"You've got this Apollo! Try again, but this time hold it!" I cheered encouragingly, prompting Apollo to give another attempt at Double Team.

A second Ralts appeared beside Apollo; a near identical clone, but only briefly. A moment later it flickered out, and Apollo slouched in both exhaustion and disappointment.

"That was great buddy, you're getting really close. A little more practice and you'll have it." I reassured him, rubbing the side of his helmet as I offered my support. That seemed to brighten him up, and I picked him up and carried him over to the base of our favorite tree for a well-deserved break.

I noted our progress in my notebook while Apollo drank some water, relaxing in the shade.

"We're nearly got the clone part down, but a true Double Team should allow you to take the place of one of your clones, at least I'm pretty sure. I know that lots of Pokémon who use Double Team are extremely fast, and their clones are actually afterimages from them moving too fast to see. In your case, yours seem to be more like illusions, so you may need to try incorporating a Teleport at the same time as a Double Team, creating a clone where you were. I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure how it works, so let's not worry about that quite yet. Just focus on creating and holding your clone first, but try to keep in mind that the end goal is for you to be able to create clones and take the place of one without the opponent noticing. I'll leave the specifics of it up to you and just let you know how it looks from my end."

Apollo was just staring at me, and I tilted my head curiously. "What's up? Did I say something confusing?"

After a moment, a slow shake of the head. Amazement. Uncertainty.

I chuckled, "It sounds really impressive to you now, but it'll be a piece of cake for you in no time, I promise. I think i've told you this before, but you have a lot of potential to get strong, both as a Ralts but also as Apollo Ingram. Your species is among the elite, and your drive to improve is going to make you an absolute nightmare to fight against after a month or two of training. A simple Double Team will be nothing compared to what you can really do. Trust me on this, you'll see." I declared with a devilish grin.

"Hey, while you're resting, let's test something that won't exhaust you, alright? I want to practice your telepathy a bit, if that's alright with you?" I asked, causing Apollo to nod in agreement.

"Great. I'm going to think of something, I want you to try to relay it back to me." I said as I closed my eyes, focusing my thoughts. I thought about tomorrow; about going west for the first time and eventually seeing the ocean. I thought about standing on the edge of an endless expanse of water, looking out into a sparkling sea, and the calmness of watching the rolling waves.

Calm. Tranquility. Humility.

I opened my eyes, looking at Apollo and giving an approving nod. "That's the feeling I felt, but do you know what I was thinking of more specifically?"

Hesitation. Uncertainty.

"As your telepathy grows, you should be able to see my thoughts more specifically. I want you to focus hard; try to picture what I see in my mind.

To my surprise, Apollo looked uncomfortable. He looked down at the grass, and his hands and feet fidgeted.

"Is this about our talk with Norman? He was talking about other people, not me. You have full permission to be in my mind, alright? Don't worry about hurting me or invading my privacy, I can take it. Just do your best for me." I encouraged him, giving him a warm smile. He hesitantly nodded and I closed my eyes again, thinking of the same scene.

After a moment, I felt something odd. It was like a feather was gently tickling the back of my head, and I instinctively snapped my eyes open and brought a hand to my head, rubbing to make sure nothing was there as I glanced behind me.

The feeling was gone as suddenly as it had appeared, and I saw nothing that could have caused it. I glanced down at Apollo, who seemed taken aback by my reaction, and realized the feeling had to have been telepathy.

"That was my fault, I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting to actually feel anything, and it caught me off guard. You did great, I was able to feel you brush against my mind. This time I'll be more ready for it and let you in, alright?" I said encouragingly, realizing that I'd either severed any attempt at a telepathic link, or that he had simply stopped when he saw my knee-jerk reaction.

He nodded hesitantly, and we tried again. I pictured myself in the same scene once again, standing on the water's edge and looking out at a sprawling sea. I once again felt the faintest tickle sensation on the back of my head, but this time I didn't react and did my best to keep my mind open and inviting. The feeling held for a second or two as I focused on the scene, but it soon disappeared and I opened my eyes to see Apollo wiggling excitedly.

"Got a bit more than emotions this time? Can you try to relay what you sensed?" I asked, giving a huge grin.

He nodded, pointing to my canteen before lifting both arms up and bringing them out to his sides in a big arc, and I instantly understood he was depicting the ocean.

