TRAINER ID
Name: Daniel Ingram
Badges: 3
Account: 36,962 credits
Location: Dewford Town

DANIEL'S TEAM
Kirlia (Apollo) - Male
Crawdaunt (Duran) - Male
Eevee (Orion) - Male
Trapinch - Female

OWEN'S TEAM
Hariyama (Bronson) - Male
Shroomish (Misha) - Female
Vigoroth (Omar) - Male

Truth be told, I felt like a bit of an asshole when I went to bed that night.

Not a huge asshole, but enough that it made sleep fairly difficult to come by. This was despite the fact I'd had a fairly intense morning workout and evening sparring session, spent hours walking through Granite Cave with Apollo on my shoulders as much as I'd been able to bear, and briefly had an adrenaline-fueled run for my life.

Yet as tired as my body was, my mind was restless with plenty to contemplate.

In some ways, I was exceedingly proud of how I'd handled the day. I felt like I'd done the right thing to investigate Granite Cave's eerie desolation, been as diplomatic as possible with the residents I eventually found, made the right call in fleeing from the Onix, and done the morally correct thing by being honest about the Sableye wanting the Dawn Stone rather than randomly 'attacking' me.

It wasn't long ago I would have made very different decisions, and there was little doubt in my mind that things could have ended up much worse. But there were a few things that still didn't quite sit right with me, despite my best attempts to convince myself that I'd gotten all the closure I could ask for given the circumstances.

Firstly, I'd fully expected Owen's father to drop the calm, professional demeanor he'd exhibited at the ranger station and unload what he truly thought of my antics after getting home from work, but that never came to pass. Dinner went by without a hitch – in fact, the only time I'd even had to speak was when Owen's mom asked us if we'd had a good day, which I answered vaguely and positively. For his part, Owen's dad was his usual quiet and stoic self during dinner, enjoying his food as if nothing had happened, much to my relief and bewilderment.

Thinking about it, he always had a tendency to keep his work separated from his personal life and had never been a fan of talking about anything related to his ranger duties when at home. Owen had to seriously pry for information about how Pokérus was faring in Granite Cave and the ocean days ago, he'd never brought up the infected Pelipper attack we'd seen in town, and he generally seemed reluctant to talk about any of the things he likely had to deal with all day at work.

Not that I could exactly blame him, since he had surely been working extra hard ever since Pokérus began sweeping the nation. I could imagine that it was a very stressful time for someone in his position, and could easily see how he might want to disconnect from everything so he could relax when home.

I felt a little bad for assuming the worst from Owen's dad and causing trouble for him, but that was only a small piece of why I went to bed feeling like an asshole. I also felt slightly guilty for how harshly my team had dispatched the Pokémon in the cave, and hadn't even been able to check if they were alright. It didn't appear that any of them had been maimed, but it wasn't as though I'd been able to see very well or had given them a close look. The Mawile and Sableye were almost certainly fine, but it was easy to see that Duran had been particularly harsh with the Lairon and Makuhita, and there was a decent chance there were others I hadn't even noticed.

And even if they were all alright, which I convince myself was the most likely scenario since even weak Pokémon tended to be very resilient, we'd also caused them trouble by riling up the Onix, and likely some of the other more grumpy and solitary members that were even deeper. Looking back, it almost seemed like they'd been mourning or enacting a temporary truce and ceasefire – the cave had been a quiet and peaceful refuge for those few who hadn't been caught up in Pokérus ravaging their community, and I'd rather selfishly disturbed that.

But Owen's dad and the cave dwellers were both relatively minor things that nagged at me compared to thoughts of Owen and my own team.

Unsurprisingly, after meeting up with Owen for our evening training and sparring session, the first thing out of his mouth upon seeing me was to ask how my venture into Granite Cave had gone. I'd already planned on telling him the bulk of what happened, but he still didn't know about the Dawn Stone and telling him about it would inevitably result in me having to reveal the truth about both Warren and Samantha. After the Rocket attack in Lavaridge, I had technically been given permission by Sammy to reveal her as Samantha Stone to Owen when she invited us to stay with her, but it still felt weird and unnecessary to do when I felt responsible for Preston knowing her identity. It all felt like a big bomb to drop on Owen when he already had other things on his mind, and I didn't exactly want to go over the rather embarrassing scene where I'd received the stone or why I'd needed 'rehabilitation' sessions with Warren.

