*Big bwotha pwotet big bwotha hewmen?* Grace sniffled, looking at Scorpio curiously and thinking of him as a big hero that protected everyone. *Big bwotha pwotet big bwotha Papa?*
"Isn't it strange that a simple battle could cause a Pokemon to evolve even if they don't participate in it?" Eira murmured, smiling at how happy Z and his team seemed to be with the new evolution. She stood to come with Z to the gym with Walrein and Meta keeping close beside her.
*I protect my human,* said Scorpio to grace, *but I think your papa is strong enough to protect himself, even from me. He's a very strong pokemon." Scorpio glanced at Wailrin and noted that he would not want to see who was stronger. "I guess that does seem a bit strange," said Z as he patted Haxorus on his head, "maybe the experience is all they need." (didn't Fraxure fight shimmer? Or am I getting mixed up again about previous posts)
*Papa big! Papa twong! Grace luv Papa!* Grace cheered with a large smile before she hugged Scorpio. *Grace luv big bwotha! Big bwotha best fwend!*
"I guess watching a battle is all that is needed to learn sometimes," Eira suggested with a small frown as she wondered if maybe her Pokemon could grow faster if she had them observe the battles she participated in. "But I'm sure Haxorus has had plenty of experience on his own to cause him to evolve."
Scorpio smiled and hugged her back with his claws, touched that the little pokemon liked him that much. *I love you too little one,* said Scorpio.
Z chuckled, "come on, let's get going." He and his pokemon headed toward the gym with Grace on Scorpio's back, getting a free ride through the crater towards the meteor gym. Now that Fraxure had evolved, cleaning would be a lot easier due to his increased size and strength. Z was glad for that, as he could now fix up the gym a lot quicker after battles.
*Big bwotha bestest bwotha! Grace luv big bwotha mow than oter bwothas,* Grace cheered happily, hugging him tighter until she was lifted away from him by Shimmer's Psychic. Grace was placed onto one of Shimmer's legs causing her to look around in confusion. There was a moment's pause before she started to cry loudly, loud enough that Eira heard her this time and came over to scoop the baby Pokemon into her arms. *Want bwotha! Grace want bwotha!*
Unable to understand Grace, but knowing she was upset, Eira did her best to try to comfort the baby Happiny in her arms.
Z glanced back at Eira and wondered why her little pokemon was crying. Z glanced at sparky and his faithful fire type gave him a translation of what was being said, causing Z to nod in understanding.
"I think she wants to play with scorpio some more," Z explained to Eira as she tried to comfort the baby pokemon, "she seems to think of him as a big brother figure and admires him a lot. It seems that the two of them really have bonded in the time they spent together."
"Then why were you taken away from your new brother?" Eira cooed at her baby Pokemon as she rocked Grace gently and walked over to Scorpio. She didn't like the idea of her precious baby playing with such a ferocious Pokemon, but trusted Grace's instincts to protect her from any harm that could come her way. Besides, Scorpio was Z's Pokemon so she was sure she could trust him to keep Grace safe while they were working on fixing the gym. Shimmer was not happy as it watched Eira offer up the sniffling Happiny to Scorpio to take since that is what the little pink Pokemon wanted.
Scorpio picked up the little pokemon with his claws and put her on his back so it could ride on him until they reached the gym. Scorpio carefully climbed down the path so Grace wouldn't fall off and took her to the side to play with her once they reached the gym itself. Z got off Haxorus's back and the big dragon began to move the large boulders out of the way while Alloy and Sparky did the same. They took the boulders outside the Gym and left them in a pile where they used attacks to grind them down to pebbles.
Eira's Pokemon followed after her as they headed for the gym before Eira began to instruct them on what to do in order to help clean up their mess. After making sure that Grace was safely out of the way with Scorpio, she turned to her older Pokemon thoughtfully. "Walrein, you can crush the large boulders with your tusks so they are easier for the others to carry, right? And Meta, you can transform into a Staryu like Shimmer so you can use Psychic to move a lot of boulders at once."
The two Pokemon nodded to their trainer before they got to work doing what she had asked of them.
alloy used his strength to help carry the ground up boulders back into the gym where Haxorus filled the holes in the ground. Sparky then used her fire to melt the rock into slag that filled the craters.
"Hey Eira," said Z, "can Shimmer and Wailren use their abilities to cool the pools of molten rock down so the floor will be solid and level again? My pokemon don't know water or ice moves so we wouldn't be able to do it ourselves and need the help of your team."
Eira nodded before she turned to Walrein for help, so Meta could continue moving things around. "Walrein, use Water Pulse on the floor to cool it off."
Walrein gave her a wail in response to let her know that he was on it before charging up a ball of water in front of his mouth. When it was done charging, Walrein let loose a massive ring of water towards the ground they had been working on. The ground sizzled when the water splashed onto it, cooling and hardening it.
"Thanks," said Z as he watched the water pulse cool the molten slag that filled the craters in the floor, "looks like we're done for the day. Why don't we relax for a while and hope this heat wave passes us by tomorrow."
Scorpio walked up with Grace on his back. He had been playing with the little pokemon, keeping it entertained while the bigger pokemon were working to fix the gym so the baby pokemon wouldn't get hurt on accident.
"We can hope. I don't know if my Pokemon will be of much use if this heat keeps up like it is," Eira said, looking away from the newly fixed floor to look at her partners to see that Walrein was drying out and that Meta had quickly turned back into its normal form to avoid being a dried out Staryu for very long.
*Mama! Mama!* Grace called to Eira, cheering when she saw her trainer. While she loved playing with her new big brother, Grace was beginning to miss being held by her mama all of the time. Eira smiled at her littlest Pokemon before scoping her up and holding her close.
"the castform news report said that the heatwave should be over tomorrow," said Z, "they're pretty accurate about their weather reports and such. They actually have a Castform help them determine what the weather will be the next day."
Scorpio watched as his little sister pokemon was scooped up by her mother figure and walked back to Z to socialize with his trainer some more while the little pokemon was being pampered by her mother. Sparky was practicing some martial arts moves on the side while she waited and Haxorus was getting used to his new form
"I didn't think Castform were accurate about judging the weather. I always thought that they could only detect extreme heat, rain, and hail that was around them, not what was to come," Eira said with a frown, thinking about what she had learned in her science classes back in Mossdeep. It had been such a long time since she had had a class like that, she wondered if maybe there was something she had missed since she never actually finished school. She looked down at Grace as the little Pokemon cooed at her and tugged lightly on her hair, bringing a smile to the young woman's face.