I scooped him up in my arms and held him up, twirling him and cheering in unrestrained glee.

"You did it Apollo! You sensed what I was thinking! This is huge! I'm so proud of you!" I congratulated him as I held him high up in triumph, still spinning on the spot.

Uneasy. Nauseated.

I flushed in embarrassment at my outburst, realizing that I was making him dizzy as I set him down. "Sorry buddy, I just got a little excited. I'll try not to do that." I apologized, rubbing the back of my head a bit sheepishly. It took him a moment to regain his balance, but he didn't seem to hold it against me.

"I want you to practice that as much as possible, but only with me. If you really need to, you can practice it on wild Pokémon we might run across, but don't use it on any other humans or their Pokémon friends, alright? If I understood Norman correctly, eventually it'll be something that you do without even realizing, but for now let's keep the practice between us and wild Pokémon."

Understanding. Respect.

"That's right. Now, I want to try something else. Since you seem to be able to read my thoughts, can you try sending me yours? Anything other than an emotion."

Apollo nodded slowly and seemed to focus. I closed my eyes and tried my best to open up my mind and make it inviting. I honestly didn't know if it mattered at all, but after the initial test I had gotten the sense that I was able to push away the presence.

I felt the familiar tingle and remained calm as I tried to let it in. I kept my mind blank and the sensation remained, but I couldn't really notice anything happening. After a few seconds the sensation vanished, and I saw Apollo slump a bit. I pet his head affectionately, "It's alright, we've made huge progress. You'll get there soon, just keep practicing alright? Let me know if you feel like there's anything I can do differently too, you're going to have to take the lead on the telepathy training since it's so foreign to me, so don't be afraid to try new things or let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

Apollo nodded, and we resumed training after another short break. Telepathy didn't seem to wear him out the same way that using his other moves did, but there was still some level of fatigue there, likely all mental. I didn't doubt that it would become a non-issue in no time, but at such an early stage it clearly took considerable effort.

I briefly considered having Apollo practice Growl, as it was something we had never really tried to improve. In the end though, I decided to just have him focus on Disarming Voice again, since I felt like we still needed to work on our offense and I doubted that Growl would be something we used much.

I asked Apollo to focus on reducing the time it took to use it, instructing him to take a smaller, quicker breath in preparation as opposed to the deep breath he typically did. I had him rapid-fire it as fast as he could into various bushes around the clearing, finding that he could do them consecutively with just over a second between each; equal parts taking in breath and releasing.

As I wrote down notes on my observations of his progress, I realized that perhaps there was a strategy we could utilize to further increase the speed of the attack. I had noticed that every time he used the move he released all of his breath, and he was simply changing how much he took in. I didn't say anything yet and allowed Apollo to keep going with this drill, since all practice was good practice and I was sure that this strategy would have its uses.

What I was envisioning was getting Apollo to a point where he could use Disarming Voice, quickly Teleport a few paces to the side and instantly release another Disarming Voice, repeating the process as fast as possible to keep him from being hit while chipping away at our opponent. We were quite a ways away from being able to pull it off, but I was beginning to think the only way it would work is if he took one deep breath and then released quick, partial bursts with the same breath. I decided that I should have him try that during our next Disarming Voice session, but let him keep doing what he was doing for now. We were both learning, and I didn't see any harm in trying things out just for the sake of practice and gaining familiarity. We'd also need to do more work on Teleport to fully implement my idea anyways, but I wanted to start building the foundations for it.

Time flew by, and before I knew it the sun was beginning to set. We had spent much longer in Petalburg than I had anticipated, and the day's training was filled with plenty of breaks. I did note that they seemed to slowly be getting less frequent as his stamina grew, but they were still a large part of our time. As I decided to call training for the night, I noticed that his quick bursts seemed to be reasonably strong and had a slightly recognizable pink distortion, a testament to the progress he was making. I couldn't wait to see how strong his full strength would be after a long rest, and was excited to try out my idea of using it multiple times in one breath.

The rest of the night was rather uneventful, mostly consisting of lounging around and trying out some of my new supplies while Apollo sipped on water and rested his vocal cords.

Thankfully, the lantern worked when given new batteries, and I managed to cook a bit of rice for a snack before bed. Although it wasn't a full meal and was dreadfully plain, it wasn't too different from what I was used to at the orphanage and would serve its purpose.

