We left Arthur's house the next day, thanking him (and Lucas) profusely, and set off on Route 119. It was a rare moment where it wasn't raining, but gray clouds still blanketed over the sky, leaving the route slightly chilly. Mari and I decided to travel faster, hoping to reach Fortree City before the weather changes. Thankfully, Lucas provided us with much needed directions to Fortree City. Arthur was decidedly useless at this ('Let them find their way! Character building!'), so we were grateful that Lucas sneakily told us when Arthur wasn't around.

The Mudkip gave my team life, and we trained better than ever. Sure, being stronger and avenging Neo gave us a purpose, but the Mudkip was like a breath of fresh air after being trapped in a cellar for so long. Granted, most of the time we were just chasing him down and cleaning him after saving it from quagmires. Really, he was just a bundle of joy, stuffed with mischief. I was glad Lexy didn't join him in his misadventures, choosing instead to watch out for him, even lecturing him sometimes. There was an energy in my team that weren't there before, one that roused my team's dynamics from its melancholy stupor. Lexy's role as a big brother. One more child for Estelle to mother. A spring in Dawn's steps and she chased the cheeky rascal. When we were training with Arthur, we put our grief on hold. Now, we're learning to process it. Baby steps. He was also helping Mari's team.

'Are you going to name him?' Mari asked me the second day we were out of the house.

She had (very bravely) grabbed the Mudkip from the middle of a mudpool and was now holding him firmly as he squirmed. I quickly dug in my bag for an old t shirt that I had been using to clean him up (Mari insisted, though I don't see the need. He was just going to end up being dirty again anyway). I'd need to do some shopping in Fortree. My shirts were undergoing wear and tear at a crazy rate. And I don't have any nice clothes. Especially if I was going to go to Ever Grande Stadium. It was such a high-end place. Wait, was I going? I pushed the thought to the back of my head, choosing to answer Mari.

'Probably, but I don't know what yet,' I plucked the Mudkip out of Mari's hands with my T shirt and gave him a glare. 'I am still waiting for inspiration.'

'Mud!' The Mudkip squealed, adding in his opinion.

Of course, I had no idea what he was talking about. And I had Abraxion out at that time, who couldn't really translate. For all I know the Mudkip could be asking for another mud bath. Or worse, chocolates. Maybe the Mudkip just liked brown coloured things, but I think it's Lexy's fault. He seemed to have imparted his love of chocolates to the little imp. I caught him sneaking a bar to the Mudkip yesterday.

'We should hurry,' Mari told me. 'The sky looks darker.'

The skies indeed looked darker. The abundant stormy clouds were overlapping each other, ready to unleash its torrent of hell on us any moment. Knowing it was futile, I took the Mudkip's Pokeball and tried to return him. He nimbly darted out of the sensor's range and hopped ahead. Cursing, I clipped the Pokeball back to my bag ad Mari and I chased after it.

Of course, it rained just right before we reached the Fortree Gym. We entered the gym dripping mud and water everywhere. I felt bad, but the receptionist just waved it off, as if she'd seen too many incidents of the same sort to bother. Mari booked the match for the next day while I decided to book the appointment with the gym two weeks later, as I needed more time to work with the Mudkip.

For the next two weeks, I worked almost exclusively with the Mudkip, trusting the rest of my team to be able to follow Arthur's drills. The Mudkip grew pretty quickly. It was barely the size of my hand when we first met. Within the month at Arthur's house, it was by my knee. And it grew even more by the end of two weeks. I thought about how quickly Dawn and Lexy grew too and wondered if it was a Pokemon thing. No wonder Ariel and Ben went into research. It was fascinating. The Mudkip was also a born battler. Or maybe he just grew up around competitive Pokemon battling. Or it could be that I now have more experience raising baby Pokemons. At any rate, I managed to get him onto drills. We worked in the training room in the Pokemon Center. Thankfully, the training room was indoors, so there was no mud around to distract the Mudkip. I found out that he knew Mud Bomb, Ice Ball and Tackle beforehand. And he learnt Water Gun pretty quickly, probably by watching Sebastian and Eddie.

By the end of two weeks, I had developed a strategy with Mudkip that I was confident will work in the Fortree Gym. I had also found a name for the Mudkip. It was actually mostly Mari.

'Don't you think its like fate? That we would meet each other on Route 119. And Arthur?' Mari asked me one day during dinner.

