Dan stood up slowly, brushing the dirt from his pants and face and looked up towards the sky.

It really is beautiful today. Dan thought to himself

"I ought to get going, I'm sure Indy's feeling pretty lonely without anybody there." He said as he sniffed his armpits and cringed "And I need a shower... Bad. Be safe out here, I'll catch you later...er tomorrow." He said as he walked away as he said "Tomorrow, 8 AM, That's when I'm leaving. Make sure to meet us at the PokeCenter before then!"

The treck back to the Center was grueling, he was tired as all get out and needed a catnap. When he got back he immediately showered, then walked back to the lobby of the PokeCenter and scanned for Indy.

Margo nodded in response to Dan, leaving her small smile on her face. However, once Dan sniffed his armpits, her face fell, slightly disgusted. 'Boys are gross..' She thought to herself as she stood with him, still holding Julep in her arms. He had began to doze off from her constant pets.

"Be careful on the way back into town. The pokemon are strong around here. I'll meet you tomorrow." She called to Dan as he left, waving her free hand above her head as he left her. She glanced down at Julep, still happily asleep, and then at Crowne. The Squirtle was looking back at her with his arms dropped at his sides now--he appeared to finally be at ease now that his trainer wasn't confronted. Margo's smile grew looking at the turtle.

"C'mon, I think we'll train a bit more. But not everyone..." She paused, counting off each of her pokemon and thinking who needed the most training. She reasoned Crowne and Oceana could sit out this round and instead began her session with Julep, Poinsettia, and Wulford. She would train until they wore out once more and then perhaps she would sit in the wilderness of Mt. Leeman Trail and let nature take over her. Maybe sketching or painting would help work out her feelings from today.

For the rest of his time, Indigo sat along the rolling meadows of Quiet Path, debating what to do. There were many people he could talk to-- his parents, Professor Lukoo, Sydney... But he couldn't bring himself to dial any of them.

Do I tell my pokemon...? It would only be a matter of time before they found out. He sighed, burrowing his head between his knees. They would leave him too, wouldn't they? Then who was he going to be left with? His thoughts, however, were interrupted by a buzz in his pocket. It was his pokedex, and straight away Indy could see the text from Dan.

Oh no... That message earlier got sent?! Shoot! Damnit! Dan knew everything now. Indigo had already begun sweating. The whole text had been a jumbled mess of emotions and the very things about him that he hated. Surely, if he hated himself, then other people would too?

Might as well get it over with... He began reading the text.

its never too late to apologize... hero might not forgive you but its never too late to say sorry. you can be an egghead but you know just as well as any we all make mistakes, its not the mistakes that define us its how we deal with it and move on, just do what you think is right now is all.

Dan still believes in me... Even after he knows what I did. He still thinks I can be good. Once again, Indigo's eyes began smarting with tears. If he thinks I can still apologize... Then maybe it's not all lost.

Dan's text gave Indigo courage.

I have to define myself by how I deal with my mistakes... I have to be honest. Margo talked about owning up, but I didn't finish that part yet. He had to let his pokemon know the truth, no matter how terrifying it was. Dan told me to do what I think is right. I think telling my pokemon what I did is the right thing to do. I have to start here or I can't apologize to Hero.

So, Indigo let out his pokemon at once. They were confused without Hero's presence immediately. Hawka and Mimzy, moreso, though Kovi seeing his teammates also grew concerned.

"Hawka, Mimzy, Kovi, I have something to tell you..." So Indigo knelt down and retold the tale of the night before and the morning that had just happened. Carefully, slowly, deliberately, he explained everything he had done.

"I know you guys must hate me, or be horrified," he said slowly, rubbing his temples. "But I know I made a mistake and I'm trying to make it better. I shouldn't have gotten so mad at Hero last night and lost my temper. But I... I'm just trying to apologize to him and Jack won't let me so... So I may need some help. I know I don't deserve to ask for any help but... I mean, if you guys want to leave, you can."

