CYOA 2 – To The Victor Go The Spoils – Chapter 21: Unexpected Treasures (Patreon)

Last time: Hanzo starts his first Akkala Island trial with Goomy!

warnings/content: mild blood

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Hanzo takes a step back, his palms pressed against his thighs, watching as Goomy slowly starts to climb, steadily scooting upwards more and more until he is almost level with the first perch on which a Taillow is sitting, its small head twitching slightly from side to side as it watches Goomy with each eye respectively.

Hanzo shudders but jerks out of his stupor to grab the map and unfold it hastily.

“Stop! There’s a part in there!” he calls up.

Goomy turns around immediately, his jelly body trembling all over and eyes clenched tightly shut so he wouldn’t have to look at the enemy.

Hanzo exhales, centering himself.

“You’re doing great! Slow and steady!” He feels awkward shouting up encouragement, but he pushes through the feeling. Goomy will appreciate the support, knowing he is not alone in this. He has to jump his shadow and just push on.

As he had predicted, the Taillow does not attack Goomy once he has crept onto the mud perch. It hops a little to the side, fluttering its wings and crying out indignantly but other than that it lets Goomy reach his body into the small recess behind it to grab whatever was hidden there.

Hanzo lightly bounces on the balls of his feet, a rush of endorphins making him giddy beyond expectation. He feels proud… of Goomy but also of himself.

He guides Goomy toward the next part further up, hidden behind a female Unfezant that eyes him with clear disdain. She repeatedly kicks out one leg, sharp talons pointed straight at Goomy to keep his slimy body as far away as possible.

It takes a bit more urging for Goomy to actually grab the part behind her. Time is starting to run out and Hanzo can feel sweat prickling on the back of his neck as Mister Wilhelm booms unfazed: “Ten more minutes! Oh and did I say: You need to put the parts together before the time runs out!”

Hanzo’s stomach drops, head snapping up to stare toward the balcony where Lúcio is also staring daggers at the side of Reinhardt’s head while Cole keeps peering down without much reaction one way or the other; he must have anticipated the obstacle… or outright knew about it.

By the time Hanzo looks back, Goomy is back on track to crawl up toward the top of the mud wall.

He looks at the map clenched in his hands, then up the wall, then back at the map in his hands. It is not like the crudely drawn directions are hard to read but he wishes that the last part weren’t hidden where it is hidden.

“Last one! Behind the Braviary!” Part of him wants to urge Goomy to be fast, but he bites his tongue and sits it out. He knows that Goomy is aware. Pushing him beyond that would just be counter productive at this point – he knows, because he’s gone through this exact same thing with his father multiple times before.

So he watches as Goomy advances on the Braviary who sits up straighter the closer the other Pokémon comes, rustling its feathers and digging its claws harder into the mud perch.

It holds its head very steady, Hanzo notes, its eyes steady and, in Hanzo’s opinion, mean.

It is by far the largest bird that has joined this peculiar trial.

As soon as Goomy comes close enough, it jerks forward, hacking with its sharp beak at the other Pokémon. Goomy jerks back, whole body jiggling. The Braviary hacks again, not quite hitting Goomy, but it sure is enough to have him sitting there shocked into inaction.

Hanzo inhales sharply but holds his breath without saying anything. What could he say, really? What could he do right now? They’re so far up, he can’t scale the wall, not like Goomy can. He doesn’t have any of his other Pokémon on him, so sending Kikuri to take care of things was out of the question as well.

He’s overthinking things, he knows that much, but he’s not Lúcio or Cole. He isn’t effortlessly comforting, all he says sounds awkward and stilted and like his tongue is flat out refusing to do what it is supposed to do.

“Five more minutes!”

The call has Hanzo’s blood freeze in his veins. He is staring up at Goomy, mouth hanging open. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know what to do…

When suddenly, Goomy does move. He jerks forward with his eyes tightly closed, forcing the Braviary to do a startled step backwards, nearly toppling off the ledge. It extends its wings, not to hit Goomy but to simply stay upright. Its hectic movements do hit the other Pokémon, but Goomy doggedly inches his way further.

Hanzo can see how it carefully extends his body, probably rooting around like a human would with their hand.

