TRAINER ID
Name: Daniel Ingram
Age: 16
Badges: 1
Account: 3,644 credits

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

The next morning, Eevee was much more social with Duran than I'd ever seen him, seemingly having earned some respect from his tales of the hunt and how he now carried himself with some measure of pride.

It also probably helped that Duran got to eat some of the meat that Eevee and I had brought back. It had been enough to be quite the meal for all of us, aside from Apollo who had no interest in even tasting it.

Speaking of the taste, it wasn't great; at least in my opinion. Duran and Eevee seemed to love it, with Eevee particularly enjoying the small amount of Pidove he was able to have, but to me, both that and the Zigzagoon were quite gamey. Survive & Thrive had given some general pointers on ways you could approach that issue, but considering I didn't have any cooking ingredients or spices, my options were limited. Since I didn't even have a baseline for what it tasted like, I decided to just cook it over the open flame using the cooking tripod.

It was… tricker than I had thought. Not wanting to risk feeding myself or my team raw meat and possibly getting sick, I might have cooked some of the cuts of meat a bit too much. I probably could have placed it in one of the metal bowls to help keep the open flame from charring, but it was clear that a pan would have been best for the job.

There was a lot of cooking-related stuff I could potentially buy. Pots and pans, seasonings, sauces, ingredients, the list went on and on, but I really didn't think it was viable without having a space-tech bag.

Weight, carrying space, and credits were all a problem, so for now I would just have to suck it up. Besides, I seemed to be the only one who took issue with my lackluster culinary creations; Eevee surprisingly didn't mind the flavor or texture at all, despite being notoriously picky.

It wasn't like I was going to be hunting every night anyway, especially if Samantha ever decided to show up. In fact, it might even be a rare thing. It's just something I wanted to make sure we could do in a pinch, and I felt much better knowing we had the option.

Speaking of Samantha… I was beginning to run out of hope that she would show up. We'd already done our morning routine of meditation, breakfast, and training, and despite Apollo's repeated reassurances that she wouldn't let us leave without at least saying goodbye, noon was almost upon us.

Relief. "Look, Sammy!"

I looked up from Telepathic Tendencies, which I had been staring at while lost in my thoughts more than really reading, to see that Apollo was right.

Samantha was walking towards me with Stella by her side, and to my relief she was wearing her backpack, which I took as a sign she planned on continuing to journey with me.

Despite all signs pointing to good news and an amicable outcome, there was one detail that I didn't find myself a fan of.

She was with Marelle and her Marill.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance but decided I'd do my best to play nice. I'd meditated on the topic of Marelle earlier in the morning and realized that she hadn't really done anything wrong, at least unforgivably so. I couldn't exactly fault her for her attitude toward me or outing me for missing Samantha's performance, I'd deserved both of those. My only hesitance was that between her weird ability to pick up lies and the fact that she had experience putting on an act with her drama background, I just generally felt uneasy around her.

She had all the makings to be a good spy, however unlikely it was. I still didn't trust her, and I felt like there were far better people Samantha could have chosen to get close to, but she didn't deserve for me to be rude.

Besides… Marelle didn't have a backpack on, and I knew she needed to hang around for a week to try again at getting Verdanturf's ribbon. It wasn't like she was about to join us on our journey, so I could manage being nice until we parted ways

"Marelle," I greeted with a nod as I stood and caught Eevee as he lept up to my stomach, wanting a front-row seat in my hoodie pouch.

Apollo for his part slowly waded toward Stella, and I could tell the two began having a telepathic conversation. He looked hesitant and remorseful, and I was suddenly reminded that this was their first time talking since Samantha's rebuke of my escape plan from Marelle caused Apollo to flood me with emotions during my mental spiraling.

I still didn't really understand why Stella would take Apollo's reaction so personally; perhaps it was a telepath thing, or maybe Stella just expected better of a trainer's starter. Either way, I decided to let them have their private conversation. Samantha and I had our own we needed to get through.

"Sammy… Look I'm sorry, I–" I started, but she held up a hand and stopped me.

"I've had some time to cool off…" Samantha said after taking a deep breath and looking down at Stella. "I'm still hurt that you missed my performance, and annoyed that you seemed like you were going to lie about it, but Stella and Marelle helped me realize it was an honest mistake and that you were coming from a good place."

