As the man's Pokemon bounded up the lane, meat snack in it's hand, the contrast between Lilith's Pokemon and his was stark. While Sia was always calm and reserved, willing to wait and ride along with her trainer, the male's Oshawott seemed wild and defiant. Especially when it decided that the trainer needed some protein. Does he have no control over his Pokemon at all? It just seems to do whatever the blazes it wants! How disrespectful. Then he attempted to talk...

“Whaphs mmyour nameh byf th’ wayf? Realized I didn't catch yours back at the lab."

While initially repulsed by the attempt to speak BeefJerkese at her, a sigh of relief passed over Lilith. The fact that... who was it? The dude had a name... Ezra! That's what Gary said! Anyway, the fact that Ezra was asking for her identity meant Lilith may have been successful in covering up her true name. It was way too early for anyone to know the truth. She had a reputation to... well, build in Kanto, but still, it would have been really hard to establish any kind of a proper tone with a name like the one she had been given. Kari might have worked, but it was still way too cute. Nope, she was committed to her current moniker. For better or worse.

"It's understandable. I am not known in Kanto by choice. My name is better uttered in the darkest corners, where the shadows are already plentiful. My title is the Mistress of Lost Souls, but it gets tiresome hearing that every time, so I answer to Lilith. You can use that name as well."

"Litwick! Lit!" And I'm Sia! Hello!

Lilith nodded. "And this is my oldest partner in this endeavour. Her name is Sia. She feeds on life energy, so don't get too close."

Sia gave Lilith a shocked look. "Lit! Lit! Litwicklit..." Hey! Hey! I only want a little bit...

"Anyway, I suppose if we are travelling together, it's good to know those sort of things about one another. Like if I feel I need a hot beef injection in my mouth, I can ask your Pokemon for help with that." Yes, the obvious sexual innuendo didn't do much for her dark and brooding image, but c'mon. It was right there. Lilith is shadowy, but she's not going to miss easy shots. Her newly-captured Pidgey can attest to that. I'll have to wait until we get to Viridian City to properly assess Pidgey. Pidgey is probably still pretty burnt up from battle.

Fary meandered her way to catch up with the rest of the group, taking her time to enjoy the view around her. It was the kind of thing she liked to do from time to time, it had to be the artist in her after all. Grimsly had always liked that about her, how she wanted to take in the environment around her and how observant she could be. Grimlsy... she still hated him, and part of her wished he didn't leave her. Oh well, that was in the past, just like he was.

Fary had wandered her way to route 1, still absent-mindedly walking, only half focusing on her path forward. She was thinking about her dream of opening a dark based gym back home in Unova, or maybe she could stay in Kanto, settle down and have a gym while keeping her breeding business open. She could enjoy that life, and Duska was a good assistant. Fary found her self getting more lost in thought until Emily yipped at her as a male Poochyena ran across their path, low on all fours growling at Emily.

"Oh shit, thank you, Emily. I would have run into this poor little cutie. Well, seems like a good member to add to our team. GO Emily!" Emily jumped off her shoulders and landed right in front of the wild pokemon, ready to fight.

"ZORUA, zor zoruuuuaaaa zorua!." HEY, don't growl at me, I should teach you some manners!" The Poochyena didn't seem to care about Emily's words. Instead, he lunged at her for a tackle, but Emily was able to jump out of the way in time.

"Emily, use leer to weaken it!"

Emily just nodded and glaired at the Poochyena, which seemed to make him back off some. Taking advantage of his hesitation, Fary gave Emily another command. "Use another leer then go in with a dark pulse!" While dark pulse wasn't a normally good idea against another dark type Pokemon, leer helped make up for that drawback.

Emily shot the Poochyena another glair, making the pokemon take another step back right before Emily opened her mouth to shoot out a dark purple and black wave of energy that engulfed the Poochyena. It was a few moments before the emergy disbursed enough for Fary to see that the wild pokemon was weak enough for her to try and catch him. She pulled out a Pokeball from her side pouch and threw it as the light from the ball pulled the Poochyena into the sphere. Both the trainer and her pokemon watched with batted breath as the ball thrashed and wiggled on the ground until it clicked, meaning she caught a new pokemon.

"WE DID IT EMILY. I now have a Poochyena." She ran over to pick up the ball and smiled widely. "I think I'll name him Rogue. Come on out Rogue!"

She released Rogue from his Pokeball, and he growled at her for a moment. "It's ok buddy. I'll take good care of you ok Rogue?" She pulled out some pokemon treats and a potion to use on her new friend.

Rogue sniffed at her open had that had the food, and slowly walked over, taking the food. "Poochy, pooc poochyena... Pooch ena poochy..." Fine, I'll take your food... You don't seem too bad... so far. Rogue chowed down on the food as Fary treated his injuries from their fight and he seemed to relax a lot more. Fary picked up Rogue and held him to her chest. He didn't seem to know what to make of the whole ordeal.

After a minute or two, she was able to catch up with the rest of her party. "Sorry about that, I got distracted but I caught a pokemon! His name is Rogue." Fary smiled and gestured to Rouge.

