~David~

After another little mission, catching a stealing Persian with a Prison Ball, that earned me around 4k, I greeted Joan, who was in the backyard, training fine control with her pokémon. I then went into the house, sat down in my room and reviewed my plans and priorities for the immediate future. With my pokémon.

They had to live with the decisions, so they'd be part of them. "First of all: We'll have to reach advanced stage, you as well as I. We'll need at least one of you at the advanced stage.

That way, I'll be legible to take the test and we'll be able to take higher difficulty missions, earning more money in the process. This, we'll use to acquire ressources to further our strength."

Affected by the serious atmosphere the rambunctious bunch settled down and listened. "As for the one reaching the advanced stage first, it'll be either Carmilla or Weedle."

There was some sibling rivalry between them, which surprised me a bit since Weedle was generally pretty timid. It was fine, usually, and could even help them further their strength faster, but this time I'd have to say something. I won't let them compromise their future.

I looked at the two of them. "It's not a race. It doesn't mean one of you is better than the other, if one advances faster. And most of all, don't rush the advancement. It will only hurt you in the future, and that's not something I want. I'll be proud of you no matter what, anyways."

They gave muted affirmative sounds, that told me, that they'd probably already planned something reckless. I hoped, that talking to them about it nipped whatever they planned in the bud.

I continued. "Additionally, Weedle. We'll start preparing for your evolution. We've gotten everything out of your first stage that was possible, so we'll remove that Everstone from your pokéball as soon as you reach early advanced stage."

I had bought some of those, as there was a set of ten for sale, priced at 3k. They were fairly common, so it wasn't a hassle to find them, but they usually sold for around 500 a piece, so this was a bargain.

Pokémon were able to suppress their evolution without the stone, but it would cost focus and energy to do so, which could be better used through move training.

Everstones weren't really 'held items'. They were placed within a pokéball, and through the connection, they suppressed evolution phenomena.

I was interested in how that worked, but either my clearance wasn't high enough, or the information simply wasn't yet known or released. My personal theory was a kind of radiation, but I might be wrong.

Weedle, at the thought of evolution, seemed to have mixed feelings. I was confused for a moment, but then I had a thought. "Are you worried, that I won't find you cute anymore when you evolve?"

A gentle smile appeared on my face at her subdued nod. "Then stop worrying about silly things. In my eyes, there will not be a single moment in your life where you won't be cute."

She wiggled, embarrassed to be seen through that quickly but happy about the sentiment, was what I got through the bond. Absentmindedly caressing the silly little bug, I turned to the others.

"As you asked, we'll postpone your evolution a bit and concentrate on move mastery, Millie. This will also give me time to collect a variety of items to get as close as possible to a guarantee on your potential increase to light blue, since the evolution will be our best chance for that."

Enhancing potential within the same colour was comparatively easier. Still a hard and oftentimes complicated thing to do, but less so than a tier increase.

"As for you, Gastly... We'll concentrate on furthering your mastery over your moves, look into your aura affinity to possibly teach you some aura dependent moves and, of course increasing your strength and fighting experience."

I looked the vibrating ghost into his eyes. "Once we start, there won't be any mercy. I'll put you through the wringer and really start you on the way of the strong. No whining, no giving up. I'll let you live up to your potential and you WILL put in the work."

Feeling how severe I was, he calmed down and took this seriously, which happened rarely enough. "Gaaa..." He answered, which roughly translated to "I'm ready."

I nodded. If I wanted to ensure the relative safety of my family and myself, then I had to put my feelings on the back burner. They needed to grow, and for that they needed productive hardship.

None of that 'you'll have to experience tragedy to grow stronger' bullshit, but simply pushing themselves further and further, until giving it their all was second nature. They were young, and didn't yet know how cruel this world could be, so I'd teach them, train them, support them and when the day's work was done, pamper them.

I turned my thoughts back to the conversation. "Good. That's everyone but me. I'll learn proper healing techniques from my special teacher, since every Poké counts. We need our money for you and eventual future team members, so we'll use healing items only in cases of emergency. I also want to ask her for an evaluation of you, Gastly."

He looked at me, confused, so I explained. "She's a fantastic instructor and judge of potential for aura users. I want to know if she'd be willing to take you on for your aura training as she'd be a way better teacher than me."

He hadn't met Magearna yet, but I'd told him about her, not by name, mind you. He was excited to get to know her. With our plans made and agreed upon, I asked my pokémon, if they wanted to stay outside, which they agreed to.

So I left them to their own devices and went to inform Joan of the results of our discussion. I found her in the backyard, gently guiding Morpeko, better known as Zibbles, through some exercises in energy control while keeping lots of food close by, just in case he snapped again.

