"Tsuna! Wow, you're in Cerulean City already? I heard from Knuckle that you beat him in a battle! That's amazing!"

"…"

"He has a little brother and sister, too! I think his sister's the same age as you."

"…"

"Did you meet Asari? He's so busy all the time it's hard to get a hold of him sometimes."

"…"

"Oh right, Alaude called me a few days ago. It's nice of his brother to join you. I was kind of worried, you know? Not that I didn't think you'd be able to travel by yourself! I just think it's nice that you'd make friends. How is he? I've met him once. He can be intense, but their whole family is pretty intense to be honest."

"…"

"…Tsuna? Are you there? Can you hear me?"

"…"

"Is something wrong with your phone? Huh, that's weird."

"Nii-san."

"Oh, hey! It works! Can you hear me, Tsuna?"

"I see Tuffy in my dreams."

"Oh…you met Tuffy. I'm sorry you had to see—"

"Never ask me to do that again."

"O—Oh, yeah, no p—"

"Bye."

"Wait, T—"

Tsuna hung up.

Even if Tsuna hadn't come for a gym battle, taking the Cascade Badge just like that made him feel cheap. He wasn't the most driven person out there, but he still thought that rewards should be earned through hard work. He wondered if Asari had given the badge so easily to other trainers before him.

Well he gave it back, surprising Asari, and left the gym, but not before the Vaporeon silently demanded a pat on her pretty head with a sniff. Tsuna had snatched Bacchus and Dante up before they could maim her face and bolted for the door, yelling his goodbyes and apologies.

After that, the odd trio rested in the Pokémon Center. Hibari was dozing on a bench with Fairy, using his bag as a pillow, while Tsuna and Gokudera sat at a table to keep some distance. Something about crowding or whatever Hibari said.

"What a coward," Gokudera ranted, munching on a sandwich. Tsuna poked at his salad and mindlessly fed kibbles to Bacchus by hand. "What's the point of being a gym leader if you're not going to battle anyone? Instead of the Prince of Cerulean City, he's more like the Pu—"

"Yo!" a voice said.

The crew looked up to see a grinning boy standing beside their table. Gokudera narrowed his eyes while Uri hissed. Tsuna blinked. "Hi," he said before Gokudera could say anything. "Did you need something?"

"I was just wondering if you were Sawada Tsunayoshi," the boy said. "I'm Yamamoto Takeshi, Asari's brother."

Gokudera rolled his eyes. "Just ignore him. It's probably nothing."

Tsuna fed Bacchus another kibble. "Oh, yeah, I am. But you can just call me Tsuna."

"Great!" Yamamoto said. "I'm here to give you a message from my brother. He was hoping you could come to the gym now if you're not busy."

Gokudera and Tsuna stared at him for a long moment. If it was possible, Yamamoto's smile became ten times brighter. Uri tried to swipe the boy's ankles until Tsuna managed to hold her back. She hissed when Yamamoto laughed.

"You have a cute cat."

Tsuna should've seen it coming. Gokudera exploded.

After Nurse Joy patched up Gokudera and Yamamoto, along with Uri, the boys headed over to the gym. Tsuna nobly placed himself in-between them to make sure Gokudera didn't try to punch Yamamoto's face again. The only Pokémon out were Tsuna's and Fairy. Nonetheless, Tsuna was very displeased, more displeased than exasperated. He didn't know if that was a good thing or not. Hibari was just miffed that he couldn't join in the fight.

When they finally reached the gym, Takeshi led him inside to where the show took place, chattering happily about baseball despite the bandages around his arms from Uri's scratches. Well, at least Gokudera missed his face thanks to Kohaku and Ace pulling him back at the last second.

The stage arena was gone and in its place was a stone field with no water in sight. Bells went off in Tsuna's head when he noticed Asari, who still wore his blue kimono, on the other side of the battlefield. The teen smiled when Tsuna and his…groupmates appeared. "Hello, Tsunayoshi," he said. "I'm sorry for calling you here so suddenly."

Hibari hopped over the railing and lied down on the bleachers, already out like a light. Gokudera scowled at Asari. "What do you want?" he said. "Did you think that Tsuna might be up for a fight now or something?"

