Craw was barely able to hold his spoon. He sighed and looked to Brighton.
The Pikachu didn't seem to be in a much better state. He had bruises and scratches all over the body and some smaller cuts as well. The view in the eyes of him was empty and he looked like if he was about to throw up every bite he forced down his throat.
Kathrin was not visibly hurt in any bodily form but it was clear that she had gone through horrors as well. Her eyes were narrowing around like if she expected an assault from any direction at any moment.
Ariela was looking straight to her food and even though she didn't seemed to be hurt either she was definitely tired and not able to move her body as graceful and smooth as Craw was used to see.
Damion was a mess. His fur was full of dirt and he had scratches all over his body. He was even so tired that he was actually sleeping with his head on the dining table.
Fletcher was nervous and some of his feathers were missing. He had a cut over his head but it didn't seem too bad.
Hoshi seemed to have taken it the worst. Her face was showing her panic in such a pure form that Craw didn't need to ask Ariela to know how she was. It seemed like the whole world had exploded around her and she was the only survivor in a mass of aura-less.
Even Rex was looking terrible. He was still hard to reed but in his body language and his harsh and quick movements Craw could see that the Deino was not doing good. He also had several bruises and cuts all over his body showing the harsh fights he had gone through.
The most surprising change was with Ricky. His normally cocky and careless attitude had changed to that of a scared kitten. He was looking around afraid like if death was waiting around every corner. funnily enough Craw didn't see any injury on him so his torture must have been the more mental kind.
Craw sighed. "Looks like we got our butts kicked pretty hard..." He gave up trying to hold the spoon and instead just lowered his head drinking out of his bowl like an animal soaking his muzzle with soup.
Ariela looked to him. Her smile was not even quiet as cheerful as normally. "Should I ask you how your day was?"
Craw chuckled and instantly regretted it. Even chuckling hurt him. "Well... First I had to learn how to meditate while enduring pain... So while I tried to meditate I was beaten up by Anubis pretty badly. Then I had a nice sparring with Siver... Sparring means he uses me as punching bag while I try to dodge. As that was over I should have fought Silver while he just sits there reading a book. If you think it is easy then try to beat a steel type with your bare fists without using any moves with the goal to get at least one dent in his nearly ten centimeter thick steel plates... After that I had a nice cup of tea with Serene... Or better she had the cup of tea while I had to try get to the cup while getting thrown back and tortured by her psychic powers every time I fail... Needless to say I failed every time." He took another sip of his soup.
Brighton looked to Kathrin. "If you wouldn't look like if you fear even the table decorations and if I still could move my arms without them hurting like if they are broken I would hug you right now... So please feel hugged..."
Kathrin just nodded her eyes still narrowing around.
Fletcher looked to Damion. "Y-You should try eating something... Y-You will need the energy tomorrow..."
Damion woke up and straightened himself. "NO SIR! I DIDN'T SLEEP IN!" Then he looked around confused. "Sorry..."
Hoshi looked at her food. She seemed to be in total despair and was near to cry.
Craw looked to Ricky. "Are you OK?" He seemed to be nervous looking around all the time. "Or are you planning something you shouldn't?"
Ricky squeaked. "N-No! N-Nothing!" He quickly dug his face into his food.
Rex just grunted and continued eating.
Fletcher on his side was fidgeting around. It seemed like if he was very frustrated and Craw could understand it. He was always told how good he became and how much he learned but now he is taught by Peggy how weak he actually was.
Craw sighed. "If we survive this I will grant us all some free days as well as some therapy..."

"Hoshi is a total wreck... You have to check on her sometime..." Craw barely dodged the Bone Rush swipes of Anubis.
Anubis sighed. "Yeah I don't like that I had to let Purity teach her but she is the only skilled enough Delphox I know and flame manipulation is one of their lines specialty... Hoshi will get much stronger if she learns it." Anubis rushes at Craw swiping one Bone Rush after the other at him trying to push him back to the wall.
Craw already noticed it and dodged under the attack sliding away through Anubis' legs and jumped out of range for another attack. "Kathrin is doing better but Rex seems to hate his trainer still... I hope that he won't let his anger and frustration out at someone else tho... He is always so hard to read so I don't know what is going on in his mind..." He jumped out of the way from the Focus Blast and rushed at Anubis trying to land some attacks on him but Anubis just dodged them countering with a Close Combat attack that threw Craw off. Craw groaned as he stood up jumping to the side just in time to dodge another Focus Blast.
Anubis nodded. "OK. That's enough for today." I will look for Hoshi and you have ten minutes before Serene comes. Use that for a little break."
Craw sighed and stretched himself. "I just have no idea how I can get free of her Psychic... She is too strong and I can't do anything against it..."
Anubis chuckled. "Well the thing is not to try it. You just have to endure it and that's it."
Craw sighed. "So it's basically just a training to learn to endure pain?"
Anubis shook his head. "No. It is a training to endure psychic type moves. They are your biggest weakness and to overcome this weakness would be a great feat that makes it much much harder to defeat you."
Craw took his water bottle and opened it. "I still don't like it. I always feel like minced after that..."
Anubis grinned. "You asked for it."
Craw sighed. "I know."

