Like No One Ever Was

“Osu! Welcome, to my dojo!” Dendra declared, sweeping her arms out as she opened the sliding door to a traditional martial arts dojo.

The floor was wooden, with a few mats placed in the center. In one corner was a wooden post with several poles sticking out to practice katas, and opposite it hung a punching bag. On the walls hung a few pieces of elegant calligraphy, and a somewhat incongruous motivational poster of a Sprigatito clinging onto a branch with the caption ‘hang in there’. Sunlight streamed into the room from a large window, and beside that windowsill a Meditite hovered, carefully pruning a Bonsai tree that rested atop it. They turned to look at me curiously before returning to their work.

Fixing the lapels of my white gi, I followed her inside. I removed my shoes before stepping inside and placed my bag by the door.

“So, uh, what do you think? I know it’s a bit old-fashioned but-”

“I love it,” I said, excited to be here, and the nervousness on her face evaporated into pure joy.

“Osu!” She stepped inside and took her place at the top of the room, straightening her belt. It’s kinda cute, seeing her all eager and nervous like this. Dendra was always enthusiastic in the games, but she was an adult there. Now I’m seeing her as a kid, just doing this for the first time.

Her Meditite finished her pruning and drifted over to Dendra, giving me a polite wave and yawning sleepily before pressing the button on their Pokeball and recalling themselves. Must be pretty young, she looked somewhat small.

“My plan today is to run you through the basics of what martial arts are, some stretches and drills to get you fired up, and practice a few simple techniques. Before we begin, do you have any questions?”

“How did you get this dojo?” I’d been in a slightly bigger martial arts studio in my prior life, but we’d had classes with over twenty students and three or more instructors in that one. I’d also had classes out of garages or basements when times were leaner.

“Ah, well, it’s not exactly mine. My Shifu entrusted it to me to keep safe while he trained in the wilderness. I pretty much live here now, not that there’s too much to do, but things are too quiet at home.” She laughed, but it felt just a little forced and hollow. Plenty of reasons why someone’s parents might be gone or missing in this world.

“Is it alright for you to be teaching me here? I appreciate the offer, but I don’t want you getting in trouble with your teacher or any other students.”

“No worries! I don’t think Shifu Chuck will have a problem with me teaching you or anything though, if- when he comes back. And there’s no other students left but me.”

“Oh, sorry to hear that.”

“No no, it’s fine,” she waved her hands animatedly, plastering a grin on her face.

“The others just got busy with studies and other things, and stopped focusing on being a trainer.”

"Huh? What does being a coach have to do with practicing martial arts?" This is about improving my body and discipline, not my Pokemon's, or is it some co op thing.

"Well, you know the stereotypes," she scratched the back of her wild black hair. "Or don't you? You weren't born in Paldea."

"No, I'm--I'm from Unova." I stammer over the words for a second before remembering where I’m from from in this life, and not the past one.

"I don't know if things are different there, but most people around these parts only seriously practice martial arts when training Fighting Types.” She quickly seems to notice her gaffe, putting up her arms in a defensive position in front of her

"Not that Fighting Types aren't great, my whole team is Fighting! But in general, people drop the practice when they stop being dedicated trainers, or pick up other Types on their team."

“That’s dumb.” My blunt words caused Dendra to be surprised for a split second before snorting.

“Yeah, it is. I’d practice Karate forever, even if I wasn’t a trainer.” I returned the fierce grin she gave me with one of my own. Definitely, I feel the same way.

“Do you plan on training any Fighting Types?”

“I hadn’t set out concrete plans on who I want to train, so many cool Pokemon out there. And I just want someone who wants to be on my team and meshes well with me.” I wouldn’t mind finding one that worked well with me, though. There are some very cool and strong Fighting Types out there.

As if reading my mind she shouted “Quick, name your favorite Fighting Type!”

"Aah, Bewear? Or maybe Lucario! But Hawlucha's great, too..." Heracross and Annihilape are great, too! Does Meloetta count as one? Or doesn't she count? Because she's a mythical, and she can switch between fighting and not fighting.

She laughed heartily. "I know, right?!" Then she caught herself and cleared her throat. "Right, I teach a class here. Ahem. Now, was there anything else you had questions about?"

"No, thanks Sensei Dendra. Or would you prefer Shifu Dendra?" I asked and she put her hands over her mouth.

