By the end of the week, the group was much more tightly knit than before.

He had spent every morning of the past six days battling with Raboot until neither of them could stand anymore, learning her moves and countering them accordingly, and vice versa. It had become harder and harder for him to hit her, since she quickly learned from her every mistake, taking steps to never make them again. Thus their battles would last longer and longer each day, once going on for three hours without either of them besting the other. It was therapeutic to be able to release his pent up anger and grief in the form of unmitigated violence, and Raboot had shown that she was not only capable of keeping up with him, but willing to do so as well. He had fought Scyther once more with the same results. It seemed the bug pokemon wasn't really as powerful as he and Raboot were, but he still cut an impressive figure, especially once he revealed he was merely a Gillian. Arron learned about pokemon evolutions as well, and knowing that Scyther was still relatively young yet scaled to Arron, even just barely, was quite a pleasant surprise: it seemed he held great potential within him as well.

The wild card of the week however was Riolu: he'd refuse to battle Arron when offered, and instead spent the week training on his own, sulking about and smashing boulders to try and build strength. Both he and Raboot had been surprised by this, but Arron wasn't offended. The kid would challenge him when he was ready.

The biggest development, however, was when Arron learned who was the most powerful. Pikachu and another pokemon named Dragonite were said to be the most powerful. And despite Pikachu's uninteresting appearance, he was apparently both an Adjuchas and Ash's oldest and most experienced pokemon by a year or so. The idea of battling Pikachu had been stuck on his mind ever since he learned the rat's true power, but Pikachu was rather lazy, preferring to bask in the sunlight rather than fight, and Ash and Goh didn't want him going around and picking fights with nonconsenting pokemon, so he was stuck with Raboot for the majority of the week.

While during the mornings things were usually fine, the rest of the day often posed a challenge. Arron would skip breakfast so he could stay alert while training, but when lunchtime came around he was always pressured to eat pokemon food. It tasted fine, he supposed, but it was humiliating to eat it, and he'd try to weasel his way out of eating it by any means necessary, usually by either escaping into the wilderness near the house, or hiding under Ash's bed. Delilah made a habit of closing and locking the doors across the house during mealtime, however, and Arron had run out of options, resigning himself to the fate of eating the stuff. He'd survive, but he'd have his vengeance one day.

Then there were the afternoons, those were the worst. Ash and Goh often wore themselves worn out from whatever adventures they had while he and Raboot sparred, often taking Riolu and Scyther with them to do their own training, and by noon he and Raboot were exhausted, so Delilah would dim the lights and everyone would either sit in the living room and watch TV or they'd go their separate ways, often to their rooms to read, nap or do whatever else they felt like doing, leaving Arron trapped with hisnown mind for several hours. On top of that, the summer heat, while manageable during the morning, became unrelenting making it inadvisable for Arron to sneak outside for long periods of time.

Sleeping wasn't easy for him since he'd often have nightmares, usually about his past life. While they were often violent in nature, what really disturbed him was he could never piece together what was real and what wasn't. So he'd stay awake, even when he was tired, even if he was bored. Goh was always busy compiling notes from all of his battles, as well transferring all of the battles he and Delilah caught on camera onto a USB drive for Professor Cerise.

That was another thing that troubled him: Cerise. The man hadn't done anything remotely evil or wrong, and Arron couldn't find a solid reason to distrust him, but he couldn't shake his old Habits. With the brown hair, casual smile and glasses, he looked like Aizen but slightly older. He was always on edge around the professor, even when he was just calling.

Now it was the last day. Goh and Ash were packing, and Arron was sitting on the guest bed listening to Goh mutter to himself, making sure he had everything. Apparently, they were about to take a short train ride to Professor Cerise's lab, which was about three hours from here. Not too long, but that wasn't what he was worried about. He was worried about the meeting he was going to be having with Cerise so the kindly professor could do a few examinations and compile all the data collected. Professor Cerise had promised Goh it would be a short event, an hour at most, and then he'd send them on their journey again. Hopefully he didn't try anything and Arron could get out of dodge quickly before he had a damn panic attack.

