"What the hell was that?!" Samantha yelled angrily as she slugged my arm hard.

We were now a little ways outside of town, having just finished catching our breath. My guess was that Stella had informed Samantha that I'd architected the scene that let us escape, but she clearly hadn't gotten the full context of why it had needed to happen.

I was just glad that Stella had been so helpful. Without her telekinesis to get things going, Apollo wouldn't have been able to Teleport undetected, and any other exit strategy I would have come up with would have just made it obvious to Marelle that we had something to hide.

"I actually liked her name, I'm not an asshole. I just needed to distract her before she started grilling you."

"What are you talking about, Daniel Ingram? We've been over this, we have a solid story! That was completely pointless! I'm just going to see her tomorrow anyway, idiot," she growled as she jabbed her finger into my chest.

"Yeah, and you'll be too nervous and busy with the competition to chat about yourselves. She's a literal walking lie detector. You know I don't believe in that sort of crap easily, but she's freaky good at picking up on even the smallest lies. I didn't want her drilling you without at least being aware of that."

"And why couldn't you have just had Apollo tell Stella that? I could have just been evasive, or we could have found a way to excuse ourselves like normal people."

"There wasn't time for that," I countered, "I did the best I could, and it worked."

"You sure didn't have a problem making enough time when you made fun of her name. That was incredibly rude, Daniel."

"You don't think I know that? I have a freaking Ralts, a natural empath, on my shoulder almost all day every day; you think I get off on making fun of people and being a total jerk?"

"Maybe Apollo just won't call you out on your bullshit. You did it with Preston, Leader Georgia, and now that poor girl. In fact, you've either been mean or rubbed most people the wrong way since I've known you, now that I think about it."

That left me utterly speechless. I'd had a few bad run-ins recently, but this was the first time that I had initiated any unkindness.

"You really think that? I was nicer to the guy accosting Apollo at the cafe than you were, and I was nothing but kind to that trainer whose Swellow battered Apollo."

"You forget that you have earned the title of 'jerk' from me on multiple occasions, and I seem to recall a certain Nurse Joy scolding you for jerk-like behavior concerning your own Pokémon. Yeah, I heard that. All of the seven people we just named consider you a bit of an ass, except the dude with the Swellow you talked to for maybe five minutes. Nice ratio Daniel," she said sarcastically as she crossed her arms and glared.

I averted my eyes and looked down, clenching my fist and beginning to tremble as I suddenly felt a pain in my chest I hadn't felt since I was younger, arguing with my mother about how unfair the life she had given me was.

Normally, I didn't take much stock in people's opinions or criticisms of me. I was always firm in my belief that I was a good person; that I simply had some bad luck and wasn't always the best at expressing myself in social situations.

This was different. Samantha was somebody I would genuinely call a friend, and although we hadn't spent too much time together she definitely had enough information to form conclusions about who I am as a person.

Reassurance. "Sammy upset, not truth."

Part of me believed Apollo that she was just mad and that she didn't really mean this. I felt like Samantha was being entirely unfair; I was only ever rude to somebody when they wronged me or were rude first, and all the other instances could be chalked up to an honest mistake.

But there was a creeping unease that perhaps she was right. Maybe I wasn't just getting unlucky with my run-ins with people. My own decisions were definitely a factor in nearly every instance she had mentioned; perhaps I was only getting back what I put into the world.

I'd been willing to burn Miss Augustine, who had cared for me for two years and kept me from being homeless, just for my own personal gain.

I'd looked down on the first boy I ever battled; the curly-headed boy with the Zigzagoon, just because he hadn't researched as much as me. Sure, I hadn't said anything to him, but I'd thought it.

There was Eliza, the girl with the Cottonee whose Taillow I'd lied about killing and given a false hope that she might someday find it, rather than owning up to my mistake and providing her with closure.

The girl on the beach, who was friendly and simply curious about Apollo's telepathy, had literally run away scared and with a strong negative impression of telepaths, and likely myself. Perhaps that was oversimplifying it a bit, but it also wasn't technically inaccurate.

Preston, his pudg– uh, his friend, Roxanne, Marelle, a freaking Nurse Joy and a Gym Leader, and now my only friend. I'd left a foul taste in all of their mouths one way or another, and I didn't doubt there were others.

