Emile Hawthorne was a weird man, Vito observed as he ran his fingers over the grassy fields of Route 17. The trainer was clearly experienced, or at the very least more experienced than he was, and yet, he had gone from defeating two sailors with his Glaceon to biting on said Glaceon’s leg when he had met the two, and somehow they had been robbed by a group of fledgling Rattata.

“Do it humanely, kiddo,” Emile said before he hid under the shade of a tree, his Glaceon by his side. Every time Vito looked over in their direction, he could see that the two were conversing about something.

“Why can’t he do it?” Vito grumbled to Pikachu.

The yellow mouse shrugged, and both Pokemon and trainer sighed as they continued prowling through the grass, looking for any trace of the Rattata that had allegedly stolen from Emile.

Vito had dealt with Rattata before, both dark and normal forms. They were quite finicky creatures who would feast on crops and flee as soon as they were spotted, and their nests were difficult to find, but after working for Old Man Giuseppe for so long, Vito had learned how to find their nests.

Their nests tended to have plenty of berries and other vegetation stored, and if a Pokemon with a good nose was around, they could sniff the nests out with no problem.

Pika!

“Did you find it?” Vito raised his head to his partner

Pikachu nodded his head, and Vito followed his partner. They didn’t walk for long before Pikachu began running over a mound of dirt that had been freshly formed.

Vito smiled and patted his Pikachu on the head, then, he glanced in Emile’s direction. The trainer was still under the tree, and his Glaceon was curled up into a nice ice-blue ball beside him. The sight of it made Vito roll his eyes and groan.

“You see this shit, Pikachu?” He pointed at Emile and his Glaceon. “Lazy bastards, the both of em’.”

Pikachu nodded in agreement, his mouth curled into a look of contempt for the older trainer and his partner.

“Hey!” Vito called out

There was no response from Emile. For a moment, Vito doubted his desire to learn from this washed-up trainer, but he pushed his thoughts away. Perhaps, he thought, this would be worth it.

“We found the nest!” Vito shouted again, this time louder than before. “You just want the package, right?”

“Yup!” Emile shouted back, though he wasn’t as loud as Vito. “Make sure to get it back nice and easy; don’t ruin that nest!”

Vito rolled his eyes again. He heard Emile the first time; he didn’t need to be lectured about doing something he’d done for years before.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag filled with pecha berries. Originally, he had carried them with him as a snack, but he also knew that these were a Rattata’s favorite thing in the world. They were attracted to them like a Cutiefly to honey.

Vito opened the plastic bag, and he couldn’t help but breathe deeply as the earthly yet sweet aroma of pecha berries filled his nostrils. He held the bag over the mound and gently moved his foot, slowly removing the mound of dirt. To his delight, he saw two red eyes looking at him.

Vito had done this a hundred times working for Giuseppe. The Rattata would spring out, craving the sweet delicacy, and Vito would throw the berries out while others would deal with the tiny rodents, though in this case, Pikachu would enter the nest and quickly take Emile’s package.

“C’mon out, little fellas,” he politely urged.

Vito’s heart was pounding beneath his chest, and an overwhelming sense of dread washed over him. Was it because he wanted to impress this trainer who watched him from afar? Was he afraid that something bad would happen? No, that was too ridiculous. What could possibly go wrong-

Skreeeet!

A loud, violent cry erupted from the hole. It sounded like a Rattata, but the pitch of its cry was much deeper and it rattled in his skull. Vito swallowed hard and jumped back on sheer instinct as he watched a giant Raticate burst from the ground like a missile.

Before Vito cursed himself for feeling afraid, Pikachu had sprung into action. Electricity crackled from his cheeks as he jumped in front of Raticate. The rat’s violent hissing then met the smaller mouse’s

Vito looked over Raticate. It was the evolved form of Rattata, and it was much larger, too. It had crimson eyes full of frustration and hunger, and its red eyes were full of rage. Merely looking at it made the trainer’s skin crawl, and he felt paranoid.

