“My lady, are you sure that was the right decision? I thought Roland’s training was a top priority?” Lucario asked his trainer as they walked through the halls of the league.

  “It is.” Cynthia responded, “But you saw that look in his eyes, he's determined, completely different to the man I met back in Sandgem town.” Back there he was simply a lost man, someone who had spent far too long in the wilderness, whereas now she was seeing someone budding into what would be a promising trainer.

  “With his aura I'm sure the basic training he has in mind will only last a few days at most, I suspect you will be surprised when you next spar with him.”

  “You know what he's been doing?” Lucario asked.

  “I have an idea, yes, the records of Manaphy are sparse but not completely absent.” The champion responded with a smirk on her face.

  “And you don’t plan to tell me, do you, my lady?” Lucario asked defeat in his voice.

  “I do not, you are a champion level Pokemon and they are but children, Roland has seen the vast gap in power between you and has devised a strategy to bridge that gap, I don’t expect it to work mind you but that doesn’t mean we shouldn't let him try, the experience will be good for his growth.” Cynthia explained.

  “Are you not worried that a failure this early might ruin his confidence?” Lucario asked.

  “No, based on what you told me about the sparring session you had I think he's a lot more determined than we realise. Remember although Roland is new to being a trainer he is not a child like most are when they start out, he grew up in a world without Pokemon, can you imagine, going through life alone without a partner by your side must be so lonely. He managed all that time alone, I'm sure other humans supported him but you know how humans can be, very rarely do they act to help others grow without expectations in return, someone who survived a world like that, what would they become with the support of Pokemon I wonder?” Cynthia said.

  “I worry that your fascination to see his growth may result in a danger to the region.” Lucario stated.

  Cynthia let out a light laugh, "Perhaps, although should his growth continue to be as explosive as it has been we can always change tracks, ultimately he is his own person, should he grow to be a force to be reckoned with then how we act now will be critical in how he will treat us in the future.”

  “A force to be reckoned with, a human carrying a legendary amount of aura, partnered with a legendary Pokemon, other regions would have bound him to them, or removed the threat he poses.” Lucario responded, his probes meant to gauge how his trainer would respond.

  “While that is true Lucario, I am not in the habit of smothering babies in their cribs, Roland will almost certainly grow strong enough to pose a threat that is not in question, but that alone does not make him a threat, he could be a powerful ally in the future. When he walks these lands wielding the full power of the legendary by his side I would like for him to remember us as friends rather than the people who locked him in a room.” Cynthia stated matter of factly.

  “But we did lock him in a room.” Lucario deadpanned.

  “Well yes, I want to be nice to him but I'm not a complete idiot, we can’t have him wondering around the league, who knows who he would run into and what secrets would be shared.” Cynthia responded.

  Lucario simply let out a laugh as the pair continued on into the league, ready to face their incredibly busy day.

  ______________________________________________________________________

  After a quick breakfast Roland addressed his Pokemon.

  “So, team, we have bought ourselves some time to prepare for our upcoming rematch with Lucario, we won't waste it will we?”

  “PHY!”

  “Hor!”

  The two Pokemon responded with a cry, Roland crouched down to get to their level, “For my plan to work we will actually have to work on a few different things first of all we will need power, that means Nerissa you will need to keep working on storing more power with tail glow, we will also work on getting heart swap to work with Nereus so you can pass all that power to him. Nereus you will need to be able to maneuver outside of the water so we will continue to work on your air swimming like we did last night. After a few hours we will mix things up, with both of you working on water gun training, the goal will be to make the water as dense as possible, this should in theory at least, increase the pressure of the water making it hit a lot harder.”

  This explanation got some confused looks from the Pokemon. “Uhh okay lets try it like this, if I fill a container with water but then keep adding more water what happens?” Roland asked.

  Nerissa looked unsure while Nereus responded with little chirps, “Sea, Horsey.”

