Myst’s mouth was pursed into a tight line, his hands balled, only his two index fingers extended, pointing straight at Cynthia.

  “I don’t get it,” he said simply.

  Cynthia let out a sigh.

  “What part? Because I think I explained it pretty clearly.”

  Myst brought both fingers up to his lips.

  “First of all, all you said was that Custom Moves are,” he mimicked her voice, “like super hard.” Then he shifted back to his normal tone. “And second, I think I get what they are, but I don’t really understand why they’re special. They’re just using two moves at the same time, right? Ralts can do that…” He paused, probably noticing the look on her face. “But considering the expression you’re wearing, I’m guessing that’s completely wrong.”

  Cynthia rolled her eyes. “First of all, that didn’t sound like me at all, and,” she stressed the word, “I didn’t say that. Second of all… yeah, it’s not the same. What Ralts was doing is impressive for sure, but it doesn’t count as a Custom Move. If you want to call something a Custom Move, the moves have to be combined into one. Ralts used her two moves completely separately, insane multitasking for sure, but not a Custom Move.”

  Myst tilted his entire upper body, fingers still loosely pressed near his lips. “But if they’re already combined into one seamless move, how are they even different from regular moves? Why call them something different at that point?”

  Cynthia opened her mouth to answer but then stopped.

  With his lean, Myst’s hair had shifted, falling away from his face. It no longer framed him the way it usually did, and for a moment, all she could do was stare.

  He looked healthier.

  His face wasn’t as gaunt anymore, and even that strange, washed-out paleness he always seemed to carry was starting to give way to a warmer tan. He was still thin, sure, but now he almost looked...

  Almost looked handso—

  Myst narrowed his eyes. “What?”

  Cynthia snapped out of it instantly, a blush blooming across her face.

  “Nothing!” she blurted.

  Myst gave her a weird look, but before he could say anything, she steamrolled ahead.

  “Anyway! It’s different because Custom Moves use two different types of energy. If you combine two moves of the same type, well, if it’s seamless, that’s basically a new move. If not, and you just do what Ralts did, then it’s still two moves, just used at the same time.”

  She paused, checking to see if he was following—

  Only to find his brilliant blue eyes locked onto hers, Myst looking like he was hanging onto every word.

  Her blush, apparently seeing no reason to leave, deepened and she used a moment to gather herself before continuing.

  “Ehm, well, as I was saying, Custom Moves are different from regular moves. It might be harder to create a normal move, but don’t underestimate Custom Moves either. Most trainers don’t have them until their last badges, and even then, it’s usually just on one or two Pokémon.”

  Myst raised an eyebrow. “But you have them though?”

  Cynthia paused… then grinned, raising a single eyebrow of her own.

  She didn’t say anything.

  She didn’t have to.

  Myst smirked in response, “But you aren’t most other trainers. Got it.”

  She giggled, and Myst shook his head slightly, “Okay, so I get they’re different from regular moves, but shouldn’t they still be more widespread? Like that trick Roselia did, seriously, that thing looked insanely useful. I can’t imagine people not wanting to learn it. And if he wanted to teach it, all you’d need is another Pokémon that can use Magical Leaf and Double Team…”

  He paused, considering his own words.

  “But that’s probably easier said than done, right? Because not every Pokémon, even if they’re the same type, will have access to both moves that go into a Custom Move.”

  Cynthia’s eyes lit up as he caught on, “Exactly. Some Custom Moves do get passed around a bit, but they always run into the same wall: they’re made from two separate moves, from two different types. Not every Pokémon has access to both.”

  Myst tilted his head slightly.

  “But wouldn’t Roselia’s Custom Move be kind of an exception, then? I mean, if the only real limitation is a Pokémon’s movepool, and almost every Grass-type can learn both Magical Leaf and Double Team, then couldn’t you teach it to most of them?”

  Cynthia, about to answer, instead paused.

  Then she frowned, furrowing her eyebrows.

  “What do you mean almost every Grass-type can learn Double Team? Sure, it’s not impossible to teach in some cases, but only a handful actually have it in their movepool.”

  Myst stared at her blankly.

