My phone was still ringing. She had actually declined my first call, sending me a text saying she was busy, but I was way too pissed off to really care about that. The frown hadn’t left my face since I had walked away from Dee and returned to the little Houndour. It had managed to finish the pokebean, but then he was just sitting there. Shaking.

  It had taken me several minutes to coax the dog into the shelter. I had started by gently petting him, being careful to watch for any overly sensitive spots, and thankfully I’d found none. Eventually he had allowed me to bring him into the fort. Several more minutes of gentle reassurance and pets had gotten him to close the gap, actually pressing into me for comfort. He had made the decision that I was safe. While he still had that vacant stare, he wasn’t shaking anymore.

  Jumping to something physical like that was a stupid thing for me to do. Dangerous. He could have easily reacted badly and lashed out. A rash decision that could have easily gotten me hurt, but I needed to show him that it was okay. That he was okay and I wasn’t going to hurt him.

  And thankfully it had all worked out.

  How many of them were like this? Some of them seemed unaware of what was going on, but this one knew. That was the only explanation I could come up with for the reaction. And like Rough, this one had been told what was going to happen to him. What was supposed to happen to him. I honestly couldn’t decide what was worse… Being put down without knowing why, or being told that you would be put down if your owner was caught.

  A soft whimper drew my attention from my thoughts, and I started to rub behind his ears. That seemed to be the spot that he liked the most, or at least was the most comforting. Joy had declined my call again and I was just sitting there, staring at my phone. “It’s okay,” I said softly, probably for the hundredth time now. “No one’s going to hurt you…”

  He tensed when I spoke, but relaxed after a moment as if registering what I said.

  Joy didn’t text me again, and I decided to wait a bit before trying again. It was good to also take the time to calm myself down. I had to remind myself that this world was different. They had a different mentality. They’d grown up under different teachings than I had and didn’t have the knowledge that I did.

  They didn’t know.

  My phone started ringing and I stared at it for a moment. I had been laying there for quite a while, zoning out. The Houndour had relaxed enough to fall asleep, so that was good. When I answered the phone, I was met with a very annoyed looking Farm Joy. “Is there something you need, Jason?” She was trying to keep her tone level, but I could tell that I had pissed her off.

  I briefly wondered what I had interrupted but quickly came to the conclusion that I didn’t care. “How many Pokemon do you think are put down due to a false classification?” I asked softly, not really looking at the phone.

  It took a moment as her face turned from suppressed anger to confusion. “What?”

  “This mess of a pup was marked with a red sticker,” I said as I adjusted the phone to show the dog. He seemed to have really calmed down, and honestly had probably passed out from the tiredness that comes from over stressing. “Honestly I don’t even want the answer to that question… But it’s clear to me that all of the Joy’s need more training on making psychological assessments.”

  She was still frowning at me, or maybe just frowning in general, and she didn’t look mad at all now that she was watching the canine. I could tell that she wanted to say something. Probably make excuses, or try and explain things, but she knew the system didn’t work. So instead she just sighed. “It’s not a pleasant topic.”

  “It’s awful. I have barely started, and the only one that was right was the green. They’re just scared and don’t know what’s going on,” I said as I had to start petting the Houndour again to get them to calm down. “And it doesn’t help that they know.”

  That confused her, and she blinked a few times. “Know what?”

  I put my hand over the dog's ears to muffle the sound and hope they didn’t hear the conversation, even if they were asleep. “They know they were going to be put down,” I said softly, trying to make it so that only the phone could hear me. “Those Team Flare bastards are telling them that if they get taken from them they’re going to die.”

  Joy had a rather pained expression on her face now. “They’re using the system to threaten them into obedience…”

  “And the system is so beyond scuffed,” I said, gritting my teeth to keep from getting too angry. “You all need better training. You can’t just consign someone to death after watching them for two minutes. They’ve been traumatized. Abused physically and emotionally. Starved.”

  She was obviously frustrated. Clearly she knew that it wasn’t a very good system, but she couldn’t do anything to fix it. Or maybe she didn’t know how. The statement that the current way they did things was all that was left of the best attempt was probably very true. “What do you suggest? We can’t have some sort of… Program like you want to do.”

  “It doesn’t need to be that complicated. I am trying to figure out the best sort of system to implement, but it’s going to take me some time to get anything in order.” I shifted a bit, trying to get comfortable. The movement caused the dog to wake up a bit startled, but a few ear scratches settled that down after a moment. “But I have a lot of Pokemon to trial and error my way through the start of it.”

  “Right… Well, I am open to suggestions,” Joy said, though she sounded reluctant.

  “First, you need a longer observation period. Thirty minutes at the minimum, an hour would be best,” I explained, not really paying attention to her reaction.

  “That is a large time investment,” she said, not disputing what I was saying, but from her tone I could tell she was frowning.

  “Irrelevant. They need to be given a chance to calm down and understand their situation. You’re a nurse. Speed is important when it comes to physical injuries, but when it comes to psychological ones, speed is going to do nothing but make things worse.” I looked at her, tilting the screen so that she was actually looking at me rather than at the dog. “Trying to rush mental health recovery is how you get villains.”

  Her brow furrowed, not making the connection.

  “Trauma does more than hurt someone. It makes them vulnerable. Vulnerable to being hurt more easily, or to being influenced by others with honeyed words.” I took a deep breath before continuing, “Let me tell you a story… I know a boy who went through a traumatic event. Most of the adults he knew were killed; everyone he looked up to. And then no one took the time to help him. So he did his best to help all the others that were in a similar situation, and did the absolute best he could. But he’s a child. There’s only so much he can do. He doesn’t ask for help again because everyone brushed him off the first time, so why would they help now?”

  Soft whimpering returned my focus to the dog as I started to pet him again until he calmed down. It was clear he didn’t like the story.

  “And then those adults that didn’t help him start arguing with him. Start putting him down. Telling him he’s living his life wrong, when it was the best choice he had and they didn’t help him find a better one.” I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice even and level so as not to make the canine uncomfortable. “So he becomes bitter. And untrusting of the adults he knows.”

  Joy was silently listening, her lips pursed tightly together.

  “Then an adult comes along that he doesn’t know, sees this struggling boy and the group they’ve made. They praise him. They raise him up. Give him the help that he so desperately needs. Confirm aaaaall of his ideals. Then they begin to twist those ideals. And before you know it, that boy and his entire group are now just a bunch of thugs.” I looked at Joy for a moment through the phone. “And all that happened because someone that should have helped him, dismissed his trauma.” Maybe I was twisting Guzma’s story a bit to fit my own narrative, but it was close enough. I just needed to get my point across. “People, and Pokemon, just need a chance. If that boy had been helped, then things would have been different.”

  She let out a breath that was a mixture between a huff and a sigh. “Okay. I get it. You don’t need to lecture me.”

  I chuckled a bit and actually managed to smile some. “I wasn’t trying to. I just needed to get my point across.” I had to shift a bit to show the crowd of Pokemon. The other Houndour had gone over to join them, and even the Houndoom seemed interested in the show. “That’s a green, two red, and a pink sticker chilling out and watching tv. And all I had to do was talk with them and explain things.”

  “Not all of us can do that,” she said with a sigh.

  “Then you train Pokemon to do it. Train those Wigglytuff and Audino, and whatever else, how to calm them down and figure out what they need,” I explained. I realized I should probably bring Dee in on this and get her to learn so that I’m not doing this alone. “They just need to be told what’s going on and given some time. Pokemon are a lot smarter than most people give them credit for. And if you’re willing to put in the effort, I’m sure that they could all learn to do a fantastic job.”

  She looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding slowly. “Right… Okay, I can add that to the program. Might be rough getting it integrated, but I’ll have to run it by the Clan Leader first. Although I’m sure she’ll agree.”

  That got me to pause and think. “Clan Leader?” I asked slowly.

  She gave me a rather puzzled look before realization seemed to dawn on her face. “Ah, right. You wouldn’t know about her. She said she was going to try and meet you, but I guess that hasn’t happened yet. Then again, she’s in Sinnoh so coming here just to meet you is a little much.”

  I let out a soft snort. “Right, well, I can meet her when I go to Sinnoh eventually.”

  Joy nodded at that. “Yeah. Alright. Okay. I’m going to start trying to implement some more… what would you even call it?”

  That was actually an important thing I guess. “Personally, I would just call it psychology training. No need to sugar coat it or give it a fancy name.”

