"So...," Corporal Facade sat with Swift Gale and High Marks on around a small campfire a few yards from their tents. They sat on two logs, with Gale and High Marks on on log and opposite them, across the fire, sat Facade alone; there was a space saved for Stephen. It was a weak flame, and the "sea breeze" coming from the lake kept threatening to kill it. "How are we supposed to convince Stephen to get out here?"
"We could offer him food?" Gale offered, gesturing a hoof to the amount of fish, carrots, and daisies the stallions had harvested out earlier that day.
"No," Marks said, rubbing his chin with a hoof. "He'd probably take a piece then walk back to the tents."
"We could yell at him more," Gale suggested. "Toughen him up."
"Take it easy," Facade nudged the pegasus with his shoulder. "This is obviously a hard time for him. He'll learn to deal with it eventually. We still have a long way to go from here." At this, the mare and High Marks nodded.
"We could-" High Marks was about to offer another idea, until the already weakened flames were finally completely burnt out from the cool night breeze. "Well, damn it, there goes the light."
"It's drawing less attention from us." Facade said, keeping a monotonous streak. "Less chances of unnecessary encounters."
"That's all good and fine," Swift Gale's stomach started to growl. "But if we can't cook these fish or at least have a decent, warm meal, I'm going to hurt somepony. Stephen! Get out here and help us!" A murmur could be heard from the tent, but no attempts to leave it were seen.
"Don't you have tinderboxes or matches in that saddlebag of yours, Marks?" Facade asks, now lying across the log, eyes closed and getting impatient. "Not that I need legitimate foodstuffs, but it's still nice to have once in a while." The lieutenant started searching though his saddlebags beside him.
"I can't find the damn tinderboxes anywhere." the unicorn's horn lit up as he whipped up as spell and mentally grasped for the needed item. After another minute of thorough magical searching, Marks gave up. "That confirms it, no more tinder for the fire."
"Then how are we supposed to.... Wait!" Swift Gale jumped and cantered over to the tent where Stephen lay. She made her presence known to the human by knocking on a supporting pole that held up the tent. "Stephen?" At first, there was silence. Then a sigh.
"... Yes, Gale?" She heard Stephen respond faintly, as though he just woke up.
"Could you come out, please?" The pegasus asked. "We could use your help with the campfire." More silence. Another sigh.
"Alright." He said. Gale smiled, happy with the result. "Just gimme a minute to wake up." Swift Gale stepped back and waited a few moments before a bedraggled Stephen stepped out of the tent and stretched and yawned.
"Y'know," Gale began. "If you sleep like that more during the day then you won't be able to sleep at night."
"I'm well aware of that, Gale" Stephen replied as he rubbed his eyes. "I'm not a child."
"Well, that's good to hear." Gale started trotting back to the other stallions. "Now can you please come over and help us?" STephen didn't answer but followed the pegasus to the others, who greeted him with nods and smiles.
"What happened to the fire?" Stephen asked. Facade pointed a hoof at the lieutenant in the vicinity.
"Fire went out." He said. "Forgot to stock up on tinder." High Marks grumbled through his, teeth, as he was utterly embarrassed that he forgot the tinder. Stephen raised an eyebrow as if to ask, "Really?" High Marks to hung his head low.
Some Lieutenant, huh? Stephen thought, before grasping a Pokeball from his pocket. "It's fine guys." The human assured them. "We have an infinite source of heat and flames right here." He threw the Pokeball and out came, of course, Patrician. The Arcanine took a minute to get used to the darkness of his surroundings. Then he turned and saw Stephen, and the canine tilted his head expectantly.
"Y'know..." Gale looked up to the 6'3" Pokemon next to her. "I never realized how big this one was." While Stephen stood at around 5'8, the ponies at present stood on all fours at around 5'1. The only one pony taller than him was Celestia, and Luna's horn came up to his forehead.
"Alright Patrician, it's really simple." Stephen calmly commanded, still a little sleepy. "Just light up the campfire for us, if you please." At this, the Arcanine nodded and turned to the campfire. The "Legendary Pokemon" examined it for a moment, and quickly spat a small fireball at the middle of the pit. Well, it was small in combat terms. It looked more like a weak Flame Burst, as its embers "splashed" a little towards High Marks and Facade, who jumped out of their seats the moment Arcanine spat the fire. These embers hit the cold ground and died out. The result of all this was a huge campfire, probably bigger than necessary, and a thin plume rising to the stars.
"Wow," High Marks commented after a moment. "Even a small thing like that seems to be able to cause a lot of damage." He pointed at the fire. Like he said, it did cause some damage; there was a small crater, and it made the fire pit a lot wider. "You sure he should be training CQC still, Gale?"
