Roy woke up the next day still feeling uneasy. When Antonia did not answer his gentle knock at the door to her room, he let her be. It might have been a cowardly thing to do, but he did not want to press her before she was ready. Far easier to go to enjoy the pokémon center's complimentary breakfast and to eat it in as much silence as his rambunctious pokémon would allow him.

Struggling to keep his nidoran from running away and his charmander from taking the smaller pokémon's food was enough to distract Roy from the strangeness between himself and Antonia. At least, until he ventured back to the lobby of the pokémon center and found Miles, the trainer who had refereed Antonia's match with Sabrina.

The younger boy had been sitting on the lobby's couch next to a pink-furred pokémon with vacant eyes which breathed through its mouth in a steady rhythm. When he saw Roy, Miles got up from the couch in a flash. "Hi, Roy!" he said cheerfully. Roy's hand reached out to meet Miles' automatically.

Charmander and Nidoran looked at the stranger and his pokémon cautiously, but were soothed when Roy said, "Hi, Miles. How's it going?"

"Pretty good, pretty good," answered Miles quickly. "How about you? And Antonia, is she around?"

"I'm okay, I guess. I don't know about Toni. I haven't seen her since last night."

Miles' face fell as he said, "Oh. Is she feeling down about losing to Sabrina? I mean, she shouldn't. Hardly anybody beats her the first time."

Roy nodded and said, "Sure, sure. But it doesn't feel that way to her."

"Yeah, I got that feeling. That's why I'm here, it's gym business, actually. Sabrina found out that you two were staying here and sent me over to see how Antonia was doing, and to see if you were still interested in challenging her."

Eyes widening, Roy asked, "Me?" His blue eyes shot over to where his Charmander and nidoran were examining Miles' lethargic pokémon. Nidoran was sniffing it cautiously while Charmander was more direct in his efforts and was poking it gently with one of its claws, but neither seemed to be bothering the lazy pokémon. The only evidence that it gave of not being comatose was a gently rumbling yawn. "I don't know if we're up for it. Antonia's way better at pokémon battling than I am. I haven't beaten a single gym leader yet."

It felt good for Roy to admit that to someone, but the revelation did not seem to faze Miles. "Still, you might be surprised at how you do," the boy said before shrugging his shoulders. "It's up to you, but Sabrina wanted to check."

"Do you know how other people have beaten her?" Roy asked suddenly. He hurried to add, "Not that I want any tricks, but it might be good for Antonia."

Miles tapped his finger against the side of his nose and said, "Sorry, Roy, no can do. I can't give any hints. I'm sure that you and Antonia can figure something out if you think about her battle though."

Before Roy could ask the other trainer to elaborate, Antonia appeared at the entrance of the hallway leading to the pokémon center's cafeteria and rooms for traveling trainers. She looked much more disheveled than usual, with her usually restrained brown hair tangled and unruly. Antonia was wearing her pajamas although the sun had been up for hours and she looked confused behind her thick glasses, at least until she saw Roy and Miles. Then life came into her eyes and she shrank back as if anticipating a physical blow. Neither Roy nor Miles could say anything to her before Antonia turned around and disappeared back into the safety of the corridor.

"Sorry, I've got to talk to her," Roy said.

He immediately went to gather up his pokémon from the couch while Miles stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled ruefully. "Good luck, Roy. I hope that we'll see you two back at the gym soon."

"Yeah, sure," Roy delivered his reply without looking at the other boy. He did not bother to say goodbye, either, as he rushed towards where Antonia had disappeared with his nidoran in one arm and the other pulling Charmander after him.

Antonia had already retreated to her room, and Roy knocked on the door. His blows were more forceful than the timid knocks from earlier that morning, and this time he earned a response from his friend. Unfortunately, Antonia limited herself to saying, "Go away, Roy," through the thin door.

"Come on, Toni, let's talk," Roy said. "What are we going to do?"

At first, no answer was forthcoming, and Roy was about to start knocking again when Antonia's dulled voice started again, "I'm going to stay in here until you go away, then I'm going to get some food, and then I'm going to spend the rest of the day in my room. You can do what you want. You can challenge the gym and you can win or lose. I don't care."

