I winched in pain as Koga got in a strike to my side. I hadn’t even seen him move.

“Stay aware!” he barked as I lashed out at him. He wove around the blow and darted in only for Selene to return, to defend me from his attack. A Barrier formed between us and Koga vanished in a quick burst of speed.

I growled and swept the field, looking for any sign he was still about, only for Agatha to blow a whistle. “And that’s a match for Lucy and Karen’s team,” she said.

I rubbed my side and held up a hand to the others in my group. “Sorry, Koga got me; I wasn’t expecting him,” I said with a groan.

The group nodded along at this and stumbled to the side so that the next victim, Janine, could take to the field.

Agatha walked around the group and gave us all feedback. When she got to me, she nodded. “Good work trying to pull back like you did during that last exercise. Sadly, you weren’t allowed to, and the field had been set up before you arrived.”

“So the task was supposed to be as hard as possible?” I said, rubbing my side.

“Yes, we made it theoretically impossible. It forces you to be as creative as you can, as otherwise you will ‘perish’ as it were. Situations like this aren’t ideal, but you can sometimes find yourself in them. Stay mobile and continue to keep your head on a swivel.” She then smirked. “Were there any traitors in your group today?”

I chewed my lip in thought, my brain hurting with how I was being forced to adapt and come up with commands on the fly for a large group. “No, there wasn’t?”

Agatha raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

I stood taller. “No, there wasn’t, “I repeated firmly.

Agatha nodded. “Very good,” she said before walking away.

I pursed my lips in annoyance and glanced at the group I’d led. It was getting harder and harder to judge if there were slip-ups or accidents that meant anything. It didn’t help that half the Chanellers had been replaced by Ninja that Koga had trained. I had to work harder and harder and keep a better eye out for them.

Lately, Agatha had also stopped telling me if I was right or wrong about anyone betraying me. It weirdly rubbed at me, despite knowing that uncertainty was what they were aiming for.

It made the lesson to always be watching for betrayal stick wonderfully, though, so I had to give her some credit. She was annoying, but she was a damn good teacher.

When she wanted to be, that is. I spared a glance at the girl who trailed around after Agatha with a scowl and a clipboard. Surprisingly, Karen had been nice to the girl, which was a first.

They almost acted like they were siblings. Which…. Hmmm… I still wasn’t sure what to think of that.

I settled back and watched Janine advance under the assault of Ghost and Poison-type pokemon only to pull her own vanishing act with her group by exploding the field and going to ground.

When a trio of trainers advanced to check the field Janine leapt out of the earth and released her pokemon once more. This caused Agatha’s group to become chaotic and fragmented, allowing Janine to take them out before having to endure Koga.

Father and daughter met in the middle of the field with their pokemon blazing away at each other, only for Koga to get the best of Janine and disarm her. She got in close with him and punished him for doing so with a flurry of strikes that sent him skidding backwards.

“Whoa! Go Janine!” I called from the side.

Sadly, Koga shrugged these off, stepping forward to engage once more. Soon enough he had a blunt weapon at her throat and a stern look.

He stepped back a moment later and nodded. “A wonderful display, daughter; excellent adjustment; you would have taken out several times your number with this tactic and would have emerged victorious if this were anyone else.”

Janine buzzed in place. “Thank you, father! And I think I actually still won in the end?”

A pair of trainers shot out of the ground and released their contingent of pokemon. Koga barked a laugh and signalled the fight to stop.

“You should have played them earlier, but yes, that would have been a good move to make.” He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. I could see it meant the world to Janine to be praised like this, so on reflex, I reached out and covered Karen’s mouth.

Whatever she said next— it would most likely have been a snide comment— was muffled. She shot me a narrow-eyed look and I withdrew my hand before she could bite me. The girl who had been shadowing Agatha snorted at our antics.

“Just let her enjoy her victory; that was a clever move to get the drop on Agatha and Koga like that,” I said.

Agatha sniffed. “Get the drop while we’re taking it easy, perhaps.”

I shot her an unimpressed look, but she merely scoffed. The rest of the session was spent in a debrief, and I returned to the Gym afterwards sore and tired. I rubbed my ribs a bit and grimaced again.

“Are you alright, Brock?” Yolanda said as she strode towards me with Terra waddling after her.

“Feeling it a bit. I might be pushing it a bit hard in the gym lately,” I said, trying to hide the fact that I probably had a large bruise on my side from where Koga got me. She frowned at me but decided to accept that, as I led her out to the reserve where I had to release my pokemon.

Yolanda frowned, noticing the signs of wear and fatigue on my pokemon. She shot me a confused look, but I waved her off again. “Secret training,” I said.

“Wait, so you’ve already done some training this morning?” She stepped closer and peered at my face. “Are you tired? You might be pushing yourself too much then.”

I huffed. “This isn’t that bad; trust me, I’ve been worse. I’m getting up early to work on some tactics with some of my pokemon and that means I just need to sacrifice sleep.”

“Hmmmm, maybe you should try and get some sleep during lunch today?”

I hummed before shaking my head. “It’s not a good look if the boss is asleep on the job.”

“Better than fainting on the job,” she replied.

I waved her off again. “I’ll get some rest tonight, don’t worry.”

