Bianca knew her way around so much better than Luka ever could. Leading them out of the Dreamyards confidently, swiftly carrying the injured munna as fast as she could without leaving Luka and Quill behind.

With two pokemon at her heels, she placed Tepi the tepig back in his ball and off they ran. She didn't get distracted by spooky calls in the woods nor did she invite the wrath of the bugs upon them.

"If you scare her off with your insanity," Quill warned as they spotted the buildings of Striaton. "I will set you on fire."

"Well, I'm not insane so checkmate, Quill."

"The Pokemon Centre is not too far!" Bianca said. Despite being a proper lady in training, she was covered in cuts and scrapes, her dress ruffled and her hat used to give the injured munna something soft to lie in.

Unlike Luka and Quill, her energy seemed boundless. They were flagging from the persistent run that it'd taken to get here while Bianca only puffed for breath. They managed to stay at her heels as she rushed through the city.

Like a bowling ball, people had to get out of her way or she would crash through them and send them scattering like pins in a strike.

"Oh my gosh! Out of my way! Out of my way! Out of my WAAY!" She did in fact send someone flying but couldn't stop, yelling out, "SORRY!"

The automatic doors to the centre only just barely managed to open in time as Bianca charged in. By the time Luka and Quill made it to the door, she was already laying the munna down as several audino swarmed with a stretcher. Luka grasped onto the doorframe as he pulled in the oxygen he had thought he might not need as Quill just collapsed on the ground.

"W-Weak, Quill," Luka managed.

"You're… just as… exhausted," Quill retorted.

"No."

"No?" Quill asked, something sharp entering his voice.

"I can keep going! I'm unstoppable!"

"Okay." Quill sucked in a long breath before calling. "HEY! IF YOU NEED MORE HELP, LUKA'S HERE TOO!"

Nurse Joy looked up at the cyndaquil squeaking as did a few of the audino. Two took the munna away as the third trotted up to them.

"Oh, gosh, thank you! There's a bit of an emergency going on, lots of patients in need. Your help will be invaluable!" she said, grasping Luka's paws in a brief shake and then began dragging him away.

"Quill, you traitor!"

Satisfied that he could find a place to sleep without being bothered, Quill just let Luka be taken away as the other audino ignored his weak excuses.

"Th-Th-They'll know I'm not one of you!" Luka argued frantically.

"Nonsense!" she said, pushing him through the door to the treatment bay. "We'll get you a hat and you'll fit right in. You know Heal Pulse, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Great!"

She swiftly slapped a hat with a cross on his head, he didn't need a stethoscope because of his ear extensions and shoved him through a door into a room with a few injured pokemon.

"This is not what Florence Nightingale would have wanted!" he yelled as the door closed and Luka sighed, glancing slowly over his shoulder at the three beds with pokemon lying on them. Two were staring back in concern, a lillipup and a pawniard, the third, a blitzle, was still unconscious.

"I was a nurse, not a vet," he groaned before taking a breath and pulling on the old power from The Before Times. He slotted into nurse mode and plastered a neutral expression on his face.

He clapped his paws once and asked, "So, who wants surgery?"

For some reason, they both recoiled away from him.

Thus, his eyes fell on the one of them that wasn't moving, the blitzle. "It's your lucky day!"

"H-He broke his leg, that's all," the pawniard said. He had a few metallic bandages wrapped around his midsection and was holding a firm expression that failed to hide the pain he was in.

Luka stared at the blitzle in pity. He wasn't supposed to kill it, was he?

Then he spotted the cast mixture and opened his mouth with an, "Ahhh. No fear, I know what to do." The leg was already wrapped in the protective cotton bandage so the leg was ready to be cast. He guessed Bianca's arrival had pulled the last audino out of here.

He hummed as he wetted the cast material and carefully raised the leg to begin wrapping. There were gloves for audino in this room, which tickled him to no end that they even existed and he decided he'd take some with him once he was done.

"So, what happened to you three?" he asked.

"Um, I don't know about these two," Pawniard replied. "We're all with different trainers."

"I lost to the gym leader," Lillipup explained and a glint entered Luka's eye.

"Oh, yeah, me too," Pawniard agreed, rubbing a shiny part of their body that poked outside of metallic bandages. "Fire hurts."

"We couldn't even get past their lillipup," Lillipup sighed, laying her head on her paws. "It was like watching Herdier fight, but they were the same as me and so strong. I can't believe it."

"We're going to fight the gym leader soon," Luka said.

"Wait, you're not working with the centre?" Pawniard asked, frowning at the dubious practice in front o him. "Or… is Nurse Joy fighting?"

"My, uh, friend Quill volunteered me because someone got really hurt and they needed extra help. I can't imagine why."

"Oh! Oh, I know!" Lillipup barked excitedly. "It's because you're an audino!"

Pawniard and Luka just looked at her.

Her tail wagged. "Do you think I'm right?"

"So, who did you fight?" Luka asked instead.

"Um, the one with the hair that looks like water. It was really distracting actually."

"Lucky, we fought the fire one. Chili I think?"

"His head looks like fire!"

Luka hummed curiously, if he knew his pokemon and he knew that he knew it, he'd be fighting Cress.

Lillipup had said they didn't get past the opposing Lillipup which told him a little anyway. He wanted to know more. "Do you remember what moves Lillipup used against you?"

"Well, um, he bit me a lot!"

"Us too," Pawniard added. "We got past Lillipup though."

"Oh my gosh! How!"

"I… attacking?"

