<Caledor's POV>

The 3rd and final event of the day was coming close and I was really excited about it. I couldn't wait to find out what I'd be doing at the course, and who I'd be competing against. But I had to wait. They took a long time to set up the whole track. I thought of looking for some friends to talk to, but Lagi had other plans. She called me and said she wanted to talk to me. I couldn't imagine what she could possibly want to talk about, but I went with her and asked her what was up.
"I'm worried about you," she said.
Now that was something I didn't expect?
"Worried? About me? But why?, what is there to worry about? I'm perfectly fun, having a great time and looking forward to having even more fun."
"True, but I noticed you had a little mood swing at the hockey game."
"Mood swing? I don't remember, but I guess everyone has them every now and then. And you're the only one who can possibly notice mine, they never last more than 5 seconds."
"That's exactly why I'm worried."
"I don't get it. Oh, wait, are you talking about the moment when the Feraligatr hurt Amber? Of course I was worried at that moment, but then things went well, so everything was fine."
"I'm not talking about that."
"Then what? Please spare me the mystery, you're scaring me."
"The thing is you don't remember being worried about yourself at all, do you? I've noticed you've been reflective many times, like there was something inside you that scared you and you didn't want t reach in and see what it was. Then you dismissed it. You always dismissed it and then forgot it. But it keeps coming back. And denying it will only hurt you. It can even stop you from enjoying life as much as you should. Your joy can never be true and full if you achieve it by blocking away your worries."
"You know, that sounded very deep, but I don't think it applies to me. I admit it, I have lots of questions about myself, and about my past, and yes, sometimes they scare me, but there's no way I'll ever find the answers to those questions, so there's nothing I can do about it. So I do the best thing I can: face front and have fun."
Lagi kneeled down and patted my back.
"I know what it feels like to have unanswered questions," she said.
"You know what everything feels like," I pointed out.
"I mean I have some of my own. You know that. Though it's true that I've never been so much in the dark; I know it was nature that made me different, or at least I'm almost sure that was the case. As for the reasons, looking for them is like looking for the purpose of life. I realized I'd have to find my own purpose, and my own reasons to be myself."
"Ok, that's all great, but..."
"I haven't finished," she said. "In your case, we know your abilities are not a product of nature, but whoever the people who did that to you were and whatever their motives were, you don't need them. You can look for your own path too."
"It's hard when you don't know what you are," I told her.
"I've been there too. But what matters is not what you are. It's who you are. And you know that very well."
"Yes, I know who I am. Though in my scariest nightmares I wonder if even my personality was built to the liking of those scientists."
"No one is capable of doing that."
"We don't know what they're capable of. I've heard of beings with tremendous psychic abilities. They can do just about anything."
"If something like that had been done to you, you wouldn't be questioning them, would you?"
"I guess you're right. Then only my body has been tampered with. Thanks, Lagi, you've taken a huge weight off my chest."
"It was a pleasure. Tell me, is that why you're scared of your psychic abilities?"
"Scared? I'm not scared of my psychic abilities. I wish I could handle them better. I mean, I wouldn't like to mess with the minds of others, or violate their privacy, but it would be great if I could predict attacks, know when someone is close or even move objects with my mind! And using telepathy to communicate would be very nice too. I can do that with you, Gabi and Ventura because your own abilities help me, and I've done it with Tsunami too, but it's easier because we're very close. It would probably work with Hero too, but it doesn't work with the others."
"Well, you've made some good achievements. I'm sure your powers will improve if you keep working on them. But you must be certain that you want them to improve."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know. You tell me. Ever since the day you evolved I had the feeling you were afraid of your powers, but I had no way to know the reason. Not without asking you, and I didn't think you were ready to talk about that until now."
"Why now?"
"Because you opened yourself to your powers during the game."
"You know, I'm not sure if my powers are scary or not, but yours definitely are."
"I know, Hero keeps telling me that. In my defense I can only say that I don't like invading anyone's privacy either, and that I'll never hurt anyone on purpose. Actually, if I hurt anyone emotionally I get hurt too."
"Ouch; now that I think of it, it mustn't be nice to be like that."
"Sometimes it is, sometimes it is it. but it's the way my life is, so I'd better make the best of it."
"Good. So what were you saying about me being scared of my powers?"
"Oh, yes, the day you evolved, even before evolving, during the battle against the Dark Cloak, you were scared of your own powers."
"I was confused," I told her. "You never know what will happen when you're confused."
"True, but confusion only mixes up what's already inside you. So you did have those worries hidden inside. And even after the battle, when you were no longer confused, I could sense your fear. You reached for the Day Stone and evolved, and then you blocked it."
That wasn't the way I remembered my evolution, but now that I thought of it some of the things she said did ring a bell. I tried to recall what had happened after that battle, and if there had been anything that had scared me at that moment.
"There were many reasons why I wanted to evolve," I finally told her. "But yes, I think one had something to do with needing to be an Espeon in order to control my psychic abilities. After that battle, my mind suddenly opened up to a sense I wasn't used to, and there was a lot of noise inside my head. That must have been what you felt. And the reason why I'd been scared before that happened, now I remember, was because of the vision I had when I touched the glowing stone with Gabi, Sandy and Ryan. It was really horrible. All of us were scared. Gabi didn't want to touch the stone again for months, remember? I guess what happened to her happened to me too. I was afraid having psychic powers might imply having more visions like that one."
"The encounter with the Dark Cloak was a terrible experience for all of us," Lagi said in a reflective tone. "I felt everybody's fear and I was afraid too. Most of their pokemon knew nothing but hate and blood-lust, while the trainers had no feelings whatsoever. It was, indeed, horrible. But that had nothing to do with being able to foresee it or not. You would have seen them sooner or later, and had it been later we wouldn't have been prepared."
"I know. I just hope something like that never, ever happens again. If it happens a thousand years from now it will be too soon."
"I agree. So, do you feel better now?"
"I feel better before we even started to talk, but it was nice to have someone to talk to about deep stuff. We could do this once a year or so."
Lagi chuckled.
"Is that how often you're planning to be serious?"
"Give or take a day," I retorted. "I'm not the serious type."
"Just be careful not to neglect your needs. I'll always be here if you want a talk. It can be lighter too."
"Ok, acknowledged," I smiled. "Now when is the Course going to start? They're sure taking their time!"
"I'm sure we'll be called soon. Let's go back with the others."

