I really needed to get up at this point. Adria left an hour ago, but I was still sitting in bed. It was just… after counting the money that she’d given me as a sort of tip reward, I had lost a lot of the feeling of urgency. Fifty thousand felt like a lot, and it was a lot for sure. But it also felt lacking considering that I had given them the location to a villain team base and a weapon capable of mass destruction.

  But that didn’t really matter. I had one more thing that I wanted to do in Anistar, and things kept happening to prevent me from doing it. All I wanted to do was go to the Sundial at eight when it did its lightshow. And figure out if I can… what would be the proper term? Upgrade? Would upgrade be the proper term? Yeah sure, let's go with that. Upgrade my Key Stone.

  Maybe just sitting and relaxing for the day was a good idea. The wolf pack wouldn’t need to be fed for a few days with how the stasis of the pokeball worked. That made me feel bad. How aware were they? They probably didn’t understand what was happening.

  “I’m done,” came a soft voice that snapped me out of my thoughts. Looking over I saw two little shadow hands grab the edge of the bed and pull something up.

  Immediately a smile split my face as I watched the little thing climb up the side. The first thing I saw were a pair of big blue ears pop over the side, with little upside down black v’s. Large red scribbly circles for the eyes, and a black mask around the blue head and muzzle with a jaggedy shaped mouth. Four little black dreads of hair sprouted from the back of the head, two on each side. The neck and body were colored tan, and there was a little spike between and above the two eyeholes. The bottom of the costume was black with a blue frill beneath it, and there was a long blue tail extending out the back.

  I couldn’t keep the grin off my face even if I wanted to. “You are absolutely adorable, Mikyu,” I said before I grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. She let out a squeal of surprise as I snatched her up, which drew the attention of everyone. I spun her around and held her up for everyone to see. “Look at how cute she is!”

  Rio gasped. “It’s me!” she exclaimed, scrambling over Scoly to get a closer look.

  Everyone quickly moved over, peppering her with compliments as they marveled at her new costume. It was very well done, that was certain. Her hands grabbed hold of me, wrapping around my forearms. She was squirming a bit, embarrassed from all the praise, but it was so well done that it deserved it.

  Cara seemed really impressed as well, examining it closer than anyone else. “Well done,” she said with a sharp nod, and pat Mikyu on the head. From her expression I figured that Cara had known what Mikyu was doing, but hadn’t seen it yet. Although it was clearly made to look more like Rio than it did like Cara, so the larger canine was clearly the inspiration. Specifically it was the black striped mask. Rio’s mask had a bit more of a curved edge under her left eye, as if it hadn’t finished changing from her evolution, while Cara’s was symmetrical. This curve had been a bit exaggerated in the costumes design to draw attention to it.

  “Yes, yes. Now we have another blue one,” Diancie said, twirling slowly in celebration.

  It was a few minutes before everyone calmed down, and Mikyu was allowed some space. Or at least she would have, if I hadn’t wanted to keep looking at her little costume. I had figured that she had some skill, but honestly this was really impressive. Did all Mimikyu have this level of skill?

  Eventually I put her down. “Very well done, Mikyu. It looks fantastic,” I said as I rubbed her side.

  She seemed to have a pleased expression on her face, her eyes closing a bit as she enjoyed the touch. “It-it took so lo-long because I-I wanted it to be per-perfect.”

  “Well, you succeeded,” I said with a smile. She beamed up at me, clearly happy at the praise. She moved away, quickly darting over to Banette and communicating in whatever manner they did so. Banette seemed pleased, and the two linked hands and did a little dance on the corner of the bed.

  Just that sight of that brought a big smile to my face. It had been a whim to take both of them, maybe a bit selfish of me since Mimikyu is one of my favorite Pokemon, and I was always very fond of Banette… but I was glad I took them. And I was glad that they wanted to be here.

  Before everyone could fully turn their attention back to the television, I decided that there was still a conversation that needed to be had. None of them had brought it up, but I occasionally caught curious glances. A puzzled expression. Someone trying to form words, but unsure how to start. It was causing a sort of tension to build and I needed to get rid of it.

  “Alright.” I shifted a bit to get into a more comfortable position, the simple word drawing everyone's focus. It had been a really good idea to train them all to be so attentive to my words. “I figure everyone has some questions about the conversation that Adria and I had earlier. And I’m kind of surprised no one’s asked anything yet. I’ve tried really hard to press upon all of you that you can talk to me about anything.”

  There were a few moments of silence as everyone seemed to be unsure. Eventually Cara spoke up, “I found out a while ago… And my first question was if he wanted to go back…”

  “To which the answer was, and still is, no,” I said and I saw everyone visibly relaxed. “I don’t even know if I could, but if he tries it… I’ll fight Arceus himself if he tries to send me back.” That caused most of the tension to leave the room.

  I was a bit surprised as Rio moved over to sit in front of me. “I don’t think any of us care where you came from,” she said as she looked back for confirmation. Everyone seemed to nod in agreement. “But we just want to know you won’t leave us.”

  There was a smile on my face as I shook my head and reached out to rub the top of her head. “I won’t. I’m not leaving any of you. What kind of papa would I be if I did?”

  Immediately it looked like she had bitten into a lemon and her face turned from blue to red. It still surprised me that despite the fur, Pokemon could blush so visibly. “I… I mean- What I meant was- You uh- You heard that?”

  I just smiled more at her as I nodded. “You did scream it pretty loud.”

  She seemed to deflate on the spot, her ears drooping a bit. “I just… I was so scared…”

  “There’s nothing to be embarrassed of, Rio,” I said softly, continuing to rub the top of her head. “Being part of this family means I’ve taken you in. You’re part of this family. All of you are.”

  “So I can call you papa, too?” Scoly suddenly asked, seeming to perk up a bit.

  A rather hearty laugh escaped me. “Sure. That’s fine.”

  Diancie grasped my free hand, gripping onto my fingers and reminding me just how small her hands were. “Papa?”

  I rubbed at her hands with my fingers. “Yeah. I can be your papa, too, Diancie.”

  Then I was quite unceremoniously tackled by a huge, sobbing, mess of a seal, knocking my clean over. “Me too!” she practically yelled into my chest. She was quickly followed by several others who dogpiled on top of me, clinging to me. Even Essy and Dee joined in on the pile. The only one who refrained was Cara.

  Several minutes passed of me just holding onto as many of them as I could as they clung to me. “Wait, if you’re papa, what does that mean for mama? Does that mean…” Rio questioned, her voice fading with her last words, and everyone’s attention turned to Cara.

