Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. It belongs to Nintendo and Game Freak.

Hi all,

Here's the next chapter. The team is back on the road and heading for Pewter City. But it's going to be a long road trip.

All Patrons get access to chapters early.

Pokemon: Way of Life has four chapters ahead of fanfiction.

Harry Potter: A Mage's Path has six chapters ahead of fanfiction.

Harry Potter: The Artisan's Path has two chapters ahead of fanfiction.

If you want to become a patron, head over to Pat re on and add a /GamerFiction after the com.

Chapter 55

4th December

Lucas and the team arrived back in Viridian City around noon the next day. Similarly to what he had done when they travelled to Pallet Town, he once again hired a bus to take them there. Before heading out to gather some supplies, they grabbed a quick lunch in the cafeteria at the Pokemon Centre.

"Is there anything we need to do urgently in the city?" Lucas asked, before remembering that his girlfriend had gotten serious about the Pokemon Circuit. "Faith, do you want to challenge the gym before we leave for Pewter City?"

Faith shook her head, looking at her Pokemon seated on the floor, eating their lunch. "I will challenge the Pewter City gym first. Spook has entered her second growth period, and Kale looks ready to enter his pre-evolution stage soon. I can always return later. Besides, I am not as confident as you, and so having a type advantage heading into my first gym battle would be ideal."

"Okay," Lucas nodded, before addressing everyone in general. "Is there anything we need to get for the road trip? It will take about a month for us to get to Pewter City, depending on how fast we travel."

"I don't think there is anything the group needs as a whole, but I certainly need some warmer clothes," Misty said. "Oh my gosh, I hate winter."

"That makes two of us," Jason shivered.

"I need to pick up some TM's," Lucas said. "I will check if there are any crystals for sale as well. I know Duke needs some new moves at least."

He still had a few TM's left over from his adventures, including Waterfall that he got from winning the tournament in Terracotta Town. He would need to teach it to Duke, but he still didn't have the required water affinity for it. When he tried teaching it to Duke, he received a prompt that stated that Duke needed seventy-five water affinity to be able to learn it, so he still had a lot of work to do.

"Have you got enough healing items?" Misty asked. "I know I need some more if I want to get into more trainer battles."

"I have plenty of healing items," Lucas replied. He had already checked his supplies before leaving Pallet Town. He had gotten into this habit everytime he was travelling outside of town.

"If you need Potions, I can brew some up for you," Faith said. "I have perfected the recipe, and they are as good as the ones you get in the store. They are also twenty per cent less expensive as well."

"You got yourself a deal," Misty exclaimed before turning to Lucas. "What are the requirements for the next trainer level anyway?"

Lucas pulled out his Pokedex from his pocket. "Friday, what are my current trainer points, and what are the requirements for the Amateur level?"

"Lucas, you have 1140 points. The Amateur level requires four gym badges and five thousand trainer points."

"That is a huge step up from Advanced Student," Misty sighed. "Oh well, it's not like we are in a rush."

Before he went shopping, Lucas spent some time visiting Shelly, who was glad to see him. Despite the fact that he had left her in the capable hands of the staff at the Pokemon Centre, he still felt guilty about leaving her for so long. In order to make up for his absence, he brought her some of her favourite dishes.

Lucas visited the local market to see if there were any crystals available to purchase that he could turn into TM's. He brought about thirty of them, but they were not just for him, but for his friends as well. They will probably insist that they have to pay for them, but at least they will be cheaper than purchasing them from the store. Next, he headed to the department store and bought some TM's from there.

Lucas did not go overboard and purchase one of every TM. He did not want to fill his Pokemon with too many moves as it wouldn't make them better fighters. Instead, it may confuse them and make them less decisive. There may be times when they have to act on their own, so loading them up with so many choices isn't ideal. It may become necessary for him to get rid of some of the moves at some point, as they may become redundant. There is a device called a Move Deleter that allows Pokemon to forget moves. However, he would only proceed when his Pokemon's move pool reached more than fifteen. He hadn't developed an ultimate battle strategy for each of his Pokemon because they were still too low-level and not fully evolved. He had a general idea, but not the minute details.

