Stepping out of the bathroom after a long shower and checking on my team as they ate breakfast, I idly wondered what the day would hold.

Samantha had told me last night that she was going to be busy until later in the evening; she had not only wanted to sleep in but had to prepare and register for her first contest tomorrow.

That meant that I had pretty much the entire day to myself. The obvious thing to do was start the morning with some meditation and training, other than that I didn't have many ideas.

I was in a small, remote town that didn't have much to explore other than the Contest Hall, which I would visit tomorrow anyway. The only other things around town seemed to be a few random shops, but I didn't really need to buy anything and was running low on money anyway.

Thinking about it, figuring out a way to earn some money might be the best use of my time. The obvious way was to battle, but there had to be some other ways for trainers to earn money.

I decided to spend a little time in the Pokécenter to start the day. I wanted to note down the list of moves that Eevee were known to learn naturally, look into a few of Duran's I wasn't familiar with, and check out the recreation room. It was something I had never really gotten around to before, and today seemed like the perfect day to change that.

I also figured that if anybody knew how trainers could earn some money aside from battling, it would be Nurse Joy.

"Today is Duran's turn to hang out around town, so Eevee and Apollo, you'll need to go into your balls for a short while. We're going to do our morning training in the recreation room to try it out after I do a bit of research on the computer, then we'll probably head out of town for the afternoon. Sound good?"

Eevee let out a small whine, but Apollo simply nodded in understanding.

"It won't be long Eevee, and your ball isn't so bad," I said soothingly as I pet his head.

"Besides, you're going to get a good cleaning later on tonight. It's about time we tried out your new grooming supplies and got you properly clean. Sammy did a good job with what we had on hand, but now that we're in a Pokécenter we can get you properly handsome."

That seemed to cheer him up, which I took as a good sign that he wasn't as afraid of water as he had been. I made a mental note to keep an eye out for somewhere Eevee could get some swimming practice. Best to do that sooner rather than later, especially before bathing him.

"Won't be long, see you two soon," I said while recalling Apollo and Eevee, who gave a slight shiver as he was recalled. I knew he didn't find it too bad once he was actually in his Luxury Ball, he just didn't like the idea of it.

"Guess it's you and me for now, buddy," I said as I pulled up my hood and set Duran on my head. He seemed quite content in this spot, and my guess was that it was because he not only had a better view than his usual spot on my backpack, but also enjoyed being higher up.

"Alright, let's go figure some things out."

I spent some time on the computer, starting by noting the moves Eevee was known to learn. I did spend a little time reading up on how I could possibly teach him Bite. Apparently, the trick to triggering the dark-typing was to bite with the true intent to harm, and doing so with a certain level of viciousness. Any Pokémon with teeth could bite something, but to perform a true Bite the Pokémon needed to not only have the capacity but the mindset to do so.

Eevee clearly had the capacity, but I had a feeling getting him in the right state of mind to pull it off wasn't going to be easy.

I followed up by doing some research into some of the more obscure moves on Duran's list I wasn't very familiar with. There were quite a few that were interesting; Crabhammer, Night Slash, Razor Shell, and Guillotine all seemed like they would be extremely beneficial for Corphish to learn, but a few quick searches told me they were rather advanced. The more I looked at Duran's moves, the more I realized he had some really great ones. I already knew both Swords Dance and Crunch could be devastating, and Taunt would be great for forcing an opponent like Apollo to engage.

Despite having multiple dark-type moves that he could learn and being on the path to evolving into a Crawdaunt, Duran didn't actually know any dark-type moves yet. I realized he and Eevee both had some work to do in order to learn how to utilize the unfamiliar energy type, and got curious if there were any dark-type moves that Apollo could learn that would let him join in.

It turns out that Ralts weren't known to learn any dark-type moves naturally, but they could learn Taunt and a couple of others through specialized training or the use of a TM. I made a note of that, but wasn't really sure I wanted to dedicate a lot of time teaching him something so foreign to him when there was so much else he could be working on. Despite his skill he had a surprisingly shallow pool of moves, and we needed to work on expanding that.

"I think soon we'll start getting you familiar with dark-type moves to prepare you for evolution, but for now I think we should work on making you the brawler you deserve to be," I muttered to Duran as I made a list of what moves I wanted to focus on teaching my team for the foreseeable future.

"Cor!"

