Disclaimer: Pokémon is still owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.

Chapter 18: Light Of Summer

The home adjacent to the Petalburg Gym hadn't changed too much outwardly, Philip noticed as he headed up the garden path, though the bell was different. Then again, the last time he'd heard that had been a long time ago.

"Philip!" Norman said as he opened the door fully, surprised at seeing his brother-in-law. "I didn't know you were in town. Come in."

He did, and he saw the same things as he'd seen the last time he was there. Family pictures, humans and Pokémon alike, and oddly… "You kept the pictures with your son?"

"An accusation is no proof, and Max would never let harm come to a kirlia if he could help it." It sounded rehearsed, which it probably was. Or at least tired and old after seven months. "And be honest, Philip. Would you stop loving your son because he did what he thought was the right thing?"

That path led to well-intentioned extremism, but it was equally understandable after what had happened in Kalos. "There aren't any right answers to that question, Norman," he returned as they entered the living room. Caroline was nowhere in sight. "My sister-in-law's out?"

Norman grabbed a glass, handing it to Philip. "You just missed her. Night at the ballet with friends, and they're heading out for dinner first," the Gym Leader replied as he took a seat in a well-worn chair. "What brings you here? Work?"

"Work," Philip confirmed, grabbing a seat of his own on the sofa. "Or adjacent to it. Three day conference on cybersecurity and how to protect networks. Pretty important."

He leant forward to fill the glass with water from the carafe, offering it to Norman, but getting a nod towards the other glass on the table: three quarters full still. "I can imagine that the government wouldn't want their secrets to be out on the street, no. I am surprised that they let you, though, after last weekend."

Philip shrugged. "The network wasn't accessed as far as we can tell. The rotom seemed to stick to the electricity in the building instead of the software. Makes my life a bit easier and got me to borrow a Pokémon for a while." He leant to the side, enlarging and opening the borrowed pokéball. "My nephew's magneton. For emergency power and defending."

Practised eyes roved over the Pokémon. "Looks like it is used to regular use. What's your nephew do again?"

"Construction. Specifically: making sure all the electricity and cables are done right." Which made a magneton a perfect Pokémon. "You mind if it goes to your greenhouse? It's a bit of a social type."

That got a laugh out of the Gym Leader. "A social magneton. Aren't they social by nature? There's three of them?" he quipped, getting up to open the door. "The door's unlocked I think. Take the second left," he told the Electric-type, which flew out afterwards. "Where are you staying, by the way?"

"Fuja, near the hospital," Philip replied. "The noise doesn't bother me and it's close to where the conference is. And on the road to Rustboro. No need to make the travel even longer."

"Night boat from Lilycove to Granite or..."

"Right in one. Really regretting not picking up a good Flying-type for transportation back when I was younger now. Then again, Louise is afraid of heights, so..."

The two lapsed into companionable silence, and Philip took his time to take a look around the living room. As before, there were portraits of everyone, but the ones featuring the Maple children were most interesting. May had a wall to herself, with pictures of various Grand Festivals and other random moments, basically from the moment she started out. Max appeared in one or two of the earlier ones randomly, as well as the family pictures, but the pictures with just the youngest in them weren't easily visible.

"Behind you," Norman said suddenly. "And I do hope you're not about to be as rude as the last person who works for the government about it."

Now he saw them; more lined up like a portrait through time on the wall next to the exit to the hallway. The most recent picture was obviously taken not too long before the teenagers had fled from Hoenn, back in November. "I've gotten questions of my own about them, Norman. And more after Evan was spotted in their company at the Indigo League."

"And what did you tell your superiors?"

There was hidden ice in that voice. "The truth that Evan never told me about meeting them. You know we don't have a videophone, and despite what Louise wants, writing is… Not his thing."

"Ah," Norman said, as if it explained everything. "One three line letter every month?"

"You're not exaggerating too much." The last letter had said something about heading for the Fairy-type Gym, but nothing about who Evan had apparently ended up meeting. On both counts. "You know how boys are, Norman. Writing when you're out there, being all grown-up… It's boring."

His brother-in-law wanted to retort something, he could tell, but didn't. Philip wasn't surprised; Max always seemed like someone who would take the time to write if they couldn't talk. "I guess I didn't write too much when I was young either. Just so much to be—"

The sound of glass breaking came from the greenhouse, and both of the men instantly shot up to their feet; a hand on their belt out of reflex. "What was that?"

