I remained speechless for a few seconds, unable to understand how that was a surprise or what it actually meant.

"Why?" I eventually asked.

Pride seemed to be surprised by the question.

"You don't want to learn that?"

"Of course I do," I replied sharply. "But where does this come from?"

"Oh. Agnes wants you to become stronger, and part of that includes learning new moves and new powers. From what I've been told, you live with a ninetales, and you have Pico around too, so you won't need more help with your fire powers. The ninetales can also teach you other moves that you might need, so Agnes wanted to focus on your psychic powers. They might not be of much use for you in an actual fight, but they will help you develop stronger powers over time and learn new moves."

I felt hurt at the idea that Agnes thought I was too weak, but at the same time, I also felt like I agreed with it. Were it not for Pico punting the houndour away, I probably would have been killed. Contrary to what Ilma had said, all my intelligence was unable to help me in the fight, and I had to learn to rely on raw instincts and skill. That would probably come as I practised and was taught how to fight, but learning new moves sounded like a reasonable way to help me develop my powers.

"What makes you think that I even have psychic powers?"

The espeon's eyes widened a bit.

"All vulpix have psychic powers," he simply replied.

"What? But... Topa said otherwise."

"Who's Topa?"

"The ninetales I live with. She said that not all vulpix do."

Pride chuckled nervously. He clearly wasn't sure whether I was asking a genuine question or just being negative because of my recent fight.

"I'm not sure what she told you, but you must have misunderstood. Every vulpix has psychic powers, although some are better than others at them. She probably just meant that she doesn't know how to use hers."

"I guess," I replied after a momentary silence, not willing to continue the conversation.

I clearly remembered her wording, and there was no room for doubt. She did say that not all vulpix had psychic powers, and she in particular did not.

"What about Ghost-type moves?" I asked.

"Same," he replied. "All vulpix have some. Does she not know any either?"

"She does," I hazarded. "At least, she knows Confuse Ray."

"Ah, Confuse Ray. Great one! You should learn it as soon as you can."

"I'd like to, but..."

Thinking back about all the moves I knew for certain Topa knew, the one I wanted to learn most was Will-O-Wisp. After a short hesitation, I admitted that to the espeon.

"Will-O-Wisp is more difficult to use in a battle, I think," he explained. "I am no expert, though. Topa certainly knows more than I do about that!"

"She doesn't want to teach me it," I whined, hoping to get some moral support from him.

"I can understand why," he replied, betraying me. "It's a difficult move to learn. There are easier moves you should know that can be used in battle."

I ostensibly sulked, unhappy about him agreeing with Topa. This only lasted a short moment, as my thoughts came back to what I had just been told. If all vulpix did have psychic moves, why did Topa tell me otherwise?

"So, what do you think?" Pride asked me, cutting my thinking short.

"Heh... fine," I replied without enthusiasm. "I don't know what I can use psychic powers for anyway. What moves can I even learn?"

"Extrasensory at the very least," Pride started listing, taking time to think. "Maybe Hypnosis, but few vulpix are able to learn it. And, outside of pokemon battles, you're all capable of basic telekinesis."

"I see," I whispered.

The idea of being able to move objects with my mind was appealing, but it sounded like I wouldn't be able to use it for anything but showing off. It was a bit of a downer, knowing that I was capable of such great powers, but that I would be so limited.

"And you can learn Dark-type moves too!" Pride suddenly said, excited. "Vulpix is a such a wonder. I don't know many pokemon that can learn moves from all three sides of the psychic triangle!"

"The what?"

"The psychic triangle. Psychic, Ghost and Dark. They are very similar in how they work, and they have similar effects."

"Like what?"

"In a battle, all three types use a pokemon's own power against them. For example, psychic and extrasensory will make you detonate a pokemon's reserve of energy to damage them. Nightmare will have a similar effect on a drowsy pokemon. Torment will lock your foe's powers after they use a move. There are also some summoning moves, like Bite for Dark, Shadow Ball for Ghost, and Psychic Fangs for Psychic. Of course, there are differences, but the global principle behind them is similar. In the same fashion, humans group the Ground, Rock and Steel types together."

"I see."

I didn't remember ever hearing of such grouping, but it did make sense, even with what I knew of the games.

"What's special about that, then?"

