Author's note: Sorry about the HUUUUUUUUGE delay! I got sick. :c

But- I'm here now. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 80: The Aftermath

"You did it!" Nemona was jumping up and down with joy. She, Geeta and Kai were all standing in front of the front entrance of the Gym Kai had just beaten.

"Very well done," Geeta said, crossing her arms. "Not only have you attained the second form of Flow, you've earned your second gym badge."

Kai grinned from ear to ear while staring at the gym badge he had just earned. "Yup. That was an awesome fight. I'm still getting all tingly just thinking about it…" Kai clenched onto his new badge tightly. He felt so giddy that his arm shook. "It's just… so amazing. Battling other trainers feels so…great now. I've honestly never had more fun in my life…!"

"Right?!" Nemona shouted. "You finally get why I get so pumped about battles?"

Kai began chuckling- and that chuckling erupted into sudden laughter. Geeta's eyebrows rose.

"Yup!" Kai cried, turning to Nemona. "You think the next Gym battle's gonna be even better?!"

"No doubt!" Nemona shouted.

Geeta began chuckling, and both Nemona and Kai turned to her.

"Look at that, Nemona," Geeta said. "You went ahead and made Kai a second version of yourself."

"A second version of myself?" Nemona said, raising her eyebrows. "Huh. I guess you're right. Kai, I think I rubbed off on you."

"S'cause I learned from one of the best," Kai said.

"D'aaaww." Nemona playfully punched Kai's shoulder, and Kai giggled.

Geeta crossed her arms and thought to herself as Kai and Geeta continued to converse.

"Kai…" Geeta spoke up and caught both kids' attention. Geeta smiled as she put her hand on Kai's shoulder. "You've grown, I'm truly proud of you."

"Oh… uh…" Kai blushed. "Thanks."

"She's got a point," Nemona said. "You really, really are growing! You've come so far! I'm proud of you, too!"

"Y-Yeah…" Kai said, scratching the back of his head.

Geeta pulled her hand away as her smile grew. "I do have some good news and bad news. I'll say the bad news first: I'm going to be leaving very soon. I need to take a rest, and I haven't gotten the chance to do so."

"Awww…" Nemona said.

"What's the good news?" Kai asked.

"I think you deserve a reward, Kai." Geeta answered.

"A reward?" Kai asked. "What's the reward?"

"The chance to fight me in a friendly match," Geeta said.

"WHAAAT?!" Nemona and Kai shouted at the same time.

"NO!" Nemona shouted. "You promised you'd let me fight you the moment you had the chance! And look- now's your chance! I'm here! We can fight now!"

"What!? NO WAY!" Kai cried. "She just said she's going to give ME the chance to fight her!"

"But I called fighting her earlier!"

"SO!?"

"That's not fair!"

"LIFE isn't FAIR!"

Geeta's eyes widened in shock.f.

"Y'know what- that's it!" Nemona cried. "Kai, you and I are gonna have a battle right now- whoever wins-"

"NO!" Kai cried. "You're stronger than me, numbskull! I may as well be handing my chance over to you at that point!"

"You've beaten me before!"

"You were using a fire type and I was using a water type- you were BEGGING to be beaten there!"

"W-Well- you could totally beat me and Lycanroc!"

"I literally fought you and your Lycanroc 25 times and lost every single time!"

"Uhhhhhh…. I'll hold back?"

Kai narrowed his eyes. "Nemona- look me in the eyes right now. Tell me that you'd hold back against me knowing that you'd fight Geeta if you win. Go on! DO IT!"

Nemona looked away from Kai, and Kai took a step over to where she was looking. "LOOK. AT. ME." Kai cried.

Nemona looked away again, and Kai chased her gaze once again.

"GO ON!" Kai cried. "LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND SAY IT!"

"I'D HOLD BACK!" Nemona said, clearly not looking at Kai.

"You're not even LOOKING at me!"

"Well, She promised she'd fight me before you! Right, Geeta!?" Nemona turned to Geeta.

"Dude- She LITERALLY just said that she'd let me fight her!" Kai cried, turning to Geeta.

Geeta sighed. It was like watching young children fighting over who gets a piece of candy. Luckily, she knew how to dissolve the situation quickly.

