It Takes a Team To Raise a Trainer

by TheSwingOfThings

One of my earliest memories is of my cousin showing me his team, and telling me how he'd found each one. For years after that, my starter and I would play trainer: she'd pretend to be something majestic and rare, and I'd be the awesome trainer who would catch her and show her the value of human friendship. In hindsight, I had no idea what being a trainer is actually like.

10. Mountain Mansions

My Pacifish

Natalya was only too happy to let us use her cabin for a week, on the condition that she send some of her staff along to assist us. I objected, but she insisted that it was the least she could do for Cyrena and we wouldn't even know they were there.

That was a lie. When I finally got to Natalya's "cabin" ("mountain-themed mansion" would have been a more appropriate description) there were five pokemon standing in a row at the entrance. All of them bowed in unison and welcomed me to Natalya's little spot in the mountains, speaking perfect Human English through their translator collars.

These pokemon: a parasect, a slurpuff, an altaria, a smeargle, and a mismagius, were members of Natalya's primary "helper team". I'd often see them around whenever I visited her main house, and she never hesitated to point out just how good each of them were at their jobs. When she felt amazing, it was because the parasect had given her an exquisite massage and aromatherapy session. If we had lunch together and I marveled at the food (which I always did), it was because the slurpuff was such an exceptional connoisseur that everything he made was simply scrumptous. The altaria was the reason why her house always sparkled with cleanliness and her makeup was so entrancing, and the smeargle was why her children's pokemon were learning aura sphere fresh out of the egg. Finally, the mismagius was the ultimate butler: he'd levitate guests' bags (as well as the guests themselves) to their rooms using the quickest route possible-through the walls. And though I couldn't prove it and I would never inquire, I also suspected he was responsible for making sure that guests behaved themselves properly and didn't show their hostess any disrespect. I'd once overheard a guest complaining about some unusually realistic and terrifying nightmares he'd had while staying in Chateau Natalya. The night before he'd commented that Natalya's taste in decor was "garish", so I doubt the nightmare was a coincidence.

I later learned that there was a sixth pokemon who would be accompanying us for the duration of our stay: Natalya had persuaded her husband to send his famous red genesect as a security guard for the week. Apparently he hoped a quiet week in the mountains would calm his genesect down. His pokemon, however, felt that she was already calm enough, so she had gone into the woods to take out her frustration on any intruders she could find. We probably wouldn't see her at all during our visit, and according to the mismagius, that was probably for the best.

It was well past dark by the time we'd arrived, so I declined the helper pokemon's offers for various evening-related activities in favor of going straight to bed. The parasect graciously offered to help us get to sleep by using her spore technique, and I accepted. After I'd climbed into bed and positioned Cy's bowl atop the nightstand, the parasect raised her claws and a fine mist filled the room. I fell asleep almost instantly, but just before I closed my eyes I thought I saw Cy press herself back against her bowl.