[Completed and published February 22nd, 2020.]

Chapter 10: Comfort in Justice

Mathew, alongside a recovering Joey, Jermy, ORB and Meowth, watched the little spectacle of the green antelope. Once the gray bovine sat the three unconscious bodies of Hoppip, Garchomp, and Crawdaunt against one another, the antelope began scouring the canyon for something to tie up the crooks with. Rocks, more rocks, a few shrubs here and there… and then she found it, a vine creeping up the side of a tree. Attracted to it like a gust of wind, the vine wrapped around the green protrusion that resembled the stag's and the colt's. The creature used the foreign tree, far from its home of Kalmwa'er, to bind the criminals. Testing the vine, she walked around. The trio of misfits fell over and were dragged along with her, unawoken.

"That'll hold them alright!" the bovine commented. His voice bellowed with the deepness of a bass.

"Excellent," the stag said. "On our end, it seems that all five of the victims have no critical issues."

Mathew leaned over to Joey, still laid against the colt. "Ha, if only!" he whispered, trying to ease the still-tense scenario.

"Awww, that's sad-sounding…" The colt, eavesdropping by virtue of proximity, frowned with genuity. Despite being taller than him at standing height, Mathew couldn't help but feel like he was looking at a small child who hadn't been taught the meaning of stranger danger.

"Excuse me," Meowth cut in, grabbing the attention of this new group. "Would you happen to be Legendary Pokémon?"

"Why, yes, we are!" The bovine exclaimed. "The Swords of Justice is our title, in case you somehow didn't know that."

"Oh, oh!" The colt exclaimed, running up to the stag. "Can we do the cool opening thing you planned out?"

"Certainly!" he answered. The stag turned towards the four struck a pose that flourished with confidence. "My name is Cobalion, leader of the Swords of Justice! My mission is to protect our planet by ensuring a beautiful future under any means!" Upon completing his introductory phrase, he ceased his pose and indicated with his head towards his green ally to speak next.

"You can call me Virizion," the antelope said, looking upon the group with a pair of gentle eyes as she paused in her labor with the criminals. "I want to preserve the world's good nature. Seeing such sorrowful faces like yours is my motivation."

"Oh… Do you think we look sad?" Joey asked.

"No. Just brutally unfriendly."

"She's talking about me," Meowth said.

"Yes indeed. Tell me, what makes you so hardened?"

"I'd rather not tell that to a stranger."

"Fair enough," Virizion said.

"They sure seem to have a flair for the dramatic…" Jermy said.

"YOU AND I BOTH KNOW THAT WE'VE SEEN WORSE FLANDERIZATION," ORB said.

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet!" The colt hopped atop a rock to make himself look taller. "Keldeo, at your service! I'm learning to hold my own as the fourth member of the Swords of Justice! Then, I'll see the greatest things Solceus has to offer! Cobalion, Virizion and Terrakion told me all about places like the world's tallest clock tower, or a giant castle of ice… I wanna see it all for myself one day!"

"Well, remember to keep your expectations realistic," Virizion said. "Those tales might be a little tall."

"Of course, of course," Keldeo responded. "Anyways, what are your names?"

"Wait, what about T-him?" Jermy said, pointing towards the remaining bovine. By process of elimination, Mathew understood that this was Terrakion.

"Oh, are you referring to me?" Terrakion asked. "Well, you know… Not really much to say. I'm simply Terrakion, the third member of this alliance."

"Wait, wasn't Keldeo meant to go after Terrakion?" Cobalion asked.

"I believe so," Virizion responded.

"Oh. W-Well… You must wait your turn, Keldeo!"

"Too late~!" Keldeo teased, getting off of the rock.

"Well, we have introduced ourselves," Cobalion said as he turned towards the lot of less-experienced adventurers. "Now, if you would be so kind, we would like to know more about you."

"My name is Mathew," the cubone said, bowing. As he came back up, he pulled his right arm back to gesture to his friends behind him. "This is Joey, Jermy, and Meowth."

"They probably should introduce themselves," Virizion advised. "With those nicknames, I'm not sure if I can figure out which one of you is named Meowth." Meowth looked at Virizion with his deadpan expression in response. Keldeo chuckled in delight.

"I'm Joey. It's nice to meet you!"

"Meowth."

"And I'm Jermy!"

"YOU FORGOT ABOUT ME, YOU DOLTS," ORB said. "I AM THE OBSERVATIONAL ROTATION BUDDY, VERS-"

"The name's all I asked for, friend," Virizion said.

"IT'S ALWAYS THE WO-"

Suddenly, Jermy turned the robot off. "Sorry about that, don't want him saying anything stupid."

Terrakion look concerned. "Did you just kill him?"

"Oh, no, he's a robot, I just put him to sleep," Jermy quickly replied.

"You euthanized him?!" Cobalion exclaimed.

"NO! He's never been alive! He'll be back up and ready if I just press a button here!"

"Oh, I get it!" Keldeo said. "He's a, um...a 'pretend person!' And you can turn him on and off like a light switch?"

