Nuzlocke: Hearts of Gold and Souls of Silver

“A shot in the dark? Is it all that you are asking for? You are already walking a way where you may not be able to save yourself or everyone for that matter, and even if you are blind, you just want to keep going because you believe in the people you are with? What a foolish way to easily destroy yourself.”

I woke up. I was laying in my bed, morning had come and Blackburn and Violet were still sleeping. I was still clouded with the things I discovered last night.

I can't believe how the fuck Blackburn just gave Pulse up. I know they were in a tough situation and were not in condition to put up a fight, and if they did, probably the odds were of them being eliminated. I was just mad, mad enough I could just leave them behind but...

But I can't just leave my friends behind, they need me and I need them back. Not for just keep me from getting controlled by some evil force inside me, but for being the ponies I really care for. I'm just... really confused...

I don't know if I just forget I ever saw that moment and forgive Blackburn, my childhood friend and only one for some time, or if I just get mad at him because of what he did I thought was wrong. I am really mad at him, I wanted to strangle him for what he had done to Pulse... but I kept it for myself. I was still unsure if I wanted to go with this, because if I blamed him like that, I could end up alone, and that would bring me problems, specially when Freddie has now an army of other players.

I turned around, stuff half of my face in the pillow. There was just too much to do, too much responsibility, even if this is just a game. I had now to bring Freddie down, and get myself to stop the control he has over me with fear. And then what? I would leave this place to be another musician in the middle of thousands. I had left my father alone to come to this. The old man barely keeps himself from hanging himself because he misses his wife, and so do I. Things are just too hard right now, and yet I seem to be happy from the inside, since everything is going back to normal, but the reality is that I'm a cold, lonely stallion from the inside.

I closed my eyes, feeling a tear score down my face. Thinking about my family did bring some very painful memories, since I know that the good ones won't ever come back. I just decided to stay there until everyone decided to get up, then I'd decide what to do.

“Huh?” I heard Blackburn on the bed from the other side of the room. “Atlas? Is everything alright?” He asked me worried. I decided to stay quiet, so he thought I was still sleeping.

He probably just heard a sound I made while laying in here, probably a move or something I made.

“Atlas, answer me. I know you are awake.” He continued. “You have been humming for about 5 minutes now. What is the matter?”

I just realized he was right. I have been humming because of my sadness all this time without realizing. I just now stopped. “Everything is okay Black...” I told him back. “Or at least should be...” I whispered the last part to myself.

We entered the big stadium once again. This time I was going to challenge the third gym leader. After this one, I just had five left and the elite four to worry about.

On the other side of the arena, there was a white unicorn mare with a short pink mane, but this one was different from the other gym leaders... This one is a teenager?

Well, considering the fact that I haven't reached adulthood as well, that makes possible that she would be capable of being a trainer good enough to earn the position of gym leader, but that made it strange, who would let a teenager command a whole gym?

“Look who we have here!” The mare spoke in surprise. “Atlas and his gang, isn't it?” She seemed to know us already.

“Whitney, right?” I asked back. “It appears that both of us acknowledge of each other.”

“And both of us have well known reputations...” She added. “I presume you all came here to challenge me.”

I nodded in response. “Yes, that is right, but may I ask how you know of us before it.”

She let out a small giggle. “Who doesn't? I mean, after all the news reported what happened at the underground level of the city, and your adventures around, it would take some stupidity to not discover about you. You are almost as known as Freddie.” She told us back. I presume Freddie's "army" got well known too after all. Just when I was missing battling with a team of villains, another comes around, just to fuck with me. “... And I guess you already know that I have big chances of ruining all of this for you.” She finished, teasing us for a battle.

“I guess that after all the training I have done, this won't be a problem.” I told her back as I grabbed my four pokeball out of my saddle bags.

“Yeah, and that is why we are going to do something different this time.” She replied. I stored my pokeballs back. “I want a one-on-one battle. My Miltank against a pokemon of you choice.”

