"Hoppip, huh?" Indigo had to admit, the pokemon was intriguing. He'd never seen one before. With long, propeller like leaves and those big, pink cat-like ears, he had to admit it was pretty adorable. And it looked pretty easy to handle. Still, he wasn't truly sure he wanted another pokemon or could handle one. Not to kention the pokemon didn't seem to want to fight or be caught, and he wasn't about to force it to do either.

The true development at hand was Sydney's cry of, "we did it! We found Spewpa!"

Indigo turned to lay eyes on a pokemon he hadn't expected at all... It was white, with a silken shag around it, speckled with black and red. It seemed pretty bug like to him with it's insectoid eyes and general appearance. Most importantly it didn't look impressive at all. Or strong. Or cool. Or anything remotely positive or what he had imagined.

"That's Spewpa?" He asked, quirking a brow. "I was expecting something different..." He didn't bother getting his pokedex out. Why even try? It was clearly a lame pokemon. Come to think of it, bug types being lame seemed to be a reoccurring trend now that he thought about it..

Sydeney noted the skepticism in Indy's voice but decided catching Spewpa was important first. He would explain later, for now he released his own pokemon.

"Okay now, I'll need you guys to talk to that Spewpa and see if it wouldn't mind being caught," Sydney said. "Give it some food too. Hopefully it won't mind coming with humans for a short bit."

@Balthazar007

Dan also decided to join in on hunting for the spewpa, It was a good opportunity to train after all. Most of his times had been spent battling patrats, Rotating on his use of Twiggy and Burmy. The battles had been easy and after an hour had passed Dan noticed Indy and Sydney had found something but he decided not to go look at whatever they would found and decided to train even more.

Not too long after breaking farther off from Dan encountered a female Rattata that looked pretty tough.

"Hm...Maybe you're a pokemon I'll catch...Need some more variety anyways"

Dan decided to only use Twiggy in the fight, and while though Twiggy didn't like fighting he loved to at least spend time with her trainer outside his ball.

"You ready?" Dan asked the Rattata.

"Okay now, I'll need you guys to talk to that Spewpa and see if it wouldn't mind being caught," Sydney said. "Give it some food too. Hopefully it won't mind coming with humans for a short bit."

Sydney's Kricketot chirped merrily as he emerged from his Pokeball. Sydney gave him a berry and asked him offer it to the wild Spewpa before them. "...Hopefully it won't mind coming with humans for a short bit."

Kricketot nodded his understanding and walked toward the cautious Spewpa, berry outstretched as a peace offering. Spewpa was hungry and Kricketot's calming words were working well. She accepted the berry gracefully and listened as Kricketot told her about his awesome trainer Sydney—how he loved Bug Pokemon and how he would take great care of her.

Gobbling down the last of the berry, Spewpa nodded in agreement and hopped toward Sydney.

"I don't know exactly what you said Kricketot, but thank you!" Sydney pulled out an empty Pokeball and tossed it. It din't even shake once. Sydney then ran over and picked it up, holding it close to his chest. "Alright!" Kricketot stood beside him and jumped up and down happily.

Dan decided to only use Twiggy in the fight, and while though Twiggy didn't like fighting he loved to at least spend time with her trainer outside his ball.

"You ready?" Dan asked the Rattata.

The wild Rattata didn't understand Dan's words, but the meaning behind them was not lost. He was supposed to battle this Pokemon that he'd never seen before. A little nervous but stubborn at the same time, he took a deep breath and charged forward. He was going to Tackle his opponent with everything he had and end the battle as soon as possible.

Indigo watched the exchange with mild irritation painted across his face. This was so boring, not to mention a waste of time. The Spewpa was hardly what Sydney had said it would be, and Indigo didn't get why this Sydney character would want to catch another bug type when he already had one. He didn't look like a gym leader. Did it have something to do with entomology? Was there a reason why Sydney's pokemon were so lame? Sure, Kricketot was charming with it’s xylophone sounds but… It looked kinda dumb. And yeah, he had lost to one earlier, but that had been because he had been in a crowd and under a lot of pressure!

