Like No One Ever Was

“Giratina went down to Zapapico, looking for a soul to steal. They were in a bind, they were way behind, they were willing to make a deal. When they came across this young lass on fiddle, playing it-”

“Why is Giratina trying to take someone’s soul, bzzt?” Miles asked, interrupting me.

With a sigh, I said “Well, the cultural connotations of ‘devil’ don’t exist in this world. Here it’s just ‘bad’, an archaic phrase for what monster, what some people would call violent Pokemon in some regions back before they had Pokeballs or properly bonded with them. And that’s just for general ‘devils’, not THE Devil, which has religious connections.”

“Dudun?” My adorable land snake asked from the rock he was basking on nearby. Dunsparce and their evolution could regulate their heat, but Dun still enjoyed relaxing in the sun. I was quite content to let him rest after a hard day’s training, and it gave me a good excuse to stretch my legs while working on songs.

“Well, not as such, no. I’m hardly an expert, but that religion I don’t think explicitly ever said that the Devil ever stole souls. There was plenty of propaganda and related literature that claimed that he would do so, it became quite a popularized myth.”

“Bzzt, those myths persisted for thousands of years, correct?” I nodded at Miles' question, wondering where they were going with this. “Why did no researcher ever study the Devil and find out the truth in all that time? No matter how elusive such a being is, it feels odd that they could interact with people enough for such stories to be formed about them without-” They stopped sporting a small frown at my laughter.

“Sorry, sorry, I just forget how different things are in this world from my own. From my first," I corrected myself. "Here, the legends and myths are almost all real. Pokemon you could, theoretically, reach out and touch. Some even work alongside or for Trainers.”

Sure, there are plenty of crazy rumors on the PokeNet, different ‘mythical’ Pokemon that turn out to be a Bunnery with a smudge of dirt and covered in leaves or have no more evidence to back them up whatsoever. Most of the stories that get a big following, however, do have some proof, if often faint.

Continuing, I said: “Those myths and religions, they didn’t have the hard proof you’d find of such things here. A lot of believers, and some of what they said definitely could be true but… nothing like a clear photo of an angel.” That was a reference to a photo Turo had sent Arven and me not so long ago, caught from a setup he had placed in the lighthouse. While his son had been sleeping through a storm, a Kantoan Zapdos had indeed stopped by, caught in glorious focus with the lightning and rain raging around them.

We hadn’t found any sign of it in the days to come of course, but there was no sign that the Professor had doctored the footage. I highly doubt he’s the type of man to do that anyway. Besides, he’s busy with his work down in Area Zero right now, that’s something I’m still on a clock to deal with. Without answers for that issue, I decided to focus on my music, for the moment.

“So yeah, the Devil, and sometimes lesser devils, steal souls. There aren’t a lot of Pokemon that have lore related to that, so I figured Giratina could work with their connection to Distortion.”

“Gli li,” Nightwing said, swooping above me. The Gligar was quite happy with her name after we finally settled on it. It had come about as a result of situations like this, where I’d explain to the full team details of my past life and world and she’d instantly latched onto that name when I brought up superheroes. Not that any of my explanations about why it didn’t quite fit worked for her. Pointing out it was the name of a guy, of a superhero, one who was deeply connected with others, a contrast from her own more aloof tendencies, none of that matters. Well, if she finds it cool and likes it, good for her.

“Darkrai was a possible choice as well, but too sleep-focused,” I explained. “Look, the song is about a music duel with your soul on the line and a prize of a fiddle made of gold. It doesn’t have to make a lot of sense-”

“Gar,” Nightwing said, rolling her eyes. Conveying both the messages of ‘can sure see that’ and also:

“How does Giratina play an instrument? Well, obviously they- well I- maybe in Origin Form with the tentacles-? Gah, forget it.”

“Sparce, dudun.” My starter said, flipping up to glare at Nightwing. It wasn’t nearly enough to Paralyze her, and she even stuck her tongue out in response, but I also spotted how she started drifting a bit farther away from my starter.

“I appreciate it Dun, but she wasn’t bullying me. It’s just a bad song to adapt. Plus, I’d need to learn to play the fiddle, and I’ve already got my hands full with drums and piano practice on top of my guitar and singing.” Which is a shame, it was one of the first songs I truly enjoyed when I was young. While my music tastes have grown plenty since then, and honestly country isn’t one of my favorite genres overall, I'll always have a special place in my heart for that one.

With a heavy sigh, I pulled up the list of potential songs and crossed it off. There were several others alongside it for a variety of reasons. Most of them, like ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire,’ just had lyrics that were very difficult to fit into a Pokemon world; songs had a lot of little cultural references to them, things I wouldn’t have consciously noted before. Others were rejected for being too difficult, or not remembering enough of them.