“You do recall that we’re going camping tonight, right?” she said dubiously.

I shot her a bemused look. “And which of us has gone on their journey and knows how to set up camp? Trust me, I have some great camping gear for any trip.”

Yolanda narrowed her eyes at me. “Did Rough Housing send you a bunch of free gear?”

I coughed. Damn, she knew! “Yeah, that too, but I do know how to prepare a campsite. You’ll see. It’s something you pick up after… a couple months on the road.”

Yolanda grimaced at that. “I suppose there won’t always be inns or pokemon centres to stay at, will there?”

I chuckled at that. “No, there will not be.”

She nodded. “Right… I should start treating these trips as practise shouldn’t I?”

I nodded, pleased that she understood. “Well, you’re more aware than Forrest once again.”

Yolanda giggled. A small war cry had us looking to the side to find Teddiursa had beaten Cranidos and was now squaring up against Terra.

Terra had a serious look about her but Teddiursa was able to avoid grappling with the much heavier pokemon. He hit and ran with his strikes, targeting her legs to weaken her before eventually knocking her over and catching her.

He grinned fiercely and stepped back with a small roar. Terra stood up with a huff before beaming a smile. “Larv!” she said.

She then pointed to the side, making Teddiursa turn just in time to take Cranidos’ lowered head to his gut. Apparently, Cranidos was now ready for a rematch.

Terra waddled over and got some potion from Yolanda and a quick round of reviews, with Yolanda pointing out what she needed to watch out for against Teddiursa. I decided to step in and give both of my pokemon some instructions. I wasn’t surprised when Teddiursa made better use of my suggestions to catch Cranidos.

Then again, Teddiursa was somewhat fighting under his weight class. He was just emerging out of the baby phase and into the proper pokemon fighting phase. I’d probably take him along on our hike to give him some experience. Him… and Cranidos, I decided, looking over the angry baby pokemon.

Terra started to waddle forward, only for me to hold up a hand. “Sorry Terra, I need Teddiursa to focus on other training; How about you fight with our new Aerodactyl instead? She’s just hatched, so be gentle with her,” I said, indicating the nearby pokemon that had come out with Don to watch the training session.

Don had reacted rather differently to this new addition. He preened a little more and seemed more controlled with his ‘daughter’ watching on.

I rather enjoyed having a new point of control over Don. Now I only needed to gesture to the side and indicate his daughter, who was watching with rapt attention. That hadn’t failed yet to get him to knuckle down and get into the training, rather than be stubborn.

“Jormungandr!” I called my Steelix. I waved him over and claimed a spot atop a boulder as he wrapped himself around the boulder and laid down.

“Lix?” He rumbled.

I drew out the keystone and wrapped it around my wrist. “Sabrina has succeeded,” I said succinctly.

That got him to blink in surprise.

I nodded. “We’re not going to let them leave us behind, though. So for the next hour, it’s just you and me, bud.” I patted my hand on his body. “Let’s get stuck into it, yeah?”

Jorm nodded his mighty head as I settled into feeling out our link. Thanks to working with Jormungandr, I was now much more aware of the bonds I had with all of my pokemon. I could, with a lot of effort on my part, somewhat perceive them growing and solidifying, growing more robust.

Titan, for example, was like a pipeline that was wrapped in a myriad of colours for all the adventures we’d been on.

In comparison, Teddiursa’s bond with me was a thin rope. I expected that it would be much stronger by the end of the day.

For now, I focused on the bond that Jormungandr and I shared. Both of us sent energy towards the other in the pattern that we’d worked out, which helped to merge our energies before we fed it back towards Jormungandr.

Or at least we tried to; before it entered Jormungandr’s body the energy lost cohesion and shot back into Jorm and myself. Both of us grimaced at the failure and the feeling of the energy snapping back into us.

I sighed. Another failure.

I shook my head and clapped my hands. It wasn’t another failure; it was merely another step.

“Another step forward,” I said aloud, reminding myself that it was important to keep Jormungandr motivated. My giant metal snake opened an eye. I nodded, conveying as much confidence as I could.

“We’ve come a long way, we’ll get this,” I said before shutting my own eyes to resume the training.

We were so close I could metaphorically taste it.

When my timer went off, indicating an hour had passed, I let the energy that Jorm and I had built up dissipate harmlessly before standing and stretching. “Urgh, alright buddy, good work,” I said, clapping him on the side as I jumped over him.

Clefairy was, as always, working hard, but I paused for a moment as I noticed how many others were working just as hard. Even Don would stop, only to glance at Clefairy, before pushing himself to keep working.

I gave a quick whistle and all of my team stopped and hurried over as I laid out some food for them.

I found Yolanda on a boulder of her own, fast asleep, with Terra in her lap. I raised up my transceiver and snapped a few pictures. Then I waved for Titan and Bertha to stand behind her. Bertha raised two fingers so that Yolanda looked like she had giant, if stumpy, bunny ears. I chuckled and snapped a few more, then gently woke her up.

“Sure, it's me that needs to sleep and not you?” I asked as I led her back for breakfast.

She yawned hugely. “I was trying to copy you and feel for any hidden power I might have but… it’s kind of boring?”

