Our first couple of hours were largely uneventful. Apollo and Stella were conversing as usual, Skitty was happily running around and finding random things to play with or investigate to keep himself occupied, and Duran was getting a bit restless so had begun practicing his Water Gun on random trees we passed by, sniping them from his spot on my backpack.

I occasionally let Duran down so he could rehydrate himself by shooting a low-powered version of the move directly above him. I found it incredibly fascinating how he was essentially an endless water source, but when I brought it up conversationally with Samantha she corrected my misconception.

"While it's true that there are plenty of things we don't understand about Pokémon and the source of their powers, it's not quite infinite. Duran is burning calories when he uses his glands, and you have to keep in mind that there are things like sodium and chloride being lost, not to mention trace amounts of other electrolytes. Pokémon are incredibly efficient at it though, to the point that it seems like it should be impossible when science really digs into it."

I stared blankly at Samantha for a long moment, surprised by just how informed she was. I would never say that I took Samantha as being unintelligent, but I was almost positive that I'd have done more research on this topic than her.

I was suddenly reminded that she had gone to the best trainers' school in the region. I likely could have found similar information if I dug deep enough online, but she probably had topics like this drilled into her on a daily basis.

"You have that dumb look on your face again," she remarked with a disapproving look.

"Sorry, was just processing that. So it's not infinite, got it. But if he was eating properly and getting enough rest, couldn't he just drink and soak in the water he made? What's stopping him from living in a desert?"

She shrugged, "Depends on a lot of things like how much water he's outputting, how much he has stored in his body, what kind of diet he has, the list goes on. Could he survive drinking his own water? Sure, probably for quite a while. But do you know why humans can't just drink their own urine to survive?"

I shot her a disgusted look, "It's waste. You could probably get really sick doing that."

"Sure, but I mean hydration-wise. It doesn't have the same vitamins and minerals as it had when you first drank it. It's not a direct comparison to what we're talking about with Duran, but the general principle applies. He could offset it with a good diet and whatnot, probably for quite a while, but it's just not as healthy as letting him have real water once in a while to rebalance his system."

"So then I can't drink Duran's water? Should I not have Duran hydrating himself?"

She sighed, clearly annoyed. "You're thinking way too much into this. You can drink it, although it shouldn't be your first choice and you should definitely boil or filter it first if you can. He's also fine with what he's doing, it's his shell that needs hydrating, he's just sacrificing a bit of the reserves in his body for it. What I'm saying is that it's not the same as having proper water and that over time you'll start seeing some consequences."

"Couldn't I just get some sort of like… powder with multivitamins or electrolytes to add to the water to fix that problem?"

"My parents would love to talk about this kind of nonsense with you, but I'm going to strangle you if you don't move on soon, Daniel Ingram. You're giving me a headache," she growled.

"But am I wrong?"

"I don't know, but you're incredibly annoying and missing the point! Despite how impossibly efficient Pokémon bodies are, they aren't pulling their abilities out of thin air. There's a few things science can't account for, but there's plenty that it can."

"That's pretty rich coming from a girl who believes a Pokémon's food preference dictates their battle prowess and personality," I couldn't help but comment.

"There are tons of studies and experts who swear there's a strong correlation, so you're the dumb one if you think it's just superstition. Don't pretend you weren't at least a little convinced."

"If it's all correlated, couldn't you guess Eevee's tastes and prowess based off his personality?"

"I could make some guesses, but only because I have a good baseline idea of how Eevee's are in general. There's quite a bit of overlap between natures, and you have to consider the overall disposition of the species. Take Skitty for example; just because he's playful and mischievous doesn't mean much considering all Skitty are like that to some degree. Someone might guess they were 'impish' or 'naughty' if they were basing it off that, and they'd be wrong. The more identifying traits are that he's cautious, observant and intelligent, and paired with his taste preferences that makes him 'careful'."

"I'm not sure those are traits I'd use to describe your Skitty."

"Well for a Skitty, he is. You just need to know what to look for."

"Kind of sounds like a cop-out, but alright. So what about Stella and Eevee?"

She huffed and crossed her arms, "Not telling. Go back to thinking your silly thoughts, I have a headache now thanks to you."

