The Type Specialist

Training with Gurkinn was a lot simpler than I expected.

Rather than anything that intensive, the day after we first arrived, he forbade us from Mega Evolving our Pokémon and we instead worked on mental exercises.

He taught us breathing methods, meditation strategies, simple tricks for obtaining the right mind states, as well as goals our Pokémon could have to more easily sync up with us as trainers. For training about such a serious topic, it was moderately relaxed, and all our Pokémon joined in.

At one point, I was curious about why we were doing this, since Gurkinn was bad at explaining his decisions. So, I went up to him to ask the question.

“Well,” Gurkinn said, “these practices are necessary to get both you and your Pokémon ready for Mega Evolution. You need to align yourselves with a single goal, and these all contribute to attaining that method. All Pokémon on your team should be able to do this, and I expect you to teach these things to any new members you catch.”

“Even if they’re Pokémon that can’t Mega Evolve?” I asked.

Gurkinn shot me a confused look.

“What are you talking about? Every fully evolved Pokémon can Mega Evolve. Just because we only know of fifty that can, doesn’t mean that’s every single one possible.”

Huh?

“Huh? Fifty? I thought there were only forty-something. What were the most recent ones discovered?”

“Vanilluxe and Scolipede,” he stated. “More specifically, Mega Vanilluxe looks like a large ice cream split in a bowl, and Mega Scolipede wraps itself back up and turns into a spiked wheel.”

“Huh.”

I hadn’t expected to hear about Mega Evolutions unknown in my old world, so hearing about two completely unknown species Mega Evolving caught me off guard.

I’ve been assuming things are too much like my old world. I need to be more on top of differences. If more Pokémon than just Altaria and Mawile can Mega Evolve, it’s completely possible I’m missing potential Fairy Types in unknown Mega Evolutions as well.

I grinned. There was so much more to discover about Fairy Types, and just hearing that there were unknown Mega Evolutions reaffirmed my motivation to be a Pokémon trainer and continue my journey.

I returned to my meditation practice with everyone, and we continued to train getting in the right mindset.

As the day went on, I began to understand why I had been failing in the past few weeks. Turns out, it was a combination of a few different things preventing us from successfully completing the phenomenon. I had trouble wrapping my mind around the whole idea of emotions dictating a temporary evolution like this, but apparently it was pretty similar to how Pokémon manipulate energy to use their moves. Additionally, after I failed the first attempt, I kept thinking I was messing something up, which hurt my chances for Altaria to properly Mega Evolve.

As for our mindset, there was also a disconnect there. Altaria wanted to Mega Evolve to help me, while I just wanted to Mega Evolve for the sake of Mega Evolving. Mixed in was the idea of helping Professor Sycamore, but what I wanted and what Altaria wanted weren’t the same. The tips Gurkinn was giving us let us create better goals we could focus on to actually succeed on our transformation. For battles, we decided to use the goal of “defeating our foes,” and for outside of battles, we decided to use the goal of “becoming the strongest Fairy Type possible.” Having those preset would let us focus on a single task and would make the entire process far easier.

Plus, working it out with the rest of our team would help us battle with the right mindset in general, giving slight improvements to our power overall.

We continued to think, train, and practice for the rest of the day, and went to sleep feeling far more prepared about Mega Evolution that night.

“Today, you two are actually going to Mega Evolve your Pokémon,” Gurkinn announced the next morning. “Your Pokémon need to get used to their new bodies and train their abilities as well.”

“Wait hold on, their abilities need to be trained?” I interrupted. “I thought they gained them when they Mega Evolved.”

Gurkinn wobbled his head.

“Eeehh, kind of? Inherently, the basics are there when they Mega Evolve, but it’ll take a bit of effort to figure out how to properly use them. Developing a Mega Evolution’s ability is far faster than developing a normal ability, but the time it takes varies. Some species can figure it out almost immediately, while others have to spend a few attempts focused on just practicing. Do you two know which abilities your Pokémon will gain?”

I immediately smiled when I remembered what Altaria would get.

“Pixilate. It turns his Normal Type moves into Fairy Type moves,” I said.

“And Venusuaur gets Thick Fat. It’ll help him resist Fire and Ice Type moves,” Hope added.

Gurkinn looked satisfied by our responses, and turned away to lead us towards an open space between a few buildings.

“Call over your Pokémon. We’re starting now.”