Hawka was distraught. Hero had been the first pokemon she had traveled and trained with, and as such, she was rightfully devastated by Indigo's actions. Still, more than anything, she wanted Hero to receive his apology. If this stupid human needed help... Then she would help him. By all accounts, Hawka was furious, evident by her pecking at Indigo's clothes furiously. But just like Dan, she believed that this human, who was still learning and growing, had promise. After all, he had been the one to pick Hero up in the first place. There was still some good in him, she believed. So after taking her anger and tears out, she let out an exhausted chirp and rested her head against his hands. It was a sign that she knew they were both hurting. And she acknowledged it.

Mimzy was saddened too, but as she saw Hawka rejoin Indigo, she thought back the past few days. Indigo had shown her great kindness, and if he was sorry, and he intended on apologizing, then Hero needed to hear it. She would help Indigo reach Hero again. It was, what humans would called it, a two-way street.

Kovi was older than the other pokemon, and much wiser. Bugs, in the pokemon world, what with their weak forms and how quickly they evolved, matured quickly. Before him he saw a human who had done a terrible mistake, but the way he worked with his pokemon had been Kovi's main reason for joining. And especially, when he had talked to Mimzy, Hawka, and Hero before their battle, Hero had shown nothing but love and adoration for Indigo. Perhaps the human had lost his temper and made a mistake. But Kovi had seen this happen in the wild too, with other pokemon and humans. Some did not even try to correct their mistakes. But Indigo was doing his best. So Kovi gently fluttered by Indigo's face, showing his support.

"You guys... aren't leaving me?" Indigo sniffed, his eyes wide. His pokemon shook their heads. "Thanks you guys. Thanks for helping me make it right with Hero. I'm going to need a lot of help getting to see him." After some more reassurance, and moments of stillness while they sat and contemplated, they were returned to their pokeballs.

Indigo stood up. He had to go back to Dan and thank him for everything. And possibly, finally, they could talk about Dan's mother now.

When he finally arrived to the pokemon center, he saw Dan. Despite feeling like a hot pile of garbage still, Indigo couldn't help but smile. "Dan, I got your text." He high-fived Dan, pulling him into a hug after. "I just needed to say thank you. I know what I did was wrong, and I know I'm an egghead, but you believe in me. And it really helped me get brave enough to tell my pokemon what I did. They didn't ditch me, surprisingly." He let out a low chuckle. "I think they want to help me apologize to Hero too. But I couldn't have done it without you." Margo, too. In a way.

When they sat down, Indigo's expression grew more concerned. "But enough about me. Dan, what's the status with your mom? Did you call her yet?"

When they sat down, Indigo's expression grew more concerned. "But enough about me. Dan, what's the status with your mom? Did you call her yet?"

Dan sat down, blushing a little from the sudden hug he was given.

"Oh, yea. I talked to her and um... everyone's doing the best they can be at least. She still has strength enough for now at least. She did get a new Wheelchair recently, a nice one too. She texted me a picture." Dan said as he flashed Dan a picture on his Pokedex, A shiny stainless steel chair, with a sorta bedazzled feeling to the wheels, the work of Dan's younger sister, obviously.
"Um..." Dan said struggling for words, "I'm going to visit her...tomorrow. I'm leaving around 8 AM. I think Margo's coming with, you can too if you want. I'm sure my mom would love to see you, Would you like to come? I'd really appreciate it." Dan said as he put his Pokedex away.

As Indigo glimpsed the picture of Cynthia, his heart couldn't help but tighten. She still had a warm smile on her face that Dan's own was reminiscent of, but her expression didn't hide her gauntness.

"Yeah of course I'm gonna come. Margo's coming?" Indigo was a little surprised but then again, it was common for trainers to travel with each other even after knowing each other only for a short amount of time. It was just an unspoken rule of being a trainer, it seemed, to always accept a fellow traveler on board. "Not that it's a problem, I think your mom would really like her, actually. Haha, did you sister bedazzle your moms wheelchair?" Indigo snorted. "Classic Celia."

