N was not a trainer. He never intended to become one either, and as such, he didn’t much see the point in Pokemon learning new moves. They were for combat, and battles were such awful things…

  And yet, watching his friends try out their new moves with smiles on their faces made him wonder if there was something more to it all. Some Pokemon “liked” battle, but he didn’t think Marowak fit that description and the Fire type was enjoying it just as much as the Mawile who had gotten some joy out of being in a contest.

  He’d managed to get some heart scales from Lucas at Mimikyu’s request, enough to barter with a strange man in the city for two new moves. How exactly it worked wasn’t something he understood, but Mimikyu had assured him that it was quick, easy, and painless, so he supposed he couldn’t complain too much.

  Green flames erupted from Marowak’s body as he did a forward roll, moving a bit faster than he had been just a moment before. There was a big smile on his face as he utilized his first Fire type move. He followed it up by swinging his bone, the club-like weapon overtaken by an unpleasant shadow as he used Shadow Bone.

  N had never heard of the second attack, but according to Mimikyu it was something of a signature move among Alolan Marowak.

  For the normally shy Pokemon who spent more time hiding behind others than facing things head on to practice his new attacks with such excitement brought a smile to N’s face. It wasn’t exactly the way that he’d like Marowak to gain some confidence in himself, but if this is what it took then N wasn’t going to complain.

  “Sucker Punch!”

  N sighed as Mawile appeared behind Marowak in the blink of an eye, her fist as black as night as she slammed it into the back of his skull. His Shadow Bone fell apart, the energy dissipating as he yelped and fell forward onto his face.

  He turned on her, tears welling up in his eyes. “W-what was that for?!”

  Crossing her arms, she tilted her chin up haughtily as she closed her eyes. “We need to toughen you up! How is anyone supposed to take us seriously if you’re always afraid of everyone!” She paused for a moment, opening just her right eye. “...plus I can only use it if someone else is attacking and all the wild Pokemon have run away already…”

  “B-but why does it have to be me?” Marowak whined.

  Mawile tilted her head. “Who else am I gonna use it on?” She shrugged, gesturing vaguely towards Mimikyu. “He’s gonna knock himself out, he doesn’t need my help.”

  N rolled his eyes. “Mawile, if Marowak doesn’t want to learn to fight, you can’t make him. That would be very mean, wouldn’t it?”

  To his surprise, however, it was Marowak that spoke up in defense of the sneak attack. “No!” Marowak shied back as eyes turned on him again. “U-um… she’s not exactly wrong… It would be nice to be able to… do stuff.”

  Mawile smiled. “That’s the spirit! How about a reward for being brave!”

  “A reward?” Marowak asked, curiosity filling his voice.

  “Yep! Just close your eyes and pucker up!” Mawile teased in a sing-song voice.

  Marowak nodded, closing his eyes. “Just close my eyes and…” he trailed off for a second. “What, what was that last part?”

  The instructions seemed to register too late, however, as Mawile was already laying a kiss between his eyes.

  A Draining Kiss, that was. A pink glow around her giant maw sapped energy from Marowak for a moment as her drool-covered tongue made contact before he jumped back, a high pitched and frightened squeal escaping his mouth before he ran off in tears.

  “I’m not done with you! Come back here!” She called after him.

  N frowned. “Mawile, what did I just tell you? I don’t care if Marowak said it was okay, you can’t just do that sort of thing to him.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t think we’re the ones that need your help.”

  Running off after Marowak, she left him with those words.

  The part that frustrated him is that she was probably right.

  There was a loud CRACK as a tree splintered into a thousand tiny pieces. N turned in time to see the green glow of a Wood Hammer fade away as the move completed. A deep gorge had been cut into the ground despite how hard it was becoming as winter temperatures started to set in.

  In front of the wounded soil was a panting, far too small Mimikyu, barely able to hold his disguise up.