"Sounded like something broke," Norman said, relaxing now that there weren't any more sounds coming from there. Logical: if there weren't, then it wasn't someone breaking in or being extremely stupid in trying to steal Gym Leader Pokémon. "It does happen from time to time. I have a rowdy bunch of Pokémon." He walked over to the door. "Let's go find out?"

"Yes. Let's," Philip said, not correcting the assumption, nor voicing his own as to who was responsible and why.

~~§~~§~~

The sound of a nearby battle filtered through the trees, causing Max, sceptile, and doublade to look up from where the three of them had gone to for some training. They weren't far off a road of sorts, but the area wasn't widely travelled, causing Max to halt the training with a raised hand. "Doublade, go find Danny," he whispered, and the Ghost nodded before flying out of sight.

Sceptile led him to the source of the sound, and with a leg up and a small throw, Max climbed into a tree that gave him vision without being too visible himself. A fleeting thought about being paranoid crossed his mind, but he shrugged it off as he looked at the battle of a snubbull against a murkrow that was just going terribly for the Fairy-type. It couldn't land a single hit, as the murkrow waited until the last second to dodge the clumsy charges.

A moment later, he realised the Dark-type was pretty much toying with its opponent. He looked to the sides of the fight, spotting three Trainers – two younger, one maybe his age – looking at the battle. The youngest – blond hair, pack that seemed oversized – looked barely two weeks on the road, while the other two probably had been in a League already. No contest whose Pokémon were whose then.

The sight was enough to annoy Max. The older two were just cruel, doing this to a beginning Trainer, and their laughs made it all the worse.

Snubbull was finally knocked out by the time Max walked up, but the only one who spotted him was the boy that had returned the snubbull. "See? Told ya only some stuck-up crybaby has a Fairy-type for a starter," one of the other two – a boy, orange hair with a hoarse voice – said. "Don't cry. Or do."

"It's not nice to gloat," Max said, drawing attention to him. "How about you leave him alone."

"Don't need know-it-alls here!" was the reply from the boy Max had guessed was about his age. The black-haired teenager gave a glare, but the effect was ruined by the plaster on his jaw."Get lost."

"Yeah!" the other boy chimed in. "Get lost. Go use that sceptile for something. Like raise trees. Least Grass-types are good for that."

"He's got a Fairy-type too, I bet. Bunch of babies." The teenager spat at the ground in front of Max's feet. "Like, how old are you? Thirteen? Can't be older with that baby face."

Max's fists clenched involuntarily. If they wanted to do that… "I challenge you," he said. "Both of you."

"Oh, think ya can take us? Who's it gonna be, doofus. Me, or Jack here."

"Both. At the same time."

"Deal!" the boy called Jack said immediately, going for his belt. "Gonna enjoy pounding you into the dust, know-it-all."

Max couldn't resist the roll of his eyes. These idiots had no idea who they'd angered. "We'll see about that," he said, moving away. Sceptile followed, extending a hand to the baffled starting Trainer as he did. "Two on two, to knockout!"

"A-are you sure? They're really strong. They've got twelve badges!"

Max tried for a reassuring smile at the boy just behind him. "I've got nearly as many as them. Combined," he said before grabbing for xatu on his belt, releasing the Psychic-type at the same time as sceptile stepped forward. A machoke and a sneasel were going to be the opponents, it seemed. Excellent. "Xatu," he ordered in a voice he knew should carry. "Only protect the two of us from harm. Sceptile is enough."

The gasp and the angry shouts both were music to Max's ears, but he focused his attention on sceptile, who'd rushed forwards in a Quick Attack, getting a low slice in on machoke before vaulting away from a slow Night Slash, and that set the tone for the fight. Or massacre.

Sceptile acted as Max desired him to; showing absolutely no mercy in dealing with the opponents. Machoke tried for clumsy and hard-hitting attacks that were easily parried by a Leaf Blade, if not outright forced aside by sceptile's superior skill in hand-to-hand combat. Sneasel was quicker, looking to go for the same style that Max had seen Ash's weavile use several times and aiming to disable with those sharp claws. It went low, looking for ways to cut into tendons in the lower leg, but overall, it wasn't that much faster than doublade. Good footwork and use of sceptile's tail kept it away from anything vulnerable until the time was right to strike.