"I'm just saying," the pegasus retorted. "That if he continues to rely on just his Pokermon to fight every battle for him, then he might as well be useless without them."
"Pokemon." Stephen pointed out. "And I think I did alright earlier today against you."
"True," Facade agreed. "Like you said, Gale, his dodging reflexes are commendable." There was a moment of silence; the commander was thinking.
"Then I guess we'll base whatever training we have from that in the future." Swift Gale.announced. You're not one for up front confrontation or even a stealthy attack. So we can have you retaliate somehow from a defensive stance!"
"I guess we can give it a try." Stephen agreed. "Sometimes it's better to learn something new than to leave something be for a long time."
"Wait, really?" Swift took a double take. "I thought you were going to argue against that."
"In other, calmer circumstances, I would have. I just lost sight of the fact that what we're doing is part of the start of a war." Stephen sat down on a log, next to Facade, who sat up and made room for the human, and Patrician chose to sit next to his Trainer, but on the ground. "My world has seen wars as well, and I lost my father to one even before I was born. You'd think I'd know the difference between useless training and training for the future." The ponies and changeling took this in; he'd never mentioned a war, let alone a late father before.
'Well then," High Marks spoke up, "Why don't we start training now? Or at least have a prerequisite."
"What do you mean?" Stephen asked.
"You see this here campfire?" Stephen looked at the campfire that Patrician had revived, and nodded. "Whenever Celestia gives me new recruits on overnight patrol missions, I like to to make campfires. It's a good way to gain trust in one another, and give better understanding as to where everypony is coming from. That way, you learn theirs strengths and weaknesses, even possible recipes for pies that you might want to make one day." The lieutenant smiled, reminiscing. "But the main point here is that we need to get to each other's levels, that way we can work together more efficiently and have better chances of returning home alive." The Trainer nodded as High Marks made that point. "So tell me, Stephen." The human looked up to the older stallion and raised an eyebrow. "What drove you to train as a Pokemon Trainer, as you call yourself?"
"I guess I just wanted to become the very best, like no one ever was. I'd make catching Pokemon the main point of my quests, training them would be my cause." Stephen spoke as though he had this written down and memorized from a young age. "I had traveled across the land, searching far and wide. I'd battle and train and live alongside these Pokemon to better understand the true, wonderful power that they have." The equines payed rapt attention and continued with enthusiasm to learn about this human's life.
" So I left home at a young age of ten, like any other starting Trainer and -" Stephen was interrupted by Swift Gale.
"Ten years old?" She asked, surprised. "Most colts fillies don't even have their Cutie Marks by then. What encourages them to do so at a young age?"
"Well, even though the Pokemon may be weak at first, it takes a determined Trainer to be able to raise his partners. In any such case, from the very beginning, a Trainer must spend at least a day at home with his or her first Pokemon to form a bond of trust before starting the journey." Stephen remembered the long lesson he got from Professor Birch all those years ago. "A Trainer must also have permission from his parents or legal guardian to go on this journey. Not all children in a town or city may be eligible due to health problems or family issues."
"So you didn't really have to?" High Marks asked.
"Well," Stephen thought about it for a moment. "In a way, being a Trainer is a form of occupation. If you beat another Trainer in a battle, the loser gives prize money. Same goes for tournaments, but your rewards have to be built up in order to translate those winnings into something like items or new attacks for your Pokemon."
"So, you've pretty much been around your whole world?" Swift Gale queried.
"I'm from Hoenn," Stephen counted off the regions on his hand. "From there, I went to Johto, Kanto, Sinnoh, and Unova, in that order. I haven't been to Kalos yet; I'm taking a hiatus from battling right now."
"What is the point of battling then if you're just gonna stop?" Gale pressed.
"Like I said, I wanted to be the very best. In every region, there is a group of incredibly strong Trainers called the Elite Four, each of them a master in certain types of Pokemon. After beating all of them, there is another, even more incredibly strong Trainer dubbed the Champion. I was Champion at least once in every region I've been to."
"So what does a Champion do?" Marks wondered. It sounded more like an intense competition. If Stephen has experience with these Champions, then who knows what he can really do.
"Well, once a new Champion is crowned, he or she must challenge any other Trainer who surpasses the Elite Four and must defend the title. If the Champion loses, then they must forfeit the title over to the victor. And yes before you ask, I have lost all Championship titles, but I am still recognized as a Champion and have the ability and choice to regain my titles if I so choose."
"So you are a Champion of every region you've been to, so that must mean you have a lot of Pokemon!" Swift Gale concluded excitedly.