Brighton panted. "I can't..."
Sam looked at him. "I know you can be much faster. You probably could be faster than me if you would just try it."
Brighton glared at him. "It is not that easy! I just can't go faster... I reached my limit."
Sam sighed. "That is not true and you know it. You don't even try to get faster."
Brighton growled. "Because I can't"
Sam looked to him. "And why not?"
Brighton put his hand on his chest. "I... I have a weak heart. It sometimes drops a heartbeat and even though I have a medicine against it it can be dangerous. If I overdo it and stress it too hard it could stop beating."
Sam looked to him now with interest. "Hmm... could it be... Brighton? May I ask you some things about that?"
Brighton looked to him confused. "Yeah..."
Sam flicked his ears scratching his chin. "Could it be that you only feel sometimes extremely energetic and exhausted at the same time?"
Brighton sighed and nodded. "Yeah."
Sam grinned. "Whenever you are under extreme pressure your chest feels like it would explode right?"
Now Brighton was a bit confused. "Yeah... How do you know?"
Sam chuckled. "You already said that your heart stops beating whenever you stress your body too much... But you also see and hear everything that happens around you and you don't forget what happens even when you pass out you are just falling over like if your body doesn't want to obey you right?"
Brighton was now speechless. "Yes... How-"
"You don't have a weak heart." Sam smiled widely. "The doctor that made the medical examination probably didn't know it. It is a very rare thing after all. Under the fastest of the electric types it can happen with a one to a million chance that one has a special condition. Lightning heart."
Brighton looked to him confused. "What?"
Sam sighed. "Lightning heart is a very rare heart condition that only electric types have. If I am right you have said heart condition. Your heart doesn't stop beating. It is more the opposite. It is so strong and your body can withstand so high blood pressure that it is able to beat so fast in fact that for everyone who would try to feel your pulse would think it stopped beating. If you are not used and trained to it your body quickly loses all stamina. But if you are trained to use your condition to the fullest... Well then your muscles are so pumped up with energy that you are able to move much faster than any normal Pokémon and even hit with more strength than you normally would have. It is nearly like if you would use a power enhancer."
Brighton looked at him in disbelieve. "W-What?"
Sam chuckled. "I am pretty sure you have a lightning heart. But just to be sure you should let a doctor who knows this phenomenon check you for it. I could ask around if one is in the city."
Brighton still looked to him shocked. "Are you sure?"
Sam just nodded. "Pretty sure."
Brighton fell onto his knees. "D-Does that mean... I could have lived without all this... I could have lived without the fear of my heart all the time?" He stared at his hands.
Sam sighed. "You couldn't know... And it is a barely known condition..."
Brighton looked at him. "But why me? Why do I have this?"
Sam chuckled. "You should be happy that you have it. It will make you stronger. There will be barely anyone who will be able to keep up with your speed. Compared to you I will be like a Slowpoke. Imagine how much that would help in the expedition."
Brighton looked at his hands. "But why me?"
Sam grinned. "Who knows? It could be a blessing of Arceus. It could be your genes. If I remember correctly your ancestor, the one you got your name from, was a hero that saved the world and formed the Volt Kingdom. It wouldn't surprise me if he had a lightning heart too. But maybe it is both. I think you are meant to accomplish great things."

Ariela sighed and looked around.
Grace looked to her with curiosity. "So... What will you do?"
Ariela was near to her tears. "How should I be able to decide?"
Grace sighed. "You still don't understand..."
Ariela glared at her mother. "HOW? How should I understand if you don't teach me?"
Grace sighed and shook her head. She spread her arms and the dripping of water could be heard. Out of the nothing drops of water appeared, one above every of the hurt Pokémon around them. As they fell on the Pokémon they seemed to heal. "Wasn't that obvious enough? You should have healed them all..."
Ariela looked to her mother with a mixture of anger and admiration. "H-How should I have done that? I have no healing move that heals so many targets at once..."
Grace sighed and looked to her. "You have to be prepared. You are the only healer of your team and soon your team will grow even more. You will have to learn such moves or you have to get at least a move item or two that you can use to do such moves. If your half team is knocked out and you are troubling about who to heal first you will lose more than you need to. That is why you need to be the one being prepared for those scenarios..." She sighed and sat down looking to the ceiling.
Ariela looked to her mother.
Grace smiled looking to her. "Explorers are reckless sweetie. They thing with their strong moves and some oran berries they can beat everything. Even those who are like Craw and think further and look out for traps or ambushes then they are reckless and try to fight enemies that are stronger than themselves... You have to be the one who thinks about how to save those who risk their lives for others."
Ariela nodded determined. "Then teach it to me. Craw is probably one of the most reckless explorer I know... I want to protect him... Of course I want to protect the others too but..."
Grace giggled. "I know what you mean. He somehow has this ability to throw himself into the most dangerous situations even if he tries his best not to... But that was also the reason why I loved him..."
Ariela looked to her a bit uncomfortable. "Mom... I-"
Grace giggled. "I am sorry. It must be strange hearing me talk about him like this..." She looked to the ceiling again. "My Craw died back then... And even tho he is the same he is somehow different... Maybe it is because of the things that happened to him since he left me... But I think it is because of you... We really loved each other... But now it is different. Sure I still feel drawn towards him but... He has changed and he is not the same anymore... He loves you now and I have to accept that."
Ariela sighed. "Mom..."
Grace giggled. "Don't worry about me. I have to choose a different path now. You really shouldn't worry about me. I am your mother so I should take care of you and not the other way around..."
Ariela nodded.