"YES! Finally! Thank you." Jermy sighed. "Geez, you'd think a god would be more knowledgeable about what the people do — AH!"

Meowth shoved him slightly. "Sorry. I don't want him saying something offensive."

Virizion chuckled. "You're a much more charming bunch than your faces give off. Something tells me we'll be acquantainced well."

"Cool," Mathew said. "Sorry for the whole 'damsels in distress' thing, by the way."

"It's alright," Terrakion said. "Bandits try that 'put victims into forced bargain' tactic all the time. We've saved many civilians in a similar way."

"If there's anybody to thank, it should be you," Cobalion added. "You provided us a window of opportunity to finally apprehend some of the criminals in this area."

"Oh God, is there more here?" Mathew asked.

"Most likely," Virizion replied. "There have been rumors around Arbor that gang offshoots from Fascamile have been assembling in the wall ruins up north. We've been buying our time these past few weeks apprehending as many as we can."

"But don't worry about it!" Keldeo butted in. "They'd have to be total idiots to try jumping us or anything because we'd kick their butts in a fight. You're safe with us!"

Mathew gave a sigh of relief. "Alright."

"On that note," Cobalion began. "It would be a sensible idea for us to escort you back to civilization."

"Oh, a guide to Arbor would be great!" Jermy said. "I think we could all use the protection after that…"

"Perfect!" Keldeo exclaimed. "That'll give us a chance to put the evildoers Virizion's dragging around behind bars like they deserve."

"Speaking of these evildoers, you are lucky that these ruffians were merely desperate thieves," Cobalion said. He began walking forwards, beckoning the others to follow. "One can encounter some intense depravity in these regions."

"Like murderers," Virizion quipped.

"And half-ferals," Terrakion added.

"And other messed up stuff!" Keldeo exclaimed. "They always go down easy though."

"Yeesh…" Jermy said. "Why would Abis and Zell ever want to come here?"

"Well, the wall ruins used to be a bit of a tourist attraction," Terrakion said. "When did these two talk about it?"

Meowth took a second to ponder. "I believe it was around five years ago."

"Ah, there it is," Virizion said. "That was around the time the gangs started appearing. Most likely why they cancelled the trip." She suddenly turned her attention to Cobalion. "On the subject of business, more criminals are spreading out from Fascamile each year. That village isn't falling out like we thought it would. It's definitely a threat now."

"Agreed," Cobalion said. "Clearly the key here isn't to contain it until it implodes. Some kind of intervention is keeping them together. We should investigate it directly after our current business is done."

"I'll add it to the bucket list before our multi-continent crime-check and after…" Terrakion glanced awkwardly at Mathew. "...after you-know-what."

"Wait, huh?" Keldeo seemed confused. "I don't know what-"

"We'll talk about it later," Cobalion intervened.

"Um, should we be listening to this?" Jermy asked.

"You're fine," Virizion said. "Terrakion censored out the important part."

"Still confused…" Keldeo said.

The conversation proceeded to spread out into casual chatter, leading Mathew to drift away from the others' voices. He found himself coming into a one-on-one with Cobalion. During the conversation, Mathew decided to ask the stag more about Legendary Pokémon on Solceus - he was curious to know more about how they operated, since the Swords of Justice had more than proven that they don't quite behave the way the video games would lead him to expect.

"Hey…" Mathew took a moment to formulate the question. "Is every Legendary Pokémon like you?"

Cobalion's smile faded. "I will take that compliment, but… Sorry to say, but not all of us feel the same way about civilians such as yourself. I apologize if that disappoints."

"Ugh… That's alright. Do they like, hate us, or-"

Cobalion laughed. "I recall when I believed it was so simple. You must remember that not every Legendary Pokémon is created with the same philosophies in mind. It is true that we are created for the express purpose of guiding and leading civilians, but many deviate from this purpose. Some have business away from the average populace; others have no qualms, but merely choose to reclude..." Cobalion paused, as if recalling a memory. "Others hate everything about Solceus and yearn to change it; there were some who even believed the masses were worthless sheep to be controlled."

"Oooooh!" Keldeo suddenly butted in to their conversation, bringing Joey along. "I bet I can guess who you're talking about!"

"You have a single guess."

"Zaciaaaaaaan and Zamazentaaaaaa!"

"Congratulations, you were correct."

"Yaaaaaaaaaaay."

"Zacian and Zamahuh?" Joey said.

"They were old teachers of ours," Cobalion said. "They were the original upholders of justice before we took the mantle. They've been missing for a long time…"

Keldeo turned to Joey. "Remember that rock-carrying practice thing I was talking about? Yeah, I did it so Virizion would tell me all about these guys."

"Strange," Cobalion said. "I thought you agreed to do it in order to build your endurance in holding weight."

"Both! It was both." Keldeo reigned the focus of the conversation back in. "So basically, Zacian and Zamazenta had to train the Swords up for a while. This was all back before I joined, so I never got to meet them, but apparently they were huge jerks!"

