The conversation I had with Diantha was honestly quite interesting. She wanted to be involved, not just with financial support but also caring for the Pokemon. I guess I struck a nerve when I questioned Aymond on whether he liked Pokemon, only to point out that he only liked his own. Or it was the bit about me questioning what she would do with her Pokemon if they were no longer useful to her. While she didn’t show it much, I could tell the thought of that scenario upset her. What Aymond had suggested, that she just get rid of them, added to this.

  But all of that wasn’t a problem.

  The problem was what she wanted in return for her help.

  Oh sure, her first request was reasonable. She wanted to name the organization. That was something I easily agreed to.

  No, the problem was her second request.

  “I’m just not sure that I can do that,” I admitted.

  “Oh come now, it doesn’t even have to be this year. I just want to see you reach me. Properly.” She had a rather warm smile on her face. “You don’t even have to beat me, I just want to see you try.”

  I sighed. “That would mean you want me to beat the Elite Four.”

  She nodded. “Yes. I want to see how far you can get. You’ve shown so much potential, not just as a Trainer, but as someone who wants to change the world for the better. And I want to see where that goes.”

  My thoughts were a bit jumbled. What she was offering didn’t really have any risk. She just wanted me to get to her level. Or at least near it. Eventually. That was really annoying, because I had planned to bail from Kalos the moment the League was over to head back to Alola. At least it would only be a few weeks… “Alright. Fine. I can at least try for that. But it’s just challenging you, and that’s it, right? No time limit?”

  Her smile was significantly larger, though it looked a bit more mischievous. “As long as you keep trying.”

  I sighed, rubbing my face. “Why does everyone keep wanting me to fight higher and higher?” I grumbled. Was that some sort of weird hangup from the games? Where the goal is moved ever further? Maybe some kind of upper power, like Arceus or the Mother. I just don’t understand it. My original goal was beating Andrew, which then became beating the League, and now it’s challenging the Champion. If something comes along and requires me to beat the Champion I’m gonna throw a fit.

  Diantha seemed to find amusement in my turmoil as she giggled. “Isn’t that the point of life? To strive ever higher?”

  My brow furrowed and I looked at her. “If that was the case, what does that mean for you? You’re at the top.”

  The smile on her face slowly fell and she took on a more thoughtful expression. “I guess it does look like that, doesn’t it?” She shook her head. “I’m nowhere near the top. There are quite a few people above me.”

  “Like Cynthia?” I questioned, wondering where the two of them stood.

  She put her hand over her mouth to try not to laugh, but ended up letting out a soft snort. “No one can compare to Cynthia. She can take any Pokemon given to her and have it up to Champion level in no time. It’s scary how good she is at training.”

  That actually raised some interesting questions. How did someone like Cynthia train their Pokemon? For that matter, how did Diantha? Before I even had the chance to ask, there was the noise of the train approaching. “I just don’t get it, honestly,” I said instead. “I don’t want to be at the top.”

  “Well, you’ll have to change that way of thinking,” she said with a smile. “Anyways, I’ve business to get to.” She suddenly put out her hand. “Give me your phone.”

  I hesitated for a few seconds before pulling out my phone and handing it over. “Okay.”

  Her smile got a bit bigger. “Oh, you have a really old model,” she said as she input her contact details. “Like, from a decade ago.”

  “It was a gift,” I explained.

  “Man, I wish I had had something like this on my Journey. I remember the only way you had in order to call anyone was at Pokecenter terminals. Oh and that’s not even talking about those bulky Pokedexes. Recording battles with those was always a pain…” she reminisced for a moment before handing my phone back. “And then having to slot them in at Pokecenters so that they could download the footage… Such a hassle.”

  I chuckled a bit, nodding. “Must have been annoying.”

  Apparently just those words were enough to catch her attention that something was off. “Did you have something different during your Journey?”

  Looking at her out of the corner of my eye, instead of answering I stood up. “I'll let Valerie know that you’re on board for helping. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”

  She frowned at me, though I could tell she was fighting back a smile. “Hey, now I’m even more curious.”

  “And I’m looking forward to whatever name you come up with,” I added with a bit of a smile. “Should be a good one, especially considering it will be known world-wide.”

  Now she had a full-on playful sort of pout. It was honestly a flawless example of some sort of dashing damsels attempt at one, too. I could see why she was such a successful actress. The way that she was able to completely school and morph her expressions. “You’re really not gonna tell me?”

  “See you around, Diantha,” I said, trying to keep my smile subdued and not laugh at her reaction as I boarded the train. When I sat down and looked out at the platform, she was still there. Arms folded and a pout on her face. That’s when I laughed. She had such a good reaction to being stonewalled like that.

  The way that her expression shifted and she gave me a smile and a small wave was good evidence that she was a good sport about it.

  Taking a look around, I made a note that there were a few people on board. Although from how few there were, I could understand why there was just one train car considering how few people seemed to use the train. Still had no idea what TMV stood for.

  It was a quiet ride. No one was talking, and I wasn’t about to break the silence. So in the end, the ride was peaceful, with the only real noise being the sound of the train. That wasn’t the case when we got to the station. It was immediately loud, not for any real reason, just because of all the people. Large crowds tended to be like that.

  As I looked around, I could see that most of the people here were Trainers. I was really glad that the age for Trainers was actually reasonable, rather than allowing preteens a powerful friend and then shoving them out at the world. It looked like a lot of people were also travelling to Laverre, so the car was mostly full when I actually got on. The shift in movement of people in crowds was always an interesting sight to me.

  Of course, I got a few looks from those already aboard, but that wasn’t new. Most of them looked… curious. Adria was probably right about how I appeared. Maybe I did stand out too much? Did I need a disguise? Actually now that I thought about it, that would probably be fun. Although as I thought about it, all I’d really need to do is change my coat.