Roy sighed and let his head fall against the door with a "thud" which echoed in the narrow space of the hallway. "I'm not going to the gym, Toni. Not without you. If you want to spend the day being sad, that's okay. But I don't think you should be sad alone. I'll sit out here and wait for you to open the door, even if I have to wait all day."

"I'm not going to open the door."

"What if I brought you some breakfast?"

Antonia's response was a long time coming, but Roy was already smiling before she conceded, "Okay. But just so you can give me the food."

"Yeah, you've got it!" said Roy. He fumbled with the poké balls taken from his pockets and recalled his two pokémon without either of them objecting.

The cafeteria was nearly empty, and the hot food had been put away but there was still a plate of pastries which had been donated by one of the nearby bakeries. There was also a bowl of fruit left out for latecomers. Roy grabbed enough food that he nearly overloaded one of the disposable boxes with his selections. The lid would not close, and so Roy returned to Antonia's room with measured strides as he worked to balance all the food he had procured. With his hands occupied, Roy knocked on Antonia's door with his forehead.

When she opened the door, Roy hurried into her room before she could stop him. "I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I grabbed a little bit of everything," he said. "You can have whatever you want, and then you could save the rest for later. Or give it to me!"

"Thank you," said Antonia as she picked out an orange from the tottering pile of food and started to methodically peel it. Roy put the box down on the small table by the room's bed and looked at Antonia while she continued dismantling her piece of fruit.

"So, I know that yesterday's battle with Sabrina didn't go well," Roy started to say, and he continued talking over Antonia's groan, "but I got an idea when I was talking to Miles from the gym."

"I bet it's a great idea, Roy, and you can try it in a battle with Sabrina, but I'm going to stay here."

Roy shook his head. "Oh no, there's no way that I'm going to beat Sabrina if you couldn't do it."

"What?"

"My idea is that we should just get going. There are other gyms you can challenge, and we can come back to Saffron City when you're stronger."

Antonia had pulled out a slice of the orange in her hand, but stopped it on its way to her mouth as she looked at Roy. "You mean that I should just give up?"

Roy's head shook again, more vigorously. "No, not giving up. You're still going to come back and beat Sabrina. You're just going to do it when you're ready, like how I'm going to go back to Pewter City and Cerulean City to get the badges that you won and I didn't." There was something guarded in Antonia's expression, but Roy continued to push for his plan. "Saffron City is, like, the center of the region, right? So, we can probably swing back through here without any trouble. Who knows, we might even run into Jesse again!"

Antonia had to finish chewing her mouthful of fruit before she could answer Roy. "It still feels like running away."

"It's not running away," Roy insisted. "It's like they told us in school. Sometimes you have to try and tackle a problem from a different direction if you can't get it at first."

"No one ever told me that."

Roy waved away her comment. "We're not giving up, Toni! Neither of us! I want you to eat up, take some time to get ready, and think about where you want to go next."

He started for the door and Antonia called after him with just one of the many questions that she had for Roy, "Where will I meet you?"

"How about in the square across the street? Then we can get going to wherever you want to go!"

Roy bustled out of Antonia's room leaving her alone with her food and her thoughts. She waited for the door to close behind Roy and then she resumed eating the orange in her hand. Soon, her eyes were no longer dull but alive with the activity of the brain which lay behind them.

The rest of the morning saw Roy wandering around the meeting space he had chosen for himself and Antonia. It had once been the sight for some planned development which never materialized, and the area had since been reclaimed by enterprising trainers as a makeshift venue for pokémon battles. A few vendors of food and trinkets had been attracted by the activity and potential customers and now the space belonged to those resourceful souls.

Once he had crossed the busy street, Roy had let his pokémon out of their poké balls again so that they could explore the new location. Nidoran jumped at every stray sound, and since there were so many of them for the timid pokémon to worry about, Roy ended up carrying his nidoran before long. The heat was mounting as the morning turned into midday, and the air over the pavement was shimmering. Roy's shirt was growing damp with sweat, especially where he held Nidoran's little body against his chest, but he did not mind it so much. For his part, Charmander seemed particularly energized by the heat. When Roy thought that Antonia would still be a while in meeting them, he let Charmander talk him into approaching one of the rough arenas which were hosting friendly pokémon battles.

