After my battle, we went out to eat to celebrate. And by "out to eat" I mean that four trainers on a budget grabbed take-out and we retreated back to the Pokemon Center.

All four of us were snug on the couches of the lounge, the place that had become a regular hangout spot here, passing around boxes of chow mein and spicy pork as we talked about the last week's worth of effort.

"And I was so close to getting a hit in!" Amy held her fingers a millimeter apart. "Pennywise just couldn't reach that stupid little worm from up on the barriers!"

"I hardly think a Diglett deserves to be called a worm," said Yuji. His black and white hair was pulled up in a loose bun. "It managed to stay relevant even though it was underground for most of the fight. And when it did hit, it hit hard!"

"Yeah, well, it was a rotten strategy anyway!" Amy pouted into her rice.

We all gave a laugh. No one elected to tell her that digging underground was basically exactly the strategy that they'd been using to stay in the sky with Pennywise's Barrier.

Hana reached over and grabbed the dumplings. "I'm just glad to be done with Viridian Gym for a while. I don't plan on seeing Giovanni again any time soon." She frowned as she found the box empty, and glanced over at Amy.

Amy shook their head and pointed at Yuji. He noticed and quickly popped the last dumpling into his mouth. Yuji quickly regretted that as the hot soup dumpling popped in his mouth and his face distorted in pain.

I let a grin ghost onto my lips.

These people were truly awesome. They'd taken me in less than a week ago and we were already having fun as a group of friends.

And we were having fun. I just... ...well I wasn't really getting into the festivities.

I know it was my plan to take potshots at Giovanni. I'd led the charge on the moral victory plan, but when it came down to it, I was bitter that I hadn't gotten the win. I think it really came down to how unachievable the win had seemed at the beginning of the week, and how close it had been by the end of the fight. We'd only exchange a handful of moves each, but the one hit that Artis had gotten in had almost taken out the Cubone all together.

If I'd just-

"-Derek?" Yuji called.

I looked up. Hana and Amy were engaged in a debate as to who should get the last of the spicy pork, but Yuji was giving me a concerned look.

I shifted in my seat. "Sorry, what's up?"

"Oh, nothing important," he said, still hesitant. "I was just wondering what you were going to do tomorrow?"

"Oh, I figured I would get some more training in-"

"Mourf ahnt-," Amy swallowed her mouthful of spicy pork before finishing her outburst. "-you can't train the day after a big battle!"

I frowned. "But I was real close to a win, so I figured I could finish up-"

"We have a hard rule when it comes to training, Derek," Hana interrupted. "We have to take breaks after every milestone, even if it's just for a day."

Yuji nodded. "It's true," he turned to me. "If you go as hard as you have been forever, you're going to burn out sooner rather than later."

I shrugged and leaned back into my coach, pulling my legs up.

There was a bit of silence as the others glanced at each other. They were having a full conversation in a series of looks, and I raised an eyebrow.

Amy spoke up first. "Hey, uh, Derek? Do you wanna come with me tomorrow on my day off?"

I smiled, "Oh, that's okay Amy. You don't have to do that."

"Actually," Hana said. "I think that's quite a good idea. How about we have you tag along on our days off tomorrow, and you can see what it looks like to take some time off training?"

"Yeah!" Amy pulled out her phone and sent me a text. "We're gonna go here around ten am, so wear something comfy!"

"And I'll come pick you up from there on my way to the mall!" Yuji suggested.

"Then you can assist me on my shopping trip afterwards." Hana finished planning my itinerary for the day.

Each of them looked at me with kind expressions, giving me the kind of look that said that they wouldn't take a no for an answer.

"Sure," I said, shrugging, "I guess that works."

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

After I agreed to their demands, we ate the last of the takeout and all retired to our rooms.

I sighed as I left Artis' ball on my desk and pulled off my blazer. I'd release him before I really went to bed, but I wanted some time to be alone before then. I stripped off my new crew neck but strained as I pulled my arms above my head. The muscles were still sore from how intense this week had been.

Ugh, I mentally groaned, I guess they might be right about taking a break.

As I started to unhook the rest of my gear, I noticed that my Pokenav+ had two unread messages on it, on from Daisy and one from my Dad.

I clicked Daisy's first.

She'd sent two messages, one photo and one text. The photo was a screenshot from the Viridian Gym live stream that they'd been broadcasting of the battle. Most Gym challenges were live-streamed, but very few of them got a lot of real coverage until after trainers started gaining their third and fourth badges.

