TRAINER ID
Name: Daniel Ingram
Badges: 2
Account: 12,537 credits
Location: Route 112 (Fiery Path)

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

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

I soon learned that Owen was right when he said I underestimated the resilience of Pokémon.

In my mind, I had fire and poison-types pegged as two of the more dangerous types that should be avoided wherever possible. But after watching a couple of Owen's battles with the volcano's residents, it became clear to me that I had been a little overly cautious about just how dangerous they could be. At least, that was the conclusion I came to as far as Pokémon battles.

In reality, it wasn't much different from battling any other kind of Pokémon, and in a way it was very reminiscent of my time in Petalburg Woods. What it came down to was keeping your eye out for status conditions like burn or poison, but as long as you were properly equipped to deal with them they weren't particularly threatening. Since we were well-stocked on potions, burn heals and antidotes, it turned out not to be nearly as big of an issue as I would have thought.

Part of my revelation was undeniably thanks to how far modern medicine had come. I could only imagine how quickly things could become dangerous without the benefits of having highly specialized treatments prepared to treat our teams as needed, and it gave me a newfound respect for trainers generations ago who would have to rely on the medicinal properties of herbs and berries, or who had no choice but to tough it out and let things heal naturally.

When Bronson received what looked to be a nasty burn while fighting a Torkoal, it was incredible to watch how a simple spray of burn heal not only provided instant relief but exponentially increased the healing of the wound. The raw and charred flesh exposed on his shoulder almost instantly began closing up as the medicine did its work, causing his skin and damaged tissue to regenerate at an exponential rate. In a matter of minutes, all evidence of the burn had almost entirely disappeared and he was back to fighting fit, something that would have likely taken days otherwise.

Another reason everything was going so smoothly was that we were only encountering unevolved, wild Pokémon. I realized that I was probably a little too influenced by only having been exposed to high-level battles on television growing up. Fire and poison types could no doubt be extremely deadly once they reached maturity, particularly for a human, but what we were encountering in the upper chambers of Mount Chimney wasn't much different than any other wild Pokémon you might encounter while traveling a route.

Owen explained that similar to routes, the area's most powerful residents had surely laid claim to the more remote areas where humans rarely visited. He had no doubt that if we were to explore some of the side tunnels and make our way deeper, we could probably encounter a Magcargo or Camerupt. But with us not having masks as a safety precaution against possibly encountering more concentrated sulfur or a Pokémon like Zubat that was well-suited for navigating what was likely a complex web of underground tunnels, even Owen didn't think it was worth taking the risk.

After seeing Roxy and Bronson easily handle some of the volcano's residents and how effectively we could address any status conditions, I decided to join in. The first couple of battles were such an overwhelming blowout that our opponents ran away after taking one powerful water-type attack, so after a quick discussion with Duran we decided to shift focus on practicing him taking hits and brawling without the use of water. I even let him battle without instruction, telling him to improvise however he wanted to make the battles enjoyable and challenging.

What that turned into was Duran challenging his foe to start the battle off with their strongest attack. He started seeing if he could Protect against it, but soon it devolved into him taking the attacks head-on, which I reluctantly decided to let him do even though it resulted in him getting poisoned at one point. As it turned out, he was simply too resilient for most attacks to deal any significant damage that couldn't be brushed off in the short break between battles, even walking off a powerful Flamethrower by a Torkoal. After taking an initial hit, he would close the distance with an Aqua Jet before making liberal use of Vice Grip and Double Hit, which typically marked the end of the battle. The only exception was a Koffing that he fought, which managed to evade an Aqua Jet by floating to the side while Duran charged head-first into a poisonous cloud. Yet he won that fight too, as the Koffing wasn't nimble enough to evade a barrage of Water Guns and was blasted out of the air before Duran quickly finished the fight and and was treated with an antidote.

I wasn't the biggest fan of how Duran decided to do things, but he seemed to be having a lot of fun showing off his strength and undoubtedly getting valuable experience against two relatively rare types of Pokémon. He was also taking no longer than a minute for each battle, so I let him do as he pleased and he got to participate in quite a few without slowing us down much. By the time I decided he needed to hydrate and take a break, Duran's boastful challenges for potential opponents to show him their strength had turned into proper Taunts, evidenced by the fact that they stopped being able to resist themselves from rising to the bait. Though he didn't get into any particularly close fights, he did hold a look of deep satisfaction when I finally recalled him, clearly proud of how strong he had become.

