"Bye Florges, thank you for everything!"

"Florrrr, Florges!"

After saying good-bye to Florges and the other Pokémon, I walked back to Santalune City. I restocked on potions and berries. Having done several tasks while I was in the middle of the forest, I had enough money to stock up on about two weeks worth of medicines and a month of food. I stopped by the PokéCenter, checking in with Nurse Joy.

"I see you've once again exceeded expectations on your growth. The muscle density is astonishing," Nurse Joy said in one of the rooms used for medical examinations. "This is true for both you and your Pokémon. I've never seen Psychic energy so dense from a Pokémon that hasn't evolved. I think you might be getting a Malamar pretty soon. Ferroseed's coating is also looking very healthy. I can tell you've added aluminum to her diet. You should also try magnesium. I've read studies showing it to be an extremely beneficial metal for Steel-types.

"As for you, your muscular coordination is simply astounding. Your energy systems have also become more efficient, it seems. I guess you'll be on your way to fighting Pokémon yourself," Nurse Joy continued with a laugh. I chuckled, not planning to tell her about the training I had been doing. That would definitely get me an earful.

"Yeah, I've also been surprised with all the gains from training with Inkay and Ferroseed. Is it bad that my strength is increasing so quickly?"

"That depends. As long as you are eating enough, resting properly, and just generally taking care of your body, you should be fine," Nurse Joy said. Her comment eased the little worry I felt from the last question.

I bid Nurse Joy good-bye and finally began walking towards Lumiose City. I currently have 3447$, three empty Pokéballs to catch my future partners, and enough food, berries, and medicine for a week of travel and then some. That should be good.

As I walked through the forest, I took a mental note of how I was doing. I didn't seem to be too concerned with my overall situation. In fact, I am really enjoying my time here. This was such a refreshing change from what I was doing before. I felt free.

As I continued walking, I saw a few trainers battling. One was yelling at a Bergmite, the other smoothly giving commands to a Lampent. It was not looking good for Bergmite. Bergmite's trainer, a teenage girl wearing ripped jeans, a yellow tee with Zapdos' face printed on the middle of the shirt, brown hair tied into pigtails, and black flats. There was a look of anger on her face.

"You useless chunk of ice, move!" she shouted in response to a few Embers being sent Bergmite's way. The Ice-type tried jumping out of the way but was way too slow.

"Alright Lampent, we got him now! Use Fire Spin and end it," the other trainer, an older teen wearing a purple Gengar shirt, black jeans, white sneakers, and a purple baseball cap ordered. Lampent moved immediately, gathering the swirling Fire energy as it approached Bergmite. In response, the Bergmite looked to his trainer, who was fuming. Before she could give a command, Lampent slammed into Bergmite, knocking him out.

"Awesome, we won again Lampent!" the guy said, somehow hugging the Ghost Pokémon.

"Lam, Lamp," it responded in a hollow, reverberating voice. The girl returned the Bergmite to its ball, not even giving it a potion or berry beforehand. As I walked the path, getting closer, I could hear the girl insulting her Pokémon. The guy talked to her, only to get shouted at.

"You're an asshole. Just stay away," she told him. She was glaring daggers at the boy.

"No need to be so rude. You lost, now pay up," he responded.

"I only lost because Bergmite is a weak Pokémon, not because you're a good trainer."

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"While Bergmite is weaker, you sent out an Ice-type against a Fire-type. Along with that, you didn't even try to attack. All you did was order it to dodge even though it failed to dodge all of Lampent's attacks," he told her.

"What the fuck do you care? He's not your Pokémon," she said with a scowl.

I care because you're not being a very good trainer to Bergmite. Maybe he'll be willing to try harder in battles if you actually worked with him and bonded," the other teen responded.

"Just shut up. Bergmite is one of the weakest Pokémon out there. I don't know why I even picked him as a starter. He's terrible at battling," she lashed out.

"I don't believe it. I don't think you know how to use his strengths effectively," he told her.

"Oh yeah, what would you know about that? Are you a veteran trainer?"

"No, I started five months ago. But I know my Pokémon and what they're good and bad at. With that, I can build strategies for battles," he explained. "In your battle, you expected Bergmite to be able to dodge. From what I saw, I doubt you've trained him properly or let him exercise enough to effectively do that in battle. Not to mention he looked very uncomfortable and unwilling the entire time, almost as if he expected to lose."

The girl's face looked increasingly dour as he continued talking. I kept walking; it was interesting to hear the problems other trainers faced, but I wasn't going to get involved unless there was clear maltreatment of Pokémon.

