The Type Specialist

After I talked to Ralts, I stepped out of his room, exited the hallway, and walked right past that same nurse from before, where a brief glance towards her face revealed a rather guilty look. At this point, I knew she fully understood I wasn’t responsible for Ralts current state. She was most likely fully aware of just how baseless and damaging her earlier accusations had been.

As the sun set and the street lights of Jubilife slowly powered on, I leaned my head back on the couch and began to think.

The timing was going to be tight. I only had so much time before my battle with Roark, which meant I needed to be sure I would reach Oreburgh before our scheduled date for the Mega Evolution show battle, which was set to occur in two weeks. Since I had told Ralts I could train him up within a week, I would have six days to reach Oreburgh and train with my team. With Altaria, that would be easy to do, but I wanted to walk, which took much longer. I expected to arrive in Jubilife a day before the battle at the earliest.

Not only did I need to make sure I timed everything properly, I also needed to actually train Ralts. I wasn’t anywhere near the expert I wanted to be, and if I had more than one-and-a-half regions under my belt, I wouldn’t need to worry about making sure he’d be trained enough to win at all. This would be a challenge to both my ingenuity and skill as a trainer to make him strong enough to beat Luxio by the scheduled date. However, Ralts was clearly willing to push himself. I just needed a solid plan.

As a fellow Psychic Type, Ponyta was going to be key to training with Ralts. Unfortunately, Ponyta was a lot more close-ranged than other Pokémon due to his species preferring to attack with their bodies. His Psybeam was his best ranged move since Confusion only reached full power if he was within a few feet of his target. Ralts, on the other hand, was much better at controlling his moves from a distance, but I hope Ponyta’s powerful technique could at least be partially passed on.

I also hoped that Ninetales and Florges could impart some of their experience to Ralts’s training as well, but I couldn’t just forgo the rest of my team to focus on Ralts. Dedenne and Carbink needed to train, and Mawile needed practice with Mega Evolution as well. With Ponyta, that meant my team was full with seven Pokémon, but I would be forced to leave Whimsicott and Altaria in the ranch. Both of them still needed to train, Whimsicott more than Altaria due to his developing Chlorophyll ability, but at least I could rely on Azumarill to get them moving in the ranch since I knew she wouldn’t let them slack off with such an important battle coming up.

At this point, I ended up just sighing and standing up. Ralts wouldn’t be free to retrieve from the Pokémon Center until tomorrow morning, so I had time to think. As I headed up to my room to retire for the night, my mind continued to spin. I had a lot I needed to take care of in the coming weeks.

The next day, before I picked Ralts, I made a phone call to Wattson. It’d been a long time since we'd spoken, and while we honestly weren’t that close, he was still my best source of Electric Type advice. I needed more information on both how to make Dedenne's attacks stronger and how to help Ralts beat Luxio.

He picked up pretty quickly, which was a slight relief. The Hoenn season had started a month prior, which meant he would still be dealing with the initial rush of beginning trainers. With how long into the hour I had waited to call, I hoped I had managed to avoid one of the battles scheduled at the start of each one.

Once he picked up the call, the Pokémon Center’s video phone screen quickly switched to an image of the lower half of Wattson’s face, where he immediately tilted up his device to better show himself, giving me a clear and unpleasant view of the inside of his nose. Also, I noticed that the screen was shaking slightly, and I could see the inner walls of the Gym. I could tell he was definitely holding his PokéNav, and was in the middle of his main battlefield.

“...Are you in the middle of a Gym Battle?” I asked after a moment. Wattson just turned his head to glance at the screen to see who had called.

“Alex? WAHAHAHAH! I wasn’t expecting a call from you! No, I’m just training some of the Pokémon set to battle today. It’s currently my free time between battles!” he said jovially.