I then swapped to Apollo, but only for a couple of battles before returning him to rest again. It was a similar issue where he was simply too practiced and strong for unevolved wild Pokémon to put up much of a fight, however he was not nearly as willing to toy with his opponents as Duran. He would Protect, Teleport, and Double Team as needed to ensure he didn't take any hits, and usually one attack was all it took to send the opponent running or knock them out. It didn't take me long to realize that he wasn't gaining much from the battles or enjoying them, so I eventually convinced him to go back into his ball to cool down.

With things going so well, I decided to have Orion participate in a few battles; a Grimer, a Slugma, and a Torkoal. As I suspected, his fur made the heat particularly difficult for him to handle being out for more than a few minutes at a time, so unlike Duran and Apollo I recalled him for a reprieve between battles.

The first two fights weren't too difficult for him to topple, which gave me hope for his chances at the gym, but he relied almost entirely on Swift since direct contact with either wasn't a good idea. It helped that he was especially motivated to finish battles as quickly as possible so he could be doused in water to help cool down, have a drink, and return to his ball for a break from the heat.

Pouring water on Orion to help cool him off proved to be especially beneficial as well; upon catching a couple of well-placed Embers from the Slugma while getting up close to use a Mud Slap, I was relieved to find that his damp fur mitigated a lot of the damage and only left a very slight singe, rather than a proper burn and charred patch of fur. Though somewhat robbing him of getting familiarized with what he was likely to experience in our upcoming gym battle, I was still relieved that he was protected from getting too battered and disheveled since we didn't have the luxury of being near a Pokécenter.

His last battle against the Torkoal wasn't so trivial. Thanks to how long the battle went on and being doused in fire a couple of times, his damp fur didn't last and he began to develop a couple of patches of fur that was burnt much more significantly. That combined with him panting heavily while looking far more miserable than Apollo ever had, halfway through his battle I conceded the fight and tossed the Torkoal a Pokéblock as a reward for winning, thanking them for a good battle. Orion might have been able to win, however his Quick Attacks and Swifts were hardly doing any damage against the Torkoal and I suspected he would faint from a mixture of heat exhaustion and overexertion before managing to knock it out, which seemed like it was going to take a while. His battles were much more even than Duran and Apollo's had been, but I wasn't about to risk his health just for the sake of training when he was clearly struggling to cope with the environment.

I made the decision to give Trapinch a battle against a Numel, being one of the few opponents it could actually manage to Bite and thinking it might have a chance against such a slow opponent, but was quickly proven wrong.

After sending Trapinch out and explaining where we were, that the rest of the team had all successfully battled for training, and that trying to kill was not alright unless we were hunting for food, I was eventually able to convince her to approach the Numel for a challenge. I decided we weren't quite at the point where I should try to give her orders, so told her to just do her best and to test her strength against an untrained and more fair opponent than Duran had been.

She was surprisingly nervous, a sharp contrast from when we had first met, but I suspected that it was due to not only the size difference between her and the Numel but also that she had begun questioning her strength after encountering my team.

If that was the case, it soon became cemented after battling the wild Numel. Bulldoze wasn't enough to deal any meaningful damage, and the Numel was far too bulky for even a Bite on its legs to do much. While plenty to crush small, brittle-boned Pokémon, I realized that I had overestimated its jaw strength a fair bit due to the note about it being able to crush rocks, so seeing no more than a gash left on Numel tempered my fear of how strong Trapinch's jaws actually were.

"I think I've had my fill of battles," I informed Owen as he waved farewell and thanked a Numel that wobbly hobbled away while chewing a berry, having predictably just lost to Bronson.

"Same dude. It was decent practice, but we're a bit too strong for most of the locals," he said as we began walking. "I bet if we went deeper we could get into some real battles, but we aren't equipped for that and I'd rather not risk getting lost. It's a shame too; I bet if we looked around in some less-traveled areas we could find a fire stone for Orion."

*Thud*

"Nah, I don't think Orion is ready to evolve. Last we talked about it, he had no idea what he wanted to be. Besides, I'd want to get him a proper stone, not just some random low-grade one I found on a cave floor."

