Author's Note

Everyone who's written reviews so far—thank you! I keep meaning to say this, but I really appreciate it.


To be honest, I don't really know what to say about Goldenrod City itself that I hadn't said already. Besides the fact that the buildings are all cramped up next to each other.

But I like it though! There's some kind of tranquility in feeling that you're part of a community much bigger anything you've ever known before. I don't feel so alone anymore...

They had a department store there, with several floors for shopping. Kitty wanted me to buy him a Poké Doll, so I did. The Poké Doll was a Clefairy or something, so I was hesitant in buying him something so stupid, but he really wanted it. I looked into Kitty's wide pleading eyes, and I knew, with that glint in his cute baby eyes, I couldn't say no.

He would cry and make a tantrum if I did.

Kitty didn't ask for anything else the rest of the shopping trip, which was a relief because I'm not sure if I could have taken his crying. I mean, I'm not really into spoiling my Pokémon and all that. It'll be quite awkward if they were going to be taken to asking for toys during the middle of Pokémon battles.

At floor six, there was a lady who asked some 300 bucks for doing a drawing (as in, taking things out of a bag and seeing what you get). I tried it, because you only live once. Unfortunately, the Persim Berry I got was not worth the money. That was rotten luck, but that was probably a sign that I had to go leave the shopping mall and do something else with my time.

Still, I wasn't going to go straight to the gym without some sightseeing. I went to the Johto-Kanto Magnet Train Line but the clerk said that the train was late. He then suggested that he carry passengers on his back, and then I promptly left him alone. Next to the train station was the Radio Tower, and I have to tell you, I've been waiting to go there for a long time. I've never been allowed to listen to the radio when I was younger, mostly my mother always claimed that she didn't buy the television for nothing.

However, there was some strange activities going on there. There was a Team Rocket guy near the entrance, just staring the wall of the tower. There was no casual way to approach him. I stared back. I also considered if calling the cops was a viable option. After some thoughts, I decided otherwise.

"So this is the Radio Tower..." the Team Rocket grunt mumbled, and frankly, he sounded almost exactly like Pikachu Boy when that boy was staring ceaselessly at Elm's lab.

That can't be a good sign, right?

"What are you doing?" I said, interrupting the uninteresting monologue. If he stupidly confessed to some illegal crime, would that be enough?

He turned to me, looking pretty damn angry. "What do you want, you pest? Scram!"

I narrowed my eyes and entered the Radio Tower. The heck, is he perhaps Pikachu Boy's father, the man Pikachu learned all his horrible stalking from? Or an older brother, maybe? I wouldn't be surprised if Pikachu got his loathing of Team Rocket from him. I would be ashamed too.

The Radio Tower had a clean and neat inside. The clerks were nice. One of them told me to answer five questions, and if I got them correct, she'll give me a Radio Card so I could listen to the radio on my Pokégear. That seemed like a pretty good deal, so I agreed. Besides, it was free.

"First question!" the clerk said. "Can you check the Town Map with your Pokégear?"

"Sure."

A "ding-dong" noise echoed in the room.

"You are correct. Second question! Nidorina can only be female. True?"

I didn't know what Nidorina had to do with anything, but at least it sounded like a female's name. I told her it was true.

Another "ding-dong" noise. I wondered if the clerk could ever get bored of that.

"You are correct. The third question! Kurt, the Poké Ball creator, uses apricots as ingredients?"

"Um...yeah."

A fart noise. Guess she does get bored of the ding noise.

"Wrong!" the clerk said.

"Yes! Apricorns are the ultimate form of the apricot! Did you not know?!"

"Um..."

"Did you just underestimate the glorious legacy of the delicious, perfect apricot? How can you, clerk?"

"Well..."

"Shame on you, for mistaking nature's creations! The breezes of the woodland, the splashing of a pebble against a clear blue lake...you misunderstand the meaning of life? The wondrous creations of—"

"Um, I'll just count your answer as correct," the clerk interrupted. "Fourth question! It's impossible to use a TM on Magikarp. True?"

"What? Magical crap? Of course you can't teach Magi-crap a TM. How can you teach crap anything?"

The sound of the "ding-dong" came again.

"Wow! I have only one more question to go. In Professor Oak's popular show, Pokémon Talk, is he on with Marie?"

"How should I know? I don't have a Radio Card, hence why I'm here. Which Marie? Who's Marie?"

"Just, uh, guess."

"Ah, so even I should know who this Marie is, as culturally deprived as I am? Well..."

My mind whirled with the thoughts of ladies named Marie. Marie Curie? I supposed that she's pretty famous.