Wattson paused, then lifted up his PokéNav to properly position the camera to center his face. He then turned to face me, or well, turned to face his device, and furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

When he next spoke, his voice was a little softer and his expression lost a bit of the usual boisterousness that defined his personality. I hid a grimace. I had forgotten that the last time we parted was in the hospital after the TV Mauville debacle.

“How are you, by the way?” he asked. “Not getting into too much trouble again, are you?”

I was no longer able to hide the grimace on my face at that question. Wattson just frowned at my frown. I didn’t need to mention anything regarding what I experienced in Kalos, or even my worries about Ash Ketchum. My expression answered the question for him.

“Oh,” he replied.

“That’s not what I was calling you about, anyway. The trouble is already over and done with, mostly, and I wanted your advice on Electric Type Pokémon,” I said, speaking in a light tone to try to bring more cheerfulness back into this conversation. Thankfully, Wattson was more than willing to put that smile back on his face when we continued.

“Well, you’ve called the right Gym Leader! Tell me, what do you need my Electric Type expertise with?”

“First off, I recently caught Dedenne, and he wants to be a stronger attacker even though his species is generally weaker than others. I wanted your advice on how to bring his Electric Type attacks up to par. Also...” My forced smile wavered for a moment, but I pushed through. “I’m also helping a Ralts that is determined to beat a wild Luxio. I wanted to know if you had any ideas on how to win despite the discrepancy in power.”

Wattson hummed and ran his free hand through his bushy white beard. At one point, he briefly covered the microphone to muffle a command towards one of his Pokémon, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that Pokémon was that same Manectric that Ninetales fought.

After a bit, he turned back to his PokéNav with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Helping Dedenne is the easier of the two. I’ve trained up a few Plusle and Minun to become beasts in their own right! First off, what food have you been feeding him?”

“I’ve been cooking basic Pokémon food to feed my team recently,” I explained. “For him in particular, he likes dryer flavors so I’ve been giving him Chesto Berries as a side and including calcium supplements in his food to help with his attacks.”

“That’s good, but mix in iron supplements as well,” he told me.

“Wait, why iron? I thought that vitamin helps develop a Pokémon’s resistance to physical damage?”

“It does, but for Electric Types in particular, iron helps increase their internal conductivity as well as the amount of raw power they can handle. In addition, Dedenne should be constantly discharging all of his electricity at once and letting it recover to exercise and increase the capacity he stores. A solar charger and battery would be a good source of power for him to drain when necessary, which speeds up the process by helping him return to full in a faster amount of time.”

While he talked, I quickly pulled out my journal and hurriedly wrote everything down. I had a smile on my face as I do so, since it wasn’t every day someone received advice from a specialist as experienced as Wattson.

“Is there a way to increase how fast he recharges his electricity?” I asked as well.

“Hmm. Electric Types usually have some form of internal mechanism that generates electricity for them, like how Electabuzz spin their arms to power up their attacks. Dedenne are primarily electricity thieves and are even known for sneaking into people’s homes to steal electricity from outlets. Their species can’t generate much on their own, but proper grooming makes sure the rate of their passive generation is always at full. There’s little you can do to help him with his recharging rate, other than the training and diet change I already mentioned.”

“Dang, and I thought we had a solid idea going with that. Thank you anyway, Wattson,” I said. “And for my other question, do you have advice on how to handle the Luxio?”

Wattson smiled at my thanks and continued to speak.

“Its claws are the most dangerous part of its body, capable of discharging incredible amounts of electricity at once. However, Luxio are still more than capable of attacking at range, and their sheer intimidation factor makes staying calm and focused throughout a fight against them difficult. It’s simple, but staying away is your best bet to avoid most of what a Luxio could do, Alex.”

That advice was basically in line with what I was already considering, but it was a phrase that Wattson used when describing what a Luxio could do that gave me an idea.

“Trouble staying calm and focused, you say?” I mumbled. “Thank you Wattson. I think I know how I can help Ralts beat it.”

