After training the next morning, Dillon, Granite, and the Lightfield siblings made their way back to the gym. Of course, they had to wait until the evening once the triplets were dismissed from school. Aurora had challenged Lt. Surge to a 1 on 1 battle. She wanted to use Pachirisu. Lt. Surge found it amusing and agreed. He used the Electabuzz from the previous day. After a grueling battle, Pachirisu managed to come out on top. Aurora and the white mouse realized that an irontail to the ground was as intense as a medium to weak magnitude attack. Either way, two of them were enough to knock out Electabuzz.
"Yes! I got the badge!" Aurora cheers as her triplet brothers tackle her and Pachirisu in a hug.
Dillon smirks. "Good job, Lightfield." The two high five.
"Yes! I knew you could do it!" Granite cheers and high fives Aurora. Duke congrats his sister and hugs her too.
"Ahem, kid." Their attention is snapped back to the very large man standing next to them.
"Oh. Thank you, sir! These are my siblings and friends!" Aurora says to him.
"No. That is fine. I wanted to check something. You said you're from this city, yes?" Lt. Surge asks her.
"Yes! I'm from Vermillion City!" Aurora beams proudly. Lt. Surge smiles slightly.
"I will be retiring soon and would like to keep the gym in Vermillion City. You and that Pachirisu can handle yourselves well. If you can make it to the final 16 at the Indigo Plateau, I'd like to train you to take over this gym." He offers her. Aurora and her siblings blink at him. "You don't have to make a decision any time soon. Just think about it. Have a good day." Lt. Surge tells them as he leaves.
"What?!" Duke exclaims and tackles his sister in a hug. "You could be the gym leader here!"
Aurora smiles awkwardly. "Yeah. That'd be cool. But he said it depends on how I do at the Indigo Plateau. So, uh, don't get your hopes up."
After dropping off Aurora's pokemon at the Pokemon Center, the group eats one final meal together at the Lightfield home.
"Thank you for the meal!" Granite exclaims.
"You helped cook it. Thank you!" Duke responds and claps Granite on the back. The triplets and LayLay say their goodbyes to Dillon and Granite before getting ready for bed. Granite helps clean up a bit while Duke helps his younger siblings get ready for bed. Dillon and Aurora are stuck with dish duty again. They wash the dishes in silence.
"You haven't said much since the gym." Dillon points out.
Aurora is startled by his voice. "You never say much." She retorts.
He rolls his eyes. "But you don't stop talking, especially after you win a battle."
Aurora sighs. "I'm not sure if I want to stay away from traveling after this year."
"I thought you said Duke was going to be traveling next year. Wouldn't that leave you to watch LayLay and the triplets?" Dillon asks.
Aurora smiles. "Yeah. But I was having so much fun. What if I don't want it to end?"
"Just because you're a gym leader doesn't mean the fun ends. There's different kinds of fun." responds Dillon while he thinks about how much fun he had in his mom's gym growing up.
The girl laughs. "You are surprisingly good at comforting people." she tells him. Dillon looks away awkwardly.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything!" Granite says loudly while entering the kitchen. The teens roll their eyes at him.
"What do you want?" Dillon asks the man. Granite grins.
"Nothing. Just feeling a little...left out." His eyes flash playfully at the two.
"You can dry the dishes." Aurora offers while referring to the towel next to her. Granite grabs it and starts wiping some of the wet dishes in the drying rack. "Granite?" Aurora asks.
"Hm?" He responds.
"You never told us why you're traveling with us?" She looks at the man. He laughs awkwardly. Dillon eyes Granite.
"I never got to travel because I have overprotective parents." Granite starts. "I just want to see as much of the world as possible."
"Oh! So that's why you never challenge the gyms!" Aurora comes to a realization.
"Yup! And why I go sight-seeing as soon as I arrive in a new place. I like battling, and I'm sure I'll take up my mom's gym some day, but for now, I just want to explore and enjoy my youth." Granite beams at them.
"I'm traveling to make money. All the money I make from battling, I send back to Duke and my family." Aurora smiles. "And I'll be able to make more money the stronger I get. Gym leaders also pay a lot too." she says knowingly. She then turns to Dillon. "Why are you traveling?"
The teenage boy groans. "Stop asking me personal questions." he says.
"You know why we're traveling, so it's only fair you tell us why you're traveling." Aurora states matter-of-factly. Dillon glares her way and then wipes his hands dry on a clean towel.
"I'm done washing the dishes. You guys just need to finish rinsing and drying." and with that, Dillon walks out to the backyard where he is surprised to see Duke with Pidgeotto.
"Hey Dillon." Duke greets the older teen. Dillon nods acknowledgement to the boy and sits on the grass. Duke walks over to join him as Pidgeotto takes to the sky again.
The younger boy looks inside and sees Aurora and Granite finishing up the dishes. "She doesn't know you're the champion's son, huh?" he asks. Dillon flinches and snaps his surprised attention to Duke. Before Dillon can object, Duke interrupts him, "Don't worry. I won't tell her. You must have a reason for not telling her."
Dillon looks at his hands for a few moments. "How did you know?" He asks quietly.
Duke chuckles. "You're always on the news. Yeah, you're wearing a hat and your hair is a little longer now, but you still look like yourself. My siblings are too young to notice, and Aurora is too busy to watch TV, but I see it. I knew the moment I met you."
Dillon keeps his gaze on his hands. "My bad, Duke."
The younger boy slaps Dillon on the back. "It's okay. Yeah, at first I didn't like you since I know about all of your arrests, but I trusted you after I saw how much Aurora trusts you. You and Granite are the only people she's ever brought here." Duke takes a deep breath. "I feel better knowing she's traveling with you guys." He smiles at Dillon. "Safe travels, Dillon!" Duke then gets up and bids goodnight to Pidgeotto before going to sleep.
A few moments later, Dillon's thoughts are broken by Granite's voice, "Hey. Let's head back to the Pokemon Center!" Granite calls from the back door. Dillon walks inside and sees Aurora still with Granite.
"I'll meet you at the Pokemon Center in the morning and we can leave by 9AM!" she tells them.
"Where are we going?" Dillon asks.
"Celadon, Cerulean, or Lavender. Celadon is the closest." Granite explains.
"Okay! Let's go to Celadon City!" Aurora says excitedly. "I love the big city!"
"No." Dillon interrupts. "I'm ready to go home." Granite and Aurora shoot him a questioning look before looking at each other and smiling.
"Okay! We'll take the underground path to Cerulean City!" states Granite. Dillon nods and gives them a small smile.
"Good night, guys!" Aurora waves as the boys make their walk back to the Pokemon Center.
"So are you ready to tell her who you are?" Granite asks once they are blocks away from the Lightfield home.
"I don't know...but I'm ready to see my mom and Amy." the boy confesses. Granite smiles and puts an arm around his cousin.