Why get involved in stuff that wasn't my business? Because I could. I worked with a lot of kids that dealth with a lot of fucked up shit. From being sexually abused to parents putting up a child for adoption because they didn't want to kick out their 18 year-old child-molesting kid to seeing a parent overdose on heroin and dying. There was a lot of shit that happened to kids, and no one would ever guess because the kids acted out in class or were aggressive in their interactions.

I couldn't be alright with myself if I noticed something wrong and didn't do something. Especially now. I can battle others with Pokémon, setting any condition for a League-approved battle. As long as the other trainer agreed, which could easily be done with some ego manipulation, and they were legally bound to the conditions I presented. This was much easier, and more effective, than reporting child abuse to CPS, waiting for an investigation to be done, and hoping they found reason to pursue further action.

I didn't see anything to be particularly worried about, just a sore loser that didn't know how to battle. Granted, I'm probably not much better if I were to battle against someone who's had several months of battle experience. We might train like Asta, but we haven't battled like him.

They continued arguing, their voices getting louder, while I walked away. I guess some people aren't able to properly train their Pokémon, or themselves. Oh well, not my problem. As I walked, I saw more trainers battling. Most of these ended with a handshake and some friendly banter. I'm glad walking through a forest is not like the games, with trainers forcing you into a battle and being randomly attacked by Pokémon as you walk through grass. There wasn't even tall grass to walk through.

It felt more like the Legends Arceus game, with Pokémon walking or flying around, running away when they saw a human. Very few actually attacked trainers unless a trainer unknowingly entered Pokémon territories or got too close to baby Pokémon or eggs. I decided to let Inkay and Ferroseed out. It would be best to let them roam a bit so they weren't bored the entire time. Inkay decided to go out and battle wild Pokémon, coming back with some injuries and berries every 20 minutes or so. Ferroseed happily bounced next to me. She had gotten very heavy, weighing roughly 85 kg (187 lbs), over 8 times heavier from when she was born.

She jumped into my arms, landing with a gentle hum. We walked for about an hour, Inkay coming back a few times to drop off berries and receive head pats. Once it was 1pm, we stopped for lunch. I made a few sandwiches for us and pulled out my phone to check how much we traveled. Lumiose City is 40 km away (25 miles). We were walking at a rather relaxed pace the entire time. We should make it before dinner if we, really I, walked faster.

With that, I quickened my pace. I heard that Lumiose was an extremely busy city that was easy to get lost in. At least, for those that weren't familiar with the layout. An outer ring, five connecting avenues to the hub in the middle. That was the basics of Lumiose City. I was planning on visiting Prof. Sycamore's lab to sign up for the tournament, the PokéCenter, signing up for a gym battle at the Prism Tower, dinner at Restaurant Le Wow, and finally resting at the PokéCenter in Magenta Plaza. Lots to do in the last three hours of the day.

The closer I got to the city, the more trainers I saw walking. It made sense since Lumiose is the main city in Kalos, being this world's version of Paris. Lots of tourism because it is apparently a beautiful and romantic place, and the gym here is a popular first stop for starting trainers. Not to mention the studios and salons found here were consistently rated the best in the region and top three among the other regions.

As I walked, I thought about the battles I was going to partake in. For the tournament, I only had Inkay and Ferroseed available. It would make it tough to surprise other trainers, especially if I planned to win it. Though the gravity training both Pokémon have been undergoing will definitely even it out. I doubt a majority of trainers are so focused on the physical capabilities of their Pokémon.

The stronger trainers, at least those with gym badges, definitely train their Pokémon well and ensure they are in tip-top shape. They'll also have found good strategies for each Pokémon that utilizes their strengths. Tough stuff to go against. I should only really start having trouble in battles once we get down to the last hundred or so trainers.

As for the gym battle, I wasn't too sure what to expect because the League app was very vague and the internet seemed to be vetted to hide that information. What I did find told me each gym had its own challenge before the battle with the Gym Leader. It had a picture of each Gym Leader in the region and their ace Pokémon. From what I found, Clemont was the Gym Leader in Lumiose City and he typically used three Pokémon for a 3v3. Heliolisk is his ace.

I also read that Gym battles and League Elite Four challenges also only allow the challenger to use four battle moves and two switches. This is to make it more difficult and get trainers to be more creative with their strategies. I guess it makes sense, though it limits everyone involved. I'm gonna have to think more about Inkay's strategy against Heliolisk. Ferroseed definitely has some strats with Gravity.

I was getting excited about the upcoming battles. The tournament would definitely be tough, but I'm sure I could at least place high enough to get a decent reward. The Gym battle would be a good challenge and the rewards worth it. Lost in my thoughts, I soon arrived at Lumiose City.