As the terrain around us changed, so did the atmosphere. Between the massive trees of Eterna Forest, there had been a cold, almost depressingly gloomy, atmosphere, only fading once we reached the boundary. There, the atmosphere had been pleasantly coot, the sunlight filtering through the trees making it a lot brighter and less oppressive.

Now, we had moved out of the forest and into the mountains, where the White River had slowly eroded most of the soil away, leaving the bare rocks. It was a harsh, cragged landscape and the exertion of climbing, combined with the spring sun meant we quickly got very warm, hot even. Luckily, with the White River right next to the Route, an unlimited amount of drinking water could be procured, alongside the occasional quick wash in the stream, making sure neither of us suffered too much.

Maybe the sunny climate spurred Claire on, pushing her to fight as many battles as possible. Ever since Su had evolved, she had asked me to let her take the lead and given that the Pokémon living near the route were no challenge for any of my Pokémon, I didn’t really mind. Sitting back and watching Claire battle wasn’t quite to my taste but it was a sacrifice worth making.

Nuts had to put in the most effort, battling an easy dozen, maybe even two, Geodudes along the rocky path and even tried his luck against Buizel a few more times with mixed success. Battling the Buizel wasn’t difficult, but keeping them from running was. After Nuts had fully learned Absorb, knocking him out had become a lot more challenging, especially for a speedy water-type like them. They simply lacked the firepower to overpower him, while he kept draining their strength, making it a hopeless fight - Thus they often tried to flee.

“Do you think we can get to Eterna City if we try pushing it?” Clarie asked after Nuts knocked out another Geodude. Turning around, I looked down, back towards Eterna Forest and frowned, trying to estimate the distance and compare it to the distances on the map. After a few moments of consideration, I could only shrug.

“Maybe, maybe not.” I shook my head, unable to give a better answer.

“Sleeping in a real bed would be awesome.” she cheered herself on, calling Nuts back into his Pokéball. There was a certain lightness to her steps, as she marched onwards, determined to reach the town today.

Maybe an hour later, as my thighs were burning from a rather strenuous climb, I paused, looking back over Eterna Forst again. There were flying shapes in the distance and for a moment, my brain froze, unable to process.

“Claire!” I called, staring fixedly at the distant shape. Unless my eyes and the distance were playing tricks on me, the avian form I was seeing was massive, easily three metres in length with some eight, maybe ten metres wingspan.

“Arceus…” Claire muttered in a soft voice, little more than a sigh. She must have seen it as well and was just as flabbergasted. The beings coat was red, mixed with some white but there was something weird going on, it was almost as if I was looking at a rainbow in the distance - just without the rain.

Tearing my gaze away from the being, I glanced over to Claire, noticing a tear trickling down her cheek. Reaching out, I took her hand, a show of silent comfort.

“I’ve never seen anything alike.” she sighed, squeezing my offered hand.

“It certainly looks awesome.” I nodded, a brief flash of memory flickering through my mind, the half-forgotten, weirdly stylised image of a bird in flight, a rainbow following after it. The Rainbow Pokémon, Ho-oh, Guardian of the Sky.

“Maybe those Church of Freedom guys have a point,” she muttered, sounding a little sad. “How can we even dream of matching a being like that.”

“Depends on the quality you seek to match,” I replied, pushing away the faint feeling of awe. Compared to staring the Renegade Lord in the face, it was just too lacking.

“Trying to compete in strength, or in overall power would be a fool’s errand,” I continued, even as a small part of me wanted to do just that, to trade blows and overcome the distant Legend. “But determination, or maybe even Intelligence? That, I’m a lot more confident in. Pokémon are wise, but not all of them are smart. Humans learn, we accumulate and push forward. Cynthia taught me, as she has been taught by her predecessors. Always pushing forward.”