"Vulpix is one of the few pokemon that can access the psychic triangle despite not sharing any of its types," Pride answered. "That also gives you access to very interesting moves like Will-O-Wisp, which is commonly associated with and mistaken for a Ghost-type move, or Protect, which is a Normal-type move but gets mistaken for a Psychic one. This lead to a lot of rumours about vulpix and ninetales, since those three types in particular are fascinating for humans."

"I've probably heard some," I sighed, raising my eyes to the sky.

Pride smiled.

"Vulpix is a popular pokemon in households. Unfortunately, they are generally rather weak in combat, and there are far better choices for the military, so it's not a common pokemon around here."

"Military? What?"

"You're part of the military," Pride replied, surprised. "You didn't know?"

"But... I don't want to be a soldier!"

Especially after hearing Ilma's story, the idea of being a soldier and going to war was rather terrifying.

To my surprise, Pride laughed.

"You won't be a soldier, silly! The military refers to any humans with the right to bear arms. This includes, of course, the army, but also policemen and special forces. You won't be going to war!"

I looked away, embarrassed by my mistake. This wasn't what the word meant in my world. Were there other words that had their meaning changed?

"Will you be teaching me other moves?" I inquired.

"Once you are comfortable with at least telekinesis, sure! I'm not sure which ones you'll be able to learn, but we can try with basic ones. Telekinesis is the most important, though."

"Why? It can't be used in combat."

Pride smiled.

"Ilma would have loved that remark. It implies that, for you, combat is the most important. I would disagree with that, but to each their own, right? The thing about telekinesis is it's the base for almost every psychic move ever, and it's going to make it easier for you to learn them. Trying to learn even Protect without being capable of telekinesis is a hassle. Think of it as... breathing fire for fire-type moves. It's the basics."

"I don't want to learn Protect," I pouted.

"We'll see about that later! Telekinesis first."

"So... when do we start?"

"Not today, I fear," Pride replied. "We should be able to start soon though. Generally when humans are eating, so we have about two hours every day for that. Agnes doesn't want you to start yet until she's certain you're healed."

"I'm fine," I commented with assurance.

"That's for Agnes to decide."

I wasn't exactly happy with that, but I could only understand Agnes' caution. Still, the idea of spending my lunch breaks being trained by another pokemon, especially one as strong as Pride, was very enticing, and I found myself looking forward to it.

However... I was puzzled by Topa's weird wording. "I do not have any" was what she said. There was no room for interpretation here. Did she purposely lie to me, or had she simply used the wrong words? I didn't recall any times when I even considered she could have been lying to me, and I didn't see why she should, but this felt very odd to me.

"So..." Pride whispered, leaning closer to me. "How do you like the idea?"

I took some time to think about it. What good would those powers be for me? I wasn't even sure what exactly I was going to be taught. Telekinesis? By the sounds of it, it would be completely useless to me. Why not start directly with more useful moves?

Even then... What was the difference between actual psychic powers and their unpower version? Would I be using the same sort of powers for telekinesis as I would be for Extrasensory? I could feel that breathing real fire and throwing an Ember were different processes. Would it be the same for this type, or any other?

"I don't know. It sounds like it's going to take a lot of work. I..."

I stopped myself, conscious that I almost made a big mistake. I couldn't be talking about how difficult it had been for me to learn Ember. How much was I supposed to know about other pokemon's powers? Topa seemed to be very knowledgeable, but she was significantly older and she was probably taught by her mother. I was supposedly still a child, and no one knew what happened to my biological mother.

My body's mother... Was she even alive? Had she been frantically looking for her child? Did she know that her kit had been killed? What would happen if I stumbled upon her, as I would certainly not recognize her?

"Hey."

Pride poked me with his tails, stroking the top of my head.

"Of course it's going to take work. Especially in the beginning, when you learn to recognize psychic powers. Then you'll have to learn to reproduce them, and that's just for telekinesis. I don't know how long it took you to learn to breathe fire and Ember, but expect this to take a lot longer!"

"That's not very encouraging," I pouted.

Apparently, it was normal for kits to struggle with learning their first powers, but I was still unsure whether or not they were supposed to struggle less than I did. Topa said that I was learning fast, but that could have been just to cheer me up.

"Do you think I can do it?" I asked, looking for some support.