  The rest of the journey was uneventful, though I did notice quite a few more people than usual standing inside the gym. There was the standard fare of protective girls that I was fairly certain worked at the gym or apprenticed here, or something, but also a lot of new Trainers. That reminded me I needed to finish my circuit eventually.

  I sighed as I nodded to Allie, ever present behind the counter. I couldn’t tell if she noticed me or not, but she didn’t show any signs of acknowledging me. Rounding a corner I came across an argument already in progress. “-don’t care what you have to say about it. I’m already helping.”

  Valerie was standing in the hallway, having a rather heated discussion with who I assumed was her uncle. My assumption was proven correct by the reply. “Don’t take that tone with me; I am just trying to help. I just need to know how you think this helps the gym.”

  “This has nothing to do with the gym!” she shouted, clearly repressing the urge to throw her phone.

  “It has everything to do with my gym. I worked too hard for too long to-”

  Valerie cut him off. “It’s not your gym anymore! You forced me to take it, remember? Pulled me from my home and all the people I cared about.”

  “I did what was best for you,” he responded, somehow keeping his voice level the whole time.

  “You did what was best for your precious little gym. Not me. You’ve never done anything for anyone else if it didn’t benefit you,” she practically snarled. “Jace is right. You’re nothing but a prick.”

  “Don’t throw me under the bus,” I interjected, adding myself to the conversation. “I was just quoting Diantha.” I shifted blame and threw Diantha under the bus in my stead. Sure she might have been talking about Lysandre, but I technically wasn’t lying about saying that she said it.

  “What is that man doing in my gym?” Aymond growled, actually seeming to lose his temper for a moment.

  “It’s not your gym anymore!” Valerie shouted, holding the phone so the man couldn’t see me. “He’s staying at my gym, because I am helping him.”

  “Valerie, you-”

  “I am so disgusted with you.” That seemed to shut him up. “I will be submitting a formal complaint to the Association for what you’ve said to me, and emphasise that I don’t think you should be allowed to mentor Trainers or Pokemon anymore.” Every word she said had such a biting edge to it that I had never seen from her. It was so unexpected that even I had no words. “You are no longer allowed in my gym,” she finished coldly. That seemed to stun the man into further silence, and she hung up before he could regain his composure. I watched as she tapped out several buttons, most likely blocking Aymond from being able to contact her.

  That really surprised me. Clearly that argument had been going on for a long time now. Hell it could have been soon after I left that table to come back. Valerie just looked so upset.

  She called someone quickly, trying to regain her composure. When someone answered, she spoke in a much calmer voice. “Allie, please cancel my show for today and push back my schedule.”

  There was a pause, clearly the poor secretary was shocked. “I… Alright. Are you okay, Val?”

  “Yes. No.” She paused. “Just…” She took in a shuddering breath, and let it out slowly. “I’m too frazzled to do anything.”

  Allie apparently responded nonverbally, as Valerie soon hung up and began taking deep breaths to try and calm herself down. Tears were pricking at the corners of her eyes. She was absolutely seething. So angry that she wanted to cry, and glaring at her phone as if she could make it explode if she glared at it hard enough.

  “Stupid old man,” she grumbled.

  I nodded slowly in agreement. We remained silent for a few moments as I waited for her to calm down a bit. Eventually she seemed fine enough, putting her phone away with a heavy sigh. “I know mostly what that was about, but do you want to talk about it?”

  She looked at me for a moment before letting out a long breathy sigh. “Well, first he spent an hour complaining about you.”

  A snort escaped me.

  The corner of her mouth twitched up a bit. “Honestly, that was mostly what he had to say.”

  “So he was just complaining about me?” I asked, my brow furrowing a bit.

  “Yes. He is convinced that you’re some naive fool. That you don’t know how the world works. That your idea is foolish, and that better men have tried and failed.” She had a bit of a smile on her face as she spoke.

  I scoffed. “Sounds like he had a lot to say.”

  She nodded. “A lot more than that, but I honestly stopped listening. But he made it clear that he doesn’t like you.”

  “Well the feeling is mutual,” I said with a bit of a nod.

  “What did you even say to him to make him that upset?” she asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone get under his skin like that.”

  “I told him that the way he views the world, where nothing mattered if it didn’t benefit him, was sad,” I summarized the conversation. “And it is. Diantha is… different, but she also doesn’t have the best view of the world.”

  She gave me a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”

  “They are both firm believers that might makes right,” I said with a bit of a sigh.

  Valerie furrowed her brow. “So they don’t care because they’re strong?”

  “Not quite,” I said with a slight shake of my head. “They don’t care because we’re not strong enough, according to them.”

  Now she was frowning. “So they won’t help because we’re weaker than them?” she asked incredulously. Clearly that made her just as annoyed as whatever her uncle had said.

  “Not necessarily.” I smiled a bit. “Diantha wants to help. Although she has some… requirements. She wants to name it, for one.”

  Her mood immediately switched. “Well, that’s not a problem!” she said excitedly. “Diantha helping, even just endorsing us, would be huge!” She had stepped forward, now flailing her costume wings a bit.

  “It is,” I agreed, nodding. “But it makes things annoying for me, since now I have to try and fight her.”

  She stared at me, her brow furrowing. “Do you not want to fight her?”

  I thought about that for a moment before shrugging. “Not really? I just needed to win the League.”

  Her expression went blank for a moment, staring at me. “You make that sound easy.”

  I laughed. “Not easy, but I’m confident that I can do it.”

  “And what about the Elite Four?” she asked.

  That caused me to pause, frowning a bit. “I’m not sure,” I said with a shrug. “But she said I just have to try, not actually win.”

