TRAINER ID
Name: Daniel Ingram
Badges: 2
Account: 12,637 credits
Location: Route 112 (Cable Car)

DANIEL'S TEAM
Ralts (Apollo) - Male
Corphish (Duran) - Male
Eevee (Orion) - Male
Trapinch - Female

OWEN'S TEAM
Makuhita (Bronson) - Male
Graveler (Roxy) - Female
Shroomish (Misha) - Female
Slakoth (Omar) - Male

Waiting for the Cable Car didn't take too long, and allowed me time to rouse Orion from his nap and give some attention to his fur, which wasn't in the best shape after his battle with the Growlithe. Thankfully he'd managed not to be completely doused in fire by one of its Flamethrowers or the final Flame Charge, but after trimming off the burnt patches from the Embers that had grazed him, he wasn't exactly looking pristine.

While he didn't have any bald spots, his fur was rather uneven and in desperate need of a proper bath after our time in Fiery Path and him taking a few tumbles in his battle. My own skills with the pair of scissors surely didn't help matters, and even with Apollo having returned from his scouting in the trees to help me console Orion, it was plain to see that he was rather self-conscious about his fur being blemished.

I did my best to reassure him that it would grow back in no time and that we could make it less noticeable when we got to Lavaridge and I had more time to work on it, but to my surprise it was Owen and Duran that ended up putting him at ease the most.

After noticing that Apollo and I were trying to console Orion and that he appeared to be somewhat distressed, Owen must have picked up on what we were talking about despite us having a hushed conversation in our own group. He came over to us briefly to congratulate Orion on a hard-earned victory before taking an approach I hadn't considered.

"I know you're unhappy with your fur being sullied, but it's evidence of how hard you battled and serves as a reminder of your victory. Every scratch, scrape, burn, and scar should be worn with pride, at least that's what I think. Even if they fade with time, the lessons learned from them will stick with you forever. That finisher you did was awesome, you're a real natural in battle."

While Orion seemed momentarily stunned at Owen's reassurance, Duran snipped his claws and said something as a followup, likely agreeing or adding onto what Owen had said. I never actually did figure out exactly what he said, because for the first time since waking from his nap Orion's ears perked up and he barked as his tail wagged in an unmistakable sign of happiness.

I didn't even consider asking Apollo for a translation; I seized the opportunity to scoop Orion up and hold him close as I scratched behind his ears affectionately, telling him that I agreed with Owen wholeheartedly.

With Orion tended to and cheered up, I spent some time checking in on Apollo and Duran, giving them some attention before my mind wandered to Trapinch. It was getting to be late in the day, and I hadn't interacted with Trapinch since our unfortunate misunderstanding in the morning when she'd tried to take a Bite out of me for touching her, which resulted in her getting promptly rebuked by my team. Tensions had largely cooled and I was feeling eager to move past the incident, but just as I began to seriously consider reaching for the occupied Luxury Ball on my belt, Owen's voice grabbed everyone's attention.

"Look, the Cable Car is coming!" he shouted excitedly.

Sure enough, one of the yellow gondola cars had become visible and was making its way toward us at a steady rate. I had incorrectly expected them to be rather slow, but as it grew closer I estimated it as being at least twice as fast as our normal walking pace.

We quickly gathered our things and stood at the platform, discussing how many of our team members should accompany us. A sign stated that the maximum capacity for each gondola car was 8 people, or 2,500 pounds. Interestingly, there wasn't any mention of whether there was a restriction on types of Pokémon allowed, but it stated that the individual who purchased admission would be held liable for any damages caused by the group and that activities were being recorded.

That part initially confused me until the gondola finally arrived. As it locked into place, a timer suddenly lit up to show a countdown of five minutes in an overhead display, and a panel near the gate blocking access to the gondola began to pulse, revealing a faint '150'.

The implications were immediately clear; one of us had to pay the toll within the five-minute boarding period we had before the gondola left the station. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there was indeed a couple of discrete cameras, both on the station as well as in the gondola itself.

"I think I want my core team out with me so they can see the sights and experience this with us," I thought aloud, not seeing any reason why they wouldn't fit or how they could damage anything. I didn't bother giving any serious consideration to having Trapinch join us, as it would needlessly introduce tension and possible chaos to what I hoped would be a relaxing and enjoyable ride. If I'd had time to talk to her and come to a final resolution to our earlier altercation I might have considered it, but as things stood there wasn't a chance I was going to let her accompany us.

"The only one I'm somewhat hesitant about is Roxy, but she should be fine," Owen said with a contemplative look. "She's bulky now that she's a Graveler, but judging by the size of this car and how much weight it's rated for, we should be alright."

