Alright, so quick AN: firstly, its the anniversary of when I first started posting this story on FF! Yeah! An entire year, and I'm still writing on it. I almost can't believe it. Thanks to everyone who has been following this beast, I can't wait to see where we'll be by the second anniversary. Next, I did post/ am posting the first chapter of the OG version after I'm done uploading this one. Its different enough that it could be worth a read even to someone who has gone through this story. Alright, enough blabbing.

On Hand:

Barastyr- Deino

Icelos- Pupitar

Viridios- Vibrava

Pandora- Cleffa

Anubis- Krokorok

Nephthys- Dragonair

Abra

With Professor Oak:

Megara- Bagon

Triton- Frogadier

Hades- Axew

Silvanus- Gabite

Erebus- Torracat

Oceanius- Seadra

Other:

Fearow- With Bill

Thoughts of his parents filled his mind when he woke up. As little as he wanted to admit it, he wasn't blind. He had noticed some similarities between himself and both of them. How could he not? Pokémon wise, his father had two of the same team members as his mother's preferred team. Now, he had them as well. Both of his parents had at one time, captured both a Cleffa, or one of their later forms, and an Abra. He knew his mother's Pokémon better than his fathers after all these years, but he also knew that all four Pokémon had been trained for very different things.

Delia had trained her Clefable, Star, to be quick, and to master the few moves that she knew. Star only had access to three moves that she learned via TM, but she was able to manipulate them to an extent that most Pokémon couldn't even dream of. His father's Clefable was built more muscular and had always been slightly taller, and he could put more power behind his moves, especially his physical moves, than Star could. He also had a wider range of moves, mastering more than ten TM's past the point of being useable in battle.

Whereas Delia had carefully spent her time making her Alakazam faster, his father had always encouraged his to think for himself. Alakazam were natural strategists and were built more for psychic battles than physical ones, but his mother had defied that and made sure that Ancient was more physically able to protect himself than most Alakazam could, of he was caught, of course.

Overall, his mother believed that speed was the most useful trait to have, whereas his father believed that having diverse protections were the best way to deal with whatever situation he got into. Ash loathed to admit it, but he seemed to be favoring his mother's methods with Pandora. He didn't like it, but his Cleffa just wasn't the type to keep a level head on the battlefield. She got more leniency than any of his other Pokémon when in reality, he should have worked her the hardest since she was the most able to be molded into a superior fighter.

Still, Pandora wasn't a battler. She didn't mind it, of course not. She enjoyed the occasional fight where she could prove that she was superior to another, but she wouldn't ever have the same cravings for battle that some of his others did. He was alright with that, more because she wasn't a Pokémon he had ever even given a thought about putting on his main team.

Her value wasn't in battle, but in company, companionship, and adoration. He wanted her to be great, but he didn't want to force her into situations that would help her get there. Of his Pokémon, only really three of them, maybe four, were passionate about battling. The rest were alright with it, but they didn't crave it the way he did. That hadn't stopped him from using them in battles. That hadn't made him stop and think about rather or not they would be happier occasionally getting that satisfaction or not.

So why had he not pushed Pandora in the same way that he had the others? She was small, delicate, and needed to be protected, right?

He stroked her soft fur and held her closer to his chest as he wondered around Saffron. He'd been wandering for hours with only her and V, who still refused to return to his Pokéball. Barastyr was, for lack of a better word, pouting that Nephthys, weak, vulnerable Nephthys, had evolved before he could. Neph was still recovering from her evolution in hopes of being able to battle later that day. He didn't want to stress her out too early. Icelos was having trouble moving around, and while his evolution hadn't been as difficult as Neph's, it had still happened under extremely stressful events. Anu was too big and too tense to be allowed to stay out. The croc was more than slightly twitchy about being here, and honestly, he didn't want to deal with the aftermath of Anu snapping at some poor fool who managed to gain his ire.

There were things he could have been doing. He could have been switching his team around again, he could have been going over a strategy for beating Vesper, he could have been trying to settle his stomach. But no, instead, he had been thinking about his parents all morning, causing him to be a useless waste of space.

He didn't like thinking about the good times, like the first time he had been allowed to watch his parents battle, or the times he had been able to learn to how to make the breads that his mother often gave to their neighbors. They had been happy once upon a time.

It had been years since then, and when his father died, the good memories had stopped. He hated anything that even suggested that he was similar to his mother.

