It was embarrassing having your own father be the one to hand out starter pokéttin, thought Thor. Especially when you'd somehow overslept and were late picking yours up.

'Ah, Thor,' said Odin, as Thor skidded into the lab. 'Finally here.'

'Sorry, Dad,' said Thor, glancing towards the table where the starters were usually kept. One pokéball left. Too bad, he'd been hoping for an electric type but he doubted he'd be getting one now.

'Well, here you go,' said Odin, throwing the pokéball to Thor who carefully pressed the release and watched the pokéttin form with interest. He looked like a boy a little older than Thor in quite normal clothes with green eyes and the brightest ginger hair Thor had ever seen. The only signs that he was a pokéttin were long pointed ears and tiny fangs. Odin quietly handed over a pokédex and Thor turned it on his new acquisition.

'Loki: the changeable pokéttin.

'Loki is capable of changing its type and of shifting into the form of any other pokéttin, as well as several animals. It is rumoured those at higher levels take this ability even further, but few are available for study.'

'Cool,' said Thor, putting the pokédex in his pocket. 'Can you turn into an electric type?'

Loki turned his head and huffed a mouthful of flame at the stone floor.

Thor shrugged. 'Okay. Have it your way.' He lifted the pokéball ready to recall Loki, only to have it snatched out of his hands. 'Hey! Give that back,' he said, to the grinning pokéttin. His attempt at snatching it got another burst of flame - directed at him this time - before Loki ran off towards the other side of the room. By the time Thor managed to pin Loki and get him inside the pokéball he was already sick of his new starter.

'What's wrong with him,' he demanded of Odin, who was keeping a neutral expression although Thor suspected him of being far too amused by all this.

'Lokis have a lot of personality,' said Odin. 'They're very useful once trained. If you don't think you can handle him -'

'I'll manage,' said Thor, curtly. If his Dad had to switch his starter out for an easier one he'd never hear the end of it.

By the time Thor settled down for lunch and a longer look at the pokédex entry he was feeling better about his decision. His Loki already knew typeshift, flamethrower and steal (should have seen ithat/i coming, thought Thor) but he would learn speak next time he levelled up and transform only a few levels after that. It looked like he could shape up to be a useful pokéttin once he'd got used to Thor.

Only Thor had reason to revise that opinion once again when he spotted a Trollcat lazing in the afternoon sun and quietly released Loki.

Loki took one look at the Trollcat and then sat down and folded his arms.

Thor nudged him with a foot, not wanting to disturb the sleeping Trollcat. 'Go on. Get it,' he whispered.

Loki shook his head.

'Are you sulking because I put you in your pokéball?'

A nod.

'But what else am I meant to do with you? Oh, all right. You can stay out. Just get the Trollcat!'

More head shaking.

'But why…' and at that point Thor looked over his shoulder to see the Trollcat was gone anyway. 'You are useless,' he grumbled. 'Well, come on. If you want to stay out you'd better keep up.'

To his surprise Loki did, trotting along behind him without much fuss. Occasionally he would start up with a rapid 'Ki. Lokiloki. Loki' before realising Thor couldn't tell what he was trying to say and stopping in disgust. Hopefully it would be easier to deal with him once he levelled up and learnt to talk.

It was a little after sunset and Thor was thinking they should stop for the night when he saw the Dwarf. They weren't much good for fighting, but lots of people kept them to craft items so there was always the possibility of a trade. And this one looked a low level so Loki could get some practice.

'Attack, Loki,' he said.

Loki gave him a 'you must be kidding' look.

'You've been out all afternoon. Show some gratitude. Go!' Thor gave up on persuasion and physically shoved Loki at the Dwarf. 'Flamethrower!'

Loki hesitated, looking a bit stunned, and the Dwarf whipped out some chains and tried to use bind. It was pretty much the only fighting move Dwarfs had.

'Dodge!' Thor called. Which Loki did, with a quick eyeroll in Thor's direction. Only instead of following up with an attack Loki then ran behind Thor and stayed there.

Thor stared at him. 'It's a Dwarf,' he said. 'They're pretty much the weakest pokéttin there are.'

The Dwarf stuck its tongue out at him and walked off.

Thor sat down on the grass. 'Just great. You won't stay in your pokéball. You won't fight. What am I supposed to do with you?'

