29

The setting sun was overshadowed by thick clouds and the roars of combat. Scorches of flame and flurries of energy boomed over the land, orange beams of power screaming through stone and sky and Skarmory alike. The Pokémon that were caught up in these attacks quickly scattered; leaving only those that were fighting and brave onlookers in the vicinity.

A Steelix, a particularly territorial one at that, had not been a fan of my arrival. And he was showing it boldly. Winter and Ramsey were frontrunning the assault on it, whilst Viserion and Umber offered support from the rear. Rhaegal and Baelish stayed back by my behest; I didn't want to risk anything happening to me, and she was my shield whilst he was my getaway avenue. Rayder and Thoros were just being pests though, offering nothing but snickering jeers towards us from atop a nearby cliff.

When this is settled and done, I think I'll saddle them with some weight training.

My Pidgeot was blitzing around as quick as he could, pelting the Steelix with Heat Wave's combined with Sunny Day at my direction, both because Steel types were weak to fire and because Winter knew the attacks but rarely had cause to use them. Ramsey was less strategic with his attacks; Hyper Beam was his go-to, and he was using it liberally. It was actually he that caused those Pokémon to run and hide, and I had the sneaking suspicion that that was quite on purpose.

I couldn't prove it, but I knew.

From behind, whilst Steelix was focused on Ramsey and Winter, Viserion and Umber were'a chargin' their lasers.

…

…Ah. That was pretty cringey now that I gave it some thought, wasn't it? In truth, they were just readying a combination attack. Winona had shown their uses in Double Battles; combining Whirlwind and Fire Blast to tank my team quite cleanly. She recommended that I experiment with what did and did not work and develop strategies around those. And I did.

Viserion hovered a great ball of Water Pulse towards his muzzle, and Umber added Icy Wind to its structure, the heat of Sunny Day melting the Ice attack to liquid which was then added to the bulk of Viserion's Water Pulse, making the attack grow and grow as more time passed. It was larger than Rhaegal was right now, and by the way Viserion struggled, I could tell that his maintaining of the attack was soon to falter.

"Viserion." I called, sat on Rhaegal's back. She bristled, ready to defend me at a moment's notice. Such a good girl. "Do it."

Crowing, the Dragonair shot forward. The great Water Pulse he conducted was wobbly, but all the same its form was held in check, and when he approached the Steelix, he loosed it with as much force as he could. Water pressured into what was nearing a ton of weight slammed into the steel snake, and with a great groan, it finally collapsed, swirls of nonsensical anime reality taking over its eyes.

Praise be to Lord Helix. That damned Steelix had been bothering me all day for the most part. So what if I accidentally sat on its tail? News flash, there's bits of steel littered around all over the place; it's an easy mistake.

That does not equate to a fight in my book. At best, it'd deserve a stern talking to. I would have even let Baelish translate that anger!

Shaking my head away from those thoughts I looked its downed form over, a Poké Ball in hand, but then clicked my tongue and returned the spherical device to my pocket. Winter flew to my side, panting but pleased, and Ramsey had mounted the Steelix's lolled head, roaring in glee at its victory.

Grunting, I returned all of my team save for Winter to their Poké Balls and hopped onto the Pidgeot's back. He flew up after I gripped his scalp feathers, and I directed him to a different sector of the valley, one that would not involve a temperamental Steelix wanting revenge.

As we flew, it quickly became apparent to me that I…

I did not know what exactly I wanted to train my Pokémon in.

Bit of a doozy, ain't it?

Sure, I knew that I wanted to train; that I wanted to go places. And sure, I went through the trouble of getting equipment for said trainings, but aside from that? I was painfully lost.

It should be noted that I am painfully lost more often than not when left to my own devices. I just don't like to advertise that little factoid. In case it hasn't been made apparent, for the most part, I make shit up as I go. In this instance, I just didn't really know what shit to make up now that I had arrived.

Luckily, due to our location, there were options to build off of.

The Valley of Steel, as its name suggested, was a mass territory of Steel type Pokémon. Skarmory dominated the skies, and the Magnemite line paraded around these parts like stray cats in a city. Which means that they're around a lot, if the reference was not fully understood. There were Onix and Steelix basically dictating the underground, and other interesting sorts of Pokémon wandered the open floors and cave formations riddled around.

I was naturally hoping to try to capture some of these Pokémon. Jasmine and I still had an open trade agreement in which one of us would capture a Pokémon the other was interested in for the purpose of exchange. If she caught something I wanted, she'd contact me and let me know; it'd be up to me to find something she wanted in the aftermath. Naturally, the opposite was true, and I intended to capitulate on that. And I trusted her gym contacts to give her access to some fun ones.