Kathrin growled. "Damn it. This is so annoying!" It was nearly midnight already and she wasn't able to land a good blow on that damn Ditto.
Morph chuckled. "You have to learn how to adjust to your enemies. You are pretty strong but if you fight enemies that are of different types you get into problems. Bandits, other criminals, aura-less... Sometimes even strong ferals. They all are foes that you never should underestimate."
Kathrin used her Flail against the Ditto in his Aggron form.
Morph just laughed it off. "That is all you can do?" He swung his arm at her.
She just barely dodged.
He shook his head. "If you are too weak you have to find a way to defeat them with their weaknesses."
She panted. She was tired of this. Whatever she did the next moment he transformed into another Pokémon that was immune to her moves. "This is unfair! You always turn into something that is strong against my moves!"
He chuckled. "You are an Eevee. You should be able to adjust to situations much better than others."
Kathrin gritted her teeth. "How the hell should I do that?"
Morph grinned. "Well you are an Eevee. You are able to learn several moves of other types but you are also able to evolve into eight different forms what also gives you an advantage. Your species is naturally able to use move items of these types much easier than other Pokémon that isn't able to use move items of moves that doesn't fir their types. This way you should have a pretty good advantage over other Pokémon."
Kathrin growled. "But I don't have so many move items and they are pretty expensive so how do you think I should be able to use that at training?"
Morph chuckled. "Well that is not my problem. You will have to figure out something yourself. If I do all the thinking for you you won't learn something."
Kathrin growled now even more angrily and frustrated. "HOW SHOULD I LEARN SOMETHING FROM TRAINING LIKE THIS ANYWAY?!"
Then it happened. Kathrin started to glow.
Morph gasped. "Oh shit! Kathrin calm down!"
But it was too late. Out of frustration and because she missed Brighton because of this stupid training that always lasted till late into the night she just released all the energy she had.
A dark pulse of energy flew right at the Aggron throwing him off his feet.
Kathrin panted and sank onto the ground. She looked at the Aggron and then at her paws confused. For a moment she thought she saw black fur on her paws but as she blinked it was her normal brownish Eevee fur.
Morph transformed back into his Ditto form. He laughed.
Kathrin looked at him confused.
Morph still laughed hysterically and even as Kathrin yelled at him he didn't stop. It needed nearly five minutes till the Ditto stopped. "Oh gal... I really didn't expect that..." He chuckled. "You have no idea what just happened do you?"

Damion panted.
Ray grinned. "You got better. Your strength, speed and endurance is pretty good. You have a very balanced fighting style. I knew that the moment you came into the room. The only thing you are lacking is experience and training."
Damion sighed and looked at the Swampert. "Thank you sir."
Ray lifted his blades. "Let's talk a bit while we train. I grew up in the Takagiri Dynasty. I am what they would call a ronin. A samurai without a lord. To the stuck up leader and samurai families of that damn country it is the same as a criminal. But I learned a lot from them. For example their fighting style. I think you would fit to learn it."
Damion looked to him surprised. "Really sir?"
He chuckled. "Yes, I am. And I will teach it to you. But I will warn you. The way I will train you will be even harder than before and the training itself will be only repeating the same things over and over again till it is as natural to you as breathing. It will be very hard for you to learn kendo and even harder to master it so be prepared."
Damion nodded. "Thank you sir. I am looking forward to the opportunity."
Ray nodded and then leashed out for the Buziel.
Damion barely dodged and tried another attack on the Swampert but he was quickly blocked. "Sir? May I ask you something?"
Ray grinned and attacked him again. "As long as you don't stop moving sure."
Damion blocked his attack and tried to counter it with his Aqua Tail. "C-Can it be that you are holding back?"
Ray laughed and just took the hit of the Buziel before punching him so hard that Damion flew back two meters. "Of course. I am here to train you not to slice you in half!"