  Again she nodded. “Alright. Well, we have a place to start.”

  “Right.” I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I’m sorry for my attitude.”

  She huffed a bit. “It’s fine. You’re… You’re doing a good thing. That is extremely stressful. I don’t think anyone that has a heart can really stay mad at you.”

  I smiled a bit. “Thanks. Anyways, I have a lot of Pokemon to talk to. I’ll talk to you some other time.”

  With a nod, she hung up. Again without saying goodbye.

  “Alright…” I turned my attention back to the dog as I put the phone down. “Feeling better?”

  The Houndour took a deep breath before nodding. “Yeah… I just… I’m scared.”

  Gently I began scratching behind his ears again. “I know… And I’m not mad at you for that. It’s scary. But you’re okay. You’re safe.”

  He nodded a bit, taking in a few more deep breaths, the last one letting out a little puff of smoke. “What… What’s going to happen to me now?”

  I smiled a bit more before explaining, “Well, the goal is to find you a Trainer that will be nice to you, and take good care of you. Or release you when we find a good place.”

  His face scrunched a bit, which looked rather amusing considering the large skull like plate on his head. “I can’t stay with you?”

  “You can,” I said softly. “But I want what’ll make you the happiest. That might be with me, that might be with someone else.”

  That seemed to confuse the little pup, but eventually they nodded. “Okay…”

  It was good that they were a lot more comfortable. “Now then. Do you have a name?”

  The little dog’s tail wagged a bit. “My name is Dilly.”

  “Alright, Dilly.” I paused. “Do you have a friend named Dally?”

  He blinked at me. “Yes?”

  I chuckled a bit, a rather big smile on my face. “Alright, what Pokemon are they?”

  His head tilted. “They’re a Poochyena.”

  “Okay.” I shifted a bit to get at my bag, pulling out the three Poochyena balls. “Do you know which one?”

  They sniffed at the pokeballs before gesturing with their nose towards one. “That one.” I wondered if they could smell the Pokemon through the pokeball, or if they were smelling their old Trainer on the ball.

  I checked it against the notes that I had. “Poochyena, female, five years old.” The ball also had a red and yellow sticker on it. I wrote Dally on the pokeball.

  After taking a deep breath, I tossed the pokeball out of the little fort, watching as the black and gray dog burst into form. Immediately they stanced, ready for battle. Then they saw Dilly and immediately relaxed before tensing again when they saw me.

  “Hey there,” I said softly. “My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace. I’m your new Trainer, and you’re safe. You’re not going to be hurt.” I tried a new wording to my introduction. Immediately I felt like it needed a bit of work.

  She seemed very suspicious, glancing between me and Dilly. Dilly moved over to her and pressed against her. “It’s okay… We’re safe.”

  Dally seemed to practically collapse into the other dog, taking deep breaths. The two of them had a quiet conversation between each other that I couldn’t hear. This was going to be something that I tried to focus on. Finding pairs, or groups that knew each other. Calming down one and then helping me assure the others was going to make this process go much faster.

  “Do you want a treat, Dally?” I asked as I pulled a pokebean from the pouch.

  Both of them immediately perked up. “Oh, oh. Dally, you have to try one. They are the best treats I have ever had.” Dilly’s little tail was wagging so hard that it was a blur.

  She seemed a bit hesitant, but with a bit more persistence from the other dog she eventually took it. And then practically melted on the spot. “Oh that is so good…” she mumbled between bites.

  I could really feel the smile on my face now. “Alright. I have a lot more Pokemon that need help, so do you two feel alright going around? You won’t have to go back in your pokeball for a while, as long as you behave, okay?”

  Both of them nodded and stretched a bit almost in perfect unison. Then Dilly spoke up, “There’s a lot of Pokemon over there. We can play with them, right?”

  I nodded in response. “Yes. But just keep any roughhousing on the light side, okay.”

  Both of them had a rather happy look on their face as they trotted away, and I noted they didn’t actually give me a response to my request.

  With a bit of a sigh, I grabbed my phone before crawling out from the fort. Cara looked relieved, judging from the way she slumped. I walked over to her. “You need to relax.” I pat her head softly.

  In response, she flailed her arms at me. “I’m worried.”

  “I know,” I said before taking a deep breath. “I’m going to change how I’m doing this. I need Dee to help me. Can you get her?”

  There was a puzzled look on her face, but she nodded and practically appeared over near the group. Sometimes I really had a hard time tracking her with my eyes. It was like sometimes she was moving faster than normal, or I was just somehow keeping better track of her, but only when there was combat going on. Some sort of battle adrenaline, maybe? An interesting thing.

  I looked over the list again as I waited for Dee, trying to think of what to day. Should I just be blunt about it? Sometimes that was necessary. Maybe that was a good idea. Just be open and honest with them about what was going on.

  Dee coming up beside me grabbed my attention. “Do you need something?” she asked softly, seeming a bit tense for some reason. She was probably worrying over why I called her over.

  “I want you to help me with this.” She blinked at me. “I plan to work together with Joy to get a program going, even if it’s a very simple one. It should help out a ton, and prevent all these false labels.”

  She seemed to bristle at my words. “Fa… false labels?”

  I shifted a bit, wrapping my arms around her as I saw her eyes start to water. “It’s okay… It’s okay…” I should have expected the implication of my words to hit her immediately. She probably hadn’t put much thought into it when I brought it up earlier, but actually hearing my call them false seemed to flip the switch of realization. She grabbed hold of my shirt as she began to softly sob. There was really no blaming her for this. She was just doing what she was taught, and there was no helping that she was taught wrong. “Just all the more reason to fix it,” I said softly.

  Cara came over, concern evident on her face. She didn’t say anything, but stood close and rubbed Dee’s back. It took a few minutes before Dee composed herself, taking several deep breaths before pulling away. “I’m okay… I…” She paused, taking a few more deep breaths. “I’m fine.”

  “You sure?” I asked softly.

  She nodded. “Yes. I… We really need to change things…”

  I nodded.

  Cara was clearly still worried, but Dee spent a few moments reassuring her that she was fine. It was a lot of back and forth that honestly made me smile a bit. Eventually Cara seemed placated and moved back to watch from a distance once again.

  Dee turned to me. “Okay. I… So… What do I do?”

  I gave her a head a few pats before grabbing hold of my list again. “I mostly want you to observe, maybe help if needed. When we get through a few more, I want you to try and calm them.”

  She nodded but remained quiet.

  Once I was sitting again, I pulled out the next ball, gesturing for Dee to stand more behind me. “Houndour, male, two years old,” I said as I undid the lock around the pokeball. The younger ones always seemed easier.

  When I released them, just as those before, he took a battle stance, fur bristling and fire spitting from his mouth. A bit more ready for a fight than the others.

  “My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace. You aren’t being put down, and we aren’t going to hurt you. I’m your new Trainer,” I said. That had been the best wording I could think of to explain the situation to them.

  It seemed to have worked as they relaxed slightly. Of course, there wasn’t going to be an immediate change. They were still obviously wired, ready for a fight.

  “Would you like a treat?” I asked as I pulled out a pokebean. “You can have a treat as long as you behave.”

  He immediately perked up at the word treat. All of these Pokemon were probably held to a pretty harsh reward and punishment method of training. Of course they were still wary, eying Dee as they approached. But when he got close enough, he grabbed the bean and bolted. He went straight into the shelter, clearly seeing it as the only place of cover that was nearby.

  I didn’t react, just smiling as I watched him devour the bean like he had never had something that good before. I gave them a few moments to enjoy the bean before asking, “Do you have a name?”

  He was clearly hesitant, eying me suspiciously. “Fret.”

  “Okay, Fret.” I couldn’t help but smile a bit more. “You can wander around this room, as long as you don’t cause any problems you can stay out of your pokeball for a while.”

  “Really?” he asked almost immediately, clearly not believing me.

  “Yes, really,” I said with a nod. “Do you have any friends?”

  Slowly he shook his head, slowly exiting the fort. His eyes were clearly looking over at the large group of Pokemon in the corner.

  “Those are all my Pokemon as well.” I tried to keep my tone as gentle as possible, which seemed to work as he nodded and started to make his way towards the group, clearly recognizing some of the Pokemon that were out. Maybe not friends, but familiar faces?

