Chapter 45

"What, yeh thought this was a fight?" boomed Aoro. "No! This is a test to see how much ye've improved. We've got training to start, and we don't have time to worry about gettin' your pokemon healed up. We're gonna go through it quickly so we can get to it, now dammit, show me what your dragon's got!"

I still could not believe that Aoro was not going to test my team with combat. "Alright, you heard him guys," I said with a defeated sigh. "Everyone back. Azrael, Stone Edge. Sandbox."

My team retreated about 100 feet while Azrael used his rock technique to raise three stone slabs from the earth. Then, the ground surrounding Azrael rippled outward and began to churn as if infested with millions of worms. I had to back up as the ground started to turn to quicksand beneath me, nearly 60 feet away. Aoro also backed up as the Sand Tomb reached him.

At my direction, Azrael took a few steps and as he did, the roiling earth beneath him firmed up under his feet. Then the ground surged from in front of him into a strong 15-foot wave that spread into the air, forming a sandstorm. Azrael followed it up by leaping into the air to a height of 30 feet, and then diving down into the flowing ground as if it were water. A second later, he burst from the ground 30 feet away like a dolphin and slammed into a rocky spire. The strength of the hit made the rock slab look like it was made of glass.

Azrael did not seem to lose any momentum, and dove into the sand. Moments later, he shot out of the ground carrying with him a wave of earth that obliterated the second rock slab.

Azrael disappeared underground once again after the demonstration of his attack, and then shot back out of the ground and into the sky, whereupon he spread his wings and flew a circle above the whirling sandstorm. As he flew, softball-sized rocks appeared around him from the storm and then shot down towards the last rocky spire, destroying it.

After that, Azrael dove into the ground and re-emerged in a dramatic jump onto temporarily solid ground within the Sandbox.

"Great, now for the next test!" Aoro yelled above the sound of the storm. "Have him use a Bulldoze and flamethrower on Coco!" The Exeggutor had walked along the top of the ground, spreading roots out around its feet like snowshoes to keep itself steady on the roiling earth.

I nodded and looked up. "Azrael, halt the storm. Then use Bulldoze and Flamethrower on Coco!" Azrael bellowed and dove to the ground, entering the quicksand and then reappearing aboveground right in front of Coco. He brought a winged arm forward and the ground gushed in response. The wave smashed into a shimmering barrier in front of the psychic palm tree, making it flinch with the effort. Coco looked unharmed.

Azrael followed up with a stream of fire, which poured over the Exeggutor's shields, similarly harmlessly.

"Ok now," Aoro interjected. "Take the next two attacks."

"Prepare yourself Azrael!" I called out. "Take the hits." By that time the Sandstorm had died down and the ground had stopped moving.

Azrael's muscles tensed in preparation. Then, the Exeggutor launched several fist-sized projectiles at him, causing him to flinch slightly. Then, the psychic tree sent a wave of psychic force slamming into Azrael's chest, knocking him back a little.

Azrael roared in annoyance, but Aoro cut him off. "Good! You can step back now!" Azrael's pain-induced anger was cut short.

"Good job, Azrael," I told him. Then I added, "Can you give me four more stone targets?" Azrael huffed in response and, one by one, four boulders jutted from the earth in the field between Aoro and I in a wide circle. Then Azrael lumbered back to the rest of the team.

Gilles uttered a terrifying howl and sped over to me. He wanted to take his turn immediately.

"Alright then, Gilles. You're up," I told him, amused.

"So Gilles' technique requires context," I told Aoro. "Normally, I would have him call in rain clouds to block the sun, but I will show you the technique without it so you can see it. He uses his own shadow, so the cloud cover almost completely hides him."

Aoro nodded in acknowledgement, and I turned to Gilles. "Shadow Ambush."

Gilles cackled and drifted forward. His shadow diverged into three separate unattached shadows and they moved off into random directions except for one which remained underneath him. They appeared as three-foot-wide dark circles on the rough ground.

Gilles started by flinging a Shadow Ball at one of the stone targets and diving down into his shadow. Just before the shadowy orb hit the boulder, Gilles jumped up from a nearby shadow and intercepted the ball. It flew into orbit around his body and gained mass as he added more power to it, whereupon he threw it away from the targets.

Once again, Gilles melded with his shadow and jumped out of another to intercept the orb. He gave it a little more power and threw it away again. He repeated the process four more times until the Shadow ball was roughly three feet in diameter and moving too fast for him to control much longer. Then he released it towards the farthest stone target – about 50 feet away – and it collided with the slab in less than a second. The entire boulder, as well as a sizeable crater, turned to ash and blew away.

The shadows on the ground continued to move along, but started surrounding another target. Gilles flew out of the farthest shadow from the target, launched another Shadow Ball, and then immediately dove into his shadow. Then he jumped out of another shadow at a different angle to the same target, but a little closer, and launched another Shadow Ball. He did that once more, getting progressively closer with each teleport, and then sped away with a cackle. All three Shadow Balls hit the boulder on a different side and turned the boulder to ash.

Next, Gilles threw another Shadow Ball at a new target, jumped out of a shadow next to it to deliver a scathing Shadow Claw, and then disappeared back into his shadow in time to dodge the Shadow Ball that he had just thrown. The ball turned most of the rock to ash, and the rest crumbled where he had slashed it.

For his last target, Gilles released a Shadow Ball, then teleported to another shadow on the opposite side of the target and released an Energy Ball, and then teleported to an adjacent shadow to issue a Thunderbolt.

All attacks hit the target at roughly the same time, and while the electricity did not affect the boulder, the combination of three attacks would be effective against an opponent.

With all of the stone spires destroyed, informed Aoro, "Gilles can also use his hypnotizing gaze perpetually, but he can't do it at the same time as this. It takes too much effort for him to maintain both at the same time."

"Good to know. I gotta say this is a very good technique yeh have. Though I do have a question. Can he teleport to other random shadows outside of his own?"

"No," I responded. "Unlike other sources of shadow, it's like he's linked to his own. He can travel through shadow pretty quickly, but movement through his own shadows is near instantaneous. If the surrounding landscape was dark enough, though, his enemy wouldn't be able to see his shadows, so it might appear that he is teleporting at random."

"Interesting. Well, have him hit Coco with a Shadow Claw and then follow it up with a Shadow Ball. Then we'll test his defenses."

I nodded to Gilles and his shadowy hand intensified. He slashed it across the Exeggutor's shields, and it remained strong, as if untouched. He then issued a strong Shadow Ball. It ripped through the shield and a small amount washed over Coco. He shivered but shook off the attack.

It was Coco's turn. It flung glowing green pods at Gilles, who shook with a quiet shriek and was pushed back several feet in the air as they sailed through him. Then Coco shook its fronds and glowing green leaves whipped around it towards Gilles. They slashed through him but he toughed it out with only a pained shudder.

"Good, next!" called out Aoro.

"Alright, Gilles come on back," I called out. "Azrael, could you raise four more boulders? Rufus, you're up. Show 'em what you can do," I barked. "Stationary Fire Shield. Flaming Stampede."

Four stone rose from the ground in quick succession. Rufus let out an initial howl and bounded forward. He immediately whipped a jet of fire around himself at a distance of four feet, which started spinning clockwise. The fire intensified over the course of a few seconds until the ring stretched out 20 feet in all directions. The only safe area was in the four-foot-radius circle in the middle where Rufus stood.

Then, Rufus stepped into the fire and the flames covered his body instantly as if he were a match being lit by a blowtorch. He took off as a fiery blur, using the Flame Charge to give himself a boost of speed. He angled around in the firestorm, seemingly riding its current. The fire washed around and over the sharp boulders, and Rufus angled towards the first like a comet. When he struck the rock, it looked like a small bomb had detonated. The rock was pulverized, and Rufus quickly made his way towards the second.

The second spire was glowing pink from the sustained exposure to the flames. When Rufus reached it, he issued a concentrated, point-blank Dark Pulse, which shattered the rock into pink pieces. From there, he turned and shot a Fire Blast at the third boulder. When it struck, the fire ball was more intense than normal and obliterated the rock.

"He can center this storm on himself or a fixed location!" I called out to Aoro over the drone of the firestorm. "He can even switch between the two. Rufus, move the zone!"

Rufus ran to the middle of the storm and paused for a second. Then he ran in a circle, carrying the entire storm with him like a fiery hula hoop.

"Ok, now Solar Release on the last rock!" I yelled.

