Next chapter MAY or MAY NOT come out in two weeks, got a few things that need to be done!

Hope you guys are having a great summer!

Chapter 30: Confidence

Kai was using Miraidon as a motorcycle as Aeon and Arven rode Koraidon together. Kai was thankful that he finally managed to get Tinkatuff to stay in her ball, because having her ride on his back sounded like an invitation for trouble.

As they rode, Kai pondered to himself. He wondered how Aeon saw him. Aeon never really reacted much to him. He always had that deadpan stare, even when he flirted with him. The only time when Aeon reacted to Kai's flirting was when the trainer decided to go off to fight Klawf alone.

But that was from anger and worry. He'd never seen Aeon blush, not even once at his advances. Maybe Aeon didn't like him back.

Maybe.

Kai sighed in relief, suddenly remembering that Aeon wasn't there when Kai was at his lowest mentally. That would have made him look bad. Now Kai could just…flirt with him without a second thought like he did before. But thinking about flirting was making him feel even more anxious. Before, Kai didn't think twice about it, he just said what he thought. His 'true self' was showing because he was feeling confident after a win against Klawf. His true self retreated when Aeon…Came close to him.

The thought of Aeon's face coming so close to him made Kai so embarrassed that his face went entirely red. He shook his head to take himself out of his daze and think back to his trail of thought.

Think about it, he thought. His true self was out after he beat Klawf. The fact that he was able to be 100% himself, even for a moment, was something worth noting. If he can do it around Aeon of all people, then he should be able to do it around anyone. All he had to do was think to himself, 'What would he say if he didn't think twice about the consequences and about who would judge him?'

Kai grinned to himself, thinking of the possibilities as he and came closer to Mela's Base.

Mela was checking her phone while watching her grunts fix the giant hole that was left behind from her fight with Kai.

"How… is Eri… doing…?" Mela mumbled while sending a text to the Calph squad, whose leader was the person she asked about.

She waited a moment before seeing a response.

"She's fine…" Mela muttered while reading aloud to herself. "She's a little sad that she became out of control again, and is vowing to not use Taruos again… Hm." Mela shook her head in disapproval and began typing.

"It's… okay… for…her.. To…use…it…just…in…moderation." Mela muttered as she typed and pressed send.

"Hey, It's Kai!" One grunt cried. Mela raised her head from her phone and turned around, seeing Kai, Arven and Aeon walking and making their way past the crowd of onlooking Team Star grunts.

Kai felt like he was truly on top of the world when the Team star grunts watched him in total awe, making way for him as he walked.

There were two goals in his mind. The first: look and sound like the coolest person in the base. The other goal: Flirt with Aeon. Just a little bit. He was able to do it before, he should be able to do it again, Kai thought.

He just had to not think about it and not restrict himself.

"Oh, it's you-" Mela said as Kai went face to face with her. "Hi, Kai. Who're your friends?"

"Don't worry about em," Kai said.

"What brings you here?" Mela asked.

"You know what I'm here for," Kai responded.

Both Kai and Mela exchanged smiles. A gust of wind blew between them and brushed their hair gently. Mela put her phone in her pocket.

"I'm sensing a surprising amount of confidence from you." Mela said. "Maybe a bit of arrogance? It's like you're a completely different person."

"No, it's just that today I don't feel like being a liar," Kai said. "Right now I'm only in the mood to only speak facts. Speaking of facts, here's one: I am going to fight everyone in the base. And I am going to win."

Mela started clapping and smiling. "I love it," She said. Then, she stopped clapping and closed her eyes, placing one hand on her hip. "I personally consider you one of us… but if you decide to challenge us…" Mela opened her eyes, revealing her determination. "I'll have to treat you like every other enemy and burn you to ash."

The rest of the Team Star grunts began to circle Aeon, Kai and Arven with their Pokéballs drawn.

"Arven, get going. Aeon-" Kai pulled his backpack off of his back. "Catch!" He cried, tossing his backpack to Aeon, who caught it without a second thought.

"Huh? Why are you giving me this?" Aeon asked.

"There's an egg in there," Kai said, "And I'd appreciate it if you held it for me, cutie."

Aeon narrowed his eyes. "...Your invoker armor should protect your backpack. There's no need-" Aeon's eyes widened in realization. "...Ah, I see," He said. "You already knew that your backpack would have been fine. You just wanted to make a pass at me."

Kai's smile deepened. "Yeah- I did. Whatcha' gonna do about it?"

Aeon fought with every last ounce of willpower to not react, but a smile, managed to slip out. "Just focus on winning, Dimwit," Aeon said.

"I'll be too distracted by your looks if you don't get out of here," Kai said, even winking. "So shoo, shoo!"

Arven and Aeon nodded, turned, and walked away together.

