"Look, I know you wanted to fight in the battle, but I could only use three Pokémon! Someone had to switch out."

"Vulpix."

"No I'm not saying you would have been useless, I just thought it would be good to let everyone else get some experience."

"Pix. Vulpix."

"Of course you'll be in the next Gym Battle! The fourth gym uses four Pokémon so there's no way for me to replace you."

"Vul."

Floette patted Vulpix's neck as we walked across the bridge over the lake south of Rustboro. I couldn’t exactly understand what she was saying, but I could get the gist of her emotional state and fill in the gaps. Vulpix was upset at me for not sending her out in the last Gym, and outside of this conversation had spent the entire time we walked together ignoring me. I only just managed to get her to respond but she still refused to look at me.

Our next stop was Petalburg, home of the Normal Type Gym. Despite how close it was to Rustboro, the official routes followed a winding path created to specifically avoid hostile Pokémon territory. The path we were on would let us reach Petalburg Woods by tomorrow, and from there it was only a two days of travel until we reached Petalburg.

These routes were some of the most well maintained routes in Hoenn. They were frequently traveled by novice trainers and were filled with weak and younger Pokémon. The only potentially dangerous area along the path was Petalburg Woods.

Vulpix and I stepped off the long bridge and I sent out Swablu. He was staying out for such a long time over water and stayed in his Love Ball while we were on the bridge. Swablu immediately took off and circled overhead, only to swoop back down and perch on my cap.

I had hoped to be able to have Swablu scout ahead on routes, but he was perfectly happy to sit on my head and be carried along for the ride. I was just thankful he was light enough to not put a strain on my neck.

In a few hours we would reach a small village that grew and shipped out a good portion of the region's berry supply to rest for the night. Tomorrow we would enter Petalburg Woods.

We reached the village and headed to the local Pokémon Center. I remembered this location from the games, but it was just represented by a single building dedicated to growing berries with a small patch of berry trees outside. Here, it was a collection of wooden houses and large berry tree fields with a Pokémon Center built off to the side. It was a lot like the village on Route 111 in that there were only a few houses and there were barely enough people to even consider it a village.

I checked into the Pokémon Center, reserving a room and temporarily handed my team over to be healed. After obtaining a key and cleaning up in my room, I went back downstairs to pick up my Pokémon and went to the training field behind the center to work with my team. There were only two other trainers here, one working with her Zigzagoon and the other working with his Taillow.

Floette and Swablu began to spar since they both needed to practice battling in melee while Marill continued to struggle with Charm. Vulpix was due for special training.

"So, are you willing to talk with me to work on your ability or are you going to continue to pretend to snub me?"

Vulpix continued to face away from me but the way her ears perked up betrayed her interest. Despite her game, I knew she was listening so I started to explain my plan.

"With the help of Old Man Harvey's journal we should be able to get you to learn Ice Beam, but your cryokinesis is strong enough now so we can start with the first step to develop your abilities.

"You have the potential for two abilities: Snow Cloak and Snow Warning. Snow Cloak would let you use the combination of your illusions and mastery over ice to make it difficult for opponents to track you in hail and snow. Without those weather effects, that ability is difficult to master.

"Your second ability, Snow Warning, lets you rapidly conjure and manipulate snow storms in the middle of battle without using a move. It's based around your cryokinesis so once it starts to snow you'd have plenty of spare ice to manipulate at your whim."

Vulpix had turned around to face me while I was talking but laid down to pretend she wasn't interested. However her ears stayed alert and her eyes were locked on me. Despite her head resting on the ground in a faux sleep, I had her full attention.

"You'll still need to do Ice Beam practice, but we're also going to start working on the move Hail as well. Once you can create localized Hailstorms you'll need to try to replicate that instinctually with your cryokinesis. If you can manage that, Snow Cloak should come to you easily enough and then you'll be able to hide in an environment of your own making, probably winning you almost every battle."

Vulpix continued to stay laying on the ground but at the mention of environmental manipulation her tails began to wag.

I put my hands on my hips to accentuate my point.

"Are you going to continue to pout, or are you going to work with me to master your control over ice?"

Any fake reluctance put aside, Vulpix jumped up and immediately started to conjure faint puffs of snow around her body as she began attempting to conjure Hail.

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Our training efforts didn't get that far since we were only in the village for one afternoon. Vulpix didn't let that bring her spirits down and actively tried to create ice around her as we walked towards the entrance to the woods.

