Indigo wholly appreciated Dan's attempts to defend him, but it wasn't enough to make him feel better.
Pfft, whatever. She thinks I don't train? What's that supposed to even mean? Only my pokemon have to train... Well he'd show her!

So for the time that Dan was gone training, Indigo released his ppkemon and they went through their regimine as well. This time it was lighter, more playful, and less intense as Mimzy was a newcomer, but they all seemed to be working together well enough. For two hours they worked hard, but Indigo still didn't see the point of commanding them or being involved. They knew what they were doing, didn't they? He would have just been in the way! Joan didn't know what she was talking about and the fact that she had won had only been a fluke.

During their training, he opted to look for more items instead. He found himself with 3 Kee berries once more and 3 Cheri berries. The whole group feeling satisfied after about two hours of hard work, they returned to the campsite just in time to see Dan challenging Joan...

The battle Started, With Dan sending out Rat first, and Joan putting out her Cherubi.
"Hm, I remember that one. That twin had that same Pokemon." Dan whispered to Himself. The battle took a long time with both trainers frequently trading out Pokemon and have them trade Blows one after another until They each had On Pokemon left. Daniels Burmy and Joan's Buneary.
"Hm, Guess it's down to this," Dan said. "you got this Burmy!"

"Hah!" Joan snorted "That one stands no chance against Buneary!"

"You'll see." Dan shouted back.
The final battle began with the two Trading hits and the occasional protect from Burmy.

The battle Had Finally ended with a puff of smoke, with Buneary Smashing Into Burmy's Protect Move, Leaving her stunned and too close to the Burmy allowing him to hit Buneary with a savage tackle finally finishing her off.

Dan jumped In excitement as soon as it concluded and ran to his Burmy "You did well. Now it's time to rest." Dan said putting his pokemon back into a ball. He then turned to Joan and said "You did good too. It was really fun battling you." Dan said with a smile extending his hand out.

"Congratulations, you did great," Indigo said, running over to Dan and giving him a high five. It had actually been a bit... Inspiring. Plus, he'd been rooting for Joan to lose. All in all, he felt like if Dan could do it, then he too, could do it.

"I guess... You may have been right before, a little," Indigo said to Joan, though he still didn't quite understand what she was getting at. All he knew was that somehow he had to train too. But maybe, perhaps, it had some merit. Training himself, what did that entail?

"Of course I'm right! And I think you just got lucky," Joan laughed, shaking Daniel's hand. "Ah, well, you have my sincerest felicitations." She had some more to say though...

@Balthazar007

"Of course I'm right! And I think you just got lucky," Joan laughed, shaking Daniel's hand. "Ah, well, you have my sincerest felicitations." She had some more to say though...

"If you don't mind, I would love to sync our Pokedexs." Joan smiled and held out her Pokedex to Daniel.

As they held their Pokedexes back to back, she smiled in excitement. "Did you know, syncing Pokedexes doesn't just share contact information? It also shares Pokemon information. Specifically, it shares the locations of wild Pokemon."

There was a soft ding signalling a successful connection. "So let's see..." She took a moment to scroll through her Pokedex. "Ooo! Look at that! There are Wingull at Muzin Beach! I didn't see any last time I was there. Fantastic!" She looks up from her Pokedex. "So you see, linking with a local Pokemon trainer in a new area is a much more efficient way to find Pokemon than just wandering around blind. It doesn't look like I had seen anything new to you though. Sorry about that."

She then turned to Indigo. "I assume your Pokedex has the same Pokemon since you two travel together, but would you like to sync anyways? That way we can call each other if we want. We should all meet up and resync, after we've seen more of this region."

"Sure," Indigo replied, handing Joan his pokedex. After the sync was complete, he remembered Sydney. Sheesh, he'd forgotten about him completely! Sure, after training yesterday he'd been tired and though to ask at some point, but he just hadn't gotten around to it.

I'll have to ask Dan... The same feeling he had experienced with rhe strange famous boy from just a day ago resurfaced. And he had that feeling with Joan too. The unsettling feeling that something was unfinished, that if he never saw Joan or Sydney again, then that would have meant his encounters with them would have been summarized by their single fleeting battles.

He... Didn't want that.

But at the same time, it was easier to just accept defeat forever. Why bother after all, when all his experience was telling him that he could never win? Perhaps... Perhaps training with Dan would help! He was sure he wouldn't feel nervous around his friend as he did with other opponents. Right, he'd ask Dan later, perhaps for a practice battle or something. Maybe he could glean some tips or something.

