Edit(ed) by: Andrizzi

"Ah, there you are."

{So, why did you want me to get here?}

"I already told you, did I not?"

{You tell me many things. Do you mean them, though?}

"In most cases. Now, I assume you know protect?"

He nodded.

"How good do you think it is?"

{I can block almost anything with it.}

We currently were in an arena, set up specifically for fights with pokémon.

That's meant as 'fights between pokémon', but I wouldn't be me if I wouldn't use that for my own goals.

"Show me."

He brought up the shield, and the familiar pattern of hexagons appeared.

I just raised my hand, fitting it between two of the plates, then grabbed one of the plates and broke it off, doing that in quick succession with others nearby.

The shield buckled, but held, but only until I brought down my fist on the exposed part.

Then it splintered, and Imai took a step back out of surprise.

"Two things. You did two things wrong," I said, looking at him.

"One: Your surprise caused you to move. Don't do that. It can give an opponent the edge they need to beat you in battle. Secondly: Your shield was as they usually are. They can be broken apart by precision attacks, and you may have noticed that your thundershock has hit me even though I used protect. The attack flowed around it, as it is what electricity does."

{Well, I can simply concentrate on myself having a good stance, but how do you expect me to protect my shield? It's made to protect me, after all.}

"Rotate it."

{What?}

{Jester? Why are you here? I thought you don't watch those battles?}

[This one is different,] the Alakazam replied in psychic speech, responding to the question of the machamp.

{How so? I only see a human telling a manectric what to do.}

[Watch and learn.]

The manectric brought up a protect, and then the human shot forward, his right hand glowing pink.

As soon as the attack connected, the shield cracked, but then shifted. Behind the manectric, a piece of rubble started to levitate, then knocked him in the head, causing to lose concentration, which the human used to break open the shield.

Half a second later, he was at the manectric's throat, a glow surrounding his hand, which was placed on said throat.

Taking a step back, it was visible that the manectric was frustrated.

"You're dead."

{I know! How the hell did you get that good?!}

"Because unlike last time, I know what I'm doing now," the human responded, taking his place on one end of the battlefield.

They stood still for a moment on their respective sides, then an enormous amount of electricity arched forwards, aimed for the human.

However, a thin, purple line appeared above him, touching the ground and discharging the attack into nothing.

The manectric shot forwards in a blur, but before it could hit the human, said human had stepped out of the way, delivering a punch to the manectric's side.

Said manectric now opened his jaw, a torrent of flames flowing out. When they vanished, the human stood there, undamaged.

{H-how?!}

"I also did not use all my tricks when we met the last time, Imai."

{Wait,} the machamp said, turning to the alakazam.

{That's the second-strongest electric pokémon in the city! Are you telling me he's beaten by a human?!}

[I have to admit, while it is certainly unexpected, it is not surprising to me. I know how adaptive humans are. You may not have noticed, but to protect himself from the last attack, he used what little power he had not to counter or protect himself, but to divide the flames around him.]

"You see, I did split the flames this time. I can affect them, I just created a wind with air behind me."

{And why does every psychic pokémon tells me that's near impossible?} the manectric responded, a bow arched.

"I have near no power. That power is traded for control. Now, you should have watched your surroundings more closely," the human said, around twenty small pink points lighting up around the manectric and blasting him.

{When did you place those?!} he asked, visibly damaged, exhausted, and unable to continue to fight.

"During our last battle. You have to remember things that affect the battlefield. When you place spikes on the field, thanks to her ability Kyo won't run into them. When there is an electric field, I will use everything in my power to exclusively lessen the damage of electro attacks. Always remember the battlefield," the human said, pulling out a potion and a berry.

The machamp stared in shock at the scene before him.

{What just happened?} it asked, looking at the alakazam.

[Well, that was 'future sight', an attack whose effect can be stored and set free later. It takes time to use though, so it was the perfect idea to set them up while attacking the shield. A defending pokémon won't attack you.]

{I don't mean that, and you know it! How can a human beat such a strong pokémon?!}

"Because he uses special attacks," he heard the voice of the human behind him, causing him to jump.

[What do you mean?]

"I would definitively lose against you," he said, pointing at the machamp.

{Why?}

"You are a close-combat fighter. One good hit and I'm out of the fight, especially since my bones can be broken far more easily than those of a pokémon. He, however, can only tackle, bite, and scratch me, everything else he does is not a direct attack on my body. You have to know your opponent."

{I see…} he responded, but before the human left, he decided to say one more thing.

"That is IF you can land a hit. My powers are psychic and as such highly effective against you. Fight a psycho, dodge everything until you can land a hit. If you fight a fairy, attack as soon as possible, as they like to use attacks that take long to charge but hit everything around them."

After the human left, he turned to the alakazam.

{Do you think we should go after him?}

His partner shook his head.

