Chương 4

Anxious, I tapped a steady tattoo with my foot as I checked my watch for the third time in as many minutes. I knew that looking wouldn't make the seconds tick by any quicker, but I couldn't help myself. Every moment I spent away from my knights grew my torture exponentially. I wanted to see them. To pick each of them up and tell them thanks and I'm sorry and to buff all of the scratches out of their armor and lavish them with the love and attention they so richly deserved.

Every moment I spent failing to do so was pain, and it took almost ten more agonizing minutes before, finally, a nurse called out for me from the front desk. I practically leapt to my feet, and hustled over to the pink-haired nurse standing behind the waist-high counter. As I got closer, I realized that I knew this particular Nurse Joy, and she clearly recognized me as well.

"Fe, good to see you." I managed a wan grin, " Auntie Ronda, good morning."

"That's Nurse Joy while I'm on duty," the beatific woman responded with a soft frown. Chastened thusly, I ducked my head in a quick apology, "sorry, Nurse Joy. How are things?"

"They've been slowing down, recently," the older woman responded, all smiles again.

"I bet it's nice to get to see more of your mom, right?"

"Yeah, she's starting to get home earlier again. Chansey still hasn't been back yet though, so I know things must still be at least a little crazy." Auntie Ronda shrugged.

"Just how summer is. Plus, you know how Chanseys are. You need to tear them away to get them to take a break."

"Ours especially," I replied. A few awkward moments passed, and I considered trying to make more small talk, but I couldn't hold myself anymore.

"How are my Falinks?" I asked, twisting the bottom of my tank top with nervous fingers.

"Are they alright?"

"They're fine, Fe. Fully rested and healed up. All syn replenished, didn't even need to release them from their ball," Auntie Ronda reassured me.

"No real injuries, they were just exhausted, so they should be good to go." Relief flooded through me, and I felt tension I hadn't even noticed leave my shoulders.

"Good. That's… that's so good," I sagged, suddenly needing to lean against the low counter as all the nervous energy fled my body.

"Sorry for bringing in a complicated case. I know it can be tough to treat unfamiliar Pokémon."

"Don't be sorry, Fe," my aunt replied with a laugh. She even offered me a conspiratorial wink.

"It gave me an excuse to expense the center for a call to an Aunt I don't get to speak to much, out in Galar. She gave me plenty of advice on how to tune our restorer to heal your Falinks, and some good tips about caring for them in general. I made sure to take notes for you." Gratitude welled-up in my chest.

"Thanks Nurse Joy, you didn't have to do that."

"You're family, Fe. Of course I would." The nurse replied with a soft smile, before placing a small tray with five empty depressions and a single Poké ball on the counter.

"Now, I believe this is you?" I felt an excited grin take over my face as I reclaimed my knights' ball. It was all I could do to keep myself from releasing its inhabitants right this second.

"And this as well." I looked up as Auntie Ronda continued, piling a couple of papers on the desk covered in hand-written scrawl. It was… impressively illegible. This particular Nurse Joy wouldn't be defeating any stereotypes about handwriting and medical providers any time soon. I still accepted the notes with a grateful nod, the papers worth one-thousand times their weight in Poké gold at least, in spite of their illegibility.

Mom would surely help me decipher them later, if I couldn't piece together Ronda's notes myself.

"Thank you again Nurse Joy, so much. I would love to stay and catch up some more, but…" my eyes trailed down to the Poké Ball in my hands.

"Go. Be with your partners," Ronda replied with a fond grin, and an expression that told me she was more than familiar with this particular brand of eagerness.

"Ok, have a good one!" I waved as I left the counter, my spirits bolstered from the encounter.

"We hope to see you again!" I heard the familiar refrain as I all but sprinted away. - A nearby park was the closest place I felt I could release my knights safely. I wasn't sure how they'd feel after yesterday's disaster, and I wanted them to have plenty of space to spread out and express themselves. They materialized with a flash of red light and instantly assumed their standard formation, a dozen eyes roaming our immediate vicinity for threats.

