All rights belong to Nickelodeon, Gamefreak, Nintendo, The Pokemon Company, and Satoshi Tajiri.
[Monostoke City: Budew Drop Inn]
Silence...
There was an akward silence in the room as Lincoln was currently meeting many of the friends and associates back in the United States. He never expected in a million years to have run into them again so soon, especially in Galar!
"So... we saw your gym battle."said Clyde trying to break the ice..
"Oh, you did...what did you think..."responded Lincoln, as it was clear the atmosphere in the room was awkward to put in mildly.
"Kabu was a strong opponent, it must have been difficult taking him on."said Bobby, adding his two cents to the already awkward conversation.
"Does anyone want to say the elephant in the room or should I do it!"spoke up Ronnie Anne, as it was clear that they needed to get the tension out of the way before they could make any real conversation.
"Lincoln, care to explain to us why you decided to run off and become a Pokemon trainer on the other side of the world."said Ronnie Anne as she jabbed her finger in Lincoln's chest.
"I will admit it was a spur of the moment, a lot of mixed emotions I was feeling at that moment. But now I don't regret what I did as I finally found something I'm good at it and I'm going to see it through till the end."said Lincoln, who felt like he didn't owe anyone an explanation.
"You could have told us!"said Ronnie Anne, as she thought she and Clyde were his best friends!
"Like I said I was feeling a lot of different emotions after having a really bad day coming home and expecting your family to remember your birthday at least! I wasn't expecting a big party, I get together over some cake was all I could have wanted, heck even a birthday card! But did I even get any of that?...NO!"said Lincoln, shocking his friends and associates as they've never seen that side of him.
"Lori gets a pass cuz she was at college, and it's already difficult enough what with her having to keep up her average on the golf team as it's her scholarship, add to the fact how difficult colleges and I can understand why she was too busy. Lily's just a baby so she also gets a pass, but what about the others?!"asked Lincoln as his friends and associates began scratching their heads, as they try to think of a reason.
But Lincoln was making too much sense as he did have a point!
The least his family could have done was tell him happy birthday and have some cake, or at the very least a gift card with a meaningful message... but they didn't do any of that..
"Then I got the invitation from Professor Magnolia and I said "What the heck, can hurt."said Lincoln, who will admit it was a bit immature of him to have run out to the airport and literally ran away to the other side of the world.
But he was feeling so many different emotions of sadness and betrayal from the majority of his family forgetting his birthday! Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and his other friends remembered his birthday, so why couldn't they remember?!
"Okay... I will admit I see where you're coming from. You didn't plan to run away and not tell anyone where you were going. You were just so hurting filled with so many different emotions that you just did this on the spur of the moment, I guess I can really judge you as I a hundred percent say I wouldn't have done the same in your situation."said Ronnie Anne, as her family always celebrated all of their birthdays and made sure to at least remind the individual on their birthday that they were special to their family.
"Yeah...but Lincoln, after you came here you could have told us."said Clyde, as a call back home to his best bud would have been appreciated.
"I know Clyde and I'm sorry, I just got whirlwinded into all these different things. First meeting the champion, getting my starter Pokemon, having to save a rambunctious Wooloo from the Slumbering Weald, Meeting a mysterious Pokemon in that foggy forest, my endorsement battle for the gym challenge, and setting off or said gym challenge... I know it's not an excuse but I was just so wrapped up in the now that I forgot to call you guys and tell you I was okay."said Lincoln, as he was too busy having his adventure to remember the cold back to Royal Woods to tell Clyde he was okay.
"I understand buddy, you were following your dream and you got caught up so much in the moment that you forgot to call home. I know how you feel is I've done the same thing before when I'm in baking competitions so I can't really judge you."said Clyde, who understood where Lincoln was coming from.
"So...are we cool now?"asked Lincoln as Bobby, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne gave him a hug.
"Just remember to call us to tell us you're okay next time lame-o."said Ronnie Anne as she punched Lincoln in the arm, causing him to rub it slightly as it did hurt a little.
"So... what's your next move?"asked Bobby, wondering what Lincoln was going to do from here on out.
"What do you mean?"asked Lincoln, wondering what Bobby meant by that.
"Well... you've been traveling on your own up until now and we were hoping you would join us."said Bobby, home getting straight to the point as there is no need to sugarcoat what he wanted to suggest.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Look Lincoln normally I would try to play tough, but I thought there's been enough lies so I'll just tell you, and believe me this is hard for me to say...We need your help."said Ronnie Anne, as Lincoln did a double take.
"I'm sorry what?"asked Lincoln, as it almost sounded like Ronnie Anne was asking for help.
"Look Lincoln, we may have recently only captured our Pokemon, but you are the more experienced trainer and we were hoping you would travel with us to help us get stronger."clarified Sid, as Lincoln has had way more experience as he has been in Galar longer than any of them.
"I guess that makes sense."said Lincoln, as it wasn't that far to assume that his Pokemon were on a higher level than theirs.
"Yeah Lincoln, and plus safety and numbers and all."added Clyde, as Lincoln began to ponder on this.