  Our eyes met and both of our faces scrunched almost at the same exact time. “No,” Cara said firmly with more conviction than I had ever heard in her tone.

  I laughed, hard. It quickly turned into a belly laugh that made everyone on top of me shake from the force. “Am I that unappealing?” I asked in a joking manner.

  Cara’s face scrunched a bit more. “While you are very important, and I hold you dearly in my heart and mind,” Her face was turning a deep shade of red as she spoke, “I have lost all attraction for men.”

  “Co-parents then,” I said with a nod, everyone nodding along with me.

  Cara huffed, and folded her arms, face still red as she averted her gaze. “Yeah, sure.” Despite her expression, her tail was wagging a bit.

  While the conversation had derailed, at least now the tension was gone and everything seemed fine. Hopefully they would come and talk to me if they had any questions. As for the rest of the day, I decided to spend it relaxing and just making pokeblocks. I needed to start Essy on them, and not just feed her beans. Even if that was all she seemed to want to eat. When I was done, I now had enough to get me through till the end of next month for everyone. It was still early in this month, so it would be nearly two months worth.

  About an hour before it was time for the lightshow, I gave everyone a pokeblock, including Essy. She was a bit reluctant at first, since it wasn’t a bean, but immediately changed her tune about them after actually eating it. Speaking of the little feline, there was something very important that I had to do. I picked her up, putting her on my lap. “Essy, do you want to travel with me?” I asked.

  Most of the room went quiet as they watched, understanding what was going on. Although Essy just seemed confused. “I am?” she questioned.

  I smiled a bit. “You are, yeah. But, do you know what this is?” I asked as I pulled a pokeball out of my bag.

  She nodded slowly. “Capture thingy. Mama told me about them.”

  “It’s a pokeball,” I said nodding, a bit of a smile. “And in order to travel with me, I have to use one of these to capture you. That way no one can steal you away like those bad men tried to do.”

  There was a bit of a frown on her face, but that was the only emotion she showed. “Pokeball…” She turned to me. “Pokebean?”

  I smiled a bit more. “Yes, you can have more pokebeans.”

  That was a good enough answer for her as she reached out and tried to grasp the pokeball, only to disappear in a red light. I took a deep breath before letting her back out, watching as she wobbled a bit. I gave her a bean, which she happily took. “Bean!”

  I gently pet her a few times before returning her to the pokeball and standing up. As much as I didn’t want to keep her in there, it was something that she was going to have to get used to, as I didn’t want people seeing her and causing an incident. Thankfully the bean vanished with her into the ball, which was interesting. Pokeballs sure were a magical and mysterious thing.

  “Alright. We’re heading out.” I announced, picking up Eevee and putting her in my hood. The little fox had been just as lethargic as usual all day, though she’d been struggling to keep awake so that she could watch Mystery Dungeon. “We’ve got a show to watch.”

  Goomy, Keo, Banette, and Mikyu all jumped up onto Scoly’s back. Well, Goomy didn’t since she was already perched on the large bug's head. That seemed to be her favorite spot. I hesitated a moment, nearly forgetting about the other attention grabber in my group.

  I was honestly shocked that no one had come after me for Diancie, but I had done a much better job at hiding her I think. “I’ll bring you out for the show, Diancie,” I said with a smile. She did a little twirl as she nodded, and I returned her.

  That left Primarina, who actually opened my coat. “I’m not flopping through the streets,” she declared before returning herself.

  A soft snort escaped me. “Alright. Does anyone else want to go in their pokeball?”

  “I think I’d like the rest,” Dee said as she came up, also returning herself. She was still reeling from yesterday, so I didn’t really blame her for not wanting to go out.

  Everyone else wanted to stay out, so we all made our way down the hall. Cara was walking in front of me with Rio, the two of them giving off an oddly protective feeling. I suppose solidifying what we all were to each other had firmed up some of our family dynamics. That had been really easy for me to accept.

  I wondered when I had started seeing them as my children?

  Stopping at the counter, I took a look at the Nurse Joy, immediately noting how it wasn’t the one who helped with the wolf pack. I still gave her a smile as I placed down the keycard for my room. “Leaving so late?” she asked curiously.

  I nodded and looked back, watching as Scoly made her way through the doorway. Normally, she wouldn’t fit, however it hadn’t been fixed from when she blasted through it previously, so it was more a hole than a doorway. “Yeah. We’re going to go watch the lights and then head off,” I responded.

  “I see… Well… I wish you luck and safe travels.” She gave a bow that was much lower than normal. “And thank you. Thank you so much.”

  “It’s- It’s fine,” I said as I put my hands up. There were some curious looks from other people. “It was kinda my fault they were here in the first place.”

  “Yes,” she replied bluntly as she straightened up. “But you still went out of your way to make sure everything was alright. Most people wouldn’t do that.”

  “I think you’re selling a lot of people short. Fear is what usually stops someone, not an unwillingness to help,” I said with a bit of a smile.

  Joy got a rather contemplative look on her face as she thought about it, slowly nodding. “Yeah… I can see that.”

  “Fear is the mind-killer,” I said with a slight chuckle. No one else laughed, and I got a lot of puzzled looks. Cara and Rio both mimicked a head tilt in the same direction. It was a shame they didn’t have Dune in this universe. “Nevermind,” I said with a slight cough. “Anyways. I hope the other Joy gets plenty of rest.”

  Joy nodded. “She was put on temporary leave earlier today. Which is standard for incidents like this.”

  I nodded. “Alright. Give her my best when you see her next.”

  She nodded and gave another bow as we made our way out into the city. I could hear the menagerie on Scoly’s back excitedly talking and pointing things out. They also got quite a bit of attention, and I realized we were sort of like our own little parade, with the massive bug being the float. Rio had fallen back to walk more with Scoly, talking to her about the Mystery Dungeon show. Cara was to my side and slightly being me. She seemed a bit wary, but thankfully she wasn’t on edge, just had an air of cautiousness.

  As we walked out onto the stone bridges that made up the lake side of the city, I saw the Sundial for the first time. It was absolutely massive. That was what I realized first. It was a pink crystal the size of a four story building. And this was just the top of it. I could see it extend downward into the water.

  The Sundial caught the light in fantastical ways, shining soft rays from the setting sun over the ground. Each beam of light felt… warm. Warmer than the light from the actual sun.