*Thud*... *Thud*

"Finding a quality stone without excavating isn't unheard of. High-grade stones are expensive, you'd have to take out a pretty big loan for one."

*Thud*... *Thud*... *Thud*

"If there's one thing I'm not stingy about, it's investing in my team. I'll gladly take out a loan if that's what it takes. I do need to focus more on cash flow though. It's just been hard finding good battles, but doing telepathy jobs with Apollo has been working out pretty well so far."

*Thud*... *Thud*...

"Wow, two locals must really be going at it," Owen commented with a smirk. With so many Numel around, we'd gotten used to feeling the ground occasionally give a gentle shake with what we knew must be Magnitude. The first time I'd felt it had been concerning, but Owen was confident that the densely packed rock surrounding the lava tubes we were traveling in were more than up to the task of handling the tremors. Considering none of the quakes had been enough to cause any significant shifting or falling, I'd gotten more comfortable with it and had begun ignoring them completely, accepting it as nothing more than a feature of the area.

*Thud*... *Thud*... *Thud*...

"Are you sure those are Magnitudes? They feel a lot shorter than before… more consecutive and rhythmic," I asked, noticing that although the ground was indeed shaking, it didn't have the same longevity most Magnitudes seemed to.

*Thud*... *Thud*... *Thud*

"You're right, it is too regular to just be some battle off in the distance… And is it just me, or does it feel like it's getting stronger?"

*Thud*... *Thud*... *THUD*

"Forget the shaking, it sounds like it's getting closer," I said urgently in a hushed tone. "Listen, it sounds like it's coming from ahead."

*THUD*... *THUD*...

"Shit, we might have attracted some unwanted attention," Owen whispered as we stopped walking due to Roxy getting in front of us and taking a defensive stance. Being the only one completely unaffected by the environment, the Geodude was the only Pokémon we currently had out, as we had the rest of our teams resting in our balls for a reprieve from the heat and battling they'd just done.

*THUD*... *THUD*...

"Of course it's coming from where we need to go," I hissed as I released Apollo and urgently pointed ahead at the increasingly loud thumping, wanting to get a read on what was coming.

Curiosity. Annoyance. Resolve.

"I'd bet money on it being a Camerupt. It probably got word of strong intruders challenging Numel and came to investigate," Owen theorized as Apollo Teleported to my shoulder and clutched me, noticeably trembling. Through our link, I asked Apollo to read its mind to get a better understanding of what kind of mindset it was in, hopeful we could reason with it, but Apollo informed me its mind wasn't welcoming and he could only pick up on the emotions being projected.

"Whatever it is, it's annoyed and doesn't seem to be in the mood to talk things out," I commented, my heart beginning to pound. A light began to make itself visible around the bend ahead as the sound continued to close in on us, the ground rattling with each footstep.

"Definitely a Camerupt, look how bright that light is. I call dibs on battling it," Owen said with a confident smirk.

I bit my lip, feeling anxious as I wondered if having Apollo forcibly enter its mind would be uncalled for. I wanted to know its intentions more clearly; if it just wanted to test its strength in a friendly challenge, then battling it fairly was entirely reasonable and unlikely to result in serious injury. But if it saw us as intruders and was determined to drive us away or inflict harm, that would change the rules of engagement quite a bit. But considering the emotions that Apollo had relayed and the fact that his danger sense hadn't yet gone off, I didn't want to risk agitating the situation needlessly.

"Are you sure Roxy can handle a Camerupt?" I asked worriedly. Roxy had done quite well against Numel, but that was because they were much more reliant on their fire-type attacks. Even the one that had tried to use Magnitude hadn't done a very powerful one, but it was entirely possible that a Camerupt might even know Earthquake or other much more powerful super-effective moves against the Geodude.

"She'll manage. Bronson pushed himself too hard trying to get a good workout in, he needs rest," he said resolutely.

The Camerupt began rounding the corner, sauntering with heavy steps as the miniature volcanoes on its back boiled with a low rumble, lighting up the entire area and splattering droplets of lava in its wake. It was a massive and imposing Pokémon, slightly taller than even I was despite the vast majority of its size being allocated to its width and length. Judging by the force that each step shook the ground with, I knew it must have weighed at least five hundred pounds, probably more.

