By the morning, I was miserable.

Samantha had been right; it was hard to sleep with so many noise-based Pokémon in the area. Not only did I hear constant wing flapping, but there were screeches and Pokémon calls all throughout the night, both near and far.

It was so bad that I had to recall my entire team so they could get some sleep, but I didn't have that luxury, even though Apollo was reluctant and I had to convince him I would be ready to release him at a moment's notice if something happened.

I had actually considered having Apollo use Hypnosis on me, but there was no way that lasted through the night and it would leave him on guard duty and with a lack of sleep. I'd rather be the only one to suffer if I had the choice, and in this case I did.

I managed to get a little sleep, but they were more like short naps until the next loud noise woke me up. I ended up spending most of the night reading through both Telepathic Tendencies and Survive & Thrive. I put a huge dent into both of them and learned a lot, and I spent a lot of time taking notes and writing down ideas in my notebook.

When the noise died down shortly before sunrise, I checked the clock on my Pokédex and did a bit of quick math before using the timer on my stopwatch to set an alarm for myself at nine. Just to be safe I released Apollo and told him to wake me up when the timer went off, and after seeing the look of exhaustion in my eyes he took to the task in earnest, deciding to practice both meditating and Calm Mind in the meantime.

I managed to get up, but just barely. I vowed to never camp so close to a cave's entrance again, and to buy some earplugs the next opportunity I got.

I had my team continue their Protect practice and ended up taking another short nap against a tree. I would have liked to spend the morning with them, but I needed to catch up on sleep for what was sure to be a long and miserable day traveling through the tunnel.

I was startled awake by a sharp kick to my shin, which only served to make my day even worse than it already was.

"And you were worried about me not being awake," Samantha deadpanned, her arms crossed and a disapproving look on her face.

"I'm awake," I grumbled as I sat up and looked around. I noticed that my team was nowhere in sight, and I instantly bolted to my feet and scanned around in alarm.

"They're eating at camp, idiot. Come eat breakfast before it gets cold," she sighed, turning and walking back to camp.

I followed her and found myself to be impressed. Samantha's tent was packed up, both of our teams were eating, and she appeared to have already finished drinking her coffee if her empty mug was any indicator. Even Apollo was snacking on a Pokéblock, and he Teleported with it onto my shoulder the moment he took notice of me.

"You look like shit, by the way," Samantha commented as I began digging into the oatmeal she had prepared, this one tasting like apples.

"Lessons were learned. I'm never camping near the mouth of a cave again."

"That was pretty dumb on our part, I'll give you that. But you should have had earplugs. Idiot."

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for stepping up this morning though. I owe you one," I said as I finished scraping the bowl clean, savoring the last bite.

"Just don't get used to it. I'm not your…" she trailed off, seemingly realizing what she was about to say was insensitive.

"No, but you are my sister," I joked, "and family looks out for each other, right?"

"Sure Danny, sure. Only I can't help but notice I've been helping you a lot more than you've been helping me. Aren't you supposed to be the experienced traveler here?"

"Hey, I've offered to train with you. Also, I bravely fought off an entire swarm of Joltik."

"That was completely unnecessary and you know it."

"I sacrificed myself so you could get away. That's how I choose to remember it."

She snorted in amusement and I couldn't help but grin as I began packing up my tent. Apollo Teleported off my shoulder and began talking with Eevee and Duran, and I was extremely glad to see them all getting along.

I couldn't help but think that what started out as an absolutely horrible morning was turning around, and I hoped things would continue on the upswing as the day progressed.

But since we would be spending all day in a dark tunnel, I had my doubts.

"Why is it so damp? It hasn't even rained."

I shrugged, deciding to ignore Samantha's twentieth complaint after only being in the tunnel for about an hour. It was dark, cold, wet, dusty, creepy, and surprisingly windy.

I had never been happier to be wearing a hoodie, and having a warm and fluffy Eevee in my pouch made for a great hand warmer.

It had taken a little bit of encouragement and soothing for Eevee to calm down; he really didn't like the idea of spending the day in the dark cave, yet he chose it over his Luxury Ball. But eventually Stella and Apollo convinced him, and I could feel that he was no longer shaking in fear which I took as great progress.

