Yuji panted as he ran alongside his team.

The endurance he'd built up normally let him run for another mile before he was exhausted, but the last week had slowly chipped away at his stamina. His training for the Pewter Gym battle had been too intense, he'd pushed himself too far.

Like he was doing now.

His currently running trail encircled the entirety of Pewter City, running up and down the stone cliffs that surrounded three-quarters of the city. Right now, he was on an incline that had his lungs burning and his legs protesting.

Yuji knew that the group had a rule against training the day after a major achievement, but he'd never actually stuck to it. He just moved his workouts earlier in the morning.

Logically, he knew that what he'd told Derek all the way back in Viridian was true. "If you go as hard as you have been forever, you're going to burn out sooner rather than later."

But that wasn't what it felt like for him. Every step that he took when training felt like one forward. The burns in his muscles were proof of progress and they felt good. Hana and Amy had been the ones to push for their agreement, and he'd relented because they'd been speaking from a place of both logic and care.

If he'd had it his way, though, he'd never stop feeling the cold morning air scrape his lungs. The period after night but before dawn was his domain. The world was asleep, and only he and his Pokemon existed. There was a quiet to the world that made pushing himself so much more personal.

He'd started this style of training back in Saffron. Getting up early was the only way to get any amount of quiet in the city, even on the grounds of the dojo. Despereaux and then Achilles had both taken it in stride when they'd joined the team.

Yuji stifled a smile as he glanced behind him at the martial bug, who waved at his trainer when he noticed. Achilles had performed above all expectations yesterday. He was a fighter through and through, just like any other member of the Fighting Dojo.

The others all thought that Achilles was just a mild-mannered bug type, and that was partially true, but Yuji knew otherwise. During the battle with the Pinsir, Yuji had seen the ferocity that the Heracross held in him, and it had taken a heart-to-heart between the two of them to focus that ferocity toward Yuji's goals. He'd pulled Achilles away from the group when they had been desperate to find Derek in the Viridian Forest.

He'd had to tell Achilles everything, laying his whole plan on the table, before the Heracross had even bothered to look him in the eye. Yuji had promised that the two of them would prove themselves as some of the strongest fighters this region had ever seen. They needed to. There was no other way for Yuji to go home. Once that pact had been made, Achilles had proven to be one of the strongest and most unwavering allies that Yuji could have hoped for, and he'd even taken to his nickname.

Yuji looked down at Despereaux. The little Rattata had taken to running at his side, just like he had every single day for the last six months. Even though he'd been Yuji's only option, and the only Pokemon he could afford when he'd found himself on his own, he couldn't have asked for a more determined starter. The trainer he'd bought Despereaux from had undervalued just what a Pokemon with Guts could do.

Rattata weren't a popular Pokemon among career trainers in Kanto, or really anywhere at all. They were the epitome of common route fodder, more often given as pets to small children than actually ever trained for battle. For that reason, the Pokeball that Yuji had bought had cost more than what Desperaux's first trainer had charged for him. After the inane trainer had left, Yuji had immediately given the option to the Rattata to either be released back into the wild, or to join his team as his first Pokemon and train himself to be the strongest Rattata alive.

Despereaux had started training that day.

And that's why it frustrated Yuji so much that his starter had still found no success in professional battles. Despereaux had lost his battle to Giovanni and had been recalled against Brock. Even in their training battles, he couldn't hold up against any of the other Pokemon in their group, other than Pennywise. It wasn't his fault, either. Yuji was falling behind as his trainer.

Derek's words had helped a bit yesterday, but Yuji knew he wasn't getting the results he wanted or needed. Right now, he was able to rely on Achilles' raw strength to get them through battles, but the point of being a trainer was to have a competitive team. He had his promise to his Pokemon to keep, and he wasn't sure how to help his starter get stronger. That was the first step toward getting strong enough to go home.

Yuji, shook his head, clearing his thoughts as a stitch formed in his side. He groaned in pain, letting his lungs fill as they needed to get oxygen to the rest of his body. He motioned for the others to pause so that he could catch his breath properly.

He hated how he was feeling now. Even his morning run, the most peaceful part of his day, was bowing to the weight of the expectations he was putting on himself. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a set of earbuds and sticking one in each ear.

