The Gym Arena is full. Normally, Volkner’s matches don’t get this many spectators but today is different. It’s the first slot in the morning and still, the stands are packed to the brim. Of course, he knows why. He’s going to battle Zoe Crones today. He’s finally getting a real challenge.

  The referee announces the girl’s entry and the crowd erupts. She lazily waves at them, her little floating grey friend sleeping on her head. It may not look like much but Volkner can tell it’s a powerful Pokémon. Yet she’s not planning to use it. Instead, he has to face her secret team member. A Dragon.

  Their eyes meet and Volkner feels his temper rise. Why is she looking sorry? Is she going to throw the match? Then she nods to the referee and sits down.

  “Please send out your first Pokémon,” Volkner hears. He forces himself to calm down. She wouldn’t do that to him.

  He throws his Great Ball and releases his setup Pokémon. Pelipper’s drizzle is going to make his other Pokémon’s Thunders that much easier to land. Crones raises an eyebrow at the soft rain covering the arena. It extends past the barrier, almost reaching the first spectator seats but the girl seemingly ignores the cold droplets.

  She takes out an Ultra Ball and throws it. It’s an ancient model, something he’s only seen in a museum before. It’s also very well used. The yellow paint is almost completely scratched off and the latch is shining from repeated use.

  The Ultra Ball lands in the arena without opening. Volkner sees the girl put her chin on her hand and scoffs. When he looks back, the Ball is open. There is no Pokémon in the arena and yet an icy chill runs down his spine. His Pelipper, hardened from constant training with Electric Types, is flapping his wings nervously. A little cloud of darkness begins to spread slowly but inevitably from the open Ultra Ball. Bit by bit, the steel floor gets covered. The rain seems to pick up, adding to the ominous aura.

  It only takes a short while for the darkness to reach the barrier. Instead of stopping, it starts to creep up the Psychic walls. The little grey Pokémon on Crones’ head is floating around now. It’s using its own power to reinforce the barrier.

  Volkner looks at the crowd. People are shifting in their seats, worried looks on their faces. There is a blanket of murmurs and whispers somewhere between the rain and reality. Everyone seems worried about something. He doesn’t really understand what until a keening wail penetrates the fog around his mind. He realizes his mistake. The creeping darkness is making him want to not think about the battle. He forces his eyes back to the arena only to see Pelipper knocked out in front of him. Two baleful red eyes peer out of the darkness behind his Pokémon.

  “First one down,” Crones says calmly. Her voice rips the referee out of whatever is occupying everyone’s mind and the knockout is called. With clattering teeth, Volkner recalls Pelipper.

  Sara gently brushes through her newest catch’s feathers with her fingers. The Starly is leaning into her touch with a happy trill. He’s a beautiful bird with a strong will but after defeating him in combat, he happily joined her team. Sure, he might not be of much use against Roark, but a flyer will be very useful for travelling and Staraptor is one of the absolute staples of Sinnoh’s Circuit. She won’t have any issues training him and by the time she’ll reach Gardenia again, he will make a great counter to the Grass Types.

  She rubs a little more fat into her hands and continues brushing him gently. They took a bath to remove the dirt first and now she’s helping to reapply the protective coating on his wings. Sure, Starly could do it himself but it’s a great bonding moment to take care of your Pokémon. Zoe might recommend other things but there’s been a lot of progress in Pokémon research since she learned all of her tricks and relying on that was going to bring Sara forward much easier.

  “Bwu, bwuzel!” her starter complains to Craig, her Kricketot.

  The Bug Type chirps in laughter and keeps cutting apart the Oran berry. The slices are too small for Buizel’s tastes but with the Wing Attack he took to the face, he can’t properly chew.

  “Stop complaining, Barry. If you’d dodged properly you’d be able to chew your food.”

  Their newest team member tweets in laughter at Barry’s grumble.

  “Turn around, Strato,” Sara says. He complies with a happy chirp and offers his other wing. She starts gently massaging the fat into his feathers. It’s a light plant extract, almost like viscous oil, to help his feathers keep their shape and make dirt and water slide right off. That a new catch lets himself be touched this much is apparently not common but his trust means she made the right choice catching him specifically.

  A few minutes later, she’s done and picks up a cloth to wipe the rest of the fat off her fingers. Barry leans on her shoulder and she pulls him into a hug. His mouth is already looking a lot better but he’s still moping. It obviously still hurts a lot. She picks him up to cuddle as Strato takes off. The room is a little small to fly properly but he still enjoys his freshly cleaned wings as he makes a few laps around Craig’s head.

