The three of us and our Pokemon walked up the hill towards one of the park areas overlooking the city.

  Liza was here with her Lunatone. Tate was just tagging along, which I didn't have any problems with. It was clear from my recent interactions with the twins that codependence was the least of their worries.

  Mossdeep was fairly picturesque, with a long beach on its west side and the high hill further inland where we could see the spacecraft for Hoenn’s space program. It was fairly steep actually and at that elevation I imagined you could see the whole of the city.

  There weren't many clouds in the sky either, which was ideal. The moon was half full, just about.

  “So…” Liza asked. “We’re going moon watching, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s right. I guess that wasn't exactly hard to figure out,” I said humorously.

  Initially I'd worried a bit because Mossdeep was a more advanced settlement so there were plenty of streetlights in the city, making it not ideal for stargazing. That activity was much better further away from civilization, where the light pollution was almost nothing.

  But the moon, it was just too big and prominent to be blotted out by human intervention. But still, what we really needed was somewhere quieter, calmer and with fewer distractions.

  A Teleport would’ve done the trick of course if we’d needed to head to somewhere more wild, but then wild areas came with their own distractions in the form of nocturnal wild Pokemon.

  My first thought had been the beach. But then I figured Mossdeep probably had decent enough nightlife that it’d be busy around there. Instead we were strolling up the slightly winding steps leading up to where the twins had told me there was a small park.

  It was quiet, but there were still a few people about.

  I spotted a pair of teenagers were staring into each other’s eyes on a bench. An elderly couple waved hello before continuing on their way.

  Then an older looking man in a suit came around a corner and right into our path.

  He had a Girafarig at his side, the yellow and black Pokemon’s two sets of eyes looking around itself. I immediately sensed from its posture that the Pokemon was on edge.

  The man’s eyes briefly took us all in. With three powerful Pokemon out and about the lot of us probably made quite the sight to those who were more in tune with such things.

  “Oh hello,” the man said casually as he approached us. “I didn’t expect to meet you out here Liza, Tate. And who might you be, sir?” He asked with polite interest that left me feeling that perhaps instead of meeting by happenstance that he had expected and maybe planned to meet us out here. His eyes lit upon me.

  “Oh, I don't think we've met before. My name is Clifford. How do you do?”

  He offered me his hand and I cautiously reached out to take it. It was a firm handshake…

  Although then I felt something pass between us. Leah stiffened in my arm.

  He’d just done something, but whatever it was I could see that it hadn’t worked.

  The man’s brow furrowed slightly in confusion, his lips also pursed like he’d just tasted something sour. I could sense Leah preparing to defend me. I calmly patted her arm to let her know not to respond for the moment. I didn’t know what was happening just yet, but the man didn’t seem to be violent or anything. I tentatively decided to see how this played out.

  “Hi Cliff! Harry this is Cliff. Harry’s gonna try helping Liza’s Lunatone to learn Moonblast!” Tate greeted, ignorant to whatever byplay had just occurred and the man smiled warmly at him as his attention turned to the boy.

  “Moonblast?” The man enquired, looking at me with a continuing polite interest. “I can’t say I’ve ever heard of that move before.”

  “It’s a Fairy type move,” Tate said, surprising him. The now named Cliff’s eyebrows rose further.

  “The new typing?” He asked, looking at me in a new light, his eyes flickering to Leah at my side for a moment too and I could practically see as he either remembered or realised that Gardevoir were also Fairy types.

  “And there was me thinking you were a new Psychic Gym trainer,” he said mirthfully.

  “Nope not a Gym trainer,” Tate said. Then both of the twins’ brows furrowed at the same time and Liza spoke up.

  “Err, he’s a proper Fairy type trainer. So don’t try to read his mind. It’s like the opposite of what it’s like with strong Dark type trainers. People get stuck in his head,” Liza explained quickly, revealing that this unassuming looking man was also a psychic and supporting my suspicions about what had just happened when our hands had touched.

  Some sort of touch based telepathy maybe? Or whatever that ability was that let you read someone or something’s history on touch. Some sort of information gathering skill, I figured.

  “I see. Certainly a very interesting ability,” the man replied casually. “Thank you for the warning.”

  He said that like he hadn’t just tried to do whatever it is he’d just done and probably not learnt anything for his troubles, probably thanks to whatever passive defences I apparently had. I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “But you said you were going to teach a Fairy type move?” He asked and I nodded.

  “Fascinating. A new type is certainly not something I ever expected to see in my lifetime. Would it be acceptable if I could join you, then?” The man asked politely.

  “I don't see why not,” I said, trying to figure out what this guy’s game was. Seeing the looks on the kids’ faces they wanted him to come though and he was clearly familiar to both of them. I really didn’t have anything to hide and despite the possible attempt at doing something with his own psychic abilities the man had asked politely.

  “So how do you guys know each other?” I asked, fishing for an explanation of who this guy was.