"I highly doubt she's anywhere near putting us over the weight limit," I agreed with a nod. "But realistically, I think she's the only risk we have of damaging the car, I could see her bumping against the window and cracking it. Hope you don't mind being the one on the hook, I'll pay for a couple of meals while we're in Lavaridge to split the difference."

"Works for me," Owen said with a shrug, "I'll take the risk, I don't want her to miss out on this."

He approached the panel and tapped his Pokédex against it, causing the pulsing light to turn solid green, the security gate to open, and the gondola's doors to slide open. We shuffled in with our teams, minding the gap between the platform and the car as we took our seats and made sure we all had a good view. The gondola was surprisingly spacious with a large open area in the middle and seats surrounding the edges, but one critique I had was that the seats were made of metal and not all that comfortable. There was a ledge between the back of the seats and the frame, which ended up serving as a convenient spot for most of our smaller members to sit on for a good view out the window.

After waiting a few minutes and getting as comfortable as we could, there was a series of loud beeps that grew in succession to indicate that the door was about to close, and soon we began our ascent up the side of Mount Chimney. Spirits were high and eyes were wide as the growing expanse of Hoenn slowly became more visible and Route 112 was finally put behind us, marking the end of a chapter on our journey and our fast-approaching arrival to Lavaridge.

Being so high up offered an entirely new perspective on my home region, and only cemented my desire to someday soar high in the sky on the back of a trusted team member. Presumably and hopefully, that would be a Flygon if things with Trapinch worked out, but I didn't allow myself to fall into that train of thought when there was such an amazing spectacle unfolding before my eyes.

I'd always thought of Hoenn as being a massive, sprawling landmass with a diverse range of biomes, but my impression of the region slowly changed as we continued to gain altitude and gained a better view.

Part of it was undoubtedly a matter of perspective, but things that I had interpreted as vast seemed almost insignificant when viewed from high in the sky. Mauville and the desert, while grandiose when experiencing them in person, appeared to be little more than minor breaks in the seemingly endless expanse of forest that covered most of the region, although in the case of the desert I gained a respect for just how large it's main body was compared to the narrow channel we traveled. A distinct lack of trees helped me identify the rolling hills and meadows of Route 117, and I was able to make out a few narrow strips winding through the dense trees that surely made up some of the other routes, but by and large the towering trees that covered most of Hoenn's mainland served to obscure many of the things I'd expected to see.

Case in point, it took considerable effort and the right angle to even make out the existence of Verdanturf. Though not the biggest town by any means, it was still a respectable size and existed in a large clearing just at southern base of Mount Chimney, so I'd expected it to be extremely noticeable. But I'd neglected to take into consideration the dense forest that surrounded it on all sides, including the northern side between the exit of Rusturf Tunnel and the outskirts of the town. It hadn't even taken us an hour after leaving the tunnel to make it into town, but when you considered that walking from one edge of Verdanturf to the other only took a few minutes, it made sense that it was mostly obscured.

Hoenn's sprawling forestry and sea of dense, mature trees made identifying many specific landmarks difficult or outright impossible. We were completely unable to see things like the Mauville Daycare or the Winstrate family home, although we did manage to make out the large pond where we met Vito as well as the Mauville gym and Pokécenter despite the skyscrapers that threatened block them.

I had incorrectly assumed that we'd be able to see most of Hoenn, but the subtle haze that seemed to encompass most of the region became much more prominent when viewed over long distances and caused many of the things I'd hoped to see to be impossible to make out. At a couple of points I could make out the edge of Rustboro, but cities I was hoping to see like Slateport and Petalburg were entirely obscured.

Though not able to see as much of the region as I'd have liked, there was still plenty of new sights to behold. In particular, the Great Tropics River that split the eastern side of Hoenn from the rest of the mainland was occasionally visible, complete with a series of rolling waterfalls on its northern end that far exceeded my expectations in terms of scale. In fact, our perspective gave me a newfound appreciation for just how far elevated much of Hoenn's northern terrain was from the rest, and it made me wonder just how steep the drop-off might appear if one were in the northern ocean looking at the mainland. I had never heard of there being any accessible beaches up there, but I couldn't imagine that the raised elevation would end as a steep cliff that dropped directly into the ocean.

Owen didn't know the answer either, which only made us more curious. Owen did a quick search on his phone and found out that there was indeed an extremely steep cliff face along much of the north that fed directly into the sea with very few traversable beaches to speak of, which only made me want to someday see it for myself.

