Journeying through Union Cave the second time proves a very different experience to Ran's first jaunt through the most well-patrolled cave structure in Johto. The difference a few weeks makes is very apparent, as the native pokémon are far more active and belligerent, stirred up by the large increase in foot traffic compared to most of the year. The many rock-, ground- and water-types that inhabit Union Cave pose significant challenges to both Ran and Josie's teams from a matchup perspective, but the hard work of Johto's rangers, intensified even more during this time of year, proves effective.
Though they still encounter plenty of weaker pokémon who offer said bad matchups, with the true threats driven away from the main areas by the rangers, the six trainer-owned pokémon they can rotate between see off any remaining challengers without too much effort. Against particularly tough Rock-types it does sometimes fall to Golbat to intervene, if whichever unevolved pokémon that's currently in the lead has too hard a time actually inflicting meaningful damage, but in general every one of their pokémon has at least one attack that's normally effective to rely on. At night, they camp out in small caverns or tunnels that end in dead ends, liberal doses of Potions getting their teams back into fighting shape for the next day's travel.
During their excursion they encounter a fair few other trainers traveling in both directions, though Ran and Josie mutually decide to avoid any challenges, as neither is willing to risk one of their pokémon in the middle of a multiple day long cave crawl. They still get involved in one trainer battle in a different way however, as Ran ends up functioning as an impromptu referee early in the evening of their fourth day, shortly before they're about to set up camp.
When they first come upon the scene, it's to find a hiker in his early forties vigorously berating a twelve or thirteen year old boy. The hiker has the usual full mountain beard and thick build, looming over the sheepish kid, whose black hat hair sticks up awkwardly as he nervously fiddles with the black-and-yellow cap in his hands. The hiker is gesturing agitatedly, the head of the pickaxe in his right hand coming within inches of the apologetic boy's face.
As Ran and Josie approach, the small cave lake behind the arguing trainers coming into view, the ongoing ranting of the hiker becomes audible.
"-ing to be consequences for this! Machop will be paralyzed for days! You absolute amateur! What kind of idiot are you?"
The boy winces apologetically, clearly feeling bad about whatever just transpired, "I just wanted to let Chinchou enjoy the water for as long as possible, sir, I really didn't mean anything by it. I was only gone for five min-"
"Don't try to justify your actions!" The hiker shouts angrily, "My Machop is going to be useless until I can get him back to the Pokécenter! No, there's no justifying this, only a lesson to be taught! How many pokémon do you have, boy? Any badges?"
"I- uh, that is-" The boy starts and falters a few times, the hiker growing increasingly red faced as the target of his ire does his best to gather his courage, "I've got three pokémon and 1 badge, sir. I'm really very sorry. I'm out of Paralyze Heal myself but I'd be happy t-"
"I challenge you to a one-on-one!" The Hiker interrupts angrily, "You took one of mine out of the running for days, I'll show you what that feels like. Name your terms, or else!"
"B-but I didn't-" The boy starts to defend himself, only to visibly stop himself from continuing as the Hiker puffs himself up, clearly preparing to unleash another angry diatribe, "A-alright I accept, one-on-one, for the one-badge minimum."
"Fine." The hiker snarls, before looking around for a moment, his eyes catching on Ran and Josie, who are still slowly walking closer, "You there! If one of you would be kind enough to referee for a few minutes? The boy's an idiot, I don't expect him to be able to follow basic rules without a referee to remind him of them!"
Glancing between both parties for a moment, Ran steps forward reluctantly, not wanting to leave the boy to his fate without being able to step in just in case the hiker doesn't calm down eventually, "Sure, I'll do it. One-on-one, until either pokémon faints?"
The hiker nods in satisfaction, angrily pacing away to create enough distance for a pokémon battle. The younger trainer seems far less happy, but after a moment's hesitation he puts his cap on backwards and sighs reluctantly, before also taking a few steps back to create enough of a makeshift arena for their fight.
When Ran calls for both trainers to send out their pokémon, the Hiker opts for a Graveler, but where Ran was expecting a Chinchou on the other side of the field, an Eevee appears. The Hiker is visibly surprised as well, clearly having expected the uphill battle of facing a water-type with his rock- and ground-type. The other trainer's reluctance to send out his Chinchou isn't enough to deter the Hiker however, as he immediately orders a Rollout.