I simply nodded, deciding not to risk opening my mouth and ruining what seemed to be a good start.

"You may be an idiot and a jerk sometimes, but… well, you're kinda the closest thing I have to a brother, even if in some small way, and nothing you've ever done is malicious or intentional. I want to finish what we started." She said, resolve clear on her face.

I nodded again with a relieved smile before casting a glance at Marelle, who stood with her arms crossed and a skeptical look as she watched the proceedings.

"I'd like that, feels like we haven't gotten enough time together. Marelle is welcome to join, but doesn't she need–"

"Don't worry Danny, I'm just here to see her off," she said with a smirk, and I bit my tongue at the urge to rebuke her use of Samantha's nickname yet again.

"I'm not big on the whole 'journey' thing, so I'll just book a Teleport when I wrap things up here. In the meantime though…"

Her eyes narrowed and she pointed a finger at me as she gave me a challenging look, "I challenge you to a battle; Marill against your Corphish. Prove that you have even a sliver of the talent Sammy has and that you deserve to travel alongside her."

I blinked, taken aback by the challenge and tempted to argue that I didn't need to 'prove' anything. But Duran and I had been looking for a good battle, and one just fell into our lap.

"Alright, three thousand sound good?" I offered, mentally kicking myself because that was nearly all of the money I had. But I knew even that was a tiny bet, especially for somebody who could afford to pay for Teleports around the region.

"Is that all she's worth to you?" she scoffed, clear disappointment on her face.

I nodded, "It's basically everything I have, so yeah."

Marelle softened just a bit at that admittance and simply nodded in acceptance. I glanced at Samantha in an unspoken request for her to referee, and she seemed to take my meaning as she led the way to an open area nearby.

Duran took his place in front of me, clearly eager for this battle as he looked at the Marill dismissively. I was suddenly reminded that he'd supposedly driven some Marill out of his old home, so this was a fight he likely had some familiarity with.

"Remember our gym battle, Duran. Don't get cocky," I warned as the Marill took its place in front of Marelle, glaring daggers at me. I was suddenly reminded of how mad it had been when I'd poked fun at Marelle's name to stall and realized that this was probably a grudge match for it.

My mention of the Rustboro gym battle seemed to be all the reminder Duran needed, as he scowled and took an aggressive stance.

"This will be a one-on-one battle between Daniel's Corphish and Marelle's Marill. The battle is over when I deem one unfit to continue, or one of you forfeits. Trainers, on my mark," Samantha announced with a raised hand, giving us both a look to ensure we were ready as we both nodded.

She brought her hand down swiftly to signal the start, and the battle began.

"Setup!"

"Charm him with your good looks, Marill!"

I raised a brow in interest at Marelle's call as Duran began using both Harden and Leer consecutively. Although we found that he wasn't able to perform them at the same time, we'd come up with the term 'setup' this morning to mean I wanted a Harden immediately followed by a Leer, since using Harden took longer and left him more vulnerable.

In this case though, it didn't matter. Marill wasn't attacking, in fact… I wasn't sure what it was doing. I wasn't familiar with Charm, but it waved its tail like a pendulum and its body swayed as it gave Duran a peculiar look.

The only thing I could think of was that it was trying to infatuate Duran into not attacking, but I was pretty sure that Duran simply wasn't the type to fall head over heels. Even if Marill was a fellow water-type, I was quite certain he had something of a grudge against the species. Apollo and Eevee I could see falling for something like that, but Duran… maybe I was being presumptuous, but he just didn't strike me as the type to fall in love.

My suspicions were confirmed when Duran completely shrugged it off and ignored the move, much to Marill and Marelle's shock.

"I've never seen that before; what's up with your Corphish?" she asked as Duran let loose a Leer, causing the Marill to shiver.

"Duran isn't so easily wooed, is that so hard to believe?"

I heard Samantha snort in amusement off to my side before she decided to chime in.

