The Treecko smiled at me and bowed. “Thank you. My name is Xeron Shadowfang. I hope I can be a useful asset in your team.” He said rather enthusiastically. “Hey. Remember, it’s not my team, it’s our team. Every member is as big a part in it as I am.” I replied. Xeron smiled. “Thanks.”

“Hey guys! Come over here!” I yelled to Luna and Lily who were still busy sparring. They wandered over and smiled. “Whats up Tesla?” Luna asked. I smiled. “I’d like you to meet Xeron, our newest member.” I said, and the Treecko bowed. “It is an honour to fight alongside you. “It’s good to meet you Xeron!” Luna smiled, and Lily blushed a little. “Yeah… It’s great that we have four members now!” She said, trying to hide her embarrassment. I rolled my eyes.

“Well… shall we have a training match then?” Xeron said rather quickly. I smiled. “Ok. Who wants to battle? I’m up for a fight.” I said, and Xeron narrowed his eyes. “I’ll take you on.” He said, grinning. I grinned back. “Okay Xeron. I’ll go easy on you if you want.”

I decided to take my gauntlets off, in case I accidentally cut Xeron. We both stood at opposite ends of the marked out arena, me with my fists clenched, Xeron spinning his Staff. “You ready?” I said. Xeron pulled up a ninja mask that covered his face apart from his eyes. “Born that way.” He replied. I smiled. I liked this guy already. Luna smiled. “Go!” She called out and I ran at Xeron.

I brought my fist back, ready to swing at Xeron, but as I got a few feet away, he disappeared. I stopped, and started trying to find him with my Aura Sense. “Damnit… He’s got a Psy Barrier… I can’t track him!” I said, preparing for a surprise attack. He reappeared behind me and hit me with the staff, and by Arceus it stung. I rolled out the way before he could strike me again, and just as I was going to hit him, he vanished. “Damnit!” I yelled. “How the hell am I going to beat him?”

Lily and Luna were amazed that someone was beating me in combat. “Ok think Tesla… It’s not all about brute force…” I thought. Then I heard a noise behind me. I dodged out of the way as a Razor Leaf sailed past my ear. I smiled. “Missed!” I ran at him, trying to get him to teleport, and  he did. I smiled. “One… Two… Three… Four… Five!” I yelled, and span round, just as Xeron teleported, and I connected my foot with the side of his head, knocking him across the floor. “Oof!” Xeron grunted as he hit the floor. I walked over and helped him up. “Good job Xeron.” I smiled. “I would have expected you to figure out how my Shadow Dash works. But you did it so quickly. You truly are powerful Tesla.” He grinned. We both bowed, and high-fived. “Now then, we best get back to our room. I need to hang around for Talon to get back to me so we can’t really do much.” I said.

We all went back to our room, and I put my equipment away, as did Luna and Lily. “What are we going to do about sleeping now?” Luna realised. “We have four members and only two beds. Lily surely can’t still use that nest now she is a Combusken right?” Luna looked around. “Right Lily?” Lily was curled up in her nest, smiling. “Why is that? I can sleep here. It’s comfy.” She giggled. “Fair enough.” I said. “I’d be happy to sleep on the sofa if it would make things easier.” Xeron said. “If that’s okay with you then go for it.” I replied.

I went to sit on my bed, and I got out my notebook and pencils and started doing some more drawing. Luna was reading a book she kept with her, Lily was just laying there and Xeron was meditating. It was nice and quiet again. Whoops! Better not say that or something will burst in again.

After a while, there was  a knock at the door, and Talon poked his head round. “Hey Talon! Any news?” I asked. He nodded. “Yep. Turns out, those three were possessed. Someone used some sort of incantation to control them. We don’t know who yet, but we found a rune circle in the grounds not far from here. It’s a very powerful circle, and only a high level pokemon could have used it.” Talon explained. “Wow… I knew they weren’t in control… It makes me feel bad now…” I said, as the realisation hit me that I killed an innocent pokemon. “They may have been innocent, but the incantation requires an empty body to perform the ritual. They were already dead when the ritual was performed.” Talon said, and we all looked at him in horror. “You mean…” Lily said, gulping. Xeron clenched his fist. “Someone killed them and infused an evil spirit into their bodies…” I could tell he was angry. “What kind of sick fuck would do that?” Luna exclaimed. “Someone who would go to great lengths to kill someone, and frame someone else for it.” Talon said. “That’s all we could find so far. You guys can slack off for the rest of the day if ya want.” Talon smiled. “Thanks Talon!” Luna said happily. “See ya!” He said, before leaving. 

The rest of the day was pretty boring. Luna and Lily were chatting away on the sofa and watching TV, I was laying in my bed drawing. I couldn't get one thing out of my mind. The ferocity that Bisharp attacked us with. He wasn't just possessed, something powerful was controlling him. To make him unable to feel pain, and even after I broke his arm like that, he still didn't stop. It was mental. Dwelling on it wouldn't help me much. It was night-time before long so we all decided to turn in early, but I still couldn't get over what the previous day had brought...