I made a lot of money here. 

Most people had only gotten one badge and were traveling either north or south for their second. While that didn't necessarily mean I was stronger, the ones here had done something funky with their traveling schedules. They were taking their sweet time to move between cities and checking out each little town and village they came across while constantly searching for a Pokemon they wanted.

Most trainers didn't train much while traveling, with only an hour or so before they left in the mornings and right before they stopped for dinner. That was where they really messed up.

I had been training almost every day for hours since I got my Pokemon and a little more than a month into this year's circuit the results were starting to show. The vitamins were not helping much but my team was getting to be above average for the extra boosts to their diets. This let me earn over 2000 pokedollars with the rest of my day and I kept passing enough to George to keep him training Ian in gravity. Ian told me he was grasping something because his hits landed harder. That was good enough for me.

When we settled down for the night the Stuffels demanded their berries and also to battle tomorrow. It seemed that Sin’s methods for babysitting weren’t that great and they thought battling looked fun. I wasn’t happy with this development but promised at least one match for each of them.

Puff was still feeling tired, so Spritzee tried helping her all he could. Pleasant scents, a relaxing bird’s nest, and wing massages with his stubby digits. I brought her to be healed since I was worried about her suffering from an internal injury and get her checked out for diseases and illnesses too. The nurse fixed her right up by giving her some cool drinks along with recommending that she keep sipping on them and eat foods with more substance one a day. I ordered from a local grill with good Pidgey that people seemed to like and bought a couple large drinks of different types. I made her take it easy while we weren’t on the road and planned to only let her participate at the event in two days if she didn't show any bad signs.

Ian took another sip from his mercury supply and started rambling about his grudge against his old captain. That gave me an idea, I carefully suggested to the trio of playmates to go listen to grandpa Ian's stories. They rushed over to sit down, eager to be told about the triumphs of the past. Ian noticed them and now that he had an audience, started spinning a tale out of thin air about how he was one of the greatest swordsmen in the relentless Viron army with a team strong Pokemon.

I've heard of this relentless Viron army but I knew that he definitely wasn't one of the greats. His entrapped audience didn't seem to be smart enough to figure that out. Eventually, all three of them drifted off to sleep as he entered a weapons shop within the story with his Delibird. That made me smile softly at the scene. I would have to remember to thank Ian in the morning and ask him about his gravity training.

And I went to sleep thinking we were doing good.

...

...

...

"Hey Max, come to join me?" Aubree asked me. Her curly brown hair was radiating a light glow as electricity ran through it. Emerald green eyes appraised me as I walked over to her and her Ampharos. Ampharos was using thunderbolt to knock down a few trees for the Hadsons. 

"Yeah" I responded.

I was there, and yet somehow I was looking at my own body too. I have the same brown hair, the same eyes, and the same smiling face. The only difference was my hair was shorter, less curly, and I am a boy. Our dad's features being very dominant compared to moms'.

"Shear, can you finish up here while I talk with Max?" She asked her Pokemon. He gave a nod, serious as he took the task upon his squat shoulders. He worked on his thunder this time, practicing on making it as powerful as it could be. His was weak, the surge not as devastating as what I imagined from grandmother's stories. The ultimate electric type attack eluded him despite spending a year on improving it.

Aubree walked over to me, leaning down to hug me "It's been good to see you guys again. It always feels so nice to return and settle in for a little."

"But you're so strong, isn't life outside the village exciting?" I was curious. She and Liam had left. I had to stay here or face consequences from the moth ranger. Liam hadn't even come back home to visit us since he left even though he kept in touch and helped us financially through some sort of sponsorship. 

She paused, thinking for a second before responding "Yes it was when I started out. Now I feel..." she paused again and readjusted herself "Don't worry about it, your big sister feels fine. I'll make everything fine around here one day."

Looking back now, this memory dream thing showed something right there. What was it? The look upon her face was one of someone determined but there was something else. Something wearing her out, something that had made her suffer, eating away at her. The me in the dream asked to go over designs and runes again with our big sister. 

She was more than happy to do so, enjoying the small moments as she pulled out some notes she had made for me. She didn't keep track of everything like I do, writing and rewriting them to delve deeper and understand them better by correcting my work. She always demonstrated what she wanted to her Pokemon and had thrown this journal together just for me.