The photo was from a camera on Giovanni's side of the field, looking towards me. It was of the moment that Artis had lept into the air, blasting cold air down into the ditch. The white cloud took up half the screen, and I was perfectly framed in the other half. My arm was extended while I shouted orders and my eyes were intense. Honestly, if I hadn't known it was me, I would've thought this was somebody a lot more experienced.

[[15:21, Daisy]] You did a great job today! I know you didn't get the win, but you two had an amazing battle. You're already starting to look like a pro.

A grin split my face.

I plopped down onto my bed and stared at the message for a while. She was right, I did look like a pro in that photo. I could remember the feeling before the actual battle, of stepping onto the pitch and staring at the thousands of seats surrounding the field. It had felt good. Really good.

I texted her back a quick thank you and went to the other message.

My dad had left a voice recording, the same as what I'd left for him. I popped in an earbud and pressed play.

"Hey, Der," My dad's voice played, using his nickname for me since I was a little kid. His voice was warm and deep, and I felt a pang of homesickness at hearing it. "I'm glad you finally sent us an update. Your mom and I have been worried, but we trusted that you'd send a message when you weren't on the road."

I frowned, feeling guilty. I'd been in Viridian for almost a week, and today was the first message I'd sent since landing.

"I'm glad you liked the Spheal. You named him Artis, right? Well, let me tell you, he was not easy to get ahold of. That little guy has a lot of potential in his family line, so I'm hoping he'll be a good enough partner for you. You've been training him well. We watched your match today."

I held my breath for his judgment. Everyone else might've said I did a good job, but my dad was the trainer in our family. One of the most senior members of Hoenn's Ace Trainers, my dad had decades of Pokemon training knowledge in his brain.

"You did fantastic, son." He said, and I let go of my breath, feeling warm tears well up in my eyes. "that was a close loss, and I think there are a few holes in your training, but the strategy was sound. I read up a bit more, and that Giovanni guy is one of the toughest leaders over there. You started at the highest learning curve and almost beat the guy."

I wiped my eyes and smiled. Validation from my dad was always earned, and he always meant it when he said it.

I frowned at his next sentence, though.

"If you want, I could probably put in a word with the Kanto Ace Trainers?" He offered, "maybe you could do some training with them-"

I paused the message and let out an angry sigh.

He doesn't get it. I thought. The whole reason I came out here is that I don't want him to help. I want to earn it on my own.

I got up and brushed my teeth, changing into my night clothes before wandering back to bed. I looked at my Pokenav+, debating listening to the rest.

The progress bar showed that I was already most of the way through it. I clicked the resume button.

"-to fill out those holes. Maybe I could even look into sending you another Pokemon?" He stopped, as though he was waiting for me to answer. "Well, let me know if any of that sounds like it would help. I hope we'll hear more from you soon, Der. Your mom wants her own messages."

There was a heavy pause, like he was debating hanging up, before he finally said, "I love you, my son."

The Pokenav+ beeped to let me know that was the end of the recording.

I slid into my covers, feeling like crap.

I'm such an asshole. I thought. He's really just trying to help.

My dad was always trying to help. It wasn't that he didn't care, it was that he cared too much. That's fine for a lot of other people's parents, but my dad helped lead the Ace Trainers, the most elite force of Pokemon trainers in a given region. I got bullied a lot in school whenever I excelled, especially by the other kids. And I knew they were just echoing what their parents thought. I was only good at what I did because my dad happened to be one of the best trainers in the region.

And the worst part was that they were right. Dad would never let me fail. We lived and breathed Pokemon at home. I would get out of school and we'd be in the backyard watching one of his Pokemon train. We would go inside for dinner and watch reruns of famous matches from past Ever Grande Conferences. I would go to bed and I could hear him get up in the middle of the night to take an emergency call from the Ace Trainers.

It's not like I didn't love it either. Dad was my inspiration, the person who ignited my love of Pokemon battling. I drank in every bit of knowledge that he would give me. But there were always the whispers, the stares. Every time I aced an exam, or put my hand up in class, I could hear people disregard my effort and talk about how lucky I was to have my dad be who he was. When I'd scored one of the highest scores in my class on Hoenn's Trainer Card Exam, even my teacher had attributed everything I'd done to my dad.

