TRAINER ID
Name: Daniel Ingram
Badges: 2
Account: 12,637 credits
Location: Mt. Chimney (Jagged Pass)

DANIEL'S TEAM
Ralts (Apollo) - Male
Corphish (Duran) - Male
Eevee (Orion) - Male
Trapinch - Female

OWEN'S TEAM
Makuhita (Bronson) - Male
Graveler (Roxy) - Female
Shroomish (Misha) - Female
Slakoth (Omar) - Male

"Come on dude, only four minutes left!"

I wheezed and coughed in a futile attempt to catch my breath, my hands resting on my shaky knees as I did everything I could just to stop myself from collapsing as I battled against lightheadedness and exhaustion. Though I was reasonably certain I didn't actually have asthma, the burning tightness I felt in my chest and the difficulty I was having taking air into my lungs had me wondering if there was a possibility that I might truly be an undiagnosed asthmatic.

"Keep going, finish what you started! If you quit now it's not me that you're letting down, but yourself!" Owen encouraged as he lapped me yet again as we ran circles around a small cluster of trees, not having much flat area to work with.

Deciding that I could live with letting myself down, I gave up my attempts to stay on my feet and allowed myself to fall to my knees before rolling onto my back and sprawling out, relishing in the instant relief to my trembling, aching muscles. Owen hadn't exactly been able to sit still and completely immerse himself in his thoughts during our morning meditation, so I considered my struggles with his portion of our new morning routine only fair.

Though my legs and chest were what currently ailed me the most, most of my body was in dire need of a break, which concerned me greatly because I hadn't even held morning training for my team, all of whom but Trapinch were joining in on the group workouts. Duran and Orion seemed to be holding up well enough, but Apollo didn't seem to be much better off than me.

While my team couldn't directly replicate most of what we'd done for the last forty-five minutes or so, Owen encouraged my team to get creative and helped provide guidance along the way. We started with stretching to loosen up, then followed that with lunges, pushups, situps, squats, and something called calf raises. My team was surprisingly eager to join in, both from seeing the effort I was putting in and from the inspiration Owen's team helped provide, especially after seeing Omar the normally lazy Slakoth participating, and managed to keep active even during the exercises they couldn't properly replicate. That wasn't many though; everyone managed to do a close interpretation of squats and calf raises, and Duran managed to do something closely resembling push-ups. It turned out to be far too easy though, so we ended up finding a sizeable section of log nearby for him to pinch and lift, giving him an adequate workout for his arms and claws. Much of Orion's workouts were focused on his legs, and he supplemented pushups and situps for practicing jumping as high as he could as well as leaping distance in each direction.

Owen said it wasn't so much about what specific exercises were done; what was important was putting in the effort, keeping your heart rate up, and trying to target as many different muscle groups as possible.

With Apollo having such a humanoid body, he was able to do everything Owen and I did. It actually served to motivate me to see him struggling even harder than I was; while I wasn't able to do much more than ten pushups before my arms began to fail me, Apollo barely managed to do one. He also found jogging to be an extremely difficult task since he tended to Teleport everywhere, but managed to find a stride that didn't result in him constantly tripping over himself after some practice.

Overall, Duran and Orion did exceptionally well with our new morning exercise session thanks to the natural athleticism that came with their battle style, while Apollo and I struggled. But Owen was patient and encouraging, doing a great job of not quite feeling like a drill instructor but still pushing us far beyond what we would have done on our own.

Despite that, I'd reached my limit. Though I wanted to push through to the end, I was convinced that if I kept going for the remaining four minutes I'd faint. I'd have easily made it the entire time if I was allowed to stick to a light jog, but Owen kept insisting that I pick up the pace and try to maintain about 75% of what I'd be able to do with maximum effort. He did allow for short periods of 'rest' as long as I kept a decent jogging pace, but it never felt like long enough before he would encourage me to pick up the pace yet again. As it turns out, I simply didn't have the endurance to maintain that for the full twenty minutes, especially after I was already exhausted from our previous workouts.

Seeing that I had officially called it quits, Apollo followed suit and fell to his knees panting while Owen came over to check on me, continuing to jog in place beside me despite having the added weight of Omar on his back.