Speaking of waterfalls and raised elevation, one of the things we were able to see most clearly was Fallarbor City and the interesting landscape that surrounded it. While not as developed as Petalburg, Rustboro or Mauville, I was actually surprised by the size and number of buildings that made up what I always considered a rather remote location. It was nestled directly below the rocky cliff that wrapped all the way around Route 113 and fed directly into the desert of Route 111, creating a bowl that neatly contained the sandy landscape to it's own confined space.

Just to the west of Fallarbor was a much more modest waterfall compared to those seen along the Great Tropics River, with water pooling into a small lake just at the northern edge of Mount Chimney and seemed to spill into the ocean further to the west, although I couldn't specifically see where. With the Cable Car slightly favoring the southern side of the mountain the view was mostly obscured, and on the rare occasions that the gondola did slightly veer north far enough to see to the north-west, Mount Chimney's base protruded where I knew the caverns of Meteor Falls and most of our region's dragon-types could be found.

With how interesting everything to the north was, I somewhat regretted not having made any plans to explore it myself, and couldn't help but wonder how Samantha was faring as I took in just how much ground she had to cover between the desert and Fallarbor.

At one point another Cable Car passed us on its way down the mountain, which was unsurprisingly empty. While seemingly uneventful on its own, it did hold some notable significance. Owen felt confident that given how far up the mountain we were, it was surely the only other Cable Car in operation which would imply that we were halfway through our ride, meaning that they operated on a circuit and took turns going up and down in unison.

For me though, it served as a reminder of just how few journeying trainers I'd encountered since leaving Petalburg. I voiced this thought to Owen, and he admitted that although there were undisputably fewer trainers than previous years, they could still be found. He told me he'd encountered a decent handful of them during his stay in Mauville when frequenting the battle courts and training along the beach, and had an interesting theory that many of the ones that got stuck on a gym didn't tend to hang around town like you might expect, unless they were visiting a battle court.

He told me that as home to one of the earlier gyms trainers tended to stall at, Dewford was no stranger to seeing journeying trainers who overstayed their welcome at a Pokécenter. He reminded me that free housing was only offered for a week at a time, and that even if there were rooms free for trainers to pay to occupy, it could quickly add up to drain much-needed traveling funds. This was just one of the reasons that many journeying trainers who lost a gym battle tended to camp outside town, oftentimes deeper in the wilderness so they could encounter stronger wild Pokémon and train in peace. They would only return to town to resupply, visit a Pokécenter if their teams needed it, seek a few battles at the battle court, or rechallenge the gym.

Another notable thing that reaching the halfway point marked was that we soon began ascending into the clouds, which served to all but block what had been a wonderful view. All that was left to look at was an endless abyss of rolling fog and a portion of Mount Chimney itself, but even that became somewhat difficult as the windows lining our gondola began to fog up with condensation.

"Looks like we got unlucky, taking the Cable Car on a day that isn't exactly clear," Owen sighed as he finally quit trying to look out the window, plopping firmly into his seat with a sigh as he crossed his arms.

"Maybe, but chances are it's like this most days," I shrugged. "All things considered, I'm pretty happy with the view we had. It definitely feels like we got our money's worth."

"Easy for you to say, you didn't pay a cent," Owen said with a momentary playful grin before his eyes widened and his expression fell.

"Uh… Dude?" he said as he pointed near my shoulder.

I glanced over and instantly saw what he was looking at. Throughout the ride so far, all of our Pokémon had been spellbound by the view out the window, save for Omar who was lulled asleep by the gentle rocking of the cart. Most of our ride had been surprisingly quiet, except for the few rare occasions where Owen and I would have a quick discussion around an observation, but the silence was particularly prominent among our teams. They did very little socializing and paid Owen and myself little mind, each seemingly deep in contemplation as they stared out the window enraptured by the sights.

I'd tried talking to Apollo, but judging from his short responses and refusal to break his attention from what was outside the window I got the sense I might be ruining his enjoyment of the ride, so had stopped. The same was true for Orion and Duran; our teams were perfectly content to sit in silence with nothing but their thoughts as they took in the region's landscape, so that's largely what we had done.

But now, likely as a result of the captivating view being totally obscured by the endless sea of mist and us generally just being so high up, Orion's enjoyment had firmly come to an end. Laying along the ledge near the window where he'd been for the majority of the ride, Orion had begun to tremble and had his ears folded back with his tail wrapped tightly around his body.

More unfortunate than that, there was a noticeable puddle forming around him, with some of it spilling down and pooling into the seat beside me.

"Shit," I muttered as I rifled through my bag for something that could dry off Orion and soak up the urine as I began to notice that a rather unpleasant smell had started filling the car. Thankfully I'd kept the towel that Samantha had bought me for our day on Mauville's beach, and I suddenly found myself immensely grateful that the interior was comprised entirely of metal.