I couldn't handle it. I knew that if I'd done my journey in Hoenn, that's what my career would have been. I'd been online enough to know that other trainers could be spiteful, and they'll take any excuse to tear down somebody's credibility. Forum posts were toxic.

I clicked on my Pokenav+, hitting the record button.

"Hey dad..." I hesitated. What the hell was I supposed to say?

"... I was just going to say that I love you too," I finally got out. "And I don't think you need to make any calls or send me a Pokemon. I made some friends out here, and they've really helped me land on my feet."

I smiled as I thought about the last week of intense training. My dad would've loved that.

"I'll try and message more often," I promised. "I'm actually planning on heading back onto the Routes in a couple of days, so I'll leave you guys a message before I leave and once I'm back in town. And I promise I'll send mom some messages too."

"I love you, dad," I said before ending the message.

I rolled over and sighed. Today had been a lot. I reached over and released Artis onto the bed. He curled up against my side without questions.

For now, it was time to sleep.

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

The next morning I was actually awake after the sun came up, instead of training before dawn. I was still sore, but the break from training left me feeling a different style of rested.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I slid on a comfy sweater and some loose pants, just like Amy had said to, and headed downstairs to the reception area.

Amy was already waiting when I got there. They were dressed in a light purple sundress and their iconic pom pom beanie. They held a cup of coffee in one hand and a bottle of OJ in the other.

"Hiya Derek," they smiled as I walked up and offered me the OJ. "You're right on time!"

I took the bottle and greedily cracked it open. "Yeah," I said. "I'm not one to leave people hangin'. Thanks for this, by the way."

"It's no biggy," said Amy, stepping out the front door and waving goodbye to Nurse Joy. "I just figured I haven't seen you skip a day yet, so you'd probably want one."

I smiled, feeling a bit wistful. "It's a thing my mom and I used to do a lot. Both of us like to sleep in, so we used to leave our alarms till the last possible minute, and slam some cereal and an orange juice right before it was time to go to school."

"Oh," they paused. "That makes way more sense than what I thought."

I cocked an eyebrow. "What did you think it was?"

"I thought that you were obviously a Victreebell disguised as a human, and the only thing that satiated your plant-thirst was your love of orange juice."

I fully stopped walking and stared at them. Amy stuck their tongue out and gave me a wide grin.

"You're a deeply odd person, ya know that?"

"Yeah!" They said with a skip in their step.

"Good." I started walking again. "Plus, Victreebell eat meat, not other plants."

Amy wrinkled their nose. "Gross."

We walked for another ten to fifteen minutes, enjoying the morning air of Viridian City. While there weren't a lot of trainers around town, Viridian was still a bustling metropolitan area. We walked past schools and parks, skyscrapers and parking garages, even a museum.

The city was beautiful when you took the time to look at it. We saw things that had faded to the background when all we concentrated on was getting from the Center to the Gym and back.

We eventually came to a small cafe that Amy had scouted on one of their trips through the city. They dragged me in and helped them build a sampler platter from all the different cakes in the shop.

We grabbed our food (and a refill of coffee and OJ) and headed outside to the little circular tables. The whole thing gave a very Kalosion vibe.

"So Amy," I asked as we started dividing the cakes. "Where are you from?"

They used their fork to stop mine, scooping up the chocolate mousse cake before I had a chance to try it.

"Well..." They thought about it for a bit. "That's kind of a big question."

"Oh, if you're not okay talking about it-"

"Nah, it's nothing like that. It's just that I'm from a bunch of places, really." Amy took a big bite of cake, savoring it for a moment. "My moms always moved a lot, ya know? I think my favorite place we lived was in Cerulean because the river was really pretty!"

"That's cool," I said, "is Cerulean pretty famous for its river?"

"Yeah, I don't remember if it has a name or not, but it runs all the way from Route 4 to the ocean. It wraps around Cerulean, which is where it gets its name from." Amy picked out a slice of strawberry cake topped with homemade whipped cream and fresh strawberries. "I forget sometimes that you're not from Kanto, cause everybody knows about the river."

"Yeah, I don't know a ton about Kanto," I admitted. "I should probably fix that, but we've been so busy this week."

"And that's why we have cake!" Amy smiled wide as they scooped up another piece from the platter. "We always take breaks causes there's always a ton of things to keep getting better at. Since we know we're never gonna be done improving, we gotta rest when we can."

