Currently, I stood on a battlefield outside the pokémon center with a sign on it. Clear for battle, it read. On other fields, round flying pokémon that looked like a cross between some ancient artifact and a fruity party ball swept the grounds with security guards. Sigilyph, apparently. They used psychic and uprooted rocks and strange barbs from the ground. Apparently the work of the poké center vandal from earlier.

Beside me, the timburr stood with her log, using the ground as support of course. "You know, after all this bull, I might as well catch you. Any objections?"

I wanted to go to sleep already. I held an empty poké ball above her and waited for a response before dropping it. When I heard the capsule hit the ground, I looked to see the timburr across the field with her hand saying come at me.

"Oh, come on, we still have to battle after all this?" She dropped the log and flexed her arms with a cry.

"You're killing me." Reluctantly, I pulled out a ball and tossed it. Out came Tempest.

"Air cutter." One, two. "Air cutter." Three, four. "Air cutter."

The move flew out and homed in on the timburr. She lifted her log again and held it like shield, but ended up dropping it last minute, taking the brunt of the attack. "Quick attack." One, two. "Quick attack." I got even more tired. "Quick attack."

Tempest went in again and slammed against the timburr before she stood. At this, I regretted picking her. If she couldn't one-shot anyone, I would have to talk more than I wanted to.

With quick reflexes, Timburr sprang back up to grab a nearby rock and throw it at Tempest, who had flown in the air and cooed haughtily. This pidove... She fell to the ground, and the timburr proceeded to kick her. It turned into weird yet powerful slaps, probably pound.

"Gust." I didn't think she heard me. Even if she did, it probably wouldn't have helped any as the timburr had Tempest pinned down good. "Uh.. "

Without even thinking, I returned Tempest and sent out Pepper. That was a fair move, right?

"Ember." Looking around in a tizzy after Tempest disappeared, Timburr didn't notice the fire soaring toward her. It hit her back, causing a face plant that just missed her log. "Again."

The timburr didn't stand up after that. So, I held the poké ball I dropped before and took aim. I chucked it and felt my body relax. Until I tensed back up when she sprang to her feet to kick the ball back at me. By some miracle, I caught the deflected capsule and readied myself to go another round.

"You can't make this any easier? I helped you with your log!" She looked like she was laughing. At me or just because, who knew.

"Ember." When would Pepper learn another move? I felt bad just saying the same one over and over again.

Timburr squatted down and grunted super loud, glowing a strange white while grunting to the skies above. Allowing herself to take the ember head-on, she held steady in her focused state.

"One more time?" I said as I thumbed through Timburr's dex entry to see what move it could have been. Once I found out, I immediately changed my mind. "Forget that. Back out, back out."

Bide was the move, and if Timburr had as much endurance as she appeared to have (despite passing out from exhaustion yesterday), Pepper would be toast. And of course, I was too late in my discovery. Pepper shot ember out and looked back at me once I gave my correction.

Timburr shouted unusually loudly upon impact. "Alright, you win, just don't hurt us!" She sounded like she was going for the kill. At least, a kill.

Her own.

Once she took the hit, I stared intently at her and waited for the sweet release. It never came, though. She fell back, no longer glowing.

"Do we win?" I waited to see if she would get up. Instead of bouncing back on her feet like I thought, Timburr stayed down. "Um, don't smack this back again."

I threw the poké ball again, but kind of missed. It hit her log, then bounced back to roll on down to touch her foot. Timburr went into the capsule instantaneously, and for some reason, so did her log. I held my breath and hoped she wouldn't pop out.

The ball shook once, then twice. Without any dramatic pauses, it did it a third time, then stopped moving. I walked over to pick it up and send her back out. Once she materialized, Timburr stood her log up on the ground and held it with one hand, pumping her tiny fist with the other.

"Uh, welcome?" What was I supposed to say? "I guess we think of a name for you?"

She stuck her nose in the air. Pepper did the same but kind of laughed in doing so.

"The hell name would work?" I thumbed through her dex entry earlier, and boy did she get ripped when she evolved. For the sake of both of us, I wasn't going to shoot for a muscle pun or anything of the sort.

She turned away and tried to deadlift her log as I lost myself for a moment.

"Buff...y?" Guessed I was a liar. At this, she dropped her log and looked straight at me. Did she feel second-hand embarrassment? Pepper tapped the log with her head. Whether it was a distraction from the awkward silence that ensued or from her own boredom, I was thankful for it since Timburr went back to lifting soon after.