Rufus paused and the entire storm picked up speed as it collapsed inward into Rufus's mouth. As the fire reached his muzzle, it condensed into a growing green sphere. After about four seconds, the entire Fire Spin had disappeared into the now-three-feet-wide orb that shot out in a beam of brilliant green. Rufus was driven back several feet by the force of the beam exiting his mouth, which seared a hole three feet wide through the boulder and disintegrated a ten-foot gouge of earth behind it. The boulder then crumbled.

Rufus trotted over Coco, having seen his teammates do the same, and waited.

"We're trying to get to the point where he can maintain the Fire Spin alongside a Blackout so that we can utilize his dark type moves simultaneous it all, but we still have a ways to go," I told Aoro.

"Lookin' good!" Aoro answered. "Now do a Flame Charge and a Flamethrower. After that, yeh know the drill."

Rufus shot towards Coco wreathed in flames and crashed to a standstill in front of its barrier. Then he backed up and released an intense torrent of fire over the sapient tree. The fire washed over Coco's barriers, which flickered somewhat while its palm leaves wilted from the heat. The barrier held.

Coco responded by flinging several pods at Rufus, knocking him back a few feet and causing him to whine. Then Coco hammered Rufus with a psychic blast that only staggered him for a second.

"Wonderful! Next!" Aoro yelled.

Rufus trotted back and I patted him on the back. "Ceto, you're up! Azrael give me three more!"

Ceto squeaked merrily and levitated over to us while her targets appeared. "You ready? Tempest!"

Ceto floated to the middle of the singed field and blew out a skinny Twister that quickly grew larger and larger until it was about twenty feet wide. It took about three seconds, then she looked up and clouds condensed to deliver a solid rainfall. The rain was sucked into the Twister and dispersed along the ground. In the meantime, the Twister moved under Ceto's control, consuming one of the boulders and toppling it.

"Alright, change it into a Hale Storm, and then use Ice Rink!"

Ceto's Twister widened to 60 feet in diameter, losing some of its power. But the rain in the winds turned to sharp ice. If anything had been in the storm with her, they would have been pelted with icicles moving at high velocity. To finish it up, a blizzard swirled around Ceto and surged outwards to be carried by the tempest to the full field. The water covering the ground and the stones flash-froze.

While the tempest roared, I yelled out, "Hydro Pump! Scald!"

Ceto blasted the second stone with a highly-pressurized jet of water and it crumbled under impact with some of the water freezing in the process. Then she turned to the last boulder and sprayed it with boiling water. The temperature difference caused the rock to fracture and explode violently.

"Good, use Waterfall and Bubblebeam on Coco," Aoro yelled.

Ceto drew water from the clouds and some from the ground – which melted at her beck – and used it to throw herself at Coco's shield. She crashed into it with her bony crest and then backed up to deliver a very strong Bubblebeam. The revolving beam of bubbles ripped into the Exeggutor's barrier, which flickered, but remained strong.

"Ye've got a pretty strong Seadra there, Zachariah," Aoro commented. "Now it's Coco's turn."

Coco launched more pods at Ceto and she weathered them with a tough grunt. Then she took a psychic blast with almost equal grace, though she did flinch.

"Excellent! Send out yer next one!" Aoro cried out.

"Great job, Ceto!" I yelled. "Dante, you're up! Azrael, four boulders please."

Yes, J'Khan.

"Psychic Army."

Dante nodded and walked out to the field. While he did so, he split into four images. They silently walked side-by-side while bringing their arms up. As one, the glimmer of a shield flashed around them. Then they took off in separate directions. Their feet created noise on the ground as they ran.

"The shields allow them to make noise, they contain and therefore hide the real Gallade's scent, and they give the illusions substance," I told Aoro. "The shields are just a little weak at the moment.

Dante's illusions each ran to a boulder and punched it. A serious of whumph's sounded as the barriers clashed with the rocks, but one of them shattered from the real Dante's punch. The real Dante turned around to face the three remaining stone slabs and his illusions disappeared. They all reappeared next to him, still enshrouded by his shields.

They all ran as one to the next stone and fanned out as they drew near. They surged upon the rock, two jumping in the air while the others striking mid-level. Once again the sound of the barriers clashing with the rock rang out right before the rock exploded from Dante's Brick Break.

Dante's army face the remaining two and started teleporting at random across the field, making thudding noises as they appeared on the ground in a show of his skill. Eventually, two images appeared at each remaining boulder on opposite sides.

Each image attacked the rocks. The real image slammed a psychic wave into one rock, blasting it to pieces. Then, he teleported to the other boulder while an image of him at that boulder "teleported" to his previous location. It happened fast – if you were not paying attention, you would miss it. When he appeared in the same spot that his image had just left, they all attacked again with the same result.

With all the stones destroyed, Dante teleported in front of the Exeggutor to await what he knew was coming next. "Impressive. Very effective," commented Aoro. "Now show me a Brick Break and a Psychic."

Dante nodded and slammed a fist into Coco's leathery bark. The barrier flashed but remained steady. Then he thrust an open palm forward and the air warped in front of his hand. The force audibly thudded against Coco's shield, but it held strong.

Coco wasted no time and rained hard pods onto Dante, who took the hits with a modicum of flinching. Then Coco fired back with its own psychic blast, which knocked him back a bit.

"Beautiful, NEXT!" Aoro yelled.

"Titus, you're up!" I told him. "Azrael, Stone Edge there, there, there," I called, pointing at the field.

Eight stone pillars emerged. They were spread out within a 60-foot area.

"For this, we'll be using a Blackout. I also think it's worth noting that he is capable of centering his Blackout on a moving opponent."

"Impressive," Aoro stated. "Now get to it."

I nodded to him and then nodded at Titus to begin. "Blackout. Void Ambush."

Titus immediately ran forward towards a spire and a 60-foot area became shrouded in a light-consuming darkness, through which Aoro was capable of seeing since it only distorted 50% of the light, and despite the added darkness caused by the rain clouds. As he reached the halfway point, his image diverged into two with the other heading towards another rock. In reality, he merged with the shadows, and rushed to a third rock, which he used an enormous blade to smite in half with a single Night Slash.

His form then split up into two more images. One headed for the same target that the first image was running towards, while the other ran towards a separate one. He nearly-seamlessly transitioned into the shadows, and ran towards the target which his second image was pursuing. Watching critically, I noted how little noise he was making – I was confident that he would reach his father's level of expertise someday soon. He reached the target at the same time as his mirror image, but at a different angle, and struck down the rock with a single Metal Claw.

At that point, the first and third images reached their mutual target and faded into nothing. Titus then merged with the shadows and ran to his last moving image. He shot towards the mirror image and passed it while hidden in the Noxmiasma. Before it reached the target, he materialized out of the Noxmiasma and crashed his helmet blade into the rock first. The Iron Helm cleaved the rock spire in half.

Titus methodically took out the remaining boulders. When he was finished, having used a mix of techniques including Night Slash, Iron Helm, Metal Claw, Brick Break, Aerial Ace, and Fury Cutter, he stood at the ready, waiting for his turn to attack Coco.

"Let's do a Metal Claw and a Dark Pulse," Aoro told us.

Titus's arm glowed slightly and he took a few steps towards Coco. He struck the barrier hard, throwing his weight behind the punch, but it held. Then he issued a condensed Dark Pulse which tore through the barrier like a fist through tissue paper. The blast knocked Coco back, but the tree shook off the hit.

Coco then moved forward and slammed a bark-covered leg into Titus's midsection, just below his blades. The Wood Hammer rocked him back, but he recovered quickly and stood straight. Then the Exeggutor whipped up a Leaf Storm and swept it over Titus's body, who weathered the attack with a shudder.

"Great! Now, your last one," Aoro called out, as soon as Coco was finished.

"Alright, Saraph, you're up!" I called.

Saraph jumped into the air and glided to the field between Aoro and myself while Titus trudged heavily back to join the rest of my team.

"Azrael, Stone Edge," I commanded for the last time. While the rock targets rose from the ground, called out to Saraph. "Alright, you know what to do. Firestorm!"

With several flaps of her large wings, Saraph turned the serene valley air into a deafening windstorm. She then poured flames into the wind currents, which caught and swirled the fire around her faster than normal. The ring of fire was roughly five feet thick and extended roughly ten feet from her. Then she spread her wings and the storm yanked her into the air.

Saraph rode the currents in a circle, and during her flight the fiery ring lashed out with errant wind currents. The storm carried her above the first stone target, which she flew low enough to drag her fire over like a millstone. As she dove for the second, she corkscrewed in the air, causing the ring to rotate and almost form a fire sphere around her with its trail. The fire washed over the second target, not doing much more than heating it up.

