CYOA 2 – To The Victor Go The Spoils – Chapter 20: Climbing A Mountain (Patreon)

Last time: Hanzo arrived at beautiful Akkala Island and took a much needed day off to just be and feel good about his hard earned win. Lúcio, Cole and he also had some fun play time!

Content/warning: bit of pining and sexual tension but mostly action!

---

Hanzo is not the first trainer that day to introduce himself… he thinks. He’s not sure whether the other people milling about the large estate that gym leader Reinhardt lives in are trainers waiting to show themselves to their opponent or just… groupies.

They certainly are excited, bouncing on the balls of their feet to try and peer over the wall. Some of them are holding posters to be signed or banners with all kinds of… inappropriate things scrawled onto them.

From what Hanzo had been able to see from a distance it had certainly been impressive how well the man could surf, but he still was an… old man, was he not? He tries to not think about all the things he did with the old people back in Lavaridge. His body responds to the most inappropriate things these days…

He has stood at the back of the crowd for a few minutes, trying to settle in for what seems like a long wait, when the gate opens and a gentleman peers out. It is not the gym leader; he is barely tall enough that Hanzo can see him when he goes onto his tippy toes and cranes his neck to look over the heads of the crowd.

The… cheerleader? go quiet quickly and the soft voice of the man calls out: “Any challengers?”

There is quiet. Hanzo waits for at least a few people of the crowd to call out but when nothing happens and the old man begins closing the gate again, he realizes that he actually might be the only one here to fight the man instead of cheering him on and… wanting babies from him.

“Here! Excuse me! I am… I am a challenger.”

He almost pulls back when many turn around to owlishly stare at him but Hanzo stands his ground, his arm firmly in the air so the old man can spot him as he opens the gate back up to look.

“Oh! I see, I see… please, come inside, then. Mister Wilhelm is more than eager for you.”

Hanzo’s ears grow pink but he refuses to acknowledge the swooning sighs around him. The fans part for him and he steps forward and past the old man after mumbling a greeting and bowing to him.

The old gentleman is wearing a weird get-up of short dress-suit pants and just a dress-shirt. To Hanzo it looks like he is a butler that really tries to stay properly dressed even in this hot climate which makes for a bit of an awkward combination.

Still, he seems like a very kind grandpa as he closes the gate and smiles at Hanzo.

“My name is Balderich, I am Mister Wilhelm’s… right hand man, some would say. Welcome to Akala Island gym! I am glad you have come, young man! He was very hopeful that there might be a new challenger soon. It gives him something to do with his energy, you know?” he laughs and pats Hanzo on the back as he gently turns him and steers him toward the large building which reminds him a lot of the estate in Hanamura.

“I… I see. Are there not many challengers?” He peers around as they walk; left and right of the walkway is a wild but beautiful flora; a far cry from the very carefully made gardens back home.

He can appreciate the beauty of both.

Here, too, he can spy a few Pokémon moving around in the thicket, though he wouldn’t be able to say whether they are domesticated Pokémon or wild ones that have wandered in and found the security of the surrounding walls to their liking.

“Not as many as there used to be,” Balderich says with a sigh. “There are a lot less young people willing to take on the journey than there had been just twenty years ago… though I could not say why that is. Times simply change, I suppose.”

Hanzo hums softly. It would fall in line with the fact that he hadn’t had to wait at a single gym yet but he also never really thought about how busy they were in the first place-

“Balderich, is there- Oh there is! Young man! Welcome! Please, please, come in!”

The booming voice startles Hanzo something bad; he nearly has whiplash from jerking his head around, staring at the entrance of the place where the gym leader has appeared. Up close he looks even more imposing than he had balancing on a surfboard and braving the waves.

He has foregone putting on any clothes other than some shorts, showing off a physique that Hanzo would not have thought possible; certainly not for a man his age. He must spend a truly humbling amount of time honing his muscles. His voice is, if possible, even larger than his body, though, a huge smile lighting up his face.

Not that Hanzo spends much time looking at it when his gaze keeps dropping to the man’s chest; broad and muscular, covered with a thin fleece of white curly hair. It reminds him immediately of Cole…

“There is indeed! Young… uh… young…” Balderich comes to a halt, half-turning toward Hanzo with an expression of shock and dismay. “I have not asked you your name,” he says in a stage whisper.

