After finally getting some water, a proper meal, and a good rest, John set out in the early morning to the Pewter City gym to challenge Brock.

'It's taken me long enough to get here, but I'll finally be getting my first badge!' John was starting to get excited again, then remembered his experience with the Bulbasaur and calmed himself down.

'Alright, let's go over the game plan one more time. First up is a level 12 Geodude. It doesn't really have any options for hurting Rhyhorn, and it should go down in one, maybe two bulldozes. Up next is the level 14 Onix. Brock likes the move Bide, so I'll go for tail whips until it's locked into Bide, then start bulldozing after it fails to attack. After two tail whips, even if it Bides on a Bulldoze by then, I'll still do enough damage to take it out before it can attack.'

John tries to think of any way rng could screw him over, but can't come up with anything. Geodude doesn't even have any neutral moves, and Onix's attack stat is really low. Even if every single attack Rhyhorn got hit by was a critical hit, John should still be fine.

'But what was up with that Bulbasaur though? At first I thought Brock would be too high level for me because I was in Heartgold, but you can only encounter Bulbasaur in Let's Go, except I saw a Hoothoot when I first arrived here, and Let's Go doesn't have any Johto Pokémon.' John pondered this mystery as he walked to the gym.

'Could I have actually been transported to the Pokémon world? That doesn't make sense though. Assuming that would also mean assuming four other highly improbable things. First, the multiverse exists. Second, a world closely resembling the Pokémon world exists. Third, spontaneous travel through the multiverse is possible. Four, I just so happened to be transported to the world, once again, based on a game from my world, that I just so happen to know everything about.' Looking at it like that, there's no way John was just 'transported to the Pokémon world'.

'It seems more likely that I've either been kidnapped to use as a test subject for some secret experimental technology, or… I failed at something.'

Being in a coma may not be too far fetched. John's only problem with believing that he's in a dream is that everything feels too real.

Finally, John arrived at the gym. He walked up to the doors, and ente-

Thud

"Ow." John walked straight into the sliding electric doors that didn't open.

A few seconds later, the doors opened, revealing another trainer on the other side.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. We were just finishing opening for the day." John looked at the trainer who said this. He was wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and a cap just like a typical Youngster trainer class, but he was quite a bit older, looking around fifteen years old.

"Ah, I see. Well, could I fight Brock then?"

"Oh, you signed up? I don't remember seeing any appointments for this early in the morning."

"Appointments?" John looked at the trainer confused.

"Uhh, maybe you should come in."

John entered the Gym building, and instead of seeing the normal configuration of paths and gym trainers that he expected, he entered a pretty normal looking waiting room. Almost like a waiting room a dentist might have, but larger, and decorated much differently. Posters of strong looking trainers and Pokémon were put up, instead of posters talking about the importance of brushing your teeth.

"Alright, there aren't any appointments at this time, so I assume you're here to sign up?" The gym trainer asked.

"Yes."

"Alright, could I see your trainer card?"

"My what?" John said, perplexed.

"Your trainer card. You should have gotten one when you signed to be a trainer. If you signed up recently, then I can accept the paper as well."

'In the games I'd normally have that item from the very start, so did I somehow miss it?' John checked his pockets, finding nothing of the sort.

"Uh, I don't have one."

"You never signed up to be a trainer?"

"No…?"

"Why not?!"

"It never crossed my mind?" Technically the truth. You never had to sign up for anything in the games. The concept of appointments to challenge gym leaders made sense realistically, but this was still completely new to him.

"Well you have to sign up before you can take on the gym challenge. How about you go to the Pokémon Centre and get everything sorted? We've got a lot of open timeslots today, so you shouldn't have to wait long."

Without anything else to do, John agreed, and went to the Pokémon Centre. He learned about the various services it offered, and how they improved as a trainer gained more badges. Finally, he went to sign up as a trainer.

"Hello. Are you here to register as a trainer?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I'll need your full name, your current Pokémon, and confirmation that this is your home region."

"John Locke, I have a Rhyhorn, and yeah, Kanto is my region." John wasn't sure why that last part was important.

"Alright. Just so you're aware, this means that whenever you take part in tournaments involving other regions, you will be fighting to represent Kanto. If you would like to fight on behalf of another region, you will need special permission from the Kanto league, and the league of which region you will be fighting for."

'Oh, so that's why it was important. I hope this doesn't lock me out of future events.'

"Understood. Is that everything?"

"Almost." The lady prints a sheet of paper with John's details on it. "Your trainer card will be ready for you tomorrow, but in case you're doing anything today, you can use this instead of the card."

"Got it. I'll be back tomorrow then."

