"There you are!" a male cinccino shouted, voice like a ghastly beast, echoing off of the surrounding terrain. "Did you think we'd never find you?!"

"D-Dad? How are you here?" Tamin pleaded.

"How long were you hiding from us?!" a female cinccino shouted at Tamin.

"I don't know!" Tamin pleaded, taking a step back to try and gain some room. But packed between two unimaginably high hills, there wasn't much room to step into.

"Are you using that lying tongue of yours again?" the female cinccino continued, venom laced into every syllable. Tamin could even see a forked tongue momentarily escape her mouth.

"N-no! I swear I'm not!"

"I cannot even begin to describe how selfish you are!" The male cinccino accused Tamin, "Running away from us, making a perfect family be broken just so you can be off doing your own adventures!"

"Dad, I'm sorry!" Tamin continued to plead, her vision being blurred by tears in her eyes.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it…" the male cinccino said to Tamin.

Suddenly, that male cinccino was behind Tamin. There was no transition, he was just there. She tried to turn around and to make another plea, but she instead felt some invisible force wrap around her neck and tighten.

Her airflow clasped shut. She tried to bring her paws to her neck to fix it, but whatever it was around her neck was somehow intangible, like the hands of a ghost. She kept trying, but to no avail. It only seemed to tighten, even.

She tried gazing upwards, looking out for some miracle, some light to aid her. There was nothing. Not even a single star. Just a pitch black sky, ghost-like clouds drifting onto infinity, and the only light was the pale, haunting, cold moonlight.

"Dad… please stop… dad" Tamin pleaded while choking. Her airflow was cut off from her lungs. "I… hate… you…"

Tamin abruptly awoke. Her heart rate was still racing as she breathed heavily, quickly went into a sitting position and wrapped her paws around her scarf and tried to break it off from around her neck.

"Ah!" Locke shouted as he was awoken from his slumber as well, Tamin's commotion having scared him. His fur also created a flash of light and glowed from this sudden surprise.

After only a moment, Tamin was able to recognize that she was safely inside of Locke's room and the guildhouse. She realized that what was around her neck wasn't anything choking her, but rather it was her guild scarf. Most importantly, she realized that what she had just gone through was a nightmare, and that she was now back in reality.

"It's okay. I'm safe from them " Tamin spoke to herself quietly.

"What's going on!?" Locke asked.

"Oh, uh, it's nothing " Tamin said while she turned to Locke, only now realizing that she had woken him up, "I was having a nightmare, my parents were… it was just a bad dream."

"It's alright, it's alright," Locke stood up and walked over to Tamin, coming to console her.

It took a moment for Tamin's heartbeat to steady again. It had felt like her soul had partially left her body and it spent time to fully anchor itself back into her flesh. It was very similar to how she felt when she nearly died from Olivia.

"Feeling any better?" Locke asked Tamin after a little while.

"I guess, still off," Tamin admitted, gazing at her body and all of the messy, strewn fur. "Still not feeling safe. Just… strange."

"Strange like what?" Locke asked.

"I don't know how to say it. I was just so sure I was going to die when she was choking me, and to still be alive… I guess I just feel more mortal now. I feel shaken down to the core."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I think I've felt that a few times before," Locke explained.

"How about you?" Tamin asked, "are you feeling better?"

"Well, I'm not feeling worse," Locke's voice was exhausted.

The two pokemon both gave a long sigh. They were just tired of everything at that point.

"At least we don't need to be dealing with Olivia anymore. That's a silver lining," Tamin said.

"I know, and I'm glad about that," Locke replied. "Heh, guess I got two bad women out of my life real quick. At this rate, I guess…" he trailed off, he couldn't think of a punchline to that joke.

"I honestly wonder what would've happened if I let Olivia into this room," Tamin said. "I guess she would've just kept stalking out, but she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, so what would that escalate to?"

"I guess Sylveon would've ended up coming over either way. But in that case, it might've been to stop me from hurting her," Locke said.

"I mean I guess. I just… I feel bad because I don't think I can help you as much anymore, not like this. I feel I need my own help now."

"It's not your fault. Just give me some time, I'll be alright."

"I think it is my fault, Locke. I barely put up any fight against her, I didn't get a single attack in, I was totally helpless," Tamin said. "I've barely gotten any better at fighting at all since I joined this guild. I've been taking every possible chance to avoid doing a mission, and I've just been bashing things when I go on one."

"Huh… it's been awhile since I've gone on a mission with you, now that I think about it," Locke reflected as he looked towards a box he had in the corner of his room.

"I've always been taking the easiest missions on the guild. Mainly with Scampi," she was forlorn as she explained. "I've been putting in the minimum all around… I guess I've just been thinking that I could avoid all danger. Nearly being killed by Olivia is where that mindset got me."

"Gotcha. I… guess I don't know what to recommend to you. Just try to take some harder ones when you can I guess. Don't blame yourself."

"I didn't think you'd have something to say," Tamin admitted before releasing a sigh. "I don't think either of us can really give the other therapy right now… can I just leave and be by myself for a while? Or do you want me to be here if you want me to be here with you?"

"You can leave if you want. I'll still be here in the morning. And the day after that."

"Thanks," she sat up. "Again, I'm sorry this happened. Hope you're able to get better soon."

"You too."

Tamin turned to the door and left. Her head seemed locked to the floor as she left. It didn't lift when she entered the hallways.

She hugged the inner walls of the guildhouse as she walked, trying to avoid the outside like it was on fire. Tamin didn't even want to look into the outdoors. Her reality was now confined to such a small area: a few floors of a single building, and someone would have a hard time even paying her to step out of that.