“You do? WAHAHAHAH!” he laughed. “That’s great! It was a pleasure talking to you again, Alex, but my next battle is coming up and I really must collect my team. Keep me informed how Dedenne progresses. I’m always interested in seeing powerful Electric Types grow.”

I quickly thanked Wattson and hung up the call before heading to the main counter. I needed to pick up Ralts, and now, I had a good idea of how to help him beat Luxio.

It seemed the default expression on Ralts’s face was a frown. He wasn’t locked in a permanent scowl like Azumarill was, nor was he especially expressive, he was just particularly upset at his current predicament. I couldn’t necessarily blame him.

I tried my best to put on as positive a face as I could when I sent him out, but it was hard to stay that way based on Ralts’s reactions.

Ninetales and Florges were both out on the Pokémon Center’s training fields with me, and I planned to keep Florges with us until we reached Oreburgh next week. I didn’t want to make the mistake of leaving her behind when my team desperately needed a Pokémon capable of healing.

I crossed my arms as I spoke to Ralts.

“I only saw the very end of the battle with Luxio. Tell me, did Luxio send glares your way that made it difficult to motivate yourself to fight?”

Ralts frowned deeper and nodded. Since Luxio's battle style matched Wattson's predictions, I could put my plan into motion.

“I have a move I want you to learn. It’s called Calm Mind. It lets you increase your focus so you can better perform your moves and dodge incoming attacks, and due to that, it should also help you keep your focus against intimidating opponents like Luxio. Additionally, I have three other moves I want you to consider, but Calm Mind is the most important, and you can learn it practically instantly.”

He looked at me questioningly, and I took out the TM I had and briefly explained how that piece of technology worked. I didn’t have to provide him with any more explanation or justification before he allowed me to return him to the Nest Ball and use the Pokémon Center PC to teach him the move.

Then after that was done, I returned to Ninetales and Florges’s side to release him back onto the field to see how he would react.

As soon as he reappeared on the ground, Ralts closed his eyes and his horn gained a faint blue tint as he used Calm Mind. It was significantly more obvious than when Ninetales and Florges used it themselves, but the move seemed to be working at least. He didn’t let up at one use, keeping his eyes closed as the color grew more intense. His horn shifted from red, to purple, to bright blue as a light completely obscured its original color. His eyelids tightened together and he grit his teeth as he strained, but he soon hit his limit of how much Calm Mind could help.

Ralts’s eyes snapped open.

Immediately, a small pebble within his line of side was brought into the air in front of him with a flex of his telekinetic powers. The rock was surrounded with a Psychic Type blue as his eyelids widened slightly in focus, staring at the rock. It didn’t look like much was happening until a cracking sound rang out, and the pebble split in two. As soon as that weakness was exposed, more and more cracks formed in the two halves and broke them apart, the entire thing crumbling into dust that blew away in the wind.

He turned to look at me, the blue glow of his horn revealing that Calm Mind was still up.

Ralts almost looked crazed. In his focus, he had widened his eyes as far as they could go, and the pupils had shrunk to mere dots. I saw his gaze rapidly jump around as he took in every bit of me as well as Florges and Ninetales next to me, and Ninetales took a step forward just in case.

Unlike how long it took to get started, the blue glow cut out in an instant and Ralts stumbled as his extreme focus returned to normal. That was a significantly different reaction than I expected, but, then again, Ralts actually shared a Type with Calm Mind, unlike Ninetales and Florges. It seemed to have a more extreme reaction for him than for them.

Ralts grabbed a pebble to attempt to crush it in comparison of what he could do without Calm Mind up. Already, it was lasting longer than the first one had.

I tossed forward the Dream Ball at my waist to send out Ponyta. He appeared right in front of me.

“Hey,” I shouted, gaining Ralts’s attention.

He turned back to face me, and I gestured to Ponyta.

