For a few seconds, none of us talked. Frederik, after he recalled his Licktiung, looked at me and once again, his fingers were brushing through his beard.

“So, how do you think you did?”

“I lost, didn’t I?”

“Sure, but you don’t really have to win to earn a badge. It definitely helps, but there are instances where even winning wouldn’t make me give you a badge. So I ask again, how do you think you did?”

Eevee had by now approached me so I knelt down to pick her up quickly.

“Do you want me to argue my case as to why I should get a badge? Because I don’t want that, I lost, that’s all there is to it. I’m getting badges by beating the Gym Leaders and not by any other means. That’s the only method I want for me.” I shrugged. “Everything else is just an excuse.”

Frederik looked amused. “There are always kids with your attitude, and I can’t say I don’t get where you are coming from, but there’s no shame in getting a badge that way.”

“It’s not about me finding that shameful. I don’t really have anything against anyone getting their badges that way. I actually don’t care how anyone does. I just, for me personally, don’t want it in any way other than winning in combat.”

Frederik looked at me for a few seconds, his smile widening into a grin. “In that case, I have something of a wager for you.”

Eevee was fidgeting in my arms, but my attention was firmly on Frederik.

“We fight again, in two weeks, but a proper three on three. The one who wins two of those wins the match. You have to capture and train a third pokemon that isn’t a Magikarp until then, naturally. This is how our rematch would have gone at any rate. Win and you get the badge, lose and you get nothing. The wager would be, should you win, in addition to the badge, you will get a pokemon egg. One of my pokemon laid an egg and I’m too old to raise another pokemon at this stage and I have been looking for someone who can take care of that.”

That was of course interesting. A pokemon egg meant a pokemon who would be too young to fight properly once it hatched for a few weeks at least. With Magikarp already taking up a slot that, through no fault of her own, that would mean two pokemon who would be relatively unproductive for a while.

It wasn’t ideal, but it was also a very temporary state of affairs. I was initially against capturing an Abra for that very reason, even though their evolutionary line was very desirable for someone who was aiming for the heights of the poke-battling scene as I was.

In a similar fashion, the egg of a pokemon of a Gym Leader was nothing that one should pass up on.

That was an enticing prize, but he did say it was a wager.

“And if I lose?” I asked him.

“You join my team for the rest of the season. You didn’t answer earlier, but I actually liked a lot of what you were showing there. Sure, you were a bit passive and didn’t take the initiative as much as I would have liked, and your pokemon didn’t have a particularly diverse move-pool, but they used what they knew rather well. We aren’t exactly overrun with talented trainers, so it would be nice to have someone like you joining us for a bit and I can promise you that you would benefit as well.”

That…that was certainly an offer. It was tempting, but I can’t say I wanted to be stuck in Hop Hop Hop Town for even longer. Not to mention that the rest of the season would mean cutting things really close with regards to earning enough badges to qualify for the Silver Conference this year and if there was one thing I knew it was that Blue and Red would be there.

So, that meant, did I want to risk it? Did I even want the rematch? The badge Frederick handed out was essentially worthless to me. It could not be used as one of the badges that allowed entrance into the Victory Road. Two more weeks at least was not insignificant, although capturing at least one more pokemon was something I would have to do regardless, so it wouldn’t be a total waste.

That meant that even if I took him up on the rematch, I could justify that to myself, but could I do the same with the wager? Do I think my partners would be able to win the same matches with two weeks of additional training? I didn’t feel arrogant in thinking yes, but I would also have to assume that their enemies would also improve in the same time frame.

Still, I believed in our training and their dedication. Did I believe that the not yet captured third pokemon would also win in two weeks? That I was less certain about. It wasn’t even certain that Frederik would use the same pokemon as he did right now. Hell, he could even play dirty and replace those with stronger pokemon from his real team.

Even if he didn’t do anything like that, as someone who had been a trainer for so long, his abilities as a trainer would definitely allow him to make better use of the two weeks than I could, especially since he didn’t have to capture the third pokemon.

So, thinking about it, I barely should accept the rematch without the wager, let alone with it.

And yet…I wanted to beat Frederik. I wanted my pokemon to triumph over his and I would be lying if I didn’t also want the egg.

“What do you say, girl?”

So, maybe it was a huge mistake, but I looked him straight in the eyes, blew and popped a bubble, before giving him my answer.

