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It was a cool spring morning just like many others in the normally sleepy town of New Bark. The bird Pokémon sang in the nearby trees, the morning sun sending soft beams of light of the buildings, and the gentle rustling of leaves echoed throughout the streets. The people walked up and down the streets, talking of local gossip or of the peaceful weather that the town had been blessed with. Though the talk of the town was of course that the champion was visiting, and would be starting his second run-through of the gym challenge.

Despite the peaceful and serene feeling of the town, there was one small exception to this. Near the exit to Route 29 a single gloomy blonde-haired man in dark colored clothes sat hunched over on a nearby bench, his mere presence draining the positive energy surrounding him. Yet in stark contrast, a bright red Blaziken sat next to him, his foot tapping along on the ground to a beat only he could hear, looking this way and that, as if waiting for someone. These were, of course, Champion Isaac, and his companion, Kick. Despite their openness, few dared approach, lest they draw the ire of the known prodigal trainer. Even those who did approach were met by silence and an irritated glare.

At last Isaac let out a gruff sigh as he slumped backwards against the bench. "Damn, I'm really doing this aren't I?" He groaned disdainfully at the nearby Blaziken. "Look, you entertain the kids, and I'll make sure we don't get lost and die or whatever. Capiche?" The Blaziken next to him gave a nod and a small squawk as if to confirm. Looking up towards the blue sky he began to mentally prepare himself for the day, and enjoy the few brief moments of silence and solitude he had left.

The trek from here to Cherrygrove wouldn't be that long, maybe half a day at most if there weren't any bumps along the road. He knew there wasn't anything dangerous there except for a couple of ledges, which he had hoped the trainers he'd be guiding would know better than to fling themselves off of. Either that or try to eat whatever weird berries they find. But it's not like they were literal children or anything right? And there were only going to be like, what, two or three of them? He exhaled one final time as he sat up straight. With any luck they'd be here soon, and could finally get this show on the road.

---

---

While Danny was glad that parents drove him to New Bark Town yesterday and thus saved him from a long boring walk, he had barely been able to sleep. Not only did he have to spend the night in an unknown city but he would go on a Pokemon Journey. At least it was with the Champion which would no doubt make things easier and since it was a prize Danny had no doubt the League would handle things like food and transport instead of making them walk. So he stayed in bed trying to at least get some sleep until he had barely enough time to get dressed and head to the meeting spot.

Once he was outside he let Hades out of his Pokeball. As expected the Houndour was much more excited than his trainer and ran around. "Now, don't go running of okay?" Danny scratched Hades behind the ears and headed in the direction of Route 29, occasionally checking his Pokegear to make sure he was going the right way. That quickly turned out to be unnecessary both due to how small New Bark Town was and the fact several people were headed the same way to see the Champion.

When he finally arrived at his destination Danny was a bit surprised that the Champion was alone, even New Bark residents staying a fair bit away. What he found even odder was that there was no sign of a car or food or anything he had expected to see. Nervously he approached Isaac, Hades more interested in his Blaziken. "Ehm excuse me sir, I'm one of the lottery's winners, Danny Foster. If you don't me asking where is the car?"

While his Trainer was talking Hades ran up to Blaziken, tail wagging, clearly wanting to play with the much stronger Fire-type Pokemon.

---

Interacting with/Mentioning: Isaac

---

"P!

O!

K!

E!

M!

ON!

POKEMON!"

Early to bed, and early to rock, that...Wasn't, like, a motto or anything, but it was at least what Ginger Lockhearte had ended up doing this fine morning, her guitar hooked up to an amp to let her early jam session really go to 11! Plus, this place wasn't nothin' like Galar; there were so few folks in this 'city' that she really wasn't concerned about bugging anyone. Besides, most of the old folks could probably sleep right through this...

As Ginger kept riffing away on Roxie's OG hit single (though she was more partial to her latest hit, Baneful Bunker), she hadn't even noticed that her mum had knocked on the door at least five times, and having given up being acknowledged, had still rather politely opened the door to her upstairs room in a very quiet and subtle nature, waiting for her daughter to reach a lull in her session. Which she received by chance, when Cheepy, who had mostly been enjoying the rockout her trainer was delivering, had abruptly decided to waddle her way off the bedside and go messing with her amp, unplugging it midway through the next verse. "Wha-?! Cheepy! Why, you lil' bugger!" She brusquely nabbed up the bratty little Poison-Type, wrangling her away from her precious gear, when her mum's singsong voice echoed throughout the room, now devoid of ear-blasting sound. "Dear? Do you know what day it is?"