Her current roster included four Steel type Pokémon to my knowledge: a Magnemite (or was it a Magneton now?), a Steelix, a Scizor (the bug formerly known as Arakh), and a Skarmory (Valyrian's spawn). Which meant that, while she didn't need anything I'd seen so far, there was a lot she would be interested in. The Valley was well documented to hold members of the Aggron line, as well as Mawiles and others that I didn't know the name of. There were even rumors that a Beldum or two might be hanging around, though I doubted it.

Were I to come across such a thing, there's no question that I'll hold it over her head until she has something properly rare and interesting for me.

Actually, that begs a new question. What would be worth such a trade? What could Jasmine get me that I'd want in the first place?

…I would worry about that when and if I actually came across a Beldum. Maybe I'd make a list or something. Without anime knowledge and the luck of my blood to mix into this adventure, it was unlikely to happen anyways. They were called pseudo-legendary for a reason, and not just because they were strong. They were rare.

.

Winter brought me to a small cave for the night, and after setting up my campsite and eating a quick power bar, I settled down for sleep. Baelish, being the bird that he was, perched himself onto my shoulder, for I slept on my side.

But even though it was dark and even though Baelish had no problems, sleep eluded me. I couldn't settle down my mind. Unconsciously, my thoughts drifted towards my team and what they were to do. I needed to come up with a plan for them; the sooner the better. I only had three weeks away from Fortree, and I didn't want to waste them.

Regarding Ramsey, the obvious intention was for us to grow together in some manner, to boost the probability of Mega Evolution working. But how to do that? How to make him like me enough to allow this new form to take root?

…For now I'll just let him go a little slaughter happy with some Nurse Jon action on the side to keep him interested. A little on the nail, but he's not necessarily a genius, so I doubt he'll realize. Mix that with some group training sessions with the others and specialized one-on-one time with yours truly, and we'll hopefully get past whatever hurdles are in our way.

The rest though? Now that's a trick.

Winter, I'd just have to use him combatively more often. He's dealt with it admirably and hasn't whined at all, but it's unfair that he's my starter and yet hasn't been used in a major battle as of yet. I did not participate in any gym battles with him in the Orange Islands, nor have I really used him against trainers. He's been transportation for the most part, and while he's bears that burden happily and was aware from the start that I wanted to use him for flight, starters aren't taxis. Or, at least, they aren't just taxi's. He most certainly is mine. I'll take to treating him better and will make it a point to let him know that things are gonna change.

Viserion and Rhaegal are relatively easy. Work them together, build their stamina and teamwork; increase their move pool if I can. They were gonna be my duo for double battles, no doubt about it.

Baelish was alright for now. Certainly, I'd have him continue to build up his ability with Psychic, but aside from that I'm content with what he can do. For now, anyways. This trip had less to do with him and more to do with the rest. He knew and made no muss or fuss about that.

The rest are where the tricky parts come in; Thoros and Rayder and Umber. Regarding both Thoros and Rayder, they need some more discipline. They feed off each other, Thoros' pranks and Rayder's thievery, a vibe of general nuisance that, while acceptable in small amounts, is becoming less and less small with each hour they spend together. And Umber? Well, the trick with her is the trick that has always been with her; she wants an egg. It's been her goal for over a year at this point, and I've refused her that function.

Well, she apparently got tired of that, and was now carrying the spawn of one of Winona's other Pokémon. I don't know what species the father is, nor do I know how long she's been preggers; but the fact remains that she's bloating up and will deliver during this trip. The training she can do is minimal at best and growing less and less as each day passes.

Obviously, I don't want to wait around for her to settle. I want to train now! Especially since she's going to be playing mother hen for the next few months or years that this thing is around; especially since she's liable to want more later on.

The only thing to do is-

Hold up. Monologue, stop. CUT IT OUT BRAIN.

What was that?

Blearily, I peered further into the cave we'd sequestered. I'd just heard a noise, nothing loud or distracting or anything, but it was there, the fall of rocks and the shuffle of dirt. I rustled Baelish awake, and annoyed by the action though he was, his body lit up with the pale light of Flash at my command.

The cave too lit up as a result, my eyes stinging for a moment, only to refocus on the room. It was a small cave, but it wasn't nearly as shallow as I'd originally thought it was. It narrowed inward like a sideface cone, with its entrance being the widest of its brim, yet the interior went further down than I could see.

And surrounding the walls were not rocks like one would expect from a cave, but instead carapaces could be found. Small bugs littered the cave, sticking to the walls and the ceiling without any sort of struggle. A mass score of beady green eyes looked towards me, tired but content, and save for chitters of disapproval, the Pokémon did nothing to me.