"We should have done that."

"What did you do?"

Luka listened as they chatted about their experiences vs the Striaton Gym, quietly taking in little nuggets of information about the moves and the ways they described Chili and Cress especially directing the flow of battle.

Successfully distracted from the pain of their injuries, Luka was able to finish setting the cast and splash the two with some balming Heal Pulses. His arms and legs felt heavy and sore from the running but he didn't show it as he took care of the three.

"Alright, if you need anything give us a hollar, otherwise best of luck with the recovery," Luka said as he finished, waving them off with a smile on his face.

As he stepped out he looked around for the audino and wandered the hall looking for any of them. His powerful ears heard a commotion coming from behind him and he sighed and took himself back to the foyer to find a pair of trainers shouting at each other holding bloodied pokemon.

It took a great deal of clapping to take their attention to give him their lillipup, there seemed to be a lot of them in this area. He took the two to a room and began the Heal Pulse treatment as he had no other means to help at the moment.

These two weren't as talkative as the last.

Thankfully, it was only a few hours later that whatever they were doing for the munna was complete and the audino cycled out and released him from his duties.

Quill had sat on Bianca's lap and slept the whole time. The traitor.

As Luka was released, he spotted Bianca and stumbled up to her, ready to slump next to her but then someone coughed, "Bianca?"

That voice.

Luka stiffened before spinning, all the energy flooding back into him as wrath lit the fire of his heart as Cheren came walking over, adjusting his glasses as he approached.

"Cheren!" Bianca squealed, so delighted that she threw Quill off her as she stood up. Luka caught him as he woke in confusion, he knew Bianca was the kind of cunning sort who lulled traitors like Quill into relaxation before punishing them but Quill was his partner and so it was his duty.

"Quill," Luka said calmly as the cyndaquil blinked in confusion.

"Uh… wha?"

"Thank you for believing so strongly in my greatness," Luka said, patting him on the head and setting him down. Quill was so confused he did not say anything and just continued to blink at the floor. That was okay, he was a little slow but he had the spirit.

"I think you were mad?" Quill asked, cocking his head.

"Oooh, I am," Luka said dangerously. Quill looked nervously at him. "That scrawny nerd stole my licence! Bianca, rend his bones from his flesh!"

Bianca, who was speaking a mile a second but Cheren was used to that and could follow perfectly, jolted as she heard Luka's audino-ese squeaking.

"And then THIS LITTLE GUY saved us!" Bianca explained, excitedly gesturing at Luka like he was the prize lechonk of the fair. "He totally was telling that little guy what to do, isn't that AMAZING!?"

Cheren, blinking to wipe his glasses of Bianca's excitement, looked down, then down some more, down his nose at Luka who glared back with the fury of a thousand solgaleo.

"Oh, yeah, you."

"You," Luka growled. "Give me my trainer card back! I will have you arrested!"

"You can't do that," Quill said tiredly.

"When I am trainer god of this region, I will ban the name Cheren!"

"You'll need to learn to spell."

"Good idea, Quill!"

Bianca cooed, "He's so cute." She giggled and petted Luka on the head, this was allowed. "You've met him before?"

"Yeah, I wanted to catch the cyndaquil, that's what that pokemon is there." Cheren pointed at Quill. "Starter pokemon from Johto, but it's already caught."

"Well, of course," Bianca said. "Cyndaquil is Audino's pokemon! He's like a trainer! Isn't that amazing?"

"That's not a thing," Cheren replied flatly.

Luka may have bitten him. "I have proof! You have my proof! Quill, is it illegal to set people on fire still?"

"Yes."

"Dammit!"

Bianca, proving her genius continuously, pouted and placed a finger on her chin. "I don't know, it really seems like he is."

"It's not a thing," Cheren insisted and then he took out Luka's card. "Look at this, I bet… 'his' trainer made this for him as a little joke. It's cute, sure," he allowed. "But pokemon can't be trainers, that's kinda not the point."

Bianca snatched the card from him and raised it to her eyes. "Luka Tabu, pokemon trainer. It says it right there, Cheren!" She flipped it around and pointed. "Pokemon Trainer. Doesn't say he has to be human."

"See!" Luka said, gesturing at Bianca. "She gets it! Come on, you've got glasses."

Cheren finally glanced at Luka and then to Bianca. He went to take the card back but she evaded him and offered the card to Luka who took it before this grabby handed kid tried again.

"Mmmmine," Luka growled, clutching the card to his chest. "Also, Luka Tabu. That's awful, I love it."

Cheren stared down at him a moment longer before shrugging. "Whatever, I've got the Trio Badge so I'm just here pick up Sven and Mya then I'm off to Nacrene City. Do you want any tips, Bianca?"

"Ummm…" She hesitated. "I guess, if you've got some?"

Luka pretended he wasn't listening, which was impossible because he was the Hearing Pokemon.

"I studied them and since you have… Tepi, you'll be battling Cress who uses Lillipup and Panpour since this is your first gym badge. Panpour can hit hard at range, but can't fight as well close quarters. It knows a few close-quarters moves, but he's going to be relying on Water Gun to knock Tepi out. Don't let him have too much space, Tepi is fast but only in a straight line which would leave him charging into it."

Bianca nodded rapidly, soaking in his advice like a sponge. Luka drank it in via osmosis and Cheren glanced at him with a slight frown before wishing Bianca luck and stepping off to retrieve his pokemon.

