I never expected to have started traveling with Korrina. I will continue to emphasize this. That was a complete and total curveball I wasn't expecting. But something I'd accept wholeheartedly. I wasn't the most social of people, but it would be nice to have some form of human interaction. And again, the expenses for this entire trip would be halved with her tagging along. At least until we reach Geosenge or Shalour. So for the time being, I sealed my fate, and was stuck with Korrina for the long haul. Kalos was a massive region after all. No way we'd cover that much ground in days. Not even Ash could do that much.

After bringing Yuffie to the Pokèmon Center for her check up, I stocked up on some more pokèballs and potions. After that, we hit the road. Route 4 was a lot larger than I was really expecting. But I guess the games were limited in scope at the time. Especially on the 3DS. The anime gave a much broader scope, but didn't emphasize the sheer amount of areas around.

We'd walked past rivenes, several forests, a cave or two, a couple of ditches, but we stuck to the main road that would take us to Santulune. There were a lot of wild Pokèmon roaming about, mostly Bug and Flying types. None of that caught my eye, and it was best not to bother them. If I could recall, after one of Clemont's many inventive failures, they'd attracted an entire horde of Beedrill.

... Wonder if I could outrun an entire horde of Beedrill. Hm.

Ah, I wasn't gonna go actively provoke danger! Danger comes to me! That's how it typically goes with protagonists that get thrown into the Pokèmon world anyhow. They try so hard to avoid all the danger and trouble that comes their way but gets dragged into it anyway because Arceus wants the story to progress. Psh, I say bring it on!

Korrina had foregone her helmet and rollerblades, leaving her blonde hair and high ponytail free. And let me tell you, girl is a talker. Like christ, if anyone is the definition of extrovert, it'd be Korrina. She kept yapping, talking about random things like her family, to the trainers she'd battled, and how she wound up in Lumiose City.

Apparently she saw what Ash did on the news and came all the way over to challenge him to a battle. Surprise, surprise, he was long gone by the time she met me. And then she ran into me. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone in Kalos saw what happened back at Lumiose. Wonder if it was broadcasted worldwide.

You ever wonder what Delia thinks of her son getting into so many life threatening situations everyday of the week? Arceus bless her soul. I'm surprised she didn't get grey hairs. Oh hey, Korrina is speaking again!

"It's getting dark." Korrina hummed, peering up at the darkening sky. "Think we should set up camp."

"Sounds alright to me." haven't done camping in a long time. How fun. "You set up the campsite, I get the firewood?"

"You got it!" Korrina shot my a thumbs up while Lucario offered a nod.

And so we split off! With me and Tifa walking deeper into the forest. By the time got done, Korrina and Lucario should be about down. I stretched my arms over my head with a grunt and looked around. "Alright. Let's get this wood!"

Tifa nodded with a hum and looked around. As did I. I only have one thing to say as the darkness creeped into the woods.

"It's dark as shit out here!"

Creepy, much? I never liked super dark places, especially as a kid. Scared the shit out of me, even when I knew nothing was there. I'm in the woods though, where potentially wild Pokèmon roam. And while I'm confident in being protected with Tifa and Yuffie, as well as Korrina being around. But still, couldn't help but be the tad bit nervous. Nevertheless, that didn't stop us from collecting any wood.

Couldn't shake the feeling we were being watched, though.

Once me and Tifa collected enough wood, we made it back to the camp. Korrina and Lucario had just finished setting up the tents and campfire respectively. She beamed as she saw us approached. "Awesome! You got the wood."

"Didn't expect us to pull off that simple of a task?" I quipped with a roll of his eyes, dumping the stacks of wood onto the would be campfire.

"Nah, didn't mean it like that! Well, maybe." Korrina smirked as she dug into her bag and pulled out a lighter, and began lighting the wood. "You used a Poison Type move on a Steel Type."

I paused, blinked, and grimaced. "In my defense, I wasn't trying to poison Lucario, just get him away." I sheepishly unclipped Yuffie's pokèball and let her out.

"Still~ that a sure fire rookie move." Korrina smiled and sat down, with Lucario taking a seat next to her and nodding in agreement. "You just started, right? You seemed pretty in tune with Pokèmon you just caught."

