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With Pawmot down, Tristen felt like it was relatively even keel at this point. He couldn’t push Rampardos all that much harder than what was already done here in this battle. He was tired – Nemona’s Pokémon giving his team a complete run for their money and there was only one more to go. Rampardos wasn’t going to be able to withstand much at all from her next Pokémon. And while it might have been true…Nemona sprung the surprise. Tristen wasn’t seeing her next Pokémon yet. “Wait, Goodra!?” Tristen exclaimed. Sure enough, the Goodra was back out for battle. Tristen noticed that Goodra was still fairly banged up, but had recovered a fair bit, perhaps enough to go a couple of rounds more. He didn’t notice Nemona use any manner of Revive or anything beyond the purview of the battle, nor was Ms. Dendra calling foul on Nemona, so whatever she had done had to have been legal. That one inconspicuous move that didn’t seem to have done anything…the Revival Blessing. That’s what had to have happened. She deliberately left her Pawmot open to revive one of her Pokémon unabated, never mind Tristen giving that kind of opportunity when he called for a Screech attack to err towards safety as opposed to going in and trying to finish the Pawmot off. This was bad. Nemona still held the advantage.

“Rampardos! Endeavor!” Tristen commanded. He had to put this Goodra back down before it was too late. He couldn’t afford to let Goodra clash with Dragonite. And while Dragonite might win against the sticky draconid, he needed to conserve whatever he could against Nemona’s final Pokémon. Just as Tristen demonstrated to Matteo, just because it was her last Pokémon didn’t necessarily it was her worst. In fact, Tristen feared quite the opposite.

Rampardos stormed down the field as Nemona made her attack call and before Rampardos could land his crushing blow, the dino was immediately swept up in a massive watery wave. The water attack took Rampardos off his feet and swept him across the field. Tristen ended up trying to brace himself as he realized the wave was coming towards him as well, but when he realized the water wasn’t doing anything after a few seconds, he looked back up to see the wave broke off around him to the power of Ms. Dendra’s Pokémon’s Wide Guard and Light Screens. Relieved that he didn’t get taken out too by that massive attack, he quickly looked back towards the field, seeing Rampardos there out cold on the soaked ground, a good ways away from the Goodra. In fact, he washed up near Tristen. As soon as the screens were down, Tristen took out his Pokeball and recalled Rampardos. “Sorry Rampardos…I didn’t see that coming at all.” He said. “Me and Dragonite will try to make up for it, okay?” he said, stashing the Pokeball and bringing out the last one.

At this point, Nemona knew what was coming. Tristen’s Dragonite. Tristen knew of a couple of things that Goodra could do to ruin Dragonite’s day. Including but not limited to the Draco Meteor that nearly took out Mienshao in one fell swoop. Aden on the sidelines would probably see from where he was at the look on Tristen’s face…that look of that he wasn’t going to quit, but he was deep in the tank. That ‘mental topdecking’, trying to figure out how to pull one out over Nemona. The only thing that Tristen has going for him is that the most she’s seen was a Dragon Claw attack and his Hyper Beam, and Tristen wasn’t crazy enough to try the latter straight out of the gate unless he knew he could finish off his target. Goodra was probably good enough to take a shot and punish Dragonite for it and even if it was good enough to finish off Goodra, that’d leave Nemona’s final Pokémon to have a field day once it came out. As far as what Tristen could think, as much as he didn’t want to, he needed Dragonite to scrap with the Goodra, up close and personal. Generally, to what he knew of, while it might not look like it, Goodra were deceptively weak to physical blows as opposed to specialized ones. Trying things like Hurricane, Dragon Pulse, or Hyper Beam would probably just blow up in Tristen’s face. That said, his options were further limited when he took into consideration what messed up Mienshao to begin with. Goodra’s sticky film. While Goodra would hate a Dragon Claw or a Dragon Rush successfully delivered upon it, Dragonite wouldn’t care for the aftermath of it either. Technically, that wouldn’t have been an issue had Tristen went in not bothering to bring along items to make him look like a normal, ordinary trainer. He could have gotten Dragonite to use his Safeguard and be protected from it, but given that he gave Dragonite that Assault Vest, he forgone all manner of utility Dragonite had and committed to straight up attacking. Thunder Waves and Roosts too? Forget it. Gone because the Assault Vest inhibits Dragonite’s capability to do so. While any other day even that wouldn’t have been an issue, usually opting for Dragonite just to go in and bash and blast away, it was biting Tristen in the rear fiercely now. He could see his adoptive father telling him ‘I told you so’ right about now. Tristen had to get creative now with what he had…