For Eevee, I wanted to refine Quick Attack, Protect, and Swift, then begin working on Bite. That was likely going to keep us busy for a while, but just having those in his arsenal would go a long way.

For Duran, I wanted to work on Protect and Razor Shell, then Taunt. All of his water-type moves were ranged, and it was counterintuitive to his natural strengths as a brawler. I had a feeling Taunt wouldn't be terribly difficult to teach him, and figuring out how to channel dark energy would open the door to him learning Crunch and Night Slash.

As for Apollo, I knew he could work on Calm Mind during our meditation sessions, so for training I decided to focus on Double Team, Protect, and Psybeam. His Teleport was already impeccable, and I was pretty sure only evolving and general stamina building would help it further, at least for now. His Double Team was already useful and passable in battle, but I had a feeling that being able to make more clones would open up a lot of options. By far his biggest problem was a general lack of strength, and Psybeam was a much more concentrated and powerful version of Confusion, so that one was a no-brainer.

I was still concerned that he really only had psychic-type moves apart from Disarming Voice, but only TMs and evolution would fix that.

Speaking of evolution, I decided to check my email and realized I had four of them, the latest of which was Steven congratulating me on reaching Verdanturf safely and informing me that he was slowly making progress on that 'small matter' we had discussed, but that it would likely take a couple of weeks at least.

I was able to read between the lines pretty easily; he was happy to hear Samantha was safe in Verdanturf and was upholding the deal Roxanne had struck with me. I had mixed emotions on being reminded of this, and turned my attention to the other emails.

Two of them were outdated and irrelevant. One from Steven saying it was a pleasure meeting me and asking if I was free for a private chat, of which we had already had. The other was from Samantha, being both excited and mildly cryptic about meeting me at the Pokémart, saying I might have a hard time recognizing her but that she was eager to travel.

The final email was a notification that I had been temporarily banned from PokéNet due to my recent contribution breaking site guidelines. It was a seven-day ban from posting on any profile other than my own, and it kindly requested that I review the rules and guidelines before contributing in the future. It also stated that repeat violations could result in more permanent restrictions, and basically implying I was getting off easy as it was my first infraction.

I sighed, logging off the terminal and standing with a stretch. I felt Duran stir on my head and realized he had likely been dozing off, bored at my staring at a screen.

"Sorry I took so long, it had to be done. Let's go talk to Nurse Joy then do some training."

"You want to know ways to make money other than battling?" Nurse Joy repeated.

"Yeah, I'm really strapped for cash and haven't had much luck finding trainers to battle. Any other ideas? Surely there has to be other options, I'm getting sort of desperate."

She gave a look of sympathy before humming in thought, "Let's see… Considering where you are now, you could always try your hand at winning a contest. There will be one tomorrow, and there's a nice sum of money if you can manage to win."

I shook my head, not wanting to entertain that thought. Not only was I completely unprepared and uninterested, but that seemed like a great way to piss off Samantha.

"You could probably find some labor jobs around town if you asked around, especially if you have your commercial license so your Pokémon can work. You could also check the local job board on PokéNet if you do have it. Telepaths in particular are always in high demand."

I raised a brow in interest and asked her to elaborate. Apparently if you had your commercial license, you gained access to an online dashboard that listed jobs people paid a small fee for Nurse Joy to list online. The types of jobs could vary wildly, but one extremely common one in high demand nearly everywhere was for telepaths to serve as a translator of sorts.

I'd come to take this for granted, but most people had no way of understanding their Pokémon. This was especially important for more complex conversations, such as why a Pokémon might be feeling depressed or upset.

I felt a bit dumb after asking why a person couldn't just bring their Pokémon to the center and have Chansey assist. She informed me as politely as she could that Chansey was a medical professional, not a therapist or interpreter. Even Nurse Joy couldn't understand Chansey at the level most people required for that kind of service. There was apparently the option for a League telepath to teleport into town and perform the duty, but it was apparently quite expensive.

The conversation ended with me thanking Nurse Joy for her help and taking a clipboard containing the paperwork needed to get my commercial license to the recreation room. I figured I would just fill it out while my team trained, not wanting to keep them cooped up for too long.

It may be a bit of a free day while we wait for Samantha's contest tomorrow, but that didn't mean I would allow it to go to waste by meandering around in the lobby of the Pokécenter.

