Leaf

  —

  It took me a few moments to figure out why Erin was glaring at a random spot on the wall, and mentioning Clair, but only a few moments. Then I joined her in scowling at the wall. Erin's head turned, though, so I guess Clair was walking off…

  Well… shit.

  That was not how I would have gone about this whole thing, and judging from the anger on Erin's face, she wasn't feeling too happy right now, either…

  Alex wisely decided to ignore the angry Erin in the room and looked over at me.

  "I heard rumors there were secret tunnels, but you hear that rumor everywhere, even in the main mansion, so I'd never really given it much thought…"

  A knock on the door, and suddenly Clair was there, looking embarrassed. Embarrassed, but also so curious…

  The sight of Nova standing behind her, shoulders hunched as she tried to look small, was a bit more surprising. She caught my eye and gave me a weak grin.

  "I heard the singing and came to see what was going on. I almost knocked on the door, but I, ah… heard Erin…" She looked curious, too, but far more nervous. This was the kind of secret you could easily imagine someone dying over, to be fair, but Erin obviously wouldn't do that… She would just be furious she had somehow spilled it to two people at once!

  Considering how red her face was, eyes tightly closed, and how white her knuckles were from the fists she was making?

  That was accurate.

  I sighed and swept an arm inside.

  "Come on in, then. Unless there's more people up here to worry about?" Clair shook her head, face still red.

  "No, the only other people up here right now are the caretakers, and they almost never leave their apartments when they're not 'on duty'. There aren't many 'modern' amenities up here…" I shook my head and sighed.

  "It should be fine, then… Well, where to start, I guess? Maybe we should call Lance?" Clair's eyes got wide for a moment before she brightened up, snapping her fingers in excitement.

  "No wonder he almost refused to talk about you, Erin! You're some kind of crazy world-walker!" I grinned a little at the term, but Erin? I expected anger, but she actually perked up slightly before her scowl came back, so I guess she liked the term…

  "I guess I'll start…?" Erin growled and stood up as I spoke. She glared at Clair for a long moment, then spared Nova a second of glare before it found me.

  "I'm going to go make sure there isn't anyone else roaming around, I'll be back… soon-ish." So she just wanted to run from the story… not that I blamed her.

  I turned to the two expectant faces as the door shut behind Erin. This had kind of sucked when I did it for Alex, but at least this time I had Alex to help with the details?

  "Okay, so to start, let's talk about Erin's favorite game growing up…"

  —

  —

  It only took an hour this time, but by the end of it both Nova and Clair looked more than a little… stunned. It was a lot to take in, and should be unbelievable… except, when you looked at who Erin had interacted with since coming to this world, especially Sabrina, it was easier to accept.

  Not that it was easy.

  "So hold on, if you're supposed to be some 'protagonist', then why-" I cut Clair off with a raised hand.

  "Technically, my, uhh, story was already completed by Red three years ago, but we're not exactly sure how it all lines up. Most of the games are accurate, and the anime, but sometimes it's… weird. Togepi is completely wrong in the anime and games, all of the Evil Team's main schemes from the games already happened, but…" I trailed off, because not only was I a secondhand source of information, Erin didn't understand it either!

  Looker might actually have the best idea considering all the information he had access to at Interpol, compromised or not…

  Clair looked constipated, but before she could continue Erin returned, looking exhausted. She wiped her forehead and breathed deeply, leaning against the door, before she smiled widely.

  "Baby Deino are adorable, fast, and very, very chompy. Maybe not if I'd unleashed my aura, but I was not doing that in front of their mom…" She certainly hadn't minded, though. Baby Deino did sound absolutely adorable… also dangerous.

  Clair frowned at her, though, and her voice was more than slightly scathing.

  "And you messed with our Hydreigon, ignoring the very obvious signs that say not to, for what reason?" Sudden knowledge of Erin's otherworldly status or not, Clair was mad.

  Erin just shrugged, though.