So I gave Owen a slightly tweaked version of events, leaving out the Dawn Stone's role in favor of saying a curious Sableye got too close and startled Apollo into kickstarting events, who hadn't sensed the Pokémon due to its typing and exceptional stealth. I didn't feel great about lying and had been extremely worried that Owen's dad would throw a wrench in my story, so him being stoic and withdrawn ended up working out perfectly for me in some regards. Still, I didn't feel great about lying to my friend, or the lingering possibility that I could be caught out in a lie sometime in the future if it ever came up.

I really didn't like lying, but it still felt preferable to the potential domino effect of weirdness and drama that I could imagine occurring if I told the truth. I tried to chalk it up to being a white lie done in good faith, but it still didn't exactly sit well with me.

Another big thing that was eating at me was that my team, particularly Duran and Trapinch, had been further deprived of any decent battles when that had quite literally been the stated objective of the day. I knew that both were getting rather restless, and every day I failed to challenge them made me feel like I wasn't fulfilling my responsibility as a trainer.

This is largely why, when Owen and I began our evening sparring and it inspired some of our Pokémon to do the same, I let it happen. Although I was hesitant about having our teams battle in any sort of serious way due to the looming tension of a proper battle against Owen, I agreed to let Duran have a physical brawl with Bronson with the promise that they didn't use any moves and kept it casual.

That snowballed into Orion and Misha having a physical spar of their own, which was essentially them practicing tackling, dodging, and taking hits. It was extremely tame, with Orion not even using his Quick Attack to help keep things somewhat even, and it was the only pairing that didn't give me some level of anxiety.

Duran and Bronson's sparring session caused me to sweat a little, particularly because a physical brawl put Duran at a massive disadvantage due to size alone. But it wasn't nearly as nerve-wracking as Omar and Apollo playing a game of 'keep away' where Omar would chase Apollo relentlessly as my starter did his best to not get caught by using Teleport and Double Team – the only exceptions to the rule of no moves that was given. I was very concerned that when Omar eventually caught him, which seemed inevitable given his near endless energy and Apollo needing to exert so much more effort to stay away, Omar would go overboard and deliver a brutal Slash or something out of frustration. I could easily see Omar getting agitated from his inability to catch Apollo and going overboard, but Apollo repeatedly reassured me that Omar was enjoying the chase and having fun, so I reluctantly let it happen.

Apollo did indeed run out of steam before Omar, but thankfully he had burned enough of Omar's excess energy and was able to signal his surrender telepathically before taking a hit, which Omar thankfully respected and took as a victory. For a Vigoroth, I was becoming increasingly impressed with Omar's ability to act rationally when I least expected it, but I supposed it had to do with Owen doing a good job of keeping him from becoming stressed due to restlessness or hunger. It seemed that so long as Omar was properly fed and given an outlet for his overflowing energy levels, he was almost a normal Pokémon, although I still definitely didn't want to find myself on his bad side ever again.

It was interesting – although I felt rather confident that we'd win in a proper Pokémon battle against Owen's team, we were completely outshined during combat training. Omar 'beat' Apollo in their game of endurance, and my spar with Owen was as one-sided as Duran's was with Bronson. Only Orion appeared to be outperforming his partner, but even then I saw him take a couple of well-timed tackles which made it probably the most fair pairing out of all of us.

Watching Duran get knocked around by the much larger Hariyama really drove home the need to add a bulkier member of my team. Sure, he could shrug off heavy hits admirably thanks to his shell, but if it came to holding the line against something like a rampaging Onix, there was zero chance of him stopping it dead in its tracks even if he might be able to win in a prolonged battle.

I knew Duran prided himself on being the 'protector' of our little family, so I felt horrible that I was seriously considering finding a suitable replacement for that role. But Warren's advice had been lingering in the back of my mind, and after the Onix incident and watching Duran get pushed around by Bronson, I felt like a piece of advice that I couldn't afford to ignore if I was to take the safety of my family seriously.