He spent the rest of the late afternoon and evening talking with his Pokemon and planning their training routine for the next few weeks. Lucas also received a call from his grandfather yesterday, who told him that the deal had gone through. He was seven hundred thousand Pokedollars richer. His grandfather would work with the government to contact other regions and broker a deal for him. He put the majority of it into the company account, which went towards the island, boat and barge modifications. Hopefully, the last two wouldn't cost him too much.

It was decided that town construction would begin in the new year. This was to give Maggie time to get the barge modified and time to find a replacement boat. Just like every other region, Kanto would be busy preparing for the championships, and the holidays at the end of the month. Whoever thought it was a smart idea to hold it in December needed their heads examined. It made the month far too chaotic and stressful for most people.

Instead of returning home for the holidays, everyone was going to meet up in Mulberry City, which was located southwest of Pewter City. It meant they had a lot of ground to cover to get there before Christmas Day arrived.

A Pokemon service would fly everyone out of Pallet Town to meet them there. This included his family, Jason's family, and Faith's clutch of orphans.

Lucas decided to hold off on producing a new song for the moment. They would return to Viridian City after Pewter City, so he would record another song then. His song hit the number-one spot on Off The Record in the Kanto Region and in the top five in most other regions. Because the song was owned by him, he was able to get a lot more Pokedollars for it than he did for his first song.

Having taken care of everything, he drifted off to sleep that night. He was full of anticipation for the next morning when he would be back on the road and continuing his journey.

5th December

Lucas led Shelly to the west gate by hand, while everyone else rode on her back. Behind her, the trailer rumbled along, loaded down with supplies and their Pokemon. They had to dodge an early morning rush, as people went about their business with renewed vigour. It seemed that the city had recovered somewhat from the events in Stone Town.

"I need to stop at the Pokemon Lodge," Lucas said. "I am going to transfer the Caterpie to the island habitat. Nora has cordoned off a small area for him. She will acclimatise him to the natives on the island if she deems it safe enough."

"I know my Pokemon enjoys the accommodations," Misty said. "Although my most recent team member is causing some trouble, so I have to keep him with me for the moment."

"Slow?" Slowbro called from the trailer, where he was settled with the other Pokemon.

"Yes, I am talking about you, Iroh," Misty said with exasperation.

"He is a troublemaker like Bane," Jason laughed. "Yet he hides it behind a veil of obtuseness. Bane doesn't even bother to hide his mischief."

They left the city through the gate and stopped outside the Poke Lodge. After Caterpie was transferred to the island, Lucas settled his account at reception. He didn't foresee using the service again.

They picked up their pace as they left the city and the populated areas behind. There were two roads, one for vehicles, and the other for trainers and their Pokemon. Lucas and Dante ran in front, and Shelly followed behind them. As part of the training regime, Dante and Imara would continue to train their parameters now that they were in their second stage.

The road continued to lead west for about twenty kilometres, following the contours of the forest, before gradually turning northwest. Due to recent rainfall, the road was quite wet, so he was running at a slower pace. Winter had arrived on schedule, and there was already a layer of snow covering the trees' tops and the ground had some frost as well. They were dressed in warm clothing to combat the colder temperatures and they kept a close watch on the overcast skies as it was predicted to rain later in the day.

After a few hours of travel, Lucas called a lunch break for the team and led them off the road in order to take a rest. They placed some lawn chairs on the ground surrounding a rock conveniently located there. Imara warmed the rock up by engulfing it in flames, and it was soon radiating enough heat to keep them warm. It was the perfect solution, as they didn't have to go through the trouble of lighting a fire they would only use for an hour.

Faith took out some food and started cooking them some lunch. Lucas focused on feeding the Pokemon, which became more involved as more Pokemon were added to the team. He still hadn't found a favourite food for Scyther. However, it was apparent that she was a carnivore, so he was trying different meats to see what she liked best.

