The next few shifts that Ava went on were on back to back days. For her third, and final, training shift, she had been put on gate guard duty. While it might be a good shift to have as the months get colder, right now it is extremely boring. Especially since she was shadowing and not doing it herself. This whole job was to keep track of people coming and leaving, let others know if there are any pokemon, and alert someone if people don’t return from their trip. The person who she shadowed took care of all of this. So in total, a long day of sitting and staring out a window. The only exciting thing was when a zigzagoon approached the gate, and she was told to take care of it, but after only one Gust, the zigzagoon ran back into the forest.

  While she only made half of the normal pay due to training, she felt she deserved something nice and bought herself a cheap black belt to hold her poke balls. Now she was a true trainer.

  It was only after her training shifts were over that Ava got the motivation to cash in the voucher she was given for Hidden Power. After getting the cheerful clerk to help her by using the machine behind the counter, she should now have a pidove that knows Hidden Power.

  Testing out the new move went much easier than Ava had been expecting. Lucky seemed to instinctively understand what she meant when she commanded him to use Hidden Power. TM’s really were amazing. He gathered dark black energy and shot it off at the dummy. The aim wasn’t perfect, as it clipped the side of the dummy instead of the center. Producing black energy must mean that his hidden power was a dark type. While it wasn’t a type that helped cover the pidoves weaknesses, Ava could appreciate the addition of another long-ranged move and the greater versatility it offered.

  It was when she was testing this move that she was approached by Theo.

  “Hey Ava, am I interrupting anything?” Theo asked as he walked up.

  “Nope, just used the hidden power TM on him, so we were practicing,” Ava responded.

  “Ooh what type did you get?”

  “Dark, did you use yours?”

  “Yeah, she has a bug type, which is actually pretty useful if I run into a grass pokemon!” Ava remembered he had a poliwag. Having a bug move was a great type coverage. “I actually wanted to ask you if you'd be down to spar with me. My pokemon has been struggling with hitting flying types, so I want to get more experience in that.”

  This actually came at perfect timing. Her first shift really brought to light that Lucky struggled to hit moving targets. His lack of experience played a large role in that. She was going to ask Theo or Amiyra to practice with her, but now she won’t have to. “I'd love to spar. Would it be alright if today was just about using Hidden Power? I wanted to practice that move today, and your poliwag's water moves might be a little too powerful for him.”

  “That's fine with me!” Theo cheerfully responded. Ava had been practicing close to an area that was often designated for battles. Since it was empty they set up in the area.

  Lucky was already out of his poke ball and following her, and she explained the situation to him with two rules. He can only use Hidden power today, and he was not allowed to kill the other pokemon no matter what. Ava didn't think he would be able to yet, as he was still young and the poliwag had seemed strong from what she's seen so far. But if they were going to train together in the future, she wanted to make sure he learned the difference between fights with wild pokemon and spars.

  Theo had released Savage the poliwag and seemed to be giving the same lecture. They moved to opposite ends of the field before a mutual nod indicated the start of the battle.

  “Lucky hidden power,” Ava said a beat before Theo copied the order. The lack of experience using hidden power was noticeable, as despite being the first to order, the poliwag sent a light green-colored ball of energy first. Lucky panicked, and when he sent his own dark Hidden Power, it flew wildly, not getting close to its target.

  The same could not be said for the opponent's move. Lucky tried to fly away but wasn't able to react in time after sending his own move and got hit. He seemed surprised at this and took a tumble from the sky before righting himself and flying back up. Ava was worried. He had never been hit before, and it definitely seemed to shock him.

  “Focus on dodging for now. Don't worry about attacking,” she told him. Savage, on Theo's command, sent more hidden powers towards him. Lucky tried to dodge them and was almost successful each time, but he kept getting clipped.

  “Fly behind him.” Lucky took her advice, and after getting hit by his fourth Hidden Power, he flew over the poliwag and behind it. “Hidden Power now.” He gathered the energy and shot it toward the poliwag. Now that he was closer, he was able to get a direct hit. Ava was excited; maybe she would be able to turn this around. Her excitement was short-lived. While the poliwag had taken a hit, she also took the time to prepare a strong hidden power. At this distance and how battered Lucky already was, there was no chance he could dodge it. Ava reached for his poke ball, but wasn't quick enough to withdraw him before he got hit. A line of red sucked Lucky’s prone body falling from the sky back into the poke ball before he hit the ground.

  “Good match Ava!” Theo said as he jogged to meet her in the middle.

