"-and that's why Indeedee won't be battling, not only because of her injury but because I made a promise to not use her in any battles unless I really need to." I was on a call with Professor Oak about why I wanted Indeedee to immediately transfer to me. There was also something called a companion license where a non battler would be allowed on top of the team of six so long as the trainer received a license to do so, Professor Oak says that he might be able to get one for Indeedee once he finishes the check up.

Professor Oak meanwhile was only paying half his attention to me as the other half was spent examining and healing my apparently psychic and normal type to properly see the extent of her injuries her malnutrition from a lack of eating.

"Of course you can take care of Indeedee but I believe that it would still be better if she stays here so we can come up with a dietary plan to help her gain some muscle back that she lost." That was a valid point, one I can't really refute especially since Leaf is on the screen and super giddy about having a new friend.

"Alright, I'll be back in a Center in a few days so once Indeedee has a plan I'll be taking her then yeah?"

"Yes, that would give enough time for taste testing and seeing which nutrients she currently requires. I must say that all your Pokemon are quite healthy compared to others of their species so I trust that you will be able to take care of this fine specimen from Galar." Indeedee harrumph's at the assumption but her cheeks get a little red after hearing the compliment.

"By the way, how are Leaf and Pearl doing with the new food plan?"

Professor Oak writes something down on a notebook before replying with "Quite splendid, it helps that the food you have instructed the assistants about is quite delicious and varies depending which day it is; even I've started munching down whenever we run out of ramen cups." Tha-thats food made specifically for Pokemon consumption though, with pellets that only Pokemon should eat. "Anyway, expect a comprehensive update of your pokedex as soon as I receive the information correlated with the Indeedee line myself."

The rest of the conversation was a simple yes and no quiz on how my journey's going and what I plan to do before the Professor had to inevitably end the call.

Dialing up the phone again has me face to face with mom since it's the weekend. It was nice chatting with her because apparently Drifblim and Starmie seemed to be really happy with Pearl around to play pranks on Bouffalant. Striker is apparently adjusting really well now that he's back home with mom, mom said that he's apparently really miffed that he can't battle anymore so tries to do it behind her back but Drifblim keeps an eye on him to make sure he doesn't get into any trouble.

Elian and I decided to leave again tomorrow but instead of going to Saffron and then to Vermillion we would just cut through the forest directly to Vermillion so that he could challenge Janine and then head over to Cinnabar or head back to face off against Surge. He also wants to go to this place called Dark city to challenge the bug type gym there, it's also apparently the only gym in Kanto where you have to do a double battle.

The rest of the day was spent introducing Paras to my team and just relaxing since we already trained.

We still had to be careful since the little bug type was more jumpy than any other Pokemon that I had seen being before. Probably was really wild if it was having such a hard time adapting to a trainer.

The next day had us spending some time getting stuff before heading southeast of the city to reach Vermillion where we saw a drastic decrease in trainers but an increase in Pokemon willing to battle. Made sense considering we were going off of the beaten path.

I was fine with battling but since the Professor said that I can't catch Pokemon for a while, for some reason, I had to politely tell each of them that I wasn't gonna catch anyone for a while. Most left me when I would explain, which kinda sucked cuz most of them were cool like a Poliwag or Vulpix, but a few like a group of Mankey were perfectly fine and were lining up to fight each of my Pokemon. It was perfect training that let me see how some of the Mankey had telltale signs that they were going for a big move while others had less discreet tells and stuff even though they didn't have trainers. Since they were fighting types they probably just trained together or had a hierarchy based around fighting since the stronger ones seemed to have more fruit next to them.

The only problem in the journey is that it isn't really exciting seeing Pokemon doing the same training over and over again so I spent some of that time to read comics. My favorite comic is about the heroine Creati who had a special move called V-create where she'd make a super cool bomb that would make a V shape. Her backstory involved Victini which is a fire type legendary.

Anyway, they were all progressing really well with their moves so I made sure to show Chardon how to fire a Flamethrower from his mouth. I think it was just a problem with a mental block or something since Dragon Rage could fire from the mouth just fine and nowadays there are whiffs of red flames that leak out his mouth whenever he tries to use Flamethrower. Still no concrete flames though.