He wasn’t going to be afraid, not this time. Vito swallowed hard and soon, his glare met Raticate’s, and the trainer tried his best to match the Pokemon’s glare with one of his own. “Alright, Pikachu! This freak might be bigger than you, but you have the advantage in speed! Run and use Thundershock.”

That was how it worked, right? Vito thought to himself. He had seen plenty of battles where the smaller and lighter fighter would outspeed and defeat their opponent in many scenarios thanks to their sheer mobility. It should work in this case, judging how Raticate was a wild Pokemon and untrained.

Pikachu became a yellow blur of motion, glowing and crackling with electricity as he moved around Raticate and within a second, he unleashed a burst of lightning at Raticate!

The larger creature merely shrugged off the lightning bolt, the only sign of it ever hitting was its slightly scorched fur and then raised its arm. Its tiny claws were sharp, capable of tearing into Pikachu’s flesh with ease, and its small paw could crush his head like a grape.

Until the Raticate smiled, and it struck down at Pikachu’s location, almost as if it had known exactly where its smaller opponent would be moving to. Its claws didn’t pierce Pikachu’s skin, but they were doing a good job of holding him still.

No.

Nauseousness but he soon realized that the perfect plan was right before them.

“Get out of there, Pikachu!” he shouted. “Use your cheeks!”

It was a weird request, but Vito had spent plenty of time with his partner to know that a Thundershock was painful.

Pikachu raised a brow as best it could but decided to once again allow electricity to course through its crimson cheeks, then the yellow mouse nuzzled his cheek against Raticate’s fur.

This time, it let out a howl as it removed its hand from the yellow rodent.

Pikachu took advantage of the sudden pain that Raticate was in and retreated from the larger opponent

It glared at Pikachu with sheer hatred for not only wounding it but causing its arm to go numb.

“Hell yeah, good job!” Vito cried out. “Now then, Quick Attack!”

A grin crept across Pikachu’s face, and it turned into a yellow blur of motion again. It raced toward the larger opponent like a freight train, which was certain to leave an impact this time, unlike his Thundershock!

That’s what he was thinking until Vito watched as Raticate smiled and lifted its other arm, and this time it intended on delivering a fatal blow… and it was all being played out to the young trainer in slow-motion.

“Wait, Pikachu!” he cried, but he could only watch.

His heart pounded beneath his chest, and his stomach felt uneasy and sank as terrible thoughts raced through his mind. This would be Pikachu’s final moment in this world; Vito almost knew it. He had bitten off more than he could chew with this one and-

“Deploy,” an ice-cold voice from behind commanded.

As soon as he heard those words, Vito saw Pikachu knock into the back of Emile Hawthorne’s Ceruledge, who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

-oOo-

Emile didn’t have time to recollect what had happened earlier.

As soon as he saw Raticate raise its free arm, he knew that there was a good chance the yellow rodent would have been rat food.

“Deploy.” A single word spoken with machine-like coldness, caused Chevalier to arise from the shadows and defend Pikachu and Vito. Ceruledge stood before Raticate, her piercing eyes glaring daggers at the large rodent.

Emile narrowed his eyes as he observed Raticate. The Pokemon’s fur was darker than what he had gathered from online images and was noticeably thicker. These traits, along with its pale skin and longer-than-average whiskers, led the veteran trainer to conclude that the Pokemon had to be around 30-40 years old. More than likely, this Raticate was a denmother, he thought to himself before he turned his head to Frère.

Glaceon simply nodded his head, then turned his attention towards the uncovered hole leading to Raticate’s den.

Emile looked back at Chevalier and Raticate. The dark type bared its fangs and lunged forward until Chevalier disappeared.

No, not disappeared. She had merely dodged, stepping past the Raticate with her swift movements. Within a second, Emile watched two pink-colored square barriers form in front of his Ceruledge, which soon enveloped her armor. Her armor glowed pink for a brief second before fading away. 

The barriers were known as Reflect and Light Screen, two moves that acted as defensive barriers to prevent the user from being damaged.