It’s then that Braviary hacks at Goomy again, this time looking decidedly annoyed with having been rattled by the other Pokémon.

Things happen in rapid succession. Goomy makes the first sound that Hanzo has ever heard him make: A weird little squawk from getting pecked at by the huge bird Pokémon.

Simultaneously, there is a sharp whistle from the balcony. Hanzo briefly turns to see that Cole has straightened himself and is taking his hand from his mouth after using his fingers for the whistle.

Up on the mud wall, Braviary screeches in reply and pushes itself off the ledge, wings flapping hard to push it away and into the air, inadvertently hitting Goomy around.

Hanzo acts without thinking much.

“Let go! Let yourself fall, I’ll catch you!”

There’s a lot of commotion between the Braviary screeching indignantly and still trying to get away, Goomy being hit by the huge wings and holding on for dear life, and Cassidy whistling again. It is sharp and loud, briefly slicing through all sound as Hanzo stands there with his arms apart, staring up the mud wall at Goomy who peers down at him.

For one long, nerve wracking second it looks like Goomy won’t jump – but then he suddenly comes flying down, body rippling from the air flying past him. Hanzo’s heart is thundering in his chest, eyes set on his Pokémon, wondering wildly if there had been enough time for Goomy to grab the last part or if it is still up there with the Braviary who has settled back on its perch now that the other Pokémon was gone.

Goomy is heavy when it lands in Hanzo’s arms and against his chest, but his body is also so malleable that it takes the rest of the momentum and just briefly encompasses Hanzo as a whole before forming back in his usual form.

Above them, a timer has started beeping. He doesn’t know if it is for the last minute or the last seconds, but there is no time checking in with Goomy if he is fine or not. Hanzo goes to his knees, letting his Pokémon to the ground, already panicking that he might not be able to fit all the parts of the puzzle together, even if Goomy grabbed the last one-

But once he sees them suspended in the Pokémon’s body – all three of them, thank goodness – he almost barks out a laugh. It is a Pokéball; simple as that.

Reaching into Goomy’s translucent belly, he grabs the Pokéball parts and sticks them together inside him.

A second before a loud horn blares, he thrusts his arm glistening with slick triumphantly up into the air, the Pokéball clutched in his hand.

His eyes seek the balcony where Lúcio is all but bouncing up and down and Mister Wilhelm is beaming at him, huge hands clapping.

“Wonderful!” he booms. “Absolutely wonderful! Exzellent, even!”

Hanzo’s chest unclenches from the tight grip of anxiety and he looks back to Goomy who looks a little beat up but not worse for wear. In fact, he can tell that he looks proud of himself.

Hanzo throws his arms around the mega-sized Goomy. Never before has he been so grateful to feel the slimy and firm texture against his body. Having his Pokémon so upset that it didn’t even want to let him touch had been, in retrospect, worse than he had thought at that moment.

Good thing that there had not been enough time to stop and dwell on things.

Think less, act more.

.oOo.

“Splendid! What a show!” Mister Wilhelm’s hand comes down on Hanzo’s back with a force that feels punishing. Hanzo staggers forward a couple steps, unsure what to reply.

He’s waited in the arena while the bird Pokémon flocked out and the three spectators from the balcony made their way down. Goomy is sitting next to him, looking suitably proud of himself.

“You did very well!” Mister Wilhelm enthuses. “I knew you could do it! Very exciting, very last second! I knew you would be a very fine challenger, young man. I did not expect less from Sojiro’s son!”

Hanzo nods slowly. He does not know what to say, so he doesn’t say anything. Lúcio claps him on the other shoulder, this one feeling much more benign and manageable.

“You both were awesome, man.”

“Thank you,” he replies quietly, hand coming down to Goomy’s head. He’s so slimy, it does not really matter at this point. He’ll have to take a very long shower once they’re back at the hotel.

“You were pretty good, yeah,” Cole mutters, stepping out from behind Reinhardt. Hanzo peers at him curiously; he does not sound too happy, and his face looks chagrined. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“What do you mean?”

He nods up to the mud wall. Hanzo follows his gaze, noting that the Braviary still is perched there, eying the small group of humans below.

