Eager for a diversion, rather than having to endlessly mull over Bugsy's words, Ran opens Josie's messages, or, as he immediately finds out, singular unread message.

Josie: Hey, I'm still in town for the rest of the day and now that we've both had some time to cool off and you've also won your badge, I don't really want to leave it like that. Can we meet up?

Ran hesitates for a moment, not looking for yet another fight today. However, the implications of him 'also' winning his badge, are enough for his curiosity to win out. Mind made up, he sends her a message to let her know that he's currently headed to his room at the pokécenter, along with the room number. Only once he's sent it, does he remember that he's sharing the room in question with Spencer.

He's about to send a clarification to Josie, but then thinks better of it. He can always text her other directions if Spencer is still around, but otherwise there's no reason to let a perfectly good room, which has been paid for already, go to waste. Mind made up, he marches into the pokécenter, briefly detouring towards the reception to retrieve Golbat's pokéball before steeling his nerves for another possible run-in with his newfound rival.

Nothing comes of it, however, as he slides his keycard through the electronic lock only to freeze when he beholds the room's interior. At first sight, it's as if the place has had a hurricane come through it only to get ransacked in the aftermath.

All of Spencer's stuff is gone, with any of Ran's stuff that was mixed up with his or that might've been on Spencer's side of the room tossed haphazardly in the general direction of Ran's bed. Shocked at just how swiftly and seemingly violently Spencer operated, Ran takes a few minutes to make sure that nothing of his has been destroyed or taken in Spencer's apparent fury. Quietly cursing his former friend's name as he starts to restore order, Ran is at least comforted by the realization that nothing's been broken.

Before he can even get halfway through putting everything back in its correct place, Ran is startled by a familiar female voice, "Whoa, what happened here?"

"Hi Josie," Ran curtly greets the girl who's just appeared in the door opening, only briefly glancing her way before continuing to clean up, as he offers her an explanation, "Spencer and I broke up and he left a mess while collecting his stuff."

"Broke up? Like…" Josie asks, before trailing off uncertainly. When no further words are forthcoming, Ran glances curiously in her direction only to discover her making an awkward gesture with her two index fingers locking together.

It takes Ran a second to catch on to just what she means, but when she does, he blusters out an indignant reply, "What?! No! I'm not- Whatever. No, we split up as traveling companions! And as friends. Not… That."

Josie's response is limited, as she merely lets out a long: "Ohhh."

Unwilling to carry another conversation immediately, awkwardness very much lingering despite Josie's clear attempt to break the ice, Ran merely continues to clean for a minute, perfectly content to either let Josie wait silently or have her be the one to initiate a conversation. After a handful of seconds, when he hears her clear her throat, it's obvious which path she's chosen.

"So I kind of went off on you because you hit on a sore spot I wasn't even aware I had and that was out of line of me." Josie offers, pausing for a moment, likely to see if Ran is about to respond, before continuing as he merely continues to clean up, "Look, I like to dish it out and that's not something a lot of people can handle. You can and I like that about you. I guess I never realized that I'm a lot less cool about it when the shoe's on the other foot, so that's something for me to work on."

She rambles for a moment, before visibly stopping herself from turning her apology into self-justification. After a second's hesitation, she continues, "Look, I'm sorry for taking things too far, alright? Just because I've got my father to help me out, that doesn't mean I get to shoot on you for trying to make your own way. I shouldn't have judged your decisions, without ever having had to deal with anything similar. That was my bad."

Ran doesn't respond immediately, letting Josie simmer for a few more seconds as he finishes putting his room back to rights and turns her words over in his head. She sounds heartfelt at least.

Finally, he turns to look Josie in the eye, the girl lingering awkwardly in the doorway.

"Feel free to sit," Ran offers first, his own voice conciliatory, finally fully breaking the awkward air hanging between both young trainers, "And close the door behind you."