Fletcher squeaked as he hit the ground again.
Peggy chirped. "You have to watch out for attacks from above. Just because you are a flying type it doesn't mean you can't be attacked from above!"
Fletcher flapped his wings but they wouldn't obey him. "Thank you for the advice..." He tried to get up again.
Peggy landed next to him and pecked on his head softly. "Stop it. If your body tells you to stop you need to take a break."
Fletcher panted. "B-But I have to get stronger and if I lie around I would be killed in fight or could be easily ambushed..."
Peggy chirped and it nearly sounded like she was laughing. "You need to stop thinking like a feral. You are part of a team now. Unlike a swarm where you have to risk your life to protect the swarm you have to trust your teammates. Sure fighting for them to protect them is something that is normal but unlike in a swarm where it is about protecting the leader, territory and females in a team everyone protects everyone. If you need a break you have to tell it the others and they will protect you till you are ready to go on. If you don't then you could faint in a situation where the team needs you and instead of fighting back the enemy they will try to protect you what would weaken them."
Fletcher looked up to her.
She grinned. "You need to take what I teach you more serious. I have learned a lot since I live in the civilized world and there is a good reason why the civilized Pokémon can fight through dungeons even if they are totally outnumbered and sometimes much weaker than their foes. They learned to work together and that makes them stronger than just fighting for themselves. Sure a swarm fights for the same goal but in the end everyone in a swarm fights for themselves and that makes a team stronger than a swarm."
Fletcher nodded. "I understand."
Peggy nodded back. "You still have to learn a lot more about teamwork I think and about the trust in your teammates."
Fletcher looked down ashamed and frustrated.
Peggy chirped. "That is nothing you need to be ashamed of. You are very smart and you learned a lot already. You learned much more than I did in the same amount of time as I was brought from the feral world into the civilized world. Trust and teamwork is something that is build up and learned over time. You can't just learn it by reading in a book. Also it is nothing you can learn alone. You need to work together with your team and spend time with them to form a bond that is stronger than your instincts."
Fletcher stood up and slowly walked to the bowl of water to drink a bit from it. It was clear he was thinking about the words Peggy just said to him so she waited. "You mean like the bond between me and Craw? I only stopped fearing the others of the team because he told me that they are friendly and wouldn't harm me..."
Peggy nodded. "That is right. You will have to learn how to trust all the others like you trust him."
Fletcher stretched his wings and tilted his head. "But how? Craw is the leader. That is why I trust him."
Peggy chirped. "That is something I can't tell you. But what I can tell you is that it will need time."
Fletcher was a bit confused. "But why did I trust Craw so fast then?"
Peggy smiled. "Well first of all because he is your leader and maybe because he cared for you so much as you started to learn about the civilized world. But in the end only you can answer this question."
Fletcher nodded and looked to the ceiling seemingly thinking about it.
Peggy stretched her wings. "OK. Did you have enough break time? I still have a lot of things I need to teach you."
Fletcher flapped his wings and nodded. "I am ready."

Hoshi cried. "W-Why? Why are you doing this to me?" She looked at the Delphox as the flower in her paws burned to ashes.
Purity giggled. It was such an innocent giggle. "I told you. I am a horrible Pokémon and I am here to teach you. To teach you about the horrible world that awaits you. You are too naive. You have to get strong and you have to learn not to trust others blindly."
Hoshi whimpered.
That was when the door swung open.
"How does the training go?" Anubis stepped in and looked to them. "What is going on here?"
Purity smiled. It was a friendly and warm smile. "I am just training her."
Anubis looked to Hoshi for a moment before glaring at Purity. "You are going a bit too far I think..."
Purity looked back at him calmly. "I thought you would let me decide how to train her."
Anubis growled. "Under the condition that she will be fine in the end. You are just ruining her trust in everyone." He went towards the Delphox. "If she doesn't trust her team or anyone else anymore the training is worth nothing."
The Delphox smiled calmly. "You don't trust me?"
The Lucario stood now just centimeters away from her. "No, I don't. If you use her just to proof a point then you are the wrong trainer."
She grinned. "And what do you want to do against it?"
He growled. "I will throw you out and find someone else to train her."
She grinned. "Good luck with that."
Hoshi whimpered looking at the two Pokémon in fear.
Anubis growled. "I will ask the Ashen Empire if they have a trainer for her. You can leave now."
Purity giggled. "Oh, I think you misunderstood. As I said good luck I meant good luck with throwing me out. I made this room to my territory. There is nobody that can beat me in here now."
Anubis looked to her unfazed. "And you think that would stop me to beat the shit out of you if necessary?"
She laughed. "You really think that you could beat me?"
He looked to Hoshi for a moment before fixating the Delphox again. "I think you forget who you are speaking with."
She giggled. "You mean the one who betrayed his brother? The one who keeps this secret up there preventing the world from finding out the truth about what really happened 20 years ago? The one who wasn't able to stop a war but just could watch as Craw took all the blame for it and die for the world?"
Anubis didn't move a whimper. "You think that hurts me in any way? I am over this. Sure. I made my mistakes but you? You are still making them. You never were much better back then. Or did you forget who pulled the Ashen Kingdom and Cybertech City into the war. If they wouldn't have been Craw would maybe have been able to stop the other kingdoms from the war. Also you shouldn't forget about Amylles, Strega and Mychaelis."
She glared at him. "Don't you dare to pull them into this."
He glared back at her. "You started this. Not able to stand against your own weapons? However you better go now or you will regret it."
Hoshi gasped as Anubis was suddenly engulfed in flames. "N-NO!"
Anubis just chuckled. "Really? That is all you can do?"
Purity growled. "You will be the one regretting trying to-"
She wasn't able to finish the sentence.
Anubis was so fast that Hoshi wasn't even able to follow his movement.
Purity just fell over.
Anubis picked her up and went to carry her out. "Hoshi, I am sorry that I chose the wrong one to train you. You are a good Pokémon and what she did was wrong."
Hoshi looked to him with big eyes and suddenly started crying.
He sighed and let Purity fall before he went to her and knelt down patting her head softly.
Hoshi nearly tackled him as she tried to hug him searching for comfort.
Anubis softly patted her head. "She was really wrong. I mean sure there are some Pokémon out there who are evil and try to use you and there are even worse Pokémon that torture or kill just for fun... But there are also kind and friendly Pokémon out there like your team that always care about you. Take Craw for example. He was the one who worried for you and asked me to check on you."
She just dug her face into his fur and cried.
He smiled softly and patted her back. "Yeah... I think crying is the best to do right now. That often helps a lot..."