"What do you want from me? You probably don't want to be named Rose or something like that, right? The ironic name is-"

I got cut off by Timburr's cocky grunting. She tilted her head left and right before shaking it with a big smile.

"Satisfied? Uh, no, really. Rose? You're Rose now?" I got another front in response. "Sure, okay…" At least that was quick and relatively painless. And, it was a one-syllable name! Something went right today. "Sure, then. Rose is Rose."

~X~

"I don't want to do this." I stood inside the poké center, peering out from behind a pillar at a group of people gathered outside at the battlefields. There must have been at least forty people, all chatting with their pokémon by their side. Nearby was a refreshment table.

I stared at the flyer in front of me and read it over and over again to make sure I had it right. And I did: a gathering for trainers, new and old to battle and mingle. That meant money, if I won any matches. And I needed money.

Pawn pushed me and pointed at the exit. "I know I said I would try a battle, but maybe I can wait for the next one or something." Last night, when I first saw the flyer, I convinced myself to attend this meet-and-greet for the sake of my wallet.

But, saying and doing were completely different things. Plus, I was a coward. When I exited my room earlier, my stomach churned and my chest weighed down at the prospect of embarrassing myself in front of strangers.

Pawn sighed an especially long sigh. He stared through me as I fumbled to throw a piece of gum in my mouth.

"I really don't want to do this." I took a small step forward, counting the tiles on the floor. Pawn then pushed me ahead and kept doing so. If I didn't want to fall, I had to walk with him, which I did. The automatic door greeted us by opening, and with a lead foot, I stepped outside.

Instinctively, I adjusted my posture and straightened my face, keeping my mouth closed and not complaining anymore. I dragged my feet and stood against the wall of the poké center, distant from the other people. I needed some time to psych myself up, alright?

My peace was interrupted almost immediately as some guy walked up to me with a yellow bipedal pokémon with an angular mustache and spoons in tow. "Yo, you're here to battle, right? Your gallade looks pretty tough, and my alakazam could use a challenge. How about it?"

Dear God, why? Of course it was Pawn that drew attention. For me, Pawn shook his head and waved his hands, stepping back. "Uh, he can't battle…"

"Why not? Something happen to him?" Strangely considerate for a stranger. "Just a friendly battle. No stakes, alright? For fun."

"No, he's, uh, my brother's gallade. I can't battle with him." I hoped I said it loud enough so I wouldn't have to repeat myself.

"Oh, really? Too bad, man. Is your brother here, then?"

"Try Black City," I said with a cough-y chuckle.

"Oh, too bad. Well, you got any other pokémon you can battle with?"

This guy was barking at the wrong tree. His alakazam looked strong as he stared Pawn down. I appreciated what he was trying to do, assuming he was genuine, but we were on different levels, most likely. "Well, I started my journey like two days ago, dude."

"Oh? Well, I just caught a darumaka yesterday that isn't too strong yet. Why don't we battle?" He held a hand out and gestured to an empty battlefield with the other. "Can't hurt, yeah?"

"Uh…" Before I could come up with a subtle excuse, Pawn pushed me forward and cheered. "I guess…"

"Sweet! Name's Alex."

"Eloise." Three syllables, and I had somewhat of a slur to my words. A perfect name to say to everyone I met.

"Let's go!" Alex ran to the opposite side of the field as I walked to the spot meant for me. As I waited for him to settle down, I looked to my left and right, where two other battles raged on. One with a couple of black and white flying squirrel things, the other with a pair of gears and some white tapeworm. "Burst!"

I looked back to Alex and saw him send out what apparently was a darumaka, some fire type. Well, Pepper didn't have an advantage, and Rose had the risk of ruining her log with fire, so I reluctantly picked who was left over. "Tempest."

Out came my pidove, looking as worriless as ever. She and Burst or whoever glanced at each other and did anything but assume battle stances. "Come on, Burst!" Alex and his alakazam did similar poses, stomping one foot down and holding an arm out. "Anyway, if you have Spar Star, wanna register and put money on this?"

"Kinda, yeah." I had nothing to lose. "But, I'm kinda broke."

"Ah, so am I. How's about half stakes for a one-on-one?" He crossed the battlefield as I set up my Xtranceiver. We traded info and selected Begin Battle on our screens. "You can get, like, 10,000 poké."