Misty summoned her Pokemon, which meant there were now fifteen Pokemon plus Shelly. This was not a small amount for any group travelling on the road. It was fortunate that Misty usually kept her Pokemon in the habitat. Once he added more Pokemon to the team, he would have to switch them out and have Nora look after the reserves.

Lucas cradled a bowl of onion soup in his hands and dipped a chunk of bread into it. The meal warmed his insides, the perfect food to combat the cold.

"How far is the nearest campsite?" Faith asked, her voice muffled by the scarf wrapped around her neck.

"It's still thirty-five kilometres away," Lucas replied. "If we hurry, we may make it before nightfall."

Jason looked at his phone to judge the distance. "It's going to be challenging to get there in time. It gets dark earlier, so we would have to pick up the pace substantially if we want to reach it before nightfall."

"Then we don't go for it," Lucas decided without hesitation. "We are prepared for any outdoor conditions. There is no need to rely on a camping ground."

"I heard there are some ruins further along the road," Misty said. "Are we planning to check it out?"

"The Pokemopolis Ruins?" Jason asked. "It's still about four days' travel away from here. Supposedly, it is the ruins of a once great civilisation."

"That sounds like it would be right up our alley to explore," Lucas said enthusiastically.

"It will likely be crawling with tourists," Faith said, checking out the website on her phone. "A small town has sprung up around it because of all the archaeologists that explore the ruins."

"They haven't found anything so far," Jason snorted. "You would think they would have given up by now."

"There was an incident a few years ago," Faith said, still browsing the website. "Some locals swore they saw a supersized Pokemon that was as tall as a three-story building wandering the ruins at night. However, the authorities dismissed the claims and put it down to overactive imaginations."

"There must be some mystery to discover there," Lucas said, his eyes alight with excitement. "Just imagine what it would be like if we solved the mystery that no one else has figured out."

Faith burrowed deeper into his side, looking for some additional warmth. It seemed like she didn't like the cold as well. Jason looked at Misty hopefully, but she wasn't having it.

"Not even if I was freezing to death," Misty said flatly.

"Knowing you are prone to getting mixed up in events, it is not difficult to imagine," Faith continued, ignoring her friend's brief interplay.

"Well, if there is trouble," Jason slapped Lucas' shoulder. "At least we have a legendary Pokemon on our side."

"Don't speak about it out loud. We don't know who could be listening." Lucas glared at his friend. "Besides, I don't have enough aura to maintain the state for long. So I won't be that much help in a real crisis."

"Imagine if we were able to do a live stream showing of Mewtwo," Jason said dreamily, ignoring Lucas completely. "That would probably break the entire Tweak channel with so many viewers watching it."

"Do you know what would be even better than that?" Lucas asked. "A legendary Pokemon kicking your ass on livestream."

"I would pay to see that," Misty chuckled.

"Me too," Faith giggled.

Bane raised his hand next, followed by the rest of the Pokemon. A sulking Jason ignored everyone after that, focusing on his phone. Ever since they left the island, he has texted Eve every hour it seemed. Lucas was sure that the girl was getting tired of the boy's clingy behaviour. She hadn't said anything about it, which surprised him since she was known to be very forthright about things.

After finishing his soup, Lucas grabbed his phone and checked out the official Kanto Championship website. There were three tiers that played out concurrently, the Junior, Elite and Senior Championships. Obviously, it is the latter that grabbed the most attention as it was where the real action took place, with high-level Pokemon and experienced trainers battling it out for the top prize. A lot of their battles were epic, which was a far cry from their junior counterparts. However, he was still interested in the lesser-known competition. This is because he had a feeling that many of the trainers that were participating in the competition this year would return next year. The one he was most interested in was Red, who was the number one seed in the Junior Championship.

How did he earn that title? Red conquered all eight gyms on the hardest difficulty, just like Lucas was planning on doing. He wasn't the only trainer to achieve the feat in the current calendar year, but he was certainly the fastest by a wide margin. Lucas looked up Red's record for the Viridian City gym and compared their times. He discovered that he only beat Red by a couple of minutes. When he looked up the Pewter City gym record, Red's time was even faster.

