"Tell me Austin, what exactly are your plans for your pokémon?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean, what exactly are your plans for the future?"

"I…" Austin began in a thoughtful tone. "I was hoping that, after I'm done winning the eight badges, I'd get myself some training… maybe on Mount Ember or someplace like this one, where I can train without a care in the world, and then… challenge the gym leaders once again, battle their original teams."

Cynthia raised an eyebrow. "That's ambitious. The gym leaders are chosen for their power and skill. Every gym leader is close to an Ace-level trainer, if not one. And then there is Koga, who is equal to Elite Four members. With Blue being a Champion level trainer. Winning against their standard teams is a difficult job. Winning against their original teams is… a laughable attempt for most."

Austin's eyes widened for a second at the mention of Blue.

' Does that mean Red is out there in the world ?'

"I cannot do with being part of 'most'," Austin muttered. "Whether I want or not, Mewtwo has something planned for me. Measuring myself to League standards isn't a luxury I can afford."

Cynthia frowned. "You do know right that when the time comes, you can always count on me to aid you?"

Austin's hands shook as his mind flashed to the final moments of Raticate throwing itself at him to save his life.

"I know, but I won't. If I fail, it will be me that suffers. Not anyone else." He looked up at her squarely in the eye. "Especially not you."

Cynthia widened her eyes, and her lips parted a little before she composed herself. "Austin, you do not have exclusive copyrights to battling Mewtwo."

"I don't. But the battle we are talking about, that's exclusive to me."

Cynthia opened her mouth to retort back, but no words were enough to describe the whirlpool of emotions in her mind.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The next day, Austin and Cynthia ate breakfast before Cynthia reminded him of talking it out with Scyther.

" Scyther, can you come here for a moment?"

Hearing his trainer's commands, Scyther rushed toward his trainer.

Austin smiled and froze as he saw chips on Scyther's scythes.

' Why didn't I see those before ?'

[ Scyther has been training at night on the other side of the island ]

' Why ?'

[ He seems to be having similar nightmares to you. ]

Hearing Munna's telepathic voice, Austin's heart felt like it stopped for a moment before a tear escaped.

' How bad of a trainer am I? To think that I could forget that my Pokemon were not that affected by her death .'

Seeing his trainer tear up, Scyther moved closer with worry written on his face.

' Munna, are the others also suffering ?'

[ Yes but they all have their nightmares eaten by me as Bulbasaur was able to convince everyone except Scyther who doesn't want to even go to sleep ]

' Of course, he wouldn't, first, his trainer abandoned him for being weak and then he lost a friend and now he must be blaming himself for everything.'

Feeling Scyther's scyther, Austin looked up and with a sad smile said," I am sorry ."

Scyther immediately panicked.

Why was his trainer apologizing? For what was he apologizing?

" I am sorry for being so weak that I couldn't protect you all."

" Scy ! Scyther !"

[ He says that you are not weak, you're the best trainer ever if anything then they were weak ]

" I am weak, Scyther and so are all of us."

Scyther frowned but nodded at his trainer's words.

" You know what my father always said to me when I lost. "

Scyther attentively looked at his trainer as Austin said," Don't let defeat define you, learn from your mistakes and grow since the way to the top is always upward when you are down."

Scyther nodded as he heard those words.

" But can we go to the top if we don't look after our health ?"

Scyther looked away from its trainer.

Austin meanwhile just said," Scyther, can you look at me and say that you will take care of your health .... please ."

Hearing his trainer's tone of voice, Scyther's heart almost broke before Scyther looked at his trainer while outstretching his scythes.

" Scyth! Scyther!"

[ He says he will take care of himself if you start taking care of yourself ]

Austin took a deep breath and smiled," Then it's a promise Scyther ."

" Scythe, Scyther !"

" Oh yeah! Before I forget, Scyther I wanted to ask you something."

Scyther curiously looked at his trainer who took out a cylindrical metal coating from his backpack.

Scyther instinctively knew what the item in front of him was as Paul would always compare him with his brother's Scizor and he instinctively knew that he needed that item to evolve into Scizor.

" Looks like I don't have to explain anything but for your future pathway, Cynthia told me to ask you this. Do you want to evolve or not? It's your choice Scizor, if you want to evolve then touch it and if not then don't. To me personally, it doesn't matter if you evolve or not, I will always respect your decision."

Scyther hesitated as he wanted to become strong by being a Scyther. Maybe it was his pride or maybe he wanted to prove his previous trainer wrong but now after losing a precious friend, Scyther knew that if he wanted to get stronger to protect those around him, he would need to evolve.

His pride and his desire to prove Paul wrong, be damned. If he can gain the power to protect his family then he will gladly evolve.

Scyther will determination-filled eyes touched the metal coat.

Scyther closed his eyes as he waited for something to happen before he opened his eyes and he was still a Scyther.

Austin and Scyther stared at one another both equally confused.

.....

" So Scyther chooses to evolve? " Cynthia said.

" Yes ."

" So what's the problem ?"

" He touched the metal coat but he doesn't seem to evolve ."

" That's not how to evolve Scyther into Scizor."

" But you said that we can evolve Scyther by just attaching this " Link Cable" to Scyther's Pokeball and giving it a metal coat."

Cynthia sighed and pinch Austin's cheeks," Sometimes I forget that you don't know everything about Pokémon ."

" What ?"

" You have to return Scyther into its Pokeball with the metal coat."

" Woops ."

" Scyther !" Austin chuckled as he turned towards the annoyed Scyther as he was holding the metal coat.

Taking out Scyther's Pokeball which had a black cord attached to its side, Austin returned Scyther before the Pokeball began to shake as the Link Cable glowed with a bright light engulfing the Pokeball.

Throwing the Pokeball out, a beam of red flashed as a bright light of evolution attracted everyone's attention.

The light died down revealing a human-sized mantis similar to its evolutionary predecessor Scyther, with a thick, metallic red exoskeleton and crab-like claws. A body as hard as steel, with claws strong enough to crush any hard object. With closed jaws, which are patterned with black, eyespots with yellow "pupils".

" Scizor !"

Austin smiled as he gazed at one of his favorite Pokémons while pulling out the Pokedex.

Scizor The Pincer Pokémon Pokemon. Scizor has a body with the hardness of steel. It is not easily fazed by ordinary sorts of attacks. This Pokémon flaps its wings to regulate its body temperature.

The Pokedex beeped.

"This Scizor is Male and the Ability is Technician. Currently, this Scizor knows Wing Attack, Quick Attack, Slash, Brick Break, Aerial Ace, Agility, Fury Cutter, U-turn, Pursuit, Razor Wind, Swords Dance, Feint, and Bullet Punch. The Age of this Scizor is Four Years and Four Months."