The wind took Saraph into the air once more and as she approached the third spire, she used Inferno like she had against the wild Typhlosion the previous day. Fire poured from around her and surged towards the stone target. As the stream passed through the Fire Spin, the ring added to the Inferno and created a large meteoric wave that turned the stone red with heat.

With her final target hit, Saraph turned onto her back in mid-air and flapped her wings firmly against the flow of air. The gusts disrupted the windstorm it died down enough for her to land without issue. For good measure, Saraph slammed her tail into the nearest stone target still standing.

"Spectacular performance!" Aoro praised. "Now hit Coco with a Dragon Claw and a Flamethrower."

Saraph tore at the Exeggutor with claws surrounded by a purple glow. The Exeggutor did not flinch and its shield did not falter. Then, Saraph exhaled a large stream of fire that completely covered the Exeggutor in a fiery cacoon. When she stemmed the flow, the shield was still up. Whereas Rufus had made the shield flicker and some of the Exeggutor's palm leaves wilt, Saraph's had fallen short. It just went to show that Rufus's fire skills were a lot stronger than Saraph's, even if they were not as voluminous.

Coco then pelted Saraph's scaly hide with seeds, which staggered her back a couple feet. Then Coco slammed a psychic force into her, which rocked her back a couple more.

After its final attack, Coco took a deep bow and stomped away. Aoro passed the Exeggutor by and walked right up to me.

"Zachariah, I gotta say, ye're the only trainer I've met aside from the Champion himself who could find a way to go that far that quick. I don't wanna jinx it, but I think ye've done it!"

It took a second to sink in. When it did, I grew confused and angry. "What are you talking about!?" I exclaimed. "You basically told me it was a long shot that to pull off and that I would be sticking it to them if I did. And that I would need to be able to keep up with your team to be able to train with you, but now you've waited until we're already here to even test my team! And now you're telling me that I already have it done after a couple of hits and a demonstration!?"

"C'mon, Zachariah, do you honestly think that yer team – impressive as they may be for a One-Star team – could really stand on equal footing as a Four-Star team with decades of training?"

"W-well," I stammered. "I thought we would at least be able to keep up. That was your condition!"

"Audacious and optimistic as ever! I've said it before and I'll say it again, Zachariah: yeh got somethin' that most trainers don't," Aoro told me, unfazed by my frustration. "And when yer back is to the wall yeh can make the impossible happen. I gave yeh that condition for little added motivation; to get yer ass in gear. And yeh certainly didn't disappoint!"

"…So you lied to me," I replied, frustrated.

"Yeah I did, Zachariah," Aoro pronounced unapologetically. "And now look, yer team has the technical proficiency of a Three-Star Trainer! Ye're lacking in the strength and defense departments, but I can help with that. I'll have yeh ready to take on the 2nd Elite by the end of summer!"

"And why the hell would I trust you!?" I exclaimed. "You just admitted that you deliberately lied to me! Do you know how stressed I've been!?"

"Yer in a stressful situation regardless of yer capabilities. Yeh can trust that I'm not trying to screw yeh over," he said pointedly. "Yeah, I lied, and that's wrong. But look where you are now and imagine if yeh hadn't been worried about it. Would yer team be able to do the things they can do right now?"

"That's not the point, Aoro!" I yelled. "How can I take anything you say seriously if I always worry that you're lying to me!?" My pokemons' moods were beginning to compound on mine; my anger was increasing theirs and vice-versa. Conversely, Aoro's team looked completely nonchalant. It was as if they did not see me or my pokemon as threats.

"If yeh really don't trust me, then by all means, leave," he gestured to the sky behind me. "Find someone else to train yeh, if yeh think yeh need it. I have faith that ye'll beat the 2nd Elite regardless. Don't forget, you came to me. I'll bet it was for a reason."

I was angry. Just when I thought I could trust Aoro, he decided to put my team and myself through the emotional ringer despite thinking that we could succeed. I did not like this one bit, but I also truly wanted his training expertise. He was correct that I went to him for a reason. He was also correct that my team had grown by leaps and bounds, but it was out of desperation. In a way, I understood his motivation, and I understood that he acted ultimately benignly, albeit in a pretty fucked up way. But I was finished being lied to.

"I'm staying," I replied. We were going to use every bit of help to achieve our greatest potential. As Aoro grinned, I added with a grave glare, "But if you care enough about my friendship, do not lie to me again. If you want to act like the League and manipulate me, then I'll find my own way. You can be sure that I'll never ask for your help again if I find out you're lying to me again."

I expected him to say something patronizing, noncommittal, or sarcastic, but he surprised me. He fixed me with an intense stare for a moment and said, "…Fair enough. Perhaps I haven't been giving yeh the respect yeh deserve. Bad habits are hard to break. Yeh have my word, Zachariah; I won't lie to yeh again."

I nodded crisply. Strangely enough, given the circumstances, I believed him. However, I guarded myself.

"Now then," I said, "What do you mean when you said I've done it?"

"Let me put it this way, Zach, the 1st Elite is sort of like my gym in that it weeds out the less than capable. The goal for trainers in a battle with the 1st Elite is to simply survive and win an Elite-caliber fight. To defeat the 2nd Elite, ye're expected to be able to take battling to a new level in effectively influencing the environment with your techniques – which yeh effectively accomplished, for the most part, in your first fight.

"By the time yeh reach the 3rd Elite, yeh should have mastered the use of one element in your pokemon. By the time yeh reach the final Elite, yeh should have mastered the use of both. Ye've already nearly mastered one in most of your team, and it looks like ye've already started to master two in some. Hell, after this camp, I'd probably tell yeh to go challenge the 2nd immediately! Zach, if anyone ever had a chance of beatin' two Elites within six months of each other, it's you," he pointed at me. "Yeh just need more power behind yer attacks and a little more toughness. And like I said, yeh'll have no problem developing that with me."

I allowed myself to heave a sigh of relief. The news that I could realistically stand a chance at defeating the 2nd Elite and avoid selling myself to the League significantly eased the intangible burden weighing me down. I felt light and had a renewed sense of confidence despite Aoro's minor betrayal; my team had bounded the most difficult hurdle and Aoro would help us over the last.

"Well, what are we waiting for?"

- (-o-) - (-o-) - (-o-) - (-o-) -

Roaring echoed in the distance. My chest heaved. Sweat poured down my back. Next to me, Aoro hardly looked fatigued despite our four-and-a-half-minute-mile pace, on mile four out of six. Our afternoon was off to an intense start.

While I was gasping for breath, Aoro looked resolute and at ease. As soon as the initial assessment was concluded, Aoro launched into training. Since we were only going to be training for half of the day, he took it somewhat easy. For example, our run was going to take place every morning, and would be ten miles instead of six.

Aoro also instituted good old-fashioned Bludgeon Tag for our pokemon. There were a couple of new rules now. The first was that dodging was allowed, but the center could not dodge more than one attack in succession. The second rule was that his team would not tone down their attacks. My team would be playing a legitimate game with Aoro's, which meant that there would be serious bruises afterward. Aoro brought along his League-appointed Blissey, so at least they would be tended to. Moreover, this first day was a bit easier because starting the following day, Bludgeon Tag would have two center pokemon blocking, dodging, or deflecting random attacks to keep the intensity up for those who were waiting their turns.

While we badly needed to improve our defenses, Aoro told me that we needed to play to our strengths, which included our attack power, physical and non-physical, and speed. My shift typing had influenced my team with improvements to their reflexes and speed, so being able to dodge reliably would be an asset to our battle skills repertoire. I would later note how seldom Aoro's pokemon ever dodged attacks. Their strengths were blocking, deflecting, and absorbing attacks.

"H-how are. You n-not. Tired?" I sputtered as I ran.

"My constitution is more attuned to long distance running," Aoro replied without difficulty. The day after tomorrow we'll be doing on-and-off jog-sprints to mix it up. You'll probably outdo me there."

It seemed laughable to me that I was struggling so much given the training I had undergone throughout my time as a pokemon trainer, but we were running as fast as some of the fastest non-shifted humans on record. The Shift truly made a difference, although when compared to some other Shifted, specifically Aoro, it seemed that I was still lacking in the athletic department.

But even then, maybe he was not exaggerating about my sprinting capabilities. Perhaps typing did matter that much in this regard. It would come as no surprise to me if Aoro was a rock-type Shifted, and perhaps it would fit a rock type persona to have passive stamina. I would find out in a couple of days. In the meantime, my heart pounded and my lungs ached.

