Lucas Whitmore woke up at six on Sunday morning because Growlithe was sitting on his chest.
He opened his eyes.
Growlithe stared down at him.
“Move.”
“Growl.”
“You’re heavy.”
Growlithe remained exactly where he was.
Lucas pushed.
Nothing.
“You’ve gotten heavier.”
“Growlithe.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
Growlithe licked his face.
Lucas turned away.
“Disgusting.”
His bedroom door opened.
Victoria looked inside, then at Growlithe, then at Lucas trapped beneath him.
“Good.
You’re awake.”
Lucas glared at his older sister.
“Help.”
“No.”
“Victoria.”
“Training in twenty.”
She closed the door.
Lucas looked at Growlithe.
“This family is terrible.”
“Growl!”
“You’re included.”
Twenty-three minutes later, Lucas walked onto the Whitmore family’s private training field.
It was considerably better than Grayhaven’s school facilities.
Not necessarily larger.
Better.
Adjustable targets.
Automated movement systems.
Impact sensors.
A regulation battle field.
Several terrain sections.
Exercise equipment designed specifically for Pokémon.
His father had added most of it over the years.
Victoria had used it before Lucas.
Lucas had practically grown up around Pokémon training.
Growlithe ran onto the field.
He knew what came next.
Victoria was waiting.
Her Blaziken stood beside her.
Lucas stopped.
“No.”
Victoria smiled.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You’re not using Blaziken against Growlithe.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good.”
“Blaziken would destroy him.”
Lucas stared.
Victoria laughed.
“Relax.”
“You’re terrible.”
“So I’ve heard.”
Blaziken walked toward the side of the field and sat.
Lucas watched it go, then looked around.
“Where’s my opponent?”
Victoria held up a tablet.
“You don’t get one yet.”
Lucas frowned.
“Then why am I here?”
“To find out why you keep making the same mistake.”
“What mistake?”
Victoria smiled.
“That one.”
Lucas stared at her.
“I haven’t done anything.”
“Exactly.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It will.”
Lucas already regretted waking up.
Victoria activated the training system.
Three targets rose from the ground.
Growlithe immediately became alert.
Lucas looked at them.
“Easy.”
Victoria raised an eyebrow.
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
She tapped the screen.
“Begin.”
The first target moved.
“Growlithe, Ember!”
Fire crossed the field and caught it square.
Lucas smiled.
The second target appeared.
“Again!”
Growlithe turned, Ember already flying, but the target changed direction at the last second and the attack went wide.
Lucas frowned.
“Again!”
Another Ember, another dodge.
The third target rose nearby.
“Bite!”
Growlithe sprinted, but the target dropped into the floor before he reached it.
Lucas looked at Victoria.
“You’re cheating.”
“I’m controlling the targets.”
“Exactly.”
“Would you like your opponents to promise not to move?”
“No.”
“Then stop complaining.”
The targets appeared again.
Lucas reacted immediately.
“Ember!”
The first attack missed.
The second connected.
A third target appeared close.
“Bite!”
Growlithe lunged, but the target accelerated away before he closed the distance.
“Chase it!”
Growlithe followed.
Victoria tapped the tablet, and another target rose behind him.
Lucas saw it.
“Turn!
Ember!”
Growlithe tried, but he was too late — the target was already gone.
Lucas frowned.
Victoria said nothing.
The first target appeared again.
“Bite!”
Growlithe chased it down twice and missed both times.
Victoria lowered the tablet.
“Stop.”
Lucas looked at her.
“What?”
“You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Letting me control you.”
Lucas stared.
“You’re literally controlling the targets.”
“Yes.”
“So obviously you’re controlling where they go.”
Victoria sighed.
“Lucas.”
She walked onto the field.
“You’ve had Growlithe for about a year.”
Lucas nodded.
“And?”
“And you’ve spent most of that year training him.”
“Obviously.”
“You know how fast he is.”
“Yes.”
“You know how quickly he can turn.”
“Yes.”
“How far he can comfortably jump?”
“Yes.”
“How long he can keep throwing strong attacks before he starts slowing down?”
Lucas hesitated.
Victoria raised an eyebrow.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you make him chase something he wasn’t going to catch?”
