The cooling breeze flowed through the tree leaves as the party trotted away from Suzuki's training ground. Miguel brushed off the dust and dirt on his clothes after being flung from Sharpedo.

'It's gonna take forever to get used to that Sharpedo,' he thought.

As he scraped off the last grains of dirt, Miguel could feel that something was creeping up his arm. He slowly drew his attention to his right arm and saw a tiny Joltik crawling toward his shoulder.

"Oh...hello," he said.

The man's son spun around to his father.

"Who are you talking to, Dad?" questioned Louis.

"It's this tiny Joltik on my arm."

"Joltik?!" shrieked Suzuki.

The staff member backed away from the tiny Pokémon, sweating bullets.

"What's wrong, Suzuki?" asked Roy. "Scared?"

"Yes! I remember on my first week here, a Joltik was on my bedsheets when I was sleeping. When I saw it the next morning, it completely freaked me out!"

Suzuki continued to back away.

Miguel chuckled.

"Don't worry, these guys are practically harmless," he reassured. "My wife used to deal with these a lot when she was younger."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," moaned Suzuki.

In the distance, a Jolteon was spotted sprinting toward the gang. Seeing the opportunity, once the Jolteon was close enough, the Joltik leapt from Miguel's arm and landed atop the Jolteon's head. The group watched on as the two Pokémon disappeared in the bushes.

"Well...that just happened," said Tracey.

Soon after, the group of friends...and family, continued their way through the small forest. Louis' sense of hearing detected that someone was grumbling under their breath.

The young adult shifted his gaze to the left, wondering who or what was mumbling under their breath - It was Staraptor.

"Uh...Staraptor? You ok?" inquired Louis.

The flying bird snapped out of her trance.

"Sorry, what'd you say?" she said.

"I asked if you were ok? You looked like you were talking to yourself just now."

For a brief moment, Staraptor thought of the best way to respond.

"I'm...still a little annoyed about Azul," she answered.

"Oh?" Louis responded.

"I mean, he's been gone all this time, and he came back weeks ago and didn't bother to get into contact with us."

With that response, Louis looked away, dejected and unsure. The words, though spoken about another, resonated deeply with the young adult.

"You're talking about me too, aren't you?"

Louis' team of Pokémon suddenly stopped, staring at the boy.

"N-...no, that's not what I-" Staraptor stuttered.

Louis raised a hand, signalling the bird to halt in her speech.

As soon as the party stepped out of the shadows of the forest and into the sunlight, Louis directed Staraptor into a small, quiet area, asking the others to wait for him.

Once they were out of earshot, Louis spoke.

"Staraptor. Look, just...just tell me how you feel," he requested.

The bird Pokémon took in a deep breath, contemplating her response. She sighed and eventually spoke.

"...for all the years you were away, I...I felt...misguided and..."

"Angry?" said Louis.

"Yes," answered Staraptor. "Louis, I really am happy that you returned, but why? Why on Arceus' earth...did you have to wait all this time to come back?!"

Fully understanding the amount of frustration that had been building up inside Staraptor, Louis pondered how to respond to his companion's burning question.

"I thought...I thought I failed you all..." the young adult answered.

"What? ...what, you lost a Pokémon battle at home and it was too hard to take?"

"No! God almighty, ...no."

Both human and Pokémon locked eyes with one another as the wind blew through their hair and feathers, respectively.

"If you felt like you failed us, why did you come back?" asked Staraptor.

The young adult took in a deep breath.

"Because I missed you guys, and I wanted to redeem myself in your eyes."

The sentence carried on the wind and met Miguel's ears. Those words from his son warmed the man's heart, as he noticed the amount of maturity displayed from Louis.

"Staraptor, I truly am sorry for being gone," Louis continued. "The immature and impulsive Louis you knew back then is gone. Things change. I've changed."

Staraptor processed her trainer's response. Satisfied, she nodded.

"Ok," she said.

As the pair returned to the group, Miguel tapped Louis on the shoulder.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

Louis turned to his father and grinned.

"Better."

Not long after, lunchtime was signalled by the school bell. The party gathered around the sakura tree. Louis sat in the shade as his Pokémon conversed with one another.

Miguel joined the party with some food for the Pokémon, who happily ate away. Louis smiled as he took a sip of tea, easing his soul.

"Any good?" someone asked.

To his left, Inteleon and Roy sat beside the young adult.

"As always," he answered.

Both Roy and Inteleon watched on as Louis finished his beverage.

"I've heard tea is an acquired taste," said Inteleon.

"Believe me, it is," replied Louis. "In fact, drinking tea is what gave me the ability to talk to Pokémon."

"Wha-...you're kidding?"

"Nope."

Suddenly, an intriguing question lit up in the young adult's subconscious.

"Hey Roy, I've been meaning to ask," he began. "How did you and Inteleon meet?"

"It's a long story," answered Roy.

"You see, a few years ago, I was busy strumming along on my guitar, sitting in the shade. Then, I felt something crawl down my head and onto my shoulder."

"It was Inteleon before he evolved, wasn't it?" questioned Louis.

"That's right. I was a Sobble at the time," answered Inteleon.

"Sobble?" blurted Louis. "That makes it sound like you'd sob a lot."

"Uh...he did more than sob," added Roy.

"Back then, he would not stop crying," he continued. "And Sobbles have this thing where, if you are nearby when it's crying, you'd cry too. I didn't have dry eyes for a long time."

"In-teleon!" exclaimed Inteleon.