Maybe a morning show would help clear his thoughts. He clicked play as they resumed their run.

"Yo yo yo!" an excitable and vaguely masculine voice announced. "Welcome everybody to C&TJ In the Mornings, bringing you the greatest and latest in the Indigo Circuit radio. You're listening to me, Connor Rafferty, and my boy, TJ Jones, here on 106.7 KRF, by way of the Vermillion Radio Station. Bring it in for the listeners, TJ!"

A second, significantly more laid-back, voice spoke up. "Ah ha, sup my Cleffa-Cuties," he said in a 'pick-up-line' tone. "Thanks for tunin' in for another one of our shows."

Yuji enjoyed listening to Connor and TJ whenever he needed something to occupy his thoughts during a workout. They had a show every weekday early in the AM, so it was perfect for his schedule. Both were semi-retired trainers and they offered decent insight into the current goings-on in the circuit. That, and their friendship felt real enough that he'd found solace in them when he was living on his own in Saffron.

"We're here today on April 17th," said Connor. "Bringing you news on all the major happenings in this year's Indigo Circuit. Before we hop into the headlines, I think we have a sponsor for today?"

"Yeah, man," TJ said. There was a slight pause and a shuffling of papers before he started speaking again. "Today's episode of C&TJ In the Mornings is brought to you by Bruno-Bran, the all-in-one protein and fiber breakfast. To hear more about this totally tight breakfast option, stick around for our midtime break."

Yuji snorted. As much as he looked up to Bruno, much to his father's chagrin, the man had absolutely no taste when it came to protein-minded food. It was possible for a food to be low calorie, high protein, and still have more flavor than a dried apricorn.

"Thanks, TJ! Now, there's a bunch of headlines coming off of yesterday, but we have to talk about the unprecedented day at Pewter Gym"

The smile fell from Yuji's face.

"Bruh!" TJ agreed. "There were five different challenge elevations in just one day. Brock was handin' 'em out like Potion samples."

Connor grunted in agreement. "As of yesterday, the highest number of elevated challenges seen in a single day was set by the Elite Four's own Bruno back when he was still Leader of the Saffron Dojo. He allowed three challenge elevations, though two of those trainers went on to lose their battles."

Yuji stopped jogging, slowing to a walk.

"But, like, yesterday, every single one of them won their challenges! Talk about some righteous challengers!"

"You couldn't be more right. Now, a lot of you might want us to start by talking about rising star Derek Tracy of Lilycove, but we're actually going to hold off for a bit because we have a special guest calling in later to talk about the controversial new trainer."

Of course, they were going to talk about Derek. Yuji let out a breath as he smiled. Where others would be may be jealous, he was just proud.

Derek was just that amazing.

His friend was a complete anomaly on every level to Yuji. Derek had just appeared one day, knowing everything about battling and nothing about Kanto, and ready to take on the world. Derek had set out to learn from each member of the group but had ended up pushing each of them to be better. He was someone who survived the unsurvivable and battled terrorists, but he still needed help setting up a Pokegram page.

And he'd recognized Yuji as a rival. The admission put a fire in Yuji's chest. No one had ever done that for him before.

"-and, bro," Yuji tuned back in as TJ's voice got wistful. "We had some dope matches in those fights. Especially that Hana girl."

"For the audio listeners," Connor chuckled. "I wish you could see TJ's face. I think my playboy co-host might be falling in love!"

TJ clicked his tongue. "Nah, bro, I couldn't do that to all my Cleffa-Cuties. TJ stays untied." There was a slight pause, and Yuji could hear him mutter under his breath. "But if it was anybody..."

Yuji rolled his eyes. The worst part about this show was how often TJ pined after just about every woman in the Indigo Circuit. It honestly didn't surprise Yuji that he'd be at least a little interested in his friend. Hana had really put time into her appearance for the battle, and it had shown. TJ was a good battler, but he was also a dog who'd asked out one of the Cerulean Sisters in the middle of his gym challenge. Connor was the one who kept the two of them on message.