“Wait... so that means if we lose, we all get eliminated?” I asked back. At this point, Violet and Blackburn sat back at the seats by the arena.

“No, of course not. Just you, you silly!” She told me back, a cold came to my body. “You win, I'll give the badge to the three of you, if you lose, your friends may challenge me again, but you get eliminated. I just wanted to see how much of a trainer you really are.”

“...” I kept in silence, thinking of the solution for this. I could lose everything now, or just make this faster. I looked over to Blackburn and Violet, who looked a little shocked about this.

“Atlas, you don't need to do this if you don't want.” Violet told me back.

“It's up to you buddy.” Blackburn gave his opinion.

I closed my eyes for a second to think of this. Well, considering I'm slowly dying here because of this open wound of mine, elimination wouldn't be the worst of my problems. “It's on.” I told Whitney back. She then levitaded one of the two pokeballs she had on her belt and let out her famous Miltank. I have done this before, and that Miltank gave me nightmares. I think the worst attack of that pokemon is attracting her foes. That sure is a way of ruining a battle, but if I made this go faster, It wouldn't take more than a turn.

I picked Venom's pokeball and let him out. standing on the field, now there was a cow-like pokemon stand on it's two rear legs and a big purple wingless dragon.

“Venom, underground!” I screamed my command to my pokemon, as soon as the battle started. Venom took it and dug a hole in the ground and immediately dropping inside it.

Whitney's Miltank stood on hold, as she didn't gave her any commands. Me and Venom trained enough this move, I'd say we shared a special bond, and he would know exactly when I wanted him to finish his move.

Still on hold, Whitney's Miltank seemed confident. I decided to go for it. Exactly at that moment, a crack on the ground below the Miltank appeared, creating a small hill about to break.

“Miltank, Now!” Whitney finally let out he pokemon attack. The Miltank used one the two hooves she stood on and stomped directly at the crack, seconds later that it appeared. I let out a small grin. She fell directly at my trap.

Venom took the moment, the bait worked. Venom jumped out of the earth right behind the Miltank right after it started stomping the ground. “Venom! Double-Kick!” I screamed. The dinosaur gave spin in mid air, hitting the cow with both of it's big foot, sending the Miltank flying at the one of the arena's walls.

The Miltank took the collision very hard, laying in the ground with out no movement. I was about to walk up to Venom and tell him what a good job he had done, but then I was interrupted.

“Miltank, use Attract!” Whitney screamed of her side of the arena. The Miltank got up back on it's hooves and stared directly at Venom. Shit, I should have thought this wasn't going to be this easy!

Venom immediately felt in love with the Miltank, unable to move and refusing to listen to any of my commands. Then the Miltank picked up a boulder from the ground and placed it on the ground, and then gave it a kick like if it was a ball. It rolled directly at Venom, giving it a hit. Venom stumbled down but got back up on his feet.

I tried giving him another command, but it also didn't work. The Miltank repeated the move, but this time, with a bigger boulder. After it hit Venom, I checked my gadget. Venom's health dropped to the half, and the power of that attack seemed to increase every time she uses it. I had one last chance.

I started thinking. What would make Venom snap out of that? He was in love with the Miltank, so the only way was to give him something he loved even more... I got it!

“Venom, I'll give you one of those slowpoke tails if you finish this!” I screamed to him, as a last resort. I remember that when he heard us talking about those tails after we were done with it, he asked me if he could ever try one. I refused, but this was my only chance. “Now finish this with a Poison Jab!”

Venom snapped out of his fantasy and listened to me. He got in a stance of powering up a punch and waited. The Miltank noticed it and sent another boulder of it's Rollout our way. The boulder was the biggest one yet, and started growing even more, as I suspected it collected more rocks from the ground on it's way. Venom stood charging his arm with a purple energy.