I had my lantern out set to low, and Samantha was scanning ahead with a flashlight. We quickly learned not to point it up, as there were Zubat sleeping scattered across the top of the cave and we did not want to disturb them. In fact, every single Pokémon we came across seemed to be sleeping; we spotted some Whismur huddled in corners and crevices that were sound asleep, and I had seen a suspicious looking rock I was pretty sure was a sleeping Geodude.

Needless to say, we kept our voices down and stuck close together. Samantha had a pair of thick earmuffs around her neck, ready to wear at a moment's notice. She had started the first few minutes wearing them, but once we realized that all the Pokémon were asleep and we wouldn't be able to talk she decided she wouldn't be wearing them until she needed to.

I had recalled Duran, and Samantha returned Skitty. We didn't want Skitty messing with any of the wild Pokémon or getting lost, and I didn't want Duran shooting Water Guns.

The only disturbance had been a series of faint, distant screeches further ahead down the tunnel about ten minutes ago, which was soon followed by a swarm of Zubat rushing towards us. We kept our heads down and they passed us without incident, so I assumed it was just a normal occurrence for the area. There were a few more screeches that echoed through the tunnel shortly after, but it soon died down and I assumed it was just wild Pokémon having a scuffle.

"This sucks. I should have just paid for a Teleport to Verdanturf," Samantha commented in a hushed tone.

"Bit late to be dwelling on that. I am curious though, why didn't you just pay for Teleports to your contests? You aren't battling or training, did you just want to see the sights and have bragging rights of taking a journey?"

"Somewhat," she shrugged, "I've visited all the tourist-y places in the region on vacations and what not, but I wanted to see what was in between them, ya know? Bragging rights definitely played a bit of a role, but I also want to catch and befriend Pokémon the traditional way. Wouldn't feel very good about myself if I just bought all the cutest Pokémon from breeders and forced them into doing contests."

I hummed, wondering if Stella actually wanted to perform. From what I could tell, she would do anything that Samantha asked with a smile on her face, but it wouldn't surprise me if she wasn't particularly passionate about them.

I was pretty sure Skitty wasn't even trained in any performances; it seemed like they were still in the 'getting to know each other' phase, but it at least sounded like Skitty was on board with the general idea based on what Samantha had just said.

"Speaking of, do you have an idea of what Pokémon you want on your team?" I asked curiously.

"I definitely have some ideas. Quite a few of the ones I'm interested in are on Route 117, so once we're done in Verdanturf we'll have to keep our eyes open."

"Speak for yourself, I've already been doing that. I take it you're a generalist? Aren't both of your parents type specialists?"

"Daddy is a mineral specialist, but my mom is strictly a rock-type specialist. Not many rock, ground or steel-types do well in contests since they are partially beauty pageants, after all. I want to try being a generalist, I think. What about you? Are you a generalist, or are you trying to be a mystical specialist?"

I blinked, a bit taken aback. "Why would you think that?"

"Well you'll have a psychic and dark type, plus I can't help but notice you caught Eevee in a Luxury Ball. Considering you're a cheapskate, I'd wager Eevee evolves before you ever get around to buying a stone. I also couldn't help but notice you had a Dusk Ball, and if I had to guess based on what I know about you, you plan on catching a ghost with it."

"First of all, I'm not a cheapskate, I'm poor, there's a big difference. And what makes you think the Dusk Ball is for a ghost? Maybe I just like how it looks."

"Right, because you're so incredibly vain," she said sarcastically.

"I made sure to get a Premiere Ball because I like how they look. Who's to say I didn't do that for the Dusk Ball?"

"I say, that's who. Admit it Danny; a ghost type is exactly the kind of weird thing you'd be into."

"Fine, I've always wanted a ghost. But I'm not a mystical specialist."

"I dunno… Psychic, dark, ghost, potential fairy type… Checks all the boxes of a mystical specialist."

"Eevee is free to evolve into whatever he wants. We haven't even discussed it yet. If he wants a stone, I'll get him one."

"What else are you planning on catching?"

"I'm not planning on catching anything. I'd like to someday have a dragon and a ghost, but that's about as far as I've thought about it."

She snorted in amusement, "A dragon, riiiiiight. You really do have a death wish, don't you?"

