"A Boulder Badge... sweet..." Ignis muttered. She examined the badge carefully, holding it slightly above her head.

Brock nodded. "That's right. I should also give you a copy of this too," he said and pulled out a familiar CD.

"TM... Technical Machine," the girl muttered. It was one of the useless knowledge she had memorized somehow from a research session of boredom. If she recalled correctly, the more important version- HM- stood for 'Hidden Machine'. She wasn't sure why they were called that, but it didn't really matter anyways.

"That's right. This is TM39; it contains Rock Tomb," Brock explained. "Although I'm positive your Bulbasaur can't learn this, you might find or capture a Pokémon later on that can learn it. So keep it safe, you hear?"

"Got it." She put the TM away in her bag, and the Boulder Badge as well. I'll figure out the bag's layouts later, she thought.

As they had been talking, the others slowly walked to them.

"Iggy! You did it!" Terra exclaimed, glomping the girl with a super cheerful hug. She practically shook the ravenette over and over, still amazed. "This is great! I knew you were great at battling! You might even make it to the top of the world one day!"

"W-whoa, calm down..." Contrary to what she initially thought, being shaken around really wasn't a pleasant feeling.

Hana stepped forward. "Miss Ignis, I think... that was a very impressive match," she said. "The way you and your Bulbasaur's thoughts coordinated with one another... outmaneuvering Mister Brock's Pokémon... it was amazing!"

"Ahaha... really now?" Ignis mentally grimaced. To be truthful, she actually didn't expect her 'strategy' to work as well. Frankly speaking, she was a Leeroy Jenkins-type of player- rush straight into danger and attack whenever she can. The only reason she gave Basil the commands she gave was because she was actually panicking and desperate for victory. Knowing that in real life Pokémon wouldn't take turns, she could only order them to do what she thought would stall for time... not that she could admit that now.

Suddenly, she remembered that Roxanne had also been spectating. Said girl was just behind Hana, having reached the group. "Ignis, was it?" she said.

"Y-yes! That's me!" the girl said.

Roxanne chuckled. "That was a rather amusing match, if I had to say so myself. I never thought I'd see a Trainer win while being restrained with Bind."

"W-well, you know. Gotta consider every chance to win, right?" More like gotta stop panicking... she thought.

"Say, are you interested in Rock-types?" the Hoenn Gym Leader asked.

"I... slightly, I suppose..." Ignis replied, unsure. She wasn't that big a fan of Rock-types, truth be told. However, her being a huge fan of Roxanne was probably already obvious to the Gym Leader already, so there had to be a reason for that. And as Roxanne wasn't a Gym Leader yet, apparently, the only methods of fangirling over her were probably things like magazines and TV shows, assuming the girl had been a Rock-type expert even before becoming a Gym Leader.

Her target of admiration chuckled at that. "You sure about that? I can tell you're a huge fangirl..."

"W-well... ahaha..." The girl wasn't sure how to respond to that. Huge fangirl of you, and not Rock-types... pft.

"Anyways, Ignis. I'd suggest you go to Cerulean City next," Brock said. "Misty's got the official second badge there, and although there's really no true order of how you should get badges, Cerulean's the closest," he explained. "You just gotta head towards Mt. Moon and get through it."

"Right. I'll catch some more Pokémon too in the meanwhile, I suppose."

Terra tapped the ravenette's shoulder. "Wait, are you telling me we're journeying again?"

"Terra, it's literally morning..."

"And we've only spectated her match so far," Hana pointed out.

"...fine..."

Roxanne and Brock exchanged amused glances.

"Heeeey!" a voice called out.

Ignis and the group turned around. An unknown man with a white lab coat rushed towards them, waving his right hand wildly. "...huh."

They stood still, waiting for the scientist? ...to catch up. He was still so faraway, they wondered how they even heard his shout.

"...hey, wait! I recognize him!" Terra said. "He's from grandpa's lab!"