“Just look at Su or your Nuts. Both of them have been around for a while, but neither has been able to get traction. They were spinning in place, surviving but not living, trying to find a way to get stronger. Now, they are with us and we give them guidance, give them shelter and food, make sure their hurts are treated and they don’t get bullied by stronger Pokémon. Su already managed to take his next step and I’m certain Nuts will be there, soon.” I reasoned, now staring at the distant bird again.

“Working together, as teams, we can thrive, separated, we wither.” My words finished, I pulled out Charm’s Pokéball, calling him out.

“Look, over there,” I told him, noticing how his gaze instantly followed my pointing finger, finding the distant Legend. “One day, that’ll be us, flying freely in the sky, lords of our domain,” I whispered, words only spoken for my partner. The flame on his tail blazed a little, and I thought there were faint fires burning in his eyes, his claws flexing as if he was ready to battle that very moment.

For a minute or five, we simply stood there, watching. Dreaming.

It was Claire who dragged us out of the dream, back into the mundane world. “Let’s continue. I want that shower.” she nagged, getting us back on track. I exchanged a brief glance with Charm, before giving him a quick hug and sending him back into his Pokéball.

By the time the sun was starting to set, I seriously doubted we would manage to get to Eterna City that day and started to look for a spot to make camp. The sound of beating wings caught my attention and for a brief moment, I expected Ho-oh to soar above before realising that the beats were far too fast for its size. Looking around, I quickly noticed the source and was a little surprised to see a Staravia angle towards us, clearly looking for a fight. I had already Su’s Pokéball in hand, looking forward to the more challenging encounter, when Claire beat me to the punch, a red flash sending out her partner.

For a moment, I was curious, as a fight between a wild Staravia and Myna would tell me quite a bit, but the real surprise came when Claire sent out Nuts, instead of Myna. For a moment, I considered speaking up but I stopped myself. Claire was just as experienced as I, so she should have a plan to make sure her partner wouldn’t get utterly crushed by the agile flyer.

“Nuts, harden up,” she ordered, and a white glow started to coalesce around the round body.

The Staravia wasn’t idle, it saw the immobile opponent and instantly began a dive, its wings glowing as it struck. Nuts managed to withstand the blow, but it was obvious that it had taken a painful blow, despite the increased defence by Harden.

“Now, Rollout,” she continued and Nuts started to move, slowly at first but gaining speed. It wasn’t a bad tactic, trying to strike the rolling Nuts was a risky proposition that could easily see the Staravia on the losing side. That is, if it went for physical blows.

Claire’s plan withered on the vine when the Staravia didn’t fly into the obvious, wide-open trap and instead, kept high above, beating its wings similar to how Myna had kept back the poisonous body of Gastly in the forest. Just instead of trying to keep a steady stream of air going, the wild Staravia was solely interested in creating buffeting winds to destabilise and harass Nuts.

With its opponent far out of reach, Nuts had been spinning in circles, unable to get close, let alone make contact, and a glance at Claire showed me a frown. For a moment, I was about to suggest a switch-off, as even Myna would be better suited to dealing with the Staravia, but Claire’s expression hardened with determination.

“Nuts, to the right,” she ordered, giving her partner directions as he moved. The Staravia remained out of reach, following behind but never getting too close. Looking at Nuts, I was reasonably certain it would falter soon, the energy needed to keep the Rollout up, together with the ceaseless attacks taking their roll.

Just as I made up my mind to suggest the switch, Claire called out again.

“Nuts, flip now,” she ordered, just as her partner was going towards a small dip.

At that moment, Nuts didn’t use its feet to turn, instead, it pushed off, just as it was going up on the other side of the dip, somehow managing to turn itself into a ballistic projectile - going straight for the hovering Staravia.

I winced at the impact, Nuts had been going incredibly fast and the hovering bird had been in no position to dodge, leading to an impact that caused me sympathetic pains. But it had been more than enough to knock the Staravia out in a single, concentrated blow.

Nuts, tottering from the exertion managed to steady itself and just as Claire was cheering, the previous white glow of Harden was suddenly blown away, replaced by a far stronger light.

Nuts was evolving.