if she reached out now that he’d had time to get over his anger, they could talk again. That’d be nice.

Seadra whinnied.

Ivy lifted her head. So deep in her thoughts, she hadn’t even realized the sun was setting. They’d been going at it nearly all day. But in some good news: there was land ahead. They had passed Slateport a few hours back so this had to be Mauville, or close to it.

“Awesome!” Ivy made sure to pat Seadra’s neck and even gave her a small smooch on the back of her head. Seadra let out a happy trill at that.

Clambering off Seadra at the right time and wading onto the beach was awkward, but she’d gotten used to it after two days of intermittently doing so. At this time of day, the sand wasn’t hot so she had no issues climbing up onto a less sandy part of the beach.

Ivy shaded her eyes and looked off at the lights in the distance. Alright, so this place wasn’t the mainland. Now that Ivy tried to recall a map of Hoenn in her head, there was a decently sized island right around where the Mauville River met the ocean. She must be there.

Sedra let out a questioning noise.

“Yeah. We can stay here for the night. We’re close enough, anyways.”

Ivy was ninety percent sure there wasn’t any town or city on this island. In fact, it might actually be a protected area like Sea Mauville now that she thought about it, though she wasn’t sure.

Whatever. She’d just be there for the night. If a ranger came by, she’d start crying.

Letting out her team (minus Spiritomb), Ivy got ready to sleep.

-

Blaziken squawked angrily at her, something that was surprisingly intimidating. Even over a week after his evolution, she wasn’t used to him towering over her.

She sighed. “I know, I knoooow. It’s stupid and dangerous and I should just call someone. But…”

Ivy had been the one to catch Spiritomb. It was her responsibility now.

Blaziken crossed his arms before sighing himself. He planted himself right beside her.

Ivy didn’t hide her beaming smile. “Of course! Just remember, it’s a Ghost type, so Fire and Flying moves only if it attacks, alright?”

Blaziken nodded, and Mightyena trotted up next to him, unusually serious. She let out a short bark.

“Crunch worked well last time. Just do that again.”

Her other two Pokémon were sitting this out. Seadra hid out in the ocean, watching from a long distance. Trapinch, in Ivy’s opinion, was just too slow and small to be of much use. She buried herself in the sand nearby, waiting and watching.

Ivy held the Poké Ball up and took a deep breath. With the smallest of gestures, she released Spiritomb.

It didn’t make a noise as it appeared. The rock, or Odd Keystone as Bulbapedia had called it, appeared first. Once it hit the sand, the swirling purple and green ectoplasm, the 108 souls that made up its form, rushed outwards, coalescing into that strange, face-like disk.

Spiritomb did nothing for a moment. Hoping that being caught had maybe calmed it down a bit, Ivy stepped forward.

“Hey? My name’s Ivy and I think we maybe got off on the wrong foot. I—”

Spiritomb interrupted her with a wail. Heart racing, Ivy whipped her head backwards. Blaziken and Mightyena were tensed and growling, but fine. Spiritomb hadn’t used Curse.

Just as Ivy turned back around, Spiritomb let loose a gust of deep purple energy—Ominous Wind.

Before she could take a step backwards, Blaziken jumped in front of her while Mightyena ran forward, jaw open and ready to Crunch.

Spiritomb let out another eerie howl and knocked Mightyena to the side with a second Ominous Wind. Still howling discordantly, it hopped forward with its rock. Blaziken barely took two steps forward before it stilled.

Ivy threw out an arm. “Wait!”

Blaziken didn’t make another step, but his body stayed tense. Mightyena got to her feet, growling wearily.

Spiritomb was moving, but not like it had before. Its swirling mass of energy jerked around, growing larger and smaller and distorting from its roughly circular shape. It looked like it was glitching, like a computer program that’d been infected by a virus.

It stilled and, suddenly, all the ectoplasm swirled back down into the Keystone.

Ivy waited a moment.

Nothing happened.

Neither of her Pokémon relaxed, so Ivy could only assume Spiritomb was still there. It was just… inside the rock.

Tentatively, Ivy stepped forward. Blaziken crowed when she passed him, but she didn’t stop. The closer she got to the Odd Keystone, the more hesitant her footsteps were. It took less than a second for Spiritomb to release its energy-based body. It could do that and attack her within seconds. Not even Blaziken would be fast enough to stop it.

It didn’t. Gathering her courage, Ivy leaned down and picked the Odd Keystone up. It was heavier than it looked. Much colder, too. Despite being out in the Hoennian sun (albeit in the early morning), the rock was freezing. A side effect of being home to a Ghost type, most likely.

With a sigh, she returned Spiritomb to its Poké Ball. She’d hoped to talk to it and get to know it, but it was too volatile. It seemed some of the souls wanted to harm her, or probably humans in general, while others were against that plan. That led to the Spiritomb fighting against itself.

“Well,” Ivy said glumly. She’d really been hoping that would work. “We should get going.”

-

After two days of surfing, Ivy opted to walk to the tip of the island before she had to surf once more to reach the mainland. It felt good to stretch her feet, and her Pokémon enjoyed being out of their Poké Balls too. Trapinch in particular was happy. She burrowed himself into the sand and Ivy only saw her pop up enough to be sure that Trapinch was still following her.

Ivy wondered when she’d evolve. Flygon, her final form, was a Dragon type and Dragon’s usually were rather slow when it came to evolving. Even though Ivy’s Pokédex estimated Trapinch was between five and ten years old, it could still take a while.

Seadra would be a Dragon type too with her final evolution, now that Ivy thought about it. Though the wait for that evolution had more to do with finding a Dragon Scale rather than training difficulties.

“Oh? Hello there!”

Ivy stopped dead, eyes wide. She hadn’t expected anyone to be on the island, let alone him.

She slowly turned around, face beginning to turn red.

Steven Stone gave her the most beautiful smile ever. “We met in Granite Cave, didn’t we? It was… Ivy, right?”

Chapter Text

Why did Ivy always have to meet Steven when she looked absolutely disgusting? She’d been wearing her bathing suit and shorts combo for three days straight now, and even with nearly an entire bottle of sunscreen gone she still had a sunburn on her shoulders that was starting to peel. Not to mention she hadn’t showered since Littleroot, so she had to smell awful too.

At least she was in a bathing suit? Guys liked seeing girls in them, right?

Steven looked beyond gorgeous. The last time they met he had been in almost stereotypical looking hiking gear, but now he was in, of all things, a three-piece suit. It suited him fabulously; obviously he had to have some sort of tailor to be able to get a suit to fit him that well. It wasn’t too long in the arms or legs, hugging his slim figure perfectly. It was in beautiful colors too, a dark charcoal with light purple accents that paired well with his silvery hair. The cravat—A cravat! Her future husband was so fancy!—was a bright red that added a nice pop of color to his darker clothing.

“…Ivy?”

His voice, rather hesitant sounding, snapped her out of her reverie. Hopefully her already red face didn’t somehow manage to get redder.

“A-ah! Steven! Hi!”

Behind Ivy, Mightyena cackled while Blaziken and Seadra sighed.

With her reply, his previous smile returned, albeit more cautiously.

“Hello! I was just wondering what you were doing here? Ah, if that’s okay to ask. It’s just that this island is off limits to most people, and I was wondering how you arrived.”

“Then what’re you doing here, if it’s off limits?” Ivy blurted out, before slapping both hands over her mouth.

Steven let out a short, musical laugh. “No, no, that’s understandable. I was asked to look into a problem here, as an, ah, expert.”

Ivy let her hands drop. “Oh.” An expert? He was so smart! Must be some sort of rock problem. Could rocks have problems? Whatever. “I was surfing from Littleroot to Mauville and, um, I thought this was Mauville. Or the area around it. Or something. Yeah.”

He gave her that wonderful smile once more. “Understandable. Well, sticking to the beaches isn’t too bad. Just be sure to avoid going inland or underground, okay? If the Rangers—”

Steven suddenly broke off and jerked his head to the side, eyes wide and a hand reaching up to touch his temple. Confused, Ivy followed his line of sight, but nothing seemed off. It was just the beach and the ocean.

“Hm. It seems we’ll have company in a second.” At her alarmed look, he hastily added, “nothing bad! In fact, it’s an honor to get a visit from him!”

They stood in silence. Ivy’s Pokémon gathered near her, just as curious as she was as to who could be coming. Seadra floated out of the ocean, Trapinch poked her head out of the sand, and Mightyena sniffed at Steven’s shoes. Once more showing his fantastic taste, he absently petted her head as he stared intently at the horizon.

Soon, a dark spot was visible. It grew larger and larger, faster than any Pokémon could possibly ever fly. Ivy looked at Steven, but his handsome face gave off no clues as to what it was.

With a gust that sent sand flying, the being arrived.

Ivy’s jaw dropped.

It was a Latios.

Ivy had only ever seen pictures of Latios and Latias. They were Legendary Pokémon—Pokémon so strong and so rare, most of what humans knew of them came from myths and legends. Latios and Latias were classified as lesser Legendary’s, being some of the most frequently appearing ones, but still. Ivy had never expected to see one in her life.

Latios glanced over at her before facing Steven. Given how Steven was still clutching his temple with a pained expression, Latios was likely communicating with him telepathically.

Right, Latios and Latias were supposed to be dual Dragon-Psychic types. They could supposedly do all sorts of psychic things at a skill level miles above even the strongest Alakazam.

Though it seemed even Latios couldn’t speak telepathically to a human without the pain that could only be soothed by a strong bond between the human and the Pokémon. Or maybe he was just so strong that his mental voice was painful regardless.

“Ah, them.” Steven said, voice surprisingly even given how scrunched up his face was. What mental fortitude! “Yes, we’ve been tracking their movements. Though nothing we’ve found has indicated a reason they’d be at Southern Island…”

For the first time, Latios let out an audible noise, a rumble from deep in his chest that sounded vaguely like an engine. Blaziken stepped towards Ivy, letting out a short crow.

Latios turned to them.

“They’re trustworthy,” Steven said and Ivy nearly swooned. He thought she was trustworthy! “In fact… she should come along. She probably has a better idea than I do of what they might want.”

Latios let out another rumble at that.

“What’s going on?” Ivy finally asked now that it seemed Steven and Latios’ conversation was over.

He sighed, something grim settling into his posture. “Team Magma. They’ve arrived on Southern Island, likely with the intention of catching the Latios and Latias herd that lives there.”

-

Steven spoke to her as they flew to Southern Island on Latios’ back, likely telling her stuff about Latios and Latias or whatever, but she didn’t hear a single word. Her brain was completely fritzed over the fact that she! Was! Hugging! Steven! There was only so much room on Latios’ back which meant Ivy had to get up close and wrap her arms around Steven to stay on.

Cheek against his shoulder blades and the wind muffling her actions, she sniffed deeply. He still smelled like a damp cave. Understandable. She could learn to love that smell. Probably.

Latios was too fast. Within minutes, they descended towards a beautifully green island. Ivy silently mourned the fact that it would make things super awkward if she kept hugging Steven and let go. One day in the future, once she was old enough, then she would never have to let go.

Latios shot her a nasty look once the two of them had gotten off of him. Right. Psychic type. Well, that was embarrassing. She didn’t have ‘Legendary Pokémon knows about her crush’ on her list of things that could happen, but there they were. She avoided his eyes.

Steven straightened his jacket before looking around warily.

“There’s something in the air… it’s making the hairs on my arm stand up…”

Ivy blinked. “I don’t feel anything.”

It was actually pretty peaceful. A bubbling river spilled out of a nearby forest and the wind provided a nice breeze. There was a lot of land in Hoenn uninhabited by humans, but this place was wholly wild and untouched in a way she almost couldn’t fathom.

That’s because he—marginally—is more psychically attuned than you are. Marginally. He can sense the fear from the herd.

Ivy clapped her hands over her ears and just barely avoided falling onto her knees. Ouch. Latios’ voice was much more boyish than she was expecting, but horribly painful.

Steven gave the ghost of a smile. “Yes, I’ve been told I have about as much psychic ability as a rock. Less than, even. But we shouldn’t waste too much time. Can you pinpoint where Team Magma are, Latios?”

Latios nodded and set off, Ivy and Steven following behind him at a slight jog. Ivy grimaced as she did; a headache had quickly formed after Latios’ intrusion.

“But why is Team Magma here?” Ivy couldn’t help but wonder. “Their leader guy had only mentioned orbs and super-ancient Pokémon. Are the orbs here? Because, um, you don’t look super-ancient, Latios.”

Both Steven and Latios stopped at her words.

“That has to be it.”

Super-ancient Pokémon!?

Ivy would’ve replied, but Latios’s second message managed to drive her to her knees this time around. The eon Pokémon practically thundered those three words. Her head throbbed so hard she could barely hear her own harsh breathing. If she blacked out a tiny bit, no one could blame her for it.

-

Not wanting to hurt the child anymore, Latios whirled to face Steven and spoke exclusively to him.

These people want to awaken one of the super-ancient Pokémon? Is that their goal?

Steven grimaced and leaned against a tree for support. “Please lower your voice. Er, if you can.” He closed his eyes and raised a hand to his temple. He had years of practice speaking telepathically with Metagross, but speaking to a new Pokémon, a Legendary Pokémon at that, was bringing back an old, familiar migraine.

“We’re not totally sure what their goals are, but, yes, that seems to be it. There is someone guarding the orbs right now and that must be why they’re here. They couldn’t figure out how to get past the guard, so they were likely hoping to catch a Legendary Pokémon to brute force their way past.” If it wouldn’t have made his pulsating headache worse, Steven would’ve shaken his head at Team Magma’s folly. “Of course, most of the populace knows nothing at all about Latios and Latias; they wouldn’t have known that the herd here has about as much offensive power as a newly hatched Abra.”

The fins on Latios’ head wiggled up and down, the eon Pokémon’s equivalent of a leg shaking from nerves. Steven hadn’t been wrong in his assessment. If push came to shove, it was likely some Latios or Latias would be able to form the energy needed for a Luster Purge or Mist Ball, but none of them had ever done so before. Southern Island was one of peace and harmony; there was no need to fight and so no one knew how to. Instead, they focused on honing their innate psychic abilities. In times like these with potential poachers, the herd knew they could count on trustworthy humans to help drive the wicked ones off. It was one of Steven’s duties to answer their call.

You are trying to stop them, yes? Latios asked, mental voice much quieter this time. If either one were to be woken…

“We’re trying, but we can only take it one crisis at a time.” Steven’s first step towards Ivy was more of a stagger, but he quickly rightened himself. It wouldn’t do for the young girl to see him unstable. She obviously looked up to him and he needed to be as steady as a rock to fulfill the part of role model. “They should be right down this path?”

Latios nodded.

“Then we’ll continue on. You go try to help the rest of your herd. We’ll follow in a second.”

Before he even finished speaking, Latios was gone in a gust of wind.

Steven took a deep breath to steady himself then put a hand on Ivy’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Ivy breathed shakily, but she was able to look up at him with clear eyes. The pain was still likely there, but not as debilitating as it was before. When dealing with Pokémon-based telepathy, sometimes that was the best you could get.

“Y-yeah. I think.”

“Are you ready to continue onwards? Or do you want to stay here? There’s no shame in staying behind; I know how painful telepathy is when you’re unprepared for it.”

Sluggishly, Ivy staggered to her feet. “I-I’m fine. We have to save the Latios and Latias, right?”

Steven’s smile was grim. “That’s the kind of spirit a trainer should have. Let’s go.”

-

It didn’t take long for them to stumble upon a pair of grunts.

“I hate being lookout,” one of them complained. “Nothing ever… happens…”

He stared at them.

Ivy raised her hand and waved. “Hi.”

He jumped to his feet. “You—”

The female grunt pushed him to the side, staring blatantly at Steven. “You!”

Ivy felt a flare of jealousy inside her. Hey! Only Ivy was allowed to use that worshipful tone of voice towards Steven!

Steven didn’t seem to notice. Good. “Excuse me, but please step aside. I don’t wish to battle either of you, but I will if it’s necessary.”

The male grunt grabbed a Poké Ball at his belt, but the female one completely ignored him. “Well, aren’t you one stunning male specimen!”

That seemed to finally break Steven’s façade of cool. “Wh-what?”

A step behind, Ivy glowered at the female grunt. That was Ivy’s future husband she was ogling!

The male grunt seemed just as baffled as Steven. “Are you flirting with him? Cecelia! Right now?”

Steven cleared his throat, a pink tinge slowly spreading on his cheeks. “I hate to agree with someone currently aiding and abetting Pokémon poaching, but there really isn’t time for this-this nonsense.”

“You seem so familiar! Are you a Contest star?” The grunt took a step forward, batting her eyelashes. Steven took a step back. “You have to be! No one as handsome as you could be a nobody.”

Steven was bright red by this point. Ivy was ready to pounce. Screw battling with Pokémon! Cecelia was about to get acquainted with Ivy’s fists for poaching not only Legendary Pokémon but the love of her life!

“I-I! Um. I would like to have you know that I, uh, I am actually seeing someone. Not that it’s any of your business. Uh.”

Wait.

“What?” Ivy and Cecelia shrieked at the same time.

Steven flinched, taking another half-step backwards. He stared blankly at Cecelia then Ivy, both staring back with the desperation of heartbreak clear on their faces, before settling on the male grunt.

“Man, I don’t know,” the grunt shrugged.

“I, uh. Can we just battle now?”

Cecelia flopped down to the ground. “Just go on.”

“What? Cecelia!”

“Uh…”

“He’s already broken my heart,” she wailed. “He doesn’t need to make my Pokémon feel such pain, too!”

The male grunt slapped a hand to his forehead. “Seriously?”

“I, um.” Steven glanced back at Ivy, who was still staring at him, completely devastated. “I’ll just be going then.”

Before the much more battle-ready grunt could do anything, he hurried onwards.

A Poké Ball wiggled in Ivy’s backpack and Blaziken released himself. The suddenness of seeing her Pokémon snapped Ivy out of her misery.

“I—what!? Don’t give me that look!” Blaziken crossed his arms and took full advantage of his newfound height to look down on her in disappointment. “I’m going!”

She hurried after Steven, Blaziken trotting at her heels.

-

Oh, Steven was taken! Ivy should have foreseen that! He was far too handsome not to have been snatched up by some lucky, lucky person. Did he love them? Was it long term? Maybe in ten years time they’d be broken up and Ivy and Steven would meet again in Granite Cave and—

Blaziken made a clacking noise with his beak.

Right. There were more important things to do.

Focus, focus, focus, Ivy! You needed to catch up to Steven and stop Team Magma!

Oh, but Steven, her heart—

She shook her head, wincing at the sharp pulse of pain that accompanied it. That, more than anything, helped clear her head. Easier to focus on the physical pain than the emotional.

The forest abruptly ended in a large clearing. Ivy felt a sense of déjà vu at the beautiful scenery. They were in a lush green field surrounded by two winding rivers. Cliffs rose away from the rivers and dozens of small waterfalls cascaded down their faces. In between the waterfalls were dark openings that had to lead to caves. In a way, it reminded Ivy of a greener Meteor Falls. Regrettably similarly, she couldn’t focus on the beauty because of Team Magma.

It wasn’t that Tabitha person leading the charge this time. Instead, there was a petite woman with lavender hair.

Behind her and the half dozen grunts in red hoodies, were maybe fifteen or so Latios and Latias huddled together under a large net. Ivy could only assume the net had some sort of anti-Psychic or Infinity Energy powers and that was why they weren’t just shaking it off.

A roar pierced through the air and the ground beneath her shuddered, sending Ivy to the ground for the second time that hour. It seemed Steven and the woman were finished speaking, even if Ivy had missed whatever their conversation was.

An enormous Aggron stood in front of Steven facing off against a Camerupt. The two Pokémon had simultaneously used Earthquake against each other, fracturing the previously untouched land.

“The Poochyena—” Ivy gasped out.

Understanding immediately, Blaziken jumped forward. The grunts had released their own Pokémon, mainly Poochyena and Numel with a Mightyena or two mixed in. Making use of his immense speed and long legs, Blaziken jumped from one newly made slab of earth to another, using Double Kick each time he came across an enemy. The small Poochyena probably couldn’t do much to Aggron, but it was better to let the Steel type focus on its main opponent.

Ivy tottered forward as another double strength Earthquake rocked the island. Flailing wildly, she just barely managed to stay upright.

This had to end sooner rather than later. Almost every Pokémon on the field was weak to the incredibly strong Ground type move. This wasn’t a battle of strategy; whoever outlasted the onslaught would be the victor here. Ivy could only hope that Steven’s Aggron was stronger.

“Enough,” Steven said, voice clipped. Ivy had only ever seen him have two expressions before: a calm, neutral one and a genial smile. This was not either of those. On the surface it was similar to the neutral look, but there was an intensity in his eyes that was almost frightening. “End this.”

With a roar, Aggron rushed forward. It wasn’t fast, not like Blaziken, but it had a momentum that couldn’t be stopped. It only gained more speed as it crossed the short distance between it and Camerupt. Even Camerupt letting loose another Earthquake did nothing to stop it. At full-speed, Aggron lowered its head and rammed into Camerupt.

The Camerupt never stood a chance. With a bleat, it fainted.

Blaziken stood unsteadily. He hadn’t been able to dodge every tremor from the Earthquakes, but he’d managed to take out all of the Dark types. Ivy ruffled his shoulder feathers in appreciation after he made his way back to her side.

“Please put down your remaining Poké Balls and surrender,” Steven said, voice as calm as ever. “Pokémon poaching is a first-degree felony in Hoenn and—”

“Ahaha! Ahahahahahahahaha!”

Ivy inched closer to Steven, honestly kind of freaked out. Whose response to being arrested was to giggle maniacally?

Now that she was closer and had a better look at the other Magma Admin, Ivy repressed a shudder. That woman’s eyes were dead inside.

-

Latios flew through one of the waterfalls and into the system of caves behind it. He’d only manage to save two of the smaller Latias before Steven arrived. Confident that the human had the battling aspect in hand, he headed off for the caves. The two little ones had wailed on and on about two other humans splitting off from the group and going into their sacred caves. He wasn’t a fighter, but he had to do something.

He could only hope the interlopers had gotten hopelessly confused trying to traverse the tunnels. Only someone who had grown up on Southern Island would be able to navigate them perfectly. If they were able to find the central cave…

Fear grew the closer he got to their mental presences. They were far too close to the main cavern for comfort. His only comfort was a third presence—it seemed at least one Latias had avoided capture. And he thoroughly knew who owned that mind.

Bursting into the deepest cavern on the island, it seemed all his worrying had been for naught. Latias didn’t have any attacking moves like the rest of them, but she had always been chatty.

…and that’s how we found out that trees can be thrown up into space! Oh, hi Latios! Is everything finished up there?

One of the humans on the ground groaned in pain. The other seemed to be unconscious.

I always knew you could bore someone into sleep with your chattering, but I didn’t think it would ever happen literally, he couldn’t help but say, slowing down as he flew over to Latias.

Latias shrugged with her whole body from her spot on the ground, not seeming to care at all about the would-be thieves and poachers not even a foot away.

It’s not like I could attack them.

Latios rolled his eyes. He ignored the trace of bitterness in her reply.

For every Latios, there was a Latias. It was just how it was. Brother and sister, friends, lovers; the relationship for every pair was different. And, unfortunately, this was his Latias. She was annoying and perky and chatty and the most important thing in the world to him.

He drifted over to the altar carved into a softly cascading waterfall. On each level sat a multitude of Latiasite and Latiosite. But those were nothing. The greatest treasure was at the highest level—the Soul Dew. It contained the spirits of Latios and Latias long departed so that their souls could always be remembered. It contained potent power and more than one being, human and Pokémon alike, had attempted to steal it over the millennia.

Seeing it was safe, Latios could finally feel that this crisis was over.

We’ll have to levitate them out.

It seemed that at some point while Latios was checking the Soul Dew the other human had also fallen unconscious.

Latias stretched and lazily floated upwards. Easy enough. Now, let’s go! I wanna meet those humans who helped us!

With barely a twitch, the bodies of the two thieves floated with her as Latias sped out of the cave and into a tunnel.

Latios shook his head, following at a more sedate pace. She was always too curious for her own good.

-

It was chaos up top. Latios wasn’t sure how it had happened, but the ground was completely torn up and several trees seemed to have been uprooted. More alarmingly, a thick cloud of what could only be poisonous gas covered half the clearing. Three clusters of minds immediately pinged on his mental radar—one was his herd, still trapped under that strange net that somehow dimmed his innate powers just by standing near it. The other was a smaller group of three, all seemingly unconscious. The last was the two humans who came to help, and their Pokémon. They were huddled up against a tree, just out of range of the poison cloud. A large Aggron shielded the humans and a weary Blaziken, while a Skarmory used her wings to disperse the cloud.

With an excited cry, and dropping the two unconscious thieves to the ground, Latias rushed out to help the Skarmory.

Shaking his head at her eagerness, Latios went over to the herd. Someone needed to help them, and the humans were too far away—and too susceptible to poison—to be of much use. At least this whole problem was over. Once the humans were gone, everything would return to normal.

Chapter Text

Between the Latios and Latias herd’s telekinetic powers, Aggron’s strength, and Trapinch’s love of dirt, they managed to get the clearing into some semblance of order within an hour. It didn’t look like it had before (they didn’t have a way to regrow the grass back that quickly), but it no longer looked like it had been ravaged by multiple Earthquakes.

One of the Latios, an older one Ivy could only assume from his size and an aura even she could vaguely sense, talked to Steven.

Ivy, meanwhile, was swarmed by several Latias, all of them chattering at her. Though, thankfully, not psychically. She still had a throbbing headache from earlier.

From what she could tell, just through body language and their excitement, none of them had ever seen a human before and were very excited to meet one. Ivy did her best to please, playing with the three. Being levitated was weird but honestly pretty fun! She’d never had much contact with Psychic types, but it was more fun than she’d been expecting.

“Ivy.”

Steven’s voice quieted the Latias, one of them drooping down onto the dirt in sadness. They seemed to know what was coming before Ivy did.

“Huh? Yeah?”

“We should be going now.”

Part of Ivy wanted to pout or complain, but she didn’t dare act so childishly around Steven! He may be taken now, but who knew where things would be in ten years. She couldn’t give up hope!

Instead, she sighed dramatically and nodded. She patted the snout of one of the Latias. “Bye guys. It was fun playing with you.”

One let out a sad rumble while the other two trilled and waved at her as they flew away.

Turning away, she skipped over to Steven. He was attaching a note to a silently floating Claydol. It was a weird looking Pokémon, but probably killer at staring contests.

“What’s Claydol for?”

“It’ll be teleporting the captured Team Magma members to the Pokémon League for medical attention and a proper arrest.” While Courtney had gotten away with her own Teleporting Claydol after having her Seviper fill the clearing with poison, she’d left behind a few grunts who’d gotten caught in the blast. Steven had doubled back and found the grunts who’d stopped them were gone, leaving three unconscious Team Magma members behind. “I’d go with it, but I still have several items left behind on Fabled Island, including a Pokémon who’s probably rather worried by now. The note is to say I’ll be there soon to give a testimony once I pick up my Pokémon and things.”

Testifying, Ivy hadn’t even thought about that. “Do… do you need me to also testify?”

Steven shook his head, avoiding her eyes. “Ah, no. Um, actually, I’d rather if you didn’t mention this at all, if possible. To anyone. Technically, trainers aren’t supposed to know about Southern Island. We could both get into trouble for this. There you go Claydol. I’ll be back to our previous location in a few minutes.”

With a strange whirr, the Claydol disappeared, taking the grunts with it.

His response was a bit troubling. “But—” if trainers weren’t meant to know about it, how did you know we were going there?

“Latios!” Steven called out, interrupting her question before it could begin. “If you wouldn’t mind giving us a ride back?”

-

It took just as little time to leave Southern Island as it took to get there. Within minutes, Ivy and Steven were back to the same stretch of beach from before. This time, Claydol and a small Aron were there to greet them. The Aron squeaked at Steven angrily, trotting at full speed to headbutt his legs the second he stepped off of Latios.

Steven hid his wince with a laugh. “Sorry. There were some things that needed to be taken care of. Latios needed my help.”

Aron turned its angry yapping towards Latios who bemusedly took it. He let out a short caw which seemed to finally settle the small Pokémon. With a huff, it settled by Steven’s feet.

“Thank you for flying us back,” Steven said, bowing slightly. Ivy followed his lead.

Latios let out that deep engine-like rumble. Thankfully, he didn’t speak telepathically again. The rumble and him bowing his head were enough to communicate his thanks.

As quickly as he arrived, Latios left.

“Well, that was an adventure,” Ivy couldn’t help but mumble. Looks like she wasn’t able to keep her promise to Ranger Amanda.

Steven let out something Ivy would’ve called a snort on anyone less handsome and elegant. “Yes, that certainly wasn’t how I had imagined my day would go.” He sighed, exhaustion almost visibly settling over him before he shook it off. “I have to thank you, Ivy. You did well.”

Ivy turned bright red and rubbed the back of her neck. “I, um. Well, I didn’t do much.”

“Nonsense. You’re the whole reason the League has been on the lookout for Team Magma. The League hadn’t been aware of their existence before you reported to Wattson.”

“Oh.”

Now, Ivy wasn’t the most observant person, but she was beginning to get the feeling that Steven was somehow connected to the Hoenn Pokémon League. He wasn’t a member of the Elite Four, she knew them by reputation at least, but his team seemed too strong to be one owned by some pencil pusher. A ranger or ace trainer, maybe? A high level one. That would explain how he had access to such closed off places.

“I’d give you something for helping out but, ah, I don’t currently have anything I can give away on me. This was meant to be a quick trip.”

Ivy waved her arms around. “Oh, no! You don’t need to do anything! It’s fine!”

Steven shook his head. “You deserve it. I’ll see if I can get some money wired to your Trainer ID. It’s the least you deserve.”

“Ah…” Ivy could tell she wouldn’t win this argument. “Thanks. I guess.”

He smiled at that. “Well, Mauville is only a short surf ahead. I’d stop by a Pokémon Center before you continue on to Route 119. They have medicines that help with the migraine’s that come with telepathy.”

Ivy nodded. She’d been planning to stop to let Blaziken get healed up, but it’d be nice to get something to deal with her headache too. “I will, thanks.”

Steven grabbed his bag and returned Aron. “Well, it was nice to see you again. I have a feeling this won’t be our last meeting, either.” He winked at her, and Ivy just barely avoided swooning to the ground. “And my intuition is pretty good. Goodbye until then.”

With a whirr from Claydol, he disappeared in a flash of light.

-

Steven had been right—within an hour she’d landed on the shore by Mauville’s surprisingly small port. By the end of the next hour, she’d booked a room in the Pokémon Center with medicine received from the nurse finally kicking in. By the next morning her head was completely clear, and she was ready to take on Route 119!

Route 119 was the sort of route trainers told horror stories about. It was the longest in Hoenn, winding its way alongside the Mauville River. It frequently rained even during the dry season, enough so to classify it as a rainforest. It was hilly and mountainous the further away from the Mauville River you got, and it wasn’t unusual to run into incredibly strong and territorial Pokémon if you ever left the paths by the riverside.

All in all, the perfect sort of place to train.

Ivy wasn’t much of a planner when it came to her gym battles, but she knew who was next—Winona, the Flying type specialist. None of Ivy’s Pokémon were particularly strong against Flying types. Spiritomb was out—there was no wait it’d obey her and getting killed during a battle didn’t seem like fun. Trapinch would also be a last resort option. There was no way she’d be able to battle airborne opponents. Ivy was also hesitant to use Blaziken. His Fighting type meant Flying type moves caused more damage. Blaziken could weather them, but it wasn’t ideal.

As strange as it seemed, Mightyena was going to be her ace for the fight. After her quick loss against Brendan’s Swellow all those months ago, she’d done her best to practice her jumping for flying foes. Between Return and Thunder Fang, she’d be a surprise.

Seadra would also be a big help with Twister and Ice Beam. Blaziken wouldn’t like not being the center of attention, but if Ivy focused on training those two then she was sure she would be able to win the badge on her first try.

“Got that?” Ivy said cheerfully once she finished explaining her thoughts.

Blaziken crossed his arms, Mightyena barked, Seadra trilled, Trapinch burrowed deeper into the dirt, and Latias let out a happy rumble.

Wait, what?

“Eh!?” Ivy shrieked, jumping back.

A Latias? What?

Her Pokémon looked just as surprised as she did. Even Trapinch poked her head out of the ground to stare.

Latias either didn’t notice the nearly audible shock or decided to ignore it. She let out a happy coo, doing as big a loop-de-loop as the small clearing would let her.

“Um,” was all Ivy could say. Seeing a Latias so unexpectedly had shut off her brain. “What’re you doing here?”

The tension-filled mood finally seemed to affect the eon Pokémon. She frowned and touched her stumpy fingers together.

A tentative wisp touched the edges of her mind. Ivy winced, but it was nowhere near as painful as when Latios had spoken to her.

Ivy wasn’t quite sure how this psychic thing worked. “Um, sure?”

Latias cooed and the wisp became more tangible.

Could a thought be tangible? What were the proper terms for all this psychic-y stuff anyways?

Something foreign shoved that potential thought derailment out of the way, making Ivy wince. There was more strength behind the original wisp as an array of foreign emotions blossomed in her mind. Boredom. Desire for adventure. Fear—and the color red, the exact shade of Team Magma’s hoodies. Excitement. Nervousness. More excitement! Humans! Disappointment. Fear once more—this time of the previous boredom. Nervousness—of being caught sneaking away from Southern Island.

The onslaught of emotions cut off abruptly. As Ivy came back into her own body, all traces of the wisp gone, she realized she was on the soggy ground, hands over her ears. Mightyena nosed her cheek while Blaziken’s huge form towered in front of her. Guarding her, she realized.

Blearily, Ivy peered between his legs. Latias hovered just above the ground, her fins pressed against her head and her eyes wide. Obviously, she hadn’t realized the influx of emotions would be too much.

Noise finally filtered in through her pounding headache, and Ivy realized Seadra was letting loose a series of angry whinnies at Latias. As heartwarming as it was, poor Latias didn’t deserve to be growled at by her entire team for a small mistake.

“Hey, it’s, eugh, it’s fine,” Ivy managed to weakly get out.

Seadra’s tirade shut off and she hurried over, nosing at the side of Ivy’s head that Mightyena wasn’t licking.

“Haha, that tickles, stop it.” Ivy weakly batted at her two Pokémon. Seadra, ever the sweet one, backed off. Mightyena, just to be pain, licked inside her ear. “Gross.”

Wearily, she got up. She hadn’t been expecting a simple transfer of emotions to kick her butt so badly, but they had started to get more complicated towards the end. Blaziken offered his arm, but Ivy shook her head.

“Let me get this straight: you left because you’ve always wanted to have an adventure and snuck away.” Latias cooed, nodding. “But why me? Why not Steven? He’s obviously a super good battler. Better than me, probably.”

Latias hesitated. She let out a series of coos and trills, but Ivy couldn’t make any sense of them. She didn’t know Latias, not like she knew Blaziken or Mightyena.

Another wisp tentatively touched her mind. Ivy flinched back. Behind her, Blaziken let out a harsh caw.

Ivy waved a hand. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Just… be more succinct.”

Latias nodded vigorously before closing her eyes.

An image of Steven accompanied by the feeling of completeness. An image of Ivy, then the four Pokémon that were currently out.

The wisp of emotion left her, leaving a lingering sense of fear as it did.

“He…” Ivy tried to figure out what that meant. “He… already has a full team, while I don’t? So that’s why you went with me?”

Latias lit up, nodding.

“Ahh, so you wanted to be the center of attention.”

Latias squawked, her feathers puffing out. Ivy had to grin; Latias and Latios had feathers so smooth they didn’t look like feathers even from up close. To see her to ruffle her feathers in embarrassment like a tiny Torchic was endearing.

Ivy giggled. “Sorry, sorry. So, you… want to be caught?”

Latias shrugged delicately with her short arms, using the movement to get her feathers in order. She floated forward, head tilted to the side.

“Alright then.”

Getting an empty Poké Ball from her backpack, Ivy held it up. Latias stared at it curiously for a moment before slowly bopping her head against the button. The Poké Ball in her hand barely shook before clicking shut.

Well, look at that. Ivy now had a Legendary Pokémon. That was something she certainly never saw coming!

…She was going to need to backtrack to Mauville and get more of that psychic medicine, wasn’t she?

-

After a quick trip back to Mauville, there wasn’t any time left in the day to train. Ivy barely managed to get her tent set up before it started raining. Ivy would’ve liked to have Latias out to get to know her, but Ivy’s tent wasn’t big enough for the eon Pokémon. Only Mightyena was out, snoring loudly beside her. Blaziken and Seadra were also too large, while Trapinch didn’t like the rain.

Scrolling through Latias’ profile on her PokéNav made it clear why the herd needed her and Steven to save them. Latias didn’t know a single attacking move, only Wish, Safeguard, and Charm.

Sighing, Ivy put her PokéNav away and cuddled Mightyena. Looks like she knew who she would spend most of her time training on Route 119.

-

Latios flew through the night, furious.

Latias had left Southern Island early in the morning. That wasn’t unusual; she was a free spirit who enjoyed flying over the ocean. But she never returned at dusk. Still spooked at the idea of poachers, the eldest Latios sent him to go find her.

It wasn’t poachers. Latios knew it, deep in his heart and soul. He knew that Latias ran away without telling anyone.

He should’ve seen it coming! She’d been so excited about meeting humans and had spent the rest of the night nattering on and on about them. Latias had always been so curious about the world beyond their island. It wasn’t unexpected that she went off after the first humans she’d ever seen.

But it hurt more than he could ever say that she left without him.

To leave him behind… had he hurt her in some way? They were a pair. They weren’t meant to be separated. Latias and Latios frequently left to explore the world, but they never did it on their own. Not unless one half of their pair was dead.

Through their connection, he was able to recreate her flight path. Ignoring the psychic residue that hovered over the ocean, he banked left, turned himself invisible, and headed towards the residue lingering over the human settlements.

As he neared one of the smaller islands where Latias’s psychic imprint hovered, a voice reached out to him first.

Another one of you?

Latios slowed to a near stop. Who are you? Did you see Latias?

The voice gave the mental equivalent of a snort. Yes. She is not here if that is who you are looking for.

Frowning, Latios sped back up, homing in on the other Psychic Pokémon. Within seconds, he had a small house by the sea in sight. There were under a dozen minds in the house, most of them Pokémon, one a human.

No, not just any human. It was the man who had helped the previous day. Steven.

Latios’s heart fell at that. It seemed his hunch had been correct. Latias had run off to go attach herself to some trainer. Without him.

So, you already understand what happened. There is no need to stay.

Latios finally turned to look at his conversation partner. He had never seen a Pokémon like this one, with its large metal legs and golden face cross. It glimmered slightly in the moonlight—not only an exotic Pokémon, but a shiny as well. A quick skim across its memories revealed a name—Metagross. Its species wasn’t native to Hoenn, but somewhere far off and snowy. It had been a gift to its human, Steven, when they were both young.

A second scan revealed Latias had indeed shown up, only to be turned away by the human. She’d then left to find the other human, the young girl with the Blaziken.

But, why?

The other Pokémon understood what he meant.

It is not so bad, being bonded to a human, Metagross thought, settling down into the sand behind the house. They are very dumb and you must use up half of your energy making sure they do not overwork their weak, squishy bodies, but it is not bad. They are smart in their own way, and there is no end to their ability to love.

But…

What about me, Latios didn’t say. What about my love? Metagross heard it anyway. A drawback of psychic conversation that Latios knew too well.

Have you ever given her a reason to think that you would want to go with her?

