For one, this coffee was amazing. I couldn't believe I had to spend four months without it! All those bags I bought and that instant coffee maker… They were all for nothing! I know training wasn't a luxury, but they could have told me before I did all that packing…

No matter, the coffee here in Goldenrod tasted ten times better than the one made out on the routes I went through! Seriously, I ended up having to dump all of it on Route 32 after I realized it just taking up precious space in my bag.

My name is Isidora, and I'm proud to say I am a Trainer with two legit Pokémon League Gym Badges, and four Pokémon on my side! I could just see Sebastian having a fit with jealousy seeing my Zephyr and Hive Badges. As well as those girls that just ogled at my darlings. I walked through the department store trying to find some cute outfits for them so I could go refreshed back home. I haven't told my family yet that I was back.

My four Pokémon were treading right beside me when I found the hat and scarf, and perfume aisle. Sure a certain member of my team was not fit to have a pretty hat, but the other three were. They trotted around in the aisle, trying on different things. We had a perfect ratio of two girls and two boys in my team, and I was pleased at how strong they were! Later on in the week I was going to challenge Whitney, and beat her down!

I found Jiggly with a classy white scarf and a cute strawberry colored hat on. She was extremely amazing looking. Astounding, even! She had to be, of course, to beat Violet City's Falkner. His birds were just no match for us. Bugsy of Azalea was tougher than him, but with Toby's support, we won there too.

Toby the Togepi was with my new Eevee. Getting his egg to hatch was a product of very hard work, and the incident in Violet City left me depressed for days. But then my little Spike Ball Pokémon came into my life, and I decided to leave behind the bad parts of Violet. I wasn't sure if leaving Julie with her Marill like that was the best course of action, though. Maybe it was for the best, but I knew I couldn't face her. Heck, I couldn't face myself after that episode.

I sighed, trying to remove the thoughts from my mind.

I saw my Eevee looking bored, so I returned him to his Pokéball. When he evolves, he's going to be just awesome. So I can let slide his behavior right now. He'd come appreciate fashion, eventually. I giggled to myself. He ended up making me lose a small fortune in the Daycare, but he was well worth it!

That said; I did need to a name for him.

I looked over to my last Pokémon, and my… not best looking one. Bella the Glooms stood there, by the perfumes, getting whiff of the different odors. No one else would try to get near her, including me. What I wanted was to evolve her and fast. I didn't walk over but I shouted at her. She did have good taste in perfume, everything aside.

"Hey Bella, rather than masking that smell, let's try to get it off permanently and evolve!" I yelled to her. She jumped up noticing my yelling, and got pumped herself up after a bit. The determined Pokémon cried "Gloom!" once before the whole floor reeked in Gloom stench when we were all asked to leave. I forgot that she releases the most horrid scents in the universe when she becomes excited.

"And things were so much nicer when she was an Oddish…" I said to no one in particular on my way out. Getting Toby to behave with Jiggly was easy. Getting a name for Eevee would be easy too.

But Bella's scent would take sweat, blood, and tears to fix. I wondered to myself if I'd ever be able to hold her again without a clothespin attached to my nose.

I decided to finally go back home at this point, where I watched Sebastian spit out his lemonade when I showed him my Badges.

"Success." I thought.

The trip back to Goldenrod City was much more pleasant and less just solitary walking with Mars this time around. I mean, I love Mars. But things were much more fun with Ivan and Adonis now. With that, I ended up discovering new things about my Ecruteak troopers while out on the road.

Ivan somehow loves the taste of Apricorn.

Adonis unsurprisingly hates the taste of Apricorn.

Ivan stays up much longer than everyone.

Adonis falls asleep much earlier than Mars and I.

Ivan is the last one to get ready for the road, yawning and blowing bubbles the whole time.

Adonis is the first one to wake up, and wakes everyone up using Karate Chop.

