Yes, they're following the recommended battle order. It's easier this way.
Florian's first song came from Galavant. You all know his second.
They slept in the living room that night, close to Sofia's bedroom door. Apparently, she didn't trust teenagers who had just met. But at least she did give Juliana permission to take sandwich ingredients, and by Tuesday they were on their way to Cortondo, once more riding Koraidon, ignoring the people of Los Platos as they stared.
"Nemona said to battle Katy first," Juliana explained. "Let me know if you want to catch something, ok?"
"I have Ralts," he pointed out. "I just want to train her and Lloyd a bit."
Training sounded like a good idea. "Ok, Koraidon," Juliana said, gripping his handlebar-horns a bit tighter, "Rotom marked Katy's Gym in Cortondo our next destination. Go in a straight line as fast and as far as you can, and if wild Pokémon show up, stop to let us fight."
Koraidon chirped and broke into a run.
Lloyd helped out a lot with the Bonsly they stepped on, but wild encounters were rare until after they passed Mesagoza - and, once again, Juliana got them lost.
But they made it to the gate with help from Rotom, and no help from Koraidon getting distracted by a sandwich shop.
Juliana added a Starly to her 'backup squad,' giggling as she did.
"Mr. Jacq is going to hate me," she said through her laughter.
"He'll train them to lead you to your classes," Florian shrugged. "And he's encouraging students to fill Pokedex pages. It's his own fault."
"Significantly less fun," Juliana said to herself, but she switched her Hoppip for her Starly anyway, taking note of her biology teacher's proud expression and wondering when it would fade.
"Training for the Bug-type Gym, then?" he asked as he sent Starly over.
"Yeah." Juliana shrugged. "I can't wait to get to Artazon, though."
"Well, Brassius is usually the second stop. He's only on the other side of Mesagoza." Juliana stuck out her tongue in disgust, to Jacq's amusement. "Not a fan of so much travel?"
"I'm not a fan of navigating Mesagoza," Juliana corrected. "I get lost on my way to class. It took me a while to get to the gate, and I had a map and a kid from Cortondo with me to get this far."
"Take your time," Jacq instructed. "You'll be fine. Just keep track of the days and you'll get to play with your reserve teams when you come back for school. There's a whole open world - all you need is a taxi and a brain."
"And food."
"That, too." He opened Hoppip's ball to make sure he was in one piece, then called him back to the ball. "I trust you."
It was the first time an unrelated adult had said anything of the sort - her stepmother hadn't even said it out loud yet, and she'd all but officially adopted her. It kind of made her want to not let him down.
Easier said than done.
She waved goodbye and stared at her phone for a while after his face disappeared, the Box device still plugged in. "He trusts me?" she asked no one.
Florian patted her shoulder. "He clearly doesn't know what he's getting himself into."
She laughed again. "Right. Well, then, back to training!"
Arriving in Cortondo that night, Florian got to introduce his friend to his parents. They were a nice couple, though they were a little concerned about the dragon floating in their swimming pool.
"He's fine," said Florian, and the two students once again had a sleepover as they prepared for the upcoming battle.
Wednesday morning, Juliana got her Gym Test assignment after meeting Nemona to confirm that this was the regular first stop. Florian and Nemona watched her, shouting encouragement...and other things.
"You're doing it wrong!" Florian shouted as Juliana kicked an inflatable olive bigger than she was through a maze.
"Shut up!" she shouted back, and gave the olive another kick down a path she could barely see.
Naturally, a Gym Trainer guarded this shortcut.
"You can get out of this sooner if you defeat me in battle," said the trainer. "Or you could take the longer path. Which do you choose?"
"I'll choose the shortcut," Juliana answered immediately, and the man sent out a Venonat.
She had so much trouble with that single Venonat that she didn't head back to the Gym immediately after kicking the olive into the goal. Constant confusion and not enough berries to fix it.
"I'm in no condition to challenge Katy," Juliana said as they left the test area.
"Probably not," Nemona agreed. "But that's ok. There's opportunity to grind for it."
"We might need a montage," Juliana laughed, and Nemona laughed with her.