Following his instructions, I immediately shouted for Altaria, and grabbed a scarf to tie his Mega Stone to his neck. Unlike the bracer around Hope’s Venusaur’s front leg, we didn’t have anything specifically made for his Mega Stone to slot in. The scarf still beat just holding it in his beak, which was what he had to resort to when he Mega Evolved on the tower the other day.

I also took off his Choice Specs, since using them alongside Mega Evolution could potentially harm his internal energy flow.

After setting it up, I placed a hand over the Key Stone on my arm, and Hope clasped her Key Stone pendant. Both of us closed our eyes to focus, and-

I flinched back when Gurkinn slapped me, causing me to jump in shock.

"Keep your eyes open, you fool," he said. "You're not a psychic: you can't see the battle with your mind. Keep them open and try again."

Rubbing my cheek, I did as he said and resumed the process.

This time, rather than just thinking about how much I cared about Altaria, I focused on the single goal we set up previously. A small grin appeared on my face as I remembered the reason I caught him in the first place: the Fairy Typing he would gain right now. In the back of my mind, a few images of important moments of his past lingered about, but I didn’t focus on them and instead just continued believing in our goal.

And to my absolute elation, Altaria began to glow.

Like how it happened a few times before, Altaria increased in size and his fluff expanded out. A weakening feeling slowly came to be in my chest as the light broke, and when Altaria started to preen his new cloud-like feathers, I knew that this was something we could repeat.

Looking over, I saw Hope also had a big smile on her face, and Gurkinn clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.

"Perfect. Now then, like I said earlier, Pokémon develop the most during times of stress. So, I-"

Hope and I immediately jumped back, and our Mega Pokémon moved in front of us to protect us from whatever Gurkinn was planning. Altaria began to breathe in, readying himself for a Hyper Voice, and Venusaur’s vines for Vine Whip extended out and hung in the air, ready to attack. I couldn’t help but notice that it had four vines instead of two in its Mega Evolved form.

Across from us, Gurkinn’s mouth was left hanging open, but he soon closed it and shot us an annoyed look.

"I was going to say battle each other, you Dunsparces."

"Oh. That makes sense."

"I thought you were going to attack us again."

Moving a distance apart, Hope and I readied ourselves to use this space as a makeshift battlefield. Our Pokémon moved in to stand on the sidelines, and Gurkinn sent out his Alakazam to form a Psychic barrier around the field. Alakazam also Mega Evolved, just in case.

Hope and I stood in silence, facing each other. Venusaur still had its vines out, and Altaria was circling in the air on my half. Gurkinn just stood there, tapping his foot, until he threw up his arms and shouted out.

"Ugh, just go already! A referee isn’t necessary every— eep!"

Altaria shouted a large, echoing squawk at Venusaur that created a circular, shimmering, pink and white sonic wave that impacted the ground where Venusaur had been standing. The ground was bent inward at the force of such a powerful attack. However, the Mega Pokémon avoided the Hyper Voice by using its Vine Whips to push it away off the ground.

As it landed, the petals on Venusaur’s larger-than-normal flower on its back shook and a spiraling mass of razor sharp petals were conjured and sent spiraling forward. Its Petal Blizzard was unlike Florges's Petal Dance, in that it was more of a dense wave than a full-on swarm, but Altaria was more than used to dealing with this kind of attack.

Altaria didn't bother dodging and instead used Cotton Guard, which formed in seconds and shielded him from the entirety of the attack. When the petals finished crashing into him and either fell to the ground or impacted the barrier behind him, I saw that his Cotton Guard had already been significantly compressed and cut apart from the attack.

And then, almost immediately after, a second Petal Blizzard was sent forward, and this one managed to knock him back.

I whistled, impressed at everything I’ve seen so far.

"All of these moves have been insanely powerful. I can still see the crater from Altaria's Hyper Voice, and Venusaur's Petal Blizzard practically blocks out the sun. Is everything enhanced by Mega Evolution?" I asked Gurkinn.

He smirked.

"Keep battling and let's see."

Since the purpose of this battle was to develop our Pokémon’s abilities, I decided to give Altaria a command to help Hope out.

“Use both Ice Beam and Flamethrower! Use one, then the other! Test your power!” I shouted.

