Hard Enough

Scyther darted up the rocky path to inspect a stone. His head tilted this way and that before nodding his head and slicing a specific section out of the surrounding hill. Then he darted back to me with the rock balanced on top of his blades. Then he darted back down to us.

“Scyther!” He presented the rock to me with a proud grin.

I inspected the rock seriously and nodded to him. “Hmmm this is good. Want me to keep it for you to show the others?” Scyther tilted his head and gave the rock another look before shaking his head. I deposited the rock on the path and patted him on the head.

Slightly behind me, Missy giggled while Daniel coughed. “Why is Scyther bringing you random rocks?”

I shrugged. “I think he’s been inspired to start a rock collection,” I said innocently.

Scyther rubbed his chin as if giving this some thought before nodding seriously. Then he dashed off in a different direction to find anything else interesting.

“A… rock collection?” Daniel said carefully, his scepticism was obvious to anyone listening in.

Missy strode up level with me as we continued up the mountain path. “I think it’s nice! A pokemon with a hobby! It makes him happy so why not! It’s sweet! What with Brock having so many rock types it kind of makes sense that Scyther might get some interest in rocks!”

I smiled at her. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” I said innocently. In truth, I’d told Scyther to do just this. I’d even told him the reason I wanted him to do it this way. It was all about developing a plausible understanding that my pokemon liked to do this. Established habits and whatnot.

It wasn’t me suddenly flying to a volcanic region and strip mining the place for any block of shiny rocks. Which I suspected had something to do with obsidian. I’d done some snooping for rocks known as Augurite and been redirected to augite which was a mineral known for its trace elements of titanium, aluminium and sodium. Augite was known as a common rock but black Augurite wasn’t as well known.

I had checked around with my Golem’s and Gravellers to see if there was anything they might have been carrying on their body but I’d only gotten small dust particles… which might have been the rock that we were looking for, albeit finely crushed.

Sadly if the evolution was anything like what Scyther’s evolution to Scizor was like then it would take a lot of material. One thing they didn’t show in the games was the quantity of metal that was needed to make the pokemon evolve.

I was also somewhat tempted to still have Scyther evolve into a Scizor due to knowing that Scizor could mega evolve. Although perhaps Kleavor could as well and I just needed to find the right gem?

Or maybe I could get another scyther… then I’d be seen as extremely eccentric. Scyther darted back with another rock for me. I could tell this one wasn’t what we were looking for and once more said as much with the preplanned phrase, “Take it or leave it?”

By leaving it up to Scyther I made it apparent that this wasn’t what I was after but that we could still take it if we wanted.

This time he nodded. I inspected the quartz before nodding back, depositing the rock into my pack.

“If he keeps this up the entire time that we’re up here you’re not going to be able to carry it back home,” Daniel said.

I nodded, “Yeah maybe, still it’ll be good training nevertheless.”

“Urgh! You’re a bit too into training, you know that?” Daniel grumbled.

I chuckled. “You realise you applied to a Gym right? Pokemon training and training ourselves is pretty much half of what we do.”

“Yeah that’s becoming apparent,” he said in reply, “I’m just… I was expecting to be fighting pokemon trainers more you know?”

I snorted. “This is the off-circuit period. Just wait until the circuit starts up, then you’ll have more than enough trainers to face.”

“I kind of like it!” said Missy from my other side. “It’s not everything I expected but it’s not bad! It’s just… different? I’ve never thought about how much work I need to put in myself to get fit and having the sparring program for the pokemon is great for my team! I think a few of them have gotten stronger than ever!”

I smiled at Missy’s more upbeat response. “That’s good to hear. Make sure you're not just beefing them up with strength training though. Really look into how they're moving or performing various attacks or moves. It’ll make a difference to focus now on skills development while you’re on a break. Long term the pay off is better as well.”

A rumbling of earth had us stopping as a trio of Graveller appeared on a ridgeline. They glowered at us before pausing to inspect us. I drew up a whistle to my lips and blew into it.

“Daniel, take the one on the left! Missy, the right! Scyther! Take the one in the middle.”

A green blur shot from some nearby rocks having returned at my whistle call. Scyther shot forth and made to slam his arm blades into his rocky foe. I clicked my tongue. “Abort! Do a fake out and slash on the way out of close range!”