After drying off Orion, soaking up the mess, scrubbing the area clean with a splash of soap and water, and stuffing the soiled towel into my waterproof bag to minimize the smell, a quick conversation with the help of Apollo serving as translator revealed that Orion was not only extremely uncomfortable and disoriented due to a pressure he felt in his ears, but had also succumbed to his claustrophobia and a fear of heights, which I was entirely unsurprised to learn was a thing. He had been too enraptured with the sights for it to set in earlier, but with the glass and view being obscured his fears had gotten the better of him, and the issue with being unable to pop his ears was only making matters worse.

I hadn't paid much attention to it, but my ears had in fact popped a few times during our ride, and I unfortunately had no idea how to help Orion relieve his discomfort. I was also unsurprised that his phobias were acting up, considering the gondola did strangely feel a lot more cramped with the windows fogging up, and what little we could see outside the windows did feel like we were floating in an endless expanse off nothingness for the most part.

Owen and I attempted to console Orion and encouraged him to work through his fears to finish up the ride, reassuring him that accidents happened and there was no harm done. But his embarrassment at having soiled himself in front of everyone, having everyone's attention focused on him, the pressure bearing down on his ears, and his lingering phobias kept him from calming down and he all but begged to be returned to his ball, which I eventually obliged. As much as I'd have liked to help him overcome it, it was a lot of little things adding up that I couldn't do much to help with, and I didn't want to push him too hard when he was obviously miserable.

Owen seemed confident that it wouldn't count as damage so long as nobody reported it, and that the camera in the corner wasn't being actively monitored. I was fairly certain that he was sorely tempted to crack a joke about how it hadn't been Roxy that risked a fine for damage, but he resisted the urge even with Orion no longer present, which I was extremely grateful for. I could tell that he found the event at least mildly amusing though, even if he tried his best not to show it.

None of the Pokémon present seemed to be too bothered by what had happened, but I couldn't help but feel terrible for Orion. He'd just gotten over the fact that his coat was uneven and in dire need of a bath, and now it bore the subtle scent of urine and he had been publicly humiliated, at least in his eyes.

While I still wouldn't be able to get him fully cleaned up until I got to Lavaridge, it seemed that at a minimum I would need Duran's assistance rinsing him off and that Orion would surely need to be cheered up yet again. I suspected that this time it might be more difficult, particularly convincing him that nobody was going to look down on him or hold his mistake against him.

I was reminded of when he was still new to the team and had peed in the Pokécenter room. Funny enough, that wasn't even one of the incidents that had eventually led to me getting temporarily banned, since it had thankfully been easy to clean up and likely went unnoticed.

If I recalled correctly, he had been restless due to it being his first time indoors and feeling trapped. Duran had also pushed him over the edge by getting annoyed and using Leer, which had slightly strained their relationship but had since been better ever since Orion successfully went hunting, not to mention a couple of good performances in battles. That one had been easy enough to get over, but this time I worried it might have a lasting effect on his confidence, specifically around Owen and his team who he didn't know too well.

Between Orion's accident and the muggy atmosphere surrounding us, the remainder of our ride toward the summit of Mount Chimney wasn't exactly as pleasant as the first half. Yet it was partially salvaged by some visibility returning and the reveal of the sun's slow creep toward the horizon, which caused the light to be scattered by the haze and gave the sky a warm glow that was truly a sight to behold. I spent some time getting to know Owen and his team a little better, which helped lighten the mood somewhat while passing time until we finally reached our destination.

As interesting as our ride in the Cable Car had been, it was an immense relief to step onto the station that was nestled near the top of Mount Chimney, glad to finally be able to stretch my legs and stand on solid ground again.

"I've gotta agree with you, that trip was well worth the credits and backtracking," Owen remarked. "Sightseeing aside, I couldn't imagine trying to hike all the way up the side of the mountain."

"That leisurely ride would have been probably an entire day of grueling climbing, maybe even more," I agreed wholeheartedly with a serious nod.

"I'm inclined to lean towards more. Especially for you, no offense," Owen chuckled good-naturedly. Something I was beginning to understand about Owen was that he was more thoughtful and methodical than he often came across. He struck a very good balance between leveraging his charisma and optimism with being considerate and purposeful. While he wasn't opposed to occasionally sliding in a slight jab, it was much more tame and purposeful compared to the unbridled ruthlessness that Samantha sometimes came at me with. I suspected that the only reason he ribbed me for my physique was because he knew I had an interest in improving it and wanted to help motivate me, and I was certain that if I ever expressed even the slightest bit of discomfort at it he would immediately apologize and stop.