“Too… cute.” She squeaked out and looked like she wanted to pick me up like a teddy bear before managing to control herself. “Uh, Sensei Dendra is fine.” She shook her head and took a deep breath.

"Right, the basics of martial arts. I'm going to teach you karate, which I learned from my Shifu in this dojo, but every style has the same foundation. Martial arts is a sport and an art form. It's an expression through the movement of the human body.”

“People often look down on them because of this, but almost all styles were designed with a very practical purpose: to hurt others. They're meant to help you refine and arm yourself. As such, I expect you to treat this training with the utmost respect.”

“Karate can be used in tournaments, if you wish to do so we can go over the rules of those and how you fight in those circumstances. Outside of those or this dojo, I expect you to only be using it against others as a method of self-defense or to defend others.:

While people may be weaker than Pokemon, that doesn’t mean we can’t be dangerous with enough training. Some people also use it as an excuse to hurt others and then pretend the pain they cause isn’t serious because it wasn’t caused by a Pokemon or a weapon. That will not be tolerated in this dojo, are we clear?!!”

“Yes, sensei.”

She let out a sigh.

“Phew. Sorry about that, but that was a strict rule in this dojo and I needed to go over it. I don’t think you’re going to hurt anyone but-”

“No, I get it.” My former teacher always said the first thing you should look into in a confrontation is if you can de-escalate or safely escape without a fight. Using violence, and truly hurting others should always be the last resort.

“We’ll begin class by bowing to each other, to show respect as teacher and student.”

To demonstrate, she gave me a short bow, back straight and bending at the hips. I returned it with my own, clasping a fist with an open palm.

“Osu! Do you already have training in martial arts?” How did she- right the bow.

Just a sign of respect, but the gesture to go along with it, is something that would have come with training. Especially so instinctually.

“Yeah, I’ve had a bit of training before I moved to Paldea.” Technically sorta true if you squint at it?

“I thought you might have!” Dendra pumped her fist in the air. “Your punches at the tournament were very interesting. What style did you study?”

“It was mixed martial arts. Ju-Jitsu base with a bit of everything thrown in. Karate, Muay Thai, Sambo, etcetera.”

“Ohh! That sounds very cool. I haven’t even heard of Muay Thai!”

Right, different world, different styles names or just some less popular styles. Martial arts was quite a niche interest here. "Change of plans, we're still going to warm up, but after that you can show me what you know and we'll go from there."

“Osu!” I shouted out… which may have been a mistake as she grabbed at her heart, falling over and muttering something about ‘cuteness overload.’

Turning on my heel, I pulled out my water bottle from my bag and splashed her with it. “Wha- ah.”

“Ready to begin?” I asked, giving her the chance to recompose herself and not press her on the topics. Cheeks a little red from embarrassment, she nodded. I had Miles start hovering in the back, recording the class for Leah and my parents to review.

The stretches were pretty standard, though I was surprised by how far my body could go. Last life I could just reach the ends of my toes with my hands in a sitting stretch, now I’m reaching like a foot past it. It could have been part of the general upgrades humans had in this world, or just my child body being naturally more flexible.

The push-ups, sit-ups, and other exercises Dendra quickly ran me through were nothing new, all stuff I practiced at home. Even the kettlebell squats and chin-ups were all familiar to me, though using equipment I didn’t have, so they worked out muscle groups I hadn’t focused on as much in this life, giving me a good burn before my teacher called a break on that.

“Now that you’re all warmed up, I want you to show me your moves! Let’s start with a jab.” She threw her hand out, and I almost copied her before remembering she wanted to see my style.

Bending my knees, I placed my legs apart, in line with my shoulders, one foot facing her in front of me, the other off to my right. I raised my hands beside my face, my fists clenched by my cheeks. Slowly, I extended my left arm out in a jab, letting her see every part of the motion clearly before drawing it back.

“Interesting, you didn’t turn your fist over horizontally, you kept it vertical. Do you do the same for your punches?”

“Yes,” I said, demonstrating my punch with my right hand. It was similar to my jab, but I turned my shoulder and pivoted my foot with it fully for extra reach and power. “It gives the wrist more protection and is just a little bit faster. I’ll turn it for a hook punch or uppercut, but that’s mostly to get better angles on those strikes.” She nodded and motioned for me to demonstrate those as well, which I did.

