"What took you so long?"

Antoine didn't bother responding. He knew Susan would fill in the details. Which, of course, she did.

"Well, after Antoine's battle, Falkner offered to let me try." Susan grinned. "And it went pretty well, too! It was kind of rough at first, but I ended up winning!"

"Nice!" Penny lit up. "Man, I wish I could have been there. I haven't had a chance to see a proper battle in ages. At least not official ones."

"Cool. Now which way is it to Olivine?" Antoine didn't really have time for too much nonsense. The sooner he got Susan to Aunt Carol, the sooner she'd be safely out of the way. He could double back later.

"Well, someone's certainly in a rush." Penny chuckled as she pointed out the western exit. "This way leads up to Ecruteak. From there, we just follow the path west and then south. Simple, right?"

"I guess." Antoine readjusted his bag on his shoulders. "Well then, what are we waiting-"

"Excuse me."

The sudden introduction of another voice caught Antoine off guard. He spun around to see a young man walking toward them with purpose. The first thing that caught Ant's eye was his purple scarf, emblazoned with a familiar logo: a large, fancy letter O interlocked with a smaller F and C next to it.

Great, he thought to himself. Another Orsay bandwagoner. "Can we help you?" he asked, not bothering to hide the spite in his voice.

"Sorry to bother you all," the young man began, clearly missing his thinly veiled annoyance. "I overheard you mentioning leaving for Ecruteak just a moment ago. But I don't think you'll be able to do that right now."

"Oh, really?" Penny put her hands on her hips. "And why's that?"

"That route's blocked off at the moment, I'm afraid." He adjusted his glasses. "They shut it down in the summer for the annual Sudowoodo migration."

"Oh, right. I forgot about that. It is that time of year, isn't it?" Penny chuckled nervously, a sheepish grin crawling across her face. "My bad."

Antoine squinted at the blond teenager. "Then how are we supposed to get to Olivine?"

"You'll have to take the long route to get out there." The young man pointed to one side. "If you head south from here, you'll end up in Azalea. From there, cut north through Goldenrod and you'll make it to Ecruteak eventually."

Ant sighed. His to-do list was getting longer by the minute. "So head south, then north. Got it. Thanks."

"Not at all. Glad to help." The young man turned to walk off, but stopped himself. "Oh, and one more thing."

"What's that?"

"Be careful when you get to Azalea. There've been rumors of some shady characters running around there lately. May want to keep an eye out."

Wonderful. Just what we needed. Ant sighed. "Thanks for the heads up, I guess."

"No problem." The young man turned again. "I'm sure we'll meet again somewhere," he called behind him as he left.

Antoine blinked, trying to process this last interjection. What was he talking about?

He didn't have time to reflect before Penny jumped back in: "Seems like a cool guy. Never seen him before, though. So that's weird. But it probably doesn't matter too much, right?"

"Yeah. Well, whatever that was about, we need to head out. Ready, Susan?"

Antoine turned to look at his sister, only to find her continuing to stare after the young man, as if transfixed. Ant hesitated, then tried again. "Susan?" He snapped his fingers a couple of times to try to get her attention.

Whatever had her captivated, his snapping seemed to do the trick. She flinched, as if losing her bearings for a moment, before looking around in a mild panic. Eventually, her eyes met his, and he saw her relax. "What? What is it?"

"We're heading out. We've got to head south toward Azalea Town."

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

By the sound of her voice, Antoine could tell something was up. But before he could ask, he felt a tug on his elbow. Penny had seized both of them by the arm and was dragging them toward the gate.

"Let's go, people! We're wasting daylight just standing here!" Penny coupled her words with a redoubled effort to yank them toward their destination.

The thought occurred to Antoine to pull himself free, but for whatever reason, he never acted on it.


The trio set forth on their newly extended route as morning stretched into afternoon. The well-traveled path gave them a clear heading, which at least was better than nothing. Antoine walked forward with purpose-albeit not so much purpose as to leave his two unforeseen shadows behind, much as he may have wanted to. Their brisk pace bought them a decent amount of headway, such that when they decided to take a brief rest, they were near the halfway point of the route between Violet and its southern terminus.

The trio found a small clearing and sat down to a late lunch. Kylian, having been freed from his Poké Ball, toddled about the clearing, taking in the sights and smells-and occasionally tastes-this new route had to offer. Antoine kept watch on him out of the corner of his eye as they sat. At the other end of the clearing, Goji had plopped down on his rear and was steadfastly refusing to move, occasionally growling and lobbing rocks at nearby bugs that got too close to him.

Basil remained clutched in Susan's arms. He wouldn't listen when Ant had tried to put him in a new ball, and his sister seemed to insist on treating him like the spoiled beast he was. At the moment, the Chikorita's gaze was fixed on the berry pouch of Susan's backpack as his personal servant regaled Penny with the story of her battle.