"Calling it quits? You may have slightly overestimated what three-quarters of your maximum pace was," Owen stated relatively smoothly despite having fairly labored breathing himself.

I shakily raised and waved a hand before letting it fall limp again, signaling my defeat in a silent plea to not be made to talk as I panted in relief at my body finally getting a break.

"It's fine, you did good dude. Rest up, I'm going to finish out my time. I'll check on you in a few minutes before we break off to train our teams."

He resumed his laps, and after a moment I managed to muster up the strength to crawl out of everyone's way to rest, leaning my back against a tree as I finally began to catch my breath. Apollo Teleported beside me, leaning against me for support as we watched everyone continue their conditioning, with both Duran and Orion intent on keeping up with the effort Owen's team was putting in.

Four minutes later, Owen checked on me one last time as everyone took a short break before taking his team to the side for some individual training. Although I had finally managed to catch my breath, my body was still so exhausted that I didn't want to move, so I decided to hold my team's training where I was.

"I'm extremely proud of you three, you did great. We'll probably be joining Owen for his morning workout for the foreseeable future, so hopefully we start seeing some results from our efforts. Practicing moves is great and all, but working on our general fitness will help us get even stronger. Now, about our training…"

After some contemplation, I ended up having Duran work on his Mud Shot; while it was passable, it was by far the move that had the most room for improvement. We hadn't practiced it as much as I'd have liked before challenging the Mauville gym, and although I doubted we'd encounter a situation at the Lavaridge gym where mud would be preferred over one of his water attacks, I wanted to make him more proficient at it since it was his only ground-type attack. I tasked him with scooping the soil and infusing it with water to create his mud ball as fast as possible, and practicing shooting it as hard, far, and accurately as he could manage. He took to the exercise with enthusiasm, clearly intent on self-improvement now that he had a defined goal, so I left him to it after hydrating him just to ensure he didn't dry out.

I gave Orion his toy ball and had him try to practice Bite, but with not even a hint of miasma I was convinced that we needed Trapinch's help to figure it out. My guess was that there surely had to be some sort of trick to infuse dark-type energy into the attack that Orion just wasn't getting, and I was drawing a blank on how I could talk him through it. The only other member of my team who knew a dark-type move was Duran with his newfound ability to Taunt opponents, but unfortunately he didn't have any useful insight to share that might be applicable to Bite.

"Before you get started on something, I'll need your help with Trapinch for a few minutes," I regretfully informed Apollo, who simply nodded in acceptance. Getting Trapinch to a point where she could join our training without being closely supervised was a big priority I couldn't afford to keep putting off; we would surely be in Lavaridge before nightfall since Jagged Pass wasn't particularly big, and that would mark the half-way point of Trapinch's stay with us. If I was going to make things work, I needed to make headway sooner rather than later, and I needed to see if she could provide any guidance to help Orion learn Bite.

I sent out Trapinch, who seemed a bit unnerved to find that she was the target of both Apollo and Orion's attention as they sat beside me and watched her with guarded expressions. Although they weren't openly hostile, I could tell both of them still held some slight resentment about what had happened during our last training session, and they seemed to be ready to act at the first sign of aggression.

"Nice to see you again Trapinch, I was hoping you'd join us for some morning training," I said with a warm smile, trying my best to be friendly as I got her to focus her gaze on me. Although she had joined us during our group session last night where Apollo had helped to teach everyone about how to shut out psychics, there hadn't really been any opportunity for us to formally move past the recent incident of her trying to Bite me. I was intent on putting it behind us and continuing forward with a new understanding that I wouldn't touch her, and hoped that would be enough for us to get back to making the progress we had slowly been achieving before.

She nodded hesitantly, glancing over at Duran as he continued blasting Mud Shots at any and all targets he could find, which was mostly tree stumps and boulders.

"Duran needs to train for the upcoming gym battle, you'll have a chance to talk to him later if you want. We could really use your help with something, and I'd like for you to be able to join us in our morning training if we can get along. I was hoping you'd help teach Orion how to use Bite, then you're free to practice Protect. You're sort of an expert on the move, and he can't quite figure it out. I'd say it's a pretty fair trade, and I'm sure it would go a long way to help us all move past that little incident we had."

