The rest of the walk over to Vermillion was uneventful and quite easily forgettable except Elian managed to use Paras in a fight and the little bug type didn't disobey him at all, except when it used Poison Powder instead of Stun Spore.

I just needed to get some stuff from the port town and then I would be slinging into the wilds again to head over to Fushcia and gramps' place.

For now though, I had to get the necessary stuff for Indeedee's food plan, update the pokedex to include galarian entries, resupply on basic essentials, switch out the team to include Leaf and Pearl, and definitely buying some audio books on the nav since the Center has wifi.

Actually arriving to Vermillion city made me realize that it was a lot smaller, or the better word would be compact, than any other city I had previously been in. There were clear signs of it being rebuilt, probably from an attack to the city, here or there but otherwise it was bustling with commerce just like Celadon with skyscrapers the size of Viridian. Stalls were hung showcasing different items, rare stones, TM's or something simple like a cloth that guarantees shine on whatever you clean with it. I ended up buying the last one for Pearl since the guy showcased it on another Clamperl and I should really get some nice treats and stuff for my team, it's only right after all.

Mind made up I headed over to the nearest toy store for Pokemon of different typings and I bought a whole bunch of 'em. I also got two cute Clefairy and Murkrow dolls.

Tabs started stirring awake due to the loud sounds so I returned her back into her ball, to let her have her well deserved rest. Honestly, the entire team should take a break for now so my next step is the Center where Elian headed off to because Dill got seriously injured against a Magby an hour prior to entering the city, nothing really serious but it should probably get looked at asap since we didn't have any burn heals and Life Dew could only help so much.

One of the balls on my belt started shaking so I let 'em out. It was Ralts who was acting pretty clingy so I let her sit on my shoulder as I walked to the center. I also showed her the rubik's cube I bought for her but she didn't wanna interact with it so I easily put it back into my bag.

Finding and then checking into the Center was reflex at this point as I gave my trainer id and my entire team who were all taking a mid-day nap since they tuckered themselves out with training. Ralts was a bit reluctant to leave my shoulder but once I managed to coax her I realized just how much weight she had gained since journeying. Most of it is definitely muscle but maybe because she's young she must be growing still... actually the entire team should be growing due to their ages all being close to a little kid so it stood to reason that they might need to eat more than I give them; then I guess I should give more treats in between the three meals a day.

...

Maybe I should check out the Vermillion gym? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, scouting out the opponent and seeing their weaknesses would definitely be a smart thing to do. Yeah.

Yeah.

...

I didn't notice the change in scenery until I reached the gym and entered the stands, which were bright yellow like everything else in the building.

The match was going to be pretty simple, some guy with six badges was challenging for his seventh. He was just finishing up some puzzles he had to go through before he could challenge Surge, all while dodging attacks thrown by Pokemon who were clearly trying to hit him.

He flipped a switch and then a door on the other side of the hallway he was in opened up which caused the attacking Pokemon to renew their efforts with gusto. It seemed like wasn't gonna make it but he managed to vault over a trash can and then slide under what must have been a Thunderbolt to reach the door that slammed shut as soon as he passed.

The crowd then started taking some refreshments from some vendors so this must be where a short break is placed for the challengers' sake. Neato.

With popcorn in my hand I take a moment to adjust the egg, because what type of rational person would leave an egg by itself in a locked room, before eating some popcorn and listening in to the chatting beside me. Seems like this guy is challenging the gym for a second time but he doesn't really have good prospects of winning since his last challenge was just last week. Asking how close he was last time made me realize that the six badge would make me challenge using my entire party of six but I also found out that he lost 4 to 6 and Surge didn't need to pull out his final Pokemon.

Soon the challenger arrives out of the entryway to look upon the stands and the battlefield, but his attention was only on the latter. Rightly so, as not a moment later a huge man with scars littered across his whole body came from the opposite direction; the tough demeanor combined with his camouflage tank top and his brown pants make him out to be just as much a military soldier as everyone refers him as.

My gaze flitted to him for a second but it mainly stayed on this trainer. More specifically, his expression.

He's determined but there's something else. It's tough to describe... no it's just that I don't know what it is, simple as that.

Surge said some words but I don't care. As one they both send out their Pokemon, a Electrode and the trainer brings out a Rapidash.

The battle begins and it's easy to see that the Electrode outspeeds the fire type but the trainer easily returns it for a much more favorable matchup with an Umbreon. It immediately does something that causes Surge to put away the ball he was picking up, so maybe Mean Look, before the two engage in what I could only describe as a slugfest with the Umbreon using Wish to periodically heal itself due to the Electrode getting three hits in for every one that Umbreon lands.