Latios said nothing. He’d never had the urge to travel the world, not in the way Latias did. He liked being on Southern Island with their herd. It was his home. Why would he want to leave his home?

Guilt bubbled within him, guilt that quickly turned into anger. So that was his crime? Loving their home? Was that worth being abandoned for? They were meant to be a pair! Latios and Latias, as it was always meant to be.

It is likely that kind of thinking that spurred her into running off.

What?

Latios glowered at the Metagross, but it didn’t react. There wasn’t even a ripple in its mental consciousness. If anything, it seemed to feel amused by his anger.

Yes, you are an Eon Duo, but she is her own Pokémon. She is not yours to control.

So, she’ll go and let herself be controlled by a human instead? That makes sense.

Metagross shifted slightly in the sand.

You do not understand the bonds between Pokémon and humans. That is understandable; you have never been around humans. As such, you do not know that humans do not control the Pokémon in their care. We are a family, just as you and Latias are.

Latios scoffed. So, if you wanted to leave and never come back, your trainer would just let you?

That finally got a reaction from Metagross. Its red eyes flashed in anger as a bone chilling pulse of warning emanated from it to Latios. He wheeled backwards with his fins flat against his head, chided. This Pokémon wasn’t merely a powerful psychic, but powerful in… everything. With that one pulse, Latios was forced to acknowledge who was in control here, and it wasn’t him.

Yes, he would. Steven would not break out chains like you seem to think. He would be distraught beyond measure, but he would break my Poké Ball himself if it were what I truly wanted. Metagross’ eyes narrowed into a glare. But I would never do so because I, too, would be distraught to leave him behind. Our bond does not run one way.

The Steel type took two lumbering steps forward. Latios only barely held his ground. Let me be forthright with you, Eon Pokémon. You are currently filled with anger and that clouds your judgement. If you go through with your thoughts, it is likely that Latias will never forgive you. You must respect her choice, or she will never respect you.

It settled back down, its thoughts on the matter finished.

Latios shook his head. No… no, you’re wrong. Latias… He shook his head again. I’ll find her and bring her home. It will be fine.

With that, he flew off, racing after the psychic residue that trailed over the Hoenn mainland.

Metagross let out an audible sigh at that. How annoying. I thought he would be smarter. It seems Legendary Pokémon have just as poor judgement as ordinary ones.

Claydol drifted down from where it had been resting on the roof. It had been asleep like the rest of the occupants of the house, but Latios’ psychic energy had been palpable.

You think everyone is an idiot compared to yourself.

Metagross gave a mental shrug. And I am usually correct.

-

Ivy was warm and dry in her tent until she wasn’t.

Something dragged her out and the pouring rain quickly woke her up.

“Wha-guh?” she slurred, barely awake and completely uncomprehending of what was happening. Somehow, she was floating in the air? In the rain? What?

A dark blur shot out of her tent, growling. Mightyena looked from side to side, also unable to see what was in the clearing with them.

Closing her eyes, Mightyena let out a sniff. Odor Sleuth, Ivy dimly recognized. With a Howl, Mightyena leapt forward, launching herself at… something in the air, Crunch at the ready.

Whatever it was, Ivy didn’t get to see. It dropped her.

Ivy wheezed as she met the ground, the pain doing more to wake her up than the rain. Dimly, she could hear the noise of a Poké Ball opening.

Latias flew through the tent opening, vocalizing concerned rumbling noises.

Pushing herself up onto her elbow, Ivy finally saw what had grabbed her: a Latios.

Mightyena sat on the eon Pokémon, her teeth around his neck though she was no longer biting him. It seemed the singular Crunch had been enough to scare him into obeying her.

Latias let out a sad rumble from deep within her chest. Ivy could only guess that she was having some sort of psychic conversation with Latios.

Ivy got up; the pain wasn’t so bad now that the shock of it was over. She cleared her throat. “Um, excuse me? What is going on?”

Both halves of the Eon Duo turned to look at her, Latias with her ears flattened against her head, Latios growling. Mightyena let out a growl of her own and closed her mouth around Latios’s neck ever so slightly.

Latios stopped growling, but Latias turned her kicked Poochyena eyes towards Mightyena.

This was going terribly. “Seriously, what is going on? I really didn’t plan on being wet and muddy tonight!”

You stole Latias!

Ivy hissed and grabbed her head. Latias had been kind enough to avoid speaking directly to Ivy, but Latios obviously didn’t care if she was in pain or not.

“I what now?” Ivy managed to get out.

You—

Latias rammed into Latios, stopping him from continuing and sending Mightyena tumbling. She let out a series of rushed chirps and trills, wringing her arms in distress.

This did not pacify Latios. If anything, it seemed to make him angrier.

Mightyena trotted over to her side, nudging her shoulder. Oh, looks like Ivy had fallen to the ground again. She really liked these pajama pants too; she didn’t want them to be covered in mud.

Sighing, Ivy petted her pooch. “I have no idea what’s going on, but I guess this is something they need to work out for themselves.”

Mightyena whined.

“Yeah, me too.”

-

The rain did not let up at any point and neither did the argument between the Eon Duo. Latias seemed to be nearly in tears, but Latios refused to leave.

“Should I do something?” Ivy asked Mightyena, shivering all the while. She was soaked to the bone and freezing.

Mightyena whined, shaking her head. She snuggled closer to Ivy, part comfort, part protection.

“Aww, you do care!”

Mightyena licked inside her ear.

“Eugh.”

A sudden rush of psychic power made the hairs on Ivy’s arms stand up. She snapped her head over to where Latias and Latios were arguing.

It seemed Latias had had enough of tears and was now as angry as Latios. She sent out a flurry of her own feathers which exploded right in Latios’ face.

Latios stared at her, all traces of anger gone. Every inch of him screamed betrayal and sadness.

NO, Latias telepathically screamed in response to whatever he had said. Her voice was high pitched and shrill, sounding like any of Ivy’s school friends. It was also deafening in its pain. It took everything in Ivy not to faint then and there. Even Mightyena ducked her head and whined. I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! GET AWAY FROM ME.

Latios shrank in on himself. He was the one who was nearly crying now.

But he did as she asked. Never taking his eyes off Latias, he floated up and up and up until he was gone.

Ivy was on the ground, Latias’ words ringing in her ears. Not just because they reminded her of Brendan’s but also because holy shit, she was in so much pain.

She wasn’t sure how long she stayed curled up in a ball on the ground. Long enough that Latias was able to find the psychic medicine and trying to telekinetically shove it into Ivy’s mouth.

“Eugh-gah,” she muttered, somehow managing to swallow the medicine despite the pain.

It did help, though. Within a few minutes, Ivy was clearheaded enough to realize she was no longer outside.

“Huh?” Ivy blinked. She was back in her tent. She was also weirdly clear of mud and water. “Did… That actually happened, right?” she asked no one in particular.

A head poked through her tent, letting out an excited coo. Latias wiggled her head fins, excited that Ivy was conscious again.

“Did… you clean me up?”

Latias nodded her head, chattering as she did so. Telekinetically, she wiped away a spot of mud she had missed on Ivy’s cheek.

Ivy touched her cheek. “Oh.”

The two stared at each other. Ivy had no idea how to broach the topic of Latios.

Latias seemed to understand her struggle. Her fins drooped.

Right. Psychic.

“Um. You don’t have to get into it now, I guess. Just, will he be back?”

Latias let out a sniffle and shook her head.

“Ah, okay.”

Not good. Ivy had a sniveling, pathetic looking Legendary Pokémon staring right at her with kicked Poochyena eyes. Ivy eyed her tent. Mightyena seemed to be back in her Poké Ball. If Ivy moved her backpack slightly…

“Alright, I think if you keep your wings close to your body, we should both fit in here.”

Latias burst into tears and flew in, ready for some consolation cuddles.

Chapter Text

“What in the world were you thinking?”

Courtney stared down at her shoes, completely still as Maxie raged. He liked to paint himself as a calm and rational man, but he had a temper to rival a volcanic eruption.

“Latios and Latias? That was your brilliant idea? Not only did you not pull it off—which I can’t say I’m surprised about—but now the League is actively looking for us! Balsa raged all throughout this morning’s meeting about how the park is now under investigation from the League for suspected ties to Team Aqua and its thefts! Team Aqua! They couldn’t even be bothered to give out the correct name!”

Maxie had kept quiet throughout that meeting, though internally he had seethed at the foolishness of his grunts. While scouting in his workplace had netted Maxie like-minded followers who understood the importance of his goals, it did have one large disadvantage. Now that three of his followers had been arrested and identified, it was quickly noticed that all three of them worked out of Mt Chimney Regional Park either as a ranger or researcher. Balsa, the director of the park, had been clear that League officials were going to be thorough in combing through everyone who worked there for potential suspects.

What a pain. Maxie was confident in his abilities to blend in and avoid a psychic scan, but it was a hindrance, nonetheless.

He stopped pacing to fix a glare on Courtney. “And do you know what our members monitoring the altar told me this morning? Before they had to leave because of patrolling Pokémon, of course.”

Courtney said nothing. She knew Maxie wasn’t looking for an answer.

“They informed me that, now, there are two members of the Elite Four guarding the clearing. The two women. Another told me that they saw a third member by Fortree.” He scowled down at his PokéNav. “Not to mention the notice the Hoenn Pokémon League put out earlier today saying the League will be out of session until further notice due to a family emergency for one of the Elite Four.”

Maxie scoffed and threw his phone down. It hit the desk with a thud and skid off, taking several papers with it. “Family emergency… to most, that excuse wouldn’t cause alarm, but we know the truth. They don’t want to be distracted by meaningless challenges. They’re looking for us. Just what do you have to say for yourself, causing all this?”

Courtney continued to say nothing. Maxie would accept no excuse for her foolhardy scheme, and she knew it.

By the doorway, Tabitha cleared their throat. They visibly tried to stamp down their giddiness at seeing Courtney being so thoroughly scolded instead of them for once. They were only mildly successful. Maxie’s frown deepened at their smug look.

“What? More bad news?”

That wiped the smirk from Tabitha’s face. They straightened and went into the Team Magma salute.

“Unfortunately. The grunt who managed to get her Ranger duties transferred from the lab to the crater was successful. However, she caught sight of the ace trainer in charge speaking with Gym Leaders Wallace and Flannery. She was later sent to guard one of the tunnels we had been investigating as a means of reaching Groudon. It seems like they’ve sussed out we’re trying to find an alternate way into the volcano.”

Maxie cursed and slammed a fist on the table. Tabitha flinched slightly, while Courtney stared intently at their leader, never moving.

“The news just gets worse and worse.” Maxie took a deep breath and straightened his back. Facing away from his subordinates, he took off his glasses and briefly polished them, trying to regain his composure. Things had been going so smoothly. If he had only remembered to silence that girl…

Once he felt suitably composed, he turned towards them once more, expression neutral.

“As much as I loathe to say it, it might be best if we lay low for several weeks. With the strongest trainers in Hoenn after us we cannot do anything that draws their eye, or all our planning will be for naught. Once we lull them into a sense of false security, then we can resume our plans. Perhaps after the League is back in session.” Maxie eyed his two admins, the two members of Team Magma who had been there since the three of them founded the group. “Until then, you’re both dismissed.”

-

Ivy watched Blaziken put Latias through his warm-up training regime as she brushed Mightyena. The bite Pokémon was surprisingly fastidious when it came to her coat, and she had not been happy to be forced into her Poké Ball while covered in mud. She understood why it’d been necessary, but she hadn’t been happy about it. As such, the second the rain petered out Ivy had been coerced into grooming her poor pooch.

Blaziken, ever loyal to the warm-ups he had learned way back in Dewford, had forced Latias to join him. She couldn’t do everything he did, having no legs and little, stumpy arms, but it was the spirit of the thing. Bonding, or whatever.

Once Mightyena decided she was properly groomed, Ivy trotted over to the pair. While it wasn’t raining at that moment, she could hear thunder in the distance and wanted to make the most of this brief reprieve before she needed to shelter back in her tent. Ivy really wished she could see more of the sky through the canopy—she’d have a better gauge of how long she could stay out if she could.

“How’d your work out go?” she asked cheerfully, grinning at the two.

Latias babbled at her, floating up and down as she did. Blaziken said nothing, just crossed his arms, but Ivy could tell he was pleased with Latias’ work ethic and wanted to babble as well. It was cute how hard he tried to be a stoic warrior.

“Great! I dunno how long it’ll be before it starts raining again, so I think we should train!” Ivy shot an apologetic look at Blaziken who perked up slightly. “Latias, I meant. But, Blaziken! I put you in charge of training the other three! Put them through the ringer.”

That, at least, seemed to cheer him up. He strode away, a beaky grin breaking through his stoic warrior facade.

“Right, then. Let’s see what you can do.”

Latias cooed, then tilted her head to the side. It seemed like she had suddenly remembered something. She shook her whole body, ruffling her feathers from nearly invisible to sticking out everywhere.

“Uh…”

Setting her hand over her back, she moved it around, sticking her tongue out for good measure. After a minute of trying to stretch her arm as far back as it could go, she seemed to finally find what she was looking for.

Squawking triumphantly, she held out a small, round object. Tentatively, Ivy took it.

It looked like the not-marble she had found back in Sea Mauville, just with a different swirl of color. Latias looked very proud of herself but, well…

“I… have no idea what this is. But thank you! It’s very pretty!”

Latias wilted, cooing sadly. She shook her head and babbled something Ivy couldn’t understand. After ten seconds of moping, she perked back up. Ivy, at least, understood the look of determination on her face then.

“So, you want to train, now? Let’s get to it!”

-

Latias, as it turned out, had no idea how to repeat the move she’d done the night before. She also wasn’t particularly adept at the very few moves she did know. Charm was the only one she seemed to have any sort of practice at. In fact, her expertise at Charm spoke of years of honing it to perfection. That didn’t surprise Ivy, the longer she spent with Latias.

It seemed Latias and Latios generally preferred using their species’ natural psychic abilities over moves. Latias could telekinetically lift a boulder, turn invisible, and even make herself into a perfect copy of Ivy through the use of illusions. That was pretty awesome, Ivy had to admit. They ended up wasting a solid thirty minutes playing around with that skill.

But it wasn’t useful in battle. Or at least, official, League-sanctioned battles.

Latias could get away with telekinetically throwing something once or twice, especially since it was so intrinsic to who she was as a Pokémon, but after that she and Ivy would be penalized and automatically lose. It was like how you had to yell commands even if you and your Pokémon were capable of telepathy. There were certain rules in place everyone had to follow to make the battles fair and safe.

At the very least, Latias whole-heartedly threw herself into trying to harness her psychic powers and turn them into Psychic Type Energy. Ivy wasn’t quite sure how to go about it as she hadn’t spent much time around Psychic types besides her dad’s Girafarig, but it seemed they had made some progress in their short training session. Latias was now able to molt her feathers in a similar way, even if she couldn’t mimic the release of energy she’d done after.

Of course, right when they started to make any sort of progress, it began to rain. Yelping as she quickly recalled all of her Pokémon, Ivy ran back to her tent to wait out the rain.

-

It rained a lot on Route 119. Logically, Ivy had known that years before she’d ever set foot on the route, but it was a whole different thing to experience the constant torrential downpour. After two days of being camped out in one spot, Ivy sucked it up and trudged through the rainforest with her new raincoat.

It was wet. Very, very wet. Was this what it felt like to be a Water type? Ivy did not like it.

Every few hours the rain briefly stopped. Ivy used those hours to set up her tent and train her Pokémon.

None of them were particularly happy to be outside of their Poké Balls. Blaziken and Trapinch disliked the rain, Mightyena disliked the mud, and Seadra disliked how the weather affected her teammates negatively. Only Latias didn’t seem to care. She happily trilled out a song whether the sun was shining or not.

That meant Ivy had Latias out with her most frequently. She needed that kind of upbeat attitude, or she’d probably go crazy.

It also helped that Latias loved to talk. Ivy didn’t really understand what she was saying most of the time, but it got easier over time to parse what she meant through body language and expressions.

She also used that time to train Latias and get her up to par with the others. During the non-rain hours, Ivy had to focus on the rest of her team, but when they were walking through the rain, it was just her and Latias.

Latias was making good headway on that Psychic move she had used against Latios. After a lot of frantic searching online, she finally figured out that it was most likely called Mist Ball. Well, Ivy wasn’t one hundred percent sure that was it. She’d found some old document that said Mist Ball was a feathery attack only a Latias could do, and nothing else. It seemed close enough though, so that’s what Ivy rolled with.

They also started working on a Dragon type move. Ivy wasn’t sure what Latias could and couldn’t learn—Legendary Pokémon weren’t exactly the easiest Pokémon for professors to study—but Dragon Breath seemed a decent enough choice. It was a jet of draconic energy. Pretty basic. She had Seadra learning it as well. But Ivy was confident Latias would get it in no time, especially with how much she enjoyed training.

It helped that they hadn’t run into many super strong wild Pokémon. While Ivy wasn’t on the official path right by the river, she wasn’t really that far into the rainforest either. At most, she was coming across Oddish, Shroomish, and the rest of their line. If Latias couldn’t handle them, Ivy brought out Seadra instead.

Part of Ivy was nervous to have Latias out so often. What if they ran into someone? Steven had told her that Southern Island was meant to be a secret, but what was she supposed to do now that Latias was a member of her team?

But when Ivy voiced those concerns, Latias waved off her worries. It took a second to decipher what she was trying to say but Ivy eventually got it: Latias was psychic. If she sensed someone was coming, she’d have Ivy recall her.

All in all, was Route 119 fun to be on? No. But it wasn’t a waste of time. Not like Petalburg Woods had been.

-

During one wet night where none of her Pokémon wanted to be out in the tent, Ivy did a potentially stupid thing and released Spiritomb.

The Odd Keystone fell to the floor with a soft thump.

Ivy waited for the swirl of ectoplasm to flow from the cracked rock, but nothing happened.

After ten minutes of waiting, Ivy recalled Spiritomb. Well, it wasn’t trying to kill her anymore, was it? She was pretty sure that counted as progress.

-

After just over a week of trudging through rain and mud, Ivy was closer to Fortree than she was Mauville. Another week at most, and she’d be on her way to her sixth gym badge.

It was then that Latias let out a squeak instead of another attempt at Dragon Breath and turned to look at Ivy with wide eyes.

“Huh? Is something wrong?”

Latias flew behind Ivy and nudged her backpack. Ivy was confused for a few seconds before it clicked—that was her Poké Ball pocket. Latias was telling Ivy to recall her. There was another human in the area.

Panicking lightly, Ivy fumbled for Latias’s Poké Ball on her belt. Before she could recall the eon Pokémon, Latias let out a furious speech of trills and coos, pointing in one direction several times. Ivy got the gist of it—she should go in that direction and find whoever it was that was nearby.

Honestly, Ivy was surprised it took this long to run into another person. Maybe everyone else wasn’t stupid enough to visit the rainforest route at the peak of the rainy season!

She soon understood why Latias had insisted on her meeting the other person—it wasn’t a fellow trainer or even a ranger, but a little kid.

A little kid currently crying against a tree, cornered by a wild Treecko.

The Treecko danced around the kid. Ivy didn’t think it was attacking, just concerned, but she didn’t want to take any chances.

“Seadra, scare it off!”

She was the Pokémon least likely to complain about the rain currently pouring down, and the most likely to not scare the kid if she stayed out.

Seadra took two seconds to take the scene in, before letting out a gentle stream of bubbles towards the Treecko. With a squeak, it ran off, the bubbles popping harmlessly before they reached the little boy.

Ivy took a few steps forward and crouched down, Seadra cooing and floating right behind her. The little kid was maybe seven or eight, and definitely not dressed for being out in the rain.

“Hey, are you okay? Do you need help?”

The boy peeked from behind his hands, eyes wide.

“I’m Ivy,” she continued, voice as soothing as she could make it. “What’s your name?”

After a prolonged silence, the boy finally replied, “C-Carter.”

“Hey, it’s nice to meet you, Carter! Can I ask what you’re doing all the way out here?”

That spurred another explosion of tears from the boy. Seadra let out a distressed coo, immediately shooting forward to rub her snout against his head. He flinched slightly but didn’t push her away.

“M-my brother,” he hiccoughed as he rubbed at his eyes. “He, he was showing me how to catch a Pokémon, b-but I saw a Treecko a-and I know they’re really rare, so I chased after it and got lost.”

Ivy bit her lip. He must’ve gotten really, really lost considering how far from Fortree they were. Either that, or the brother needed a talking to on where it was acceptable to take a little kid.

“Treecko are really cool,” Ivy commiserated with the kid. He was more than paying for running off and didn’t need to be scolded. “I have a friend who has one. It’s a Grovyle now.”

It was probably a lie to still call Brendan her friend, and it was entirely possible he had a Sceptile by this point, but whatever. It’s not like the kid would ever know.

“Really?”

“Uh-huh!” Ivy stood and let out an exaggerated stretch. “I dunno about you, but I’m kinda sick of this rain. How about we go find a Ranger station and get dry?”

She held out a hand and Carter just stared at it. Seadra trilled and bumped his shoulder with her snout. At her encouragement, Carter stood up on two shaky, muddy legs, and grabbed Ivy’s hand.

Coercion successful, she grabbed her PokéNav from her pocket. She didn’t actually know where the nearest Ranger station was.

-

The closest Ranger station turned out to not be that far away. Ivy wasn’t surprised, but she was glad. There were more than a few Ranger outposts on Route 119 due to its length and relative wilderness compared to some other parts of Hoenn, but it was always a possibility that it could’ve been over a day’s walk away. Luckily, it was only a few hours.

Between Ivy’s chatter, Seadra’s trilling, and, most importantly, some of the food in Ivy’s backpack, Carter’s mood improved quite a bit. He was still rather quiet, but he wasn’t cowering in fear anymore.

“Are we there yet?”

Yeah, he was definitely feeling better.

“Almost there!” Ivy said cheerfully, not even lying. “Maybe another mile.”

Carter sighed, but obediently plodded onwards, still holding her hand. It stopped raining shortly after they started walking, which was a blessing, but trudging through the mud and underbrush was still exhausting.

A flash of movement caught her attention. Ivy looked over her shoulder at Seadra who turned to stare intently at a tree.

“Seadra? Is something up?”

Seadra whinnied, before releasing another light stream of bubbles up into a tree. A loud squeak echoed around them, and a Treecko fell out of the tree.

Carter gasped. “It’s the Treecko I followed!”

Ivy crossed her arms, trying not to smile too wide. “Aww, looks like it’s been following you back! How cute!”

The Treecko shuffled its feet, seemingly embarrassed to have been caught.

“W-were you following me?”

Treecko nodded. It pointed at Carter, then itself, then ran around in a circle before plopping itself onto the ground looking rather pitiful.

Carter didn’t seem to understand what it meant, but Ivy got the gist of it.

“I think it feels bad for getting you lost and wanted to make sure you got home okay.”

Treecko nodded vigorously, and Carter opened his mouth in a little o of surprise.

“R-really?”

Carter took a few steps forward, nervously tugging the bottom of his muddy shirt.

“U-um! Then… would you like to be caught?” He reached into his pocket and brought out an unused Poké Ball.

Treecko seemed to think it over before chirping something at Seadra. She let out a series of trills in reply. It nodded seriously. Resolutely stepping forward, Treecko pushed the release button on the Poké Ball, being sucked in in the process.

Ivy couldn’t help but clap and coo like a proud grandma. Carter’s first catch! How sweet!

He held the Poké Ball to his chest, grinning proudly.

“Now, come on, kiddo! We’re close to the Ranger station and we should get there before it gets dark!”

-

Someone beat them to the station: Carter’s parents and brother.

A few things made sense then: Carter’s brother was barely older than he was, maybe ten or so. Ivy didn’t bother to go through with the scolding she planned in her head. It seemed he’d been scolded enough by his two mothers.

That was another bit of clarity. Carter was so deep into Route 119 because his family had been on a camping trip. Summer break had just started, and they wanted to celebrate it with a camping trip as a family. It ended up not being as happy as they had hoped, but it certainly was a memory they would probably remember for a while.

Especially once Carter showed off his new Treecko. His mothers let out the appropriate ooh’ing and ahh’ing at that while his brother stared on in blatant jealousy.

Ivy stood back from it all, standing still by the door with Seadra who was oddly silent.

With the initial excitement over, Carter’s mothers moved on to thanking Ivy thoroughly.

“It’s no problem!” She said over and over, holding up her hands. “Anyone would’ve done it if they’d been nearby!”

“But you were the one who did,” the darker skinned mother said, tears in her eyes. “I know it’s not much, but please, if you’re ever in Rustboro, stop by our shop. We’ll give you anything you want for free.”

Before Ivy could argue, she shoved a business card into Ivy’s hand. According to the card, they ran a camping and trainers’ supply store. Useful, though Ivy already felt guilty at the concept of not paying anything.

One of the rangers made himself known. “Will you be staying the night?”

The red-headed mother shook her head and palmed a Great Ball on her belt. “We were just going to Teleport back to Rustboro. But thank you for offering.”

After another round of unnecessary gratitude, the family left.

The ranger turned to Ivy. “I’m assuming you’ll probably want a bed for the night?”

Ivy grinned. “I haven’t showered in over a week!” she cheerfully informed him.

He snorted. “Yeah, I know that feeling. We’ll ready you a room.” He eyed her speculatively. “You did good, kid.  You ever consider being a ranger? Or anything else in the League?”

Ivy blinked, not understanding his question. “Huh?”

“Planning to become a ranger, or an ace trainer, or even a gym leader,” he clarified. “I can see you’ve got five badges on your backpack. With that many, most kids have plans to either join the tournament circuit or the League. Most of the tourney jocks I’ve met are more concerned with fame and money than helping random kids, so I think you’d be a good fit for the League.” He winked at her. “Personally, I think the Ranger route is the best one, but maybe I’m a bit biased.”

“Oh.” Ivy stared at him, rather confused by the conversation. She’d never been one to think too far into the future. “I’ve never really thought about it. I wanted to get eight badges first, then think about what I’d do next.”

He chuckled and ruffled her greasy hair. Ivy half-heartedly batted his hand away, more out of obligation than anything. He seemed cool. “Hey, fair enough! You’re still a kid, plenty of time to think about what you wanna do next. Now, come on, I’ll show you to a guest room.”

-

Ivy didn’t mind camping out in the wilderness every night but, man. Showers were wonderful.

Seadra was still silent.

Not bothering to change out of her towel, Ivy opened her arms. She was probably about to be covered in Water type tears, anyways.

Seadra rushed forward, finally letting out a strangled whinny as she crashed into Ivy.

“Oof,” Ivy couldn’t help but let out, taking a step backwards. Seadra was nearly as big as she was, and a Pokémon with incredible strength. Once she was sure she wasn’t going to topple over, she wrapped her arms around the dragon Pokémon.

“I know, I know,” Ivy cooed. “That was probably hard to watch. Carter could be reunited with his family, but you might not ever be able to find yours. I’m sorry.”

Ivy remembered all those months ago how Mr. Briney had explained how a little Horsea had likely ended up on the wrong coast. She remembered how clingy and overprotective Seadra was. This whole event had probably reawakened some old traumas for her little sea dragon.

Once Seadra had worked through her tears, Ivy guided them to the bed where she finally changed into her pajamas. Getting into the bed, she held the sheets up for Seadra to slide in next to her. The room wasn’t big enough for the rest of her Pokémon, but she could allow this this one time. She’d even stoppered the drain in the shower-bath set so Seadra had something to refresh herself with in the middle of the night.

“Night-night,” Ivy managed to get out, arms around Seadra. Sleep quickly came.

Chapter Text

Whether it was her good deed clearing the skies or just the approaching end of the peak of the rainy season, it rained less and less after Ivy left the Ranger outpost and continued on to Fortree City. For that, she was beyond glad. Staying the night at the station reminded her how much she enjoyed being dry.

She was maybe a day from Fortree, practically salivating at the thought of being somewhere completely dry and not filled with mud, when Latias let out a deep rumble and flew behind Ivy. Her fins laid flat against her head as she nudged the Poké Ball pocket on Ivy’s backpack.

Ivy frowned. They’d come across two others since leaving the Ranger station—a ranger returning from a patrol, and a trainer from Fortree. Neither encounter had Latias looking so nervous.

“Is something bad happening up ahead?”

Latias chittered quietly, shrugging as she did. It seemed she couldn’t quite understand what was up ahead, just that it didn’t seem right.

Ivy returned Latias and grabbed Blaziken’s Poké Ball, just in case. Latias was rather naïve, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Slinking behind trees, and mentally humming that one spy theme song as she did, Ivy made her way forward. It didn’t take long for her to hear the telltale sounds of other people—twigs breaking, branches and underbrush being shoved aside, and indistinct chatter. Now Ivy understood what had set Latias on edge; that sounded like a lot of people.

Moving quickly, the trees around Ivy thinned out until the forest abruptly ended. Hiding behind a decently wide tree, Ivy peered out into the sudden clearing.

Directly in front of her, there was a dirt path. It led uphill to a rope bridge and a large building with a lot of windows.

Marching right up to the rope bridge were a dozen pirate wannabes. Team Aqua.

Ivy watched, eyes narrowed, as they marched across the bridge and into the building. Then, she chased after them.

-

“You!” one of the grunts guarding the door yelled, pointing a finger at Ivy as she neared the Weather Institute. On the way across the rope bridge (which was seriously cool to cross) she’d seen a sign proclaiming the building up ahead was the Weather Institute. That meant nothing to Ivy, and honestly confused her as to what Team Aqua wanted with the weather, but it gave some context as to why such a fancy building was in the middle of nowhere.

“You know me?” Ivy asked, both confused and delighted.

“You’re that brat who’s been causing problems for us! Take this!”

He threw out a Poké Ball, and a Mightyena appeared with a growl.

Ivy scoffed and tossed Blaziken’s Poké Ball. “You know what to do!”

And he did. Blaziken was moving before the light surrounding him even faded. After one Double Kick the Mightyena retreated behind its trainer, whimpering.

“Ugh, what? Fine! I totally meant take this!” He returned Mightyena and released a Golbat. It screeched as it appeared, its large mouth salivating at the thought of a fight.

This wasn’t the best match up, type-wise, but Ivy was more than confident that Blaziken could take out the Golbat just as quickly as the Mightyena.

“Flamethrower!”

The two grunts at the door blanched and ducked for cover. Ivy hadn’t had Blaziken practice Flamethrower in a while, too reluctant with all the trees around them. But they were in an open area now!

Taking in a deep breath, Blaziken let loose an intense jet of flames, engulfing the Golbat before a second even passed. He didn’t keep the stream up for long, just a few seconds, but it was a better and more stable Flamethrower than what he’d done back in her dad’s gym.

The Golbat was, somehow, still flying after the attack, albeit not well. A single Aerial Ace took it down.

The two grunts stared at her in shock.

Ivy gestured vaguely at the grunt she hadn’t fought. “So, like, do I have to battle you too, or can I go through now?”

He yelped and scooted backwards, away from the door. “Just go! I doubt even my Carvanha would be able to do anything to your Blaziken!”

Ivy grinned. “Cool!”

She skipped through the automatic doors, Blaziken at her heels.

The first floor was almost entirely empty. The only person Ivy could see was a woman hiding behind the reception counter. She eyed Ivy wearily as she walked over.

“Welcome to the Weather Institute,” she said drily. “There’s currently a situation going on upstairs as I’m sure you know.”

Ivy brightened. “Oh, that’s where everyone went? Good to know, thanks!”

With a wave, she dashed for the nearest staircase.

Distantly she could hear the receptionist begin to speak. “Hello? Yes, I’d like to report a Team Aqua related crime…”

-

“Wh-what do you want?” one of the braver scientists stuttered out as Shelly quickly scanned through the data on the computer. She scowled. No, this wasn’t what she was looking for either.

“None of your business,” she absently said as she opened yet another document.

“It absolutely is my business!” the scientist yelled, indignation overcoming his fear. Toller’s Mightyena growled at the man who shrunk back, fear once more the forefront emotion.

Ugh. This document wasn’t it either. Shelly tapped a finger against her lips, trying to figure out what keywords she should be searching. Looking for that Pokémon’s name, or even its alias, probably wouldn’t yield anything. A small green blob stared down at her from atop the computer as Shelly desperately tried to think of what to do. As much as she hated it, she probably needed the scientists’ help. After all, who knew their system better?

Shelly turned to where the grunts and their Pokémon were keeping the handful of scientists and Castform that permanently staffed the Weather Institute corralled. She stood to her full height and stared them down. At least three flinched. Good.

“Alright. I need specific data, and I need to know how to find it. You,” she pointed at the scientist who had spoken up earlier, “are going to help me. Now.”

Marina’s Linoone nudged, or, really, shoved, the man forward.

“I-I really shouldn’t—”

“I don’t care,” Shelly said, making sure she sounded as malicious as possible. She wasn’t going to do anything to the man, but she needed this data. A little intimidation was necessary. “I need data from fifteen hundred years ago.”

“F-fifteen hundred—”

“I know you have it,” she snapped, glowering hard enough to make him cower. “Back when I was… well, that’s not important. But I know it’s something you’ve been researching. I saw the paper. Specifically, the one examining climate proxies around the time of the creation of the Sootopolis crater. It’s been a few years and I’m sure you have even more data on it now. Go get that data. Now.”

“You, you actually know what—”

“I said now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he squeaked out, tripping over his feet to get to the computer.

The green blob squeaked in alarm. Shelly’s jaw fell open. Was that thing a Pokémon—?

“Shelly! There’s someone here!”

Shelly put a hand to her forehead at Paula’s panicked exclamation, ignoring the unimportant green blob. This was meant to be a quick in and out. She hadn’t exactly okayed this mission with Archie. If someone from the blasted Pokémon League was here…

“Who?”

“Some girl…”

Shelly frowned. She’d bet money on it being that girl from Rustboro and Slateport. She was a trouble magnet; Shelly would know, being one herself.

The scientist cleared his throat. “A-ah, I have the raw data up…”

Well, it was one girl and not a member of the Pokémon League like she had feared.

“Deal with it,” she told Paula. “Stall her out one by one. We’ll be leaving soon anyways.”

Shelly plugged the flash drive into the computer, downloading all the documents the scientist pulled up. That girl was likely just the beginning of the cavalry. While Shelly’s Swampert was strong, there was no world where she won against a member of the Elite Four, or even a gym leader’s personal team. They needed to leave as soon as possible.

-

It wasn’t hard battling the Team Aqua grunts—there were just a lot of them. And, bizarrely, they all fought her one-on-one and not en masse like she had kind of been expecting. They were very polite criminals, Ivy had to give them that.

But she was almost done battling all of them! The only one left was the one who had run off somewhere near the start of Ivy’s marathon. The grunt nervously sent out a Lombre. Blaziken, exhausted but not too injured to stop battling, leapt forward with Aerial Ace.

The Lombre unsteadily rose to its feet. If it had been Blaziken’s first opponent, it’d probably be down from just that, but Ivy’s Pokémon was beginning to tire.

“Do it—”

“That’s enough.” A commanding voice interrupted her order. A tall, tanned woman with blue streaks in her hair stared Ivy down. Ivy barely stopped herself from taking a step back. The woman had a scarily intimidating aura. “We have what we needed, so let’s go.”

The grunt Ivy had been battling sighed in relief, immediately withdrawing her Lombre. All the Aqua grunts immediately swarmed past Ivy, heading for the stairs. She blinked a few times, baffled by how quickly they were giving up.

“Hey, wait! You can’t just break in here and then leave!”

“Yes, we can,” the woman who was obviously in charge said, brushing past Ivy without a look backwards.

“B-but…” Ivy had no idea what to do. Battling? Sure, she could do that. Dealing with what came after? Not something she had practice with. She clenched her fists. “Blaziken, stop them!”

Blaziken tensed, ready to leap, when the woman whirled around. Within seconds, a large Swampert appeared in front of Blaziken.

“Water Pulse.”

Before Blaziken could dodge, Swampert ejected a pulsing ring of water with unerring accuracy. Blaziken flew backwards and didn’t get back up.

“Blaziken!”

There was the tell-tale noise of a Pokémon returning to a Poké Ball followed by heels click-clacking down stairs.

Ivy returned her Pokémon and stared at where Team Aqua no longer was. That could’ve gone way better. She could’ve… tied up the ones she defeated or something. Like Steven had done back on Southern Island. Anything to not just let them all get away.

Feeling like a complete idiot, Ivy lightly hit a fist against her head. She had rushed in without a plan and it hadn’t worked out at all. Ivy may have gotten better at not freezing up during tense moments, but she still was the worst person to deal with them.

Someone cleared their throat. Ivy turned to find a small contingent of scientists. Two Castform, a Pokémon she had seen on TV but never seen in person, circled the group nervously.

“Oh! Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine, we’re fine,” one of the scientists said dismissively, though he still looked troubled. “It’s just… concerning what she looked up. I have no idea why some group of criminals would be interested in that data. I can only assume nothing good.”

“Yeah, that’s usually the best assumption.” Ivy paused. “What did she look up?”

“Data surrounding the known climate, temperature, and general environment of 1,500 years ago.”

Ivy’s eyebrows flew up at that. “Fifteen hundred years ago? You know that sort of stuff?”

“Of course! There are many ways to tell and…” he trailed off at Ivy’s blank stare. “And you probably don’t care about the specifics. But yes. You can. And the fact that she knew exactly what she wanted… There’s probably some connection we’re missing.”

A creeping thought entered Ivy’s mind. Fifteen hundred years could be considered ancient, couldn’t it?

“…they should be upstairs…”

One of the scientists, not the one she had been talking to, gasped. “Maria! I had completely forgotten about her!”

Coming up the stairs was the receptionist, and behind her…

Steven gave her a small smile as he followed the receptionist, his Claydol floating above them. Next to him was some punk with weird hair, an Absol at his side.

“This is the girl who ran in right after them.”

Steven put a hand to his chin, still smiling slightly. Ivy willed herself not to blush or fidget. Why was she always meeting Steven after days of travel when she had to look and smell awful?

“Ah, I figured it had to be you, Ivy. You seem to be a better detector for Team Aqua and Magma than an Absol.”

Said Pokémon stared right at her. Unconsciously, Ivy took a step backwards. She’d heard unnerving stories about Absol.

The man with Steven snorted. “Look at that. You sure know how to compliment a girl, Stevie.”

A slight flush rose on Steven’s cheeks. “I, ah, I didn’t mean it like that!” He shook his head. “No matter. Sidney, would you mind talking to the scientists? I’d like to speak with Ivy in private.”

-

Ivy explained everything that had happened, pausing as she finished. “The scientist guy… he said she wanted stuff from 1,500 years ago. And, I dunno, that’s a really long time ago. It reminded me that the Aqua and Magma people are looking for something called a super-ancient Pokémon…”

Steven’s expression hadn’t changed from a sort of resigned grimness throughout her explanation. “Honestly, I can’t say I know for sure why she came here looking for that data. I have a hunch, but even after all the reading I’ve been doing lately, I’m not totally confident. This is much more Wallace’s area of expertise, particularly if my train of thought is, in fact, correct.” He sighed. “But, yes, this break in and that Pokémon may be connected.”

“Oh.” That wasn’t good.

“But you did well, Ivy.”

“They got away.”

“Maybe, but your presence likely helped keep them in line. Team Aqua’s always been known for being rabblerousers. They can’t hurt anyone or destroy anything if they’re too busy battling.” Steven paused and took something out of his vest pocket. “I figured we’d see each other sometime soon, so I’ve been keeping this on my person.”