"Keldeo misunderstands. The issue at hand was that they had...disagreeable philosophies on how to handle justice, which bled into their willingness and ability to teach. When training Keldeo, we chose to expose him to a more open-ended concept that allowed him to take in new ideas more easily. Even though we had opposing ideals, we do not believe they were 'jerks.'"

"Terrakion called them jerks."

"Yes… Well, Terrakion's opinion is irrelevant."

"Rude! But also true."

"HEY! I HEARD THAT!" Terrakion's voice boomed against the canyon's walls. Cobalion and Keldeo shared a laugh.

"That's a little mean," Joey commented.

"Don't worry too much about it!" Keldeo said. "He's basically a dad to me. He's had to deal with way worse."

"He's your dad?" Mathew said. "Not to be rude, but you guys really don't look alike…"

"Oh, no, not like that! He found me in the woods and took me in. I was too young to remember, but apparently he looked everywhere for my real parents, only for some Legendary Pokemon to tell him I was a new one. I've been with the Swords ever since!"

Cobalion said nothing, choosing to nod in agreement instead.

"Wow, that's really cool!" Joey said. "It sounds like you practice a whole bunch…"

"I have to!" Keldeo exclaimed. "If I want to be an arbiter of justice, I've gotta make sure I can handle the big guys in a fight. That's why I've trained so much…" Keldeo's tone changed. "Hey, you still in there?"

Joey had distracted himself from the conversation, instead looking ahead. Mathew followed Joey's eyes and bore witness to what he saw. There had been the low drone of running water in the back of their conversation for a while, but it was so easy to tune out Mathew forgot about it. Now it was too loud to ignore.

In front of them was the Labre Falls for which the canyon was named for. It was not particularly a majesty when it came to waterfalls - Mathew would still give that prize to Niagara Falls, if the footage he had seen of it was anything to go off of - but the length of the drop Arbor River made to continue its path forward was admirable to say the least.

"Never seen the falls before, huh?" Keldeo asked.

Joey was lurched back into the conversation. "Oh! Sorry. I got distracted…"

"Yeah, I get it," Keldeo replied. "Looks cool, right?"

"Sorta…"

Mathew was left confused. Why was Joey so reluctant to praise the falls? If it wasn't admiration, what drew Joey to look at it? He took another gander at it and noticed immediately what must've caught Joey's eye. Something tumbled over the falls that most definitely wasn't supposed to be there - it looked like some kind of can. A few seconds later, a plastic bag made the jump as well. It caught on the wind and slowly descended into the canyon, settling itself against the wall with two more of its kind.

There was a glint in Joey's eyes now. What was he going to do?

"Uh, this is going to sound stupid, but…" Joey paused to prepare his statement.

"What's up?" Keldeo asked.

"You saw how I did back there. Hoppip kicked my butt. So, I was kinda wondering if you could...teach me something...about fighting?"

The conversations of Jermy, ORB, Meowth, Terrakion, and Virizion came to a halt, as did their footsteps. Evidently the word 'teach' had attracted the Swords' attention. Keldeo seemed flustered now that all of this attention was suddenly on him.

"Oh, well, uh…" Keldeo tried to articulate the response. "I'm flattered, really, but, I don't usually do the teaching, so I don't think-"

"Actually, that idea piques my interest," Cobalion suddenly interrupted. "It's been a rather uneventful week for us. Perhaps a training session for these strangers could break the monotony."

"Wait, really?" Keldeo said, taken by surprise.

"Training wasn't the first thing I was going to suggest…" Virizion came closer to Cobalion and Keldeo. "But this stake-out has been a little on the boring side. Count me in."

"Um, wow, this is a neat gesture, but…" Jermy intervened. "You're just gonna throw all your resources for the day at Joey? You sure you don't want to spread that energy out? For an emergency or something?"

"I actually somewhat agree with this one," Terrakion said. "I'm all for teaching, but shouldn't we focus on our schedule? There's a lot to do here and not much time in the decade to do it."

"Now Terrakion, certainly a few hours will not ruin our intentionally broad bucket list," Cobalion argued. "Besides, this session is also, if not equally, important." He turned to address the uncertain-looking Keldeo. "Is this not your first opportunity to perform a personal service to a mortal since your promotion, Keldeo?"

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm totally ready yet!" Keldeo exclaimed. "I get it, I graduated, so I get to do cool stuff now, but taking your place in doing teaching jobs? That's like, totally different skills than learning to master the Sacred Sword."

"And that is exactly why it's important that you take part," Cobalion said. "You are a Sword of Justice, yes, but you have far to go if you intend to meet us when it comes to your impressions upon Solceus." The stag glanced at the totodile who started this whole concept. "Why don't you try teaching the boy? He seems youthful and understanding. It's nigh-impossible to fail his needs."

"But…what if I slice him up with my Sacred Sword by accident?" Keldeo asked.

"Simple." Cobalion once more summoned the weapon attached to his forehead - however, this time the weapon was perfectly gray. "Do you recall how to dull the Sacred Sword?"

