Hard Enough - Chapter 119 - Out Cold (Patreon)

“Both trainers are only allowed to use three pokemon! I can’t let this get too heated!” Lorelei said from where she stood between us.

Pryce sniffed and opened his coat, ignoring the freezing temperature and showing off his pokemon belt. I reached straight for the greatball on my necklace. I knew how this had to go. I had to win but do so in a way that taught him a lesson. My choice gave Pryce pause, and he switched his choice for a pokemon further back along his belt.

“Titan! GO!” I brought forth my starter and he emerged onto the frozen clearing with a snort. He flexed his claws slightly and tested his footing. His eyes swept the area, looking for his opponent.

“Go Dewgong!” ordered Pryce, his pokemon appearing and barking as only a seal can at my pokemon. Titan snorted and the Dewgong glowered.

Water-Ice versus Darkness-Rock. I clicked my tongue, and Titan shifted to keep Dewgong in his sight while giving me some attention. I tapped my chest and then pointed at him. Titan nodded, repositioning himself so he was fully facing forward and blocking sight of me from Pryce.

He wanted to deny the importance of a bond? I’d grind it into his face.

I called up my energy, and instead of there being just a freezing plain with chilling winds, there was now a dark mountain. A mountain that loomed over the landscape.

Shadows crept around Titan’s eyes and he rolled his shoulders.

Lorelei stiffened at the feel of the energy that was pulsating out of us. It had taken a lot of work to get the balance right, and the empowerment was in truth, only a five percent boost.

Oddly enough, the work that I had been doing with Jormungandr had made it easier of late to call up my energy and link it to Titan’s to boost him. It also made us far more in tune with each other.

It’d probably be nothing compared to the power that would come from mega evolutions, Gigantimax, or Z moves that would be found in the future, but five percent at Titan’s level of strength wasn’t something that could be ignored.

“Begin!” Lorelei called.

“Ice Beam!” barked Pryce.

Without saying a word, I knew what Titan wanted to do, and I agreed with his assessment. Titan dove into the frozen earth, and I walked to the side, allowing the attack to harmlessly pass me by. I felt the chill, but what was a chill to a mountain?

It was merely part of it. All mountains grow cold.

Cracks formed underneath Dewgong, announcing that Titan had already gotten underneath his foe. “Aqua Tail up into the air!” ordered Pryce, making his pokemon leap into the air.

Titan broke through the ground a moment later in pursuit, and his jaws snapped shut just behind the tail that Dewgong had to tuck into itself.

As gravity asserted itself I grunted out, “DP.”

Titan exploded with dark energy that slammed into Dewgong and sent it soaring up again as the hit connected.

Titan landed and caused a shockwave. He stood next to the broken earth of his tunnel he’d dug out of and flexed his claws into the ground. His eyes tracked his opponent as it fell slightly out of sync with himself.

Dewgong plummeted to the ground, only for Pryce to click his tongue. “Aqua tail again; control yourself!” Dewgong’s tail began to glow blue, and it swung itself around as though to slam into Titan.

“Protect,” I said carefully, making a shell of hexagonal energy build up around my pokemon and stopping the hit.

Dewgong’s Aqua Tail slammed into it but it didn’t break through. This forced Dewgong’s landing to be slightly off and it sprawled when it hit the ground instead of using its attack to bleed off momentum.

“Titan grapple and throw it up again!” I said, causing my pokemon to break the defensive shell and grab the other pokemon before spinning and throwing the pokemon up into the air. Dewgong hurtled away. “Gooooong!” It cried before slamming into a tree.

“Perish Song!” Pryce ordered as his pokemon struggled to rise and fight any more.

“Stone Edge!” I ordered making my pokemon launch stone pillars. Dewgong opened its mouth only to take a barrage of boulders that saw him crumpling.

“Dewgong is unable to battle!” Lorelei announced it neutrally, but most of her attention was turned to her grandfather, observing how he would react. He merely sniffed and returned his pokemon.

“Go Lapras!” he said for his second pokemon. I smiled. A Lapras was a good choice, it was also something that Titan had a lot of experience fighting against.