He held out a small item. Ivy felt a weird sense of déjà vu. It was another of those not-marbles, though this one was slightly different. It was smaller than the others, and all the colors of the rainbow compared to the more limited color palettes of the two in her bag. It was inset into a simple cuff bracelet.

“What is it?”

For the first time in this conversation, Steven’s eyes lit up. “A Key Stone! It’s related to a certain phenomenon called Mega Evolution. Have you ever heard of it?”

Ivy shook her head.

“No, not many have. Even I only learned about it by chance. I found a Key Stone years ago and went on a hunt to figure out what it was. Key Stones are exceedingly rare, as are the corresponding Mega Stones. That’s why Mega Evolution is so unknown despite the fact that every trainer would be clamoring for it if they knew it existed.

“Mega Evolution is what it sounds like—a phenomenon where a Pokémon undergoes evolution. But not any normal evolution. Mega Evolution is a temporary evolution, only possible while the Pokémon is holding a Mega Stone meant specifically for that species of Pokémon and their trainer is holding a Key Stone. And I believe you know what a Mega Stone looks like.”

Ivy had nodded occasionally as she let Steven excitedly ramble, but when he raised an eyebrow after his last sentence, a light went off in Ivy’s head. She turned her backpack to her front, searching for those marbles. While she did, she spoke.

“I actually wanted to talk to you about that! Um, I guess you already know somehow, but a Latias showed up one day and let me catch her. You said that people shouldn’t know about Southern Island, so I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to use her in a gym battle or just have her out in public…”

Ivy tossed her jacket to the side. Man, she really had too much stuff in her bag.

“Latias showed up at my home first, or so I’m assuming. I turned her offer down, so she went to you most likely. You should be fine being out with her in public. It’s not unheard of for a Latias or Latios to leave the island and join up with a trainer. As long as you don’t tell anyone where you first met her, it should be fine. Ah…”

Steven trailed off, looking at her in concern as Ivy set her bag on the ground and stuck her head inside.

“I have too much crap in this bag, and I can’t remember where I put those dumb marbles!”

“Uh…”

“Wait!” Ivy slapped a hand to her forehead. “I put them in the Poké Ball pocket!”

They were spherical and roughly the same size as a minimized Poké Ball so it had seemed appropriate. Triumphantly, she grabbed her two not-marbles—or Mega Stones, Ivy supposed she should call them now.

Steven stared at her. “Two? One must be a Latiasite, but where in the world did you find a second one?”

“Sea Mauville!”

Steven opened his mouth, then closed it. That expression of grimness returned to his face.

Ivy faltered, her grin falling. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no, I just hadn’t expected that place to have something like that. Though, I suppose I should have, considering… never mind. Can I see it?”

Ivy held out the first Mega Stone she had found. Steven held it up to his eyes, some of that excitement returning to him.

“I haven’t seen one with these colors before! That’s how you tell Mega Stones from each other, the subtle differences in color. Do you mind if I take a photo? I have a friend in the Kalos region who has a much larger database of known Mega Stones. I’m sure he’d be able to help us identify this one…”

Ivy blinked. “Sure?”

“Fantastic!” Almost as if he’d forgotten her presence, Steven took out a PokéNav and began snapping dozens of pictures before furiously typing something. Ivy stood awkwardly to the side, nudging her fallen jacket with her sneakers. At least this part of Route 119 wasn’t muddy, so she didn’t need to wash it, just brush some dirt and twigs off.

“Uh, Steven?”

He flinched slightly. Ivy pouted. He totally had forgotten her! Her future husband (pending break up with whoever he was currently with) was too cruel!

“Sorry,” he let out an awkward laugh as he handed her back her not-marble. “I just find Mega Evolution incredibly interesting and get, ah, a bit absorbed talking about it…”

“It’s fine!” Well, Ivy was a touch miffed, but it wasn’t the worst thing anyone had ever done to her. “So, you just need a Key Stone and a Mega Stone and you’re good to go?”

Steven’s eyes widened. “I forgot the most important part! Listen to me carefully because this is the most crucial element of Mega Evolution.” He paused and waited until she nodded to continue. “Mega Evolution can only be done safely if the trainer and the Pokémon have a strong bond. Mega Evolution… there’s a reason it’s only temporary. It puts a great strain, mentally and physically, on the Pokémon to hold it. It can cause the Pokémon quite a bit of pain if done without a trainer or without a strong enough bond.”

Ivy curled her hand around the two stones she’d found, paling. Mega Evolution sounded pretty cool, but it caused a Pokémon pain? She wasn’t so sure she liked it anymore.

“I can see you’re having second thoughts now. That’s understandable. It’s the mark of a good trainer that you don’t want to see your Pokémon hurting. But that’s why I’m stressing that a strong bond is so important. If you have one, then you share the pain with your Pokémon. You’ll come out of it exhausted, and you’ll probably faint after your first time Mega Evolving, but that’s it. The bond between the two of you makes something that could be excruciatingly painful merely exhausting. And even that exhaustion is something that can be overcome with enough training.

“Luckily, with Latias you have a good benchmark to know when it’s completely safe to Mega Evolve.”

Ivy wasn’t sure she wanted to do it anymore, but Latias herself was the one who had given Ivy the Latiasite. It was something she likely wanted, so the least Ivy could do was listen. “I do?”

“Yes. It’s what I was told to wait for when I was first studying Mega Evolution years ago. Latias is a Psychic type. Once the two of you can communicate telepathically without any pain, then you’ll be ready.”

That made sense and made Ivy much more open to Mega Evolution. It took a strong bond with a fully evolved Psychic type in order to speak telepathically at all. To not experience any pain at all was a sign you were as close as a Pokémon and a human could be.

Of course, Latias was a Legendary which made things slightly different, but it was a good goal to work towards, nonetheless.

“How long did it take you to get there?” Also, with what Pokémon, Ivy couldn’t help but wonder. Claydol? She hadn’t known they could speak telepathically to humans, but she had never really thought much of them at all.

Steven laughed, and Ivy tried not to swoon. He had such a nice laugh!

“I don’t think I’ll be much of a help there. By the time I learned about Mega Evolution, Metagross and I had been together almost a decade. It’s a different situation from you and Latias. However, I’m confident that the two of you will be able to get there in record time.”

He smiled at her, and Ivy couldn’t help but beam back. Steven was confident that she’d be able to share such a strong bond with Latias! How moving!

“Hey, Steven! You done trying to impress the girl?”

Steven’s smile immediately dropped back into that carefully neutral expression of his, and he rolled his eyes.

“Yes, we are finished speaking, Sidney.” He glanced at Ivy. “I’m assuming you were on your way to Fortree before all this happened. Would you like a ride there?”

Ivy squeaked. Hugging Steven like she had before? Yes, please! “Of course!”

Chapter Text

Ivy was incredibly disappointed to find out that Steven meant Teleportation with Claydol when he mentioned a ride. Sure, she arrived in Fortree a day earlier than expected and the shower at the Pokémon Center was heavenly, but she didn’t get to wrap her arms around Steven like on Latios. Even worse, that Sidney guy seemed to know exactly why she was disappointed and wouldn’t stop snickering.

Still, Fortree itself was almost enough to make up for it.

Ivy had heard a ton about the city, from Brendan and from others. It was a town deep in the rainforest, almost entirely situated among the branches of the trees. Alongside Slateport and Lilycove, it was one of the top tourist destinations in Hoenn for how unique it was. It was a place Ivy herself had always wanted to visit because it sounded so cool. Like, every single building was a treehouse? How cool was that?

It lived up to the hype. This particular Pokémon Center was almost twenty feet up in the air, its reception area wrapped around the huge trunk of a tree.

“Most visiting trainers usually lodge at the Center that’s on the ground,” Steven told her before he left to go do… something. He hadn’t mentioned what. “But I’ve always thought it’s more fun to be up in the trees. It’s what Fortree is all about, right?”

He’d also told her that Winona wouldn’t be in that day, and probably would continue to be absent for the next few days. She was helping him in trying to locate where Team Aqua went. A quick trip to the gym, one of the few buildings on the ground, was enough to confirm his statement. Still, Ivy was able to complete Winona’s gym trial (a fun obstacle course she needed the help of her Pokémon to get through) and put herself into the queue for whenever Winona was back.

-

“Stop making the bridge sway! It’s rude.”

It was also very fun but, reluctantly, Ivy did as Bella said.

With the fact that she now had a few days to kill before her battle with Winona, Ivy wasted no time in contacting Bella and Connor, the two people she met on her first trip to Mauville. Connor, as it turned out, was away for another tournament, but Bella was quick to agree to hang out.

“There’s really not much here,” she admitted once they met up outside the Pokémon Center. “Tourists usually come to gawk at everything, have a meal at one of the tourist-trap restaurants, then leave. And trainers usually just challenge Winona and leave. It’s pretty boring, honestly.”

Ivy had to disagree. There was no way she was going to stop finding running across rope bridges and climbing up and down rope ladders fun anytime soon.

“Boring? If you want boring, you should visit Littleroot. We don’t even have a Pokémon Center, that’s how boring it is.”

Bella whistled. “Okay, I think you won that.”

They bought lunch at a small vendor who sold what Ivy would call street food but seemed to be standard fair in Fortree considering the lack of space to sit down and eat. They settled themselves on one of the bridges that overlooked the open-air gym on the ground. Several Taillow and a single Wurmple settled down next to them.

Fortree’s gym reminded Ivy of Dewford’s. There was one main building for administrative purposes, then the rest of the gym sprawled below the city. The pitches were delineated between the trunks of trees. Ivy, Bella, and the Pokémon on the bridge had a clear view of a gym trainer having a battle with a young trainer. It was odd to watch a battle from so far above, but interesting.

“I still think Fortree is cool,” Ivy said, munching on her yakisoba. “I dunno where else I could watch a gym battle like this. And have lunch as well! My dad would kill anyone who brought a meal onto one of the battle pitches.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. He’s really strict about crumbs.”

Mainly because so many of his Pokémon had bottomless pits for stomachs and would get fat if they were able to scavenge human food, but cleanliness was a factor too. How her dad managed to say no every time one of them tried begging for food was a mystery to Ivy. She would never be able to say no to a Zigzagoon.

Above them, a branch swayed and let loose a few leaves as Bella’s Tropius landed on it. He was the only Pokémon she had left with her—Lanturn now travelled with her brother while Snorunt was traded to a passing trainer.

Ivy wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She knew it was common thing among those who ended their gym challenges early—not everyone had the means to take care of their Pokémon once they settled down, especially Water and Ice types—but Ivy couldn’t ever see herself doing it, even if she didn’t go into some job that involved Pokémon training. It just seemed cruel to her. Pokémon were meant to be family.

Still, she could reluctantly see the other side’s point. If a Pokémon was going to be miserable, then it was better to let them go. It was a difficult topic; one Ivy really didn’t want to dwell on.

They watched the end of the battle in silence.

“So,” Ivy said, drawing out the word. “Um. What’re you doing now that you’re not on your journey?”

She cringed even as she asked it. Not everyone appreciated talking about their Pokémon journey, especially people who quit early. It was meant to be a learning experience and coming of age thing, but there were some who saw leaving early as a mark of shame.

Luckily, Bella didn’t seem too upset. She made a face, but it wasn’t at Ivy. “I went to school for, like, two weeks before summer break started. I still have so much make-up work to do, though. Ugh, it’s the worst.”

Ivy winced in sympathy. You technically weren’t required to keep up with your studies when you were on your Pokémon journey, but you had to take a placement exam when it was over. If you were judged as being too far behind your peers, you were held back a grade. No one wanted that embarrassment, so most people studied a little bit if they were gone for more than a few months. For Ivy personally, she hadn’t done a lick of studying since leaving in April. She had long since resigned herself to repeating eighth grade whenever she returned to Littleroot. School had never been her strong point even when she was attending classes every day.

“And when you’re done with all the dumb homework?”

Bella shrugged. “’Dunno. Work in my parent’s shop?” They ran one of those tourist trap shops Bella hated so much. “A regular ol’ wash out career of boringness for me.”

She didn’t sound as bitter as her words portrayed, but Ivy still felt incredibly awkward with five badges on her backpack.

“Uh…”

“What about you?” Bella asked, bluntly changing the topic from herself. “You gonna pull a Connor and start doing tournaments the second you get badge number eight?”

Ivy scratched the back of her neck. On the pitch below, a gym trainer was now battling against someone she vaguely recognized from her Pokémon Center. She watched that for a bit before replying.

“Y’know, you’re the second person to ask me that this week.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Stayed at a Ranger outpost one night on Route 119 and one ranger said I’d make a good one. Or ace trainer or gym leader or whatever.”

Bella tilted her body side to side, considering her statement. Below them, the battle finished and the gym trainer started lecturing the attentive trainer on what they’d done wrong. “I can see it. You’re friendly enough. You going that route, then?”

“’Dunno,” Ivy said, just like she’d told the ranger. “I don’t really think about the future that much.”

Bella sighed heavily and leaned on the ropes keeping them from tumbling off the bridge. “I feel that. My mom’s all ‘think about the future!” and I’m like, chill. It’ll be years before I really need to get a job. For now, I just wanna vibe, y’know?”

“Oh, totally.”

Another battle started up between the two trainers below them. Bella laughed quietly. “Enough boring stuff. Let’s see if this kid actually gets a hit in this time.”

Ivy wiggled her legs, making the bridge wiggle with her. That had gotten awkward. Hopefully focusing on the battle would help ease the tension between them.

Still, they parted ways shortly after that.

-

Three days into her stay in Fortree, there was a flurry of activity in the Pokémon Center as Ivy reentered it for lunch. A handful of trainers left excitedly, before filtering in over the rest of the afternoon. Some showed off their shiny new Feather Badge while others morosely slinked back to their rooms. Ivy couldn’t help repeatedly checking her PokéNav to see if she’d missed a call about her battle, but no, nothing.

The next day no one received any calls, and rumors circulated that Winona was once more out of Fortree on League business. Ivy only sighed and settled herself in for what seemed like a long wait.

-

Ivy spent most of her time training her Pokémon far out in the northern woods of Fortree. She could’ve just trained right below the city like most of the other trainers waiting for Winona, but Ivy was leery of letting Latias out where so many could see. Instead, every day she left for a spot where there were no bridges above her and therefore safe from prying eyes. It meant sacrificing battles against other trainers, but it would have to do.

She was not making as much progress in training Latias as she’d hoped. Despite Steven saying it was fine for Ivy to use her in a gym battle, even Ivy could freely admit there was no way Latias would be able to stand up to any of Winona’s sixth badge Pokémon. With the wait, she had hoped that maybe they could train her up a bit so she wouldn’t get completely creamed, but they were having some serious difficulties.

No matter how much they tried, it seemed Latias was completely unable to learn any Psychic type moves. She had Charm down, and while her Dragon Breath was shaky and not as strong as Seadra’s (who had started learning it later, and wasn’t even a Dragon type yet), it was usable. But Mist Ball? Or literally any other Psychic move Ivy thought Latias might be able to learn? Nothing.

The only being more upset about it than Ivy was Latias herself. Even though she threw herself into training with the same intensity as Blaziken, she just couldn’t seem to make any progress, no matter how hard she tried. It hadn’t been so bad back on Route 119, but it was obviously starting to wear her down.

Latias let out a series of sad coos, looking rather pathetic with her feathers all fluffed out. They’d been practicing Mist Ball again, since Latias had at least used it once before, but no matter how hard Latias concentrated she couldn’t seem to do more than pluck her feathers. Ivy wanted to continue, but she also didn’t want Latias to pluck herself naked.

“We might just have to work on other things,” Ivy said, petting a spot behind Latias’s fin. “More Dragon type moves, or branch out into something else.”

Latias let out a low rumble. A hint of displeasure flickered through Ivy’s mind.

“I know. You’re a Psychic type so you want to learn a Psychic type move. I just don’t know what’s wrong and how to fix it. Mossdeep is the next gym I want to face, and they specialize in Psychic types. Maybe we can get some help there.”

She didn’t like it, but Latias eventually relented. After a brief sulk, Ivy had her practice Dragon Breath with Seadra. The dragon Pokémon didn’t really need to practice it so much by this point, but Seadra was nice and didn’t want Latias to feel left out.

-

Finally, over a week into her stay, the Fortree City Gym resumed operations. This time, Ivy was one of the first to be called in.

“We’re very sorry for the wait,” the receptionist said, bowing her head slightly. “Unfortunately for challengers, direct orders from the Hoenn Pokémon League take precedence over gym battles.”

“It’s fine,” Ivy said quickly. She knew better than most what was going on behind the scenes.

“As you’ve already been marked as finishing the obstacle course, you’re free to go right to her. Her personal battle pitch is the one right below the Pokémon Center.”

Ivy nodded, clenching one hand into a fist. It was time to get her sixth badge.

-

Winona looked a lot like the hazy memory Ivy had of her. Her long lavender hair flowed out behind her as she stared at Ivy with aloof eyes.

“Hello challenger.” Her voice was also familiar—airy and detached. “I apologize for the wait. I will be using four Pokémon, while you can use as many as you need. No switching is allowed from either side and the first trainer out of usable Pokémon loses. Are you ready to witness the elegance of my bird Pokémon?”

Before Ivy could even think up a comeback to that, the referee blew into their whistle and Winona released a Tropius onto the field.

Well, that made her choice easy.

“Let’s do this, Blaziken! Flame Charge!”

“Air Slash.”

Blaziken leaped forward, fire at the ready. Tropius took to the air, beating its leafy wings. One particularly strong gust sharpened into something with an almost visible edge. It hit Blaziken, knocking him backwards and putting out some of his flames.

With Tropius in the air, it was better to switch to a special attack.

“Flamethrower!”

Immediately, Blaziken obliged. He opened his beak and let loose a stream of fire that hit Tropius dead on. Blaziken preferred his physical attacks, but Ivy always made sure he had Flamethrower at its best. It was a strong move, and useful for situations exactly like this.

Tropius roared and dropped to the ground with a thud. There were charred, smoking holes in its wings. Ivy lightly pumped a fist. It seemed like they’d gotten a burn.

“Air Slash, again.”

“Flamethrower!”

Repeated sharp gusts of wind met the jet of flames in the middle of the field. Ivy narrowed her eyes. It was a battle of who could hold their move longer.

It was time to switch things up.

“Blaziken, jump up into Blaze Kick!”

Flamethrower abruptly cut off as Blaziken leaped up and forward. He soared over the Air Slashes, not harmed in the slightest. Before Tropius could redirect its move upwards, Blaziken was on it. Legs on fire, he slammed feet first onto the fruit Pokémon’s back.

Tropius fell to its stomach with a groan. Blaziken didn’t let up. Before either trainer could shout a command, he was kicking Tropius again, this time right on the neck, setting its fruit on fire. Tropius roared, but it was weak. One quick Aerial Ace punch to the throat left Tropius fainting.

Winona returned her Pokémon, face as stoic as ever.

Blaziken trotted back over to her side of the field, crowing in delight.

That had gone so much better than Ivy had expected. She wasn’t sure she had ever knocked out a gym leader’s Pokémon that quickly. She grinned at Blaziken. “Great job!”

He puffed out his chest feathers as a Pelipper materialized on the field. Ivy shifted her stance slightly, biting her lip as rain immediately began to fall. Similar to how Flannery had a rare Torkoal with the Drought ability, it seemed Winona had a rare Pelipper with the Drizzle ability.

Blaziken let out an indigent squawk as the first few raindrops hit, and the sound of giggles reached Ivy’s ears. She looked up, surprised to see a handful of kids were sitting on one of the rope bridges above, watching the match alongside a small flock of Wingull. A few meters away from them, a small group of trainers Ivy recognized from the Pokémon Center were watching as well.

Well, that wasn’t a problem. It was just another way the Fortree Gym reminded her of Dewford.

If Blaziken versus Tropius had been almost comically one-sided, the same could be said for Blaziken versus Pelipper, with Blaziken, unfortunately, being on the losing side.

“Aerial Ace!”

“Water Pulse.”

Blaziken landed the hit, but that left him open to the Water Pulse hitting point blank. He stumbled backwards. And it wasn’t just from the impact—even after he should’ve stopped, Blaziken continued to stumble around. He was confused.

Ivy bit her lip. “Blaziken, snap out of it! We need to focus on winning!”

“Brine.”

Blaziken shook his head, but didn’t otherwise react to her shouting. He did nothing to dodge the jet of water from Pelipper, sending him tumbling to the ground.

“Blaziken, please! Do you want to lose to a Pelipper?”

Ivy didn’t have anything against Pelipper, but Blaziken had an unusually strong dislike of water and Water types (except Seadra, he tolerated her). He would hate losing to one, even if they had the type advantage.

It seemed to do the trick. His eyes cleared, and he jumped to his feet.

“Wing Attack.”

However, it was too late.

Just as Blaziken got to his feet, Pelipper was on him, wings glowing. Blaziken was knocked back once more, and this time he didn’t get back up.

Ivy sighed as she returned him. “You were fantastic against Tropius. We’ll win this no problem.”

Mightyena appeared on the field with her usual Howl.

“Just like we practiced! Return Fang!”

“Water Pulse.”

They really only had one shot at Return Fang—what Ivy had taken to calling their Return and Thunder Fang combination. After that, the element of surprise was out.

The usual glow spread out from Mightyena’s heart, allowing her to jump through the Water Pulse and into the air. Pelipper squawked in surprise as she made contact, which immediately turned into a squawk of pain as the electricity from Thunder Fang hit.

The pair fell out of the sky. Mightyena glowed with another Return as she landed on top of Pelipper, using the force of both the fall and Return to really drive the bird into the ground. Their landing caused a small crater to form, kicking up a large cloud of dust.

Mightyena danced off the water bird Pokémon, laughing as she did. Ivy waited for Pelipper to get back up. It didn’t.

Across the field, Winona’s eyes widened slightly as she recalled her Pokémon. “Fascinating. I’ve never seen Return used quite like that… Skarmory, let’s see how they fare against your shine.”

Ivy had to admit, Skarmory did shine as it appeared on the field. Rain fell throughout Mightyena and Pelipper’s battle, but it began to clear when the bird was returned. A few weak rays of sunlight hit the gleaming steel body of the armor bird Pokémon sending light across the field.

Mightyena let out another Howl, stomping a paw into the ground as she did.

Ivy grinned. “Yeah, that’s the spirit! Thunder Fang!”

Winona regarded them carefully. “They have a unique combination to leap into the air. Be aware of that and be nimble. Spikes into Steel Wing.”

Skarmory, released onto the ground, cawed. On Ivy’s side of the field, the ground briefly trembled, before several sharp spikes shot out of the ground. Mightyena had already run past them, mouth filled with electricity, but it was going to be a problem for Seadra.

Still on the ground, Skarmory didn’t bother moving as Mightyena slammed into it. It only brought a shining wing forward—this time shining with Steel Type Energy. Unable to switch targets, Mightyena clamped right onto the wing.

While some of the electricity from Thunder Fang jolted through Skarmory’s body, Mightyena was undeniably worse off. She pulled back immediately, whining in pain. It was some distance away, but Ivy thought she saw blood drip onto the ground. The brief window where both moves had finished but the two Pokémon were still in contact with each other had been enough to injure Mightyena. Skarmory’s wing was naturally sharp enough to cut up the inside of her mouth.

That… was bad. Almost all of Mightyena’s attacks made use of strong biting ability. If she couldn’t bite, Ivy might be better recalling her for Seadra.

While Ivy hesitated, Skarmory finally took to the air.

“Air Cutter.”

Razor sharp gusts of wind hit Mightyena, knocking her off her feet. There wasn’t any more blood—Type Energy did its job well in blunting moves—but Mightyena didn’t look good.

“Aerial Ace.”

Skarmory dove down.

“Snarl!”

Mightyena let out a weak series of barks that barely slowed Skarmory down. The armor bird Pokémon dove into her, throwing her backwards.

Ivy returned her poor pooch. Even if she had still been fighting fit after that attack, she wouldn’t be able to do anything to Skarmory. Hopefully, she didn’t need special care when they got back to the Pokémon Center.

“You did great.”

Preemptively wincing for poor Seadra, Ivy released her. She tried her best to release her away from any of the spikes, but Pokémon moves were strange things. As Seadra appeared, one of the spikes broke off, hitting her directly.

Surprised at the hit, Seadra let out a sad whinny.

“Sorry, sorry!” It was always worse when sweet Seadra got hurt or scared. “Twister, as quick as you can!”

Seadra shook off her pain as wind swirled around her. Learning Dragon Breath had greatly helped in letting her quickly power up the Dragon Type Energy necessary to power Twister. Before, it had always taken several seconds and she struggled to keep it going. Now, it was up and heading towards Skarmory within a second.

“Agility!”

Wings glowing pink, Skarmory dove and twirled around the Twister.

Fortunately, her ability to quickly make the tornado wasn’t the only thing Seadra had gotten better at. With far less strain than before, the Twister turned and followed Skarmory.

The chase continued for a while. Ivy bit her lip. Twister didn’t drain Seadra as much as before, but she couldn’t hold it indefinitely. The tornado chased the metallic bird across the field.

Luck seemed to be on their side. Skarmory dove right when it should’ve gone left and was sucked into the Twister.

Ivy couldn’t help but fist pump. “Yes! Now, let it go and let’s do what we did to Wally’s Kirlia! Ice Beam and Surf!”

With a sigh of relief, Seadra dropped Twister and immediately shot out a beam of ice, nailing the disorientated Skarmory right where its wings met its body.

Skarmory clattered to the ground, its wing unable to move.

“Steel Wing. Break the ice.”

Skarmory’s wing glowed grey, and some of the ice cracked.

Ivy took a deep breath. Surf was another move Seadra always struggled with quickly setting up. She’d gotten much faster over the past few months, especially since her evolution, but it still took a few seconds. It was a waiting game to see if Skarmory broke its wing free first, or if Seadra could get Surf up and strong enough.

The ground was already bubbling and turning the dirt into water. Being in a rainforest with its perpetually soaked soil was a gift to them for this battle. With a mighty trill, Seadra shot it forward. It grew as it went, seeming to accumulate dirt-turned-water as it filled the battle pitch.

Skarmory smashed a glowing wing against the ground, but it was too late. Surf rolled over it, sending it spiraling through the water.

Surf always took a while to get set up, and it always took a while to go away. That was the real strength of the move—it was almost impossible to stop. While they waited, Seadra happily splashed in the water and ate the Sitrus Berry Ivy had given her just for this reason.

By the time the water drained away, leaving the ground even more wet than before, it was clear Skarmory had fainted.

Winona sighed as she recalled it. “Altaria. Elegance is your forte.”

The humming Pokémon appeared on the field, trilling sweetly. Seadra gave a cheerful trill back, waving a fin.

“Dragon Dance.”

Oh, hell.

“Seadra! Dragon Breath! Now! Full Power!”

Seadra, previously cheerful, squeaked in panic before letting loose a stream of purple draconic energy. Altaria, swirling and singing in the air, let out an undignified squawk as the move hit, sending it spiraling through the air.

Ivy sighed in relief. Dragon Dance could’ve been bad news, but it looked like they had stopped it before the dance finished.

There was one strong positive to this match up—while Seadra knew two Dragon type moves, she wasn’t actually a Dragon type yet, while Altaria was. Seadra, even tired, held the advantage.

“Now, Ice Beam!”

“Earthquake.”

Altaria, who had already spun close to the ground from Seadra’s attack, plopped down. As it did, a shockwave unrelated to its weight trembled through the battle pitch.

Ice Beam hit Altaria, but only for a second. Seadra quickly cut it off in favor of using Bubble Beam to launch herself into the air. She didn’t manage to miss all the shockwaves from Earthquake, but she dodged most of them.

“Aerial Ace.”

Altaria darted forward while Seadra floated back to the ground, her bubbles disappearing.

“Ice Beam!”

Altaria rammed into Seadra, but Seadra released her own attack, shoving Altaria off of her with a point-blank Ice Beam. The humming Pokémon skipped across the ground like a stone on a lake.

Hmm…

“Get Surf back up!”

It formed much more quickly this time. The ground already being soaked meant the battle pitch was covered in water almost instantaneously. Altaria squawked and tried to fly up, but Seadra had fantastic control of Surf, whatever her other problems with it. Waves crashed upwards, wetting its cottony wings and dragging her underwater.

As with Skarmory, it was clear Surf had done its job.

Ivy was ecstatic about her win, but she couldn’t help but giggle. Altaria had only been visible for a few seconds before being hidden by roiling waves, but its soggy and deflated wings were hilarious.

“Seadra! We did it!”

Seadra trilled in exhaustion as she floated over to Ivy for a hug.

“You did so well, taking out two opponents! I’m so proud of you!”

Her Pokémon’s trill was significantly happier that time, relishing in the praise.

“Now, return and rest. We’ll celebrate later.”

Practically skipping, Ivy met Winona in the middle of the now very muddy field.

“Congratulations. With this wonderful battle, you’ve earned the Feather Badge. I usually give trainers the TM for Aerial Ace, but judging by your Blaziken, it seems you already own that one. Instead, be sure to let the receptionist know to give you Roost.”

Ivy raised an eyebrow at that. Could Blaziken learn Roost? Or maybe Latias? Ivy was pretty sure Roost was mainly only learned by bird-like Pokémon and they were both bird-like. She’d have to look it up later.

“Thank you!”

It was odd, holding her sixth badge. She’d been so focused on beating her father that getting badges after him had been a distant thought. Holding the Feather Badge was oddly grounding. She really was going to get all eight badges in Hoenn.

Huh.

-

The next day, she spent it with Bella while her Pokémon rested. Mightyena, thankfully, didn’t need anything more than the usual trip through the healing machine, though she certainly whined like she did.

It was bittersweet. They’d met up a few times in between Ivy training out in the wilderness, but this was to say goodbye. Despite their friendship, Ivy probably wouldn’t ever see Bella again. That was the nature of being on a Pokémon journey. You form fantastic bonds with others, but only kept them for a short while.

With all her stuff packed, Ivy was ready to head on out the next morning. Fortree had been fun, but she had two more badges to get, and both were quite a distance away. She’d go to Lilycove, then take a ferry to Mossdeep then Sootopolis.

Waiting to get her Pokémon back from the nurse (just one little go at the healing machine before they walked through a long route!), all Ivy could do was lean against the counter and watch the TV play reruns of a Contest from a week ago. It was the Beauty category, and came from the Lilycove Contest Hall. Ivy watched half-heartedly, until a familiar face stepped up to perform.

Brendan looked a lot like he had during his Contest performance in Fallarbor. His routine was similar as well—Pikachu managed to add moving her tail and what looked like some sort of Ice type move, of all things. Brendan was also more active in the routine, doing the Rain Dance alongside Pikachu, though he looked visibly uncomfortable doing so. Ivy nearly smiled at that. It seemed like his nerves hadn’t been completely stomped out.

Even once the nurse returned her Pokémon to her, Ivy stayed to watch. She wanted to see how Brendan did. Beyond his visible nervousness and Pikachu taking a few seconds to gain control of her Ice type move, she thought he’d done fantastically. Still, this was an Ultra Rank Contest. Nearly every other competitor was at a similar level.

It took a while longer to get through all the contestants, and when the appeal portion was finished, Ivy’s heart dropped. Brendan hadn’t made the cut to the second round. She wasn’t sure how things had been going since they’d separated but, as far as she knew, this was Brendan’s first loss. And what a loss—he hadn’t even made it to round two.

Finally leaving the Pokémon Center and Fortree, Ivy bit her lip. Part of her wanted to fly to Lilycove immediately, find Brendan, and give him a huge hug. The other part echoed his last words of never wanting to see her again. Ivy knew that if she went to Lilycove, she’d be completely unable to resist finding Brendan which could potentially upset him even more.

Once she was a good distance from Fortree, she let out Latias.

“You’re supposed to be super fast, right? Have you ever been to Mossdeep before…”

Chapter Text

Brendan stared blankly at the dressing room wall.

He hadn’t won. He hadn’t even made it to the second round.

Logically, he knew he shouldn’t be upset. It was unrealistic of him to think he could make it to the Contest Spectacular rank without losing once. It took most people several years to get that coveted Master Rank ribbon necessary to advance. It made sense that he would lose at some point, and better to have it here than come so close to the Master Rank ribbon and lose out then.

Repeating all that didn’t make him feel better. Brendan had thought he was good at Contests. Even if he lost, he had always thought he’d at least make it to the second round. Well, what did he know?

Something shook at his waist, and the sound of a Poke Ball opening brought him out of his thoughts. At his feet, Mudkip let out a questioning chirp.

Brendan shook his head, not wanting to speak. He was afraid he might start crying if he did.

Mudkip chittered heatedly, then jumped onto his lap. Automatically, Brendan began to pet him. As he did, the urge to cry slowly went away. While Brendan certainly wasn’t Mudkip’s first trainer, Mudkip was Brendan’s first pokemon. They’d been together for a few years now, and the mud fish pokemon always seemed to know what to do to calm him down.

Certainly, this was better than Pikachu. The second the results were announced, she sequestered herself in her Repeat Ball and refused to leave.

Brendan didn’t really blame her. He had promised her they’d make it to the highest levels, and they couldn’t even make it past the Ultra Rank. He’d be mad at himself too. No, he was mad at himself.

A reverberating noise rang through the dressing room and Brendan was suddenly thrown into darkness.

Clutching Mudkip to his chest in a panic, he grabbed his things and ran. As much as he wanted to sit there and brood, he didn’t want to be locked in the Lilycove Contest Hall overnight. How embarrassing would that be? Loser couldn’t even be bothered to leave. Pathetic.

-

Brendan walked slowly through Lilycove’s darkened streets, unsure of what to do. Lisia, as kind as ever, had let him stay with her and her mom in a house their family owned on the outer edges of the city. He’d been surprised by the offer but taken it. He had plans to stay in Lilycove for a while and whatever room that would’ve been his at the Pokemon Center was better off going to some other trainer who actually needed it.

But now, the thought of facing either Lisia or her mother was painful. They’d both been so nice to him, giving him tips and ideas for his routines. Lisia was Lisia, of course, the best coordinator on the Hoennian circuit at the moment, but her mother had been just as much of a star back in her day. Between the two of them, they had more Grand Festival ribbons than he had ribbons period.

How could he face either of them after such an embarrassing loss? He should just go check into a Pokemon Center and never contact either of them ever again.

“Ah, young Brendan! There you are!”

Brendan bit his bottom lip and squeezed Mudkip, still in his arms, a little too hard.

One of the many, many kind things Lisia had done was get Brendan in touch with her uncle’s old teacher, former Sootopolis City Gym Leader and Contest star himself, Juan. While costumes and accessories weren’t very important in the first two ranks, if you went into the Master Rank without one, you’d be severely underscored, even with the routine of the century. Lisia had somehow managed to convince Juan that it would be a good use of his time to create something for Brendan.

Ugh, Juan probably had to be rethinking that decision now. Brendan couldn’t even make it out of the Ultra Rank. He likely came here to tell Brendan that the deal was over, and he should go find someone else to make his costume and, really, he should just quit while he’s ahead and—

“Brendan? Are you listening?”

“Huh?” Brendan shook his head, trying to get rid of those spiraling thoughts. He knew none of that would happen, but it was so easy to get lost in worst case scenarios. “Sorry, no. I, uh, didn’t catch what you said. Sorry, Mr. Juan.”

“Just Juan is fine, young man,” he said with the air of someone who had to say that frequently. “I said I was glad I managed to find you! Stella and Lisia were getting worried when you didn’t get back home after the Contest ended. I was still in the city, so Stella asked if I wouldn’t stop by the Contest Hall to check if you were still there.”

Guilt ate at Brendan. Lisia and her mom were nice people; of course they were worried about him not coming home on time. And here he was, trying to avoid them.

“Sorry,” he repeated, “I, uh, was a bit distracted.”

Mudkip let out a sharp chirp and Brendan nodded as if Mudkip was backing him up. He wasn’t, but Brendan could pretend.

“Understandable.”

Juan started walking, and Brendan found himself trudging after the taller man.

“That was your first loss, yes?” Brendan’s flinch was enough of an answer. Juan let out a short chuckle. “Ah, yes, the first is always the hardest. It’s quite impressive that you’ve made it this far without one! Lisia was quite right in saying you had a natural eye for choreographing routines.”

Brendan mumbled out something that sounded like thank you. He didn’t really feel like accepting compliments.

Mudkip squeaked, eyes narrowed.

Brendan cleared his throat. “Thank you,” he said, louder and clearer.

The next chirp was stupidly self-satisfied.

Juan let out a laugh. “Doesn’t let you get away with anything, hmm? That’s the kind of pokemon one needs in their life.”

He quieted then, hands in his coat pockets.

They were getting nearer to Lisia’s house. Pokemon chirps and barks replaced muffled music from clubs and laughter from people on bikes. Lilycove was a bustling city, always vying for the title of largest with Mauville, and even at night it was noisy. Lisia’s house was far enough away from the city center that Brendan was almost reminded of the muted quietness that held sway over Littleroot Town.

Fortree had been noisy. Not many expected that, but it was in the middle of the forest. Pokemon had the right of way there and could make as much noise as they wanted. There had been a Swellow nest right above his room and, while he was grateful that his Swellow had decided to join him when they left, he’d always had difficulty sleeping.

Being out on the road was similar. Even when they weren’t camping in the wilderness, Ivy snored far more loudly than you’d expect from a teenage girl. It’d been hard to sleep that first night, and not just because of his nerves.

Littleroot, from what he remembered of it, had had a strange quietness to it. Too urban for most Pokemon, but not urban enough for humans to be out late. Lisia’s house was the same; not quite settled in either world.

“It’s not a bad thing to lose,” Juan said, finally breaking the quiet that had settled over them. “Just don’t focus too much on it. Take those feelings of anger and pity and turn them into inspiration! Losing should only make your drive to succeed stronger!”

Mudkip chirped in agreement, but Brendan said nothing. Maybe in a bit he could think like that but for right now, well, he just wanted to brood, as Ivy would say.

“Ah, here we are. Now, don’t stay out too late again, yes? Or, at least, make sure you inform Lisia or Stella if you do. It’s uncouth of a gentleman to worry those dear to him.”

Despite his morose feelings, Brendan couldn’t help but snort at that. Yes, he could really see where Wallace had gotten those dramatic sentences from.

He didn’t see Juan’s slight smile as he bowed his head towards the older man. “I’ll try not to stay out late again. I’m sorry for troubling you.”

Juan waved a hand airily. “It was no trouble, young man. I was in the area. Now, I believe there are some kind ladies who would appreciate seeing you.”

“Right.”

“Goodnight then, Brendan!” Juan gave him a wink as he turned. “See you tomorrow morning. I have just the thing that will improve your mood.”

Right. The fitting for his costume. It had been meant to be a celebration of his win, but now it was more of a consolation prize.

“Of course. Goodnight.”

Juan walked off, whistling a cheery tune.

Brendan set Mudkip down and steeled himself. Time to face the music.

He opened the door and was almost immediately set upon by Lisia. If there’d been anything he’d learned about Lisia over the past few months, it was that she was incredibly touchy-feely and clingy.

Mudkip scampered inside, glad not to be squashed.

“BRENDAN! Ohhh, I was so worried! The Contest ended hours ago, and we were waiting up for you but you didn’t show, and I was going to go out myself but Mom said I shouldn’t, so we called Master Juan and he said he’d take care of it but he hadn’t called back so we—”

“Let Brendan breathe, Lisia.”

“Oh! Right.”

She let go of his neck, allowing him to take a deep breath.

Lisia turned pink. “Sorry…”

“’s no problem,” Brendan wheezed. The other main thing he’d learned about Lisia was that she didn’t seem to realize how strong she was. Brendan wouldn’t be surprised if she could pick him up and toss him like he weighed nothing.