All this little side-gig was doing was delaying their trip to Shamba Town, where Indigo was anxious to explore some opportunities to get some cash.

Even after reading Spewpa's entry in the pokedex, finding out it was related to Scatterbug and that it expelled powder was hardly exciting. Being an impatient 16 year old sometimes, Indigo's words bristled forth with edge.

"Look, Sydney, I was kind of expecting something cooler with Spewpa," he said, unable to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "And why do you have another Bug type? I mean, doesn't that make your team unbalanced or something?"

Sydney, having been raised in academia and with prior experience to people guffawing or disapproving of his dedicated studies to entomology, was well equipped to respond to the younger Indigo with poise and reasoning. Though he was only 17, Sydney knew how to educate and reason, prepped to be a true educator and researcher. Still, thought it got easier, he was nervous. Sometimes people refused to learn, or they didn’t want to connect. And that was always disheartening. Still, he was on his path to becoming a famous researcher and to do that, he would have to be receptive to criticism. He would have to be able to push through disapproving tones and mocking laughter. He could do this.

"Indy, I'm an entomologist, so that means I study bugs," Sydney responded with a small, slightly nervous smile. “That’s why I choose to catch bug types. And Spewpa is an amazing pokemon. What exactly do you find not so great about it?”

"Er, well, I knew what an entomologist was,” Indigo bluffed, not wanting to look stupid and caught off-guard. "I just, you know, like, no offense but Spewpa seems lame." He shrugged. [color=8882be]"I mean, all bug types kinda… Do.”[/ color] There, he’d said it, and he felt like it wasn’t supposed to be something he could say. But it was just an opinion! Was it so wrong to have one?

“You have a Burmy, though, so why’d you catch one?” Sydney asked, trying his best to be patient.
"It wasn’t really my choice. Hero kinda saved me from getting hit from a Rattata and I dunno, he got hurt so I thought I’d let him stay with me a little while. It’s only been like two days. I was planning on releasing him soon anyways." Indigo rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

Sydney was silent for a moment. “I see,” he responded, wiping the dirt off his hands onto his shorts. “That’s unfortunate. But I assure you, Bug pokemon are worthy of anyone’s attention, including Spewpa.”
"I still don’t really see it."

Sydney was nervous, but he was confident all the same. He knew Bug types in and out, especially his Kricketot. And he’d been studying Spewpa for about a month now. “Indigo, why don’t we have a battle?” He asked.

Indigo was caught off guard once more. A battle? But… He’d just lost earlier that day! Then again, there was no crowd and if all Sydney had were his lame pokemon… This would be a piece of cake right? And he couldn’t exactly refuse because Hawka came running up at the first syllable of the word. They were mostly on flat grassland down, and there was a dirt road where he could use his fire type moves. It would be a piece of cake.

"Sure, I mean whatever," Indigo said. Wait—why was he nervous? Sydney noted that Indigo sounded defensive. Clearly this had more to do than just Bug pokemon… But that could be addressed later.

After they had relocated to the dirt road, the battle was starting. It would be two on two, and with Burmy’s newly learned attack move, Indigo felt confident that he could crush Sydney.

“Kricketot, go!”

“Hawka, you’re on!”

As it happened though, Sydney won. Hawka’s battle with Kricketot had been turned as the clever use of Bide and some loud sound moved called Uproar had taken her out. Hero had been paralyzed with a Stun Spore from the newest addition to Sydney’s team, tossed around with a string shot, before being finished off with a Tackle.

Indigo stared, mouth agape. What had just happened? Though Sydney had seemed so meek, and his pokemon so unimpressive, he’d crushed Indigo with surprising strategy and calculation. And his pokemon—his pokemon had hit pretty hard!

“But… How?” Indigo asked. Sydney ran over to help Indigo with his pokemon. They were mostly fine, recovering from their knockout quickly. As they munched on a revitalizing snack of berries after their check up, Sydney turned to Indigo with a kind look in his eyes.

