"Hey, I got an official update," Leon says in their room at the pokemon center.

Zoey hums as she writes down something in a notebook. "What is it about?"

"I got five dollars more from last time. They must have registered my first badge," Leon says happily.

"Yeah. It takes about one business day to do that. Sometimes it takes a week during the finals of both the league and contest finals. Reason being is that everyone is rushing for the last ribbons and badges. Sometimes, some people are left out of them because it wasn't registered in time. So if you are going for it, be careful," Zoey warns. "And don't let that go to your head. You have more gyms and battles to do."

"I feel like a big reason we won as well is we didn't battle like normal trainers did," Leon says thoughtfully, laying back down on the bed.

"True. You didn't go head on. That is something not most would try. Especially with their first gym," Zoey describes.

Leon hums as he thinks about how to handle the other gyms.

"If you are thinking of some training, let your pokemon rest up. Let them enjoy this night as like a victory party," Zoey notes, looking at the pokemon watching TV.

"Maybe a walk would do me some good. Maybe I can come up with some more crazy ideas," Leon says getting up and leaving. "Maybe even one for Breeze to try," he says chuckling a little.

"Don't spend too much time out there. Plus, like you said, we need some rest before heading out as early as possible," Zoey says smiling as she writes down another combination.

Leon yawns happily as he lays on some grass and stares up at the sky. "Okay. Next contest, then gym…how the heck am I going to pull off another Ash style move? That was a fluke. Maybe…maybe Beacon can blind. Then I could go in with a heavy hitter and keep doing it again and again," Leon mumbled to himself as he thinks of some plan and deviations.

"Thinking hard about the next battle?" Gardenia suddenly asks as she walks up and looks down at him.

"Yeah. Should I go with a military-style move and Gardenia?!" Leon exclaims as he now looks at her shocked. "Um…what are you doing here?"

"You called me cute. I can't ignore that," Gardenia points out.

"…you're not going to stalk me now, are you?" Leon asks, making her laugh.

"No. I won't be doing that. Besides, you are quite an anomaly. How did you come up with that moves anyway?" Gardenia questions as she smiles.

"Well, it's like this. I have never been a fan of the no-win scenario. So when someone, even if myself, tells me something can't be done, I just can't accept it and start brainstorming on a way to do it like make Breeze very mobile even though she is a metapod right now," Leon admits.

Gardenia hums. "So you are not training like a normal trainer. That is good. Most trainers I battle are boring," she admits smiling. "You are still staring up at me."

"I have to ask, is that your hair that is black or a bandana?" Leon asks.

Gardenia simply reaches up and grabs onto a cloth under her hair and pulls it off to show a bandana. "Do you know how hard it is to keep your hair clean of stuff from bug pokemon?"

"So it isn't your hair. For the entire battle, I was thinking your hair color was orange and black," Leon says.

"You kept thinking of my hair color that whole battle?" Gardenia asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Well…in the pauses," Leon admits.

Gardenia shakes her head amused now. "Well, you are interesting enough," she says before looking up at the sky where he was looking.

"So what are you up to? Leaving your gym for a bit?" Leon asks as they were no longer in her gym's city.

"Kinda. I figure you can make things fun. Plus, I can learn a bit from you," Gardenia explains.

"From me?" Leon asks in surprise.

"You beat me too easily. I have to learn something that I can surprise other trainers with," Gardenia explains.

"So what about the gym? Does the league send a replacement or close it down till you return?" Leon asks.

"I have a backup leader. All gyms have that," Gardenia says smiling and looks back down to him. "Are you going to keep laying there?"

"If you are coming, then here he comes," Leon says sitting up and sees Beacon approaching.

Gardenia slowly turns around and sees the sheep running towards them. "No!" she yells pointing at him and makes him stop. "No," she scolds slowly.

"Beacon, be polite and no zapping," Leon instructs and Beacon approaches Gardenia again and then hugs her leg.

Gardenia smiles. "Good boy."

"Just so it is clear, we are mostly following Zoey's lead on where we are going as she has contests being a coordinator," Leon informs as he returns Beacon to his pokeball.

"Fine by me. Gives me time to watch you train and see what you are planning," Gardenia shrugs.

"Right now, to get a heck of a lot stronger with my pokemon. You were my first gym leader battle and I still think we need to do a heck of a lot better," Leon says.

"What are you saying? You have obviously got more natural experience," Gardenia points out.

"Well, I did go to a prep school," Leon says making her flabbergasted.

"Prep school? And you know how to do this?" Gardenia questions, leaning down to him.