Last time, the frustration of being unable to finely control his energy nearly cost us a wall.

Hangry Mode was no joke. It was a bit of a double edged sword. While in his standard mode, he was a cute little fellow, but he also lacked the ruthlessness in battle that dark types were known for. His alternate mode was activated, when something sent his dark type energy into a frenzy, most often triggered through negative emotions and hunger.

The problem was, that he was exceedingly hard to control in that state, as he oftentimes didn't even remember what he did while... Hangry? So Joan started training his energy control to keep the rampaging dark type energy from overwhelming his mind. It worked, but it might take him a while to master this state.

By now, he had it somewhat under control, but sometimes, if he was especially annoyed or hungry, he may still fall into old habits and start rampaging. Good thing is, snapping him out of it was fairly easy if you had copious amounts of sustenance close by. Joan just had to feed him.

I was caught up thinking to myself, while waiting for her to finish up the delicate practice of directing a spark of dark type energy through multiple rings, floating on different heights.

Once they were done, Joan walked up to me with measured steps, a slight smile on her face. "David. Dave. My cute little Dude, what can I do for you this beautiful morning?"

I deadpanned at her. "No matter how often I ask you to, you won't stop it with the little dude thing... Also: it's afternoon." Her smile transformed into a smirk, as she singsonged. "You didn't deny the 'cute' part.~"

I sighed dramatically, taking an 'Oh woe is me' pose. "I simply can't deny the truth, after all. I tried to shed this burden, but I am simply the only one willing to carry it. Yes, I confess. I am a cute boy." I stared into her eyes seriously, well, as seriously as the situation allowed. "Deal with it."

Her eyes lost a bit of their amused glint as her smirk fell into a pout. She crossed her arms and groused. "Teasing you is getting harder and harder as your shamelessness grows."

I shrugged at that. "Comes with living with a playful older sister. That builds resistance to teasing and it gives a good example of what shamelessness looks like." I told her and caught the jumping Zibbles, who was demanding scratches. He got them of course, in conjunction with some crackers, that he enjoyed.

I looked around before asking curiously. "Where are the others? Already done with them?" She stopped pouting and nodded. "Lately, they have been more motivated to grow stronger, which ironically reduces training time for them as they reach their goals quicker. I 'blame' your pokémon. Their growth is pretty quick after all, which puts pressure on mine, since they don't want to be left behind."

Understandable. Nodding along with my thoughts, I verbalise them. "This ties into why I sought you out. I finalised my plans for the immediate future, and wanted to consult with you."

Since this might be a longer conversation, we made our way into the kitchen. I made us some hot cocoa, hers with a ring of Vanilluxe ice cream and a single marshmallow in the middle, with shavings of hardened caramel scattered on top.

When she saw the beverage, she sighed in content, immediately pulling it close as if to protect her baby from predators. "You sure know how spoil me."

I shrugged. "It's not that hard since you work off the additional calories quite quickly. If you ever stop working, I'd have to get more creative with my treats."

She looked up with a befuddled expression. "Are you telling me that you are planning my meals?" There was an incredulous note in her voice.

I nodded, not quite understanding why she was surprised. "I am the designated cook of the house. It's my duty to keep in mind a balanced nutrition for the two of us. Of course I am planning our meals accordingly, I'd be a bad cook if I didn't."

She blinked once, twice and then she sighed. "I keep forgetting how mature you can be. Yeah, what you said makes sense, but that's the perspective of someone who has experience cooking for a household or an even bigger 'audience'. Not a brat who hasn't even entered puberty."

Since she got in a jab, I might as well reciprocate. I acted as if I finally understood. "Ah, you thought I'd be as irresponsible as you. Got it. Well, Big Sis, sorry to disappoint you, but you won't find many people who have you beat in that regard."

Her left eye twitched as she glared at me. "Suddenly all the goodwill disappeared..." Leaning back with her cocoa in between her hands, she signalled, that she was ready for the real topic of conversation.

I told her my thoughts and plans, while she listened, nodding from time to time. When I was done, she thoughtfully sipped on her near-empty cup of cocoa, before deciding to empty the rest of it's content into her endless pocket for sweets called stomach.

She then hummed into the now vacant container while gathering her thoughts and finally answering. "I don't really see any problems with your plans. I like, that you aren't rushing their advancement, since that can really hurt a pokémon's future." She tilted her head, seemingly thinking of something, before continuing. "I think you'd also profit from some practice matches against some league trainers, including me."

That was a good idea. I needed to get used to trainer matches too. League missions did mostly handle problems in the wild, but from time to time, you'd get a fugitive or someone with a bounty on their head.