  “Whoa…” I heard Rio, Scoly, Keo, and Goomy all say at the same time as they looked at it. Scoly seemed to be following me more on reflex than under her own power. Even Cara seemed a bit gobsmacked.

  Of course the feeling was mutual. Again even the visuals from the anime did nothing to show off the splendor of this massive crystal. And in the center of this building sized gem was a hole that the sun was close to piercing through.

  It was a bit surprising that there weren’t more people around. I would expect this spectacle to draw a daily crowd, but I guess the locals were used to it. There were a few people, but they weren’t actually anywhere near the Sundial. I released Diancie, Dee, Primarina, and Essy, placing the little feline onto Scoly’s back.

  “Whoa…” Primarina said softly, which made me smile at how her reaction was so similar.

  “Hey,” I said softly as I reached back into my hood, pulling Eevee out and cradling her in my arms.

  “Whoa…” she said softly, which made me smile even more.

  Diancie looked almost manic as she stared wide eyed at the crystal. “That’s the second biggest crystal I’ve ever seen,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

  I snorted a bit as I glanced from her to the stone. It was true, the Heart Diamond had been much bigger. Dee moved to stand by Cara and me, the two of them gazing at the crystal as we walked. Essy seemed more interested in… well, nothing. Her gaze was a bit unfocused and she was staring out into the distance across the lake.

  We all stopped beside the sundial, and I looked down at it as I watched the beam of light slowly travel closer to it. One arm cradling Eevee, while my other hand was in my pocket, fiddling with my Key Stone. How would upgrading it work? Would it be like in the game and resonate with nearby Mega Stones? Would this even do anything?

  Question after question flashed through my mind as the light finally struck the dial through the hole. Slowly the rings began to spin, one after another. Every rotation caused another to start turning until every single one was slowly shifting. Then it began to snow. But it wasn’t little flakes of ice, instead it was tiny motes of light that fell from the sky.

  All around these little lights seem to fall and flutter in the wind. With the lights came the type of quiet that you get with late night snowfall. The comforting silence of it. But it wasn’t cold. For a moment I forgot it was winter, as the snow that was falling felt warm. Like a gentle touch from a warm hand.

  Looking back, the sight brought a big smile to my face. While most of my family was standing, seeming awestruck, Keo, Banette, Mikyu, and Goomy were running around chasing after Diancie, who was laughing and giggling in the light fall. Whenever the lights hit one of her diamonds, it flashed a soft pink.

  Slowly I pulled out the Key Stone, looking down at it. It was giving off a soft glow. For a moment I wondered how all of this was connected. The Heart Diamond. Diancie. The Sundial. Mega Evolutions. They all seemed intertwined in some way.

  I reached down, gently touching the Key Stone to the Sundial, and there was a sudden flash out of the corner of my eye. Looking over, I saw Diancie in her Mega Evolution form. She seemed just as puzzled by the sudden transformation as I was, but quickly shrugged it off as she went back to playing her game with the others, Rio and Scoly joining in, much to the surprise of Essy who was still on her back.

  “Pretty…” Eevee said softly and I looked down, at the stone still touching the Sundial. The symbol inside was slowly spinning, and the colors were swirling around. I had the sudden urge to let it go. As if something was gently pulling on it, softly asking for it. I hesitated, but let it go and watched as it began to roll around the Sundial.

  Immediately I realized that there were grooves on the rings, and the little marble was following a path. I quickly pulled my phone out of my bag, recording the interesting interaction. That was fascinating… Did Sycamore know about this? I tried not to frown at the thought, pushing any sort of notion of telling him about this out of my mind. He could figure it out on his own.

  The Key Stone continued its slow journey, lazily passing from one ring to the next until it came to the sphere in the center and rolled up it. It came to rest in the center and I watched as it turned slowly. Or maybe it was standing still and all the movement around it made it look like it was moving. It was hard to tell.

  After a minute it suddenly rolled off the center orb, pulling something with it, and began its lazy journey back through the rings until it came to a stop in front of me. The ring was still moving, but the little marble was rolling at a matching speed, making it seem like it was motionless in front of me. There was something that sparkled slightly attached to it, but I wasn’t sure what it was.

  I shifted my phone to the arm holding Eevee, making sure I wasn’t going to drop her before reaching down, and gingerly picking the small orb back up. My train of thought was interrupted as it felt… warm. The warmth seeped into my hand and up my arm for a few moments before dissipating, although the Key Stone still felt warm. It left my arm with a slight tingly sensation.

  Looking back towards Diancie, she was dancing in the lights, and rather than chasing her, the group had joined in on her dance. Even Dee and Cara had gone to join in on the fun. The soft voice of Primarina drew my attention next, as she was quietly singing. It didn’t entirely look like she realized she was doing it, but she had a huge smile on her face. It was a nice melody, though I couldn’t understand the words if there were any. I shifted the aim of my phone, now recording their dance, making sure to get an angle that also had Primarina in it.

  However, eventually the sun dipped down, no longer shining through the hole and the wisps of light began to fade until there were no more. Everyone seemed to slowly come back to their senses, as if they hadn’t really realized what they’d done. But rather than any sort of worry, they all looked happy.

  Diancie’s form slowly glowed as she transformed back to her regular form, wearing probably the biggest smile out of all of them.

  I turned my attention back to the Sundial that was still slowly turning, then to the Key Stone in my hand. I studied the thing attached to it and actually let out a laugh as I realized what it was. It was a sort of hair tie that seemed to have been attached to the stone. Had my thoughts from earlier influenced this? That was very interesting. It didn’t look any different otherwise, but it still felt warm, and it felt like the warmth wasn’t going to go away. So maybe this was the upgraded form? Hair accessory mode? I wouldn’t know until I potentially came across a Mega Stone. That was a lot of fanfare for what essentially broke down to a metal detector.

  I spent a few more moments fiddling with the little stone while everyone now came over to marvel at the Sundial. A little brown paw was suddenly placed on the Key Stone and I looked at Eevee who had a quizzical look on her face. “What’s this?”

  Before I answered, I stopped the recording and shoved my phone into my coat pocket. I didn’t want to reveal anything in a video that I was going to possibly show people. “It’s part of what allows Mega Evolutions,” I explained with a bit of a smile. “Doing this is supposed to help me find Mega Stones, but I don’t know if it worked.”

  I swore Cara gave herself a bit of whiplash with how fast her head snapped towards me. “We can find Mega Stones?”