  “There are like... thirty Pokémon that can’t learn Double Team. Period. And even then, almost all of them aren’t even fully evolved. What do you mean Double Team isn’t part of a Grass-types normal movepool? It’s like, one of the most universal moves out there. I don’t think there is a Grass-type that can’t learn it.”

  Cynthia raised a finger—

  Then lowered it, lips pressing together.

  “This is the sort of thing I’m probably going to lose if we argue about it, isn’t it?”

  Myst shrugged, “I mean, I could be wrong. Honestly, you should take everything I say with a grain of salt, but I am pretty sure that with the right method, basically every Pokémon, regardless of typing, can learn Double Team.”

  Cynthia looked away for a moment.

  It made... some sense. If there was any type of move that could be learned by nearly every Pokémon, she would pick a Normal-type one. Not that there were many other choices. After all, Normal-type energy was the only one that every other type could convert into without resistance.

  Still... Double Team?

  If, before right now, she needed guess a universal move she would probably start with the basic ones, like Tackle or Scratch. Those certainly felt more common. But then again… those moves all relied on physical traits and not every Pokémon had claws to Scratch with or could build the momentum needed to Tackle.

  Maybe it was just that Double Team was so damn useful that it didn’t feel like a basic move. Honestly, she could even call it complicated. You had to shape type energy into a mirror image of yourself, hold it in a thin shell, then materialize that energy multiple times while coordinating every copy not to give away who was real.

  She paused.

  Then again… none of that was strictly necessary to use Double Team, was it?

  Those were just tricks, advanced tactics. The kind of thing you saw in higher-level battles. At its core, Double Team was just shaping Normal-type energy into a basic shell and leaving it behind. Everything after that was flair, or well, not flair, but definitely not the foundational part of the move.

  Cynthia slowly turned back toward Myst.

  He was already grinning.

  Stupidly grinning.

  “Well?” he asked. “You reasoned yourself into me being right yet?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “Okay, fine. You might be right about Double Team. But that doesn’t really matter.” She crossed her arms. “The effort it would take to train a Pokémon to learn both moves, and then train them to use the actual Custom Move? If they didn’t know either to start, you could’ve taught them, like, four regular moves in that time.”

  She paused for a moment, then continued.

  “Unless you specifically needed that exact type of Custom Move, and you happened to meet someone who knew it? It’d almost always be better to make your own.”

  Myst glanced towards Ralts, who was busy trying to lift four different stones at once, moving all of them up and down to a different rhythm.

  “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Just because Ralts can learn to use both required moves doesn’t mean we need it. I mean, it’d be useful, sure. But it doesn’t really suit the style we’ve been going for so far.”

  Cynthia nodded, uncrossing her arms. “Exactly. That’s even where the name comes from. A custom-made move, designed for that exact Pokémon, tailored to your team, your strategy, your style. It’s not just about combining two moves to create something else, you want something that is needed.”

  Myst slowly nodded, eyes lingering on Ralts for a few more seconds.

  Cynthia couldn’t help but grin as she watched him think, his eyebrows slightly furrowed in that way he always got when he was turning something over in his head. He always looked so serious, like the world might hinge on whatever idea he was about to come up with next.

  Talking to Myst, even when she was mostly just explaining stuff, it never felt like a chore. Sure, he didn’t always know things she considered basic, and sure he could sometimes be a little annoying…

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  But he also never simply pretended to be interested.

  Never just humoured her.

  It was always a discussion, always a conversation. And most of the time? It didn’t even stay about battle theory. They’d just… talk, theorize about whatever caught their fancy, just for the hell of it.

  She used to think it was better doing things on her own. That it was more rewarding somehow.

  Cleaner.

  She didn’t need anybody else; she could figure out everything on her own.

  But now?

  Yeah.

  She wasn’t the type to lie to herself.

  Being with Myst was just more fun.

  ….

  The original plan had been to keep moving at a steady pace, biking a little bit every day until they reached the end of Cycling Road. But, well… they also hadn’t planned on biking for fourteen hours on the first day.

  So, in her defence, she felt like resting for a day was perfectly excusable.

  Also, her calves were murdering her.