After quickly ending the interaction, John walked back towards the gym. This time remembering to stop at the Pokémart on the way, since it was on his path anyway, and after what happened in Viridian Forest he would probably need a lot of healing for Mount Moon.

"Oh hey." The youngster greeted John as he returned, about forty five minutes later.

"Hey. What are the timeslots?"

"We've got one time slot for 10:30 AM open. We'll probably be ready a bit sooner, but that's still about a forty five minute wait."

John sighed.

After sitting in the waiting room for forty minutes, having nothing to do but analyze every minute detail on the inspirational posters, the gym trainer finally called John over. He took John through the main door, into a hallway with another large door at the end.

"Alright, before you begin, I'll need you to sign a waiver."

"What?"

"Trust me, this is standard practice in gyms. A lot of gym challenges come with the possibility of you getting hurt, but we've set things up to be as safe as we can. We also have medical staff on call in case anything goes horribly wrong."

John was taught to always read very carefully before signing anything, and fortunately the waiver seemed to be clean. It was very short and clear, a good indicator that it wasn't trying to be sneaky about anything. It pretty much just said that John is aware of the risks he's taking, and agrees to not take any legal action against the gym or the league if he ends up getting hurt.

"What are the risks?"

"Well, you could fall, but not much other than that."

"What would you say is the worst possible injury I could get in there?"

"If you fall on your head that would be pretty bad, but the floor is padded, and like I said, we have medical staff on call. There's no way you'd get any life-threatening or permanent injuries."

"Alright." John signs the waiver, and the gym trainer opens the door for him. What John sees on the other side is completely opposite from what he was expecting.

In every game featuring the Pewter City gym, the layout was always very simple, but inside this gym building, there was an entire mountain. It was almost like a sheer cliff to get up to where Brock presumably was.

"What the…" John said out of reflex as he analysed the problem in front of him. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't actually a sheer cliff. There were some parts clearly marked to be climbed, and there was also a path up going around the side, which John noticed other gym trainers on. It seemed clear: Either take the difficult climb up, or take the easy walk, but you must fight your way up. As John approached the mountain, he noticed that the floor was indeed padded. Estimating a twenty meter drop, even if he fell from the top of the mountain, the only way he would get badly hurt would be if he fell on his head. He'd have to intentionally jump from the top of the mountain onto the side path if he wanted to get a serious injury, but there's no way he would want to do that.

"Alright, I see. Time for some juicy exp!" John said quietly to himself. His plan was simple; take the easy walk up and battle both of the gym trainers.

Everything was going according to plan. The first gym trainer had a Geodude, which went down to one Bulldoze, and the second gym trainer has a Sandshrew, who's best option for hurting Rhyhorn at this low of a level was Rollout. The Sandshrew was knocked out before Rollout could accumulate enough power to seriously hurt though.

John used one potion just in case, then followed the path up.

"Considering the height of the mountain, and the elevation of the slope I'm going up, it doesn't look like it goes all the way up, but how is that…" John murmurs to himself before reaching the end of his path. He looks up, and sees another marked climbing wall, hidden so that it couldn't be viewed from the front.

"Well at least I'm halfway up." John says with a sigh.

'Rock climbing is simple enough. Just keep putting one hand in front of the other, and use your feet to support yourself.' John tells himself as he starts climbing. John wasn't the best at rock climbing, but this challenge clearly wasn't made to be very hard. Almost like it was testing physical endurance, rather than rock climbing skill. After about thirty seconds, John made it to the top.

At the top was a wide platform, clearly meant for battling. As John expected, Brock was standing at the end opposite to him, with a wall striking out of the platform, lined with dozens of pokéballs.

'I don't have to fight every single one of those, do I?' John thought nervously.

"Welcome challenger John! I am Brock, the leader of this gym."

"Uhhh, hi."

Brock smiled at John's attempt at conversing, like he got challengers like this pretty frequently.

Brock gestures to the wall of pokéballs beside him. "Pretty impressive, right? All of these are Pokémon that I'm training. Some for the league, some to use in this gym, and some for personal battles. Since your league account shows you have no badges however, I'll only be using these two against you." Brock walks over to the wall, picking two pokéballs off the bottom left side.

John breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"Today I'll show you both a rock-solid offence, and a rock-hard defence!" Brock says, loudly announcing the start of the battle. John obliges, throwing out Rhyhorn first.

Rhyhorn lands on the platform with a loud crash, kicking up dust.

"Oh, good taste." Brock remarks. "But maybe not the best pick to start off with!" Brock finishes, throwing out his first Pokémon, Kabuto.

In contrast, Kabuto lands on the ground with a soft sharp sound, not kicking up any dust at all. It quickly scuttles from side to side, as if it's full of energy and just waiting for the command.

