"Good match. That was the toughest battle me and my pokemon have ever fought." Lazarus says to Alicia when shake hands, "I liked your strategy. Very clever use of the environment. I feel stupid for not seeing what you were going for there."
Alicia smiles and sighs, "You give me too much credit. We lucked out on the environment lottery. I don't think we could have dealt with those Dragon Dashes without the flowerbeds. And are you feeding your dragon something I don't know about? How is such a small pokemon have that much weight behind his tackle."
"That is the result of hard work, dedication and sheer will from my little dragon." Lazarus says with a straight face.
Alicia pouts, "Is that so? You don't wanna share your secret, I see."
"There is no secret. He's just build different I'm afraid."
"Alright. I'll believe you if you insist." Alicia says, "But how long have you had your pokemon for? That Dreepy has way too much energy for a first evolution."
"A week or so."
Alicia raises her eyebrows, "Really. A week? Then how is your pokemon so strong. Was the Dreepy trained by someone else before you got him… or her?"
"No, I raised the him myself ever since he hatched from his egg a week ago. And yeah, I know he's over performing for his age, but I won't take credit for that. That has nothing to do with me. All of that is just pure talent on his part. I just told him how to do things and he just got it. Same for my other pokemon."
Alicia looks at him for second or two before replying, "Don't cut yourself short. I have been watching your matches the last few days. In fact I think I watched them all. And I must say, you had some really good tricks up your sleeve. We always hear that a trainer should use the environment around them but I only realized what that actually means and how important it is after watching your Vulpix fight against that Torchic.
I didn't think you and your Vulpix were going to win the match because of the type advantage Torchic had. But you still managed to win the match, and I don't believe anyone else I fought here could have thought of the strategy you did. So, stop being so humble, would you?"
Lazarus sighs, "Thank you. That means a lot coming from someone who gave me my first defeat. And can you give me a rematch against your Nuzleaf? My Dreepy isn't going to be happy about his loss. I would like to use the rematch opportunity to motivate him."
Alice nods, "Course. But I'll have you know, I very much intend to win again."
"I wouldn't ask for anything other than your best. How does three days from now sound to you?"
"As good as any other day."
"And I'd like the rematch in the same flowerbed environment if it's alright with you."
Alicia gives him an amused look, "Alright. We'll do that if that's how you want to play it."
"Perfect, I very much look forward our second match."
—
Lazarus sits on his bed with Aurora on his lap, he has Kamish's pokeball in his hands. In front of him is a table full of delicious food.
The scent of the food makes Aurora drool, but she's worried about how her little brother will act after his loss. The fox knows that a loss is only temporary, but her brother is a proud dragon who might not take it so well.
Lazarus presses the release button on the pokeball and with a beam of red light, Kamish manifests in front of him.
Kamish looks around the room and his eyes light up when he sees the food on the table, its his favorite stuff, cream tomato pasta, oran berry pie, Pidgey meat grilled to perfection, all so yummy, but then remembers the last thing he was doing and his eyes lose their light. He's not inside the dome anymore, so he must have lost the match.
He was supposed to be a brave dragon and become strong to protect his sis, so that his trainer would never have to lose anyone else ever again, but how is he supposed to protect his family if he can't even win a dumb match?
Tears threaten to spill out from Kamish's eyes. He floats away from the food table and hides behind the workstation. Too ashamed to face his trainer after that shameful defeat.
Lazarus sighs, and gets up from the bed, while Aurora just looks towards Kamish's hiding spot with worry evident in her pale blue eyes. She knows her trainer will make her brother happy again, but she still wants to go and give her precious little brother a gentle pat in the head and tell him it's okay.
Lazarus approaches the workstation and moves the monitor to see Kamish coiled like a cinnamon roll. His face is hidden beneath his tail.
"Hey buddy." Lazarus softy says.
Kamish's body trembles but he doesn't look up.
"Kamish. Look at me, buddy. It's okay."
Kamish's body shifts a little and his head peeks out from under his tail. He slightly opens his watery eyes to look at Lazarus, expecting to see disappointment in his trainer's eyes, especially since he didn't listen to his trainer when he told him to stop hitting his opponent and run, but he finds only love in those eyes.
Lazarus forwards his palm towards Kamish.
Kamish just looks at his trainer for a while and then tears spill out from his eyes. One drop after another. He uncoils and dashes straight towards Lazarus, who hugs him in his embrace.
"Shh, It's okay. It's okay. You have nothing to cry for, pal," Lazarus caresses Kamish's serpentine body with his palms as he cries against his chest. "You did your best. You did good."
Lazarus takes the crying dragon to bed and sits next to Aurora.
Aurora looks at Kamish and hops on her trainer's lap, she then gets on her hind legs and tries to climb upto his chest.
Lazarus lowers Kamish from his chest to his lap. Aurora gets back on all fours and barks at Kamish.
She then tackles him away from Lazarus's lap. Kamish's body hits the fluffy mattress. Which makes the dragon finally stop crying and look at her in bewilderment. Aurora gives him another bark and tries to smack him lightly on his head with her paws, but Kamish dodges it.
Aurora yips at him indignantly and lightly tackles him into the mattress again. The fox then pins him down and uses the fur on her paws to clean the tears off his face.
Kamish lets her do her thing, and when she's done, she lets gets him free. Kamish gets up and looks at Aurora and then at Lazarus, both are smiling, and realization hits the dragon. They love him.
Aurora yips and beckons Kamish to come to her with her paws. Kamish floats towards her, who gives him a pat on the head.
"Good job, Aurora," Lazarus says. Happy to see that both his pokemon care about each other.
Aurora smiles and nods at him, and then pushes Kamish towards him.
Lazarus holds Kamish in his hands again and caresses him, "Why are you so sad about losing an insignificant match? No one can win everytime. That's not how all this works. At first life makes you lose more often than it makes you win, it's universe's way of making you stronger for the challengers you will face in the future, so cheer up little one. Your loss has only made you stronger, even more than all of your wins combined have."
Kamish feels the warmth from trainers hands, and feels blessed to have him.
"Do you know how many times the strongest pokemon in the world have lost in battles. It's more than you would think. But they didn't let their loss break them. They got back up and then fought again, that's is how they become stronger. In fact, why don't I show you."
Lazarus puts Kamish down and uses his wristcomm to turn on the holoprojector in the room.
He browses through the pokenet and finds what's he's looking for. Lazarus intends to show Kamish some of the losses Leon's Dragapult has sustained over the years.
A hologram manifests in the room, this match took place right after Vector evolved into a Dragapult from a Drakloak, ten years before Leon became the champion of Galar. Because what better way to have Kamish realize that even the strongest pokemon can lose, then showing him the current strongest Dragapult in the world losing.
Ever since the day Lazarus showed Kamish that video in his living room of Vector fighting, the dragon had subconsciously thought of Vector to be the pinnacle of power, of what he must become one day to protect, and to see a pokemon who would become so powerful lose in the future lose match after match is nothing short of enlightening.