Trapinch considered the proposal for a moment before chirping a few times, ending by giving Orion a resolute look. Based on her demeanor I thought she might be refusing to help, but Apollo soon provided a translation that ended up proving me wrong, at least somewhat.

"Cannot teach viciousness. Need true desire to do harm, win at any cost. Not about actions, but intent."

I hummed in thought, intrigued by the suggestion. The more I thought about it, Orion hadn't actually tried to use the move in a battle, where the intent would surely differ; he'd only been practicing it on his toy ball. Perhaps he was focusing too much on the physical act of biting, and the fact that he wasn't trying to inflict harm on a foe was what we were missing.

"I think I get what you mean, that's actually good advice I hadn't considered. Thanks a ton Trapinch," I praised, resisting the urge to reach out and rub her head in thanks. "I need to work with Apollo and Orion a bit, so work on practicing your Protect in the meantime. You still have a long way to go until it's ready to block an attack in a real battle. I'll check up on you at the end of training, so do your best."

I stood up and began to walk away, giving Trapinch space to train as I gestured for Apollo and Orion to come with me. I noticed both give Trapinch a slight nod before joining me, and smiled happily as I saw Trapinch begin concentrating in an attempt to get Protect working again.

Though not the most elegant solution to our tensions, it seemed like the best possible outcome. Trapinch had a new move she was clearly interested in practicing, and it meant she would be able to join our training session with minimal supervision, making her feel more like a part of the team. I suspected that the hint she had given us for Bite helped get her back in Apollo and Orion's good graces, even if it was only slightly, though it remained to be seen how things would pan out with Duran.

While I was perfectly content with how that interaction had gone, I still needed to figure out how I could practically apply the new information and what I could get Apollo working on. I didn't exactly want to have Orion trying to Bite any of my team with the intent to cause harm, even with Protect that seemed like a bad way to train. The only solution I could come up with was having Orion go out to battle a wild Pokémon, but I didn't feel comfortable sending him out on his own. My mind went to having Apollo follow him to provide backup in case things got dangerous, and instructing them not to stray so far from camp that Apollo wouldn't be able to contact me through Telepathy.

I was sorely tempted to send him on a hunt, but he only had limited knowledge of what species were acceptable, and I didn't want to subject Apollo to that since he'd be accompanying. Though he had proven he was able to block it out, I doubted he'd be able to do that while keeping an eye on the proceedings to ensure Orion was safe. Last time he'd been meditating and using Calm Mind, and he'd need to be paying attention to what was going on. Besides, if Orion was unsuccessful and unable to cleanly finish the job, there would be a seriously wounded Pokémon that I wouldn't be there to finish off.

"I've got a unique exercise for you two," I started to address the two as I came to a decision. "You're both strong and I trust you to hold your own, so I'm going to send you out to find a wild Pokémon to battle. Orion, you're going to find a couple of battles and attempt to use Bite during the fight. Don't go for the kill, just Bite with the intent to inflict harm. It should feel different if you do it right, just follow Trapinch's instructions. Apollo, you're going to accompany him to provide support. Keep him safe, help him out if things get dangerous, and make sure you don't stray so far that you can't contact me. Hold a link with me and Orion, and keep me updated on how things go. I'm going to hang back here and do some research on my phone for new things I can start working on during training, so I'm counting on you."

Both seemed rather hesitant, but agreed without much fuss. I went to my tent to fetch my notebook before leaning against a tree, watching as Orion slunk off into some trees with Apollo Teleporting to keep a watchful eye from above.

With both Duran and Trapinch in view, I checked on them one last time to see that both were still enthralled in their own training before flipping open my notebook and pulling out my phone. It had been a while since I'd written down what moves my team could naturally learn, so I refreshed myself on the list and quickly looked up Trapinch, noting her moves as well.

I hummed in thought as I stared at Apollo's list. Truthfully, he knew most of what I expected he would be able to handle as a Ralts; Psychic struck me as being something that would come naturally after he evolved, and I still had no earthly idea how I'd teach Draining Kiss. Searching the move on my phone, it was described as 'a supernatural siphoning of energy from the foe through a condensed stream of fairy-type energy'. While it was true that Apollo knew Disarming Voice and was partially a fairy-type Pokémon, I still didn't know how I'd go about trying to train the move.