Steven fucking Stone, one of the most well-respected and universally loved people in the world and an ex-Champion, even likely didn't have the best opinion of me despite what he'd said, especially if Metagross had skimmed my memories as I assumed.

Maybe, I wasn't as good of a person as I thought I was. Trying to be good and doing it were two very different things, and Samantha wasn't exactly wrong that my track record was working against me.

Concern. "Try best, learning."

Maybe even Apollo and Duran didn't think too fondly of me. Sure, they respected and listened to me, but probably only because they saw what I had to offer them. Perhaps they felt there was no other choice.

Annoyance. "No, help family."

Even if they felt comfortable enough to ask to be released, where would they go? I'd completely uprooted their lives and they were far from home. It wasn't like they could really run away, even if they wanted to… They were captives, in a twisted sense.

Agitation. "We pick family, not force."

As a team, we had undoubtedly been growing stronger. But in terms of our personal and family bonds? Perhaps we'd stagnated, and all that held us together was that our goals in life generally aligned.

Maybe I wasn't fit to be a trainer, a friend, or a member of anybody's family. Maybe–

"STOP!"

Apollo's voice loudly echoed through my skull, so loud that I reflexively held my hands to my head.

My head swam as I was flooded with strong emotions; so many that I couldn't hope to decipher them all individually. I felt anger, sadness, frustration, sorrow, inadequacy, fear, guilt, shame, disgust, panic, and shock.

Despite all the negativity, there were also very clear feelings of love, pride, and trust.

This wasn't just a single burst either; it felt like a constant hornet's nest of emotion was buzzing around in my brain, and each would randomly spike in intensity before being quickly drowned out by another.

It went well beyond discomfort and disorientation; this hurt. My head felt like it was going to split in two, and I fell to my knees while holding my pounding skull, not even aware that Apollo had already Teleported off my shoulder.

I tried my best to focus; to push Apollo out of my mind and tell him to stop, but I couldn't focus my thoughts or get through to him.

I shakily reached for Apollo's Pokéball, clicking the button wildly as I pointed it all around me, unable to see anything through the overwhelming disorientation of my swimming vision. The Pokéball finally clicked open, and a moment later the pain and turbulence slowly subsided into a lingering thumping in my head and my senses returned.

"...Danny? What happened?" I heard Samantha ask worriedly as she grabbed my arm and helped me to my feet. Her earlier anger gone, she instead sported a look of concern and confusion.

Stella however seemed to understand what had happened, at least to some extent, and she looked pissed if the scowl on her face and her agitated tail flicking was any indicator. I got the sense her ire wasn't directed at me though, and assumed it was due to Apollo.

Possibly Samantha, but I doubted it.

"I've got to go…" I muttered as I pulled my arm out of her grip and began walking away, rubbing my temples to help ease my headache.

"Go, go? You aren't leaving town are you? Look, I'm sorry. I was just annoyed, I didn't mean–"

"I know. I just need some time alone, I've got some things to sort out. Good luck with your performance, I'll be rooting for you from the stands. Be careful around Marelle," I called out behind me as I began to jog away.

"You better be there at noon, Daniel Ingram, or I'll never forgive you!" I heard her shout from behind me.

"I will, I promise," I yelled behind me with a wave. I didn't know where I was going, I just needed to find a quiet spot to reflect on things. Perhaps I'd spend the afternoon with Eevee; we could use the time to bond and I found petting him to be incredibly soothing.

Besides, I needed time to think about how I was going to face Apollo. I didn't blame him for what happened, more than anything it was my fault for letting my thoughts spiral.

I had no idea what had come over me, but clearly I had some things I needed to sort out. Both with myself and with Apollo.

I'd ended up wandering fairly far from town. Eevee had kept me company by relaxing in my hoodie's pouch and was more than happy to let me pet him, and I talked to him the entire time. It wasn't too dissimilar to the self-guided therapy I'd done when I was leaning against the tree I had first met Apollo at, talking out loud about everything and anything that came to mind.

Well, everything except for what had just taken place. I wasn't quite ready to think about that yet, and wanted to focus on calming myself down and bonding with Eevee.

I gave Eevee a sort of recap on my life and everything he hadn't been around for. I talked about my mom, Miss Augustine, meeting Apollo and Duran, our encounter with the Rocket, our humbling with the Linoone, Preston, Samantha, Roxanne, Steven, our gym battle, and everything else I could think of.