She popped in her headphones and began watching something on her phone, and as silence returned to the group I made a mental note that if I ever wanted to annoy Samantha or get some peace and quiet I could just ask esoteric questions endlessly.

I was startled from my thoughts when I felt a second presence enter my mind I vaguely recognized as Stella.

"Daniel, may we speak for a moment?"

I silently nodded, wondering what she might want to talk about. We didn't talk much, so there was likely a good reason for her reaching out. I also wondered if Apollo was able to hear our conversation, or more specifically Stella's side of it, considering I still felt his presence in my mind.

"Your thoughts are difficult to interpret, so I cannot understand if you are responding to me. It's regrettable, but I'm not proficient at mind-reading, especially for human minds. Please focus on our link and use words."

I blinked, thinking of the implications of that. I rarely tried to feed specific messages to Apollo since he was pretty good at reading my raw thoughts, but Stella wasn't a natural telepath in the same way Apollo was. Her understanding of English surpassed her telepathy, and the opposite was true for Apollo.

"I still can't–"

"Can you hear me?" I attempted to send, focusing on Stella's presence.

"Yes, much better."

"Can Apollo hear us? I still feel him."

"Perhaps. I'm not skilled enough to connect to two minds, let alone communicate with both simultaneously. I informed him I wished to speak to you and invited him to listen in, and I can still feel him maintaining a link with me, but I doubt you or I are practiced enough to communicate with two links at once. He might understand the gist by reading our thoughts though. Young Apollo is a very skilled telepath for his age, I'm quite envious."

I snorted in amusement, recalling that I'd seen Stella levitating a coffee cup just this morning. Samantha gave me a curious look and I waved a hand dismissively, pretending that I'd just had a funny thought. She went back to watching something on her phone, and I tried to make sure I didn't accidentally have any outbursts like that again, as it seemed this was meant to be a private conversation of sorts.

"Your English is perfect and you know telekinesis, I'm sure Apollo is plenty envious of you as well."

"Perhaps, but it doesn't come naturally to me and took lots of practice whereas young Apollo is a natural."

"For telepathy, just because of his species. I assume he'll struggle with telekinesis, just as he does with English."

"I'm told it hasn't even been a moon cycle since you've met. Don't discount his progress."

"Moon cycle?"

"It's roughly what you humans call a 'month'."

"Got it. So what did you want to talk about?"

"A few things. Firstly, I'd like to thank you. Even among other humans of similar stature, it's rare for somebody to treat Samantha as anything other than a Stone. She often complains how people feel fake, so it's refreshing to see how genuine your interactions are."

"...You're welcome?"

I didn't really know what else to say to that. Roxanne had said something similar, but truthfully I felt like I did treat Samantha a bit differently because of her name. Perhaps just less than others, since I felt no desire to pander or suck-up to her.

"I'd also like to request that you invite Mistress to join your training sessions. Young Apollo informs me you typically have them every morning and evening; although she may simply refuse, she might join in the evening if the right approach is taken. Consider this a personal request, but please don't push the issue if she declines. Just ensure she is invited and feels welcome, that's all I ask."

"Do you wish you could train and battle more?"

"My only desires are to see Mistress happy and safe. I worry I am ill prepared for the latter. We have done lots of practice, but I would hesitate to call it training. I want to be able to protect her when the time comes, which I have no doubt it will."

I considered asking Stella if she'd been around for the Team Rocket incident Samantha had had, but decided it was probably too personal and may land me in hot water, so I decided against it.

Approval.

I blinked in surprise, realizing that Apollo had sent me that and that he was at least somewhat keeping up with our conversation, despite having to hold two links to do it. He never ceased to amaze me at the speed his skills were growing, and I couldn't help but feel a swelling of pride before turning my attention back to Stella.

"I'll try. No promises though, she seems resistant."

"That's all I ask. The final thing I wanted to mention is that Mistress is rather nervous about her upcoming debut as a coordinator, although she tries not to show it. It's why she has been a bit… snippy. Please don't hold it against her, and if you wouldn't mind attending her debut to show support, I know it would mean a lot to her."

"No problem, wasn't planning on missing it."

"Much appreciated. Thank you for your time, Daniel Ingram."