“She ain’t used to not fightin’. Got a bit heated up there.”

“She’s yours?” Hanzo asks, peering back at him.

Cole hums in confirmation but before he can continue, Reinhardt interrupts them heartily: “Well then! Next trial will be tomorrow! I will see you and your Rockruff bright and early, Hanzo!”

The dismissal is clear despite his bright smile.

Just like that… the first trial is done.

.oOo.

Cole stays behind for a bit. Turns out he and Mister Wilhelm are friends and Hanzo has to sit through the evening listening to Lúcio speculating about what the big boys are up to.

Mister Wilhelm has left the same impression on him as he has on Hanzo, it seems: a big one that left him awe-struck.

Hanzo figures out after the first half hour that Lúcio’s loud fantasizing is mostly for his benefit so he won’t start worrying about the next trial again, so he starts to relax and tries to focus on that.

Eventually, though, he can’t help but interrupt Lúcio.

“I hate that he focuses on all the weaknesses in my team. How could he look at them once and know exactly where to dig in? Are they so obvious?” He’s staring with a frown at his hands, pressed against the top of the table in their hotel room.

Lúcio shrugs his shoulders.

“I wasn’t there, I can’t tell you. But honestly, it’s not that bad? You can only grow stronger from it. Or they can, at the very least.”

The corners of Hanzo’s mouth turn down.

“They’re a fine team,” he mutters. If anything, he would only have thought Kikuri to be the weak link, simply because of her attitude. He hadn’t had time to properly figure Goomy out and Maddox… well… Maddox didn’t really have an opportunity to show what he was made of, did he? He struck Hanzo more as a… lover than a fighter.

Happy enough to be along the ride but wouldn’t jump in front of a bullet for him, he’s pretty sure.

Lúcio buys himself some time to answer by suckling on the straw of his drink, a fine fold between his brows as he thinks over what to say… or maybe how to phrase it, which annoys Hanzo.

Finally he pulls away and says: “They’re a good team. But they still need more time to figure everything out. Just like you, man. That’s what the journey is about, isn’t it? Train and get better? You can’t expect to be a master from the get-go.”

Hanzo huffs. He knows that Lúcio is right, of course, but his pride smarts after having had a bit of time to calm down and think about things. He is slowly reaching to his belt, fingers petting over Maddox’ Pokéball. Before he can let him out, Lúcio suddenly moves to lean over the table and puts his hand on Hanzo’s wrist.

Their eyes meet and he says in a low, serious voice: “Nobody is perfect, Hanzo. It’s shitty to be told that you got problems somewhere or need to work on something, but ultimately… you should maybe just take it on the chin and listen? I mean- look at what happened today. Not even the friggin’ Champion got his Pokémon under control all the time, right?”

That does make him pause and think for a moment. He hadn’t really considered what had happened in the trial, too focused on Goomy and himself to really process Cole’s chagrined apology and what it actually meant.

Feeling his ruffled feathers smoothing out he nods, pleased. “You are correct, actually. Though I should not hold myself to the standards of an unwashed cowboy.” He sniffs derisively while Lúcio’s stern face breaks out into a wide, sly grin.

“Oh? As far as I can tell, you kinda like him being unwashed. I mean, you could probably order him to shower if you wanted to, right? Got his leash pretty tight…”

Hanzo elects to ignore that and the warm burst of sensation in his abdomen.

.oOo.

Early the next morning finds the group back together standing in front of Mister Wilhelm’s mansion. They’re looking at a dirtbike that has been rolled out by Balderich just a moment prior.

“You can ride a bike, yes?!” Reinhardt booms. He is not wearing a shirt again; just some brightly colored shorts that hug his trim waist and make Hanzo stare. He feels like whenever Mister Wilhelm moves he should be able to see his cock swinging against the fabric.

Lúcio lightly pinches his side and he jerks out of his reverie.

“Yes, sir.”

What on earth could he have planned now? Cole has been frustratingly quiet on the matter. While he seems like he’s very laid back and easy to dupe, he has been very good at avoiding both Hanzo’s and Lúcio’s questions.

Even with Hanzo playing dirty, he’d been steadfast on the matter, cheeks a ruddy red as Hanzo had sat down on his lap and told him in a low voice that he might consider giving him a little… boon if he just gave him a little tip.

