A/N: Edited 16/10/2021. I've done a major edit tot his story. If you're jumping in here, you might want to go back and re-read the story because the chapters no longer match up.

Chapter Eleven: Evolving

With the introduction of battle sessions alongside their normal training, everyone got stronger and started progressing in leaps and bounds.

Putting a limit on how fast my family could learn their moves, meant that they were getting very physically strong because time wasn't being wasted on learning lots of moves. I tried to keep the moves they were each learning equal but some moves were easier to pick up than others.

Froakie had physical strength and speed which was beyond previous documentation of his species in their first evolved form. Although he didn't truly grow muscle, his leg and arm muscles had become very compact with the intensity of the power he could exert. He was able to jump twenty metres into the air, which was nearly twice what he should have been able to jump. The strength in his limbs also meant he was able to quickly dodge and change directions, and even take attacks to his arms when moving in close.

On mastering Quick Attack and Double Team, Froakie moved on to learning Smokescreen, Sleep Talk and Water Sport. Smokescreen created a thick cloud of ink which he would be able to hide within while attacking; Sleep Talk was a defence I was hoping all my family would learn and he was one of the first to master the move as Slowking proved when I asked him to test it and Water Sport coated his body in a fine mist which reduced the damage done by fire. A necessary move I'd added to his 'to-learn' list so he would feel more confident fighting Vulpix.

Piplup wasn't able to get as physically strong as Froakie because her land capability wasn't as smooth. That didn't stop Piplup from exceeding all expectations and reducing her 'clumsy' moments to rare exceptions. She had a good balance, drilled from hours of practise and the assistance of Riolu who had the closest standing base, even if Piplups smaller feet meant her weight disruption used to throw her off. She was the slowest of my entire team on land, and the only one who wasn't able to learn Quick Attack until she evolved which bugged her until she learnt work out how to anticipate where her opponents were going to attack from with some consistency.

Once she learnt swift, Piplup mastered it far above that which the others achieved, her stars lasting longer and homing just a little bit quicker to catch opponents off guard. Drill Peck was another move she mastered quickly because it was just a more developed version of Peck. Moving on from those two moves, Piplup took up learning Sleep Talk, Endure and Whirlpool. Endure was necessary because she wasn't able to dodge like the rest of the team due to her slower speed, while whirlpool was a powerful water type move that she needed to learn and master before attempting the far more powerful Hydro Pump which she probably wouldn't be able to master until after she evolved.

Vulpix had quickly grown beyond any expectation I might have had – either in his physical growth or his powers in battle. Typically, Vulpix's grows to be 0.6metres tall and weigh around 10kg, but my Vulpix came to stand at nearly 1.02metre and weigh 19kg. His six tails had also grown in quicker than most, fully formed by four months instead of the six or nine months as was typical, of course this meant he had been in quite a bit of pain during this time and I had to massage his tail bone to help ease the pain.

For his moves, I'd made the decision to hold of increasing the number of fire type moves he knew as we were working on increasing the control Vulpix could exert over his moves. At five months, his embers had reached the point where he was able to exert some control over its direction and had nearly released a blue-flamed ember. With the power he was exerting over his inner flames, Vulpix wasn't opposed to learning double team, sleep talk, detect and protect to make him an extremely annoying opponent to face in battle, as well as a very dangerous one.

Noibat's prankster nature aided him well as his improvements in the air. His powerful wings meant that he was quickly learning to dominate the skies, easily outflying the smaller and glider Swablu. With Slowking as a guide, I'd taken Noibat to a cave so he could practise using his echolocation in an enclosed space, although I also encouraged him to use his distance bounce back out in the open so he wouldn't be blindsided if a move like smokescreen or sandstorm was used against him. Teaching him to fight as though he was blind also gave him a better understanding of how difficult it was for Deino and me to navigate the world. Noibat currently had the smallest move pool out of the entire family, adding double team, steel wing and bite to his repertoire upon learning quick attack and air slash. He was hoping to start learning more flying type attacks in order to make use of his powerful wings.

Deino was developing the slowest of the family because she didn't have the advantage of also being a flying type like Noibat, whose path to evolution was more in line with that of Froakie or Piplup. Dragon type Pokemon are the slowest Pokemon type to evolve, with dark-types being the second slowest, so Deino would likely remain unevolved for five or six months beyond the rest of the family despite being one of the physical strongest. Even though she has the second largest move potential, Deino was also taking it slow with learning her moves to make sure that those she learnt were completely mastered. She picked up Dark Pulse and Endure quicker than she did Quick Attack and Dragon Rush. She also learnt outrage and focus blast, which made her a formidable frontal attack Pokemon.