“Not too shabby about Bug pokemon, right?” He grinned. “Indy, I didn’t do this to embarrass you or anything. I hope you’re not upset.”

““I’m not…” But the defeat and embarrassment stung. Indigo felt like a fool now, an absolute fool.
“But now you see- they’re not so bad now, right?” Sydney said. Indigo shrugged.

---

The only thing that saved Turtwig from an instant defeat from the Rattata's Tackle, was because He withdrew into his shell.
"Ugh, Twiggy are you okay?" Dan yelled. Twiggy turned to his trainer and nodded and formulated a plan in his head.

Twiggy charged forward almost going for a tackle but stopped just as Rattata dodged, and used absorb against the strong opponent, Draining him of some of its energy, but, only did a little damage to his opponent. Rattata tried to do a counterattack as quickly as possible but by the time he recovered from his first hit, but, Twiggy had already charged forward and hit Him with all his might doing almost as much damage as the Rattata did to him.

It wasn't much longer before the fight was over, With the two Pokemon trading tackles and The odd-quick attack from the wild pokemon, with Twiggy winning by his use of Absorb which saved him in a fair few moments through the conclusion.

Dan looked at the Rat laying on the ground and bent over and said to him
"Hey, You fought well... How about you travel with me? I could always use a strong ally."

Rattata didn't understand what the trainer said but the fact that he had pulled out a Pokeball made it clear, So he nodded.

"Okay then... Here we go" Dan said as he pressed the middle button on the ball, Making a distinct Beep as he caught the wild Rattata.

"Well then, I guess I'll just call you Rat, Maybe Generic but it's easier to say then your full name." Dan said to the Pokeball as he put it in his bag.

I better get back to Indy. He's probably wondering where I wandered off to. Dan thought to himself as he started the travel back. It only took a couple minutes of a combination of running and speed-walking to get back to Indy and Sydney, who had been talking about some sorta battle.

"Hey guys!" Dan said as he approached the two "How'd the hunt for Spewpa go?"

"Oh hey, uh, we found the Spewpa," Indigo said sheepishly. He didn't want to mention he'd lose another battle, especially to two lame pokemon. "I'm just gonna look around for some stuff for longer, I dunno, maybe there's a pokemon here or something." He stood up to be alone; why did he feel so awful? Maybe he would talk about it later, but for now, Indy wanted to be alone.

He went to go try and search for other pokemon he hadn't seen yet. From the grass, a pokemon he hadn't seen before showed up!

@Balthazar007

"Hey guys!" Dan said as he approached the two "How'd the hunt for Spewpa go?"

Sydney felt uncomfortable. He only intended to show Indigo the usefulness of Bug-type Pokemon. He didn't mean to dash the boy's spirits. Indigo spoke first, and Sydney was glad. He didn't know what to say.

"Oh hey, uh, we found the Spewpa," Indigo said sheepishly. He didn't want to mention he'd lose another battle, especially to two lame pokemon. "I'm just gonna look around for some stuff for longer, I dunno, maybe there's a pokemon here or something." He stood up to be alone; why did he feel so awful? Maybe he would talk about it later, but for now, Indy wanted to be alone.

As Indigo left, Sydney lifted a hand and offered his friendliest, "Bye."

He then turned to Daniel. A melancholy smile painted his face. "Yeah, I caught the Spewpa we found, but uh, I need to get back to the lab now." Suddenly his mood brightened a shade or two. "Oh yeah, I forgot. Here, let's register each other in our Pokedexes. All we have to do is turn them on and hold them back to back for a couple seconds..."

A soft ding signaled a successful exchange. "There, now you can call me anytime you have a question about Bug-type Pokemon. Share that with Indigo too." With an honest smile, he put his Pokedex away. "It was nice to meet you."

He went to go try and search for other pokemon he hadn't seen yet. From the grass, a pokemon he hadn't seen before showed up!