Lucas frowned.
“Because it was there.”
Victoria smiled.
“There.”
“What?”
“That’s your problem.”
Lucas stared.
“My problem is attacking things that are there?”
“Your problem is that you hate giving up an opening.”
“That’s called battling.”
“No.
That’s called letting the other Trainer decide where you go.”
Lucas went quiet.
Victoria pointed toward the targets.
“If I know you’ll attack whenever I show you something tempting, I can decide where Growlithe moves.”
She pointed to the first target.
“I show you this.”
Then toward the far side of the field.
“You chase it.”
Another target rose behind Growlithe.
“And while you’re busy chasing what I wanted you to chase…”
Lucas looked at the second target.
Victoria smiled.
“I hit you somewhere else.”
Lucas frowned.
“That sounds annoying.”
“Good Trainers usually are.”
Lucas looked toward Growlithe.
Growlithe sat patiently.
Victoria raised the tablet.
“Again.”
The targets reset.
First target.
Lucas almost called Ember.
Stopped.
Too far — he let it go.
Victoria said nothing.
Second target.
Closer.
“Growlithe, Ember.”
Hit.
Third.
“Bite!”
Growlithe lunged.
Hit again.
The first target appeared once more.
Lucas waited.
It moved toward the edge, then slowed.
“Now.
Ember.”
The attack landed clean.
Lucas smiled.
Victoria didn’t.
“That was better.”
“Better?”
“Yes.”
“I hit three.”
“You also ignored two bad openings.”
Lucas blinked.
“That’s good?”
“Yes.”
“That feels wrong.”
“That’s because you’re twelve.”
Lucas stared.
“What does my age have to do with anything?”
“Nothing.”
Victoria smiled.
“Again.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Currently.”
“Again.”
The drill changed.
Some targets hid.
Some changed speed.
Others appeared deliberately close before retreating.
Lucas started recognizing what Victoria was doing.
She was baiting him.
Sometimes he took it.
Sometimes he didn’t.
Growlithe gradually stopped reacting to every moving target too.
He waited, watched, then moved only when Lucas gave him something useful.
Victoria noticed.
“Better.”
Lucas immediately smiled.
“Finally.”
“I said better.
Not good.”
His smile disappeared.
“You couldn’t let me have one second?”
“No.”
“Mean.”
“Accurate.”
From the side of the field, Blaziken made a quiet sound.
Lucas turned.
“Did he just laugh?”
Victoria looked at Blaziken.
“Probably.”
“Tell him to stop.”
“No.”
“This family is terrible.”
They trained for almost two hours.
Not continuously.
Victoria wasn’t stupid.
Growlithe received water, rest, and breaks.
Lucas did too.
By the end, Growlithe was tired.
Lucas was sweaty.
And Victoria had discovered approximately seventeen new ways to annoy him.
They sat along the edge of the field.
Growlithe drank nearby.
Victoria looked at Lucas.
“Northgate’s coming.”
“I know.”
“Reyes posted the lineup?”
“Not yet.”
“Worried?”
Lucas frowned.
“Why would I be worried?”
Victoria looked at him.
Lucas lasted three seconds.
“Fine.”
He was.
It wasn’t that he doubted he’d compete — Growlithe was already Normal Grade, and they’d trained hard all year, so making the primary roster hadn’t really been in question.
It was the gap between probably and actually seeing his name assigned to a match.
Lucas wanted the real thing.
A proper school battle.
People watching.
Growlithe beside him.
And he wanted to win.
Victoria noticed his expression.
“You want an important match.”
“I want to battle.”
“You battle constantly.”
“You know what I mean.”
She did.
That was the problem with older sisters.
Sometimes they understood you when you preferred they didn’t.
“How’s the team?”
“Fine.”
“That’s informative.”
“You asked.”
“How’s Chloe?”
“Fine.”
“Crowe?”
Lucas sighed.
“There it is.”
Victoria smiled.
“How’s he doing?”
“Fine.”
“Lucas.”
“What?”
“You complain when I ask questions.
Then you give answers that make me ask more questions.”
He considered that.
“That sounds like your problem.”