  The next was another male Houndour. He was eight, and reacted a bit more like Bleak had. More confusion than panic. His name was False. He was actually part of a team. Grubby, a four year old male Houndour, was apparently his best friend and his mood flipped completely when I released them. Grubby was absolutely ecstatic when he saw False, the two of them happily chatting.

  However the next Hounder was a problem. Another male, ten years old. After my introduction and attempt at reassurance, he wouldn’t stop growling. He refused to talk to me, just growling. My attempt to give him a treat was ignored, and when he started actually spitting a bit of flame I decided that I’d have to come back to him. So I returned him and put the lock back around his pokeball.

  The next four Houndour were all female, and I realized that was how Joy had organized them. The first female was two and her reaction caught me off guard. Unlike every Pokemon before her she just seemed so… defeated. Even after explaining things to them, they just refused to lift their head. She didn’t reject my offer for a treat, and was actually the first one to eat it out of my hand. Her name was Gabby, and she actually liked her Trainer. They had been really nice to her.

  I had almost started to feel bad until I asked her if she had any other friends from her Trainer. A twelve year old Poochyena named Glum. When she had pointed out the pokeball I felt a shiver down my spine. Glum had a purple sticker.

  When I released Glum, he was an absolute mess. The moment I started to go through my introduction speech he had flinched at my words, staring at me in what I could only really see as horror. He was shaking so bad until Gabby had pressed against him. I had expected him to flinch away from her, and it looked like he was going to until he recognized who it was. Then he fainted.

  “He does that,” Gabby explained, pawing gently at the other dog's side. “He’s fine. He just… Master said he winds himself up, and when he gets too tight he explodes.” It sounded like he had some sort of severe anxiety.

  I nodded a bit, and then jumped when Glum shot back up, and then was acting like nothing happened as he started to happily talk to Gabby. The two of them talked for a bit before Gabby practically dragged him over to me.

  Once he was in front of me, I did my introduction again. He still looked at me like I was going to eat him. However he did relax once I offered him a treat. But before he had even finished eating it, Gabby had started to drag him towards the large group of Pokemon, demanding that he introduce himself to, “All our new friends!”

  The next on the list was a one year old female Houndour. Thankfully the pattern had held, and the younger ones were easier to deal with. Her name was Bungle and after she took one bite of the pokebean she immediately and proudly declared, “I love you, new master.”

  That got a good laugh out of me and I reached out, petting her head softly. “Do you love me, or pokebeans?”

  She hesitated, looking down at the bean. “Can I have another pokebean if I say you?”

  I snorted. “Not right now.”

  “Then I love pokebeans,” she said, with absolutely no shame in her tone as she started to eat again.

  I laughed even more. “Losing to a bean. New low for me.”

  Dee pat my head. “There, there.”

  Swatting at her hand lightly. “Bungle, do you have any friends or family that your old Trainer owned.”

  She had finished the bean, and was now sitting obediently in front of me. “Yeah! My sisters.”

  “Oh? And who are your sisters?” I asked, curious as that sounded like more than just one other.

  “Well, there’s my oldest sister Immodest, she’s a Mightyena. And my older sister is Disaster, she’s a Houndoom,” Bungle explained, a rather far off look in her eyes.

  I nodded a bit as I pulled out several pokeballs. “Do you know which pokeball they are?”

  It took her a moment of sniffing and examining them. “This is Immodest, and…” she looked at the other group. “This is Disaster.”

  After putting the other balls away, I looked at the corresponding numbers. Immodest was a fifteen year old Mightyena, a pink and yellow sticker. Disaster was thirteen, and had a red and yellow sticker. While I was looking, Bungle had moved closer, laying her head on my leg. I took a moment and decided to start with Immodest first.

  Tossing her ball, I almost immediately regretted it. Before I even knew what happened, Cara was there, and the massive dog was rolling away across the ground, having been kicked away to the side. I hadn’t even seen either Pokemon move.

  She shook her head, growling at Cara. “Don’t,” I said firmly towards Immodest.

  Her attention snapped to me, and then the growl seemed to die in her throat when she saw who was in my lap. I could practically see the way all the strength left her body and all the anger and fury was snuffed out. “Bungle?” she asked meekly.

  Everything had apparently happened too fast for Bungle to notice as she sat up, giving Immodest a big puppy smile, tail wagging. “Immodest! This is our new master. He’s nice and has tasty treats!”

  The Mightyena’s eyes darted from me, to Bungle, to Cara, then back to me. Cara was still in a fighting stance, and I had to reach over to touch her side. “It’s okay Cara. Good job.”

  Cara glanced at me and then huffed before relaxing.

  I grinned a bit and reached up, scratching her back. “Good girl,” I said.

  She slapped my hand away while making a scoffing noise, but her tail was wagging something fierce.

  Immodest only hesitated for a moment longer before slowly making her way over. I could tell she was trying to seem nonthreatening, but was clearly upset. She stopped a few feet away and sat down, looking at Bungle. “You’re our new Trainer?”

  I nodded and gave my little introduction spiel, emphasizing that none of them were going to be put down. That noticeably got her to relax. “Would you like a treat?” I pulled out a pokebean and held out to her. Bungles eyes were practically popping out of her head as she watched the bean pass over her.

  The Mightyena seemed to take note of the action and snorted, taking the bean. Her face immediately lit up when she tasted it, and again I was extremely thankful that I had requested so many of them. As I watched the Pokemon slowly savor the colorful bean, I thought about them for a moment. I remembered in the game that they were used for raising affection… And clearly it was having some sort of tangible effect on the Pokemon that ate it.

  While I doubted it was making them more friendly towards me, it was clear that they had some sort of soothing effect. Maybe I should eat one? Were they addicting? From what I could tell, they were like a mild drug. Oddly nutritious, filling, and relaxed the Pokemon. Maybe they caused the body to release endorphins? Honestly that would make the most sense. Should I add them into my pokeblock recipes?

  Dee tapped my back lightly with one of her ear stethoscopes to get me to refocus back in. The Mightyena known as Immodest was just staring at me. It looked like they wanted to say something, but seemed to be unable to as I was just staring at them while I was thinking. “Alright. Now let’s bring out your other sister.”

  That seemed to perk her up, and her tail twitched a bit. When I sent out Disaster, I wasn’t attacked immediately. But she did let out a howling breath of fire into the air and exclaimed, “Freedom!”

  I had to struggle to stifle any laughter as I knew that reaction far too well. When I started to do my introduction she seemed almost uninterested, looking at the other Pokemon that were around instead. When I was done, she looked at the Mightyena. “Immodest. What’s going on?”

  The other dog rolled her eyes in response. “We have a new Trainer, and we aren’t going to die.”

  There was a moment of silence as everyone just sort of stared at the fiery canine. “Oh. Good.” She sat down, scratching behind her horn with her back leg.

  I chuckled a bit. “Would you like a treat?”

  “Oh boy would I!” Disaster exclaimed as she trotted over. “I love treats. Especially mangos.”

  “Those were oranges,” Immodest said, her expression surprisingly flat.

  “Yeah, they were orange,” the dog replied, nodding, before she sat down in front of me.

  I snorted slightly as I got another pokebean out of my pouch. There was an almost desperate look from Bungle as I gave Disaster the bean. “Greedy little thing,” I said softly before giving Bungle another bean.

  Disaster took one bite. “Holy fuck these are way better then mangos!” she practically shouted before enthusiastically chomping away at the bean.

  I laughed, everyone else seemed to just shake their head at the silly dog's antics. I honestly thought that her name seemed quite fitting. “So… what now?” Immodest asked, glancing at me, but trying to keep Cara in sight at all times.

  “Well, you three can wander the room. You don’t have to go in your pokeballs for a while, and you can stay out as long as you behave,” I explained with a smile.

  “Hell yeah!” Disaster shouted and immediately bolted. It wasn’t even two seconds later before there was a splash and a shout of, “There’s a pond!”

  Immodest just sighed as she turned and started walking away. “Come on, Bungle. Let’s explore.”

  “Okay!” Bungle happily trotted off with her sister.

  I took in a few deep, slow breaths. Immodest had gone straight for the kill. She must have recognized me from the battle. Thankfully I had made sure to have distance and kept Cara within range.

  After taking a few deep breaths I leaned back a bit onto my hands, staring up at the ceiling. It was painted to resemble a sky, which was kinda nice. Both Cara and Dee stood in front of me. “Are you okay?” Dee asked.