“Look. Power isn’t everything. Calm Mind lets you better focus your psychic powers, but it’s not worth it if it’s just going to overwhelm you when you use it. Ninetales and Florges both know the move, and can help you manage how to properly use that. In the meantime, Ponyta’s Psychic Type move technique is incredibly developed for his level of power, and he can give you tips to make sure your Confusion attacks are the best they can be. Will you be able to work with them?”

Ralts was silent, but he nodded his head after glancing over to Ponyta. He was frowning slightly, but that frown had lessened ever so slightly. I only wished he wasn’t so impassive all the time.

Ponyta stepped forward to Ralts’s side to greet him, and he just tilted his head in acknowledgement without saying anything else. I hoped the pair would get along, especially as fellow Psychic Types; they could learn a lot from each other to help with training. Even though Ralts would be the one learning, I felt that Ponyta would get the most out of this, since tutoring someone else was a fantastic way to reaffirm the knowledge one had.

I cleared my throat to regather Ralts’s attention, and continued to share the rest of my plan.

"Good. Now, I have three other moves I want you to choose from: Hypnosis, Life Dew, and Disarming Voice. Hypnosis can put Luxio to sleep, Life Dew can heal you in battle, and Disarming Voice is a fast, unavoidable attack that would pair well with Teleport. You need support to use alongside Confusion, but you only have a single week to train as per our agreement, so there’s only so much we can do. Which one would you like to learn for your battle?"

In response, Ralts was silent for a long time. He was still staring at me, but his eyes were unfocused as he just spent the time thinking instead. Surprisingly, I actually saw a faint glow around his horn as he used Calm Mind to assist his consideration of the options.

I had to reassess the assumptions I was making of Ralts when I saw him do that. Clearly, I had completely misunderstood how we went about his training. I had originally assumed this would be like training Azumarill, where she constantly wanted to practice to improve her strength, but Ralts, on the other hand, wanted to win.

His eyes refocused on me within a few moments, then he pointed to Ponyta next to him. Seeing that I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me, he tapped his foot on the ground twice to represent the second move I told Ralts about.

The second move was Life Dew; A healing move to use in battle just like how Ponyta had used Morning Sun against Ralts.

I nodded in acknowledgement.

"Good decision. Since Ponyta already knows how to heal himself, and is working on learning Healing Pulse himself, we won't need to change my plans at all. Ralts, I promised you you'd be able to beat Luxio by the end of the week, and you will. Trust me to help you, and if not me, at least trust Ponyta, who did beat you before."

Ralts frowned at the mention of that loss (even though he had run away), but at least didn't object to what I was saying. He nodded once more, continuing to not speak at all, and began to walk off with Ponyta to move a bit away to start their Psychic Type practice together.

I turned to Ninetales and Florges as they did.

"I have a mission for the two of you," I whispered. Their expressions turned slightly more intense. "Find out why Ralts is pushing himself so hard. I don't know if it's specifically this Luxio, or if Luxio is just a goal for him to surpass. Either way, I want to help him, but I can't if I don't know what he's dealing with. Do you think you can figure it out?"

Ninetales opened her mouth to bark out and accept, but stopped herself before she drew Ralts attention. Florges gave Ralts a glance over her shoulder, looking a little sad as she did, then nodded to show she’d help as well.

I gave them a smile. I hoped that I could not only help Ralts train, but also make sure he felt better emotionally by the time the week was up.

If I had to describe Ralts’s personality, I’d say he was closest to Mawile, with a hint of Azumarill. Repeatedly, he would go off on his own to train like how Mawile would go off on her own with her stone. He didn't go out of his way to interact with others, merely briefly acknowledging them if they were there as he pushed himself to become stronger. Unlike Mawile, however, he wasn't close friends with anyone on the team and was clearly just here to train.

I wished he had come here in any other way than the way he did. I hoped I could help him, but I wasn’t sure what I could do considering he only listened to Ninetales and Florges when it came to Calm Mind.

I didn't want to crowd Ralts, nor did I want to abandon the rest of my team in favor of him, so I gave him plenty of space and made time to work with everyone else. More specifically, Dedenne and Carbink received a decent chunk of my time in one-on-one training as well.