Venom waited long enough. When the boulder got really near, he charged right through it, breaking it in thousands of pieces. The Miltank's eyes widened as she saw the gigantic creature charging directly at her. Venom extended his arm and punched the cow right up it's face, send it flying again against the wall. The creature crashed  once again on the wall, as hard as before.

The foe's Miltank fainted. - My gadget popped a notification. It was over.

Walking up to Whitney, she had already called her famous Miltank, the destroyer of worlds, back to it's pokeball. She had a smile on her face, holding the three badges on the air with her magic. “Nice job, I must admit I wasn't expecting for such tactic against Attract.” She told me back, giving me the three badges.

“You know, that is a really cheap move against opponents of the opposite sex.” I commented. “But it was a nice battle by the way.” Now with the third gym battle, I had been able to defeat three out of eight. Next gym on the list was the Ghost-type gym over Ecruteak City, which wasn't that away from here.

“Just leave me be, I have a title to stand up for.” She replied to me, and then followed by a small laugh.

A title. Oh yeah, the three of us, me, Blackburn and Violet, were now known. I presume that this meant to Freddie a threat, which was good. We were one step closer to the final showdown. I still had a lot to train before it.

Walking back to my friend Venom, I jumped up on his spiky back, getting him by surprise. He turned back to see my face, and smiled as he saw me.

“Nice job Venom. I really appreciate the fact that you like slowpoke tails more than a girlfriend.” I told him, with a tone o joke.

“Love is something I can't go without, but you know me Atlas.” He replied back, with a grin in his face. “And, by the way, you're hugging me where it hurts.”

“Oh, sorry!” I told him after dropping back to the ground. “Come on, I will take you to the poke center, and then I'm going to search for some tails for you, I heard they sell it around here.”

“Okay, see you later” He told me as I called him back to his pokeball. Storing it on my saddlebags, I walked up to my friends, who were sitting and watching the show.

“So, what you guys thought?” I asked them.

“It's was a nice battle” Violet simply replied.

“Uh...” Blackburn stood with his mouth open, he then shook it and looked at me. “I don't remember you being able to do that in the portable game!”

Everything was back at it's place, I now had Pulse back, and I had already given Venom his treat. The three of us were doing some last-minute shopping, as we weren't getting back here in some time, and this city had the biggest market in all the region.

While Blackburn and Violet did the shopping, as they were our official money managers and shoppers, I wondered my own business, like what I was going to do again. I wasn't sure about how to react. I could lose a very close friend, but I felt betrayed from the inside. I was running low, since we had been shopping for some time now, and I think they are getting over it.

I started analyzing the situation. Blackburn, a very close friend of mine, and my only and best friend since our childhood, gave my starter, and favorite, pokemon Pulse to save his own skin. The situation: It was either him and Violet + Pulse to battle about nine other ponies, probably with a full team each. His reaction was... acceptable, they could get destroyed if they did not, but still, I felt betrayed. Aftermath: Getting me angry, and making me almost sacrifice all of us to save Pulse. He did help after all, and Violet and him were able to defeat the ponies in there. I presume their pokemon where injured that night, after going trainer by trainer and battling each and every one of them.

Final word: I'm-

“Hey, Atlas, let's move.” Blackburn called me. “We finished, let's get back to the hotel and organize this stuff, then we will leave.”

My thoughts were interrupted by him. I was about to say that he still deserved a punishment after all, but, I remembered, Blackburn wasn't only thinking of his safety back there. He was also thinking about Violet's, and he did apologize to Pulse for doing it. I decided something. I'm going to have a talk with him, and depending, I may make my decision later.

Walking back to the hotel, right behind Blackburn and Violet, I tried to analyse the situation from another perspective other than Pulse's, I could be misjudging him. In that situation, what he wanted to protect was the whole group, or maybe just Violet since he dreamed about her. I'm not sure of which to be exact, but seeing his regret, I bet he wasn't apologizing to Pulse, he was apologizing to me, he knew I would react badly as soon as I got the news. Deep inside, even if he loved Violet more than our friendship at this point, he wasn't giving up one thing for the other. Blackburn is a good friend, and I need to consider him as my family. With my mom dead and my father ill, I'll be alone sooner than I think. Still, I needed to talk with him.