"Uh…" Keldeo tried to imitate Cobalion. The Sacred Sword burst out with a brilliant yellow that quickly began to dull. Then, suddenly, it grew to a lustrous yellow that hurt Mathew's eyes and burst. Keldeo grunted and stumbled from the kickback, but quickly tried again. This time, he managed to control it, completely dulling it. "There," he said.

"Now hurting him is impossible, both physically and emotionally," Cobalion reassured. "You know you are capable of handling the task."

Keldeo looked at Joey. The two (relatively) young pokémon gave each other firm looks; just as Keldeo seemed to fear failing Joey, Joey seemed to fear not being worth Keldeo's help. The two silently made an agreement. "Okay, I'm gonna do it," Keldeo told Cobalion without looking at him.

"Excellent!" Cobalion turned his attention to the remaining two members. "Why don't we all take part in the exercise? We could spread out into one-on-one sessions with the remaining three of this group."

"I call the meowth," Virizion immediately stated. "He seems fun."

"'Fun' is the last word I would use to describe myself," the cat mumbled as he took initiative and began digging out Jermy's weapon.

"See, that's entirely why it's fun."

Mathew looked towards Cobalion. "Can I work with you?" he asked; as the self-imposed leader, he seemed most likely to teach him something meaningful.

"I have no objections," Cobalion replied.

"I guess that leaves you with me!" Jermy said to Terrakion as he set a now-enabled ORB down and caught his shield from a well-placed toss from Meowth.

"YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET NOT CHOOSING ONE OF THE OTHERS WHILE YOU COULD," ORB wasted no time in telling Terrakion.

"Well that's unnecessarily ominous," Jermy said, annoyed.

The bovine ignored the pretend people. "Where do you want us to go, and where do we meet back up?" he asked Cobalion.

"Hmm...Anywhere in which you can still hear the noise of Labre Falls, I would suggest? Gather at the river when you feel an hour has passed."

"An hour?" Terrakion said. "That's nearly no time at all!"

"They're mortals. An hour feels like a day to them."

"Well," Mathew said. "He's not wrong. That's exactly what HOUR time feels like!" Cobalion stepped in and shoved the chuckling Mathew away from Terrakion before yet another war could start.

The four groups of two - Meowth and Virizion, Jermy and Terrakion, Joey and Keldeo, and Mathew and Cobalion - spread apart in hopes of fulfilling a session of learning and growth for everybody. Mathew couldn't help but hope that something good would come of this...

Meowth kept his gaze locked on Virizion's swift movements as she attempted to approach him. The two were already locked in a practice spar. Within seconds, her blade quickly extended outwards and dulled itself before coming down as a basic chop. Meowth nonchalantly moved to the side. It missed. This was the fifth time she used that basic attack, and it was starting to get old and predictable. For a second, Meowth knew how Minccino perceived him during his employment at the Pick It Up Club.

Virizion's blade dissipated into gray particles as she brought her head up to the skies. She adjusted herself to match Meowth's current angle before conjuring the weapon again. She brought it down, and-

Meowth quickly clasped the dulled sword in his two front paws, just short of his own head. Naturally, the antelope was caught off-guard, but before she had time to react, Meowth thrusted the blade and by extension Virizion's head aside. To cement a successful blow, he pegged the side of her head with his right paw, careful not to slash her by mistake.

Virizion retreated slightly to recalibrate herself. To Meowth's surprise, she gave him a look of what seemed like admiration. "My, that was clever," she said. "I don't think I've ever seen somebody use the fact that dulled Sacred Swords are less sharp to their advantage like that. That kind of creativity is rare."

Meowth shrugged. "It doesn't seem like a big deal to me. My Dungeoneering classes repeated often that one of the most important components of both exploration and combat is observation. Using the same opening so much leaves you open the same ways every time."

"Are we talking about Lower or Higher Education here?"

"Mostly Lower, some Higher."

"Wow." Virizion closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. "That's a surprise. Dungeoneering teachers seem to improve every time I hear or see their craft. Ironic, considering Dungeoneering is supposed to be the boon of last Generation."

Feeling the looming threat of a spar fade away, Meowth lowered his paws. "Are people not allowed to have specialties unless Arceus says it's the right time to do so?"

"What? No, of course not, that'd be stupid. Arceus would never try to force a narrative like that - it'd go against his desire for individuals to have free will. Still, I would think he'd wait until the inevitable decline of the career before deciding to cut off the Generation for it…" Virizion sighed, dissolving her Sacred Sword. "Oh well. What do I know? I've never even seen a Generational shift before. I'm sure he had a good reason for it."

"Are we going to keep sparring?" Meowth asked.

Virizion paused before giving an answer. "Nah. I think we're done here."

"We've barely done anything besides trade a few blows. Why are we quitting now?"

"I mean, I'm not sure if there's very much I can teach you right now."

Meowth became agitated - well, as agitated as someone like him could be. "You've been training for two hundred years. Is there really nothing you can show me?"