Hanzo, shaking himself out of inappropriately staring at the gym leader, clears his throat and quickly bows to both of them a few times; feeling like he has to be especially polite due to their age. “No, no. It has been my oversight. My name is Hanzo Shimada. I come from Hanamura to challenge Mister Wilhelm.”

He trails off, feeling like anything he would say would fall on deaf ears as Mister Wilhelm exclaims an earth shattering ‘AAhhh!’ and suddenly makes his way toward Hanzo in huge strides.

Looming over him, his large hands clap down on Hanzo’s shoulders, nearly bringing him to his knees. The expression on his face reminds him of a very exuberant and friendly Arcanine.

“Shimada! Of course! You must be Sojiro’s son, yes?!”

There is a second of ice cold panic as Hanzo wonders wildly whether his father has a… special relation with this man as well.

There is no way that Sojiro Shimada, his stern and immovable father, would be the whore of the Pokémon League and hop from bed to bed.

…Right?

Looking into Mister Wilhelm’s open, smiling face, it is impossible to even think of, so he shoves it to the back of his mind where it belongs.

“Ah. Yes, yes you are very right, Mister Wilhelm-”

“Call me Reinhardt!”

Did the man have to scream the whole time? Though it did fit his… impressive physique.

His large, warm hands are now sliding off Hanzo’s shoulders and are instead grasping his hands to bring them up between them and clasp them in his grip. It is a weirdly knightly gesture that catches Hanzo off-guard, staring down at their hands between them; or rather, at Mister Wilhelm’s hands that are completely encompassing his own.

“Of… course. Reinhardt,” he finally gets out. The man is as kind as Lúcio had predicted; but Hanzo had not been prepared for the sheer charisma oozing from him. “Maybe my brother has been here already…?”

That slightly dims the big guy’s smile, though only because he is frowning and thinking, slowly shaking his head.

“No. You are the first challenger in… what… two weeks?” he peers over at his butler Balderich, who nods along. “So your brother is on the journey as well? How fortunate! Though I did not expect otherwise from Sojiro’s boys.”

Hanzo perks up at that. Had he truly finally bested his brother somewhere? How fortuitous! Spirits immediately lifted, he feels himself smiling at the gym leader, even as he is manhandled to come with him by a big arm curling around his shoulders and pushing him along.

“Come! Come! Let us not waste a minute! I am itching to know more about you and your Pokémon, Hanzo! The last time I saw you, you were just a wee babe being watched over by your father’s Corviknight. Let me tell you, it has not been easy peering into your crib, the infernal bird did not let a soul near you!”

Hanzo almost stumbles over his feet. He does not know what to think about the fact that this man that he finds… wildly attractive, has met him as a baby. He also doesn’t know what to think about the other information.

“I am surprised it has not ate me, then,” he mutters under his breath, though it goes unheard by Reinhardt who waves one muscular arm wildly about and calls: “Balderich! Bring us some snacks while we talk!”

.oOo.

“I do things a little differently around here, Hanzo! But nobody has complained yet!” Reinhardt breaks out in laughter. Hanzo has no idea what is supposed to be so funny, but he smiles thinly just to entertain the old guy.

When Reinhardt laughs, his pecs are bouncing along with it. He hates that he’s noticed because now he really can’t stop staring at them, mouth dry. Reinhardt’s next words pull his attention away, though.

“I do trials, mostly! I like watching trainers and their Pokémon work together, you know? Comradery! Brotherhood! Overcoming obstacles! That is what this journey is about, is it not?!”

Hanzo frowns slightly, dragging his palms against the tops of his thighs slowly. “Trials?”

“Yes, yes! I know you are confused. Many a trainer that have come here are. I find that not many know about my style! But let me explain – it is easy, really.”

His big hand finds its way to Hanzo’s back once more as he gently urges him toward the seating area on the back porch that he’s guided him toward. There is already tea and small sandwiches laid out, presumably curtesy of Balderich, though he has no idea how he managed to do it this fast.

An Aipom has already wandered close, probably intent on stealing one of the treats but it quickly scampers back to the undergrowth to hide in a few bushes once it sees them coming.

They sit down while Hanzo listens anxiously to Reinhardt’s explanation.