Loki sat down as well. 'Kiloki,' he said, then curled up on the ground and fell asleep.

'You don't even care, do you?' muttered Thor. He pulled out his bedroll and hesitated for a moment before throwing a spare blanket over Loki.

A few days later they were approaching the nearest village of Midgard and Thor decided he had to face facts. His starter pokéttin was both useless and determined to remain so. Still, there were a few options. The first was trading him in for something better.

This involved first an hour fighting to get Loki into his pokéball, because Thor wasn't going to try to sell someone who was following him around and watching, and then a day finding out that no one else wanted a wilful and cowardly pokéttin either. Then Loki sulked all evening because he'd been put in his pokéball. Okay, plan two. Thor would catch one himself.

This involved charging around the woods with first a butterfly net (it might work on bug types) and then a big stick. Unfortunately most pokéttin were faster than him and had elemental attacks as well. Which was, of course, why tame ones were used to battle them in the first place. All Thor wound up with was a few burns and sore feet. Loki, who had followed him around watching with interest and amusement but declining to help, suddenly caught Thor's sleeve on the way back into town.

'What is it?' Thor asked wearily.

Loki pointed.

'Fishing?'

Catch Your Own Pokéttin, proclaimed the sign. Bait $2. Line rental $5. Boat rental $20.

Thor grinned. Looked like it was closed for tonight but he knew where he was going tomorrow.

While standing in line for the rental you could look at a map of the shoreline and see which pokéttin were likely to be found where. Closer in it was mostly small fish types, although there were Wailords further out. At the edge of the map was a red flag marker and 'Jormungand. Avoid.' Thor caught his breath. The legendary serpent pokéttin. Now that was a pokéttin worth having. Imagine if he caught it, how impressed his family would be.

When it was his turn to rent he abandoned his daydream and looked around to find Loki chatting to a Ratatosk perched on the windowsill.

'Loki,' he called. 'Come on.'

Loki waited patiently through the rental process only to suddenly baulk at following Thor onto the boat.

'What's the matter?' asked Thor.

Loki turned his head and huffed a small flame.

'Oh. Well, turn into a Water type then if it bothers you.'

Loki paused and then his hair gradually turned blue from the roots. He blew a jet of water into the air as if to check it worked and then nodded and climbed into the boat.

A lot of the rental boats were staying in near the shore. Thor supposed that something with legs was more likely that way, and that would be more useful on land, but the powerful pokéttin were further out. He was through with weak ones, he thought, firmly steering the boat out to sea.

It was a nice day and the repetitive motion of rowing was easy to fall into so it wasn't until Loki tugged urgently at his sleeve that Thor realised how far he'd gone. He was beyond even the Wailords' grounds and well into the place on the map marked 'avoid'. He should probably head back. But he was a bit curious, and how likely was he to have another chance to see a legendary? He leaned over the boat's side and peered into the blue-green water trying to catch a glimpse of scales.

'Loki!' said Loki, looking like he wished he could say something more coherent.

'I'm just looking,' said Thor. How hard would Jormungand be to catch anyway? Most water types weren't too hard once you'd hooked them. And Thor was a lot stronger than a mortal his age. The pokéttin he'd tried to catch before had been able to run, but one on a hook couldn't. He pulled out his line and began to prepare his bait.

Loki stared at him for a moment and then hid his face in his hands.

'Look, it'll be fine,' said Thor. 'I'm not expecting you to fight it.'

'Ki,' groaned Loki and shook his head.

'It probably won't bite anyway. It's a legendary and this is only two pokédollar bait,' said Thor. Almost experimentally he cast his line.

The water surged under them and white teeth like shark fins broke the surface in a near perfect oval centred on them. It should have been able to swallow the boat whole. Instead those teeth dipped back under and closed daintily on the bait.

The tug jerked the boat down, nearly swamping it, and Thor thought, beneath the shock and terror and elation that he'd actually done it, that for a $5 dollar rental he'd certainly got his money's worth on the line. He braced his feet on the bottom of the boat and pulled back, even as the next surge downward sent the knife he'd prepared the bait with flying across the floor of the boat and narrowly missing his ankles.

