As soon as they reached the edge of Viridian Forest, Owen felt uneasy. He hesitated before the treeline while Sam staggered straight for the closest shady point.

  “What’s up, Owen?” Dillon asked.

  “I dunno.” Owen made a face.

  “The sky,” Sam said, sitting down with a wince. He leaned his head back against the raggedy bark. “This tree. My blood pressure.”

  Owen glared at him. “My tummy feels funny. It started when we got close to these trees.”

  “You measure your blood pressure?” Dillon asked, interested.

  “No,” Sam replied as he dug food out of his bag. “I just know that increased demand on muscles requires additional oxygen carried by blood, and blood oxygen density has an upper threshold, so the only way to meet the demand is to circulate the blood more quickly, and that means the heart beats faster, which means the blood is has more force put on it, and then the fluid dynamics of the blood continue to force…”

  He broke off to start on his cheese sandwich, ignoring Owen’s look of fury.

  “Oh, so you’re just smart,” Dillon said sarcastically.

  Jesse took a few paces into the trees, looked around, and decided it was safe enough to rest.

  “I can get you a dictionary if you need one,” Sam returned. “Or a medical textbook.”

  “Why would you have a medical textbook?”

  Sam looked at Dillon sharply. “Because I wanted to know how blood worked. Got any bright ideas why I might have wanted to know?”

  “‘Cause yer a know-it-all,” Owen muttered.

  “Who doesn’t even know that he’s sitting in poison ivy,” Dillon agreed.

  “Must be that invisible poison ivy I see so often.”

  Owen screwed up his face. “Wait, how can you see it if it’s invisible?

  Dillon sighed.

  “Well, you see, Owen,” Sam began, “This forest is basically my backyard. Part of being a know-it-all is knowing what plants that are in you background are poisonous.”

  “But it’s invisible.”

  Sam looked from Owen to Dillon and back again.

  “Owen, Sam knows there isn’t any ivy there,” Dillon said quietly. “When he said ‘it must be invisible,’ he was mocking us.”

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  “That’s not nice,” Owen said seriously.

  Sam stared at him. “You tackled me just because Dillon told you too!”

  Owen brightened. “Yeah, that’s fun. Its good training too!”

  “Speaking of training,” Jesse felt the need to cut in. “When you finish eating, we can go over our first exercise for trainers.”

  “‘For trainers?’” Sam repeated.

  Jesse nodded. “We’ll still start with your Pokémon in the morning, but we can start with you now. Especially if you’re already lecturing about circulatory systems.”

  When they had all finished eating, Jesse directed the boys to sit comfortably, legs crossed, backs straight.

  “You can live for three weeks, without food,” Jesse began. “Three days without water.Only four minutes without breathing.” His voice trembled, but he forced himself to remain calm. “So we will begin with proper breathing. Slowly breathe in through your nose.” He demonstrated. “Slowly breathe out through your mouth. In. Out. Push out with your stomach In. Push in with your stomach Out. Good. Keep doing that until I tell you to stop.”

  As the focus and oxygen set in, Jesse felt himself settle. He hoped the boys hadn’t noticed.

  “There will be many times as a Pokémon trainer that you will find it difficult to breathe. Sometimes it will be from tension from the match. Sometimes it will be due to the weather or environment. Sometimes it will be from taking an attack yourself. The trainer who can still breathe, keep their head, and give their orders, will always beat the trainer who cannot.”

  Dillon glanced briefly at his dad’s clothes covered in dirt, and wondered.

  “Does that include dealing with a lot of opponents at once?” Sam asked, thinking back to earlier that day.

  “It can,” Jesse replied. “But I wouldn’t make any battle plans that rely on your opponent being incompetent. If it turns out they are, take it as a bonus.

  “Now, take a sharp breath in,” Jesse demonstrated, “and slowly release out. Keep it controlled. Sharp In, exhale Out.” They practiced for an another minute. “Now we’ll do the opposite. Slow breath In, sharp exhale. Again, keep it controlled. Breathe In, sharp Out.

  “This is the foundation of training your Pokémon for battle. We will be repeating these exercises every morning, and every time we stop for a break. As you train your Pokémon, keep in mind your breathing structure.

  “And now that we’ve all had a chance to catch our breath, get up! We’re heading into the forest.”

  “Hope we don’t run into any wild Beedrill this time,” Dillon cracked as he shrugged his backpack on.

  Sam pretended not to notice. Owen looked confused for a moment, looking from Dillon to Jesse, then seemed to come to a conclusion. Quietly, they all journeyed on. Several times, Owen stopped just before a wild Pokémon appeared. Caterpie, Metapod, Weedle, and Kakuna all made appearances, but none gave any indication that they wanted to attack.

  “Bug Pokémon are the weakest type, and they know it.” Jesse explained. “But they grow fast. If there were only one or two of us they might be more aggressive.”

  “Even if they know they’d lose?” Sam asked.

  “Losing doesn’t mean they won’t grow,” Jesse replied. “And they know that too. But it’s more efficient to grow if you don’t lose to the first hit you take. Once a Pokémon faints, they need time to recover, and that’s time they’re not doing much else. Our Pokémon can generally recover in their Pokeballs, and get occasional checkups at the PokeCenters, but wild Pokémon don’t have those luxuries.”

  “So they have to be a little more cautions,” Sam clarified.

  “With picking a battle, unless they have a good reason,” Jesse nodded. “But they tend to be less experienced or efficient than a trained Pokémon, since they only have themselves or their immediate neighbors to learn from.”

  “Speaking of neighbors,” Dillon chimed in. “I was kind of expecting to see some Eevees here. I remember seeing a litter last time.”

  “Eevees aren’t very common,” Jesse replied. “I’m more surprised you saw some then.”

  “Yeah, they were just under a bush. Hey Sam, how many were there?”

  Sam kept his gaze ahead. “Six.”

  “That’s right. Did you ever find them again?”

  “Yes.”