  I smiled a bit and nodded. “Yeah. Just getting a bit stressed at all this,” I replied before sitting back up and rubbing my face. “That’s only fifteen… But it’s been going a lot better than I thought it would. Only one being difficult…”

  Cara seemed to fidget a bit on her feet. “Are you going to keep going?”

  “Yeah,” I said with a nod. “I have to at least get through all of them and explain things so they’re not just a bundle of nerves.”

  It was obvious she didn’t like that answer, but she nodded before returning to her watchful post not too far away.

  “Shouldn’t you take a break?” Dee asked softly.

  I smiled at her. “Oh, I’m about to. I want you to try and calm down the next one.” She frowned a bit at me, but I just smiled. “Oh come on, you’re a nurse. Just treat them like a patient that you have good news for.” I pulled out the next pokeball on the list. “Houndour, female, between one and two years old.” As I spoke I removed the band. Dee looked apprehensive, watching me. “Do you want your weight off?” I asked as I held the ball out to her.

  She hesitated, taking a moment to mull it over in her head. Eventually she nodded, and took the ball from me. I got the remote out and turned off her vest. “Wh- what do I do?” she asked.

  “Introduction. Explain the situation. Reassure.” I tapped my fingers as I spoke, giving the three basics.

  All she did was nod, looking at the ball, turning it over in her hands as she looked at the stickers. I could practically hear the words I said earlier about their inaccuracy, which caused her expression to sour for a moment. After taking a few deep breaths and positioning herself a bit more forward, she tossed the pokeball. It was honestly a hilarious sight to watch an Audino throw a pokeball, because she used her little ear dangles to help with the throw. She had even caught the ball on its return with her ear rather than her hand.

  As soon as it was released, the Houndour got into a battle stance and waited for the order to start fighting. Dee was quick to give her version of my introduction, “My name is Dee. I’m a nurse. You’re not being put down, nor are you going to be hurt. This is Jace, you’re new Trainer,” she finished by gesturing to me.

  The little dog was confused, but relaxed the more Dee talked. The first notable relaxation came when she mentioned she was a nurse; the Pokemon knew what that was. And it was probably comforting to know she was okay. She still seemed a bit hesitant, but sat down, trying to keep her eyes on Dee, but constantly glancing over to me.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Do you want a pokebean?” Dee asked, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “They’re really tasty treats that your new Trainer has.”

  I chuckled a bit. “You’re the one that’s supposed to be comforting her. You can’t just throw the responsibility immediately on to me.”

  “Why not?” she asked with a huff, looking back at me. “You’re the one with the treats.”

  That made me pause as I realized I should have given one to Dee. “Ah, I guess that’s true.” I shuffled a bit to retrieve a pokebean, holding it out a bit to the dog. She was hesitant to approach, but was doing so at the promise of treats. “Do you have a name?”

  “Dwindle,” she said, slowly taking the bean from me.

  I smiled at her as she started to devour the bean, her eyes lighting up with a sort of vibrance that I was starting to get used to seeing. Used to, but not tired of. “Okay, Dwindle. Do you have any friends or other Pokemon your Trainer owned?”

  She flinched, stopping mid bite. That was a bad reaction. She hesitated, seeming to mull over things. “We… We don’t have to go back to master, right?” she asked quietly.

  “No,” I said, matching the softness of her tone. That seemed to get her to relax a bit. “I’m your new Trainer, and you won’t ever see your old one.”

  There was this odd sense of relief in her body, the type that actually causes the muscles to relax to the point of collapse. Because that’s what she did; collapse. It was more of an abrupt laying down, but that’s what it was. “There’s…” Again she hesitated. After taking a few deep breaths, and glancing between Dee and I a few times, she spoke, “Hazard. She- she’s a good girl. She always… She always draws the master's focus when he gets mad, so he doesn’t hurt me…”

  “I’m not going to hurt you, or Hazard,” I replied, still keeping my voice soft.

  “Can… can she have a treat, too?” Dwindle asked, clearly struggling to make eye contact with me.

  “Of course she can.” I pulled out another bean, putting it on the floor. “What kind of Pokemon is Hazard?”

  “Houndoom,” was her response.

  I only had two more Houndoom from the first batch, and unfortunately I was pretty sure which one it was. However, to be sure, I pulled out the two Houndoom pokeballs. “Which one is hers?”

  She gestured to one. “That’s hers.”

  Just as I had feared, it was the one with the purple sticker. I sighed softly as I wrote Hazard on the ball. “I’m going to call her out, okay?”

  Dwindle seemed to bristle at the thought, looking around almost in a panic before forcing themselves to calm down. I was confused at the reaction, but I decided not to comment. “Okay… But she’s probably going to be upset. She doesn’t like open spaces. Open spaces means… training…”

  I held the ball for a moment, looking down at it as I collected my thoughts. With a slight toss, the Houndoom burst forth. They stood at their full height, seemingly not daring to move as their eyes darted around. They were clearly confused at what was going on.

  Before I had a chance to introduce myself, Dwindle had grabbed the other bean I had taken and out made their way quickly towards the other dog. “Hazard. Our new owner is nice and has treats,” she said as she placed the bean down.

  Hazard glanced at Dwindle, then at the bean, then towards me. Their entire body seemed to bristle as they stared, a look of panic in their eyes that they were clearly trying to suppress.

  I proceeded with my introduction, emphasizing that they weren’t being put down and that they were safe. While some of the panic lessened, their eyes were still darting around. “You can go into the little fort behind you if you want. Dwindle said you didn’t like open spaces.”

  Without a word the dog glanced back for a fraction of a second before they started to slowly back away. Once inside they visibly relaxed, letting out a fiery breath that they had apparently been holding. They sank into the blankets and pillows that I had set up underneath, although their eyes never left me.

  Dwindle had nudged the bean towards them, the two of them speaking quietly. They were clearly doing their best to reassure each other. While the Houndour was a lot more willing to give me a chance, there was obvious apprehension. Neither of them trusted me. But I wasn’t going to hold that against them. I doubted many if any of the wolf pack I’d interacted with so far trusted me.

  …. Maybe Guff?

  But that was fine. I could earn their trust slowly. As I watched Dwindle and Hazard out of the corner of my eye I looked down at the last Houndour. Female, about four years old. I tapped Dee on the side, which startled her.

  Her cheeks puffed when I chuckled at her. “Relax,” I said softly, holding out the next pokeball. And a bean. I wanted her to do the full job on her own so that she can get used to it. “We’ll send her out away from the others, so Hazard and Dwindle can have time in the shelter. And hope this little gal doesn’t need it,” I added.

  She turned a bit to face away, out towards the empty area. I noticed that a few of the canines had started to wander around, mostly at the pond. Disaster had drawn a lot of attention, and most of the Houndour seemed to know who she was.

  Dee took several deep breaths before throwing the ball. As usual, the initial reaction from the Houndour was aggressive, but she relaxed after Dee explained things to them. They asked several times, in several different ways, that she was certain they weren’t going to be put down, to which Dee assured her every time. That was a bit sad to listen to, as if they had had it practically drilled into their skull that their Trainer being arrested meant death.

  Although it was reassuring that every time Dee told them they were going to be fine, they relaxed a little more. Eventually coming up, looking at me curiously as I watched them. When I asked for her name she said it was Crass. Then she got a treat and was absolutely ecstatic, eagerly chomping away on it.

  Something hard pressing into my back caused me to stiffen. Slowly looking back, I could barely see Hazard, who was pressing her horns into my back, her eyes closed. She seemed to be just… taking deep breaths. I could see Dwindle off with Disaster’s group, playing in the water.

  “I’m hungry…” came a small voice that very much did not fit the large dog.

  “Would you like more pokebeans?” I responded softly, matching her tone.

  She made a soft “Mhm…” noise as she nodded, which inadvertently rubbed her horns against my back.

  I couldn’t help but smile as I slowly reached into the bean bag, pulling out two of them and holding them behind my back for her. Much to my surprise she started to eat them out of my hand. She was extremely gentle. Hesitant with every bite. Looking back at her I could see that she was keeping her eyes mostly closed, clearly the open area making her uncomfortable. But at least she felt safe enough to come and ask me for food.

  As Hazard slowly nibbled at the pokebeans, I thought about what steps to take next. Technically the next one I had most of on my list was Mughtyena’s, but half of those were Admins. And I was going to save those ones for last. After a few moments of thought, Hazard having slunk back to the shelter once done, I settled on the two Poochyena.

