I took a small bite off of the ice cream on my hand, sweetness permeated through my tongue. I took another bite, "you know you can use your spoon right?" at Whitney's words, I looked at the small wooden spoon on the left side of the cup, I looked at her and shook my head, she pinched me for that, "whatever, do what you want,"

"huh, it doesn't hurt as much as before..." I murmured, thinking that maybe Alakzam's psychic training did have its uses from time to time.

She looked at me oddly, "yeah, cuz I did it lightly,"

"no way," I met her gaze, "you really did that?"

She turned away with a huff and ate her ice cream in silence after that. And so, our non-existent conversation came to a lull, with Whitney treating everything else with indifference, I decided to not talk about anything as we ate. After all, what use would it have if my conversation partner didn't even have anything related to interest in her current mindset. She was just Whitney staring in the far distance while enjoying the food. And that was all there is.

That didn't exactly mean that I just wanted it to lull though, "you know, I heard that this spot's popular for couples," I took off the wooden spoon from the side of my cup whilst trying my best to ignore Whitney's gaze, I was starting to feel the intensity of it, psychic and all that. The spoon snapped away from its holder and I scooped up a small bit of ice cream from my cup, I lifted it up to her face,

"want some?" I smiled,

With a loud huff, Whitney - surprisingly, - just looked away and stared further into the distance. Route 34 had always been scenic, with it having a small cliff instead of an actual beach and all that, the people that come here, as expected, were ones who just wanted to watch the sunset; making it notorious as a spot for couples.

Whitney didn't seem to have the mood to play around so I ate my ice cream in silence and followed her gaze toward the distant horizon. Everything was peaceful, nice, and atmospheric.

"I like it here," I said, feeling a small nod on my right,

"of course you do," despite her rather soft nod, Whitney's reply was harsh, "because you've always been here, spending as much time as Ho-oh knows how long,"

"it's not because I spend most of my time here," I replied defensively, playing along, she didn't know about my psychic ability yet and if she did, then I don't think she knows about everything else I've been learning and only the bare minimum, which would be my ability to calculate odds.

I heard her snort, "I'm serious," I looked at her, "you know you can't just assume that it's because of that, I find that harsh," I mocked grabbed my heart in pain.

She raised her hand to... do something but put it back down, she sighed, "sure, sure," she looked at me and rolled her eyes, "whatever reason is it then, oh dear Lionel?"

"I just like it here,"

"and what's the reason for liking it?" she asked, a small smile growing on her face,

"because it's quite scenic? I've said it before?" I replied with furrowed eyebrows, suspicious, "where are you going with this?"

"and why do you find it scenic?" she asked again instead of answering.

"because..." my eyes narrowed, "you do know that it's the complete opposite of what you're saying that happens to people that stay in one place right?" I said, "they get bored of it,"

She huffed, "places are not food you know?" she said, eating a spoonful of ice cream, "you can't just get used to the taste," she adds, "I like to compare it to... let's say rain," I nodded, "sometimes it's harsh, sometimes it isn't, you know?" I nodded again, "and, sometimes, there's that perfect time where you just... feel comfortable, without worries and all that,"

"since when have you been philosophical?" I got pinched as a reply.

...

"thank you miss joy," I bowed my head as I grabbed Grimer's Pokeball, followed by Magby's.

"how's he doing?" Whitney walked over to me, Meowth's Pokeball in hand, "Magby didn't get that roughed up didn't he? I heard that lowering a Pokemon's defense would cause them to end up with worse injuries,"

I shook my head, "he's fine," I answered with a small smile, "he can take more punishment than that," I said, remembering the Elektivire encounter that we both had back in Union Cave.

"hmm..." Whitney hummed as we walked out of the Pokemon center, "you know, I heard about what happened back in Union Cave," she said, causing me to raise an eyebrow, "yeah, yeah, most of it is under wraps yadda yadda yadda," she waved her hands around, "but, you gotta tell me, what did you find back there?"

I stayed silent, deciding on whether or not I should tell her, a little while Whitney spoke, "well, I guess I tried," she said calmly. Then she punched me lightly on the arm, "I gotta say though, that was one hell of an adventure that you had, wish I could stay in Union Cave for two days and experience the same thing you did,"

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"right, two days..." that was one of the things that I found odd about that adventure, because I was sure that I had spent more time in there than I should have had... especially since my rations had started to go down halfway through my time in that Mega Stone cave- another oddity that I found since no one, not even the rangers, the professors, the league, nothing; was able to find the cave that I described.

Not even something as similar as another cavern with Crystals on the walls was found. Nor, were the crystals even discovered. Grimer had eaten most of the samples that I should've gotten (which, I didn't since I thought that it was just another part of the Cave) and I didn't want to reveal the Mega Stone since that sort of information is way too valuable.

Valuable enough to get me killed honestly.

Dad had assumed it was because I discovered another path for Union Cave and one so remote no one had found it except for myself who had the benefit of not knowing the regular paths of the cave and thus, did nothing but pick one randomly and was just fortunate enough that I stumbled upon it right then.