Other than that there wasn't really much of anything going on. Most the stuff I had to deal with was either easy or boring.

Ralts was having a lot of trouble with learning new moves so I decided to make her focus on Thunder Wave but before she could do that she at least needed some way to protect herself from close range so to kill two Pidgey with one stone I decided to teach her Thunder Punch first to help her familiarize herself with electric type energy and to have some close range options available. After Thunder Wave it might be good to finally focus on actual special attacking moves though.

Another issue that has to be dealt with was that Woody was showing signs of being ready to evolve with the way he was starting to mimic the swaying of trees. I had to look into forums to find out what these signs meant but it turns out that it won't stop even when he evolve since it's a characteristic of the Sudowoodo line.

Other than that it was a little annoying how Tabitha would regrow her mold but Professor Oak told me to place it all into a ziplock bag so that he could receive it to study or something. I'll have to send it via pokeball since a neat feature about 'em is that they can store regular stuff and you can use the transfer system to mail things to people which is kind of a hassle for non trainers so they usually just go to the postal service to deliver stuff, like mom did with the nav which I'm really grateful for since it would have been pretty annoying trying to use a map; I probably would've gotten really lost if on like the way to Pewter and pulled the gang to Celadon instead.

The next few days had very few trainers traveling the way we were so the few battles we did have were typically small scale since the Pokemon here were more prone to trouble you.

I made a couple of experimental stuff like squid ink used as a sauce for goat bladder and other stuff as a sort of punishment on Beedrill, Lupa, and Chardon. Of course, to make things fair Indeedee would also be a test subject for this stuff. Suffice to say, I didn't need to do any other punishment since they got the message pretty clearly while I got more of an idea on what stuff is tasty and what clearly isn't. Man I gotta get a poison type some time soon, they handle bad cooking way better and I think no one would genuinely expect a Muk in a league battle.

There wasn't anything of note happening, just us stopping every now and then to help out other people and mons. It was simple stuff like spraying a bit of Antidote on a Pokemon who got heavily poisoned or giving bandages to people who had bleeding shins and stuff (Elian dealt with those type of issues since he had experience with bandages) or even just battling wild Pokemon that were being bullies for no reason. Some of the local Pokemon were really grateful about that.

Elian was having trouble training Paras who was paying as little attention to him as they possibly could. I asked him if he had asked Paras why it was being like that but all he said was that he would at some point, which I think means he isn't gonna even try until we reach the Pokemon Center which was somewhere along our way to Vermillion. He did seem to steel himself though, so I believe he'll do it.

I also had to change some training plans like making Ralts dodge moves without Teleport or making Tabitha try and take hits to develop her durability and since the team was so willing I ended up creating a team running track everyday where even I would do the random challenges we all set up on our respective parts of the track. It was all about training in areas we weren't familiar with; especially since it helps with training endurance, reflexes, and speed at the same time.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

It was a pretty good exercise where I got to see what some people thought was hard while others thought was a cakewalk. Like for Chardon the challenge on his part was to hit targets while moving which seemed to be tough for Woody and Beedrill but for Tabitha's part you have to run while spinning around obstacles which Lupa and Chardon couldn't do even if they went slow and steady. Because of that I would always end up in the middle of the pack, mainly cuz I was pretty used to almost any challenge because I used to play with other people the same thing, by the end of the race which got everyone fired up to not be behind me. I knew that after a while the entire team would end up beating me in the race so I was fine with the current results.

It ended up being our fifth day walking in the wilderness when we would find the center.

I called the Professor to see what sort of food plan and exercises that Indeedee had to do and unfortunately I didn't have some of the ingredients listed for her necessary food so she still had to stay back in Pallet Town. It was mostly high fiber or nutrient stuff that I had for Ralts since she's a psychic type but it wasn't actually enough for two Pokemon.

