Trainer: Daniel Pugh - 1 Badge
Alolan Sandshrew - Drift
Meditite - Sasha
Magby - Kai
Piplup - Slater

Chapter 11: Fire and Water

Daniel had just enough forethought to check out of his room at the pokemon center before continuing his escape of the city. He hiked at a breakneck pace for the rest of the afternoon until the fading daylight finally forced him to stop. He set up camp in a clearing backed against the Coronet Mountains and a knee deep creek dividing it in two. Once he had his tent set up and a small fire going, he released Drift and Sasha from their balls.

"We need to do something about Kai and Slater," he told his first two pokemon after relating what happened in the battle. "I need to do something about them."

His starter grunted in concern as he curled up next to Daniel's thigh. He could feel the snowshrew's icy shell through his pants. Drift, however much he disliked the warmer temperature, seemed to be able to regulate the immediately around his body. Daniel noticed that Kai was similarly capable, though the magby preferred the heat.

"Did not the Ranger advise fostering coordination?" Sasha asked, "A single battle is not sufficient."

Daniel agreed with a silent nod. He had already been thinking similar thoughts as he fled the city. He was still struggling to come up with ideas to get the pair to work together though. They were the two most competitive members of his team, though Slater was mostly just competing with Kai. If a battle wasn't going to bring them together, then Daniel wasn't sure what would. Looking around the clearing, an inkling of an idea started to worm its way into his head.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do," he said to his first two team members.

It took a full week for Daniel, Drift, and Sasha to complete all the construction Daniel wanted. They were tired and Daniel had more than a few bruises to show for their work, but as he looked around at all the obstacles they built, Daniel felt it was well worth it. The idea was simple: create a bunch of obstacle courses that would require both Kai and Slater's cooperation to complete. It would be similar to how he was developing Drift's mobility and speed.

One hurdle still remained, however. The problemsome pair had been isolated in their pokeballs since the fateful battle. Physically, there would be no issues; but mentally, they were both awake, stewing in the anger from their last altercation, and likely feeling a decent amount of anxiety from the confinement. And it was now time for the two to be released and told how they would be spending the foreseeable future.

"Drift, you keep an eye on Slater; Sasha, you have Kai," he told his two companions as he palmed the remaining pokeballs.

As he released the duo, multiple things happened all at once. Kai and Slater almost immediately made eye contact with each other and lunged towards one another. As they moved, his snowshrew and meditite moved to intercept them. Water and fire spewed from the two bird-like pokemons' beaks. The chaos ended almost as quickly as it began though, with Drift and Sasha holding down the magby and piplup.

"Let me make this perfectly clear," Daniel began. "The stunt you two pulled in that battle was absolutely unacceptable. You embarrassed each other and you embarrassed me. Slater, you sabotaged the battle to fuel this petty rivalry. Kai, you let your anger get the better of you and retaliated." Daniel glared down at his two pokemon. Neither pokemon met his furious gaze.

"So here's what you're going to do. Every day, you'll run a different obstacle course. These courses will require you to help each other in order to finish. If you finish, you can spend the rest of the day doing whatever you want. If you don't both finish, then you'll be at it again the next day. For every two courses you complete, I'll let you guys battle each other."

Daniel let them sit with that for a moment before he continued, "There will be some rules though. If either of you attacks the other, you'll both be put in your balls for a full day. If either of you attempts to cheat the course in any way, you'll both be put in your balls for a full day. I don't care if only one of you makes a move, or only one of you cheats. It's time the two of you figured out that you're a team. That means you win together and lose together. Now, your first obstacle is the easiest. Climb over that wall."

The wall Daniel was referring to was an eight foot wall constructed from logs stacked horizontally on top of each other. Two diagonal braces held it upright on the back side. Kai would be able to finish this wall by himself easily with his clawed appendages, but Slater wouldn't be able to get any grip with his flippers and webbed feet. In order for both of them to finish, Slater would have to swallow his pride and accept help from Kai, and the magby would have to offer that help.

Daniel was optimistic that they would be able to finish this first exercise that day. It would take them nearly a week.

