Steven returned after only a few minutes, carrying a stack of papers that looked too crisp to have been obtained from an Ace Trainer outside. He managed to calm down and had regained his composure.

“Now then, let’s get your compensation sorted,” he said.

“Compensation?” I asked.

“Essentially, because you were subject to an attack during a League-sponsored expedition, we would normally offer you monetary compensation for the trouble you went through. However, since you so kindly provided us with information that can be used to maintain the safety of this world, I can significantly increase what we can offer you.”

Steven walked to his chair and placed the papers on the table in front of him. He sat down and immediately began to fill out the forms.

“While I can’t provide you too much without increasing suspicion around you, we can turn this opportunity into a solution. Instead of money, I have the authority to reward you with a Pokémon egg. Ghost, Dark, and Psychic Type Pokémon have the potential to learn how to protect the minds of their trainers. By hatching them from an egg and raising them yourself, the Pokémon will be more in tune with you, and will be more adept at protecting your mind from unwanted intrusions. This reward trades short-term protection for long-term safety when compared to other potential options. Would this be acceptable to you?”

I agreed to it quickly. Banette would still be able to protect me while I was raising the Pokémon, and the only reason Banette failed to protect me in the first place is because the scientist had the one item that perfectly countered it. Considering the researcher wasn’t supposed to have a Ghost-sealing tag in the first place, I wasn’t worried about obtaining immediate protection for my mind if I can get a superior option in the long run. Plus, I would be getting a cute new Pokémon for my team. Why wouldn’t I want that?

“So what Pokémon would you prefer?” Steven asked me.

“Well, I’m a little uncomfortable with Ghost Types, and from what Thomas told me, I’m not sure if I could handle how brutal Dark Types are until I get more experience as a trainer,” I explained. “A Psychic Type would be good, but my team is already heavy on special attackers, so maybe a physical Psychic Type would be the best?”

I paused after I realized what I had just done.

“Huh. That only leaves me with a Galarian Ponyta as an option. I guess I choose that.”

Steven simply nodded and started filling out a different form.

“Very well. I will ensure the appropriate egg is delivered to you once found.”

Steven took a few moments to partially fill out the form, and I realized that our long conversation had finally ended. Before I could stand up, he stopped writing to look up and stare at me in the eyes.

“Alex, before you leave, I want you to know that I genuinely apologize for everything you have gone through since entering this world. Thank you for sharing what you know despite your fears. I will make sure that the League will do everything in its power to make sure you stay safe, and we will do what we can to ensure all of the knowledge you shared with us will be put to good use.”

Without anything else to say, I stood up and thanked Steven for his discretion, and we said our goodbyes as I exited the tent. I was finally free from the burden of carrying my secrets, and could now just look forward to obtaining a new member of my team.

The first thing I did when I exited the tent was find Thomas. The Aether boat had already left, so a helicopter owned by the League would take me back to Dewford. Thomas had offered to escort me back to town earlier, which was nice of him.

The area had already mostly been cleared out, leaving two helicopters behind. The tent I had just left was already in the process of being taken down, which was strange since I hadn't seen Steven exit.

I found Thomas waiting outside the helicopter. It would only be me, Thomas, and the pilot on board the vehicle.

"Hey, feeling better?" he asked.

I nodded, actually smiling.

“Honestly, yeah. I never expected that conversation to go that well, but it’s a big weight off my chest.”

Thomas raised an eyebrow at my strange response, but boarded the helicopter without comment. When the vehicle took off, it made the classing "chopping" sound of a helicopter, but at such a reduced volume Thomas and I were actually able to talk and hear each other.

"You know, I never actually got to thank you for sending Umbreon after me," I said.

He brought up both hands placatingly and shook his head.

"It's not me you should be thanking. It's Winston."

…

What?

"What?"

He put his hands down and leaned back in his seat.

"Yup, he noticed a dark sphere around your tent and went to get me. I wouldn’t have even known you were in trouble since they had another Aether researcher come and occupy me while they were going after you. Honestly, their plan was far too in depth, and they probably had experience doing it. Actually, now that I’m thinking of it, it’s surprising Winston noticed the sphere at all considering it was in the middle of the night."

I shook my head in disbelief.

"You aren't lying? Winston really went to get you?"

He nodded.

"You treat him a bit too harshly,” Thomas said. “Yes, he may be a bit delusional, but he’s just rude, not a horrible person. The night after the Corphish swam, I realized I had basically completely brushed off his contributions and visited him to apologize. He explained his background to me and that put things into perspective. Imagine how you would feel after constantly living in the shadow of an older sibling. Yes, Winston has problems to get over, but I doubt he wants to see anyone go through what almost happened to you.”