“Good, good. You’re throwing back behind each punch, even in the jabs where you pop your shoulder a bit. That’s one of the most important steps and you’ve already got it down. You keep a very high guard. That’ll protect your upper half, but what about your body?”

“I’d either use my elbows or knees. Possibly catching or deflecting a kick with my hands or arms if I felt it was viable.”

Then I showed her the three leg blocks, raising my left leg high, first at an angle out, then in, and finally with my right leg at an angle out as well. “Any strike from an opponent I’m facing can be covered with these and force a lower strike to deflect against the knee or shin.”

Dropping my elbow down, I showed how from my high guard I could still cover down to my hip while only dropping a few inches away from my face, giving me plenty of time to return to cover any follow-up strikes. Especially since any attack it blocked would limit any further attacks on that side. At least, from a human opponent. An angry Pokemon attacking me would be a very different story, even before any Moves.

After running through a few more strikes, she said “I think that’s enough for now. Run them through for me, together.” With that my new sensei started calling out strikes repeatedly, having me chain them together against imaginary foes.

“Elbow’s dropping.”

“Yes, sensei.”

“Overturning your foot there.”

“Thank you sensei.”

So it went. My knowledge was not perfectly retained, but thousands and thousands of the basics ensured that they stuck in my mind. The muscle memory wasn’t there anymore though, so as I started moving at full speed, I got sloppy. Made mistakes. Honestly, it’s really impressive that Dendra can already get my style well enough to spot all the mistakes I’m making here, she’s a great teacher.

Sweat was just starting to roll off me when Dendra called “Enough! Take a quick water break.” I did so gratefully. “Well, I wasn’t expecting you to already have a solid base style. Hmm, this is going to complicate things. What do you want to do from here? Keep your style as is and try to add the Karate into it, or start fresh?”

I thought hard about the offer before saying “I want to keep my style. It uses a lot of Karate anyway, probably the second heaviest influence to my style. I should be able to incorporate it without too much difficulty.” There were often worries about having to train out prior influences when learning a new style, but I hoped that I could blend what I knew and what I learned without too much difficulty. “I don’t want to lose what I learned.”

It’s funny. Hadn’t practiced in a few years before I was reborn but… the mere thought of discarding what I had then cuts like a knife. My old teachers, an old man, and his son flashed through my mind. Maybe I’ll never pass this on, I can’t make any promises as to how this life goes, but I’ll try to make you proud. Hope you’re doing well, wherever you are.

“Nemona?” Her voice was tentative, not excited at all, so I turned to face Dendra wondering what was bothering her. “We can take a break if you want.”

“What?! No!” I shook my head and felt a bit of water fly off my face. What- oh. I was crying. “I- no, I’m fine. Let’s keep going.” I wiped my face.

“... Alright. Let’s practice some katas. Here, take a Zebstrika stance.” I blinked, confused at her words before I saw her stance and realized what she meant.

“Oh right, yeah. Sensei,” I tacked on the end as I took what I knew to be a horse stance. Of course, they would have different names.

“Hold your fists down lower, by your sides. Your guard will be lower for this, but there are blocks we’ll train from here. Now, follow my lead, osu!”

***

Training continued like that, going pretty well. It wasn’t hard for me to copy her moves, a lot of them I knew or were very familiar to me ,just would take a lot of practice until I had them down perfectly, could use them without thinking, and even more training to make sure they fit into what I already had, but I was feeling pretty hopeful.

Towards the end of the session, Dendra had me practicing on the wooden dummy and then the punching bag. The dummy went well, in part because I was aware of how tough the wood was and was careful not to hit it at full force. A punching bag can feel soft, you don’t realize how dense the sand packed inside it can be.

“Ha! Kiai!” I shouted out as I punched and kicked into it.

“Harder!”

“Hah!” Exhaling, I threw a heavy hook into it. My fist felt a bit sore, but my wrist was fine, so I kept on going. Just like my shins, this would just be good conditioning, right?

“Last set, harder!” The words weren’t harsh, I didn’t have a reason to be upset, but it felt like I was hitting it as hard as I could. If I’d been thinking about it rationally, I’d recognize that I did still have a bit more to give, that it was about seeing if I could keep my form while using all my strength. But in that moment it just sparked a bit of frustration, and I grabbed onto that, Imagining Freddrick’s dumb, smug face on the punching bag.

