Chapter three up! Thank you for those who reviewed! It really got me in the mood to update sooner and to write more!

So if you really want me to update sooner, R&R! :D

More things planned! Samantha will pop up sooner, but Calvin and Blake will only appear later, when she switches regions. I hope no one minds~

Enjoy!

The Blatant Disregard of a Pokémon Trainer v2

Mother a contest champion. Father a famous photographer. What will she do to get away from all the criticizing and all the skepticism? Join the rebellion! Become a Pokémon trainer.

I try to stay out of trouble all the time. But it's not my fault! My mouth can't shut up to save its life! It's almost like a bad habit, one that won't go away no matter what I try to do. I feel really bad for my friends, since they have to put up with me as I go on my journey to become a Pokémon Master.

003. A step forward.

"And then he stopped doing that because she was all like—" Madame Barbie wouldn't stop blabbering. I swear she's been going on nonstop ever since I allowed her to travel with me a few days ago, when she actually seemed decent. She hadn't taken a breath yet either. You know the expression don't judge a book by its cover? Well this was one book where judging would've been really necessary. I should've just ran for my life the second I saw that she had found me again. I can't believe I've let her guilt me into finding the exit of this place together. And, of course, now I have to somehow live through her stories as we walk and walk, which really sucked. I swear that if I hear another story about this dude and some random gossip about her school that made absolutely no sense, my head was going to explode.

"Didn't we just walk by this tree?" I asked, stopping short and squinting at said leafy object.

"No, we didn't," The girl ignored me completely and kept on walking, linking her arm in mine so that I kept moving with her. "So Cathy was whining about how Kelly wanted her man but even he admitted that—"

I bet that between listening to this and listening to a snorlax snore, the snorlax would be a whole lot more soothing to the ears.

"—she was totally annoying. But then he introduced her to his friend, Josh, who thought that she needed to chill—"

Wait. Maybe I can play with her a little. "I thought that Kelly wanted Anne's bracelet in revenge for Josh setting her locker on fire."

"No, no, no!" She waved me off amusedly, "Kelly wanted Anne's necklace."

Considering how I just made that up, I don't want to know if her avoidance to the locker fire meant that it had actually happened.

"Now, now, now," I think the fact that I had just jumped into the one-sided conversation was making her a tad bit more hyper. "Kelly wanted Alex because he was Cathy's boyfriend, but she was only playing with him to make Elizabeth jealous and Suzanne—"

Let's try again. "I thought Suzanne was knocked out by the rabid shroomish."

"That was after she pushed Josh down the stairs."

"In revenge for the locker incident?"

"You're finally getting it!" She squealed, slapping my arm silly in all the excitement. Whee. "Okay, now follow me carefully." She slowed down and got all serious, but I could tell she was still brimming with untouched excitement. "Suzanne accidentally ate the weedle."

…what. "You're joking."

"I'm not!"

"You are so."

"I'm serious!"

"I don't believe you!"

"You should because—"

"CIVILISATION!" I cried, pointing dramatically to the building up ahead. There were a few other trainers around, these looking bored out of their minds, but they whipped their heads in our direction the second I screeched. I instantly regretted it, already knowing what they were waiting for and dearly wanted. A good Pokémon battle. And I was not ready to deliver that. (I don't think we trained that much during our stay in this forest, Spyk and I.)

"Run!" My current accomplice cried, sprinting in the opposite direction when the bug catchers started pouncing for us. I nodded in agreement, catching up to her as I dodged the hands reaching out to grab us.

"I thought bug catchers were only hobbyists!" I panted, not used to the sudden sprint.

"I guess you were wrong!" She said back, grabbing my arm and yanking me behind a tree. We took the time to take back our previously lost air before falling into a laughing fit. "Did you see that?" She wheezed, clutching her stomach, "Just like a cartoon!"

"They blindly ran past!" I giggled, putting a hand on the tree to hold myself up. "How can they not see us hide behind a tree?"

"Hahahaha, I know right?"

"Yeah, they're so stupid!"

"Hehehe…" She beamed at me and held out a hand, "I never told you my name. I'm Ivey! It's nice to hang with you!"

I grabbed her hand and shook it, "I'm Maia! Likewise!"

