Pokemon Trainer Vicky

"Wow. They are all so beautiful Vicky." Ivy muttered beside me as she had come over to hang out and swim again after school.

"Yeah they are cool. C’mon. Because the pond leads back into itself, we can set up Milotic races."

"Wha-Race!?" Ivy stuttered looking at me in shock.

"Of course. They like helping people. Let’s go ride some of them! Although I have to leave my partner out of it. He is too fast to be fair."

"Y-yeah! Let’s go!"

I laughed as Ivy tugged me along, suddenly our afternoon hanging out and swimming had turned into an amazing adventure.

The Milotic mostly hung out in the pond, although they could move around as they like. The weird hovering ability they had meant they weren’t water locked. So they would happily wander our property.

Quite often slithering up the berry trees to get treats. Although Mama had to discipline them a few times for that.

She just called out to them and glared… That pretty much sorted it. Mama was scary.

"Hi guys!" I called out to the Milotic hanging around the river and in return I got turned heads and happy calls as we approached. The fact that a moment later I actually slipped into the water with them had them swirling around happily.

Ivy eagerly joined me in the water a moment later.

"So… You guys want to race? See who is faster carrying me or Ivy?" I teased, and I had plenty of eager helpers one slipped into the water and came up under me so I was forced on her back.

"Oooh!" Ivy earned the same treatment, and a moment later without any mark. The two Milotic were off. Swimming down the path with Ivy and I squealing at the sudden acceleration. The race soon simply turned into rushing around splashing in and out of the water.

Our rides would get stopped by the others every few cycles and force us to switch to new ones, but it was all in good fun. Even the Feebas would jump out of the water at our passing taking part.

It was overall a really fun day. We all ended up warming up in the sun after an hour of playing in the water. Berry juice slathered over Pokemon and human faces alike as we simply lived.

—--

The first time the new Milotic shed. Was a wonderful day. We had almost thirty Prism Scales once they were done. Although I had made sure that it was only when their scales were fully formed and ready to be shed. Finding out that my partner had been forcing them out early had been a wakeup call.

Milotic in general were almost too eager to share themselves. I guess that is what happens when you have a Pokemon that everyone thinks of as trash, even themselves, only to suddenly gain value.

I guess that fact I valued them even as Feebas meant they were a little too self sacrificing.

Of course. We had another five Milotic to get registered that night. With eleven Milotic in total, I was pretty sure we had more of them than anyone else in the entire world. Or at least more than anyone was admitting.

So of course a few days later after registering the next batch. The Pokemon Association had finally had enough.

I was at school when it started, but as I walked home it was impossible to miss the line of fancy cars that were lined up outside our home.

Seeing that I palmed Growlithes Pokeball and broke out into a run.

Luckily before long I noticed Mama and Gram Gram both outside the house looking over the pond. As I rushed closer I noticed the line of suited men that were inspecting my Milotic. I frowned. They better not be bothering my babys.

"Mama!" I called out as I approached.

"Ah Vicky. Come here." Mama called waving me over pulling me into a side hug as I approached.

"What’s going on? Are they bothering my Milotic?"

"No honey. That’s why I am here watching. The Pokemon Association goo- men. Are doing an inspection of the Milotic habitat. Apparently with how large our flock is growing they are very interested in why so many are gathering here, and to make sure they want to stay."

"Got it." I answer, hearing the unspoken reminder of ’don’t tell anyone.’ After all Milotic was a family secret now. Gram Gram had been firm. I still wasn’t sure I liked the whole family secret thing. It kind of went against the grain you know?

I mean, the whole thing with the Pokemon games was to catch them all, but the reason for that was to fill out the Pokdex. The open source, concentration of all the known information on Pokemon.

I had re-opened my paper ’pokedex’ a while back after realizing that no one knew about Milotic, only to realize on a second read through all the information I had assumed to simply be incorrect because it was out of date, wasn’t even close. It was what people actually thought. There were only like five of the Eeveelutions known. Since some of them had difficult evolution requirements. Or had only been registered once or twice.

Some Pokemon were considered myths. Or were so rare no one knew anything about them. Like Dragonite.

Yeah… That had been a shock to the system. Sure Lance of the Elite Four had a Dragonite, but that was because the Blackthorn family of Johto. They were a family of dragon tamers or more accurately a Clan. They hoarded their dragon knowledge, and to the layman Dragonite were legendary pokemon equivalent to the Legendary birds or something.