Victoria shoved his shoulder.
Lucas laughed.
“Ethan’s improving.”
“How much?”
Lucas looked toward Growlithe.
“I don’t know.”
“Then why mention it?”
“Because you can tell.”
He remembered Ethan’s battle against Maya.
Houndour had lost.
Obviously.
Maya was older.
Furret was stronger.
But Houndour hadn’t looked like the same Pokémon Lucas had first seen during Foundations.
Faster, stronger, better conditioned — a little bigger too.
“Reyes noticed.”
Victoria nodded.
“What Potential?”
“Yellow.”
“Grade?”
“Beginner.”
“Still?”
“Yes.”
“Then he’s developing well.”
That was it.
No suspicion.
No dramatic conclusion.
Young Pokémon improved.
Some improved faster than others.
Training mattered.
So did food, environment, genetics, experience — all of it tangled together in ways nobody could fully sort out.
Lucas didn’t know exactly what Ethan was doing.
He didn’t particularly need to.
What mattered was simpler.
Ethan was improving.
“Ryan’s improving too,” Lucas said.
“The reserve?”
“Yeah.”
“And Chloe?”
“Obviously.”
“Others?”
Lucas nodded.
Victoria leaned back.
“So?”
“So what?”
“What are you going to do about it?”
Lucas frowned.
“Train.”
“Good.”
“That was obvious.”
“Apparently you need obvious things explained.”
Lucas shoved her shoulder.
She barely moved.
“That doesn’t work when you’re bigger than me.”
“Sounds like a you problem.”
Lucas stared.
“You steal everything I say.”
“I’m older.
I improve it.”
He hated older sisters.
His father joined them for breakfast.
Technically second breakfast for Lucas.
Training made him hungry.
Richard Whitmore read something on his tablet while eating.
Lucas’s mother was talking on the phone in another room.
Victoria was stealing bacon from Lucas’s plate.
“Stop.”
“You have six.”
“You have your own.”
“Yours is better.”
“They came from the same pan.”
“Yours still tastes better.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
Victoria took another.
Lucas moved his plate.
She reached across him.
“Stop!”
Richard lowered his tablet.
Both of them stopped.
Their father looked at Victoria, then Lucas, then the bacon in Victoria’s hand.
He went back to reading.
Lucas stared.
“You’re not going to do anything?”
Richard didn’t look up.
“You’re losing a fight over breakfast.”
“She’s older than me!”
Victoria ate the bacon.
“Skill issue.”
Lucas stared at her.
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I do right now.”
“Enough.”
Richard didn’t even raise his voice.
Lucas immediately returned to eating.
Victoria waited, then slowly reached toward his plate again.
Lucas slapped her hand.
She laughed.
Sometimes his family was irritatingly normal.
Richard looked over his tablet.
“Northgate.”
Lucas immediately looked at him.
“Coming up.”
“Lineup?”
“Not posted.”
Richard nodded.
“How’s Growlithe?”
“Good.”
“Still Normal Grade?”
“Yes.”
“Progress?”
“Good.”
Richard returned to his tablet.
That was it.
Richard didn’t need a speech, a demand that Lucas destroy everyone, or a lecture about the Whitmore name to make his point.
Lucas appreciated that.
Then Richard spoke again.
“Victoria says you’re predictable.”
Lucas slowly turned toward his sister.
Victoria smiled and reached toward his bacon.
Traitor.
“I’m not.”
Richard looked over the tablet.
“Are you?”
Lucas paused.
“…Less than yesterday.”
“Good.”
His father went back to reading.
Lucas stared.
“That’s it?”
Richard looked over the tablet again.
“What else do you want?”
“Nothing.”
“Then eat.”
Lucas did.
Victoria stole another piece of bacon.
Lucas couldn’t believe nobody in this house respected private property.
Later that afternoon, Lucas returned to the training field alone.
Growlithe followed.
“One more.”
“Growl!”
Lucas activated the targets.
The first appeared.
He almost commanded immediately.
Stopped — too far.
Second: bad angle.
Third—
“Ember.”
Hit.
Another target appeared.
Growlithe turned.
Lucas almost gave another command.
He stopped himself.