I laughed louder. “Yeah, yeah, it is.” I’d had the fortune to have the experience of two lives. And it had still taken me years, despite knowing to try for it. Hopefully, with my wisdom being given to Yolanda she’d pick it up just as quickly.

I wrapped an arm around her and led her to breakfast, where we found Munchlax holding up Suzie as she pilfered the cupboard.

“And what do you think you’re doing?” I said.

Suzie startled and Munchlax twitched, causing them to teeter from side to side. Before Suzie could fall, I stepped in and caught her. She giggled, and I kept her going with some tickles.

“No sneaking snacks!” I said in mock anger. I set her down and opened the fridge. “Looks like it’s time for a Brock breakfast!” I announced.

Yolanda nodded. “I’ll go find Dad. He must have stayed up too late packing the camping gear.”

I merely shook my head. He had all of today to get things sorted, but he’d wanted it done last night. Ah well, I knew how hard it was to organise our family.

I allowed myself a moment of schadenfreude as I began to heat up the third skillet with my famous Brock everything scrambled eggs. Munchlax sat on his stool next to Suzie, quivering in anticipation.

“Break-fast!” sang Suzie. “Everything Brock! Everything Breakfast!”

“Brock Breakfast!” I chorussed back to her.

“Munch! Munch! Munch!” Munchlax chimed in happily.

It had been a while since I’d done this. I’d usually made a point of avoiding meals, or getting through them quickly, of late, what with it being weird around Flint and how busy I’d been.

I allowed myself a moment to exhale in relief.

Damn, it was good to have a late start to the day.

Soon enough, the rest of my siblings wandered in. Yolanda prodded them along, with Terra and Eevee working to chase the stragglers.

Salvadore clattered into a chair with a map and a number of books. “Morning! Hey Brock! Think we can find some rare pokemon this afternoon?”

I hummed. “We’ll have to see; do Clefairy count?”

“I mean, I guess?” he said.

“I think I can get the Clefairy to come out tonight, so we’ll get to see them,” I said. The girls all cheered at this.

Salvadore nodded. “What else can we find if we’re lucky?”

“Hmmm well the normal are of course Geodude, Sandshrew, and Onix, but we can also be on the lookout for Paras, Zubat, ab…” I trailed off, deciding not to mention Absol. Salvadore would definitely look into it. I frowned. I’d seen an Absol right before Mewtwo and Moltres exchanged blows, hadn’t I?

“Abra?” Salvadore said excitedly.

I hummed. “On the east side of the mountain, perhaps,” I said. “Hey Yolanda,” I said. “Where’s Flint?”

Yolanda stared at me as she swallowed some of her food. “He’s still asleep; leave a plate for him, I think,” she said eventually.

I nodded and turned my attention to making up my siblings' lunches for the day. For some reason, the kids started tittering and whispering to each other while I did this. I eyed them for a moment, but they adopted innocent expressions. I handed them their lunchboxes with a frown.

Something weird was going on here.

A tug on my pants had me looking down to find Munchlax giving me Baby Doll Eyes with a quivering lip. He glanced at the final unmade lunchbox, and I sighed.

“Alright, Munchlax, you too,” I said. I made up another lunchbox for him so he wouldn’t feel left out.

He happily accepted the box with a hug and trotted into the loungeroom, where he turned on some morning cartoons, with Eevee and Terra joining him.

“Hmmm, guess I can walk you to school,” I said to myself. The kids all grinned at that. I led them out the front door, wondering why they were all acting so weird. I’d taken them to school plenty of times before.

When I turned, the bushes rustled, causing me to pause as I realised what was about to happen.

Huh, it’d been a while since this had happened.

“Gym Leader—” was as far as the kid got before he tripped over a Lileep that tangled itself around their legs. They fell face-first into the pond with a splash, and I winced in sympathy. Oh, right, it had been a while since I’d come out of this entrance.

I lifted the bedraggled trainer out of the pond. “You alright there?”

“No?” they said with a quiver of the lip. A cursory inspection revealed that they had a rather large lump forming on their forehead. Ouch.

I patted them on the head and dropped them off at the front of the hedge. “Well, next time just make a booking like everyone else, yeah?”

The tears vanished as I walked past them. “Eh? You’re not going to help me?”

“Nah, I've got places to be; you’ll be alright. If the pain persists, go to the hospital! They can help you better than I can!” I called back to them.

I then marched on happily, curtailing my siblings from sprinting towards the… weirdly full playground…

“Hey!” I said as I remembered something. “You guys don't even have school today!”

The kids all broke out into laughter as I realised they’d tricked me.

I huffed and claimed a seat on the bench as my siblings sprinted off. Salvadore happily sat next to me and quizzed me on my knowledge of Mt Moon.

Alexa walked past and paused when she noticed me. “Morning Brock,” she said. “It’s you out today with the kids?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, one of the perks of starting the day a bit later,” I said.

Alexa nodded. “I’ll say!” She considered me. “Would it be presumptuous to ask to give you the day’s schedule now? It is a rather nice morning,” she said.

I considered the area and the sky. She was right, there were clear skies all around, and it would make for a nicer environment to see what the day had lined up for me so far. “Sure,” I said.

She handed me the schedule and sat down, sipping on her coffee as I read.

I tapped the first space. “I doubt this is going to remain free,” I said with a chuckle.

