The best trainers, as in the peak of the peak, could take an inexperienced Pokémon and turn them into an elite-level fighter within only a few months.

  Sam could not do that.

  However, he was still someone with almost a full season of experience behind him, and he had a massive pool of knowledge to draw from. Just because he couldn’t bring a Pokémon to an elite-level in a short time didn’t mean he was clueless about how to help Misdreavus. He was no longer the trainer who struggled to put together a training plan. He knew what exercises she would need to do as well as how to best describe new moves to help her learn them.

  He was a Pokémon trainer. A proper one.

  He couldn’t call himself weak. He knew for a fact that he’d be able to help.

  “So! Misdreavus.” Sam clapped his hands together, facing her that same morning at the edge of the stream. The flow of the water made it obvious in which direction he’d need to travel to find the river—or at least, Sam hoped it did. “I want to see what moves you know. Show me what you’ve picked up on your own.”

  Locking eyes with him, Misdreavus did her best to reply with a firm nod before going on to demonstrate her moves.

  She was cute.

  Overall, her selection was pretty basic for a wild Ghost Type, consisting of Growl and Confuse Ray for support, and then Psywave, Astonish, and Confusion for attacks.

  “Hm.”

  Sam rubbed his chin. Misdreavus looked on hopefully.

  All of her attacks are decent, but she doesn’t have anything that strong. At most, they’re functional, but she’s not exactly using them that fast or giving them the power they need to deal damage.

  “Let me guess,” Sam said, “for a lot of these, you spied on other Pokémon and then copied what they could do, right?”

  As he tapped his cheek in thought, Misdreavus gained a slight blush.

  Alright. So that’s how she knows these moves. She just needs to practice and expand her choices, then.

  “In a battle, you need options. You also need to make sure those options actually work,” Sam said, bringing his hands behind his back and beginning to pace. “By that, I don’t just mean moves you’ve used once or twice. I mean that to win battles, you need to use the moves that will actually hit. You need to use moves whose effects will actually apply.”

  He stopped walking, pushing his feet together as he looked over to where Misdreavus floated in the air. Curiously, she tilted herself to the side, but there was a tinge of disappointment to her.

  Sam realized she’d been hoping for compliments after her demonstration.

  “Okay, yeah, it’s pretty great that you’re already so familiar with the Psychic Type,” Sam said, causing Misdreavus to puff up in pride. “We can use that, and I noticed a few ways you get even better. Since we want you to improve...”

  He looked around.

  No one else was there.

  This was the first time he’d be training a Pokémon without any other Pokémon to help, so he decided to take a risk.

  Throwing his arms out to the sides, Sam made himself into the widest target he could be.

  “Hit me. Use Psywave.”

  Immediately, Misdreavus dropped her jaw, aghast.

  Scaring someone was one thing, but directly attacking them was another. In the wild, fights and moves were only really exchanged during moments of actual aggression or to claim territory. Using one on a companion wasn’t uncommon—but that was for Pokémon. Humans weren’t known for being able to take the same level of hits.

  “Trust me. I won’t get hurt, but I need you to see this with your own eyes.”

  Sam knew that Haunter would help him dodge in the worst case, but he also didn’t have any other targets that Misdreavus could attack.

  She was hesitant at first, shaking her head in an attempt to deny Sam’s request. However, Sam just kept up his expectant stare, and she eventually grimaced before finding her resolution, breathing in, and then closing her eyes to focus.

  Unlike most of the times Sam had seen his Pokémon attack, he couldn’t see Misdreavus’s move form right away. She was far more inexperienced than he’d thought. Still, soon enough, ripples formed in the air as her control of Psychic Type energy let her manipulate the space ahead of her.

  A few seconds longer, and she then snapped her eyes open. Her Psywave properly took form alongside a shout, creating a blue-pink wave that oscillated through the air to reach Sam.

  He dodged it by taking a single step to the right.

  “Okay. That was pretty good! Like I said, knowing more than just Normal and Ghost Type moves is great for a Pokémon at your level.”

  Misdreavus responded with a huff—the move came naturally to her. His compliment didn’t mean much right now.

  “Then let’s skip straight to the advice,” Sam said. “No compliment sandwich. I’ll keep it straight and to the point—is that okay with you?”