  “Ah… shit.” His shadowy hands faded away beneath the disguise, splinters falling out and onto the ground as he morphed their shape. “That’s gonna need some practice…”

  N grimaced as he approached the fae. “And how exactly do you intend to practice your new moves anymore if such limited use of them leaves you like this?”

  Mimikyu groaned. “I’ll jus’ do it later! I don’ care ‘ow many times ya complain, ya know this was necessary!”

  N let out a huff of air, not sure if he should tear out his hair in frustration or laugh. “What part of this is necessary! You chose two moves that hurt you! Don’t you understand how insane that is?”

  N could feel the way Mimikyu rolled his eyes. “I already told ya. Wood Hammer is necessary cuz Copycat is too inconsistent ‘n’ I need somethin’ ta hit Normal types with! Sure, I’m still pretty useless against a Girafarig or Sawsbuck with Sap Sipper, but two lines is a lot better than an entire type like I ‘ad before!”

  “You can’t use that as an excuse when you had other options!”

  “Like what, Scratch? Yeah, right. That’ll do me a lotta good. If I could learn Play Rough or even Slash I woulda done it, but the guy said that wasn’ possible. I jus’ took what was possible!”

  “I don’t see the problem with Scratch,” N countered, ignoring Mimikyu’s scoff. “At least that one wouldn’t hurt you. And besides, what use will a move like this have when you aren’t in a forest?” N gestured with his hand to the various pieces the uprooted trunk had been left in. “Cities have some trees, but I don’t think they’ll be very happy if you tear them up to fight with.”

  Mimikyu paused for a moment, thinking, then turned slightly, showing off his “tail”. “This is made of wood ya know. Pretty sturdy, too, it should hold up pretty well, I’d think.”

  N chose not to even dignify that with a response.

  “And your other new move? Are you going to practice that one some more as well?”

  He barely heard Mimikyu’s mumbled response, but was able to make out “...eventually…”

  The other move that Mimikyu had learned was the reason the area was devoid of any wild Pokemon at the moment. After seeing what Mimikyu had done to a poor Shellos, they had dragged the little guy with them and run far, far away.

  “And remind me, how many times can you use it before you knock yourself out?”

  “Ah… well….” Mimikyu hemmed and hawed, “I s’pose I don’ really know ‘n’ won’t ‘till I try it, but uh… two or three, I guess…”

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  N had seen the move Curse used before. It wasn’t that uncommon of a technique. A Pokemon traded a bit of their speed for more power and bulk on the physical side of things, or at least that was his basic understanding of it.

  He had never seen a Ghost type use it before, and apparently that was for good reason.

  Rather than a minor adjustment in physical ability, the move had an entirely different effect when used by a Ghost type. N had watched Mimikyu use the move. Seen the deathly pallor that crossed the Shellos’ face. Seen the way that the sickly Ghost type energy had infused itself into the Water type’s body. Seen the way that the Shellos had flinched at the first wracking of pain from the curse placed on it.

  He hadn’t noticed the toll that Curse had on Mimikyu until his friend groaned, suddenly at half his usual size and barely keeping himself upright.

  “So, if we’re being realistic, it’s a move that you can only use once.”

  “If I’m not healin’ at all!” Mimikyu defended. “I’m pretty sure I can learn a drainin’ move or two, jus’ like Mawile did with Drainin’ Kiss! Like uh… Drain Punch, I think? Part of me wants ta say Leech Life as well, but I ain’ too sure on that one…”

  “And you chose to learn Curse over one of those?”

  “Well, those are TMs, I think, so couldn’ ‘xactly get ‘em from that move tutor… but once I do get my hands on one of ‘em, then I’ll be able ta use my new moves more often! High damage moves havin’ some sort of recoil ain’ exactly uncommon, ya know. Flare Blitz? Wave Crash? They’re pretty popular moves when it comes ta battle!”

  N had never heard of Wave Crash, but he got the jist of it. Still, though, he didn’t understand the reasoning.