I could see the whole assemblage bristle with alarm, and I swallowed my first impulse, to run up and embrace my little balls of bravery and sunshine.

"Knights, at ease!" I ordered, in a tone that I hoped brooked no argument. It took a few seconds longer than I would have liked, but eventually my partners relaxed their guard. Their eyes turned to me, no longer roaming our surroundings for threats, and I did my best not to wither under my partners' scrutiny. Stoically, (or as close to it as I could manage) I approached the nervous Pokémon, stowing their ball and recovering a few things from my satchel.

I stopped a few feet away from them, and sat down in the soft grass, legs crossed.

"C'mere guys," I swallowed thickly, and patted my lap, "we need to talk." Slowly, they approached, Lance in front and his brothers trailing behind him. Instead of scooping him up like I usually do, I patted my lap again, offering the space. For a moment, I was worried that he would refuse, spurn me in front of all and sundry, but to my immense relief, he waddled into my lap after only a moment of hesitation, and set himself comfortably down on my legs.

I held up the cloth I'd pulled from my bag to the next Falinks in line, putting it right in front of his mouth.

"Can you load me up, Percy?" I asked, much to his surprise. Usually I used a non-toxic, synthetic wax to buff my knights. It did a better job of getting out scratches than their spit, and encouraged my knights to not lick each other before bath time. Today, however, comfort was more important than efficiency. Percy obligingly spat a huge glob of Falinks saliva into the rag, and I began working the cloth over Lance's spherical body, gently working the material into the scratches and scuffs on his metal-like armor.

I worked silently for a few minutes, letting Lance relax as I gently scrubbed the rag back and forth. After I finished with him, I sent him to the back of the line, collecting Percy and starting again after Kay replenished my supply of spit. After another minute or so, I finally worked up the courage to speak.

"I'm sorry," was of course the first thing I said. It was the most important thing to establish. The entire baseline of this conversation.

"I put you all in danger. I was stupid, and prideful, and I wasn't thinking enough. I'm sorry." I felt Percy shift a bit in my lap, restless. I remained silent, letting my knights mull over my words. Quiet murmuring filled our little congregation, before they finally settled on a response. Percy, as the one closest to me at the moment, took it on himself to answer for the group.

"Links, Falinks," he rotated left to right, and back again, tones of denial in his voice. I expected to feel relief, but instead, a yawning pit formed in my stomach. They didn't blame me, but how could they? They didn't know how much danger we'd been in. Even I hadn't understood until Alyssa explained it to me.

"No you guys, seriously. At the end there, when you were getting ganged up on? They might have really hurt you all. I didn't understand how much that battle meant to Bert. Or the lengths he'd go to. We ended up getting bailed out, but it could have been bad, you guys," the last part came out quietly. I was reluctant to admit it, even to myself, but I owed my knights better.

"If we were lucky, I'd have gotten bruises to lay me out for a month, things might have been even worse for you guys. And if we weren't—" I trailed off, finding myself unable to continue. To countenance the true worst case scenario. I could tell from the way that my knights stiffened that I didn't need to elaborate. They could draw their own conclusions. They also clearly hadn't thought things would escalate so much.

Their lack of comprehension only confirmed my complete failure, my dereliction in the responsibility I had to keep them safe.

"So, I'm sorry, you guys, for putting you in danger like that. For letting my stupid ego get all of us in so much trouble." I fell silent as I continued to work on Percy, staring intently at his armor. Gentle circular scrubbing wore away at the scratches and scuffs, and my intense focus let me resolutely avoid my partners' gaze. Moments passed, the silence broken by quiet murmurs from my partners, before a strident voice shattered the uncertain tableau.

"Falinks!" The imperative cry drew attention, demanded it. Unable to resist, I looked up, meeting Lance's unwavering gaze. I could see something boiling behind his eyes, and for a moment, I thought it was rage at me. Anger for endangering him and his. I almost looked away, but a few more seconds of staring helped me realize that my first guess was wrong. I couldn't understand my partners' yet, not fully. It took time to form that kind of bond, and not everyone got there.