Had I been drinking something, I would have choked on it. That was kinda broke to him? "And you can get like 1,000."

"Sure, let's start!" He went back to his spot and held a short-lived, quiet conversation with his darumaka, possibly a pep talk. Did he know he only had things to lose in this? Like his money and pride?

"Strange guy. But, here's a chance." Not my chance, but a chance. "Tempest, Tempest." She spread her wings and looked at her opponent.

"I'll go first, if you don't mind." He didn't give me a chance to say otherwise. "Burst, rollout!"

"Wait, what? Uh, up, up!" The little guy turned into a small ball and shot for Tempest. In time, she flew up and he missed, however… "The hell, man?"

I ended up dodging myself. When I looked back, he did a wide turn and shot back for Tempest, bouncing to get air. He smacked into her and both fell to the ground with no grace in the least bit. To our advantage, Tempest landed on top of him. "Oh, gust." One, two. "Gust." Three, four. "Gust, goddamn it!"
A small twister shot at the darumaka and swirled around him.

"Air cutter." Good God, how stupid did this look to Alex and anyone else who looked on, if any? "Air cutter."

"Yo, what are you doing?" Alex asked the golden question. "Everything alright?"

"Well, my pidove is… a little slow on the uptake." I looked at the ground until I heard Tempest coo. "Air cutter."

She landed a clean hit through the gust. Once the wind subsided, Burst was on his back punching the ground. "Don't give up already! You can do it, just use fire fang."

As reluctant as I was exiting the center, Burst rose and bared his teeth. Like that stoutland from yesterday, his mouth flared up as he charged Tempest. My mind flickered back to Sylviana's battle at Striaton Restaurant. If only we could emulate that. "Air cutter."

With a coo, she turned around and looked at me with the blankest face I'd ever seen. Of course she didn't hear me. That darumaka was getting closer, and he shouted in his endeavors.

"Quick attack!" I said hopelessly. The collision was inevitable. Before Tempest could charge up, Burst tackled her down and chomped on her wing.

Tempest flailed wildly in place. "Uh, try going up or something." I had no idea what kind of wing strength she had.

One string of coos later, it turned out she didn't even need me. Her flailing eventually caused Burst to let go and retreat.

"Nice job?" I had to give it to her. If only I had given her a command so that I could have been proud of that. "Air cutter."

"Burst, rollout again, before they get it out!" Alex struggled to get that sentence out, each mouthful having strange pauses between words. Beside him, his alakazam shook his head, I guessed in embarrassment. At that, Alex elbowed his partner. "Cut me some slack, Mayvin."

Did the alakazam just roll his eyes? Either way, I couldn't laugh at their weird dynamic as Burst rolled toward Tempest again.

"Air cutter." One, two. "Air cutter. Any time now."

Tempest cast her move at Burst, his rolling causing the air cutter to hit him sooner and probably harder. Upon impact, he stopped coming at her, face down on the ground.

"You good, man?" Alex walked across the field to his pokémon and squatted down. He poked the little guy, and when he got no response, flipped Burst over to reveal a dejected darumaka covered in dirt.

Burst shook his head (more like his whole body given his shape) and turned away from Tempest and me, eyes barely open. "Okay, then… Guess that's it for us." Alex returned Burst and shrugged. "Good battle. Your pidove's interesting, alright."

"Oh, I know. Oh, do I." I glanced at Tempest who started pecking at her wing.

"I'm not trying to make excuses, but I was kinda out of it. I'm not used to close quarters. I usually have special attackers like Mayvin here. Just a preference." He elbowed his alakazam again, who returned the nudge.

"Anyway…" Did he actually get hurt from that baby elbow his pokémon gave him? Alex held his arm up and tapped his Xtransceiver. "Loser this time."

I brought my own Xtransceiver to my face and pressed the Winner icon in a daze. Had I really won that? I had! The entries from me and Alex agreed, and my new win-loss ratio filled the screen. A whopping 1-1.

"Ah, man." I glanced at Alex's win rate. An impressive 97-149. He must have had a lot of experience. I wouldn't say anything about how many more losses he experienced than wins. So, either he let me win, or he really only did know how to work with pokémon that used special attacks. Then, did I really win?

"Damn." I chose to lose myself in other thoughts to convince myself of this victory. Like how Spar Star relied only on the honor system. Who know if win rates were accurate or not? Or if battles happened at all? Well, the app was just for bragging rights, so I guessed it was fine.

