Episode 12: Reflections

Niko fell down on his bed in the Resort Area's Pokémon Center. Things were once more looking up. Although, given his luck, life would begin to turn in the other direction. It wasn't long ago that he felt satisfied with the direction of his life, only to feel like he was losing his sense of self a few days later.

He was content because like his girlfriend, he had received his third Frontier Print, and did really well. Prinplup won the match for him, but it was venusaur that made him the proudest when he mastered frenzy plant. The ultimate move had been plaguing Niko for some time now, and his inability to help venusaur learn the move said more about his abilities as a trainer rather than venusaur's skill as a pokémon, and Niko largely took responsibility for their joint failure. However, venusaur finally figured the move out, and in that moment Niko felt in unison with his first pokémon.

But the lingering issues remained. Niko didn't feel whole. He felt like something was missing, either internally or externally. He felt purposeless. Of course, he didn't want to concern his friends with these matters. They felt petty, and it didn't help that Niko had difficulty expressing or explaining them.

"You'll never be a strong pokémon trainer. That's why you can't learn frenzy plant, and that's why you will never beat me."

"But my methods work. That's that difference. I've actually won something. What's Niko here done? Nothing. He's useless to me, and he proves my point every time we battle."

Hunter's words kept running through his mind. Each time Niko ran the scene through, he found himself becoming more convinced that his rival might be right. Did he really have the skill—or at least, the potential—to be great? Was everything he has done so far, including his travels, for nothing?

He considered all of this as he lay there. He told his friends he was tired, and the other four went to hang out near a community pool in the Resort Area that afternoon, as a way of relaxing before heading to Circus Island. That would be where Niko and Lauren would compete for their fourth Frontier Print—at the Battle Arcade. He thought about potentially joining them later, but he didn't even know where they were.

Instead, he walked out onto the practice battlefield. He wanted to spend some time working with magmar, his recent pokémon and one that he had a particularly difficult time training.

"Mag!" Magmar said as he erupted out of the pokéball.

"Hey buddy. Want to train for a bit?" Niko asked. Magmar eyed him suspiciously. "Right. You don't like to train. Well, think of it like this. To be good at battling, you have to practice, right? You have to learn how to use new moves to beat your opponent faster, right?"

Magmar nodded, obviously more interested.

"That's all training is. Just practicing those moves so you can become better. And that's partly my job, you see? To help you be the strongest magmar out there."

The spitfire pokémon nodded again, seeming more satisfied. He then turned his head upwards and spit out a stream of fire.

"Exactly! Your flamethrower wouldn't be as powerful if you didn't keep trying to use it. That's basically all we do when we train. But if you don't want to, that's completely fine. I've had pokémon before that preferred not to train."

Now magmar looked completely confused, as if trying to comprehend why a pokémon didn't want to get stronger. He suddenly got excited, and began running around, punching the air as he usually did, but this time it looked like it had more purpose. The two continued training for another hour or so before the other got back from the pool.

"How was it?" Niko asked as Lauren, Brittany, JJ, and Fay all sat down in their booth.

"Relaxing!" Lauren said, leaning over onto his shoulder. "How was your alone time?"

"Great, actually. Magmar finally wants to train with me."

"Really?" Fay asked. "That was oddly quick."

"It was. I managed to persuade him to start working on his moves, and slowly he got used to it. Hopefully we can continue working on it."

"So, this Circus Island…" Brittany said, leaning over and grabbing JJ's map from his bag. "We're going to have to swim there, right?" The others nodded. "Fay, do you think your gyarados is up for it?"

"Of course he is. And charizard would love to fly around. He loves being able to move around outside of his pokéball." Fay replied, much to the group's relief. As Niko, Brittany, and JJ knew very well, getting across the water was never an easy prospect. Luckily, they've been able to find people along the way that have helped them.

"Great. And the trip should take a couple of days. So it shouldn't be too bad." JJ added.

The following morning, the group left the Resort Area and continued their journey, now westward towards Circus Island. Fortunately for them, the first day was largely on land: they made it to the sea—route 230—by sunset.

It was one of the rare nights where the group got to see the sun set in the west, on the water. Beyond the sea, Niko and his friends couldn't see anything but the surface of the water, and so they took advantage and sent out their teams to watch it all from the vantage point of their camp, which rested on the edge of the forest they had recently left.

"We don't get to see many of these, do we?" Lauren asked, leaning over to Niko. He nodded, a faint smile written on his face. "I noticed magmar is getting stronger. That's good—right?"

Niko nodded. "It is. I'm proud of him." He said, turning and looking at the spitfire pokémon, who was staring deeply into the sun, in awe at the orange glow it was giving off, almost as if he had never seen one before. He also watched roserade sitting atop torterra, watching the sunset from a restful spot atop the continent pokémon.

Then he noticed all of the pokémon sitting together in groups, with venusaur sitting close with umbreon, charizard, and wartortle. It was surely a sight to behold—four years in the making, and all of the pokémon that have travelled together, trained together, all sitting together for a peaceful moment.