  “Savage was really strong.” Ava commented, a little disappointed that she didn’t win her first trainer battle. She meant it though, taking down a flying type with only a bug move was impressive even if he was young.

  Theo rubbed the back of his neck, obviously excited by the praise. “Thanks, she’s been a quick learner.”

  “Would you want to start training together?” Ava asked. “Like actual training instead of matches. It might be easier to work on the things both of us want to achieve if we do.”

  “I’d love that! It would be really helpful to have someone to work with.”

  “I have a shift tomorrow night if you want to do an early morning practice.”

  “That works for me. Did you want to grab some lunch?”

  “Sure, let me heal Lucky first and then we can go.”

  Over lunch, they talked about their plans for training the next day and how they wanted to go about it. After she ate her lunch’s Ava and Theo parted ways, and she went to feed her pokemon. She made sure to tell Lucky what a good job he did and go over the battle with him. This was while he was eating, so who knows how much got through to him, but the visualization was helpful for her.

  The next hour or so was spent outside, letting Lucky take some time out of his poke ball. This was after triple checking that his bandana was affixed so no one misidentified him as a wild pokemon. She played solitaire with a deck of cards she got from the poke mart while she hung outside. She should really look into if there was a library around here; otherwise, she was going to get bored quickly.

  After Lucky had enough time outside and tired himself out, she returned him and went back inside. While she had a shift tomorrow, her next shift after that wasn’t until Friday, so she had three days off in a row. While she didn’t plan on taking any missions, she wanted to get a glimpse at what the mission board looked like.

  Only D-Rank missions were visible to her. If she wanted to go on a C-Rank mission, she would need to go with a C-Rank trainer, and they would have to be the ones to request her. Since she currently didn't know any C-Rank trainers, she was putting that possibility off to the side.

  She saw the typical wall guards shifts, farm posts, private event guarding, and other shifts. One posting in particular for the first day of her break caught her attention.

  Mission Rank: D

  Reward: $15

  Location: 812 Carver Hall, Room 2312

  Summary: Pokemon needed to be used as a subject for a life drawing class. Shift will run from 9:30am–12am.

  Unique Requirements: Need to have a pokemon small enough to fit in a normal-sized room and able to be out and around people without attacking. The pokemon must also be fine with staying still for periods of time.

  She knew why no one had accepted it yet. It was very low pay for two and a half hours. Even those who didn't want to encounter wild pokemon wouldn't want to take it due to that. What drew Ava to it was the location of the mission. After checking on a map to make sure, she knew that the building that held it was only a few blocks away from what was now her old apartment. She had been meaning to visit home but hadn't been able to with the back-to-back missions after passing the D-Rank exam. Now she could visit home while still making a quick buck. She accepted the mission.

  …

  Training with Theo was showing a marked improvement of Lucky's skills. While this is mostly due to the fact that he is inexperienced, so any improvement looked good, it was great for Ava to see.

  That morning, they had focused on dodging. Since Lucky wasn’t attacking, he was able to dodge better than during the battle, but they still had to start out slow, so he got the hang of things. After attempts, he was able to do hidden power moves without them having to indicate the move was going to be used. When Water Gun and Bubble were added to the mix, he got hit more often than not, but even that number was improving. Ava was glad they were testing it out here instead of having to deal with this for the first time with a wild pokemon.

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  They took a stab at trying to get Lucky to block the attacks with his own Hidden Power, but that just made him stop moving, leading to him getting hit. They abandoned that idea, and I focused on getting him better at dodging. Savage also took a stab at dodging practice as well. She wasn’t able to move very quickly a lot of the time, but was better at keeping her head if she did get hit. She also was able to slightly pick up blocking with her own moves.

  Returning to the pokemon center, there was a slight crowd forming. “What's happening?” Ava asked Theo.

  He craned his head, trying to see, “I’m not sure… Ah, it's Oliver.”

  “What about him?”

  “Well, he wants to go catch his second pokemon, and so he hired two guards to help protect him while they travel there since it’s going to take a couple of days to walk there. The reason for the crowd, though. We’ll, do you remember how I mentioned that his family are all pokemon trainers?”

  “No,” Ava said, 100% certain he had never mentioned anything of the sort.

  “Huh, really? Well, I meant to mention something. But that’s the reason he volunteered, and the guy standing next to him is his older brother. The A-Rank trainer, Luigi Bernardi. After he saved a group of young trainers a couple of years ago, he’s had a bit of a fan club among trainers. It doesn’t hurt that he’s strong, well-off, and handsome.”