"Anyway," Conner cleared his throat. "Hana Kanael did have a great showing in her single battle against Brock's Sudowoodo. For anyone who hasn't yet had the opportunity to watch the challenges yesterday, of the eight total rookies that were challenging for their first badge yesterday, five of them were allowed by Pewter Leader Brock Harrison to challenge at the second-badge level. This is something that's done fairly often for experienced trainers, but almost never for rookies. Along with the reputation gains, this upgraded challenge offers a much higher financial gain in their winnings."

"They gotta be rolling in it after their wins," TJ helpfully added.

Yuji couldn't disagree. The winnings from his victory had come in last night, and he now had more to his name than he had before the season started. That included what he'd spent on his ticket to Cinnabar to meet up with Hana and Amy, which had eaten most of his savings. It would go a long way toward the next member of his team. It wasn't quite enough yet, though. The prices of importing a Pokemon all the way from Kalos were steep.

"Now, TJ, we put up a poll yesterday on our Pokegram account, asking the audience about which of yesterday's elevated challenges was their favorite. How do you think that went?"

TJ gave another slow laugh. "Bruh, if I was gonna put my answer it would be Hana, Hana, then Hana again, then Derek Tracy. Nah, but seriously, we had five different elevations? I'm gonna say that Derek was in the lead, but it's probably gonna be a close tie between Hana and, uh, what was his name again? Yuji?"

"Yuji Amano," Connor supplied his name.

"Yeah, that guy. Hana is way cuter, but that Aerodactyl battle was epic! Bro, nobody ever gets to fight Aerodactly at second-badge level! The fact that Brock whipped that out for not even a normal second-badge fight, but for an elevated first-badge one? That dude must be one bad mother- well I can't actually say that on air, but he must be hella strong."

Yuji fully stopped walking. He stepped off to the side of the trail, leaning against a large stone outcropping. He put his hand against it to steady himself from the numb shock spreading through his chest.

These guys, Connor and TJ, trainers whom he'd been listening to for years, were talking about him? That was almost unthinkable. A smile ghosted his lips as he thought about everyone else at the Fighting Dojo listening to this. Perhaps someone would tell his father. It would at the very least make him regret telling Yuji to leave.

"You're actually right, TJ," said Connor. "Of the 12,437 votes on our Pokegram poll, 4,432 went to Derek Tracy, of course, and then 2,942 went to Yuji Amano, and 2,784 went to Hana Kanael. Terry Parkers took fourth place with 1,302 votes, and Amy Turuant brought up the rear with 977 votes."

"Of course, I'm right! These polls ain't never caught me lacking. I'm too in touch with the audience."

"I wouldn't expect anything less out of you. Now, we don't have time to cover all of the fights that happened yesterday, but we can quickly go through each of the matchups and how they went..."

Yuji let Connor's voice fade as he thought on what he'd just heard.

Derek was right. People had noticed his battle, and he was... ...popular? At the very least, his challenge was fresh in people's minds. He absentmindedly swiped over to his Pokegram app, which he'd had muted since last night.

He almost dropped his Pokegear.

Even before he'd actually started battling in an official sense, Yuji had tried to get a headstart on his social media following. Though he was anything other than socially savvy, he knew from his many hours spent in the Kanto forums that being a career trainer meant you needed an online presence. He'd said as much to Derek. Yuji had started early by just posting clips of him training Despereaux, sharing them on servers and forums that he'd used to moderate. Via some word of mouth and favorable reposting from some friends, he'd gotten up to just under ten thousand followers. It was a modest but respectable amount for a new trainer, but it paled in comparison to the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, that a career trainer could get.

After their stunt against Giovanni, especially with Derek's near victory, he'd bumped up all the way up to sixteen thousand followers. It was a noticeable leap, one earned from spending the first crucial few weeks of their season attempting a near-impossible goal. To this point, Giovanni still hadn't had any rookies succeed against him this season.

Yuji had expected a similar follower bump from beating Brock, if not a little more, which would put him around twenty to twenty-five thousand followers.

He was sitting at sixty thousand Pokegram followers.

TJ's voice faded back in. "...and then he was like 'boom'! For real, for real? That Heracross is a nasty piece of work on the battlefield. I actually looked him up, and peeps were saying that Yuji got it from the Fighting Dojo in Saffron? Nah, there's no way. The bug has some technique, yeah, but it's still got that feral edge from being wild."

