The four friends made their way deeper into the woods. That's where Espeon and Umbreon had made their home, and also where Zubat was training.
Beside a small pond, Espeon lounged lazily, keeping an eye on her beloved Umbreon as he demonstrated moves for Zubat. Umbreon formed a shadowy, violet-black Shadow Ball in his mouth and fired it at an iron target. Zubat tried to imitate him, but the ball she produced was noticeably smaller and slower than Umbreon's.
Auron's eyes lit up at the sight, and he hurried over, ready to praise Zubat for her progress. Just as he was about to speak, he failed to notice the crowd of Feebas families in the water, all watching the lesson with interest. Caught off guard, he took two quick splashes of water straight to the face.
Only then did Auron remember—he wiped his face, looking helplessly at Feebas.
"Come on, Feebas dad, I've apologized a hundred times! I was just a dumb kid back then—give me a break."
Feebas did a flip and ducked under the water, but Auron caught the unmistakably smug, almost human glint in his eyes before he disappeared. What he didn't see was Feebas's satisfied grin once submerged.
Auron glanced at another Feebas—this one was grinning at him from the shore.
"Look at you. You're a parent now, with all those kids in the pond, but you still act like a child every time I visit, spraying me like that. And you—" he pointed at the mother Feebas, "you just sit there and laugh! Don't you ever scold your husband?"
The mother Feebas rolled her eyes, as if to say, "Not my problem," and went back to watching Umbreon's training with Zubat.
Most of the Feebas in the pond belonged to Auron's parents—his dad's was the one with the grudge, while his mom's was the other, more laid-back Feebas. The rest were their children. Years ago, when Auron had called Feebas "ugly," Feebas dad never forgave it and made a habit of spraying him every time they met.
The pond was home to other Pokémon as well: Goldeen, Poliwag, Kingler, a Swampert, and—like every body of water in the world—a lone Magikarp.
With the awkward encounter out of the way, Auron turned to Serena.
"Serena, there's a whole school of Feebas here. Why not let yours join them? It'd be good for Beauty to spend time with her own kind."
Serena grinned, "Sure!" She released Beauty, who happily splashed into the water.
The whole pond seemed to freeze for a second.
Feebas dad: !!!
Feebas mom: !!!
All the Feebas: !!!!!!
Auron couldn't help but smirk. He thought, "That's what you get for always spraying me—here's something to shock you for the whole year."
Serena's Beauty was different from the others—after all the time eating Auron's specially prepared beauty-enhancing energy cubes, she was shinier, sleeker, and carried herself with a confidence none of the other Feebas could match. In a pond full of ordinary ducks, Beauty was the swan—and it showed.
Satisfied, Auron turned back to Espeon, taking in the scene as Zubat trained hard under Umbreon's watchful eye.
Pokémon: Zubat
Gender: Female
Type: Poison, Flying
Ability: Infiltrator (can attack through barriers and substitutes)
Potential: Orange
Base Moves: Absorb, Supersonic, Astonish, Mean Look, Poison Fang, Swift, Confuse Ray, Shadow Ball
Egg Moves: Cross Poison, Air Slash, Pursuit
Looking over her stats, Auron could see Zubat had truly mastered Shadow Ball. Now she was just working on consistency and speed, and it was paying off—her attacks were already getting bigger and faster by the minute.
When Zubat finally paused to rest, Auron came over and praised her, rubbing her small head affectionately. He handed her a new box of energy cubes.
These cubes were special—Auron had gone out of his way to find Ganlon Berries, which in the games raise friendship but lower speed effort values. In the real world, they only slightly improved friendship, and were so rare that only specialty stores ever carried them. By mixing them with other berries, Auron could create energy cubes that, instead of raising friendship, gave a little boost to speed.
He'd made similar cubes that could slightly raise attack or special attack, but the berries were so rare that he barely had enough to make even these few. The owner of the berry shop had only managed to find this one variety.
Competitive Crobat builds often maximized speed and attack, or sometimes focused on speed, HP, and a touch of attack. Either way, speed was always crucial.
As Zubat chewed on her cube, Auron didn't forget Umbreon, the teacher—he handed Umbreon and Espeon a box of the tastiest nutrition cubes he had. The two split them up happily, and both looked at Auron with even more affection than before.