I was both excited for and dreading Petalburg Woods. The main path of Petalburg Woods tended to only contain weak Bug Types and the occasional Grass Type, however the deeper parts of the woods contained dangerous Pokémon such as the territorial Slaking and the terrifying Trevenant. Petalburg Woods was an old growth forest, and in its deeper sections its trees were as wide as a truck and grew far into the sky. From the museum in Rustboro, I had learned that those trees were far larger than any trees I had seen in my old world, even Redwoods. However, I knew my team wasn't strong enough to handle deep Petalburg Woods so it was unlikely that I could see them anytime soon. We would stick to the main road to avoid any danger.

Floette rode on my shoulder to avoid the freezing temperature around Vulpix, and Swablu wasn’t sitting on my head for once. He had returned to his Love Ball when a spare burst of ice clipped him in the face. I think he was just avoiding Vulpix. Also, like usual, Marill stayed in her Dive Ball. She was really only interested in training.

We approached the point in the road where the tree density suddenly increased.

"Vulpix, we're about to enter Petalburg Woods. I don't want us attracting unwanted attention so pause your practice for now."

Vulpix huffed but the icy mist around her faded away as I felt a tug on my ear. I looked to my shoulder to see that Floette was shaking as she peered into the dark forest of Petalburg Woods.

"I'll return you to your Heal Ball. There's no need to be scared."

Floette smiled and I recalled her to her Pokéball. Once she was gone, I heard a yip next to me and sighed in response.

"No Vulpix, just because everyone else is in their Pokéball doesn't mean you can go back to practicing. We don't want to attract any wild Pokémon, remember?"

She let out an overdramatic huff in response.

With our preparations settled, we entered the forest. The woods were darker and denser than I expected. Unlike the forest of Route 114, very little light made it through the canopy. The trees here were solely deciduous unlike the evergreens of the northern routes.

There was a clear path of flattened dirt that marked the route the majority of people traveled along. The canopy was slightly less dense above the path since the trees that would have blocked the road had been felled to make room for it. There was just enough light for me to see around to let us peacefully travel forward.

About half an hour into our trip I ended up stepping off the road. I noticed something in a tree and wanted to check it out.

In my travels, I had barely encountered any Bug Type Pokémon. I had seen both Illumise and Volbeat on Route 117 near Verdanturf, but they looked unique enough to not really register that they were bugs. I also saw an Ariados in Mossdeep, but we don’t talk about that.

I wasn't necessarily afraid of bugs, but I didn’t like them. I’d get uncomfortable if I saw a spider on the wall, but I didn’t run away screaming. Despite that, I had a morbid curiosity to see what Bug Pokémon would look like in person. Were they as creepy and crawly as the bugs from my old world?

What I had noticed in the tree off to the side of the path was a Silcoon. I needed to get a better look at it to sate my curiosity.

It wasn't a cocoon wrapped in thick strings like in the games. Rather, each individual thread around it was as fine as silk and it was completely encased with them. I wanted to touch its surface since the threads that made up its cocoon almost looked like a rich fabric, but they stuck to the tree in spiderweb-like globs. I resisted that urge to stop my hand from getting caught on the sticky substance. The only visible part of the wrapped Pokémon was a single hole where a red eye cautiously observed me.

I watched the Silcoon sit in the tree unmoving for a few minutes before I had enough and turned back to return to the road.

That’s when I saw the other cocoons.

I entered this part of the woods because I was interested in what Bug Type Pokémon looked like, but now I was reminded that wild Pokémon shouldn’t be approached just out of curiosity. In the trees around me, a multitude of red eyes stared down at the intruder in their nesting grounds.

I should have realized bugs stay in swarms.

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I took a slow step towards the road, and Vulpix simply sat there and watched me. She had stayed back when I approached Silcoon, so she hadn’t noticed that I was surrounded by Bug Pokémon. I would have called out to her, but I was nervous that my voice would anger them more than they already were. I heard a soft sound in the tree above me and started to worry even more.

“...Duuusstooxx”

If there was one Dustox here, there was likely to be more. Trying to get a clue about how many they were, I glanced upwards to see several dozen purple moths with green wings sit on the trees above me. They did not look happy.

Internally, I made a note to buy more Pokédolls. Despite my panic back then, they worked well in Shoal Cave, but I didn’t have any I could use right now. I still had a single one left over from that misadventure, but Vulpix loved it so I would never throw it away. Without a way to escape without angering them, I did the next best thing.

“Run!”

Vulpix didn’t know what we would be running from, but she heard the panic in my voice and dashed away as soon as I started to book it. I heard the screams of the Poison Type moths behind me as they gave chase in anger.

