The next two days were depressing. We worked harder and longer around the farm because being alone was painful and nobody wanted to talk. Except Richard. If there was one good thing about Richard it was that his jibes and teasing usually ended up raising the mood, at least when he didn't push it too far. This time our spirits were too low, even for him. Mareep was healing rapidly. By the end of the second day, she was limping, but following me around again.

  On the morning of the third day since the battles, a dense fog covered the farm. There had been a storm that had kept me awake half the night. We were sitting around the kitchen table having breakfast looking glum as was normal now. Daddy had gone out to check on the flock and Mum had gone to visit her Ampharos in the lighthouse, leaving me to prepare breakfast for the rest of the family. It didn't seem like we were going to get much work done today.

  “You know, I think that if nothing else, I've gained some respect for Pokémon trainers,” said Sunny. “It's not quite as easy as I thought it would be.”

  “Whatever made you think it would be easy in the first place?” asked Darren.

  “Just stuff, some trainers I met in the past were arrogant idiots. Also, people keep saying the circuit is a sham, and the whole thing with Elaine becoming champion the way she did.”

  I dropped my fork causing it to rattle on the plate. Richard and Edward shared a glance and ducked their heads, and Lily burst into a fit of giggles.

  “What’s wrong with Elaine being champion?” I said. Sunny hadn't seemed to pick up on the vibe.

  “Nothing really, but she had an easy circuit year. Everyone thought that Killian was undefeatable, which meant that there weren't as many participants in the circuit. Predictions for our year are the complete opposite because people see Elaine as easy pickings. After all, she barely won the Nocturne Championship, and then Killian didn't even defend his title. It's a bit of a stretch to call her the strongest trainer in Silín when she won by default.”

  “Elaine would have defeated Killian anyway,” I said. “Her Slaking alone could have wiped out his entire team. And that's not even taking into account the fact that she's the only trainer ever to do two mega evolutions in a single battle.”

  “I wouldn't push it,” Richard advised Sunny. “Calla’s a bit of an Elaine fangirl and she gets touchy about it.”

  “I don't get touchy about it.”

  “Leaving Elaine aside, the circuit definitely seems a farce to me,” said Darren. “The point system still doesn't make sense to me and the whole thing seems wildly unfair. Plus, it doesn't even encourage trainers to travel all of Silín. Most people just go to the more accessible tournaments.”

  “Don't complain about that,” said Sunny. “It's what we're doing.”

  “It doesn't matter, I'm not joking about pushing for gyms when I become champion.”

  “You keep going on about that but what do you expect to be able to do even it you do somehow get there. It's not like the champion suddenly has the power to dictate how the league is runs.”

  “It's about having a platform. Plus, I could use the position to get sponsors.”

  “A small piece of advice, young man,” said Grandma. “The livelihood of many towns in Silín relies on their biannual festival. If you're looking to shake things up, make sure not to turn the region against you.”

  Daddy came in, a small frown on his face.

  “One of the Mareep is missing. When you're finished eating, we’re going out to look for her.”

  That cut short the conversation and after gulping down the rest of the food, we split into three pairs: Daddy and Edward, Darren and Richard, and Sunny and I. The others set off with a Flaaffy each, Daddy going south and Darren inland to the west. My Mareep would accompany us. As we stepped outside, Lily tried following. I told her firmly to stay with Grandma.

  The fog was opaque. I could barely see the outline of Sunny standing right next to me. It soaked straight through my clothes. I shivered in the chill of the morning air.

  “Okay, Mareep,” I said. “Use Flash. Keep it low powered.”

  Her wool began to glow softly increasing the visibility to nearly a dozen metres. We set off for the cliff in a meandering line to cover more ground. The footing was treacherous and the occasional Wingull cry above made me press myself against Sunny. She carried Hector in her arms. He seemed to be enjoying the dampness. Aside from the aforementioned Wingull, the only sound was the lighthouse siren in the distance. It seemed incongruent with the stillness of the air and the cold wasn't the only reason I was trembling.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Did you hear that?” asked Sunny.

  “Hear what?”

  “I don't know, sounded like laughter.”

  We, listening for the slightest unexpected noise. There was nothing.

  “Don't scare me like that,” I said after a while. She apologised looking a little Mareepish and we continued on.

  The cliff was sheer. We heard it long before we saw it, the waves crashing into the rock face. To the south, intermittent flashes came from the lighthouse. Ampharos was working overtime. We turned north, slowly making our way up the coast. A half hour of stumbling over rocks and calling “Mareep” increasingly hopelessly, we heard shrill shrieks coming from the edge of the cliff. Looking over, only the top of the sea spray was visible in the fog. A Wingull shot upwards in front of us. I screamed and fell on my butt.