"Nemona, Kai." Geeta spoke firmly and loudly. "l'll decide it like this: I'm going to think of a random number between 1 and 3. Whoever guesses the number I'm thinking of will get the chance to win. That sound good?"

"Ughhhh-... fine.." Kai said.

"Okay!" Nemona shouted.

Little did Kai and Nemona know, Geeta had the choice to choose who to fight freely under the illusion of this game. The plan Geeta had in her mind was simple. She was going to rig it against Nemona. There was nothing personal about it- Geeta just knew that if she fought Nemona right this moment, the battle would be intense and long. Geeta wanted to be at her 100% best in that scenario. But right now, at this moment, what was important was acessing Kai's strength as he was now. He far exceeded her expectations, and the only way to see just how strong he had become is through fighting him.

As for the way she'd rig the game? Whatever number Kai picked would be 'the number Geeta was thinking of.' There was simply no chance of Nemona winning- no matter what number she picked. The illusion of competition would get them both to agree, and neither of them would be the wiser.

And that's what happened: Nemona picked 2, and Kai picked 3. And Geeta said that the number she was thinking of was indeed 3, even though she was waiting for Kai to just say his number and stick with it.

"Aw maaaannn…" Nemona said.

"YESSSSSS!" Kai cried.

Geeta smiled and went over to Nemona, patting her head. "Next time," Geeta said.

"There better be a next time," Nemona grumbled. She pouted and crossed her arms.

"Ooh- ooh! Before we start, can I go grab Pawmo and Tinkaton from the Pokecenter?! They should definitely be able to listen to me now."

"All right," Geeta said. "Let's move." Geeta spun around and started walking ahead. While following her, Kai turned to Nemona and stuck his tongue out.

"Hmph!" Nemona cried, huffing and turning away while following the two of them.

"So… this is your Mabosstiff." Aeon said as he watched Arven sitting on the grass floor and caressing his Dark-type Dog Pokémon. Mabosstiff groaned weakly as he stared at the sandwich his trainer had prepared.

"Yeah," Arven said.

Aeon and Arven remained silent as Mabosstiff continued to stare at the sandwich.

"I don't want to hurry you up, buddy…" Arven said. "But… your food's right there. Eat up... Please. it's the last one."

Mabosstiff slowly went to take a little bite, and muttered as he began slowly eating the sandwich.

"There ya go…" Arven said.

"How long have you known Mabosstiff?" Aeon asked.

"Since I was little," Arven said. "For a while, he was all I had."

"I see." Aeon said, lowering his gaze. "I'm…sorry."

"For what?"

"I'm sorry that…our parents didn't have time for you. I'm sorry that yo-"

"Save it," Arven said. "And I don't mean that in a rude way. What's happened has already happened."

"...I just wish…" Aeon sighed. "That things went differently for you. You don't deserve a single thing that's happened to you."

"Yeah. But...thankfully, I met you, Aeon." Arven said. "I remember when I first took you in. You were so quiet. Never even said a peep."

"...I was scared," Aeon said. "I didn't know how to speak to you properly without showing that I was a robot."

"That's right," Arven said. "It's been so long, I almost forgot. You must have been so stressed, trying to keep that whole you-being-a-robot thing a secret, huh?"

Aeon sat down on the ground in front of Arven and his mabostiff, and let out a sigh.

"Yeah," Aeon said.

"...Even when I first took you in, I started thinking of you as a brother," Arven said. "Even if I didn't want to admit it, tou became my responsibility."

Arven rubbed Mabosstiff's back more as the Pokémon continued to eat.

"When I first saw you, you were added to the list of responsibilities I had," Arven continued. "Of which consisted of keeping myself fed through my own cooking, and making sure Mabosstiff was okay. Little did I know, you and Mabosstiff were helping me keep my ship afloat in the rampant sea that's called life, too."

Aeon's eyebrows raised, then, for a moment, that look of surprise faded and was replaced with some confusion. After taking a moment to think, Aeon spoke. "Whoa. That's a pretty artistic way of describing things," Aeon said, faking a teasing smile.

"Shut it. Don't ruin the mood."

Aeon's smile faded. The android had made that joke strategically- because that line Arven had just made was slightly uncharacteristic of him.