So here they were, Goh zipped his sturdy hiking bag before slinging it across his shoulder and beckoning Arron to follow him. They entered the living room to see Delilah practically smothering Ash with a hug while Pikachu watched Ash's slow demise with little concern, like this was nothing new. Goh chuckled, and Delilah let Ash go, giving Goh a relatively normal hug.

"Aw, mom, why'd you nearly kill me but then you don't do it to Goh?"

Delilah gave him a knowing smile. "Because I'm your mom, and one of my jobs is to give you a hard time."

Ash crossed his arms and pouted while Delilah spoke to Goh. "Now, you two be careful, and be good. Stay out of trouble, both of you: I don't want to get another call from Professor Cerise involving something negative, do you hear?"

Goh nodded. "Of course, Ms. Ketchum, we'll be on our best behavior."

Delilah smiled and leaned down to meet Arron's eyes. "And you, you better get along. Make lots of friends, they'll help you a lot."

Goh looked at Delilah quizzically, but she just shrugged. "Just a little motherly wisdom to our frosty friend here. Take care of him, though, he needs a good trainer, a trainer like you."

"Of course, Ms. Ketchum, I'll do my best."

Delilah sighed. "You're so polite, Goh. I wish I could get Ash to adopt your manners. Now, I packed some Pickled Plum Onigiri for the two of you. Save some for the professor and his team for me?"

"We will, Ms. Ketchum."

"I'm glad to hear it, Goh. Now, you two have fun, and capture a lot of Pokemon. Me and Mr. Mime are going to take a trip to Kalos while you're gone."

"Alright, Ms. Ketchum. Stay safe. And… thanks, for everything."

Delilah smiled. "It's really no big deal, Goh."

He nodded and noticed Ash had already walked out the door, so he and Arron followed, seeing that Ash was leaning on the mailbox while waiting for them.

"So, Goh, what are we doing after we go see the professor? Mom's gonna be gone for a while and the Professor will be busy with several projects. What do you want to do?"

Goh raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought you wanted to train? Why not just do that?"

Ash shrugged. "That's not a big deal, though, we can do that anywhere. Why don't we have some big plan or something."

"Well, maybe we should stay at Cerise Park for a few days, catch up with all the other pokemon? It's over a week, you know, we could afford a few days at the lab. Besides, I think Arron could use the space to stretch his legs while we figure stuff out and get our next assignment from the Professor."

"Yeah, I guess so. Cmon, the train leaves in thirty minutes, and I don't want to be late."

The train was quiet and was only at half capacity, as not many people were in transit from Pallet Town or Pewter City, so Ash and Goh had free reign of over half the train car while other people read or listened to music. Arron chose to sit next to Raboot, who was watching the greenery blur by in an attempt to stifle boredom while they talked. But there was something wrong: Raboot was very cautious about what she said to Arron, as if she was trying to keep him from becoming uncomfortable.

"So, what was your home like, Arron?"

What kind of question was that? Well, scratch that, it was a perfectly innocent question. Arron, however, was not used to answering personal questions as being a Former Espada/Agent for Aizen, you kept your lips tight. Besides, nobody cared about that type of stuff because it didn't matter: Hueco Mundo was your home, in all its morbid glory.

Raboot watched him closely and inquisitively as he attempted to formulate an answer, and he finally said what he could without revealing too much. "It was dark and cold."

Raboot's eyebrows rose, as if she was expecting something else. He looked away from her to hide his discomfort but she didn't relent. "What do you mean by that? Were you underground or something, like in some caves."

Now Arron was piecing together a believable lie just to satisfy her. "A large cave system, it was very dark, and very cold. We left the caves at night to scavenge."

It wasn't that far off from what Hueco Mundo was like, dark and dry, the sands made up of the essence of trillions of hollows killed in the tens of thousands of years it had existed. The eternal moon was their only comfort, their shining beacon in the dark. They hunted under it's pale light, killing their own for the sake of power.

While he was hesitant to reveal it before, remembering that place made him realize that he never wanted anyone to find out about it. His past was all pain and regret, and to shove that onto someone else was just unfair. On top of that, he had the blood of millions of his own kind on his hands: what would Raboot, Scyther or Goh say to that? How would they view him if he revealed he had practically committed genocide on his fellow hollows because he was hungry? That was something only another Hollow could truly relate to.