I slumped in my seat.

Maybe today is all about unexpected revelations. Then again, his personality is still pretty awful. I can appreciate what he’s done for me and still consider him awful.

Our flight continued for the next few hours before we arrived in Dewford, and Thomas and I chatted with each other the entire way there. We arrived in town an hour and a half after everyone else, since the ship had left before the helicopter. Our ride landed on a flat area on top of the cliffs that surrounded Dewford, and I stepped off. Thomas stayed on board.

"Are you sure that you don't want to stop in Dewford for a bit?” I asked him. “Two of my Pokémon are about to evolve."

Thomas shook his head.

"No, I'm sorry, but I have League responsibilities to fulfill. Maybe once I'm free I'll be able to see how far your team has progressed."

I smiled.

"Sounds like a plan."

The helicopter began to take off and Thomas shouted down at me.

"You call me sometime, you hear?" he yelled.

"Yup! I'll make sure not to ghost you for a few months!” I shouted back.

He gave me a blank stare.

"Did you actually do that to someone, or was that a joke?"

I chuckled as Thomas was lifted just barely too far away to hear a response and the helicopter flew off. I waved goodbye at the disappearing speck and turned around to enter the town. It was time to find Laura and evolve my Pokémon.

"You might have a communication issue. We were worried about you."

"It was League business! I was only an hour late! It wasn't that big of a deal."

"Imagine what we thought when everyone but you left the boat. If it wasn’t for the fact someone saw us waiting and told us you intentionally stayed behind, we could have made some awful assumptions. Your Pokégear exists for a reason, you know."

I sighed and cursed myself for getting too distracted in my conversation with Thomas to give Laura and co. a heads up. They didn’t know I had been involved with an attack from the Aether Foundation, and I wasn’t supposed to share that information to prevent spreading rumors. I had told them that an Ace Trainer offered me a ride as an excuse.

"You know we could get over our horrible abandonment issues if you bought us some more Malasadas," Hideki chimed in.

I looked at him.

"Or we can remember what happened in the maze and give me a break this time?"

He closed his mouth and let loose a guilty smile. I wasn’t going to let him forget how distinctly overboard my Dewford Gym Challenge was.

I had met up with Laura, Hideki, and Takao and we were heading to a private section within Dewford Gym. Since they were Gym Trainers, they had the authority to use the Gym's private fields for whatever they wanted, even just to let me use the place to evolve my Pokémon. No one minded, especially not Brawly who occasionally used these fields to throw parties himself.

We took an elevator to the underground section of the Gym and walked to the room they had permission to use. As soon as we stepped inside, the lights automatically turned on.

It looked just like a copy of a generic Gym battlefield, but without the raised seats on the sides. The room was essentially just packed dirt with the shape of the field painted onto it, and nothing else.

Our group walked to the center of the field and Laura spoke up.

"You better have made good progress in Sea Mauville. I’ve been looking forward to this even before you left."

I rolled my eyes.

"I haven’t even sent my team out yet."

I grabbed the miscellaneous collection of Pokéballs clipped to my belt and sent out my team. All four of them appeared in a flash of light and made excited noises as they looked around. Except for Marill, who was silent and angry as usual.

Vulpix bounded forward to me without prompting, already knowing what was about to happen.

Ignoring the blue bird that just perched on my head, I took off my backpack and set it on the ground. I reached in and quickly found the two items I was looking for, since I set them aside earlier in preparation for their evolution.

Before I did anything else, I looked over to Floette. She was standing to the side, watching Vulpix and me nervously. I smiled at her.

"Come on. We're not going to wait. Both you and Vulpix are evolving today. Don't worry about drawing attention away from her. We're a team so we do things together."

Floette gave a meek smile and floated over next to Vulpix, who nuzzled her with her snout. I pulled out the two stones I had been looking for, and held them out for everyone to see.

In one hand, I held a large glass-like crystal with a perfectly preserved snowflake inside of it.

In the other, I held a translucent yellow stone with a bright orange center that almost seemed to sparkle when it shifted.

I put the stones forward so both my Pokémon could easily reach them.

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Vulpix touched her nose to her corresponding stone without hesitation. Both Vulpix and the Ice Stone were engulfed in a bright light white as Vulpix began to grow. Her legs extended and her body scaled in size. Her face became less compact and cutesy, and much more vulpine. The fluff on her head and her tails grew in length and lost their neat combed shape, becoming a flowing wild mess. Eventually, the light broke and Ninetales, no longer Vulpix, stood at her full height up to my stomach, instead of my knees.