Already, without even having said anything meaningful, the change in Josie's demeanor is apparent, as her previously withdrawn stance reverts to her usual upbeat behavior. The door is lazily thrown shut behind her as she bounces enthusiastically onto Spencer's former bed, bouncing up and down a few times before settling down properly to meet Ran's gaze with her own once more.

"I'm sorry about the dig about your motivations for coming to Johto," Ran finally offers in turn, "and for going after your father like that. I was upset, so I lashed out trying to upset you as well."

"Fair enough," Josie accepts easily, seemingly accepting Ran's apology at face value, "I guess dad's attitude is a bigger sore spot than I'd even realized. You couldn't have known."

Ran nods in agreement, immediately confirming as much, "I didn't, it was a shot in the dark."

"Yeah I figured," Josie sighs lazily, lounging fully onto the bed at this point, seemingly intent to relax right then and there, "So why'd you and the mighty midget call it quits?"

Despite her seeming bravado, Ran notices the way Josie's shoulders tense minutely as she glances in his direction, likely checking to see whether he'll take offense or whether they're truly back at a point where she can make her jabs without having to watch her every word. Honestly unbothered, particularly as the dig was aimed more at Spencer, whom he's less than fond of at the moment, Ran merely shrugs, but rather than offer an explanation just yet, there's still one thing Josie hasn't apologized for.

"You're not going to apologize for calling us the B-circuit?" He asks, remaining calm for the moment, in the spirit of the proper clearing of the air they're engaged in.

Josie shrugs half-heartedly, seemingly having hoped they'd be able to move right past that point, "I didn't mean to insult you. Maybe I could have used different words but, ultimately, between the two, the Kanto circuit is harder."

Ran feels his hackles rise instinctively, but rather than take full offense immediately, with how apologetic she's otherwise been, he manages to remain calm. Instead, he merely asks the obvious question, "How do you figure? Is it just because that's what your dad said, or do you have a reason?"

"Aside from the many Silver Conference 'finalists' who don't even make it past the first round or two of the Indigo League Conference?" Josie asks in clear rhetorical fashion, continuing after just a moment's pause, "It's simple numbers. We have the same number of badges and the same number of Conferences with a single winner at the end of the year. Only Kanto has a lot more trainers, so we've got a lot more competition, so the bar is higher."

Ran waves her off, finding neither of her arguments particularly compelling, but also deciding that it's not something he's likely to convince Josie of any time soon. Especially if that's the way she's been taught to see it by her own father. Rather, he decides to put the matter to rest for now.

"I disagree, but as long as you watch your words and don't go around calling us a 'B-circuit', we can leave it at that." He offers, drawing an enthusiastic nod from Josie, whose good cheer returns in rapid fashion.

"Deal! Now, you fell out with the mighty midget, what happened?" She asks eagerly, bouncing up and down on the mattress in clear anticipation, only a bowl of popcorn missing to truly complete the picture.

Figuring that he might as well offer a brief explanation, Ran draws a weary breath. Josie visibly perks up in response, clearly happy to be getting some details.

"We were having lunch to celebrate getting our badges. I wanted to figure out what's been up with his moods, but ended up finding out that he didn't see me as an equal and that he wanted to influence how I'd build my team for his own benefit." He summarizes succinctly, unable to muster his earlier anger again, the words instead coming out neutrally, as if detached from their emotional baggage.

Josie seems just the slightest bit disappointed by just how brief he summarizes everything, but she still winces in sympathy, "Yikes. Good riddance, I guess. What're the odds either of us ends up running into him again any time soon?"

"Slim to none," Ran assures her confidently, "Unless you're feeling particularly suicidal, at least. He's heading into the Dark Caves by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Under the circumstances, he honestly might already be in there."

"You're joking!" Josie cries in blatant disbelief, "I'm not even from Johto and I know the League has a six badge advisory limit on that route!"

Ran merely offers a 'what-can-you-do'-shrug of his own, unwilling to spend any more time or energy on the topic of Spencer's foolish route of choice, "I'm aware."

"Dude must have brass ones. Damn." Josie lets out a low admiring whistle, clearly impressed by Spencer's daring. Before Ran can really get annoyed with her however, she speaks up once more.