I noticed that Apollo got closer to the fire than he had previously, and was glad to see that he seemed to not be as afraid of it, although his eyes were still on the moon rather than the campfire.

We eventually retired to the tent for the night, letting the campfire die as I set the lantern to low and began skimming through the survival book I had bought, Survive & Thrive. I paid special attention to the hunting and fishing portions, and I learned that most Pokémon were actually off-limits to trainers and their Pokémon for casual consumption, however those declared invasive or overpopulated were allowed to be freely harvested without limits.

Some of the most notable Pokémon were Magikarp, Pidgey, Rattata, Shelder, Goldeen, Zubat, Zigzagoon, Taillow, Wingull, Carvana, Wailmer, and Corphish. This wasn't the full list; there were also a lot of bugs as well as Pokémon from regions I wasn't very familiar with, but those were the main ones I committed to memory as possibly encountering and wanting to harvest.

There was an interesting note that some species such as Slowpoke, Krabby, Mareep, and Bidoof were deemed as having a low level of sentience and were often allowed for limited harvest, but it depended on the area you were in for final say.

Apparently anything that had evolved grew enough intelligence to be completely off the table, except for a select few bugs I had no interest in eating. You were technically allowed to harvest a Pokémon if it attacked you first and you had to resort to killing it in self defense, but it was not advised and could be hard to prove to a Ranger if you got caught after the fact.

There was a huge warning that the species provided were to be treated as a rough guideline, and that it was up to the reader to check with the local authorities for a current list of acceptable harvests for their area. I was pretty sure that some of these species would be permitted over entire regions, while some likely depended on the route you were in.

It was all a very interesting read, and although I was nowhere near a point where I felt the need to pursue it further, I knew that I should familiarize myself with the process before me or any of my team found ourselves in a dire situation with no idea what to do.

I looked down at the foot of the sleeping bag to see Apollo sound asleep, and decided that it was time I called it a night. By the time I woke up I'd be able to start my journey, so I figured I should call it an early night. I'd been waiting my whole life for what came in the morning, and although I'd had half a mind to just stay up all night and register right at midnight, it had been a very long day and we needed the rest for what was sure to be another long day.

Turning off the lantern and attempting to clear my mind, I tried my best to force myself to get some sleep. The excitement of what tomorrow would bring made it a bit difficult, but in the end I finally found myself drifting off to sleep, dreaming of what the future might hold.

I skipped breakfast, instead packing up camp as I had Apollo run through some Double Team drills. It didn't take long before we were ready to go, and I stood with Apollo in his usual spot on my right shoulder as we took a good look at our favorite clearing one last time.

It was noticeably different from when we first met. What was once a peaceful pocket of nature now had the telltale signs of being heavily used. Leaves were scattered all across the perimeter and the surrounding shrubbery was beaten and battered, some nearly stripped bare from Disarming Voice practice. The grass had noticeable wear; a few trails where we frequently walked as well as patches missing both from training as well as the fight with the Poochyena. The firepit and indentation of where the tent had been were clear signs that this place was used as a campground, and I couldn't help but wonder if all traces of our training and bonding would be completely gone when we next returned. Although it was rather noticeable now, I knew that given enough time, it would all be gone.

Melancholy.

"Yeah, I feel the same way. This place means a lot to us both… It's the closest thing we both have to a home. But we'll be back someday, I promise." I reassured Apollo, rubbing his helmet reassuringly. I briefly considered trying to leave something more permanent; perhaps carving something into a tree, leaving a hidden note at our tree, or arranging some rocks or something, but I decided against it. We'd already left enough of a mark, and there was no reason to further sully the area when time would fully erase all traces. It didn't matter if we could prove to anyone that we had been here, all that mattered was that we had our memories of this place. I had come here enough times now that I was sure I would be able to find it again, and I didn't doubt Apollo could as well.

I stared into the clearing for a few minutes, committing every detail that I could to memory before turning and heading toward the path that would lead us to Petalburg, where my trainers license and new life awaited me.

We walked into the Pokécenter; a massive red and white building with the unmistakable logo of a Pokéball, and as we entered I was immensely grateful that the lobby was mostly empty.