  She was giving me quite a skeptical look. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone talk so nonchalantly about challenging the Champion.”

  I shrugged again, and then realized I had a question. “Hey, what type of Trainer is your uncle? From his attitude I just cannot see him being a fairy type Trainer.”

  A soft little scoff escaped her. “No, all his Pokemon are poison type.”

  “Fitting,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “Considering how toxic his world view is.” Though that also sounded like an absolutely nasty type of gym to face. Though Koga and Roxie were also poison type Trainers, so he was probably on the same level. I really didn’t want to think about Koga… Sure, there was a chance he wasn’t a Team Rocket member, but I’d still rather not meet the man either way.

  She nodded. “Yeah, when a new Gym Leader takes over, they can either keep the same theme, or change it to an available one. Since I mostly had fairy types, that was the most convenient for me.”

  “Available ones? So Gyms can’t double up?” I asked, though I knew that was the case, it was still interesting to hear about it.

  “Nope. Gym’s can’t be the same type in the same region. Well, at least the major gyms can’t. If we did that with all gyms, the minor ones wouldn’t be able to compete.”

  Minor Gyms. I’d completely forgotten that those were a thing… Maybe I should check one of those out at some point? Without delving down that train of thought I decided to change the subject. “What were you up to before the phone call?” I looked past her towards the door that led to the wolf pack.

  “Oh, I was familiarizing myself with the dogs!” she said excitedly. “The older ones are still nervous, but they don’t mind my presence. And thanks to Ren I-” she immediately stopped talking and spun around. “I forgot Ren in there!” she shouted as she ran towards the door.

  I laughed as I followed after her. By the time I caught up, she was still struggling with the door; her costume really made things like this difficult. So I helped out and pulled the door open. Everything looked fine at first glance, though my eyes were immediately drawn to Keo, who was sitting suspiciously close to Ren and they were very purposefully avoiding eye contact. And the both of them looked a bit rough. One of Ren’s ribbons was frozen.

  The rest of the room looked to have recently put their attention elsewhere. What was clearly a crowd was quickly dispersing. I stepped over, looking down at Keo, who looked absolutely rough. Her fur was disheveled and one of her eyes was a bit swollen judging by how she was squinting. Clearly she had lost whatever scuffle had occurred. I didn’t immediately address the problem, instead opening my coat and letting the plethora of travelers out of their pokeballs.

  The wolf pack members immediately went towards Malevolence, most likely to get some sort of report on what had been going on. The members of Team Speed Shell were keen to escape from whatever sort of scolding they expected me to give to Keo, and Diancie followed after them curiously. Cara stood beside me, folding her arms across her chest.

  Valerie did not have the same restraint as me. “Ren.” Her tone was already one of disappointment. “What happened?”

  “Nothing,” he said. “We just had a little battle.”

  “And why would you do that?” Valerie asked, her eyes narrowing.

  “She’s weak,” he said, his tone rather steady. “She was boasting that she could have beaten me, so I proved her wrong.”

  I looked down at Keo, who had decided to just glare at the ground. She was clearly frustrated. She was the weakest member of Team Speed Shell, and it aggravated her. That isn’t to say she was weak, but she hadn’t seen any growth recently. That was my fault. I’d been so focused on the wolf pack that I haven’t been paying attention to anything else.

  “Alright…” I knelt down and scooped Keo up, cradling her in my arms. Immediately I felt her tense, and she inhaled rather sharply, a sign that she was about to breathe frost at me. I just arched an eyebrow at her and she stopped, letting out a deep sigh of frosty breath instead. “Let’s go to the Pokecenter.”

  Valerie sighed, giving Ren a pointed look. “Sorry about this,” she said. “Even after getting trounced so thoroughly, it seems he’s still got some nasty superiority complex.”

  “It’s fine,” I replied as I settled Keo into my arms. “Losing to Dee probably frustrated him.” I looked down at the Sylveon. “But that doesn’t mean he’s justified in taking it out on anyone else.”

  Ren at least had the good mind to look a bit ashamed at his actions. His ribbons drooped a bit as I took a good look at him, scrutinizing his appearance. It was clear Keo had not gone down without putting up a heck of a fight, judging by the scratches, bite marks, and frost that covered him.

  I looked up at Valerie. “I’ll return shortly.” I turned to the door, and Cara was there opening it. I almost laughed at her eagerness to accompany me. She had expressed being upset at me when I left yesterday to go with Dee to the Pokecenter and left her behind. I felt like I was her ward or something. Like she couldn’t let me out of her sight. It was kind of nice how protective she seemed of me, even though I had proven I could get myself out of any situation I’d been in so far.

  It was quiet as we walked the halls, and no one spoke until we had exited the building. “Are you mad at me?” Keo asked softly.

  I glanced down at her. “No. Why would I be mad?”

  “Cus I got in a fight,” she mumbled.

  “I expect you to get into fights,” I said softly. “It’s how you’re going to get stronger.” I shifted her a bit in order to rub her head. “And besides, I’m sure Ren started it.”

  “He did,” she grumbled. “He said Dee just got lucky… That there’s no way a nurse could beat him. A lot of the others were getting upset…”

  “He egged you on,” I said with a nod. From what I knew, Ren was probably trying to get them to fight him so he could prove his superiority. While he had taken my warning before the fight seriously, I’m sure he thought he could take anyone that had been in that room. He probably could have. “Seems he’s got a fragile ego.”

  A sort of chuff of a laugh escaped both Keo and Cara. “He is very full of himself,” Cara said with a nod. “I know the type.”

  I nodded in agreement. “Don’t take him so seriously,” I said as I ruffled the top of her head, which got a few disgruntled noises out of her. “The Pokemon you are going to fight in the future are going to be a lot stronger than him.”