When we finally calmed down and were able to move our feet (and breathe normally) again, we quickly ran back before the insane trainers could return and try to jump us again. We re-found the exit doors and burst through them, nearly collapsing on the super comfy chairs that were nearby. My butt yelled at me to go lower myself on them and I easily complied, propping my legs on a few more while I was at it. Ah, this had to be the life. I could certainly find a way to make a living out of sitting on chairs, oh yeah.

"Come on, Maia!" Ivey yelled at me from the second doors. "I know an even better place!"

"Where?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion and straightening myself up. A place that can beat these super comfy chairs? Heck yeah!

"The Pokémon Center!" She exclaimed, throwing the doors open and letting the fresh soothing air rush in to caress my cheeks.

"We'd like to get a room for the night!" Ivey chirped to the woman with pink hair behind the counter. Her nurse outfit matched the cute pink Pokémon rushing around behind her and it was quite a sight to see.

"Sure you can! You two are lucky, we only have a few rooms left!" She hummed, taking her time as she searched behind the counter for something.

"I didn't know Pokémon centers were also hotels!" I whispered to Ivey in surprise, trying not to be too rude by saying it out loud. "I thought that they were only a hospital!"

"They only rent rooms to trainers," Ivey replied with a grin, leaning her elbows on the counter, "And it's only for a few nights too, since it's free."

"Free?" I hissed, my jaw nearly dropping off its hinges, "Why? With all the trainers that exist, I bet they'd make a bunch of money!"

Ivey shook her head and the nurse—Nurse Joy, as says her nametag—appeared with two keys of the same room. We took them and she smiled at me, jumping into our conversation as if she was eavesdropping the whole time. She probably was, seeing as I was no good at whispering. "This is one of those 'help all, no matter the circumstances' kind of services. Since there's so many Pokémon, we heal and help all of them, no charge. It's the same for trainers, just in case a few unlucky ones fall into financial troubles and can't find a place for the night. We're always here to help those who are lost and are in need of guidance." When a beep resounded, she held up her finger for us to wait and went to get a tray with six slots. Four of them were taken by Pokéballs, one of them mine and the others' Ivey. She slid it on the counter towards us and we grabbed our respectable Pokémon back. "Volunteering doesn't hurt either." She winked as we started making our way to the back. "Don't be shy to stop by the cafeteria later for supper!" I hadn't even realized how late it had become.

"Thank you! We will!" We yelled back to her, our voices sounding weirdly jumbled up, out of tune, and not making any sense. She waved goodbye to us and we turned the corner, falling out of sight as we made our way down the hall. Ivey seemed to know the area pretty well, not surprised or hesitant as we walked through the large kitchen (I'm not joking! It was even bigger than my old school's cafeteria!) to get to the stairs, no elevator in sight. It felt homier without one.

"Don't tell me," I started when my bag started digging uncomfortably in my shoulder. I still had energy in me, but my body was yelling at me to shut down. "The meals are free too?"

"You bet!" She laughed and then patted me on the shoulder until I winced. "You're so cute! It's like this is your first time at a Pokémon center!"

I flushed. Although I lived in Viridian, my parents had banned me from going to this place unless it was for dire emergencies, which I doubt someone without a Pokémon would need, so I avoided the place like the plague. And when I avoided things, I didn't necessarily care about finding out information about them, you know what I mean?

"No way! This is your first time?" She gasped, but yet still lit up like a Christmas tree. "I love first timers! This is great!"

"How is it great?" I moped, pushing her forward when she stopped in the middle of the stairs to face me properly. "Hurry up!"

"It's great," She made a face at my nudging and skipped the rest two at a time until she reached the top and was able to loom way too dangerously over me. "because I get to show you the ropes and teach you how awesome this place is and you'll be all like 'WHOA! AWESOMEEEEEEE!' like a little kid—"

I steered her up the second flight of stairs, glancing down at the number 305 on my room card. Dang it, we still have another flight of stairs to go through. "I am a little kid."

"—and not just this place either! I can tell you about THE WORLD! Like, for instance, like omg, did you know the Pokémart—"

"That blue shop?"