"No. He's not on with Marie. Curie died a good amount of years back," I told the clerk confidently.

"Uh..." the clerk stammered. "Okay. You got all five questions...somewhat right. Congratulations, here's your prize."

She passed me the Radio Card. I managed to plug it into my Pokégear with care (I wasn't quite sure how to use the thing, so the clerk had to help me).

A girl with pink hair that was standing near the counter with me jumped and ran up to me.

"Wow, you did it! I thought the answer to the third question was surely apricots."

"I know," I said. "The clerk didn't know the answer right."

Pink Hair glanced at her watch and frowned. "Oops! It's time to get back to the Gym!"

She ran off. I looked back at her. So that was Whiteny, Goldenrod's gym leader. I did remember hearing from somewhere that she was rather young, but she seemed younger than me. And people are always complaining about how young I look.

I tried out the radio.

"We're always watching you."

I jumped.

"They always sleep together. They always eat together. Do you think you think you can tell them apart? Those twins!"

I gasped and stared at my Pokégear in shock. There's a radio station just about stalking twins! The most damned thing—I quickly switched to another channel.

"This is DJ Ben, bringing you lullabies!"

What.

I changed the station again.

"Wait, if we're going to battle, are we going to battle until neither of us can battle anymore? Because...I've fallen in love with you. Why don't we go on a...?"

The other person started talking. "Is that so...? Well, I love you, too."

The narrator came up. "And so, they fell in love. Thus ends this long, seventy part serialization about two hotheaded teenagers."

There was then several commercials, and after that speaking from a girl named Buena. She kept muttering about a password, and I kept listening, but nobody ever mentioned what the password is. It was starting to get on my nerves, but I wanted to get this "Blue Card" thingamajig since I happened to be at the Radio Tower and the girl Buena was just a few feet away from me.

"Drama and documentary!" cried out the shrilly voice yet again on the radio. "This is the Variety Guy!"

This was probably the seventh time she said that.

"Remember the password we mention on the show, and..."

I frowned.

Then there were more commercials.

Then, "Drama and documentary! This is the Variety Guy! Hello, everyone, this is Buena!"

There was something about a treasure chest, followed by a commercial.

After that there was something else.

"Drama and documentary! This is the Variety Guy! Hello, everyone, this is Buena!"

It's like that when that one romance (albeit not a very good one) ended, the radio stations simply stopped having a program that didn't involve Buena talking about nonexistent passwords.

The other thing out there was Pokémon Talk.

Basically what happened in that station was that Professor Oak would randomly name a Pokémon and where to find it, and then a girl named Mary would say something random about it back. It was so weird. I mean, you put an amazing, legendary, groundbreaking scientist on the radio; and instead of having him lecture on about something useful, he instead blankly mutters random crap that anybody else could talk about. Also, if Mary thought she had a sense of humor, I'm not sure what to say to her.

"Raticate can be found at the Burned Tower," Oak said.

Mary attempted to act funny, but it came off the wrong way:

"Raticate! Only when you'll be there, you'll feel so strange..."

I'm not exactly a "joke critic," but her sense of humor is baffling. Perhaps it's the randomness of her remarks that give the flavor? I don't know.

"Zubat may be seen around Ilex Forest!"

"Zubat, you won't be able to resist, you'll be held captive."

"Geodude can be found on Route 45!"

"Geodude, only when you'll be there, you'll be so cool."

"Gyrandos may be seen around Lake of Rage!"

"Gyrandos, if you look at it from another angle, you'll feel at ease."

"Mareep may be found on Route blahblahblah!"

"Mareep, if you poke it, you'll be able to make a great friend!"

At one point, Mary gushed about how "strangely wonderful" the listener would find Magi-crap to be. Oak had very helpfully stated that you could find it at the Ruins of Alph.

So forget it.

That was it. Yes, that was it. I only had four radio stations with my Radio Card. I know it was free, so I probably shouldn't complain, but still. Four radio stations is not a lot.

I went to the Buena person. I figured that I'll just wing it and guess the password. However, it turned out to be a bad thing, because she wanted me to speak into a mic so it would pretty obvious that I'll be royally humiliated in public.

"Uh...the password is Rattata."

Buena grinned at me. "Yippee! That's right!"

Really? Well, I got my inspiration from Joey...

Buena was jumping up and down. Poor girl, I don't think anybody had actually gotten the password correct before. No wonder, considering how often they say the password in her show...*cough* never *cough*

"You did tune it!" Buena cried out with glee. "I'm so happy! You earned one point! Congratulations!"