As bad as I felt thinking about how I could find a suitable 'replacement' for the role Duran currently filled, the thing troubling me most that night was Trapinch. Not only had I not been able to find a proper battle for her, but she didn't even get to participate in the sparring that everyone but her partook in.

She'd made some progress being accepted by the others, but she was still the odd one out, and that ate at me.

Part of it was simply the unfortunate fact that someone had to sit out from there being an uneven number among our group, but it also wouldn't have been too unreasonable for her to spar with Orion. None of our Pokémon were using proper 'moves' apart from Apollo so he could evade, and the only thing she could have potentially practiced would have been Bulldoze, which would have turned our casual combat training into something more serious than we were wanting.

Despite asking my team to try to include her more, Orion had gravitated towards practicing with his friend Misha, and it was not only better training but also a much safer option. I wasn't about to force Orion to spar with Trapinch, particularly when he was the one most vulnerable to being seriously injured if Trapinch lost her temper and decided to perform a Bite or Crunch.

Trapinch had simply resumed practicing on her own while we were all partnered up, but I hated the fact that she was so left out. She'd been doing her drills for over a week, and I'd failed the day's goal of getting her some worthwhile battle experience to help her see how far she'd come.

So that's what I was going to do today at all costs – even if it meant I had to neglect the rest of my team a little. As much as I wanted to spend time with them, I couldn't stomach the thought that Trapinch was constantly being brushed to the side in favor of them. Duran had at least gotten to scratch his battle itch a little in Granite Cave and by sparring with Bronson, but poor Trapinch had not been given any such luxury. I could have theoretically simply had Trapinch and Orion battle it out, but I didn't feel comfortable doing that before getting some reassurance that Trapinch wouldn't lose her temper and maim her opponent if she started to lose.

Perhaps it was self-serving and selfish, but I'd rather take chances of that happening with wild Pokémon than with my own team. Trapinch had come a long way and I didn't think she was likely to do that, but I wanted a little more reassurance. If Orion had chosen to pair up with Trapinch the evening before I would have allowed it with some trepidation, but I couldn't live with myself if I was the one who proposed it and Orion was the one who paid the ultimate price for it after trusting I knew what I was doing.

So when Owen conveniently went to hang out with his fling after our usual morning training, I set off determined to find Trapinch a battle. Granite Cave was off the table, but I remembered that Dewford Falls had been bustling with wild Pokémon when Owen had originally taken me, so I ventured back in the hopes of finding a willing participant to battle Trapinch.

As expected, the falls were absolutely littered with wild Pokémon, and unlike in Granite Cave they weren't particularly on edge or defensive. Although this was ideal, the difficulty came with the type of Pokémon that frequented the pools. After observing the area for roughly ten minutes, waiting for something like a Rattata or Zigzagoon to come for a drink, I was about to relent and see if I could arrange a battle against one of the many horrible matchups present. I didn't want Trapinch to battle a water-type if I could help it, and pitting her against a flying-type also felt rather unfair, yet it was beginning to seem like there wasn't much of a choice.

But just as I was about to run out of patience, we were blessed by a pair of Aipom suddenly swinging in to quench their thirst. It was surprising to see since I was almost positive that the species was native to Johto and not Hoenn, but remembered that there had been some agreements over the years to introduce species to new regions for conservation and biodiversity purposes. I seriously doubted that Aipom were invasive like some of the other non-native species that had made their way to Hoenn uninvited like Rattata, Krabby, or Pidove, but then again I didn't know too much about them.

Like the fact that it was a normal type, and about as fitting of an opponent for Trapinch as I could hope to find.

"What do you think?" I muttered to Trapinch as I scanned the two Aipom with my Pokédex on silent mode, ensuring that they weren't infected just to be safe. The rest of my team was recalled since I'd wanted this to be a bonding experience between Trapinch and me, and she'd been sitting by my side watching eagerly as we'd been scoping out the place for a decent opponent.

She gave a confident nod, although I suspected that she would have done so for any of the terrible matchups we'd been watching. I gave a reassuring grin as I once again resisted the urge to rub her head – she likely would have put up with it given the circumstances, but I was doing my best to adjust my handling of her to better suit her preferences. Just because she had allowed me to touch her in specific situations didn't mean that I should be too forward or affectionate if she preferred her personal space, which I felt quite confident she did.