  Ava could see over the crowd, and he was right. Next to Oliver was a man in his mid-to-late 20s with dark brown hair, tan skin, strong features, a beaming smile, and an obviously fit body. Even she could tell he was attractive.

  As they were talking to themselves. The group in front of them shifted as Oliver, Luigi, and one other trainer went to leave.

  Theo's waving arms caught Oliver’s attention, and he gave him a smile and a small wave before heading out the door. It didn’t take long for the crowd to disperse after that as their object of attention disappeared.

  “Do you know what pokemon he’s trying to get?” Ava asked.

  “Nah he was pretty secretive about it.”

  “Why’s he being so weird about it? He wouldn’t tell me when we had our shift earlier, too.”

  “I think he doesn’t want to be embarrassed if he fails,” Theo shrugged. “This way, no matter what pokemon he brings back, he can just say that was the one he wanted. It’s got to be a pretty rare one though if he’s going to all this effort.”

  After that debacle they ate lunch with Amirya who had just gotten off a shift while Ave prepped for her upcoming mission.

  That night's shift was her first solo one. Anxious butterflies sat in her stomach for most of the shift. The main difference between this shift and her first couple of ones was that she had to check if people stayed in the park after it was closed and tell them to leave. That and the fact that she had to patrol while it was dark.

  The normally relaxing park turned ominous when the sun was down. Since the park was closed, she kept Lucky out the whole time to keep her comfortable. His nervous chirps held the same sentiment about the night. Every shaking bush seemed to hold danger at every turn. It was an uneventful night except for a report of some murkrows towards the end of her shift. The other guard was able to handle them with his pachirisu before she got there.

  If she ever had to do a night shift, it would be too soon. The dark made the threats that much more real. She just hoped she never got to be one of those poor souls who took over for her when her shift ended at 11.

  …

  Ava now stood in front of a group of students who were drawing Lucky while he rested in her hands.

  Taking the train meant she was 30 minutes early to the start of her shift. The teacher was an older eccentric woman with bangles around her wrist, large earrings, and colorful clothes. She matched who Ava had thought would request a pokemon trainer not for protection but for studying. The teacher was kind enough to let her have some of the cookies that were laid out for the students while she explained what Ava would be doing.

  For the most part, Ava was just going to be sitting on a chair holding her pokemon. Pictures were going to be taken in the beginning to be used for later, but the main purpose was to give the students a chance to sketch a live animal and all the complications that came with that, like anatomy they weren’t used to and a moving subject. Ava was glad that she didn’t have to try to keep Lucky in the same exact spot the whole time.

  Once the students were done filtering in, and the teacher explained the situation, Ava was given permission to release her pokemon. Getting used to the way people treated her as a trainer took some getting used to, and she still wasn’t fully comfortable with it. Instead of the typical averted gaze and fearful looks, the students in this glass looked on with a morbid fascination.

  Lucky was active for the first hour despite her best efforts, but the warm room must have gotten to him because he settled down and dozed off in her hands for the second half of the class. While she wasn’t the subject and not being drawn, Ava tried her best to stay still as well to not jostle Lucky.

  After the class ended, she got the number of the professor with a promise to reach out if she ever got any other pokemon.

  Ava was about to leave when she noticed a painting in particular. The rest of the painting was focused on Lucky and ranged from quick sketches to more completed pieces. The one that caught her attention included her in it. She was wearing her trainer uniform and holding Lucky in her hands. Seeing herself from someone else's perspective was an unusual experience. She looked strong.

  Knocking on the door to her childhood apartment felt odd. Being used to just opening it, knocking made her feel like a stranger.

  The door opened and there was her dad. There was no time for a reaction before she was scooped into a hug.

  “Welcome home, Ava!” He said. She had gotten her height from her dad, who stood a couple of inches taller than her. The hug felt really nice. She had been so focused on everything else going on and busy with raising Lucky that she forgot how much she missed her family.

  “Come in come in,” her dad said after finishing up their reunion. At the door closed, she heard scuffling from further in the apartment.

  Turning the corner were her twin siblings. One boy and one girl, but still identical. They had ginger hair like Ava’s mom, unlike her and her dad, who had dark brown. “Avaaa” they excitedly shouted in tandem before jumping on her. She caught them both, lifting them up.

  “Oof you guys are a lot heavier. Have you grown already?” Ava teased.

  “We’ve grown so much. You’ve been gone for sooooo long.” Noah whined.

  Olive grabbed Ava’s hand, and led her to their room. There she showed her all the things she had been doing since she was gone. Noah followed suit, both of them showing art they had made in school and new books they had made in school. They had also apparently gotten into racing tiny toy cars since she had been gone and made sure to show off their favorite ones.

