"Alright Seteth, come out."

I toss the white ball into the air, and the beam it lets out soon forms into the Sigilyph. The first thing he does is widen his eyes and look all around at the buildings surrounding the landscape around the park.

I don't know the first thing about his species' biology. But I don't think I need to in order to figure out why there would be a tear at the corner of one of his eyes.

"Welcome back to civilization," I tell him.

He winces at my words and turns back to me. He then looks around at the ground and at the nearby bushes and trees, his eyes narrowing more and more.

"If you're looking for something to communicate with," I reach into my bag, "I've got just the thing for you."

Seteth's eyes widen when he sees the notebook and the pen laid out before him. It isn't long before a pink aura envelops them and they levitate toward him.

"Thank you" are the first words written on it.

I nod to the Psychic-type. "You're welcome."

"Now, we need to figure out a training regime for you. First and foremost, what moves do you know?"

Considering the names of moves are man-made, I thought he'd show them to me. I was not expecting him to actually write them down.

Gust, Hypnosis, Confusion, Tailwind, Whirlwind, Psybeam, Air Cutter

I blink in stupor. "How…?"

The archeologists claimed I knew those

A question comes to my mind. "Do you actually know what any of that means?"

No

Damn…

"I'm back!"

I turn around to meet Nate. "Welcome back. What did the nurse say about Mister Jaw?"

With all that happened at the Relic Castle and after, we never actually managed to get the malnourished Trapinch a proper check-up. Thankfully, once I brought that to his attention, Nate was fast to rush to the Center and see to it.

"Not as bad as Miss Hikari thought it was," Nate sighs in relief. "She just said he needs to eat more and to do some exercise."

Good, neither of those should be a problem. We can certainly provide more substantial food than whatever scraps he stumbled upon in the desert. And exercise is exactly what we're gonna do.

Nate turns to smile at Seteth. "And how are you doing?"

Seteth responds by handing the notebook over to him, while I fill him in on our conversation.

"I see," Nate comments at the end, his brow furrowing. "So he only knows the names of the moves but not what they actually do?"

"Looks that way," I respond. "Have you got any ideas on how to proceed?"

"Hmmm," Nate murmurs as he purses his lips, all while looking at Seteth. "Can I try something?"

I make a welcoming gesture. "By all means."

Nate nods and then takes a few steps toward Seteth.

"Ok, so…" he starts. "I can give you the theoretical description of all those moves. Can you try to apply those in return?"

Seteth hesitates for a moment before giving his answer.

I believe so

Nate smiles at that. "Perfect. Then let's start with Gust. It's one of the most basic of Flying moves. Essentially, it consists of creating a strong current of wind to give your adversary a push."

Like this, but stronger?

For the first time since I've met him, Seteth actually moves his wings and tail, pulling them back and then pushing them forth in Nate's direction. The way Nate's hair and clothes flutter are the only indication of the wind he was hit by.

"Yes, that's it!" Nate exclaims excitedly. "Good job, Seteth!"

Huh…

The next few minutes proceed in a similar fashion, with Nate saying what the moves are supposed to do and Seteth then demonstrating without too much trouble. From the stronger currents he summons with Whirlwind and Tailwind, to the dark pink beam he shoots from his top eye to the ground between him and Nate, to the blades of condensed air he uses to cut off leaves from a tree.

The only moves Seteth doesn't actually demonstrate are Hypnosis and Confusion, as he claims he'd have to either put one of us to sleep or give him a headache. Nate doesn't protest his logic and neither do I.

"So, I think that's that," Nate concludes as he turns back to me. "What now?"

"Now, it's all hands on deck," I reply. "We're both going to need everyone for this Gym, so we're making pairs and have them train with each other."

Nate nods to me. "Sounds like a plan. What pairs are we making?"

"I'd suggest making our mons' life easy for the time being and make the pairs the flying ones and the ground-locked ones."

"So that they have an easier time keeping after each other? Sounds good to me."

Well, that plus Annette and Ruffles still don't like each other.

"Alright, guys, come out!" Nate then says as he calls out his Rufflet and Trapinch. I do the same with Annette.

Too bad the first thing she does is start a glaring contest with the misproportioned bird.

"Can it for now you two," I tell them. "We've got work to do."

Annette turns to me and gives me a small pout, but when it's clear I'm not relenting, her face goes back to her usual smile and she nods to me.

The eaglette is much less cooperative.

"Ruf!"

"Easy there, Ruffles," Nate intervenes as he crouches down and caresses the back of his head. "I know you want a rematch, but that will come in due time. First let's make sure you're prepared, alright?"

The Rufflet turns to his trainer and looks him in the eyes. He then drops his glare and lets out a much less confrontational 'Ruf'.