Another move on the list was Charm, but it didn't strike me as something I wanted to spend time learning. I suspected that as we continued fighting more experienced opponents, the effectiveness and usefulness of moves like Growl, Leer, and other psychological-based moves like that would become less useful. A battle-hardened Pokémon with ample willpower would probably be able to shrug off things of that nature, and I had found myself using those types of moves less and less.

Future Sight seemed to be far outside our reach as well, and the only way I could see us trying to learn Dream Eater would be to use Hypnosis on wild Pokémon and have Apollo toy with their minds, which struck me as a different level of messed up compared to what I currently had Orion out doing.

Something I must have glossed over due to not recognizing it before was Magical Leaf, but now that I'd seen Stella use it and was familiar with it I was immensely interested. Though it wouldn't help against the upcoming fire-type gym, or likely any gym since I doubted many had trees and shrubs around the arena, I found myself particularly drawn to that one because I knew it worked by utilizing telekinesis, something Apollo hadn't learned to do. In fact, I was a little surprised to see it on his list of naturally learned moves, but then again Future Sight was surely a blend of something like precognition and manifestation.

"Orion battled Zigzagoon," Apollo suddenly surprised me by sending through our link. "Quick win, not hurt. Think maybe succeed in Bite, but unsure. He want to try again."

"The Zigzagoon is fine?" I sent back, wanting to make sure we didn't leave a severely wounded Pokémon wandering the woods.

"Flesh wound on side, will be fine. Avoiding neck and limbs, being careful."

I silently nodded in satisfaction, "Thanks, let him find another fight to try it again, we have time. Quick question; did Stella ever give you any guidance on telekinesis? I'm thinking of having you practice it, if you're up for it."

Excitement. "We spoke of it few times, not much. Tried on my own, but hard. Want learn, good surprise for Stella."

"Then that's what we'll do. We're going to learn Magical Leaf, the move she used when battling you. That should be a good introduction to telekinesis, and I'm sure it'll open up more options later. I'll try to research it some more and we'll start working on it."

Elation. "Will learn. Start practice now."

"Just be sure you stay alert and watch over Orion. Keep me updated," I sent back as I turned my attention to my phone, feeling that Apollo's focus had shifted away.

Unfortunately, I hadn't seen much about telekinesis while reading through Telepathic Tendencies, but I supposed that due to it being an entirely different matter altogether. I wished that I'd have prodded Samantha and Stella a bit more on the topic, but Apollo was right that doing it on our own and surprising them would be fun.

A quick search gave me a baseline for the steps involved; clear and focus your mind, fixate on a single point, direct psychic power to the object, and clearly visualize yourself manipulating the object using nothing but your mind. The word 'visualization' was repeated often, leading me to believe it was one of the more important aspects to learning how to use telekinesis. Between our frequent meditation and Apollo's Calm Mind, I was pretty sure that we already had the first step of the process sufficiently mastered, so my guess was that it would come down to learning how to channel his psychic energy to it and applying proper visualization techniques to make his imagination become reality.

It struck me that learning telekinesis was likely to segway into Apollo someday learning psychokinesis, which should allow him to learn moves like Will-O-Wisp someday. I wasn't sure what other moves might fall under that category, however I did remember reading something about Gardevoir being able to create black holes and pocket dimensions, specifically to hide and protect their trainer in moments of extreme danger. Though by no means an expert, I was reasonably certain that telekinesis referred to the manipulation of objects that already existed in the physical world while psychokinesis was a step beyond, allowing one to more dramatically alter reality or even create entirely new things.

While I had no doubt that Apollo would become a more powerful psychic over time, especially after he started evolving, it seemed like a good idea to start introducing him to other types of psychic abilities as soon as possible. He'd also made it clear that it would help satisfy his desire to have something new to show Stella the next time they saw each other. Hopefully, he would be a Kirlia by then as well, but if nothing else being able to use some telekinesis and showing that he had learned Magical Leaf would be both endearing and impressive.

