AN: Thanks again to Noxy88 for betaing this chapter. Everyone should go check out his new story The Calling of a Trainer.

GASP, two chapters in less than two weeks?! What is going on?

Shout out to n0mster and Blue is the Sea for some great reviews that definitely gave me something to think about. I'll be honest that I wasn't sure what UnlimitedPastryWorks meant by 'breaking SoD' in his review, so if you read this, I'd love some clarification.

Chapter 14: A Web of Lies

Finn stared down at his newly evolved starter. A knot formed in his throat as the emotions from the past few days began to take hold. He crouched low so that he could look Felix in the eyes.

'This was the next step. They'd come so far.'

"Felix! Look at you!"

From the ground to the top of his largest hump, Felix now stood at around four feet high. A far cry from the small swinub that he'd been when captured all those months ago. Finn thought it likely that the piloswine would continue growing as he aged and became stronger too.

He reached a hand out, scratching behind his partner's hairy elephantine ears. Finn's hand trailed down Felix's furry face towards where the two recently developed tusks radiated a cold aura. It was almost as if they were made of ice.

'Icicle crash is going to be deadly now,' thought Finn.

He was about to see if the tusks were actually made of ice, when Felix launched himself forward with a happy grunt. Finn's breath was violently ejected from his lungs, and if he hadn't recently gained a much more robust constitution of his own, his pokémon's weight may have broken some of his bones.

He gasped, laughing as the ground ice type licked at his face. "Down boy!"

Finally, he broke free and heard a regal voice call from above the rim of the hole they'd just broken free from. "I'd say that even more congratulations are in order."

Finn looked up with a toothy smile. "I guess we passed, huh?"

"With flying colors. Even more, Reginald and I are blessed to bear witness to the evolution of your starter. It's such a special event," said Clair, while rummaging through her travel bag.

She pulled out an ultraball from within, and in a flash of red, a League loaner alakazam appeared beside her. "I take it that you are quite eager to return to Violet, Finn? It will take us multiple teleports to return to Johto. Why don't you allow me to take you and Felix for a little celebratory dinner in Blackthorn on the way back so we can further discuss your future?"

"Uh—Absolutely, that sounds great!"

He and Clair said their goodbyes to Reginald, who stood stoically by his own alakazam.

The keeper of Sinjoh waved in farewell, before adding, "Young man, thus far I've only taught you the very basics of what it means to be a type user—Just enough for you to keep it a secret. I want you to continue practicing your meditation techniques on a daily basis, lest you lose control and hurt someone." At that, the older man paused as if in deep thought. "Of the sixty or so trainers who have passed through Sinjoh during my tenure here, you have some of the most raw potential that I've ever seen. It would behoove you to find a teacher if you can manage it, Finn."

At that, Reginald turned and marched back towards his house.

It was hard for Finn to describe just how odd it was to be back in his hometown after so many months of travel. It had taken them several disorientating teleports to reach civilization again, and walking down Blackberry Street towards one of leader Clair's favorite restaurants was surreal to say the least.

The summer bustle of the streets reminded him of how great the summer in Blackthorn was for the scant few warm months they got so far north. The mountain town's residents always took full advantage of that time. People sat in groups at outdoor cafés, chatting and sipping coffee and other stronger drinks. Some were shopping at the various department stores in the area, and some were even heading towards the trainer fields to watch pokémon battles.

Considering all that had happened with the unown, Finn was in a constant state of trying to adjust to his new gifts. Even the simple action of walking down the street was made with less effort than ever before. Almost easily, Finn's senses extended downward where he could tell by the empty gap in the dirt that either a water main or a sewer pipe ran down the length of the street. The constant newness of his senses was invigorating, if a bit disorientating. It was like he could do anything.

The sun hung low on the horizon when the pair made it to the restaurant. An attendant held open a richly polished mahogany door for the two trainers. Posted in front of the host stand, a sign read: 'Pokémon Dining Areas Available Upon Request.'

The hostess, a pretty brunette woman in a white button up blouse greeted them kindly. "Good evening Leader Clair, do you require your regular table for you and your guest?"

