As I knelt in the cave, I felt an incredibly faint vibration running through the rocks beneath and after a moment of confusion, I realised just what it likely was. The destruction caused by the battle against the Larvitar and the ensuing cave-in had been enough to shake the earth, a realisation causing me to shake, almost in sympathetic echo. Clutching Vio, I started to shiver, knowing just how insanely close it had been. Without her, I almost certainly would have died down there. Cold sweat started to break out all over my body and my breath started to come in panicked gasps. I knew I was safe, we had escaped, but at the same time, adrenaline was ripping through my body and my heart was trying to beat out of my chest.

Clutching Vio, I fell back against the cave, dragging her with me as I lay there, panting for breath.

“Thank you, little one, thank you so much,” I started to babble, one of my hands threading through her hair as I tried to assure myself and her that everything had worked out. I could hear that Vio’s breathing was similarly laboured, that she had pushed herself incredibly hard to get us out of there.

Realising just how tired my dear partner had to be, I pulled out her Pokéball, planning to let her rest in the comfort of her home, only for Vio to push against the hand holding it, clearly indicating that she didn’t want to return just yet. Normally, I would have pushed and made her rest anyway but today, after she had needed to push herself so far because I had been an overconfident idiot, I let her be and simply held her.

Remembering how she had sometimes sung for me in an effort to calm me down, I decided to return the favour. My voice, halting at first, started to fill our small cave, escaping into the dreary day outside, as I tried to project my gratitude and affection for my dear partner. There was no real text, just words that felt right, that mirrored the emotions I held inside.

As I sang, my eyes started to flutter shut, my whole world shrinking until there were only the two of us, Vio still clutched to my chest, now resting against me and her breathing almost sounding as if she was asleep. She had earned the rest, and I wanted her to be as comfortable as possible. For a moment, I considered stopping singing, but she seemed to enjoy it, her small mouth curled into a happy smile.

Suddenly, I felt a strange heat bloom in my arms, a warmth that was not. Light radiated through my closed eyes, making me reflexively blink, only to close my eyes again, blinded. The light was coming from right before me, from Vio. Out of Vio, completely engulfing her, and me, as I kept holding her.

For a moment, my voice left me, but I kept singing, kept cheering my dear partner on, as I felt her form change within my arms, her existence shift. I could feel… something, something I couldn’t find words to explain, something that defied any rational, or even irrational explanation. She changed, and yet she remained the same, she became more of what she always was supposed to be.

I was pushed down by her shifting weight, and pushed back, into the wall, the energy radiating from her blindingly bright, scorching hot and, somehow, at the same time pleasantly cool. A second voice, no longer the high-pitched chirping Vio let out in her Kirlia form, but a deeper, incredibly pleasant alto-voice joined my singing, echoing, guiding and harmonising with me. Together, we filled the cave, filled the world, with our song, as she became what she always was supposed to be.

Finally, the light died down and a gentle hand touched my face, caressing me. Our singing stopped and for a moment, I felt cool lips against mine, or maybe I just imagined it. I wasn’t sure, but when my eyes flickered open, Vio was leaning against me, sitting sideways on my lap, no longer a Kirlia but a fully evolved Guardevoir. Her teal-blue hair cascaded down her face, covering one of her eyes while the other was shut as she rested against my chest, clearly exhausted. Just guessing her height was a difficult task due to her position curled up in my lap but my best estimation was that she was about as tall as me. Only, her weight seemed to be almost less than what she weighed before evolving as if she wasn’t quite bound to the earth but floating in the wind, walking through the sky on unseen wings. A true fairy, one that was quite exhausted.

“Why don’t you go to sleep now? You did well, thank you, my dear,” I asked her, gently caressing her elfin ears. She let out a content sigh, before nodding in acceptance. Pointing her Pokéball at her, I pressed the button and let her vanish into her space, hoping that she’d soon recover from the exertion of fighting, teleporting and evolving, one after the other.

Now, I only had two more things to deal with, namely the strange rock I had picked up and, more importantly, the Pokémon I had caught in desperation, trying to keep it from getting crushed in the cave-in. I wasn’t sure if the Larvitar would have died, or even been injured, by the tons of rocks crashing on top of it, it was a subterranean Rock Pokémon and might have been able to evade by digging into the rock beneath or some other way. But whatever the case, I had decided to throw the ball and, by all appearances, the Larvitar had decided to remain within.

I needed to know whether it actually accepted me, or if I would have another Su on my hand. But before that, I needed to make sure that, if things went badly, I had the means to take the Larvitar down, which meant calling out Aura and making sure that he was treated for the wounds he had sustained in combat.

After calling him out, I quickly checked him over, noticing a few deep scratches in his metallic gauntlets and some places where he appeared to be tender from the brief battle against the Larvitar. That thing had packed quite the punch, making me hope that it would decide to stay with me. But that was something that remained to be seen.

Soon, I finished applying Potion to the various injured places and gave it a bit of time to work, while I considered whether I should invest in some higher-quality medicine. The basic stuff I had was good, but it took time and had its limits. As my partners and I became progressively stronger, the effect my current medicine had was getting relatively weaker. More power was needed to injure them, but at the same time, more energy was needed to repair those wounds, to bring them back into fighting trim.

“Well, buddy, want to see whether I managed to catch a new partner or a new problem?” I asked Aura, only for him to flex his arms, showing off his impressive strength as he clad himself into power.

“Ready for trouble, huh?” I grinned, pulling out the Pokéball holding the Larvitar and standing up, placing myself right next to Aura.

“Come out,” I ordered, pressing the button to unleash the little monster. Well, relatively little, it was smaller than me but I knew that would be temporary. If I managed to help the little guy evolve into its final form, a powerful monster named Tyranitar, it would stand taller than Prince Charming, with a lot more physical bulk and strength. Rumours claimed that a fully evolved Tyranitar could shatter mountains and cause sandstorms, merely by exerting its power. They were incredibly powerful monsters and, as I looked into the red eyes of the little monster before me, I could see just how strong an aura it had. The guy was staring at me, judging me, and in turn, I straightened staring the Larvitar down.

I was stronger than the Larvitar and it would submit to me. Maybe out of curiosity, maybe to see just how much of a beast the little guy was, I pulled out my Pokédex and started scanning. The results I got back were, quite frankly, delightful. My catch was a male Larvitar, and while he wasn’t the most powerful example of his kind, he was well above average in his potential and even his current power was quite developed. I wasn’t sure why, maybe due to the rainbow stone he had guarded, but I had a feeling that the little guy would have been able to evolve on its own if he had remained in the caves, something not too many Pokémon managed out in the wild. Where trained Pokémon could retreat into the Pokéballs to relax and recover their strength without over-exhausting themselves, wild Pokémon didn’t have that luxury. They had to, at times, push themselves beyond their limits, digging into their reserves and weakening themselves in the process.

“You will follow me and obey my commands. In turn, I will train you and make you strong. Make you the strongest you can be,” I promised the Larvitar, still staring him down imperiously.

For a moment, he hesitated, making me pull on reserves I didn’t know I had as I brought the full force of my will to bear on him. He would submit.

Finally, his head dipped down and I felt my lips curl into a smile. The first step had worked, now, I only had to make sure the Larvitar didn’t go down the same route Su had gone down. I had established dominance, now I needed to establish comradery and form a lasting connection.