This world. It was like Pokemon, but the knowledge wasn’t there. I still hadn’t quite figured out what had changed, or if it was just hundreds of things.

Anyway, with that I realized how valuable my nerd Pokemon knowledge was. I could sit down and name off a dozen Pokemon that had evolutions that no one knew about. Oddish for example evolved into Gloom. And everyone knows that you could use a Leafstone to get a Vileplume.

Bellossom? Completely unheard of. Well it was known to exist, but only listed with a single picture and a "This Pokemon exists. Rarely found in jungles. No other knowledge."

That was pretty much it. I could tell the Pokemon Association right now to collect sunstones and use them on Gloom.

Boom. A new Kanto only species.

Considering that the number of variants, type, and value of pokemon all across the world had recently become a big factor in International Politics…

I learned that from the TV. Listen Mama likes the news, and I was mature enough to understand it, even if I mostly listened while doing homework.

But it means that new Pokemon were a big boon for the Pokemon Association, or government of any region.

You might think that it should be common sense for people here. ’Oh you have a Pokemon. Rub them with this Evolution stone, see if they evolve.’

But that makes sense in games. Where stones are easy to get. That is not the case in the real world. Evolution stones are expensive. Like, rare to get your hands on any of them. And that is if there is enough in the country to supply you, and if they haven’t all been purchased by rabid Eevee trainers.

That last part isn’t a joke.

Eevee is the single largest source of where evolution stones go towards. A lot of people like Evee. They are small, and cute, their evolutions retain their small size making them excellent pets for more casual trainers, and the variety meant people could often show off their wealth, or uniqueness by having an eeveelution.

Eevee breeders were big business.

Anyways, what that all means is that the Pokemon Association of Kanto is very interested in ensuring any new species becomes a Kanto only species. That way it becomes something they can use in war, or trade against other regions.

Basically politics.

Which is why they were currently examining everything they could about the area trying to figure out what they can about the Milotic. They would have asked a lot of questions about where they came from, or how they were brought here.

But ’Family secret’ was an actual law on the books in Kanto. Secret Pokemon knowledge was not required to be shared, and in fact couldn’t be forced by the Pokemon Association.

It was an old rule from when the association first became a thing. Back when the gym systems first rose.

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t try to suss it out themselves. After all, if they discovered it on their own, well, it must not have been a good secret.

"Hey!" I called out pulling myself out of my thoughts, as I noticed one of my Milotic was being pressured a bit too much by one of the guys in suits. With a throw Growlithe was at my side and growling earning me the attention of all the people harassing my babys.

"Don’t touch Milotic. You are irritating her! She is a sweetheart, and that means you are pushing too much back off!" I yell at the man who had been trying to push some sort of device into Milotics face for a minute now, causing her to slowly back away, only to be trapped against the side of the pond.

Looking me over for a moment the man sighed. "Listen, kid. I’m just do-"

"Bark!" Growlithe didn’t care. In her eyes someone was bothering her herd that she was supposed to protect so a moment later the man was backing up as Growlithe bared her fangs and stalked him down.

"W-whoa, call off the Growlithe!"

"Growlithe. That’s enough. He isn’t bothering Milotic anymore, see. She went under." I said and she had done just that. Once she wasn’t being pressured anymore she disappeared back under the water. I could see her shadow under the pond swiftly vanish.

This jerk had scared my Baby!

My glare towards him didn’t seem to affect him much, his eyes focused on my angry pokemon, but before I could say anything more a voice interrupted.

"Takashi. Go take a break. You pushed too much."

"Yes Taicho!" The man nodded as he stepped around Growlithe to leave.

Another man, this one wearing his suit casually, even having his tie half undone as he looked me over. The messy hair and looks didn’t suit the idea of a ’taicho’ but if he was their boss and looked like this, that meant he was important enough to get away with it.

"So you’re the Milotic girl. Nice to meet you. Chief of Ecology with the Association Richard Brushfire. A pleasure." He mentions smoothly, as he nods towards one of my Milotic that was accepting the attention of some men in suits taking pictures. "Beautiful Pokemon. They are well taken care of."

"They are friends. Of course I take care of them." I answer simply. "But they are gentle. If your people bother my Milotic again they won’t like it."

"Roger that." He answers casually, seemingly unconcerned. "I don’t suppose you will tell me why so many Milotic seem to be coming to this pond over anywhere else?"