It was a Buneary! She tilted her head curiously at Indigo. She was young, and this was the closest she had ever come to a human. Normally, her parents told her to stay away from people, but she never understood why. They couldn't hold her back forever though, so hear she was. She would decide for herself if the humans were all that bad.

After Dan and Sydney had registered each other on their Pokedex's, Dan was left alone, with not much to do. Boredom struck quickly and with a sting unlike before.

Maybe it's my adrenaline, I should go out and do some light training with my pokemon, Even if they are tired... Dan thought to himself.

So he went just outside of the Grass to avoid wild Pokemon as he brought out his Pokemon.

"Okay, you three. I know you're tired but we gotta train if we want to be even a match for the trainers and that Gym leader in the next town, So I'll give you a 20 Minute rest and we will do some light training" Dan said.

After 22 Minutes had passed the three Pokemon started training, While though they only got a little out of it due to their fatigue.

As the Buneary approached Indigo, he couldn't help but forget his attitude momentarily and inwardly squeal. The pokemon was adorable! All fluffy and cuddly looking with a smile on its face. Wait, he wasn't supposed to like cute pokemon so much. He needed tougher, cooler looking ones didn't he? Hawka was already cute, and Hero was kind of gross looking, so he couldn't just get another cutesy pokemon. His Team had to have some kind of aesthetic, didn't it? He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away. It's probably for the best...

He wasn't sure what he wanted to do. Training seemed like a lot of effort... But he'd lost twice today. He knew he needed to train. But why bother? If it was just going to end in a loss...

Hawka chirped and Hero rustled his leaves loudly, getting Indigo's attention. "What?" He asked. "I know, I know, we lost. I'm sorry. I'm not good at this stuff."

The Buneary watched, intrigued. She had seen the battle earlier, and though she had had her own fair share of battles against trainers and fellow wild pokemon alike, this one had intrigued her. She wasn't sure why, though she knew she wanted to leave her burrow soon and explore the rest of the world. She leaned forwards, her ears twitching. The human seemed to be communicating with his pokemon.

Hawka squawked furiously in response, shaking her bright crest and Hero wobbled side to side in tandem. It seemed they were telling Indy he was wrong.

"Hm... You mean you guys aren't mad?" He asked. "How can you say that? I lost twice today... I mean, I'm pathetic." He sank to the ground, wanting to fall asleep under his spell of self-inflicted misery and exhaustion. But Hawka pecked at his fingers and Hero jumped on his stomach. "Ow! Okay... Okay. What? You guys want to train?" His pokemon nodded enthusiastically and he didn't resist the urge to grumble. "Ugh I'm so tired though... But fine."

So they began exchanging blows, just like earlier, and as the Buneary saw the close-knit teamwork of the pokemon, she decided she wanted to be on this very team as well. But! She would first see if they were worthy of her. So she slipped away first, to say goodbye to her little burrow. She'd miss them all but it was a common occurrence in the pokemon world. They all left the nest eventually.

On the way, she trained herself, prepping for her eventual trainer battle. About an hour passed during the time she readied herself and Indigo had his pokemon train. She finally hopped back onto the scene, ready.

"Hm? Oh hey another Buneary... Or wait, are you the one I saw before?" Indy asked outloud, mostly to himself. He wasn't sure about this newcomer but she leapt forwards, punching menacingly with her ears. Woah! This Buneary wanted to fight!

Hawka took the tenacious rabbit on, being a more proud and brash fighter than Hero. She came at the Buneary with her newly learned Peck move, her beak glowing with energy and jutting forwards. The Buneary caught Hawka's beak in between both of her strong ears, however, and flipped Hawka back mercilessly.

"Hawka! From the air, launch an Ember!" Indy shouted. Hawka opened her mouth to spew a flurry of crackling fireballs at the Buneary. She couldn't defend with her ears this time! Instead, the rabbit pokemon rolled into a Defense Curl.

"Try a Sand-Attack!" Yet as Hawka tried to kick up dusts of sand towards the Buneary, the clever bunny countered with a Foresight attack, making it so her accuracy was unaffected. Not that Indigo exactly knew. All he could tell was that the rabbit wasn't any easier to dodge than before.