Only just now realizing her mum was in the room gave Ginger a bit of a start, but she recovered quickly enough, plopping Chili Pepper back onto the bed. "Whatcha mean? S'just a Wednesday, right?" Her mum, with what felt in the moment like an all-knowing smile, quickly pulled out a ticket, and it all came flooding back.

"...THAT'S TODAY?!"

"Indeed it is, sweetheart! You'd best not keep a Champion waiting, it would be awfully rude, and besides, I'm sure you've been looking forward to today!" With that heart-melter of a smile on her mum's face, Ginger didn't have it in her to tell that she'd been dreading it more than anything. Putting on a smile for her sake, she responded. "Yeah mum, f'course I have! Guess I....Better get ready." "Well, it's nice to be eager, but I want to make sure you get a good breakfast in beforehand! And, well...I'm not sure whether they have some other method of knowing you're one of the winners, so you ought to keep the ticket with you when you go." Being quickly handed the winning ticket, her mother began to leave back downstairs. "Be sure to come down once you're all packed up!"

Some time later...

Ginger's mum was great, but her doting nature had made actually leaving the house for this journey troublesome. Between making her breakfast and then expecting her to even have seconds of the darn thing (....which she did), and her fussing over her appearance (she still thought Ginger should lose the hair dye, but she put way too much work into this look to just toss it!), she'd been held up way longer than intended, but fortunately, making it to sleepy ol' Bark Town was as simple as a hop, skip, and jump. Just had to pass through Route 29, which she'd been through a dozen times at this point. Even while keeping Chili Pepper in her ball, most wild 'Mons steered clear of her on her path through, especially the poor bird Pokémon who were far from eager to get caught by a Nuzzle yet again.

Avoiding any major catastrophe, Ginger had made it to the end of the Route, and, well...The Champ at least made it easy to find them, with their signature Blaziken chilling outside their ball like they owned the place. Seemed she wasn't the first one here...And even more surprisingly, not the last, given how held up she'd gotten. With a deep sigh, Ginger strutted her way over, waving her ticket around as her sign of officiality. "Yo. 'M one of the winners. Judgin' by them," She commented, thrusting a thumb towards the stoic Blaze Pokémon. "I must be in the right place. Ginger." With that last bit, she motioned to herself to clarify that it was her name, and wasting no time, went to hug the other end of the exit to New Bark Town, leaning against the treeline away from the Champ and that other kid. It was way too early in the morning to end up in a proper chat, by her margins, and besides...She felt way too awkward trying to talk to the Champion, especially with their ace just casually out and about! Talk about intimidating. She couldn't even imagine measuring up to a Pokémon like that...

And so, having made her piece, Ginger was all too happy to keep her distance, tousling her multi-colored hair of the way as she went about re-tuning her guitar after the morning session.

---

---

Traveling to Johto from Paldea was nothing short of a nightmare, the only thing that could make her flight worse was if the plane went down. The bus ride from the airport to Cherrygrove City was much better, at least she wasn’t sitting between two large people and there was no crying baby. However, she did arrive at the station at a very awkward time, too late to justify getting a room and too early to head out to the meeting spot. Instead, Lucia found a secluded part of the small bus station and put her bag down, then she took out a pokeball and tossed it just in front of her and a flash of light poured out of the gadget revealing a small Ralts with a red ribbon tied around its neck. The pokeball bounced back at the blue-haired teen as she caught it before it smacked her in the face.

Lucia sat on the floor with her back leaning against the wall behind her and opened her arms and smiled wide, “Fey!” she silently called, trying not to disturb other sleeping travelers. The little Ralts made a joyful noise and jumped into Lucia’s opened arms, it was a while since Lucia could let her only pokemon out from her ball, and the two sat cuddling each other before Lucia dozed off.

An alarm interrupted Lucia’s slumber as she felt drool dripping down her chin, the teen wiped her face with her sleeve and looked around almost forgetting where she was.