Scyther did just that, his aborted attack caused the Graveller to raise up his arms only for Scyther to swipe his blades across the pokemon’s flank as he retreated.

“Uhm… Brock, that’s a rock type?” Daniel said as he released his Raticate took to the field alongside Missy’s Rhydon.

“Yup, and this is a good time to test him out. He’s not going to always have favourable matchups and he needs to work for some wins. Give us some room if you can please?”

Scyther's wings vibrated in glee at this announcement as the Graveller squared up on him. The other two were forcibly pushed back by Daniel and Missy allowing me to focus on the match in front of me.

A closer inspection showed that this was a decently strong Graveller. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that if I had left them to their business there would have been a Golem rolling around Mt Moon if it could get a big enough pack, or ‘avalanche’ as they were known, of other Graveller around it. This trio appeared to be the early formation of said avalanche.

Scyther was most likely outmatched along with this being a bad type matching for him. But that wasn’t any reason for him to give up.

“Scyther! Boost your speed with Agility!” We’d have to work on getting Swords Dance eventually but as ‘low-levelled’ as my pokemon was he hadn’t yet learned that. Still boosting speed was a good move.

Graveller met this by grasping the earth and throwing rocks with each of its four hands.

“Double team in close and swipe with your blades in but choose your moments!” I said. Scyther buzzed to the side, leaving an after image that the rocks passed through.

“Now!” I said while the Gravller was still adjusting from throwing the rocks. Scyther buzzed in and tried to slash with both blades one after the other causing the Graveller to twitch. Sadly he over-committed by going for two.

“Back out!” I shouted only for Scyther to get clipped with a backhand as Graveller spun on the spot. The spin turned into a burrowing move that saw Graveller vanishing into the ground.

I clicked my tongue. “Keep moving but keep your foot placements as light as you can manage; use your wings to give a little lift!”

“Scy!” grunted Scyther as he did just that.

I watched the hill that we had started this match on. I made sure not to move lest the Graveller’s attention be drawn to me instead of my pokemon. While uncommon it was possible for pokemon to target trainers occasionally. They were, after all, wild and not going to stick to rules. Typically they did prefer to beat the trainer’s pokemon first.

A head poked out of the ground to the side of the field and peered around making me hold in a snort as I realised Graveller didn’t know where to emerge.

“Use the back of your blade! Chop down on him!” I ordered. Scyther sprinted over and chopped down. Then he jumped back as Graveller emerged with an angry bellow.

“Uhm what was that supposed to be?” asked Missy as she approached. I glanced over to see her Rhydon poking the passed-out pokemon she’d faced.

“Setting up the early stages for Scyther to learn Brick Break. If he learns to use the sharp edge he’ll associate it with—” I swiped my hand out. “Double team!” I ordered as Graveller tossed out another rock throw against my pokemon. Scyther blurred away but not as quickly as the first time.

I huffed. “Where was I? Oh, right he’ll associate with the move as a cutting move. I need him to project energy in a blunt edge to make it slam rather than bite into whatever he’s fighting.” I watched another barrage of rock sail towards Scyther only this time he jerked the wrong way and ended up getting clipped. He went spiralling before collapsing to the side.

“Scy! Scy…ther!” he tried to stand. His body trembled as he rose up to brandish his blades at the defiant Graveller.

The four armed pokemon snorted and dug into the ground. With Scyther injured from taking so many hits with the super effective type matching being against him I knew he wouldn’t be able to dodge this dig.

“Scyther, you’ve done well for now, return buddy.”

He slumped and I could see that he obviously thought he’d failed as I lifted his pokeball from my belt to return him. I stood perfectly still but Missy shifted from foot to foot.

“Oh, poor Scyther…” she said

I hummed and pulled up a little rock energy to feed it into the ground beneath us. I could feel another vibration coming from below growing in strength.

“Hey Missy I’m going to need you to jump backwards in a second.”

“Huh?” she said, turning on the spot in confusion.

I pointed to the side. “Jump as far as you can cause Graveller is coming for us now.”