"We would manage. My team would be strong enough to keep me safe."

"Sounds like you've never seen a fully evolved dragon in person before. They can kill you in the blink of an eye."

Worry. Fear.

"Apollo can literally sense danger before it happens and Teleport. I'll be fine," I reassured both of them.

I noticed a light ahead of us, seemingly coming towards us, and soon we passed by a man I guessed to be in his mid-thirties riding an absolutely massive horse-type Pokémon I didn't recognize that was pulling a huge cart filled with crates.

As the low thumping of hooves got closer, I could feel Eevee trembling as he hid inside the pouch of my hoodie. But Apollo seemed to have no issues with this traveler, so I wasn't worried. I soothed Eevee by petting him as we stepped to the side and made way for the traveler, and he passed by giving us a polite tip of his hat in thanks without a word.

I couldn't help but notice Stella's gem shone a bit as it seemed to try to talk to the strange Pokémon, but it was stoic and steadfast and seemed to completely ignore her, much to her annoyance. I'd greatly considered scanning the Pokémon with my Pokédex, but that seemed like it would be rude.

"What was that?" I couldn't help but ask as we resumed our walk.

"A guy bringing merchandise or something to Rustboro? You realize the main point of this tunnel being cleared was for commerce, right? You read the sign yourself, dork."

"No shit. I meant the Pokémon. That's not native to Hoenn, is it?"

"Oh Mudsdale? Nah, I think it's from Alola or something. But it's pretty popular across the world transporting things."

"I really wouldn't want to go against one of those in a battle," I commented.

"I doubt it's very well trained for battle, but no evolved Pokémon is a total pushover. Especially one that big."

I nodded in agreement and we continued on, holding light and hushed conversations as we made our way through Rusturf Tunnel.

Although not the most scenic or pleasant place to travel through, I couldn't help but think it wasn't all that bad, a sentiment I knew Samantha didn't share as she stepped into a shallow puddle and began yet another wave of complaints.

Samantha's phone had no reception, so she was getting a bit restless and decided to pass the time by asking seemingly endless questions. She kept asking me things like my favorite color, food, gym leader, Pokémon, and all sorts of other things I had never dedicated time to think about or had any answer for.

This continued for quite some time, and I idly pet Eevee as he was once again trembling in my pouch. Soon after, I noted that Stella's ears had folded back. I didn't think much of it at the time, thinking it was just them disliking being deeper in the seemingly endless tunnel.

That is until I started to hear a noise.

*Thud* *Thud*

It was a faint thumping noise coming from ahead, and although Samantha and I shared a concerned glance we had no choice but to keep moving forward, although much more slowly and cautiously.

As we approached, the thudding sound grew louder. I considered having Apollo go ahead to check, but there wasn't enough light to see very far ahead and I had no idea what we might encounter.

I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I tugged on Samantha's shoulder and pointed up, wanting to know if there was still Zubat hanging from above. She pointed her light up and sure enough, this section of cave currently had no Zubat sleeping in it. Alarm bells were ringing in my head, and I felt desperate for information.

"Do Stella or Eevee know what it is?" I sent to Apollo.

He took a moment to respond, presumably to check with them, but they didn't seem to know anything other than the source of the foul smell was roughly where the sound was. Apollo for his part was able to faintly sense feelings of anger, fear, and helplessness.

The thumping sound was now very close, just around a bend in the tunnel we had reached. I held my hand up to have Samantha stop so I could go investigate, but she scowled and shook her head. I palmed Duran's Pokéball as we rounded the corner, and I noticed a faint stench work its way into my nasal cavity.

As I carefully rounded the corner, I found the source and froze in shock as I took in the scene. We had just stumbled upon a literal bloodbath.

I counted at least 5 dead Whismur; some bludgeoned to death and others appeared to be squashed. There were smaller rocks scattered all about, a stark difference from the relatively clear path we'd become accustomed to.

I heard Samantha behind me lurch, followed by the unmistakable sound of her lunch vacating her stomach.

*THUD*

Apollo was trembling, holding onto my neck with a death-grip, and I realized that my hands were also shaking. This was dangerous, and neither of us had ever seen anything close to this level of brutality before.