  Either way, Cynthia could only feel somewhat envious as she dug her hands into Queenie’s shoulder blades, pressing down on the muscle with as much force as she could manage. The Dragon-type let out a low, rumbling growl of satisfaction from where she lay sprawled across the grass, her eyes narrowing in contentment as her tail whipped lazily behind her.

  After a few seconds of pressure, Cynthia moved her hands lower, straining her fingers until they began to go numb as she pushed deep into Queenie’s calves.

  Then she smiled faintly as Queenie melted beneath her hands.

  “Ga-gabite…” her partner moaned out, low and drawn.

  Most trainers forgot it, but Pokémon were, for the most part, creatures of flesh and blood. Sure, they were hundreds of times hardier than humans, capable of withstanding immense damage even without their aura active.

  But fundamentally?

  They could still get sore, get tired, and develop muscle knots. It wasn’t much of a problem for household Pokémon, their greatest issue was usually the risk of getting fat, but for Pokémon under the care of a serious trainer?

  Pokémon like that trained for hours each day, pushing themselves to their limits, and sometimes even past them. Honestly, it would be weirder if they didn’t end up with some kind of issue related to their muscles or ligaments.

  Even so, Cynthia wasn’t sure how many trainers actually bothered with this kind of care. She certainly hadn’t, not until she’d randomly picked up a book on Pokémon physiology one day. Before that, she’d never even really heard about it. But after reading through it, after seeing how many Pokémon developed long-term issues because they hadn’t received proper support while they were active?

  Well, she simply couldn’t ignore it. Couldn’t not think about it.

  And yet, for something so obviously important, it still wasn’t common practice. That part, she honestly didn’t quite get. Sure, everyone knew to give their Pokémon supplements, mixing in the standard blends with their usual diet to support optimal growth. But massages? Recovery stretches? Muscle care routines?

  Yeah, not exactly part of the average trainer’s playbook.

  Even so, after doing it consistently for years, she could say with confidence that it made a difference. Better movement. Faster recovery between sessions. Hell, Queenie had even started sleeping more soundly.

  Cynthia let out a breath as she finally finished, her hands stinging with effort.

  Now, if only somebody would do the same for her and she could die happy.

  She paused, glancing toward Myst, who was currently biting a pencil as he scribbled something into his all-too-secret notebook.

  Her feet felt like two giant bricks.

  Her hands ached with a dull, pulsing stiffness.

  Her calves were killing her.

  And Myst?

  He was doing absolutely nothing, except writing in that stupid notebook.

  Cynthia pursed her lips forcefully, and then, staggering to her feet, she slowly made her way over to him.

  Really, wasn’t it normal to have somebody help you out when you were tired?

  It wasn’t like it was a big deal, she’d massaged loads of people when they asked.

  Friends did stuff like this for each other.

  More than that, considering it was mainly his fault that they’d ended up traveling for twice as long as originally planned, wouldn’t this just be… par for the course?

  As she got close, Myst, of course, snapped his notebook shut and glanced up at her.

  “You done massaging Queenie?”

  Cynthia nodded, then opened her mouth—

  Could you massage my feet?

  —only for the words to get stuck in her throat.

  Myst raised an eyebrow.

  “What?”

  Cynthia shut her mouth. Took a deep breath. This was silly… she was being silly. There was nothing weird about asking.

  So she opened her mouth again.

  “You need help figuring out a Custom Move?”

  And felt herself die a little on the inside.

  Myst blinked, then lit up.

  “Yeah, actually, that would be pretty great! I swear, it feels like when it comes to figuring out what moves to train, the regular ones in a Pokémon’s movepool, I’ve mostly got that down. But Custom Moves? Even after you explained it earlier, I haven’t come up with anything exc—”

  He paused, holding up a finger.

  “…Why do you look like you’ve just suffered a soul-crushing defeat?”

  Cynthia glanced over their current location.

  Rest Stop Number Two was beautiful.

  The top of the mountain had been carved out by Rock- and Ground-types, and then covered in grass made to survive the harsh climate of the peak by Grass-type Pokémon. More than that, compared to the narrow strip that was Cycling Road, it had space, enough for half a dozen trainers to camp and train without bumping into each other.