“Dragonite! Go!” Tristen called out, tossing the Pokeball out upon the field. In a flash, the dragon emerged from the ball.

“Arrrro!” Roared out Dragonite as he hovered above the ground for a few seconds before landing on the soft soil.

“Its rough, Dragonite. We got our work cut out. Are you ready?”

“Aro!” Dragonite called back.

Tristen had a plan to at least get through Goodra. If nothing else, he needed to keep Goodra from dropping massive draconic fireballs on Dragonite’s head. “Dragonite! Extremespeed!” He would call out. Dragonite kicked off the ground and rocketed towards the Goodra. Mud and water was kicked up to the furious speed as Dragonite flew over the battlefield on a speedy, ramming course for the opposing dragon.

Immediately after ramming into the Goodra, Dragonite quickly landed, grimacing himself out of near disgust from getting some of the Goodra’s sticky film when he made impact. Dragonite tried to scrape the goo off of him but all it served to do was just to spread it around. Tristen wasn’t too thrilled about it – this was what set Mienshao up for a fall. And the longer that Dragonite had to tussle with the Goodra, the worse it was going to be.

Tristen would suddenly go wide-eyed with Nemona’s attack call. “Dragonite! Move! Get out of there!” Tristen shouted. As the Goodra went to fire its ice beam, Dragonite took flight to try to avoid the chilling beam. The Goodra chased down Dragonite with the beam, Dragonite trying hard to avoid the chilling attack. Dragonite’s training was showing in its hard expert manuevering, but the Goodra’s training was showing as well that it was no slouch, managing to clip Dragonite with the Ice Beam. Dragonite roared out then started to fall to the ground. Dragonite managed to right itself but he ended up hitting the soggy ground rather hard. He looked up, seeing a large ice patch that covered some of his scales and his Assault Vest. With an agitated growl, the Dragonite managed to shake off the ice, but the sting was still there. Thanks to Dragonite’s innate abilities and the Assault Vest, the attack could have done a lot worse, but it was nothing that Tristen wanted Dragonite to take again.

“Dragonite, you good!?” He called out.

“Arro!”

“Dragon Claw!” He then commanded. Tristen needed to get this Goodra out of this battle, hopefully for good. Dragonite kicked off the ground and rushed for the sticky dragon, claws ignited with draconic power then delivered to the opposing dragon a fearsome strike.

With the Goodra down, things seemed…okay-ish? Dragonite managed to mitigate some of the damage he took from the Goodra, albeit not without getting a bit messy doing so. Once Dragonite knew that the Goodra was down, he went back trying to get the sticky goo off. Even going so far as to spewing out a minor flamethrower at his limbs to try to burn it off. All it seemed to accomplish to do was make the goo smell, making Dragonite dry heave a little. In the meantime, Tristen couldn’t help but to look at the crowd for a few seconds, scratching the back of his head and gave a slight, nervous laugh. He wasn’t quite used to this sort of praise from random strangers. He wasn’t going to let it get to his head though. He knew better than that.

It was a little hard to hear Nemona over the ruckus the spectators was causing, but apparently she was still having the time of her life. She really doesn’t get this kind of competition? At all? The more Tristen started to think about it, it sounded…boring. It sort of raised the question why Matteo wanted to be better than anyone else if this was where it all ended. The thought kept Tristen distracted long enough to almost miss out on Nemona’s declaration of appointing him a rival.