She tilted her head before copying me. “Trainer tried to jump you?”

I nodded and read through the rest of the day. There were no major points of order. With Sabrina’s match tomorrow, I wasn’t about to tire out any of my Elite pokemon with another Ace match. Instead, I’d just cruise in for an early finish before taking the kids to Mt Moon.

When I wrangled the kids back to the Gym I wasn't surprised to find out that the first match had been booked.

I strode into the Gym and claimed my podium with two fresh pokeballs in my grasp. Across from me, a trainer with a large bandage on their forehead glowered back.

“You can't escape me!” they shouted.

I chuckled and smiled. “Looks like things worked out for you! You ready?” I said. I wasn’t surprised that this was a first badge match, but with some recent additions, I had a few more options of late.

“Go Machop!” shouted the trainer.

I grinned and decided to give the trainer a bit of a treat.

“Go! Cranidos!” I ordered. Cranidos appeared and couldn’t seem to believe his luck. I chuckled, knowing how this would likely go. The flags dropped, and I decided not to hold him back too much. “Charge!” I said, causing the trainer to squawk in surprise before they quickly got their Machop to dodge.

I chuckled, feeling myself relax a little. Give it another month or two, and I’d be able to send out a lot of pokemon like this to give some people pause.

“Machop! Use Rock Smash!” the trainer shouted.

Cranidos turned and levelled his head once more. “Cranidos! Use Rock Polish to go faster, but don’t attack just yet! I want to save up for a big hit!” I said. Cranidos liked the sound of that and did as I asked. I sighed in relief as it leapt to the side and dodged the strike, instead building up speed.

“Alright! Now swing around with Leer!” Cranidos glowered, and Machop took a single step back before stepping forward with a growl.

Cranidos came on with a tiny roar, only for the Trainer to back Machop’s power. “Rock Smash!” Machop lashed out, and while it cried out in pain, it knocked Cranidos out cold with the hit.

Dennis raised a flag. “Cranidos is unable to battle!”

I returned him to his pokeball. “Good effort out there, little guy; you followed orders well. We’ll get you those victories, don’t you worry.” I would have to limit his fights in the lower badges levels, but it would be worth it to give him more motivation to train and follow commands.

For my next pokemon, I brought out an Onix deciding to go with the classic.

“Bide!” I ordered.

The Trainer sent their pokemon straight at mine with another Rock Smash, only for Onix to endure a flurry of blows. I grinned and pointed back at them. “Release!”

Onix exploded into action and swept Machop from the field.

“Ah!” said the trainer, slumping in on themselves. “That… was my only pokemon.”

I paused, hand still extended. Well, now I just felt bad. I sighed, “Alright, well, we've got a lot to talk about then, kid,” I said, lowering the podiums. Looks like my job today was going to be starting off in a rather different manner than I’d anticipated.

Thankfully, there weren’t any more curveballs for the rest of the day. I was able to facilitate a few training sessions with Missy, A.J., and Greta before lunch. During Missy’s training time, I walked around the forming volcano with a critical eye.

“So we’ll need to get a magma hood made up. That is what’s going to form the basis of the evolution of your Rhydon. It will also determine how the armour forms on him.”

“I have some drawings!” She handed me a set of images that looked like they were based on Bertha, but then there were also copies of what the scaled-down, pre-evolution would look like on a Rhydon.

I skimmed through them. “These look good. Next week we’re going to get some more Slugma to keep the volcano going so we can ignite it properly then, and set up a site for your Rhydon.”

“Great! We’ve eked out as much as we can, I think, from the training, and it’s about time to evolve him!” Missy cheered.

“Sorry about all the delays,” I said sheepishly.

“Ah, no, it makes perfect sense. I signed on to learn how to evolve my Rhydon, and I have gotten a lot more than that! I think I will be requesting some time off soon so I can evolve him, go try out some battle clubs, and also look for some other pokemon.”

“Any ideas?” I asked.

Missy shifted. “I was actually thinking of going to Hoenn or the Orange Islands to get some real versatility. If I get a flight organised I can be there in a day, spend a week or more shooting around the area, and then fly back,” she said.

“Hmmm true,” I said. “If you do go to Hoenn, do you think you can meet up with Celia? She’ll have some insight into Hoenn, having been over there for a few months now.”

I considered Missy. “What pokemon do you have an eye on?”

Missy shifted back and forth. “Al..taria?” she said.

I grinned. “A very good choice for a new addition to your team,” I said, knowing that it was a wonderful blend of beauty, power and versatility.

“I know! I looked into it after you mentioned Gertrude having one, and I thought I might like one!” Missy beamed back at me.

With her sorted, it was easy to work on building up A.J. and Greta.

The afternoon only saw me being challenged by one trainer, so I decided to close up after that. I waved as I left for the medical bay to collect the pokemon I was taking with me. I glanced back and was happy to find Dennis and Rocko leading a few of the new Gym trainers through some fun games with each of their pokemon.

When I entered my own house, I found Flint up and awake, with a number of backpacks were set out in the hallway. The kids were sitting in the loungeroom, reading or playing games.

“Who’s ready to go to Mt. Moon?” I said.