I’m certain my memory has improved drastically in this world. I probably could have only remembered the choruses of a couple of these songs at most. Is that an impact of my Aura training? Increased studying from a young age? Or are humans here just built different?

These questions were hard to answer, especially with no way to make unbiased comparisons, but occasionally plagued me nonetheless.

Even with my enhanced memorization, it wasn’t enough to recall every song perfectly, a few of them relegated to a scant line or two in my head. Going down the list of ones I felt I could recall (that weren’t crossed off, or the few I had checked as guaranteed), I found some old favorites.

“Hmm, Back in Black is good, but a little odd for a first album. Lot of stuff by Metric and the Beaches here, but some of the content doesn’t feel right for a little girl to be singing about… then again, I did put Eat Your Young here, and it took surprisingly little adaptation.” The look on Hassel’s face when he heard it was a hilarious mix of pride and incredibly disturbed. “What about Take me to the Kaptin?” I wondered aloud.

To give them context, I explained to my team “It’s about someone asking to be taken away from their world, to explore the mysteries of space and other planets. We only barely had space travel in that world, not too dissimilar from this one, actually, but there was tons of fiction on the topic.” I never asked to be taken here… at least, as far as I can remember from my foggy memories of when exactly I ended up here, but I can’t say I’m dissatisfied with the result.

Notch, the quietest of my Pokemon in such discussions turned and blinked at me once before gazing back around at the seal off in the distance. There were rolling hills of grass, small pools where Woopers and Clodsires played in, and other aspects of nature. All of that would (and had) gathered Notch’s attention, enraptured as they were with the outside world after eons of having existed in the same cave. The seal, glowing violet lines sticking out of the cliff face, ancient chains wrapped around the portal to constrain the Ruin within… I could see why my Pokemon had been so caught by it. Why Notch in particular was focused on it even after having come here a few times.

The Darkness that comes from it, it’s almost palpable despite the distance and whatever arcane sealing method the ancient Paldeans used to contain the Treasures of Ruin. With a shiver that only was partly due to the cool breeze washing over me, I turned away from the ominous barrier and back to my music.

“Ok, this looks like a pretty good list.” Nine songs were confirmed, some of them I had already made versions of, like ‘Let Her Go,’ ‘Bones,’ ‘Eat Your Young,’ ‘Vienna,’ (which would be called ‘Unova’ in this world), and ‘Oh the Places You’ll Go.’ On the list of ones I had yet to make were ‘Take Me to the Kaptin,’ ‘I Beg to Differ [It Will Get Better],’ ‘Live and Learn,’ ‘The Pretender,’ and of course, ‘Celestial.’

“Should I add something from Ok Go as well?”

“Ligar.” “Dun, spar.” Ehh, bzzt.” Were the non-committal responses from my more vocal team members, at most indicating a desire to train more. Most of that coming from Dun. He was and is always happy to hear my music, but he had hoped that it might have helped him master Boomburst. Sadly, that hadn’t been the case, with the Move still well out of reach from my adorable starter.

“Nah, I’ll save that for a second album, if I make one. Maybe just post some of my other songs as singles.” Plus I’ve got that other thing for the first album. There are no lyrics, but it should make for a kick-ass battle theme.

With a yawn, I stretched out on the grass, staring up at the clear blue sky above. I’m happy to be bringing these songs from my old world to life here, and my parents and Hassel are so enthusiastic about it, but it’s been a ton of work, even with all of their help. Miles is chipping in tons too, with the overlaying of tracks and working out the synthesizer… And all of them putting in at least as much effort as I am makes me feel bad about feeling worn out with it all, but there’s no denying I’ll be happy when this album is done.

Miles started ringing and I groaned. “Is it another record label looking to sign me on?” It’s not just the making of the music that’s tough work, it’s everything else. I’ve needed to find a publicist who’s trying to set me up with interviews to promote my album, and there are meetings with record labels to see who will be producing my music, arranging studio time to record it, etc., etc.

“No, bzzt. It’s Amethio,” They said brightly, and my malaise immediately fell away.

“Oh cool! Haven’t heard from him in a while, put him on.” We traded messages back and forth every so often, but we hadn’t had much time to visit each other recently. Can’t even blame The Explorers for that, at least half of it is on me for my schedule. He wasn't too upset, understanding my situation, and had mentioned focusing on his training recently.

Turning around, Miles’ screen showed Amethio, the boy staring at me intently with his purple eyes. “Nemona. I’m ready to battle.”

“Oh cool, who you battling?” I asked.

“Wha- I’m battling you, of course!” He shouted, caught off-guard by my response.

“How was I supposed to know?” I responded, faux-innocently. “You didn’t say any greetings or anything like that to me when you started this conversation.”

