Borne of Caution

Act 1: Chapter 21

"Step up, trainers! Step up! The Battle Tent has fabulous prizes for trainers of all ages if they can brave the challenge! Test your skill and mind with pokemon not your own! Maybe discover a new favorite!"

A smiling man in a colorful suit and tie bounds between onlookers passing by Slateport's Battle Tent, one hand holding a microphone and the other clutching crumpled tickets. By his feet, a Bellossom duo cheerfully dances in tune with his voice. Behind him is Slateport's Battle Tent.

'Tent' is a total misnomer considering the tent is truly a large, domed building painted an eye-catching red, blue, and white. Bombastic, upbeat music that would be at home in an arcade can be heard through the walls, and people are gathered around the windows, each of which have a TV mounted in them. Non-stop replays of the battles inside play on repeat, thrilling the people standing outside and making passersby slow to watch.

With Vulpix seated on his shoulder and Brendan and Zinnia flanking him, Lee stares down at the Battle Tent ticket in his hand as they all approach.

"Jeez, this place always seems to be busy..." Zinnia pulls her phone from her pocket and presses the side button, frowning at the '8:24am' that stares back.

"It's one of Slateport's big attractions," Brendan begins, crossing his arms behind his head as he walks and takes in the sight of the Tent. "I'd be more surprised if it wasn't jumping all the time."

Lee glances down at his ticket again, then to Vulpix, who regards the Battle Tent with a raised brow. It doesn't take telepathy to understand she's thinking the same thing as him. "I take it they offer more than just battles?"

"I'm pretty sure, yeah." Zinnia nods as the trio weave through the crowd around the front door and step inside. She lets out a pleased sigh with the AC in the tent blows away the muggy morning air. "It's probably... oh wow." She slows to a stop with Brendan gaping next to her.

Lee blinks and looks around, suddenly feeling as if he were ten years old again. Unbidden, a memory of a childhood birthday he spent at an indoor amusement park comes to him in sharp detail.

The inside of the Tent is dominated by a literal arcade, explaining the choice in music that could be heard outside. The darkened room expands out, feeling much larger than it really is. The floor is covered by game cabinets filled with kids, young teens, and pokemon. On the far wall, ticket counting machines and a prize desk filled with all manner of things from cheap toys to pokeballs to TMs of all things to win. Off to the right side, the arcade peters off and leads into a small restaurant and bar where a number of adults sit, some turned in their seats to watch their children.

"Hello. Welcome to the Battle Tent! Is it your first time here? Please take this!"

Lee and co stop staring at the scenery and turn to the voice.

Standing before them and gyrating to the beat of the pounding music, a Ludicolo in an apron stands with a wide smile. His apron is adorned by the white and blue three-pokeball symbol of the Battle Tent, and pockets on the front hold different pamphlets. The dual Grass/Water type reaches into the middle-most pocket of his apron and thrusts three pamphlets out to the trainers.

Absently, Lee takes the offered papers and gives one to Zinnia and Brendan each. "Hey pal. Did you just talk?"

There is a squawk, and the scarred man looks up.

Sitting on Ludicolo's broad headleaf is a Chatot who looks at him with narrow-eyed annoyance.

"Erm, sorry about that?" Lee offers with an awkward smile. "Say, sorry if this seems invasive, but did you actually speak or are you mimicking lines? If you're actually speaking for yourself, do you think I could ask your trainer for a short meeting? I'm a pokemon researcher and-"

The Chatot cuts Lee off with an irritated flare of his wings. "Hello! Welcome to the Battle Tent!"

Vulpix takes this as her cue to nose Lee's cheek. 'He d****'t *n*w *** t* sp**k o**er **m*n wo*d*.' She says.

It takes Lee a moment to decipher the telepathic speech, and when he does, he sighs. 'Damn.'

"Sorry about Lee here," Brendan says with a sheepish grin. "He's a bit of a nerd. We'll clear out of the doorway now."

Ludicolo gives a non-committal hum and cheerfully dances over to a young couple who walked in behind them, totally unaffected by Chatot's sour attitude. "Hello. Welcome to the Battle Tent! Is it your first time here? Please take this!"

A still-grinning Brendan takes point, and Lee, nose in the pamphlet, follows behind him.

Welcome to Slateport's Battle Tent! A place for trainers of all ages to come and have a great time. Try our arcade with over 200 different games meant to sharpen your skills as a trainer! Hungry? Head on over to our three-star restaurant, the Taste of the Sea bar and grill! We stock only fresh ingredients and have your favorite drinks cold and on-tap! We even have tasty and nutritional pokemon food for all types!

Make an event out of your day here! Talk to our front desk or visit our website to book one of our meeting rooms and get a discount on special package deals for your next birthday or corporate event!

Or maybe you want a real thrill? Head down to our pokemon battle arena and test your skill for fabulous prizes! Here in Slateport, we test your abilities as a trainer using our rental pokemon. How fast can you come up with a plan on the fly? Can you seize opportunity when it's bared? Are you good enough to synergize with any pokemon? Prove it here!

F3: VIP Lounge

F2: Staff Office

F1: Arcade/Restaurant

B1: Meeting Rooms

B2: Onsite Pokemon Center/Arena Seating

B3: Battle Arena/Battle Check-in

"Much more comprehensive than I expected..." Lee mumbles. When he looks up, he finds himself at the prize corner of the arcade just as a smiling worker hands Brendan back his debit card and a small bucket of arcade tokens. Zinnia, meanwhile, leans over the glass counter full of prizes with mild interest.