Aw shucks, babe. I can give ya a bit of tip any time ya like, he had drawled right back, arms slowly curling around Hanzo’s hips. Jus’ leave it to me, will ya?

“Very good, then! Your next trial is very straight forward! We will put your Rockruff in front of the dirtbike so the both of you can race over Akkala Island once!”

Hanzo frowns, eying the dirtbike again. It’s very early which he thinks means Mister Wilhelm has wanted to escape his overzealous fans but it also means that him talking feels even louder than usual in the comparative peace around them, making it difficult to really process what is being said in general.

A race again, huh? That… doesn’t bode well. Maddox is many things – but an avid runner is not one of them.

Hanzo’s lips turn white as he presses them together, glaring at the dirtbike.

“And what is the catch?”

Mister Wilhelm has the audacity to look surprised as he echoes: “Catch?”

Hanzo looks at him unimpressed until the big man starts to laugh uproariously and shakes his head: “Ah well, fool me once, right? I won’t spoil the surprise too much but… just try to get back here by this time the day after tomorrow, huh? Both under your own steam, of course.” He reaches out for Hanzo, heavy hand coming down on his shoulder in what he suspects is supposed to be a supportive gesture but once again almost brings him to his knees.

In the distance, the voices of multiple people can be heard slowly getting louder. Apparently the fanclub is starting rather early in the day.

Mister Wilhelm does not look too concerned with it at first but suddenly his face becomes serious again and he leans down to peer at Hanzo’s face.

“Two rules: no Pokémon Centers and no healing items.”

Hanzo is certain he must be losing control over his facial features as his stomach drops somewhat.

“Excuse me?”

Mister Wilhelm stands back at his full height, craning his neck to ostensibly see how close the fan squad is. “Oh, don’t you worry one bit! I will have Cole here follow you at a discreet distance. Make sure everything is alright and nobody is put in serious danger.”

For once, Reinhardt’s heavy hand comes down on another man’s shoulder, though Cole barely twitches. His face looks a little tight. Is he concerned? What does he know that Hanzo doesn’t?

Or maybe Hanzo is just seeing things…

“Well then – if you are ready, Balderich has put together provisions for both you and your Pokémon to last you until morning!”

Hanzo is offered a backpack which he accepts slowly. He wonders whether he would even be able to round the island on his own merit just on a bike… not to mention having to pull Maddox behind him.

He sighs softly – there is nothing to it, is there? They’ll just have to try.

Grabbing the Pokéball from his belt, he releases Maddox who sits there panting with a happily vacant expression, curled tail wagging. If he has any idea what is about to happen, he does not understand the first of it, that much is clear; he just looks happy to be part of whatever this is.

“Very well,” he mutters and shoulders the backpack. Maddox is eager enough to follow him to the front of the dirtbike, panting and wagging his tail harder when Hanzo puts the harness onto him that is fixed to the handlebar of the bike with a sturdy looking rope.

He turns toward Mister Wilhelm who has been anxiously peering down the street. While the sounds of his fans has been getting progressively louder, they are not yet to be seen. Still, there is an air of hectic about him as he grabs Hanzo’s hands with both of his and shakes it vigorously.

“Good luck! I will be apprised of your progress by Cole! See you in two days!” He hurries inside the walls of his manor, Balderich retreating a little slower… though not by much.

Hanzo looks from the closed gate to Lúcio and Cole standing side by side. Lúcio has an expression of bemused confusion. He steps toward Hanzo and pulls him into a brief hug.

“Go on, we shouldn’t do big goodbyes; it’ll all go off your time. And we’ll see you in at least two days, right?”

Hanzo nods. “Right.” He briefly smiles at Lúcio, then peers toward Cole who looks like a big awkward child off to the side. He’s taken off his ridiculous hat and is holding it toward his chest.

Hanzo snorts and steps toward him, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and pulling him down to press a kiss against the corner of his mouth, prickly whiskers and all.

“Looking forward working with you,” he murmurs in a low voice, watching how Cole’s eyes become a little glassy. He had obviously not been expecting this kind of treatment.

