Back to Lumiose City

Arriving at the Pokémon Center, we rushed inside, only to see Viola sitting in the lobby, looking much like Ash had after his Battle with her.

Seeing her in this state, I felt slightly guilty, but it definitely didn't bother me as much as seeing Vivillon and Surskit hurt. However, seeing the worried looks on my friends, I sighed.

I walked over and sat down next to her. Much like Ash, she too didn't realise I had arrived.

"Viola…" I called out. There was no response.

"Viola," I called out again. Still nothing.

"Viola." This time I called out with a stern voice, causing her to flinch and snap her head in my direction.

Seeing who had called out to her, her eyes widened, and a trace of fear flashed across her eyes. However, as soon as she noticed the subtle guilt in my eyes, she took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Kai…" She said, barely a whisper.

"Are Surskit and Vivillon okay?" I asked, keeping my expression as impassive as possible. However, it seemed that I couldn't keep the subtle shakiness of my voice from appearing.

Hearing my question, I could clearly see anger bubbling up like a volcanic eruption in her eyes. She began to clench her fists, visibly shaking, like she was looking at the person who'd murdered her entire family.

And I didn't blame her.

After all, the suffering I'd just put her Pokémon through, creatures that were basically her family, was not negligible.

I had chosen the quickest path to Victory to limit the amount of time they suffered, but I caused enough pain in a short amount of time to incapacitate them that I can't really tell which method would've been better…

But if I had drawn it out, my Pokémon would have suffered as well….

So I made my decision.

Fully expecting it, I was waiting for Viola to blow up at me. However, it didn't happen.

Instead, as I continued to stare into her eyes, I saw the anger fade, slowly being replaced by sadness and understanding.

"I get it now…." She finally muttered.

"Huh?" I blurted out, caught off guard by this unexpected outcome.

"Why you call it suffering. I get it now."

"I'd been so blind before… Every time I Battled with my Pokémon, they'd always bounce back and show how much they'd enjoyed it. Because of that, I never thought much deeper about it."

"But watching the way you cornered them, the way you so quickly targetted them with such lethal precision, to the point that I could do nothing for them despite the trust they had in me, it finally made me understand what you meant by a Trainer's responsibility. Our responsibility to our Pokémon as Trainers to limit their pain, the pain they only experience by putting their bodies on the line for our ambitions."

Viola then looked up at me, staring into my shaking eyes.

"At first, I was angry. I blamed you for putting them through so much pain. Looking into your cold, unfeeling eyes throughout the Battle made me believe you didn't care what you were doing to my friends, my family…."

"But after thinking it over, I realised that couldn't be the case. You usually show an extreme love for all Pokémon, evident from how you interact with your Partners and the amount of preparation you do to make sure your Pokémon don't get hurt."

"And that's when it hit me. You don't like Battling. But for some reason, something is making you do it. So you chose the quickest way to beat my Pokémon and me to make sure the pain didn't last."

"After all, it's not every day you see your opponent focus immediately on the care of your Pokémon after a Battle they'd just won, so much so, that they'd use an expensive item like a [Hyper Potion] on them." She finished with a sweet and soft smile.

"I…" I stuttered. I was utterly speechless. I didn't know what to say in response.

Suddenly the Pokémon Center chime rang throughout the building, indicating that Surskit and Vivillon were ready.

Looking over, we saw Nurse Joy leading out a perfectly healthy Surskit and Vivillon, both of them looking around for their Trainer.

"I don't know what's forcing you to Battle, but whatever it is, I hope you overcome it soon. After all, it's not just Pokémons suffering we need to limit. Your suffering is just as important." Viola said, looking towards her Pokémon, who'd just noticed her. She then got up and walked to them.

As I watched Surskit and Vivillon jump into Viola's arms, I couldn't help but sigh, shaking my head and smiling slightly.

"What a woman…."

I was about to get up and walk over to my friends, but I was interrupted by the sound of flapping wings.

Looking up, I saw Vivillon hovering right in front of me.

She was just staring at me with curious eyes.

However, she suddenly swooped down, touching my face with her little hands and rubbing her head against my cheek.