  “Maybe,” I said with a bit of a frown. “We’ll have to look around, and maybe dig a bit.” I saw the way Dee grimaced at the idea. Then I had an idea. Maybe I could teach some of the wolf pack? Dogs liked digging, so maybe?

  That reminded me that I had a bunch of dogs to deal with. I sighed a bit. “Alright, let’s get going.”

  “To Laverre?” Dee asked.

  I hesitated. I know Dee wanted to go and check on Valerie, but I had the dogs to deal with… Maybe Valerie would let me use the gym? It was worth a shot. “Yeah. Let’s go to the train.” I put Eevee back in my hood before I tied the Key Stone up into my hair.

  ~

  Thankfully Laverre was close, so there was still a train that would be heading there tonight. Unfortunately it was the last one and wouldn’t arrive for another hour. I was tempted to try and ride Scoly there, but that was a long distance through unfamiliar terrain at night and I didn’t want to chance anything.

  Almost everyone wanted to go back to their pokeballs, so now it was just me, Cara, Eevee, and Goomy sitting on a bench and waiting for the train. I was a bit surprised that Goomy didn’t want to return, but she had been a bit restless since finding out she was close to evolving. And she’d been disappointed when the last little skirmish hadn’t been enough. So in an attempt to cheer her up, I was petting and squishing her.

  The odd slimy layer she had was honestly fascinating. Squishy and slightly sticky, but it actually took some effort in order to remove. It was also quite a lot of fun to play with her like a giant stress ball, and she seemed to enjoy it judging by how much giggling she was doing.

  The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly rose and I saw Cara straighten out of the corner of my eye. It had suddenly gotten very quiet, except for the giggles of the little slug. Glancing around just made me feel even more uneasy. I could have sworn there were other people around a moment ago.

  Then I heard the clack of shoes and turned towards the noise. Four bald men and a woman with long red hair walked out from a station entrance at the other side of the platform. All five of them wore white suits, with red gloves and matching sunglasses.

  I sighed softly as I stood up, putting Goomy up on my shoulder. Cara got up as well, eying the new people. There was an unsure feeling coming from her, as if she was assessing them for how much of a threat they’d be. Eevee propped herself up on my other shoulder, having seemingly sensed the… Malice? I wasn’t sure what exactly I was feeling, or if it was actually a thing, but it was almost like there was some sort of thick, sickly sweet smell in the air.

  They walked towards me until there was about thirty feet between us and simply stood there. “I must have really pissed him off if he escalated to sending Admins,” I commented as I turned to face them. There was an almost giddy sensation that ran through my chest as I realized this was like some sort of western stand off.

  Too bad we were in the wrong climate for tumbleweeds.

  Unfortunately none of them seemed to react to my statement as they, presumably, tried to stare me down. “Hand over the variant, and the mythic,” the woman said.

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  I shoved my hands into my coat pockets, frowning at her. “Well well, you sound confident,” I said with a bit of a smirk. Quickly I began to type a text to Adria, glad that my phone was in my pocket. Hopefully I didn’t make too many typos.

  “We won’t ask a second time,” one of the men to her right said.

  “This isn’t going to go the way you think,” I said, doing my best to sound confident. “You attack me, you fail, I escalate and give Jenny the location of your Geosenge base.” Three of the men flinched. “You attack again, you’re going to fail again, and… Hm… what juicy information should I give to Jenny this time?”

  “How do you-”

  “Shut it,” the woman snapped, cutting off one of the men. The two Admins that were further back looked at each other before refocusing on me. I was fairly certain she was glaring at me, judging by the shape of her brow.

  “What’s the point of glaring at me when you’re wearing sunglasses?” I asked with a bit of a laugh. I felt a slight buzz in my hand and the ping of me receiving a message sounded like a cannon went off in the quiet of the station.

  With no concern I pulled the phone out of my pocket to check the message. It looks like I had succeeded in messaging Adria, though I had misspelled a few things.

  ‘Trion statiob flare heelp’

  Good enough, especially since the reply was ‘on my way’. I put the phone away and turned my attention back to the group of Admins. They were hesitant, clearly unsure what to do and seemed to be looking at the woman for some sort of order. “If you aren’t going to submit, then we will make you,” she said as she pulled a pokeball from her pocket.

  All four of the other Admins followed suit, pulling pokeballs from inside their jackets.

  I waited to see if they would send out their Pokemon, or pull out another pokeball, but they just seemed to stand there as if waiting. Wait, were they actually waiting for me to call out my Pokemon? I glanced at Cara who had tensed up, but hadn’t gotten into a fighting stance.

  “Just five?” I questioned aloud, which caused all of them to flinch. “Team Flare Admins only have one Pokemon?”

  As if to respond to my question, one of the men scrambled to pull out a second pokeball.

  “So, six,” I said with a slight nod. “Well, that might be a fair fight if I was a Trainer.” The four men looked at each other and then around, unsure of what I meant. “Let me ask you… Do you know what Pokemon my variant is?”

  My question was met with silence, but there was an expression on some of the men, particularly the one in the back left that suddenly looked concerned.

  “Do you know what my mythic is?” I asked as I made a show of grabbing the hem of my coat.

  However I was once again met with silence.

  “Do you know any of my Pokemon?” I questioned as my smile widened. I had to assume all five of them looked at Cara, or Goomy, in response. “This is about to be a beat down that none of you are ever going to forget.”

  And then it was like a quick draw, all five of them threw their pokeballs as I threw open my coat. The entire station platform was bathed in red as Pokemon sprang out. Rio, Scoly, Primarina, Diancie, Keo, and to my surprise, Banette all flashed in front of me. On the other side of the station two Houndoom, three Mightyena, and a Liepard appeared.

  They hesitated, clearly not expecting that many Pokemon. While they stood there, all I could think was that the wolf pack was about to get bigger. “Don’t let them escape,” I said, and honestly surprised myself with how coldly I had said it.

  In a flash, Rio and Cara were there, each one going after a Houndoom. But to my surprise, not only had both Houndoom managed to react, they avoided the orange and silver aura’d paw strikes and countered with flamethrowers, which both struggled to dodge. These were much better trained Pokemon.

  “Get him!” the woman called, pointing at me and three of them men nodded and issued orders to their Pokemon. The three Mightyena and Liepard rushed forward, ignoring the dog fight in progress.

  Scoly had already started to spin up, while Dee rushed in and attempted to grab the charging Liepard, who was the fastest of the four running, but they easily leapt back out of the grasp. However it was immediately struck with a high pressure water cannon before it could even land back on its feet and was sent flying out over the tracks.