There was also the fact, that I actually wanted to challenge the gym circle some time in the future. I wanted to reach elite level before then, though, as I'd be able to feel fairly safe while travelling then.

Deep in my thoughts while absentmindedly caressing Zibbles, who enjoyed the affection, I didn't really pay attention to the dark, looming shadow, that appeared behind Joan.

Eyes, glinting with malice. A deep, rattling breath. Shadowy tendrils, that seemed to be made of darkness itself. And finally a dark and evil laugh, seemingly from the darkest pits of the Distortion World.

Just as the tendrils got ready to envelop Joan... "Touch me with those things, and I'll guarantee I can talk David into leaving you without his aura for a week." The tendrils twitched, hovered and retracted while a pouting little ghost appeared and looked at Joan with teary eyes.

She rolled hers and looked at him. "That might work with the little Dude, but you won't get me with those Fake Tears of yours." She still scratched him under his 'chin' as she knew it was a spot he enjoyed.

Mollified, he looked around and saw Zibbles enjoying his scratches. He closed in, begging me with his eyes to pamper him too, and I obliged, seeing no reason not to.

"You are getting better with that shadow stuff." I commented idly. I still had no idea why he was so talented with this stuff. Most ghosts only had a passing relationship with shadows, as they only used them to travel and only after aligning themselves.

Gastly actually managed to pull shadows outwards and use them like somewhat fragile limbs. If he managed to reinforce them with his energy, he may be able to use them for attacks never before seen in the Gastly line.

He preened at my praise, before seemingly deflating into a puddle of gaseous goo from my machinations. "Gaaaaa..." He sighed contentedly. After melting him down into a slumbering heap of spectral material, I returned him to his ball.

"Well. I guess I'll search up the CC (Commercial Center) for some materials, anything I should keep a lookout for you?" I asked Joan, who was lounging on the chair, content to let the sugar seep into her very being instead of giving in to the sugar high, that usually came after consuming such a thing.

She shook her head, before asking. "You good on the money side of things?" Indicating, that she'd be willing to help out, should it be necessary.

She was already paying for most of the daily necessities, so I really didn't want to rely on her too much, so I shook my head. "Nope, I'll pay for my own stuff, since I still have a bit more than 40k saved up. Thanks, though. I appreciate the sentiment."

She pouted. "You sure? I think I'd be a great sugar mommy." My face went carefully blank. There was teasing, and then there was this. So I asked the only thing, that came to my mind. "Are you that desperate, Big Sis?"

Her expression, that morphed into a mix of mortification and embarrassment just a moment after her statement, indicated, that she had not intended at all to say that out loud.

Instead of answering my question, she recalled Zibbles, wished me a goodbye and fled upstairs. Well, it seemed she was getting good enough at teasing to even tease herself. Impressive.

After that amusing little incident, days started to melt together as we collectively increased our efforts to grow. A mere week later, Millie pushed through to the early advanced stage, with Weedle following two days later.

I had collected a lot of Bug Gems over the past few weeks. Some through missions, some I had bought. And one Top Grade Bug Gem from Thomas, who threw the thing at me with the words. "Pay me back later."

That one would be the centerpiece of the formation we constructed for her evolution. We used Silver Powder as conductor lines to navigate the energy, which increased efficiency. Once again, such a thing wouldn't be possible without Appraisal.

The materials for her evolution did cost me only 22k, which was just slightly less than half my funds. And that was only because bugs weren't really popular but materials were fairly abundant.

Big ouch, but worth it, since it would strengthen her bug typing heavily. That was needed because we planned to increase her poison typing and potency after her evolution.

I didn't want her to suffer from an energy imbalance because we were careless. I turned to her after the last adjustments and asked. "Are you ready, princess?" She was fidgeting nervously as she looked at me in trepidation.

I knelt in front of her and took her carefully in my hands, raising her to my face so that I could look into her eyes. "I know this is scary. I know this is a change you feel you are not ready for. But this is the best moment for your first evolution.

We prepared heavily in terms of items, we searched for the best spot in the whole of the forest with the highest concentration of bug and poison type energy in balance. We prepared for your mobility problems by extensively working with String Shot to the point, where your use of it would even put some Ariados to shame.

You are as ready as pokémonly possible. And even if you were not, you have the support of your sister, your brother, your aunt and her whole roster of family members on top of myself. You have nothing to fear for we are here."

Somewhere along my little pep up speech, she'd started to tear up, but now, she only looked determined. She gave me a nod to indicate, that she wanted to start the process.

The others were positioned a moderate distance away, as their energy might interfere with the conditions we set up, while Joan and her team kept wild pokémon away from the location to come as close to guaranteeing a smooth evolution as possible.