"Alright, let's go for it then. We'll get closer and try to coax them into a battle – just stick by me, stay calm, and be nice."

Trapinch tilted her head to the side and gave a low chirp, which I took to mean 'why complicate things', so I paused and realized I should probably explain my plan and debrief her on her potential opponent.

"There's too many Pokémon here and we don't want to cause a scene or make anyone angry, so we'll try to get their attention and lure them somewhere a little more private," I explained in a hushed voice, feeling reassured upon seeing that she was listening intently. "If we do get one of them to battle, just remember that this is a friendly battle, so do your best not to seriously hurt them. The Pokédex says their tail is really powerful, so pay close attention to it because it's probably their main way of attacking. They're normal types so any move you know will work fine, but if you use Bite or Crunch, just remember – squeeze, don't snap."

She visibly rolled her eyes and looked decidedly annoyed, but gave a short nod in confirmation. It was probably the fourth or fifth time in the past week I'd repeated the slogan I came up with for her, and each time she seemed more averse to hearing it. But it was a real fear of mine – that she'd take things too far and seriously maim or kill an opponent with her powerful jaws, perhaps even on accident as Duran had once done to a certain Taillow. It was the main reason I hadn't been comfortable pitting her against Orion, and I was deeply hoping that today would be the day I got confirmation that my repeated reminders had truly sunken in.

I was very nervous about her first real battle, almost definitely more than she was. She seemed confident in her abilities, and rightfully so after over a week of training so hard. She now had a good grasp on most of her moves except for Sunny Day – even her Protect was what I would consider respectable and battle-ready, so I felt as though she had a good shot at winning.

She clearly felt the same way. There was resolve in her eyes, and I could tell she was ready to prove herself, likely more for her own sake than for me.

Silently gesturing for Trapinch to follow me, we crept through the foliage to get a better vantage point closer to the pair of Aipom as they drank and conversed animatedly. They struck me as playful and energetic – messing around with one another with occasional nudges and splashes as they leisurely quenched their thirst, giving us time to get as close to them as we reasonably could without being seen before stopping behind a shrub a short distance away.

Carefully retrieving my small bag of berries, I picked out a few different ones that would serve as an offering to incentivize the Aipom into following and eventually accepting our challenge. The tricky part was going to be only getting the attention of the Aipom, as I didn't want all the other Pokémon present to see us and risk things possibly spiraling out of control when they realized I was handing out food. As far as I was aware, only a select few Pokémon present at Dewford Falls were even aware of our presence, since we'd been sitting and observing quietly a fair distance away. We hadn't been particularly interesting or threatening so most had grown bored watching us and left the area to go about their day, so I felt reasonably certain that Pokémon swarming in the hopes of there being a feeding frenzy were fairly low.

I tossed a small handful of different berries towards the pair of Aipom to get their attention, accidentally hitting the one with the noticeably larger cowlick in the back. It spun around, standing tall on its tail to appear larger and get a better look at what had startled it. While the Aipom spread its arms and legs in an attempt to look intimidating, the other casually grabbed a berry, sniffed it, and began eating, drawing the attention of its more cautious companion.

I grabbed two more random berries as the pair of Aipom raced to eat what they now realized was food the fastest, having a brief wrestling match over the last until one gobbled it down and they focused their attention on us once more.

Displaying the two berries in my outstretched hand, I gently rolled them onto the ground and ushered for Trapinch to fall back with me. As expected, they soon investigated when we were a short distance away and ate those two up, displaying an impressive moment of camaraderie as they swapped berries halfway through after one puckered up and realized they weren't a fan of the one they'd grabbed.

Now walking away from Dewford Falls as briskly as I thought Trapinch could comfortably manage, I grinned in satisfaction at my plan working flawlessly as they followed us from the treetops. I soon decided that it was too far to try luring them all the way to the beach, even if it would have been undeniably a better arena for Trapinch due to the sand and lack of trees the Aipom could possibly utilize. From the brief observation I had of the Aipom, they struck me as the type to have short attention spans, and I didn't want to risk them losing interest before I even had the chance to convince one to battle.