"Yeah," I took my first slice of cake while watching Amy inhale their third. "I guess you're right..."

Amy grinned happily at me as I finally took part in their rest-day ritual. To their credit, the cake was delicious. The piece I'd grabbed was a slice of tiramisu, and it was wonderfully fluffy and sweet. It was a little rich, but the sampler platter's slices were only a couple of inches thick, so it went down quickly. Before long, we fell into a gentle rhythm of our forks clattering against the plates and watching the people go by as we ate.

After Amy finished off our last slice, a thin piece of lemon pound cake, they patted their belly with their hands and burped. "Derek," they said, "what are you going to do now that we've done what we can at the gym?"

"Well, I figure I've got to be in Pewter in two weeks, so I'm probably going to head out tomorrow."

"So soon?" They sat up quickly, but groaned and collapsed back down into their chair. "You're not gonna stick around a little longer?"

"Nah, I made a commitment." I shrugged. "And it's not like there's a ton more I can do in Viridian anyway. I don't want to stay still for the next two weeks, so there's no point hanging around here without being able to challenge the gym."

"But you could always get some extra training in." A new voice piped up from down the street.

Yuji was standing there, having abandoned his tracksuit for the day, and instead dressed in a loose sweater and a pair of jeans. He had a cross-body bag strapped across his chest, and his white and black hair was left loose. We scooted our chairs and let Yuji slide another in at our table.

Amy burped. "Yuji, I think I'm dying..." They slid down in their chair and sighed dramatically.

He smiled and rubbed their head, the way a sibling would, and said, "No, you just ate too much again. You should go sleep it off."

"Yeah, you're probably right. I just have to send Hana a text really quick." Amy pulled out their phone and lazily began typing.

"Are you almost ready to leave, Derek?" Yuji looked over at me. He had very dark eyes, but they looked genuinely relaxed.

"Yup! Ready when you are." I stood up and immediately felt a shift in weight, and my gut felt heavy. Amy wasn't the only one who'd eaten too much.

Yuji and I headed off from the cafe, leaving Amy to meander their way back to the Center. The day was starting to warm up, and passing pedestrians were more common. We did have to pull off to the side of the street for a moment as Yuji got a text message.

"Anything important?" I asked as I watched people walk by.

He gave a concerned look at his Pokegear before typing out a response. Yuji slid the device back into his pocket. "Nothing that can't wait till later. Just moving around some plans."

"Oh, that sucks," I said absentmindedly. "Do we need to cancel?"

Yuji smiled. "No, nothing like that. Today is just about relaxing from a long week. Everything else can be dealt with later." He stepped back onto the sidewalk and started leading me down the way.

We made our way to a large outdoor mall, a full shopping center with lines of outlet stores and small restaurants. Yuji's excitement was very visible as we neared a massive building at the center of the complex, with bright neon displays listing showings and times. The theater.

"Oh!" I exclaimed as I realized what were doing. "I didn't realize you liked movies so much. What are we gonna see?"

Yuji gave the faintest blush and pushed his hair out of his face. "Well, it would be incorrect to say that I'm a fan of 'movies' in general. This theater just happened to be showing some of my favorite old films at matinee prices this month." Yuji gestured up to a promotional poster on the wall.

There the theater advertised a month of 'thrilling action-packed martial arts films', where they would be showing a different classic movie on each day of the first month of the League season. Today was a movie that was over twenty years old: Crouching Arcanine, Hidden Dragonite.

I laughed. "So you like martial arts movies? That makes so much sense!"

"I find that any film where they appreciate traditional combat styles, especially martial arts films, do a better job telling a story without words." Yuji looked unsure. "Are you okay with watching this with me today?"

"Dude, this rules. I'm definitely in." I clasped his shoulder and pulled him over to the ticket line. He buzzed with happiness at my enthusiasm.

Yuji was a really interesting guy. When we were training he was always task-oriented and it was hard to get a read on him. He always spoke in a measured tone and had a very stilted way with words. But now I knew something interesting about him, he liked old movies. I really didn't know a lot about any of my new friends, and I was having a great time learning about them.

One of the upsides of our screening was that it was in the middle of the day, so Yuji and I had also the whole theater to ourselves. The movie was actually pretty great, especially because I'd never seen it before. It was ultimately lacking in both Arcanine and Dragonite, but it had some sick martial arts wirework. The story was actually really beautiful too, with a decent love plot, a princess, and some scary rogues.