Lauren turned in the direction Niko was looking. "See how roserade and torterra are sitting?" Niko nodded. "They look really adorable together, don't you think?"

"I agree." He then pointed to venusaur and the others. "Those four have travelled together for a while, too. I think it's so amazing that they all still recognize each other…almost like nothing ever changed."

Lauren looked up at Niko and gave a sudden look of concern, although Niko didn't notice it. "Yeah. Almost like they belong together, right?"

Niko turned to look at her, noticing her concern but choosing to not address it. "Kind of like that."

Over a few yards away, the other three were also observing the pokémon, but also Niko and Lauren. "They're doing okay, right?" Fay asked, in obvious reference to the couple.

"I believe so. It's been difficult since Lily of the Valley." Brittany observed. "Niko seems off, and it's affecting everything around him. It makes sense, but I wish he would at least talk to someone."

"What's to say he isn't?" JJ asked. Brittany shook her head.

"No. He hasn't told either of you, I'm guessing. He hasn't told me. And it's clear he hasn't told Lauren. I don't think even he knows what's going on with him."

Fay sat still for a moment. "I think it's cool how our pokémon are sitting together. Venusaur, wartortle, charizard, and umbreon. Just like old times."

Brittany's sincere smile said everything either Fay or JJ needed to know.

"I miss those times." JJ said, reflecting on the sight. "Without you guys, I wouldn't have met my pokémon at all. I wouldn't have met Maizie, and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to become a pokémon breeder."

"It's one of those 'fork-in-the-road' moments, isn't it?" Brittany said, also reflecting on it. "If I didn't meet you all on the S.S. Anne, I wouldn't have gone to Hoenn, and then become Top Coordinator. I wouldn't have had the kind of impact on people that I do now."

"We certainly have come a long way. And we've all grown as people since then." Fay added. "I wouldn't take any of it back, that's for sure."

Brittany and JJ both nodded, smiling at they turned back to watch the sunset.

"I just wonder what's next." Brittany said. "For all of us. Every summer that's the big question, but it seems different this time."

"We're all growing up, I think." JJ said. "We're growing as people and as trainers. I think, for most of us, we're finally figuring ourselves out."

Fay laughed a little, prompting a slight turn of the head from his friends. "JJ, never in my life would I have expected you to be so…wise?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" JJ asked defensively.

"I mean that to be a good thing. You've definitely grown up. It's nice to see, especially considering you used to be the nervous, confidence-lacking child that Niko and I met and started out journey with." Brittany nodded in agreement.

"I guess so. I appreciate that, though." JJ said, looking at Fay admiringly. "You too."

The black-haired trainer contorted his face in bemusement. "Was I nervous all the time?" JJ clammed up, eliciting a chuckle from Brittany.

Route 230 was a relatively calm route to ride on. Certainly easier to traverse than most of the sea paths the group has taken in the past. Initially, Lauren was nervous to ride gyarados a second time, but with the assistance of Fay (much to Niko's hidden jealousy), she managed to get back on.

For most of the journey that first day, Lauren would hold onto Niko (in her mind, for dear life), and Brittany and JJ would sit on the other two humps of the atrocious pokémon's back. While they rode along, they would point to some of the other pokémon they saw in the ocean. Brittany, at one point, saw a group of spheal swimming just south of them, and decided to have her own join the pack. Her spheal clearly enjoyed himself, splashing and jumping in and out of the water with the others.

They ended the day with a stop on a small island somewhere off of the path they were taking. Like most of the places they had stopped, it wasn't the most comfortable, but it was big enough for them to rest and, more importantly, for their pokémon to take some time to stretch a little after spending most of the day in their pokéballs.

That night went by quickly, with the only notable exception being Niko initially having difficulty sleeping. Eventually, he fell asleep looking directly up at the stars. On that particular night, the universe looked lovely.

The last day of their trip to Circus Island began like any other ordinary day. This time, each of them sent out their water pokémon to swim alongside them for a bit. Prinplup, azumarill, wartortle, and spheal all swam alongside. Slowking chose not to, only because in Lauren's brief experience with the royal pokémon, it was clear he preferred to not swim, and the blue-haired trainer couldn't seem to figure out why.

"You know," Brittany began, looking at the three happily swimming along, "It reminds me of the time they all learned water pulse." He looked to Niko and JJ, who both nodded.

"That was the day you caught vespiquen, too!" JJ added. "Yeah, what a day that was. But hey, they all learned it, didn't they?"

The brunette nodded. "Well, spheal didn't, but wartortle did. Besides the fact that a bunch of bees were out to kill us, I'd say it was a good day."

"Certainly a successful one." Niko added, not turning to look back out of fear of accidentally falling off of gyarados. Looking down at prinplup, who was truly enjoying himself with his friends, Niko remembered how uncertain prinplup initially was at joining him. Being with Hunter couldn't have been easy for the little penguin. Yet it explained prinplup's willingness to work harder than Niko's other pokémon, and to be the strongest it could be. And Niko was proud as a result. It made him realize how gifted he was to be a trainer, despite what Hunter said.