“I like to get a good look of my opponent’s team and help them pull the best out of themselves and their Pokémon, you see? Brotherhood!” No, no Hanzo did not see. He finds himself pouring the both of them tea more out of an ingrained habit to be courteous to his elders than anything else.

Reinhardt nods and takes his cup. It looks comically tiny in his hands.

“I have a few training grounds which I usually use for the trials! I’ll come up with a fun challenge for you and your Pokémon to overcome. It will be exciting!”

Hanzo has… so many questions, really. How could it be that he’s never before heard of the fact that Akala Island’s gym leader was apparently crazy?

“Go on- I can barely wait! Show me your Pokémon, why don’t you?”

Hanzo’s hand immediately wanders to his belt. He pauses there, though, wondering for a second what he’s getting himself into again… but Reinhardt is grinning at him with all his teeth and while his smile is a lot different than Cole’s, it does remind Hanzo of him, so he does what he’s being told.

Five Pokéballs later, his team is standing in a row; more or less. Reinhardt shouts with what Hanzo assumes is delight, clapping his big hands together so Goomy and Maddox stay at attention, though they look confused as to why, and King and Kikuri are eying the huge man standing up and striding toward them; one deeply distrustful, the other just wondering whether they can get some undivided attention.

Zeus, as far as Hanzo can tell, only has eyes for his trainer.

“This is a beautiful bunch! Balanced typing, very good. Two fire types; but they are very different, yes? Oh, you are all good Pokémon, are you not?”

As Hanzo watches, Reinhardt reaches into his pocket and pulls out a fist full of Pokémon treats. He watches as he offers them each and every one of his team, half rising in alarm from his seat when Kikuri snatches more toward the fat fingers than the treat offered to her. Luckily the gym leader is already moving to the next, unwittingly avoiding her sharp beak. Hanzo does not know what he would have done if one of his Pokémon actually injured a gym leader.

He sits and watches as the huge guy moves from one to the other, speaking to them. His voice is suddenly very low; too low for Hanzo to make out what exactly he is saying. So he is capable of an inside voice after all…

Shortly before he steps toward Zeus, he twists toward Hanzo, a bewildered smile on his features as he calls over: “A shiny and a Gyarados! What a combination! You are a very interesting trainer, my boy!”

Hanzo flushes warm and satisfied at the praise. He feels a little as if he had gotten a treat as well, hands clasping between his knees.

Reinhardt does not look afraid of Zeus. He reaches out without qualms, hand rubbing the space between the Pokémon’s eyes before throwing seemingly all the rest contents of his treat pocket into the wide-open maw.

The whole encounter does not take longer than… five… ten minutes? But when he wanders back toward Hanzo, his next words take him completely off-guard. “We do not need to talk about your Gyarados – it is trusting you with its life, that much is abundantly clear! Good job! But the rest of your team might need a bit of tender love and care, don’t you agree? I suspect you caught the Goomy last, yes? It is still very timid and unsure! We will have to work on building the trust between the both of you!

And the Rockruff could use a bit of fighting spirit, hm? Very gentle and agreeable, but unused to battles, I take it!”

Hanzo can’t help but stutter a soft: “H-how did you…” But Reinhardt interrupts him, apparently not having heard him as he moves over to slowly rub his hand over King’s forehead while his gaze is stuck on Kikuri, sitting there and ignoring all of them while she cleans herself like a cat.

“And that Salandit… A female, I take it? Hmmm not an easy species to take care of. This one seems very… spirited.”

He falls silent, just staring at Kikuri until she stops grooming herself and sits up on her hind legs, watching him back with her crescent-shaped eyes narrowing into distrustful slits. She looks like she is about to spit a glob of poison at the gym leader, so Hanzo quickly jumps in to diffuse the situation.

“Those were very accurate assessments, sir. How did you do that?”

Reinhardt immediately turns his head, laughing chest deep. The sound is loud and obnoxious but it stops fairly quickly.

“Oh, ‘sir’. I like that! You Shimada are very polite, yes? Very nice, very nice!” he claps into his hands and rubs them together, turning completely away from Hanzo’s Pokémon to instead look him up and down with that one good eye of his. He grabs him by the shoulders once more. “I’ve been around trainers and their Pokémon long enough to see where their strengths and weaknesses lie, my boy. I pride myself on it, if I am being honest! I enjoy helping trainers and Pokémon to have better communication!”