  "It's not like I went there on purpose, she smelled me wandering around and came to say hi, and by hi, I mean 'I am showing you my children, child. Do not resist', more or less. She's a proud mother and they hatched like, two days ago, she wanted to show them off." Clair blinked at her in confusion a few times before shaking her head.

  "Fine, ignoring that…So you were my age?!" Really? That's her first question to the actual person?

  Erin just laughed as she plopped into a chair.

  "Yeah, I was. Was being the key word there, these days. Gotta say, the neural plasticity is pretty awesome, and this time around I actually have the chance to put it to good use!" Neural what? Everyone but Clair was giving her an odd look and she smirked at us.

  "Basically just how quickly you learn things, accept new paradigms, by the time you're twenty five it starts getting noticeably harder. Not impossible, but I've already gotten much better at aiming Pokeballs in less than a week of idly practicing. If I was thirty, I could have done the same thing, but it would have involved a lot more work to achieve the same result… I think that's accurate?" She looked at Clair, who shrugged.

  "That sounded close enough to me, yeah… Still… not sure I envy you the 'kid again' bit…" Erin scowled at her, Alex and I giggled, and Nova continued to look completely stunned, staring forwards blankly. Oh, yeah…

  I cleared my throat and everyone followed my eyes.

  "Hey Nova, you good?" The sound of my voice seemed to snap Nova out of whatever daze she was in and she stared at me with wide eyes.

  "Huh?! Yeah, I'm great, great… I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, I guess? Wait, was I in the games?" She looked briefly excited, but only briefly as Erin shook her head.

  "No you weren't. Most trainers weren't very memorable, but I would have remembered one with a Sliggoo and a Golduck. Alex wasn't either, so don't feel bad for not having… been in a game that either created this world or was inspired by this world?" Nova went back to blank, and Clair took the chance to cut back in.

  "How did you know I was in that tunnel, though?"

  "I can feel bursts of strong emotions, like the shock of having your future niece casually dropping the 'different world' bit. It has to be strong, though, I can't feel someone's normal emotions unless I touch them with my aura. I was so distracted by you that I didn't notice Nova, though."

  "So do you know stuff about Legendaries?" Erin smirked at Clair, a smug smirk.

  "I don't think you have clearance to hear that information, Gym Leader Clair." She laughed at Clair's rapidly-reddening face. "Sorry, I had to do that. Yeah, I do, but like Togepi, I'm not sure what's even accurate. Moltres was… pretty close I'd say. Nobody told me it would be such an ass, though…" What? Stabby was giving her a look, but he wasn't trying to flick her… Maybe he was saving it up?

  We hadn't actually had the chance to talk privately before this, the four of us having shared a huge room in the Blackthorn Mansion, so this was new.

  "It was an… ass?" Clair's confusion mirrored my own. A Legendary had been an… ass?

  Erin snorted, though.

  "Yeah, first it knocked us out of the air with a wave of aura, then demanded to know why I smelled like 'them'. 'Fun' fact, Legendaries can sense me, and maybe Mythicals… So it interrogated me about that, practically roaring through aura the entire time, then when it was about to leave it basically called me boring, saying I 'had no fire'... Well, I kind of told it that I had been a bit busy admiring its fire, which I absolutely was, Moltres is breathtaking. It turned around and, very calmly and quietly, told me that I 'Half pass. Half fail.'... So yeah, it's an ass."

  The room was silent for a long moment after she finished that. So Erin might run into more Legendaries or Mythicals?! She talked back to Moltres?! She had half passed what?!

  Erin met our eyes and shrugged.

  "I don't know what it was talking about, no. I mean, I have a theory, but it's just a theory." I opened my mouth, because I had a feeling I knew what that theory was, when Clair clapped her hands together and met all of our eyes.

  "Okay, as entertaining as this has been, and as much as I would love to stay, I do have to get going. We will be continuing this conversation, though!" She was frowning thunderously at Erin, but she was also smirking a bit. Erin just smirked right back at her.