I could still get impressions, though, could still read queues from tone and body language. Lance wasn't mad at me, or at his brothers, he was mad at himself. For being too weak. For being unable to protect me, and his troops. I was sure of it, because I was feeling the exact same way, and I could see the same unease in his eyes that I'd found in the mirror yesterday. And last night. And this morning.

I spared more glances for each of my knights in turn, and found both our expressions duplicated, all of my little spherical partners wearing the same face of malcontent. Well, all of them except for Tristan. He was just happy and relieved to be with us all. They felt the same way I did, which meant they didn't truly understand the depths of my failure. In a different circumstance, I might have taken this as a moment for motivation.

I'd have told them that yes, we were too weak right now, but we'd get stronger, we'd overcome any challenge, together, as one! But this time, that sort of speech wouldn't be fair to them. They deserved better than that.

"I get it guys," I reassured them, "but you all did everything I could ask of you. The six of you took on Bert's partner, a dojo-trained battler, and beat him handily in a totally fair fight. It is not your fault for losing two-on-one afterwards while exhausted." I held Lance's gaze in particular, and I could tell I was getting through to him, but he didn't seem fully convinced, so I elaborated.

"This wasn't a danger you guys have the background to understand, or anticipate. We were in peril because of stupid, human stuff, and it was my responsibility to recognize the hazard in the situation. I didn't, and we could have gotten hurt. That's why this is my fault, not yours. I'm sorry." The brass kept his stare on me for a few more moments, before nodding in understanding, to the outcry of some of his more soft-hearted siblings.

He accepted that the blame was mine, and the others would agree with him, eventually. Now came the harder part: asking my partners for their forgiveness. Luckily for me, in the eyes of the formation's heart, there was nothing to forgive. I felt a gentle rubbing against my leg, and broke my staring contest with Lance to peer down at little Tristan, the rear-most troop affectionately preening against my thigh.

Once he was sure he had my attention, he opened his mouth and sent his rough tongue skittering across my skin. I had to suppress a shudder as the scratchy, damp organ coated my leg in a layer of waxy saliva. I wanted to berate him instinctually, but I knew from prior observations that licking each other clean was an important ritual in the forgiveness process for scuffling Falinks. I held back my first response, bottling it away and smiling gently at the little Falinks instead.

"You forgive me? Really?" I asked him, "just like that?" In response, my little ball of joy licked my leg again, cementing his munificence. After a grudging moment, the rest of my knights followed his lead, each of them surrounding me and lavishing me with sticky tongues. Even Percy got in on the action, licking my arm up and down from his perch in my lap. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

I bore it with stoicism for as long as I could (which was about two seconds) before flailing about to get them back off.

"Okay, enough, enough," I told them, desperately suppressing an outburst of laughter.

"That's starting to tickle. I get it. You forgive me." Satisfied with my understanding, my knights backed off, leaving me free to continue treating Percy. I wiped away at his shell for another minute or so before we were both satisfied, and then sent him scurrying off, after which he was quickly replaced in turn.

"Thanks, you guys," I told them quietly, as I worked on Kay's shell.

"I'll be better, I promise. And I'll help you get better, too. All of us, together." I definitely didn't sniff, or wipe my eyes with my arm, only to find my face covered in Percy's spit. Definitely not. - Thirty minutes later, my knights were as scratch-free as they were going to get. Any dents on their armor had been pulled out, and after some desperate toweling, I was as dry as I could possibly be.

Falinks spit formed a natural, tough sealant when applied to their armor, but had a nasty tendency of becoming a goopy sludge on human skin. I was pretty sure it was exfoliating, at least. My arms had never been so soft.

"Alright, knights. We might get knocked down, but we never stay that way!" I was back to using my 'authority' voice. Moment of vulnerability over, I knew that I needed to show them that I was still willing and able to take command.

