“Nice one, Kouta!” The friends high-fived each other with big smiles on their faces as their crowd went off into a gentle wave of claps and cheers, “Let's get the other one too!”

  Behind Larry, Valerie didn’t look quite as confident in her win anymore, her mind seemed to be elsewhere. Squeaking loudly behind his back, Larry tried his best to get her attention. “Valerie! Hey! Focus!”

  His trainer finally realized she was zoning out. She shook her head and lightly slapped her cheeks to wake herself. “Hm! You’re right, Larry. This isn’t over yet!”

  Their referee looked between both sides. “The battle will continue, everyone ready?” With no objections to be heard, he continued, “Go!”

  Both sides once again threw out commands at the same time, “Take Down!” “Again! Double Kick!”

  Larry's command was the one he’d just been waiting for, “Larry! Down!”

  ‘Time to turn this around and show these brats not to mess with us.’ Larry thought with a vicious smile as he disappeared underground, as both of his opponents barreled towards him. He met Nidoran halfway, upcutting the small Poison-Type with a Ground-TE imbued punch into its stomach.

  Nidoran, already heavily injured, landed on its back and finally conked out, fainting much to the dismay of its trainer, “Needy! No!”

  “Nidoran has fainted and is out of the fight! Please recall your Pokemon.” The match was paused momentarily as Yuuto did as instructed. He also gave his best silent consolations to the Poison-Types Pokeball. Larry, now back above ground, had other targets, as a stare-down between him and the opposing Raticate ensued.

  “The battle will continue, everyone ready?” Again, with silent agreement from both sides, the referee started the match again, “Go!”

  “Quick Attack!” Kouta called to the field, but no command came from Valerie’s side, so Larry waited patiently as the blur of white-silver dashed directly into him. Raticate was already right in front of him, slashing at his stomach with a Normal-TE empowered claw before he could register the fact. The Normal-Type attack had little effect on him, though, with his Resistant Typing aiding him, it didn’t even leave a proper scratch on him compared to the threats of Mt. Silver.

  Finally, a command came from behind him, “Payback.”

  Larry obliged and punched the giant rat in its gut, reinforcing the hit by transforming all the Normal-TE from the Raticates' Quick Attack into Dark-TE. It coughed painfully at the hit, but remained standing.

  “Get away!” Kouta called from his side in a panic, and Raticate did as much, speeding away from the close-quarters fight Larry wanted in a frantic stumble.

  Valerie had other ideas, though. “Pursuit!”

  More Dark-TE shot out of his core and into his legs, allowing him to chase after Raticate quite easily. When the rat looked back and saw him chase after her, she squeaked in panic and tried to accelerate, to no avail. He slammed a Dark-TE empowered kick into the Normal-Type's rear, launching the Pokemon into a somersault until it came to a skidding halt on the ground, lying on its back.

  “Rock Slide!” The fight was now well and truly over. Larry materialized the boulder over his head and launched them in the direction of the Raticate, bowling the Pokemon, which was still getting back onto its feet, over once again. All while burying it under a shower of rocks and knocking it out in the process.

  He breathed a sigh of relief as the referee made his announcement, “Raticate is unable to battle! The challenging side has no more Pokemon to battle with! Valerie is the winner! Please recall your Pokemon.” He threw a hand in Valerie's direction to more cheers and claps from the bleachers.

  Larry trotted back to Valerie, she, in turn, knelt closer to him, excitedly enveloping him in a large hug. “You were amazing out there, Larry! Great fighting!”

  “Thanks!” He called back in response, but before he could say anything else, Kouta and Yuuto approached their side of the field.

  “Nice fight.” Yuuto said to a nod of agreement from Kouta, “Yeah, your Larvitar is crazy strong!”

  “Thank you! Your Pokemon were strong too.” Valerie nodded, “I think I could’ve given Sybil, my Natu, some better commands, though. When your Pokemon switched sides, I completely panicked.” She looked a bit downtrodden.