"—YEAH! That one! Anyway, did you know that they're trying to convince the Champion to merge it in the Pokémon center? I'm not joking! They're trying it out in Unova! I would know, I was born there!" She picked up the first Pokéball on her belt and waved it around. "And this is my starter, Vivian!"

"Are you drunk?" I blurted, not really thinking about it. I was introduced to this a bit early; my parents had a habit of getting quite tipsy a few days per month to get them in the mood and a bit happier than normal. When that happens, it's the best time to ask for that present you always wanted but cannot have because they think it's not good for you. (I managed to get my own hairdryer, a Skitty for a month, and a free trip to Goldenrod.)

"No!" She laughed, shoving me. "I'm just really excited!"

"That doesn't reassure me…" I grumbled, looking away.

She rolled her eyes and hip-bumped me, and I nearly fell down and rolled down the stairs in surprise. I swear I was going to, at the very least, break a few bones by simply hanging out with this girl.

"Where are the stairs?" I wondered, glancing down the new hall we appeared inside.

"Uh…" She joined in my wondering, before pointing down to my left. "That way."

"Okay." Like a good couple of soldiers, we made our way over and climbed the final (for us, since there's still a few more) pair of stairs. "We're almost there."

"Yay!" She whopped, throwing her arms up and whacking me in the face. I spluttered and slapped her back, and I swear we started a slap fight right in the middle of the stairs, which had to be the worst place possible since there wasn't any elbow room. When my face finally started getting sore and Ivey's hair looked as if rattatas had been living in it forever, my aim being lame, we finally stopped and dragged our tired bodies up the rest of the stairs and into our room.

It was small, quaint, and reminded me too much of my parents, but that's mostly because of the colours they like to wear—red, blue, and white—the generic trainer colours. There were two sets of bunk beds, a few bedside tables, a closet, and two random chairs next to the full-body mirror. I slipped my bag off my shoulder and lazily dragged it with me as I went over to one of the bunk beds and dropped dead on it like a doll.

"Cowabunga!" I heard Ivey yell before a body landed on top of mine and literally smushed my insides out of my butt. "Haha!"

"Get your own bed!" I whined, rolling over and giving her some space anyway.

"I'm taking the other bottom bunk," She swatted my arm but then sighed and stopped moving altogether, just laying there. I followed her example and simply stared at the wooden roof of the bottom of the top bunk, our breathing the only thing heard in the silence. I think this had to be the most peaceful moment I ever had with this girl. It was really nice, even soothing. As if my thoughts had jinxed it, she picked up again. "This is nice."

"Yeah." I agreed, not really knowing where she was going with this. "It is."

She turned on her side towards me and propped herself up on one elbow. "Why Hoenn?"

"Just because," I shrugged and didn't bother turning to her too. "I dunno, there's more stuff there? It seems to be the most interesting?"

"That's it?" She whined, plopping right back down again, her elbow hitting me in the side and getting me to jerk. "Laaaame."

"Well…" Don't try to defend yourself, you'll just appear lamer! "…what about you? What are you doing all the way over here in Kanto?"

There was a long pause as she took the time to think about it, her face void of any kind of emotion. When I thought that she was finally going to say something interesting, she rolled off the bed and picked up her bag. "Well, I'm gonna go take a shower!"

"Whoa, wait!" I quickly rolled over so that I was practically dangling off the edge of the bed and grabbed the end of her bag before she could flee, "Don't change the subject! How come you're allowed to bug me for information but I can't do the same?"

"Because!" She growled, yanking her bag free and opening the door, "Respect your elders!" And with that, she strutted out of the room and perfected her dramatic exit, even if it made absolutely no sense.

"Never!" I yelled after her, even if there was no reason to. She was probably gone anyway.

"Mouahaha!" I heard her bellow in the hallway, slowly walking further away. Okay, so maybe she had heard me.

Now that she was gone and I had the room to myself, I started to realize how relaxing and calming it was to finally catch a break. My back was set comfortably on a comfy bed, unlike the awkward few nights of fail camping I had to settle with. The air was clean and fresh, unlike the insect and moss filled one of the forest. My feet stopped aching and were pulsing happily, taking to light fuzzy feeling as I promptly lost all feeling leading to them. I closed my eyes, feeling in utter bliss, before I realized that there could be someone else enjoying this moment with me as well. I dropped my hands from tummy (a comfy comfy place to set them when I have nowhere else) to my hip, taking my only Pokéball from my belt. I really hoped I would get a full team by the time I become an awesome Pokémon master, that way I'd no longer get to feel so lonely.