There had to be at least a hundred of them. At least. Warily, my movements slow and stable, I grabbed my Pokédex, turned its volume low, and then scanned them.

"Nincada, the Trainee Pokémon," whispered the device. "Nincada live underground for many years in complete darkness. Preferring forests, they will settle for caves as well. This Pokémon can't withstand bright sunlight so avoids it. Nearly blind, this Pokémon uses its whiskerlike antennae instead to probe its surroundings. They remain sedentary unless attacked. Nincada are well known to swarm."

…oh, I do not like having so many eyes on me. The Pokédex says they won't attack me unless I attack them, and so that is what I will do. Not do. Will not do.

It needs to be clarified.

.

.

"You ready?" I called out, stood on a hill from the back, Baelish sat on my head, looking out on the battle soon to be before us.

"Ro." Ramsey muttered, glaring a balefully towards his opponent. The Lairon snarled back, its foreleg scraping at the dirt as if a bull about to charge, though it strategically kept its body in such a position that it shielded that which was behind it. A pair of two smaller Aron hid from us by way of the Lairon, fretfully feasting upon a large roll of iron ore.

One week had gone and passed us by. It took those first two days to really get acclimated, and I even had to get Baelish to teleport me back to the nearest town because I was a fool and forgot to buy sunscreen. Alas, the body that I now called dibs on, whilst being able to handle sunlight far better than I originally could, was not meant for long term exposure. No body was, really.

By now, I'd come up with a game plan of sorts. Ignoring my plight with Umber, I decided that the simplest thing I could do was to have my Pokémon have some battles. I know, I know. Basic bitch stuff. But as they say: basics kill, basically. If you've got your foundations down pat, then whatever stuff you do later on will always be settled with an experienced eye. I've always practiced this in both my own life (both the first and the second) and with my Pokémon's. It denoted a certain level of experience, I felt.

And as the experienced trainer I was, I decided to play a different sort of role during this training trip. No longer was I the coach, barking orders and keeping scores; this time I had essentially took on the role of a supervisory manager. But only for one of my roster.

With Baelish by my side, I took to looking over Ramsey, since this whole damned trip was for his betterment. The rest of my team?

Well. They had their own duties.

Winter, being my most experienced and trusted Pokémon, was given stewardship of Thoros and Rayder, and was intent on whipping the troublemakers into shape. Thoros had come across a deep series of underground caverns wide enough to hold a Wailord a few miles south of our base location, and they were holding their practices in there. Their goals were well aligned; Thoros could further perfect his Ground type moves there, Rayder would become comfortable flying and fighting in the darkness, and Winter trained to become accustomed to unideal locations. He was quite serious about improving after I'd apologized to him and said he'd be doing more, with the promise of being involved in gym battles. When adding the various Pokémon that called that tunnel home, there was no question that they'd get something out of this.

Farther west, Umber, being both the mother of the group and a mother to be, and more tolerant than anybody here besides, had taken over for Rhaegal and Viserion. It was true that the dragons were near, if not already, stronger than her, and that she couldn't really do much battling in her current state, but the fact remained that she was the one that looked after them as younglings and that kind of action stuck. They would listen to her, and my task for her?

She had two assignments: help them develop ways to fend off Ice attacks and, if possible, also teach them to harness Ice type energy.

Winona's whole battle strategy was focused around counters. Type advantages versus disadvantages, energy blasts verses energy balls, diffusing the worst of damages; whatever worked. Trial and error were her cornerstones, and while she only owned the one Dragon type, her beloved Altaria starter, she'd gone above and beyond to ensure that that Pokémon never need be sullied by its weaknesses.

Rhaegal had only just recently returned from recovery however, and Viserion was stubborn and unwilling to seriously train without her. Now that she was back though, Viserion was to go all in.

The duty of a trainer is to bring out the best in their Pokémon, and if that means I need to have other Pokémon that I train take over for me, then I will.

It is not -absolultely not!- because I want to play favorites right now due to Mega Evolution reasonings.

…Yeah.

Anywho, Ramsey and I were having a grand old time this past week. Slaughter happy as he was, we'd gone to harass the many Magnemite nests scattered around, along with some Skarmory here and there. With each victory, he'd grown more and more pliable, and I found myself able to steer him into directions I found more interesting. He'd even let me ride him a few times!

Lesson learned on that front, by the way. Flying rocks are not good for passengers. My legs are still cramping.