“Oh shit,” Lucia said, remembering why she had set the alarm.

The teen grabbed her bag and held on to the sleeping pokemon as she rushed out of the bus station. She hadn’t noticed it before but the city really did smell of flowers, just as she read. Lucia wouldn’t be late for the scheduled meeting time but she wouldn’t be as early as she would like. The run wasn’t too bad as the bus station was on the edge of town, thankfully. However, by the time she was at the meeting point, she was already winded.

Lucia took a moment to catch her breath and straightened her academy jacket and skirt, she would not meet the champion looking like she looking a sick Weezing.

“You ready to meet the unbeatable Isaac?” she asked the Ralts on her shoulder.

“Ralts…” Fey, said softly, hiding under Lucia’s blue ponytail.

Lucia first noticed the strong-looking Blaziken, then the hot bad boy champion, Isaac, sitting on a bench next to the pokemon. The teen pushed pass the crowd that was forming but kept a healthy distance away from the champion. Lucia felt her blood rushing to her face as she got closer and noticed another teen and his pokemon. They must be one of the other lotto winners, she thought.

Lucia approached Isaac, ignoring the kid, and stood starstruck as she looked at the blond, she thought he’d be taller. that didn’t matter! He was so intimidating anyways.

“G-greetings,” she managed to say.

Greetings, what kind of stupid greeting was that, why didn’t I say good morning or even hey there champ would have been a hundred times better! She internally scolded herself.

---

Tom was procrastinating. There wasn’t really any other way to put it.

He wasn’t running late. He wasn’t lost and trying to find his way; this was his damn hometown for one thing and was too small to get lost in to begin with for another. He wasn’t taking his time.

He was just… trying to put off deciding if he was actually going to go through with this.

Things would have been simpler if he had never won the lottery. Then he could just say it was bad luck and go back to beating his head against the wall that was trying to be an independent trainer. Maybe he would have even seen the Champion and the lucky lottery winners pass him by like everyone else did and he could scoff at them and say it only happened because they got a free ride and he didn’t. The indignation from that would give him another little boost so he could keep trying for a little longer. Hell, things would have been better if he had never entered at all.

But he had won, by some miracle or curse. His ticket had been chosen and he was given the chance to take that free ride with the others. And he was having a hard time coming to terms with that, knowing that he would have sneered at the kids who won in his place if he hadn’t.

Because that? That would make him a hypocrite. It would mean all of the things he had said and the fights he had had about exactly this kind of thing and how right he had felt as he had said them were actually wrong; it would mean he was wrong. It would mean he had wasted his time, his Pokémon’s time, but doing things wrong this whole time. Except, if he had done things differently then he would even have his Pokémon would he? He would have different Pokémon and any choice that meant he didn’t have Storm and Night with him had to be the wrong one, right?

But god, he was so sick of not making any progress.

So, it wouldn’t hurt to just go along with this for a little while, get passed this one hurdle and then go his own way, right?

Right.

With a sigh, Thomas picked up his backpack and pushed off of the wall he had been leaning against. It was a short walk to the meeting place, he had only been right around the corner as he made his decision after all, and he soon found himself only a few paces away from the Champion himself. Thomas looked eyes with the man, but didn’t say anything for a few seconds as he just stared, words he didn’t know the form of right at the tip of his tongue.

Then he broke eye contact and went to sit at the end of the bench as far away from the man as he could.

Tim took several deep breaths, as he held his Rockruff in his arms, and petted the dog Pokémon. Why did his mom think this was good idea. Traveling with the champion, and a bunch of kids he didn’t know. You can make friends she said. It will be fun she said. But Tim wasn’t so sure. He felt The whole traveling the region thing is something better done alone in the company of Pokémon. “It’ll be fun she said. You’ll make friends she said… I’d rather make some Pokémon friends.”

But, he was here now, so he had to go along with it. “Let’s just get this over with…” After finally working up the nerve, he made his way to Route 29. The Champion guy was waiting along with several others who had won the same lottery he did. Some of them had there Pokémon out too. Tim was particularly impressed with the champion’s Blaziken. You don’t really see those in Johto…

Suddenly, Rocky got excited, and started barking, then jumped out of Tim’s arms, and ran over to sniff another boy’s Houndour, then nuzzled the Champions leg. As cute as the scene was, the humans involved might not feel the same way. He ran over to his Pokémon, and picked him up. “Um.. I’m sorry about him. He get’s excited… Um..I’m T-t-tim…” he said nervously. He avoided making eye contact, and shuffled his feet.