While that happens, though, I notice Seteth looking questioningly at the other three Pokémon.

"Right, sorry, we didn't make the proper introductions yet."

That turns everyone's attention to me. "Everyone, for those who didn't pay attention, meet Seteth," I point at him. "Our newest member."

"Sig," he monotonically greets the others as they turn to him.

"Seteth, let me introduce the others. This is your teammate Annette," I point at the little cactus as she cheerfully waves at him, "and these are Nate's companions: Ruffles and Mister Jaw," I gesture at each of the Pokémon. "They're technically not part of our team, but since we travel with Nate, they may as well be."

Seteth glances at each of the three as I introduce them. He then lowers to be at Annette's eye level, his tail caressing the ground as he does so. The two just look at each other from there.

"Ra!" Annette eventually says as she spreads her arms.

"Sig," the Sigilyph replies as he glances left and right. "Sig lyph." He then forwards one of his "talons", the finger-like appendages stretched open.

Annette lowers her arms to that answer. But despite whatever Seteth said, she raises one arm again. And then her spike-fingers intertwine with his appendages.

"Ra!" Annette then says cheerfully, while I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. That went well.

After a bit, the two let go of each other and Seteth turns to Nate's Pokémon. Just like with Annette, the Sigilyph approaches them while staying at their eye level.

"Sig."

Mister Jaw lets out an hesitant 'Tra' while he shakes on his little legs. Ruffles just tilts his head.

"Sig?" Seteth says as he focuses his gaze on the eaglette.

"Ruf!" Ruffles replies while he spreads one of his wings. "Ruflet ruf!"

"Sig. Sig lyph sig."

"Ruf!"

Whatever those two are saying, Seteth then summons a pink aura around Ruffles and lifts him a few centimeters off the ground.

"Whoa, whoa there! Put him do-"

"Ruf!" the bird protests. But not to Seteth. To me and to Nate who was about to grab him.

After that, Seteth gently puts Ruffles back on the ground, before dissipating the pink aura.

"Sig?"

"Ruf!"

"Uuuuuuh…" I intervene apprehensively. "Did you two come to an understanding?"

The notebook levitates back to me while the pen notes something new on it. When it's in my hands, there is only one new word.

Yes

"Ooookay...then I take it you two won't have a problem working together?"

"Sig," Seteth replies as he takes back to the air. Ruffles doesn't say anything and just spreads his wings as he does the same, flying right next to Seteth.

"Alright." I then glance at the other two Pokémon. Annette is glaring at Ruffles again. Mister Jaw is looking at the two neutrally.

"So that leaves you two to work together."

"Ra!" Annette instantly tells me. Mister Jaw just turns to me, the white in his eyes widened.

The two Pokémon then turn to each other.

"Ra?" Annette says as she stretches one of her arms.

The orange larva's answer to that is rushing to Nate's side and hiding behind his legs, dumbfounding all of us.

"T-tra!"

"Oh come on, Mister Jaw!" Nate tells him. "Annette means you no harm."

All that accomplishes is making him shiver even more.

Oh, brother...

"What do you mean 'why do I want Annette to learn Needle Arm?" I ask Nate, unable to hide my confusion. "It's a move basically made for her!"

"Ra!" Annette adds.

"I know, I know," Nate replies, hands raised defensively. "But the thing is, Maracti are more powerful with special attacks than physical. Shouldn't she try to learn stuff like Giga Drain or Petal Dance?"

I turn to the Pokémon in question. "Do you want to learn those moves, Annie?"

She shakes her head.

I turn back to Nate. "As you can see, statistics only go so far. You have to take into account a lot of other things. One of which is what a Pokémon prefers to fight with. In this case, Annette prefers physical attacks."

"Ra!" Annette says, before turning back to the tree trunk and going back to punching it, all while she tries to summon the Grass energy into her arm's spikes.

"Although, I agree learning some ranged moves would be helpful in the long run," I then whisper as I lean closer to Nate. "For now, let's just let her do what she's more comfortable with. We'll work on her Absorb later."

Nate purses his lips, but nods nonetheless. "Just keep in mind that from what I remember all her ranged moves are Grass-type."

I nod back. "Will do."

While Annette keeps practicing, the two of us turn our attention to her would-be training partner, Mister Jaw. Who is just stomping his front paws on the ground. Again.

As it turned out, the moves Mister Jaw knows are Sand Attack, Mud-Slap, Sand Tomb, Astonish, and Bite. All of which fulfill a rather niche utility, aside from Bite, which is not even of his same type.

And so here we are, trying to teach him Bulldoze.

"Tra!"

Which, if his stomping furiously and crying out in frustration are anything to go by, is not going too well.

"Easy, easy," Nate says as he crouches down to caress his head. "You are doing your best. There is no need to get angry."