One good Leaf Blade threw the Dark-type up into the air, and with a mighty jump, sceptile followed, slicing up with Leaf Blade and then smashing down with a two-armed X-Scissor that sent sneasel onto – and nearly into – the ground below. It skidded a good distance, ending up about five feet away from Max, but it was knocked out, causing another high-pitched gasp beside him as machoke was forced into a desperate two-armed block to not get hit all over the torso by sceptile's attacks.

Max noted that sceptile hadn't even been hit by the machoke after slamming the sneasel. Pathetic weaklings that didn't know what to do with a gap like that.

The flaw in the block was so obvious even Max could see it, but sceptile chose to deliberately ignore it. Instead, he went for precisely what Max wanted: a show of force that would reveal just how outclassed they were. Blades consisting of blue-green hammered away on the block, unrelenting, not allowing for even a half-second's respite. It was a matter of time before machoke would have to be returned, just as the sneasel had vanished from right in front of them.

The only thing that saddened Max was that its Trainer – the one with the murkrow – didn't wait for it to be knocked out. Machoke was returned, and the duo made to turn and run as fast as their packs would allow them. Xatu was prepared for that, depositing Max right in front of the spooked teens in just the slightest flicker. "You're not going to go anywhere until you apologise."

"Wh-who are you?" the younger-looking one wheezed out, eyes flying everywhere to find a path to escape, but always landing on the Psychic-type serenely resting by Max's side. "How did you..."

"I'm just a better Trainer, with better Pokémon," Max said coldly. "Like being humiliated like that? Apologise. Or else."

The apologies followed. They weren't entirely sincere, Max could tell, but he let them pass afterwards, waiting with returning xatu until the two boys were a good distance away.

The shout as one of them stumbled over a stray molecule of particularly dense air was music to his ears, and he turned towards the shocked blond nearby. Sceptile had kept his distance, but the guarding posture was obvious nevertheless. "How..." Max started, shaking his head as he heard himself speak. "Sorry. I'm angry at them, not you." Deep breath in, deep breath out, and the anger subsided. A bit. "How did you end up battling them?"

"I… I just wanted to practice," the boy said in a small voice. "My cousin always said you should battle as much as you can to get better."

"That's sorta true," Max agreed as he walked over to sceptile. He saw Danny emerging from the trees nearby, raising a hand in greeting. Max returned it. "But not every battle helps you get better. it's a lot more complicated than just battling."

"Wasn't expecting philosophy, Max," Danny said as he closed the gap, doublade at his side. "Do I want to know what happened here?"

"Two snivelling cowards taunting… er… I never asked your name," Max finished uncomfortably. "Or told you mine. I'm Max, this is Danny, and we're from Hoenn."

The boy seemed to be broken, torn between shock and other emotions Max couldn't read, but that was okay. People always recovered at some point – he'd seen that way too many times. It'd happen. Eventually.

"I..." the boy finally said after a full two minutes of silence. "I'm Ricky. From Johto." He tried to steel himself visibly to keep the trembling out of his voice. "Th-thank you." He gulped. "I… Sorry."

The awkwardness of it all was getting to Max as well, and he had no idea how what to say to Ricky to knock him out of the seeming paralysis.

"Hey, Ricky?" Danny said, bending his knees just a bit so his eyes were a lot more level with the boy's. "I didn't see anything. Can you tell me what happened? Doesn't have to be long."

Somehow, Danny's calm and almost soothing tone got through the shell a bit. "I… I challenged two Trainers, but they… They were really strong. And… And they insulted snubbull," Ricky said, slowly. "And then… You showed up and beat them. With one Pokémon!"

It was the most emotion Max had heard Ricky use so far. "They were toying with the snubbull and being rude to Ricky," he added. "So I gave them a taste of their own medicine. Was over pretty fast."

"You used sceptile. I'd be surprised if it wasn't," Danny commented drily. "What did they say about snubbull?"

"Uh… That she's a trash Pokémon… Fairy-types are stupid… Stuff like that."

"Kay. I'm gonna tell you something important. You ready?" Danny asked, still calm and unflappable. Ricky nodded slowly in response. "There are no trash Pokémon. What's important is that you like your Pokémon, and what others think is really not worth thinking about."

That reminded Max of something. "Didn't that new Elite Four member say something about it? Karen?" He hadn't been paying too much attention that day, back in early April. Some kind of stomach bug.