"Y'know what I think?" Arven said.

"What?" Aeon asked.

"I think Kai likes you. I mean, likes you-likes you."

Aeon didn't respond, he only closed his eyes.

'It's likely that Kai has an attraction to you.' Aeon remembered the words Professor Sada used.

There was no way to not notice that Kai had at least a bit of feelings towards him. Way too obvious. But this was all the more reason why he had to push him away. In the end, Aeon was a machine, and Kai was a human. Aeon didn't know if he could feel romantic attraction toward a human being, and in case he couldn't, he didn't want to hurt Kai.

Aeon felt as if he had to push him away. Even if he didn't want to. Especially now, with the professors' new orders to destroy his confidence. The best course of action was to remain cold and silent toward Kai's responses.

The thought of doing that made the android tighten his grip on Kai's backpack and sigh. Kai was such a good person, he didn't deserve this.

Kai allowed his memories to be erased for his own sake. Aeon hadn't forgotten. He could never forget. The thought of being ordered to do something so wrong to Kai made him tighten his grip on Kai's backpack even more. As he did this, he noted the scent on it. It smelled…like Kai. It was rather nice.

Arven's eyebrows raised once he saw Aeon's troubled, cold and visible breath leave his lips.

"Something wrong?" Arven asked.

"I…I don't want to talk about it," Aeon said.

Aeon took in another troubled breath through his nose, taking in more of Kai's scent, and breathing out with slight relief.

Arven raised his eyebrows, tilted his head and shrugged a bit. "Okay," He said. "But I'm here if you need it."

"Thanks."

Arven elbowed Aeon and smiled. "Especially for advice for Kai," The older brother said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Aeon groaned. "I'll pretend you didn't say that," He said, turning to look back at Kai, who was staring at his opponents with confidence. Aeon held onto Kai's backpack a little bit tighter, and smiled as his eyes shone with intense hope.

You'd better win, Kai, Aeon thought.

Kai pressed his wrist-watch like invoker and his body shined white before he became clad in armor. He then tossed his pokéball into the air above his head. The ball opened and out of it came Quaxly, who landed gracefully on top of Kai's head. Mela took several steps back. More and more team star members began to circle Kai. They all started activating their invoker armor and bringing out their Pokémon, doubling their numbers. Kai began to chuckle as he cracked his knuckles. The adversity was starting to get him excited, like Nemona's fighting spirit had rubbed off on him. Quaxly began to smile himself, Kai's confidence was contagious. So much so that Quaxly could feel a bit of a rush of power within himself. Quaxly's trainer had been through so much at this point, and to see him come out of it stronger was inspiring.

If Kai could evolve, so could Quaxly.

A blue-colored aura began to rise around the two partners. Even if the two weren't linked through the boy's invoker, Kai could feel that his Pokémon was beginning to moments, the weight on Kai's head became a bit heavier. What leapt down to the ground before Kai with elegance and grace was none other than…

Quaxwell, who made a pose before bowing.

"Whoa!" Arven cried. "Did Quaxly just…!"

Kai raised his Teraball above his head and crushed it, and a pillar of light exploded below Quaxwell and Kai's feet and covered them completely. The pillar of light exploded like sparkling fireworks as it exploded, revealing Kai standing alone, and Quaxwell gone. The Team Star members who now had their invokers on and their Pokémon out all gasped once they saw the weapon Kai wielded.

It wasn't a Katana.

It was a rapier.

Everyone watching was in complete and utter awe and shock.

"I-..!" One team Star member stood behind Kai shouted out. Kai didn't turn his back to face him. The grunt clenched his fists and glared. "I'm not afraid of you!" He ran after Kai, aiming to punch him from behind.

Kai's eyes shone blue. 'Flow' had activated. The instant the grunt threw his punch- Kai disappeared- and in the next second the grunt felt a weight push onto his back before an explosion of dust followed. The dust nearly blinded everyone in the vicinity, but once the dust cleared, everyone saw what had happened.

Kai was using his rapier, which had been thrust onto the now defeated Team Star grunt's back, as a platform to stand on like it was a pogo stick.

He watched everyone's look of surprise with his arms crossed. Kai's eyes were no longer glowing blue. The flash of Flow had vanished, but it didn't mean that Kai couldn't tap into its power again. He didn't know how to use the power of Flow at will, like Geeta, but that was okay.

He was still sure he was going to win.

Kai uncrossed his arms and leapt off of his blade, which flew off of the defeated grunt's back like a boomerang. The boy then landed onto the ground with a crouch before grabbing his rapier that flew to his hand.

"Someone's going to have to call The Nurse Joy in the area." Kai said, gliding his middle and pointer fingers across his watery blade before entering a battle stance. "Because that Pokecenter's about to get real busy."