  “That's right the container would eventually break, that's because the pressure inside the container has become too much and that energy needs somewhere to go, now what would happen if we kept pushing in more and more water, but the container was super strong and couldn’t be broken, what happens then?”

  This time neither Pokemon was able to answer.

  “In this case then the pressure would build up and up, constantly increasing until finally something would break, at which point all of that pressure will flood out into that point. The idea is for you to pump more and more water into the water gun while keeping the same shape, you will have to reinforce the shape with water TE, then when it hits the enemy the impact will create a crack resulting in an explosion of pressure!” Roland wasn’t entirely sure that this would work, if reinforcing the shape of a water gun was even possible but if Nereus could manipulate water TE around himself to be able to swim through the air why couldn’t he manipulate a shell of water TE around an attack?

  “Both of you will need to be able to do this.” Roland continued, “If both of you are able to fire powerful attacks we will better be able to pressure Lucario by attacking from multiple directions.”

  “The third and final thing I will have you work on is the smokescreen, Nereus you should know how to use the move right?” Roland asked.

  Nereus nodded his head before he shot out a burst of smoke that covered a small area of the dojo, Roland’s face grew into a big smile, “Thats great, we will need to work on getting it more dense and to cover a larger area but that's more of a long term thing, right now we just need to focus on you being able to create enough cover for Nerissa and yourself.”

  “Sea!” Nereus cried, excited to get started on their training.

  Like that they trained all day long, only taking short breaks where Roland made food for his team, Roland was very impressed by their work ethic neither Nereus or Neressia seemed to want to be out done by the other.

  Air swimming was still a long way off although Nereus had managed to hover slightly above the water, the further he got away from the surface the harder the manipulation of water TE became, his water gun was becoming quite the dangerous attack.

  Water gun was the move Nereus had practiced most since meeting Roland so he was already used to funneling Roland's aura into the attack, reinforcing the ball was something new but with how much practice Nereus already had he was making steady progress with it.

  Neressia was struggling a lot more, while she was getting better at storing power her water gun still needed a lot of work and she had yet to successfully use heart swap on Nereus.

  The following morning Roland’s training was interrupted by the arrival of a pink haired middle aged woman, her hair had been tied up into a high ponytail. A pair of dark blue scrubs clung to her body with a belt holding six pokeballs. Off her shoulder hung a large satchel bag.

  Her blue eyes were marked with noticeable crow’s feet and a small scar that ran through her left eyebrow, the woman wasted no time as she walked into the Dojo, pulling a pokeball from her belt, releasing a large Blissy.

  Roland felt a psychic link form between him and the women, directed by Blissy.

  “Can you hear me fine?” The woman asked.

  “Yes I can.” Roland responded, surprised at how soft and calming the link felt.

  “Good, my name is Isabel Joy and I have been asked to oversee your training for the next week, to be clear I will not be telling you how to train. I will stop you if you are doing anything I deem to be dangerous for your Pokemon but that shouldn't be an issue, instead I will be mainly focusing on treating your Pokemon after any battles to ensure that they do not develop any serious injuries. I will not ask for any personal details from you or any explanations, I am happy to wait in the corner of the Dojo until I am needed, after a week I have been told that someone will relieve me of my position.”

  “Outside of training hours, I have also been asked to help you learn our language, you are free to refuse these lessons but not the medical care of your Pokemon. Do you have any questions for me?”

  Roland was taken aback by the explanation he received from Isabel, it felt so formal, like she was speaking in pure fact, no emotion present in the way she spoke to him. Could that be a result of us communicating through a psychic link? No probably not, Cynthia and Lucian both had emotion in their speech after all. Roland thought.

  “I see… May I ask you some questions?” Roland asked.

  Isabel let out a sigh, “You may.” She said,

  “So I guess my first question is, did I do something to upset you? Or is it the assignment that has caused you some issues, in which case I would like to apologise and know if there is anything I can do to fix the situation.”