At the dragon tamer's nod, the woman escorted them past the expansive lower dining area where the formally dressed guests sipped on oran wine in the dim candlelight. This was a place that Finn hadn't ever heard of before, and he grew up in the city.

For a moment Finn had the frightful thought that he might run into his stepfather Vince, before he realized that the man wouldn't have been caught dead in a place like this.

They continued towards the segmented back portion of the building where the restaurant's paneled flooring transitioned into smooth aesthetically pleasing stone pavers. There, the dinner guests were of a much more eclectic sort—namely, they were pokémon trainers.

On one side, a boisterous party of four was seated around a small wooden table clinking together full mugs of beer. Next to them lay four differently sized plates on the ground where a nidorino, furret, murkrow, and quagsire were all happily eating together.

They weren't the only ones either. Four other sets of trainers were scattered in clusters around the courtyard-esque room. One of the groups was even dressed in the navy and reds of the ACE.

When they reached their table, Clair said, "Go ahead and let Felix out, Finn. It's allowed here, and this meal is partially to celebrate his evolution."

Clair dropped a rather old looking greatball onto the floor where Aurora made her presence known. The kingdra was able to make floating in place look dignified. Finn always enjoyed taking in the water-dragon's sheer presence whenever Clair had her out. Orion was so lucky to have one of her offspring as a partner.

The two trainers ordered drinks and then their meal. Clair ordered Felix an outrageously expensive cornn-durin berry smoothie as a present for his evolution. The drink was meant to enhance a pokémon's cleverness and beauty.

'Felix could do with a few more of those,' Finn thought, looking down at his partner, whose muzzle was covered in the dark purple liquid.

Clair leaned back in her chair and sighed, which was the most casual action that Finn had ever seen from the Gym leader.

"I'm grateful that that is over. I have only ever needed to act as a liaison for a type user on one other occasion, and it did not go as smoothly as yours did," she said.

Intrigued, Finn asked, "What happened?"

"Not many people know this, but I have something of a talent for sensing other people with latent type abilities. I even felt something in you when we first shook hands a few months back. Anyways, that's beside the point," she was about to continue with her story when Finn interrupted.

"Hey wait, so was the reason you let me use your Gym to train? Because you knew I had the potential to become a type user?" Finn accused.

Clair cast her gaze on Finn in amusement. "Of course not, or at least not fully. Look at that piloswine next to you, Finn. You trained a borderline infant swinub into that in just over three months. I'm honestly rather pleased that I haven't lost my touch in judging talent."

Abashed, Finn had the tact to take the compliment for what it was. "Aw, thanks, I think—So um, what happened with this trainer?"

"She was one of my Gym trainers who I knew had the potential to awaken as a type user. I encouraged her to use a diverse team, even though she was interning at my gym to become a dragon trainer. Eventually, her arcanine grew powerful enough that her fire type abilities made themselves known."

"Oh, that's cool. I bet a fire type user could be pretty powerful," said Finn. "What alpha led her to Sinjoh?"

"It was a ninetails. Quite beautiful too," said Clair, clearly remembering the creature. "This trainer, she had a temper, and did not take kindly to the League's rules, so she tried to run. Granted, I was new to this back then, but I ended up having to teleport for back-up when her meowstic teleported her out of Sinjoh."

"That sounds tough, Clair. I mean, I didn't like signing away my life to the League either, but the perks sound like they might make up for the costs."

"That they do, Finn. Unless you're a fool, I don't believe money for training supplies will be an issue for much longer," said Clair with a smile. "Think about what that might mean for your poor exeggcute."

A wave of relief washed over him as Clair mentioned something he hadn't even considered. Benedict would surely benefit from the best medicines, and maybe he could afford a grass stone soon. His other team members could use expensive training items too, like a customizable macho brace or something similar.

"So, what happened to her?" Finn asked.

"We tried to talk sense into her, but she fought back," said Clair, eyes haunted. "She was one of my favorite Gym trainers, and she didn't trust me enough to make sure she was taken care of—This was years ago. Ever since, I have taken upon myself to try and break out of some of my more apathetic personality traits and engender more trust in the trainers under me."