  The Kricketot swipes at him with his little nub hands and antennae and the two start to play a rather uneven game of tag.

  Sara settles back on the bed and Barry stretches out on her stomach. Her mind is on the upcoming match with Roark. Buizel will have to do most of the work. Catching Strato might have been a mistake for that match specifically but maybe she’ll still get a 2v2 battle. It’ll depend on how the Gym Trainer grades her.

  And after Roark, it’s back on the road. Not something she’s looking forward to. Camping is okay but weeks on the road or in Pokémon Centres just doesn’t hold up to living at home. The struggles you go through to get your badges…

  At least she’ll be together with her friends.

  Volkner’s hands still shake as he picks up his second Ball. He seems to be forcing himself to throw his next Pokémon to the chopping block. Maylene can’t fault him. That monster in the arena isn’t something she would want her Pokémon to face. Still, he releases his Raichu into battle and the Electric Type stands tall. It’s almost like a beacon of light in the swathes of darkness filling the barrier.

  Maylene looks around as the whispers recede. More and more people are realizing what’s going on but most are still subconsciously avoiding to look at the arena directly. The undulating shapes in the darkness make her think that’s a good idea.

  “Raichu, Thunder! No holding back!” Volkner calls out. His voice is surprisingly steady.

  The Electric Type charges for just a second before a great flash accompanied by a rolling rumble spears into the darkness. The lightning finds something but Maylene can’t make out more than a thick serpentine body adorned with two clawed wings. It might have had legs but the darkness comes back too quickly to say for sure.

  “Again!” Volkner says.

  The second Thunder hits as well. A golden glint is all that’s visible of the monster this time, the darkness coming back even quicker. The third one is a miss and the fourth one no longer rumbles. By the fifth attack, Raichu is breathing heavily. His most powerful Move has lost all strength, the lightning barely visible underneath the darkness.

  This time, Maylene sees how Volkner’s Pokémon is taken down. She wishes she didn’t. For just an instant, the darkness reaches out in the shape of a claw. It goes through Raichu and the Pokémon drops like someone turned off a robot. Maylene only just manages to hold in her voice. Volkner is just as baffled. Then Raichu’s chest moves.

  “Raichu is down!” the referee calls, “P-please choose your next Pokémon.”

  Professor Rowan is annoyed. The computer’s incessant beeps are starting to get on his nerves. They have little by the way of news but the energies they’re registering are the very same they entered into the system after the Red Night. It’s a warning. Something dangerous is happening. And despite knowing exactly why the warning is blaring, the Professor has no idea how to turn it off.

  He finally finds his mufflers and puts them on over his ears. The fluffy cloth pieces manage to dampen the noise to an acceptable level. It’s no longer physically hurting him. He picks up the other three and distributes them to the aides sharing the room with him. They’ll have to communicate by text until they can figure this stupid thing out but that’s better than going deaf.

  Researcher Graham gives him a thumbs up in thanks, then points at the emergency power switch. Professor Rowan shakes his head. Sure, it’s an option, but they’d lose all the data they gathered today. Even if it’s still morning, most of the sensors run overnight without any human input. That’s also why the siren is so loud. It’s supposed to wake up anyone nearby in an emergency.

  ‘Save everything and shutdown the hardware first’ he writes on a piece of paper. His aides nod and get to work. It takes a full fifteen minutes to make sure they have everything, then the Professor merrily rips the switch and the room goes dark. He holds still for a moment, expecting the noise to somehow pick up again, then sighs deeply when the emergency lighting springs on without the siren.

  He takes off his mufflers and so do his aides. Graham and Johan give each other a high five while Celine looks at the siren with suspicion.

  “It shouldn’t start again until we restore the power,” Rowan says “It shouldn’t have started at all, today. I must’ve made a mistake adjusting the calibration.”

  “Why did it go off?” Johan asks.

  “Ah, that’s because our newest Lab-Trainer is using a special Pokémon today,” Rowan chuckles, “She warned me beforehand, or rather asked if it might cause problems. Though it’s been out and about before. I don’t quite understand how our system didn’t catch it before.”

  “This is the Red Night warning system,” Celine says. She is staring at her tablet, going back and forth through some of the data they just saved.

  “How is it activating? I thought these energy readings were clear signs of Legendary Pokémon acting aggressively.”

  Rowan nods.

  “You’d be correct about that. Zoe has one of the Pokémon that were active during the Red Night on her team. Said Pokémon should be battling Volkner right now. I am simultaneously glad that our systems can detect it from all the way over in Sunyshore and annoyed that I wasn’t able to turn off the warning properly.”