“Hail!” ordered the older man as his pokemon whipped up a torrent of ice. I hummed in thought. A field effect, eh? Something that was much more effective in this environment. Titan’s usual impact on a field was already much slower, but by cracking the frozen field, we had a much better chance of calling up rock more easily as well as getting through the earth with moves like Dig.

“Stone Edge,” I ordered, causing boulders to once again be ripped up from the ground and be hurled at his foe. Lapras took it much more stoically, only turning himself so his shell took most of the hit while growling in annoyance.

“Blizzard!” ordered Pryce, his pokemon then exhaled even more frozen air from its maw. I knew the frozen air wasn't the real threat, however, and instead flicked a glance up to see where the true threat would come from.

“Incoming!” I called to Titan.

Titan understood what I meant without having to look and threw himself into the ground burrowing down and out of danger by digging.

“Surf,” Pryce said sternly as his pokemon’s Blizzard slammed into the ground ineffectively. “Follow up with Ice Beam,” he said, causing a wave to form.

I huffed, a classic one-two of moves that even I preferred with my pokemon.

Titan emerged from his earthen voyage to a greatly changed battlefield. There were great spikes of ice embedded into the ground, and hail fell, causing Titan to bristle in annoyance. The frozen wave also changed the field, with elevation and an icy barrier now in play.

“Return Lapras,” Pryce said, surprising me with his choice to return his pokemon instead of keeping it out. “Go Sneasel,” he said.

I tilted my head as a much smaller pokemon took to the field. Pryce chuckled at my look of confusion. “I’m aware of how you like to control the battlefield Brock, I have my own methods of control. Sneasel use Quick Attack!”

His pokemon blurred forward and slashed across Titan’s flank faster than either of us could react. The pokemon then darted away and back into the spikes of ice that now looked like mirrors. Shapes flickered across a number of them, and I understood now just how Pryce had set the field up to favour himself.

“Hmmm impressive,” I said happy to compliment him for his set up.

“Hone Claws, into Fury Swipes. Make him feel the bite of winter!” Pryce said firmly.

“Heh,” I said knowing the next attack would be coming a bit slower. “Stone Edge Encirclement,” I ordered Titan, making him stop glancing about and instead drop and throw a punch into the ground that caused the earth to break around him and for spears of stone to erupt like a star fortress.

Sneasel just so happened to be mid-leap when the spears caught him in the chest and blew him backwards.

“On your feet, Sneasel! You’re better than this!” barked Pryce. Sneasel kipped up to his feet and readied his claws.

“You’ve got speed, but you don’t have everything sorted out Pryce. Titan, go under the frozen wave and use DP hard again!” I ordered, making my pokemon throw himself backwards and into the earth.

“Hone Claws again Sneasel. We’ll get our chance in a moment.” Pryce said haughtily.

“No, you won’t,” I said firmly as Titan launched himself into the base of the wave before exploding it with a Dark Pulse. The ice wave blew out, and ice rained down across the field. Titan stoically endured it with a snort, while Sneasel wasn’t so lucky, the icy blocks rained down on him.

“Fury Claw!” barked Pryce making the pokemon slash his way through the threat. Sneasel’s claws flashed and slabs of ice became small ice cubes as it swept its claws back and forth. It was an impressive display of control, power, and speed.

“Stone Edge,” I said not willing to ignore an opportunity in the face of an impressive showing.

“Quick Attack!” demanded Pryce.

Instead of throwing itself into action, Sneasel flinched and turned towards the oncoming boulder. The moment of hesitation caused it to be clipped by a falling ice block before being slammed into by Titan’s attack.

The Stone Edge was more than strong enough to flatten it.

“Sneasel is unable to battle!” Lorelei said.

Pryce grimaced as he withdrew his pokemon. He scowled across at my pokemon as Titan snorted as more hail tinkled down onto him.

“You don’t trust your pokemon,” I called out to him as he reached for his Lapras’ pokeball.

“You merely have a stronger pokemon where mine didn’t follow orders.”

“Is that what you think it is? Seems like Sneasel didn’t trust you. Being a pokemon trainer is a two way street after all,” I said as his Lapras emerged. Lapras locked eyes with Titan and my pokemon shook his head as snarled as Lapras snapped its beak in a threat display.