When we finished, I nearly collapsed. I was bent over gasping for breath, and barely saw the spectacle of fully-fledged Bludgeon Tag. At the moment, Aoro's Aggron, Crusher, was the center and was deflecting and absorbing blows repeatedly. The rest of Aoro's team was shooting in with little to no pause to deliver their respective attacks, and my team had seamlessly integrated. Of course, their attacks were not as powerful as their elite counterparts.

While I caught my breath, Crusher caught Dante, who then barely had enough time to take up a defensive stance before Reaper shot in with a horizontal slash of his enormous blade. Dante barely brought his arm blade up in time to deflect the slash upward and over his head. Reaper had not completely fled before Titus shot forward with a downward slash, which Dante dodged to the side to avoid. Titus retreated and Coco leaped in. Dante saw it coming and braced his arms against Coco's Wooden Hammer. Dante slid back several feet from the blow, but looked like he negated most of the damage.

Dante tried to surge forward to tag the tree, but when he took two steps Aoro's Scizor, Dice, zipped in to deliver a Cross Slash, which Dante managed to block just in time. Dice's wings buzzed and he jerked back away from Dante, but the Gallade recovered quickly enough to surge forward and slam a fist into the Scizor's abdomen.

Dice did not look phased by the blow, and immediately blocked his first attack from Brawler, Aoro's Poliwrath. Thus, the game continued. That is, until Aoro yelled, "TIME! Who's ready for the Mosh Pit!?"

My team looked around at each other, clueless. Conversely, Aoro's team was a cacophony of excited cues.

"Mosh Pit is exactly what it sounds like," Aoro declared. "You physically hit and block everything around you. If you fall, the closest team mate – probably the one that knocked you down – helps you back up and you're back at it. No rests! We'll start with five minutes, NOW!"

My team hesitated but Aoro's did not. Crusher and Samus, the Golem, collided violently while Dice slammed into Titus, Reaper into Rufus, Coco into Azrael, and Brawler into Saraph. Gilles, Dante, and Ceto hesitated at first, but as the mayhem began, they joined in.

Immediately, everyone who had collided turned to the nearest pokemon and attacked again. After a couple initial rounds of nearly synchronized clashing, the rhythm broke and was replaced by complete chaos. Some pokemon were double-teamed and sandwiched, while others missed their targets. Since everyone was moving in random directions, it was difficult to predict where their target may be heading.

In the first minute, Gilles – who had become tangible – went down first. He was immediately pulled up from the ground by Brawler, who absorbed a blow from Reaper in the process. It was then that I saw a point to this exercise beyond mere toughness development. A pokemon may go down in a non-battle scenario and it is the responsibility of its teammates to ensure that it does not stay down. While wildly chaotic and disjointed, the drill also ironically inspired teamwork and unity.

By the end of the five minutes, all of my pokemon had gone down and been helped back up, as well as multiple pokemon from Aoro's team. The fact that Aoro's pokemon had been knocked down – some from hits by my pokemon – showed me that we were in fact training with Aoro's team instead of being trained by them. It made me think about how far we had come and I could not help but be overly proud of my team.

After Aoro called time, he let our pokemon have a break. "So here's the deal, Zachariah," he told me, sitting down on a log. "Every Tuesday and Friday we make a food run. Normally I would quickly do it myself with Coco, but I want you to join to give Dante some teleport load practice. We'll be getting food for not only you and I, but also for our pokemon. If you want them to get tougher and stronger, they'll need plenty of protein, iron, calcium, and zinc."

"So we'll be giving them supplements?" I asked. "Those are pretty expensive; it's how I got my team to advance their techniques."

"No," Aoro replied with a shake of his head. "We are giving them a diet heavy in those nutrients; not simply giving a pill. Though, good call on those. I'm happy to hear you didn't waste your money on the cheap stuff. The League approves of certain brands for a reason."

I nodded. "They probably won't like it," continued Aoro. "Just like you don't like Nutrinol, they'll probably find it pretty nasty, but if they want to grow big and strong, they'll get over it. It's basically Nutrinol for pokemon."

"That still sounds expensive," I replied. The price of a month and a half of nutrients for two teams of pokemon would be steep.

"Don't worry about that," said Aoro, waving me off. "It's coming from my gym subsidy."

"Ok…" I said.

"Don't worry about it, Zachariah," Aoro repeated.

"Fine," I replied in resignation. "So how are you going to raise my team's attack strength?"

"Different ways," he told me. "It's all about pushing the limits of certain boundaries. Not simply repetition. For example, we'll focus on making a flamethrower hotter without reducing its volume, or wider without reducing its heat, and so on. Additionally, we're going to work on efficiency. Your team knows how to use these techniques; we need them to get the most bang for their buck. We can raise that to an extent, but ultimately it will come down to knowing how your pokemons' bodies allow the use of their techniques, and refining the process.

"I'm sure you know how dark-types use their techniques by now. You'll need to do something similar for each of your pokemon. You won't always be able to comprehend or explain their elemental control fully, but they will know. Your job in that regard is simply instilling in them the discipline to manipulate their elements instead of simply releasing it all at once."

I knew what Aoro was telling me was very important to taking my team farther so I committed it all to memory. Some of it sounded obvious, like his explanation of pushing the bounds of a particular technique. I had instituted similar methods before the last two months of training, but the focus had been one-dimensional for creating more versatile move-sets. For example, Rufus could hold his Flamethrower for a lot longer than he used to, but he may not have been able to maintain its intensity at the same time. Other things Aoro said just seemed incredibly daunting, like the concept of learning other pokemon types even to some of the degree that I knew dark types.

"This is the reason many advanced trainers specialize in one type, and in most cases it's the type that they've shifted to," Aoro explained, conveniently acknowledging my trepidation. "Mastering a particular element is a very difficult and powerful thing to do, let alone multiple. It's nigh impossible to truly master an element with your pokemon, let alone multiple, if you haven't shifted since the Shift broadens your perspective in incomprehensible ways.

"But, again, you won't need to know the other types with the same intimacy that you know your own. Your link is the key to it all. You've experienced learning the ins and outs of your own type thanks to Juliette; now utilize that knowledge to help the rest of your team master their own types. After all, if you can help a foreign type of pokemon its techniques, then you will have mastered the typing yourself in regard to that to that pokemon's capabilities to the greatest extent that a non-Shifted can."

I peered at the ground contemplating Aoro's explanation, but Aoro interrupted my thoughts.

"That's the hard part and it takes most trainers decades to realize and understand the connection between the Shift and type mastery. Fortunately for you, you've gone through intense training in your own type – even if you aren't a master of it yet. I'm also educating you so that you know where to focus your training. If you internalize the knowledge correctly, understand it, and apply it aptly, then I have no doubt you'll quickly become one of the most powerful trainers in the League. You have the talent and you'll have the knowledge, you just need to use them correctly."

As Aoro finished, he tapped his temple with his finger. "The rest is simple. I can teach your pokemon to throw a stronger punch easy enough. Most trainers got it wrong. Continually beating your fist against a wall will toughen them up, yes, but it won't necessarily increase the force behind the strike. At least not very quickly. I imagine you've spent a lot of time toughening your team in that regard since I don't think I've ever seen a pokemon on your team hurt itself with its own attack, even against my team. They've got big calluses on their fists, so to say."

He was correct. Most of my strength training focused on repetition until my pokemon grew weary and then we would rest and start over.

"Similar to a bodybuilder, we need to exhaust the muscles behind the motion, and then push past the fatigue. That small stretch between exhaustion and muscle failure is where growth happens, at least for pokemon. Let's say we have a Machoke and its bashing its fist into a rock wall, taking chips out of until it tires out. Before it rests, it renews the intensity until its arm is numb. When its muscles repair, it will be able to hit a little bit harder. The tough skin on its knuckles haven't hardened anymore, but its muscles have. Understand?"

"…That makes sense," I admitted. "In the land of pokemon, I guess whatever doesn't kill you literally makes you stronger. And I guess that applies to their physiology."

"You hit the nail right on the head," Aoro told me with a grin. "You'll never lift more than 200 pounds if you never put any more than that on the bar, even if you can do more and more reps. We're going to throw more weight on that bar and build some muscle. And the best news is, since you've already hardened them to training, their recovery should be fast, and subsequently so should be their growth. The challenge lies in actually wearing them out enough to reach that point of muscle failure, which my pokemon can help with."

"Sounds good to me," I told him. Honestly, I had a hard time imagining my pokemon being that much stronger than they already were. If what Aoro had told me was true, that I should have been much stronger than the 1st Elite by technique alone, then my win should have come easier than it did. It would explain why the battle was so difficult, then, if my team's overall attack strength was not on par with the rest of their abilities. However, the thought of that being the case was mind-boggling to me because I thought their attack power had already grown by leaps and bounds since my Shift.

