"Oh my Arceus, this is fucking boring!" I groan out as we walk into the half Route-half Pinwheel Forest connecting path towards Nacrene City, rubbing my eyes a little. "I forgot how much I hate walking! Why do I not have-" I stop as something comes to mind, stopping in the middle of the road and kneeling down on one knee and taking off my pack. "Oh, how could I forget about you?" I dig into the side before finally dragging out none other than my skateboard, admiring the Lugia design on it before setting it on the road. "Don't worry, I'll stay by you guys, just don't want to walk anymore."

Dallas looked me over for a moment and just let out a quick yet quiet snorting laugh. "I never would have thought you as someone that skateboards. I mean, all power to you, everyone has their own thing, just wasn't expecting… that. Very old school!" He tried his best to hold in a chuckle but eventually finally let it out.

I snicker some as I kick down the road a little bit, not getting too far ahead of the gang. "Hey, old school or not, it is better than walking." I trust my balance enough so I stick my hands in my pockets, keeping a slower speed and looking out to the Route. "I bet you're just jealous you don't have something this cool."

"Well, there is something about as cool as that thag I have," Vincent said quietly from behind, speeding up his walk to match walking next to me. "If you wanna hold on a second, I can show you." Without really waiting for me to give an answer, he stopped in his place and knelt down some, picking up his leg and flicking something on the sole of his shoe. Turns out, it was a pair of rollerblades! On each of his shoes were rollerblades, the wheels being the Vision purple and white color scheme. "See? Got these during a trip to Kalos. The only good thing about those crazy Vision idiots, I got to a bit of traveling before I ditched."

"And what were you traveling for?" I ask.

He went quiet for a minute before rubbing behind his neck awkwardly and answering, "...looking for cells of Zygarde." He sounded extremely ashamed and embarrassed with that. "We only found, like, three, if that makes it any better?"

"Not really. Gets Vision three cells closer to that ultimate Zygarde or whatever the hell it's called." I scoffed some looking down at his rollerblades, smirking some. I can't let this guy be a sad sack at what he did in the past, he has to grow somehow and I say that's our job to help him! "But, hey, right now, you ain't with Vision. You're with us! And part of being with us is," I kick to pick up speed down the road, "losing to me in a race to Nacrene City!" I made sure to respond slow enough so he could catch up with me. Underhanded, I know, but he should be used to it.

"Wha- Hey!" Vincent cried behind me as I looked back, a wide, sneaky smirk on my face as he started picking up speed. "You, Walter, are an asshole! I don't lose easily!"

Vince started catching up fast, skating as if he's practiced for a long time. I'm not having any of that. I turn my attention back in front of us, spotting some railing blocking the main path from a pretty steep hill.

There's nothing wrong with a little bit of flexing in a race, right? Sportsmanship only applies to sports. With a goal of showing off and winning, the second I heard Vincent's blades I kicked on the road hard to throw myself up and over, landing my front truck on the rail and sliding the other end off the side. Please momentum, don't fail me now.

Thankfully my speed stays with me as I grind down almost the entire rail, kicking off and landing on the road again. "Heh, still got it," I whispered to myself. At the moment I feel a victory is in the bag, I hear Vincent let out a yelp behind me before a crash. I can't even look back before whatever knocked over Vince passes me in a large dust cloud, causing me to lose my own balance and falling down myself and rolling on the road. "Ugh… what was that?"

I rub some dust out of my eyes and look up, seeing a winged, black entity ahead of me on a branch. It seemed like an avian Pokémon, fairly small too, with what looked like a spiky hat on it's head. Out of pretty obvious intrigue and an inability to recognize the Pokémon, I take out my phone and slip to the Pokédex app, holding it up.

"Murkrow," The Dex started in its robotic voice, "The Darkness Pokémon. Believed to bring ill fortune, these mischievous Pokémon will annoy travelers in an attempt to kite them into the deepest parts of dark woods, where few are heard from again."

"Oh," I say, standing back up and turning back to see Vince, Blue, Candice, and Dallas running up behind me. "Hey, uh, nobody follow that race ruiner. Apparently they lead people into forests. Let's, uh… try and just not do that." I put my phone away and watch the Murkrow as it just stands on the branch, looking down at all of us. "But why did he run into us?"

"Zaaaan!" Blue cried out running in front of me. That was… I thought Blue's collar made it to where he didn't have to do his cry? "Za-Zaaa!" A closer look showed there was a clear lack of metal and blinking lights on his neck.

"Ah, dammit."

Dallas, having to lean on Candice to stand up, clearly not an athletic kid, spoke up. "G-Get that fucking thief! He took t-the collar!"