Hanzo nods slowly. He’s not sure how he feels about this whole thing; Mister Wilhelm seems to be indeed a very kind man, but he is also very touchy-feely and he still has not the faintest idea what this gym is all about.

“Ah, but you are wondering what I am getting at, of course. Come, sit back down. I will explain it to you.”

Hanzo, weirded out by Mister Wilhelm’s apparent mind reading abilities, follows along back toward the little seating area that they had been at earlier. He keeps his Pokémon out; something he regrets once he turns back around and notes that Kikuri has completely vanished. He has no idea where she’s got to… and whether she’ll come back, if he is being honest.

He can feel a little ball of anxiety forming in his chest but has to trust that she has not abandoned the team and so turns to try and pay attention to the old man’s explanation.

“Akala Island gym has for the past many years… decades, even… successfully conducted trials for each and every one of its challengers. You are to undergo three tests that are specially designed for you and one partner Pokémon that I will choose for you. I find that the experience brings trainers and their Pokémon even more together than the usual fights!”

Mister Wilhelm looks at him with what Hanzo can only assume is excited expectation, but Hanzo doesn’t react at all for a long few seconds as he lets the announcement sink in and thinks it through.

“So you will choose these… trials, and the partner with which I will attend?” he queries after a moment. From the corner of his eyes he can see Kikuri wandering back out from the overgrowth of the veritable forest surrounding them, which is… good, at least.

“Indeed!” Reinhardt smiles at him big and happy, much like a canine. When Hanzo again does not immediately answer, his grim dims a little. He leans over the table between them, holding out a hand with three outstretched fingers.

“Three trials. Three different Pokémon of your team. If you can win, you get the badge.”

Hanzo nods slowly. His first instinct is to ask whether they can’t do a more… traditional fight, but he forces himself to remain quiet for a moment longer and just breathe. His last win and the subsequent evolution of Zeus has left him feeling a lot more confident, so… what the Hell. He’ll do it.

He stands up and bows at Reinhardt before extending his hand.

“I accept the challenge, sir.”

The old guy looks… surprised, Hanzo thinks, but in the next second he is up, towering over him and clasping his outstretched hand between both of his. Hanzo honestly can’t say whether he is being pulled in or whether Reinhardt is stepping even closer, but suddenly they’re just what feels like a breath apart. He has to tilt his head far back to look into Reinhardt’s face while feeling the heat radiating off of him.

“Wonderful!! I know you and your team will do absolutely excellent! Oh, it has been quite a while since I had the pleasure of testing one of my colleagues’ children! You will make for fine entertainment, son!”

Hanzo looks at him stunned, unsure what to think about that… though if he lets himself dwell, he is sure he could dredge up a mountain of anxiety, so he pushes through.

He needs to be more proactive. Less introvert.

More like Genji and Cole, and less like… me.

“I won’t disappoint you, sir.”

For some reason that makes Reinhardt laugh more than anything else yet. He lets go of Hanzo’s hand with one of his so he can instead wrap his arm around Hanzo’s shoulders and pull him against his naked front where he can now even feel his booming laughter. It is quite… a lot but it does not continue for long.

In fact, just half an hour later Hanzo finds himself stepping out of the front gate again, feeling dazed and a bit like he’s still in a dream, Reinhardt’s parting words echoing through his mind.

We’ll start with your Goomy! Come here tomorrow morning, I already got something in mind! I will give you one tip on the way: Pokémon can have much the same demons as humans. Sometimes you will see yourself and your actions reflected in them. Helping Goomy might just mean helping yourself!

What the Hell did that even mean?

.oOo.

He is still wondering about the words by the time he is closing in on his hotel. Surprisingly enough, he does not feel particularly more nervous than before any other gym challenge.

“Maybe I should talk to Goomy,” he mumbles under his breath, hand just going to his belt where his Pokéballs are neatly lined up… when he is grabbed from behind right there on the open street.

Breath hitching in shock, he goes rigid while whoever has him in a bearhug is pulling him off his feet. His brain is immediately feeding him with pictures of him getting thrown into the back of a nondescript van – when he inhales and his assailant’s smell hits him and the fight goes out of his body for a moment.

He’s sat back down slowly and when he’s let go so he can turn around, he is ready to slap Cassidy… if he weren’t so surprised to see him here, standing there with a big goofy grin on his face and reaching up to tip his hat back.