  Mimikyu had been travelling with him for a good long while now. They’d been together at pretty much all times since running into each other back in Lostlorn Forest.

  N knew that Mimikyu wasn’t a “battle” Pokemon. He didn’t seem to have any interest in participating in Gym battles. Had yet to put himself into a contest. Didn’t challenge random wild Pokemon to battles unless it was to test out new moves, apparently.

  “What exactly are you planning on doing where you need to focus on doing that sort of damage above all else, Mimikyu?”

  Mimikyu was quiet for a moment, and in the distance N could hear Mawile shouting some more, but he paid no attention to that.

  “Given what we’re likely ta come up against in the League, somethin’ like Play Rough really would’ve been better than Wood Hammer. Curse, though… it’s one of jus’ a few moves where the diff’rence in strength between you ‘n’ yer opponent don’t matter at all. Half of yer health for a quarter of theirs every turn, no matter what.”

  N almost wanted to interrupt and ask what Mimikyu meant by “turn”, but he kept silent, fearing that he would make Mimikyu clam up again.

  “Back in Alamos…” The frustration was clear in Mimikyu’s voice, “those fuckers jus’ ignored me. ‘N’ then Giratina went ‘n’ got all stupid ‘n’ vague about my role or whatever…”

  Ignored…? N’s eyes widened as he started to realize just what Mimikyu was suggesting.

  “I’d like ta see ‘em play their games with me when I put ‘em on a timer like Curse.”

  “...are you insane?”

  Would such an idea even work? Legends were… well, they were Legends! He and Plasma had been seeking the power of the Dragon for a reason. They were above all other Pokemon in terms of raw power. A single one assisting your goals would require all others to bend the knee.

  The idea that any random Ghost type could use Curse and take one down… well, frankly, it just didn’t seem possible. He could see the logic that Mimikyu was using, but surely the move would just fail to take hold on them, wouldn’t it? Though a failure might not do much to quell the anger of a Legend who realizes what you had just tried to do…

  “I ain’ insane,” Mimikyu denied. “Ya heard what Giratina told us. I got dragged into some stupidity cuz these morons got some stupid quest or somethin’ they want me to do. I don’ care about that. I jus’ want things ta go back ta how they were before all this.”

  N thought on that for a moment.

  “...when you were human, you mean?”

  “Yes? Obviously?”

  N sighed.

  So Mimikyu had chosen two self-destructive moves as a result of that delusion. That was just perfect, wasn’t it?

  N really needed to do something about that mess. If it kept on like this, then Mimikyu may very well end up trying to Curse Giratina or something in a desperate attempt to “return to being human”. An impossibility. Pokemon were Pokemon, and humans were humans. One was a poor, abused group, and the other their abusers.

  Were there a handful of exceptions to this rule? Perhaps. Ash seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, and Dawn had shown promise as well. And yes, not all Pokemon were particularly good to each other. Survival out in the wilds was not always a pretty thing.

  But a few exceptions to what he’d once thought a hard rule were hardly the same thing as jumping to an insane theory like Mimikyu having once been human.

  Really, how would that even work? Did Mimikyu think that if he pissed off the right Legend just right that they’d somehow magically turn him into a human? In N’s eyes, the more likely outcome would be a very unpleasant trip to the Pokemon Center, and that was if they were lucky.

  As strange as it was to think, N was now… attached to Mimikyu, in some sort of way that he found hard to express. He’d grown used to the fae’s presence on his shoulder. Grown used to hearing the strange accent.

  Having to watch a Legend get retribution after a Curse attempt was not something that N wanted. Not to anyone, but especially one of his closest friends.

  …if only he knew the first thing about how to get rid of Mimikyu’s delusion.

  N sighed.

  He had time to figure something out.

  When N and the Pokemon returned to Pastoria proper, they found that the streets were much busier than when they had left. People were carrying things with the help of their Pokemon, all of them heading towards the Great Marsh.

  N hummed. “I wonder what’s going on.”

