In the words of the immortal Shinigami-sama from Soul Eater (that's Lord Death for those of you who watch the dubs), Hi, hi, hello! Thank you for coming! Seriously, thank you for coming. Now I know I usually don't get chapters up on a set schedule. Over the summer it was because I was on vacation and, honestly, I just felt like being lazy. Now I have a completely legitimate reason:

Advanced Placement United States History. Also known as the dreaded acronym APUSH.

That class will rip your soul from your body, chew it up and spit it right back into you. IT'S SO TIME CONSUMING! Seriously, I've been up until 2 AM my time just trying to finish the friggin' notes they make us do out of the textbook! All y'all AP students know what's up! This shit is riDONculous! Aaaanyway… Enough with my ranting. On with the show!

SIDE NOTE: I just wanted to thank all of you who read and/or review Challenger. It is a real treat for me and it makes me want to keep on going and writing this story and making it better for you. If there's anything you'd like to see done in-story or modified in my writing, PM me or leave it in a review. Special thanks for Shadow Minamoto and alteris. Dudes are two dedicated readers. More special thanks to Lolli-S whom I mentioned a few chapters back and RARAvary AKA Ray El Rojo Amigo AKA PkMn Trainer Ray AKA GingerMan! for their OC submissions. One of which is gonna show up pretty soon…

"Well, so long, Mélange Town. It was real fun and I'll see ya when I see ya." Grey said his farewells to the second of his Gym Town conquests, his charmeleon faithfully at his side. He turned confidently and with a deep breath of fresh air to take in what lay before him: a seemingly endless expanse of waist-high plains land and the Cloud River to the east, all brilliantly illuminated by the midmorning sun. Kory had told the group that Springbloom City lay far to the southeast of Almond Town which was west of where they were now. So, naturally, Almond Town was their next destination.

"Were the dramatics really necessary, dude?" James asked through a stifled yawn. Atop his head, Shishi shifted so as not to have James's ear pass through him. "You didn't have to say goodbye to the town. It can't say it back." Sniper heaved a sigh from behind James.

Here we go again, he said dejectedly. Why don't those two just get along?

Are Jim-Jim and Grey fighting again, Vulpix? Mudkip asked, his childlike naiveté doing little to alleviate the growing tension. He cocked his head to the side and one of his gills poked Rachel's chest.

Unfortunately, yes, Mudkip, Vulpix muttered. Immaturity was one of her greatest pet peeves. She was already swamped and stressed enough with her role as the pokémon's unofficial team matron. Between Grey and Rachel's sibling rivalry and the former and James's unexplained friction, her nerves were being worn hair-strand thin.

"Oh, shut up, Rhodes. I'm not in the mood," Grey spat. 10 AM was much too early in Grey's mind for a fight to start and Jameson had been pointedly cold towards the spectacled boy whenever his sibling feud reared its head. As to the reason why, Grey had no earthly clue. It was none of James's business to start with so he couldn't fathom why James would be mad.

"Char leon!" Soul grunted in agreement.

"Guuuys!" June wailed. "You promised no fighting, remember?" The two boys were reminded of their promise to June back in Mélange Town. Needless to say, they quickly stopped their quarrel before it had a chance to grow. June gave a soft giggle and smiled.

"Thank you," she said sweetly. On her shoulders, Rosewood heaved a sigh of relief.

"When'd they promise anything?" Rachel asked in a low mumble.

"Nunya," Grey said with a simple shrug. He adjusted the goggles on his head and asked which route they'd be taking to Almond Town. James was the one to answer him after taking the map out of his bag

"It's a pretty straightforward path," James said, surveying the map. "We just keep going west. You can't miss it, either. Almond Town's a huge rural place." Grey groaned at 'rural'.

"Aww, seriously? Then who am I gonna fight there? It's gettin' kinda boring goin' up against you all the time, Jimmy."

Speak for yourself. Luna's got a new bag o' tricks every time I fight 'er… Soul grumbled in his new deeper voice. He actually had to remind himself that the voice was his and not the voice of a stranger. Evolution was a strange and wondrous process, the young fire lizard had surmised.