Hanzo huffs and pushes him away gently via a hand against his chest before he turns back and throws a leg over the bike. There’s a helmet that someone has hung from the handle and he puts it on before getting himself situated.

There’s a bit of a nervous flutter in his stomach but for now he does not feel the same kind of nerves that he had yesterday. It’s a good thing that the trials are so close together; it gives him a lot less time to go into his head about them.

He waves at his friends one last time before calling to Maddox that they’re going.

His heart sinks a little bit when after the first few meters, Maddox and he are abreast with each other.

Well… it could only get better from here.

.oOo.

Mister Wilhelm said that Cole would follow him at a ‘discreet distance’, but whenever Hanzo peers over his shoulder, he can’t see him. He can’t imagine Cassidy having a stealthy bone in his body but for now he’s doing a pretty good job of not being seen.

Maddox is still running abreast with him which surprises him in and off itself. He would have thought his steam to have run out a long time ago but for now the rotund body is still moving forward without sign of stopping any time soon.

What exactly was the goal of this trial? After last time he didn’t believe for a second that it was as straight forward as making it around in time. There had to be some obstacles that the behemoth gym leader has not told him about. His first thought is of hidden snacks that could get Maddox’ attention but for now he hasn’t shown any signs of noticing something out of the ordinary.

Still, Hanzo is not particularly trained in riding a bike and after an hour or two, he starts to feel the strain in his thighs, shirt starting to stick to his body as the sun moves further up and everything heats up.

He had been so worried about Maddox’ stamina that he had not thought about his own much.

Eventually as the path he’s on begins a slow incline, he doubles over the handle with a groand, sweat dripping from his temples as he puts more force into getting the bike to move.

“Y-You do realize that you should be ahead?” he pants. “Helping me pull this thing?”

He doesn’t expect anything to come from it, just needing to vent his frustration as his muscles start locking up, but suddenly Maddox barks and begins to speed up until he’s slowly but surely putting himself in front of the bike. Hanzo watches in wonder as the rope begins to pull taut and then feels how his task becomes less laborious as the Pokémon begins to actually pull.

It seems he’s had Maddox wrong this whole time… his easygoing nature might simply stem from him being as… simple as his former master.

Just need to tell them what to do, he thinks with a bit of a wild grin as he can progressively stop pumping the pedals and just let Maddox pull him up the mild slope.

His tail is wagging almost hypnotically from side to side as he bounces along like a little trooper. He feels bad that he’s underestimated him so severely. It feels like he hadn’t known him at all which… kind of rings true. He’s only let him toddle along since finding him in Mt. Moon, not really taking the time to sit down and get to know him, what with not thinking that he would actually become his Pokémon at first and then having his hands full learning how to ride King and… well… just being a menace toward Cole.

“You’re doing very well!” he calls forward. Maddox barks once, then puts a bit more speed in it.

It makes Hanzo wonder into which form he will evolve eventually. Maybe Midday just like Genji’s? Though he doesn’t know what to feel about that.

.oOo.

There is… nothing extraordinary happening throughout the first day which keeps Hanzo awake for a good chunk of the night. He still has no idea where Cole is supposed to be or whether he even has been following him. Maybe it had just been a way for Reinhardt to try and get into his head?

But why would he have explicitly mentioned that Pokémon Centers and items were prohibited? Hanzo had been waiting for an attack since Maddox had picked up the slack and left him with the capacity to focus on something other than staying on the bike, but nothing happens; neither during their long day of running and trying to make it half-way around the island and not during the night as they camp and Maddox passes out spent but with a goofy smile on his little round face.

Hanzo is left sitting there for a long while, just staring at him, wondering what he’d do if they actually did get attacked. Was there anything to do, even?

.oOo.

The question is answered late on the second day. Maddox has been running for a while now, pulling Hanzo behind with less and less difficulty as they start to move down a decline.

Hanzo has to admit that he’s been starting to space out somewhat until he sees Maddox’ head snap up and his usually floppy ears perking up with attention. A moment later, his head snaps around, staring intently at the side of the road while still running, little legs moving faster and faster as the decline becomes progressively steeper.