The Raticate hissed and growled before moving forward away from her nest. Her attention was now solely focused on Chevalier.

Emile smirked. The ugly rat was in for it now, he thought as he watched the battle unfold.

Already, Frère had left his trainer’s side and charged toward the hole, and Vito grabbed Pikachu and hurried to the sidelines, where he watched the battle unfold.

“Chevalier! Overwhelm and disable, but no more than that,” he commanded.

The Ghost type didn’t have to be told anything else. Instead, she lunged towards Raticate, who met her lunge with a powerful bite that threatened to tear apart Ceruledge’s armor

Unfortunately, her teeth clamped down on nothing, and Chevalier was already ten feet in the air and dropping down fast.

Frustrated, the Raticate opened her mouth wide but not to bite. Instead, a ball of dark energy formed in front of her. It had barely appeared before the rat unleashed her attack, a violet beam of negative energy that was as fast as light. Emile barely had time to process the rodent’s attack but knew from the explosion it caused that it impacted Chevalier with the force of a freight train, leaving only a smoky cloud.

Unfortunately for the Raticate, Chevalier wasn’t defeated. Instead, she brushed away the smoke with her swords, and her blades began burning bright blue. With the force of a hammer, she brought an arm down upon the rodent! Raticate let out a high-pitched scream of pain, and Emile could see the burn marks on the obese rodent’s figure.

It wasn’t the end, though, as Chevalier soon darted to the left and swung her blades in a violent frenzy again before moving in another direction. The Raticate was too slow, and upon each slash, she started slowing down more and more.

She let out a violent scream again and began looking in all directions. Raticate opened her mouth wide, and Emile could hear the sounds of violent gurgling coming from Ceruledge's foe. For a brief moment, he raised a brow.

Then it hit him.

“She’s going to use a poison attack!” he alerted Chevalier.

As soon as those words were uttered, a vile purple liquid shot out of Raticate’s mouth. Looking at it made Emile cringe slightly. It looked a lot like vomit, and Emile was certain that Raticate used her own internal toxins to unleash the attack.

Chevalier merely raised an arm, and her sword began to burn so bright that as soon as the disgusting concoction grew close to her, it quickly evaporated, turning into a sick purple steam that faded away within seconds.

Raticate screamed fiercely and began firing out small, pellet-like shots of the same purple bile, but of course, Chevalier evaded. Her movements were now becoming so fast that she was leaving behind a dozen after-images, and each shot of vomit was hitting each of them.

Raticate was growing increasingly frustrated, but before she could even let out another loud screech, Chevalier jumped at her opponent and unleashed a devastating kick to the rat’s jaw that sent her flying across the field, where she then crashed onto the ground.

Emile cringed again as he watched the rodent be sent flying from the unexpected blow. He couldn’t help but imagine feeling her kick…

His eyes watched Raticate for only a few seconds. Her body twitched and rolled over, and it was clear to Emile that she was only rendered unconscious.

Chevalier appeared right before Emile, who smiled and gently touched the part of her arm that wasn’t a weapon.

“Man, do I miss watching you battle.” he complimented. “Good job.”

Chevalier simply nodded her head, then bowed gracefully before she disappeared into her trainer’s shadow.

“Now then…”

He looked towards the hole and already saw Frère out of it. The trainer’s eyes widened as he saw the package he had been carrying was torn… however, the contents inside of it weren’t damaged at all.

It was a good thing that they weren’t interested in Pokeballs, Emile thought as he walked towards Frère and kneeled, gently taking the item from his Glaceon’s mouth and removing the packaging, revealing only one single Pokeball in its miniscule state.

“Hopefully, nothing bad has happened to it.” He swallowed hard. 

His father would kill him if it did, and Emile would want to kill himself afterward…

With the press of a button, the Pokeball enlarged itself to its normal size, and with another press, the ball opened up with a ray of light, unleashing a small figure with a large furry collar and a bushy tail. Emile could see more of the creature’s brown fur and bright brown eyes as the light dimmed.