For being such a small town, Verdanturf had an impressively well-outfitted recreation room.

Either the information I had read online was outdated, or the presence of a Contest Hall made the League want to invest in this particular facility. I had been expecting a grassy area with a tree or two and a small pond, but what I got instead when I swiped my keycard and stepped through the door was… stairs.

Stairs that led underground to a very open room roughly the size of a school gymnasium. In the middle, a large and deep pond that could have easily fit a couple Gyarados. It was surrounded by different biomes of sorts; sand, rock, grass, and dirt. There were a few trees and rock formations, and I was surprised by just how natural everything looked.

By far the most impressive though was the exercise equipment. Along the wall were industrial-strength treadmills, some that had foam obstacles randomly scattered among the tread that popped up as it came out. There was also a variety of weights in different shapes and sizes, including balls, vests, and straps.

With the addition of a few fixtures like monkey bars, a jungle gym, and a climbing frame it was like a playground had been mixed with a gym, and I couldn't help but be extremely impressed. I had always thought the recreation area was an area to relax, but it seemed that it was also built with training and exercise in mind.

Something I noticed was a huge sign on the wall that stated very plainly that battling and destructive moves were prohibited, and that trainers would be fined for any damages caused to the recreation room. It struck me as a bit odd that Pokécenters didn't seem to have any dedicated area for battling. My guess was that it would not only be difficult to maintain but also a threat to the center and its temporary residents. All it would take was somebody getting a bit too heated and using a move like Earthquake to wake all the guests and risk any delicate procedures Nurse Joy may be performing.

I wasn't the only one here; a girl who I guessed to be a year or two older than me was sitting by the pool with her Marill, and there was a boy my age who had a Poochyena and a Nuzleaf running on the treadmill. I got the sense that the Nuzleaf was newly evolved, since it seemed slow, clumsy, and was using a treadmill without obstacles but still struggling. The Poochyena was rather impressive though; it was in a full sprint and was nimbly dodging the foam as it came rushing at it.

Both trainers spared me a look and a slight nod of acknowledgment, but quickly returned their attention to what they were doing. I wasn't sure if there was some unspoken rule not to talk to or disturb other trainers here, or if they were simply uninterested in me after seeing Duran.

It suited me perfectly fine; Apollo and I needed to meditate before I started digging into this paperwork anyway.

I went over to the side of the pool opposite of the girl with the Marill and let Duran hop in before releasing Apollo. I had half a mind to let Eevee out, but decided to wait until after meditation so I wouldn't need to keep an eye on him.

"Duran, you can relax in the water for a few while Apollo and I meditate, then we'll do some training. Don't bother any of the others here, alright? Battling isn't allowed," I informed him after noticing he was sizing up the Marill. I was suddenly reminded that, according to what the old sailor had told me, Duran had likely battled and driven Marill out of his previous home.

Duran seemed to have a bone to pick with a lot of different species, and the list only seemed to keep growing. I couldn't help but find it a bit amusing.

Duran grunted in acknowledgement before submerging himself, and I figured that was as good as I was going to get as a promise to behave, so Apollo and I began our meditation session.

It was a little tricky to get into the meditation mindset. Being underground, things were completely silent apart from the low humming of the running treadmills, the sound of panting coming from the boy's team with the occasional words of encouragement, and some occasional splashing sounds. But eventually, I was able to block it out and decided to spend the session considering my new team member.

Eevee had lots of potential. I could see sparks of courage and determination hidden behind an otherwise timid personality. He seemed to have some deep-seated fears and confidence issues, but it was nothing I thought we couldn't overcome. In fact, the pool right next to me would serve as a good place for our first swimming lesson, and it could be a good opportunity for Duran to bond a bit with Eevee while ensuring he didn't sink.

Fire, darkness, tight spaces, and whatever else Eevee might be afraid of should slowly fade in time as he got exposed to them.

As for evolution… Well, it was still too early to say, but acquiring even a low-quality stone would be a problem given my current financial situation. Sooner or later I would need to man up and simply ask Eevee if there was any evolution they had in mind, and I would need to be supportive no matter their choice. While I'd prefer not to go broke buying a stone or doubling up on a type I already had in my team, if Eevee had his heart set on something I wouldn't rob that from him.

There were lots of options, and I honestly didn't have much of a preference other than avoiding Espeon and Umbreon for those types already being on the team, and Leafeon for… admittedly selfish reasons I'd never share with Eevee.