Which, admittedly, was the main reason he had been ticked to realize that he had two of the same Pokémon species that she did. He wanted to make his own mark on the world, not follow in her shoes. Regretfully, that meant he needed to change tactics with Pandora.

She should have evolved weeks ago, since she had such a low level of evolution compared to most of the others. What were her biggest strengths? What were the biggest weaknesses? He didn't care about making her able to take on practically any opponent, but he did want to make sure that she would be able to stay safe through anything and everything that came their way. She would have to become an enforcer of sorts to keep his dragons under control when they wanted to snap. Pandora was going to have to become a leader of sorts, and he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

If he was content with the team he had, which he mostly was, then he needed a way to keep them safe, and that way was going to have to be Pandora. He grimaced at the thought, but it made sense. He'd prefer for Pandora to be a backup of sorts, but that might not be possible.

Unless he got his hands on an ice type and a fighting type, or another fairy type, he supposed. Finding an ice type, or another fairy type, would be a pain. It wasn't impossible, he supposed, but he certainly had a preference towards an ice type over another fairy. As for a fighting type, those weren't particularly hard to find.

Still, he didn't like the idea of having a pure fighting type or a pure ice type. Maybe…

Maybe he should find a Pokémon that was both dark and ice, as well as one that was both dragon and fighting. They could play the role of peacekeeper better than Pandora, especially if they became friendly with each other. Sneasel was the only option for an ice type, and the Kommo-o line would have to work as well.

He wasn't fond of the idea, but still, he knew that he would keep it in mind for the future. When he was ready to find his final fighters then he would consider it again. For now, he had more than enough to keep himself busy.

Pandora's training schedule was going to have to change either way, even if he didn't particularly like the idea. Not just her, he realized with a sigh, but all of his team. They were being held back by him. While it was important for dragons to be treated with caution when they were young, it was more important to make sure not to let them underestimate themselves as they grew. If they thought they had lower limits, then that is where they would think their skills were maxed out at. On the other hand, if they became overly confident, then it was possible for them to overexert themselves and get into situations they couldn't get out of.

He wandered around, thinking of his team. Some of them, he acknowledged, were simply not meant to battle. It wasn't that they couldn't, it was that it would never be a passion to them. To be fair, he had known that some Pokémon weren't built for fighting. It was why he wanted to be so picky in the first place. Unfortunately, he had allowed himself to get caught up in the whirlwind that almost all new trainers did. He wanted to be careful about his team, picky even, but most of them hadn't really been his choice.

Which, surprisingly, he was fine with now, but it left him in a very awkward position of having to choose who needed to become passionate, and who just was more of a companion Pokémon. Pandora, admittedly, was the latter. Either she didn't want to evolve past her baby form, or she was content in her current strength and didn't feel the need to fix it. She wasn't the only one, though. Triton, Erebus, and Megara were all the same, though for different reasons. Triton didn't like fighting because it showed off his inadequacies and what he needed to work on, which was insulting to the prideful Pokémon. Erebus just didn't care one way or another just yet, as he was lazy and most content whenever he had a nice, warm place to take a nap. Megara had strength, unlike the other three, but she loathed using it for him. She didn't want to help him in any way, and if she absolutely had to, she would step in, but her word was the only reason she hadn't abandoned him. Megara was the only one of the Pokémon he received in Mt. Moon that hadn't started to care about him one way or another. To her, Ash was just something to ignore and work around.

That was four of his Pokémon that had no interest in helping him get stronger. Add in Fearow, who he would eventually get back, and Abra, who probably was too afraid to let himself be emerged in a battle due to his absolutely horrible control, and that was an entire team's worth of Pokémon he couldn't use in battle.

Of the Pokémon he used regularly, Anubis, Viridios, and Oceanius were the only three that really craved battles. Granted, Silvanus had been leaning towards the more brutal side of battles since he evolved, but he wasn't absolutely obsessed the way that the other three were. He had no doubt that Icelos would join the other four in being the brutal heavy hitters of the team, especially since he seemed to be getting a worse temper since he had been stuck in a practically immobile shell. Even Barastyr, his faithfully distant starter, wasn't really obsessed one way or another. Hades didn't mind the challenge, neither did Nephthys.

He had added fourteen members to his team, and only three of them loved battling. With those odds, he had no doubt that he would have to do something to incite some kind of passion in his team, otherwise, they were all going to be overwhelmed before they could even make it to the Indigo League. He supposed, if worse came to worse, he could manage with what he had, but they wouldn't place very far unless battling became something they actually wanted.