Dedenne’s training was easy, since he just needed to stand a distance away and try to use Discharge to release everything he had in one move whenever he was fully charged, but Carbink took more dedicated effort. I had Carbink focusing on how quickly they could use Reflect and Light Screen in defense, and I also had them practice controlling Smack Down and Ancient Power. I knew their attacks would never be that strong, but I at least wanted them to get to a state where they could still wear their opponents down over time.

To cap the days off, I would Mega Evolve Mawile for practice as we worked on making sure her temporary Huge Power was well under control, as well as her options for movement. She could slam her jaws into the ground to push herself forward a bit, but that was only good for gaining height and leaping short distances. We were still stumped when it came to pursuing opponents.

Also, I specifically waited until the nights to train her, since the vitality drain of Mega Evolution tired me out and helped me fall asleep. I could only imagine how Gurkinn or Sycamore might react if I told them I was using the phenomenon as a sleep aid. I never planned to, just in case.

Our training schedule was pretty regular, although on the third day, I did start talking strategy with Ralts on how to deal with Luxio. The plan was basically to stall with Double Team to use Calm Mind, as well as to avoid using Teleport as much as possible. Teleport was a powerful movement option, but it was energy intensive and tended to reveal his position too much when he used it.

The move Ralts was trying to learn, Life Dew, would help minimize the damage he took from any attack thanks to its healing properties. Unfortunately, he didn't get it down by the end of the week and could only mildly reinvigorate himself with conjured healing water rather than make use of its full effect of healing wounds. It would have to do, though.

The night before the date we planned to fight Luxio, I was in the process of practicing with a Mega Evolved Mawile only to find that Ralts had Teleported off to the side and was watching us. He made no moves to hide, but was surprised when I approached him to talk. Mawile followed as well.

The thing about Mega Evolution was that when someone was close to the Mega Evolved Pokémon, there was almost a palpable sense of power. Professor Sycamore had mentioned it was the result of infinity energy leaking out of their body, but honestly, from my experience, it reminded me of the pressure I felt when I had seen Legendary Pokémon like Groudon and Rayquaza. It was a pressure that made it clear that the respective Pokémon was not to be messed with.

So, when I walked towards Ralts with Mega Mawile following me, it was a wonder he didn't immediately Teleport away. His limbs locked up and his eyes went wide, but he stood his ground and stared at us all while refusing to show his fear any more than he already was.

I glanced towards Mawile to ask her to take a few steps back. Ponyta approached her as she did, completely unbothered by her transformation. It was easier to deal with that pressure when one was actually friends with the Pokémon in question.

"You've made good progress, Ralts,” I said once we were alone. “I know you'll be able to beat Luxio tomorrow, but there's a question that's been nagging me."

He tilted his head up to me questioning. Mega Mawile was further back, but Ralts still had a tension in his body that had been present since the moment I first laid my eyes on him on Route 203.

I continued to speak.

"I talked to the nurse that asked me to follow you, and as part of an apology, she helped me check their files to see if you had been caught before. I know you're not an abandoned Pokémon.

"I also know that you aren't just doing this just to increase your strength. You haven't met her yet, but power is Azumarill's goal, and I've visited a crater full of Fighting Types all training to get stronger. Based on how they behave, as well as the behavior of many other Pokémon I’ve met, I doubt a mere wish for power would push you to ignore your wounds so much like back then."

Ralts simply continued to stare at me silently.

"So to me, that means you're trying to prove something. However, I don’t know what you are trying to prove, or to whom. Neither Ninetales nor Florges were able to figure this out despite spending almost a full week working with you to better control Calm Mind, so I'm left questioning your true goals."

Ralts frowned, but I held up a hand to interrupt him before he could respond at all.