Growlithe was already watching it.
Wait.
Wait.
“Now.”
Fire struck the target.
Lucas smiled.
Victoria had been right.
He hated that.
“Again.”
Growlithe barked.
Grayhaven Secondary Academy Monday afternoon.
Ethan hated the running drill.
This was becoming a tradition.
“Houndour!”
Houndour passed the marker.
Ethan checked the time.
Then blinked.
He checked again.
“Yes.”
Houndour returned.
“Hound!”
“Another second.”
Chloe was nearby with Budew.
“You know one second isn’t that much.”
“It is when you’re winning.”
“Winning what?”
“Running.”
“Against yourself?”
“Still winning.”
Chloe shook her head.
Houndour was panting.
Not badly.
Ethan crouched.
“Water.”
He offered the bowl.
Houndour drank.
Ethan wrote down the time.
He’d kept recording things since the experiment with Arthur.
Running time.
Recovery.
Ember accuracy.
How long Houndour could maintain harder training before slowing.
The Dark Realm suited him.
That much was obvious.
Exactly how much it mattered?
Ethan didn’t know.
Arthur didn’t either.
So Ethan kept doing what worked.
Train.
Rest.
Recover.
Repeat.
And Houndour kept improving, which was good enough for now.
“Battle rotations!”
Coach Reyes’s voice crossed the field.
Everyone looked up.
“Short Singles rounds.
Controlled attacks.
When I call time, you stop.”
Ethan smiled.
Much better than running.
Chloe noticed.
“You’re way too happy.”
“Battling.”
“You battle all the time.”
“Exactly.”
Reyes began assigning opponents.
The experienced students were mixed with rookies.
Not every round was meant to produce a winner.
Some tested pressure.
Others tested movement, accuracy, command timing, matchup awareness.
Reyes mostly wanted to know whether everyone was actually learning anything.
Lucas faced Hannah Brooks first.
Growlithe versus Flaaffy.
Ethan watched while Houndour rested.
Hannah attacked early.
“Flaaffy, Thunder Shock!”
“Move!”
Growlithe dodged.
“Close in!”
Growlithe started forward.
Flaaffy shifted backward.
An opening appeared.
Lucas saw it.
Then—
“Hold.”
Ethan blinked.
Hannah did too.
Flaaffy fired another Thunder Shock.
Growlithe moved aside.
Lucas waited.
Then—
“Now!
Ember!”
The attack landed.
Hannah adjusted.
“Cotton Spore!”
Lucas frowned.
Growlithe started forward.
“Don’t chase!”
He stopped.
Ethan stared.
That was different.
Lucas normally liked pressure.
If he saw an opening, he went after it.
Today he was being patient.
Which somehow made him even more annoying.
“Time!”
Reyes ended the round.
Lucas recalled Growlithe.
Ethan walked past him toward his own field.
“You’re being weird.”
Lucas frowned.
“What?”
“You didn’t attack.”
“I attacked.”
“Not enough.”
Lucas stared.
“You’re criticizing me for not attacking enough?”
“Yes.”
“Go away.”
Ethan smiled.
“Did you get scared?”
“No.”
“Looked scared.”
Lucas pointed toward Ethan’s field.
“Your match is starting.”
Ethan looked.
Coach Reyes was staring at him.
He immediately ran.
Lucas smiled.
Worth it, watching him go.
Ethan’s round was against another rookie.
Houndour performed well.
Not perfectly.
His movement was better.
His recovery was better.
His Ember remained inconsistent when fired while changing direction.
Reyes noticed.
Of course she did.
She noticed everything.
After the round she pointed at Ethan.
“Your timing is improving.”
Ethan smiled.
“Thanks.”
“Your moving accuracy isn’t.”
The smile disappeared.
“Right.”
“Work on it.”
“Yes, Coach.”
Marcus passed behind him.
“Compliment followed immediately by emotional damage.”
Reyes looked at him.
Marcus accelerated.
Ethan laughed.
Practice continued.
Ryan trained hard.
That caught Ethan’s attention.
Lillipup was still Beginner Grade.
Still smaller than several Pokémon on the primary roster.
But Ryan wasn’t treating reserve status like a punishment.