In the time he had spent musing and daydreaming in his own world, he and Dan had packed their bags and were ready to move on.

"Hey Joan. You heading out?" Indy asked.

"Hm?" Joan looked at Indy curiously. "No, I'll be staying here a few more days before I go to Muzin."

"Well, we gotta get going... One thing I gotta mention though."

"Yes?"

"Out of all the people I met, I think you're like one of the most..."

"Ooh, let me guess! Brilliant? Driven? Talented?"

"... Annoying," Indy finished dryly. "Try to tone it down a notch." Upon seeing her try to get out a comeback, he shrugged innocently. "Hey, don't take it personally. You gave me advice so I thought I'd return the favor." He grinned.

"Oh shut up! I beat you in a battle!" Joan protested.

"Yeah, well, so did a kid who looked like 13 so there's not much to be proud of," Indy giggled. Mentioning his loss stung, but talking about it made it sting a little less. Throwing some humor into the mix eased the unpleasantness of the memory even more. He waved. "See ya."

And they continued on.

Dan chuckled a bit at Indy's pokes of humor at Joan's expense. It only took a moment after leaving for Dan to realize he left his Pokeballs sitting out back where they stayed. He didn't know why he took them out originally. Maybe cause he liked looking at them cause the colors are nice to him.

"Hey Indy, I left something back at that camp." Dan said as he dashed off "Wait here, I'll be back!"

As soon as Dan arrived back in the camp for his Items, Joan noticed him and said "Hm? Back already?"

"Ah, No, No I forgot something here by accident." he said as he picked up his Pokeball's. As soon as he was leaving he turned to Joan and said "For the record, I think your....pretty cool. Cool to talk to. Call if you need somethin, I'd be glad to help." Dan then dashed off before Joan had the chance to say anything back.

"Okay, I'm back. Let's get going." Dan said as he met back up with his friend.

@TheForgottenArc@prettydrops

As the pair walked through the rolling hills of Silent Road's eastern half, they saw a few more Buneary, Hoppip, but not much else. When suddenly, a fluttering of feathers behind them pulled their attention. Before them were three small birds (Pidgey) and one larger one (Pidgeotto).

Completely ignoring the two trainers, the bird Pokemon fluttered around. They were searching for something. Most of them were at least. One small Pidgey stood still with pride, holding a white leaf in her beak. This was her favorite game "The White Herb Hunt"!

As they were walking, a flurry of feathers and cries alerted Indigo and Dan to the presence of some flying type pokemon, namely Pidgey and Pidgeotto. Just like Kanto... Indigo thought with a smile on his face. They appeared to be flying about in low, lazy circles, completely ignoring the trainers and focusing their sharp eyes on the ground.

Are they looking for something? He thought. There was a white leaf in one of the Pidgey's beaks; soon enough, another Pidgey grabbed the item from somewhere in the grass and crowed with delight. It looked like a treat indeed. He paused, thinking. If it was nutritious for them and they foraged for it so much, maybe it was worth looking for? He thought back to the Kee berries he'd found in Breezy Forest. Those had just been berries but they had been rare and useful to boot.

"Hey, let's look around," Indigo suggested. "Those Pidgey look like they're trying to find something."

So Indigo released Hero, Hawka, and Mimzy. Four heads were better than one, after all. "You guys see what those Pidgeys are looking for?" Indigo asked, and the pokemon nodded, especially Mimzy, who had been born and raised in this area after all. "Let's find some! Mimzy, you lead the way on this. I bet you might know where to look better than any of us." Mimzy slyly poked her tongue out at Hawka, who retorted back with a furious little peep, and kicked up dirt. The competition was brewing and Hawka was certainly going to serve it hot. However, their search was not without challenge. The herbs were not only difficult to find but the flying types caught on quite quickly. During their search, The Pidgey tried to attack and intimidate them. It was certainly tough, but Indigo's pokemon managed to keep the birds at bay.

After about an hour and a half of searching and battling, collectively they found...

@Balthazar007

Dan followed suit with Indy, Curious as to what they had been looking for. His search yielded nothing. But a couple of battles from the same flying Pidgey's that attacked Indy. Dan had almost given up the search when he saw something in the grass.