Instantly, all of the kids whirled about and cheered. The older kids all grabbed up backpacks of their own, while the smaller ones attached small fanny packs to themselves as Nanny Grav tossed a pair of larger packs over her own arms.

“Ready!” they all cheered. I gave Flint a glance, and he shot me a thumbs up as he donned a much smaller pack.

Yolanda tilted her head. “Aren’t you going to take a bag Brock?”

I reached to the side, grabbed a small clip-on backpack and grinned.

“Latest and greatest in Silph Co. folding space!” I declared.

Yolanda nodded, gaining a thoughtful look. I once again hustled my family out of the house. I was extremely happy when I wasn’t ambushed by another trainer, or even the same trainer as earlier this morning.

If they’d just come straight back at me, they really wouldn’t have shown that they’d learned anything.

Our family trudged through town, and by the point we reached Route Three, Munchlax was staggering and carrying on.

“Muuuuuuunch,” he said worriedly.

I held out a bag of carrot sticks. “Here, eat these while we walk,” I said.

He instantly perked up and munched at the food while walking without a problem. As we walked, we slowly started to encounter longer and denser patches of grass that were sporadically littered with boulders.

“Cranidos, come on out!” I said, releasing said pokemon from his pokeball. Cranidos came out with a small roar and snapped his head around.

“Cran?” he said, his eyes locking onto Munchlax.

Munchlax, not understanding what was going on, held his food defensively off to the side.

“Cran!” growled Cranidos.

“Nope!” I barked. “None of that. Munchlax is with us. I brought you out to work on fighting some pokemon as we walked along the route to Mt Moon. Give you some more experience. Think you can handle it?”

Cranidos perked up at that and nodded, his eyes once more searching the area for a challenger. It didn’t take long for a Pidgey to appear in front of us.

“Cranidos go!” I ordered, letting him charge forward, only for Pidgey to fly over his head and evade him. “Cranidos, hold back and watch it fly!”

Cranidos did so with his little head bobbing back and forth before narrowing. “Wait for it. Use Focus Energy while you do,” I commanded as Pidgey closed in.

When Pidget spun about to Tackle Cranidos, I punched forward. “Now! Headbutt!” I shouted, letting Cranidos leap forward. It struck true and knocked Pidgey out of the sky, where it rolled off to the side.

Cranidos lined himself up again, only for me to whistle sharply. “That’s enough, Cranidos.”

I stepped forward and inspected the downed pokemon. “Pidgey won’t be fighting anymore, and we’re not looking to eat him, so let’s put him in the shade and leave him some berries,” I said. I then gave Cranidos some quick pats. “Good boy! Let’s see if we can get you another fight!”

Any idea of hitting Pidgey once again vanished, as Cranidos swept the area with his gaze.

Suzie and Billy came over and stroked the downed Pidgey. “Sleep well, little pokemon, you did well!” said Suzie before she tottered on.

As we walked along the path, Cranidos got to fight more and more pokemon that wandered across the road until eventually he was too tired.

“Cran… idos,” he said, taking a faltering step towards another Geodude.

“No, that’s enough Cranidos,” I said, raising his pokeball and withdrawing him.

“Munchlax!” said Munchlax as he licked away the last of the crumbs from his mouth and stepped forward with his chin raised, his eyes locked with the Geodude.

I blinked. “You want to fight?” I said with surprise.

“Munch!” he said. He then waved about his empty bag and puffed himself up. “Munch, munch munch! Lax!” he said firmly.

I tilted my head, having no idea what he was saying.

Cindy giggled. “He’s come for snacks and to kick butt, and he’s out of snacks, so now it’s time to kick butt!”

I blinked, not having expected such a line from Munchlax. I eyed Cindy dubiously, as even Munchlax gaped at her. I highly doubted that was what he’d said.

Before I could say anything, Yolanda stepped forward. “I’ll be your trainer Munchlax!” she said. “Get in close with Tackle!” she said, resulting in Munchlax dashing forwards, only for Geodude to roll to the side and dodge.

Munchlax slid face-first through the dirt, only to stand quickly and shake himself off as my siblings took up cheering for him.

“Munch!” he shouted, leaping in to Tackle again, only for Geodude to once again evade. This time, while Munchlax was down, Geodude got its own tackle in.

“Stand up, Munchlax! We need you!” cheered Yolanda. Munchlax shot up to a standing position and growled at Geodude.

“Try Rock Slide,” I said more out of whim than anything.

“Rock Slide!” Yolanda said firmly.

Munchlax glowered at Geodude, before he dug his hands into the earth and heaved. A section of rock slid out and slammed into Geodude, covering it up.

The kids all cheered as though Munchlax had won. Munchlax turned a proud grin at them, his chest puffing up. Geodude chose that moment to leap from the pile of rocks and slam into Munchlax.

Munchlax landed heavily and whimpered, only for Eevee to dash forward and smash her smaller body against Geodude.

Geodude barely moved, and it gave Eevee a look of contempt. Eevee locked up, suddenly unsure what to do, and I could see Suzie was about to dart forward to save Eevee.

I tossed out another pokeball and pointed at the Geodude. “Teddiursa! Time to be a hero! Take out the Geodude!” I said, causing Geodude to switch its attention towards my pokemon.