The Flygon laughed. "C'mon! I thought you were strong!"
Rex growled in frustration. He tried to bite the Flygon but the Flygon didn't even move a muscle.
"C'mon I met babies that bit harder than you! I know you can do this better." He mocked him.
Rex screamed in frustration and ran at the Flygon attacking him again and again with every move he knew but nothing seem to make the Flygon move even a millimeter.
The Flygon laughed. "Yeah. Scream all your anger and frustration out! Maybe that will help you somehow!" He said in a mocking sarcastic voice.
Rex on his side screamed again. He screamed and let out all his anger and frustration into that scream and was nearly thrown back as suddenly a shockwave of blue-ish purple-ish flames erupted from his mouth.
Dyno was taken by surprise and stumbled a bit. He laughed. "FINALLY!"
Rex was now quiet. He looked at the Flygon in disbelieve. "W-What?"
Dyno just continued laughing. "That was so good. It is so long ago that I had someone hit me that hard."
Rex looked so confused. "W-What just happened?"
Dyno slowly calmed down and chuckled. "That was Dragon Pulse."
Rex looked to him confused. "But..."
The Flygon chuckled. "You don't get it huh? The biggest strength of dragons is their anger and frustration! Normally Pokémon have to train hard to learn a new move but to dragon types... Well to us it comes natural but for that we have to be at a point of anger and frustration that we want to destroy everything around us." He chuckled. "If you reach that point you just have to take care to not actually destroy everything around you. That is why I wanted to get you over this point finally. If you wouldn't have snapped out of that state yourself I would have stopped you. But it seemed that you managed that yourself pretty well."
Rex was totally confused.
Dyno grinned. "Hey. Cheer a bit. You just managed to use a move that is much stronger than all the moves you had before."
Rex sighed. "I think I slowly get it but... Why you didn't tell me before?"
The Flygon chuckled. "Where would have been my fun?"
Rex sighed again and sank to the ground. "I am so exhausted..."
Dyno grinned. "Oh, but we are far from done. I still have some things to teach you."

Ricky winced. "PLEASE STOP!"
Lillith giggled. "What is it? Did you have enough tails already?"
He whimpered. "Please... This is too much... It is no fun anymore..."
Lillith chuckled. "But I thought you wanted this so much." Her voice now came from right behind him.
He squeaked. "But not this way!"
She grinned and finally let the illusion fall. Lillith stood behind him in her Zoruark form. "So... What is it that you learned from it?"
Ricky looked to her nervous.
She chuckled. "C'mon. tell me. To what conclusion did you come?"
He whimpered. "I-I... This is so embarrassing..."
Lillith transformed back into a Smeargle. "Why that?" She pointed with her tail between his hind legs. "I already saw everything of you and I watched you do it with all these illusions. What could be more embarrassing now?"
He winced again with his tail tugged between his legs. "This doesn't make it less embarrassing..."
She looked to him now with a serious face. "Then tell me what your conclusion is or we will continue."
Ricky whimpered and looked to him nervously. "I-I..." He took a deep breath. "It doesn't make any fun to me anymore and I think it isn't fun anymore for me as long as it is meaningless..."
Lillith giggled. "Finally. You really seem to have learned it. Now we can start the real training."

Craw stretched himself. "Seems like you are all doing much better than expected. I will ask Anubis for a second free day per week for the time being but in exchange I want you all to train even harder. I don't want that we slack."
Brighton grinned. "Yeah. I am finally making progress."
Craw nodded. "OK. The last point on the list for today is the exams in three days. First of all Anubis asked me if two of us could go with one of the training teams. Like back as we had our exam. I myself won't go but I would like you two to go Brighton and Kathrin. But that isn't all because in the end when the exam is over and if she gets through the exam I would like Tira to join the team. I made her go for the silver rank exam and told her that she can join if she gets through it. I hope you all are fine with it."
Brighton and Ariela just nodded since they knew about that already.
Fletcher chirped. "Tira seemed to be friendly."
Craw grinned. "I bet she is also a bit excited to meet you again. After all she was with me as we met you."
Fletcher nodded.
Hoshi looked to him. "Is she trustworthy?"
Craw nodded. "If she would have made it through the first exam she would maybe have joined our team back then already."
Rex nodded. "I trust that she is fine."
Kathrin sighed. "I don't like that she always seemed to be after Tira but she was decent and pretty good in exploring and I think if Brighton makes it clear that he is not single anymore that everything will be fine..."
Ricky in the end just sat there and sighed. "Yeah..."
Craw chuckled. "Lillith really went hard on you there huh?"
Ricky blushed. "Just don't mention it..."
Craw grinned and nodded. "OK. That's all for today. Tomorrow we have a free day and I will ask Anubis to free you two from training when you go to the exam and to not send you with Tira because we don't want you two be influenced."
Brighton and Kathrin nodded.
Craw smiled. "Hoshi? Could we talk?"
Hoshi sighed and nodded.
As the others had left the room he looked to her. "Are you OK? Anubis told me that Purity didn't treat you well..."
She sighed. "Yeah. I am fine."
Craw sighed and shook his head. "Who are you lying to now? Me or yourself?"
She gritted her teeth.
He looked to her. "You can always talk with me if you have a problem. I will not judge you and I won't tell you what to do. I will just listen and I will talk with you if you want to. The same counts for the most others of the team. They will for sure listen to you if you want talk with them rather than with me."
She looked down. "It is just... I have to get through this on myself... This is something I have to figure out alone..."
Craw smiled. "You are never alone and you will never be. You can trust us as we trust you."
She looked to him with tears in her eyes. "How can I be after that? How can I be sure that I can trust you all after what happened to me with Purity?"
Craw still smiled. It was a calm and friendly smile. "Because we never pretended to be your friends. We are your friends. We told you the truth and we told you everything about us and we are happy that you are our friend as well."
She looked down again and nodded.
Craw could see tears dropping to the ground. "If you ever want to talk with me you know where you can find me."
She nodded again. "Thank you..."