This brought us deeper into the valley, farther and farther away from the edges. The deeper one delved into the canyon's depths, the stronger the Pokémon were, and with strength came prestige, and with prestige came rarity. At least, that was my headcanon. I was probably wrong, all things considered. I was often wrong.

But in this moment, I felt vindicated and right.

We'd struck gold upon finding this pair of Aron. Huddled beneath a rock-drawn patch of shade, they chittered nervously when Ramsey and I spotted them. A brother and sister, Baelish had told me, waiting for their eldest sister to return with food.

Normally, I would have left them alone. Aron, while of interest to Jasmine, were not ideal in this circumstance. Though I was open and brazen about my tendency to be uncaring about the lives of others, a pack was a pack. It was one thing to pick out stragglers, it was another to play god on a family. I wouldn't want to pull them apart.

Normally, being the base word. Because, among these Pokémon, whilst one was average, the other was unique. Where a normal Aron's body was host to a metallic silver sheen, big blue eyes, and a black underbelly, this Aron was not. This Aron, while still sporting a metallic silver coat making up the majority of its body, was instead sporting big red eyes and a dark green underbelly.

In layman's terms, it was a shiny.

Just imagine. What Jasmine would do to get her hands on a shiny Aron, to be the keeper of a shiny Aggron. Hell, what Steven Stone might do to have one! Rumor had it that he'd bred his family's Beldum colony relentlessly as both a child and tween in order to get his shiny Metagross, costing them hundreds of thousands of credits and more resources than I could grasp the existence of. If he'd do something that hardcore for a shiny of his own, imagine what he'd do for another?

And something of a similar nature just happened to be in front of me.

So, yes. I admit it. I did the bad. I pounced; told Ramsey to go for it, to hit them hard and fast, to separate them but keep that one here. And he, the bully and jerk that he was, was more than happy to pick on helpless young'uns.

Their Lairon sibling had arrived just in time to counter his movement, a well-placed Body Slam midair cancelling out Ramsey's intentions. He sprawled out, barely catching a grip of himself before flinging us to the dirt, and I was quick to dismount from him for fear of my sanity.

Which led us to the here and now.

"Alright Ramsey, let's start this off simple then. Crunch."

"Ro!" He crowed and swooped down after the Lairon. She growled deeply at him, her brow lighting up with the glow of Steel type energy, and she met his attack head on with an Iron Head attack.

Ramsey took the hit grimly, his jaw buckling against Lairon's bulk, but that did not deter him. It only made him push further forward.

He Cruched down onto her flank, causing her to cry out in pain; the Dark type attack piercing through her defenses with more ease than she'd expected. She flailed in place, making it difficult for her to be held, and Ramsey struggled.

No point in letting such a struggle continue, I say. "Ramsey, fly up and toss her in the air! Then focus her down with a Hyper Beam!"

Even from afar I could see his eyes glimmer with malicious intent, very much liking the command I sent out. His wings beat hard and heavy as he slowly ascended with Lairon still held tight in his jaws. When they were a good fiftyish feet in the air, he twisted with a quick movement and shunted her away from the Aron yet away from me. She didn't take it lightly though, and smacked him in the jaw with an Iron Tail for good measure. Luckily, he was able to tank it with only minor annoyance.

As she fell, gravity keeping her in its grip, Ramsey followed her descent, an orange light originating from his throat openly apparent to see. He screamed as the Hyper Beam released, a point-blank blast that shunted Lairon deep into the ground, billowing out a grand patch of dust that blotted my vision.

When the dust settled, lasting at least a couple of minutes, Ramsey looked pleased as a peach. He was perched atop the Lairon's downed form, crowing into the air, demanding those that were watching to take in his display of dominance.

I smiled, both acknowledging and understanding his joy. I'd played with his Mega Stone a couple of times, and I came to the conclusion that as much as I wanted him to go Mega sooner rather than later, it was going to take time. Even though he was liking me more, and even though I was liking him more, admiration and interest did not equate to a bond. I did not want to spend time together with Ramsey in the same manner that I did Baelish or Winter or my dragons. Forcing the issue wasn't going to make it work.

But –and here's the but!– I think it'll be fine. We'll be able to get there before I enter my first League tournament, and we'll be stronger for it all the same.

Shaking me head with fondness, I trailed my eyes away from my dinosaur and looked towards the Aron I wanted to capture.

The Aron I wanted to capture that-

…No. No no no.

NononononononononononononoNONONONONONONONO!

…You've gotta be kidding me.

The Aron that I wanted to capture that wasn't fucking THERE!

"FUCK!" I screamed, throwing an impressive tantrum. I yelled and frothed and kicked at dirt all around me, Baelish literally cackling at my plight from atop my head. I made to paw at him, but he'd Teleported away and was now atop a rocky alcove some ten feet to my left, his squeaky laughter still rattling all around.