“We are glad you got home safely,” Stella, Lisia’s mom, said, rolling forward in her wheelchair. Mudkip sat on her lap, already making himself at home.

Once more, guilt coursed through him. They’d been nothing but kind to him, and what had he done to show his gratitude? Fail and make them worry. Great going, Brendan.

“Right,” Brendan mumbled. “I’m going to sleep now.”

“Wait—”

Before Lisia could finish her sentence, he brushed past her and tore up the stairs.

It wasn’t nice, but he didn’t feel like talking.

-

Brendan couldn’t believe the person in the mirror was him.

As much as he liked Contests, he’d always been wary of the dressing up aspect. It just… wasn’t him. He’d never cared about fashion or beauty products or any of that stuff. Being covered in a layer of dirt was perfectly fine and only meant he’d finished a productive day doing fieldwork with his dad.

But now… he could see the appeal. There was just something he couldn’t describe in seeing himself dressed up in clothing he would never wear normally.

On the ground, Pikachu repeatedly squeaked in delight as she ran around the room. She circled him a few times, before visiting Lisia, then finally circling Juan, her squeaks reaching a fever pitch as she did.

Juan bowed, throwing out an arm so his coat billowed dramatically behind him.

“Thank you, madam, for the most gracious praise! I am heartened to hear that you enjoy your new attire.”

Brendan smiled slightly. It helped that he and Pikachu were matching. Her blue, white, and gold bonnet pushed her ears down, making them frame her face like hair. There was a large bow with some sort of blue and gold stone in the middle under her chin, with a matching one right above her tail. It kept a thin, ruffled skirt on her body even as she ran around the room in happiness.

Brendan’s suit was even fancier, considering he didn’t have the same movement constraints Pikachu did. He looked like he’d walked off the set of some film about old Kalosian royalty. The outfit was predominantly white—white pants, white boots, and a white tailcoat jacket. The boots and jacket had gold embroidery, but the real splash of color was his pastel blue waistcoat and matching hat. The hat looked slightly ridiculous in how wide its brim was, but with its coloring and white feather, it matched Pikachu’s more feminine bonnet almost perfectly.

“And do you, young Brendan, enjoy your outfit as much as Miss Pikachu here?”

“I-it’s amazing! I honestly don’t think I can accept this. It’s almost too amazing…”

“Nonsense!” Juan crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “It’s been years since I’ve designed any sort of costume, not since Wallace stopped competing. I should be thanking you for letting me stretch my artistic legs for the first time in so long.”

Brendan shook his head before Juan even finished. “No, no, I’m the only one who should be giving thanks here! I-I don’t even know what to say. Thank you doesn’t seem enough.”

“Aha! Thank me by accepting my hard work and showing it off in your next Contest!”

“I—” Brendan trailed off as Lisia started to giggle. He’d talked himself into a corner. Resigned and still so bewildered that someone had made something so fancy and… beautiful just for him, he bowed deeply at Juan. “Of course. Thank you very much for making this for me.”

“It was very much my pleasure. Now, let’s go, my dear Lisia. Brendan needs to change before we can go get lunch.”

“Of course, Master Juan!”

There was a sigh as Juan moved to shut the door behind them. “How many times must I tell both you and Wallace to drop the title…”

Brendan couldn’t stop smiling as he slowly undressed. He hadn’t actually expected for the fitting to cheer him up so much, but it was nice to be wrong. In that outfit, he almost looked like a proper coordinator.

He turned to look at Pikachu. “Now, you.”

She hissed at him.

In his regular, more sporty clothes, Brendan was much more suited for chasing a Pikachu. He got ready to lunge when his PokeNav went off. He glared at it, then Pikachu.

“You can wear it for five more minutes,” he announced, before picking up the PokeNav.

It was his dad.

Brendan bit his lip. His parents had called the night before, but he hadn’t been in the mindset to answer. They likely understood that and hadn’t called a second time. But now… well, he had no reason to avoid them.

(Not like Ivy pretended she did, a small part of him couldn’t help but bitterly comment. Brendan tried to ignore it. He had been so angry with her in that moment, but it’d been over a month since he’d last seen her and he was beginning to miss one of the few people he had ever called a friend.)

“Hello…”

“Brendan! I don’t know what those judges were thinking! You had by far the best performance that night.”

A smile tugged at Brendan’s lips. His dad didn’t understand Contests at all, but he was supportive. Maybe too supportive.

“No, they… they were probably right. Pikachu and I need to practice Powder Snow more. It’s one of the simpler Ice type moves, but it still takes her too long to charge and exhausts her too much. And I think I was too nervous doing Rain Dance with her. It was a mess.”

“Not a mess at all. But, speaking of Pikachu, that’s one of the reasons I wanted to call you! I heard back from that Alolan professor, the one who specializes in researching moves. He had no problem giving me a whole slew of PDFs of his papers, including some older ones that were only ever published in Alola. Those are in Alolan, but online translators have gotten pretty good! I’m sure you can figure them out. And if you can’t, he agreed to let me give you his e-mail. Said you can message him any time if you have questions.”

“Really?” Brendan practically squeaked like Pikachu in his excitement. “Did you send them over?”

Pikachu was something of an oddity.

All the way back in Slateport after he had properly caught her, he had opened his Pokedex to see what moves she knew. And he had been flabbergasted at what was written. Meteor Mash was the least weird move. Icicle Crash, Flying Press, Confuse Ray… she knew too many moves that Pikachu simply could not learn naturally or even through TM. Brendan had never been too interested in the how’s and why’s that allowed Pokemon to use moves, but he had torn into every article and book he could find.

There was a lot he already knew: Pokemon all inherently were able to use a kind of energy called Infinity Energy. In its purest form, it was what allowed a Pokemon to evolve. But it could also be transformed by the Pokemon into Type Energy. The pokemon would then use this energy to do whatever move it had drawn on the energy for. That was the sort of stuff he’d learned back in school or from just being around his dad.

Type Energy, and how pokemon harnessed it, was a far more difficult topic to grasp. Pokemon usually had one or two types that they could easily and quickly harness. This usually matched up to what types they were. They also usually had two or three more types beyond that they could control, albeit with slightly more difficulty. Most of these usually made sense—many Ghost types also knew a lot of Dark type moves, while a lot of Bug types also knew Flying type moves. While Brendan couldn’t find a why exactly, the tentatively accepted conclusion seemed to be these paired typings just had similar energies that were familiar to the pokemon.

Furthermore, Type Energy use varied even within the same species depending on where they lived. For example, with so few Dragon types and so many Poison types in the region, the Clefairy of Kanto had a lesser connection to Fairy Type Energy than Clefairy from other regions. That, alongside their general rarity, was what had led them to being misclassified as Normal types for centuries. Wild Kantonian Clefairy still knew and used Fairy type moves, but they were weaker than wild Clefairy from other regions. It usually took a trainer to help them catch up.

Humans were another important factor in this field of study. Generally, only pokemon with trainers could be taught how to tap into energies they weren’t attuned to. Even then, many pokemon couldn’t learn moves that strayed too far from their usual typings. A pure Fire type would struggle to learn Ice type moves, for example. Even with the use of a TM, the Fire type would likely never be able to do it.

And the deeper he looked, there were even more complications—he could barely wrap his head around how Sketch or Metronome worked. No one could, from what he could tell. How a Pokemon could harness techniques it had never heard of before drove researchers crazy.

So, for Pikachu to know a move from nearly every type out there? It was simply astounding.

His dad had been just as shocked and intrigued. He’d quickly agreed to contact all the professors he knew who specialized in moves to see if they had any idea of why or how Pikachu could do what she did. It was slow going, but that just gave Brendan time to thoroughly read every PDF sent his way.

“E-mail’s still sending, there were a lot of PDFs, but it should be with you by the end of the day.”

“That’s amazing! Thank you so much, Dad!”

There was a chuckle on the other side of the line. “No problem at all. I’m interested to read them myself. How moves work is more Norman’s thing, but I can’t say I’m uninterested.”

Someone knocked on the door.

“Brendan? Are you ready to go?”

He covered his PokeNav with one hand. “Yeah, give me a second!” Bringing it back to his ear, he glared at Pikachu who was admiring herself in the mirror. “I’ve got to go but thank you for the e-mail! I can’t wait to read everything.”

“No problem, kiddo.” There was a small pause. “And don’t beat yourself up too badly over last night, okay? You did fantastic and you’ll only get better.”

Brendan just knew he had to be flushing at the compliment. “Alrightcallyoulaterbye.”

He hung up before his dad could be even more corny. The second he set down his PokeNav, he lunged for Pikachu, hoping to catch her unaware. They really couldn’t afford for her outfit to get dirty.

-

After being forcibly taken out of her pretty clothes, Pikachu returned herself to her Repeat Ball and refused to come back out. That was fine, in Brendan’s opinion; Mudkip was much better behaved in public than her.

Lisia, in her usual way, dominated the conversation.

“—really, it was so nice! And it goes so well with your routine too! I just know you and Pikachu will get it down and wow the judges so much they’ll give you perfect tens!”

“Well, maybe not tens…”

“Nonsense! Your routine is ab-so-lutely beautiful! Stunning! Dazzling and dizzying!”

Ali cooed.

“See?”

Dazzling and dizzying was the highest compliment Lisia gave, so Brendan stayed quiet. It was better not to argue with her. She had a similar power to Ivy where she just magically won every argument she got into by refusing to listen to logic.

Mudkip stood up in his lap just as a shadow fell over him. Brendan craned his head back only to see the absolute last person he ever wanted to see while relaxing.

With a smug grin and perfectly tailored suit, was Chaz. Next to him, his Machoke flexed, looking just as smug.

Chaz was… a character. While Brendan didn’t watch TV a lot, he knew there were a ton of sitcom-type shows where the main character would spend an episode trying to become a coordinator, only to be met by a jerk who insulted them and tried to ruin their chances of winning with outlandish schemes. It was one of the most generic episode plots out there, enough so that Brendan had honestly thought there couldn’t truly be that kind of person in the Contest circuit. It was just too laughably TV-like.

Then he met Chaz.

Chaz was very self-absorbed. He thought he was the best coordinator to ever live, despite the fact that he’d never made it past the Ultra rank. He thought his Machoke could only ever succeed in the Beauty or Cute categories. Which was fine, except he never tailored her routines to the category. He just had her flex while wearing a tutu and assumed that would be enough. Whenever he lost (which was often), he always insulted the other participants and the judges, instead of changing his routine up. The only thing that kept him from being a one-dimensional, kids TV villain of the day was the fact that he actually seemed to care quite a bit for his Machoke.

“Oh, Chaz. Hi!” Lisia materialized a carefully polite smile. That, more than anything, was telling about Chaz’s character. Even the almost comically sweet-natured Lisia could barely stand him. “Did you need something?”

He winked at her, and Brendan and Mudkip simultaneously rolled their eyes.

“I was just walking by and happened to see you! Thought it wouldn’t hurt to say hi.”

“Well, hi!” She smiled blandly at him, saying nothing more.

Chaz didn’t seem to get the obvious refusal for conversation. He grabbed the fourth chair at the table and sat himself in it. Juan raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

“Macherie and I were wondering if you happened to catch the Contest last night. We thought we did pretty well, but those judges never seem to get true beauty.”

“I did. Brendan here also performed.”

Chaz seemed to finally realize there were people besides Lisia at the table. He squinted at Brendan as if trying to figure out who he was, despite the fact that Chaz was the one who introduced himself to Brendan. With Chaz, it wasn’t improbable. Given his Contest choreography, he didn’t seem to be very smart.

“Ah, right. With the Pikachu. Didn’t do too well.”

Brendan bit his lip. It hurt, but Chaz was technically right. He hadn’t done well.

That finally cracked Lisia’s carefully neutral expression. “Brendan did very well! He came fifth out of twenty. Where did you place?”

Chaz crossed his arms. They all knew he placed below Brendan. “…you know, I was talking to some other coordinator’s the other day. We were all wondering why you’ve been spending so much time on a nobody like him. We were wondering if there might be something more…”

Lisia’s cheeks reddened. If Brendan didn’t know better, he would’ve thought she was getting angry. Before she could say anything, Juan’s smooth voice cut in.

“Now, Chaz, was it? Chaz, gossiping and rumormongering like that is beneath such a gentleman like yourself. Or, I can only assume you are a gentleman; so far, what I’ve heard does not do much to convince me.”

Like he had with Brendan, Chaz squinted at Juan. When it finally seemed to click who he was (former gym leader, former top coordinator, current occasional Contest judge), he blanched. He abruptly stood up, Machoke clumsily stepping backwards to avoid his chair.

He pointedly turned so he was only looking at Lisia. “Sorry, didn’t realize you had company. I’ll see you next week? Macherie and I will be competing again.”

Lisia gave another bland smile. “Maybe.”

Seemingly convinced that was a yes, Chaz strode off, whistling, Machoke skipping behind him.

“What an ass,” Juan plainly said when Chaz was out of hearing.

Lisia gasped. “Master Juan! You shouldn’t say such things!”

“It’s the truth,” Brendan muttered.

“Brendan!”

Juan shook his head. “While I will always cherish the years I was a coordinator, I can’t say I miss dealing with people like that.”

“You guys,” Lisia admonished, but there was a smile on her face. “Chaz is… well, his heart is in the right place! He just… needs some time to realize it.”

Juan snorted. “He needs to learn to not trash talk his opponents right in front of them. Or right in front of a judge.”

“I’m sure he’ll learn it someday!”

Brendan was doubtful, but if there was anyone who could make it happen, it was Lisia.

Chapter Text

Brendan separated from Juan and Lisia after lunch. Juan had a few adjustments to make on his costume, while Lisia left to practice for the upcoming Contest Spectaculars. There was a month until the season started, but Lisia planned to debut a new Pokémon she’d recently received, and he still needed a lot more training.

That left Brendan to wander down one of Lilycove’s beaches, kicking rocks across the sand while Mudkip frolicked in the surf. Luckily, this was one of Lilycove’s lesser populated beaches. This far north, the sand gave way to rocks that would eventually turn into cliffs. It wasn’t what tourists wanted, so the beach was empty save for Brendan and Mudkip.

The fitting had honestly done more than he thought it would to make him forget about his abysmal loss, but seeing Chaz ruined it all. Logically, Brendan knew he was better than Chaz. He knew he was good at Contests. But somehow, no matter how many people said it or how well he did, he just couldn’t seem to internalize it. The second he lost, or someone implied he wasn’t that good, he couldn’t help but agree.

It had been like that with battling too. Both his dad and Ivy had always been so complimentary of him as a battler. But he just couldn’t see it.

There was just something wrong with him, he had to conclude. He was always the one arguing with his family and friends, so obviously he had to be the problem.

“Is that a Mudkip!?”

An excited squeal broke Brendan out of his brooding reverie. Turning to look at whoever spoke, Brendan flushed bright red.

Mudkip was currently being picked up and cuddled by a very tall, very beautiful woman in a bikini top. Brendan almost wanted to turn away because otherwise he’d just stare, but Mudkip looked like he needed a rescue.

“Ah, um, uh,” was all he managed to get out. He at least got the woman’s attention. He wasn’t quite sure whether that was a good thing or not.

“Is this cutie pie yours?” she asked with a grin. Focus on that, Brendan.

“Uh, yes?” Jerkily, he held out his arms. Squeaking the entire time, Mudkip managed to extract himself and jump over to Brendan. He chittered angrily as he settled into Brendan’s arms, glaring at the woman.

“Aw, does it not like being picked up? Sorry, buddy.” She laughed and put her hands on her hips, swinging her bag so it was behind her. Brendan tried not to look at anything else that was swinging. “I just love Mudkip! Mine’s a big ol’ Swampert now and I love him, but I do miss when he was a tiny little thing like this guy.”

“Uh-huh,” was Brendan’s incredibly intelligent reply.

From her smirk, the woman seemed to understand she was flustering Brendan. “Well, I’ll be out of your hair, then.” She blew a kiss to Mudkip and Brendan’s heart definitely did not stop, nope. “Hopefully I’ll see you around, cutie!”

With that, she set off on a jog along the shoreline.

Brendan plopped onto the sand, Mudkip tumbling off his lap with a squeak. He buried his face in his hands, uncaring of Mudkip’s grumpy chirrups.

Eugh. That was like being around Ivy, but ten times worse.

Maybe it was a good thing they weren’t talking anymore. If they were and then were still friends in a few years, Brendan wasn’t sure he could take it.

-

Once he came back to himself, Brendan released Swellow and Grovyle to have fun as well. He’d release Pikachu, but frankly, he didn’t quite trust her by water yet. He wouldn’t put it past her to take an innocent comment badly and try to electrocute everyone in the area.

He laid down, uncaring of the sand getting into his clothing. He’ll probably hate it on the walk back to Lisia’s, but that was a problem for future Brendan.

Something settled beside him, and Brendan opened an eye to see Grovyle. He resisted smiling. After realizing he did cool so well, Grovyle had taken to trying to be cool all the time. Most people probably thought it was cool, with all his arm crossing and loitering at the edges of a group, but Brendan thought it was cute. He remembered when Grovyle was a small, clingy Treecko, at the very least.

“Don’t wanna play with the others, huh?”

Grovyle scoffed and looked away. He obviously did but didn’t want to admit it.

Brendan sat up. He had come here to get out his brooding in time for the next Contest, but playing with his Pokémon sounded a lot more fun. Maybe this was what he needed instead.

“Hmm, well, I kind of want to. How about—”

For the second time that day, a shadow fell over him. Brendan looked up, but this time it wasn’t Chaz.

His jaw dropped.

No, it certainly wasn’t Chaz.

It was a Latios.

Grovyle jumped to his feet, chattering in alarm. Down by the surf, Mudkip and Swellow stopped their playing to gape at the sudden appearance of the Legendary Pokémon.

A Legendary Pokémon. In front of Brendan. What the hell!?

“Uh?” Brendan managed to eke out, completely unable to think of anything else to say.

Latios said nothing. The Legendary was large and sleek, with red eyes that stared down dispassionately at Brendan. He floated down so he wasn’t hovering right over Brendan, but instead in front of him.

Grovyle darted forward, letting out a series of harsh chirps and clicks. Latios let out an answering rumble that almost sounded like an engine starting.

With a squawk, Swellow flew over, landing on Brendan’s shoulder. She was a bit too big for that now, but he was too soft to tell her to stop.

The three of them began to converse in a series of chirps, squeaks, and squeals. Brendan could only watch numbly.

His Pokémon were talking to a Legendary. What the hell!?

Brendan couldn’t quite keep up with the conversation, but he could easily tell when it stopped being arguments over Latios’ sudden appearance and stoic demeanor, and turned into something more serious.

He cleared his throat. “Wh-what’s going on?”

Latios eyed him.

There’s—

Brendan groaned and clutched his head. He’d been around a lot of Pokémon in his life, but not many Psychic type ones. He’d never had any try to speak to him before.

It was even more painful than he’d been told.

Grovyle growled while Swellow fluttered her wings, floating from his shoulder to the ground.

Latios backed away, ear fins pressed against his head, the first sign of emotion in this conversation. He bowed slightly, an obvious apology.

“It-it’s fine.” It hurt to raise his head back up, but he did. He looked at Grovyle this time. “What’s going on?”

Grovyle crossed his arms, clearly thinking about how to explain what was going on.

Latios let out another rumble, asking Grovyle a question. Swellow chirped in response, eyes narrowed. Another brief conversation followed, and it seemed like whatever Latios asked, the other two allowed.

By this point, Mudkip had made it over to them, the slowest of Brendan’s three Pokémon with his stubby legs. Brendan picked him up and held him tight.

Latios took a deep breath, and they were suddenly no longer on a beach. Instead, they were in a large cave. It was rather pretty, with small waterfalls cascading down dark rocks.

Brendan jerked backwards, his hands digging into sand as he did.

He looked down. He couldn’t see any sand, just more rock darkened from the nearby water.

An illusion. Brendan couldn’t have said he’d done a ton of research on Legendary Pokémon before, but every kid had a Legendary phase. Latios and Latias were said to be some of the most powerful psychics on the planet. With an illusion as real looking as this, Brendan could easily believe it.

It was one of the oddest things to happen to Brendan. His eyes clearly wanted him to believe he was in a cave sitting on damp rock. Yet, if he tried hard enough, he could feel the sand sticking to his hands and legs, and even feel the salty wind blowing against his bare skin. His brain almost couldn’t handle the disconnect between his two senses.

Grovyle let out a short bark and pointed to something behind Brendan. Slowly, he turned around, worry growing in his mind.

At the end of the cave was a giant, seemingly homemade, blue banner depicting the stylized A that Team Aqua used as their symbol.

“Ah,” Brendan said grimly as the illusion faded. “Not good.”

-

Brendan wasn’t sure how he’d gotten himself into this. His first thought at being told he was apparently near the Team Aqua hideout the police and the Pokémon League had spent months now looking for was sheer panic. His second thought was to call someone more qualified than him to deal with something as big as this.

Unfortunately, Latios didn’t agree.

He had snorted and flown in fast circles around Brendan and his Pokémon until Brendan agreed to follow him right that moment.

Still, Brendan managed to send a text to Juan. It was probably completely incoherent with him rambling about Team Aqua and Latios and the beach, but at least someone knew where he was going. And Juan was a former gym leader! Why Latios didn’t want to wait, he didn’t know. Brendan probably wouldn’t be able to do much anyways, he was kind of pathetic when it came to battling—

Latios whirled around, making that deep rumbling in his chest. A vague sensation entered his mind, causing him to wince. It wasn’t an emotion or a word but, somehow, Brendan got the meaning of it.

“Are you… telling me to stop being so hard on myself?”

Latios snorted and went back to gliding over the beach.

A self confidence pep talk from a Legendary Pokémon. How was that something that just happened?

They continued up the beach for nearly ten minutes, Latios leading and Brendan following with his Pokémon. Befitting the small waterfalls in the illusion, after a few minutes, Brendan could tell they were heading for the northernmost part of the beach where the sand gave way to small cliffs. He wouldn’t be surprised to find out that one of them hosted some sort of cave.

Latios paused as they neared. Brendan whipped his head around trying to see if there were people, but the beach still seemed empty.

With a rumble, Latios closed his eyes and created another illusion. This one was different from the previous one; instead of encompassing the entire area it was just an image of Brendan. It was really, really weird and unsettling to watch himself return all his Pokémon before climbing onto Latios’ back.

Brendan glanced nervously at Grovyle and Swellow. He didn’t really want to return them, but if Latios thought it was best…

Grovyle gave a small nod. Nerves eating at him, Brendan returned his Pokémon and carefully climbed onto Latios’ back.

He was riding a Legendary Pokémon. How was this real?

There was a small pause and Brendan had the briefest moment to register that Latios had somehow made the two of them invisible (he could do that? Brendan would have to write that down later for his dad!) before bursting into flight. Brendan yelped and clutched Latios’ neck for dear life. He’d flown on Pokémon before, but none had the speed Latios did.

Before he could adjust to Latios flying straight across, the eon Pokémon dove down into the water.

Brendan let out a shriek, only realizing a second too late that was probably a bad idea. He braced himself for choking on a mouthful of sea water, but nothing happened. Opening his eyes (when had he closed them?), he noticed a thin shimmer around both him and Latios. The Legendary was somehow using his psychic powers to let the both of them breath oxygen while underwater. If Brendan weren’t kind of terrified, he’d be asking Latios a million questions.

They weren’t underwater long; Latios was a fast swimmer as well. Within a minute, they resurfaced in the cave he had created the first illusion of.

As Brendan unsteadily slid off Latios, he couldn’t help but notice they were, one, still invisible, and two, completely dry. Well, both of those things made sneaking in much easier. He still wasn’t quite sure why Latios was so insistent they search it now, but at least they didn’t have to do it while soaking wet.

Following Latios deeper into the cave system, he texted Juan a second time. The older man had replied to Brendan’s first message, but Brendan didn’t have time to read it. He just sent his current location before putting his PokéNav away.

Someday, he really needed to thank Mr. Stone for creating a device that genuinely could get service just about anywhere.

-

It didn’t take long for them to run into someone. Or, rather, several someone’s. The caves weren’t fully furnished, but it seemed that Team Aqua had been using the base long enough for them to drag in enough furniture for it to almost be homey. This area seemed to be a kitchen, and four grunts laughed at a table, playing some card game.

Brendan glanced at Latios, but he didn’t seem to care about the grunts. Holding his breath and being as silent as he had back in the Whismur cave, Brendan tiptoed past the group.

Man, that was only a small group and Brendan already felt like his heart was going to explode from anxiety.

Fortunately, there actually weren’t that many more people in the cave, from what Brendan could tell. They passed a room with a couple of cots, including a person sleeping in one, but it seemed like the cave was more of a hangout spot than a living area.

Whether Latios knew where he was going, Brendan wasn’t sure. He didn’t seem to know where he wanted to go, but it seemed like he knew what he wanted to find. Every so often he stopped, eyes closed and ear fins pricked back, as if trying to recalibrate whatever was guiding him. He always seemed more decisive after those moments, but they never seemed any closer to finding whatever it was Latios wanted.

Brendan desperately wished to check his PokéNav again, to see if Juan was on the way, but he couldn’t. Latios’s pauses didn’t even give him enough time to check.

Latios abruptly stopped, Brendan running into the Legendary with a thump. Brendan opened his mouth to ask what that was about, shock overriding his nerves, but he suddenly understood.

Up ahead, there were two people arguing.

Latios was eerily still, and Brendan knew that whatever, or whoever, he was looking for had to be up ahead. Steeling himself, he edged forward, trying to get into a better position to see and hear what was going on.

Hearing, at least, was easy. The two people weren’t trying to hide their conversation.

“…I’m telling you, Archie, this won’t end well! You can see the data—”

“And I’m tellin’ you, Shelly, it’s not the same! We’ll have the Blue Orb; it’ll be clear sailing with it.”

Brendan balled his hands into fists. Even without being able to see the people, he knew enough. Archie, that was the name of Team Aqua’s boss. And Shelly, the woman speaking, she had the same voice as the woman he had met earlier on the beach. Just his luck to run into some Team Aqua high up, it seemed like.

He hadn’t been on Mt Chimney with Ivy when she’d gone to confront Team Magma, but he did vaguely remember her explanation the next day involving them looking for orbs to summon some Pokémon.

“You can’t know that!” Shelly yelled. There was a thud, as if she’d slammed her hands on a table. “This sort of thing, it’s never been done before. There’s just legends and speculation, not facts—”

“Who needs facts? Ye can’t science everything, Shelly! Sometimes you just need faith!”

Latios let out that deep rumble and Brendan paled.

The duo in the cave were silent.

“Did you hear something?”

“Sounded like… an engine? I swear, if one of the grunts somehow got a car in here—”

“I’ll reward ‘em! If they’re that creative…”

There was the sound of a chair being pushed over ground and Brendan stumbled backwards. He and Latios were still invisible, everything would be fine. Archie and Shelly would walk right past them.

Latios dropped their invisibility and zoomed into the cave Archie and Shelly were in.

“Oh, come on,” Brendan muttered, since their cover was blown anyways. He released Grovyle and Mudkip and followed Latios in.

The two Aqua members were on the ground. Latios hovered above them menacingly. Brendan’s first thought was that Latios had used a move on them. But, no—it seemed they’d been brought to their knees by telepathy. Latios was waving his arms around in a way that was only done by someone in the middle of a rant.

Shelly let out a groan and curled further inwards on herself.

Brendan bit his lip. They were bad guys, but…

“Latios, stop it! You’re hurting them!”

Latios whirled around, glaring at him. Brendan took a step back, cowed.

Something in Latios’s eyes softened. He didn’t apologize, either for scaring Brendan or hurting the Team Aqua guys, but he stopped glaring. With a harrumph, he floated past Brendan and back into the wider cave system.

Brendan could only gape. “That-that was it? You were so insistent on coming here just so you could yell at them? Seriously?”

Latios let out another harrumph, his back to Brendan.

Brendan’s blood started to boil. Legendary or not, Latios didn’t get to be a controlling jerk and then act like he did nothing wrong!

“You-you can’t treat people like that! You can’t just threaten me to go with you, for whatever stupid reason you needed me for, and then act like it was nothing! You can’t hurt them with your telepathy and then act like it was okay! That-that’s terrible! You can’t just decide what everyone around you does and what’s right and what’s wrong. Not everything is about you, and you aren’t always right. No one is! Just because you’re a Legendary Pokémon doesn’t mean you’re the exception. It just means you’re a self-centered jerk!”

Latios stared at him with wide eyes, his ear fins pressed against his head in surprise. During Brendan’s speech, he had floated downwards until he was almost touching the ground. After a long, silent moment, he looked down.

Brendan didn’t need to be told what he was feeling. Somehow, he got the feeling this wasn’t the first time Latios had been given some form of that lecture.

“Wha—haa—what a speech,” someone weakly wheezed out behind him.

Brendan whirled around. He’d almost forgotten about Archie and Shelly. The two of them stood unsteadily on their feet, leaning against each other for support.

Grovyle jumped in front of Brendan, wrist leaves glowing.

“Ah, nah, boyo. I ain’t got the energy to battle now. Just wanna get somethin’ for this killer migraine. Your pal sure knows how to mess someone up.”

“He’s not—” Brendan glanced over his shoulder and cut off.

Latios was gone.

“Latios?”

No reply, not even mentally.

Latios had ditched him.

Brendan stomped a foot on the ground, uncaring of how childish that was. “He’s absolutely not my friend! He’s a complete jerk who just ditched me!”

“Ugh, teenage drama,” Shelly muttered.

Brendan flushed, ready to retort when a gentle pressure touched his mind. It didn’t hurt, but Brendan brought his hands to his temples out of reflex. The pressure poked his brain again. It wasn’t a word or feeling, but he somehow knew it was asking for acceptance. Gritting his teeth, Brendan nodded.

Suddenly, Brendan wasn’t in the cave with Team Aqua, but back on the beach. It wasn’t an illusion. No, he seemed to be seeing things from Latios’ point of view. It was disconcerting; it took Brendan a second to register what was even going on. The colors were different, brighter, and he could see more details through Latios’ eyes than his own. Being able to see nearly every individual grain of sand baffled his brain, almost distracting him from what Latios was trying to show him.

But he did eventually, and he let out a mental sigh of relief at what he saw. Even in his rattled state, and Latios’ altered way of seeing color, he recognized both Juan’s blue coat and the orange and black uniform of the Ranger Corps.

As suddenly as it started, he was back in own body. Dimly, he realized he was on the ground and that his head was killing him.

“Scamp? You good?”

“…”

“Ah, hell, what do you mean there’s—”

That was the last thing Brendan heard before he passed out.

-

Brendan watched from the beach as a second squad of Rangers led by Gym Leader Winona dove to enter Team Aqua’s hideout. He’d been told someone from the Pokémon League would arrive to talk to him, but he hadn’t been given a time when. So, for now, he was sitting on the beach, watching the controlled chaos.

The four grunts playing cards had been arrested as well as the one who’d been asleep. All five were guarded by a recently arrived police officer over by the cave entrance. From what Juan said, it seemed like only Archie and Shelly managed to get away.

His head was still killing him. One of the Rangers had given him some medication to help with headaches, but it had barely done anything to soothe his. Juan had wanted to take him to a hospital once he was awake (he needed to be since diving was required to get out), but Brendan had refused. He could handle a headache. Juan had pursed his lips, but acquiesced.

So, here he was. Soaking wet, covered in sand, with the mother of all migraines. Fun.

Behind him, he heard a familiar rumble. He couldn’t see Latios, but he felt sand shift as something settled beside him. It seemed Latios didn’t want to be seen.

“You,” Brendan grumbled, not quite ready to talk to the eon Pokémon. He was still kind of mad.

Latios let out a sad coo. At least this time he seemed sorry.

“What do you want?”

A pause, then, at his belt a Poké Ball wiggled.

Brendan stared, uncomprehendingly.

“You… want to be caught.” What.

Latios sighed and the world around them changed.

Brendan gaped, but some distant part of him couldn’t help but wonder why telepathy caused such harm but these illusions didn’t. Was it the difference between having thoughts forced directly into your brain rather than your senses? But sight was processed by the brain as well, so shouldn’t he be feeling some amount of pain? There had to be thousands of papers and books out there on the topic, but Brendan had never been particularly interested in Psychic type Pokémon, so he didn’t know the answer.

Latios squawked in irritation, knowing that Brendan wasn’t paying attention. Brendan mentally slapped himself and focused. He could talk to his dad later about Psychic types.

The illusion around him was a memory, if Brendan had to guess. Latios was talking to some strange, metallic Pokémon on a beach behind a cabin. Latios was looking for a Latias but couldn’t find her. The other Pokémon gave a speech rather similar to the one Brendan had given earlier.

The vision seemed to rewind, going back to an earlier part, a specific line.

You do not understand the bonds between Pokémon and humans. That is understandable; you have never been around them.

Around them, the illusion faded.

Brendan glanced over at where even more Rangers and police now were. None of them seemed to have noticed that. Fascinating.

“Let me get this straight,” Brendan said slowly, his head not wanting to think this hard. “You… you’re paired with a Latias. She went and got caught by a human by choice. You… don’t get that, but want to understand why.

“Why don’t you just go ask Latias’s trainer, then?”

Latios whined. There was no illusion to explain what happened, but the deep sadness behind the noise was enough.

“That Pokémon was right, then. You went to drag Latias back and now she wants nothing to do with you.”

Latios’s silence was a sufficient answer.

Brendan groped for his bag. He couldn’t believe he was doing this. This whole day had been some wild adventure he would’ve preferred not to happen, but this was the icing on the cake.

He always had a good number of Poké Balls on him. Not just regular Poké Balls, but Great Balls and Ultra Balls and Repeat Balls too. Catching and releasing Pokémon was important to help create more data for the Pokédex to analyze.

…It felt weird to catch a Legendary Pokémon in a regular Poké Ball. His hand hovered over the Ultra Ball section before moving to his selection of Great Balls. It might be a silly reason to pick that one, but Lisia had told him that matching your Poké Ball to your Pokémon increased your score with Contest judges. He had Pikachu in a Repeat Ball, while Lisia had bothered him a few times about importing a Friend Ball from Johto for Grovyle. He had no intention of ever using Latios in a Contest (just imagining how the public would react made him shudder), but…

Before he could overthink, he grabbed the Great Ball and tapped it onto the invisible Pokémon beside him. He couldn’t see Latios being sucked in, but the Great Ball clicked shut.

Brendan just captured a Legendary Pokémon. What the fuck. His dad was going to freak out.

Chapter Text

Ivy was never walking anywhere ever again. Latias flew from Fortree to Mossdeep in under an hour. And Ivy got the feeling that that was Latias going slow and taking her time! It was incredible!

“So, whose house is this?”

Latias, it seemed, had been to Mossdeep before, but only to some beachside cabin on the outskirts of the island city. It was a nice place to land since it was relatively secluded, but why had Latias been here?

She let out a happy rumble before gesturing at a window. Ivy peered inside. It didn’t take long to register that the bookcases were filled with rocks and gems instead of books.

Ivy flushed bright red. “Is this Steven’s house?”

Latias cooed and did a loop-de-loop in the air.

Ivy turned away. This was far too personal and enticing! No, she had to get out of here as soon as possible.

“We need to get to the gym!” she managed to squeak out as she returned Latias and marched onwards towards the city proper.

-

Mossdeep wasn’t the largest city she’d ever been to, but it was a bustling one, nonetheless. She’d heard a lot about it though from one of her dad’s friends. Astra was the former Mossdeep City Gym Leader and she’d been one of the few gym leaders Norman had genuinely befriended back when they’d first moved to Hoenn. Ivy hadn’t seen her in a while, but all the memories she had of Astra were good ones. She remembered the woman being a bit kooky, but in a fun way. She seemed like the kind of person who would leave her gym to be run by her twin children who were still in elementary school.

From what Ivy could remember, Astra still technically ran the gym and did all its administration stuff, but her kids, Tate and Liza, did all the battling. There’d been a whole thing about it in the news when it was first announced since eight was two years under the legal trainer age, but Norman had mentioned that Astra received special permission on account of the twins being absurdly strong psychics. Something about battling helping keep their powers in check. Ivy didn’t really recall; she hadn’t been interested at the time in talking about current events.

It wasn’t long until she was standing on a battle pitch, standing opposite two nine year olds.

“I’m Tate and—”

“—I’m Liza! This is a double battle, so—”

“—you can use any Pokémon you have on hand, but—”

“—we’ll only be using four total.”

“Switching isn’t allowed—”

“—and neither is trainer-based healing!”

“Wow!” Ivy said, impressed. “You guys have got that down!”

The pair of twins beamed at her. “Thanks!” they said in unison.

“It’s easy because we can read each other’s mind—”

“—but sometimes Tate is too slow when he replies!”

“Hey!”

Liza blew a Razz Berry at her brother while he pouted. On the side of the field, the referee cleared his throat.

“Oh, right!”

“Let’s get this battle started!”

At the blow of a whistle, four Pokémon appeared on the field.

Ivy was only slightly nervous. She’d never done an official double battle before (or did this count as a multi battle?) but she knew several theories and strategies. Double battles were her dad’s forte, and Ivy had learned a few things from listening to him explain his work.

Mightyena let out a Howl as she appeared, while Seadra trilled. On the other side of the field, Xatu and Claydol were eerily silent.

“Light Screen!”

“Calm Mind!”

“Mightyena, Crunch! Seadra, Smokescreen!”

The four Pokémon burst into action.

Immediately, one side of the field was enveloped in a shining light while the other was covered in an inky darkness. Mightyena disappeared from view as she darted forward, using Seadra’s Smokescreen as cover.

Tate frowned. “Sunny Day.”

The Xatu, previously floating with its eyes closed, spread out its wings, a ball of red energy appearing between them as it did. The red ball had only just left to fly into the high ceiling of the gym before Mightyena jumped up, Crunch at the ready. Xatu crowed as it was brought down to earth.

On her side of the field, Seadra trilled, unused to not fighting the battle when on the field.

“Uh, right! Seadra, Twister!”

Relieved to have some direction, Seadra squeaked in confirmation. Using the inky darkness around her as a base, high winds buffeted all of the Pokémon on the field. Mightyena, still on the other side, let go of Xatu to scamper out of the way. The Xatu floated upright, but it looked worse for wear.

Tate and Liza exchanged a look.

“Rapid Spin!”

“Ominous Wind!”

Claydol surged forward, right into the Twister. Despite the fact it had to be taking damage from the draconic energies swirling alongside the winds, it quickly spun in the opposite direction. Ivy couldn’t help but gape a little as, despite Seadra’s best abilities to keep her tornado stable, Claydol’s Rapid Spin dispersed her winds.

As they died down, Xatu let out a gust of its own. A rolling darkness spread from the mystic Pokémon’s wings, engulfing the field. Mightyena didn’t seem too affected, but Seadra whimpered and what little of Twister remained completely dispersed.

“Now, Earthquake!”

Claydol (Ivy could now see with the Ominous Wind dissolved) had used Protect on itself. It floated down to the ground, hitting it with a thud that sent ripples outward. Neither Mightyena nor Seadra had time to dodge. Xatu, up in the air, simply floated with its eyes closed.

No, Ivy realized as she thought back to the beginning of the battle. It was using Calm Mind.

Ivy was beginning to get the inkling that she wasn’t the one in control of this battle.

Was Light Screen still up? Sunny Day definitely was. Even with the referee’s own Xatu creating a barrier she could still feel the heat radiating out. The only other move Seadra had that wasn’t affected by Sunny Day was Dragon Breath, a move she hadn’t fully mastered yet.

Still, it was better than nothing.