It would take a lot of berries to keep their interest long enough to reach the beach at the pace we were going, and I doubted Pokémon as small as them would eat many. The odds of one accepting a battle were a lot higher if they were still hungry enough to want another berry as a reward, and Pokémon tended not to engage in optional battles on a full stomach. Not to mention, Trapinch needed to get used to battling on solid ground, and I doubted having trees present would make too much of a difference in a battle since Trapinch would only be able to fight up close and personal anyway.

I assumed that the Aipom would battle physically as well, given their tail and occasional acrobatic feats. My biggest fear was Trapinch getting whittled down from range, like in treetops, but I doubted that a Pokémon relying on its tail for everything had anything worse than Sand Attack or Mud Slap.

At least, I dearly hoped that was the case.

After about a couple minutes of walking I stopped, satisfied that we were far enough away from the Pokémon at Dewford Falls not to disturb them. It was a reasonable battlefield – not too dense with trees or bushes and enough clear ground for a decent battle. Given the circumstances and surrounding area, it was about as good as I could hope for, so I decided it would have to do.

I waved my quickly dwindling bag of berries enticingly towards the Aipom, making a mental note that I needed to buy more soon, and that I really needed to sort through them so I wasn't possibly handing out the most useful berries unknowingly.

"You want more, right? Let's make a deal – whichever one of you indulges us in a friendly battle gets your pick of any berry in this bag, win or lose."

The Aipom had a hushed conversation from the treetops, and I hoped they were discussing my offer instead of trying to decipher what I'd even said. Wild Pokémon tended to have a spotty understanding of the human tongue, but were usually pretty good at picking up the underlying meaning even if they didn't understand everything. To hopefully drive home the proposal I pointed at Trapinch, knocked my fists together a couple of times in a poor attempt to convey a butting of heads, and held out the berry pouch again with a tantalizing shake.

They descended from the tree and approached somewhat cautiously, stopping a safe distance away from us but close enough for a conversation. Trapinch was eyeing them appraisingly, yet she was behaving and not showing any overt aggression, though she was clearly eager.

"So, do we have a deal? I've got healing supplies in case anyone gets hurt, but this is just meant to be a friendly spar, so hopefully that won't be needed. Don't worry if you aren't a strong battler either – it's Trapinch's first real battle, so that would actually be ideal."

I could see Trapinch glowering at me out of my peripheral vision, but the instant change in demeanor from the pair of Aipom let me know that I'd said the right thing, despite slightly embarrassing Trapinch by exposing her inexperience. They went from having a hushed discussion to suppressing giggles and conspiratorial whispers, eyeing Trapinch with growing confidence as they conferred.

The Aipom with the more unruly tuft of hair that I'd accidentally hit with a berry stepped forward and crossed their arms, chest puffed out and huffing in indignation as they pointed at my pouch of berries, then at themselves, then behind towards their friend. I could only assume that it was some sort of bargaining around the fairness of the deal, and had two ideas about what it might be.

"Depending on how things go, we might be up for another battle so you can both get one. If you are asking for two berries for one battle… I might oblige if it's a really good battle, but no promises. I've already given you quite a few berries for free, so don't get too greedy on me."

The Aipom exchanged a glance, and the one in the back shrugged before climbing up a nearby tree, perching itself on a branch for a good view as the shaggy-haired Aipom stepped forward, their brows furrowing with a face full of conviction while staring down Trapinch.

I grinned, kneeling down to Trapinch as she stared down her opponent. "Looks like you've got a challenger. I'll mostly let you battle on your own since I want to get a feel for how you prefer to fight, but I might call out some suggestions, so work them in if you can. Just focus on your opponent, look for any openings to strike, and remember your training as well as what we talked about. Good luck out there – do your best, I'm sure you'll do great."

Trapinch's expression reminded me of a kid annoyed at an overbearing parent sending them off to their first day of school as she rolled her eyes and walked over to square off against her opponent. I took my place off to the side, roughly in the middle of them to get a good view, and began to temporarily play the part of referee.

