Whitney checked her bag for the 10th time ( she counted; the only thing she could reasonably do really, since she's more or less inclined to be stuck in this bus for at least another half an hour before they arrive at Ilex Forest, which would probably get lengthened by the fact that the students around her are still one-fifth of her entire classroom still. So that means the bus has to run around the city to grab her remaining classmates- that results in an even longer stay in this painful, moving box!)

She had a lot of problems with this entire trip, mainly that she wasn't really sure if Ilex Forest was now safe even though it had been suddenly opened up after its rather sudden closing.

And even though most of the teachers in her year say that it was safe for all of the students to take this training trip, she still wasn't sure if she could trust them or not. Another thing would be the fact that mostly, during this time, the Pokemon inside of Ilex Forest know that the more experienced trainers that travel during the League Circuit are taking a break and so, the fully evolved Pokemons in the deeper parts get out of their usual territory and start roaming the areas that would be considered as "outskirts".

Which, she might add, means that there's a chance that she's going to encounter a Heracross or two during this trip- something that the teachers consider as painfully normal for them to experience and right as long as they have someone with them during this time, they're going to be fine. Most of her classmates wouldn't have that problem, she will though.

Whitney sighed and closed her bag. She had enough food to last her for two months as a precaution and all the things that she did need to survive living in a Pokemon infested forest, - such as a good estimate of repels, both for when she wanted to avoid encounters as well as to spray around her camp at night so that Pokemons wouldn't just come stumbling in, - should last her the entire month.

She didn't have potions, which the school specifically prohibited for them to bring during this time because they're here to "scavenge" the forest in order to heal their Pokemon as well as so that they know what to do when they're in a situation that made them far from civilization with no supplies but have the need to heal their Pokemon (a very specific situation, all things considered,).

After all, according to them, you can't rely on the luxuries of Pokemon Centers and Potions forever.

Them not using Potions was also done because the teachers know that the trainers with money, (such as her,) would just buy a full stock of potions that'll last them the month the same way that she did with her food, Repels, and other supplies.

That means that everyone that's about to go to Ilex Forest is forced to specifically use berries to heal their Pokemon or, in her case, a small container where she can place crushed berries in, sprinkle a bit of "Shuckle Dust" in there and voila, you have yourself a perfectly good berry juice that you can use to heal your Pokemon.

This was a loophole that she had managed to find after she went to the Department Store for a supply run and saw that there was a kit dedicated to making Berry Juice without the need for a Shuckle and after testing things out, she found out that yes, it did work and that the teachers didn't care if she brought the Kit.

And all of the places her to think about the next problem that she had with this entire trip; Luxury.

Whitney had been raised with money and she's not afraid to admit that. And since her father is the Gym Leader of GoldenRod, (a position that she did not at all mind to take in the near future,) that also meant that her family had a bit of authority around the city. And that authority reached over to her.

Sure, it did result in a few problems and she also admits that her lack of consequence for her actions may or may not have caused her personality to... be a bit over the top. Maybe it had gotten bad to the point that she didn't really care about other people- and maybe, she was a bit of a Female Houndoom but-

She sighed, she didn't want her train of thought to go that way.

Her mood now foul, Whitney looked outside of her window saw that they were currently somewhere around the North-Eastern part of the city. She knew that because of the buzzing flea market in front of her. It wasn't much, just a small district filled with tents that sold wares between two large apartment buildings that acted as a part of the city.

Lionel had talked about going here once in a while and finding an interesting object here and there, (such as, for example, an Evolution Stone, specifically, according to him, a Fire Stone.) but she didn't really see the appeal of the place. Sure, the market looked interesting but she could go to the Department store to get the same, and in her opinion, slightly elevated experience.

Apparently, a few of her classmates lived in this part of the city, one that she knew was full of apartment complexes for the people not being able to buy land, and from what she could see, it was quite a large number.

She watched as a pair of two boys that didn't stop talking to each other as they got on the bus, a trio of girls, and a singular, lone boy entered. The pair glanced at her once when they passed her, a bit of hate on their face whilst the trio of girls completely ignored her. The lone guy didn't really look like he was in this reality and seemed to be stuck in his own world.

None of them, even the lone guy, took the seat right next to her and that was fine, she got tired of moving her backpack away from the free seat anyways.

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She went back to looking out the window as the engines of the School Bus restarted and they got moving again. They passed through the entire market, moving into a Highway filled with cars. Now she knew that they were gonna go around Lionel's neighborhood, she didn't know where Vhira lived but Lionel told her it was somewhere on the outskirts of the city, around Route... 35?

She should probably visit her sometime.

The bus went through the usual procedure, passing through the gates of the neighborhood before going through the usual houses of her classmates. One by one, the bus started to fill up.

Eventually, they passed by Lionel's house and she saw the guy lying there, basking in the sun alongside his Magby, Grimer, and a Zubat flying above them, circling around with little to no care in the world.