At this point, he realized morosely, he would be better off just mixing the Pokémon that would be willing to fight into a group and pulling from there. Not that having Barastyr, Icelos, Anubis, Viridios, Oceanius, Nephthys, and Hades as a team was really a bad one, it was pretty well balanced actually, but it was a little disappointing to realize that his dreams of being able to have an exclusively dragon team was probably out of his reach, while his dreams of having a purely dark team were most likely not going to happen. At least not yet.

Would it really be so bad to use a mixed team for his first league? It wasn't perfect, and it did make things a little messier, but there was no reason at all to hold himself back. Who was he trying to impress anyways? Why did he care if anyone else didn't like the types he had an affinity towards? He knew his team, and he trusted them to keep him safe. Hadn't they proved themselves yesterday? And in Mount Moon?

He shook his head roughly and grumbled to himself. His team had different interests, different passions, and different roles in his life, but he wanted more of them. At this point, he wasn't sure if he was just a bad trainer, or if he had just become more insecure since he had left Pallet Town.

Where had his confidence gone, he questioned himself. Where was the boy who had known so easily that his team simply wasn't ready for a gym battle because he knew the personalities he was working with?

His eyes widened slightly as he finally recognized the heavy feeling that had been plaguing him all day. He could have hit himself, he thought bitterly as he turned back towards the Pokémon Center, this time his legs walked quickly instead of being dragged.

He was in withdrawal. The dark type energy that Barastyr had given him yesterday had kickstarted his body again and brought a deep emotional unbalance in his very soul that needed to be fixed before his mind could actually work again.

That was the problem with dark energy. It was addicting, dangerous, seductive, and could easily kill someone if they weren't careful with the energy. Dark energy wasn't meant for careless idiots who were trying to break the hold over someone. He knew better, had known better yesterday, but he had let himself make that mistake. He would just how to get used to it now.

Thankfully, he hadn't wandered too far away, and he practically bolted past the front entrance towards the video phones. Within minutes, he had the switched Pandora for Erebus, knowing that the little fire type would get some good out of his stupidity. There really wasn't any way to fix it, per say, it had become part of him, and it would be obvious to anyone who was sensitive to the abyss exactly what he had done.

As soon as the door closed behind him, he moved V away from him, letting the dragonfly Pokémon sit on top of the dresser instead. Once he was free from the hold, he sent out Barastyr, Anubis, Icelos, and Erebus, before sitting on the floor. The five seemed a little confused, but it was Anubis, of course it was, who seemed to notice something wasn't right.

"I'm an idiot." He muttered, more to himself than his team, before looking over at his starter. "Seems like we accidently triggered an addiction, Bara." Normally, it took repeated exposure to dark energy before an addiction could be formed, but in this case, he was pretty sure that channeling it to Vesper, then getting attacked by a powerful psychic, and bonded with said psychic while the energy was still coursing through his veins had done the trick.

He knew the symptoms of a dark energy addiction, including the muddled, morose thoughts, heavy depression, and loss of appetite were just the beginning. With dark energy, either he would learn to control it, or it would overwhelm him until he didn't have much of a personality left. Becoming a shell didn't sound like a good time, so he would have to do something a little bit different. He'd have to embrace the addition until it became intertwined with his soul, like Abra was. If his attachment to the Abyss wasn't already formed, it would be soon.

It wasn't all bad, of course. There were benefits to the energy. The biggest one was the protection it would offer him towards psychics. Lesser psychics wouldn't so much as be able to touch his mind without being caused pain once the addiction had been formed. His dark Pokémon would also get more powerful, because there would be an energy loop between them. They would need his energy to stay healthy just like he would need theirs. They would have a naturally deeper connection because of the energy exchange, and they would be able to handle their evolutions a bit easier since he would seem less like prey with the energy flowing through his veins.

All and all, it was a risk to form, because sometimes it would cause a person's organs to rot away inside their body since it tried to reject the energy, or insanity in those already mentally unstable. But that would only happen if the energy rejected someone, and it certainly hadn't rejected him.

As soon as his words registered in his brain, Anubis knew what to do, just as Barastyr did. The two of them raised their auras, and carefully sent them towards their trainer. While Icelos and Erebus would want to help, they hadn't yet tapped into their dark energy. But, the extra energy in the room would be good for them and hopefully help increase their own once they evolved.