“Titan! Advance! Trust me!”

“Tyran! Tar!” Titan barked as he moved forward.

“How quaint!” Pryce snorted. “Hydro Pump!” His pokemon spat a huge ball of water straight at titan

“Left step!” I shouted straight away. Titan stepped to the side without even a hint of hesitation. He did so fast enough that the Hyro Pump whiffed past him and slammed into the landscape.

“Hydro Pump again!” snarled Pryce as he leaned forward.

“Jump right!” I barked as I strained my eyes to watch Lapras. Titan wasn't the only one that was familiar with fighting a Lapras. I was more than familiar with a Lapras’ tells. The smallest of movements with the Lapras’ neck would announce where it was going to aim with each blast.

“Jump back!” “Hop left!” “Hold!” I said as Lapras tried to lead the shot and held its Hydro Pump to nail Titan after he moved only for Titan to not move and the attack to be held.

Titan locked eyes with Lapras. In Lapras’ maw a large ball of water hovered, holding the threat, ready to be fired off.

A cold wind blew through the field, with Titan now only ten metres away from Lapras. In pokemon terms, it was a paltry distance. I shouldn’t have been able to advance my pokemon this close and he should have been nailed by a super-effective move, but that hadn’t happened once.

“Kneel down,” I said. Titan knelt.

Lapras was startled and nearly lost control of its attack, only to regroup and lock on to the Titan, who was now seemingly out of position.

“Now Lapras! Finish it!” ordered Pryce.

A large pokemon kneeling after all should have been a terrible position for it. It all came down to how Titan had knelt. This was not the kneeling of a defeated warrior to another. This was a sprinter’s kneel. He had his claws dug into the ground and his muscles clenched in readiness. He knew what would come next and was ready for me to give the order.

“Titan! GO!” I shouted.

Titan accelerated forward, the Hydro Pump once more missing as it sailed over his head as he stayed low, pumping his arms and building up power with his headlong sprint. Lapras had just long enough to realise it had missed before Titan slammed into it with a Giga Impact that ended the match.

Lapras was thrown back and landed on the ground out cold. Pryce stared at his downed pokemon before looking at Titan and I. I walked up and began spraying potion onto him with a handy towel to spread the medicine into faint scratches he had across his body.

“You did great buddy! I knew you could do it!” I said.

“Ty!” he roared happily, ignoring the sting as I rubbed his body over. “Tar!”

Pryce approached after returning his pokemon. “You have a strong pokemon.”

“A strong pokemon, that I believe in,” I said happily. Titan crooned and then leaned down and nuzzled me. “And he believes in me.”

I glanced towards Pryce. “There’s no way I could pull of those moves otherwise. I think you’ve forgotten that with how hurt you are at Piloswine’s loss.”

Pryce face began to harden and turn frigid only for me to step into his personal space and put a hand on his shoulder. I locked eyes with him and stared right into him. “It hurts, and now you try to stop the hurt by blocking off those that would get close but your lost pokemon might not be dead. Keep looking. Find out what happened,” I urged.

“It’s not like other losses,” he said, the words coming out with a painful rasp.

I squeezed his shoulder firmly. “Allow yourself to have a little hope.”

Pryce stepped back and stared at me, visibly confused at how this had turned out. I’d beaten him but instead of looking down on him,  I was trying to help him. I smiled trying to convey that it wasn’t him I was looking down on, but his attitude. He looked away and stared into the forest, his jaw working.

When he spoke, the words had to be dragged out of him. “It’s not that easy.”

“No, it’s not. But it’s not like you have to scour every mountain and crevice alone.” I gestured to Lorelei. “Did you do it with others or just by yourself? Some of the best things pokemon can teach us is to be able to lean on other people. We’re better if we can lean into our bonds. Not weaker.”

Pryce worked his jaw and took a shuddering breath. I considered saying something else only to discard the idea. Instead, we stood there, Pryce, Lorelei, Titan and I, waiting for Pryce to react.

Pryce breathed in before exhaling loudly. “Feh!” he snorted in annoyance and stormed off.