His pale cheeks grew rosy, embarrassed by my call-out. “Ak- I- Whatever, you knew what I meant!” He accused, pointing a gloved finger from across the screen at me. While I couldn’t see much of the background, it was clear that he was in the base.

Some fresh air would do him some good, I decided. Laughing, I nodded my head. “Yeah, I did. Hey, you should come over here so we can battle. I got a League standard arena for my birthday!”

The young Explorer was a little caught off-guard by the sudden shift in conversation but recovered quickly, used to me and my antics by now. “Ok. When are you available?”

“Whenever basically. You could come over now, even!” Battle battle battle battle- calm down brain. It was hard to remain unexcited when this would be the first time in almost a year since he had promised/demanded a battle from me. From the smirk tugging at his lips, I bet he felt similarly.

“Might take me a few hours to get Spinel to agree to let me use his Beheeyem, but yeah. I’ll see you soon!” With that, he ended the call.

“Alright team, let’s get ready! We’ve got a battle to win.” That provoked cheers from all four of my Pokemon, even a few chimes from Notch. Best bring your A-game Amethio, because we’ve been working hard too.

***

The seal wasn’t so far away from my house, but it still took us a while to trek back, and when I got there, I heard Amethio’s voice coming from inside. Wow, that was fast, guess Spinel was in a good mood.

As I entered I heard him talking to Hamber. “...At least I won’t ever need his help ag- Nemona!” Seeing his face brighten up at the sight of me was nice.

“Amethio!” I ran over and gave him a hug, which he returned eagerly. Probably a little touch starved over at the Explorers. I just wish I could convince him that they aren’t a great group to be with.

“Ahem,” my majordomo cleared his voice. “Please try not to track in mud to the house, Young Miss.” He gave a significant glance at my shoes as he said so, which weren’t overly muddy, but I had spent a long time outside with them.

“Aheh, sorry about that. Since we’re heading out though, I’ll just keep them on for the moment,”

I explained, stepping slowly back to the front mat while pulling Amethio along. “C’mon, let’s go!”

We ran down to the back of the house where the Battlefield was on the beach. “Ta-da!” Throwing my hands out, I presented it to Amethio who said:

“I guess it looks alright.” He tried to look unimpressed but I could tell he was jealous! Or maybe I just think everyone should be jealous of it, he does have training facilities like this in their base, I just like having my own so much.

“Speaking of looking only ‘alright’, how long are you going to rock the grunt outfit?” I asked as we walked down, taking our places on opposite ends of the arena.

He lifted his nose slightly. “I’ll have you know that I’m very close to getting my own customized uniform. And stop calling them ‘grunt’ outfits! We’re not an evil Team!”

“Uhuh, sure thing, can’t wait to see what your customized Admin uniform looks like.” I taunted, sticking my tongue out at him.

Amethio didn’t rise to my bait, instead sneering and firing back “Whatever it looks like will surely be better than your sweatpants and t-shirt ‘look.’”

“What’s wrong with this?” I said, waving my hands at my outfit. It’s comfy!

With a frown, he replied “It hardly says ‘here’s a great trainer.’ It’s not striking enough.”

Drawing a Pokeball from my belt I responded “I’m glad you think I’m a great Trainer, haha.” Inwardly, I did note that he had a point and that I would need a better style for when I became Champion. Though canon Nemona always did well enough with the school uniform, I suppose.

Turning my focus back to the battle at hand I asked Amethio “How many Pokemon and switches for this battle?”

The older boy thought about it for a second before saying “Two Pokemon, no switches.” He held up his own Pokeball opposite mine. Less scratch marks or wear and tear on it. Probably Dreepy’s Pokeball then.

The Pokemon I had chosen would be a good counter for either of his, so I wasn’t worried either way. That didn’t stop me from being a bit shocked as he released a far larger Pokemon than I had anticipated.

“Drakloak!” The Dragon Type cried out as he floated above the arena. He had four stumpy paws attached to his ghostly body and lower half, with a wide, angular face, akin to a fighter jet.

Chimes filled the air as Notch stared defiantly at their foe. Though given Drakloak’s reaction, I think my Pokemon might have said something outrageous and/or offensive, rather than merely ‘defiant’. A reminder about how Fairy Types and Dragons don’t usually get along.

“So this is your Carbink,” Amethio muttered, staring at the Fairy Type. “You mentioned catching them in Kitakami.”

“But you never mentioned evolving your Dreepy! Good job.” I can see why he felt ready for a rematch, pseudo-legendaries are extraordinarily hard to train. We’ve been working hard too though, and I don’t plan on losing.

“Rotom, could you count us in?” Amethio asked his Rotom Phone, who agreed, floating over off to the side of the arena.

“Bzzt, on the count of three, two, one, begin!”