"The good news is, we will be spared walking the entire way to Almond Town," June explained.

"Really?" Grey asked, intrigued. "Why's that?"

"About ten or so miles from here, there is a riverboat docking station. It is primarily used for trading purposes but it does offer passage for trainers at a reasonable price."

Thank Arceus, Rosewood said with her typical dramatic sigh. I would've hated walking all the way to the next town.

What the hell're you talkin' about? Soul challenged incredulously. Me 'n Sylva and the rest have to walk; you're riding your trainer's shoulders. Damn priss… Rosewood's response was a haughty scoff and upturn of her nose.

Without another word, the trainers started on their way. Sylva stuck close to June as usual and Rhea took up residence in her arms; Strabi appeared and, because Soul was now too big for the role, took up the mantle of Grey's newest head pet. Soul looked up at Strabi and frowned. That was another thing the charmeleon would miss - riding on Grey's shoulder.

Luna was to stay inside her ball because James felt it was too early in the day to try and reign her in and Heracross came out of his ball on his own, leisurely hoisting his trainer onto his shoulders.

"Ra cross," he hissed pleasantly.

"Thank you, Heracross," Rachel said with a grateful smile. James, noting that someone was missing, looked around and turned to her, asking,

"You're not going to let Lucy out?" The totally innocuous question raised a negative reaction in Rachel. That was all the answer James needed. He sighed in exasperation and forsook the question, instead opting to walk in silence.

"Lucy," she whispered. Her brother's first capture. Was he seriously just giving the buizel to her because of the reason he stated or was it because she was too weak for him to keep around?

"Am I honestly thinking this?" she berated herself. She shook the thought out of her head. Ridiculous. Grey was never that heartless, no matter what the circumstances were.

"I really don't wanna do this, Darry." Terry heaved a heavy sigh and leaned over the door of the jeep. The wind rushed past his hands and face at a thousand miles a second, disrupting his thoughts and further adding to his restlessness and unease.

"I know what you mean," Darrel sympathized. "Sonia was one of our best agents and she might have ditched us but do we really have to drag her back just to be punished?"

"Bah! You idjit, that's not what I meant!" Terry shouted. Darry blinked in confusion and raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"Then what did you mean?" he asked.

"The kid; the kid! The one with the charmander! We were told to friggin' kill 'im! I can't kill a kid… I can barely hurt a fly…" Another sigh twice as mammoth as its forerunner escaped his mouth.

"Then you're in the wrong profession. And stop sighing; you'll catch flies," Darry admonished.

"Who're you, my mother? And where're we goin', anyway? This don't look like the way to Springbloom," Terry pointed out.

"It totally is," said Darry. In a futile attempt to defend himself, he added, "We're just… Taking a detour is all!" Terry gave him the deadest of deadpan looks but said nothing. His friend never was good at directions without a map. Too bad he vehemently refused to use them out of pride.

At that moment, their jeep had just emerged from the ever-verdant confines of the Mélange Woods. The sudden change in light was painful to their eyes but the two quickly adjusted to it in time to see a Gastly flying in the same direction as their jeep. Its path was curvy and erratic as if the Gas Pokémon were drunk. As it flew, it left a purple ribbon of poisonous vapors snaking in its wake.

"Darry, I'm pretty sure we just drove through Mélange Woods. What the hell're you plannin'?" Terry asked suspiciously. Darry sighed and slowed the car to a halt.

"Okay," he conceded, "I admit we're lost… But we're not totally helpless!" He pointed to the blackish-purple dot that was the Gastly in the sky. "That thing's gotta belong to a trainer, right? We follow it and get directions!"

"If we'd've done that before, we wouldn't be in this mess, Darry. Jeez, sometimes yer so stubborn," chided Terry. The triumphant grin was wiped off Darry's face and was just as quickly replaced with a frown and creased brow.

"I told you I don't need directions!" he proudly objected. He started the car again and took off after the Gastly.

"Then why'd you just suggest we get some?" Terry asked with a devious, victorious smile. Darry grumbled something under his breath but did not retort. He had enough sense to know when he'd lost.