  There was a moment of silence. “How am I supposed to beat them, if I can’t even beat him?”

  “Because you’re still a first stage.” She seemed to bristle a bit at my words. “He’s a second. When you evolve, your power is going to spike.”

  “When?” she practically growled her question.

  “Well our first shot will be when we go to Snowbelle,” I explained. It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision, but I felt like I had made Keo wait long enough. I promised that I would help her, and part of that was getting her to evolve, so I should at least start putting effort into that promise. “We’ll be heading there next to fight Wulfric. We just have to settle the wolf pack in first and get the Pokemon Reserve going. Do you think you can wait a bit longer?”

  She grumbled out her response, “I can wait…”

  “I’m glad,” I said, petting her softly and fixing the hair that I had mussed up. “I’ll try and get in more training for everyone in the meantime, alright?”

  “Alright,” she grumbled some more into my arm after that, but I couldn’t tell exactly what she said. Although I was fairly certain she was cursing Ren.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  It was Evelyne at the counter of the Pokecenter and she gave me a big smile. She definitely looked much better than the last time I’d come in. “Hello, Jason,” she said.

  Looking around, there were a lot more people in the room this time, and a Wigglytuff across the room returning some Trainers pokeballs to them. “Afternoon, Evelyne. This one got in a bit of a scuffle, and-”

  She gasped, her eyes going wide. “That’s an Alolan Vulpix!” she said excitedly, though she managed some professionalism and kept her voice low. Not low enough though, as quite a lot of people looked over. “I wondered what that white puffball was that I’d seen.”

  “Yes, this is Keo.” I put her down on the counter and pulled out her pokeball. I realized at that moment that Keo couldn’t actually stand up on her own and was struggling just to sit. No wonder she hadn’t complained when I'd carried her. Ren really did a number on her…

  “These are some really nasty injuries…” she muttered as she started looking the white vulpine over. “But she looks to be healing nicely… What happened?”

  “She and her old Trainer got attacked. The Trainer's parents got rid of her. She was going through rehabilitation when I took her in,” I summarized Keo’s backstory.

  “And you… You still took her in? Even with these injuries?” she asked, giving me a rather odd look, as if she was just now seeing me for the first time.

  “Yes?” I questioned, wondering why she would even ask before I remembered the kind of world this was, and the ingrained thoughts they had grown up with. “I know most people wouldn’t have, but her injuries change nothing about who she is or what she wants. And she wants to be strong.”

  The Joy had quite an interesting smile on her face. “See, this is why I think you can really do it.”

  I gave her a quizzical look. “Hm?”

  “Your reserve,” she said, her smile grew a bit. “You have this sort of way of talking, lofty ambitions I think the Elder said, but your actions really back up your words. You really believe in what you’re trying to do.”

  A bit of a chuckle escaped me. “Lofty ambitions, eh? I guess that’s true.”

  She nodded. “Alright. Do you also want me to take a look at your Lucario?”

  I nodded. “It’s a good idea, since we’re here. Also, I wanted my Eevee to get a checkup as well,” I said as I pulled the little sleeping fox out of my hood. Eevee made a sort of squeak in surprise at suddenly being dislodged from my hood.

  “Oh? Ah- this is the one who…” Evelyne’s voice trailed off as she looked at the little thing.

  “Yes,” I confirmed.

  Evelyne nodded and gestured for me to follow. “Easy enough to do.”

  As we made our way into the back, she gave a quick knock on the door to the inner Joy waiting room. The new Joy gave a smile and a nod after opening the door. She gave me a bit of a puzzled look, but apparently decided it wasn’t important. She wasn’t a Joy I recognized, but I wasn’t entirely confident that I even could recognize all of the Joy’s.

  Evelyne led me back into another one of the healing rooms- I realized I had no idea what the proper lingo was. Could this be considered an operating room? It was definitely a lot more than just an examination room. Usually I would brush off such a question, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask. “What exactly are these machines called?”

  “Ah, it’s just a recovery machine. Not a very inspired name, but it’s accurate. There’s quite a few of them.” She lifted the lid of the machine and looked back at me.

  “Ah, right.” I returned all three Pokemon before handing their pokeballs over. She gave me a bit of a smile as she loaded them up. Then she slid into the chair and up to the computer. She entered a long string of code, which I realized must have been the password. I was so preoccupied with the machine last time I hadn’t noticed her input it.

  Saying the password was long was one heck of an understatement.

  Rather than being a word or series of letters and numbers, it must be a paragraph. Maybe something like an oath? I don’t know why oath was the first thing to come to mind. Maybe I was thinking about the hippocratic oath? Did this world even have that concept? “Did you have to take some sort of oath to become a nurse?”

  She froze, her entire body going tense before she slowly turned her head to look at me. “How do you know about that?”

  I blinked at her, a bit caught off guard by her reaction to my question. “It was a guess. Considering the importance of the recovery machine and how to use it, I expected that there had to be some sort of… thing attached.”

  “Yes, but you used oath specifically,” her eyes narrowed a bit at me as she spoke. “I’ve been asked about that in the past before, but no one has ever used the word oath.”

  My brow furrowed a bit. “It’s that big of a deal?”

  “A Joy found to have broken our clan's oath is stripped of the Joy name and imprisoned. Usually for life,” she explained slowly. “Although it usually just means they’re confined to a compound and never allowed to interact with Pokemon. Relegated to research, or teaching in most cases.”