I did show her the egg and how it was fine to Indeedee. She was a little miffed that she couldn't come with me for now but she's fine with hanging out with Leaf and Pearl back home. The two others were also on camera and after saying hi and checking up on them the Professor then informed me on their progress and how Pearl learnt two moves. If they're the moves I'm thinking of then the water type is halfway into filling her role as a mid range attacker on the team, just have to get a deep sea scale since we agreed that was thee best evolution for her.

I also messaged Amy how things were going and she ended up telling me she was staying at a Center near the base of Mt. Moon since the gang needed some classes on spelunking and how to move around a cavern. They were also doing some odd jobs for the residents around the area since apparently some of the people who lived there had a lot of experience with going in caves so the three were soaking as much knowledge as possible.

Mirielle and James seem to be doing well. Kinda funny that James found an actual Slowpoke and it took three whole days before he asked it if it wanted to caught and then it took another three days for it to give a simple nod to the question, which is hilarious and now the group chat is just Slowpoke stickers.

I also sent some photos to Vali and she's seen them, if the little checkmark at the bottom of my texts means anything, but she doesn't really reply other than a couple photos of where she is. If my geography is right, and it probably should be since I got good grades on that part of the tests, then she's over on the other side of Mt. Moon and is just letting her team recover from traveling within the mountain. She also showed her badge case and for now she only has the Pewter city's Boulder Badge.

Honestly, the stories I've heard of the place make me kinda glad that I didn't go there; my luck would have probably led me to getting lost in the mountain and end up right where I started. But what if there was secret treasure.

Dark caves... but mystic treasures.

Zubats and Geodudes everywhere... but ancient fossils.

Possible bounty hunters... but rare rock types like Larvitar.

*Sigh* Guess I'll have to cross that bridge when I get there.

The battles in the Center were way more rapid and trainers were fine with sending out their entire team for a single match due to the Nurse Joy and an actual building nearby, which was great since my team was really itching to fight against lots of opponents. They all were raring to face off against the first Pokemon that would be sent out which would always be a Pokemon that they were weak against like a Magnemite for Ralts or when I started with Tabs against a Skarmory. Every time one of my Pokemon got knocked out I'd try my best to send out a Pokemon that was weak in typing against the opponent or at least was neutral to them like how rock types do neutral damage to grass types but are super weak to grass moves in return.

Sometimes though, I'd only have the option of using a super effective Pokemon like how Chardon was stuck by Mean Look so I had to keep him out against the other persons Butterfree which ended really quickly. No prize on guessing who won though.

I mean, I do win faster when I have the type advantage but that's so boring nowadays. Fighting an uphill battle seems like a lot of fun, plus it always ends quickly when my Pokemon is naturally super effective against the opponent's Pokemon. That's why I never use Beedrill, even when he was a Kakuna, against psychic types even if he is weak to them due to his poison typing so long as I have some switches available, same thing with Ralts against poison or dark types but if it was a dark and poison type then I'd keep her out since she wouldn't be able to easily KO it.

Elian was also getting some wins with Dill and his Paras was interested in how the grass type was able to beat his opponents using status moves or by going on the offensive. There were some wrong calls that did cause Dill to eventually lose to a Tediursa but all in all I think Paras was willing to see his trainer as just that, his trainer.

I think I managed a win streak of fourteen before I finally lost against someone in a three v three. His Eevee using Shadow Ball was really unexpected and because of that he did manage to knockout Ralts really easily, then it was a two against three which gave Beedrill and Tabs a lot of trouble and sadly they weren't able to turn things around. They did however manage to knock out a Pokemon each and that set up with Spikes nearly made the other guys Magby faint from a couple Poison Sting's.

We stuck around the center for a night but ultimately had to go and leave for Vermillion which was probably only a week away, calling home and checking up before leaving.

But, after a few days of traveling, there was another issue I didn't account for.

"*Sigh* This is soo boorrring." I end up blurting to Elian

Taking a moment to motion Dill and Paras to work together on Mega Drain, he stews on what I said before asking "What's boring exactly?"