Rocky barked, and happily panted.

Interacting With/Mentioning: Isaac, Danny

---

Isaac's mood immediately began to sour as the first of the young trainers showed up. A brown-haired, blue-eyed teen introduced himself as Danny, accompanied by a Houndour. The lively Houdour seemed very interested in Kick, who, in response, gave a equally lively squawk towards it. As the young boy asked about a car, Isaac's shoulders suddenly felt much heavier as he realized just what he was getting saddled with. He leaned forwards, hands interlocking as he put them to his mouth. Only the champion's piercing blue eyes moved towards the boy as he spoke. "You really don't know what you're getting yourself into do you?"

Then the second trainer, an older teen sporting a myriad of hair colors carrying a guitar. This oughta end well. The way she spoke immediately gave her away as a Galarian. That certainly wouldn't make her stand out like a sore thumb or anything. Fortunately, her conversation was mercifully short, as she nearly immediately headed towards the other end of the route exit. If all their exchanges went like this, she might end up being his favorite.

The third was an almost comically short girl with blue hair. She reminded him of Claire, only with less Resting Bitch Face. A shy looking Ralts accompanied her on her shoulder. As the champion's eyes flicked over to his new prey, he could immediately tell she was somewhat intimidated by both him and his Blaziken. With any luck that would keep her quiet, or at least obedient. She managed to squeak out a singular greeting towards him, in which the champion only replied with a mere grunt. Kick on the other hand, gave a cheerful wave towards the blue-haired girl, as if he was happy to make a new friend.

Fourth was a black-haired boy with nearly equally dark eyes. He seemed... almost frustrated as he approached. As the two locked eyes, they both waited in silence. Then the boy broke contact first, and sat down a short distance away. Isaac merely dismissed it as teenage angst. Either that or he was pissed he wasn't the only one here. It didn't matter to Isaac.

Finally there was a short, black-haired boy in a blue hat holding a Rockruff who approached, who then quickly lost control of said Rockruff as it leapt out of his arms and began barking and sniffing around, even going so far as to rub itself on the champion's leg. Isaac remained silent and motionless as this happed, but held a glare at the young boy as he ran over to pick it up. The boy introduced himself as Tim, but either had a terrible stutter, or was incredibly nervous. Given the situation, probably the latter. "You'd better keep him on a short leash. Letting it run amok as it pleases is an easy way to get hurt, or worse." spoke the champion as he began to stand.

Now at full height, he looked over his gaggle of trainers, only now realizing just how much he towered over them, especially mini-Claire and The blue capped boy. Kick got up shortly after, taking a stand next to his champion trainer. "Alright kiddos, listen up. Here's the plan. Route 29 isn't that long, we should be able to make it to Cherrygrove by late afternoon, assuming none of you end up getting horribly maimed. I'm going to assume most of you aren't stupid and know not to eat any of the random wild berries or to go trying to pet the local Pokémon." Isaac began to take a few strides towards the exit to the city, making a beckoning motion towards the group. Kick followed closely behind, with a much more gleeful step.

"I'll just tell you now, there's nothing worth catching on Route 29, save your Pokéballs for later. If you're particularly unlucky, you're going to need as many as you can hold. At the midway point is a checkpoint to Route 46. We can't go that way, unless you all feel like climbing a mountain, and fighting Pokémon way out of your league. We'll be taking a pit stop there, as I'm assuming most of you aren't used to walking entire routes yet." By now, Isaac, Kick, and any who had followed him had now reached the exit, and had taken the first steps into Route 29. He turned around to face the young trainers one more time as he spoke again.

"Lastly, keep an eye on your Pokémon. If I find one of them chewing on me or my stuff, I'm going to have Kick here punt it into the stratosphere." The Blaziken's eyes went wide and let out a surprised "Ken!" in shock, waving its arms back and forth, as if to reassure he wouldn't do that. Isaac let out a sigh as he shifted his weight to one side and but his hand on his hip. "Now then, any questions?" He quickly held up a single finger. "Correction. Any important questions?"