They followed the drunken Gastly for three more miles until they finally happened upon a dilapidated old-fashioned house smack dab in the middle of a crossroads. The Gastly, being a Ghost-type, phased through the walls of the house with a raspy bone chilling laugh. It was as if it was daring the two humans that'd followed him to enter the house.

Terry was getting some intensely bad vibes from the old construct let out his newly evolved Sandslash to bodyguard him. Despite having evolved, Sandslash was still a chicken and demonstrated it by fearfully curling up into a ball not one second after laying eyes on the house.

"Sandslash…" his trainer sighed in exasperation. Internally, he honestly couldn't blame his pokémon. The house's peeling paint, broken windows and ghostly flapping curtains didn't do anything to make it seem more inviting. The way it looked as if it were leaning ever-so-noticeably forward and coughing out ragged breaths of dust didn't help either.

"Darry, you sure someone lives in this place?" Terry asked his partner with uncertainty. "It looks kinda… Iunno, dead."

"Terry, you're being ridiculous," Darry retorted. He let out his Machoke while he spoke, drastically reducing the validity of his words. "It's just an old house."

"Yeah, an old house that looks like the scene of a murder or a horror flick or somethin'… If I die, I'm blamin' you," Terry announced. Darry scoffed and the two and their pokémon entered the house. Terry was on his guard while his Sandslash clung close to his leg. The man ignored the spikes digging into him and continued onward ready to run at a moment's notice. Machoke, confident that his new evolution would be enough to keep everyone safe, walked with a proud gait as he led the group. The ignorant Fighting-type was graciously spared the knowledge that he was being watched.

Eheheheheh! Banette, yo, Banette, check this out! Haunter tittered wildly from atop the stairs. More humans; more humans! The evolved Gas Pokémon's grin quickly faded. Awww… No girls! Banette slapped him across the face.

Ya pervert; don't go sayin' things like that! C'mon, let's take these two all for ourselves… Banette's eternal grin grew wider as she and Haunter made themselves invisible and stalked the two Regal grunts.

Darry took a look around the dimly lit living room trying to see if there were any signs of life in it. He noted a destroyed china cabinet in the corner that seemed to be missing a two-by-four as well as a giant hole in the center of the room. It was fairly obvious a battle had taken place here but between what, exactly?

"Hello?" Darry called out. "Is there anyone here? We're looking for directions!"

"Shh!" Terry hissed. "You're gonna wake it up!"

"Wake what up?" Darry asked, annoyed.

"…I dunno… But whatever it is, it can't be good."

"Okay, then tell me what you think it is," Darry challenged. He crossed his arms across his chest and tapped his foot impatiently, making a hollow and creaky sound on the maggot-eaten planks. Terry threw his arms up and let out a loud groan of,

"Ain't it obvious?" He pointed to several holes in the walls and ceiling equal in size to the one in the floor as well as the china cabinet's discarded two-by-four which was awkwardly impaling the couch. "There's somthin' big and scary as shit in this place and yer gonna wake it up!"

"Slash; sandslash!" the Mouse Pokémon nodded fearfully.

"Your yelling isn't helping much if there is something like that in here," Darry responded extra cynically. He crossed the room a few times before deciding there was nothing there and heading for the door to the right. One push from Machoke and the chipped door fell off its hinges and kicked up a cloud of dust when it landed.

"Choke?" The Superpower Pokémon put on a look of curiosity and picked up the door only to have it snap in half like a toothpick between his powerful fingers.

"See? There isn't anything here," Darry said gesturing to the empty kitchen. "It's just as musty and as empty as the rest of this place. Come on; there's obviously nothing and nobody here, so let's just -"

"Aaah!" came the combined terrified screams of Terry and Sandslash. Darry grit his teeth and growled.

"If you two are trying to scare me, it isn't going to work! Now come on and let's go -"

"BAAAAAAA!" The earsplitting shriek reached a volume and pitch that equated pure torture for Darry's ears and twice that much for Machoke's. Trainer and pokémon guarded their ears from the din enveloping the house and forced their eyes open. A banette floated in front of them, its normally zipped-closed mouth wide open and blasting out a Screech attack to put subwoofers to shame. It then closed its mouth and loosed a Charge Beam at Machoke that sent the muscle-bound warrior careening through the wall.