Ninetales howled and a massive storm of ice and snow blew out from around her, immediately plunging us all into a deep storm. The strength and presence of the hail she created far outperformed all previous uses of her ability, her evolution multiplying her power and control several times over. The storm died down quickly once Ninetales stopped supporting it. Excited for her new body, she began to dash around the room, enjoying the increased speed from her longer legs.

I kneeled down to get closer to Floette. She hadn’t touched her stone yet.

“It’s your turn now. Are you ready?”

Floette smiled again and gingerly placed her tiny hand on the edge of the Shiny Stone. Like with Ninetales, both Floette and the stone glowed as her body began to shift.

Floette and her red flower merged into one form, the stem wrapping around her lower half and the flower shifting to engulf her head. Her height skyrocketed, going from a diminutive eight inches to a massive three and a half feet. Her flower multiplied until her head was not simply wrapped by a small amount of petals, but was now surrounded by a bouquet of red flowers and with a few spots of yellow. Bunches of pink flowers hung off the edges of the growth, and two leaves as long as she was tall extended and grew out from where her feet would have been. As the light faded, Florges looked down to inspect her new form. She was now significantly taller, and even more powerful.

She ran her hands through her head bouquet, then jumped back and floated a few feet up. She twisted in the air to look at every angle of her larger body. Honestly, for a Pokémon of her now much larger size, I didn’t expect Florges to still be able to float.

Florges raised her arms and the entire room suddenly bloomed with tall grass, the temporary effect of Grassy Terrain coming into play. She bent down and plucked a piece of grass and caused it to bloom into a flower, rotating it carefully in her hand.

Laura was the first to speak as we watched my Pokémon experiment with their new forms.

“You know what’s the best way for a Pokémon to get used to their new bodies? Battle! Come on Alex, I have my own developments to show off, too!”

I stood ready in my trainer box while Laura stood in hers. She brushed her fingers over her Pokémon’s Pokéballs while Ninetales and Florges stood at my side. At the edge of the field, everyone including my other Pokémon sat to watch the proceeding battle. Takao stepped forward to act as a referee, having already decided which of the two brothers would handle that role after a brief wrestling match.

“I want to see a brutal battle between you two, alright?”

“Hey knock that off, we want an actual referee! Don’t make Hideki take over for you!” Laura shouted.

“Fine, fine. Ahem. This will be a 2-on-2 battle between Trainer Alex and Gym Trainer Laura. Pokémon will stay in battle until they are unable to continue. When one side faints, all Pokémon must be switched out. There will be no switching otherwise. Are both trainers ready?”

“Yes!”

“Yup!”

“Then begin!”

I pointed forward towards the field and Laura threw a Pokéball.

“Go Florges!”

“Machoke, let’s do this!”

Florges gracefully floated onto the field while Machoke appeared in a flash of light. I whistled when I saw the newly evolved form of her Pokémon.

“Wow Laura, your Machop evolved? I bet Meditite did too. That’s impressive for the three weeks I was gone.”

“Shut it you, stop spoiling it for yourself!” Laura shouted. “My Pokémon will crush yours in battle!”

“I’d like to see you try,” I commented. “Florges, Grassy Terrain and burn Machoke down.”

“Machoke, grab her with Strength!”

Florges brought up her arms and the entire room was enveloped in dense grass. Machoke stomped forward with its arms out, ready to grab her once she was within its range. As it approached, Florges floated up and back and waved one arm forward, like she was commanding an army to attack, and numerous Magical Leaves flew out from the flowers around her head to track in towards Machoke’s position.

“Machoke, defend yourself with Fire Punch!”

Machoke’s right hand suddenly grew red hot then burst into flames as it readied itself for the oncoming swarm. The Magical Leaves started to tear into it as it tried to punch the leaves out of the air, but the boost to Grass Types moves from Grassy Terrain let Florges create too many leaves for it to properly destroy.

Laura clicked her tongue.

“I taught him Fire Punch to use against your Vulpix. Clearly it’s not working against Florges. Machoke, ignore the attacks! Go full No Guard, continue with Strength!”

Machoke stopped fighting back against Magical Leaf and charged at Florges. No Guard was Machoke’s ability, where it stopped defending itself and focused solely on the accuracy of its own moves instead. It essentially meant both sides of the battle would always hit their attacks. For Florges, who had a weak physical defense, it meant she had almost no way to defend herself against Machoke’s attacks.

Machoke approached closer and Florges ceased her barrage. She landed back on the grass and started to spin. Petals glided out of her flowers and spiraled around her body. Machoke grabbed her arm to stop her, but the petals shot forward and dug into Machoke with far more force than Magical Leaf ever did.