[No, and for two reasons. One, he only gave us advice, and beating a pokémon is no reason for suspicion. Two, I was able to sense a psychic connection within him, and I'd rather not have whatever being he's connected to come after me, as it would be as strong, if not stronger than him.]

{Still, it's scary that a human can beat such a strong pokémon.}

[And it's relieving to know he's one of only three I know of seven billion humans. A few strong humans are not a problem, many weak would be.]

{I'm beat.}

"What did you expect? I said it would make you stronger, did you thought I'd just let you run laps?"

{I didn't expect you to go toe-to-toe with me while being twice as strong as you were last time!}

"Always plan for the worst, then you can only have a better outcome. You have to expect your opponents to be stronger than you are, and you have to plan around that."

{How did you do it?}

I thought a moment about it, taking a sip from the orange juice I ordered in a nearby café. Products made from normal fruit are a nice change of pace from all the berries. Looking at the sky, I turned back to him.

"I refined what little power I had, looked how I could make the most effective attacks. That's why I didn't rush in but waited until I could hit that critical point, remember? I also train each day, not for long, but enough to keep my strength up."

{I also train each day, and I can't beat you!}

"You still think in the wrong way. Don't think about how you can beat me. Think about how you can fight me. Don't plan for that – plan to react to my powers. You could have dodged most of the future sight attack, you know? You could have used quick attack to get out of there."

Upon hearing that, he just hit his head on the table, next to the figy berry he had not eaten yet.

{Imai? That you?}

Looking at the voice, I spotted a sceptile, having just walked in with a female teenager in trainer clothes.

I brought up my tablet and looked it up, and surely enough, this concrete jungle actually had a trainer guild and more than thirty pokémon centers.

"Huh. The more you know," I mumbled, putting the tablet away again and listening in on the conversation.

{…sorry to hear that. Where do you live, anyway?}

"I'm sorry, we didn't interrupt anything, did we?"

{…after the egg…}

I looked up and shook my head.

"No, not really. We were just relaxing after training."

"Yeah, I don't understand why he just rushed over here, he's usually more well-behaved."

I thought a second over it.

"Does he have a mate?"

She looked surprised but nodded.

"How do you know?"

I nodded to Imai.

"One of my pokémon has a special ability she can use on eggs, and asked Imai here to look if there's anyone in need of help."

"I feel like I should know that name."

"He's one of Okubo's pokémon."

She looked at the manectric, understanding in her eyes, then confusion.

"What did you two do to make him that winded?"

"We trained his shield attack. Imai, you done?"

He nodded.

"Then mind showing the new shield?"

Said new shield popped in existence, rotating at a moderate speed around the centerpiece.

"Why does it turn?"

"It's way harder to break that way and can damage those who try. The plates of the shield there can be destroyed, but one needs a good grip on them to do so, which is way easier with a static shield."

"Still, training new attacks should not make him that exhausted."

"He fought a psychic and lost."

"How?"

"In an arena?"

"No, how did he lose?"

"The psychic pulled a massive future sight attack. You know the attack?"

She shook her head.

"It stores psychic energy in the surroundings, free to use later for the one placing them there. During the fight, there were placed many at the same point, and when he was there again – boom."

"I see. Well, I'll be going again, we just passed by."

{East wailord str. 31, 2nd floor from 8 to 10 o'clock; either tomorrow or next Tuesday.}

I nodded nearly unnoticeable, then turned back to the trainer.

"Well, it was nice chatting with you," I said, placing down the empty cup. While I wasn't looking, Imai also had eaten the berry.

After she left, I pulled out the tablet again and searched for the street, then groaned.

{What is it?}

"No matter the what or where, the how is a good question. She's living in the eastern district, and pokémon can't move around without trainers or their owners there. Too bad I – wait."

{What do you plan?} Imai asked, recognizing the look in my eyes just way too well.

"{So, how do I look?}"

"Human," dad deadpanned. The horn and tail were gone, everything else was like the last time.

"Where do you want to go?" 'Adam' asked to keep up appearances.

"{Someone asked for my help, and since Kitsune is big enough, I'll take him with me. Fujita has to stay here though.}"

{AGAIN?!}

"{I told you why, did I not?}"

"What sort of help?"

"Kyoyhoa can give pokémon eggs that stopped developing a 'push' of sorts. They would never hatch otherwise."

"A noble goal. You won't go with her though – you still have school attend to."

Internally, I grinned.

That was exactly the reason I was going at this time. Since everyone was either at work or school, there would be way fewer problems.

"Fujita?"

{Yeah?}

"You know that you can come with me to school, right?"

{Really?!} she asked, bouncing and grabbing a berry for energy.

{'M ready!}

Chuckling, I picked up Kitsune (as Kyo) and my bag (as Adam), then left the house.