“You better also include an incubator alongside that egg because I don’t have one.”

xxx

Once I had returned to the pokemon center, while Squirtle and Eevee were getting treated, I had claimed one of the PCs there as my own and I was using it simultaneously with my pokedex.

I really didn’t have a second to waste, so I had immediately opened up my notes and started to thoroughly go through all the information I and the Internet had on the pokemon in this area. The two week time frame wasn’t too short or anything but it did limit how far I could afford to range outside of Hop Hop Hop Town if I wanted to make the deadline.

If I wanted to be cheap, I would be looking for a fighting type, since they were the one type that had the advantage, but practically speaking, Rock types also held a certain advantage due to their nature of being hard and heavy, which was quite the defense against a lot of normal types.

They were tempting, and I wouldn’t really mind any one of them. A fighting type in particular would fill a valuable spot in my team. They would be good against Brock later on, and as far as weaknesses went, they only really had them against Sabrina and so far, I didn’t really have an answer for her anyway unless Eevee became an Umbreon.

My gut reaction for not wanting to go solely for type advantage was working against me here right now, because there were strategies I had been thinking about for years that I wanted to use, but I also needed to make them work with the pokemon I had, and while a fighting type would be very risky, it also depended very much on the fighting type in question.

Rock type would also be useful, even if a Rock type would have it harder against a lot more gyms in Kanto, but from my studies and from what we had learned from Professor Oak, not all type disadvantages were equal.

There was the inherent rock-paper-scissors dynamic of the energies of the various pokemon types to consider, which was fairly absolute and that was what the vast majority of people were taking into account. However, there were also certain biological and physiological factors that one had to keep in mind which could lead to interesting developments.

Disregarding that pokemon could undergo training, and the main, elite teams of those at the top usually did to resist or at least endure the type of attacks they were weak against, there is also the truth that an Onix wouldn’t care too much about a weak Water Gun attack, simply because it was so big and massive. Even though the energy of a water type attack would hurt, it wouldn’t do all that much damage and a trainer who was expecting an easy type advantage win would be in for a harsh surprise.

Those were the things I had to consider, because the disadvantage fighting types had against psychic types was very much not in that category, at least from what I could tell. Similarly, barring extreme cases such as the differences between a Snorlax and a Scraggo, the disadvantage that normal types faced when they stood against a fighting type would be harder for them to overcome.

So, there was truth that the cheap type counter strategy existed because it worked very well to a degree, it was not without its issues and skilled trainers could overcome that.

The reason why this was stressing me out right now is that the professor had really drilled it into our heads that trainers who relied solely on type advantage simply couldn’t compete at higher levels.

And that was my goal, after all. Not to collect badges but to dominate at the highest levels. The badges were just a means to an end there, but one I wanted to do in a certain way.

Getting a fighting type because that would counter normal types would be cheap, but there was a line between not wanting to be cheap and also being stupid and refusing the realities that type advantages and disadvantages existed.

So I was doing my best to come to a decision today, since I needed to leave tomorrow morning at first light.

There was a wide variety of pokemon in the areas around, so I looked at what could be found in the forests in the north and west, the steppe in the east and the coast in the south. I even looked into the mountains and caves in the north, beyond the forests. And truth to be told, the mountain range between Carmini Town and the Battle Tower in the north were the most promising since they contained quite a few fighting and rock types. Squirtle had somewhat of an advantage there and while Eevee would have a harder time against both rock and fighting types, it would still be good training for her. There wouldn’t be any opportunities for Magikarp on the mountain itself though.

I was going to stick to the river to the east of Hop Hop Hop Town and follow it all the way through the forest and into the rougher terrain before the mountain started to cover quite the wide territory. Magikarp and Squritle could use the river to train, so they’d have something to do.

Time-wise, I would be cutting things close though. It would take me most of the week to get to the mountains and back. That is, if everything went well, which is by no means guaranteed. I honestly didn’t think I would get lost since following the river is very straightforward but anything can happen. I might have to change my path due to pokemon or something else. Or it could take me longer than expected to find a suitable pokemon once I arrived at the mountains. This wasn’t a time-frame I was comfortable with, but I would just have to make sure to succeed.

