Shirley wrapped up her lecture right as the bell rang. Lilith stuffed her belongings into her Bag and headed for the door. She glanced at Sam and Levy as they stayed by their desks to chat. Looking one way while walking the other led to accidents.

“Thud.”

Lilith ran into the person ahead of her. The boy stopped inside the doorway and watched as she crashed into him.

“Hey watch where you’re going!” he shouted.

Lilith watched his eyes and the quiver at the corner of his mouth. She couldn’t quite read him, but the situation was obvious.

‘Great a bully.’ she thought.

“What do you want?” She asked.

Her voice was even and unhurried. The boy before her was no threat. In fact, he was so low on her priority list that Lilith never even considered remembering his name. People like him were always all bark and no bite, and people like that were left in the dust.

“What makes you so special?” he asked

He didn’t like the way she looked at him. The way her scarf covered her mouth and hid her expression, to the sound of her voice, everything annoyed him.

“Nothing, now move.” she said.

The boredom was evident in her voice as the boy’s face twisted in anger. She wasn’t taking him seriously.

“Joining class late, sneaking around with Cheren, and deciding to not even come to class? What makes you think you can act all high and mighty while looking down on us?!” he sputtered.

“That sounds exactly like what an insecure person would say. In fact, I’ve no clue who you are, so why would I even bother looking down on you? If that’s all, move or I’ll make you.” she said.

The boy's face grew red as he contemplated violence.

“Oiy Wendell! You're in or you're out! Pick one!” Sam shouted from behind.

The one sided argument had created a traffic jam. The people behind her were more interested in leaving then joining Wendell’s crusade. His plan to establish himself fell flat. That didn’t mean that other kids in the class didn’t share the same opinion. Most agreed that she was given too much consideration compared to them, but they had places to be.

Many angry voices sounded out, and forced Wendell to move from the door and allow people to leave. Lilith took the chance and walked out with them. She made it halfway down the hall before someone else called to her

“Lilith wait! Are you okay?” someone shouted

Lilith stopped and looked back towards the origin, Sam. Curiosity overtook her as she stopped and waited for them to catch up. They have been the only classmates who hadn’t scrutinized her every move, even despite Levy’s previous behavior.

She decided to stop.

“Yes. What do you want?” She asked.

‘Why are they always together?’ She also wondered.

“We heard about something happening at the Pokemon Center and then you don’t show up to class Monday? Wasn’t hard to put together, despite people not talking about it. They get real squirrely when asked what happened.” Levy said.

Lilith had begun to see her in a new light since the time she had gotten to know her. Sam’s initial explanation was correct. She was a prickly pear on the outside, but nice and sweet on the inside. A classic Tsundere.

“It was nothing…” She paused. “Do you guys want to see some high level battles? I help someone at the Gym with training,” she asked

In a moment of weakness, Lilith opened up to the children. She had tried avoiding them on the fact that she was mentally much older than them. Sam seemed mature, if not a little lazy while Levy reminded her a lot of her own personality. Lilith decided it couldn’t hurt to invite other people to the Bisharp spars.

***

The duo accepted and followed Lilith to Tyler’s daily practice with Bisharp. It was starting to become tedious, as she was slowly approaching a point where attending would do nothing to help her improve. She could entertain herself with their presence. It wasn’t that there wasn’t more information to learn, just that she wasn’t in a position to even notice she needed to know the information. The more detailed work evaded her.

Sam and Levy thought differently. Training like this was hard to come by. The only public matches were at the end of the Season Challenger Tournament, and those had to be viewed in person. Recordings of any kind were prohibited to help insulate weaknesses that could be exploited by unsavory parties like Team Plasma. They gushed over the chance Lilith had given them.

“Did you see that flawless side step into an uppercut that Lopunny pulled off?!” Sam cheered.

“Or the Feint combo into an Iron Head? It's too bad their energy levels are so far apart, it would have made a much more interesting match.” Levy commented.

They went back and forth in excitement talking about what they had witnessed. They talked about different strategies and what might be implemented on their team. They talked all the way up until they had to be shown out of the Gym. Their time was up, so everyone started their trip home.