  “Are you okay?” asked Sunny.

  “Yeah,” I said once I caught my breath. I got up trying not to look too ashamed.

  “Could Mareep focus her Flash down there? I wanna see what’s happening.”

  I told Mareep to do what Sunny asked, but to be careful not to go too far. A squabble of Wingull were flying about. I peaked out from behind Sunny. On a ledge not far below us, a strange Pokémon was fighting them off. It was a small purple thing with spikey blue tentacles sprouting from the top of its head. It whipped them at its attackers as it was blasted by Water Guns and cut by Wing Attacks. As we watched, a spike on one of the tentacles cut a gash on the base of the wing of a Wingull. It was enough to down the flying-type, making it collapse besides the strange Pokémon. A dull purple sheen spread out from the wound.

  “I think it's lost,” said Sunny.

  “Might have been washed up from the storm last night,” I said.

  “Should we help?” she asked.

  “Help who? The Wingull might be attacking, but it's the purple thing that invaded their nest.”

  A Gust picked up the purple blob and flung it against the rock. Perhaps it was my distaste for flying-types, but I decided that was enough.

  “Mareep, Thunder Shock. Don't hit them, scare them off.”

  Her wool sparked and a moment later lightening cracked through the air around the Wingull. It drew their anger and the entire squabble turned to us. Flinching, I hid behind Sunny, but it only took a few more Thunder Shocks for them to decide to leave. Before I could say anything, Sunny placed Hector on the ground and began scrambling down the side of the cliff. She swung from handhold to handhold and reached the ledge before I could get over my shock. She knelt beside the Pokémon who looked at her warily.

  “Hey there, I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to help. If you're lost, I can take you back with me and get some food for you.”

  She took an empty pokeball from her belt. It raised a couple of tentacles threateningly.

  “There, there. Safe,” she said. She rolled the pokeball gently over. It poked it a few times, perhaps wondering if it was food. Then a tentacle brushed the button and it was enveloped in a red light. It barely shook at all before it clicked. The poor thing must have been exhausted. Sunny picked up the pokeball whispering something to it. She glanced at me and I could see she was troubled by something.

  “Catch the Wingull too,” I said. Thankfully I managed to keep my voice from trembling.

  “Are you sure?” she asked. “Will you be alright?”

  “I'm a Pokémon trainer, Sunny. I'm going to be meeting a lot of flying-types in the future. Besides, you shouldn't need to ask me for permission for what Pokémon you catch. And, it's going to die if we leave it there, isn't it?”

  She looked at it. It was barely conscious, bleeding, and poison was coursing through its body.

  “Probably,” said Sunny. Taking out another pokeball, she tapped it against the Wingull catching it easily. A minute later, she was sitting, on the ground next to me. Shaking, she tucked her hands under her armpits. Hector bounced over to her and sat on her lap.

  “I’m never doing that again,” she said.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah. It didn't really hit me what I was doing until I was or my way up. Going down I didn't really think about the drop. And I'm not used to wet handholds.”

  “It was really cool. And you got two new team members.”

  “Well, it might only be temporary. Wingull anyway I’ll probably release once it's healed, the other one might not have a place to go. Speaking of, I wonder what it is.”

  She opened up the Pokedex app on her phone and clicked on the search function.

  “I'm going to guess it was a water and poison type,” she said to herself. “Blue and purple. About half a metre tall. Appendages; tentacles.”

  One of the first results to come up was the Pokémon we wanted. It was called Mareanie and had one evolution called Toxapex. It excelled in defence, and was the only known Pokémon with the Merciless ability, which allowed it to deal heavy damage to poisoned enemies. It could be found in many oceans and beaches around the world, but it seemed to have a slight preference for warm waters suggesting it was very far from home.

  “It likes Corsola stalks, but eats pretty much any kind of seafood,” said Sunny. “Shouldn't be too difficult to find food for it.”

  “Was it a he or a she?” I asked.

  “Dunno, there's no obvious tells. We’ll find out later.”

  We headed back to the house, it being more important to heal the injured than to continue searching for a Mareep that likely wasn't where we were looking. The way back was a little easier. Relief made us giddy, and we were looking forwards to a hot bath. The fog was as dense as ever though. Like a blanket, it covered everything, seeming to muffle even sound. I thought I heard a gasp. I stopped, and a scream cut through the fog.

  “Lily!,” I cried, sprinting off in the direction of the scream. Mareep was a little behind me, her leg slowing her down. In a few moments she came into view. She was dangling about a metre and a half in the air, her wrist caught in what looked like the string from a balloon.