The creature yawned before stretching its body, and as it looked at Emile, it smiled.

“Prriii!”

Then it walked towards him, nuzzling into his chest. The smiling trainer couldn’t help but lean into the creature’s warmth, and his hands gently pet the adorable Pokemon.

“Hey, little guy… I had a little adventure trying to get you back,” he greeted. “We’re in Enotria now,”

The Pokemon tilted its head, not understanding the words coming from the human’s mouth, but it didn’t take long for Frère to speak, which made the brown Pokemon’s eyes light up.

“Frère, can you let Eevee know that he needs to go back in his ball? We’ll be somewhere safe soon.” He looked to his Glaceon. “Now isn’t a good time,”

Frère nodded, and the ice type began communicating with Eevee. It was a brief conversation, but Emile watched as Eevee frowned and his eyes lowered, obviously displeased with the information he was receiving.

“Hey, hey. It’ll be alright, little buddy,” encouraged Emile, before going back to petting Eevee. “You’ll be in your new home shortly, I promise, and I’ll take care of you every step of the way.”

That seemed to brighten the fox-like creature’s spirits, and it let out a happy cry.

“Good boy.” He raised Eevee’s Pokeball and soon tapped the button, this time returning Eevee to the Pokeball.

Emile stood up, attached the ball to his belt, and sighed. He was tired; unfortunately, he knew he had one last thing to take care of. His eyes met Vito’s figure, and he watched the new trainer feed Pikachu a blue oran berry that he had pulled out from his pocket.

“Well, with the deal broken, I should take my leave no-”

He was interrupted by the stinging pain sensation on his leg, and he looked down to see Frère gently nipping at him.

“Hey! What the heck is that for?” He looked down at Frère.

Frère released his trainer but looked at him with narrowed eyes before he let out a single demand in the form of a bark.

“What? He’s already healed his partner,” Emile pointed at Vito, who was petting his Pikachu.

It took a few moments of staring. Frère’s blank expression didn’t change, and for a while, Emile was puzzled as to what his friend could have ever possibly been referring to… then it hit him. Frère remembered the previous conversation Emile had had with the fresh trainer.

“The answer is no.” He shook his head upon realization. “Absolutely not, never.”

Frère’s expression did not change, and he stepped forward, his gaze refusing to leave Emile’s face.

“You’re busting my balls, right?” Emile glared.

There was no sense arguing, Emile thought. He knew that when Frère narrowed his eyes like that and stared at Emile, the Glaceon’s mind would be set. Nothing would change it, and normally, his “opinions” on things were good, but in this scenario…

Emile couldn’t help but wonder if Frère wanted to mess with him some more.

“What are ya talking about?” He and Frère heard from behind.

Emile turned his head and looked at Vito for a moment before he sighed and raised his hand, motioning Vito to come forward.

“C’mon, numbnuts. We’re moving away from here and setting up camp…”

The Wandering Teacher

Route 17

Night had fallen over Enotria, and Vito’s heart pounded beneath his chest as he followed behind Emile and his Glaceon, he tried to stop himself from bouncing up and down from sheer excitement.

At first, he had his doubts about Emile, but watching his Ceruledge in action was amazing! At first, she was absolutely terrifying, but seeing her fight off that Raticate without breaking a sweat made the young trainer jealous. She was faster and stronger than the old rat and easily took it out simply by slashing it a little and kicking it in the face!

Eventually, they stopped in the middle of Route 17. They were farther than they had been earlier, but they were still a distance away from Lantana.

“We’ll make camp here,” Emile sat on a nearby stump. “I’m tired, and I wasted some time with the Raticate shenanigans.”

Their surroundings consisted of plain fields and plenty of trees surrounding them. If one looked closely, they could see the figures of Spinarak that crawled on various trees, looking for something to eat.

Thankfully, they didn’t bother humans, at least when they weren’t antagonized. However, if they were antagonized by someone or other Pokemon, then they wouldn’t have to deal with just the Spinarak but an Ariados or two as well.

