Thomas: Peren (Sawsbuck), Blitz (Fletchinder), Scout (Pachirisu), Nin (Minnesotan Arbok), Shadow (Galarian Ponyta), Winter (Minnesotan Mightyena), Sage (Dartrix)

Cait: Houndy (Houndoom), Poli (Poliwhirl), Flit (Minnesotan Cutiefly), Keter (Eelektrik), Cham (Minnesotan Machoke), Pep (Shuppet), Cot (Cottonee), Slim (Goomy)

John: Lycanroc, Quagsire, Nidoking, Excadrill, Piloswine, Minnesotan Boldore, Lairon, Larvitar

Monday, July 2nd, 2018

"Alright everyone, we have just under four weeks before the gauntlet starts. That sounds like a lot of time, but we all need to be as prepared as possible. So training starts today," John said with Cait and me standing at his side. Our collective group of twenty-three Pokemon faced us, listening with more focus than what I had thought some of them were capable of. "We've come up with goals for each of you and we're going to work together to get everyone ready."

Cait took over, "We'll be working in a three day cycle with two days on and one day off. On the two days, you'll work with one of us on something specific. Thomas will be focusing on new moves, John will help with general conditioning, and I'll help with mastering moves and move combinations. On the third day, you'll be with your own trainers to work on teamwork since all of the battles for the gauntlet and the fair will be doubles."

Cait leaned forward past John to look at me, though I had no idea what she expected me to add. "Uh, we'll be going to different training centers depending on what you're working on that day, so things could change depending on what's available." As I tried to think of something else, I looked around and remembered where we were. "Oh, and absolutely no training here. Cait's parents are letting us stay here and we promised not to destroy their backyard."

"He's talking to you guys," John added, looking at his team. I gave them an apologetic shrug since I hadn't intended it specifically for them. At the same time, I wasn't worried about any of my Pokemon, except maybe Scout if she decided she wanted to dig for something. That love of digging was shared by almost all of John's team, with half of them also being able to eat whatever they unearthed.

Once John had gotten promises from his Pokemon to behave, all of our Pokemon were returned to their balls and split up among the three of us according to the schedule Cait had written up. Unsurprisingly, Sage was the only one of my Pokemon that was staying with me for the first day since he needed to expand his lackluster movepool. Various other Pokemon from my friends' teams were joining us, but three of them had higher priority because of evolutionary reasons.

John wanted me to teach Piloswine Ancient Power for obvious reasons, but Cait and John had been equally insistent that I teach a new move to Cham and Boldore as soon as possible. It turned out that Pokemon that needed to be traded to evolve in the games could evolve normally, but the process was sped up significantly if they were exposed to a different trainer's teaching methods. As a result, my friends didn't have a strong preference for what I taught their Pokemon, just that I taught them something.

I was still trying to decide what that should be as I climbed up the rope ladder into the secret base that would be my home for the next couple of months. Conveniently there were a few large oak trees in the backyard of Cait's house, saving John and I from sleeping in our tents for the entire time. Cait's mom had invited us to stay in the house, but we both declined since their lack of a guest room meant that we would be sleeping on a couch the entire time.

I hesitated before grabbing my bike and looked around the featureless room. Normally I didn't bother setting up anything in my secret bases since I rarely used one for more than a few days, but given how long I was going to be using this one, I decided I should probably get at least some furnishings or decorations. I added it to my list of things to think about on the bike ride, then left my secret base and made my way to the training center for the first day of getting ready for the state fair.

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018

After his second lap around the training center, Peren decided that he preferred Thomas' training methods to John's. The Pokemon that had been assigned to work with John for the day were all going through various strength conditioning exercises, which for most Pokemon meant either running or weights. Given that there wasn't much Peren could do with weights, that meant he was stuck running in circles around the large building. He was fully aware that the training would eventually lead to meaningful results, but it was just so boring.

Despite being Thomas' starter, Peren knew that he sometimes fell into the background of the team when compared to the firepower of some of his teammates. He'd never had any issues with that, but his evolution had brought him to the forefront of the team, and he had to admit that he liked the feeling. Even though it had ultimately not meant much, standing between Thomas and those monstrous Pokemon had been his proudest moment. And then after that, he'd comfortably defeated two of the opposing Pokemon at the ground gym.

It had felt amazing, and that was why it was a bit frustrating to simply be running around in circles only a few days later.

There were no doubts in Peren's mind that Blitz would reclaim the title of Thomas' ace after his own evolution, and Peren really had no issues with that. In fact, he was happy for his friend. While he still put on the tough guy act, Blitz had changed immensely since Peren had met the Fletchling who refused to use any move other than Quick Attack.