“Surprise, sweetheart!”

“What are you doing here?” Hanzo asks, frowning and digging his finger into Cole’s chest. “Why are you accosting people on the street?”

“Hey now… thought I’d surprise ya,” Cole croons, catching Hanzo’s hand and holding it between the two of his. Now with a direct comparison, Hanzo can tell just how large Reinhardt had been… but getting dwarfed by him had not given him those immediate fluttering warm feelings in his whole body.

He only half-heartedly tries to pull his hand free, still frowning at him.

“What are you doing here?” Not that he isn’t wildly excited to see Cassidy… but it wouldn’t do to let him know just how hard and fast his heart is pounding right now. It feels surreal to see him standing there, still in all his cowboy get-up while around them people are walking about in their bathing suits just to somewhat combat the heat of the day still lingering in the streets.

“Well I thought I’d give ya a bit of moral support for the challenges,” he drawls, curling an arm around Hanzo and pulling him close so he can make him feel how he tilts his hips forward and into him. “Give ya a bit o’ rest and relaxation?” he croons low and distracting.

Hanzo doesn’t necessarily want to pull away… but he pushes his hands against Cassidy’s chest even so to move against the hold he has on him.

“Rest and relaxation means that you’ll let me go to my room now so I can think about tomorrow’s trial. Where have you booked your accommodations?”

The smile slowly dims on Cole’s face, a frown starting up.

“Wait… I thought I’d get t’ sleep with you- I-I mean in your room.”

Hanzo hums thoughtfully. It’s exactly what he thought might be going on in that thick head of his. He looks around them, then steps to the side so they are a bit hidden from the sidewalk just behind a few bushes. He lets his finger slide along the buttons from Cole’s flannel, murmuring: “You know I am sharing my room with Lúcio, right?”

“Well…” he has his arms hanging by his side now and is just staring down at Hanzo, his face somewhat slack. He looks eager as a dog – desperate to fuck Hanzo. Honestly it is quite an empowering feeling to have.

“You’re not saying you’re willing to just have an audience so we two could… be together, are you?”

“Well…”

Hanzo clicks his tongue, curling his finger between two buttons and pulling Cole just that little bit closer. The smell permeating from him is intoxicating. Warm and always with that bit of sweat; like he’s come home from a day of good, honest work. It hits all kinds of weird places in Hanzo’s brain that makes him want to both slap Cole and also slip under his shirt and bury his nose against his furry chest until he goes cross-eyed with the stink.

“Are you saying you came all the way here just so you could… copulate with me in front of my friend?” he asks in a low voice. Part of him wants to be crude, but he can’t quite make himself say these things.

He’s not as shameless as Cole and Lúcio obviously are.

Cole’s face starts to flush, eyes glinting with eagerness as he finally starts moving, grasping Hanzo’s waist with his big hands to hold him right where he is and roll his hips into him.

His voice is just this side of rough as he croons low: “Sounds hot, doesn’t it?” and leans down, angling for a kiss.

Hanzo pulls his head back, putting a hand over Cole’s mouth and tells him: “You may stay during the trials. I think I would like the company… but you are not going to touch me without permission. I want to win… and then maybe I will let you have a treat. Maybe.”

Cole groans into Hanzo’s palm but Hanzo is already turning away from him to stalk toward the hotel, feeling giddy that Cassidy would even put in the effort to come here in the first place… just to see him.

“How did you get here this fast anyway?”

“Hmn? I showed you the picture, didn’t I? My Braviary flew me over. She’s a beaut… fastest flier there is.”

Hanzo pulls a face in disgust. Bird Pokémon.

.oOo.

He ended up letting Goomy out to talk to it but he’s not sure how much good that has done in the long run. It had looked honestly terrified at the prospect of being out and about in any fight whatsoever… or maybe it hasn’t quite understood what Hanzo was getting at, he’s not entirely certain what Goomy does and doesn’t understand since it had been in the wild before.

In any case, he’s been wondering about Reinhardt’s words, not telling either Lúcio or Cole about them. It felt like cheating if he were to try and get their opinion on it. It is his trial, after all.

He can do it… he… has to.