What follows is an enervating game of tag, as Eevee switches constantly between using Baby-Doll Eyes to weaken the incoming attack and Quick Attack to slip out of the way. It works at first, but as Graveler builds more and more speed, the misses become closer and closer, Eevee's tail getting clipped as it dodges a fourth consecutive time. Graveler's turnaround is worryingly fast, needing less than a second to redirect right at the clearly tiring Eevee.
Eevee's trainer intervenes however, ordering a Mud-Slap followed by a dodge to the left. The attack connects, Eevee's paw swiping across the ground and turning tamped down dirt into a spray of mud through the incomprehensible ways of ground-type-energy. Graveler isn't slowed down, but it does cry out in annoyance, blindly adjusting its roll to the left to hit the dodging Eevee. Only the evolution pokémon doesn't dodge left, merely feinting in that direction before diving right instead.
It still isn't enough to escape entirely, its hindquarters hit with a meaty thwack as its dive turns into a spinning fall, but its pained cry is brief and followed by huffing pants, a clear sign of its continued consciousness. Graveler for its part finally slows down, Rollout coming to an end as it cumbersomely turns around to glare in Eevee's direction, muddy splotches around its eyes a clear sign of its impaired vision.
After a momentary stand-off, the Hiker orders Rock Throw, his opponent countering with Swift. Within moments, Graveler is getting peppered incessantly by the glowing stars formed by Swift, whilst Eevee is once more frantically darting about the field as Graveler doesn't even attempt a direct hit, instead opting for a mortar-like approach, forming large rocks within moments before lobbing them up into the air and in Eevee's general direction. With Graveler's vision impaired, it's an inspired way to wear the little normal-type down, as every burst of Quick Attack drains its stamina further.
Graveler for its part seems quite unbothered by the continued barrage of Swift it has to tolerate, type-resistance and defensive nature combining to make every hit taken little more than a pesky irritant. Still, over time, Graveler has to be taking damage, if Eevee can keep up its exhausting approach to the battle for long enough.
Unfortunately for both it and its trainer, it can't. It happens when it tries yet another Quick Attack, only to stumble forwards rather than blurring away. It manages to let out a frightened and exhausted cry, the thrown rock it was running away from landing perilously close to it. Eevee isn't hit directly, but its pained cry is enough for Graveler to change its approach. The next rock isn't lobbed, like all of its predecessors, but is thrown with speed on a straight line.
The desperate order for Eevee to dodge comes too late, as a rock almost as large as the small pokémon slams into its body, throwing Eevee off its feet in a cloud of dust. Ran raises his hand to ward off a continued attack from Graveler, but it's unnecessary, as the Hiker orders his pokémon to hold its next already formed projectile in place for now.
When the dust clears, Graveler drops its rock entirely, as Eevee lies unconscious in a small divot on the cave floor. The hiker huffs in satisfaction, recalling his Graveler before striding towards his opponents. Eevee's trainer has rushed onto the field in the meantime, following a worried shout of his pokémon's name. He's carefully looking the unconscious normal-type over even as the Hiker looms over him.
Looking up after a few more moments of worried inspection before recalling his pokémon, the boy gets up and faces his adversary with an angry, watery glare, earlier apologetic behavior long forgotten. Mulishly, he digs out the owed sum, which the Hiker accepts with a stern glare of his own.
"Next time, keep an eye on your pokémon." The Hiker warns firmly, shooting a brief look towards Ran and Josie, as if considering whether to speak to them, before turning on his heel and striding off, soon disappearing into one of the other tunnels leading out of the cavern.
"You alright, kid?" Josie asks gently, stepping up past Ran, who was more than willing to simply leave as well now that the risk of trainer-on-trainer violence has passed. Josie's expression makes it clear that he's not getting that option however, at which point he accepts that he might as well partake in the conversation as well.
"Oh yeah we're fine." The boy waves her off, casting a final look at the tunnel the Hiker disappeared into, before he once more grabs his Eevee's pokéball and brings it out again.
To Ran's surprise, Eevee reappears with a plaintive cry, the normal-type clearly a bit battered, but nowhere near its previous state of exhausted unconsciousness. The boy kneels down and starts treating the ruffled normal-type with a Potion and a comb, before seemingly realizing that Josie and Ran are both looking at the unfolding scene in surprise.