Route 1 was never going to be a difficult path to traverse. As Lilith stated, it was a baby trail for babies. The various Normal types and occasional Dark type were barely a match for the wide array of Pokemon the trainers had available for combat. The biggest challenge was walking uphill the entire time. Viridian City served as a midway point between the coastal Pallet Town and the mountainous Pewter City. It was all going to be uphill from here. Both metaphorically and literally.

The gates to the verdant city were underwhelming to say the least, but the place still had a Pokemon Center and a Pokemart. Provisions could be bought. Allies could be healed. The journey may have just started, but every bit of rest would be welcome.

Viridian City seemed rather like a smaller Celadon, if Hana remembered the latter correctly. The occasional office building on the outskirts of town soon gave way to a more open area with plenty of housing and open parks. Closer to the center of town, the Pokémon Center was straight ahead, and she could see the Gym in the distance. But Gary's challenge wasn't the goal for today. There was a good chance he would still be fuming over the conversations at the Lab.

She looked to the others. "Does anyone need to patch up Pokémon? I would use the time to cook something for the road ahead."

Lilith nodded. "The Pidgey I captured still smells faintly of KFC. And I hate Kanto Fried Chicken. So it should be healed."

Like a trigger, the mention of food sent a sensation of emptiness through Ezra's stomach, despite the snacks he and his partner had crushed on the walk down the route. "You're cooking? What's uh...what's on the menu?" He asked with some hesitance and anticipation.

"I had thought of preparing some travel food. Something a little different from trail mix or energy bars. I take it that means I need to make enough for everyone?"

"The spirits would be appeased," Lilith confirmed. The thought of eating food she didn't have to cook herself was appetizing, especially since her culinary skills topped out at coffeemaker ramen.

"Osh!" What she said! Brie piped up, already ready to make a friend she could pressure into cooking for her.

"All right, I'll be upstairs. Hopefully the backpackers' kitchen is free at this hour. Feel free to come along and observe if you're curious."

Sure enough, once Hana had found her way, the communal kitchen was free. There was one other occupant finishing what appeared to be a late breakfast, early lunch, or combination of the two. She set her backpack down, dug her cooking pot and frypan out of it, and popped open her suitcase. "Let's see, one for everyone means... that much." Several careful measurements later, she had the pot on the stove, steaming nicely, and a timer on her phone was ticking down. If you look, the rice won't cook. She knew that mantra well.

Hana turned her attention to Satomi, who had been waiting patiently to contribute. "Right. Time for you to help out." She took a small river stone and a cleaning cloth from her suitcase, setting the former down before her partner Pokémon. "Let's see those blades nice and clean, first," she said as she set to work. One could never be too careful. Once she was satisfied Satomi's blades were clean, Hana let her sharpen them for a moment on the river stone. The scrape of metal on rock wasn't a pleasant sound to hear, so she quickly collected Satomi and lifted her onto a seat near the kitchen bench. Carrying a Pokémon whose body was mostly sharp edges wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but they were both used to it.

"Six pieces, please. Usual width." Hana passed over a thin sheet of soybean paper and one of her cutting boards. Satomi was quick to get to work, carefully cutting evenly-spaced pieces away from the sheet and stacking them up. It didn't take her long. "Ya!" Done! What's next?

"Good work. Next step, we need to decide what else is going into them." There was still a few minutes left before she had to tend to the rice. Hana took the opportunity to open her recipe book and pick out a suitable flavour. Each page was written in her own hand, neat and elegant with no errors or editing needed. She flipped through a few of them, but settled on one in particular, and picked out a sachet of powdered Oran Berry and her small bottle of cooking oil. Take one minute off the timer at the end of stage two. That'll help stop it falling apart in the pan.

It felt natural for Ezra and Brie to follow Hana to the kitchen. The promise of real food had the two hypnotized. The area wasn’t as lively as the healing center downstairs, the mix of overhead fluorescent lighting mixed with bright, open windows complemented the inviting brightness of the worn, cream-colored linoleum flooring. With seating abundant, it didn’t take long for the boy to pull up a chair at the table closest to the kitchen setup.

Comfortable, Ezra was quick to let his mind wander as he aimlessly watched Hana perform. He knew not to crowd a stove if he didn’t need to be near it. Brie, on the other hand, wanted to get in close and be nosy. But with the dutiful Pawniard assisting her trainer, the sassy Oshawott opted to just look on from a distance, much like her traveling companion.

Then, like a bolt from the blue, a once buried reminder made itself apparent once more. “Oh!” With the exclamation, he pulled out his phone. Now that he actually had some downtime, he needed to check in with Esmerelda. He was almost certain she had long made her arrival in Johto with her girlfriend, Sammi.

Like the practiced reflex it was, Ezra brought up the phone’s video calling application. Naturally, Ezzie was first on the list of recent callers. On confirmation, the call went through. After a couple of processing beeps and boops, the face of a familiar sibling appeared on screen and the two were quick to share wild, identical grins.

“Eazy~!” She announced with a long squeal, producing a sound loud enough to fill up the once-quiet kitchen area.

“Whadduuuup~!” The boy replied, prolonging his own loud greeting. Ezzie was quick to use a long angle to her camera, to show those traveling with her. To her left was a woman much shorter and paler than the twins, with a stylish bob of eye-catching green hair that faded down to black tips. To her right was a boy with a puffy ponytail of radiant auburn, with a familiar mocha complexion that made his dark freckles bright and prominent. Their outdoor scene easily contrasted Ezra’s simple indoor background.