"Actually, I'm kind of relieved. I thought Margo was gonna leave and I wasn't gonna see her again. She's really pissed at me, but I think it's better if I confront her. Ummm... I mean eventually." He shrugged sheepishly, not able to help but be nervous about the thought of facing Margo. "So where are we catching the boat from? And how long's the ride? Oh, and we do have the rest of the day. It's only like 3. Anything to do around this town? Did you meet anyone these past few days?"

"The boats in Wanzo and we have about a day and a half's trip to get there. The boat leaves in about 3 days. Rides only a half day." Dan shrugged

Dan looked at his Pokedex revealing how early it actually was, but he was still so tired.

Dan rubbed his eyes and said "You wanna find some work or something? I need to buy a present for mom."

He wanted to get a nice necklace for his mom, she had a strange love for them, maybe someone could refit the pearl he still had into a nice necklace somehow.

"I'm sure the Pokemart would have some work." He said "Er, We could train if you really wanted..."

Indigo shook his head. "I had to start this morning off with a battle, I've had enough training for one day," Indy laughed. "Oh no, I should totally get a present for your mom too. We both need to find something..." Indigo trailed off, thinking. Truthfully, work was the last thing on his mind. But he knew if he stayed alone in the pokemon center room, he would have felt worse about everything. I need a distraction...He pulled his pokedex out.

"So I was looking up the model of the pokedex we have online. Apparently this thing's connected to job postings. Like, there's an app that people use to post stuff for trainers like us. I bet we could find something." Clicking on the app icon which looked like a green square and setting their location, they found several postings...

@Balthazar007

'Oh. What about this one... Low pay but easy. Just watching over a couple Pokemon for an hour." Dan said "Er... this one. Moving supplies from one end of the town to its PokeMart. Higher pay." Dan's eyes scanned the list for anything else but other than a garbage collecting job nothing caught Dan's eye enough to mention.

"Well, What do ya think?"

"Is it bad that I want to do the easy one," Indigo sighed lazily. "I feel bad though. I mean, well in the pokemart job, does it say we have to carry stuff?" The description showed some trolley carts and crates. Likely they'd be wheeling the supplies, which wasn't as bad as what Indigo had originally thought. "Can we do the easy job first?"

After their agreement, they selected the job. Watching a Skiploom named Skippy, a Pidgey named Airie, and Bonsly named Boo. The house was only a few blocks away from the pokemon center and they made it in record time, an old man greeting them at the door.
"My sons a biologist, though he tried training for some time and didn't like it," he explained as he let the boys in. "He's got a few pokemon, and they sometimes come along with him to work, but they never learned to get along." They followed him to what seemed to be his backyard. "I've got to run and get my medication from the mart but their pokeballs are broken right now. All three of them broke when they were fighting." He shook his head with a smile. "They're wonderful otherwise. Just make sure they don't fight. They're allowed anywhere, they know not to break things in the house, but please keep them from getting too aggressive. They're like ornery siblings!"

"Sounds good," Indigo replied, putting a thumbs up and settling into a lawn chair underneath the canopy in the man's backyard. So far it seemed the pokemon were behaving. With a final promise to be back soon, the man left.

"Jack had that pokemon," Indigo said, pointing to the Skiploom. It was after they had settled in. "Get this: I found out that grass types are immune to powder moves, so when Kovi used Sleep Powder, it didn't work. But the Skiploom's Sleep Powder hit, like, all the time." He let out a sheepish laugh. "It was annoying, but whatever, y'know?" Indigo leaned back. Though the day had started off difficult, it seemed much easier now.

The job was easy enough for Dan, watching Pokemon is something he'd been doing for most of his life, it was usually always nice, except now. The Pokemon fought almost all the time, forcing Dan to peel them apart.