"Oh right, uh, please don't snitch?" He asks hopefully, awkwardly grinning at them as he pampers his Eevee, which clearly could've kept fighting.
"Sure thing," Josie accepts immediately, "Though why'd you have your Eevee take a dive?"
"He seemed very angry," The boy shrugs innocently, seemingly thinking nothing of his loss, "And he probably had a point. Chinchou's pretty skittish. I figured she'd be fine for a few minutes, but I shouldn't have left her without supervision. I tried to explain, but he wasn't willing to listen and I figured beating his Graveler would only have made him worse, so we put on a show and then Eevee played dead once she got a good chance to."
Ran considers the boy's reasoning, seeing the merit in it even if the thought of deliberately taking a loss, even at the smallest possible wager, stings. Josie however is clearly less-than-impressed, seeming to take offense at the mere thought of giving less than your best in a battle.
"That's crap! You should've kicked his ass! Accidents happen! You're what, twelve? That guy was in his forties, screw him for acting all superior like that!" Josie rants angrily, Ran watching in mild amusement as the boy visibly leans back from the impassioned blonde in front of him.
"I'm thirteen." The kid objects impotently, focusing on that particular detail rather than on the actual message Josie is trying to impart.
"Fine, thirteen, whatever." Josie snaps back, waving her hand dismissively, clearly having forgotten just how much it would probably bug her if someone were to underestimate her own age.
Rather than letting the little show continue however, Ran finally intervenes, "I'm Ran, this is Josie, we're on our first circuit. I assume you are as well, with you having one badge?"
"Yeah!" The boy immediately perks up, bright green eyes shifting to Ran as his entire expression clears up in moments, "I'm Grady! Grady Kendrick, Goldenrod City Gym sponsored trainer, at your service."
Ran raises a curious eyebrow at the clearly rehearsed introduction, Grady shuffling his feet awkwardly with a sheepish grin as he elaborates, "Ah, sorry about that. Whitney really drilled all of us on that. She insists we 'make a proper first impression' because we represent her. It's why she keeps all of her sponsored trainers in Goldenrod for a year, before allowing us to try for the Conference. Though I guess I kind of bungled it with that hiker just now."
"Ohhhh," Josie lets out, Grady's explanation clearly an eye-opener for her as she reasons out loud, "That's why you're a rookie at thirteen."
"Yep," Grady agrees with a broad grin, "I've had Eevee for just over a year, Bob, that's my Voltorb, for almost as long, though he was a gift from my uncle, and Chinchou for just under three months. It's why I'm pretty sure Eevee could've taken that Graveler, if we really needed to. We've worked hard with the other sponsored trainers and some of Whitney's staff for a pretty long time!"
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The repeated mentions of multiple sponsored trainers finally get Ran curious enough to inquire further, as he speaks up, "How many sponsored trainers does Goldenrod's Gym have, anyways? You're making it sound like there's a lot?"
"Oh there are!" Grady asserts proudly, "We're the biggest city in Johto after all! Whitney sponsors five trainers every year, for at least a two-year period. Then she usually retains one or two per batch for long-term sponsorships, though at that point anybody she doesn't give a new offer to is usually making plenty of money to not really need the support anymore anyways!"
"Five?" Josie repeats in genuine surprise, "That's on par with Kanto's biggest Gyms!"
Grady merely nods proudly once more, "It is!"
Though still curious and more than happy to continue the conversation, a pang of hunger reminds Ran of the hour, which is why rather than continuing the interesting line of conversation, he diverts to a different topic for a moment.
"We should set up camp and get some dinner, but if you're interested Grady, we'd be happy to have you camp out with us for the night. We could exchange stories, maybe trade some tips?" He offers, glancing towards Josie as he does so to check for any objections.
"Yeah," She agrees easily, "You're welcome to join us."
Grady agrees enthusiastically, soon unveiling a practical small pop-up tent, which, unlike Josie's, is set up in a minute. Soon enough, everyone's pokémon are set up with bowls of food, the sheer number of pokémon enough to deter any curious wild critters from coming closer, as the trainers gather around Ran's small portable stove. Pooling some food together, they're all salivating at the smell of a filling stew as Ran prepares a shared dinner.
As they wait, Josie finally picks the conversation up again, "So Grady, you're one of five trainers who only just set out from Goldenrod, then?"