  It was Isabel’s turn to be taken aback, “uhh… no you haven’t done anything, and the assignment is no trouble. Why do you ask?”

  “The way you speak, like you were reading of military orders, and ones you weren't particularly happy with.” Roland explained.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “My apologies, I was told that a trainer was found in the wilderness off route 221, that they had a legendary Pokemon and would be in secluded training at the league. That you did not speak our language and was asked to assist.”

  “Wait, that's it? They didn’t even tell you my name?” Roland asked, shocked.

  “They did not, once they mentioned that you had a legendary Pokemon it became clear that everything around this situation would be highly classified, that's why I said I will not be asking questions about your circumstances.” Isabel said.

  “I suppose a lot of my story will likely end up being classified, but that shouldn't be an issue, we can still talk, I don't expect you to sit silently in the corner for a whole week! Oh my name is Roland by the way, this is Nereus the Horsey and Neressia the Manaphy. Neressia only hatched from her egg a few days ago so if possible could she get a check up?” Roland asked.

  Again Isabel was taken aback, “You're not what I expected Roland.” She said after a moment's pause.

  “How so?” Roland asked.

  “Well a trainer in secluded training within the league suggested that you would not be the most social individual, having a legendary Pokemon only adds more weight to that, trainers are well known for wanting to keep their secrets, ones with rare Pokemon even more so, I expected you to fight me on every detail down to my very presence, I certainly wasn’t expecting you to ask for a check up immediately.” Isabel explained.

  “Well you're from the Joy clan right?” Roland asked, to which Isabel nodded, “The same Joy clan that runs every Pokemon center across the world, the ones who are the foremost experts in Pokemon health, whereas I've only been a trainer for like a month or so, to think that I would know more than you about Pokemon health would be the absolute height of arrogance. My dad always stressed to me growing up that it was okay to not know something but when faced with someone who did know what they were talking about to listen to them, looking back he would often claim that I knew nothing and he knew everything so it was probably more of a method to shut up a child that was too talkative but the lesson is still good.” Rolan responded.

  That got a laugh out of Isabel. “So about that checkup?” Roland asked.

  “Oh of course, let me get my equipment set up and we can get that done.” Isabel responded as she put her bag down.

  Reaching into the bag Isabel started to pull out different machines that were much larger than the bag itself.

  Isabel caught Roland looking with shock on his face, “Is this the first time seeing a Silph co Bag?” She asked.

  “You mean a bag that's bigger on the inside?” Roland asked back.

  “Thats right, it makes bringing down the same Pokemon health care facilities as a regular Pokemon center possible after all.” Isabel said.

  “What do you mean?” Roland asked.

  “It will take me half an hour to set up fully, and Blissy’s use of gravity will be needed to move around some of the heavier elements but yes, I will be fully equipped to deal with any issue that a standard Pokemon center could do. Obviously the scale at which I can provide said accommodations isn't comparable in the slightest, but I was under the impression you only had two Pokemon, so the set up should more than suffice." Isabel explained.

  “I only have two, your are correct.” Roland replied.

  “Excellent then if you don’t mind waiting we can get set up and give both of your Pokemon a full check up?” Isabel asked?

  While Isabel had been more nervous before that last question came with something else. Roland wasn’t sure what it was exactly, it felt almost like a challenge, that should he say no then the mood would shift.

  What is that? He thought trying to puzzle why the atmosphere had shifted, and also wondering how he noticed such a thing, he certainly wouldn't have picked up on it before.

  It didn’t make sense, Roland was being friendly he thought, and had already agreed to let Isabel give Manaphy a full check, the last time they had been at a Pokemon center he got the strong impression that the ACE trainer had wanted to take Manaphy away, but he got no such feeling from Isabel, as such he was eager for her to get a full check up.