Jab, punch, uppercut, followed by an arcing overhand haymaker I stepped through to deliver. The bag was knocked back hard, swaying on the chain that held it aloft. As I slipped aside from its return swing, I saw my hands and realized they were bloody, something Dendra saw too.

“Stop! Nemona, what happened?”

“Nothing, I just fu- screwed up. Could I get an ice pack?” My hand was throbbing a bit.

“Yes, and bandages, oh gosh.” She ran off to the main entrance room, and then down the hall to get some medical supplies.

Can’t believe I was so stupid. Waving for Miles to stop recording, I called them back to me. At their worried expression, I said, “Don’t worry, this doesn’t really hurt.”

“I’m so sorry Nemona, I shouldn’t have let you get hurt!” Dendra wailed as she burst back into the dojo, her arms full with a box of medical supplies.

“Whoa, I think that’s a bit much. I only need an ice bag.” Glancing at my bloody knuckles I added “Maybe some gauze too.”

“You sure you don’t need a bandage or-”

“It’ll just get in the way, it’s the knuckles that got abrased.” She handed me a strip of gauze and the ice pack. Applying the former to my knuckles, I put the latter against my wrist and let out a sigh of relief.

“Don’t you need that for your knuckles?” she asked.

“No, they just sting a little bit. I tweaked my wrist with that last punch.” I’d had minor wrist problems in my last life, probably from some injuries I’d acquired over my decades in martial arts, and I remembered Nemona having that brace in the game. I don’t want to get those problems again, gotta be more careful.

“I’m sorry Nemona, I shouldn’t have-”

“Stop it! Sensei,” I added much too belatedly, the incongruity of it causing my lip to twitch upwards at the ridiculousness of it. That caused her to laugh and soon we were both just giggling. It’s strange how being close to a friend can make everything so much brighter, and flip a bad mood around in an instant.

Once we stopped laughing I made sure to clarify. “Seriously though, it wasn’t your fault. I got angry, made a mistake, and hurt myself. Wasn’t even that bad, just scraped a bit of flesh off the knuckles. Besides, it’s martial arts, I should expect a few bumps and bruises.”

“Don’t let Tulip hear you say that, she feels that every injury should be avoided.” Dendra smiled at me as if to say ‘How silly Tulip can be,’ but I was distracted. Something about that triggered something in my mind. Didn’t Dendra have a scar in the games? I think… I think she did, somewhere on her face, but pretty small. I couldn’t see it here though, so it was likely an incident yet to happen.

The older girl continued. “While I’m glad you didn’t get scared off or anything… what caused you to get so angry?”

Sitting down I let out a small sigh. “Nothing serious, just picturing beating that jerk from the tournament, Frederick. Figures he gets me in trouble again.” I gave a small mirthless laugh. But I know the truth; it’s my temper getting me in trouble, not him, even if he is an asshole.

“Do you think we could do any meditation as part of the class?” It’s not like I need to meditate here, but it’s a nice routine and something I enjoyed before when practicing.

“We could, but you’ll probably do more of that with Tulip.”

“Huh?”

“Oh right, she’s been busy with her modeling and trying to get in contact with her old teacher, but she’ll be ready to train you in Aura soon.”

“I- I thought she- after my outburst, how I nearly… I thought she wasn’t going to teach me that.”

“Whaaaat? Why would you think that?!”

“Well, I got really mad, and…” Holding up my injured hand I shrugged. “She saw all that and we hadn’t talked at all since, so I assumed…” I trailed off.

“No, of course not! You didn’t hurt anyone, and of course, you were frustrated. We all were, that call was bogus! We were all just kinda shocked, and then you ran off, but no one blames you for that. That girl! She accuses me of being scatterbrained sometimes, but whenever the shoe’s on the other foot…” she devolved into grumblings, and I smiled. Dendra looks a lot happier when talking about her friends rather than the people not in her life anymore.

“I wouldn’t have blamed her if she hadn’t wanted to teach me after that, it’s not like she owed me anything. Oh, right! I should pay you for the class.” She tried to wave me off, but I refused.

“No, this was a good class, from an expert for several hours, you deserve to get paid for it.”

“You’re a friend, it’s not like I have much to do right now anyway…” That won’t do at all.

“Ten thousand for the session.”

“What!? No, that’s way too much!”

“Eleven thousand.”

“That’s higher!” She shrieked.

“And it’ll keep on going up until you accept,” I shot back cheekily. Was sticking my tongue out too much? Nah.