Then we all spend a good half hour of wrestling. That's pretty much how our two days went when traveling through Route 37, heading south to Route 36, and eventually reaching Goldenrod. I felt like I could start taking on Adonis a little more, but the Machop still was too much to handle. This was good however, because he was getting stronger too. There were more trainers now than when I first went through here. Although I had some loses, for the most part, I left the routes with more than twice the money that I started with. The trainers and their Pokémon weren't too interesting either. I did though find out I had a fear of Spinarak. We found a bunch of them huddled together near my bag that morning. I didn't think I was scared of them a month ago though. They all swarmed up against us, and almost poisoned Ivan with Poison Sting! Funnily enough, I remember passing some on our way to Ecruteak, and I wasn't exactly scared.

So I wondered why I suddenly screamed when I found the leader, an Ariados, out and. It took both Adonis and Mars to subdue it, sure, but… I still felt uneasy.

It ended up not being just a fear of spider Pokémon. Nope.

We stumbled across a tree of Metapod. Even when they weren't moving, I felt unnerved enough to start running. I ran from a Pineco was jumping around the path as well.

Hell, I almost ran behind Ivan to protect me from a Caterpie.

I realized soon after that I had a fear of Bug Pokémon. And I'm not sure where it came from. I felt silly. Weren't only girls allowed to be afraid of them?

We didn't meet any Ghost or Psychic Pokémon or Trainers that used them out on the road.

I didn't run into anyone like the Blind Psychic, for example. Which was good, I guess.

I told Isidora that I wouldn't leave Ecruteak without obtaining the Fog Badge, and that's exactly what I did. Of course, I wanted another round of coffee spitting around the kitchen table. Therefore, I made sure to sound extremely upset when I called them before leaving the Pokémon Center in Ecruteak, to make them think I had just given up. It was going to be great. I chuckled at my new master plan.

I wondered how Adonis and Ivan would behave with the folks at home. I guess Ivan would be adored by Isidora and Mom, while Adonis would have more fun with Dad.

"They're both troublemakers, though." I thought, later shrugging it off.

When we arrived at the gates of National Park, we decided to stick around for an hour before heading back to home. After all, Route 35 was still considerably long, and we deserved rest. Mars and I were taking a break on the bench. We already knew the area, and not much changed from that early morning to today's early afternoon. But Adonis loved getting into fights in the tall grass while Ivan played around in the fountain. We were all honestly having a great time.

That was until we were horribly interrupted.

"Hey, isn't that Sebastian?" I heard a boy from far away call. And the voice was familiar. I looked over, and the whole group of boys was on their way over here.

"Haha that really is him." I heard another one laugh. I heard some choking up a second later, though.

"Wait, hold one a sec. I-Is that a Hitmonchan with him?"

"No way!"

"N-No, it can't be, could it?"

The mumbles and whispers in the group continued, but their feet did not. They stopped completely, while I saw some gazes at us here and there. By now, Adonis and Ivan saw the commotion, and walked over to me, prompting more tension. I got annoyed at this point, so I decided to walk past them with my Pokémon and leave. How could they just disturb us like that? Some of the boys shook while the three Pokémon passed them, I noticed. It was pathetic.

"Did I really cry everyday over these guys?" I asked Mars, loudly and putting my hands behind my head while I walked. It wasn't for them to hear, but more for Mars to give me a more emphasized shrug for a response. It did end up attracting their attention though, and that's when they started to act. Well, by acting, they just went and stood behind their leader.

Charles. His Snubbull, Bumbles as I knew him as, was right next to him.

"H-Hey, Sebastian! You can't just walk away!"

This kid and his Snubbull were the bane of Mars and me. This kid was just the worst. Was it payback time? I remembered the 'revenge' entry in my journal before I left Goldenrod. I could try to ignore and just leave them be, but my ego ended up forcing me to turn around. It took me a second for my plan of attack. This way I could make it look like self-defense, right?

"Sorry, I don't really talk much to kids who don't have any badges, Charles. I got kinda bored of always getting the kick off the curb." I added a sneer at the end. And he started to take the bait. Adonis gave them a yawn.