Missy’s eyes bulged as realisation set in. She threw herself to the side and I twisted on the spot as two arm lunged after her. I caught them and shifted forward as the Graveller pulled me slightly only to lock in as my feet dug into the ground with an aura trick I’d been practising.

I was basically copying the tree walking technique from a cartoon about ninja. Who knew using a different world's training methods might work like this? It hadn’t appeared in any of the books from the Guardians but they had good methods of focusing and moving energy around your body. Just not little niche moves like this that were more useful as utility abilities.

I’d started trying to use it against Trixie to improve my push off phase when I ran but Trixie was still too much of a physical beast for me to beat.

This Graveller on the other hand?

It struggled in my grasp for a moment only to still as it realised it had been caught. It twisted slightly and looked around its body to stare at me.

“Grav?!” it said in surprise, testing my grip only for it to basically spasm in my clasp. “Graveller!” It gaped at me.

From this close, I could see the smoother ridges around its eyebrows and above its lower arms which indicated that this was a female Graveller.

I stared her down. “Graveller. You’ve got a good head for battling on your shoulders and it looks like you were on your way to creating the avalanche that you need to evolve. You can go far if you want but I’m curious if you want to push yourself to see just how far you can go?”

She relaxed and her face scrunched up. “Vel? Gra?” she said.

I nodded. “You have a few options. I can release you and you can head north to rougher parts of the mountain where you’ll have to get strong or perish.” She glared at me for that and her limbs twitched but once again barely moved. “Or you can be captured by me where you will be fed, trained and able to evolve when the time comes.” I quickly offered her the carrot to the proverbial stick.

I continued to stare at her as she stopped and considered that. “You will not be remaining here,” I said firmly. I moved my arms and let her turn to face me as I released my grip. “I can make you strong if you want. Today you faced one of my weakest pokemon with a type advantage and he still cut you up. Imagine what I could do if you came with me.” I held her gaze.

She lowered herself but her head tilted. If she had continued to lower herself she’d have been readying herself for a rollout but with the tilt of her head she was merely thinking. I knew the pose well from all the other Graveller I owned.

“Grav! Grav!” She stood and made a show of flexing her arms. She then pointed at me.

I tilted my head. I wasn’t sure but… “Would I make you the strongest?” I felt this was a safe assumption. Lots of pokemon wanted that before they truly understood the different levels of strength.

She nodded her whole body. I rubbed my chin, relaxing. “... You have potential. Could you beat out my strongest golem, Sanchez?” I continued to rub my chin as the graveller perked up at the mention of my owning a golem already. “Well you could certainly try and take his spot on my best team.” I didn’t mention that he wasn’t actually my strongest pokemon. Titan was a stoic pokemon that enjoyed relaxing after workouts. He wouldn’t be amused if some careless words on my part brought a pesky pokemon around after him at all times of the day.

Sanchez would love the attention and probably help train her.

Graveller stomped her feet and jutted her body in a pose that said she accepted the challenge. I selected a pokeball and raised it up towards her. “Get ready to train then Graveller, if you want to be the best you have to beat the best.” I lobbed the pokeball at her and she grinned as it hit. It didn’t wobble at all but rather dinged to show the pokemon had accepted the capture.

I collected the pokeball and smiled down at her. “I’m looking forward to seeing how far you can go,” I said to her. When I got home I’d put a Graveller sticker I had made up with another flat bar sticker on top indicating she wanted to go the distance. How that motivation developed would be something we’d wait on.

I put the pokeball on the belt and turned to find Missy gaping at me. She had her hands out and her eyes bulging at me, Next to her, her Rhydon was equally as stunned.

“I!” She gestured at where Graveller had burrowed out of the ground. “And you just…” She gestured at all of me. “How did you do that?!”

I rubbed my chin in consideration then grinned. “You work with pokemon and train with them long enough you pick up some tricks,” I said teasingly.

“... If I train as you do with Trixie will I be able to do that?” she said.

I made a so-so gesture. “It’s part of it but you’ll need to go a little deeper.” I turned so that she knew I was paying all my attention to her. “Work hard and show me what sort of trainer and person you are and I might teach you those tricks one day.” Then I gave her a shrug. “Or don’t worry about it.”