"Since you both seem to be misunderstanding what just happened, I'll clarify. Charm deceives the target into thinking their opponent is cute, fragile, and weak. It lowers the aggression with which the opponent fights, and they tend to pull their punches unconsciously so they don't maim what they perceive to be an inferior opponent. However, Daniel's Corphish has the Hyper Cutter ability, which negates any outside influence trying to trick it into going easy on its attacks."

Marelle's eyes widened in understanding, and I nodded in thanks to Samantha's explanation. I thought that Charm was attempting to infatuate Corphish and to make him hesitate and second-guess attacking his imaginary love interest, but this worked out nicely too.

"Water Gun!"

"Match it!"

Marill puckered its lips and began blasting a Water Gun at Duran just as he leveled his claws forward and began to return fire. I could immediately tell that Marill's was much more powerful; the stream of water was a tight, high-pressure stream more akin to a pressure washer whereas Duran's was more like a fire hose.

The result was that both Pokémon took a hit. Marill's stream cut through the center of Duran's torrent of water, and although the force of the hit was lessened it was still enough to knock him off his feet. I couldn't help but wonder how much damage Marill would be able to do if that attack was uncontested, and if Duran didn't have the luxury of having a hardened shell.

Marill was also sent tumbling, and I mentally chalked that exchange up as a draw. Although Marill's was clearly more powerful and refined, Duran had the added advantage of being able to create water from two different sources, something that suddenly struck me as a big advantage over most water types. I'd have to explore ways to exploit that in the future, but as Marelle shouted her next command my mind went to how we could close the distance and turn this into a close-quarter battle.

"Rollout!"

I clicked my tongue as Marill grabbed its tail, tucked its ears, and curled up into a ball as it began to roll around Duran, building momentum.

Another advantage that Duran had was that he was bigger than Marill. That made Rollout a lot less dangerous than it could have been, but I was familiar enough with the move not to take it lightly. Unless you could find a way to stop it, it would tear down the opponent at a rapid rate, especially if it managed to keep building momentum while sideswiping the opponent.

"Obscure and lock!" I yelled, hoping he understood what I wanted. The 'lock' strategy we'd developed didn't directly apply here, but my hope was that he'd be able to get ahold of the Marill and get it to stop using Rollout.

Duran created a shield of Bubbles around him just as the Marill diverted course and came in for a strike. It was difficult to see through his obscure technique; you could faintly make out that there was something orange within, but seeing exactly where he was proved to be nearly impossible. I suspected that it was much the same for him looking out, and decided to call out right when Marill was about to hit to help him with his timing.

"Now!" I shouted just as Marill plowed into the outer perimeter of the Bubbles.

I was able to make out Duran's shape move quickly, telling me he had done a hop. I held my breath and waited for the Bubbles to clear, noting that Marill hadn't come out the other side when it should have, which I took as a good sign that Duran had made it work.

Duran finally came into view, and I grinned as I saw him holding Marill up in the air, now uncurled as both of Duran's claws pinched into its fat. Although Marill was smaller than Duran, I was still fairly sure that it weighed roughly half of what he did, making me rather impressed that he had the strength to do that.

"Aqua Tail out of there!" I heard Marelle shout out frantically.

Almost instantly, the bulb at the end of Marill's tail began to faintly glow and drip with water as it began slamming it against Duran, pummeling him in a desperate attempt to be let go. Although the water aspect of the move wouldn't be a problem for Duran, I could tell that the hits themselves were pretty hard, not too dissimilar to being slapped repeatedly.

"Keep the advantage! Alternate Vice Grips!" I commanded as Duran continued to take the hits. I knew he'd have to set Marill down, but I didn't want him to fully let go. We were in a great position, and I didn't want to give that up if it could be helped. Marelle clearly wanted to create some distance, and our only moves at range were water-based. I suspected that Marill was much the same, however coordinators were known for their creative and liberal use of TMs, creating spectacular displays out of the unexpected. I had no idea what Marill might know, but even something like Swift would be difficult to deal with.

Duran surprised me even further by releasing a pincer from Marill yet continuing to hold his foe above his head, making me wonder just how strong he actually was. He did exactly as instructed, jabbing a claw into Marill's fat and pinching hard before releasing with the other claw, rinsing and repeating.

As I watched Duran pincering the Marill all over as it continued to bash its tail against him to no avail, I looked up and noticed the mortified look on Marelle's face before realizing a couple of things.