While he felt a bit of guilt at the thought, Peren wanted to extend his own time as the pillar of the team, and spending his entire day running wasn't going to accomplish that. As he finished his third lap, Peren's thoughts drifted to the two goals that Thomas had outlined for him before the start of the gauntlet. When he was working with Cait, Thomas wanted Peren to get in the habit of constantly using Aromatherapy. The benefits were obvious, especially given how many doubles battles were in their near future, but it wouldn't accomplish what Peren wanted at the moment.

The other task though was much more promising, and even though it was what he was supposed to be working on with Thomas, Peren didn't see any reason he couldn't start working on it right away. He normally liked to close his eyes when initially learning a new move to get a better feeling of the energy moving around, but here he squinted since running with his eyes closed wouldn't be the best idea.

After a minute, Peren started to feel like he was making some progress. After making sure he wasn't going to run into anything, he opened his eyes the rest of the way and looked down at his hoofs. To his immense satisfaction, there was a hint of a green glow covering them, and there were even a few blades of grass behind him where he'd ran. Peren smiled and-

His attempt to refocus on the move was interrupted by a singular image of a question mark that filled his head. Peren turned his head to find Shadow running by his side, and for a moment he wondered at how silent she was as her hooves made practically no sound as they hit the floor. Her head was tilted almost imperceptibly and her look of inquisition was clear if you knew to look for it. Which almost no one else did.

With a few grunts, Peren explained that he was trying to pick up a new move while training, doing his best not to let his impatience bleed into his tone so that Shadow wouldn't mistakenly think the feelings were because of her. When he was done, Shadow stared at him for a second longer, then gave him the slightest of nods and picked up speed to run past him. He watched her go and winced when he saw her horn starting to glow with a soft purple energy.

Peren was still trying to decide how to tell her to not follow his example when a second silent visitor appeared at his side. He nodded at Winter and felt a small amount of pride that he no longer reacted in the slightest to her sudden appearance. Granted, it was much easier to not feel threatened by her predatory form now that Peren was twice as big as her, but it still felt like a win considering their first meeting.

He expected Winter to lightly chastise him for being a bad influence, making it all the more surprising when she flashed him a grin, revealing that her fangs were glowing icy blue. Peren relaxed and returned her smile, then the pair fell into silence as they continued doing laps around the training center. It didn't take long for Peren to get bored again and he asked Winter what she thought of this method of training. He was surprised a second time in a few minutes when she instantly answered that she was fully in favor.

Without a hint of guilt or shame, Winter explained how endurance and speed were some of the most critical things when hunting. After all, it didn't matter if you could defeat your prey if you couldn't catch up with them. Peren found it a very uncomfortable way to think about it, though he was sure he would have found the topic significantly worse if he hadn't been raised in a lab. Seemingly oblivious to his reaction, Winter added that also meant it was the duty of the leader to set the pace for the entire pack to follow.

At first Peren thought Winter was chastising him after all, but reconsidered when she once again showed him her glowing blue fangs in a smile. He thought about it for a few seconds longer before deciding to take her suggestion at face value, and picked up the pace to catch up with Shadow to see if the youngest member of the team needed any help.

Saturday, July 7th, 2018

Blitz wheeled around in the air, trying to decide how best to approach the Pokemon waiting for him below. Sage didn't offer any suggestions from where he hovered at his side, not that Blitz expected any from him. He still hadn't gotten used to not being the sole flier on Thomas' roster, and the other Pokemon's usual silence hadn't done anything to speed up the process. The quiet and deliberate Pokemon was every bit his own opposite, leaving Blitz unsure why Thomas had thought that they would be good doubles partners. With his ally and his opponents below seemingly content to let him make the first move, Blitz did something that he so rarely did in battle.

Slow down and think.

Thomas had called him a barbarian, which Blitz had to admit was somewhat accurate despite how insulting it was. Sage had been dubbed a monastic archer, and while Blitz wasn't entirely sure what that meant, the second word was obvious enough. Neither of the times Blitz had participated in a doubles battle really counted since one was less than a week after he'd joined Thomas and in the other, he'd been the last Pokemon remaining. Even without that experience, it was obvious how useful it would be to have a ranged partner watching his back.

With the mystery of why Thomas had paired them together, Blitz worked to think what that meant for him. Sage watching his back meant that…

Blitz's eyes lit up in realization and he opened his beak in the approximation of a grin. Normally he had to rely on warnings from Thomas in a fight, but with another Pokemon on the field that could help, he could go even further in and still be safe. With a triumphant screech, the barbarian abruptly dove down to where the cleric and ranger waited below.