Missy stared as I walked past her to see how Daniel was doing only for him to march over the ridge with a scowl. “Sorry about that, had my Raticate get tossed and had to get more vicious. What are we doing with them now?”

I pulled two khaki green pokeballs with the Ranger motif on them. “These pokemon are a bit strong. I’ll send them to the rangers to introduce further north where they can get taken in by another group of Gravellers.”

Daniel accepted the pokeball without comment. “Right, standard procedure for clearing the routes then?”

“Yup,” I said, tossing the other to Missy who looked confused. “Never heard of this before?”

She shook her head. “No, what do they do?”

“You know how the system came up a few years ago that instantly transports the pokeball over your cap to your registered place of care or home?”

She nodded and I pointed at the specialised balls. “These are balls that capture pokemon and instead send them right to the Rangers for release in an area they won’t cause issues.”

“Huh, neat.” She frowned and I could see the next through forming up. “How come they don’t do that to all the routes?”

“Such as with the Beedrill?” I said.

“Yeah, they’re a nuisance right?” she said as he tapped the Ranger ball to the downed Graveller. The ball drew in the pokemon and wobbled once before vanishing in a flash of light.

“They’re first of all native to Viridian forest so removing them is in a way just kicking them out. There are always developers that want to do just that but the Rangers put a hard stop to that. It doesn’t stop them but Beedril are fast growing, fast evolving pokemon. This is to be expected as a bug type but that’s not the true reason; it is merely why a small group of trainers haven’t cleared them out in the past despite people trying to throw money at the issue.”

Missy nodded and I continued, “It’s also because there’s the risk of creating a huge flux in the ecosystem if you remove so many pokemon at once. The swarm isn’t just three or four pokemon that will seek out weak trainers or other pokemon and cause issues like these Graveller you have but actual hundreds if not thousands with an established home. This flux can draw out some pokemon that are much stronger, as well as local pokemon all becoming more hostile as they see humans as potential threats instead of just passing through.” I rubbed my chin, when I said it like that, it really was quite a bit like how the fighting of the war had disturbed powerful pokemon.

“What would that mean for Viridian?” Missy asked with a frown.

“The Pikachu groups that roam the forest might evolve into Raichu. The Pidgey and Pidgeotto might evolve into Pidgeot. The Spearow to Fearow. The Spinarak to Ariados, as a territory fight broke out over food.” I said ticking off the pokemon that I could think of off the top of my head.

“Huh, that’s interesting. I never thought of it that way before,” Missy said as we waited for Daniel to trudge back up with his rather scuffed-looking Raticate.

I shrugged. “It’s one of the things you don’t really get taught as much but you have to consider if you take up a position as a Ranger. We work with the Rangers so therefore we need to know about it. You typically would only encounter it if you caught a large group of one pokemon like an entire beedrill swarm. That’s a great way to have the rangers and the police knocking on your door or tapping you on the shoulder if you are on your journey.”

Missy made a thoughtful noise as Daniel reached us. I nodded. “An issue?”

“Nope, got him sent off with no issues.” He looked down at his pokemon. “Mind if we rest up while I check over Raticate?”

I shook my head and released Scyther who was still looking beaten up. He slumped into a downcast expression and I reached out to put a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, hey buddy none of that. That was a frankly terrible match-up for you. You did great despite that. Don’t think of it as a loss but a learning experience. I got a good idea of how you move in rough situations along with areas we can work on. Also don’t let it bother you that pokemon had way, way more experience than you. But I know you’re going to catch up.”

I leaned in. “You cut her you know? Cut right into her rocky defence. A few more of those and you would have emerged the victor. When your attacks get stronger… well you know what we spoke about for my plans.”

A small spark of interest glimmered in his eyes as he recalled what we’d discussed. He nodded his head and I patted him on the head.

“That’s it boy. Learn from it. You’re going to be strong, this is just your starting point.” that had him perking up a lot more. His wings vibrated and buzzed as he raised his head.

“Scyther!” he glanced around looking for another pokemon to fight. I tapped him on the snout before he could get too gung-ho.

“Nice bounce back Scyther, but before we go looking for another fight let's get your wounds seen to.” I drew out a blue spray bottle and a cloth that I used to rub in the potion. He twitched when I sprayed the potion on him and cried a little as I rubbed at his carapace with the towel.