The battle went on as both sides gained the upper hand and lost it. Finally, the Buneary decided she had had enough and went straight for Indy.

"Woah, woah, hey!" He yelped, scrambling back. But the Buneary was faster than him, and suddenly-- she reached up and pressed the button on one of the pokeballs by his waist. To his utter surprise, the Buneary disappeared in a flash of red. "Hey, wait a sec..." Before it could even register, the pokeball clicked with a satisfied ding and stopped shaking. He stared dumbfounded. He had... caught a Buneary?

After it was all said and done, he met up with Daniel again. "Hey, what a day... Let's catch up. Anything new with you?"

---

Just over the hill from where Daniel and Indigo met up, there lied a meadow. In the middle of that meadow, near a large shade tree, a young girl was setting up a tent. She would occasionally stop to take a picture of herself or her surroundings using her Pokedex.

After driving the last tent stake into the ground, she began working on a fire. In a matter of minutes, Daniel and Indigo would be able to see smoke.

"Oh, hey Indy. I was gonna train my Pokemon just a bit before midnight. Ya know in prep for a Gym." Dan said. "I'm gonna train not too far away so call if you need me!" Dan said as he scurried off.
Hm. Indy had only just gotten back. Maybe I should've invited him to join me... I'll have to say sorry when I get back. But it's too late now, I gotta train before it gets too dark. Dan thought to himself as he reached a patch of grass.

Dan hadn't yet seen the smoke as it bloomed, instead, focusing on his less tired Pokemon Burmy and to a lesser extent Rat. It didn't take a lot of training for Burmy to get tired and stop training.

"Tired already? Man, you sure are lazy. Maybe it's that coat of leaves you always wear..." Dan whispered to himself as he placed Burmy back in her ball.

The freshly caught Rattata was still jumping with energy.

"Man, you had been tired all day from your battle with Tiggy... What's with the energy this late?" Dan said as Rat scratched his own ears rapidly like a dog would.

"Fine, Abit more training with you and then we find somewhere for us to rest." He said.
After a couple of battles with other Rattata's that had been trying to get home for some much-needed sleep, Did Rat decide to stop training and submitted to being put inside his Pokeball.

All right now that this is all done, I should find Indy. Dan thought to Himself.

On the way back to where his friend had been previously he found a couple of Cheri Berries and Pocketed them, Saving them for later use. And noting the smoke from a campfire not too far off.

As he approached Indy, Dan said "Hey Indy, You ready to set camp. I noticed someone made a camp not too far from here, You can see the smoke from some sort of campfire from here. I doubt they'd mind sharing their camp."

"Um," Indigo said as Dan ran off to train. "Erm, cool, I guess." Did that mean he had to train more too? Hero and Hawka seemed just about capped for the day, their last training session had pushed them and they were tired. But the newest addition to his team, the Buneary, he wondered how she felt. He needed to get to know her better.
"Mimzy, come out," and the newly named Buneary came out of her ball. She stood, shyly and just a smidge far away. It was as though she was nervous and Indy out stretched his hand.
"Hey it's alright. You know, you don't have to come along..." Secretly he felt glad about catching a Buneary, but he also felt like it went against his plans. He couldn't just abandon her after she had insisted on coming with him though. Gah, it was so confusing.

Mimzy hopped up to his hand, sniffing cautiously. Indy gently patted her head. Her fur was luxuriously soft. "You're okay. See?It's not a big deal." Mimzy then batted his hand away, but she remained closer than where she had been standing before. Maybe she'd feel better with Hero and Hawka around... So he released his other pokemon. He'd just returned them before letting Mimzy out, thinking she would be overwhelmed, but perhaps he had been wrong.

She perked up considerably meeting Hawka and Hero. Their little chitters and squeals were more than enough to let anyone know they were getting along just fine. There seemed to be a bit of a rivalry between Hawka and Mimzy, albeit a friendly one.