  She nodded. Sam once more took up the stance of a proper lecturer or a drill instructor.

  (He might have been enjoying this a bit too much. No matter what, he’d need to travel to find a way back to his team, but practicing with Misdreavus was nostalgic and helped keep unwanted thoughts out of his mind.)

  “First things first—never close your eyes,” Sam started. “Throughout that entire process, I could have walked away while you weren’t paying attention to me, and that would have completely thrown off your aim.”

  Briefly, shame passed over Misdreavus’s face, but that disappeared when she realized Sam wasn’t criticizing her, just giving her advice.

  “Secondly, you don’t need to pay that much attention to your form. Moves will be disrupted when they hit no matter what, so at the base level, they only need to be functional enough to be first used. But that just brings me to my third point—your moves don’t need to be perfect! Just usable. You’re only just starting.

  “That’s how I trained all of my Pokémon,” Sam said, continuing. “We learned the basics of their moves at first, and then we tried to make them better. Build a solid foundation before you perfect it. And if you have a solid foundation, then you can modify it later on, right?”

  Misdreavus listened with rapt attention, eagerly nodding her head along every word. Truthfully, Sam didn’t remember her exact moveset from when he caught her. He knew he had it written down in his journal, but his journal was—

  Don’t think about that, Sam. Just think about helping the Pokémon in front of you.

  “Alright. Try again,” he said, voice soft. “Keep in mind my advice and use Psywave one more time.”

  Once more, Sam held out his arms, and once more, Misdreavus looked hesitant.

  But Sam had already shown that he could dodge, and she was quicker to focus—this time, without closing her eyes.

  When she used Psywave here, those same ripples appeared, but only after several long seconds where nothing happened. Closing her eyes had helped her focus before. However, she was still able to form the move, just with a bit more effort.

  Space vibrated, and then her attack took form.

  Briefly, Sam’s eyes widened when he realized this less controlled version of her attack was rushing him faster than he’d be able to dodge.

  “Shoot!”

  Haunter saved him—hands left Sam’s shadow to grab his feet and slide him to the left. The Psywave continued past him with an uneven speed before hitting the bark of a tree, landing with a heavy thunk.

  “That would have hurt,” Sam whispered, staring at where Misdreavus’s move had just hit.

  Misdreavus, meanwhile, didn’t seem to care. She didn’t even notice that Sam had moved unnaturally; she was just worried that she had almost hurt him.

  Inherently, Psywave varied in its power due to the wave-like structure of the move. When she used it with less preparation, there was less control. They’d just been unlucky enough to see its power overflow and hit its maximum.

  “No, no! Don’t get worried! You’re already doing great! Did you see how quickly that formed once you got started? Already, it’s way better to use in a fight!”

  Misdreavus froze, hearing what Sam said and now truly realizing what she had done. Slowly, she turned to the bark of the tree to see the impact her move had made.

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  Already, that slight improvement had seen parts of the bark splinter.

  “Good job,” Sam said.

  She smiled at him.

  And then she fell.

  Jumping to reach her, Sam just barely managed to catch Misdreavus before she hit the ground due to exhaustion settling her. As impressive as her move was, it was uncontrolled and saw so much of her energy be drained in its untrained use.

  But it had been effective.

  At least, she was now safe in Sam’s arms. And Sam could carry her to let her rest as he finally began following the stream south.

  Together with Misdreavus, Sam walked alongside that stream. The water flowed and bubbled, and at several points, he had to move far off to the side to hide from the wild Pokémon that drank from it.

  Haunter always gave Sam a warning, but it was a bit nerve-wracking to see the strong wild Pokémon out here. If more of his team had been around, he wouldn’t have been as worried as he was, but as skilled as Haunter was, being outnumbered would always pose a risk.

  As Sam had seen previously, a herd of Stantler could use illusions to mislead both him and Haunter. Aipom were menaces in general and great at tricks that could nab what little food Sam had. Additionally, any Bug Types could swarm—and Sam still had nightmares about his challenge in Azalea’s Gym.

  Misdreavus could technically help Sam face anything that attacked, but she was too busy going through cycles of practicing and then slowly following along in rest at Sam’s side.

  But regardless of any threats in the environment, Sam managed to follow the flow of water safely and without any attacks. Misdreavus practiced freely, and Sam did everything he could to help her train her moves.

