Wavecrest was a nice town. There wasn’t too much to say about it. It didn’t reach the levels of beautiful or idyllic, like some places I’d seen on TV, but it had a beach, a park, and pretty houses along the coast. The town itself was small, coming down from the high of the local festival. I’d spent the last couple of days of the festival in bed, and by the time I got out, people were leaving for Silverwind Village and the next tournament to enter. The locals were in a good mood. It had been the biggest November festival in a while for the town. Typically, their big tournament happened in May, and Popplio’s was the big one in November. With Popplio all but gone, trainers had flowed through Wavecrest instead.

  It was quiet as I sat on the bench looking out over Lake Rin. Peaceful. I’d rung Mum that morning. She’d been worried. We hadn’t been able to talk for most of my time in the Greenforest. She’d known I was going in, but I could still hear the relief in her voice when I told her the reason I couldn’t ring her was because there was no coverage. Mum was a strong woman, and she was always unfazed by anything. I couldn’t remember her becoming agitated over hardly anything. So, being able to hear her concern almost made me not tell her anything else. As tempting as it was to be a coward, if Ducky’s plans went ahead, she would hear what I’d been involved in. It was better to feed the Whismur right away, so to speak. So I told her, bit by bit, all the ways I poked the Dusknoir since I’d last talked to her. At first, she listened with her usual filler noises. Slowly, she stopped filling the silences and listened til I finished. In the end, rather cryptically, she asked if I was having fun. The question caught me off guard. After a moment of reflection, I said I was. I hadn’t even considered ending my journey until she asked me that question, and I was far from done yet. Mum wasn’t ecstatic about my decision, but she understood. I could tell by her well-wishes.

  The tranquillity of the evening was rhythmically interrupted by shrieks and grunts. Junior and Flaaffy were training on the sand, Junior attacking, and Flaaffy fending her off with Protect. I’d had several productive conversations with the Professor, some of them mediated by Elaine. Nothing had been officially declared yet, due to the complex circumstances and the fact that most of the items we’d retrieved were still, along with most of my friends, coming out of the Greenforest. Still, I was promised funding, and he was already delivering by getting me a handful of TMs, most importantly of which was Protect. It was, after talking it out with Elaine, the single most crucial move for top-tier battle Pokémon to have. After my experiences in the Greenforest, I had to agree.

  TMs were expensive, and I was glad I didn’t have to pay for them. Their cost came from the fact that they were essentially a set of instructions personalised for individual species of Pokémon, and even further – it was a whole process, but it was rare the TM that could be shared and used twice. Their usefulness was unquestionable; Flaaffy had learned the move within a couple of hours, and Junior was helping her perfect it.

  As nice a powerup as the TMs were, the real treat was with Junior. She’d taken to training like a soldier. I suspected she was used to being the top Houndoom in her territory, or close to it. Being in the presence of so many powerful Pokémon had shocked her. Not one to be discouraged, she was training seriously, and in the first hour of sparring, she had evolved.

  I was a little scared of her, I’ll admit. If she came at me as a Primeape like she had as a Mankey, I’d be in serious trouble. But while she was no less angry, her fury had direction. It was funnelled into her growth, and she was so focused on getting stronger, she even accepted my direction. I was doing my best to live up to her expectations.

  “Calla, I got word from Claire. They’ll be here this evening.”

  Turning my head, I looked at Luca approaching. Buzzkill was on her shoulder, poking the bandage on her head. He was fascinated by it, for some reason. She sat beside me, arms wrapped around one knee. Luca smiled a lot since being let out of her ward. It was how I knew she was a strong person. All the troubles she seemed to have from before had all melted away after her near-death experience, and she was more determined than ever to make the most of life.

  “That’s good news,” I said.

  “Sure is,” she said. “Also, I’ve decided.”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m going to plan my team. I wanted it to be just me and Buzzkill, you know, like those trainers with just one Pokémon that manage to sweep top teams. But I think I have to accept Buzzkill probably won’t be able to do that at the top level. So I’m going to catch more Pokémon.”

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  “That’s also good news. I think?”

  “It is! But, well, how do you go about planning a team?”

  “You’re asking me?”

  “I mean, I haven’t looked into it at all, and I know how hard you study.”

  “I guess, but I’m catching Pokémon based on...” I paused as I began to seriously consider her question. I did know the answer, which, for some reason, surprised me. I didn’t really expect to be the knowledgeable one in a conversation.