"Yes, I do recall seeing him in Professor Oak's lab when I received my Emma..." Hana noted.

Ignis gave them odd looks. Seriously? I don't remember a single of their faces...

Eventually, the man caught up to them. "Huff... huff... Arceus I'm tired..."

You say huff out loud...? Ignis stared. "Uh, hi. Long time no see, uh, Bob."

"B-Bob...?" He pulled his glasses off, wiped it, and put it back on. "My name's not-"

"What're you doing here, Builder?" the ravenette asked.

He pulled something from his bag. "Oh, well, your mother came to our lab and told us you... wait, I'm not Bob the Builder, got it?"

She laughed. "Alright." That cartoon exists in this world too...?

Wait, they were repeatedly getting off-track. The scientist shook his head, determined to get his business over with. "A-anyways, your mother told us you left your phone on at home on the table," he said. He handed over a red mobile phone to the girl, who seemed even more confused. "Also, she forgot to give you these new babies."

"B-babies!?" Hana repeated. She did not like where this conversation was hea-

"Running Shoes?" Ignis asked. Thank goodness I remember what this was about, she thought. Memories of how glad she was to be able to hold the B button surfaced in her mind just a few seconds ago. When given a questioning look, she faked a smile. "Well, I saw the box in the house many times. Mom's not good at hiding it."

"Right."

Hana remained confused. "...babies?"

Ignis snickered. "Some people have weird fetishes," she explained simply.

"T-that's not it!" Bob... uh, the scientist denied.

Meanwhile, Terra, who had been searching within her bag, frowned. "Ah."

"Yes, your phone too. I brought it too." He handed over a green mobile phone to Terra, who happily accepted it. "Say, do you have a phone, Miss Hana?"

The blonde nodded. "Yes. My father told me to carry it at all times, so that is indeed what I have always done."

"Oooh, hey. Let's exchange contacts," Terra suggested.

Hana complied and displayed her number for both Ignis and Terra to add.

Funny, I don't think the first generation remakes had a phone system... Ignis thought in the meanwhile. The only thing she recalled close to a phone was the PokéNav from the third generation games. Then again, who cares? Now communication can be easily and conveniently done.

"Hey, I should get Roxanne's number too," she mused.

"Oh look, it's that girl from Brock's gym," Terra suddenly said as she pointed to the sky.

Ignis' head immediately turned where she pointed. "W-what?" True to the brunette's words, Roxanne was sitting on top of a Pokémon floating in the sky, flying away. "What the...?" The Pokémon in question was a huge rock resembling the... uh... those island stonehenge things. She didn't know the term or whatever, but she recognized that Pokémon- it was a Nosepass... or at least, it seemed like it.

Wait, Nosepass had an evolution too. She quickly racked inside her mind... what was it... um... Probopass!

The Probopass was floating somehow, and carrying Roxanne on its head, flying away towards an unknown direction. "A-aahhh, noooo... Roxanne..."

Hana chuckled. "Well, we might meet her again in the future."

"Sure... hopefully..." Sighing, Ignis shook the scientist's hands and walked away with her group. They had already received Brock's number on paper, as the man had left his phone in the meeting room and was too lazy to go get it, and this was apparently a common occurrence so he always carried small business cards with his number on it. Not that she cared. I just wanted Roxanne's number... uuu...

"Bye, Bob!" Terra waved to the scientist.

"N-not you too..." he shouted, before walking away the opposite direction.

"Hey, Basil! Say 'cheeeese'~!" Ignis cooed. Her Bulbasaur smiled as it raised its head, staring at the phone's camera. A small flash of flight, and it jumped with joy as Ignis checked the photo. "D'aw. You cute little rascal..."

"You sure are getting attached to that phone," Terra said. She looked back at her Caterpie, commanding it to dodge an attacking female Nidoran. "W-whoa, close call."

