Antonia returned her gyarados and her other pokémon to their poké balls not long after Roy captured his new vulpix. "Let's get going to the pokémon center," Antonia told Roy again. "I can give Gyarados more food there and you can get to know your new pokémon." She only took a few steps up the hill towards the section of road where they had gotten off of the bus when Antonia had to stop and try and cinch her borrowed belt tighter around her waist. "And the sooner I can buy some clothes that will fit me the better," Antonia admitted reluctantly.

"Sounds like a plan!" Roy said simply. He recalled Charmeleon and Nidoran back to their own poké balls and then charged up the hill, quickly overtaking Antonia's careful pace. He waited for her at the side of the road and then remarked, "It doesn't look to be that far of a walk, but are you going to be okay with your," Roy stopped himself from saying anything more when he saw the miserable look on Antonia's face. Instead, Roy offered, "We could wait for the next bus to come. Maybe that would be easier."

"I'll be fine," Antonia said quickly, "just, ah, don't walk too quickly, please," and with that the two trainers started to walk the last few miles which separated them from Celadon City. Roy kept Antonia busy by quizzing her about everything that she knew about vulpix, about how she was going to train her gyarados, and what her plans were for battling the next gym leader. Antonia's responses came more easily the more that she talked and soon she and Roy found themselves pressing past a sign which welcomed them to Celadon City.

"There's a pokémon center," Roy pointed out, "just a bit further, Toni."

Behind him, Antonia's expression was grim but she maintained the same steady pace which had brought her this far. By the time that the two trainers entered the pokémon center through its pair of automatically sliding glass doors, Antonia's face with red from her exertions and she took a seat in one of the lobby's plastic chairs while Roy went to the dark-haired nurse who was sitting at the pokémon center's front desk.

Roy planted his elbows on the desk and smiled at the young woman. "Hi! We don't need our pokémon to be looked at or anything, but we were wondering if you could tell us how to get to any of the big department stores. Oh, and the pokémon gym! Are they nearby?"

As Roy was talking, another boy came through the doors of the pokémon center. He was big enough that he was more than a head taller than Roy even though, from his other features, he only looked to be a year or two older than the younger trainer. His shoulders were broad and his arms were muscular enough to draw the sleeves of the black t-shirt he wore under his overalls taut. The other boy looked at Roy with dark eyes which twinkled behind a curtain of shaggy brown hair and he said, "Shoot, I can take you to the department store if you'd like! I was just heading that way myself!"

"Uh, yeah, that'd be great!" said Roy after he recovered from the other boy's sudden appearance. "I'm Roy, what's your name?"

"Ian, Ian Brookes," the other boy said, and his hand swallowed Roy's in a powerful handshake. "So, you want to go shopping before you challenge the gym leader, huh?"

Roy tried to squeeze Ian's hand back, but he soon pulled back as he said, "Well, it's not me that wants to shop, it's Toni, over there. She needs some new clothes."

Ian whistled a low mournful note and said, "I don't blame her! You look like you're swimming in that outfit, Miss Tony!"

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Antonia," the girl said quietly as she stood up and very self-consciously tried to straighten her baggy clothes.

"Don't make fun of her like that!" Roy said sharp enough that Ian took a step back

"Hey now," Ian said behind his upturned hands, "I was just making an observation, friend. I didn't mean anything by it, Antonia." Despite his apology, Roy and Antonia both remained wary of Ian until he snapped his fingers and said, "Hey, let me make it up to you by taking you to the shopping district, huh? I know the way there like the back of my hand, on account of my pokémon."

The promise of help made Roy unfold his arms from across his chest, but it was Ian's mention of his pokémon which made Roy ask, "You're a pokémon trainer? That's great! Are you going to compete in the league?"

Ian seemed relieved by Roy's change of attitude as he replied heartily, "Yup! I took last year off, but my folks told me that me and my pokémon were going to eat them out of house and home so I'd better get back on the road again before they kicked me out!" While Roy and Antonia's eyes found each other in matching looks of disbelief, Ian chuckled and said, "You'll understand when you see my pokémon. Is this your first year being pokémon trainers? You both look young enough, although maybe that's just your clothes, huh, Antonia?"

"Again with the clothes?" Roy asked.

But Antonia intervened before he could get too heated. "Yes, we both got our first pokémon at the start of the summer. I already have four badges," she said, pride lifting up her voice.