Immediately, a gout of flames burst from Altaria’s mouth and was sent towards Venusaur, encompassing the area around it. It reminded me of the power of Altaria’s attacks when he was enhanced by his Choice Specs, as well as the results of his Power Swap combination with Whimsicott’s Growth. Before the flames could even die down, Altaria then shifted his attack to send out a crackling Ice Beam instead, sending what looked like blue Ice Type lightning into the fire.

The freezing temperatures of the move cooled the flames, and a smokescreen of steam started to form. I noted that for use in future battles, and squinted to see how Venusaur reacted. Once the faint bit of mist cleared, I saw that Venusaur was still there, having not moved at all. It hadn’t dodged, and had instead just taken both attacks head on. Despite the damage, it was in the process of using Synthesis to heal itself, mostly unphased.

As I watched it recover, I saw that parts of its flowers that had been burned off began to grow back, and the frozen parts also snapped off and did the same. Its body, however, looked relatively unharmed, and my experience with Azumarill's Thick Fat let me see that the damage had been purely surface level.

"Looks like its ability only works on its body," I shouted. "Venusaurs's flowers and growths aren't protected."

Hope frowned at my response, and looked over Venusaur while Altaria lazilly drifted around above, waiting for my next order.

"So he keeps that same weakness? Good to know. Directed attacks can probably be tanked, but nothing wide ranged. Thanks, Alex."

I smiled and nodded back.

Resuming our battle, Altaria used our newfound knowledge of Venusaur's weakness to aim several Flamethrowers at its flowers. Hope clicked her tongue.

This time, Venusaur used its four vines to push away and dodge, then sent out a Razor Leaf attack mid-air. Altaria saw the attack and hurriedly flapped as fast as he could to move out of the way, since the empowered attack meant each sharp, spinning leaf was the size of my arm.

"Dodge—wait, knock them back with Hyper Voice instead!" I yelled.

Altaria breathed in and screamed, and once more pulsating circles of sound were sent forward. Like it had earlier in this battle, the Normal Type move had traces of pink in it, showing that Altaria was already unconsciously mixing Fairy Type energy into it with Pixilate.

Rather than simply knocking the incoming leaves back, the attack shredded them and tore them apart, then slammed into the ground, kicking up a dust storm.

Altaria went back to waiting to see what Hope would do, and I watched as a faint bit of light peaked out of the cloud as Venusaur’s leaves began to glow with Solar Beam.

I glanced at Gurkinn.

"Can Alakazam set up a barrier to block noise?"

He raised an eyebrow, intrigued, and nodded.

I let loose a wide grin.

"Alright, Altaria! Let's finish it here! Uproar! Put everything you have in it!"

Altaria took in a deep breath, and the air around him started to shimmer with pink energy. Silence fell around as everyone watched the incoming exchange intently—

And then the field turned pink.

The barrier wasn't a classic League-standard cube, but instead a sphere-like structure made up of many hexagons. Alakazam closed its eyes to better focus, and the screens were glowing with such intensity that none of us could see in.

However, despite my wish to see what happened, I suddenly dropped to a knee as a wave of exhaustion washed over me.

"W-what is this?" I grunted through gritted teeth.

Gurkinn began to walk over.

"You told your Pokémon to use a big move, so it drew on more of your energy. It's risky to tell your Pokémon to act in such extremes when Mega Evolved, since the backlash of their moves can affect their trainer. No matter the outcome, we’ll have to end the battle here, because otherwise, you’re going to faint.”

I forced my heavy eyelids to stay open and stared at the pink shape in front of us. The solid, glowing color was maintained for a surprisingly long amount of time, but eventually, it began to fade away, and our Pokémon were revealed.

Venusaur was still conscious, but it was wobbling in place and had clearly suffered a lot under Altaria’s Uproar. I couldn't see much visible damage on it, but that was a consequence of most sound-wave based moves. The damage was internal.

Altaria, meanwhile, was also still up. He was resting on the ground with chunks of his fluff from Cotton Guard separated from his body, spread around him, and he was panting heavily.

With Altaria still conscious, I grabbed the Key Stone again and tried to will the Mega Evolution to stop. With Gurkinn’s advice, stopping the process was also a lot easier since by focusing on a goal, I could just consider it completed to have it end. Alternatively, I could try to think of a different goal, or just stop focusing on the battle, but that carried an increased risk of Altaria going berserk, so I wasn’t going to do that.