"What?" I asked, reaching to my belt and grabbing Jazz's ball. "Well, that just ain't going to pass, is it? Jazz, show this Murkrow who not to steal from! Hit it with Rock Throw!" I let out the Rockruff and she began her attack, pulling out a stone from her mane and chucking it at Murkrow, clipping it before it was able to take off again. Jazz barked at the wild Pokemon fluttered down to the ground and held onto its wing. "Now that it's down, use Howl! Get ready to take this bird down!"

Just as Jazz got out her power boosting Howl, the Murkrow had come down and let out a loud screech when assaulting Jazz. That was Astonish! Jazz stumbled back from the attack, clearly flinching and not responding or reacting to anything, definitely not from the clear Peck Murkrow gave afterwards.

"Uh… Good job, Jazz, come back!" I quickly return Jazz to her Pokéball, glaring at the now laughing Murkrow. "Little bastard…"

Before I could switch out to another Pokémon, the red light of an unleased Pokémon flashes past me as a Buizel poofs out onto the road. I hear Dallas from behind me shout out, "Jet, use Quick Attack! Don't break that collar!"

"Bui bui!" Dallas' partner called out before charging forward, going at a speed I could barely follow before the thief of a Pokémon goes flying backwards with Jet's attack, releasing something from its talons. Collar!

Dallas looked down as the collar fell on the ground, rushing forward and nabbing it while he could. "Good job, Jet! Now-" He cut himself off as the Murkrow got back up, screeching and turning away from Jet to target on PiT. "Gah, shit, uh…" He started panicking, reaching down to whatever he could quickly and chucking it at Murkrow. In a quick flash and nearly instant silencing of the Pokémon, looking up it was clear that what Dallas threw was a Pokéball! "Well, that wasn't… what I originally planned?"

One shake, blink. Two shakes, blink. Three shakes… The Pokéball pinged indicating that Murkrow was captured. Vincent let out a quick laugh at Dallas, rolling up beside him. "Good job, Dallas! You caught a little thieving prick! Now y'all have two in the group, a human and a Pokémon!" He laughed out giving Dallas a pat on the back.

Dallas stood back up holding the ball, giving a little shrug as he clipped it onto his belt and patting Jet on the head. "Well, I needed to do something cool anyways, so I'd say that counts!" He looked at the collar. "And this little baby still seems mostly intact… Let's give it a little test here, shall we?" It seemed like a rhetorical question seeing how as soon as he asked that he put the small device around Jet's… weird, floaty, neck thing, and pressed a button. "Okay, Jet, think of something!"

It takes a moment before the Buizel starts actually speaking/thinking. "Lad, this thing is uncomfortable as hell, I feel like a bloody goon! Seriously, couldn't you find some kind of padding or something, that would be waaay better for me. I gots a weird neck sack, mate!"

Dallas blinked a little listening to Jet, cocking his head some. "I, uh… How is it working better than before? On Blue he could barely form complete sentences!"

Blue from the sidelines seemed to tense up some, letting out a mildly upsetting mew. "Zaa…"

There was a small lingering moment of silence before Jet spoke up again. "Turns out this absolute bellend did that to mess with all of you. Actually kinda funny if you ask me, but still really goony. That's this kids biggest accomplishment!"

"Goose…"

Candice, for the first time in a good couple minutes, chimed in with three extremely important questions. "Did he just call Blue a bellend? The hell is a bellend? Also, more importantly, who won?"

In realization that nobody technically won the race yet, me and Vincent look at each other with matching smirks on our faces, nearly in sync shouting out, "First one to Nacrene wins!" And we each get on our respective rolling things and take off down the road again. Hopefully with no interruptions this time!

Dallas and Candice sighed as the other two rushed ahead again, the latter crossing her arms behind her head. "At least Walt isn't trying to tear into Vincent anymore. He tore into him at the Station, wonder what made him change his 'tude like that."

Dallas shrugged as he leaned down, giving Jet a pat on the head. "Who knows? Haven't spent that much time with him to know why he'd just flip like that." He straightened back up, watching the two go down the road. "Maybe he feels okay with how he just… outed Vision? I dunno."

"Maybe." Candice started walking again, looking back at the PiT. "You comin'? No point in getting too left behind."

"Yeah, I'm coming. Let's get to this warehouse town." Dallas walked along with Candice, looking up to her with a mildly nervous face before speaking. "Actually, let's stay behind for a minute, I have a question for you."

"Hm? Yeah, what is it?"

"Well…" He started, his voice getting wavy as he thought out his question. "What are your thoughts on Vincent? Like… Do you think he's, y'know, cu-" He quickly cut himself off before starting again. "Uh… cool? O-Or is it weird to think an ex-villain grunt is c-cool?" He started stuttering over his words as he talked.

Candice cocked an eye at the young professor, smirking a little bit and chuckling. "Oooooh, do you got the hots for the new guy?" She laughed as Dallas' face started going flush, patting him on the shoulder. "Ah, don't worry, Dallas. I won't say anything if you don't want me to. And, no, it's not weird to think he's 'cool'."