The first was that Duran and I had gotten extremely lucky to end up in this position. Marill had been grabbed in such a way that it was facing upward, so its mouth had no angle to hit Duran. There was really no neck to speak of for the species, and although I didn't doubt it had a little bit of mobility to twist its head it wasn't much. By and large, whatever direction its body was facing was where it was looking, and in this case that was a major problem.

The other thing I realized was that our opponents seemingly had no alternative course of action besides continuing to pummel Duran with Aqua Tail and hoping to be released. I could see the gears turning in her head as she desperately tried to come up with a solution, but my guess was that with Marill facing away, her options were extremely limited. She couldn't use moves like Rollout or Tackle without being on the ground, and moves such as Water Gun, Bubblebeam, and anything else requiring the mouth were off the table.

As I watched Duran continue the assault, Marill's Aqua Tails began slowing down and became weaker as consciousness began to slip away, I was reminded of my gym battle. Encountering a strategy you had no answer to was a sobering experience, and I actually felt a bit bad for Marelle. I could sympathize with the feeling of hopelessness she was no doubt experiencing right now judging by the resigned look on her face.

"Stop, I forfeit. You win," Marelle eventually conceded as it became abundantly clear Duran's victory was imminent.

I whistled for Duran to stop, and he released the nearly unconscious Marill before scuttling over to me, a look of pride and self-satisfaction etched on his face as I kneeled to rub his shell and praise his display of strength. I glanced over to see that Eevee seemed particularly impressed, a look of awe as he stared at Duran with what I took to be newfound respect.

Glancing at Apollo and Stella, I noticed they still seemed to be engrossed in a telepathic conversation, but they at least seemed to be mostly back to normal. He had been rather silent since she had arrived, and I wondered if they'd even paid much attention to the battle. I could only assume that they had been working out whatever it was that was causing tension between them, which I was very glad to see.

Marelle reached into her pocket and grabbed a potion before jogging out onto the field and kneeling over her battered partner, spraying it liberally over the many welts on its torso before whispering something quietly. Marill nodded and shakily got to its feet, but quickly sat back down with a look of relief as the potion began to work its magic, clearly needing a bit of time to rest.

"I guess you aren't too bad, although I think you got fairly lucky getting Marill caught in such a compromising position" Marelle admitted as she stood up and pulled out her Pokédex, punching in a few keys as I walked over and pulled mine out, tapping it against hers.

"You're pretty good too. We haven't been able to find many good battles, so thanks for that. It was fun," I confessed, extremely happy not only with Duran's performance but also to get a bit more padding in my severely dry bank account.

She crouched down and scooped up Marill in her arms, caressing her partner as she turned back to me, "I still think you got a bit lucky in that battle, but at least I feel confident you aren't just dead weight Sammy likes to drag around."

"Danny is a lot of things, but dead weight isn't one of them," Samantha said as she threw an arm around my shoulder, and I could swear I picked up a hint of pride in her voice.

"I can see that. He could still use some work on his people skills, but I'm sure you can help him with that."

"It's a work in progress," Samantha shrugged as I cast her an annoyed side glance.

"Well I've got to hang around Verdanturf another week to get my ribbon, since someone decided to show me up," Marelle said with a grin at Samantha. "Guess I've got more practice to do in the meantime."

"You'll win the next one, I'm sure of it," Samantha assured her. "I might even see you in Fallarbor if you're planning on booking a Teleport, depending on how long it takes me to travel there. I'll text you and keep you posted."

"Sounds good. If we don't meet up in Fallarbor, don't you dare forget your promise, Sammy" Marelle waved as she began heading back toward Verdanturf with her Marill.

I raised my brow in interest, wondering what this 'promise' Samantha had made was, but decided against asking.

"I won't, just make sure you're there too! Thanks for everything, Marelle! Take care!" Samantha shouted back as I gave an awkward wave goodbye.

"I'll be there, worry about yourself. Stick together if you two can; it's safer to travel in a group. You better be ready for a rematch next time I run into you, Danny!" she shouted behind her.

I groaned, deciding not to respond to that since she was getting pretty far away and wasn't even looking back anyway. I wasn't a fan of her calling me Danny, especially since I knew she was just doing it to be annoying, but since we were leaving on pretty decent terms I didn't want to push my luck.