At the sight of the purple bat, her hand couldn't help but wander towards her Pidgey's Pokeball. She didn't know how strong the Zubat was currently but Whitney knew from experience that a Pokemon like that grew faster than others. She stared as it went down and started circling Lionel's head, the guy completely oblivious to the world around him as he just lay there, probably asleep.

She didn't know when he managed to get the Zubat to open up to him enough that it was comfortable flying around like that but he surprisingly (or maybe not,) did. If not for the fact that the Pokemon doesn't fully evolve under trainers, Whitney would've honestly believed that Lionel had gotten himself a very fast Pokemon.

If not the fastest in fact, as currently recorded by the ever famous Professor Oak. Whom Lionel actually met.

The only time that Whitney had ever witnessed A Pokemon be faster than a Crobat was when she was looking at a live footage of a ranger's trip to Mt. Silver where they were needed to quell a dispute between a group of Zubats, Golbats, and a single Crobat against a small army of Geodudes, Gravellers, and two Golems.

The aforementioned Crobat had put up a surprisingly good fight against their enemy despite the type advantage, with it zipping through the ranks of the un-evolved Pokemon to take a bite against one of the Golems in what Whitney considered as an abuse of the hit and run tactic.

It was seen as a mere blur as it chipped away at the Golems before diving back into the harsh fighting of the other mons. The Golems weren't able to do anything substantial against it, because if they tried an AOE attack, they had a higher chance of taking down their own army instead of any of the Flying Types.

Thankfully, the Electrode of the Ranger that went there had done quick work of the Zubat group and his Rhydon had more or less gave the Geodudes a fear for their lives as they hopped away.

The Crobat being hit first by an Electrode was a first for her, and she only knew later on that the reason why it even struck the Flying Type was because of Lock On, as it had used Double Team to its maximum and so, to the other mons and more perceptive trainers, the Crobat had multiple doubles surrounding it whenever it was in their point of vision.

Whitney had thought up of multiple ways to actually take something like that down, since most normal types actually knew and learn a few "locking" moves, she shouldn't have a hard time when she encounters something like that. More importantly, she also saw at one point that a Murkrow had managed to cause a withdrawal of a fully Double Teamed Crobat because of a move called Perish Song and if she could find the opportunity to find a Pokemon that knew the move then she can certainly shut such a harsh sweeper down with that it and-

She frowned, shook her head, and focused back on the view of the window in front of her. The bus had already passed Lionel's house and a few others and when she realized that, her frown turned into a frustrated scowl. She couldn't believe that she would just let her head wander into trainer tactics like that,

No, she didn't want it to wander like that.

Not with Trainer related stuff at least.

Her chest expanded as she took a deep breath, she released it and felt a painful throb in her head. She clicked her tongue, the fact that she felt that meant that she had been badly stressed. Remember what your therapist said Whitney, and calm down.

But who wouldn't get stressed?! Thinking that way was for losers. Just, specifically, like her father.

She wanted to be a Gym Leader for GoldenRod sure but by the duo! does her old man give her a hard time for even wanting to do so, for one thing, he didn't even think that she's capable of holding that much responsibility and on the other, he was supportive of her as a trainer and was training her hard so that she can be "more than average", or at least, according to his words that should've been the case!

And so, every day, despite the fact that he denied her dreams of becoming a gym leader, he still trained her over and over and over-

AND WORSE IS THAT-

She released her breath, the throbbing in her head came back, she weakly slumped on her seat. She didn't want to stress out, not after everything she went through the past month. She had been preparing hard for this, and she'll get over this entire trip, go on a journey, and then come back to GoldenRod with seven badges, beat her Dad, take over the Gym and become its leader.

That was all she wanted, really.

And she's gonna go above and beyond to achieve it.

As per her memories of going through this entire thing (whenever she did want to ride the bus that is,) the bus stopped for the second to last time, finally, they were at the house of her last classmate and it was the same one she had remembered; a particularly small house, only one story, if not a good looking one. She stared at the girl leaving the place, she didn't know who she was nor did she care to. She watched as the girl waved her parents away happily, went over to the bus, went up, and then looked around.

The girl's expression turned ugly when she realized that the only seat left was next to her and Whitney didn't even bother to remove her bag. She knew from experience that they'd stand up or maybe sit on top of another student.

Breaking her expectations though, the girl walked over, the expression on her face sour, "is the seat taken?" she asked with fake politeness.

Whitney nodded and took her bag, "take it,"

"thank you," she said again, impolite still.

She didn't bother looking at Whitney once she took her seat and instead, she focused all of her attention on the people on the other side of the bus, she started talking to a girl on the seat directly to their right, to a guy in front of her, a guy in front of the girl she was talking to first and-

It was too much for Whitney to pay attention to her and so, she just looked out the window again.