While she didn't answer his question directly, a morbid implication was there. He certainly felt bad for what Clair had been forced to do, but he was also frightened as to the lengths the League would go to protect themselves.

"I'm sorry, that just sounds so extreme."

Clair spooned some soup into her mouth, and swallowed. "It was. I haven't heard of a type user fighting the system since then, but it will inevitably happen someday. You are a part of this club now too, Finn. As you grow, the League will pressure you to join the Rangers or to join ACE, anything to keep their influence."

"I was thinking about joining ACE anyway though," said Finn, scratching his head. "I just want to be left alone—maybe travel a bit. Eventually, I will want to challenge the best trainers in the world, isn't that enough?"

"The best, huh? If I had some advice for you, I would tell you to make nice with as many type users as you can. Eventually, you'll be able to sense them as well. The more people you have on your side, the less likely your independence will be questioned. Make yourself indispensable."

Finn nodded and they continued with their meal. Then, he realized there was something that he'd been meaning to ask the Gym leader about for a while now.

"Hey, so this is random, but did you ever uncover what was going on at the warehouse with all of the dead bugs?" asked Finn.

Clair's lips firmed into a fine line. "Well, strictly, I'm not supposed to speak on the topic. I will say that we did not uncover evidence of anything broader than the Violet experiments, like what you overhead that Zeta woman mentioning on her phone."

That was good news. He'd been a bit worried thinking about traveling to Azalea for his second badge if there was going to be another incident.

The rest of the dinner went well. He got to know Clair on a more personal level than he had before. At one point the dragon type user even showcased some of her abilities when she hardened the skin on her hand into dense orange scales.

"Before we continue our teleporting back to the ruins, do you mind if I drop off something at the Pokémon Center? There's something I have to take care of," said Finn, thinking about the smeargle resting inside a pokéball on his belt.

In one teleport they were standing outside the fire-engine red building. Finn ran inside and placed smeargle's ball into the Trader's Guild kiosk and assigned it to the open trade he'd formed with the other trainer along with a message.

'If it hasn't been too long, here's as close to a yellow smeargle as I could find. Hope to hear from you soon, thanks.'

He clicked the button stating that he was ready to initiate the trade on his end on an open-ended schedule. Finn would have to keep tabs on the kiosk in the coming days to make sure he didn't just leave smeargle waiting indefinitely out in the ether.

There was a PC system that trainers could use if they went over their six-pokémon carry limit. This system could suspend pokémon for months at a time without adversely affecting their health. It was the same system utilized in the trading kiosk. The nurses at the Pokémon Centers monitored all trainer's boxes to ensure that none of the pokémon were held in suspended animation for too long.

After that, he and Clair continued their cross-continental teleport. When they reached Cherrygrove, the Gym leader had to change psychic types, as the loaner alakazam was beginning to take on a haggard appearance. When a graceful gardevoir nodded at the two trainers, they kept going.

Twenty minutes later, the duo appeared in a small thicket of bushes by the Pokémon Center outside the Ruins of Alph.

"Finn, we're going to have to come up with a cover story for your absence," said Clair, face serious. "You can't tell anyone, not even Alan or Orion."

Finn's forehead creased as he attempted to plot out some kind of reason for his three-day disappearance.

In a spurt of inspiration, he came up with something on the fly. He pulled out his hunters knife.

"Woah, Finn, what are you doing?" asked the dragon trainer, raising her hand in caution.

"Nobody's going to believe I was taken by a rogue flock of xatu unless I have some scrapes to show for it," said Finn, wincing as he sliced a shallow cut on his cheek, and then another one near his bicep. "Felix evolved to fight them off and saved me. It took me all this time to find my way back to the Pokémon Center."

Clair's brows rose in surprise, and then her eyes hardened into something akin to respect. "Be sure to stay out here until you stop bleeding and the blood dries."

At Finn's nod, she continued, "Finn, I want you to call if you ever need anything. I'm now your only real contact who knows what happened to you. Even if you just need some tips on your abilities. When you reach Azalea, I'll make sure to have Bugsy talk with you about his own experiences. Just the same, I'm also going to work on procuring a pokédex for you so that you don't have to share with the other boys. I would rather you not be without a means of communication."