"Orion coming back, follow him. Bring Owen. Hurry," Apollo's voice suddenly rang through my head with an unusual rushed cadence to it. I sprang to my feet, quickly stowing my notebook before announcing to Trapinch and Duran that training was over and something had come up. Not wanting to spend any time explaining away their obvious confusion, I recalled Trapinch and instructed Duran to watch over the camp until we got back, a task he dutifully accepted without question.

"Owen, we're going! Leave one of your team members behind to guard camp with Duran, recall the rest and come with me!" I shouted toward where I knew he was as I pocketed a potion, a burn heal, and an antidote while making sure I still had my knife and pepper spray on me, not knowing what to expect but wanting to be ready for anything.

Orion came rushing through the bushes with a Quick Attack before skidding to a stop, barking at me with an urgency I hadn't seen from him. Owen showed up just a moment later, a seriousness etched on his face I hadn't ever seen as he directed Misha to stay behind with Duran and recalled the rest of his team.

"What's going on?" Owen asked as Orion barked at us one last time and began leading us into the trees.

"Not sure, Apollo just wanted us to come as fast as possible. Sounded important," I informed him as we did our best to keep up with Orion, who frequently had to slow down, look back to check how far behind we were, or bark to get our attention after losing us. My body ached from our morning workout as I pushed myself to keep the fastest pace I could muster, but Owen seemed to be in perfect working order and did a much better job of keeping up with Orion than I did.

It didn't take long for us to start hearing a rhythmic, heavy pounding sound coming from ahead that only continued to grow louder. Soon after, Orion slowed to a trot and began stepping lighter as he crept through the trees, and just as I began to worry that we were about to stumble upon a situation very reminiscent of the Geodude massacring the Whismur, Apollo contacted me once again after sensing that we were close.

Caution. "Approach slow, quiet. Not alerted to us."

"What is going on?" I sent back, desperate for more information.

"Found who Owen seeks."

I instantly relaxed, letting out a relieved sigh as I realized what this was all about.

"Come to me, have Orion do the same. Owen can take it from here, we'll stay back."

Orion turned around and trotted to my side, and Owen cast me a confused look as Apollo suddenly appeared on my shoulder a moment later. I beckoned for him to come closer, leaning in to whisper in his ear.

"Machop. You go in first, we'll keep our distance and watch your back," I informed him, instantly lighting up his face as he gained a feral grin.

Without a moment of hesitation he released Bronson, kneeling down and whispering to him for a moment before they both began creeping toward the loud banging sound that still persisted. I followed from a safe distance with Orion and Apollo, not wanting to get in their way or disturb them but deeply curious how the encounter would play out.

As we approached and the loud thuds grew even louder, we began to encounter some trees that had been completely split in half. It didn't take us long to figure out why either; upon locating the Machop, we watched in awe for a moment as it wailed on a tree trunk with alternating heavy punches and kicks, attacking it from all sides and angles with devastating blows that spent chunks of bark and wood flying into the air. Though the Machop was much smaller than I'd anticipated it was remarkably powerful, making me dread the thought of ever having to face any of its evolved forms in a real battle.

Keeping a safe distance as I watched the proceedings from behind some shrubbery, I watched as Owen and Bronson fearlessly stepped forward and approached. I mentally asked Apollo to keep tabs on the Machop's emotions, wanting to make sure what would hopefully be a fair, honorable battle didn't get out of hand or become too dangerous.

Frustration. Longing.

I bit my lip, feeling nervous but not wanting to ruin Owen's big chance at finally challenging a Machop. Still unaware of any of our presence due to its focus on the tree and inability to hear anything over the rattling of the tree's leaves and the echoing of its pummeling blows, Machop continued treating the tree as a punching bag while Owen and Bronson took position a short distance away, squaring up behind the Machop.

"Maku!" Bronson bellowed as it pounded a fist against its chest, catching the Machop's attention. It turned around and looked at Owen and Bronson with an expression I couldn't quite place, but it didn't look outright hostile so I took that as a good sign.

Hopefulness. Interest.

"We challenge you, Machop!" Owen declared as he pointed at the Machop.

