“Goodbye Hector. Take care of Sunny for me,” I said, stroking the Quagsire. He leaned into the touch, his slimy skin not as harsh to mine as his previous’ evolution’s. It was spongier, like hard rubber.

  “You’re really going?” Darren asked Sunny.

  “I am,” she replied, shuffling her feet. Darren looked crestfallen, a deep sadness on his face.

  “I’ll keep in touch, and we can meet up every now and then,” she said.

  “Yeah, me too.”

  It was a sad parting where we all said goodbye to each other and each other’s Pokémon multiple times, so that it seemed we’d never finish. But then Baltazar and Aria was leaving, and Sunny, Hector, Coral, Caviar, Dewey, and the new addition, Pio Pio, with them. And then she was gone.

  We were gone from Silverwind not long after. Just me, Darren, Luca, and Jade. Quentin had gone ahead by boat because he needed to appease the upper echelons of his agency or something. Jade’s results in Silverwind would go a long way for that at least. It was lonely, just the four of us, especially with Darren being more absent than present, his thoughts obviously with Sunny, rather than with us.

  As sad as I was in her absence, in a way, it strengthened my footsteps. There was a new weight on my shoulders that wasn’t altogether unpleasant. It felt grounding, and gave me direction that had previously felt forceful and strained. It was new and unusual, but it tugged my lips upwards, and with every step, I was conscious of the footprint I left behind.

  “Jade, can I ask you a favour?” I said, a few minutes of silence since we’d left the village. It wouldn’t be a long trip, two days at most, and that was because we were taking it easy.

  “Of course, what do you need?” she said.

  “I’d like to train with you when we stop, and if you have time while we’re at Caprice.”

  “Sure thing, though I will, probably, be busy in the city. There’s only so much I can get away with.”

  It was a nice walk by the lake. Sunny and crisp. Clear enough that if I squinted, I could just about make out Wavecrest to the south. From the north, tremors were spreading intermittently, even through the soft soil. They weren’t strong by any means, but the reports coming from Bagatelle were increasingly severe. The city hadn’t evacuated yet, but with the beginning of the recuperation of Popplio town, the news cycle had turned to the efforts in Bagatelle to construct barriers to shield it from falling rocks. Not a stranger to earthquakes, the city wasn’t unprepared, but the frequency and potency had people there on high alert. So, while the shakes weren’t frightening where we were, they were a reminder of an ongoing danger. One Elaine was facing directly.

  A day ago, I’d heard from the Professor who’d heard from Ducky that Elaine was resting in an undisclosed location after a violent clash involving her, Killian, and the Deity of Thunder. She wasn’t badly injured, but she was injured. Her father was understandably worried about her, especially when he knew she intended to go north as soon as she was ready. I’d called her after and asked her to promise me to stop by Caprice before she went to Bagatelle, and to my surprise, she did.

  Training that evening had some unforeseen complications. We were focusing, for once, on Comfey. It was about time I put my ideas to work with her. On the upside, she was very powerful already. It had been clear from the start, with the strength of the healing she had shown. The downside was that she was as difficult to work with as Lily when she’d had too much cake.

  “Again, Comfey. I know you can do it,” I said. I did, too. She was well capable of using Pollen Puff after learning it from the TM. I wasn’t even asking her to use it offensively. Why, then, was I asking her to learn another healing move when Floral Healing was so good? That was a secret.

  I paced up and down the long grass, rising to my hips in some sections. It was the result of Grassy Terrain. Fortunately, she needed little coaxing to use that move. I was getting frustrated, no matter how hard I tried not to be. Flaaffy always tried her best to please, and even Junior, with the right approach, followed my guidance, but what could I do with a Pokémon that simply refused to listen? She acted purely on her own whims, and if they didn’t align with my instructions, it was as if they didn’t exist.

  Jade was supervising spars between Flaaffy, Junior, and her Pokémon. She had been immensely helpful that evening, and both of my other Pokémon had made strides with the latest TMs I’d bought for them, and the last ones for a while; the Professor’s money only went so far. They had another weapon under their belt, but the one I really wanted to advance was refusing.

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  “Come on, Comfey, please,” I said. She did a somersault and a small burst of rose petals and perfumed air blew from her vine. My fists clenched before I forced them to relax.

  “Okay, let’s try this a different way.”

  I went to get my sketch pad and sat down next to her when I returned. As usual, she was excited by my art and came closer to watch. I drew flowers, talking as I did so. Comfey only seemed to understand what she wanted, but maybe she’d pick something up.

  “You like flowers, don’t you? Of course you do. Do you know what flowers have inside? You’re smart when you want to be, I know you know. It’s pollen. It has a good smell too, you know?”

  I didn’t actually know that for sure. I was a Mareep farmer, not a florist.

  “Imagine creating pollen the same way flowers do. It puffs into a small cloud and washes all the bad air away. I know you like the sound of that.”