Well, almost everything. I skipped a few events, such as the Taillow incident and the deal I'd struck with Roxanne. Both memories filled me with shame, and I didn't feel comfortable sharing them with Eevee. Perhaps he'd learn someday, but today wasn't that day.

I inadvertently ended up a decent way into Route 117, a vast plain filled with slightly rolling hills and an abundance of flora and Pokémon. I could see why Samantha was so interested in many of the Pokémon on this route; apart from the typical Zigzagoon I spotted Illumise, Volbeat, Oddish, Buddew, Roselia, and Deerling.

I of course had left my backpack back at the Pokécenter, and I didn't have any of my Ultraballs with me. I vowed to start carrying empty balls on my belt going forward.

Not that I was super keen on capturing a bug or grass-type anyway.

I decided to stop wandering when I stumbled upon a small pond absolutely filled with Pokémon. Surskit, Tympole, Marill, and Goldeen were all living in harmony and enjoying the bright, sunny day. I even saw an Azumarill and Masquerain, who seemed to regard me with skepticism but showed no overt hostility.

Although the residents were a bit anxious and gave me a wide berth as I approached and sat by the shore, they soon saw that I meant no harm and had no interest in capturing or battling them, and they soon relaxed and largely ignored me.

I felt incredibly grateful that they chose to temporarily share their home with me. They could have easily driven me away if they so chose.

I pulled Eevee out of my pocket and held him in my lap, continuing to pet him as I took in the scene. Nature was incredibly peaceful when humans and predators allowed it to be, and although I was tempted to release Duran I didn't want to cause any potential disruptions to the residents. I knew he would behave if I asked him to, but I didn't want to push my luck or make any of the pond's occupants nervous.

The reality was that Duran was a Corphish, a species known for aggression and being extremely territorial. I had no doubt that most water-types would feel extremely uncomfortable with his presence, and even if Duran behaved they may initiate a battle with him.

"I messed up today, Eevee," I admitted as I pet him gently, watching as the Surskit gracefully skated across the surface of the pond.

Eevee looked up at me and tilted his head curiously as I continued.

"Apollo and I both did, truthfully. We let our emotions get the best of us. Now things are awkward on a lot of levels. Marelle, Stella, Sammy, Apollo… I don't know which ones I should address, and which ones I should just leave. It's a mess, and I'm really bad with this kind of stuff."

"Eevee?" he asked with a look of concern and his ears folded back.

"It should all work out," I said reassuringly as I scratched behind his ear. "Marelle doesn't really matter, and I doubt she even realizes what happened. Things with Sammy will probably be back to normal by this time tomorrow. Really it's Apollo I'm worried about… He picked up on some pretty dark thoughts I had, I just hope he forgives me. He'll probably have a bit of tension around Stella too, but there's not much I can do about that. They are friends, they should be able to work it out."

"Vee…" Eevee muttered through his light purring as he went back to laying his head on my lap.

I decided that I'd talked about myself and brought the mood down enough for the day, so I decided to pivot the conversation towards him.

"You've been doing really great Eevee, I'm glad you decided to join us. You've been especially brave facing your fears. You fit in with the team, and you've got great work ethic," I praised, eliciting a happy trill.

"If you plan on sticking around and joining our makeshift family, I'll have to come up with a name for you soon. I promised Sammy could have a say though, so I don't want to do it without her. But if we're too weird or you want to leave after you evolve, that's fine too."

Eevee growled lightly and gently bit my hand before releasing me and nuzzling into my lap, which I took as an answer to the implied question.

"Speaking of evolving, I never asked if you had already chosen one. Is there a certain evolution you dream of becoming?" I asked as neutrally as I could, not wanting to pressure or lead him.

He seemed to contemplate the question for a moment before shaking his head, and I secretly felt immense relief he hadn't gotten his heart set on becoming an Espeon after seeing Stella.

"You might not know what all you can become; Eevee actually has a lot of options. You're pretty lucky in that way; most Pokémon don't have a choice in what they become. I can show you your options if you want," I offered.

His ears perked up and his tail wagged as he nodded in clear excitement, and I spent the next few minutes flipping through my Pokédex and showing him pictures of all the Eevolutions, as well as reading out the Pokédex's description and giving my own summary of each.