"Did you have any friends?"

Dammit, again with the difficult questions. What were friends to a hollow, really? He disliked most of the Espada and their Fraccions, and the few he tolerated were fine, he supposed, he didn't know what else to say about them. He liked Stark and Ulquiorra, definitely, and Neliel was fun to be around, but ' friend' was a term he only ever used when he was emotionally compromised, when he was reliving his memories. They were acquaintances, nothing more.

So why did it hurt so much when he thought about them?

"I had a friend named Ulquiorra. He was a bat pokemon, very strong, but he remained in seclusion. He didn't talk much, but he was very wise. I think he was just hurt and lonely."

Raboot remained silent for a moment before asking another question. "Why did he like being alone so much?"

Arron let out a small sigh. "He didn't have a purpose or a goal. He lost it a long time ago, and only really came out when he was needed. But I tried to help him."

"Did you succeed?"

Arron shook his head. "I don't know. I never found out in the end."

After that statement, Raboot remained silent for a while, thinking she understood who he was implicating. Arron hoped she would remain that way, but it seemed he was unlucky today.

"Who else did you know?"

Arron groaned. "Why do you keep asking me these questions?"

"We're on a train ride and it's boring and I want to know more about you."

"Yeah, but why? Why do you want to know more about me? I obviously don't want to talk about my past, so please just stop."

Raboot scowled at him. "I'm just trying to help you, you asshole. What's your problem?"

Arron scoffed. "I don't need your fucking help, I just want to be left alone. So please, shut up and bother someone else."

Raboot sneered and hopped off the soft leather seat to go sit next to Scyther. She and Scyther seemed to be closer than the rest of the pokemon, and he couldn't help but think that they were plotting something involving Arron. Figures, he can't get a moment of peace unless he was trapped in that damn pokeball.

Goh seemed to have noticed the commotion, as he made his was to Arron using the seats as support and sat down next to him. "Raboot seems pretty mad, are you okay?"

What a stupid question, of course he was okay, he wasn't hurt or anything. When did all these people just suddenly start caring? He liked it better when they downright hated him, because at least he got his privacy. He didn't want to open up to anyone, his past and memories were his own burden.

Arron responded by looking away from Goh and sighing. This time, Goh seemed to accept it, since he picked up Arron and placed him on his lap, scratching the scruff of his neck. "I don't know what you guys were fighting about, but please, just promise me you'll try and get along? I hate to see my pokemon fight each other outside of battles."

Arron flicked his tail and looked up to see Goha and his gentle smile looking back down at him. He rubbed up against Goh affectionately, and he giggled, petting him. Being around Goh was… nice. He wasn't under some obligation to reveal any secrets or talk about his past. All he had to do was just be with him, which was odd for Arron to accept at first, but he eventually got used to the idea of being Goh's pokemon.

Beyond that, unlike Ash, Goh never really yelled. He got angry for sure, but he never raised his voice. He always spoke to Arron, which was also a new experience. He was used to anger being conveyed through violence and cathartic actions like yelling, not slowly released through discipline and reason. Goh was an anomaly to Arron, because while everyone else around him were violent and competitive, Goh was just happy to come along, to spend time with everyone.

They spent the next hour or so like this until the lunch cart came along and Goh picked up food for both of them, even giving Arron a donut to eat while he watched the videos of Arron and Raboot's battles that he and Ms. Ketchum had captured over the past week on his pokedex. Goh was mesmerized by the unfolding scenes, watching the points of impact as Arron used a strange energy fortified along his tail to deflect Raboot's devastating attacks. If he recalled correctly, Reboot had been using Agility and Flame Charge, so including her double type advantage, her attacks should have been devastating. Yet Arron had been able to deflect the attack and even break Raboot's toe with minimal damage to himself. That kind of defensive capabilities were unheard of, and it made Goh wonder how strong Arron truly was.

Beyond that, Arron's durability wasn't the only interesting revelation. Despite Arron being more or less uncoordinated and untrained by Goh, he had easily adopted a defensive stature and successfully blocked the majority of Raboots attacks like it was second nature, so he could have a very high fight IQ for all Goh knew.