"Family secret."

"Yeah I figured that would be the answer." He sighs scratching his messy stubble for a moment as he pulls out a cigarette and then a lighter. He flicks it twice.

"Flamethrower." I say simply with a glare, and suddenly that cigarette he was trying to light was burnt to ash. Growlithes Flamethrower was narrow, a thin line. It wasn’t powerful yet. We were still working on mixing accuracy and power.

The product of months of training and focus to narrow the stream.

"Fair." He coughed after a moment taking the butt of the cigarette from his lips and stuffing it into a pocket. Which made me ease off on my glare. If he had littered I would have been forced to dunk him into the pond for the Milotic to ’play’ with.

We stared at each other for a minute before he sighed again and turned away.

"Pfeh! Good job Granddaughter. You showed that one."

"Gram Gram!" I called out surprised as she had appeared behind me while I was dealing with Brushfire.

"Yes my dear. I heard these ones showed up. Did they cause too much trouble? I can send a complaint if they did."

"Only one got a little pushy with Milotic, but it was dealt with."

"Brats. Coming onto our land and messing with our Pokemon. Tch, bet they didn’t learn much though. Did they?" Gram Gram asked with a smile that I returned. Not likely. We didn’t have anymore Feebas in the pond right now.

I had been busy training Growlithe. Seriously, she was a battle maniac!

"Just remember they can’t do anything to you, or your Milotic. So don’t ever let those bastards push you around."

"Mother, please don’t curse around Vicky." Mama says as she walks over looking annoyed. "You know how impressionable she is."

"I’m not impressionable!" I instantly argue, only to be ignored. This being a kid thing again sometimes was a real bastard.

"Sorry to intrude." Richard was back this time with a stack of papers under one arm.

"What do you want? Ready to leave?"

"Unfortunately not." He was as calm as ever. "Due to the numbers here, your land has been labeled as a potential conservation for Milotic."

"You bastards!" Mama hissed which had me blinking in shock, Mama just cursed. Shit was getting real.

"I agree with my daughter. You can’t do that."

"I can. As the only location Milotic have been found within Kanto, the Pokemon Association has determined something about this location is drawing them here. So we are labeling it as a conservation in order to learn more."

"That’s dumb." I tell him instantly. "We built the pond after I brought Milotic home. There isn’t anything special about our pond."

"That is up to the Pokemon Association to decide." He answers simply.

"What does that mean then?" I turned asking Gram Gram, who was glaring but not cursing the guy out.

"It means the land becomes Government protected. While we still own this land, the Association have complete control over it from here on in order to ensure the Pokemon they are trying to conserve don’t leave."

"That’s right."

"Dumb. So dumb. We built the Pond last year! But whatever, so they can bother us a bunch?"

"It means that everything on the land becomes part of the conservation Vicky. Including our Berry tree farm." Mama hissed glaring.

Oh.

OOOH.

The Berry trees across our land had been Mama’s baby. Her family had been Berry farmers before she became a trainer, and on her travels, she had gathered up all sorts of rare berries from across the world.

When she retired she came home to Viridian and expanded the farm by a ton. Mostly it was a hobby for her. We did sell the berrys all the time and we made good money from it, but for Mama it was… A family thing. Something her family had done for generations.

"This is blatant strong arming. How dare you." Gram Gram finally said as she watched me come to the realization of what was happening.

"It’s the decision of the Association."

"Then perhaps the Association should be careful over its decision." A voice called out, and I turned to see Agatha. Gram Grams friend called out. "It is a foolish decision to ostracize someone bringing such value to our home."

"Agatha."

"Melaney. I hope I got here in time." Agatha offered as she walked up grabbing the paperwork out of Richards hands. "Look at this. Is the Association trying to pick a fight with the Kanto families?" Agatha asked, earning a tired sigh from Richard.

"I’m just doing my job Ma’am."

"Sure you are. Go call your boss. Now. Before you make any further foolish decisions. I would hate having to smuggle my friends’ family out of the country. I rather like Kanto."

For a moment Richards’ casual rumpled look sharpened, at Agatha’s words, but he didn’t seem to respond to the threat. "I’ll reach out." He offered turning and walking away.

I waited a moment to see if anyone would say anything, but the adults were simply quietly looking between each other, sharing something nonverbally, I was missing… mostly because I was too small to see it.

Stupid shrimp legs!

"So… What now?" I asked, interrupting the stare off.