  Dee was still talking with Crass, continually assuring them that everything was alright. Though it was clear to me that it had actually become a sort of game to the canine, trying to see how long she could keep up the back and forth.

  “Poochyena, male, four years old. Severe body scarring…” I paused, that was the first significant note that I had seen on any of the files so far. As I looked at the stickers. Red, purple, and yellow. Honestly I should really just ignore the yellow stickers. Maybe all of the stickers in general. That’s mostly how I had been doing it, but I had a feeling the purple sticker was going to be accurate.

  Glancing up, Dee was standing next to me, looking down at the ball. Looking around for a moment I could see that Crass had gone over to the television gang, absolutely enamoured by it. I definitely needed a portable television…

  “Are you ready for the next one?” I asked as I held out the ball, and a pokebean.

  She nodded, wearing a rather determined expression. “Yes. This is… uhm… honestly easier than I thought? It just…”

  “Takes time,” I said, nodding. “This one will be a bit more difficult.”

  Dee just stared at the ball for a moment before nodding. She tossed it out and what appeared was probably the most ragged little pup I had ever seen. Immediately I felt a tightness in my chest. They looked like they had Manepox, but the damage was…uniform. This dog looked like it had been partially skinned.

  They were in a battle pose, but there was no light in those eyes. It didn’t growl, or try to look menacing. He just stood there, eyes glazed over like he had completely detached. Dee faltered, unable to form words as she looked at the dog in front of her. I wondered if she even remembered this one's checkup.

  Reaching forward, I placed a hand overtop of Dee’s. That seemed to snap her out of it, and she took a deep breath before going through her introduction.

  He didn’t move.

  She tried to offer him the treat, taking a few steps forward and holding it out. Which didn’t get a reaction out of him.

  Standing up, I put a hand on Dee’s shoulder. “He’s… mentally broken. Disassociated.”

  Her head moved more to face me, but her eyes never left the little dog. “Wh- what?”

  I wasn’t sure if she was asking because she didn’t know, or didn’t understand. “He’s mentally shut down so that his old Trainer couldn’t hurt him anymore…” I took a deep breath, taking the pokebean out of her outstretched hand and moving over.

  Not once did his eyes focus on me, staring off into the distance and waiting for a command. I sat down in front of him, getting a better look at the injuries across his body. All of his fur had been shaved short, and most of the scars… They looked like tally marks. I didn’t want to know what they had been counting.

  But I could guess.

  Everytime he failed to listen to a command, or did something the Trainer didn’t like…

  “My name is Jason,” I started softly, “But I prefer Jace. You’re safe with me. They can’t hurt you anymore.”

  There was an almost imperceptible movement. A slight relaxing of muscles, but other than that they didn’t move. Not a single twitch or flick of the ear, his eyes locked onto something far away that only he could see.

  Another catatonic, though this one seemed… worse. At least Dilly hadn’t been tortured, as far as I knew, and had more just locked up because they were scared. This one had been conditioned to be like this.

  I knelt down and held the treat in front of him, putting it a few inches in front of their nose. The other canines had been more assured that it was safe to eat after smelling it. “Are you hungry?”

  That managed to get the second noticeable response from the pup; he started drooling. It wasn’t a lot, but it was a reaction.

  “It’s alright. You can eat it. It’s for you.” I pushed it a little forward, almost touching his mouth with the bean. “They’re tasty, and I have a lot. So you can have more after you eat this one.”

  A few moments passed before his nose twitched, and his eyes ever so slightly shifted. He hadn’t focused, but I had at least gotten him to register that something was different.

  Slowly I sat down, just holding out the treat. Movement out of the corner of my eye caused me to look over and I saw Immodest approaching. I was a bit surprised that she was coming over. “Did you want another bean, Immodest?” I asked, keeping my voice soft to not startle the other dog.

  She didn’t even look at me, staring at the unmoving dog. “That’s Detach,” she said.

  Now she had my full attention. “You know this Poochyena? Is his name Detach?”

  It took a moment before she slowly shook her head. “That’s just what we call him… His Trainer calls him Useless.” The dog flinched at the word. “But none of us want to call him that, so we started calling him Detach because he’s completely detached from reality.”

  I frowned a bit. “That’s not very nice.”

  She actually shrugged in response. “The nice gets beaten out of us real quick.” She paused. “It’s rare for it to survive.” She was looking away, and I knew that she was probably looking at Disaster. “Detach’s old Trainer was horrible. I hope they killed him.”

  That was a bit surprising to hear. But I honestly couldn’t really argue for the man's safety after seeing what he did. “Yeah.”

  It seemed she wasn’t expecting me to agree with her, considering the look that she gave me. Our eyes locked for a moment before she looked back at Detach. “He’s not going to do anything unless you order him. Like…” She paused, and then straightened up a bit. “Detach, eat.”

  Watching as the dog suddenly took the bean from me, putting it on the ground before he started to eat hurt to see. That actually hurt. “He won’t do anything without a command?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’ve seen him stand perfectly still for like… five hours because his old Trainer went to do other things.”

  “You know a lot about him?” I asked, though it was hardly a question.

  “They like making us older ones train the younger ones.” Her face scrunched a bit. “Although usually we’re ordered to just beat on them. We try to hold back, or at least I did. I know Disaster does, too. His old Trainer just wanted him to get beaten up…”

  My attention was back on Detach, watching as he finished the pokebean and then returned to the neutral position and remained motionless. “Why would he do that?” I muttered, more to myself than to either of them.

  “He wanted a Houndour,” she said, frowning. “Poochyena wasn’t good enough for him.”

  Silence fell for a moment before Immodest moved closer, and pressed her head against the smaller dog's side, her eyes closed. It was good to know that she was the caring type. And if what she said was true, maybe it would be a good idea to have her with me for the other Poochyena? Worth trying.

  But right now I needed to focus on Detach. Despite her effort, he still hadn’t moved. I thought back to what she had said and decided to try the first thought that crossed my mind. “Detach.” For the first time he actually focused on me. It was rather rough thinking that he could recognize the tone of being ordered. “Relax.”

  He collapsed practically instantly, which startled Immodest. It took her a moment of staring down at the little dog. “That… worked?” she asked hesitantly.

  I was a bit surprised, too. “I guess so? He’d probably never been ordered to relax before, but I figured he knew what the word was, so if I gave the command maybe he would follow.”

  His eyes were closed, and he was breathing slowly. Had he fallen asleep?

  “Can you do me a favor, and watch over him?” I asked, looking at Immodest.

  She didn’t even hesitate to nod. “Yes. We all have to look out for each other since we’re in this-” she hesitated. “New situation.”

  I arched a brow at her.

  Again she seemed to hesitate. It seemed like she was really struggling to find the words. “I’m struggling to think this is real,” she said finally managed. I noticed how Detach opened his eyes to look up at her, but she didn’t seem to realize it. “I feel… conflicted. There are so many of us… Why am I special? Why do I get a happy ending when there are so many others that don’t?” She slowly fell silent.

  Slowly I reached over, but hesitated. I wanted to pet her, but I wasn’t sure if she would be willing to accept that. And the way she eyed my hand made me think it was a bad idea. “You know, there’s actually a term for that,” I said with a bit of a smile, putting my hand down. She gave me a quizzical look, so I continued. “It’s called survivor’s guilt. It’s something that a lot of people with PTSD suffer with. That’s post-traumatic stress disorder.”

  Her face seemed to scrunch up a bit. “So… other people feel this, too?”

  I nodded. “Yes. Everyone in this room has gone through some sort of traumatic event. Some more severe than others, but you can’t compare trauma. Trauma is trauma.”

  “And trauma causes… PTSD?” she asked slowly, as if tasting the acronym.

  “It can,” I agreed with a nod. “And has, in pretty much everyone here.”

  There were several moments of silence before she spoke up again, “Does it get better?”

  “It does,” I said softly. “As long as you let it. Unfortunately it will never leave.” I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Trauma is like a wound on your soul. And like any wound, it needs to be treated and allowed to heal. But it’ll always leave a scar.”

  “Scars are something I’m used to,” she muttered. “Guilt is not.”

  I smiled a bit. “Then how about you help me?” She raised an eyebrow at me. “I still have quite a few Pokemon that need assurance that they’re okay.”

  She seemed to mull it over for a few moments before slowly nodding. “Okay… I think I can do that.”

  “Great. You can start with Detach here,” I said as I gestured at the dog who was doing their best impression of a ragdoll.