  “Cliff used to be a Gym trainer,” Liza said.

  “I retired from the Gym a couple of years ago,” the man explained. “But yes I used to work under Liza, these two’s grandmother.”

  He sounded very nostalgic as he explained his relationship with the kids, I thought to myself. The way Tate beamed when he patted the boy’s head certainly lent credence to that. This guy seemed like he had essentially been a pseudo grandfather to them.

  And if he was a psychic? An older one with lots of experience too, then…

  Damn, I thought to myself, realising the likely series of events that had led to this now.

  Cliff had looked into the future or something and was looking into my presence after seeing whatever weird stuff that Samantha girl had. Apparently whatever being a Fairy type trainer did to protect me from telepathy and divination was prompting nosey psychics to come and investigate the phenomenon now I was around them.

  It wasn’t much further up to one of the higher points on the hill. The four of us and three Pokemon found a park bench and I gestured for us to sit down. Leah and the Gym Leaders’ Pokemon stayed close, hovering over our respective shoulders.

  I had a vague idea of what Psychic type moves worked, thanks to having trained a Gardevoir. Although she'd mostly taught herself those abilities. Hopefully I could provide the explanation in a way that would hopefully work to the twins’ advantage.

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  “So correct me if I’m wrong,” I began carefully. “But my understanding is that Psychic moves essentially work off of thought. You concentrate on doing something, focus on it and that’s the core of how Psychic type moves and abilities work. Does that sound right to you guys?”

  “Eh, kinda. It’s a decent way of simplifying it,” Tate said, speaking for everyone else.

  “I figured,” I replied.

  I thought I had a decent enough grasp of the Psychic type, but as long as that basic explanation worked then it would help here. Because my explanation now about Fairy types was going to be correct to a similar degree.

  “The first thing to understand about Fairy type moves is that they’re built around emotions,” I said to my small audience. “In the same way you have to put in mental effort towards Psychic type moves, you’ve got to feel with Fairy type moves.”

  That elicited nods, but also frowns from the psychics. Maybe the distinction was hard to get their heads around.

  “At its most basic you’ll see that Fairy types are really interested in something to the point of obsession or even violence. It’s because at its core Fairy types are creatures of emotion in one form or another. To go along with that there’s a few rough categories you can put Fairy moves into,” I told them.

  “First is moves that express a desire to affect someone and make them feel something, like Babydoll eyes or Charm. Second is moves that will attract the attention of others, like Disarming Voice and Dazzling Gleam. The third type is one where the Pokemon expresses it’s connection to something, often the natural world, in some way. In this case it’s that third one we need, which is probably the hardest to get your head around. There needs to be a passion to express to use those moves.”

  When I looked at the moon I didn’t see anything but a big hunk of rock in the sky. I couldn’t think of it as special and create that connection and none of my Pokemon had been able to either. Given time they could learn it naturally, but teaching those moves was a whole other thing.

  “So to learn Moonblast we need to form a connection with the moon?” Liza asked sceptically, looking up into the sky.

  “Moonblast will manifest as an expression of that connection,” I told her. “Lunatone needs to internalise its connection to the moon, on a spiritual level.”

  Again, feelings were always the key. Simply acknowledging that the Moon Pokemon had some link to the moon wasn’t enough here.

  Looking at the Lunatone, I saw it was paying close attention to what I was saying. Exactly how much it was understanding however I was unsure.

  “A spiritual connection?” Cliff asked. “You mean like with the connection Ghost trainers often make with their Pokemon? I know some channellers who’ve said something like that in relation to the spirits that follow them.”

  “Not… quite,” I replied. “But also, yes?”

  I offered a thin smile. “When I say spiritually, I mean there needs to be an emotional, spiritual connection between Lunatone and the moon. We aren’t trying to play with souls or anything.”

  “Alright,” Liza said, who was now frowning and giving me the impression that she didn’t quite get what I was saying. “How do I help Lunatone make a spiritual connection with the moon?”

  “Well in theory it’s very simple, at least to start off with,” I replied. “Lunatone, what does the moon mean to you?”

  ***

  Someone had to keep an eye on the cameras and make sure everything stayed okay with the Pokemon in the habitat building and today that was Alexia.

  A few days ago it had been her least favourite part of the job, what with needing to keep track of the rebellious Jigglypuff going all over and causing problems. The blasted things, not nearly as cute as her own Wigglytuff who was still upset after being rejected by her fellow Pokemon. That crisis had been resolved now though. It was much less exciting now that the Jigglypuff had calmed down and were keeping to their part of the habitat.

  She made another note about the third Zigzagoon next. It looked like there might be another Pokemon egg based on how the Linoone was still going around and gathering some of the berries that the Gym trainers hid around for them to find. They usually did that when the females were more irritable.

  Eevee was curled up in her lap, dozing. The silly thing had tuckered herself out playing with Mary and Randall’s two Skitty and had been like this ever since.