I'd never encountered a wild Pokémon that struck genuine fear into me before, but that Camerupt did. Even setting aside its immense size and weight, which was nearly impossible to do, the presence of spluttering lava from the volcanoes on its back had my instincts screaming at me that this was extremely dangerous, despite Apollo still not alerting me of it through his danger sense.

I realized in that moment that I had been growing increasingly complacent and dismissive of wild Pokémon. Orion and Duran were so practiced and trained that they could dispatch most with minimal effort, and Orion was quickly approaching that despite his very limited movepool. But in reality, we had only been battling the weaker species found along routes commonly traveled by humans, and it would make sense for the stronger, more capable ones to lay claim to areas where humans were less of a nuisance. I also didn't normally see evolved Pokémon in the wild, and those that I had were things like Bellossom and Swellow, which could be formidable but didn't hold a candle to something like a Camerupt.

Seeing the Camerupt take notice of us and slowly approach, its normally dull eyes taking on a sharply critical glare that sent shivers down my spine, it was immediately and terrifyingly humbling. Though I'd read and heard that being a journeying trainer was perilous more times than I could hope to count, I realized at that moment that I'd allowed myself to get somewhat cocky. Just because a Pokémon wasn't trained specifically to battle didn't mean it wasn't capable of posing a significant threat, especially when evolution was a factor.

As much faith as I had in my team, I wasn't certain that even all of us together would be able to stop the Camerupt if it truly intended to do us harm. Even with Duran's type advantage, I simply couldn't see him being strong enough to do any meaningful damage to a creature so massive and sturdy. Apollo was the only one who might have a chance, yet I suspected that even his most powerful Psybeam wouldn't do much more than piss the Camerupt off.

How Owen was able to stand strong and stare down the potential opponent with such confidence boggled my mind. Roxy was undoubtedly strong, but I just didn't see it being able to bring down something so powerful and imposing.

"W-we should r-run," I stammered, grabbing and shaking Owen's arm. I didn't have any illusions that we'd be able to get past the Camerupt and continue in the direction of the exit, but it occurred to me that we could likely outrun it and hide until it either went away or we could slip by as it searched for us.

"Relax. Breathe, Danny. We haven't done anything wrong, there's no reason for it to hurt us. It probably just wants to test its strength, maybe drive us from its territory. As long as we play it cool, we should be fine."

I tensed, glancing at Apollo for his opinion. He was fully trembling as he clung to my neck, clearly as intimidated as I was, yet he still hadn't alerted me to any danger despite the Camerupt nearly being within earshot of us.

Nervous. Afraid. "Powerful, but agree Owen. Not angry, no malice or bad intention. Don't think want harm us. Show respect, should be okay."

I nodded, taking a deep breath to calm myself down. If Apollo and Owen both felt strongly that the Camerupt wasn't likely to inflict serious harm on us, then I was going to trust their judgment.

"Hello friend!" Owen said loudly with a warm smile and a wave as the Camerupt came to a stop some distance away and eyed us. "We are simply passing through your domain; we mean no harm. I'm sorry if we've caused a stir, we just wanted to test our strength against some powerful fire-types during our visit. If you wish us to stop battling and leave, we'll do so without question. This is your land, and we don't wish to disrespect it."

Camerupt and I both eyed Owen, and I couldn't help but wonder if he'd made a mistake by mentioning testing strength against powerful fire-types. I could tell he was trying to be respectful of the volcano's residents, but I couldn't for the life of me understand why he would want to fight the Camerupt now that it was right in front of us in all its mighty glory. It was one thing to want to battle strong opponents to get stronger, but this seemed like a situation where it was best to know when you were simply outmatched and respectfully bow out if at all possible.

The Camerupt grumbled something as it glanced down at Roxy, who was stood firm and looked ready for a battle despite being outmatched. Whatever was said clearly rubbed Roxy the wrong way, as she responded by raising her fists and scowling.

Disappointment. "Little pebble best my kin? Great shame, wanted strong opponent."

I grimaced, deciding it best not to relay that message to Owen, although it ended up being entirely unnecessary. Owen seemed to get the general idea from Roxy's reaction, and pointed at the Camerupt challengingly.

"We challenge you to friendly spar, Camerupt. We plan on challenging the Lavaridge gym leader Flannery soon, and you're the perfect opponent to see if we're ready. Size isn't everything, so don't underestimate us!"