There's the obvious stuff, like cheap toys and stickers that cost a measly ten tickets. Some of the better stock costs fifty, or a hundred, like an amusingly bad Torchic plushie. The higher-end winnings, like phones, game consoles, and large, quality plushies are at minimum several thousand tickets. Then there are the actual interesting prizes.

Great Balls for fifty thousand tickets, some common TMs ranging between a hundred thousand to three hundred thousand tickets, and evolution stones starting at a mind-boggling million tickets. They all rest behind a case protected with much thicker glass.

Lee quickly runs some math in his head. 'If a hundred tokens are twenty credits, and assuming you're good at arcade games and win roughly ten tickets per token... That's twenty thousand credits for one of those stones! That's nearly twice the MSRP of a high purity stone itself!'

The water and fire stones behind the glass are so close yet so far. Already he can imagine Vulpix as a majestic Ninetales, a pokemon so beautiful grown men cry at the sight of her golden-furred form.

In his ear, Lee hears Vulpix chuff at the mental flattery.

...But not for that kind of money.

Zinnia looks up at him and smirks as she stands straight again. "Sticker shock?"

"Scam shock more like..." Lee grumbles.

"C'mon, you two!" Brendan holds up his plastic bucket of tokens and gives it a shake, jingling the shiny coins inside. "It's not about the prizes, it's about the fun! Let's go! You can share my tokens!" He eagerly turns and starts walking into the throngs of people bouncing between the games.

Lee looks to a blank-faced Vulpix, then to Zinnia, who looks faintly amused. "After you, Dolittle."

They follow after Brendan, and as they walk, Lee glances around at the different games.

Many of them are just that: games. A few, however, do actually look like they might benefit trainers on some level. One is a light-gun cabinet, where the player's ammo has different 'types' corresponding to pokemon types, and they can only zap pokemon on screen that would be weak to the ammo typing. Another is a rather basic-looking turn-based battling game almost like the pokemon series on Earth. A different one, where Brendan currently is, is a glorified milk-bottle pitching game probably meant to improve pokeball aim. Small pokemon plushie targets on mechanical arms move erratically, each one numbered. On the side of the machine is a trough where the 'pokeballs' are dispensed.

Brendan hefts a ball painted like a pokeball in his hands, then takes careful aim at the small, moving targets in the caged lane where the game is housed. He winds his hand back, then hurls the ball right at the smallest, furthest, trickiest target, a Milotic.

The ball flies true, only to clip the Milotic's head and not count. The ball smacks against the rear of the cage as a buzzer sounds.

Brendan's face goes from joyful to dour in an instant.

"Tough luck, shorty," Zinnia giggles. "Maybe try a closer one?" She points to the biggest and slowest target, a Snorlax worth a single ticket.

The young boy's face flushes in anger. "You try it, then if you're so good!" He takes a token from the bucket at his feet and drops it into the machine. A second later, the targets begin moving again and three more balls are dispensed with a clatter.

"Sure thing," Zinnia smirks and steps forward. She takes the first ball and rolls it between her thin fingers, taking a pitcher's stance as she does so. Then with a deep breath, she takes one hopping step forward and throws the ball so fast that it flys with almost no arc.

The ball whirls through the air like a dart, only to just barely miss when the Milotic jerks out of the way.

The Birch heir snickers as Zinnia just calmly takes another ball in her hand. "It's called a warm-up, shorty," She says with a sniff. "Watch this." She takes in another great lungful of air and holds it, then fires off her second ball.

It brushes the Milotic's tail, not counting as a hit.

Now Zinnia is scowling. With a growl, she takes the final ball and whips it from her hand as hard as she can.

The ball zips to the back of the cage like a lightning bolt, hitting the metal with a frightful clatter when it flies wide and misses entirely.

Brendan openly guffaws as Zinnia's face burns red, and even Lee has to suppress a smile. "No idea why you're laughing, kid. You're the one wasting your tokens on a rigged game," The dragon tamer crosses her arms and turns away with a grumble.

When the youngest of the trio gets his mirth under control, he smiles and looks over to Lee. "You wanna give it a shot?" He asks with a final giggle. "Bring home the gold for us?"

Lee shrugs. "I guess?" He leans down and takes a token before popping it into the game. Like last time, the targets come to life and another the faux pokeballs are dropped into the trough. "Don't laugh when I miss, though."

He takes a ball in his hand and tosses it up and down. 'You might want to hop down, love.' He sends to Vulpix. 'I don't want to launch you off your perch.'

The vixen mulls the suggestion over, then slides down to the floor to sit at his boots.

'Is there any pattern to how they move?' Lee watches the targets carefully, but when no pattern emerges, he shrugs and winds his arm back. "Here goes nothing."

He looses the first ball, which flies at the distant Milotic, but like with Brendan, the ball brushes the head without counting as a hit. With a frown, he takes the next ball and throws it at the Milotic once more, but the ball flies wide and misses on the right. Taking the final ball, Lee suddenly has an idea that puts a smile on his face. 'Vulpix? Can you...'

The fox pokemon doesn't need him to finish, as she gently grips his mind with her own, dragging her trainer deeper inside herself. Then like a plug being inserted into a live socket, a jolt runs down Lee's spine, followed by a sudden nausea when he looks forward from two different perspectives, one much shorter than he.

Vulpix jumps back up to Lee's shoulders with him watching from her eyes the entire time, then he can both feel and see her rest her head on top of his, giving him a perspective just slightly above his own.