  “Crones?” Graham asks “That’s… less surprising than it should be.”

  Johan nods and shudders.

  “I still remember how she kicked the Champ’s Togekiss to the ground.”

  “Yes,” Rowan laughs “She’s quite the terrifying girl. I’m looking forward to her first research project. Hopefully she’ll be exploring the changes in evolutionary lines from how she knows them.”

  His aides all grin back at him.

  “Of course you would like that, Professor,” Johan says “I’d be more than happy to have her on as another Field Researcher documenting habitats. We don’t have enough people exploring the truly wild areas of Sinnoh.”

  “The migration data would definitely be interesting,” Graham agrees “Is she in the system already? I want to propose her a project I could use some help with.”

  “Really? Nothing about ‘A human that uses Moves?’, guys?” Celine shakes her head “Zoe has to work on Move research. We have a never before seen the chance of direct first-hand accounts how Moves and Type Energy work. There’s no way I’ll let that slip through my fingers.”

  The Professor laughs and the others join in quickly. They are interrupted by his phone ringing. He picks it up.

  “Professor Rowan, Sandgemme Pokémon Laboratory speaking. How can I help you, Mayor?”

  “Professor, what was that racket? Do we need to evacuate?”

  “No, no. Everything is fine. Just a miscalibrated detector running wild. We know where the energies are coming from and it’s under control. Sorry for the disturbance.”

  “Thank you, thank you. That’s good. Very good. I didn’t want to skip my visit to the salon. Do update me if anything changes, Professor, yes? Thank you. Have a good day.”

  The mayor hangs up before Rowan can utter another word but he is used to it. The man is a decent fellow but sometimes a little too quick on the trigger. It has taken several years to teach him not to evacuate the city at the first sign of trouble.

  “Alright, people. Let’s take thirty before putting the power back on. The worst of the energies should be dissipated by then and we’ll be able to get back to work.”

  His aides nod in agreement and file out of the room. The warm summer morning is wonderfully inviting for a break at the edge of the pastures. Professor Rowan is soon on their heels and they start discussing how they can adjust the detection system to be more discerning. Maybe it’s possible to detect areas and pre-program known times when Zoe lets out her friend to play. That would at least let them protect their hearing. The very least they’ll do is buy a less painful siren. At least for inside the Lab.

  It has been a while since Mesprit was this excited. Having not just her close friend back but also being out and about again was fun. Especially since Giratina is enjoying their time as well. Usually, the Lake Spirits were the creations closest to Arceus that still regularly interacted with people. Simple because Emotion, Knowledge, and Willpower are people things. The likes of Arceus and Giratina are normally too far removed from reality to need these concepts.

  But sometimes, a person comes around that changes things. And their friend Zoe was one of those people. A powerful will, the pursuit of knowledge, and driven by her emotions, the Lake Spirits took an instant liking to her when they first met. So did Giratina, and Arceus. We don’t talk about the squabbling siblings, though even they came around.

  Today, Mesprit silently watches over the arena, making sure nobody gets overwhelmed by Giratina showing off. The polished steel floor gives them the perfect opportunity to open a gate to the Mirror World and let a little bit of their true self leak through. They’re still holding back properly but the emotional impact on people that aren’t used to their presence can still be very significant.

  Volkner is finally getting used to it and throws out his next Pokémon. A Jolteon sparking with barely contained violence. As Giratina lets the Mirror World fade away, their opponents will have more and more chances to land a good hit. Not that they can take them down.

  Jolteon is still unable to do much. He’s giving it his all but firing a few Thunders and Shock Waves into the darkness won’t do anything to the monster he’s facing. Mesprit watches carefully and sees exactly when Giratina makes their move. It’s a simple Dark Pulse into Aura Sphere combo. It shakes up the cloud, giving the spectators another glimpse at the Pokémon hiding inside. Those wings really are imposing, especially since they’re taller than Mesprit’s whole body.

  She laughs to herself at the gasps in the crowd. Almost everyone is now snapped out of the fear and able to look at the arena. Soon, Giratina will show their self. Zoe is looking just as interested in their reactions. This will show if Giratina can be around in town more often or if they have to stick to their Ball.

  “To the skies, Luna!”

  The Lumineon jumps out of it’s sparkling Whirlpool, her Aqua Ring leaving behind a trail of rainbow drops. Her Flying Type Energy holds her up at the peak of the Bounce and the watery shell blasts off into a brilliant halo illuminated by Lumineon’s natural bioluminescence.

  “Luuu!” the Pokémon cries out jubilantly.