"These guys ever stop fighting?" Dan grunted "We can't go 10 minutes without them havin a go at each other." Dan complained. At least it was keeping him awake.

Dan scanned the backyard making sure every pokemon was accounted for after their latest argument, leading Dan to notice a missing Pokemon

"Hey, Indy... Where's that Bonsly, Boo I think was his name?" He said with a little panic in his voice. "I can't find him. Maybe the house?" Dan said as he went to check inside.

Unfortunately, he came back empty-handed "Please tell me You've found him..."

Though the babysitting started off simple enough, as the pokemon realized the older man was gone, they immediately began to misbehave, leaving any chance for a relaxing late afternoon off the tables. The pokemon were quite low-level as they were, making Indigo quite wary about using his pokemon to stop them from their fighting. After all, what would have happened if the old man came home and saw that Indigo had used a Sleep Powder attack on the pokemon? It hardly seemed professional. And the Skiploom would have been immune to begin with.

Somewhere amidst the chaos of Skippy and Aerie squabbling, Boo ran off. Indigo and Dan had been taking turns separating and disciplining the pokemon, and as Indigo had laid back in the lawn chair to close his eyes for five minutes, Dan noticied Boo had gone missing.

"But he was right--" Indigo looked about wildly, a stone of cold panic sinking into his gut. "Shoot, I dunno where Boo went." Damnit! That's a baby pokemon! He can't just go off on his own!

He jumped to his feet. "Well he got out of the yard somehow, but one of us is going to have stay here and the other's going to have to find Boo." There was no way they could leave Aerie and Skippy by themselves. An idea struck Indigo, however.

"Kovi, my Vivillion, has the ability Compound Eyes," he said slowly, thinking. "It makes him see, like, way better. I bet he could find Boo between all this shrub and rock and stuff. And he'll be able to spot him from the air. We just have to figure out who's staying here and who's gonna go find Boo. If you decide to go, I can lend you Kovi. I think we're gonna need him."

"You go find him, I'll handle these two, just be careful when you find him." Dan said, worried. He trusted Indy to find and return a Pokemon, after all, Dan was one of the worst searchers in the history of every. There was a reason that he never won a hide-and-seek game when he was a seeker during his childhood.

"Alright, no worries," Indigo replied, feeling quite nervous and worried himself. After Kovi came out of his pokeball and was told the situation accordingly, he rose high in the air, scanning for the aforementioned Bonsly. Kovi swooped over to a small burrow that had been made just beneath the fence. It was most likely how Boo had escaped.

Following the little tunnel, there were a set of the faintest footprints made by the Bonsly that Kovi could pick out, even if Indigo couldn't. Following the Vivillion's lead, Indigo jogged after. I hate running. Hope we find Boo, soon.

It took about ten minutes, but Indigo heard a familiar shrieking cry. "Boo?" He called out, and heard the cries of some children.
"EEK! Watch out!"
"Why is it so mad?!"

Indigo's eyes widened. "Oh no! Kovi, do you see Boo?" The Vivillion scanned for the little fake tree once more, not finding him because Boo was actually hidden by a large canopy that had been set up in someone else's yard from above. Though Indigo and Kovi didn't know, and as such, had to find him by following the sound of dismayed exclamations.

As it turned out, Boo had wandered into someone else's yard and the children had thought him a grass type pokemon, watering him with a watering can. Boo had become very upset by this, and was now launching Rock Throw all over the place. Granted, his Rock Throw technique was relatively weak and unpracticed, but it could still pack a punch.

As Indigo and Kovi finally neared the backyard Boo was supposed to be in, however, they were only met with the upset children and Boo nowhere to be found.

"Yeah, thanks, sorry for the trouble," Indigo wheezed breathlessly after interrogating the kids. Boo had apparently run off in the direction of the local playground. Hopefully, they'd be able to find him there... The chase continued.