"I mean it's still obviously an idiotic decision, but hey, props for trying." She settles on, before changing the conversation to an only slightly more pleasant topic, "So what about you? With your whole thing with Azalea, I guess you're headed for Route 36, so Ecruteak or Goldenrod next, right?"

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"I was planning to go to Ecruteak next, yes," Ran admits hesitantly, unsure for a moment whether to share his newfound dilemma with Josie, before deciding that a second opinion can't really hurt and sharing his newly-received conundrum, "But both Falkner and Bugsy reached out to me today to pressure me into returning to Azalea Town for my second badge after all."

Josie freezes for a moment, before bouncing upright from her prone position to sit on the side of the bed opposite Ran's. Even as she responds, she starts to vigorously dig through her backpack, which she'd lazily discarded next to the bed in her earlier leap atop it.

"This I have to hear, hang on I'm sure I have something to snack on somewhere in here now if only I could- Aha! Found it!" She cries out fiercely, triumphantly lifting a badly crumpled, half-eaten bag of spicy chips above her head.

Next, she taps two of the pokéballs at her side, Soot the Houndour and Chief the Growlithe materializing on either side of her and eagerly lying down on the bed on either side of their sitting trainer, bracketing her sides between their warm bodies. Finally, she looks at Ran enthusiastically, not even needing to verbalize anything to make it very clear that she wants to hear more.

With a weary sigh, Ran first explains the general thrust of the cultural value placed on winning one's hometown badge, before catching Josie up on his brief conversation with Falkner and the messages he's received from Bugsy. Throughout it all, Josie steadily works her way through her bag of chips, offering just a few to the fire-types on either side of her, before stopping once Soot is the first one to let a puff of fire escape out of his eagerly chewing maw after his third bite. Finally, as Ran finishes his tale just as she shakes the last few crumbs out of the bottom of the bag, she looks at him taxingly.

"So, do you want my honest opinion or do you want to tell me how you feel about it yourself first?" She asks after a few moments, getting straight to the point in her usual manner. Under the circumstances, Ran finds he can appreciate it a lot more than when he'd only just met her.

"I doubt whether you'd change your honest opinion even if I told you what I'm thinking," Ran replies, drawing a guilty chuckle from Josie as he does so, "But I'll still take the honest opinion straight away, there's no point in beating around the bush."

"Solid," Josie agrees eagerly, "You should just bite the bullet and go back to Azalea right away. I get that it's a whole thing for you, but like I mentioned before when we, uh, had our little moment outside of Falkner's Gym, you're not going to be on Bugsy's level any time soon. Just get it out of the way now and you'll be able to go back to your original plan, the one you spent, what was it again, two years working on?"

Ran can only offer a confirming nod when Josie looks at him questioningly when she mentions the amount of time he'd spent meticulously planning out his journey, which is enough for her to keep right on going, as she rambles right on, "Then there's the hometown thing, which I guess I kind of get, even if it isn't really a thing in Kanto. Plus, being a rookie is pretty damn hard as is, you really want to try it when the Gym Leaders might actively try to hold you back? Again, I'd respect your guts, but I'd also have to reevaluate my estimation of your intelligence."

He offers a grumpy glare at the, to his mind, unnecessary comment, but Josie is clearly on a roll as she just keeps going, "Plus, there's two solid pros to going to Azalea that you didn't have before."

"Two?" Ran asks curiously, knowing full well that he's being baited but still curious just where Josie's going with this.

"Obviously there's the additional reward from Bugsy, which might be big," Josie mentions first, feigning dismissiveness before growing more energetic as she continues, "But the big thing is the company of course! If you go to Azalea Town, the two of us can travel together for a while!"

"Oh, right." Ran deadpans, doing his best to keep his voice level and his expression neutral, more focused on winding up Josie than actually considering her proposal for the moment. As he does so, the proper realization that Josie had already acquired the Zephyr Badge when she came to watch his own match, finally settles in properly.