  "Talk to Lance when you get the chance, poor guy's been dealing with my insanity for a while now." Everyone but Nova burst into laughter at that, but I think Nova was still… just kind of existing right now.

  We saw Clair off, then turned to Nova. She still hadn't moved…

  Distraction time!

  "So Nova, looking forward to tomorrow?" She jerked a little and looked around before meeting my eyes. She took a deep breath before almost visibly pushing Erin's insanity to the back of her mind.

  "Yeah, yeah I am, even if it's just… observation. I mean, I understand why they want to see how we train before they start, but it's kind of… underwhelming, I guess. Especially my training compared to yours!" We all grinned a little at that.

  Tomorrow was our 'evaluation', basically just training followed by a long lunch break. I had to imagine the long break was more to let our Pokemon recover than for us, because I had the feeling the second half of tomorrow was going to look a lot like getting our butts kicked…

  Alex stood up and rolled her shoulders.

  "Well, I'm going to go get a snack, I'm kind of hungry… want anything?" We shook our heads and she left, Nova looking more uncomfortable now. Erin just grinned, though, and Nova jerked, probably from aura, before meeting Erin's eyes.

  "Sorry to hide it, but now you get to be a part of this super secret elite club! Erin's Errant… nah. Erin's Unfortunate… Somethings, victims is a bit strong of a term…" There she goes again, following the absolute dumbest trains of thought… She had done it since we met, but I swore she was worse these days. Although, maybe that was just her being a kid again?

  Nova giggled, though, and seemed to finally be here, and not partially in shock, so that was good!

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  I found myself really looking forward to tomorrow…

  Also really hopeful that our 'exam overseers' were visible so I could enjoy their faces…

  —

  —

  I sighed in satisfaction as I stepped out of the bathroom. It wasn't frigid up here, but it was cold enough that I had been very grateful for the hot shower after taking a dip in that gigantic pool, and this second, lingering bath had been even better…

  I'd have thought about it more, but I saw Morgrem at that moment. He wasn't doing anything, just watching TV, but he was idly combing his hands through his hair. A knot would probably be really inconvenient…

  Actually…

  "Ever had a bath, Morgrem?"

  The entire room stopped. All of our Pokemon were out, Nova back in her room, one with a pool of water. Erin had almost used one, but only Kallen and Ahab would need it, and only barely. Wiggles was a lot more sensitive than a giant scaly dragon and kelp. Kallen's fins could dry out after a few hours, but he usually just hit himself and Ahab with a quick refresher. As long as we weren't in a desert or something, there should be more than enough moisture in the air to keep them from drying out.

  Morgrem creakily turned his head to me, a look of pure horror in his eyes. I rushed to interrupt the fit I saw about to be pitched.

  "I don't mean your entire body! Well, I do, but take a shower, then! What I really meant was your hair!" His eyes widened in understanding and I nodded eagerly.

  "See, if you can control your hair, then the only impediment to that would be your hair itself, right? I saw you combing it with your hands, but how about you use some shampoo and conditioner on it, then brush it out? It might actually make your halberd sharper!" He perked up even more, because he could tell I wasn't lying.

  If his halberd blade was made out of hair, what if that hair was smoother, with ends that weren't split? I hadn't checked, but I guaranteed he had a ton of split ends… It really might make it sharper, or just stronger in general, like a cable more tightly woven.

  He still wilted when I pointed at the door questioningly, and he was dejected when I showed him how to use the shower, and what to use on his hair.

  He certainly looked happy half an hour later, hair shiny and smooth and face so overwhelmingly smug.

  —

  Clair

  —

  I was kind of pushing it with my absence from the Gym today, but there was no way I was going to let someone else oversee this. My own affection for Alex aside, I really had to wonder what these insane girls would show me today…

  "So there were no Pokemon?" Nova had apparently come to terms with the situation after a night's sleep and was now pelting Erin with questions… which was good, or I'd have been doing the same as they followed me through a dim tunnel.