While I didn't mind it in the slightest, I couldn't help but think of how different my relationship with Owen was when compared to Samantha, at least in terms of banter. Right out of the gate, Samantha and I had no reservations of going full-tilt on one another, something that I quite appreciated about our relationship. It also struck me that if Samantha got the sense that a particular comment did bother me, she likely would file it away for later use to get under my skin rather than totally swear off it like I strongly suspected Owen would.

In truth, I hoped I could one day banter with Owen at a similar level that I often had with Samantha, but I didn't get the sense that his humor was quite as blunt or self-deprecating as Samantha and mine was.

"Doesn't matter how good my physical condition is, I'm not willingly subjecting myself to scaling mountains if it's not necessary," I remarked as we stepped out of the Cable Car station and began to take in our surroundings.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty fit dude who loves a good workout and challenge, but I think I'll save intensive training like mountain climbing for when I'm closer to the end of the circuit. I'd totally love to do it someday though, just think of the bragging rights. How many trainers in the region do you think there are that can claim to have climbed Mount Chimney on foot?"

"Hopefully not many, otherwise I'd be concerned that our region has an epidemic of insanity," I deadpanned, eliciting a chuckle from Owen.

Contrary to what I had expected, the Cable Car hadn't quite taken us to the summit of Mount Chimney, although we weren't too far off either. We found ourselves standing on a metal platform that had a pair of benches and two different sets of stairs; one that seemed to wrap around Mount Chimney and slowly lead up to the volcano's peak, and one in front of us that was short and led directly into the mountainside, toward scattered patches of trees that presumably marked the onset of Jagged Pass. I knew that there were some seriously unique species of Pokémon known to live along Jagged Pass, but for some reason I hadn't expected to see much greenery so high on a volcano.

"We probably only have about thirty minutes of sunlight left, so we should find a place to camp," Owen commented as he recalled everyone except for Bronson. Considering I only had Apollo and Duran with me, I figured they could accompany me for the rest of the evening.

I hesitated, seriously considering if I should make a Combee-line for Lavaridge so I could care for Orion. He was in dire need of a deep cleaning and grooming, and I suspected that the chances of us having a normal evening were slim.

But the more I thought about it, I realized that doing so would probably only make matters worse. Though I would surely be able to better care for Orion with the help of a bathtub and clean towels, there was little doubt that I could make do with what I had on me. I had water, shampoo, conditioner, a brush, and even ear-cleaning solution that would likely resolve any lingering pressure he might be feeling, although I suspected that particular issue might have resolved itself since he'd been returned and we were no longer rapidly changing elevation.

The more I thought about it, I became convinced that the core issues at hand were much more mental than physical. Orion was feeling insecure, and no amount of bathing or grooming was going to fix that. Just as Owen had done earlier in the day, the only way to get Orion into a better headspace was to help him work through it with reassurance. If he found out that we had rushed to Lavaridge on his behalf, chances were that he was going to be even more embarrassed about what had happened.

"What's up, you seem torn about something," Owen's said, his voice breaking me from my quiet contemplation.

"I was just thinking about Orion," I confessed with a sigh. "Part of me wants to hurry to Lavaridge to get him sorted out, but I'm not too keen on the idea of rushing through Jagged Pass in the dark. I also think that splitting off might make what happened into a bigger deal than it really is, at least in his eyes."

"I see what you're saying. I can guarantee you none of my team will hold what happened against Orion, we've dealt with that sort of thing before. Bronson has worked out so hard he's thrown up on a couple occasions, and it's not like Omar hasn't accidentally peed on me before when a loud noise startled him awake. They know not to bring that kind of stuff up again or treat anyone differently because of a little accident."

"Me and Duran will do same," Apollo supplied through our link.

"I think that settles it then," I said with a resolute nod as we began walking down the stairs toward Jagged Pass. "I'll stick with you and clean him up at camp. We can even do that group telepathy session since we don't have the sunlight to train; I think having a goal to focus on would help get his mind off it, and seeing everyone acting normal should help him move past it more than moping in the Pokécenter wondering what you and your team think of him."

"Agreed! Let's find a place to make camp. I'll get a fire going while you clean up Orion, then we can do our group training around the campfire before dinner. I'm so excited, this is gonna be great!"

We began our descent down the side of Mount Chimney, soon coming to learn exactly why the area was called Jagged Pass. It was extremely rugged terrain; a series of rocky outcrops with steep drop-offs of varying severity, many of them washed out or littered with fallen trees, rocks, and loose gravel.

Thankfully, there was a fairly stable trail winding down the face of the volcano. Much of the ground was uneven and required careful steps to avoid losing your footing in some of the more narrow portions, but it was a far cry from being anywhere near as treacherous as much of the surrounding area.