"I-I'll have you know that I beat Whitney all by myself! Don't think you're a hotshot just because you got a Badge too!" He yelled. The rest of his posse relaxed a little. I shrugged. I heard Mars giggle.

"Seriously? Just one badge? You don't think I left for almost two weeks on a picnic to Violet City where the newbies go battle Falkner, do you? Go on; ask my Fog Badge how it got there. Whitney was tough, sure, but I got hers. I'd try taking on Morty before talking, though. " I taunted further. Ivan blew a few bubbles in boredom.

And the taunting worked.

"Fog Badge!" I heard a chorus of boys say. I guess that's when they decided to take out their Pokéballs.

Soon I faced against a bunch of riled up boys that were more less my age. Around ten Pokémon of varying species and types were summoned, and they were all getting ready to attack us. I remembered that last time we fought them, Mars was a Tyrogue. I sighed to myself, but then I smiled.

"I didn't realize for how long I wanted to do this." I replied to the small army, who started glaring. I grinned to Mars, who gave me a wink before getting into ready position. Adonis and Ivan got themselves up and ready too. Ivan blew a few more bubbles, while Adonis swung his arms; stretching.

The boys first commanded the attacks, while I responded, giving orders.

The bunch of a few Ratatta, a couple Spearow, Caterpie (oh the horror), Nidoran, and of course Sentret and Snubbull we defeated in record time. No saving grace. Mach Punch, Low Kick, and the array of Water Gun ended the scuffle fast.

But I wasn't going to end it there. No, if I was going to take revenge, I'd be doing a full course meal.

"Ivan, please use Hypnosis." I called to Ivan, who came back from slapping a Caterpie into submission.

"Wag!" He gave me an adorable smile. The adorableness that masked the scary, demon like Pokémon inside, I thought.

He faced the boys, and did the same thing he used to do to us. He started chasing them around while letting his spiral swirl over and over. A few of the boys went to sleep fast, but a couple other began running once they realized what was going on. Adonis, Mars, and I were busy laughing by now. And Ivan still wouldn't give up.

He chased all the boys until all of them were on the ground sound asleep. I had one last thing to do, though. I called over Mars and Adonis to help me drag the boys and their fainted Pokémon near the fountain. Adonis was upset we didn't actually dump them into the fountain, but whatever. When that was done and over with, I took out my Pokégear.

I took a total of twenty-four pictures. Group shots, individual, even a few pictures of me sitting next to them were taken. Yup, twenty-four pictures of me and sleeping trainers with their fainted Pokémon.

I think I just filled my revenge quota for a lifetime. I was viewing them when I was stopped by my victory trophies. There was a Pokéball in the hand of the boy that used the Sentret. I wondered if Ivan didn't give him enough of a chance to send it out. Not that it mattered, since we would have won anyway. My thought process was interrupted.

"Excuse me. What are you doing? D-Did you do all this to these boys!" I heard a voice call out. And that voice was pissed and repulsed. I turned around to find a boy around my age standing behind me. He had short blond hair, green eyes, and a nasty scowl on his face was staring at into my eyes. I was suddenly ready to beg for my life and cry.

He was my age and slightly shorter, so why was I scared of him? Most people would assume I'm being a pansy right now. So why was I scared exactly?

It was because he was in a police uniform. The blue really turned from my favorite color to more intimidating than I ever thought. He wore a cap said "GPD" on it, standing for Goldenrod Police Department, I thought. I felt a cooling breeze drape over. After a minute of silence, I managed to let something out.

"U-um Officer, this isn't what it looks…" I glanced over to the unconscious boys with their Pokémon by the fountain before letting out a light and not very convincing "like" to finish my sentence. He looked at me accusingly again.