  Days passed.

  Misdreavus showed a surprising amount of improvement as Sam continued to make his way south.

  Her Psywave quickly became her best attack, turning into a pulse of energy that moved strangely enough to disrupt any foe. Her control over Psywave also bled into her Confusion, which she practiced by telekinetically carrying small stones at her side. As for Growl, that was just a matter of projecting her voice, and her Confuse Ray was a move she used to inflict illusions on Sam whenever he stopped to take a break.

  But the biggest thing he wanted her to learn was more Ghost Type attacks. Thankfully, she was already familiar with the energy due to her Type and her experience with Astonish. With that, Sam was able to guide her through the process of building and releasing her energy in an area around her.

  That meant she knew Night Shade, as weak as it was. It was a simple move, only requiring raw control, but it was also a great way to track just how much she grew.

  Over the few days Sam spent training with her, Misdreavus started with only being able to conjure a faint haze, but she was able to develop that into a shroud that made her appear as nothing more than a silhouette. It wasn’t quite the sphere of darkness Sam was used to, but she was getting there.

  And then there were her next steps.

  “For Shadow Ball,” Sam would explain to her, “you basically want to take that same energy and condense it into a singular attack. Instead of having it suffuse the space around you, you bring it into a ball. The best way I’ve seen Pokémon describe it is that the start doesn’t feel too dissimilar to something like Astonish.”

  She would try and fail, but every attempt at least helped her develop her control. Sam also said nothing when she closed her eyes—doing so would be a mistake in battle, but it helped her focus right now. The importance was getting the basics down first and then improving it from there.

  Though she didn’t pick up Shadow Ball, Sam did notice flickers. Nothing proper ever formed, but the way her Ghost Type energy moved reminded him of wisps.

  Wisps that would be key to the attacks she’d eventually pick up in the future.

  Other than that, the only other move he had her pick up was Mean Look, because of course he did. Why would Sam ever pass up the chance to further his core strategy? When Ghost Type energy was involved, it didn’t take much more than a glare to lock a target in place, especially since Misdreavus already knew how to inflict mental effects with Confuse Ray. It was by no means battle ready, but she could certainly use the move.

  Sam even had her test it out on a few wild Pokémon that got too close. They would freeze and allow Sam to run away, and then Misdreavus would rush off to catch up right after.

  Frequently, she’d giggle the whole way.

  “You know,” Sam said one night as they rested under the stars. “You’re growing strong, Misdreavus, and I can’t even say it’s due to myself. You’re just... a hard worker. You’re determined. Without your enthusiasm, you would have never gotten anywhere as far as you are now.”

  Misdreavus would laugh a lot. There was a happiness to her that Sam hadn’t seen before. At times, she would randomly fling herself in the air just to feel the wind rushing past her, and then Sam would scramble to catch her in his arms.

  He didn’t have a Pokéball. He didn’t have a way to help her rest. Yet, she would let herself become physical enough for him to carry her.

  That was how she’d rest to recover over the course of the day.

  “You’re also...” Sam wasn’t sure how to phrase this. His voice drifted off. The thought hurt to think, but it would be worse to not say. “You’re also so much like one of my Pokémon. Incredibly so. It’s just... I don’t know. She put all this hard work into becoming a powerful special attacker, yet she...”

  She never told me.

  “She was more lonely than I realized.”

  After letting out a soft noise, Misdreavus pressed herself against Sam’s side. He found himself leaning against her.

  And he wasn’t sure why she was so attached to him even though just a few days had passed.

  Had she really been that alone?

  It made the moment she re-encountered him in the forest feel that much worse, and a certain phrase echoed through his mind:

  Ghosts attracted Ghosts.

  “...Thank you.” Sam ended up saying. “I’m sorry. I should have come sooner.”

  She made a noise as if to say it was fine because he didn’t know, but that wasn’t true. It was Misdreavus who didn’t realize the truth.

  But their travels continued, and their training sessions progressed. The stream slowly grew, never quite becoming a river but definitely becoming a brook.

  Without supplies, Sam did his best to take care of himself in that time, using whatever he could to keep himself fit. Having a source of clean, fresh water helped a lot, and Haunter also assisted by slipping off and returning with berries.