We soon began worrying that we might not find a suitable area to set up camp, but thankfully the further down we got the more the slopes began to gradually level out, and larger patches of earth and vegetation began to present themselves.

The first species we encountered was Geodude, who blended seamlessly with the rocky landscape and tended to only make themselves known by suddenly rolling or hopping away when we accidentally got near them. Most had begun to settle in for the evening and seemed to have little interest in impeding or bothering us, which came as a huge relief.

As we cautiously made our way off the path toward a sturdy-looking outcrop that seemed like it might be flat and stable enough for us to camp for the night, we spotted a Mankey watching us with suspicion while hanging from a tree branch some distance away. I could tell that both Bronson and Owen's interest were piqued, and judging by the conflicted look Owen bore he seemed to be having an internal struggle on whether to give up his search for a Machop in favor of a Mankey. But he ultimately decided against it, either due to us being almost completely out of daylight or because he refused to accept defeat in his quest to locate a Machop.

Agreeing that the spot we had found was an acceptable campsite and likely the best we were going to find despite it being fairly cramped and being a far cry from level ground, we quickly made camp and settled in as best as we could. Our surroundings made us feel better about having to skip out on evening training, and as Owen set to gathering firewood from the surrounding area I shifted my focus to resolving things with Orion.

I had Apollo watch over camp with the rest of Owen's team as I took Duran, my lantern, and a handful of bathing supplies as far off to the side as I could manage, explaining to Duran what I needed his assistance with as I poured a liberal amount of water on him to ensure he was properly hydrated.

As anxious as I was to check on Trapinch and move forward so she could join our group and hopefully make some progress integrating, Orion took priority – and it wasn't even close.

"Well Duran," I muttered as I grabbed Orion's Luxury ball from my belt, "One of our family members needs our help, so let's do our best here. Trapinch will just have to wait."

As expected, Orion was not particularly easy to soothe, but thankfully the task wasn't quite impossible.

The time in his ball had given him some time to slightly calm down from his incident in the Cable Car, but there was undoubtedly a good amount of lingering embarrassment and shame that I did my best to talk him through, which took considerable effort. Although I wasn't able to get him to fully rebound, by the end of the poor excuse for a shower Duran and I were able to provide, he was only mildly sulking as opposed to outright gloomy.

The situation was slightly improved by the fact that Orion's ears no longer seemed to be bothering him, but not having the ability to heat up any usable amount of water turned out to be a bigger problem than I'd initially anticipated. Samantha was the only one with the ability to travel with a pot thanks to her space-tech backpack, and considering all that l had was a bowl it didn't make sense to repeatedly heat up a small amount of water to pour over him. Though the water that Duran gently showered Orion with wasn't cold on its own, our high elevation and the increased wind that accompanied it was enough to cause Orion to shiver when combined with his damp fur.

Of course, my urine-soaked towel was unable to be used to dry him off, but Owen was gracious enough to offer me one of his own to borrow. After having him shake off as much excess water as he could, I decided to simply wrap him up in the towel and hold him close to my chest as we all sat around the fire to warm up, showering him with affection and whispered reassurances.

I found myself extremely grateful that we'd managed to get Orion to overcome his fear of open flames, but mentally noted that heights and cramped enclosed spaces were still something we needed to work on.

We settled in and socialized a bit while warming up around the fire, and although Orion was noticeably more quiet and subdued than normal it was mostly business as usual. Apollo even managed to get Orion engaged in a conversation, for which I was extremely proud and grateful. By the time I was confident he had fully dried off and no longer needed to be swaddled, he seemed to have accepted that he was the only one still harboring thoughts of his unfortunate mishap, and that it wasn't worth dwelling over. I wouldn't say he was fully back to his normal self, but it was clear to me that the incident was largely in the past and that the rest would likely resolve itself after a good night's sleep.

"Alright everyone, we've got an interesting group activity lined up for tonight since we can't get any training in," I announced as I set Orion on the ground, affectionately scratching under his chin before turning to hand the towel to Owen with an appreciative nod.

"This is going to be awesome! Pay close attention team, what you learn might just be what earns us one of our hardest gym badges down the line," Owen said enthusiastically, causing all but Omar to snap to attention.

I grinned in amusement, "It's not going to be nearly as awesome as you're thinking, but it will be useful someday. Before we start though, mind if I bring out Trapinch to join us?"

Surprise. Apprehension.

"Didn't you say this morning that things with Trapinch didn't end so well?" Owen asked. "Sure that's a good idea?"

"As long as nobody touches her, things should be fine," I reasoned. "She's just picky about her personal space. If you wouldn't mind though, maybe have Roxy sit on one side and I'll have Duran on the other."