The Camerupt snorted, smoke rolling out of its nose as its volcano rumbled and spluttered. I thought that it was being dismissive and about to walk away, but that didn't end up being the case.

Amusement. "Do your best. Will go easy, try not to harm."

Roxy bellowed, pounding her fist against her chest before quickly glancing back at Owen and nodding, immediately turning back to face down her opponent. Roxy always struck me as a confident and courageous Pokémon, which was likely in large part to being a rock-type and being so difficult for most opponents to harm, but this struck me as foolish. I refused to believe that either Owen or Roxy felt like they had a realistic chance of bringing down something this massive and powerful, but perhaps they simply had more faith in the wild Pokémon not to overdo things and cause serious harm than I did.

Whatever the case, I knew that a battle was about to ensue, and I instinctively backed up to make sure I wasn't going to be anywhere near it.

"Start with Rock Throw!" Owen ordered as Roxy kicked things off, hurling large rocks at the Camerupt. If she were battling something her own size, the rocks had the potential to deal massive damage. A direct hit on somebody like Apollo or Orion would be devastating, and even Duran wouldn't have been able to easily shrug them off.

But the Camerupt didn't even bother to brace itself, let alone try to evade the rocks. In fact, it didn't so much as flinch as they slammed against it and shattered.

"Rollout!" Owen ordered as Roxy curled up into a ball and began encircling the Camerupt, who watched with a borderline bored expression. She picked up momentum at a rapid speed, tearing across the ground and kicking up rubble in her wake as she prepared to go in for one full-powered attack. Typically against smaller opponents, Rollouts would deliver glancing blows as it continued building speed and power, but I could tell that they intended to deliver one massive hit at center-mass against this much larger opponent.

Unfortunately, they'd never get the chance. Camerupt lifted a leg and slammed it against the ground with incredible force, causing the entire area to shake violently and large cracks to form in the ground as I struggled to keep my footing. Roxy clipped one of the lips and was sent flying uncontrollably, slamming against the cave's wall and falling to the ground uncurled and heavily damaged.

"Roxy! Don't give up, it's not over!" Owen shouted as Roxy shakily righted itself, glaring at the smug Camerupt. She roared in defiance, launching herself forward and into the air with her arms as she curled up, giving her an instant boost in speed for what seemed to be another attempt at a Rollout, this one directly at the Camerupt.

The Camerupt pursed its lips and spewed a controlled stream of dense fire in front of it, tracking and dousing Roxy in what had to be a Flamethrower as she quickly closed the distance. But she powered through and launched herself up at the last moment, trying to catch the Camerupt on the chin.

But it was far too predictable, and her foe was much too large to back down from a direct challenge. Camerupt lowered its head and lurched forward, slamming its head directly into Roxy to send her slamming and tumbling into the ground hard enough to leave a small crater in the hardened floor. I couldn't help but notice that the Camerupt slightly winced from the blow, but it was clear to me that it had done hardly anything in the grand scheme of things, and that Roxy simply lacked the size to cause meaningful damage.

"Roxy!" Owen shouted with genuine concern as the Geodude lay crumpled on the floor. I was almost certain that she had to be unconscious, but she proved me wrong as she began to move just as Owen looked like he was about to run over to her.

She had a dazed look in her eyes as she barely managed to right herself, and I could tell she was doing everything in her power to cling to her last remaining bit of consciousness. After considerable effort to focus on and face down her towering opponent, she let loose a roaring bellow of defiance into the air as she slammed her clenched fists on the ground in frustration.

I stood transfixed with my mouth agape at the scene, completely baffled by Roxy's persistence and fortitude, Owen's willingness to let things continue for so long, and Camerupt's display of raw power. I wanted to step in and put a stop to things; if Roxy and Owen were too stubborn to see that they were fighting a hopeless battle and only putting themselves at risk, perhaps it would be on me to be the voice of reason to try to talk some sense into them. Or maybe I could have Apollo try talking to Camerupt and convince it to refuse to continue to battle, since it had said it didn't want to hurt us and seemed amenable to letting us continue our journey once it was done investigating our disturbance in its home.