"Certainly. I haven't seen how good you are with your current powers, nor would I really be able to tell, but Pico said you were particularly intelligent. Psychic ability is closely related to intelligence, so if Pico is right, you should be doing really well!"

I was surprised to hear what Pico thought. Was I actually particularly intelligent? I remembered feeling less intelligent than Topa, which made me rather depressed at the time, but I didn't know how smart other pokemon were supposed to be. Was the vulpix evolution line among the most intelligent pokemon? What about psychic types, like espeon?

"I'm not particularly intelligent," I complained.

"Doesn't matter," Pride replied. "If you work hard enough, you'll be able to learn these powers. Just don't expect it to take an hour!"

I looked away. My enthusiasm was pretty much gone, and the espeon was mostly to blame for that, but I knew he was right. I needed to work as hard as I could. By learning new powers, I had a greater chance to convince Topa to teach me more, and I could even perhaps figure out something that would make it easier for me to learn more in the future.

"Alright," I conceded. "I'll try. Are we going to practice battling or only telekinesis?"

"Only telekinesis for the time being, but battling would be interesting once you learn some moves!"

There was no way battling with that monster would be interesting. He could probably knock me out in a few seconds. I had absolutely no experience in battling, while he did, and probably not just from police school.

"I don't want to battle with you," I sighed. "You're too strong."

"You will be strong too eventually," Pride answered, patting me on the back. "But you'll have to work hard!"

We didn't talk much after that. I felt like my motivation was gone, but at the same time, I was looking forward to being stronger - strong enough to be able to battle with him.

Back at the mansion, I looked for Topa inside, but she was nowhere to be found. Assuming she was just in the gardens, I went to my pillow, jumping on the chance to plan the talk properly. I was looking forward to talking to her and clear that confusion, but at the same time, I was feeling nervous and strangely cautious. I felt like I should avoid the subject, but I had to know, and chasing her to bring it up was certainly not a good idea. She would inevitably ask why Agnes wanted me to go to school despite my wounds, and all I had to do was describe my discussion with Pride and his idea to raise the question naturally. I wasn't quite sure how to ask her... or even what exactly to ask. It would probably be best to let things unfold and follow the conversation.

She came back right in time for dinner, followed by Melissa. After eating, we went back to her room as expected, but I noticed something that put me off. Her scent was weird. It was less strong, as if she were less herself than usual. The odours from the outside were still abnormally noticeable on her fur, and even poking her with my muzzle left a lasting mark. Her personal scent was overwhelmed by others, making me feel like she was occulted by the world. This could surely be used to her advantage in a survival situation, but I had the feeling that it was neither normal nor even controlled. Some alarm was ringing loudly in my head, and I was unable to switch it off, or even listen to it.

"How was your day?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Topa seemed to be surprised by me being the one to start a conversation, but I noticed an ephemeral smile on her beautiful face.

"Quite nice!" she replied with her normal enthusiasm. "I spent a lot of time playing with Melissa after she came back from school. I am rather tired, but it was certainly fun."

She didn't look the slightest bit tired, but she did have Melissa's scent on her. Her heart was beating slightly faster than usual, but it wasn't an indication of anything.

"What did you play?" I pushed, actually interested.

"Lots of running. She has physical training lessons... I believe she calls them sports class? There will be exams soon and she wanted to train beforehand, so I joined her. I do not know what her exams consist of, but we simply ran from one end of the garden to the other. When she got tired, we played with a ball until she decided she had enough."

I looked away with a knot in my stomach. I remembered the conversation with Pride and how Agnes never did anything with me. Melissa seemed to spend at least some time playing with Topa, and even if it were just stupid games like running or throwing a ball, I found myself wishing my own trainer would play those with me. Was I even a pet for her? I played with my pets a lot when I was human, and I was certain that they appreciated it, but Agnes didn't play with me. I was probably just... a tool for her job, and not even a pet.

"Are you alright?" Topa whispered, worried.

I didn't realize that my ears and tails were laid, giving away obvious hints that I was not all that happy. I shook my head to give myself better control of them. It would probably be best to be honest with her, as that would invite honesty back, and it would probably help me bring the subject I wanted to talk about.

"I'm fine, it's just that..."