"Hey, Indy! I think I found something!" He yelled towards his friend.

After about an hour and a half of searching and battling, collectively they found...

... one white herb. Actually, they found another one earlier, but a Pidgey swooped down and snatched it before they could reach it. This marked the third White Herb found by the Pidgeys. Yet somehow, the Pidgeotto was still without one.

"Hey, Indy! I think I found something!" He yelled towards his friend.

As Daniel rose up with a White Herb in hand, he came face to face with Pidgeotto. He was tired of looking for his own White Herb. It would be much faster to just take the one in this trainer's hand!

"Oh shoot, Dan, you idiot," Indy mumbled under his breath worriedly. Still, there was no need to run to Daniel's aid or anything of the sort, because Dan's pokemon seemed to be taking care of it. Well shoot he wanted to find another White Herb somehow. One wasn't enough. "Mimzy, got any ideas?" Indigo asked, kneeling down to stroke her under her chin. Mimzy let out a light cry, hopping in some direction. They weren't venturing too far.

But it was there that Indigo saw an interesting pokemon. With glittering, iridescent, deep indigo butterfly wings, and inquisitive, pixelated looking eyes, it reminded him of the Butterfree he had occasionally admired in Kanto, but it was different.

Leaving a trail of shimmering sparkles behind it as it flew, Indigo couldn't help but feel compelled to follow it. He whipped out his pokedex hurriedly.

Vivillion, the Scale Pokemon, and the evolved for of Spewpa. Vivillon are skillfully able to find a source of water. It has been said that you'll find a spring if you follow a Vivillon. The patterns on this Pokémon's wings depend on the climate and topography of its habitat. It scatters colorful scales. The pokedex identified the Vivillion as male.

Seriously? It evolves from Spewpa!? And spewpa evolves from that ugly Scatterbug... I wouldn't have even know...and I thought the only cool Bug types were Butterfree.. He wanted to catch one so bad! His mind flashed to Sydney briefly. He'd have to contact him somehow after this...

"Guys, how do we feel about getting a new member of our team?" Hero jumped up in the air, Hawka fluffed her feathers and seemed indifferent, while Mimzy played with her ears shyly. Was that ramping up to a yes? "Come on, just think of it, you'll be able to fly in the air," Indigo emphasized. Hawka and Mimzy perked up considerably at the words, looking at each other and communicating with chitters and cheeps. Finally, they nodded. Yes, this would be awesome. "Let's go ask him if he wants to battle," and they caught up to Vivillion who was simply riding on the warm drifts of air. He paused to drink nectar from a cluster of flowers.

Hawka jumped forth, squawking and screeching something fierce. The Vivillion seemed to roll his eyes, unimpressed at the rookie pokemon before him. But there was a playful gleam in those large, mischevious eyes. Why not humor them? The Vivillion thought. With a nod, it accepted their challenge. Indigo smirked. This would be easy. He had the advantage with Hawka. Nothing to worry about--

And as it turned out, the Vivillion was cocky for a reason. Hawka couldn't even touch the large butterfly because it kept sending her to sleep with some Sleep Powder. String Shot slowed her down and tripped her up too many times. With a well placed gust, the Vivillion whirled Hawka away. It seemed to never miss!

Next was Mimzy, who could bounce high enough to reach the Vivillion, but even when she did manage to, the Vivillion simply protected himself. She was taken down by a Sleep Powder, being combined with String Shot and Gust. Hero fared no better, given his lack of movepool and mobility. A single gust blew every Tackle he attempted, while damaging him. Once the Vivillion flew away, a bubbly laughter seemingly come from him. Indigo's shoulders slumped. Another loss he thought. He returned to Dan with a defeated expression on his face. "Hey, how'd it go with the Pidgeotto?"

As the Pidgeotto landed it scared Dan
"Ugh! You scared me." Dan said as he whipped around. He saw the look in the eyes of this new pokemon, he wanted the flower Dan had, and he was going to try to take it from Dan.
"So you want this, Huh? Well, you gotta take it from me! Twiggy, I choose you!" Dan said as he threw out his Pokemon. Suffice to say he stood no chance against this advanced Pokemon. First, Twiggy got knocked with a Combo of flying attacks and Tackles. Burmy stood even less of a chance only landing an ineffective tackle then instantly losing to a single Tackle. Rat tried but other than dodge and try for the occasional attack but Ultimately lost the fight.

