Even Nurse Joy seemed happy about my first badge. I was caught off guard at first by this, but Nick explained that it was pretty much obvious to everyone that I had been afraid of the Gym, and not only the nurses, but a lot of the trainers who knew of the situation had been rooting for me. It was embarrassing to find something like that out, but the embarrassment soon vanished when it meant I got free food.

Nick treated my team and I to lunch. It wasn't anything extravagant, but it was all-you-can-eat. Des and I really packed it away, but I noticed that Carlita only seemed to pick at her food, and didn't seem very happy at all. "C'mon, Carlita, eat! You're not sad about the battle, are you?" I coaxed, trying to get her to open her mouth.

"Mmph," she squeaked in reply, turning away from me.

"What happened with her?" Nick asked curiously.

"I only used her for a couple of turns, and she nearly got poisoned…" Now I felt guilty just thinking about it again. Trying to ignore that, I took another bite. They had really good garlic bread here. I offered some to Carlita, trying to placate her. "Come on, Carlita… I said I was sorry…"

"What if she's not angry?"

"Huh?" Des and I looked up with matching clueless expressions.

"Well, look at it this way. You said so yourself, that she's the strongest of your team, if we're going by levels. You call her out for a Gym battle, and she nearly faints. What if she's the one feeling guilty?" Nick suggested, also trying to get my Shroomish to eat. She glared at him and bit his finger. He just laughed and gently pried her off. "See? She is."

"Ohh." That made sense now that I thought about it. I reached over the table and picked her up, hugging her. "It's okay, Carlita. We won. You did great."

"Mish," she mumbled rebelliously, rubbing her forehead against my arm. I took it as a sign of her being okay now. At least, she was okay, until Des leaned over and licked the top of her head. "Shroo!! Shroomish!" she shrieked, trying to hit him. Des just turned contentedly back to his meal.

"Just like a family, aren't you?" Nick asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, that's one way to put it," I replied, setting Carlita on my other side, so that I was separating them. "They certainly act like kids…"

"I think all teams do, to some degree."

"You're really smart, you know that?" I said shrewdly, eyeing him over my glass. "…You're also really nice. Why're you helping me so much?"

"Well aren't you the trusting one," he said with some amusement. When I didn't reply, he continued, a bit more seriously. "…If you must know, you remind me a lot of my little brother. Only he's not a trainer yet; he's only nine."

"I remind you of a nine-year-old?" I asked flatly. I was eleven, darn it!

"It's only one year difference. Don't get your feathers ruffled."

"I'm eleven!"

"Whoa, really?" His eyes widened in surprise, until he laughed again. "What can I say? I must be going senile in my old age."

"Yeah…" I suppressed a smile and turned to try to get Carlita to eat again. She was still picking at her food, though this time, mostly it was because she was picky. She finally accepted a small piece of the garlic bread, before deciding it was delicious and stealing the rest of mine for herself. And, when I turned back to my plate, I found that Des was also adjusting to human food; he was contentedly munching on my spaghetti and meatballs. "Guys! Eat your own food!!"

"Definitely like a family," Nick decided, trying hard not to laugh. "Oh, hey--question. Did you win our little wager?"

"Eh?" I squeaked, voice raising an octave or two. I had heard him perfectly, and I knew I had not won our little wager. "W-Wager?" I repeated, feigning ignorance.

"Don't worry about it. It was just a little incentive," he dismissed. He obviously knew I had lost it, though why he'd give up the chance to potentially gain that much money was beyond my comprehension. Or maybe he had so much money, he didn't need another five thousand? He was an older trainer, and if you got money by battling, then you must have a ton once you got good…

I would have a ton soon enough then, I told myself.

"He sure likes spaghetti," Nick said suddenly. I stared at him, confused. What was he talking about? Then I felt a nudge on my elbow, and looked down to find Des eating off of my plate again.

-.-.-

It was late in the afternoon before we got back to the Center. I was still miffed at both of my Pokemon, especially Des, since he not only started the habit of eating off of my plate, but got Carlita into it as well. They were in high spirits, like me, but it seemed to mean that they misbehaved more when they were happy. I would have to look out for that in the future.

"So, where are you heading after this?" Nick asked conversationally as we walked to our rooms.