'They do you have a point... I heard that the Pokemon on the other half of the Wild Area are a lot stronger than the ones in the part of the Wild Area I travel through... besides it might not be so bad traveling with a few people I know." thought Lincoln, as he knew that the gym challenge was only going to get harder from here on out.
Kabu is considered the first real hurdle, but he wasn't the last!
There was still Raihan, the top gym leader of Galar!
Bea, the fighting type prodigy!
And the mysterious gym leader who didn't show up for the ceremony that officially comenched the gym challenge.
He heard that despite the fact that that gym leader refuses to Dynamax his Pokemon, that he is easily one of the strongest gym leaders in all of Galar that even can give Raihan a run for his pokédollar!
But then Lincoln remembered something and he had got another idea.
"So... you guys want to get stronger huh?"asked Lincoln as he looked at his group of friends.
"Yeah, they literally just told you that."said Adelaide, as she could tell that Lincoln was getting at something.
"Well, I just heard from one of the league officials before I left the stadium. That Bea, the next gym leader I'm supposed to face will be busy facing other gym challenges over the next two weeks. So in the meantime I think we should go to this place to train."said Lincoln as he pulled out the past that allows him to go to the Isle of Armor.
"The Isle of Armor?"said Bobby with a confused voice as he read the card.
"What's this?"asked Sid, wondering what the point of that card was.
"This my friends is a past that allows someone to go to a small island a few miles off the coast of Galar known as the Isle of Armor. I heard that these are super hard to come by and that the island is full of extremely rare Pokemon, many of whom can even be found on Galar."said Lincoln, as he could already see that his friends were getting interested by his pitch.
"So what are you suggesting Loud?"asked Ronnie Anne, even though she had a pretty good idea of what Lincoln was getting at by this point.
"I suggest we go to the Isle of Armor together and train. I read this thing over and over again and never once does it say only one per person. I'm sure it's technically a technicality but if we want to go to the Isle of Armor together, I'm pretty sure the Pokemon League has to comply."said Lincoln, as I know he knew it was a technicality they had no reason to refuse him taking his friends with him to the Isle of Armor.
Clyde, Ronnie Anne, Sid, Adelaide, and Bobby began to ponder on this. One one hand they could go to an Island full of rare Pokemon to train for the next two weeks. On the other hand they didn't know if there was some kind of cash to acquiring a pass to go to the Isle of Armor?
But then again they were the new kids in town, so at times like this it was best to speak with the more experienced trainer.
"Alright Lincoln, we'll go with you as you're already ahead of us, we can't exactly let that gap get any bigger, can we."said Ronnie Anne, as Zigzagoon and Electrike could use some new friends to help them get stronger.
Plus she knew that Lincoln was ahead of her and she hated that, so going to the Isle of Armor with him to train to catch up was the best option!
"Yeah, me and my Pokemon could use some training... especially if we want to catch up to you."said Clyde with the final part under his breath.
Blipbug and Budew needed to get stronger as they were currently in their weak state. And according to their pokédex entries, their final evolutions Orbeetle and Roserade are some of the most powerful Pokemon known that a lot of elite trainers use on their teams.
So those two facts alone made Clyde want to go to the Isle of Armor to train!
"Well Wooloo and Snorunt can you soms new friends."said Bobby, wanting to show everyone just how good he can become as a Pokemon trainer, especially Lori and his abuela.
"I only have Growlithe at the moment, so adding a few more members of my team would certainly help."said Sid, as she was in agreement with everyone else.
"Well what are we waiting for?! Let's go to the Isle of Armor!"said Adelaide as she got up from her seat.
"Alright the only way to get there is through flying taxi, so off to Monostoke city train station everyone, that's the only place we can get a flying taxi."said Lincoln, as everyone got up from their seats and exited the Budew Drop Inn and immediately made their way to the train station.
"Welcome to the Monostoke City train station, how can I help you?"asked the train station attendant.
"We like two flying taxis to the Isle of Armor please."said Lincoln as she showed the attendant the Isle of Armor pass.
"Well... normally this is meant for one person but there is no rule saying you can bring people with you... plus these are super hard to come by, so honestly I don't want to mess with who gave you this so I'll just approve your request."said the train attendant as she immediately got on the speaker in order to flying taxis to get ready to go to the Isle of Armor.
"Alright!"said Lincoln as he and his friends high-fived!
Soon the people that would be their drivers arrived to escort them to their flying taxis, and Lincoln was amazed to see that the taxes were being flown by Corviknight, Corvisquire's final evolution.
'I can't wait until you become a Corviknight, Corvisquire.' thought Lincoln as he, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne got into one flying taxi while Bobby, Sid, and Adelaide got into the other.
"Alright, next stop! The Isle of Armor!"declared Lincoln as the Corviknight began flapping their wings and soon took off to the sky heading east, to the Isle of Armor!
He and everyone else from the United States couldn't wait to see what the island had in store for them.
Meanwhile on the Isle of Armor, an old man was busy meditating with some kind of bear like Pokemon looking at him from a distance.
"Heheh, I sense that we're going to get some interesting guests soon. I'm cheese to meet them."said the old man as he continued his meditation.