If he had a powerful pokéttin now would be the time to send it out. Without one Thor just had to hold on and hope Jormungand wore itself out (and deep down he knew tugging the boat around wasn't going to wear it out anymore than playing with a rubber duck would wear him out. But he never did like to admit defeat).

The boat plunged downward, water flowing in and over Thor's feet, and then up as the serpent reared itself out of the water, the boat riding a wave all the way up with no way back down. At the last moment, as the wave crested, the tension went out of the line and the boat slid back down in one long rollercoaster swoop. Far above them Jormungand tipped his head back and swallowed before sinking, almost lazily, back into the sea.

Thor wasn't surprised the line had broken in the end but, looking at it, the cut was clean not frayed. He looked at Loki and saw him holding Thor's knife and looking defiant.

'Coward,' said Thor without much conviction.

So, plan two was less than successful and had also got Thor banned from the beach for causing panic. The problem was he didn't really have a plan three. Most ways of getting a pokéttin relied on already having one. And while, technically, Thor did that wasn't much help when he couldn't use Loki to fight. Therefore plan three was: make Loki fight.

In competitions there were arena battles where it wouldn't be possible for a contestant to run away. But tempting as it was to shove Loki into an arena battle and watch him forced to actually use his abilities for once it wouldn't be fair. Throwing him in without warning would only make sure he lost. And attempting to get him into a battle he ihad/i been warned about…well, it probably wasn't going to happen.

'Look,' said Thor. 'You're going to have to fight. It will only be against pokéttin your own level and typeshift means you won't ever be at a disadvantage.'

Loki shook his head firmly.

'If you go up another level you'll be able to talk,' said Thor. 'Don't you want that?'

Loki paused and then shrugged.

'Fighting's really not so bad. You just need some experience,' said Thor. 'Now you can either walk there or I'll take you in a pokéball. But you are going to fight.'

It was only a junior championship but the arena was set up properly, a circle with high wooden walls and a platform at each end for the trainers. Thor was given a number and sent through to wait with the other contestants. All of them had their pokéttin in their pokéballs and Thor felt embarrassed for a moment that his wasn't. Then a pretty girl his age entered with two Ampurr's winding around her legs so determinedly that she nearly tripped several times.

'Hi,' said Thor. 'Are they both yours?'

'This one's my starter,' she said, sitting down and pulling one of the big golden cat types onto her lap. 'I went to sleep one night with just him and woke up to find I'd got a second one.' She smiled. 'I'm Freya. Pleased to meet you.'

'Thor,' he said. 'You're lucky, getting a pokéttin like that.'

'Yes,' she said, reaching down to scratch the ears of the Ampurr at her feet. 'Is that one yours?'

'Yes,' said Thor, not quite sure what else to say. He didn't want to admit to anything about Loki in front of the competition.

'I've heard the human looking ones are the smartest,' said Freya.

'Yes, he's quite clever,' said Thor, realising only after he'd said it that he'd failed to sound at all enthusiastic. 'He'll learn to talk next level,' he added, a bit more brightly.

Freya was called away to her battle first, pokéballing one cat as she led the other through to the arena. She returned smiling and triumphant just in time for Thor to be called through.

Thor was relieved to see that Loki's first opponent was a Cubite. It would be a lot more dangerous once it evolved into a Wolfang, but currently, despite its red eyes and dark fur, it looked adorable. If Loki could be persuaded to actually fight it he should win easily.

Thor could see Loki looking around while he climbed to the trainer's platform. When Loki realised there was no way out he shot an almost reproachful look at Thor. Then the bell sounded for the beginning of the match.

'Loki, typeshift to Fighting,' called Thor. He couldn't think of a less likely type for Loki, but the Cubite was a Dark type and would be weak to it.

Loki's hair turned brown, presumably he was obeying.

'Cubite, bite,' called his opponent.

'Dodge!' called Thor. The Cubite was fast though, and Loki jumped back with a bleeding arm.

'Kick,' said Thor, guessing Loki would have a Fighting type move now he'd shifted. But Loki just shook his head and backed away from the growling Cubite. Waste of two moves, thought Thor. 'Typeshift to Fire,' he amended.

'Cubite, crunch,' called the opponent at the same time.

Loki managed to dodge this time leaving the Cubite almost tumbling head over heels as it missed him.