"Breathe, forget the brutality, focus on our task. We can't let fear endanger us. Our minds are our own, take a moment to regain control" I sent Apollo as I closed my eyes and put my meditation practice to good use, blocking out the horrors around me and focusing on regaining normal breathing and my composure.

When I felt like I was as calm as I was going to get and Apollo wasn't trembling nearly as badly, I set down my lantern and snatched Samantha's flashlight off the ground, which she had dropped in shock upon seeing the gruesome scene. Apollo Teleported off my shoulder with a newfound determination and I released Duran, who gave a curious look around before realizing that we were in a serious situation and widening his stance.

I gestured for them to follow, and as we finished rounding the corner I was able to make out a few more dead Whismur. It almost seemed like a war had taken place here, although the only casualties I could see were Whismur.

Slowly approaching and carefully stepping around bodies and blood, I was finally able to hear the sounds of something living.

Grunting sounds, as well as some whimpering and whining.

I looked back and couldn't see Stella or Samantha, and assumed she was still trying to recover from what she'd just witnessed.

That, or she didn't have the stomach to continue. I just had to hope she didn't take off back in the other direction while I wasn't looking.

Just off the path, I finally found the source of the Pokémon making the sound. Shining my flashlight toward the area, I noticed a surprisingly battered-looking Geodude trying to get at two panicked Whismur who were taking refuge in a small nook behind some massive rocks that jutted out of the cave wall, which the Geodude was currently tearing and pounding into relentlessly.

The Geodude was the clear perpetrator, and it was absolutely enraged. I had no idea how this had started, but the general story was clear. This Geodude was livid, and it was slaughtering every Whismur it could find without mercy.

Duran prepared himself with a Harden and seemed like he was about to attack, clearly recognizing the species from his gym battle and feeling some sort of grudge, but I held out my hand and gave a low, slow whistle to signal to stop and hold, which he was thankfully able to hear even despite the Geodude's ongoing tantrum.

I felt like I was missing something here; for a Geodude it was remarkably beat up. Large chunks of rock were missing from its exterior, with one particularly large chunk on his back gone, something I couldn't see any Whismur accomplishing.

I glanced at Apollo, wanting a read on the Geodude.

Anger. Inferiority. Malice.

Malice was just about the worst thing I could have gotten. Anger I could understand, but inferiority? Inferior to what, Whismur or Zubat? It didn't make sense.

Then, I remembered something and a piece of the puzzle seemed to fall into place. Earlier we had seen a massive and imposing Mudsdale, as well as a swarm of Zubat fleeing from this direction. Perhaps the Geodude had gotten disturbed by the traveler, and when it attempted to fight it got quickly overpowered.

It would make some sense; having somebody come through your home, wake you up and beat you senseless would be enough to anger anybody. It would have likely been an accident on the Mudsdale's part; perhaps it accidentally stepped on the Pokémon and enraged it, considering Geodude were hard to spot unless they were awake or you were looking closely for them. I doubted that the traveler would have provoked it considering he seemed to be transporting goods and hadn't so much as said a word to us, but I could see him defending himself.

No matter what happened, it still didn't excuse the senseless slaughter I was currently witnessing. There was still some information missing and I couldn't know the full story for sure, but there was no talking or reasoning with the Pokémon while it was in this state.

As I made up my mind on what to do, I mentally instructed Apollo to ensure that the only target was the Geodude, asking him to pass the message to Duran.

After waiting a moment for him to confirm he had told Duran, I gave two sharp, quick whistles to signal for them to attack, which caused the Geodude to turn his attention towards us; a look of bloodlust in his eyes.

DANGER!

I immediately followed up with a long, low whistle and raised the tone to one of a higher pitch; a signal I hoped I would never have to give.

Escalate.

I was not going to take this lightly or risk my team ending up like one of these Whismur.

The effects of the command were immediate and pronounced. Duran raised both claws and unleashed the most powerful Water Guns I'd ever seen him use, while Duran's horn glowed brighter than I thought possible.

The Geodude was slammed into the wall by the torrent of water, and I noticed a bright glow of energy around him I knew must be a powerful Confusion. Sometimes you could faintly see a glow around the opponent when they took the attack, and although the dark cave likely helped provide contrast I knew Apollo wasn't holding back either.