  Larry hadn’t noticed during the fight, but Valerie must not have expected the Youngers Raticate to take on the less experienced Sybil, ‘That, coupled with the fact that this was her first proper fight without her phone near her, must’ve really made her too anxious to think. She is still a brand new trainer after all.’ Larry mused to himself as his trainer and the Youngster duo talked amongst each other about the battle, ‘I wonder how common weakness knowledge is to the humans in this world?’

  “Then you’ve got something to work towards in your next fight, right?” Michelle patted her on the back from behind, eliciting nods from both the Youngsters in front of her.

  Valerie took it in stride. “Yeah, you’re right, Mom. That’s what we’re gonna do. Right, Larry?”

  “You know it!” He pumped an arm exaggeratedly, bringing a smile back to Valerie's face.

  “Let's get our Pokemon healed up, Kouta!” Yuuto said to another nod from his Youngster friend, already making their way back to the Center.

  Just as Valerie was about to follow the two Youngsters, a nervous voice called out to her from the bleachers, “W-Wait!” A familiar boy approached the mother-daughter duo. He still wore the same dirty white hoodie and had the same neurotic-looking Patrat Larry remembered sitting on top of his shoulder.

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  “Oh, Matthias, right?” The boy nodded at Michelle's guess, speedwalking towards them.

  “That was an awesome fight, V-Valerie!” The boy looked at Valerie with a newfound sense of wonder, still unsure if he should address her by her real name. “Y-Your Larvitar is an amazing fighter!”

  Larry pushed out his chest a bit, planting his hands on his hips in a superhero pose. “You know it!” But Valerie took the compliment for him. “Thanks! Sorry, I couldn’t give you that interview last time around. The whole mess at the Center kinda threw a wrench into that.”

  “Haha…” The boy looked between Valerie and her mother nervously as he scratched at the back of his head, obviously still unsure of how to address the girl who’d run into a collapsing PokeCenter, “W-Well, y’know, sometimes it just goes that way…” Matthias reached into his pockets, pulling out his phone. “I think you might wanna get your N-Natu to the healers, b-but would you mind giving me that interview after you did? You’re gonna be waiting anyway.”

  Valerie, still high on the adrenaline of the fight, finally realized the condition of Sybil and looked down at the Pokeball on her belt. “Oh, shi-shoot! You’re right, I should do that! Sorry, still feeling the adrenaline of the fight.” She apologized, “You know, why not? I’ll give you your interview. Mom, let’s-” Before they could get anywhere, though, Valerie's pocket started vibrating,

  “Huh?” She pulled out her phone to see herself receiving a call. Looking between Matthias and her mother, she excused herself, “Sorry…I’ll take this…Hello?”

  “Oh? Hello! Yeah, mhm.” She nodded once at the quiet and tinny voice on the other side of the speaker, “Yes. Mhm.” The tinny voice on the other side paused for a second before continuing, “WHAT?!” The loud cry made Larry and everyone else jump as they looked at Valerie in confusion.

  “Ok! I’ll be there as quickly as I can! Room 024? Ok! Bye!” Finally, she hung up the call.

  “Who was that?” Michelle asked with a raised brow.

  Valerie quickly turned to Matthias with a pained smile. “Sorry, but I think we’ll have to postpone that interview again. Something urgent came up.” She urged her mom's ear closer, before whispering to her, “Larry's mom is about to wake up. I’ve gotta get to Room 024.”

  “What?!” Larry called from his place down below, ‘Mom is finally waking up?! What’re we waiting for?! We gotta get there!’

  Before she could even act, Michelle already had her arm wrenched in a vice-grip. “This time you’re not running off, young Lady. I’m coming with!” Larry was recalled, and the two made their way into the center, off to deposit Sybil with the nurses and to take Larry to his waking mother.