Craw sighed and stretched himself as he stood up.
Ariela smiled and looked to him already sitting on some papers. "Good morning."
Craw smiled back at her. "Good morning. What are you doing?"
She shrugged. "Just going through our expenses. We are pretty good on money and I think we should be able to give back some of the money we lent from the guild at the start."
Craw went to her and kissed her cheek. "That sounds good. But it can wait for later. How about some breakfast? We will have a job to do later and after that I wanted to check if Tira is already finished with the exam."
Ariela smiled and nodded. "Yeah that sounds like a good idea. I am finished anyways. Was just double checking it." She stood up from her chair and looked to him. "But maybe you should get a shower first."
He chuckled and looked to her. "You wanna join me?"
She shook her head. "I already showered."
He sighed. "Well that is not what I meant but sure." He smiled and left the room.
Hoshi was sitting on one of the couches reading a book while Fletcher just hopped out of the kitchen joining her.
Craw waved them and went into the bathroom. After a short shower he came out again just to see Fletcher and Hoshi arguing about something. He sighed and went to them. "What's going on?"
Hoshi mumbled something while Fletcher glared at her. A few of his tail feathers were a bit scorched and he was visibly shaking in anger.
Craw sighed and went between them. "OK. Now tell me what happened." He looked to Hoshi and then to Fletcher. As none of them wanted to answer he sighed. "OK. I don't wanna mess with this the rest of the day so you two go to Serene today. She will know how to handle this and I don't have much time till the early afternoon because I got a job to do today. So this is now your last chance to tell me what the hell is going on."
Hoshi grumbled. "He pecked my paw as I flipped the site."
Fletcher squeaked. "I didn't even touch your paw. I pecked on the page to stop you because I wasn't finished yet!"
Hoshi growled and Craw could see the embers already forming in her mouth. "It is a book about herbs anyway so why do you care?"
Fletcher ruffled his feathers. "I started enjoying reading and what is wrong with learning something new?"
Craw stepped between them and glared at them. "OK. Stop! Hoshi I know you are tensed up still but that doesn't mean you can leash out on anything that you don't like. Fletcher you on the other side could have just told her instead of pecking. Now stop this taurosshit and get over it. Fletcher try to understand that she went through a lot with Purity and she is very tensed up because of that. Like back as you just sparked and came into the city the first time seeing all the Pokémon around you. You were totally freaking out about minor things so you should be able to understand her situation to a certain degree. And you Hoshi should at least know that it was never his intention to peck you no matter if he did or not. You were on jobs together with him and you know him long enough to know that he wouldn't try to harm him so you wouldn't need to attack him. Now Fletcher grab a different book if you still want to read and Hoshi you apologize to him for scorching his feathers."
Both of them looked down a bit embarrassed but still angry.
"Sorry..." Hoshi mumbled as she took the book and scurried into her room.
Fletcher squawked and flew off into the library.
Craw sighed and went back into his and Ariela's room. "We all really need a vacation... Everyone is so stressed out..."
Ariela smiled. "They are just not used to so much work yet..."
Craw shook his head. "That doesn't matter... I mean even Fletcher and Hoshi just nearly fought each other. Fletcher and Hoshi!"
Ariela looked to him concerned. "Hmm... That is concerning... I mean I wouldn't wonder if Ricky or Kathrin would be involved but Fletcher and Hoshi are more the quiet ones and would back off..."
Craw nodded. "Yeah. Maybe we should make this trip to the beach that we thought about before the expedition..."
Ariela smiled and clapped her hands. "That could actually be a great idea."
Craw smiled a bit. "But let's talk about that when we are done with the job. I would like to take Damion and Fletcher onto the mission because Rex wanted to still go to the training even though Anubis told us we wouldn't need to if we didn't want to today and because Hoshi still seem to need some time to recover. It is an escort mission so if the client gets her on the wrong paw she might overreact again."
She looked to him with curiosity. "But why Fletcher then?"
He sighed. "Because I can keep Fletcher better under control than Hoshi and it would be a bad idea to let them both here I think."
She nodded. "What about Ricky?"
Craw grinned. "I told him yesterday that he would have the job to check if all things we need for the secret base are ready. I want the base to be ready by the end of the week."
Ariela looked to him with curiosity. "Why that?"
He chuckled. "Because there are some harder jobs that I want to send the team onto in the area and having a base nearby would be good. This way they can go to the base after training and then head to the job at the next morning and thus be back before the training. The jobs there are just a little bit harder than the jobs right around the city and they pay much better because nobody wanna waste time or money to get into the village nearby and rest the night there so normally they would spend a half day just getting there and coming back. We on the other side have our base now and that gives us an advantage so we get faster more money with jobs that are a better training than just the simple jobs around the city."
Ariela sighed and nodded. "OK... But don't you think you are underestimating the dungeons there a bit?"
Craw shook his head. "I got some information from Sam and team Second Chance. They had done jobs there pretty often and they seem to be easy enough for bronze rank to get through them with some scratches. Our team should be able to get through them without much problems."
Ariela looked to him. "OK. But don't forget that dungeons are always unpredictable."
Craw nodded. "The team will always have an escape orb with them so if something unexpected happens they can flee."
Ariela nodded. "That sounds good."