"Pichuu…" Spyk yawned the second I set him free, curling up on my pillow next to my face. I smiled at him and he blinked blearily back, probably not registering me since we were both ready to doze off into snooze land. I petted him as he easily fell asleep, my mind turning to mush as I followed his example and closed my eyes again. The fuzzy sensation flittered all over my senses and I relished in the feeling of sleep.

An alarm sounded loudly, right next to my ear.

I shrieked in surprise and instantly sat up, smacking my head on something hard and wooden. I groaned and fell back on my pillow, rubbing my poor forehead that took the blunt of the force. The bottom of the top bunk stared down at me, taunting me, and I resisted the urge to throw it out the window. Stupid bunk beds with their stupid wooden top-bunky-ness! I rolled over and covered my head with my pillow. Uggh, I so wasn't good in the morning. I haven't even realized there was something wiggling underneath my stomach until I was zapped to a crisp.

"Okay fine…" I grumbled, literally crawling out of bed and falling flat on the floor. "No bed for me…"

When I finally got off the floor, turned off the stupid alarm clock that Ivey thought was smart to leave on (I can't believe I slept until morning, I must've been really tired), changed into some decent clothes (my bag is so big I can fit four outfits, not including my PJs, inside of it), pulled Spyk off my bed (and getting electrocuted another three more times), made said bed, accidentally dropped the alarm out the window when it thought it was smart to start up again, and cleaned up, I finally made my way downstairs and to the kitchen. A room filled with what seemed like hundreds of trainers greeted me, most of the tables filled as people came and went like this were normal. I glanced around, suddenly awkward, not knowing what to do. The breakfast buffet was calling me though, so I put my booty in gear and got in line. After what seemed like an hour of contemplating—everything looked good man, EVERYTHING—I finally chose some chocolate chip pancakes and tried to find an empty table.

"Maia! Over here!" I heard my name being yelled and turned around, finally seeing Ivey today. Since she oddly wasn't in the room this morning, I assumed she had ditched me to continue on her own journey and I had planned to hurry my posterior over through Mt. Moon—barf—so that I could arrive at Vermilion as soon as I could, now that my only distraction was gone. Spotting her here brought conflicting emotions, since I couldn't determine if she would slow me down or help me. She was a wild card. Still, it was great to know that even though I had asked about her motive, she wasn't too grumpy about it. As I neared her table though, I found that she was with another trainer (she looked to be our age too) and they both had bacon in their plates. Upon spotting the totally awesomesauce food, I considered changing direction and getting some of my own, but I was too close to the girls to abandon ship.

"Hello," I greeted the one I didn't know with a smile, taking the seat next to Ivey and addressing her next. "I thought you left."

"Not when there's bacon." And just to tempt me, she took a very long and exaggerated bite out of said piece of sexylicious food. "Mmm!"

I rolled my eyes and turned to our audience-of-one. "I'm Maia." I waved to the weirdly silent Pichu on my shoulder. "And this is Spyk."

She smiled back, looking a bit awkward. I would be too, if I were her. "Samantha."

"It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too."

Spyk decided this was as good a time as any to hop onto the table. I let him go, unsure of what he was going to do, but then I grabbed his tail and stopped him when I realized his true ambition was for Ivey's bacon that was still dangling from her slowly eating mouth. "Spyk, no. You're too obvious."

"Pi…" He grumbled, sitting down on the spot, eyes still locked hypnotizingly on the bacon. Ivey snickered and waved the piece of meat tauntingly in front of his face, and I quickly picked him up and moved him to my lap before he would pounce. I kept one hand to hold him in place (if I didn't, he would run off to steal someone else's food) and used the other to savor my own food. I saved him a few pieces though, and he was really happy stuffing his face until he couldn't stuff no more, which then made him tired and had him take a nap. I started petting him as a distraction, letting Ivey and Samantha chat idly about stuff I didn't really care about (hot springs, malls, beaches, guys, etc.) until my ears bled.