As we left the theater I turned to Yuji. "I totally get it, solid movie."

He gave a wide smile. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope you won't be opposed to joining me again if something like this comes up in the future?"

"Yeah, count me in. I trust your taste in movies now."

We walked around for a few minutes after the film, chatting about our favorite plot lines and character, before turning into a large clothing retailer. The indoors smelt like packaging plastic, and the air condition was cranked way too low. Within minutes, Hana spotted us and waved us over to where she stood at a rack of clothing.

Like all of the rest of us, Hana had abandoned her training outfits for something more casual. She wore a light green blouse, white trousers, and a floppy sun hat.

Hana gave a light finger wave as we approached, still flipping through a wide rack of jackets. "Hi boys, did you enjoy your movie?"

Yuji nodded. "It went better than I could've hoped. It seems I've found another who enjoys the nuances of a good martial arts film."

"More like I thought the action was cool and the people were pretty," I said in a loud stage whisper, causing others to laugh. "Seriously though, it was really fun. Thank you guys for forcing me out here."

"Well," Hana said, "I'm glad. It's my turn now Yuji, and I need someone to carry my things."

Yuji grimaced and sent me an apologetic look. "Good luck." He whispered as he passed me. Louder, he said, "I'll be at the Center when you finish up. I'll see you both later."

I gave a confused glance around the store and cringed when I saw the pile of packages that Hana had left by the door to the store. Easily, she'd gather almost a dozen bags at this point.

I went to step away, but Hana called for me. "Derek, are you a thirty or thirty-two-inch waistband?"

"What?" I turned around and Hana had moved towards a rack of men's apparel and was flipping through nicer pairs of slacks. "Uh, thirty-two? I'm sorry did you just no-scope my pants size?"

"Well, you look like you're about Yuji's size, if not a little smaller." Hana continued shopping without looking up. "I know you're probably a little shorter in the legs, because you have a bigger torso than him, but I used him as a starting point."

"Do you do his shopping?"

"I do all of our shopping. Neither Amy or Yuji actually like shopping, and since I know what they like, I take care of it while I'm out. And not just the clothing, I keep track of all our supplies between cities, too." Hana glanced up at my eyes and squinted. She nodded, finding whatever she'd been looking for, and finally selected a light green set of hammer pants from the rack.

"Try these on," she said, grabbing an off-white long sleeve off of her pile, "and this too."

I stood holding both articles for a moment, stunned. Hana really shopped for their whole group? The three of them did always look really put together, but that had to be a ton of work.

I frowned as I looked down outfit in my hands. "Wait, why are we doing this? I just got a nice outfit. And didn't Amy and Yuji pick that one out?"

Hana sighed. "They picked it up from the retailer. I'd already ordered by the time they got there. And you're going to need something casual for your date in Pewter, right?"

Heat rose up my neck. "Wha- What do you mean?" How does she know?

"Well, Amy texted us earlier that you had a commitment in Pewter in two weeks." Hana held up her Pokegear to show their group text, timed for right after when Yuji and I had left for the movies.

When we'd stopped off the street, he'd been responding to Amy! I thought. Traitor.

"And from there it was just a guess," Hana continued. "You don't know anything else about Pewter, so you obviously didn't set anything up, and you're not from the region, so it's not like you'd have family there. You're just like the rest of us when it comes to sponsors, so it couldn't be professional."

"That's a heck of a guess..." I eyed her suspiciously.

"A guess that blush of yours confirmed." Hana gave a self-satisfied smirk. "It's okay, you don't have to tell us about them. I just assumed that you'd need a good outfit, and helping other people shop soothes my brain. Now go try it on and see if I need to size it up."

My brain ceased functioning as I considered how smart Hana was. I don't know why it surprised me, I'd seen the lengths her mind could go to all week as she strategized against Giovanni.

I made my way into the changing stall and absentmindedly started dressing up in Hana's outfit. The hammer pants fit perfectly, and the shirt was a soft v-neck that was intentionally sized up to let it drape over my shoulders. I stepped out of the stall.

Hana's eyes glimmered as she looked at her work. "And once again, I'm proven a genius."

"Yeah, yeah. I guess I look pretty good," I said. "I don't know how you're expecting me to pay for this stuff, though. I still have to shop for the trip through the forest."