"Nothing for now, why don’t you head inside and relax. I am sure you have some homework." Mama offered but I denied that instantly.

"Fate of the orchard is at stake. Homework can wait… Besides I already did it. Just math stuff. Don’t brush me off." I demand earning an amused look for a moment.

"You are too headstrong." Mama said patting my head as she said nothing more. Making me realize it really was just going to be a wait. I sighed.

"Fine. C’mon Growlithe." I call out my pup running after as I head inside. There wasn’t much I could do here. Even with an adult brain, kid body made any solution I come up with difficult to implement, better to let the adults handle it. Agatha seemed to be here to help so that was nice.

I’m glad Gram Gram had a friend.

Heading inside I plopped down on the kitchen table with a grunt. This was such a mess.

—-

A few hours later Mama came inside. I had watched as the Pokemon Association goons left in their cars.

"How did it go?"

"Better than it would have without help." Mama answers sitting down looking to me. "The Association is withholding the Conservation of our land, but they are listing the Milotic flock as a protected species."

"What does that mean? I mean… They are registered to me right?"

"Right. You are fine dear. You are still their trainer. It just means that the flock has a lot of protections and restrictions."

"What kind of restrictions?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about."

"That isn’t an answer. And what if I break these ’restrictions’ without knowing?"

Mama snorted, but eased back.

"The Milotic flock is not a protected group. It doesn’t affect you because you already ’caught’ them, but if any more Milotic show up, they can’t be captured by us. They would be either left free, or captured by the association for their protection, but left alone. Basically normal trainers can’t capture any more Milotic that show up."

"But what about our plan to expand? We weren’t going to stop with just ten Milotic."

"I’m not sure yet Vicky. We weren’t planning for this. We will have to get a lawyer to go through the requirements to find out what we can do."

"Can they do this?"

"Usually no. In fact Agatha will be reaching out to some of the other Pokemon families. I can’t imagine the Blackthorn will take this overreach by the association sitting down, but… The pokemon Association has grown powerful over the last few decades. Who knows what will happen."

Mama sounded tired. That more than anything pissed me off. Damn these jerks for causing trouble.

"I’m home!" Papa called out from the front earning a relieved sigh from Mama as she got up to tell him everything that happened.

He had heard some of it, already. News was spreading around the city.

—-

Honestly despite everything, not much changed after the Association stuck their nose in. We did have more people showing up usually on the weekends to check on the flock of Milotic, but otherwise they left us alone. Almost religiously so. My guess was, Agatha was raising a stink.

Regardless, it didn’t stop my games with my buddies. Milotic was currently undergoing mostly physical training. Lazy fish had been slacking, but I needed him to be physically fit for the future.

Growlithe, I had training mostly on learning new moves. Flamerthrower and fire spin was a solid start, but there were other fire moves she could learn. We were basically going down the list of moves and helping her get the hang of them, and then to power them up.

Will-O-Wisp is our current game. A fire that doesn’t really do damage, but burns. Interestingly it wasn’t a normal flame but blue-white fire.

It was a work in progress. Mostly Growlithe was ending up with Embers. But it was good endurance training to keep spamming the fire while trying to control it.

But things continued into normalcy. A while later we got another batch of Prism Scales. And that calmed things. Because the Pokemon Association was very happy with the new luxury good. And we were happy because money.

Lots and lots of money.

Over fifty scales, each of which sold for huge sums. And this time we weren’t saving many since we weren’t expanding our Milotic flock.

I did keep a few just in case. But otherwise, we had a massive influx in cash. Of course most of it was under control of my parents, but that was fine. It’s not like there was much out there I wanted.

Well there was one thing.

Or two.

I grinned as I considered it. We did need more defenses for our home. It had been a topic of discussion that Papa had mentioned. Bringing Growlithe home was good, but he had thought about bringing another Growlithe, or even a few more just to make sure poachers couldn’t get away with any of our Milotic.

But then I had a better idea. It would be expensive, but well that was hardly a concern.

But first I would need a disguise!

Listen if it was good enough for Jessie to be able to trick people constantly by putting on sunglasses and a new dress it would probably work for me.

Or it would fail, because this wasn’t an anime, but it would be fun anyways!

I had enough funds, mostly because I was a responsible girl, and this was the Pokemon world. Where everyone trusted ten year olds to go on journeys on their own.

So I had access to all the money we had made.