I knew there was a Moss Rock hidden somewhere in the Petalburg Woods; all it would take is finding directions online, buying a Teleport to the Rustboro and back, and a few days in the woods. It would let him evolve without a stone, and would be much cheaper.

My issue with Leafeon was with its typing. While bug-types were notorious for having a short natural lifespan, grass-types were known for dying gruesome deaths in the heat of battle. Although all types of Pokémon had weaknesses of some sort, grass-types were particularly susceptible to succumbing to their injuries when an opponent doused them with fire.

Switching isn't always an option, and sometimes an opponent you might not even expect could pull out a fire-type move. It wasn't a matter of if Leafeon would be doused in fire, but when, and how badly.

Meditation gave me enough awareness to realize I had a bit of a hangup with worrying about my team possibly dying. I also suddenly realized it was a big part of why ghosts and dragons were so appealing to me, other than them being notoriously challenging and rewarding to train; they were extremely hard to kill and would outlive their trainers by many lifetimes.

I snapped myself from my meditation, deciding I didn't want to further explore that particular line of thinking right now. Fearing death was only natural, and although mine may be a bit more pronounced than most people's I didn't see it as anything that really needed to be remedied. I was now aware of something within myself that I hadn't realized was there before, and that was good enough for me. My takeaway was to be mindful of it and to not push my own fears onto my team; if Eevee wanted to become a Leafeon, I would support them.

I stood with a stretch and noticed a faint glow around Apollo, who seemed to be doing a mixture of meditation and Calm Mind. I was curious what he thought about during his sessions, but recently he had been disconnecting from my mind during our sessions, presumably to allow him to focus better. I was just glad he enjoyed it and that I had somebody to do it with.

I released Eevee, which snapped Apollo out of his meditation and had him immediately returning to my mind.

Crouching down, I pet Eevee as he looked around curiously, taking in our new surroundings. I couldn't help but notice he didn't seem to be shivering or afraid after having been in his ball, which I took as a good sign he was getting used to it.

"You've been very brave Eevee, I'm proud of you for facing your fears. You won't get over your fear of water unless you face them head-on, so now we're going to teach you how to swim."

Eevee's ears folded back and I saw that familiar look of fear in his eyes as he began to lightly tremble, looking at the deep water with wide eyes.

As Duran surfaced at the water's edge and watched us with interest, I glanced at Apollo, hoping he could help by being a role-model. He wasn't the biggest fan of water either, but now seemed like a good time for him to practice swimming and hopefully inspire Eevee.

Hesitation.

"As my starter, part of your responsibility is to inspire and encourage. Eevee needs that now."

Reluctance. "But float."

"Floating and swimming are very different. Swimming could save your life, and Eevee's. It's important, please.

Apollo slowly nodded, and thus started our swimming lessons. Duran was more than happy to 'help' after being asked, although it soon became apparent he was more intent on showing off as he swam circles around Eevee and Apollo as I taught them to stay calm and find a good rhythm of breathing and paddling. There were a couple of instances where Eevee began to sink in a panic, but Duran was always quick to react.

Within half an hour, both Eevee and Apollo were acceptable swimmers. Eevee's natural instincts kicked in after some light instruction, it was much more a matter of training his mindset than his body. As soon as I pointed out that he only sank when he panicked and that he was more than capable of swimming, soon he was enjoying himself and seemed exceedingly proud of overcoming his fear, although he never went very far from the shore.

I didn't see any reason to push him to venture deeper.

Apollo's version of 'swimming' was floating on his back and doing backstrokes, something I quickly realized was his best option considering the buoyancy of his head. We tried it the normal way a few times, but it was awkward for him and made breathing difficult, so I decided to leave it until after he evolved. His body simply wasn't suited for proper swimming as things stood.

Our swimming lesson was a resounding success, so next I decided to make use of the equipment in the room for the morning's training. We could practice moves another time; I was very interested in having Eevee try Quick Attack on a treadmill with obstacles, and it seemed like a good opportunity to work on Duran and Apollo's mobility as well.

It took me about three minutes to come to the conclusion that Apollo simply wasn't cut out for running and that no practice or equipment would fix that. He technically could run, but it was more like a slow wade and the speedometer on the treadmill didn't even register his speed. Although the treadmill was outfitted with tech that made it match the speed of its user's pace, Apollo kept tripping and couldn't keep a constant pace.