As he descended, Blitz ignored the unimpressed look his first friend was giving him, instead putting on even more speed as flames began to surround his body. Peren wouldn't be able to lightly chide Blitz for taking almost ten seconds to decide on a frontal assault if he won. Winter opened her mouth and deeply exhaled toward Blitz, sending a flurry of snow up toward him that he didn't bother dodging as the beginnings of Snowscape melted before even touching him. The large seed that Peren shot toward him was another matter, but at Blitz's speed, the slightest movement was enough to angle him to safety.

Deciding that Peren was the true threat, Blitz barreled into him and crowed at the first hit of the match. Unfortunately, he hadn't fully accounted for Peren's newer and stockier body, and Blitz stalled out for a moment instead of taking back to the sky immediately. Winter tried to take advantage of his miscalculation by switching to breathing shards of ice at him, but a single leaf flew into her maw and put an end to that. With a cackle, Blitz flew back up, only to loop back down instantly for another pass at Peren.

Blitz's glee became muted less than a second later when Peren's coat shifted to pure white. He tried to add a few flames to his attack, but they were snuffed out instantly by air as it rushed past him. Even if Peren hadn't been concentrating on a type change, he wouldn't have been moved out of the way of Acrobatics, so Blitz wasn't consoled by the fact that at least his move had it. With an annoyed screech, he summoned flames around himself for his next, and infuriatingly, slower pass against the two ice Pokemon.

Only a few seconds into his dive, a flurry of Bullet Seeds forced Blitz to break off and fly back up. The attack wouldn't have done much to hurt him, but the impact of a few of them would possibly be enough to knock him out of the sky. Infuriatingly, Peren continued to track Blitz with volleys of Bullet Seeds as he flew around, looking for his opening. He almost cried out for Sage to hurry up and help him, but then realized that his partner was busy keeping Winter distracted.

Blitz hesitated for only a moment before wheeling away from Peren toward Winter. Apart from a slight twitch of her ears, she ignored Peren's warning grunt and continued trying to blast Sage out of the sky with Frost Breaths. Blitz opened his mouth for a triumphant screech, only for the noise to die in his throat as Winter whipped her head around and Roared.

The flames surrounding Blitz vanished and he darted back into the sky on pure instinct. He didn't catch himself until he was almost thirty feet in the air, where he slowed to a halt. Humiliated by his reaction, Blitz was hesitant to look down at the ground and see everyone's reactions. Winter had seemingly put him out of her mind and was still trying to hit Sage, an effort that Peren had started helping with, though he wasn't being terribly effective given that he was keeping an eye on Blitz at the same time.

The rest of their group stood on the sidelines, looking up at Blitz, and even from a distance their expressions were clear. Thomas had a slightly raised eyebrow as if he was asking Blitz how he was going to handle this. Scout was bouncing on her feet in what Blitz knew was excitement and anticipation. Ever since she'd joined the team, she'd never doubted him for a minute. Nin and Shadow were inscrutable as always, but Blitz noted that the Arbok's head was raised slightly more than usual, betraying his interest.

As much as he wanted to prove their interest was justified, Blitz knew that if he dove down there again, it would just be a repeat performance. Facing a Mightyena's Roar head-on had thrown him back in time to a night almost a year ago. Unlike how most Pokemon reacted to the move, Roar hadn't made Blitz fly away because of fear. Instead, he ran from the shame of the memory of his stark failures early on as a member of Thomas' team. His evolution had been an unmitigated disaster and his first fight as a Fletchinder had narrowly avoided being so much worse than even that.

Blitz was still wrestling with his thoughts when Winter finally landed a clean Frost Breath on Sage, covering one of his wings with frost. As Sage struggled to stay in the air and out of Winter's maw, Blitz reaffirmed his decision that thinking in a fight just wasn't his style.

With a screech, Blitz dove straight down at Winter, but instead of making simple flames surround him, he pushed beyond that, and white-hot fire began to cover his entire body, leaving a trail like a comet behind him. He had been ready for this push for a while, waiting for a moment to redeem himself, only for Peren to steal the spotlight.

Well, he'd done enough waiting.

Blitz's warcry grew louder and deeper as he dove at Winter, and he could feel himself grow faster and faster, which was an odd sensation given that he wasn't using one of his many moves to increase his speed. His exhilaration only grew as he saw Peren's eyes widen when he realized what was happening and ran to put himself between Blitz and Winter. Peren barely made it in time and the fact that he was still off-balance meant that Blitz had no issues ramming past his friend with his own newly increased mass. Winter tried to Roar him away again, but Blitz didn't even flinch away from the noise the second time and knocked her to the ground as well.