As a result, a white light encompassed Altaria as the changes from his transformation turned into light and faded away, and he collapsed onto the ground..

Hope and Venusaur went through a similar process, and seeing that, I pushed back to my feet.

"Good battle," I called out. "I know neither of us were using our full power, but that doesn't mean Venusaur wasn't impressive."

"Same to you. It was impressive to see Altaria push through poison like that the whole time."

I blinked.

"Altaria was poisoned?"

We fell into silence for a moment.

"Uh... yes? Venusaur slipped a Poison Powder in with his Petal Blizzard, and Altaria should have definitely been put under the condition with the way it slammed into him. Why?"

At this point, Hope and I had both approached our Pokémon, and were leaning on them to help with our exhaustion. Venusaur was supporting Hope’s weight, and I was sitting on the ground, slumped forward with Altaria in my lap. My head was resting on his mass of feathers, and his head was leaning back on top of mine. It was a silly sight, but I didn’t mind since it was so comfortable.

I felt like I was going to fall asleep.

"I guess Altaria's Natural Cure must have finally kicked in,” I mumbled.

Closing my eyes, I began to drift off to sleep as Hope and Gurkinn sent amused glances my way. My Pokémon began to make their way over to join me, and in my short nap, I dreamt of Mega Evolution with my team at my side.

In the Pokémon anime, there was a recurring Jigglypuff that would sing and have her audience fall asleep, then draw on their faces in anger at having them not pay attention to her song.

While that hadn't happened to me, I did have to deal with the consequence of having both Whimsicott and Dedenne nearby.

When I woke up, I started to make my way back to the small house Gurkinn and Hope were staying in, and my Pokémon were casually training around me. As I did so, I heard a stifled chuckle and glanced over to Ninetales.

Before I could even look at her, she had already turned away, and I saw she was trying her best to not vibrate with laughter.

Confused, I turned back to my team to see both Florges hide a smile and Azumarill smirk. Mawile was simply staring, but Altaria and Ponyta didn't seem to care at all.

Whimsicott and Dedenne, however, burst into laughter.

Whimsicott rolled back and forth on the ground, in utter hysterics, and Dedenne was pointing at me while clutching his stomach in high-pitched laughter.

Frowning, I turned the camera mode of my Pokédex on to take a picture of myself just to see what they had done.

As awful as it was, I couldn't help but to chuckle, myself.

Rather than drawing something to make me look dumb, like a pair of nerdy glasses or a wavy mustache, Whimsicott and Dedenne had somehow got a number of different markers and just coated my face in color. I looked like a patchwork blanket, and I could barely see my eyes poking through the mess.

Shaking my head with both amusement and exasperation, I grabbed a towel and asked for Azumarill’s assistance to help clean up. After taking a weak Water Gun directly to the face, I returned to the house right as the sun began to set on the horizon.

“So the sleeper has awoken? Good. I was just about to tell Hope that you two have graduated,” Gurkinn said.

I blinked.

“Graduated?”

“Yes, graduated. You understand how to Mega Evolve your Pokémon and know how to manage it responsibly. We could train it longer, but honestly, you’d be better off experimenting with it on your own. Well, by that I mean you should still limit yourselves to practicing it within safe, League-approved locations, but you two no longer need my help. So thus, you’ve graduated.”

I looked to Hope, who was smiling, proud of herself, and I shrugged my shoulders. She looked back at me and asked me a question.

“So, Coumarine?”

I nodded my head.

"Yeah, but I want to make a stop or two, first. I haven't really seen Kalos, so I'd like to visit Reflection Cave. The idea of a cave completely filled with reflective stones and crystals sounds cool, plus it has the highest population of Carbink in the world."

Hope pressed her lips together.

“Reflection Cave is in the complete opposite direction.”

"What?” I said, cocking my head, “I thought the cave separated the upcoming route."

"Yeah, but it’s between Geosenge and Shalour, not Shalour and Coumarine," Hope replied. "You're getting your cities mixed up."

I cursed. Pulling out my Pokédex, I went to the map to check just in case, and groaned as an alert popped up.

"Great. Not only is it the wrong way, it’s also completely off limits. Seems like there’s some kind of research study going on there."

Hope raised an eyebrow.

"Really? That's weird. I’ve never heard of the League completely blocking off a location like that. The main route goes through a tunnel on its upper levels, which means they're also going through the trouble of providing a completely different route through the mountains, and having Rangers patrol it. I don't think I've seen that before."