"I know I've approached you basically asking you this question outright, but I don't want to force you into answering it. I’ll say it again, but Ralts, I want you on my team. Although you haven't interacted much with everyone else, I know you can fit in if you give us a chance. I won't ask for you to tell me now, but once you're comfortable, please tell me what motivates you. I want to make sure all of my friends are happy."

I tried to smile at Ralts, I really did, but the guilt in my heart about his presence ate away at me. Instead, I just gave him a crooked half-frown that wasn't probably anywhere near as reassuring as I wanted it to be.

I didn't get to see Ralts’s expression based on how quickly he used Teleport to get away once I was done. I could only hope that tomorrow, things would properly work out.

Ralts had me go to the same place I "caught" him. It was a dent between two hills, completely filled with black dirt, and now that I had time to spare, I pulled up a clump of it to find out what it was. I still had trouble examining it since I was a Fairy Type specialist, not a dirt specialist, but the best I could tell was that it was absolutely filled with iron filings.

Ralts released himself to stand within the blackened field once we were there. The rest of my team was out to watch as well.

We waited for an hour. Considering it took until about midday to get here, the sun was high in the sky when Luxio and its pride finally crested over the opposite hill. That same set of Shinx followed a familiar Luxio, right on its heels, and the leading Electric Type haughtily stomped towards Ralts.

No Pokémon stepped onto the black dirt other than Ralts and Luxio. It was their battlefield, and I knew that commanding a Pokémon here would be inappropriate. Even if I did, I doubted Ralts would want to listen to me for this.

The two soon-to-be battling Pokémon stood off, and Luxio began to stalk around Ralts. He stood tall under the glare of the feline Electric Type, but I could see its Intimidation ability begin to come into effect, causing Ralts's determination to waver.

But still, he stayed in for his challenge.

Luxio stopped circling Ralts after one loop around him. There were a few tense moments of absolute silence before the pair leapt into battle.

Running forward, Luxio's black fur crackled with electricity as it used Charge to build up for its next Electric Type attack. Ralts barely managed to dodge a Tackle towards his position by using Double Team to shift himself out of the way.

Surrounded by newly conjured illusionary doubles, Luxio used Discharge to release its stored electricity and destroy the fake Ralts around it. However, it growled when it noticed it still wasn’t alone, and that Ralts had already used Double Team again to create a larger circle of Ralts around him.

Each Ralts was identical and made the same moves, and I could see his red horn glowing blue with Calm Mind as he prepared himself for what Luxio would do next. It was impressive that Ralts was using two moves at once, but Psychic Type Pokémon had an easier time doing so since their brains were specialized for difficult techniques such as these.

Luxio paused and sniffed the air before lunging forward at one illusion in particular. Its claws extended out as it swiped at Ralts to land a Spark, the real Psychic Type using Teleport to get away only moments before being subjected to an electrically charged slash.

As a result, Ralts reappeared outside of his duplicates, panting heavily from fear. Luxio stared at its newly revealed enemy as its eyes flashed with Scary Face, and Ralts nervously took a step back.

Calm Mind was offsetting the fear from Intimidate and Scary Face, but it wasn’t a perfect counter.

"You can't let Luxio get to you," I mumbled under my breath, "Its weakness is its range. We've talked about this."

I saw Ralts twitch slightly, and, as if he heard me, his stance shifted to look a bit more confident.

As he did so, the glow on his horn from Calm Mind suddenly increased drastically and his eyes gained that crazed look from earlier this week. Rather than use a move we practiced, Ralts yelled at Luxio with Growl, who took a step back in surprise.

He then capitalized on that mistake.

Disappearing from Luxio's eyes, Ralts reappeared behind it and used the moment where Luxio had lost eye contact to use Double Team and hide himself in a crowd of other Ralts. Luxio turned and charged straight into the group, trying to claw and bite whichever Ralts was within its reach.

The illusions disappeared quickly one-by-one, and soon, there was only a single Ralts left. Luxio grinned at the last one left and raised up a paw dramatically to strike it down. Ralts simply stared at the Electric Type before the claw swiped straight through him, causing the final illusion to disappear.