Blitz barely even noticed the pain in his wings as he triumphantly rose back into the air, returning Sage's nod as he passed his partner. A look at the sidelines confirmed that no one had missed the moment. Scout was yelling so loud that Blitz almost thought that she'd learned Hyper Voice. However, Blitz's eyes were focused on Thomas, who had a massive grin on his face. A stark difference from last time.

Unsurprisingly, the practice battle was called off and Blitz preened at his new feathers as the rest of the group congratulated him. He tried to pretend to be somewhat indifferent to the praise, but their congratulations were so sincere and excited that he was having a hard time maintaining his cool. All the rest of his composure evaporated and he started cackling uncontrollably when Thomas revealed the name of the move that his evolution had brought him.

Flare Blitz.

Wednesday, July 11th, 2018

Scout bounced up and down impatiently as all of the Pokemon stood around Cait's backyard waiting for the evening's event. Some of the other Pokemon around her looked worn out after their day of training, which she just couldn't understand. Yeah, training all day got a little bit tiring, but this was an event.

Blitz's evolution had, as he put it, inspired the others, and Mamoswine and Cham had evolved only a few days later. Boldore and Pep said that they felt like they were getting close to doing the same, while Larvitar and Slim were working harder than ever to catch up. Scout had even detected a tiny bit of impatience from Shadow when she had asked her about it, which was wildly unusual for her. In fact, Sage was the only unevolved Pokemon in the entire group that didn't seem excited by his prospective evolution, opting to take it with the same slow consideration that he had about everything.

All the excitement almost made Scout wish that she could evolve too, but in the end, she was just happy for all of her friends and family. It had been amazing to see Blitz's evolution, which was almost enough to forget her disappointment at missing her other big brother's evolution. Well, she hadn't gotten to see Nin's evolution either, but he was more like the laid-back uncle.

"Alright, everyone, calm down," Cait called to the mass of Pokemon, making Scout's head snap back up. She had almost almost forgotten what they were here for and got excited all over again. "I'm going to go by seniority, so Poli, you're up first."

There were various cheers from the crowd, and while Scout wasn't the loudest, she was certainly the most enthusiastic. The excitement was matched by Poli as she bounced forward to stand next to her trainer. Cait leaned down to hold out a deep blue rock toward her Pokemon but hesitated before extending her arm all the way. "You're sure you want to go this route? Last chance."

Poli thought for only a moment before bobbing her head and holding out one of her gloved hands. Cait dropped the blue stone into Poli's hands with a smile and then stepped back as the Pokemon started to glow. The reaction of the audience wasn't muted despite the fact that the only visible change to Poli was that she had grown a foot taller once the light had faded. The new Poliwrath did a few short hops and then punched at the air in front of her, clearly pleased at the cheers she got in response.

Lairon suggested someone create a boulder for her to test her strength against, which Scout thought was an excellent idea, but it was quickly shot down by Peren, Winter, and Lycanroc. After a few seconds of deliberation among the Pokemon, Nidoking lumbered up to Poli and a very confused Cait. Poli bounced up and down a few times before jabbing John's Pokemon directly in the stomach to another round of cheers. Nidoking recoiled a bit more than what was believable from the blow, but despite the over the top reaction, Scout still noticed him wince and rub at his chest when Cait ushered him and Poli back to the group.

Keter was the next to be called and he almost erupted out of the small inflatable pool that he'd been sharing with Nin and Quagsire. In a show of solidarity, Scout made sure to cheer extra hard for the only other electric type in the group. Without any of the hesitation that Poli had shown, Keter used the tip of his tail to touch the green and yellow stone that Cait was holding. The changes to his body were much more significant as a large fin grew from his head and two noodly arms sprouted out of his body. When the light of evolution faded, Keter waved his new arms in wonder and then did a little flip in the air.

Cait pulled out a third stone as Keter and Pep moved off to the side to practice throwing things back and forth to get used to his new appendages. Scout was tempted to join them but held back when she saw that the last Pokemon to evolve needed a bit of encouragement. After some cajoling from several of the Pokemon, Cot shyly floated forward to be next to Cait, bobbing up and down slightly in the breeze. Cot hesitated the longest of the three, but she eventually used one of her leaves to touch the sun-shaped rock Cait was holding.

