Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Oh." He said. He thought for a moment. The more he looked at it, the more work to be done. It was going to be all worth it in the long run. "Alright. I will." he said. He then went back over towards the Muk and reached up to take Natu off of Muk and then he held it close. "We'll get real good."

Tristen nodded. "Come on, Natu. We got a lot to take care of." He said.

"Natu natu." The bird replied.

"Alright!" He said. "Come on, Natu."

"Natu Natu." Tristen said running off with Natu in his arms, and Castform trailing behind him.

It was the next day and I sat in the kitchen. I pretty much thought I had to do this...another letter. Only, I'd be sure to avoid the whole bitterness, because I actually had a lot of thought put into this...making it something...sort of unlike me. Finding the bright side to a fairly dismal outcome, because when I thought about it, things surely had changed, potentially for the better, considering what has been happening over the past few days with everyone...though, really, also now that I think about it, I'd only be able to vouch for myself, Tails, and Tristen. Ceramew and Eve, who was also was part of that Hyda party to rescue Miles, I hadn't seen them for a bit of a spell...so really, I have not the slightest as to how they are feeling at this moment.

Regardless, as soon as I managed to put 'Dear Miles' into the letter, Tristen approached me, looking up towards me. "Blizz?" He spoke up.

"Yes?"

"Tails said something about you might being able to help me. He said that you had a...um..." He then thought for a moment. It was two letters, he did remember. "TM? Yea. A TM."

"A TM? A Technical Machine, right?"

"Yea!"

"I don't have that many of them left, to be honest to you, Tristen. For that matter, I haven't had the chance to get any more since we've been here. I do have a few, but I don't know if its what you're looking for. I may look into getting those re-usable TMs out of the Unova region here soon...but regardless. Uh...why do you want a TM anyways? And of what?" I asked.

"I was trying to do something to help Castform out if both Natu and Castform were out. I was wondering if you had a Sunny Day machine."

"Sunny Day...hmm..." I could just about see what Tristen was going with this, and to be honest, while basic such a attack combination would be, I had to hand it to him that he is actually trying to think on stuff like that for being such a beginner trainer. But I had to bring something up to him. "Well you know, Castform can learn Sunny Day too, right?" I asked.

He instantly stopped. "....um. I guess I do now."

"And for that matter, Rain Dance. And Hail." I then mentioned. "I can see where you were going with it though. Get a quick attack off from Castform immediately as it changes form, right?" I asked.

"Yea!" Tristen said.

"But think, in the long run, how often will that happen for you?" I asked.

"I don't know..."

"And no one will. Its a good idea if you have a general idea of what you're getting into, namely into sanctioned fights like I talked about to you yesterday, but as for the other thing I talked about?"

"Not good?" Tristen asked.

"Here, I will tell you what. You think on if you REALLY need a Sunny Day TM from me." I said. "Thinking on stuff like this is also part of what a Trainer does. If you can tell me why you really need one, apart from just one battle combination, then I will see if I have the TM and give it to you."

"Okay." Tristen said. "Uh. One more thing, Blizz...how do you train Pokemon if you don't have anyone to practice against or...well...if you can't go outside?" He started to remember the Ursaring and the Tyrannitar outside.

"You can train in any way you see fit. Me, at times, I actually spar against my Pokemon." I said. "I actually have them attack ME."

"Are you kidding!?" Such a thing ranked sheer insanity to Tristen. Getting blown away from Pokemon of that caliber? But to this, I looked at Tristen with a bit of a unamused look on my face. "You're serious."

"Yea, I'm serious. I find it that if your Pokemon are going through the work to learn something and hone their skills on something, they need a target to do it with that can actually fight back. For that matter, it helps each other work towards a common goal. And whats the point of having a Pokemon work hard if you're not going to work with them? Remember what I said, Tristen."

"I remember."

"What."

"Your Pokemon depends on you as you depend on them." Tristen quoted.

"Good."

This was a bit more for Tristen to absorb. "Doesn't that hurt though? Them attacking you."

"Of course it will hurt. But thats why you just have to end up shrugging it off, knowing that you're Pokemon is actually doing what they are supposed to be doing right. Hell, you want to talk painful, have I told you about the time my Scizor nailing me with its Bullet Punch attack? Nasty right hook for that matter. For the record, its a steel type attack, and I'm an Ice type."

Tristen thought for a moment. Ice types. Weak to Steel Type attacks. And considering the fact that metal claws met with a face...ow. Just. Ow. "My face hurts." Tristen said, rubbing the side of his face.

"Yea, but it was worth it. It was how Scizor learned to perfect its Bullet Punch attack." I told him.

This was a bit for Tristen to absorb, but then he nodded. "Ok, thanks Blizz." He said running off. I gave a bit of a laugh to myself then went back to the letter.

After getting my thoughts back on track, I finally went to the paper and started to write.

Dear Miles,

I decided today to write to you, just for the hell of it. I was originally trying to write to you before, only to get replies from Mikey due to your absence at the time. I'm pretty sure he has told you about it by now. I figure to get a real start with you on a letter exchange, if at all possible.

I have to admit that I am still sore on over you going on a martyr course of action, but, take refuge for I'm not going to go on that tangent again. We've been through it enough back at Hyda. But, its funny on how things turn out in the long run. Sure, myself, Tails, Tristen, Ceramew, and Eve were still upset when we came back here to Mt. Silver, but then, we got upset for different reasons. At least...me, Tristen, and Tails. Something...I guess to work for. I guess I should explain.

Tristen got upset over the fact that he realized that, try as he might, he was not the 'big brother' to Tails's expectations, and at this point, probably won't for quite some time, if ever. Of course, what probably didn't help in that regard is the fact that Tails started to mature right there in the thick of things, showing that outright being submissive is not all that glamorous in the first place, regardless of how much of a Pokemon one is. Also, what I don't think helped is the fact that I'm thinking Tristen is feeling a bit too indebted to all of us. We rescue him, shelter him, get him back to health, teach him things, and so on, and I guess he found that the LEAST he could do is be the older brother that Tails wanted him to be...which didn't happen. Regardless, Tristen didn't like it. He felt like he failed. He felt too weak for his own good. He cried, Miles.

It was after him apologizing to Tails for being in such a state that he went to me, actually. He wanted to be strong. Both in mental and physical states. Though he was...well...hesitant to ask, at first. Probably fear of what is to come...or me saying no. I don't know. I agreed to it, however, letting him know in the meantime that it's not going to be easy, as it never is with me. But putting forth the effort, he can achieve just about anything, though HE needs to be the one not so submissive all the time. Its day two now of training for Tristen. I got him started on learning how to manipulate his Thunder chi, similarly to how you taught me and Tails, and Tails and I have got him started learning how to raise, train, and battle with Pokemon. He's been really anxious about this sort of thing. Today, I'll be heading off to go get Tristen a new suit of clothes; a starter fire-proof set like what I got Aden and Tails over a year ago. You know what I'm talking about.

I leaned back a bit and thought for a moment. I did find it a bit funny on how things turned out to be after the fact with Tristen. And then we're going to be going to absurdity with Tails here soon...

Tristen made his way into the training room again, only to find that the Muk had not left the room. One thing he also noticed. Tails had sunk into the Pokemon. "..........Is he really comfortable in there?" Tristen asked, mainly to himself.

Tristen walked over and then grabbed his foot and pulled hard as he could to free Tails from the massive glob.

"I saw that." Tristen said. "Is he REALLY that comfortable?" Tristen then asked, staring at the Muk in confusion.