"You know, I am very strict against bullying in this area. And this is very much worse than that, Trainer." He told me with an icy cold voice. I sweated thousands of bullets at every word. The way he said "Trainer" sent another shiver down my spine. I was more afraid of this Officer than Morty's Ghosts! Though, I think I would prefer the Officer to a giant Ariados if anything…

I stayed silent. Life wasn't being very fair to me right now. Wait, I've seen this on my favorite crime show. The bullied becomes the bully and gets reprimanded. Was that me? Great, just great. I was about to say something to weakly defend me, but the Officer spoke first.

"I'm going to have to take you to the station." He said, taking out a Pokéball. He released to send out a Growlithe. This Fire type was the standard unit that all policemen had on them. He took a bit, trying to remember the protocol that needed to be followed.

"Alright so, please return your Pokémon to not a cause a sce-"

"Hey, what are you doing to my brother?" I heard a girl yell, stomping her way over here.

National Park was a recurring cycle of me getting into trouble, and Isidora saving me.

"And then I had to tell the police guy about that gang that always banged on him, and then he left without any more problems!" Isidora told my parents. I sighed while on the couch, while Mars was eating some sandwiches with Adonis that Mom made. Ivan was exploring our home by himself.

"Have they really treated you that poorly before, Sebastian?" asked Dad. Like hell I'd tell them much about it. So instead, I just shrugged. I gave the look to tell them to drop the subject, which they ended up doing. Mom's face did light up, remembering something.

"Sebastian, I forgot to tell you. There have been a few petty crimes around the city lately after you left." Mom said. "Because of that, they've installed more officers here. Try to not make enemies with them, alright? I guess that's why that officer was really fixed on taking you in." she cautioned me. Dad nodded his head in agreement.

"There's been a gang stirring up trouble, and I don't want them to think that my son is part of it." He reassured. I wondered if I could have a sandwich.

"Okay, then. I'll try to stay out of trouble." I said. I wasn't sure if it was a promise, since I knew that my team and I could take care of ourselves.

No coffee was spat out when I showed them my Fog Badge. Sure a few surprised looks, but nothing that needed to be cleaned up.

"… What, no one's going to at least pretend to throw a party?" I asked.

"Not a chance, Blackbelt. We won't buy into that whole acting dreary thing to fool us!" Isidora retorted. I felt my face get a little red. And she noticed. "Oh, are you a little embarrassed about it? How cute!" she mocked. My embarrassed I heard my parents giggling.

So then I challenge her attitude.

"Isidora, let's battle!" I announced, getting up from the couch. Ivan found his way over to me. Dad got a surprised look on his face, while Mom looked with my Pokémon to see Isidora's reaction.

She had the most surprised look on her face. Completely in shock. I wondered for a second if her face was going to stay like that forever. Even I got a little uncomfortable.

"I don't b-battle anymore, Sebastian. You should know that…" she said softly. The sound in her voice left her vulnerable to nitpicking. I didn't let up, though. If she was going to tease me, she better have something to back it up with.

"Aww, come on sis, don't act so weak! Everyone knows how strong you are compared to me. You should have no problem, right?" decided to press her a little further. I don't know what came over me then. Suddenly, I just wanted to have a battle with her.

"I'm not going to battle you. In fact, I don't want to battle ever again! Not you, Chuck, or even Champion Lance for all I care!" she hit a high note when saying the last sentence. I dropped my mouth at that point while my parents tried getting a grasp on what just happened. She noticed us. "I'm sorry, but I'll excuse myself." She said before walking back to her room.

"What's up with her?" I asked my parents. My dad just shrugged.

I wondered what got her so mad.

The next day, we explored Goldenrod as a quartet for the first time. Every time Adonis and Ivan found interest in a store or something, Mars would explain to them in Pokémon speak. We walked around looking for battles. I wanted to stay in Goldenrod for maybe another day or two before leaving. I'd be leaving to Violet, probably. Loop around to Azalea back here after. I guess it was the best course of plan, though I'd have four Badges when I'm done. It's a better plan to go get the easier Badge first, since it was closer anyway.

Okay fine, Azalea was close too, but I did not want to go through a forest that was filled with Bug Pokémon just to fight a Bug type Gym.