"Nurse Joy said you guys are good to go, which means it's training time!" From the way they reacted, you'd think I just told them that they'd won the lottery. We started with the traditional shuttles to get us warmed up. I joined them for a bit, but when it started wearing me out, I pulled back, returning to my satchel and retrieving my new purchase. I couldn't help but notice how much the pads I'd bought yesterday resembled a Hitmonchan's hands as I strapped them over my own.

There was a Torchic and egg question there, but it was one I didn't have the time, nor the inclination, to explore.

"Okay knights, good work!" I called out after my watch indicated they'd run through the drill length.

"Form up over here, I've got something new for us." My partners approached gamely, eyeing the implements I'd strapped to my hands.

"These are sparring pads," I explained.

"They'll let me help you train as if you were fighting without us having to go looking for a Pokémon to battle." My partners seemed unsure, looking at each other, and then back to me, doubt clear in their eyes.

"Not all of you at once." I told them wryly.

"But I can handle you one at a time. It'll help you get used to fighting when separated, too." I could tell they still weren't convinced, so I motioned for Lance to come over. I got down on my knees so I was closer to his height, and held my hands in front of me.

"Look, try using a Rock Smash on this pad. Trust me, it's rated for pretty solid hits." Lance still seemed a bit unsure, but eventually, he gave it a go, rushing forward, one shield glowing with energy. He threw himself at the pad, glowing limb first, and while I felt the impact transmitting up my arm, it wasn't really any worse than if an average human had thrown the punch.

"See?" I told them as Lance landed back, eyes widened in surprise at my unaffected stance.

"I can take it just fine, for now. Someday, I won't be able to train with you like this, so let's enjoy it while we can, yeah?" My words provoked thoughtful musing from my knights, and they spent a few moments looking at one another thoughtfully, before nodding back at me, clearly willing to give it a go. With their cooperation secured, I set Lance to leading stacking drills while I took my knights aside one at a time, running what I was tentatively calling our sparring drill. Results were… varied.

Lance was the most successful, of course. He could operate independently of his brothers, though it obviously rendered him uncomfortable when he didn't have them at his back. The other five were between mediocre and awful. Kay and Percy could muster one hit, when I gave them direct commands, but were unwilling or unable to go beyond that.

Bers and Galad were a little more proactive, able to string together a couple of blows when I told them to, but they wouldn't show any initiative to push me or try to strike beyond my directions. Tristan actually ended up being the stand-out. He only got distracted and re-sought orders twice through our session, otherwise sending an unending barrage of blows. Some of them were even aimed to trip me up a little, feints and false starts that I would have thought beyond my straightforward partners.

Unfortunately for him, what he had in initiative, my littlest knight lacked in power. Blocking his blows was far easier than doing the same for his brothers. Still, I'd been expecting things to be a little rough around the edges in our first session. While my knights were good fighters, they weren't adaptable ones. I couldn't speak for all Falinks, but I would bet that a lack of flexibility was one of their main weaknesses.

Reliance on the brass for orders stifled the troops' abilities to react to quickly-changing situations. Or just new things in general, honestly. It was a vulnerability I was determined to overcome. We'd just have to keep the training up until they were used to listening to me, even without Lance to mediate between us. After the sparring drill, I ran them through a few formations, and then set them to an early cooldown doing something I called roll-and-recovers.

The first step of the exercise involved throwing themselves to the side on my command, simulating a hit or a desperate dodge. Step two was using their momentum to roll and mitigate the impact. Step three involved finishing their rotation and using their legs to arrest their movement. Finally, step four was pushing up to return to a standing position and regrouping in formation.

We'd been working on this one for a couple of weeks, and the results had really shown yesterday, with Lance and Kay able to recover from their fall and return to the fray against Bert's Machop much faster than they'd have been able to before we started working on this. I knew just a fortnight ago it'd have taken them twice as long to do the same, and it was gratifying to see our training pay off in an actual battle. I hoped desperately that my knights felt the same.