Machop grinned, taking a readied stance and properly facing down Bronson. My heart began to race with anticipation and a hint of worry, but Apollo fed me feelings of determination and amusement, so I felt reasonably reassured things wouldn't escalate too far.

As strong as I knew Bronson was, I felt pretty confident that Machop was quite a bit stronger, at least in terms of raw power. But that didn't mean that it was a hopeless battle, and I had faith that Owen knew what he was doing since he'd been anticipating this moment for quite some time.

"If you win, I'll feed you and we'll be on our way. But if we win, you join our team and I'll help you become stronger. I'm going to be the future gym leader of Dewford, and a fighting-type specialist. You'd make a great addition to the team, assuming you prove that you can keep up with us," Owen taunted with a smirk.

"Macho!" the Machop bellowed, slamming its fists together as its muscles bulged.

Bronson responded in kind, slamming a foot on the ground and taking a widened stance as it raised its palms, ready for a battle.

"Since we issued the challenge, you can have the first move," Owen declared, "Make it count."

"You owe me one. Orion and Apollo, more specifically."

Owen couldn't contain his beaming smile as we resumed our journey with his newly captured Machop marching by his side, having an animated post-battle discussion with Bronson who had immediately become best friends with the Pokémon after his narrow victory.

I had been correct in my estimation that the Machop was stronger than Bronson, and the few blows that he managed to land would have likely been enough to knock out most of my team in one hit, except maybe Duran. Machop hit like a train, and each blow that landed was enough to launch the normally sturdy Bronson off his feet and send him tumbling. But Bronson was persistent, and as it turns out he had the added advantage of being much more nimble than the Machop.

To call the battle a slugfest would be an understatement. The entire thing was fought in close quarters and consisted of a series of heavy blows, with the only difference being that Bronson put in a clear effort to dodge and parry out of pure necessity. Machop on the other hand did no such thing and was perfectly content to take a palm to the chin if it meant he could throw out another Pound, Low Kick, or the occasional Karate Chop.

In my personal opinion, the Machop would have won had it taken a more well-balanced approach to the battle. Its power, stamina, and endurance all seemed to outshine Bronson's, which was no easy feat, however it simply lacked the agility and unpredictability that Bronson brought to the table. Though the beginning of the fight seemed to heavily favor the Machop, Bronson seemingly picked up on the Machop's tells and began doing a fantastic job of predicting what move was coming and either countering or dodging it. By the end, it was as though Bronson had read through the entire book that was Machop and figured out all its techniques, and while it took some time to wear his opponent down he soon emerged victorious when the Machop failed to get back to its feet.

I was especially stricken by the camaraderie shown after the fight was over. Owen and Bronson congratulated the Machop, helped it to its feet, pat it on the back while praising its strength and efforts, and spritzed it with a potion while properly introducing themselves and confirming that the Machop was willing to join them on their journey, which didn't take any convincing.

Ever since that moment, Bronson and the Machop have been nearly inseparable. Even after we returned to camp, had breakfast and held quick introductions, Bronson and Machop had been in exceptionally high spirits and frequently seemed to joke with one another, laugh, and give brotherly punches on the arm.

As surprised as I was by how well-received Machop was to Owen's team, I was particularly taken aback when Owen declared a new name for Machop as we began packing up to leave. My typical manner of naming Pokémon was to wait until they got integrated and I had a better feel for their personality, but Owen seemed to already have a name lined up long before ever even meeting the Machop.

Apparently, Bruno was a legendary fighting-type specialist who had served as a member of the Elite Four in Kanto for many years, and he declared that Machop showed all the promise of one day living up to the weight that name carried. He made a point to emphasize the weight that being bestowed with the name held, but Machop seemed overjoyed to be given such high expectations to live up to and accepted it happily.

In any case, spirits were exceptionally high as we continued our descent down Mount Chimney. Though we'd left later than planned because of the unexpected turn of events, we were still on pace to make it to Lavaridge well before the sun set, and with my body as sore as it was I was ecstatic thinking of the hot shower and comfortable bed that awaited me at the Pokécenter.