Ash just relaxed as he felt the cool, welcoming embrace of the energy. It seemed to drain away all of his nostalgic pain and his uncertainty. It felt almost possessive of him, as if it wasn't happy that it had to share him with other types, but overall, it was accepting. He spent a few minutes drawing just a little of that energy into his own body, through his nose down his throat, into his lungs and blood from there. It was strangely calming, but disturbingly, it felt as if he was hole for the first time since he had walked in and found his father's body.

Within minutes, it was over, leaving behind only a feeling of abandonment that would fade the more frequently he did this. His eyes closed as he worked on controlling his breathing once again. When he had fully mastered his own body again, he let out a sharp, short, bark of laughter and opened his eyes. It could have been so much worse, he knew. If the energy had rejected him, instead of embraced him, he would be nothing more than a rotting corpse on the floor right now. If he wasn't meant for the Abyss, promised to the Abyss, he would be dead.

He felt a small, warm body lean against his own and glanced down at Bara. Every bit of his soul ached right now, but it was more of a raw feeling than one of pain. He reached down and carded his hand through the long, course black fur on his starters head, scratching softly as he did. The next time he did this, probably tomorrow, it would hurt a little less. Soon, it wouldn't hurt at all, and it would simply leave him with an intoxicating feeling.

His eyes moved to the rest of his team. Anubis seemed a little bitter, but otherwise calm. He seemed to know that his place as a replacement starter wouldn't be needed soon. It had always been a little difficult for him to connect with Barastyr, whether that was because of his own stupidity, or because neither of them was really sure what to make of the other, even after so much time together, he didn't know. He had been using Anu as a crutch of sorts, because if things had been different, Anubis would have been his starter. Of course, if things had been different, then it was entirely possible that he would have never met Barastyr at all. The greatest thing about Anu was his ability to understand the needs of those around him. Even if he ignored them most of the time, he rarely ever ignored Ash's needs, especially the ones that the boy himself didn't understand.

Icelos' eyes were firmly on him, practically glowing in a dire need to help what had become his boy. He hated that he was stuck in this form, even if it would be over sooner thanks to the extra dark energy his body now stored because his boy had been smart enough to realize that he would need it. Yes, the boy was finally starting to understand his place.

Erebus was mostly confused. The cat Pokémon had never sensed something like that before, especially since he was able to tell that the energy was only a drop's worth to the Krokorok. He had known that his bad-tempered teammate was strong, but he hadn't realized exactly how strong he was until just then. The energy that the two leaders released had called to a part of him that he hadn't expected it to. It seemed to soothe him, yet at the same time, it fanned the flames inside his spirit. He wanted to be able to do that. Even if he wasn't as concerned with the boy as his teammates seemed to be, mostly because he didn't really have the energy to care, he did still have a thirst for power than had been squashed by his inherent laziness. If he was around that energy again, it might have been able to bring out the fire type in him before his inner flames could become smothered once again.

Unlike the others, Viridios was more disturbed by the action than anything else. If anyone had bothered to ask, he would have been more than happy to admit that his viciousness was simply a part of him that had been crushed under cruelty for too long. His mind didn't work the same way that the others did, he didn't bother with the same weaknesses that the rest of the team was held by. In fact, he couldn't care less if an outsider was killed, though there was some satisfaction if it was done by himself. The only creatures in this world he bothered with were those who belonged to him, which included the boy, the croc, and the crazed sea horse, no matter how much they bickered. The rest of the team, he supposed, belonged to him as well, but that was more because they were cared for by the boy than any real feelings of anything else. Viridios respected power above all else, and from the time he had first laid eyes on the boy, first tested him, he had known that this boy wasn't like the last one. That one wanted to control him, suppress him, crush him, while this one just wanted him. It had boggled the Pokémon. No matter how vicious he acted, how cruelly he took down those who opposed him, the boy still looked at him like he was valuable. It was probably that, above all else, that had made the Pokémon state his claim on the human.

He could admit, he was protective, or maybe just possessive, of the boy. When the boy had almost been knocked off the roof while he had been held down by the rodent, he had been ready to kill someone. The boy was his, HIS, and he had been useless to do anything when his possession had almost fallen to his death.

Viridios knew his clingy behavior was simply being indulged for now and that sooner or later, the boy would get tired of it. But for now, he was pretty sure that the boy needed to feel guarded more than Viridios needed to keep an eye on his possession.