"Yep!" Grady agrees enthusiastically, "Whitney's rule says we have to spend one year learning at and working for the Gym before setting out, starting from the moment we got our starter. So we got to set out the day the new sponsored trainers started!"
"That's honestly a pretty good idea," Josie admits, "Sponsored trainers are obviously a lot more talented at training than average twelve-year-olds, but there's more to a journey than just being good with pokémon after all."
"Right! That's what Whitney says as well!" Grady agrees enthusiastically, "We didn't just train either, we had some classes on stuff like picking out a campsite and managing your money responsibly and things like that."
Ran nods agreeably, before voicing a question of his own, "Can I ask why you're traveling on your own, if the five of you set out at the same time?"
Grady is suddenly very interested in a perceived stain on the broad horizontal stripe of yellow running across his black shirt at chest height, one hand coming up to scratch at it as he does his best not to look directly at Ran or Josie as he answers.
"Ehh, well, Selene and Eva are best friends and Donnie and Grace are like, into each other, you know. I knew Eva wanted to start out by going to Cianwood because she has an aunt there and Donnie thinks Falkner's super cool so those two'd probably go to Violet together. I didn't really have a preference so I just thought I'd wait for one of them to invite me along and then… you know… they didn't… So I decided to go to Azalea on my own." Grady explains uneasily, his seeming status as the odd man out amongst the Goldenrod clique clearly a sore spot.
Ran nods, satisfied with the answer as it neatly explains everything, only to be surprised at the glare he receives from Josie. Silently gesturing at her to indicate his lack of understanding, he watches in confusion as she quietly sighs before turning to address Grady once more.
"So what happened in Azalea Town then? How'd you do at the Gym?" She asks kindly, successfully jarring Grady out of his contemplative mood.
"Oh, it was great!" Grady immediately replies, before regaling them with an exhaustive blow-by-blow retelling of his battle with Bugsy, ending with his team standing victorious and Grady claiming his first badge. By the time the story ends, they've long since finished dinner and Ran has grown anxious to get some training in before bed, his pokémon likewise clearly itching to get started as they've crept increasingly closer in a clear attempt at provoking their trainer into action.
With Ekans' head in his lap, Spinarak hanging off his back and Golbat hanging upside down on the cave's roof almost directly above him, Ran can't help but ask one more question before giving in to his team's unspoken wishes.
"If you spent a year training with Whitney, why didn't you challenge her for your first badge? Hell, after a year together, surely she saw enough to just give it to you?"
"Oh, right, you're not from Goldenrod," Grady hums thoughtfully, "Yeah no I know it's a thing for most of Johto to get your first badge in your hometown, but Whitney won't even let any of her sponsored trainers challenge her without at least two badges under their belts. She wants a proper idea of our progress partway through the circuit. Or that's what she says whenever anyone asks, anyways."
"I like her," Josie declares imperiously, drawing a startled laugh from Ran and a disbelieving look from Grady, "She seems sensible."
As an outraged Grady starts to badger Josie about Whitney and how it's even possible for her not to have loved Goldenrod's Gym leader before today, Ran stands up and pads away from camp softly. His team is due for a few hours worth of training before bed and if the other two want to waste more time talking or arguing, then that just means that he's the first who gets to pick out a spot to train in.
Josie's outraged squawk ten minutes later when she finally realizes Ran's long since left to start training is music to his ears.
Eventually, a few hours later, they all return to camp for the night, with Josie and Grady retiring to their respective tents and Ran once more out in the open. Though as the others recall most of their teams, with Josie only using Growlithe as a space heater for the night and Grady only having room for Eevee in his little tent, Ran doesn't mind his less-than-luxurious sleeping situation, as his own team settles around him.
Golbat once more flaps up to the cave roof, though he takes care to settle a bit further away to sleep as is his habit. He soon finds a crevice to hook onto and within no time at all, he's comfortably hanging upside down once more, keeping a careful watch over the camp.
Spinarak looks at her trainer pleadingly until Ran unzips his sleeping bag at the bottom, allowing the bug-type to crawl into the bottom part of his large sleeping bag and make herself a little nest, knowing that she can clean her own webs up in the morning in a matter of seconds. It's a preference of hers that took some getting used to, the first time Ran ended up brushing against her webs in the middle of his sleep not a memory he recalls with any fondness, but he's long used to it by now.