  “Huh…” I rubbed at my chin, attempting to scratch at my nonexistent beard. “So it’s an oath on your clan name.” From how she described it, it definitely wasn’t some sort of weird mystical thing, just like the hippocratic oath. You still had to be caught breaking it in order to be punished. And there was probably a ton of scrutiny amongst Joy’s. I was tempted to ask what the oath contained, but from her reaction that seemed very much a secret. “So the passcode for the recovery machine is most likely the oath like I thought,” I mused.

  She seemed to visibly bristle from that comment and I realized I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud.

  “I don’t know it,” I said hurriedly. “And I wasn’t watching what you were typing. I just took note of its length and made an assumption.”

  She relaxed slightly. “If it were anyone else, I would probably have to notify the Elder… but… since it is you, I think that’s fine…”

  “Not like I even want to learn how to use this thing,” I said with a nod at the recovery machine. “I’ve enough bullshit in my head. I don’t need to learn a programming language on top of that.”

  A snort escaped her and she shook her head. “I’d say it’s not that hard once you get used to it, but I don’t want to encourage you.”

  I laughed and shrugged. “You don’t have to worry. I have way too much on my plate as it is. Pokemon Reserve. Gym battles. League. Elite Four fights. Champion challenges… And that’s just the stuff I’m worrying about here in Kalos.”

  She nodded as she turned to the monitor and the lights dimmed. “That does sound like quite a lot.”

  Despite my words, I found myself quite focused on the code. It wasn’t in english. In fact, it wasn’t written in a language I knew. No, wait. I did know what this was written in… Unown. The language was based in the ancient script that were Unown. But there were so many more than the twenty eight I knew of. Doing a quick count I could discern… sixty four.

  Wait, was this written in some sort of hexadecimal? A language based on hexadecimal, using letters instead of numbers? No, some of those had to be numbers…

  That realization alone completely shifted my comprehension of what I was looking at. I couldn’t tell what I was looking at exactly, but I knew what I was seeing. “That’s Cara,” I muttered as I leaned in a bit.

  “Hm? Yes? That’s the Lucario’s name?” Suddenly her hands stopped and she looked back at me, her suspicion once again spiking. “How can you read this? I thought you said you weren’t interested?”

  “There’s nothing else to look at,” I defended. “And I know quite a bit of Unown script.”

  Her head tilted to the side. “Really?” she asked, with an almost incredulous tone. “That’s a pretty damn obscure research subject.”

  I shrugged. “They’re Pokemon.” That was the only argument I needed, and she apparently didn’t need anymore of a reason.

  Although she still had a bit of a suspicious look on her face as she turned back to the screen. “Maybe I shouldn’t have let you in here,” she mumbled.

  “I can leave if you’d like,” I offered with a bit of a laugh. “I don’t want you getting in trouble.”

  She waved a hand vaguely, which barely slowed her typing. “It’s fine.” Both of her hands were now on the keyboard and text was flying once again. “You’re way too smart for your own good."

  I snorted in response, but didn’t otherwise comment. Instead I continued to watch. The transition from Cara to Keo was so seamless that it actually took me a moment to realize that the text was about a different Pokemon. I hadn’t noticed any transition. She had an absolutely absurd amount of red. And there was a section that was just… missing. There was text there, but it was like it was giving an error. I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t know how I knew that.

  What I did know was that the error was her missing leg. Interesting that it knew there was supposed to be something there. She had a few more chunks of that weird error type code, which was probably her tails. There was something rather…sad to see those bits. The data, whatever this machine was quantifying as her being, knew there should have been something there but didn’t know how to process it.

  The transition from Keo to Eevee was, once again, seamless. But there was something else off about it. There was something wrong. My brow furrowed as I tried to figure out what it was. Was this because of Manepox? Or her lack of energy? I didn’t know how to properly explain what was wrong, but it was something. Maybe not exactly wrong, but off? Thinking about it was giving me a headache. Like it was something I should know, but couldn’t recall.

  Evelyne seemed completely unbothered, so it must have been expected. But that also caused another thought to pop into my head. How was I able to understand this at all? I wasn’t reading it, that’s for sure. It was like my knowledge ability thing was able to parse out what the information meant, but not what it said.

  Honestly this knowledge thing was so confusing. Sometimes I felt the information it gave me was strange. At least, when I realized it was feeding me information. Like how I can tell what a Pokemon’s nutritional needs are when I study them for a moment. What the heck is that about? Am I reading some sort of info sheet of them, that I understand but can’t actually see?

  Arceus, I need a manual.

  Or maybe like a system in some kind of anime. This world was close enough, right? Could I have that? I focused for a moment, trying really hard to bring up some sort of status screen, but when nothing happened I just felt silly. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. I probably would have noticed something like that ahead of time. What would it even display if I had one? It’s not like I really had any special abilities aside from this knowledge thing. Maybe the level of Pokemon? Although levels didn’t seem to be a thing, it would be nice to have some sort of value to quantify power scaling.

  It all seemed rather scuffed, but a Pokemon’s power was clearly tied to how well they used energy and how much they actually had in them. It made them stronger, tougher, faster, and allowed them to use moves. How did energy and moves even work? Kukui specialized in moves, right? Maybe I could talk to him about it. Although he was probably just focused on Z-Moves…

  While I had been lost in thought, Evelyne finished up. “Your Vulpix needs a bit of spray and a second run through,” she said as she got up. “Her past injuries have all healed nicely, which is good news.”

  “What about Eevee?” I asked, concerned about that weird feeling I got when looking at her code.

  “Hm?” She looked at me with a bit of a puzzled expression. “She’s fine? Her energy channels are recovering nicely, all things considered.”

  I frowned a bit. “I see…” Maybe that was just an Eevee thing? Considering the vast amount of differing evolution paths, it probably just made her code look strange. It’s not like I knew what it was even supposed to look like.