Deciding to do it, because fuck the Pokemon Association, I returned Growlithe and Milotic and headed out into town.

After a quick stop at an ATM to get all the money in cash I would need, because I can guarantee everything I did today was going to be looked into after this, I headed towards the Viridian city mall.

First I bought a new jacket, and sunglasses, and even a fake wig that I found at a store. The spikey red hair would fit with my plans pretty well.

With that I hid in a bathroom and changed and then…

"Ruby Red." I offer my face in the mirror a wink and finger guns. No one would recognize me now, especially if I don’t pull out Milotic.

With that I was ready. I headed into the city.

Ruby was a fire Pokemon trainer. Obviously. My red jacket and red hair and my fiery smile informed everyone of what I was.

Which is why when I entered into one of the Pokemon Association shops that catered to very specific items it wasn’t odd at all as I walked straight towards the sections of Evolution stones the shop had for sale.

The price tags were ridiculous, and I had to restrain myself from whistling as I looked over the many zeroes.

But it was fine. I had already known how much they would cost.

"I need a Fire stone for my Evee. Flareon fits me better don’t you think? Also a second one if you have it, my little sisters birthday is coming up. You understand." I spoke with a more haughty accent to the clerk, only receiving a quick bow as the Kanto politeness meant they quickly ran me through the process. Dropping the money in cash instead of a trainer card might be a little weird, but not super out of the ordinary, I looked like a rich girl after all.

And with that. They packed the two fire stones in a fancy little box, like you would get from a Jewlery store. And I sauntered out of the store.

Thankfully, there weren’t many video cameras or things like that around the city. So I was able to easily make my way back towards home before disappearing into a park bathroom, and coming out as Victoria again.

Then I walked home. My backpack heavy with the future.

—--

I didn’t just do it right away. Instead I hid the fire stones in my closet, and simply let the days pass for a while. Training my partners took up most of my time when School wasn’t taking up the rest.

But the months were getting closer and closer to my tenth birthday. And once that passed? It wouldn’t be long until my journey began.

So late one night, long after I would normally be in bed, I slipped out of bed with Growlithe at my side. Growly looked up at my passing, as we walked out of the house. He was on guard duty currently, but I put a finger to my lips as we passed and walked out into the night.

There was an area perfect for this a bit into the forest. A stream passing through a small clearing.

Growlithe, didn’t know what was up yet. I hadn’t explained to her what the plan was. Only that we were going to do something special.

Then finally we stopped. Enjoying the sounds of pokemon skittering around in the night. Metapods humming quietly, and the entire place sounded calm and peaceful.

"Okay, Growlithe… I got something for you, but it’s a big choice."

I pulled the fire stone out of my pocket.

"This is a fire stone. It’s super rare, but I got one for you. It will let a Growlithe evolve into an Arcanine." I inform her simply, earning a blink, and then the lovely sight of my Growlithe the normally fierce battler, that she is literally so shocked she leapt onto her back paws and then continued to fall back.

My giggles earned me no favor from Growlithe as she rose back up and growled at me in annoyance before refocusing on the stone in my hands. She looked from it to me, then again.

"Growl-Growlithe?"

"Yeah. It’s true. The only way to turn into an Arcanine as far as I know. You use a fire stone. So Growlithe. I told you when we first met, that we would have to be legendarily strong. So… Growlithe. How about it? Want to become a legend?"

"Growlithe." She offered simply along with a nod. Before she closed her eyes and huffed out a cute puppy breath, and then her nose bent in, touching the Fire stone.

And there was light.

I grinned as Growlithe grew. Bigger and bigger.

Did you know Arcanine stand at around six feet tall? That they weigh around 350 pounds? The biggest dog in the old world was an English Mastiff. They only weighed around 200 pounds…

Arcanine?

They were big fucking dogs.

Heckin big boys, and girls, You could say.

Of course Arcanine, wasn’t going to allow her evolution to be silent. As the light began to fade it was joined with a howl. A massive intake of air blew around me and then Arcanine called out her existence into the world.

She howled.

And the world listened.

I didn’t because I had put my hands over my ears and was wincing at the volume.

But afterwards there wasn’t a single pokemon making a sound in the whole forest.

She stood huffing a little at the exertion, at her call as she looked down, and then down some more to meet my eyes. Even as I stood I wasn’t up to her chest, which meant I felt tiny compared to my puppy.

"So, want to go for a run?" I asked, and the doggy grin I got in return said it all.

