I'd forgotten just how invigorating walking on the routes was.

It was probably because the far majority of our travel time had been spent in a deadly and inhospitable forest that it had been pushed from my mind. Call me boring, though, because the moment that you took the threat of death out of the equation, the routes became downright pleasant.

Route 03 was the point where the forests around Pewter fully transformed into the Silver Mountain range, the same range to which both Mt. Silver and Mt. Moon belonged. The trail followed a natural valley that had been carved by glaciers thousands of years ago, leaving sheer rock walls on either side of the route. It made it particularly safe for new trainers, as there was almost no way for extremely strong Pokemon to enter the route without falling down hundreds of feet of cliffs.

Almost.

It did happen every once in a while, apparently.

The air was cold, and the trail itself was shaded from both the trees and the high mountain walls around us. The valley only realy got sunlight around midday, so it never truly warmed up. Tall evergreens like pines and firs lined the valley, often in thick bunches and groves. The trail wound through tall grasses and up and down a series of ridges, giving us a run for our money with both the increased elevation and incline.

The natural beauty helped, I think. I was still feeling the pang of leaving Daisy at the edge of Pewter. I know that our relationship is very new, but it already felt like I was leaving someone I'd known all my life. I'd been able to see her every day for close to two weeks, and now I wouldn't see her again for almost a month.

It sucked.

I had developed a healthy coping mechanism, though. Every time I let my mind wander to Daisy, I'd find a new joke to tell Amy.

Misery loved company, after all.

"Hey, Ames?"

They sighed. "If this is another stupid pun-"

"What Pokemon could be a pirate?"

Hana giggled from the front of the trail. She obviously knew the answer to this one. Our current hiking order had Hana in front with Paige on her backpack, followed by Yuji, then Amy, and me bringing up the rear. Since I had Wisp in my shadow, Hana thought I'd serve as the best rear guard if Pokemon snuck up on us.

"I'm not answering," Amy said defiantly, huffing as we started climbing another ridge. "I'm not doing it. You killed my sense of humor with the one about the Abra."

I ignored them. "It's an Arrrrr-bok," I rolled my 'r' like a pirate, closing one eye and making a hook with my finger.

Amy gagged, faking throwing up. I did, however, get two laughs from the front of the party. Two out of three was a decent crowd.

"Okay, one more," I chuckled. "A Hypno, An Arcanine, and a Slowpoke walk into a bar-"

"Derek, be quiet for a moment," Hana called.

"This one's not that bad-"

"No, I mean that I think Paige hears something."

I stopped, taking my eyes off the trail where I'd been watching my step to see that Hana and Yuji had both stopped ahead of me. Amy took another few steps to catch up to Yuji's long gait before crouching to the side of the trail. I did the same, and all of us watched the woods ahead of intently.

After a few moments, I heard footsteps, followed by talking. I let out a sigh of relief as the other three relaxed. We were just coming up on other travelers, which was totally normal for this route as the only one connecting east and west Kanto. Looking at how we'd reacted, I guess the Viridian Forest had affected all of us more than we'd thought.

I, for one, didn't want to be kidnapped by Pokemon again.

Our unexpected passers-by made themselves known as they crested the ridge. Three trainers, all dressed in hiking clothes, made their way through the path. They were chatting about something but stopped when they saw the rest of us.

"Hey, over there!" one near the back of their group called, giving us a friendly wave.

We waved back. Instead of climbing down the ridge, the other group waited up top for us to finish climbing up. It was a pretty normal thing to do, all things considered, especially because the meeting of groups of trainers often led to at least one battle.

Yuji tossed a look back at me as we climbed, giving me a small smirk. He was thinking the same thing.

When we got to the top, the one who'd waved stood in front to greet us. They were short, almost Amy-level short, with wavy auburn hair and russet skin. There were three Pokeballs clipped to their waist.

Instead of saying 'hello', the trainer let out a low whistle.

"Holy shit," they said to their friends. "Guys, it's that challenge elevation group. They had some crazy battles at the Pewter Gym."

I smiled politely but let one of the others take over the talking. I was excited to battle, but leaving Daisy earlier was still weighing on my energy levels.