"Wait…" JJ said, turning to his left—where the pokémon were swimming—and then behind him. "Where's azumarill?"

Brittany, Lauren, and even Niko all turned backwards. Even gyarados moved around to see before roaring off in a southeastwards direction. Squinting, they all saw something moving around in the water.

"What the—" Fay said from atop charizard. "Oh, no!" He shouted, zooming off with the flame pokémon towards the thing. Gyarados joined in, swimming even faster and nearly dropping the others into the water in the process. Soon enough, Niko saw it.

"Azumarill!" JJ shouted, pulling out another pokéball. As he did, prinplup, wartortle, and spheal all leapt forward out of the water towards the culprit.

A horde of tentacruel were surrounding a frightened azumarill, who was nervously treading water in the center of the pack. Then, the tentacle pokémon quickly felt a barrage of attacks from charizard, wartortle, prinplup, spheal, and togekiss. The attacks hardly did anything except defeating a couple unlucky tentacruel. The poison type pokémon then turned on the group, all jointly launching what looked to be sludge bomb at the pack.

Prinplup collapsed into the water before diving down and using drill peck from under a tentacruel. Wartortle attempted to use skull bash, but got caught up in a forceful bind in between two other tentacruel. Togekiss and charizard flew through the air, swerving around the inky black sludge bomb.

"Spheal, use aurora beam!" Brittany commanded. "Wartortle, use—oh no! Return!" She shouted as wartortle floated up to the surface, having been hit in the chest by a poison jab. "Thank you for helping. We'll get you some help soon."

"Brittany, I can go on ahead to Circus Island and take wartortle with me." Fay offered, lowering himself and charizard.

"That's fine. We'll be alright. Plus, I don't want the others to get hurt and then not have any help." She said, watching as prinplup was having difficulty, along with spheal. Azumarill—too frightened to help—simply tread there, watching nervously. Moments later, prinplup was thrown out of the water and hit with a sludge bomb in midair before falling back into the water just in front of gyarados.

"Return, buddy." Niko said, thrusting out his pokéball. Frowning, he looked to the others, all of whom were still trying to fight. Togekiss was weaving through, dive-bombing a few tentacruel with what looked like extremespeed. Charizard was blowing out a flamethrower at each of them, which hardly seemed to scare them. Gyarados launched off a couple hyper beams, but the attacks didn't seem to last long, due to the atrocious pokémon having less energy than usual.

Which left spheal. The ball pokémon kept hurling ice balls supported by water gun and aurora beams at the tentacruel, distracting them long enough for azumarill to get back to JJ and the others. Brittany was impressed at how fast spheal was moving and attacking. Then, as spheal was about to shoot another aurora beam, he got hit by a sludge bomb, falling backwards into the water, rolling slowly.

"Spheal!" Brittany shouted, leaping off of gyarados and into the water. First wartortle got hurt, and now spheal. She wasn't about to tolerate it anymore. She sank down towards spheal and grabbed him before floating back up. Once she got to the surface, she saw the tentacruel swimming towards her. Some of them fell to charizard, togekiss, and gyarados, but some still remained.

Suddenly, a tentacruel got close, and quickly raised a tentacle to jab Brittany with. Just as it was close enough, spheal leapt out of his trainer's arms and tackled tentacruel, forcing it to withdraw the tentacle, grab spheal, and shove him into the water just as a white glow erupted from underneath the surface.

Brittany watched as spheal suddenly began to grow to a slightly bigger size. He was no longer just a ball—but instead more of the shape of an actual seal. His body was more fleshed out; his flippers and tail were longer. Lastly, he had a pair of white whiskers emanating from under his beady black eyes.

"Sealeo, the ball roll pokémon. Ice and water type. It habitually spins things on its nose. By doing so, it learns textures and odors."

Sealeo dove deep into the water before launching back towards the surface like a rocket, launching the tentacruel high into the air. He then sent out an aurora beam that hit the bottom of the poison type, freezing it as it quickly descended back to the ground.

At the sight of this, the other tentacruel looked at sealeo, and then charizard, gyarados, and togekiss, and suddenly fled, leaving the group alone. The ball roll pokémon turned to Brittany, who by this time had gotten back onto gyarados with the help of togekiss and her friends.

"You did great, sealeo." Brittany finally said with a smile. "I'm really proud of you. And so is azumarill."

The aquarabbit pokémon nodded, swimming over to sealeo and hugging him affectionately. The two continued to swim through the water for the rest of the day. Fay went on ahead to heal up wartortle and prinplup, leaving the group on gyarados for several more hours before Circus Island came within sight. It wasn't too difficult to see the massive tent off in the distance. Niko and Lauren immediately noticed it as the Battle Arcade.

"Ready?" Lauren asked, leaning in to Niko's back.

"Of course." He said confidently, forcing a smile from his girlfriend.