"Okay, okay," Roy said good-naturedly, "just let me finish paying for this and we'll see who we can challenge!" With that, Roy handed over his money to the vendor for the trinket he wanted and then stuffed both the small item and his change as far down into his bag as he could reach. Charmander had been watching him with ill-disguised impatience and when Roy said, "All right, let's go," the orange-scaled pokémon snorted two small clouds of smoke from his nostrils before leading his trainer to the arenas.

Most of the trainers battling looked to be closer to Miles' age than Roy's, and their pokémon and their strategies lacked the polish of those with more experience. Roy surprised himself by identifying a few shortcomings in the tactics that were trying. He thought about what he would do, but then stopped himself with a smile. Getting Charmander to listen to him carefully enough to try out some of his ideas would be its own battle.

Still, Roy felt more confidence than he was used to feeling when he stepped up to the edge of a crude rectangle etched in the ground by a variety of colors of chalk which still had not been replaced since the last rain. Standing next to the blurred lines, Roy looked at the other trainers who had gathered to battle. One of them locked eyes with Roy and nodded.

This trainer was on the older side of the group of children, but still a year or two younger than Roy. He had red hair, a red t-shirt over his athletic shorts, and a face which was growing red under the weight over the summer sun. "Are you looking for a battle?" he asked Roy.

"Yeah, are you?"

"Sure thing!" the boy said enthusiastically. The two of them walked to opposite ends of the battlefield, replacing the two trainers who had just finished their own battle.

"I'm Roy! What's your name?"

"Ralph!" He pulled out a poké ball the top of which was the same loud color of his shirt and asked, "Are you from around here?"

Roy ushered Charmander onto the battlefield in front of him and then answered, "No, I'm actually on my first pokémon journey!"

"That's awesome! I'm going on one next year. I already got my first pokémon!" With that, Ralph twisted his wrist and sent his poké ball up in the air. It emitted a burst of red light and expelled its occupant onto the concrete between the two boys. It was a squirtle like Jesse's wartortle had been before evolving. This pokémon had the same hard shell and round head that Jesse's first pokémon had possessed, along with the same blue coloration and long tail ending in a curl, but there were differences as well. Ralph's squirtle looked smaller and softer. Next to Roy's charmander it was easy to tell which pokémon had more experience battling. Still, Ralph did not let that intimidate him. "Okay, Squirtle! Start off with a bubble attack!" he commanded.

The blue pokémon opened its toothless mouth and spat out a couple of bubbles which drifted towards Roy and Charmander. "Okay, Charmander, try and get out of the way!" ordered Roy, but his pokémon had already started moving when Roy had finished his order. Charmander darted straight into Ralph's squirtle's attack and used his sharp claws to pop each of the approaching bubbles. Each bubble produced a slight spray of liquid when it burst, and even with Charmander's reach some water landed on his skin. The effect was a hiss of pain from the pokémon's mouth and steam rising from his scales.

Both Ralph and his squirtle seemed unsure what to do now that Charmander was drawing nearer to them. "Try another bubble attack, Squirtle!" suggested Ralph. His pokémon sucked in a great gulp of air, but the distance between Charmander and Squirtle had dwindled enough that the former could slash at the smaller pokémon with his claws. The shallow scratches on Squirtle's arm made it cry out in pain and forget about its attack.

"Nice one!" shouted Roy. "Keep up the good work, Charmander!"

His pokémon turned his head to Roy, but that gave Ralph's squirtle the chance to attack. The blue pokémon lunged at Charmander's arm and closed its mouth around its foe. Charmander's cry of pain was followed by a vengeful growl. Its free limb clawed at Squirtle's bald head, but the smaller pokémon still held tight despite the lack of teeth.

"Keep holding on, Squirtle!"

"Knock it off its feet, Charmander!"

Roy's order got through the haze of Charmander's rage, and he spun so that his flame-tipped tail slapped against the smaller pokémon's stubby limbs. Squirtle swayed on its feet but remained standing, at least until Charmander pushed his weight against his unsteady foe. The squirtle tumbled onto its back, releasing Charmander's arm from its jaws as it fell. Ralph watched his pokémon struggle to right itself, but its arms and legs were too short for it to succeed.

Roy grimaced in sympathy for the younger boy's plight and said, "Hey, Charmander, help it up, won't you?"