Luxio stopped momentarily, shocked.

As a result, Ralts had even more time to use a powerful Confusion that made the most out of his focus boost from Calm Mind. Luxio’s body was wrapped with a blue glow, and it was lifted off the ground as space twisted around it.

One of the Shinx screamed.

Luxio growled and screamed and flailed and clawed as Ralts desperately tried to use its moves against it. Strands of fur began to fall off, and parts of its blue hide became discolored from its forming energies. However, as much as Calm Mind helped Ralts focus, it didn’t do much to help his small energy stores as a completely unevolved Pokémon, and Luxio fell to the ground, heavily wounded but not fainted just yet.

Unfortunately, Ralts didn’t look much better. It wasn't that he had been hurt; indeed, he had dodged every single one of Luxio's attacks. However, his lack of energy was affecting him, and he was panting heavily.

Luxio pushed to its feet, wobbling in place due to the innate disorientation of the Confusion attack. It glared at Ralts and did the best Charge it could muster as it did so.

Ralts scraped together enough energy for a Life Dew, and a splash of mystical, healing water fell on him from above. It didn't help him with his energy issue, in fact, it made it worse, but Life Dew at least reinvigorated him just a bit to help him deal with what would come next.

Luxio charged forward. This time, rather than just its claws sparking, its entire body was surrounded with an aura of pure electricity. It ran at Ralts and pulled itself tight just a few feet away to release a Thunder Shock at Ralts's position.

Ralts dodged by jumping to the side, but he was still on that blackened ground, and the electricity coursed straight through him. The metal-heavy terrain turned that miss into a direct hit, and Ralts was now wincing every so often from the volts within him.

Luxio slowed its run to stand right next to Ralts and looked down at him. It leaned down and smirked, revealing its sharp teeth just inches away from Ralts face.

Ralts just glared up at it from where he was lying on the ground.

And then, Luxio snapped forward with Bite.

Ralts screamed in pain, being lifted up into Luxio’s jaws from the attack. His Fairy Typing meant the Dark Type move wasn't super effective, but it was still hurting him, causing him to constantly yell as a result.

However, I noticed the air waver from around where he was yelling, and even though I knew Ralts was in pain, I couldn’t help but to smile. Not only had I seen this once before, when I helped Wally catch Comfey, but now, Ralts was figuring out one of the moves I had given him the option to learn at the start of the week.

An incredibly loud yet unconscious use of Disarming Voice rang out, and Luxio dropped Ralts from where it was holding him. As Luxio stumbled back, Ralts landed on his feet and stared at Luxio, wincing from his injury.

Panicked, Luxio tried to charge up another Electric Type attack, but Ralts screamed once more and the Electric Type fell to the ground.

Ralts had won.

As the leader fainted, the valley went silent. Everyone stared as Ralts panted over Luxio's unconscious body, looming down on it as it had done to him just moments before.

He didn't move, nor did he attack, but Luxio began to stir from the fight, and one eye opened to stare at Ralts.

I went still. I didn't know what would happen next.

Time stood still as the two Pokémon stared at each other. Ralts victorious but tired above, and Luxio heavily injured but with energy below. There was a palpable tension in the air that was swiftly cut when Luxio closed its eye, and Ralts simply moved off the field to leave the Pokémon behind him.

Ralts stopped when he reached in front of me. I looked down at him worriedly as he did so.

“You won,” I said.

He nodded.

There was yet another moment of silence as he stared at me, but eventually, he just yawned and pointed at his Nest Ball. Ralts wanted to rest.

So, returning him, my Pokémon and I moved off the field. There wasn’t anything else to do here, and the Luxio pushed back up to return to its group of Shinx, all while licking its wounds. I hoped one day Ralts would tell me what had motivated him so much to participate in this battle, but for now, he was on the team, and it looked like he was here to stay.