"Well, yeah. Gimme a second." Stephen jogged back to the tent to get something from his bag. He ran back with his PokeDex in hand. "This is an electronic Pokemon Index. It shows every Pokemon that I've ever seen and/or captured." He turned to Gale. "Remember when I call you a 'Skarmory' when you had your wingblades on?" The pegasus nodded as Stephen opened and scrolled through its data banks to bring up an image and presented it to her. "That's what a Skarmory is."
"Whoa!" She exclaimed and showed to the other equines. "That's incredible!"
"That looks like it can barely fly." High Marks remarked.
"Well, yes it is quite slow compared to other Flying Pokemon." Stephen responded. "But what it lacked in speed, it makes up in attack power and defensive capabilities."
"Did you have one?" Gale asked. "It looks so cool!"
"No," Stephen frowned. "But my old friend and previous Champion Steven handled one very well. Any other requests?"
"What was your first Pokemon?" High Marks asked, and the mood became solemn.
"Nova." The Trainer said plainly., looking at the fire now, any enthusiasm for sharing Pokemon lost.
"She must be extremely strong then." Marks continued. "Seeing as she's been with you since the start."
"Yeah." Stephen's voice was low now. "She is."
"And she'll continue to be strong, Stephen," Marks kept going, as Mirror and Gale looked to see where this was going. "Yes, this will be a hard time for you. Yes, she's hurt and unable to join you right now, but you're fighting for her, right?" Stephen looked to him, understanding what the stallion was saying, and nodded slowly. "Then don't let this unnecessary regret eat you up, man! Corruption's magic, as we've been told, is incredibly powerful and you wouldn't have stood a chance if you tried to attack him without a plan! Then your Pokemon would have no Trainer to keep them safe. I know you're not from Equestria, and that you don't really trust us right now. Just think about this: If you're not going to fight for our country, at least help fight for your P\okemon so you and Kara, and both of your Pokemon can all go home safely together.
"How do you know about Kara?" Stephen asked.
"Well," Really, of all things? High Marks was slightly surprised by this question. "Celestia and Luna briefed us about the situation and the individuals involved. That's basic stuff, Stephen." The human nodded in understanding. "So why don't you stop mouring Nova, and celebrate her right now, because she's going to make it, I promise you." The unicorn looked to the pegasus and changeling. Both smiled and looked to the human to see his reaction.
"Alright." Stephen said after a brief moment of silence. "Thanks, I needed that." The lieutenant nodded and continued.
"Many soldiers lose their loved ones and friends in battle. Some are lucky enough to be able to still talk to them everyday." Marks's voice also became solemn. "Never take advantage of the bonds you make, though I believe making bonds is something you know very well about." The human nodded .
"So how did you meet Nova?" Swift Gale finally spoke up, trying to lighten the mood as Facade finally got to cooking the fish and arranging the other foods for the equines present.
"I was actually about 8 years old, living in Dewford with my mom..." Stephen continued to tell the story of how he met Nova as a Ralts and saved her, and how she saved him multiple times throughout his life so far. He also went on to tell them how he met the rest of the Pokemon in his team; Facade found much interest in Tempest's story,and Swift had a very understandable reaction to Patrician's back story.
"Awww," Gale had gone over and started petting the huge, fiery canine that was already starting to sleep, but was enjoying the affection from the pegasus. "It's a very good thing Stephen found you huh, big fella. You're definitely in good hands."
"Alright all, time to call it a night guys." High Marks announced. "Stephen, could you extinguish the fire for us please?" Stephen looked to the flames, and saw that it was still going strong. In the pit were fish bones and inedible parts of the plants harvested earlier; the remains from the night's dinner.
"Patrician!" Stephen called out, and immediately, the Arcanine sprang up, scaring the pegasus petting him and causing her to take to the air. "Extinguish the fire please, it's time to sleep." The Pokemon complied by jumping at the pic and promptly smothering it with his two front paws, killing the flame instantly. Stephen gave a word of thanks before having Patrician return to his Pokeball.
"That's enough fun for one night," Swift Gale had landed and started walking back to her tent. "We're totally doing this again, guys. Besides, we have a long way to go from here." With that, she left the scene. Facade agreed and retreated to his own tent. Stephen walked alongside High Marks to the tent they shared.
"Stephen," High Marks stopped before the tent. "You go ahead and sleep. I'll take a watch for an hour or so." Also, you need to sleep, I can see the worry still evident in your eyes. The human didn't doubt what the stallion said; it was late and he was tired.
"G'nite Marks." Stephen said as he entered then tent. "And thanks. For tonight, I mean."
"No problem." The unicorn replied. "If you ever need to talk, you can come to me." Stephen nodded before retreating to his sleep. However, tonight's dream would be quite interesting.