“Iron Defense!” “Double Hit!” Our first orders came simultaneously, but his Pokemon could enact them much faster, Drakloak zipping across the battlefield to slam into Notch with his oversized head twice. My Pokemon was battered around a few meters but stopped themselves before coating their rock and crystalline body in a steely sheen for a moment.

The Move might not show any lingering physical signs, but I knew that for the rest of the battle, Notch would be twice as hard to hurt. Not that this stopped Amethio from trying again, calling out “U-Turn!”

The Dragon sped across the field again, cutting across Notch’s side before whipping around back to Amethio on the other end of the arena. “That’s not going to cut it! Stealth Rocks,” I told Notch while plotting out how the battle would go down.

His Drakloak is fast, but a Physical attacker. Carbink’s defenses are just too good for Amethio to beat, especially since I don’t think his Pokemon learns many Moves that are very effective against Notch. The only shame is that Body Press can’t do anything to Drakloak, or likely much to his next Pokemon, who is the one we have to prepare for. It’s his next Pokemon we have to worry about, which if I’m right, will be a problem. After all, if Amethio had put so much effort into evolving his second Pokemon, what were the odds he hadn’t done the same for his starter?

“Phantom Force,” Amethio had recovered and was going back on the offensive, his spectral Pokemon slipping through to the Distortion World for a brief moment to attack Notch from hidden angles.

I did not care, not in the slightest. “Keep on chucking out rocks, you got this.” I encouraged, while also giving Notch our hidden code to switch to layering Spikes on the field, in addition to the Stealth Rocks they had already placed down.

Drakloak shot out of the ghostly world like a rocket, barely a meter away from Notch, slamming hard into them before slipping into another shadowy portal he conjured just beyond the Rock Type. The Move did more damage than any other attack Amethio had tried, a few minute cracks forming on Notch’s surface, but I wasn’t worried. They can take a lot more than this, and I’m getting a better idea of his attack patterns.

This continued for almost a minute before I felt that the preparations were complete. “Dazzling Gleam, there!” I pointed out to empty space, off to the side of Notch where I felt Drakloak was most likely to appear. My aim was slightly off, the Dragon Type emerging just a bit above where I pointed, but it hardly mattered. The wide range of the Fairy Type Move caught him in a sparkling pink blast that knocked him off course and sent him spiraling down.

“Get out of there!” Amethio shouted, the boy looking a little panicked.

“Psychic, don’t let him flee!” I countered, a vicious grin on my lips. The telekinetic forces pressed down on Drakloak and began crushing them before they slipped through to the Distortion World once again.

Phantom Force doesn’t let someone remain there forever, they’ll get forcibly shunted back to our world soon. But where- ahh, doesn’t matter. I’ll just hit everywhere.

“Shine on you crazy diamond!” With that order, I thought I sensed a feeling of joy from my Carbink, despite the little facial signs I could read to gauge their expression. It was also hard to see anything else as Notch began spinning around, emitting Dazzling Gleam as they did so and doing their best impression of a disco ball.

Our foe appeared from a clever angle, striking from underneath and shooting up, even getting lucky enough to connect the blow against Notch. The hit wasn’t nearly enough to shake my Fairy Type from continuing their assault and Drakloak ended up blasted by the Dazzling Gleam as they passed, sending him spinning away. With a harsh croak, he righted himself, staring warily at his foe.

Damn, he’s still in the fight. I thought with how frail the Dreepy line was that would be enough, but I suppose that’s the downside of Notch’s top-tier defense; he just doesn’t have a great offense. Still, we aren’t in a bad spot here. It would take several more attacks to take them down, while Drakloak would fall with even a glancing blow from here.

A fact that Amethio seemed aware of as well, as he ordered his Pokemon to stay away. “Dodge around, Agility!” Not a bad plan, Dazzling Gleam, and Notch’s other Moves can’t reach all across the arena, and he’ll be able to get across it in a flash to chip away at us. But we’ve got another option.

“Trick Room!” I crowed, revealing the final piece of our setup and my trump card. As the spectral Dragon began blurring around the field, an odd tile-like pattern slowly enveloped the entirety of it.

“Hex.” At Amethio’s command, Drakloak began rapidly gathering Ghost Type energy - only for the dark purple flickers to slow to a crawl as the Trick Room locked down fully. Notch casually floated out of the way of the attack, now moving remarkably faster than their enemy.

“Psychic, finish this.” The telekinetic force slammed Drakloak against the ground once, twice, before tossing the unconscious Pokemon back to his trainer. Wincing, I tried to shake that off. A little brutal, but Drakloak shouldn’t suffer any serious injuries from that.

There was a slight shake to Amethio’s hand as he recalled his Pokemon, but the stoic young boy centered himself, staring us down. “I should have known this wouldn’t be easy, but we aren’t losing this! Go, Armarouge!”