  Not that it was intentionally dim, but why burn through a ton of power keeping rarely-used tunnels bright?

  "No, we had nothing like that, nothing fantastical at all. Whales were a good comparison, actually. Wailmer and Wailord are the only 'whale' Pokemon as far as I know, but there were dozens of different species worldwide. Blue Whales were twice as big as Wailord, or more, and they weighed almost two hundred tons. They were the biggest animal in history, not even prehistoric whales or dinosaurs came close." I tried to picture a creature that large and failed. Wailord were already enormous, and far lighter than they appeared, but a creature like that! That was insane!

  I pulled Alex a little closer to me as we walked, but I didn't bother to lower my voice.

  "No wonder you seem kind of… crazy these days, you've been surrounded by it!" Alex and Nova burst into laughter, but Leaf and Erin were glaring at me… Normally two children glaring would be cute or amusing, but honestly? It was kind of intimidating coming from a Fairy Master, and Erin's aura made her far, far more intimidating than should be possible.

  We reached the end of the tunnel and found a large stone door completely sealing the end off. A quick pull of a lever, though, and the door silently slid into the wall.

  Beyond was one of our preferred training grounds.

  It was little more than a wide clearing on the side of the mountain, but it was more than enough flat area for our purposes, and when you included the various small dips, tree trunks, and scattered boulders, it made for a decent arena.

  "Okay, you kids just start training, I'll be standing around, observing." Usually a boring task when done for the outsider learning to better care for his Axew, but I was looking forward to this.

  "Uhh, should I join in on their training, or do my own?" Nova looked confused, but that was understandable, and I shook my head.

  "No, show me how you got to where you are now, that will be most informative." She nodded and turned, but I grew confused after a moment.

  Why was she walking that far away from the other three?

  Why were the Pokemon of the other three grouped up?

  Why was Leto inhaling-

  The Roar that erupted from her almost jarred me from my feet, and I was twenty feet away! The Pokemon just hunkered down, enduring it… right alongside the girls! They were far behind the Pokemon, but it didn't appear to matter much, considering their pained faces and wildly-billowing hair.

  They were undergoing resistance training to sonic attacks.

  What the fuck?!

  That was something the military and Rangers did! Their Pokemon, sure, that was a great idea, but themselves?!

  …

  Why was Leto inhaling agai-

  —

  —

  The resistance training had been a fucking shock for sure, but after that they began… warmup exercises. All of them, humans included, once again… Nova was running Splash through a series of Moves, but Wiggles was simply relaxing in the shade. Not unexpected, though, she should Evolve in a week, two at the very most.

  Still, why were the exercises so intense? It looked like Ranger training, honestly, the kind of training you put someone through when you thought they might need to run and fight for their life in the wilds, far from help. I was in decent shape, but even as a Journeying trainer I had never exercised like that!

  They were all in amazing shape, though, so it wasn't a huge surprise…

  —

  —

  "Stop!"

  All three girls looked over at me with confused faces, but I was already stomping closer.

  "Why are you fighting?! What if someone gets hur-" Wait, shit, they had a certified Nurse Pokemon. I took a deep breath before releasing it, meeting their amused eyes with my already-tired ones.

  "Okay, you have Grace, but… why?" Seriously, why? The exercises, sure, being in good shape was useful, but punching each other?

  They were all grinning, but it was Alex who responded, a wide, anticipatory grin on her own face.

  "Because it's useful to be able to defend ourselves, or just to have the reflexes necessary to dodge a sneak attack… Plus, it is fun, even if Erin doesn't know how to relax." Erin's grin turned into a scowl, one that was quickly directed at Alex.