And then there were his abilities involving ice. He had shown he was adept at controlling his powers and using them creatively. The most interesting of the abilities was what ended his first battle with Raboot, the ice bombs. They seemed to explode on command and send razor sharp blades of ice in a cascade. Goh had never heard of such a move.

He leaned over and put the pokedex in front of Arron, who was curled up into a ball on his lap, and with a quick nudge he was woken up. The tired and irritated Arron simply looked at the screen with a bored expression, as if to say yeah, I see it, so what?

"Arron, what's that ice bomb ability you used earlier? It's really cool and strange."

But instead of providing even the mildest of reactions, he curled up and went back to sleep, completely ignoring Goh's protests. With a sigh, Goh shook the pokemon once more, to which Arron decided to puff a cloud of ice into his face.

"Arron, don't do that!" Goh said, giggling as the cool frost melted on his skin, leaving a soft, tingling sensation. As the ice melted and the water sank into his skin, it left a few tiny droplets of something else on him, a grey liquid like the one he had seen during the battle at Verdanturf Town. He wiped.it off his face with his hand, only for it to reform into small droplets on his palm. It wasn't exactly metallic, rather more like liquid quartz, translucent and all. But as soon as hebhad discovered it, it began to dissipate into a mist, leaving a sparkling effect in the air. Goh watched in awe as it dissipated.

That couldn't have been mercury, could it? Come to think of it, the only time he had ever seen Arron's ice poison someone was in Verdanturf Town. When Raboot and Scyther were cut, they were never poisoned. It's as if Arron was controlling the makeup of the ice within his body.

Goh shook Arron again, feeling the pokemon squirm under his hands before nipping at Goh lightly to get him to stop. Goh flinched, feeling his finger stump throb lightly, bit Arron stopped as quickly as he began. "Arron, what is your ice made of."

Again, Arron provided no reaction, simply ignoring Goh and going back to sleep. Maybe Arron didn't really know what his ice was made of or how he used his powers? And even if he did, how would he convey it? It seemed that Goh would just have to recreate it at Cerise Park.

Goh continued to pet Arron while he waited to arrive at the lab, hoping he could find out more about his newest pokemon.

Arron already didn't like Professor Cerise.

While he had met Cerise in passing before, most notably at Goh's home, he never quite paid much attention to him, more worried about Goh's wellbeing and his predicament. But now that he was in front of the man, he knew they were going to have some problems. For starters, he always had this sly, shit-eating grin on his face, much like Aizen's. It was the smile of someone in control, someone who was confident in their capabilities. Then there was his outfit, the white lab coat contrasting with his underclothes in a similar way to Aizen's own clothing during the winter war. Then there were the glasses, of course.

He wondered if this was all just some cruel joke, and he'd never been able to counter the Kyoka Suigetsu in the first place. He wouldn't put it past Aizen.

But he couldn't sense Aizen's presence anywhere, not with his reiatsu abilities anyway, so maybe this was real.

Fine, he'd play ball.

"My, my Arron, you are quite the pokemon. I can't wait to learn more about you! Now, we're just going to go to the testing area. Please, Goh, follow me and bring Arron with you."

Ash spoke up. "What about me, professor? Why can't I join?"

Professor Cerise readjusted his glasses and flashed an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Ash, but I don't want to overwhelm Arron, and Goh will be there to make sure he feels safe." Ash nodded. "I heard Golurk wanted to see you, something involving the big beach ball he's taken a liking to. Maybe he wants a rematch?"

Ash's smile brightened and rubbed the back of his head, chuckling softly. "Oh, that's right, I promised I'd play another few rounds with Golurk when I got back. Good luck Professor!" He said as he ran out the room

"Thank you Ash, and I hope you win this time," he replied, "now, back to business. How are you feeling today, Arron?"

Arron didn't respond, staring coldly at the professor. To his credit, he seemed unfazed, but Goh seemed mortified. "Arron, be nice, the Professor just wants to see if you're healthy!"

The professor just waved his hand absent-mindedly. "Don't worry, Goh, Arron just wants to intimidate me. Some pokemon do this to try and assert dominance. Well just have to be gentle and slow with him, and make sure we don't startle him."

Arrom held back a laugh of mirth. Startle him? He'd faced much worse than these two. He wouldn't be startled by a professor and his apprentice.