I clambered onto her back, and grabbed fur. And we were off.

Arcanine were some of the fastest land based Pokemon. I mean even Rapidash weren’t as fast!

So when Arcanine started running? I started holding on for dear life, because she started moving so fast, I wasn’t able to see without the wind stinging my eyes.

We ran for hours. Although I kept redirecting her back towards home from time to time. I didn’t want to have her run in a straight line away from home.

And in the wee hours of the morning, the sun thankfully still under the earth. I stumbled home exhausted and wind swept with a Pokeball on my hip that felt warm as Arcanine rested from her first exercise as an evolved pokemon.

Sleeeeeep.

—--

"Vicky! Wake up."

"Blurgh." I retort, only for the Growly attack to come. My whines of surrender are ignored. Growly has no concept of surrender.

Only drool.

I was dragged from bed eventually when Growly refused to stop going for my weak point. Feet dripping in drool I stomped out of my room and into the kitchen.

"You don’t look great Vicky, you sick?"

"Tiiired. Stayed up late…" I mutter blinking weakly as I sat down, a large yawn ripping from my throat as I settled in.

"What were you doing up so late? You know you have a bedtime…" Mama asked looking unhappy.

"Secret training… Oh, we will need to pick up new Pokemon chow." I muttered tiredly as I blinked into the plate of food put in front of me, my mind unable to figure out what I was supposed to do now.

"Vicky. Did you capture a new pokemon? You know you aren’t supposed to buy Pokeballs." Papa asked, glancing up from his own breakfast with a frown. I blinked at him, before shaking my head.

"Noo? I didn’t." I looked at myself for a moment realizing that I was still wearing my outfit from yesterday including Arcanines Pokeball.

"Here." I say as I grab the ball and toss it.

And in a rush of sound Arcanine was standing in our kitchen.

Wow she was big inside. Definitely not an inside dog… Oh who was I kidding?

She was gonna be my snuggle buddy from now on.

There was silence in the room for a while. Even as Arcanine started slinking over to my plate, and I, as was tradition, slipped her a sausage.

"Growl?" Growly was funnily enough the one to break the silence as the old pup made a sound of demand.

"Arc-Arcanine."

"Oh Arceus." Mama said in shock which startled Papa from where he had been having an almost religious experience.

"She’s beautiful." Papa finally said as he rose up and stroked a hand through Arcanines fur. "I guess, this is my mistake. I guess I wasn’t a good enough trainer to see it. Your potential." He tells Arcanine.

"That’s dumb. You’re a good trainer. Arcanine was really well trained when you gave her to me already Papa. She is just headstrong." I whisper sleepily. My plate nearly becoming my pillow.

"Hah! That’s not possible Trouble. A Growlithe becoming an Arcanine isn’t something that just happens. She was special and I missed it… I guess it’s good I gave her to you."

"Nah, I just cheated. Fire Stone evolves Growlithe into Arcanine, I bought one last week." I tell him simply my response is broken by a massive yawn as I just plop my head into Arcanine fur.

Sooooft.

I ignored the conversation going on around me, because oh my god Arcanine is the fuzziest. This is it. This is how I sleep from now on. Warm and soft and Arcanine had a soft rumble when she breathed that was super relaxing.

This is the life.

"Vicky!"

"Wha!?" I jerked blinking as I looked up to Mama.

"Oh my child… This is all your doing!" Mama said turning to Papa and pointing at me.

What did I do?

"I don’t know if I can take responsibility for this my love." He said shaking his head, but he was laughing a bit. "If I could, I think I would have had an Arcanine myself by now."

"Ugh!" Mama made a noise of disgust at that, but I was looking around trying to figure out what was going on.

"What?" I asked fuzzily, what was everyone talking about.

"Nothing Dear. Go back to sleep. You aren’t going to be any use until you get some sleep. At least she doesn’t have school today."

"Thank Arceus for small mercies."

Whatever. Soft and warm. Sleeeeep.

—--

I gave off a deep yawn as I stretched walking into the kitchen. I don’t know exactly what time it was, but it was mid afternoon by the sunlight coming in through the windows, but I wasn’t exactly thinking about that. Because I had slept like a baby curled up with Arcanine.

My girl was the softest bed in the world.

"Morning." I called out as I entered the kitchen to see Mama, Papa, and Gram Gram all sitting around the table. "Oh Hi Gram Gram!"