Finally, Ekans coils up around his pillow, slow, sibilant breaths providing just the right white noise for Ran to drift off to sleep within minutes of laying down. He still doesn't beat his starter to sleep however, as the last thing he notices before falling asleep himself, is the subtle change in Ekans' breathing, deepening just so to indicate that his starter has already nodded off for the evening.
The night passes undisturbed, the next morning livened up by saying their goodbyes to Grady, whom they exchange contact information with, before they continue their trek through Union Cave. Grady for his part moves on towards Violet City, though his stated goal of returning to Goldenrod for his third badge leaves the option of running into him again firmly on the table.
The remaining day-and-a-half spent in Union Cave are completely uneventful, though once they exit it and once more walk under an open sky, Ran can at least liven up the day's remaining walk to Azalea Town with stories of the past few years, having wandered these roads plenty during his many apricorn-gathering forays for Kurt. They're hardly the most eventful tales, but they fill the time well enough and sway Josie into telling a few stories of her own pre-CGC-years, back on her father's ranch.
With the sun slowly dipping behind Ilex Forest in the distance, they eventually wander into Azalea Town. As they do so, Ran pauses, hesitating on his exact destination now that they've made it to town. Josie carries on past him for a few steps, before realizing her companion's stopped walking. Turning around, she looks at him curiously, "What's up? Pokécenter's this way, isn't it?"
"It is," Ran agrees, moving to lead the way to the building with the distinctive red roof, "We should go there first, get everyone checked in and checked out."
"Obviously," Josie rolls her eyes, "So why are you being weird?"
Ran hesitates, but finally speaks up, "I'm back a lot earlier than expected, is all. I've been keeping dad updated on my journey of course, but I haven't exactly mentioned that I'd be heading back this way. As far as he knows, I'm somewhere on the road to Ecruteak."
Josie mulls his words over for a few seconds, remaining quiet as Ran leads her to the center of Azalea Town. With Azalea Town nowhere near the scale of Violet City, let alone Goldenrod City, reaching said town center is hardly a challenging undertaking, but she seems content enough to let the hometown trainer lead.
After a significant pause, she finally speaks up tentatively, her words clearly a shot in the dark, "Right… And your dad is going to be… disappointed to see you?"
"I don't know," Ran admits moodily, "I have a badge, I have winnings and one of my pokémon evolved, so my start's been a success by all accounts. But whenever I talked to him about my journey those plans always involved Spencer and, once Bugsy became Gym Leader, I was adamant about not returning until I had a full team and a handful of badges. Back when I didn't win the sponsorship, it was him who got me out of my funk and convinced me to give the unsponsored route a serious shot, so I just don't want him to be disappointed when I return this early."
Their conversation pauses for a few minutes, as they enter the Pokécenter and get their teams checked in. The local nurse, who greets Ran with a warm smile, promises to rush the initial cursory exam if they're willing to wait a few minutes, which Ran and Josie happily consent to. Wandering towards a nearby empty bench in the center's lobby, Ran looks around for any other familiar faces, before sitting down with a moody sigh, Josie joining him after a moment.
"He's obviously not going to be disappointed dude," She assures him, "You've just changed your routes around a bit. Realistically, if you'd caved to Spencer and you'd gone into the Dark Caves with him, would you have been stronger than you are now?"
Ran scoffs despite himself, the mere idea laughable to him.
"Exactly," Josie declares confidently, "You're doing fine. Your dad's probably just going to be happy that he's seeing you in the flesh rather than through a screen a lot sooner than he was expecting. Though if it was my family, they'd probably be pissed that I didn't mention that I'd be by any sooner. Well, that and me being in Kanto when I'm supposed to be in Johto, that'd probably be a whole thing as well."
"That is also a good point. The first part, at least." Ran admits begrudgingly, as the Pokécenter's door opens and he looks briefly at whoever is entering just as the nurse comes out from the back, their pokéballs on the tray she's holding.
What he intends to be a quick glance becomes a reason for him to duck down in his seat however, trying his best to remain unnoticed for now as Tommy Park enters the Pokécenter with noticeable pep in his step. As Ran examines the entirely oblivious Tommy, he can only conclude that things have clearly changed around Azalea, as the nurse doesn't greet the tall blonde with the beleaguered sigh she'd used so often when Tommy came back from yet another lost challenge against someone out of his league.