Red's time would be used as the measuring stick for his own performance. It was his goal to beat each gym time and qualify for the top seed in next year's championship. Obviously, gaining the number one seed in the tournament did not guarantee success. There may be trainers who did not care about the title, or there may be some who hid their strength so they didn't reveal their true capabilities.

He discovered that Red was Ash Ketchum's older cousin. Obviously, it couldn't be Ash himself, since his character was based on Red, who was the protagonist of the manga series. He was surprised that he hadn't heard of him before now. However, Red had already left on his journey before Lucas woke up from his coma, so he assumed that was the reason.

After resting for an hour, they packed up and hit the road again. Imara replaced Dante in running with Lucas, who didn't seem too excited about the exercise.

'This exercise is pointless.' Imara huffed.

"Oh really? Since when did you become the authority on training?"

'I don't need any knowledge. I know my own body.'

"Well, Dante certainly didn't complain. Could it be that he is made of sterner stuff? No wonder he is the leader."

That was a quick way to shut Imara up. She had been a bit ornery since she evolved, but it wasn't too bothersome. It was clear to him that she was having difficulty adjusting to her new form and increase in strength. It was a common affliction among newly evolved Pokemon, so there was no need to be concerned about it. The problem should be sorted out after a couple of weeks of training. Her attitude was largely due to the fact that Dante did not suffer from the same symptoms as she did. Everything was competition for her.

They reached a crossroads where the road branched off in all directions. The Indigo Plateau was further to the west, and to the southwest there were some cities and towns that were located close to the Johto-Kanto border. When he was in Terracotta Town, he considered heading there to see the sights. However, since there were no gyms in that direction, he decided against it. He could always return later.

The landscape became more open on the western side of the road, with huge fields of grass stretching for dozens of kilometres. Western Kanto was the least populated area in the entire region. There were some towns and one city located along the highway, but only enough to ensure people didn't run out of supplies along the long stretch of highway. There were talks of further developments in this area, but the population was the limiting factor. Until that was solved there would be no large infrastructure development.

Lucas kept an eye out for wild Pokemon, as the road was known to be particularly vulnerable to attacks. Unlike the road from Pallet Town to Viridian City, it was not raised off the ground. The amount of manpower and cost to achieve such a thing was too prohibitive. The area surrounding the road was a Yellow Zone. However, everything on the plains was an Orange Zone, so it was not out of the realm of possibility that they would encounter Pokemon above level twenty.

Fortunately, they only ran across a few low-level Pokemon, and the girls took care of them. After travelling for another five hours, with a break in between, they decided to stop for the night. They set up camp among a thicket of trees a ways off the road after Lucas determined there were no Pokemon nestled inside.

They had just set up their tents and sat down for dinner when they received some guests travelling along the road in the opposite direction. Lucas spotted them first. They were a teenage girl and a boy, and they had a Hypno walking beside them. They called out a greeting as they got closer, and Lucas waved at them, signalling their friendliness.

"Hello, do you mind if we set up camp next to you?" The teenage girl asked hopefully. "There's safety in numbers. My name is Kylie and this is my boyfriend, Marcus. We are headed to the Indigo Plateau for the competition."

Marcus nodded at them, looking around at the gathered Pokemon nervously. Kylie was blonde, with blue eyes, and slightly overweight, although it looked good on her. She had an expressive face that could not conceal a slight sense of anxiety about meeting strangers on the road. Marcus couldn't be more different. He was dark-haired, with dark eyes, and seemed to wear a permanent scowl on his face.

Lucas eyed them cautiously but didn't sense hostility from them. Sometimes he thought that his Sense Malevolence perk was overpowered since it could determine if someone had malicious intentions towards him. While it wasn't perfect, he didn't think the couple could conceal any ill intent at their age. They looked to be a couple of years older than him. His friends stayed quiet, letting him make the decision.

"Sure," Lucas shrugged. "My name is Lucas. This is my girlfriend, Faith, and my two friends Misty and Jason. There's some food in the pot if you are hungry. It's nothing special, just some macaroni and cheese."