"Um…" Virizion's mouth lingered for a moment, finding the words to reply. "You see, Meowth, here's the thing," she said. "There's a difference between knowing something and having the understanding to actually teach it to somebody else."

Meowth crossed his arms. Disappointment filled his flat face. "I can't imagine Keldeo has learned much from you."

"Nope. Most skills I helped him learn were under Cobalion's suggestions."

Meowth was taken aback. How could Virizion act so nonchalantly about this fact? If it was partially her responsibility to train Keldeo to the point where she was directly helping him, why would she care so little? "It's highly irresponsible to be so uncaring towards raising and training an individual. I expected better."

Virizion scoffed. "Wow, that tongue of yours really is sharp! If I was Cobalion, you'd be a cat kebab by now. I'm sure you'd be happy to know that I actually did help raise Keldeo, just not train him."

Meowth backed off, destroying the projection he had just enshrouded her with. "Sorry."

"Forget about it. Anyways, why not come over here with me?" Virizion signaled with her head towards the unconscious bystanders and the object they had attempted to steal. "We can relax, get to know each other, and we can even make sure these criminals don't wake up while we're at it."

Meowth was still opposed to this - he wished to have proper training. But the allure of relaxation and a simple conversation compelled him, so he chose not to object. He walked over, sat down, and reached for his bag, brushing his tail as he swung it around his back to his right shoulder. Virizion sat down beside him, still quite tall in comparison.

"So," Virizion asked. "What brings a dark meowth that may or may not verbally destroy somebody in the future like you to Labre Falls?" Meowth was about to reply, but she immediately cut him off. "Let me guess: you're looking for some kind of escape. Hoping to change your appearance and maybe reinvent yourself?"

"Those are some very quick assumptions," Meowth commented.

"Just a guess. That's what most people around Arbor seem to want, when I ask them. Can't blame them, what with Arbor's reputation and all."

"You mean the dyes?"

"Yeah, being the lead city in the appearance industry's bound to get you residents like that." Virizion smiled, as if fondly recalling a memory. "It's ironic, really, since the locals always say Arbor is a place you can just sorta...fade away in."

"Escapism is not the reason we're traveling."

"So what is it, then?" Virizion asked. "Searching for treasure? Getting revenge against some murkrow that stole something precious? Filling out some quota for your boss?"

"All of your questions are weirdly topical."

"It's usually a problem such as those when it comes to travelers of your sort. At least, the ones without the giant beard."

Meowth shook his head. "You're not going to guess my motivations."

"Fine," she said. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. It's just a common trend I see. You know, having a lot of things to say, but nobody to say them to. So whenever I meet a traveler like this, I can't help myself but ask a few questions, just to see if maybe I can make a thing or two better."

"That sounds familiar." Meowth reached into the Dwelling Bag and removed two objects; his emergency kit to further the conversation, and two apples bought from the markets of Kalmwa'er to satisfy their hunger. "I'm actually a medic and therapist myself."

"Huh. Well, go figure. I never would've guessed." Virizion smirked. "Just remember not to keep things bottled up. That crew of yours seems like the kind who'd be happy to help."

"I appreciate the kindness, but you don't need to worry about me," Meowth said, nodding his head as if affirming this for himself more than Virizion. "They have their own problems to handle, and they rely on me for support."

"So what? When you spend your days helping these guys with their own problems, it automatically makes your own life better? Is it just that simple for you—"

The question was left with no conclusion, leaving a contradiction lingering. Meowth interrupted the unspokenly hungry Virizion to silence her...which would have symbolized their compromising friendship if the latter had the hands to catch it.

"Ow, hey," Virizion remarked at the light blow to the head. "You did that on purpose."

"I will not confirm nor deny that."

Virizion was so engulfed in her laughter that she didn't notice the humorous smirk on Meowth's face.

"JERMY, IF YOU DON'T AVOID THIS OBVIOUS LEFT TELEGRAPH, I WILL STRANGLE YOU WITH THE ONE ARCADE CLAW YOU GAVE ME."

Clank! went the sound of metal against metaphorical metal. Jermy had blocked yet another attack from Terrakion with the guidance of ORB on the sidelines. Terrakion then tested his ability to keep him away, sliding the blade around. Jermy followed suit before finally thrusting the sun-shield forwards and making Terrakion stumble away. The pikachu took a step back and turned his shield aside. He charged up a lightning bolt and readied to fire out of his right hand.

"Do it!" Terrakion exclaimed, reaffirming his promises that he really, totally could handle being harmed by Jermy for the sake of the simulatory spar. He responded in turn, letting the electricity surge and kick up dirt at Terrakion's feet.

"Yes! All of those hours watching sharpshooter Robin Hood weren't for nothing after all!" Jermy pumped his free fist in satisfaction.

"JERMY YOU IDIOT, HE'S GOING TO—"

Terrakion burst from the dust cloud, aiming straight at him with the gray weapon. Jermy tried to raise his shield again, but he was too slow. He was slammed in the chest and knocked backwards.