Still, he did not like that his boy had been so uncertain all morning. He especially didn't like how nothing could tear his boy out of the dark thoughts. It seemed like something had snapped in the boy, and before either he or the small star knew what was going on, they were back here. Viridios made a mental note to fill in the small star next time he saw her.

An addiction, of all things, to that heavy tainted energy. Viridios tried to hide his repulsion at the thought of his boy willingly letting that ghastly, vile energy touch him. It felt like flying to the dragon, and not the good kind. No, this felt like flying through a wall of thorns that tried to rip though flesh.

If it was what the boy needed to be able to function, though, then he supposed he would just have to put up with it.

On his part, Ash felt a hundred times more in control with the energy back in his veins. His thoughts were sharper, his mind moved more smoothly, and his body didn't feel as weighed down. He still felt like hitting himself though. He should have noticed yesterday that this might happen, and he hadn't even considered it.

He, more than the average person, knew just how tempting the power from the Abyss could be. Honestly, though, he was lucky. Yesterday, he hadn't really considered the consequences of choosing Barastyr over Anubis, he just knew that his protector had been busy and that Bara, while having less dark energy, had far more control than Anu ever could because he wasn't as attached to the Abyss. If he had, by some chance, used Anubis and tried to lock into his power, he probably would have been overwhelmed or worse. Then again, he could have gotten dragged into the Abyss right there and then if Anubis' meager control had slipped. Which might have ended with him dead anyways.

Then again, according to Sabrina, there was every chance that he could end up pulled to the other realm eventually, especially as his addiction grew.

Hiding a grimace, he made a mental note to make his way to one of the dark cities soon, probably Spikemuth seeing as there were no other big-time gyms that had dark type Pokémon as their focus. With some luck, he wouldn't need to spend the next few years researching a way to keep him tethered to this world, or at the very least able to control when he was pulled from this world. It would be inconvenient, to say the least, if he was pulled away during a gym battle, or worse, the league cup itself.

No, he was going to gain control over this thing, and to do that, he needed to understand it. He considered his options for a few minutes, keeping his hand carding through Bara's rough fur. He still had plenty of time to collect the badges he needed, more time than he probably would need, especially if one of his main flyers evolved, or Abra could teleport him around. Just because it was a tradition for newbie trainers to walk their first round of Kanto didn't mean he particularly had to.

In fact, most trainers only spent maybe a quarter of their time hunting down gym badges, the rest of it was spent training, catching new Pokémon, relaxing, or learning. If he got further behind the rest of the quintet, then as long as he managed to get his badges in the end, who really cared? He didn't, and if he got to spend some time researching his two favorite types, learning more about how to make them stronger and how to help them grow, then that was his business. His journey, every bit of it, was his to take.

He had to stop second guessing himself. It was getting annoying having to change his mind every few days. He needed to learn how to get the control and flexibility that he would need to help his team, and that meant going back to the basics.

Golden eyes looked over his team again, only Neph and Abra weren't out at the moment. He gave them a considering look wondering if they would be discouraged if he put off their next battle for a little while longer. He knew that he needed to speak to Sabrina before anything else, though. Only she would know if he would need to take Abra along, or if he would indeed be able to find him no matter where he went.

Spikemuth for the dark type library he knew they had, even if it wasn't common knowledge, and maybe Blackthorne, since they had the largest collection of dragon type information on the globe, more than any of the other dragon-based cities at least.

He glanced at his Pokémon again, this time returning Erebus and Icelos, but letting Neph out instead. He needed to make some adjustments to his team, talk to Sabrina, talk to the professor about maybe calling in a favor to let him get into the Spikemuth Underground, and go through his own research again. He knew that he was missing something obvious, like there was some piece of information he knew but couldn't remember that might help him get the control he needed over himself and his developing addiction.

With his rag-tag team behind him, they moved towards the gym, uncaring of the looks that they got from seeing a black and gold eyed boy leading a Deino, Krokorok, and Dragonair while a Vibrava clung to his back. He couldn't really bring himself to care if they were afraid, or if they appeared more disturbed than they had that morning when he had been walking around with just Pandora and V. It was their problem, not his.

By the time they made it to the gym, half of his team was more than a little annoyed, while the other half had their protective instincts more than triggered because of the hostility. To be fair, he understood. Dragons like Nephthys and V were well known for being powerful, while Pokémon like Barastyr and Anubis had a flee from sight order. He completely understood why people would be uncomfortable seeing a young trainer and that many dangerous Pokémon.