But, judging by the look of disbelief that he had from what he was saying as well as the same look both the professors had as an expression back then, none of them seemed to have believed that explanation as even remotely passable.

And I understand it, slightly, especially since even after all this time, that part of Union Cave or the route that Dad suspected hadn't been found yet let alone mapped out. And it's been what? A month now?

"Lionel?" I got out of my thoughts and went back to the real world to see Whitney's fingers snapping themselves in front of me, "what the hell is up with you? you just suddenly spaced out!"

I rubbed the back of my head, "yeah, sorry about that," I really was,

"what were you thinking about?" she asked, "and no, before you say it, you're not allowed to say "NoThINg!" because you were thinking about something,"

"well I was thinking about my trip," I admitted,

"to Union Cave?" I nodded, "yeah, I guess strange things did happen back there huh?" and then she let the topic go, choosing to start to look forwards instead.

"you know I can say the same to you right?" I was honestly tired of her sudden bursts of silence, her attitude change, I didn't mind but this was getting annoying, "what's been bothering you?"

she hummed and met my eyes, "nothing?" she asked, genuinely confused from both her psychic yield as well as her expression,

"you're serious..."

"I am?"

I shook my head, "no, what I mean is what's up with you suddenly just... going silent? you know you can pry deeper right?"

"would that have made you answer?" she asked and I shook my head, she huffed, "then what's the point?"

I raised a finger, "ah- I guess nothing?"

"exactly,"

...

"Lionel's been doing everything well Whitney," Mom says as she chopped up our food for the night, a few carrots as well as a few radishes mixed in with fish and with green leaves that I couldn't tell what added for good measure, "honestly, we never expected him to be that reckless you know?" the boiling pot of water right next to her whistled and she turned down the fire,

I considered the glare she sent my way as something made up by my mind, "and to be honest? I would've confiscated his Pokemon back in the hospital if it weren't for his father," she smiled weakly, continuing to chop up our dinner, "he's such a handful!"

Whitney chuckled when she saw me hold my Pokeballs closer, "I can agree at least that much,"

"right?!"

She giggled in response to my mom's high pitched agreement, "damn right,"

I frowned, "wait, how can Whitney be allowed to swear?" I looked at my Mom, "I mean, why can't I do it?"

"because you're too young," Whitney patted me on the head, "and besides, after this month, I'll be able to go on my journey!" she said excitedly, hugging the pillow on her lap. Then she frowned, "that means I wouldn't be able to see my parents!" her expression quickly shifted to happiness once more.

"are you even prepared to live in the wild all on your own?" I asked,

"sure am!" she released her hold of the pillow, "and besides, starting tomorrow, I'll be spending the rest of the month in Ilex Forest to experience what it's like to survive in the wild as a trainer,"

"right, the school does that..." I murmured, already knowing that at one point, I would have to go through that as well. "wait, they opened Ilex Forest back up?" I suddenly asked and got a nod from Whitney, I frowned, "we should've gone there earlier then,"

"why? last I heard there's nothing important on the start parts of the forest, and the stronger Pokemon live far beyond the outskirts and stay in the depths, where no Trainer is going to disturb them,"

"are the outskirts the place where you'll all camp?"

Whitney nodded, "yeah, the place is apparently safe enough for us and even then, I'm sure Meowth and I can handle things on our own," she perked up, "and if we can't then Pidgey's gonna take care of the rest," both balls on her hips shook,

30 minutes after that, dinner started and Whitney joined in - after an incessant nagging from my Mom to do so, - and happily ate with us before heading out. I followed after her and walked towards the city, the lights are visible from where we were and the towering buildings of GoldenRod became nothing but specks of yellow in the darkness, their colossal frames nowhere to be seen.

Walking around my neighborhood at night was something that I didn't really think of doing most of the time. Mostly because I didn't really see the need to do so but with Whitney around, I thought it was appropriate.

"you know, we can go to Goldenrod," I suggested as we took a turn, only two more and we would basically be out of here and end up in the wilds outside of town.

"asking me out on a date?" Whitney devilishly grinned when she said that, "you know you gotta try harder than that right?" she hummed, I stayed silent, "let's see here,-" she started counting with her hand, "taking me to your parent's house, going out for Ice Cream, and I guess taking care of our Pokemon?" she looked at me, "does that count?"

"count on what?"

She punched me lightly on the arm, "as a date!" she said with furrowed eyebrows, "were you even listening?"

"I guess?" I replied, "I just found it odd,"

"what's odd about all this?"

"this entire thing," I mean, back in my old world, I wouldn't have been able to do any of this stuff at my current age. Whitney's stare tried to bore a hole in me and I looked away, "it's just that... you know, how many kids our age go out and do these things?"

"not much I guess?" she answered, "and now that you've said that, I guess it is pretty odd huh?" she hummed, "going out to Route 34 at our current age would've been considered to be pretty hard by most children,"

I nodded, "especially since most of them get their Pokemon at 10."

"agreed," I felt something wrap around my hand, I turned to look and saw that it was Whitney's, I looked up and met her eyes, "you know what? how about we go out and see what's up with the city ourselves?"

She smiled, I nodded, and she dragged me along.