This time, Ian's whistle was a quick, sharp note of appreciation. "Not bad! You'll be competing in the first-timers' tournament, then. It's my first year doing the main event, and I'm a little nervous about how I'll do against the folks who've been doing this trainer thing forever."

"We actually know AJ, the current champion," Roy piped up. "He's a pretty nice guy."

"Isn't that something? Well, how about I'll be your unofficial Celadon City tour guide and you two tell me all about the champion and how to beat him!"

Without waiting for Roy and Antonia to agree to his proposition, Ian started for the pokémon center's door and grinned when he looked back and saw the younger trainers following after him. As they started walking down a wide boulevard dotted with isolated patches of trees, Antonia asked Ian, "You said that you go shopping a lot because of your pokémon. Did I hear that correctly?"

"Yup," Ian laughed, "the same one who made me have to get back on the road so that we could earn enough money to keep him fed!"

"Are you saying that you have the pokémon that I think that you have?" Roy asked eagerly.

Ian didn't slow down, but he tapped his index finger against his head and smiled back at Roy. "You want to meet him? Maybe we can have ourselves a little battle while Antonia there goes shopping."

"But I'd like to see your pokémon, too," Antonia murmured.

"Aw, don't worry about it, you can meet him after I beat Roy!"

"Hey!"

Ian held up his hands to ward off Roy's outburst. "Whoa, just some friendly trash talk there, Roy, no need to blow your stack!" To further placate the other boy Ian asked, "Now, why don't you tell me about AJ. What's he like in the flesh?"

Roy and Antonia told Ian about AJ as best they could. Ian nodded at all of the right spots in their storytelling and asked a lot of questions, especially about how AJ commanded his pokémon. "You're telling me that his machamp was really able to wrestle your out-of-control gyarados without breaking a sweat? Shoot, I don't know what kind of training he's done to be able to pull that off!"

Antonia's body stiffened a little at how Ian referred to her gyarados's outburst, but it was soon forgotten when Ian stopped and gestured expansively to a city block overflowing with shops of every size and type that Roy and Antonia could imagine.

"Here we are! This is the best place to buy things for trainers, and not just because a lot of these stores give discounts if you have a trainer's license valid for the season!" Ian explained to Roy and Antonia. "There are stores that sell clothes and supplies and whatever else a trainer might need, but everything down this street is designed for trainers first, second, and last!" One of his thick arms pointed towards a clothing store which had a window display presenting a scene of mannequins gathered around a campsite, with every piece of clothing and equipment bearing the store's logo and a price tag. "If I were you, Antonia, that's where I'd start looking for clothes. Really kind folks behind the counter, too!"

"Oh, um, wow, thank you," Antonia said quickly. "I'll just, ah, go take a look and, ah, come back out when I'm finished." Antonia's words landed somewhere halfway between a question and a statement, but when neither Roy nor Ian said anything more to her, she scampered inside of the store as quickly as she could in her too-large clothes.

Before Antonia had even gotten to the storefront, Ian had turned his attention to Roy and said to him, "You know what the other great thing about having all of these stops trying to sell stuff to pokémon trainers is? They don't mind when you have battles here! They actually think it might be good for business!"

"That's awesome!" Roy said with a smile which rivalled Ian's. "So, how many pokémon do you want to use?"

"How many do you got?"

"Two!" Roy said at once, then he remembered his new vulpix. "I mean, three!"

Ian laughed. "What kind of trainer are you that you don't even know how many pokémon you have? How about two a side? That should give Antonia enough time to get her shopping down."

"Works for me!" Roy said and then, without waiting for Ian he threw out the dingy poké ball which he had used to catch his newest pokémon. "Let's see what you can do, Vulpix!"

The orange-furred pokémon which emerged from Roy's poké ball sat on the street on her haunches and looked back at Roy with narrowed eyes. Pointedly grooming herself with the back of her paw, Vulpix ignored Ian altogether until the boy brought out his own pokémon.

While Roy had seen plenty of impressive pokémon while traveling with Antonia, he wasn't sure what to think about the bulky pokémon which Ian had chosen for their battle. He recognized it as a snorlax at once from its distinctive shape, and he understood intellectually that it was going to be a tough opponent for him to take down, especially with a freshly caught vulpix. But at the same time, Roy couldn't dismiss his recollections of all of the goofy advertisements and products that had used a snorlax to sell everything from alarm clocks to home insurance. The thought of facing a pokémon which he primarily associated with stuffed animals made Roy want to snicker.