“Blackburn?” I called for his attention as soon as we finally got back into the hotel room, with only the three of us. “Why did you give Pulse to Poison Strike?”

“Uh...?” He asked me back in confusion. “Oh! That...”

“Please tell me the truth.” I pleaded him.

“Alright... On that moment, we were surrounded, our pokemon were injured and there was no way we could have gotten away without at least one of us gone.” He started explaining. “When he asked for Pulse, I looked up to him, and then to me and Violet. I'm sorry for what I have done, and I hope you forgive me for giving your pokemon in order to protect the rest of the group.”

I looked in his eyes. He was a little down for remembering the moment. I could see he was telling the truth. “Blackburn...” I started, unsure of what I was going to say. I let out a sigh. “Look. Even if you made that for the safety of the rest, we can't just leave others behind. What were you expecting to do after that?”

“I will tell you the truth. I didn't know, I was hoping you would show up and we would decide something out, but when you came around, we just rushed inside that place. Helping you was the least I could do.”

“And why did I had to ask Luna to show me Pulse's memories? Why didn't you tell me right away?” I started pushing him over and getting a little loud.

He let out a sigh too. “I'm sorry for what I've done, and I don't expect you to accept my apologies.”

“Blackburn.” I went up to him, he had his head down in regret. He actually cared about our friendship. “You are my best friend, I won't ever get that mad with you.” I told him as I got his head up with my magic. “Come on, we got stuff to do.”

“Atlas.” I heard a voice coming from behind me. I was standing on a empty room with no doors or anything on it, and either I remember how I got here in the first place. I turned around to face... myself, once again, with it's snake-like red eyes, facing directly at my blue normal eyes. I had a feeling some shit was about to happen.

“Uh...” I backed off a little, while facing him. “You're not going to kill me, are you?”

He sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you I'm not evil?” He asked me, disappointed at my ignorance. “It's time we have a talk.”

“And what do you want to talk about ...” I started, but stopped as I realized I didn't really remember his name or what to actually call him.

“Atlas. You can call me Atlas as well, but if you think it is rather confusing for you, just call me Janus.”

“Alright, Janus, what is it?” I asked him.

“About your ignorance.”

“Wait, if you are me, doesn't that make both of us ignorant?” I asked him before he continued.

He facehoofed. “You fool, that is why I'm here. We both need to change.” He told me. “First, your opinion towards me. You think I'm a monster, don't you?”

“To be true with you... I kinda do” I told him, with a nervous smile on my face. “You are just a little radical sometimes.”

“Well, somepony here needs to be, otherwise how are we going to get things done?” He started getting a little loud towards me. “I ain't no angel, but I ain't no monster either. I'm with you and I'm here to help you when you are too weak to help yourself.”

“So, yeah, what you want me to do? It doesn't seem like you are trying to change your image towards me!” I replied. We were starting a discussion.

“You know why I tease you? You know why I go "killer" or "demon" on you?” He asked me, showing his predator like teeth to me. “It's because it's fear that keeps you going. But we are not discussing this right now. I only got a moment before that princess of the night comes burst through this walls.” He continued. “And in case you are wondering, yes. Yes, you are dreaming.”

I stood in silence. "Janus" seemed like a monster, he acted like a monster. But he had reasons. I felt like I needed to know more about this darker self of mine.

“I need to talk with you about this "fame" of yours.” He went back to being more civilized. “You want to bring Freddie down, don't you?”

“Yes, I actually do.”

“Well, you will need help.” He continued. “Not only mine, but from other ponies. You are actually known because of your actions, or in this case, mine too. We are currently feared from others for being radicals.”