'Wait a second, doesn't Kabuto have-'

"Absorb!" Brock calls out. Kabuto scuttles forward excitedly, darting from side to side closing in on Rhyhorn.

"Oh crap- Bulldoze!" John calls out, a little too slowly. Kabuto closes the distance, and latches onto Rhyhorn's head. A faint flow of green energy is pulled from Rhyhorn, going into Kabuto as Rhyhorn visibly weakens. Even while clearly drained, Rhyhorn still manages to shake Kabuto off its head, smashing it with a wave of earth. With an explosion of dirt and stone, Kabuto flies all the way back over to Brock, who catches it before it hits the ground. Brock sees the spirals in its eyes and sighs.

"You did well Kabuto. Your opponent was just too strong." Brock returns Kabuto to its ball.

While Brock was talking to his Kabuto, John got close to Rhyhorn and started whispering.

"When I tell you to use Smack Down, use Tail Whip instead."

Rhyhorn nodded, and John went back to where he was previously standing.

"Your Rhyhorn's pretty strong, but considering how new of a trainer you are, it's your only Pokémon, right?" Brock says. John stays silent, which Brock takes as confirmation.

"Well, this is the last stretch, so do your best! Go, Onix!" Brock shouts, throwing his second pokéball. Brock's Onix appears in a burst of light, crashing down onto the mountain like Rhyhorn did, with the biggest difference being that Onix's coiled body is taking up over half the arena. Its giant body and menacing visage causes both John and Rhyhorn to take a step back.

'Is this… Intimidate? But Onix isn't supposed to have that ability!' John's mind is racing with fear as he faces the Pokémon before him.

"Attack!" Brock yells.

'Wait, which attack-'

BAM

A loud sound hits John's ears as Onix's body lashes out like a real snake, the front of its face smashing into Rhyhorn's head plates. It looked like a hard hit, pushing Rhyhorn back a few inches.

"Horn attack!"

On Onix's next strike, Rhyhorn smashes its horn into Onix's head, knocking Onix back to the position it was originally in. There was a small crack on Onix's head, barely visible from the distance John was at, and miniscule when compared to Onix's whole body.

"What move was that?!" John says out loud, making Brock look at him in confusion.

"That wasn't a move, that was just an attack. Keep it up Onix, mix in some tail attacks too."

Brock's Onix nodded, and lashed its head out an Rhyhorn again, smacking it with its tail as well. Rhyhorn was clenching its teeth withstanding the hits, being pushed every which way. Though its stone plating was holding, it was clearly getting worn down from the repeated hard strikes.

'Okay, I think I see now. I guess I never considered anything like that before…' It made sense that Pokémon should still be able to attack without using a special move, but that never occurred in the games. Humans punch without needing to charge up any kind of energy. Pokémon should be able to as well, but it makes sense the hits wouldn't be nearly as strong as charged attacks.

"Once it rears its head back, use Smack Down!" John calls out. Brock smirks hearing John say that.

'Don't think I didn't see that smirk Brock. You're going down!'

As if John was the one commanding it, Onix intentionally reared its head back, then-

"Bide!" Brock shouted. Brock's Onix almost looked like it was smiling too, as a layer of light appeared around it, locking it in place. John figured this was a strategy they both planned out in advance. Unfortunately, John planned for it already.

Rhyhorn turned around and wiggled its body in a weird way, making Onix look like it was losing focus.

"Okay, that was much weirder than in the games." John remarked, taking his eyes off the battle for a second to cleanse himself. He was glad the game animations weren't all that in-depth.

'Jeez, I feel like my own defense stat went down'

"Rhyhorn, do it… ugh do it one more time, just don't make it weird." John didn't look, saving himself the potential cringe.

After waiting long enough he was sure Rhyhorn had completed the second tail whip, he looked at the Onix. The layer of light around it was flickering, looking like it was going to go out at any minute. It looked like John could just wait it out, but he had an idea.

'If my idea about energy needing to be charged for special attacks is correct, then doesn't that mean…'

"Rhyhorn, can you charge up a Bulldoze to make it stronger than it normally would be?" Rhyhorn nodded at John's question.
"Alright, charge one up, but don't release it until that light is gone!"

Even though Brock's eyes were always closed, he was still frantically looking around the arena he was in, trying to find a way to not lose from the position he put himself in. Onix is frozen until the light goes out, and also considering its size there was no way it could dodge a Bulldoze.

"Onix, once Bide wears off, try to be vertical rather than horizontal!" Brock calls out.