"I would tend to agree," said Connor. "I was also curious about how a rookie trainer would gain such a powerful Pokemon, so I reached out to an unnamed source in the Pokemon Center network to see if I could get a comment. The best that I could get was that the catch location marked on Amano's record is geo-stamped to the Viridian Forest. It looks like he actually caught it on his own. I am curious though, TJ, why was the online chatter about the FIghting Dojo? Did I miss that Amano was sponsored by the dojo?"

Yuji sucked in his breath.

"Nah, it's not like that. I couldn't find a ton, but some people on the Kanto forums mentioned that he used to train there a bunch. People figured he probably knows somebody there, plus his whole aesthetic is, like, on point for a kung-fu dude. What do they call those pajamas again?"

"It's called a gi, TJ. I apologize to any martial artists in the audience who were offended by my co-host's lack of a way with words."

Yuji let out a shaky breath. While everybody at the Fighting Dojo knew who he was, he wasn't sure that he wanted to be associated with them yet as part of his career image. It helped that there was no world in which his father would give an official comment on their family situation to the media. The rest of the dojo would follow suit.

"Uh, yeah, sorry peeps. I just mean to dude's whole outfit basically matched the Fighting Dojo's paja- gi outfit thingies. Anyway, that's the best I could do last night, but if anybody wants to reach out to us with more info, we'd be down to hear it."

Connor cleared his throat. "Yes, remember that you can reach out to us on any of our socials under the handle @CTJmornings. If you have your own opinions on how yesterday's challenges went, we'd love to hear from you. Speaking of, how about we talk about the challengers who didn't do quite as much to distinguish themselves yesterday? "

"Bro, honestly, only one trainer didn't do all that hot yesterday. Like, Derek, Hana, and Yuji all had real good battles, and even that uh-," there was the shuffling of papers. "Terry Parkers guy did real good, though he wasn't as impressive as the other three rookies. The real stinker was Amy Turaunt. She... ..uh, is that right?"

"Our information says they go by they or her," supplied Connor.

"Word. They did end up passing their challenge, but like, Brock was basically giving it away at that point. Anybody watching could see the huge friggin' hole he was leaving in his defenses. Honestly, I was bummed out by that whole battle."

Though he felt a surge of protectiveness for his friend, Yuji really couldn't disagree with TJ's analysis. Amy was already being very self-critical of the entire fight, so Yuji didn't feel the need to point that out to them, but they needed to train before Cerulean.

"That Mime Jr., though," Connor played as Amy's advocate. "Did show off an impressive set of skills. I didn't see any actually collide, but I did notice it throw off at least one Hypnosis. Considering that Mime Jr. is not only a fairy type, but it's also quite hard to teach that particular move to that particular line, you have to admit that they've done a decent job at least expanding their Pokemon's move pool."

"Credit where credit is due," TJ conceded. "Fairys are hard 'af' to train. But seriously, they weren't ready for a second badge elevation at all, and they're probably the only one who got one yesterday that shouldn't have. I don't know who talked him into it, but peeps online have been pretty clear that Brock should've left them at the first badge level."

"Well," Connor changed the subject. "It's hitting close to time, so I think it's time we introduce our special guest for today's episode. TJ, take it away!"

"Bars! Callin' in all the way from Route 03's lonely Pokemon Center, we've got the number three-ranked rookie for this season on the line. She's rocking her own pretty Pokemon and a sponsorship from the one and only Miracle Cycle, it's the baddie boss lady from Cerulean, Portia Cervelo!"

Tiny bells and whistles played as soundboard effects to announce the guest to the podcast. Yuji clicked the volume higher on his Pokegear as he and his Pokemon crested the last hill of their trail. The sun was starting to rise now, and he needed to start making his way back to the Center.

"Hello, Connor and TJ," a new voice joined the morning show. Portia's voice was deep and powerful, but smooth, reserved, and stiff. Speaking from his own experience, Yuji could immediately sympathize with her stiffness in talking in a public forum. "It's a pleasure to be invited onto your show."

