I won't lie, seeing Dallas and Candice again was something I desperately needed. Two friendly faces, returning a disturbing, Ghost-type face to his rightful owner, and finally being able to corner Vincent and getting all the information I need! After, of course, I challenge Cress! Listen, this is a Pokémon story, we gotta do the stuff that can clearly wait until later before the important stuff.

When we're finally grouped up again I hold my hand out and give Dallas a high-five as a greeting. "Sup PiT! Candizzle, what's up? I need to get to the Center immediately." And with that I start walking past them, quickly getting followed. "Oh," I add, "This is Vincent, by the way. Helped me out of a sticky situation with some annoying Woobat."

Candice huffed a little as she walked up to my side, Scrap seeming to have emerged from the nether realm he was in and sitting atop her shoulder. "No high-five for me? Alright. So, your training was a little harder than you planned it?" She asked.

I was about to answer before Vince cut in. "Actually, his Zangoose, Blue, kinda ran into a Seviper on our way back and went a little… Vicious? Feral? I don't know what the proper term was, but they both did and sorta beat the ever loving shit out of him."

"Ah," Candace said, nodding and turning back, "Okay, thanks for the update… Vincent, right? Alola!"

"Yeah, but Vince is fine! I don't mind whatever you call me! And, uh, Alola to you!"

Dallas slowed down a bit to move back besides Vincent, holding out his hand. "A pleasure, Vince! I'm Dallas, professor in training!"

"Oh!" Vincent smiled and shook Dallas' hand, "Right, Walter mentioned you a couple times. You made that Pokémon translator collar thing, yeah? That's freaking awesome!"

I didn't have to look back to just feel the warmth coming from Dallas' even wider smiling face hearing that. Good. He deserves to be happy. "Oh," he said after a moment, "thank you, Vincent! Yeah, that's, uh, kinda my area of research I'm going into! Communication between humans and Pokémon and how to bridge those gaps! Kinda went with a… more straightforward and direct first beta test with it.

"In fact, that's something I wanted to bring up, Walter," he continued after a short pause, moving up to me again. "How has the collar been working? You went into that cave and I feel that could have interfered with it some, as well as that fight you mentioned. How does it handle in a battle scenario?"

I think back to the cave and just give a little bit of an unsure shrug. "I mean, he took it off in his little scuffle because he didn't want it to get broken. As for the cave, it worked perfectly fine! Hell, thanks to the echo, it was louder even!"

Dallas just nodded and pulled out a small red tablet from his pack- a closer inspection showed it was a Rotom Tablet- and started typing what I was saying down. "Still have to get that battle test in… Oh! Against Cress, that's both the battle and water exposure experiments! Even more initiative to continue on this Champion path!"

Just a little proper redirecting was what I needed, nodding with a solid smirk as we reached the end of Route 3 once again and face into Striation City. "Like I need any more initiative! Just gotta heal then it's time to beat a blue haired butler." That seemed a little harsh, but thankfully he wasn't here. Cress may be the first Gym Leader, but he definitely isn't one to be taken lightly. I've heard stories of kids dropping out of all the Gym stuff just from their first go around. Luckily, I am not a kid.

Shortly after returning to the beauty that is civilization, we make our way towards the Pokémon Center and sign in our Pokémon that need it. Now, a little Poké-Science lesson for those that are unfamiliar. There are two forms of healing done at a Pokémon Center, one which is quick and easy and almost instantaneous with the help of the six-Pokéball holding machine. That is being used for Silky and Jazz, Vince's Pincer and Steel, and Dallas' Buizel, Jet. Then, there is the second kind, which requires proper healing and a chunk of time, which is what is needed for Blue. Thankfully, and I use that word in the context of him not getting furtherly harmed, he was not planned for my Gym Battle, so I have that amount of time that we can keep him here.

After a quick heal up and giving Blue a temporary goodbye until we return, I rouse up the group as we start to the Gym once again. I made sure to move my team around so I could match up with what Cress would be going with in the battle. From everything I've heard, he tends to go Normal- and then Water-Type, so I lined that up to work with me. Jazz, a Rock-Type first, followed by Silky, the Bug-Type with a number of Grass-Type moves. Well, a number. Specifically, one. But it works, I can spam if I need to! Razor Leaf has enough uses.

