A/N: 16/10/201. I've edited this story. You will have to go back and re-read this story from the beginning if you're jumping in here to read an update. Although that would be odd since before doing this major edit I'd written nineteen chapters.

Chapter Thirteen: Protecting

Parcel delivering didn't happen daily, so as I continued working for Altman, there was still plenty of time for individual and team training. Just because they were getting the opportunity to explore, and fight the occasional wild Pokemon, didn't mean their physical training and speed training should suffer.

Those that could evolve without an evolution stone were all making strives to doing so.

Noibat's wings had grown thinner and four inches longer in the month since Swablu had evolved, indicating that he was right on the edge of evolving. He just needed a push to get him over the wall he seemed to have hit in his development. He literally couldn't get any physically stronger or faster unless he evolved, and he was starting to get a bit grumpy with the growth pains and his lake of progress on the physical front.

Despite his physical road block, Noibat had thrown all his effort into mastering his moves. He mastered Double Team faster than anyone else in the family because of his determination and because it appealed to his prankster nature. From there he went on to trying to get to grips with steel type energy so that he could learn Steel Wing; a move he needed to learn so that he could fight effectively against ground to Pokemon which they were likely to start encountering as I continued working. I didn't want to have to send Riolu and Deino out in such situations. At first, he struggled, reverting to using Wing Attack, until he finally learnt to coat his wings in a thin sheet of steel energy before using the attack. Once he'd got the basics of the move, I added learning Bite to his list because he had very sharp fangs which could be a weapon just as effective as his claws or wings. Coating his mouth in dark type energy was easier than learning to use steel type energy because he had the example of Deino to look to.

Hurricane was also on Noibat's to learn list, but I didn't think he would be able to truly learn the move until after he evolved. To generated the power needed to bend the air to his will, he needed the larger wings of a Noivern.

Piplup, who had worked so very hard to be able to walk and run-on land, was most frustrated when she grew four inches and her flippers grew two inches longer. The growth threw off her balance and she started tripping over her feet again. The only reason she didn't go off on a strop was because of the appearance of the slight bumps up on her head which indicated she was only days away from evolving and her body was simple preparing her for the change.

For her move training, Piplup picked up Sleep Talk quick quickly as she'd focused on the moves that she already knew while watching her family learning Sleep Talk. From them, she learnt the mistakes that came with learning the move and didn't make them in turn. Afterwards, she started learning Endure which was harder. During the process of learning the move, she learnt how to tank through hits that would have normally done her quite a lot of damage, which meant she could hang on longer even without endure. The final move I wanted her to begin learning before she evolved, even if there was no expectation of mastery, was whirlpool because I wanted her to know the theory of the move because she was actually able to do it.

Froakie, my little explore didn't have any physical differences that I could notice leading to his first evolution. But Riolu and Nurse Joy informed me that the skin on Froakie's head and back had started darkening. Froakie's, once their skins started darkening could be anyone from one day to four weeks from evolving, so Froakie had settled on a patient wait-and-see approach. With such an attitude, I couldn't wait until Froakie was fully evolved into a Greninja and able to fight side by side with Lucario – they would be magnificent together.

For his moves, Froakie had mastered smokescreen, sleep talk and water sport. I hadn't planned on trying to teach him anymore moves until after he evolved, but I couldn't leave him without any move training because that would have been unfair to him. After a little bit of thinking, it was decided to see if he could start learning Aqua Jet, which was a combination of quick attack and an advanced form of Water Sport. Aqua Jet would coat himself in powerful spinning water – acting as a shield from any attacks sent to slow him down – before launching at the target with incredible speed that only a Pokemon using Teleport or Extreme Speed had a chance at dodging. Despite spending a month and a half on the move, all Froakie had managed to achieve was coating himself in coat of inch thick water what was moving at less than an eight of the speed it needed to be. Btu he was persistant and he had no plans of giving up.