Tamin just wanted to go to her room and waste away sleeping. Problem was that it wasn't nighttime, but actually early in the day. She passed the door to her room to walk into the portions of the building.

Her plan was to just go back to what she used to do: walk around the guildhouse while trying to eavesdrop on what guild members she could. And that's exactly what she tried to do for an hour. Alas, she couldn't kindle any enjoyment from it. Even if it was the funnest thing in the world, she couldn't shake off the feelings of mortality so thoroughly put into her, she couldn't cast off that sad feeling that is accompanied by the feeling that the area around the eyes was more weighted.

What conversations Tamin did pick up on only served to worsen her mood. Everyone was on edge to some degree, some more than others. Between someone who was a member for an entire year being revealed to be an abuser and being rid of, then one member trying to kill another only a few days later. The atmosphere was tense, like a suffocating mist.

Realizing that her mood wasn't improving in the least, Tamin retreated to her room and shut herself in. She rubbed her eyes and meditated. "This is hell," she thought to herself. "I have got to get better somehow. I just feel so weak."

Tamin looked down at her paws, gipping at air then releasing her grip a few times. At that it was clear what she needed: the feeling of actual empowerment to get rid of this horrible spell of depression.

Although in a state like that, it would take some time to psyche herself up to get the motivation she needed.

Thirty minutes later, Tamin came out of her room. This time she had a much clearer focus and intent to guide her. She scoured the halls to look for a specific individual.

It didn't take long for her to find them. Mienshao was in one hall just hanging around, not doing anything in particular. Tamin approached her directly, rehearsing what to say in her head as she did so.

"Hey Mienshao," Tamin greeted.

"Hi Tamin. Are you alright? I heard what happened.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Tamin lied to simply hurry the conversation up. "Are you busy right now?"

"No. Is there anything you need?"

"How much time do you have? I was thinking of borrowing you for an hour or so."

"I don't have anything planned for today, I can help you if you need something."

"Great," she reached to scratch the back of her head. "So I was wondering, do you think you could help train me?"

"In combat, I assume?" Mienshao asked.

"Yes," Tamin conceded, feeling some guilt for asking for help, but not backing down. "I want to get better at that, be able to defend myself. I want to make sure I don't get attacked like that again."

"I understand. I can try to help, but I'm worried I might not be able to do much. We're different types, and our height is a fair bit different," Mienshao explained. "I"ve noticed that training with Dewott has become trickier since I evolved."

"I'd still like it if we tried," Tamin said.

"Of course, I'll help. When did you want to start?"

"Ideally, as soon as you're available."

"Then realistically, in a few minutes. I'd just like to grab some training equipment I have in my room first."

"That's wonderful," she exhaled in relief, things seemed to finally be looking up in some way.

"Should we meet outside to do this? I can show you the spot where I usually train with Dewott."

That question made her flinch. "Umm, no, I'd really rather not go out there," she admitted. "Does my room work for you?"

Mienshao's eyes widened as she began to understand all the implications of what she had said and the current situation. "Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, your room will work fine."

"Know where it is? Counting from the front, it's the sixth room on the East wing of the first floor."

"Got it."

"Good. How about you get the stuff you want and meet me there when you can?"

"Will do."

"See you then, then," Tamin said. For a moment she thought about how repetitive her language had been, but disregarded that a moment later. There were things to be done.

Just as planned, Tamin did her best to rest in her room for a few minutes, until she hears a knock on the chamber door. The knocking was hard and coming from near the top of the door, so she could identify who it was based on just that. Even when she knew it was Mienshao, she still tensed up and needed to relax her muscles.

Tamin opened the door and let Mienshao in. She brought a fancy bag in with her, it clanked with wood as she moved.

As Mienshao entered, she took a look at the room. It was finely made, actually reminding her of the sort of rooms she grew up in with the small details and little blank space, the main difference being that the furniture was small, designed to account for Tamin's mass. Though what did seem strange was that the room's windows had thick black curtains hung on them, and both the walls and ceiling were blanketed in some odd mats. Ones that Mienshao couldn't immediately identify what the material they were made out of.

"You've got a lovely room," Mienshao commented. "Is this all your handiwork?"

"It is, thanks. I'll clear some room for us."

"Can I ask what you have on the walls?"

"I installed some sound proofing after Yuki managed to eavesdrop on me through the ceiling," Tamin explained. "Wanted to make sure that sort of thing never happened again, so I put those in. You could probably scream in this room and no one would hear you if the door's closed."

"Oh dear, I forgot about that. You haven't had great fortune as all," Mienshao said.

"It is what it is." She pushed a small table to the corner of the room. "Anyways, what sort of training did you have in mind? Not really familiar with this."

"Right," Mienshao dug into the bag she brought. "So fighting is just as much mental as it is physical. Normally I'd start with showing you how you can meditate to get in the right mindset, but you seem mentally calm most of the time, so I think we can skip past that."

"Well not really, I just make myself look like I'm mentally okay," Tamin thought to herself. "Makes sense. So, what else do you have in mind?" she spoke out loud.

Mienshao placed two wooden stands down on the ground, one a fair bit larger than the other. They both had a single wooden pole sticking up.

"We can start with a balance practice. This will be simple, and help you get control over your body movements, which will be very useful for future training. Plus it won't destroy anything," she explained. "We can get into more physical activities like attacking later on."

"Makes sense to me."

"Just stand on the pole with one leg and try your best to balance yourself. I'll do it with you. Don't feel bad if it takes a few tries to get a hang of it, that's what practice is all for."