  Melanie stands behind the spectacle, fist raised to the sky and a big grin on her face. Of course, it will look much prettier once she wears her contest dress rather than just exercise clothes but for practise, the yoga pants and sport shirt are perfectly fine.

  Once the remains of the Aqua Ring dissipate, Luna drops down into the Whirlpool and makes it slowly stop. Melanie’s eyebrow twitches at the inelegant post-finish to their routine.

  “We need to work on how you come down from that,” she says.

  “Lumi,” her Pokémon agrees.

  “But other than the post-finish, everything’s pretty good. The dispersed aqua ring could be a little more even, I think. Do you want to work on that while I come up with a proper way of coming down after the finale?”

  “Neon!”

  She smiles as Luna swims off to the middle of the pool and uses another Aqua Ring.

  They’re more than ready for Roark’s Rock Types so focusing on the first Contest routine is much more important. It’s still two weeks away and the last thing anyone in their travel group will do in Oreburgh. For a moment, Melanie’s thoughts stray to her friends. She hopes they’re well prepared for the Gym Match so the trip can start in time. Not that the others really have a need to be on time. Only her contests require them to be in certain cities on specific dates.

  She shakes her head. First, the routine. Maybe Luna could pull the Whirlpool up to follow her in a spiral and then spread out the water to drop down hidden. The remains can then wash down the drain as Melanie recalls her. And if that doesn’t work, she’ll just come up with something else. She shifts her braided hair and smiles at her Pokémon. Luna is still hard at work.

  “Just like that, Luna. Your back is still messing it up a bit. I think it’s your fin, just like on your sides.”

  “Luu!” the Pokémon calls out, then uses the Move again. Yes, this will look wonderful once everything is in place.

  Dawn is shaking. Each little bit she sees of the Pokémon in that arena makes her gut sink a little more. It’s not helping that Piplup has dug his beak into Dawn’s stomach. She hugs her Pokémon tighter.

  When she first heard of Zoe Crones, something in her mind made her pay attention. It might have been that her rival was called Zoey. It might have been the way Lucas talked about the girl. Or maybe something else was in play. Now, she suspects that something else.

  Volkner’s Lanturn lights up the arena with a storm of Electric Moves. Thunderbolts, Discharges, Thunder Waves, and even the occasional Electro Web break through the eerie clouds covering his opponent. A body is visible in the midst of the light show. Dawn knows that shape. And it scares her.

  Her eyes find the little Psychic Type floating around the barriers. Mesprit had needed her help, five years ago. But it had disappeared soon after. Now, the Lake Spirit is back out and its not hiding away from people. It’s playing around as if the horrors of Team Galactic never happened.

  Mesprit looks back and finds her eyes. The Pokémon is gentle in its intrusion and moments later she hears its telepathic voice in her head.

  “Don’t fear! Friend!”

  “ICE BEAM!” Volkner shouts desperately.

  Lanturn obliges and the blue-white beam of energy shoots at the dark shape. For the first time, it roars. It can’t be pain from just this one attack. The last bits of the cloud vanish with the sound and there it stands in all its glory. Giratina. The Renegade. Master of the Mirror World.

  And yet, despite how terrifying its full form is Dawn suddenly feels much less scared. Even Piplup shifts to look at the arena. The six-legged Dragon is glaring down its opponent but Lanturn and Volkner seem re-enervated now that they can finally see what they’re facing.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  The Gym Leader orders another Ice Beam but this time Giratina dodges the attack. It dives into its shadow and comes up right in front of Lanturn, a Dragon Claw on its wings as they slam forward and throw Lanturn into the barrier. Giratina slowly looks up at Volkner who gulps and returns his downed partner. Once again, the Dragon disappears into darkness only to stand tall in front of its Trainer.

  How? How can someone control this monster. Sure, it sort-of helped them out during the Red Night but… It was absolutely terrifying. And yet… Zoe Crones is just sitting there, smirking as if she pulled a huge prank on everyone.

  “I have to talk to her,” Dawn mutters to herself.

  Piplup looks up worriedly at his Trainer, then steels his resolve and hugs her arm. If she wants to meet the monster he will protect her.

  Embers are shooting rapid fire at the targets. Ember, Min’s Ponyta, is running back and forth across the meadow as Veil, her Diglett, moves around underground. The latter is pushing up small wooden blocks and propping them up with loose dirt. They slide back down into the ground a second or two after he leaves and that’s the time frame Ember has to hit them.