Immediately after finishing her sentence, Stella's presence left my mind. As I thought about what she'd said, I realized I had conflicting emotions about our conversation. On one hand it was nice that she was looking out for Samantha; she clearly cared about her and had her best interest in mind.

On the other hand… I was realizing that everybody who was close to Samantha was trying to secretly pull strings in her life without her knowing, or at least trying to. I myself was guilty of this, but I was suddenly stricken with the fact that I'd had Stella, Roxanne, and Steven all nudge me in a certain direction for Samantha's sake.

There was a small part of me that was annoyed, as I didn't like feeling used for other people's gains. Normally that thought would really get under my skin; it was something just below belittling in terms of things that I hated.

But surprisingly, I couldn't find it in myself to be upset. More than anything I suddenly felt sad for Samantha. She was trying to take life into her own hands just like me, yet even those closest to her were secretly influencing the outcome of things.

Perhaps it was because I was beginning to see her as a friend, or perhaps I was just projecting my own outlook and mistrust of people onto the situation, but it rubbed me the wrong way. Everybody clearly meant well, but I knew that if I was in her shoes I would resent people for it if I found out.

Concern. "Pity Sammy?"

I decided to have a more direct conversation with Apollo using the technique that I had with Stella; he was clearly having troubles following my train of thought, and it would help him practice his English more.

"Apollo, what do you think of Sammy?"

Fondness. "Fun, friend."

Friend… I found it hard to disagree with that. We were by no means particularly close, but we got along well, had spent a fair bit of time together by this point, and I did find myself inclined to call her that too. If Apollo and Samantha both thought we were friends, it would be dumb to deny it.

"I've been a bad friend," I admitted to Apollo over our link.

Disagreement. "Little arguing, forgiven. Trying best."

I shook my head, alarm bells in my mind ringing as the forbidden memory began to surface.

Surprise. "Secret thought? Bad?"

I glanced over to Samantha to find her still distracted with fidgeting on her phone, and a quick look at Stella told me she was lost in thought; her gem wasn't shining and she was staring straight ahead with a distant look.

I sighed and focused on the forbidden memory, imagining myself opening the proverbial door and welcoming Apollo in. I still wanted it to remain a secret to other telepaths, but it felt wrong to hide from Apollo.

Hesitance. "Respect privacy."

"I want you to know, Apollo. Just keep it a secret, it would only hurt Samantha."

I thought of the discussion I'd had with Roxanne and the 'deal' we had made. I remembered the hesitance I had to call Samantha a friend, and how I had used Roxanne's desperation to keep her daughter safe to my own benefit. I made sure to relay Roxanne's thinly veiled threat and the importance of keeping this a secret from Samantha; it could ruin her family and they only meant the best for her. I thought of the private conversation I had with Steven, where he confirmed that the deal would be upheld and informed me of Samantha's run-in with Team Rocket when she was younger.

Shock. Disappointment. Understanding. Sadness.

"You're right, Samantha is a friend. I was reluctant to admit it, but it's true. I can't change the past, but I can be a better friend from here on out. Everybody close to her only wants what's best, but… they're taking away her agency by influencing things around her."

Confusion. "They want help. Human 'white lie'."

I sighed, gently scratching behind Eevee's ear as he lay in my hoodie pocket which elicited a low pur.

"Maybe, but it still rubs me the wrong way. I wouldn't have invited Samantha to travel if Roxanne hadn't brought it up and been so persistent, deal aside. I doubt Samantha would have asked, and I probably would have defaulted to declining if she had sprung it on me. Steven asked us to run if we ran into a Rocket, and Stella wants me to invite her to train and watch her contest. Some of these things may have happened naturally, but I can't help but think if I was Samantha and knew these things I would feel… betrayed. Like others were influencing my destiny and babying me."

Apollo was silent for a moment, seemingly in thought before he decided to respond.

"I talk Duran, choose stay, be nice. Lunatone teach much, you know little. Eevee meet humans after promise food, travel, evolve. Secrets and changes, but good. Big world, many lives, too much know all."

My eyes bulged at not only how much Apollo had just said, but what he was telling me. There was a lot to unpack there, but I was stricken by just how wise and mature Apollo had just been. I couldn't help but think he was slightly missing the point I was trying to make, but my mind was now occupied with other thoughts.