"Thank you so much for joining us, Portia," said Connor. "I know that you're taking valuable time this early in the season to come and speak with us, so we appreciate your insight into your fellow rookies. Specifically, we're here to discuss the up-in-comer Derek Tracy, who won his first badge yesterday at Pewter Gym. A Gym that you just recently won your second badge from."

"Yeah," TJ continued for him. "We know now from our time on the circuit that the best people to ask about rookies are the other rookies. So, what're your first thoughts on this Derek Tracy guy?"

Yuji clicked his headphones even louder, grunting in frustration when he reached the volume ceiling. Portia Cervelo was a shoo-in for top rookie of the year. Though she was trailing behind two of Professor Oak's sponsored trainers, she had the resources of her family business, Miracle Cycle, backing her.

Miracle Cycle was basically the only name in Kanto when it came to bikes. Given that trainers couldn't really drive from town to town, and flying was reserved for people with a flight license, bikes were the fastest way through the routes and an indispensable part of trainer life. Thus, the company that sold them could charge basically whatever they wanted.

With all those resources, a traveling group of similarly ranked and provided-for trainers, a rare starter, and her impressively high test scores, Portia was all but guaranteed to become a household name by the season. Yuji wanted to hear everything she had to say about Derek.

"Well," Portia started, already sounding hesitant. "I know that there have been several unsavory rumors regarding Tracy due to his unfortunate interaction with one of my traveling companions, but I personally find very little weight to those complaints. Mick himself can be... ...confrontational at times. Having seen the entire interview, I would put more stock in Derek Tracy's words than my companion's."

She let out a sigh, using the same exasperated tone to talk about Mick that Yuji had found himself using about Derek. Listening to her talk was oddly relatable. Not that Derek was ever rude or disrespectful like Mick had been, but that his hot-headedness gave Yuji similar exasperations.

"That's, um," Conner seemed to be at a loss for words. "Wow, thank you for immediately addressing one of the more major topics we had listed for the day. The Pokegram feud between the two trainers has been something of a hot topic on social media for the past week, so it's interesting to get a close point of view on the subject."

"Yeah, it's actually kind of a vibe that you immediately outed Mick," even TJ sounded a little taken aback. He regained his energy quickly. "Never let nobody say that Porita Cervelo doesn't immediately bring the heat! Any other big bombs you wanna drop on us?"

"Oh- um, I'm sorry," Portia apologized. "I had thought you meant in a personal sense when you asked about my opinions on Tracy. Should I have-?"

"No, not at all!" Connor reassured her. "Please go on, we'd love to hear more, and then maybe we'll transition to talking about him as a battler afterward."

Portia cleared her throat. "Well then, I suppose that's actually the majority of what I have to say, actually, on Tracy as a person. I've not personally met him, though he's obviously making a name for himself with his elevated challenge yesterday and the attack on the Pewter Museum the week before."

"True that," said TJ. "Derek came on the scene making waves with that Pewter Museum vid! What did you think of that?"

There was a beat of silence before Portia spoke again, like she was thinking hard about what to say. When she did proceed, she spoke quickly and with confidence, like she was afraid someone would stop her.

"While I, and I would hope most other trainers, would do the same in his situation, I think that Tracy's battle was hasty, ill-thought-out, irresponsible, and dangerous. Putting out footage of it was even more so.

Yuji stiffened with interest, and both hosts went to spur Portia on but she continued without their help.

"Trainers, um, especially low-badge trainers, are not equipped to deal with criminals and thugs on our own. Though I'm sure that Virdania and I could have defeated those same grunts, there was no guarantee that the criminals would have been as low level as they were. Sensationalizing a, uh, a video of a zero-badge trainer not only fighting against, but winning against criminals is only going to embolden others," Portia took a long breath before seeming to realize how harshly she'd spoken. "To be clear, I don't believe that Tracy intentionally did anything wrong in his situation, and there's no way I could understand all of the circumstances he was facing, but I found his zealous approach to taking on two Rockets to be troubling."

TJ let out a low whistle, and Connor grunted in agreement before speaking. "Portia, that's... quite the statement. You are aware that many others, including Leaguers like both Gym Leader Brock and Ace Trainer Karen, have given positive statements towards Tracy's actions that day?"