As it ended up being, Mimzy wanted to train too. She was determined to settle the score with Hawka once and for all, and so she showed off and practiced her moves. She certainly wasn't going to be falling behind! While Indy coached her, he managed to stumble upon three Kee berries and three Cheri berries. After an hour had passed of Mimzy training while Indy and her other teammates coached her, he found himself being approached by Dan.

"Oh, yeah?" Indigo hadn't noticed the smoke in the distance, but sure enough, there it was. "Okay yeah, let's see if they wouldn't mind sharing their tent. By the way, this new pokemon found me." He gestured towards Mimzy, who had just pulverized a hard rock into smithereens with her powerful ears. "This Buneary actually pressed the button on my pokeball. I didn't even throw it. Crazy, right? I feel like we haven't seen each other all day. Anything new with you?"

---

"Ah, That's right, we haven't talked much. But other than my training I caught a Rattata, I know He's not hilariously Impressive but I need variation In my team. So one fire type doesn't Ruin my entire day." Dan said as he noted his Buneary. "That one's pretty cute, and tough too. Not a lot of Pokemon can destroy boulders so easily."

Dan started walking towards the source of the smoke and catching up with his friend, It didn't take but 10 minutes to reach the meadow and to a campsite being occupied by one girl, She didn't look too old but not Hilariously young, sitting by a campfire drinking some sort of tea.

"Uh...Hello...Mrs?" Dan said, trying to get the girls attention.

Indy was somewhat intrigued by Daniel's reasoning. One one hand, Daniel seemed to not care what his pokemon looked like at all, but on the other, he was concerned about type. Indigo felt the exact opposite. Were they two sides of the same coin? Did that mean he didn't have to feel bad about not liking pokemon because of the way they looked?

Even he had to admit his paralell was a weak one. But it helped him not feel guilty! Which was what he was going for at the present.

He smiled. Dan's encouragement was wonderful and supportive, which was more than Indy had even been asking for. He stifled a chortle when Dan mentioned the little rabbit pulverizing a boulder. It had just been a hefty rock, maybe no more than than 8x10 inches in size.

"My day's ruined everyday from a fire-type," Indy said dryly, only half joking. Hawka cheeped in protest and began pecking at the cuffs of his jeans. Mimzy was basking in the praise. She seemed to like attention. What a relief that Dan could help him feel better. "But thanks." The Rattata was not the best looking pokemon ever, but Indy admired it's rich, royal purple fur. "It's got a really nice coat too. And yeah let's go check it out." He recalled his pokemon, save for Mimzy who preferred to be outside her ball at the moment.

As they made their way to the campsite and came across a young girl, Dan was the first to speak. "We're just trainers passing by. We saw your smoke so we just thought we'd hang."

"Oh! I'm Joan," Joan said, putting her cup down and extending a hand. For a girl traveling alone, she didn't seem nervous or frightened at all by Indy and Dan. "Trainers, you say?"

Indy scratched the back of his head. "Newbies... We just started like two days ago."

"Is that so? Well come around for some conversation and tea if you'd like! Always good to make some new friends." Joan sipped at her tea. "So, how are you guys liking it so far?"

As Dan had placed his bag away from the fire he said "It's different from home that's for sure, but with all these amazing Pokemon it's not too bad." Dan took his place opposite Joan.
"Uh-huh, Well I'm glad that you're enjoying it. This region has something for everyone after all." She said, with a smile.

"Yea.... So where did you come from" Dan said thinking of something to say

Really Dan? That's what you decided to say? You sound like a creep...
Dan thought to himself. He really didn't know why his words and mind failed Him, Maybe it was because the girl across from him was cute, She looked about his age anyway.

"I came from Rustboro City. In the Heonn region." She said.

"I think my dad visited there once. Not Rustboro but that area at least." Dan said, His thoughts flatlining yet again. There was a time of awkward silence when Dan and Indy had been given tea by Joan.

"So uh.... What about you?" She said focusing her attention on Indy. "How do you like it so far?"

Indy had a far easier time with conversation. Though he preferred to listen, engaging with people was never a problem. "It's okay, I mean, it's nice not having my parents around," he said dryly.