Standing in the arena beneath Mister Wilhelm’s house, he feels conflicted but not despairing. Yet; though he does not know what to think about the tall mud wall in front of him. There are eight ledges with small indentations behind them. He doesn’t have any qualms about Goomy being able to climb up; so that would be rather easy. What was the catch?

“Here is the map!” Reinhardt booms, thrusting paper at his chest. Hanzo grabs it and peers down at the crude drawing. He would not be surprised if Mister Wilhelm had done that himself; it kind of looks like a large child with a too small pen had scrawled it down – but it is not difficult to read, at least. Three colorful stars are pointing at different ledges of the mud wall.

“Your task is simple! Guide Goomy to retrieve the three items I have hidden up here!”

Hanzo frowns, following the sweep of the big arm to look up the mud wall once more. That… does seem rather simple, yes. He briefly entertains the thought of telling Mister Wilhelm just that, but in the end he keeps quiet.

Don’t look a gift Horsey in the mouth, he thinks and nods.

“Very well.”

“One hour time limit! I will go up to the observation point and when you hear the signal, you can call your Pokémon forth and get started! No showing it the map!”

Hanzo nods, his hand already at his belt, fingers slowly rounding the shrunk ball of Goomy. He glances up toward the observation point where Lúcio and Cole are already standing, giving him thumbs-up. He does not know what to think about them being present during the trial. In a way it is nice to know that they have his back, but he’d rather do it in private, he thinks. He just nods to them, then turns back forward, focusing on the task at hand.

It is simple. In a way it is even insulting just how simple it is. Mister Wilhelm has looked at the line-up of his Pokémon and found Goomy not only the weakest but also apparently completely unable to simply scale a wall and retrieve some trinkets.

They’d show him…

The sudden blaring of a siren almost makes him jump. He glances up, noticing that Mister Wilhelm has appeared in the small balcony and is waving at him. Hanzo watches for a second how handsome he and Cole look next to each other… big and broad and hairy… then shakes himself out of it and throws Goomy’s Pokéball.

It is on.

.o.

Goomy, for as huge as he is, manages to make himself surprisingly small once the light has vanished to leave him sitting there. He has put his antennae over his eyes, ducking like he is anticipating a hit.

When nothing is forthcoming, he starts to peek out and… decompress himself a little. Hanzo sighs through his nose, stuffing the map into his back pocket as he walks toward the timid Pokémon and crouches down in front of him.

“No need to be afraid. It’ll be very easy,” he tells him in a low voice. “You’ll climb this wall and I will guide you to some treasure that you’ll bring to me. Simple, right?”

Goomy turns to follow the point of his finger, peering up the steep wall with its ledges. He stares for so long that Hanzo starts to get a sinking feeling about this whole endeavor… but eventually he turns around and begins to scoot toward the wall, leaving a trail of shimmering slime behind.

Hanzo exhales in relief.

“There you go. It’s easy; you can do it.” He stands up slowly, grabbing the map from his hind pocket while watching as Goomy slowly but surely gets into a complete vertical position as his body easily sticks to the wall.

Just when he is a good meter and a half up and Hanzo is about to guide him toward the first piece of the puzzle, a shrill whistle sounds through the arena.

Hanzo’s head snaps up, watching as Mister Wilhelm slowly lowers his hand from his mouth. A split second later, a new sound fills the arena: The flapping of many wings.

Hanzo’s heart sinks.

The lights overhead are blotted out by the bodies of many bird Pokémon suddenly appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Hanzo’s skin crawls as they are eerily silent except for the rustle of their feathers; not a single one squawks at them as one by one they all settle down on the ledges formed by the mud. They perch there menacingly and watch as Goomy simply lets go of the muddy wall to drop down to the ground with a wet splat where it reforms within seconds, shaking like a large cube of jelly.

Hanzo looks toward the balcony once more. He does not know what his expression is but it must look suitably baffled because Mister Wilhelm shrugs his huge shoulders apologetically before giving him a big thumbs up.

Lúcio and Cole exchange brief glances with Cole then leaning his forearms against the lip of the balcony and tipping his head at Hanzo. Somewhere he found a straw which he popped into his mouth and is now slowly rolling it from one corner to the next. Hanzo just stares, then looks back forward at the task at hand. For now the bird Pokémon are all just sitting there and watching them. They are all different Pokémon, too, with the smaller ones at the lower perches and the largest one, a Braviary that Hanzo thinks he’s seen before, sitting at the very top.