I slumped. I’d beaten him but I hadn’t been able to reach him with the message he needed. I might have even— Pryce paused at the edge of the clearing and looked back at me in consideration.

His look lingered for a long moment, and I stared back at him trying to convey that he needed to believe. That it would all work out for him. His mouth twitched and his head spasmed into a nod, then he marched away.

I exhaled and felt all the tension bleed away. Titan leaned down and nudged me while crooning softly. “Great job buddy, you did great.” I rubbed him a bit and he leaned into the scratches.

When I was done, I realsied I’d inadvertently been ignoring Lorelei. “Sorry about that Lorel—”

Lorelei was pinching the bridge of her nose. She took a long breath before exhaling it. She held up a hand to stop me talking and then looked after where her grandfather had been. Then she growled and clenched her fingers into hooks. She raked them through the air in his general direction. “Of all the stupid methods of making him see my point! I just needed to fight him?!”

“Well,” I said as delicately as I could. “I wouldn’t say, just fight him.”

Lorelei leveled a murderous look at me. “Do you have any idea how many methods I have used to try and help him?”

“...no?” I said sharing a look with Titan who took a step back and behind me,

“Urgh!” she said put her hands to her face and screamed in annoyance. Titan and I shared a look. This… this was awkward.

She straightened up and adjusted her clothes. “I apologise for that Brock but this was just…” She shook her head again. “I just can’t believe that worked.” She rubbed her forehead. “Thank you for headbutting him in that display of male pride, or whatever you call that. It seemed to get through to him.”

I raised a finger to correct her. That hadn’t been about pride… I rethought it after a second and decided to just take the win for what it was. “Sure, no problem.” I rubbed the back of my head. “If you wanted to help I think its best to look around for herbs and such. Were there any herbs or such that might have helped Pryce with his injury?”

Lorelei chewed her lip. “There’s an old tale about them. The golden dew leaf herb is… well, its rare beyond belief, but it has wonderful regenerative properties.” Lorelei looked away from me. “Grandfather used to read me a story about it all the time when I was small… Piloswine might have gotten it into his head to look for it.” She chewed her thumb. “It’s a place to start looking certainly.”

She considered me. “Why do you think Ancient Power would work for a Piloswine to evolve further?”

I tilted my head. “Ancient Power is an interesting move as it sort of creates a link for pokemon to use with their genetic heritage. For some pokemon this opens up their evolutionary pathways. I’ve noticed that quite a number of my Ancient pokemon have this move which is where I got the hint. So far, it has only been proven to work with Tangela and Yanma.”

“Yanma?”

“It evolves into a pokemon known as Yanmega, bug-flying still, but it gains a lot from the evolution.”

Lorelei assessed me. “Interesting, I will have to test it with a Piloswine myself.” She glanced toward where her grandfather had marched off. “I will need to go after him though.” She pointed to the cave. “We’ll have the fossils extracted and escorted to your laboratory in Pewter. From there we will have a fifty-fifty spilt of any pokemon that are created. Is that acceptable?”

“I can accept that,” I said while eying the sinking sun. “I made a reservation in a lodge for tonight.”

Lorelei nodded. “Sorry, I hadn’t considered how grandfather was going to be… In hindsight I should have made those arrangements. We’ve kept you longer than we meant to.”

I shrugged. “It is a nice change of scenery.” I gestured back to town. “Shall we?”

Lorelei led the way back into town. The walk was relaxing, with a few more experienced trainers staring at Titan as he walked along at my side. Then they noticed myself and Lorelei. Only one trainer dared to step forward and offer a challenge, which Titan and I ignored. Lorelei though handed him a business card. “Tomorrow at eight o’clock I have a space in my schedule. If this doesn’t suit you I have no other times to offer you.”

The young man blushed and shook his head. “No! No this is great! I even have your number! I’ll see you there!” He then ran off to his friends.

I hummed and watched him start bragging to a group of friends. “So you don’t mind trainers like that calling you?”

“I have a secretary that screens my calls, actually.”

I snorted as the man crowed about getting Lorelei’s number. "Obviously, that’s not something well known?”

“Men have to be told,” she said.