"Alright, Aipom versus Trapinch. I want a fair, clean battle. The battle ends when one of you surrenders or is unable to continue the battle – whichever comes first. On my mark… Begin!"

Trapinch and her opponent both charged forward, the Aipom slightly faster thanks to its longer limbs, but not by a huge margin. I grinned in amusement as both stopped short and performed their own versions of Sand Attack, flinging grass and soil in an attempt to blind their foe. Between their moves colliding and the fact they'd both stopped suddenly while expecting the other to continue getting closer, their moves barely reached one another and had minimal if any effect.

Trapinch immediately followed up by charging once more, this time going in for what I knew was a Bulldoze based on her head being slightly tucked in preparation.

Aipom acrobatically launched itself into the air with the flick of its tail, easily clearing the oncoming attack and gracefully landing on the other side without so much as a stumble as Trapinch halted her attack and skidded to a stop. I'd known mobility was going to be one of Trapionch's biggest issues, but that feat briefly had me nervous that the battle might not be as even as I'd hoped.

Aipom let loose a Screech, causing Trapinch to hesitate for the briefest of moments before charging in once more. This time she kept her head up, indicating to me that she was going to go for Fury Cutter instead of Bulldoze.

To my surprise and extreme dismay, Aipom flicked their tail and sent forth a couple of Swift projectiles, confirming my fear that they did indeed have ranged attacks at their disposal. Thankfully the Aipom didn't seem to be particularly skilled with the attack, as it was so weak that Trapinch impressively managed to cut through one of the projectiles, causing it to dissipate into nothingness. The second one unfortunately hit her immediately after, but it was no more than a glancing blow and didn't do much damage from what I could tell.

Trapinch pressed on undeterred, getting within striking range of the Aipom who seemed to have naively expected that attack to stop her advance. But they underestimated her resolve, and she took full advantage of the slight opening that their lapse in judgment presented her.

With a quick slashing motion, she managed to graze the Aipom's shoulder with her Fury Cutter as they attempted to evade – a moment too late after having committed to Swift so confidently. Trapinch raked the sharp edge of her serrated mouth deep enough to slice through the Aipom's fur and break the skin, causing a minor cut rather than a proper gash as she had surely been hoping for.

Just as we'd discussed, she pressed the attack and followed up with more. Though Fury Cutter wasn't a particularly powerful move, the damage could add up quickly if you could land enough strikes in quick succession. She kept slashing at her foe as the Aipom began to retaliate, battering her with its tail while doing its best to stay just outside her range, with mixed success.

Though Trapinch wasn't exactly quick on her feet, she had good reflexes and was nothing if not persistent. She kept pushing forward, taking some hits from what I assumed was likely Fury Swipes but landing increasingly deep gashes on her foe, particularly the tail as it went for strikes. Aipom kept getting pushed back, clearly not intent on allowing Trapinch to get close enough to get her jaws around him in any sort of meaningful way.

It was an impressively relentless frontal assault mixed with counter-attacks to punish the Aipom for taking swipes at her, and from where I stood it looked like she was getting the upper hand. Aipom must have felt the same way, because they gave up trying to outdo Trapinch in close combat and retreated back to a safe distance, panting slightly as they quickly took stock of the cuts that now littered its body.

Aipom once again began hurling Swifts at Trapinch as she charged, but this time kept leaping back after each volley in order to keep distance. I'd been growing confident that Trapinch was on track to win the battle the way things were going, but once the Aipom began enacting my worst fears by trying to whittle her down from range, it felt like I was watching the match slowly slip away in front of my eyes. To Trapinch's credit, she did her best to cut through the attacks and even managed to use Protect a couple of times as she tried to close the distance, but she was slowly taking damage and losing stamina in her attempts to force another physical confrontation.

While it was true that Trapinch didn't have any proper ranged moves at her disposal, her inclination to throw herself head-first at her opponent in the hopes of eventually catching them didn't exactly strike me as a winning strategy. But it was her battle, and as much as I wanted her to win I really didn't want to start shouting out commands only for her to lose, which I could imagine her pinning on me to spare her pride.