Finally, things grew tense on the field for all involved. Dragonite looked over towards the spectators then towards Tristen, wondering what was going on. Was this that big of deal? A Pokémon Nemona has gotten her to the status she was now. Tristen and Dragonite practically braced themselves, staring intently as the ball made their way out onto the battlefield. And in a flash, there it was. “What…is…that?” Tristen said. This was not what he expected at all. This large, bipedal, humanoid looking bird. If he didn’t know better, he almost wanted to say this thing was a hybrid itself, but that was obviously not the case. The bird stepped about the water-soaked field, well in rhythm to whatever beat it had. Tristen noted the Muscle Band around it; just like Mienshao has. It had to be a physical bruiser, at the very least, if Nemona thought her Pokémon warranted it. But that was the most that he could discern from it. Tristen’s eyes narrowed as uncertainty started to bear down on him. His final obstacle was a Pokémon he had no idea what this thing’s deal is and he had effectively no room to experiment either. It was a proverbial case of do or die.

Tristen had no idea just how much ‘die’ was about to look likely. “Ice what…?” Tristen said. Not only it was an unknown Pokémon, it was an unknown attack. He watched as the Quaquaval started to quickly start spin around and ice started to gather about it. “Oh…that…doesn’t look good...Dragonite, move!” Tristen called out to his dragon. The attack would come in faster than either of them expected. The attack effectively made a speedy, frosty trail straight for Dragonite. Dragonite could only try to brace for impact but was blown off his feet from the brutal attack. The Assault vest could do nothing against the likes of that for that matter, much to Tristen’s chagrin. “Dragonite!”

Dragonite pushed himself back off the ground, but he was severely hurting right now, and worse, unlike Mienshao or Rampardos, Dragonite did not have any punisher like moves like Rampardos’s Endeavor or Mienshao’s Reversal that Tristen could take advantage of and with an attack like that in this new Pokémon’s repertoire, Dragonite was in peril. Tristen’s face then turned from worry into complete shock; a dawning moment of comprehension that made him realize just how bad off he was. She knew she had him beat from the start. Yea, it was a showing, to be sure, but Nemona wasn’t in the least bit worried the entire time. In fact, the moment his fate was perhaps sealed was when Matteo forced Tristen’s hand in sending out Dragonite. She knew what to hold back and knew what to bring forward. Even if Tristen sent Dragonite out against her Pawmot, forced her to move her plans around, he’d still be in dire straits with what he seen her Pokémon do at this point in the tournament. It was about this point where he wondered how sincere she was in deeming Tristen as a rival. Just how much of a threat to her party was he, really?

Tristen’s mind was going warp speed, trying to figure a way out of this, and it wasn’t quite coming to him. Part of the issue was that assault vest. He could really stand to have that Thunder Wave now, it might have given him a shot, but it still was not going to happen. He had to start guessing and see what stuck. The thing looked like a flying type of some kind, given its birdlike features. He figured to start there… “Dragonite! Thunder Punch!” he then shouted.

Dragonite’s claws started to electrify then he stormed his way down the battlefield. With claws sparking furiously with electricity, he’d lunge out towards the Quaquaval.

Tristen had already given himself and Dragonite credit for being in severe dire straits against this Quaquaval. But it was grossly apparent when despite driving an electrified claw straight for the opposing Pokémon, he took it like a champ. He was almost reminded seeing the times his own adoptive father doing that sort of thing when people felt uppity and they needed to be brought down a peg or three. The crowd was also in shock seeing the Pokémon take such a powerful hit and the most it was to it was an annoyance. Dragonite too had one of those rare moments of being absolutely stunned at the fortitude this Pokémon had; which left him wide open to take the Counter attack at full force. Dragonite was fiercely kicked and down the battlefield he went, skidding on the muddy battlefield for a few seconds before coming to a stop.