Hanzo starts to lean back a little, fingers curling around the breaks, waiting for whether he’ll have to slow them down – though time is of the essence and does not really allow for any of that nonsense.

“What is it?” The words are ripped from his mouth by the wind. He feels weirdly breathless even though he hasn’t had to do anything other than occasionally shouting orders to Rockruff and making sure to properly lean into the curves so he wouldn’t hinder his running Pokémon.

Maddox barks… but it sounds… different. Not playful like usual; there is a tightness in his voice that has Hanzo peering intently into the shadows of the copious underbrush, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. His palms are starting to sweat but he does not dare let go of the handle as he clutches at it tighter.

Rockruff barks again and just then, a shadow breaks out from behind one of the trees, silent and so fast it takes Hanzo a second or two to recognize that it is a Pokémon. In fact, he only really sees it once the markings over its body start to glow on its otherwise black coat.

An… Umbreon?

As far as Hanzo is aware, Umbreon are not native to Akkala Island… not that it matters now because the Pokémon is adjusting its speed, running right next to Maddox who keeps barking at it in a decidedly unfriendly manner.

Hanzo has never witnessed his Rockruff being anything other than perfectly amiable with the people and Pokémon around… even when chasing the Gogoat what feels like years ago now, he had not been aggressive about it.

“Maddox!” he calls over, the wind plucking the exclamation from his lips. He can see the Rockruff’s ear twitching briefly toward him but ultimately he is focused on the Umbreon that had been running alongside him.

It must have been some kind of body language that Hanzo could not see since in the end, the Umbreon suddenly does attack, checking into Maddox and driving him sharp off to the side and nearly down the road.

Hanzo inhales sharply, ducking down somewhat as he holds on desperately to the bike’s handle, steadying it as fast as he could while Maddox runs back toward the middle of the road, snapping at the Umbreon as he does so.

The Umbreon is roughly double Maddox’ size; it looks to be well trained which does beg the question where its trainer is currently hanging out. Hanzo briefly twists to try and see someone but just like the many other times he has peered around to try and see Cole, they are completely alone.

The Umbreon attacks again, though this time a dark shadowy energy emanates from its body, briefly dimming the glow of its yellow markings before shooting over toward Maddox.

He jumps up awkwardly, barely managing to dodge the shadow force, though he does stumble when he comes back to the ground running. Hanzo can’t shout any orders; even if he knew what to do about their sudden attacker, he has to focus on not crashing the bike as the decline they’ve been on grows steeper and they all put on a lot more speed.

His heart is pounding fast, wondering what would happen if he were to crash now. It would certainly not be pretty.

All he could do was try and not be a burden for Maddox while the little guy fought. Did he even know any attacks? He dodges a couple more jabs from the Umbreon, his barking sounding breathless to Hanzo’s ears, though the wind whipping past him is certainly to blame for that as well.

His eyes are tearing up from the wind whipping in his face so he can only squint and watch as the rocks embedded in the white fur around Rockruff’s neck glitter a split second before suddenly shooting out and toward the Umbreon, pelting it with hard little stones.

The Umbreon staggers and falls behind briefly with a low growl.

Hanzo is shocked silent, staring at the back of Maddox’ head. The fact that he not only managed an attack but also managed to put a dent into a much more experienced Pokémon is nothing short of miraculous to Hanzo. How could he have underestimated him so badly?

The Umbreon picks up speed again. It moves fast as a snake, jerking forward and biting into one of Maddox’ ears.

Maddox yelps in pain, briefly tripping over his own stubby legs before regaining his posture and jerking his head away and out of the Umbreon’s jaws. There’s a small tear in Rockruff’s ear, blood starting to drip almost immediately. Hanzo’s breath hitches, fingers curling tighter around the breaks of the bike. Intellectually he knows that the ear is a well circulated place and even the smallest cut will bleed profusely, but seeing it on his own Pokémon is like a punch to the gut. He’s just about to put a stop to the mad dash down the decline when Maddox’ tail starts glinting in a decidedly metallic sheen.

He watches as it turns to hard metal, each hair a razor sharp needle point with which the Pokémon swings toward the attacker.

Umbreon can dodge but it seems to have become weary, putting some distance between the two of them.