  The three dogs leapt over Dee at me, however they didn’t make it very far before being flattened to the ground as Diancie used Gravity with a downward flick of her wrist, focusing it on them. I was more than a little surprised to see them hardly struggle to get back up onto their feet, growling as they did so, as the Liepard hopped back onto the platform, looking a bit more drowned than it had previously. Well, two of the canines got up anyway as Keo ice beamed one of them and froze them to the floor before they could get up.

  Alright, Admins were no joke.

  I staggered a bit from the force of Goomy launching herself off of me, a bit surprised that the little slug could put that much force into a jump. She burst into the blue of dragon energy before colliding into one of the Mightyena, sending it sprawling back. I think that she just used Outrage? Then Scoly shot forward through the gap, slamming into one of the Houndoom to join the fight with Cara and Rio.

  Primarina moved more in front of me, while Dee moved back to cover my side, both of them clearly moving into a defensive position. Most of the opponents were occupied, but they had apparently decided that protecting me was the priority. A good choice considering the chaotic nature of the battle, and probably the best since the seal's best moves were wide area attacks, and Dee was still technically supposed to be support.

  The third Mightyena tried to come forward, growling something at Primarina before getting absolutely plastered with what I realized was a large chunk of the floor. I looked back at the now large hole in the floor and then up at Diancie who had a rather pleased look on her face. “Maybe don’t cause so much property damage, please? You have Diamond Storm.”

  Her face turned into a frown and her cheeks puffed up a bit. “But I like throwing rocks.”

  I snorted. “That’s not a rock, that’s the floor.”

  She just shrugged in response before lifting the chunk of floor back up and slamming it back to where it had been previously. Although she had clearly put it back wrong on purpose.

  “Thank you,” I said with a chuckle before turning forward. Cara, Scoly, and Rio seemed to be having some difficulties against the two Houndoom, who were working together with extremely precise efficiency. They’d cover for each other, one would attack, the other defend. One would feint or bait an attack, just for the other to take advantage of it. But they were being worn down since it was a three on two.

  Although it was honestly impressive. It was clear the two of them had been trained together extensively, but I could also see the way they were arguing with each other, even from here. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but their expressions and constant jerky movements towards each other told an interesting story.

  They were probably fierce rivals, but that could be figured out later. The Mightyena who had had its world rocked was quick to shake off the attack, only for Diancie to begin pelting it with Diamonds. I felt bad for the poor dog.

  Goomy seemed to be faring… well? It was hard to tell. The Mightyena she was fighting was using her as a chew toy, but she seemed completely unaffected by it and was actually using Absorb to sap away its energy while replenishing her own. I also imagine that she didn’t taste very good, judging by the expression the canine was making.

  The other Mightyena had broken free of the ice and tackled Keo, changing its target from me to the ice fox, and the two of them were currently rolling on the ground as they fought. Keo was biting and clawing as best as she could while little spikes of ice formed in the air and pelted the Mightyena, who was meanwhile using Bite in retaliation.

  Wait, where was the Liepard?

  My eyes swept around the platform until I saw the cat hiding under a bench, its back arched, hissing and swiping at Banette. How did they get over there? When did they get over there? I hadn’t even seen Banette leave my side. But most importantly… Why were they so absolutely terrified of the little plush doll?

  I had missed something there.

  It was nice that Banette seemed to actually want to fight in some capacity. I’d have to ask her if she wanted to be a battler, since I had apparently misjudged what she wanted to do.

  A dog suddenly rushed past me and slammed into Diancie, refocusing me on what was happening around. Apparently it had had enough of being struck by the painful little diamonds. Its mouth glowed with dark energy as it bit down on her and she let out a little pained noise before the dog was blasted off of her with a Aqua Jet from Primarina.

  Before the Mightyena could even hit the ground naturally, it was slammed down by another focused Gravity move. However this time it didn’t try to get back up, clearly too hurt to continue. Diancie held it there for a moment before seemingly realizing it was out and then turned away with a huff.

  Glancing back I saw Scoly be knocked away and down the platform by a rather well placed hit that caused the Admins to scatter to avoid being bowled over by the bouncing bug. That almost looked like the Houndoom had aimed it at them. Glancing at the walls, floor, and ceiling of the station I winced. Hopefully I wouldn’t be required to pay for this…

  Looking back at Banette and the Liepard, I was even more baffled by the sight that met me. The feline was now sitting calmly, cleaning one of its paws while Banette sat in front of it. What was even going on over there? The female Admin who was obviously its Trainer seemed just as confused.

  “Police! Nobody move!” came a shout from behind the Admins and almost everyone paused to look. There was Adria, face a bit red and panting, clearly having run here from her car. She must have been fairly nearby for her to get here so quickly… I’d have to ask her later what she was doing to sate my paranoia. The Manectric named Trakky was stanced up beside her, and there was a Machamp wearing a police vest standing behind her.

  The only ones who didn’t look were Keo, Goomy, and the Mightyena they were fighting, since they were clearly too focused on their battles to realize what was going on around them. Since those were the only source of noises, naturally everyone's attention slowly drifted to them. The one Mightyena was frantically trying to now get Goomy out of its mouth, as if getting desperate, flailing and clawing at her. It seemed it had realized what was going on and tried to get her off, but I knew all too well that the little slug wouldn’t let go until it wanted to.

  Then we all looked at Keo and the one it was fighting as the two slowly rolled across the platform. “Well, it’s not a tumbleweed, but it’s close enough,” I said with a laugh, causing everyone to look at me. I coughed, putting my hand up to hide my embarrassment.

  Thankfully I was saved by a sudden thump, the Mightyena Goomy was battling finally collapsed, unable to stay up. Only then did the little slug move away, breathing heavily and I realized that she had suffocated the dog until it passed out. Yeah that was scary. That was the second time that she had latched onto her opponents face and just tried to outlast them. And it worked both times.

  Then it was silent for a moment, the only sound being the two tumbling Pokemon, until Goomy let out a triumphant shout of “Yeah!”

  That seemed to break whatever spell was going on and everything erupted into combat once again. Although the fighting didn’t last for more than a few more moments. Trakky rushed in to help Rio and Cara with the Houndoom, while Adria and Machamp moved in to apprehend the Admins. They tried to fight back, Adria taking an elbow to the face, but then Dee and Scoly moved to assist her.