"You have a Fire-type too," Bianca said, sitting back down and staring at her legs for a moment. Luka and Quill jumped up onto the seat too. "Are you nervous about battling a gym leader?"

"Never," Luka said confidently. "Victory is inevitable even without save-scumming."

"I'm kinda nervous," Quill muttered, glancing down the same way Bianca was. She saw it and petted him on the back and he smiled.

"You're nervous?" Luka asked, shocked. "But you're with me! I have a plan."

Quill opened his mouth, probably to agree with how his plans were foolproof and genius, before closing it and just sighing, a smile fighting onto his face somehow. "How was the medical emergecy?" he asked.

"I have gotten intel on the gym leader," Luka replied, pretending to mimic Cheren pushing his glasses back. Bianca immediately giggled as she recognised the move.

"Cheren's a little intense," she said soothingly. "But he means well."

"We beat Cheren too!" Luka pointed out. "If he can beat the leader, so can we."

"It's just me fighting though. Two pokemon do make a difference."

"We'll be fiiiine."

"You're not allowed to cheat."

Luka gasped in shock. "History is written by the victors, Quill!"

"That's… don't say things like that."

Bianca giggled. She couldn't understand them, but the tone of voice and expression, especially Luka's, gave her some idea of some sort of comedic argument going on. She sat back, eyes on the nurse's desk. She hoped the munna would be alright, and that Tepi wasn't too hurt.

She glanced down at her hands, soft and slender and wondered a moment if Daddy was right.

Bianca was distracted when she felt Luka's paw poke her in the side repeatedly. He gave a complex set of gestures involving her hat and Quill and made a little cross with his paws and a smile.

She had no idea what that meant but smiled nonetheless. "Thank you, Mr Luka Tabu."

Bianca giggled as Luka seemed to get a kick out of her using his name and chatted animatedly with the cyndaquil. She wondered if it had a name as well, or if she could give it one.

At some point, she fell asleep.


Striaton Gym.

Clothes washed and ironed, Bianca stood clutching her bag and two pokeball's.

Luka stood tall and proud, several feet shorter than Bianca, with Quill on his head to give him a little extra height. He puffed his chest out.

He was not nervous.

No one could prove anything.

History was written by the victors dammit!

Quill clucked his tongue. "We've been standing here for five minutes," he said. "Are we going in?"

"Yes!"

Luka did not move.

"...when?"

Luka's eye twitched from the Not!Nerves. "Whheeen Bianca does. We can't leave her, she looks so nervous."

"Yeah," Quill said, feeling like he was going to fall off because Luka was trembling. "She's nervous."

"We ought to support her," Luka said, voice rising an octave accidentally. "You didn't hear anything."

"Sounds like you're g-"

"Do not continue that sentence."

"Puberty."

"No!"

Bianca suffered a shuddering breath. "Oh my gosh, I can't do this. Daddy's right, I should just-"

Luka grabbed her hand and she jerked, flinching and looking down at him. He stared up with determination. "Audino," he said.

It was the most supportive thing she had ever heard.

Swallowing, she girded herself. "R-right. I got this far. I can… I can try."

Sore from losing to the Plasma Grunts, she tried to tell herself that they ganged up on her and two on one was not a fair fight. She had a second pokemon with her now, Moon the munna had taken a couple of days to recover fully and then attached herself to Bianca's side and became her second pokemon.

In that time, Luka had been strongarmed into helping a little more with the centre's care. Every Gym Town tended to be pressed for care, but a small city like Striaton only could afford a single centre so everything came here.

If nothing else, Luka was able to get a lot of little bits of advice from the pokemon who were conscious at least. It never occurred to him that Striaton would be considered a difficult gym, but then again… save scumming didn't exist and the triplets weren't a green-eyed trainer with their shoes fresh and unscuffed, they were Gym Leaders.

It made sense that a gym would see many trainers realising how hard things really could be.

That didn't scare Luka at all, no. He was fine. He just was supporting Bianca.

As they finally entered after standing outside for nearly fifteen minutes, a light rain had even begun to fall, they were greeted by the waiters.

"Welcome to Striaton Cafe and Gym!" Cilan said pleasantly as Chili and Cress flowed around delivering plates. "Table for three?"

"B-Battle for two, actually," Bianca said, trembling like a leaf in a storm. Cilan smiled, perhaps thinking Luka was her partner for this battle.

"Come along," he said pleasantly, gesturing for her to follow as a few people cheered for the challenge. "The battle arena is this way, cup of tea? It's on the house."

"Oh, yes thank you."

Chili and Cress had the cup ready before they even got there. Beyond the battlefield was ringed by tables and most of the customers moved to take up seats in positions where they could watch the battles while having their lunch.

The three brothers with the outrageous hair all stood together and performed a little introduction.

"Welcome to the Striaton City Gym!" Cilan said, offering a bow.

Chili threw a hand up and called out, "I'm Chili, I light things up with Fire-type pokemon!"

Then Cress swept a hand forth, brushing a lock of hair out of his eyes. "I am Cress, cooling my brother's fire with the Water-type."

And so Cilan went last. "And, my name is Cilan. A connoisseur of Grass-type pokemon. The three of us are joint Gym Leaders, but you need only to face one of us to claim the Trio Badge as yours."

"Oh! Do we get to pick then?" Bianca asked, still nervous but a little more comfortable with the show and dance.

She received three mischievous smiles. "Alas, I'm afraid not," Cilan said. "Your opponent depends on the type of your first pokemon. As in, the one most weak to one of ours." A referee strode forth with a card reader, a tall and mustached man who didn't so much as blink as Bianca scrambled to get her card out.

