"Hey, Isa?" Kaden interrupted the story Isa was telling. After staying in the the village for a few days, the two and their Pokemon had finally set off for Luminia just hours earlier.

"Yeah?"

"How mad would you be if I said I'm starting to get some memories back?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad, that's great!" Isa smiled at the comment, but Kaden still seemed a little down. "What is it?"

"I still don't know much, but I remember being one of the Mercenaries of Yveltal. I know I didn't like it that much and often tried to get out of it, but there was something that kept me in right up until I met you." Kaden didn't look too excited when he said it. It definitely came as a startle to Isa.

"When did you start remembering?" Isa asked.

"Yesterday morning." Before Isa could say anything else, Kaden continued. "I didn't want to tell you because I thought you'd be mad. The Mercenaries going out of business are why the village was destroyed, so if you would have known that there was one that you were with, then maybe you'd get mad at me for not being there to help your people." Isa didn't respond. "See, I knew you'd be upset."

"I'm not upset! Why would you think that?" Isa almost yelled, which caused Kaden to flinch back a bit. Isa stopped, taking a small breath before speaking again in a much quieter voice. "I'm not upset. There's nothing you could have done. So don't go blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault. Plus, I don't wanna have any reason to go doubting the only person that I'm gonna be seeing for the next week or something."

"I guess that's not the best of ideas." Kaden smirked a bit.

"Hey, if you were a Mercenary then you must have some proper battle knowledge, right?"

"I remember a little bit."

"Then could you show me how to fight? We're going to be learning in Luminia anyways, but if you teach me, I could have an upper hand when starting out. Most of the students at that academy were either guards or duelists before arriving there, so I could be denied simply because I don't have experience." Isa looked down a little, but not enough to miss the shrug of approval from Kaden.

"Sure. Why not? It'd be fun. We'll start tonight once we set up camp."

"Really?" Isa tried not to show so much excitement, but he didn't succeed. "That'd be awesome! Thanks!"

"Don't mention it."

"So, what was being a Mercenary like?" Isa asked. Kaden looked confused at his eagerness for a moment before speaking.

"I'm still not sure exactly. I remember working underground a lot."

"Sounds sneaky. What did you guys work on?"

"Oh, lots of things. Speaking to ghosts was one of them."

"What?" Isa jumped a bit, which caused Kaden to start laughing. "Hey, you're lying, aren't you?"

"So what if I am? Maybe I'm not, I don't remember."

"I thought you said you'd stop that!"

"You clearly don't know me well enough, then."

---

"Alright, lesson one. The first thing that every battler in Axiom, and even the Dark Lands, is taught is the challenge pose." Kaden held a stick in his hand, standing next to Houndoom. He held the sharp end pointing straight up, clenching it with one hand and holding the other near his side. Houndoom stood ready at his side. "I challenge you to a duel. A proper response is to return the pose, saying that you accept."

Isa tightened a fist around his stick, pointing it up and staring ahead. Sandshrew stood next to him, waiting. "I accept your challenge."

"You look so stiff, loosen up a bit." Kaden snickered a bit.

"What? I'm not stiff!" Isa felt himself tighten a bit at the comment, which caused Kaden to burst out laugh.

"Yes, you are. You literally just got more stiff when I told you to not. Dueling is all about having an open mind. An open mind allows you to move more quickly and connect with your Pokemon so that you can take advantage over the foe. Now, think of this as just a fun little spar between two friends. Lighten up. Now, I challenge you to a duel." Kaden reestablished the pose, looking at Isa again.

"Lighten up?"

"Yeah. Shake your hands a little bit, jump a little, just do whatever you need to do to get focused."

"Okay." Isa did as Kaden said in an attempt to relax. "This better?"

"Sure." Isa could clearly see a smile on Kaden's face, showing that he was still a little stiff. "Now that's better."

"I accept your challenge..." Isa looked ahead, waiting for the next instruction.

"Alright, good. Now, we fight. Normally terms are decided first, but we'll do terms second in these little spars. We go until withdrawal, when a normally fatal blow is dealt, or when one of the Pokemon is getting close to down. Sandshrew, Houndoom, you two be the judge of that. A Pokemon may not directly attack the opposing human, but is allowed to use their attacks to distract the opposing force on their trainer's command. That all make sense?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, then you take first move." Kaden and Houndoom stood, waiting for Isa to attack.

Isa watched, looking around and thinking of a good first move. "Sandshrew, spray some ice around Houndoom's feet." Isa pointed at the opponent's Pokemon, taking a few steps forward at Kaden. He soon ran, slicing with the stick across Kaden's chest. Kaden moved his stick to deflect, pushing Isa back a bit.