"Thanks," Hana said simply. "We trained hard for it."

"Oh, I'm sure," the trainer nodded to her before turning sharply to Hana's left. "You're Yuji Amano, right?" They stuck their hand out to Yuji.

I glanced over at Yuji and saw Hana and Amy do the same. As much as I was an advocate of Yuji's fame, it was a little weird to single somebody out like that, especially when they'd just admitted to having seen all of our battles.

Yuji looked similarly unnerved. He stepped forward and hesitantly shook Baird's hand. "That is my name, yes. I apologize, but I find myself at a loss for your name?"

The trainer chuckled. "Sorry about that, I'm an excitable kind of guy. Anyway, I'm Baird, she's Myriel and he's Darien. I'm just a big fan that Heracross of yours. He absolutely smoked Brock's Aerodactyl."

Upon being introduced, I gave Baird's two companions a glance over. Darien was as big as a Slaking, with shoulders and muscles to match. He wore a tight blue athletic-wear shirt that left nothing to the imagination. His skin was so pale that he looked like he was actually made of marble, from which he embodied the term 'chiseled'. He only had a single Pokeball on his right hip.

Myriel was about average height, slight and slender with a tawny complexion and black-to-purple umbra hair. She wore a zipped vest that displayed three Pokeballs.

They seem relaxed enough, both holding the posture of people who had spent the morning climbing and were happy for a break. Neither had reached toward any pockets nor were any Pokeballs in anyone's hands. Wisp was still in my shadow, which would give us time if-

I stopped, realizing what I'd been doing.

Legends, we can't get to Cerulean quickly enough.

I knew the Rockets and the Beedrill had really screwed me up, but I hadn't felt unsafe the whole time I was in Pewter, other than my one panic attack. Now, the first day I was on the routes again, I was mentally breaking down what other trainers were doing, trying to... ..what? Threat-assess them? That was stupid on so many levels. I didn't have any training for that, anything other than what I'd seen people do on T.V. shows.

I shook my head, being pulled back into the conversation at a crucial point.

"-and then I traded that dumb Spearow in for a Meowth, then a Nidoran, and then finally I ended up with my Tyrogue. I'm always looking for an upgrade, so you should definitely trade me that Heracross! I can make it worth your while!"

What the fuck did he just say?

My eyes snapped to Baird, who was looking at Yuji expectantly. He was standing with both hands presented to either side in a 'ta-da' motion like he'd just given Yuji the best idea ever.

I stepped forward without thinking about it to tell the guy off, but I encountered resistance. Amy had stepped back into me, gripping my wrist with their hand. They squeezed, hard. I looked down at them, and they were seething. Amy's entire face had gone red, and they were staring daggers at Baird-

They weren't looking at Baird, they were looking at Yuji.

Yuji was standing completely still, completely stoic. His face didn't betray a single emotion, but I didn't need him to express a single thing.

Amy was feeling Yuji's rage.

Hana stepped next to Yuji. "That's kind of a rude request for having just met someone," she reprimanded Baird. "He shouldn't even honor that with a response."

"Whoa, what's the issue?" Baird asked. "I was just tossing an offer out to him. He can always say no. If anything I definitely want to battle him."

Hana made to respond, but Yuji spoke up. His face was still impassive. Amy did, however, squeeze my wrist just a bit tighter.

"I will battle you," he spoke very softly. "But I will not be trading you my Pokemon.

"Hell yeah!" Baird smiled, seemingly uncaring that Yuji had turned him down. "There's a clearing not too far back down the trail that we passed earlier! I'd love to get in a one-on-one."

Yuji nodded and started walking up the trail, following where Myriel and Darien were already heading.

I moved to catch up to Yuji, but it was Hana who stopped me this time. She gave me a warning look and shook her head.

"What?" I whispered to her. "I just wanted to-"

"No," Hana shook her head again. "He needs to deal with this on his own. I know he probably hasn't mentioned it to you yet, but that guy just said some really triggering stuff to Yuji. He's going to be better after he takes care of this."