It beeped and he cleared his throat. "Tepig."

Cress smiled as the other two bowed out. "You will be facing the might of the Water-type today."

Cheren had told her that and Bianca seemed to buzz with nervous energy. "Oh my gosh, okay okay. But it won't just be me! Luka is battling too!"

Cress' smile turned perplexed a moment. "Yes, you don't have to use Tepig, that's true."

"No, no, I mean he'll be battling for a badge himself! He's a trainer! Like us!"

There was a moment of silence before laughter broke out from among the onlookers. Bianca didn't seem to register it for a moment and then her face went pink.

Luka, furious at this, gave a loud claw and raised a paw. He held a trainer card and the laughter turned a little confused.

The brothers all shared a look before Cilan nodded to the referee who frowned but knelt down for Luka to swipe his card too.

Luka, who did not technically have any pokemon registered to his card, hesitated a moment. He hoped that, even with no pokemon technically listed, it would still accept that he was a trainer. It beeped positively and the man frowned. "The card is… real, but there are no pokemon connected to the account."

Luka pointed to Quill who breathed a spark of flame.

"It's… quite unorthodox," Cress said, frowning and rubbing his chin. "A pokemon as a trainer? Is that allowed?"

"It's weird," Chili declared. "I don't know if we can accept a challenge like that. I mean, I'd like to but there are rules against using wild pokemon."

It was Cilan who cleared his throat. "I'm curious. I will accept this challenge, perhaps not as an official gym but if the audino… Luka, is here to challenge the gym, then it is the gym's responsibility. We accept all challenges, I don't think it's specified that the challenge must come from a human. It'll be interesting, nonetheless."

Quill felt Luka relax, his muscles unclenching. This was the hardest part of this entire plot to take over Unova, being taken seriously. They could both hear a degree of amusement in the brother's voices, but even a pity acceptance was still a first step.

Bianca, however, was to go first and Luka sat on the sidelines. He figured they'd be facing Cress as well, but if it was Cilan than that would be even easier. Fire tended to burn Grass. He'd seen it happen, nearly burned the whole town down.

It wasn't him, he just saw it.

"You can do it, Bianca!" Luka called.

"Show that Gym Leader who's boss!" Quill added.

Bianca heard chirping sounds but she knew it was support from her new friends. She took a breath, steadied her hat, and began the battle.

It… did not go well.

Bianca had a second pokemon, but she was reluctant to throw Moon into a battle so soon after her recovery, thus she only used Tepi.

To his credit, Tepi was able to defeat the lillipup by barrelling forwards and crashing headfirst into it. Lillipup didn't dodge, just crashed right back into him until one of them yielded.

Then, Panpour came out.

Cheren's advice was probably good, but with Tepi already dazed from repeated headbutts he couldn't close the distance and the monkey kept his distance, spraying pressured jets of water at him until he was all washed out.

"Tepig is unable to battle," the referee declared, throwing a flag out to cease the combat. "Panpour is the winner, meaning this match goes to the Gym Leader Cress!"

Bianca, who had nearly bitten through her gloves as the fight had gotten progressively dire for her, quietly scooped her starter up and managed to thank Cress for the fight before trudging out. She glanced over to Luka, giving a shamed smile and he nodded for her to go and take care of Tepi.

With that battle done, the main event was to start. People looked over in curiosity as Luka waddled out onto the field, feeling terribly small under the looming height of Cilan.

And Cilan wasn't tall.

"Are you ready, Luka?" Cilan called, palming a pokeball. Luka nodded viciously, tossing Quill onto the floor in a cool motion they had practised yesterday.

He crossed his arms as Quill breathed a spark of flame with a cry.

"With just… one pokemon, it'll be a one-on-one battle," Cilan said to the referee who nodded.

"The battle between the Gym Leader Cilan and… 'challenger' Luka will now commence. The battle will continue until one side is defeated, at my discretion, or either side concedes. Are you ready… trainers?"

Luka didn't hide the scowl at the dubious tone the referee had or the chuckles that rippled through the onlookers every time. Cilan was observing him calmly and so he tried to get his head in the game, just one pokemon, a type advantage at that. Pansage appeared, yawning once before slapping his cheek to get his head in the game.

They had this.

"Begin!"

Cilan immediately pealed out an order to Vine Whip Quill and Pansage, significantly faster than he looked, struck out like a crack of lightning.

Compared to the pansage from the other day, this one struck like a stormfront, knocking Quill on the chin and sending him flying, flipping in the air as he was knocked.

He nearly hit Luka, and had he been as tall as a human Quill would have collided with him. As he wasn't, Quill tumbled to the unpaved dirt of the arena with a squeal.

Wincing, as that hit gave a crack that reminded him of bones snapping, Luka called out, "Woah, dodge next time!" A peel of cheers went up through the crowd, the sound like a stadium to Luka's ears.

Rubbing his face, Quill pushed himself up and gave a battle cry, his back erupting into flames and Luka pointed. "Flamethrow-"

Pansage was jogging in place, glowing slightly as it Worked itself Up. Quill let loose his flames, but he was too far away to easily tag Pansage and it was able to dodge.

Without being told to do so.

Confused at how he didn't hear Cilan giving that order, Luka tried to reorientate but the calls and cheers of the crowd were increasing and his ears were taking it all in, swirling into a stormy miasma of sound that was pounding on the backs of his eyes.