  "I know how to relax, I just happen to find punching my idiotic younger sisters to be relaxing." I snorted a little and moved back off. Unusual, sure, but I guess it wasn't that-

  Alex's quick jab at Erin's face was deflected with a forearm, Erin stepping right into Alex's personal space as she did so. The following elbow to Alex's diaphragm looked painful, and Alex's gasping coughs sounded worse, but before Erin could continue, Leaf's hand came down on her shoulder.

  A moment later Erin was somehow flipping over Leaf's head to land on her back with an explosion of air. I could recognize the panicked face immediately, and shuddered a little in sympathy. Even knowing you would be fine didn't help that sense of primal panic when the wind was knocked out of you, that desperate gasping for air with lungs that refused to work.

  I settled back a little to watch the… training, Nova already done and moving to meet me. Not that I was surprised, she essentially had a single Pokemon right now…

  What was next after this insanity?

  —

  —

  "You cannot think that this is normal?!"

  Erin just grinned at me, ignoring the tiny bleeding hole that had been punched into her arm!

  "Nah, these are fine! I got them from Janine's ninjas, they're designed to make easily healable injuries!" I shook my head in frustration.

  "That's not the issue! I mean, it's one of them, actually, but no! The real issue is why are you fighting Pokemon?! Fae!?" Personally, I thought my reaction was reasonable, but Erin just giggled and shook her head.

  "It's not a bad idea to get used to fighting a Pokemon… but mainly it's just fun! You should try it!" I shook my head as the insane girl went right back to fighting two Clefable! At least it was just them… Erin might actually be insane enough to attempt to fight an Alpha Zweilous…

  —

  —

  The girl's personal training had been a surprise, absolutely. The resistance training, combined with the sparring, made them much tougher than the typical first-year trainer, but it had barely caught my interest. My disbelief, absolutely, but I was here to evaluate how they trained Pokemon, not themselves.

  I had even been prepared for Gravity training, considering the multiple Clefable.

  I was not prepared to watch their teams 'spar' with each other inside the Gravity! The extremely powerful Gravity that I could barely sit upright in even on the edges!

  And of course all three were standing there. Just standing, but that was an intense workout right now.

  "You know how easy it is to injure your Pokemon or yourselves in this, obviously…?" They all nodded, of course, but still…

  "You kids are insane. Most people would have been done at the hour mark, and they've already been sparring for an hour, then combined with exercising… This 'sparring' is a bit intense, though." Leaf snorted at that.

  "This is us going kind of light, honestly. Usually for serious training mom will make a huge arena to fight in, filled with pits and fake houses and trees. A running battle through those is never all that fun…" That made me pause, and I squinted my eyes at Erin in suspicion, something she quickly noticed, lifting an eyebrow.

  "What?"

  "You weren't in the military, right?" She chuckled as she shook her head.

  "No, I was never in the military. I'd say I have a decent understanding of war, tactics, and what goes into building and maintaining a military, but just high-school level understanding mixed with wargames. It wasn't hard to look up 'elite' training, though, and I'm not even coming close. I knew people who went through basic training, and compared to that this is a vacation, holes being punched into me included." Now I was really curious…

  "You had guns there, right?" She stiffened momentarily before shrugging.

  "Yeah, and before you ask, no, I didn't own any. I fired one once, and they are awesome, but…" She looked uneasy for a moment before shaking her head. "No, I never had one." I let the silence hang after that one.

  Shit, nice job Clair. You knew she didn't exactly have a super happy time in her previous life… Way to extrapolate before speaking!

  A roar of frustration drew my attention back to one of the battles currently happening. Battles, because this was far beyond sparring… It was Fraxure versus Noivern, and it was easy to see who was currently winning, considering Noivern's radiantly smug face as he attacked from above the Gravity's range. The bloodthirst radiating from Fraxure was… unsettling, honestly. There were plenty of Pokemon like that of course, but for Fraxure? He had embraced his bloodlust in a way I had rarely seen, at least in a trainer's Pokemon. Most either couldn't handle a Pokemon like that, or just refused to.