I blinked owlishly and scratched the back of my head in confusion. Huh. She did have a point. It's only been what... a day, going on two? I knew I wasn't expecting to be a skilled battler so soon, but it felt oddly natural issuing commands, fighting with Tifa and Yuffie. That, and I was really just emulating Ash's enthusiasm and confidence... it seemed to work so far. I reiterated my thoughts to Korrina, save for the last part, and she nodded, humming.

"Well, I've heard research about trainers having an innate understanding of Pokèmon, the aspects of a bond unifying the mind." Korrina mumbled, grinning sheepishly. "It was some spirituality mumbo jumbo, though. Heh!"

"Considering the world we live in, I wouldn't be surprised." I muttered dryly as I pulled out the bag of pokèpuffs Nurse Joy had given me and offered them to Tifa and Yuffie, smiling as they happily ate away.

"True that!" Korrina nodded, pulling out a bowl and container full of what looked like kibble, pouring it in the bowl and handing it over to Lucario, before pulling out a ration bar from her bag and taking a large bite out of it while shooting me a curious look. "Say... about your dream?"

"Mm?"

"About fighting the strongest trainers. How far will you go with that?"

I blinked in confusion. "Whaddya mean?"

"Well. You said Kalos was the start." Korrina leaded forward with a curious glint in her eye. "Does that mean you'll go to the other regions and battle all the gyms there too?"

I stared at her blankly and glanced up in thought. My dream... I wouldn't necessarily call it a dream. Nothing as grand as that, but it was something I wanted to do. Travel the world, meet new Pokèmon, fight strong trainers... I wanted to do it all. I got my first taste of battle in a day, and it was exhilarating. I'd never had such a rush before in my life. I want to experience that more.

"I'll battle all the notable trainers in the world. The strongest, work my way up to the top... win or lose, I want that rush of battle. The adrenaline." I grinned at her. "There are tons of trainers I wanna fight. Cynthia, Alder, Steven, Lance, Red-"

"Red?" Korrina blinked in surprise, cocking her head to the side. "The Strongest Champion? Nobody's seen that guy in... years. He's pretty much presumed dead!"

"It was said that he was last seen heading to Mt. Silver, right?" I shrugged. "I'm thinking after I'm done here in Kalos, I'll swoop on by and see for myself."

Korrina gave me an incredulous stare. "One of the most dangerous places on the planet. And you're going there to fight a guy that might not even be alive."

I gave her a goofy grin to spite her. "Yep!"

Korrina stared in silence, snorted, and broke out into a fit of giggles. I blinked owlishly at her as she clutched her sides and shuddered with laughter. "Snrk--you're a weird guy, Apollo!"

"Gee, thanks." I grumbled, fishing out a ration bar and taking a bite out of it. A bitter chocolatey flavor washed over my tongue and I gulped it down, restraining the urge to retch. How did she eat this? "Totally not soul-crushing to be called weird by a girl."

That only made her laugh harder. "I meant it in a good way!"

After Korrina calmed down, she chomped down the rest of her ration bar and grinned. "Still, though. If you're gonna really challenge the strongest trainers in the world, you've got a looong way to go!"

"The heck is that supposed to mean?"

"Poison Type move. Steel Type."

She's never gonna let me live that down, is she? I rolled my eyes and snorted. "Okay then, oh wise one. Why don't you teach me a thing or two?"

Korrina blinked and cupped her chin in thought, and nodded her head. "Hmm. Sure! Why not?"

I blinked. "Wait, what?"

"Well, you asked for help, right?"

"I was being sarcasti--"

"So I should help! Plus, we'll be on the road for a couple of days before we reach Santulune. You should get some training in before challenging Viola. She's pretty strong." Korrina tapped her chin and nodded to herself. "Right! Rest up! I've got a regiment in mind for ya. First thing in the morning, we start training!"

I sighed and scratched the back of my head. Oh, well. Getting training from a Gym Leader could prove helpful. And she did have a point. I need to get stronger if I wanna battle the people I have in mind. Wouldn't be much of a fight if I got put down flat of my ass.

I up and collapsed onto my sleeping back with a grunt, folding my arms behind my head and yawning. "Alright, then. You're the master. See you in the morning, Korrina. Night."

"Night!"

The need for sleep took ahold of me faster than I thought. Next thing I knew, I was out like a light.