Two days later a small celebration was held for those Pokémon who had passed the exams. It began with a small speech by the leaders before it went on to the main course. Beside the actual trainees there were also many team that were interested in getting some of the trainees if they get through the exams.
Of course Craw and the whole team was there too and that caused a lot of talking. Many trainees were super hyped and some were even bragging about how they were probably there to get them into the team because of their great performance.
Brighton sighed. "I thought it would get less over time..."
Craw grinned. "Well we were invited to go on an expedition just a month after finishing our exams. Most Silver rank teams have to wait for something like this for at least a year."
Ariela smiled. "Also words got around that we get personal training from the leaders. That for sure caused some rumors about something big is going on with us."
Brighton just nodded.
Kathrin grinned. "Well they aren't wrong. There is something big ahead of us."
Craw chuckled and nodded.
Then Serene who had mainly managed the trainees exams went on the stage smiling. "Thank you for your patience. Now that the valuations are done we will announce the Pokémon that had passed. First there were the rookie Pokémon before the bronze rank Pokémon and teams were announced before finally the silver ranks had their round.
Craw was a bit surprised that only one team beside Tira was on the list.
The trainees were a bit confused since it was rare that someone would do solo team after the exams especially in a silver rank.
Serene smiled calmly. "I want to congratulate everyone who had passed and encourage those who didn't do it this month to work hard for next month's exams. Also like always you all are invited to get some drinks and food. That's all for today."
Craw smiled and stood up before he and his team went over to Tira. "Congratulations."
Of course that caused the others talking.
Tira blushed a bit. "Thank you. Without your help I would probably not have made it..."
Craw grinned. "No problem. After all we wanted you on the team."
Ariela smiled. "Tira you need to start believing into yourself. You are a good explorer."
Brighton grinned and nodded. "She is right."
Tira blushed. "T-Thanks Brighton."
Kathrin sighed. "Yeah you are decent." She went to Brighton's side and looked to Tira. "But one thing you have to understand. Brighton and I are a pair so please don't take it personally but you should drop your hopes right here to become his mate."
Tira widely blushed and looked to the two. "W-What? I-I mean I never..." She looked down embarrassed. "Was it that obvious?"
Craw chuckled. "A blind Slowpoke would have noticed by now."
Tira blushed even more.
Craw patted her head. "Don't worry. There are many more males around that will probably be happy to become your mate sometime."
Damion nodded. "Yeah..."
Ricky sighed. "He is right. You are beautiful and are skilled. Not so long ago I would have tried my luck with you..."
Tira looked to the Zorua. "What?" She seemed to be a bit surprised and confused.
Hoshi shrugged. "Don't take Ricky too serious. He is a bit strange lately. Probably because of his training. I am Hoshi by the way"
Tira nodded. "Nice to meet you."
Rex looked to her. "I am Rex. Congratulations from me too for getting through the exam. I heard they got much harder since I have gone through them."
Tira nodded and smiled. "Luckily the other Silver rank team had five members so I asked them if we could work together and make two three Pokémon teams out of it."
Fletcher nodded. "That was a good idea."
Tira looked to Fletcher. "Oh! Aren't you the Fletchling from back then?"
Fletcher nodded. "Yes, my name is Fletcher now. Nice to meet you again."
Tira smiled. "Yeah I think so too. It is so fascinating how different you are from back then. You were so nervous and fidgety but now you look just like any other civilized Pokémon."
Fletcher chirped ruffling his feathers. "Thank you very much. I trained hard to get this far."
Tira giggled and nodded.
Craw stretched himself. "OK. How about we grab something to eat before we talk with Serene?"
The others nodded.
Tira looked to Craw. "Why do we need to talk with Serene?"
Craw chuckled. "You will find out soon enough."

Craw nodded. "OK. Tomorrow we will have three jobs. Brighton, Kathrin and Hoshi you will go together on the rescue job. Ricky, Fletcher and Rex you will go on the escort job and Ariela, Damion and I will go on the item finding job."
The team nodded.
Craw sighed. "Good... I will make the paperwork today. Damion please check the storage if everything is filled up. Ricky and Tira you will work together on planning our vacation next week. Think about something for everyone. I would like at least one day at the beach in the south. Kathrin and Brighton please take care of the papers for the vacation today or we might not get it. Ariela you will help Tira and Ricky with the calculation for the money for the vacation. Hoshi you have a date with Serene tomorrow please don't forget it. Fletcher you will check the routes that Tira and Ricky plan please. Rex you will go and buy the things we will need for our trip. Best would be if you coordinate with Damion so you two can combine it with the storage refill. That is everything for today.
The others seemed relieved that there wasn't more to discuss and soon he, Brighton and Kathrin were alone.
Craw looked up to them. "Is anything else?"
Brighton sighed. "We... Well..."
Kathrin rolled her eyes. "We wanted to ask if it would be OK if Brighton and I get some alone time in the vacation."
Craw grinned. "I actually planed it to be a group activity. We had no time for the whole team since... Since two months now... I just want that we can all have some fun together. But yeah I guess we can make one to three days of our one week vacation to be something where everyone is free to do whatever they want."
Brighton grinned. "That would be great."
Kathrin grinned but tried to hide how happy she was about his answer.
Craw nodded. "Please tell Tira and Ricky about it."
They nodded and left him alone.
Craw sighed and took his papers heading to his and Ariela's room. He smiled as he saw her sitting on her desk looking through her own papers. He went up to her, gave her a kiss and then went to his own desk. "How are you?"
She smiled. "I am fine. I am looking forward to the vacation."
He grinned. "Brighton and Kathrin want some of the vacation days to themselves. So I said OK and we now have some free days for ourselves too."
The Kirlia grinned. "Oh really? Did you plan anything then?"
The Riolu looked over to her. "Well... I have one idea."