Just because he understood, though, didn't mean he wanted to deal with it, or that he didn't think they were stupid for letting the reputation of a species effect how they saw individuals, he thought angrily as he opened the main dark glass doors to the gym.

Mostly because she didn't really like psychics, Ash returned Nephthys before they could actually see anyone. He would have tried the same trick if Bara, Anu, and V would have let him. Sadly, he knew better than to bother, no matter how much he didn't like it.

He walked over to the front desk, making sure that Anu and Bara were as calm as they could be, before ringing the bell. Within seconds, a young man peeked out from the door behind the desk, seeming less than surprised by his appearance. He had a mop of chocolate brown hair on his head and light brown eyes that seemed a little glazed.

"Ash Ketchum, right?" At his nod, the man came out, handed him a folded-up piece of paper, levitated Abra's Pokéball from his belt, then walked back through the doors, leaving him alone once again. Well okay then. Thanks, he guessed.

He unfolded the paper, a little surprised to see a ticket for Hulbury in Galar that was meant to leave in a week, but it was the other thing, a photocopied page from what looked like an ancient text, that really got his attention. It looked like a poem, but from the way the pages looked on the paper, it was probably more than that. He read it carefully, feeling his eyebrow raise as he did.

From the depths of Regal Shadows

A victor of Gold will emerge

Two souls stolen from the other

Twin Fates will so diverge

One will ruthlessly return their home

To a noble past of Sovereignty

After taming gods and myths

Shall he make all bow on bended knee

Here be the warning to the King:

Do not falter from your path

A single misstep can leave

Four realities altered in aftermath

The other will be all but forgotten

By the cruel pages of history

Unremarkable and unseen

With hidden secrets of drowning mysteries

A caution to his loyal shadow:

Remain devoted and unseen

For the same crown for you

Would become a guillotine.

Both Fates must be chosen

One of silver, the other of gold

Least both fail their world

Leaving their stories untold

Take heart in darkness, young king

Wear wisdom as a crown

Take the place of legends

Make all united bow down

The Sire shall be but a single ember

Ready to ignite the world to cinders

Until all that remains is ash

In the wind, blows unhindered.

Safety shall be but a hallucination

Foes coming from all angles

Even friends could leave

Their corpses if not cautious, mangled

Should success follow the chosen

A reign of peace forever remembered.

Should greed rule by force

All that remains shall be dismembered

He knew this story, had run across it in Professor Oak's lab a year ago actually, but he hadn't actually put any type of weight on the words. After all, the book it was in had dozens of others, and none of them had ever actually come true. Still, he had read it as a warning, of sorts, about keeping one's greed under control.

Though, he had remembered wondering exactly what the person who had written the piece had been taking, seeing as most of the rhyme was just plain silliness. Rhyming unseen with guillotine, while it technically worked, was more than a little dumb.

Shaking his head slightly, he wondered what she had in mind when she decided to print out this page of all things. Then came the exasperation when he realized exactly what the ticket meant. She foresaw him going to Galar, so she was making sure to pave the way for him to go.

It also meant that he wouldn't be able to travel with Wally any further, since the boy needed to go west towards Celadon while he, apparently, needed to head south towards Vermillion. He gave the closed-door a considering look. Seeing as the teen had just handed him the message and taken Abra deeper into the gym, he wondered why the Leader had decided not to have that conversation she had mentioned yesterday.

Giving a mental shrug, he headed back towards the Pokémon center to rearrange his team again. He knew without a doubt that he would need Oceanius for his battle with Vesper. He had never lost to the boy when they were growing up, he wasn't about to start now that he had his own team with their strengths and weaknesses. Though, admittedly, he was positive that Vesper would end up having an ice type, just to be difficult, or a fighting type because he wanted to be a jerk.

Then again, didn't Vesper have a Spheal back in Mount Moon? As a gift from the professor? Either way, he had more than one idea how to get around it, even if he wouldn't be able to use V, Anubis, or Silvanus, he could still use Oceanius, assuming he wasn't too tired, or Bara himself. Barastyr's dual typing would only help a little, but he was sure that he would find a way to beat down the crazy, irritating, cocky annoyance.

Vesper tonight, then tomorrow, he was headed south. Easy enough. He could do this.