"Works for me," Owen shrugged. Duran grumpily took a seat closer to Roxy, leaving room for me to release Trapinch in between them.

Having rested all day in her ball, Trapinch looked to be mostly recovered from the swift rebuke she'd received from my team earlier in the day after trying to Bite my fingers.

She glanced around and took in her surroundings before settling her gaze upon Duran, who watched her with a warning look. She snapped in the air and chirped a few things at him, and Duran responded with something that struck me as a sort of dismissal or refusal.

It seemed as though their budding friendship was on hold, at least for now. There was undeniably some lingering tension between them, but I considered it nothing more than a minor rough patch where Trapinch learned that Duran's priorities and boundaries didn't align with what she had presumed. Just as I had been rebuked for pushing her boundaries and touching her suddenly, Duran had done the same to her. We all had a better understanding of where things stood, and I saw that as some form of progress.

I clapped my hands together, once again drawing everyone's attention to not give Trapinch a chance to bicker with Duran, or the rest of the group time to gawk at Trapinch.

"Alright everyone, Apollo and I are going to teach you the basics of how to control the boundaries of your own mind. This shouldn't take too long; it's simply a matter of familiarizing yourself with what it's like to have a psychic in your head, learning mindfulness, and realizing that you have ultimate control over your own mind with enough willpower. We'll start with a short meditation session to help get you in the proper headspace. We're going to close our eyes and sit still for five minutes with the goal of relaxing yourself to be as calm and clear-headed as possible, focusing entirely on what's going on in your mind. If you've done it right, outside stimuli like the wind brushing against you, the crackling of the fireplace, the ambient sounds of the outdoors should slowly fade away as your entire focus shifts inward. Meditation isn't the easiest thing to do, especially for your first time, so don't worry if you can't quite get it. It won't ruin our next exercise regardless, so just do your best."

As most of the attendees around the fire closed their eyes and went still, I reached out to Apollo through our link to tell him we'd just be monitoring them while we began discussing the next steps. I had a rough idea of how this was going to go in my mind, and once I informed Apollo of the plan I felt quite confident that this session would be an overall success.

The plan was simple; start with meditation to get their toes wet with the concept of controlling their thoughts, then Apollo would visit each of their minds to ensure they were familiar with the sensation and to show that their minds were wide open for influence. Finally, walk them through the concept that they had ultimate control over their minds so long as they properly exerted control and willpower. Hopefully by the end, Apollo would report that most of those present had succeeded in making their mind unwelcome to outside influence and intrusion.

It wouldn't do much to protect them against forced intrusions, but that was far outside the scope of this lesson. I wasn't about to have Apollo start hammering minds to test defenses; a simple check to make sure that they had closed the proverbial door would more than suffice in most cases.

Monitoring everyone as they sat around with varying degrees of relaxation visible, I was pleased to see that Orion held a look of contentment and looked deeply relaxed as he sat still. I couldn't help but be impressed to find that Trapinch seemed to be somewhat complying, although she seemed to be slightly restless and would occasionally take a peek at Duran, who appeared to be doing a good job at the task given. I suspected that in Duran's case, he saw it as an opportunity to gain an advantage in any future sparring he might do against Apollo, who he tended to see as a friendly rival of sorts. Trapinch likely just wanted to go along with whatever the rest of the group was doing, since being surrounded by so many Pokémon stronger than her undoubtedly served as a sort of peer pressure for her to behave. It surely helped that Roxy and Duran sat on both sides, neither of whom she was nearly as strong as.

As the last few minutes of group meditation went by and I prepared to move on to the next step, I reflected on the situation with Trapinch. Although we'd had a bit of a setback this morning and things hadn't fully blown over, I got the feeling that it would be best to just simply leave it in the past and not bring it up. It wouldn't do any good to further reprimand her, give her the cold shoulder, or make her feel like any more of an outcast than she undoubtedly already did. It felt like the kind of situation that was best to just learn from and move past without needless dwelling or fanfare.

In fact, the situation was very reminiscent of a time not that long ago when my thoughts had been spiraling while getting reamed out by Samantha after my stunt to get away from Marelle in the Verdanturf Pokécenter. Apollo had tried to get me to calm down, but things escalated and ended with him telepathically yelling at me in my mind, which had given me a crippling migraine and brought me to my knees. I'd barely managed to recall him in the heat of things, and had been stressing over how we could come to terms with what had happened and moved forward.

Embarrassment.

I smiled fondly at Apollo and gave him a silent nod, not wanting to disturb the group in their final minute of meditation. There weren't any words that needed to be said anyway; I knew that he felt the love I had for him, and those events felt so far in the past that it seemed to be an entire lifetime ago.

