After a few days of rest the team collectively decided that we were ready to hit the road again and so... we did exactly that! Re-venturing through route 218 brought nothing of interest but I did purchase a poketch in Jubilife. After spending another day in the city we headed north, where we helped the professor and Dawn fend off some Galactic Grunt's. She... her treatment of me remained the same. At the time I thought she was just being rude but... she had a very good reason to hate me as I'd learn later on.

During my treck towards Floaroma Town I met, battled, and won against Paul, whom was surprisingly nice. Still feels weird writing that... After battling against some more trainers and learning a few new moves our team had made it to the Town surrounded by flowers.

I remember us having a picnic the first day we got there, and in the process helped prevent a group of Starly from attacking another rival group. That was a nice day... After being there for a few days we had planned on leaving but as we were crossing into route 205 an explosion in the valley windworks caught our attention.

With Turtwig and Chatot by my side we wound up battling against an entire building of Galactic grunt's, only to find that one of their admins, Mars, defeated and unconscious. I remember being shocked when I noticed Annabel, she... in this world she had joined up with the international police and went by the codename Amber, which I'll use for future reference since she'll come up later in a big way. After introducing myself she actually scolded me for being there, saying that it was dangerous! If only she knew...

Anyways, after her little rant I opted to leave the capturing and questioning of the grunts to Amber and the police, since it's not like I didn't know what they were planning on doing... After healing up my team we spent another few days in the area surrounding Floroama Town, even managing to find a Buizel! It was a tough fight, with him knocking out Turtwig and it coming down to the wire with Chatot but I eventually caught him. He... well to be honest he was very similar to my other Buizel, with both sharing a love for battle and a knack for using combinations.

Route 205 was largely uneventful, besides getting aquatinted with our newest team member but Eterna Forest..? Very eventful.

Upon entering the forest we were immediately bombarded by a hoard of Beedrill, causing us to have to blindly run into the forest... not my best idea ever. I had actually gotten poisoned during our escape so, after making sure that they had lost us, I nearly passed out from exhaustion and pain. Since I was too weak to call upon Celebi the team wàs on their own and most of the them didn't know what to do but Turtwig, bring who he was, took charge. For the next few days he kept the group calm and got us hidden behind inside of an abandoned mansion, where I was able to rest while they foraged for food and water. I couldn't have been prouder of him...

As we were finally getting ready to leave the mansion a fridge nearly flattened us. With wide eyes the entire team went on guard, looking for whatever had tried attacking us... Nearly four hours later I left the forest with a well worn out team and a mischievous Rotom who didn't even attempt to act sorry. Yeah... though he never tried throwing a fridge at me again I did get hit by quite a few electronics before our journey was over but... that's just his way of showing his love.

After a few weeks of training the team decided that it was time to get our second gym badge...

After introductions were made the battle began with me sending out Buizel (yes I know, another stroke of brilliance) while Gardenia sent out her Roselia. The ensuing battle was quick, even with my strategies and odd tactics we didn't really stand a chance... Luckily Rotom managed to get a quick knockout on Roselia, bringing us back to an even playing field. For a solid few since her next pokemon, Leafeon, knocked out Rotom in one hit with crunch! That still pisses me off, and it's been five years! Anywho I finally sent in both ace and last pokemon, Chatot, who quickly knocked out Leafeon with a few wing attacks. Her last Pokemon was a fierce looking Turtwig. I... due to getting cocky we actually lost that battle and, by extension, match which we'd have to wait another two weeks before we could re-challenge her...

In that time team Galactic took over yet another building, resulting in my team once again defeating any and all grunts present, and, again we met another admin, this time going by Jupiter, and once again Amber was there first and had already dealt with her. She... seemed a little mad that I hadn't taken her advice on steering clear of team Galactic but she did thank me for helping so that was nice. Just like last time I left the catching of the criminals to the police but this time Amber, well she thought I didn't notice but she was indeed tailing me...

Since I didn't know what to expect of this world's version of her I led her back to my camp but stayed on guard, just in case... after preparing a meal for both myself and my Pokémon I eventually had to just call her name for her to get out of her hiding place, and I gotta admit it was nice seeing her flustered after getting caught. We chatted for a few minutes before she gave me her number, in case I found any more holdouts of Team Galactic...

Though let it be known I did not pass up on the chance to tease her and I regret nothing. Her face, absolutely priceless. Never knew someone could get that flustered...

After that specific incident another few days went by spent solely on training before we could finally re-challenge the grass type gym leader.

Said gym leader led with her Roselia while I, having learned absolutely nothing, once again led in with my Buizel! But unlike our previous match where Buizel had fainted out we actually managed to get a double knockout! With that stroke of good luck I sent out Rotom again while Gardenia sent out her Leafeon. Knowing full well of what would happen if rotom got too close I made sure to keep Rotom far away from Leafeon, where the plasma pokemon managed to slowly chip away at the eeveelution's health with a combination of shadow ball and shock wave. Knowing full well of what came next I returned Rotom as the both of us sent out our third Pokemon, Chatot and Turtwig respectively...

I remember both pokemon fighting brutally in this match, even by my standards. Though Turtwig eventually knocked Chatot out by that time the grass type could hardly stand. Rotom made quick work of him which meant that we had won! Another badge earned and I couldn't have been happier, especially when Gardenia nearly fainted upon learning my age, since apparently it takes trainers at least a year to get to her...

After the battle the team spent the rest of the day either healing with Nurse Joy or relaxing in the room we had rented out... it was a return to calm after the day's events but back then the only thing that kept me calm was staring at my forest badge and having my Pokémon nearby. I needed distractions... I suppose I was still loathing in my own guilt.

I... it took a long time to accept that I couldn't ever go back.

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