The fiery Pokemon burst onto the Battlefield, his yellow armor shining brightly in the sun. The connection to his unevolved form was apparent, but there was also a drastic difference between the two. He stood almost three times as tall as he did before, taller than I was now, with his fiery ‘hair’ billowing out the top of his head like a ponytail. The yellow armor covered his torso and had two separate pieces forming bulky pauldrons that covered his shoulders and halfway down his arms, which I thought could turn into cannons.

Of course, the moment he hit the field, he was also pelted by literally hundreds of rocks and jagged spikes that were scattered around it. With a cry of pain, he fell to one knee, trying to shake off the surprise hit, his armor splintered in several places.

“Flash Cannon!” He called out, and my suspicions were proven correct as the pauldrons shifted down, forming twin cannons aimed at Notch, glowing with Steel Energy down the barrels. Of course, given how slowly he was moving, I had time to give my own command.

“Power Gem!” The crystals on Notch’s body began glowing once more, this time shooting out a far more focused, clear set of beams at the Fire Type.

Armarouge twisted his body to avoid two of them, but a third struck true, cracking his armor further and eliciting a howl of pain from him. Pushing through the pain, he still fired his cannons, the Steel Type blasts smashing into my Pokemon and sending them hurling through the air.

Recalling Notch before they could land, I knew they had been defeated. “Impressive, you took Notch out in one blow.” Admittedly Drakloak landed several shots before, but that one shot did the majority of the work. He’s quite strong, not that it matters here.

“Go, Dun.” My Dudunsparce landed on the field, and without any prompting from me, zipped across the field, charging toward his weakened enemy. “Aqua Tail,” I called out as he neared the Fire Type, looking to end this while we still held the advantage.

“Dodge!” Amethio called out, to no avail. His Pokemon moved like molasses within the Trick Room, and Dun’s tail, spinning and coated in water that did the same, drilled into Armarouge. Amethio’s starter fell and couldn’t get up, my own giving a proud victory bellow.

“Still so far to go…” Amethio muttered bitterly, before recalling his Pokemon.

“Hey, don’t be upset, you did great,” I said as I ran across the arena to him. “You evolved both your Pokemon and they were way stronger than before!”

His face twisted before he sighed, smoothing out his features. “I guess. You’re just so far above me.”

Awkwardly I scratched the back of my head. “I mean, I’m training up too, always getting stronger as well. But I don’t think I’m outpacing you - I know I could have taken on both your Pokemon with Miles or Dun alone before, but I don’t think that’s true anymore.” That elicited a real smile on his face, and when I offered my hand for him to shake, he accepted it.

“That’s true. I worked so hard to evolve Drakloak…” he trailed off. I noticed. He was way stronger than Dreepy but I feel like he might have pushed too early for an evolution. Didn’t feel as strong as some of the ones I’ve seen online or heard about from Hassel. Then again, it’s not my place to comment on how another Trainer trains his Pokemon. If they’re happy with him, then it’s all good, and you don’t get the kind of dedication they showed without them being at the very least content with their Trainer.

“Want to stay for dinner? It’ll probably take a while for Spinel to teleport you back.” I offered, and to my surprise, Amethio shook his head.

“I won’t need his help anymore. I found an old Technical Machine for Teleport and taught it to Armarouge. Now that we’ve been here, we can come back whenever we want.”

“Awesome!” I cheered, hugging the boy again and eliciting a small blush from him.

“Gah, get off of me,” he said, but I noticed he made no motions to push me off. Still, I released him.

“That’s great, we can train so much and hang out together, I think Arven would like to see you again too-” I began rambling before he stopped me with a hand held up.

“I’ll be busy with the Explorers, but yes, we can ‘hang out’ more. But first, there’s something I want you to tell me: What drives you so far? I know you want to become a Champion ranked Trainer, but there’s something more than that driving you. I want to know what it is.”

A bit much for you to demand when I don’t get to know what you want with the Explorers. Still, it’s not like I can’t give him a vague idea. “There’s something I wish to prevent, a calamity on the edge of the horizon. I don’t even know if I’ll need to fight against it if I might be able to resolve things just by talking to the right people but… if I can’t, then I’ll be ready. And if not, I’ll be ready for anything else the world can throw at us,” I finished, patting Dun’s head.

“I see. Thank you.”

“No problem, what are friends for?” The smile on his face was a memory I’d treasure for the rest of my days.

***

“... And those are all the songs I had planned for my album,” I said, taking a deep gulp of water to try and soothe my throat after all that singing. Hassel nodded, having held most of his comments until I was finished.

“It will certainly be a diverse set of songs,” the man said diplomatically, which almost caused me to snort.