"Yeah. Train Pokémon you want to train, instead of training only Pokémon you think are strong," Danny confirmed for Max. "And you should remember that too. There isn't one right way to go and be a Trainer. There's a ton of them." He straightened back up. "Now, how about we head back to camp, and you're invited too."

"Really? But..."

"No buts," Danny interjected sternly, but Max saw him smile. "Cowards love to come back later when it's safe. And I can take a look at your snubbull, too. See if she needs healing."

For the second time, Ricky appeared broken, but this time, the reason was different. He still kept his silence all throughout Max sending xatu back out and asking for a Teleport back to camp, and only after they were back a mile and a bit east did the new Trainer speak up. "That felt weird."

Max shrugged. "Eh. We've gott… Why is there a deerling lying on my pack?"

The Pokémon in question looked up at the exclamation, before yawning exaggeratedly and settling in on the lumpy contents, soaking up the rays of sunlight. Its coat was mostly green, with just a hint of the pinkish hue that it had in spring. "That's the chillest Pokémon I've seen in a while," Danny opined, snorting softly. "Guess that's why masquerain let it in."

"Masque… Oh, cool," Ricky said as the blue Pokémon flew down with a flap of its wings, landing on Danny's wrist. "It's beautiful. The colours look so… so..."

"Vibrant? Alive?" Danny asked, receiving rapid nods in return. "Yeah. 's one of the reasons I wanted one, but we never found a surskit back in Hoenn. Then he wanted to come along after we saved him and his… Hey, Max, what's a group of masquerain called?"

"It's a Bug-type. Can't really go wrong with swarm."

"Cheers. So, yeah, saved his swarm from a poacher." Danny snorted for some reason. "Arceus, when did I get so calm about that?"

A poacher did seem pretty calm comparatively, but Max knew that Danny remembered exactly what had happened there. It was kinda bad form to bring that up with Ricky there, though. "Time heals all wounds, isn't that the saying?"

"You'd know more about that than I do," Danny pointed out, and Max suppressed a wince. There wasn't anything joking to be found in Danny's voice. Luckily, the byplay seemed to go over Ricky's head. "What did you do to the poor cowards, by the way?"

"I don't know what you're talki…." Max started, but he realised that Danny had his number. "I didn't order anything."

"I'm sure you didn't," Danny remarked, voice drier than Route 111's desert. "So, Ricky, did anything strange happen to the bullies after sceptile pummelled them?"

"They… Stumbled? When they were leaving."

Danny didn't reply immediately, instead grabbing the first aid kit from his pack. "I guess that's about as tame as I can expect," he said, affecting being tired of it. Max ignored that; bullies deserved nothing less. "Can you send snubbull out?"

As Ricky did so, moving a bit away to have a handy stump to put the Fairy-type on, Max felt a careful hoof tapping against his ankle, and he looked down to see the deerling look at him with… admiration? What now? "Did you like something you heard?"

"Ling!" was the reply, and the Pokémon raised a hoof carefully, pointing at Ricky's back, then tapping Max's ankle, and following it up with an enthusiastic jump. Max quickly pulled his feet back so the Pokémon wouldn't land on it. "De-de-ing!"

The gesture at Max's belt was familiar. "Did you like what I did?" he asked softly, and deerling nodded quickly. "Defending Ricky or…" he trailed off, unwilling to voice it with Danny so nearby. Not that it mattered to the Normal-Grass hybrid, who filled in the silence probably just as well. "Are you sure?"

"Just capture it already," Danny commented in a loud voice. "Don't forget, you're a Pokémon magnet."

Not that he would have it any other way, but the fact that Danny knew him so well was scary sometimes. "Well… Guess I'll have to call Pallet Town," Max said as he put an empty pokéball on the ground. The deerling and the capsule vanished soon after. "Not how I expected things to go."

~~§~~§~~

Pallet Town wasn't as beautiful in summer as it had been in winter, but there was something about it that still made Serena like the place as she looked out over the small town from the hill that she'd been on before. She could see Delia hanging up some laundry in the distance, and Ash exiting out the front door. It was kind of surprising to see him in town: wasn't he supposed to be setting up all sorts of things for his new job as the Palace Maven?

When he started to walk, slowly, clearly enjoying the summer sun… Guess not. And she did want to talk to him. "Altaria? Can you go and stop Ash?" she asked as she sent her Dragon-type out. "I'll come in a moment, just need to go down the hill."