“Why I- alright, fine, we’ll settle this in a battle! I win and you have to pay me a reasonable price.”

“Uhh…” Holding out my still bloody hand and using the other one to gesture at my much smaller body I said. “I don’t think that’s very fair.”

“Not a martial arts match, a Pokemon battle! I love sparring, but I like Pokemon battling too, and I’ve been fired up ever since I saw your tournament fights!”

“Sounds good. Do you have anywhere to fight?” The dojo might be great for human sparring, but I was sure that Pokemon would tear it apart in a few Moves.

“The backyard has a sand pit that should be large enough for our Pokemon.” Heading outside I saw a very spacious backyard, and tastefully arranged at that. Smooth stones were inlaid in the ground to make a nice path towards an empty pond and a tall tree. Hedges lined the edge, with a few shrubs inside. The back half was dominated by a sand pit with even lines running through it that made me suspect someone had been using it as a Zen garden.

Dendra took her place on one end of the rectangular field and I stood at the other. “Osu! Let’s have a 1-on-1 battle. Whoever faints first or surrenders loses.” She released Meditite, who didn’t take to the field but instead moved outside it, taking their place in the center. Ah, they’ll be the referee for this match.

“Sounds good, go, Dun!” I released the land snake from his ball and he gave a loud chirp, eagerly wiggling about on the sand.

“Go, Hariyama!” Dendra responded, releasing her Pokemon. He was a rather rotund figure, very humanoid with a pale cone-shaped head and massive orange hands.

She already has a Hariyama, I should have figured. She has a Type advantage over Dun, but given her experience, I don’t think Miles would be up to the challenge yet. Plus, we’ve got a few new tricks to try against Fighting Types.

“On the count of three, we’ll begin. Three, two, one… go!”

“Glare,” I gave my order out immediately. Considering Dendra was counting us in, that gave me a slight advantage, and Hariyama had no chance of closing his eyes before his muscles started seizing up.

“Arm Thrust, hit him hard!” Dendra cried out, making thrusting motions with her own hands. Her Pokemon lumbered up, trying to palm-strike Dun repeatedly. My starter dodged out of the way of most of them, faster than the debilitated Fighting Type, but the sheer size of his hands meant that one of the shots clipped him and sent Dun tumbling tail overhead across the field from the force.

At least that gives us some breathing room. “Hex!” Purple shadowy winds whipped around Dun for a moment before dissipating as dark purple flame-like energies gathered around Hariyama. The large Fighting Type flinched heavily at that, trying to disperse the energy, only to freeze up part way through.

“Shake it off, Harriyama! I know you got it in you!” Dendra shouted. I would have felt it was a waste of time… if I didn’t see her Pokemon do just that. With a quick shake of his head, he pushed aside the Paralysis, his body limbering up and he clapped his large hands together menacingly.

Gah! How did she- whatever, gotta stay in the game. The distance between them… too much for that, but he’s going to close anyway, won’t he? “Earthquake, followed with an Air Cutter,” I gave my command as Hariyama started jogging towards us.

Training on the beach so often meant that sand was no obstacle for Dun to move, his repeated strikes to the ground sending waves of sand rippling out around him. As the waves neared Hariyama, they rose, crashing over him like a tidal wave.

“Nice work Dun!” I called out as I saw the Fighting Type getting pushed back and covered by sand. Hariyama spat out a few grains. More waves came in, which he just punched through, but each hit roughed him up a little bit and slowed him down.

Dun’s wings flapped hard, gathering energy and swirling the winds around him even while he didn’t move himself. To my surprise, Hariyama proved faster, closing with Dun before he could launch his attack. The wind was released in a cutting slash at Hariyama, who managed to dodge it partially, twisting his large body to the side so the blade of air only cut him in the shoulder before smacking Dun hard into the ground with a slap of his own.

“Dunnnnn!” the land snake gave a pained cry, rolling around away from any follow-up. No, it wasn’t that Hariyama was too fast, it’s that Dun moved too slow; he took twice as long as he usually does to use that Move.

“Drill retreat!” Dun’s tail started spinning noisily, giving Hariyama a moment of pause, which was all Dun needed to escape. We still hadn’t gotten the Move Dig down fully, but he was good enough to drill down and make a tunnel to escape, popping back up far away from Hariyama a few seconds later.