"Anyway, here, what I owe. I'm gonna go give Burst to Nurse Joy." Alex held out a small bundle of money to me. "Catch another battle. Let's see if you can hold a streak. My best ever was five in a row!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I should probably stick to my guns, though. Hopefully Burst can adapt… Enough, Mayvin!" Alex swatted his alakazam's hand. From what I could see and guess, his pokémon kept poking him with a spoon for whatever reason.

"Bye..." And off he went. I drifted to the same spot Alex had approached me at and sighed. Was that a draining experience or what.

Naturally, I counted my winnings. Alex was actually right, having given me 10,000 poké exactly. If I could, I would have went back to my room. But, I knew that money wasn't going to last long.

"Hey, you up for a battle?" a high-pitched voice asked. I turned to see a girl with really long hair facing me.

"Me?"

"Yeah, I saw you battle that guy with an alakazam. Why don't we go?"

"Uh…" Pawn prodded my back again. "Sure."

"Sweet! Come on!" She dashed to the same field Alex and I had just used and waited for me.

I looked at my feet to see Tempest half-asleep. I returned her and walked on. When I got to the girl, we registered Xtransceivers and started our one-on-one battle. From the challenge screen, I learned her name was Bonnie.

"Half stakes, okay?"

"Sure." I wanted to know what she would give me, but chickened out and instead grasped Rose's poké ball.

"Who will you use?" Bonnie held her hands together and tapped a foot.

"Rose. Let's dance…" My heart couldn't have been any less in the line I used.

"Great!" she said upon seeing my timburr come out. "Too bad for you. Emma!"

"The hell?" I stood in awe that she actually said something like that out loud. She tossed a great ball and out came one of those flying squirrels that Alex and I battled next to earlier, an emolga.

"Aerial ace!" She didn't even give me time to close the dex app before she started. Her pokémon came at Rose at mach speed.

"Hey, can you, uh, work your log or not?" I said as quickly as I could. "So either use it as a shield or get out of there."

Rose loudly breathed out her nose like she couldn't believe I said that. She stomped a foot on one end of her log and reached down with an arm to pick it up. It came off the ground to form a 30-degree angle with it before Emma crashed into her.

"Let go of the goddamn log before you get hurt." I watched as Rose got pushed back only to the point of falling down because of the iron grip she had on her wood. She shouted, it seemed, at me. Was she arguing with me? I thought we were on the same side!

"Rock throw, before we end up losing. Please?"

"Spark!" Bonnie hopped as she said it. Emma, crackling with electricity, charged at Rose again.

Rose stomped the ground with purpose, somehow causing it to splinter. From the cracks, she took a decent-sized rock in both hands and lifted with her legs. So she had leg day down pat, but skipped arm day? Seemed a little ironic to me. "What are you waiting for? Just go."

She swung the rock thrice before letting go just in time for the emolga to crash into it at full force. Kind of like a granny throw in bowling.

"You got it, yeah… So low kick." The downed squirrel had to make for an easy target. Rose lifted a leg and smiled before driving it into the side of Emma, causing her to leave the ground for a few seconds before kicking her again when bringing her leg back down. "Pound, pound." Tempest, why did you corrupt me?

Rose punched at Emma as the latter assumed a weird fetal position. "Ugh! Thunderbolt."

"Say what?" The field lit up yellow as electricity shot out from the emolga and fried Rose. "Oh, shit." Rose immediately fell once the move subsided.

"Acrobatics!" Bonnie didn't waste time.

"Can you get up or roll away?" Once I finished speaking, Rose tried turning herself to the right, but stopped as Emma delivered her move.

"Again!"

"Oh, come on!" I said it more to Bonnie than Rose. "Maybe bide if you can't get out of the way?" Rose glowed white and braced herself while curling up on the ground. Emma came again, and once Rose got hit, my timburr stopped glowing.

"Rose?" She didn't answer.

"Guess I won!" Bonnie bounced on towards me and gave an innocent smile.

"Yeah…" She didn't exactly cheat, but her victory didn't bode well for me. Waited on me just so she could pick a type advantage… And was that emolga unnecessarily fast.

We concluded our battle on Spar Star and I gave her the money. Before it even touched her hands, though, she walked by me and waved some other trainer down for a battle.