The blue Pokémon thrilled a note of harmony, sending a good shiver down Serena's spine, before lifting off, gliding down gracefully after a few flaps to gain speed.

She followed her Pokémon down the path, noticing that Ash had stopped after altaria had hailed him, It took her about five minutes to catch up to him, though. It could've been less, but it was a beautiful day and Serena never liked sliding down slopes for shortcuts. Easy way to lose perfectly good leggings.

"Good to see you again Serena!" Ash said once she drew close. "Passing through to the Cinnabar Contest?"

"Don't need to go there," she corrected Ash. "Already have five. I'm here to meet Max's cousin."

That was a surprise to the older teenager. "Didn't know you knew Evan," Ash commented. "He's not in town, though, unless he got in last night and is taking a day off. Max told me he likes sleeping late."

It was some time in the late afternoon, but from what Max had told Serena later, the twelve year old was perfectly capable of spending a day inside doing nothing, even on a day like this. "Danny asked me to help Evan with… Getting over being attacked?" she finished, unsure how to summarise. "Dunno how much you know about it."

"Probably about the same. Didn't realise they'd asked you," he commented. "Because they pulled you into the Team Flare stuff?"

"Yeah. Still don't really understand why, but..." she said, shrugging. "Ended up working, but I also promised him some time with zorua, so..."

"Dark-type lover, isn't he?" Ash said, and Serena shot a look at his left wrist, which didn't have the Mega Ring on it. "Explains why he wanted to go around here. And after what happened last weekend..." An uncomfortable silence fell for a moment, before Ash cleared his throat. "You wanna talk to Mum? You probably saw her from Route 1."

Serena shook her head, even as altaria thrilled amusement that hovered in the air. "Nah. Well, I'll probably end up doing it, but… I've got a few questions about Pokémon, and you know a lot about them."

She could see Ash wanting to comment that he didn't know as much as some others, but he thought better of it; and the crackle of electricity told her that he'd gotten some help with that. "What is it?"

In response, Serena sent out her mareep, who bleated happily at being out, and also at finding himself near another Electric-type. "It's a stupid thing, but… I keep getting shocked when I try to groom his fur, and I can't seem to stop it. The others never had it this bad."

Ash didn't answer immediately, instead looking at the two Electric-types greeting each other with a lot of sparks. "Mareep and flaaffy fur is very statically charged. It's their Ability, too," he told Serena. "Manectric can have that too, but Max's doesn't."

A fight of a mightyena against a flaaffy shot through her mind. "Can't believe I forgot that..." Serena said, sighing as she scratched the Wool Pokémon's ear, ignoring the slight shock of static. "It's a bit stupid."

"We all forget things," Ash said as he followed Serena's lead, causing a very happy bleat. "You probably need a better comb and longer rubber gloves. Ones that go up to your elbow or something. That should reduce the shocks." He glanced over at the tail. "At least Max probably taught you about discharging."

That he had, though she had to use the ground instead of swampert or diggersby like Max and Danny could. "Yeah. And I understand why Max always did it a few days before he planned on getting in a Gym Battle." That had cost her in a battle, though zorua had been able to save the battle and her fifth Ribbon. "So many things to learn still."

"It never stops." Ash smiled at her, and Serena knew he was including himself in that. "You can be seventy-five and still learn new things. Spencer sure did."

"I'm kinda surprised you're here. Aren't you supposed to be doing your Battle Frontier… What do they call them again?"

"Frontier Brains. And I'm starting next week. Just here for a day more, then everything should be done on the island." A gleam entered his eyes. "It's going to be great."

"Isn't it going to be weird?" Serena wondered, and Ash looked at her strangely. "Sorry. It's just that Gym Leaders and I guess Frontier Brains have to lose to do their job. Kind of?"

The teenager shrugged. "Maybe. But if it's a good battle, that's more important." Pikachu climbed up Ash's clothes, settling in on his left shoulder. "Pikachu and I are ready for anyone, though. Even Max and Danny."

"Isn't the Battle Frontier invite-only?" Serena asked, slightly confused. "They're not… They are?"

"Scott – he's kind of the organising guy – wants to invite them if they do okay in Johto. Something like top 16 or so," Ash replied, grinning widely. "I think we both know what the two of them can do and want to do."

Round of 16? Serena thought for a bit, but she couldn't escape the idea that Max would be horribly disappointed if he didn't make it to the quarter finals at least. And honestly, they could make it even further than that with a bit of luck. "Guess they'll be going around Kanto after all."