“Hey, Sammi! Hey- Charlie?! Is that my B O Y?!” Last time he had seen his cousin, they were grade school kids. Seeing his updated teenage form was a genuine surprise for Ezra. Upon hearing his name, the young trainer perked up.

“It’s ya boy~! What’s up, Big Eazy?” Charlie was quick to reply with excitement.

“Chilling for the moment. You trying to be like me?” Ezra gestured towards his own wild ponytail.

“Ohh, nah!” The young trainer replied with a chuckle. “I’m just growing it out so I can get dreads!”

The boys shared a laugh that was interrupted by the sharp sound of metal scraping against rock.

“What’re you doing, Eazy? What was that?” Ezzie piped up.

“Oh, that’s one of the girls I’m traveling with preparing some food. She was sharpening her Pawniard.” As he explained, he pointed his camera towards Hana. Though since she was turned towards the kitchen counter, all they got was a good look at her back.

“Girls-?”

“One of-?” Sammi spoke up with some curiosity.

“What happened to Zapp?”

“Oh, uh, Zappollopher had an interview at the last minute, so we never had a chance to link up. But there were other trainers also doing the challenge, so we figured it was cool to hook up to travel the routes.” Ezra didn’t seem to realize the kind of scenario he was presenting to his audience.

“Hooking up, huh?” Ezzie raised an eyebrow.

“With HOW many girls??” Charlie sounded somewhere between excited and jealous.

“It’s not like that, chill out.” Ezra’s brow lowered with the cheeky implications.

As Lizbeth stepped into Viridian City, she thought it looked like a rather cosy little city. It kind of reminded her of Wedgehurst, though with a more city feel to it. The group appeared to be headed towards the Pokémon Center, and so she followed suit, as she did have one Pokémon that needed healing. Ace was still in top form despite the battle against the Rattata from earlier, though that one hadn't appeared particularly strong, anyway.

There was talk of food, but Lizbeth wanted to get her latest team member healed up first, as well as check out the Pokémart that was nearby. She headed towards the counter where a nurse stood, ready to start work for anyone who needed the help.

"Good day to you, miss. How can I help you today?" the nurse said with a comforting voice and a soothing smile. Lizbeth felt at ease, as if she could trust the woman to take good care of her injured Pokémon.

"I have a newly caught Poochyena who needs some care. I'm afraid that my Impidimp couldn't hold much back against her, but only because she didn't hold back either." The nurse was slightly surprised to see Ace just sitting on her shoulder, what with him being a Pokémon she'd never seen. Ace simply waved at her, and she returned the gesture.

Lizbeth took her Poochyena's Premier Ball off her belt and attempted to hand it over to the nurse, but she just politely pushed it back. "You must be new to this. You need to first take your Pokémon out of her respective ball, but come to the side where we receive your Pokémon for treatment."

The nurse motioned for Lizbeth to go to the left where she now saw that they did indeed have an area like that. It made sense, it'd be weird to just put an injured Pokémon right there on the reception counter. Especially if it was bleeding or something else like that. She did as she was asked and took her Poochyena out of her ball right there on the actual receiving counter. Poochyena was still a bit weakened from the earlier fight, and seemed somewhat calmer than before.

"We'll begin treatment immediately. It'll take a bit of time, so we ask that you don't wander too far away." Another nurse appeared after the previous one called for her, who put the Poochyena on a stroller and took her to a room in the back. "Would it be alright if I took a quick trip over to the Pokémart, then?" Lizbeth asked, since she didn't just want to sit and wait.

"Yes, that should be fine, but don't take too long. You mentioned your Poochyena was newly caught, which means she's still basically a wild Pokémon. Our nurses are of course trained to handle wild Pokémon, but it would still be for the best if their actual Trainer is there to receive them back when their treatment is done." With that, the nurse went back to the reception counter to help another Trainer with their Pokémon treatment, and Lizbeth decided to go and see what the Pokémart had to offer.

Meanwhile, Ace had snuck away due to the smell of the food, and saw Hana cooking using her own Pokémon as well. Maybe I can steal an early bite. That thought was quickly extinguished when he remembered what Hana's Pokémon was. Right, Pawniard. Steel type. Better not mess with it. Instead, he opted to video bomb Ezra by climbing up him and onto his shoulder, waving at the people he was talking to on the phone.

Fary followed behind the group looking over Rogue to make sure he was ok after she gave him the potion but he was wiggling in her arms, and clearly unhappy. "Poochy! Poochy poochyena poochy!" HEY! Get your hands off me human!" He was trying to wiggle free form her arms, clearly not used to or trusting humans much, if at all.

Fary just sighed but understood Rogue's hesitance to trust a human. Some people can be shitty to pokemon after all. "Hey hey hey Rogue, it's ok, I'll take good care of you, but I understand why you'd be so wiggly being a fresh-caught Pokemon. Here, let's get you back in your ball for now." She pulled Rogue's Pokeball from her hip and put him back in his ball. She put the pokeball back in its spot as she walked into Viridian City. She knew Viridian was ultimately the last stop before they headed to the Indigo Plateau, which means Gary would be the last gym leader they would face for their journey.