“Yeah, that’s fair. These are the ones I feel the most confident with though, so I’m gonna make those. Any… notes? Suggestions?” My music tutor had already heard at least parts of those songs and read all the scripts I had written for them, already giving me plenty of little tips and advice, so the question was just for any last-minute thoughts he had about them.

He shook his head and smiled. “No, everything I’ve heard so far fills me with high hopes. I think you’ll be an excellent musician someday. It’s a shame that I won’t be able to help you on your path for a while, but truth be told, I don’t believe you need much more help from me.” Today was the last day Hassel would be my music tutor, mentioning other obligations. Reading between the lines, I thought it had to do with Brassius’ newfound fame.

Being a Gym Leader makes you a national celebrity, and in many ways elevates your standing even on an international level. He was a famous artist before, but now must be getting tons of commissions and requests, which he has to juggle alongside his Gym duties. Getting a hand from Hassel will probably help ease his burden until he learns how to juggle it on his own.

“Please, I feel like I have so much more to learn, could spend my entire life just studying music.”

“Then why don’t you?” He challenged, firmly but not unkindly.

“Same reason you don’t, I imagine,” I fired back, meeting his gaze. “You’re an artist, a musician,... but you still want to train Pokemon. An Elite Four, one of the best Trainers in Paldea. I heard you even went up in the rankings recently, jumping ahead of Dandylion.”

He sniffed. “There aren’t solidified ‘rankings’ for our League; all four of us are experts in our Types.” Hassel then undercut his own point slightly by adding “I did defeat her in a private bout recently, admittedly.”

“Hah! And you even have a slight Type Disadvantage against her Steel Types too.”

“There are ways to train around that,” he said, sporting a small frown before suddenly asking: “May I see your training?”

“Bwuh? I mean, sure, if you’ve got the time.” He usually leaves promptly after a lesson, well, after giving me time for a few questions at least. Felt like I’ve learned almost as much about Dragon Types as I have about music from him.

We went outside and I released my team who looked expectantly at me and curiously at Hassel. Miles was fairly familiar with the man, since they helped with a decent amount of the mixing and song composition, and Dun would often hang out in my room while we practiced, but Nightwing and Notch had only seen him once or twice.

“Alright team, today we’ll be training as usual, but uh, we’ve got a special guest this time. Don’t worry about him too much though, let’s just do what we usually do.” None of them had any complaints (or if they did they kept silent about them), so for a moment we just stood there, awkwardly staring at each other until I continued. Gah, this is so weird. Usually, when someone watches us train, they at least take part in it themselves, or aren’t a freaking Elite Four member!

“Let’s start with our usual jog around South Province. Here we go!” I took off starting to jog along the beach, while most of my Pokemon took to the air. Dun remained ground-bound, but I knew he could fly if he wanted to, though he flew so slowly I would have outpaced him had he done so.

“You’re going to run… the entire… province?” Hassel inquired, gasping a bit as he tried to keep up.

“No, no,” I waved him off as I kept on running. “They’re just making a wide loop, stopping before Mesagoza, no further than the marsh or the edge of the river separating us from Cortonado. We’re just going to do a smaller one the that keeps them in sight,, we won't even go past Los Platos. Get ready to jump!” I cried, bringing his attention to the cliff we were approaching.

Bending my knees, I sprung up, vaulting over the four or so meter-high barrier with ease. “Haha! No ledge in the world can stop me!” I declared, exhilarating in my triumph over old game design that wasn’t even relevant in my past life for the region.

Hearing a click behind me, I glanced back to see that my music tutor hadn’t followed, only to see him rise from below the cliff atop the back of his Dragonite. “I’ll follow from here,” he shouted over the wind his Pokemon’s wings kicked up and I nodded. Makes sense, he probably wouldn’t be able to see my team from such a distance, and this is about seeing them in action. I wonder if they’ll run into any trouble today?

It was rare, but venturing out further around South Province increased the chances of running into a territorial Pokemon. There were no issues this time however, no Pokemon disturbed - or at least none disturbed and fast enough to catch up to my team.

After our jog had gotten us warmed up (at least for all of us but Notch and Miles, who didn’t experience fatigue in the same way), we met up back at the beach, the warm-up taking us about half an hour. I gave them their next directions as I went through a few cooldown exercises.

“Nightwing,” I turned to the Gligar and tossed her the Toxic Orb from my bag (using the thick gloves Vance had given me to hold onto it). “Your endurance has improved a fair bit, let’s keep it up. We’re hoping for fifteen minutes before the Poison sets in, but don’t worry if it happens sooner. Just work on fighting while carrying the Orb.”

“Gar!” She eagerly drifted around, holding the Orb close to her body. Good so far, we’ll see how well she can fight with it using Dual Wingbeat. It might be stronger than Acrobatics while holding onto the Orb, but I think there will still be a learning curb to using that TM Move effectively.