"Yeah. Sounds like Danny did get his wish in the end."

~~§~~§~~

The moment zorua was sent out, Max's cousin was all over the Dark-type. Or he wanted to be, Serena corrected as she held back her laughter, but he asked if it was okay to pick zorua up first. Mostly of her Pokémon, at that – Max's influence definitely making itself known there.

It was a bit cute to see the boy fawn over her Dark-type. Not that Serena would say that to Evan, but she was definitely going to tell Max and Danny about this the next time they spoke. "Try between the tuft and his ears. It's his biggest weakness."

No more hints were needed, and zorua started purring up a storm soon after, giving Serena the time to just sit back and enjoy the beautiful weather while her Pokémon was getting the luxury treatment. They were in the garden of the Pallet Town hostel they were now both staying in, and there was nobody else around, and it wasn't much better if you looked at the amount of people staying in the hostel.

A quiet town indeed.

"How good is he at using illusions?" Evan asked, and in return, zorua answered by showing one of his favourite tricks: morphing into a human. It startled Max's cousin, and the Dark-type reverted back before landing on his feet on the tiles. "Yikes. That's good. Can you do it again?" he asked.

Two Evans were in the enclosed garden a moment later. "He's been on a copycat streak a bit," Serena explained as she kept careful track of who was who. That had already caught her out a few times when giving her Pokémon some food – zorua loved to get more than he really should. "He's pretty good at it, wouldn't you agree?"

"I'm certainly seeing double," came a deeper voice from behind them, and all of them turned around to see Ash come out of the hostel, carrying a large bag with something in it, but Serena couldn't see what. "I'm going to guess the real Evan is sitting down."

Zorua pouted, morphing into Ash in return, but then pikachu jumped on Ash's shoulder, ruining that mirror, to giggles and chuckles all around. "Rua."

"The voice needs a bit of work," Ash observed drily as he sat down, still careful to keep the bag closed. "But that's probably not going to come up a lot. Does he use it in battle?"

"When there's a chance, but not really in Contests," Serena admitted. "The judges don't really like it. Makes it harder to score."

Ash laughed, and Evan chuckled. "I can see that," the teenager said. "Anyway, Evan… Max told me you've got a collection of Dark-types now. Four, I think?"

"They're just the shit," Evan said, and Serena had to take a moment to understand that sentence. "Sneaking up, being a pain in the ass, it's all really fun to do in battle, and they're really bloody loyal too."

"That could just be that you've got a poochyena and a houndour. Canines are loyal," Ash pointed out, but Serena could tell it wasn't going to stop Evan from thinking Dark-types were awesome. And Ash knew that. "I'm not about doing long talks. My absol, well… She did something around the lab, and… well..." he opened the bag, lifting an egg canister out of it. A white-and-black egg was inside. "It's not going to be the easiest thing, but… If you want it..."

Serena wished she had a camera on her. Holy xerneas, she had never seen someone look so absolutely floored by anything, and that included the times that something had caught Max incredibly off-guard – made all the worse because he usually wasn't.

Hang on, gardevoir could share memories, right? Something to ask.

Nobody said anything as they all waited for Evan's brain to reboot. It did. Eventually. "But, but… I… I've never…" Somewhat.

"It's just like raising any other Pokémon.. And like houndour and poochyena, absol are really loyal," Ash told him.

"No… That's not it..." Evan replied. "It's… This is about the..." he trailed off, tapping the side of his head.

It took a moment for Serena to cotton on, but she did before Ash replied. "Max and Danny don't know, but I did think of that," the Frontier Brain-to-be said. "Mostly to put you in my mind, I think. I don't know a lot of people who'd want an absol Egg."

Serena thought for a second. Max wouldn't – Dark-types weren't his thing, she knew that. Danny could, but raising one from an Egg? She had doubts about that. Not with where she knew they were going to go. Maybe there were others she didn't know, but… "Take it, Evan,' she found herself saying before her brain really caught up. "You obviously want it, and even I know that Ash wants the best for everyone even a bit close to him." There had been many, many stories involving that.

"And it's not like you'll be without help," Ash added. "I can help, and I know Max and Danny will probably bury you under more information than you need. Max mostly." He lifted the bag up, placing it down at Evan's feet. "Go on."

Make that two memories she really wanted to show Max and Danny; this one for sheer marvel.