“Mightyena, get the Xatu! Crunch into Thunder Fang! Seadra, Dragon Breath!”

Immediately, Mightyena darted forward. Seadra took a deep breath, still not great at doing the new move quickly.

Two voices called out as one: “Dazzling Gleam!”

The field lit up, bright enough that Ivy had to cover her eyes and look away. When she was able to look again, her heart dropped. Seadra had fainted. Mightyena was still standing out in the middle of the field, but her legs shook.

Trying not to gape, Ivy returned Seadra. “You did great,” she whispered as she considered who to pick next. Blaziken would get a power up under Sunny Day, but was at a severe type disadvantage otherwise. Neither Trapinch nor Latias would be able to do much, not with their limited move pools. A pit growing in her stomach, Ivy released Blaziken. Better to make use of Sunny Day while it was still out.

“Mightyena, switch to Claydol! Blaziken, Blaze Kick on Xatu!”

Mightyena, already closer to Claydol quickly jumped forward, mouth glimmering with Dark Type Energy. Blaziken was equally quick, instantaneously conjuring flames and dashing forward.

“Rapid Spin!”

“Psychic!”

Mightyena, already leaping, was knocked away by the winds generated from Claydol’s spinning. Blaziken, in the middle of his charge, was suddenly lifted up into the air before harshly being flung back to Ivy’s side of the field.

Despite herself, Ivy eyed the move. Latias still had trouble using any Psychic type moves. Xatu, however, seemed perfectly at ease with the strong move.

“Earthquake!”

Once more, Claydol slammed into the ground. With a yelp, Mightyena collapsed. Blaziken barely had time to get to his feet before he was flung around a second time. Trying her absolute best not to curse in front of two little kids, Ivy recalled Mightyena. She had been Ivy’s best bet in this gym and was now out. Ivy was down two Pokémon and, while the two currently out were starting to look exhausted, Tate and Liza still had all of theirs.

“You did great. We can still turn this around,” Ivy said, less to Mightyena’s Poké Ball and more to herself. She released Trapinch onto the field.

Trapinch usually got around by Dig, but with Claydol knowing Earthquake, they’d have to forgo that for now.

“Trapinch, Mud-Slap then Crunch on Claydol! Blaziken, let’s try that again!”

With an angry growl, Blaziken darted forward, determined to land a hit this time. Trapinch kicked some mud onto half of Claydol’s many eyes, then began a slow trudge towards the fellow Ground type Pokémon.

On the other side of the field, Tate suddenly let out a giggle while Liza sighed.

“Really? You always say that!”

“It always works!”

Liza crossed her arms. She couldn’t argue against that.

“Claydol,” she said, reluctantly. “Intercept Blaziken with Self-Destruct.”

Ivy’s jaw dropped. “Blaziken!” she screamed out, uselessly.

With only half its eyes covered in mud, Claydol had no problem zooming towards Blaziken, glowing brightly as it did. Blaziken skidded to a stop, but it was futile. Claydol slammed into him, and the battlefield was once more lit up.

Ivy didn’t even wait for the field to go back to normal before recalling Blaziken. There was no point.

On the other side, Liza pouted as she similarly returned Claydol. Beside her, Tate giggled and clapped his hands together.

“I told you!”

Liza blew a Razz Berry at her brother, before sending out a Lunatone.

Ivy clutched Latias’ Poké Ball. This was her last Pokémon. Well, she had Spiritomb, of course, but there was no world where Ivy used Spiritomb in a gym battle. It didn’t seem to want to kill her anymore, but it sure didn’t listen to her either.

Gasps filled the room as Latias appeared on the field.

“Is that—”

“—a Latias!?”

“Wow!” the two gym leaders said in unison, stars practically shining in their eyes.

Despite the fact that she was losing, Ivy couldn’t help but smile. Yeah, it was pretty cool that she had a Latias.

Latias cooed and waved at the two kids. They enthusiastically waved back.

The referee on the side cleared his throat again, though he looked just as awe-struck as the kids.

“Oh—”

“—right!”

“Lunatone, Light Screen, then Moonlight on Xatu!”

“Ominous Wind!”

“Keep focused, Latias!” This was her first major battle and Ivy wasn’t sure how well it would go. “Dragon Breath on Xatu! Trapinch, Rock Slide!”

Once more, a brilliant light covered one half of the battlefield. As it rose, a dark violet wind swept through it, hitting her Pokémon. Latias whimpered, but Trapinch shook it off. She stomped a stubby little foot on the ground before, with visible difficulty, levitating several boulders and hurling them through the shining barrier. Trapinch didn’t practice Rock Slide much so it took longer for her to use it than Ivy would’ve liked, but it was just about the only move that she had that would hit the other two Pokémon.

Latias was still shivering from the Ominous Wind.

“Latias! It’s a battle! Dragon Breath!”

With a deep breath, Latias nodded. As speedy as ever, she darted forward, breathing out deep indigo flames.

There was a squawk, then a thud. Lunatone hadn’t been quick enough with Moonlight, while at least one of Trapinch’s rocks seemed to have hit the mystic Pokémon. They’d managed to knock out the Xatu. Finally.

“Aww,” Tate muttered as he sent out Solrock. He glanced at Liza who nodded. “Start up a Sunny Day but hold it for a second.”

“Blizzard!”

Ah, hell.

“Trapinch, dodge with Dig!” Ivy felt bad telling only Trapinch to dodge, but poor Latias was simply too close. She was only able to backpedal a few feet before being engulfed in the miniature snowstorm emanating from Lunatone. Trapinch, at least, managed to get underground.

The Blizzard didn’t last long. It seemed it wasn’t a move Lunatone was used to, as the rock type sagged closer to the ground than it had before the move. It didn’t help that Solrock re-set up Sunny Day, quickly melting the snow in the air.

Latias wasn’t faring well. She slumped close to the ground, eyes wide. Ivy bit her lip. This was Latias’ first major battle—she wasn’t used to working through the pain and shock like the others were.

“Trapinch, Crunch on Lunatone! Latias… Dragon Breath again.”

There was no response from Trapinch, but that was to be expected. Latias cooed in distress, but floated back up with a deep breath, releasing another jet of purple flames.

Tate and Liza glanced at each other. Their Pokémon’s next moves came without them speaking to them aloud.

The next few seconds were chaos.

A glittering moon appeared behind Lunatone, quickly blasting pink-white energy straight towards Latias. It had only just started when Trapinch burst from the ground, large jaws crackling with Dark Type Energy as she bit Lunatone. Moonblast abruptly cut off as the meteorite Pokémon was dragged to the ground.

As Trapinch appeared, Solrock immediately let loose a beam of green-white energy, nailing both Trapinch and Lunatone. It’s ally, protected by Light Screen, let out a gnashing noise before limply floating out of Trapinch’s clutches.

Trapinch wasn’t so lucky. The Solar Beam, powered up from Sunny Day, hit dead on, immediately sending Trapinch into a faint.

Before Trapinch even hit the ground, Solrock was turning, Solar Beam turning with it.

Latias wasn’t doing well. Even a few seconds of being hit by a Fairy type move had exhausted her even further. She barely had time to let out a squeak of alarm before Solrock’s Solar Beam was on her.

Ivy stared at the battlefield. Two moves had taken out both of her Pokémon within seconds. Tate and Liza were little kids, but they were extremely good at battling.

The referee cleared his throat for the third time that battle. “Challenger Ivy, please return your two Pokémon and release your sixth one.”

That finally snapped Ivy out of her trance. Guiltily, she returned Trapinch and Latias. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. She raised her voice, “I—uh, my last Pokémon doesn’t battle. So, I forfeit, or lose, or whatever.”

There was a pause as everyone digested this.

“Well, then Leaders Tate and Liza are the winners!”

Twin yells echoed through the large room as the two kids yelped and cheered. Solrock let out a buzzing noise and even Lunatone, who seemed about to drop, let out a small noise of celebration.

Ivy stared down at her feet.

The last time she had suffered any major loss was way back during the tournament in Mauville. And this was her first loss in a gym battle since her first try against Roxanne.

It… stung. It stung a lot.

“I’m guessing that was your first double battle, hmm?”

Ivy turned around. The voice was familiar.

Behind her was a dark haired woman with a Delcatty-like smile on her face. It took a few seconds before Ivy could place her—Astra. Tate and Liza’s mother, the Mossdeep Gym Leader before them, and one of the few people in the Pokémon League Ivy had met multiple times. It had been a while since they’d last met—Norman was busy and Ivy had long since gotten bored of being dragged to League meetings—but she was familiar in a way no gym leader had been before.

Ivy’s cheeks began to flush. Oh, no. One of her dad’s friends had watched her lose.

“No need to be embarrassed, dear! That was very good for a first try. I can tell you listen to your father, even if you haven’t practiced.”

“Please don’t tell him I lost!” Ivy blurted out. This was her dad’s specialty. It’d be so embarrassing if he knew she’d lost.

Astra laughed. “I won’t lie to him, but I’ll see what I can do. Now—”

“Mommy!”

“Did you see that?”

“We won!”

Their conversation was interrupted by Tate and Liza slamming into their mother.

“Oof! Yes, I saw most of it! You two did very well! You’ve gotten much better at verbalizing your commands! You got a bit excited over winning and forgot that last Solar Beam and Moonblast, but, otherwise, very good!”

The two kids beamed. Ivy couldn’t even feel that bad at her loss, seeing their smiles. Tate and Liza were adorable.

“Can we get a toy, then?”

“We won! Winning means a toy!”

The two started up a chant of the word toy as Astra rolled her eyes.

Unbidden, an image of the Mossdeep City Gym appeared in Ivy’s mind, alongside the thought of tomorrow morning, nine A.M. Stepping back in shock, Ivy looked up at Astra who winked. She’d known Astra was a powerful psychic, but it was another thing to have a fellow human insert a thought into her head.

“Shh, shh. Only quiet children get toys, hmm? Are there any quiet children here?”

“I am!”

“Shh!”

Astra herded her two kids away, leaving Ivy to slink out of the gym alone.

-

Despite the total party knock out, her Pokémon were quickly patched up and given a clean bill of health from the nurse. Ivy debated releasing them in her room at the Pokémon Center, but eventually decided against it. Having her whole team out used to be feasible, but most of them were too big now.

Instead, she went down to the beach. Not to the land by Steven’s cottage, but a different spot in the area. The mangroves would give her some cover, and everyone except Blaziken would probably like being at the beach.

With a deep sigh, Ivy released her team.

None of them looked happy. Blaziken and Mightyena both looked mad, while Latias had her fins pressed down against her head. She immediately launched into a series of coos and chirps, waving her arms around as she did.

Ivy hurriedly shook her head. “No, no, I’m the one that should be apologizing to all of you. I… I really should’ve thought to train more or waited more than a day between challenging another gym. That in particular was really stupid. A seventh gym badge was always going to be way harder to get than a sixth, even if it wasn’t in a battle format we’ve never tried before. And that too was super dumb of me. I knew it was a double battle and didn’t even think to try one out beforehand. I’m sorry, guys. I really dropped the ball here.”

There was silence for a good moment after her speech.

It wasn’t surprising that Seadra was the first one to react, shooting forward to nuzzle Ivy with her snout, trilling all the while. Mightyena and Latias darted forward next, Latias even sending a few waves of emotions (regret, shame, support, happiness) over as she tried to hug Ivy. To Ivy’s surprise, she didn’t feel much pain receiving them.

Blaziken didn’t join the hug pile, too proud for that, but he nodded at her. The anger from when he’d been released had faded into determination. They would win next time.

Trapinch was the only one who didn’t react, merely burrowing slightly into the sand. Not unexpected, but that was a conversation she needed to have with Trapinch alone.

With a grin, Ivy let the more positive feelings wash over her. They’d spend some time training, and the next time they challenged the Mossdeep Gym, they’d win easily!

“Now, let’s play in the water! We deserve some fun!”

With a trill, Seadra led the way to the surf, Ivy and Latias not far behind her.

Chapter Text

Ivy’s heart nearly beat out of her chest as she neared the Mossdeep Gym the next morning. Astra wasn’t standing outside of it, but another familiar figure was. It’d been only a week since she last saw Steven, but even at a short distance away he looked more tired than before.

“Oh, Steven! Did Astra ask you to come here too?” Ivy was very pleased her voice came out steady. Beside her, Mightyena rolled her eyes and sat down to groom one of her legs.

Steven raised an eyebrow as she neared. “Ivy? You made it to Mossdeep quickly.”

“Latias is very fast!”

That got a laugh out of him. “She is, isn’t she? And, yes, Astra did. Honestly, I had assumed she was going to force me into babysitting Tate and Liza again, but it looks like I may have been mistaken. Do you know why she asked you here?”

Ivy shook her head. “I think she was going to tell me, but Tate and Liza mobbed her before she could.”

“Yes, that sounds like them. I take it you battled them then?”

Ivy looked down. She didn’t want to admit to Steven, perfect, beautiful, future husband Steven, that she lost to a pair of nine year olds. She wasn’t going to let the loss get to her, but she sure as hell didn’t have to mention it to everyone she knew.

Steven seemed to understand it hadn’t gone well. “Ah…”

“Steven!”

He was saved by twin voices calling out his name. Two small bodies ran full speed towards them. Steven took a step back as Tate and Liza rammed into him, hugging his torso.

“Hello to you two, too.”

“Ivy! Good to see you. And good to see you, my favorite babysitter.”

“Astra…”

“Hi!” Ivy butt in, when it became clear Steven wasn’t going to do more than look pitifully at the older woman.

“Please tell me you didn’t call me here just to babysit Tate and Liza.”

“I didn’t call you here just to babysit Tate and Liza.”

Steven stared at her. Astra’s Delcatty-like smile didn’t waver.

“Astra, you know what’s going on. I can’t take a day off to babysit. Just a few days ago—” he stopped and shook his head. “There’s too much going on. I really need to get back to Lilycove—”

“What you need is a day off. The world isn’t going to end just because you went out and ate some ice cream.”

“Ice cream?” Tate and Liza Chatot-ed, like Sharpedo smelling blood.

“Astra…”

“Steven.” She dropped the coy smile to look directly into his eyes. He glanced away. “I know what’s going on. There’s a storm on the horizon, I can feel it coalescing as we speak. But there’s still time. Take a break when you can, because soon…” Astra was the one to glance away this time, her eyes unfocused and glassy. “Soon… no one will get a break for a very long time.”

“That isn’t making me any less worried.”

“No, but it just won me the argument, hmm?”

Steven huffed out a small laugh. “Sure. You always win. I’ll babysit today. Is Ivy coming with?”

“Oh, not now. I’m stealing her for some girl talk.”

“Eh?”

Ivy’s exclamation was drowned out by Tate and Liza complaining.

“But Mommy—”

“—we wanted to play with Latias!”

Astra booped both of her children on their noses. “You can play later. I won’t be keeping Ivy all day. Now, go bully Steven into buying you the bi-i-i-iggest sundae you can find!”

“Yay!”

“Ice cream!”

Steven just sighed and let himself by dragged off by the two excitable kids. He shot Ivy a lopsided and apologetic smile as he departed that nearly left her swooning. What an unrefined but genuine expression from him! He must trust her to show a smile like that!

“That boy,” Astra said, shaking her head. “He wouldn’t know the word ‘rest’ if it hit him over the head. I guess that’s what happens when you’re raised by businessmen.” She wrinkled her nose before glancing down at Ivy. “You know he’s seeing someone, yes? And that he’s twelve years older than you? Steven may come from a family lacking in morals, but he, at least, managed to hold on to some.”

Ivy sniffled as Mightyena let out a bark of laughter. “Don’t remind meeee!” she wailed, tugging on her lower Tepig-tails in despair.

Astra joined Mightyena in laughing as she held up her hands. “Alright, alright. Well, let’s start our girl talk, hmm?”

-

“So, uh, why exactly are we having ‘girl talk?’” Ivy had to ask as Astra confidently navigated through the confusing back halls of the Mossdeep Gym.

The gym looked normal from the outside, but almost seemed to be bigger on the inside. Ivy wasn’t sure if it was some psychic trick, or if the back halls were just that confusing to travel through.

“It’s both,” Astra clarified.

“Huh?”

“The building. It is difficult to navigate and there is a little bit of psychic manipulation going on to add on some extra space. We used to use these hallways as part of the gym test, but Tate and Liza wanted something different.”

Right. Astra was a super powerful psychic. She probably had barely any trouble reading Ivy’s thoughts.

“I didn’t have to do any test.”

Astra sighed. “They can’t decide on what they want to do. Tate wants some dramatic duel to the death while Liza wants to do a cooking contest of all things. What’s wrong with a labyrinth you have to find your way out of, I say? But, no, anything mom likes isn’t cool enough.”

“Uh…”

“Right, your original question. Well, first, Norman and I have been chatting lately.”

Ivy groaned.

Astra let out a loud laugh at that. “Yes, I heard about the Wattson incident. Don’t worry, I made sure to laugh at him for that.”

“Good,” Ivy mumbled. That was still one of the most embarrassing things that had ever happened to her. And it was from her dad of all people!

“But I was curious to see how you had been faring, as someone who’s known you since you were little. Even if I didn’t necessarily know you well, it’s always heartwarming to see how much a child you knew has grown. Then you brought out that Latias.”

Here, Astra paused to look at Ivy and raised a single eyebrow.

“It was a curious thing to see,” she continued. “But more curious was that it didn’t seem to be anywhere near as strong as Legendary Pokémon purportedly are. As a Psychic type specialist, I wanted to offer my assistance to see Latias brought to her true strength.”

Translation: she wanted to ogle the Legendary, Ivy couldn’t help but think.

“Not wholly correct, but not incorrect either, I must admit. It’s a rare sight to see a Legendary without some terrible omen looming from their visit so I am rather intrigued.”

“What about what you said to Steven—”

“Well, yes, there’s a terrible omen looming over Hoenn right now, but it’s not because of your Latias.”

Ivy grimaced. “I think I agree with Steven. You’re not very good at being reassuring.”

“No, I see a bit too much for that.” A note of melancholy entered Astra’s voice before leaving as quickly as it appeared. “But enough of that! Here we are!”

Here was a closet. It seemed to mostly store cleaning supplies but also…

“Is that a warp tile?”

“Oh, good! You know what it is!”

Ivy was still ogling the pink tile on the ground. “Aren’t they, like, stupidly expensive?”

“Mm. I know people. Or in this case, my husband does. But I suppose I do know him, too…”

Warp tiles were invented only a year or two ago, by Silph Co over in Kanto. Purportedly, they’d hired the guy who came up with the Pokémon Storage System to start working on other ways to use the technology he’d created. Warp tiles were one of the things created, and Ivy had heard that he was supposedly the one who had figured out how to make TM’s reusable as well.

She hadn’t really cared about any of that. Ivy had been more entranced by the idea of the warp tiles on their own merit. Teleportation without the help of a Pokémon was just cool! Part of Ivy had always hoped she’d turn out to be psychic as a kid since teleporting was one of the most common powers. It never happened, but it seemed like she’d finally be able to try it out.

“But aren’t you psychic?” Ivy couldn’t help but blurt out. “Don’t most psychics know how to teleport?”

Astra clicked her tongue against her teeth. “Not every psychic can do everything,” she said defensively. Ivy smothered a snort. That sounded like a sore spot. “Well, do you want to try it out or not?”

Ivy didn’t have to be asked twice. Without hesitating, she jumped onto the tile.

-

Teleportation by warp tile was different than Teleportation by Pokémon. It was weird. Teleporting alongside Professor Cozmo’s Solrock had been weird too, but a different kind of weird. That had been a strange sense of vertigo; like she was about to vomit but calmed her stomach before she actually threw up. Going through a warp tile felt like her entire body was vibrating at speeds it really should not be vibrating at. She didn’t feel sick, but she did feel off-kilter.

It was strange, but also supremely cool.

Ivy looked around as she stepped off the warp tile. This was not another closet in the Mossdeep Gym. She was on some island if the glittering blue water all around her was any indication. It reminded her a bit of Southern Island, though there weren’t any waterfalls. It just exuded that same sense of peace.

A whine made her turn around. Mightyena rolled on the grass, covering her face with her paws. Ivy giggled as she kneeled and pet Mightyena’s belly.

“Aww, you didn’t like being teleported? I’ll return you when we go back, then.”

Mightyena whined in response as the warp tile buzzed and Astra appeared on it.

“Did you enjoy trying out the warp tile?”

“It was so cool!” Ivy enthused, jumping back to her feet. With a reluctant whine, Mightyena got to hers as well. “I still can’t believe you have one! Or two, I guess. Where are we, anyways?”

“My top-secret training location! I used to just fly here, but it was always such a pain…” Ivy’s eyes widened. Gym leaders, even former ones, usually didn’t give out their secrets so freely. “Training in Mossdeep, or even in the Gym, would have attracted too much attention. I thought it best to go somewhere more… private.”

“Yeah, probably.” Ivy hadn’t had Latias out in public much, but the reactions so far had been pretty excitable.

In one graceful movement, Astra produced two Great Balls and tossed them to reveal a Starmie and a Gardevoir.

“Now, I believe we were here to train. So, where’s your Pokémon, hmm?”

-

Astra let Ivy send her four other Pokémon off to train first (telling them to come up with moves that could work together in a double battle; she should probably be the one to think up ideas, but Ivy was morbidly curious what they would come up with on their own) before releasing Latias.

Latias still looked rather down. None of her Pokémon liked a loss, but Latias was upset by how she hadn’t even managed to get a move to hit before being taken out. It wasn’t unusual for that to happen in a Pokémon’s first battle, but Latias had high expectations for herself.

Still, she perked up when she saw Ivy and Astra. She let out a coo of inquiry, before floating over to Astra.

Astra tilted her head and Latias suddenly stiffened, before squeaking in excitement. She did a loop-de-loop in the air before waving her stubby arms around.

Ivy blinked and looked between Latias and Astra. They… were almost certainly having a telepathic conversation. Ivy was a little miffed at being left out. Sure, it would probably just be painful for her, but it was rude to ignore her!

Both Latias and Astra turned towards her. Latias flattened her fins against her head in apology while Astra kept up her Delcatty-like smile.

“No offense meant, Ivy. Now, Latias was informing me about what the situation is. Why don’t you continue.”

Ivy sighed. “No problem. I mean, Latias could probably tell it better, but it seems like she just doesn’t know how to use Type Energy like most other Pokémon. She can do all her fancy psychic stuff, which is super cool, but she can’t do any Psychic moves. She barely managed to learn Dragon Breath, and she knew Charm from before, but that’s about it. She can’t even do her species special move, not completely.”

Astra nodded, thoughtful. “That’s what Latias was getting at, too. Lucky for you two, this is actually a common problem for Psychic Pokémon!”

Latias perked up, as did Ivy.

“Really?”

“Well, no. Not terribly common. Most Psychic Pokémon are taught to separate the two energies at a young age.”

“Oh.”

Any cheer Latias had gained completely drained out of her. She let out a sad coo and floated down to the ground.

Astra seemed to realize her blunder. “Ah, I don’t mean to cause a misunderstanding! It’s not very common, but it is well-known enough that I do know how to solve the problem. Any Psychic specialist worth their salt would.”

Latias didn’t look especially cheered up, but Ivy gave a hopeful grin. “So how do we fix it?”

Astra plopped down onto the ground and made herself comfortable. She gestured at Ivy who did the same.

“How much do you know about how Type Energy works?”

“There’s eighteen different kinds!” Ivy said confidently.

Astra stared at her.

Ivy stared back.

Astra brought a hand to her forehead. “Alright. The most basic explanation it is.” She cleared her throat. “Infinity Energy and its offshoot, Type Energy, are well known. They’re the forces that let Pokémon evolve and use their moves. And, yes, there’s eighteen different variations of this energy forming the eighteen types we sort Pokémon into. Only Pokémon have ever been able to harness Infinity Energy.”

Ivy nodded. She knew that much.

“There is also a second kind of energy out there, one that can be harnessed by humans and is much lesser known and studied: Aura. You’ve heard of aura’s, yes?”

Ivy swayed her body side to side in a gesture of uncertainty. “Sorta? That’s, like, something that shows off your emotions as colors or whatever, right? A thing phony psychics at festivals talk about a lot.”

“You are correct in how the general populace views it. In reality, Aura is something completely different. It can deal with emotions, yes, but that is only a small portion of what is possible when harnessing Aura Energy.

“Aura is the basis for what you call psychic powers. It is an intrinsic part of every person, their innate life force that helps keep them alive. For most people and Pokémon, that’s all it is. But some humans and certain species of Pokémon are naturally born more in tune with their aura than others. This lets them innately tap into their Aura Energy and perform acts usually considered supernatural. Telekinesis, mind reading, even seeing the future… they all come from a being tapping into one of the strongest and most pure energies in existence.

“And while Aura manipulation is usually considered something only for psychics, truly anyone can do it with enough time and practice, even if they don’t realize that is what they’re doing.” Astra squinted at Ivy. “For example, you have a Pokémon who knows the move Return.”

Ivy rocked backwards, eyes wide. “How did you know that!?” Mightyena hadn’t used the move in the battle against Tate and Liza, Ivy was sure of it.

Astra waved a hand around. “It’s in your Aura. There’s not really a way to explain how it looks in words, but I can always tell when a Trainer makes use of it. Return, as a move, is a physical manifestation of the bond between a trainer and a Pokémon. A trainer and a Pokémon can have a friendship, of course, but that isn’t enough for Return. In order for it to properly work, the two Aura’s need to have connected and bonded to an unbreakable level.

“Now, these bonds are more common than you think, particularly between beings of the same species. TV shows and movies usually portray them as soulmates and such, even if they don’t even realize what they’re describing is an aspect of Aura. Alongside friends and family, most trainers usually have these strong bonds with their Pokémon as well. I can see five Pokémon bonds on you, but there’s a certain, hm… tinge, I suppose, on a bond after Pokémon uses Return.”

Ivy leaned backwards. “Wild.” That didn’t nearly sum up how completely and utterly amazed and confused she was, but it’d have to do.

Astra laughed. “It’s a rather esoteric concept, I know. I’ll give you a minute to take it in. You knew all that, though, didn’t you?”

Latias nonchalantly cooed and smoothed a few feathers on one of her wings, as if trying to act cool.

“Yes, Aura is a bit more understood by Pokémon than humans, it’s to be expected.”

Ivy shook her head. This was starting to be a school lesson, something she had never particularly been good at following, but she had to move on. This was baffling, but Latias needed help and that was more important.

“So, what’s this have to do with Latias?”

“Ah, a good question!” Astra beamed at Ivy who smiled hesitantly in return. It was never good when teachers said that; it meant more lectures. “You see, Aura Energy and Infinity Energy are different energies with different sources. Most Pokémon never learn to harness Aura Energy as, just like humans, they aren’t properly in tune with the energy. There are a few species, though, who tend to have very strong auras. Lucario and Medicham are two well-known ones.

“Usually, as they’re growing and learning, they’re taught how to harness both their Aura Energy and Infinity Energy at the same time by their elders. However, sometimes a Riolu or a Meditite is separated from its elders right after it’s born, or it was hatched solely around humans. Unless they eventually find a mentor to help them the Riolu or Meditite will almost certainly be unable to tap into its Aura properly and only ever channel Type Energy. Latias has the opposite problem.”

Ivy tried to figure out what Astra was saying. “So… she can’t do many moves because she was never taught to? But I’ve been trying to teach her!”

Astra grimaced and wiggled a hand back and forth. “Ehh? Sort of? You’ve helped her a bit—she learned Dragon Breath, after all. You’ve helped her learn how to channel Dragon Type Energy. But from what I can tell, you’ve not made any headway on any Psychic type moves.”

Latias let out a deep rumble, her eyes focused completely on Astra. At least she seemed to understand what was being said.

Astra nodded, replying to some unheard question from Latias. “Yes, it’s not necessarily a problem of never being taught, but not being taught properly. A simple bad habit. For every skill, you were taught to tap into your Aura and use that as an answer. As such, whenever you try to use a Psychic move, you automatically try to power it with Aura instead of Infinity Energy.”

She paused. Latias was waving her arms around, a clear sign she was babbling telepathically to Astra.

Ivy sighed and leaned back. She’d be upset but, frankly, it was better for Latias to understand what she needed to do. Ivy was secondary here.

“I see. You using Mist Ball in that moment against Latios is still part of what I’m saying. When you train, you are thinking about what you have to do. In that moment, you were acting entirely on your instinct and emotions as a Pokémon. That let you bypass your usual reflex to use Aura and instead you used Infinity Energy in order to use the move to its full potential.”

Latias let out another rumble, settling onto the ground with a thoughtful expression. The conversation went into a brief lull as everyone absorbed that information and Astra brought out a water bottle to drink from.

Ivy raised a hand.

“…Yes?”

“Okay, question: why is it only Psychic moves affected? Like, Latias did learn Dragon Breath.”

“Another good question!” Astra set her water bottle down. “Dragon Type Energy is different enough from Psychic Type Energy that she could bypass the mental block more easily. Plus, you have a Seadra. I know Seadra knows Twister, and she likely knows Dragon Breath as well, hmm?”

Ivy nodded. “They learned it at the same time.”

“There you go. Seeing Seadra use the move showed her how to tap into Dragon Type Energy. Do any of your Pokémon know any Psychic type moves?”

“No…”

“Then the block would never able to be fully overcome that way, unfortunately.” Astra tapped a finger to her chin. “Psychic Type Energy and Aura… I can’t quite explain why myself despite my own powers and years of training Psychic types, but there’s a similarity between them. They mesh well together, and many of the stronger Psychic moves mimic the use of Aura to help empower them. But if you get too used to the feel of one, it becomes harder and harder to use the other. That’s where Latias is at.”

That last bit, at least, finally made sense to Ivy. A bad habit, as Astra said.

Ivy flopped back onto the grass. “I think I get it now. Sort of. Latias’ problem at least. Not really all that other stuff.” She raised herself up onto her elbows. “How do we fix it?”

“We-e-ell, I do have two Psychic Pokémon here with me,” Astra grinned and nodded at Starmie and Gardevoir who had been sitting quietly a few feet away the entire conversation. “They can help Latias figure out the beginnings of how to start drawing on Psychic energy instead of Aura.”

“Awesome! How long will that take?”

Astra shrugged, nonchalant as ever. “Oh, a few days? At the minimum!”

Ivy grimaced. It wasn’t what she’d like, but it was to be expected. This sort of thing would probably take weeks, if not months, to properly relearn. Old habits die hard, as they say.

She stretched and stood up. “We should get going back to Mossdeep, then.”

“Hmm? No, we should be fine here.”

Ivy stared blankly at Astra and even Latias in her reverie let out an inquisitive coo. “Huh?”

Astra smirked, her Delcatty-smile back in full force. “Oh, I won’t explain it now, that’ll ruin the fun! Just trust me, kiddo, we’re perfectly fine here.”

Ivy exchanged a glance with Latias and shrugged. “Whatever. Why not?”

There was a squeak beside her. “Why not!”

Ivy jumped, not expecting any other human on the island.

But no, it wasn’t another human speaking. Just a little Wynaut.

Chapter Text

As it turned out, the island was entirely populated by Wynaut. Ivy left Latias in the care of Astra, Starmie, and Gardevoir and followed a trio of Wynaut off into the forest. The trio squeaked and bounced around, and Ivy giggled as she tried to keep up.

They quickly found a shallow cave. There was a stone firepit near the entrance and a small trunk off to the side. That must’ve been why Astra had no problem with the possibility of them staying overnight—she already had supplies here. Ivy still didn’t get why she seemed so indifferent about leaving her kids with Steven for several days, but whatever. Astra was weird. Her kids were probably also weird. Poor Steven.

After dropping her backpack off at the cave (left to be thoroughly inspected by the curious Wynaut) she went off to find her other Pokémon.

When she did find them, it was about what she expected.

Blaziken and Seadra were on one side of a field. While they didn’t seem to be working together (understandable, given their typings) they were at least training. Blaziken was smashing his leg against a boulder to perfect Blaze Kick, while Seadra seemed to be trying to hold Dragon Breath for longer and longer every time she used it.

Mightyena and Trapinch were on the side by Ivy napping. Trapinch was even lightly biting Mightyena’s tail.

That’s what Ivy got for leaving them to their own devices, really.

She stood over the two slackers and whistled loudly. Mightyena woke with a yelp, hopping away with a whine, while Blaziken and Seadra stopped their training. Seadra trilled and shot over to Ivy, Blaziken following behind at a more leisurely pace.

Trapinch barely opened an eye.

“Hey, li’l guy. Napping isn’t training.”

Blaziken huffed in agreement. He was always the strictest about good training habits, but even he’d given up on making Mightyena follow one. It seemed Trapinch was following in her paw-steps.

Mightyena let out a laughing bark in reply. She knew she wasn’t really in trouble. Which was correct, but Ivy deserved some modicum of respect!

She sighed. “Whatever. It looks like we might be here for a while so Latias can figure out how to use moves properly. But that just means it’s the perfect time for training! Blaziken, Seadra, you two take a break. I’m sure you’ve spent this whole time doing what you were supposed to do. You two… we’ll be working on double battle strategies.” Ivy clapped her hands together. “Let’s get started!”

-

Double battles had an entirely different set of strategies than single battles. Ivy had always known that from her dad, but actually participating in a double battle had just made that even more clear.

Her team weren’t very equipped for most of the strategies she knew. Generally, it was preferred to have an attacker and a supporter on the field. Tate and Liza even used this strategy—Liza’s Pokémon seemed more utility based than Tate’s, with Light Screen and healing moves. Ivy was fine on the attacking, but she didn’t really have any supporters. Latias possibly could be one as Psychic types usually learned a lot of support moves, but she had her own problem to deal with first. The best Ivy had at the moment was Seadra with Smokescreen to hide her side of the field.

There was also the problem of Trapinch.

Trapinch was very slow. She usually got by that by using Dig to move out of sight and gain the element of surprise, but with Claydol knowing Earthquake that wasn’t feasible in this particular battle. Earthquake already did big damage to any Pokémon on the field, but it was even worse for one who was underground. The only work around she could think of was having Mightyena learn Scary Face while Trapinch practiced Feint Attack. Ivy had been ignoring that move in favor of others, but if Mightyena used Scary Face on a Pokémon that might stall them long enough for Trapinch to ambush them with Feint Attack. Not the most elegant tactic, but it would have to do.

Ivy sent the two off to practice their moves with her hands on her hips.

Unfortunately, there was another problem with Trapinch.

Trapinch had always been rather ambivalent towards battling. She certainly didn’t hate it, but she didn’t have the same drive to win as the others. Blaziken and Mightyena liked winning, while Seadra liked being part of a team. Trapinch liked dirt. And biting things. And naps. She had no problem following orders and seemed to enjoy every battle she was in, but… she didn’t care about the outcome. A win or a loss was the same thing.

And then there was the fact that Trapinch was still Trapinch.

According to her profile on Ivy’s PokéNav, Trapinch was between five to ten years old. That wasn’t too odd for a wild Trapinch—they were liable to spend their entire lives as Trapinch without ever evolving. But according to some Trapinch-focused websites she had found when looking into the topic before bed, being that old and having so many high-level moves by the time Ivy caught her, she should’ve evolved within the first month or two after capture. They were nearing month four of being together now, and she was very much still a Trapinch.

If Trapinch didn’t want to evolve, that was fine. Lots of people looked down on Pokémon who didn’t want to evolve for being weaker, but Ivy knew how much of a menace Brendan’s Mudkip could be. Staying in a base form could easily be worked around by any decent trainer.

But if Trapinch did want to evolve but was having problems or worries, then Ivy needed to help her. Which meant they needed to have a talk sometime soon.

-

By the time Ivy got back to the cave with her pack of exhausted Pokémon, the trio of Wynaut had multiplied. Her backpack had been opened and its contents dumped and scattered, but that was whatever. She’d probably have an easier time finding things this way.

Astra had beaten her to the cave. She was cooking something over the firepit while Latias and Astra’s Pokémon slept off to the side.

“Ah, there you are! Did you have fun?”

“Yup! How did things go with Latias?”

Astra waved her hand not stirring the pot side to side. “It’s a start. It’ll be a few days more until we see any real progress, I think.”

Ivy nodded.

Dinner was a quiet affair, mostly. Ivy chattered on about anything that came to mind while Astra made noises when appropriate. It was nice. Ivy loved her Pokémon but being able to hear a reply in words to the things she said had been something she had missed.

Ivy stared at her feet. Most of the Pokémon, including the numerous Wynaut, were asleep, leaving just Ivy and Astra by the fire.

“If you have a question, feel free to speak it.”

Right. Psychic. Aura? Ivy had no idea what to call it now.

“Psychic is fine.” There was a distinct note of amusement in Astra’s voice. “It’s an apt enough descriptor.”

“Sure,” Ivy mumbled, cheeks heating up slightly. “I did have a question, though.”

“Shoot.”

Ivy leaned back to look up at the sky. It had been a bit cloudy earlier, but the sky was clear tonight. You could see every star in the sky, it felt like.

“Earlier… a lot earlier, you mentioned I only have five bonds in my aura to Pokémon.”

Astra hummed. “I admit, I was wondering about that too. You do have six Pokémon, yes? Is the last one new?”

“Yeah. I mean, yeah—I have six. And the last… it’s only as new as Latias. I actually caught it a day or two before her.”

“Odd. You said they don’t fight back at the gym. Is there a reason why?”

Ivy said nothing, staring at the stars.

“I must say, the emotions you are feeling right now are not very positive. It’s not a dangerous Pokémon, is it?”

Ivy grimaced. She couldn’t see Astra’s expression, but the older woman grimaced alongside her.

“If it’s dangerous… as a former gym leader, I’m obligated to say that it’s better to release it into the care of the Pokémon League instead of keeping it in its Poké Ball all of the time. Doing so will only make it resentful and angry.”

Ivy bit her lip. “I think it’s actually getting less angry? I mean, last time I had it out it didn’t…”

Try to kill me, she didn’t say, but Astra heard her anyways.

Astra leaned forward, her expression unusually serious. “Ivy. I know it seems like you must take care of this Pokémon because you caught it, but if it has tried to kill you in the past handing it over to the Pokémon League is the correct thing to do. The Ranger Corps will almost certainly be more prepared to handle it than you.”

Ivy knew that. She’d certainly had thoughts exactly like that more than once since catching Spiritomb. But at the same time…

“But it’s not trying anymore!” Ivy countered, trying to be positive. “That’s not what I wanted help with.”

Astra raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Then what is the problem?”

“It just… Here, let me show you.”

Before Astra could stop her, Ivy detached Spiritomb’s Poké Ball from her belt and tossed it into the air. As had happened back on Route 119, the only thing that came out was a slightly cracked stone. It sat silently on the ground, doing nothing. A shadow darkened the meager light from the campfire, and Ivy looked up to see Blaziken looming over her.

Astra stared down at the Odd Keystone, but it was clear she was the baffled one this time around. “That’s… a Pokémon?”

“A Spiritomb,” Ivy helpfully clarified.

Her eyes widened. “A Spiritomb? Where in the world did you manage to find one of those?”

“Sea Mauville.”

“Fascinating.” Despite her earlier hesitance, Astra nudged Spiritomb’s stone with her foot. Ivy held her breath, but Spiritomb didn’t react. “Hm. I’ve always felt a terrible miasma around Sea Mauville the very few times I’ve travelled past it, but I didn’t expect a ghost of this kind to be hiding there.”

“There were a few others there, too” Ivy said, shivering as she remembered her run in with the Banette.

“Yes. I can’t say I remember much about Sea Mauville’s closure, but I remember enough to know it wasn’t a happy thing. That tends to attract Ghosts.”