He was starting to get used to people doing things for him, so he only stammered out a thanks before Clair, in an act that shocked him, pulled him into a tight hug.

"Take care of yourself, Finn. You get into entirely too much trouble," Clair released him from the hug. "You should consider increasing the frequency in which you collect badges. As of now, I would rank Felix solidly at the fourth badge level. If you don't hurry it up, I will start feeling bad for the trainers in your badge tier that you face on the routes. In fact, I might have to let Bugsy know not to take it easy on you."

Finally, the League owned gardevoir began to shimmer in an outline of purple light, and with a quick wave goodbye, the Gym leader vanished from sight.

"FINN!" a shout came from the inside of the Pokémon Center as Finn feigned a slight limp, moving past the electronic doors.

Cameron nearly crashed into him in his haste, his lotad hopping over next to him.

Finn affected a tired voice, "Hey there, Cam. It's been a minute, huh?"

He hated lying like this, but what choice did he have? He'd have to put on a bit of a show.

"You're hurt! Let's get you looked at," he said, concern marring his features.

Finn shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Nothing a few days won't heal. I will get my pokémon looked at though."

After going over his xatu story with the younger trainer, they were forced to go find a way to reach out to the rangers that were searching for him out in the ruins. Apparently, Helen and Jonah were out helping with the search as well. They'd sent Cameron back to the Center just in case Finn found his way back there.

"Felix evolved?" Cameron shouted. "Let me see him!"

Finn released the piloswine next to him, who basked in the astonished ministrations of the other trainer.

Minutes later, Cameron was shaking in relief when a ranger on top of a fearow swooped past a streetlight and landed before them. Finn shot his friend a quick

glance. He imagined that the whole ordeal had weighed heavily on Cameron. It had been his first time out on the routes, and someone had gone missing.

"Please recall your piloswine, sir," the ranger said. "I'm Ranger Trenton Byres, am I to presume that you are the missing trainer, Finn Abernathy?"

"I am, thank you for looking for me, sir," said Finn, meekly.

Once again, Finn was forced to recount his fictional tale of being abducted by a flock of xatu, who'd teleported him to their nesting grounds. It was only through the heroism of Finn's pokémon that he'd returned alive.

"I was so tired that I honestly don't think that I could navigate you back there," said Finn with exaggerated exhaustion.

As the ranger began filling out the incident report on his pokédex, a small beep came from the device, and the man scrunched up his face in confusion.

"This is saying that information related to your trainer profile is restricted?"

'Well shit,' thought Finn. 'Of course, something like this would come up.'

"That's weird, I guess you'll just have to take that up with the League then?" said Finn, his face scrunched up in confusion.

Cameron's expression curled in confusion, seemingly able to tell that something was off. Finn cursed his shitty acting skills.

"Humph, we'll just have to finish the interview another time after I look this up," the ranger said, shaking his head.

"Thanks again for looking for me," said Finn.

The ranger told them that he'd put a halt to the search party. Part of him was comforted that there was a search party at all. Half of the time trainers went missing in the wild, nobody even noticed.

Apparently, it would take Jonah and Helen two days to get back from where they were searching, but Finn felt like he owed it to the two older trainers to greet them before they parted ways.

The first day, Finn waved off Cameron, saying that he needed to train alone with his team after the ordeal with the xatu. He found a clearing north of the ruins that was suitably far from the main routes and then he released his entire team before him.

Dixie squawked and shot over to Felix to inspect her newly evolved teammate. To Finn's shock, the psychic energy stemming from Benedict was that of happiness as the two remaining exeggcute heads stared at Felix, apparently joyful that his friend had gained his next form.

"Benny! You're recovering!" Finn laughed.

'Finally, things were going right.'

It was only due to Finn's new senses that he could feel the undercurrent of sadness in Benedict.

Loss and unfulfilled potential were the impressions that swirled around in Finn's head.