I don't think I would do it her way, but most people started earning more control around their 3rd or 4th badge as their connection drew upon more energy from their Pokemon. Being able to make and use moves themselves like a Pokemon. Using her own inventive formations, she was faster than our grandmother, electricity running through her veins and speeding her up in both reflex and muscle movements. A thick pair of knuckles magnetized and repelled from her fists when she sparred with her team. From the few moments I was able to spy on her when she trained, she actually gave more than she got. 

The dream changed, focusing on that same time as my original body hid in a bush.

She was taking on both Eelektross and Magnezone at the same time as they tried to stop her by latching on or with thunder wave. She smashed her brass knuckles into Magnezone while evading Eelektross. Beautiful really, with grace she dodged their attacks until Magnezone used discharge. She got caught and blasted through a tree before getting jumped by Eelektross.

She tried to tear Eelektross off but failed to do so and gave up after the ground next to her getting blasted with a zap cannon.

She got up, taking the loss well. "You don't have to take it easy on me you know. I could have taken that" which her two Pokemon ignored. They loved her and wouldn't hurt her if they could help it. 

Aubree zeroed in on my hiding spot and sent a tiny, microscopic jolt to tag me in the shoulder "You should know better than to peep on a girl Max." She started jokingly but proceeded to smack me upside the head for how dangerous being near them while training was. Eelektross seemed to disagree, having already seen me and was careful to stop anything from flying my way.

"That's even worse but let's drop it. Max? Can you promise me something?"

I nod, not understanding half the conversation that just occurred but happy that she wasn't mad at me anymore.

"Ok, this is important to me so listen carefully. I made Liam promise the same before he left and it applies to you as well" the anticipation visibly built as I readied myself for some solemn vow.

"You're starting your journey this year and are going to be going through the circuit" She knelt down on one knee and making me taller than her now. 

"So I want you to promise me to be safe" as the me with the body made such a promise I felt really really bad. I had forgotten about this moment and had definitely broken it even though I had tried. That made me think from a different perspective, one that Puff had brought up before. What did other people think of me getting right back up? My mom hadn't been as terrified as I had expected, grandpa hadn't demanded I return home, and grandmother...well she acted like I expected her to. Of the three, my grandmother was the odd one out.

Ever since I could remember, when I thought things were going to hell her image made me feel strong. Like I would be ok and gave me courage when I had none, even when she wasn't nearby. I tried to figure out if my grandmother actively did something like the exerting of fighting energy grandpa theorized about in his letter to help them cope but it seemed different, off somehow when I compared it to how I imagined her. The thought quickly played through my mind but was interrupted before I could really think on it.

The dream changed once again into a wide open space, in well space. I was back in my body as I looked up to find two red eyes peering down at me. They watched, waited for something but I wasn't sure what. Entranced, I looked back. 

Minutes passed by to then turn into hours until I tried to speak, only to find that I couldn't. The eyes kept watching me, no depth or emotion showed in them. What I could do was move so I did that instead. Walking up to the red eyes to evaluate them.

When I got closer, I realized that it was just a mirror. The red eyes were mine but I had no form other than them on the other side. I didn't like that, it was freaky.

I put my hand on the mirror, just to feel it. There was pain, pain such that I pulled my hand away. Or tried, the glommy substance instead of mirror's clean and hard surface grabbed and held onto the fingers that entered it before I could pull away. Through the glom I could see that they had turned red like my eyes were.

It hurt and I tried everything to pull away, looking back to see if there was anything to help me. There was only TE there of varying sizes, the largest two being a normal and electric with ghost and steel blobs close behind. I tried reaching out to them anyway, hoping that my hand could grab them in this state. 

I failed to touch them but they drew near anyways, from there I wasn't in control of my body. The glom sucked at me, drawing the TE in as well until I was fully covered in it and the energy had passed over to the other side. 

The energy changed as well, being corrupted by the dark substance that acted like a mirror. I was no longer in my normal body, all red instead until eventually turning to black. Becoming one with the mirror's dark and glommy substance. The TE remained there and the pain faded slightly as I reached to touch it for some reason, choosing a normal cluster first.

As I touched the corrupted energy it reacted, turning black as well from the point I touched it but still resisting the advance until half of it  had turned dark.

And the dream ended.