"Yowch!" Jermy exclaimed. "That thing still has a kick to it…"

"Hohoho, indeed," Terrakion said, pausing for quick small talk. "My mistake, little one. I've gotten used to it bouncing off the hide on my chest like jelly."

Jermy's eyes shifted away. "Yeah, cool..."

"Alright, I'm going to try going full-frontal with my confrontation this time. I want to test your blocking skills."

"Sounds like a plan!" Jermy readied his tool eagerly. "Just...don't penetrate the shield."

"OH MY GOD," ORB remarked.

Terrakion leapt in with the most intense series of attacks yet. Swing after swing of his Sacred Sword came flying after his body. Jermy was getting accustomed to the weight of the shield now, but the tempo of the fight was almost overwhelming. Clank, clank, clank — Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Terrakion had the upper hand in keeping the rhythm and forcing Jermy to keep stepping backwards. When coming from the side, the Sacred Sword didn't cause Jermy too much pain - no worse than being hit by a plastic tube - but the attack was causing more psychic damage than physical at this point. Jermy got angrier and angrier as he got sloppier and sloppier - even when the shield was in the way, his arm was so frail that Terrakion smacked it away. Eventually, Jermy was backed towards a tree, which gave him an opportunity to duck out of the sequence. Once away, he put his hand to his bandana - it was damp with sweat.

Jermy felt his patience waning. "Can anything go more wrong, please?"

"Of course." Terrakion said as he swung his blade upwards. The blade knocked the shield out of Jermy's hands. It bounced across the floor with terrible clangs.

"Hey, I thought we were gonna practice with my shield!"

"Hoho, yes, but now I want to test your might without it."

"Er, is that a metaphor for something, or...?"

"Oh, no no, I meant I would like for you to strike me! You never know when that thing will be knocked away, so you'd best prepare for fights without it."

"Uh, okay then. Here I go..." Jermy fired another surge of electricity at the Legendary Pokémon.

Terrakion leapt aside, acting like it was nothing. It flew away, surging into a tree behind them. "Yes, yes, I know of your thunder, but do you have anything more physical?"

"...Physical?"

"Yes! Anything like a quick attack, perhaps?"

"I…can't run that fast."

"Hmm, do you know how to turn your tail into solid metal?"

"Wh-what? No! That's ridiculous, how can I possibly do that?"

"These are rather basic attacks...many other pikachus I have met knew at least qui-"

"Alright! I get it! I'm not the greatest fighter, not even that good of a defender either! Quit rubbing it in already!"

Suddenly, Jermy felt a nudge against his side. Angrily, he glanced down - only to see ORB.

"YOU CAN'T ACT LIKE THIS," he reminded him.

The pikachu sighed. He knew what ORB meant by that, but with each step on this journey, it got harder and harder for him to keep calm. But, for the sake of the goal...he had to. He looked down, defeated by his own self.

"...I think we should take a break," Terrakion said with the withdrawal of his blade. "I'll leave you to gather your thoughts. Good training needs a clear mind."

"I can agree to that…" Jermy kept his eyes on ORB. The reminder of his past, his present, and his future... "I need some time to think."

"Alright, let me get settled again...and...GO FOR IT!"

With Keldeo's exclamation, Joey once more tossed forth the Grasso. This was the fifth time he had done so - Keldeo had asked for him to strike a few times so he could assess Joey's strength. The weapon flung up, down, down - and whap! The vine harmlessly bounced off of the Sword of Justice's dulled blade. Had it been sharpened to its most lustrous form, Keldeo probably could've sliced the thing in two.

"Alright!" Keldeo exclaimed. "So I think I need to give you a bit better instructions. This is great and all, but I kinda want to see all of the things you can do, not just the same thing over and over again. So could you try something else?"

Joey paused for a moment, trying to figure out some way to change his approach like Keldeo asked. A few seconds passed before he came up with anything. He rolled the Grasso behind his back again, but this time, instead of slinging it up over his head, he swung it to the right, outwards from his body. It sailed in left of Keldeo and-

Whap! Keldeo dropped to the ground and once more let the Sacred Sword do the dirty work. Joey felt ashamed for thinking that just changing the angle would fix things.

"Okay…" Keldeo seemed slightly less enthusiastic about his student, making that shame turn to unworthiness. He stood up and looked at Joey with a neutral expression. "Anything else you can do?"

Joey had one more trick up his sleeve. He flung the Grasso up and let it open wide, ready to bind Keldeo's feet together.

"Um, yeah, this isn't really working." Keldeo casually stepped away from the opening, and the Grasso's circumference was left with no target. With it, the gray blade vanished.

Joey recoiled it slowly. "Sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have asked."

"Don't apologize! It's fine," Keldeo said. "This is exactly what I'm here for." He approached him warmly and Joey suddenly felt the slightest bit better. "So, a little advice. This thing - you called it the Grasso, right?" Joey nodded. Keldeo continued: "It's weird, but it's really cool. If you're up against somebody who's too busy with something else to notice you or they're just slow, it's pretty good for throwing pokémon around and stuff. But it's kinda got a big windup, so it's not always gonna work. If you wanna use it, maybe you should try something faster to do on the side?"