  “Why?” she questioned, that suspicious look on her face returning as she slowly got Keo’s pokeball from the machine.

  “I-” I hesitated. What could I even say in this situation? “Something just felt off. Maybe I’m just being overly worried…”

  Her expression softened. “She’s been through a lot. I can understand why you’d be so concerned.” She released Keo onto a table.

  The ice fox looked in much better shape now, though I could now see the more serious injuries. She looked around and then immediately grimaced as she realized what was about to happen. The way she tensed up when Joy brought over the little spray bottle reminded me of the way the sprays seemed to sting in the anime. And from the way she whimpered the moment the spray came into contact with her injuries confirmed their accuracy.

  Evelyne gently soothed the areas around the injuries with her hand, speaking softly to Keo as she did. It was the classic “There there” and “It’s okay” that I would expect. Keo didn’t really seem to be soothed by her words, but accepted them and the gentle touches. It was rather interesting that all Pokemon seemed to consider Joy’s in high regard.

  I briefly wondered what was in potions. In the game they were just magic healing items, but in real life they had to be made of stuff. Right? “Is the recipe for potions something that’s secret?”

  She glanced at me and then nodded. “Yes. We’re not allowed to talk about it. Potion sales are how the Joy Clan makes their money.”

  “Ah, so you make and sell them to the Pokemarts.” That was interesting. Though they looked very painful… It brought another question to mind. “Do Pokemon ever attack nurses?” I asked after Joy returned Keo to her ball and placed it back in the machine.

  “Sometimes,” she began, “Though it’s really rare, especially for Pokemon with a Trainer. Some wild or recently caught Pokemon can get a bit bitey depending on their species, but for the most part they know we’re here to help.”

  “Interesting…” I mumbled.

  “What is?” she asked as she turned to me, wearing that familiar puzzled expression.

  “That they know you’re safe.” I scratched at my nonexistent beard. Why hadn’t I grown any facial hair? Irrelevant. “That would imply it’s either an instinctual thing that Pokemon know, or it’s a taught behavior. Both options would be extremely interesting.”

  She paused in her actions, mulling over what I had just said. “I’ve never thought about it,” she admitted after a moment. “I don’t think it ever came up when I was in school… Hm…”

  “Something to think on, I suppose,” I said with a shrug.

  “The way you think is fascinating,” she mumbled as she sat down at the computer. “Is that why you’re a Pokemon Expert and not a Professor?”

  “Uh… I honestly don’t really know the difference.” It had been something that I wondered about sometimes. “Maybe it’s because I don’t have a laboratory? Although Sycamore said that an Expert was like a Professor…”

  Her brow furrowed a bit as she started typing again. “I don’t know the difference either. But there are a lot fewer Experts than there are Professors.”

  Again, that was interesting. Though expected, considering there were only three Experts in Kalos. Wait, was Gale still an Expert? My entire body went rigid as I realized something much more important and pulled out my phone. I had no new messages. I had gotten so used to not having any, that I had forgotten something.

  Going through my contacts I sent a quick message to Emma. Or at least I tried to. I spent several moments trying to draft a proper message. Things had always been awkward between us… Or maybe that was just from my side? I had been overly suspicious of her, with good reason, but finding out it wasn’t really her fault made me feel… unsure. ‘Checking in to make sure you’re doing alright. Haven’t heard anything from you or the Association since the incident.’

  With that done I put my phone away. I couldn’t really blame myself for completely forgetting about Emma; to be fair, I got distracted. And I didn’t really like her. But I guess it was technically part of my job to keep in contact, so I had to at least check in. It was actually strange that she hadn’t messaged me at all. Maybe she got reassigned and they forgot about me? That would be nice for a time, but probably not. Besides, I liked the easy money that came with doing their tasks.

  Joy hadn’t even finished with Keo’s second comb through when I got a reply. ‘Apologies, Expert Jason. Emma, and the vast majority of Association staff, are in a sort of coma due to psychic backlash. I am unsure why you weren’t notified of this. If you would like, I can pass a message on to the Association, or you may contact your Liaison for further information.’

  I frowned, staring at my phone for a moment as I reread the message a few times. ‘Unfortunately, Emma was-’ I deleted that last word- ‘is my association liaison, so I will have to request that you notify them.’ Before hitting send, I tacked on to the end, ‘May I ask who this is?’

  ‘Oh dear, that is most unfortunate. I’m not sure how you fell out of the loop, but considering all of the problems going on at the Association, it’s not surprising. My name is Kaitline. I’m Emma’s sister.’

  ‘You didn’t know she was a Liaison to an Expert?’ I responded, probably with far too much suspicion. Thankfully I couldn’t convey tone over text. Although, Emma had never mentioned a sister. Then again, she had never mentioned her Pokemon until I brought it up.

  The reply took a long time, and I wondered if they had simply put away their phone and was about to do the same when I got another message; ‘We never talk about work.’

  Curious. I’m sure there was a story there, but I wanted to verify that this was a person who actually knew Emma. ‘Are her Pokemon doing alright?’ I probed, both out of genuine concern and hoping that I was just being paranoid.

  ‘Oh yes. Pudd and Kit are fine. I’m looking after them while she’s in the hospital.’ There was a moment before another text came in. ‘Actually. I’m having some difficulty with Pudd. Since you’re a Pokemon Expert, do you think you could help?’

  “All done,” Evelyne suddenly said which jolted me out of my focus on the phone. Her brow furrowed a bit as she looked at me. “Bad news?”

  “Were you aware that most of those from the Association incident are in a coma?” I asked. ‘I’d be happy to help. What seems to be the problem?’ I replied over text. Probably a bit rude to text while talking with Joy, but this was fairly important.

  “I did. Did you not?” she looked a bit concerned at that.