"Alright."

Tamin stepped onto the smaller pole with one foot, then lifted the other up. Immediately it proved more difficult than Tamin had anticipated, she spent a few seconds moving her limbs around to find a good center of gravity to balance herself with. Mienshao stepped onto the larger pole herself and gracefully stabilized herself in only a second.

"How are you doing so far?" Mienshao asked.

It took a few seconds before any reply could come, as Tamin needed to focus on arranging herself. "Good, I think I can stay like this for longer."

"That's good. Just try to hold the position now," she informed. "Your leg will grow tired, but that's part of the exercise."

"I expected as much," Tamin said before releasing an exhale to calm her nerves. Normally she'd make some motions to get rid of tension, but the current situation made that unwise to do.

They just waited there for a minute, softly adjusting themselves. They couldn't do much aside from thinking, even moving their heads risked a topple. The minccino eventually felt comfortable enough with her position to try talking.

"So is this a training exercise you do with Dewott often?"

"Yes. Ever since we met, essentially."

"I see."

"It was actually his idea originally."

"Really now?"

"Yes. One of the first competitions he proposed to me since we met."

"How'd that go?"

"It was just to see who could remain like this for longer before falling. I managed to win after thirty minutes, but it was a lot closer than I had anticipated," she reflected, but didn't break her balance. "I was sure it'd be me since I've done some stance practice before. I believe that species just uses balance a lot as it goes with their dual-wielding combat style. Plus, I'm sure he's done that exact competition before."

"I see. So are you wanting to make it a competition with me as well?" Tamin asked.

"No, I've found it good for practicing stances and such," she explained.

"I see," Tamin shifted her weight just a tad to fix her center of gravity. "When did you two start dating?"

"Two-and-a-half years ago. I joined the guild after him, and we did a mission together not long after. We became normal friends after that, and I started accepting his competitions. We started dating a few months later."

"Good for you, then," Tamin's voice grew remorseful. She just reminded herself of her dead-ended relationship with Nidorino. She tried her best to ignore that to push forward. "I guess I just wouldn't think you two would be the types to get together. I mean, you're like a noble scion and he's from the country."

"I'm not sure I'd really call myself a scion anymore. I don't plan to actually inherit any positions, I think I'll just keep working at the guild and instead give it to my cousins."

"Ah, I see. So you're more into the guild life than the noble normal life?"

"I- umm… well, today is more about you then it is about me, so let's get back to you," Mienshao redirected. "You seem to keep your balance incredibly well if this is your first shot at it."

"Huh, you're right. Did you struggle more than this when you first did this?" Tamin asked. "It really doesn't seem to be too hard."

"I believe I did. You are balancing quite well."

"Well thanks. I'm mostly using my tail to keep steady, it actually weighs more than you think it would," she had to resist giving her tail a flick to apply emphasis to it.

"That makes sense. My tail is actually quite thin, so I'm using my arms more," she explained. "The lack of wind is also making this significantly easier."

"Yeah, shouldn't forget about that either."

"Let's hold this position for some time longer, then we can move onto more active practices."

"Understood."

The two kept balancing on those poles for a half-hour longer, making occasional small talk about relationships and events along the way. Neither of them actually failed, Mienshao called an end to the activity as she didn't believe it was necessary any longer. She said she was thoroughly impressed, and didn't think Tamin needed anything more for balance training.

From the same bag as before, Mienshao withdrew two blocks and a few wooden boards. She arranged the blocks parallel with each other with a portion of a meter left between them, and then placed one board on the blocks like a bridge over the gap.

"This is the typical way that we train to get stronger. We break through boards with our limbs and moves," she explained. "We'll start with just one right now."

"I see," she said, a whiff of reluctance suddenly came to her. "Could you show me how it's done first?"

"Of course."

Mienshao looked down at the board. She got ones that would fit for Tamin's size, so it was extremely low for herself. It was level with her shin, in fact.

She grabbed the loose tuft of fur that was attached to one of her arms, and clenched it to tighten it. She then let go of it, raised that arm up a decimeter, then strongly flicked her wrist downwards to the board. The tuft of fur made contact with the board with force, and split the board into two symmetrical pieces. The sound of the fur cracking through the air was almost as loud as the board being broken itself.

Tamin couldn't help but flinch back at such a display. She knew those fur tufts had some combat application, but had still seen them as mostly cosmetic up until that point. Witnessing such a thing made her realize just how dangerous they could potentially be. Mienshao didn't even touch it with any of her paws, yet there it laid: cleanly cut like it had always been like that.

Without so much as a word, Mienshao grabbed another plank to place it on the blocks. "You try now."

In spite of the trepidation, Tamin walked up to the new board. It was positioned to be level with her belly, and just laid there. Objects always seem to get larger as you get closer, but the thickness of the wood seemed to get far larger than it should, it now seemed three times as thick.

"Break the board in any way you can," Mienshao stated.

Briefly she considered making some excuse, but then she remembered that this training was her idea and good for her. She just had a premonition that this would be painful. But that was irrational, wasn't it? Afterall, the board was inanimate and just resting there.

Tamin clenched her paws together, raised them up, then struck them down. It was a simple pound. It missed the center of the board by veering off to the right a few centimeters. When they made contact, it didn't fully break through like it had with Mienshao. The board roughly split, making a 'V' shape with a few strands of wood still connecting the parts. Tamin could feel pain singe in her paws.

Mienshao looked at the results as Tamin stepped back. "Not great," she admitted. "Not to be rude, but are you putting any energy into it? That's what separates a normal action to a proper move."