I nodded before stopping to consider that. Men have to be told? What does that… I considered that before tilting my head and inspecting her. “So women—” she merely raised a brow as if to say, obviously.

I nodded. Completely understanding now. So women would instantly understand that she’d have a secretary for such things? Made sense.

I rubbed my chin. Was this a Girl code thing?

I ended up leaving Lorelei for my lodgings which was a large cabin that allowed for pokemon to be out in the room. Specifically pokemon that were of the large variety.

I released the other seven pokemon I’d brought with me, and they emerged happily. Bertha dragged Titan over to the fireplace, where they sat and enjoyed themselves. Don took to the rafters, where he wrapped his wings around himself. Jormungandr stretched out, allowing Gawain, and my Clefairy to start playing a game that saw them hopping back and forth over him with Clefairy furiously trying to keep up. Sanchez moved to a window seat to take in the mountain landscape, and Zephyr landed on the back of the chair to relax.

I glanced over at the bookcases and found them full of time wasters such as Capitalism Rage, Lapras Spotter, a deck of cards, and Ekans and Ladders. Considering how Bertha had reacted at losing the last game of go fish, I decided to avoid the entire issue and instead selected my Guardian holopad for some reading.

I was curious if pokemon such as Yveltal or Xerneas had ever been sighted in Kanto or Johto. They must have been if Flint had found an Alakazite near Cerulean like that. Or perhaps I was misremembering how they formed. There obviously had to be a certain density of pokemon around to trigger the formation of a specific type of Mega stone. So perhaps that could be a starting point?

I flicked to a map and started marking off points of interest. It was little surprise to me that areas such as Charific valley for Charizard, the island somewhere near Cinnabar that had all the squirtle. Mt Silver, for Tyranitar and Onix. Lavender Town for Gengar. Viridian forest for Beedrill,  and then I became stuck as I considered other locations. Perhaps the slowpoke caves?

What about a location that had lots of Gyrados? Lake Rage perhaps? I considered my map and noticed that there were a lot of potential sites close to, or around Pewter City. Was that a coincidence or due to the movements of a Legendary through the area? I tapped the point that my diamond cave was. If things played out like I hoped… that number might grow… but finding Diancite would be a tall ask.

I turned my attention to looking through historical records and old folks tales for any scrap of information, but I couldn’t find anything there.

I finished the night with a lot of questions and a map of potential sites to check for. My pokemon had dinner with me and were very upbeat when I regaled them with the tale of how Titan had soloed three of Pryce’s pokemon.

“GO! GO! LEM!” Sanchez cheered when I finished narrating how Titan had Giga Impacted straight into Lapras.

“Fairy! Cle!” cheered my smallest pokemon from close to Titan’s foot. Bertha nudged him, and he laughed happily.

In the morning, I had them up and exercising in a different environment. Don and Zephyr struggled with the colder air not allowing them to ride thermals with downdrafts sweeping in from the mountains. Sanchez, as ever, had a blast rolling around in the snow.

When we wrapped things up and I had returned my pokemon a timid little girl approached with a quivering snowrunt at her side. The little pokemon must have had a clue how strong the pokemon I’d had out throwing snowballs at each other were. “Hey you! Wanna fight?” she said while jutting out her chin.

I inspected her. She was young, too young to be an official trainer and her clothes were a little patched in places indicating she wasn’t well off.

I pointed at her. “This is not a Gym challenge you realise?”

She blinked. “Gym Challenge? You’re too young to be Pryce though?” she squinted at me.

I tilted my head. “Huh, you didn’t watch my match against Lance?”

“We don’t… have a television. I heard about a match against Lance where he fought Gym Leader…” she stared at me as she made the connection. “Oh my gosh! I had no idea! I’m sorry!”

I waved it off. “It’s fine. I’m not in Pewter right now, obviously, so I shouldn’t expect people to recognise me. Your Snowrunt against my Clefairy?”

“I saw that! Why do you have a Clefairy!? You’re a boy!” she declared fiercely.

“Clefairy are pokemon that can fill a specific niche in my team. He’s going to be a powerful addition.” I released my pokemon. “First match Clefairy!”

“Cle!” he said fiercely.