“Hey, there’s a good boy. Just getting this into your rough spots so you’re all healed up and can fight again later on alright?” He stood still after that. I still returned him to his pokeball to give him a chance to rest. If everything went right I’d have him ready to go for more fights tomorrow.

Missy watched attentively and when I was done and we continued to move she peppered me with a lot more questions. Apparently, I had sparked an interest in her learning by demonstrating that I didn’t need a pokemon to beat that Graveller.

I pat myself on the back for this. It hadn’t been ideal but if she proved herself? Maybe I might just take her on and teach her what I knew about aura.

For now, we had to continue our patrol of Mt Moon.

For the rest of the afternoon, we trekked across the top of the mountain. We encountered geodude, sandshrew, paras, and the occasional oddish. But no Onix or any more Graveller. We also encountered only one hiker that was happily camped up at a point on the route. I recognised him due to hiring him to guard this exact point. He glanced our way and made a show of raising up his thermos to nod in our direction.

We stopped to talk.

“Hello there! Are you enjoying the scenery?” I said leadingly. The man blinked in surprise at my tone before noticing my twitch towards Missy and Daniel. What he was guarding for me wasn’t something they needed to know about after all.

He grinned, his large beard twitching as he did so. “Indeed! I’ve got a good camp and the best view in all the land! Also it’s quiet!” He nodded. “Care for a cup?”

We shared a cup of tea with him and I made sure to lead the conversation away from any other reason that he might be sitting atop Mt Moon during the colder months. Missy and Daniel didn’t seem at all curious but then again you ran into all sorts of people that simply preferred to live in the wilds. When we were done I announced we’d continue on for another hour before setting up our own camp, leaving him to his peace and quiet.

Daniel shook his head as we walked away. “I never quite get those hiker guys. They scale mountains and sometimes just sit up here for weeks or months on end. It’s like they don’t want to enjoy the good life.”

I looked back over the grand vista that the man was having to guard for me. It certainly was a beautiful view. “It takes all sorts.” Daniel and Missy didn’t say anything more and I was thankful for that. I didn’t need to burden them with the knowledge of there being a plot of land with diamonds down a small trail nearby.

It wasn’t something they needed to know. If the hiker was bothered or harassed, or it wasn’t feasible for him to stop any interested parties he had my direct number. I’d looked into the security company and they were discreet. Lawrence, when I’d mentioned them, had even praised them for their work.

I honestly hoped they never had any reason to call me.

We continued on for another half an hour before the sun began to dip down. In my old world dedicated campers would have pitched a fit over leaving it even that late to set up camp but once we found a good spot we only had to pull out our tents and press a button before they self-assembled.

Then we had a pokemon dig out a campfire pit and another lit a fire and we were set up. Daniel used Raticate to clear the area with tail lashes, while his Rhyhorn stomped down the area where we’d be setting up tents. Missy used her Growlithe to start a fire and her Rhydon to help her hold poles while she assembled her own tent. Within ten minutes I had a stew I’d precooked on the fire heating up. I tossed some more pepper and flavour into it and stirred it around.

Daniel shifted around and I raised an eyebrow at him. “What’s wrong? Would have thought you’d be used to roughing it?” I said, alluding to his stints as a ranger.

“Yeah, used to it but I never really enjoyed it. This is sort of the first time in a long while I’ve actually had to camp out.” Then he blinked and rubbed the back of his head. “Also uh… guess I’m kind of missing my wife?” He glanced to the side as he said this like he was ashamed.

“Ah, that makes sense,” I said.

Missy giggled. “That’s cute! You really love her! Worried about her and the baby?” When he nodded and didn’t say anything else Missy prompted him. “How far along are they?”

“Uhmmmmmmm first trimester?” he said.

I stopped stirring the pot and looked up at him. “Have they had an ultrasound yet?”

“Yeeesss?” he said.

“So after five or six then usually it happens around ten if you’re willing to leave it.” I rattled off some more questions and when Daniel got flustered I hummed. He fidgetted and didn’t meet my gaze. “Daniel you… you probably need to read some books on pregnancy you know? This is important stuff.”