"Victoria. It’s nearly 1 in the afternoon, you can’t really call it morning anymore." Gram Gram teased as she reached out to start settling my hair when I sat next to her.

Of course that was when Arcanine walked into the kitchen giving plaintive looks for food as well.

"Hungry?" I ask her, getting a soft whuff in return.

Instead of grabbing the food I looked to Papa who sighed. "I put together a blend for Arcanine until we can get something shipped in. It’s in the fridge."

"Thanks Papa!" I chirp as I head into the fridge and grab the big bowl of Pokemon chow. Most of it was berries at this point, but I could also see some of the Growlithe chow in there, although not much.

Growlithe and Arcanine were different Pokemon after all, they had different dietary requirements.

"Now that the beast isn’t going to eat us. Sit down child." Gram Gram ordered as Arcanine began chowing down, her first meal.

"What is it Gram Gram?"

The old woman gave me a single arched eye before pointing… At Arcanine.

"Where did you learn you could evolve Growlithe into the Legendary Pokemon with a Fire stone?"

My little shit brain almost instantly popped up with ’internet’ but that joke didn’t exist, and Gram Gram would not be amused.

"It just made sense?" I offer with a shrug.

"Oh it made sense did it? Explain it to me."

I bit my lip as Papa and Mama were both watching on, apparently this was an interrogation because they wanted to know too.

"Okay so Growlithe can’t evolve on her own. We know that. Everyone knows it’s only rare that a Grolwithe becomes Arcanine, that’s why they are the Legendary Pokemon. Now we do know that Growlithe becomes Arcanine. 100% everyone agrees to that." I waved my hands a little as I explained.

"So if it’s not an experience or strength evolution like most Pokemon. There is only a short list of what is needed to evolve them. Like… Graveler! The discovery of how to evolve Graveler into Golem was only found a few years back right? In the wild the Graveler will join together, and their combined power is what prompts the evolution. We created the transfer cord so trainers could do it without an avalanche of Graveler."

It was a neat explanation. A transfer cord connected two Pokeballs together, and allowed the Pokemon to share power causing some Pokemon to evolve.

Basically instead of ’trading’ Pokemon you did it this way. Funnily enough, it actually was discovered after the Association created the trading machine. Which did something similar.

The Transfer cord was just a way to do it without trading the Pokemon.

"Right. Which is why everyone thought there must be something we needed to find. Like Onix and the metal coat, to evolve into Steelix." Gram Gram said.

"Exactly! But everyone has been digging through the weeds looking for that and not realizing that Arcanine might usually live in plains. But they probably evolve near volcanoes!" I grin teasing the older people with an explanation that honestly, was just a guess.

"They probably stumbled across a fire stone in the Volcano and evolved. Then they go to the plains, because Arcanine are fast! Like super fast! So of course they would want flatland. There aren’t many pokemon that can keep up with an Arcanine running."

"So you went and bought a Fire stone… To test this?" Mama asked, looking a little pale. "What if it didn’t work?"

"Then I have an expensive rock, or I sell it back? But I was like 99% sure. Like I said, it made sense." I shrug. "And it worked. Isn’t that right Arcanine?"

"Whuff." She offered back licking her jowls from her breakfast.

"Let me call Agatha… This could work to our benefit." Gram Gram suddenly said. "Vicky. Keep your dog inside until we figure things out."

"Yes Gram Gram."

That was how Arcanine and I ended up playing games in my room for most of the day until Agatha showed up.

Also Arcanine cheats at Pokemon world version of Monopoly. It’s the only explanation.

"Well. That is certainly an Arcanine." Agatha muttered her eyes wide as she took in my doggo. Who was curled around me as we watched TV in my room.

Mostly Pokemon battles. I would watch the pro battles with my team, and if they saw something like a move they wanted to learn I would work with them on it.

It was pretty efficient actually, Pro’s tended to know their stuff after all.

"Oh, hey Agatha." I called out only to earn a sigh from the older woman.

"I don’t even want to know how you managed that. Melaney would kill me for stealing a family secret of this magnitude. But the Association is going to freak… heh." Her words ended in a sharp grin. "Alright girl, stay hidden for a bit longer. I’ll take care of this. Hehe."

Agatha laughed darkly as she left my room. I could hear her chatting with Gram Gram in the living room, but honestly? Okay. Sure. I would let the adults handle this.

Besides, this match with Lance was pretty awesome. He had a dragonite!