"I'm trying my best," Tamin replied.

"Alright then. Let's do some more practice, I'll get another board."

"Got it."

They continued with the practice several times more, with Tamin trying to break them in the same way. The minccino got a bit better with every individual attempt, but had to take frequent breaks to let the pain in her paws settle. This would be the point in which Mienshao would normally recommend trying some other techniques like kicking, but looking at the minccino's anatomy, she could tell that it didn't seem like a viable method. So Tamin continued with trying pound attacks.

The two went through twelve boards in total, as that was all that Mienshao had brought along. Even with the breaks, Tamin's paws and fingers were still swollen and slightly splintered by the time they were done. She fell back onto a chair and caressed them.

"You did really good," Mienshao said.

"Thanks." Tamin actually doubted those words with her entire mind, but she still tried to be polite.

"I should still be free for another hour. Want to do a different exercise?" she offered.

"I think I'll pass, let me just rest for now," Tamin replied. "You can stay here though."

"Understood." Mienshao crossed her legs to sit on the floor. The room fell silent for a second, but not much longer than that.

"Any analysis you can give of my performance?" Tamin asked.

"There's something I was worried about, and I feel that's been confirmed."

"What is it?" she was deeply concerned as she asked.

"Oh, nothing to do with you, more with me," Mienshao explained. "You're a normal type pokemon while I'm a fighting type, and my training methods are mostly catered to fighting types in specific. So that limits how well I can actually train you."

"Oh. that makes sense, it's just… unfortunate," Tamin gave a certain forlorn expression. She just felt defeated. "Have any suggestions on how I could get better training then?"

"Not at the top of my head, but I can certainly think about it," Mienshao was already in a meditating position as she said that.

"Alright…" Tamin leaned back in her chair. "Hey, random thought. What is your real name? I've known you for a while but I don't think I've asked."

"Scarlet Splendor," she replied.

"I see. Any particular reason you don't use that name?"

"I'm wanting to try and make a name for myself at this guild with my actions, not identify with a name I didn't choose," she explained. "It'd be an easy life if I just rode on the back of my family name for my whole life. I'd make a living through accomplishments."

"Makes enough sense. So are you wanting to distance yourself from your family?"

"I wouldn't say that," Mienshao said. "Just… wanting a life separate from them. Or, not entirely bound to them, I should say."

"Well wanting distance from them isn't really a bad thing," Tamin offered her two cents out. "Seems like you just want some freedom, and it sounds like they don't give much of that."

Those words caught Mienshao up, she couldn't give an immediate response to it. Her eyes showed some confusion, and the rest of her face showed disappointment. "Tamin, I understand your family was quite bad, and I am sorry about that. But try to understand, mine isn't the same. They might not fully understand me, but they do care for me, as I care for them. I don't just want to sever them from my life, they are part of who I am."

"Won't force you to, but are you sure this is how you feel? Sounds like just obligation to stay with them, to me," Tamin commented. "I know that's how my family controlled me. They made me feel that I need to serve them just because 'we're family' and not obeying them was a betrayal. That guild tripping was part of the reason it took so long for me to run away."

"No Tamin, that's not who they are. My parents are the ones who taught me to be as self-disciplined as I am. I'm never getting rid of them."

"I wouldn't say you have to get rid of them, but getting some distance could be good for you," Tamin raised an arm as she explained, providing some gestures as she spoke. "Like do you remember last winter when they summoned you back to your house? That really seems controlling to me. I think you're just more free to be yourself when you're not with them."

"I-... Sorry, I don't want to have this conversation," Mienshao admitted as she got up from sitting down. "There are some things I need to do. Are you fine with me leaving?"

"Go ahead, I won't keep you here," she gestured towards the room door.

"Thank you."

Mienshao gathered all she had brought back into the bag, then left as she had promised. Tamin watched her leave without a word. While it was clear as day she had hurt her feelings in some way, Tamin actually did feel better, as it got her mind off of her own struggles. Whether she got it from books or from eavesdropping, she loved learning about other lives and having a chance to distract herself with those from her own life.

Alas, Tamin's current goal was to get better at fighting. In that regard, she felt she hadn't actually made much progress. She could say she took the first step, and be honest. But she wasn't sure if she could say she went much farther than that.

Tamin came out of her room again, goal unchanged. Once more she returned to stalking the halls, looking at the people therein.

"So, Mienshao's out for today at least. Since she said her being a different type limited how much help she could give, I should find another normal type to give me further mentoring. Now, what are my options with that?

Well, there's Niot, but he's like a manager and not a fighter, so he's not an option. Even if he could fight he'd probably be way too busy for me anyways. There's also Audino, but she's also not a fighter. Hmm…

Wait, is that it? Am I really the only normal type in this guild who actually fights? Huh, I guess so. Well shoot, that makes things more difficult.

I mean, I guess I'll ask some others to help me. I'm sure they could give me at least something."

With that mindset, Tamin further set out to find ones who might be able to offer her help.

"Well, I'd say you've got a pretty good grip on those right there," Dewott said.

"Thanks," Tamin said, looking at what she was holding. They were supposed to be shaped like shells, but they were more like engraved wooden paddles. "So do you always train while holding these?"

"Yep!" Dewott said as he showed off his scalchops. "Keep your arms up, don't lower them. Keep a defensive posture if you're not pulling back to make a strike."

"Umm, okay," Tamin did her best to mirror Dewott's pose.

"Good. Now let's keep it simple: try to strike my body as I block, and don't lose grip of your weapons, but still hit as hard as you can," he commanded. "After thack, we can have you practice blocking. Maybe even parrying if we go far enough."