Each one seemed to spark immense interest in Eevee, and I could tell he was incredibly conflicted by the end.

"No need to decide now, just think about it. It's no rush. Half of them require an evolution stone anyway, and those are expensive. I'm trying to save up some money so I'll be ready if you choose one, but it'll take some time. You've still got a lot of growth you can do as an Eevee, I think you've got a ways to go until you are ready to evolve."

His ears folded back and huffed as I ran my fingers through his fur soothingly.

"You know it's true; I'm not saying that to be mean or anything, I just call things as I see them. Look at how strong Duran and Apollo are; I think it's pretty safe to say you wouldn't stand a chance against either of them in a battle, and neither of them has evolved yet. You'll need to win a fair number of battles and get a lot stronger until your body is ready for evolution."

Although he didn't seem particularly happy with my assessment, he took it in stride and calmed down. Perhaps it was bad form, but I'd rather be brutally honest with my assessments rather than lie. I was a firm believer that everyone, even someone like Steven Stone and his elite team, could always improve with the right mindset, practice and self-reflection.

I wanted to instill that mindset into my team too. If I simply told them they were remarkably strong and perfect the way they were, they might not see the need to strive for improvement. Even if Apollo or Duran somehow proved themselves as the strongest of their species in the entire world, I still wouldn't let them become complacent.

Someone like Samantha might call my mindset fucked up and toxic, but I saw it as absolutely vital to ensure we didn't stagnate.

The position of the sun told me it was becoming early afternoon, and for a brief moment I considered skipping our afternoon training. I'd have a ways to go in order to get back to Verdanturf, and there was still Apollo to consider.

I decided that I'd procrastinated for long enough. I grabbed Apollo's Pokéball and ran my thumb across its edges, thinking of how I wanted to deal with this.

Eevee was now sleeping peacefully in my lap, and although I could have simply recalled him I didn't have the heart. He was clearly comfortable and had been enjoying the warmth of the sun, and I didn't want him to suddenly wake up inside his Luxury Ball confused and alone.

I had an idea of how things were going to go if I released Apollo. He'd likely immediately Teleport onto my shoulder, hug my neck, and send me profuse apologies and a whole jumble of feelings. We'd both apologize, promise to keep our emotions in check and strive to do better.

Earlier I'd worried he'd be upset at me, but as I considered it I knew that wasn't likely. He'd been in my mind every step of the way and had seen the thoughts that led to me spiraling.

The only thing I'd really done wrong was let my emotions get the better of me and ignore his attempts to help me regain control. I knew Apollo well enough to know that he'd forgive me; he never blamed me for showing vulnerability or being emotional, and he never held a grudge against me when I made an honest mistake.

Samantha, however… I knew Apollo liked her, but he might actually hold a bit of a grudge against her for digging into me so hard. I sure hoped not, but it was possible.

I closed my eyes and quickly got myself into a meditative state, and then when I felt like I was calm and had complete control of my mind, I focused and did something I'd never done before.

I closed my mind off from outside influences. All influences, even the familiar and comforting presence of Apollo I knew would come as soon as I released him.

I roughly knew how to do it, I'd just never put it into practice. It was simply a matter of focusing on the fact that my mind was my own and wasn't accepting any visitors, and I imagined a protective barrier around my mind to protect me from all that would wish to intrude or influence me.

I'd only never done this because I always had Apollo in my mind and had never wanted to accidentally shut him out or make him feel unwelcome. I also had never felt a need to close myself off from Stella, as she rarely ventured into my mind and when she did, it was just for a quick and friendly conversation.

This time though, I didn't want to talk. I knew how things would go, and I had faith that Apollo did too. Maybe it was childish or presumptuous, but I wanted nothing more than to skip all the awkwardness and move straight into forgiveness and self-improvement.

I calmly released Apollo beside me, keeping my eyes closed and my mind focused on the task at hand. As expected, he immediately Teleported onto my shoulder and hugged me as his familiar presence brushed against my mind and attempted to enter, but I gently yet forcefully pushed it away as I held a finger up to my lips.

"Shhh… Eevee is sleeping, and we're going to meditate in this place of peace. We both messed up; I forgive you and you forgive me. Let's skip the apologies and focus on controlling our emotions so we can do better next time."

