You brush your teeth in the morning's silence. Growlithe was chasing Sam's Voltorb in circles near the fire, and the occasional spark would trigger a woof from him.
Sam reads too much, you think. She learns all these things about training, but she treats it like a chore. But she's nice to you, so you can't say something like that to her.
You can tell that Growlithe is just playing now. You see when he pulls back his teeth from actually biting Voltorb. By training you learned your Pokémon's skills, even if they aren't as fast or strong as others.
"I'm gonna go catch something else," Rob says. He's morose, but you've won three times in a row. Rhyhorn even beat his Oddish.
Sam used to laugh, but now she watches. She wants to know how you won, of course. But she wasn't watching the day before, when you'd been working Kassie to tackle through Growlithe's flames, training fearlessness into her. Sam, she wanted easy, cheap, simple solutions.
That's why you won Ecruteak's Fog Badge first. You knew that training was about picking two, that adventuring was the compromise that required practice until reflexes dulled and better instincts were instilled.
Your amusement must've been apparent on your face. "Think that's funny?" the trainer pointed at you, and it would be menacing if he wasn't your junior by years. "Horus, use Drill Peck!"
The boy's Fearow just stared at him blankly. It wasn't even facing you in battle, instead turned to eat berries from a bush on the trail.
He'd obviously borrowed the bird from its real trainer, and was now trying to use it before earning its respect. Your Growlithe made quick work of it, despite the power difference. A trainer without his Pokémon's respect lost before he even started.
Midsummer holiday was on you before you knew it. The day for celebrating Ho-oh was always a blast, even between cities; a farming hamlet you'd stopped by hosted a day-long festival, and the three of you came out of it with masks and fans.
The campfire was still the night's end. Instead of planning, tonight you exchanged gifts.
Sam was squinting at the book you gave her, a biography-slash-training-manual from some shop you'd been at once. Rob was eating, putting aside the dubious Sunkern growing kit.
I must seem a boring trainer, you thought. Five poke balls and a whip.
Sometimes you were surprised by your companions. Goldenrod was a hub for trading, but you didn't expect either of them to participate.
"-and it can even float around, so it's a lot like Beedrill was." Sam was explaining to you her decision to trade for her new Skiploom, Bonbon. You nodded along even though you disagreed with her decision. Pokémon were always strongest when raised by one person.
She'd stopped talking. "You disagree?"
You cursed. Got to stop being so obvious with my thoughts.
Competition was in Sam's eye, though. "Let's battle then. I've been wanting to practice with you."