  “There are a few good ways of forming a team,” I said. “It sort of depends what sort of trainer you want to be. The Pokémon I’ve caught have sort of come to me. It’s sort of, like, our paths brought us together. I know it’s not very structured, and it means it is more difficult to obtain synergy between your Pokémon, but I think, it makes it easy to form a bond of trust with them. I didn’t exactly plan for this approach, but I like it. It’s a little romantic, but this feeling of we’re-in-this-together is nice. And if you and your team can rely on each other, even if, on paper, you don’t have an optimal line-up, it can make all the difference. I may be a bit biased, but I believe it, and looking at examples from the past, I don’t think I’m wrong.

  “If you’re looking for more logical approaches, a solid one is going for specialising in a single type, so I guess, for you, either normal or poison. Sunny probably knows a lot more about that than I do by know, so you should ask her. I think, basically, it makes it easy to synergise your team, but they share a lot of the same weaknesses.

  “The most difficult, but, at least on paper, the most optimal, is by selecting specific Pokémon to form a team that will cover for each other's weaknesses, and having strengths that can pierce through any opponent's defences, whatever they may be. The tricky thing here isn’t picking the Pokémon, exactly. You can find plenty of hypothetical teams online, with pretty solid arguments for each one. What’s difficult is finding the Pokémon you’re looking for, and then being lucky enough that you mesh well with each other, and that you all have a shared ambition. This is why, while you often see rich people’s teams doing well – they are able to buy strong Pokémon after all – they usually don’t win the big prizes.

  “Those are the directions you can go in, and it’s not like you have to commit completely to one. In fact, my personal opinion is that going for the third route, but remaining flexible and keeping options open, is best. So, have a rough idea of what you want your team strategy to be, and have a list of Pokémon that would be able to fill those roles. Then, you’re not confined to one particular species, and have more chances of encountering suitable Pokémon, but you’re still not leaving so much up to fate. I think, that’s the approach Darren is going for.”

  “Makes sense,” said Luca. “You really have thought of this a lot.”

  “I suppose,” I said. “I can go into more detail if you want, but again, I think the most important thing is knowing what suits you best. I’m happy to discuss more whenever you want.”

  “Thank you,” she said, and I was uncertain how to accept her gratitude. It felt good to contribute to someone's growth, instead of just taking from them.

  “You’re welcome,” I said.

  The muscles of Junior’s arms rippled under dark brown fur as she punched Flaaffy’s shield. With a sound like glass shattering, she broke through. Junior posed in a victory stance and roared. Flaaffy, undeterred, used Protect again. She succeeded on her third attempt.

  “You’re going to be a powerhouse when you’re older,” said Luca.

  “When I’m older?” I asked. She stuttered something, and I laughed.

  “Relax, I know I’m not much at the minute,” I said. After a moment, I asked, “Do you really think I’ll make a good trainer?”

  “I’m not a Xatu, but if I had to bet, I’d put my money on you.”

  Later that evening, the rest of the Greenforest party did indeed arrive. Tattered and exhausted, but whole. I ran to Sunny and embraced her tight as soon as I saw her. She was dishevelled and she smelled of sweat, but it was good to see her. We made it to the Pokémon Centre before any conversation started, and even then, they were too tired to talk much. Even Baltazar looked fit to collapse. It was a tad early to go to sleep, so we hung around in the lobby trying to pass the time. During that time, a distinct divide made itself clear in our group. Some of us carried a tiredness that went beyond physical. I saw it in Sunny, Kurt, Sarah and Rebecca most clear. It was a vibe entirely opposite to what I felt from Luca. It would be the end of the journey for them, in one way or another. It didn’t take long for my suspicions to be confirmed.

  “I think, tomorrow, or the day after, I’m going home,” said Rebecca. Sarah said she would go with her. Claire looked between them and Luca, torn between continuing and going back, but unable to make her mind up.

  “It was tough,” agreed Kurt. “I’m going to go to the Professor and ask for less fieldwork. I don’t think, after all, that I like adventuring that much.”

  There was a sadness in the air, though not entirely depressive. At the same time, personally, I didn’t care all that much for the ones that had spoken so far. I kept my eye on Sunny, and she noticed me looking.

  “Are you worried I’ll quit, Calla?” she asked. “I’m going to push a little further, to Silverwind. Dad lives there, and I’d like to participate in the tournament in my hometown. But I don’t know if I’ll go much further. I’ll see when the time comes.”

  I nodded and held back the tears. I needed to be strong for her. It wouldn’t be right to burden her with my feelings. And we had a little more time. I was going to make the most of it.