I remembered that in the anime there were scenes in which large swarms of bugs, usually Beedrill, would chase after characters that got too close to their nests. I never expected it to happen to me.

At least they’re only Dustox and not massive angry hornets.

Luckily, it seemed like the Dustox were more intent on scaring us away than actually hurting us. I felt the vibrations of needles from Poison Sting impacting the ground just behind my heels but wasn’t hit by any. We made it back to the main path and continued southwards toward Petalburg in our panic. We didn’t have to get much farther until the swarm left us alone.

I stopped running and leaned down to catch my breath while Vulpix just sat down to wait for me to recover. I pulled out an Antidote from my backpack just in case. I didn’t want either of us to be poisoned without realizing.

“Let’s remember to never approach an isolated Bug Type ever again. We should always assume they’re in a swarm.”

Vulpix readily agreed.

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Just south of Petalburg Woods was a small port the city used to trade with Rustboro and to receive shipments from other cities. If I wanted to visit Dewford, this port had several different ferries that visited the island daily, but I wouldn’t use any of them until after I beat Norman.

By entering the port we had technically entered Petalburg City, but we still had a day's travel to reach the city proper. The port was one of the few places in the region that was connected with a paved road, which I planned on following to reach the city. The noise from the traffic on the road caused Pokémon to be reluctant to approach so it was the safest and fastest path for us to take.

The vehicles that drove on the road were mostly delivery trucks along with the cars of the few dock workers that could afford them. The majority of people traveled via bike, which was reflected in the amount of bikers that passed us.

I had camped right outside the woods after we left, so I was able to reach the port and travel the full length of the road to arrive at the Pokémon Center before nightfall. The entire trip from Rustboro took only four days. Petalburg itself was easily summarized by the Type of its Gym: Normal. Unlike Rustoboro's heavy use of stone, Mauville's mall, or Slateport's market, Petalburg had absolutely nothing to make it stand out. It was as generic as a city could get: a condensed central area filled with skyscrapers with several residential districts surrounding it. I suppose the city had more parks than other places, but like the rest of it, they weren’t anything special.

The day after we arrived in the city, I woke up at my normal time (late morning) and went to Petalburg’s Gym. I wanted to make sure that the crowds had died down enough that I wouldn’t need to reserve a slot for my challenge.

Luckily, since Petalburg Gym was relatively unpopular due to its difficulty and since the initial rush of the season had all but faded, I would only need to wait a few hours at most to tackle the Gym. Due to the low demand during the mid-season, Gyms were no longer scheduling far-off reservations. I was able to leave the Gym to focus on training without needing to worry about a set date for my Gym challenge. Before I left, I did find out that Norman was the sole Gym in the region that didn’t do Gym Trials, which partially explained the Gym’s unpopularity.

Vulpix had yet to master any of her targeted moves or abilities, and the rest of the team still needed to work on miscellaneous improvements. I had Floette and Swablu sparring with Marill 2-on-1 to help Floette and Swablu fight back in melee. Despite their improvements, Marill still always won, even outnumbered.

I decided that we would take on the Gym once Vulpix learned Hail. It was a good move that would help her in battle and would be useful for its chip damage. She was close to learning it so we would have a few days before we finally took on Norman.

We had only been training for about an hour before I heard a familiar voice call out from the entrance to the training grounds.

"Alex! I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

I turned around to locate the origin of the voice to see a green-haired teenager approach me from the Pokémon Center. He wore a Comfey around his neck and a Kirlia trailed by his side.

"Wally! Didn’t expect to see you here. You’ve sure become confident, huh? Any new developments with your team so far?"

Wally stuck his hand into his backpack and pulled out a series of Pokéballs to show me. He sent out his team members to show them off. My Pokémon started to wander over. Swablu was the only of them who hadn’t met Wally, but he didn’t even blink at the new arrival as he perched on my head to watch.

"I didn’t expect to see you either, but I saw you when I was retrieving my Pokémon from Nurse Joy. We're all much stronger and ready to take you on!” Wally explained. “Ralts evolved into Kirlia and two more Pokémon joined me on my journey: Roselia, the one who helped us catch Comfey, and Skitty, who I caught when she was wandering Rustboro. They're all really dedicated and did really well against Roxanne!"

I closed my eyes and processed the information. "If you’re here now, that means Roxanne was your only Gym battle so far, right?"

Wally pulled out his badge case to show me his Stone Badge.