Still, there were parallels to be drawn from that situation to the one I currently faced with Trapinch. Normally I preferred talking through things with reason and empathy so nothing was left unsaid and misunderstandings would be less likely going forward. But in that particular instance, simply sharing the same space and taking the time to meditate allowed us to reflect on our mistakes and accept as much as we'd like to change the past, we only had the power to alter our future. The situation with Trapinch wasn't a direct equivalent and I doubted that she was the type to do the same sort of introspection that Apollo and I had. But based on her current demeanor it was clear that she was willing to focus on the present rather than the past, so I would happily consider the matter settled and do the same.

Although I wanted my team to be equally as forgiving, I didn't realistically think that it would be quite so easy. They seemed to be particularly protective of me and offended on my behalf, but I had faith that with enough time that incident would be long forgotten, just as Apollo had seemingly moved past Duran's incident with the Taillow.

I clapped my hands together once again, causing most of the group to jolt from their relaxed state as I determined that five minutes had surely passed and most seemed to have been at least mildly successful in reaching a calm state.

"Alright, time's up. I hope you're all feeling more relaxed and in control of your thoughts than you were a few minutes ago. Next, Apollo is going to pay each of you a visit to ensure you're all familiar with what it's like to have another presence in your mind, then we're going to practice shutting him out. I do have a request though; after we are done with tonight's exercises, please don't use what you learn to keep out friendly psychics like Apollo, or any others we might meet outside of a battle. Many psychics prefer to communicate telepathically, but they sense they aren't welcome you might never get to talk with them. Once you've got your defenses up, Apollo will brush against your mind asking for permission to enter. If you ever feel that and don't see any threats nearby, I'd suggest letting them in."

Apollo went one-by-one to pay each participant a telepathic visit, many of whom had already talked to him before and were familiar with how it felt, but it was best to make sure the sensation was fresh in their minds before moving on to the final part of the evening's exercise. As he did so, I thought of how I could coach the group through what came next and was instantly reminded of the single most impactful thing I'd learned from Telepathic Tendencies. Although it was filled with pages of information that had helped me immensely and taught me things that I'd have never figured out on my own, one particular item stood out to me far more than others.

Something that, funny enough, wasn't even printed on the pages of the book, but rather a quickly scrawled note. Yet it would serve as the foundation for the final part of the exercise, and was something that I was sure I would remember until the day I died.

My mind is mine.

Simple enough at a surface level, but to me it carried much wider implications than being in control of your own headspace. I saw it as a reminder that every individual had the ability to choose how they perceived and reacted to an often chaotic, uncontrollable world around them. It reminded me of a saying I had once heard, that reality is what you make it, something that had always resonated with me.

Just as Orion was the only one who could choose to put the day's events behind him, or how Trapinch had ultimate say in whether our chance encounter would be able to blossom into a fruitful partnership, I could only control myself and how I interacted with the world. I'd once had all the reason in the world to believe that I simply wasn't dealt the right cards in life to become a trainer, yet I'd decided that despite all the roadblocks, the only thing that could truly hold me back from living my dream was my own self-doubt.

My mind and destiny were both mine to control, no matter how much outside forces wanted to make me believe otherwise. I just needed to convince the group gathered at our campsite of the same in order to make the final part of our lesson a success, and from what I knew of Owen and our teams, I had a suspicion that wouldn't be terribly difficult to do.

A/N: Incoming worldbuilding rant - I'm diverging from what's canon a decent amount when it comes to Mount Chimney, and hope it's not too jarring. Lavaridge is supposed to be more at the base of the mountain, and Mount Chimney is always depicted as an active volcano spewing smoke and soot, particularly to the north. Since fics can spit in the face of canon and I have the added excuse of this being set in the future, I used my artistic license to make it dormant (technically quiescent due to Fiery Path), and I moved Lavaridge to be higher up. If I hadn't done these two things, then the Cable Car, Fiery Path, and Jagged Pass would have been largely meaningless, which I simply couldn't accept. Explaining why the soot only traveled north, why there was a gym-bearing town in an active volcano's eruption path, and why Lavaridge shouldn't just be walked to from Route 112 all sounded like a nightmare. While not a perfect solution by any means, it's the best balance I could strike between keeping the area true to its intended spirit while not being completely illogical. I humbly request that you just roll with it, ignore any logical fallacies, and forgive me for my sins.

Shoutout to Trix and Feanix for beta-reading this chapter, and to Monkey D. Conan, JoeMcLuvin, and FateVoid for sharing their thoughts, it was extremely helpful and I thank you all.

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