'Loki, flamethrower,' called Thor. Loki performed the ranged attack a lot more willingly than tackle and the Cubite went down for a moment, only to get back up shaking its head.

Once again it was ordered to use crunch and this time it hit, leaving Loki bleeding again. But this time flamethrower hit it without Thor even having to say anything. It stayed down and was returned to its pokéball. Thor quickly returned Loki to his before he'd recovered enough to realise what was going to happen. He'd need to be run through a healing cycle before the next round.

Thor didn't get Loki out of his pokéball until their second round was about to start. It seemed like the easiest way to get him into the arena now he knew he couldn't get out of it. Especially once Thor got a look at the Wyrmaw he'd be facing. It was a Dragon type the size of a dog with thick plate scales and three rows of fangs that barely fit in its mouth. It couldn't be as tough as it looked at this level of competition, but it was quite a sight.

Loki certainly thought so. He took one look at it and then looked at Thor's platform as if calculating whether he could climb it. The bell for the beginning forestalled any attempts.

Fire was good against Dragon type moves, so Loki didn't need to typeshift, thought Thor.

'Wyrmaw, bite,' called the opponent.

Loki didn't just dodge, he ran, and the Wyrmaw ran after him. It wasn't as fast as Loki but it was very determined.

'Loki, flamethrower!' Thor called, but Loki didn't pay him the slightest attention.

'Dragon breath!' called the opponent.

That was a paralysing move and Thor caught his breath, but the Wyrmaw wasn't listening either. It was too focused on carrying out the first command to hear the second. So there was nothing the trainers could do but watch their pokéttin race around the circumference of the arena as fast as either of them could go while the audience laughed. Finally the Wyrmaw collapsed from simple exhaustion and, to Thor's surprise, it was counted as a win for Loki.

Since that was the end of the contests for that day Thor took Loki back to the pokéttin centre where he was staying before letting him out of his pokéball. Loki glared at him and folded his arms.

'Come on, you did very well,' said Thor.

Loki nodded, looking smug for a moment before scowling again.

'It's only a few more rounds to the semi-final.'

'I'm not doing that again,' said Loki.

Thor stared at him. 'You can talk?'

'Yes, but I'm not talking to you,' said Loki.

'It wasn't so bad, was it?' said Thor. 'You won after all.'

'I don't see why I should fight for your benefit. And throwing me into the arena like that was a cheap trick.'

'It's not just for my benefit,' protested Thor. 'It's for everyone's.'

'Oh, really,' said Loki, glaring at Thor again.

'A lot of pokéttin are dangerous and would invade Midgard if they could. That's why trainers are needed, not just to catch them but to train other powerful pokéttin to go against them. The Aesir especially have always put a lot of work into defending the borders of Midgard. It's what I'm supposed to do, one day.'

'And why should I care if pokéttin invade Midgard? I am one.'

'Fine,' said Thor. 'How about this. Why should I feed you when you're completely useless?'

'If I didn't have to follow you around all the time maybe I'd have time to find my own food,' snapped Loki. 'I should have run away the first time you got me out. At least that way I wouldn't have been dragged into a ifight/i with a legendary. Did you just go completely insane that time?'

'What does that have to do with anything?' demanded Thor. 'And it was hardly a fight, all you did was cut the line.'

'I probably saved your life. Goodness knows why.'

'If you want to run away then fine. The door's there,' said Thor, stabbing his finger at it. 'You think it's easy in the wild? You're just going to wind up as some stronger pokéttin's dinner.'

'At least I won't have people sneaking me into fights behind my back,' said Loki. He paused at the door. 'Good luck finding a pokéttin stupid enough to put up with you,' he added before slamming it.

Thor sighed and sat down on the bed. Loki would probably come back once he got hungry. So much for things being easier once he learnt to speak, though.

When Loki didn't come back the next day Thor started looking around the town for him. After a week he decided that Loki had made good on his threats and disappeared into the wild. Either he'd fallen foul of something more powerful, which Thor hoped wasn't the case, or he was fine and not interested in coming back. So, Thor was alone in the town without a pokéttin to his name.