Ian caught Roy's muffled laughter and asked, "What's so funny, Roy? Never met a snorlax in real life before, huh?"

"Uh, no," Roy said, still smiling at the placid expression on Ian's pokémon's face. "This is the first one. He sure, uh, looks tough."

"You're just saying that, Roy," Ian said with a faint edge of challenge in his voice, "but you'll mean it when we're done with you. Go, Snorlax! Show them your mega punch!"

Roy and his vulpix were completely unprepared for how quickly Ian's snorlax moved. Its footfalls were heavy, but it only took two bounding steps before Snorlax was standing over Vulpix and swinging its meaty fist down at Roy's pokémon.

"Look out!" Roy shouted and his vulpix's paws scrambled on the asphalt to carry herself out of the way of Snorlax's attack. Even without its target, Snorlax's fist kept going and crashed through the black surface of the street so that splinters of road flew in every direction. "Oh man!" Roy shouted. "Fight back, Vulpix!"

Roy's vulpix took the time to turn her head backwards to glare at its trainer, but in delivering that rebuke, Vulpix left herself open for Ian's snorlax to deliver a second punch which struck Vulpix's side and sent the smaller pokémon skidding across the street. Although winded, Vulpix still managed to leap out of the way of Snorlax's charge which followed up its successful attack.

Even though Roy was shouting out ideas and commands, Vulpix ignored her new trainer in favor of narrowing her amber-colored eyes and then firing off a string of fiery shots at Snorlax's turning form. Snorlax's size guaranteed that Vulpix's attacks would land, but the small blows did little more than singe Snorlax's blue-black fur and elicit an annoyed rumble from deep in the larger pokémon's throat.

All of Roy's earlier amusement at battling a snorlax had vanished, and Ian's tone was less amused as well as he asked, "What's the deal, Roy? Did you just catch that pokémon today or something?"

"Well, actually, yeah!" Roy said without taking his eyes off of Vulpix.

Ian's first response was another low, mournful-sounding whistle. Then he said, "I can't say that was the smartest idea in the world, going up against my strongest pokémon with one still wet behind the ears." He struggled for a moment to come up with anything nice to say about Roy's decision, but ultimately Ian chose instead to issue another command, "Finish this quickly, Snorlax! Mega punch that vulpix into the ground!"

"Now's our chance!" Roy said excitedly. "Duck under its punch! Get right up close to it and attack!"

Vulpix was nimble enough to dart out of the shadow of Snorlax's fist sweeping down at her, but instead of charging at Snorlax's large belly, the orange-furred pokémon leapt backwards and projected another wave of fiery bursts which struck Snorlax's crashing paw to little effect.

"Huh. That's not what Charmeleon would have done."

"What are you talking about over there?" Ian asked from the other side of the street. "Focus on the battle!"

Roy didn't need to be told twice. Snorlax had continued trying to pummel Vulpix with fists as big around as Roy's torso. The smaller pokémon did her best, but Snorlax was able to shepherd Vulpix so that her back was against a wall of shops and her ability to avoid Snorlax's punishing blows was thus sharply curtailed. Through it all, and even when cornered, Vulpix didn't back down. Her eyes blazed with defiance more intense than the scattered shots of flames which she continued to spitting at Snorlax until the bitter end, when Snorlax's fist finally caught the top of Vulpix's head and sent the small pokémon crashing to the sidewalk.

His earlier enthusiasm was replaced by more sober feelings as Roy lifted his poké ball and called his unconscious pokémon back to him. "Wow, your Snorlax is incredible," Roy said, but he wasn't looking at Ian or his pokémon. Instead, he was reaching into his pocket and, as soon as his fingers found the red top of his next poké ball, Roy's grin returned in full force. "I'm glad I got to see some of what my new vulpix could do, but now it's time to show you my best pokémon! Charmeleon! Let's go!"

Roy's charmeleon emerged from his trainer's poké ball already roaring and flashing his claws to show that he was ready for battle. Charmeleon took in Snorlax's hulking form, but only grinned wickedly as he lowered himself closer to the ground before darting towards the larger pokémon to slash at Snorlax's pudgy legs.

"Whoa, you don't waste any time!" Ian laughed nervously as his lumbering pokémon stepped back first to try and avoid Charmeleon's attack but then simply trying to get away from its attacker. "Tough it out, Snorlax, then hit him with your mega punch!"