[WHITEMAGE]

"RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE AND SHINE, SLEEPYHEAD!"

I totally did not scream like a bitch and leap to my feet. In no way did I do that. I immediately revoke everything that I said. I'm lying and walking down the path of delusion. I did in fact scream like a bitch. I wasn't expecting Korrina to have that vocal range, let alone test it out on me. I think I had a valid reason to be a little startled.

I shot Korrina a tired glare. "Could you not have tried something else instead of screaming?"

Korrina blinked. "I did. I tried shaking you like 10 times!"

...

"Ugh, fuck..."

"Language."

"Oh, pipe off!"

Korrina snickered at my expense. The fiend. "I told ya to wake up bright n' early. C'mon, there's training to be done!"

I yawned, rubbing the sand out of my eyes. "Yeah, okay..."

I blinked owlishly as the ground shook, and I turned to bear witness to Lucario setting down a massive boulder. My brows rose as the jackal dusted off his paws and let out a proud growl as Korrina grinned. "It's common consensus that Audino are regarded as support Pokèmon." she placed her hands on her hips. "That's why they're partnered with Nurse Joys across the region. Aside from Chansey, they're one of the best healers to date!"

"But they know plenty of physical attacking moves as well."

"Right." I nodded, I knew all of that already. "I was planning on looking for TMs for Tifa..."

"Technical Machines?" Korrina scoffed, earning a blink from me. "Sure. If you want to drain your pockets dry and take a shortcut."

I frowned in confusion. "... huh?

Korrina smiled lightly and crossed her arms. "Sure, TMs are an efficient way of teaching Pokèmon new moves, but they're expensive. Seen as a shortcut. But they aren't as potent as being trained naturally!" Korrina turned towards the boulder. "Tell me, do you know about Aura?"

"Only the basics." I muttered. "It's basically life force. All living things have it. Humans, Pokèmon, plant life... it's a tangible force that can be manipulated. Like the Lucario line, are hypersensitive to Aura and can use it to form attacks like Aura Sphere."

"Not bad~" Korrina smirked. "But that's not all there is to it!"

My brows rose in confusion and Korrina's smirked widened. "Get Tifa and Yuffie up! They're gonna need to soak this in."

I shrugger. Tifa remained out of her pokèball since the beginning of the journey, all I had to do was shake her awake and inform of the situation, before sending Yuffie out and doing the exact same thing. Soon enough, both of them stood at attention and stared at Korrina intently. I almost snorted in amusement. If there was one thing about this girls, they were certainly attentive.

"Right. Now! While that is common knowledge of Aura, it runs deeper than that." Korrina folded her arms as Lucario stepped up to her side. "All moves that Pokèmon use, are them unconsciously using a variation of Aura, known as Type Energy. Pretty self-explanatory. Aura is malleable, and as such, when exposed to different elements, takes on new forms. Expose Aura to electricity, and it will develop an affinity for lightning. Every Pokèmon of every type use a specific Type Energy, and in some instances like dual types, two variants!"

"A Fire Type has a strong affinity for Fire Type energy, water for Water Type energy, so on, so forth." Korrina held up a finger and took on a lecturing pose, smiling. "But Pokèmon can learn different moves that have a different Type Energy than the ones they are accustomed to. It's just harder to learn, which requires extensive training to learn the energy, and then manipulate it into the move proper. TMs just kickstart it into the brain and give them innate knowledge of, but it starts off super weak, and at times, takes longer to master. Far from true mastery."

... I guess that makes sense. It's basically like playing an RPG. You can either grind hard the normal way and gain effective new buffs and skills, and even get new items you'd miss, or you can use cheat codes and mods to breeze through it all with little to no effort. That's how it worked in Pokèmon, too. But I'd forgotten how expansive TMs could be. I wouldn't have to worry about it in game, because I could just go and grind for more cash, and buy some.

... But this isn't a game. Everything is real. I have to worry about actual expenses. If I waste time buying TMs, I could end up running out of money. I won't be able to buy supplies if I have to stay on the road, no food, no water, not even being able to afford a place to stay. And you can't rely on trainer battles solely for your source of income. Technically, you can, but it's far from efficient. I couldn't treat this like a huge game, or apply game mechanics to everything.