"Okay, okay, I'll try!"

"Thanks for helping me out with this, sorry if it's awkward."

"It's okay, Tamin. I'll do my best to help," Nidorino said.

"Alright. So, what tips do you think you could give?"

"For me, I always try to keep an awareness of my surroundings when I fight," he elaborated. "I can only effectively attack enemies straight ahead of me, so I need to make sure I'm always positioned to face them. To do that, I need to be able to notice my enemies before they get up to me."

"I understand. But any way I can train for that? That'd be more a whole lot more useful than just some advice for me."

"Yes, actually," he said. "Notice anything off about this room when you came in?"

"Well, I noticed there's a figurine you put above the door when I entered. Is that what you meant?"

"Yes. Before you came in, I scattered various odd objects throughout this room. Find all of them."

"So just a hidden objects game?"

"You have fifteen seconds to spot as many as you can."

"So how do you typically train?"

"I go on a good long run!" Scampi enthusiastically answered.

"Anything beside that?"

"I break some branches I find along the way to practice some attacks!" she said. "I can break the really big ones too! Like big big!"

"Well, anything besides that? More specific?"

"I can crush some rocks too!"

"You crush rocks?"

"Yep! Branches too! I can break all sorts of things! If it's outside it's okay, those things regrow and stuff so it's all okay! Sometimes I do headbutts and other times I do bites and scratches and slams and stuff and more stuff! One time I found this metal thing-a-ma-jiggy that I brought back home and kept as a trophy! There's some good stuff out there! You should really come along."

"Okay Scampi, slow down, slow down. I'm trying to keep track of this all," Tamin articulated and gave the classic 'please slow down' gesture with her arms. "I'm just looking into ways I can practice and get better at combat. Do you have any-"

"Oh! Then you can join me on a run then! We'll practice fast-ness and find some stuff to break!"

"I'd rather not go outsi-"

"Come along! Catch me if you can!"

"Hey, wait!"

Scampi entered a full-on sprint, somehow managing to build up full momentum in only a nick of time. Tamin had to jump onto all-fours to be able to effectively chase after the rockruff, out of the guildhouse and into the outside, and into the forests shortly thereafter.

After finally returning to the guild after an exhausting time with Scampi, Tamin stumbled through the building once again. She had developed a headache after all the running, so she placed a paw on her head to console it.

She returned to her room and took a seat in it. The daylight was reduced out by the still closed curtains, leaving behind a dim room where every detail was still visible, but unquestionably different.

Her arms and legs were tired from all she had done, so she could tell there was some progress, but still felt it wasn't much. She'd gained more raw strength through the ordeal, but not much in the way of skill or technique. Sure she could hit harder, but what she's to do if she runs into another situation like what she had with Olivia? That question plagued her mind, and in that regard, she felt she had spent hours going no where.

Just then, she heard a soft knock on the door. It wasn't hard and it came from close to the bottom of it, so that confirmed it wasn't any of the pokemon she had recently just done training with. She could also tell it wasn't Niot, as his hard talons made a light clanking sound against the door. Locke did seem like a possibility, but it didn't quite feel it was him either. She was left at a loss on who could be on the other side of the door.

"Who is it?" Tamin asked.

"It's-…" the voice on the other end paused. It was only for a few seconds, but those few seconds seemed to painfully drag on. "I'll be honest. It's Hunter. I wanted to talk, I think I can help you."

That was not an answer she had anticipated in the least. While the closed and locked door still stood between them, Tamin contemplated her next course of action.

The first thing that came to recollection was all the ways he wronged Locke, all the cold-hearted 'pranks' he'd done to give only himself amusement at the expense of others. With that in mind, it became a tempting option to shout "screw off and leave me alone" through the wood door.

Yet at the same time, she couldn't easily recall a time where the zorua had wronged her in specific. In fact, just a few days ago there was a time where he pretended to be Locke to bring her on a date. While she didn't appreciate the deception, she also had to acknowledge that he'd made legitimate efforts to make her happy and give her new experiences. There was also the time last winter where Hunter offered himself to be used by Yuki in place of her, he could have saved her from some serious horror with that.

There was a lot she had to consider. But in the end, she couldn't deny that she was seriously curious on what this wildcard of a pokemon had to offer.

Tamin sat up and walked towards the door. She undid the bolt lock and pulled it open. Sure enough, the zorua was sitting on the other side.

"Hey," was all he could say.

"You have my attention. Can I ask why you wanted to talk to me?"

"I've been hearing about your struggles with trying to get stronger, and I think I offer some help to you," his voice absolutely reeked of remorse. Tamin expected him to put on a show and pretend to be a victim. But looking at him dead on, she didn't feel he was being deceptive this time. The telltale signs of a liar simply weren't there. Sure he was clearly an expert at tricking others, but his trickery came from his illusion abilities. Telling a convincing lie and using body language was Tamin's thing, but not so much Hunter's thing. So she was more inclined to believe him.

"Go on…"

"Well, I've heard and seen some of the people you got to train you, and all of them are questionable. I mean, Mienshao I can get because she's bipedal and a physical attacker, but she towers over you and most pokemon. Dewott uses water, Nidorino uses poison, and Scampi can trade blows in a way that you can't."

"I know, I'm trying to work with the best I can get," she felt exhausted as she explained. "Mienshao mentioned this to me. I'm a normal type, and there aren't any normal types in this guild that could give me proper training. So I'm looking to some other people."

