For four weeks, Joyce and Cynthia did their best to teach me. Each day, I had lectures or practical lessons. Either with Joyce, teaching me Pokémon care and tending or with Cynthia, who focused on the aspects of battling and travelling. It was a stark reminder that a real Pokémon Trainer was travelling from town to town, sleeping wherever they could find shelter, eating what they could forage for or carry along. A life of luxury, it was not.

For a few days, Cynthia even insisted that I camp outside, sleeping in a tent I had set up myself, despite the snow still thawing on the ground. That she had picked a few days during which it rained was either a coincidence or part of a diabolical conspiracy. Either way, the days camping were miserable and the lessons during those days, Extreme Survival with Cynthia, were pure torture.

But those were only the primary teachers, they enlisted others, too. For an afternoon, they convinced Lucian to teach me the science behind Pokémon and sadly, it was a waste of time. I simply didn’t have the background to understand what he was talking about, the maths he provided looked like the scribbling of a mad man to me. Maybe it even was.

Other days, Robert joined together with Cynthia to lecture me on tricks he had picked up during his wandering, some of them complementing Cynthia’s lessons, other times providing a different way to solve a problem. And it was all delivered in a slow, methodical manner, while he was chasing me up and down a mountain, without losing his breath even once.

Each day was painful, as Cynthia made sure that there was some physical training every day. Being sore turned into my default state and as my body adapted to the exercise, she only kept pushing harder. But the results, even in only four weeks, were incredible.

Another advantage of the brutal education was that the disturbing memories in my mind became a background-noise. I was simply too busy to think, always having to consider a lesson, or try completing an assignment, to the point that memories started to fade, warp and merge.

There were images of meeting Prince Charming for the first time, my twin standing next to me. There were images of my parents, looking at me proudly as I set out. There were sounds, a teacher droning on, music I had never even imagined and even my own voice laughing as I promised myself that I would become the very best.

Or maybe those were all dreams, as that was when the memories came to me, waking me from my sleep and leaving me lying in the dark, sometimes with a smile on my face, sometimes with tears in my eyes.

With each passing day.I was making a new past for myself, and with each passing day, I could accept that those memories were simply part of me. My past, before coming to the League, was slowly turning into something I could simply accept as an unknown, allowing me to embrace the present and work towards a future I could enjoy. A future, made by me and my partners.

While Cynthia gave me another Pokéball, she also told me that I should focus my attention on Prince Charming and the young Ralts, that I had named Violet, as she was a true shrinking violet. At least until she needed to step up and do battle. When I called her, she answered my call, fighting with just as much determination as Prince Charming showed, wielding her formidable psychic powers as a club or scalpel, whatever was needed to bring down the foes we faced.

Not that there were too many of those, Cynthia mostly trained us near the League, where the wild Pokémon were far above us and driven off by one of Cynthia’s partners and only on a few, special occasions, she teleported us across the region, into areas where we could actively fight. According to her, the fighting was for later, when we were on our own and our actions had consequences. For now, I was her student and had to learn, not train.

“This is it. Cynthia should be here soon and we’ll teleport to Twinleaf-Town, so you can meet Claire, my niece.” Joyce told me, during one of our tea-breaks. Suddenly, I realised that there wasn’t another lesson coming. That I would be free from their twelve to sixteen-hour schedule. But also free to make my own mistakes, while Violet and Prince Charming were relying on me.

“I see.” I gave her a smile in response. “I’m looking forward to meeting her.” I added, trying very hard not to show how scared I suddenly felt. How could I, it was a path I had chosen. And I would make all of my teachers proud.

“It’ll be fine.” She gave me a smile, “The first step is to make sure that both you and Claire have what you need on your journey.”

For the next hour, after finishing the tea, the three of us went over the backpack, checking things against a list I had compiled during one of the lessons with Cynthia. It turned out, I had about half of the needed things, with quite a few speciality items, such as a small emergency-medical pack, supplies for my partners and so on missing.

“We’ll get those for you in Twinleaf, it’s not a large town, but they’ll have what you need. Knowing Claire, I’m certain she’ll need some last-minute shopping, too.” Joyce decided. “It’ll be a gift, from Joyce and myself, just like the coat you are still wearing.” she added, and I found myself blushing, realising that the one garment I had worn each day, was the coat I had been given during my first day here.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Cynthia grinned, before calling out her Porygon.

“Next stop, Twinleaf-Town. Zee, Teleport.” she ordered and the world blinked once more.

When the world opened its eyes again, we were standing in a room incredibly similar to the teleportation-chamber in the league and it took me a moment of observation to ascertain that we hadn’t teleported to the wrong place.

“Follow me.” Cynthia told Joyce and me, calling her Porygon back into its ball and walking to the door.

Outside, the earlier observation was confirmed, as we exited into a large, open room with a few windows that allowed us to see a quiet street outside.

“Good Afternoon, Nurse. Just passing through.” Cynthia waved off a staring man, dressed in a white coat that was standing behind the counter.

“Aunt Joyce!” a voice called out and following the sound, I saw a young woman, roughly my age, come over, a wide smile on her face.

“Hey, little Claire.” Joyce replied, pulling the other woman into a hug.

“Don’t call me that, I’m almost average height!” Claire groused, as she happily returned the hug. I had to hide a grin, as Claire was slightly shorter than Joyce, who was almost a hand shorter than Cynthia and myself. For some reason, I appeared to have grown a few centimetres during the weeks of intense training, but that was almost impossible.

“I’m sure you are.” Joyce replied, pulling back.

“Now, let me introduce you.” Joyce said, gesturing to me, first. “This is Dani, the one I thought could travel with you. She’s a great gal and I think the two of you can learn a lot from each other.” Once more, I felt myself blush at the compliment and the idea I could teach someone. During the last weeks, I hadn’t felt competent, not with a teacher pointing out each and every mistake I made. Of which there had been many.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I greeted her, only to be suddenly pulled into a warm hug.

“Great to meet you. Aunt Joyce told me about you.” Claire replied and suddenly, I wondered just what she had been told. Before I could ask, Joyce softly cleared her throat to introduce our other companion.

“And this is Cynthia, you might have heard of her. We’ve been making sure that Dani here is up to snuff.” Joyce continued and the introduction seemed to have broken Claire, who froze and blushed furiously red.

“Champion Cynthia, it’s an honour to meet you!” she blurted out, bowing deeply and repeatedly. “I hope my aunt hasn’t caused any problems for you.”

Now, it was Joyce’s turn to blush, while Cynthia chuckled softly.

“She is a great co-worker and a good friend of mine.” Cynthia assured the young woman, before gesturing towards the exit.

“Why don’t we make sure that both of you have everything you need? We’ve booked rooms at the Twin-Leaf Tavern, that way, the two of you can get to know each other a bit before setting out tomorrow. Remember, out there, you’ll rely on each other almost as much as you’ll rely on your partners. Given what I’ve seen from Dani and what Joyce told me, I do think that you’ll make a great team, but as with many things, only time will tell.” Cynthia said, getting nods from everyone around. Leaving the building, the Pokémon Centre as I later learned, we set out towards a small shopping-street.