I had no idea that Apollo had played a role in Duran's cooperation; he'd definitely been reluctant the first day I caught him, but I thought that my talk and the training session had been what won him over. They surely helped, but I hadn't even considered that Apollo had helped sway him. The information about Lunatone and Eevee didn't shock me, but it did get me curious.

"Very wise view. Did Lunatone teach you that?"

"Learn of psychics, telepathy, minds, humans, life, morals. Say naive, many different because past, views, values, beliefs. Know too little, even telepath. Say even annoying boy has reasons, just can't relate."

"I'm glad you learned so much, I'm proud of you. Let's not go so far as to excuse Preston though. He may have reasons for how he is, but it doesn't excuse pushing his problems on others."

Empathy. "Matter of perspect."

I snorted, "Matter of perspective. But sure, fair enough. He can view us as jerks who didn't give him what he wanted and made fun of him, and we can view him as annoying and rude. Works for me."

"Mind sharing with the class what you find so amusing?"

I looked up to see Samantha and Stella looking at me curiously as Duran shot another Water Gun at a tree and Skitty emerged from a bush slightly ahead.

"Nothing really, just talking to Apollo. He's getting really good with his words, I appreciate your help teaching him, Stella."

"Stella said she's been enjoying talking to Apollo, I'm glad they've been getting along. More than I can say about some others," she commented while casting a glance at Duran.

I shrugged, deciding against pointing out that Skitty wasn't exactly the most friendly with the rest of us and instead choosing to strike up a conversation.

"Skitty has been with you for a while now, have you thought of any names?"

"A few, but nothing Skitty liked. I'm not in a rush. What about Eevee?"

"Haven't given it much thought. I usually give it a few days so I can get a feel for their personality before I start offering suggestions."

"Maybe I could help with Eevee's. You wouldn't have met without Stella and I, and no offence but you seem to have a habit of picking really weird names."

I shot her a glare, but couldn't really argue with the core of what she was saying. I'd never been a huge fan of Pokémon who had very human names. I much preferred letting them be named after some concept they held dear. It might be a bit unusual of a method, but I couldn't help but cringe when I used to watch tournaments on TV and saw a trainer send out a powerful Pokémon with a name like 'Stan'.

"I wouldn't mind if you helped, but it's ultimately up to Eevee and I don't want anything too human."

"Something wrong with Stella's name?" she asked with a dangerous look in her eyes.

I raised my hands placatingly, "Not at all, I actually quite like it. It's unique and fitting, plus it fits the whole 'S' theme with being a Stone. I just like picking things they like and working around that."

"Hm… I'll give it some thought. You're right though, it's probably too soon to pick a good name for Eevee. They need to feel comfortable enough to say no if they don't like it."

"I think Eevee is plenty comfortable, but we'll give it a day or two," I agreed as I glanced down at a very cozy and nearly asleep Eevee.

"We should be getting close to the tunnel's entrance, the map says–"

DANGER!

I held up a hand and shushed Samantha as I looked around wildly, trying to figure out where the danger was. Apollo Teleported to the ground and faced the tree that Duran had just shot, and I heard scuttling and chittering as I noticed the leaves quivered.

No less than twenty Joltik began to descend, both by way of crawling down the trunk and by lowering themselves with a web.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance as I considered our options. We had never fought any electric-types, and it seemed like good practice for the upcoming gym. I had no doubt that we could win; these Joltik were tiny and I knew they would be weak. Worst case we came out of this with paralysis, but it would fade and we had moves that could hit many at once. A few Bubblebeams and Disarming Voices would likely be enough to drive them away.

"Run!" Samantha urged as she grabbed my sleeve and tried to pull me, but I pulled my arm back and broke her grip.

"I don't see any Galvantula, so we're fighting," I said flatly as I quickly set Eevee on the ground and Duran jumped down from my backpack. Eevee immediately cowered behind my leg as the Joltik advanced, shaking in fear and completely unnerved. Apollo didn't hold the same confidence he usually did and appeared uneasy, but stood firm and faced the incoming swarm. Duran for his part seemed determined and eager to fight, fully ready for the impending battle and not at all intimidated.