Besides, I felt like she was being a genuinely good friend to Samantha. There was still a slight bit of suspicion that she might be putting on some elaborate front, but this encounter had done wonders to ease my overwhelming distaste and mistrust for her. I suddenly felt a bit bad about the email I'd sent to Steven asking him to look into her. I was sure when I checked his response in Mauville that he'd tell me she was just a normal girl and I'd feel like a paranoid asshole, but it was better to be safe than sorry. At the time it had felt necessary, but I was starting to realize we had simply gotten off on the wrong foot, which was largely my fault for my stunt at the Pokécenter.

I turned to Samantha, who was putting her backpack back on which she'd taken off while playing the role of referee. I took that as a cue that it was time for us to get moving, and I gathered my team into their respective traveling spots on my shoulder, head, and pocket before gesturing toward the route's path.

Samantha nodded and led the way back to the path, and we once again found ourselves journeying across Hoenn together.

"So… you forgive me?" I couldn't help but ask after a minute of awkward silence, the only ones talking being Stella and Apollo telepathically.

"For getting kicked out of the contest and missing my performance? Yes and no. I really don't like how you were planning on lying about it. You're lucky Marelle saved you from making that mistake. Next time you fuck up, just own up. I might be mad, but I promise you I'll be even more mad if I find out you lied about it. Still sucks that you may never get to see me win a ribbon in person, though."

"Fair enough. I didn't want to sour your big day, but you're right; I shouldn't have even thought of trying to hide it. Speaking of… did you ever plan on using a disguise for contests?"

Samantha grimaced, clearly having known that particular topic was bound to come up.

"I didn't lie about that… I did plan on using a mask I had made, but I decided against it the morning of the contest."

"Okay, but why?"

"A few reasons. Marelle knew I was competing after she snuck up on us in the Pokécenter, so she would have seen me missing and pieced it together anyway. There also wasn't anyone else there who was using a disguise, so I would have felt really awkward being the only one. Not to mention I would have had to show up to the contest hall already wearing it, and who knows how I would have left. I dunno, it just sounded like it would make the experience awful… And I'll be honest Danny, I don't want to hide my whole life. It already sucks I can't just be myself, what good is earning fame and respect if I can't even enjoy it."

I sighed, surprised at how convincing her arguments were. There were a few that I could nitpick if I wanted to, like how a little discomfort and inconvenience would have been worth the safety it provided, but I could understand where she was coming from.

"Well, I hope you know what you're doing… I can't really say I agree, but I can somewhat understand.."

"I appreciate that. But I'm curious, which part don't you understand?"

"Honestly, most of it," I admitted. "Why you would want to be famous yet refuse to use your family name to help, why you care about people you don't even know respecting you, why you don't seem at all concerned with your own safety… But at the same time I can get not wanting to live your life in fear, or made to feel different."

Her eyes narrowed and I thought maybe I'd crossed a line somewhere, but after a moment she relaxed and shrugged.

"We're just different people with different experiences and outlooks. No use arguing about it. I can't understand a lot of things about you, but I try my best to accept them."

"I'd like to think I'm pretty simple. I want to build a team I can call family, grow strong with them, and experience what the world has to offer. Everything else is just gravy."

"Yet you seem determined to piss off everyone you come across, and it's like you're begging for an early grave."

"I don't think either of those things are true at all. I might not get along with many people, but my self-preservation is way better than yours," I said with a furrowed brow as I crossed my arms.

"Oh please. You chose to fight the Joltik, the Geodude, and the Rocket. You didn't have to do any of that, you had other options yet you always chose the most dangerous one. And you're perfectly sociable when you choose to be, you just don't most of the time. Preston, Leader Georgia, Marelle… You could have handled all of those much more gracefully."

"Agree to disagree," I shrugged. "I don't think you have a very fair sample to work from for most of those things. Things happen to me, and I choose not to take it lying down."

"You also tend to escalate things instead of smoothing them over. All I'm saying is, don't be surprised when it comes back to bite you in the ass someday. It's only a matter of time until you piss off the wrong person."