"Yup! We didn't leave Verdanturf until a month into the season since Wanda demanded I spend time with her in Rustboro. I only got started on my journey recently but we've been training every day to not waste time!"

I smiled. He's a lot more motivated than he was back in Verdanturf. Heck, his eyes were basically sparkling when he talked about his team.

"Well I managed to beat both Flannery and Roxanne so I'm at three badges,” I said. “My Pokémon might be a bit stronger than yours, but Swablu was a recent addition and needs more training. How about we make that battle one-on-one?"

Wally’s fists clenched the strap of the satchel over his chest and he nodded determinedly. Comfey, who sat around his neck, didn’t seem to mind the jerking motion.

"Alex! Let me show you how strong we've become!"

Wally and I walked to an empty battlefield next to the training ground. We took our places in the corresponding trainer box and I called out to him.

"Let's make this a simple battle, with the normal rules. We go until our Pokémon faints or one of us forfeits, alright?"

"That sounds great, Alex! Ready when you are!"

"Let's do this!" I shouted.

"Go, Swablu!"

"Kirlia, you can do it!"

In a flash Kirlia disappeared from Wally's side and reappeared on the field after a Teleport. Swablu took off from my head and flew over the field. The rest of my team stood on the sidelines to watch the proceeding battle while Wally’s Pokémon grouped around him. Comfey unhooked itself from Wally’s neck and floated in the air next to him.

"It's a special attacker, Swablu! Get in close and Fury Attack!" I commanded.

Armed with the knowledge of Kirlia's potential capabilities, Swablu flew forward to engage Kirlia in melee combat. He readied himself to dodge but was caught unaware by Kirlia's move.

"Confusion! Don't let it get close!"

Kirlia's eyes glowed blue as it stared at Swablu. Swablu found himself coated in a blue light midair as his movement halted. Using its Psychic Type energy, Kirlia twisted the space around Swablu and its attack, Confusion, came into effect.

"Interrupt the move, Disarming Voice!"

Swablu screeched and the sound turned into a visible pink wave that shot towards Kirlia. Kirlia, who had been remaining stationary to focus on Confusion, was hit by the attack and the blue glow disappeared.

Swablu used this chance to dash forward.

Kirlis tried to escape with Teleport, but Swablu banked midair and hit Kirlia beak first with an impromptu Peck attack.

Now close enough, Swablu tore into Kirlia using a combination of its beak, talons, and wings with Fury Attack, like I ordered.

With Swablu's onslaught, Kirlia was unable to focus hard enough to use Confusion or Teleport once more. Instead, sharpened glowing leaves manifested around it and shot down at Swablu in a homing Magical Leaf attack.

The leaves slammed into Swablu's back and interrupted his attacks this time. Kirlia took advantage of this opportunity to grab Swablu and used Draining Kiss.

Both Pokémon began to glow pink as energy drained from Swablu left his body and entered Kirlia’s to heal the Psychic Type of its injuries.

"Back off! Kirlia's healing itself!" I shouted.

Swablu pushed his wings out and broke Kirlia's grip. He shot out with surprising speed and turned around midair to face his opponent once more. Since Kirlia knew Draining Kiss, we would be at disadvantage if Swablu got close. We would have to deal with whatever Kirlia threw at us from range.

"Pepper it with Disarming Voice. Use the same attack to defend yourself."

In the brief lull of the battle, Wally issued his own orders and Kirlia’s eyes started to glow.

Swablu began to fly in loops above Kirlia, keeping it occupied with Disarming Voice as sound based bombing runs interrupted Kirlia's attempts to use Psychic Type moves.

Kirlia sent out a Magical Leaf which tracked Swablu like heat-seeking missiles. Some were able to be destroyed with Disarming Voice, but most still managed to hit him. At this point, both Pokémon were looking pretty tired, but that initial Confusion meant that Swablu had taken more damage than Kirlia. If this kept up, Swablu would be the first to faint. We needed to do something drastic if we were to win.

"Swablu! Use full speed Peck! Gather momentum!"

Swablu flew straight up as more Magical Leaves followed him. Kirlia attempted to use the lack of Disarming Voice attacks to use Confusion, but Swablu had already flown out of its range.

Swablu peaked midair and tucked his wings in. He began to fall rapidly and his beak glowed white with Flying Type energy. His speed caused him to shoot past the Magical Leaves, avoiding damage from that attack.

Wally, seeing what Swablu was attempting, cried out for Teleport but was too late.

Swablu crashed into Kirlia with Peck and pushed up a massive dust cloud. As the obscured area cleared, Kirlia laid on the ground unconscious. Swablu sat next to it, not looking much better.