I let out a sigh of impatience, but I relented. Hana nodded, rubbing my shoulder absentmindedly before continuing on.

Two of my friends had stopped me now. It was frustrating, but they'd known Yuji for longer than I had. I needed to let it be.

Even if I really didn't want to.

We made our way slightly down the ridge to the clearing that Baird had told us about. Yuji stepped to one side of the clearing and Baird to the other. Myriel immediately stepped up to referee the match, leaving Darien standing near us on the sidelines.

I glanced up at him, absentmindedly wondering who was taller; Terry or Darien? They were close to be sure, but I think Terry was still an inch or two taller. Darien did have an easy fifty more pounds on him, though.

"Trainers!" Myriel called. Her voice was raspier than I'd expected, like the sound of a knife being pulled from a sheath. It wasn't unpleasant at all, but it still surprised me. "Release your Pokemon!"

Baird went first, casually pulling the first of his three Pokeballs off of his belt and releasing his Pokemon. In front of him formed the small and purple boney-humanoid Pokemon that he'd been talking about earlier, a Tyrogue. It was the Pokemon that evolved into basically all of Bruno's Pokemon that I'd seen at the museum. The little guy immediately started shadowboxing, throwing punches in the air at a phantom enemy.

Yuji pulled his first Pokeball from his belt as well, and I felt a tiny smirk form on my face.

As much as Baird was talking about Achilles, he wasn't going to get the chance to fight him.

Despereaux the Rattata materialized when Yuji released his Pokeball.

Baird's reaction was immediate. The short trainer frowned, furrowing his eyebrows. "Wait, I wanted to fight that monster Heracross of yours, not this route fodder. No offense."

I clenched my teeth. This guy was being an asshole for absolutely no reason. If I hadn't gotten another warning glance from Hana, I might've sicced Wisp on the guy.

To her credit, it was Myriel who spoke next. "Baird, you're being insufferable again. You asked him for a battle, he's giving you one. If you don't want to battle him, ask one of the others or we'll move on."

"Which one of the others?" Baird asked, rolling his eyes. "Besides Kanael, I'd be stuck with a one-trick pony or a foreigner, and there's no way I'd battle her. She's too smart."

Alright, that's it.

I'd been stopping myself from saying something this whole time because they'd asked me to and because it was personal to Yuji. Now, he was insulting all of us.

"Hey, buddy, go fuck-"

"Derek!" Yuji barked.

I shut my mouth and stopped in place, and looked over at Yuji.

I no longer needed Amy to see Yuji's rage. He could barely keep it contained himself. His pale face had gone red and his neck muscles were strained to their absolute maximum.

My brain was stuttering trying to take in what I'd just heard. I'd never heard him shout before. He'd never even raised his voice, not once.

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I stepped back in line. Hana gave me a disapproving look but said nothing.

Yuji spoke again, this time directed to Baird and at a deathly quiet volume. He raised three fingers.

"One," he said, putting down a finger for each point. "There is no other way to interpret that insult than with offense. Two, Despereaux shall be more than enough to defeat you. Three, upon my winning this match, you will apologize to my friends, my Pokemon, and myself for your absolute lack of sportsmanship and respect. Am I clear?"

Baird scoffed, not even trying to mask his annoyance. "Whatever, dude. You're still boned. I'll agree to that if you agree to trade me your Heracross if I win."

Myriel looked like she was going to say something again, but instead, she rolled her eyes. Apparently, this wasn't unusual behavior for him.

I shook my head. There was no way that Yuji was going to agree to that. He loved Achilles, and there was no way he'd ever risk him-

"I agree to those terms."

If I was a cartoon character, my eyes would have popped out of my skull and down a three-sixty around my head before slamming back in.

What the hell did he mean, 'I agree to those terms'? I thought incredulously. That's the kind of back-alley shit that you walk away from.

Regardless of my disbelief, Yuji stood resolute in his declaration. It dawned on me then why he'd agreed to this.

He's not planning on losing. It doesn't matter what the stakes are if you're never going to have to pay them.

