"Mr. Briney?" I prayed he remembered me as I walked into his old cabin the next day. he was a rather elderly man, and probably suffered some Alzheimer's, but I wasn't a doctor. His door was always open during the day, and he was open to always ferrying people across the ocean blue.

Thunk.

I winced as the sound echoed through the house, and an overweight Pelipper trudged into the room. She instantly remembered me, and chirped happily. "Hey, Peeko. Where's Mr. Briney?"

"Ah, is that who I think it is?" The cracked voice of Mr. Briney flooded my ears. "Why, how long has it been, Nadia?"

I grinned. "Just a couple of weeks, Mr. Briney." I said, before I pulled out my badge from Rustboro. "I got my first badge."

He squinted at it, before pushing glasses on his face. "My, my, my, Nadia. You've got your old man's genes in you after all!"

I bit my tongue to hold back a comment about my dad, and kept it to myself. Technically, he was complimenting me in the first place, and it felt nice. He pulled out a piece of a motor and a rag, shining it. "What brings you to my humble and homely cottage, Nadia dear?"

I had spaced out for a moment prior to that, remembering how he and my dad were close. They had bene, after all, neighbors until Mr. Briney moved closer to his boat for easy access. By then, Dad had begun the gym challenge. They still remained close, and until one of Dad's pokemon learned Surf, Mr. Briney shipped him everywhere- from Dewford to Slateport and back again to Petalburg.

"Oh, uh, I was curious if you could give me a lift to Dewford." I explained my situation- the night before I got a call from Jasmine and Jasper, telling me that they were waiting in Dewford for me, their 'slowpoke friend'. They were going to challenge the gym after both of them caught another Pokemon- probably a water or fighting type, now that their SuperRodz had came in- and I was lagging behind. Again. "You wouldn't mind, would you?"

Mr. Briney laughed, chuckled and chortled. It was a happy laugh, and I felt compelled to laugh with him. But if I did, it would have been a terribly awkward situation. "Of course, dear!" His mouth broke into the widest grin I'd ever seen in an old man like him. "Ever since them cruises opened up at the port down there-" he pointed outside of his house, where only a mile down the beach a port with the best boats to get to Dewford and the other side of Hoenn were docked. "- my business has been kinda slack."

I shrugged. "You're more humble than those big-name ships anyway. I'd chose you in a heartbeat."

"Thanks, Nadia." He said, with a very greatful tone in his voice. The man was known to be quite a jokester, but this time it was a sincere one. "Peeko, we're going sailing again!"

I grinned, following him to the boat.

Jasmine and Jasper were waiting for me at the docks, their hands entangled and everything matching- even their smiles. A metal band stood out the most, and it was locked around the free wrists. I never saw anything like it, thus it piqued my curiosity.

"Glad you made it, Nadia!" Jasper said. "Jasmine and I were just about to go training, but we got your call-"

"-Gosh, Nadia, you're so slow!" Jasmine giggled. "We've been here a day already, right, Jas?"

I couldn't help but let a smug grin come across my face. "Really? How was it? Do anything...interesting?" Jasper's face turned a deep red upon realizing what I meant, but Jasmine was left in the dark for a little bit.

Then it hit her. "NADIA!"

"Well, it was a simple question. Did you have sex-"

A hard hand hit me upside the head, and I decided it was best to keep my mouth shut. Rubbing the sore spot, I ignored the urge to glare at Jasmine. Instead, I turned to Jasper. "You guys getting ready for Brawley?"

Brawley was the gym leader of Dewford, if you didn't remember. In fact, many people forgot about Dewford because of how small and isolated it seems. It was smaller than Littleroot, on an island in the middle of the ocean. It doesn't even have a proper PokeMart, just a shack that gets occasional orders and is stocked up on Pokeballs.

"PLEASE. Do you think we need to get ready for this battle?" Jasmine laughed. "We have the upper hand here, remember. Psychic vs. Fighting won't end in his luck."

Right, I thought, biting my lip. I wouldn't have the best of it here due to my obvious disadvantage. And what was the use of getting a badge here? I won't be challenging the league. It doesn't suit me, like it didn't suit my father.

"What about you, Nadia?" Jasper spoke up again.

"I probably won't be doing any more Gyms." I replied, crossing my arms. "It doesn't suit me, really. Getting Roxanne's badge was just something everyone does." Although I remembered, for a split second, that Roxanne had called him, and that I would probably challenge him eventually. But I didn't need all the badges to become the rad Pokemon trainer I wanted to be.

Since Brendan became Champion all those years ago, he made the whole system of "you must have x number of badges to do this" disappear completely. It was annoying and restricting to some trainers, and since the fifteen-year-olds who were to graduate from the Academy after they set those rules in would be- hopefully- smarter than trainers had been, it would be the most rational decision.

If I had a Pokemon, like a Swellow, who could fly, I wouldn't need the HM to fly. It was something that made no sense- you restrict Pokemon from doing what they're naturally born to do.

Now that I was thinking back, Brendan was a pretty smart trainer himself. He was only eleven when the league listened to him, and let me tell you, that kid had some ideas. It was his idea- though, his first few years he was assisted by the former champion Steven Stone- to change the currency into mainly digital yen.

"Nadia? Are you still in there?"

"Hmm?" I blinked. How much time passed when I was thinking of the Champion?

"You looked like a Shedinja for a second there. I was a little creeped out." Jas explained, his hands free of his ball of fluff and excitement we called Jasmine.

"Where'd Jasmine go?"

"I don't really know. I mentioned Brawley again, and she ran off in that direction-" Due to the size of the island, it was very easy to see where he was pointing. His finger was angled directly at the Pokemon Gym. "-yelling, at the top of her lungs, "YOLO!""

That's Jasmine for you.

"I should probably go after her before she kills herself, or her Pokemon." I don't know what cartoon about friendship and whatnot you've been watching, but Pokemon can actually die in battles. However, it's extremely rare and only happens if the foe is overpowered or you're too much of an idiot to realize what you're doing. I think that factor was another reason to why you had to graduate the Academy to be able to become a trainer.

I nodded. "I'll get a room at the Motel."

Pokemon Centers were free to use for trainers, and even had their own rooms to accommodate the trainers, like I mentioned before. But there was that homey feeling you get by staying at a Motel sometimes. Dad told me a lot of stories about the Motels he'd stay at on his journeys. The one in Dewford, he said, has the best pancakes.

I had to hope that even after a few years, they'd still have great pancakes.