---

---

Danny was somewhat relieved to see that the Blaziken didn't seem to mind Hades' attempts to play, even if the Blaze Pokémon didn't seem interested in playing. That relief didn't last long when the Champion responded to his question about the car with another question that implied this wasn't gonna be the easy journey Danny had been expecting.

Before he could ask anything else the next lottery winner showed up. Danny had to admit that she was kinda hot, especially with that exposed midriff and accent he couldn't place. He had no intention to creep on her though so he kept his distance when she rested against a tree.

It didn't take long for their next companion to arrive, another girl this one blue haired and with a Ralts on her shoulder. Given how enthusiastic Hades could be and how shy the Ralts looked Danny had to admit carrying it like was probably a good idea.

A bit later some black haired boy showed up, though since he just sat down across from them Danny wasn't sure if he was actually part of the group or not. He was about to ask when he was distracted by a brown dog like pokemon he didn't know that seemed interested in his Houndour. Hades happily sniffed the Rockruff back, barking friendly at it but didn't join in on the leg rubbing, excitedly running around in circles instead while the Champion gave everyone a quick explanation. Despite being sure Isaac wouldn't consider it important and the fact his question wasn't meant for anyone in particular Danny couldn't quiet after hearing what the Champion had to say. "You mean we have to walk all the way to the next town?!"

---

Interacting with/Mentioning: Everyone/no one in particular

---

Crikey, there were way more winners that she would've thought. Ginger expected, like, one more after her or somethin', not THREE! 'F course, there was the original lad who was here before her, but she hadn't paid him much mind. That was, until she caught him lookin' her down, which he broke in a hurry. A smug look crossed her face. Sure, Ginger didn't feel like being bothered right now, but it wasn't like she tried to look this way to not stand out. Plus...He was cute enough. The adorable little pup that was his helped as well; while she wouldn't dare let it show on her face, she couldn't help but think how cute it looked darting to and fro as it introduced itself to the other Pokémon who were out and about. It also made her thankful she'd kept Chili Pepper in her ball; she somehow doubted they would make the best first impression...

The next one up was a lass (the only other gal amongst them, she noted with some disdain), who clearly hadn't prepared herself to actually meet the Champion face-to-face, judging by that complete Darumaka-shite introduction. Didn't even give a name. Talk about improper. Ginger's eyes turned to size up the diminutive Pokémon she had on her shoulder. A Ralts, eh? Rare one for sure, and Hoennian in origin, if she was remembering right. Still...That sentiment didn't seem right for the girl herself. Something about that crap she was wearing marked her off as odd (like she was one to talk though); like something a schoolgirl would be wearing. What, did she think they were all gonna go off to Trainer School with all the pre-K goblins to learn that Fire beats Grass? She snorted to herself while her attention flickered to another newcomer.

Wow, now that? That was awkward. She'd have to give the lass more credit; she at least said something. Was this bloke even apart of the winners circle? Maybe not. Least it'd be one less face Ginger would have to remember, if that were the case. Then that left...Oh sweet Arceus, that tyke was leaking nervous energy. Still, she'd give him the point for tryin', unlike the secondary brooding benchwarmer. It was obvious though that even if he was meant to be here, he was absolutely unprepared for it. Suddenly, given her 'competition', Ginger was feeling a lot better about herself...And in turn, a whole lot worse about this journey at large. Of course, she'd have been remiss to ignore the new pup who was now prancing around the group, quick to get cozy with both its fellow dog Pokémon, as well as....The Champ. Yikes.

...Still, Ginger was definitely jealous. Rockruff was such a cute Pokémon, but she'd never been able to find one back home. Even if she had, it probably wouldn't have liked her all that much...While her face didn't change, the more perceptive of the bunch could tell that Ginger's eyes gained a venomous edge. Speaking of that pup, the Champ soon spoke up about its carefree attitude, and...Ginger would have to agree. Sure, he seemed like a lovely little guy, but she also knew that Rockruff were prone to getting, well, rough at times, even ones that are normally well-mannered. Not to mention that, in general, letting your Pokémon just wander about is an easy way to get into trouble...She'd know.