Lagi was right. We were called soon after we rejoined the group. I was lucky. This time I was the second on the list. And the first one turned out to be another Espeon! Well, her and a Squirtle - it takes 2 to race and battle. It would be good to watch her. I could get some ideas. We sat at the beginning of the track, so we could only see a small part of the race directly, but there was a pretty TV screen that showed the whole course as the race went on. Thanks to it, I soon realized I'd have to watch out for the cold water. I hoped my opponent was not a water or ice pokemon, although I knew my chances were small: over a half of the pokemon who were around today belonged to those types.
I recognized the Espeon's trainer when the screen showed him picking her up from the finish line. She had won, but she wasn't in a good shape. And he was... Ade. I wanted to slap myself for not recognizing Kirei earlier, but I had only seen her once. I hoped she'd be fine. I was glad she had won, I didn't know her too well, but she was a friend's friend while I'd never seen the Squirtle before. And she was an Espeon; seeing an Espeon win against a Water pokemon in the course was a good precedent. I wished Ade and his team would stay, so that I could see them after the course; it would have been nice to talk to Beckham again. But they left right away. I could understand them, Kirei needed medical attention and a warm bed. I decided I'd have to be very careful in order to end the Course in a better shape and be able to keep having fun afterwards.
With those thoughts, I got on the track when my name was called. I waited for my opponent, but no one came. Now I was getting annoyed. Until I heard the announcement on the loudspeaker. Then I became intrigued.
"As one of the contestants is unable to run on land, the side track has been enabled for her. The side track consists of a stream of water of 1200 meters of length. It was made longer than the original track to compensate for the advantage its users have in the water. Both competitors will meet at the pond after reaching the end of their respective tracks."
So there was a water track. Where was it, and why hadn't I seen it? And did this mean I wasn't going to see my opponent until I'd finished running along the snow path? It would be hard to know who was ahead that way. And, for what they'd said, my opponent would have to be a water pokemon. I'd have to race through the snow as fast as possible if I wanted to stand a chance. Though the battle would probably decide the result. Too many things to think of, maybe improvising would be best. Trying to contemplate all the possibilities would only be a waste of time.