Eevee let loose a shaky whine and hid deeper inside my hoodie, clearly terrified.

"I know it's scary, but try to watch, Eevee," I urged as I gently nudged him forward so his head was once again sticking out. "You'll be helping them someday when you're stronger; family protects family, no matter the danger."

I couldn't spare time to see if Eevee was watching as I monitored Apollo and Duran's ongoing assault, holding both moves as the Geodude thrashed and attempted to levitate some nearby rocks to prepare for an attack, roaring in anger and pain.

That was a mistake though; Duran's water flooded into its mouth as it continued to wash over him, combined with both moves hammering him relentlessly he was knocked out after about five seconds, before he ever had a chance to counter-attack.

Apollo let up when he saw the opponent was incapacitated, but Duran had to be told to stop, which he thankfully did.

Now free to flee, the remaining Whismur took the opportunity to bolt, seemingly now as scared of us as they were the Geodude. I didn't see any reason to stop them, but I did consider what to do with the Geodude. I didn't feel good about leaving it here; there was a chance it continued its rampage once it awoke. The only option I saw was to capture it, but I really didn't want to train a Pokémon with that kind of disposition. Duran might technically be a murderer, but it was of a completely different nature and he not only showed remorse but self-control.

This Geodude… I couldn't think of an excuse for it slaughtering the way it had. The only possible scenario I could think of was that maybe its child had been killed or something, but a quick survey of the area didn't show any evidence of fallen Geodude. The only casualties here were Whismur, who had no real chance to fight back against something like a Geodude.

I sighed as I pulled out an Ultra Ball and captured the Geodude without any trouble. I couldn't sell it because I didn't have a commercial license, and I doubted anybody would trade anything decent for a common Geodude, not that I'd feel comfortable trading this one to anybody regardless.

The only thing I could think of was taking it to the Rangers or Pokémon Center and hoping they had some sort of rehabilitation program or… something. I didn't know if that existed, but there had to be some sort of option for Pokémon too dangerous to be left wild or trained.

Worst case, I suppose the Rangers might put it down, but that wasn't something I would have any say or control over. All I knew was, I was not going to be training this particular Geodude. If the Rangers and Pokécenter refused to take him off my hands… well, I didn't want to think of what I'd need to do.

I pulled out my Pokédex, hoping that I could summon the Rangers. It wasn't exactly an emergency anymore, but surely they would know what to do better than me.

I let loose a deep sigh as I saw there was no signal and put it away, suddenly noticing that Eevee was no longer trembling and was glancing between Apollo and Duran with wide eyes and a look of veneration.

So he had been watching. Good.

"Duran can you… try to clean up the area? Water Gun the blood away as best you can, I'll help in a second," I muttered, looking around at the grizzly scene. I didn't want random travelers stumbling upon this, and although we wouldn't be able to fully hide what had happened here we could at least try to wash away some blood and hide the bodies.

Duran somberly took to the task, and Apollo Teleported onto my shoulder. I turned back to check on Samantha, who I found trembling as she clutched her legs to her chest with her head buried into her knees as Stella rubbing against her side to comfort her.

"It's safe now… It was a Geodude, but it's knocked out and captured," I said as I took a seat beside her.

I briefly considered asking Stella to help Duran, but quickly realized that was a bad idea. Samantha needed Stella right now, and I doubted Stella's telekinesis was powerful enough to help move bodies.

Samantha trembled as she sniffled, giving me the impression she'd just finished crying. I bit my lip; I really wasn't good at these sorts of situations. I didn't know if I should try to comfort her or give her space, and I had a feeling that anything I said would likely come out wrong.

"Try. Comfort."

I awkwardly reached my arm out and put it around her shoulder, praying she didn't flinch or slap it away.

Surprisingly, she didn't. She leaned towards me and rested her head on my shoulder, and I vowed to trust Apollo's judgment calls more in the future.

"W-why…" she shakily muttered.

I considered telling her my theory, but decided against it. I didn't know if she was the type to be vindictive and I didn't want her blaming that traveler or possibly going back for him. I also had no idea if the Mudsdale had actually disturbed or fought the Geodude, it was just the only thing I could think of.