  Now her brow furrowed as she looked at me, glancing a few times at the dog. “What…what do I do?”

  “Just make sure he knows he’s safe.” I gestured back to where I had been. “I’ll be over there if you need help.”

  “That doesn’t tell me what to do,” she said with what was probably an exaggerated frown.

  I chuckled. “Try and see it from his point of view. If you were in his position, what would you want someone else to do for you?”

  She really seemed to be thinking hard about this, as her face was scrunched up in thought. It was honestly adorable. After almost a minute of thinking, she moved to Detach and laid down, curling herself around him. Her tail went over his face, and she started to murmur softly to him.

  I couldn’t make out most of what she was saying, but I did hear, “It’s okay…” and “I’m here…”

  Satisfied with that, I slowly stood up and made my way back towards Dee. Looking over at the little fort, it was empty. “Where’d they go?” I asked Dee.

  She pointed over towards the television. “Dwindle convinced her to go over there.”

  Sure enough, Hazard and Dwindle had joined the group. Both of them seemed a lot more comfortable being surrounded by other Houndour and Houndoom, although Hazard was staying underneath one of the tables. “Okay.” I took a deep breath. “Let’s keep going.”

  The last of the Poochyena was also a female, one year old. She seemed a bit cautious and unsure at first, but after I explained things she immediately perked up. She introduced herself as Aloof. She nearly interrupted her own introduction when she spotted the other Pokemon. Immediately she started to run towards them before coming to a skidding halt and coming back. Then she asked if she could go play with her friends.

  With a smile, I gave her a bean and told her that that was fine, and she could stay out of her pokeball for a while as long as she behaved. She happily agreed to that as she snatched the bean and sprinted towards the others. Dealing with the young ones really was the easiest.

  That just left the larger dogs and the two Sneasel. I decided to do the two cats, and clear all the first stages before moving on. Of the two, both were marked red and yellow, but one was marked purple. Looking at the two pokeballs I tried to decide which to do first. They appeared to be a pair, a male and a female, but I couldn’t be sure about that.

  I decided to start with the male, and handed the ball to Dee, along with a bean. “Sneasel, male, seven years old,” I explained. She grumbled a bit about having to keep doing this, and how I was so much better at it. I just pat her on the head.

  She did eventually toss the ball after mentally steeling herself. When the familiar blackened blue feline appeared it looked hesitant. He looked like he couldn’t decide whether to prepare for a fight, or if he should run. Although as he looked around he seemed to come to the conclusion that there was nowhere to run.

  Before he had the chance to think about attacking, Dee started her introduction. Again she emphasized that none of them were being put down.

  “Where’s my sister?” he demanded immediately, cutting off the last bit of her question.

  “The other Sneasel?” I asked, looking at the pokeball in my hand.

  He seemed to spot the pokeball as well and I saw the way he bristled. “Yes,” he said, clenching his teeth.

  In response I tossed the ball out, and the other Sneasel appeared beside him. All of the tension seemed to leave his body before he practically tackled her into a hug. That seemed to catch her off guard until she realized who it was and immediately returned the embrace. “Oh thank Arceus you’re okay,” she said.

  “You both are,” I said with a bit of a smile. “You’re not being put down. I’m your new Trainer for now, and my name is Jason, although I prefer Jace.”

  “New Trainer?” she questioned, looking at her brother.

  “I guess so. Looks like our old one got-” he didn’t say anything, but dragged a claw across his throat to emphasize the point.

  That seemed to actually get her to giggle. “Good. I… I don’t want him to touch me anymore…”

  “And he can’t,” her brother assured, squeezing her tighter.

  I tried very hard to ignore the implications of what she had just said. “You don’t have to worry about him anymore,” I added, hopefully to help assure her. “We have some pokebeans for you two.” I pulled out two more beans for emphasis. “And you can stay out of your pokeballs for a while as long as you behave.”

  Both of them seemed hesitant, looking at each other. “It’s alright,” Dee said with a smile. “While he’s a bit strange, he’s a good human.”

  “Hey. Rude.” I laughed a bit at her comment.

  She just gave me a smile before taking one of the beans and walking over to the two felines. They accepted the beans from her, continually glancing at me like I was more of a threat than the pink menace standing next to them. “What are your names?” she asked.

  “Brisk,” the male said.

  “Brash,” the female said.

  I marked it on their pokeballs as Dee continued to talk to them. She spoke softly, and I actually couldn’t hear what she was saying. Whatever it was seemed to be enough to get them to relax and have a quiet conversation among the three. The two cats finally broke apart from their embrace, looking at me for a moment more before nodding to me and wandering off.

  They went over to the pond, and I sighed as Dee walked over. “See? You’re good at this,” I said as I reached over, rubbing her back.

  “Brash doesn’t like humans,” she said rather bluntly, a frown on her face.

  “That’s fine,” I mumbled, still rubbing her back. “I’m not a fan of most of them myself.”

  She looked at me, her frown deepening a bit. “You really aren’t, are you?”

  I just pat her back before moving back to the papers. “Let’s do these three Houndoom, and then move onto the Mightyena.”

  She nodded before taking the other bean that I had taken out, and eating it. I smirked a bit at her and she just huffed, muttering that she was hungry.

  I just nodded and then found the next pokeball. “Houndoom, female, seventeen,” I paused. “Pink sticker…” I looked over at Cara, who was still standing watch. She stood up a bit straighter when I looked over.

  This one I decided to throw myself. When they burst forth they let out a howl that was infused with a massive gout of flame towards the ceiling. That got every single Pokemons attention. Rather than every other Pokemon before her, she didn’t get into a fighting stance. Instead she just stood there stoically, carefully examining her surroundings. Her expression seemed… puzzled? “Well?” While her voice wasn’t very loud, it definitely held authority. “What’s going on?”

  It seemed like this might have been the Pokemon of the leader of that little raid. “You have a new Trainer,” I said.

  Her attention snapped to me and she eyed me a moment before letting out a flame infused scoff. “You?”

  “Yes. Me.” She frowned at my response, glancing at the pokeball in my hand and then at the Pokemon around. “It’s either me, or being put down.”

  All of the Pokemon that were listening, including her, flinched. She huffed out a bit of flame. “So it’s either you, or death,” she grumbled. She actually seemed to think about it as she looked me over again. “Fine. You have the honor of being the new Trainer of Malevolence.”

  I smiled a bit. “It’s good to meet you, Malevolence. My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace. Have a treat.” I threw a pokebean to her and she snatched it out of the air.

  Judging from her expression, catching it was not a conscious action. She grumbled a bit before eating it, her eyes widening a bit. “Oh? This is actually pretty good.”

  Rather suddenly she was tacked from the side by another Houndoom, bowling both of them over. “Mal! Mal! We have the same Trainer again!”

  “Disaster…” she practically growled, but I noted how she didn’t actually seem to be that upset as the other dog rubbed against her excitedly. “I suppose this means Immodest is here as well?”

  “Yeah! She’s-” she stopped and looked over at Immodest who was still comforting Detach.

  Malevolence followed her gaze and practically shot up, launching Disaster off of her as she stood up, quickly making her way over. “Immodest what’s-” she stopped, frowning. “Ah… it’s Detach…” Her voice was a lot softer, almost gentle. Her attention suddenly turned to me. “Who else do you have?”

  “Most of them are out,” I explained. “I’ve two more Houndoom, and six more Mightyena that I’ve not gone through.” I paused as I remembered one other. “Ah, and there’s a Houndour that wouldn’t calm down.”

  “Give me that one,” she snapped.

  I saw the way that Dee’s hands clenched and I reached out to grab her wrist before she went over. “It’s okay. She’s just got an abrasive personality. She’s not actually being rude.”

  Both of them seemed to huff in response which got me to smile. I got out the last Houndour pokeball that still had one inside, and then tossed it out near Malevolence. Immediately it stanced up and started growling. “Enough of that,” Malevolence snapped, actually snapping her jaws in the air.

  That actually seemed to work and snapped him out of whatever mental state he was locked in. “Ma- Malevolence?” he muttered.

  “Yes. Now. Enough of that.” She stomped the ground, and then pointed at me. “Go and greet your new Trainer, Muddle.”

  He seemed to shrink in on himself as he quickly made his way over to me. “H- hello. I’m Muddle,” he said softly.

  “I’m Jason, but I prefer Jace.” I held out a pokebean. “Have a treat.”