  He was worried what sort of affects she might have suffered, absorbing his aura while in her egg must have had an effect on the Pokemon, he wanted a professional to tell him that he hadn’t hurt her at all, and if he had how he could fix any issues he might have caused.

  So why was Isabel acting insistent, unsure of the reasoning he decided that if he simply agreed things would be fine.

  “Yes of course, I am happy to help set things up, although I will claim to have no knowledge on any of the techniques used to heal and inspect Pokemon, as such it may be best for me to stay away so that I do not damage any equipment.” Roland said, taking a step backwards.

  Isabel looked at him for a moment before nodding and then beginning to set up a vast agree of machinery, Roland wasn’t really sure what he was looking at but he could recognise an obvious examination bed and basic medical supplies, it was the larger machine, that hooked up to a tray with six Pokeball slots that caught his interest.

  “How does all of this work?” He finally asked once Isabel was done.

  She gave him a strange look before she finally said, “The machine connects to the stasis field Pokeballs employee, it then feeds TE into the ball which helps restore the Pokemon, significant injuries, the technology is actually based on the move heal pulse, although it has gone through significant modification since then.

  Roland thought back to his own experience with the move and shuddered, thinking about the intense pain that had followed after Kingdra healed him on the beach.

  “And this doesn’t hurt the Pokemon?” Roland asked skeptically.

  “No? Why would it hurt them?” Isabel asked, turning to Roland in confusion.

  “It's just that, when heal pulse was used on me all I can remember is the intense pain before I blacked out.” He explained.

  Isabel let out a sharp gasp, “Someone ordered their Pokemon to use heal pulse on you? Legendaries that must have been awful, I'm so sorry, I suppose that explains why you are starting as a trainer so late, still despite the long recovery time you don’t appear to have any permanent issues so that's a blessing.”

  It was Roland’s turn to look confused, “What are you talking about? Long recovery time? It happened like a month ago, and I was mostly fine the next day.”

  Isabel stopped fiddling with the machine and looked at Roland, “You're telling me a Pokemon used heal pulse on you a month ago and you are already walking?” She asked in disbelief.

  “Yes? As I said I was mostly fine the next day, just sore with a bad headache.” He stated, not following why she was confused.

  “I see…” Isabel said, trailing off while she was lost in thought, “let's get your Pokemon checked up then if you want we can take a look at you, to make sure you're fine.”

  “Sounds good to me, I don’t think I have any issues but you're the expert, would you like for me to recall Neressia? Roland asked.

  “Neressia is the Manaphy?” Isabel asked for clarification.

  “That's right, and my Horsey is named Nereus.” Roland stated.

  “Keep them released for now, ill do a physical examination first before a full body scan, when dealing with new species of Pokemon it’s best not to be too reliant on machines that have not been calibrated for their species, Nereus would be fine but I don’t know if a Manaphy has ever been studied using modern technology.” Isabel explained as she took Neressia from Roland, moving her over to an examination table.

  Isabel started by moving each of Neressia’s limbs, pressing lightly on her stomach; she even pulled out a stethoscope to listen to her heart.

  Roland waited anxiously while Isabel worked over Neressia, he was tempted to start asking questions, to know the results just a second sooner but the look on Isabel’s face told him that she was fully focused on the task at hand and would not accept any distractions.

  After a few minutes Isabel was done, but before Roland could ask how Neressia was doing Isabel insisted on also examining Nereus, not seeing any harm Roland agreed.

  Once both Pokemon had been exclaimed Isabel got Roland to recall them to their balls, she then connected them to the machine. Isabel tended to what looked like a computer screen, quickly swiping through different charts and readings, none of which Roland understood.

  After around an hour Isabel seemed to finish and approached Roland with a confused look on her face.

  “Whats wrong?” Roland immediately asked, his deepest fears that his use of aura had been negatively affecting his Pokemon coming true before his eyes.

  “Nothing is wrong per say, just some of the tests have given me contradictory information, there could be a number of different explanations for this so I need more information” Isabel stated.