"You good? Wanna try again or go heal?" I jutted a thumb at the poké center as I approached Rose. She sat up and shook her head, holding her hands like for a fistfight.

"Got it, got it…" Not like we had anything else to do. I dug through my bag and pulled out a potion. "Just hold still for a second." I sprayed her with the medicine from a distance and watched as she pretended it didn't sting. I only knew that because when I got up and turned around to dispose of the bottle, she let out a cry and clutched the spot I sprayed her. Like I couldn't hear her just because I couldn't see her. I did see her from the corner of my eye, though.

"Hey, up for a battle?" The guy I saw with the pair of gears from earlier approached me. Should I have made an effort to approach other people? Yeah, but…

"Sure." I threw the empty potion away and followed him to a field, both of us booting Spar Star up.

The guy, Carlo, sent his gears out again. Rose jumped into the fray before I considered anyone. At least she had a type advantage. With a gulp, I managed to take the initiative. "Low sweep."

~X~

When night fell, I collapsed on my bed and stared at my win ratio. After the whole day spent battling, I left when everyone started clearing out and tried to convince myself I did good. My win ratio became a strange 11-8 after everything was said and done, every battle I participated in a one-on-one, most of which went down as One Hit Outs. Most of the victories were courtesy of Rose, who refused to stop demonstrating her strength even when I acknowledged it.

"Good God…" I was exhausted right when the first guy challenged me. Forget about all the bouts I had today. My stomach gurgled as I realized I hadn't eaten at all due to the meet-and-greet. Though the refreshment table was tempting and free, I made myself not go near it at all. Public eating gave me fear enough to make me not hungry in the moment.

Giving a peppy cry, Pawn passed me one of the meals we bought for dinner with one hand and the TV remote with the other. At that, I felt really bad at the fact that he acted more like my babysitter than a traveling guide or whatever it was Joel intended him to be for me.

"Thanks…" I turned the TV on and switched to Cooking Network for Pepper, who sat in front of the screen in wait with her dinner in front of her. On either side was Tempest and Rose, who both watched on with blank faces. I wasn't going to say anything since we didn't have to fill the air with small talk if the TV was on.

I stabbed the potatoes in front of me just as my Xtransceiver went off. A text from Sylviana. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen her at all today. Sorry, bisy 2morow. Meet up soon? it read. I really wanted to believe she typed like that only because she was in a rush.

Sure was my response. That only begged the question, though, as to what to do tomorrow. Today had been quite eventful and somewhat beneficial, but was enough action to last a while. For me, at least.

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Rose, who had polished off her food, grunted, and bent to pick her log up again.

"Watch the TV!" I jumped off the bed and helped her carry her lethal weapon. "At least try with both hands."

Did she seriously expect to be able to wield that hefty log on her first attempt when her last weapon, that stick she poked us with, weighed not even a pound? And with one hand? Either way, I led us away from the expensive television and helped Rose in her weird endeavor to lift her log easily. "You're gonna hurt yourself like that."

She tried shaking me off, but if I let go, I knew she was going to drop it on herself sooner or later.

Tempest cooed and Pepper oinked in response. At least those two got along.

"Rose, at least get a grip on this thing." She had both hands pressed against opposite lateral sides of the log, like that would give her support. It was more like she was trying to flatten it than carry it.

The next day followed in a similar manner to that night. Except for the fact that I slept in quite a bit, we wasted the whole day pretty much just watching TV, eating, and trying to make sure Rose didn't hurt anyone, namely herself.

~X~

"Why?" I walked out of Nacrene City with Pawn practically holding a knife to my back. Well, more like his arm, but they had blades attached to them, right?

That was beside the point. Just a few minutes ago, Sylviana texted me to say she was busy again today. Doing what, I hadn't a clue, but I wasn't going to intrude on her life because I was inept. I wasn't that horrible. At my saying we should wait for her, Pawn dragged me out of the poké center and pointed at the western exit of the town.

"Let's just wait for Sylviana. She wanted to help me try this gym, anyway." It was more of a cover to not leave the city than anything else. Sue me for being lazy. He shook his head and kept pushing me until we exited Nacrene City, straight through Pinwheel Forest, and into a small gate area for the Skyarrow Bridge.

"How much longer?" I knew Castelia City was after this bridge. I also knew that this bridge was damn long. And that I was exhausted already. We had walked for about half an hour.