"Machoke!" Darry cried out.

"'Machoke' nothin'; get this thing away from me!" Terry shouted. He and Sandslash were being doggedly hunted around the living room by a particularly rambunctious Haunter throwing Shadow Punches at them.

"Hold on, buddy, I got your back!" Darry didn't get to take one step before Banette's grinning face overtook his field of vision. The zipper on her mouth moved to open. Banette's yellow eyes glowed an unearthly gold and Darry had but a second to stare into their evil depths before everything else was drowned out by Screech.

People are strange creatures, the man decided as he boarded the canopied riverboat bound for Almond Town. Walking around, day after day, doing the same things over and over again. Don't they ever get bored, he'd asked himself. Then again, he was guilty of that which he'd noticed, so he was being a bit of a hypocrite in thinking that way. As if that'd stop him from thinking it anyway. Hypocrite or not, he knew one thing: people needed someone to guide them.

He took a seat, dropped his bag, released a leafeon from her poké ball and stroked her when she took up residence in his lap. The man rested an elbow on the edge of the boat and put his hand in his palm. His eyes glazed over as he became immersed in his thoughts and his stroking of his leafeon continued subconsciously.. At this point, nothing else in the world even registered a blip on his mental radar. Not the sun warming his arm. Not the smell of the grasslands. Not the thundering herds of pokémon that inhabited them. Not the teenager incessantly tapping his shoulder…

…Wait… What?

The man's eyes slid back into focus. He blinked a few times and remembered that something had pulled him out of his reverie. A few hours must have passed since he slipped into the world of the semiconscious, as the sun hung lower in the sky now. He looked to his right to see who'd been tapping him.

A boy of about fifteen with unruly hair as black as his own wearing goggles and glasses and a jacket with arcanine stripes. A charmeleon sat next to him, obviously his partner. Their aura was a bright flame red. Passionate, brave, and steadfast. The man saw great potential in this boy.

"Did you hear me? I said that's a nice leafeon ya got there. Where'd ya get her?" Grey asked. The man blinked again. The kid could tell his leafeon's gender with just a look? Curious…

"Yes, she is rather stunning, isn't she?" His voice was crisp and he enunciated perfectly. The man gave a small warm smile to his pokémon. She returned it in kind, closing her big brown eyes to nap once more. "How did you know she was a girl?" Grey laughed.

"Oh, that? I can kinda just tell, y'know? It's like I look at a pokémon and something about them just lets me read 'em," the young trainer explained. "At least a little bit. Sounds stupid, huh?"

"Haha, not at all." The man was suddenly much more lively now. "To be honest, it's the same way for me." This boy… The man suddenly got the feeling that they were very much alike. If that charmeleon of his was any sort of clue, he was most likely right.

"My name…is Lucas," he said politely, extending a hand. "Yours?"

"Grey," the boy said with a grin. "This here's Soul, my partner." The charmeleon gave a nod and a grunt.

"This is Solace," Lucas introduced his leafeon. Grey placed a hand on Solace's head and scratched behind her ears. She mewled contentedly and licked Grey's fingers.

"Hey, whaddaya know? She said she likes me." He can understand them, too? This was no mere coincidence; it had to be fate that he was meeting Grey right now. Then again, Solace's reaction easily betrayed the fact that she liked Grey, so he'd have to be certain. One more test.

"You can - ?"

"Understand them, yep," Grey finished for him.

"Let me guess, it's not so much their thoughts you understand. It's their emotions?" Lucas inquired tentatively. Grey nodded.

"Dude, I thought I was the only one. I didn't know other people could do it, too." Grey was honestly surprised and intrigued.

"No, everyone has the potential to do it." At the confused look on Grey's face, he elaborated further. "Everybody can understand pokémon like we do. Whether or not they attempt to use it or even acknowledge that they can at all is completely up to them."

"Heh, so that explains why my friends don't get it," Grey concluded. Noticing Lucas's worn green tee-shirt, cargo pants, and the poké balls clipped to his belt, Grey changed the subject. "You a trainer?"

