Sorry for the very, very late chapter. I was hanging out with Alicia, since she had been gone for ten days.

Disclaimer: Pokémon, along with any people, places or things from it are not mine, nor do I claim it to be. The only thing I do own is myself and the dream this all started from.

"How did you get here so quickly?" I asked Ashley and Alicia as we walked back to Lavender Town along the board walks of Route 12.

"We skipped all of the Gym trainers and used Diglett's Cave to skip Mt. Moon. It was much quicker!" Ashley said, cheery, as usual.

"Which took time out of our hunt for Articuno," Alicia pouted, grouchy, also as usual.

"It was still really fast!" I exclaimed, "How long did it take you to get through the Rock Tunnel?"
"Alicia dragged me at what felt was light speed," Ashley commented, giving Alicia a death glare, "So it only took a few hours."

"Are you kidding?" I asked, "I think I need to travel with Alicia for a while."

"No, you don't want to," Ashley replied, "It hurts."

Alicia laughed, "I'm surprised I haven't dislocated her shoulder yet from dragging her."

"Well," I said, "I'm afraid I'll have to delay your journey a little longer. You can't go straight on through to Fuchsia City through that route yet. You need to go through the underground path on Route 8 to get to Celadon."

"Why?" Alicia huffed, "You have a legendary Pokémon, I want one too!"

"Because that's the way things work," I explained, "I was lucky to be chosen by the earliest legendary you can find in this region. You have to actually go through this world properly."

"Fine," Alicia sighed. She grabbed Ashley's wrist again, "If I have to do this the long way I'll do it quickly."

Alicia started dragging Ashley, surprisingly quickly through the rest of the route back up to Lavender, and presumably to Route 8.

I shook my head and continued walking at a normal pace. I had forgotten that the Snorlax on this route was so close to Lavender. I wanted to visit the fisherman on the route, but his house was to the south of the Snorlax. I guess that would have to wait.

I wandered back into Lavender Town and into the Mart to restock on some supplies and sell some useless items before heading out to Route 8 myself.

Route 8 wasn't overly long but I had to fight twelve trainers on my way to the underground path that would lead me to Celadon City.

The first trainer I fought was Lass Julia, who used two Clefairies. They were only at level 22, so it was no problem for Ivysaur to take them out. He levelled up after the battle as well, making him a level 32.

Once the battle was over Ivysaur started glowing white, like he had way back near Pewter City, when he was still only a Bulbasaur.

"No way," I said enthusiastically, "You're evolving already!"

My Ivysaur, who was about two thirds my height, including the bulb on his back grew to about double the size in a matter of seconds, right before me height. The bulb on his back opened up, revealing a flower that looked almost like a pink and yellow polka-dotted palm tree because of its size.

Once he stopped glowing I threw my arms around my newly evolved Pokémon's neck, "I can't believe you're a Venusaur already!" I said, feeling myself tear up from sheer happiness.

"Venusaur!" he said, his voice deep and majestic sounding now.

I unfortunately had to put Venusaur back in his Pokéball to continue on through the Route. I fought Gamer Rich, Super Nerd Glenn, Twins Eli and Anne in a double battle, Super Nerd Leslie, Lass Paige, Lass Andrea, Lass Megan, Biker Jaren, Biker Ricardo, and Super Nerd Aidan, all who used generic Pokémon for their titles. By the time I had finished battling them all my three Pokémon managed to reach level 33.

The last super nerd I fought against had the nerve to ask me how well I did in chemistry as a counter to my good Pokémon battling skills.

"I'll have you know," I retorted, "That my science mark was at one-hundred and one percent at my midterm mark, which was just after chemistry. Sorry, I think I have you beat in both categories."

The nerd huffed and stepped out of the way, "One-hundred and one is impossible anyway," he sulked.

"Not when you include as much information in answers as I did," I continued bragging before entering the building that would lead down into the underground path.

Mew appeared by my side as I walked through the tunnel, which was much less colourful than the other one in the region.

"Emotional enough over Venusaur's evolution?" she mocked. I knew she was only joking around though, the tone of her voice giving her away.

"You know," I said, "Your first Pokémon's final evolution is an emotional time. It shows that you've accomplished a lot."

Mew nodded thoughtfully, "I guess you're right," she said, "You've managed to do a lot since I first met you. Though we haven't done much against Team Rocket yet, this needs to change."

"I know," I replied, "If they're as much of a threat as you say then I'm surprised we haven't run into them yet."

"It certainly has been a while since I've seen any of them," Mew said, "I wonder..."

"Wonder what?" I asked, "Do you think the other legendaries are fighting them as well."

"No," Mew said, "I don't think any of the legendaries would try that without a trainer. None of the other legendaries have trainers though, and from what I've heard they're not doing anything other than protecting what needs to be protected."

"May I ask what this thing is?" I asked Mew.
"You could," she replied, "But I couldn't and wouldn't tell you."

I nodded, "Fair enough."

Finally the stairs at the end of the route tunnel appeared. I looked at my watch. This tunnel was shorter or I walked faster than I had before, because it only took only an hour, which was half of the length of time it took me to walk the other one. I shrugged and climbed the stairs while Mew disappeared. I was happy to be out of the tunnel so soon.

The tunnel was very close to Celadon City, so it took almost no time at all to get into the actual City.

"Grunt," Mew said telepathically, "Over to your left."

I looked over and saw that she was right. A Team Rocket grunt was pacing back and forth along the street.

I walked over to him, fully intent on battling him. All he would do, though, was tell me to keep out of Team Rocket's way.

After a short discussion with Mew I went to explore the city, realizing there wasn't much I could do about the grunt for the time being.