They didn't even make it to the wall on the first day with Slater attacking Kai halfway there. The second day Kai refused to help the piplup over the wall. The third, fourth, and fifth days the two managed to get halfway up the wall before one of the two would attack the other in a bout of frustration. It was the sixth day of them attempting to clear the wall that they finally succeeded. It was with a lot of exasperation that Daniel congratulated the two before giving them the rest of the day off.

The second obstacle went significantly better than the first though. The pair worked together to tie small logs together to make a raft. Then Slater ferried Kai across the river on the raft. Daniel could see that their teamwork was begrudging, but they got the task done the first day.

Then it was time for them to have a supervised battle for the first time. As soon as Daniel gave them the signal to start, their unwilling camaraderie disappeared and their bitterness and dislike for one another returned. Slater sent a massive stream of bubbles towards the fire duck. Kai retaliated with a flame wheel to break through the attack and get close. He followed it up with multiple thunder punches in a row to knock out the penguin. Daniel hurriedly returned the magby when Kai didn't stop wailing on the piplup.

The first fight seemed to derail the pair's progress during the next obstacle course too as they each tried to snipe each other the first couple days before they finally started working together again.

The following weeks continued in much the same way: a couple obstacles courses followed by a battle. The progress was slow, but Daniel could still see a difference in the two. After the second week, there was a noticeable decrease in the pair trying to blindside each other. Then they started working together a little quicker and efficiently on new obstacles. The truly significant change was in how the two battled each other. As they got better at working together on the training courses, the animosity between the two started to fade from their battles. Instead, it was replaced by a competitive gleam in each pokemons' eyes that belied excitement. The bitter side of their rivalry would still rear its head every so often, but it was becoming less frequent.

Slater hopped to the right, avoiding a crackling thunder punch from Kai, though he jumped into the path of Kai's tail that was smoldering with embers. The penguin grunted and slapped the magby away to gain space. He spat out a quick water gun which he followed with an aerial ace. Aerial ace was a newer move that Slater was learning in the downtime they had. He flashed forward and slashed at Kai with one of his flippers that was enveloped in a pale blue energy. While Kai was able to dodge the water gun, the follow up attack caught him across the chest. Countering the attack, the magby grabbed one of the piplup's flippers with one claw and hit him with a flurry of low powered thunder punches.

After three hits, Slater managed to break free and jump away. His feathers were standing up away from his body and faint lines of static arced up. Kai had a thin line of blood running down his chest from the aerial ace. Both pokemon were breathing heavily, looking like they were ready to stop this contest in a draw. Draws between the two were becoming more frequent as Slater got stronger.

A draw wasn't going to happen this time though as Slater drew in a deep breath and blew out three large rings of water. Daniel and Kai both blinked in surprise as the water pulse quickly covered the ground between the two pokemon and connected with the magby. He staggered after the first hit, fell to the ground after the second, and the third ring knocked out the fire type.

Slater let out a victorious honk with his flippers raised in triumph. As he did, a light began to coalesce around him, swirling in unpredictable ways. The air around the clearing became heavy and thick with energy and a dull thrum filled the brief silence. Then it all died down abruptly, leaving an evolved prinplup in its place.

Slater stood over three feet tall now, a massive growth compared to his previous height. Two golden blades formed from his beak and ran over his head in a makeshift crown. His dark navy head feathers now extended down his flippers and ended in a dark tail on his back. His chest was still the same teal blue, though he now had four gray spots on his chest instead of two. His flippers were capped in the same teal feathers, though at first glance, they seemed more rigid than those on his chest or around his face. He now stood on powerful clawed feet opposed to the smaller feet when he was a piplup. In the light of his evolution, Slater honked again in pride, this time the sound was much deeper.

"Slater," Daniel breathed out, "you evolved! Congratulations buddy!" He ran to his newly evolved pokemon and began looking over him with a sense of pride. Slater preened under the attention and turned this way and that to get a feel for his new body. Off to the side, Drift and Sasha also cheered for their brother's evolution.