  Adria wrestled a pokeball from the female Admin, but by the time she raised it up to return whatever Pokemon it belonged to, the fight was over. She was breathing heavily, eyes scanning over the field.

  I glanced over at Keo, who was standing on top of the Mightyena, a big, toothy, and bloody grin on her face. Her breath came out in ragged puffs of frosty air. I looked at the others, although the little ice fox was the most hurt. “Reckless,” I muttered as I moved over to her and scooped her up.

  “I won,” she huffed, trying to steady her breathing.

  “If you keep fighting like that, you’re going to get hurt more,” I said softly, stroking her head.

  “As long as I can keep fighting,” she grumbled.

  I moved closer to Adria, watching as she was cuffing one of the Admins. Scoly was sitting on two of them, while Machamp had the other two up in the air, holding them by their jackets. Dee moved past me and I handed Keo to her so that she could get her fixed up and start working on the rest of the team.

  “You’re lucky the station is so close to the train,” Adria panted, still trying to catch her breath as she stood up.

  Slowly I nodded, looking over the Team Flare members. “These are Admins of Team Flare. They work closely with Lysandre and the scientists.” The eyes of all three conscious members snapped towards me.

  She adjusted her vest, looking down at the woman on the ground who was glaring up at me. “So these are their big guns?”

  Again I nodded as I knelt down, the woman watching me the entire time. She had an expectant look on her face, like she expected me to gloat, or taunt her. However I just reached over and picked up the pokeball that Adria had put down, before standing back up. That seemed to shock her even more. Now that I was this close, I realized that that sickly sweet smell was some sort of perfume the woman was wearing. Or I suppose bathed in would be a more proper way to describe it considering how pungent the smell was. “They’re important, and I’m sure Lysandre will be annoyed. Although they can’t be too important considering they were sent after me,” I said with a shug.

  I stiffened a bit as I felt something claw its way up my back, until there was an extremely large feline standing on my shoulders. “That thing better not have lied,” it hissed.

  Looking down, I was just in time to see Banette reach up and grab my left hand, smiling up at me. “I’m not sure what she told you, but it was probably accurate.”

  “What?” Adria asked, also a bit tense at seeing the Liepard standing on my shoulders. The damn cat was heavy. It wasn’t fun to have something in the ballpark of eighty pounds on my shoulders, but I guess I’ll just have to deal with it.

  “This one appears to have changed sides,” I said as I gestured at the cat.

  “Wha- Traitor!” the woman on the ground shouted.

  “I want good food!” the cat shouted back, its back arching slightly. “I’m so sick and tired of that shitty dry food that I never get enough of!” Its claws dug a bit into my shoulder, which made me glad for the jacket. “I’m sick of starving!”

  Without even thinking about it, I immediately pulled out a pokebean and held it up to the cat. “There’s quite a bit of animosity between the two it seems,” I explained to Adria, who just looked confused. It didn’t take even a full second after I held up the bean for the Liepard to snatch it and leap down from my shoulders. It greedily devoured the bean like it hadn’t eaten in days. “Poor thing…”

  It flinched, and glared back at me. “I don’t need your pity,” it hissed before turning back to the bean.

  Adria had started to cuff the other four, the two that were under Scoly had passed out, probably from being crushed by her weight. I followed behind her, relieving them of their pokeballs and returning the unconscious canines.

  When I had all six pokeballs, I stared at them for a moment. “Two more Houndoom, three Mightyena, and a Liepard to the wolf pack,” I said with a sigh. Thirty two.

  I was a bit surprised when Adria handed me an odd sort of cylinder with dozens of bands around it. “You’ll need this.”

  After I took it I realized what it was. It was a sort of holster for the pokeball lock bands. I nodded as I put it around five of the six balls before slipping them into my bag. I glanced at the Liepard, who was now licking the floor in some desperate attempt to claim any crumbs it had missed, looking like it was on the brink of tears. Just seeing that made my heart ache.

  I knelt down and placed another pokebean next to them. “I have more,” I said softly.

  They pounced on the bean and began to devour it like their life depended on it. It looked like it was trying really hard to fight back tears. I took out another and placed it down beside them, noticing how they tensed from the movement but relaxed when they saw what I did. I didn’t know the extent of the abuse, but I was sure that women had been using food as a reward and was probably just not feeding them when they didn’t perform well enough.

  I stood back up, looking back at the other Pokemon. Rio and Cara were sitting on a bench, leaning against each other and breathing heavily. They’d never been up against opponents with that sort of teamwork. Something to work on.

  Team battles were a thing after all, and it would probably help them greatly to have some training time working on cooperation. The two Lucario were the best at working together, but they had struggled so much. Granted I don’t think those Houndoom were working together willingly, but there was no denying how well they did.

  “Could you help me carry them?” Adria asked Scoly, who nodded. That honestly made me smile a bit that she hadn’t asked me, but had actually asked the Pokemon. That showed she definitely saw them as their own person. Machamp then put three of them on her back, while it carried the other two. All of them making their way back out of the exit. Hopefully Adria had called in backup.

  Diancie was collecting her diamonds, grumbling about not being able to throw more rocks. Primarina was helping her, since they had really scattered all over the place. I realized that a good portion of the station platform had a sprinkling of little pink diamonds.

  A sudden bright light caught all of our attention and I looked over to where Goomy had been. She was now glowing a sort of blue light that slowly shifted and morphed until she solidified. She had grown considerably and now resembled a snail, her eyes had become larger and green, two spots on either side of her cheek as well as little nubby arms. “Yes!” She shouted, putting her arms in the air and hopping around in her new form. Everyone immediately started to join in on her celebration, Banette letting go of my hand to run over.

  Diancie didn’t hesitate to pick her up, holding the new Sliggoo up in the air. “Evolution!” she declared, a big smile on her face.

  I supposed that that battle had been enough to push her over the threshold. Evolution had to do with internal energy reserves, and breaking over that limit caused a shift in form and a massive spike in overall energy. Of course the reserves could be increased without evolution, but it all somehow evened out. I felt that my knowledge was lacking, like I was missing something. Maybe if I wanted to know more I could ask Professor Rowan.

  All of the Pokemon were marveling at her new form when I stepped over. “Congratulations, Sliggoo,” I said with a smile, and she leapt from Diancie’s hands and collided into my shoulder, causing me to stumble back a bit. She had doubled in size and had sextupled in weight, now somewhere around forty pounds.

  “I evolved,” she said, a big smile on her face as a few tears escaped her big green eyes.