The last time Arven was uncharacteristic it turned out that Aeon was in some sort of dream. That joke was said as a test- to make sure that he was speaking with the real Arven. And of course- Arven passed.

"...Mabosstiff and I were dealt a bad hand in life," Arven said. "I was abandoned, and he had an incurable illness. Kind of how you were dealt a bad hand. You were left behind by our parents and were just thrown into life with just one message in mind: To make me happy. That must have been tough for you, worrying about how you'd react if you showed me your true self."

Aeon frowned upon being thrust back into the present moment. "But what happened to you- to us... isn't fair," Aeon said.

"It isn't, yeah," Arven said. "We can give our parents a piece of our minds later. But right now... What matters right now to me… at this moment…"

Mabosstiff finished his food and looked up at Dark type's eyes sparkled with new life, and Arven began to tear up.

"...is that I have you and Mabosstiff with me." Arven said.

Aeon crawled over to Arven and gave him a hug. Mabostiff joined Aeon, running over to Arven's back and placing his paws on his shoulders, brimming with new life.

"...I love you both… so much…" Arven said.

"No matter what happens, Arven," Aeon said. "I'll never leave your side. And neither will you, right, Mabosstiff?"

Mabossitff barked in affirmation. Aeon pulled away and looked at the Dark type. "It's nice to finally meet you," Aeon said.

Mabossitff barked happily.

Tinkaton opened her eyes. She was still in the hospital bed, and her bottom and back was starting to hurt from how long she was sitting down. After groaning and turning to her left, she saw Pawmo- who wasn't laying on his hospital bed. He was sitting, and face to face with a Nurse Joy, who was beginning to remove his bandages.

"Just a little bit more… and you're good to go," Nurse Joy said.

Nurse Joy removed the last of Pawmo's bandages. "You're going to be just fine," Nurse Joy said.

Tinkaton's eyes widened with excitement as she turned over to Pawmo, who smiled at her.

"Pawmo..!" Tinkaton cried out before leaping over to the hospital bed. Nurse Joy's eyes widened, gasping at Tinkaton's sudden movement.

"Hey Tinkaton," Pawmo said..

"I'm so happy you're okay…" She said as tears began welling up on her eyes. "I was really, really worried. Don't you dare ever do anything that stupid ever again, you hear me?! Or else I'll get my hammer and bonk you so hard on the head you'll forget ever being born!"

Tinkaton pouted as Pawmo let out a laugh. "I don't know if I want that… okay. Fine. I won't do that again."

"Hmph. You'd better…. I was really worried- really, really worried. You had amnesia. You weren't acting like yourself… I was starting to think you'd never go back to normal… but now you're okay. I'm so glad…"

Pawmo thoughtlessly took Tinkaton's hands, and Tinkaton began to blush.

"Tinkaton…" Pawmo said. "Thank you so much… for staying by my side the entire time. I'm…eternally grateful."

"R-Really..?"

"Yeah." Pawmo said as he began to blush himself. "Thank you. I really mean it."

"Pawmo…I-..." Tinkaton began to hold onto Pawmo's hands tightly.

"...Tinkaton…" Pawmo said.

"I-." Both pokemon began to speak at the same time. "...I'm in lo-"

"HEEEEEEEEY! LOOK WHO'S UP AND ABOUT!"" Kai burst out from the hospital room door and both Pawmo and Tinkaton nearly leapt from the bed with surprise. Geeta and Nemona were right behind the trainer.

"What's going on guys!? Guess what?!" Kai cried, showing his second badge triumphantly."I got my second badge! Look- see!?"

Shadows loomed over the eyes of Tinkaton and Pawmo, as a fairy-type aura and an electric type aura respectively began radiating around them both.

Tinkaton's eyes began blazing with fiery rage as she wordlessly went off the hospital bed to grab her hammer that was lying on the ground. Meanwhile, the electric aura around Pawmo grew.

Kai's wide grin remained despite his confusion. "Huh?" Kai said, tilting his head. "What's going on? Aren't you guys happy to see me…?"

Pawmo and Tinkaton roared with fury at the same time, then both of them began sprinting after Kai- who yelped and started running away.

"WHAT'D I DOOOOOOO!? AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He cried. from his angry Pawmo and Tinkaton.