Despite that, the trainers still smiling... no that's not right. That guy is downright giddy about the battle... he, at least I think that he-

"He doesn't really care about winning. He just wants to battle because he loves to battle." I end up whispering

The person next to me looks at me so I apologize and they wave it off.

The rest of the battle passed by with each of his Pokemon smiling all the while as he himself said his orders with something like pride.

He won. 6 to 5.

The sun was coming down now that the battle had finished, it took twenty three whole minutes of battling.

Heading back to the Center I was staying at was easy enough, I even had some snacks left for my team to munch on.

The nurse gave me my team and it was a matter of time before I headed over to my room and released them all.

"...I know you all are really tired but I really want to battle right now. Does anyone feel up to it? If not then I'll try to send Leaf or Pearl but that's gonna take some time to actually do so I'd really like if one of you can fight even if we end up losing." The team looks at me and it's a testament to their exhaustion that none of the battle trio are stepping forth.

Suddenly one of them comes forth, brimming with that same determination that that trainer had in his eyes.

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It took me a couple seconds before I could look away from his gaze "Are you sure? I can always get one of the other two in case you aren't feeling up to it."

He shook his head at that suggestion, the sound of a maraca with each shake, before giving an energetic shout.

"Alright then Woody, I'll be using you for a battle or two but that'll be it. Sorry for forcing you." He merely shook his head again and started walking to the door. I followed soon after.

He was putting pep in his step but I could still see it, the grogginess and how he took a moment too late to react to the things around us.

Why was I doing this anyway? I just came back from the wild and my first thought was 'let's have a battle'? I mean, wouldn't it make more sense if I at least gave him some time to rest?

But I just couldn't get mom's question out of my head. What did she mean by that?

It didn't take too long for me to find someone willing to battle,`after promising that I did have two badges to my name despite being a first year, to this boy who was going against Surge for his third badge in his second year as a trainer.

Woody began heading to the arena but I stopped him to talk one last time before the battle.

"Woody, if at any point you feel like stopping then I will stop the match right then and there. If I'm gonna be honest, I don't really know why I want to battle right now so if you feel like you need a break then I'll take you to nurse joy before getting dinner ready. Okay?"

'Bo bon ly' was his reply which confirmed that he wanted to do this.

For some reason my team decided to come here to the arena and watch the ma-

"Wait where's the egg?"

... The team looked at each other before Ralts waddled slowly to the stands with a canister that was wayyy too big for her to hold. It was honestly so cute I had to take a picture before Chardon took the egg into his larger grasp.

The battle commenced without much fanfare, with Woody facing off against a Poliwhirl.

"Tearful Look then Rock Polish"

"Rain Dance and hit 'em with Bubble Beam"

Both our first moves came out at the same time and both our Pokemon did them at the same time as well. The only difference was that Bubble Beam came out faster than Rock Polish so Woody had to abandon his move to rapidly dodge the really fast bubbles aiming for him.

"Rock Smash"

Poliwhirl started running as well, faster than Leaf even if she used Trailblaze, and came in for a big overhead punch-

"Dig"

-that missed by an inch.

"Icy Wind the ground and then use it."

As Poliwhirl began blowing out a cold gust of wind that froze over the closest parts of the wet battlefield, both the trainer and Pokemon begin looking around which immediately tells they don't have any of the ground shaking earth type moves alongside having no buff up moves. But even without them it was easy to see the energy in the water types movements. For some reason I just knew the next hit would really hurt.

Soon though, Woody came up from behind the Poliwhirl with a readied up Rock Throw that slammed into the back of the water type. Though it recovered fairly easily as it used its hands to flip back onto its feet, a Water Gun fired fairly easily in retaliation.

It wasn't as put together as the Bubble Beam or Rock Smash but it did get Woody in a glancing blow, and my rock type nearly fainted from just that.

A sharp pain in my arm had me noticing that I needed to cut my nails, wait I'm battling. Oh I have an idea.

"Woody, move around and Stomping Tantrum randomly. Don't bother with hitting Poliwhirl."

He followed orders and began trying to circle the water type as its trainer ordered it to see Water Gun, Crushing the ground and destroying the thin layer of ice that was covering the ground. The water move wasn't hitting so its trainer ordered it to use Body Slam. It also used Aqua Jet to slide faster than my Pokemon to slam it with its powerful body.

That's what I was waiting for.

"Now use GK"

The order snapped the other guys' head to me as he tried to decipher the move.

"Stay back and Bubble Beam again."

But by that point a small blade of grass had snagged Poliwhirls' feet, having easier access than what the ice would have allowed.

The attack disrupted it as it fell prone which gave my rock type enough time to curl up and hit it with Rollout. The semi-slick battlefield not helping gain much momentum but was still doing enough for my rock type.