In the middle of the lobby was a circular desk currently occupied by a Chansey who stood in front of an extremely expensive-looking machine, waiting to greet anyone needing assistance. On the right wall was a giant computer; the bottom was a large pull-out drawer, the middle was a single slot to place a Pokéball, and just above that was a massive touch-screen. There was also a door with a sign marked 'Housing' with a keycard reader that I knew led to the hallway where bedrooms for traveling trainers served as temporary relief from the outdoors. On the left wall was a row of video phone booths with dividers to offer some minimal level of privacy, as well as another keycard door labeled 'Recreation'.

I had read that although the bedrooms themselves were largely the same across cities, the amount of bedrooms available and the recreation facilities provided could vary greatly. In general, you could expect at least an open area with grass, trees and some sort of pond, but in larger cities it could be much more.

The rest of the lobby had a few vending machines, chairs, tables, and sofas scattered about for comfort and socialization, and on the back wall all the way behind the desk was a heavy door with a massive lock labeled "Medical".

I made my way to the front desk to be greeted by a cheerful Chansey waving hello, and I returned a warm smile.

"Hi, I'm here to register for my Trainer's License, and to get my Ralts a quick checkup."

The Chansey's smile grew and it nodded enthusiastically, pushing a button and happily holding up an arm to ask us to wait for a moment. Less than a minute later, the easily identifiable visage of a Nurse Joy walked out of the medical bay and stepped behind the counter alongside Chansey, leveling Apollo and I with a bright smile.

"Hello, how can I help you?" she asked cheerfully before giving a kind smile to Apollo, which he returned with a shy wave.

Peace. Kindness.

I nodded in agreement, not at all surprised that Apollo would feel that way about Nurse Joy. The Joy family and their Chansey were renowned for being able to pacify even the most aggressive and feral Pokémon, with some rumors claiming they were blessed by a legendary with the ability to pacify and heal in even the most extreme of circumstances. Frankly, I wouldn't doubt it.

I briefly wondered if 'kindness' was actually an emotion, or if Apollo had just sent me something a bit more abstract than usual, but quickly pushed it from my mind and focused on the task at hand.

"I'm 16 today, so I'm here to get my license as well as to get my partner Apollo checked out. He hasn't visited a Pokécenter yet, so I just want to make sure he's healthy."

"That's wonderful! Happy birthday as well, you must be very excited! You just need to fill out this paperwork…" she trailed off, searching in a drawer momentarily before handing me a thick stack of papers. I shot her a disbelieving look, but she just looked a bit apologetic and bowed her head slightly. I nodded in acceptance, resigned to a future of reading legal jargon as I placed Apollo on the counter in front of me and fondly scratched his helmet.

"Apollo, Nurse Joy and Chansey are just going to give you a quick checkup while I do some paperwork. Behave for them alright? They'll be nice, I promise." I reassured him, thankful that he seemed understanding of the situation as he nodded.

Trust. Care.

I handed Nurse Joy his Pokéball and took a seat, beginning the task of signing my life away to the League. I can't claim that I understood all of it, and I'm sure there are plenty of things that slid past my attention, however I did read every word and tried my best to stay focused and understand the implications, even if I found myself zoning out on occasion.

I was agreeing that the League held no liability for me, my Pokémon, my possessions, any damage we caused or received, and so on. I was responsible for keeping my Pokémon under control, and was also considered responsible for their well-being. If I was caught abusing, mistreating or otherwise harming my Pokémon, the League had the right to take custody and revoke my license. I agreed not to catch over six Pokémon unless I had access to an accredited Pokémon farm, which was usually only available through a sponsorship by a company or regional Pokémon professor that offered it as a perk of your affiliation with them. I would release my Pokémon regularly and agreed to never keep them recalled for more than a week maximum, as it was considered inhumane.

I knew from my research that Pokémon had little to no sense of time while in stasis inside a Pokéball. It also paused things like metabolism and aging, and was ideal for heavily injured Pokémon. There were countless stories of Pokémon who should have bled out in minutes, but were saved by being quickly recalled and held in the Pokéball until they could be treated at a Pokécenter. You could buy entire days by recalling a heavily injured Pokémon before it succumbed to its injuries, however there were many who believed that suddenly reappearing weeks or months in the future was both inhumane and could induce madness. I personally had no intention of keeping my Pokémon in their balls more than absolutely necessary, so I had no problem with following this provision.