Asari lightly smacked his flute against his palm. "Actually, yes."

Gokudera blinked. "Eh?"

"That's why I sent Takeshi to bring him here. You left quite an impression, Tsunayoshi. Not many trainers lately would've done what you did."

Tsuna deadpanned. "Giving back something that they didn't want in the first place?"

Asari laughed. "Yes!"

Wait, was this all a test? Tsuna thought, his face paling.

The brunet licked his lips. "Um, Asari-san, I don't really—"

"You left me to do some thinking and re-evaluate my priorities." Asari chuckled. "I admit, I've been swept away with my performances instead of focusing on the gym."

"It's okay. I don't m—"

"And since I'm free for a moment now, I thought it would be a good time to set things straight."

"Well, I'm sure someone would l—"

A loud beep sounded through the arena before the stone field started to retract into the floor and fill with water. Tsuna gaped as the waves softly sloshed around the edges. He took a small step back. "Um, I don't really—"

Asari pointed his flute at him in an almost dramatic fashion. Tsuna wondered if it ever broke before or if it even could. Also, why couldn't Asari just talk to him face-to-face without yelling across the battlefield? "So I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

"Yeah?" Gokudera said, snapping out of his stupor. "Well, he's going to beat you so hard your as—"

"Can I just go?" Tsuna said meekly.

Dante stepped forward. "Char, Charmander!"

"Are you crazy? There's nothing but water out there! You're just gonna drown!"

Cawing, Ace fluttered his wings and puffed out his chest.

"No! No dive bombs!" Tsuna groaned. "Asari-san, you really don't have to. Besides, I'm sure Hibari or even Gokud—"

"We'll each use two Pokémon," Asari said, still with that dumb smile on his face. "Takeshi can be our referee. Is that okay with you?"

Was no one listening to him? Did no one care what he thought?

"Tenth," Gokudera whispered in Tsuna's ear, "I'm confident you can beat him."

Tsuna looked at him as if he grew five heads. "Tenth? Why are you calling me Tenth?"

Gokudera flushed. "Well, yesterday was the tenth day of the month and we met at exactly 10 PM, too." He shrugged, looking at the ceiling. "I thought it fit."

Tsuna's brow twitched. "How thoughtful."

Gokudera brightened up. "Really? Does that mean that you consider me your right-hand man? Well, you don't have to but—"

"Let's—Let's just talk about that later, okay? I have…a battle thing, whatever, to do."

"Right! I'm sorry for bothering you, Tenth!"

Tsuna grimaced. Yeah, he was going to have to fix that after this mess. When Gokudera settled down on the bleachers and Yamamoto took his spot at the referee position, Tsuna stood awkwardly at the other side of the field with his Pokémon by his feet and Ace in his hair. Bacchus yawned.

Asari threw a PokéBall in the air. "Shelly, let's go!"

A Shellder dove into the water, a darting purple shell in the water, before leaping out and giving Tsuna a smile. "Shellder!"

"Um, yeah, hi," Tsuna said.

Mira stepped forward when Shellder swam back to the other side. "Squirtle."

"Oh, yeah, you can go…" Crap, Tsuna had no idea what he was doing. His Pokémon battled for him and he was still working out the kinks of Pokémon battling. He was screwed, so screwed.

"Cleffa, Cleffa!" Fairy had procured red pom-poms out of nowhere and was chanting up a storm on the railing. He twirled in the air. "Cleffa!"

Tsuna gulped. "Um, hopefully no skulls are going to be crushed."

"You seem to have a good camaraderie with your Pokémon," Asari said when Mira dove swiftly in the water. "Shelly, use Tackle!"

Mira dove deeper into the pool to dodge Shelly and swiftly turned around with Water Gun ready. Shelly squealed as she was shot out of the water and slammed into the ceiling. Tsuna nearly tore his hair out. "Mira, that was too much! Bacchus, catch her!"

"Bulb."

"Use your vine whips, you lazy dumbo!"

With a sigh, Bacchus did what Tsuna ordered, caught Shelly with his vine whips, and almost tossed her to the side. Grinning, Yamamoto raised his left arm. "Shelly's out. Tsuna wins the first round!"