To appease Pawn and make it the least painful it could be, I shut up and kept walking. I stepped out, sun blinding and hot. At this rate, I would have a sick tan line around my Xtransceiver by the time we reached Castelia.

The literally bright Skyarrow Bridge greeted us as we ascended some stairs. "This is gonna take a while."

It wasn't impossible to cross this bridge, but I certainly wouldn't do it willingly. Progress versus comfort? If I waited for Sylviana, she probably would have called a car service again, so there was that. But, since we already made it this far, I might as well have kept going. Raised the chance of something interesting happening, at least.

A sign saying something about bike rentals with an arrow pointing to the lower level of the bridge's cycling lane caught my eye. Despite my looks, I actually did know how to ride a bike. And I was not too bad at it. The thought of the cost and holding unpredictable conversation with whoever manned the rental station made me keep walking.

Since the part of the bridge I walked had no real incline, I took the longest and quickest strides I could. Soon enough, I saw another person ahead of us. By her feet were a couple of small pokémon having the time of their lives.

Pawn made a noise and a throwing motion with his arm, then smacked my bag, practically reading my mind. "Is it even safe to let them out? Forget about if we're even allowed to." No, would any of them actually have wanted to walk this bridge? Maybe Rose, but Tempest was probably better off in her ball. Pepper sat somewhere in between.

Lost in my thoughts, I passed the woman with pokémon out and walked on, eyes glued to the floor ahead of me. Only when I heard a chorus of Ohs did I look up to see a small crowd gathered in the middle of the bridge. Seriously, it was maybe twenty-feet wide? They had to block the whole road?

A small gap existed between the back of some guy and the railing of the bridge. I dove in to try to slickly maneuver through. On my way, I looked at the center of the commotion and realized a pokémon battle waged on.

A pretty big yellow spider faced a pokémon that looked like a giant ice cream cone. Kind of intrigued as to how this made people clog up foot traffic, I stopped to watch as well. A galvantula versus a vanilluxe, it turned out to be.

"Use frost breath!" a guy with a pair of gauge earrings called out. The temperature suddenly dropped as the vanilluxe exhaled a chilly white mist at the spider.

"Dodge and thunderbolt!" a girl wearing a sleeve of bracelets commanded. Galvantula jumped high and landed on a support pillar of the bridge. He crackled with electricity and shot a bolt at Vanilluxe. Yeah, don't mind damage to public property or anything.

"Protect." A green bubble shielded Vanilluxe, absorbing the thunderbolt without repercussion.

"That's so boring. You use that every other turn!" Bracelets made a motion with her hand and Galvantula came back to the ground, avoiding the ice patch formed from the earlier frost breath.

"If you're so good, then why's this battle still going on?" Gauges crossed his arms and chuckled. "Ice beam."

At that point, I got bored and decided to walk away. At least it seemed like no one cared if I had pokémon out or not. So, once the crowd stood far enough behind me, I sent everyone out. Rose fell to the ground and slumped against her log. Pepper stood in wait, wagging her tail, while Tempest perched on Pepper's back. I had to admit, my pidove sure looked pretty regal there. Did she hit her head?

"We walk on?"

Pepper bounded close to my feet while Rose lagged behind, dragging her log. Pawn offered a hand to her, but every time he did, she swatted him away. Realizing that anyone could pass us by and see the mess that was the unyielding Rose, I turned around and walked back, waiting for the timburr to either ask for help or manage on her own.

It took a few minutes for her to lift the log and take steps forward. The wood hovered extremely close to the bridge below, but Rose held her breath (her cheeks were seriously puffed out) and kept walking. I came up the rear to make sure she didn't hurt herself with Pepper still by my side.

At least Pepper and Tempest knew when to behave. Rose was probably not going to listen to me well until she could handle her log. She could surely hold it better than she did yesterday, but she had a long way to go. "You got it, Rose?"

She tripped on nothing. "How long is this bridge?" I looked to Pawn, who spanned his arms and shrugged. Apparently the longest bridge in Unova, I didn't particularly fancy myself some sightseeing.

As we hugged the right side of the bridge, I noticed we passed by yet another battle. Two rock behemoths ran into each other like sumo wrestlers without arms. I made sure to quicken my pace to avoid any trouble. Other than several people also crossing the bridge, nothing of interest came up for a while.

My mind emptied as I stared ahead with no real purpose. How did this happen? I would have never thought I would cross the entirety of Skyarrow Bridge in my life. Yet, there I was, walking right foot after the left. Damn, was it boring and tiresome.