“Are we?” I asked back, unsure if it was really true.

“Yes, the only reason Whitney did not fear us it's because she considered you a... challenge.” He used Whitney's battle with me as an example to support his argument. “There is many like her that would consider you a challenge, but there is other's that would do everything to stay away from. Freddie's army grows everyday. What are you planning, bringing it all down by yourself with the help of your two other friends?”

I stood in silence, I actually didn't had a plan. All I had in mind was walking up to him and winning a battle, then it would be over.

“I can read your thoughts. Freddie got a whole group. His personal best friend, Poison Strike as we know, would be next to take command if we brought Freddie down like that. We need to slowly bring down his command.”

“And what do you suppose we do?” I asked him what "we" had in mind.

“We can turn this is into a group war.” He told me. my eyes widened in surprise. “Maybe if we get a few dozens of well experienced players, we can bring his army down. We know that Freddie is acting like this world's evil corporation by giving his "minions" not very good pokemon, but capable enough to cause damage to others. He is trying to turn others into less effective ponies so he can bring them down himself. Just a selected few of him have good teams.”

“Wait... How do you know all of this?” I asked Janus, full of curiosity.

“Well, It's just a guess, at least it seems like the most logic thing to do.” He told me. “Specially when you are the competing to be the best, having your own army is good, but letting them be as powerful as you makes it possible that they can beat you to win. I think that Freddie's biggest challenger is either you or Poison Strike.”

“It's good to have you back Pulse.” I talked with my friend while we battled a trainer up on Route 35. “How was your Pokemon Day Care adventure?” I asked him, even If I knew what he was up to.

“I... It was interesting, I would say.” He told me back, a little shy to tell me what happened. I giggled because I knew he had got himself a new "friend". “But nothing unusual.”

“Venom, use Dig!” I gave Venom a command. “It's good to see that at least you had time to recover from those wounds. I don't know if we could keep going without you.”

“How so?” He asked me back. “I mean, if I went down, eventually you would keep going, just like when...” He paused for a moment, remembering of painful moments. “... the others fell.”

“I have a couple of reasons.” I told him back. “To start things up, you are my starter, you have been with me longer than anyone else, it's hard to not get attached to a pokemon that had been all the way with you.” I started telling him my reasons, and as I was done with the first one, I decided to finish my current battle. “Now Venom!”

The foe's Pikachu fainted.

Venom emerged out of the ground, knocking out our foe's Pikachu, and so ending our battle.

“Second, I don't want to seem like I'm just using you, but I need your help on this next gym. It's a Ghost-type one.” I told him another reason, but that was for our current situation. “But the important part is that because I love you. You're my best friend, along with Blackburn and Violet. It would be pretty bad to me if I lost you, so that is why I'm being as careful as I can, but sometimes I may not have an advantage, so we may have to take risks.”

“Risks? What kind of risks?” Pulse asked me.

“Well... I didn't want to admit it, but there are some well experienced players here.” I told him. “One that have some kind of cheap tactic of boosting their stat and switching it with another pokemon, and so having a powerful pokemon with extra stats, making it hard to bring down. Others just have very good teams and will take entire teams to bring down, just like ours.”

“So you mean we will eventually go against them?” He asked. I nodded. There was fear behind both of us, but we knew that if we stick together, we would be okay.

We continued walking, ahead of us there was Blackburn and Violet, clearing the other trainers on our way. It took us some time, but we managed to clear our path until one of the next stop.

“Alright, according to my map, we should now go to the National Park and then leave to Route 36, that should take less than ten minutes, and considering the time we have, I estimate that we will be getting to Ecruteak City after Route 37 by the afternoon, leaving up with enough time to fight the gym and-” I stopped looking at my gadget and looked back at them, both in silence. “Is anything wrong?”

“Actually... Atlas, the Pokéathlon Dome is right there, so...” Blackburn started.