After a few minutes of praising the prinplup, Daniel made his way over to the unconscious magby. The cut along his chest was healed with a quick potion and Daniel gently shook the fire type awake. Kai slowly came to with a groan. Almost immediately, he gave a huff of displeasure, the disappointment in his loss clearly showing on his face.

"Kai, you did really well. It was only a matter of time before he won with a type advantage. Go congratulate your brother and be a good sport. He evolved, by the way."

Kai did as he was asked, though still despondent in the wake of his first defeat. It seemed that the knowledge of Slater's evolution seemed to take some of the sting off at least. Daniel watched the interaction, ready to recall either pokemon if old rivalries started up, but everything seemed okay. The pair's relationship seemed more akin to a sibling rivalry now more than enemies, though Slater now took the role of older brother rather than younger.

"Alright guys, we'll take the day off tomorrow, but then we'll get back to training. Let's plan to stay for another week or so and get you acclimated to your new strength, Slater," Daniel said. His pokemon gave various signs of acknowledgement and they each wandered off to do their own thing as Daniel settled to look into prinplup on his pokedex. As he did, Drift came and curled up against his thigh, the icy cold shell was now a familiar comfort to him.

Prinplup, the Penguin Pokemon.

Prinplup are a pure water type pokemon. Similar to their pre-evolutions, piplup, the coloration of prinplup is used to both hide from predator and prey, with a darker head and back and a lighter stomach with several white spots. Prinplup also have a distinctive bone structure that extends from their beak over their head. They use these bones to help break through ice caps as they swim. Prinplups' wings are edged with feathers that are deceptively hard, capable of cutting through large chunks of ice and rock.

Prinplup are primarily solitary pokemon, believing themselves to be capable of handling any threat that they face. Once they evolve from piplup, they will leave the safety of their colony and venture out on their own. They are even so prideful that they will search out stronger pokemon to prove themselves. As such, the mortality rate for prinplup is far greater compared to their evolved forms: piplup and empoleon.

Prinplup seem to evolve from piplup once they hit a certain level of strength and pride, though that level seems to vary between individuals. It is theorized that prinplup will only evolve into empoleon when they are strong and mature enough to lead a colony.

The following week went by quickly. Slater was a fast learner and soon got control over his newfound power and speed. He had grown closer to the group leading up to his evolution. However, following the evolution, the prinplup became much more standoffish, oftentimes remaining by himself with an air of arrogance. He reminded Daniel of when he was a broody teenager that thought he knew everything. One activity that consistently got Slater out of his shell was battling. The competitive fire within the pokemon had only grown with his evolution and he frequently pitted himself against Daniel's other pokemon.

It was the day before they were set to return to Eterna City when a man about Daniel's age came crashing into the clearing. He was a little shorter than Daniel with freckles covering his face and arms. A short, red beard covered his face, scruffy and uneven as if he hadn't had time to maintain it for weeks. The man wore hiking clothes and a ball cap and had three pokeballs clipped to his belt. A large blue stag beetle buzzed in after the trainer. The heracross had a long horn that ended with two rounded pieces in the general shape of a spade. It stood about four feet tall from its toes to the tip of its horn.

Daniel's pokemon immediately went on the defensive, tensing up as if ready for a fight at the trainer's sudden appearance. Daniel raised a hand to keep them from attacking, but none of his pokemon relaxed.

"Uhh, hey," the man started, warily eyeing Daniel's team, "I'm Jack. How close are we to Oreburgh?"

Trainer: Daniel Pugh - 1 Badge
Alolan Sandshrew - Drift
Meditite - Sasha
Magby - Kai
Prinplup - Slater

AN: Hey guys. I'm still here. The story isn't getting abandoned. I have had a bunch of real life stuff come up, but really it was writer's block that was holding me up. This was a really hard chapter to write, even though it's been planned really since the beginning. I just couldn't make the words come out. It is a shorter chapter than normal because I really wanted to get something out. I'm trying to get back into the flow and being more productive on the writing front. Hope you guys enjoy! Let me know any thoughts or constructive criticisms. Or grammar/spelling errors. This hasn't been beta'd like my other chapters.

~Noxy