The change in her silhouette was immediate as the cotton expanded rapidly to cover more of her, and her bodily changes were even more drastic than Keter's as she grew both arms and legs. Like the other two Pokemon, she was greeted with cheers as the evolutionary light faded, but she didn't share their instant excitement over the evolution, instead opting to grow even more cotton to bashfully cover her face. In part to spare her any more embarrassment, the watching Pokemon started to disperse and enjoy the rest of their evening off after another long day of training.

Scout was about to run over to join Keter and Pep but got distracted when she noticed Thomas and John move over to Cait, who was frowning despite the evolutions that had just occurred. Curious, Scout scampered closer just in time to hear her say, "-only the Water Stone." As Cait spoke, she brushed one of her hands against her shorts, causing dust to fall to the ground.

Thomas and John winced, with the latter asking, "So how much are you out?"

Cait just groaned. "I don't want to talk about it. Hopefully someone else in the top sixteen will buy it off me and I can get some of the money back. That and the King's Rock I still have in my room…"

Scout listened for a minute longer before wandering away thoughtfully. She had never paid much attention to rocks, but they had seemed to have become much more valuable over the last few months. First, she'd found the rock that had helped Nidoking evolve, then the agates on the beach, and finally the weird rock that John had been so excited to get. Now it turned out that rocks could cause Pokemon to evolve and there was even something called a King's Rock, which Scout figured had to be amazing. She thought about this new information for a few seconds before abandoning the idea of going to play catch and instead ran off to find Excadrill.

Lycanroc managed to stop them mere seconds before the two began digging the greatest hole the world had ever seen.

Sunday, July 15th, 2018

Nin let out a self-satisfied hiss as the stone that he was Wrapped around shattered, then he paused to glance around to see if anyone had heard. He had a reputation to maintain after all. When he was satisfied that no one had noticed his outburst, he turned back to the small boulder to inspect his handiwork. It had been created courtesy of Mamoswine's Ancient Power, so it wasn't as sturdy as a normal rock would have been, but being able to crush it was still good progress.

After unraveling himself from the first boulder, he slithered over to the second, already beginning the process of coating his body with metal with Iron Tail. The reduced flexibility from the move made the affected part of his body difficult to use for anything other than a club, so simply moving around was almost as good of practice as what he was actually supposed to be doing. Wrapping his stiffened body around the boulder was far from fast enough to use in battle but he was slowly getting better at it.

Even though progress was slow, Nin preferred the days working with Cait over the other two. Thomas had him working on Ice Fang, which Nin understood the usefulness of, but it wasn't exactly an interesting challenge. The days he was stuck working with John were even worse given that they were nothing but pure monotony. Working on combining Iron Tail and Wrap though, now that was interesting.

Combining moves was already something that Nin had been interested in so he'd been more than happy when he'd gotten his assignment. He didn't think Thomas had noticed, but Nin had been using Mean Look and Glare simultaneously for months now. He still hadn't worked out how to add Foresight to the mix, but he was working on it. A half smile appeared on Nin's face as he remembered how impressed Thomas had been when it had only taken Nin a day to learn Scald, not knowing that all he had done was combine Water Gun and Fire Fang.

Blitz had called Nin lazy back in his more uncharitable days, but really he was efficient.

While his tail continued working on worming its way around the boulder, Nin turned his attention to his teammate in question. Blitz had been stuck working with John for several days to get acclimated to his new body and from the sound of things he was doing his best to make up for lost time. The two had actually been given fairly similar tasks, with Blitz being told to combine Steel Wing and Quick Attack into a move that Thomas had decided to call Bullet Wing. Nin was still trying to figure out if the name was better or worse than his own Iron Lock. What he was certain about was that Winter had gotten stuck with the worst one.

Thomas still hadn't explained why he'd decided to name a combination of Howl and Snowscape Ninety-One.

Nin abandoned the train of thought as soon he'd finished wrapping his body around the small boulder three times and switched his concentration to squeezing. It only took a couple of seconds for the first cracks to appear, making Nin wonder how much he would have to hold back on weaker Pokemon with this technique. It was one thing to batter an opponent into unconsciousness, but he could see permanent harm being done when he was squeezing this hard. His thought was punctuated as the boulder shattered and Nin winced at the thought that he could probably do the same to a young Geodude.

As he moved to the third and final boulder, Nin started pondering other options he could take with the move. Aqua Tail was the obvious answer, though he thought it would have the opposite problem of Iron Tail. Simply surrounding them with water wouldn't be damaging enough to most Pokemon, and he had a feeling that the water would impede his Wrap. Brutal Swing was the other move he knew that had potential, but most of the power in that attack was in the sudden, powerful hit which didn't combine with Wrap very well. Thomas had mentioned eventually having him learn Dragon Tail and Poison Tail, so that was also something he wanted to keep in the back of his mind.