I let out a sigh, softly pressing my palms into my eyes and rubbing them. This was all very unfortunate. I didn’t like Frederik telling me I was too cautious but now it was gnawing at me. I never considered myself to be particularly timid or cautious. It’s true that I liked to plan things through, but right now, I didn’t feel that I was being cowardly. We were at the start of our journey, we only had so many tools at our disposal and only so many ways of using them against the enemies we fought. The way I was looking at things, we tried to do our best with our options at hand, doing things where I thought we had the highest odds for success.

But I guess that was timid in a way? Should I have tried riskier, lower chance of success attempts? Should Eevee have attacked more directly, taking a hit or two more in exchange for dealing more damage? Looking bad, maybe that would have allowed for her to win her fight, rather than ending in a draw, but my gut told me that it would have ended with our loss since Doduo just did more damage and Eevee was no tank.

Was I making excuses? Fact is, I did things in a way where I don’t really feel I should have done anything differently, but I also definitely lost. Squirtle was not able to do enough damage at the end and Lickitung healed himself with Rest. I guess that was my biggest fuck-up. I hadn’t taken Rest or any other healing moves into account.

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I pulled out my little notebook, leafed to my brainstorming page and wrote down Rest and a few bullet-points as to what had happened. The pokemon had healed fully but in return it had been unable to do anything for a bit. Right then and there, my tired Squirtle had been unable to take advantage of that, especially since Lickitung had been bigger and heavier than he was.

Could we have prevented Lickitung from using Rest? I couldn’t see how. I closed my eyes, thinking about that moment. Squirtle had been tired, he had taken a few hits but his speed had been increased, so maybe he could have taken advantage of that and blitzed Lickitung head-on? No, he would have just gotten hit by that freakish tongue. Squirtle had been lucky to not be paralyzed at that point so far, if that had happened we would have lost as well. And even if we had been lucky once more, Squirtle would not have been able to cross the distance faster on foot than Lickitung’s tongue, so just the physical damage of being hit in his head by the tongue might have knocked him out as well, or at least left him open for further hits.

No, I just don’t see how things could have gone differently, other than knocking Lickitung out before Frederick ordered for him to rest. Water Gun and Rapid Spin had not done enough damage. Maybe if we trained a bit more, either to increase their damage, or to hit our targets better. Water Pulse and Rain Dance would be the two new priority attacks, where either one could have changed the course of the battle. Water Pulse might have confused the enemy and it was strictly speaking a stronger, more powerful attack, so maybe added up damage would have knocked Lickitung out. Similarly, Rain Dance would have annoyed Lickitung and activated Rain Dish and healed Squirtle for a bit, keeping him in the battle for longer, especially seeing that his speed and defense would have been rather high at this point. Sure, he would still have been tired, and he wouldn’t have healed as much as Lickitung did with his Rest but Squirtle can move and fight as he pleases while Rest doesn’t allow for anything else.

So, was this the conclusion? I had challenged him too early? We should have trained a bit more, just have gotten stronger? That was…both good and bad? Good, in that that was something we can fix by just getting stronger but bad, that it kinda implied that there was no world where I could have won that fight outside of getting a lucky hit that knocked the enemy out way sooner.

I can’t say I was satisfied.

xxx

In the evening, after a quick dinner and a shower, I had gotten my team back. Luckily, we had a room to ourselves, and both Squirtle and Eevee were on my bed with me. Magikarp was in the pool downstairs, for obvious reasons.

Both of them were sadly slumped on the bed, making me feel even worse.

“So, that wasn’t ideal, and I’m sorry guys, I think we challenged him a bit too soon. Maybe a week or so more, a few more fights under our belts would have been enough to carry us to victory. Both of you did great, though. Eevee, you managed to get a draw against a pokemon with two heads, something we hadn’t practiced at all, and Squirtle, you had the bad luck to run against someone with such a strong healing ability and enough toughness to endure your attacks and we still had him on the ropes before he healed. It sucks that we lost, but the experience we gained there is valuable nonetheless.”

Squirtle let out a sad whine, rolling over on his back, while Eevee was grumbling.

“I’m not happy either,” I said, “It really sucks. We need to get better. I needed to give better orders, anticipate the Rest and try to put them down before they use it, and you guys need to have a bigger move pool and just stronger attacks. We all have things we need to work on.”

