The rest of the week was full of training up various foundational things for both Ionia and Oxide. For her, I was able to ask Rain for some help with her electrical storage training by having her train alongside her Galvantula. Who was able to perform the same role Mr. Zebstrika did back on Route One. When asked if I was taking up important time for Galvantula’s higher level training, Rain only responded with a “This is important too, you’ll see why later on.” alongside a wink. During all of this, Oxide was also finally able to consistently use Thundershock without knocking herself out, although she still needed more electrical capacity to use it more often.

  Ionia, on the other hand, had a bit of a surprise for me.

  After getting back to the Pokemon Lab, I talked to Iolani and Rain a bit more often when I realized one thing I had forgotten about.

  My PokeDex could scan the moveset of specific Pokemon.

  A quick scan over Oxide showed off the same set of moves she had shown me the day before, along with a ‘developing’ entry for Thundershock.

  I then released Ionia onto the table we were sitting at and scanned her.

  Everything I knew about was already there, but one specific entry was confusing me.

  “Ionia, how do you know the move Mystical Fire?”

  Rain and Iolani paused their conversation upon hearing that, the former chuckling as the latter paled a bit. With good reason, a proper Mystical Fire might’ve been able to knock out her Vulpix in a single attack.

  I felt the thrum of a Psychic connection.

  “Mother taught me the move while she was having you practice your senses. She said to keep it a secret until ‘a device told you’ because she wanted it to be a surprise.” She looked down, “Sorry for hiding it from you.”

  I gave her a little pat on the head, “There’s no reason to apologize, I was just surprised is all.” I paused as something hit me, “This explains those strange burn marks last month! That was you practicing!”

  “Nope!” Ionia denied, “You can’t prove that it was me who burnt those ugly plastic flowers your egg donor insists on!”

  I rolled my eyes, “Yeah yeah, we all agreed it was Jason’s pig-headed Emboar using Flamethrower outside of the training room.”

  A cleared throat broke us out of our conversation and had us both looking up to find raised eyebrows from Oxide, Iolani, and Rain.

  “Care to share with the class at all?” Iolani drawled with a smile spreading on her face.

  I felt my cheeks turn red, “I uh, she said her Mother taught her.”

  Her smile only grew wider, “Mhmm! Okay, and when do we all get to see her use it?”

  “Tomorrow.” I replied. “Cause for now they,” I motioned to both my Pokemon, “should rest from their first ever actual trainer battle.”

  I poked Ionia in the cheek, “And sometime we need to meet your Mother again so we can thank her properly.”

  ***

  A few days into the week, Professor Juniper and who I learnt was Professor Fennel came out to talk to me while we were training in one of the arenas in town.

  Ionia was in the middle of demonstrating her ‘secret move’ after being able to train it in the open for a few days.

  As she focused, her tail bulb flashed red, and she whipped it around as a thin jet of flame with blue tips rushed out. The blue denoted that she had telekinetic control of the flames and would be able to direct them into forms that would be near impossible to dodge. Once she was strong enough, she would even be able to take control of flames from her surroundings and use those.

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t shape them into runes like a Delphox could.

  When Ionia dissipated the flames, the sound of clapping had us turning towards the bleachers.

  “Very well done for a Pokemon so young!” Juniper exclaimed, “I’m happy to see you out here working to improve before you set out for the Circuit!”

  “Hello Professor Juniper and Professor Fennel,” I greeted, “did you need me for anything?”

  “Oh nothing much, just the tickets you asked Krane for.” Juniper replied. “We would’ve given them to you at the lab but tonight is our date night, so I thought we would give them to you on our way to dinner.”

  I blushed, “Y-you really didn’t have to, I wouldn’t want to impose on your date!”

  “You’re not imposing at all.” Fennel insisted with a shake of her head. “Besides, watching how new trainers grow is always worth seeing!”

  Juniper leaned over to mock whisper, “The fact you have a Hatenna that knows such an advanced move doesn’t hurt either.”

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Fennel rolled her eyes, “In my defense, it’s not often you get to see this line being trained outside of Galar or Paldea. Everywhere else they keep to themselves in old growth forests.” She looked to the north, “White Forest is the only place in Unova they appear to the public, and that is because the gym there ensures protection beyond what a wild Hatterene can do on her own.”

  She shuddered before looking back to me, “I can't wait to see what you and your Pokemon accomplish this year Psyche.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do us all proud.”

  ***

  The next day we all decided to take things a bit easier. Which meant actually painting Oxide’s canvas ball.

  I laid down a borrowed newspaper from one of the lab assistants, and pulled out the set of paints I had gotten with the set. Then I sat Oxide down in front of them, and her canvas ball opposite them.

  “Okay Oxide, I won’t make any decisions for you on this.” I explained while opening up the paints, “If you need help with something try asking Ionia, since she has the telepathy and telekinesis to work with.” I smiled, “just be sure to have fun!”

  I received a salute in response, and I stepped back and sat down next to Iolani while Oxide looked down thoughtfully at the paints.

  “This is a really sweet thing you know,” she whispered while looking down at a poke ball clutched in her hand. “I kind of wish I had gotten canvas balls instead.”

  I nudged her, “Technically the paints work just fine on regular poke balls, canvas balls are just easier to scrub the paints off.” I smiled when I saw the glint of excitement in her eyes, “We can get paints at the same store I got them from in Striaton.”

  Seemingly thinking of some sort of design, Oxide called Ionia over and began speaking with her while pointing at different parts of her ball.