After taking a few hits but making minimal progress to close the distance, Trapinch finally changed her strategy and burrowed underground with Dig, a move that surprised both me and Aipom. The battlefield was still for a few seconds as Aipom looked around before giving me a questioning look, as if to ask if she'd fled and whether the battle was over. Before I could even hope to respond, Aipom visibly sank as the ground beneath them caved, leaping up in panic the moment they realized what was happening.

But Trapinch had been practicing her Dig a lot, and I'd discussed with her the need to not only approach slowly and quietly so she wasn't detected, but to emerge as quickly as possible when in position. In an ideal world she would be able to launch herself out of the ground in pursuit of her fleeing prey, but we weren't there yet and had doubts that her anatomy would even allow for the sort of thing some Pokémon like Sandshrew could accomplish.

Still, she was fast enough to get her jaws around the tip of Aipom's tail as it tried leaping away, so she bit down and held on for dear life. This resulted in a combination of the Aipom being yanked back down and Trapinch being uprooted from the earth, sending them both tumbling. Trapinch held on for dear life, clamping down harder and harder as the faint hint of miasma that often accompanied Bite wisped off her serrated teeth.

Whether from pain or panic at what was surely a very uncomfortable feeling of having teeth sunk into their most valuable appendage, Aipom started freaking out. The primate wailed as it tossed and turned, doing their best to get Trapinch to let go, but she was in an advantageous position and refused to give it up so easily. Aipom went from flailing Trapinch around to whipping her into the ground, slamming her down repeatedly in an impressive and slightly disturbing exhibit of their tail's strength.

I couldn't help but wince each time Trapinch was bashed into the ground – it definitely looked like it hurt, and it brought up uncomfortable memories of Apollo being slammed against the wall of the Pokécenter with blood dripping from him, but Trapinch held strong and seemed to be taking it well enough. Though she lacked a shell comparable to Duran's, she did have a chitin exoskeleton that made her able to take impacts much better than Apollo, and that difference in toughness was currently on full display.

I had half a mind to call off the battle, but thought better of it. What had started off as a light-hearted display of novice battlers had gradually escalated, and I was getting increasingly concerned that one of the combatants was bound to end up with a serious injury if the trend continued.

Yet Trapinch needed this battle, and although it's a little fucked up I knew that if anyone were to get seriously injured, it wasn't likely to be Trapinch. But I wanted a reason to trust that she wouldn't lose her temper in situations like this, and the Aipom hadn't given any indication that they were surrendering, so I let it continue even if it was kind of hard to watch.

Despite Trapinch's best efforts, she either lost her grip or became dazed enough from being beaten against the ground that she detached from the Aipom's tail and went tumbling. I held my breath momentarily before breathing a sigh of relief when she managed to land on her feet, very nearly landing on her back which would have spelt the end of the battle as she still had no way of righting herself. I had admittedly forgotten about that major weakness of hers until that moment, and made a mental note to try to figure out if there was any way we could overcome it with a move – perhaps a well-timed Protect or some ground-type move that would let her manipulate the earth beneath her to ensure she could roll over.

Understandably, Trapinch was dazed and unsteady on her feet after being flung around and repeatedly bashed, so it took her a moment to get her bearings and left her vulnerable to attack.

Also unsurprisingly, Aipom was not happy that their tail had begun bleeding and retaliated with extreme prejudice. They howled in anger and leaped to Trapinch, immediately closing the distance before whipping around and slapping her hard with its tail.

Twice.

The first hit was quick – enough to jerk her head and further daze her, but before she could hope to reorient herself the Aipom immediately followed up with a much harder hit that sent her skidding back, spinning slightly from the force but not quite enough to knock her off her feet. It was in such quick succession, that I had to assume it was a Double Slap or Double Hit, because it reminded me a lot of Duran.

If I'd known more about the species, I would have realized that this was a very bad omen of what was about to happen. Trapinch was admittedly in a bad spot, but I still had high hopes that she could clinch a victory in what was an exceptionally good battle all things considered.

Aipom went in for another round of consecutive hits, this one even harder than the last, and as Trapinch was sent tumbling I couldn't even worry about whether she would land on her feet this time or not.

Something much worse than that had my attention – the Aipom had begun glowing.