Emile took his backpack off and unzipped a pocket, then pulled out a bundled-up tent designed to be carried in Silph Bags.

“So… when can you teach me how to be like you?” Vito couldn’t help but ask.

“What’s your name again, kid?” Emile sat the tent beside him and started to set it up.

“Hey! I’m not a kid, and my name is Vito Barone!” The younger trainer glared, before moving closer in an attempt to meet Emile’s gaze.

The older trainer ignored him and focused on his tent.

Vito groaned, frustrated at having his name forgotten so quickly. Surely, Emile could have at least tried remembering someone he had met only a couple of hours ago!

“Eesh, calm down.” Emile turned to meet Vito’s gaze with a sigh. “It's been a long day, I don’t exactly feel like remembering things at the moment,”

Vito was speechless by the calm reply, and instead of replying, he opted to sit on another tree stump near Emile.

“Anyways, as you know, I’m Emile Hawthorne. This guy here is my Glaceon, Frère.” he pointed at his silent partner, who bowed his head towards Vito.

“Oh… well, this is Pikachu!”

The yellow mouse who had rode on Vito’s shoulder raised his hand, greeting both Emile and Frère.

“A pleasure.” Emile softly smiled. “Now then, Vito. Why exactly are you chasing after me? Wouldn’t it have been more convenient to better prepare for your gym challenge?”

“Maybe.” Vito shrugged. “But the truth is… I don’t know what I’m doing,”

Emile merely raised a brow, but he didn’t say a word. Instead, he started to listen to the boy speak.

“I don’t have much experience doing anything as a trainer… normally it's best if you go to Paradiso Academy for trainer schooling, but that costs a lot of money, and it's located up in the north,” Vito explained. “And I had just enough funds to get my trainer’s license, though The Pokemon Center in Bellisimo Mare gave me a free one.”

“Paradiso Academy?”

“Yeah, it's sort of Enotria’s version of that one academy in Paldea, Naransomething. I don’t know if it’s good compared to that academy, but right now, Paradiso is the top academy in Enotria, and people go there if they want to be trainers, rangers, or whatever.” Vito shrugged.

Emile nodded his head, and Vito was compelled to go on further.

“I just want to be a strong trainer,” he confessed. “I just… don’t know how, so I thought maybe I could learn some things from you.”

“Listen, Vito.” Emile scratched his chin and sighed. “Back in my day, trainers never knew what they were doing when they started out. It's like that everywhere, fancy academy or no fancy academy. That being said, I don’t have a problem showing you a thing or two, but don’t expect yourself to be Champion your first year.”

A burst of adrenaline shot through Vito as he heard those words. Emile was really going to teach him-

“Ow!” he yelped; he had felt the sudden impact of Emile’s hand smacking him against the back of the head.

“That is for endangering your partner and yourself like that!” the older trainer scolded. “You’re supposed to lure the Rattata away from their hole; what were you even thinking?” 

“That’s what the farmers I worked with did!” Vito swatted Emile’s hand away.

“Then they’re stupid!” Emile said. “Never do that again! You should have retreated when you saw that Raticate.” 

Vito looked down, and he couldn’t help but think back about his brief “battle,” if one could call it that, and the image of his Pikachu being turned into Raticate food made his heart sink into his stomach.

“Listen to me.”

Vito looked up to meet Emile’s gaze and saw him gently hold Frère in his arms.

“Frère here is my partner; he’s been with me for as long as I’ve been alive,” he said as he rose his Glaceon up to meet Vito’s stare. “I wouldn’t know what to do if Arceus forbid, he died, and I’m sure you wouldn’t know what you would do if your Pikachu died, right?”

“Yeah…” Vito weakly said.

“Then, take care of your partner next time,” commanded Emile. “It's fine if you want to challenge yourself by battling a stronger Pokemon, but your little pal was close to being torn apart twice, first by Chevalier and the second by that Raticate. If you know that you don’t stand a chance, don’t battle. That’s one of the first rules to being a decent trainer,”

“Alright, alright. I got it,” Vito replied before he turned his head towards Pikachu. “I’m sorry, Pikachu.”