Apollo released his grip on my neck and I felt a bit of hesitation, but after a moment I felt him relax his posture and his breathing slow.

We'd never meditated with him on my shoulder before, but I had no complaints.

We sat in silence and focused on self-reflection. I let my mental guard down after a minute or so, focusing my attention on how I could change the way I interacted with the world around me to positively influence the way the world and others reciprocated.

I wasn't a perfect person; far from it. I was socially inept, selfish, and surprisingly callous; despite how much I liked to think I fully considered possible outcomes for my actions, I frequently did things with little regard for how it could affect others, or even how it could affect me in the long-term.

In this most recent incident, it was pretty clear I'd overreacted. Marelle might have figured out Samantha was lying about her name, but it was truthful enough she might not have; especially if she hadn't given her new fake last-name.

if she did detect a lie, chances were slim she'd work out that she was talking to a Stone, even if she did… Would it matter? I doubted she was affiliated with Team Rocket, and she didn't strike me as a terrible person who would publicly out her.

I realized that I cared way too much about Samantha's affairs, and I needed to back off a bit. Of course it was natural to be concerned about her identity being revealed, or worried for her safety when it came to her approach to training and being too stubborn to let others protect her. She was my friend and I didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

But she was also an adult with her own reasonings and desires. I was suddenly reminded of standing in the Pokémart, begging her to let me buy my own supplies so I could maintain independence. She knew I was tight for money, but she agreed and dropped the issue. She also hasn't brought it up since; I didn't doubt had considered offering to buy food or grooming supplies for Eevee.

But she didn't, because she knew it was important to me. We actually share our desire for independence, in a way. She wants to make a name for herself outside of being a Stone, and she doesn't want to live life looking over her shoulder or feeling like she needs others to protect her.

I needed to do a better job respecting that, even if I thought she was about to make a dumb mistake. She let me charge head-first into a horde of Joltik even though it was objectively dumb and risky, after all. She probably could have navigated the Marelle situation herself, and even if not, chances were very slim it would have been life-threatening.

People made mistakes and learned from them, and all she wanted was to live life as a normal person. Well, outside of pursuing a career as a famous coordinator, but the point still stands.

I would do my best to be a better friend, and to not take her criticisms so seriously. I wasn't used to actually caring what others thought of me, but that didn't mean it was fair to make that her problem. Her criticisms of me were fair and valid, I'd simply overreacted.

I needed to do better; not only for myself but also Sammy, Apollo, and everyone else I came in contact with.

It wouldn't be something I could fix with the snap of a finger; like all things it would take mindfulness, practice, and dedication. But if it would help me live the life I've always dreamed of, I was ready to put in the work.

After inviting Apollo back into my mind and enjoying each other's company sitting by the pond for a while, we headed back towards Verdanturf and ended up holding our evening training session halfway there.

I had Eevee practice his Swift, and he finally began to get a solid grasp of the move. I had him focus on using it without opening his mouth or making any noise, and although it took some practice he managed to start conjuring the projectiles without the aid of his mouth. He was still only able to create one at a time, and I could tell it took considerable concentration and stamina for him to shoot even one of them, but it was great progress and I couldn't help but note that they went further and were a bit bulkier by the end of our session.

I got a little daring with Apollo and Duran. We lacked power and attack diversity, so I decided to have them attempt to learn Psybeam and Razor Shell, respectively. We found a couple of trees and I assigned each of them one to attack; instructing Duran to use the sharp edges of his claws in combination with the source of where he felt Bubblebeam and Water Gun came from, and he gleefully began slashing at the tree trunk as his claws leaked water. I was pretty confident he never managed to truly perform the move, but the gashes were getting progressively deeper and he seemed to be having a blast, so I just let him carry on and hoped it would eventually click.

Getting Apollo to understand Psybeam was tricky. Originally I told him to simply send as much psychic energy from his horn as he could to the target, but that wasn't working.

As I thought of how Psybeam might work and how it related to Confusion, I had an epiphany. I'd always kind of assumed he just summoned his psychic energy wherever he targeted, but that couldn't be correct. His horn was clearly the source, and I recalled that he had in fact missed using Confusion in the past. I realized that there was probably some sort of invisible tether the move flowed through before hitting its target; or perhaps he was simply instructing psychic energy in the area to converge on a target.