His exeggcute was scared of being left behind. Despite those thoughts, Finn was overjoyed that Benedict was finally beginning to heal. The treatments were working. He could even make out two small spherical protrusions coming from each of his pokémon's heads, which could only be newly developing egg-bodies.

Quake barely gave Felix a second glance, and hissed at Dixie, lobbing a small rock at his combusken's head.

"Enough! None of that!" Finn shouted down at the larvitar, whose gaze turned thoughtful as he took in his trainer for the first time since he'd gained his type abilities.

Quake was giving Finn a look of utmost curiosity. As larvitar were rock-ground types, he and Finn shared a same-type connection that only Felix understood to any degree. Finn's new gifts reached out, able to assess the ground type essences circulating around his larvitar's body. He could only hope that this would make training the stubborn creature a little easier.

"I've undergone a bit of a change. If you try really hard, you can probably feel it" said Finn, addressing his four pokémon. "Hopefully this will help us communicate better, and I've heard that, over time, you all might experience a closer tie to ground type energy than you would have otherwise."

Finn playfully kicked at Felix, who was trying to arrange himself in a position to lay on his feet.

It was time for Finn to try and implement a training strategy he'd been thinking about after seeing Felix and Dixie's improvement after the battle in Violet. Prolonged use of singular moves greatly increased a pokémon's endurance and ability to use the move. It seemed so simple, but his combusken had used ember so many times against the bugs that it was closer to a flamethrower now. Finn's plan was to make sure that Dixie could handle the full flamethrower move.

Over the next two hours he put his team through their paces. Felix was ordered to practice bulldoze until he could bulldoze no more. The hope was that eventually, the overuse of bulldoze would make it so Felix could learn the strongest ground type move that was legal in tournament competitions: earthquake. Finn didn't expect anything for a long time, but a start was a start.

He'd wanted to give icicle crash a shot, but figured that it was important to solidify his partner's gains from the previous day with the ground move.

When the day was done, Dixie had made her breakthrough and was able to use flamethrower in short bursts. Her determination in training was something to behold. His combusken, normally introverted, became a machine in practice and battle.

Quake actually followed through on Finn's instructions, and practiced pulling stones from underneath the earth and tossing them as far as his stubby arms would allow, creating a large pile of rock not far away. The size of what he was able to pull from the ground increased as the training session went forward.

Finn even had Benedict start to practice. Earlier in the day, he'd knelt down next to the duo-head exeggcute and brandished a small pebble in his palm.

"Benny, if you're up to it I want you to hold this pebble in the air for as long as you're able. If you get too tired, feel free to stop and just enjoy the sun," he said, hoping that including Benedict in the drills would alleviate some of the exeggcute's insecurity about being left behind.

Benedict held the pebble for a full hour.

Finn was a full participant in practice. He spent much of it meditating and absorbing ground essence from the earth below, adding it to his core. Other times, he performed exercises while helping his team with their practice.

He wondered if he'd ever stop marveling at the transformation he'd gone through. During one session, he hadn't grown fatigued even after an hour of holding a plank position.

Two full days of training flew by, including his new endurance unit in the morning, and accuracy and move training later in the evening.

Jonah and Helen had arrived.

Finn and Cameron had been doing some basic move training with his lotad behind the Pokémon Center when an overenthusiastic lucario sprinted up to the two trainers, exceedingly happy to see Finn alive.

"Finn!" a matronly voice called over. Helen and a tired looking Jonah walked up, before the blonde woman pulled him into a hug.

"Hey, you two. It's good to see you," said Finn, his voice muffled up against Helen's trainer jacket. Once more, a pang of guilt shot through Finn's gut as he prepared himself to lie.

"Goodness, you're alive!" said Jonah, his eyes taking in the healing wound on Finn's face. "They told us that it was a xatu?"

"I almost didn't believe it! Xatu aren't known to do that, but in the ruins, the normal rules go out the window don't they?" he said, rambling.

Finn gave a bitter smile. "I guess… but it forced Felix to evolve, so I'm not going to complain too much. I hope you guys didn't freak out too much?"

Helen laughed. "Oh, we were a wreck searching for you. You should've seen this one," she said, pointing over to Jonah. "After we'd forced you to carry all of our stuff for days, we go and lose you!"