Asari nodded gratefully when he returned Shelly to her PokéBall. "Admirable work, my friend. Rest easy now."

Tsuna jumped when Mira patted his platform. "Squirtle, Squirt!"

"Oh, um, yeah, you can keep going. But please don't be too…rough?"

"I suppose it was a bit premature to send Shelly out," Asari said, taking out another PokéBall. "She's not that experienced with battling yet."

Tsuna widened his eyes. "And you just sent her out?"

Asari smiled pleasantly. "Most of the Pokémon here are show-performers. Well, except for my own team; but you don't want to battle them. You're not ready." He threw the PokéBall in the air. "Shuri, go!"

A Staryu spun into the water. Retreating inside her shell, Mira sped towards Shuri to strike her down but Asari was quicker. "Harden!"

Shuri immediately tensed, flashing white, and took Mira's attack straight-on without a twitch. Tsuna gasped. "Mira!" Coming out of her shell, Mira shook her head, a bit confused. "Are you okay?"

"Shuri, use Swift!" Asari said.

Glowing, yellow star-shaped rays shot out of Shuri's red core. Mira tried to swim away but the attack landed without fail, creating a small explosion underneath the water. Tsuna knelt down at the edge of his podium, his eyes wide. "Mira!"

He fell back when Shuri suddenly leapt out of the water in a dazzle of beautiful spray. "Star!"

Dante glared. "Charmander!"

"No, you're not going in there!" Tsuna said, taking out Mira's PokéBall. After making sure Mira returned, he stood up.

"Don't worry, Tenth!" Gokudera said. "You can send out another Pokémon!"

Okay, Tsuna was incompetent, not dumb. Wait, which was worse?

"Mira's out!" Yamamoto said, raising his right hand. "Asari wins!"

"Swift never misses its target," Asari said. "Your Mira wouldn't have been able to avoid it either way."

Before Tsuna could tell Asari to just shut it, a sound from his belt made him blink. Bastion waded in the waters. "Karp, Magikarp."

Oh, you gotta be kidding me, Tsuna thought.

"Um, Bastion, I didn't call y—"

"Magikarp."

"I mean, you don't really do al—"

"Karp, Karp."

"You have a plan?"

"Karp."

Tsuna sighed. "I still don't think you should go in."

"Are you ready, Tsunayoshi?" Asari said. "You seem like you are. Shuri, use Swift!"

"Wait!"

Shuri released another stream of star-shaped rays at Bastion. Tsuna inhaled sharply. "Bastion, move, dodge, get out of the way, something!"

He yelped when a wave of water splashed against him. Bastion leapt in the air to an impressive height with Swift at his tail before diving forward at Shuri. "Karp!"

"Shuri, dodge!"

It was too late. Bastion plunged into the waters, right at Shuri, just as Swift created small explosions on impact. Tsuna gawked at the spot. Did Bastion just kamikaze himself? That was his genius plan?

A few tense seconds passed by until something re-surfaced. It was Shuri. Bastion joined her, also unconscious.

"Both Pokémon are out!" Yamamoto said. "And since Tsuna won the first round, he's the winner!"

Tsuna could only stare in dumb awe as his Pokémon, Gokudera, and Fairy cheered. Bacchus helped Bastion out of the water with his vine whips and held him up like he was a God. He didn't hear Asari's congratulations or Gokudera's excited chatter, too much in a daze.

He left Cerulean City the next day with the Cascade Badge and a set goal in mind. He was going to get better as a Trainer so his Pokémon didn't have to keep fighting for him. They were going to have to work on battling together. Yeah! That sounded like a good p—

Tsuna whirled around quickly. "What are you doing?"

With his traveling pack in tow, Yamamoto laughed. He wasn't even embarrassed, the jerk. "I'm just going to the next city!"

"On this path?" Gokudera said, scowling.

Yamamoto was unperturbed. "Who knew we were going to be on the same road! Funny, huh?"

A moment of silence passed. Tsuna finally sighed. "Fine. You can join us."

"Oh, really? Thanks!"

Three was already a crowd. And now, there was another one.

A/N A salute for Bastion.

Much love to my beta, nico~

Thank you for reading! I hope to see you again in the next chapter.

Have a lovely day~

Little Miss Bunny