  “That sounds great thank you,” she replied while wrapping an arm around my shoulders in a one armed hug, and we sat there in silence as Oxide’s vision came into existence.

  Around an hour later, Oxide’s pokeball was done being painted and was completely dry thanks to the ball itself. The bottom half was split between a white circle on the very bottom and a yellow stripe going up to the center band. The top half was painted black with a pair of purple racing stripes going from the front to the back in about the same place the red bands were on a great ball.

  I picked it up and looked at it, “I take it, you really want to go fast?”

  Oxide nodded with excitement.

  “Then I guess we’ll have to work speed training into your regiment, and maybe look into how to teach you agility.” I thought aloud before scritching her ears in just the way she liked, “But first, let's go get lunch. Iolani is about to fall over from hunger at this rate.”

  “Hey!”

  ***

  A few days later and the night before Iolani and I were set to leave had arrived. Which also meant that one last important thing needed to be done.

  At Juniper’s request I was standing among a group of various staff members and junior assistants as the final parts of the fossil revival process were finished. The excitement in the air was thick to the point Ionia was back in our room for her comfort, yet had retained a psychic link with me so she could be with us in spirit. Oxide as usual was on top of my head and chatting with a Watchog owned by Professor Juniper.

  Suddenly with a ding, the chatter in the room faded as Colress worked the controls of the machine to let out the newly revived Pokemon.

  With a hiss, the doors opened and released a small wave of mist into the room which amusingly obscured the Pokemon from view.

  “And without further ado!” Colress declared with a booming voice, “Allow me the pleasure of introducing for the first time to you all… Tirtouga!”

  Behind him a Fan Rotom giggled as it blew away the mist, revealing a compact shape on the floor that resolved into a blue sea turtle with rock plates forming a shell and mask.

  It looked over all of us imperiously, and then let out a resounding cry.

  “Tirtouga!”

  The chatter soon came back to life even stronger, the scientists barely holding themselves back from crowding around the Pokemon as a Pokemon Center nurse and an Audino both stepped forward alongside Juniper to examine the Tirtouga for injuries.

  The Pokemon itself didn’t pay any of them mind. Instead their eyes were locked with mine as the song I felt every time I looked at the fossil on that wall resounded through the room. Except this time, the song wasn’t restricted to that calm and peaceful rhythm anymore. It exploded into a mixture of sounds that all felt as if they wanted one thing.

  To show the world just how powerful they really were.

  Soon enough, both the nurse and Professor Juniper gave the all clear on the Tirtouga’s health, but instead of the staff moving in to begin their work, everyone turned to look at me.

  I made myself as small as possible under the attention, before the Professor called out gently, “Come on up Psyche, it’s your right to meet with him first.”

  I quickly shuffled up to the small rubber coated platform, and kneeled down in front of the Tirtouga who was looking up at me with fire in his eyes as I pulled out my PokeDex and scanned him.

  [Tirtouga; The Prototurtle Pokemon. In the water, this Pokemon can move very quickly, yet it most often searches for prey on coastline beaches where it can only crawl.]

  As if wanting to demonstrate, Tirtouga crawled forward and placed a flipper on my leg.

  “Tirt. Tirtouga!”

  I felt the song in his heart again, and realized something. He wanted to show me how strong he was, and for me to match that strength.

  It would be a few days later before I realized just how odd it was that I got such a clear picture already. “Professor?” I asked while looking up at her, “Is there somewhere we can battle?”

  She smiled, “Right behind the lab is a field used for testing Pokemon’s capabilities, you’re more than welcome to use that.”

  I looked at Tirtouga, “Can I carry you?”

  He agreed with a nod, so I reached forward and awkwardly got him to shuffle up my front so I could wrap my arms around him.

  I lifted him up with a heave, and started following Juniper out towards the field she mentioned. Once outside, Ionia teleported next to us to watch the match.

  The field wasn’t as nice as one of the facilities, but it did have some sort of charm, like the older basketball courts in Striaton. Perfect for a test of strength.

  I laid Tirtouga down on the field, and walked further down to the other end, to not force him to crawl all the way there.

  Once I got to the opposing trainer box I had Oxide hop down to stand next to Ionia.

  “Okay. Out of the two of you, Ionia is the better pick,” I held up a hand against Oxide’s protests that surely had to do with what she assumed his type was, “Oxide will still be battling, but this will be difficult for you okay? I don’t want you to underestimate Tirtouga whatsoever.”

  Oxide nodded before leaping out into the field and landed on all fours.

  “Are you ready Tirtouga?” I called out.

  “Touga!”

  “On three then!” I smiled as that strange feeling began creeping through my chest again.

  “One.”

  Oxide’s cheeks sparked.

  “Two.”

  Tirtouga lowered his head slightly as he grinned.

  “Three!”

  Boilerplate time!

  As always, a big thank you to for help editing!

  Pokemon seen this chapter:

  Galvantula

  Current Team:

  Ionia (Hatenna)

  Trained Abilities: Anticipation

  Moves: Teleport, Confusion, Play Nice, Life Dew, Disarming Voice, Mystical Fire

  Oxide (Emolga)

  Trained Abilities: TBD

  Moves: Nuzzle, Tail Whip, Double Team, Quick Attack, Thundershock

  Do you want more words written by me?

  A Spark of Sylvan Flame A story about a trans farmgirl facing off against plant aliens, with items bought from an AI chip in her head!

  Thanks for reading! :D

  -DeliriousSprite