I let out a heavy breath. Getting Mister Jaw into shape is turning out to be a harder task than I'd expected. In the games, his species had a good attack and crap everything else, and that's reflected in the real thing. His Bite is pretty strong, but he's slow at moving around and flipping him over is way too easy.

And despite his best efforts, he's not strong enough to cause the quakes necessary for a Bulldoze. Or maybe his control over Ground energies is not that good. Or both.

I massage the bridge of my nose. How do we bring the best out of a Trapinch? How do you make a fighter out of someone who digs holes in the sand and waits for food to-?

Wait, did I just say 'dig'?

"Nate, why did we decide to teach him Bulldoze again?"

Both he and his Pokémon look at me confusedly. "Because, out of the damaging Ground-type moves he can learn on his own, this one was the easiest. Why?"

"It's theoretically the easiest, right?"

"I...think so? Why?"

"I've just remembered another Ground move that fits a Trapinch's modus operandi of hunting for food. He may have an easier time learning that instead of Bulldoze."

Nate instantly reaches for his C-Gear. "What move is that?"

As soon as I give him the name, he looks it up on sites he apparently trusts. When he's done, he lets out a deep breath.

"I suppose this might be the better option," he comments. "But are you sure this is a good idea? We're making progress with Bulldoze."

Too little progress too slowly. Although, that's not what I tell him.

"I'm not the one you should be asking that." Nate arches an eyebrow. "What did I just tell you about statistics?"

Realization dawns on Nate if his face is anything to go by. When he turns back to Mister Jaw, he asks him. "What do you say, buddy? Do you want to continue with Bulldoze or this other move?"

Mister Jaw doesn't stop to ponder on it for too long, as he quickly starts digging the ground below him.

"One. Two. Three."

As one, Nate and I both pull Ruffles out of the trunk he got his beak stuck into. We both land on our asses after doing that, but at least we manage to free the bird. Although he must still be sore from it, if his covering his beak with his wings is any indication.

While that happens, I see Seteth hovering over us, notebook and pen at the ready.

"Okay, what happened?" I ask him.

He charged head-first

I dodged

He crashed into the tree

Ugh, again?

"How many times have we had this conversation, Ruffles?" I scold the eaglette, who just frowns at me. "You can't just tackle everything and hope it'll work!"

"Ruf!" the Rufflet squacks indignantly.

"No, don't 'Ruf' me, you knucklehead! You've-"

Nate putting a hand on my mouth stops what I'm about to say.

"Let me do the talking here, alright?" he says when I turn to look at him. He retracts his hand afterward and turns to his Pokémon.

"So, Ruffles," Nate starts as he leans closer to him. "You've had quite a few bouts with Seteth now, haven't you?"

"Ruf," the bird replies as he puffs his chest.

"And how many of those did you win?"

Ruffles doesn't reply. He does lower his head in shame, however.

"It's alright," Nate cheerfully says as he scratches the side of his head. "I've also messed up, remember? At the Relic Castle."

Uhm…"Nate-"

His raised hand stops what I was about to say.

"But you remember what they told me, right? The important thing is getting better."

The Rufflet looks him in the eye. "Ruf?"

"Look at Seteth," Nate replies as he gestures at the Psychic-type. "How did he manage to beat you all these times?"

The small avian turns to Seteth and narrows his eyes at him. He then lets out a few pensive squawks before he turns back to Nate and nods with a final "Flet".

Nate smiles at him. "Good. Also, remember that you don't have only this." He taps the tip of the beak. "Your wings and talons are much stronger."

Ruffles nods again.

"Good. Then let's try again."

No sooner does Nate say that, his Pokémon takes off again. While Nate and I get back on our feet, he and Seteth fly around each other, preparing for another 'bout', as Nate called them.

When I see Ruffles gain altitude and dive down towards Seteth, I almost facepalm.

To my shock, however, instead of keeping his trajectory, Ruffles quickly makes a U-turn and aims at Seteth again. And instead of his beak, it's his wings that glow this time around.

Seteth only has the time to widen his eyes at the smaller flier, before he's directly hit by the Wing Attack and falls on the ground.

"You did it!" Nate cheers his Pokémon. "Good job, Ruffles!"

"Ruflet!"

While those two celebrate, Seteth groggily lifts himself up again. "Are you okay?" I ask as I approach him.

"Sig," he replies, stretching his wings. Guess that's a yes.

"Alright," I reply before giving a quick glance to the other Flying-type. "It seems we have found something you need to train with: reacting."

"Sig," Seteth replies, his body bending forward.

"Okay, then let's get to it, shall we?"

"Are you sure she can actually learn Spiky Shield?"

"Of course," Nate replies. "I've looked it up. Maracti are one of the few species that can."