This time when it went flying it couldn't catch itself as its little arms were too slow in pushing itself off the ground and by then Woody had came back for a second swing.

One that didn't miss.

All in all the battle wasn't as much as I was expecting. It was just a regular fight, like always.

"Man that was a cool battle." Now it my turn to snap my head in a direction.

The guy I was just fighting said that, so my response was the eloquent "Huh?"

He takes a moment to look at me before realizing something "Shoot, I said that out loud didn't I? Sorry its kinda a habit."

"Wait, no. Um, why did you say that it was a cool battle?" I think something in my voice let him know that it was a genuine question as he gave a genuine answer in return.

"Well I guess we can start with how almost every opponent I've faced off against mostly just use the same move over and over again which makes me mostly beat them if I tell Poliwhirl or Buizel to Rain Dance to make them faster, like what you were trying to do with Rock Polish. I remember that against Brock ya know." I easily nodded so he continued after sending his Poliwhirl back into its ball. "Well it started getting boring since people couldn't put it into their thick skulls that they needed actual strategy but it seems like you've got it down. Battling trainers with fresh strategies is perfect for my Pokemon since they can develop muscle memory and experience for the wild and wacky stuff that top trainers do and I can develop more ideas and counters or even steal ideas from other trainers. It's actually why I've started watching performances from contests.

"I love seeing Pokemon do things that are more than just "attack, attack, attack" that's why I started my journey; to see what wonderful stuff people can do when they think outside the box. Getting badges lets me battle even better trainers but if I could then I'd probably take a shot at a contest or something. Does that make sense?" He asked while rubbing the back of his neck.

Somehow, it really did. "Yeah" I reply with a nod of understanding.

"So, what's your goal for the journey?"

It... takes me a minute to realize "I guess, aside from getting in the top eight and being one the best rookies this year, I don't really have any plans; heck, I don't even know if I'm gonna do the same thing next year."

We decided to sit in the stands and talk as he rubbed his Buizel's little head, pretty soon I was copying him but with the egg.

"That's fine. My friend Cristina from Sinnoh ended up quitting but she gave me Buizel since the little guy still wants to do gym battles and my own Houndour was more than fine with being a house pet, its actually given me an excuse to be a water type specialist like Misty so I'm trying to copy some of the stuff she and her sisters do."

"But isn't Wallace the best water type trainer and performer since he got made champion in Hoenn after Steven Stone resigned?" he blinked at me before nodding a little.

"Huh, guess you're right. I just forgot about him since he isn't from Indigo." Fair enough.

We chatted a bit more before we to the waiting room in the Center. I went to see Elian while he went to get Poliwhirl patched up.

I caught sight of Elian in a corner reading a magazine on fashion and stuff, so it was pretty easy to sit beside him and ask how Dill was doing.

"Nurse Joy said that Dill will be perfectly fine in a couple hours since it's just a really bad burn wound but she warned me not to use her against fire types for the rest of the day." I easily nodded along as I gave a magazine to Ralts who began reading out to Tabs, while Woody is on my lap as I kept a sponge underneath his eyes to soak up the excess water in his body from the rain entering it, Chardon was more than happy with keeping the egg safe and the other two were striking up a conversation with Paras.

"Hey quick question. How many Pokemon do you think you can beat in a fist fight? This magazine is saying that the average person can handle most newborns and even some Pokemon like Goldeen and stuff." He asked. Which then became a really long discussion about whether flying types would count since they could just fly away. Which then became a discussion of whether baby birds actually knew how to fly since my mom told me about rehabilitation centers that help abandoned birds with learning how to fly. I even pulled my nav to search for one here in Vermillion.

We continued talking until Dill was cleared from the center, then Elian went to take a nap since he was feeling tired from being tense and worried for Dill for the past hour or so.

Since there wasn't anything to do now I just went to eat some sandwiches from a Paldean store.

That trainers name is Landon.

"Woody, when do you think you'll evolve?"

The little Bonsly seems a bit surprised at the sudden question but he easily relays his answer over to Chardon, who was still munching on his six foot sub, who gives a simple so and so gesture with his claw.

"Then after our own nap, we'll have to work really hard to make sure you evolve and grow stronger. The same for the rest of you." It was said passingly.

The team stilled before all giving shouts or roars of affirmation. Maybe I couldn't have the same enthusiasm but I could still try. What did Landon say about performances. Right, they're contests and last I heard Fuchsia has a small contest hall for beginners, I could try that.

So what if I don't really think battling was all that cool? So long as my Pokemon are willing then I'm fine with reaching for the top.

Maybe even higher. You never know.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." Just gotta get past my own sore muscles, I completely forgot that I can't even freaking bend my knees right now.