  I could handle him myself, of course, but honestly? I would refuse to put the effort in for a dragon like that, one that I had no emotional attachments to. Leaf obviously loved the dangerous little guy, though…

  Despite their history together…

  It wasn't common by any means, but it was easy to find reports on trainers who had overestimated themselves or underestimated a seemingly 'cute' or 'friendly' Pokemon. The vast majority wouldn't respond with violence, of course, but there were plenty who still did! Raised from an Egg or not, that was something I could never do. I could never trust someone after something like that, but Leaf… didn't seem to care, somehow!

  It was very poignant now, standing there watching Fraxure rage from something as simple as provocations and laughter… and Air Slash's, okay, maybe a tiny bit rage-worthy…

  Leaf just looked amused, though.

  "Not going to stop them?" She glanced back at me and smiled, a devious light in her eyes.

  Also a flash of pink! It was the third time I'd seen it, and it still startled me each time… a Fairy Master…

  "Nah, they're just poking fun at each other. I can't understand them, but I bet it sounds a lot like 'Can't hit me, stupid ground-dweller!' 'I'll tear your wings off!' 'Only if you can catch me, and you're too slow and landbound!'... Probably." She was blushing now, but that was probably accurate…

  Especially considering Erin's burst of laughter and nods…

  —

  —

  The three insane girls finally finished their 'training session' and we had lunch, and I tried to figure out how I was going to work the next part…

  Ehh, might as well just do it.

  "Let's head back to the pool, girls." I didn't say anything else, but they all looked more than ready for the next part, following me from the kitchen area. Well, the tiny part of the enormous kitchens that was actually cleaned and maintained, there were no more meals for hundreds cooked here daily.

  The pool was calm and serene when we arrived, no dragons in sight… but there were plenty in earshot.

  I released my best friend Jewel, who had thankfully forgiven me for my ten year old naming sense. Not quite at the level of Lance's poor, unnamed Dragonite, she was still big, big and powerful. The girls got ready, but I just smirked at them briefly before turning to Jewel.

  "Mind asking for me?" She grinned and nodded, then threw herself into the air. She rose to the middle of the huge tube, inhaled, and then roared briefly before dropping back, looking satisfied.

  I ignored the questioning voices behind me as I listened for a response…

  "No, trust me, you don't want to know exactly what she said. It was kind of funny, kind of-" I grinned as I saw what had stopped Erin.

  A Dragonite.

  Not exactly a rarity around here, of course. Some were larger, some were smaller, all were Dragonite. There was even a shiny Dragonite, but he wasn't exactly a fan of his special coloring, and rarely decided to be social…

  This Dragonite, however, was slightly different from the rest.

  It was obvious, too, considering she was almost as tall as Leto.

  I smiled widely at our resident Alpha Dragonite. She had never been able to articulate why she became an Alpha, the same as every other asked, but she had also rejected being someone's Pokemon. To her, defending her home, the Aerie, was far more important. She was a kind and gentle giant, and thankfully calm even for a Dragonite…

  The loud groan from Erin was startling, though, and we all turned to find her face red as a Tamato Berry! She managed to mumble out a few words, though.

  "Mom… Mom just realized there might be…" She sighed heavily, and it was a wonder there wasn't steam rising from the girl's face in this cool air.

  "Mom just realized there might be… 'Strong. Worthy.'... Uhh, worthy mates…" Oh, no wonder she was so red… Leto wasn't wrong, of course. There were multiple Alpha's, but only one male, and he was-

  My thoughts were cut off as Leto came out, nodded at the Alpha Dragonite, and began to pull air in with those huge lungs of hers.

  Oh shit! I did not need to go deaf from a dragon booty call!

  Luckily she directed it straight up… for half a minute, and by the end I swore the air in the huge tube was vibrating.

  Then I heard an answering roar from deep within the mountain and sighed in unison with Erin, who looked even more embarrassed now.

  I was just going to have them get beat up a bit, not start a hookup!

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