That was the sad truth of it. I'd been in Kanto a week and hadn't won a single battle against another trainer, which was pretty much my only way to make money. I had a decent starting fund that I'd saved up and the Pokemon Center was always free for trainers, but if I wanted to bring on another team member before getting to Pewter, there was no way I had the kind of money to be dropping on new luxury clothes.

"Oh, hush," Hana said as she moved over to a jewelry table. "I'll cover it for now, and I already picked us up some jobs for the Viridian Forest."

Us?

"Wait, are you guys also heading out tomorrow?" I felt my brow furrow. "I thought you weren't planning on leaving for a few more days?"

"We weren't," Hana admitted, "but, when you told Amy that you were leaving, we decided as a group that we'd go with you. Amy and Yuji are at the Center packing up our stuff right now."

I felt overwhelmed, stunned, and confused. Today was supposed to be their day off, and they're using it to pack to travel with me?

Tears prickled at the edge of my eyes, and my throat got a lump in it.

"You guys don't need to do that!" I said, moving to grab my Pokenav+ out of my other set of pants. I picked it up, and Hana's hand drifted on top of the keyboard.

"It's no big deal, Derek," She said softly. "You did a lot for us this week, and we just wanted to return the favor. And we can't let somebody who knows literally nothing about Kanto to wander through the Viridian Forest on their own."

I pulled her into a hug. She stiffened a little in surprise, but gently patted me on the back. I released her quickly, wiping my eyes.

"Sorry 'bout that," I dried my face. "I'm just not used to people dropping everything for me. It means a lot, ya know?"

"There's nothing to be sorry about. If you hadn't been around to make us feel better about the Giovanni challenges, we'd probably be in a lot different of a place right now. I doubt Amy and Yuji would have even decided to keep up with their challenges. The least we can do is help you through the forest."

I let that statement breathe for a minute.

As down as I was about my loss to Giovanni, they were all feeling that too, I realized. If I hadn't been making a game of it all week, of playing up how we'd get our revenge by getting one hit in, they'd be just as sad about their losses.

I nodded. "Thanks, Hana." I straightened up, thinking about what she'd said earlier. "What was this about jobs in the Viridian Forest?"

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

We spent another two hours shopping. Hana wasn't satisfied with just one outfit, especially once I opened up and told her who I was going on a date with. She'd also made me accessorize, getting some rings, wristbands, and ear clasps to finish out all the looks she'd picked out. I now had outfits for every occasion that didn't require functional clothing, like partying or going to brunch.

While we shopped, Hana told me about another way that trainers could make money in Kanto. Apparently, their League had outsourced a lot of minor complaints to traveling trainers, creating a "request board" system at every Pokemon Center. Originally these tasks had just been to clear annoying Pokemon off of routes or to help assist in non-emergency situations like blocked roads or remove storm debris. It was a tidy little system that let the League pay trainers for acts of necessary public service.

It had all changed once they let private citizens start listing their own requests. Suddenly, less necessary tasks were appearing on job boards than superfluous ones. People would ask for help clearing weeds, repairing homes, finding lost pets, or even entertaining kids. Wealthier individuals would even list requests for specific Pokemon, a job that had previously been privy to specific breeding facilities. Kanto now had a bustling economy of trainer gig work, and any attempt to stall or lessen it was shot down by public opinion.

Hana and I grabbed the last of her packages (though I carried nearly all of them), and headed back to the Pokemon and Amy met us downstairs, both looking rested and refreshed. They wore different outfits from earlier, slick and stylish and definitely picked out by Hana.

"Let me get that," Yuji quickly walked up and grabbed several of the boxes off the stack, taking some of the weight.

"Thanks, bud," I exhaled. "I did not know how I was going to get these in the elevator. "

"I'm normally the one who carries all of Hana's things," he said, giving a sympathetic smile.

Amy hopped anxiously from foot to foot. "Come on, guys! I want to get going!"

"Get going? We just got here!" I chuckled.

"And we still need to get dressed," Hana declared as she hit the button for the elevator. When she saw the confusion on my face, she elaborated, "did I forget to mention it earlier? We always end our vacation days with nights on the town."

Amy cheered, and even Yuji let out a noise of excitement.

"Well, why didn't you say anything earlier?" I grinned, "let's do this thing!"

Hana and I rushed up to our rooms, returned to the others, and headed off for a night of music, dancing, drinks, and fun in Viridian City.

It was really nice to find a group of people who genuinely made me feel like I belonged.