The whistle blew and I dashed forward. The view ahead of me wasn't great, just a lot of snow as far as I could see. The sound of the people cheering was comforting, but it faded away as I raced further away from them. Then came a moment when I felt as if I was alone in the middle of nothing. It was a strange feeling; not bad, just strange. But I couldn't just stand there and contemplate the whiteness and the silence. I had to push forward or else my opponent would take advantage, wherever she was (the voice on the loudspeaker had referred to my opponent as 'her'). I had to admit this was the weirdest competition I'd ever seen. And I'd seen many.
Soon, the water came into sight. There were no signs of my opponent yet. It seemed like I was ahead. Either that or my opponent had already crossed the pond, but that was unlikely. I ran faster, encouraged by the thought that I was gaining ground, and reached the pond in practically no time. I didn't know I could run so fast! Of course, Hero was a lot faster than me, but I wasn't up against him. Now came the hard part. I touched the water with my paw and proved that, yes, it was cold. I was used to swimming -I'd spent a lot of time in the pool at the Eevee House-, but it would be hard to swim in such cold water. I could try to warm it up with a Flamethrower, but that would take too long. Reflect wouldn't protect me from cold water. I reckoned I'd have to get in and just move as fast as possible to get over the cold. So there I went. I took a deep breath to give me courage, kneeled down, got my front paws in, then the rest of my body, and then I screamed.
Well, I knew I'd have to endure the cold water, but I'd never said anything about enduring it in silence. I agitated my legs as fast as possible, trying to get to the other side and at the same time generate some heat. And right at that embarrassing moment, a Kingdra appeared from the side.
"So you're my opponent," the Kingdra said.
"Yes. And you're mine," I said. "Sorry if I don't talk a lot, but I'm trying to get out of here. We can talk later."
"Ok," she said, swimming to the other border as if there was nothing to it. Of course, she had been swimming 1200 meters already. She'd had time to get used to the cold. So would I if I stayed there long enough, but I didn't intend to do that. I wanted to reach the Kingdra, do whatever I had to do next and get to the finish line.
As I swam, I saw some targets appear from under the ice and even in the water. The Kingdra brought them down with perfect accuracy, using water and ice attacks. If things stayed like that, she was going to win. They'd said each of us would have to hit 5 targets, and she'd already hit 3. When the 4th one appeared, I took a long shot and used a Hydro Pump. Too much of a long shot. I didn't hit it. I could picture Ventura scolding me for that. But the Kingdra turned around to look at me, and while she did that I shot a Bubble Beam and this time I did hit straight on.
"Oh, so you're that Espeon," The Kingdra deduced.
I didn't know where she'd heard of me, but it was clear I'd lost any chances at catching her by surprise. And with that, I'd lost the factor I was best at using in my battles. I'd have to come up with something else when the time came. For now, a new target had appeared right behind the Kingdra. I moved a little to the side and shot it down with another Bubble Beam.
"Those two targets were mine," she told me. "You have to cross the pond first before shooting."
"I never heard that," I replied. "Anyway, I'm almost there."
I reached the border and got out of the water, feeling as cold outside as I'd felt when I got in. I shook my body to get the water away from my fur and some of it did leave me. About half of it, I'd say. A new target appeared on the ice, so I decided to cope with the rest of the water until it evaporated and use fire to help that happen and bring down the targets at the same time. Flamethrower worked just fine on that one, and the one that came floating on a fancy flying machine. Now I finally had the advantage again! A new target came out of the snow on the side of the ice field and... a long-range Ice Beam flew straight into it. I jumped back when I saw it, caught by surprise. Of course, iif it had been aimed at me, it would have been to late to dodge it. I realized I'd have to keep an eye on the Kingdra and not just the targets.
"Sorry that cut you so close," the Kingdra said. "But you got two of my targets, so I have to get two of yours."
"I haven't heard anything about having different targets for each of us," I insisted.
But as I said that, another target appeared behind me. I knew that from the Water Gun the Kingdra released. I turned around as fast as I could and shot a Water Gun of my own. As I was closer to the target, both attacks hit at the same time.
"I guess it's a draw," the Kingdra said. "Time to break the tie with a battle."
"Can you tell me something first?," I asked her.
"What?"
"Where did you hear about me?"
"My teammates saw you at the Hockey game," she said. "I was in my pokeball, but they told me about an Espeon who glowed in different colors and used attacks of many types."
"Oh. Were your teammates the ones who played against my team?"
"No, they were watching. They played right after you did."
"Oh, I missed that match."
"How did you get those powers?"
"I'm a prize pokemon," I told her.
"Oh."
It was incredible how that answer seemed to satisfy almost everyone. It would never be enough for me. Saying that and saying nothing at all was just about the same. But for most, that seemed to be enough of an explanation. They never seemed to wonder where prize pokemon came from. Weird, but for me it was good; it saved me from giving a lot of explanations I didn't want to go through.
"Shall we battle now?," I asked her.
"You read my mind."
"Though there's a chance that I may be able to do that in the future, I didn't."
I faced the Kingdra and got ready to attack.