"Don't worry, Zachariah, after a month and a half you won't even recognize your pokemon."

- (-o-) - (-o-) - (-o-) - (-o-) -

It turns out that Aoro was right about my sprinting capabilities. While running long distance at Aoro's pace was difficult for me, I was much faster than him in the sprints. During our second day, Aoro had placed markers for seven miles along the running trail at alternating half-mile and quarter-mile intervals. The exercise was to jog a half-mile and then sprint a quarter-mile, and continue alternating until we reached the end.

We were free to go at our own pace since we had different top speeds, but I decided to match Aoro's speed until the first sprinting section. Going a little slower than our previous day's jog, we reached the sprint in about two and a half minutes. I very quickly pulled ahead of Aoro. He finished the first quarter-mile sprint in about 50 seconds. I completed it in about 33 seconds, which I believe was considerably faster than any non-Shifted athlete on record.

Naturally, I was quite winded by the time I reached the next marker. I slowed down and completed the next segment in about three minutes before another 34-second sprint. The remaining eight half-mile segments took me on average three minutes and fifteen seconds to complete, and my quarter-mile sprints averaged 37 seconds. Then entire exercise took me about 38 minutes to complete. Aoro finished about five minutes after me.

It was clear that a mix between my physical fitness and Shift had allowed me to be faster than normal Shifted trainers, and to have a very efficient recovery system. Aoro, it looked like, did not. He passed through the final marker gasping for air. I found it comical since our roles from the previous day were reversed. I was winded when I finished, but by the time Aoro had finished, I was only breathing heavily.

That set the pace for our training. Aoro and I switched between distance runs and sprints every day, and my pokemon put their hearts into their training. If there is one thing that I had instilled in my team from day one of their training ownership by me, it was endurance. They managed to keep up with Aoro's team, which was admirable in and of itself. They were knocked out somewhat often during the drills, but Aoro's Blissey was always around to heal them, and their teammates were always there to pick them up when they fell.

With the intensity of our drills being as high as it was, there inevitably came some incidents where that intensity went a little too far. On one occasion, Reaper accidentally sliced a deep gash into Ceto's side during a round of Mosh Pit. On a different occasion, Dante fractured his leg during a Mosh Pit exercise. Each incident was dealt with immediately with the most potent medicine for the quickest results. A Full Restore was used on Dante, which immediately healed the fracture in his leg, though it left a wicked bruise, and a Max Potion was used on Ceto, which healed her cut almost instantly, leaving only a scar.

Other incidents included fights breaking out when a pokemon hit another a little too hard, when a pokemon took a hit personally, or simply when a pokemon was feeling a little too grumpy and took out its anger in an unproductive manner. For example, during a round of Bludgeon Tag, Azrael rushed Crusher and whipped his tail around, slamming it a little too hard into Crusher's side and he took it personally. The Aggron roared in fury and slammed his fist into Azrael's chest, bringing up a Stone Edge from the ground directly beneath his fist to hit with both at the same time. Azrael was tossed back to the ground with a pained roar and immediately regained his footing in a comparable rage. With a punch of his clawed arm, Azrael raised an earthen wave that pummeled Crusher back.

At that point, other pokemon jumped in. Similar to one another, Aoro and I felt the rage of our pokemon through our links, and stopped our drills to intervene. Within a few minutes, the situation was pacified and the drills began anew.

Other notable fights included one between Gilles and Brawler, and Saraph and Crusher. No one was seriously hurt in any of the fights because their teammates were always there to intervene, even when Aoro and I were not.

While my team worked themselves to exhaustion and further, Aoro educated me in further detail about methods of development and ace tactics. Since I was being drafted into Ace Trainer Corps, the more prepared I was would mean more personal agency in the long run.

Aoro told me that ace teams generally consist of two to four members with one team leader. Their pokemon are considered autonomous tools and weapons. Together, they fulfill highly specialized purposes which vary based on the team's strengths – which are determined and assigned by ace leadership. Some pokemon are assigned to certain people, but only under specific circumstances – such as a typing familiarity, compatibility, and mission necessity.

According to Aoro, I was almost certainly going to be utilized for special operations or black operations, given my typing and his knowledge of ace skill-designation. Though he was not sure where specifically they would focus me. It also depended on the skillsets of potential squad mates.

Aoro engaged me in physical sparring matches daily, leaving my arms and body in general bruised, to prepare me for the physical combat aspect of ace boot camp. He also frequently posed hypothetical scenarios with specific objectives to me and had me explain how I would achieve those objectives.

Additionally, while I may not have had the same mental traits as Aoro, he was still capable of training me to better understand my own abilities. It made sense. Part of his past position with the Ace Trainer Corp was doing just that with ace trainees. In this case, he trained me in ability control and refinement.

There were many parallels in his teaching style to Juliette's. But whereas she could be more specific about her teachings, Aoro had to take a broader, more vague approach. For example, he would give me certain tasks to accomplish using nothing but my abilities. He had an uncanny ability to assign only tasks that I could accomplish with nothing but my abilities. One such exercise was using my ability to project sound to imitate various animals around me at differing distances while remaining still. Those kinds of exercises were useful in developing a higher level of control over my abilities.

After the first week, I noticed a significant change in my team. The first week had been marred by frequent knockouts to my pokemon during exercises. The Blissey was subsequently exhausted at the end of every day from the amount of times it had to revive them. By the middle of the next week, the frequency of their knockouts was noticeably more seldom by a factor of at least a half.

Concurrently, their offensive prowess was noticeably greater. Among many other examples, the force of their strikes was noticeably stronger; the heat in their fire was higher; the density of certain energies like dark and ghost were higher; the force with which they could emit certain attacks such as water, pulses, and psychic attacks; and their control over various elements was stronger.

Alongside my team, I made some minor progress in training to focus my mind and think critically about hypothetical situations.

By the end of the second week, there was no doubt that my team was performing at a higher caliber. Due to the increased power and control that they were developing, their specialized techniques had increased in effectiveness. For example, Azrael could start to control the density of the earth within his Bulldozes, leading to a greater potential for more forceful attacks. Likewise, their defenses were marginally more effective than during our first week.

The progress continued through the third week, and halfway into the fourth. The progress we were making felt surreal to me. We were actively keeping up with Aoro's team defensively and performing at a higher level every day. It seemed like a wonderful dream. Then, the dream turned grim.

- (-o-) - (-o-) - (-o-) - (-o-) -

The interruption introduced itself in the form of a message. The message was sent to Aoro's PokeDex, which was outfitted with a more powerful signal booster than mine. After we had just finished lunch, Aoro's PokeDex jingled.

I watched as his eyes narrowed at the screen. Then he tapped the screen a few times in annoyance and put it to his ear.

"Is there a reason I'm being contacted right now?" he asked, skipping any form of greeting. He paused for a few seconds. "Don't we have ace teams for this kinda shit?"

There was another pause. "I don't care!" he exclaimed loudly. "This is my time, right now! You don't getta just snap yer fingers."

Another pause. "Yes, I understand that… Yes, I know. Yeh can't be-"

Aoro's face was turning red. "This is bullshit!" Just then, his face went from angry to stolid. "Fine. What's the situation?"

There was another pause and then he held up the phone and pressed a button. The speaker phone engaged to reveal the voice of someone I really did not want to hear: 3rd Elite Kain McGall.

we lost contact with them two days ago. There were no reported problems leading up to it. Every attempt we've made to contact them has led to a dead signal, and every attempt to contact the local government has also led to a dead signal. Since it's on the border of Johto and Kanto, there is a potential national security concern. As such, this mission has been classified top secret and requires the utmost sensitivity.

"Oh shit!" Aoro swore, switching off the speaker phone. "I had it on speaker phone." His eyes were unapologetic. "Yes, I believe he heard everythin'."

Even I heard, DAMMIT AORO! through his earpiece from where I was sitting.

Aoro did not balk or bat an eye. He simply said, "I agree, it is quite unfortunate. Since he is privy to the situation, I will be bringing him along with me."

Aoro paused. "I really don't give a Rattata's ass. Worst case scenario, I'll need backup and I believe he's capable. Plus, as you indicated, this is on a need to know and he already knows."

Another pause. "Yup, that's how it's gonna be. You could've called in an ace team instead of contacting me during my personal time. I just so happened to be spendin' time with Zachariah so I apologize that he overheard. I can't control everythin'."

