When we left the secluded valley early in the morning, the Starly and Staravia had recovered but luckily, they didn’t dare mess with us again. Instead, they sat in the cliffs, making an incredible ruckus, some flying around but none swooped down in our direction. Out of caution, I had Su out of his Pokéball and walking next to me, ready to leap at any annoying avian, take it to the ground and teach it a lesson. Luckily, that wasn’t necessary.

The route continued to wind through the mountains and we didn’t dare stray from it. There were a few obstacles, caused mainly by rockslides or battling Pokémon, but it was mostly just a rough mountain path. A couple of Pokémon appeared to challenge us, but most weren’t too much trouble. But most didn’t mean all, and the day after we had left the secluded valley, I noticed trouble from above, sliding down the mountain with a load of rocks in tow.

Raising my hand, I gestured for the others to be cautious, stepping out of the way of the rockslide myself. On noticing the angular, rocky body in the middle of the slide, I reached for Vio’s Pokéball, aware that a Nosepass could cause serious trouble to Charm or Su if they ever got hit.

“Vio, need you,” I quietly called, already pressing the button before the Nosepass could fully exert itself from the sliding rocks. Vio appeared in a flash of red, instantly noting where the enemy was and readying herself to battle.

Our first move, as so often, was to prevent the enemy from acting effectively by confusing their mind. Vio’s horns were shrouded in the bright, purple glow of psychic attacks before she let out an unfocused wave, letting it spread widely to ascertain a hit. No matter how the Nosepass dodged, it would get hit.

As Vio was busy with that, I remembered to pull out my Pokédex and took a scan. The results made me take a deep breath and swallow, while the Nosepass had little future potential, its current state was rather scary.

“Vio, you can do it,” I cheered her on, even if the scan wasn’t quite as clear. When the wave of psychic power swept over the Nosepass, there was a moment of wobbling, the power shrouding the prominent nose, only for it to dissipate, as the Pokémon briefly focused towards the north, as if using its innate magnetism to centre itself.

In return to Vio’s psychic attack, the Nosepass started to lob slate-grey rocks toward Vio, forcing her to quickly twirl and dodge while striking back with her own powers. Just from the frequency of the attacks, it was obvious that the Nosepass had the upper hand, its sheer strength allowing it to simply ignore and tank Vio’s attacks, occasionally centring itself, if Vio’s efforts managed to briefly confuse its mind.

“Vio, try focusing your power in a beam,” I called out after the third wave of power swept across the Nosepass without any appreciable effect. If the Nosepass didn’t try dodging, we could simply use direct attacks.

Vio immediately adjusted, using her recent training to full effect. Instead of broad waves, her power was turned into a single, straight beam, powerful enough to make the air shimmer briefly as the attack connected the Nosepass and Vio. For once, the Nosepass seemed to wobble, its levitation briefly disrupted. It even sank to the ground, making me grin with confidence, especially as Vio managed to repeat her attack before the Nosepass managed to get back up.

Sadly, before Vio managed to strike again, its counter-attack came, with rapid speed and brutal strength. Where before, the attacks had been simple rocks, now, it suddenly sparked with electric energy, the magnetism raised to the point to create static sparks around it. Within that field of bright, electric energy, I noticed a strange, metallic glint and felt my face turn pale.

“Dodge!” I screamed uselessly, Vio was already retreating at her best speed, but compared to the bright flash of electricity, carrying with it lethal projectiles of steel, Vio was simply too slow. The discharge washed over the mountainside and a shower of iron projectiles poured down on poor Vio, the attacks savaging her slender frame. In the middle of it, the red beam of light on her Pokéball arrived, as I called her back, but I had no idea how harmed she was.

For a second, I considered sending out Su, or even forfeiting directly and asking one of the others to deal with the annoying rock, but I didn’t want to run. Not after Vio did her very best and so, despite a bit of apprehension, I took out Charm’s Pokéball, hoping that he’d be strong enough to deal with the annoying rock.

“Charm, it hurt little Vio,” I called, as Charm appeared in a flash of light. While Charm didn’t love Vio as much as I did, they were competing for my attention, after all, I was quite certain that he had a certain appreciation for my other partner. They were competitors, but honest ones, the kind that wanted to prove their competitors their own worth, not see the competition crushed by an outside force.

“Start with Dragon’s Breath,” I ordered, hoping that the primal energy of that attack would be enough to disrupt and paralyze the annoying stone. After the earlier discharge, the Nosepass had sunk down, no longer looking as active, but given that it had hurt Vio, i wasn’t about to give it a chance to recover. As the strange fire washed over it, I noticed that it’s movement became even more sluggish and when it tried to rise into the air again, there was a clearly visible wobble.

“Now, Charm, just as we trained!” I called out, trying to remind him of the attempts to mimic Champ’s fighting-type moves. He hadn’t managed so far, but maybe it would work this time. The enemy was already weakened and we should be able to simply burn it, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t just want to win, I wanted to have the Nosepass broken.

Charm managed to close in, dodging a few half-hearted tries to throw rocks in his direction, the speed and accuracy of those far worse than the previous attacks, making me grin with savage glee. On my urging, he spat a couple of embers on the Nosepass, simply to annoy and distract it, before finally getting in close.

His first few attacks didn’t quite work, they were more scratches than the real, rock-breaking attacks we wanted. During one of those, the Nosepass managed to hit Charm’s shoulder with a rock, staggering him, but in turn, it seemed as if Charm had figured something out.

When the Nosepass landed and a few sparks formed on its body, Charm suddenly sped forward and brought down a claw and for the first time, the normal, white glow of a Scratch was tinged red, not the fiery red I had seen before, or the crimson of his Dragon’s Breath, but a lighter, almost bloody colour, just like the colour I had seen on Champ’s kicks.

Charm’s attack hit right on the nose and the Nosepass was pushed back from the force, no longer focused on charging up its attack. Charm kept on and while he wasn’t able to get every strike right, more than enough landed to push the Nosepass to its limit. And beyond.

When the Nosepass no longer moved, I let out a sigh of relief and called back Charm. While he didn’t take a lot of hits, he had taken some, to the point that I worried.

“Claire, can you check the Nosepass?” I asked, walking towards Charm, Potion in hand.

“We’ll do better next time,” I promised Charm, fully aware that he had only been able to win because the Nosepass had been greatly weakened by Vio. His wounds were few, but those few made my heart hurt in turn and i carefully applied the Potion.

Finally, once he was cared for and resting in his Pokéball, I checked Vio’s Pokéball, using my Pokédex to get a reading of Vio. Looking at it, I let out a sigh of relief. While she was gravely hurt, she hadn’t fainted and wasn’t in any permanent danger.

Pulling out her Pokéball, I sent her out again, instantly stepping forward to catch her in my arms as she wobbled.

“You did fine, little one. I’m sorry you got hurt,” I apologised, holding her carefully. In turn, she snuggled into my embrace, letting her slight frame rest in my arms, while I carefully applied the Potion to her many wounds, a few tears escaping my eyes. I hated to see my partners hurt but at the same time, I knew that only by fighting and training, they’d be able to grow to their full potential. Only with risks came the rewards and ultimately, if I managed to train them well, they could reach their full potential.

I only wished they wouldn’t get hurt on the way there.