Kavi - Ranking Up Twice

"All right! Good show, girls." Kavi smiled as he tossed a berry to each of his two Pokémon, pleased with how they'd performed in a double battle. Sizzle had always been a handful, and Lumie was rash and impulsive-- so much that she would occasionally disobey him in battle.

He'd been concerned about that. It had been some time since he'd had a Pokémon do as much to him-- only Pokémon he'd gotten in trades in the past had ever done so, which made it clear to him that Lumie had been abandoned by a human, and still held that resentment in her heart.

So, instead of relying entirely on single battles, he'd begun looking for situations to encounter multiple enemies at once. The tallest grass was crawling with potential battles-- enough-so that one encountered two Pokémon as often as not, and Sizzle had been a competent battler to begin with, so he paired them up, and rewarded them both when they performed well. Lumie quickly caught on to the notion-- a quick round with the Pokétoy or the gift of a preferred berry were entirely dependent on success and obedience. Pamtres, Cornns and Chestos were Lumie's favourite, and even after the application of a Modest Mint, Sizzle loved spicy berries best, so it was easy to keep them from fighting over their rewards... rewarding good behaviour was easier than any sort of punishment, after all, and the Luxury balls he had them both in made it clear that he valued their comfort.

Luxury balls had long-since been the only ball that he or 'Cho used unless they were in a bind-- while they were well-off enough to justify most purchases as they were growing up, not even their family could simply buy unlimited amounts of hand-made apriballs from workshops like the most famous out of Johto. Friend Balls were like Luxury Balls in function but sold for obscene amounts in auction at times, at least before the fog had cut them off from the rest of the world... and he'd been holding onto a small stash of them in fear of a rainy day since, waiting for a time that he really, really needed them to stay afloat.

He was interrupted from his musing by another pair of Pokemon popping out of the grass. He pulled out one ball, then the other, sending them out in quick succession. "All right, girls! Let's go!"

-~-

It took weeks of training to get them up to a point where he was happy with their cooperation. Weeks of foraging were necessary to find the right feathers, vitamins, and specialty berries to make sure their stats were as advantageous as possible, and in the time he'd found no fewer than two shiny Pokémon whose fusions had called out to him. One, a pedigree Hattrem that had somehow managed to avoid being fused-- doubtless another releasee who'd been abandoned due to temperament issues-- whom he had picked up an Eevee nera for her to help calm her down. Eevee made for good, happy pets, and he had an acquaintance who used to breed them-- he'd extolled their temperamental virtues for years before the nera disaster, and after that had fused several Pokémon with anxiety or violent tendencies that he'd sworn were total sweethearts afterwards. At the very least, an Eevee wouldn't make her worse off, which was a risk if he left it unfused, and Sizzle was a thief and had stolen items from other Pokémon before. Another was a shiny Bounsweet fused to an Impidimp-- he was certain it would be a terror when it was older.

That made for four out of a party of six, leaving two spaces to go. He was well on his way to getting back to his old qualifications, which would be good for his ability to venture further out in the future. And if he was going to find his family, he'd have to do that. He sighed, grabbing a jacket and heading out towards the shops-- he had more items to buy if he was going to keep this going.