With those ideas for the future squared away, Nin returned his thoughts back to the last two combination moves his teammates were learning. Scout's Electrifying Terrain was fairly simple, but effective, in that she was adding Thunder Wave to her Electric Terrain. Nin had experienced one of her first attempts and it had been awful. Even his ability hadn't been able to deal with it, as the paralysis had been renewed as quickly as it had Shed off. Luckily, Thomas had told her to only use it when she was partnered with Peren, Blitz, or Sage, so Nin was hopeful he wouldn't have to experience it again.

Finally, Sage's assignment was one that Nin wholeheartedly approved of. While his newest teammate was still working on learning Shadow Sneak in the first place, the goal was to have him practiced enough with the move that he could throw a Leafage out after it. The quick reposition-and-attack technique had been named Shadow Shot, and while Sage's attempts had all resulted in the Leafage going in the wrong direction, the potential was clearly there.

Nin continued thinking about his teammates' moves as he shattered the third boulder with Iron Lock, hoping that this was a sign of things to come for training going forward. He liked learning moves as much as the next Pokemon, but there was so much more room for creativity and efficiency when combinations were in play. As he slithered over to Mamoswine to request additional practice targets, Nin wondered if he could work with Shadow to give Thomas his own ideas for future moves.

Tuesday, July 24th, 2018

Shadow did her best to ignore the yips of encouragement from the Pokemon in front of her, wishing once again that Winter was her practice partner instead of Houndy. With only two dark types in the group, one of them was needed in order to make sure she was maintaining her Miracle Eye while using other moves. The first two weeks of training had consisted purely of physical training and practice using Miracle Eye until it gave her a headache. It had been a slow process, but one she'd silently struggled on so she could work on what she actually wanted to learn.

Thomas had originally wanted her to learn Psybeam, but she had responded with one of the more forcefully negative images she'd ever used. It had been difficult to say no to the person that had hatched her, but she held her ground and the two of them eventually agreed upon a deal. Shadow's work with Cait would be to learn to keep her Miracle Eye always active, like what Peren was doing with Aromatherapy, and once that had been completed, then she would be able to learn the move she wanted.

Psycho Cut.

Thomas' research had found that it was usually a move that Galarian Ponyta didn't learn until after they had evolved, but Shadow had been determined. She had been shy the first time that she had met her sire, and Thomas had been busy worrying about Winter at the time, so he hadn't pushed the two together. In the end, she hadn't gotten much out of that meeting other than being impressed by how the Rapidash towered over her. The second time she had seen him was during the week-long ranger training camp, which had given their trainers plenty of time to make sure they spent time together. Unused to Shadow's demeanor, her sire had started awkwardly telling her about her dam for lack of a better topic.

With the mental image of her dam at the forefront of his mind, it had been trivial for Shadow to look inside and see it. She had instantly been enamored with the sight of the imposing and beautiful Galarian Rapidash. Thomas had shown Shadow a picture of her evolved form at some point, but the image in her sire's thoughts was so much more real and awe-inspiring than any photo on a screen. She had instantly pressed him for details, which oddly had made him less uncertain about talking with Shadow.

The largest thing that Shadow had gotten out of the discussion was that Rapidash, especially Galarian Rapidash, fought mostly with their hooves and horn. She had a little experience with the former with Double Kick, but she had always assumed that her horn was too small to be used for anything useful. When she had said as much to her sire, he had simply laughed and pointed out that he hadn't even had a horn as a Ponyta, so she had a leg up.

Once that had been pointed out, Shadow decided it was an edge she wanted to take full advantage of.

With a silent grunt, she charged across the floor of the training center directly at Houndy. The Houndoom looked annoyingly unconcerned by her charge, making Shadow focus even more energy into her horn. Even though Houndy didn't try to dodge, Shadow's attack was closer to a Psycho Jab instead of Psycho Cut given that it wasn't long enough to get a decent slice. Still, the attack should have at least hurt Houndy, making the lazy smile he gave her, complete with his tongue lolled out, all the more frustrating.

After Houndy had needlessly informed Shadow that the glow in her eyes had dimmed during her charge, she moved back to her starting position and began to refocus. For not the first time, Shadow thought how much easier it would be to learn Psycho Cut by itself, but she also understood why Thomas wanted to have her do both at the same time. If she was already used to using Miracle Eye at the same time, it would mean less effort in a battle to use both moves since that would be her baseline.