After another minute of nothing happening, Ivy sighed and returned Spiritomb. Above her, Blaziken let out a sigh of relief before trotting back over to his sleep spot.

“Do you know why Spiritomb isn’t, um,” Ivy waved a hand. “Being all Ghost-y?”

Slowly, Astra shook her head. “Sorry, no. I’m a Psychic type specialist, not a Ghost specialist. People think they’re similar due to being more occult types, but they’re as different as you can get. If you want help, you’ll need to seek out Phoebe. She’s Hoenn’s resident Ghost specialist.”

“Phoebe,” Ivy echoed, feeling a small bit of familiarity. She knew that name. “She’s… an Elite Four member, isn’t she?”

“She is.” Astra nodded, turning away from Ivy to clean up their dinner supplies. “She’s not tricky to find, however. If you climb Mt Pyre, I’m sure you’ll find her easily enough.”

“Mt Pyre,” Ivy echoed a second time, this time less enthusiastically. It made sense for the Ghost type specialist to make Mt Pyre her hangout—it was where most Ghost types in Hoenn made their home. Ivy wasn’t exactly scared of Ghost types, but she couldn’t say she was thrilled, either. Whatever. She’d have to just get over it.

“Thank you for your help,” she said as Astra made her way into the cave.

“No problem, kiddo! Now, go get some sleep yourself, okay?”

“I’ll get my sleeping bag in a second.”

Ivy took a deep breath. She’d talk to Trapinch, take on Mossdeep’s Gym a second time, then make her way to Mt Pyre. She wanted to get the problem of Spiritomb over sooner than later.

-

They split into the same groups the next morning. Or, well, Astra, her Pokémon, and Latias left early in the morning while Ivy woke up a few hours later.

For most of the morning, she left them to work on the things they had been training the day before. Mightyena even worked on Scary Face since Ivy was only a few feet away. After a long lunch and break, Ivy set Blaziken in charge of putting Mightyena and Seadra through a stamina workout. Blaziken was excited; the other two, not so much. But Ivy needed time alone to talk to Trapinch and she had faith in Mightyena listening to Blaziken when Ivy was in the same clearing.

Ivy put her hands on her hips. Trapinch slowly blinked up at her. “We need to have a talk, buddy.”

Trapinch tilted her head to the side and let out a croak. Ivy sat down to be closer to eye level.

“No, this isn’t about slacking off yesterday. I’ve just been wondering… do you not want to evolve?” Better to be straight to the point, especially with a Pokémon like Trapinch who wasn’t exactly cut out for a Clever Contest.

Trapinch let out another croak, surprised this was the conversation topic. She seemed to consider the question.

“I just ask because I was looking things up about Trapinch, and it seems if one is at the point where it knows all the moves you know, it should be ready to evolve. If you don’t want to that’s fine, but I wanted to ask.”

There wasn’t a response for a while. While all Pokémon had some amount of sentience, there were some that had a harder time of it than others. Trapinch, though very sweet, wasn’t much faster than a Slowpoke at times.

Slowly, Trapinch let out a series of clicks and squeaks. There was the occasional head tilt and foot stamp added in. Ivy did her best to decipher it—Trapinch had never been very talkative or expressive, so it was always a little difficult to understand what she meant.

“Alright, so, you… don’t mind evolving.”

Trapinch clicked an affirmative, nodding her head.

“But at the same time, you don’t care if you never do?”

Another click and nod.

Ivy sighed. That seemed about right from her overly easy-going Trapinch.

“I’ve noticed you tend to have that sorta mindset about most things. And, I mean, it’s not bad to be neutral on stuff, but sometimes you need to be decisive. You can’t please everyone.”

Trapinch squeaked and kicked up a bit of dirt.

“I know, I know. It’s scary to make decisions, but I know you can do it! You made the decision to help me back in the desert, and then come with me after. Were those decisions scary?”

Trapinch didn’t say anything. She seemed to be thinking hard. After a minute or two of silence she nodded and began to glow.

With a squeak, Ivy scrambled backwards, trying to avoid Trapinch’s growing body. When the glow died down, her li’l guy wasn’t so little.

Height-wise she hadn’t grown much larger, but she had lengthened quite a bit. She was pale green, with a pair of thin, glistening wings sticking out of her back.

Ivy clapped her hands together excitedly. “You did it! You’re a Vibrava now!”

Vibrava blinked at her, seemingly more shocked than Ivy at the evolution. Tentatively, she twitched her wings, creating a short humming noise as she did. With a buzz, Vibrava flapped them faster, slowly rising to hover in the air.

Ivy winced at the high-pitched noise Vibrava’s wings made, but she was grinning. She’d been sure that all Vibrava had needed was a small push.

As quickly as Vibrava had risen into the air, she came tumbling down. Even though the shape of her eyes were different, the blank shock in them was familiar enough that Ivy giggled.

“Not used to flying yet, huh?”

Vibrava hissed out a click before trying to lift into the air once more.

Ivy pushed to her feet. Blaziken would keep the other two in line. Vibrava needed the help now with such a large change in her body.

-

The days passed by slowly. Sometimes, Ivy stopped by Latias’s group to see how it was going, but all the instruction seemed to be happening telepathically. It was rather boring to just stand there watching them sit in a circle motionless, so Ivy didn’t do it often. Mostly, her time was spent with her other Pokémon—training Vibrava and desperately trying to figure out potential double battle strategies.

Neither thing was going very well.

Gone was Ivy’s easy-going Trapinch and in her spot was a stubborn Dragon. Ivy did her best to try to help Vibrava, but it felt like every helpful instruction was taken as an insult to her own prowess. Ivy didn’t have to worry about Vibrava not caring about winning or losing anymore, but now she was rather worried that Vibrava wouldn’t listen to her at all. Her li’l guy now had an overabundance of pride and refused all help. Ivy understood the feeling, but it was annoying to be on the other side for once.

On the bright side, Vibrava had picked up Dragon Breath from Seadra pretty quickly. A ranged move like that would be useful against Tate and Liza.

At least her other Pokémon were behaving more than Vibrava.

Blaziken trained with as much gusto as usual—more so, if Ivy were being honest. She knew he hated his performance in the last two gyms. Beaten by a Pelipper in one then taken out within a minute in the next bruised his pride. Ivy kept a close watch on him to make sure he didn’t overtrain.

He wasn’t learning anything new—mostly honing what moves he already knew—but Mightyena was. Once she got Scary Face down, Ivy started her on Double Team. There was a chance that could go badly for Ivy (multiple Mightyena? All ready to cause mischief? Yikes!) but it was a useful move to know.

Then there was Seadra. Between helping Latias and Vibrava, she now definitely had Dragon Breath ready for battle. Next, Ivy had her start learning Rain Dance. It was something Ivy really should have taught Seadra back after Lavaridge, but with Tate and Liza using Sunny Day, it was as good a time as ever.

After one day, Seadra floated towards Ivy, whinnying cheerfully. She gracefully swam through the air, rain softly falling the longer she danced.

Ivy’s eyebrows raised up to her hairline. “How’d you get that so quick?” she asked in amazement.

Seadra trilled, her back fins wiggling from excitement. Even though the rain was still ongoing, she started up her dance once more.

“You just like doing the dance, huh?” Ivy laughed, ignoring how she was slowly getting soaked. “That’s adorable!”

If Seadra could blush, hers would’ve.

Across the field, Blaziken let out a grumbling caw. He never liked water and he did not appreciate the sudden downpour interrupting his training. When the rain did not immediately cease because he wanted it to, he sent Ivy a beseeching look.

Trying to hide a smile, Ivy returned him. Looks like they had one way to get him to take a break from training now. An unexpected bonus.

-

By the end of day ten (she had kept count), Ivy was tired and bored. She sprawled out in the grass, brain fried.

“I’m just not a strategist,” she said to no one in particular. “This is too confusing, and it’s not like I’ll even be able to stick to it in a battle. Especially if Vibrava thinks that whatever plan she comes up with is better.”

Mightyena let out a huff of laughter. She was curled up beside Ivy, skipping training again. Ivy didn’t even particularly care this time around. All of her Pokémon deserved a rest day by this point. The past ten days had been nothing but training, something none of them had experienced. Training had always been interspersed with travelling or visiting cities.

In the back of her mind, a burst of excitement not her own bloomed. Ivy winced, both from pain and the unexpectedness of it.

“Latias wants something,” she mumbled to Mightyena who didn’t even twitch. Ivy snorted. “Fine. I’ll go by myself.”

Groaning, she got to her feet and began the trek to Astra and Latias’s usual training spot. Mightyena didn’t follow her, but a handful of bouncing Wynaut did. The little guys didn’t stick around for long, but you couldn’t go two feet on the island without tripping over one.

The closer she got, the stronger the excitement in her head got. By the time she saw Latias zooming around the beach doing loop-de-loops, Ivy was grinning.

“Did you do it?” she asked as she bounded over.

Latias squealed and telekinetically picked Ivy up, flipping her through the air as Ivy shrieked. By the time Latias set her down, her screams had devolved into giggles.

“That a yes?”

Latias cooed and squawked, waving her arms around and zooming around Ivy in a circle. She suddenly stopped and a distantly familiar voice declared watch this!

Ivy winced slightly, and held a hand to her head, but she didn’t mind. Latias was excited and, on a positive note, it wasn’t as painful as before. Progress!

Latias shook her body, ruffling her normally smooth feathers. With a beat of her wings, a portion of the feathers molted off and hovered in the air. Another wing twitch and the feathers rushed forward. When they reached the tree in front of her, they exploded into bright pink energy.

Ivy clapped enthusiastically. “That’s awesome!”

The Mist Ball she had seen that one night hadn’t looked anywhere as strong. It was incredible the difference working with Astra had made.

Latias wiggled her body, and a feeling of more, more, more rushed into Ivy’s mind. Before she could even blink, Latias let out a frankly incredible Dragon Breath. Purple draconic energy completely torched the underbrush at the edge of the forest, sending several Wynaut running. Latias stopped midway through and squeaked out an apology.

Ivy just laughed and ran forward to hug Latias around the neck. Latias cooed and did her best to hug Ivy back with her stubby arms. Feelings of joy and pride entered her mind.

“That’s fantastic, Latias! You’ve come so far!”

“She really has. She’s progressed much further than even I expected she would.”

Ivy broke out of the hug to turn towards Astra, who watched the scene with a smile.

Beaming, Ivy bowed as low as she could. “Thank you so much for your help! I don’t think I’d have been able to properly help Latias without you.”

Astra laughed. “Oh, you wouldn’t have. But there’s no need to be so respectful! You got help with your team, and I got to talk with a Legendary Pokémon for over a week straight. It’s an equivalent exchange in my mind.”

Latias cooed.

“Yes, I’ve enjoyed talking to you as well! I’m honored you think so highly of my company.”

Latias babbled something and Astra shook her head with a smile. Ivy, as usual, had no idea what was going on, but whatever. She’d gotten used to it by this point.

“So, we’re leaving now, then?”

Astra stretched. “We should be good to go! As long as Latias keeps practicing her Psychic type moves, she shouldn’t fall back into any bad habits. You’ve beaten Wattson, yes? I would recommend teaching her Shockwave to help familiarize herself even further with how Type Energy feels. And once she reaches a point where she can easily use her moves, I suggest teaching her Aura Sphere. I suspect with her skill in manipulating Aura, she will have a very strong one.”

Ivy took all that in with a grin. As necessary as this had been, it was a bit boring on the island and Ivy was ready to leave.

Before long, she packed up her backpack and returned all her Pokémon, remembering how Mightyena had disliked the trip over.

Still giddy over being able to use a warp tile in person, Ivy relished in leaping onto the tile and feeling that strange vibration in her body. Back in the supply closet, she waited for Astra to appear. Ivy wasn’t quite confident she could navigate herself out of the back halls of the Mossdeep Gym.

When Astra materialized, she checked her watch. “Hmm, seems like we were gone a bit longer than I had anticipated. Still within schedule, but that’s another one for the calculations.”

“Huh?”

Astra was baffling, but that was a completely different kind of baffling than usual.

She let out a laugh. “Check the date on your PokéNav.”

Confused, Ivy did as she was told.

Her jaw dropped.

Her PokéNav, which had been oddly glitchy on the island, was working once more. More than that, the calendar boldly stated that it was Wednesday, August 6th—the same day they had left. Her eyes flicked up to the time. That had changed. They had left for the island around 9:30, but it was now, apparently, just shy of four in the afternoon.

“Wh-what?”

Astra winked and brushed past Ivy. Acting on autopilot, Ivy followed.

“My super secret training spot! It’s a small island that isn’t quite within our reality, but not in a completely different one either. Its location changes every day and time doesn’t flow in the same way. Mirage Island, I’ve heard it’s called. Apt enough name, I suppose. I’m just so glad my warp tile idea worked! It used to be such a pain looking for it every single day.”

Ivy just followed silently. She had no idea what to say to that.

“Now, it seems like my children and Steven are, hmm, at the Space Center. I’m sure if you hurry you can catch up to them and have some fun yourself. Now, run along, kiddo! Have some fun before things get serious, alright?”

Chapter Text

Shelly walked into Mt Chimney Regional Park’s main building like she owned it. Confidence got you nearly anything, and Shelly had confidence to spare.

She leaned towards the receptionist with a smile. “I’m here to see my cousin, Tabitha. They work in the research wing of the Rangers department.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

Shelly let out a small laugh and held up a takeout bag. “No, just was in the area and wanted to have some lunch with them.”

“I can call and see if they’re free. Your name is…?”

“Shelly. And tell them that there’s some big family news they need to know.”

-

“Cousin? Really?” was the first thing out of Tabitha’s mouth as they and Shelly exited the building for a more secluded area.

Shelly shrugged. “What was I supposed to say? ‘Yeah, they’re my former coworker turned mortal enemy’? That so-o-o would’ve gotten me in.”

Tabitha rolled their eyes. “Would’ve felt more realistic than cousins. So, dear cousin, what is this big family news you were so desperate to speak of?”

That sobered Shelly. It was familiar, bantering with Tabitha like this. They’d met nearly a decade ago, after they had both just graduated from high school and gotten choice jobs as junior researchers for Devon. Working for Devon was the sort of thing every aspiring researcher wished for, and Shelly and Tabitha had quickly developed a friendly rivalry. They were the youngest in the office and starry eyed in their ambitions. Her friends and their friends quickly became one group.

Sometimes, Shelly regretted getting the Devon gig. Her eighteen year old self had been so proud, but looking back at twenty-seven, it had caused more problems than good memories.

Problems like the one she was breaking the Aqua-Magma rivalry for.

Silently, she took the papers she’d gotten from the Weather Institute out of her tote bag and handed them over. Tabitha quirked an eyebrow but read them anyways.

Shelly leaned back and watched his reaction. Their face was carefully neutral, but Shelly could see a frown form as they flipped through the data.

“This is…”

“Yeah.”

Neither Shelly nor Tabitha had ever been as enamored with the tales of Kyogre and Groudon as Archie and Maxie. They were people of science and facts, and most of what was known about the Super-Ancient Pokémon were rumors and folktales. That damned Courtney had been the one to bring them up and everything had been downhill since.

The thrill of adventure had enticed Archie. The power of knowledge had seduced Maxie. And Courtney and Matt would do whatever the other two did. Shelly and Tabitha had gone along because those were their friends and that’s what friends did.

But this? This was the point where you cut through the Tauros-shit and made your friends see reason because otherwise you were just an enabler, not a friend. Frankly, she should’ve put a stop to this years ago, but Shelly wasn’t perfect. She was trying now and that was what mattered. She hoped.

“And do they know? The extent of it?”

Shelly snorted. “Of course they do. Archie even visited Granite Cave and looked at that mural depicting the destruction they caused. They’re just utterly convinced that Courtney’s plan with the orbs will be enough to avert it.”

Tabitha shook their head. “Courtney is thorough in her research, but to put all your hopes in a barely known folktale…”

“That’s exactly what I told Archie.” Shelly crossed her arms, glaring at the sign with the park’s name on it. Maybe if she stared for long enough, she would magically learn Incinerate and destroy it. That’d be some needed catharsis. “I know Archie. I know that he knows this isn’t a good idea and too risky, but he doesn’t want to lose to Maxie.”

“It’s a similar thing with Maxie,” Tabitha admitted. “He’s been spacing out at work lately. The others think it has to do with him getting reprimanded for what happened on Chimney’s crater, but that’s not it. Knowing how far the Pokémon League are going to protect the orbs has shaken him.”

“I still can’t believe your ‘secret base’ is just an unused lab in the same building as your day job,” Shelly muttered.

Tabitha gave her a nasty side eye. “How’s your cave?”

“Oh, fuck off.”

Despite the topic, they both smiled. Shelly had rather missed this.

“I was thinking of getting Archie and Maxie together. To explain just why this is such a bad idea.”

“Getting them in a room together? That’s not going to end well.”

“Probably not,” Shelly conceded. “I was thinking that if we locked them in a room together, they’d either realize how stupid their plans are or have hate sex. Do you think that’d get them to stop being idiots?”

“…No. Unfortunately.”

“Ugh.”

They sat in silence for a while. Eventually, Shelly stood and stretched, sweat rolling down the back of her neck. She liked the heat, but on a beach while wearing a bikini, not on a mountain while fully clothed.

“I’ll text you a date and place. Archie’s still scrambling from that brat and his damn Legendary Pokémon, but once Team Aqua’s back in order, we can have that intervention. Don’t let Courtney know.”

“Of course. Hopefully we can get this done like civilized individuals.”

Shelly stared off into the distance. Either her plan would work or go terribly. It wasn’t reasonable to put all her hopes on something she couldn’t tell the outcome of—in fact, it was the exact thing she was chiding Archie for. But what other choice did she have? Plans were in motion, and she was only one person, flinging herself against fate in an attempt to stop it.

“Yeah. Hopefully.”

-

The Mossdeep Space Center was one of the coolest places Ivy had ever been. It reminded her that she was never able to properly visit the Oceanic Museum back in Slateport. Maybe when she had all of her badges she could finally stop by. That’d be fun.

It was just a shame she didn’t get to look around more. Even sprinting most of the way, she only managed to get there in time to spend an hour looking at exhibits. At least Steven more than made up for it during dinner. He seemed much more cheerful compared to that morning, and he had a knowledge of space to rival his knowledge of rocks. By the time they dropped the nearly asleep Mossdeep Gym Leaders off at their home, Ivy had learned as much as she would have if she’d spent the whole day at the Space Center.

Steven had been just as interested in hearing about Mirage Island. Ivy practically preened during that part of the conversation. Steven was listening to her! Like she had something useful to say! How amazing!

“Oh!” Steven said as they left for his home and the Pokémon Center respectively. “I received a reply about your mysterious Mega Stone from my friend in Kalos.”

Ivy blinked. She had completely forgotten about that. “Cool! What is it?”

“We don’t know,” he admitted. “He actually has another in his collection just like it, but that one is also labelled as unknown. He thinks, and I agree, that since there was one each found in both Hoenn and Kalos that it likely belongs to a Pokémon natively found in both regions. He’ll be bringing in Pokémon to see if any have a reaction to being near his stone, but he’s a busy man and this isn’t a priority so it might take a while.”

“Oh.”

Steven gave her an apologetic smile. “Probably not quite what you wanted to hear; I know. I wish I could help out as well, but it will have to wait until all this ends.”

“Team Aqua and Magma,” Ivy muttered, frowning. Obviously, all of Astra’s ominous words had been about whatever their plans were. And if Astra was right, it seemed like things were about to reach the boiling point.

“Yes. We found Team Aqua’s hideout in Lilycove which—”

“Wait, what?” Ivy stopped and stared at Steven. “When did that happen?”

Steven fidgeted with one of his rings as he turned to face Ivy. “You didn’t hear? It’s been all over the news.

Ivy crossed her arms, defensive. “I don’t watch the news!”

“Your friend, the one who had been in Slateport with you and is friends with Lisia, he was the one to uncover the hideout’s location. He didn’t tell you?”

“Brendan did what now?”

“He was in Lilycove for a Contest I’m told and, well, he seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Or perhaps the wrong place and time depending on how you view things. Either way, it seemed like Latios—”

“Latios?”

On Ivy’s belt, the Poké Ball with a sparkly sticker of the Dragon type symbol shook. Ivy put her hand over it. As much as she agreed that Latias deserved to hear this, they were still in the middle of Mossdeep. It was late, but there were enough people walking home from restaurants that Ivy felt uncomfortable releasing her.

Steven looked almost flustered. “Yes? It seems Latios was looking into it by himself and dragged Brendan into it as backup. Again, I had expected he would’ve told you since he also caught Latios.”

“What!?”

What!?

Despite her doubts, Ivy couldn’t blame Latias for releasing herself from her Poké Ball. She squeaked, and got right up to Steven, who definitely looked flustered now. She babbled and waved her arms around, ignoring the whispers from the pedestrians around them.

Steven eyed them, however. “We should really talk about this privately.”

Ivy opened her mouth to reply but, before she could, Claydol was out and the four of them were Teleported to another location.

-

Ivy and Latias listened intently as Steven explained what happened in Lilycove City over a week ago now. It happened during her stay in Fortree, but Ivy had somehow missed it. It did, however, explain why it had taken so long to battle Winona—as the gym leader closest to Lilycove, she’d been called in to help.

By the time he finished, Latias was ignoring them, deep in thought. Ivy couldn’t blame her. Ivy couldn’t say she knew Latios well but allowing himself to be caught seemed almost out of character.

“I’m sorry,” Steven said a second time. “I would have brought this up earlier if I had known you weren’t aware of it.”

Ivy shook her head wildly. “No! I should… probably look at the news sometimes, or something. It’s not your fault at all!”

Latias cooed in agreement.

“But,” Ivy continued, “it’s good, right? You captured a bunch of Team Aqua grunts and they can’t use their hideout now!”

Steven’s face was carefully blank. “Hopefully. The Pokémon League will be back in session within the week, so we can only hope this destabilization of Team Aqua deters them from trying anything.”

Ivy blinked. “I thought it closed because of a family emergency.”

Steven chuckled, and Latias discretely whacked Ivy in the side to stop her from sighing in delight. Had Blaziken given her instructions on what to do if Ivy was around Steven? How rude!

“So, you knew that news at least? But, no. Don’t tell anyone, but it was closed so the Elite Four could guard the orbs the teams are after and try to find their leaders.”

“Huh.”

Latias was giving Ivy an exasperated look, so she tried to stop thinking about how amazing Steven was for trusting her with this information! So kind, so—

A mental blanket was thrown over her thoughts, quieting them even to Ivy herself. It was a bit disconcerting.

“Fine!” Ivy complained out loud, to Steven’s confusion. She cleared her throat. “I should probably be getting back to the Center. It’s been a very long day.”

Steven smiled slightly. “Almost like you’ve been through ten days in one?”

Ivy blinked. Then burst into laughter. “Exactly! You’re so funny!”

His smile faltered. “It… wasn’t that funny.”

“It was hilarious!”

Steven glanced nervously at Latias, who rolled her eyes.

“Well, do you need any help getting back to the Pokémon Center you’re staying at?”

At Latias’s mental push, Ivy stopped her silly giggling. “I’m good!” Steven had taken them to a secluded beach outside of the city. She couldn’t see his house, but they were probably near it, so they were likely near the Pokémon Center she had checked herself into.

“Then goodnight, and I wish you luck for when you challenge the gym again.”

-

“Let’s do this—”

“—we’ll win this time, too!”

Ivy grinned as the twins released Xatu and Claydol. There was technically no official waiting time if you lost a gym battle, but Ivy had waited a day, just to give her Pokémon a break after the long days spent training on Mirage Island.

Did she have a strategy? Not really, even after all her time on Mirage Island. It seemed like Ivy wasn’t ever going to follow in her dad’s footsteps and be a double battle pro. She just didn’t have the mindset for it. But she was pretty good at winging things, and doing something for the second time was always easier than the first time around! She was confident she’d be the winner this time.

“Let’s do this!”

Mightyena and Vibrava appeared opposite the two Psychic types.

“Light Screen!”

“Calm Mind!”

Ivy nodded to herself. While Tate and Liza were strong trainers, they were also young. She had expected them to start off the same as before.

“Both of you, Crunch!”

Mightyena shot forward, Howling, quickly making her way across the field. Vibrava, still getting the hang of flying, followed behind her.

The goal this time around was to get that pesky Xatu out of the way as quickly as possible.

Tate and Liza seemed to realize too late that Ivy’s Pokémon were ganging up on Xatu instead of picking an opponent each. Mightyena jumped up, jaws crackling with dark energy as she bit into the mystic Pokémon. As she fell to the ground, she made sure that Xatu hit the floor first, landing on Xatu for extra damage.

Nimbly, she tossed Xatu back into the air, right into Vibrava’s waiting jaws.

“Hey—”

“—that’s not fair!”

“You can’t do that!”

Ivy crossed her arms. “I totally can!”

She looked over at the referee who nodded. “It may not be sporting, but it is certainly legal.”

“There!”

Tate and Liza both glared at her. Ivy would’ve felt bad arguing with a pair of little kids, but she wanted to win.

By this point, Vibrava had released Xatu who weakly floated back to its side of the field.

“Well, two—”

“—can play at that game! Claydol, Extrasensory!”

“Xatu, Dazzling Gleam!”

“Mightyena, work through it! Thunder Fang!”

In the air, Vibrava suddenly went stiff. She dropped to the ground right as Xatu lit up the field.

Mightyena, who had been trotting towards Xatu, continued doing so even as she grimaced in pain from the bright light. When the glow faded, she was right under Xatu. With a leap, she bit down on Xatu sending electricity arcing through its body.

This time, Ivy was the one to get the first faint of the battle.

“Yes!” she couldn’t help but cheer. Already, this was going much better.

Tate stomped a foot as he recalled Xatu, pouting. “No fair,” he muttered as he released Solrock.

A high-pitched drone filled the room causing all of the human occupants, and Mightyena, to wince. Vibrava had been released from Claydol’s Extrasensory and she was mad.

“Vibrava,” Ivy warned, but it was no use.

Draconic purple flames spewed from Vibrava’s mouth, engulfing Claydol and Solrock. However, Light Screen was still up, so the damage was minimal.

The buzzing grew louder when Vibrava saw that her attack did basically nothing.

“Vibrava, it won’t work! Focus on using Crunch!”

Vibrava ignored her, spewing out another burst of Dragon Breath. Mightyena yelped as she hurried to get out of the way. It seemed like friendly fire wasn’t a problem for Vibrava at the moment.

Ivy grit her teeth. She didn’t want to recall Vibrava, but if she ignored one more command, Ivy would.

Meanwhile, Tate and Liza were looking confident.

“Sunny Day!”

“Solar Beam!”

Right as Vibrava’s second stream of Dragon Breath ended, Solrock glowed, sending a red orb up into the air. Even through the psychic barrier, Ivy could feel it heat up.

“Vibrava, back! Now!”

But Vibrava wasn’t listening to her. Mightyena ran back, but Vibrava clicked aggressively, darting forward.

She didn’t get far. With Sunny Day up, Claydol was able to instantly fire a Solar Beam onto the vibration Pokémon.

With a sigh, Ivy returned Vibrava. Maybe that would be a lesson in humility, and she would listen to Ivy the next time around. Ivy lightly tossed out her next Pokémon.

Blaziken appeared on the field in a battle-ready stance. He was still upset at how poorly things had gone last time and was ready to get even.

“Now, Flamethrower and Crunch!”

Blaziken immediately let loose a jet of flames right towards Claydol. Due to his height, Mightyena easily ducked and ran underneath them.

However, this time Tate and Liza were ready for the gang up tactic.

“Solar Beam!”

“Earthquake!”

Flamethrower made contact, though the Light Screen noticeably reduced the intensity of its flames. Even with the hit, Claydol obediently released an intense beam of green light. Several meters away, Solrock dropped to the ground, causing it to tremble.

Her poor pooch stood no chance. Mightyena leapt towards Claydol, but the Solar Beam hit, sending her tumbling right into the Earthquake.

At the very least, Blaziken was able to execute a method they’d come up with to dodge Earthquake. Similar to how Seadra launched herself into the air via Water Gun, he launched himself high into the sky with Double Kick, then used Flamethrower at the ground to keep himself aloft. He didn’t stay in the sky as well as Seadra did, but he managed to miss most of the Earthquake.

“You got Xatu,” Ivy said as she recalled her. “You did good. Now, let’s go Seadra! Ice Beam, immediately!”

This time around, Ivy had been paying attention to the Light Screen that surrounded her opponents. Its glow faltered and faded right as Seadra entered the field.

Seadra immediately complied, allowing the super effective move to hit. Blaziken, who had used his time in the air to maneuver himself closer to Claydol and Solrock, also hit Claydol with a close-range Flamethrower.

The two powerful moves fainted the clay doll Pokémon.

“Aww!” Liza complained as she sent out Lunatone. “Light Screen, quick as you can, then Moonblast!”

“Solar Beam!”

“Brick Break and Rain Dance!”

Blaziken’s body briefly distorted and blurred from Light Screen, but only briefly. His strong legs hit Solrock, sending the meteorite Pokémon to the ground and shattering the mostly invisible screens that surrounded it and Lunatone. Solrock’s Solar Beam was cut off before it could properly start, saving Seadra from a potential faint.

He wasn’t able to save himself from Lunatone’s Moonblast, however. The pinkish-white attack hit him head on. It also clipped Solrock slightly, which Ivy took as a win.

Ivy nodded as she recalled Blaziken and quickly swapped him out for Latias. “You did exactly what you needed to do! Now, Seadra!”

Sunny Day was gone and hadn’t been set back up while Blaziken was breaking the Light Screen. While he wouldn’t like Ivy’s assessment that his faint was the best possible outcome right there, it was the truth that Latias was a better fit for what was coming. With a light rain falling from the clouds that hovered around the gym’s ceiling, Seadra had Surf up and ready within seconds. The crashing waves roared and dragged Lunatone and Solrock down.

Latias zipped up into the sky, out of reach of the hungry waves.

A feeling wiggled its way into her mind. The two Psychic Pokémon had used Protect, but their strength to hold the move was fading.

Ivy nodded, grinning. She was so close to winning now. “Keep it up Seadra! You can keep Surf going longer than they can keep Protect up! Latias, Mist Ball!”

Latias fluffed herself up until she looked like an angry Torchic, then molted a wave of feathers with a jolt of her wings. Another twitch of her wings sent the feathers speeding towards the meteorite Pokémon. Still not the smoothest the move could be, but they were working on it.

Ivy didn’t need to Latias’ psychic cheers to know that the additional moves helped break the two Pokémon’s Protects. Across the field, both Tate and Liza shuddered in unison.

After another minute, twin beams recalled Solrock and Lunatone.

“Aw…”

“Boo…”

Ivy punched a fist in the air. “We did it!”

Seadra shuddered as she released hold of the Surf, letting herself drop to the ground, panting from exhaustion. Ivy quickly recalled her sweet dragon who had done her job marvelously. She repeated that out loud to Seadra’s Poké Ball, then to Latias who zoomed down and around Ivy in excitement. Latias chirped the whole time, literally vibrating from happiness. She hadn’t done much, but she had helped them win the battle and that was all she had wanted.

As Ivy approached Tate and Liza for the usual after battle pleasantries, Latias flew away from Ivy to fly loops around the twins. They shrieked in delight, immediately abandoning Ivy to play with Latias.

“Congratulations. That battle was much better than your first attempt.”

Ivy grinned at Astra and took out the proffered Mind Badge and TM for Calm Mind. She’d noticed the older woman had been there when the battle had started, but Ivy had ignored her in favor of focusing on the battle. “Thanks! Being on Mirage Island helped a lot.”

Astra inclined her head, taking in the unsaid thanks. “You have just Sootopolis left, then?”

“Mhm! Though…”

“You want to deal with Spiritomb first.” Astra finished.

“Yeah.”

Astra nodded in approval. “While you could take on Wallace with five Pokémon, you’d certainly have an easier time with six. Training with Phoebe would do wonders if you manage to do so.”

Ivy didn’t like the sound of that. “If?”

Astra closed her eyes and hummed. “If,” she agreed.

Ivy waited for Astra to continue, but she didn’t.

“Um, well. I’ll be going then.”

“I’d stop by Lilycove first if I were you.”

Ivy blinked. “Eh? Is this some prophecy thing?”

Astra laughed. “No, no. Just a reminder to stop by a Pokémon Center or a Poké Mart first before you go climb a mountain. Better to be prepared, hmm? Especially one filled with Ghost types. The shops in Lilycove have better tools for hiking Mt Pyre due to its proximity.”

Right. That made sense. Ivy let out a nervous laugh. “Of course. Thank you for the advice.”

“Of course, kiddo! And remember to call your parents! I’m sure your dad would love to hear how you’re doing!”

There was a snicker off to the side from one of the gym trainers.

Yeah, Ivy was leaving immediately. If she didn’t, Astra would probably try to embarrass her further. “Yeah, sure,” she mumbled, blushing. “Bye! Thanks for the badge!”

Chapter Text

Ivy was pretty sure Astra had been lying about going to Lilycove not being a prophecy thing. Latias took a leisurely thirty minutes to fly to a deserted beach just outside Lilycove. After returning the eon Pokémon, Ivy hummed as she hit the edges of the bustling city and was almost immediately tackled into a hug.

“IVY!” a familiar voice squealed as someone rammed into her. They hit the ground. Ivy shrieked at the sudden contact, but the other person didn’t let up.

“…Lisia?” Ivy wheezed out.

“It’s been forever since we saw each other! How are you? It’s been fantastic here with Brendan and I, and, oh! Are you here for his Master Rank Contest?”

“Huh?” Ivy managed to croak out. Lisia had her arms around Ivy’s neck, and it was getting hard to breathe. Seriously, how did someone so skinny get so strong?

“Lisia,” a soft but firm voice chided. “What have we said about tackling people?”

That finally got Lisia to loosen her grip. With a squeak, she jumped up and off Ivy before offering a hand to help Ivy up.

“Sorry, sorry! It’s just been forever since we’ve seen you and I got excited!”

“It’s fine!” Ivy said once she was able to take a deep breath. “It’s nice to see you too! How’s Brendan? And, wait,” something Lisia had said… “He’s competing in a Master Rank Contest?”

Lisia beamed. If her smile were any brighter, she’d literally be shining. “Yes! Tomorrow night! Ohhh, I’m so proud! He’s made so much progress in such a short time, and he didn’t even let his loss get to him, and—”

“Lissi.”

“Right, right, I need to remember to breath!”

“Not that,” the woman said with a slight laugh. There was no doubt that she was anyone but Lisia’s mother. She looked a lot like Lisia, but older, elegant rather than cute, and leaning on a cane. Ivy remembered that old copy of Coordinator’s Weekly she’d seen in Sea Mauville. This had to be one of the two girls on the cover, grown up.

She held up a bag, then gestured towards one on the ground Lisia had dropped when tackling Ivy. “We were getting lunch, weren’t we? Would you like to invite your friend?”

“Right!” Lisia turned to Ivy, smiling brightly. “Would you like to have lunch with us? It’s mostly pastries, but it’s good!”

Well, who was Ivy to turn down food? “Of course!”

-

Lisia and her mom brought Ivy to a secluded park where they ate lunch under a shiny, white gazebo. Ivy had visited a Pokémon Center before leaving Mossdeep so her Pokémon were all healed up, but they were delighted by the prospect of lunch. Ali was also delighted to see Blaziken again. Vibrava seemed a bit down, but Ivy couldn’t help but think that was a good thing. She needed a loss to learn that being a Dragon type didn’t suddenly mean she was the smartest and strongest on the field. They could talk about it later when it was just the two of them.

She also couldn’t help but note that neither Lisia nor her mother reacted strongly to seeing Latias. It seemed like Brendan had shown them his Latios.

A light, slightly salty breeze flew through the park. Ivy had been to Lilycove City once before, the only trip she’d ever taken to eastern Hoenn before her Pokémon journey. It had been in the first year or so of her dad’s time as a gym leader and he’d gone to take part in a large tournament. That tournament was one of the last he’d competed in. He’d taken Ivy and her mom along with him as a family vacation.

Ivy remembered having a lot of fun. Before, she’d only ever seen Littleroot Town and Olivine City. Going to a city even larger than Olivine had been eye opening for little eight year old Ivy.

Lilycove reminded Ivy a lot of Olivine. They were both large, sprawling cities on the ocean known for their tourism. It was nostalgic in a way, even if Ivy rarely thought about Olivine nowadays and her memories of the Johtonian city were hazy.

She had to admit though that Lilycove was probably prettier than Olivine. It was known for its arts scene and its fashion district, and it showed. Every inch of the city just seemed so classy. The park they were in was gorgeous, with perfectly cared for flower beds and pretty, white benches and gazebos. Oddish and Budew hopped between the flowers, while a flock of Swablu roosted on one of the gazebo’s, trilling out a song. It was almost something out of a movie with how perfect it looked.

The food was really good, too. Lisia and her mom, Stella, had good taste.

“So, Brendan’s here and he’s competing in a Master Rank Contest?” Ivy asked, making sure she swallowed before she spoke. It felt wrong to talk with her mouth full in the presence of two graceful ladies.

“Mhm! The Beauty category, with Pikachu! He didn’t tell you? I would’ve thought that’s why you’re here…”

Ivy winced. “We’ve… not really been talking.”

Understatement. It’d been over a month since she’d last spoken to Brendan. Almost as long as the time they’d spent on the road together. Could they even really call each other friends with those numbers?

Ivy shook her head. She stood up, one fist in the air, the other holding on to her pastry at her side. “But you know what? That’s gonna change! I said I’d be there for his Master Rank Contest, and I will! I’m going to talk to him whether he likes it or not!”

Lisia looked like she was about to start cheering before her smile faded. “That—well, that sounds very nice, but should we be bothering him right before his Contest? He gets so nervous sometimes…”

“It’ll be fine!” Ivy said, plopping back down onto the bench. “He’ll be thrilled to see me!”

-

“Oh. You.”

Brendan was not thrilled to see her. He studiously didn’t look at her, instead staring at the small lake that dominated most of the backyard of Stella and Lisia’s house.

Ivy shuffled a foot in the dirt, confidence falling. She was rather glad Stella had convinced Lisia she was needed elsewhere while Ivy and Brendan talked. This would’ve been even more awkward, otherwise.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself. It hurt to say, but—

“I’m sorry. For, y’know, completely brushing you off and doing that tournament instead of telling someone about Team Magma. It-it was really selfish of me, and you were completely right.”

Brendan said nothing. He continued to stare at Swellow playing with Grovyle on the lake shore.

“Uh, um.” This wasn’t going to plan. Not like Ivy had a plan but, if she did, she would’ve expected Brendan to say something by this point. “Oh! I also got you this! I actually found it a while back, before we even met back up, but I completely forgot to give it to you in Verdanturf…”

As she spoke, Ivy kneeled and started searching through her bag. She knew it was still in there, just where…

“You still haven’t organized that thing?” There was a note of amusement in Brendan’s voice, which Ivy considered a win.

“Nope! Not that… aha!” With a flourish, she held up the claw-like fossil. “Look! A fossil! I found it in the desert when I caught Vibrava. I remembered you saying you’d always wanted to find a fossil for your dad. I saw this and went, oh! I can give this to Brendan, and he can give it to his dad as a present!”

Brendan stared at her, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.

“You… you went and found a fossil for me?”

“Well… it’s not like I was looking for one, but I took the opportunity when I stumbled on it!”

“That’s…”

Brendan didn’t seem to know how to continue that sentence. Ivy’s beaming grin turned hopeful.