"Thank you," Kylie beamed, turning towards her boyfriend. "See, I told you there was nothing to worry about."

"Oh no, we are plenty crazy during the day," Jason said, making a funny face. " You're lucky you're meeting with us at night because that's our time off."

"Shut it, moron," Faith kicked out at Jason.

Kylie took off her huge pack and set it down. Groaning, she rolled her shoulders, obviously sore from carrying the large load. Marcus reached out and massaged her shoulders, and she shot him a thankful look.

"What are you looking at me like that?" Lucas protested, feeling his girlfriend's glare.

"Why don't you offer to rub my shoulders?" Faith asked.

Lucas pointed at Shelly, who lifted her head to look at him, wondering what was going on. "Hey, I paid for her so you don't have to carry anything. Or walk, for that matter. I should be asking why you aren't rubbing my legs since I am the only one travelling on foot."

"You're the only one crazy enough to do it," Faith shrugged with no concern. "You will just have to live with your idiotic choices."

Lucas rubbed his legs, pretending to be in absolute agony, but his girlfriend ignored him. Heartless.

Kylie and Marcus sat down, and Lucas handed them some bowls and utensils. They served themselves some food before feeding Hypno.

"Where's the rest of your Pokemon?" Misty asked curiously.

"They usually stay in their habitat," Kylie said. "We don't have enough space to carry food for all of our Pokemon."

"Are you participating in the Junior Championship?" Lucas questioned. He could not recall seeing their names on the participants' list. Then again, he had only looked at the top hundred seeds.

"I am," Kylie smiled brightly. "Marcus has no interest in competing, although I am sure he would be competitive. He only joined me because he was concerned about my safety."

"Well, I hope you do well in the competition," Lucas said.

"Thank you," Kylie said. She glanced at Marcus for a moment before looking at Lucas again with a hesitant look. "Are you headed north towards the Pokemopolis Ruins?"

"Yes, why?"

"I don't advise that you go," Kylie said. "There have been a lot of bandits on the road lately. We encountered two of them yesterday. We only avoided being robbed because Hypno managed to scare them off."

"We probably look like a prime target," Jason said with a frown, "with the trailer loaded with supplies. What if we encounter a group of them?"

"Right," Kylie nodded. "I don't advise travelling further up the road. Even this far south, we still feel unsafe. There is barely any law enforcement or Rangers patrolling the road because the area is so remote."

"Don't worry," Lucas smiled. "We are not without means of protecting ourselves if need be. But we will be cautious when travelling on the road."

"Well, okay," Kylie said doubtfully before turning to Marcus. "We should get our tent set up."

Marcus nodded, opening the bag holding their tent. He moved a few feet away to set up the tent on an empty patch of ground.

"Does he speak at all?" Misty leaned in and whispered to her.

"Marcus is Deaf," Kylie said, looking at her boyfriend fondly. "He can speak a little, but he doesn't feel comfortable speaking around strangers."

"Well, he certainly understands what we are saying," Lucas said. "Does he lip-read?"

"Yes," Kylie said. "If you want to communicate something with him, make sure he is facing you."

"Sure," Lucas agreed.

After dinner, everyone retreated to their tents, huddling down in their sleeping bags. Lucas waited until everyone settled down before walking off in the distance. He was conscious of Hypno watching him, from where it stood guard in front of its trainers' tent.

"Giru," Lucas called, and the robot appeared in front of him.

"I need you to investigate the road and the surroundings up ahead," Lucas said. "It's possible that the bandits may have a hideout somewhere, and judging by our proximity to Viridian Forest, that is the most obvious place. See if you can find it. I don't want any nasty surprises on the road."

"Giru!" The robot did a twirl before disappearing.

Lucas returned to camp, where his Pokemon waited for him next to his tent entrance. Rolling his eyes, he crouched down next to them. "Fine, you can sleep in our tent, but I want you to do some training before we turn in for the night. Some of you haven't done anything but sit in the trailer all day."

'You want us to train in the cold? Don't you love us anymore?' Dante asked.