Pride stopped him from calling home and asking for a new starter. Even though he didn't have anything to trade it was possible to buy weak pokéttin sometimes, so he decided to get a job and see if he could save up enough to start again by himself. Shelf stacking for the store didn't earn much, but it turned out to be the best job he could get. Which was why he was still in town three months later, when Loki returned.

Thor had just come in from a day at work and was about to flop down on the bed when he realised that it was already occupied. How Loki had been able to sneak in through a pokécenter without someone grabbing him and putting him through a healing cycle Thor didn't know. Even in his sleep he looked exhausted and there were bruises on his arms and cheek. Thor reached over the bed for his pack, meaning to grab Loki's pokéball and put him through a healing cycle quickly while he wasn't awake to make a fuss about it. But as soon as his shadow fell across the bed Loki's eyes snapped open.

'Thor?' he asked groggily.

'Yes,' said Thor. 'Are you okay?'

'Not really.'

'Do you mind going into your pokéball so I can get you healed?' It didn't look like Loki was in much state to put up a fight, but Thor would just feel bad about forcing him right now.

Loki hesitated. 'Will you let me back out?'

'Yes. As soon as the cycle is done, okay?'

'Okay,' said Loki.

Thor picked up the pokéball and tried to return Loki, only for nothing to happen. 'That's odd. It should still work,' he said, shaking it as if that was likely to help. 'I'll have to catch you again now.'

'Just throw it then. I'm probably weak enough.'

'That doesn't matter unless you fight it.' Thor tossed the pokéball at Loki, relieved when he dissolved into red light and disappeared into it.

The Nurse Eir on duty promised to run Loki through a healing cycle and return him to Thor as quickly as possibly, so Thor waited in the lobby rather anxiously for her to be finished. So far he'd been more worried about the state Loki had returned in than anything. As he waited he had time to wonder what to do once Loki was healed. Would Loki be more amenable to fighting now he'd found out the wild could be a rough place? If not should Thor just keep saving for something else?

Nurse Eir returned with Loki before he'd had time to reach a clear decision. As she handed him the pokéball she looked oddly worried.

'Is he okay?' asked Thor.

'There was an unidentified status effect the healing cycle couldn't remove,' she said. 'If you head to a city then a more advanced pokécenter might be able to deal with it.'

'Oh. Is it going to hurt him? Before I can do that, I mean.'

'You'll have to ask. It didn't seem like it would cause him any pain,' she said.

Thor thanked her and headed back to his room to let Loki out. To his relief the bruising was gone as was the exhaustion. Loki still had a tense, wary look he hadn't had before, which made Thor feel he should have done more to stop his pokéttin from running away in the first place.

'How are you feeling?' he asked.

'Better,' said Loki.

'Nothing hurts?'

'No. Should it?' asked Loki, with a shrewd glance at Thor.

'There was a status effect that couldn't be removed. Nurse Eir thought a larger pokécenter might manage it. Do you know what it might be?' said Thor.

'No,' said Loki. 'How near are we to a large enough pokécenter?'

'A few weeks,' said Thor, mentally calculating the distance to Nóatún City.

Loki looked oddly stricken, but Thor wouldn't have liked having a status effect on him for that long either.

'We'll set off in the morning,' said Thor.

It was the second day of travelling and, while Loki had seemed far more his old self the first day, he had been increasingly skittish all morning. That afternoon when a small trail crossed the path they were following Loki stopped and pointed.

'We should go that way,' he said.

'Why?' asked Thor, pulling out the map to take a look. 'Nóatún's this way.'

'There's a house this way. I saw trainers stopping there for the night sometimes. It's not much out of our way and it's better than camping,' said Loki.

Thor shrugged. Maybe the status effect was taking more of a toll on Loki that he'd realised if the pokéttin was that eager not to sleep rough. Or maybe sleeping outside just made him nervous after his attempt at living in the wild. Either way, there was no harm in sleeping indoors tonight.

'Lead the way then,' he said.

The path lead through some thick woodland. Thor could hear pokéttin in the undergrowth but he didn't try to get Loki to fight them, that could wait until Loki was fully healed. The path came out into the open again only when it crossed a river, dipping down to a narrow ford.

'If a lot of trainers come this way you'd think they'd have a bridge,' grumbled Thor.

'It's up to the trainers whether a bed for the night is worth getting their feet wet,' said Loki. He'd shifted to a Water type and walked in without taking his shoes off.