Machoke picked up Florges as she continued twirling her free arm and twisting her body to direct the petals around her in a dance-like pattern. Her Petal Dance attack would continue for a while longer, but when it ended she would be in a state of confusion from the constant motion and from the intense focus required to maintain the dance.

Machoke squeezed Florges, damaging her with Strength, before it jumped back into a flip, spun both Florges and itself in the air, and slammed them both down onto the ground with Submission. The move caused Machoke to suffer from recoil damage, and the flower petals continued to launch themselves at Machoke even though Florges was currently pinned.

Machoke, now seriously injured from the waves of petals that had torn into it, held up a flaming fist to punch down at Florges now that she was locked in place. Unfortunately for Florges, the punch impacted her right when Petal Dance ended.

Florges's head smashed backwards into the ground and bounced back from the force, leaving her injured from the move and dazed from Petal Dance. Machoke brought her up and jumped and slammed both Florges and itself into the ground again with another Submission. I was surprised to see it was still standing after taking both Petal Dance and the two combined sets of recoil damage from Submission.

Florges, not able to properly react through her confusion, puffed out a blast of Fairy Wind like pollen and hit both Machoke and her within the same area of effect. The sparkling dust caused Machoke to jump up and stumble back, and the sudden damage let Florges snap herself out of confusion.

As Machoke attempted to regain its balance, Florges commanded the grass from Grassy Terrain to extend outwards and tie into a knot, causing the Machoke to trip and land on its back.

Florges took advantage of Machoke’s prone form and its lack of defense from its ability to accurately place Magical Leaf attacks at vulnerable positions on its body, dealing critical damage to finish it off.

Once Machoke fainted, Florges immediately jumped up and floated towards me, saying her name happily. However, she suddenly paused a few feet away from me as the realization of her sudden extra three feet of height set in.

Laura returned Machoke and everyone watched what Florges did next.

She floated up to be level with my eyes and wistfully looked at my shoulder, where she used to be small enough to sit. She slowly moved closer and did something she wasn't able to do before.

She hugged me.

I was shocked by her sudden sign of affection but I hugged her back. She was smiling brilliantly now that she was large enough to do something like this.

"I'm proud of you," I told her, "you've come a long way."

Florges smiled at me before returning to my side.

"That's sweet and all, but we are in the middle of a battle." Laura shouted at me.

"Yeah, yeah, let us have this. Come on Ninetales, let's do this."

Ninetales took a moment to recognize her new name before she realized I was talking to her. She yipped then jumped into an aggressive stance on our side of the field.

Laura reached to her side to grab her other Pokéball.

"Well, you've already guessed the surprise but here we go. Medicham! You're up!"

In a burst of light, the evolved form of Meditite appeared on the battlefield. It was pink instead of blue, and had large muscles in its legs, perfect for both kicks and movement.

Medicham hopped back and forth while Ninetales growled challengingly. I realized something and spoke up.

"You know, Medicham was Ninetales's first opponent in a Pokémon battle way back when I first caught her. Now he's her first opponent after her evolution. We've come full circle, huh?"

Laura, who had looked ready to throw a punch in excitement, stalled for a moment to rub her chin.

"Yeah, huh. That is a fun coincidence." She looked over to Takao. "Hey, 'ref,' you gonna start the battle or what?"

Takao chuckled before calling out.

"Begin!"

"Hide in your snow!"

"Acupressure!"

A massive hailstorm expanded out from Ninetales's position and covered the battlefield. She slunk back into the falling ice and tried her best to use her pale coloring to hide within it. Her Snow Cloak ability hadn't been perfected, but she was still slightly harder to see within the weather.

Medicham, on the other hand, started to poke pressure points around its body. It used Acupressure, which would empower certain aspects of itself depending on how it pressed its pressure points. It was too difficult to get a specific result, so the actual boost was effectively random. This time, Medicham's legs and arms swelled up and I easily recognized that effect to mean its physical power had just been vastly improved.

Medicham's fist turned red hot like Machoke’s and burst into flame.

"Bet you were wondering how Machoke learned Fire Punch. Well, Medicham and I worked together to figure it out soon after he evolved. Ninetales doesn't have a chance!"

Meanwhile, Medicham slowly pushed forward into the hail using the heat from its fist as warmth. Its eyes glanced around, tracking Ninetales as she circled the Fighting and Psychic Type Pokémon.

Medicham suddenly shifted its upper half of its body to the side, narrowly avoiding an Ice Beam by using Detect, and charged right at Ninetales.

Ninetales turned to the right to sweep her tails at Medicham, but the Fighting Type jumped over the Tail Whip and punched Ninetales in the side of her head.