  Eating them made the bread last longer.

  Sam never asked what Haunter had to do to get them.

  Without a proper source of food, Sam did find himself growing tired. He knew this trip wasn’t something he could keep up forever. He needed to find civilization sooner rather than later, not just to find a way to reunite with his team but also to have the chance to eat a good meal.

  And then it happened. The further south they got, the shorter the trees became. When Sam passed by one to exit into an open meadow, he froze out of recognition.

  “I know this place.”

  Before him, grasses and flowers spread out in a meadow, and a mass of Pokémon danced under the sun. It was almost the same as it would be years in the future. He could see so many Bellossom and Oddish living in this place.

  “We... I passed by this place with my team,” Sam said to Misdreavus, but also to Haunter. “There should be a road just up ahead. That means if I’m remembering correctly, there’s a stream—”

  He stopped what he was doing to desperately look around, and then he took off in a dash.

  Misdreavus shouted out as Sam chased toward where his memories took him.

  Yes! I was right! It changed over time, but that’s definitely where those Marill were playing. That means the road is just up ahead, and if the road really is right there...

  “The campsite.”

  My team might be here.

  What if he and Haunter hadn’t been the only ones to fall in?

  A flicker of hope entered his chest.

  Sam charged through the woods, running toward where he had been at rest with his team. He had no clue how time had been passing for both him and them—was there a difference? Was a day here a day then? Or was no time passing at all, and he’d only return once all of this was over?

  But it wouldn’t matter if at least one of them were here. If a single other Pokémon had somehow been sent through time, then it wouldn’t just be him and Haunter trying to get back.

  He followed the trail. He followed the memories of his footsteps. There was no sign that he had walked this path, but that made sense.

  He hadn’t technically been here yet.

  The forest exploded before him, opening up into that tiny grove he and his team had once taken a break. The same sparse few beams of light peeked through, and Sam searched for any sign of his friends.

  Except—

  “No,” Sam breathed. “There’s nothing.”

  It was empty.

  The only thing he recognized was that root he had used as a bench, but it was significantly smaller than it was before.

  It hadn’t grown yet.

  “I hoped... I just thought...”

  It was barely big enough to serve as a seat, but Sam sat on it anyway.

  He dropped his head into his hands. He felt a pressure on his knee.

  The presence of Haunter’s hand helped. It was a reminder that he wasn’t alone.

  From behind them, Misdreavus finally caught up, chasing after him into the empty clearing and moving over to Sam. She made a worried noise.

  Sam sighed, brought his head back up, and forced a smile onto his face.

  “I’m fine. Sorry. I didn’t mean to run. I just got separated from my team here, and I thought... I don’t know. I thought they’d be here. Even if it didn’t make sense.”

  But they weren’t. We’re alone.

  Misdreavus said her name to try to say that she was here, and there was something about that that made Sam feel even worse.

  “B-but it’s fine,” he said, wiping his eyes. “I know where we are now. We’ll follow that path to head back to the river. Arborville can’t be that far south.”

  Arborville was an old town. He had no doubts it’d be around, even whenever it currently was in the past. If he could just speak to someone knowledgeable about local myths, he could learn more. They’d either have advice, or they’d have information on whatever that cursed “Voice of the Forest” was.

  When I find that Voice...

  A dark look overtook his face.

  “Come on,” Sam said, taking a deep breath to stabilize himself. “Getting stuck here isn’t going to help. It’s fine to have a few negative thoughts, but they’re not worth getting trapped in.”

  Misdreavus nodded slowly. She looked as though she didn’t quite believe him.

  Sam ignored her worried stare as well as the one Haunter sent him from the shadows.

  Standing up from that same root, Sam was prepared to leave. Unfortunately, neither his pack nor the New Pokédex was where he’d left them—or would leave them, in an unknown amount of time.

  He’d truly need to carry on as he was, with just Misdreavus and Haunter at his side.

  But as he readied himself to head out, he heard something else in the distance:

  Not the cry of the Voice of the Forest, but the cry of two voices from people getting close.

  “Are you sure we couldn’t stay in the meadow?”

  “I’m sure! We’ve already delayed this long enough!”

  “But I wanted a sketch of a Bellossom!”