"Dude, I owe you way more than just one favor. What you and your team did for me today was huge," Owen said while glancing down at Bronson and Bruno having a lively conversation at his side. "Forget about buying dinner to pay me back for the Cable Car, dinner is on me. I'll find a better way to pay you back, but that's the last I can do for now."

"I hope Lavaridge isn't too far off. My legs are killing me," I groaned.

"You better not use that as an excuse to skip out on evening training, or joining me in the morning. You quit on me early today, you can't make a habit of that if you seriously want to improve," Owen remarked.

I sighed, honestly dreading the idea of doing anything other than eating and relaxing once we got to Lavaridge. But Owen was right; just because I was feeling a little sore didn't mean I could afford to slack off. We had a gym battle coming up soon, and I doubted a small, remote town like Lavaridge would have the same wait time that Mauville had for how long I'd have to wait to issue a challenge.

"I'm not trying to slack off, but I also don't want me or my team to be too worn out for our gym challenge. You don't skip the workout the day of a gym battle?"

He grinned, "Nope! It gets the blood pumping and is a great warmup. Just don't go too hard and make sure there's at least an hour long break afterward. Man, I can't wait to take on Flannery now that I have Bruno on my side!"

"You're really going to challenge her with Bruno? He's strong, but isn't that a little… premature?" I said delicately, acutely aware that Bruno and Bronson had ceased their conversation and were now listening to ours with interest.

"You saw what he can do, he'll be more than ready after a little training. Besides, he's got a way better shot than Misha or Omar. I wouldn't feel comfortable using either of them. Bear in mind that this will be for my fourth badge, and as good of a battler as Misha is she'd be at too much risk going against stronger fire-types."

"Fair enough. I'm honestly a bit worried about Orion," I admitted as I gently ran my fingers through his patchy and uneven fur as he slept in my pocket.

"You should use him first. Gym leaders always send out their weakest member first, just to feel out the opponent. The chances of him getting seriously burned will be a lot lower than if you use him later on," Owen suggested.

I nodded in agreement, but before I could respond I felt a familiar pressure in the back of my head. I could instantly tell it was a psychic presence trying to get in, but thankfully I had my mind closed off to all but Apollo, who I could feel pushing the presence away with extreme prejudice.

I glanced around, looking for the source as I saw Owen, Bronson, and Bruno all holding their heads and wincing in pain. Thankfully I had Duran recalled so I could more easily maintain my balance on the occasionally uneven path, but Orion's ears were tucked back and he was laying on the ground with his head buried between his paws as he trembled.

"Shit," I muttered as I quickly recalled him. "Apollo, can you do anything?"

"Cannot help others, but will find cause," Apollo sent back as he vanished from my shoulder and I turned to tend to Owen.

I grabbed his shoulder and shook him, "Recall them! Apollo is trying to stop it, but it might take a minute."

He clumsily rifled through his pockets with shaky hands, and after a few excruciatingly long seconds he managed to recall them. As soon as he did he fell to his knees, clenching his head and rocking back in forth in obvious pain.

"Make it stop!" he yelled out desperately.

"Remember what I taught you; your mind is yours. It'll be hard to close off since it's already in, but it's possible with enough willpower and focus!" I tried to coach him as he grunted and groaned, trying his best but in too much pain to properly focus.

Although I had taught him the basics of how to politely close your mind off to psychics, he hadn't gone through the same practice that Stella had put me through to make it so that it was a subconscious defense he had on by default. It was one thing to keep a presence out of your mind if you were prepared, but another entirely to expel one that was already in. Considering the fact that whatever was causing this had been able to hit so many targets with such powerful psychic energy all at once, I didn't suspect it would be trivial for him to push the presence away now that it was running rampant in his mind.

I jolted as a deep howl rang through the air that didn't sound too far away, and Owen suddenly stopped clenching his head and sat up slowly with a pained expression, looking around.

"It stopped… What the hell was that? And did you hear a howl, or was that in my head?" he asked worriedly.

"I did. Did the psychic stop on its own, or did you expel it?" I asked confusedly.

"I'm pretty sure it just stopped," Owen responded as he shakily got to his feet. "I tried pushing it out, but I just couldn't."

"Apollo, what's going on," I asked through our link, feeling increasingly uneasy about the situation.