I step up to the doors of the restaurant/Gym and take a small breath, glancing over to my traveling companions and Vince, having to actually work myself up a little to go in. It's always strange when you finally come up to something you've been hyping yourself for for a long time. "Alright," I finally say, "Let's get this shit started." I pushed open the door and walked inside.

The hostess on staff guided us to our seats and took our orders, leaving us for a moment alone to take it to the kitchen. l glance about before taking a ball from my belt, Jazz's, and looked it over. "Do I wanna eat before or after the battle?" I ask, mostly to myself and not expecting a legitimate answer from anyone. And then, my expectations were exceeded with the sound tap on my shoulder.

Turning around I saw none other than Cress himself already out on the floor, with a fairly warm smile on his face. "Well, I had noticed who placed that order that just went back, and I had to come out and see you again, Walter. In my personal opinion, it would be more time saving for you to battle now, so your food shall come out fresh for your victory!"

"Well," I add, starting to stand up, "I guess if the Leader himself said so! Now, where do we, uh…" Cress simply nodded and turned to a large curtain with the symbol of the Water-Types plastered on along the back wall, waving over to a pair of wait staff on the sides of the curtain, signalling them to each grab a rope and start pulling it back to show a pretty impressive looking stage with the iconic Pokéball design in the center. "Well, that answers my question."

Cress and I start walking to the stage, me towards the left and Cress to the right, and we both step up the small set of stairs. Once there, Cress pulled out a Pokéball from his belt and looked at me. "The first step on the Unova Pokémon League. I hope you are prepared for a marvelous battle and journey! Buneary, give our challenge a proper warmup!" He tosses out the ball and sends out the small yet tall-eared Pokémon hopped onto the stage.

"Huh, I always thought you had a Lillipup?" I say, giving a chuckle before holding out Jazz's ball and sending her out. "Doesn't matter! Jazz can take it out like nothing!" The Rockruff landed on the floor with a pretty loud bark, staring down the Buneary. "Now, how does this begin? Turn based, or just go at it? Limits on the amount of Pokémon we can use or switch them out?"

"Considerate of you to ask instead of simply attacking as soon as your partner is sent out. Similar to regular battles and with those in the wild, it is a free for all, no limits on Pokémon or switch-outs," Cress explained before holding out his hand. "Now that the rules are out of the way, Buneary, be a dear and start us with a Quick Attack!"

"Jazz, catch it with Sand Attack! Then Rock Throw!" I instructed my Pokémon, only it sort of went through too slow as the Buneary slammed and slid Jazz back on the stage. Luckily not enough to throw her off and she regained her balance quickly, looking to the Buneary and quickly rushing a paw through her small mane and threw sand at her enemy, then proceeded to do the same but pick a rock out and toss it out. Never noticed how that actually worked with the Rockruff, but there we go.

Cress' Buneary takes the whole brunt of each attack, stumbling and falling back while pawing at its eyes. The Gym Leader simply closed his eyes for a moment and looked down some, giving himself a moment of contemplation before looking back up with a grin. "Buneary, ready Endure, then strike with a quick Pound!" He pointed out his whole arm and finger towards the battle stage to give that special little touch of emphasis.

Endure? That could be a problem. "Jazz, dodge that quickly! Hit it with a pair of Rock Throws, make sure to break that Endure!"

Very quickly, Jazz dug in her mane and tossed a stone directly into the air before doing a small dive to the side just in time, the stone coming down almost perfectly onto the Buneary. That's one, I guess? I guess that counts as a Rock Throw. The second go will definitely be a proper attack, as Jazz dug another stone and hurled it as hard as she could toward the opponent, knocking Buneary in the back of the head, toppling it over, and very clearly knocking her out.

"Oh… Oh, hey! Good job!" I cheered on Jazz as she hopped a little in place, excited at her victory. A quick glance and I saw my little group clapping along with me. "Alright, get back in here," I hold up the Pokéball and call her back.

Cress looked up to me and grinned, calling back his Buneary as he pulled out another Ball. "Well then, congratulations. But don't celebrate too early now, we still have one more bout to go. Now, Panpour! Let's give these fine folk a proper show, shall we?" He tossed his second Pokémon onto the stage.

I smirk and grab Silky's Ball, holding it out so she may hop onto the stage. "I was just getting started anyways."