Dragonite once again pushed himself off the ground but he was slow to do so and he was severely hurting. Breathing heavily and completely dirty from his trip through the mud. Everything was taking a lot of effort to do now. He couldn’t stay in this fight for much longer. Tristen could overhear Nemona yelling for Tristen to go all out, but the problem is he and Dragonite was. Unless she meant…the Hyper Beam? It didn’t take a whole lot to figure it out. She was goading him. She knew she had the upper hand; it wouldn’t take much to bring Dragonite down now. What was she trying to prove? At the same time, Tristen was in a rough spot. He didn’t know what else to do but to see if Dragonite had it in him for some sort of desperation Hyper Beam attack just to see if he could rock this Quaquaval’s world, but even if Dragonite managed to blast this bird, was that going to be enough to win this battle? Just dealing with the first couple of Pokémon of hers didn’t seem to allude to that being the case. It took everything just to even get this point. Maybe everyone was right before this battle happened – Nemona was one of those trainers. Those that were a league of their own. Those that would perhaps give any Snagem pause, not just Tristen.

“Dragonite, can you keep going!?”

“Aro!” Dragonite spoke up, gritting teeth. He was trying to endure a lot of pain right now.

“Alright, Dragonite, try Hyper Beam!” At this point, he decided to try to go for it. Either Nemona would have her Pokémon try to dodge it and maybe Dragonite could sweep her Pokémon up in the blast radius or maybe, just as with the Counter attack, maybe try to challenge the attack. Her Quaquaval needed something to probably stop it…or worse case scenario, take the attack like SuperMon and once again brush it off as if seemingly nothing. Tristen actually feared the latter part of that one. Dragonite braced himself on the ground, readied his Hyper Beam then it was only a couple of seconds before the mighty attack was fired. The powerful blast making Dragonite recoil a bit, having him pushed back a couple of inches on the ground, the beam itself ripping across the battlefield for the Quaquaval.

Tristen nor Dragonite could have imagined a Hyper Beam being fired in such a fashion, let alone realize that this Pokémon was even capable of using a Hyper Beam attack. The powerful, forceful beam was parted by the smaller, more concentrated shot and managed to blast Dragonite at a rather critical juncture. The massive, powerful beam was silenced. The dragon fell backwards and hit the muddy ground. “Dragonite!” Tristen shouted, worried for his Pokémon. Dragonite wasn’t even responding now. He was not only spent, there was no telling what kind of damage that concentrated shot actually done. Tristen already had the feeling just only a moment ago that this battle was over but even then, out of respect of the battle, let alone to himself and his own Pokémon he kept battling, maybe to even hold out some hope there was some way to turn it around. But as he looked back towards the Quaquaval, there was no way. Tristen had his doubts that even if he still had his full party, that they would have been able to overcome this ace Pokémon of Nemona’s. Fela stated that Nemona tends to raise newer Pokémon as a handicap, and he could see why. This Pokémon was just…way too much. He even wondered if anyone in Snagem could have battled that and pulled out victorious.

Forget the referee call, Tristen thought. Tristen knew this was more than over. He quickly rushed out onto the soaked battlefield and made his way over towards Dragonite. “Dragonite! Dragonite!” he said.

“Ar…arrr….” Dragonite said rather weakly. He’s alive, at least, but its been a long time since Tristen seen Dragonite in this kind of shape and usually such a situation brought the fear of Arceus into Tristen. If Dragonite went down, Tristen didn’t have much more going for him despite the Manetric’s best efforts to follow guidance in raising a balanced team and not to favor one Pokémon over another, make them all relative powerhouses as it were. Fortunately, this loss wasn’t on any sort of mission, but it did leave Tristen to question what would have drove someone and their Pokémon to be that powerful. The didn’t have the fate of the world on their shoulders, did they?

“Take it easy, Dragonite. We’re done.” He said. “You did good. Thank you.” He then said, hugging the dragon.

