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Truthfully, it surprised Aden a little when he saw that Nidoran and Flaaffy were somewhat awake. Poliwhirl was up too, but out of the three, he was the only one not laying there.

"Ah, good, you seem to be doing better." He said. The three perked up, though that was about it. "Oh, Nidoran, Poliwhirl. There'll be a new one for you two to meet soon."

"Yeah, you'll see him in a few. He's getting checked up right now. Flaaffy, you've kinda already seen him." Aden said. "Once he's in here, I'll talk more."

The three were quiet, for now.

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten... though, I should probably do that now instead of later. Flaaffy, Nidoran, Poliwhirl, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put you three through something so rough."

"Whirrrl." As far as Poliwhirl was concerned, there wasn't a reason to apologize. But then, he hadn't seen Miltank.

Nidoran, though, didn't say a word. He already took two harsh blows to his pride.

Aden, however, wasn't going to have any of that. "Nidoran, I know you're not in the best of moods, what with Flaaffy just going through her evolution despite being around for a much shorter time. Let alone what happened in the gym battle. I should've been working with you more, but at the same time, I think I noticed something else."

This made Nidoran perk up a bit, as his trainer continued to speak. "Are you worried you're going to be left behind or something? Because I don't plan that with any of you."

"Ran, ni do."

"That Arcanine and Rhydon are dad's more than they are mine. Using them would've been unfair. Even if I could get them back at Ecruteak, it probably wouldn't be a good time to have them around again." Finally, he shook his head. "Thing of it, I underestimated Whitney. I underestimated her badly, and all three of you paid for it. That wasn't right of me to do. Not to mention the danger you were put in, especially Nidoran and Flaaffy."

The three looked at Aden. "I'll try not to put any of you in that kind of predicament again. If you want, I'll keep from using you whenever I rematch Whitney."

"Po li." Apparently, this idea wasn't one Poliwhirl cared for. He'd keep fighting.

"Flaaa..." Flaaffy... wasn't so sure. At the very least, she didn't want to be fighting that cow.

Nidoran, however, just looked away.

"If it helps any, Nidoran, something for you to work for." Aden spoke up, withdrawing the Moon Stone from his vest pocket. "This looks like a regular stone, I'm sure. But what if I said you'd be able to use this one day after you evolve, when both of us are ready for that?"

He soon put it back away. "But Blizz has a point. If you're going to let one thing get to you like this, we're not going to get much further. So are we gonna keep going? Or should we cut things short here?"

The two involved didn't say much, and it wasn't long before Poliwhirl decided to say something too.

"(If neither of you will, that will be your choice. The adversary is one I'm not versed on. But if you're to overcome it, wouldn't fighting be the best method? Your fear should be conquered, not the other way around. As for you, Nidoran, grow up.)"

"(...What did you say?)" This struck a chord.

"(You're one of our more immature ones, you're often impulsive, and you let smaller things get to you even more than Aden has. Our newer member suffers from it as well, but she's managed to grow in a short time. I don't just mean in size. The process of evolution is just as much a process of growth as it is maturity and being ready for such a thing.)"

"...Just how long have you been around?" Aden couldn't help but asking.

"(Evolution for my kind takes some time, and is not something taken lightly when the time comes. I just had a preference to fool with passers by with my water attacks, you included.)"

"Anyway... what'll it be?"

"(....I'm gonna keep going. Just give me some time to myself, okay?)" Nidoran finally spoke up.

"(Can... you give me the same? I'm with Nidoran, but I still need to get my thoughts straight.)" Flaaffy said afterward.

"I can give that much, yeah."

"Yeah..."

Poliwhirl shook his head. He wasn't in need of anything in particular. Flaaffy returned a similar sentiment; she didn't want to do too much right now anyway.

Nidoran, though, spoke. "(I'll be fine, but thanks.)"

It wasn't long before Aden backed off for the moment.

"Yeah. I'm still a little worried because of how they were when I first saw them, but as for this... I guess how the Unown portrayed them was pretty accurate." Aden commented.

"Yeah. At the same time... I guess I should've seen things coming with Flaaffy and Nidoran." Aden said, taking the Coke and sipping it. "The rest have their quirks, but those two seem like a couple of younger kids. At least, that's how I see it."

He shrugged. "Still, the battle or two would do some good. And since I know what to watch for, it'll be a little better for the party either way."

"Trust me, I've already gotten a glimpse." Aden still couldn't get the incident with the Unown out of his head. It didn't help that his first foray into seeing this firsthand involved seeing what his Pokemon would've looked like if they were children of varying ages, with Mareep not being too happy with Nidoran due to how the battle between them went.

To him... the short version was Nidoran acted like seeing someone around his age get something he really wanted, and now he was brooding over it. He had heard that being a trainer involved some sort of mentoring, if not parenting, but only now was it fully becoming clear. "Nidoran will probably get over it, though. It can't be a lot worse than how Flaaffy was towards him at first."