“No need to apologize to the little guy,” Emile said as he put his Glaceon down. “Just do better. You’ll have plenty of chances to do so, and both of you will.” He continued as he gently pet Pikachu, and his eyes looked up and down at the mouse’s body, nodding his head as he inspected him.

“Coloration isn’t bad, eyes seem OK, and he definitely is a speedy little fella. You’re at least doing a decent job with his diet,”

“Yeah, I looked online for a few things, and I kind of just let Pikachu eat whatever berries we could find when we were done working,” Vito replied.

Emile nodded before he pat Pikachu on the head one final time.

“There’ll need to be a slight change in his diet, nothing dramatic though, as far as I can gather. He needs a boost in his stamina; his electricity output could be better, too, but we’ll improve on that in training.”

Vito nodded; a smile had appeared on his face at the mere mention of training.

“Speaking of diet, who’s hungry?” grinned Emile.

Vito and Pikachu both smiled at the question, and the two raised their hands in response. Frère even spoke, letting out a bark to show his desire for food.

“Alright, but you two will help me prepare dinner… or is this technically lunch?” Emile asked before shaking his head and saying it didn’t matter

Vito and Pikachu began listening to Emile as he gave out his orders while he reached into his bag to pull out various ingredients.

Maybe, thought Vito, this journey was going to be alright.

The Wandering Teacher

It was midnight now, thought Emile as he stepped outside his tent with a large plastic bag in his hand. Route 17 was quiet, and the trainer could hear the calm singing of Kricketots a good distance away.

He turned his head back to the tent, it appeared that Vito was sound asleep, Pikachu right beside him. The Kalsoian thought it was a cute sight, bringing back a few fond memories.

“Do you remember when we were like that?” Emile whispered to Frère, who was by his side.

Glaceon nodded with a small smile as he followed his trainer, who walked away from the tent.

“Kid’s been fed, Eevee’s been fed, now we just need to feed everyone else,” he said. “I don’t want to introduce them to the kid just yet…”

There was nothing “wrong” with Emile’s team, but the veteran trainer didn’t think introducing him to everyone would have been best. Tomorrow, that would change, and he had begun thinking of a “proper” routine for Vito to follow.

“He’s a good kid, isn’t he? Reminds me a bit of us when we first started.” the trainer smirked.

Those were the days, thought Emile. He remembered his first days like they were yesterday; it had been October of ‘96, and he had left Shalour City, his home, with only Frère by his side. At the time, he didn’t have much but some money to get him by, his clothes and backpack, plus a few tricks he had learned from his father.

The trainer grabbed onto four of the Pokeballs on his belt. Chevalier was still in his shadow, so there was no need to grab onto her ball, and Frère was, of course, by his side.

He tapped on the center buttons twice, first to return the Pokeballs to their original size and then to release them, and soon, he saw the radiant figures of his team.

The first was Belle, his Gardevoir; like Chevalier, her body resembled a human’s. However, she was shorter than the dark knight, and her white body was much more slender and resembled a flowing gown. Her red eyes checked her surroundings before meeting her trainer’s gaze.

The next was Roi, his Golisopod, a large pale arthropod Pokemon who was hunched over. His body resembled the old Samurai of Kanto-Johto, with large plates of armor covering his arms, though he didn’t have anything covering his shorter arms in the center. Unlike Belle, he did not check his surroundings; instead, he bowed his head to Emile.

Then, there was Venus, Emile’s Venusaur, who rested on all fours. She had bumpy turquoise skin that was pale, signifying her as the oldest Pokemon on Emile’s team. The large flower on her back emitted a rather pleasing aroma, signifying that she was healthy, and her red eyes were rather calm, taking in the sight of Route 17 and her trainer.