I couldn't be sure; I had no idea what the flow of energy looked like for a Confusion. But I knew what it needed to look to achieve what we were going for, so I explained to Apollo that we were just trying to use a faster, stronger, more condensed version of Confusion where the psychic energy was concentrated into a clearly visible beam.

I wasn't sure if that helped at first; his horn kept glowing brightly but I saw no beam; only the faint glow of psychic energy gathering around the tree trunk, which I took as promising considering Confusion only worked on living minds. Whatever he was doing was no mere Confusion, and it took a lot of effort and stamina out of him. He had to take a break multiple times, and just as I was about to call the training off for the day, he did it.

Faintly visible strands of energy spiraled around and converged into a single coalescing beam, flowing directly out of Apollo's horn and at the tree. I could tell it needed a lot of work; it was barely visible and he couldn't even hold it for a full second, but he did it.

Apollo managed to do his first Psybeam.

It really spoke to how far we'd come in such a little time. Only weeks ago, Apollo's strongest Confusion couldn't even make me lose balance. Now it was so concentrated he was creating visible beams of psychic energy.

Sure, the vitamins I'd splurged on might be helping just a bit, but more than anything I knew it was due to practice and hard work.

After congratulating my team and singing my praises for each, I didn't have the heart to return any of them. They'd all put in a lot of hard work, and today I felt particularly close to them.

I walked back to Verdanturf with an Eevee in my hoodie's pouch, a Corphish on my head, and a Ralts on my shoulder; all tired and resting after a long training session.. I felt a bit like a bus, or maybe a parent driving their exhausted children home after a long day.

I knew it wouldn't last forever; especially once our family doubled in size and my 'kids' grew up and eventually evolved.

I couldn't help but think it might actually be the last time I ever got to do it, either. Life works in strange ways, and nothing lasts forever. They could evolve, go missing, or die in a moment's notice.

"Stop. No die. Protect family"

I nodded silently, taking a deep breath and enjoying the moment as I committed it to memory. Apollo was right; there was no point worrying about what might someday happen, especially at the expense of enjoying the current moment.

All that mattered was the here and now, and right now I couldn't remember ever being happier. The fact that I'd had that thought a few times over the past few weeks and just kept surpassing the previous time only meant that my life was indeed on the upswing, and that everything was going to be okay.

At least, that's what I chose to believe.

It was nearly sunset by the time we made it back into town. Samantha and Marelle were nowhere to be found when I walked into the Pokécenter, so I took a minute to check the computer and see if I'd gotten a response to that telepathy job.

I did, and they were very eager for my help. So eager in fact that they didn't want to wait until tomorrow; they wanted me to come over today if at all possible, saying it was a matter of urgency and they would pay extra for the expedience.

I wasn't about to turn down extra money, so I quickly replied that I'd be there shortly. They apparently lived at a little brown farm with an orange shed just slightly southwest of town, directions I didn't think I'd have trouble with.

Just as I was logging off the terminal, I found out that there was indeed one person in this Pokécenter who was looking for me, and she was not happy.

Nurse Joy.

First, she scolded me for having more than one Pokémon out in town without permission or good reason; a truly dumb mistake I had no excuse for other than simply forgetting. Then she informed me that she would be billing my account for the price of the vase, and that she had already done the same for Samantha, since each of our Pokémon were responsible for a vase. She not-so-subtly hinted that we'd be kicked out of the Pokécenter if we did something like that again, and indicated that there wasn't a single thing that happened in her Pokécenter she wasn't aware of.

I knew better than to argue and took her scolding with grace, even though I knew she had reviewed the security footage and didn't actually see what happened. I was also quite sure she didn't have cameras everywhere, such as the bedrooms, but I wasn't about to be pedantic. Although Apollo's quick Teleport and Stella's glowing gem weren't noticed by either Samantha or Marelle, I wasn't surprised that Nurse Joy was able to figure it out with the help of security footage.

She at least had the awareness to understand why I had done it, or at least roughly. She ended the conversation by mentioning that she hadn't told Marelle anything other than 'the ghost' was no longer a concern.

Although I wouldn't have blamed her for telling Marelle what had happened, I thanked her before heading off to my room, eating with my team, and giving Duran and Apollo their vitamins. My team was properly tired, having exerted themselves a bit more than usual during both of the day's training sessions, so I decided I'd let Eevee and Duran rest in the Pokécenter room until Apollo and I returned.