Eevee stood up and trotted over to me, sinking into my lap, allowing me to run my fingers through her soft fur. “We were too weak and that’s just all there is to it. We get better and we win. And we are going to get some new team members soon”

They perked up at that, looking at me with curious eyes, their sadness momentarily forgotten.

“I don’t know who yet, it does depend on luck. I am fine with any of the fighting types that are known to be in the area we are going to go. Machop, Mankey or Tyrogue, and all of their evolutions, of course. A fighting type in general would be a good fit for our training and team dynamics. The type advantage against normal types is neat as well, but the aim is to plan long-term and they usually have great potential. Rock types are welcome as well, so we’ll see. It really does depend on who we encounter and how well they fit in with us.”

After thinking about it for a bit, they nodded and Squirtle just plopped his head back onto the bed, with his eyes closed, while Eevee burrowed her head into my lap again.

It was not the most comfortable way to sleep for me, with me being stuck in a corner of the bed while my pokemon had seized all the good spots, but I can’t say I minded.

xxx

It wasn’t the worst night of sleep I had, and I can’t remember my dreams exactly, but it did feel like I had dreams of anxiety. An extra hot shower and a hearty breakfast had enabled me to feel awake enough to gather all my fed pokemon, with Eevee in particular placed in her basket, and finally leave Hop Hop Hop Town, and its stupid, stupid name behind, even if only for a few days for now.

The crystal clear river was close to my right, and when I occasionally glanced at it, I saw a few water pokemon here and there, grasping at the bugs buzzing around and I even passed two fishermen, trying their luck at this early hour.

Determined to make as good speed as possible, I pushed myself and my bike for a solid three hours before the burning in my legs became too much and had to take a break, and sit under a big tree, cooling down thanks to its shade. The breeze was very welcome as well, so for 10 minutes, I just closed my eyes and leaned my head against the trunk of the tree.

After we had all refreshed ourselves, it was time for some more training. It was honestly more of the same, since there was still a lot of room to improve. While Squirtle’s aim had been through, he could have put more force into his Water Gun, which is the key to turn his Water Gun into Water Pulse anyway. No matter what, Squirtle would benefit from practicing his ability to shoot water, as it was his core attack skill. So that is what he was going to do, to shoot his Water Gun for as long as he could, as strong as he could. We would go back to hitting moving targets once we returned to the city, but right now, we need to increase the raw power of his ranged move and his endurance.

Eevee on the other hand needed to unlock Swift as soon as she could. Lacking a ranged attack that could do damage was such a weak point to her right now, that we absolutely had to have that fixed before our next big battle.

I had of course done extensive research beforehand. I had downloaded videos of Eevee and a few eevoltions using Swift and generally speaking, most of them used their tail to launch the Swift attack, while some did use their mouths to do so.

While I do believe that the tail would come easier for Eevee, ideally I would prefer it if she could do it from both ends, as it were. It would be a great way to catch an enemy off guard, for them to expect the attack to come from the wind up of a jump and spin whereas she could just do so from a position where they cannot dodge.

Some might see that as superfluous as Swift was an attack that was rather known for its accuracy, but it wasn’t absolute and there was value in hitting an enemy that was unable to brace themselves as opposed to someone who had prepared themselves to do so beforehand.

As such, after having watched quite a few of those videos to see what it looked like exactly, Eevee first had to try and gather her energy into her tail and apparently shape it and then release it, or so it was described. That was of course very easily said by someone who didn’t actually have to do it, so after giving Eevee those pointers I had mostly left her alone outside of checking up on her periodically.

I was very proud of her though, that at the end of the two hour training session, that her tail had started to faintly glow when she concentrated.

Magikarp, on the other hand, had a lot of frustrations to work through. I could tell that the fact that she didn’t get to fight was angering her as she was swimming with great ferocity and leaping high out of the water, reaching four-five meters before landing back in the water. I honestly don’t know how much she got out of that, but at least it served to burn some of her frustration and energy.

I did feel bad for her, but even if I wanted to use her, right now, against Frederik I couldn’t. There was no water arena in his gym. A bigger gym might have the option to switch fields to give every challenger a fair shot, but not all did. Some refused despite having the means to do so.

But she would get her chance to shine.

xxx

It took me the rest of the day, with only a few short breaks in between, where I didn’t let out the others, to reach the foot of the mountains. I wasn’t insane enough to try and explore now, when I was half dead on my feet and when the sun was slowly but surely disappearing. I had just about enough energy to set up my tent, and make a rushed but still somewhat tasty curry. Waiting for the curry and the rice to cook had taken a bit longer than I had wanted, but just watching them simmer had been oddly relaxing.