"Dunno… Sometimes, bad things just… happen. Sometimes there's a reason, sometimes not."

"Y-you said you c-caught it right? We have t-telep-paths, we could ask w-why-"

"No," I cut her off, a bit more forcefully than I had meant to as she finally lifted her head from her knees and looked at me with a bewildered expression, tears still in her eyes.

I took a deep breath, trying my best to be patient and understanding.

"Samantha… You didn't see the look in its eyes. Trust me, we shouldn't give it the chance to hurt us just to fulfill our curiosity."

She buried her head back in her knees, but I noticed Stella give a short nod of approval.

I gently patted her shoulder before standing up, "I'm going to go help Duran, I don't want people stumbling upon what we did. If we don't want to spend the night in here, we'll need to get going again soon."

She didn't respond. I decided to take Eevee out of my hoodie pocket and set him down, asking him and Apollo to stay with Samantha for a few minutes. Eevee let loose a soft whine as his ears folded back but didn't argue, opting to stick close to Apollo as both sat down beside Stella with solemn expressions.

I gave them a nod of thanks before grabbing my shovel and headed back around the bend to find the area muddy but much cleaner. It wasn't going to be easy to dig a hole big enough for so many bodies, especially in a tunnel made of rock, but Samantha needed some time and I needed something to do to take my mind off things.

I mentally requested that Apollo cut our link until I was done and went to work, trying my best to focus on how amazing it would be to get to Verdanturf and take a nice long shower before catching up on sleep in a real bed.

It took us a while, but eventually Duran and I had the area looking mostly normal, and after I thanked and hydrated him I returned him for a well-deserved rest before we continued onward.

Samantha had thankfully regained enough composure that we could resume traveling, which I was extremely grateful for. She was completely silent and had a faraway look in her eyes, but I couldn't blame her for that.

I kept thinking of things I could try to say, but nothing felt right. In the end, I decided to give her space, hoping that she would come around when she sorted through her thoughts.

I really hoped that this wasn't going to be what made her quit journeying, but only time would tell.

We continued on for hours without incident. The only thing of note was a couple of travelers we passed by, but they must have been able to tell we weren't in a talkative mood because none even tried.

I could only hope Duran and I had done a good enough job cleaning up the scene that nobody would find themselves traumatized, but if nothing else we did our best.

"Are you going to train it?"

I looked over, giving a faint smile when I saw that Samantha was not only looking a lot better but once again talking. She still appeared to be shaken up and had a deep look of concern on her face, but it looked like she had worked through the majority of her feelings.

"Hell no. Wouldn't feel comfortable trading it either. I'll see if Nurse Joy or the Rangers have any ideas. Maybe they can rehabilitate it or something."

"Good… Yeah… Maybe… Did you bury them?"

"Yeah. I didn't want others coming across that, or Zubat ravaging the bodies."

She was silent for a moment, but eventually muttered just loud enough for me to hear.

"Zubat aren't scavengers. They drink blood from smaller, living creatures."

I had no response to that, so I simply nodded and gave a slight shrug, letting the conversation die.

Samantha clearly had other plans, unable to take her mind off of it.

"How are you so… casual about it? You have a literal murderer on your belt, and you didn't freeze up or anything."

"I definitely froze up for a moment, you just didn't see because you were… Well, yeah. I did freeze up, something like that is kind of a hard thing to take in."

"But you fought it, like you weren't scared of that happening to you or your team. And you cleaned up the scene of a mass murder… like it was just another chore that needed to be done."

I furrowed my brows and bit my tongue, withholding the urge to snap at her. The look on her face told me she wasn't being accusatory, she merely didn't understand.

"We had to deal with it, there wasn't any choice. I couldn't call the Rangers because there's no signal in here, and I don't want other people seeing what we did. Plus, that Geodude was on the warpath, it would be irresponsible to leave it."

"You weren't scared?"

"A bit, but I knew we could handle it. We train to win battles, but also so we can survive encounters like that."

"...I think I might take you up on your offer to train. But only sometimes, and never in the morning."

"Sounds good to me, although if you're going to train you really should make it a daily habit," I remarked.