I briefly considered recalling Duran, but we needed him. His shell still wasn't fully hardened, but it had been over a day and we weren't facing anything that had enough force to put his shell at risk. Besides, he was the one who needed practice against electric-types the most for the upcoming gym. He was going to have an extremely tough time against electric-types, and after his disappointment with the last one I wasn't about to sit him out. He needed redemption, and this was a clear way to prepare him for it.

"You're insane!" Samantha accused shakily as she scooped up the scared Eevee in her arms and retreated back to where Skitty was frozen in place, looking equally frightened. Stella seemed a bit conflicted on whether to fight or not but soon chose to fall back with Samantha, presumably to protect her.

"Calm Mind and Harden to get ready. Use attacks that will take out as many as you can at once, and try not to get paralyzed," I warned my team.

Steven had told me to run away if we encountered any members of Team Rocket, but he never said anything about standing my ground against wild Pokémon. I was sure he wouldn't be pleased with me if he saw what I was doing; we could have easily outrun the tiny Joltik if we wanted to. But we were hard-pressed for meaningful battle experience, and this was a rare opportunity to prepare for the electric-type gym we would soon be facing.

A few Joltik began shooting projectiles at us; a combination of String Shot and small webs at us that lightly crackled with electricity I guessed must be Electroweb. I whistled two sharp, successive notes to give the command for 'attack' that I had taught Duran and Apollo, my first time using one of our non-verbal cues, and the fight began in earnest.

"You're an idiot," Samantha lamented yet again as she tended to my team, spraying them with something that helped their paralysis nearly instantly. Apollo looked annoyed and had a few bite marks on him, but Duran looked pleased with himself despite both him and Apollo being paralyzed and covered with webbing.

Admittedly, the fight had been closer than I would have expected. The little Joltik were surprisingly nimble and coordinated, and there were just too many of them for Duran and Apollo to dodge every attack. But they were small and weak, and although it took a bit longer for my team to get attacks off they simply overwhelmed the swarm and caused them to retreat after knocking roughly half of them out.

"You said that already. Plus we wo–" I winced, suddenly seizing mid-sentence as my own paralysis still coursed through my body. I'd made the mistake of being too close to the battle, and after a barrage of String Shot and Electroweb attacks coated the ground in webbing, the Joltik had done a coordinated burst of Thunder Wave.

I should have known that their silk was conductive considering their use of Electroweb, but it hadn't occurred to me that the entire surrounding area was going to get a major jolt at once as all the overlapping webbing distributed the joint attack. I'd never been shocked before and it surprised me so much I yelled, which had prompted Apollo and Duran to kick it into overdrive and quickly finish up the fight despite suffering from their own paralysis and assault of attacks.

"Well I mean it! And I'm not convinced it's really getting through that thick skull of yours," she hissed as she sprayed Apollo with a potion, who was already looking much better as he tugged webbing off of himself.

Samantha wasn't happy with me, and although it was understandable I couldn't help but feel it was a small price to pay for an otherwise useful experience. Duran got to burn a bit of energy and held himself with pride again, both of my team got to familiarize themselves with electric-type moves, and I could see that our battle had earned some respect from an awe-struck looking Eevee and Skitty. Stella for her part just seemed relieved and was currently fulfilling the role of lookout while we recovered.

I flinched as another surge of electricity went through my body, and looked envious at the rest of my team who were now cured of the ailment.

"Can I get–" I flinched again, pointing to one of the bottles of whatever Samantha had used on my team.

"They're designed for Pokémon nervous systems, idiot. They won't work on you. Not to mention I think it might do you some good to suffer the consequences of your actions," she huffed as she stowed the empty bottles.

I groaned, "I can't travel like this, plea–"

Samantha sighed and had a brief look of sympathy as another surge went through my body. She reached into her backpack and pulled out two tiny red berries, easily the smallest I'd ever seen, and handed them to me.

"Cheri Berries. They should help neutralize the electric charge in your system, although it'll take a bit of time."

I nodded graciously and quickly ate the berries, deciding that I should chew them to help speed up digestion but immediately swallowing them once I felt my mouth catch fire.

"So spicy!" I groaned as I laid back against a tree trunk.

"You'll live, tough guy."