  Min cheers with every hit. Most of them still go wide but Ember is getting better and better. Her speed is great and her power is decent so they’re working on aim specifically while moving. The Ponyta line can’t take hits very well so this is their best strategy for a distance focused style. Move fast enough that you don’t get hit while still landing your own hits. The fact that Veil can practise his digging speed and precision on top of that is only a bonus.

  Occasionally, Min calls out a number. Twelve of the wooden blocks are arranged in an even circle around her and Veil has to pull down the one she calls out before Ember burns it to ashes. Eight of them are still standing.

  After a total of ten minutes, Min calls for a shot break. By this point, half of the total blocks are gone.

  “Good job, guys!” she says as she pets her Pokémon “I’m proud of you. Now, Ember won this round. So we’re upping the difficulty.”

  “Pony?” the small fire horse asks.

  “Yes. I expect you to keep up or catch up. You won’t be the key part for the first Badge but for the second, I need you to be strong.”

  “Ta!” she nods.

  “Okay, Veil. You’re gonna keep popping the blocks. Whenever one is broken, use any rock you find to replace it. I’m counting hits again for points. The rocks will drop quicker or be smaller so Ember needs to be even faster and more accurate. Sounds good?”

  “Dig!” “Pony!” they agree.

  “Great! Then let’s get to it!”

  When the darkness receded from the battlefield, Tobias had thought that was it. This Pokémon had run out of steam and now Volkner would have a chance. Then it dove into its shadows just like Darkrai and smacked the Lanturn down in a single strike.

  His partner is hiding in his shadow, only the glowing blue eyes showing behind Tobias’ shoulder. The TV screen lights up the otherwise dark room, reflecting off the mug in front of him. Together, they’re watching the replay of Zoe Crones’ last Gym Battle. And it’s a terrifying performance. Even Darkrai has been completely silent, just staring at the screen.

  Volkner’s fifth Pokémon is his Luxray. A beast in normal circumstances but after seeing Crones’ monster, this one looks practically docile. Luxray tries his best to get close but the Dragon is just playing with him. It’s diving into shadows and looping around the arena, avoiding Ice Fangs and Thunder Waves like… Like Darkrai.

  He glances at his partner. They’ve been together for over a decade, now. Darkrai had found him one lonely night and offered a nightmare. Tobias had decided that nightmares are better than being alone and taken him up on the offer. And together they had made more friends.

  But this is the first time he’s seen his partner like that. The pitch black Pokémon is usually stoic and reserved, showing little emotion. He’s powerful precisely because of his indifference. Struggle doesn’t matter when you’re that powerful. When training with the rest of the team, he comes to life and thrives. Darkrai loves guiding their other partners just as much as he loves learning from them. But today, he is intense. There is only a minute difference to his posture but it’s obvious to Tobias.

  The Dragon finally has enough and tears into Volkner’s Luxray with its Shadow Sneak variant. Tobias turns to his partner.

  “You alright, friend?” he asks.

  Darkrai doesn’t react for a moment. Then he slowly turns his head. His eyes are shining with interest, intense and driven.

  “Do you want to fight that?”

  Darkrai shifts and what passes for a mouth on his black face is twisted in an obvious smirk. Then he nods and turns back to the screen.

  Right, there’s one more Pokémon on Volkner’s side. Not that it’ll make much of a difference.

  “We’ll train for it. As much as we can. And we’ll beat Zoe Crones at the Conference.”

  Darkrai doesn’t even notice, instead reaching out to rewind the video and turn on slow motion. Tobias sits forward and pulls out his notebook. It’s time to plan for the inevitable battle.

  I can’t stop smiling at how much fun Giratina is having. They’re letting out most of the stops, at least for the show part, and trashing Volkner’s team with ease. My friend is truly enjoying themselves.

  The Electivire is on his last legs, after putting forth a valiant effort against insurmountable odds. I knew Electivire that could make Giratina struggle in their altered forme but Volkner has trained him for Pokémon battles, not fights. He’s just fighting too fair. Too much honour, too much holding back. Great if you want to have fun, terrible if you’re this outmatched.

  Giratina has even stopped the shadow games and is just using their wings as shields and fists to exchange blows. They’re wreathed in Shadow Claws and Dragon Claws, only a little Type Energy leaking into their opponent with every strike. Electivire has long overcome his frustration and is using the opportunity for a personalized lesson. Even Volkner realized the match is lost and stopped giving commands a minute ago.

  The exchange of blows, now visible without all the Mirror World games from earlier, is much more engaging for the audience at least. They’ve started cheering and shouting, especially the younger spectators. Seeing a cool Pokémon like Giratina in action is just that amazing.