"I get that. But frankly, I think your problem is that you won't get very far with those sort of trainers in general. I think you're approaching this the wrong way."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Tell me, how do you think the first great explorer or fighter became what he is, if there were none before him who could train him?" Hunter stepped forward, halfway into the doorframe as he asked.

"I don't know, I guess he figured that stuff out himself."

"Exactly," Hunter said. "I didn't really have a zorua or zoroark trainer to give me all of my combat skills either. I figured out my own tricks and techniques. Makes me a whole lot less predictable when I'm not following the books. That's how I became as good as I am."

"So are you suggesting that I should just train myself?" Tamin inquired to confirm.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Hunter nodded with a smile. "No one knows your anatomy and limits more than you do, Tamin. You don't have Mienshao's legs, Dewott's scalchops, Nidorino's horn, or Scampi's- well- skin. Your a minccino, and your species has its own parts that you've got to figure out and take advantage of."

"I don't have anything equivalent to those."

"That mindset won't get you anywhere. I'm sure you do."

"Like what?"

"I don't know-"

"That's-"

"You'll have to figure that out yourself."

"I really don't know where to start with that," she admitted. "You're just leaving me more confused than anything."

"Well, just go somewhere yourself where you've got some makeshift targets, and just start trying random stuff out. If you find something that has some promise, explore that further. It's always hardest starting out, but believe me: once you get something with promise things will really start rolling from there."

"Alright… thanks," Tamin looked away so it was easier to contemplate the things he was saying. "I'll try that, thanks for all the suggestions."

"It's no problem. Just saw you struggling, so I thought I'd offer some help. Hope my past doesn't make that hard."

Those telltale signs of deception, Tamin could sense they were starting to crop up as he said that. His voice had a subtle shift into something nicer- flirty even. In his eyes, Tamin could notice a small twinkle at the corner of it.

"It's alright," Tamin decided to not acknowledge it. She wanted to see where he was going when uninterrupted. "I know you just mentioned that I need to figure out things myself, but do you know when I should start? I'm not really feeling up to it right now."

"That's perfectly fine," he said. "By all means, have some rest, collect your thoughts, get hydrated, and have a hearty meal. You might need to force yourself to eat if your appetite is still gone, training without calories isn't good."

"Good to know… give me like an hour or two, okay? I think I just want to be alone for awhile."

"I get it. Have a good rest."

"Thanks. Cya."

"Cya."

Tamin gently closed the door, restoring the barrier between them. She was surprised that Hunter respected her desire to be alone that much, she was expecting more of a show and a few "one more thing"s before then. Though she was thankful.

She returned to her hammock and stared up at the ceiling.

Tamin didn't much like going outside. Even before that near death experience, she'd still take the indoors over it. Stepping on hard and unmoving floor boards gave reassurance in an odd way. Stepping on soft grass that compressed underfoot or shaky ground did not. Even so, she knew this was the right thing to do.

She was by herself this time, heeding to Hunter's suggestions by walking towards the nearest treeline. "There shouldn't be anyone who wants to be after me right now. Even so, I told Locke where I was going, and I can keep an awareness of my surroundings. Just as Nidorino suggested."

Despite telling herself those things, walking outside by herself still made her stomach churn. She kept as close to the guildhouse as she could. She had gotten both rested and fed, so she didn't have anything to worry about in that regard.

"Scampi said she broke some things to practice, so sticks and branches should serve at least decently well with that. Plus I could probably try practicing with climbing up trees and jumping between them."

She reached a few trees, and found the fallen sticks and branches which littered the ground. Tamin picked a larger one of them to start with.

Just as she had tried so many times before, Tamin continued with her typical methodology. She put her paws together, raised them up high, and swung them downwards. Even with all her strength applied, the results were still the same predictable thing. The branch broke unsmoothly, and she felt pain ache in the severed webbings in her paws. Tamin took a step back to rub them.

"Okay, so that's what I have been doing, and just hasn't been working out. I'll break my own paws if I keep at this. So, what else can I do?"

She inspected her own body to search for different parts she could possibly use to inflict damage. None of them seemed promising, but remembering what Hunter had said, she figured it was worth a shot.

The next thing Tamin would try was using her legs with some basic kicking and stomping techniques. She could break some smaller sticks with just slamming her foot down, but larger branches proved too tough, not to mention that if she could only hit things below her then it wouldn't be effective in combat. She then tried jumping into the air and kicking on the way down. The added force of gravity made the attack stronger, but the results were still underwhelming. Tamin tried that several more times to get better at it, exhausting a little bit more stamina with each successive attempt.

Eventually she moved on. She tried striking with her shoulder, and that proved to be the worst yet. She broke a few smaller branches with her forehead, but began to understand that wasn't a good idea either as she got a larger headache each time.

The minccino rested against a tree. Desperate, searching for ideas, and trying to console a headache. She seriously considered giving up at that point, only for memories of nearly dying to Olivia to resurface, pushing her to keep going.

Tamin gave herself another once-over. This time around, her eyes landed on something she'd previously overlooked: her grey tail. She felt it with her paws and moved it around some as well. She found it was soft, but when she tried to stiffen it, it actually became fairly hard.

"What was that thing that Mienshao mentioned? Something like 'energy is what separates a normal action from a proper move'. Did she just mean putting in effort, or something more special?" Tamin thought to herself. "I mean, I've seen strange things done by pokemon. Olivia managed to use Attract to make Locke fall in love with her for a spell, there's clearly something supernatural she's doing when using that move, and it didn't seem to involve lightning either. So maybe there's some weird things that I can do?"