A few boats passed under the bridge as we crossed, as well as a few ducklett above. Some busking performers here and there made for ambient noise. A couple more battles happened along the long, long bridge as well. None of which caught my attention. Everything blurred together, and all I knew I wanted to do was finish crossing the bridge.

My breathing became heavier as time went on. Eventually, a halfway marker on a support beam gave me some hint of how far we were. To both my and Rose's delight, the timburr managed to keep carrying her log without it touching the ground the entire time. My delight only because that meant nothing bad happened.

Ahead, I saw the bridge went a little crazy in its design. It declined, but did so in a strange loop only for it to keep stretching straight ahead to another giant gate area. Another performer claimed the beginning of the loop as their own. I would have walked past them had I not heard the same booming bass I heard the other night.

To my left, I saw the same scrafty as before dancing yet again. Beside him was another scrafty, a taller one with a slightly different style than the other. The differences between the two mainly lied between their outfits' color scheme and their height. With nothing better to do, and seeing as though this was the third time I saw this scrafty, I joined the crowd gathered around the two pokémon.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed another difference between the two: each had a big gold chain around their necks, but the shorter one, the one I recognized, had the number 1 in gold, studded with what looked like diamonds attached to the necklace. The other had a 4 on it. They both had the same head tattoo, though.

I suppressed a laugh. Why the fuck were these scrafty wearing gold chains and break dancing in broad daylight? That didn't even matter as the song playing ended, resulting in strong applause and people throwing chump change into the two hats resting by the boombox set up.

Number 4 hit a button on the boombox and started another song. The two danced on, sometimes with each other, sometimes against as I dug through my bag to pull out money for the shorter scrafty. I might as well have since I did it before. And now, I even had money to spare. So, deciding to be generous, my good deed of the day would be giving Number 1 another 2,000 poké. For whatever purpose he needed it for.

As I pulled the money out, I noticed Rose sitting on her log with arms crossed, huffing and not watching the show. Pepper sat nicely and watched without attitude, while Tempest continued to perch on the tepig's back, seemingly asleep. Facing away from the performance for some reason, of course.

The song playing reached a climax. I clutched the money in my hand, waiting to contribute it when everyone else did. Number 1 did a tall backflip onto the guardrail of the bridge, bouncing in rhythm even after landing. Number 4 raised his arms to rally the crowd, clapping and hooting to the beat. The crowd followed, but I just kept watching.

Another loud beat came and Number 1 bent down. The next moment, he did another backflip, this time off the bridge to the ground below. Everyone gasped and ran to the guardrail to see what happened, including me.

Did he commit suicide just like that? No, there was no way. It had to be part of the act.

It turned out he landed in a cool pose, on one hand with his legs in the air, still on the bridge. The way the bridge bent ahead, it made a loop and gave way for Number 1 to land safely about twenty feet below.. Surprisingly, he didn't crack the bridge upon impact.

Number 4 jumped on the guardrail himself and made a parting motion with his hands. The crowd returned to their original positions. The music swelled, and the next thing we all knew, Number 1 flipped back to our level without any issue.

"That's actually super impressive," I murmured to myself.

"Burr." Rose yawned and lied down on her log. Was she seriously not impressed in the least bit with Number 1? For whatever reason, I kept thinking about how Rose had her leg strength down, but arms not. Those flips the scrafty did required only leg strength, so I made a wild guess she wouldn't care unless they started deadlifting or something.

Pepper, on the other hand, had a proper reaction to the performance, mouth dropped in awe. Forget about Tempest for a minute. Pawn only watched on politely.

The music ended and the scrafty took a bow. I went with the crowd and gave money, my big bills seeming unnecessarily much next to the person next to me's four coins. Here's to a life of excess for all. Not.


Author's note: I've wanted to call her Rose for a while. Let's just forget about Chairman Rose when we're here.

Anyways, since it's come to my attention that some people tend to skip poems and lyrics in stories, and also because I overthink and spend too much time mulling over the poems I have Eloise write, I think I'm only going to end chapters with them that are really important. In its place, I think I'm going to give a song recommendation that's either ironic or on-the-nose for the chapter and Eloise.

So I guess check out "Don't be Afraid" by Glitter Green if you're interested. Kind of doesn't fit the chapter, kind of does, but it would make Eloise mad for no reason at all.