"Was. Still am," Lucas corrected himself. "I'm just taking a break to see the sights in this region."

"Ahh, dude, you're missin' out!" Grey cried. "This place has got some seriously strong Gym Leaders!" He looked out at the water and gave a short laugh. "But, I'm still a rookie so I guess everyone's strong to me right now. Even some of the guys in front or behind us." Lucas suddenly remembered that the riverboat was more of a riverboat train considering it was hooked to two others of its kind, both filled with people.

"That may be but it's good to just take a breather once in a while," Lucas contended. "You know, you remind me a lot of myself back when I was first starting out." The riverboat was almost at its halfway point by now. "How many pokémon have you got so far?" Grey counted on his fingers.

"Three. Soul here, a shinx and an onix. I plan to catch more but first I have to start strategizing and build a potential team." Yet another similarity.

"You say you're a rookie but you're already thinking like a true trainer. Though, in the eyes of some, your method may seem a little cruel." Grey sighed.

"I know. But I can't just go around catchin' every pokémon I see. I wouldn't be able to take care of 'em all, so it'd make more sense just to build a team and make adjustments as I go along. Maybe catch a few backups, too," Grey explained. "I know I got a lot to learn, but, hey, if it means we can get stronger, then I'll do it."

"He used 'we' instead of 'I'," Lucas observed.

"Ain't that right, partner?" Grey asked Soul.

"Charmeleon." Soul gave a grin that Grey easily matched and the two grasped each others' hands in a brotherly way.

"Heheh… We really are alike," chuckled the older trainer. Grey positively beamed.

"Ya mean it?" He was being compared to an obviously experienced trainer by said trainer. For a rookie like him, that was one of the highest honors.

"More than you think..." "Of course," he said outwardly. Lucas smirked to himself. The sun was now at an angle so that its rays hit Solace directly. She mewled again and wriggled in Lucas's lap before she began to glow faintly. Lucas never failed to notice her photosynthesis at work. His admiration was drawn away from his sparkling leafeon and towards the source of the loud, proud group trumpeting that came from the opposite side of the river.

"Aww, sweet!" Grey cheered. There was a murmur of intrigue buzzing among the riverboat passengers. The tourists of the group took out cameras and started click-click-flashing away at the donphan herd making a spectacle of themselves. The one with the biggest tusks, presumably the leader, recklessly charged forward and led his brethren down the plains. He didn't even flinch when he ran into a large rock and promptly turned it into rubble.

"Even sweeter!" Grey moved to pull out his Pokédex but Lucas beat him to it.

"Those are donphan," he said. "The -"

"Armor Pokémon." Lucas beat Dexter, but June beat Lucas. She turned in her seat in front of the two and recited: "The one with the biggest tusks is always the leader and they travel in herds. They are also exceedingly powerful. Just a Tackle attack from one can level a house. Sometimes they like to tuck and roll into wheels and travel that way and their skin is tough enough to withstand explosions."

"Very nice." Lucas actually applauded her. June tinged slightly pink.

"It was nothing," she said humbly. Without making it obvious, Lucas gave June a quick once-over. She was obviously smart but her aura - a bright yellowish-orange - bespoke naivety and a tendency for over enthusiasm as well as intelligence. She would be of no use.

"Damn, that's powerful," Grey said with a grin. "Now I wanna catch one of 'em."

"You already have Maverick," June reminded him, "and donphan are Ground-types."

"Having a Rock-and-Ground type is different from having a pure Ground-type," Grey rationalized. "Besides, I was planning on evolvin' Maverick into a steelix later on, anyway."

"Smart choice," commented Lucas. "Oh, look. We're at the halfway point."

Indeed they were. The boat captain confirmed it over the loudspeaker system and docked his vessel at a station identical to the one before. People slowly began to stream out of their seats to stretch their legs. Soul did the same and beckoned Grey to follow. Once off the train, Grey's words were cut at the roots by an outcry nearby. It went unheard to the general crowd; they kept flocking into the diner next to the docking station until only a handful remained.