"Oh boy," groaned Roy. "Charmeleon, look out for those punches!"

The two pokémon acknowledged their respective trainers with momentary flickers of their eyes towards Roy and Ian. Then the battle continued as Snorlax raised one of its meaty fists into the sky. Before it could bring it down on Charmeleon's head, the red pokémon had halted his own attack to circle around Snorlax. Charmeleon was trying to use Snorlax's round midsection to present a smaller target for Ian's pokémon. It was an effective strategy as Snorlax was only able to land glancing blows against the boney protrusion on the back of Charmeleon's head despite its best efforts.

Ian watched the revolving pokémon and scratched his head before shouting, "Okay, change of plans! No fancy stuff, Snorlax! Just flatten that charmeleon like a flapjack!"

Roy and Charmeleon's eyes both grew wide with worry as Snorlax brought its whole body along with its next punch so that its bulk pressed down on Charmeleon. "Charmeleon!" Roy cried out as he watched Snorlax lay down on top of his pokémon.

"I hate to end a battle like that," Ian said with a shrug, "but a win's a win, huh, Roy?" Ian's hand dropped to grab Snorlax's poké ball from his pocket, but he had only just closed his fingers around it when his pokémon sprang up from the ground and backed away from Charmeleon, groaning in pain and patting at a nasty-looking burn on its stomach. Charmeleon, for his part, had flames licking at the corners of his mouth and, while bruised, he looked far from beaten.

"Sorry, Ian, you guys you should know better than to play with fire," Roy crowed with a lopsided grin. "Now, Charmeleon, while Snorlax's hurting, take it down!"

Snorlax was still unsteady on its feet as it patted its wounded midsection gingerly, and Charmeleon's charge drove his head into Snorlax's gut. The attack knocked the wind out of the larger pokémon's lungs and also sent Ian's snorlax flat on its back. It landed heavily enough that some of the storefront displays shifted or even fell over.

"Come on, Snorlax, get up!" Ian groaned, but when his pokémon didn't rise Ian returned the massive pokémon to its poké ball. Putting Snorlax back into his pocket, Ian replaced it with his next pokémon. "Pretty good, Roy," Ian said. "After your vulpix, I didn't think you were going to be much of a challenge, but I'm glad you decided to take things seriously! Your charmeleon was your first pokémon, right? Well, this is the first pokémon I ever caught. Go, Raticate!"

Ian's second pokémon was a rodent covered in shaggy brown fur which was standing upright on its hind legs. It had long incisors and longer whiskers and a pair of small eyes which darted around its surroundings though returning to Charmeleon again and again.

"A raticate?" Roy asked without bothering to hide his disappointment. "After your snorlax, I was expecting another pokémon I've never seen before. But raticate are everywhere! My brother and I had to help our dad clear out a nest of them last winter."

Charmeleon didn't share Roy's disappointment. Instead, he watched his next opponent intently and readied his claws.

"You might have seen wild raticate, but my pokémon is a cut above. Let's show them, Raticate, use your toxic attack!"

Ian's raticate snapped its powerful teeth together once with a click which made Roy wince and then it belched three missiles of nasty looking purple gunk at Charmeleon. Charmeleon opened his mouth to meet the oncoming attack with his fire, and he succeeded in reducing two of Raticate's toxic projectiles to harmless ash, but the third one broke through Charmeleon's fiery defenses to land with sickening sound against Charmeleon's head. With a growl, Roy's pokémon tried to wipe away the purple gunk from his face, but he was only partially successful. The rest of Raticate's attack had seeped into Charmeleon's scales.

"Poisoning my pokémon? That's low, Ian!" Roy complained. "But we'll beat you before we have to worry about that! Go, Charmeleon!"

Charmeleon growled his agreement with his trainer, then he lowered his head and charged at Raticate's egg-shaped body. Just as Charmeleon raised his clawed hand to strike at the other pokémon, Ian's raticate darted out of Charmeleon's reach and Roy's pokémon stumbled as his downward blow sliced uselessly through the air.

It was a sudden shock for Charmeleon to find himself in the position of being the slower pokémon between him and his opponent, especially after being nimbler than Snorlax only a few minutes before. He expressed his frustration by firing a few shots of burning hot coals at Raticate, but the shaggy pokémon danced around Charmeleon's attack with ease. Then, Ian's raticate shifted from defense to offense by pivoting in its foot after leaping out of the way of Charmeleon's last attack and then charging Roy's pokémon.