  It even had the same sweeping views.

  So it was, by most accounts, just better.

  There was only one thing it lacked.

  Cynthia turned back to Myst.

  “No, just thought about something I forgot…” she said calmly.

  You know.

  Like a liar.

  Truly, where was the thousand-meter drop when you needed it?

  ….

  Rei jumped lightly on her feet, as Myst and Cynthia stared down at the Normal-type.

  “Honestly, my first idea was making a Custom Move by combining Quick Attack and one of the Elemental Punches,” Myst began. “And I think I’ve even figured out a decent way to pull it off. We’ve already been working on shortening the time between Quick Attack and following up with another move, so if I just shift that training into using both moves at the same time, I think we could eventually get her to activate two separate type energies at once…” Myst hesitated.

  Cynthia raised an eyebrow. “So what’s the issue? I agree, that would probably work.”

  “Well, yeah, maybe, but I’m not sure it would actually… change anything.” Myst rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, because of all the work we’ve already done shortening the gap between moves, Rei can kind of already do it.”

  He nodded toward Rei.

  “Like, just watch.”

  Rei blinked.

  Then, realizing what her trainer meant, she grinned.

  Without a sound, her body lit up white—

  And in the blink of an eye, she vanished.

  It was only by luck that Cynthia’s eyes flicked to a nearby boulder, just in time to catch the way the white energy surrounding Rei shimmered, blinked out, and was replaced by a crackling yellow glow focused around one paw.

  Thunder Punch.

  Still riding the momentum from her dash, she slammed her tiny fist into the rock.

  Boom!

  It exploded.

  Rei shot straight through the flying debris, landed neatly on her feet, bounced once, then skidded to a stop.

  For a moment, Cynthia just stared.

  Then, as she slowly began to open her mouth—

  Rei flashed white again and, in an instant, she was standing beside them, grinning up at them like nothing had happened.

  “Good job,” Myst said, smiling softly.

  Rei gave a snappy salute, opening her mouth.

  “Bun—.”

  Just to pause, probably catching the way Cynthia was still staring at the spot where the boulder used to be.

  Slowly Rei turned to look, her eyes scanning the area, taking in the absolute devastation the rock’s explosion had left behind. Chunks of stone had scattered in every direction, the fragments having carved deep gouges into the earth, torn through the grass, and transformed the previously idyllic clearing into a cratered mess.

  Her nose twitched.

  Then, with a movement that looked suspiciously like she was erasing evidence, she dropped down, wiped the rock dust off her paw, and stood again.

  “Buneary,” she declared firmly.

  A statement, not a question.

  She’d done her job.

  If anything happened now, well… that was Myst’s problem.

  Cynthia giggled as Myst smashed a hand into his face.

  “I guess you should get your alibi ready, Myst. The rangers might be coming for you,” she teased.

  Myst groaned, dragging his hand down his face.

  “Rei, it’s fine. This whole area’s meant for training. You think I’d ask you to blow up a rock without checking with Cynthia first?”

  Rei nodded instantly, not even a hint of hesitation.

  Myst just stared at his first partner, then, slowly, he tilted his head up towards the sky, like he was telling the universe that he was just about done with this shit.

  Cynthia used the moment to hide her smile, forcing her face into something resembling neutral.

  “Myst,” she said evenly, “when did I say you could destroy the area? I told you that you could train here. Not crater it.”

  Myst froze. Then his eyes flicked back to the wreckage Rei had left behind.

  “If anyone asks,” he said seriously, “we found it like this.”

  Cynthia rolled her eyes. “Sure. Whatever you say…”

  She glanced down at Rei. “But yeah, I see what you mean. A Custom Move that just combines Quick Attack and an Elemental Punch... it wouldn’t really add anything new, right?”

  Myst sighed, still looking at the ruined boulder.

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m stuck on. I don’t really get where I’m supposed to start. Like… Roselia clearly figured out his Custom Move on his own, but how did you figure out what was going into it to make Riolu’s? I mean, Leaf Defense is obviously useful for a Grass-type Gym, but considering how hard you keep saying it is to train a Custom Move, I doubt you made it just for that.”