Once the cooldown exercise was done, I had my knights form up again for another meeting. I could tell they were wondering why I'd called our session earlier than usual, so I tried to lay it out as plainly as I could.

"Sorry to cut things short, but we need to come to a pretty big decision," I explained, as a group, and I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to discuss it." So saying, I dug around in my satchel, searching until I found the letter from the ranger station. I presented it to my partners for their perusal, holding the crimson stationary out towards them with both hands. I knew they couldn't actually read the document, but the gesture felt important, symbolically.

"This is a recruitment offer from the Ferrum Ranger Service," I told them after giving the group a few moments to inspect the letter.

"It's an organization that works to maintain the relationships between people and wild Pokémon. They're interested in having us sign up, potentially for the next couple of years." Some jostling and tilted heads told me that my knights were curious, but I also got the sense that they didn't really have the background to understand what was on the table. So I took some time to bring them up to speed, doing my best to offer them a summary of my prior research.

I gave them the information as neutrally as I could, which ended up being easier than I would have thought, probably because I wasn't really sure of how I felt about the offer myself. After I'd run through exactly who the rangers were and what they did, I started listing pros and cons.

"The main advantage I see is that it gives us a mission. Something to do and improve at every day, beyond just training in general." I could tell that this appealed to my knights, and most of them perked up at the idea.

"It also might give us access to facilities, mentors, and resources we might not otherwise have available. Finally, it's just a good thing to do. The rangers do a lot of good, they work really hard to keep people and Pokémon safe." I let my knights confer for a few moments, going over the pros, before I started listing out cons.

"It's not all upside, though." Once I was sure I had their attention, I kept going.

"Ironically, we'd actually make less Poké Gold working for the rangers then catching rogue Wiglett like we do now. It's a more consistent and reliable income stream, but it's also fixed, and it's not as much on average." This was going over my knights' head a bit, but they nodded along all the same, which was gratifying to see.

"Also, we'll lose our everyday freedom." That got some confused full-body tilts, so I continued explaining.

"Sure, we'll still have some time to ourselves, ranger work won't be an all-day thing, but it will definitely be a commitment that will eat into the hours we spend on training." That was unpopular. Definitely the main knock against joining up, at least in the eyes of my partners.

"Last thing, it'll be hard. Being a ranger isn't easy, and training to join them will be more than just difficult, it'll be complicated. There will be a lot to learn, and a lot of it won't come instinctually. Plus, not all of it will help us directly in becoming stronger." Again, my knights passed looks of consideration and unease.

"Those are the factors at play, as I see them." I confirmed for them.

"If any other considerations stick out to you all, now is the time to voice them." A few moments passed, with some muttering and musing, and then Tristan let out an exclamation. He chattered at me for a few moments, before realizing that there was little chance of me comprehending him. He sounded melancholy, though, which had me worried. My knights conferred for a few moments, deciding how best to get their message across, and then set to work.

Lance took up a position behind the rest of the formation, very uncharacteristically, and split off from them, putting a distance between himself and the troops. I did my very best to pay attention to their actions, not Lance's barked orders, since the pantomime was how they intended to get their message across. The troops did a few moves at Lance's direction, facing away from him and battling some imaginary opponent.

"You won't get to fight as much?" I tried, doing my best to interpret. Tristan shook his head from the rear of the formation, and Lance made a gesture for me to keep trying.

"Um, battles won't be as hard?" Another negative.

"You all might be pulled away from Lance?" I tried, noting his odd positioning. Again, not what they wanted, but I was a bit warmer.

"You might get separated? That's not a concern guys, I promise." Still not it, but judging by Tristan's excited hopping, I was close.

"You might get pulled away from me?" I was almost there, it seemed like that still wasn't quite it. A few more moments of conferring, and then a request from Tristan. Lance made the orders, and all of a sudden, I had a tiny tower in front of me, Tristan standing atop Kay and Galad. He pointed one of his stubby feet at my wrist, and I looked down to see that he was gesturing at my watch.