Then, finally, there was Goyl, his Garchomp, he was the youngest of Emile’s Pokemon. He had large dark blue fins resembling a jet's wings, and the trainer knew he was just as fast, if not faster than the aircraft; along with sharp fangs that were vicious to those he bit down on.

Unfortunately, he appeared to be quite frustrated, unlike the rest of his teammates, as his yellow eyes were glaring at Emile like that of a predator finding its prey, and it caused him to take a step back, his brow raised as he was unsure why the dragon type was looking at him with such contempt.

“Sorry about keeping you all in,” he apologized to his team. “We’ve been having some problems,”

“What kind?” the voice of Belle rang in his mind. Her voice was calm and soothing, it was everything one could imagine a woman of nobility to sound like.

“Mm… a bar fight, then I lost the package, but some kid had managed to find it for me. That same kid is also traveling with us, and he’s a new trainer.” shrugged Emile. “In exchange for his assistance, he wants me to help him be a better trainer. Dunno why, given my history, but it is what it is.”

“I see.” 

Belle didn’t sound pleased, but she also didn’t sound bothered. Her voice was completely monotone and devoid of emotion, and Emile couldn’t help but look at her briefly before his eyes met the gazes of the rest of his team.

“I’d like your help with the brat. We won’t be doing this forever, just until we get to our destination. After we get to Florentina and deliver our little guy, we’ll be on our way home and go back to the easy life.” he explained.

“Of course,” Belle said.

The rest of his team all let out their cries of approval, nodding their heads.

Venus appeared to smile; more than likely, she was pleased with the idea of training someone, but Emile couldn’t tell what Roi was thinking. However, he noticed a look of contempt on Goyl’s face, and the dragon type’s yellow eyes still looked at Emile with rage.

“Hey, what’s wrong, Goyl?” Emile moved to the dragon type. “Normally, you’re a bit more chipper than this… you’re not sick, are you?” Emile continued to question and reached his hand towards Goyl who started to growl and narrow his eyes.

Then Emile’s heart stopped. His Garchomp had raised his head and was about to bite his hand, but it was thanks to Chevalier’s swift intervention that he managed to keep himself from being dragon food.

What the hell!?

The rest of the Pokemon became completely silent for only a few seconds, looking at each other with wide eyes before they then growled and started to glare at Goyl, whose jaw was locked onto Chevalier’s burning blade. 

Frère leaned forward and let out a spiteful hiss as he saw what had happened, and Emile could feel the ambient temperature plummet. He watched as Belle stepped forward, her piercing glare fixed on Garchomp and, with thought alone, wrapped him in psychic energy locking him into position.

Meanwhile, Roi had a sword made from water in his claws. He moved a foot forward, while vines suddenly appeared from Venus.

“Hey!” Emile called out. “Enough, all of you!”

“What?” Belle hissed as she took a step forward. “Emile, he just tried to-”

“I said enough, Belle.” 

Chevalier turned her head towards Emile, she narrowed her eyes at Emile.

“Chevalier’s wondering if you’re certain.”

“I am.”

The team soon calmed down. The psychic energy that once held Goyl with a vice-like grip was soon removed, and Chevalier again descended back into the shadows. It didn’t take long for the rest of the team to calm down. Then, Emile swallowed hard as he looked at his Garchomp. The dragon had been a loyal member of his team ever since Sinnoh, and this was the first time he had ever acted like this since he had been freshly caught as a Gible.

Emile reached into his plastic bag, pulled out various large sandwiches, and looked at the rest of his team.

“I have food for all of you… I’ll let you all stretch your legs and get some actual shuteye,” he said, handing a sandwich to Belle, who eagerly began to eat it. “Tomorrow, Venus, Belle, and Frère, I want you three to help me teach the brat.”

Emile would make sure to give each of his team members sandwiches, but he was careful when he approached Goyl. He had made plenty for the dragon type, ensuring he could fill Goyl’s insane appetite.

He kneeled and placed four sandwiches down slowly before moving away from the dragon type.

This was going to be a troublesome journey…