"I don't ever want training to feel like a chore… I remember when I was younger, Daddy used to lock himself away for hours each day, just training his team. I hated it. He spent most of his time away from home, and the rare times he was around I didn't even get to see him half the time. 'I may not hold the title, but I still hold responsibilities', that's what he always says."

I glanced over to see she had a distant look on her face, but before I could think of anything to say she continued.

"The League used to call on him for all sorts of things he couldn't talk about. Less often these days, but it still happens. Sometimes when he comes home from helping the League, he has this look in his eyes, like he didn't think he'd ever see me and mom again. Then he goes back to training until mom gets on his case and he calms down until the next thing."

"That's… disturbing. You'd think someone as strong as a Champion would feel like they could take it easy once they retired."

"The way you handled that reminded me of him in a lot of ways. I didn't even hear you say anything… I just heard whistles."

I nodded, "Non-verbal commands. After our scuffle with the Rocket I felt the need to teach my team some hand and whistle signals. Just basic stuff, but it has its uses. Apollo's telepathy will probably be my go-to soon since he's getting pretty good, but it's still a good fallback in case he's ever incapacitated."

I heard a low trill come from my hoodie and noticed Eevee looking up at me with a look of longing, and I pet Eevee soothingly, "I'll teach you too Eevee, I promise. You'll be just like Apollo and Duran before you know it, but we won't rush it."

A soft purr was my only answer.

"You never told me what happened, with the Rocket… If you don't mind."

I shrugged, "Got ambushed at night, fought for our lives. It was a Golbat and a Mightyena. I hate to admit it, but we were pretty badly outmatched. I'd put out a distress beacon for the Rangers, but we had to fight and stall. We had a number of things go our way that frankly shouldn't have, and Apollo saved me from taking a bullet. Pepper spray helped a ton too, if you don't have any definitely get some. We managed to incapacitate them and the Rangers showed up to take him away."

"The Rocket shot a gun at you?"

I nodded, "An entire clip. Apollo disoriented him with a Confusion just in time, otherwise I'd be dead."

"...I almost got kidnapped by Rockets once."

I raised a brow in interest; of course I already knew this as Steven had mentioned it during our private conversation on the beach, but I didn't know any details and was interested to know the story.

"Almost?"

She nodded, "I was walking home from school and got pulled into an alley by a man and a woman. It was terrifying; they gagged me and said if I tried anything they'd kill me. They started making calls and tried to coordinate what to do with me, but Daddy's Metagross Teleported me out. They were supposed to be out of town doing some sort of fundraiser, but it got postponed and he came home early. I don't really know what all happened, but Daddy assured me I was safe and that the bad people had been 'taken care of'."

I couldn't help but get shivers, wondering not only how Metagross would have known that was happening but what Steven's definition of 'taking care of' a problem was, especially people who had threatened his daughter. I couldn't help but wonder if they were alive, and if they were I wouldn't be surprised if Metagross had torn through their minds so much they were currently comatose.

"After that, I had to have guards escort me around. I didn't mind it for a while since I was pretty rattled, but they never left me. I even had two with me when I was in class, which made it even harder to have a social life than it already was just being a Stone. I eventually got fed up with it and had a big fight with Daddy, and he accidentally let slip that they were Team Rocket."

I silently nodded; her 'kidnapping' wasn't as bad as I had thought. It sounded like a couple of grunts who wanted to make a name for themselves and got in over their head; I could only assume that if the higher-ups of Team Rocket wanted her kidnapped she would have been Teleported away before she could even think to scream.

She hadn't been hurt, interrogated, tortured, or anything truly traumatizing. I was suddenly stricken by two thoughts; the gruesome scene with the Geodude was not only the most terrifying thing she'd ever experienced, but the same was true for me.

The only difference between us was that I had a bit more experience with death and an extremely unhealthy yet mildly useful habit of pushing bad things out of my mind.

That, and I was pretty sure that if the whole 'fight or flight' instinct was real, I firmly fell on the side that fought.

"So you convinced him you didn't need protecting?" I asked curiously.

"I told him I was already robbed of living a normal life by being born as a Stone, and that he was making things worse. I explained that I wanted to journey and be a coordinator, and that I couldn't do that with how things were. We had a long talk and made some plans, and it ended with him gifting me Stella's egg a few days later. I never see anybody protecting me, but I sometimes get this feeling there's somebody watching me. Might be Metagross, might be someone in disguise, it's hard to say. But at least I can live a somewhat normal life now."