Another pause, during which I distinctly heard the word, "bullshit."

"Well, what can yeh do?" he asked with a shrug. "It happened, so no point in dwellin' on it. We'll report in tomorrow after I've healed my team. No telling what's waiting for us there."

Aoro hung up. "Bastards wanna intervene!?" he exclaimed. "Think they'll just interrupt our training as if it'll make a damn bit 'a difference? You got them scared, Zachariah!" he pointed at me with a serious expression. "Well touché, assholes! You're about to get some real experience in the field. Nothin' better than some honest-to-gods practical experience!"

"So that was entirely deliberate?" I asked, not really asking seriously, and referring to the League's intentions.

"Damn right it was!" Aoro exclaimed. "They know exactly what they're doin'! And they should know by now not to screw with me!" I could see Aoro's team shifting with agitation as his temper flared. "Hell, if I were paranoid, I might think the League was tryin' to get me killed, but it's obvious they're findin' an excuse to prevent me from trainin' you!"

"So, Aoro," I responded awkwardly. "What now?" I was angry at the League for trying to trip me up to slow me down, but Aoro was displaying enough outrage for the both of us.

"Now I give yeh a crash course in fightin' ace teams before we head out," Aoro proclaimed animatedly. "All other trainin' stops now. Everyone bring it in!"

Both teams quickly made their way over to us. "This is how it's gonna work today!" he barked. "My team will be sparrin' with yours, but the aim for your team will be defense. There is a very good chance that we will come into contact with a Johtan ace team, and ace teams are trained to make fights as short as possible. That means they'll target your weak spots and go for quick incapacitations. In a scenario where they engage us, yeh need to know how to survive.

"SO, my pokemon will be targetin' your vulnerabilities and you will be blockin' them. That is all! Line up, everyone except for you, Gengar! You will be joinin' Zach and I."

My pokemon lined up with ample space between them. A pokemon of comparable size stood in front of each. With a loud stomp from Crusher, they began to attack, sending sounds of battle coursing through the valley. Meanwhile, Gilles floated in the air next to my head.

Aoro turned to us. "Zachariah, I think you know this already, but the ace trainer – as opposed to their pokemon – is the crux of the team. Take out the person and you take out the most important unit of the team.

"Your Gengar will be instrumental in endin' fights quickly. He doesn't need to worry about guardin' himself given the fact that he's a ghost, and he can easily slip by undetected. At the very least he could give us a free incapacitation but he needs to do it smart. When we get there, I want him in your shadow at all times.

If we encounter any ace teams, I want him to approach them stealthily, but stayin' far enough away that he can't be detected by a dark-type. Most ace teams have both a psychic and a dark type on their team, and they usually serve a defensive role."

Aoro looked addressed Gilles directly. "If it comes down to it, attack the farthest one back on my signal – which'll be the word "Tango." A Shadow Claw or weakened pulse will suffice to knock 'em out. Then high-tail it back to Zachariah. As soon as your presence is known, you will be targeted immediately."

He looked back at me. "Ace teams generally have up to two pokemon out per trainer to coordinate effectively, but that can change if some of the trainers fall. Six to Seven pokemon in total is the general number pokemon capable of being coordinated effectively by a team. If one trainer falls, another trainer might release one or more pokemon to compensate for the lost members.

"So, even if we manage to take down a trainer immediately, the situation never grows much safer. In the worst-case scenario, a trainer or pair of trainers will go "All-Out" and release all of their pokemon. This is generally frowned upon as there is no way to effectively control that many pokemon at the same time, and things get chaotic. Moreover, if a trainer does that, it prompts the same action by his opponent, thereby turning the battlefield into a veritable bedlam with uncontrollable masses of pokemon. More often than not, though, it just results in the death of many, if not all of the trainer's pokemon since they would be outnumbered by trainers who can coordinate attacks. Furthermore, the collateral damage would be severe.

"In the event of an ace battle, Coco will be casting a protective shield around both of us while either of your dark types uses an anti-teleportation field on us. That should be enough defenses. You will have up to two other pokemon to use alongside mine. You should use your judgment based on the situation in making your choice.

"It would be best to avoid close-quarters-combat since they will have more training in that area. But overall, the one thing you must be during an encounter with an ace team is vigilant. One reason why so few pokemon are used at a time is that you need to be able to assess the situation. That means paying attention to not only your pokemon, but your opponents' many pokemon AND your opponents themselves. They will almost certainly be armed and will want to take us out to end the fight. If you aren't vigilant, an enemy pokemon could sneak up on you or you could get shot, and then that's it. You're dead. Do you understand me?"

Aoro peered at me intensely. "Yes, I do," I told him. "But this is all hypothetical, right?"

"Better safe than sorry. But we're talkin' about losin' contact with a ranger station in a border town next to a country with whom we are very tense right now. If Johto is pushin' the borders and made a move, then enemy forces will most certainly be expectin' an investigation by Kanto military, and therefore we will be expected. Towns don't just go dark and stay dark, Zachariah. There is a reason for it."

Aoro was serious, but then he shrugged. "Then again, there's a chance that it could have been a wild pokemon attack and the radio tower could have been damaged. But, given the state of affairs with our countries, I highly doubt it. Luck favors the prepared and I don't intend to die tomorrow."

I sighed and asked, "How much of a distraction do they think all this'll be? I mean, the League evidently thinks you're strong enough to go by yourself, so couldn't you realistically go take care of it and be right back here in no time to resume our training?"

"Sometimes the longest part of a mission is the downtime," he replied. "They were gonna try to wrap me up in a long and complicated incident until I was required return to my gym. But since you overheard, it gave me a reason to bring you along. And if I can bring you along, we can still train. With my League class and title, I will be able to reserve any facility that I want to train in. It will disrupt operations, piss people off, and maybe annoy 'em enough that they realize it's more trouble than it's worth to keep us on deck."

I was surprised and impressed. Aoro had acted quickly with nuance and understanding of the situation, and managed to outsmart a political League maneuver. I had no idea that the League would have gone to such lengths to disrupt our training, but Aoro had, and he countered it.

"Do you think they'll try to interrupt our training more, though?" I asked.

"Most certainly."

- (-o-) - (-o-) - (-o-) - (-o-) -

My bow was packed, I was wearing combat armor, and we were flying north from a small town called Cottonwood Grove. We spent the entire morning being briefed at the Pewter City League base – Fort Haverton – about our impromptu mission to the small town of Beyer Mill.

Beyer Mill lies on the border between Kanto and Johto, far to the north of Mount Silver. In fact, it was farthest town to the north in Kanto. It had a population of about 350 and was primarily agricultural.

Both countries had a ranger station on opposite sides of the border, and for the most part they easily worked in tandem to keep the peace. In spite of being from different countries, they formed a cohesive bi-cultural League union – the League spanned most countries. The President of the Pokemon League in each nation held a seat at the International Pokemon League, but each had a level of autonomy and connection to national government that allowed for culture-focused independence. It is how countries could go to war against each other with the aid of the League.

About three days prior the ranger station had gone dark. It may have been a mechanical malfunction, but a ranger stationed out there could have repaired the communications or have easily traveled back to Pewter City in that time to requisition technical aid. Since it had heard no word from the ranger station in that time, the League was now sending in a team to investigate – Aoro and I.

At Fort Haverton, I learned about some important current events taking place, of which I had been ignorant due to my fanatical attention to training. Thank you, League, for entrapping me and motivating me to indulge in obsessive tendencies! Recently, Johto had launched a fleet of ships towards Hoenn. Shortly after the incident, Hoenn had initially appointed a temporary Champion while the League hosted competitive trials. Now there was a quasi-stable League operation trying to rejuvenate itself, and Johto was apparently not going to allow it.

The potential scenario for which we were now preparing, thanks to the Indigo League, felt a little far-fetched. It seemed like an inopportune time for an act of war such as a military invasion, due to the fact that a large portion of the Johtan military was on their way to Hoenn, but the League was treating it as such. It felt a bit overdramatized. However, if what Juliette had told me was true, then there would be nothing keeping Johto from making a move on Kanto once Hoenn was not a threat.

I could definitely see how the League could spin this mission to be a national security concern, but it was somewhat of a stretch. Anyone with a brain could see that. I guess my relationship with the League had deteriorated so much that they were not trying too hard to hide their meddling.

The purpose of the mission was to ascertain the situation, and if necessary, step in. If it was a simple mechanical malfunction, we would return hastily and report the problem so that mechanical assistance could be requisitioned. If it was not, then we would need to figure out the situation and make a full report.