She was about to make her way to the PokeMart and then wanted to meet with the others for food when her Xtransceiver rang. She was expecting it to be either her parents or Duska but looking down at caller ID just made her scowl. Grimsley, great. She hung up and decided he was either trying to get her to breed something for him or wanted to get his dick wet. Then he called her again, and after she rejected his call a few more times, so she bit the bullet and picked up, but made damn sure she looked VERY displeased to see him.

"The fuck do you want Grimsley and why, after FOUR YEARS, are you bothering me." Her voice was dripping with contempt and she wanted nothing more than to hang up on his ass.

Emilly perked up when she got a call, noticing Fary was clearly upset."Zorua zorzor zorua zooor?" "Who the hell is that?" She sniffed at the screen, and growled slightly at the new loud noise.

"Fary Queen! Why are you giving me that look? I'm just calling to talk with you because it's been too long and I miss you. Is that your Zorua? She looks magnificent, I can tell your father bred her for you." He trying to hide his sheepishness with bravado, but it wasn't working. 4 years ago, his bravado would have gotten her every time, but he ruined that all on his own.

Fary's lip curled, and she almost let out a growl. "You miss me? You, miss ME?! Grimsley, I seem to recall you broke up with me because you hid your gambling addiction from me, which I would have supported and loved you anyway regardless of that. BUT, that's too late now. Just tell me why you're really calling me so I can move on with my life WITHOUT YOU!" Fary was almost yelling at this point but managed to keep her voice down as she headed to the Pokemon center.

Grimsley looked down and sighed, deflated and defeated. "I... I know I fucked up. Lying and leaving you was the biggest mistake of my life and I've regretted it ever since. And that purrloin you breed for me, she's... now a liepard and she's amazing and perfect... just like you are. I need you back and I can't take this guilt anymore." He seemed ready to cry, but Fary wasn't going to let that get to her.

Fary saw a man clearly broken by his actions, but she wasn't gonna give him the chance to rip her heart out again. She felt hot tears running down her face as she stopped right outside of the kitchen she saw her traveling companions in, feeling her gasket ready to blow. "Just... leave me the fuck alone Grimsley. Please, you ruined me and your guilt is your problem to bear." She walked into the room and took a seat away from everyone else at her own table. "Lastly, I don't CARE if your part of the Elite Four back home Grimsley, you can't just get me back 4 damn years later by apologizing. Goodbye!" She aggressively hung up on him, and didn't realize her voice was raised enough for everyone to understand her but managed to not yell.

Emily jumped off her shoulder and whimpered, worried about her trainer but didn't say anything and Fary just sat there and cried quietly.

Ant

How could I be so fucking stupid. Ant had been saying that to himself all day. Sometimes even muttering it out load to himself as he was walking with no one around to hear him. Why he thought having 'just a few drinks' in the bar the night before would have done nothing but settle his nerves was idiotic. Especially seeing that Ant never really got drunk. He was too afraid of making a fool of himself and having to deal with his mistakes in the morning after.

The past few days from leaving his home in Johto and making his way to Pallet Town had gone smooth. The trains had ran on time and the directions to Pallet along with the map his mum had given him were simple enough. When he made it to the apartment he'd rented for the night, Ant had just sat on the edge of his bed debating whether it was the right idea coming here. That was the reason he'd decided to leave the apartment and ended up in a bar and convinced by a couple of girls to do some drinking games with him. Ant was too scared to say no to the offer and it was the reason how he'd forgotten to set his alarm.

"Growlithe... Growlithe... Growlitheeeee!" Was the noise what had woken up Ant. The room was spinning and the first thing Ant saw was his Growlithe hovering over him, licking and occasionally moving Ants face with his paw. "Growlitheeeee!" The angry Pokemon barked an order for him to get out of bed.

"I'm up." Ant replied weakly as he slowly moved out of bed. He hunched over the side of the bed and looked at his phone to see what the time was. Suddenly he shot out of bed. "Oh no, oh no, oh no! I should have been at the lab hours ago!" Ant pleadingly said to his Growlithe hoping that he'd have all the answers. The only reply Ant received was a judgmental look as Growlithe sat on the bed watching him. That was probably the quickest Ant had packed in his life shoving everything into his bag with no semblance of order. As soon as he had everything he sprinted off to the lab, Growlithe by his side.

It didn't take long for them to get to the lab, but every other trainer had obviously already left a long time ago. There was a few people in lab coats going about their business and it took a while for him to actually ask someone. The first person who Ant actually managed to get a hold of was the one who he'd actually set out to see, Professor Oak. He was completely different to how his Mum had described him as. The man had some really strange haircut with bits of plastic over his eyes and Ant was pretty sure the man had given him a broken iPod before one of assistants quickly took it off him and passed him an actual Pokedex whilst telling him all the information that was needed. Ant asked if the Professor was okay but he didn't really get a proper answer and was basically rushed out of the lab.

The adventure of a lifetime had begun with a hiccup and was the complete opposite of how Ant had it imagined in his head for the past few years. All he could hope for that it would be the only be a minor bump in what would be an amazing journey. Ant still knew that he'd never let himself live it down though.