  “See you, Matthew!” Valerie waved back to him as they ran off into the center. The boy put on a resigned smile as he waved back at the girl, quickly leaving him and his Patrat standing alone on the field. “I-It's Matthias…”

  …

  Larry sat on a chair next to the table on which his mother was lying. They were inside a specialized healing ward that had been set up for Larry's mom. Devices of all kinds were strewn all over the place, and both Michelle and Valerie sat next to Larry as they looked over his mother. The Tyranitar had various little monitoring devices stuck onto her rocky body with suction cups, and a clear plastic breathing mask was strung over her face as she slept peacefully.

  Her entire body was still marred with cracks, some of which had broken open, sporting flashes of raw, pink flesh underneath. If Larry hadn’t known she was alive, he still would’ve thought he was looking at a corpse, ‘She really was reckless, fighting a Legendary Bird…’

  “Aren’t Pokemon normally healed while inside their Pokeballs?” Michelle whispered towards the Nurse in the room, in an attempt to keep the Tyranitar in the room from waking up. The Nurse didn’t have the same reservations, speaking at a regular volume, much to the discomfort of Michelle, “Our healing machines normally only accelerate the natural healing process. When a Pokemon gets gravely injured, having direct access to it as it heals is very important so that everything that needs to heal will heal correctly. For example, a broken arm or foot can heal incorrectly in the healing machines if not put into a cast beforehand.”Larvitars' mother has many external and internal burn injuries, along with a cracked outer shell due to rapid heating.” The Nurse rattled off as she read from a tablet, “She practically got cooked, inside and out. It's a small miracle that she even survived the encounter.”

  ‘That tracks, yeah…’ Larry agreed with a grim nod.

  “So, what exactly do you need us to do?” Valerie asked the Nurse, who was still tapping away on her tablet.

  “Your Larvitar is her young, and from the way she acted the last time she woke up, we can guess that she will be…What’s the way to say it? Uncooperative?” The nurse looked between Valerie and Larry, “From what the reports of last time said, she calmed the second her Larvitar young appeared before her, correct?”

  Valerie nodded, “Yes.”

  “Exactly, so your job will be to calm her when she wakes, which according to our reading should be anytime in the next hour or so.”

  Valerie nodded at the nurses' advice, “Well…We’ll try our best.”

  The nurse quickly made for the door, “Then, that should be everything. Rangers and Police are on standby in the lobby if anything should go wrong this time around, so don’t worry. I’ll be taking my break for the next hour. Call a Nurse with the button on the Pokemon’s bed if you need anything. After pointing at the button, the Nurse was already gone, the door firmly closed behind her.

  Michelle now looked far less sure of her presence. “Hmm…Y’know, now I don’t know if I’ll be of much help here…”

  Before Valerie could begin to sass her mother for suddenly wanting out, Larry's mom began to move her head on the bed with something between a groan and a yawn. All eyes were wide open, and Michelle quickly stood from her seat and placed herself behind her daughter with a whisper, “I’ll be…just over here…Out of arms' reach…”

  Rolling her eyes, Valerie patted Larry on his back, “That's your cue. Go.”

  Gingerly, Larry tested the waters as he prodded at his mother's side, “Mom? Wake up, Mom.”

  She cracked open an eye towards him, “L-Larry…W-Wha-...Koff! Koff!” Before she could get anything else out, she was wracked by a sudden bout of coughs.

  “Calm down, Mom!” Larry, with the help of Valerie pushing him, managed to crawl from his chair up to the bed his mother was sleeping on to calm her. “Just stay down. You’re not healed yet.”

  Coughing roughly as she lay back down onto the bed, his mother began again, “Koff! Koff! What- Koff! Happened?"

  “You remember passing out?” Larry tested to a nod from his mother, “You weren’t even close to being fully healed last time we met in the Center. So you passed out while standing.”

  “Oh…” His mother gave back a surprised expression.

  Behind him, Valerie had pulled a bottle of water out of her backpack. She opened it and handed it to Larry, “Yeah, oh. Anyway, your throat must be dry. Here, take a sip.”

  For the first time, his mother's eyes fell from Larry onto the two humans behind him. After drinking down the entire bottle in a single sip, she managed out a sentence, without coughing, “You got caught.”

  “Yeah, I did.”