So, we both stopped by the armory and geared up. Aoro and I were both outfitted with lightweight camouflage body armor, and then we headed to the weapons department. On the way, Aoro fidgeted with his armor, which looked a little small for his massive frame. Apparently, they did not have a larger size. Seeing me eyeing his discomforted twitching, he said, "Mine's a little bigger; I had it custom-made because these are a bit uncomfortable."

"Why aren't you wearing it, then?" I asked, obviously.

"Because, Zach," Aoro replied in exasperation. "We need to stick together right now. I go where yeh go and vice versa. If yeh get body armor from the armory, then I get body armor from the armory."

"If you say so," I said. I did not really understand his reasoning but I went along with it. I was sure there was a point to it. We stopped at the weapons depot, and I chose a bow – which was about the same quality as my current one. I took it to a nearby indoor range and shot a few arrows at targets until I was comfortable with it. Meanwhile, Aoro took a long time at the requisitions desk.

When I finished at the range, Aoro finally walked over holding a large black shotgun. It looked normal against his massive frame, and he twirled it in his arms expertly before whipping it behind his head and putting it in a sling on his back. He gave me a sincere grin and said, "Benelli T7 10-gauge. Always a joy. Isn't quite as powerful as my T9, but this thing can put a hole through a Rhydon's gut if yeh can handle the recoil."

"And I suppose you can handle the recoil?" I asked sarcastically.

Aoro feigned offense. "Just who do yeh think I am, MacAfee?" Then he smirked. "If I can't handle this gun, no one can."

We both picked up a tungsten-steel combat knife and then headed out. On our way out, we walked down a hallway and passed a woman about my height with red hair and form-fitting attire, who was walking with and speaking to a pair of rangers. As we passed, I caught her eye and was suddenly filled with a rush of adrenaline. Her eyes were like miniature supernovas, but ironically stone-cold.

After we passed, I visibly shuddered as if hit by a cold chill. "That's about right," Aoro remarked. "Takes yeh by surprise if ye're not expecting it. Almost as creepy as Juliette, if yeh ask me."

"Who was she?" I asked.

"That was Shirley Manson, 4th Elite."

"Seems like she would give an intense battle…" I said, shaken by her invigorating gaze.

"Probably," Aoro replied. "When I earned my final bar, the 4th was her predecessor – an ice-type master. That fight was pretty insane; I nearly caught hypothermia in the fight."

If the seventh gym was any indication of the fight in store for me against 4th Elite Manson, then I would have to either learn to deal with overly-excessive heat or learn to cancel it out somehow. But that was a thought for another day. I had more pressing concerns at hand.

From Fort Haverton we teleported to Cottonwood Grove, which was situated northeast of Mt. Silver, and then hopped onto our mounts. We had one more checkpoint until we reached Beyer Mill, and the lack of a suitable road meant we could not take a car. A car would have been less conspicuous to potential enemies expecting rangers or ace trainers than an oversized dragon and a Fearow.

We flew north-northwest, passing over a little town on our way to another small town called Camelia Crossing. Our flight was at a casual pace to avoid drawing too much attention to ourselves. There we landed and had a small meal at the ranger outpost at a little after 4:00.

After our meal, we continued on foot. Our method of approach was deliberate. We had teleported as far out as we did to avoid long-distance teleportation detection, flown to the closest city to cover a lot of distance without teleporting, and now we were walking the rest of the 20 miles to Beyer Mill to remain visually undetected. Along the way, Rufus had us in a condensed anti-teleportation field which masked our presence to psychic pokemon.

We walked alongside the road at a brisk pace for several hours, only stopping for minor rests and bathroom breaks. We passed mile marker after mile marker, and progressively grew more cautious and serious. Eventually, after several hours, we saw the fifth to last mile marker. Being five miles from Beyer Mill put us officially in enemy territory until we determined otherwise. Of course, if this mission had been designated a normal checkup instead of this overblown potential hostile scenario, we would have been much more at ease, and would have simply teleported in.

Instead, we deviated from the road and trudged into the trees, taking a roundabout approach. If there were enemy forces in wait, they would undoubtedly be watching the road. I also released Gilles and told him to stay in my shadow. Luckily, our wild pokemon encounters were few and far between. They were quick and uneventful to boot.

Any territorial creature such as Rattata, Raticate, Pidgeot, or Weepinbell that lashed out at us were swiftly dealt with. It only took a Shadow Ball or a Shadow Claw to take them out. In one case, Gilles hypnotized a Rattata and then swallowed it whole.

The sun was beginning to set when we made our approach from two miles away. At that point, we also slowed down to better observe our surroundings.

Throughout our approach we noted that it was unusually quiet. The only sounds were the wind and the crunch of our boots. However, I felt calmness and focus emanating from Rufus so I knew that he was not uneasy about our surroundings.

The light continued to dim as the sun crept closer to the tops of the trees, and the entire time we grew more alert. Our path was directed towards the Kanto ranger station, and by the time we reached it, the sun had disappeared below the tops of the trees. For those with normal eyesight, visibility was poor at best.

As we approached the lodge, and the town's building several hundred feet behind it, I immediately noticed something amiss. "Where are all of the lights?" I whispered to Aoro.

"Was just wonderin' the same thing," he quietly replied.

The lodge was dark, and the town beyond was devoid of any electrical light. All was dark and quiet. That fact made me uneasy.

"Hold on a moment," I whispered to Aoro, and then phased in. I expanded my consciousness to cover the ranger station, and found it uninhabited. Then I expanded it further to the farthest limits of my capabilities, which encompassed a couple of houses several hundred feet back, and found them similarly empty of life.

"It's empty," I told him quietly. "And this area is completely empty. No one at all."

"How… Oh, yeah," Aoro commented incredulously. "Creepy dark-sight. I forgot Jules could do that. Well something is definitely wrong here; that much is certain. I don't like it."

"So what now?" I asked.

"Now, we get inside the station, grab the footage from the video-surveillance room, and retreat for the night. I can't see a damn thing and we would be sittin' Psyducks if we tried to investigate in the dark."

"You know, I can probably do some surveillance," I pointed out.

"We'll talk about it after we accomplish the immediate goal. I will go inside and get the footage. You stay outside and keep watch."

"Alright."

"Use a Blackout," he told me.

The immediate area went completely black as Rufus responded. Inside the cover, Aoro released Reaper, the flash of the pokeball completely being hidden. Interestingly enough, Aoro's pokeball made no noise. I watched then as Aoro crept up to the lodge. He had not even said a word to his Kabutops but they moved together as one, without hesitation.

They stopped when they reached the door. It was ajar. Aoro peered inside and drew his shotgun. Then he moved inside, switching on a small flashlight beneath the muzzle of his shotgun. His movements were quieter than a man of his size should have been capable of making. His Kabutops slithered in behind him soundlessly.

I immediately widened my consciousness to incorporate everything within a 100-foot radius. Rufus shadow-merged within his own Blackout and waited next to me. I could make out Aoro and Reaper's movement through the lodge, but I focused on everything around us. It was nerve-wracking.

The silence of the twilight, only broken by the occasional insect chirp, gave me the creeps given the fact that there was an entire town nearby. The immediate area was tensely quiet. We waited and nothing caught my attention.

The minutes ticked by, and then Aoro powered up a backup generator. A couple of dim lights shone through the window and I became more alert. We were the only source of light in the area and that could attract attention. With the generator operating, Aoro moved quickly through the lodge, turning off the few lights, and then returned to his task.

I still waited, watching, on edge. A basketball-sized Venonat hopped into view of my darkvision about 60 feet away. It had been drawn by the light, and was hopping around confused now that the light had been extinguished. Rufus and I held our position; I sent him calming feelings to keep him from attacking, though it did not seem to be necessary.

The wait was excruciatingly long. While Aoro retrieved video footage, I watched stressfully for any sign of life, which never came. The sound of boots clomping on the outpost porch came as a jolt of music to my ears. The humming of the generator inside had ceased and the lights had been completely extinguished.

Aoro had a small disk in a carrying case in his hand. "Let's go," he said quietly, and hurried towards me.

Together, we moved away from the lodge. I spent the entire time looking over my shoulder, expecting someone or something to follow us. Every time, I only saw foliage swaying in the breeze.

After about a mile and a half, we stopped at the base of a hill. Aoro released Samus and the Golem proceeded to dig a shallow cave. Then it raised several oblong stones to form the back of the cave and ceiling support.