“I know! I know, I just get really grossed out and I guess I’ve had other things to deal with! Like getting this job!” he said as he threw his hands up. He leaned back and stared up at the sky. “Guess I’ve been falling short on that… this is just… well I wasn’t expecting it.” He glanced at me. “I just wanted to do right by her… we’re still working things out really.”

Missy chewed her lip and glanced away. I decided to not pry too much.

“Well, that makes sense and for what it’s worth I think you're doing a good thing taking responsibility like you are.” He flashed me a smile at that and I nodded, deciding to leave it at that.

He coughed as I returned to stirring the pot. When he coughed again I realised he wanted to say something. “Well thanks for that, it means heaps.” He once more didn’t meet my gaze instead looking away.

I nodded again. “Don’t worry about it. If you need I still have my…” swallowed the words and restarted. “I have some books on what to expect when you’re expecting that might be good for you to read through with her.” I stirred the pot staring into the contents. I couldn’t fault their initial preparations as parents because Flint and … Lola had taken all the steps in the lead-up and following the birth of the last two sets of siblings. It had only fallen apart afterwards.

I leaned down and picked up some rocks by my shoe to rub them over each other. I centred myself and pushed the darker emotions away for later.

“Also,” Daniel said carefully like he was testing dark waters with his toe as he spoke. “Could I uhmmm… get a bit more heads up on the next time we’re going to be camping out like this? Just so I know in advance or if there’s a scheduling conflict?”

I nodded as I scooped up some stew. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. The next session that’ll have us out and about was going to be a group training session later towards the end of the off-circuit. I’ll give you the dates when we’re back if you haven't seen them on the calendar.”

“Oh!” he slumped in relief. “Thanks I was worried that’d be an issue?”

“No issue. If you need to skip it cause of family issues,” I gave a wry smile. “I more than understand.” He smiled at me and leaned back when he got his bowl of stew.

Missy smiled at me as she got hers. We traded some small stories and I got to know that Missy’s favourite colour was glitter which sparked the debate of whether it was a colour or not with Daniel. I held my tongue and let them talk instead of just saying that I was in favour of it.

When they prompted me for my opinion I merely nodded and said she could like what she wanted. After that we watched the stars for a while.

When the moon came out and a number of Hoothoot and Zubat flew overhead I stood up.

“I’m going to see if I can find an interesting zubat for myself,” I announced.

“A Zubat? They’re pests though?” said Daniel.

I shrugged. “I think their final evolution has some worth.”

“Gonna try racing it?” Daniel asked with some interest.

I considered that. I did want it to be the fastest of its kind but if I was going to be demanding it be able to give and take some hits it would be likely a little larger than the racing crobat. “I want it to be fast but not something you can ignore when fighting.”

Daniel rubbed his chin. “You’ll be looking for a female of the species then. They’re usually a bit bigger and probably something that’s a lone hunter rather than something that operates in a flight of other Zubat.”

“Had one before?” I said with some interest.

“Yah, it was one of the first pokemon I caught after my Ratata and Ekans… I don’t have those Ekans or Zubat anymore though.” He looked away in a manner that loudly said he did not want to talk about it. Missy gave him a commiserating look before standing up.

“Well if it’s all the same to you I’m going to leave Rhydon and Growlithe to guard me and go to bed. Goodnight!”

“Alright, just remember that occasionally we’ll need to look into doing some night patrols for you to make sure the nocturnal pokemon aren’t getting too strong just as the ones we do for the daylight pokemon.”

Missy glanced around into the night before shivering. “Brrr not sure I like that idea.”

I snorted .”We won’t do it during winter but during some of the circuit nights you will have to.” I waved to them both and bid them goodnight before tightening up the jacket and gloves as I selected Zephyr’s pokeball.

Zephyr emerged, flapping his large wings. Despite the rush of wind, no noise came from him as he adjusted. I scratched at the back of his head. “Ready to fly boy?”

He looked up at the moon and trilled in joy. I mounted up and together we took off. It wouldn’t matter if we were actually successful tonight in finding the pokemon we wanted. Instead, I directed Zephyr to just fly around as he wanted while keeping the camp in mind. Unlike the other times when we had places to be and areas to look over, flying with nothing but flying in mind became a much more enjoyable pastime.