Ant stood at the start of route one for a while working up his courage to actually start, taking a few deep breathes trying to calm himself. It was his Growlithe that finally made him make his first step by nudging Ants legs with his head. The first wild Pokémon he came across was a Rattata which Ant was planning on catching it but his Growlithe may have slightly burned it a little bit too much and made it faint. Ant spent a few hours to himself wondering around route 1, taking a quick nap next to a tree with Growlithe curled up on top of him, mainly to try and sleep off the hangover. He was woken up to the sound of a Pidgey squawking at him angrily on a branch above him and that was the first Pokémon Ant caught on his own. A Pokémon that decided to attack Ant himself. He had no idea the reason why it had gone for Ant, maybe it was just defending it's territory. Ant thought it was fearless and was glad to actually catch her. And that was the last Pokémon he'd see on Route 1 before arriving in Viridian City.

His belly had started to rumble for some food but he knew it was for the best if he first got Pidgey healed who was pretty hurt from the fight with Growlithe. That was the first spot he'd go to and then whilst Pidgey was healing, Growlithe and him would get food. As he walked into the Pokémon centre, Ant wondered if he'd bump into the other trainers who he was supposed to see at the Professor Oaks lab.

Ezra's arrival and video-call conversation wasn't as disruptive as it could be, although Hana was made clearly aware of the volume. So was the other occupant of the kitchen, who cleared his dishes and such before making a hasty exit. For the most part, Hana was able to ignore what was going on and focus on her work. The rice was close to done. She switched the frypan to the active element, turning the heat back up.

She fished two spoons out of her pack of cutlery. The first stirred up the rice to make sure it was done. Close enough, the pan will finish it. The second went into the Berry sachet. Not too much, maybe about a teaspoonful for each. "Satomi, the board, please?" It was obligingly pushed over to her, and Hana set to work. She divided the rice into six roughly equal portions, compacting it into ball shapes with her hands to ensure it wouldn't fall apart in the pan. A light dusting of the powdered Oran went onto each before she wrapped them in a manner that would seem rather curious to someone unfamiliar with the process: the angular approach flattened each rice ball slightly.

"Hooking up, huh?" "With HOW many girls??"

"It's not like that, chill out."

Hana gave a short sigh through her nose as she wrapped the last of her creations, thinking of people she knew back home and what they would think of the conversation. She said nothing, though. Anything she did say would likely only add fuel to the metaphorical fire of curiosity. Instead, she got back to work. The sound of frying soon filled the kitchen as she deftly added the full batch to the pan, turning them regularly to ensure the soybean paper didn't crumble and the rice held its shape.

She was, however, caught completely off-guard by another raised voice. She glanced away from the pan for a second to find Fary hanging up on her own phone call and sitting down in a less than stellar state. Stars above, there are distractions across the board! Focus, Hana. One thing at a time. Status... yes, these are done. Hana lifted her creations from the pan, straight back to the board to cool.

"And we're done. Don't touch yet, though, I'd prefer to distribute them once we're back on the road. Satomi, you know the drill, make sure they cool evenly while I clean up."

"Pawn-ya?" Where's mine?

"You get plenty of these already, young miss. Patient hunter, remember?" Satomi rumbled something to the tone of discontent, but did as she was told. Hana was used to it. Satomi could be a bit excitable when she wanted to be. It made her smile as she sealed her packets, stowed them in her suitcase, and started work on the dishes. They didn't take long to wash, dry, and stow; cutlery was quick to clean up, and the pan just needed a brief scrub to clear away the oil and prepare it for the next use. Likely that evening, if they didn't reach Pewter City before sunset.

"Ya." All done. They're cool enough to carry. With Satomi's help, the batch promptly went into a container with a vent in the lid, for future distribution.

Ezra took some pause in the conversation as he felt thin, spindly claws travel up his back. Such a sensation was similar to what he might feel with Brie crawling about his person. But with the young Oshawott sitting in clear view, the toned trainer couldn’t help but wonder what took ahold of him. When the mystery ‘mon reached his shoulder, those watching from the video call gave him an obvious hint.

“Yo Eazy, there’s a pink goblin on your shoulder!” Charlie called, pointing at the beast.

“Huh?” Ezra realized he wasn’t in any danger. With a quick glance in his periphery, he could easily make out Ace’s pronounced features. “Oh, this is Ace!” Propping his phone down at an angle, he was able to free his hands in order to pick up the Impidimp, who wasn't exactly used to being held by anyone but Lizbeth. Obviously, he squirmed a bit. "Impi!" Hey, gentle!

"Okay...What is Ace?" Sammi brought up.

"Oh, uh, he's an...Impidimp! Yeah." Ezra took a second to recall Lizbeth's words.

"Yeah, I've seen one of these before." Esmerelda perked up. "Saw it in my Galarian Anthropology class. Didn't think you'd get to see one in person though!" She brought her phone closer, curious. "Heh, looks like a pink version of you as a baby, Eazy." She jabbed.

"Chill. My head wasn't nearly this big. Or my nose!" Ezra retorted with a chuckle.

"But them ears though..." Ezzie laughed back.

Brie, naturally, wasn't appreciating the attention her trainer was giving another pokemon and decided to jump in by pushing her way into Ezra's lap. "Osha osha!" I'm here too! She cried, pulling one of the boy's oversized paws away from the Impidimp.

Ace used the opportunity to escape from Ezra's hands and crawl up onto his head, then stuck his tongue out at Brie.