Teddiursa made short work of the Geodude and soon was happily swaggering up to me with a gleam in his eyes. “Nice work out there, big guy,” I said.

Teddiursa puffed himself up at the praise and I chuckled. I grew more serious as I turned my attention to Munchlax who was looking very roughed up and despondent.

“Munch…” he said sadly.

My siblings darted forward and checked on him and Eevee, who had curled up on herself in shame. Yolanda was quick to console Eevee and when she reached Munchlax she scooped him up. “Hey, don’t be so down little guy. You did great. I just didn’t know what moves you knew… and for a pokemon that is pretty housebound, you did good!”

“If good means getting knocked out so easy,” said Tommy.

“He’s right you know,” chimed in Flint. “Pet pokemon aren’t going to be as strong as wild or trained pokemon.”

I cleared my throat and shook my head. “Not helping guys,” I said.

Tommy ducked his head. “Sorry…” At my expectant look, he bowed his head to Munchlax. “Sorry Munchlax,” he said.

Flint blushed when Yolanda pointedly stared at him, before offering up his own bow of apology.

Munchlax bobbed his head, accepting the apologies, but still sad. Yolanda shifted him so he was on her hip while Eevee rested on her shoulders. Both pokemon seemed a bit shaken up at learning how weak they were.

It probably didn’t help that they’d been watching Cranidos run around and beat up so many other pokemon before them.

I kept Teddiursa out and had him beat away the next few pokemon before noting that my siblings were starting to flag. “Stop for a break?” I said.

Flint hummed and looked at the peak of Mt Moon. “I don’t think we’ll be able to make it to the top tonight at this pace.” He rubbed his chin. “I’m surprised you used to make it up there yourself in one shot. Did you run with the kids?”

“Oh, we usually rode pokemon, or I rock climbed with Forrest,” I said casually.

“Rock climbed… Weren’t you worried about falling?” Flint said.

I shook my head. “Don or Selene could have caught us if we fell,” I said.

“Ah,” Flint said, rubbing his chin. “Well, how about I bring out my Onix?” said Flint. “We can ride it for the next part. It’s strong enough that no local pokemon should bother us!” he said.

This was met with a chorus of agreement. Flint’s Onix was a very dark-toned specimen.

I ran my hands over its body and frowned. “Lots of coal in his diet?” I asked.

“Yes, and some other minerals that make him oddly striped underneath,” Flint said, happy to talk about his pokemon.

“Oh! So there are markers for Onix that let you tell them apart?” said Tommy, showing some curiosity for the first time.

Flint nodded from where he sat at the front. “Yes! Most Onix are entered into registries with the Rangers when they’re in the wild. Some of the older ones can grow quite large unless they are kept repressed by the local pokemon population.”

“Huh,” said Tommy thoughtfully. “When are you going to give me an Onix?” he asked.

Flint blinked. “Oh, you want me to catch one?”

“Yeah! But make it like Brock’s one!”

I grinned. “Like Jormungandr?” I said.

Tommy shook his head. “No, like the one that you use in your Four badge matches! The one that has those ghost moves! My friend’s dad is the local branch manager of the Battleclub, and he always goes on and on about how Onix shouldn’t be able to do what it does!” He grinned. “I want a tricky pokemon like that!”

I chuckled. “I hadn’t realised Onix was that special!” I glanced at Flint only to see that he had a slightly pinched look.

“Tommy, Brock’s Onix…” He glanced up at me. “You caught it only a few years ago, correct?”

I nodded. “Yeah right after…” I shifted and looked away. “I needed another strong Onix,” I said lamely. Yolanda reached out and grabbed my hand.

Flint nodded. “I thought that was the case. That Onix is special, let’s just say that.”

I frowned, curious about what the full story was about my own pokemon. Flint didn’t say anything more about it, and I turned my siblings' attention elsewhere using a game of pokemon snap with some cheap cameras I’d bought for them. They happily clicked away at the landscape and claimed they’d seen anything from an Onix to a Geodude.

When Salvadore claimed he’d spotted a Chansey, everyone chuckled, especially when he revealed that he’d botched the picture.

When we reached the peak, Flint had his Onix roll out a flat spot to lay out our tents. I made up a campfire for us and tossed out some wood before releasing Slugma to serve as our firestarter.

I chuckled. “I didn’t really need the wood with Slugma here,” I said as we laid some skillets on a table above Slugma.

Yolanda merely shrugged as she sat down on a chair around the fire. “It makes for a nice scene,” she said. Lifting up her camera and snapping a picture of me poking the fire with a stick.

The kids happily ran around the area as Flint, Salvadore, and I set up the tents. Yolanda got them to play a game with Teddiursa and Terra for Simon says which they loved.

I set about cooking dinner and released Clefairy. “Think you can go find your family? Might be nice to have them here for your evolution?” He perked up at that and nodded. He hopped away, and I called out after him. “Remind them my family is here, so warn them they might get cuddled!”

“Fairy!” he chimed back before vanishing as he leapt into a small crack.

I shook my head and set about making dinner. Dinner was simple fare, but the kids seemed to like it. After dinner, we sang some songs, and Salvadore pointed out which stars he knew, and Flint pointed out an even larger amount.