I wanted to tease her about fate leading her to meet Lucas too but stopped because a thought crossed my mind. 'Huh. Like I'm fated to meet Mudkip.' Fated to meet this little ball of joy just when my team and I were at our lowest. 'Should I name him Fate?'

'Isn't that like a girls name?' Mari sliced her Milktank steak. 'How about Yuan Fen? That's Chinese for fate.'

'Hmm,' Yuan Fen didn't exactly sound right. I watched the Mudkip who ducked under Zenya's arm and stole a piece of sausage. The territorial Charizard managed a half hearted swipe at him as he darted away. A sure sign of how he was everyone's baby. 'Oh, how about Yuan!'

'Sounds good,' Mari said, watching Mudkip take a bite of Lexy's roasted Pidgey

That was how Yuan the Mudkip was named. Partially because he was fated to be in my team and help us in our grief, partially because that was the shape he was going to be in if he continues eating so much (Yuan also sounds like the Chinese word for round, or circle).

The Fortree Gym was completely different from the other gyms I had challenged. The battlefield was held outdoors, so if the Challenger was unlucky, they will have to battle in the thunderstorm. As it were, Mari's match was conducted under a light drizzle. I sat in the spectator's seat with the rain splattering onto my face because I had to share my umbrella (a giant pink one, borrowed from the gym) with Lexy, who was so wide he took up the entire umbrella. Whoever desgined this gym layout clearly didn't take Fortree City's unfortunate weather into account. They could've at least made a shelter for the audience or something.

Secondly, because it was coincidentally both our fifth gym, our battle with the Gym Leader's last Pokemon held an extra challenge. Both platforms which the Gym Leader and the Challenger were standing on rose into the sky, about 40m tall. I had to crane my neck and squint my eyes against the torrent. Yes, the designer clearly wasn't thinking of the audience at all. But it didn't matter because Mari's Zenya dominated the battle. While slightly annoyed by the rain, he roared and took to the skies, blasting out hot burst of fire that was clearly visible from my point of view at Gym Leader Manning's Staraptor. Mari had come a long way since our first steps out of Littleroot. She was now a formidable trainer with an amazing team. Watching Zenya and the Staraptor swoop at each other I realized that the challenge of Fortree Gym was an aerial match.

Therein lie my problem. Lexy still hasn't evolved. I wasn't sure if I could take part in the Gym battle without a flying Pokemon. But even if they did allow me, my Pokemon would be stranded on the ground, sitting Ducklett for Gym Leader Manning's Pokemon, who had the ability to dive and ascend with amazing speed. I mulled over this as I tugged the umbrella back from Lexy, who had stolen more than his fair share. I watched the aerial battle with a pang, realized this would be the sort of match Neo loves.

After Mari's battle (and a celebratory lunch), I was in the Pokemon's training room with Lexy and Mari. Lexy, full of energy from watching Mari's match, had insisted.

'I have a feeling, Trainer,' He told me.

So here I was, instructing Yuan to shoot chunks of Ice Ball at Lexy while he rolled around, dodging it. I guess it wouldn't hurt Yuan to have some last-minute target practice. Though he was a pretty good shot already. He sort of had an instinct of where the Pokemon will dodge to.

'What gotten into him?' Mari wondered, then gasp.

Lexy had a strange sort of glow that could only mean one thing. Within seconds, an enormous dragon that took up almost half the training room was in front of me. He was back to his dark blue colouring as a Bagon with that tinge of green. Maybe even darker. Glossy red scales line his throat and beneath his tail, matching the pair of wings protruding from his back. He lifted his long neck, snaking backwards to check out the addition to his body, one that he had been waiting for since forever.

'Wow, congratulations, guys' Mari told us.

I grinned. 'Thanks. I should've known watching you battle would motivate him.'

'Mud!' Yuan squealed.

'Trainer LOOK!' Lexy flapped his impressive wings lightly, possibly creating a mini tornado into the training room. 'I have wings! And a tail!'

Lexy immediately retracted his wings and started chasing his tail

'Shall we go test it out?' I grinned at him, happy for my starter.

There was no way he could've fit through the door, so I returned him and we went out to Route 119, where it was still drizzling. It didn't seemed to dampen Lexy's mood though, as he took to the sky. He was a natural, zipping through the gray clouds at amazing speed, a far cry from the waddling that could barely be passed off as running when he was a baby. I could only hope he was that good at maneuvering, because he was going to be my Pokemon for my aerial battle.