Lee blinks then almost stumbles when Vulpix not blinking throws him off. 'Okay, this is making me sick. Let's try and get it over with.' Winding his arm back, Lee watches from both his and Vulpix's eyes. The dual, slightly offset perspective gives him a supernatural amount of perception and twice the visual input to work with. Then his arm moves.

The entire time he throws, he adjusts his arm until it's perfect, and the fauxball flies in a light arc straight for the Milotic, aimed to nail it square in the middle where it's sure to count as a hit.

Zinnia's eyes widen and Brendan gasps.

...Then the mechanical arm holding the plushie jerks out of the way at the last second, letting the ball whiff and smack the back of the cage. A second later, the buzzer sounds and the machine once again dispenses no tickets.

Both Lee and Vulpix blink in disbelief as Lee mentally extracts his sight from Vulpix's eyes, instantly clearing his nausea. "Yeah, fuck this. It's rigged."

As one, Brendan and Zinnia break out into laughter that makes the latter of the two double over.

"New High Score! Enter Initials?"

Lee watches Brendan grin widely at the flashing screen, and using the lightgun in his hand, the boy shoots the letters on the screen. "A...S...S... Hehehe!"

High Scores

#1: B&G 11125520

#2: LOK 11002250

#3: ASS 10800050

#4: DES 10600550

#5: TTT 10056450

'Oh jeez, Brendan.' Lee sighs. At his side, Zinnia giggles like a schoolgirl as she watches Brendan enter his 'name.' "Classy, kiddo! Really giving the kids after you something to 'asspire' for!"

Even Vulpix wrinkles her nose at that one.

"Bet I could do better..." Brendan reaches into his bucket of tokens, only for his hand to hit the plastic bottom. "Huh?" He peers down and sees none left. "Aww..."

"Finally out?" Lee asks, peering over Brendan's shoulder to see the empty bucket. "You had a good run, I think." He says, looking at the tickets still pouring from the lightgun game cabinet. "You should get something nice."

"Not sure I'd call anything you can win in one afternoon 'nice', Dolittle," Zinnia dryly interjects from his left. "It's mostly one-credit store junk."

Brendan gathers up the tickets at his feet when the game cabinet stops spitting them out and folds them into a neat stack. "Even if it's junk, I'm going to go look anyway," he says, counting his tickets under his breath.

"No prob," Lee withdraws his Battle Tent ticket from his pocket and looks it over again. "I'm going to register for my battle before it gets too late. See you two down there?"

"You know it!" Zinnia smiles. "C'mon, shorty! Lets get your junk then get some choice seats!" She hooks her arm around Brendan's and drags the boy along, making him stumble with a yelp. They quickly vanish in the throngs of people in the arcade.

Vulpix snorts from his shoulder, her irritation with Zinnia leaking over and tickling the back of her trainer's mind. 'I ***** **i*k **u s****d **** to*d *** ** le*** *** gr***.' Her message is almost totally garbled in her annoyance, too much for Lee to piece together.

'I know she hasn't been a good friend until recently, love,' Lee sends back as he begins weaving through the people to the west wall, where a neon sign saying Elevators hangs. 'And she made a lot of assumptions... and tried to drive a wedge between us...and, er, okay so her track record is pretty abysmal,' Lee admits with a sigh. 'But I don't want to tell Zinnia to just get lost. I was serious when I said her experience and powerful pokemon are tempting protection.'

Vulpix turns her frowning face to him, a wordless feeling of inadequacy on the forefront of her mind.

'No! It's not that either.' Lee tries to keep his face from looking sour as he steps into the elevator with several other people, but still feels his lips pull downward. A few people look at him, a younger girl gaping in particular, but as usual the eyes are glued to his scars, not his full face. Thankfully no one seems to realize there is a silent conversation going on. 'You, Corvi, and Grovyle are my champions, my family. I know I can trust everything to you. Baby Shinx...' The man pauses for a moment. 'I know she'll grow up to be as powerful as you three, then she can share that mantle too. You are my life, and that's why I want to stack the odds in our favor.'

The fox pokemon bows her head slightly, a silent, apologetic whine escaping her lips. Lee then realizes that he's battering her with a barrage of emotion and constricts his side of their link, reducing the flow to a trickle. 'I get that you're upset, and you have every right to be. Just put up with Zinnia for now, okay? Who knows, maybe she'll keep the good behavior up.'

'...Ok*y.' Vulpix finally concedes. Although she hides it well, Lee can still feel why she gives in so easily.

She's too tired to argue further.

'Vulpix,' The vixen perks up as she's addressed by her name. 'Are you feeling okay? You've been exhausted for what seems like a week now, and I know you're not sleeping well. Please, if there is anything I can do to help, tell me.' He keeps his peek into her sleeping mind to himself.

Again, she takes time to answer. Then Lee is smacked with a jumble of confused emotions that nearly make him stumble into a woman in front of him as he steps out of the elevator onto the third basement floor.

Vulpix shuts off the deluge of psychic noise after just a second with a sigh. 'Too. Com... Plex.' She haltingly sends to him, and already he can feel the second-hand migraine blooming in her skull as she slowly, painstakingly sounds out the telepathic English. Even with the effort, the words are coated with a curious psychic 'static' that makes Lee's brain feel fuzzy just listening. 'Exp. Plain. When. Talk. No...' Vulpix struggles to formulate further words as her migraine worsens.

'You'll explain when you're better at telepathy, I understand,' Lee halts her and steps off to the side so the people behind him can pass. He rests his hand on her head and pulls her into a half-hug, gently rubbing her furry scalp behind her head-tuft. She melts into the touch as the throbbing in her head slowly begins to subside. 'When you're ready, I'm ready.'