He finally gets his feet to move toward Goomy shaking at the ground. He puts his hand on its head.

“You can do it. I’m sure they’re just here to freak us out,” he tells it in a low voice. “Come on- up you go.”

He curls his arms around it with the intention of helping it up onto the wall again but instead of gripping its gelatinous body, it just becomes like water, running through his fingers to reappear where it was seconds later. He had not known that Goomy were even able to do that… not that it matters right now.

It is still just sitting there, trembling, and from above Mister Wilhelm shouts: “50 more minutes!”

Hanzo closes his eyes and inhales deeply. He tries to think clearly but all he feels is the stare of so many unblinking eyes on him, reminding him of his father’s Corviknight.

Mean to the bone.

“You don’t need to be afraid. I am sure they’re only here to intimidate you. I don’t think that they’re going to attack.” He reaches out again, but once more his hand passes through Goomy as if it were water. It’s not letting him touch, just sitting there and jiggling profusely, the ripples going through its body hypnotic but absolutely not what Hanzo needs from his Pokémon at the moment.

What should he say? Being comforting is something that really does not come easy to him. Cole and Lúcio are way better suited for these types of scenarios, have they pulled him out of his funk more than once already.

“I will… I will catch you if you fall,” he tries but he sounds awkward to his own ears. He tries to touch Goomy again and pet over his sticky head, but once more his hand uselessly passes through him.

“40 more minutes!”

God, why is the time passing so fast?! He’s starting to sweat and can feel himself becoming impatient. Glancing up at the balcony, he can see his friends and Mister Reinhardt standing there just as they had before. Are they judging him? Are they pitying him and his weak Pokémon?

He briefly stares at Cassidy, still in the same position as before, lazily chewing on the toothpick. He looks unperturbed and as calm as buddha; like nothing can rattle him. What would he do? What would he say?

Hanzo inhales deeply and squats down, unsure what to do with a Pokémon that is shaking like this one. Is it even okay for him to make Goomy do something that he so obviously does not want to do? Is there anything he could say that would make him feel better? It only now occurs to him that he’s spent so very little time with him. He knows next to nothing about what makes Goomy tick. Tick. Tick. Like the clock that they’re running against.

Pokémon can have much the same demons as humans. Sometimes you will see yourself and your actions reflected in them.

The words hit him unprepared. He had been obsessing so much over them all night, trying to figure them out that now that they pop back into his mind, he could slap himself for not seeing sooner.

“Goomy,” he whispers intently. “Goomy, listen.”

Goomy lifts one of his antennae, peering at Hanzo. He must hear the change in his tone of voice, at the least.

“I know you’re afraid,” he tells him in a low voice, hands on his knees as he tries to bring his point across. “I’m afraid as well. This isn’t easy.” Goomy turns toward him, watching quietly. He has somewhat of a clown face what with the big teal rings at the corners of his mouth, but he looks surprisingly serious as he listens to him.

“Yes, yes that’s right,” Hanzo says with a small sigh of relief at finally seeing that his words are indeed reaching Goomy and he’s not just blocking out everything around him. “I’m afraid as well. I don’t like bird Pokémon very much, if I am honest. But…” he briefly peers up at the Pokémon perched on the mud wall and staring down at them as if they’re judging their every move, “...I am sure that we can do this. I know you can do this. And I…” he pauses again, gathering himself, reaching out he lightly touches Goomy’s body with his fingertips. “I won’t be mad if we can’t do this. If anything, it’ll be our fault. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to give it your best shot.”

His throat constricts and he falls quiet before… something happens.

Goomy and he stare at each other. Slowly but surely he stops shaking. As he sits there quietly and thinks things over, Mister Wilhelm’s voice booms out: “30 minutes left!”

Hanzo exhales softly, his insides feeling like they are about to shrivel up, but he remains quiet and steadfast, looking into his Pokémon’s eyes. He wonders if he comes across as genuine… whether Goomy believes him that he’s just as afraid as he.

Suddenly, though, that is moot. Goomy nods and turns around, facing the mud wall and the bird Pokémon waiting perched on top of it.

He starts to climb.

Next time: Goomy and Hanzo gave their absolute best! But was it enough?! Akkala Island's trials are nothing to scoff at! Next chapter: Sudden star – Maddox??