"Mara?" the little cactus in question chimes in. "Ra?"

"Well, it's easy," Nate tells her. "You know how you channel Grass energy in your arm? Well, imagine the same, but on all the spikes on your body.

Annette doesn't reply and instead turns to me, head tilted.

"Honestly, the idea has its benefits," I say. "There is a time for offense and one for defense. Plus, if I remember correctly, Spiky Shield can also deal damage, unlike Protect."

"If the opponent tries to make physical contact, yes," Nate chimes in.

"Thank you, Nate."

"Any time."

I turn back to a still confused Annette. "So yeah. If done correctly, Spiky Shield can be used in quite a few ways."

At that, the angles of Annette's mouth go upwards again, "Ra!"

"Good," I reply. "Then let's do this, shall we?"

I massage the bridge of my nose while Mister Jaw hides from Annette behind Nate's legs another time. His trainer, Annette and Seteth look at him dumbfounded, while Ruffles outright frowns at him.

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous," I huff out. We've had him try to go against both Ruffles and Seteth, and he met the challenge no problem. What's the matter with Annette?

"Ruf!" Ruffles scolds the large larva. "Ruflet Ruf!"

"Tra!" Mister Jaw protests. Then Ruffles shoots back with another 'Ruf' and then we have a debate going on between the two. Just wonderful…

"Sig!" Seteth suddenly and authoritatively interrupts the two, who stop and turn to look at him. He then flies down to Mister Jaw, whose legs now wobble.

"Sig lyph sig?"

"T-tra. Trapinch tra."

Where's an English-talking Meowth when you need one?

Thankfully, Seteth takes into account the fact that Nate and I can't understand them, as he soon picks the notebook and writes on it. Although what he writes has me widen my eyes.

"What is it?" Nate asks.

I point down at Annette. "He's terrified of her."

"What?!"

"Ra?"

"Apparently, someone of her size punching him so hard he was flipped over left an impression. And not a good one."

"Ra!"

After that protest, Annette turns to Mister Jaw and starts hopping toward him.

"Wait, Annie, what are you-?"

"Tra!"

The now panicked Trapinch starts running away from her. Or at least, as much running as his heavy head can let him. And it's still not enough to outspeed Annette.

"H-hey!" Nate protests when Annette hops past him.

I rush toward the two Pokémon when Annette is about to reach Mister Jaw. "You two! This isn't- what the…?"

Annette overtakes the Trapinch and gets in front of him. Before he can turn away from her, she...hugs his head? What?

Mister Jaw at first tenses at being hugged by her, but after a few moments he relaxes and even closes his eyes. All the while, I blink mine and watch the scene in confusion.

"Ra?" Annette gently asks as she lets go of him.

"Tra," Mister Jaw cheerfully replies.

I blink even more.

"This has got to be the fastest make-up in history," Nate comments, sounding just as confused as I feel.

"No kidding."

"Don't let him get too close, Seteth!" I shout out at the Sigilyph. "Gust him away!"

His wings and tail spread out as he commands the surrounding air into a wind aimed at the avian he's fighting against.

"Fly higher up, Ruffles!"

Without wasting an instant, the eaglette changes his trajectory and goes upward, managing to avoid the current that would have destabilized his flying.

"Now, go with a full-speed Peck"

Upon hearing that, the Rufflet retracts his wings and lets gravity do its job, as he falls head first toward Seteth, his beak glowing.

At the speed he's going, Seteth won't be able to dodge in time. Or to blast another shot. That leaves me only one option I can think of in time.

"Confusion!"

Two pink glows light up in Seteth's lower eyes. Immediately, Ruffles' focus on his move wavers, as its own glow fades and he jerks his head around.

Unfortunately, that doesn't stop the bird from free-falling into Seteth, dragging both of them to the ground where they make a ruinous landing.

Crap. Should have thought that through better.

Nate and I both rush to where the two Pokémon landed. They are both in one piece, but if the look in their eyes is anything to go by, they won't get anything more done today.

"Another tie?" Nate groans as we both recall our Pokémon.

"No need to be so disappointed, Nate," I retort. "A tie is not necessarily a defeat. Least of all if it's a tie on your terms."

"You think so?" he asks half-heartedly.

"I do," I confirm. "It means that you ultimately had enough control over the battle to deny your opponent's victory."

Nate replies with a sigh. "I hope Burgh and the other Gym leaders will agree with that mentality if it comes to that."

...so do I.

And that was chapter 14. Pretty much what the title said.

Thanks to Softandhappy and Geolight164 for betareading. You can find us at the Fanfiction Treehouse discord server at: 9XG3U7a

Also, if anyone's interested, I've put a poll on my profile page. It's purely informative, so the results won't be hard-set, but I'd like to hear your opinion all the same.

See you all next week!