Dan sat nervously paying a close eye and ear to the pokemon that remained in the yard to make sure Dan and Indy had no more escapees on their hands. The Pokemon stayed relatively quiet, but not calm. Noticing that their brother was missing they started scrambling wildly for anywhere Boo could be.

"Hm...Least they care about each other." Dan said quietly to himself.

Other than the rustling of trees nothing was too troubling and it seemed calm and almost as if nothing was wrong and he didn't have a missing pokemon case to deal with, That was until he heard kids scream abut down the street and the door to the front entrance of the home swing open.

I'm hoooome An old voice rang out inside. Dan quickly rushed in and closed the blinds to outside, leaving the pokemon outside to search themselves.

Where's the pokemon? I wanna see the little guys, I've missed them. He said jubilantly

"Oh! Uh..." Dan scrambled for some sort of excuse. "They, uh....Fell asleep, and Indy's waking up now. They should be in here shortly. Anyways your back early..."

"The shop was near empty so it didn't take much time actually. And I got a discount. Don't worry though, You'll still get your full pay." He said suspiciously as he tried to push by Dan, who stopped him
"Oh c'mon lets put that stuff away! You don't want to startle the pokemon ya know? They should be back any moment. Trust me." Dan said.
"If you say so..." The man said wearily as they went to the kitchen to put away his items, Dan made sure to take his time.

C'mon Indy hurry up... Dan thought to himself.

After wrangling and chasing Boo while trying to avoid his ridiculous Mimic and Rock Slide attacks, Indigo and his Pokemon were finally successful. He'd had to bring out Hawka and Mindy, but in the end, the four of them were able to catch Boo. Mindy held the kicking and screaming baby bonsly with her firm ears. Kovi's String Shot would have had the job done in seconds, let alone Sleep Powder. But avoiding attacks was for the best. Besides, any attacks they didn't use the Bonsly couldn't use on the lot of them.

When Indigo finally returned, he took to Kovi lifting him and Boo up and into the backyard. Had the old man returned? He quickly returned his Pokemon before stepping inside, so as not to alert suspicion.

"Oh, you're back," Indigo said, genuinely surprised. He had thought the old man would be back much later. His heart was pounding. Had the old man noticed...?

"Ohhh, there you are! I'm so sorry, I didn't realize how much time had passed," the old man said with a sheepish grin. "Your friend here sat me down and I was telling him some stories of my youth. You must have been waiting for a long time!"

"Yeaaah, no worries," Indigo replied, shrugging. "I actually didn't know you came home and I thought Dan went to sit inside because he felt like he was getting sunburned." Dan was quite fair, after all, and it seemed like a believable story...

"Oh, is that it? Well, well. You both look fine to me so I suppose everything's alright. Say, let me take a look at the pokemon." He smiled. "I miss them already, naughty little creatures."

Little Boo was all tucked out from his rambunctiousness. And neither Aerie not Skippy wanted to wake him, so the flying types remained quiet and civil.

"Well, everything seems to be in order! They're not fighting and you even got Boo to take his nap! Well done, boys. I think you deserve a bonus." The old man pulled out a regular cell phone, an early generation smartphone to be exact. "Now then, I'm going to up the dollar award from $15 to $20! And I'm going to give you a great review for your job well done too, that way they give you more Poke Dollars... Let's see........ And..." He pressed a button to finalize the transaction. A soft ding signaled success. "Done! Thank you boys so much!"

@Balthazar007

"Well, everything seems to be in order! They're not fighting and you even got Boo to take his nap! Well done, boys. I think you deserve a bonus." The old man pulled out a regular cell phone, an early generation smartphone to be exact. "Now then, I'm going to up the dollar award from $15 to $20! And I'm going to give you a great review for your job well done too, that way they give you more Poke Dollars... Let's see........ And..." He pressed a button to finalize the transaction. A soft ding signaled success. "Done! Thank you boys so much!"