Ezra was kinda loving being used as a human jungle gym. Brie, on the other hand, was growing feisty. "Wotta wo wott." Stay up there if you value your tongue. The Oshawott growled and reached for her scalchop, quickly changing Ezra's expression.

"Whoa whoa whoa, no need for the hostilities, Brie." He scolded.

Ace chuckled at Brie's attempt to threaten him. "Impi? Dimp!" You think that'll scare me? I've faced worse back home! He then jumped down from Ezra's head and landed by his phone, being right up at the camera so only he was in view.

"Eek!" Startled by the extreme close-up, Charlie hopped back from the screen, almost fearful of the imp's guise.

"OH SHA!" Get outta the way! Brie swung her shell at the Impidimp, only for Ezra to harmlessly lift her into the air. Completely out of reach, she flailed her flippers in frustration, all but done with Ace's antics. He simply turned around and stuck his tongue out again, this time with a raspberry blow and a finger on each cheek, wiggling his other fingers in a mocking manner.

"Hey, hey." Ezra turned his attention to Ace. "You stop it, too." He snipped lightly. "Don't want you two fighting in here." It was rare for Ezra to be so demanding, which could possibly explain why Brie was the way she was. "Go find Lizbeth, okay? I promise you guys'll get to play when we're outside." As quickly as it appeared, the stoic tone vanished and dissolved into a sweet plead.

Ace actually let out a small yelp when Ezra snipped at him. As much as he loved pranking, he wasn't used to people doing that to him. His ears dropped a bit and he went behind the phone to sit down to take a moment for himself. He knew Ezra didn't mean anything bad, and he also knew he might have taken it a little too far. He'd apologize once Lizbeth came back. But for now, he just wanted to sulk a bit.

Ezra lowered Brie back into his lap, as Ace’s expression got a clear frown out of him. ”Oh no, my boy…” Ezra began to reach out to console the sad Impidimp, but his sibling distracted him.

“Who’s Lizbeth?” She asked.

Before he could answer, Fary stormed into the area, face wet with tears as she found a corner to continue crying in.

“...Is that Lizbeth? Was that her yelling just now?” Sammi asked.

“Thought I heard some yelling...but nah, that’s Fary.” Ezra replied, slowly craning his neck in her direction.

“Tell her I love her blue hair.”

“...After she stops crying, of course.”

There wasn't much for Lizbeth to buy additionally for the journey, but she heard from the people visiting the store that the upcoming forest had its share of Bug and Poison types, so she opted to buy a few extra Antidotes. Three, to be specific. And to be extra cautious, she also got herself three Paralyze Heals and Awakenings. Where there are Bug types, there might also be Grass types, which meant troublesome spore moves. It'd be bad if Ace got paralyzed against a Poison type Pokémon. And I don't have any way to really deal with them yet.

On that note, she also bought five Pokéballs. She still had her ten Dusk Balls, but she didn't want to just use them all up quickly, and thus she needed other types of balls to use for capture. After paying for everything she bought, she headed back to the Pokémon Center to see if her Poochyena was all better. As she made her way inside, she accidentally bumped into another person. Just a light bump, nothing to make him fall down or anything. "Oh, I'm so sorry about that, I guess I was in a bit of a hurry to see my Pokémon again." The person she'd bumped into didn't look like he was feeling too well. He had brown hair, green eyes, and wore an ensemble of an olive green hoodie, black jeans and black trainers.

But she didn't have the time to stick around and hear a reply from him because not long after she got back, the receptionist nurse called for her. "Lizbeth Rowe, could you please come up to the reception desk to collect your Poochyena." could be heard on the intercom. Lizbeth gave the person a light wave and walked up to the receptionist nurse, who guided her to the right as opposed to the left. Seemed like it was a way for people to collect their now healed Pokémon without being in the way of those who needed aid for their injured Pokémon.

A nurse was holding her Poochyena, who seemed much more gentle now than she had when she'd fought her as she just lay peacefully in the nurse's arms. "We didn't have to do much for her, honestly. The fight seemed to have mainly tuckered her out, thought there were a few bruises here and there. But those have all been taken care of, and after we were done, we were a little shocked to see just how calm she became." The nurse handed the Poochyena over to Lizbeth, who held her for the time being. "Thank you very much all the same."

The nurse waved to Lizbeth who made her way up to the second floor. "We hope to see you again soon." was the last thing Lizbeth heard from her before the nurse went over to help another person out.

When Lizbeth got up, there were a few things for her to note. First, there was the smell of food that had been prepared by Hana, it seemed. Secondly, Ezra looked to be in a video call. And thirdly, both Fary and Ace were looking down.

Wait, Ace?

It was only just now that Lizbeth had noticed he wasn't with her. And while she was just about ready to put him into his Dusk Ball for a bit time out, he wasn't looking great. She knew exactly why he was, though. And as much as Lizbeth wanted to go over to Fary to see why she looked so down, she had to take care of her Pokémon first.

"Oh, Ace, you silly little scamp. Did your teasing and pranking go too far again?" Lizbeth said as she took a seat beside Ezra, not paying much attention to whatever Ezra's relatives might say about it. Ace looked towards Lizbeth, nodded his head, and walked over to her. He did see that the Poochyena he'd fought earlier was doing better now, and that did brighten his mood some. Though, the only thing Lizbeth's Poochyena was doing now was napping. Maybe she was still a bit tired.