Deino hadn't started showing any physical changes, but her temperament had taken a turn to grumpy and aggressive even if she managed to hold herself back from attacking her family. She had taken to wanting to bite anything she could get her jaws on, so I sourced her a metal bar to use until it broke and I had to replace it. When she evolved, her volatile emotions would settle down once more until her next evolution but it was likely her tendency to want to bite things wouldn't go away. To help her burn off some of that emotion, I'd taken to making Deino's training more about strength then speed even if I did set an hour aside for the later to ensure she didn't loose all that hard work.

She took to learning Endure like a duck to water, her natural bull-headed stubbornness and stronger body allowing her to take hits. Outrage was just as easy when she learnt how to feel and channel her anger to her benefit; focus blast was learnt with the aid of Riolu. Finally, we started trying to learn dark pulse to get her more familiar with the dark type energy that made up part of her nature before she evolved.

Due to his own nature, Riolu was swift to learn sleep talk which was why the rest of the family looked to him for advice in learning the move himself. Detect was also picked up quickly as he started by manipulating his Aura sensing before officially learning detect. Then he focused on learning protect and disable. As he was delaying his own evolution until after Deino evolved, or perhaps even after I found a way for Vulpix to evolve, he felt like he could take his time with learning new moves no matter how helpful they might be in battle. He had the potential to learn more moves than most, and with so much time on his hands to learn them, he didn't feel in any hurry to do so. He'd master them when he mastered them, which was one of the reason that I thought he'd be able to fight alongside Greninja so well – their personalities and attitudes complimented eachother.

Vulpix, with the aid of Riolu learnt Sleep Talk but wasn't able to confirm his mastery off the move until Slowking visited them once – visits that were starting to become less often. Like the majority of the team, he mastered double team, which made him a sneaky and difficult opponent to hit. He then moved onto learning detect and protect, both moves he was struggling with. Once he mastered them, and then learnt Iron Tail, I'd have no choice but to start allowing Vupix to learn more fire type moves which was something I'd wanted to hold back on until he'd evolved. We still worked on increasing the power and control of incinerate and ember, which was honing and working Vulpix's inner flame without giving him more waits of using it.

Altaria mastered Fury Attack very quickly as she'd started learning the move before she evolved. She was working on learning and mastering Dragon Pulse and Moonblast. She was struggling with these two moves, since she needed to get a grip on the volatile Dragon type energy which she had only used in small amounts for Dragon Breath before evolving, as well as the unique fairy type energy which she had no experience with.

A month after joining the Shamouti Parcel Service, I was given my largest assignment yet: a medium sized parcel to be delivered to Emma on Valencia Island, and then a stack of letters to Danny from the Gym on Navel Island.

Valencia Island was located near the southern point of the archipelago, just slightly west of the southernmost point. From there it was a continuation to the west, to Navel Island which was just slight west of the Northern point. It was a long journey; one I wouldn't be able to do in one trip go without exhausting Altaria. If I'd had a second Pokemon capable of carrying me, I would have been able to do it in one go, but that wasn't the case. Fortunately, I was expected to deliver the letters on the same day as the parcel.

Noibat had joined Altaria in the air once we left Valencia, scouting for one of the small unnamed islands that weren't on most maps. When he spotted one, he led Altaria down to land.

"Riolu, Deino search the area. Make sure we're safe to make camp here." I requested softly as I released the two from their balls. "Noibat, watch over them."

"Vulpix, Froakie, Piplup were getting some word for a small fire. It will get a little cold tonight, and I only packed a blanket."

As Altaria curled up behind me, and the rest of my family went to do as asked, I felt into the Aura sight completely. Giving myself over to the gift, and allowing myself to see and feel the island for just a moment. I felt Riolu and Deino as they moved about in a circle around the area we'd designated as camp, Noibat searching above them. there was life on the island, Pokemon and plants, but no humans.

With a gasp, I cut off my connection to the Aura and took my own weight back onto myself. There was a slight throb along my temple from opening myself up so completely, no matter how short a time, as I wasn't quite ready to master this stage yet.