  “I didn’t. No one told me,” I said with a sigh. “My Liaison, Emma, is in a coma. And no one told me.” Even if I wasn’t really fond of the woman, I didn’t really know the real her. And I couldn’t help but feel bad. It felt a little like it was my fault, even if I knew it wasn’t.

  Evelyne looked horrified at my words. “What the fuck is the Association doing?!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. “So you’ve just been… Unsupervised?” I raised an eyebrow at her at the wording, but she continued. “Wait, is that why you’re rushing this reserve thing?”

  I blinked. “No, I-”

  But she interrupted me. “That makes total sense. You’ve got no Association oversight, so you’re doing something big that would normally get you so much scrutiny from them.” She was pacing back and forth. “But they’re so distracted that they forgot about you… And you’re taking advantage.”

  “No. I just found out-”

  Apparently she wasn’t about to let me start talking. “The Association would try and stop this. So we have to do this quick…”

  I decided to let her ramble and partially tuned her out, barely paying attention as I turned my focus back to my phone. ‘Pudd is acting strange. Hardly eats. Mostly just stares into space.’

  ‘They’re depressed.’ I responded. ‘His trainer is in a precarious situation. You need to assure them that things are fine, and that Emma is going to be okay. Maybe take them to see her if you can.’

  A simple ‘Alright.’ reply came and I put away my phone.

  Looking at Evelyne, she was still going on some sort of conspiracy theory about things and I wondered how she got so off track.

  “I’m heading out,” I said as I retrieved the three pokeballs from the machine.

  “Ah-” she stopped whatever stream of nonsense was flowing out of her mouth. “Okay. Right. Lots to do,” she said with a nod.

  The two of us made our way back out to the front, though she didn’t enter the main room. Apparently they tried not to show that there were multiple Nurse Joy’s working. It ruined the magic, apparently.

  I wished the other Joy who was at the desk a good day before making my way back to the gym. The main room was emptier than when I left; apparently Allie had made an announcement that Valerie was unable to battle today, so a lot of Trainers left.

  Valerie was still in the wolf pack room, sitting on the ground. Much to my shock, she wasn’t wearing her costume. She still had on a rather ornate looking kimono, that was a lot of pleasant shades of pinks and purples, but it was weird seeing her out of costume. Ren was not in sight, and I figured she either sent him somewhere or put him back in his ball.

  I released Cara, Keo, and Eevee after closing the door, giving Eevee to Cara to go and tuck into a comfortable spot. Then I made my way over to Valerie. There were three members of the wolf pack wrestling in front of her and she was watching them with an amused smile.

  Sitting down next to her, I was quick to ask, “How you doing?”

  She seemed to mull over the question for a moment. “Better,” was what she decided to go with.

  “Do you want a distraction? Or just sit?” I asked, leaning back a bit on my hands as I watched the dogs. It was Dally, Grubby, and Dilly who were wrestling.

  Valerie just looked puzzled. “What kind of distraction?”

  “We need to start looking at land,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Somewhere near here, preferably.”

  “Oh.” She seemed to mull this over for a moment. “How much land?”

  “A lot. Like, a ridiculous amount,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. “Hundred acres, maybe?”

  She balked. “That would cost a fortune.”

  “That would be the minimum. Honestly, the more the better. We have to assume maybe ten to twenty Pokemon an acre, and we’re planning on thousands.” I looked over at her, and she just had this far off look. “How do we get that much land?”

  Her brow furrowed. “I… I’m not sure…” she said with a sigh. “I know some people I could ask, but that would be a problem because…” her voice trailed off as if she realized something mid sentence. “Wait!” She suddenly stood up. “This is for a reserve! I know exactly who to ask!”

  “Who?” But she didn’t answer and instead ran off towards the door. I frowned a bit. Well, hopefully that would be fine. While she did that, I decided there was something I needed to do. “Diancie!” I called out.

  Across the room her head turned before she rapidly spun towards - and practically shot overtop - me, a big smile on her face. “Yes?”

  I smiled at her, reaching up to her and she grasped my hand. “Need your help with something. We’re going to do a test.”

  Her head tilted a bit. “Does it involve throwing rocks?”

  I snorted. “No.” She frowned. “But I need your Gravity.”

  Suddenly she smiled and her eyes seemed to glint in sudden mirth. “Oh? That sounds fun!”

  “It does, right?” I agreed with a chuckle. “Head on over to where we were training over there and I’ll be right over.” I barely finished speaking before she shot across the room back over to the roughened area.

  I looked around for a moment before spotting Hate and making my way over to her. She was lounging in the pile of blankets and pillows that I had laid out to sleep. I never bothered picking them up. When she realized I was coming towards her she suddenly sat up and looked at me expectantly.

  “Gather everyone who wants to stay with me,” I said slowly, glancing around the room.

  She sat up a bit straighter. “You’re going to choose now?”

  “I’m going to give them a test,” I said before turning and walking back towards Diancie.

  It took several minutes for them all to gather, but dang. It would be easier to list off who wasn’t in this group. Most of the wolf pack was now sitting in front of me. They had all arranged themselves in lines, probably something they practiced a lot. Like some sort of canine military lineup.

  “I know you all want to come with me, and I will take everyone that wants to. But I can’t take anyone who isn’t committed.” I pulled one of the marking spray cans that I had gotten and drew a line right at the edge of the effect. “This is your chance.” I started to walk back towards Diancie, who was a good distance away now, and turned back to face the group that was now a good thirty feet away. “All you have to do… is try to get to me.”

