“Aura, get it with your Vacuum Wave!” I ordered, just after my latest partner, the Riolu now named Aura, for his golden body, dodged the swooping avian. It had been a delight to discover that, maybe due to the incredible prowess of his progenitor, little Aura was already able to use a small amount of a Lucario’s unique characteristics, the ability to project force outwards. While he had yet to learn to actually form the famous Aura Sphere, he could form a, far weaker, Vacuum Wave and launch it at his enemies, allowing him to strike from afar.

That ability alone opened up tactics I hadn’t thought possible, as Aura’s natural agility and incredible strength combined to make him a slippery foe, almost impossible to pin down. Where most Fighting-type Pokémon had to move in and directly attack their opponent, often leaving them open to counterattacks, little Aura could put his entire focus on dodging and strike back afterwards, without endangering himself.

Just like he managed this time, the aggressive Starly missed its Wing Attack, only causing some sand to scatter, and on the way out, the lightly glowing Vacuum Wave struck, causing it to tumble and heavily land on the ground, prone and briefly dazed.

“Now, get on top of it with Metal Claw,” I continued and Aura leapt forward, both of his small, normally so wonderfully soft, pawns glowing with cold, metal-grey light. The Starly didn’t have a chance to dodge or even try to strike back, Aura easily pinned it and gave it a few strikes, until it stopped struggling, completely knocked out.

“Well done, Aura,” I complimented, gently checking my new partner after his fifth time in combat. The last two days, much of my time had been used to head out of Celestic Town, into the surrounding area, and find suitable weak Pokémon for the newly hatched Riolu to train with. And his growth had been quite staggering While he was still far beneath Charm and Vio, his progress from a slightly clumsy chick to a calm battler, within just two days was simply incredible.

I continued to cheer him on as I rubbed some potion onto his body, before giving the downed Starly a quick check-up, making sure that it hadn’t suffered any serious damage before calling Aura into his Pokéball and continuing on my way.

Just as I was looking up at the sun, gauging the time I had spent wandering in the area right around town, a familiar voice caught my attention.

“Hey, Dani,” Claire called out, her presence out here surprising me a little. I had heard that the others had been idling in town for a few days after I had set out to complete my original task with Wera, but I hadn’t been sure about the exact days, nor did I know their plans or route. Still, it was good to see them.

“Hello, Claire,” I returned the greeting, turning to meet them.

The three of them looked a little rough, their clothes somewhat ripped and in dire need of some washing and card. In addition, when they came up, I noticed a somewhat sour smell, indicating that it wasn’t just their clothes that needed washing, but their bodies as well.

“Are you alright?” Claire and I asked the other, pretty much in unison. Claire’s eyes were focused on my face, still showing some scratches from my encounter with the mountainside, while I just took in their overall appearance.

“We’ll live,” Cliff assured me, the dark shadows under his eyes making me wonder if he was speaking the truth. “What about you, what happened to your face?”

“Oh, you know how it goes, sometimes you hit the ground and sometimes, the ground hits you…” I joked, not willing to go into too much detail, “Ran into some trouble, but Wera and I managed to get through it just fine.”

“That’s good to hear,” Lucas nodded, as I fell in with them, deciding that Aura had trained enough for the day. In addition, I wanted to finish up the future planning and find out what had happened to them.

“Say, why are you out here? Going for a walk?” Claire asked, eying my obviously light pack. They could all see that I wasn’t planning to go anywhere far and none of my Pokémon they knew actually needed to train in this area. There wasn’t even any truly spectacular view in this area that would make one want to linger and enjoy it.

“Hmh, I have a new friend,” I grinned, teasing them a little, even as I pulled out the Pokéball. “Come, Aura,” I called, sending the Riolu out of his comfortable space. His initial reaction was to look around, searching for the foe to fight, before looking at the other three. His first reaction, after checking the area for enemies, was the look at me, as if to confirm his conclusion that there were none.

“They are my friends and companions,” I assured him, giving him a smile and a nod.

“Arceus, that one’s so adorable,” Claire squealed, visibly holding herself back from pouncing and cuddling my partner. A wise choice, as nearly every Pokémon had the ability to mortally wound a human if pressed. It rarely happened, mostly because trainers should know better than to put a Pokémon into a situation where they felt a need to attack a human, but there was always the possibility. As evidenced by the wounds I still carried from a too-close encounter with a group of provoked Bronzor.

“Yes, he’s awesome,” I grinned, giving Aura another nod, to let him know approaching those three funky-smelling humans wasn’t a serious problem.

“He’s so hard,” Claire giggled when she tried petting Aura’s head, the childish surprise in her voice making me snort, while Lucas softly muttered, “Phrasing…”

“Anyway, what happened to you?” I asked, ignoring Claire’s antics.

“We had to put in more effort than expected. All three tasks were a lot more annoying than expected. We had to put in some muscle ourselves and we ran into some troubles on the way,” he explained, his voice sounding grouchy.

“Oh? What sort of troubles?” I asked, hoping that it hadn’t been anything serious. The baleful look Cliff threw at Lucas only made me even more intrigued, so I simply raised an eyebrow, waiting for them to elaborate.

“I fell asleep,” Lucas admitted, the blush on his face quite distinct.

“And he didn’t notice a murder of Murkrow, pecking our stuff apart and making off with some of it,” Cliff added, sounding grouchy, “We managed to find some of it, but quite a lot is either lost or destroyed.”

“He OWES me an entirely new set of underwear,” Claire added, her voice chilling enough to count as an Ice-type attack. That, along with the combination of hateful glare directed at Lucas and bright-red blush on his face managed to make me chuckle, only to get glared at myself. Raising my hands in surrender, I offered to join Claire on the trip to replace her things, even if the offerings in Celestic Town were a little limited.

I was tempted to make some sort of joke in regards to Lucas destroying Claire’s underwear, but decided to control myself, as it looked like Cliff and Claire were both just about to visit bodily injury upon Lucas.

We kept our conversation light until we got back to Celestic Town, where I split off from the others, advising them to go to the hostel as soon as possible and get into the shower. That got me some glares from all three of them, as they weren’t that far gone not to notice their state, the looks making me chuckle as I walked away.

Later in the evening, when I was looking at some of the projects Professor Carolina had given me to study, the doorbell rang and shortly afterwards, I was called by the Professor.

“Dani, Kodra has set a date for the trainer-fight to earn your badge. It’s going to be tomorrow afternoon, three o’clock and will hopefully not take longer than an hour. If there are any pressing matters that prevent you from attending, you’ll have to notify the Gym as soon as possible,” she relayed, getting a nod of acceptance from me.

There was nothing that stopped me, and while Aura hadn’t received as much training as I would like to give him, I wasn’t planning to actually have him fight in the challenge just yet.

“Is it only for me, or will the other three who originally travelled with me attend as well?” I asked though I was quite confident that they’d be there, too.

“I wasn’t told, but the Gym-leaders generally try to have groups that travel together go through these things together, that way, the evaluations are heard by all of you and, maybe, you can help your companions correct some of their troubles as you travel,” the Professor explained.

“I see. Well, I’ll be there, I’m looking forward to it,” I grinned, before changing the subject and asking about the latest events in the complex Wera and I had discovered.