"Vi~! Vivi~!"

Shocked, my eyes widened, but soon a small smile developed on my face.

"Hey, Vivillon, I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

"Vi~! Vi~!"

"Haha, yeah, I'm okay too. Go on, Viola's waiting for you. I'll see you around, yeah?"

"Vi~!" She replied before flying back towards Viola, who was also looking at me with a smile.

Alexa was also standing next to her, looking at me with a soft smile.

I waved, saying goodbye, as they left the Pokémon Center.

…

..

.

A few days have passed since my Battle with Viola. She'd decided to take around two days of rest before she began accepting any challenges again.

According to Alexa, Viola decided to spend those two days reviewing the Battle footage between her and me. Apparently, she was really focusing on a different Battle Style, adapting various aspects of my style into it.

I was a little flattered when I heard that and was looking forward to seeing how she'd manage.

Thus, when Ash's Gym Challenge came around, I was honestly pleasantly surprised. Her Battle Style had changed drastically. She used other aspects of the environment than she did previously, creating intricate Battlefields that worked to her advantage.

However, it seemed she needed to work on it more as, despite it being a really hard-fought Battle, Ash ended up coming out on top.

Well, that's to be expected. She was trying out an entirely new way of Battling. The fact she'd shown any kind of improvement really impressed me. Thus, Ash and I both received our Gym Badges at the end of it.

The Bug Badge, to be specific.

Viola had apologised to me after the fact. It had apparently slipped her mind entirely that she hadn't given me my Badge earlier; however, I told her not to mind it as I still received it in the end.

Thus, our little foray through Santalune City had come to an end.

With the Cyllage Gym as our next destination, we headed back through Route 4, finally arriving at Lumiose City.

"And we're back," I said, staring at Prism Tower in the distance.

"Yeah… for some reason, it feels like it has been a while," Ash said.

"Well, Journeys like this tend to be hectic. A lot happened in Santalune City, so, what in reality was around a week, felt like a lot more." Clemont replied.

"Mhm. So, are we planning to spend some time here, or do you think we should move on?" Bonnie asked.

"Why don't we look around a bit? There are a lot of shops I wanna visit!" Serena suddenly exclaimed.

"To be honest, that doesn't sound half-bad. Let's have a shopping trip, my treat." I replied before offering.

"Huh? Your treat?" Bonnie asked.

Smiling, I placed a hand on her head, saying,

"Mhm, we'll go to a couple of shops each of us want to visit, but you all can go ahead and pick out whatever you want; I'll cover the expenses. Call it thanks for you guys befriending me and letting me accompany all of you on this Journey."

"Really?!" Bonnie cried out in excitement.

"Yep!" I replied with a smile.

"Ah! Kai, you don't have to do that!" Clemont suddenly interjected.

"Yeah! We're your friends 'cus we wanna be!" Ash replied.

"Haha, yeah, I know. But I'd be grateful if you'd let me have this one." I said with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Serena asked.

"Mhm, let's go! Lead the way, Bonnie!"

"Okay!"

Bonnie took off running; I turned to smile at my friends before jogging to catch up.

They all looked at each other before smiling helplessly, running after us.

We went to a wide range of stores for the next couple of hours, from clothing to tech stores, restaurants for meals, and finally, the Lumiose Museum.

My friends had broad smiles on their faces the entire time, especially Bonnie, which brought a smile to my face.

As the youngest of six kids in my family, I'd always wanted a younger sibling, much like I used to have. However, with my Dad having passed away before I was born and my mum getting along in age, it wasn't going to happen.

Also… perhaps because of my past memories, the image of a little girl would often overlap with Bonnie. It caused feelings of guilt and regret to surface in my chest whenever it happened.

So, seeing Bonnie enjoy herself so much, I felt this urge to spoil her, much like I would my own little sister, probably to make up for the missed opportunity in the past.

Shaking the saddening thoughts from my head, I decided to enjoy myself and live in the moment. That life was long gone. I needed to appreciate what I had now.

By now, it was already getting pretty late into the day, around Six PM, but we arrived at a clothing store that was the last on the list. When we entered, Bonnie and Serena's eyes lit up like stars. Clemont and I looked at each other with helpless expressions.