But before I could think of doing any of that, something special happened. As Roxy continued slamming her fists to the ground and roaring in frustration, she suddenly began to glow brighter than even Camerupt's volcanoes. At first I thought she was resorting to Self-Destruct, as it was extremely reminiscent of my battle with Leader Georgia. Although Roxy wasn't currently next to Camerupt, I worried that she was too fixated on dealing damage to her opponent to properly think things through or care about the consequences of using such a destructive move.

But it quickly became apparent that I was misinterpreting what I was witnessing, and that the energy Roxy was building up wasn't intended to be released. Her familiar outline began to morph; growing in size as another pair of arms and a new set of legs began to take form.

I'd never seen a Pokémon evolve before, but there was no mistaking what was happening. Roxy was evolving into a Graveler, giving the battle a second wind thanks to the surge of adrenaline and regenerative properties that famously accompanied evolution.

The process probably took between ten to fifteen seconds, although it was hard to realistically gauge the time when I was so entranced by what was happening. It was a strange phenomenon to witness; while the novelty and mysticism of the event made those handful of seconds stretch into what felt like a long time, it was sharply contrasted by just how much change was undergone by Roxy all at once. That kind of growth felt like something that should take multiple years to happen, and it seemed impossible for something so drastic to occur in a matter of seconds.

As the glow surrounding Roxy faded and her new form became fully visible, Owen stood in a mixture of awe and shock, seemingly speechless as Roxy stood up for the first time on her new legs. It struck me that I was seeing yet another quirk of evolution; that it left the Pokémon feeling good as new and completely battle-ready. All remnants of the previous scuffle were gone as Roxy stood strong and unwavering, pounding all four fists together and rocking her weight back and forth to get a feel for the balance of her new proportions.

Awe. Respect. Jealousy.

I nodded silently as Owen seemingly came to his senses, giving a manic laugh before pointing at Camerupt with a feral grin.

"Round two, Roxy! Show us your new strength!"

I grimaced, not at all surprised that he would choose to continue the battle but still unsure if evolution would be enough to make the difference. Although Roxy had undeniably gotten much larger and stronger, she was still roughly half the size of the Camerupt if I had to put an estimate on it. Not to mention the fact that she had zero experience or training with her newfound power, just more weight and strength to throw around. Although I didn't doubt she had become much more of a threat, I wasn't fully convinced she could emerge victorious against the Camerupt.

Roxy bellowed, taking her first few steps forward carefully and experimentally before quickly building into a run and leaping into a ball for a frightfully hefty Rollout.

As the battle started anew and I watched in awe as Roxy showed off the overwhelming increase of power she now wielded, I found myself largely numb to the gripping battle that ensued. My thoughts were consumed with thoughts of what I'd just bore witness to, and a burning question that I couldn't help but dwell on.

How long would it be before my team started to evolve, and just how strong might they become?

"Bronson is going to be so jealous! I'm kind of nervous for him to find out actually, but knowing him he'll just train twice as hard as he already has been," Owen gushed, still riding his high from Roxy's evolution as we continued our march with Roxy proudly leading the way.

I hummed in agreement, trying my best to be supportive and engaged despite not fully feeling up to it. It had been over thirty minutes since Roxy evolved, and ever since then he had been excitedly raving non-stop about how proud he was and the implications of what it meant.

I couldn't blame him, of course. I had no doubt that when a member of my team evolved, I would be just as ecstatic as Owen. But if I was being completely honest with myself, I was sort of sick of hearing about it, although I'd never say that.

I could blame it on multiple things; being emotionally drained from such an intense encounter with the Camerupt, being generally exhausted from traveling all day in the sweltering heat and oppressive darkness, having a mild headache from the constant smell of sulfur we'd been exposed to for hours.

But in reality, I knew deep down it was more simple, selfish, and childish than all that.

I was envious, jealous, and resentful.

I hated that I felt that way, but after some reflection and a little help from Apollo I knew it to be true. Thankfully, I had all the excuses in the world to recall Apollo and not subject him to my negativity; Roxy was more than capable of protecting us, Apollo needed more of a break from the environment, and I wanted some privacy to work through my thoughts.

I'd mostly come to terms with things. Owen had been so talkative and excited that he was basically carrying a one-sided conversation with himself, thinking out loud while occasionally giving praise to Roxy or asking if I agreed with him, which I had recently realized only required a simple yes or nod for him to resume.