"Don't be dramatic," Lucas said. "It's not that cold. Besides, some exercise will warm you up quickly."

'What kind of training?' Duke asked.

Duke had become a different Pokemon than he had been a couple of weeks earlier. It seemed that he had taken Lucas' words to heart and was no longer acting like an entitled brat. He pushed himself to train more and interacted better with his teammates, who no longer bullied him. It was both a source of relief and a concern for Lucas. Despite the fact that he liked the changes he had noticed in Duke, he was worried that the Pokemon might be developing a hero complex because of the speech he made. Duke had been reading a lot of fiction featuring heroes lately, which was hilarious when he quoted some of his favourite lines from the books. It seemed like he exchanged one obsession for another. Oh well, at least he was trending in the right direction.

"Imara, I want you to help Duke learn Smokescreen," Lucas said. "Duke needs some variety in his moves, and Smokescreen is one of the inherent moves that he can learn."

'Fine. But I better get compensation for my work.' Imara grabbed Duke and led him to a spot away from the tents.

"Dante, I want you to spar with Max," Lucas grinned evilly. "I don't want you holding back either. Just make sure not to permanently damage him."

'What?! Why are you being mean?' Max looked at Lucas like he had betrayed him.

"Max, it's time to get your pre-evolution started," Lucas patted his head. "The only way I can see that happening is by pushing you to your limits."

'I aim to please.' Dante smirked, leading the pouting Max away.

Lucas turned to his last Pokemon. "Freya, we will continue working on the move you developed from Night Slash. It's still lacking in speed, which is its strong point."

'Okay.' Freya followed him until they were away from the thicket, facing the forest.

"Let me see it," Lucas said.

Freya summoned a rotating disk of dark-type energy. It spun so fast that it released a high-pitched noise like an electric saw. She released it, and the disk spun rapidly through the air, reaching the forest edge in an instant. The disk impacted a tree, cutting a branch off like it was made from cheese.. Although the move wasn't that powerful, it made up for it with its cutting power. In the right circumstances, it may be possible to remove limbs from somebody on the receiving end of it.

That is why he called it Destructo Disk because it reminded him of Killin's technique from Dragon Ball Z. The fact that Freya recreated a technique from an anime from another world was quite funny. It also shows that Freya had a malicious streak to come up with something so dangerous. If one of his other Pokemon had Night Slash and modified it, he was sure they would never come up with something like it in a million years.

Its strongest point, besides its lethal cutting power, was its speed. He could imagine catching a lot of opponents off guard with the move in the future.

"I want you to summon another one," Lucas said. "But don't release it. I want you to focus on increasing the disk rotation. Hold onto it as long as you can, but release it into the trees if you feel you can't hold it anymore."

For the next hour, Freya spent a lot of time trying to increase the disk rotation, but without much success. She was getting impatient, so he had to remind her that it wouldn't be something that would come to her in an instant.

"Try thinning the disk out," Lucas said, getting an idea. "It could be that it can't rotate the disk faster because it is too dense."

Freya followed his orders, and she managed to thin out the disk slightly after another hour of practice. She released it into the trees, and Lucas could swear that it was moving a bit faster.

"That was good," Lucas patted Freya on the shoulder. "We will continue to practice until you perfect it. For now, let's go to bed. You are running low on aura."

Dante emerged from the darkness, dragging a limp Maximus behind him. There were numerous bruises and scratches all over his body, suggesting he had been severely beaten by his teammate.

"You didn't kill him did you?" Lucas asked with bemusement.

'Nothing you can't fix.' Dante shrugged nonchalantly.

'I wish to make a report about Pokemon brutality.' Maximus raised his head from the ground, his eyes unfocused.

"Don't be a wuss," Lucas wriggled his hands exaggeratedly as he approached Max. "I will have you fixed in no time at all."

'The trainer I have is cruel. I want to replace him.' Max cried.

He needed to evolve as fast as he could so he would no longer be bullied. Then he will show them what he is capable of.

So, what do you think? Next chapter, the team reaches the Pokemopolis Ruins. What will they discover there?

Thanks for reading.