Zubat and Gastly were loudly cheering though. It seemed to reassure Weedle, so I didn't mind their support at all. I placed her in the middle of the array, being careful to not accidentially step on anything important.

When she looked like she'd prepared herself mentally, I told her loudly. "I'll remove the Everstone now." And did just that some seconds later. It took a couple of seconds, but then her evolution phenomenon started.

And boy, was it a bright one. I had read, that pokémon with high potential oftentimes had a brighter phenomenon, but nothing prepared me for this near-blinding sight.

I nearly missed the correct moment to start injecting my aura, but pulled myself together quickly enough.

After a long three minutes, I had pushed nearly half of my reserves into the array, the energy absorption slowed down. The light finally began dying down after around the fifth minute. When the evolution was finally complete, I was left with less than 40% of my reserves.

In the middle of the array, there lied the new form of Weedle. Just evolved, she was already an impressive sight. Her new, bright green colour was definitely eye-catching. The thing, that really caught one's attention was her size, though.

Usually, Kakunas were around 50-60 cm in length shortly after evolving and they would grow until they were close to their final evolution. Their length would be close to 90 cm at that point.

Well, my dear princess already surpassed that. She was at least one metre in length from what I could tell without measuring her. I stepped up to her as she shivered. It seemed she had some problems coming to terms with her nearly sessile status at the moment if I was interpreting her emotions correctly.

I didn't say anything, but simply grabbed her sides, pulled her up into an upright position. I then knelt and hugged her to me. "I am proud of you, that evolution was quite the spectacle."

In the meantime, Millie and Gastly had hurried over after seeing me walk up to her, deeming it safe to get close. They both were a bit too enthusiastic, though, as they crashed into us, sending us all sprawling to the ground.

I had to laugh at the confused look on Gastly's face as he somehow managed to land with half his body below Kakuna's. I could feel a bit of mischievous intent from her as she shifted slightly, putting more of herself on top of Gastly, making him panic.

How long would it take him this time to remember, that he could simply make himself intangible?... I was happy, that Kakuna calmed down a bit, though.

After that major event, another one came right after. My advancement to the advanced trainer stage. The first thing I'd got out of the way was the evaluation by the local Nurse Joy.

Flashback

"It wasn't long ago, that I evaluated your pokémon for your advancement to the regular stage." She hummed, a faint accusation in her tone of voice.

I wasn't quite sure what she was insinuating here, but it couldn't be something good. The pleasant smile on my face grew an edge as my eyes hardened.

"Before accusing me of anything, even in a subtle way, shouldn't you, I don't know, do your job?" If I didn't know someone, I usually fell back on the overly polite mask.

But that didn't mean, that I'd let anyone just walk over me. She didn't know me. She knew my pokémon, though and as she said, she evaluated them and deemed them exceedingly healthy and happy.

My pokémon were my family. I wouldn't let anyone insinuate mistreatment where they were concerned.

Her eyes widened for a moment but then, she smiled a smile, that didn't reach her eyes.

"I will do that, then. Do you want to be in attendance?" She asked out of professional courtesy. Most trainers trusted a trained and certified Nurse Joy with their pokémon unconditionally.

This time, though... "I'd have insisted anyways if you didn't ask. I'll be in attendance." This woman touched a really sore spot. So I'll do my best to return the favour. Oh, it seemed I succeeded.

Her nostrils flared for a moment, before she caught herself. "This way then, please." She led me into an examination room in the back of the center. "Please release your first pokémon." Her tone of voice could be called polite, if only barely.

I released Gastly, as he was the youngest of the bunch. He appeared, looked around, found me, tackled me and cooed in a way, that didn't fit his typing at all. "Gaaaaa..." He pitifully looked up at me, making me laugh despite the situation.

I caressed him in all his favourite spots, before looking into his eyes. "We are at a medical examination, little one, behave a bit more like the brave ghost you are, will you?"

His eyes widened as he floated away from me and looked at the Nurse Joy, who had watched the byplay without interrupting. Her eyes had softened considerably.

Gastly tried for a menacing gaze, but only managed to look cute, since his sunny smile was still in place. Nurse Joy smiled slightly, as she started the procedures.

Taking all measurements as well as the data from the gadgets, she'd used to measure his potential, stage and some other things. After noting everything down, she informed me of his changes, since the last time.

He had advanced to the early regular stage, which I already knew. His energy seemed to have a higher density than last time, and he had completely recovered from his malnourished state, which earned a sigh of relief from me.

After finishing up, she told me, that I may return him now. I turned to him. "Want to stay out or return? You can stay outside as long as you don't faceplant into a wall again."