"I… don't know." I hadn't given much thought to my second one. What other Gyms did I have advantages against? Definitely not the water one…

"Oreburgh."

"Huh?"

"Go to Oreburgh. On the conventional circuit, Roark is the first leader, so he's not terribly strong, and Carlita would have an advantage against his rock type," he said, nodding wisely.

Totally starry-eyed, I nodded as well. "That does make sense." I was absolutely infatuated with his experience; he seemed like such a wealth of information! He not only helped me with Gardenia, but he had been so nice, and he was even giving me advice for my future of training. A thought struck me then. Trainers traveled together all the time, right…?

It would be perfect. We were already friends, and he could help me until I got surer footing in the training world, and then we could go take on the Elite Four together! The perfect tag team! But I just had to subtly find out if he thought it a good idea. What if he didn't like hanging around with a kid all the time?

"Hey, uh, Nick--"

"What's this?"

We had gotten to my room's door, only to find something hanging on the doorknob. I snatched it up, holding it out from me curiously. It was a pretty bright red, and appeared to be a jacket of some sort. I wondered why it was hanging on my doorknob; it certainly wasn't mine. (Though I had been looking for a jacket. My arms itched just thinking about that.)

"…This isn't mine…"

"Maybe someone left it here?"

"Then how did it end up on my door?"

"Maybe it was left in the hall, and someone just left it on the nearest door, hoping it was the owner. See if it has any contact information on it anywhere."

I was already rummaging through the pockets, but found nothing but lint and a few candy wrappers. Nick sighed and took the jacket from me, flipping it over expertly and looking at the inside tag. There, in neat, cursive handwriting, was a name and a phone number. "Oh. Pri-sci-lla. Priscilla. A girl." There were a lot of girls in the center, but this jacket would've had to belong to one of the younger trainers. It looked a little familiar, now that I really looked at it, though…

"Do you know her?"

"No… Well, I think I probably saw her before. I wonder if she's still in the Center." I turned and marched back downstairs, looking for Nurse Joy.

She found me before I found her, and asked immediately, "Oh, is that not your jacket? I thought not…"

"Is there a girl named Priscilla still here?"

"Priscilla?" The pink-haired woman tilted her head to one side, thinking for a few moments. "…Oh! No, she's not, I'm afraid. She just left this morning. Do you know where she went?"

"Uh, no." The girl was still a stranger to me; how was I supposed to know where she went? Then again, there weren't a lot of places one could go from Eterna. And if she was taking on Gardenia, it meant she would still be a newbie, so she probably went to Oreburgh, too… "I'll take it with me, though. She might've gone to Oreburgh." That was where the next nearest Gym was, at least the nearest that wasn't hopelessly difficult. The more I thought about it, the more I knew I must be right. Plus, there was a phone number, so I could track her down eventually.

I left the next morning for Oreburgh. To my dismay, sadness, concern and nervousness, Nick wouldn't be traveling with me; he would be off to tackle Victory Road and the Elite Four. Of course, this only made me idolize him more. He seemed to be the only one deserving of the pedestal I placed him upon, at least so far.

"You'll do fine, kid," he said with a smile, ruffling my hair. "Oreburgh will be a pushover. You'll probably beat me to the Elite Four!"

"You're going to Victory Road…"

"Yeah, but I've tried to get through it before. This'll be my… fourth time, I think? I get lost really easily," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "So don't give up hope."

"Okay then."

With that, I hopped on my borrowed bike at the northern gate of Cycling Road, and Nick shouldered his backpack, heading out the door. I craned my head, looking for one last glimpse of my idol, and accidentally pushed my bike's kickstand up. Unaccustomed to the rather steep path, I shot forward about twenty feet, and promptly fell off, dropping pokeballs, potions, backpack, a red jacket, and scrambling to pick them all up before my bike skidding any further down the path.

The temporary embarrassment was soon forgotten, however, because I got used to the Road, though I was still going way too fast for me to be comfortable. I crashed at the bottom as well, but at least I was closer to Oreburgh by the end of it. I also now had skid marks on my hands and knees, but that was beside the point. I was completely used to such injuries in the name of training by then. After all, I was going to be the best trainer in the world, so a couple of scrapes were nothing, right?

Even if they hurt like heck and I was picking bits of gravel out of my knees for the rest of the night.