Joan nodded. "I can definitely attest to that!"

The group continued with conversation for about an hour. There was laughter, and the topics ranged from the pokemon they had, to their struggles, to growing up in their respective cities. Joan was certainly an intelligent girl, but she overstepped the border on being a know-it-all too. Indy found her to be somewhat insufferable at times in their conversation. Finally, as they were wrapping up...

"But I mean, going way back to what you asked before, I'm not that into the whole pokemon journey thing. To be honest, I feel like I'm just here sometimes," Indy admitted. Joan looked at him critically, but he didn't notice, continuing. "This all just seems... Pretty difficult I guess." His mind flashed to the two losses he'd had earlier that day. Mimzy stared at her human with interest. What was the sadness behind his eyes? He seemed more approachable than before, a little more caring. She nibbled at his hand. "I feel like I don't know what I'm doing."

Joan let out a laugh, startling Indy. That had not been the reply he'd been expecting. Good thing the crimson blush couldn't be seen across his face because of thankfully dark complexion. "What? What the hell?" He demanded.

"What a wimp!" Joan chortled. Indigo gaped, blinking. This was not what he had wanted at all. He had wanted some empathy, some validation, some semblance that he wasn't the only one who felt this way. Instead, this girl was making a joke of his anxiety! Joan continued, relentless. "That's the kind of thinking that's going to make you a loser. Not like me though." She jabbed a thumb at her chest with pride. "You better shape up."

"Are you serious? So you've just got all the answers?" Indigo demanded. He was trying to stay cool but this trainer was too much! Her confidence seemed to be overflowing to the point of arrogance.

"Oh, spare me your indignance," Joan said casually, waving away Indy's feelings. "But yes, in fact I do know that I have all the answers, so there!" And she let out another laugh again. "Don't take it personally. You kind of need a kick to your butt, honestly. I saw you training earlier and-" she scoffed. "Way to barely train your pokemon, Indy. Honestly, you just leave them to train themselves while you barely do anything? You're putting like, less than zero effort into your pokemon. You should be ashamed."

'What-" He clutched Mimzy, who wasn't sure what was going on but it was upsetting. She pressed the button on her pokeball, opting to return back.

"How can you expect to know what you're doing and what you want if you don't even try? Was it you, who lost to that one bug trainer earlier?" Joan asked. Indigo's eyes widened. No! He'd been wanting to keep that a secret! "I thought so. You should have won that battle, but despite your pokemon training, you haven't been."

"What gives you the right to tell me what to do? I don't care about training!" Indigo protested, not sure if he believed himself but this girl had guts to assume everything about him! "And my pokemon don't care that I don't care! So-- arghh, whatever." He stood up. "Nice talking to you Joan. He didn't hide the ire in his voice. "I'm gonna go to bed. Dan, I'll be setting up camp." Since it was so late and he was exhausted, he couldn't bear to walk too far away just for the sake of not being next to Joan.

"Aw come on, I'll help!" Joan piqued up. Indy rolled his eyes.

"Whatever."

And as it was, the good natured Joan did help them set up their camp. She and Dan continued to converse, or perhaps they didn't; Indy wasn't paying attention. As they were all getting ready for bed though, she flashed Indy a grin. "Instead of being so mad about it, you could try to battle me. But I don't think you will. Tomorrow morning though, I'll be waiting to kick your ass."

He didn't say anything, his stomach twisting. Why was everyone so obsessed with trying to change him? First Sydney, then this girl... He couldn't help but feel defensive.

At the same time, he wondered if Joan was right...

After saying goodnight to Dan, the cool night air swept a soothing breeze over the campsites, and all three trainers found themselves asleep.

After saying goodnight to Dan, the cool night air swept a soothing breeze over the campsites, and all three trainers found themselves asleep.

Daniel and Indigo woke to the smell of stew. Well, it wasn't the stew that woke them exactly. That job belonged to the pans that Joan were banging together. "Wakey wakey! I made breakfast!"