I fanned my open mouth as the heat intensified, and as Apollo began digging around in my bag for water Samantha shot him a look that caused him to stop before giggling. Little traitor.

"Duran! Water Gun me!" I pleaded desperately as he was carefully picking the webbing off of himself.

Thankfully Duran was more loyal, and he blasted my face with a low-pressure Water Gun as I held my tongue out.

I leaned back and banged my head against the tree, groaning in frustration.

"That made it even worse!" I complained before flinching yet again.

For the first time since journeying together, our groups all laughed in unison, all except for me at least. Even Skitty, Stella and Duran all found it fit to giggle at my misfortune, and I couldn't help but give a hearty laugh after a moment of embarrassment.

What we did may have been dumb, but it was a memory I'd cherish until the day I die.

It only took about ten minutes until I was cured of my paralysis and we were back on the trail. Samantha had thankfully gotten over her annoyance with me fairly quickly, but not before calling me an idiot a few more times.

We were lucky enough to stumble upon a group of berry-bearing trees, and we spent some time picking them as I referenced Survive & Thrive and tried to memorize them. There were Pinap, Chesto, and Oran berries, and I happily refilled my berry bag with them. I learned that Eevee really didn't like the Pinap berries, but had no problem munching down on the other two variants.

I asked Samantha what it meant, both jokingly and with a hidden bit of interest, but she rolled her eyes and ignored me. I noted it down in my notebook nonetheless, and was glad to have a supply of something I knew Eevee would eat, even if it wasn't exactly a balanced diet.

"Look, there it is!" Samantha said excitedly, pointing ahead as we rounded a corner and saw the mountain finally meeting the ground with the dirt trail leading straight into the mouth of Rusturf Tunnel.

As we approached the tunnel's entrance, I noticed a metal sign in the ground and read it out loud for the group to hear.

"Rusturf Tunnel, a Devon Corp project to improve transportation and commerce for the great region of Hoenn. The path to Verdanturf may be cleared, but safe travel is not guaranteed as many Pokémon inhabit the tunnel. Enter at your own risk. Please remember: Motor vehicles are prohibited, have battle-ready Pokémon accompany you, stay on the path, refrain from vandalizing, keep noise to a minimum. Low-intensity lights and ear protection highly advised."

"It's more ominous than it really is; it's mostly for liability reasons since a few people tried to sue Daddy's company. They don't understand that even though the tunnel was made passable and relatively safe, it's still not a true man-made tunnel that's closed off from the nature in the mountain. It's too long and winding, and since it's the only place in the region where Whismur thrive it's considered a protected area. They can technically be found in Victory Road, but they are rare and bullied by the other powerful species that reside there."

"Aren't there other Pokémon in here too? Surely they prey on Whismur as well?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Only Zubat and the occasional Geodude. Zubat tend to leave them alone because they really hate loud noises, and Geodude have no reason to pick on them since they just eat rocks and minerals in the mountain."

"Then what do the Zubat eat if not the Whismur?"

"They sleep during the day, then leave the tunnel at night to hunt outside the tunnel's entrances."

I pulled out my Pokédex and checked the time, seeing that there was only about an hour and a half left until the sun began to set.

"It takes about seven hours to get through at a steady walking pace, right?" I asked, remembering the notes I had taken back at the orphanage.

"Roughly. We'll camp out here for the night, then get moving first thing in the morning."

"Really? Why do I doubt you'll be up that early? Also, didn't you just say that Zubat hunt this area at night?"

"They hunt late at night, like after midnight, and they hunt using sound. We'll be asleep and safe in our tents, plus we're far bigger than what they are looking for. As long as none of our Pokémon are out, it'll be fine. Plus I'm exhausted Daniel, we've been walking all day. I doubt I'll even be awake once the sun sets, I'll be sure to get up early."

"Maybe set an alarm though, just to be safe. If you aren't out of your tent by ten, don't be mad when Apollo wakes you up with a Disarming Voice."

"I'll be up," she snapped annoyedly.

I raised my hands in surrender, "Alright, I believe you. Let's set up camp, then you wanna do some training with me? Maybe some light sparring or a game?"

She raised a brow and seemed to consider the offer, but eventually shook her head.