Thor did take his shoes and socks off, stuffing them in his pack, as well as rolling his trousers up before he started walking across. The stones were firm under his feet and, although the ford was narrow, it seemed well built.

A sudden surge of water knocked Thor off his feet, he wound up on hands and knees clutching the ford. It was only when he cautiously stood back up that he realised the water hadn't gone back down, and was now up to his knees where before it had only covered his ankles. Loki had balanced better and was still on his feet, gazing around wildly. When he stopped, eyes fixing on something, Thor followed his gaze and saw the pokéttin swimming down the river.

She was grey with greenish blue hair which stretched behind her, floating along the surface until it was indistinguishable from the river water at the ends. Her hands, when they surfaced, were huge and almost skeletal claws with ragged nails. As she came towards them the water continued to rise around her, pressing Thor backward as it lapped around his waist.

A final wave pushed both Thor and Loki off the ford, sending them, half swimming, half swept along, down the river. Thor, pushing his way above water with more determination than technique, managed to grab a small rowan tree growing on the bank with one hand and Loki with the other. The water continued to rise, sucking greedily at him as he doggedly pulled them both out. A howl rose from the river and the water surged again, climbing the bank towards them.

'Loki. Typeshift to electric. Thundershock the river,' said Thor.

Loki hesitated, glancing behind them as if they might be watched, but when another howl sounded he nodded. His hair turned suddenly yellow and he raised his hands, closing his eyes as he gathered power, before releasing lightning that raced across the river in jagged bands, for a brief moment turning the water white. Thor, catching sight of the Water pokéttin, her head thrown backwards in shock, threw a pokéball and watched her disappear into it with a satisfaction that turned to chagrin when the ball floated past him and raced out of sight along the falling river.

Thor glanced at Loki, currently wet and muddy but not looking any the worse for wear. 'Well done,' he said. 'That was amazing.' He laughed, more in amazement than humour, remembering the flash of lightning on the river. 'Are you all right?' he added, realising how pale Loki looked.

Loki nodded.

Thor grinned at him, then pulled a face when he noticed his pack was soaked through. 'We'd better find this house. I wonder if they knew they had a dangerous pokéttin so close?' He brightened at the sight of smoke curling over the trees a little way away. Shelter would be good right now. However, he hadn't gone more than a few steps when Loki caught his sleeve.

'Thor,' he said quietly. 'I lied to you.'

'What do you mean?' Thor asked, too puzzled to be angry.

'The house belongs to Geirrod. He's a pokéttin, but he still catches weaker ones and makes them work for him.'

'Is that what happened to you?' asked Thor, remembering Loki's failure to return to his pokéball. If he'd been caught in a different one in the meantime it would make sense.

'Yes. I wasn't very hard to catch,' admitted Loki. 'I told him I had a trainer, that they'd be angry he'd stolen me, but he just laughed. After a while I thought maybe if I told him you were one of the Aesir he'd be more impressed.'

'So he told you what? To bring me to him?' said Thor, voice starting to rise. 'So one of his pokéttin could kill me?'

Loki shivered and let go of Thor's arm, backing off slightly. 'He used Deathcurse on me! If I don't bring you to him before the time's up then I'll die. When you said an advanced pokécenter could remove it I thought maybe I'd have another choice…'

'But you don't have that much time,' finished Thor. The anger was still there but not directed at Loki who had been scared and had, in any case, chosen not to go through with it. 'How long?'

'Tomorrow.'

Thor nodded and turned to the rowan that had saved them, wrenching at a thick branch until it snapped. 'I'll have to go there. He'll remove the curse then, right?'

'He'll kill you,' said Loki, sounding bewildered.

'I can defend myself,' said Thor. The branch whistled satisfyingly through the air.

'That's your plan? Charge in with a big stick?' demanded Loki.

'I'm doing this for you,' said Thor. 'And do you have a better one?'

Loki looked away. 'I just don't want either of us to die.'

'Then I have to go there,' said Thor

'Can't we at least have a strategy? I…I'll fight. Just tell me what you want me to do.'

Thor considered. Charging around without a plan hadn't exactly worked out for him so far. And while charging in with a stick might be all he could do alone with Loki helping they could do a lot more. He reached into his soggy pack for his pokédex, grateful the things were nearly indestructible.