“We were thinking of spending the afternoon watching the games. What do you think?” Violet let finished. “If We are in a hurry, we could follow your plan.”

“Can't we stop wasting time over useless things here?” I facehoofed as I told them in disappointment.

“Aw, come on Atlas, it's fun!” Blackburn tried to convince me. “Remember when we played the games against each other?”

“Ugh... Fine, we can stay for today.” As I gave them permition, the two started walking happily to the inside of the station, going in the direction of the Dome. I looked over to Pulse. “I actually want to go there and take part of the games, I just had to make them seem like they waste too much time on worthless things okay!?”

Pulse let out a small giggle, seeing how I tricked them into believing I didn't agree with their idea.

“Oh yeah? Wait until we get to Pewter City. These two are going to spend a whole afternoon at the museum there.”

“Mares and Gentlecolts, today we have four new participants for today's Speed Pokéathlon Challenge!” The announcer did his job, announcing the start of the challenge. I turned back to check on my team, and stopped checking on the announcer, as he announced the challengers. At least here, if I lost, I wouldn't get eliminated. I was along with Pulse, Scout and Phoenix.

One of the main reasons I wanted to take part on these tests were because I wanted to buy Phoenix a Fire Stone and turn her into an Arcanine. Having a fully evolved team at this point would give me a big advantage.

“... And last, but not least, Atlas Bluetone, alongside his companions Pulse, the Umbreon, Scout, the Pidgeotto and Phoenix, the Growlithe!” The announcer grabbed my attention by calling out for me.

I turned back to the ponies cheering and located both Blackburn and Violet along side a few other hundred of ponies. They were going to watch me while I failed miserably at these challenges.

The first one of the challenges would be Hurdle Dash, followed by Pennant Capture and ending with Relay Run.

Me, along with the other three competitors were taken to a big race line, with a bunch of jumping obstacles on the straight line. I had to tell my pokemon to jump at these obstacles, and so making us gain speed and get on the first places. The winners would be determined by their respectively positions when the time ran out.

with two of my pokemon being four legged and the other one being a bird, I should have the advantage of speed, just had to time the jumps right.

I heard a shot behind me, giving the signal for the race to start. Every one of the twelve pokemon started running in their straight lines. I was taking a look out for the obstacles on the lines of my three pokemon.

The race was going. I was telling my pokemon to jump the obstacles, we weren't missing any of them, but we were still behind others. I took a fast look at another competitors pokemon, and he used to make them jump at the last second, and so giving their pokemon what looked like a speed boost. That was it! I needed that boost, even if it was risky enough to make us fail to jump a few of those obstacles.

At this point, Scout was at third place, while Pulse was at fifth and Phoenix at sixth. I started putting my plan at work, we still had a few minutes of race left, so I guess it would be the only way of us getting ahead. I told Scout to jump his obstacle a little late than usual, which made a strange blue air flow appear around him, making him move, or in this case fly, faster. Doing the same with Pulse and Phoenix, we started gaining some speed, and no sooner, Scout was already at first place, with Pulse at third and Phoenix at fourth.

My pokemon were now too fast, and I couldn't pay attention to all of them at the same time. We had great positions, so if we stood this way, we would win this challenge, and maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't fail this miserably. I told Scout to jump over his obstacle, and then I took a look at phoenix, that was almost under the obstacle, I told her to jump at the last moment, wishing for her to make it. She jumped over it, almost hitting the obstacle, but something else happened, the blue air flow around her turned yellow, making Phoenix even fast then before. There was a few seconds left, and I somehow managed to do the same with Pulse, taking him to third position, and Phoenix to second, we now held all the three first positions.

Time is up. The race had now ended and the announcer happily announced our victory for the first challenge. Looking to see who was cheering for me, there was a small portion of the crowd, but with Blackburn and Violet surely cheering as I saw them jumping in excitement over there.