His feet reminded me of a wedding dress that dragged behind him, and he had issues maintaining his footing due to it. He was pretty disheartened when I finally called it and had him stop, but I assured him that he shouldn't blame himself for his body and that his Teleport more than made up for his clumsy footwork. Besides, he would be quick once he evolved into a Gallade, and we should be able to start training his physical mobility once he became a Kirlia.

I had him switch gears and work on his Double Team, giving him the goal of working towards creating two clones. That kept him plenty busy while I focused on Duran and Eevee.

Duran struggled with the treadmill at first, but soon he found his groove and was scuttling along rather quickly, at one point getting the speedometer to clock 6 MPH. He soon demanded one with obstacles, seemingly feeling a bit cocky.

Historically, his version of dodging was a leap to the side, but he quickly learned that wasn't a good option while maintaining a moving pace. It was quite comical to see him knocked off the treadmill the first few times, but he quickly adjusted and began to incorporate a strafe while maintaining his full-speed scuttle, and soon he was weaving quite admirably, although similar to Apollo this clearly wasn't his strong suit either.

Eevee was a bit nervous at first and didn't want to deal with the obstacles, having watched both of the more experienced teammates struggle on the treadmill. I obliged him and was shocked when the speedometer on the treadmill informed me he was able to top out at about 22 MPH at a full sprint, which I found incredibly impressive considering his size.

When he used his Quick Attack though, he hit 64 MPH; nearly triple his normal speed. It was extremely short-lived as he could only use the move in bursts, but it was much faster than I had thought. I'd always known Quick Attack was a massive speed boost, but I didn't realize it was that big of a leap, and that's not taking into account how much it helps with getting up to speed in nearly an instant.

I couldn't help but wonder how fast the Linoone's Extreme Speed was, or how fast Stella would be able to Quick Attack given her larger frame and legs.

Realizing how much better at this exercise he was compared to the rest of my team, Eevee began to thoroughly enjoy himself, so with a bit of encouragement I was able to talk him into trying the obstacles, although he was definitely reluctant.

After taking a few chunks of foam to the face and realizing it didn't actually hurt, he took to the exercise in earnest and soon was dodging admirably. I watched for a bit to make sure everybody was able to independently continue with their training, then sat down and began to dig into the paperwork for my commercial license.

It was relatively straightforward and mostly what I had expected, mostly informing me of my legal rights and responsibilities. I was reminded that all commercial income was taxed at four percent and promised to declare all commercial income as such.

I had to follow League, regional, and local guidelines when it came to things like breeding and selling Pokémon. It specified that I was only licensed to do commercial work in Hoenn, which didn't surprise me. I was required to report to a Pokécenter immediately upon the capture of a Pokémon I intended to sell, so they could note it and track my 'inventory'.

Seeing that word took me aback. The League always marketed Pokémon as being intelligent and friendly; natural allies to humans. We needed each other to thrive, that was the message they instilled in children. It was easy to gloss over the fact that we essentially 'owned' the Pokémon we captured, simply because it was just so normal nobody really gave it much thought besides a few extremist groups. But seeing the word 'inventory' used when referring to sentient beings under your care… Well, it really stood out to me.

It outlined guidelines for transportation, storage, and care requirements of Pokémon you kept outside of your personal party, as well as informing you of random, required inspections from a League official. I largely glossed over it; I had no way of owning more than six Pokémon and didn't see myself getting ranch access anytime soon, if ever.

Not to mention, I didn't think I was likely to sell Pokémon. I was almost positive it would rub Apollo the wrong way, and for good reason. One could view it as helping the Pokémon find a good home, but in a way it still felt a bit scummy to go hunting for rare Pokémon for the sole purpose of selling them.

Unless it was a situation less severe than the Geodude or I happened upon something really rare that simply didn't mesh well with my team, I was content to make money in other ways that were a bit more morally sound.

Approval.

My eyes widened as I realized Apollo was still skimming my thoughts; I was so used to his presence I didn't even think about it most of the time. I probably should have had him disconnect before starting this paperwork, but it was too late for that now.

"Legal wording. We are equals," I sent back to Apollo, remembering that I had just gotten through a section that referred to Pokémon as 'inventory'.

"...Yes."