I crossed my arms, silently watching my friend and trying to channel some of his confidence. Hana and Amy were right, and he'd basically said as much himself. He wanted to take care of this guy. I needed to shut up and stay back.

"Trainers," Myriel started again, looking significantly more exasperated. "This will be a one-on-one battle using modified League challenge rules. Both trainers have agreed to a non-standard ante. Are both trainers ready to begin?"

Yuji nodded coldly, and Baird smirked.

"Begin!"

"Get him, Tyrogue!" Baird called. "Mach Punch!"

"Despereaux, focus and avoid," Yuji all but whispered. "Find your time to strike."

Tyrogue release a burst of speed, shooting forward like he'd been shot out of a cannon. His fist glowed bright white as he thrust it forward. I winced as the attack flew, knowing that fighting type energy was doubly as powerful against normal types like Despereaux.

Despereaux dodged, easily.

The tiny Rattata's eyes were narrowed and focused, Yuji having secretly called for his unique combination of Lazer Focus and Focus Energy. It was like he'd distilled the mental state that was often called 'The Zone' into a single technique.

Tyrogue fired off two more jabs with his opposite first, followed by an uppercut. Despereaux was faster, weaving back and forth by juking to Tyrogue's sides. He gave Tyrogue the run-around, never giving up any ground and only dodging sideways.

"Hit him!" Baird shouted impatiently. "Toss in some Vacuum Waves! Just get him!"

His Pokemon thrust his fist forward, sending out a horizontal ripple across the air in the battlefield. His fist moved so quickly that it parted the air.

It didn't matter. To Despereaux, he might as well have been punching through molasses. The Rattata's eyes narrowed as he completed another round of focusing. Whenever he decided to hit, it was going to be punishing.

I also noticed something that I hadn't seen in all of my battles against Yuji. Despereaux's breathing was getting heavier and heavier, but he didn't actually look any more tired. If anything, his muscles were bulging. He must have been using a third move, something he hadn't shown off to me yet, to increase Despereaux's attack power.

Baird went to yell at his Pokemon again, and Despereuax chose that moment to strike.

In the quarter of a second that Tyrogue turned his head to listen to his trainer, Despereaux sprung off the ground, launching himself into the air the same way he'd done in the Viridian Forest against the Beedrill.

He somersaulted over Tyrogue's head, and slammed his body weight down on the gangly fighting type. The Take Down took Tyrogue to the ground, impacting the dirt with an unhealthy crack! and leaving the Pokemon sprawled out on the ground.

Tyrogue's eyes closed, and he didn't get back up.

The battlefield went quiet.

"Trainer Baird's Pokemon is unable to battle," Myriel spoke, taking her job as the referee seriously. "Yuji Amano is the winner!"

Hana and Amy both cheered loudly, and I grinned when I saw that Hana had been recording the whole time.

That'll be fun to loop on social media.

I stifled a proud smirk as Baird stared disbelievingly at the battlefield in front of him. His precious Pokemon had gone down in a single move to a Rattata, a Pokemon that he'd referred to as 'route fodder'.

I stiffened as a loud thumping noise sounded next to me. I shot a look over.

It was Darien.

The giant guy who'd been entirely silent through the whole battle was laughing. And it wasn't a subtle laugh, either. Darien was double over, red-in-the-face laughing. The thumping I'd heard was him slapping his knee.

I stared at him in shock. I'd always thought that 'knee-slapping' was a thing done by old people and cartoon characters.

I glanced over at Amy and Hana to see if they were also seeing this, but I happened to catch Myriel's eye. She was smirking.

Did this guy's friends let him fight Yuji just so he could get pummeled? I mean, he deserves it, but... ...damn. That's cold.

Yuji stepped forward, proudly kneeling down to Despereaux and patting him on the head. He murmured something that I couldn't hear, but Despereaux looked pleased. He made to return his Pokemon, but stopped. Yuji looked across the battlefield at Baird expectantly.

When Baird didn't immediately respond, Darien spoke up.

"Baird," he called. Darien's voice sounded like it was echoing in his own chest. "You've been humbled, feel poorly about it later. Apologize to this man and his friends for your conduct."