Next, me and the other competitors went to a built beach on the dome. We were going to play Pennant Capture. This challenge was simple. With one pokemon at a time, we would have to run in a certain area picking up flags that are dropped in the beach. One pokemon can carry up to 9 flags at a time and when he comes back, each flag becomes a point and next pokemon I have would go out and make another run for it.

I would be starting with Pulse, then Phoenix and then Scout. This order would repeat it self for the time we would be picking up the flags.

There wasn't really a way for me to help my pokemon in this one. They would have to locate and pick up the flags as they appeared by themselves. I'd just be watching.

Pulse got up in the starting line, that lead into a small square where the flags would appear, and stood by the side of the three pokemons from the other competitors. The gun was shot once again and the time started going down. Pulse jumped ahead everyone and started going around the fence, running ahead to pick up any flags he encountered.

The other pokemon where just rushing for the flags on the middle, while Pulse picked the ones around. He went all the way around, picking up 5 flags at total. In the place of going across the line, he turned and ran back, picking the other flags that spawned in the meanwhile. Coming back with 9 flags, he crossed the line, getting us from fourth to first place.

It was Phoenix's turn to go. Crossing the line while jumping, she turned into a flame ball in mid air and started running like a wheel from the moment she got on the ground. Faster than any other pokemon from the competitors, she started collecting flags just like Pulse did, but eventually going in the middle to steal a few flags from others. She came back with 9 flags as well, giving us a 4 point advantage from the second place.

As Phoenix crossed back, Scout flew like a bullet (as always) ahead, crossing the line and going directly at the middle, picking up 3 flags before the other pokemon, then giving a u-turn and picking even more flags, ending his show going around, following the fence, picking up two more flags, coming back with his stash full.

We now had a big advantage, but I couldn't let it slip. Pulse went back and repeated his first move, picking up as many flags as he could in the first run through. And so did Phoenix as a flaming wheel and Scout. I started hearing big cheers from the crowd watching behind me, as they screamed my name.

“Atlas! Atlas! Atlas!” They cheered for me as I kept watching my pokemon work. I started feeling like I was receiving all the credit, so I decided to change this.

As Pulse came back for the third time now I went up to him with some water and Phoenix went out. “Good job out there Pulse!” I told him. He looked up at me and gave me a grin.

“That is nothing, we are here for you, and you know that.” He told me back. “Well, I better get at position, Scout is almost going out there and the time is almost up.”

I then allowed him to go. He had sweat all over his body. He wasn't used to running this much, but he handled it well. Phoenix now came back, stopping the flames around her body.

“You're doing a fine job out there Phoenix.” I told her, as I gave her some water.

“Thanks, I really appreciate it.” She told me as she drank some of the water.

“I think that if we win this one, we already won the game, but I could be wrong.” I told her as she took a rest. The game was ending so she wouldn't have to go again. “If we win, the prize is a Fire Stone!”

“Really? Oh, that is awesome!” She looked back to me in excitement. “You going to use it on me?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn't I?”

The Fire Stone would turn Phoenix into a big lion. Her evolution was much bigger and powerful than the one she is in right now, and it also would turn her into an awesome looking pokemon.

Time was up. We won by over 15 flags above the second place, giving us extra points and a big advantage over the rest of the competitors.

Now, all that was left was the Relay Run, a big obstacle course where my pokemon would race the other competitor's pokemon. One pokemon at a time, we would have to run the course and win by running around more times than the other competitors. I'd have to switch from time to time, otherwise my pokemon would get too exhausted. Following the same order as before, Pulse would go first, followed by Phoenix and then Scout.

Everyone at position. The gun was shot for a final time, starting the race. This was just a normal race, so all I needed to do is change my pokemon when I felt they were tired.  The race started, Pulse at last place, since he wasn't the fastest of the bunch. I had the feeling the road was slippery, since on the first obstacle on the road, two out of three of the competitor's pokemons crashed. Pulse not being that fast, he was easily able to dodge it.