Zephyr would fly through canyons to bank and turn like a fighter jet only to then lift up and over the lip of the canyon. His claws sliding through the edges with a ringing scrape that echoed behind us.

Then he flew up high; high enough to see our breath misting despite the slowly turning warmer weather. When a flock of zubat approached us we dove and they wheeled about to give chase only for Zephyr to easily outmanoeuvre them. A small flock of Hoothoot fluttered after Zephyr and he twisted his head, slowing to inspect them each like they were all small chicks and he was the rooster. One landed on his back and hopped up and down his back before shrieking in surprise when it realised I was riding Zephyr.

“No-Noct-noct!” laughed Zephyr as the little Hoothoot returned to its flock. This sparked indignant cries from the smaller pokemon as they tried to weave around him only for him to gently buffet them away with a mighty sweep of his wings that saw them tumbling through the air. They landed and staggered around for a while much to Zephyr's amusement. We stuck around with them for long enough for the Hoothoot to find some Caterpie and snatch them up before returning to their nest.

I smiled at their freedom and merely watched like a silent observer.

When we left the Hoothoot fluttered their little wings in goodbye. I turned Zephyr back to Mt Moon proper. When we got close I spotted a number of small campfires from the sky. I could see our campsite and decided that had been enough for tonight. I patted Zephyr on the back.

“Time for bed I think boy.” I gave a final glance around. I hadn’t seen any interesting singular zubat but then again I hadn’t really been looking. I might make a more serious effort one day but I didn’t need to rush things right now.

When we landed we did so on silent wings. I landed near a boulder only to be surprised when I heard Daniel speaking on the other side. “— yeah I know when I’ll be away next time so it shouldn’t be an issue.”

I coughed to announce my presence. He stiffened and shot me a worried look. I waved at him.

“I’ll leave you to talk to your wife, have a good night,” I decided not to be a creep by hanging around and listening in. Instead, I walked into the camp while Zephyr hopped after me. When I walked past the pot I grumbled. “Urgh they left it out… damn it that’s going to take ages to clean.”

Zephyr started bunting me and gave me hopeful looks. “No, I’m not reheating the flakes of tonight’s dinner!” I said back to him. He gave a sad chirp, his body curling into itself in sadness.

I stuffed the pot into one of my backpack slots only to draw out another, clean pot that had little pokemon running all over it. “No! Instead, I’ll just cook you a new meal!” The Growlithe and Rhydon on guard duty shot me hopeful looks.

“You’ll get some as well if you stay vigilant!” They immediately began watching the skies with focused eyes. Zephyr hopped up and down on the spot hooting happily. I chuckled and got to work feeding them. I had just scooped up the meal and deposited on a raised rock for Zephyr only to turn back to plate up the other pokemon when a Zubat slammed into the ground next to me.

I blinked. It raised its head and wiggled its ears in a blink of its own. Zephyr tilted his head. Growlithe jumped forward and growled in a manner that sent shivers down my spine. The Zubat flinched and threw itself into the air, taking off as the move took effect.

I raised a hand after it futilely. Growlithe strutted up to me and barked once. Pleased with himself at chasing off the wild pokemon. He shot a look at the pot and I sighed.

“Yeah… good work protecting your trainer Growlithe,” I spooned him some food into a bowl amused at how I’d almost had the pokemon falling into my lap.

I fed Rhydon but something kept niggling at me.

Why had that zubat been green? I was forgetting something… something important that made me want to kick myself…. But why?

That thought kept bugging me as I lay down and continued to show Missy and Daniel what would be expected of them throughout the next day. I was halfway off the mountain before I remembered and had to refrain from cursing up a storm or causing an avalanche.

When I got into Pewter my foul mood of letting a shiny zubat through my fingers had mostly dissipated. I made a pass through the pokemon centre to have Joy heal up my pokemon before returning to the gym. When I reached the back free range area I spotted Yolanda holding the egg while a number of pokemon such as Titan and Sanchez stood around her and Cindy. Cindy appeared to be practising her flute.

Sanchez was grinning hugely but Titan was sniffing at the egg with an air of delicacy while smiling softly. When he was done he puffed a playful breath of air at her. The others sat or lazed around as Cindy haltingly practised her song. Yolanda giggled when Titan snorted heavily.