He sighed and looked down. “I should say sorry, too. When I said I didn’t want to talk to you, I didn’t mean forever. When my dad told me that I should look out for anyone named Team Magma because Norman said they were a danger, I should’ve called you then. It was just petty of me to not do so.”

Ivy shook her head, Tepig-tails whipping across her face. “No! You were in the right, and I was in the wrong! If you didn’t want to talk to me ever then you had a right to!”

Brendan pursed his lips. “We were both in the wrong.” He paused. “You mostly, but I could’ve done more too.”

He straightened and held out a hand. “Friends?”

Bewildered, but excited, Ivy took it. “Of course! Friends!”

For the first time in almost two months, Brendan smiled at her. Ivy couldn’t help but beam back.

“So! Did I seriously have to hear from Steven that you have a Latios? How the hell did that happen?”

-

Latios, for his part, seemed very apologetic to Ivy about the whole attacking her in the middle of the night thing. Brendan paled when he learned that bit of backstory, but Ivy waved his worries off.

“It’s a day of mending friendships! It’s all in the past!”

Latias didn’t seem as enthused as Brendan in trying to mend her friendship with Latios. He let out a stream of babbles once Ivy released her, but Latias barely seemed to be listening. She seemed more interested in talking to Pikachu. Latios eventually gave up, his fins drooping as he slowly trailed away.

Ivy’s game of catch up with Brendan was going slightly smoother. The two of them sat on the steps that led up to the back door of Lisia’s house. She listened with a frown as Brendan explained how he’d met Latios and his infiltration of the Team Aqua base.

“That explains things… a bit.”

She then had to explain her interaction with Team Aqua at the Weather Institute. They’d stolen a bunch of data, and while Ivy still wasn’t sure why, it seemed like the woman, Shelly, had been trying to dissuade her boss from his plans.

“At least someone on Team Aqua has a brain,” Ivy couldn’t help but mutter. Beside her, Brendan snorted.

After that, the conversation turned less serious. Ivy enthused about the three badges she’d gotten since Fallarbor, while Brendan shyly talked about how his Contests were going. He planned to do the Beauty Master Rank in Lilycove, then go on to Slateport to do the Cool Master Rank there with Grovyle.

“To finish where we started, you know? It feels right.”

Impulsively, Ivy grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Brendan turned bright red. “And I’ll be at that one too! I have a stop to make on Mt Pyre first, but I’ll meet up with you there, I swear! We can even go to the Oceanic Museum together, for real this time!”

Brendan seemed hung up on an earlier part of her speech. He frowned in concern as his blush faded. “Mt Pyre? What do you need to do there?”

Ivy shook her head. “Just need to meet someone and I was told they’d be there. It’s not important—”

The back door to the house opened.

“Are you guys—oh!” Lisia looked down between the two of them at their conjoined hands. “Sorry! Um, I’ll just…”

Before Ivy could snatch her hand away from Brendan’s, Lisia shut the door with a slam.

Ivy felt her cheeks heat up.

“That was…”

“She totally misinterpreted that.”

“Yeah!”

“Yeah.”

They stared at each other, both flushed from embarrassment at being caught in such a mortifying position.

“We should…” Brendan cleared his throat. “We should probably go see what she wants.”

Ivy stood, thankful for the direction. “Yeah, totally. It was probably important.”

Before Brendan could move, she darted through the door, slamming it shut in his face.

-

Ivy wasn’t sure how Lisia kept talking her into these things.

“It’s a Master Rank Contest! You have to look nice since there’s reporters and photographers there,” Lisia explained for what seemed like the eighteenth time that hour.

Ivy frowned, looking down at her dark grey skirt. She didn’t own anything particularly fancy, so she was wearing some of Lisia’s clothing. Her old clothing, because Lisia was half a foot taller than Ivy and only her hand-me-downs fit. Even then, the skirt being loaned was a bit too tight and too short, showing off the bite mark scars on her legs that Vibrava had gifted her as a Trapinch.

“Do I have to wear a skirt?”

“None of my pants will fit. Our body types are way too different. And, well, none of yours are nice enough.”

Ivy sighed and decided to drop the subject. Lisia didn’t have to let Ivy borrow some of her clothing; it was rude to continue arguing over something she’d be wearing for two hours, tops.

“Plus,” Lisia said with a smile and a giggle, though she didn’t look Ivy in the eyes, “don’t you want to look nice for Brendan? He’ll be wearing his best, after all.”

Ivy’s cheeks heated up. Oh, no, not that misunderstanding from the day before coming back to haunt her! “Wh-what!? We’re not—it’s not like that!”

Lisia’s pale skin was the one to flush this time around. “N-no? Ahh, I’m so sorry for assuming! You were just holding hands, so…”

This was so embarrassing to talk about, but it was better to clear it up now. Ivy put her head in her hands. “No, no! I mean, I was holding his hand but we’re not d-dating.”

Dating. The word felt way too awkward to even say. Especially about Brendan.

“Oh! Well, good!” Lisia slapped her hands on her cheeks. “I-I mean, not good, but okay! Fine! Not dating someone is a perfectly fine state to be in!”

Somehow, Lisia looked more flustered than Ivy. Ivy couldn’t help it; she started giggling. Lisia’s mortified expression slowly melted as Ivy’s giggles continued and became contagious. In no time, both girls were in hysterics, even if the situation wasn’t that funny.

Ivy wiped a stray tear from her eye as their giggles finally began to die down. “Change the subject?”

“Yes, please,” Lisia said fervently. “Oh! I know! I can give you a rundown of everyone who’ll be competing!”

“Ah, yay…” Ivy didn’t really care, but any topic was better than the previous one.

“Alright so, there’s Brendan, of course, but also Lilias. She’s in Spectacular’s for Clever usually, but recently decided to branch out into the Beauty rank…”

-

Brendan left for the Lilycove Contest Hall before them. Being around people (or rather, being around Lisia and her high energy, probably) made him nervous. Lisia obviously didn’t like it, but she let Brendan have his own pre-Contest rituals.

It did mean though that Ivy got to be introduced to Juan, a former gym leader. Wallace had already taken his spot as the Sootopolis City Gym Leader by the time Ivy moved to Hoenn, and it was still pretty cool to talk to a former gym leader in such a casual situation. If Ivy was bothering him with all her questions about what Hoenn was like before she and her family moved there, then he was nice enough to not show it.

Lisia had been right—there were cameras everywhere as they entered the Lilycove Contest Hall and gave the attendant their tickets. Ivy felt incredibly awkward, especially considering the company she was with. Two former Contest stars, a current one, and then there was Ivy. Tagging along awkwardly in her too short and too tight hand-me-down skirt.

“Master Rank Contests are rarer than the other ranks,” Lisia whispered, bumping her shoulder against Ivy’s. It seemed she had noticed Ivy’s nervousness. “That’s why they’re out like this. Especially since the Contest Spectacular season is starting soon. There are only so many Master Rank events left for qualification for next season.”

She went on to babble about the minutia of Contest scheduling. Apparently, Lilycove did theirs differently than Slateport. Instead of scheduling by type of Contest, they sorted by rank. There had already been four Master Rank Contests earlier in the day, which explained the exhaustion that seemed to permeate the press section.

Ivy nodded like any of that made sense to her. At the very least, they were shown to a private box where Ivy could finally relax some.

It wasn’t long before the Contest started, interrupting Lisia’s babbling.

“Hello-o-o everyone and thank you to coming out to Lilycove City for one of the last Beauty Master Rank Contests before the new Contest Spectacular season starts! There are many hopefuls here wishing to turn their Contest dreams into reality, but only one can win a ribbon! Without further ado, let’s begin!”

The crowd cheered and Ivy cheered as well, even if she thought the emcee’s opening speech was a bit dramatic.

Introducing the three judges made her mind wander, but soon enough the actual competition began.

Master Rank routines lasted two minutes. That sounded like a long time to be performing one routine, but that was also the challenge inherent of the rank—how do you embody the category of Beauty and how do you keep an audience’s attention for the whole two minutes?

The first coordinator walked onto the stage as if she owned it. At the buzzer, a graceful throw released a Vileplume in a shower of golden sparkles. Before the sparkles (“A Sinnohan ball capsule,” Lisia whispered at Ivy’s surprised look) even faded, there was a similar golden glow emanating from the Vileplume that quickly darkened into a reddish orb. Sunny Day.

Simultaneously, grass grew over the stage, swaying and shining slightly under the harsh sunlight. The Vileplume let out a sweet-sounding giggle as it began to dance across the stage, and its trainer (Lilias, one of the names Lisia had mentioned) danced alongside it. Something sweet-smelling wafted over the audience, Aromatherapy.

Unlike Pikachu with her bows in the last Contest Ivy had seen, Vileplume wasn’t particularly dressed up. It just had a small tiara around the center of its flower, with beaded strings flowing down its petals. As it twirled, the beads sparkled under Sunny Day. Bright points of light appeared across the stage around Vileplume and Lilias; a weak but widespread Dazzling Gleam if Ivy had to guess. The lights continued on for a few seconds before condensing into a few circling spheres, their colors changing from pink to green.

Ivy’s eyebrows rose at that. That was multiple Energy Balls that Vileplume was commanding so casually. Even a battling Pokémon would have difficulty doing that. Using more than one move at once was something that took ages to get down and here Vileplume was using multiple Energy Balls alongside Aromatherapy and possibly Swords Dance.

And people thought coordinators were less skilled than trainers. Ivy doubted there were very many trainers out there who could do all that at the same time during a battle.

The Energy Balls flew across the stage, whirling around Vileplume and Lilias as they continued their dance. As they faded, Lilias stepped back, letting Vileplume take center stage. Its dance sped up, trading the bright lights for brilliant red petals. More and more flowers covered the stage as Vileplume leaped across the stage in its Petal Dance.

The center of its flower glowed, and another Sunny Day orb was released, washing all the red petals in a bright red light. The light grew brighter, until Ivy had to look away. She grimaced; Flash still wasn’t fun to watch. But she had to admit it was a pretty good routine closer.

When she looked back, the stage was cleared of petals, leaving only Vileplume and Lilias. They both curtsied as the buzzer went off.

“Give another round of applause for Lilias and Plumette of Mauville City!”

The audience roared, and Ivy clapped alongside them, thoroughly impressed. “Wow! That was incredible!”

“Eh,” Juan said, shifting slightly in his seat. “It was rather basic.”

Ivy gaped at him. “Basic?”

“A Grass type? Making use of pretty lights and pretty petals? Groundbreaking.”

Ivy’s jaw dropped further as Lisia seemed to agree. “A bit unoriginal, but she was very graceful and Plumette was great at using a lot of moves at once. I’m going to guess… 24.5! For the skill level shown!”

Beside Ivy, Stella chuckled. She nudged Ivy slightly. “Don’t mind them; they’re looking at it from the perspective of coordinators in the industry. What Lilias did was incredible and highly difficult.”

Still, Lisia was spot on. Lilias received a score of 24.5.

Ivy sat back, baffled. If that was only deserving of two 8’s and an 8.5, then what did it take to get a 10?

-

“Give it up for our newest rising stars, coordinator number 8 from Littleroot Town, Brendan Birch and Pikachu!”

Ivy hadn’t been nervous for Brendan when she’d walked into the Contest Hall. After watching the seven previous coordinators, however, she was beginning to get nervous. Only one other coordinator had managed to match Lilias and Plumette’s score of 24.5 and none had gone higher.

Every performance was fantastic. Just completely and utterly mind blowing. How they were getting such average scores was a mystery to Ivy, though Lisia and Juan seemed to agree with the judges every time. Ivy could never be a coordinator; she would have a breakdown if she did all that only to get a 22.

Lisia grabbed Ivy’s arm and squealed as Brendan walked onto stage. Ivy started to clap and let out her own yell before abruptly stopping.

Brendan was like her when it came to clothing. What was comfortable was preferred over what was fashionable.

He was not espousing that belief here.

No, he looked like he had walked off the set of those Galarian period dramas her mom liked to watch. One where he’d been playing the part of the dashing prince. It took her a minute to even register Pikachu was wearing a matching skirt and bonnet. Seeing Brendan in something so crisp and expensive was odd. Ivy wasn’t sure she liked it. Brendan was not meant to be… handsome or whatever. It felt weird.

The buzzer sounded and Ivy leaned back in her chair, hands still hovering in an aborted clap. However his fancy clothing made her feel, she desperately hoped Brendan would make it through.

Brendan bowed and Pikachu curtsied towards the crowd at the same time. They turned to face each other and bowed and curtsied again. Then, they began a slow, circular dance. A waltz, maybe? Ivy didn’t know dances, but it looked like it would fit into some big dance number in a ballroom and those were waltzes, right?

Clouds gathered above them as they continued the Rain Dance. Brendan’s hat with its comically large brim seemed to serve a purpose—it stopped him from getting soaked.

They danced in a circle, and as they neared each other the weather changed—no longer was it Rain Dance, but Snowscape. Snow whirled through the air, seemingly dancing alongside Brendan and Pikachu. Stars swirled around them, from Swift if the occasional twitch of Pikachu’s tail was any indicator.

When they reached the middle, they bowed a third time and Brendan took several steps back to let Pikachu take center stage. She went into the routine Ivy remembered from all the way back in Verdanturf. In a crouch, her tail stuck straight up and moved side to side like the pendulum of a clock. Electricity sparked over her tail before coalescing into an Electro Ball right above it. Pikachu continued moving her tail back and forth, Electro Ball following where her tail went.

Ivy had to stifle an excited shout with her fist. She remembered Brendan saying that was something they were working on.

Slowly, the Electro Ball unfurled into Electroweb, surrounding Pikachu in a cage of sparkling electricity. On either side of her, the snow that had been slowly accumulating hardened into ice. They didn’t seem to take on any particular shape, just sharp pillars of ice, but they were still rather beautiful as they refracted the light from the Electroweb.

Starting from the top, Electroweb slowly dissipated. However, when it reached the ground, a wave of electricity crackled across the stage. Ivy narrowed her eyes. It didn’t stay for long, so it wasn’t Electric Terrain. An incredibly controlled Discharge? Ivy wasn’t sure. Either way, the electricity encircled the icicles causing them to refract the light everywhere, turning them into dual disco balls and lighting up the whole arena with its sparkles.

The effect faded out just as the ending buzzer went off. Brendan stepped forward and the two of them administered their last set of bows.

Ivy jumped to her feet to cheer with the rest of the crowd.

“C’mon!” Ivy said, flopping back down into her seat. “That was awesome! You have to admit that was awesome!”

“It was!” Lisia cheered. “I’m absolutely dazzled! I’m dizzy!”

“It was fine,” Juan allowed with a smile. Ivy and Lisia let out twin gasps of displeasure. “Very beautiful! But you can tell he is relying on the novelty of a Pikachu who knows Ice type moves. Rather rough around the edges in some spots.”

“A diamond in the rough!” Lisia said, puffing out her cheeks.

“If he makes it to the Spectaculars, he’ll have to flesh out the beginning quite a bit. You can only dance-stall for so long before the judges lower your score.”

“Well,” Lisia conceded. “I agree with that. But the ending more than made up for it!”

“That Pikachu certainly is something.”

A hush fell over them as the jumbo screens on either side of the stages showed the judge’s scores.

8, 8, 9. 25.

Brendan was in the lead.

Chapter Text

Despite the fact that Ivy wanted nothing more than to rush backstage and tackle Brendan into a hug, Juan and Stella held her and Lisia back.

“Would Brendan want to be bothered?” Stella asked, arms around her daughter.

“No…” Lisia mumbled, looking distraught. “But I want to tell him how amazing that was!”

“You can wait until the end of the contest.”

Lisia pouted. Ivy pouted alongside her. Logically, Ivy knew Stella was right—Brendan was a bag of nerves on a good day, let alone during something as important as this. Visiting him would probably make him projectile vomit. Still! Ivy wanted to congratulate him for winning round one. He’d blown everyone else out of the water, and he deserved to know that.

“Don’t worry,” Ivy said, patting Lisia’s knee. “Once he has his ribbon, we’ll both hug him until he can’t breathe.”

Lisia brightened while Juan chuckled.

“Dying from the embrace of two beautiful girls, what a wonderful way to go.”

Lisia turned red and Ivy was sure her face matched. What was with people recently thinking she and Brendan were together!? Lisia swatted Juan on the shoulder.

“Master Juan!”

His chuckle turned into a full body laugh. “Sorry, my dear. I’m sure you won’t kill him.”

A booming voice interrupted their conversation.

“Hello-o-o-o Lilycove! We return to our Master Rank Beauty Contest! Here we have our top four coordinators! Please welcome them onto the stage. Audrey and Trode, an electrifying duo! Layla and Gorflir, the beauties from the deep! Lilias and Plumette, showcasing their elegance alongside their sweetness! And, lastly, our quickly rising stars who have taken Hoenn by storm: Brendan and Pikachu!”

The four pairs walked (or rolled or floated) on stage. The crowd went wild as they took their spots across the stage.

“In the Talent Round, you, the audience, decide who wins. With a ribbon and entrance to the exclusive Contest Spectaculars on the line, are you ready to make one coordinator’s dreams a reality!?”

The audience roared in agreement.

“Then, let’s start! Audrey, please begin!”

With an elegant wave of her hand, a girl only a few years older than Ivy and Brendan yelled her command. “Discharge!”

Trode the Electrode immediately obliged, sending a wave of electricity over the stage. There was a decent amount of applause, though Ivy stubbornly crossed her arms. She wouldn’t cheer for anyone but Brendan!

She ignored Stella’s chuckle from beside her.

On stage, Gorflir the Gorebyss created a very large and frankly incredible Whirlpool that towered over the heads of the coordinators and Pokémon. Despite its size, not a single drop of water flew astray from the watery tornado. It got a roar of approval from the crowd. Neither Plumette’s Grassy Terrain nor Pikachu’s Rain Dance got nearly the same amount of applause.

One of the big jumbo screens on the side of the stage showed how the points were allocated for the first round. Predictably, Layla got the full ten points, followed by Audrey, then Brendan, then Lilias.

“Ah, they both went the cautious route,” Juan mumbled to himself, watching the stage intently.

“Huh?”

“They went with less flashy moves since nothing was going to beat that Whirlpool,” Lisia explained, leaning over to speak into Ivy’s ear over the noise of the crowd. “When someone goes big like that on the first move, it can be difficult to outshine so it’s better to use a throwaway move and try a flashier move the next round.”

“Oh.” Contests really were too much with their mind games. Ivy would stick to battling, thanks.

Lisia proved to be right. Trode’s Electro Ball and Gorflir’s Aqua Tail both gained mild applause, while the audience went wild over Plumette’s Petal Blizzard and Pikachu’s Electroweb. After a discussion from the judges, Brendan was declared the winner of set two.

Ivy made sure to cheer extra loud at that announcement.

Unfortunately, Layla and Gorflir took set three with an extremely coordinated and skillful use of Surf. Ivy had to admit it was incredibly impressive. Surf was a powerful move because of how uncontrollable it was, so to see Gorflir keep it all within a certain radius without losing control, Ivy almost wanted to clap.

She didn’t because she wouldn’t do anything to hurt Brendan’s chances. But she was tempted!

Poor Audrey and Trode got the least applause on set four with a Sonic Boom that hurt Ivy’s ears. She knew there were Psychic Pokémon keeping loud sounds muffled and dramatic moves from spilling off the stage, but even with those dampeners it was earache inducing.

Gorflir’s Aqua Ring got a decent amount of applause, perhaps because it didn’t hurt to look at.

“Smart, heal up some strength for a grand finale.”

“Master Juan!” Lisia hissed. “You’re supposed to be rooting for Brendan!”

“I am stating a fact!”

Plumette went into a surprising Venoshock that got a good amount of hollering for the uniqueness of the Poison type move.

But if there was anyone who specialized in unique moves, it was Pikachu. With a flick of her tail, several sharp icicles formed in the air before hurtling down, landing in a neat circle around her. The crowd went wild at the Electric type using an Ice type move and Ivy made sure to contribute to the commotion.

Unfortunately, no one stood a chance in the last set.

With a grin, Audrey played her trump card. “Explosion!”

The stage lit up and the crowd’s noise almost drowned out the boom from Explosion.

Ivy leaned back in her seat, eyes wide. “Can they do that?”

“It’s a cheap tactic, but yes.”

Ivy grimaced. Well, she couldn’t say anything more about that. Not sporting, but legal, just like in her gym battle.

It took almost a full minute for the emcee to calm the crowd down enough to continue the set. Audrey had to recall her fainted Electrode and she curtsied as the audience finally quieted.

Predictably, no one else’s moves came close to the amount of applause Audrey received.

Ivy looked at the jumbotron. With all five rounds over, announcing the winner was the only thing left. Audrey and Lilias were tied at 30 points while the other two…

“What’s this?” The emcee bellowed. “A tie!? Layla and Gorflir, Brendan and Pikachu, please step forward!”

Both had scored 40 points.

Ivy leaned towards Lisia. “Are ties common?”

“Less common than you’d think. Generally, the strategy is what Layla did with alternating super showy moves with low-key ones. That usually nets you three sets and a win. Or what she was trying to do until the Explosion. Now, she’s probably saving her best move for the tie breaker.”

Ivy slowly nodded. The emcee was now going on about how a tie breaker worked, so she probably could’ve just waited for an explanation, but whatever.

“…One last set, one final set, and we will finally be able to see who wins the ribbon of this thrilling showcase of Contest prowess! I’m excited, are you all excited?”

The crowd roared in response.

“Let’s keep that spirit going! Layla and Gorflir, it’s up to you!”

Oozing confidence, Layla elegantly raised a hand. “Gorflir, Blizzard!”

Even before the move started the crowd was yelling. Blizzard was like Surf or Flamethrower in that it always excited an audience. A big, showy move that needed a lot of control to use in a Contest setting. Gorflir obscured the stage in a sheet of white while the audience screamed.

Lisia reached across the armrest to clutch one of Ivy’s hands. It was kind of painful, but Ivy squeezed back just as hard.

“C’mon Brendan! C’mon, c’mon, c’mon…”

The large brim of Brendan’s hat hid his face from view. Ivy couldn’t tell if he was nervous or not. She certainly was nervous, and she wasn’t even the one competing!

“Brendan and Pikachu, go for it!”

With a voice clearer than Ivy expected, Brendan issued his command. “Meteor Mash!”

Gasps rang through the audience. While that had been the very first move Ivy and Brendan had seen Pikachu use, it seemed no one in the audience knew it was in her arsenal. Apparently, not even her companions knew, as Lisia was currently beating her and Ivy’s conjoined hands against the armrest in shock.

Pikachu jumped into the air, her skirt fluttering around the base of her tail as it glowed silver. As stars gathered around her heart shaped tail, she slammed it into the ground, letting loose an explosion of stars and silvery blue energy. She held it for several seconds, letting the cosmic move light up the stage.

Juan leaned back in seat, smiling broadly. “Well, he won. Good work, young man!”

Ivy leaned over Lisia, eager to know more. “He did? How?”

The crowd was still screaming, so Juan had to raise his voice to be heard. “The Talent Round is all about the wow factor. The audience’s reaction doesn’t factor in as much as you think it does, but pulling out a move no one has ever seen a Pikachu do will win over even the coldest of Blizzards.”

Sure enough—

“—and the judges all agree! Today’s winners are the young stars blazing forth from their Meteor Mash: Brendan and Pikachu! Congratulations both of you on your Master Rank ribbon! I think I speak for all of us when I say that I can’t wait to see what you bring to the Spectacular rank!”

The crowd was loud, but Ivy was pretty sure she was yelling the loudest.

-

On one side of Brendan, Ivy yelled into his ear. On the other, Lisia sobbed inconsolably onto his shoulder. At some point, his hat had been knocked to the ground.

Pikachu squeaked angrily and ran over to Juan and Stella, two people who would appreciate all of her hard work.

“Truly this would be the most wonderful way to die. The adoration of a crowd, the adoration of two beautiful ladies—”

“Juan,” Stella chided, though she looked amused enough. “I believe you’re married, good sir.”

“And?”

Pikachu squeaked angrily, clawing at Juan’s pant leg.

“Ah, but who could forget the lady of the hour!”

Finally, Pikachu practically seemed to say as Juan picked her up and Stella pet that sweet spot under her chin. She chittered in delight as she received her rightful praise.

The six of them stood like that, the adults and Pikachu watching in amusement as the teenage girls overwhelmed the teenage boy.

When it seemed like Ivy’s voice was going hoarse and Lisia’s tears were slowing, Juan cleared his throat.

“Now, should we make our way over to the after party?”

Brendan and Ivy stared blankly at him. “After party?” they asked in unison.

-

It turned out that after every Master Rank Contest or Contest Spectacular there was an after party. Depending on the time of year, the type of Contest, and where it was held, they ranged from small get togethers to the blowout party of the year. For one of the last Master Rank Contests to be done in the largest Contest city only a few weeks before the start of the Spectacular season, this one was somewhere in the middle. The Contest Hall had rented out a ballroom in the Lilycove Museum of Art and, as the winner of the Beauty Rank Contest, Brendan was required to go.

“This is why I put you in that skirt!” Lisia chirped as she looped her arm around Ivy’s. “You super-duper need to be well-dressed for the after party!”

Lisia had spent the past ten minutes touching up her ruined makeup while Ivy awkwardly stood to the side. Contests as a whole were out of her usual wheelhouse, but an after party at a fancy museum? That brought to mind rich people schmoozing while sipping wine in clothing worth more than her house. Ivy wasn’t sure she existed in the same galaxy as those people.

“I don’t think—”

“You look fine,” Lisia said with such confidence that Ivy had no choice but to believe her.

“If you say so.”

If there was someone more apprehensive than Ivy about such a fancy party, it was Brendan. It seemed like all the nerves from the Contest had finally come crashing down. During the entire short walk from the Contest Hall to the museum, he did nothing but stare blankly ahead, not reacting to anyone’s words.

“He gets like that sometimes,” Ivy sagely told a concerned Juan and Stella.

The two adults exchanged a look Ivy couldn’t quite decipher.

“Brendan,” Stella said softly, lightly shaking his shoulder. “We’re almost at the museum.”

That was enough to snap Brendan out of his reverie. He stared at Stella in horror.

She pursed her lips. “You three go ahead. I think Brendan here needs a minute.”

Ivy rocked back and forth on her feet. She really didn’t want to leave Brendan behind. Especially when he was so nervous.

A hand on her shoulder gently pushed her and Lisia forward.

“I’ll tell the organizer,” Juan said as he herded the girls away.

“But—”

“Now, now, young Ivy, I know you want to help. But sometimes helping is letting those with more experience deal with a tricky topic.”

Ivy didn’t understand what Juan meant at all, but she didn’t argue.

She looked over her shoulder. Stella had an arm around Brendan, but she couldn’t see anything else with his dumb hat in the way.

Well. Ivy hadn’t known Stella for long, but she seemed nice. Ivy had to hope she could handle Brendan when he was in one of his moods.

-

“Do you want to leave now? It isn’t really required for you to go to these.”

But everyone would talk, Brendan knew. They’d think he was stuck up or had something to hide. If he didn’t talk to the judges from today’s Contest, they’d be offended and potentially score him lower next time. So much of being a coordinator was always coming across as perfect—kind, humble, confident. A bunch of things Brendan had trouble being on a normal day. On one of the most stressful days of his entire life? He wanted nothing more than to run off to Route 121 and not leave until he’d counted every Zigzagoon that lived there.

“Do you want me to call your parents?”

“No!” Brendan yelled. He immediately winced. Oh, yeah, Brendan, that wasn’t going to make her think something was up. Good going, idiot.

Predictably, Stella was concerned. The hand on his shoulder tightened almost imperceptibly. “There’s nothing going on between you and them, is there? I can’t say I’ve ever met him, but I’ve only ever heard good things about your father. Of course, public perception is often very different from private realities…”

Brendan shook his head wildly. “No! They’re not… abusive or anything! Not at all! I just… don’t want to be a bother.”

That summed it up. They had wanted to come out to Lilycove City for his Contest, but Brendan told them to stay home. His dad was almost ready to publish his book on Flying type migrations and needed to stay and work on that. A Contest was a Contest. There were dozens of them going on every week. Coming to the complete opposite side of the region for one single Contest that Brendan might not have even done well at… that was the definition of being a bother.

Just like what he was doing to Stella right now. She’d graciously given him a spot in her guest room, let him eat alongside her and her daughter, and he’d barely thanked her in return. Just moodily sat in his room or by the lake.

“Brendan.” He winced. He could hear the carefulness in her voice. “You’re not a bother. Calling your parents when you feel upset… there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“They’re busy.”

“Are they?” Stella’s voice grew sharp. “Or do you simply think they are?”

Brendan said nothing.

Stella sighed. “I don’t wish to be cruel, but do you know what I think?”

There was a long silence. Belatedly, Brendan realized she was genuinely looking for an answer. He looked up at her.

“Uh, sure?”

She stared at him coolly, her dark blue-grey eyes like ice. She had the same intensity in her eyes that Wallace had during his interrogation all the way back in Slateport. Stella always had a strong resemblance to her younger brother, but with that expression on her face it was almost uncanny.

“Once he had heard you were staying with us, Wallace privately told me he doubted you would ever make it far as a coordinator, not until you dealt with your clear imposter syndrome and anxiety issues. I scolded him for saying such things, but he’s right. You don’t think much of yourself right now, and that’s okay for a teenage boy. It’s normal. But you are not trying to be a normal boy. You are willingly putting yourself into the spotlight and dealing with it poorly. People reach out to you, and you push them away.

“Again, that’s normal and understandable. But if you want to continue down this path, you can’t keep doing so. Being a celebrity is lonely. It’s hard. Everyone you meet will want something from you except for a very select few. You need to have those few people you can rely on, otherwise you’ll go down potentially harmful routes. No one can do everything by themselves, let alone a young boy. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Some part of Brendan was laughing hysterically. Stella really didn’t mince her words. The rest of him was numb.

He understood what she was saying. He really, really did. It was just hard. Brendan liked being useful. And useful people didn’t bother others whenever they had a small problem. He’d always managed to do things on his own, why couldn’t this be any different?

“Now, I’m going to ask you again. Do you want to go home, do you want to call your parents, or do you want to do something else?”

But this was different. Brendan really liked being a coordinator. It was fun. But the past few weeks had been distinctly terrible. Before when things had gone wrong, he’d feel bad, fix the problem, and move on.

Lately, it’d been difficult to move on.

“Um.” Brendan said, resolutely not looking at Stella. “I… I think I might like to talk to my dad.”

A hand squeezed his shoulder. He looked up, startled. Stella was smiling at him, almost looking proud.

“Do you have your PokéNav on you? He’ll probably pick up faster if he knows it’s you.”

“I… yeah. In my pocket.”

“Alright. Let’s call your family.”

Chapter Text

The after party was everything Ivy feared it to be—rich patrons schmoozing with Contest Committee bigwigs and Contest Spectacular stars.

Everyone ignored her in favor of talking to either Juan or Lisia. Usually, Ivy would hate that but this time around she was rather glad to be ignored. It’s not like she’d be able to add to any of the conversations anyways. She didn’t know any of the people they were talking about except Stella and Wallace, and she had no idea the inner processes of Contest judging and production.

At least the food was good. Some guy in a tux gave her a nasty side eye when she completely covered her small plate in finger foods and desserts, but Ivy didn’t care. She was already the most out of place person there. If she stuffed her face like a Snorlax, it’d keep her from talking to anyone.

She also tried to look at the paintings and sculptures the museum had to offer, but it turned out that that wasn’t allowed. The rest of the museum was closed for the night; guests of the Contest Committee were meant to stay in the ballroom.

Couldn’t even look at some paintings. What a party.

At the very least, she did manage to catch a glance of Brendan and Stella, which was a relief. He looked better. Not great, but not like he was about to run away in a panic either. Whatever Stella said worked wonders. They were in the middle of talking to some older man in a very expensive looking suit, so she stayed away. Better not to associate with Brendan right about now. She’d probably ruin his chances of making it far as a coordinator if he was seen with her.

Ivy decided her best bet for any sort of conversation was probably any of the younger coordinators ambling about. She didn’t recognize most of them, so they were likely from one of the Master Rank Contests that had gone on earlier in the day. Or maybe the party was open to any coordinator in Lilycove. Ivy had no idea what the qualifications to get into this type of party were.

She managed to squeeze herself into a group of three coordinators who seemed around her age, or at most only a few years older. They seemed cool, and it was going well until the sole boy of the group opened his big mouth.

“It was a fine show, but really, that Brendan boy only won because the judges want to pander to Lisia! She’s their big money maker, so they want to keep her happy.” He sighed. “How cruel of them to muddy her image so! She would continue to do Contest regardless of whether her… project does well.”

“Chaz…” one of the girls, Twyla, muttered, exchanging a glance with the other one, Lily. The Beautifly on Twyla’s shoulder nervously flapped its wings.

“It has to be true! How long ago did he start doing Contests? It’s preposterous that he’s risen so quickly!”

“Well,” Lily said timidly, “prodigies are a thing. Lisia was one. She also won a Master ribbon within a few months.”

“Yeah!” Ivy said, glaring daggers at Chaz. “Not to mention hard work can come off as miraculous to people who don’t do it.”

Twyla and Lily traded frantic looks while Chaz turned to fully face Ivy. He was taller than her, but Ivy was pretty sure she could beat him in a fight. Verbal, physical, or Pokémon. Maybe not his Machoke, but Blaziken would pick up the slack.

“Ex-cuse me? Who, exactly, are you?”

Ivy puffed her chest out. “Brendan’s best friend!”

He scoffed. “Of course you don’t agree then. You’re inherently biased.”

“Well, I think you’re a sore loser! How many Master Rank ribbons do you have?”

If Chaz had fur, it’d be spiked up in anger. His Machoke crossed its arms, glowering at Ivy in a way that was much more intimidating than Chaz’s attempt at a glare.

“Unimportant! How many do you have?”

“None,” Ivy freely admitted. She grinned, looking Chaz right in the eyes. “But I have seven gym badges if you want to take this argument somewhere else.”

Chaz paled, as did Twyla and Lily.

“C’mon,” a new voice said, “that wouldn’t be fair. We all know you’d trounce him.”

It took her a second, but Ivy did recognize the person standing with their hands on their hips. The small, brown dog Pokémon at their side was new, but the smirk on their face was familiar.

“Xander?” she couldn’t help but ask, amazed to see him again. It had been a while since she’d travelled with them, Riva, and Adam from Lavaridge to Mauville.

“Nice to see you again,” they said with a small incline of their head. They looked at Chaz. “You, not so much. I would’ve thought you’d be tired of trash talking Brendan for no reason by this point.”

“For no reason?” Chaz sputtered. “I am trying to preserve Lisia’s image! This corruption needs to stop before it tarnishes her stainless reputation!”

“Guys,” Twyla said with a small, nervous laugh. “We should all just calm down…”

“No!” Chaz said, pointing dramatically at Ivy and Xander. “I refuse to back down at such baseless accusations from cretins like them!”

Ivy perked up. “Oh? So you want to battle?” She grabbed one of her Poké Balls from the purse Lisia let her borrow. She only had Blaziken, Mightyena, and Spiritomb with her; the rest of her team was relaxing at Lisia’s home. She glanced down at the Poké Ball in her hand. A sticker of the Dark type symbol sparkled in the museum’s bright lights. Mightyena’s Poké Ball. At least it wasn’t Spiritomb. It would be embarrassing if she had to back down from her bluff. “I’ll even let you have the type advantage!”

“Er,” Chaz looked like he would rather be anywhere else. “You know what? I don’t have to deal with you! I am a coordinator, not a trainer, and I don’t have to put up with this!”

With that, he stormed off.

“Good riddance,” Ivy declared, putting Mightyena’s Poké Ball back into her purse. “Who was that guy anyways?”

“An asshole,” Xander muttered in their usual blunt manner.

Twyla and Lily frowned but didn’t disagree.

“He thinks he and Lisia are rivals, so he’s… peeved to see her focus so much on another coordinator.” Lily explained, obviously trying to stay neutral.

Ivy raised an eyebrow at that. “He thinks he’s a rival to Lisia?”

“Well, aren’t we all in a way,” Twyla said airily. “She’s the one to beat.”

But none of them probably would, Ivy couldn’t help but think. She didn’t want to be mean, these two seemed perfectly nice, but Lisia was Lisia. A prodigy, as Lily had said earlier.

“Some have more of a chance than others,” Xander said, unafraid to say what Ivy would only ever think. He turned to Ivy. “Anyways, I came over to talk to you. Catch up, y’know.”

Ivy nodded. “Yeah, sure!” She waved to Twyla and Lily, and walked off with Xander.

“Riva’s still majorly pissed you left so suddenly. She wanted to pick your brain some more.”

“Huh? She seemed pretty okay with it over text…”

He shrugged. “You seemed upset, so she pretended to be cool. In reality, she threw a rock at a lamp post.”

“Oh.” That stung a bit, though Ivy should’ve expected it. Riva had been nice but a little overbearing and bossy. “She get anymore badges?”

“She had three, last I asked.” He paused to take a glass of water from a waiter. Xander, at least, seemed to move as if he belonged here. “Adam already gave up and went back to Verdanturf so we split up. I think she’s over in Petalburg.”

Ivy winced. Yeah, she figured Adam wouldn’t last long. “I’ll ask my dad if he’s battled her, then.” Catch up done, Ivy had to glance at the unknown Pokémon trotting dutifully beside Xander. “What kind of Pokémon is that? I’ve never seen it before.”

“A Rockruff.” Rockruff let out a cheerful bark at hearing its name and Xander gave it a small smile. Ivy resisted the urge to coo. Xander was clearly going for a mysterious bad boy persona with his pale skin, dark clothes, and blue-black hair. It was cute to see him act sweet. “They’re from Alola. Got her over the Global Trade System in exchange for a Numel.”

Ivy nodded. She’d never used the GTS, but she’d heard some wild stories about getting Pokémon over it. It was good that it seemed to work out for Xander.

“Ivy! There you are!”

Lisia immediately grabbed onto her arm, tugging her slightly away from Xander. “I was wondering where you’d gotten to! Who’s this?”

“Xander. We travelled together briefly a while back.”

Lisia beamed and inclined her head. “It’s nice to meet you! A friend of Ivy’s is a friend of mine!”

Something in Xander’s eyes sharpened. “That’s great to know. I was actually wondering if we could talk…”

Ivy felt her emotions numb over.

That explained it. Lisia and Xander began a lively conversation about Contests while Ivy sighed and detached herself from Lisia’s grip.

Xander had seen her and used her so he could talk to Lisia. Like the knowledge that Riva was mad at her, Ivy shouldn’t have felt so surprised. The two of them were like two heads of a Doduo; Adam with his timidness had been the odd man out in their trio. Of course he would seek her out again only because it helped him fulfill his Contest ambitions. It wasn’t unexpected, but it still stung.

Ivy let herself drop back. She didn’t really want to be around Xander anymore.

A stupidly large hat caught her eye. Brendan was hiding behind a column, Stella in a seat beside him. Ivy hurried over; they wouldn’t lead to a terrible conversation.

Stella smiled at her as she arrived. “Ivy, nice to see you again. Are you having fun?”

“Yeah!” Ivy said, even though she really wasn’t. “I tried one of everything with the food. It was really good.”

Brendan snorted. “Of course you did.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”

Ivy blew a Razz Berry at Brendan who smirked in response.

Already, Ivy felt lighter. She’d missed Brendan.

Stella watched their banter with a smile. Leaning heavily on her cane, she rose from her seat with only the slightest grimace. “I was about to go find Juan and leave. I’m not quite built for these kinds of parties anymore. Would you two like to escort me home, or do you want to stay?”