"Right, Goh, could you coax him outside to the pen for me so we can get a better look at him in a more comfortable place? I'm sure Arron would prefer to be outside."

Arron silently obliged, following the Professor through a small door and into a pen about the size of a small soccer field. Chain link fences wrapped around the sides, and a massive oak tree dominated the center, providing shade and quarter for the bird pokemon nestled within the foliage. Professor Cerise reached into his pocket and tossed out some seeds for them, and they flew down, undeterred by their presence. He smiled before sitting down cross-legged and urging them to do the same. Goh sat down across from him and Arron sat as well in between the both of them so Goh could watch while Cerise inspected him.

"Alright, Goh, I just want to get a few statistics done first." He pulled a weight, a thermometer and a ruler out of his backpack and set them down. He put the weight in front of him, and gestured Arron to step onto the plate. When he did, it creaked, casing Cerise's eyes to widen slightly.

"Well, that's interesting. He's no bigger than a growlithe, yet he weighs almost twice as much. That explains why he's so hard to pick up."

"But professor, he's so skinny, he looks like a Linoone. How could he be that heavy?"

"Well, Goh, I believe it has something to do with his armored shell. We'll do more with that later. Now, for his temperature."

The apread apart some of the fur in Arron's exposed forehead and used his laser thermometer to check his temperature. "99.3 degrees Fahrenheit, perfectly healthy for many pokemon, but an ice type? How curious."

Then he took measurements of his height and other lengths, and to no surprise they were normal. However, once that was done, Professor Cerise began to rummage through his bag again. "Alright, we're going to check under those armor plates and see if your skin is healing up nicely.'' He pulled out a pair of pointed forceps and while he was cleaning and preparing them, Arron grew paranoid.

"Now, let's check your skin."

As the forceps came closer to Arron, his jaws clenched and his muscles coiled like springs. He didn't want this Professor touching him with anything anymore, especially when the forceps from that angle looked suspiciously like a sword…

And with a knee-jerk reaction, he bit the Professor's hand.

The professor yelped and stumbled backwards, clutching his hand. He let out a string of very vulgar curses under his breath while Goh panicked. But to his credit, Professor Cerise recomposed himself very quickly, wrapping his bleeding hand in his lab coat. "Goh, get Chrysa and some of my gauze from the lab so I can wrap this up and we can do this later when Arron is a bit less hostile."

Goh nodded and took off like a rocket, calling for Chrysa while Professor Cerise looked at him with a surprisingly neutral face. "That hurt, Arron. Luckily you didn't bite one of my fingers off, that'll just leave a nasty scar." He chuckled mirthfully while wincing, but when he saw Aaron's startled expression, his smile faded. "I'm sorry if I scared you, I'm just trying to help. We really can do this another time if you want."

Arron curled up into a ball again to avoid his gaze, but instead of goading him like Goh would have done, the professor just sat down next to him. "I get it, really. You've been through a lot, I don't need to give you a psych evaluation or hear a long story to know that. Just know that I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to help you."

Arron lifted his gaze and looked at professor Cerise, seeing the twinkle in the man's eyes. He'd never seen a real expression like that from Aizen, they were all empty and emotionless. This wasn't Aizen, Aizen would have blamed him without blaming him, he would have said that Arron was rabid or untrustworthy.

Aizen would not have gone out of his way to ensure Arron was comfortable or to help Arron understand he didn't want to hurt anyone.

Most importantly, Aizen never smiled like Professor Cerise smiled. It wasn't a perfect, fake smile like the ones Aizen wore, which were nothing more than amusement and arrogance. This was a real, genuine expression of understanding.

Chrysa ran out with the Gauze, Goh trailing behind her. She took one look at Cerise's hand and gasped. "Professor, are you okay? He practically ripped your thumb open!"

Despite the obvious pain he was in, the professor remained calm. "It's fine, Chrysa, I'll just need a few stitches. Goh, could you return Arron to his pokeball and take him to the park? I'm going to go get fixed up and we can co tinge this later."

Goh nodded, pressing the red button on Arron's ball. Arron was returned and Professor Cerise sighed in relief. "Arron seemed to be startled by me when I tried to use some forceps to lift one of his armor plates and he bit me. It was a perfectly nor.al response, I assure you, and I should have been more careful."