"A friend of yours?" asked Lucas as he pointed to Jameson's back. The boy in blue was apparently confronting a blonde haired boy with sunglasses on his head. He looked familiar to Grey.

"The kid in blue is but I think I remember that other guy," Grey answered.

"I have never seen him before," June said with a shrug.

"Derek, it's been a while! I didn't know you were on the boat!" James said loudly. Then it clicked for Grey. Derek? That same kid with the squirtle? The one who'd snubbed Grey so rudely? When Grey matched the face to the name, he knew it was the very same boy. He approached his friend and Derek, shielding his eyes from the harsh afternoon sun. June went to go find Rachel and Lucas decided to stay back and watch with Solace in his arms.

"Heh, yeah, it has been, Jimmy boy. Miss me?" Derek asked. He kept one eye closed most likely due to the sunlight and held a toothpick in his mouth. A smirk adorned his thin face. Grey snickered a bit at the odd cowlick that stuck straight up from his otherwise flat head of hair.

"Aww, you know it!" James and Derek laughed and performed an elaborate handshake. Grey didn't even bother to keep up with it and instead made himself known.

"Hey, I remember you!"

"Huh?" Jameson finally noticed Grey's presence and grinned. "Oh, hey, guys, this is my friend Derek from back in Kanto. Well, he's from the Sevii Islands but we go way back."

"We've known each other since we were kids," Derek continued. Then he remembered Grey's face. "I remember you, too. Geo Path, right? The kid with the charmander." Then he noticed Soul's new form. "Charmeleon now. Nice."

"And you had the squirtle," Grey responded. "What're you doin' here?"

"Same as you; headed for Almond then Springbloom to take on the Gym Leader," Derek replied with a noncommittal shrug. "But right now, I need a new pokémon 'fore I can take 'im on."

"Really? What've you got in mind?" Jameson asked, finally getting back into the conversation.

"Rock-type," Derek grunted. "Word is there're rhyhorn runnin' 'round here and I wanted to catch one."

"What've you got so far?" chorused Grey and Jameson. Derek let out a cocky scoff and produced four poké balls. He opened them all, revealing an electrike, murkrow, heracross, and wartortle. James whistled, obviously impressed. Grey was too (especially so at the heracross) but he masked it with a derisive snort.

"Caught Electrike on the plains and Heracross in the Mélange Woods. I traded Aron for Murkrow and Wartortle's my starter," he reeled off. "Jimmy boy?"

"Still got my scyther and duskull and I recently caught a zangoose."

"Charmeleon, shinx, and onix," Grey said.

"Char!" Soul grunted.

"Tch. Decent, but you're still two behind me," ribbed Derek.

"You still only have four," James pointed out. Derek's smirk grew wider and his open eye glinted. He said nothing, recalling all but Wartortle and stalked off into the grass. Intrigued, the other two boys followed behind him until he motioned for them to stop. A herd of rhyhorn grazed about a hundred feet away. Derek got to work picking out a good target, preferably one furthest away from the main herd.

"That one," he muttered referring to the one closest to him. Taking out an empty ball, he commanded his pokémon, "Wartortle, Water Pulse then blast it with Water Gun."

Wartortle wasted no time sending the shimmering orb rocketing into rhyhorn, thoroughly catching it off guard and confusing it. Rhyhorn staggered and grunted and swayed in a daze after that potent double-whammy and was promptly doused by a continuous stream of Water Gun. While Wartortle kept up his assault, Derek casually flicked the ball at Rhyhorn. The ball stopped moving in two shakes. Derek made it look as simple as that.

"Hope you guys took notes," Derek said triumphantly. He spun the poké ball on one finger and placed it on his belt with the others.

"Nice," James congratulated. "You still got it."

"That wasn't so impressive," Grey muttered with a wave of his hand.

Anybody coulda done that, Soul muttered jealously. Wartortle just looked his way and smirked to himself. Jameson shot Grey a glare so sharp it put his scyther's blades to shame. Nevertheless, he held his tongue.

"Okay, so you got a rhyhorn. Big deal; I'm gonna get a donphan sooner or later."

"A donphan, eh?" Derek's interest had been captured. "Ya mean like the one who blasted through that rock like it was nothin'?"