“I’ll come with!” Brendan immediately blurted out.

Ivy nodded enthusiastically as well. “It was fun,” it wasn’t, “but I wouldn’t want to leave you two alone! You need protection in a big city like this!”

“Of course,” Stella said, nodding. Her smile had a strange quality to it, something between fondness and a smirk. “Now the trouble is finding Juan. Hopefully he isn’t too far away.”

-

“You really did do amazing, y’know.”

They had been given separate rooms in Lisia’s house, but Ivy let herself into Brendan’s room out of nostalgia for all the nights they shared a room together in a Pokémon Center. This room was much larger and homier than any Pokémon Center room, but Mudkip was still curled into a ball at the foot of his bed.

Brendan didn’t look at her. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

Without moving, Mudkip let out a loud chirp.

Brendan sighed. “Thank you,” he said, pointedly enunciating each word.

Ivy giggled. “You tell him, Mudkip.”

Mudkip croaked and wiggled his tailfin slightly.

“Anyways,” Ivy continued. “I’m really proud of you!”

That got Brendan to look at her. “Wh-what?”

“You’ve got a Master Rank ribbon! That’s so cool! One day you’re going to be the most famous coordinator in Hoenn and I’m—well. I don’t know what I’ll be yet, but I’ll be cheering you on still, okay?”

Brendan stared at her. Ivy faltered. Was that weird to say? It’s what she wanted for the future, for them to still be friends and for Brendan to have his dreams come true, but was it weird for her to say it so bluntly?

Before Ivy could start babbling her way out of the awkward silence, Brendan spoke, voice rough. “Yeah. Yeah, that sounds nice.”

Ivy gave him a relieved grin. “Okay. Good! We need to be on the same page, y’know!” She slid off the bed. She’d embarrassed herself enough for one night. “Night Brendan! See you tomorrow!”

“Yeah,” he whispered, cheeks turning pink. “See you tomorrow.”

-

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

The meeting was not off to a good start.

Maxie looked at Archie, face full of disdain. “I would say your face is the unseemly sight here. Tabitha, what is the meaning of this?”

“Yeah, what the fuck, Shell?”

Shelly exchanged a look with Tabitha, grimacing. She steeled herself. This had to work. She had to make it work.

“Listen here you idiots.” Maxie huffed and leaned back, but Archie didn’t react, more used to her bluntness. It’d been a while since she’d seen Maxie, and even longer since they’d hung out in any friendly capacity. “Archie, I’ve shown you the data from the Weather Institute. Maxie, I know you’re smart enough to have done your research and at least come across the previous data they’d released. You both know that releasing Kyogre and Groudon won’t help anyone. It’ll just fuck up Hoenn, and possibly the entire world.”

“The orbs—” Archie and Maxie began, before cutting off and glaring at each other.

“The orbs are an unknown,” Tabitha said, spreading their arms open. “I know more than most how much research Courtney has done into them, but for something like this, something that could explode violently in all of our faces if even the slightest thing goes wrong… we need to look at the cold, hard data. And the only data we have is… well, it’s apocalyptic, frankly.”

“I cannot believe you, Tabitha,” Maxie said icily, glaring at his number two. “How can you have been swayed by Shelly’s nonsense? Are you going to abandon Team Magma as well? Join those thugs in Team Aqua?”

“Hey!”

Tabitha ignored Archie and Shelly’s cries of indignation. “Of course not! I understand and believe in our goals! I would never abandon Team Magma, let alone for Team Aqua! But to awaken Groudon...” Tabitha closed their eyes. “The report from the Weather Institute obviously can’t go into a personal account of what it was like to live through Kyogre and Groudon’s previous rampage, but it’s only too easy to guess. The wild markings of the rocks around Sootopolis tell enough of a story. And that’s just recognizable data on objects that still stand today. Who knows what kind of destruction happened beyond that?”

A sick feeling formed in the pit of Shelly’s stomach. Tabitha had been their usual impassioned self throughout their speech, but Maxie had only watched with cold eyes. Archie had barely been listening, instead rolling his eyes and scowling at Shelly.

They turned towards Maxie. “I know you’ve been to Granite Cave and seen the cave painting there. That painting isn’t one of awe, but one borne of fear.”

“It’s impossible to tell. The data on when the painting was made hasn’t been released yet. It could’ve been made centuries after the creation of Sootopolis.”

“Hell, it could’ve been made a year ago for all we know!” Archie grinned, a sick, smug thing aimed at Tabitha. They snarled back, frustration clear in every inch of their body. “Some kid wants to play a prank, creates a fun mural, pretends it was made centuries ago.”

Maxie frowned. “Don’t agree with me. And don’t hypothesize such ridiculous nonsense. The painting has been examined by dozens of professionals.”

“They could be in on it!”

“They could—are you a fool? Do you hear what you say when you speak?”

Shelly tuned out the ensuing argument. It was all nonsense, anyways.

This wasn’t going to work.

She closed her eyes. In truth, she had always known it wouldn’t. Archie and Maxie were both too stubborn. They hated each other too much. They were long past the point of listening to reason. All that mattered to them was being right and damn the consequences. If only Shelly had given in to her unease a few years earlier, if only she hadn’t been so swept up in the stupid, petty rivalry…

Well, there was no point in wasting time on the past. All she could do was try to make sure there would be a future from the two idiots in front of her.

“Neither of you are going to listen to reason, are you?” she asked, voice completely flat.

That got a reaction. Shelly had never been the kind to mask her emotions, not like Maxie or Courtney. To hear her speak so monotonously must have finally clued them in to how serious she was.

She slammed the folder of papers she’d gotten from the Weather Institute onto the table. Maxie almost flinched.

“You goddamn selfish assholes,” she growled out, finally releasing her pent-up irritation at this whole stupid, preventable situation. “You think your dick measuring contest is worth more than every life in Hoenn? In the world? Is your stupid fucking pride really the most important thing here? I can’t believe this is what it’s come to. I can’t believe you two. Fuck.”

She turned away, unable to look at either of them. Tabitha touched her arm, but she shrugged them off.

Maxie puffed out his chest. He’d never been able to take a critique. “I will not be talked to like this! We were friends once, Shelly, so I won’t demand an apology, but I will not sit here and just take it.”

Shelly was tired. She laughed drily, not turning around. “Sure. Whatever. Leave then. See if I care.” She finally glanced at Tabitha, who looked unusually distraught. “Sorry for dragging you all the way here for no reason, Tabs. You were right about this one. It was a waste of fucking time.”

They took a strangled breath. “I’d rather not have been correct, honestly.”

Maxie scowled. “A waste of time indeed. Well, I, for one, will no longer be wasting anymore time. In…” he opened an honest-to-gods pocket watch to look up the time. What a dramatic prick. He snapped it shut. “…eight hours, since you had to have this meeting at midnight for some spirits-forsaken reason, the Pokémon League will be opening itself up to challengers once more. They are booked for challengers the entire day and, as such, Team Magma will finally retrieve the final piece needed for our plan.”

Despite her earlier revelation, Shelly still felt a tinge of surprise.

“Now?” Tabitha asked, mouth agape.

Maxie barely looked at Tabitha. “The Elite Four will be gone as they are required to spend the day there. At no point during our reconnaissance of the area did we ever see any gym leaders guard the orbs. That leads me to believe no gym leader has been properly informed of the situation. The land will be deserted, I am sure of it. You can still join in, Tabitha. I will overlook this transgression due to our friendship, but any more Aqua sympathies will not be tolerated.”

Tabitha looked at Shelly. She nodded. She more than understood.

“Of course, Boss.”

“Well, you ain’t the only one who knows where those orbs are!” Archie flexed his arms and grinned. He’d been quiet, quieter than Shelly would’ve thought. But she shouldn’t have been too shocked; for all Archie acted like he had no brains, it was exactly that—an act. He knew when to talk and when to listen. “Tough luck getting ‘em when they’ll be in the hands of Team Aqua.”

Maxie scoffed. “Like you buffoons will be any trouble. Come, Tabitha. We have plans to make.”

The two in red left, Maxie slamming the door shut behind him.

Archie scowled at their backs. “Prick. You in, Shells?”

Shelly closed her eyes. “’Course I am, Archie.”

Well. They were fucked.

Chapter Text

Ivy laid on her back, watching the sunrise with her team. It was rare, very, very rare, for her to willingly be up so early, but Brendan and Lisia were getting on a boat to Slateport at six in the morning and she wanted to see them off. Which, unfortunately, meant getting up at sunrise.

It wasn’t too bad. The lake in the backyard sparkled rather prettily as the sun rose in the sky. Ivy wasn’t the kind of person who stopped and sat like this for long periods of time, but it wasn’t bad. A bit boring, but not bad.

Latias and Seadra enjoyed the experience, at least. Blaziken didn’t care, but he approved of her getting up early and did his morning stretches a few feet away. Mightyena slept, of course, as did Vibrava. Her not-so-li’l guy lightly bit her ankle as she fell asleep. For all that Vibrava had experienced a serious shift in personality after her evolution, some things were still the same.

Ivy even let Spiritomb out. The Ghost didn’t erupt from the Odd Keystone, but it was the thought that counted, right?

Latias cooed as Ivy pet Vibrava. A sense of foreign yet familiar contentment settled over her mind. Leaning onto Latias’s fluffy down while stroking Vibrava’s cool scales, she had to agree.

It was nice.

“Depending on how things go on Mt Pyre, we’ll be trying for our last badge soon.”

Blaziken stopped his stretching, listening closely now that plans were being made. Latias cooed, Seadra trilled, and Vibrava cracked an eye open. Mightyena didn’t visibly react, but Ivy thought she saw Mightyena’s notched ear prick up slightly.

“I don’t know how well it’ll go since we’re not exactly the best team against Water types, but you don’t learn anything if you don’t first try! And as long as everyone listens, I’m sure nothing too embarrassing will happen.”

Ivy glanced down at Vibrava, who opened her eyes. She hadn’t been very expressive as a Trapinch, but Ivy could clearly read guilt in her expression now. Ivy patted her head.

“I know you feel bad about Mossdeep, but I think you needed that wake-up call. You’re a Dragon now, but that doesn’t mean you’re right about everything. Sometimes it’s better to listen to others.”

Vibrava rubbed her wings together, buzzing an apology.

“Of course, Mt Pyre is our first stop, to see—"

The sound of a door opening interrupted her. Stella poked her head outside.

“Ivy? They’re heading off for the docks now if you want to say goodbye.”

With a yawn, Ivy returned her Pokémon, minus Latias.

“Right, right. Be there in a sec.”

-

Lisia clung to her like a Shellder to a Slowpoke. Ali landed on Lisia’s back and enveloped both of them in his cloudy wings.

“I’ll see you two in, like, a week,” Ivy giggled, not bothering trying to extract herself from Lisia’s grip. By this point, she knew it was hopeless.

“Still!” Lisia complained. Finally, she took a step back, smiling widely. Ali trilled as he resettled himself on Lisia’s shoulders. “The Contest is on Saturday, so be sure to arrive early so you don’t miss it! And tell Uncle Wallace I said hi when you see him! Oh! Also tell him that he had better be there, too! I’m counting on him, okay? Make sure he knows that!”

Ivy nodded along. She’d already been told all of that before by Lisia who tended to repeat stuff when nervous.

Brendan gave her an unsteady smile. “I think Lisia got most of the reminders down.”

“I set an alarm on my PokéNav! I won’t miss it, I swear!”

“I know you won’t.”

He shifted awkwardly from one foot to another, adjusting his backpack. Ivy said nothing, still not good at goodbyes.

“Well, be safe on Mt Pyre. I don’t know why in the world you want to go there, but don’t, I don’t know, get eaten by a Ghost or whatever.”

Ivy did her absolute best not to grimace. Brendan had no idea how close he was to her previous experiences with Ghost types.

“I’ll try my best. Also, I don’t think Ghosts eat people.”

He snorted. “Have you seen a Dusknoir? They totally eat people.”

Ivy tried to remember what a Dusknoir looked like. “Yeah, okay. Fair.”

Brendan laughed and Ivy smiled in return.

“Well, see you in a week. Good luck at the gym.”

“Thanks, and good luck training. I know you and Grovyle will win this Contest too!”

Brendan’s cheeks turned red. “We’ll try.”

-

Latias was fast, but she slowed down as they neared Mt Pyre, ear fins twitching. A feeling of unease and distress wormed its way into Ivy’s mind.

“You can already feel the Ghosts, huh.”

Her high-pitched whine was answer enough.

“Well, I can see the opening down there. Just set me down and I’ll return you as fast as I can.”

Relief washed away the nervousness and before Ivy could blink, they were on the ground.

Man, Latias was fast. After taking a second to get her bearings, Ivy did as she promised, returning Latias and instead releasing Mightyena. The Dark type stretched, unbothered by the heavy presence the mountain exuded.

A ranger waited outside.

“Visiting a grave or training?”

“Uh.” How was Ivy supposed to reply to that? Neither? “I’m looking for someone?”

He stared at her.

Ivy swallowed. Whether it was his look or the aura of this place, she felt weirdly uncomfortable. “I’m looking for Elite Four Phoebe? I was told by a gym leader that she could be found here…”

Astra wasn’t an active gym leader anymore, but whatever. The ranger nodded, and Ivy sighed in relief.

“I’m not sure if Phoebe is here right now, but she does stop by nearly every day to train. How many badges do you have?”

“Seven.” She even turned around so he could see them pinned to the front of her backpack.

“Then I won’t have to send a ranger up with you. You’ll still need this, though.” He handed her a thin sheet of rice paper covered in red ink. A Cleanse Tag. “It’ll keep most of the weaker Ghosts away.”

Ivy nodded, grateful. Her experience with Banette hadn’t been fun and she didn’t really want to repeat it.

“Phoebe usually trains at the very top of the mountain. You can go overland and hike, or you can go through the graveyard inside. The inside takes less time to travel through.”

Ivy looked down at Mightyena who snorted. She didn’t care.

Did Ivy want to hike up a huge mountain, or did she want to go the quicker route through a graveyard?

She grimaced; it was an easy choice.

“We’ll hike.”

-

It was a nice morning, at least. Waking up so early had at least one perk—it wasn’t hot as hell. She contemplated letting out her team but decided against it. Latias and Seadra were afraid of Ghosts, while Blaziken and Vibrava would want to train. There was nothing wrong with that normally, but something in Ivy rebelled at the thought of training while walking over a graveyard. It just felt wrong. How Phoebe did it, Ivy didn’t know. Maybe it was a spiritual training thing instead of a physical training thing.

Mightyena didn’t seem to care. She didn’t train, but she did have fun chasing any Wingull or Vulpix that came near. The few Meditite they came across put up more of a fight, but Mightyena chased them away as well. Occasionally, Ivy felt a too-cool gust of wind and Mightyena stopped and growled, serious for a brief moment. Whether it was because of the sunlight or the Dark type, they never came face to face with any Ghosts, however.

It was eerie. The mountain seemed so normal, yet not at the same time. There was nothing notably off, yet Ivy couldn’t help but feel a chill.

“We’ll find Phoebe, talk to her, and leave for Sootopolis,” Ivy said aloud to Mightyena, hoping to stave off some of the creepiness.

Mightyena pounced at a Wingull in response.

“Exactly.”

Mightyena wiggled her butt, ready to pounce again, before suddenly stilling. Her ears pricked up and Ivy stopped walking.

“Is something wrong?”

There wasn’t a reply. Mightyena looked like she herself was trying to figure out whether whatever was going on was wrong or not.

Ivy tensed as some bushes near her rustled.

A few small Vulpix tumbled out, yipping at each other as they played. Young ones, too—each Vulpix only had two tails. Ivy relaxed. “Was that it?”

Mightyena hadn’t relaxed. She stared at the bushes, growling softly.

“Mightyena?”

A golden paw stepped through the greenery, then another. Slowly, a golden-white form appeared.

Ivy had seen photos of Ninetales before and, honestly, she hadn’t seen the fuss about them. They were pretty, sure, but there were a lot of pretty Pokémon out there. What made Ninetales so special?

Standing in the presence of one, Ivy suddenly understood. Sunlight glinted off of its golden fur while red eyes stared directly into Ivy’s. One look into them and Ivy understood she was staring at an incredibly old Pokémon. An ancient one even. An aura of power you only ever felt around terrifyingly strong Pokémon hung around the Ninetales. Even though the hot, Hoennian sun was now steadily beating down on her, Ivy shivered.

Ninetales let out a deep rumble. Mightyena answered in kind, dropping her defensive stance. She didn’t relax fully, but Ninetales wasn’t a threat it seemed like. The conversation continued for a minute, leaving Ivy to awkwardly stand there and watch the young Vulpix play.

Suddenly, Mightyena stiffened, and Ivy snapped her attention back to the two Pokémon. She let out a bark and Ninetales nodded.

Ninetales turned and, with a look at Ivy, twitched one of its fabled nine tails.

“I—you want me to follow you?”

It nodded.

“Right. Cool. Of course. Well, let’s get going, Mightyena.”

Ninetales led them further up the mountain. Ivy’s heart sunk as she realized why Ninetales had sought her out. The closer to the summit, the louder the noises of battling got. Ivy felt an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu of the last time she was on a mountain.

“It’s both of them,” she whispered, even though she was still a good distance away. “Team Aqua and Team Magma.”

Mightyena growled while nodding.

“Great. Fantastic.” Ivy took a deep breath and released Blaziken. He immediately looked towards the noise of battle and scowled. “Well, looks like we have no choice but to go see what’s going on.”

-

The summit was utter chaos.

Just like back on Mt Chimney, Aqua and Magma grunts battled each other fiercely. Ivy ignored them and searched for one of the admins or leaders. If there was a skirmish this big then they had to be around.

Blaziken clucked and pointed to her left. It was hard to notice but there was a small cave opening covered by vines and moss.

She nodded. “Good find. That seems about right. Now, we just have to get through the crowd.”

It was easier than expected. None of the grunts were especially strong fighters. A Double Kick from Blaziken or a Crunch from Mightyena sent them running. In no time, she was rushing through the opening.

Behind the tunnel was a small grotto. It was beautiful but like with many of the beautiful scenes Ivy had come across during her journey, it was marred by Teams Aqua and Magma.

Ivy took a deep breath as she entered. This place had a similar energy to the Ninetales; whatever it was, it held something ancient and powerful.

The two team leaders were currently yelling at each other. Off to the side, an elderly couple clung to each other and a small chorus of Chingling and Chimecho hovered behind them. Knowing that the two leader jerks wouldn’t notice a Hyper Beam when they were arguing, Ivy made her way over to the old couple.

“Excuse me, but what’s going on?” she whispered, keeping an eye on the leaders.

The old man gave her a scrutinizing look. “You came here for our Phoebe.”

That made her look away. “Eh?” How in the world did they know that?

He closed his eyes. “She’s not here and that’s the problem. The League had to open back up at some point, so of course these fools struck as soon as possible. She left her Dusknoir to protect us, but even her strongest can’t do anything against some fifty Pokémon attacking all at once.”

“Did it eat anyone?” Ivy blurted out. She immediately winced. That conversation with Brendan was not what she should be thinking about!

The old man looked offended. “No! Dusknoir is a sweetheart!”

“Sorry, sorry. Will Phoebe be here soon?”

The old woman sighed. “We called, but it takes time to travel from Ever Grande Island to Mt Pyre. We can only hope she gets here before those two stop arguing. Luckily, it seems they’re more focused on that than retrieving the orbs.”

Ivy stared at the leaders, frowning. Behind them, she finally noticed a simple altar. It held two orbs: one red, one blue.

Everything suddenly clicked into place.

“Those are the orbs they wanted!” she exclaimed, louder than intended.

Archie and Maxie halted their argument.

“Ah, hell, scamp. You’re here too?”

“Of course she is.” Maxie’s sneer matched his disdainful tone. “How unfortunate. If there’s any data I’ve gathered, it’s that if she’s here, then the Pokémon League is soon to follow. Now, get out of my way, Archie. I will be taking the Red Orb and be on my way.”

“Like hell! I’m getting the Blue Orb first!”

Their argument immediately started back up.

“They’re kinda dumb, aren’t they?” Ivy muttered. The old man snorted in agreement. “I guess we just let them argue until Phoebe gets here and can arrest them?”

As if hearing her comment, Maxie scowled and grabbed a Great Ball from beneath his coat. “If we must, then we’ll settle this with a battle!”

Ivy tensed. Not good.

Archie let out a booming laugh. “Like you’ve ever beaten me! Well, let’s get to it!”

He released a large Crawdaunt who loudly clicked its pincers together. Maxie’s lips thinned, and he sent out a Ninetales. It didn’t have the same intimidating aura as the Ninetales that had led Ivy here, she couldn’t help but think spitefully.

The two men yelled commands, and the Pokémon lunged.

“Should… should I do something? Should I take the orbs and run?” Ivy asked nervously. The grotto was rather small; any stray attack could harm their group or the orbs.

“No!” both elders shouted, briefly halting the fight in the middle of the clearing. Not for long, however. Crawdaunt leaped forward, grabbing onto Ninetales’ mane and pulling the fox Pokémon down with a yelp.

“The orbs,” the man whispered, “should not in any circumstance be moved. Just moving them from the altar will alert the super-ancient Pokémon and stir them from their slumber.”

“Oh.”

“They surely have more than one Pokémon each,” the man continued, voice filled with forced confidence. “We continue our plan. Let them battle until Phoebe arrives. She’s more than strong enough to take both down.”

Unfortunately, things were never allowed to go to plan.

A tall man shoved his way through the hanging vines that hid the grotto. “Yo! Archie! There’s a flying Pokémon incoming! It’s gotta be some Elite, so it time to scram or nah?”

“Phoebe,” the woman muttered under her breathe, wheezing slightly.

The two leaders paused in their fight. Almost as one, they ignored each other in favor of lunging towards the altar.

Ivy’s heart leapt into her throat. She lurched forward. “Blaziken—!”

He sped forward, only to get hit by a Water Pulse, sending him flying back. Mightyena leapt forward, but Ninetales growled, diving forward to intercept her pooch. With Pokémon fighting Pokémon, Ivy stumbled towards the altar, hands on the Poké Balls at her belt.

But she was too late. By the time she skirted the two battles, Archie and Maxie were triumphantly holding the Blue and Red Orbs.

“Put those back!” she yelled, but her voice sounded shrill even to her own ears. She had no idea what the super-ancient Pokémon were, but none of the reactions she’d seen to their name had reassured her that they were good.

“Sorry, scamp. No can do.” Archie whistled and recalled his Crawdaunt. “Let’s move out, Matt.”

The large man by the entrance let out a booming laugh. “Knew we’d do it! Let’s fucking goooo!”

With a laugh just as loud, Archie left.

“Ruffians,” Maxie muttered, though he, too, followed them out of the grotto.

Ivy risked a glance back at the elderly couple before chasing after them.

It was still chaos outside, but a different kind now. The battles were over; now it was a scramble to leave. Ivy saw Maxie Teleport away with a Claydol, the woman from Southern Island by his side. She couldn’t see Archie or Matt, but she suspected they also had used some kind of Teleporting Pokémon. A few of the other grunts disappeared in a flash of Teleportation, but most of them brought out flying Pokémon or just booked it down the mountainside.

Ivy’s heart sank. There was no point in going after the grunts—the leaders were the important ones here. She’d failed again.

-

“I’m sorry,” Ivy said, looking at her feet as she trailed back into the grotto. “They, or Maxie at least, had a Claydol and they Teleported out. I couldn’t get either of the orbs back.”

The old man shook his head. “It’s not on you. We’re the guardians of this place. We should’ve taken care to get stronger in battle, but we’ve grown complacent.”

Ivy eyed the altar. It was old looking; made from some dark stone and covered in moss. Behind it was an intricately carved arch. Even with the orbs gone, a strange aura radiated from the altar.

“What… what exactly are the orbs for? They mentioned summoning super-ancient Pokémon but… who are they?”

The old man glanced at the woman, who leaned heavily on him. “They’re remnants of a power long forgotten, one from a world more primal.

“Hundreds of millions of years ago, the super-ancient Pokémon, Groudon of the land and Kyogre of the seas, ruled the earth. But as millennia went on, their power waned. They were still some of the strongest Pokémon on the planet, but it was nothing compared to before. This displeased them.

“The other also displeased them. Whenever they met, they fought and all around them suffered. The most recent battle was fifteen hundred years ago. A meteor containing great power crashed to earth, awakening them from their slumber. Both wanted the power contained in the meteor, power reminiscent of the kind they had held eons ago.

“Another battle was fought, and the early settlers of Hoenn had to suffer through it. As Groudon and Kyogre were quelled, the energy they had absorbed was pulled out of them and condensed into those two orbs. The humans took the orbs and kept them here, where neither Pokémon roamed, so they would be safe.”

The old man closed his eyes. “Until now.”

Ivy listened silently, her hands clutching the hem of her shirt. The old man was a good storyteller. She sure was feeling a horrible amount of dread.

“So, I’m too late,” a voice said grimly.

Ivy whirled around, panicking.

“Phoebe,” the old woman muttered.

A dark-skinned woman smiled sadly. “I’m sorry. I came as fast as I could. They left with both orbs.” It was a statement, not a question.

“One with each team,” the old man confirmed.

Phoebe closed her eyes and hummed. When she opened them, she looked directly at Ivy. “So, you’re Norman’s daughter. I’ve heard a lot about you, lately.”

“Eh?” She had?

“Oh, yes. Steven seems quite fond of you from the way he talks.”

Ivy perked up at that, grasping at any chance to not feel scared and unnerved. “Really? You know Steven?”

Despite the situation, Phoebe let out a high-pitched giggle. “He never mentioned his job to you, has he?”

Ivy blinked. “I mean, it’s obviously something with the League…”

“He’s the Champion.”

“He’s the what now?”

Ivy could only gape at Phoebe. Looking back, it made sense. Who else but the Champion could be trusted to take care of a flock of Legendary Pokémon? How else could he get access to so many secure locations and know so much secret information? Her future husband (pending current break up) was the Champion! Amazing!

“Yes, he doesn’t really like to advertise that fact. Despite his father, he’s not one for the limelight, our Steven.” Phoebe’s expression hardened. “I should call him. If they have the orbs, then the super-ancient Pokémon need to be protected. We can’t let either team get to them.”

“You know their locations?” the old man asked.

Phoebe nodded. “Wallace managed to figure it out. He—Grandma!?”

The old woman, Phoebe’s grandmother apparently, collapsed. The old man was barely able to hold her dead weight and Phoebe rushed forward to help. Ivy stood stock still, unsure of what to do. Mightyena brushed against her legs and Ivy ran a hand through her thick fur for comfort.

Phoebe put her head against her grandmother’s chest, eyes wide. “Her heart’s not beating!”

“How did you get here?” the old man, her grandfather almost certainly, asked, voice more afraid than it had been when Aqua and Magma were attacking.

“On one of Drake’s Flygon.”

“It might be fast enough to get to a hospital in Lilycove.”

There were tears in Phoebe’s eyes. “I can try.”

She tried to lift her grandmother, but her arms were shaking. Blaziken stepped forward and, more gently than Ivy had ever seen him be, lifted the old woman up. He silently marched out of the grotto.

“Thank you,” Phoebe muttered, barely audible.

Seeing her own Pokémon act, Ivy finally found her voice. “I—what should I do?”

Phoebe glanced at her, as if she’d forgotten Ivy was there. An incredibly fake smile came onto her face. “Whatever you had been planning before all this. Just act like everything is normal. This isn’t a time to panic.”

She said the last sentence as if she were trying to convince herself of its truth.

Ivy nodded. She wanted to help, but she couldn’t begrudge Phoebe of anything at that moment. Something was wrong with her grandmother, and she was worried.

“O-okay.”

Silently, Ivy, Blaziken, and Mightyena watched Phoebe and her grandfather get on the Flygon and fly off.

“Oh.” Ivy said quietly, her emotions muted. “I forgot to ask about Spiritomb.”

She shook her head as she returned her two Pokémon and released Latias. This absolutely wasn’t the time for that.

“I—well. I guess we’re going to Sootopolis sooner than expected.”

Chapter Text

While Latias departed Mt Pyre as quickly as she could, she took her time once they were over the ocean. Ivy was glad; she needed the time to catch her breath. Skimming just above the water, watching the looming white walls of Sootopolis approach at a steady pace helped calm her down.

“Supposedly,” Ivy said to Latias as they neared, “there’s only two ways to get into Sootopolis. Either you have to fly over the crater, or dive under the ocean and go up through some hole.”

While that might’ve been true in the past, it was only partially true in modern times. Ivy could very clearly see a floating dock wrapped around one section of the crater. You still had to walk up a whole lot of stairs to get to the top of the crater, but visiting by boat was perfectly acceptable.

“So, which way do you—WOAH!”

Before she could finish speaking, Latias dove down. Ivy flinched and braced herself, but the expected wetness never happened. She opened one eye. They were underwater, but she wasn’t wet.

“This is so cool!” Ivy yelled, which only excited her more. She was talking! Underwater! And not getting a mouthful of salty water as punishment! This was so cool!

Latias trilled in agreement, her own happiness and excitement mingling with Ivy’s.

As they looked for the undersea opening to Sootopolis, Ivy could only look on in awe. Being underwater was so different from what she was used to. Everything in her sight was tinted slightly blue and Pokémon were everywhere. They swam through a large school of Magikarp that was made up of two hundred fish, easily. Looking down over Latias’s body, she could see a sloping sea floor and bright pinpoints of light that had to be Chinchou and Lanturn. Further out, away from Sootopolis, she could see Huntail and Gorebyss, Wailmer, Luvdisc, Tentacool, and even more Pokémon she didn’t know the name of.

It was magical.

It was exactly what she needed after her depressing excursion on Mt Pyre.

Ivy leaned down so her head was near Latias’. “We don’t have to get to Sootopolis in any hurry. Want to look around?”

Latias let out a thrilled chirp and dove down further into the sea.

-

Slateport’s docks looked no different than when Brendan had arrived months before with Ivy. There was a different girl at his side this time, but there was still a sense of familiarity. People moved around, intent on their own lives and goals. There were fewer tourists getting off of boats than earlier in the summer, but the crowds were still suffocating.

Lisia with her hair down and in casual clothes was almost unrecognizable. It had seemed odd to Brendan that she always wore such a gaudy outfit whenever she did anything Contest related, even brief things like interviews, but now he understood. In her oversized, Hi Skitty hoodie, she didn’t look anything like famous coordinator Lisia, but like any regular teenage girl.

She looked around with bright, curious eyes. “Wow! I always fly to get here. Are the docks always this lively?”

They had considered flying to Slateport. Latios was big enough to carry them both, after all. Then, Brendan realized that meant Lisia would have to have her arms around his torso. Or he’d have to have his arms around hers. That had made him veto flying immediately. Taking a boat wasn’t as fast, but it was far less embarrassing.

“They were the last time I visited.”

Back when he was still doing the gym challenge. That felt like a lifetime ago.

Feeling some sort of responsibility to act as guide for the entranced Lisia (Ivy had been weirdly into the docks too—were boats a common girl obsession and he had somehow missed the memo?), Brendan gestured towards a large building surrounded by half-built ships.

“That’s Stern’s Shipyard. Ivy and I met him when we visited the first time and, uh—”

He broke off as an alarm went off in the building. Its shrill ringing halted some of the movement around them.

Lisia clutched his arm. “What’s happening?”

How would I know, he didn’t snap. “’Dunno,” he said instead.

A swarm of workers scrambled out of the building. At the door, a familiar figure made his blood run cold. A tall, tanned woman in a blue bodysuit snuck in as the last worker left, slamming the door shut behind her.

“Team Aqua!”

“Team Aqua?” Lisia squeaked, squeezing his arm tighter.

Brendan clenched his fists. His first instinct was to run away. Team Aqua, despite his handful of run-ins with them, wasn’t his responsibility. But who else would get there in time?

An explosion rocked the docks.

The shockwave sent them and everyone around them stumbling. Lisia screamed. Brendan maybe yelled a bit himself.

Once Brendan rightened himself, it wasn’t hard to tell what happened. Plumes of smoke drifted into the air, staining the blue sky grey. Someone had set off some kind of bomb on one of the ships being built.

Most of the dockworkers and Pokémon ran towards the blast, so Brendan’s eyes couldn’t help but follow the sole figure sneaking away from the chaos.

No one would get there in time, he realized grimly. The police and the firefighters would focus on the ship and containing the fire he could distantly see. Whatever was happening inside the building would be second to stopping the immediate threat of the spreading fire.

He stepped forward, tugging Lisia along with him. “We have to follow that person!”

“What?” Lisia shrieked, clearly panicking as she lurched away from him.

Lisia had never had any interactions with Team Aqua or Magma. She hadn’t even gone on a proper Pokémon journey as far as Brendan was aware. Ali knew powerful moves like Moonblast and Draco Meteor, but he almost certainly had no idea how to direct those moves in the heat of battle.

“It’s a distraction,” he rushed to explain. “Team Aqua are doing something inside that building. I—I’m probably the only trainer around so I have to help. Sorry.”

Lisia stared at him, eyes wide and uncomprehending.

“Sorry,” he repeated as he ran towards Stern’s Shipyard. “I’d take out Ali if I were you!” he yelled over his shoulder before focusing on the task ahead of him.

He was acting so dumb right now. He was acting like Ivy.

Brendan was absolutely going to regret doing this, wasn’t he?

-

Brendan was long gone from Lisia’s sight when another bang rang through the docks. A quick glance showed that two of the boats were now on fire.

That finally got her moving. With fumbling fingers, she released Ali from his Dive Ball, nearly dropping it in the process. He trilled out a cheerful song before noticing all the smoke. With a sharp whistle, he landed on Lisia’s shoulders, wrapping his fluffy wings around her. The familiar weight of Ali on her shoulders helped Lisia relax some. Ali was here; she would be okay.

“Okay, okay,” she muttered to herself, desperately trying not to bawl out of fear. People rushed around her, both towards and away from the fire. None of them spared a glance at Lisia. “This is fine.” She could hear the wailing siren of a fire truck in the distance. “The fire will be under control soon. Brendan… Brendan needs help.”

Lisia bit her lip. Ali, sensing her emotions, wrapped his wings around her tighter and cooed the opening notes of an old Sootopolitan lullaby. His soothing song helped her keep her tears at bay for just a little bit longer.

Lisia wasn’t a battler. She had never been in a single battle in her entire life. It just held no interest to her. Before she entered Contests, people found that really weird. You want to work with Pokémon but you don’t want to battle? Not even for practice? How strange! Lisia kept true to herself though and never battled.

She kind of wished she knew how to battle right then. Brendan wouldn’t be off on his own then.

Nightmare scenarios rushed through her mind. Uncle Wallace had assured her and her mom that Team Aqua was nothing but a bunch of teenage punks acting tough, but this destroyed that perception like, well, an explosion.

Lisia inhaled sharply.

Uncle Wallace!

At the first movement of her arms, Ali unwrapped his wings from around her, letting her dig into her bag for her PokéNav.

She could call Uncle Wallace and then he could fly to Slateport to help Brendan! He usually had his PokéNav on Do Not Disturb when he was at the gym, but it wasn’t unusual for him to answer if it was a slow day, and there were a lot of slow days at the Sootopolis City Gym.

Her first call went to voicemail. Lisia sniffled. The second call also went to voicemail.

Okay, okay, this was fine! Lisia wiped at her eyes. She would call Uncle Steven! His Claydol could Teleport so he could get there even sooner! Never mind the fact that Uncle Steven answered his PokéNav as often as a Slowpoke had a coherent thought! It would work and everything would be fine, and Brendan would be safe, and Lisia would be comforted by someone familiar, and—

“Hello?”

Huh?

“Lisia?”

“Uncle Steven?” Lisia asked in complete disbelief. “You answered?” Uncle Wallace hadn’t but he had?

There was an amused sigh on the other end of the line. “I know I have a reputation for ignoring any calls I receive, but I don’t always have my PokéNav turned off.”

“Oh.”

“Did you need something from me?”

Lisia stared at the bright red fire truck. A crew of humans and Water types jumped off the truck and ran towards the first ship.

“I’m at Slateport and-and it’s really bad! There’s a fire and an explosion and Team Aqua and Brendan—”

“Lisia! Breathe.”

She heard that a lot. Lisia took a deep breath, Ali mimicking her.

There had been audible good cheer in Steven’s voice before, but it was completely gone now. Vaguely, she could hear movement in the background of his call. “Team Aqua’s in Slateport?”

“Y-yes. And Brendan went after them! They-they set off some explosion at the docks so everyone’s trying to get that under control so he’s completely alone a-and I’ve just been standing here, and I’m scared!”

“It’s okay to be scared, Lisia.” Uncle Steven’s voice was soothing. There was the sound of a door shutting on his end. “You said you’re at the docks?”

“Uh-huh.” She remembered what Brendan had called the building, right before the explosion. “By Stern’s Shipyard.”

“Alright, good. I know you’re scared, but you did good, Lisia. I’ll be there in a few minutes and take care of everything, okay? You just stay away from the mess and keep yourself safe. Get Ali out and hold him if you haven’t already.”

Lisia nodded as he spoke, relief coursing through her entire body. Uncle Steven was the Champion! He could take care of the entirety of Team Aqua without breaking a sweat! “Okay!”

Ali probably couldn’t hear what Steven said, but he chirped in agreement. Lisia knew he would protect her, just as she would him.

“I’ll be there soon,” Uncle Steven promised. “Goodbye.”

He ended the call before she could reply, but Lisia felt a bit better. The fire was still under way and Brendan was still alone against Team Aqua, but Uncle Steven would be there soon. He’d take care of everything. She repeated that to herself like a mantra.

-

The Aqua grunt didn’t go into the building like Brendan expected, but around it. He followed her as silently as he could, hoping she wasn’t leading him into some trap. In one hand, he clutched Mudkip’s Poké Ball. He didn’t want to be caught unprepared.

Behind the administrative building was another dockyard, this one much smaller. Instead of a boat, however, there was a submarine of all things docked there. Roughly a dozen pirate-wannabes hung around Shelly, talking amongst themselves. There were no Pokémon out except for a Gardevoir and a Mightyena.

“We’re good!” the grunt hollered, and Brendan jerked to a stop in surprise. That was the same voice as the female grunt from all the way back in Petalburg Woods.

Shelly nodded. “We just need to wait for Archie and Matt to arrive then. It’ll be a sec; Amu’s Kirlia has only been to the Oceanic Museum, so they’ll have to walk from there.”

The grunts let out a cheer. One of them started up a chant of “Aqua” and the others followed. Shelly pursed her lips but didn’t stop them.

Brendan had no idea what to do. There were far too many for him to battle. He had three gym badges, but that wasn’t exactly an uncommon feat. He was sure most of them had a similar amount. Not to mention it had been a while since he’d practiced battling specifically. He was sure Mudkip, Grovyle, and Swellow would adapt quickly, but what about the others? Pikachu hated battling while Latios only knew Safeguard and Protect. Useful, but only as long as the Protect barrier held.

“What on earth are you people going on about? Hijacking a submarine? You’re all insane!”

With a start, Brendan recognized Captain Stern. The poor man was tied to a pillar on the dock, the Mightyena standing guard over him.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Shelly said, turning away from the man as she stared at some device in her hand. “Grunts, start piling in. Archie’s almost here.”

Cheering, the grunts did as ordered. The dock slowly grew silent as the boisterous grunts entered the submarine.

Brendan bit his lip. Did he jump out of his hiding spot and ambush them? He wasn’t the hero type—he had no idea what to do in this situation. He wasn’t Ivy. She was the one who made decisions and jumped into danger. Brendan was the one who followed.