  Reaching up, I started to pet her. “Yes, you did. Good job.” I smiled a bit and looked around at everyone again, then looked at Dee. “Everyone okay?”

  She nodded in response. “All the major injuries have been treated… But everyone but myself, Primarina, and Banette will need a Pokecenter. Keo especially.”

  I looked down at the little ice fox, who had the good mind to at least look a bit sheepish. “Right.” I reached into my coat and retrieved her pokeball, returning her before she had a chance to protest. “I think we’re out of danger for now,” I said as I looked around.

  The station was an absolute mess. Scorch marks covered a good portion of where the Houndoom had been battling. Claw marks all over the floors and some of the walls. There were also a few craters on all sorts of surfaces from where Scoly had bounced from.

  “Well, let’s see how that psycho reacts to a second loss…” I mumbled as I opened my coat a bit. “Everyone back,” I said. There were some comments of protest, but everyone did, leaving me alone with the Liepard, and an Eevee sleeping in my hood. She’d fallen back asleep once the fighting was over.

  Walking over to the Liepard, who was working on eating the second bean, they flinched when I got within a few feet. They didn’t stop eating, but they stared at me, giving me a glare that didn’t really have any actual malice behind it. Maybe that was just their natural expression?

  I crouched down, looking them over. With the adrenaline out of my system I could analyse them better. They looked almost emaciated. Sunken stomach, ribs on full display despite being covered in fur. “Do you want more?” I asked softly.

  They flinched at my words. There was a moment of silence, their eyes flicking from me to the mostly eaten bean several times before they answered. “I can have more?”

  I nodded, patting the pouch at the front of my bag that held the pokebean bag. “I have a lot. They’re pokebeans, from Alola. I usually use them as treats, because they’re tasty. But they’re also pretty filling, right?”

  Their eyes flicked to the bean again before gobbling up the last of it and standing up straight. “That doll thing said that if I gave up, I wouldn’t be hungry anymore. She said you wouldn’t let me be hungry.”

  Again I nodded. “That’s right. My name is Jason, but I prefer to be called Jace. I’m a Pokemon Expert, and I do everything that I can to make sure that the Pokemon in my care are well fed and happy.”

  The cat licked its chops for a moment, clearly savoring the taste of what it’d just eaten. “Master called me Liar.”

  A frown tugged at the corner of my mouth, but I tried to not let my expression fall. “Do you like that name?”

  Their head tilted to the side. “Why does that matter?”

  I gave a little shrug. “If you don’t like it, then you won’t have to use it.”

  They seemed to think about it for a moment, staring down at the ground. “I don’t know.”

  “Well if you decide you don’t, we won’t use it. We can-” there was a sudden clatter as Adria kicked a rock from the steps leading back onto the platform.

  Liar shot over to me, leaping up onto my shoulders again, back arched and hackles raised. Jumpy. But, a good sign that their first instinct was to seek protection from me. However, the sudden weight caused me to stagger a step back and I had to stand up to prevent myself from falling on my ass.

  “This place is such a mess,” she said as she walked over to me. She eyed the Liepard, who still seemed agitated from the mere presence of an Officer Jenny, if the still raised hackles and claws digging into my jacket were any indication. “Can you come up so I can get your statement?”

  “Yeah,” I said as I reached up, my first thought was to comfort the feline with pets, but I stopped. I had no idea how they would react to touch, so I decided against it.

  The motion didn’t go unnoticed by Adria as she glanced from my hand to the Liepard. Although she didn’t comment. “It won’t take long. The train is still a bit away.” She turned and started to walk back.

  I followed after her, feeling the way that the cat seemed to relax. Maybe it just didn’t like being looked at? There were a lot of different possibilities for trauma.

  We stopped at the top of the stairs, a few other officers were hanging around. “They’re here to answer questions of the passengers when they come off the train, and to make sure the area is safe,” Adria explained to my unasked question.

  “Ah, that makes sense,” I said with a bit of a nod, looking over the scattered officers.

  “So, what happened? I got your garbled text and saw the word flare and panicked.” She glanced down the stairs and then at the Liepard. “With good reason, it seems.”

  “Yeah. I’m not entirely sure how they knew where I was going, although I have a few theories.” I reached up and rubbed at my chin. “It could have also been random, the train station is a fairly obvious deduction. They could have also had someone specifically following me or watching the Pokecenter, but they had a lack of information.”

  Adria was writing down things on a little pad she had, but paused. “Lack of information?”

  “They didn’t know anything about my Pokemon,” I explained, my brain buzzing as I tried to figure things out. “That means they only had partial information. Heck, they knew I had a mythic Pokemon but not what it was. Which could mean someone either purposefully withheld that information, or they learned about my mythic in a passing sort of manner, through overhearing it or someone casually mentioning it.”

  “Who knows you have a mythic?” she asked, her brow furrowing a bit as she wrote.

  “Quite a lot of people, unfortunately. Anyone who was near the Pokecenter during the incident. Probably the entire Association. The check guards at the airport. Sycamore and that bartender.” I was mentally working backwards, listing off the most recent people who had seen Diancie, to the first few. Okay maybe I hadn’t been hiding her as well as I initially thought.

  She sighed. “Okay, that’s a lot of people who could have unknowingly passed that information around…”

  I nodded. “Right. Which is why I’m not terribly concerned about who gave them the information. Just the fact that they didn’t, or couldn’t, confirm any details even after the Pokecenter fight.” I sat a bit on a nearby railing, trying to take some of the uncomfortable weight that was on my shoulders off of my legs.

  She nodded as well. “It is strange… Team Flare is usually a lot more methodical and cautious with things…”

  “Which means they were panicking. Which makes me think this second attack wasn’t about my variant, or my mythic.” I smiled a bit and tapped the side of my head. “It’s the information. I don’t think those Admins knew what information I had given out, considering their reactions when I revealed it. Which means-”

  “Lysandre sent them without explaining it all?” Adria questioned, a frown on her face.

  I shrugged a bit, which clearly annoyed the Liepard considering their claws dug in a bit more. “Most likely. He’s untouchable currently, and it’s his word against mine, but it’s clear that he doesn’t like my word being out there at all.” I paused for a moment. “I think this was a test,” I said with a frown.

  “Test?” Adria asked, her writing stopping as she looked up at me.

  With a sigh, I nodded. “I think he’s seeing if I’ll retaliate again,” I mused, thinking about what the best way to strike him would be. “It’s too early for most of the plans that I know of… And I’ve already hit the most important base, aside from the labs.”