"But, professor! You weren't hostile at all, why would he bite you?"

"Again, Goh, even with you there, he didn't know me. He only knew I was using a foreign object to touch him. I was too hasty, I should have waited a few days for Arron to become more comfortable with me."

Goh nodded, looking down as Professor Cerise smiled weakly. "It's not your fault and it isn't Arron's, either. It was mine, and I'll take full responsibility. Just take Arron to the park so he can calm down.

"Ok Professor. I hope you're alright."

"I'll be fine, Goh. Now, Chrysa, can you hold down the fort while I go get this checked out?"

"Of course sir. Just call me if you need anything."

"You know I will, Chrysa."

And with that, the professor left for the clinic down the street.

Chrysa sighed. "He's always so eager, but he gets into some serious scrapes sometimes. I wish he was more patient."

"But Arron bit him, that's not his fault," Goh sputtered. "Why doesn't he think that Arron might be… you know, a little dangerous."

Chrysa snorted. "Goh, all pokemon are dangerous. Getting hurt is in the job description of a pokemon researcher. The way you mitigate those injuries is by taking steps to prevent accidents from happening. Most importantly, you the researcher are always at least partially responsible because researching pokemon is always an active process, and sometimes Pokemon just don't understand what's going on, like, let's say, Arron for example. Compound that with Arron's untrusting, aggressive and somewhat antisocial personality and you have a recipe for disaster."

Goh looked down at the grass. "Oh, I see."

Chrysa nodded before sitting down on the grass and patting the ground next to her to beckon Goh to sit with her. He did so and she placed an arm around him. "It's okay, Goh, I get why you're so eager to pin the blame on Arron. He did bite your finger off, and you don't want anyone else to experience that. But what happened with Cerise was just a consequence of impatience. I bet you Arron didn't mean to hurt him."

Goh nodded soberly. "Ok, thanks, Dr. Chrysa."

"No problem, Goh. Now why don't you go check on Ash. Things are getting pretty heated between him and Golurk."

"I will, Dr. Chrysa."

After Goh left, she buried her head in her hands and sighed. This was the third time this month that Cerise was hurt by one of the pokemon Ash and Goh brought in. Why couldn't he just slow down a bit? She tried to get him to be more cautious, but his eagerness to work with the many pokemon he'd never seen in person outside of Kanto trumped his ability to think critically when it came to his own safety.

"Dammit Cerise" She cursed under her breath.

While Ash and Golurk were busy playing extreme volleyball with a beach ball the size of a car, Goh and Arron sat on the cresting hill above the lake, watching them go at it. Goh hadn't spoken to Arron for the last thirty minutes, and Arron was starting to get worried. He'd rather Goh get cross with him than just stay silent.

He truly did regret biting Cerise, honestly, but he couldn't help it. It was just a stupid gut reaction towards a man who looked like the person who had killed him and his sister. He wished he could convey that in words to Goh, but he couldn't. But would he if he could? Would he tell the truth or just make a half assed lie? He didn't have the heart to tell Goh about his true nature, and if he hypothetically told Goh about the death of his sister, then that would lead down a whole different rabbit hole of questions.

But would Goh even believe him? Hypothetically speaking, would Goh even think he was being honest, or would he think he was lying for attention? He'd rather bury it further than test his luck.

With a sigh, Goh turned around and picked up Arron, placing him on his lap with a grunt. "It's okay, Arron, I'm not mad."

Arron's eyes must have bugged out, because Goh laughed a little. "I'm really not, it isn't your fault. You were just scared and Professor Cerise was a new face. But you don't have to be scared, cause I'm here, and I can protect you. We can protect each other."

Goh pulled Arron into a hug and laid down on his back, his eyes watching the clouds. "I don't know what happened to you to make you so scared and angry, but that doesn't matter anymore. We're together, and there's only going to be good times ahead, okay?"

Arron sat next to the boy, his head resting in his chest. Goh scratched under his chin. He'd never heard such a genuine expression of affection from anyone, not even his sister. For some reason, after all the garbage Arron had caused, Goh still cared about him.

At that moment, Arron swore he'd do anything to protect this boy.