“So has your Egg hatched yet?” Levy asked.

She had been singularly focused on it ever since laying eyes on it.

“Hmm.” She hummed in the affirmative

Lilith thought of the worst case scenarios if they met Absol. She hadn’t joined the days training because of their very presence. It would be counter productive to reveal her after hiding her for the afternoon.

Tomorrow was Friday and the second day of their practical combat class. Absol would be there with her partner so it didn’t really make a difference if they saw her a day early. Lilith kicked herself for not planning ahead.

“Yes, do you want to meet her?” she asked.

“You bet I do! Darumaka and I have been looking for someone other than those two stuck up losers to hang out with!” Sam laughed.

Levy fumed behind them, not commenting on his bad attempt at a joke. Their matches had always been even. One didn’t win too much over the other. If anything, he was the loser for getting beaten so often.

Darumaka and Axew trailed behind the trio as they headed to Lilith’s apartment. She knocked on the front door before turning the key and entering. Bianca came running.

“Oh hello! Lilith has told me nothing about any of the wonderful new people she has met, so who might you be?” She inspected the two.

Bianca voiced her displeasure at Lilith’s obstinacy. Lilith had made it very clear that they were just housemates until she left on her journey and to not get all touchy feely.

“OH?! You are the kids we met at the mall! How nice to meet you, please do come inside. Can I get you anything to drink?” she gushed over the two guests.

Bianca was the opposite of lilith, she was always warm and colorful. She was an extrovert while Lilith was much more introverted. They didn’t always see eye to eye on certain things. She rolled her eyes at Bianca's antics and pushed past her down into the hallway.

The guests sat down in the small living room while Lilith entered her room. The lights were off, as Absol had taken to sleeping during the day and staying awake at night. Lilith walked into the room unimpeded. Their new connection had affected her greatly. She found herself able to see much better in the dark and was increasingly affected by the daylight in a negative way. It wasn't night vision, but something similar. It was almost as if she saw what her Pokemon had already seen. The new routine had killed her sleep schedule as she was pulled into sleeping during the day. Bags started to form under her eyes because the only time she found to sleep was right before or after classes, sometimes even right through..

Their nights were filled with fun children's toys. Lilith played games with Absol to pass the time. Her favorite game was putting pegs into the corresponding shaped hole. The plastic shapes littered the room as she stepped over them to arrive at her partner.

Lilith nudged Absol awake. She lay down on her special bed that reminded Lilith too much of a doggy bed. The shape, size, and function were all the same unfortunately so she couldn't stop making the comparison.

“You want to meet some new people?” she asked.

Absol was a quick learner and had started understanding some of what Lilith spoke about. She nodded before chomping down on her Dread Plate and followed behind Lilith. Absol never went anywhere without the Plate, it was too good an item to not take with her. The two made their way into the living room full of chaos.

Darumaka ran around the chairs as Axew sat on Levy’s lap. Samurott indulged the young Pokemon and sent bubbles chasing after her. Darumaka giggled and ran away in mock fright. Levy rolled her eyes at the Pokemon’s antics as Absol walked in. her full form came into view.

“Oh…” words escaped her.

Levy stared wide eyed at the Pokemon before her. Her grandpa was right, it was an Absol. She hadn’t even told Sam what she had expected to see. It was ironic how beautiful a Pokemon labeled a Disaster was.

Absol eyed the four intruders while circling Bianca who was sitting in her favorite chair. She nudged Bianca’s hand to get her usual pats.

“Come on girl.” Lilith called out.

Absol ran over and sat in her lap at the sound of her voice. Lilith lay on the ground and stroked her fur in indulgence.

“This is my Partner, Absol. Absol, that is Sam, and she is Levy.” she pointed to each of her guests.

***

The Sun set and her guests eventually left. Levy and Sam had grilled her on many things like how she found an Absol Egg, her moves, what her plan was for tomorrow's training, and much more.

They had brought up many good points and something Lilith had been putting off. The trip to the Pokemon Center was supposed to tell her the moves Absol knew. Their PokeReader had many functions other than reading the star level of Pokemon. It could also read the potential pathways energy could follow and predict the moves a Pokemon might know.