This was the earliest Daniel or Indigo had been woken since their journey began. One would expect them to be frustrated, but at the same time, what sane traveler says no to free food?

A few feet away, Joan's Pokemon were yawning and eating their Poke food with closed eyes. There were two of them: a Cherubi, a Hoppip, and a Buneary. They too were woken by Joan's zealous excitement.

"Argh... Does she ever turn off," Indigo muttered, burrowing himself into his sleeping bag and trying to plug his ears but alas, Joan was too annoying for that to work. He sat up glaring. "Okay, okay, you can stop now!"

"That only took you 32 seconds, not bad," Joan said happily. "I've got some stew going. You guys are welcome!"

Nobody asked. Ugh. Indigo threw off his covers and made his way sleepily to the pot of cooking stew. It looked good-- loaded with carrots, mushrooms, beans, tomatoes. His stomach grumbled. "Thanks for the grub," he said grudgingly before taking a bowl and pouring a few ladles for himself. He noted Joan's pokemon. Buneary was definitely probably strong, Indigo thought. Hoppip and Cherubi he wasn't sure but if Joan was confident, she was probably confident for a reason. He let out his own pokemon: Hawka, Hero, and Mimzy. Immediately Mimzy ran over and warbled a worried mewl. The rising tension and loud voices last night had frightened her. Despite being physically strong, she was still a naive and shy pokemon at heart.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Indigo asked, gently scratching her ears and under her chin. "Oh, right, you went back into your pokeball last night. Did I scare you, Mimzy? I'm sorry." The Buneary smiled, reassured, before running off to Hawka and Hero to share breakfast with them. Indy glanced at his pokemon, Joan's words echoing in his head, bouncing about his skull and rattling relentlessly.

"How can you expect to know what you're doing and what you want if you don't even try?"

"Honestly, you just leave them to train themselves while you barely do anything?"

"Despite your pokemon training, you haven't been."

"You thought about that battle yet?" Joan piped up, a confident smile on her face as she interrupted Indy's thoughts. Though she may have seemed annoying, Joan was actually an enthusiastic and helpful girl at heart. Even if she didn't go about the best way of doing things, she wanted to help. Though her methods weren't always right or perfect, she tried doing the right thing. And to her, giving this trainer a wake-up call was a good deed indeed! Indy paused.

"Fine, you're on." He could hardly believe himself. He didn't want to battle, and after his losses from yesterday, he wondered if he would ever win a battle again. But one thing was for sure... He couldn't let anybody think he wasn't going to take a dare. That would have been uncool.

The battle ended up being a loss for Indigo once more. Yes, type advantage and all should have had him the clear winner, but the truth was, he didn't train himself. He returned his pokemon, slumping. Why...? Why did he keep losing? Would he ever win?

---

Dan and his pokemon finished off the last of their stew as the battle between Indy and Joan, Dan wanted to battle her but wasn't sure he could even stand a chance against her especially if Indy lost.

"Hey, Joan! I want a battle too... But I want to train first though. My pokemon are a bit behind Indy, so if I don't train you are going to destroy me!" Dan said.

"Humph, behind him? I didn't think that was possible, Fine though. I'll battle you whenever you get back." She said.

"Haha, Yea I've been slacking. But hey, Indy isn't that bad ya know. You have no idea how much he's helped me though the years." Dan said as he walked away towards the grass with his Pokemon.

He trained for two hours Hoping he could adapt to the Strategies that Joan used in the other fight.

After his training was done and he gave ample time for his Pokemon to rest he walked back to the camp

"You ready? Even though your Pokemon are Tough, I'll still give it all I got!" Dan said approaching Joan.

After his training was done and he gave ample time for his Pokemon to rest he walked back to the camp

"You ready? Even though your Pokemon are Tough, I'll still give it all I got!" Dan said approaching Joan.

Joan had just finished packing up camp when Daniel returned.

"Oh wow, I was beginning to think you changed your mind." She smiled her normal confident smile, then said, "Let's do it!"