Joey nodded. "Yeah," he replied, not really having any strong response to Keldeo's claims.

"On that subject, I noticed you haven't been using any moves of your own. Like, at all." Keldeo cocked his head. "Have you...ever used moves?"

"Uh. Yes, I have… I'm no good with them, though."

"Oh, really? What were you using?"

"Water Gun. It didn't do anything when I used it on that Hoppip."

"Wait, hold on." Keldeo seemed like he was almost suppressing a chuckle. "You think your Water Gun is bad because it didn't do well against a Hoppip?"

Joey pursed his maw, afraid of where this was going.

Keldeo let loose a bit of laughter at Joey's expression. "Joey, there's like a hundred reasons why that happened and none of them are just 'you're bad.' That Hoppip was an experienced, hardened criminal, and even a grass type! Just because it wasn't effective one time doesn't mean you should never use it. That's just a bad mindset."

"Well, it's true," Joey said stubbornly. "The only time it did any good was when I used it against Mathew."

"You really think it's so terrible?" Keldeo put himself in a defensively aggressive stance. "Then I wanna see it for myself. Blast me with everything you have!"

"Fine!" Joey prepared to fire, his throat gurgling almost audibly. He fired a Water Gun, careful to keep his head steady and aimed at Keldeo. The colt's defensive position kept him in place, but he struggled to stay on his feet from the impact.

"Oh, come on! What are you talking about? That was great!" Keldeo exclaimed as soon as the attack was finished. "That's bound to knock smaller opponents over."

Joey refused to accept the compliment. "You're just saying that."

"Joey, who cares if I am?" Keldeo approached the totodile. "What matters is that you're better with moves than you think you are. If you wanna do great at anything, you have to start by taking pride in what you do, even if it's not perfect or it doesn't work out. Take it from me, it's so much better for you."

"Well..." Joey took a moment to consider. "A good cowboy always trusts his steed…"

Keldeo tilted his head. "A good what?"

Joey was tempted to go on yet another tirade, but decided his training was probably a little more important than that. "Nevermind," Joey quickly said. "Anyways, uh. Thanks for helping me out, Keldeo," Joey said.

Keldeo replied with a modest smile. "Aw, it's nothing, really. I'm just trying to replicate what Cobalion, Virizion, and Terrakion did for me. I was really worried I wasn't gonna be of any help, to be honest."

"You're really good at being a teacher," Joey complimented warmly. "I like your motivational speeches. They make me wanna keep trying."

"Well, alright then…" Keldeo drew his blade. "If you want to try some more, you should come and get it!"

Joey readied his throat and his Grasso intensely, feeling wiser than ever before.

The great stag kept his gaze on the tiny cubone trembling in front of him. With a swift motion, his head swung down.

SLAM!

Mathew fell forwards, the pain of falling to the hard rocks filling his head down to his knees.

"Another blow…" Cobalion remarked, as to disassociate the attack on the stranger from himself. "Are you certain you wish to continue?"

Mathew couldn't bring himself to get off the ground. Everything hurt, including his mind. He knew Cobalion dulled his sword to make this safer, yet it might as well have cleaved him in two with the suffering it brought upon his psyche. Though far from exact, its shaping brought back the faintest of memories to that damned night.

The anger within Mathew began to spike. He let out a frustrated grunt. "God fucking damn it!" With great force, Mathew threw his bone club directly at the stag standing in front of him. It plinked off Cobalion's side like it was merely a toy.

"Throwing your weapon is how you lose a battle..." Cobalion remarked. "I'm beginning to wonder if I should call this off. You have promise, but your reactions to the potential of injury are interfering too much to-"

In an instant, Mathew was yanked away from the feedback by his own psyche. A slideshow of his kitchen passed by in an instant, and then all he could think of was that baseball bat. Looking back up at his teacher, he saw no reaction. It occurred to him that all Cobalion saw was him tensing up for a moment - he didn't have the facts like Joey or Jermy or Meowth to know what was going on in his head. He had to explain the problem to him. "N-no. I-I need to keep going. It's - it's just that...I have severe trauma relating to the usage of blunt objects. So, it's not easy. I guess I should've told you that before you best me with that thing on your head."

Cobalion looked down at his pupil, his golden eyes grew with genuine concern in proportion with his own blunted weapon's dispersal. "I see...my dearest apologies." The blue stag's voice shifted from that of a hardened and cold master into something that sounded more warm and fatherly. "Would you care to talk about it?"

"N-no thanks," Mathew replied. "But I appreciate the offer. Y'know, the Meowth I'm travelling with is actually my therapist, so I'll be fine, really."

"That is reassuring. In my many years, I've explored a plethora of cases surrounding violent tragedies that could have been easily resolved with healthy communication. Territory disputes, abuse cases, even homicides…" Cobalion shook his head. "Ah, I am rambling, aren't I? In any case, you should be proud of your proactiveness."