"Damn it, You are way too tough for me." Dan said to Pidgeotto as Indy approached, Dan didn't curse much but when he did it came as a surprise to most.

Dan held out the flower. "You won, Take it. I know if I was you I'd want this cool thing too. Take care of it, I guess." Dan said, His loss didn't bother him. In fact, it came as less than a surprise but it still stung a tiny bit.

"Huh, sorry about that buddy," Indigo said as the Pidgeotto flew away proudly with a White Herb in hand. "If it makes you feel better, I just lost to a super tough Vivillion," Indigo admitted. He slung an arm around Dan's shoulders. "I thought you were pretty good, 'cept not as good as me," Indigo added dryly, chuckling. "Kidding. Well let's get going. Shamba awaits, after all."

They reached the town in record time. On the smaller side, it was a quaint but bustling place lively with trainers. A small farming community worked hard on the outskirts, both humans and grass type pokemon tending to large banana (not Nanab trees), papaya, and guava trees. Indigo could just make out a fairly large building as they entered through the welcoming arch of the town-- maybe it was the town hall or Gym? Maybe even a contest hall? He didn't know. And it was pointless wondering because he wasn't going to try. No way, those places were way too hard.

"Let's check out the pokemon center maybe? I'm famished."

Gazing out the window, Margaret gave a soft sigh to herself. She had been in a slump, it would seem, after her defeat on Mt. Leeman Trail. She knew that her pokemon weren't the strongest and that she often relied on Crowne, but she had had enough determination to at least try to fight her way through. Sadly, it didn't pan out the way she had hoped. Everyone had fainted along her attempt aside from Oceana and Crowne--the former on her last wing, if you will. However, on her way back from the trail she was able to make a new friend; Wulford was somewhat of an acquired taste she was coming to learn.

The girl rested her chin in the palm of her hand as she watched the townspeople milling about. When she had her pokemon healed up at the pokemon center, she had begun to procrastinate leaving. While she wouldn't admit it, she was a little worried to try Mt. Leeman again without another companion. She was also worried that her pokemon were judging her for her loss and lack of training of them--perhaps they wouldn;t respect her anymore. This thinking led her to leave them all in their balls aside from her little Scatterbug, Poinsettia, who rested on the open book in front of her. Glancing down at her, the little insect seemed to smile up at her with one buck tooth sticking out. Margo returned the smile with her own crooked one; Poinsettia was her weakest pokemon mainly because she thought of her more as a pet than a warrior.

Margaret returned to staring out the window with a rain cloud over her head. Her eyes lingered on what looked like trainers coming into the town, her curiosity piqued on where they might be heading.

After handing his pokemon over to the nurses for their check up, Indigo decided to grab some food from the corner cafe. "Hey Dan, getting something to eat." There were quite a few trainers bustling about, but the one who stood out the most was a girl looking forlornly out the window. But the girl wasn't all that interesting.

She just had a gross looking Scatterbug sitting in her lap and it was the idea that someone could be that close to something so repulsive that was intriguing. Yeesh, Indigo though, shuddering. Good thing none of his pokemon looked as bad as that. Well, Hero was close but even he wasn't that bad.

He ended up ordering a fizzy vanilla lemonande with a bagel with some hearty veggie spread. Chowing down on his meal, he was just relaxing before they went out and about through the town.

@iKatamalicious

Dan hadn't been that hungry. It was odd, but he just didn't have an appetite.
"Go for it, I'm not that hungry right now." Dan said as Indy left to get his food.

He scanned the room, looking passively to give his eyes something to do. He saw a girl not too far looking a bit odd. He was interested in her Pokemon but not much else.

As Indy came back with his food Dan piped up "Hey Indy, I'm thinkin of spending the next couple of day's training. Well, not too much today of course with our pokemon being though so much already. You Interested in coming along?" He hoped his friend said yes but with his passive feelings towards training he wasn't sure if he would be much help In training, but, it would always be good to have someone on these training trips.

"If you don't want to that's okay but it's gonna be hard to find someone who would go." Dan said, Taking note. Maybe the girl with that Pokemon on her lap. She looks like a trainer to me. He thought to himself.

