Three days in, and Joseph went to Bugsy's Gym, where Bugsy was waiting for him.

"Hello, Joseph!" Bugsy smiled. "I made a bit of research, and realized that Clair and Lance are your cousins, am I correct?"

"Yeah" Joseph said.

"Yeah, Clair is a good friend of mine, and Lance is pretty powerful. Let's see if your talent matches theirs!" Bugsy said. "As a Gym Leader, I accept your challenge! One on one, go, Beedrill!"

"Beedrill!" The Pokémon shouted.

"Wait!" Bugsy said, smiling, while Joseph was taking out his PokéBall. "I gotta warn you, this Beedrill is from my ultimate team. So be careful who you take out to fight!"

"That's unfair!" SmartRotom shouted. "Gym Leaders should upgrade the challenge depending on the number of badges! Joseph has only three badges!"

"Don't worry. I know why did Bugsy took that Beedrill. I have a Pokémon that's stronger than it. Go, Heracross!" Joseph shouted.

"Cross!" Heracross shouted, decided to fight alongside Joseph.

"Finally, a worthy challenge of bug types!" Anton took a Mega-Bracelet. "If you notice, Beedrill has a necklace with a Beedrillite!"

"Beedrill!!!" Beedrill megaevolved, becoming powerful.

"Heracross, use Brick Break!" Joseph ordered.

"Beedrill, use Horn Attack!" Bugsy ordered.

They were equally matched, Mega-Beedrill was a bit superior. Joseph smiled. Heracross and Mega-Beedrill shared blows with one another, both of them getting tired.

Suddently, Joseph looked up, at the sprinkles in the roof against fires.

"Heracross, Brick Break against the sprinkles!" Joseph ordered.

A rain fell from there and Mega-Beedrill, who mostly took air from its skin, got really puffy, as it wasn't used to breathing with its lungs.

"That strategy..." Bugsy said. "Unorthodox, but it will allow you to tip the scales"

"Let's finish this! Heracross, use Close Combat!" Joseph shouted.

Mega-Beedrill got destroyed, and it fainted, going back to its real form. Bugsy took it inside his PokéBall.

"It was truly unorthodox, but the victory is yours and no one will take it from you" Bugsy smiled. "You really showed knowledge about Bug-types, knowing that Beedrill would get puffy as its wet skin wouldn't allow it to catch as much oxygen as it was used to, while knowing that Heracross breathes exclusively through its lungs"

"I read many things at home" Joseph smiled.

"The Hive Badge is yours" Bugsy said, giving it to him.

"Yeah!" Joseph celebrated. "We won... the Hive Badge!"

SmartRotom took a photo of Joseph and Heracross celebrating. Bugsy gave Heracross a vest with a Heracrossite.

"Now I must ask someone in town to repair the sprinkles" Bugsy laughed a little bit. "Goldenroad City is up north. Whitney's got a really powerful team, Normal-types shouldn't be looked over. After all, she's the only one who Lance himself appointed for the position, instead of winning the position from the previous leader like the rest of us"

"I see... then I accept that challenge" Joseph smiled. "We'll train and train! No one will stop us!"

When Joseph came out of the gym, he was stopped for an interview. They all wanted to know more about this guy who was talented enough to not lose any Gym Battle he partook in. Joseph didn't explain much, he didn't want much attention brought to himself, and wandered off to the Ilex Forest.

Inside that Forest, Joseph trained his team together with Heracross. The rest of the team wasn't going to reach Heracross's power in a long time, but they were all really talented and Joseph, helped with SmartRotom's information, truly knew how to get their potential to fruition.

That way, Goldenrod's Gym Battle was near, and Joseph couldn't wait to see!

(...)

POV Proton

Proton had definitively given up on Joseph and his Dragonair, as Giovanni had asked him to oversee in Cinnabar Island the project Missigno.

In this project, they would use a mix between technology and magic to create a Pokémon-esque creature which would bend the rules of reality, controlling PokéBalls for them to never fail and multiplying objects, allowing Team Rocket to sell more for profit.

He saw in the capsule a weird... static blob that wouldn't quite stand. Missigno was... a bit formed, it just didn't exist as a physical thing yet.

He smiled, and went outside the lab to look over the island. So pacific and quaint... Proton smiled upon the posibility of conquering it all with Missigno.

He took out his team: Golbat, Weezing, Ratticate and Victribell. Those Pokémon were not as powerful as others... but were his Pokémon, and he would use them to further his evil plans.

So, uh, basically I'm creating the final arc already, and, uh, yeah, I want to time-skip a little bit buuuut this is a Journey fic so it stands to reason I write all of the journey.

Joseph's Team:

Dragonair (Male) — Level 38

Delibird (Male) — Level 34

Heracross (Male) (Alpha) — Level 71

Ursaring (Female) — Level 34