He watched, trained, asked questions.
During his round, he used Lillipup’s movement better than he had during tryouts.
Ethan noticed.
So did Lucas.
Chloe noticed everything because Chloe was Chloe.
Nobody stayed exactly where they’d been when the team was selected.
That probably should’ve been obvious.
It still felt different seeing it.
At the end of practice, Reyes gathered everyone.
“Saturday.”
The conversations stopped.
“Internal evaluations.”
Marcus immediately straightened.
Reyes continued.
“Some of you are competing for Northgate assignments.
Others are being evaluated for reserve placement and future matches.”
She looked across the group.
“Making the primary roster did not guarantee you a battle.”
Maya smiled slightly.
She’d been saying that from the beginning.
“Pairings will be posted tonight.”
Whispers immediately started.
Reyes raised her voice.
“Go home.”
Nobody moved.
“Now.”
Everyone moved.
They were barely outside the training building when phones started appearing.
Marcus refreshed the school team page.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Again.
Ethan looked at him.
“It has been thirty seconds.”
“Could be posted.”
“It isn’t.”
“Could be now.”
Refresh.
Nothing.
Chloe walked past.
“You’re going to kill your battery.”
“Worth it.”
Lucas checked his own phone.
Nothing.
“She’s probably doing this intentionally.”
Ethan nodded.
“Definitely.”
Chloe sighed.
“You two are twelve.”
“So are you.”
“Unfortunately.”
The post appeared forty minutes later.
Ethan was already home.
His phone buzzed.
He opened it.
GRAYHAVEN JUNIOR BATTLE PROGRAM INTERNAL EVALUATIONS — SATURDAY
His eyes moved down the list, then stopped.
ETHAN CROWE — RYAN COLE
Ethan smiled.
Ryan.
They’d fought during tryouts.
Ethan had won.
But that had been weeks ago.
Ryan wasn’t the same Trainer now.
Neither was Ethan.
His phone buzzed again.
Marcus.
MARCUS: RYAN LOL
Ethan typed.
ETHAN: What?
MARCUS: YOU ALREADY BEAT HIM
ETHAN: So?
Three dots appeared, disappeared, appeared again.
MARCUS: beat him again
Ethan stared.
Brilliant strategic insight.
Across Grayhaven, Lucas was reading the same list.
He found Ethan’s pairing first.
ETHAN CROWE — RYAN COLE
“Rematch.”
Growlithe looked up from the floor.
“Growl?”
“Nothing.”
Lucas kept scrolling, then stopped.
LUCAS WHITMORE — OLIVER GRANT
Lucas stared.
Oliver.
Grade Eight.
Returning competitor.
And—
Wartortle.
Lucas slowly leaned back.
Growlithe raised his head.
“Growl?”
“Water.”
Growlithe’s ears moved.
Lucas looked at him.
“Against us.”
Growlithe stood.
“Growl.”
Lucas smiled.
A difficult matchup.
An older Trainer.
A Pokémon with more competitive experience.
Exactly the kind of battle Lucas wanted.
Then he remembered Victoria.
You hate giving up an opening.
Lucas looked toward Growlithe.
“We’re not chasing him.”
“Growl?”
“Unless we should.”
Growlithe stared.
Lucas frowned.
“You know what I mean.”
Growlithe lay back down.
Lucas suspected he didn’t.
Saturday came faster than expected.
The team gathered at Grayhaven’s training fields.
No crowd, no announcer, no medals — just Coach Reyes, the students, and however many battles would decide who represented Grayhaven against Northgate.
Lucas looked across the field.
Oliver Grant stood on the opposite side with Wartortle’s Poké Ball in hand.
Nearby, Ethan was talking to Houndour.
Ryan stood farther away with Lillipup.
Everyone was improving.
Lucas smiled.
Good — it would’ve been boring otherwise.
Coach Reyes raised her clipboard.
“First evaluation.”
Lucas stepped forward.
“Whitmore.”
He stopped at his position.
“Grant.”
Oliver walked onto the opposite side.
Lucas reached for Growlithe’s Poké Ball.
Time to find out whether Victoria’s lesson worked when the opponent could actually fight back.