Aoro motioned me inside, so I followed him inside, whereupon he released Coco. The Exeggutor faced the opening of the cave and a barrier formed. The translucent mirage shimmered and shifted until it resembled the hillside from outside the cave. We were effectively hidden. Coco retreated to the back of the cave and a glowing orb of light appeared over its head. The cave was now illuminated.

Aoro sat down against the rock wall and motioned me over. He brought out his PokeDex, linked the surveillance disk, and held it out so that I could see. With a few quick selections, the media began to play. Aoro started the video at the end of its footage and pressed rewind. It was date stamped three days ago; right before it had run out of electricity.

We watched the video as it rewound, and waited for the first glimpse of motion. The video's visual output was split in half; each half displaying a different view. One was aimed at the door and the other was aimed at the lobby where the desks were situated. After about an hour of empty scenes, people and pokemon entered the view of the camera.

Aoro paused it roughly ten minutes before they exited the lodge. Then he started the video. We watched as the rangers and their pokemon went about their duties. They did not look hurried or harried; nothing seemed out of the ordinary. A woman sat at a desk filling out paperwork and a man sat on a sofa watching LeagueWatch. A Granbull lay on the rough carpet next to the sofa and a Raichu was nestled close to the woman. They occasionally spoke to each other, either about the gym battle that the man was watching – it looked like Saffron City Gym – or about an incident report that the woman was filling out wherein a man had used a Mankey to commit theft and they had had to step in.

The male ranger was in the middle of critiquing the gym battle when his speech slurred to a halt and he collapsed forward. Likewise, the woman slumped forward and her forehead hit the desk. Both pokemon instantly bolted upright in alarm. The pokemon batted at their trainers, attempting to rouse them, but the trainers did not react.

The pokemon seemed to panic and ran about in directionless confusion. They stopped, though, when the two rangers stirred. Both rangers abruptly stood up from where they had been resting and started walking towards the door. Strangely, they completely ignored their pokemon who were now jumping at their legs in concern. They simply walked towards the door and out, not bothering to shut it behind them. That was the last footage of anyone on the tape.

Aoro lowered the PokeDex onto his lap with a ponderous look. "Okay, barring what happened as unusual for sure," he said after a few minutes. "We don't know exactly what's going on here."

"Looked like some sort of sleeping attack," I noted. "Sorta like Gilles' hypnotism."

"Potentially, but not for certain," Aoro told me. "This isn't enough."

"What is going to be enough?" I asked.

"At the very least, I think we should retrieve video footage from another source. The other ranger station. There will also probably be video cameras at the sheriff's station."

"And potential Johto military forces?" I asked.

"Call me crazy but I don't think that's what's goin' on here," he told me. "It was way too quiet and I feel like a military force would have taken the video footage from the ranger station. Of course, I may be wrong, but that is why we're waitin' 'til the morning to check it out."

"Or I could just do some recon tonight," I asserted.

"I don't think that's a great idea," Aoro told me. "If there are Johto forces out there, there will also be dark-type pokemon. I don't care how well Juliette trained you, I don't believe you could avoid ace-trained dark pokemon."

"I could bring Titus and Rufus," I told him. "I'm sure they would be enough, and they would be invisible at night."

"It's not yer ability to stay alive that I'm concerned about," Aoro replied. "If there does happen to be a hostile military presence here, we don't want 'em knowing we're here. We want to remain under the radar. There are two of us. We do NOT split up unless we are both reasonably capable of working alone towards a common goal. Those conditions are not bein' met right now."

"At the very least, I could observe from a distance!" I said, frustrated. I did not like how eerie it was. And I did not like feeling useless. "I can detect anything that comes near me, so I can bug out if anything does come near."

"You really don't know how rare your type of shift is, do you?" Aoro said. "Likely the only League branches who know about you right now are this one and maybe Sinnoh. We asked Juliette to keep it to herself, but there's a chance word has made it to her champion. It's not everyday someone can literally disappear in the dark, avoid psychic detection, reject psychic memory extraction, and not have to utilize night vision goggles, amongst many other things.

"I took a chance by taking you with me; a chance that the League wouldn't bet on me making, because if it's found out that we have a dark-shifted trainer, you become a walking target. Nations don't reveal trump cards until they need to. Same thing goes for dragon-shifted and ghost-shifted. So, we don't take any unnecessary risks. We'll do things during the day when I can be at my best. Agreed?"

I pressed the back of my head against the rock wall with a sigh. "Alright," I acquiesced. "Being 'special' doesn't feel so special," I added bitterly.

"Unfortunately, that tends to be the case," Aoro empathized. "And yeh generally won't feel special because ye'll suffer more, sacrifice the most, and be subject more to manipulation than yer peers. All to accomplish things that normal people can't. At least yeh can take pride in that – ye're special because yeh have the potential to do greater things, which comes at a price. What yeh can control is how yeh accomplish things. Use yer head and yeh can transcend all of it eventually. Don't blindly accept a conventional method of doing things, but also don't take needless risks. It's a hard line to walk, and harder still for someone like you who's line borders danger on both sides."

"Why are you telling me this? Why do you care so much?" I asked him pointedly. "You tell me you care for me and do all these things for me, but you've lied to and manipulated me just the same as the League."

Aoro sighed, not in exasperation, but in exhaustion. "The League once stood for more admirable qualities. Now it's just a means of control. Training pokemon is the primary method for achieving the pinnacle of interspecies evolution. That is hard to control. And people fear what they can't control – especially those in power. These evolved people have the power to change the world, for better or for worse. Back then, trainers grew powerful and wanted to use that power to help people, and when someone chose to use that power for evil, the good would bring them down. But now it's involuntary. The League forces them to do it. From there, it's a short jump away from bein' used to further the League's more biased interests.

"In short, the League doesn't wanna give trainers the freedom to make an evil decision. Furthermore, if they control the nation's most powerful trainers, then they will always get what they want. I'm sure ye've seen that ranger authority will almost always trump local law enforcement. The League can choose to ignore certain problems in certain cities as a means of blackmail, or over-enforce others as a means of intimidation.

"The point is, the League has grown into a monster that can do whatever it wants because it has both bark and bite. I think that needs to change, and I think you are one of the few who both understands the importance of autonomy and also has potential to actually influence a change. Whether it be by becomin' an Elite, or by becoming the Champion himself, I believe you have the potential to upend the system that has forsaken its principles.

"I may've misinterpreted your words, but I believe ye've expressed similar philanthropic views of how one should use their pokemon training prowess, and I jumped on the opportunity. Forgive me, I know I have used some of the same tactics that I despise the League for usin'. In my desperation for change, I went a little too far in messing with your autonomy."

So that was it. Was I a piece on a chessboard? King, Queen, or Pawn, it did not really matter. The League wanted me as a trump card, apparently. Aoro wanted me as a revolutionary. He wanted me to change the game, and to do that I needed to be in control of the game.

Aoro's honesty and motives seemed commendable, and I could not lie – re-making the League and sticking it to the smug bastards sounded marvelous. But at that moment I did not much care for anyone's motives. I was just tired of being used. The only thing keeping me from departing and forging my own destiny was the fact that Aoro had kept his promise to be truthful with me as far as I could tell.

I did not reply. I did not know what to say. I was torn between seeing him as a beloved mentor and as a self-righteous puppet-master. I leaned heavily towards the former character, but was too tired of dealing with my conflicting feelings to think of a suitable response.

"Look," Aoro said in finality. "Yer destiny is yer own. Yer goals are yer own. My goal is to change the League into somethin' better. I want you to help me do that, but it's ultimately yer choice. Just think about it. Yeh have plenty of time."

I nodded.

"Alright, then let's get some shuteye. We resume the mission early."

- (-o-) - (-o-) - (-o-) - (-o-) -

Current PokeDex Update

One-Star Trainer: Zachariah MacAfee; KA523VI979E; Sergeant, Ranger Corps.

Active Pokemon:

Azrael – Garchomp

Gilles – Gengar

Rufus – Houndoom

Ceto – Seadra

Dante – Gallade

Titus – Bisharp

Pokemon in Preparation:

Saraph – Charizard

- (-o-) - (-o-) - (-o-) - (-o-) -

Author's Note: What!? I updated in less than a month!? Is this a dream? I guess we'll chalk it up to a good old fashion Christmas miracle. Not much to say about this chapter other than… OOGA BOOGA! *ooh scary!*

Hope you all enjoy. If you're feeling particularly giving, please check out my site – which fanfic won't let me post the name of (hint: it's MetalDargon at p. .e.o.n). If not, I always appreciate a review. And by the way, wow! Probably going to hit 1000 reviews with this chapter. Thank you all so much for your support and interest!