"Flame Wheel?" he said, Quill leaping into a spinning vortex of fire and zooming after Pansage who hit the ground with its vines to boost out of range. Luka could see Cilan ordering but his words were being swallowed by the storm of sound pelting him from every side.

He managed to grasp the word. "Ball." From the cacophony and energy built in Pansage's hands.

"Okay, since when can it do that this early?" Luka called instead of an order, confusing Quill and leaving him open to the Energy Ball to blast him into the ground.

Cilan, despite his easygoing demenour, was actually quite relentless, sending Pansage into another Vine Whip before Quill could so much as remember what side was up.

The vines wrapped around his midsection and pulled him into the air. Luka yelled, "Flamethrower!" But Quill was too disorientated to know where to point that and he just began blasting fire everywhere.

Meaning Pansage had to slam him into the ground to avoid setting something important on fire. He began to jog in place again, glowing even more fierce as Quill groaned, trying to stand up from the beating he was receiving.

"Quill! Get! Up!"

Quill tapped the side of his head, rooting himself in place and opening his eyes. More vines had sprouted and were coming for him and he opened his mouth.

A surge of flame wilted them from the heat before incinerating them and Pansage's eyes snapped wide as the fiery blast came for him.

The fire flared and enveloped him, Quill continued pumping all his energy into it before coughing out a final puff of smoke and panted for breath.

There was no Pansage.

Luka's first thought was a horrified belief that Quill had completely incinerated him.

However, then he heard sound of something beneath their feet.

There was a hole where Pansage had been standing and Luka gasped. "QUILL! LOOK OUT!"

"Look out?" Quill asked. "What do you-"

Pansage used Dig.

With the amplified strength from the Work Up, this punch to Quill's unprotected belly knocked the air out of his lungs and he wasn't able to suck another breath in for a good few seconds. In that time, Pansage had grappled him and slammed him into the ground once again.

Quill was knocked out and the referee through his flag out. "Cyndaquil is unable to battle, Pansage is the victor. The winner is the Gym Leader, Cilan!"

People cheered, a few people moaned as the unique challenger was humbled and Luka ran onto the battlefield, almost ready to throw down with Pansage himself if he didn't release Quill from the chokehold.

He did by the time Luka reached them and Luka picked Quill up, hating how limp he was in his arms. "F-fu-Quill?" He jostled him slightly, Quill was certainly breathing but he didn't respond.

The sounds of the onlookers remained a pounding, he couldn't make out much but it was a constant slamming of noise through his too-sensitive ears. So sensitive that even when Quill was all he was focused on, he still heard the sound of polished shoes on the ground.

"If I may offer a little bit of advice," Cilan said gently in such a genuine way Luka wanted to bite his elbow. "As… trainer and pokemon you could have been a little more in sync, rather than what looked like… arguing?"

Not wanting to hear this, Luka growled, "You have made a powerful enemy this day, Cilan."

Pansage snorted, "Powerful?"

"YOU have made a powerful enemy this day!"

Sensing the discord brewing, Cilan went from connoisseur mode back into Gym Leader mode and offered a nice sitrus berry.

"I don't want your pity." He took the berry and propped Quill's mouth open. "He, however, is just pitiful enough to accept it." He was a responsible trainer and didn't ram it down his throat but squeezed the berry into pulp and drizzled the juice into Quill's mouth to rouse him and then let him lick the berry flesh from his paws.

"Maybe a little training is in order?" Cilan suggested kindly.

"Hm. I didn't actually train you, did I?" Luka said to the rousing Quill.

"No," Quill coughed.

"Dammit. I thought Audino was hardmode enough."

"L-Luka, I'm-"

"Don't worry about it," Luka assured him. "You did as well as you could, I'll be better next time. No one said this would be easy. I don't get to be an OP isekai protagonist." He glanced up at Cilan. "Yet."

Confused, but comforted by Luka's reaction, Quill let the exhaustion that getting beaten up inflicts on you to win and sunk back into a doze.

Cilan observed him with an expression of curiosity as Luka gave him a light show, slowly undoing some of the damage on Quill. The audino gave him a nod and then turned and walked out to return to the Pokemon Centre.

Chili and Cress joined him in watching the strange audino.

"That totally was a audino being a trainer," Chili said, murmuring breaking through the onlookers as Luka left. "It was absolutely telling that quil what to do."

"Curious, very curious," Cress murmured.

Cilan just smiled and said, "Let's get back to it. And if he comes back, I want to battle him again."

"Aww, he's got a Fire-type! I should be the one to do it," Chili complained.

"By that logic it should be me," Cress pointed out.

"No!"

The cafe soon returned to normal operations.

Bianca knew what had happened as soon as Luka came in, carefully carrying Quill and they sat together waiting for the audino to do their thing.

Part of Luka wanted to go in, give some Heal Pulse's and be useful. But he'd already done that to Quill as he walked and he would much rather not be reminded that his role in this world would be a trainers healing cleric or punching bag. He would be the one doing the punching, by proxy.

"I don't know if I can do this," Bianca admitted as they sat together. "Daddy… daddy always said training is for the… well, not for me. Cheren and, well." She looked terribly downcast, clenching her hands around her dress. "They convinced me to try, but if I can't even beat some Team Plasma goons how did I think I could take on a Gym Leader?"

Luka looked up to her, tears building in Bianca's eyes. He thought for a moment, not being able to talk was a problem that was going to make things more and more difficult he felt.

Though, even if he was able to talk to her, what would he say?