The flow of love from the fox is as warm as the furry pelt pressed against Lee's neck and cheek, making him smile. Heart-to-heart over, Lee keeps walking down the darkened hallway to the arena check-in.

Checking in was a simple affair. Lee needed only to present his ticket, sign a few forms, and return Vulpix to her ball before the attendant at the desk led him into a musty back room behind the arena to select his pokemon. Then came the difficult part.

Actually picking which pokemon he wants.

Lee scrolls through the selections on one of the provided terminals in the rear of the arena with a frown. The pokemon are all common fare, like a selection of Zigzagoons, Poochyenas, Geodudes, Nincadas, Shroomishes, Wurmples, and the like. The terminals are rather sterile in their descriptions of the pokemon and the moves all of them boast are... less than impressive.

'Maybe my pokemon really are spoiling me with their talent,' Lee blinks. 'A regular pokemon like one of these could manhandle me easily, but I still feel undergunned.'

Finally, he scrolls to an Electrike and pauses.

Summary:

Sex: Male

Age: 3 yrs old

Personality: Volatile temperament. Quick to anger. Use caution.

Known Moves: Tackle, Leer, Thunder Wave, Spark, Howl

'Electric types only have Ground as a hard counter...' Lee rubs his chin. 'Howl and Leer give some flexibility, and Thunder Wave is a utility move that's hard to beat. On-demand paralysis is a game-changer.'

Mind made up, Lee clicks 'confirm' steps off to the side, waiting for a Tent attendant to bring him his pokemon.

It doesn't take longer than a minute for a teen in an apron bearing the Battle Tent logo to rush in via a side door, a pokeball in her grasp. "Lee Henson?" She asks the gathered trainers.

Lee raises his hand, and she quickly bounds over and hands the ball off to him before taking off in a hurry. "Your match is in twenty minutes sir! Feel free to get to know your pokemon in the meantime!" She's gone again through the same side door a second later.

"Busy place?" Lee wonders under his breath, looking at the other handful of trainers still lining the walls trying to pick a pokemon from the terminals. With a shrug, he taps the button on his loaned pokeball, making it open with it's distinctive snap-hiss and depositing a glowing white mass on the floor.

The light fades, and a young Electrike takes shape at Lee's feet. The canine pokemon shakes his head and glares up at him, his foul attitude already rearing its head.

Lee crouches down slowly, but leisurely, not taking his eyes off of Electrike's and silently daring the young pokemon to break eye contact first.

Electrike lifts a lip to growl.

"Shh!" Lee quickly presses a finger to the pokemon's chin, halting the growl without looking away. "None of that. We're working together for this match and I expect you to give it your all. Understood?"

Although the finger against Electrike's chin buzzes uncomfortably as an electric charge runs through it, the canine doesn't growl again and finally averts his eyes.

"I'm glad we have an understanding," Lee smiles without baring his teeth and stands again. "Listen to me closely, and I'll lead you to victory as best I can."

Electrike snorts.

The man and 'mon wait for roughly fifteen minutes, and in that time, several of the other trainers with loaner pokemon are called to the arena. The matches seem to only take a few minutes each, but the lack of a TV showing the fights in the musty backroom makes it impossible to tell exactly.

'Thats probably on purpose...' Lee muses. 'It makes for more of a challenge if we're going in blind and unsure of who we're fighting.'

Finally, one of the Tent workers, a younger man, pokes his head in the room and glances down at the tablet computer in the crook of his arm. "Henson, Lee!"

Lee gently nudges Electrike with his boot, rousing the Electric-type into standing. "That's us, bud. Let's go put on a show."

With his loaner pokemon on his heels, Lee is led through a winding hallway that splits down two paths. Coming down the path Lee, his pokemon, and his guide take is a dejected, older woman closely following another Battle Tent employee. They pass the pair, who are heading back to the waiting room.

"I take it the paths split into the two sides of the battleground?" Lee idly asks as he follows the apron-clad employee leading him and Electrike.

The man nods his head. "Yes sir. Did Amy go over the rules with you?"

"Erm..." Lee struggles to recall any of the nametags on the Battle Tent attendants he's talked to. After a second, he sighs. "I don't recall talking to an Amy, no."

The attendant nods. "That's okay. The rules are simple. Matches are one-on-one, win three to get a prize, you can swap pokemon at the end of the match or keep Electrike, standard tourney rules are in play."

"Simple enough." The scarred man agrees.

They come to a stop at a thick steel door that the younger man opens. Gesturing inside, he smiles and says; "Good luck."

Lee glances down to Electrike, who is bouncing nervously on his paws. "Ready?"

The pokemon answers with a short, eager bark.

Lee and Electrike step out into the arena, and Lee raises to his brow a hand to shield his eyes from the harsh lights. When his eyes adjust, he gets a good look at the Battle Tent's main attraction.

The ground is coated in astroturf that sports gouges, burns, wet patches, and spots that are totally upturned. Sports pads line the walls, also displaying an impressive level of damage. About twenty feet above the walls is a seamless glass window surrounding the entirety of the ring, and behind the glass are seats lined with people. Many of them are cheering and seemingly hollering, but the window allows almost no noise into the ring. It takes only a second to spot Brendan, Zinnia, and their released pokemon, who found seats close to the window. Both humans wave down at Lee.

If not for the obvious legitimacy of the rest of the Battle Tent, Lee would have sworn this area held illegal underground battles.