'Okay,' he said, checking the weakness chart. 'Are they all Water types?'

'Geirrod's Fire,' said Loki, looking over his shoulder. 'Both his daughters are Water, although you already caught one. None of his pokéttin are likely to want to fight for him.'

'Okay.' Thor leant on his stick while reading through the table and working things out. 'Dragon type is strong to Water and Fire, so typeshift to that now and return to it if they attack you. Use Electric to attack the daughter, Water against Geirrod. It'll take some rapid typshifting. Think you can do it?'

'Yes,' said Loki. His hair gradually turned green, although not a solid green. It was yellowish at the roots and nearly black at the tips. 'What?' he said, noticing Thor looking at it.

'Nothing. Being a Dragon type just gives you a cool hairstyle.'

'And I'm meant to rely on you for strategy,' said Loki.

'Just be glad we have one,' said Thor. He pulled out a few pokéballs and put them on his belt, slipped the pokédex into his pocket, and then left the sodden pack hanging in the rowan tree.

The house turned out to be a large hall built of drystone with double oak doors taking up nearly all of one end of it. Thor had to shove at one with all his strength just to get it open enough for the two of them to slip inside. The inside was as rough, yet impressive, as the outside. A hearth took up the whole end of the hall opposite the door, with the walls soot blackened around it. The roof was crisscrossed with oak beams which attached to two pillars placed in seemingly random places, the effect was as if the whole place had been shored up as it was built with no plan beforehand.

The furniture was enormous, Thor's head didn't reach the top of the scarred table, and the chairs were correspondingly huge. One of them had been draped with bright, slightly tattered cloth as if in some strange attempt at a throne. Standing by the fire was a pokéttin four times Thor's height with bright red skin, long black hair and fangs nearly large enough to be tusks.

'Welcome, young Aesir,' he said. 'Won't you sit down?' He gestured to the cloth covered chair.

Thor paused for a moment suspecting a trick, but he had to play along until the curse was off Loki. Getting into the chair proved difficult in itself since the seat was level with Thor's forehead. He had to push himself up with the rowan branch and scramble awkwardly onto it.

Loki was hovering a little way from Geirrod, trying to get his attention without getting too close. 'Geirrod, please,' he said, barely above a whisper. 'You promised.'

Geirrod shot a look at Thor, who pretended he hadn't heard, and then grabbed Loki's head in one clawed hand. Thor could see darkness rising from Loki like a cloud and sinking into it. When Geirrod let go Thor caught Loki's eye, trying to inquire without speaking, and Loki gave him a quick nod behind Geirrod's back. Thor let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.

Thor moved towards the edge of the chair, planning to get back to floor level before starting a fight. Before he could jump the chair shot upwards and he only barely got the stick above his head in time to avoid being crushed against the beams. Even as he struggled to get the stick properly wedged between the chair and the ceiling before his strength gave out Thor realised he could hear the sound of falling water. Someone under the chair had used a powerful watergun to push him upwards.

The blue flare of lightning lit the building in a moment before the chair fell. Thor curled in the seat, bracing himself for the shock of hitting the ground. When it did he was thrown off, managing to roll as he hit the ground and stumble fairly rapidly to his feet. The Water pokéttin, the same kind as her sister, must have been soaked with her own watergun for a pokéttin of Loki's level to do so much damage with thundershock, but she was passed out below the chair. Thor pokéballed her quickly and turned to check the whereabouts of his remaining foe.

Geirrod was glaring at Loki, who had returned to Dragon type and backed against the wall. 'So you are loyal to your trainer, little one,' he said. 'Or perhaps only now that you're not cursed. Well, that can be remedied.'

He lifted his hand, darkness gathering around it, and Thor ran across the hall to smack it with his stick before the move could be completed.

Geirrod's expression was incredulous. 'What is this?' he asked, hand closing around the stick and wrenching at it out of Thor's grasp. 'I thought the Aesir believed pokéttin should fight for them, not the other way around.'

'Loki is fighting, but there's no reason he should do it alone,' said Thor. 'I won't let you kill him!'

'You're right,' said Geirrod. He threw the stick into the fire and raised his hand again, red light gathering around it this time instead of darkness. 'I don't need to kill him. Once you are dead he'll serve me rather than die with you.'