I also agreed to open a personal bank account that I was required to use for any transaction related to Pokémon, although it worked for general usage as well. It would be automatically tied to my new Pokédex, which was standard issue for all trainers. I was a extremely surprised to learn that licensed trainers had essentially no tax liability; I already knew that businesses were the ones who paid taxes for all goods and services sold and often included it into the price of the product, however I would have thought that I'd be paying taxes for things like trainer battle winnings or gym badge payouts.

It stated that I would only be responsible for paying taxes if I ever opened up a commercial account for some sort of Pokémon related business like breeding or selling Pokémon related products. The commercial tax was currently sitting at four percent and was subject to change at the League's discretion, and I imagined they split it in some way with the Hoenn government. There was also a huge warning about not providing Pokémon services out of your personal account, with the threat of major fines, your license and excess Pokémon being revoked, and possible legal action.

My takeaway was to never ever sell anything or provide paid services without an accountant or business account, as it was easily the most threatening language I'd seen so far in the contract. I guess if there's one thing the League really cares about, it's getting a small piece of every Pokémon related transaction.

I was also agreeing to abide by all League rules and regulations, as well as all city and town ordinances, and was acknowledging that it was my responsibility to check for updates. I knew that human settlements usually had their own unique guidelines on what Pokémon could be released in city bounds, where and how you could fly, teleport and battle, as well as other things to keep the peace. This would also include rules for hunting and fishing as Survive & Thrive had mentioned.

There were a lot of pages, and by the end of it I felt a bit disturbed by how many rights I was about to sign away. They could prosecute me nearly however they wanted through their own tribunal, and I was essentially signing up for a draft in case war ever broke out again. Although the League operated across many different regions, I was technically signing this contract with both the Hoenn League as well as the Hoenn government. While it's true that I would be granted some privileges no matter which League sanctioned region I visited, I would essentially be the property of Hoenn indefinitely, even if I traveled abroad.

With a bit of trepidation I completed the contract, signed and dated it. I'm not sure how long it had taken, but when I returned to the front desk Apollo was done with his checkup and came back with a clean bill of health and praise for being so well-behaved and brave. As Nurse Joy input my information into her computer, I set Apollo back on his rightful place on my right shoulder. I really hoped that he didn't evolve too fast; I was going to miss this once he got too big.

"Alright… Found your citizen profile… No restrictions or flags… Fully vaccinated… You are indeed 16… Okay… Alright, all set!" She announced cheerfully, reaching into a drawer and grabbing what I instantly recognized to be a Pokédex. She plugged it into a docking station, and within a few moments she had seemingly done what she needed to as she handed it to me.

"This is your Pokédex. It'll serve as your identification, trainer license, bank card, and your personal computer. It has GPS and can show your position on a map, but most importantly you can scan a Pokémon for information on their species." She informed me, which I nodded along to even if I already knew all this.

"Do you have any questions for me?" She asked, and I requested that she transfer the few credits I had in my other bank account over to the new one, which she was able to do easily.

"I wish you the best of luck on your travels, and hope to see you again someday!" She said happily, as she and Chansey gave a slight bow.

"Thank you Nurse Joy. I was a bit nervous about this, but you made it painless. I really appreciate all your help." I said, bowing as well in thanks. To my delight, Apollo mirrored the action, causing me to adopt a huge grin.

"It was my pleasure, truly. Seeing new trainers off and wondering what they might become… Well it's a really special moment I'm happy to be part of. Stay safe you two! Make Petalburg proud!" Nurse Joy and Chansey waved farewell as we turned to leave the center, now fully licensed and ready for our journey.

I'd been waiting for this moment for years, and it felt a bit surreal now that the moment had arrived. I was about to start my journey, and I trembled in anticipation at the thought of what might lay in my future.

I'd finally done it. I was free to live my life the way I chose and to set my own destiny, no longer a prisoner forced to wait. It had taken lots of preparation and the helping hand of a couple people I hadn't expected any from, but I couldn't be more grateful and optimistic for what my future might hold.

Triumph.

TRAINER ID
Name: Daniel Ingram
Age: 16
Badges: 0
Account: 156 credits

POKÉMON
Ralts (Apollo) - Male

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