Ash, however, was on the same wavelength as the girls, looking around at the different Pokémon-themed outfits.

After picking out what they liked, the girls quickly entered the changing rooms.

I decided to sit down at one of the available seats within the store to wait.

I wasn't particularly interested in shopping for clothes. Most of the staff back home would pick out my clothing for me, so I never really had any sense of style, opting to stick to a few outfits they'd picked out for me.

After a few minutes, Bonnie finally came out in her new outfit she'd been trying on.

Taking a look, I noticed the slightly recognisable colour scheme and patterns.

She wore a black sweater with a white collar, a red plaid skirt, knee-high brown boots, and a red beanie with a white pomf on the top.

Looking down at myself, I smiled slightly before looking back up at her.

"Kai! How do I look?" She asked.

"I think you look great! I definitely like the colour scheme. It suits you."

"Ehehe, Great! Then I'm gonna get them!" She squealed and giggled before running back into the changing room.

A few seconds after, Serena exited her changing room.

Seeing her, my eyes widened slightly.

She was wearing a black dress with long sleeves but exposed her shoulders. It went down to just below her knees, and the skirt portion was segmented with black being the main body and interspaces of vertical pink slits spaced periodically along it, tied with crisscross black fabrics.

She had a pink ribbon in her hair which held up her ponytail, and two pink ribbons around her upper arms, which seemed to be integrated into the dress's sleeves.

She looked a little shy coming out of the changing room, looking around nervously.

Looking over at Ash, I suddenly whispered,

"Psst! Ash!"

Ash looked over at me in confusion before seeing me nudge my head in Serena's direction. Seeing the meaning in my eyes, Ash suddenly said,

"Wow, Serena! That looks great on you!"

Looking over to see Ash giving her a broad smile, Serena blushed while looking down and smiling.

Internally, I was snickering like a cheeky fox, mentally giving Ash a thumbs up.

Serena turned her head away so Ash wouldn't see her blushing face, but her eyes landed on me in doing so.

"Looking good. I like you in your usual clothes 'cus of the colours, but even my bias has to admit you look good in that outfit." I said with a thumbs up and a wide smile.

Serena then blushed even harder, covering her face with both hands. But she couldn't hide the fact that she was smiling and enjoying the compliments. However, my following comment stunned her.

"Hey, Ash! If Serena ends up wearing something you think looks good on her, make sure you give more of your input! Stuff like 'You look cute in that' or 'You're beautiful'! I'm sure it'll make her happy!"

"Huh? Oh! I see; well, you look really cute in that dress, Serena!" Ash replied.

I looked back at Serena, who was staring at me with wide eyes and blushing even harder.

Deciding to lay the final nail in the coffin with a tease, I said,

"Mhm, super cute!" winking at the end.

Again I could've sworn I saw steam rising from her head as she suddenly turned around and dashed back into the changing room.

I couldn't help but mentally pat myself on the back for another successful prank.

Serena and Bonnie soon reappeared, the former looking at me while pouting, while the latter was all smiles, still wearing the outfit she'd just tried on.

Arriving at the counter, I paid for the two outfits before leaving.

We were about to head to the next store on our list, but suddenly, a voice called out,

"Well, if it isn't my Clemont and Bonnie!"

Hearing their names called out in that familiar tone of voice, the siblings froze in place, mechanically turning around to face the voice.

"Dad?" They called out.

Sitting on a Moped was a rather muscular man. He was around 190 cm (6'3) tall and had tanned skin, brown eyes and hair, and a matching chin-strap beard. He wore a navy blue long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up above the elbow, light blue overalls, light brown shoes, and a pale green hat.

Sitting behind him was a Pokémon called Ampharos.

Ampharos was a yellow, bipedal Pokémon with a white belly. It had conical ears with black stripes and a red orb on its forehead. Its long neck had several black rings around it near the base. Its stubby arms resembled flippers, and each foot had a single white nail. It had a long, black-striped tail with a red orb at the tip.

"Huh? Dad?!" Ash and Serena called out.

"Hey!" He said, sounding quite suave.

…

..

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