  He was extremely hesitant, glancing back towards Malevolence as if asking for permission from her, but she had already turned her attention away, and back to Detach. Slowly he took the bean and laid down before he began eating it. After that first bite he sure got enthusiastic about it, tail starting to wag. Without thinking I reached forward and pet the top of his head, which seemed to confuse him, but he didn’t seem to get upset about it.

  “You can wander the room, and as long as you don’t cause any problems, you can stay out of your pokeball for a while, okay?” I explained with a bit of a smile.

  Again they seemed confused, but eventually nodded and headed off towards the pack that had gathered around the television. Most of them were over there now. Over twenty Pokemon just absolutely locked in on a screen.

  But now it was time for the first Admin Pokemon. “Houndoom, male, twenty two years old.” Dee made a move to accept the pokeball but I shook my head. “This is one of the ones we fought at the train station.”

  Her hand practically recoiled. “One of those two that were working together?”

  I nodded. “This might go bad.”

  However I was immediately wrong, as when I released the Houndoom they just… laid down and closed their eyes. He didn’t make any sort of movement, he was just waiting to die. When I started my introduction his ears swiveled a bit towards me, but otherwise he didn’t move. Until I explained he wasn’t being put down. His head practically shot up. “What?”

  “You’re not being put down,” I repeated. “I’m your new Trainer.”

  He seemed to think that over, his brow furrowing as he slowly stood up and looked around. “Not… being put down?”

  I nodded.

  “What about Fear?” His eyes locked onto me. “Is he getting put down?”

  “The other Houndoom you were battling together with?” I asked, and he nodded. “No.”

  He actually made a ‘tsk’ noise and looked away. “I guess it’s a good thing that the idiot's alive,” he grumbled, though I could see that he seemed to relax a little.

  I snorted softly. “Don’t like him?”

  He growled a bit, flame escaping from his mouth. “We’ve been forced to train together and against each other for fifteen years. I can’t stand him.”

  I nodded a bit. “Well, you won’t have to fight against him, or with him anymore if you don’t want to.”

  A huff of flame escaped him. “Good.”

  “Do you want a treat?” I changed the subject, and immediately noticed the way he perked up at the mention of a treat. I tossed him a pokebean, and he eagerly devoured it. “You can stay out of your pokeball for a while, as long as you behave.”

  He just grunted, finishing off the bean. Without really looking at me he wandered away, licking his chops.

  I waited till he was a good distance away before throwing out the other pokeball. There was that immediate rush of what I believed to be the Unnerve ability, but it certainly didn’t match the creature that appeared. He looked almost happy? He started to look around but before he could get distracted I started my introduction, which pulled all of his attention onto me.

  When I was done, he actually trotted over, sitting down a few feet away. “Okay, so. New Trainer. Neat. I’m Fear on account of everyone’s afraid of me for some reason?”

  Being this close I could honestly feel why. There was just something about this Houndoom that made you want to get away. And I could tell from the way that Dee had tensed, she was feeling it too. “Well, your battle partner told me a little about you.”

  Immediately there was a big smile on his face and his tail started to whip back and forth. “Loathing is here, too? Oh that’s great. He’s my best friend, you know? We’ve known each other forever and our Trainers are- er… our old Trainers were brothers. Can I go play with him?”

  “Have a pokebean first,” I said as I held one out. He happily munched away on it. “He’s over there,” I said as I pointed. Apparently Loathing was paying attention, and when I pointed him out had a look of utter betrayal on his face before Fear turned towards him.

  His tail was whipping and lashing around as he sprinted over, stopping before bowling into him. Fear excitedly chattered away at him, and Loathing seemed almost reluctant to listen, although I could tell that he was.

  “What a tsundere,” I muttered with a laugh.

  Dee gave me a confused look. “Sunda what?”

  I snorted. “Tsundere. They come off as extremely harsh and aggressive, maybe even hateful. But they actually care a lot and just show it in a weird way.”

  She just looked even more confused. “So they… show affection by being mean?”

  “Pretty much,” I said, laughing a bit more. “Loathing is trying really hard to appear that they don’t care, but they immediately asked about Fear. And from what I can see, Fear seems aware that that’s just how he shows he cares.”

  “By being a jerk?” Dee asked, sounding fairly bewildered.

  I just nodded, and looked back at the papers. This next Mightyena was going to be interesting. Green and purple. None of the others had this combo so I was a bit curious. “Mightyena, male, fifteen.”

  As I pulled back my arm to toss the ball, the door opened. “Holy shit that’s a lot of dogs!” I heard Valerie shout from the entrance. Turning back, I noted how every single Pokemon in the room was looking at her. She cleared her throat, coughing slightly into one of her wings. “Sorry…” Ren was at her side and just rolled his eyes.

  Slowly I got to my feet, dusting myself off a bit. “All done with your show?” I asked as I walked over, Cara and Dee moving to follow me.

  “Yeah. I swear they’re longer when I have guests over,” she grumbled the last part as she closed the door behind her. “How goes uh… your therapy sessions?”

  I turned back, watching as most of the Pokemon went back to whatever it was they were doing. “Pretty good, I think. Only eight left.”

  Her brow shot up. “Didn't you say there were like, a lot of them?”

  “More than thirty. But some of them weren’t that bad, and a lot of them know each other so it makes it easier,” I explained before leaning against the wall next to the door.

  “I see…” She was looking around the room at all the different Pokemon. “Team Flare sure likes their dogs, I guess?”

  “From little snippets I’ve gotten from them, I think they have some kind of breeding program for Houndour and Poochyena.” It was something that I had picked up on. A lot of these Pokemon shared the same mother, even when they were nearly a decade apart.

  “Jeez so they probably have more…” she said softly.

  “They have a lot of members, and all this is from about fifteen Trainers.” I didn’t really want to give her specifics, but they also didn’t really matter.

  “I think I read in a report once that they have a few thousand members.” From how she shifted, I was fairly sure she had folded her arms inside of her costume.

  “That’s a lot of dogs.”

  She giggled softly, nodding. “Yeah.” She paused, seeming to hesitate. “I wanted to give you something.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her, and after a moment a hand escaped from her costume, and in it was a sort of half oval of gold on a sort of wing design, and an oblong pearl with a large star. “I’m not going to accept that without a battle,” I said bluntly.

  “Oh come on, you more than proved your capabilities to me with that fight,” she said with a huff.

  “I’m not going to accept a badge without a proper battle,” I repeated. “I’m not Ash Ketchum.”

  She had such a flabbergasted look on her face. “Who?”

  I paused for a moment, having not really thought about it. It had always kind of felt weird to me that Ash just got badges, some that he did in fact earn outside of a battle, but some of those were just blatant gimme’s. “Ah, you’ll meet them eventually.”

  Her expression turned to one of confusion, and then to annoyance. “Is this one of those dumb future vision events that Olympia always rambles about?”

  A short laugh escaped me. “You can think of it like that.”

  She huffed, and then pushed her hand more towards me. “I still want you to take this.”

  I looked at the badge for a moment. “Tell you what. How about we have just a one on one? You mention Ren really wanted a fight-” the Sylveon looked up at his name, “-and I don’t feel right about taking it without one. How about that?”

  Her face scrunched a bit as she thought it over. After a few moments she nodded. “Alright… Who will you be using.”

  “Dee,” I said, pointing at her. She flinched when I did, going stiff.

  “Your Audino?” Valerie questioned, clearly wanting to follow it up with more questions, but eventually nodded again. “Alright. I’m full on slots today, but we can battle tomorrow.”

  I nodded. “Perfect. I want to get through the rest of these rescues, and then let them settle. Is it alright if I use this room overnight?”

  She waved her hand vaguely before tucking it back into her costume. “You can use it all week for all I care. Hell, use it for months. I have too many of these damn rooms in my gym. I don’t know what my great uncle was thinking he’d need ten of these for…”

  A bit of a snort escaped me. “Thanks. I might take you up on that for a while… These dogs need time outside their pokeball.”

  Her eyes swept over the room. “Yeah… Okay, well, I’ve got time before my next match. Do you mind if I stay and watch?”

  “I don’t mind.” I pushed off a bit from the wall to stand back up. “Just know that a lot of these Pokemon don’t like Trainers.”

  She nodded. “I’ll keep my distance.”

  With a nod in return, I made my way back to where I had been sitting. Dee followed close by, and Cara split off to go and stand in her usual protective spot.

  “You really want me to fight?” Dee asked cautiously.