Well, neither have I but I've only been in the world for just under two years.

"Well, is there anything else on the way to Coumarine then?” I asked. “Since I'm visiting Kalos, I want to do something other than sit around in cities the entire time I’m here."

Hope’s eyes started to sparkle.

"Have you ever heard of Gogoat racing? My parents used to bring me to watch when I was young, and they even let people sign up to race themselves! It's really fun! Ramos’s Gym Trainers help with it all the time."

I rubbed my chin as I considered her words. Hope wasn't the kind of person to show strong emotional reactions to things, but she seemed really animated when talking about Gogoat racing. Honestly, it sounded like a great idea.

"Alright, let's do it."

Hope pumped her fist in excitement.

Hope and I spent the rest of the night resting at Gurkinn’s, then thanked him and left the next morning.

We had a pretty simple goodbye, and he was looking forward to returning home. He had helped us as a favor to Sycamore, and normally just spent his time helping his family run the local Gym. It was one of the reasons we were legally allowed to practice Mega Evolution with him, because he had the authority as both an expert and a higher-up in the Gym to supervise us. He wasn't the Gym Leader, though.

Route 12 was a coastal route located to the east of Shalour City. It had a combination of rocky cliffs and long stretches of white beaches, and was coated with a series of relatively flat, grassy plains.

Along those plains were a number of farms set up with large, roaming herds of Pokémon. I saw Mareep and Flaaffy, Miltank and Tauros, and even the aforementioned groups of Skiddo and Gogoat.

Hope, the local, led the way on her Tropius while Altaria followed. I was half tempted to Mega Evolve him, since in that form he could fly quicker and grew just large enough that I could ride him, but I didn't own any support equipment to fit him, nor had we practiced that. Also, I would get in legal trouble for unnecessarily doing it outside a League location without approval.

We spent a night camping on the route, during which Dedenne ended up stealing pieces of every single one of my Pokémon's dinners, and arrived at the racing plot Hope had talked about.

Rather than an individual farm, it was located in a small town along the side of the main route. It consisted of a number of wooden buildings and was surrounded by pens of Pokémon.

After we landed, Hope actually pointed out one pen of Miltank as we walked towards our objective.

"Those Miltank are one of the reasons I’ve come here as a Gym Trainer in the past," she said. "Miltank are one of the species of Pokémon that get Sap Sipper, and training that ability lets them better absorb the energy of the plants they eat. Almost every Miltank on these farms has it developed, which means they produce more nutritious milk."

I hummed at that information, and we soon arrived at the place Hope said did public Gogoat racing. When she approached, the face of a big man in overalls chewing on a piece of hay lit up with excitement and went over to hug her.

"Hope! Good to see you again. What brings you here this time? Want to add a Gogoat to your team?" he asked.

Smiling, she shook her head no, and gestured towards me.

"Not yet. This is Alex, a fellow trainer working with Sycamore. We were hoping to sign up for a Gogoat race."

Somehow, the grin on the man’s face... deepened?

"So... casual or competitive?" he asked with an uncomfortable amount of mischievousness in his voice.

Hope scoffed.

"Competitive, of course."

"Wait, wait, wait,” I said, interrupting. “Hold on. I'm completely new to this! What do you mean by 'competitive?'"

The man walked over and slapped me on my shoulder, and I grit my teeth when the impact of his large hand hurt more than expected.

"Normally, Gogoat racing is just about building up speed. But with 'competitive' races, riders have a Pokémon with them to try to slow down other riders to make sure they win. It’s as dangerous as it is fun. Great, isn’t it?"

My face paled at this new information.

Using moves towards people? Oh, this might be more painful than I thought.

Since Hope was friends with the owner of this ranch, we were able to get a match set up in a short amount of time. This place served as both a tourist trap and a local pastime, so even though it was in a small town, there were a number of people more than ready to jump in.

I would be participating alongside Hope and four other people. It brought the number of competitors up to six, which was apparently the usual amount for the race.

As this was "competitive'' Gogoat racing, each rider needed to have at least one Pokémon ride alongside them. Dedenne was interested, but he couldn't participate since he didn't have a Pokéball to return to in an emergency. Instead, Whimsicott and Mawile would be sitting on the Gogoat with me: Whimsicott on its head, and Mawile clutching my back.