“Air Slash, again!” His wings flapped again and blades of air started flying across the battlefield at Hariyama. Much faster this time. It must be because he didn’t just use Ground Type energy before it - drilling through the ground isn’t the same as Earthquake. I’d taken it for granted, with Dun being so naturally great at using different Type energies, but switching between them rapidly is still a limitation we face for the newer Moves.

Dendra wasn’t just going to let us pelt her from afar, however. “Stone Edge the Air Slash.” The big-handed Pokemon reached down, condensing sand into a giant boulder twice the size of Dunsparce and hurling it low to the ground at his foe. It burst through the whirling air with ease and before it even reached his target, Hariyama was reaching for another toss with his other hand.

“Protect! Go low and pick up speed!” At the last moment, Dunsparce conjured a hexagonal patterned forcefield around him. The barrier wavered, ripples spreading out from the point where the jagged rock impacted it, but ultimately held.

More rocks were thrown, some of them smashing into each other or hitting the ground, kicking up large clouds of dust neither of us could see through. I’m not worried though, Dun knows what to do.

When the clouds cleared, the rocks breaking back down into sand, they revealed an empty space where Dunsparce had been. “Huh? Oh, I see,” Dendra nodded, figuring out my strategy in a second. “Fine, we can play like that. Hariyama, Belly Drum!”

My eyes widened. He still has the energy left for that? Damn it! The big fighter did indeed, joyously slapping his own hands against his belly making an odd sound ringing out through the air. He looked quite beat up, more from his own Move than any of the ones we had landed on him, but he was still standing proud.

Dunsparce poked his head out from the sand and I knew it was time to act. “Strafe him, Hyper Voice!” Dun dashed across the battlefield, and with the Agility he had used underground, he moved quite quickly at that, drawing in a deep breath. Belly Drum is a huge threat, but if he can’t reach us we can still win this-

“Bullet Punch.” Hariyama rocketed forward, right hand outstretched in a fist- no, like his fist was pulling the rest of him forward. Dun let out a high-pitched screech, causing Hariyama to wince, but his aim was true, connecting with the speedy snake and sending him flying across the arena and into a hedge where he collapsed in a heap.

Hariyama wobbled, dropping down to one knee and placing a hand on the ground. He was hurt but still conscious while Dun… was not. Meditite raised their arm on Dendra’s side, indicating she was the winner, but I barely noticed.

“Dun!” I ran over to him and began immediately applying Revives and Potions to him after extracting him from the hedge. He blearily blinked his eyes back open.

“Arce ar?”

“We lost, sorry pal. You did great out there though.”

“Dun.” He was disappointed, but not upset this time. I feel the same. If we had lost to Freddrick- well, that guy was still a jerk so it would have hurt more, but losing to Rika wouldn’t have been bad. I wonder if I’ll get to challenge her when I take on the Elite Four?

“Osu! That was incredible! You two were awesome!” Dendra exclaimed as she ran over. I tossed her a few Potions to use on Hariyama, which helped him a bit but didn’t clear all of his bruises.

“Thanks, but it was Dun that did great. I shouldn’t have played so on the fence around the Belly Drum. Should have gone all in the moment he came out, or maybe gone full defense, waited for you to commit with something else, Glare at a distance and Protect to stop it, then counter?

Or…” my mumblings became indecipherable as I puzzled it over in my head.

If there was any possible way to win, I’m the kind of person to obsess over it. Admittedly, this one would have been pretty hard no matter what. Her Hariyama was incredibly tough, well-trained, and had the Type advantage. I’ll face more challenges like that as I grow though, so many more if I want to be the Champion. People who have built whole teams solely to defeat me, and I’ll need to counter those.

I noticed Dun slither over to Hariyama and exchange a few ‘words.’

“Dun, un.”

“Ama?”

“Arce spar, dunsparce.”

“Ha ha hariyama!”

Dendra grinned, reading the situation as well as I had (albeit, from the other side).

“We’ll be ready to take you on any time, osu!”

“Just you wait, Dun is gonna be so much stronger the next time you face him!”

Her eyes blazed fiercely as she met my determined gaze and I held out my fist for her to bump it. She did so, and Dun did something similar, holding out his tail for Hariyama who tapped it… and sent Dunsparce blasting off.

The three of us looked on in shock and horror before running off after Dun, trying to catch him wherever he landed.

“Oh no, he still had Belly Drum up! I’m so sorrrrry!!”