Instead, she offers the blonde, whose former buzzcut is more grown out than Ran has ever seen it, a genuine smile as she accepts not one, but two pokéballs from the boy. Intrigued, Ran eavesdrops subtly, Josie catching on that he's recognized a familiar face next to him, as the nurse and Tommy exchange some words.
Just after Ran learns that Tommy's come into possession of a Paras however, the nurse, likely out of a genuine desire to be friendly, does the one thing Ran would rather she didn't.
"Oh Tommy, look who's back in town! I just finished giving his and his friend's teams a quick look over. Ran and you are the same age, aren't you?" The blonde nurse smiles warmly as she nods in Ran and Josie's direction. Ran has just a moment to hide his eavesdropping from the pair at the desk, which he does to the best of his ability by glancing down at his pokégear and opening his messages.
He's just in time to make his startled look upwards genuine when Tommy shouts his name enthusiastically, "Ran! Back in town already? I thought Spencer and you weren't coming back 'till later? Speaking of, where is Glasses?"
"Hi Tommy," Ran greets the other trainer blandly, as he stands up to go and collect his pokémon from the nurse at the desk, Josie trailing him nonchalantly, "I had a change of plans. Spencer was headed to Blackthorn through the Dark Caves the last time I spoke to him, so I don't know exactly where he is right now."
"Damn, the Dark Caves…" Tommy lets out an impressed whistle, even as he takes a sidestep to allow Ran and Josie easy access to the desk, so they can retrieve their pokémon from the ever-pleasant nurse.
The nurse happily informs them that both of their teams are in fine health, though they could do with a good night's rest without any more training. Ran and Josie thank her politely, scanning their Trainer IDs one after the other to log their visits, before turning to face Tommy once more. The blonde surprisingly waits obediently for them to finish their business before speaking once more, though he eventually tries to sate his curiosity once more.
"If you two both made it to Violet City, that means you both faced Falkner though, doesn't it? Oh and I'm Tommy by the way, Tommy Park." He asks Ran, before leaning past Ran to offer a firm handshake to Josie, who accepts it with a grin of her own and an offer of her own name.
"We did." Ran confirms with a note of pride once Josie has finished introducing herself, pulling open his jacket for a moment to show off the Zephyr Badge pinned onto it on the inside.
"Alright, good for you guys!" Tommy replies with a seemingly genuine smile, "You guys staying the night here? I wouldn't want to keep you if you only just made it to town and still have other stuff to handle."
"We haven't really discussed it yet," Ran answers honestly, turning to his traveling companion as he continues, "I'm going home in a second, but I haven't gotten around to offering Josie a place to sleep for the night."
She waves him off with an easy smile, "I'll pass for the night at least. Go and surprise your dad and have a mushy reunion or whatever, I'll get a room here and enjoy a night's sleep without your team's snoring to keep me up all night."
Not taking the clear and blatantly false bait, Ran merely turns to Tommy once more, deciding to offer an olive branch to this new and improved version of Tommy Park, "It's surprisingly good to see you, Tommy. We'll be swinging by the Gym tomorrow morning to book our challenges, so if you're free for lunch after or something, we could catch up properly?"
"Sounds like a plan!" Tommy accepts with a broad grin, offering Ran a meaty pat on the back that sends him stumbling for a few steps.
Heading out, Ran pauses for a moment to watch in amusement as Tommy then turns into a floundering mess when he tries to start a proper conversation with Josie, who is objectively a very pretty girl. Rather than risking Tommy's ire if either of them notice his pause however, Ran hurriedly picks up the pace once more and swiftly exits the building.
It's only a five minute walk to his home, which he makes easily just as darkness is properly setting in. If it weren't for a bunch of new blisters, a significant tan picked up from spending days on end outside and the significant weight of his backpack, he might as well be returning from a foray into Ilex Forest or Route 33. As he stops in front of the front door however, he hesitates to knock for a moment.
Taking a final deep bracing breath, Ran knocks on the door. It takes a few seconds for him to hear approaching footsteps on the other side. He can hear his father grumbling as he fiddles with the lock, before, finally the door swings open.
"Hi dad," He greets his surprised father with his best attempt at levity, "Small change of plans, I'm doing Azalea for my second badge."