"Nah, knock yourself out. I'm too tired, plus tomorrow is going to be a long day in that tunnel."

"Maybe I could borrow Stella or Skitty, if they wanted to join in?"

She shot me a glare, "No offense, but I don't trust you not to go overboard."

I shrugged, and we walked off route for a few minutes until we found a nice area hidden behind some trees to camp for the night.

By the time I had my tent set up and had dug Duran a little hole for him to soak in, Samantha was already cooking up dinner, a perk of having an auto-assembling tent. I spent a bit of time trying to get Eevee to be less afraid of the campfire, but he refused to get close enough to let himself feel its warmth.

I couldn't help but amuse myself with the thought that he could someday be a Vaporeon afraid of water, a Flareon afraid of fire, or an Umbreon afraid of the dark. I idly wondered if Eevee had any preferences of what he would want to evolve into, but didn't want to push the issue so early in our relationship. He'd made it clear he had an interest in evolving, but I didn't want to pry or push him in any direction.

It's not like I had anywhere near the money for an evolution stone anyway.

My preference was that he chose anything other than Vaporeon or Espeon. I wanted to avoid doubling up on types if at all possible, but I'd accept him no matter what so long as he was able to fully integrate with our makeshift family. I could always trade him if things didn't work out; Eevees were always in high demand and I would be able to pick from a long list of potential trades, but I didn't see it coming to that. Even though Eevee was a bit fearful and timid, and even if he evolved into a type we already had on the team, I could easily see myself making it work.

Concern. Confusion. "Trade family?"

I sighed as I pet Eevee, who lay curled up in my lap lightly purring.

"We are lucky. We get to choose our family, unlike Samantha. If Eevee ever decides our lifestyle is too dangerous, or he turns out to be incompatible with our team and feels like he could better serve another trainer, I'd help him find a new home. But I don't see that happening, my mind was just wandering."

After eating Samantha's odd yet tasty melody of pasta, berries and vegetables, I gave my team their vitamins and fed them. Eevee initially thought the vitamins I gave Apollo and Duran were a treat, but after a quick sniff he quickly lost interest. I had to feed him berries to get him to eat, and began getting worried that a small town like Verdanturf wouldn't have a very good selection of food.

I got a little nervous thinking about what would happen if I didn't have Samantha to fall back on, ran out of berries, and didn't have any food he would eat.

It wasn't an immediate concern, but I couldn't help but worry.

When I began to consider what to do for training, I remembered Samantha's offer to borrow one of her TMs.

"Hey, you said you had Protect right? Would you mind if I borrowed it? I think it'll really help for the upcoming gym."

She shrugged and pocketed her phone before digging into her backpack and producing a TM case that was absolutely filled to the brim. She thumbed through the small discs and found the one containing Protect, and once she realized I had no idea how to use them she told me it was as easy as recalling them and holding the disc to the button on the Pokéball until it stopped spinning.

Duran was the one I most wanted to have the move, but after some consideration I decided I may as well teach my whole team. Not only was the move extremely versatile, but I saw it as a good opportunity for Eevee to better integrate into the group, considering they could all work on it together.

Apollo and Duran were eager enough to learn something new, but it took a little bit of convincing and bribing to get Eevee back into his Luxury Ball. After a couple of berries and promising that it would only take a minute and would help make him stronger, he reluctantly allowed me to return him.

I took a brief moment to inspect the TM, since I had never actually seen one up close. It was reminiscent of a disc you would put into a computer, only it was much smaller and had a sort of hard plastic encasing the disk. The center was solid with a slight divot in it that would fit perfectly against the button of a Pokéball, and I assumed there was a tiny motor as well as some other electronics packed inside.

One by one I applied it to each of my team members, and each time the disc inside would spin for about ten seconds before dying down. After all three of my team had the move, I couldn't help but notice the disc was quite warm; likely not meant to be used back-to-back like that.

I could see how publicly available TMs would break after one use, assuming the disc inside was made of a cheaper material. I still held a bit of resentment that I'd never be able to own anything like this, though.

"So what now?" I asked Samantha as I handed the disc back to her.

"Your team should know the absolute basics of the move, but they'll need to practice to be proficient in it. Think of it like them learning the blueprints of how it works, but they still lack the familiarity or muscle memory needed to use it reliably."