  Cynthia pursed her lips and glanced down at Riolu’s Poké Ball.

  “To be honest, you got it half right. I did train Leaf Defense with the Gym in mind, but only because I thought it would be useful in general too.”

  She paused, then continued with a matter-of-fact tone.

  “Riolu’s a pure close-combat specialist. He doesn’t have any ranged options yet, so he’s completely reliant on getting in close. Against most elemental attacks, that’s actually fine, since they’re made of almost nothing but type energy, they tend to be condensed in some way. That makes them narrow, and a lot easier to dodge with Detect.”

  She shifted, her voice tightening slightly.

  “But against something like Magical Leaf, or Swift, or even a really strong Rock Slide? Dodging isn’t always an option. Or at least, not an efficient one, not when you’ve got a hundred small attacks coming from a hundred different angles. That’s why I made Leaf Defense, to compensate for that weakness.”

  Myst narrowed his eyes.

  “But you call it Leaf Defense.”

  Cynthia tilted her head.

  “Yes? Because it was made as a defense against Magical Leaf. And attacks like it, that rely—”

  Myst held up a hand, stopping her.

  “Cynthia. That’s not the point.”

  He shook his head with mock gravity.

  “My point is that you made a super cool, really creative Custom Move… and decided to name it Leaf Defense. I’m not sure how to tell you this, but that name sucks.”

  Cynthia flushed instantly.

  “It does not! It’s a name that reflects both the origin and the function of the move. It’s clear! It’s concise! It makes sense!”

  “Uh-huh,” Myst said, thoroughly unimpressed.

  She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “Oh please. Like you could come up with a better name. Hell, say you did go through with that combo of Quick Attack and one of the Elemental Punches. What would you call it, Mr. Know-it-all?”

  Myst didn’t even hesitate.

  “Elemental Burst.”

  Cynthia opened her mouth.

  Paused.

  …Okay, that did sound kind of cool. It captured the burst of speed, the elemental strike, and even had a certain flair to it. It was flashy but clear. It was—

  No.

  She forced her mouth back open.

  “You could’ve thought about that before this conversation. Come up with something better than Leaf Defense then, if you’re so clever.”

  Myst rolled his eyes.

  “Razorflow, Shear Dance, Motion Cleave hell even something as simple as Path Clear would be better!”

  Cynthia pursed her lips.

  She wasn’t going to lie, those did sound… quite nice.

  Even so…

  She pouted slightly.

  Myst massaged his temple with two fingers and let out a long, deep breath.

  “Okay, fine. We can come back to your tragic naming sense later.” He stressed the word, making it very clear this conversation was not over, merely paused to focus on something more important. “For now, I think I kind of get what you were saying. You mean I should focus on finding something Rei is bad at, right?”

  At that, Rei let out a sharp sound of protest, stamping a foot into the ground.

  “Buneary!”

  Cynthia had been around her long enough to understand exactly what she meant.

  I have no weaknesses!

  Myst rolled his eyes.

  “Rei, do you want a Custom Move, or do you not want a Custom Move?”

  Rei paused, and for a second she was clearly weighing whether getting a cool Custom Move was worth the insult of being underestimated. In the end, she sniffed the air once, shook her fist, as if to say she would never surrender her pride, and then…

  Rei took a small step back, lowered her head just a little, and pretended she'd never said anything at all.

  Cynthia smiled at the little rabbit’s complete lack of shame, then turned back to Myst.

  “I mean, that is one of the two main directions people usually go in,” she said. “In general, there are two routes with Custom Moves. You either focus on shoring up your strengths, like Roselia did, or you try to cover a weakness, like I did with Riolu.”

  “So what do you recommend I do?” Myst asked.

  Cynthia shrugged.

  “No clue. Rei’s your Pokémon, you know her better than I do. I can’t really help you there. Like I said, Custom Moves are meant to be… well, custom. I could come up with something, sure, but odds are it wouldn’t suit either of you as well as something you came up with.”

  Myst glanced down at Rei.

  She looked up at him with wide, adorable eyes.

  “Yeah,” he sighed, “this might take some time.”

  Her eyes immediately narrowed into slits.

  She wasn’t the type to lie to herself.