Ginger continued to listen as the Champion spoke, telling them of their plan to cut through Route 29 and make a stop on 46 partway through to give 'em some breathing room....Seriously? If the plan was to just walk the bloody Hell back through the route, then why even make them all meet at the start of it?! This all coulda just happened at Cherrygrove! While she didn't hide a grumble of discontent, she wasn't ready to step into the verbal ring with the Champion. That is, until something else he said rubbed her the wrong way.

...Nothing worth catching? What was that supposed to mean? Sure, Ginger'd be the first to say that all the little rodents and birds that mainly populated the Route weren't exactly impressive (though at the very least it was more diverse than the region had been in the past; migration patterns or the like, she hadn't paid too much attention to that crap back in school), but to say they weren't even worth their notice, effectively, was...Cruel.

"Yeah, I got a question." Marching forward from the sidelines of the gathered lot, Ginger took center stage, not hiding the disdain in her glare. "Th' shite didja mean when you said there ain't nothin' 'worth catching'? What, they not strong enough for your tastes, oh mighty Champion?" Was she doing the equivalent of pouring gasoline on a flame that would've died off in seconds otherwise? Yes. But she didn't care; what he said had pissed her off, and she wouldn't take it sitting down.

---

He wasn’t sure what he had expected the Champion to be like. With everything else running through his head, to be honest, he hadn’t given much thought to anything else, but if had to pick something he probably would have expected the Champion to be more… enthusiastic about this at least? Right now the older trainer was talking to them like a reluctant caretaker, someone who had been stuck looking after a bunch of kids when they’d rather be doing something else and, come to think of it, maybe that’s exactly what he was. He certainly didn’t sound like he wanted to be here and the way he was talking down to them really didn’t seem like something someone who was doing this willingly would do.

Instead he sounded blunt, impatient and dismissive. Perhaps that was Tom’s own biases at work, maybe he just wanted to see the Champion in the worst light possible, but when one of the other lottery winners got in his face about something Isaac had said it made it clear he wasn’t the only one a little put off by his attitude.

There was nothing worth catching on the route between here and Cherry Grove, huh? Objectively, that was probably true; there were stronger Pokémon to be caught in the more dangerous parts of the region, like the mountains, deep in cave or out in the middle of the ocean. But it wasn’t like they would be able to make it that far with just a single Pokémon right? Every trainer had to start somewhere and didn’t get the luxury of starting out with a strong and rare Pokémon to make the early part of their journey a breeze like some did. Some of them had to work for every bit of progress and needed to catch a team of these ‘worthless’ Pokémon to do it.

He’d caught both of his Pokémon on this route.

Maybe that was why he was still stuck here.

Tom slammed the heel of his palm against the wood of the bench he was sitting on, pushing himself up to his feet. “Just let us catch whatever ‘worthless’ Pokémon we want Champ. You don’t need to hold our hands about everything.”

---

Lucia frowned at Isaac’s grunt and shrunk back, the teen knew she fumbled the greeting pretty hard, she even forgot to give her name. Lucia thought about introducing herself properly but felt the time had passed and it would just be awkward to blort out her name. She had no idea why she was freaking out so hard, Isaac was just the champion nothing too crazy… She could feel the Butterfrees in her stomach again just thinking of how important the champion was, and suddenly Lucia felt a tap on her forehead as Ralts reached over and her little arm on Lucia and gave her a reassuring smile.

Of course, Ralts could sense her nervousness, and Lucia felt guilty for making her pokemon worry. She just needed to calm down, yes Isaac was a champion but she was here to learn from him and not treat him like a celebrity. Lucia took a breath and held it for a few seconds and released it and could feel herself calm down. Lucia looked up at Kick smiled and almost laughed at the contrast between the trainer and pokemon and gave a little wave back.

Lucia’s frown returned as the next trainer who would be joining them stepped up to Isaac and just stared him down. Jeez, at least her pathetic greeting was better than this guy, was he looking to get into a fight with the champion on the first day?

Shortly after the broody black-haired teen showed up, Lucia heard a pokemon start barking, she turned to find the source when she noticed a frail-looking boy holding an excited-looking Rockruff before it slipped out of its trainer's hands and shot directly for the oher dog pokemon. Luckily it seemed the other boy's pokemon was just as excited to meet the pokemon, however, she almost cringed as the pokemon began to affectionally rub on Isaac’s leg. The boy really needed to train his pokemon more before he let it out of its pokeball around other pokemon.