Reluctance. "We should go, quick. You won't like."

He reappeared on my shoulder, looking rather uneasy. Some nearby bushes rustled, and I watched in confusion as a pair of Spoink suddenly sprang out and bounded past us at a breakneck pace, not even noticing our presence as they fled in a panic.

"Should go," Apollo repeated urgently, gripping me tightly and pointing ahead.

"What's going on?" Owen asked anxiously as he reached into his pocket to grab a Pokéball.

"I don't know! Apollo, what is happening?" I asked again, beginning to feel frustrated that it felt like he was purposely keeping me in the dark.

Hesitance. "Tell later. Go. Trust."

As it turned out, we were too late to retreat. Another howl rang out, and I heard heavy footsteps rapidly approaching us accompanied by the sound of snapping as something big rushed towards us, tearing through the trees.

Owen quickly released Roxy, a serious expression on his face as he pointed toward the source of the sound and Roxy took a ready stance. Not even a second later, a massive canine lept out of the treeline and into view, skidding to a halt the moment as it locked eyes with us and let out a warning bark.

My heart pounded in my chest as I suddenly found myself staring down an Arcanine, and an incredible specimen of one at that. Though I'd never seen one before in person, I was fairly certain that most Arcanine stood only slightly taller than me, yet this one was at least seven feet tall and much more full-bodied than I remembered them being.

"That's not wild," Owen muttered to me as I slowly reached for Duran's Pokéball, not wanting to make too sudden of a movement but feeling extremely outmatched. "Look at its fur, it was recently groomed."

"Can't be the Growlithe we met with that guy a couple of days ago, right?" I asked as the Arcanine stared us down with a watchful eye, growling in subtle warning. It didn't strike me as necessarily hostile, but by its stance and general demeanor it seemed to be sizing us up.

"Doubt it's the same one, unless he evolved it in record time and rode straight up the mountain. Either way, where's the damn trainer? A fight would be deadly, especially if it gets past Roxy," Owen hissed.

It sniffed the air in our direction, its eyes narrowing as it seemed to focus on me. It let loose a low growl as its fur bristled as it crouched in a readied position, making me immensely worried it was moments away from attacking.

Contempt. Resentment.

"Can you read its thoughts?" I sent Apollo with a desperate plea.

"Yes. Recognize you, familiar scent. Remembers shame, disgrace."

My heart sank as I began to put the pieces together, and my deepest fears were confirmed a moment later when someone I had hoped I'd never see again emerged from where the Arcanine had just come from.

"Danny boy! Long time no see!" the slightly older boy greeted with a familiar, smug grin as he stood beside the Arcanine and put a hand on its side, calming it slightly.

Owen slightly relaxed his posture, glancing confusedly between me and the newcomer.

"Danny, is this guy a friend of yours?" Owen asked with uncertainty, clearly trying to parse out if he should stay on guard since the trainer and his Arcanine were giving us mixed signals.

"We're… acquaintances," I answered diplomatically, feeling incredibly on edge but not wanting to provoke the situation. I loosened my posture and released my grip on Duran's Net Ball, putting my faith in Apollo to give me a heads up if things were about to turn dangerous but dearly hoping it could be avoided.

"Aww, don't be like that! We're old buddies, right? Introduce me to your friend and let's catch up," he called out.

I sighed, hating everything about the situation but relieved that he didn't seem to be as openly hostile as I would have expected. There was undoubtedly some subtle taunting in his tone and demeanor, but if playing nice meant that I could avoid a scuffle with an Arcanine, I was willing to go along with it for now.

"Owen, meet Preston. Preston Livingston."

A/N: I hadn't originally planned on bringing Preston back in any serious way, but he just so happens to fit perfectly into what I have coming up and his return presents some interesting opportunities. While I won't spoil anything, I'll note that this marks a turning point in the story and I'm very excited for some of the upcoming chapters to go out.

As a quick reminder, new chapters are posted on Thursdays at no specific time but typically later in the day. I've given up on my earlier attempts to push out two a week, but one every week is very sustainable. Sorry, I tried.

Shoutout to Trix and Feanix for beta-reading this chapter.

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