Seconds after the man's smart phone signaled completion, the same DING came from both Dan's and Indy's Pokedex.

"Oh wow, that was fast." The old man said, genuinely surprised.

Upon checking their Pokedexes, Dan and Indigo found that their job had been ranked as "Class D" (the lowest rank possible). This earned them only ₽2, but next to that that was a multiplier of 5 (for the 5 star review left by the old man). The end total was an even ₽10 for each!

The boys had been shoved out by the old man pretty fast, the old man seemingly having something more private to do.

Dan sighed as he looked towards his Pokeballs, he knew he needed to train his pokemon before he left. He wasn't sure how much training he could get into back at home.

"Hey, Indy. I think I'm gonna go train, I think you should go back to the center. Check if Margo's back yet and have that talk with her. If she's not I'll be on the quiet road training, if you need me.I'll be making sure my pokemon are ready for that gym leader when we get back." He said. Hopefully, his Pokemon would be strong enough with the training to dominate the Gym leader by the time he got back. "I'll be back before bed. Okay?"

"Alright," Indigo said. Though he didn't want to be alone, he chided himself. Don't be a dummy. Dan has stuff to do. You shouldn't just laze around... Ugh, screw it, I'm going to. A good old nap to de-stress sounded wonderful.

"Well, see you later, I'm gonna sleep, maybe shop around," he said with a yawn. With a parting high five and wan smile, Indigo went off to 'do his own thing.'

With a wave, Dan went off to train with his Pokemon. The training lasted just two hours facing off against weaker pokemon and trainers.

Dan focused Mainly on trainy his Burmy and Rat, leaving his strongest, Twiggy, in reserves only training a little just in case a stronger Pokemon came along.

Close to the end of his training, his moment came when a tough Buneary had approached them, mad about her sleep getting interrupted by some rowdy Pokemon.

Noticing the pokemon was rearing up for a fight Dan got his pokemon ready "Oh? You ready to fight then? Well c'mon then." He said arrogantly, his arrogance would be paid back in spades, with the much stronger Buneary taking out Rat and Burmy in one attack.

Dan was worried, his pokemon had been training for a while and almost all had been tired beforehand

"Okay, Twiggy...It's up to you, don't let me down, buddy. Okay! Now use tackle!" Dan said as Twiggy charged for a savage hit.

It missed as the Buneary was much to fast quickly retaliating with a tackle of its own.

"Damn, Okay Twiggy. Play it safe use withdraw, Then absorb!" Dan said. The so-called 'Safe' move backfired, Twiggy wasn't able to transition the move from withdraw to absorb quick enough, causing Buneary to land a savage blow.

"No, Twiggy!" Dan screamed as he ran towards his Pokemon. Before he could get to it Twiggy had turned a light white and began to change, Dan instantly knew what this was.

"Is this...Evolution?" Dan muttered, the once small pokemon morphed into a much larger beast, one you couldn't carry on your back.
His Pokedex buzzed as he looked at it Twiggy had been transformed into its evolution

Congratulations, Turtwig has evolved into Grotle!

"Grotle, Huh..." He muttered.

The evolution caused the Buneary to get scared, deciding to go defensive, due to not knowing its opponent anymore or what it had turned into. This proved to be its downfall allowing Grotle to Punish the Buneary and defeat it.

"Whoohoo Twiggy you won!" Dan said as he pumped his hand into the air.

Twiggy looked at his new body, surprised by the drastic change in its size but liking it more than being a small-fry.

Dan left the forest with Twiggy but being forced to put him in his ball, due to his size.

He entered the Center and looked around as his pokemon got healed by the nurse.

"Indy? Margo?" He called out, trying to find a familiar face.

Indigo had been having a light dinner from the cafe after taking a long nap. Still ruminating about the days events, he hadn't the largest appetite. As Dan walked in, he was grateful to be distracted from himself. "Hey man," he waved, finishing off his wrap and motioning for Dan to come over. "What's up? How was training?"