"He said...'I didn't cry that much!'" Louis translated.

"Oh yes you di-id," replied Roy, in a sing-song tune.

Inteleon rolled his eyes in annoyance. Louis tried his best not to laugh.

"When he evolved into Drizzile, that all changed," continued Roy. "Although he was kinda emo for a while."

The water-lizard was about to object but immediately stopped himself, realising that the musician was not wrong.

"Uh, Roy, I think you're embarrassing him a little bit," said Louis.

Before Roy could reply, Incineroar called over to Louis. The fire-wrestler cat signalled for the young adult to come over to the rest of Team Venus.

"I'll be right there," replied Louis.

He shifted his attention back to Roy and Inteleon.

"Sorry, my Pokémon are calling," he apologised.

"That's alright," replied Roy.

The young adult stood up and walked over to his team of Pokémon.

"Y'know, I always wonder what it'd be like to live in Louis' shoes," wondered Roy.

"In-tel," said Inteleon.

As the young adult sat down alongside his team, Braixen spoke.

"Louis, is it true?" she asked.

"Is what true?" inquired Louis.

"Did you really feel like you failed us, somehow?"

The young adult clearly was not expecting that particular question.

"Oh, Staraptor told you?"

"Uh-huh," answered Incineroar. "Why do you feel like you failed us?"

For a brief moment, Louis remained silent.

"Um..." he paused.

"If you don't want to answer, you don't have to," reassured Lucario.

Louis nodded.

"Let's just say that...it's hard for me to explain," he said.

The team of creatures could see that the human felt slightly uncomfortable with the question. So, they decided to change the subject to something more positive.

A small distance away, Taki, Feraligatr and Cinderace watched on as Louis and his team of Pokémon continued their conversation.

"Look at him," said Feraligatr, grinning. "It's hard to believe that it was so long ago that we first met him."

"Yeah, it's a little scary if you ask me," replied Taki.

As the wind continued blowing past the individuals, Feraligatr readjusted her head bow.

"Come to think of it, I wonder how much has changed between us," said Cinderace. "I'd like to see Louis and I race one more time and see what happens."

"Oh, you'd win by a longshot," said Taki, giggling.

"Yeah, there's no way Louis would be able to beat you," added Feraligatr.

The trio began laughing amongst one another, Louis caught a glimpse of them.

"What's so funny?" he called.

"Nothing," replied Taki.

Before continuing his conversation with his team, Louis looked left and right and realised that someone was not present.

"Hey, where's Dad?" he blurted.

The sparkling ocean that reached far across the distance flowed across the academy's beach, even though it was quite small.

Miguel went into a changing room and switched his current attire with some board shorts. Miguel's goggles were on tight, the elastic strained at his head, but they allowed him a view most would never see. He re-emerged from the tight space and brought out the Pokéball containing Sharpedo.

'Hope I don't regret this,' he thought.

As he went waist-deep into the seawater, Miguel threw the Pokéball into the air and deployed Sharpedo. The creature looked sideways, wondering what was happening. It caught sight of Miguel moving further into the water.

"What are you doing?" the Sharpedo questioned.

"Just needed to cool off for a little bit," explained Miguel. "Plus, I'm curious to see what other Pokémon live down in the ocean."

The Pokemon's eyes squinted in thought. It knew what lay down there, submerged in the cold depths.

"Don't go too deep," it grumbled.

Meanwhile, on the campus, Zack exited the classroom and trotted toward the shady side of a tree. There, he brought out his current team of Pokémon.

"Hey guys, I've got some news that you won't believe," the student said.

Zack's Charizard growled, curiously.

"I just found out that Louis...can talk to Pokémon!"

Both Charizard and Azul looked at one another and shook their heads, even though Azul already knew.

"What? You don't believe me?" questioned Zack. "C'mon, I saw him talking to a Feraligatr earlier today."

Azul rolled his eyes.

"Nin-ja," he said, sarcastically.

Zack folded his arms and huffed.

"Don't say I didn't tell you," he mumbled.

Back at the island's beach, the man dove down into the ocean depths, with Sharpedo following close by.

Miguel was mesmerised by the wide variety of Pokémon residing in the large body of water. From the majestic Luvdisc, to the graceful Dewgong. This brought a smile to the man's face. Then, suddenly, he felt something wrap around his right leg. A tentacle, nearly six foot in length now latched his ankle, and he yelled, a mixture of sound and bubbles, yet enough to draw his Pokémon's attention. It saw that a Tentacruel had grabbed Miguel.

When it appeared that the man was about to be dragged off, Sharpedo charged at the Tentacruel with ferocious speed, barging into it with brute force.

The attack caused the Tentacruel to lose its grip on Miguel's leg. Sharpedo sped toward the man, who quickly grabbed its fin as they approached the surface of the water.

As they re-emerged, Miguel gasped for air, coughing and sputtering.

"Thanks," said Miguel.

"No problem," replied Sharpedo.

They returned to the beach, where Miguel, who was still freaked out by the experience, dried himself off and changed back into his regular attire.

"I owe you one," said Miguel.

"You better," replied Sharpedo.

Whew. What a chapter. It's cool we got to see things from other people's perspectives. More importantly, Miguel and Sharpedo seem to finally get along. Hope it lasts.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Is there something you enjoyed? Can you guess what happens next? Or...what do you hope to see in future chapters? If so, go ahead and leave a review explaining any of these reasons. (Please don't leave hurtful reviews)

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Thanks again. See you next time