There’s a long whistling sound echoing through the air, barely registering to Hanzo as his heart races in his chest, palms so slick he nearly loses his grip on the bike’s handle.

The Umbreon’s ears twitch and its head lifts slightly before it suddenly curves off and back into the forest where it came from, vanishing into the shadows as if it had become one with them.

Hanzo can barely breathe at this point, so he gasps out an awkward: “S-Stop- Maddox-”

Maddox peers at him over his shoulder, large blue eyes confused, but when he sees Hanzo’s undoubtedly pale face, he starts to slow down until they’ve stopped. Hanzo plants his feet on the ground, wiping an arm over his face. He gets off the bike, letting it fall to the road as he hurries to his Pokémon standing there and looking at him with a weird expression.

He’s panting hard from running and fighting but does not seem worse for wear.

Hanzo turns his head, carefully inspecting the cut on the ear. It is relatively small and the bleeding has already come almost to a stop.

Suddenly, a voice calls – from above.

“Heeey there! Everythin’ alright, partner?”

Hanzo has to crane his neck and shield his eyes from the sun as he peers up high into the sky. A large bird Pokémon is flying there above them in tight circles. It takes him a second or two to realize that it is the Braviary from the first trial – and that the one sitting on its back is Cole.

He had not thought about looking into the sky for him.

“Hanzo?” Cole calls again. “All good?”

He hesitates, looking down at Maddox. He looks wild with all the blood now slicking down the fur on the side of his face but he is still panting and wagging his tail as if nothing had happened – as if he hadn’t ferociously fought back the attacking Pokémon.

“Are you… alright?” he asks haltingly. The response is an excited barking, so…

“I think so!”

“Ya should get goin’ then! Time’s gettin’ tight if ya wanna rest up over night for a bit!”

Hanzo takes the time to give Maddox some water and clean him up as much as possible before they continue on. He feels shaky but not the worse for wear, his thoughts still circling around the fact that Maddox had so impressively pushed back the Umbreon.

.oOo.

There is no wild dash at the end; not like there was in the first trial. They actually arrive quite comfortably an hour before the deadline, leaving Hanzo to wait in front of the mansion while everybody wakes up.

Moments after he arrives and has fed and watered Maddox, the Braviary suddenly lands not quite two meters from him. He inhales sharply, startled by the close proximity of the bird Pokémon and glares at Cassidy who climbs off its back and pets its beak before calling it back into its ball.

“You did it,” he says with a crooked grin but Hanzo can tell that something is… up. He does not quite look at Hanzo, rather peering at the ground.

“I did,” Hanzo replies cautiously, unsure what is going on. He’s still crouching next to Maddox, his hand on the Pokémon’s back which is the only way he notices the vibration of his low growl when it starts up.

Hanzo frowns, looking at Maddox, then toward where he is staring intently.

His brows shoot up when he sees the Umbreon that had attacked them the day before running up the road and directly toward them.

“What-”

The words are stuck in his throat when he watches the Umbreon making a beeline for Cassidy, sitting down next to his feet like a well-trained little guard dog.

It doesn’t take a genius to understand what that means and Hanzo can feel annoyance spreading through him fast as he stands up.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Again?! Does your oh-so-perfect ‘winning team’ have a personal vendetta against my Pokémon? Do you, for that matter?! Call them back before they do damage, you idiot!”

Cole stands there like a little boy taking a scolding, nodding along.

“Those were accidents, I promise. I’m sorry.” He lifts his hands trying to calm Hanzo down but he can still feel the righteous anger brewing inside him, stepping closer and digging his finger into Cassidy’s stupidly broad chest.

He gets up in his face, voice lowered dangerously as he promises in a growl: “You will be sorry.”

Before they can continue their conversation, the door to the manor suddenly opens with Balderich peering out.

“Oh, you are both back already! Please- Please come inside. Mister Lúcio spent the last two days as a guest, he will be very pleased to see the both of you safe and sound! Mister Wilhelm is finishing up his morning workout and will be with you momentarily. I am sure you would like some breakfast?”

Next time: Hanzo makes sure to keep his promise… Cole doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Also: the grand finale of the Akkala Island trials begins! Who will be Hanzo’s last Pokémon partner?