“... really? But he’s pink? That’s a girl’s colour?” she said, still stuck on that one point.

“I don’t mind,” I said honestly as Clefairy bristled. Snowrunt strutted out feeling much more confident.

“Snowrunt use Double Team!”

“Evade the attacks coming in Clefairy, use your ears and keep your eyes on the ground not the after images!” I said clearly.

“Headbutt!” said the girl and her pokemon responded well shooting forward and trying to smash itself into mine, only for Clefairy to catch sight of the attack and dodge.

“Hold for now Clefairy we’re playing a waiting game!” I said to keep him calm. I also didn’t want to just smack her down. Clefairy might be my weakest pokemon, but he still trained with me and my Elite team.

“Ice Shard!” the girl cried out.

“Drop down and skate to your left!” I ordered, my pokemon paused for a half second before following through. He just evaded the attacks and I hummed. Not bad, we’d have to work on that.

“Now Sing,” I ordered, happy to wrap this up. Clefairy opened his mouth and sang his song causing Snowrunt to fall asleep.

“Now Pound,” I said causing Clefiary to shoot forward and punch out the other pokemon. Snowrunt got up groggily and stumbled around.

“Snowrunt!” the girl cried out before putting herself in front of her pokemon. “No more! I forfeit!”

I nodded. “Good call, and well fought. You’re a good trainer.”

“I still lost though…” she said as she hugged her slightly bruised and depressed pokemon to her chest.

“Eh, did you learn anything from our match? That’s sometimes worth more than any money you lose.” I then held up a hand to stop her reaching into her pouch. “Not that I want payment. Clefairy is my weakest personal pokemon but he’s still strong.”

“Cle!” said my little puffball proudly. The girl giggled.

“Consider how accurate your moves are and see if you can tighten them up some. You have a good bond with your pokemon but it can get better. Building that trust can take a while but it pays out big when you make it work.” I knelt down and rubbed Clefairy’s head. “Isn’t that right buddy?”

He shot the girl a thumbs up and she giggled.

“See? Keep it up though. I think you have some real promise!”

The girl opened her mouth only for a much sterner voice to cut her off. “Indeed you do young lady.” I looked up and found Pryce walking towards us. He nodded to me and then looked back at the girl. “Come around the gym later, I’d be interested in what you and your pokemon have been doing… I might have some pointers for you but Gym Leader Brock’s advice is sound.”

I shot him an unimpressed look. Sound was certainly damning me with faint praise, not that Pryce cared as the girl vowed that she would be darting away. Pryce then turned to me.

“I came to… ask you to forgive my rather poor showing with manners and pokemon battle yesterday. It was unbecoming.”

“Hmmm, that so?” I said, amused that he hadn’t actually said he was sorry, merely that I should forgive him. Him and Agatha were certainly cut from the same cloth. Or at least the same period of cloth.

“Yes… and thank you for showing me what I’ve been missing. You were right that I didn’t bring my best against Lance. I couldn’t at the time and that shows. I am no longer Champion for good reason.”

I merely shrugged. “Well, yeah. At our level not having good bonds with your pokemon is a terrible drawback; it’s only obvious that it played out like it did.”

“Indeed. I look forward to what our partnership brings… and while it is not something I truly put faith in… I will continue to look for my starter. Perhaps you’re right and he is merely lost and not… something else.” He didn’t meet my gaze and instead look into the distance where the girl and her Snowrunt were skipping down the pathway.

“I know he’s not. No way a pokemon that spent that long with you just gave up on you. Not with the bond you two must have had.”

“Indeed,” he said before nodding his head. “I… won’t keep you… and thank you,” he said before turning and marching away quickly.

I snorted. “Oh yeah, him and Agatha are a real pair,” I said to myself. I double checked my bags and sent a message to Lorelei announcing my departure.

I withdrew Zephyr’s pokeball and released him. “Let’s go Zephyr! To Mt Silver!” He leapt upwards and soon we were underway heading east.

Don once more came out when we got close so he could ward off any others. We made for a specific mountain but as we came in I caught sight of a number of Fearow flying about. “Hmmm seems like a migration?” I said to Zephyr.