"...And then when Antoine got finished, Falkner asked if I wanted to try." Susan smoothed down Basil's coat. "I tried to use Basil at first, but he didn't do so well. So instead I sent in Foley, and-"

"Wait a minute." Antoine looked up from his phone. "Foley?"

"Yeah. That's what I decided to call Geodude." She grinned. "Neat, huh? And I decided on a name for my Hoothoot, too. I'm calling him 'Psy.'"

"That sounds kind of dumb."

Susan scoffed. "Says the guy who named his Pokémon 'Kylian,' of all things."

"Hey, that's the name of a real footballer. There's a difference."

"So? It's still a dumb name."

Ant sighed and returned to his phone.

"Anyway," Susan continued, "I sent in Foley, and he used Rock Throw on the Pidgey, and I won! I actually won my first ever Pokémon battle!"

"That's pretty impressive." Ant couldn't tell whether Penny was just humoring his sister or was genuinely enthralled. "And he had no idea you weren't supposed to be able to battle at all?"

"No idea at all. He asked if I had a provisional license, but I said yes and he believed me."

"Speaking of which," Antoine spoke up again, looking back at Susan, "I think we need to set some ground rules if this arrangement is going to work."

"Ground rules?" Susan tilted her head. "Like what?"

"Well, for starters, you don't have a trainer license, and other people aren't going to be as willing to believe you if you lie again."

"But-"

"No buts." Maybe he was being too harsh. But he couldn't take it back now. "If you get caught, it's bad news for the both of us-you for battling without a license, and me for aiding and abetting. And that's to say nothing of our new vagrant friend here," he added, jabbing a thumb at Penny.

"You know, I should really take offense at that," Penny huffed, "but I'm not going to."

"Good. Either way, Susan, no more battling until we get to Aunt Carol's."

"But I-"

"I said, no buts. It's dangerous to take part in Pokémon battles if you don't know what you're doing."

"Oh, come on, Antoine. Is it really that bad?" Susan let Basil down onto the ground to join Goji and Kylian. "I did just fine the first time. What's the worst that could happen?"

Antoine hesitated. She really didn't know anything about any of this, did she? He'd known for a long time how dangerous the world could be, yet their parents had shielded her from so much of it. Was it really his place to burst her bubble?

"You don't understand," he finally responded. "Training Pokémon isn't always as romantic as it seems on TV or in movies. It can be really dangerous-not just for you, but for your Pokémon."

"But Basil got hit pretty hard earlier, and he's still-"

"Falkner was holding back. It was clearly your first battle, and you didn't know Basil would take greater damage from Flying-types. So he didn't go all out. If he had done, then..." He looked away, letting the silence finish his thought for him. He couldn't even bear to consider the only possible ending.

Neither, it seemed, could Susan. Her energy had evaporated in an instant, replaced seemingly by a quiet unease. Ant saw her force her gaze away from him and toward Basil, who had trotted off toward an opening in the treeline.

"You know," Penny spoke up, trying to salvage the discussion, "I'm pretty sure Gym leaders aren't supposed to go all out anyway. Even on the last badge, they can still stop the fight whenever they want if things go badly."

"And how do you know that, exactly?" Ant raised an eyebrow. "It's not like you have experience, surely."

"Hey, I'm allowed to have a life besides being a 'vagrant,'" she replied, making air quotes as she said the last word.

"I thought that was your life."

"You're being kind of stuck up right now, by the way. It's almost funny how highly you think of yourself." She leaned over to Susan and pretended to whisper: "I really don't know how you live with him."

Antoine sighed. He was already regretting having to bring the two of them along.

The moment was interrupted by a faint rumble from the stand of trees opposite them. Basil, who had been investigating the area, instantly turned tail and fled the scene, leaping straight into Susan's arms. From within the forest emerged what seemed to be a collection of yellow balls of fluff with blue faces, all advancing slowly toward their makeshift camp. A quick count indicated at least seven or eight of them, possibly even a dozen.

"What are they?" Susan asked, jumping to her feet. "And what are they doing?"

Antoine looked back at his phone and pulled up the application the professor had had him download before leaving. A few quick scrolls brought him to a picture that matched the Pokémon almost perfectly, with the label "Mareep" underneath. He tapped on the photo and pulled up its entry.

"They're called Mareep," he explained, reading from the article. "They live in packs of up to twenty or so, and they're somewhat territorial. I think maybe they want this clearing back."

"Well, that's not going to fly." Penny turned around and whistled to her Larvitar. "C'mon, Goji! Get your lazy butt over here!"

With what could only be described as a battle cry, Goji leapt in front of the group, readying himself for battle despite the overwhelming number of enemies before him. This sudden aggression startled the Mareep, causing many of them to begin charging themselves with electrical energy.