Shadow's second charge at least made Houndy wince, which made her feel a little better, but she still immediately lined up for a third. She needed to make a lot more progress before she reached her goal.

Tuesday, July 24th, 2018

Despite how long it had been since they had started spending every day together, Winter still was amazed at how big her new pack was as she moved around. Like most evenings, the group was all scattered around the large lawn that made up Cait's backyard. The grass was still in surprisingly good condition given that it was being trampled by a small horde of Pokemon each day, though Winter knew that part of that was due to maintenance on Peren's end.

Winter walked around the perimeter of the backyard twice before she realized that there weren't any Pokemon left that she hadn't talked to already. Even though it was unlikely that she would ever battle alongside most of them, she still wanted to get to know them all. The Pokemon on other teams had been uncertain the first few days, but the conversations had become much easier to start once word had spread that she just wanted to talk about who they were and where they had come from.

She had first gotten the idea after being completely overwhelmed by how many Pokemon she was around. Winter had grown up in a pack that consisted only of her family, so it had already been a bit of an adjustment when she'd joined Thomas' pack, even though the size was close to the same. On the other paw, joining with Cait and John had been completely overwhelming as the number of Pokemon she saw on a daily basis abruptly tripled. While everyone else seemed to be able to instantly accept the new status quo, Winter needed to get to know the other Pokemon before she could be comfortable with them.

One of the main things that Winter had learned while meeting with the other Pokemon was that pack dynamics could be much more varied than she thought. The pack that she'd grown up in had consisted of her mother, sisters, and brothers, which had made for a fairly easy transition to the familial nature of Thomas' pack. John's pack was different in that while they still celebrated each other's successes, they were more solitary, with Lycanroc being the glue that held the entire pack together. Cait's was the opposite in that the Pokemon were close, but their relationship with each other seemed to be more like sparring partners rather than a family. Winter still hadn't figured out why, but they all seemed like they felt that they had something to prove.

Even after being exposed to the different pack structures, Winter still preferred what she had, though she wouldn't mind if Thomas made the structured spars a common event going forward. It had been a surprisingly good way to improve both individually and how they worked together. She mused that even if Thomas let the spars fall by the wayside, she could get them restarted on her own. She could probably make Peren see the value in them if he didn't already, and Blitz would hardly need any convincing. Everyone else would happily follow in their wake.

After another few minutes of walking around the gathering of Pokemon and no one catching her eye, Winter decided to simply call it an early night and made for the middle of the yard. She usually stayed away from the fire pit in the center of the yard where the three trainers tended to spend their evenings. Winter was more than warm enough with just her summer coat and had yet to be tempted to spend the night sitting by the fire. As a result, her approach was more than a bit unusual and Thomas immediately turned away from his conversation when he saw her.

"Hey Winter, need something?" Thomas asked. Winter smiled at him, being careful not to show too many teeth, then turned her head to look up at the secret base. When she turned back, Winter saw his expression had turned concerned. "Heading up already? Are you feeling alright?" Winter gave another smaller smile at his concern and nodded her head. After a second, Thomas shrugged, "Well alright, be right back guys," he said as he stood up, and then walked with her over to the base of the secret base.

When they reached the bottom of the tree, Winter felt the familiar sensation of being pulled into her Pokeball. Spending time in a capsule had taken some getting used to after she'd joined Thomas, but it had helped that the Pokeball still smelled faintly of her mother. Less than a minute later, Thomas sent her back out on the wooden floor of the secret base, and Winter nuzzled him in thanks before he started heading back down the rope ladder. As she'd expected, none of Winter's packmates had also retired for the evening, giving her a rare moment alone.

After spending a few minutes wandering the base and soaking up the comforting smells, Winter made her way over to the fluffy bed that Thomas had bought for her and plopped down with a pleased grunt. Tomorrow she would go back to socializing, but she decided that there was something to be said for having some time to yourself.

Friday, July 27th, 2018

After a few weeks of consideration, Sage decided that getting sucked through that portal had been for the best. It had been horrid at the time, of course, and healing his wing had been a very unpleasant process, but with all of that behind him, he had to say that being a caught Pokemon was a rather agreeable situation. Simply not having to worry about food was almost enough to make it worthwhile by itself. Unlike other members of his old family, Sage had never found hunting Rattata and Buneary for food an enjoyable experience. It was simply too messy and required effort that could be better spent elsewhere. Even eliminating that single need would have made being caught worth it, but there were so many other benefits as well.