It came across my mind then that I'd be getting a disadvantage at the Violet City Gym, and it wouldn't be so easy getting hard hits on Bugs in Azalea.

I saw my three Pokémon chatting along, and decided ignore that thought. After all, after Morty's Gym, I felt that we were up for anything!

We went to the Department Store to buy some supplies. I mean, if we got stocked up now, I wouldn't have to worry about it for later, right?

Of course, the thought of my Pokémon behaving took place a bit after.

We bought our fair share of Potions, Revives, some mail (my parents told me to write those postcards to them from time to time), Escape Rope, and some Repels to keep away weak Pokémon. And let's not leave out Pokémon food and water. I did learn something out on the road. Ivan enjoyed Apricorn, and they were free, and filled him up right away. I looked at some of the TMs they had for sale, but none of my Pokémon would really benefit. I saw Headbutt, but I thought about Ivan or Mars using it on a tree, only for a swarm of Beedrill to come out. I made sure to put it down after that mental image. We took a break at the rooftop after our shopping was done.

I took out two packed sandwiches for Mars and Adonis, while giving a blue Apricorn for Ivan.

It was the first time that the three of us ate out like this. We couldn't wrestle without being kicked out, nor could we just fool around playing games. Even so, we stayed pretty happy. It was our first day of pure relaxation in a long while. Now I was starting to feel attached to my Pokémon. The way that Adonis would do something stupid for me and Mars to scold him, the way that Mars stole Adonis' water bottle before getting into a short scuffle, while Ivan just stood there and laughed along, I felt like we were becoming a family here.

I sipped at my lemonade before getting everyone's trash as they left to explore a little. Even though they were all super strong fighters (and tadpole…thing), they did act like children. At least they didn't leave behind trash behind out on the road. There were multiple people doing just what we were doing, lounging around, either with other people or their Pokémon. Ivan stayed by me though.

I spit out my lemonade when I heard people complaining over "A damned Machop stirring up trouble". I quickly turned around to see Adonis, holding a purse, running for the stairs. Soon enough, I started running with Ivan for the same set of stairs while catching up with Mars, who caught wind of the incident a bit later than us.

We kept running down set of stair after set of stair while running into hordes of people just doing their shopping. Adonis didn't stop at all though, even though I tried yelling for him. I didn't know exactly why he was carrying a purse, but I seriously hoped that Adonis didn't just grab a purse and ran. There wasn't anyone running behind us I thought, so why would he have?

I remembered the TM guy in Ecruteak. Adonis' made up a plan that involved stealing the TM, and I completely gave into that. I even ended up becoming an accomplice. Maybe Adonis thought it was okay for him to steal. I… I just didn't know what to do. So I kept running.

We got to the second to last floor before I found Adonis and another Pokémon.

A Growlithe had Adonis pinned down on the floor, purse still in hand, while I slowed down, a whole crowd watching us. I didn't know what to do before, but now I wanted to call Ivan to use Water Gun, grab Adonis, and just run for it, but I knew it wouldn't have ended as smoothly like in Ecruteak.

I was then put in cuffs from behind. I think I died a little inside. I was going to be locked up forever now, and there was a whole damn crowd to watch.

"Alright, now I got you, Sebastian Eastwood! You're under arrest for public theft. Your Pokémon is your responsibility, Trainer." I didn't recognize the voice until I heard the 'Trainer' remark. I turned around to find my Police Officer boy from yesterday. While I didn't know how he found out my name, he had a widened grin on his face, full of accomplishment.

I of course was terrified that I broke down crying. I sniffled and whimpered like a kicked Growlithe. Not my proudest moment in life. Not at all. I looked over at my Pokémon.

Mars looked shocked, and scared. Although he tried to keep a strong front by getting into ready position. I didn't understand why though, since we weren't in a battle or anything. Ivan looked confused. He then blew an awkward bubble. It floated to the Officer's side before it popped. He flinched slightly, loosening his grip. Still, I couldn't bring myself to break free. Adonis was still struggling underneath the Growlithe, who kept him under pressure. I looked back at the Officer, and he looked slightly uncomfortable.