  But it has dragged on long enough. I stand up and clap my hands.

  “Giratina,” I say in the short break between their punches “No more Moves, end it in thirty seconds. Otherwise I’m pulling you out of the battle.”

  Their red eyes glare at me with barely concealed amusement, though to anyone else they’d be absolutely terrifying. I glance over at Electivire. He seems scared.

  “Your time starts now,” I say and begin counting.

  “One.”

  Giratina rushes forwards and swings their right wing, Electivire vaulting sideways in a panic. My friend turns to follow his movement.

  “Two.”

  Thundering steps, literally, light up the arena with Electric TE as he uses Volt Switch to gain more distance. Giratina pushes off in pursuit, wings flapping just once.

  “Three.”

  The huge Dragon collides with Electivire’s back only to take a panic Thunder Punch to the chest. My friend rears back as static runs over their body. Electivire freezes for just a moment.

  “Four.”

  It might be my voice that pulls Electivire back into the moment. He follows up his accidentally successful Thunder Punch with an Ice Punch just as Giratina twitches from the paralysis.

  “Five.”

  The Move connects and my friend falls back half a step. Electivire is in hot pursuit, this time with a Fire Punch on his right fist and a second Ice Punch building on his left.

  “Six.”

  Giratina manages to deflect the Fire Punch by swatting it towards Electivire’s left side which turns the Electric Type away. He spins with the motion and swings his Ice Punch wide, trying to land it anyways but Giratina rears back.

  “Seven.”

  My friend almost bonks their head on the ceiling barrier. Electivire keeps spinning, loosing control between his exhaustion and missing the hit.

  “Eight.”

  For just a moment, time seems to stand still. The huge form of Giratina rearing on their two back legs is dominating the battlefield. Their wings are spread out to intimidate or stabilize. Probably both.

  “Nine.”

  A flap of their wings brings Giratina crashing down onto the still spinning Electivire. He’s pushed down but his momentum gets him out of the worst of it. There’s a crack as another Thunder Punch randomly swings into one of Giratina’s legs.

  “Ten.”

  My friend pushes forwards, shoving Electivire to the ground and stopping his spinning. They put one leg on his back as he smacks into the dirt, the other five stable on the ground. Then they rear their head and growl at Volkner.

  “Eleven.”

  Volkner stands still for a long moment, just staring at the match. I know it’s over, he knows it’s over, the referee knows it’s over, but it isn’t called yet.

  “Twelve.”

  Electivire is still uselessly shaking his fist, trying to get the leverage to push of his opponent but Giratina is both heavy and strong. It won’t happen.

  “Thirteen.”

  Giratina gives me a glare and I grin. I don’t have a reason to stop counting yet. Electivire might be in full panic mode but my friend can take a careless punch without issues.

  “Fourteen.”

  I turn to look at Volkner and he’s finally ripped out of his daze. He half-lifts his Poké Ball, then his hand freezes.

  “Fifteen.”

  Electivire finally stops struggling and just lets his arms flop on the ground. For a moment, nobody says anything. Then I continue.

  “Sixteen.”

  “E-Electivire is unable to battle,” the referee stutters, “Challenger Zoe Crones is victorious.”

  Giratina looks smug as they step off Electivire who simply stays on the ground. Volkner recalls him soon after. I grin at my draconic friend.

  “A full sixteen seconds,” I shake my head “You can do better than that. Are you out of shape?”

  They tread over and loom over me. At over twice my height, we must make quite the sight. The spectators are suddenly very silent, then Giratina smacks the side of my head with a wing.

  “Ow,” I say and rub my head.

  They hum and put both wings around me. I can feel their mind connecting to mine.

  “Thank you for this chance, Zoe,” they say.

  “Of course,” I hug them back “Just say the word if you want some more action.”

  We soon separate as Volkner walks over. He hands me my Badge and my TM with a subdued air. Judging from his twitching glances, he’s still scared of Giratina.

  “No need to worry,” I say “My friend here is scary but nice once you get to know them.”

  The Gym Leader gulps and nods. He barely gives me a glance as he walks away backwards with his eyes still on Giratina. I look around at the crowd and while some people are still looking rattled, most of them seem to have a modicum of trust in me. They aren’t rushing forwards to ask questions but they aren’t running away screaming either. I see a lot of them simply talking to their friends or seat neighbours about the match, completely ignoring the Legendary Dragon that’s still standing in the middle of the arena.

  Then Mesprit’s mind connects to me.