His pokémon rolled his eyes, but he started to help Squirtle up. When Charmander was leaning over the other pokémon, Ralph's squirtle sucked in its breath again and blew a string of bubbles into Charmander's face. The attack was weak, but the surprise and the sting of the bubbles popping on Charmander's skin made him hiss. He let Squirtle slip from his grip and fall back onto its shell, with its arms and legs once more spinning uselessly in the air.

"Hey, be nice!" both trainers yelled at the same time. Then they smiled at each other.

Charmander did not show any signs of approaching the prone squirtle again, so Roy and Ralph started towards it. "I think you won this one, Roy," said Ralph as he helped Squirtle stand again.

"Thanks for the battle, Ralph," Roy said. "I'm sorry if Charmander was too rough."

"It's fine," said Ralph with a shrug. "We've got to learn sooner or later. What did you think of my squirtle?"

Roy motioned for Charmander to follow him and started to walk towards the edge of the battlefield with Ralph. The two of them talked about their pokémon and compared their plans for their respective journeys around the region. They stopped when Roy saw Antonia standing among the other trainers milling around. "Hey, thanks again for the battle, Ralph," Roy said and the two exchanged a handshake before Ralph went off to join his friends and Roy went to Antonia.

"Hey, Toni! Did you see my battle?"

"Yeah, that was great, Roy," she said, but she did not look him in the eye. "Can we talk while we walk?"

Roy nodded, but before they could go too far, Charmander made a strained noise behind them. Both Roy and Antonia turned to look at him. "Hey, Charmander, are you okay, buddy?"

Charmander growled weakly, and then he dropped down to one knee. Roy put his hand on his pokémon's shoulder and quickly pulled it back. "He's burning up! What's the matter?" Another growl was Charmander's only response before his body started to glow with a bright light which rivaled the sun in intensity. Roy and Antonia turned away from the pokémon, and when they looked back, Charmander had changed.

His body was taller and his limbs longer, as well as more muscular. A bony protrusion jutted from the back of his skull and his scales were now a deep red instead of their previous orange color. His snout was more pronounced and his sharp teeth glistened when he pulled his lips back in a growl. The changed pokémon turned to Roy and then let out a barking growl which made the boy jump with fear.

"Did Charmander just evolve?" Roy asked.

"He's a charmeleon now," Antonia said quietly.

That was all it took for Roy to recover from his initial apprehension. "Hey! That's awesome! Way to go! You look so strong, Charmeleon! Look at those muscles, wow! Too bad Jesse couldn't see this. Hey, Toni, check this out!" His hand was stroking the top of Charmeleon's new muzzle and the pokémon was smiling behind his hand.

Antonia did not rush to appreciate Roy's good fortune. Instead, she hung back as the other trainers and even a few of the shopkeepers abandoned their stands to admire Charmeleon. They complimented Roy and his pokémon, but he kept watching her and her sad eyes. Sooner than he or Charmeleon would have liked, Roy thanked his well-wishers and returned Charmeleon to his poké ball and moved through the dispersing crowd to Antonia's side. "Should we get going?" he asked gently, and she nodded.

It was quiet walking with Antonia through the streets of Saffron City. Roy tried to ask her where they were going, but did not get anything more out of Antonia than "Vermillion City." When he suggested that they get some lunch, she shook her head and insisted that they continue walking instead. The two of them grabbed a ride on a tram to the southern edge of Saffron City, and even though Roy kept trying to brighten Antonia's mood, it was no use. Antonia avoided looking at him, in favor the cityscape outside of the window of their tram.

They got out at the last stop, with Antonia still having said less than five words to Roy. They could see the edge of the city. Unlike Pewter City there were no suburbs that blurred the edge of the city and the wilderness. Instead, the city had expanded up to its current edges and then built up higher and higher. The girl was still not talking when they started walking again, but Roy found his voice.

"Why did you pick Vermillion City?" he asked Antonia. A flurry of other questions quickly followed. "Is it because you think that the gym leader there will be easier? Is it because there's a pokémon that you want to catch around there? Maybe something that can help against Sabrina. What do you think would be good against psychic pokémon anyways?"

"Roy, be quiet!"