Thinking logically, she doubted her tail could do much more than her paws could. But in desperation, the time for logic seemed to pass.

Tamin walked over to another set of unbroken sticks. She quickly realized that she couldn't wag her tail quickly and keep it stiff at the same time, it was one or the other. So just pointing her butt at a target and moving her tail around would do little. She needed something to add some momentum to it.

Glancing around, she saw the trees which towered far above her. It was a decent way down if someone were to fall while up there. A fall that would give her a fair bit of momentum.

She ran to one of the trees and swiftly scaled up it. She climbed onto a branch, and searched for targets. Her first plan was to aim for a fallen branch, but once she noticed a frail branch connected to another tree, she had a gut feeling that it'd be the best one to do. She stiffened her tail as she relaxed all other muscles in her body, she cleared her mind. Tamin didn't want to overthink this, she didn't want the doubts and feelings that this was implausible to hinder her. She wanted to let her body do this naturally, just as every minccino could do.

Worries cast aside, releasing her grip, and pressing down with her legs, Tamin leaps forward, straight towards the frail branch. It seemed thicker and healthier as she closed in, but that did not deter her. In mid-air, she performed a full three hundred and sixty degree front flip to swing her tail around, positioning it in front of her. In that moment, she could feel something had changed with her body, like the once-soft tail was now charged.

Her tail cleanly cut through the wood, and she barely felt any pain. She stabilized her position in air and landed on her feet, the branch falling to the ground only a second later. Tamin raised her head to look at what she had accomplished, and her eyes widened in glee. It reminded her of when Mienshao broke through the wood boards with just a flick of her wrist. Sure it wasn't as impressive, but it was certainly reminiscent. This was so much more than Tamin had ever done before, so much more than she ever thought she was capable of. Best of all: it didn't even feel that difficult. For the first time she had that day, Tamin smiled.

"So, that's how it's done, isn't it?" she realized aloud, still starstruck by this accomplishment. "Well then. There's my promising lead, time to focus on that."

With confidence ignited, Tamin did what she had done several times more. She started climbing trees even higher, aiming for branches even stronger, and doing additional flips in the air. Some thicker branches or stronger woods didn't get cut through so easily, they hanged on or didn't snap at all. Even still, she kept practicing, knowing eventually she could get through them.

She started to mix things up as well. Instead of leaping off of a tree, she tried jumping as high as she could on the ground and transitioning into an attack from that. Tamin experimented with backflips and side flips to position her tail right as well. She found that timing and accuracy were crucial to doing it right, making sure the point of contact happened and having her tail aligned perfectly perpendicularly with her target were necessary components in ensuring the attack would have maximum destructive potential. A misaligned glancing blow or a mistimed flip would do little, it might as well have been a miss. She kept practicing, slightly lowering the odds of a failed attack each time.

After being at it for an hour, Tamin rested underneath a tree again. She didn't feel defeated this time, she felt she'd earned her sweet, sweet rest. Tamin watched a picturesque sunset, feeling so many great feelings.

She took a moment to look down from the sunset and back down, gazing at her paws. "It is a little odd that I'm not really using my paws in combat, considering I use them more overall," she thought to herself as she inspected them, looking at them while separating her individual fingers. "I suppose a normal minccino would probably be better at bashing things than me. But since my paws are messed up, I end up hurting myself just as much as whatever I'm hitting.

Then again, I can spread it out more. There ought to be some kind of an advantage I can get from that."

She thought back to her brief training with Dewott. He encouraged the use of some practice weapons during that. Most pokemon are unable to grip things very effectively with their paws, but with her severed webbing, Tamin noticed she's able to wrap her paws around objects more. She actually could get a decent hold of Dewott's wooden instruments.

Glaring around the woods, she used the last gasp of sunlight to see all the sticks and twigs around her. Burning daylight, Tamin got up from sitting down and walked towards the nearest one. Instead of breaking it like she'd done before, she picked the stick up. Next, with the best grip she could get, she tried swinging it against a hard tree to practice that.

She begun this next part of training by trying to grip sticks with both of her paws. But as her arms weren't very long, she found that awkward to do and severely limited the ways in which she could hold and swing it, so she swapped to holding it in a single paw like Dewott did.

Tamin attempted a few different positions and swinging angles to hit trees and break the sticks on them, only for her to encounter the consistent problem of losing her grip on the makeshift weapon as it made contact. While she could get a good handle on things, the cut muscles made it so things were also knocked out of her grip more easily as well. Her first instinct was to keep practicing until her grip improved and she could prevent or mitigate that. That changed once she noticed just how fast and far a stick traveled after leaving her clasp, which gave her a new idea.

Instead of using the sticks as practice melee weapons, she used them as practice throwing weapons. Gathering a few up, she got roughly five meters away from a tree and used it as a target. The first few throws were made with her fully clenching the stick before releasing it, and veered off target absolutely. Tamin then changed her approach, holding the stick by two points before releasing it. The difference was night and day as her accuracy suddenly increased. Hitting the tree went from seeming like an impossibility, to a legitimate goal to reach.

Dozens more twigs were thrown, many missing but far from all. Even after the sun fell below the horizon and the moonlight took hold, she kept going at it. Eventually, her accuracy grew better and she began hitting more than she missed. She set a goal for herself to hit three times in a row. While it might have taken some time, she did not give up until she achieved that.

Taking another step back and giving another smile, she reflected on what she had learned. "So I can use throwing items decently well, that's good. I can use my tail for melee, and throwing for ranged. Good mix," she thought. "Twigs won't do much, but if I use something metal and sharp, then I could make something out of that…"

Tamin returned to the guildhouse, getting ready to call it a night after her training. She was heading straight for her room, only to then be halted when she heard a voice addressed to her from behind. "Hey Tamin?" Locke asked.