  “What does that mean?” Roland asked not to understand her.

  “Look Roland, Pokemon biology is as complicated as human biology, some would argue more so, if your Pikachu’s eyes are red it could be a sign of electricity overload, a potentially serious condition or it could just be that the local wildlife is causing it to go through a batch of hayfever. It’s important to look at all of the data to draw the correct conclusion, ill be honest my evaluation skills in regards to Neressia are limited as my clan does not have extensive records on Manaphys whoever we have treated plenty of Horsey’s over the years so im a bit more experienced there, if you release your Pokemon I can show you what im talking about.” She explained.

  Roland released his Pokemon and Isabel directed him to look at the scales on Nereus' stomach, “Horsey’s scales change colour as they get older, they tend to start off slightly pinkish and then as new, stronger scales come in they fade to a more solid yellow colour. As you can see Nereus still has some pinkish scales on his stomach.” Isabel said as she pointed out that the edge of Nereus’s scales were indeed slightly pinkish.

  “So that just means he's still young? What's the issue?” Roland asked.

  “Well as I said when they are replaced by newer scales as the Pokemon ages they harden, Nereus’ scales however are already much harder than those of an average Horsey, now as I said there could be a number of reasons for this, so before we get ahead of ourselves could I see your normal training routine?” Isabel asked.

  Okay Roland calm down, harder scales might actually be a good thing, just show the expert your training routine and find out if there are any issues, who knows she might even be able to give extra tips. Roland thought.

  “Sure, although I do have to ask that you keep what you see a secret from Cynthia, we're currently training for a rematch with her Lucario next week, obviously there is more than a small gap in ability, training time and experience so we will be heavily relying on a trick.” Roland said before he leaned in closer to Isabel so his Pokemon would not hear him.

  “The requirements for winning are to land a hit against Lucario and force him to move, I know even that is next to impossible but they are both super determined to try, the trick resolves around one of Manaphy’s signature moves so there is a chance Cynthia doesn’t know about it. If it does work it would only work once hence the need for secrecy.” He explained.

  “You want me to keep secrets from the region's Champion?” She asked, looking at Roland with disbelief.

  “Only temporarily,” he said.

  Isabel was unsure what to make of the man, every expectation she had of him had been thoroughly broken, but he was willing to show her his training method, something almost every other trainer would refuse adamantly in his situation, keeping her mouth shut for a week would be a small price to pay, especially if it gave her insight into a legendary’s signature move, even if lying to a Champion in their own region was technically a crime.

  After agreeing Isabel took a seat while Roland moved to the center of the Dojo, he instructed Neressia to use tail glow, a rare move but not one that she hadn’t seen before.

  He will have to do a lot more than a simple boosting move to catch the Champion off guard. She thought.

  Next Roland called for a move she hadn’t heard of before, heart swap.

  Neressia let out a cry as energy poured out of her body and into Roland’s. Oh no, she’s using the move on him! Isabel's thoughts cried out to her but her body remained still, clearly they had done this before, so they probably had some way of mitigating the dangers she just wasn’t aware of.

  Roland surged with aura, enough that even Isabel could feel the pressure coming off him, she knew about aura and its uses but was not a user herself, most full members of the Joy clan were aware of its benefits but actually meeting an aura user was very rare indeed, let alone one who could control such absurd amounts.

  After a sharp nod from Roland, Nereus started to pull on the energy, drawing it to himself. It appeared to Isabel that Nereus was coating himself in the power, although she wasn't entirely sure for what purpose. This went on for ten minutes until all of Roland’s power had been drained away by the small sea horse, at which point he turned to look at her.

  “So what did that tell you?” Roland asked.

  He’s drawing in the power from a boosted legendary and then feeding it to his other Pokemon, like a battery with his body as the transformer, that has to be one of the most dangerous things I've ever witnessed. She thought.

  “It tells me… that you're insane.”