Ignis snapped another picture of her starter Pokémon. "Yeah... Basil just looks so adorable!" she squealed. Then, eyes twinkling, she turned towards her friend. "S-say, you're not training your Squirtle right now, right...?"

"I-Iggy, really...?" the brunette muttered. With a sigh, she motioned her spectating Squirtle to go to her friend. Squirty shrugged and waddled over to the ravenette.

"Whoa... sweet."

Hana, who was observing Terra fight and petting her Charmander and Weedle at the same time, blinked. "...is it that fun, Miss Ignis?"

The ravenette nodded. "Yeah, surprisingly. Wanna try?"

"...j-just a bit."

Grinning, Ignis pulled the blonde over and opened her phone's gallery, showing some pictures she took of her Bulbasaur. "See, look at this cute fella... look how they're smiling... just so pure...!"

Hana slowly nodded. "I... have to admit, he is quite cute."

Grinning, Ignis tapped Terra's Squirtle's shoulder. "Hey, uh... Squirty, right?" It nodded. "Can you try standing next to Basil and pose together?" Another nod. It then waddled over to Basil and put what was probably its elbow on the Grass-type's back, just next to its bulb. "Yeah... that's good." She snapped another picture. "Oooh. See? See? Look at that..."

The blonde gulped. "W-wow. The more I look, the cuter I seem to find it..." She then looked at her Charmander. "...M-Miss Ignis! Do you think Emma can participate as well?"

"Huh? Oh, of course! We could have them be the trio of Professor Oak's Pokémon!" Ignis said.

Hana smiled. "I thank you very much! Emma, what do you think?" The Charmander cheered and joined its group of friends, the three starting to make random cutesy poses.

Terra, meanwhile, was becoming frustrated for reasons. "Why the heck are you two enjoying photography while I'm fighting for my life here!?" she said.

Ignis turned her head. "...I think you're doing fine right now," she said.

Contrary to the brunette's claim, the female Nidoran had been subdued with several white sticky strings. Her Caterpie- otherwise named Petal- was arrogantly using repeated Tackles on the entangled critter.

"...hmph." The brunette went back to her battle and took out a Pokéball. She stared at the female Nidoran. "I'll just... catch it, I guess."

"Whoa, l-look at how they're posing! Ohmygosh!"

"T-that is quite a cute picture..."

"Oh! Hey! Now they're acting like punks!"

"Oh my...! M-Miss Ignis! Take the picture!"

She gritted her teeth. "Aarrgh! Stop messing around!" Terra exclaimed, throwing the Pokéball towards the Nidoran with a bit too much force. It only managed to give a shocked and confused yelp before being hit with the device, disappearing into it. The ball fell down, then shook thrice. The brunette widened her eyes. "...whoops. ...but hey. Yay."

Ignis snickered. "Sorry, Terra. It was just getting a bit too fun."

"I apologize, Miss Terra," Hana said. "It truly is marvelous though, and I-"

"Urgh, now I feel like the babysitter," Terra said. "Jeez, remember that we're here to help grandpa fill his Pokédex."

...well that's not my main goal, but whatever... Ignis thought. "Right. Anyways, sweet catch."

"Huh? Oh, uh, right." Terra picked up her newly used Pokéball, checking her Pokédex. "A Nidoran... with a female symbol. Odd."

"So? What's its nickname going to be?"

She stared at her friend. "D... do I have to nickname every Pokémon I catch...?" she asked.

Ignis shrugged. "Nah. I just think nicknames are nice."

"Well, if you say so..." The brunette called out her new Pokémon and picked it up, staring into its eyes. "Hmmm... a cute little thing like you..." She kept on staring, unsure of what to name it. "...yeah, I don't know..."

Hana smiled. "May I make a suggestion?" she asked. "How about Ranne?"

"Ranne... eh, alright," Terra said. "I can't come up with any other name anyways. Let's call you Ranne from now on!"

The female Nidoran barked happily at its new Trainer. "Ra~"