  With that I sat down. The large group continued to watch me, and I nodded as I gestured towards them to start. They rushed forward, and those in the front immediately ate dirt. Then those behind them slammed into the wall of unmoving dogs in front of them. Those that weren’t able to make it into the Gravity field due to the traffic jam tried to go around, only to be immediately forced to the ground. Even the Houndooms and Mightyenas were forced to the ground. The few that had belonged to the Admins that were attempting were faring a bit better, but they only made it in a few steps.

  I felt a bit bad about doing it this way, but I needed them to understand what they were signing up for. Diancie was using Gravity at the highest force she could, which was even difficult for me to stand in. Which is why I had sat down. Usually we don’t concentrate it this much, and spread it out so that it covers a larger area. I wondered for a moment how much of an increase this was, but shook the thought as I would probably be wrong.

  Pretty much all of the younger Pokemon had already given up. And now that it had thinned, I realized that even Liar was attempting my challenge. I was surprised to see that lazy cat, but if she was determined enough I wouldn’t say no.

  Then there was Hate. She was just sitting there, watching the others. I wondered if she wanted to try, or was just helping to pull out those that gave up.

  And now I was going to make it worse for them. I pulled out my phone, turning my attention to it. They weren’t going to get any sort of encouragement from me. This was all them. They had to want it bad enough.

  I sent a message to Diantha; ‘I know you said you wanted to help, but what kind and how much never came up.’ I left it at that, and started to work on my notes again. I was almost done converting all the photos into text. Pokeblocks were still a fascinating gap in my knowledge. However, it wasn’t truly a gap, because I could modify the recipes for each Pokemon using the strange ability. It really made me question to what extent this power reached.

  After an hour I finally looked up. There were four Pokemon left. Liar the Liepard. Bungle the Houndour, and her sisters Disaster the Houndoom and Immodest the Mightyena. None of the Admin Pokemon had decided it was worth the effort, I guessed. Hate was still there, watching, with Smug on one side of her and Malevolence on the other.

  Honestly I was a bit saddened that so many had decided to give up. I hadn’t been exaggerating when I said I would be willing to take them all. “All right Diancie, that’s enough.”

  Immediately the Gravity was gone and the four struggling Pokemon lost their balance and fell over. I knew well that the strain on their body suddenly disappearing felt extremely good. Although that was because it made you lightheaded. “You…never said…” Liar was breathing hard as she struggled to get back on her feet. “There was… a time limit…”

  She hadn’t made it the farthest, that actually went to Disaster and Immodest, who were almost at the halfway mark. “Of course there would be one,” I said as I walked over to them.

  “Then… We failed?” Immodest managed. Disaster looked devastated.

  “No,” I said with a bit of a smile. “The challenge was to try and get to me. Not to get to me.”

  Bungle and Disaster looked completely lost, but the other two got it. Liar’s eyes went wide. “So we just had to keep trying? And…because we did…”

  I nodded. “Yes. This was to test your resolve, not your strength.” I sat down closer to the four of them. Bungle was the furthest back, so she made the effort to get closer. “I don’t want strong Pokemon. I can make a Pokemon strong. As long as they have the drive for that strength. To reach and push to get strong.”

  “What a stupid test…” Immodest grumbled.

  Reaching over, I started to pet the large canine, smiling at her. “But you passed it.”

  “So… that means… you’ll… take us with you?” Bungle managed to say.

  Again I nodded. “Wait… I don’t understand,” Disaster, who had been oddly quiet, suddenly spoke up. “What were we doing?”

  I laughed, reaching over and rubbing the top of her head. “You wanted to be part of my team, right?” I asked, and she nodded. “Well, now you can.”

  She suddenly perked up. “Oh! That’s good.” Her tail was swinging back and forth behind her as she had quite a happy expression.

  Immodest sighed. “We explained this to you twice…” she grumbled.

  Disaster’s leg raised up and she scratched behind her ear. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

  I laughed even more, and Bungle joined in. Immodest began to scold Disaster for not paying attention, again, and that this is very important so she has to pay attention. From the way Disaster’s eyes seemed to glaze over as she lost focus and her mind wandered, it was clear this was a conversation they’d had several times.

  While they did that I made my way over to Hate, who straightened when I approached. “Tomorrow we’re going to start going around the region.”

  She nodded. “We’re ready any time.”

  There was a moment of silence as I looked down at her. “I’m surprised you didn’t try.”

  This time she shook her head. “I…” she seemed to hesitate. “I don’t want to explore the world… I just want to find a nice place to lay down and rest. Maybe raise some young.”

  I looked her over for a moment before kneeling down in front of her. “You know that means you’re going to be in charge of this rambunctious group?”

  She huffed. “That’s fine. There are plenty that I can delegate work to.” She gestured to Smug and Malevolence beside her.

  While Malevolence looked almost proud at the words, Smug looked like she had been smacked. “Yeah that’s not happening,” Smug said as she stood up and walked away.

  I chuckled a bit as I watched her go. “More work for me then,” Malevolence said, sitting up even straighter. She seemed actually excited at the prospect of work.

  “Right.” I nodded a bit as I stood up. “Figure out who will be coming with us, Hate.” She gave a rather stiff nod before getting up and wandering off, Malevolence following after her.

  Tomorrow was going to be quite interesting.

  Lucario - The group mom

  Lucario - Craves violence

  Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit

  Primarina - Doing big seal things

  Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon

  Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people

  Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life

  Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy

  Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress

  Banette - Silent but persuasive?

  Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry

  Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.

  Liepard - Big hungry cat

  Houndour - Just a little pup

  Houndoom - Bit of a space case

  Mightyena - Super serious

  Houndour

  Guff

  Bleak

  Rascal

  Dilly

  Fret

  False

  Grubby

  Muddle

  Gabby

  Dwindle

  Crass

  Houndoom

  Poochyena

  Mightyena

  Sneasel