"Next up, we have Lee Henson of Little Root!" An unseen announcer blares through an overhead speaker. "His partner for today is the spitfire Electrike! Can they take down Maybelle and Snorunt, who need just one more win for a prize? Let's find out!"

From the other across the arena, a young woman with long blonde hair strolls out and waves to the crowd with a wide smile. Trailing just behind her is a little Snorunt, who takes a few hopping steps into the battleground. The strange pokemon's expression is difficult to read.

Elecktrike mirrors Snorunt and steps forward without any prompting, a snarl on his face.

A second later, a shimmering barrier flares to life on each side of the arena before fading into invisibility, locking the pokemon in.

"Trainers, ready?"

The young blonde woman smiles brightly and Lee just nods, focusing on the pokemon before him intently.

'Elecktrike is likely faster than Snorunt, and we want to keep that advantage out of the gate. One unlucky Ice-move could stop Electrike in his tracks and then it's game over.' Lee takes a deep breath as his mind churns out ideas. 'Keep it simple, stupid. Electrike is a straightforward fighter like Grovyle. Use his strengths and don't let up. Maybelle has to know Snorunt can't keep up with an Electric quadruped, so she'll likely start out with...'

"Begin!"

"Snorunt, use Icy Wind!" The other trainer calls near instantly, pointing with a finger.

'...A frontal attack out of the gate.'

"Dodge left!" Lee cries, keeping his voice loud and commands short just as Zinnia drilled into him.

It still stings a little, remembering how casual and verbose the dragon tamer was with Bagon in their first battle.

Electrike bounds to the side just as Snorunt exhales a cloud of crackling ice crystals and snowflakes, leaving a thick sheet of frost on the ground where the canine stood a second ago.

"Thunder Wave!" Lee orders again, voice filled with authority.

Elecktrike growls and sparkles with a corona of bright yellow bolts, then he shoots a thin lance of lighting that crosses the field near instantly, zapping Snorunt and making the Ice-type convulse violently on his feet.

"Snorunt, get out of-" The blonde woman stops herself short when her command is much too late. "E-er, Snorunt, use Double Team!"

"Howl, and then Spark!" Lee doesn't relent. "Now!"

Electrike throws his head back and cries out in a deep howl that cuts down and touches something primal in everyone in earshot. Then he's wreathed in another snapping coat of electricity before charging forward with a savage snarl. The astroturf smokes and curls under his paws as he runs.

Snorunt can barely stop shaking long enough to screw his eyes shut and concentrate, but by the time the illusionary clones of Double Team begin to take shape next to him, Elecktrike strikes him like a dog-sized taser. The arena is filled with a stomach-churning 'pop-pop-pop' of electricity flowing through flesh, and poor Snorunt is thrown off his feet from the force. The teepee pokemon rolls to a stop just a few feet away and struggles to rise, before giving out and falling to his belly.

"Snorunt, c'mon, baby! I believe in you!" Maybelle holds her hands together as if praying. "Get up!"

After a few seconds, just as it seems like the buzzer is going to sound, the Ice-type slowly gets to his feet with a pained grimace, and the crowd above roars in approval.

Lee bites his lip as Electrike looks back at him for an order. 'Be sportsman-like and let them recover, or go for the throat?'

"Lee!"

The man looks up at Zinnia, who has her hands cupped against the glass to help her voice carry through. "Evo stones are a portental prize! Don't let this go!"

Beside her, Brendan nods frantically and presses his phone against the window. Not that Lee can see what's on the screen from this distance, but if he's actually agreeing with Zinnia...

"Spark!"

"Snorunt, Protect!"

Just as Snorunt stands and gets his bearings, Electrike slams into him again, this time driving the other pokemon into the wall. Snorunt convulses as Spark runs through his body, then falls to the ground limp when Electrike backs off.

A buzzer sounds overhead as the barrier around the arena falls. "And thats that! Snorunt is down! Lee and Electrike are the winners without a scratch to show for it!" The announcer says, prompting the onlookers to stand and cheer.

Across the arena, the dejected Maybelle recalls Snorunt into his ball and is led back through the door behind her by a man in a Battle Tent apron, but not before she turns and sneers at Lee and Electrike. "Stupid pro tryhard..." She holds her nose up as she leaves.

Lee can't help but frown, but he wipes it off his face when Electrike proudly trots back to his feet, stubby tail wagging.

"See? I told you we'd win." The man grins and kneels down and offers a hand to his loaner pokemon. Electrike presses his muzzle into the offered hand, and Lee suppresses a wince when an electric jolt runs up his arm.

"Mister Henson?"

Lee takes the excuse to withdraw his hand from Electrike and stands, turning to face the same young attendant who escorted him to the arena.

The man clears his throat and looks down at a tablet in his hand. "Your next match starts immediately. Would you like to swap pokemon, or keep Electrike?"

"Hmm..." The zoologist glances down at the green Electric-type, who looks back up at him expectantly. 'Why fix what isn't broken?' Lee shakes his head. "I'll keep Electrike. I feel a winning streak with him, eh, pal?" He smiles down at the pokemon, who barks excitedly and wags his short tail faster.

The attendant nods and smiles a bit himself. "Good luck," he wishes before bowing out and leaving the arena again.

With a final wobble, the shuddering and burned Pansage falls to the arena floor, unmoving. Even landing on the wince-inducing electrical burn on his chest does not rouse the simian pokemon.

"Pansage, I know you've got one more in you! C'mon!" The middle-aged woman trainer on the other side of the arena tries to make Pansage fight further with her pleading.