Tamin rotated her head to gaze back at the shinx. "What is it?" she asked.

"I've heard you've been looking to get stronger," Locke stated.

"Oh dang, I hope he hasn't heard about that talk Hunter gave me, Tamin internally thought without actually speaking out loud. "Yes, that has been my main goal for today. And I'd... personally say I succeeded at that."

"Ah, that's nice to hear," Locke said. "Anyways, on that sorta subject, there's something that I would like to show you."

"What is it?" Tamin asked.

"Come, it's in my room," Locke said while he turned around and got ready to walk away.

Tamin nodded to confirm.

"Alright, just follow me."

It was only a small walk to reach his room. Once the door was opened up for them to both get inside of it, Locke began digging around in his unsorted piles of items.

"What are you looking for?" Tamin asked as she observed Locke.

"I found this awhile back when exploring some oldy laboratory with Rustin, Mawile and Excadrill sometime ago," Locke said while he continued to rummage through his stuff, he didn't look at Tamin while he spoke to her, "I originally picked this up with plans to sell it, but sort of forgot about it. I remembered it later and planned to give it to you for your birthday, but it faded from my mind again. But now that I remember it again, I think this would be the best time to give it to you."

"Just what is it?" Tamin asked again, getting her eyes orientated to keenly look at where Locke was scrummaging around at.

"Ah, here we go," Locke said while he pulled out some object that was wrapped in a white cloth.

He removed the cloth to make it visible, and showed it to her. The object was a white stone that reflected light across the room, and even seemed to produce some yellow light by itself. It was dazzling, like a moving video.

"What's that?" Tamin asked. Despite her asking, a part of her knew exactly what the object was. It wasn't because of memory that the object seemed familiar, it was something more intrinsic than that.

"It's a Shiny stone," Locke stated while he pulled the cloth off fully, revealing the crystal like formation inside of the stone, "I know it's what minccino use to evolve into cinccino. So if you want to get stronger, well, this'll work."

Tamin spent a moment just staring at the stone. Her instincts made her feel as though the stone was the most sentimental object in the entire world to her, it was as if it spoke to her. She pulled her paw back, not wanting to make such a significant life decision with haste.

"You want me to evolve using that?" Tamin asked, raising her head from the stone to look at Locke's face.

"It's up to you," Locke replied, "I know this is permanent. But if you're wanting to get stronger, well, I can't think of any faster ways to do that than this."

"Alright… I understand." Tamin said.

She went back to staring at the stone, with her body freezing up as she deeply thought about her options and what to do.

Tamin actually tried to think of a reason why it would be a bad idea to use the stone offered to her to evolve. She tried to think of any reason she might regret it later, as one should, but nothing came to mind. Locke watched her through all of this, he wasn't sure what to think of himself.

After thinking long and hard, Tamin made up her mind. She brought up paws up to her neck to untie her guild scarf and drop it onto the ground, making sure nothing would be in the way of growth.

"Thank you so much for this Locke," Tamin said, intending for it to be the final thing she said as a minccino.

She reached her paw forward and touched the Shiny stone as Locke held it. While she made contact with it, an illustrious blue glow surrounded her paw as she felt some strange energy within her. This traveled up her arm and into her main body, where the blue glow became strong enough that it enveloped her figure completely and almost blinded Locke as he watched. The feeling of the strange energy going through her and traveling across her entire body was something that Tamin couldn't quite put into words, describing the feeling would be as difficult as describing a new primary color. One thing was for sure though, it felt good. Great even.

After the feeling and energy totally enveloped her outside, it began seeping inwards through every pore and every vein, reaching even her soul. The stone evaporated into nothing and the cloth gracefully descended towards the floor. Once the energy became still, Tamin then felt her body changing in multiple, curiously painless ways. She felt her rise up as her legs extended, with the bones of every other limb extending as well. Tamin could feel her spine extending as her tail came out further, even the fur changed to become longer and much fluffier with this transformation. Most notable of all in this evolution is that Tamin could feel hair of a completely different type from her normal fur sprout from the top of her head. It went out far enough that gravity made it turn downward as the hair kept growing longer and longer, strangely curving again to go to the sides of her body.

In a single splendorous act, all of the blue light and energy dispersed from her body, creating a show of sparkles. Locke was able to see the whole thing unfold while Tamin opened her eyes after feeling the energy leave her.

"Tamin! You look beautiful!" Locke said to her when he saw what she now looked, the concerns he had got buried from his mind by the spectacle that was in front of him.

"Thank you so much!" Tamin replied, thanking him both for his compliment and for the stone.

She spent some time inspecting her new body, just as Locke was doing. She felt her tail, now pure white in color and much fluffier. She looked at Locke for a brief moment, seeing him now below her more as she was now taller, but then quickly went back to examining herself. Tamin could feel thin oil covering all of her fur. One of the first things she made sure to check were her paws, which she found to still have its webbings severed and that it hadn't healed from the evolution, which she was unsure if she should have been grateful or disappointed about.

With everything examined, Tamin brushed her fingers through her new hair to feel how soft it was. She then grabbed part of her hair and repositioned it in front of her neck to wear it like a scarf, an action she did purely because it was strangely natural to her.

"I really hope you enjoy this!" Locke said, trying to get used to Tamin's new form himself.

"Oh believe me, I will," Tamin ressaured while looking at her arms, "I think I will…"

End of chapter 35.