"Um, I am. And for the most part, I agree that he performed admirably under pressure. I only mean to say that, um, based on the few facts available and the footage released, Tracy seems to have sought out the Rockets. Having seen both the viral training video that he released and his elevated challenge against Brock yesterday, Derek Tracy seems like the kind of trainer who takes risks and gets very lucky with how they turn out, or relies on others when they don't."

"Look at how his career has gone so far," she continued. "His first fight against Giovanni showed skill, yes, but it ultimately ended in a loss because he pushed his Pokemon before it was ready and was unable to get in a 'lucky shot'. His fight against the Rockets was his next notable event, but when covering the story, I've noticed that people seem to omit that he was in the company of a career contest champion. Though she did not complete her Circuit, Daisy Oak is an accomplished battler in her own right. If you watch the museum video carefully, she can be seen several times battling an unknown amount of Rockets in the background. It is only his third major battle, his Pewter Gym challenge, that I can confidently say that Derek Tracy did not rely overly on luck or others to get through."

"So then," Connor said hesitantly, giving Portia more time if she wanted to keep speaking. "You do agree that Derek Tracy is a decent trainer, but you think he takes too many risks?"

"Once again, I'm sorry. I think I spoke very harshly very quickly. I'm not calling into question that Tracy is a good trainer. More than that, I honestly think that if he had waited another week to fight Giovanni, he'd currently also be in the ranks of top rookies this season. I just, um, I just think that people shouldn't look to him and try to emulate his actions because one day he's going to get very unlucky."

Connor and TJ both followed up with questions and comments on Portia's statement, but Yuji found himself clicking off the podcast.

Yuji wanted to disagree with Portia, to say that she was wrong.

He couldn't.

Knowing Derek for even the short month that he had, Yuji knew the metal that made up his friend. Derek was one of the most proactive and confrontational people that Yuji knew, and he couldn't just leave something alone. There was even so much more that people outside of their group didn't know about that would bolster Portia's opinion of Derek. Portia didn't know about when Derek had gotten unlucky, like when he'd been captured by Beedrill in the Viridian Forest, or how he succeeded at things that he shouldn't reasonably do, like taming a ghost for the Legend's sake.

He'd also seen the looks between Amy and Derek on the day that Derek had told them about the events of the museum. Derek had kept something from them, something outside of the one battle he'd mentioned, and Amy had picked up on it with their powers. Given that neither had mentioned it since, Yuji had put it out of his mind, but he couldn't help but think back to it at this moment.

Had Derek taken another risk then? One that hadn't worked out?

Yuji finished the jog without putting his headphones back in. The thoughts in his mind were enough.

----------------------------------------

He returned Despereaux and Achilles before reentering the Pokemon Center. Though trainers were encouraged to keep their Pokemon out, it was considered good manners to keep the larger Pokemon in their Pokeballs. Despereaux was returned to his ball mostly so that the numerous other trainers wouldn't accidentally trample him underfoot. Even as early in the morning as it was, the sheer number of other trainers in the Pewter Center meant that dozens of people were already milling about the lobby and lounges.

As Yuji went to take the elevator up to the room, he was so in his own thoughts that he almost bumped into another trainer leaving the elevator.

"Sorry," he mumbled, though he stopped when the other trainer waved at him. Being this early, it actually took Yuji a moment to realize just who was in front of him.

"Oh, hey Yuji!" Derek smiled wide.

"Good morning, Derek."

Yuji smiled at his friend, genuinely pleased to have run into him. Derek wasn't one to get up early, so it wasn't often that they met without the others around. He was dressed in a comfortable blue hoodie and loose pants, the perfect lounging outfit. Derek must have been planning to take his day off seriously.

Derek gave him a once over, looking him up and down, and gave him a concerned smile. "Did you already work out today? It's gotta be like," he checked his Pokenav+. "It's barely six in the morning. That's early, even for you."

Yuji shrugged, doing his best to give a reassuring smile. He didn't quite have Derek's way with communication, though, and Derek's concern deepened. Yuji felt Derek's hand land on his shoulder.

"Hey, bud," he said. "If you need to talk about anything, I'm here. You know that, right?"