  “It’s fine! You have plenty of sketches of Bellossom! I want to get deeper in—and look! I was right, there’s a clearing ahead!”

  Sam went still as a set of nearby bushes shook, and two young boys almost immediately popped out right after. Having shoved their way through the foliage, they fell to the earth when the resistance suddenly disappeared. One clutched a leather-bound journal close to his chest, and the other hit the floor only to laugh and roll onto his back.

  “See? Told ya, Sammy. A clearing! This’ll be a better place to rest before moving on!”

  “I guess so. But we could have rested near the Bellossom.”

  “Psh. We’re going to see so many more rare Pokémon if we head deeper in. Plus, you could just sketch...”

  The boy’s voice trailed off when he saw Sam standing in front of him.

  Immediately, the boy scrambled to his feet and sent Sam a hostile glare. His gaze was almost murderous, and Sam had no clue what he’d done to deserve that.

  The other one—Sammy, weirdly enough—continued to clutch his journal while pushing back to his feet, pausing momentarily to brush dirt off of his baggy pants. He froze as well when he saw Sam there, but instead of any hostile gaze, he kept a kind smile on his face and greeted him politely.

  “Oh, hello! Sorry, we didn’t know someone else was already here. Do you mind if we stay for a bit? You can call me Sammy, and this is—” He froze when he saw the Pokémon behind Sam. “You have a Misdreavus!”

  “...Yes?” Sam said.

  Immediately, the similarly-named Sammy pulled a pencil out of the front pocket of his shirt and began drawing in his journal. Shy, Misdreavus moved to hide behind Sam, but the situation failed to progress from there when the other boy held out an arm to get Sammy to stop.

  “Wait. Look how ragged he is. We don’t know if he’s a threat.”

  “A... A threat? You’re kidding, right? He’s not ragged, he’s just— Hold on, do you need help?”

  The look he sent Sam was one of worry, carrying a promise of help.

  Meanwhile, the look from the other boy was one of hate, seemingly carrying a promise of pain.

  “I...”

  Sam’s throat felt sore.

  Honestly, the world seemed as though it was spinning.

  He couldn’t find the courage to talk.

  Why?

  Because Sam recognized them. He had seen the faces of these two boys before.

  “You... You two... You are...”

  Memories flashed through his head of a certain photograph he’d once glimpsed in his attic. He hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but it felt so, so important right now. They might have been older in it, but the resemblance was clear enough.

  When Sam failed to speak, the unnamed boy stormed forward. Ignoring Misdreavus’s yelp of surprise, he grabbed Sam’s arm to drag him to the side.

  His whisper came out more like a hiss.

  “Who are you supposed to be? You aren’t supposed to be here.”

  “I’m—”

  “Doesn’t matter. Leave. I set up too much to fail now. Please. I need to make this work.”

  Sam gaped at just how hostile the boy’s voice was, but he still didn’t say anything. However, this time around, it was simply because someone else butted in.

  “Hey, don’t speak to him like that!” Sammy shouted as he charged forward. “What’s with you? I’ve never seen you act like this—you didn’t even introduce yourself!”

  A blink.

  Finally, the other boy backed off.

  Sighing, his hostile gaze dropped, and he brought a hand through his hair in a show of his utmost confidence.

  “Fine. Whatever. I guess I might have been overreacting, but so what?

  “As for my name...” He grinned. “Call me Dick. Or Richard. Or just Rich. I’m Richard Greyson! Yeah, I can tell you recognize it—it’s purposeful! And I expect you to remember that!”

  Sam’s Team:

  Approximate Team Strength: 5 Stars

  Haunter (Ghost / Poison Type, Male, Naive Nature +Spe/-SpD)

  Abilities: Levitate

  Moves: Hypnosis, Lick, Confuse Ray, Spite, Mean Look, Hex, Shadow Punch, Night Shade, Acid Spray, Ominous Wind, Shadow Ball, Dream Eater, Nightmare, Curse

  (Ghost Type, Female, Hasty Nature +Spe/-Def)

  Pokéball: Friend Ball

  Abilities: Levitate

  Moves: Growl, Psywave, Astonish, Confusion, Confuse Ray, Mean Look, Night Shade

  Pokémon included in this chapter:

  /

  huge thank you to everyone reading! Your support keeps this story going.