Once camp had been set up, and everyone returned we all settled down for the night. As the most comfortable at night, Noibat and Deino had decided to stay up and keep guard. Noibat would sleep in his Pokeball until the return trip home when he'd once more join us in the air, while Deino wouldn't need to leave her ball during the trip unless I gave them the chance to explore Navel Island. Wild Pokemon were not likely to attack them as they hadn't bedded down in a nest or by a large food source, but there was always the chance of an aggressive Pokemon coming across them.

I bedded down against Altaria, who was more than happy to offer her body as a pillow, staring sightlessly up at the sky. There was a time when I used to stare up at the sky, at the stars which shined so brightly from the heavens, and imagine flying amongst them. even though I was free and could fly away with Altaria and my family, I still missed being able to see the stars. Would they look different to me know? I wondered.

In the end, Deino and Noibat didn't need to awaken us, as the wild Pokemon did that for them. A furious screech echoed across the night, jarring them all into wakefulness.

With a threat coming upon them, I activated my Aura sight and prepared to fight.

A Scyther was moving fast to confront them, a Victreebel at its side.

"Vulpix, ember on the Vicctreebel, Noibat come from above when you get an opening and use Wing Attack." I quickly came up with the best way to divide the team to utilise their skills. "Riolu, I want you ready to use protect as your shield is the strongest. Altaria, be ready to use gust to keep any poisons away from us. Deino, Froakie, watch our surroundings for any wild Pokemon drawn to us from the sound of battle. Piplup use bubble and swift on the scyther to help Noibat – don't let it get close to you."

The Scyther and Victreebel burst out of the bushes just as her family fell into position.

The Scyther was using double team, trying to confuse them right off the bat while the Victreebel had its vines extended and ready to be used.

Using his superior nose, and the aid of Riolu who was able to pinpoint Scyther's mind, Vulpix got the first attack off with a rapid shot of ember at the bug. Scyther cried out in angered pain as the first few balls of near blue-hot fire hit his armoured body, but managed to dodge the rest of the bombardment. Noibat distracted Victreebel by dodging and weaving around the vine whips, allowing Piplup and open and clear shot at Victreebel's body.

Piplup was forced to hop back and into the hasty protect Riolu put up to shield her from the acid the Victreebel shout at her in retaliation while Scyther temporarily forced Noibat back with x-scissor while jumping up over the next barrage of embers.

"Dein," Deino growled fiercely, launching a powerful Dragon Breath at the bushes were an Arbok was forced out of hiding.

"Deino, don't let him get close: use Dragon Rush and if you can get close without being bitten, Crunch. Froakie, move to support Piplup. Noibat, focus on just aiding Vulpix instead of splitting your focus. Use Air Slash and Wing Attack." I changed the battle plan slightly. "Altaria, you're going to have to keep watch on our surroundings, Riolu split focus."

As the battled raged, Riolu moved to put a protect up over me while Altaria launched herself into the air and launched a Fury Attack at the Nidoqueen who had just appeared, knocking down trees to get access to the clearing they were in.

"Altaria, beware poison. Use Steel Wing to make contact!" I called after her, moving closer to Riolu so he didn't have to strain to shield me from any stray attacks. I made a note to make Aura Sphere and Aura Shield the next thing on my 'to-learn' list so that I didn't end up a liability again.

Vulpix managed to land another direct hit on Scyther, knocking him out, and allowing him to move to assist Altaria.

Their opponents were strong, but my team were stronger.

With the teamwork I'd been drilling into them, my family knocked out each of the wild Pokemon, one by one.

Vulpix took down Nidoqueen with an Iron Tail right between the eyes, while Altaria hit her from behind with a Steel Wing; Vicreebel fell to Noibat's supersonic and was knocked out by a barrage of Swifts; Arbok tail was caught in Deino's powerful crunch and Froakie used Smack Down to knock it out. Riolu kept his protect up, shielding me from the stray attacks that the family dodged. They dodged because they had faith that Riolu would protect me.

"Altaria, Noibat, work together…" I started but was stopped by the surge of energy from Noibat, Froakie and Piplup.

They were evolving.