I informed Eevee that we'd be back soon, and that I would be giving him his first full bath and grooming with the new supplies I'd gotten when we returned. To my surprise he actually seemed excited, which I suppose I should have expected now that he was overcoming his fear of water and knew the joys of being groomed, so I decided to leverage that when I saw him begin to look around the room curiously.

I told him that if he made a mess or broke anything, we'd be kicked out of the cozy room and he wouldn't be getting a bath. He seemed to take that very seriously, and I left them in full confidence they would behave while Apollo and I went to our first job.

I'd assumed that the job would be easy, but I had no idea just how easy it would be.

In fact, it took longer to walk there, listen to her long-winded explanation, and walk back than to actually solve. Within about five minutes of Apollo being allowed to meet the Miltank and Delcatty the job concerned, he understood that the reason they were 'randomly fighting' was because they simply disagreed about who was stronger, and each was too stubborn and prideful to drop it.

I informed the farm woman that the reason they fought was because they hadn't fought, and that she should probably just let them get it out of their system so it was decided. I wasn't sure if she was actually going to take my advice, but she seemed confident that she could take it from there and that I had done my job admirably.

Not even a half hour after we had left the Pokécenter, Apollo and I were already back and my account was just over a thousand credits heavier.

After tax, of course. It seemed that you would have to be pretty deliberate to get around that, at least for the freelance jobs listed on the job board. Apparently all the woman had to do was get on her computer, mark me as having completed the job, rate my performance and set an amount to be paid from her bank account. The system took care of the rest and was surprisingly automated.

As Apollo and I walked down the housing wing hallway and approached our room, I began to hear a noise I couldn't quite place. I didn't give it much thought until I was standing outside of my room, about to swipe my keycard as I realized the sound was coming from my room, I was now pretty sure the sound I heard was Eevee whining.

Distress. Anxiety.

"Please don't let the room be trashed…" I muttered under my breath as I closed my eyes and prayed to Arceus, hoping I wasn't about to witness a scene that would get me kicked out of the Pokécenter and further fined.

I swiped the keycard and slowly opened the door, and as I stepped in cautiously I was immediately pounced by Eevee, who lept up into my chest and I caught only on pure reflexive instinct.

Looking around the room, I noticed a few things.

The first was that, despite my fears, the room and everything in it was exactly how I'd left it. Nothing was broken, shredded, or otherwise destroyed.

The second was that Duran wasn't sitting in his usual spot near the door; he was sitting in the far corner away from the door, and he looked pissed; more than I could ever remember seeing him.

I wouldn't go so far as to say he was livid; in fact he was perfectly calm. But he bore a deep scowl and looked incredibly annoyed, reminding me once again of a grumpy old man.

The last thing that I noticed, unfortunately far too late, was that right in front of the door was a puddle of urine.

A puddle that I was currently standing in and just now beginning to smell.

Thankfully the Pokécenter rooms had smooth, polished concrete flooring rather than carpet, presumably for situations like this as well as durability against whatever Pokémon a trainer might release.

Eevee's ears were folded back as he nuzzled against me, and as I pet his head I couldn't help but sigh.

This might technically count as a mess, but it wasn't anything too difficult to clean up, and I wasn't going to rob Eevee of their bath over something they might not have had control over.

It had totally slipped my mind that Eevee might need to use the restroom before I left. Duran and Apollo never seemed to go to the bathroom, or if they did it was on their own time when I never noticed.

"Come on Eevee, let's get you cleaned up…"

After using the room's towels to clean up the puddle and tossing it into the washing machine, I began giving Eevee the best bath and grooming I could muster while Apollo talked to Duran, who was now much less agitated.

As I bathed an extremely content Eevee, Apollo fed me information in an impressive display of holding two telepathic links at once.

According to Duran's recounting of events, he was relaxing in front of the door as usual. A few minutes after I left, Eevee apparently decided to sit beside him, but rather than facing inward like Duran he faced the door.

Duran apparently didn't mind, but soon Eevee began to whine and paw at the door. He became more agitated as time went on and eventually started scratching at the door, which was when Duran decided to step in so Eevee didn't damage the room.