Ricky and Tira were sitting in the living room.
Ricky looked to Tira. "So... Do you have any idea what we should do?"
Tira smiled calmly. "We will figure something out."
Ricky sighed. "Yeah... How about you plan one half and I plan the other half?"
Tira shook her head. "I think that won't work. We should decide together so we won't plan the same or we don't plan something that would disturb the plans of the others."
Ricky looked to her for a moment and then sighed again. "OK..."
Tira looked to him nervously. "You don't like working with me do you?"
Ricky flicked his ears. "That's not it... It is... complicated." He sighed again. "If you have time and promise not to judge I will explain..."
Tira looked to him with curiosity. "Go ahead. We are in one team so we should be able to work together."
Ricky sighed. "Well it begins before I joined the team... I was a bit of a troublemaker... To be more precise I was doing nearly everything legal to... get under female's tails... In the end it was either getting kicked out of the exploration society or joining Craw's team. I joined just before the training began and well... I got to train with Lillith... She pretty much set me straight... I just don't know if I am up to it yet to work alone with a female..."
Tira looked at him with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. "So you basically aren't sure if you would try something on me?"
He sighed and nodded. "Believe me if I say if I use my ability and my charm I could probably get you around and do with me whatever I want... But I don't want to risk it right now..."
Tira chuckled. "Oh... That is all? I wouldn't mind at all to be honest. I mean it would be just for fun after all right?"
Ricky looked to her a bit nervous. "Yeah... Probably... But that is something I don't really want right now... I just fear that I get back into my old habits..."
Tira grinned. "Well then I will just freeze your thing if you try something. Deal?"
He blushed a bit and nodded.
Then Brighton and Kathrin came out of the dining/meeting room. Brighton smiled. "Hey. So we talked with Craw and you only need to plan for four of the days. Three of them will be simple free days for everyone doing whatever they like."
Tira smiled and nodded. "OK."
Kathrin looked to them. "You already seem to be over Brighton..."
Tira giggled. "Well it was more or less just a crush. And after we are in a team and I know him a bit better I realized we wouldn't fit together anyways."
Kathrin shrugged. "That's fine."
Brighton looked to the two females a bit confused and then chuckled. "Good that you get along now." He looked to Ricky. "And remember. Don't try something weird with Tira."
Ricky sighed. "You don't need to remind me."
Kathrin gave him a glance and then just turned around to go.
Brighton chuckled. "OK you two. Have fun." He quickly followed Kathrin.
Ricky sighed.
Tira just giggled. "You really have some issues here huh?"
Ricky sighed. "Let's say I didn't make a good first impression on Kathrin..."
Tira giggled. "Oh I can imagine it. She had a reputation for being very short tempered when males tried stuff with her."
Ricky sighed. "Well I learned it the hard way."
Tira just chuckled. "OK. How about sitting here and sulking around we go someplace where we don't happen to walk into her all the time and we just learn a bit more about each other. As the two newbies that got a bad first impression with her we should stick together."
Ricky sighed and nodded.
Tira giggled. "C'mon. Cheer up a bit. It's not everyday that I ask a male out on a date."
Ricky blushed and looked to her. "A... Date?"
She chuckled. "Aw, c'mon. You really should relax a bit and not take everything so serious."
He blushed even more and so the two went off and left the base.

Author's note: Yeah! Welcome Tira to the team! Sorry for short cutting the training but I didn't want to write three or so chapters only about training. They aren't fully out of it yet and there will be more training scenes but if I would have gone through it completely there would have been at least 3 chapters only training and jobs and I didn't really wanted that.
Also yeah I dropped my other project for now because I didn't like the first chapter of it at all. I have to reconsider how I wanna make it and then start over again. So could need some time till I get back to that...
Also to all my readers that got so far: Please tell me how you like the story so far. Give me some review if you like XD I read all of them and always enjoy them as long as they aren't meant to attack me or make my writings down. (It is not my job to write. I am just doing this as hobby and a bit to release some stress because writing is relaxing to me.)
And about the training part of Ricky: Yes and no. Yes she used exactly what you think to get him realize how meaningless and it is and no she didn't let him do it to her but instead used her Transform move she scetched from a Ditto to transform into a Zoruark and then use her now stronger than his illusion ability to create illusions for that.

Edit: I just noticed I made it to 200k words! YAY!