"Come on out and eat, you guys!" Ivey suddenly surprised me as she activated all three of her Pokéballs, three matching beams of red light soon taking form next to her. I watched on curiously, almost on the edge of my seat to see her team. I had wanted to see them earlier, but I wasn't going to pester her about it. I knew that if I stayed around her long enough, I'd get to see them. A servine was the first to appear, sniffing the air before its sights zeroed it on the food in its master's plate. It literally glued itself to Ivey's side. "That's Vivian." The next two appeared at the same time: a bayleef, which was too big to fit under the table if it needed to hide, and a bulbasaur, who was shaking in horror once it saw all the trainers around it. "And those two are Lily and Momo, respectively."

"What are you doing with so many rare starters?" Samantha asked in surprise. She had the right to be, and I swear my own jaw would be near my ankles if it weren't for my trusty skin.

I think the better question would have to be my own. "Did you take them from other trainers?"

"No!" Ivey gawked at us, putting a hand on her heard and feigning hurt. "How can you say that?"

"Well, you have more than one starter." Samantha started, holding up her fingers as she listed off. "It's a known fact that you can only get a starter from the region you are born from." Another finger went up. "The Professors are super picky about who they give their starters to." She was at finger four now. "And it is also known that they only allow one starter a person." Oh my goodness, she was still going on. Did this girl know her stuff or what? "Also, in the case of trading Pokémon, 90% of trainers would want another Pokémon of the same value in return, unless it's for personal reasons. Therefore, you'd have to trade starter for starter, or no deal." My gosh, how many reasons does she have in mind? "And there's also—"

"Okay, okay!" Ivey held up her hands in surrender. "I get it! You don't like that I have such epic Pokémon!"

"That's not—" Samantha instantly started to defend, but I quickly cut her off, just as Ivey bent over and placed a few plates of Pokémon food on the ground for her team.

"How do you have those Pokémon?"

Ivey straightened up and winked, "I worked out a deal with the Professors."

"You slept with them?" Samantha hissed incredulously, leaning over the table to make sure no one else heard. I gaped and gave Ivey a horrified look.

She caught it and shook her head a few thousand times, "No! I would never do that!"

"Wouldn't surprise me," I threw under my breath.

Ivey shoved me and stuttered a bit before finally saying something straight. "I-I got special permission! I work for this special group in Unova and because of their help, I worked something out with the Professors. And it's a bonus that I get to choose which ones too, since I really like grass Pokémon." She smiled down at her team but then propped her chin in her hand sadly. "I love my team and all, but I hate that there's only five grass starters. I have one more place that I have no idea who to fill with."

"Well, the most helpful type of Pokémon to get is either flying or water." Samantha started again. I think I understood that every time she started with well, it meant a rant filled with information was coming on. "And your starters are all grass, so that brings a problem. All of your starters are uni-type, with the exception of bulbasaur who's also poison, which means you can only surf or fly from town to town, if you still want a final grass type. So tell me, which do you prefer? Flying or surfing?"

Ivey bit her lip anxiously. "Considering I'm scared of heights, I'll have to go with surfing."

"Alright, that narrows down your choices then." Samantha grabbed her cute white balloon bag—what? It looked like a balloon!—and pulled out a small red, rectangle object. One side of it curbed towards a small white Pokéball, and it opened up horizontally. "My Pokedex. It looks different because it's from Hoenn." Samantha said when she noticed my look. She searched through the list of Pokémon on it before turning it around and flashing a specific one in Ivey's face. "The only water and grass option: a lotad."

"Oh my god! That's so cute!" Ivey squealed, taking the dex in and rubbing her face on the screen, as if the cuteness could be caught. "I want it! It's perfect!"

And, as she said, it was cute. It had the tiniest little green body and the biggest green leaf on its head. I could just imagine it floating in a river, its giant lilypad the only thing seen as it waited. A yanma would near to rest and BAM! Caught! It's the perfect camouflage! Haha, it would totally be an epic Pokémon to have.

"Maia," Ivey turned to me, eyes twinkling and sparkling and doing other creepy things. "I'm coming with you to Hoenn!"

I guess that answers that question then.