Tristen looked up from Dragonite for a moment as Nemona came over. He wasn’t sure what to say to her other than “Good battling” and give a handshake. But what came next came to the young Manetric hybrid as a complete surprise. She rallied the students at the stands who was only just a moment ago was stunned silent as Nemona put down any hopes during the battle of him achieving victory. Tristen found himself not really used to this still, not really sure what to say. Dragonite, still on the ground, winced a bit then managed to open his eyes up then tried to sit up, then stand up. “Woah, Dragonite! Easy there!” he said. He would help his Dragonite up, although at a couple of points, he nearly gets flattened trying to do so, but Dragonite would find his way back onto his feet. Dragonite nudged Tristen forward – Dragonite realized that Tristen knew he deserved the praise. He needed to take some of it at least. Yes, he loss, but it was one he could take in stride. No dishonor in this loss.

Tristen looked back towards Nemona as Nemona handed over her Tera Orb; not the one meant as a prize, but her own. Tristen for a good part of this battle was almost sure that Nemona didn’t have too much sincerity in that battle when she called him her ‘rival’ or that she was even so much excited over the battle to begin with, especially considering once Quaquaval came out, it was as if he was in checkmate the entire time. But no, this battle actually meant something to her and she wanted to express it in the best way she could. Tristen took the orb and looked closely at it; dark, but it sparkled deep within. A power ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice. “Thank you, Nemona.” Tristen said to her. “I’ll keep working at it. I’ll do this orb justice for sure. Hey, Dragonite, look at this!” he said, showing his Dragonite the Tera Orb, taking in the look of it. It got a nod of approval out of the dragon.

Soon enough, more started to come out onto the field. Friends all that Tristen has gotten to know over this past week, all in awe over Tristen’s battling. Some getting in on the group hug – B, E, and Fela namely. All clamoring over his battling prowess. Tristen didn’t show it, but he was a bit regretful at that point. This was everything that he was trying to avoid. But now after this? He just needed to accept it and move on. Hearing Nemona’s question, he shook his head. “Don’t know. Other than keep up with classes…” He then at that point seeing Matteo apparently taking his leave. For a while there, he thought he had long since left the area to go mope or vent after his loss to Tristen, but Tristen soon realized there was a good chance that he saw the entire battle between him and Nemona. And probably wasn’t all that thrilled to see Tristen lose just soon after beating him. Regardless, Matteo was right the entire time – Tristen was going to lose this tournament. It wasn’t going to be to Matteo, though. “…and maybe get some normalcy back.” He’d sigh a little, just opting to just let it go. If Matteo wanted to be like that, then just let him. There was only so much he could do. The most he could hope for now was no more rumors to ruin his time here. “In the meantime?” He looked over towards his dirty Dragonite. “Pokémon Center, clean up, and lunch. How about it, Dragonite?”

“Aro.” No arguments out of Dragonite there.

With the competition over, Tristen would recall Dragonite and retreat tempoararly back to his dorm,. Now that he didn’t have any school related functions for the rest of the day, Tristen found it high time to finally get out of the uniform and back into his normal clothes for the time being. That he knew of, it wasn’t against the rules to not be in uniform while there was nothing school related going on, let alone classes. Returning to his dorm, he sat down at the edge of his appointed bed and then sat down, giving a hard sigh. He needed to recollect himself for a few minutes before he got up to do anything else. Only roughly three hours on the field or so. Tristen wasn’t really all that sure why he was feeling the way he did though. This wasn’t his first rodeo, though. He had participated in other things, but for some reason this one hit different. It wasn’t a bad thing though…but it was a bit overwhelming all the same. He’d look at the tera orb once again that was given to him by Nemona. For some reason, he finds himself being a bit obligated to try to pursue further something in Pokémon battling. He originally never really wanted to do that, though…truthfully he still didn’t know what he wanted to do, but for whatever reason, he had to admit the battles today did make for a convincing argument. He didn’t want to disappoint, let alone let this Tera Orb go to any manner of waste, regardless of his adoptive father’s apprehensions over this sort of thing.