Would mentioning Pride now be a good idea? If I just threw my ideas without a context, Topa would assume that I was depressed again, which was wrong - although Pride's story about his trainer did make me rather upset about my own relationship with me - and I needed to make her see that I wasn't if I wanted to be trusted. If I showed any signs of not being well, she would probably refuse to talk seriously for fear to hurt me.

"I'm a bit upset," I ended up carefully admitting.

"Is it related to what you did at school? Did something happen?"

I smiled internally. Her bringing up the school topic was a lot better for me, and I could mention Pride and our talk far more easily and naturally. All I had to do now was talk about him, repeat his story and compare it to mine, then mention the psychic powers and feint enthusiasm then confusion so that I could ask her if she really meant that she didn't have any, or simply that she didn't know how to use them.

"I met an espeon called Pride. We talked about... how we met our human and..."

The knot in my stomach seemed to tighten as my airways felt blocked for a fraction of a second, as if I were choking for one heartbeat.

I repeated Pride's story as well as I remembered it, and mentioned the discussion that followed.

"I was born in this family," Topa said. "I was not even aware it was possible for humans to ask pokemon to come with them. I imagined all pokemon were either born in their family or adopted like you were. This is interesting."

She stayed silent for a few seconds.

"Why does this make you upset?" she eventually inquired.

"Agnes doesn't do anything with me. I'm... I'm not even a pet for her."

"She is just being cautious. You get injured fairly often, it is only fair to be careful."

"You can't throw the she's cautious excuse all the time," I pouted. "She just doesn't want to do anything with me outside of school."

The conversation wasn't taking the turn I was hoping for. I needed to get it back on track and bring up the other topic.

"No," I said. "She didn't make me meet Pride because she was worried about me. It was about my performances at school."

"Oh," she whispered after a short hesitation. "What was it about then?"

I looked away. There was no way I could feint excitement or enthusiasm anymore, considering the turn the conversation had taken.

"She thinks I'm too weak," I admitted. "She wants Pride to teach me how to use my psychic powers so I can start learning new moves."

I closely watched Topa's reaction, but noticed nothing odd.

"That is a good idea," she agreed. "We can work on fire-type moves at home in parallel to training with Pride at school. This will be a lot of effort, though. Are you sure you can handle it?"

Unhappy about how easily she had changed the topic, I muttered a sharp "yeah" that sounded a lot angrier than I meant to show.

"I don't want to be taken care of by another evolved pokemon," I pouted, trying to justify my angry response. "What are others going to think? I'd rather learn psychic powers from you."

"I cannot teach you. I told you before that I do not have any psychic powers."

She was insisting on that exact wording. I needed to probe further.

"Why would I have any then?"

"Most vulpix are capable of it. The chances you are not are very low."

There was no room for error. Pride said that all vulpix had psychic powers, and Topa was clearly saying otherwise. Who should I believe? Should I bring it up now? It felt like a perfect opportunity, but I wasn't sure how to mention it without sounding like I was accusing Topa of lying.

I didn't realize that my head was moving on its own, slightly tilted, while my eyes were surveying the room as if I could find my answers written on the walls. Topa picked up on that movement.

"Are you alright? You look confused."

I secretly gasped, less from surprise than from relief. This was perfect.

"Pride said..."

I hesitated, still unsure of what I should be saying. I knew Topa was feeling sad, and I was afraid of how she would react if it sounded like I was accusing her of not telling me the truth.

"He said that all vulpix have psychic powers, and that you too should have some. But you say you don't, so... I'm not sure who to believe."

Topa's eyes widened slightly and she remained silent for several minutes, seemingly deep in thought. Her heart was beating a lot faster, and it was rather clear that she was nervous.

"I apologize," she eventually said. "My wording is confusing. Pride is correct in saying that all vulpix are able to use psychic powers."

"What about you, then?" I pushed. "You said you didn't have any."

She looked away, clearly uncomfortable.

"Sorry," she simply whispered.

Turning her back to me, she nested on her pillow and didn't say a single word. I was sitting on mine, looking down on her, and although I should be feeling victorious to have outsmarted her and correctly guessed that she had lied to me, I was feeling miserable. She was completely motionless in front of me, and although I could hear her heart beating, she looked like she wasn't even alive. I nested on my own pillow, turning my back to her as well, cursing myself for going too far in an attempt to figure out the truth.