I let loose an involuntary groan in dismay as the Aipom began to grow in size, watching in utter disbelief at our bad luck as Trapinch's chances of victory dwindled to nearly non-existent levels before my eyes. Nearly all the damage she'd inflicted on her opponent was erased in a matter of seconds – the Aipom's tail healing, elongating, and even duplicating as a second one rapidly sprouted from the tail's base.

Apparently the Aipom hadn't been quite as inexperienced as I'd thought. The battle with Trapinch had pushed them to the point of evolution, and what had been an exceedingly close battle quickly devolved into something completely one-sided.

To Trapinch's credit, she didn't lose heart in the face of extreme adversity. The few seconds it took for Aipom to evolve gave her enough time to regain her senses and launch an attack on her own terms, but it was futile. Battle fatigue was beginning to weigh heavy on her, and her opponent now had two tails with which to batter her around, now long enough that Trapinch couldn't hope to get close enough to land any body shots.

I considered forfeiting or simply recalling Trapinch, as I knew that she wouldn't willingly back down. If anything, she became even more determined to win after her opponent evolved despite the insurmountable odds she now faced. I didn't want to give her any reason to believe I didn't have faith in her despite knowing full well that her chances of winning were now next to zero, so I silently watched until she was unceremoniously knocked unconscious not even a full minute later.

I sighed in resignation as I took off my backpack to retrieve a potion, watching in amusement as the Aipom that had been cheering their partner on from the tree came down and celebrated with their newly evolved friend before marveling at how much they'd changed. After checking on Trapinch and spritzing her with the potion, I felt confident she would be fine after some time to recover, so I recalled her then pulled out my berry pouch for the expectant Aipom and Ambipom, who had finished celebrating and were waiting for me to hold up my end of the bargain.

"A deal is a deal," I admitted as I knelt and held open my berry pouch. "I'll admit, that was a great battle even if it became pretty one-sided at the end there, so you can each take your pick."

The pair happily rifled through the bag and helped themselves to a berry each, something I couldn't help but marvel at. As far as they knew I was now a defenseless human they could easily steal the entire pouch from, but they were fair and respected the deal we'd made.

Of course, I wasn't concerned in the slightest that things would go awry, considering Duran and Apollo could both make quick work of them if I felt threatened. Still, I wouldn't have been surprised if they helped themselves to a handful of berries before scampering off, and I probably would have just let it go. Pokémon could sometimes be terribly frightening, yet I was becoming increasingly convinced that if you approached them with respect and honesty, more often than not they were kinder and more principled than a lot of humans.

"I'm sure evolving works up quite an appetite – congratulations by the way," I said as I watched the two scarf down their winnings happily, an idea forming in my mind. Although the battle hadn't ended how I'd hoped, it was an invaluable experience and exactly what I'd been looking for. Trapinch was out for the count, but there was another team member that needed to get more experience, particularly when considering the disadvantage they'd face in my upcoming gym battle.

"Would you be interested in a battle too?" I asked the only remaining Aipom. "I've got another team member who could use a good battle. Same deal – one berry if it's a blowout, two if it's a good battle. Who knows, you might even evolve like your friend?"

I really hoped that didn't happen again, but I couldn't help but add that last part in the hopes of persuading the Aipom that looked up at me longingly yet apprehensive, clearly not as much of a 'battler' as the Ambipom. But after a little encouragement from their evolved friend, they agreed.

"Fair warning – this opponent will be a little tougher than the last," I said with a smirk as I stood up and unclipped Orion's Luxury Ball. "I'm sure it'll be a good battle though, and depending on how it goes we might even be up for challenging you, Ambipom. There's potentially four berries on the line, so do your best."

As much as I wanted Duran to get a good fight in, I knew that Orion would be a much better matchup. He would need all the practice he could get for our upcoming gym challenge, and I didn't think that Ambipom would exactly be a difficult match for Duran anyway, especially after just evolving and being a little clumsy. I ended up being right, in some ways at least – Orion did indeed get some great practice in, but depriving Duran of a fulfilling battle for yet another day would end up being a mistake.

A/N: Shoutout to The Muffin Rat King for beta-reading this chapter.

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