"Are you threatening me, dear sister?" I asked with a playful grin, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Not me, idiot. I'm just pointing out that you might have been the 'victim' in some of those cases, but your reaction is almost always over the top and makes you look like the bad guy when all is said and done."

"If I get poked, I bite. You've got a bit of that in you too, in case you haven't noticed."

"Could you just try to be a little less rash and abrasive? At least while we're traveling together? I'd like it if we made some friends while traveling together, and I'd really like it if we didn't get seriously hurt before parting ways. The way things have been going, I'm not so sure either of those things are likely."

I considered the request for a moment before nodding, "I'll try my best. I still disagree with some of your characterizations, but I understand what you're getting at. If we're making concessions though, could you maybe try to trust me a bit more? I warned you about Marelle, stuck my neck out for you so much that I got kicked out of the Pokécenter and a permanent note on my trainer record, and what did you do? You disregard it and decide to become good friends with her the first chance you get."

"I did take your warning seriously, Daniel," she groaned in exasperation. "I've been careful around her, and it's not like we became friends to spite you, it just sort of happened. You don't get to blame me for you getting kicked out of the Pokécenter either, I didn't ask you to do that."

"I wasn't blaming you, just pointing out the lengths I went to keep her from finding out your whole identity is a lie, and how you decide to spit in the face of that effort by cozying up to the one person you clearly shouldn't, given your situation. You could have befriended literally anyone else."

"I don't know what you want me to say. Marelle and I hit it off, it is what it is," she shrugged.

I grit my teeth, deeply annoyed by her answer but deciding not to push that topic any further. The jury was still out on Marelle, and I didn't want to admonish her too much for making a friend now that I felt like my point had been made.

"Fine, how about the fact that I battled a few Joltik for some much-needed experience against electric types, and you completely disregard the fact we handled ourselves and continue to claim I was just being dumb. You can't admit that maybe I knew what I was getting into, had a good reason to do it, and could handle myself?"

"It was dumb; you may have come out relatively unharmed, but you didn't even have a way to cure your own paralysis, so clearly you didn't think it through all the way. If I wasn't there, you all would have been sitting Psyducks if anything else decided to attack you," she huffed.

"We were fine; it would have worn off soon anyway, plus we won the battle even with paralysis. And did you seriously bring up the Geodude incident? I haven't once brought up how you reacted to that situation, but if you truly think your method of 'handling' it was better than mine, you're delusional. I can admit there are plenty of things you're better than me at, so why can't you accept that sometimes I might know what I'm doing?" I nearly shouted with conviction.

She got quiet and stared at the ground, but at that point I was frustrated at what seemed to be a complete lack of compromise on Samantha's part. I probably should have left it at that, but now the floodgates had been let loose. She seemed to have no problem calling me out on my every flaw, so I felt like it was finally time to call her out on hers.

"You froze in Rusturf Tunnel, Samantha! You say you would have run, but you were curled up in a corner vomiting and crying your eyes out. And what if you did run, would you feel good about that? Turning back on something you set out to do at the first hiccup, leaving the problem there for the next person to come across; someone who probably wasn't nearly as equipped to handle it as we were? What if someone else had died, would you still think that was the right thing to do?"

At this point we had completely stopped, and I could see tears falling to the ground from behind the hair that barely covered her face. Stella was glaring at me while baring her teeth in warning, but I couldn't bring myself to care; I wasn't done.

"You were utterly useless in that situation, Samantha. Could you live with yourself if Stella died protecting you while you bawled like a baby? Did you have the same reaction when the Rockets kidnapped you, crying and hoping somebody else would make things better? Well lucky you, 'daddy' answered your prayers," I all but spat, my words laced with a venom I hadn't intended but now couldn't contain.

"Here's a reality check Samantha, your dad and I won't always be there to save you, and if you're too stubborn to accept a bodyguard or properly train your team, then you're tempting fate. Especially when you do things like go on television with your face and befriend a literal lie detector, both of which were completely avoidable. You don't want to be treated like a princess or some spoiled rich girl? Then quit acting like you can do no wrong and that things will always work out for you. You need to accept that just like me, you've got some things to work on. I can admit I have my faults and things I need to work on, so why can't you?"