"Uh...Penny?" Susan asked, "What are you doing?"

Penny giggled. "Oh, don't worry. He'll be fine. Just watch."

Several of the Mareep began to glow with a yellowish light. Almost in unison, the gems on the ends of their tails began to glow.

"No, seriously, what are you doing?" Antoine pulled out Kylian's Poké Ball, in case he needed to recall his Totodile quickly. "There's too many of them."

"Oh, don't be so paranoid. Just watch." Penny turned back to her Pokémon. "Goji, get ready!"

The Larvitar obediently braced itself, setting its feet and raising one stubby arm in front of its face. At just that moment, the Mareep released their energy in unison.

The air folded with a deafening CRACK as a line of electrical bolts blasted forth form the Mareep squarely into Goji's outstretched arm. Antoine tried in vain to avert his eyes as the clearing vanished in a flash of light.

When the light faded, Antoine turned back to the scene of the attack. To his astonishment, Goji still stood tall-a bit winded from the force of the impact, but otherwise unharmed. The ground between him and the Mareep had been charred beyond recognition.

Penny grinned. "Told you he'd be okay." Her focus returned to the task at hand. "Okay, Goji, let's get going. Hit them with a Rock Slide!"

On cue, the Larvitar summoned a wave of stones, which he hurled at the herd of Mareep. The brunt of the attack crashed into the leader of the pack, sending it skidding backward from the impact. Unfazed, the other Mareep began charging once again.

"Okay, new problem. This is going to take forever." Penny crossed her arms. "You guys want to help, or what?"

Antoine shook his head. "I can't. Kylian's a Water-type."

Susan rummaged within her backpack. "I've got Basil and Psy. Does that help?"

"Your Hoothoot would be at a disadvantage too," Ant reminded her. "What about that Geodude you used?"

"Oh yeah!" Susan plucked Foley's ball out of her bag. "That's twice now this guy's come in handy." She tossed the ball in front of her, and with a flash of light her Geodude had joined the fray. "You too, Foley!" she shouted to it. "Rock Throw!"

Foley obeyed, sending another stone straight in between the eyes of another attacking Mareep. The electric sheep responded with another beam of concentrated electricity, but once again both of the Ground-types shrugged off the attack.

This went on for some time, with the Rock-types hurling rocks and absorbing attacks from their opponents. With no progress being made, Antoine stepped away to tend to his Totodile, who had taken the opportunity to hide behind a nearby boulder to avoid any stray lightning bolts.

"It'll be okay," he reassured the small crocodile, stroking him along his spine in an effort to calm him down. "You'll be fine, I promise."

Kylian let out a high-pitched grunt of approval as he snuggled up to his trainer.

Meanwhile, desperation was setting in on the other side of the rock. "This is taking forever," Penny groaned. "Can't your Geodude do anything else besides throw rocks at things?"

"I don't know. I've never tried asking it." Susan leaned in to get her Geodude's attention. "Hey, um...Foley? Can you do something a little more...effective?"

It wasn't really clear whether the Geodude understood her or not, but nevertheless, its immediate response was to turn toward the Mareep and let out a loud roar, before slamming itself into the ground. The sheer magnitude of the impact sent a fierce vibration along the ground in all directions. This vibration seemed to have a profound effect on most of the Pokémon present-Goji lost his balance and fell over, while the Mareep by and large lost their footing and fell to the ground. Antoine grabbed onto the boulder in front of him as Kylian tucked his head in.

When the rumbling had settled and the dust had cleared, Antoine regained his feet, dusting himself off. "Everyone okay?" he asked.

"Fine here." Penny, who had dropped to one knee, got up and went over to right the fallen Goji. Susan, meanwhile, struggled to her feet from her backside and dusted herself off. She naturally had no help from Basil, who seemed to have stood his ground through the whole thing-probably less through physical fortitude and more from sheer stubbornness.

At the other side, most of the Mareep, unsurprisingly deterred by the tectonic assault, had dispersed and fled. All that remained of the flock was a lone straggler, who was still struggling to find its footing. Foley, sensing the job was not yet completed, brought forth another rock to finish what it had started.

"Foley, wait!" Susan had finally righted herself. She held out Foley's Poke Ball. In a flash of light, the Geodude disappeared, the rock it was holding landing softly on the ground.

Antoine rubbed his forehead. Here we go again. "What's wrong, Su?"

"Look at her, Ant." Susan pointed at the Mareep, which had given up trying to pick itself up for the moment. Instead, it let out a mournful bleat, as if calling for help.

"They left this one all by herself. We can't just leave her here like this." Susan turned to Antoine. "Do you have any spare Poké Balls?"