Antonia's outburst inspired a few wild pokémon to take flight and some other travelers, mercifully distant, to look over in curiosity. As for Roy, he was undoubtedly reprimanded. The chastised boy dipped his head down to look at his feet and he continued walking down the road Antonia had selected for them. "I'm sorry, Roy," Antonia said to his back. "I just don't feel much like talking, all right? I just want to focus on getting to Vermillion City. Once we're there maybe we can think about what to do next."

"If you just want to focus on the destination instead of the journey, then I'd say you're doing the whole pokémon training journey thing wrong," an unfamiliar voice said. Both Roy and Antonia turned around to find a girl was standing a few yards away from the two traveling trainers. She was dressed in a black skirt which ended just above her knees and a denim vest left unbuttoned over her white blouse. A baseball cap sitting high on her head shielded her eyes from the sun but did not prevent the chain of her necklace from catching the light as she coked her head to one side. "Unless I'm wrong and you two aren't pokémon trainers," she said, "in which case I'm sorry, I guess."

"Yeah, we're pokémon trainers," Roy said quickly.

Now the girl allowed herself a half-smile and she rested her long index finger against the brim of her cap. "That's what I thought. Which brings me back to my original point. If you're only focused on where you're heading, then you're doing it wrong."

Antonia huffed at that. "What do you know? And who asked you?"

"Yeah, who do you think you are?" asked Roy.

"Jackie's the name, and I'm a pokémon trainer myself. I wouldn't have said anything if you hadn't practically invited my advice with your little spat." Jackie spread her hands and lowered her head with a parody of humility. "If you'd rather keep doing things your way then that's your business. I just thought I'd offer my help, as one trainer to another."

Antonia's usually wide eyes narrowed to a glare, but she did not say anything. Instead, she whipped her head away from the nosy girl and started walking again. Roy, on the other hand, did not stop himself from responding, "We've been doing all right, just so you know. Antonia's got two badges already. How many do you have?"

Instead of stopping the other trainer short, the question only served as an invitation for Jackie to walk after Roy and Antonia. "I don't have any badges yet," Jackie said without any hint of shame, "but I'm hoping to challenge Vermillion City's gym leader. Isn't that where you're heading as well?"

Jackie let her question trail off, and Antonia gave her name and Roy offered his as well. "Well, Antonia and Roy, if you really are all that, then how about a battle? It'd be good to try some strategies out before taking on a gym leader, don't you agree?"

The invitation to battle stopped Roy and Antonia in their tracks. Behind them Jackie could not see it, but Roy was aware that Antonia hands were clenched around the hem of her shirt and her face had flushed with color. Before Antonia could respond to the challenge, Roy turned around and said, "All right, you're on! I'll battle you!"

One of Jackie's eyebrows arched and she said, "Oh, I thought for sure it would be Miss High-and-Mighty, but I'm happy to take you on, Roy. Maybe you'll get a turn after I beat him, Antonia."

Antonia ignored the other girl and instead looked to Roy with an unreadable expression behind her thick glasses. "Are you sure, Roy?" she asked. "I'm okay to battle, even after Sabrina."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Roy said immediately. "I mean, she doesn't have any badges, and neither do I, so it should be a fairer fight than if you and her went at it, right?" Before Antonia could answer his question, Roy added, "Plus, I've got a charmeleon now, and I bet he can't wait to battle now that he's evolved!"

Whatever Antonia was going to say to Roy she let pass. She looked around the area where the three trainers had stopped and said to the others, "Well, it isn't up to the Pokémon League's standards, but we could use the road as the field for battling. Are you okay with me refereeing, Jackie?"

"Yeah, that's fine. I'm going to beat Roy badly enough that you can't swing things in his favor." When Antonia's face colored again, Jackie added as an afterthought, "Not that you would ever do something like that, Antonia."

"Right," said Antonia and she crossed paths with Roy and Jackie as they all assembled themselves for the battle to come.

When she and Roy were standing across the road from each other, Jackie called out, "Do you have two pokémon you can battle with, Roy?"

"Of course!"

"Then let's do a two-on-two battle." Jackie nodded at Antonia and said, "All right, count us in, Antonia."

Antonia raised her arm like she had seen the referees on her and Roy's journey do and said in a loud but wavering voice, "A battle between Roy and Jackie! Both trainers will use two pokémon and are allowed substitutions! Trainers, begin!"