  As I spoke, I sketched out flowers releasing their pollen. I had one that looked sort of like a snowdrop, though I wasn’t thinking of any species in particular, split open and a miniature bomb of it exploded from inside. I was there a good five to ten minutes learning the value of patience, telling myself it was working with no substantial evidence other than, for the first time that evening, Comfey’s unwavering attention, when it paid off. Almost bashfully, she wrapped her vine into a ball and, flicking it open, executed Pollen Puff perfectly.

  “Excellent! Good girl! Well done!” I gushed, clutching her in a hug. She squeaked in irritation and I let her go before she decided to stop cooperating.

  “You’re brilliant, Comfey. That’s step one. Now we’re going to try mixing that with Grassy Terrain and Floral Healing, and you’ll be a saint. Want to try that?”

  From there, things went surprisingly well. Once I’d implanted the idea of what I wanted to do, and convinced her of how fun it would be, she was eager to perfect it fast. I was once again impressed by her skill, achieving what Flaaffy would take days to learn in hours. I was pretty sure she was old. She didn’t act it, but then, fairies never did. Something about the way she developed moves and ideas, though, spoke to me of experience rather than genius. I wondered if I ever would find out her age.

  I didn’t get to the second part of the plan that day. Still, I felt good about the progress we’d made.

  “Thanks for the help today, Jade,” I said as we sat around the campfire. “Sorry for pushing you to one side in the middle of things there. Comfey was being troublesome.”

  My necklace protested, and I shushed her.

  “You know you were, Comfey.”

  “That’s alright, Flaaffy was a sweetie, and Junior’s not too bad, once you get to know her,” said Jade.

  Flaaffy glowed, literally, at the praise, while Junior, who Jade had worked so hard that for once she was exhausted and not causing havoc, could only grunt.

  “What were you doing? It looked interesting,” asked Luca.

  “That’s a secret,” I said.

  “Fine, be like that. Actually, there was something I wanted to ask.”

  “Yes?” said Jade.

  “What do you think of Oddish and their evolutions?”

  “They’re so cute!” said Jade. “Even Gloom, don’t let the name put you off.”

  “You mean for your team?” I asked, since it hadn’t seemed to click with Jade.

  “Yeah, you didn’t notice because you were training, but when I was feeding Buzkill, a little one came over and I ended up feeding her too. And giving her a few pets. She was cute. Anyway, I wasn’t really thinking of catching her or anything. I know I said I wanted to expand my team, but it’s been busy and I haven’t shifted into that mindset, but she’s still hiding back there and I think she likes me.”

  She nodded to a patch of grass in the dark, away from the firelight. I thought I saw it rustle, but it was hard to tell, to be honest.

  “Go for it,” said Jade. “They’re cute.”

  “It’s up to you, but I’d say Oddish is a good choice,” I said. “Have you decided how you want to form your team yet? And if you want to specialise in one type or be a generalist?”

  She shook her head, a faint blush colouring her cheeks. It was strange to see her embarrassed, but I was too much in lecture mode to tease her about it.

  “Either way, Oddish is good. Vileplume is a decent grass/poison-type, good at inflicting status effects through their pollen, and heavy damage with Petal Dance and Venoshock, among other moves. Additionally, the ability to heal with Giga Drain and Moonlight make them tough to wear down. If you were to specialise in poison-types, Vileplume would be a good pick. Again, their pollen is very efficient at poisoning everything on a battlefield, which only works in your favour.

  “If you want to go for Bellossom, a lot of the same applies, but without the poison-typing, and their attacks are typically not as strong. Their pollen also isn’t as potent. You do, however, get access to Quiver Dance and, more importantly, they’re able to learn Baton Pass, which, I think, you saw how useful it was in Jade’s match. Given that they’re more defensively oriented, and that they also have good healing abilities, you have a good chance of being able to set up, and even if their attacks aren’t able to get through to their opponent, you can pass that on to a more offensively oriented Pokémon.

  “Basically, Oddish are a flexible and solid choice, practically speaking. More importantly, if you’re asking, it’s cause you want her on your team, isn’t it? Then, as Jade says, go for it.”

  “Okay,” she said, psyching herself up. “I will.”

  She was nervous, more so than when she was battling, or in pretty much any other type of situation I’d seen her in. It was kind of funny. She moved with lots of hesitation and pauses, but fetched some kibble from her bag, and with food in one hand, and an empty pokeball in the other, she tiptoed to the patch of grass Oddish was allegedly hiding in.

  “Hey there, Oddish. Are you there? I’ve got some food if you want.”

  I couldn’t see much; it was dark, but I could just make out a round silhouette before her. Her already soft voice went even lower as she whispered to her, so I couldn’t make her words out. Then, a flash of red and a click confirmed the new addition to our party.

  Luca returned somewhat dazed, her eyes welling with tears as she hugged the pokeball to her chest.