I smirked at him as he looked embarrassed for a moment. He then seriously considered staying outside but decided to return as he disliked the bright lights within the examination room.

"May I ask you to release your next pokémon, please?" This time, the polite tone was way more genuine. I nodded and released Millie next. She also searched me out first, nuzzling into my chest after being caught in an embrace.

"Come on Millie, this Lady will look you over. I don't think there were any problems with your advancement, but it is better to make sure." My little girl gave an affirmative screech and landed on the table where the examination would take place.

She went through the same procedure as Gastly and stayed still the whole time, obly screeching indignantly once, when her teeth were checked over.

Afterwards, I collected her into my arms and rolled up my sleeve, muttering soothingly. "You were a good girl, Millie, why don't you drink some and then return. You should still be slightly tired from yesterday's training."

She sucked some mouths full, before returning herself. When I looked up at Nurse Joy, I caught a short astonished look before she schooled herself and asked for the next pokémon, as she knew I had three registered ones.

This time, she couldn't hide her shock even a little bit when the massive green Kakuna made it's appearance. Instead of rushing to me, Kakuna shot a String Shot at me and pulled herself close.

After safely catching her, I couldn't help but laugh. "If I was a usual kid, that might have seriously hurt me. You need to be more careful, my girl."

Not having lost her habit at all, she wiggled slightly in my arms, clearly embarrassed. "Let's get you onto the table. This woman is a medical professional." I made sure to put a slightly disbelieving note into my voice. "If anything went wrong with your evolution, she should be able to spot it and help."

Kakuna sent me an affirmative over our bond. She started using it more actively after her evolution, since she had less ways to express herself.

Her procedure took longer since Nurse Joy overheard the information of her recent evolution and went the extra mile to make sure nothing went wrong. That redeemed her completely in my eyes.

When she was done, Kakuna returned herself without doing any more than sending a disgruntled feeling at being prodded at this much. It was enough to make me hide a laugh with a cough.

Afterwards, once again in her office.

"They should be healthy, right?" I asked her, without any veiled hostility. Nurse Joy nodded, absentmindedly. Until she seemed to come to a decision.

Her gaze was on me, and it was an intense one. "I will not apologise for the suspicion. I will, however, apologise for not, as you said, doing my job first before confronting you."

She sat up straighter as she started to explain why she reacted the way she did. "There are drugs out there, that are able to enhance a pokémon's immediate strength at the cost of excruciating pain, their life span and potential. Some trainers try to use them to rank up quickly to gain access to the amenities of a higher rank."

She stopped for a moment, collecting her thoughts, which was fine as I needed to do the same. Those bastards.

They would force sentient creatures to grow at a pace unnatural for them? To forego formative stages in their life, even shortening said life significantly?! They basically tortured children into early adulthood and used them to live a life in luxury? Maybe I should hunt those...-

"I would like for you to calm down, please." There was a slight quiver in her voice. Hmm? Oh, I radiated aura. That was a first. Slightly concentrating with closed eyes, I took a deep breath and pulled myself together and my aura into myself again.

Opening my eyes with an apologetic look on my face, I made to apologise, but she waved it away before I could even start. "Don't. I understand your thoughts. And I have to add an additional apology. It has been quite a while since I misjudged a person so severely."

After a moment of silence, she continued. "The speed of your growth is highly unusual, and generally, it is only possible to do so with the drugs or a very high level of talent. I don't have to tell you which case it is 999 times out of a 1000?"

I nodded. It made sense. I could understand her assumption. It made sense even if it really roused my temper. "I have to apologise too. My comments were out of line and childish. I should have known better."

She shook her head. "Not at all, I'd be offended too if someone didn't even look at the magnificent representatives of their species, that I've trained and basically straight up accused me of doping my way to strength."

I stretched my hand in her direction and smiled hopefully winningly. "Let's start over, shall we? My name is David, no surname since I'm an orphan. My family and I will be in your care."

She laughed and grabbed my hand. "Janet Joy, trained doctor. My expertise are both, pokémon and human, so do not hesitate to come to me, even if the one with a medical condition is yourself instead of your pokémon. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Flashback end

That day was draining, unnecessarily so. But something good came from it, so I honestly had no reason to complain.

The rest of the advancement was easy once again. We steamrolled the fight against a Noctowl and a Weepinbell and aced the written part.

Simply thinking about that day made me tired, especially since I was lying beside a surprisingly warm Kakuna, who wanted to cuddle before sleeping. That, of course opened the floodgates for both, Millie and Gastly, so the bed was a bit crowded. It was a fantastic way to sleep, though, surrounded by family.