"The very same."

"Good luck; yer better off catchin' one as a phanpy and evolving it," Derek advised. "Sometimes, donphan can get pretty vicious."

"Oh…" Grey hadn't considered that. "Well, in that case, maybe you're right." Derek shrugged it off and laughed, turning back to the docking station. He and James caught up with one another the whole way there leaving Grey at the back to think about exactly how and where he was going to catch a phanpy.

"Well, Jim, it was nice seein' ya, but I'm gonna head to Almond on foot from here so's I can train Rhyhorn. See ya in Springbloom." Derek and James did their handshake again and hugged one another before parting ways.

"You're not gonna battle him? That's not like you, Grey," chided James.

"You kiddin'?" Grey asked incredulously. "I know when I'll lose a battle and he had five pokémon. I'm not dumb, dude."

"Smart choice," Lucas repeated, suddenly showing up behind the two boys. "The boat is about to leave, Grey. It's time we get on it."

"Oh, right. James, this is Lucas. Lucas, my friend James," Grey said.

"Nice to meet you." James shook Lucas's hand, giving him the perfect opportunity to scan his aura. Forest green, an aura bespeaking maturity and level-headedness. But Lucas sensed something else. Could it possibly be a hint of a complex of some kind? Oh, this would not do at all. This boy was holding Grey back.

The boat stopped a few miles away from the riverside village of Almond Town. A quaint little place with small houses, an abundance of shops, a cobblestone street, and a farmer's market in the center of town. Almond Town was separated by the thinnest part of the Cloud River running straight down the middle, so high bridges were built to help people get from one side to the next.

"Or at least, that's what it says on the brochure," Rachel muttered.

"They couldn't just drop us off in town? We're, like, six miles away!" Grey complained. "Whatever; I guess this lets me do some training."

"And I can further my research!" came June's bubbly input.

"Actually, June, Almond Town's library is kind of small, so…" Grey left the sentence hanging after he saw June's face fall like a sack of hammers.

"Awww," she whined.

"Well, I'm gone," Rachel said. "Come on, Vulpix." She picked the little fox pokémon up and started off towards town. "I'm going to accept a few odd jobs or missions around here. Stay out of trouble." She stressed that point and directed it at Grey.

"Oh, shut up. I can handle myself just fine," Grey said under his breath. Soul scoffed out fire in agreement with Grey and James glared at them again. How immature can they be, he asked himself. June muttered something about inadequate references and followed behind the older girl. The boys waited until Rachel was a good hundred feet away before advancing. James took that time to pull Grey off to the side and confront him.

"Dude, what was that back there with Derek?" he asked critically. His face sported a deep frown and his eyes were narrowed in suspicion.

"What? What're you talkin' about?" Grey scowled and turned his eyes away from Jameson. He looked around towards the crowd moving closer to Almond Town. He was looking for Lucas but it looked as if the man had already gotten to town.

"You know what I'm taking about. When he caught that rhyhorn. You were jealous and you tried to downplay it. How much of a kid are you?"

"Who're you to talk? You're only a year older than me and, last time I checked, that didn't make you an adult. Why're you on my case about this anyway?" Grey countered. Jameson honestly had no answer and Soul knew it by the looks of the face he gave the older boy.

"You need to stop acting like such a little kid, Grey. Why didn't you congratulate Derek?"

"Because he was lordin' it over our heads like he was better than us or somethin'!" Grey shouted. "Dude, I'm done with this." Grey stalked off not paying attention to where he was going.

"You do the same thing!" James called after him.

"No, I don't!" Grey shouted.

No, he doesn't! Soul said at the same time.

"You act cocky all the time!"

"Actin' cocky is different than what he did. First time I met him, I challenged him and he snubbed me out like I insulted his mother," Grey said. He was quickly getting fed up with this.

Yeah, and I'm a witness! Soul said stubbornly, shaking his fist. Jameson stopped in his tracks.

"He did?" he asked uncertainly. "Well, Derek gets like that sometimes. No biggie."