"Watch?" I tried. Tristan shook his body back and forth.

"Clock?" That wasn't it either.

"Time?" That got a nod, which had poor Tristan overbalance and sent him spilling off his perch. I reached down, quick as I could, and rescued him from his fall, pulling him up into my arms.

"Time. We might not get to spend as much time together?" I confirmed. Ecstatic jumping from the troops and an affirmative nod from Tristan told me that I'd finally gotten their worry correct.

"Ahh, you guys." They liked me enough that not getting to spend every waking moment together was a con for them. I had to fight to keep myself from tearing up a little as I reassured them.

"I can see why you'd be worried, we spend practically all our time together. I promise, we'll still be attached at the hip, but it's true, we might lose a little bit of time." I rubbed Tristan's little head, making sure to scratch behind the horn how he liked it.

"That definitely deserves a place on the con list. Anything else?" My knights gave it a good minute more of thinking, which I appreciated. They were really taking this seriously. Finally, they confirmed that they didn't have any other input, which just left us with a decision to make.

"Alright you guys, I know this isn't an easy choice, and we can sleep on it if you want, but if you're ready, we can also make a decision now. Thoughts." I got affirmative clamoring. They wanted to decide on our course of action now. Honestly, I'd expected nothing less.

"Ok, here's how we'll do it." I reached into my satchel and pulled out fourteen little slips of paper, as well as a blue ball cap. Carefully, I handed two each of them out to my knights, until all of them had a pair and I held the last two.

"I put a blue dot and an orange dot on each of these pieces of paper, see?" I showed them all. Once I was sure they were following, I kept going.

"Each of us is going to put one of these two pieces of paper into this hat. I flourished the ball cap for emphasis.

"The orange dot will be for joining the rangers, and the blue dot will be for staying independent. I gave each of you a piece of paper because I want all of us to have an equal voice in this decision. That, not surprisingly, elicited some confusion. Falinks weren't used to having a voice. It was the natural condition of most of them to follow, to adhere to the orders of their brass without exception.

It gave them incredible coordination, and helped them work together to defeat foes that they could never contest alone. None seemed more opposed than Lance, who gave me a baleful glare and an angry cry of "Links, Falinks!"

"Looks, guys." I held up my hands placatingly.

"There are times for orders, and there are times for making sure we all have a voice. Even if we don't all agree, we can still come to a consensus." I made sure I was addressing all of them, sweeping my gaze past six sets of unblinking eyes.

"We're all in this together, so we should all get a chance to make our opinion known." I thought maybe some of them were coming around, and I made a final push to get their approval.

"I know this might make you guys uncomfortable, the idea of being a dissenting voice is scary, so to make sure there are no hard feelings, I designed this so our votes are anonymous. Understand?" It took a few moments, which stretched on far longer than I would have liked, but eventually I got an affirmative nod from Lance. A tentative one, still, but an acceptance nonetheless I suppressed a sigh of relief. Once he was on-board, the rest of my knights fell in line. Which was fine.

I wanted to foster some independence in my knights, but I knew Lance would always have an important part in directing that, and I had no intention of coming between him and the troops.

"Cool, let's get this started." I put my own choice into the cap, and then held out the haberdashery to each of my knights in turn, giving them all an opportunity to drop their slip inside. After that, I collected the remaining pieces of paper, and stowed them away in my satchel.

"Alright, moment of truth you all." I began pulling out slips and checking the dots, showing them off to the whole group, each in turn. One by one, every choice was revealed, and I couldn't help the full-on laugh that escaped me once I had completed the process.

"Well, it looks like I might have gone and made things more complicated than they needed to be," I informed them all with a grin. Every single slip had a telltale orange dot coloring its surface.

"Looks like we're heading to the ranger station tomorrow." It was going to be new, and challenging, but we were going to be facing it together. As I watched my knights jump up and down in excitement, I knew that I wouldn't have it any other way.