Dinner was an interesting affair. The food was simple but incredibly good, the bread fresh from the oven, a hearty stew and salad fresh from their vegetable patch all came together for a great taste. In addition, the conversation was quite entertaining, especially after Lisa’s brothers realised that I was interested in ways to employ Pokémon for manual labour, a topic the others were eager to hear more about, too.

That led to an almost chaotic environment, where each of the Mountainbacks, as their family was called, added their own opinion in regards to our Pokémon’s abilities. Curiously, it turned out that Greta, Lisa’s mother, was the most experienced one when it came to training, something that was confirmed after dinner when everyone started talking about their badges. Both Greta and Gunther had a full set and it turned out that both of them had previously competed in the League Conference with mixed results. But then, I should have expected that they were competent trainers, or they’d probably not have dared to live out here.

By the time Greta served up freshly brewed coffee and cherry pie, I had a few more ideas when it came to the training of my Pokémon, especially for Vio and Aura. Greta suggested I should try preparing some simple dexterity puzzles for Vio, things where she had to narrow down the focus of her psychic powers and not just blast things with them, at her strength and ability, she should be able to use true psychokinesis, which would be an incredible tool. By the time she evolved, her control would hopefully allow her to retain control and not accidentally destroy things she didn’t want to destroy. But that would be something to worry about later. For now, helping her increase her control would be key.

Similarly, they suggested having Aura help with manual labour, their example was moving boulders but that was something rarely coming up during our travels, as such work would help him bring his strength to bear. It was similar to advice Cynthia had given me in the past, so something I probably should keep in mind and employ whenever possible.

The combination of those two tasks, together with Charm’s ability to hack through small trees and vines with multiple swipes of his claws, should bring me onto a path where I could actually begin to accomplish more complex tasks, without needing help.

Similarly, there were dozens of suggestions on how each of our various partners might be able to contribute outside of Pokémon battles and they even invited us to stay for another day and train under their instruction, a thinly veiled suggestion to help them work on their farm. From the excited looks on the younger generation’s faces, it had less to do with the actual work we could do and more with hopes to have new people in their house for another day, a sentiment I could understand. If hundred people travelled from Snowpoint to Celestic Town each year on the land route, it would surprise me, most experienced trainers would either employ a Pokémon capable of teleporting them, like Cynthia’s Zee, or have a flying Pokémon that they could ride. Sure, they might drip in on the Mountainbacks during their flight, but such trainers would likely not be willing to stay for a while or be in our age range.

Either way, after a brief exchange between the four of us, we decided to accept their invitation and stay for another day.

The rest of the evening was quite interesting. Everyone gathered in the spacious living room, to play board games. Greta had her Numel, which I now realised had provided the heat to cook, sit in the fireplace, where it munched on berries and what looked like charcoal, letting out the occasional gout of hot gas. It turned the entire room toastily warm, making everyone comfortable, even as we tried to mercilessly defeat one another to become the uncontested Champion in a game of Pokémon-Master.

It was great fun, even if it quickly became obvious that Lisa and her brothers were going easy on us. It was fun and by the time we went to bed, I had my fill of socialisation.

The next morning, Greta offered us to wash our clothes while we were helping around the farm. It was an offer all of us gladly accepted and after another sumptuous breakfast, we split up, each of us working with a different sibling.

For me, that meant working with Malcolm, the youngest son, just a year older than me, who was tasked with collecting wood and preparing charcoal. I had no idea how that would work, but I was quite eager to learn, especially when I was told it would be something that might help train Charm and would likely benefit him in the future. Getting extra training was always welcome and so, the two of us set out right after breakfast.

It turned out that Malcolm was an excellent travelling partner, who greatly preferred to keep his silence. During the entire half-hour we spent walking from the farm to the area where the siblings were gathering and logging wood, he spoke about five words, all of which were brief warnings about difficult terrain.

Once there, he gave me simple instructions about what types of wood we had to gather and once he said his piece, we began to work without any additional words. The wood we collected was gathered in the harness of Bully, the Tauros he had brought with him from the farm, which made the task a great deal easier. Instead of having to drag around heavy loads, we could simply put them there and the Tauros dealt with it. As we worked, the difference between animals and Pokémon was once again made obvious. I had little idea how much a bull or cow would be able to lift, I had barely seen such animals around Jubilife City, but I was quite certain that the load the Tauros was casually carrying was a lot higher than any bull could move. At one point, Malcolm even had the Tauros casually move an entire tree, a task he accomplished with ease.

Though, even with the incredible strength of their Tauros, it took us most of the morning to gather the small mountain of wood we needed according to Malcolm. Once we had enough, he guided Bully and me to another place, a completely bare area with multiple black marks from previous burns and we started to pile the wood up in a somewhat complicated fashion, making sure that fire could char the entire mount, without destroying everything. It was complicated and I doubted I’d be able to build such a pyre on my own, but with Malcolm’s guidance, it worked out.

Once the pyre was prepared, he called the Tauros back into a Pokéball and sent out a large, furry pig, a Piloswine, that began to slap mud all over the pyre, covering it quickly in a layer of mud.

“Now, this is your turn. Normally, mom would have sent Don with me, her Numel, to burn the pyre, so the mud is dry. But you said you’ve got a fire-type as well, so it’ll be up to you,” he told me, looking at me with expectation clear in his eyes.

Letting out a deep breath, I took out my own Pokéball, calling out Charm.

“Ok, Charm, we need to dry off that mud, so it forms a nice and even crust,” I explained, repeating what Malcolm had told me earlier, “You need to keep your flames low, so the mud doesn’t try to fast and spread them over the entire thing, so pace yourself.”

With my orders, Charm began gathering flames in his mouth and starting to spit out fire. It was a move we had been working on for some time, to go from the distinct embers he had originally spat out, to the bite attack that incorporated his fiery fangs to a true flamethrower. It wasn’t at a level where he could use it in combat, but it was getting there.

Now, with enough time to focus and a target that wasn’t moving, he could make sure that he got it right and while his first attempts lacked a little oomph, he made sure to err on the side of caution. Slowly but surely, he managed to turn the muddy layer into a nicely baked crust, the task clearly helping him with his focus.

After he had baked half of the pyre, it was clear that he was getting exhausted and to my surprise, Malcolm pulled a small bag from his pack, handing it to me.

“Here, this is Mom’s special berry mix, it’s perfect for fire-types and will help your Charmeleon to recover his strength,” he told me and when I pulled the bag open, there was a mess of charcoal and berries, somewhat mushed together. It didn’t look tasty in my eyes but the moment I offered it to Charm, he was all over it, as if it was the most delicious treat he ever had.

Seeing my surprise, Malcolm just chuckled, “I’m sure Mom will give you some for the road. I’ve got no idea how she managed to make the charcoal that way, but it’s incredible how well it works. If you feed your partner with it for a while, the flames in his body will get a little stronger,” he promised and I remembered Greta’s comment about this task helping my partner in the future.

With the help of the berry mix, Charm quickly recovered his stamina and before long, the entire pyre was baked. Charm lit it up with Malcolm’s guidance and from then on, it would just have to burn for a few days, nothing any of us could do about it.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we got back to the farm, and I felt quite good about myself. Exhausted but it had been an instructive day.