"Where's your friends?" he asked instead, knowing she wouldn't know what he was asking. He stared forwards, a frown on his face. "Why'd they just leave you to do this on your own?"

Bianca glanced over to him, puzzled by the tone he was using.

Luka looked back up to her. He raised his paw and, confused, Bianca eventually grasped it. He aggressively stared at her face until a smile looped over her face. "I guess you might be wondering how you're going to do this too, huh?" she asked.

Luka, in fact, had a very well-thought-out plan of how he was taking over Unova and Bianca was a key part of that. However, if she needed some empathy rather than sympathy, he could do that and nodded.

Sighing, she leaned back against the chair and wiped her face with his paw. His fur was very absorbent apparently.

Her eyes turned to her bag where a pokeball was rustling, Moon eventually forced herself out of the pokeball and floated around her, cooing. "Don't be upset, miss." She nuzzled Bianca.

"Hey, can you like translate something into her brain for me at all?" Luka asked.

"Um, the answer is still no."

"Rattatas," he cursed and got a strange look. "A rattata is a pokemon from Kanto."

"Oh."

He stared. She stared back.

"Kanto is-"

"Help miss Bianca, please! She's still sad."

Luka pulled his feet up and stood on the seat. Then he hugged Bianca. "There-there," he said awkwardly patting her head. "Your dad is a piece of shit and I already don't like Cheren so whether it's Black or White, Hilda or Hilbert, I'm going to destroy them either way. You're better than them. You have a nice hat."

"She does have a nice hat," Moon agreed. "Even after I bled in it."

Bianca took both his paws in her hands. He noticed they were very soft, like she hadn't so much as carried a stick in her life. "It would be easier to stick together… you think?"

"Wait, did she not realise we had already adopted her?" he asked Moon he shook her head. "Silly Bianca." He smiled at her and nodded.

Bianca, who hadn't anyone standing by her, beamed brighter than the sun. "Oh thank you thank you thank you!" She lifted him up in a bone crushing hug so tight he may have blacked out for a moment.

"Note to self," he coughed as the lights returned to his eyes and saw Bianca and Moon looking worried down at him. "After taking over Unova, have Bianca as bodyguard."

They would have to wait inside the centre as it had begun to rain.

They would have to wait for three whole days because that rain only got stronger and stronger.


It hadn't taken long for Quill and Tepi to recover, they'd been taken out by the Gym Leaders but only lightly. It was just the first gym after all.

"We need to train!" Bianca declared, once the rain was finally letting up. "If we want to beat those cuties!"

"Yeah! Except not the cute part." Luka considered for a moment. "Okay, kinda cute in a twinky way."

"What's a twink?" Quill asked, on Luka's head again as he found he rather enjoyed the spot.

"Never ask me that again," Luka growled, remembering that Chansey. "We must train, make you strong. I can't believe I actually have to train though," he grumbled. "What sorta isekai is this?"

"Probably the difficult kind," Quill suggested.

"You don't even know what that means."

"I think difficult means it's not easy."

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"What did you mean then?" Quill asked cutely. Luka would have told him what for, but he forgot what he meant and so he just shook his head violently.

Quill held on, squealing a little. Bianca, thinking they were playing and not roughhousing like serious pokemon and pokemon trainer just giggled at them.

"I don't know if all this water is going to be good for Tepi and Quill," Bianca hummed. It had taken hours to get it through to her that Quill's name was how the end of his species name ended. Far from gruelling though, it was better than playing more Monopoly, a game that transcended realities.

Quill was a deadly player.

"They'll be fine," Luka replied. "Probably going to toughen them up. You know, if he will get off my head that is."

"Water is bad," Quill whined. "Can't we go to the desert or something?"

"We'll go to the desert eventually."

"Oh no," Quill groaned. "Then it'll be hot."

"You're a Fire-type!"

"Luukka!" Quill whined in the exact same tone Luka used against him. "I'm thirsty."

"Then drink the puddle."

"That's gross!"

Snickering at his expression, Luka and Bianca plotted out as best as they could where they were going to go train. The Dreamyard was out of the question, no one wanted to go back there, but there was Route 3 ahead and barring possibly being barred by some brazen being, they should be able to go ahead without worry.

With the rain finally passed, humans and pokemon were stepping outside and daring to venture the rain-soaked city.

Quill grimaced at everything around him as he experienced what it was like to be in Luka's head, constantly being swivelled left and right, to and fro, as the audino stared at things. "The water isn't going to leap up and try and drag you away," he said when Quill's claws began to dig into him.

"Tepi doesn't like this any better," Quill grumbled, but he was proven to be a dirty rotten liar as Tepi Bianca let him out and he delightfully jumped with Moon floating around merrily.

As Bianca was a kindly soul, she had bought Tepi four little rainboots on and he was bravely jumping in puddles, to Quill's utter horror as they were almost splashed.

"She offered you the boots too," Luka raised but decided to stop when Quill looked ready to set him on fire. "You're very moody today," he added anyway.

"You'd be moody too if it was raining, uh… fists."

"Okay, that sounds awesome actually," Luka countered. "And secondly, it's not even raining water! You're on my head anyway, you're getting splashed. Yet."

He winced when Quill's claws dug in. "I jest, I'm kidding, oww, Quill!"

Quill relented.

Luka had accepted the rainboots and joined the puddle splashers to spite Quill who was mortified at being so close to the water.

'How did this become my life?' Quill asked himself. 'No, really? He actually stole me, didn't he?' He thought about Connor and then frowned. "Mmmm."