“Notch, practice precision with Miles. Psychic to pin Miles, while Miles uses Substitute to escape.” They both ‘nodded’, inclining their levitating bodies then got to work.

“Dun, we’re out of Throat Spray, so no Boomburst practice today.” Dun pouted but didn’t make any grumbling sounds… which might have only been because of Hassel’s presence. “Help out Nightwing with her training. Use Coil and Roost to tank her attacks,” I said while making a subtle swirling motion with my index finger. Dun got the message, grinning evilly for a second before wiping the smirk off his face as slithered forward to challenge Nightwing.

I waited beside Hassel, wondering if he was going to say anything, but he seemed content to just spectate passively.

Alright, just focus on my team. And speaking of which, it looks like Nightwing is feeling a bit too comfortable in the sky. “Hurricane.” My command (and Dun’s instant use of the Move) caught Nightwing off-guard, the Flying Type suddenly spinning wildly in the air. While she managed to catch herself, beating hard against the whirling winds whipping around her, the Orb slipped her pincers and began to fall to the ground.

Luckily the winds kept it aloft for a moment, so I was able to divert Notch’s attention for a moment to grab it with Psychic. “Well done,” I praised their control at holding it perfectly in the air without cracking it, before turning to Nightwing. Once Dun stopped his Move, the flying scorpion Pokemon dived down, snatching her Orb close to her body and glaring at me.

“You can’t expect that it’ll always be easy to hold on to. Expect constant changes in the environment and attacks in a battle.” Besides, it’s not like I wouldn’t be the one out of pocket buying you a new one if you broke it. I doubted that logic would get me far with her, however. At least she didn’t look keen to argue with me over it and just went back to attacking Dun (with a bit more gusto than before he had summoned up a miniature storm to rattle her).

The training continued like that for a while before Nightwing’s wings grew a bit shaky and Notch and Miles were getting sloppier with their Moves. Clapping my hands together I announced, “Good job everyone, let’s change things up.”

I couldn’t resist glancing at Hassel, the man still standing impassively in the background, not saying anything before shaking it off. He’s just reserving judgment until the entire thing is done. Gotta follow my own advice and not worry about it.

“Let’s play a little game of tower defense.” Plucking a pretty seashell off the ground, I placed it at the edge of one side of the arena. “Dun, you’re on defense. Don’t use Protect, but any other Moves are fair game. Miles, Nightwing, Notch, you three have to work together to try and break the shell. But you only get a certain amount of time each run, if you haven’t broken the shell before I call for time, you have to go back to the start. Finally, you only get to use one Move each.”

Dun's tough, but even he needs an edge in a three-vs-one that favors the attackers so much. Plus, I can help the others train their newest Moves.

“Nightwing, you’ve got Gunk Shot. Miles, Shadow Ball. Notch, Stone Edge. That all sound good?” Not that I suspect there would be a problem, but it's good to check in with your team while training.

They all made noises of agreement as I stepped off to the side. “Ready? Ten seconds, go!”

The ‘team’ of three rushed ahead from the starting line, firing attacks in an attempt to overwhelm Dun. The nature of the arena made conjuring temporary garbage easy, Nightwing creating it and then smacking it across the terrain with her tail. Mile fired off expanding balls of shadowy energy and Carbink terrakineticly ripped up ‘stones’ from the ground in a line towards Dun, and the shell behind him.

My starter met the attacks easily, a Flamethrower deflecting the Gunk Shot before slithering around to reposition himself between the shell and the Shadow Balls. At the same time, he slammed the ground, the Earthquake rippling across the arena like a wave and breaking all the stones Carbink had tried to force up.

With a hiss of disdain, Nightwing zipped around to the other end of the arena, trying to land a quick Gunk Shot at the shell. Dun had no problem stretching out for a quick Lunge, which while ineffective, easily knocked Nightwing off course. At the same time, he revved up his tail, reversing course for an abrupt Drill Run that tore up the repeat Stone Edge Notch had used.

Miles tried to play it smart, firing Shadow Balls from above downward, making use of all three dimensions for the fight, but Dun was once again able to neutralize it with his body, each attack making a small explosion that barely scuffed his scales.

Shouldn’t those attacks usually go through him- oh! He’s using a proto version of Hex on himself! It doesn’t have to travel far or aim the attack to intercept when he puts his body in the way. The meeting Distortion energies forced the Shadow Balls to explode, but his Normal Typing still makes him pretty much immune to that damage, letting him shield the shell quickly, clever.

“Time!” I called, not too awed with my smart not-so-little snake to forget about the time limit I had set. Both sides stopped, moving to their separate sides while the field fixed itself back up. When everything was ready, I called for them to begin, this time for fifteen seconds.