Lilith hadn’t wanted to go back since last time she attempted the journey, and had been putting it off ever since. Instead, she tried looking up known movesets for her Species on the Pokedex, but there wasn’t any information on the matter. She theorized that a National Dex would be needed for such information. Short of asking Bianca, no solution presented itself, and she already owed Bianca too much.

“Show me what you got!” she encouraged Absol.

The two went out that night and rented a room at the Gym with the funds given to her by Cheren. Lilith simply asked what moves Absol had access to, like she had done with Pansage. Moves were instinctual and she didn’t need a machine to tell her what a Pokemon move did, Lilith had years of experience playing the games.

At first Absol was unsure what Lilith was getting at, but moving dark energy through her body had become second nature by constantly holding the Dread Plate.

“It's a feeling, you just move like the Dread Plate!” she encouraged Absol.

After many attempts, her fangs grew out into points as her jaw lowered. It wasn’t a drastic change, but visibly notable.

“That must be Bite! Good job!” Lilith gave Absol a rub.

The duo took a moment to celebrate Absol’s first move. Hugs and kisses went with their little jubilee. It had no power behind it, but that was ok, practice was vital to improving.

“That’s a Dark-Type move, just like you. Moves of the same type are amplified and become stronger. Do you have any other Dark type moves?” she asked

Now that Absol had used Bite for the first time, she could call upon it much faster. She had learned the move. The odds of having more than one S.T.A.B. (same type attack bonus) move when so low leveled was small, but Lilith asked anyway. Time went by as they explored for more triggers.

The problem was the exploration of different energies. Dark came to her like second nature because that’s the type she was born with. Neutral types would take time and types super-effective to her like Fighting, Bug, and Fairy would be especially hard if she ever got access to them.

Soon enough they hit a wall. Absol could not find any moves she was able to learn despite Lilith having an inkling of what they would be. Absol couldn’t find the Normal type energy, and as fate would have it, they stood inside the Normal Gym.

Lilith walked over to the touch screen secured to the wall by the entrance of the arena. Their main function was asking for help, or emergencies. It was late and she was unsure who might be available to help so she whipped out her Pokedex instead. She sat down and searched for ways to learn moves early on and found many different websites. She looked for League affiliated sites but had no such luck.

She read through some of the different pages while pacing across the arena. She closed her Dex in frustration, not finding what she was looking for. Though Lilith was unsure what to do, she could spot bad advice. Her prior knowledge made it easy to suss out.

Lilith gave up and walked back over to the touch pad by the arena entrance. She hit the ‘Ask for Assistance’ button before being brought to another menu. It listed a whole bunch of problems. She hit the ‘Learning Normal Moves’ button but found all the moves were at a much higher level than what she needed. Giga Impact and Hyper Beam were at the top of the list with Skull-Bash, Explosion, and Self Destruct right below. They descended in order of power.

Lilith hit the back button before scrolling down, she just needed preliminary help

. The options for help were varied and each tab was a niche problem, mainly for Normal Types. She was unsure if any help would be available or if the Gym catered to too high a Trainer level.

“Ah, here it is.: She said aloud, finding what she was looking for.

‘Early Normal Type Advisory’ was at the bottom of the list. She picked it, and a new list of instructors popped up. It listed their rates, how skilled they were, along with when and where they were available for tutelage.

Lilith didn’t need to bother a master like Cheren or even contemplate the rates that someone at that level would charge. Instead, she set filters for one of the Helpers around the middle of the pack that were also available immediately. Someone not too inexperienced, but wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg.

Only one name popped up, so Lilith set up a one hour session. She scanned her Trainer card, and transferred the funds by hitting accept. An extra charge was added for the immediate response, but it would definitely be worth it. Lilith added a mental note to plan ahead when scheduling future training sessions.

A generic, ‘Thank you for your patronage’ popped up. Then it stated that the selected instructor had been contacted with the room number and that they were on their way..

‘They really have this service system down pat…’ Lilith thought.