Shortly after, he’d get up and got changed out of his academy uniform and got into his normal wear. Black tank top, khaki pair of pants, and his Electrike green jacket. He almost forgot about the weighted feel to his clothes due to him training and the fact that he needed to make sure that he didn’t catch his own clothes on fire from his own electricity if he wasn’t careful. Leaving the dorm from there, instead of the Pokémon Center, he went over to the nurse’s station. Last he heard, they actually could serve the purpose of a Pokémon Center, without the concessions for the trainers as well, but it didn’t really matter to Tristen. He was planning on lunch afterwards, anyways, preparing to treat his three Pokémon that took part of the battle. There was an ulterior motive to going to the station, however…

Once he arrived in there, he took a look around. Doc’s Machamp was cleaning the floors to the station, with Doc’s Litten on a nearby counter sitting by, just watching. “Machaa?”

“Hey, Orderly.” Tristen said. “Where’s Doc Owl at?”

“I’m right here.” Doc Owl said, coming in from a back room as he was cleaning his glasses. “Tristen, I’d heard you cause quite the uproar today. I’d imagined you’d be with some new friends and the like in celebration or whatever it is in this case.” Doc Owl said as he placed his glasses back on his face.

“I kind of needed to hide a little right now.” He said. “Its…a lot…”

“Ah, to be young again. The social pressures, both the positive and the negative.” Tristen didn’t honestly know what to say to that. “I tease, Tristen.”

“Um…right. Uh, is it just you here? Nurse Miriam not here?” he asked. “I thought I saw her earlier today.”

“After taking care of duties at the fields today, she went home to go study for the next teacher exams. Its apparently what she does on her free time as of late when she’s not performing any of the duties here in the office. I offered to take over the station today; a rare opportunity for her apparently, even on a day like today. Its not necessarily quiet with all considered.”

“That…actually works out. You got some time to talk? And maybe look over my Pokémon? The last battle was real rough.”

“Yes, Ms. Nemona is a piece of work to what I am to understand.” He said. “Alright, let’s see what we got to work with and tell me what’s on your mind…” Tristen would proceed to release his various Pokémon and before Doc went to examine them, he proceeded to stash the items they brought into battle for safe keeping. As Doc went to study over his Pokémon, starting with Mienshao, Tristen would give his accounts of what went on over the past few days, to bring the doctor up to speed with what had been going on as far as he knew of, including his conversations with his adoptive parents on certain days. He’d tell about Matteo, the rumors, the problems that spanned there on, and how it culminated to him taking part of a tournament that he never really wanted any part of to begin with, though he had to admit it wasn’t without reward. With all said, however, what Tristen started to emphasize was the aftermath.

“…So, Doc…I don’t know…I feel like…I kind of made things worse for myself. I don’t think Matteo is going to want anything to do with me anymore. Probably feels like I stole his friends, too, with how everything worked out. And because of me taking on Nemona like I did, I think people are going to expect a lot out of me now. I even think I need to do a lot just for my own and Pokémon’s sake and…oh…I think I’ve become Blizz…” he said.

“Heaven help us if it came to that.” Doc said as he started to put a bit of a salve on one of Mienshao’s injuries. Mienshao winced from the burning sensation that came over it but said nothing really on it. “Fortunately, unlike Blizzard, where he’s got a bit more pressing concerns, your issue is just…trying to be social. Adjust to a school life instead of what you were in.” He said. “Think about it, you haven’t really had any opportunity to do anything until just a short bit ago and unlike everyone else, you were excited to come here and then suddenly…it…isn’t what you thought it was? Do you feel you had some sort of misconception?” he asked.

“Its…maybe? I don’t know.”