I nodded as I idly pet Eevee, "Have you picked out a last name?"

"Yeah, I think I'll go with Morgan. It's common enough that it would be pretty hard for anybody nosy to look into, and I think it goes well. Samantha Morgan, Sammy Morgan, Miss Morgan, they sound pretty good right?"

"Yeah, it has a nice ring to it, although I'm a bit surprised you didn't pick something a bit more on the nose. Maybe an S name, or something like Cook or Weston."

She snorted, "Believe me, I thought of those. But Stella was very adamant about picking something that didn't at all hint at who I was, and I know you would have gotten on my case about it too."

"Yeah, I would have," I said with a grin.

I suddenly realized that Samantha was returning to relative normalcy. It seemed that our conversation had been enough to take her mind off of things.

At least, for a brief moment. Our conversation died down and I saw her face slowly morph into one of contemplation with a hint of sadness, but at least she seemed to be over the hump of being downright distraught.

We continued on for another couple of hours, and soon we were able to make out a faint light ahead that we quickly realized was the end of the tunnel. I felt an immense sense of relief; aside from one incident we had made it through completely unscathed. It was likely a mixture of us traveling during the day and being careful to stay quiet, but I had worried we would end up swarmed by Zubat at some point.

"Finally! I've never needed a shower so badly in my entire life," she said with a relieved sigh as she picked up the pace, clearly eager to get out of the cave.

I couldn't help but find myself agreeing with her, and as we finally breached the cave's exit and found ourselves standing under the early afternoon sky with the small mountain town of Verdanturf in view a short distance ahead, exhaustion began to set in. I had completely forgotten that I was behind on sleep, and digging a sizable hole in a cave was no easy feat.

Samantha cheered triumphantly and began sprinting towards the town, her fatigue and troubles seemingly forgotten.

I groaned as I realized that my day was far from done. Samantha would surely want to go somewhere to eat, and I still had to figure out what to do with this Geodude and do our evening training.

"Say, after we grab some food and clean up, wanna join me for evening training?" I asked hopefully.

She stopped running and looked back at me, a look of bewilderment on her face.

"You're going to train after a day like today?" she asked incredulously.

I shrugged, "I'm a bit tired, but today serves as a good reminder that you can never be too prepared. If not for our training, things could have gone very differently."

I thought she was about to back down until I noticed Stella's gem shine, seemingly weighing in on the offer and trying to convince her. She bit her lip and appeared to be conflicted, then after a moment she nodded.

"Fine. I'll join you tonight, but only because I can't tomorrow. I don't want Stella tired for our performance."

I nodded, deciding not to test my luck by cracking a joke or saying anything dumb.

What Samantha had said earlier was true; she had been helping me out far more than I had her. But I felt like today was a bit of redemption; I finally got to put my strengths to good use and was able to help Samantha through what would have otherwise been a much more traumatic and scary experience for her.

She very well might have turned around the moment she ran into that, and it could have marked a very premature end to her aspirations to journey.

She'd lived a sheltered life up until now, but she was getting her first taste of how unforgiving the real world could be. I was in a unique position of being one of the few people who could help Samantha Stone prepare for the new life she was trying to make for herself. We wouldn't be traveling together for too long, but I wanted to do my best to make sure that if she encountered something like that on her own, she would be able to act.

This wasn't about getting a Dawn Stone, or trying to win favor from the Stone family.

This was about helping a friend, the only human I could call that and truly mean it.

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

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

AN: An interesting display of the progress Daniel's team is making, as well as some character development from Samantha and Eevee. Sorry, no early week chapter this time; next chapter is on Thursday since I need to rebuild some of the padding for my backlog. This story is now also available on AO3, so if that's your cup of tea find it over there. This is still my primary platform, but things have been extremely iffy lately and I haven't had stats on my last 4 chapters so I felt the need to make a backup.

Shoutout to TysonG for beta-reading this chapter and providing some good additions, and to jingerr and Walkmanapprenticewordsmith for their kind reviews and support.

Come chat on Discord. gg/ ge6a8XcNcB