"What is so bad about prep school? You and Zoey act so negatively to it," Leon says.

"Because it teaches such simple things, it will not help anybody in the real world," Gardenia explains.

"Then why is it even a thing?" Leon asks as Gardenia looks him over.

"Because they will fall back on the teachings so much, they won't listen to new experiences, thinking they are the best," Gardenia huffs and puts her hands on her hips.

"So what now?" Leon asks.

"You talk to me," Zoey says behind him.

Leon freezes up a little now. "Um…Zoey…Gardenia is going to join us…yeah…"

"Is she now?" Zoey asks.

Leon chuckles nervously as he slowly slides away.

"So you just invited yourself?" Zoey asks, looking at Gardenia.

"I can learn a few things from him. Usually, others would wail on my gym or just play the type game. He used some very good intelligence," Gardenia says smirking.

"I guess it won't hurt," Zoey says sighing as Beacon walks up to her and hugged her leg.

Gardenia screeches out and jumps away while keeping her hands on her hair.

"Nice one Beacon. You faked her out very well," Zoey says smirking.

Beacon snickers to himself and hides behind his paws.

"Come on you," Leon says picking his pokemon up to Beacon's delight.

Zoey sighs. "Deal with this one and maybe we can come to an agreement. Besides, you have to deal with shocky here a lot from now on."

"This will be fun," Leon says as Beacon cheers.

Zoey slowly shakes her head amused. "Okay. Let's get some sleep and head out."

"It's good to be traveling again," Zoey says.

"Well, I did have to figure out my gym battle for a while," Leon reminds.

Zoey smiles at him as he and Gardenia walk with her down the rocky road.

"Now what else to do…" Leon mutters under his breath as he thinks on some moves for the next battle.

"Relax a bit. The next gym on the path we are taking is in Oreburgh City," Gardenia says trying to put his mind at ease.

"Oh. Could still matter if I want to practice with them," Leon explains, holding up Beacon who meeps at them.

"You also need to think about it as he usually battles with rock type," Gardenia reminds.

"Rock…rock…" Leon mumbled as he starts to think about the plan.

"Don't be a rock head," Zoey says.

"Was that a joke or a piece of advice?" Leon asks, turning to her.

"You choose," Zoey says smiling.

Leon stares at her for a few moments. "I'm not going to answer that."

"So what now?" Gardenia asks.

"I'm going to try and catch a water pokemon on our way through route 205," Zoey informs.

"Training here," Leon pipes up.

"What are you training on?" Gardenia asks.

Leon smirks. "That's a secret."

"Who will it involve?" Zoey asks smirking.

Leon chuckles almost evilly. "Let's see…Beacon…Amber…and pikipek."

"What is it?" Zoey asks.

"Ah. That's a secret. Have to wait until it's done," Leon warns pointing to her.

"Really? Even though I am looking out for you?" Zoey asks laying on the charm.

"You're a contest performer. You know how special it is to have secret moves under your belt," Leon shot back.

"But don't you want to tell me?" Zoey asks, putting a finger on his cheek.

Leon blushes a bit. "Now come on Zoey. You know some secrets are good to keep."

"You are getting better," Zoey says before smirking as she backed off.

Leon sighs in relief and takes one step away from her before she tried anything else.

"Oh, how forward," Gardenia says smirking as he walks into her.

Leon eeps before quickly stepping away from the both of them. 'These two are going to be the death of me one day.'

"Why so shy?" Gardenia asks before chuckling.

Leon groans while Beacon snickers a little at him in his arms. "Quiet," he mutters to the mischievous pokemon.

"Alright, let's keep an eye out for a good camping spot in that upcoming forest," Zoey says.

"It's dark out tonight with the new moon," Leon says as they all gathered around a campfire.

"Not much training for tonight. Maybe just relax," Zoey sighs in relief as she is always laying down on her sleeping bag.

"At least is warm tonight," Leon says as Gardenia looked a bit spooked.

"Why not bring out your pokémon? Let them enjoy the night and sleep out here," Zoey suggested before rolling over.

"Beacon, you mind?" Leon asks and soon Zoey felt something warm climb on top of her sleeping bag.

"Oh great…" Zoey groans and turns her head to see Beacon laying on top of her sleeping bag and snuggling into it. "Just don't shock and I won't kick you off," she mumbled as she closes her eyes.