Mind you, I was still crying like a baby.

By now a full crowd had taken place to view my public humiliation. I just wanted to sit in the corner and die. It was just that horrible! I furthermore clenched my eyes shut while biting at my lip to stop my sobbing. I tasted some blood after a while.

It was then when I saw a Growlithe fly across the room into the crowd of bystanders. Then I saw the same group split when Adonis came charging through.

"A-Ad-Ado-dis hood ohn" I tried calling him in between sobs. At this point, I broke free from my keeper, and ran for the set of stairs Adonis went through. Surprisingly, I didn't fall down. I saw Mars and Ivan go right behind me, while I head the Officer yelling my name.

I entered the first floor of the Department Store. Apparently, the commotion didn't get down here yet. So I guess why everyone stopped to see the boy with a burning red face, tears down his face, and sobbing. Soon after Ivan and Mars caught up with me; still looking for Adonis. A second after the Police Officer with his Growlithe showed up. I made no attempt to get free when he grabbed on to me again.

"H-Hold still! You're not getting away, Growlithe look for the Machop!" he ordered sternly. The Fire type soon ran after him.

"Geez, you're such a tough guy to catch! What a pai-"

"Oh, did you find this! Thank you! What a sweet Pokémon!" I heard a voice say. In fact the voice was both familiar and powerful. Powerful in the sense that it completely cut off the Officer. I heard Machop speak and point a little, while the Growlithe whined a little. Then I saw the woman who thanked Adonis come by. The pink hair was enough to see who it was.

"W-Whitney…" I mumbled. I wasn't sobbing like crazy, but I was having difficulties talking. The Officer tensed up.

"Oh, you're the challenger from almost a month ago! How are… you?" she was cheery until she saw my beating face. I felt the Officer's grip tighten again.

"T-This Pokémon Trainer's Machop was caught running around disturbing shoppers while carrying a purse. It was assumed that it was just stolen." He stuttered a bit, but kept strong.

"Oh, it that what all this was about? Really? Seriously? That's my purse. I left it behind on the rooftop during my lunch break, and I just remembered that I forgot it when I got to the Gym! A Pokémon tried doing a good deed by returning it, and this is how we treat them and their Trainers?" She scolded the young Officer.

I couldn't stop but laughing. Hard and loud. It was just something I was compelled to do during the events of today.

This was just ridiculous.

I arrived home later that day after Whitney forced the Officer to apologize over and over for causing a scene. When she finally let him go, I looked like he was about to cry! Of course, I cleaned myself up in the Department Store so I didn't look like such a mess. I returned my Pokémon right away, though. This was enough excitement for them for the day. In the end, I kinda wished we were on the road.

The day was nearing to an end, but when I opened the door home, I was met with a Corsola tackle. I was knocked down to the floor, and I had to quickly remove Lola the Corsola off of me.

"Sis! What was that for?" I yelled. I just wanted to go sleep now. Why did this have to happen now? Isidora came to the door.

"I thought about it. Really, really hard. Quality thoughts, you know."

"And that would be…?"

"We battle at dawn tomorrow."

"Wait, what?"

"You heard me. And I decided something else, too."

"And that…is?

"If I win, you have to run me some errands."

Everything aside from that stalker Officer, revenge, and the Department Store episode, my second to last day in Goldenrod began its end.

And there's that way overdue chapter done. I started the week after Christmas, but I just couldn't get it look right. This was the best that I could do in the end. Some more insight to Isidora and and a brand new character here, while revealing Sebastian's new fear of Bug types (whose cause we know, but will be put out there for those who forgot)! Anyway, next chapter concludes this set of Goldenrod chapters, but after you've gone down and over from Violet to Azalea, guess where we're heading back to! R/C would be amazing, just like always. If the next chapter is not out next Sunday, I promise to take off the Updates Sunday, but I'll still work to get them out as soon as possible! Please bear with me, kind reader!