His response was delayed and definitely rang some alarm bells in my mind, but there wasn't much I could do about it other than have a talk with him about it later. I needed to finish this paperwork, and no amount of explaining my view on things would change the reality of the world we lived in.

When you looked at things objectively, it was hard to argue that humans weren't a step above Pokémon on the hierarchy.

Turning my focus back to the paperwork, I did my best to read through everything that I thought might possibly apply to me. Labor restrictions such as work conditions and maximum work hours, health and safety guidelines, rules that helped preserve the environment and natural ecosystems, and finally… legal consequences.

I had the right to appeal any violations I was given for breaching any of the rules, and I was informed of the various punishments that could result depending on the severity of the infraction. It mostly boiled down to fines, although there was the potential for jail and possibly losing my license.

Not just my commercial license either. I could even lose my trainer's license. The League did not play around when it came to keeping businesses on the up-and-up, it seemed.

I declared my 'business' as a sole proprietorship, which thankfully didn't require me to choose a name. I had to describe my purpose for getting a license, and I simply put that I wanted to perform Pokémon-related work for additional income, likely telepathic services and other odd jobs.

After finishing filling out the form and signing on the dotted line, I let loose a strained sigh. Being able to bring in more money was bound to be a good thing, but I also had the nagging feeling that I might have just made a huge mistake in some way. I vowed to be very careful when doing anything concerning my business license; I didn't want the pursuit of money to potentially ruin my dreams.

I did a quick check on my team's progress before ending the session. Duran at some point had moved to a treadmill without obstacles, seemingly intent on focusing on his speed as he side-eyed Eevee. I didn't have the heart to tell him he'd never beat Eevee, and simply praised him for how fast he was going.

Eevee was noticeably lighter on his feet and now able to hold Quick Attack for roughly five seconds; a noticeable improvement from when he had first performed the move for me. He also looked exhausted, and I felt a bit bad for taking so long to finish the paperwork. He didn't have the stamina to train as long as Duran and Apollo, at least not yet.

Apollo showed me that he had managed to create a second clone, although he could only hold it for about a second and it took him longer to conjure. It seemed to be a much larger strain than only creating one clone, which didn't surprise me too much. What struck me was that he didn't seem particularly proud of it, even after I pointed out what a huge accomplishment it was. I got the sense that he felt like he should be able to do better and was being unusually hard on himself.

I didn't realize what was going on until I gathered the team. As I congratulated them on their efforts, I couldn't help but notice a little bit of tension in the air. It wasn't anything overt, but I was familiar enough with Apollo and Duran to sense the slight difference in their moods. Duran seemed a bit resentful of Eevee's performance, and even Apollo didn't look too pleased at being shown up by both of the others during the morning's activities. Eevee was the only one who seemed completely happy with the way our training had gone.

I decided not to call attention to it specifically, but rather address it in a more indirect way.

"I just want to remind you guys; we are a family, and we all have our own strengths and weaknesses. Apollo can Teleport, Eevee is quick on his feet, and Duran can swim multitudes better than the rest of us could ever hope to. Training isn't about comparing ourselves to others; it's about focusing on ourselves and improving any way we can. Trust your fellow family members to make up for your shortcomings, and do your best to make up for theirs."

That seemed to cut the tension that lingered in the air, as I got varying responses of acknowledgement from them and noticed Apollo and Duran visibly relax.

"So, which one is competing?"

I glanced behind me and noticed the girl with the Marill had approached; her hands on her hip and a slight frown on her face. She was my age with a blonde ponytail and yellow sundress, and I couldn't help but note that she carried an air of confidence with her.

"We aren't here for the contest. Just passing through," I replied simply, deciding against bringing up Sama… Sammy. I really needed to stop thinking of her as Samantha; even though it was basically a nickname it would do wonders to help the few people who knew of Samantha Stone from making the connection.

Her expression softened and she relaxed her posture, "Oh, that's a shame. You have a really interesting team, it would be interesting to see what you could come up with."

"Sorry to disappoint, contests just aren't really my thing," I shrugged, "We prefer battling."

"Is that so? I enjoy both; I'd actually challenge your Corphish if Marill didn't need to perform tomorrow. You should give contests a chance sometime though. Eevee tend to do particularly well, as long as you do a good job cleaning them and can come up with a creative routine."