He eyed the pokemon and hooted in annoyance while Don snarled in challenge. “Easy there Don. You can take them but there’s enough there to give you some trouble. Ten of them I’d back you, twenty or more? That makes it a bit dicier.”

He screeched in rage but stayed close as we landed. I then quickly returned him and released Titan. He emerged, inspected the clearing we were in and roared to announce himself. Zephyr hooted and hopped around a little as various other pokemon called back only for an equally loud roar to announce that the Empress had heard us.

It only took five minutes for her to emerge from the trees. She locked eyes with Titan and once more they tentatively inspected each other. Then Titan stood taller and barked something happily. Empress reared back in surprise before turning to me. I reached out with Yolanda’s gift. Within the frame Yolanda and Terra smiled back happily with a collage of different pictures and situations.

The empress inspected it for a bit before taking it in her claws only for the glass to start to crack. She handed it back to me and growled at… herself? Ah, she was annoyed; she was too strong with her claws.

She considered me and then the photo for a moment before tossing her head and indicating the way she’d come from. “Tar!” Tyranitar!” she barked before moving away.

Titan stiffened only to then turn and indicate that we should follow her. I returned Zephyr and quickly jogged along as we moved through the trees to another part of the mountain. We came down the side a few hundred metres before we reached a slope that cut back into itself to reveal a hidden cave that Empress leaned down to enter. Titan followed her and I brought up the rear after giving the area a look over.

No pokemon were present. The only pokemon I could see where the flock of Fearow heading north. I turned back and found the cave itself to be oddly smooth along the edges. In fact, the entire structure struck me as odd with how soft it was. Perhaps the constant usage by Empress had seen the cave walls worn down?

I moved after the pokemon, moving down a slight slope and having to channel darkness to my eyes as we moved further into the darkness. When it leveled out I came upnon a fairly large cavern that had a grove where Empress had formed a nest of softs. Soft earth had been piled around a number of eggs with a large groove around them.

Empress lay in the recess and wrapped herself around her eggs. I noticed she did so with extreme care. I noticed a few of the egss had cracks in them. Something that struck me as very, very odd. Most eggs were stronger than that. I stared at the scene.

She had to be slow and careful lest she hurt her own children. Perhaps she hadn’t simply gifted Titan and Terra off. What if she was gifting them to us because she had difficulty raising her own brood of eggs? I had never thought to ask the Rangers how many hatchlings she had. I’d never thought… Empress glanced over her eggs and hesitantly laid the tip of a claw on one. When she grimaced it was clear to me, she must have trouble keeping them warm.

I reached into my bag and pulled a stone that Flint had idly given me a while back. It radiated warmth but wasn’t actually a fire stone. It was merely a rock that held and radiated heat. I presented it to Empress and she sniffed it before her eyes widened in surprise. I gestured to the nest and she considered me, scrutinising me for a long while before looking to Titan who nodded.

She inclined her head and I nodded back.

Slowly, oh so slowly I reached over her tail and laid the heat stone in the middle of the clutch where it could keep the sand warm. I withdrew my hand and she leaned in. She sniffed her eggs. Long deep sniffs of interest before she dug a claw into the sand. She smiled at me then and I chuckled in relief.

I put the picture of Yolanda against the wall where she could see it and stepped away. The nest and picture made the place look a little homey. Especially with the lines and shapes that ran across the walls.

I blinked. “Hang on what’s on the walls?” I said as I looked at them properly. Dark vision was allowing me to see them, but the colours weren’t as clear, so I raised up my pokenav and turned on the torch.

A tapestry of cave art unfolded before me.

It depicted a scene of people and pokemon cowering at the base of a mountain. People with Ursaring, Mightyena, and even Tyranitar amongst their numbers.

All cowered in the face of the pokemon atop the mountain.

At the peak of the mountain, in faded golds and reds a bird of fire loomed huge over the artwork. It glared down at all it looked upon. And from the skies fire rained down with many a man and pokemon burning in the face of true power.

This was an artwork of Moltres ruling the Mt Silver region.

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A.N. Thanks to all my Patreons.

This is currently unbeta’d. Sorry for any errors that seem obvious!