Finn let out a small chuckle. "Well, you're right about that! But what about the ruin? Did you have any time to study it?"

"Well, our first priority was obviously finding you, Finn," said Jonah. "But we did search extensively inside the ruin itself, and we couldn't help but take note of the glyphs and symbols around us."

Helen interjected, "And once we heard you were safe, and were on our way back here, we attempted to sketch what we saw. How about we show you over lunch?"

The four trainers continued to chat in the Pokémon Center's cafeteria.

Jonah pushed a spiral notebook across the table for Finn and Cameron to look at.

"The symbols line up with what I remembered from before," said Jonah, excited. "We're going to regroup here and go back in the next few days."

"We'll have to find some new assistants to help us, that is, unless you two want to try for round two?" said Helen, with some hope in her voice.

Finn was busy deciphering the writings in the notebook. Some of it looked like crudely drawn humans near lightning bolts, swirl patterns, and trees. Near the beginning of the drawings, one particular picture caught Finn's eye. It was a human stick figure next to what may have been a raindrop. Jonah had scribbled a handwritten note that said, 'water element?'

What interested Finn was what went after the drop. A symbol similar to a zero with a stick figure man in it. Then there was a triangle, like the platform he'd landed on in Sinjoh. Could that mean what FInn thought it might mean?

"I have to get back to Violet, unfortunately. My friends are expecting me," said Finn, still thinking about the image. "I will say that I learned a lot from you both, and I hope we run into each other again."

The group continued their pleasant chat, and decided that they'd part ways the next morning.

After checking yet again, the smeargle trainer still hadn't responded, which Finn thought was a poor sign. He would just have to keep waiting for a few days more.

Before the group left, Finn left some parting words for the archeologists.

"I had a thought while I was looking at your drawings. Some of the glyphs on the ruins looked like water droplets. But what if at least some of them represented something else? What if they were drops of blood?"

He figured that his cryptic hint to the two archeologists wouldn't quite get him in trouble with the higher ups. For all Finn knew, blood had nothing to do with what happened to him.

Finn and Cameron had a productive trip back to Violet. Cameron had beaten enough trainers to be able to afford some items, and was able to catch a puppy growlithe. Spending the rest of their journey taming the rambunctious fire type pokémon was adorable.

As the two entered the Violet city, and neared the Pokémon Center after more than a week of being gone, Finn turned to the other trainer. "Cameron, I've enjoyed traveling with you, and I hope that my disappearance didn't dissuade you from trying the Gym circuit out on your own. I think that Lotad is well on his way to beating a tier one Gym, and I'm sure you'll do just fine with Growlithe."

Cameron shuffled his feet a bit, and looked over at Finn. "Ho-oh, I don't think I've ever owed someone more in my life. With two strong pokémon, I'll finally be able to leave home. Lotad's getting stronger every day."

"That's what happens," Finn chuckled, ignoring the deeper parts of what was said, and then continued, "You've got my 'dex number if you ever need me. I hope that the next time I see you we'll be able to battle properly."

Two days later, Finn typed his information into the trading kiosk at the Pokémon Center, and actually got a result.

'That's perfect Finn, I've initiated the trade. Take good care of mareanie!'

Finn couldn't help but be surprised, after days went by without a word from the other trainer, he'd expected the trade to remain unfulfilled. Without hesitation Finn pushed the 'Accept Trade' button, and finalized the trade.

He left a message.

'Thank you! I look forward to seeing your art one day.'

He trained his eyes on the blue and red greatball in his hands. He had another teammate to train. Another partner to provide for. Hopefully, this pokémon would become the defensive behemoth he dreamed that it could be.

Finn was just about to head to the training area at the center to meet his new pokémon, when he noticed a red exclamation icon in the 'Messages' area of his trainer profile.

'Hey Finn! We pretty much had no service the entire time we were in the valley, but we're almost back to Violet! Come meet us at the south entrance and we'll head to Azalea! Sorry it took so long.'

It was from Alan and Orion. They'd returned from the Charicific valley.