That snapped him out of it. The short trainer looked up from his defeated Tyrogue and over at Yuji. I could see his blood pressure spike as his face started to go red.

"Fu-" he started, but a glare from Darien shut his mouth. He stared daggers at Yuji, but bowed all the same. He spoke through gritted teeth. "I am sorry for how I acted."

Yuji nodded but did not stop staring.

Baird grumbled, acting more like an eight-year-old than an eighteen-year-old. He turned to us an bowed again.

"I apologize to you as well," he said.

Yuji kept staring.

"For fucks-" he looked down at Desperaux. "I'm sorry for calling you route fodder."

The Rattata sniffed, pointing his nose into the air. He obviously was not forgiven.

Yuji nodded once again, returning Despereaux. Without another word, he walked past Baird and headed down the path in the direction we were supposed to be headed.

Baird mumbled something under his breath before returning his Tyrogue. Once he'd packed his Pokeball, he did the same as Yuji, only in the opposite direction.

The five of us remaining in the clearing looked at each other.

"That guy's a fucking dick," Amy said finally.

Myriel and Darien both laughed, though they had the presence of mind to look ashamed.

"We agree," Darien said.

Myriel nodded. "We didn't choose him. His mother pays us to watch after him, covering most of our travel expenses. For what it's worth, we don't agree with him at all. He's just a paycheck."

That caught my interest. "Are you guys not rookies?"

Darien shook his head, but Myriel nodded. They spoke at the same time.

"He isn't."

"She is."

They glanced at each other but nodded. They'd said basically the same thing, just in different words.

"Huh," I said. "Well, I can't say it's been a pleasure, but I hope that you guys are as agreeable the next time we beat the shit out of him. Yuji had his turn, but I think he called me a foreigner? That's like the fourth time this week. Man... ...this region is racist."

Darien laughed once again. I got the feeling that he was normally a pretty pleasant guy. "You should try being from Johto," he said. "It's ten times worse when they colonized you."

Hana nodded. "He's right," she agreed. "It's just as bad for the Sevii Islands."

They shared a look of solidarity, and suddenly I remembered that I didn't have it that bad.

I inclined my head to Myriel and Darien. "No offense, but I hope we don't see you again for a long, long time."

"None taken," they once again said in sync. They definitely had to do this often.

Without another word, the two groups split to follow after their respective trainers.

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

When we caught up to Yuji, he was just as chatty as when he'd left.

We didn't push too much, but any time we tried to initiate conversation, his responses were a maximum of one word and a minimum of outright silence. We continued on for the rest of the day in mostly silence.

The valley around the trail shrank as we got closer to Mt. Moon. The trees became spotty as they were limited by space, leaving us in something resembling a winding canyon full of tall grass rather than the forested valley we'd spent the morning in. We also ran into a few more trainer groups passing through the trail, and they gave both pleasant conversation and decent battles.

Yuji didn't take part in any more battles for that day, but he didn't complain when we decided to. Hana and I both tried to give as many battles as possible to Amy, given their need to get stronger before Cerulean. I did manage to score a pretty fun battle against a girl with a Jigglypuff, which Artis handily won.

Even with the battles, we ended up making our fifteen-mile goal by the end of the day. We pulled off of the side of the trail and set up camp in a previously used clearing that still had tent marks and trash in it from the last campers. Hana made us clean it all before we set up camp.

Amy and I took the first watch. Even though this route had almost none of the danger of the Viridian Forest, we'd gotten used to taking watches there. We sat on rocks that Wisp had been kind enough to move to the campfire for us.

Amy released Pennywise, taking him onto their lap and stroking his head. The guy had gotten pretty banged up today in his battles, having only won about half of them. He fell asleep in seconds.

I studied Amy and Pennywise as the fire crackled, trying to figure out where they were falling behind the rest of us. Amy was doing a great job training him, and Pennywise had been taking on learning new moves and techniques fairly well. He just lacked that bit of power that other Pokemon in our group had. He was still baby Pokemon, though, so there wasn't much we could do.

"Hey Ames," I asked absentmindedly. "Do you think, maybe, you should look at getting a second Pokemon? Something to fill the spaces?"