Samantha had given up all will to fight back, and a steady stream of tears fell to the ground as she constantly sniffed and rubbed her running nose. I took a deep breath to try to calm down, feeling that I'd said everything I'd been bottling up. I felt a small sense of relief, but mostly guilty at my harsh delivery. I hadn't intended to take things this far, but it had felt completely unfair for Samantha to continually poke at my mistakes while completely ignoring her own shortcomings.

"Don't regret. Needed said."

I glanced to my shoulder, having completely forgotten that my entire team was present for that outburst, and I began to feel embarrassed as I realized that Eevee was completely hidden inside my pocket shivering. I reached in to scratch behind his ear to soothe him as Apollo gave me a slight nod, and found myself surprised that he'd not only allowed me to take things that far but that he somehow approved. Although I couldn't see Duran's reaction, I was now aware of just how still he had become.

"Y-you're right… I'm s-sorry."

I glanced at Samantha as she sniffled and wiped away the last of her tears before looking up at me, a vulnerability on her face I hadn't seen since the Geodude incident. Glancing down to Stella, I noticed that she no longer appeared hostile as she rubbed her head against Samantha's leg, her gem faintly glowing. Although I didn't immediately see Skitty, the fact that I didn't hear him running about told me he had likely been watching the scene unfold with interest somewhere nearby.

"I'm sorry, for everything. For snapping at you when you didn't deserve it, for always acting like I know better, for calling you an idiot when you're just doing what you thought was right… For being useless when everyone needed me most… And for making you feel like I don't value what you bring to the table. You're right, I have things I need to work on, just like you."

I was a little taken aback by just how drastically things had turned, but felt relief that I hadn't completely ruined our friendship by blowing up on her, and that it seemed how I felt had really gotten through to her.

I nodded and muttered softly, "I'm sorry too. For everything. Especially for how I just unloaded on you, that wasn't fair."

Samantha shook her head, and as she looked right into my eyes I felt like there was a newfound determination, or like a fire had been lit.

"No, I really needed to hear that. Stella and my parents have touched on some of that before, but I always managed to brush it off. In some weird way, hearing you say it just… I don't know, it was like a bucket of cold water being poured on me while I slept. It struck home, even if you were a bit of a jerk in how you did it. But that's part of why I appreciate you so much. You say things how they are, regardless of who I am or how it might make you look. You're a good friend, Daniel… My best, actually."

To my surprise, Samantha threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. I wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her back reassuringly, and we stayed like that for what felt like a long time but was likely only a few seconds. I always felt a bit awkward in situations like this, but I was determined to comfort Samantha while she was feeling vulnerable.

Eventually, she let go and pulled away, and I looked down at my chest where her head had been to see that it now sported a couple of wet spots.

She saw where my attention was dawn and giggled, clearly amused. "Sorry about that too. Now come on, we've stood here for long enough. We've got a lot of ground to cover."

I nodded, and we resumed walking on the path. Our whole group was silent for the next ten or so minutes, and even Skitty decided that now wasn't the time to be running about with boundless energy. Soon enough though, it felt like we had put it behind us, and when I was sure that the atmosphere among our group was more relaxed I finally worked up the courage to break the ice.

"So… you mentioned there were quite a few species on this route you were interested in, which ones?"

She hummed, "Mostly Roselia, Bellossom, and Masquerain. There's Marill and Illumise too, but I'm much more interested in those three. They all have insanely high potential in contests, and they're simply beautiful. This route is known for being the best in the region for coordinators to find potential partners; it's why they chose to put the first contest hall in Verdanturf."

I nodded, easily able to see how she would be interested in those species. I was by no means well-educated on contests, but I did know that there were species that tended to do well, and all the ones that she had mentioned would definitely make the cut.

"What about you? Think you'll catch anything on this route?"

"Probably not," I admitted, "I feel like I've got my hands full already. I'm also not very keen on catching grass or bug types, and I've already got water covered."

"What's wrong with grass and bug type Pokémon? They're friendly and easy to train," Samantha asked confusedly.

"Eevee might decide he wants to be a Leafeon," I said as I pet his head in my pocket. "I don't want to catch types he might want to become until after he's chosen. As for bugs, well…" I trailed off, not sure I wanted to admit my reasoning for that.