"Just the walking and stuff. I mean I love seeing my team grow stronger but I just really wanna play on my pc back at home. There's a new season battle pass coming soon and I wanna see which characters got nerfs or buffs and stuff, plus I'll need to play ranked again once the new season arrives so I wanna make sure my gameplay and map awareness and stuff hasn't gotten worse." The worst part was that I was fresh outta new issues to read which made things even more boring, you could only reread the same volume so many times. Maybe I should buy a tablet or a laptop once we reach Vermillion.

"Huh, I don't really have that kinda issue. Honestly, its been really fun training up Dill, and Paras has been kind of a handful, so I guess I just haven't noticed the time pass by."

We had to pause the convo because we immediately got challenged by a group of Victreebel, the group was a light challenge for Dill and Woody since they were mainly preoccupied with Ralts learning Confuse Ray and spamming it on them.

Only once the wild Pokemon had left did I restart the convo.

"But like, honestly I do feel really happy that Ralts learned a new move and everything," the fairy type preened under the comment "it's just it gets really repetitive after a while and I've always sucked when doing stuff that takes a really long time to really get going, ya' know. It's why I dropped out of caligraphy class and coding and why I really hate grinding games." Oooh a penny on the ground.

Picking it up has me notice a little grey Pokemon that was resting beside the coin I picked up so I give it back to them and a small piece of a pecha berry, I've found that a lot of wild Pokemon like the sweet taste. It takes the penny and pecha piece before waving bye and scurrying away.

"Well maybe you have to take a break from all the boring stuff and have a little fun, like my friend Kirito had a problem where he couldn't study history so he searched up how to make studying fun and did like a different way of doing it. Nothing comes to mind right now since we are out in the wilderness but I think it would be fun to not focus and battling and play some games on your Nav. Since we can't really read or anything when we walk, I think that you should make up some fun games or take pictures of the wild. Or you could talk with your Pokemon about random stuff, that's really helped with keeping Dill and I interested while I walk."

"I get what you're asking... but I've already tried all of that and at this point I'm so bored when walking that I read the league manual for fun. For Fun."

My intensity kinda made Elian jump, it was either that or the rampaging Nidorino near us that I sent Chardon to beat up, and after that he did try giving other options that I could try like having a Pokemon practice while walking or playing eye spy but I already tried those things. I'm gonna need more 'fun stuff' when we reach Vermillion because there was no way I was gonna spend another week or two with nothing to do, just the thought of that was driving me nuts. I think I have more than enough to get a tablet and headphones.

It was a good thing that I sent my entire team back into their balls except for Tabs who was sleeping on my backpack.

Ohmp, nav call. I have to move the pink egg in my hands a little bit before reaching the nav and answering the call.

"Yellow?" I answer the call with.

"Hey pumpkin." Only one person calls me pumpkin.

"Hey mom, how are you?"

"I'm fine, just checking up to see how you're doing. How's your new friend Elian handling traveling?" I move a bit away so that he can't hear the rest of the conversation.

"Honestly, he's doing better at handling the whole traveling thing better than I am."

Concern is laced in her voice as she replies "Why? Is something wrong? Do you need me to come pick you up?"

"No, no, nothing like that. It's just it's so boring traveling and doing nearly nothing, but he's totally packed with taking care of his team so he's been less bored than me. I guess I'm just feeling really homesick." Does homesickness really just feel like intense boredom?

"Well, just know that at any point you can always come back home. I just wanted to check up on you and see how you're doing but it sounds like you're doing well, so I'm gonna go back to planning for a field trip for the second graders after asking a question okay."

"Okay mom." I reply

"...Are you doing this journey because you want to or because you have to? Whatever the answer is you can always come back home whenever. Anyway, love you, bye." She hung up.

... I mean of course I did the journey because I wanted to; why would I have to do it? I mean... being top eight like dad... but... no, this is what I have want to do. I want to reach there, I want to.

I hold the egg tightly to my chest to make sure it doesn't slip before heading back to the makeshift campsite that Elian and I made.

"Hey who was ca-, are you okay?" Oh, that's Elian.

"Yeah I'm fine... just thinking about stuff." He nods along to that before we sit in silence, mainly to not disturb the nearby Pokemon.

Right?