“Titan!’ she said with a giggle as she scrunched her neck. Titan rose up to his full height and nodded at her, apparently pleased with how she was looking after his sibling. I felt my heart warm a little and raised up my transceiver to snap a picture.

Sadly the sound made Titan twitch and glance over, ruining the moment. I chuckled as Yolanda waved at me. Cindy stopped playing much to the pokemon’s disappointment. She waved at me only to check her watch and run back home. Apparently it was her tv time. I waved at her back and opened up the pokeballs on Selene, Zephyr, Knight, Scyther and the newest Graveller I had acquired.

This new pokemon drew a glance before the others greeted my Elite pokemon and Scyther. Scyther waved at them before he realised he knew the Graveller next to him. He glared at her only to be ignored as she marched forward and hopped onto a small rock to let her look over the area.

As Yolanda and Titan approached me we all watched the coming spectacle.

“GRAV! GRAV! LER! GRA LER! GRAVELLER!” she said emphatically.

Sanchez began bouncing up and down, waving his hands. The new Graveller nodded once then rolled forward, grabbing the rock she’d been standing on as she did so to throw it right at Sanchez.

He caught it and tossed it up into the air cackling as lightning began to arc off it. The female Graveller charged him only for him to spin forward into a ball and knock her flying. When she landed she only had a second before he was upon her. His foot slammed her to the ground where he kept her pinned.

He twizzled his moustache as he grinned hugely at her. “Go! Go! Golem!” He then punched her in the face and knocked her out. He gestured at her downed form and shouted his name before walking off with a pleased expression on his face.

Yolanda tilted her head. “Uhm… what did I just watch?”

“Pokemon greeting and establishing of the hierarchy. Golem and their line are very structured. Graveller wants to be the strongest and I told her about Sanchez. She called him out and he accepted her challenge only to show why he was the strongest. She’ll keep challenging him when she feels stronger.”

Yolanda frowned. “But… Titan’s your strongest pokemon.”

Titan leaned down and shook his head. “Ty! Tyran!” he shook his head and held up a claw to his lips.

“Huh?!” Yolanda said, confused by Titan’s words.

I sniffed. “He doesn’t want to be bothered by pokemon like Graveller constantly coming after him so he doesn’t announce himself. He prefers to relax when he’s out of training.” Titan nodded at this.

Titan stiffened as Bertha approached the slowly waking Graveller. The giant rhino pokemon prodded the Graveller and gestured for the new pokemon to follow her. When the Graveller dismissed her Bertha picked the Graveller up like an unruly child causing the Graveller to squawk in surprise..

Yolanda giggled. “I don’t think she was expecting that!”

Titan warbled a groan of annoyance. Yolanda looked to Titan then to me. “What’s wrong? Why’s he upset?”

“He’s not worried, just exasperated cause Bertha’s showing the new pokemon how things work.”

I pat him on the flank. “Don’t worry buddy Bertha won’t tell Graveller about how you’re the strongest… at least not straight away. She’ll be able to settle in and calm down first. If she does learn about you I have another pokemon for her to fight.”

Titan tilted his head only to follow as I looked to the side to find Scyther buzzing angrily. I reached out. “Hey Scyther, isn’t it nice to have a training buddy to overcome?”

Scyther buzzed once only to stop when he registered my words. He thought about it before nodding slowly. I gave Titan a smirk, “Think you can help me train him up?”

Titan smirked slyly. For all that everyone thought of Psychic pokemon when they thought of smart pokemon, Titan was no fool.

He was the undisputed strongest pokemon I had but he also worked as the best manager for any pokemon I possessed. For Titan, all the Onix, Aron, Lairon, Geodudes, Gravellers, Golems, and more eventually understood and respected that he was the strongest by a long margin. Before that though he had usually won their respect through other means. It was sort of like having a cool big brother that helped you out only to learn he was secretly the biggest and baddest around.

He was the example that all my pokemon came to acknowledge.

Graveller would eventually understand how far she had to go.

I looked forward to working with her just as I did with any of my pokemon. I glanced down to see Yolanda watching me with an inscrutable look. I merely smiled and drew her in for a side hug.