Lee shakes his head and turns his eyes back to his loaned Electrike.

Favoring his left side and panting harshly, the Electric-type's exhaustion from three back-to-back battles is obvious. Snorunt did no damage, but the Baltoy in the last match proved to be a pain in the ass thanks to it's immunity to Electric moves. What Lee expected to be a rough match actually wasn't that bad, just time-consuming when hit-and-run became the name of the game to escape Baltoy's Psybeam, which did hit Electrike once. Several times, the volume of Lee's voice swallowed the other trainer's commands or made him stop short, leaving Baltoy open. By the time the other trainer, a man of similar age to Lee, decided to start using Rapid Spin to ward off Electrike, Baltoy was on it's last leg and only got one good hit in.

Pansage was the toughest of all, being both faster and more versatile than Electrike with Vine Whip and Leech Seed. Something interesting Lee discovered? Spark fries planted Leech Seeds, and Vine Whip becomes a liability when the foe can light themselves up like a stun-gun and zap the Vine Whip user via their own whips.

One such zap opened Pansage to a surprise Thunder Wave, then the immobilized monkey pokemon was promptly assailed by a barrage of Howl empowered Spark attacks.

Electricity is such a powerful element. Although he would never dream of forcing her to battle, Lee silently hopes that Shinx can learn to wield her electrical powers like a pro.

Overhead, the buzzer sounds for the 3rd time. "That's it! Lee Henson has cleared the Battle Tent challenge and is our second winner today!" The announcer's voice is punctuated by cheers. Brendan in particular gives a standing ovation with a bright grin.

"I feel like I overtrained for this..." Lee shakes his head and waves to the other trainer. "Hey! Good match!"

The woman, Lee didn't catch her name, just huffs and recalls Pansage before handing the ball off to the Battle Tent attendant behind her.

On the field, Electrike finally gives in to his exhaustion and falls to his rump, still panting like he ran a lap around the entirety of Slateport.

'Opponents like Snorunt, Baltoy, or Pansage would barely wind one of my team... But Electrike isn't one of mine. This was probably a huge uphill fight for him.' Lee raises the loaned pokeball in his hand and levels it at the exhausted pokemon. "You helped me to a big win, pal. Thank you for everything. I couldn't have done it without you."

Electrike turns and stands, his head held high as he's sucked back into the pokeball as a beam of red light.

Lee hands the ball to the attendant behind him and gives one final wave to the roaring spectators before stepping back into the darkened hallway. The Battle Tent worker closes the door behind the both of them, and the trek back to the waiting room is spent in silence until Lee breaks it halfway back.

"I'm only the second one to win today, eh?" He asks over his shoulder to the attendant. "What do I win?"

The young man at Lee's side smiles a strained 'customer service' smile as they stop back in the musty waiting room filled with terminals. "The prizes are randomized, sir. It could be anything!"

"So I'm not getting a Fire Stone, then." Lee grouses, making the apron-clad man falter. He sighs. "That's fine, I guess. I still need to talk about evolution to my Vulpix. No need to get ahead of myself."

"While a Fire Stone is a tall order for our easiest Tent, I think you'll find this to be a decent compromise."

Both Lee and the Battle Tent employee turn to face the interloping voice, the latter stiffening.

With a grin on his face, a short, rotund man with curly brown hair wearing an alolan shirt and sunglasses stops to Lee's left. In one of the man's hands is a small box, and the other hand is raised in a wave. "Yo!" He greets, voice as cool and laid back as he looks.

"S-Sir! I didn't realize you were visiting today!" The attendant escorting Lee hastily steps up and gives the man a deep, proper bow at the waist.

Lee blinks, a half-forgotten memory surfacing as he scans the very tourist-looking man. 'Some kind of VIP? No. Where have I seen this guy? Not in the games... or was he? Damn. I need to dig my old phone out and do a replay of Pokemon Emerald to refresh my memory.'

"No need for that," the still unnamed man adjusts his sunglasses and waves off the bow. "I just popped in when I saw a trainer of interest register for our challenge here. Lo and behold, he wins handily. Heh, we're going to need to put that Electrike up for adoption soon. He's probably too experienced to stay here after battling under an elite-in-the-making." He thrusts a hand forward with a smile. "My name's Scott. I'm the owner here. Nice to meet you properly, Lee."

Lee's eyes widen when the man's name suddenly fills in the missing piece of the puzzle. 'Oh shit. The Scott? The Battle Frontier owner? Fuck, how did I forget that?' Outwardly, he clears his throat and clasps Scott's hand for a handshake. "The performance was enjoyable I hope? And meet me properly?"

Scott laughs when Lee releases his hand. "Not as enjoyable as seeing your personal pokemon battle, but I had a good time watching. I caught yours and Miss Zinnia's performance in Dewford's yearly Brawl at the tail end of my vacation and I've been hooked ever since." Scott clears his throat as his smile becomes more business-like. "There's little I enjoy more than watching rising stars. You, Miss Zinnia, and Mister Birch are all such stars. I've found a handful of others this year, but you three are some of my favorites. It was Nigel Birch's reign of terror over the Hoenn Gym circuit twenty years prior that started my fascination, you know?" He crosses his arms, and even with sunglasses on, the nostalgia in Scott's eyes is undeniable. "Then I find his son, a dragon tamer, and a mysterious newcomer turned Lab Trainer traveling together trashing Gyms and tournaments like Nigel did?" The short man's grin is face-splitting. "Ohohohoho! Hoenn is due for a shake up. It's been too calm since Steven Stone took power, and I think you three are the ones to do it!"