Amy shrugged, continuing to pet Pennywise. "There's no good psychic types around here."

"Does it have to be a psychic type?"

"I mean, I feel like having psychic Pokemon is the first step to starting to understand my powers," they reminded me. "I need to train as a psychic type specialist because once I have my powers somewhat in check, I want to go to the Saffron Gym. I want to study with Sabrina."

"Huh," I stroked my chin. "I guess I'd figured that was the case, but I just realized you've never told me that before. The part about Saffron Gym, not the other thing."

Amy nodded. "Yeah, I figure that being at a psychic gym is the best place for a psychic."

I frowned and started counting on my fingers.

"What?" Amy glanced over at me.

"I just thought about it. Half of our group are type specialists. That's weird, right?"

They shook their head. "Three out of four."

"But, Despereaux-"

"Wasn't Yuji's first choice. He ended up picking him because that's what he could afford, to be honest," Amy explained. "He wants to be a really strong fighting type master."

"Huh."

I thought back to what Baird had been saying before he'd asked about trading for Achilles. He'd been... ...gloating, right? He'd been telling Yuji how he'd 'traded up' from a Spearow to his Tyrogue.

Spearow are basically considered Rattata with wings. If somebody was talking about tossing Despereaux aside, I could totally see that being another reason Yuji would get pissed.

Now knowing that Yuji hadn't had a lot of choices when it came to his starter, it certainly explained a lot about why Hana had said he'd been triggered by Baird's words.

It also explains why he'd been so upset about Oak's offer, I realized glumly. He wasn't just upset about me getting lucky, he was seeing yet another person get handed an opportunity that he hadn't been given.

"Honestly, it's weirder that you're a generalist in your first circuit," Amy continued. "It just kind of makes sense for people to at least gravitate toward a type, even if they don't end up fully specializing. Not only does it make it easier to train a whole team, but it cuts down on things like food and TM costs by letting you use the same ones between Pokemon. You end up getting a couple of weaknesses, yeah, but you can pretty easily figure out counters."

I opened my mouth and closed it again.

That makes a lot of sense. My exposure to Pokemon teams has always been my father and his friends, who are Ace Trainers and can afford to have a bunch of different styles of Pokemon, and competitive battlers, who often needed to be able to answer a dozen different strategies to win. If you didn't already have an established career or somebody to help you out, it just made sense to specialize.

"Why didn't Yuji's family help him?" I asked. "They're still around, right?"

Amy looked taken aback. They glanced over at the tent, but no one stirred from it. They turned back to me, leaning in.

"I'm not going to go too much into it," they whispered. "Because I figure Yuji will get around to telling you eventually, but he got kicked out of his house, like, a year ago. He's had to earn all of his own money to even get to come on this journey, let alone get a starter."

I felt anger seep into my heart as my brows furrowed. "Why would anyone- It wasn't because...?"

Amy shook their head and I relaxed a little. "No, his dad was okay with him being trans. I don't actually know the real reason, and Yuji's... Well, he's Yuji. Not exactly an open book. I just know that he spent, like, all of his money to come and start his journey with me and Hana."

I sat back, frustrated.

Now I felt even worse about telling him about Oak's offer. I already had my dad going out of his way to buy me a starter from a breeder, and I was flaunting a brand-new Pokemon of my choice in front of Yuji.

I shook my head. Not again.

I made a decision regarding Oak's offer right then and there.

I was going to find a way to use it to help someone else.

Sure, it would be nice to have a shortcut to a rare Pokemon, but I didn't need it. I already had Artis and Wisp and whatever Pokemon Dad was planning on sending me. I didn't want to be handed my future when everyone else, especially my close friends, was working so hard for theirs. I was going to reject the Pokemon or find another trainer to give it to. I was conflicted because I wanted to offer it to Yuji, but knowing how prideful he was, I was scared that he'd take it as an insult, or worse, pity.

"Derek?" Amy's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, Ames?"

"You know, you never told me what you were hiding from us at the museum."