Gogoat were a decently sized Pokémon, but the ones here were bred to be both large and fast. They looked like normal goats, except they were as tall as I was and had a layer of soft leaves and moss growing out their back. It formed a natural saddle, and its horns could be used as handlebars, too. They were a species perfect as mounts.

I was at a disadvantage in the upcoming race since I had never ridden a Gogoat before, but as I climbed onto mine's back, my heart started to pound with excitement.

Even though I was only a few feet up, it felt like I was far above everyone else. The plants on its back padded and supported me, but I could also feel its body shift ever so slightly with every breath. Its head was surprisingly stable, and I could tell it was adjusting how it moved to better work with my lack of experience. For a Pokémon like Gogoat, I could see why so many people were obsessed with riding them.

Whimsicott sat on its head, like planned, and Mawile was positioned behind me. To my left, Hope sat on her Gogoat with her Bellossom in front of her, and to my right, four other trainers readied themselves with their Pokémon.

The same heavyset man from before moved to stand in front of us on the track marked by hay bales, and, like a judge for a Pokémon battle, proceeded to explain the rules.

"This race’ll be a straight line, with no moves to trip your foes allowed. Also, try to avoid attacks to the head. In an emergency, we got a Meowstic at the side to take ya’ll out if necessary, but we’d also appreciate your help if that comes into play.”

He paused and grinned.

“So, you all signed the waivers, right?"

I blinked.

"Waivers? What—"

"And begin!"

Immediately, my grip tightened on my Gogoat's horns so as to not be thrown off, and all six of them lunged forward.

The speed the Pokémon moved at was far faster than I expected, which meant Whimsicott was immediately thrown back into my face, and Mawile was forced to grip tighter around my sides.

"Now's not the time for slacking off!" Hope yelled. "You're going to want to defend yourself!"

Whimsicott scooted down to be pressed against my chest instead, and my eyes went wide as I saw the attacks coming at me.

Pulling the Gogoat's horn to the side, it narrowly avoided an Ember from a Fletchinder flying alongside a nearby rider, and I heard a clang as Mawile blocked a Magical Leaf from Hope’s Bellossom.

“You’re going to want to go on the offensive, too!” she called out, smirking.

Grunting as I straightened out Gogoat, I saw that I had already fallen to the back of the group. Ahead of me, a rider was wielding a Metapod in one hand with a Kakuna in his lap, which was attempting to pelt another rider’s Gogoat with Poison Sting. However, that rider had the Psychic Type Gothorita standing on the back of her mount, and it was maintaining a Light Screen to stop the attack.

Hope was just in front of me, defending herself from a Helioptile’s Electric Type moves, and I saw the Fletchinder trainer in the far front.

If we didn’t want to place last, we needed to do something, fast. Luckily, I had an idea.

“Whimsicott, you know how you tear off some of your cotton for Substitute?”

Whimsicott made a sound of affirmation while he continued to stare straight ahead, now having maneuvered around to hold onto my shoulder instead.

“Try throwing it instead of keeping it with you. It might be able to slow down our opponents.”

I heard an “Oooh” sound in my ear as Whimsicott voiced his approval, and he quickly did as I requested and threw some forward.

Aiming at a rider that had his Kakuna attacking the Gothorita trainer, Whimsicott’s cotton landed right on the Gogoat’s legs, gunking them up enough that it now had trouble moving them at the same speed as before.

As a result, the Gogoat rapidly fell to the back of the group, but not before its rider tried one last retaliation.

“Metapod! String Shot!”

He held the green Bug Type in front of him as a glossy string of webbing was sent forward at my Gogoat. Mawile did something I didn’t expect, and rather than use her jaws to block it, she purposely dropped down to hang off the side of the Gogoat so the attack hit her body instead.

She then used the raw power contained in her jaws to bite onto the Gogoat and lift herself back up, causing the goat Pokémon to grunt, annoyed, then used the sticky material to attach herself to my back so she would have a harder time falling off.

My mouth dropped open seeing her incredible movements.

“Amazing job, Mawile! Now, get ready. I’m going to move in towards our next opponent. You’re going to break through whatever they set up.”

Mawile said her name in acknowledgement, and I led the Gogoat forward. Somehow, Hope had already made her way to the front and her Bellossom was in a three-way battle between the Fletchinder and Helioptile. That just left the rider with the Gothorita to us.