Finn had no trouble exiting the city, and was patiently waiting for his friends at the spot where Route 32 extended south from the city's walls. It went past the Ruins of Alph until reaching Union cave, where they'd have to make the multi-day journey through the pitch black of the cavern until they reached Route 33, just days from Azalea. All in all, it would probably take the trio two weeks to reach their destination.

The sun was fully overhead when his friends finally made it. They exchanged exuberant greetings before Finn demanded, "Well, come off it guys! Let's see them!"

The two teens shared a conspiratorial look, before dropping two pokéballs onto the ground before him.

Finn was glad that the two appeared to have gotten along well on their traveling trip. He'd been somewhat worried that they'd come back as enemies considering how different their training styles were.

In a flash of light, two nearly identical forms took shape. Standing at around two feet tall, the brightly orange scaled lizards chirped at one another. One yawned, and proceeded to extend itself into a lying position on the ground for a nap, the fire on its tail burning brightly. The other turned with a harsh glare at Finn's brown-haired friend.

Orion laughed, and scratched his head, embarrassed. "Yeah, he doesn't like me too much yet. But don't you worry, I'll turn this guy into, like, the best dragon there is!"

The charmander in question blew a cloud of smoke into its trainer's face.

Finn couldn't help but be amused. He'd had plenty of experience with unruly pokémon. On a whim, Finn decided to show off a bit, and took out Felix's ball.

"Check this out."

Finn pulled his shirt up to his face to wipe away the sweat out of his eyes.

The trio was almost to Azalea, and the cool mornings that the group had enjoyed just south of Violet, and throughout their journey through Union cave had given way to the tepid, humid, and lush forests of Route 33. After the first couple of days, Finn's constant urge to shower had faded into a lingering annoyance. He wasn't sure he'd ever get used to the sensation.

The three trainer's training had gone well. Each of their pokémon had improved while they were on the road. Finn's newest pokémon was a docile mareanie, who wasn't quite used to battling outside of water yet. He'd taken to releasing her any time they found a water source, just to try to acclimatize her to being above ground. The marine creature was willing to try though, which Finn took as an encouraging sign.

During the trip, Finn's only complaint was that he had to find time to practice his type abilities in secret, and it was proving more and more difficult to do. So hard in fact, that Finn was beginning to think that he might have to start considering traveling as a solo trainer. He couldn't let up on his training, otherwise he might have a lapse in control and someone could get hurt. Both Orion and Alan had noticed that Finn was quite obviously never as tired as they were after a day of travel. It sucked not being able to tell his friends, but he was bound by the League.

Lighting the way through Union cave had been a cinch with two charmander, and a combusken. Even so, Finn was grateful that his endurance training had paid off so well, because Dixie's ability to keep her flames going had allowed the two pre-evolved charmander some time to rest.

"I'm so happy we're almost there. Air conditioning here we come!" said Alan, his newly evolved breloom walking at his side. "Humans weren't meant to endure this much water in the air. We might as well be swimming!"

His breloom, who appeared to love the moisture, whacked his tail against his trainer's backside. The mushroom pokémon's personality had undergone a major shift after evolution, from dopey to sarcastic.

"Enough of that, you!" said Alan, clearly at the edge of his patience.

Dixie's twittering laughter was enough for the blonde to get even more annoyed. Alan was about to lash out more when Orion interrupted, "Aw, cool it, Alan. We're almost there anyway."

The older teen had Drake out walking with them. The grass type had also taken well to the new climate.

It was then that they ran into a trainer wandering down the road.

At first, Finn didn't really recognize him, but when the person walked past the shade of a tree and into the light, his eyes widened in surprise.

Long red hair. Confident smirk. It was Silver.

AN: Whelp, that's Chapter 14 in the books. A bit of a transition chapter, but there's plenty of action to come! I'd love to hear from any of you either via PM or review!

Finn:
Felix - Piloswine
Benedict - Exeggcute
Quake – Larvitar
Dixie - Combusken
Mareanie

Orion:
Darya - Horsea
Magikarp
Drake - Grovyle
Tufts - Flaffy
Charmander

Alan:
Phanpy
Breloom
Luxio
Charmander