I knew I was being a shitty friend; I didn't need Apollo or Samantha to tell me that. To my credit, I did make a serious effort to share in his excitement with him, the only problem was that I didn't have the same boundlessly renewed energy he did. After doing so for half an hour, my capability to give the conversation my all had dwindled. What started with me offering my sincere praises, congratulations, and thoughts had devolved into me being largely lost in my own thoughts while giving the bare minimum of attention needed to remain polite and supportive.

Thankfully, Owen seemed completely oblivious to my plight, for which I was extremely thankful. I truly didn't want to rain on his parade, I just couldn't bring myself to be fully engaged when it had become increasingly apparent that I didn't have to, and it allowed me to focus more on trying to resolve the lingering negativity I was feeling and desperately trying to keep hidden.

There was the obvious desire to finally experience one of my own team members evolving – to feel the sense of accomplishment that came from reaching such a major milestone and helping them achieve one of their primary goals in life. Innocent enough on its own, but whenever my thoughts shifted to Roxy's evolution and Owen specifically, I couldn't help but feel a bit of negativity start to boil up that I knew was unhealthy and unfair.

How could Owen face down such a daunting opponent so fearlessly? He was so sure that things would work out for the better, despite the obvious risks and having no information fed to him by a telepath.

Did Owen care more about getting strong than the safety of his team? He threw Roxy head-first into a losing battle, and refused to back down despite being absolutely thrashed with minimal effort. Samantha would probably think that something so reckless was something I'd have done, but in reality there's no way I would have fought in that situation. I'd have either tried to negotiate my way out of it, or took off running if that option was exhausted.

Those thoughts made the last thought that kept popping up particularly ridiculous, but I still couldn't help but wonder; why did Owen get to battle the Camerupt and evolve? We were both seeking experience for the upcoming gym, and that Camerupt was the closest we would get to finding a wild Pokémon that would come close to what the Lavaridge gym had in store for us.

Sure, I knew that I wouldn't have fought it... But what if I had? Would Apollo have evolved, or Duran? I knew deep down that I wouldn't have had the courage to send either into battle unless I felt like there was no other way, which wasn't the case. And even if I had, I highly doubt I would have pushed for them to keep fighting as long as Owen and Roxy had when it became clear that our defeat was inevitable. The only way I would have done that was if it was a life or death situation, but there were options.

I chuckled to myself, realizing that perhaps Samantha had rubbed off on me more than I'd thought. I'd largely come to terms with most of the ridiculousness swirling in my mind caused by seeing Roxy evolve, but that was one thing I found particularly humorous.

"What's so funny?" Owen asked with a grin as he nudged me, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Just thinking about what Sammy would say about all this," I admitted. "She'd probably have expected me to be the one to challenge a Camerupt, and I was just thinking about how different it is to be the one who wanted to avoid conflict when it's usually the other way around with us."

"Yeah, I could see your sister not being cool with me dragging you into that. Sorry about that, by the way. If I thought it was truly dangerous, we'd have run. I did make a promise to Sammy to help keep you safe after all, and I don't take that lightly. But I'd like to think I'm pretty good at reading and understanding Pokémon, and I could tell that Camerupt wasn't looking to harm us."

"With skills like that, it's a surprise you even think you need a telepath," I commented.

"I could get by without one for sure; my dad did, and so have countless other trainers. But the advantages are just too much to ignore. There's a difference between being able to know the general intentions of a Pokémon, and knowing exactly what they want to convey."

"True, but it's not a cheat code or anything. Apollo couldn't read Camerupt's mind, at least not without the risk of agitating it. All he could tell me was that it was curious but didn't seem to have any malicious intent, which you basically figured out on your own."

"Yeah, but I mean for your own team. I have to play a guessing game with my team each time they try to tell me something, and I'd bet there's plenty they don't even bother trying to relay. If you want to talk to your team, you can just cut to the chase and get answers straight from the Ponyta's mouth."

"Honestly, I haven't been taking advantage of it as much as I should," I confessed, suddenly glad that Apollo was still in his ball from when I'd been sorting through my thoughts. "We've had some successful talks for sure, but I still haven't gotten the hang of having productive team meetings like Vito mentioned. I'd like it if Apollo stepped up and took the lead more. He's improving in some ways, but he's still not quite the team leader I'd like for him to be."