Nope. Maybe if I wasn't traveling with Sammy I would humor the idea, but no way in hell was I about to step on her toes.

"I'll give it some thought," I lied, simply wanting to appease her so she'd leave me alone.

"No you won't, but that's alright."

I raised a brow and gave her a curious look.

"I can tell when people are lying. Call it a sixth sense," she shrugged, seemingly completely unbothered by how awkward she had just made this conversation. "I also happen to know you were lying about not being here for the contest, but it was more like a half-lie. You were truthful when you said contests aren't your thing and you prefer battling so… My guess is you're here for somebody who is competing?"

I was suddenly getting very uncomfortable with this conversation and decided that I would politely excuse myself.

"I've… Got to go. Good luck with your performance," I said while giving Duran and Eevee a regretful look before returning them. Even though it was Duran's turn to be out with me today, I felt like I needed Apollo until I was fully out of this particular situation.

"No you don't, but that's alright too. At least you really wished me good luck," she said with a knowing grin.

I glanced at Apollo as he Teleported onto my shoulder, wondering what he was picking up.

Amusement.

"I'll keep an eye out for you at the contest, I was planning on watching it anyway," I said with a wave, beginning to walk towards the exit.

"Pretty strange for someone not interested in contests. Find me after I win; you can be the first person to get my autograph before I take the region by storm!"

I gave a wave behind me, deciding against engaging the aggravating girl further. She was friendly enough, but I got the sense she got a kick out of making people squirm.

To her credit though, she was even a better lie detector than Apollo, which was no easy feat. The lies I had told were all pretty minor, and I was almost sure I had said them smoothly without any sort of tells.

I definitely didn't want to give her the chance to sniff around the topic of Sammy, otherwise I might have indulged her for longer.

Returning to the front desk and handing Nurse Joy the paperwork, within a few minutes I was registered with my commercial license. Nurse Joy informed me it was entirely digital; people could confirm my certification on my League profile, and my Pokédex would be able to display proof of my license after I next plugged it into a terminal, which she advised I do now as well as check out the new dashboard I had access to.

I went ahead and did that, spending some time getting familiar with the new job dashboard and looking at Verdanturf's board. There weren't too many; a few manual labor jobs looking for strong a Pokémon to help move heavy equipment, a couple of farmers looking for Pokémon that knew Sunny Day, Grassy Terrain, or Sweet Scent to help with growth and pollination, one posting seeking a four-badge or higher Pokémon for some sort of protection detail, and one that wanted a Telepath to help identify and hopefully resolve an unidentifiable point of contention between two Pokémon.

I sent the job poster a message, saying I was in town with a Ralts and was confident we would be able to get to the root of the issue, and that I would be free tomorrow other than attending the contest.

"I thought you trained every morning? Feeling particularly lazy today?" I heard Samantha's familiar voice ask from behind me.

I unplugged and pocketed my Pokédex before turning around, and I couldn't help but smile when I saw Stella accompanying her. I'd been worried she was going to be out alone today in some weird attempt to hide her Pokémon from any other contestants, and was glad to see that wasn't the case.

"We did train actually, and our morning has been extremely productive. I did some research, got my commercial license, and even contacted someone about a gig."

"Really? I didn't know you were that broke," she said with a frown as she placed her hands on her hips and looked me over.

"Not dead broke, but there's a lot of things I need to save up for and battling isn't cutting it," I shrugged, not wanting to make a big deal of it and deciding to pivot topics. " How's your morning been, I assume you registered for the contest?"

She gained a huge grin and relaxed her posture, "Sure did, got my Contest Pass and found a secluded area outside of town to do a practice run with Stella. We're as ready as we can be."

"Ahhh, so this is who you're here to watch perform… Guess I found one of my competitors!" a cheerful voice rang out from behind.

I winced, knowing exactly who it was and feeling my anxiety spike.

"And you are…?" Samantha asked the girl with a slight glare, sizing the girl up as she approached with her Marill by her side.

"Marelle Summers, we'll be competing against each other tomorrow. Nice to meet you," she said with what seemed to be a genuine smile as she reached out to shake Samantha's hand.

"Sammy Morgan," Samantha replied curtly as she shook her hand quickly with a forced smile, "nice to meet a fellow coordinator."

Marelle gave Samantha a critical look with a raised brow, and my heart began pounding as I realized she might have picked up on the fact that Samantha was lying about her name.