"I'm sure you were just waiting for me before you did a certain something, right? Well, go on. Say it." Lizbeth urged Ace, who turned towards Ezra and Brie. "Imp." Sorry. he said with his head a bit down, but still looking at them both. Lizbeth gave him a pat on the head with a smile on her face. "There, there. I'm sure they'll find it in their hearts to forgive you if you're earnest about it." She put her hand on the table and he climbed up her arm and onto her shoulder, half hiding inside her hair, and peaking over her shoulder. "I hope he wasn't too much of a bother for you. I swear, I take my eyes off him for a second, and he's already up to no good."

Ant

"Mum... Mum... MUM just listen. I know you said he was one of the smartest people you'd ever met when it came to Pokémon but he just seemed very odd..." Ant said to his Mum in a confused tone. His Mum had rang him up to see how his first day as a Pokémon trainer was going. It was the first time Ant had ever left Johto in his life and the first time he'd been away from his family so he was surprised his Mum hadn't been ringing him every half hour to check on him.

"Well he is getting on in life now, he was old when I was a young girl." His Mum replied. "So did the meeting this morning go well? Are all the other trainers nice? Were there any cute girls for you?"

Ant blushed a little at the last question but was used to how nosey his Mum was and got carried away with how many questions she asked him. "I'm not even gunna answer that last question. And yeah urm... The meeting went good... Everyone seems nice." Ant didn't really want his Mum scolding him for being too drunk to get there on time so a little white lie wouldn't hurt her. "Anyway I caught my first Pokémon today!" Ant said quickly trying to change the conversation. "It's a Pidgey. When she evolves and gets a bit bigger I'll be able to come and fly across to you. I don't think she'll be able to carry my weight at the moment though..."

"Oh it's good to know you're doing well Anthony. I'll let you get back to your new friends then. I'm sure you don't want to be speaking to me all day. I hope Growlithes okay. I love you."

Ant looked down at growlithe who was sat calmly at the side of him. He scratched him on top of his head and the Pokemon looked up at Ant and smiled. "Yeah he's doing good. Love you to Mum. Bye." He hung up and went back to waiting for his Pidgey.

The longer he waited, the more he started day dreaming and thinking of what would be the best strategy to defeat Brock. He knew Brock was a rock trainer and fire and flying types didn't really do much against them. As he thought about catching something else, a girl knocked into him and brought him back to the real world. She apologised to him and he looked over at her. "No it's alright, I'm..." Ant cut himself off when he realised she'd already walked off from him. Feeling kind of embarrassed because he'd basically been speaking to himself, he looked straight down not wanting to make eye contact with anyone until he heard the nurse say the name "Lizbeth Rowe." Ant shot his head up looking around because he'd been told that name before from one of the assistants at the lab. It was one of the other trainers and when he noticed it was the woman who'd bumped into him. He started to build himself up to talk to her when she'd walk back past him. He was planning on stopping her and ask if he could tag a long with her but when the woman finally walked past him, he just froze and no words would escape his mouth. A few seconds later she was heading up the stairs as he just stood looking at her with his mouth open. Straight away Ants face went red from embarrassment of not being able to say anything and just looked down. Growlithe looked up and him and just nuzzled his head into Ants leg to make him feel better. "Okay give me a minute. I'll have some food and then go and talk to her. She might be with the rest of the people as well! I just need something to eat first."

The young woman had gone upstairs but Ant went over to a vending machine grabbing a drink and some chocolate. After that he moved to a bench and sat down and grabbed some treats for Growlithe as well. When they sat there eating another name was read out who was one of the people he'd been told about. This woman was the complete opposite of the first who was brightly dressed. This woman who was called Karen was in all black with hair just as dark. They both glanced at each other as she walked past him. "Okay I'm gunna get up now." Ant said out loud to himself looking at the stairs. "Gunna go and introduce myself now." Ant said again as he sat perfectly still.

All of a sudden Growlithe shot up and ran towards the stairs, then looked back at Ant. "Growlithe." The Pokemon shouted at him to follow and gestured with his head to go up the stairs and suddenly he was out of sight. Ant had no choice now but to go and follow him.

When he got upstairs he found Growlithe sat down basically in-between a group of people. Ant rushed over to him and said, "Will you not run off from me next time please." Growlithe looked over his shoulders to Ant in annoyance knowing that Ant would have never approached them on his own. Ant suddenly realised he'd just ran right into a group of random people noticing the two girls who'd picked up some Pokemon from downstairs. He was slightly embarrassed because everyone was starring at him and he knew he had to say something. "Hi... Urm I'm Ant. Were you lot at the meeting with Professor Oak this morning?"

Fary just looked up at Lizbeth then looked away. "Remember how I told you I'm from Unova? Well, there's a reason I left home four years ago. I... I was in a serious relationship with a trainer that specialized in dark types. He became a member of the Elite Four.. and dumped me." Fary starting chewing on her lower lip. "He just called me for the first time in 4 years..." she picked up and held Emily.

"I'm...I'm sorry to hear that. It was awful of him to do that." Lizbeth gave her Poochyena a small petting as she talked. "Why ever did he call you again, though?"