After putting a couple of patches on Mienshao, he opened a small bottle of water and handed it over towards the Martial Arts Pokémon. Mienshao grabbed the bottle with both hands and started to down the water bottle. “Tristen, your father is probably right. Your Dragonite is probably right. You’re not used to it. You effectively grew up in a lot more tense situations and now you can’t bring yourself to adjust even though that’s what you want to do. You don’t know how. You’re out of your element, as it were.” Doc said. “I don’t think you’ve given yourself enough time. What you have gone through this past week is…a typical day to any student here. Just try enjoying yourself. Take the good with the bad. No student’s life is just sunshine and rainbows from start to finish. There will be those that will be a thorn in your side, but all of it is just another day and you do have the better judgment as to how to handle things compared to most. Your peers might have escalated expectation of you, but they don’t dictate what you do. You are you, just as you want people to see. Remain steadfast; keep your head up and on your shoulders and you’ll be fine.”

Tristen nodded in silence trying to let it sink in. In essence it was just stuff that was repeated to him between those like his adoptive parents or even his Pokémon. He also started to see why his adoptive father was rather remorseful in not having Tristen to go through this sort of thing sooner. Tristen was trying to make up for lost ground.

Tristen’s Pokémon would soon be given back to him; all three of them got cleaned up and their injuries tended to for the time being. “Thank you, Doc.” Tristen said.

“Take care, Tristen.” Doc stated.

Tristen would then make his way off to get something eat and just as he planned on, he treated his Pokémon to meals at the Go-For-Broke Grill. Servings of Paella de Paldea and Escalivada for the bunch after a hard-fought battle. Dragonite and Mienshao savored every bite...Rampardos however…not so much. It was hard to make a dino Pokémon mind manners, incidentally. With them full, Tristen would recall his Pokémon then make his way back to the dorm to just relax for the most part. Probably take a nap, let the day just sink in before he tried to figure out how to finish off the rest of the day. Tristen would release Mienshao in the dorm to let him stretch out a bit; he’d be able to better do that unlike Dragonite and Rampardos. After spending some time with the fighting Pokémon, they decided to just take a nap. Unfortunately, Tristen found himself restless as soon as he took off his jacket again and laid down in bed in his dorm. He stared at the ceiling for the better part of an hour while Mienshao on the other hand long since gotten comfortable. Resigned that he wasn’t getting any sleep, Tristen was left trying to figure out what else to do. The battle with Nemona nagged at him a little, so much so he started to instead research various Paldean Pokémon on his SNAG in the bed. Quaquaval was apparently a final stage Pokémon, and not just any one, but its first stage, a Quaxly, was apparently handed out by the academy to new students and aspiring trainers. And given Nemona said that Quaquaval got her through the championships, it was a good chance that Quaxly was her very first Pokémon on the way to her Pokémon training career. Frightening, in fact. He’s known trainers that literally have dedicated their lives to Pokémon battling, his adoptive father notwithstanding, and he honestly doubted they’d be able to be that much of a match for her given what he’s seen just today.

Tristen would perk up when he heard the knock on the door. Almost instinctively, Tristen went for the door but then realized something as he took a look at his arms. He wasn’t in his school uniform like before. Tristen still wanted to keep some secrets, perhaps those mostly Snagem related, and it’d probably raise a few questions why he had a more defined physique compared to most his age. Never mind having to explain a rather dubious looking scar on his shoulder blade area where Zygarde managed to get him with one of a Thousand Arrows. Quicky, Tristen went back and grabbed his jacket, slid it on, and quickly zipped it up to cover himself up. He then snatched his SNAG and stashed it in one of his pockets, not wanting that piece of 'evidence' out in the open either. Now that he was situated, he then walked over towards the door and opened it up.

“Fela?” Tristen spoke up. “Uh, yea, sure. Come in.” Tristen said. Mienshao sat up in Tristen’s bed, disturbed from the sudden voices in the room. “Mienshao, we got company.” Tristen only got a yawn out of the martial arts Pokémon, still trying to get back to the land of consciousness.