Leon chuckles before opening the rest of his pokeballs and lets everyone out, all of them looking around confused. "No training tonight guys. Just sleep. Been a long day anyway," Leon voices as he lays down in his sleeping bag before feeling something snuggled up against his neck and looks to see Amber curling up with Breeze somehow rolling over and laying against his side and Rhythm flying up before laying down on his chest. "Rest easy."

"They seem to really care," Gardenia says as she wraps a blanket around herself.

"Why not yours? Get them out and give them a night out here instead of the gym?" Leon asks.

"They are out just somewhere in the trees or around them," Gardenia informs.

"Then get close to us since you're shivering too much," Leon offers.

Gardenia was quiet for a bit before making her way over and wraps the pokemon, herself, and Leon with it.

"I said close…really?" Leon asks, turning his head to her.

"Hey. This is how you stay warm," Gardenia points out.

"Good point…truth be told, I was kinda thinking you would go for Zoey since she has Beacon," Leon admits.

"He is snoring," Gardenia says.

Leon hums before closing his eyes again. "Alright. Just don't bother them too much," he reminds, motioning his head to the sleeping pokémon.

"Don't worry, I won't," Gardenia says, closing her eyes to sleep.

Zoey yawns as she awakes to Beacon laying on his back atop her with his tongue sticking out to the side. "Ew…" Zoey groans before carefully picking him up and puts him to the side before looking around more as she rubs her eyes. "Guys…?"

"Got breakfast cooking," Gardenia says cooking with a skillet.

Leon yawns as he leans against his backpack, trying to catch more time. "And it's going to be good."

"Did I miss anything?" Zoey asks.

"Just getting ready," Leon mumbled as he scratches his head.

"Oh, no need to rush sleepy head," Zoey says before walking over to him.

Leon hums as his pokémon try to push him up and get him standing while he almost returns to sleep.

"It's alright," Zoey says before pulling him to her and holds his head against herself.

Leon sighs relaxed and nuzzles his head against her without realizing it. "So warm."

"What are you going to do once he realizes?" Gardenia asks.

"Keep him there," Zoey says smiling.

"Zoey?" Leon asks sleepily.

"Yes?" Zoey asks softly down to him.

"Why are you so comfortably warm?" Leon asks.

"Oh…did I hear that right?" Gardenia asks.

Zoey smirks. "Yep."

"Mine," Leon says hugging her.

Zoey grins as she hugs him back tightly. "He'll try to be clueless too."

"Heh. You are going to get some mileage out of this," Gardenia says as the pokemon started huddling around for food.

Zoey keeps grinning as Leon keeps snuggling against her. "So soft…so warm…sleepy…"

"Mine," Zoey whispers into his ear.

"Chim chim," Amber spoke up and holds a bowl of eggs up to him.

"And yours Amber," Zoey says reaching down and pets her.

"Chim," Amber groans happily as she enjoys the petting.

"Leon?" Zoey asks sweetly.

Leon hums as he slowly opens his eyes. "Huh…what…?"

"Wake up!" Zoey calls, making sure she had a good grip on him.

Leon jumps and cries out before noticing where he is and struggles to get out of her grip now. "Um…Zoey!"

"You say I am yours, now you are mine," Zoey says smirking.

"What?!" Leon yells shocked as he still tries to get away.

"You agree on this Gardenia?" Zoey calls.

"Yeah. You two did say that," Gardenia says, still concentrating on cooking and giving some food to the pokémon coming up.

Leon was about to say something when Amber and Glameow started to growl at the bushes to the west of them.

"What is it, girl?" Leon asks as they all look over to the bushes and they see a bipedal small pokémon that looks built with muscles on it. "Is that a machop?" Leon asks to make sure as he takes out his pokedex and almost drops it from the shock he has.

"CHOP!" Machop yells at them as it seems to try and intimidate them.

"Holy crap! A machop!" Leon yells excited and everyone, even the machop, seems a bit confused at his excitement. "I always wanted to meet some of the famous fighting pokémon!"

"He is like a kid in a candy shop," Zoey says sweatdropping.

"Amber, let's catch this one!" Leon calls out excited and Amber was still confused before gaining a battle face and turns to the machop in a stance.

"Ma," Machop says understanding this was now a battle and uses leer.

"Okay…let's see how well he does with a pokémon he likes," Zoey noted as she steps beside Gardenia with the other pokémon.

"Amber, time to take to the trees and keep using ember," Leon calls.

"Chim," Amber calls back, shaking off the leer and runs to the trees before climbing it to a branch and then firing off shots of ember at machop who keeps trying to dodge each one.

