Once Terrance was out of our hands, I felt as if a weight was lifted from my shoulders, a weight I hadn’t noticed before. Looking at the other three, there were subtle signs of relaxation, of fading tension and Claire even let out a soft sigh of relief.

“We did it,” Lucas muttered under his breath, barely audible.

“We need to be careful out there,” Cliff chimed in, speaking just as softly. There were nods all around, the situation giving us yet another stark reminder of just how dangerous the world could be. Trainers could only survive and travel thanks to their partners, while their companions formed a safety net if something went wrong.

“Maybe we should add a bit of emergency equipment to our packs, or at least one of us should. And ask at the Centre about a bit of emergency medical training,” I suggested, garnering another round of nods. Joyce had given me a bit of training, but with all the other lessons at the time, only very little had stuck. Maybe I should have focused more on that lesson, instead of the lessons on Pokémon care.

We walked as we talked, discussing our plans for the foreseeable future, and before long, we reached the Pokécentre. There had been a lot of people on the street, probably attracted by the commotion caused by Terrance and his carriers. There were a few curious and a couple of strange glances directed at the four of us, all looking and smelling like we had been climbing through the mountains for a couple of days, without a good way to wash up. As such, the first thing after checking into the Pokécentre was a trip to the showers. Afterwards, we met up again and headed to the Gym.

There, we reported the results of our task and were asked to fill in a report while Gymleader Sylva was informed.

It didn’t take long, in fact, we didn’t even manage to finish the written report when the attendant told us that Sylva would see us now. We took the half-finished reports with us and went into the conference room we were directed to.

“Good afternoon,” Sylva greeted us, “You were successful, from what I’m hearing?” she asked, a grin on her face. Compared to last time, she seemed a little more relaxed, but that might have been my imagination.

“Good afternoon,” Lucas returned the greeting, acting as our spokesperson for once, “We inspected both entrances to the Underground and the marker, as we were tasked to do. In addition, we managed to rescue Terrence, apparently also known as the Underground Man, from the western entrance, where had had a mishap,” Lucas concisely reported, getting a nod.

“I’ve heard you brought that old fool with you, thank you for that. He might be a fool, but he’s also incredibly knowledgeable and a mostly capable, if incredibly reckless, trainer.” Sylva shook her head, obviously not willing to dwell on the subject.

“As far as we could safely explore, the entrances are not blocked, though the sign near the western entrance was destroyed, possibly by a Graveller that made its lair there. We were lacking the means to repair the sign, nor did we actually know how it was supposed to look, it was that destroyed.” he finished his report, not engaging with Sylva’s interruption at all.

“Good, thank you. I’ll have someone go up there and set up a new sign, maybe in a way that can’t be destroyed as easily. If there even is such a way, more often than not, if a Pokémon wants to destroy something, they will.”

“Now, you guys did your task, you demonstrated competence in battle, helped out in the Pokécentre,” she paused, maybe noticing the surprised expression on Cliff’s face, “Yes, I know about that,” she interjected, before continuing with her original speech “and two of you took the time to specifically learn from me, which makes an old woman like me happy,” she smiled, and I had to keep myself from snorting. If Sylva wanted to call herself an old woman, there would be few young women in the world.

“All that is easily enough to earn each of you the Forest Badge, as your third and fourth badges respectively. Dani, Claire, the two of you should consider expanding your teams to incorporate Pokémon that can help with maintenance tasks, sometimes they can be incredibly useful. Cliff, Lucas, same advice, but with more badges, the tasks you are given will be harder, so you have a bit more time. Either way, you did well.” she complimented us, before rising from her seat. We all rose in response, knowing what would come next.

“Now, each of you will get their badge and a few words of advice, if you have questions you’d like to have answered,” Sylva offered, looking specifically at Claire and Cliff.

“Let’s start with you, Cliff,” she began, and he stepped up to her.

“As the Gym leader of Eterna City, I bestow this Forest Badge on you, Cliff of Twinleaf Town. May you never stop growing.” she handed over the badge, before quietly adding, “I’ll give you your paperwork in a moment. Now, do you have a question you want to have answered?”

“No, thank you. You answered all questions during our previous meetings, so I don’t really have one. Maybe if there’s a good way to treat injuries during journeys? And why aren’t Pokémon allowed in town, even during emergencies?” he blurted out, causing Sylva to chuckle.

“Prompted by recent events, no doubt.” she nodded, “Let’s start with the second question.”

“They are allowed, but what constitutes an emergency is the question. Carrying an injured trainer is not enough. Due to past events, there are a lot of people in town who are afraid of Pokémon or dislike them with a certain…” she paused, apparently looking for the right word, “a certain fervour.” she shrugged again, looking a bit disappointed.

“Now, for your other question. There are multiple ways, the obvious, mundane ones you should know, bandages, splints and so on.” she began, and we all nodded, even if she was only speaking to Cliff.

“Then there’re also a few Pokémon, most notably Chansey and Blissey, that have the ability to cure a trainer’s wounds. There are some drawbacks with their abilities, some side-effects, especially with younger trainers, but such ways exist. If you are interested, continue your journey and once you have enough badges, you can become an apprentice to one of the healers. For now, try not to get injured in the first place and focus on mundane treatment.” she advised, getting a serious look and nod from Cliff.

“Thank you, Sylva,” he told her, before stepping back.

The bestowment to Lucas went similarly quick, his question focused on the Underground and safe travels therein, something Sylva deemed impossible, referring to Terrance and his recent encounter as evidence. The expression on Lucas’ face showed that he was a little disappointed, but had to accept the answer. As Sylva called me forward, he stepped back, looking deep in thought.

“As the Gym leader of Eterna City, I bestow this Forest Badge on you, Dani of the Pokémon League. May you never stop growing.” she paused, “And you’ve got to tell me how you got that origin-location registered,” she added, a mischievous grin on her face.

“It was done for me, I had no input there. My place of birth is unknown,” I explained, getting a curious look from her before she shrugged.

“Anyway, do you have a question for me?” she asked, her voice completely calm again.

“Yes, I do. Is there a good way to help my Charmeleon to deal with Rock-, possibly Ground- and Water-Types?” I asked, curious about her reply.

“A good way? I’m not sure,” she admitted, “The obvious way, getting stronger and simply overpowering them is obvious, right?” she asked, a grin on her face. When I nodded, she continued, “But you are asking about coverage. Once your Charmeleon manages to evolve into Charizard, there’re a few more ways, but that might be a while. For Charmeleon, I only heard stories that someone managed to teach a Charmander to use the Steel-attack Iron Tail. It’s not terribly powerful, but it would provide a bit of coverage against Rock-types. Alternatively, there are a few Fighting-type moves that Charmeleon can learn, but again, those are only super-effective against Rock-types. You might be able to help him access a bit of his evolution early and train him to use Flying-type moves like Aero-Ace or Acrobatics, but again, that will be difficult and they would only give you limited effectiveness.” she shrugged.

“For him to truly be effective against those types, he’d have to evolve into a Charizard, and then, you might be able to train him so he can use his fire to emulate the Grass-type move, Solarbeam. It’s normally achieved by grass-types using the light of the sun, stored deep within them, but highly trained Charizard have been known to achieve the same effect.” she finished, giving me a lot to think about.

“Thank you,” I lightly bowed to her, taking the badge.

“Last, but certainly not least, Claire, step forward,” Sylva called, and Claire and I switched places.