The moment Miss Johanna called for the battle to start, Flannery’s Slugma let out a small battle cry that vaguely reminded Spike of the Slugma battle cry from the handheld games, though far more realistic and natural. In contrast, Aria remained silent as usual.

Startled by the familiar cry, Spike raised a brow at his memories just long enough for Flannery to take the first move.

Out of excitement, Flannery hastily exclaimed, “Mag, use Smog!”

The Slugma’s mouth widened, and its body trembled. A dark purple gas exploded from its gut toward Aria.

Narrowing his eyes, Spike shook away his curiosity toward the contrast between the more animalistic cry and normal Poke-speech. He quickly reacted by saying, “Aria, evade with Double Team and counter with Confusion after.”

Aria’s body shifted and split into two Ralts. The smog attack landed on the nearest Ralts body a moment later. Unfortunately for Flannery, the Ralts trembled and dissipated like a vanishing mirage. As the double disappeared, Aria raised her small arms toward the Slugma. Air warped around her before warping around Mag, too.

“Mag! Uh, um, back away and use Yawn!” Flannery stammered. Unfortunately, her command was too slow.

“Slug!” Slugma cried upon feeling a twisting headache.

“Mag! Uh, hang in there and try Yawn again.”

It whimpered, and its eyes rolled a little, but it refocused just long enough to yawn. White smoke escaped its mouth and floated outward. Aria couldn’t help yawning in response.

“Mag, you can do it! Use another Smog!”

The Slugma crawled over the arena floor, singing the paint along the way. It then opened its mouth again, but only black smoke came out. Eyes spinning, it flinched as though it had taken a slap to the face.

Mouth half-open, Spike halted the command he had been ready to call out. There was no longer a need for another Double Team, so he shook his head and sighed while thinking, ‘Well, it’s almost over, anyway,’

Only a moment passed before he said, “It’s tired, Aria. Knock it out with a Disarming Voice.”

Briefly glancing back at Spike, Aria hesitantly nodded before returning her gaze to Mag and opening her mouth into an ‘o’ shape. A small cry echoed out from her mouth and formed small circular waves that radiated a dull pink glow. The sound waves channeled through the air and slapped into Mag, knocking it over. Its eyes spun the whole time and slowly closed as it passed out. The temperature in the arena cooled by a few degrees.

“Mag!” Flannery exclaimed, instantly running toward her Pokemon. Almost instinctively, she wrapped the fainted Slugma in her arms and picked it up. The next moment, Mag opened its eyes again. It quietly grumbled something, and Flannery said, “It’s okay. You did good.”

Mouth agape, Spike also ran over. His face contorted with anxious concern. Behind him, Ares and Aria glanced at each other with understanding and followed behind him. In contrast to their calm attitude, Spike worried the Slugma’s hot body would burn Flannery. However, that didn’t happen. Upon reaching her, his brows furrowed in confusion. At worst, the skin on her arms reddened a little due to the Slugma’s body heat.

Still concerned for the girl’s well-being, Spike asked, “Are you alright? Isn’t your Slugma’s body hot?”

“Oh, Spike... It is a little hot, but I’m used to it. Grandpa told me everyone in my family is good with heat.”

Caught off guard by the statement, Spike blinked a few times while processing her statement. He made a mental note to look into this later. Then, noticing her frown, he asked, “How is your Slugma?”

“Um, he should be okay. I’ve never battled before, but Pokemon faint in battles all the time,” Flannery answered while looking nervously at Miss Johanna who was walking over alongside her Lombre.

“Good job, Spike and Flannery. You two did well for your first battle,” Miss Johanna said with a proud smile.

Spike shrugged since this wasn’t technically his first battle. There was no point correcting the woman, though, so he ignored it. He also heard a snort behind him, which he assumed came from Ares. Turning around, Spike saw Ares standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. Next to Ares, he saw Aria shuffling closer to him with a hand in her mouth. She lifted her head up at him with an expectant look in her mostly hidden eyes.

Smiling wryly, Spike picked her up, patted her head, and said, “Sorry, I should’ve told you how good you did, but I was worried Flannery might get burned.”

Aria simply nodded in understanding and hugged his neck.

“Ri, Riolu,” Ares said.