“— is the serpent’s tail, it always points south! See it there? See how it weaves? People aren’t sure if it’s an Arbok, a Gyarados, or a Milotic, but I think it’s an Onix!” Flint said happily.

“I like Milotic!” said Cindy firmly, eyes locked on the glittering night sky.

Flint smiled. “There’s a trick your mother knows with the stars where you line them up just so with your thumb and forefingers, and then you can navigate anywhere!” he said, causing the kids to perk up while I leaned back and let the darkness hide my grimace.

“Clefairy!” chimed a chorus of voices. I glanced over and found Clefairy had returned, and with him, a cadre of at least twenty Clefairy and even a Clefable were there. They waved at us, and I waved back.

“Ahhhhh my gosh!” said Suzie "They're sooooooo cute!”

That prompted a few of them to hop towards us and softly bob into Suzie's arms for hugs.

Others did the same to others, and Clefable walked up to us with a serious gait. He clapped me on the thigh and nodded in approval. Then he stepped back. “Clefable!” he said, and suddenly the Clefairy broke off and darted back to him.

Clefable turned his gaze towards me. He raised a hand and made a ‘give’ gesture.

I handed him the Moonstone that Flint had brought back ages ago, and he took it and rested it on top of a boulder.

He then nudged my Clefairy to the front of the pack. “Clefable!” he said before bouncing to the side, hands bobbing one way and then the other. The Clefairy all joined in, and Clefairy copied them.

Suzie giggled and joined in. “We should do it too!” she said before bobbing from side to side.

I shared a glance with the rest of my siblings, and we joined in happily bobbing from side to side in a strange two-step to the timing of Clefable.

Bertha, sensing a good time, popped out of her pokeball. Her hands twitched at the sight of so many small cute pokemon, but she settled down and joined us in bobbing from side to side.

I decided to pop out the rest of my team, only to be surprised when instead of Don popping out of my last pokeball, Chansey did instead.

I blinked in surprise. I’d checked that… right before I left the medical bay… but she did have access to some of the stickers and pokeballs I used. Had she wanted to sneak along?

She didn’t meet my gaze and hid behind Bertha to dance along with the other pokemon.

I shared an amused look with Titan and we both shrugged. Sanchez loudly joined in with the dance, causing Titan to snort and then join himself

Clefairy, at some unknown signal, stepped forward and raised the Moonstone up. “Cle-fairy!” he said loudly and then his form began to shimmer and glow.

His body grew and a moment later the light died away to reveal his fully evolved form.

“Clefable!” he cheered. Everyone stopped dancing to cheer for him. He bounced happily and soon had a number of Clefairy bouncing into him to hug him. Suzie happily joined the pile of hugs by throwing herself into it. Bertha waited until I rolled my eyes and waved her forward.

She happily caught up the entire group in her large arms to nuzzle and hug the fluffy pokemon. Suzie giggled from somewhere within the mass of fluff.

When she emerged, she was held up by Clefable and he laughed happily before depositing her back on the ground. The other Clefairy and Clefable slipped from Bertha’s arms easily.

My Clefable then bowed to his family. When he rose he walked back to my side with a proud smile.

His family bowed back and waved to my family, then, without any warning, they skipped away.

In the space of a few seconds, they vanished, leaving the impression they’d never been here but for the newly evolved pokemon.

“Wow,” said Cindy. “That was amazing!”

I chuckled. “Yup, the world’s a pretty amazing place filled with stuff like this.”

Cindy turned. “And you got to experience it on your Journey?” I nodded, and she grinned wider. “Will I?”

“Maybe? You might have different or even better journeys than me. Who’s to say?” I said whimsically.

Suzie stepped up to me. “What’s his name?” she said, indicating the waiting Clefable.

I was about to name him after the king of fairies, but hthen I realised that name wouldn’t fit. I glanced around at the rest of my pokemon. No, Oberon wasn’t going to fit.

Clefai… no, Clefable, was a fighter, a pokemon filled with courage and the desire to do good and great things.

He had the heart of a hero.

I shut my eyes for a moment and felt out the bonds with my pokemon before reopening them.

“His name is Link,” I said, feeling it click just right in some undefinable way.

Link threw up his hands before my family and my pokemon cheered out at the name. Clefable shared hugs with everyone, even Chansey, who seemed unsure of what to make of the once tiny pokemon now being taller than her.

I chuckled and led everyone back to the fire to enjoy some s’mores.

Yolanda smiled at me. “So why Link?”

I hummed. “Well, I suppose I should tell the story of Link to you, shouldn’t I?” I said.

Instantly everyone was sitting around the campfire with rapt attention.

Sanchez patted the ground next to him and Link leapt to join him. Chansey twitched and shook herself as Link moved past her. Yolanda giggled and some of the kids changed seats to sit with my pokemon.

I chuckled and sat down before beginning the story of Link.

“Long, long ago, in a faraway kingdom, there was a young boy—” I said, beginning the tale like that of a classic. From there, I told them the story of a small boy who grew to be a hero despite everything that stood in his way.

By the time I was done, Link and Sanchez had tears in their eyes. Sanchez clapped Link on the shoulder and nodded firmly. The others smiled at Link.

Link merely bowed his head. Then he looked at me before he leapt into my arms to hug me. “Clefable!” he shouted.