When he was unable to get Eevee to 'peacefully', Duran resorted to using Leer; the only thing he could think of that wouldn't hurt Eevee or make a mess.

It worked a bit too well. Eevee was intimidated enough that he peed, which 'soiled' his spot, as Duran put it.

Duran got as far away from the foul stench as he could, and Eevee took to pacing back and forth in the middle of the room, watching both Duran and the door anxiously.

My takeaways were that Duran wouldn't make a very good parent, and that Eevee had yet another fear I hadn't expected; separation anxiety.

Apparently also at play was his fear of tight, enclosed spaces. I hadn't expected this, as I thought the room was quite spacious, but I could see how a Pokémon not used to buildings and rooms might see it that way after some time, especially if they were already feeling anxious.

I know this because I had Apollo get Eevee's side when I was cleaning his ears and trimming the fur around his paws after his bath, and the only thing he reported back to me was that Eevee thought I was gone for a very long time, didn't think I was coming back, thought the room was shrinking, and that Duran had scared him.

He didn't need to go to the bathroom, it just got startled out of him.

We were gone about half an hour, so I could only assume that Eevee had a severely skewed perception of time. I'd never noticed it with any other Pokémon, but perhaps it wasn't something unique to Eevee.

Either way, I mentally added separation anxiety to Eevee's list of things he needed to work on as I finished grooming him. I made use of every single grooming item I'd bought, and although I knew it wasn't a flawless job I felt pretty proud of the overall outcome. He looked much less… 'wild' after some light trimming around his face, paws and ears, and I even did a minor bit of evening out around his tail for some particularly long hairs.

The night ended pretty peacefully; I laid on the bed and brushed Eevee thoroughly as he laid on my chest and Apollo and Duran slept, tired from a hard day of training.

"Thanks for not destroying the room, but you should have trusted me when I said I'd be back soon," I whispered softly as I set the brush on the side table and pet him, enjoying the warmth of his fur.

His ears folded back, and I could see a bit of embarrassment on his face as he looked away.

"It's ok, mistakes happen and Duran shouldn't have scared you. Don't hold it against him; he just wanted to make sure I didn't get in trouble."

He didn't respond, burying his face between his paws.

I scratched behind his ears, "You don't need to be afraid of things like that. Duran wouldn't hurt you, and I wouldn't ever leave you. We're your family. Someday soon, you'll be so strong you won't be afraid of anything. I promise.

He purred lightly, and I noticed he was beginning to drift off to sleep.

"Wonder how Sammy will do tomorrow. Sure hope she's ready…" I muttered as I closed my own eyes, deciding there was no harm in having Eevee sleep on me. I always slept flatly on my back, and wasn't concerned that I might accidentally roll over in the middle of the night.

I began thinking of what would happen if Samantha lost. She'd probably need to stay here for another week, and I wasn't sure if I'd be alright with that. I wasn't in a rush to finish the circuit or anything, but I never liked feeling like I was sitting still or stagnating.

I didn't want to leave Samantha here all alone, but I also didn't want to stay in a town like Verdanturf for a whole week feeling like I was waiting around.

In fact, there were a lot of ways tomorrow could go wrong. I was one incident away from being kicked out of the Pokécenter, we were guaranteed to run into Marelle, Apollo would need to face Stella, and Samantha would be appearing on TV for the first time. I hadn't seen her performance disguise yet, but I sure hoped it was good.

Even more than that, I hoped whatever performance she had prepared would be enough to let us continue our journey together.

"Come on Sammy… Show the world you're more than just a Stone," I muttered as I began drifting off to sleep, hopeful that tomorrow wouldn't turn out to be an absolute catastrophe.

TRAINER ID
Name: Daniel Ingram
Age: 16
Badges: 1
Account: 3,757 credits

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

AN: I'm not the happiest with how this chapter turned out, but I've already rewritten it twice and my focus is now many chapters ahead. The original version of this chapter was MUCH more explosive, but I had to neuter it for plot reasons I won't get into. This chapter also didn't get a proofread by my beta reader, as they are busy having a life with responsibilities. All of this to say, sorry if this chapter is a cut below what I usually put out.

Shoutout to GoMagikarp for the thoughtful reviews; it's been fun watching you chronicle your impressions and predictions, so if you ever get this far into the fic just know I appreciate you greatly.