In only a few weeks, he had almost doubled the number of techniques that he could perform, which was absolutely staggering growth. Granted, learning new moves had never been something that Sage had put much time or effort into before, but he'd always appreciated learning new things so he'd been open to the idea. His only real complaint in that regard was that Thomas seemed to move him onto a new move as soon as he'd learned the basics of the one that he'd been working on. Sage could understand the desire to get him caught up with the rest of his new teammates, but that didn't make him like it.

Sage was fairly sure that Thomas hadn't caught onto the fact that he was intentionally missing the targets with his Air Cutter in order to give himself more time to practice the move.

That said, the deception might not have been necessary. Sage would have to have been blind to not notice that all three of the trainers had been growing increasingly distracted the last few days. Thomas wasn't nearly as stressed as the other two, but even he had taken to looking at his notes significantly more than he had during the first two weeks.

That wasn't to say that Sage didn't share their concerns. He had been in plenty of mock battles during their training, but those had been more about learning to work with his new teammates than anything else. His role in all three of his assigned pairings was to hang back and assist from afar while his teammates went in, which was both a boon and a curse. The obvious benefit was that he easily slid into familiar patterns for each fight, leaving him more time to consider details when he already knew the larger strategy from the get go.

The downside was that Sage wasn't confident in his ability to adapt to opponents that could bypass their strategy or even being matched with teammates that he was unused to working with. The latter wasn't an immediate concern, but it was an inevitability if his understanding of the tournament structure was correct. When he'd brought up the topic with his teammates individually, only Winter had shared his concerns, and even she had been confident that Thomas had something planned for when that happened. Sage didn't think they were necessarily wrong, but he had decided to take matters into his own talons and had started to brainstorm strategies wit-

"That was a close one, I think you've almost got it down," Thomas suddenly said, abruptly breaking Sage out of his thoughts. He had blinked a couple of times to refocus on what he was doing and was surprised to find that there was a new groove in his practice target. Embarrassingly, the cut wasn't even near the center of the target, and while Sage hadn't actively been paying attention, that also meant that it hadn't been an intentional miss.

Mostly to prove it to himself, Sage's next Air Cutter hit the target dead on, which Thomas praised before returning his attention to his notes. His relieved tone made Sage feel a little guilty, making him decide to give training his full attention for the rest of the day. Besides, it was the last day of training so it wasn't as if Thomas was going to have him start on something new even if his Air Cutter had reached the 'good enough' status. Sage's suspicion turned out to be correct, making it the most enjoyable day of training yet since he was able to focus solely on perfecting his existing moves.

That evening deviated from all of the previous ones, as the three trainers called a meeting with their respective Pokemon instead of letting them relax and mingle after dinner. Since everyone could still fit, Thomas took his team meeting into the secret base that they'd been sleeping in. The base hadn't changed much over the month, though a few decorations had been placed on a small bookshelf that was up against one of the walls. Granted most of the things on display were just curiosities that Scout had found like a particularly shiny rock or a very large acorn.

Thomas looked around at his team after they had settled in their usual positions and gave them a smile. "First off, I just wanted to say great job everyone. Really. You've all done everything I asked and then some. I'm sure we'll do great in the gauntlet, but even if things don't work out, I'm still proud of everything you've accomplished." Thomas paused to look around at everyone again, and Sage gave him a slight nod, which the trainer returned.

"Tomorrow morning I'll find out what group we're in and what our schedule looks like. Depending on how that turns out, we might have our first battles tomorrow already. I'm hoping not, so I have time to get my own preparations in, but I guess if that does happen, everyone will be in the same boat." Sage nodded again at that comment, fully understanding and agreeing with the want for preparation time. Rather than continuing, Thomas floundered. "Uh, that's really all I had to say. I'm not sure what John and Cait are telling their teams, but I just wanted to give you guys an update. So, uh, great job and I'm sure we'll do great."

Sage had no basis for how motivational speeches were supposed to go, but thought that it had seemed lacking. The veteran members of Sage's team seemed to think otherwise, as Peren, Blitz, and Scout all loudly voiced their support, with Winter copying them a second later. Like Sage, Nin and Shadow didn't have much of a reaction, but it hadn't taken him long to find that was usual. After a few seconds of consideration, Sage added a single hoot of support to the noise the others were making. As things started to quiet down, Sage shook his body to adjust his feathers and then settled back onto his perch. It was still early but he was ready to get some rest.

He intended to be fully rested when his trial by fire started.

A/N: I need to stop doing chapters that cover more than two days. They wreck me every time.

Thanks to Star (quarknova on this site) for betaing. Next up is Chapter 44: A Gauntlet Thrown