A lady came up to me. "Congratulations! Here's a Poké Ball."

"Um, thanks," I said awkwardly.

I took the Poké Ball, then shoved it tentatively into my bag.

"Make sure you turn in everyday!" Buena exclaimed.

"Of...course."

I left right away.

I went to the Global Terminal next. I remembered hearing about it from the news. I got in, but before doing so I placed Kitty into his Poké Ball. I can't have him messing things up inside.

The clerks at the desk explained to me that I could communicate with trainers the world over using the communicators. It seemed exciting, so I went for GTS. It seemed to be some kind of global trading system. Out of curiosity, I talked to the clerk about it. Apparently I simply had to walk to another room to connect. Some kind of new high-tech technology would link me to the other players inside the room.

I gave the clerk my Trainer Card and she nodded.

"I hope you enjoy your visit to the GTS," she told me warmly. It was like I was going on a vacation rather than just another room.

I entered the room. A message about a compatible access point flashed before my eyes. I couldn't understand why. Though, whatever it was, it wasn't going to let me into the GTS.

Naturally, when I first got out, I asked the clerk about it. She looked confused, then understood my problem. She explained that before, everyone went to the Global Terminal for its features, the ones that everyone are still advertising about. However, of late, some big company or whatever got the Terminal's internet lines shut down because they wanted to focus all their energy on Kalos and Hoenn. Apparently, starting Pokémon journeys in those two regions these days is "what's in." Now the workers at the Global Terminal only give the illusion of still opening up their features, because even now they want trainers to come in so they could make money. Even though they're basically lying now.

"So you've been lying to everyone," I said, trying to make everything clear.

The clerk looked uncomfortable. "We don't advertise anymore, if that makes you feel better. We don't hire anybody else anymore. There's no flyers, no connections, nothing in Johto. At least, it's not as simple as it used to be. It'll be difficult to connect now."

"How can the company keep this building up?"

"Now we're mostly about 'informing the public about services,' and things like that. It's only a hoax, though. In truth, nobody cares enough about this place to shut it down. Johto is no longer in the spotlight. It's all about...Kalos and Hoenn now. The country pretends that the other regions don't exist." The clerk looked at me intently in the eyes. "You've started your journey at the wrong time, Lyra. Johto doesn't supports its trainers anymore."

This was beginning to make me feel uneasy, so I simply nodded and left. I didn't like feeling as though I've just started my journey out in a ghost town.

I went to some kind of tunnel next. I saw the Marill first. Then I saw him.

I was not in a good mood to see him. All I thought about was his grandmother saying,"She's the one you've been talking about."

"Hi, Lyra," Ethan said. "You are just in time!"

"For what?" I replied. "Do we have a date or something?"

Ethan walked right up to me. "When you follow this tunnel, you'll see a Dress-Up Shop. That's where your Pokémon can put on accessories to dress up and take pictures."

"I think you ignored me, but I'm not sure. Are you ignoring me?"

"By the way, you can have this." Ethan gave me a fashion case.

"For my Pokémon? I'm not sure if Kitty wants it, though..." Kitty was making sad faces at the fashion case.

"Did you say you want it? I knew it!"

I stared at Ethan blankly. I didn't know what kind of game he was playing with me.

Ethan seemed to notice my vacuous gaze, for he added, "This is a present from me!"

As though that was supposed to clear everything up.

I took the fashion case slowly, then said, "Thanks."

Ethan beamed. "Keep accessories in the fashion case, okay?"

"Of course."

"I should get going. See you!"

"Farewell."

With that we parted, though I still felt bemused from that last encounter. I know this sounds cruel, and I have never said this out loud, but I always thought that Ethan was as deep as a cupcake—just having skin, guts, clothes, and hair. Oh, and Marill.

There were trainers forcing others to battle out in the tunnel, which made me surprised since I don't think I've seen Ethan with any other Pokémon than Marill, and Marill isn't very good at battling. It makes me wonder what exactly I know about the guy. You know, besides that he's an early riser, fond of at least one Pokémon, and likes to wear hats indoors. I realized that we have never had a Pokémon battle against each other, even though Pokémon battling is a common activity with most friends.

I got a phone call from Mother, and really, she bought another item with my money. I didn't want to have her stop saving—that would only show how much trust I have in her, or how little—but I couldn't believe she's always up to these tricks. I started lecturing her on the phone, but by the time I looked at the Caller ID, I realized that she'd already hanged up on me. Damn!

I got Kitty a haircut, because God knows he needs one. Kitty seemed a little bit happier from it.

Then I got a phone call from Ethan.