  They were interrupted by her dad calling them for lunch. He has made steak, Ava's favorite. “Dad, this tastes amazing.” She spoke around a mouthful of food. While eating, she was able to talk about a censored version of what she had been up to.

  The only point of contention came up when Noah asked a question. “Could we see your…” he looked around, which she thought was quite dramatic since those were at home, before whispering “pokemon?”

  “Yeah, let me grab him.” She made a move to reach for her belt when her dad cleared his throat, giving her a stern look. Catching on, she backtracked. “Shoot, I forgot we had a mission earlier today, so he’s probably tired and needs his rest.” Ava could tell Noah was about to throw a fit, so she added, “How about I make sure to send pictures as soon as I have the chance, okay?” He reluctantly accepted that idea.

  The twins were running around the house while Ava and her dad were cleaning up in a comfortable silence. Her dad broke the silence while washing a pan in the sink. “How are things actually?” He asked.

  “I wasn’t lying earlier. Things haven't been that bad so far.” Seeing his disbelieving glance, she continued on. “I’m not saying it’s not hard. It was really hard in the beginning and will probably be hard in the future.” Ava started drying the pan he handed to her. “I don’t know, though. So far, I haven't really had a chance to catch my breath. But everything is kind of straight forward. While it may not have been my choice, having just a straight path to walk down has kind of been refreshing. I can see a future here, and well, it's not like I have any choice anyway.”

  He listened to all her rambling stoically before nodding. “I’m glad you seem to be taking to it. Now tell me what you couldn’t say in front of them.” He was more observant than she had thought. Ava talked about the more gruesome aspects of what’s happened so far. Her injury from an ariados, the dead meowth, the dead friend, and having to kill wild pokemon that came through the wall.

  She finished her more complete recollection of the past couple of weeks. Keeping her eyes on the task of drying plates, she asked a question that had been bothering her. “Why can’t I show them my pokemon? He’s completely trained. He won’t attack them, I swear.”

  He sighed, “They are just too young for that right now.”

  “Do you not trust me? It will be safe despite them being young.”

  “It’s not about how much I trust you, Ava.” He said exasperatedly, “Of course, I trust you. But there are parts of being a trainer they don’t understand yet. What if they think all pokemon are safe because yours are, and approach them? Or what if they try to imitate you by trying to catch a pokemon without the right tools? They don’t understand the danger yet, and I’m afraid if they get too comfortable with you doing these things, they will get hurt. I’m still trying to deal with the fact that you can get hurt at any time, or already have, I guess, and that I can’t be there for you. I have to make sure they stay safe as well.”

  Ava had always considered her father to be the strongest person she knew. Not just physically, but no matter what happened, he was always helping others and making sure everything was taken care of. Even after her mom died, he didn’t fall apart but made sure to stay together for her and her siblings. But she could see something she had never seen in her dad before. Fear. He was afraid.

  She set the towel down and wrapped him in a hug. He returned it after a second's pause. “Okay, dad, we can wait. And just so you know, you’ve already protected me. I wouldn’t have fought so hard if you didn’t teach me how to. I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  It was another minute before they pulled out of their hug. He roughly brushed what looked like slight tears from his eyes. “I know you don’t want them seeing him, but would you like to?” Ava asked. She could see him almost respond with a gut answer of no before closing his mouth and giving a slow nod. Making sure the twins were busy in their rooms, Ava released Lucky, who gave a few flaps of his wings before settling on the ground. Picking him up, she placed him on her arm.

  “Dad, meet Lucky. Lucky, meet dad.” They both sized each other up. “Dad, you can try to pet him.”

  “Oh no, I’m good just like this.”

  “Don’t be a wuss, come on like this.” Ava showed him how to do it by gently scratching at the feathers on his chest. Following her example, he reached out tentatively. Lucky tensed for a second, and Ava’s dad paused in his approach. Lucky relaxed a little, and eventually he was being gently scratched by her dad. She could tell he was still nervous, but was glad he had made this step for her. They were taken out of the moment by a shout of her name from the twin's room. “I’m coming, I’m coming, hold on,” she shouted back before returning Lucky.

  Getting on the train after the day with them felt bittersweet. She was glad to get the chance to talk with her family and settle some things. The rest of the day passed comfortably, and now she was returning with her pokegear, some extra clothes, brownies her dad had cooked, and a warm feeling in her chest.

  Leaning against the window, Ava saw that the sun was beginning to set, casting the city in a perfect golden light. In the distance, dark clouds slowly moved in.