It smelled so very wet and he didn't like it, cyndaquil didn't sweat but he assumed this was what it felt like.

The celebrations came to a sudden end however when Luka went to jump and then froze. His big ears twitched and Quill, focused on other things like not getting wet, actually fell off when Luka broke into a full sprint.

Bianca gasped, "Luka? Where are you going?" When Quill shrieked upon nearly falling in a puddle.

"Iheardacryforhelp!"

Quill needed a moment to parse that before gasping and taking a short jump, landed in the very puddle he had avoided and immediately hated life. He whimpered a little, feeling mud grip his paws like grasping hands ready to drag him under and drown him.

The rational part of his brain said he had to go after Luka and that a little water was nothing, but his body simply locked up and he didn't move.

Bianca wound up grabbing him and setting him under one arm, putting Tepi under the other, and running after Luka with Moon in tow.

"Oh my goodness you're fast!" she called, following the trail of devastation Luka was leaving. "How does he run with those cute little legs?"

Quill just gave a wordless whimper, still frozen up from his fall into the water.

Bianca was fast, extremely fast at that, she had long legs and a kind of unstoppable presence that saw everything in her path be crushed underfoot. Pokemon had no choice but to dive for cover lest she send them flying.

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" she yelped as she raced forth. "Aaaa, LUKA!?"

The sounds of racing water reached their ears, along with a fading cry on the wind. Quill trembled in horror as the trees thinned to reveal what the rain had really done.

The river had overflowed, breaking its banks and sending a tide of water that had eventually torn a gash through the forest itself, trees and earth alike being washed away by the raging rapids.

There was a natural sort of dam having formed from the trees and rocks being smashed together and it was barely holding its shape as water surged around and partially over it. A massive tree across the river had collapsed during the rainstorm, toppling over and forming the initial blockage that the rest of the dam had formed around.

And there was a pokemon there. A little black and white thing barely gripping onto a tree branch as water buffeted it. Several pokemon had gathered near the new riverbanks but they were all small forest folk that didn't know what to do, waiting for someone to swoop in and save the day.

Apparently, Luka had decided that was him.

"Oh. My. GOSH!" Bianca shrieked, dropping both of the pokemon in her arms as she spotted Luka climbing a long thick thread that several bug pokemon were maintaining across the riverbank.

He was hanging from a literal thread, paws barely able to reach far enough above his head and constantly being stuck to the thread. Each time he pulled his paw free, he frayed the part he was holding slightly. It was fine from the beginning, but the closer he got to the middle the more that damage was going to stack up.

Still, though, he was making it to the trapped blitzle.

"Moon?" Bianca whispered softly. "Can you do anything?" Moon's expression was not confident and she hesitated a long moment before shaking her head, her psychic powers were not nearly strong enough to support one pokemon the size of Luka let alone him plus a bigger one.

Quill just lay on the wet ground, staring at the raging river with a blank expression as Luka risked his life to get to the blitzle. Strangely, the only thought that managed to get into his head was the memory of Braviary and his sick son.

"I can't look," Bianca whimpered, covering her eyes as Luka reached the dam point. The web was sagging as he had gotten closer and soon he was able to simply walk on it while holding on. He used it as a safety crutch as he stepped very carefully over the dam, hoping to keep enough of his weight off it to not cause it to collapse.

Everything shook where he stood, the sound of the river was overpowering and with the sheer sensitivity of his ears it was like being in the middle of a massive sports stadium as tens of thousands of people screamed over each other.

It was disorientating to say the least, but he chose every step with the most care he could afford, eyes set on the next step he had to take before flicking up to the blitzle.

It was panicking, worse it knew he was there and was frantically begging him to help it between watery coughs. After what felt like an age he reached it and let one paw go to assess the pokemon.

It was worse than he had hoped, the blitzle was trapped in place. Several of its legs were buried in the wood as more wood had floated in on behind it, pinning it in place. He looked up, scanning the surrounding pokemon for anyone who could help and spotted several birds and frantically gestured until they got the picture and flew over.

"HELP ME TAKE SOME OF THIS WOOD AWAY!" he yelled over the river, causing them to cringe from the volume. "CAREFULLY THOUGH, IF IT FALLS APART WE'RE BOTH GETTING WASHED AWAY!"

Tepi nudged Moon. "Can you help too?" he asked and Moon stared out in fear but swallowed her nerves. Luka had helped her too.

She flew over as Bianca called out, "Be careful!"

Luka heard them and waved at them as if he wasn't standing on a dam of wood in the middle of a river surge.

Bianca began to breathe into her cupped hands as Moon began to help Luka, levitating bits of wood loose enough for him to pull them free, the birds sharply pecking and breaking the wood trapping the blitzle's upper body.

"MOON!" Luka yelled. "CAN YOU HOLD ONTO THE WOOD I'M STANDING ON WHILE I TRY AND PULL BLITZLE OUT?"

Moon gave a shaky nod and her eyes glowed a blazing blue, trying to anchor the wood as Luka knelt down and grabbed Blitzle underneath its arms and began to pull. He had no good vantage and pulling too hard might topple them back into the river behind him. He pulled as hard as he could dare but audino were not known for strength.

"Okay," Luka groaned, stopped pulling but didn't let go and looked around for any ideas. He glanced up at the sagging web and that gave him an idea.

He yanked it down, feeling it strain against him as he managed to wrap a segment of it around the blitzle's hoof. He gestured for one side to break their bond and he tugged the end over, wrapping it around the other hoof and then around both of them.