"He.. he apologized for everything and asked for me back." She hugged Emily more and she tried to wiggle out of her arms. "Oh, shit I'm sorry Emily..."

"Hmm, is that so?" Lizbeth wasn't quite sure why he'd just suddenly want to be back, but one thing was clear enough to her. "I take it that isn't exactly happy news for you? Sorry if I appear inconsiderate, but I'm not exactly an expert on relationships." Given that she had never been in one herself.

Fary shook her head and decided she should give the girl more information. "He hid a gambling issue he had from me out of shame. I would have supported him and loved him regardless of that. Right before he was set to take over his roll in the Elite Four, he took me out to a VERY nice dinner and broke up with me out of the blue." She felt fresh tears run down her cheeks.

"I later find out it was due to his addiction and guilt over keeping it from me. There where better ways to handle that."

"That's simply awful. I can't believe he'd do that instead of trust in you and possibly get through it together." She stopped petting her Poochyena and grabbed onto Fary's hand. "There definitely were better ways, but I suppose he didn't know how to handle it."

Emily sat down next to her trainer and yipped. "Zorua, Zorzor zorua!" Fary, don't cry! Emily didn't know how to handle crying humans yet, but she really didn't like seeing her trainer upset.

Fary squeezed Lizbeth's hand. "No.. he really didn't. The shitty part is I spent weeks breeding a perfect Pokémon for him, one I found out today he uses in his Elite Four roaster back home. I... I have conflicting feelings about that."

Fary sat in silence for a moment as she chewed on her cheek. "Part of me still cares for him, a part I thought long dead... Fucking Grimsley."

Lizbeth squeezed back and gave Fary a soft smile. "Well, ultimately, I think it's up to you what you want to do should he contact you again. We may not have known each other for more than a few hours, but I'll support your decision."

Letting go of her hand, she thought of showing Fary something she hadn't done this entire time. "Wanna see something cool?" Lizbeth put her Poochyena down, as well as putting Ace down on the table, and took her backpack off to reach for something in it.

"Here, Ace, hold this." Lizbeth handed him a mirror, and he knew exactly what she was about to do. With her hand out of the bag, there was a small case in it. She opened it, and two lenses were there. "Just a sec, Fary." After taking her glasses off, she very carefully put both lenses onto her eyes and blinked a few times before putting her glasses back on.

When she looked over to Fary, her green eyes had now become red. "Pretty cool, right?" She hoped that this might cheer her up some.

Fary sat and waited patiently. She watched her dig through her bag, clearly looking for something. Then, when she pulled out the small case, she became more interested in Lizbeth's rummaging.

Fary smiled slightly after Lizbeth was done with the lenses. "That is pretty cool Lizbeth. I needed that. It was sweet of you." She did feel a bit better and appreciated her efforts to make her laugh.

"Oh, I'm so glad to hear that." Lizbeth put the mirror and case back, intending on keeping the lenses in for the time being. "I wonder what the others will say." Ace walked over to Fary and patted her hand. "Imp!" Cheer up! he said with a grin.

"While that was definitely a nice distraction for you, don't forget that we're here for you. Both Ace and I. Keep walking forward and you'll find your way." Lizbeth said with a reassuring grin of her own.

Fary sighed and nodded weakly. Growlithe "Thank you, I needed that. While I have my own thinking to do, you did help make me feel a lot better Lizbeth. Thank you."[/color] She gave her a soft and genuine smile. "I'm happy I decided to come to Kanto and take the gym challenge here."

Fary was about to take out her sketchbook when a Growlithe barged into the room followed by clearly it's trainer. She normally would have wanted to greet them, but more likely wanted to sit and draw. "Yea, that's us. I'm Fary Natashi, I live here in Kanto." she looked up at the new arrival and gave him a weak wave, clearly still upset, but being as polite as she could muster.

Soon enough Hana's cooking supplies were packed away, and she was ready to move on. "Are we all ready to go? Wait, where's miss Rose?" She still hadn't figured out how to address the most dour of the group, given that she had introduced herself by one name and been addressed by another. "Perhaps she is waiting for us on the road north. I will wait there for all of us to regroup."

The road north was easy enough to find, and eventually the entire group was present. It was at this point that Hana noticed a newcomer among them: a tall individual in his late teens, dressed in black and green. She vaguely recalled passing him by in the Pokémon Center; they hadn't exchanged proper introductions yet. Something to be remedied before the day was over, she decided.

"As promised, everyone, I have prepared some travel food," she began. "These are known in Sengun as the national snack ponigiri: steamed rice mixed with natural flavours, then wrapped and fried to prevent each one from falling apart in your hand." She popped open the container in her hands, offering it to each of the others in turn. "Don't mind the faint blue colour, it's powdered Oran Berry." Then she remembered the newcomer. "It turns out I made one too few for everyone to try one. Very well, I will be fine without. I can always make more later."

"Pawn-ya!" Two too few!

Hana just smiled down at her companion. "Satomi is keen on these as well. Most Pokémon are able to consume the vast majority of ponigiri. Some recipes are even tailored towards certain dietary needs." She could have chattered on extensively about the differing needs of different species, or the recipes designed for Pokémon with unusual diets such as the Litwick Sia, but it was bad form to monopolise a conversation - or expect someone to respond and try her cooking at the same time.