"Daniel, there's no way you're afraid of bugs. You faced down a literal horde of Joltik," she said with an unamused look.

"No, it's not that…"

"Then what is it? Don't tell me you're one of those people who only want strong Pokémon, and that you think bugs are weak? There's plenty of bug-types that can compete at an elite level, as long as you train them right."

I groaned, "Can we please drop it. People are allowed to have a preference. I bet you don't want a ghost, and there are plenty who have hangups against getting a psychic, a dragon, or a dark-type."

"Yet that isn't the case here, I can tell. You aren't the type to shy away from something out of some unfounded fear or superstition. So what gives?"

I bit my lip, knowing that all eyes were on me. Samantha, Duran, Eevee, and Stella all seemed extremely interested in my answer, and only Apollo knew the true answer. I didn't want to say it out loud, mostly to keep Eevee and Duran from having dark thoughts, but I kind of felt forced into answering and didn't want to lie.

"Because bugs don't have a very long lifespan and I want to live a long and happy life with my team. There, satisfied?"

Samantha's eyes widened in understanding, and I could feel Duran and Eevee tense a bit.

"Arceus… That's pretty dark, Daniel."

"Well, you wanted to know. There you go."

"You do realize there's plenty of non-bugs that won't outlive a human, right? It's also pretty messed up to want your team to outlive you. That's selfish as hell."

"It's not like lifespan is a requirement to join my family. Don't make it sound worse than it is. Can we please drop it now, I really don't want to talk about death right now. You're scaring Eevee."

It was true; Eevee was shivering in my pocket, and the conversation had made the mood of our traveling party rather awkward.

She nodded, and we continued on silently for a while, most of us lost in our own thoughts. Apollo sent me feelings of comfort and, surprisingly, seemed to be proud of me for admitting my fear out loud.

I'd have thought he would have disapproved of voicing such a negative and selfish thought out loud, particularly since it seemed to bring the group's mood down and given them a reason to contemplate the inevitability of death.

Either he approved of me not bottling these things up, or he liked that I was sharing more personal things with Samantha. I didn't pry on why he was proud of me, and he thankfully picked up that I didn't want to linger on the topic any longer.

That slightly awkward conversation aside, I was glad that Samantha and I were back to bickering and bantering. It felt like things were normal once again, something that I was extremely grateful for. Just earlier this morning I thought that I would be making the trip to Mauville alone, and possibly might have lost my only friend.

"Hey Danny, you still haven't seen my final performance, right? It's on PokéTube now; it's actually kind of blowing up. I haven't watched it yet, and I need to know what I look like on video so I can figure out if there's anything I should do differently. Watch it with me?" she asked, giving me a hopeful look as rotated her phone sideways.

"I'd like that," I nodded with a smile, walking shoulder to shoulder with her so we could watch it as we continued our journey toward Mauville.

Things weren't always amazing between us. We had our differences we were working through, and there were probably plenty of things we would never see eye-to-eye on. But I was really glad to be able to travel with Samantha Stone, who had somehow become my best friend despite all odds and our many differences, even if it was just for a little while longer.

Despite that, I had the feeling that even if our status as travel partners was on a limited timer, we were developing a lasting friendship that would endure far beyond our shared journey across the eastern half of Hoenn.

A/N: Yay, friendship! Happy Thanksgiving! You didn't think I'd skip posting a chapter just because of a holiday, did you? Silly you, the chapters must flow. On the topic of chapters flowing, sorry I haven't been able to put out two a week like I had originally hoped. I'd have to rush them a bit more and shorten them to make it work, and I just can't bring myself to do it. 5-8k seems to be my sweet spot for making sure each chapter has some substance and ample time to cover things how I want, and many of them require a fair bit of research and reworking to get right. It is what it is, hopefully I'll be able to pump out two a week on occasion soon, but I can only promise one. Except for Christmas, I promise I'll publish a special chapter as a present for all you who give DotD the time of day. I appreciate you all, stay cute and happy holidays.

Shoutout to GoMagikarp and Trix for beta-reading this chapter.

Come discuss DotD or just hang out and chat on Discord. gg/ ge6a8XcNcB