Nearby, Jace let out his Torkoal and Growlithe, and Tim released Dratini. They all started feeding their Pokémon.
On Serena's side, things got a little complicated. She was feeding Beauty her special beauty-boosting cubes when Auron's mom's Feebas suddenly swam up, gazing longingly at the cubes in Serena's hand, practically begging for a taste.
Serena caved and fed her one, but the rest of the Feebas quickly swarmed over too. Now she was in a bind—she'd only brought one box, and if she gave them all to the pond Feebas, Beauty would go without. Even if she handed them out, there weren't enough for everyone to have one.
She shot Auron a desperate look, mouthing, "Help me!" Auron replied with an "OK" hand sign, then came over after giving Zubat one last pat.
No sooner had he reached the pond than Feebas dad hit him with another splash. Auron wiped his face and turned to Feebas mom,
"Can't you keep your husband in line? If you can get him to stop spraying me every time he sees me, I'll have my mom bring you these cubes every day. They'll make you just as beautiful as that Feebas over there."
He pointed to Beauty. Instantly, Feebas mom's eyes lit up. She turned and glared at her husband with all her might.
Finally, he gave in, slinking off to the deepest part of the pond. Only then did Feebas mom look back at Auron, delighted.
Auron grinned, "Deal! I'll make more tonight, and tomorrow my mom will bring you some."
It was the first time Auron had ever managed to "punish" Feebas dad. He was definitely enjoying the win.
With the pond drama sorted out, Auron returned to watch Zubat's training, with Serena in tow. Jace and Tim set training goals for their own Pokémon—Growlithe was focusing on speed and impact, so the plan was still sprints, while Tim, inspired by Zubat's amazing dodges during the tournament, decided to have Dratini practice evasion by dodging Torkoal's attacks. It was the perfect arrangement: Torkoal would practice accuracy and speed, while Dratini worked on agility. The only risk was that if Dratini got hit too many times, he'd get hurt, so it was all up to his reflexes.
As the afternoon wore on, the sky began to darken. Kommo-o strode over with Munchlax in tow, gave Auron a thumbs-up, then patted Munchlax encouragingly.
Munchlax struck a bodybuilder's pose, a white glow shimmering around him as he used Bulk Up, raising both attack and defense one stage.
Auron beamed with pride. He'd known Munchlax had learned Bulk Up, but until now he hadn't quite mastered it. Seeing it today, and so soon, was a real surprise. He gave Munchlax a big thumbs-up, and Munchlax bashfully scratched his head, grinning.
No one noticed that Zubat, nearby, was now training even harder than before. She should have been resting, but she grit her teeth and pushed herself.
"Umbree!"
Umbreon was the first to notice something was off, barking to get Zubat's attention and urge her to stop.
The shout caught Auron's attention as well. He turned just in time to see Zubat, exhausted, force out one last Shadow Ball at the target before collapsing out of the sky.
"Zubat!"
Auron dove forward and managed to catch her before she hit the ground, skidding a little as he landed.
Cradling her, he scolded gently,
"You should have taken a break! You pushed yourself too far—why keep training when you're exhausted?"
Zubat opened her mouth, wanting to explain but only managed a small, embarrassed squeak.
Auron caught himself and softened his tone,
"I'm not mad. But you have to take it one step at a time—no one gets strong overnight, right?"
At that, Zubat couldn't hold back her tears. A single drop slid down her cheek as a voice echoed in Auron's mind:
"But I'm the big sister! How can I let my little brother surpass me? I want to protect him, always!"
Auron stared at her in shock.
"Was that… you talking to me?"
Zubat nodded, but no other sound entered his mind.
"You're not weaker than him, Zubat. You're already protecting your brother—look, you helped me win the school championship! You're amazing. He's still relying on you."
Zubat glanced at Auron, then at Munchlax, who had rushed over with worry. With a faint smile, she settled in Auron's arms and fell asleep.
"Is she alright?"
Jace, Serena, and Tim hurried over.
Auron nodded softly,
"She's fine—just exhausted. She's asleep."
"Good," Jace breathed, relieved.
No one noticed that, deep in the forest behind the training grounds, inside an artificial waterfall, a humanoid figure had opened its eyes, peering through the distance as if observing the group.
(P.S.: Guess which Pokémon showed up at the end?)
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