Yuji nodded, letting a genuine smile brush his lips. Derek's concern was truly touching.

"It's not like that, Derek. I just wanted to go for a run on a day off, so I chose to get up a bit early," Yuji widened his smile. "The others can only stop me from exercising if they get up early enough to stop me."

Derek didn't look convinced, but he dropped the subject. "Fair enough," he yawned, stretching his arms above his head. "I'm still exhausted from karaoke last night. We only got in, what, like five hours ago?"

"That sounds correct. I am surprised to see you up this early. I would have thought that you would be sleeping in after the last few weeks."

Derek shrugged. "Normally, I would be sleeping in until tomorrow morning, but I have stuff to get done today. Since we're taking off tomorrow, I need to call my parents, do some research for Oak, resupply my stuff, and maybe pick up some TMs, and I have a date with Daisy later. So, I'm pretty much booked."

One of those things caught Yuji's attention more than the others.

He frowned in confusion. "Research for Oak? Did you take a sponsorship?"

Derek stopped scratching the back of his head, looking at Yuji with wide eyes. "Dang it!" he said, looking annoyed at himself. "Can you keep a secret?"

Yuji wasn't comfortable keeping large secrets from his friends, but the look on Derek's face made it seem more superficial than serious. Yuji nodded.

Derek sighed. "I wasn't going to say anything, but I was given an offer from Professor Oak after the museum stuff. Not a sponsorship, but he offered to give me a Pokemon."

Yuji's breath stopped.

"What do you mean?"

Derek rubbed his head, looking sheepish. "I guess he was grateful for me watching Daisy's back at the museum, so he offered to let me pick a Pokemon, and he'd help me get it. I wanted to turn him down, but, like, how? You know what I mean?"

Portia's interview played back in Yuji's mind, and he couldn't help but think about what she'd said about Derek's luck.

Yuji was not a jealous man. He was often told he was humble and kind, and he knew that he could be very happy with very little. Though he'd had no options when it came to Despereaux as his starter, he'd never regretted his friend once.

But all of that was true to a point.

Despereaux's Pokeball felt heavy on his hip.

Derek already had two rare Pokemon to his name, and now he was just being given a third?

Yuji wanted to yell. He'd scraped together just enough Poké to buy a Rattata all on his own after he'd been pushed out of his home, and he'd only managed to get his second Pokemon by relying on his entire team to help him.

To hear that the most famous name in Pokemon research wanted to gift Derek a Pokemon after an event that had been fully out of his control? The same event that had caused Brock himself to believe that Derek was truly at a higher level than the rest of them?

The same event that made Yuji feel like he was falling behind his friend?

He had to quash his rage as he looked at his friend. Derek's concerned smile did that.

Derek hadn't asked for any of this. He'd even gone out of his way to advocate for them when he'd talked to Brock. Like he'd just said, Derek had wanted to turn down the Pokemon when he was offered it. And Yuji fully believed him when he'd said that.

Derek was genuine enough to always take his words at face value.

Yuji placed his hand on Derek's shoulder, the same way that Derek had done for him. He gave him the advice that he knew a good friend would give.

"My friend," Yuji said, catching Derek by surprise with the physical contact. "Professor Oak is giving you a great gift. Cherish it as much as you can. If you need any help at all picking a Pokemon, my ear is always available."

Derek smiled. "Thanks, bud. I really think I'll take you up on that."

Yuji nodded, patting his friend twice on the shoulder. He removed his hand and pressed the button for the elevator. "I wish you the best of luck with today's endeavors. However," he wrinkled his nose. "I stink. I'll be off to the room."

His friend laughed, it was a charming and friendly sound. "I get that. I'll see you later. Love you, man."

Yuji tripped as he stepped by Derek, though he covered his shock by disguising it as him catching the doors quickly. He looked back at Derek who was already walking down the hallway like he hadn't said anything at all.

The doors started closing, and Yuji found himself murmuring, "Love you too, friend."

He shook his head, smiling to himself. Damn that man for being so impossible to hate. Yuji's anger had already dissipated from his heart, replaced only by the excitement of getting to battle with Derek again.

Yuji found himself planning more training for the day before he ever made it to the shower. He needed some way to keep up with Derek, after all.