He doesn't let that particular revelation affect his poker face however. Which is well worth it, as his lack of enthusiasm leaves Josie gaping like a fish for a few beautiful seconds, before she flushes in embarrassment when Ran finally lets out an amused snort.

"Fuck you dude, that wasn't funny." She complains half-heartedly, even as Ran laughs softly, his brief moment of mirth soon petering out as he considers her offer properly.

Traveling to Azalea Town with Josie would handily solve his worries about having to travel on his own at this early stage in his journey, which is a not insignificant argument in favor of an early return to his hometown. Her other points are also valid, yet he can't just let Bugsy win like this. The way Josie listed the arguments, the choice is obvious, but not every argument carries the same amount of weight and it's ultimately still Ran's decision.

Realizing that he won't come to a decision right then and there, Ran finally offers a proper answer, "Let me think on it for a while. I'll text you once I've made up my mind, alright?"

Recognizing the implicit goodbye in Ran's words, Josie gets up from the second bed, dusting herself off for a moment before starting to move towards the door, her two playful fire-types trailing behind her.

"Sure thing," She accepts warmly, granting him a pretty smile before offering a gentle warning, "Just keep in mind, I'm setting out tomorrow morning, if I haven't heard from you by then, Ginger and I are riding out of here. At that point, I doubt you'd catch up to us even if you wanted to."

"Fair enough." Ran replies, mimicking Josie's words from earlier in the afternoon, which draws an actual giggle from the usually 'cool' girl.

Offering a final goodbye, Josie leaves the room with a brief wave, being kind enough to close the door behind her once the pair of Chief and Soot has darted past her legs and out into the hallway. Finally alone and with no roommate to take up half the available space, Ran finally lets out his team into the small pokécenter room.

Golbat proudly cries out as he flaps up to the lighting fixture, more than happy to use it to hang upside down from the roof. With his newly enlarged form, Ran anxiously watches the ceiling for a moment to make sure it can take the weight, only to sag in relief when it shows no signs of damage or impending collapse.

Spinarak for her part skitters around the room in a hurry once she realizes that Ran is on his bed, likely assuming that Ran is going to sleep for the day. Distracted as he initially is by Golbat, by the time Ran realizes what she's doing, she's already started making herself a small nest between the legs of Ran's nightstand.

As for Ekans, Ran's starter has a brief exchange with Golbat, whose pride at his evolution is obvious, before curling up on top of Ran's legs, clearly eager to leech off of his trainer's body heat. He makes sure to lie down with his head turned right towards Ran, the poison-type's yellow eyes fixating on his own light brown pair.

Once all three of his pokémon are comfortable, Ran speaks up softly, one hand stretched out past his mattress and trailing towards the ground, allowing Spinarak to seek out some light head pats, whilst his other hand reaches out to scratch at the itchy scales on the underside of Ekans' head. As two of his three team members let out sounds of blatant delight, Ran briefly meets Golbat's gaze, which will take some getting used to. Figuring that he might as well get started on teaching the recently-evolved pokémon a general understanding of body language, Ran smiles proudly at Golbat who, after a few moments of hesitation, proudly shows off his own fangs in turn.

The result is less than friendly-looking, but Ran can tell that the gesture is well-intentioned, which is all he really cares about.

"Okay, time to catch you guys up, because I could use your help," Ran declares warmly, pride suffusing his voice as he looks at his team and his first evolved team member in particular, "First of all, Zubat evolved into Golbat today! Congrats again, Golbat."

Spinarak and Ekans let out congratulatory sounds of their own, which Golbat half-heartedly accepts with a brief jerking move of his wings.

"He did so towards the end of our Gym battle with Falkner, before winning us the badge! So we've done what we came to Violet City for," Ran starts to say, intending to move the conversation to his current conundrum, before thinking better of it as his gaze falls on Ekans, as Spinarak was aware well in advance that she wouldn't feature against Falkner, "Ekans, sorry you didn't get to contribute, Golbat did even better than I expected."