  “We can’t do anything to the labs without evidence,” she said, frowning a bit.

  I shrugged again, this time the Liepard didn’t really react. “I’ll have to think about how to get him back, then.”

  That seemed to not be the answer she wanted to hear, considering the expression she was making. But we moved on and I started to explain the series of events. From the strange way the station seemed to empty out, to the conversation, and then the battle up to the point she showed up.

  “You probably shouldn’t taunt them so much,” she said as she wrote a few more lines before closing the notepad.

  “Humor is a good coping mechanism for a stressful situation,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “Remaining calm, rational, and doing my best to keep the mood light is how I keep myself and others from panicking.”

  Her brow furrowed a bit but she just sighed. “Alright. I guess if it works.”

  The sudden noise off in the distance drew all of our attention. The train was now approaching the station. “Right, well, looks like that’s my ride.”

  “I could give you a lift,” she suggested.

  I was already stepping away. “Nah, a police escort feels like a bad idea.”

  She let out a soft scoff that was sort of a laugh. “You’re being targeted by a criminal organization, I would think you’d want the protection…”

  With a shake of my head I started to head down the stairs. “Thanks, but don’t need it,” I called back with a wave.

  Her reply was lost to me over the noise of the train coming to a stop, but I was fairly certain I heard the word reckless. “Do you want to go back into your pokeball?” I asked the large cat still perched on my shoulder.

  They seemed to have calmed down, but I felt their claws dig into my coat when I addressed them. “Do I have to?”

  “No,” I replied, keeping my tone as soft as I could while trying to be heard over the train. They relaxed. “Just going to be people, and I wasn't sure if you wanted to deal with that.”

  As I finished speaking the door opened. There was this tense feeling in my back, half expecting the train to be full of Team Flare. However there were barely ten people that got off, a few of them looking around in confusion at the state of the platform.

  Finding a seat near the back of a car, I relaxed, taking in a few deep breaths. Liar stepped onto the back of the chair, eying the other two people that were in sight with a bit of hostility.

  “Do you want another bean?” I asked as I pulled another out, holding it up.

  They didn’t respond, but I watched the way their eyes hard tracked the beans every movement, and a bit of drool escaped their mouth. I put the bean down on the seat beside me and they practically lunged at it. Noticeably they relaxed as they started eating, and they seemed completely unbothered when the train started moving again.

  I spent the train ride working on my text files, occasionally looking over at Liar. They seemed content to sit and watch the dark scenery rush past. When the train stopped in Dendemille, they gave me an expectant look. When I told them that we would be the next stop, they laid down on the seat, curling up as tight as they could.

  Again there was that urge to pet, so I decided to ask, “May I pet you?” I kept my voice low and soft, lifting my hand slightly to show them.

  They cracked an eye open at me, eying my hand suspiciously. It took a moment before they let out a muffled, “Fine.”

  Slowly I reached over, gently running my fingers over the exposed side. Their fur was greasy and rough. I didn’t want to think about it, but I would probably have to give them a bath. They were pretty tense at the first few strokes, but after a few minutes they seemed to relax. So they weren’t opposed to touch, but it wasn’t something they were used to.

  “That’s… actually kinda nice,” they mumbled, probably not meaning to say that out loud. A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth and I started to use more of my hand to stroke over their fur. While it looked nice, that was clearly the only thing that mattered to their old Trainer. Her and her overuse of perfume. I was kind of surprised that this Liepard wasn’t drenched in it as well, but it felt like there was some sort of product in their fur.

  Eventually the train reached our stop, and before I could get up, the massive cat was once again on my shoulders. That was honestly a bit of a strange habit they had, since I doubted that women had allowed such a thing. Something to ask them in the future.

  There were some murmurs of how beautiful the feline was by those waiting for the train as we departed, which they seemed to enjoy. Since they weren’t bashful about it, they probably got praised on their appearance often.

  I made my way straight to the Pokecenter, glancing around as I did. While I didn’t expect another attack tonight, it paid to be cautious.

  This Pokecenter was rather interesting, having a very eastern look to it like most of Liverre. It was honestly a bit striking in comparison to the other cities, but it was pleasing to look at. Nurse Joy smiled at me as I entered, the center empty, though her expression slowly soured the closer I got.

  Taking a deep breath, I decided to get right into the explanation before she even had a chance to greet me. “Did you hear about what happened the other night in Anistar?” As I spoke I pulled out my identification, placing it on the table where she could see it.

  Her eyes narrowed at me before she looked down at the card, then her eyes snapped open wide. “Oh! You’re Jason.” She put a hand on her chest, taking a deep breath. “I was worried you were some reporter, or some other nonsense…”

  “Reporter?” I asked slowly, looking around the room.

  “You’d be surprised how often they bombard all Joy’s when something major like this happens… Regardless of distance. My sister in Galar was just complaining about a reporter pestering her about what happened as if she was there,” she grumbled, shaking her head. “Anyways… how can I help you, Jason?” She was all smiles again.

  “I was attacked by Team Flare again,” I said as I began pulling the five black banded pokeballs, and the unbanded, placing them on the tray. Her smile faltered a bit at my words. “So their Pokemon have come under my ownership for the time being.”

  A sigh escaped her, and she nodded. “At least they’re going with you…” she mumbled as she looked down at the pokeballs.

  “Right. I just need them healed, fed, and checked up on.” I pointed up at the cat. “This Liepard is one of them, but they’ve thankfully been quite docile and cooperative.”

  “Oh, that’s good,” her beaming smile was genuinely back now as she looked over the feline. “That’s some pretty severe malnourishment…”

  “That’s why they were so easy to win over,” I explained.

  Liar made a scoffing noise that sounded like a mix between a cough and a hiss, clearly offended by my remark.

  Joy just continued to smile. “Alright, that won’t take long. Will you be spending the night?”

  I smiled back at her. “Of course. I also need all my others checked over, too.”

  Her smile faltered a bit when I just started to put pokeball after pokeball down on the tray. At least she would have Dee to help her out.

  Lucario - The group mom

  Lucario - Craves violence

  Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit

  Primarina - Doing big seal things

  Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon

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

  Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life

  Goomy - - EVOLVED Sliggoo - - Full of dragon snail vibes

  Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress

  Banette - Silent but persuasive?

  Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry

  Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.

  Houndour

  Houndoom

  Poochyena

  Mightyena

  Sneasel

  Liepard - Big hungry cat