Writer's Note: Want to apologize now for the sloppy tagging in the previous 3 chapters. I'm also posting this on another site and I didn't realize that the tags were different between the two websites. So hopefully I have the right tags for this chapter.

Kind of a filler chapter here, not the most exciting. Things will get better from here on out and the chapters between towns wont be this boring. And it will take more chapters to travel between towns.

Chapter IV

It was now the evening hours of the 16th of the month. Cotter was standing at the door of his house with a large pack on his back, ready to leave. He stood there impatiently while his mom went over the checklist in her hand once again.

"Alright let's see one more time. Wallet with ID and money?" she sounded off.

"Check" he unemotionally replied.

"Week's worth of clothes?" Cotter didn't even bother to check. This was the third time she had gone through her checklist, everything was already accounted for.

"Check."

"Cell Phone and charger?"

"Check." Cotter slowly moved his hand towards the door handle.

"Alright let's see. Comb, toothbrush, deodorant...?"

"Check, check, check and every other health related product check." Cotter slowly twisted the handle and Buizel helped him quietly push the door.

"Alright I get the hint. I'll hurry up" she said with serious smile. "Let's see Buizel is right there. So Murkrow?" The black bird was sitting atop Cotter's head in plain sight. She was also pressing to get on with the adventure. Murkrow was great friends with Mom but Mom was started to act a little crazy and Murkrow knew it was time to go.

"Check."

"Diglett?"

"Check."

"Purugly?"

"Check."

"Let's see what else is there." Cotter now had the door wide open and Mom didn't even notice. But instead of making a run for it Cotter closed the door. He approached his mom, tossed her checklist aside and looked her right in the eyes.

"Mom we've been over the checklist, I have everything I need. You're sad to see me go, that's why you're doing this. But it'll be alright. I will call you everyday, I promise. I really need to get on the road though. I want to reach Jubilife before it gets too dark. Before I go though, I have a surprise. Without me or Murkrow you're going to be really lonely and as your son that is not ok. So I talked to Professor Rowan today and told him your situation. So even though this is silly he said if you came by tomorrow he would give you your own pokemon. Someone to help keep you company while I'm away. That's my parting gift, it's time to go." He kissed her on the cheek and then bolted out the door before she could say anything else. Mom stood there with a happy expression on her face, she had raised a great boy.

Cotter nervously walked along Route 203 with all four of his pokemon at his side. His match was scheduled for 7 am and just the thought of it was nerve racking. A loss was almost automatically elimination and so soon. Suddenly a positive thought floated into Cotter's mind. The tournament was 1,024 spots. The judges choose who got in from the performance they put on in the preliminary match. There was a tiny chance that if you lost the judges would still put you through because they deemed you very strong with a stronger opponent. Tomorrow was the last day of the preliminaries and all those 1,024 spots had to be filled. So it gave Cotter a higher chance to loose and move on. He then quickly shook those thoughts out of his head. He would not use. He looked down at his three pokemon, since Murkrow was still on his head and began to think about who to use in his match. Purugly was strolling right at his, matching his walking speed. She had very powerful physical attacks and was actually decently fast. Though she completely lacked in agility and range. Diglett was digging along right in front of Cotter so he could occasionally make small holes for Cotter to trip over because the little, brown pokemon found it hilarious. Diglett had shown great speed and with his ability to dig he was hard to hit. But he couldn't do much besides dig and he majorly lacked in power. He was also was frail as wet paper. Murkrow was happily resting on Cotter's head, her talons were placed just right that they didn't dig into his dome. Murkrow was a flying ace, could easily avoid attack while up in the air and she hit pretty hard too. Then there was Buizel who was walking about five feet in front of Cotter, leading the party. He was the obvious choice for Cotter to rely on in a must win situation. Speed, power, agility, range, Buizel had it all. While still not perfect Buizel was an incredibly capable pokemon. And he also looked extremely cool with his shades which was an extra deciding factor.

Cotter had now been walking for a few hours and it was officially dark out. Luckily there were street lamps lighting the road to Jubilife. Cotter had been to the large city a few times so he knew he was close to arriving. The walk was pretty quiet with the exception of Purugly's heavy footsteps and the chirping of the wild Kricketot. But suddenly a new sound entered the area and that was the sound of someone running. Cotter could tell the running was that of a bipedal being but he couldn't tell if it was pokemon or human. Cotter stopped and looked behind his shoulder to see the running figure approaching. The figured came into clearer view quickly and revealed itself to be a young human lady. Her brown hair was tied back into a ponytail and she had on round glasses. The lady came to a sliding halt when she reached where Cotter stood. The dust she kicked up caused Cotter and his pokemon to cough.

"Excuse me but do you know how far Jubilife is from here?" she asked hurriedly and awkwardly.

"Just like 20 minutes" Cotter answered, scratching his head.

"Oh thank goodness." She released a huge sigh of relief. "See I'm supposed to be there for the tournament tomorrow and I've never been there before. I came from Twinleaf and got distracted and left late. And I had no idea how far it was from Twinleaf so I ran as much as I could so I wouldn't be late. But I guess I didn't need to run" she explained still talking very fast. "Well I'll leave you alone now, thanks kind stranger." She then took off still moving very speedily. Cotter shrugged his shoulders and continued onward with his pokemon. Though Buizel stood still for a second to clear the dirt from his shades. He was angry while cleaning them but was much happier when he placed them back on his head. The then jogged forward to get his spot at the front of the party again.

Within twenty minutes Cotter reached Jubilife. He had returned Diglett and Purugly into their pokeballs because they had fallen asleep as it was close to midnight now. Cotter himself was having troubles keeping himself awake. He had wisely called into the Pokecenter earlier and reserved a hotel room. So when he reached the pokecenter he easily got his key, made it into his room and passed out on the bed. Murkrow pulled out the white, cotton sheets from under him and then covered him with it. She then grabbed onto his backpack and slide his body forward so his head his head was laying more comfortably on the pillow. Murkrow then flew to the desk right next to the bed and curled up for sleep. Buizel sighed as he reached into Cotter's pockets, pulling out his cellphone. He flipped the phone open and preceded to set the alarm for 6:30.

"Thanks buddy" Cotter mumbled before drifting off to sleep.