  “Must be pretty nice, being a Pokemon,” Alexia huffed with dry amusement.

  Alexia rested a hand in the thick scruff of fur around her Pokemon’s neck and the Pokemon murmured in response. Eevee fur was very soft.

  Looking across the monitors she saw that pretty much all the Pokemon were asleep. There weren’t any particularly nocturnal Normal types in the Gym. The only person who seemed to be awake was herself.

  She yawned. At least it wouldn’t be much longer until someone came to relieve her. It was supposed to be Jodi today, hopefully she’d arrive a bit early and Alexia could go back home and get some sleep. It’d been a long day, especially with her having to do the Slaking cleanup duty this morning…

  And a lie in. Tomorrow was her day off after all.

  There was a buzz from the console. One of the screens indicating someone was at the side entrance door. It was Jodi and Alexia buzzed her in.

  “Wake up sleepy head. Almost time for us to go home,” Alexia said, giving her Eevee a little push.

  The Eevee murmured in her sleep, face scrunching up adorably and then she let out a bit yawn before opening her eyes.

  Eevee jumped off Alexia’s lap and onto the floor allowing Alexia to stand back up and greet Jodi as she came in.

  “Hey,” Alexia greeted the other Gym trainer.

  “Hi,” Jodi said. “Anything to mention?”

  “Not really,” Alexia said. “The Jigglypuff are keeping to themselves and I think there might be a new Zigzagoon egg in den 3B. There’s been a couple of Vigoroth fights. One of them got too close to a Slaking earlier.”

  “Oh crap, are they okay?” Jodi asked immediately and for good reason. Alexia decided to elaborate on what had happened.

  “It was that newly evolved one and the female that keeps picking fights. Lucky for them Norman's Spinda interrupted things so neither of them got too hurt. I made a note for Norman to give those two some extra training tomorrow. Should keep them from messing up like that again.”

  This time it was more to do with establishing the pecking order among the most aggressive Pokemon in the habitat, but the Vigoroth tended to try testing those boundaries all the time so no matter what Norman did it wouldn’t last long.

  The Vigoroth were usually smart enough to avoid bothering their evolved form leaders, who generally didn’t care about the smaller wild monkey Pokemon. But if the Vigoroth disturbed nap time, which was most of the time as far as the Slaking were concerned, then those Vigoroth could easily find themselves nursing a few injuries.

  She handed over the security keycard and grabbed her notes. After saying goodbye it was finally time to leave after a long day of boredom.

  With her Eevee in tow, Alexia exited onto the empty road leading from the gym and towards the more populated area of Petalburg. It wasn’t too far to walk home, only a mile or so. So with her Eevee strolling along beside her the Petalburg Gym trainer casually made her way down the street.

  The walking helped wake her up a bit, and Eevee too. Alexia was considering picking up a bite to eat from that late night pizza place when she was suddenly surprised by a Pokemon teleporting in front of her.

  Immediately on guard, she had Wigglytuff’s Pokeball ready but the trainer paused when she saw what Pokemon it was.

  It was a Kirlia, that Kirlia. The one she’d met the other day when Harry Hemming had visited the Gym.

  “Kirlia!” The Pokemon said, waving hello before jumping up and down, spinning around like a Ballerina.

  “Vee ee vee,” Eevee replied, stepping forwards and greeting the other Pokemon.

  “Hey there,” she said. “I didn’t expect to meet you out here.”

  The Kirlia tilted her head cutely before shrugging. She spoke again, smiling brightly but obviously Alexia couldn’t understand what the Pokemon was saying.

  Eevee could though and she bounced up and down a bit, approaching the wild Pokemon.

  Slightly wary, but not sensing any hostility, Alexia watched as the Pokemon spoke to each other. She didn’t think the Kirlia would turn hostile, but she kept Wigglytuff’s Pokeball in her hand so she could summon her out at a moment’s notice.

  Norman had spoken to her now about the local Ralts line population around Petalburg and how it was important that they act respectfully whenever possible. So it was important that she didn’t do anything too rash, even if her instincts as a Pokemon trainer were pointing out that there was a wild Kirlia right there.

  “So… what’re you doing out here at this time of night?” She asked casually.

  “Kirl kirkirl!” Kirlia replied enthusiastically. She jumped up and spun around a bit and the Eevee joined her in an impromptu playful dance.

  Alexia wasn’t sure what the Pokemon was saying, but if Kirlia wanted to hang out with her Eevee for a bit then Alexia didn’t really mind.

  She continued on up the street for a little bit with both Pokemon dancing and playing but fortunately keeping fairly close. Alexia felt her tummy rumble.

  “Hey I’m hungry. Do you guys fancy some pizza?” She asked.

  Both Pokemon stopped. Kirlia because she probably didn’t know what pizza was, her Eevee because she did know what a pizza was.

  After a brief explanation from her Eevee, Kirlia’s interest was piqued and the three of them set off to the pizza place.