Level 44 Espeon vs. Level 50 Kingdra

Thanks to the years I'd spent living with Water Angel, I knew the strengths and weaknesses of a Kingdra. Water and Fire attacks were out of the question, which left me with two types of attacks to use: Electric, which I was most used to and comfortable with, and Psychic, which were supposed to be stronger for being of my own type. I'd probably have to use both, while the Kingdra was bound to use Water and Ice attacks just like the ones she'd used to hit the targets. I decided to start off with a Psychic attack. It was safest, since I still had some water on me and I didn't want to risk shocking myself. It was a good start.
"Oh, so you can use the attacks of a normal Espeon too," the Kingdra said.
Actually, I couldn't use all of them, but I had no reason to let her know that.
The Kingdra shot an Ice Beam at me. Now I felt even colder than before. I was glad I wasn't as sensitive to extreme temperatures as Sylvan was. But even Gabi would have shivered if she'd been in my place. I used Psychic again, and this time I was hit with a blast of icy water from the pond. I guessed it was a Surf attack, though it didn't look like others I had seen. And it felt much colder than usual.
I had to do something. If the Kingdra dumped another wave on me like that, I might freeze. I ran away from her reach to gain some time and get dry. She tried to shoot Ice Beams and Bubble Beams at me, but I was too far away. She yelled at me, said that I was cheating, but I wasn't planning to leave the battle unfinished. I only needed to warm up. I shot fire at the sky, hoping that it would help me somehow.
"I've had too much of this!," the Kingdra complained. "If you're not going to battle I'll get to the finish line."
She dived under the water. There had to be an underground tunnel that would send her past the finish line or something like that. I couldn't let her go without finishing the battle. I rushed back to the border of the pond and released a Thunder into the water. Some of it just had to hit her. I felt the electricity surge through me and get out, then flow through the whole pond. Finally, the Kingdra came back to the surface. She looked dizzy.
"Oh, ok," she said. "I like it better this way."
She took a deep breath and I instantly knew that what was coming next would be very cold. I could run, but not to far or else the Kingdra would get down again and this time she would make it into the tunnel and on to the finish line. So I had to run to the side. But which side?

LEFT.

I wouldn't turn back from a hunch when it came. I jumped to the left just in time to avoid the coldest attack of the day: a Blizzard. The strong wind headed slightly to my right and that was what saved me. Now I had to make sure not to mess up. I decided to put my mental abilities to good use while they were cooperating, and released another Psychic attack. That did the trick. The Kingdra fell on her back and floated on the surface of the water. She didn't have any strength left to attack. I turned around and ran to the finish line. When I reached it, I jumped with joy. I had won!

And I grew to level 45! Yay!

Well, I was still cold and rather agitated, but I was filled with excitement and that overly made up for all the annoyances. I looked past the finish line and saw there was a small pond a few meters away, so that proved my theory of the tunnel. Well, it didn't really prove it, but it supported it. I began to walk back to the start, but I was intercepted. I heard a voice shouting at me before I could see its owner.
"Hydro Pump?! On a shooting target? What were you thinking?!"
"Oh, hi, Ventura," I replied. "I knew you'd say that. But I won, didn't I?"
The Venomoth, who was flying behind me, came in front of me and turned to face me.
"You were lucky. If that Blizzard had hit you, you wouldn't be telling the tale."
"Yes, I was lucky, so sue me. Luck often plays an important role in battles. Doesn't Gabi always say that?"
"Well, there are always things you can't predict, but you should do your best to minimize your need for luck. You can't rely on something you can't count on. You could have used a Thunder Wave to start with, and then..."
"Can't you congratulate me for once?," I complained. "You're always so harsh. Relax and enjoy! I came here to have fun, not to take a class on battling."
"Did you have fun?"
"Yes, I did."
Ventura sighed. She had no arguments against that.
"Now that Kingdra made some interesting moves," Ventura commented, changing the subject. "Though she could have used Agility to get to the pond before you and get to hit first. She wasn't that smart at that. But what called my attention was the fact that her strategy was totally different from Water Angel's. No Smokescreen-Toxic combo. Instead she used all-out attacks. A fast finisher. I'm still wondering which of the two strategies works best for a Kingdra."
"I guess this one works best for this Kingdra and the one Water Angel uses works best for her," I opined, resuming my walk.
"It only works until all her opponents have seen her do it and are able to predict her moves. Using the same attacks again and again is not recommendable."
"I never do that."
"Hey, do you want me to teleport you back with the others?"
I paused to think. I liked walking, but it was a bit too cold for my liking, and the sooner we rejoined the team, the sooner I'd get a chance to warm up and watch the rest of the competition.
"Hmm... ok," I accepted.
Ventura took me back with the others, who gave me a warmer welcome than she had, and congratulated me and rubbed my back and put their paws on my face... well, the last part was accidental; Tsunami bumped into Hero causing him to trip and fall on me. Amber, who was fine by now, sat me on her lap and kept me warm as we watched the rest of the races. Everything was fine. Everything was fun! I could really get used to taking part in competitions. We should get out more often.