When the champion stood up to his full height, Lucia took a step back, Isaac towered over her and felt naive for thinking he was shorter than she thought; he was almost freakishly tall in fact. Lucia listened as Isaac relayed the plan to head to Cherrygrove, she was a little annoyed that she would have to make the trip back to where she had been, but it was unavoidable.

As Isaac gestured for them to follow, Lucia took her academy jacket off, revealing her white short-sleeve button-up shirt and a black long-sleeve athletic shirt underneath, and tied the jacket around her waist. Her run from Cherrygrove had left her a bit hot and prepared herself to go through the route once more.

Lucia’s frown deepened when Isaac made the remark about the pokemon in the area not being worth catching, she understood the champion was more than a bit grumpy but he couldn’t be so crude and say a pokemon was not worth a pokeball. The pokemon she had seen while coming through the route had been some Pidgey and Hoppip, she could reason there were more powerful pokemon and with the champion’s help they would surely have a chance to catch such pokemon, but still there was no reason to be so insulting.

The blue-haired trainer was deep in thought and almost missed the boy with the Houndour committed about having to walk. Lucia hoped the trainer wouldn’t complain the whole time they were traveling together, that could become annoying quickly.

That was when she noticed the final traveling companion as she voiced her opinion on Isaac’s commit, a tall rainbow-haired girl dressed in a black tank top that revealed her midriff in contrast with her baggy cargo pants. She suddenly felt overdressed in her academy outfit, it really couldn’t be helped she was on a school assignment and would lose points if her teachers saw her out of school uniform and surely this trip would be televised. Lucia caught herself staring at the girl and felt her cheeks blush again before snapping her attention back to Isaac. She felt the same way about Isaac’s rude commit about the pokemon, though she would have worded it more politely.

Lucia turned as she heard the angry boy slam his hand against the wooden bench and told Isaac off. Lucia scowled at the boy’s remark, she could tell the boy mocking the champion, however, it still angered her.

“There is no worthless pokemon,” she said with an elevated tone. “Just trainers that don’t know what they're doing,” she finished evenly.

Lucia then looked Isaac in the eye and fought her urge to back down. “Surely the champion knows even a Pidgey caught on this route can evolve into Pidgeot and become a true threat in the hands of a good trainer.” Lucia felt her hands start to shake as she felt the adrenaline rush through her. She couldn’t believe she was talking to Isaac like this after just meeting him. The teen closed her hands into a fist, the Ralts on her shoulder seemed to back her trainer as it stood firmly with her hand on its hips.

“R-Ralts!”

Tim frowned. He still kept Rocky in his arms though. ”Oh…Um… ok…” he mumbled as he got out of the way while Isaac made a speech addressing the group about where they going. Tim furrowed his brows when he said there was nothing worth catching on Route 29. What did he mean there was nothing worth catching? All Pokemon were beautiful in their own way, and anything was worth catching if you wanted to bond with it. For a Champion, Isaac certainly didn’t have a good attitude about Pokemon.

Several others in the group felt the same way, and voiced their thoughts. Tim did not feel the need to add to it, and stir the pot further. After all, Isaac looked like he could beat him up pretty good… Instead, he decided to talk to the boy with the Houndour. He seemed nice. “Well… um… Y-y-yes. We do have to walk to the next town. That um… comes with being a Pokémon trainer. Oh… but um… D-d-don’t worry, it’s fun. You get to see Pokémon in their natural habitat! And maybe find some to add to your team… Speaking of, um… I like your Houndour…” He said as he started petting his Rockruff’s head.

Interactions: Danny @Duthguy

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Isaac's gaze remained cold and unwavering as the young trainers voiced their displeasure at his words. The angsty silent boy even going so far thump the bench he was sitting on, presumably out of frustration. Either that or some half-assed attempt at intimidation. It didn't matter. Looks like he was going to have to break this down into simpler terms. The champion's blue eyes turned towards the multicolor-haired girl, as she seemed to be the most fiery of the bunch. Cooling her down first would hopefully temper out the others.