His starter doesn't audibly respond, merely offering a slow, unbothered blink, clearly communicating his acceptance. Relieved, Ran focuses once more on what comes next.

"As you may have noticed, Spencer's stuff isn't here anymore. We won't be traveling together any longer. I found out some stuff, he said some insulting stuff about some of you guys and overall he ended up being more of a dick than I ever realized." Ran speaks, to little fanfare, as his team members easily accept the news, seemingly entirely unbothered.

The only real reaction he gets is a small comforting headbut from Spinarak, head carefully angled to ensure her small horn doesn't pierce his skin. Hesitating for a moment to see if that's really all the reaction he's going to get, Ran finally continues.

"I was planning to take us to Route 36 next, heading towards Ecruteak City, but some other stuff happened today, which kind of has me rethinking things." He brings up hesitantly, drawing significantly more interest from his pokémon than his earlier statement on Spencer's absence.

Following a deep sigh, he once more explains both Falkner's words and Bugsy's messages, before finally bringing up Josie's added offer to travel together. By the time he finishes his summary, Ekans is looking at him as if he's an idiot.

Now having been forced to list out all of the reasons why travel to Azalea is back on the table out loud, plus having to accept that it, rationally, makes a lot more sense than sticking to his intended journey to Ecruteak, Ran meets his starter's annoyed stare mulishly. Ekans isn't impressed however, more than happy to enter into a staring contest with his trainer.

Ran lasts a few minutes, but ultimately, there's no competing with Ekans in a staredown. Forced to blink and break the connection between their locked gazes, he stubbornly looks away. A soft, insistent hiss from Ekans is the final drop however, as he is forced to accept what all the signs are pointing at.

"Fine, we'll go back to Azalea for our second badge." He mutters reluctantly, shifting uncomfortably on his bed as he forces out the words that go against his every instinct. Returning to Bugsy with his tail tucked between his legs hurts, probably more than is healthy, but if even his own starter thinks he's just being stubborn for the sake of it, there's really no option other than conceding defeat.

Slowly, every movement performed with ill-hidden reluctance, he grabs his pokégear to send the only recently departed Josie a brief message, confirming that he'll be in the pokécenter's foyer at eight the next morning. It's not traveling with Josie that he has a problem with, confirmed further by his brief smile when he receives a cheerful confirmation text, rather it's the general idea that he's acting according to Bugsy's will.

It rankles, but Ekans, by this point well-attuned to his moods, slides off the bed and starts insistently circling near the door, clearly intent on getting his trainer moving and out of his funk. The prospect of training is one Ran can never resist, which is why, after recalling his pokémon for the moment, he soon finds himself wandering out in Sprout Tower's general direction. Most of Violet City is too busy to train with any privacy, not to mention the risk of collateral damage, but by wandering along the lake's edge that surrounds the tower for a while, they soon reach a suitable area that offers some privacy.

With water on one side and trees on the other, Ran fishes a few small flags out of his bag, hurriedly pacing out a minor race course before releasing his team once more.

"Alright guys, the plan for today. Ekans and Golbat warm up together. Ekans, use Poison Sting to try and tag Golbat, who'll practice evasive flying. After a few laps, switch roles, using Air Cutter instead. Remember to keep things low powered. A bit of a stinger for messing up is fine, actually hurting each other and slowing down our growth isn't, right?" Ran starts, focusing on his two largest pokémon first. Getting affirmative sounds from both, he waves them off with a final word of encouragement and the mention that he'll join them to work on other stuff later, before he turns his attention fully to Spinarak.

"It's a fair way into the afternoon and those trees are giving us a lot of natural shadows to work with, which'll only get longer, so the two of us are going to continue working on Shadow Sneak, alright girl?" He asks with an encouraging smile. Spinarak enthusiastically dashes ahead of him towards the treeline whilst chittering excitedly, leaving Ran to jog after her with a pleased grin of his own. Soon enough, his mind is entirely on training, the remainder of the day passing easily and pleasantly enough.