He was talking about the Kamonegi and how they seem to act odd around the Ilex Forest. I wanted to talk about completely different things, like why does he want to hear my voice so bad, why is he calling me if minutes ago he was in a hurry, but of course the words died in my throat. They're not the kind of things you would say to anyone, expect maybe Pikachu Boy. And really, Ethan is a nice guy. I usually just can't get past the annoying part of him to see that...

I ended up dressing Kitty, only to see how it's like. He was too little for me to make much out of him, besides attaching some small parts of fluff. Kitty looked distressed by the overflow fluff (although I had attached only three little puffs), and I named the portrait that resulted from the costume "No Way."

Don't worry, Kitty. I will never make you look like that again.

" 'No Way,' " mused the costume guy, trying the title out on his lips. "Oh, yes! I get it now. Your aesthetics shine through."

Kitty looked downhearted, and sleepy on top of that. I don't think he even knows what "aesthetics" mean. Nor cares much, for the matter. Then again, I'm not sure if the costume guy knows what aesthetics mean, either. If he does, then I'm going to begin to pity his poor taste. He needs to go out and sees some beautiful snowcapped mountains.

...What I've just wrote is ironic, because this costume guy in particular was dressed up as a hiker.

The guy next to him had people take pictures while they dressed like someone from Team Rocket. I decided to try it out. So there I was, with all my shortness, wearing a black cap with my brown ponytails sticking out. My shirt had a big fat "R" on it that glared out almost aggressively next to my yellow shoulder bag. Next to me was Kitty, who had his Poké Toy and something in his mouth. Cinder was behind me looking self-conscious. Oh, those Pokémon teenage years really got his spirits down. But he looked good in the picture, I'll tell you that. He just doesn't believe me.

After that I went to the Gym. I'll go around the city a bit more after that, but the gym was important to me. It was my mission to beat the Gym leader, clear and simple.

I just didn't expect it to be shaped like a dollhouse.


Whitney's Gym

Safety: 7/10

There were no railings on one part, and you were fairly high up. It was very narrow, and you had to stand on...well, I'm finding it hard to explain. Just believe me that it gets really narrow and dangerous at one part, and you even have a battle up there.

Design: 8/10

It was pretty good, if you don't mind the "girly-girl" aspect of it. It's interesting how the design made up a Clefairy. I think that shows some thought into the design.

Gym Trainers/Leaders: 7/10

Now, I liked the gym trainers.

AS FOR WHITNEY...

Overall Score: 7/10

Note: I think my review is biased because the other gyms had such bad quality.


Now, let me begin by saying that Kitty performed brilliantly.

Cinder did not.

He let the damn Miltank do so many critical hits. He let us lose!

I fainted from the shock.

I was pretty pissed at Cinder, if you could imagine. He allowed us to lose, that son of a bitch. Whitney wasn't even that hard. She was just some ten year old Valley girl who hired models and random girls from the street into her gym. She wasn't any harder than the boy obsessed with bugs, or the boy that was obsessed with both birds and me. Now, we should have waltzed in, and got the badge with no problem. Unfortunately, Cinder had a problem.

He told me he was in love with Whitney's Miltank, and that as he looked into her glorious eyes he saw a future laced with love, respect, and roughly fifteen little Miltanks. He said that he imagined them on a farm together, eating Oran berries and stargazing. He was unable to attack the love of his life, he said, and he refused to do so in the future.

Fine, Cinder didn't actually tell me this. He told Kitty, who then transferred the message to me by the use of Greek sign language.

God, teenagers and their excuses (let us ignore for a second that I'm a teenager myself).

After that, I sat out to make a training regime. It worked. We won this time.

Then Whitney had a tantrum.

She started crying and crying, and you'll think she'd never lost a Pokémon battle before. I find that hard to believe, because there's a list at the Gym's statues and while it wasn't as sizable as the other two gyms I've been to, it wasn't nonexistent. The list of successful challengers were there, all right.

So basically Whitney was just trying to stop me from accomplishing my goals in my life—beating Pikachu Boy (enough said), becoming a professional cyclist (my mother claims she still cannot buy me a secondhand bike), and mastering the art of the French tea (how do they do it?!). Now, Whitney was more notably blocking up the first goal, but it just happens to be the most immediate one for now.

I mean, I felt bad, but I didn't like to think that I've been wasting all my time! If Whitney wasn't going to give me the badge, it would ruin everything done so far. But I wasn't sure what to do, so I left the gym and went back later.

I finally got my badge at the end, but...eh.

I may not be leaving Goldenrod anytime soon. The Game Corner is calling my name...