Ant groaned. "Susan, we can't just catch every Pokémon you feel sorry for. We'd spend a fortune on balls. And besides, you're only supposed to carry six of them at a time. What are you going to do when you can't carry any more?"

Rather than answer, Susan scrunched her face into a pout. Ant instantly knew he'd lost this argument; there was no convincing her when she went into this mode. "Look," he tried, "the professor only gave me a handful of Poké Balls to use. After that, I have to spend money to replace them." He gestured to her bag. "And besides, you said you grabbed a few of them when you left home. Surely you haven't already run out, right?"

Susan blinked, breaking her concentration. "I...um…" She looked at her bag, then back at her brother. "Just a second." In a flash, she practically dived into the top compartment of her backpack, flinging odds and ends in all directions. Ant had to duck as a rogue potion whizzed past his head; Basil, meanwhile, absorbed the impact of what looked like a spare makeup case with relative ease. At last, she emerged, holding aloft the last remaining Poké Ball in her bag. "Found it!" she cried out.

"Wonderful. So use that, then."

"Okay, but…" Her brow furrowed. "But what if we need it later?"

Before Ant could respond, a groan cut across the flow of conversation. "Just throw the damn ball already," Penny called out, still tending to her Larvitar.

Susan didn't need to be told again. Squaring to her target, she leaned back and pitched the ball underhand, straight at the Mareep. With a flash, the ball captured its target and bounced to the ground. It shook back and forth once or twice before coming to rest where it had landed.

"Got it!" Susan jumped for joy. She ran over to collect her newest catch. "Welcome to the family, little one," she cooed, presumably unaware that the ball was soundproof. "I think I even know what I'm going to call you already."

"Oh yeah?" Ant's eyebrow went up again. "What's that?"

"Well, that little ball on her tail looked like a gemstone, right?" Susan motioned with her hand to convey the spherical object she was referring to. "So I think Gem would be a good name for her. Wouldn't you agree?"

Ant smirked. "Better than 'Psy,' at least."

"Very funny."


By the time they had packed up, the sun had already passed well beyond the middle of the sky. After several more hours of walking, the sky had turned from bright blue to a deep, penetrating orange as the sun said its last goodbyes for the day. Before the darkness could truly take hold, fortune intervened in the form of a Pokémon Center; the three checked into the trainer dormitories for the night, resolving to continue first thing the next morning.

Antoine tucked his belongings into the provided locker and climbed into his rented bed, not even bothering to change clothes or shower. He'd sort it out in the morning, he told himself. Right now, he was too drained to do anything but collapse.

Yet, for whatever reason, sleep eluded him at first. No matter how he tossed, he felt too tense to just fall asleep. Here he was, more or less on his own (his unforeseen tagalongs notwithstanding), forced to make do with little more than his own instinct and direction. And, well, his parents' bank account didn't hurt either, now that he thought about it.

Even with this lifeline, though, Antoine felt a growing sense of unease about the journey still to come. He wasn't sure if he was excited or afraid, exactly, but whichever it was, part of him didn't want to wait. It was finally his time to prove himself-to show that the professor hadn't misplaced his trust by selecting him for the program. Every fiber of his being told him he was equal to the task; it was just a matter of doing it.

That wouldn't be so hard, right?

As he lay there, staring at the ceiling, Antoine noticed a distinct lack of snoring from the bunk opposite him. As quietly as he could, he rolled his head over to face toward the aisle. Sure enough, as best he could make out, Susan was still wide awake, seemingly engaging in some deep thought of her own.

"Susan?" he whispered across the aisle, trying not to wake up the few other trainers in the room. "Are you awake?"

He made out a subtle movement from her bunk. "Yeah," the soft reply came. "Sorry. It's just…"

"What is it?"

"I just realized…" She sounded on the verge of tears. "We may not get to sleep in our own beds for a long time."

Antoine started to give a snarky reply, but he couldn't come up with anything. Something about her tone gave him pause. It wasn't a complaint-it was a realization, one that seemed to be weighing on her more than it had him so far.

"I guess you're right," he whispered back.

Susan said nothing for a moment. The sound of the mattress creaking indicated she'd rolled back onto her back. "I'm sorry," she said at last, her whisper in serious danger of turning into a sob. "I know this was stupid of me. But I did what I thought I needed to do."

"I know you did." Antoine tried to sound as reassuring as he could. "I promise, we'll get through this. It'll all work out."

More silence. Then, one more short whisper: "I love you, bro."

"I love you too, sis."

And that was the end of it. Ant kept his eyes open for a while longer, willing himself to stay awake as long as it took. At last, when he was satisfied that the snoring coming across the aisle was indeed his sister's, he finally felt himself relax. Soon, he was able to drift away as well, joining his companions in much-needed rest.