Me - I bet none of you were expecting me to update again this year

Drew - We expected you to be gone for at least 3 years again

May - What happened?

Me - I read a very heartwarming review that xsnowfairyx left on the last chapter of this story, and I wanted to thank them for their kind words. I may not have as much time for writing as I used to have, but Pokémon is still a huge part of my life, so naturally my favorite Pokémon OTP will always have a place in my heart. Even if I am gone for a while (or well, years in my case), as long as there are people who enjoy my stories, I'll be back. Anyway, moving on. May, do the disclaimer

May - AdorableSkitty doesn't own Pokémon

Me - On with the story

P is for Progress

When she first started her journey, it was not about the Pokémon. Hell, she didn't even like Pokémon back then. Challenging different gyms, coming up with strategies to be the very best like no one ever was, that just wasn't her. What she really wanted was to travel, to see the entire world with her own two eyes and if she had to bring along a Pokémon in order to do so, then so be it. She hadn't expected to come to care about her Pokémon as much as she did now, nor had she expected to find her passion in coordinating.
She hadn't expected to meet him.

When he first started his journey, he already loved Pokémon. He had always loved them. He still remembers seeing his first Pokémon contest on TV, looking at the way coordinators showcased their Pokémon beautifully, completely leaving him in awe. He wanted to be able to do the same thing, to make his own Pokémon shine as bright as the ones he saw on TV, and thus his wish to become a Top-Coordinator saw the light of day for the first time.
The day he turned 10 he left on his journey. When he reached Lilycove City and heard about a contest being held there in two days, he participated without hesitation. He was utterly defeated, but it had taught him a valuable lesson and it set him further on his path to become a Top-Coordinator.
He hadn't expected to meet her. He hadn't expected to like her.

When she first met him, she hated him. Well, maybe hate is too strong a word, but she really really disliked him. He had been rude to her for no reason and as if that hadn't been enough he had even made fun of her Pokémon. He just really enraged her, and it only got worse when he picked up that infuriating habit of gifting red roses to her Pokémon. Really, who did that? It took a long time for her to realize that she had actually come to consider him a friend. That he had started supporting her in his very own unique way.

When he first met her, she was just an excited rookie, pathetically trying to come up with an appeal. Nothing compared to the coordinators he had grown up watching on TV, nothing compared to the ones he had seen in performance, nothing compared to him.
Yet, when he saw her perform during a contest for the first time, something about her captivated him in a way different from any coordinator whom he had admired before. Maybe she kind of reminded him of the way he used to be when he had first started out, maybe that was why a part of him had wanted to see her succeed, to see her grow into the coordinator he knew she was capable of being.
He found himself looking forward to seeing her again. To see which strategies she had come up with and which Pokémon she had caught since their last encounter. He didn't know when exactly it happened, but somehow she had become special to him. He started going out of his way to see her succeed, or just to see her at all. Watching her contests, watching out for her, even helping her friends out occasionally somehow just became normal for him. It was worth it, she always found new ways to surprise him. At this point, he really shouldn't have been surprised when he saw her again in Johto, participating in a contest. Watching her performance, he realized just how much progress she had made.

And watching the way her eyes lit up and the smile spreading across her face when she caught sight of him, he realized just how much progress they had made.

Me - So that's it for this chapter. This was kind of weird because originally the chapter was called P is for Pokemon but changed it to progress halfway through because I started writing this like 4 months ago but stopped because I got demotivated and when I picked it up again today I had forgotten where I was going with it, so this is how it ended up. I hope you enjoyed it anyway and even if you didn't thank you for reading this chapter! Also I want to thank everyone for 100 reviews on this story, it really means a lot!