Author's Note: This is my first fanfic... Constructive criticism is appreciated, especially what I need to improve. Pokémon does not belong to me in the slightest.

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Wes sat on a stool at the counter in Outskirt Stand. It had been about nine months since he had tracked down and snagged the last Shadow Pokémon, a Togetic, at this location. Since then, his life had totally changed. He had been pardoned of all the crimes he had committed as a member of Team Snagem, and people he had never seen recognized him and thanked him for all he had done. It wasn't too bad at first, but as word spread that he was the hero who had stopped Cipher's plans to take over Orre, it had become a headache. When girls who would blush and giggle every time he even glanced at them started following him around, it had become intolerable. He had fled here to Outskirt Stand, and had been here for the better part of a month. Even here, though, people on their way to hikes and expeditions in Orre's largely unexplored frontier would stop and thank him. Some even asked him for an autograph. More disturbingly, he had started to see faces that he knew from his time in Snagem - faces that didn't thank him or wish him well. Faces that blamed him for Snagem's demise. He knew he needed to get out of there before they took his revenge. But he felt that going back to those giggling girls would be just as bad as anything Snagem could do to him.

Wes then let his eyes wander to the TV, preferring not to think about giggling girls and Snagem. The show that was on wasn't particularly interesting, since it was just a rerun of an old show. Hardly anything else was ever shown, since the only station in Orre was the neglected offshoot of some foreign TV network. The last time he had been in Pyrite, he had heard the Kids Grid talking about plans to create a TV network of their own, the logic being something along the lines of everyone watches TV, meaning they could spread true information to more people faster. He approved of this plan, as the news on the current TV station was always out of date and hardly ever concerned with Orre. Still, pretty much the only thing to do in this broken-down train in the middle of nowhere was watch TV. So he sat there and pondered his next course of action, which at the moment was doing absolutely nothing.

A voice interrupted his thinking.

"You know, just because you did one great thing, your life isn't over." Wes looked up. It was the owner of Outskirt Stand, a tough man whose realistic view of life endeared him to many of the explorers who roamed Orre's frontier, looking for a vein of gold like the one that created Pyrite and the Under.

"What do you mean?" Wes asked.

"All day, you just sit here, looking like you think your life is over. It isn't. Go to a city and find your destiny." Wes sighed.

"I'm here because there is nothing for me in the big cities but problems. I get stopped every two feet by people who want to thank me, and girls follow me around. It became too much for me to stand."

"You aren't the only one with those problems, you know. Justy, Duking, the mayor of Phenac... All three have people thanking them and asking for advice all the time."

"Yes, but... Those people have jobs, things to do that keep them in the city. I don't." There was a pause as the man thought.

"Well, why don't you leave Orre?" Wes jumped up, angry.

"Leave Orre! What do you mean, leave Orre!?" Then his sudden burst of energy left him, and he sat back down, head in his hands. "Besides, I would be just as well known anywhere else."

"No, you wouldn't. The people in the other regions don't care what happens in Orre. They think only dreamers and people with nowhere else to go come here. They dismiss our colosseums as old-fashioned, saying that they pale in comparison to gyms and Pokémon Leagues. They claim only people who can't get into their prestigious Trainer's Schools go to the Pre Gym. They won't care if you are the hero who saved Orre. You would have to prove yourself like any novice trainer. And you could. I've seen you fight. You could probably become the Champion in one of their ever-so-great leagues." Wes was stunned at the man's speech.

"But... Orre... It's my home... I... can't leave it..."

"But under the current circumstances, you can't stay. Sometimes, to get further, you need to leave behind what is familiar. Now go! I don't want to see you again until you are a League Champion!" So Wes left the broken-down train, his Umbreon and Espeon trailing behind.

Wes sat on one of the wagon wheels that were scattered around Outskirt Stand, wondering where he could go now. All of the caves that used to be his hideouts he knew he could not go to anymore - he had been told of them by Snagem, and the members would surely attack him if he went to them. But he didn't want to go back to Phenac or Pyrite. He sighed. Perhaps he should follow the man's advice. But he didn't know how to leave Orre, having never needed or wanted to do so. Suddenly an idea shot through his head. Agate! It had its fair share of famous people, so he wouldn't be bugged, and Eagun, not being from Orre, surely would know how to leave it! Wes got up and strode toward his hoverbike, his Umbreon and Espeon trailing behind, ready to go blasting through the desert to Agate.