I winced, nodding. "Right. I see where you're going with this... we're gonna be training to teach Tifa and Yuffie a new move. Which ones are we gonna teach them?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Korrina pumped her fists with an excited grin. "I've heard of Audino being capable of using moves like Fire Punch and Ice Punch. Lucario doesn't know those, but he knows the next best thing! Drain Punch and Focus Punch. Admittedly, Focus Punch is a bit too advanced for Tifa right now, so I think Drain Punch is a good starting point." she gestured to the boulder. "Hence, the boulder! Tifa's gonna continue to punch it until she can muster up enough fighting spirit to channel her Aura into a ferocious punch. Drain Punch focuses on draining the opponent's energy and power and adding it to your own! And since Tifa is an Audino, it should come naturally with a bit of difficulty. It's basically the reverse of healing!"

Tifa blinked in surprise and swiftly nodded, marching up to the boulder and striking it with a punch, wincing at the hardness of the boulder. Lucario let out a low chuckle but shut up as she shot him a glare. Then she began striking the boulder in quick succession. I smiled and looked back at Korrina. "Alright, and what about Yuffie?"

"There's not a lot of attacking moves that Lucario has that would work for Yuffie aside from maybe Earthquake. But she's still young. I'd say we wait until she's evolved into a Nidorina before trying to teach her that move." Korrina palmed her fist and beamed. "Which is why we're gonna teach her something that suits her current fighting style! Double Team!"

My eyes widened in realization. Right... Double Team was a speed based move that involved creating illusions, or afterimages of yourself to disorientate the opponent. But they were more like shadow clones, if anything. Hell, the Japanese translation called it Kage Bunshin, which meant shadow clones. The afterimages could act independently and even fire off the same attacks as the Pokèmon who used it. Like Ash's Greninja.

Considering that Yuffie was surprisingly fast and nimble, it was no wonder why teaching her Double Team would prove useful. It was practically made for her. I could already think of the combinations I could pull off with an army of Yuffies. The terror we'd strike into our enemies would go down in history!

Korrina shot me a weird look. "Uh... you good, there?"

"Huh?"

"You started grinning like some weird supervillain for a second."

I blinked. "Uh... oops?" Korrina continued to stare at me in silence and I coughed into my fist sheepishly. "That sounds great! You've really thought this out, huh?"

Korrina puffed her chest out proudly, snickering. "Trust me. When it comes to training? I'm a bonafide master."

I couldn't help but smirk at her smug attitude, shaking my head. "Alright then, master. Show us your ways."

Korrina blinked, a hint of red dusting her cheeks from embarrassment before she pumped her fists with an enthusiastic grin. "You've got it! Let's get started!"

Lucario led Yuffie along a little ways away from us in a more open area to teach her the fundamentals of Double Team. While Tifa worked on trying to grasp Drain Punch, me and Korrina decided to clean up camp. She said something about teaching me battle fundamentals and things like that, all to prepare for that battle against Viola. Can't say I'm not pumped, but I have a feeling that with someone as gung-ho as Korrina, it's gonna be far from easy.

Shouldn't be too bad, though.

... I think.

A/N

Bit of a shorter chapter this time, just to slow down a bit. The last half was bit too expository, but eh, it's fine. I was gonna include the entire training regiment and a little extra in this chapter, but I thought all of that deserved to be it's own chapter.

Extends the journey through the route some more, too. 'Sides. Not much plot heavy stuff would go down on this section, anyhow.

I don't want to keep this A/N long, but I just wanna say thank you for all the support and positibe reception so far for the story! Means I'm doing something right, but there's a long way to go. I'm gonna be honest when I say I didn't expect this to pick up as much as it did, or rake in so many favorites and follows so fast.

Far faster than my other stories, anyhow. Like, I'd literally go to sleep, wake up, check the site, and I have like, 20 notifications each of pure follows, favorites, and positive reviews. It means a lot, honestly!

This A/N is dragging on a bit to long, so yeah! Thanks for support, and I hope to bring more quality content. Be it with this, or any new story I make. :)

See you next chapter! Oh, and let me know of your thoughts on Korrina's characterization. I'm trying to make it a mix of the games, anime, and manga, but I also want it to stand as it's own unique interpretation. I personally like her, it's fun to write her, and I'm looking forward to writing things from her perspective soon, but I just wanted to your thoughts!

Okay. Seriously. Peace!