"Th-thanks..." he replied, reflecting on the teenage boy who had helped him make that choice. Mathew pushed himself off the ground and retrieved his club. "...Alright, I-I think I'm ready to go again."

"Are you really prepared to continue? These practices seem unhealthy now that I have hindsight. You aren't in any condition for combat."

"I get that, but at this point I barely understand left from right here. If I want to get anywhere, I need to learn to fight. Even if I were to just stay where I was, fighting would just sneak into my life… again."

"So you have fought before?" Cobalion asked. "I was under the impression that you lacked experience, hence why you needed me."

Putting his hand to his chin, Mathew collected his thoughts on his experiences with combat on Solceus and Earth. "...A couple times. Never went very well though, except for when my friends were hypnotized by this weirdo… I guess I haven't been very good at this since I left home."

"Well… If you still insist that you can handle combat training, I will oblige, but only on the condition that we remove blunt objects from this equation. I will utilize my body instead of my Sacred Sword for your sake. I imagine that bone club is causing you problems, so I suggest you defer from utilizing it as well."

"What? But this is the only thing I'm any good at using…"

"Well, consider this an opportunity to develop an unusual skill. There's more to a fight than just the weapon you have in your hand, after all."

Mathew sighed with disappointment. "This isn't just gonna be a 'believe in yourself' thing, is it?" He asked.

"Well, believing in yourself doesn't work if the opponent also believes in himself, now does it? Why does everyone think that's all you need to be successful, that's just bad advice!"

"Finally, someone gets it!" Suddenly, he remembered something. "Oh wait! I forgot I learned Flamethrower! I'm a fucking idiot!"

"Very good. Moves like that one are self-explanatory, so I'll spare you the lecture on how to use it. Instead, I'm going to have you figure out how to use it, if you get what I am saying."

"I think so, but the use case seems pretty obvious, just wait for them to get into range, and then you grill 'em, right?"

Cobalion shook his head. "Close, but not quite. You'll understand in three… two… one… NOW!" The stag walked towards the cubone with steps so heavy they left imprints on the hard rock below.

Mathew took a deep breath, and blew. Wild flames of varying and ever changing shades of orange and yellow spewed from the small dinosaur's mouth for a few seconds. Once the flames stopped, Mathew looked at his target, only to see that he missed. Cobalion was out of range.

"Close one, but it's on you to figure this out." Cobalion called out as he began to approach from a different direction.

Mathew waited for him to get a bit closer this time. He blew again. This time, the fires were swiftly dodged by a sidestep. Mathew was completely thrown off if stags could even do that. In no time, Cobalion caught up to the cubone, and-

WHAM!

Mathew was kicked square in the jaw by Cobalion's hind leg. He was thrown several feet across the canyon. At that moment, Mathew was really appreciative that he wore a helmet at all times. "How do you even do that?!" He shouted.

"I am a Legendary Pokémon. I am capable of so much more than the average pokémon. In fact, if you can manage to land enough of a blow, perhaps I can show you a spectacle," he responded.

After a few more failed shots, Mathew tried a new tactic. Instead of trying to keep his distance from Cobalion, he ran right to him, taking a deep breath as he got close enough for it to be impossible to miss the shot, and then he fired.

"Impressive, you managed to singe me," Cobalion said, stumbling back but otherwise showing little response in terms of pain.

Mathew was awestruck as to how he could've even gotten out of the way of that, but his thoughts were interrupted as Cobalion increased his running speed. Mathew charged him again, but this time, but this time, he swung his head as the fire was released, sending flames everywhere in front of him.

"Impressive," Cobalion said. "Now, allow me to demonstrate the power of Legendary Pokémon!"

Mathew felt even more dumbfounded how this man was standing there, completely set on fire, yet talking and acting like everything was fine. He watched the stag leap very high into the air, trailing fire like a shooting star. He landed in the rushing river, dousing the fires that were dancing across his body. After which, he escaped the grasp of the current and oncoming waterfall the same way he entered.

"So the power of Legendary Pokémon is to...go jump in a river?" Mathew tried to quip.

"Don't try it."

The cubone took a step back and said nothing. Cobalion clearly didn't think the disrespect was quite so funny.

With a sigh, the stag continued. "Regardless, nice work, young one."

"I'm thirty-six."

"And I'm nearing two-hundred."

Mathew crossed his arms. "Woah. That's a lot of mobility for someone so old the senior citizen discount is just getting paid."

"I said don't try it!"

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry, sir. I'm just used to hanging around people who like my sense of humor."

Cobalion nodded in understanding.

"Anyways, so what are we going to...um…" Mathew trailed off, starting to blink erratically. He was just looking at Cobalion and suddenly blackness suddenly covered him. Where was his vision? Was he blacking out?

Cobalion, too, seemed to notice his strange behavior. "Erm, are you alright?" he asked with deep concern - Mathew could tell he felt responsible for him now that the stag knew the truth behind his adversity to combat.

"N-no, I…" Now his skull mask felt heavy. Why was this head of bones suddenly weighing him down so much? Why did he feel numb?

And why was...he...on...the...ground…?