"Strength is almost entirely irrelevant when it comes to battle. There have been numerous cases where 'weaker' Pokémon have dominated the battlefield. Take Pelipper for example. Not exactly known for being very strong. But in double battles, Pelipper is an absolute menace, and is the core of several teams. Or what about Quagsire? Quagsire isn't very strong, and its defenses aren't great either, but it's still a major threat to many teams due to its ability to recover and ignore boosting moves from powerhouses like Scizor."

Isaac then returned his attention to the group as a whole before continuing to speak, his hardened expression beginning to soften a bit. "The reason I say not to bother catching anything here, is because anything you can find here, you can find anywhere else. In fact, that's why the League decided we'd be starting here. This way, you can get used to travel without having to worry about missing out on anything. We can set our pace and discover if any of us have specific needs along the way, like if any you are horribly allergic to certain trees or Pokémon types."

As Isaac continued to speak, occasionally raising a finger to add emphasis, the Blaziken beside him began to get noticeably antsy, as if growing impatient. It began to tap its foot to the ground and its fingers in its thigh. Isaac, taking notice of this, decided to try and wrap things up. "One last thing. I suppose it should go without saying, but just to make it clear, every time you catch a Pokémon, you are the one responsible for it. You have to feed it, you have to buy medicine for it, you have to train it, you have to give it attention. If you bloat your team up with six Pokémon before you even get to the first gym, you're going to get overwhelmed very quickly, and spend more time taking care of them than anything else. Imagine trying to take care of six of these guys." Isaac jabbed a thumb in Kick's direction, who in response pointed to himself in a confused manner. "You'd be surprised just how much this guy can eat. Either way, it's better to try and get used to what you have now, and build up some experience with adventuring before going off catching things willy-nilly."

Isaac then turned towards the Blaziken, facing away from the rest of the party, beckoning them forwards with his off hand as he began to move forwards. The Blaziken beside him motioning the group forwards with a much more enthusiastic cadence. "If you really want to catch something here, I won't stop you, my advice is just to wait until you're slightly more adept at this. Oh, and Danny-boy." Isaac turned his head to the side as he spoke to the young trainer. "If you don't like walking, I'd consider looking out for a Pokémon you can ride on. I hear the Onix in Union Cave don't mind being ridden on." He turned his head back in front of him as he continued forwards. "Let's get moving. The more time we spend arguing over semantics, the less daylight we have to work with."

The beginning of Route 29 was relatively straightforward, and there was already a well-worn foot path that would take them directly to Cherrygrove City. Most of the Pokémon here were relatively docile, or otherwise quite skittish. The Hoppip overhead mostly just floated carefree wherever the breeze decided to carry them, and the Sentret in the tall grass would rather flee than fight. The Rattata were somewhat proactive, but knew better than to attack a human. The Pidgey in the surrounding forested area mostly kept to themselves, only leaving their trees to hunt for the occasional prey Pokémon. The only "obstacle" that the party faced was a slope somewhat later that would take them to the woods just before the route 46 checkpoint. With any luck, nobody should be in any real danger, unless someone felt like throwing themselves off of a ledge near the slope.

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It seemed that the Champion's comment about there not being worth anything to catch on route 29 rubbed several of the others the wrong way, especially the black haired boy that arrived last and blue haired girl. The boy holding the strange dog Pokemon seemed more interested in cheering Danny up by mentioning stuff he already knew but wasn't very interested in, He wasn't gonna say that though, either the kid was incredibly anxious or he had a speech impediment and which ever it was talking to a complete stranger had to take some courage."That is true I suppose. I mostly just figured the League would make things easier for us.

Hearing Tim say that he liked him Hades stopped running around the group and ran over to him. Remembering that tackling people was bad he stopped just in time and stared at both him and his Rockruff. "Guess he likes you and your Pokemon as well. He has always been more energetic than me." Danny scratched Hades behind the ears but both Tim and Rockruff remained the the focus of the Dark Pokémon's attention. "I just hope you won't expect me to start carrying you like that."

In the meantime Isaac gave his reasoning as to why he didn't think there was a lot worth catching around here, and while Danny only half listened it made sense and explained why this small town was the starting point of their journey. What Isaac said next was much more interesting in Danny's mind. "Onix heh? Might be tough with a Fire-type, but worth a shot I suppose."

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Interacting with: Tim and Isaac Mentioning: Thomas and Lucia