I was so invested in Ramsey, so interested in seeing what he was going to do with a new type of opponent, that I missed the opportunity to get my hands on what had the chance to be a clean paycheck. They must have used Dig to get away, and I didn't have Thoros on me to get after them.

My money…

Scowling, I stomped towards Ramsey. Flashing him a brittle smile, for he still did a good job, it was me that failed, I turned my attention on the Lairon beneath him. She was conked out, literal swirls dominating the blue of her eyes, and she twitched involuntarily at random intervals.

A Poké Ball found its way into my hand, and still scowling, I dropped it onto the Lairon's downed form. There was no resistance, it just clicked into capture, signifying my owning it. Jasmine would be happy with it. She better be, at least.

I bent down, intent on getting something out of this expenditure of time, only to go still as the Poké Ball disappeared into a mote of light, off to Professor Oak's ranch.

That wasn't supposed to happen. I only had eight Pokémon on me right now, and my carry limit was most definitely situated at nine. I'd played around with what combinations would work in certain scenario's among those nine slots enough to know that for a fact. If Oak skimped me on my carry limit, I would have known a while ago.

Frustrated, I dug my hand into my backpack and unzipped the section I kept my spare Poké Ball's in. Twelve of the buggers fell out, shrunken into their base positions, and one by one I opened them.

The first one? Empty. The second? Empty. As were the third and forth and fifth and sixth and seventh and-

No. Hold the phone.

The eighth wasn't empty.

…How the fuck did I capture a Pokémon and not know it? I tend to know these things.

Wary of the sphere in my hand, I motioned to Ramsey. He quietly trodded over, towering over my own body, and jerked his head in understanding.

I enlarged the Poké Ball, took a deep breath, and let it loose.

A white mote of energy escaped the device, taking on a leveled form onto the ground, and then dissipated so that the Pokémon in question could be seen properly.

"…'nin." Said the Nincada, squinting its eyes at the sun. As in, it was literally staring directly at the sun. The big ball of flaming gas the Pokédex said it wasn't supposed to stare at. Full scale, giving it its all, burning out its retina staring.

"…I'm gonna call you Hodor." I sighed, more like groaned.

Because of course my newest Pokémon had to be an idiot.

Winter/Pidgeot – Male

Moves: Tackle, Gust, Sand Attack, Agility, Double Team, Whirlwind, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Steel Wing, Twister, Hyper Beam, Sunny Day, Heat Wave, Attract, Rest, Sky Attack, Aerial Ace

Ability: Keen Eye

Thoros/Gliscor – Male

Moves: Sludge Bomb, Slash, Poison Sting, Metal Claw, Dark Pulse, Dig, Guano, Attract, Steel Wing, Iron Tail, Sandstorm, Ice Fang, Crunch

Ability: Sand Veil

Viserion/Dragonair – Male

Moves: Leer, Wrap, Thunder Wave, Water Pulse, Attract, Water Gun

Ability: Shed Skin

Baelish/Natu – Male

Moves: Peck, Leer, Night Shade, Calm Mind, Protect, Teleport, Flash, Confuse Ray, Psychic

Ability: Synchronize

Ramsey/Aerodactyl – Male

Moves: Iron Head, Hyper Beam, Wing Attack, Bite, Roar, Crunch, Take Down, Supersonic, Headbutt, Rest, Stealth Rock, Earthquake

Ability: Rock Head

Rayder/Honchkow – Male

Moves: Astonish, Pursuit, Peck, Wing Attack, Taunt, Haze, Perish Song, Dark Pulse

Ability: Super Luck

Umber/Delibird – Female

Moves: Present, Icy Wing, Peck, Rest, Attract, Ice Beam, Hail, Blizzard, Sky Attack, Double Team, Aerial Ace

Ability: Hustle

Rhaegal/Shelgon – Female

Moves: Rage, Headbutt, Ember, Dragon Rush, Attract, Skull Bash, Protect

Ability: Rock Head

Hodor/Nincada - Female

Moves: Sand Attack, Harden, Fury Swipes, Absorb

Ability: Compound Eyes

Jon Snow – Male

Date: May 9

Orange League: Complete

Held Pokémon: Pidgeot, Gliscor, Dragonair, Natu, Aerodactyl, Honchcrow, Shelgon, Delibird

Stored Pokémon: Onix, Kabuto(x2), Kabutops(x2), Omanyte(x2), Omastar(x2), Charmeleon, Gyarados, Skarmory, Lairon

Currency: 17,730