I flinched as they cold-clocked me with that statement. I'd been so in my own thoughts that I hadn't expected the conversation to take a turn.

I really didn't want to admit to how dumb I'd been, but I'd basically promised to tell them in all but words.

"Um, yeah, I guess you're right."

They let the silence hang for a moment before prompting me. "Well?"

I sighed. This was Amy. There was no way they were letting me off the hook that easily. I had no real reason to keep procrastinating.

I coughed into my hand. "So, uh, I guess I should get it the big thing out of the way," I took a deep breath. "I went after a Rocket Admin at the museum."

"What?"

Fear.

I flinched as something in my mind recoiled, feeling like it had just taken a physical lashing. I fell backward off my rock, looking around wildly to see what had hurt me.

My eyes settled on Amy, whose eyes were wide with panic. Pennywise had woken up and was holding Amy's hand between his tiny ones.

"Did I...?" they asked.

I rubbed my temple and stood, feeling the pain subside. It had only really hurt for a moment, but the shock left a phantom ringing in my ears.

"Yeah, I think you did."

"Oh..." Amy looked down at the ground, pulling Pennywise close.

I glanced over at the tent, and still, neither of our companions had stirred. Whatever Amy's powers had done, the range either wasn't very good, or they'd just been focused on me. Both options were up in the air right now.

I walked over to Amy, placing my hand on their shoulder. They recoiled at first but nodded gratefully and settled after a moment.

"Has that never happened before?" I asked.

Amy shook their head. "No, not once."

I let out a breath. "Well," I said. "I think that means you're getting stronger, at the very least."

They shook their head, looking troubled. "And I guess that's what happens when someone scares the shit out of me."

"Hey!" I chuckled, trying to bring some levity to the situation. "You asked. I could've just kept it to myself."

Amy didn't smile, but a bit of color returned to their face. "I was worried about my friend, and it turns out I was right to worry," they shifted to look up at me with upset eyes. "What the hell were you thinking, going after a Rocket Admin? The Executives are the bogeymen. Parents literally tell their kids bedtime stories about them. They're supposed to be as strong as the Elite Four, and you went after them with a Spheal."

"That's rude. I had Wisp too."

Amy stared daggers at me, and I withered under their gaze. For a tiny person, they could scary sometimes.

"You at least went with Daisy, right?"

"No...?"

They punched me in the arm. "You're a stupid, dumb, idiotic, bull-headed, dumb, dumbass!"

"I think we covered it. I'm dumb!" I pulled back out of Amy's reach, and they took one more swing before settling back down. "I didn't go in to fight him. Brock and Bruno were battling Proton and his men, and I just figured that maybe a wild card could help capture one of them? Anyway, I ended up finding out that they were going to teleport, so I asked Wisp to use Mean Look on the leader. I was a 'dumb idiot', though, because I gave Wisp unclear orders and she ended up hitting an Officer instead."

Amy looked at the campfire angrily, as if willing it to burn hotter. Given what had just happened, I was surprised when it didn't explode.

"At least I can see you're being honest," they muttered at last.

"I wouldn't lie."

"But you'd not tell us everything."

I sighed. "Fair."

"I'm not going to lie to you, Derek. That was the dumbest thing I've ever heard anyone say. I get it now, why everybody started giving you rewards after the museum, though. Brock probably elevated our challenges just because of that."

"Well, that's why he did mine," I admitted. "I talked him into doing everyone else's."

Amy nodded. "Thanks for that, by the way."

"No problem."

Amy and I sat in silence for a while, letting the fire crackle. They never let go of Pennywise, and the Mime Jr. snuggled to sleep again eventually. The quiet was only interrupted when my Pokenav+ alarm went off, letting us know that it was time to swap off watches.

We both got up, but Amy stopped me before I could go wake Yuji.

Amy hesitated for a moment before putting the arm that wasn't holding Pennywise around my waist and squeezing tight.

"I'm glad you're not dead," they said in a muffled voice, pressing their face into my side. "Asshole."

"Thanks, Ames." I smiled. "Love you, too."

I returned their hug, ignoring the gentle pain I felt in my shin when they kicked me.