"James, seriously, just drop it. If you're still mad at me for fighting with my sister, then fine, but don't use stuff like this to avoid talkin' about it." James flinched. So Grey wasn't as oblivious as he made him out to be. He heaved a sigh.

"You're right. I'm sorry," he submitted. Grey visibly relaxed.

"Why're you so ticked about that, anyway? It's not like siblings don't fight all the time." He leaned on the wood fence they'd walked towards without noticing.

"It's just…." Jameson turned his gaze downward and shifted uncomfortably.

"Just what?" Grey pressed.

C'mon, spit it out, Jimmy. Just like this, Soul said encouragingly. He spat out a few large embers to demonstrate. James's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates.

"Fire…" he breathed.

"What?" Grey raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, fire; Soul's a charmeleon. Duh, dude."

"No, Grey, I mean fire! Behind you! Soul set that barn on fire!" James frantically pointed behind Grey and Grey turned around to see he was right; Soul's harmless firebreathing had lit a barrel of grain on fire and said barrel was in contact with a barn.

"Shit! When did that barn get there?" Grey yelled. "Fire! Hey, fire!"

"Fire?" came a distraught adult voice. "Luanne, get Quagsire! Torchic set the barn ablaze again!" In a flash, a tall farmer dressed in overalls and an orange shirt sprinted out of the house near the barn with a quagsire waddling behind him. He kept a gloved hand on his hat so he wouldn't lose it as he ran.

The blaze began to spread and a flock of torchic frantically scrambled out of the barn door right after a tauros blasted his way through in a panic and started bucking like crazy.

"Oh, we are so dead!" James groaned.

"Quagsire, Mud Bomb, dammit! Make it a good one!" the farmer commanded. Quagsire responded by making a puddle of mud in front of him with a water burst and using his tail to flick it up at the blaze. Within seconds, the fire had been reduced to small patches that were easily put out with a few quick bursts of Water Gun. All those present heaved a sigh of relief and the farmer moved on to try and calm his tauros.

"Listen, sir, I am so sorry; my charmeleon -"

"This was you two's fault?" the farmer shouted. "Aw, hell in a hand basket! Tauros, get down!" He grabbed the Wild Bull Pokémon's horns and forced him to the ground in a display of prodigious strength. The farmer then rounded on the boys, face set into an angry frown and brow creased like the folds of an accordion.

"Guys?" Grey asked.

"Yeah?" James whimpered.

"We're screwed, aren't we?"

"Char char…"

Oh, I do so love putting my characters in these situations. It's so much fun. Not a lot of battling in this chapter; it was more of a transition from Mélange Town to Almond Town to "holy crap, there's an pissed off juggernaut farmer about to wring out necks". There will be action in the next chapter, though!

Oh, and I'd like to thank all of you guys for the reviews and OC submissions once more. And to my newest reviewer, X (I'll call you Mystery Reviewer X for now), what would you consider to be 'bad language'? I'll totally cut it down if it makes reading this more enjoyable for you. Just leave a list in your next review and I'll get right on that.

There's 6 more chapters until James faces the Springbloom Gym Leader and 9 until Grey does. There'll also be one chapter in which the group decides to hang back in Springbloom for a bit longer before continuing. Lots of mysterious mysteries and character development there. Until then, you guys know the drill. Thanks again :D

CHAPTER PREVIEW

James: Grey, what'd you get us into?

Grey: Hey, don't look at me. It was Soul's fault!

Soul: Char? Char char me!

James: Ugh, whatever. I guess fixing this guy's barn and working on his farm for a while is only fair. But, man, do these guys have a bug problem.

Grey: Whaddaya expect? We're in the middle of the grasslands and they say bugs like to hang around this place.

James: Bug-types like to live closer to the Springbloom Meadows, Grey. It's weird that they'd come all the way here.

Grey: So we do this guy a favor by doin' a little pest control and maybe he'll let us off early! Perfect plan!

James: Somehow, I don't think that'll work…

James and Grey: Next time on Challenger!: Furious Swarm: Bug-type Battle in Almond Town!

Grey: Stay tuned for more!

A/N: That's another thing. You guys think I should get rid of the chapter previews or keep them?