The Fire Type move dealt super effective damage and Ninetales scampered back, not willing to take another powerful hit. She turned her head back to face her opponent and hit Medicham with an Icy Wind to slow it down.

Medicham paused in its chase after receiving that damage and closed its eyes. It lifted up one leg and placed its hands together to meditate, focusing on using a utility move.

Ninetales used the sudden pause to unleash another Ice Beam, creating a chunk of ice on Medicham's shoulder. In response, Medicham's eyes snapped open and an illusory third eye appeared on its forehead.

That's Mind Reader! Medicham will be guaranteed to hit Ninetales with its next attack. And with its boosted strength... Oh no.

I shouted at Ninetales to get away but it was too late. Medicham, skimming Ninetales's surface thoughts to predict her movements, jumped into the air and accurately tracked Ninetales’s position. It stuck out a massive leg in a High Jump Kick attack, which would deal devastating damage if it landed. Ninetales started to glow across her entire body, but she was unable to activate the unfamiliar move in time. The full force of the attack slammed into Ninetales, knocking her back and immediately forcing her into unconsciousness.

The blizzard lasted a few more moments and I ran to Ninetales’s side. Laura clasped Medicham's hands and jumped with joy, cheering that they had finally beat Ninetales.

Florges prayed to create a healing star with Wish to cure Ninetales's wounds. I kneeled down next to her and put the fox's much larger head on my lap for when she woke up.

As the light merged into her body to heal her injuries, Ninetales opened her deep blue eyes and whined pitifully.

"It's okay that we lost. You were still getting used to your body and they used a strategy specifically tailored to beat us."

"You better not be making excuses over there!" Laura shouted. I ignored her.

"But here's the thing: we weren't using your strengths to their full capacity. You’re no longer just an Ice Type, you're also a Fairy Type. I saw you try to use Dazzling Gleam, which is great! But we need to practice so you can actually use your new Fairy Type move in battle. In fact, I bet if you had it battle ready, you'd have beaten Medicham without fail."

Ninetales's ears perked up and Laura shouted again.

"Oi, is that a challenge?!" She yelled angrily. I didn't respond.

I looked between Ninetales and Florges.

"Now that the two of you have reached your final forms, it's time to increase the power of your moves. Both of you can learn Fairy Type moves that you can teach the other. Ninetales, you’ve already learned Dazzling Gleam, and Florges, you’re now powerful enough to learn Moonblast. Once you’ve mastered those, we can spread them around the team, too. For now, let’s see what else you can do."

We spent some time exercising lightly to get Florges and Ninetales used to moving properly before heading out. At this point in my long day, it was time for dinner so we all went out to get food together.

Laura told me that since I lost I should pay, but I politely and respectfully informed her that our battle never concluded because we each fainted only one of our opponent’s Pokémon.

She grumbled at my astute observation and complained that she only had two Pokémon, so we did the next best thing.

We forced Hideki to pay.

I returned to my room at the Pokémon Center and everyone else returned to their homes. My Pokémon were now disappointingly too large to all fit on the same bed comfortably, so sleeping arrangements were changed.

Ninetales still demanded to sleep on the bed, and everyone relented. I set out my cap upside down on the table to let Swablu nest in it, and Marill went back to sleeping in the half-filled tub. Florges was more difficult because she went through the largest change in form. She ended up sleeping next to the window with a spare blanket draped over her to let her symbiotic flowers soak up sunlight as soon as it became day. With our sleeping arrangements settled, everyone went to sleep for the night.

Except for me.

I quietly walked out of the room, careful not to wake up my Pokémon, and went outside to the fields behind the Pokémon Center.

I brought my backpack along, and pulled out the Pokémon meal I bought to go from the restaurant we had dinner at.

"Hey. I want to say thank you for helping me. I know it's your job so you had to anyway, but it still doesn’t change you tried to help even though I ended up getting myself caught," I spoke into the air.

I placed the food container at my feet, making sure the light from the Pokémon Center extended my shadow over it.

"I want to value the people and Pokémon who have supported me, and guess what, you're part of that group now. I'm not sure what kind of food you eat, so I tried to branch out and get you a bit of everything. Please enjoy the meal."

I sat down on a nearby bench and watched as the biodegradable container sank into my shadow. I sat outside in the cold until I saw the container resurface once more.

I opened it up to check what food was left inside.

"So you like spicy foods, huh? Good to know."

I grabbed the container and my backpack then returned to my room.

For my next steps, I planned to leave Dewford soon. I could go to Petalburg Gym now that my Pokémon had evolved and had trained up in Sea Mauville, but my goal was Granite Cave.

After all, there was a certain Fairy Type that I wanted to catch.