Meanwhile, Sandshrew was scurrying around to meet up with Houndoom. It opened its mouth to let out a beam of ice, letting the frost fall at Houndoom's feet. Some of the ice touched the front claws, the rest of it attaching to the ground and sticking the Pokemon in the ground. "Nice one!" Isa called out. "Keep me updated on if Houndoom starts moving."

Isa moved forward, starting to make a few hits. Kaden either dodged or deflected all of them, eventually leaning to the right and giving Isa a firm smack above the legs. He glanced over at Houndoom for a moment before turning back to face Isa, quickly changing his sword hand and placing another hit in the same spot on his other leg. "Now!"

Houndoom spurted out a small beam of fire at the ice on its feet, melting it almost instantly and leaping in the air at Isa. Isa let out a small yelp as he leaned back, losing balance and falling over. Kaden didn't even give him a chance to look up before he gently poked Isa in the chest, right around his heart. "I win."

"That was fast." Isa muttered. "How did you do that?"

"Easy. While you attacked, I deflected to keep you attacking and wear you down a bit, then I did a quick side cut. If this had been a duel with real swords, you'd have been on the ground before Houndoom leapt up. With the sticks, it was just a way to get you a little off balance before Houndoom's jump to ensure that you'd end up falling over so I could get in a fatal blow." Kaden explained, holding out a hand and pulling Isa up from the ground. "Don't worry, I've always been told that I have a little dirty of a dueling style. Anyone else wouldn't have pulled those sorts of moves on you, especially considering you're just starting."

"That's reassuring." Isa stood up while looking down at Sandshrew, who seemed a little demotivated. "Aww, you did just fine." He knelt down to give the small Pokemon a rub on the back, which it seemed to enjoy.

"Hey, you're brand new to this. Don't sweat it, both of you. Not to mention fire beats ice."

"I just didn't think I'd be so bad. I couldn't even get a single hit."

"You're not bad, you're new and I'm pretty experienced." Kaden shrugged a little. "Not to mention I'm not a good teacher. Just not my thing, you know?"

"Sure." Isa sighed before standing up. "I'm also a pretty bad student."

"Nahh. You're just discouraged right now. If you want, we can do another battle tonight or we can wait until tomorrow and try again."

"Let's keep going." Isa walked back a little bit, forming the challenge pose. "I challenge you to a duel of the same terms."

"There, you're learning! That wasn't nearly as stiff as last time." Kaden smiled as he returned the pose. "I accept, but this time let's leave the Pokemon out of it. I just want to see your technique. Besides, it's easy to overwork Pokemon, especially when one of us has a type disadvantage." Kaden glanced over at Houndoom. "Take a break for now, girl."

"Okay then. Sandshrew, take a rest." Isa looked down to see the Pokemon giving a small form of a nod before following Houndoom off to where they had set up for the night.

"I'll take the first move this time. Ready?" Isa nodded.

"Let's go!"

---

Isa held his stick on the defensive, hitting back each of Kaden's blows. He pushed back with all his force, nearly knocking Kaden back. It gave just enough of a stagger for Isa to reach in and make a swift motion across his chest.

"You did it." Kaden smiled, accepting the defeat and leaning out of the position they were in. "Congrats."

"I did it? I did it!" Isa started laughing. "I finally beat you!"

"Don't let it get to your head."

"What do you mean, I just beat you! Of course I'm gonna cheer about it!" Isa refused to drop the smile on his face as the two of them started walking back to where the Pokemon were.

"You beat me after hours of trying against someone who's crippled. Sure, that someone is trying to not let it get to them, but everything gets to them in the end."

"You're just salty."

"What? I am not!" Kaden seemed to be offended by the comment.

"Yes, you are." Isa snickered a little.

"No!" There was definitely an irritated tone at this point.

"There's nothing wrong with having a little bit of salt." Isa sat down against a tree, giving a small yawn. "How's your arm holding up?"

"Let's check." Kaden sat down next to where Isa was, starting to unwrap the bandages around his arm.

Isa quickly looked it over, starting the change. "Still no sign of infection, which is pretty lucky considering what we're working with. We should only have to keep doing this for another week or two. I was thinking it might be a month. Then again, we're still a little on the early side of things. Complications might still come up." Isa tightened the new bandage up.

"See, you're not bad at everything. I don't have any knowledge on this kind of stuff. We just have different areas of expertise." Kaden leaned back against the same tree, looking up at the sky. "You know, I really do love seeing the world at night. Everything's just so quiet. It's a good time to clear out your mind and just relax."

Isa looked up. Stars were dotting the sky in a more frequent amount than he had seen before, the moon lighting the area. "Yeah. It is pretty nice." The two were silent. Before long, Isa heard the sounds of Kaden starting to doze off. He glanced over to see Kaden was long asleep. "Well, have a good night."

Isa ended up sleeping a lot better than he had in the village.