  I sat down, still holding the same pokeball. “I know you don’t want to. But you need to.” I sighed softly, pulling out a pokebean. “Were you listening when I was talking about PTSD?”

  She nodded. “Of course.”

  “And survivors' guilt?” She instantly deflated when I brought that up, her eyes downcast. “I know it’s not something that you can control, but you can work on it. You want so badly to have the strength to protect others, but you freeze up when you have the opportunity.” I was turning the pokeball in my hand as I spoke.

  “And…battling will help?” she asked meekly.

  “In a controlled environment, like a gym battle, yes.” I reached over and started to rub her back, feeling over her scars. “You have the strength, Dee. You just need the confidence and courage to use it.”

  She remained silent for a few moments before taking several deep breaths and nodding. “Okay… Alright. I… I can do that…”

  I smiled at her. “I know you can. I just gotta push you a bit sometimes to get you moving.” She smiled at me and nodded. “Now, let’s reassure all these dogs.”

  Tossing the ball out I was met with a very skinny Mightyena. Joy had said they were all malnourished, but this was a lot more than any others so far. How did anyone expect them to fight in this condition?

  I ran through my introduction, and then immediately offered them food. That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as they started to cower. “Hey, hey… It’s okay. You’re okay. I have lots of food for you, okay? You can eat and no one’s going to hurt you.”

  It was clear that he didn’t believe me, but I could also see the way he was drooling. He practically forced himself to approach, clearly trying to fight it as he eventually got close enough to take the bean. And then he closed his eyes, expecting to be punished.

  When nothing happened immediately, he continued to wait. It was almost a full minute before he opened an eye to look at me, seeing that I was holding another bean. His eye closed and it was several more minutes before he opened his eyes to look at me.

  I had done my best to not move, simply sitting and waiting. Patience was the most important thing. When it seemed like he had finally convinced himself that nothing was going to happen, he started to eat. Every bite was slow, deliberate, and careful. He was clearly expecting to be punished for eating.

  When he had finished the bean, I offered him the second one. Again he seemed hesitant, but he took it after a moment and began eating in that same slow way. It was odd to see such a massive dog be so reluctant to eat. “Do you have a name?” I asked softly.

  His eyes snapped to me for a moment, taking a few seconds to process what I said. “Dreary…” he said so softly that I almost couldn’t hear him.

  I wrote it down on his pokeball. “You don’t have to go back into your pokeball if you don’t want to for right now, as long as you behave.”

  Again it seemed to take them a moment in order to register what I said before they just nodded, backing away slowly from me before looking around. He seemed to spot someone he knew, as his tail wagged a bit and he headed off towards the television crew.

  I took a moment to watch him leave, rubbing my face before looking at the papers. This was starting to be a serious strain on my mental health. “I’m gonna need a nap after this…” I muttered.

  Dee reached over, patting my head. That brought a bit of a smile to my face. “At least we’re almost done?”

  “Yeah,” I said with a nod. “Almost done.” I took out the next pokeball. “Mightyena, male, fifteen years old.” I wondered how Joy could tell exactly the age of some, but not others. This one also had a red and the final purple sticker.

  I didn’t waste anymore time as I threw out the ball. The dog appearing with worry written all over its face. I was glad that Pokemon were so expressive in their facial expressions; it made reading their emotions so much easier. I started my spiel about who I was and that they were okay, which didn’t seem to do much to ease their worry.

  When I offered them a pokebean, they were hesitant, but accepted it. They introduced themselves as Flinch, and actually apologized for being a mess. The rest of what they explained really surprised me, and I couldn’t tell what surprised me more; the fact that this Pokemon knew what anxiety was, or that their old Trainer had actually been trying to help them with it. They had a rather severe case of anxiety and tended to mumble and ramble their thoughts and explanations. In just a few minutes, I knew more about this Pokemon and his old Trainer than I did the rest of the wolf pack combined.

  Although most of it I didn’t try and remember, I did take note that he was called Flinch because any sort of rapid movement, or being touched when he wasn’t paying attention, would cause him to startle. His Trainer hadn’t used it as an insult, but instead made it a more endearing term to refer to the dog.

  He was sad that his Trainer got arrested, but they both knew it was inevitable. I was a bit surprised that they both knew the outcome of what they were doing, but still went along with it anyways. Flinch didn’t really get it, but his Trainer talked a lot about how much better the world would be when they succeeded, and it was worth it even if they weren’t around to see it.

  A true zealot.

  Talking for so long actually seemed to calm the canine down a lot, and he seemed a lot happier. I explained that he could wander around and talk with the others, and wouldn’t go back in his ball for a while as long as he behaved. That seemed to improve his mood as well, as he didn’t like being in his ball. Eventually after another sort of mumble storm of information, he wandered off, still muttering.

  That had been a rather curious interaction, but now it was for the final four. The last from the Pokecenter encounter, and the three green stickered Admin Pokemon. I decided to save the Admin ones for last, and deal with this pink sticker. “Mightyena, female, about nineteen years old,” I said aloud, mostly to myself, but also to Dee.

  Unfortunately I’d gotten way too lax, because the moment it was released and it regained its barings, Cara was there and sending it flying similar to Immodest. I really wasn’t expecting it to be that aggressive, although I really should have.

  But before Cara could re-engage her, she was absolutely flattened and then pinned by Malevolence before she could get up. Who, unlike Cara, I had actually seen move to intercept. “What do you think you’re doing, Grim?”

  The other dog known as Grim stared up at her with quite a mixture of emotions. Confusion being the one most present. “Ma- Malevolence? But… That’s the guy?”

  “That guy is Jace, our new Trainer, and the only reason any of us haven’t been put to death,” she snarled. Unfortunately she was also practically yelling, which drew a lot of the other Pokemon’s attention.

  “I… but we were…” Grim seemed to be faltering, trying to figure out what was going on and what words to say.

  “I don’t want to hear it,” she snapped her jaws close to the Mightyena. “We’re alive because of him, and get to eat tasty treats. Be grateful.” She shoved off of the downed dog, pushing her further into the ground, before sauntering back over to Immodest and Detach.

  Grim slowly got up, sniffling a bit. Clearly she was upset at being yelled at. “While she said it a bit too roughly, she is correct,” I said with a small smile. “You’re not going to be put down because I took you.

  She eyed Malevolence as she slowly walked back over. “Okay. I’m… I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” I said softly. “I know you’re scared, and I know what you were expecting. Your reaction is to be expected.

  Again she sniffled a bit, rubbing her nose with her paw. “She… She said tasty treats?”

  My smile grew quite a bit larger as I pulled out a pokebean. “Yeah, and you can have them as long as you behave, alright?”

  Her head bobbed up and down rapidly and eagerly took the bean the moment it was offered out to her. She made some mutterings about how they were, “Better than anything I’ve ever eaten,” and the like.

  I explained to her the other bits, that she was fine to wander as long as she behaved, and she enthusiastically agreed before making quite a rapid beeline away from Malevolence. I wondered if I did have another run in with Team Flare, if I just released a bunch of the stronger members I’d turned to my side… Would all their Pokemon turncoat immediately? That was honestly a pleasant thought, and something I would have to try.

  The last three Mightyena were absolutely the easiest I had done so far. They were all like Liar, quick to turn once offered food. Impulsive was a twenty year old male that was missing an ear. When I asked him about it, he said he didn’t want to talk about it. However, Smug, a twenty two year old female, happily informed me that he lost it playing in a restricted zone when he was a pup.

  The third, a thirty five year old female, the oldest of any of the Wolf Pack, was named Hate. Despite her namesake, she was actually quite friendly. I was a bit surprised to see a Pokemon that old, and when I asked her about it she informed me that Mightyena can live past seventy, so she was only about half way through her lifespan. It was very interesting to know that they didn’t share the same aging as dogs at all.

  Once the three of them had had Pokebeans, and wandered off, I laid down onto my back. “Ugh… Finally done…”

  Lucario - The group mom

  Lucario - Craves violence

  Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit

  Primarina - Doing big seal things

  Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon

  Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people

  Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life

  Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy

  Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress

  Banette - Silent but persuasive?

  Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry

  Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.

  Houndour

  Guff

  Bleak

  Rascal

  Dilly

  Fret

  False

  Grubby

  Muddle

  Gabby

  Bungle

  Dwindle

  Crass

  Houndoom

  Poochyena

  Mightyena

  Sneasel

  Liepard - Big hungry cat