On top of the typical move pool and physical training, I also introduced Deino to an Aura training activity that Riolu and I did every day. The training consisted of a pair of logs suspended by strings and put on a pivotal point. Deino had to dodge the logs as they swung back and forth, listening to the sound of displaced air and the feel of the logs moving towards her. Although she couldn't learn to see Aura's like Riolu and I, she could still succeed in the task using her other senses.

Riolu had chosen not to evolve even though he was more than ready. Apparently, Lucario had gotten a hold of a selection of Everstone which he had then given to each of his children so they could choose to evolve once they believed they had reached their peak as a Riolu – a decision they make individually. Riolu had decided he wasn't ready to evolve yet. I had a feeling that he was going to wait until Deino evolved so that she wasn't the last and didn't feel left behind.

As well as working on learning new moves, adding double team, sleep talk, detect, protect and disable to his repertoire following the learning of heal pulse and zen headbutt, and his physical conditioning, Riolu joined me in learning how to fight with our bodies. Learning how to put an opponent in a chock hold, to subdue an opponent who got into close physical proximity without using any moves. To punch and block a punch, and sweep an opponent's legs out from under them. They also focused on dodging using minimum effort and conservation of movement. Riolu was better at this form of training then me because he could empower his body his naturally stronger body, while I was still learning how to do so.

Swablu, my gentle mothering Pokemon was the first to evolve, just as she was the first to hatch. As she didn't have the secondary typing of Dragon until her evolution, she was progressing with the speed of a typical flying type Pokemon who always evolved faster than nearly any other Pokemon except bugs. If I had purposefully slowed her training, focusing on her flying and manoeuvrability over her strength and move pool and capability, I had no doubt that Swablu would have evolved between her second and third month.

Despite my best attempts at slowing her down, Swablu still learnt a good selection of moves once she mastered Quick Attack and Wing Attack. To make best use of her wings, which would grow to be potentially deadly weapons, I'd taught her steel wing, air slash and air cutter. Because of her fragile body, a by-product of near hallow bones that allowed her to fly so easily, I'd also ensured that she was taught endure in the event that she wouldn't be able to dodge a hit. Then I taught her double team to use when she wanted to get close to an opponent but not leave herself open; before finally managing to teach her Fury Attack only the weak before she evolved even if the move was not yet mastered like the rest.

It was July 4th, Swablu had just turned six months old, and we were doing battle simulations once more. Swablu had managed to keep ahead of Noibat in the air, barely dodging his sneak attacks. She'd managed to barely still a win by meeting Noibat's last attack with a desperate Steel Wing to shield herself from the bite attack instead of trying to dodge since Noibat had been aiming for her right wing which had already been clipped by Hurricane.

Swablu landed with a victorious cry, while Riolu moved to the dazed Noibat to use his Heal Pulse so he could fly himself back home. Swablu's victorious cry suddenly became a singing caw and I was forced to stop using Aura as she was surrounded by so much life it was like looking into the sun when I was a kid. I could still feel the energy was letting off as she evolved into Altaria.

When the energy faded, I turned back to the first member of my family and used my Aura to take in her new form.

She stood, from tip of her claws to the crown of her neck at 1.44metres tall. Her neck was long and slender, giving her the extra 32metres of height above that of her cloud like body. When the evolution energy first left her, Altaria was holding her cloud wings out along her body – displaying an impressive wingspan of 1.8metres – but had now tucked her wings in close to her body so that it seemed like they were just a continuation of her body. Her tail had also grown longer, appearing as ripens behind her to help her catch and hold the wind drifts.

She was magnificent.

"Altaria," I caught her attention, slowly but confidently moving forward, as the rest of the family remained back. Between the typical hostility of a flying-type on evolving and the new (and typically hostile and territorial) dragon typing, there was a chance Altaria might lash out before she recognised me. I also needed to show that I was just as confident in my role as 'pack/nest leader' with her evolution as I had been before, otherwise she might not choose to trust me now that she was so very strong.

I stopped a metre and a half away, letting Altaria make the choose to close the distance between us. I held out my hand towards her head, palm out and welcoming.

"Al, Altaria," she greeted me, lightly nipping the fingers of my hand before moving closer so she could wrap her long neck and broad wings around me in a hug. I gladly and happily returned the harm hug.

"You did amazing, Altaria. You worked so hard for this." I whispered softly. "Come on, lets get you home so we can have a good look over your new body."