I hugged him back, amused at how moved he was by the story.

Cindy grinned. “I think he likes his name,” she said before yawning.

“I think he does,” he said.

Titan huffed a laugh and nudged the others into moving out around the camp. My siblings went through their sleep rituals with stuffed pokemon, their teeth, and a nightly run to the bathroom.

“We have to pee in a hole!” screamed Suzie as she rediscovered what using the facilities meant in the wilderness.

I watched the pokemon I brought along all take the time to pat Link on the shoulder before they settled down as well.

I sat by the fire feeling oddly nostalgic to be out camping with all of my pokemon. How long had it been since I’d done something like this?

I sat for a long time as my siblings settled, and without really thinking about it, I slipped into a meditative state and felt out my bonds once again. I was a bit surprised to find that Link’s had easily tripled in size since this morning.

Huh, it seems like going about things this way really was the right call.

Titan shuffled up and laid down around me, his eyes glinting in the fire. “Tyyyyyy,” he said sleepily.

I nodded. “Yeah, this brings back memories, doesn’t it?” I said. I looked up at the stars. “Think I might sleep out here tonight,” I said.

Yolanda, who’d been passing by to get to her own tent, paused to sit down. “That means I can sleep in your new tent?” she said eagerly.

I nodded. “Go right ahead,” I said. She grinned and started to claim the tent, only to pause and sit back down. She joined me in looking up at the stars, not saying a word.

After a bit, the rest of my siblings settled down, and Flint joined us.

We sat without saying a word, simply enjoying the moment.

Eventually, however, all things end. Flint shifted and caused a grating noise to break the silence.

I sighed and decided to ask a question that had been lingering in my mind for a while. “What makes my Onix, the one I use for the fourth-tier badge battles, so different?”

Flint sighed and stared into the fire. He rubbed at his chin and opened his mouth before closing it a few times, trying and failing to find the words he wanted to say.

Eventually, he just shook his head. “Onix shouldn’t be able to use Curse the way your Onix does.”

I blinked. “That doesn’t make any sense; he pulls it off all the time, so obviously that’s wrong,” I said.

Flint sighed. “Remember how I mentioned that all Onix end up with a certain colouring? Onix has a very controlled colouration which is something only seen in pokemon that have been raised since birth on a specialised diet. But more telling are the scars and cracks that litter his body.”

I blinked. “Oh?” Between us, Yolanda stayed quiet.

Flint nodded. “Yes, I… Well, I actually recognise that Onix. I’m not surprised it hasn’t grown as large as it could, but it has certainly grown.”

I tilted my head. “You recognise it?”

“Yes, your Onix… it was a young Onix that belonged to Brock. The older Brock, who was Gym Leader before me.”

“Oh,” I said intelligently. I had an inkling of how this all tied together now, but I needed to confirm it. “And this ties in with Onix’s Curse specialty, how?”

Flint licked his lips. “You never trained him with a ghost type to make him stronger, have you?”

I shook my head, and Flint sighed. “There’s only one other way for pokemon to get skilled at or develop special moves with Ghost-type moves… and it’s to experience death. And not just a little bit, but to truly know death.”

Flint looked up. “We all know that the old Brock died during the war…”

Flint shifted. “I think that Onix was his, and it might have fallen onto death’s door. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have lost everything like that. It must be strange to be back at the Pewter Gym and to be led by another called Brock. Funny how things play out. I suppose there is one good side to the story with you looking after Onix now.”

I stared at Flint. “Huh, I had no idea,” I said.

I blinked a few times, unsure what to even say. A morbid thought occurred to me. If I wanted… I could probably learn what happened to the previous Gym Leader Brock, but that would require Sabrina’s help… and I didn’t need to dredge up old ghosts. What would I do with such knowledge?

“Thanks for telling me,” I said, looking back up at the stars.

Flint nodded and rose. “Thanks for… today,” Flint said. “It was great coming up here as a family,” he said.

“I enjoyed it,” I said carefully. I smiled, as I realised I meant the words. I then barked a laugh. “We still have tomorrow and the days coming ahead of us so don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.”

Flint smiled wider. “Ha, I know, but sometimes you need to acknowledge the moment,” he said before nodding at me. He gave Yolanda a kiss on the head and then tucked himself in for the night.

Yolanda rose and gave me a hug and a kiss. “Night Brock,” she said.

“Night,” I said, kissing her on the cheek.

I sat in the dark for a while longer and considered letting sleep take hold only for a flapping of wings to make me and my pokemon sit up.

A pokemon landed in front of me, and I blinked as a familiar face grinned up at me.

“Oh, it’s you,” I said to the shiny Zubat. Despite myself, I felt my fingers twitch towards a spare pokeball. “Did you come to find me?” I asked hopefully.

It nodded quickly and gestured at itself and the rest of my pokemon. Titan huffed in amusement but nodded.

I chuckled, understanding through Titan’s reaction what had been said. Zubat was another pokemon that wanted to get strong?

Perfect. I offered it the pokeball and it leapt into it to capture itself. The ball flashed once and locked before teleporting away.

I grinned.

Today really had turned out so much better than I had imagined. I rubbed at my still sore ribs, barring some exceptions, that is.

I shut my eyes and hoped tomorrow would turn out just as well.