The three Pokemon got a little closer on their second attempt, almost forcing Dun to crush the shell with his own body, but he managed to twist out of the way at the last moment before time was called. It continued like that for a while, with Dun still in the lead but the others eking out a few wins. And only a few disqualifications for them trying to use Moves that they aren’t supposed to, Nightwing is getting a better hold on her emotions every day.

“What’s the point of this drill?” Hassel asked, startling me. After being silent so long I forgot he was there! “My apologies, while it seems like an interesting form of training, I’m curious as to what your goal here is,” he explained.

“Well, it’s not just one goal- ah there!” I exclaimed as Nightwing launched a Gunk Shot well over Dun’s head. My first Pokemon, distracted by stopping the Stone Edge and Shadow Balls from getting too close dismissed it, not realizing that this time the three of them were working together. While Dun’s Earthquake stopped the rocks jutting out of the ground from getting closer, the last one Notch had made rose quite tall and at an angle - perfect for the ‘missed’ Gunk Shot to bounce off of and down onto the shell.

“Teamwork,” the Dragon Trainer surmised and I nodded. Giving the three of them a moment to cheer their victory I waited to grab another shell to go more in-depth with my mentor.

“That, and a couple other things. For Dun, it’s a chance to see how much power he can bring to bear at once. His stamina is absurd, but he needs to be able to use that power in fast bursts for battles. It’s also good training for any exploring we might have in our journey; sometimes I’ll need one of my Pokemon to protect me or something for a few moments from wild Pokemon before we can flee or bring the rest of our team to bear.”

“For the others, it helps them practice teamwork and timing, like you said. The time limit wasn’t really helping them given Dun’s stamina, but in these later rounds, they’re learning how to time their attacks together better. Their plans are improving, but Dun is also using more Moves like Agility and Coil to boost himself up in between rounds.”

That was something that caught Nightwing’s keen ears who pivoted to glare at Dun. For his part, he just whirred his tail around, glowing with an ever so faint light pink energy, the only sign of his Agility. Must not be that strong if he’s not moving with it, though that might be on purpose. Even Dun can’t afford to spend the energy to buff up to the max every round.

“Oh, and this helps the others practice their new Technical Machine Moves, which they’ve learned not too long ago.” Dun had a few new Moves he could practice as well that weren’t suited to this exercise, but I was trying to hide those from Hassel. Besides, he’s always been the best at picking up new Moves. I think he has strong offensive Moves from almost all the Types by now.

“... That is, remarkable,” Hassel said after a minute of silence (during which I’d grabbed another shell and placed it back on the spot). “How much longer are you planning on training?”

Taking a moment to measure how winded my team appeared I replied “Another fifteen minutes or so.” He gave a small, ill-timed sigh of relief right before I continued. “Then we’ll do some meditating, take it easy for a bit. Some more Move training, mock battles with commands, and reflex training, then we’ll cool down. Miles will play some highlights and battle analysis while I heal and care for them. A bit of grooming, that sort of stuff. Then we’ll have dinner!”

“It’s been almost two hours so far, and this sounds like this will go on at least two more hours,” he said dully.

“Yup, that’s about right.” I chirped, before turning to my Pokemon ready to go again. “Alright, thinking thirty seconds this time, oh, and Dun? Feel free to use Last Resort now. Ok, go!”

Nightwing and Miles turned to stare at me in horror. Dun demonstrated why that was a mistake a millisecond later as he came shooting in, surrounded by star-shaped energy as he bashed into the former. Going on the offense, he zipped around, bashing Notch and Nightwing around while flying back just as fast to intercept any attacks sent towards the shell (mostly from Miles, who couldn’t be hit by Last Resort in his Ghost form).

After the first round of Last Resort, they rallied back, and the score became more even, working together to take advantage of the unguarded shell if he got too daring. When I called for a stop, all of them were exhausted from their efforts.

“Great work everyone! Just find a place on the beach to relax and start cycling through Type energy of all the Types you can access. Don’t hold onto it or try to shape it into Moves, just feel it and let it go.” To be honest, I wasn’t sure how much that form of meditation I’d come up with helped them, but it didn’t seem to hurt or be tiring, so I felt it was a decent use of break time between the more active portions of their training.

Hassel cleared his throat. “It seems I underestimated your dedication as a Trainer, for that I must offer my most sincere apology.” My attempts to wave it off were intercepted by him, the older man continuing. “No, this is a serious mistake on my behalf, as your tutor and a Trainer I have failed. The only means I can see to rectify that is by recognizing your potential in a manner only a Trainer can” Staring at me intently with his ringed yellow eyes he declared: “I challenge you, Nemona Glitterati, to a battle!”