  “Friend!” she cries and I look around. She’s floating towards me, pulling on the arm of a young woman. Someone that I know exists. Someone that looks very similar to my best human friend that I’ll never see again. My heart freezes for just a second but I manage to catch myself.

  They stop a few steps away from us and we just stand still for a moment.

  “Hey,” I say. Sure, it’s awkward but we can change that, right? Surely, I can get used to seeing Akari’s face on a different person.

  “Um, hey,” she answers “I… Mesprit just pulled me here. I don’t know…”

  “It’s fine, I think I understand why.”

  “You do?”

  “Don’t!” Mesprit giggles into our minds. I glare at her.

  “Then you didn’t want to introduce your friends to each other?” I ask.

  She grumbles and sits down on the young woman’s head turning away from me. Giratina’s wing twitches in amusement on my back.

  “Anyway, I’m Zoe. Nice to meet you,” I say.

  “Dawn. I… how?”

  She is looking at Giratina with that question.

  “We became friends. That’s all there is to it. Just like with Mes.”

  The Psychic turns around and shows me her tongue. I reach up to pet her head.

  “Love you too, girl.”

  She can’t hold her scowl for much longer and soon fully settles onto Dawn’s head. I notice that Giratina is still keeping their distance only a single wing touching my back. I lean back into it and they hold me upright.

  “Wanna go chat somewhere else?” I ask after looking at the crowd that still isn’t really dispersing.

  “Sure,” Dawn says “Let’s do that.”

  “Pip,” her Pokémon squeaks and she hugs him tighter.

  “It’s fine, Piplup. Zoe is nice. Mesprit trusts her.”

  He looks like he wants to complain more but settles down as I return Giratina into their Ultra Ball.

  “I was gonna go back to Oreburgh for tonight. Wanna come with or chat somewhere else?”

  “Oreburgh? That’s fine. Yeah. The contest is in two weeks and I don’t have much to do besides practise.”

  “Great. Mes?”

  “Sleepy…” she mumbles and closes her eyes. I shake my head and take Dawn’s hands. She looks surprised at the contact but I ignore it and channel my Psychic TE. A clear image of my bedroom comes up in my mind and I make sure to include Dawn, Piplup, and Mesprit in the Move. Then my TE flares and engulfs us shifting reality just that tiny bit.

  We appear in my room and I stumble from the exertion. Dawn has to burp and Piplup is rubbing the sides of his head but Mes is grinning at me from her perch.

  “Good! More training!” she sends and I roll my eyes.

  “Sure. Sorry about the rough ride. Let’s go into the kitchen. Tea or coffee?”

  “Tea,” Dawn says after a moment. She looks a little confused but just follows me.

  Soon, we settle down at the kitchen table. Dad is at work, Mum is on her Journey and Rob is probably preparing for his battle with Roark. Unless he’s going to challenge someone else for his first badge. In short, it’s just the two of us.

  That reminds me. I was going to see Mum after the match today.

  “So, Akari,” I say. Dawn looks at me with narrowed eyes “Your great grandmother, right?”

  “Yes. That was her name.”

  “You look just like her,” I smile “And Lucas looks exactly like Rei.”

  Dawn gulps. Piplup is quick to pat her hand and the support reassures her.

  “You really travelled through time?” she asks in a whisper.

  “Yes. Well, I was made to.”

  “Can you tell me more about…”

  “Akari? Or my adventures in the past?”

  She nods shyly and I laugh.

  “Of course.”

  And so I start talking. For the second time I tell the full story. This time, I don’t just summarize the events. I also add a whole bunch of tidbits about Dawn’s great grandmother. What she liked to do, how she interacted with her Pokémon, what Pokémon she had and all that. Dawn looks grateful and slowly opens up.

  I let out Lili and Gligar at some point and cut some berries for them as well as Mesprit and Dawn’s Piplup. The little penguin is still glancing at me warily but he’s starting to relax a little. Lulu and Giratina won’t be comfortable in the small flat so I keep them in their Balls. Dawn doesn’t let any of her other Pokémon despite me offering. I think she doesn’t want to impose but that’s just silly modern common sense. Unless her Pokémon are too big to be comfortable here, which I know isn’t the case for all of them. I’ve seen some of the young woman’s contests.

  When I finish my tale, it’s late afternoon. We had some take-out for lunch but other than that we just talked. It was honestly refreshing to discuss many of my experiences and reminisce in memories. After the last few weeks I’ve started to miss Akari and Laventon. But Dawn is a good listener and asks great questions.

  The door rattles in the hallway, taking us out of our information-induced stupor. I sit up and drink the last of my tea as Dad calls a greeting from the entrance.