I nodded and thanked her before going a little ways away and releasing Apollo. We had skipped meditation due to a busy morning, and I wanted to squeeze in a quick session.

This time I decided not to ponder anything. I just practiced clearing my mind and keeping it clear, something that I knew I had trouble with. I was always thinking of something, and I wanted to be able to develop a 'switch' I could flip that might help me sleep or counter malicious telepaths.

I definitely struggled, but by focusing on my breathing and diligently stopping myself whenever I began thinking of something, by the end of the session I felt like I had slightly better control over my thoughts.

I released the rest of my team and gathered them into a huddle, explaining the move as best as I could. All I could really think to say was that they should be able to create a protective bubble around them if they concentrated hard enough, but that it was up to them to figure out the specifics and share their breakthroughs with each other.

I leaned against a tree and skimmed through Telepathic Tendencies as they practiced. It only took a few minutes before Duran was able to produce a lightly shimmering bubble around him for a brief moment, and I couldn't help but smile as I saw both Eevee and Apollo appear to congratulate him.

It made sense; I recalled seeing Protect on the list of moves Duran could naturally learn, so the TM had likely just given him an early start on it. He looked immensely proud and was unusually talkative as he presumably described to them how he got it to work, and within no time Apollo got it working as well. Eevee was clearly struggling, but with both my crustacean and starter in high spirits, they managed to get Eevee to produce a few faint flickers of his own.

Apart from a few praises from the sideline, I decided to leave them alone and focus on my book. Naturally I wanted to bond with them, but it was important to me that they be given the space to form their own connections, and it seemed this shared goal was doing a fantastic job of that.

Plus, I had some reading to do. I really wanted to better understand how I could get defenses like Samantha, and she didn't seem particularly keen on being my teacher, so it was up to me to teach myself.

Not long after, Samantha approached me with Stella by her side, drawing my attention. I couldn't help but notice Stella was watching my team practice with what seemed to be a slight look of longing, but I could have been imagining it.

"I'm turning in for the night. You might want to wear your earplugs to bed; Whismur and Zubat will probably wake you up all night long otherwise."

"Yeah, about that…" I said while sheepishly rubbing the back of my head, "I didn't bring any earplugs."

Her eyes widened and she stared at me with an incredulous look, seemingly lost for words for a moment before reverting to her go-to line after the Joltik encounter.

"You're an idiot, Daniel Ingram."

TRAINER ID
Name: Daniel Ingram
Age: 16
Badges: 1
Account: 5,342 credits

POKÉMON
Ralts (Apollo) - Male
Corphish (Duran) - Male
Eevee - Male

AN: Joltik and Pidove in Hoenn? Zubat in Rusturf Tunnel? Yes. I'm mainly using OR/AS in terms of Pokémon on each route, but there will also be some additions if I think they make sense. The world wouldn't feel very alive and diverse if I didn't utilize my artistic license a bit, so you'll probably see more of that going forward. I won't go too crazy with it though, I've always liked the idea of many Pokemon being region-specific. You won't be seeing any wild Dratini or Snorlax in Hoenn, rest assured.

Regarding new chapters; I started out posting multiple chapters a week, but that was obviously unsustainable and mostly to push out what was in the queue, now that it's caught up I've been doing 2 a week for a while. I can mostly keep up with this pace, but sometimes it might just be one; I really need to keep 5 unpublished chapters as a buffer for tweaking and review, and I'm dangerously close to dipping into that. All this to say, I've decided that at a bare minimum, I'll post one new chapter every Thursday. My goal is two a week, so if there is a second chapter expect it on Sunday or Monday; I won't promise that but hopefully it is quite common. Life has been hectic and the chapters have been longer and harder to write, but I wanted to commit to a day of the week followers could expect updates. I've been getting more love than I ever expected, so thank you all for your kindness and for sticking through the rough start. This story may not have as much action as others, but it's the story I want to tell, and I do in fact have action planned. Maybe the next fic I write I'll focus more on action, but I have too much fun exploring the day-to-day drama for this one.

Shoutout to TysonG for beta-reading this chapter.

Come chat on Discord. gg/ ge6a8XcNcB