"IT'S NOT THE MOST ELEGANT SOLUTION," he yelled to Blitzle. "BUT YOU'RE GOING TO NEED TO HOLD YOUR BREATH."

"What are you going to do!?" Blitzle cried.

Luka flashed her a confident grin. "TRUST ME. I'M A PROFESSIONAL."

He could hear her heart pounding when he was this close, and it arced up at his words. "I-I don't know about that."

"I CONSIDER THAT A CHALLENGE THAT I ACCEPT!" Luka bellowed. "EVERYONE ON THAT SIDE, GRAB ONTO SEWADDLE AND PULL, OKAY?"

The gathered pokemon all grouped up around the brave little bug monster and Luka kept the birds around him just in case. "READY? GO!"

Thankfully, there was a timburr amongst the gathered pokemon and he added a sizeable punch to their efforts. Luka kept a hold of the string and Blitzle as they began to pull. First stretching the string until it was taught. With his paw grasped onto the string he began to apply a Heal Pulse to it, just in case that helped.

The string went taught but, similar to web, it did not break so easily and slowly they began to move.

The dam was not perfectly built across the river, and as Blitzle began to be pulled free it all began to tremble some. Luka kept egging them to pull and once Blitzle could scramble her back legs free he heard a deep, groaning, crunching sound. Blitzle's heartbeat grew louder a moment.

He looked down as a flash of concern hit his face. "That doesn't sound good," he said in a normal tone. "BIRDS, GUST US!"

As one, the collection of bird pokemon beat their wings in a mighty gust right as the group pulled again. The dam began to collapse beneath Luka's feet but he and Blitzle were wrenched forwards suddenly, thrown through the air as the pullers staggered from the sudden help.

To Bianca and Quill's mutual heart attack.

The dam slowly began to collapse under the force of the river, smaller trees and rocks toppling off the fall as the roots of the original tree strained against the earth, still holding it in place.

Thankfully, the plan worked and they crashed into the group of pokemon and everyone was knocked around like bowling pins.

Blitzle was weakly gasping for breath, coughing up splatters of brackish fluid as the successful pokemon all rubbed their heads. Luka wasted no time, slipping back up and rolling Blitzle onto her side, tilting her head up and pushing her jaw up as well. "I hope this is roughly the same as a human," he muttered, hoping to widen her airways. "Keep coughing!"

He held onto her as she coughed her lungs out, desperately gasping for air between violent coughs. She struggled slightly on the ground, dislodging Luka enough that he rolled off her in case she was trying to inform him it wasn't helping.

With that she continued to cough and gag for breath, spitting out the filthy water that had been forced into her lungs. He gave her a few taps on the back for encouragement anyway until she stopped spluttering up water and was just coughing and gasping for air.

Confident the worst had passed, Luka began to use Heal Pulse for good measure. He reasoned it would do little for any water still in her lungs but it might help anyway, he could do it so he figured he should.

"Th-thank you," Blitzle managed after an extended amount of time. She managed to roll herself onto her belly. She continued coughing for breath, taking rapid and shallow ones. The faint sound of her heart was a nice little drum to their victory today.

"You're welcome!" Luka beamed, he soon noticed the other pokemon were staring at him in awe. "Is there something on my face?" he said, scuffing his boot into the ground as he was adored like he should be. Although, they were looking slightly over him.

His ear twitched. Why was something cracking?

He turned towards the river as the dam finally gave in, tearing away the great log that was responsible for the dam in the first place. One who's roots were embedded farther in the earth than anyone had reckoned. The same earth that Luka was standing on.

He was pulled off his feet.

Chaos ensued.

The initial scream was swallowed up by the collapsing earth and water, both Luka's and his hearing of the rest. He heard Bianca and Quill especially scream at the sight of him being pulled into a collapsing waterfall.

"PLEASE HELP HI-" Was the last he heard.

The first moment of silence was almost a relief, but then it wasn't. The sound was still there, it was just different, pressuring everything with such intensity he could barely think before so much dirt flowing in the water plugged his ears, leaving a hollow thump as he heard his own heart race in his ears.

'I could really use some bullshit isekai superpowers right now!' Luka thought, struggling against the water for anything to save him before he was thrown off the waterfall.

However, none of the birds were strong enough, there was not enough time to fashion and grab onto another rope, and Moon simply did not have the strength to lift him.

Luka was thrown off the waterfall, a patch of pink against the surging brown water. The force of the water was lifted as he was spat out like used gum and thrown into the air. He couldn't see, couldn't even begin to guess how far he was going to fall.

He wasn't sure he could survive this.

No.

But, he was sure he would.

Luka fell halfway before a flash of grey, pink, and emerald struck like a bullet and snatched him out of the air.

The unfezant flew up, scaling the waterfall before cresting over the top of it and glided over as the pokemon cheered, setting Luka down next to Bianca, Quill, Tepi, and….

Coughing out murky water and shuddering off dirt, Luka wiped his eyes desperately as Bianca nearly cried on him, grabbing out a handkerchief to help wipe his eyes. Then, a second pair of human hands joined her.

"Here, use this." Came a warm and rich young man's voice.

"Oh, thank gosh you were here," she said, and didn't seem to be saying it to Luka. Freeing one eye from the encrusted filth, Luka looked up to his saviour.

Unfezant roosted, eyeing him with a neutral expression.

And smiling down at him with a flowing green mane unable to be kept in check by his black and white cap was N.