  “Welcome home!” I answer and the rustling stops. Then there are two slamming noises and he runs into the kitchen, Machop right on his heels. I jump into his arms and he spins me around as we laugh. Machop cheers us on from one side, Lili mirroring him on the other.

  “You’re back, Little Ralts!” he says as he lets me down. I lean into him and he kisses the top of my head. This. This is why I missed home. I had friends in the past and I had my Pokémon but I didn’t have this. I didn’t have family.

  “I am, Dad,” I say and pull back “Here, check this out!”

  I pull out my badge case from my satchel and flick it open. In it are the seven Black Badges of the last week and I blink.

  “Oops,” I say and pull out the Beacon Badge from where I put it this morning. It quickly gets added to the other eight.

  “There you go. A full eight! And all Black Badges.”

  He looks them over with wide happy eyes and then gives me another kiss on the head.

  “You’ve done wonderful, Zoe. All your cumulated knowledge let you do this.”

  “This was more of a power thing with Lili and Lulu but thanks.”

  “So did you meet with your mother already?” he asks.

  Oops. I shake my head.

  “I forgot.”

  He finally notices Dawn who is still sitting at the table and gives me a look.

  “And who’s your friend?” he asks.

  “Ah, right. That’s Dawn. She watched my match with Volkner and Mes noticed her. They’re friends so she dragged Dawn over and we got to talking. And well, that kept us busy for a while.”

  Dawn looks a little awkward.

  “Huh. The coordinator Dawn?” Dad asks.

  “Yes, that’s me. Nice to meet you Mister Crones.”

  “Oh, none of that,” Dad laughs “Just call me Derrik. If you met at the match today… Do you have somewhere to sleep?”

  “I was just going to go to the Pokémon Centre and look for a hotel room tomorrow,” she says.

  “You can spend the night,” I say “I’ve got space in my room. We just need to put up a mattress.”

  “Rob is staying in the Centre, you can have his room as well. He’s just starting his Journey.”

  “Um…” Dawn seems overwhelmed.

  “My room or my little brother’s room?” I ask.

  “Pip!” Piplup jumps between us and I step back with a chuckle. He turns and gestures to his Trainer while enthusiastically chatting at her. She smiles and nods along until he has to take a breath then pats his head.

  “Thank you for worrying, Piplup,” she says “But Zoe isn’t dangerous. She won’t hurt us,” she looks up at me “I’d like to share a room. It’s been a while since I had a sleepover.”

  “Great! Do you need to get anything?”

  “My bag has the necessities. I’ll buy anything extra tomorrow after finding a hotel.”

  I nod.

  “Let’s find the mattress while Dad gets started on dinner, then,” I grin “Lili, can you help him?”

  She chirps happily and drags him into the kitchen.

  “Call your Mum, at least,” Dad shouts back at me.

  It doesn’t take long to get everything set up for the night and then I pull out my phone. Mum picks up on the first ring.

  “Zoe! Where are you?” she looks frazzled.

  “Home,” I say “Sorry for ditching you. Mesprit introduced me to a friend of hers and we ended up talking the whole day. I’ll come over tomorrow?”

  “I… Okay. Lunch?”

  I nod.

  “Let’s do that.”

  There’s a moment of silence as we both avoid looking at the screen.

  “I thought something happened to you again,” Mum whispers.

  I feel an unpleasant sting in my throat.

  “I’m sorry,” I answer “… see you tomorrow?”

  Our eyes meet through the screen and she nods with a smile.

  “Yes. And don’t forget again!”

  I chuckle.

  “I won’t. See you, Mum.”

  We say our farewells and I hang up. A moment later Dad calls me and we sit down for dinner. It’s a relaxed meal with just the three of us and our Pokémon. Dad and Lili made a delicious curry.

  We spend the evening chatting about nothing of importance before retiring early. I had a stressful week with all my battles and am looking forward to my bed. Dawn also seems exhausted. When we’re lying in bed her cuddling Piplup and me with Mes in my arms she speaks up.

  “So, Little Ralts?”

  I snort.

  “Yep. That’s what Dad always called me.”

  “Even though they’re so rare in Sinnoh?”

  I smile to myself.

  “He said I was just as rare and precious. I guess he was right, though. I can Teleport so I’m probably a Ralts in disguise.”

  Dawn snorts.

  “You’re a little tall for that.”

  “Then we’re three Ralts in a trenchcoat.”

  This time she laughs.

  “Good night, Zoe,” she says.

  “Good night, Dawn,” I answer. And minutes later, I’m asleep.