Much to her advantage, it seemed the pair of boys were heading to the pokemon center where she sat. Trying to avoid their gaze, she followed them from the corner of her eye, each handing their pokeballs to a nurse to tend to. 'Trainers indeed..' She thought to herself, not noticing that her little buck-toothed bug had followed her gaze and was looking towards the two trainers as well. Unlike her trainer, little Poinsettia did not know the meaning of subtle or tactful. Margo bristled as she felt their eyes on her, even if for a moment, and hurriedly went back to looking out the window, not feeling her little Scatterbug climbing down her leg and to the floor of the cafe.

Of course, Poinsettia also did not realize that she was a tiny pokemon and could probably get squashed by anyone that was oblivious to their surroundings. Luck of the draw was that their hadn't been too many people idling at the cafe where they were seated. The insect made her way through the table legs and chairs, scuttling towards the new trainers that had appeared in the pokemon center. There was something about the one eating... He almost looked like he radiated some part of itself which only determined her more to reach him. Inching closer to the two males, Poinsettia set her eyes upon what was drawing her towards him: a dark blue, glittering Vivillon scale! While Poinsettia couldn't explain it to herself, she knew that that scale was its evolution's and wanted desperately to see it up close.

It was in this moment that Margaret looked down and noticed her pokemon missing. A rush of panic grasped her, the girl standing up quickly and putting her book in her backpack, while throwing her eyes every which way to locate her little friend. Despite herself, she almost felt like yelling the bug's name to find her, but instead started to take deep breaths while searching the tables and floors for her. Her eyes locked onto a disturbing sight: the little Scatterbug crawling towards the two trainers she had been watching. In fact, Poinsettia was upon the one who was eating, sitting up on his shoe and staring at him like... well, she supposed like a bug.

Color tinged her face as she began to think over what Poinsettia's punishment would be. Probably just staying in her ball for an hour or two, but she would have more time to think on that later. Following suit with her pokemon, Margaret hastily scuttled towards the trainers, bending to pick up her Scatterbug from the trainer's shoe and hoping to leave without an explanation or apologies. This wasn't coinciding with Margo's ideal of 'New Margo,' but she was scared of New Margo sometimes and it was hard to let her take control.

Indigo didn't look up when Dan asked his question. "Um..." He mumbled. Indy certainly wanted to keep up the appearance of being driven and hard working. But... that took effort. Still, he didn't have to train. He figured he could tag along and just enjoy the conversation.

"Well, I'll train for a bit. Thanks for inviting me." In his lighter mood earlier, he'd even thought about asking Dan for a practice battle. But now the thought seemed so... labor-intensive. But then that beautiful Vivillion popped into his mind... How would he catch one for his own? He had to practice. But practicing was so unappealing, especially to a lazy, 16-year old oaf like Indy.

Then it happened.

All he had been doing was eating his lunch, his lunch after a morning filled with losses. And he all he wanted to do was enjoy it. But when Indy looked down, he saw the hideous and repulsive Scatterbug sitting on his kicks.

He nearly spat his food out, feeling disgust shudder through him. When pokemon were gross, but afar, they were easy to deal with. This, though? This was way too close and personal. He lifted his foot off the ground, trying to jiggle it so the bug would fall off.

"Gross! Get off me," he hissed, trying not to make a scene. But his words might have been a little too loud as the trainer came to pick the Scatterbug up from off his shoe. Well, hopefully she hadn't heard what he said...

... This wasn't one of those times where New Margo would need to be locked in a closet. In fact, New Margo took over before Margaret could even control herself.

Picking up her beloved Poinsettia, who was trying desperately to not be flung across the floor from Indy's kick, Margaret looked at the boy with a fire burning beneath her green eyes. "Gross? Did I hear you call my Scatterbug gross?" She repeated the words, louder than she realized, taking a step closer into the male's personal space.

"What's so gross about Poinsettia? Huh?" Margo defensively pulled up the little bug, Poinsettia scrambling up into her usual perch on Margo's shoulder and shivering--the bug was traumatized from the sudden change in her trainer and the disdain radiating from the boy. "Gross pokemon have feelings too, did you know that?" Margo continued her grilling, glaring at Indy as she pointed a finger into his chest.

"Ay" Dan yelled getting in the way of the two trainers stopping any finger-pointing "Mrs. Please, He didn't mean what he said. He was probably freaked by a pokemon just waltzing onto his shoe." Dan didn't know why he was being so defensive, maybe it was because his friend had already had a rough enough morning.

"We're sorry, okay?" Dan said as he looked at Indy "Right?"