As the race continued, Pulse started gaining even more speed. I started worrying if he would be able to dodge the obstacles with that speed, and since we managed to get up to second place, this would be needed to also win this. I started watching how Pulse managed to get his speed from. Apparently he would get on the shadows of those obstacles and gain some speed. I recalled the moment he evolved up in the first Gym, where he became faster under the night.

Looking closely, I could see he was starting to sweat a lot. I decided to switch, bringing him back to me and sending Phoenix out. I got him some water and a towel and went back to watching Phoenix.

Phoenix would flame her way to victory, using flames to turn the muddy ground into a dry ground for a limited time, making it easier for her to move. Much faster than Pulse, Phoenix managed to get head to head with the first place, but with less stamina, I could see she was getting tired much faster than Pulse. The other competitor switched, and I took the time to do the same.

Bringing Phoenix back, Scout jumped in, and at this point I knew it was too easy. A good flyer as him, and being able to fly other than suffer from the muddy ground, he was pretty much overpowered at this thing.

Managing to get past the first place, I would use Scout to gain a few laps of advantage from the other competitors. Scout flew like he loved to, dodging everything in his way just like he did back at the forest, he managed to give me three laps of advantage, which is not that much since the racing grounds weren't that big but it was still something, I switched back to Pulse.

Pulse was the slowest of our bunch, but had much more stamina, leaving time for the others to recharge themselves. Pulse did the same he did before, and surprisingly, we didn't lose that much of a distance. Pulse started using a few of the areas Phoenix left dry, so he was faster than before. I turned back to Scout and Phoenix behind me.

“You guys planned this?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Plan what?” Phoenix asked me back.

“He means the fact that we are having strategies, just like Pulse is using the dry ground you got there.”

“Oh, that.” Phoenix now remembered. “Yeah, we thought it was going to be something easier for all of us. He would get some distance from the other competitors so they didn't use my ground, then you would switch eventually and I would be able to create some dry ground for him, while Scout would just be the one who flew all the way.” She finished with small giggle.

“But how did you guys know about that?” I asked. “I mean, about the muddy ground and all.”

“You don't know?” The trainer by my side asked me. “Every pokemon and trainer share a special bond if they care enough about each other. It like if they can read the trainer's mind and the trainer can feel as they feel, but can't hear their thoughts, unless it is a aura bond.”

“Aura bond?” I asked out of curiosity.

“It's a bond only between very specific pokemon, like on the legend of Ho-oh, who will only show for those with hearts of gold.” She told me back. “Not hearts made of actual gold, but the metaphorical meaning.” She finished with a small giggle.

“Hm...” I stood there thinking. So it meant that me and my pokemon shared a close enough friendship so we can feel what one and another feel, but I can not hear their thoughts while they can hear mine?

“Yep, that is right.” Phoenix answered. “Also, I think it's better if you switch Pulse, he is getting a little tired.”

I switched Pulse and Phoenix and went back to my conversation with the mare. “May I ask for your name?”

“My name is...” She stopped for a second, she looked at me for some time before realizing something. “You are Atlas, right?”

“Yeah, I'm Atlas. Why?”

I heard the sound playing behind me, telling the game was over, my pokemon went back to me and now we were going to move back to the place we got introduced.

“Well, I gotta go. It was a good game though. Bye!” She hurried herself up to leave, but I had the feeling we are going to see each other again. The mare with a very pale yellow coat and a dark blue long mane turned and sped up to go to the other room. She had a gaming controller as a cutie mark. Maybe she liked games?

I also found myself feeling like jelly inside. What was this feeling again?

Pulse walked up to me and said: “You know, if you need a hand on getting a girl for ya, I could help.” then he winked at me.

“Yeah...” I told him back with a "whatever" tone in my voice. “Oh!” Then the memory that I saw from Pulse came into my head. Even him had a relationship during his life.