I had even shared it a bit with my team, but they hadn’t quite enjoyed it as I did, probably because it was a bit too spicy for pokemon, although Magikarp seemed to have liked it even her grin was anything to go by.

It didn’t take too long for me to set up the repel and go to sleep afterward.

The next morning, after a light breakfast and packing up my impromptu camp, alongside whatever trash I had generated, we finally begun climbing the mountains. Thankfully we didn’t have to scale the mountain or anything and could just walk up quite a bit. I wasn’t really prepared for anything that dangerous, and we would only be exploring the places that could be reached with minimal climbing, ideally no climbing or wall scaling at all.

Both of my water pokemon were back in their respective pokeballs for this part, with only Eevee being out and ready for action. It just wouldn’t do to be ambushed or worse, to step on a pokemon like an idiot.

For two hours, we slowly but surely walked up the mountain, only taking one break to drink. It was beautiful, and not as quiet as one would have thought. There was the occasional rumbling of the mountain, when no doubt an Onix passed through, where we stopped and waited for it to stop. Eevee fought against a Machop and a Mankey, who were thankfully not very strong and Eevee was able to overcome them despite the type disadvantage by dancing around them while they were blinded by Sand Attack.

Incidentally, that was also the reason why I didn’t consider catching them. They didn’t really show much creativity or drive beyond what was typical, and neither one of them also showed any interest in joining.

We also saw a bunch of Geodudes led by one Graveller pass us by, but we didn’t fight them, as the Graveller gave us a small bow which we both returned.

It was considered a bit of a dick move to challenge pokemon who weren’t up for battle, not to mention that it was rather foolhardy to challenge a group. But sometimes, pokemon would be looking for a trainer, so a group would approach a trainer and make it clear that one or more of their numbers wanted to challenge the trainer to see if they were a good fit.

You could of course capture a pokemon that didn’t want to be captured and you could even get good results after a time, but that never really appealed to me, but I have no doubt that I would do that once or twice. It was said that that was the case with most dragon type pokemon, who were immensely proud and needed their respect to be won over the course of training them.

And I very much wanted a dragon type in my team. It’s why after all this, we would be heading straight to the Safari Zone.

Not much later, we unexpectedly met someone.

“Hello there, young’uns,” the corpulent man with his full, brown beard greeted us with a wide smile. He was sitting on a wide rock, with his large, green backpack resting next to him, tending to a small fire that was boiling a tin pot. On his belt were three pokeballs. “Can I interest you in the best cup of coffee in these mountain ranges?”

I laughed. “Thank you, sir. I can’t say no to that. It is chillier here than I expected.” I had even changed to long sleeves and trousers, just to not get sick.

“That it is and nothing warms you better than a good cup of joe!” he exclaimed.

“I’m Green and this is Eevee,” I introduced ourselves as I put down my backpack and sat down, Eevee immediately jumped on my lap and I welcomed her warmth.

“Well met, you two. I’m Barry, one of the three hikers overseeing these parts, making sure those who are brave enough to come up here can receive help and do not unduly disturb the pokemon living here.”

Ah, I had heard of them. It was mostly a volunteer position, but still well paid and supported, as it was a job that mostly drew people who were already doing just that.

“What brings you two up here?”

I grimaced, thinking about it. “I want to capture a pokemon or two, since I lost to Frederik.”

Barry nodded, realization dawning on his face. He pulled two cups from his backpack and poured delicious black coffee into them, handing me one of them. He even pulled out cream and sugar, of which I only took the former.

“Old man Frederik has been beating youngsters even during my grandfather’s time. Trashed me more times that I’d care to mention. He is a formidable foe, even if he is a bit stuck in the old ways. I assume he went for a three pokemon match?”

“He wanted to, but my third is Magikarp, so we did a two pokemon battle. We had a draw in the first and a loss in the second.” I took a small sip from the hot coffee and it was truly delicious.