  “Looks like they’re preparing for a festival ta me,” Mimikyu commented from his spot on N’s shoulder. “I think Pastoria has some sorta Croagunk themed thing? I don’ remember any of the details, though.”

  “It seems like they’re going into the marsh, though. That seems like a… questionable place to hold a festival.” Even if you ignored the fact that they’d be intruding on the home of those Pokemon, the place being such a muck filled mess would hardly be conducive for a gathering of so many people.

  “Well if it’s a Croagunk festival then you have to go where the Croagunk are, right?” Mawile pointed out from beside him.

  She had a point, even if it seemed odd to N.

  It seemed like they were in the early stages of getting it all together, however, and N had a feeling they wouldn’t be sticking around Pastoria long enough to experience the real thing. They’d already been in the city for longer than they had stayed in most places, and he didn’t think it crazy to assume that everyone would be wanting to move on soon, upcoming festival or not.

  His theory was proven correct rather quickly when they made their way to their room in the Pokemon Center to find Lucas pouring over his map.

  “Figuring out our next stop?” N asked.

  Lucas nodded, flipping the map around and pointing to Snowpoint.

  N blinked.

  “Um… Lucas… You do realize that Snowpoint is on the opposite end of the Sinnoh Region from our current location, correct? I said our next stop.”

  A Shadow, leaning against the far wall of the room, spoke up. “We’re going to have to do some backtracking. With the way that Sinnoh is laid out, our choices are to go through Hearthome or Veilstone again if we don’t want to cross over mountains and make the trip longer for no real reason. If our ultimate destination is Snowpoint there’s no escaping the fact that we’ll have to go through the mountain tunnels that divide the region, but personally I’d recommend only entering west of Celestic. Saves us a lot of wandering in the dark and tripping over Geodude.”

  “Are we supposed to know where these places are?” Marowak whispered to Mawile, who responded with a “Shush!”

  N was a bit confused himself, however. “Celestic… was that on the map?”

  “It’s a small place north of Hearthome,” Mimikyu explained. “Not ‘xactly notable for much other than bein’ where Cynthia is from ‘n’ bein’ older than dirt.”

  Where Cynthia was from? That definitely sounded like another run in with her waiting to happen. He couldn’t wait to piss her off yet again by looking at her parents the wrong way or something equally stupid.

  “Bzzrt,” Rotom buzzed from the television. “Rotom thinks you are forgetting something important. We cannot get to Celestic with those Psyduck blocking the path. Going through the tunnels is our only option.”

  In response to that objection, Lucas held a small bag of… pills?

  “...how could you have possibly gotten your hands on Cianwood’s secret medicine?” Rotom asked, incredulous. “Rotom knows you have been in or around Pastoria this entire time!”

  Mimikyu hummed. “I’m guessin’ that Cynthia paid ‘im a visit when she came ta deal with the Galactic situation in the Great Marsh.”

  “Cynthia seems quite fond of Lucas for reasons I’ve yet to glean.”

  A harsh static filled the air as Rotom realized that Lucas’ Porygon was in the room with them.

  “Rotom doesn’t trust you!”

  “What reason would I have to lie? If I presented something other than the truth, then Lucas could easily make it known to you all. I really do not see why there is a need for such animosity. I hold no ill will towards you.”

  “You know exactly why Rotom doesn’t trust you!”

  “I can assure you that my upgrade into a Porygon2 has negated any ill effects and/or malware present within my code.”

  On and on the bickering went, and N couldn’t think of anything to do but accept that they were going to have to deal with this for the foreseeable future.

  Hopefully Rotom would grow tired of the paranoia at some point.

  Given Mimikyu’s problems, I couldn’t have him pass by a move tutor and just not learn anything!

  And before anyone says anything, yes, I am aware of what I’ve done and that it doesn’t work that way in game. No, I will not clarify.

  As always, feedback is appreciated. (If you’re actually looking for a response, discord is the place to be)