"Ma!" Machop calls, trying to catch Amber as she swings in the trees, but only succeeds at tiring itself out till it punches down a whole tree, forcing Amber to jump to a different one.

Zoey, seeing this, whistles. "Machop has some real physical power."

"And that's why it will become part of my team," Leon declares as he watches the battle intently. "Amber, you see the vines?" Leon asks.

Amber looks to the side and sees some vines hanging there before grinning and jumping for it. Amber cheers as she swings freely and keeps firing ember blasts at machop who covers himself with his arms to try to stave them off. "Machop ma!"

"Now tie him up with them!" Leon calls, seeing his chance.

Amber, hearing this, tore off a vine and swung down to start wrapping machop up. Machop tried to struggle against this but Amber kept coming back with one vine after another as she kept tying him more and more up.

"Nice job Amber," Leon calls out, barely able to contain his excitement as he walks over before stopping and throwing a pokeball.

Machop sees he pokeball coming and gets bonked on the head before being sucked in and the balls start shaking. Leon shakes with triumph before it dings and stops shaking. "Yes!"

"I don't believe it," Zoey says a bit flabbergasted.

"Well…this is going to be a fun adventure," Gardenia says happily.

"That makes five," Leon says happily.

Amber cheers as she dances around. "Chim! Chim!"

"You did good," Leon says starting to scratch Amber's head.

"Chim," Amber says proudly and hugs him.

"So what is for breakfast?" Leon asks.

"Um…" Zoey starts as she stares at the pokeball.

"How's egg soup?" Gardenia spoke up.

"Sounds good," Leon says, sitting down as all the pokemon start to crowd around him.

"So…fighting pokémon. Going to catch them all?" Zoey asks curiously as she sits down as well.

"That sounds like some slogan," Leon jokes.

Zoey raises an eyebrow at him.

"But in all seriousness, I don't think that is possible," Leon says getting machop out of the pokeball.

"Ma…" machop groans as he falls flat on his back.

"Have fun?" Leon asks.

"Machop," machop groans from the ground.

"Here," Leon says giving him a bowl.

"Machop ma," machop groans before getting up and starting to eat.

"So Zoey, where do we get fishing rods?" Leon asks.

"Any shop near a good lake. You might get lucky and come across a fisherman willing to give a spare rod for free though that is few and far between," Zoey explains.

"Do you have a rod already?" Leon asks.

"Yeah. You going to catch some fish for us?" Zoey asks, digging into her bag.

"Beacon?" Leon asks smirking as Beacon belched from the food.

Beacon nods and goes over to Zoey before she takes out a folded up rod and Beacon takes it into his mouth before sniffing around and then walking towards the nearest river.

"Beacon!" Zoey calls going after him.

Leon chuckles as he watches them leave before turning to Gardenia. "Now uh…my share?"

"Here you go," Gardenia says chuckling at Beacon and his antics.

Leon sighs as he starts to eat with everyone else finishing up theirs and burping as they lay down for a bit. "So…what's your current pokémon team?"

"Roserade, Turtwig, and Cherubi," Gardenia says.

"Oh…doesn't the league give you more pokémon in case they raise their levels and strength too much and you need to keep it fair?" Leon asks curiously.

"These are my personal pokemon," Gardenia says smiling.

Leon hums at how she didn't answer that question before going back to eating.

"So the chance of Beacon being the fisher?" Leon asks smirking.

"High," Gardenia says giggling.

"Want to watch?" Leon asks.

Gardenia smiles. "Sure. Let's get going," she says encouragingly and grabs his hand before pulling him away.

When they all arrive, they see Beacon trying to hold the rod in his mouth as Zoey holds a net.

"I can't believe this is working," Leon whispers as they watch before Beacon struggles when the line starts to be pulled and he tugs hard before stepping back as Zoey readies the net before dipping into the water and pulls out a fish. "And it did."

"Beacon deserves a ribbon just for that," Zoey says.

"So how many did you catch?" Leon asks walking up and sees the haul.

"Counting this? One," Zoey informs.

"Really? Well, in this time period, I say Beacon can catch almost ten in less than five, right boy?" Leon asks Beacon who cheers through the rod in his mouth.

"Who did well?" Gardenia asks, scratching Beacon's head.

Beacon chirps happily and nuzzles his back into her hand as Leon looks over the fish. "Two more and done here?"

"You think you can do it?" Gardenia asks.

Beacon cheers and goes back to the water before whipping the line back into the river and waits.

"Right. While we wait, let's talk strategy," Gardenia says sitting Leon down.

"Which part?" Leon asks.