“He is a bit of a relic,” Barry admitted. “But he is still a damn fine Gym Leader, even if he refused to retire for longer than he should have, and has kept Hop Hop Hop Town safe for decades, even if he kept butting heads with the town leadership about various things.” He paused, before his face twisted into a bit of a grimace. “He also clashed with the Pokemon League about a lot, and with the other Gym Leaders. It’s why no one was really surprised that the lieutenant had so much league support when he challenged him for the official Gym Leader title, even though Cerulean City would have been an easier battle due to the type advantage, and that was while the Waterflowers were both active leaders and had those monsters of a Gyrados and Dewgong.”

He let out a short laugh, shaking his head. “But I don’t want to bore you with old tales from my hometown. I gather you are looking for a fighting type?”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind one, but I’m really looking for a pokemon who would fit in with my team and who wants to get to the top.”

It did feel a bit childish to say it like that but I was surprised that I didn’t feel embarrassed saying that out loud to another human being.

“Oho, that’s ambitious, young Green.” He kept calling me young despite being in his late thirties at most, which wasn’t really that old.

“Well, these parts are home to quite a few pokemon, and I dare say you might find a few specimens that would match your ambition but whether you can convince or conquer them is of course up to you. I do have to say that there is a Tyranitar and her younglings that have been claiming territory in the northern parts who you are not allowed to approach or catch, even if one of the younglings has wandered away from their mother.”

That was unfortunate but Tyranitar required delicate handling, since you really didn’t want a furious Tyranitar mother on the warpath. Would I like Tyranitar on my team? Of course, but that was one of those pokemon where you had to either be lucky enough to be given an egg, or you had a very lucky encounter where you impressed the elder Tyranitars.

Or, you know, you were so strong that you didn’t mind upsetting a Tyranitar and defeating them but that was quite frowned upon since that could lead to disastrous consequences.

“We saw Geodudes, Machops and Mankeys. I’m sure I felt an Onix passing by an hour ago. I have read that there are a few Tyrogues and their evolutions here as well?”

He nodded, taking another sip, grasping the cup with both gloved hands, not minding the heat at all. “There are a few, and you can find them often squabbling with the other fighting types. They go in and out of the caves as well, which have Zubats and Golbats, but in some you can also find Wishmurs, Loudreds, Diglets and in the deeper parts, a few Lairons and their young. One cave system goes rather deep and has quite the Zubat population, so be careful there lest you be swarmed.” He then leaned forward, lowering his voice as an excited grin appeared on his face. “And most importantly, a trio of Riolu made their way here last weekend, and they have been challenging every resident pokemon that they could.”

My eyes widened and even Eevee must have felt my excitement as she perked up. “No way!” I said, louder than I wanted to.

He laughed, slamming his hand on his left knee. “Yes way! They like their training journeys and love to challenge other pokemon. As far as we can tell, they were doing rather well, although some of the more mature Gravellers weren’t amused, and I know for a fact that the surly Primeape leader gave them a good thrashing and threw them out of his cave. Twas only their pride that was injured though and they started training right away.”

Okay, that sounded way too perfect. “And where can I find them?” I asked him.

His smile got wider. “Ain’t gonna tell ya.”

Ah, darn, but I guess that was fair. They weren’t here to serve trainers but rather to keep both the pokemon and trainers safe and provide some light advice. Telling me that there were Riolu at all had been such a nice thing and the rest was up to me.

I laughed, “Can’t blame me for trying.”

“It was worth a shot,” he replied, “but let me give you two more pieces of advice. For one, do not get too focused on Riolu. There are a bunch of pokemon here that someone like you would do amazing things with, not to mention that you always have to keep your surroundings in mind. Some pokemon are a bit mischievous and it has happened more than once that a trainer who was chasing some pokemon or another has such a one track mind that they stepped on a Geodude and that never ends well.” He paused for a bit, waiting for my reaction and I understood. You couldn’t allow yourself to get too focused on one thing and ignore everything else, especially in a location like this. Even without pokemon, this was difficult terrain to navigate.

Satisfied, he continued. “The second is, I gave another lad the very same information just yesterday, and I will do so to the next person, and I know for a fact there is another young lady coming up who will arrive in an hour or two.”

That made me jump up so fast, that Eevee yelped as she leaped off my lap in a hurry. I looked at the still hot but no longer boiling hot coffee in my hand, and I downed the rest in a few heavy gulps, ignoring the hotness in my mouth and throat, settling into a much more pleasant warmth in my stomach.

“Thank you so much for everything, but I have to go now.”

Barry laughed.