Charmeleon tried to grapple with Raticate as Ian's pokémon struck him in the midsection with its flank, but his claws had a hard time finding purchase on Raticate's furry body. Charmeleon was thrown off of his feet but sprang back to his feet in time to watch Raticate dance back to a safe distance from the angry pokémon's claws.

Roy's charmeleon was starting to sway on his feet as Raticate's poisonous attack continued to batter his body from the inside, but he still summoned up a fierce roar which made Ian's pokémon take a step backwards.

"Wow, Roy, your pokémon's got a lot of fight in it," Ian remarked with a smile that only grew wider as he said, "but we've got this battle in the bag! Go, Raticate! Hyper fang attack!"

The furry pokémon dropped to the ground and then launched itself across the uneven surface of the street like a bullet. Its forepaws reached out along with its open mouth and huge teeth for Charmeleon's torso. Even a burst of fire from Roy's tired pokémon hardly slowed Raticate's momentum.

Charmeleon was tackled to the ground and Raticate loomed over his soft belly to bite Roy's pokémon when it stopped at the sound of Antonia's voice.

"Oh, are you two still battling?"

The flames which were licking out of Charmeleon's mouth between its clenched teeth died and Roy and Ian both forgot their battle to take in Antonia's reappearance.

Gone were her baggy, ill-fitting clothes. Finally, Antonia looked like she was dressed for the summer weather, with a sensible pair of butternut shorts perfect for hiking and a light vest, unzipped, over a forest green t- shirt bearing the legend "Celadon" in white block letters. Her face was still round and soft, but the rest of Antonia looked leaner and healthier than she did in Roy's vague memories of their time at school back in Pallet Town.

Antonia was smiling, too, and even when she saw the Roy, Ian, and their pokémon were looking at her, she did not shy away from their evaluations but only asked, "Well, what do you think?"

"Wow, Toni, you look great!" Roy said at once.

"You look like a real pokémon trainer now!" Ian added.

Antonia's smile faded as she decided whether Ian's comment was an insult or merely insensitive. "Oh, ah, thank you," she finally said. "The saleslady I talked to was very helpful, she helped me find a lot more things that would fit me better, and she even took in some of my old clothes as donations so I could get an additional discount. The only trouble is that almost all of the money my parents gave me for emergencies is gone now."

Antonia forced a shrug, and this time Roy could more easily see her shoulders move than when she had been wearing her looser outfits. "But you two are having a battle, right? Is that your raticate, Ian?"

"Yeah, that's right! We were just about to finish off Roy and his charmeleon here," Ian said, only to stop himself when Charmeleon grabbed hold of Raticate with his teeth and claws and flipped the two of them over so that Roy's pokémon was pinning Ian's to the ground.

"Not cool," Ian said sourly as his Raticate strained and snapped at Charmeleon's restraints.

Roy looked proud of his pokémon, until he saw Charmeleon stagger and fall off of Raticate, landing on the pavement next to it. "Aw, come on, Charmeleon, you had it!"

Ian looked as though he was going to have Raticate to take advantage of Charmeleon's sudden weakness, and, indeed, his pokémon was raring to do so, but instead of giving the order to attack, Ian raised his poké ball and recalled Raticate with a flash of red light. "We'll call it a draw, huh, Roy? Let's get back to the pokémon center and get our pokémon fixed up. You guys really did a number on my snorlax."

"Can I see your snorlax at the pokémon center?" Antonia asked as Roy returned his nauseous Charmeleon to his own poké ball.

"Sure," Ian said placatingly as he pocketed his pokémon. "I'll meet you guys there, huh? I've got to pick up some pokémon food for the big guy before I head back."

He jogged over to a shop across the street from the one which had sold Antonia her new clothes without another word of farewell. Roy and Antonia watched him go and then they looked at each other smile. "You really do look good, Antonia," Roy said, "like a whole new person!"

"Well, thank you, Roy. Could you help me with some of these clothes? I didn't think I would get this many, and it's quite a lot to carry back to the pokémon center."

Roy took the bag that Antonia offered him and then snatched the other one from her as well so that he could carry both of them for her as they walked down the streets of Celadon City together.

I am grateful to KokoroEcho for creating the character of Ian for this story.