I had no idea how good this girl's weird sixth sense for the truth was, but I could imagine just how badly this conversation might go. If she was already suspicious just from a simple introduction and decided to interrogate Samantha on her backstory,

I only saw one way of avoiding this conversation, and I hated the thought of what I was about to do. I'd have to be extremely rude, and I'd need to enlist the help of both telepaths in my presence to have any hope of getting out of this situation unscathed.

"There's no way your name is Marelle," I faked a giggle and covered my mouth as I urgently sent Apollo my request telepathically.

Both girls froze and sent me a death glare, but I forced myself to escalate into full-blown laughter as I pointed at her scowling Marill before settling down and continuing, not giving anyone a chance to interject.

"No way that's a coincidence! I have to know the story behind that. That's hilarious!"

Nothing I had said could even remotely be considered a lie, and it was rude enough to stall until Apollo and Stella worked their magic.

"If you must know, my full name is Mary Louis Summers. My parents called me Marylou, and ever since I partnered up with Marill I've decided to use the nickname Marelle, which is not only close to my partner's name but also means 'star of the sea'. It was just too perfect to pass up; you have a problem with that?"

Both girls glared daggers at me, and I couldn't help but notice that Samantha seemed to be even more mad than Marelle.

I was going to have some explaining to do later, but I had to keep going.

I coughed, faking as though I were regaining my composure before shrugging, trying my best to stall so I wouldn't have to say anything.

Honestly, I thought her explanation was pretty cool, and that left me in a tough spot of not wanting to say anything further on the topic.

Hurry up Apollo and Stella… I just need–

*CRASH*

Sammy, Marelle, and Marill all whipped around and looked toward Nurse Joy's counter, where a flower vase had just tumbled off and shattered on the ground, courtesy of a telekinetic nudge from Stella.

For my part, I kept my eye on my shoulder as Apollo quickly disappeared and reappeared not even a second later, with nobody but Stella and I any the wiser.

*CRASH*

Another vase shattered on the floor, this time having fallen from a high table only a few feet away from us.

I grabbed Samantha's wrist and began sprinting toward the exit, only to have my suspicions that our plan had worked perfectly quickly confirmed.

"GHOST!" Marelle screamed, genuine fear audible in her voice from behind me as we kept running towards the exit.

I didn't stop as we ran out of the Pokécenter, and Samantha seemed to be fully on board with leaving the area as she kept pace with me, her face pale and her eyes wide as Stella kept pace right behind us.

It may not have been the most graceful exit, but Apollo, Stella, and I had coordinated that beautifully and Marelle hadn't caught us in a single lie. I doubted that she would be able to piece together what had happened, and even if she did I didn't care so long as she didn't have the chance to dissect Samantha's story at her leisure.

Although this wasn't an important battle or anything life-changing, I couldn't remember ever feeling more proud and close to Apollo. Our communication and coordination were becoming impeccable, and with not only the level of trust we had developed but also his ability to pick up on my thought process, there was no hesitation in situations like this where quick action mattered most.

In a strange way, this was a more important victory than beating our first gym. It felt like we'd hit a new milestone in our relationship, and we still had plenty of room to grow.

Now, I just needed to figure out how to explain this to Samantha in a way that didn't end up with my arm bruised and my ears ringing…

TRAINER ID
Name: Daniel Ingram
Age: 16
Badges: 1
Account: 2,682 credits

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

A/N: In case it hasn't become abundantly clear already, Daniel has a habit of overthinking and assuming the worst, especially when it comes to people. Did he overreact? Probably. But every major character in this story has at least one character flaw, and this is one of his big ones. Plus it highlights one of his strengths; being quick on his feet.

On a side note, I keep thinking of writing interlude type chapters where I follow another character like Samantha or Daniel's team, usually during the times they are apart or possibly flashbacks to before they met. But I can't help but think it would be weird since I've written in first person past tense, so it's like Daniel's retelling of events. Would it feel out of place? Would it be first or third person past tense? Part of me thinks I'm stuck following Daniel because of past first person. Thoughts appreciated.

It's funny because the first version of DotD, which I wrote over 20 chapters of, was third person but felt too impersonal for how much I wanted to dive into Daniel's thoughts, so I redid the whole thing and made some plot changes. Fun fact for ya.

Shoutout to TysonG for beta-reading this chapter.

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