I pulled the horn-handlebars to the side, and Gogoat started to drift to the right. The Gothorita saw us coming and pointed our charge out to its trainer, who tried to move out of the way. Unfortunately for her, we had a headstart and were picking up momentum, so she would need to do something to stop us.

“Reflect! Stop them!” she ordered.

In response, Gothorita created the screen as instructed, but Mawile was ready. She swung her jaws forward and a shattering sound rang out, her Psychic Fangs destroying the screen. The other rider’s eyes went up as we crashed into them, and to stop herself from crashing into the hay bales at the side and dropping out, she was forced to slow down and fell behind us, staying in the race.

In response, Whimsicott then sent more cotton at them to stick up their mount’s hooves and we quickly created enough distance that she couldn’t slow us down. The Bug Type trainer in the back then began to attack her once more, and her attention shifted to preventing herself from getting last, rather than moving forward.

At this point, I was a short distance behind the leading three, who had reached a stalemate where whoever was in the front kept rotating between them. The finish line was rapidly approaching, so even though I managed to push forward two places, I doubted we could place unless we pulled off something dumb.

“Hm. I think I have one more idea.”

I quickly explained my plan to everyone, including Gogoat, and we made our play.

Right now, Hope’s Bellossom was using Petal Blizzard to block her mount from bursts of both Electric and Fire Type attacks coming her way. The other two trainers had clearly considered her the larger threat, and teamed up to take her out. Since she was distracted, I decided to use this to my advantage.

“Now, Whimsicott!”

Rather than throwing his cotton into the Gogoat’s legs, he threw it infront of her, and, with a curse, she was forced to swerve to avoid the difficult terrain ahead of her. This created the benefit of opening up a path for me to run into, and soon I was in line with her.

With her out of the way, the Fletchinder and Helioptile trainers switched targets to focus on each other instead, and with a glare, Hope shifted to attack me instead.

“Sleep Powder!” she yelled.

Bellossom puffed out gray pollen out of the two flowers on its head, and unfortunately, Gogoat ran straight through the cloud. Immediately, Mawile fell asleep and I felt my eyelids become heavy, but Whimsicott slapped me to get me out of the effect.

He giggled at being able to do that, and I shot him a glare that quickly lightened since it did stop me from falling asleep. Hope then began to yell for Bellossom to use Magical Leaf, and Mawile was too asleep to protect Gogoat. The Grass Type grunted from the damage, and Hope began to pull ahead, so Whimsicott made his play.

Pushing off my body, Whimsicott pulled himself to the front of Gogoat, where he immediately used Protect. That let him serve as a nearly solid surface as he fell towards the ground, and following our plan, Gogoat used him as a springboard to jump in the air. Hope and Bellossom’s jaws dropped as Gogoat soared forward, and we landed right behind the two other trainers.

They immediately turned to face me, but I couldn’t help but sigh.

The jump wasn’t nearly as long as expected, and Mawile had fallen asleep and couldn’t help any more. Plus, Whimsicott would take a bit to catch up, which meant I was completely out of team players.

It didn’t end up mattering though, since after two near misses of Bellossom’s Petal Blizzard, I ended up beating Hope by a hair and securing third place.

Whimsicott returned to my side as Gogoat slowed down, and Hope had hers trot up towards me while the last two riders made it through the finish line. The Gothorita trainer just barely didn’t get last.

“For your first attempt, that was pretty good,” she said. “I didn’t know your Whimsicott knew Cotton Spore.”

I blinked.

“But he doesn’t?”

“Well, he does now,” Hope said, chuckling.

There wasn’t a ceremony or anything to declare the winners, because while they called this “competitive” Gogoat racing, it was still a casual match just for fun. The winning trainer—the one with the Fletchinder—bragged, of course, while the second place Helioptile trainer just looked a little disappointed he didn’t win overall.

I was happy to place third, and we took a brief break to let all the Pokémon heal up, then returned to the field to give it another go. We did a few more races between us, and Hope managed to snag two wins in them. Eventually, after rotating through a few different Pokémon, we finished off the day when our Pokémon became too tired to continue.

The next day, Hope and I left the small town after she said goodbye to her rancher friend. We flew with Altaria and Tropius to make our way towards the end of the route, and soon, we saw Coumarine City in the distance.