Apogee

"So I thought I could run a few names by you," Tracy said.

The three had been hiking for just under an hour and this was the first attempt at conversation.

"Susan, how's that sound?" Tracy asked. "It doesn't sound right," Marcus wheezed, "Let's take a break." He was very tired from last night's excursion, but he didn't want to let Tracy know about that.

"Fine, Susan's no good," Tracy said, setting her pack down on a nearby rock, "Why don't you let her out so she can decide?" Marcus begrudgingly let the growlithe out. As much as he wanted to give her a name, he didn't need Tracy deciding for him.

"Hi Susan," Tracy said sweetly. No response. "Everyone's a critic," Tracy mumbled to sat down and racked her brain for names.

"I know how about Sarah," Tracy said. The growlithe wagged its tail at the name. Marcus didn't know what to say.

"Oh, you like that name don't you Sarah," Tracy cooed, rubbing the puppy's tried to play it cool.

"It's not that I don't like it , it's just that my friend Sarah is the one who gave me the growlithe and I don't know what she'd say if…" Marcus was speeding up rapidly as he spoke. He decided to stop before he said anything too stupid. "So that cop's name is Sarah," Tracy grinned mischievously," I guess you wouldn't want to call your girlfriend a bitch." Marcus blushed.

"Yeah, I saw the way she was drooling all over you," Tracy said confidently.

"Maybe we ought to name her Tracy," he thought to himself with a smile.

Tracy looked like she had something to say. Marcus had to refocused the subject quickly or he would risk embarrassment.

"All these names are too human," he said. Hopefully this would distract her.

"What are you saying, that pokémon are inferior to humans?" Tracy accused.

"No it's just –"Marcus glanced over to Blackjack, who raised an eyebrow in mock anger. "- Just chill out, I was only kidding," Tracy let out a chuckle.

"How about you call her Laura then?" She asked. The dog pokémon wagged its tail in approval. Marcus let out a faint smile. "That's like my mother's name," Marcus said.

"Ugh, I just can't win!" Tracy threw her hands up in exasperation.

"No, no, I like it," Marcus said. "Hello there little Laura," Marcus said in a soothing voice."Not that I think my mom's a bitch or anything," Marcus said, remembering Tracy's early statement.

"I'm just glad that Laura finally gets a nice name," she said.

The rest of the hike was uneventful, Marcus's lack of energy made for poor conversation. It is when they arrived at Violet city, when they were no longer hikers but rather pedestrians, that conversation started between two. The town was brimming with excitement for the conference. There were huge banners depicting the conference logo strung up everywhere in town and crowds flocked the streets.

The conference was a week-long gathering of scientists, doctors, and mathematicians from all over Johto and the world. Young minds filled ad hoc lecture halls, Companies announced new technologies and old friends and rivals held public debates; discussing everything from new archeological finds to the flaws of the seventeen-type system.

Many considered it a right of passage to receive a conference pin seeing it as an official welcome into the intellectual community. Conference veterans would often collect the pins from each conference and would amaze students with tales from their first conference. Their eyes would sparkle as they recounted dying a belligerent teacher's hair with a special batch of chemicals or late night sexual escapades with peers after solving a particularly difficult problem.

But Marcus did not care about the correlation between ocean currents and the migratory patterns of swablu, nor did he care about the mating habits of elderly mathematicians.

Marcus cared about the Violet city gym and winning the zephyr badge.

"Let's go find the gym," Marcus said. Tracy and Blackjack stared at him in disbelief. "How about we get some lunch first," said Tracy. In his excitement, Marcus had already forgotten about the lousy breakfast he had this morning. The delightful smells emanating from vendors had not shaken his determination. "No, we go to the gym first!" Marcus proclaimed. Tracy's open hand helped show him how hungry she was and he changed his mind.

They could not have had worse timing, just catching the mid-day rush. They went from restaurant to restaurant only to be told there were not enough seats. As Tracy grew more and more hungry, she became more and more grumpy.

"If I don't get food soon, I swear to Arceus that I'm going to kill a waiter and eat his entrails!" Tracy yelled at Marcus. Marcus wanted to hide.

"Well we wouldn't want that, you should sit with us," a familiar voice said. It was the professor sitting in a booth next to Paul.

Tracy and Marcus scooted into the both. "Thanks," Tracy said quietly, she was pretty embarrassed by her outburst. "We wouldn't want to be responsible for a homicide," Paul said in that calm voice of his.

The four made small-talk while they waited for their meals. The conversation focused mostly on the conference and the various activities within, later changing to what the professor would dub 'a fascinating look into the limits of the human digestive system' when Tracy got her meal.

"You win some you lose some," said the professor as he set down his fork. Tracy had been telling the tale of Marcus's first battle while they waited for the professor to finish. Marcus wanted to sink into the vinyl cushion and disappear. "You said you were going to Goldenrod right?" Paul inquired. Tracy nodded. "Skarmory can get you there real quick, if you don't mind the walk to the fly-zone," Paul said. Marcus couldn't believe what he was hearing. "He's offering to take her for me!" he thought.

Tracy was eager to get back to Goldenrod and gladly accepted Paul's offer. "Okay we'll go today," Paul said,"Here Marcus you can use my hotel room tonight." "Getting rid of Tracy and free board?" Marcus thought excitedly. He had a new hero. Paul handed over the hotel keys, not that Marcus needed them.

"Hey I'll be in Azalea, for a while why don't you stop by when you get there," Paul remarked. He was the only person who expressed confidence in Marcus's ability to win. "I'll have to do that," Marcus said. "Well till, we cross that river again," Paul said as he exited the restaurant.

Every time Marcus met Paul, things seemed to get a lot better.

It took a while for Marcus to realize that with Tracy, Blackjack had also left. Marcus assured himself that he would see him again when he went to Goldenrod.

He would have been wrong if poor financial planning had not resulted in a shortage in supply. But this was no time for 'what ifs', Marcus had a gym leader to fight.

He was surprised to find the building almost completely empty. The lobby was fairly ordinary for a gym. The walls were adorned with all kinds of bird pokémon painted by a local school according to the plaque. The stadium itself was modest in size; not every gym leader could be a Chuck. The only people sitting in the stands was a group engineering students. They were drawing the retractable roof that the gym was famous for, probably trying to come up with a better design. The gym lacked only one thing: a leader.

Marcus pulled out his watch and checked the time. "No, the door said it was open now," he thought to himself. He ran his thumb around the watches edges nervously, feeling the raised lettering. This always calmed him down when he was nervous. He stopped rubbing when he heard a noise. The noise was shoes pounding on the floor.

A blue-haired young man in a cape came running out of the back and promptly cowered behind Marcus. "You gotta hide me man, she's crazy," Falkner pleaded, ducking behind Marcus. Marcus had no clue what was going on. A couple of students looked up from their work to watch the prominent figure cower behind the sixteen year old. "Nice pocket watch, a bit anachronistic for my taste, but still-" Falkner said. "Oh Falkner ," A sing-song voice called out.

"Oh shit, she's here," Marcus thought.

Suddenly he empathized with the blue-haired man hiding behind him. Yes he would be glad to see her again, but at the same time he was a little afraid. Two or three of the engineering students recognized the voice too and hid under the bleachers or ran out. "Falkner, where are you?" the voice was still sing-song. As the woman to whom the sing-song voice belonged walked through the door, Falkner dug into Marcus's shoulders harder. She scanned the room for Falkner and found him cowering behind someone.

"Is that… little Mark?"