Catching the intent of congratulations, Spike smiled and replied, “Thanks, partner.”

Turning back to Miss Johanna and Flannery, he saw the teacher applying a potion to the Slugma’s body. He raised a brow upon seeing her wince and sweat due to the close proximity with the fire-type Pokemon. Although the heat did not burn her, she acted like a person whose hand brushed too close to a hot stovetop.

‘Is there really something special with Flannery’s family?’ Spike wondered. Out of curiosity, he shifted Aria to one arm and stretched his free hand toward the fainted Slugma. Flannery tilted her head at his action but didn’t say anything. As his hand approached the Pokemon, he felt the heat increase to a similar level as when roasting a marshmallow or hotdog over a bonfire with a barbeque fork, but it never felt as hot as actually sticking his hand into a fire even when his fingers brushed against the Pokemon’s surprisingly hard head. The flame-like body felt more like hot slime than lava, which also surprised him.

When Spike touched the Slugma without reacting much to the heat, Flannery widened her eyes and asked, “Are we related?”

“No. I’m surprised it’s not as hot as I expected, though.”

“That’s normal. Slugma’s body can get really hot, but most fire Pokemon can control the heat of their body to not burn their trainers, though they will still be warmer than other types of Pokemon. Wild fire-type Pokemon won’t necessarily do this, though, so always be careful around them if they are more aggressive,” Miss Johanna explained.

“It seemed like Mag was really hot for you, Miss Johanna,” Flannery innocently said with wrinkled brows and a confused frown.

“Well, some people are better with heat than others,” Miss Johanna replied with a wry smile while sticking the empty potion bottle back into her satchel.

Pulling his hand back from the Slugma’s head, Spike briefly looked at the young teacher and thoughtfully rubbed his chin. Wondering if Aura or something similar might have affected Flannery’s resistance to heat, he closed his eyes and focused on the small amount of energy flowing through his body that had accumulated during his training. Since the energy could improve his body, why not his sight? Although he still found the energy hard to control, he managed to channel some of it to his eyes and opened them.

Unlike usual, the colors of everything around him suddenly looked more vivid, especially around living things. In particular, he saw a thin red haze around Flannery and a mix of gray, blue, green, and brown around Miss Johanna. His brows rose in surprise since he had seen similar tan or purple colors around Medicham and or tan and blue colors around Ares while training with them, though it had been far brighter and more concentrated with the two Pokemon than with the humans.

“Eh?! Spike, what’s wrong with your eyes?” Flannery worriedly exclaimed.

Due to the outburst, Miss Johanna turned her attention to him as well and immediately gasped.

Surprised by the question, Spike frowned and stopped channeling his energy. The next moment, he raised a brow. For some reason, he could still see hazy colors around the two people, though they dulled considerably. He made a note to do more tests later.

“Did you just do something, Dilon?” Miss Johanna asked.

“Why do you ask?” He replied, feigning ignorance.

“Your eyes just glowed blue! It was cool! Do it again!” Flannery excitedly exclaimed, briefly forgetting about the fainted Pokemon in her arms.

“Uh… It’s probably nothing. Anyway, take your Slugma to the school nurse already, Flannery. The little guy probably needs some rest after taking that Confusion attack earlier,” Spike replied.

“Ah! I’ll go there now!” Flannery exclaimed before running off.

Meanwhile, Miss Johanna narrowed her eyes at Spike, but he only gave an innocent look in response. Realizing she wouldn’t get an explanation, she could only sigh and forget about it. Unbeknownst to her, her partner Lombre narrowed its eyes at Spike with a confused expression. The Pokemon knew the humans here didn’t feel it, but in the seconds where Spike’s eyes glowed, it felt he became more like a Pokemon than a human.

“Lombre, return,” Miss Johanna said after having him spray a water gun on the singed parts of the arena floor. After that, she turned to the students and said, “You all can go play now. We’ll go over the battle during the afternoon lesson.”

The kids cheered and ran off to the playground. In contrast, Spike only scratched his head, looked at Ares, and said, “Let’s go chill in our normal spot.”

‘I’m pretty sure this energy in me is Aura. Didn’t realize it would have a visual effect when using it. Just in case, I should be more careful when using it in the future.’