"Bronson takes the position very seriously, and he's a natural at it. I got lucky. For a Ralts, Apollo seems to be unusually social. I've heard they tend to be rather timid until they evolve and gain some confidence, so I think he's doing pretty well for himself all things considered. Just give it time, I'm sure he'll fill the role more over time."

I nodded silently, not wanting to think about the topic of evolution any more than I already had.

"Say, if you ever want to borrow Apollo to help talk with your team, just ask. He likes helping, you should see how happy he gets during our telepathy jobs where all it takes is a little communication to resolve an issue."

Owen's eyes widened in excitement, "Really?! You mean that? I'll definitely take you up on that offer, if you're sure he won't mind. I'll make it worth his while with some berries or something too."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate that, but I guarantee he'd be happy to help even without them. But if you insist on giving him a berry or two, just know that he likes bitter berries. Sammy helped me figure that out a while ago, along with informing me that he had a 'gentle' nature." I said sarcastically while doing air quotes.

"Makes sense," Owen nodded. "If I had to guess, Duran is adamant, bold, or serious. As for Orion… dunno, harder to say. Maybe careful, timid, or bashful? I can tell he's only the way he is now because of how comfortable he is around you and your team, but I see little hints that he's a bit more reserved by nature."

I groaned, "You too? I don't get how people can give so much stock to pseudoscience like that. Orion is Orion – he's growing and changing every day, just like the rest of us."

"True, but there's a lot of benefits in understanding somebody's underlying tendencies and thought patterns. Plus, pseudoscience might be a bit harsh, since there's quite a bit of scientific evidence that points to it being a real thing. If you know Apollo's nature, you must know Duran and Orion's. Surely my guesses weren't too far off, right?"

I hummed in thought, "I think you were right about Duran being considered adamant. I don't think I ever got a clear answer for Orion, but bashful doesn't quite sound right. Maybe timid or careful, though. He might not seem like it now, but when I first met him he was scared of almost everything. Fire, darkness, water, tight spaces, you name it. He's come a long way though."

"Ha, called it. Damn I'm good."

"I'm surprised you believe in that stuff," I admitted. "There does seem to be something to it, but I refuse to believe it's as concrete as Sammy likes to make it out to be. I can get behind trying to understand personality traits, but to correlate that to taste preferences just seems absurd; as if there's no possible universe where Apollo behaves the exact same way yet likes sour foods."

"That's a reasonable way to see it, and I don't care strongly enough to argue the point. I just find stuff like that interesting, and it's hard to ignore it when so many influential people buy into… Dude, do you feel that?!"

It was at that moment that I realized I wasn't nearly as hot as I'd been all day. Although I had become pretty used to it and blocked the discomfort from my mind, now that I was paying attention I could feel a slight breeze brushing against me. I looked up, realizing that there were once again Zubat hanging from the tunnel's ceiling.

"Look up! We must be getting close," I said excitedly.

As if on cue, coming into view as we rounded yet another corner was some light unlike any we'd seen, quickly followed by a hole that revealed trees and the painted, vibrant colors of a sunset sky.

Owen, Roxy and I all took off into a sprint, running toward the exit in a mixture of victory and relief. After hours of traveling, countless battles, and a nerve-wracking encounter with a Camerupt, we'd made it through Fiery Path. While not the most scenic or enjoyable part of my journey, it was undeniably one of the more unique experiences I'd had on my journey so far, and one that I would forever be grateful we went out of our way to have.

But we still weren't home-free yet. There was surely some distance to cover until we reached the Cable Car, and even then we had to make our way down Mount Chimney to actually reach Lavaridge. But traveling through the arid desert and sweltering volcano were undoubtedly the most difficult parts of our journey toward Lavaridge, and with the topic of both evolution and the Lavaridge gym hot on my mind, it was hard not to be optimistic for what lay ahead.

A/N: Finally, an evolution! Just not for Daniel quite yet. I think at 55 chapters and 370k words with no evolutions, I deserve an award for slowest burn journey fic. I've gotten some comments that it is taking far too long for evolutions to start happening, but realistically Daniel has only been a trainer for nearly a month. It's definitely about that time, but with so many fics blazing through the early days and having pokemon evolve quickly so they can get to the power fantasy part, or just skipping it all together, I really wanted to give it some gravity and show the gradual progression. I'm enjoying the journey, hopefully some of you are too.

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

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