Wally's jaw dropped in shock. Comfey immediately went to the battlefield to start healing Kirlia.

"Wow, Alex! Your Pokémon are incredibly strong!"

I chuckled and glanced at Swablu who was covered in injuries and on the verge of fainting.

Swablu almost lost despite the fact Wally only has one Gym badge even though we have three. If Wally had the same amount of time to train as we’ve had, I doubt we’d be able to beat him.

"We've put a lot of effort into our training to get this strong,” I said in response, trying to hide how intimidated I was at Wally’s rate of growth. “We still have a long way to go, but it's nice to have our efforts recognized."

He bowed his head in acknowledgement before bringing it back up and looking me in the eye.

"Just because we've lost doesn't mean we're giving up! Just you wait, Alex! We're going to train hard and beat you!"

You don't even know. You're probably going to win the entire Conference.

"You did a really good job. Swablu barely beat Kirlia. I have no doubts you'll get all your badges and sweep the Conference," I told him.

Wally's face went red. I continued to speak.

"It was nice to know you're doing so well. Are you sticking in town tonight or heading out?"

"I was about to head out before I saw you," Wally replied, "I have to meet with Professor Birch in Littleroot Town. But before I go, we forgot to exchange phone numbers! Let's exchange them so we can call each other."

Wally took out a PokéNav and registered my number in it, and I registered his number in my Pokégear.

I raised my eyebrow when I saw his device. “That’s a new PokéNav. Your cousin bought it for you?”

“Nope,” he said “when I was preparing for my Gym Battle in Rustboro a man ran past me and I saw someone chasing him and calling out ‘thief!’ I had my Pokémon stop him and found out the thief was an undercover member of Team Magma!”

My other eyebrow raised up just as high at that as he continued his explanation.

“Turns out he stole some device involving something called ‘infinity energy’ from the Devon Corporation. I returned it to the Devon researcher who was chasing him, and was invited to meet their President! I ended up interrupting a meeting between Mr. Stone and Professor Birch, but Mr. Stone gave me a PokéNav and Professor Birch invited me to Littleroot to give me something too. They both seemed really impressed even though I hadn't earned my first Gym Badge yet.”

Those are some serious protagonist experiences he’s had. Also, wait, Professor Birch is giving him something? Is he going to get a Pokédex?

“You know funny you should mention Mr. Stone,” I said, “I’ve actually met his son. The Dawn Stone I gave you is from his personal collection.”

This time it was Wally’s turn to raise his eyebrows.

“You’ve met the Champion! And this stone is from his collection!? You have to take it back!”

I laughed. “Nope. You have to beat me in the Conference first, remember?”

He slumped forward but held out his hand to shake. “I remember. I’ll beat you in the Conference and then you’ll have to take it back!”

I smiled and shook his hand. “I’d like to see you try.”

As he held my hand he had a sudden gleam in his eye.

“Alex, you only have three badges right?”

I hummed in affirmation. I told Wally my planned route for the region back when I was in Verdanturf so he knew I would have challenged three Gyms if I was in Petalburg.

“Then once you earn your fifth let's travel together!”

I looked at him in shock.

“Huh? You want to travel with me?”

Wally emphatically nodded his head.

“You’re super knowledgeable and really nice to me! If you didn’t help me I wouldn’t have been able to go on my journey. I don’t have many friends so I thought we could take on the last three Gyms together.”

I didn’t need to take long to think about it. Wally was nice and a strong trainer, plus I was getting lonely traveling alone with just my Pokémon. It made sense to wait until five badges, too. Our current paths wouldn’t line up until then, but we would have the same three badges left at that point. Overall it seemed like a great idea.

“That sounds like a plan. You should call me once you get your fifth and we can meet in Mauville before moving on to Fortree. Sound good?”

Wally smiled.

“Yup! It’s going to be really fun!”

Comfey had finished healing Kirlia and had healed Swablu as well. Both Kirlia and Swablu mimicked our own handshake as Kirlia shook Swablu's wing.

Kirlia retreated to Wally's side and Comfey moved to once more hang around his neck. He waved goodbye and left the area, heading out to continue traveling to Littleroot.

I turned to the rest of my Pokémon.

"Well that was exciting, wasn't it?"

I clapped my hands together.

"Let's get back to training. We have a Gym Battle soon."

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That night when checking my Pokémon I was surprised to learn that Swablu’s winning move against Kirlia wasn’t Peck, but in fact something else. He had figured out how to use Take Down in his battle against Kirlia.