Florian, on the other hand, cleared his throat and started singing.
"There comes a time in every tale.
When the hero must prevail.
Gonna be an epic fail -"
"Not the kind of montage music we're looking for," Nemona interrupted.
Juliana stared at him for a while longer. "I didn't know you could sing."
He brushed it off. "My cousins like to drag me into family karaoke nights," he said as an explanation. "Girls, right?"
The people he was talking to, both girls themselves, made eye contact briefly. Then Nemona shrugged.
"My sister and I do karaoke nights sometimes," she confirmed. "I'm not bad. But Florian? A little different this time, please."
Juliana nodded. "Yeah, no one knows that song."
Florian and his Rotom went into a quick one-man-one-mon huddle. Then Rotom started playing a familiar tune, and Florian began singing along.
"I wanna be the very best
Like no one ever was
To catch them is my real test
To train them is my cause..."
When the girls joined in, laughing as they did, things began to look up.
The montage worked. Defeating wild Fidough and Jigglypuff, Juliana managed to evolve Webby into a Quaxwell and take Fletchling and Starly to decent combat levels. With this, she decided to challenge Katy for her first badge.
Katy was a pretty woman, curvy but not overweight, with antennae stitched into her hat to match her baker's uniform to her Gym Leader specialty. Juliana wanted to get a hat like that, it was adorable.
"So you're the challenger that Champion Nemona told me about," Katy said with a warm smile. "She said you were strong."
"I did beat her in battle once or twice," Juliana confirmed. "I think she was holding back, though."
"I was," Nemona confirmed to Florian, quietly.
"No kidding," was his sarcastic response.
Katy and Juliana didn't hear either of them. "I hope you don't mind me seeing your strength for myself," Katy said, already selecting her first Pokeball. "Are you ready?"
"Probably not," Juliana admitted. "Let's go."
Katy's first choice was a Nymble, a cricket Pokémon with its third set of legs folded up. Juliana tested things out with Starly first.
Starly took care of Nymble, but Katy's second choice was a Tarountula. The combination was too much for the first bird, and Juliana panicked and sent out Azurill instead of Fletchling like she'd planned. Azurill went down quickly, and Juliana sent Fletchling to finish the job.
Then out came the Teddiursa. Juliana was confused for a moment, and recalled Fletchling to swap her out for Webby. She called for a Wing Attack, just as Katy decided to Terastallize.
The Wing Attack missed. Teddiursa got in a good hit, but when Webby Terastallized too, an Aqua Jet took care of it. Katy's face twisted at her loss, but she wiped it off immediately to give her challenger another bright smile.
"Wonderful," she said, recalling Teddiursa and reaching into a pocket on her apron, silently wondering how she would have fared if she hadn't held back. "Champion Nemona told the truth. You were fantastic, Juliana."
Juliana smiled back. "And all I had to do was not think!"
Florian groaned at the phrasing. "I'm gonna go help Arven make sandwiches," he told Nemona, who looked confused but accepted it.
"You don't want to be a Champion?"
"I want to be an archaeologist," Florian pointed out. "Championship is secondary to ancient artifacts."
"I'm not hearing a no," Nemona teased.
"I'm not saying a no. I'm saying a 'not this time.' Maybe next year."
Nemona waved. "I'll tell her you chose sandwiches over having an epic rivalry," she said, and he waved back as he took off, hoping that Arven hadn't found that Herba Mystica without him.
There were many large Pokémon in the area that Arven was. The path between Mesagoza and Artazon was rumored to have a giant crawling the area, so he was sure that the Titan was here.
He couldn't find any Herba Mystica, no matter how many large Klawf and Spoink that his Shellder defeated. He hoped that Florian would show up soon.
And he remained oblivious to the enormous shell blending into a cliffside.
TEAMS
Juliana: Webby (Quaxwell, female) Lechonk (male) Tarountula (male) Fletchling (female) Azurill (female) Starly (female)
Juliana's reserves: Fidough (female) Pawmi (male) Hoppip (male)
Florian: Lloyd (Sprigatito, male) Ralts (female)