Lee bites his lip. "You intend for us to challenge the Battle Frontier someday?"

"Someday soon." He nods, grin still locked in place. "Here," he holds the box in his hand out. "After I saw your Treecko-turned-Grovyle's impossible win in Dewford, I've been wondering what a boost would do for him. I think this is better than one of our regular prizes."

Gingerly, Lee takes the unmarked cardboard box and at Scott's silent urging, pulls it open, letting out the scent of loamy earth and revealing the inside.

Sitting in a velvet-lined indent inside is a cloth band with a glittering, seed-like gem sown into the center. The gem faintly glows a sun-light gold even in the bright fluorescent light of the room.

"What is it?" Lee wonders aloud, picking up the band and holding it aloft.

Scott chuckles. "I thought a researcher like you would have known?"

The zoologist's face colors red a bit, drawing another chuckle from the shorter man. "It's a Miracle Seed," Scott explains, reaching out to tap the gem with a finger. "A seed so overflowing with Grass energy that it empowers the Grass techniques of the wearer. Mister Grovyle will enjoy a nice boost to all of his Grass attacks, and it's legal in most tournaments too!"

Lee's mouth drops open a little. 'I hadn't even thought of using held items. Then again, I've not come across anyone else using them either.'

"You'll encounter trainers using doodads and bobbles like these the more serious you become," Scott practically reads Lee's mind with a knowing nod. "The smart ones will try to hide their use when they can. I know Roxanne has a Magnet somewhere on her Nosepass painted to camouflage it, and if Brawly is following his father's example, then his pokemon probably have Coba berries ready to bite down on to dull Flying attacks."

'That... Actually explains a lot. It was weird that Nosepass's Discharge was so strong, and Brawly's pokemon took Corvi's attacks with more ease than I would have expected.'

"Only the brazen wear their gear casually." Scott finishes, not noticing Lee's thoughts. "Make of that what you will." Then he reaches up and clasps Lee's shoulder. "It's a shame I couldn't see your friends fight, but I understand given the ticket price. Next time, I'll call ahead and let the next Tent know that you three are battling as VIPs." He then withdraws a business card from his pocket and slips it into Lee's hand. "We'll keep in touch, okay? I'll be watching your career closely."

As Scott turns and walks away through a staff door with a wave, leaving Lee and the gaping attendant behind him, Lee looks down at the card in his hand and rolls it between his fingers.

'I can't escape this main character bullshit, can I?'

He wraps the Miracle Seed up and stuffs the business card into the box before making his way out of the backroom, passing another group of people being led in to pick pokemon to battle with.

Alone in the elevator, he takes Vulpix's ball from his belt and pops it open, depositing the vixen on the carpeted floor. Barely even needing to blink the spots out of her sight, she jumps to Lee's shoulder, gives him a short nuzzle in greeting, and reconnects her mind to his. Without bothering to ask, she scans through his memories of the last hour lethargically.

"You slept in your ball, didn't you?" Lee asks, already knowing the answer.

Vulpix's wince and surge of guilt is immediate.

"It's nothing to be upset over," Lee murmurs, reaching a hand up to stroke her soft cheek as the elevator begins to rise. "We'll keep practicing your telepathy until you can tell me what's on your mind, right? You helped me, and I'll help you. Just try to get some sleep at night, okay?"

In her throat, Vulpix makes her curious not-purr and gives the man a lick across the side of his nose, her warm gratitude making his chest feel light.

The elevator stops on floor B2 and opens, letting in a handful of people going up, Brendan and Zinnia among them. Brendan immediately beelines for Lee with a hand held up for a high-five. "That was awesome! Way to clown on everyone who looked your way!"

Lee huffs out a laugh and meets Brendan's hand with his own for a loud 'smack!' "Clown on them? Is that some kind of figure of speech?"

The boy trainer just sticks his tongue out at his older friend. "Get with it, old timer."

"In all seriousness, well done, Dolittle." Zinnia steps in with a smile. "All the pokemon here are roughly on par with each other, and you took three wins pretty skillfully. The matches were... a little dull, but that's more because the low level trainers and low level 'mons rather than you." She easily ignores the ugly looks from a few people in the elevator, one of them Maybelle, the first trainer that Lee denied a win. "You've already got the bond thing down, and now you're on track to be..." She pauses for some reason, red eyes looking away in thought for a moment. "Worthy of some really amazing stuff."

Lee raises a brow, and Zinnia awkwardly clears her throat. "I'll explain what I mean later."

"How much are Battle Tent tickets?" Brendan asks Zinnia, steamrolling over the conversation. "Oh!" He turns back to Lee. "What did you win?"

Zinnia grins evilly. "They're three-hundred and fifty some credits, shorty, and no consolation prizes."

The elevator dings and reads "F1". The door opens, letting everyone inside out.

"What?!" Brendan exclaimed and he, Lee, and Zinnia walk off to a corner to finish talking. "Over three-hundred credits!? That's criminal!"

Lee shakes his head and looks at the draconid tribeswoman as well. "Did you seriously blow three-hundred and fifty credits on an apology gift? One that wasn't sure to have some kind of return on investment?"

"Yes and yes," she crosses her arms under her bust and preens with a smile. "And no return? You won, didn't you? I'm curious too, what did you get?"

Holding the box up, the camo-clad man opens it and shows the pair of curious faces the Miracle Seed inside.

"A Miracle Seed?" Brendan breathes. "Wow. Uh, that's not an evo stone, but that's not a waste of credits either."