Thor stepped backwards, looking around for another weapon, but even if he had found one it would have been too late. Geirrod's firebolt was thrown underarm at him, splitting the air around it with a noise like thunder and trailing flames. Something hit Thor's chest and he let out a yelp before realising it had been Loki's shoulder. Loki was a Fire type again and holding the firebolt with both hands, face strained as if it was almost too heavy for him to bear.

As Thor watched Loki lifted it, clearly struggling every moment not to…drop it? Let it explode? Geirrod's hand was glowing again, another firebolt meant to hit Loki and explode the first one with it. And Loki was struggling already, there was no way he could do whatever he was planning in time. Thor climbed to his feet, careful not to stumble against Loki, and looked around for some way to help. One of his feet nearly caught on wet cloth from the chair and he grinned, the answer suddenly obvious.

He charged forward with a yell, getting Geirrod's attention at the same moment he threw the cloth around his hand, tangling it and quenching his half formed Fire move. Geirrod's other hand clenched into a fist and Thor braced himself for the blow, twisting the cloth tighter even as he did, but then Geirrod's gaze went to Loki and his eyes widened with fear. Thor found himself dragged along as Geirrod ran for the nearest pillar.

Loki was holding the firebolt level with his chest, eyes wide with effort, and Thor realised what was about to happen just in time to let go of the cloth and throw himself on the floor. The firebolt seemed even bigger than before as it ripped through the air and, scarcely slowing, through the pillar to hit Geirrod square in the chest.

Thor stood up and walked over to the downed pokéttin. Loki's slow footsteps came up behind him as he looked.

'Is he dead?' asked Loki.

'Fainted,' said Thor. He pulled out a pokéball and, with a certain vicious satisfaction, watched Geirrod disappear into it. Then he turned to Loki. 'Are you hurt? I've got potions in the pack…which isn't here. Ah, well. It's not far.'

'Just tired,' said Loki. He looked it.

On impulse Thor hugged him. 'I didn't even know you could catch firebolts,' he said. 'You were amazing!'

'I know,' said Loki.

Thor laughed but Loki probably deserved to be smug.

'It's too bad I can't keep these,' said Thor, gathering the fourteen pokéballs from Geirrod's stash into his pack, now more or less dry after a few hours beside Geirrod's fire.

'Can't you?' asked Loki. He'd been asleep while Thor dried their stuff and, between that and some food, was much recovered. Currently he was a Water type and using watergun to put out the fire, since they couldn't leave it burning unattended.

'They were illegal captures so they have to be turned in to the police,' said Thor. 'At least I got two powerful pokéttin out of this, though.'

'What?' Loki's watergun stopped out of astonishment. 'You can't mean Geirrod and his daughter.'

'Why not? They're high level and I captured them properly.'

'You can't possibly use them. Do you really think they'd obey you in battle?' said Loki.

'You don't obey me in battle,' answered Thor.

'I don't try to kill all the spectators and steal their pokéttin,' hissed Loki. 'Are you completely insane? I realise this might be a stupid question after you tried to go fishing for a legendary-'

'You are never going to shut up about that, are you?'

'Not as long as you keep making the same mistake!'

Thor sighed. Loki did have a point there. Wanting a powerful pokéttin and being able to use one were two different things and if he got Geirrod out around people he'd probably wind up causing a disaster.

'Oh, fine,' he said. 'I'll put them in storage.'

'At least you're capable of listening to sense,' said Loki, relaxing. 'Although I suppose you'll want me to catch you something more biddable now,' he added glumly.

'I don't know,' said Thor. 'I saved up a fair amount of money and the next village is on a lot of trainer routes. Maybe I'll be able to buy something.'

'You're not going to make me fight?'

'It's more trouble than it's worth. And it looks like when I really need you to fight I won't have to force you.'

Loki shrugged. 'This time was kind of my fault. Don't expect me to rescue you from things you get yourself into.'

Thor laughed. 'Kind of?' he said, standing up and swinging the backpack onto his shoulder. 'But I'll take that deal. Now, come on. If we get a good start we'll be able to make it to the next village in a few days.'

So they set out into the forest, walking eagerly towards their destination.