~~§~~§~~

Lazing in the shadow of a century-old tree felt great, but Max couldn't really relax like his new deerling could. Watching the Season Pokémon snooze was soothing, though, and a pretty good use of time while he waited for Danny to return with some wood for the fire they wanted to make later. Max had done his part for that already, getting baltoy and gardevoir to set up a fire pit of some sort.

Was it cheating to use Psychic-types like that? Maybe, but he didn't really care, and neither did Danny. Diggersby was in Pallet, so baltoy was the best they had at creating a pit. Most Pokémon had small uses like that; things you only really found out on the road. It wasn't just the classic starting trio of Types.

Drapion and Danny returned, and Max turned around to watch them, arms and claws full of a lot of wood. Magneton was also there for some reason. "Trouble?"

"No," Danny said as he dropped all of the branches on the ground near the pit. "Don't think there's another human for a mile or two. Either that, or I found the jackpot on Berries. That basket of yours in your pack?"

"Should be near the top," Max said as he got up, stretching. "Why's magneton out then?"

For some reason, Danny sighed, and he turned serious for some reason. "Magneton's been there for a minute or two or something. You just didn't notice. Then, the moment drapion and I get here, you turn around." Danny returned his magneton, but drapion was still around, walking around somewhere to Max's right, out of sight. "You sense him, don't you?"

Where was he going with this? "Yeah, don't you?"

"When we're close together, sure, a bit. But not like you say you do, and certainly not from like fifty feet away. Like you just did," Danny hissed.

Fifty… Max quickly gauged the distance. "It… Fifty feet? Wha?"

Danny sat down, and Max followed suit, numbly. "It's been kinda obvious for a while now, Max. I asked around a bit, and Gary did too, and, well…." his best friend said, hesitatingly. "We…. Can you send gardevoir out?"

This was making less and less sense, but Danny asked things for a reason usually. A quick tap and the Psychic-type sat down as well, reading the mood as he did, but remaining silent.

"Gardevoir," Danny started, still not sounding too certain of himself. "I know you sense people and Pokémon by their aura or whatever it's called. Can you compare Max's to your memory of your brother?"

"There are… surprising similarities," the Pokémon said after a moment of meditation and a faint glimmer of blue. "How it eluded me, I do not know, but now that I see it, I cannot help but notice." Calm red eyes turned away from Max, onto Danny. "Why do you ask?"

Danny, in turn, fixed eyes on Max. "Gary said that Sabrina theorised that kirlia dying in your arms and yveltal's… Everything… Did something weird. Gave Max some kind of sensitivity in sensing Dark and Ghost-type energy," he explained. "You're always aware of all the Confuse Rays that litwick uses, even when you can't see them. You sensed drapion underground back in November. It's been going on for a long time now."

"Remember the communication problems?" gardevoir added softly, but Max was certain Danny was hearing this as well. "The ones that never occurred when I used telepathy to converse with Max? Would that count?"

Danny gasped, before scoffing. "That's probably part of it too, yeah. And probably a million other things that I wouldn't notice… Didn't even think of that… Anyway, Max, you okay?"

Was he? Max wasn't certain, not about this nor about how he'd missed it. Of course sensing Pokémon from that big a distance wasn't common, but… He just hadn't noticed. Somehow. "It…" he said, finding his throat closed. "It's a thing."

"Only as much as you make of it," gardevoir interjected, and both Danny and Max gave him a look asking to explain. "You are who you are, and this is a part of you. Denial has never served anyone well."

It hadn't, but… "I need a bit to think about this, okay?" Max said. "Alone."

Danny acquiesced quickly. "I can go get the Berries I talked about," he stated. "Can I get a lift, gardevoir? On the way back, at least."

"As long as I can eat some of the Berries."

"There's enough for everyone."

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Pokédex entry: absol

Characteristics: mammalian, quadruped, Dark-type. Avg. height: 3'11'', Avg. weight: 100 lbs.

Detailed information: Superstition surrounds this Hoenn Pokémon. Through a quirk of evolution, this Pokémon has gained the ability to sense impending disaster, and its innate sense of morality will spur it to seek out those affected to warn them. This is occasionally misunderstood, causing them to be branded as harbingers of disaster. As a result, they are often reclusive, and their rarity makes them not commonly seen on Trainers. Despite all of that, they are calm Pokémon, with great protective instincts towards those who train them.