Zinnia whistles and grins. "Ha! String bean is already a lean, mean, sword-fighting machine. This is going to kick him up a huge notch. Look at the purity of this thing! It's even glowing!" She turns and looks back at the elevator with calculating eyes. "If these are the kinds of things they give away, I might need to get a ticket for myself..."

"I don't get the feeling that this is in the usual winnings pool," Lee closes the box again and slouches so Vulpix can step over the straps of his backpack that he pulls off. He drops the Seed in his bag and replaces it over his shoulders. "The head honcho of the place gave it to me. He said he's been following our progress since Dewford."

The dragon tamer's head whips back around so quickly that the collar of her cloak makes a 'snap' sound. "Someone's been stalking us?!"

"Not like that," Lee holds his hands up passively. "He's some bigwig who owns the Battle Tents and the Battle Frontier. The guy's name is Scott, and he said he wants all of us to eventually take the Battle Frontier challenge."

"Really?" Brendan's eyes light up like Christmas came early. He balls his hands and bounces in place. "No way! The Battle Frontier is only for the best of the best! It's where Elites rub shoulders and Champs hang out! He wants us there!?" Brendan almost squeals in happiness. "Holy crap thats awesome!"

"Know a lot about it?" Zinnia asks with a raised brow. "You're fanboying out reaaaal hard."

The Birch heir scoffs. "Of course I do. Dad was invited to the Battle Frontier when I was little but turned it down to keep his career as a professor. Honestly? I think he should have gone for it."

'I need to look up Professor Birch's battles sometime. Can you remind me next time we have some time, love?'

Vulpix flicks an ear in acknowledgment, then silently reminds him of something else he forgot.

"Oh!" Lee exclaims, drawing both Brendan and Zinnia's attention. "Scott also mentioned that any other Battle Tents we visit are free of charge. He wants to see you two battle as well."

Brendan's mouth drops open in surprise, and Zinnia just smirks greedily.

In the forest path leading to route 110, the road to Mauville just north of Slateport, two blurs of green and blue cease clashing at an unspoken signal and materialize into a pair of pokemon.

On the right, Brendan's Marshtomp pants with his eyes wide and almost manic. His body is littered with cuts, small bruises, and one deep slash in this thigh that bleeds profusely. The mudfish's whole body shakes with energy aching to be released, and his fists are clenched so hard that his knuckles are bone-white.

Across from Marshtomp, Lee's Grovyle stands coolly with his arms crossed as the Leaf Blades on his wrists power down. Any who know him well can see how deep his breaths are and the tremor that runs through his legs, however. His form is black and blue with bruises and busted scales, and his usual chewing twig is bent, clearly broken. He shifts the twig to the other side of his jaw, which lacks a swelling bruise shaped like a three-fingered fist. Around the wood gecko's neck, a black neckerchief bearing a radiant seed sits, ruffled.

"Nice job, Marshtomp!" Brendan praises from behind his pokemon. The young trainer already has a spray bottle of Potion and a water-soaked rag at the ready. He steps in and gently guides his pokemon into a sitting position before spraying down Marshtomp's wounds, who barely notices the disinfecting sting. When the cuts close he wipes the spots of blood away with his rag. "Never let a type disadvantage keep you down!"

The Water pokemon takes a deep, gurgling breath and lets out a jolly laugh as his energy finally dissipates.

Lee, with Vulpix in her usual spot astride his shoulder, mirrors Brendan and steps up to Grovyle with the Super Potion he bought a number of days prior. Like usual, Grovyle needs no spoken encouragement and doesn't so much as flinch when the Super Potion soaks into his scales, reversing the bruises and growing new scales in a way Lee knows has to be itchy as hell. When Grovyle sees his trainer's pleased smile, though, the Grass-type's stance relaxes ever so slightly.

With his pokemon treated, Lee wipes his forehead with his sleeve and pulls his phone from his pocket, gazing at the time. "I think that's enough of a spar for now. Take a rest, Grovyle."

The gecko nods easily, so Lee returns him to his ball in a flash of red.

"Same for you, Marshtomp." Brendan holds out his ball. "Rest up! I'll need your help coaching Mawile when we stop next time!"

Marshtomp gurgles again and raises a finger in a rough thumbs-up with a smile before vanishing into his ball as a mass of red light.

"Okay you two!" Zinnia calls from the shade of a tree to the side. At her feet, a wide-eyed Shinx and bored Shelgon stand. "Time to bail out of here before a ranger shows up!" She points a finger behind them.

Lee and Brendan both turn, then pale as one.

A few trees along the path are laying on the ground, felled in the furious fight between pokemon. A few are cut clean through as though done by a giant razor, and some look as if someone mistook a sledgehammer for an axe but was too stubborn to stop until the tree fell.

"Well, Mauville is several days away on foot, so let's not dally..." Lee clears his throat and turns away from the mess. He kneels down, and Shinx darts away from Shelgon's side into his arms, drawing a smile from him wide enough to pull at the marred side of his face.

Zinnia returns Shelgon to his ball and falls in step with Lee and Brendan as they quickly walk northward, away from their impromptu battleground. "You know, if you keep spoiling her by carrying her around, she's going to turn into a wussy daddy's girl." The dragon tamer eyes Shinx, who ignores her in favor of cuddling into Lee's arms.

"That's fine," Lee sniffs, shifting his arms so the cub in his grasp can get comfortable. "Nothing wrong with that. She can walk if she wants. If not, the fresh air will do her some good."

Zinnia just chuckles. "Sure thing, Dolittle. Sure thing..."