Brock's command was all for naught. The moment the light surrounding Onix disappeared, Rhyhorn unleashed its charged up Bulldoze. The wave of earth smashed into the debuffed Onix with so much force it knocked it off the ground, and sent it flying above Brock off the mountain, crashing into the padded floor twenty meters below.

"Jeez. Might have been overkill." John commented. "Great work Rhyhorn!"

Brock quickly climbed down the mountain, jumping halfway into a roll to break his fall, then returned Onix to its pokéball. It took Brock about fifteen seconds to climb back up and place Onix's ball back into the wall.

"Alright, now that I've made sure Onix will be okay… congratulation's challenger John, you've earned the Boulder Badge!" Brock walked over to John with a smile, and pulled a small shiny grey badge out of his pocket. It was shaped like an octagon, with lines coming off every corner forming a second octagon on the design of the badge. There was also a pin on the back of the badge, so that it could be attached to an article of clothing.

John took the badge with a wide grin on his face. Normally beating Brock was like a streamlined process with an entirely expected outcome, but this time there had been many bumps along the way. Surprisingly though, that just made this victory feel all the more rewarding. Possibly even more rewarding than the first ever time John had beaten him.

"And," Brock continued. "You also get 10,000 Pokken for your victory."

"Really? That much just for the first gym?!" John said, very surprised.

"Yep. Both to help trainers that are starting out, and as an incentive to get some more badges." Brock says with a grin. "Of course there are other incentives for badges, but money also seems like a pretty good reason, no?"

"Well, money helps, but getting rich isn't my end goal." John says.

Brock's smile transitioned from a grin to a genuine smile upon hearing that. "Then maybe we'll fight again in a league match someday." Brock says, completely misunderstanding what John said

"Like the Pokémon World Tournament?" John asks, remembering the postgame content from generation five.

"No, no, not there. We would both be representing Kanto. We may end up fighting in the qualifiers though."

'Hm. This does sound pretty interesting, but on the other hand I don't plan on sticking around for the postgame.'

"Maybe. Anyway, I've got to go now."

"Oh yeah, make sure to get your Rhyhorn healed up! A celebratory dinner is good for morale!" Brock called out to John as John began his descent.

"Also you should check out the museum!" Brock shouted one last suggestion as John was going down.

Going down was trickier than going up, but not necessarily harder. John went down the shorter wall, and walked down the ramp to exit the building. When John exited the main gym building, the gym trainer handed John the Pokken reward.

'Not gonna lie, all that cash in my hands felt really good.' John hummed to himself as he walked down the street. Of course he pocketed that money before going outside, he wouldn't want to get robbed. John wasn't sure how to estimate the conversion rate between Pokken and Dollars, but 10,000 Pokken was probably more money than John had ever held in his previous world.

"Time to go shopping!" John said excitedly, before realizing he accidentally said that out loud and shut his mouth. After some looking around, and after getting Rhyhorn healed, John found something called a Pokémon Department Store, which had many more items meant for trainers, rather than for Pokémon.

John browsed through all the different shelves and sections. It was a very large building with two floors, designed with the aesthetic of something like a wood lodge. Like a giant log cottage with a roaring fireplace. A place that had both a homey, and a wilderness feel to it.

John did his usual humming while he was thinking, looking over the prices of the travelling gear.

'The price of a cheap tent would be around $53, and a decent quality sleeping bag around $40, so…'

Tent: 4,100 PK
Sleeping Bag: 2,400 PK

"So… .129, and .166" John murmurs out loud, trying to estimate the conversion rate based on the real world estimates in his head.

'If I assume 125 Pokken is 1 dollar, then… Nope, it doesn't convert cleanly across the board.' Some items were just inconsistently priced compared to their real world counterparts. John's best guess for converting Pokken to Dollars was between 100 and 200 Pokken to 1 Dollar, but that didn't make all that much sense. 500 Pokken was considered a reasonably big bet, but was it really only the equivalent of 5 dollars? It doesn't seem like that much money, but it ends up going further than you'd expect buying adventuring supplies. It didn't make any sense to John.

'Eh. It's a game about adventuring. If adventuring supplies were too expensive then players would need to linger in an area longer than they'd want to.' John rationalized.

John bought the sleeping bag and tent, and also found some adventuring rations for sale. Remembering how hungry and thirsty he was on his trek through Viridian Forest, he made sure to stock up on those as well. John picked up all the items he thought he would need, including a backpack for everything.

After going shopping, he went to the museum as per Brock's suggestion to kill time. Because he needed his trainer card he was going to need to stay here another day anyway. There wasn't anything there he didn't know about. John overheard another trainer saying Brock often recommended trainers check out the museum because he invested in the museum or something, but John didn't really care.

After killing a few hours, John followed Brock's other advice and got a nice dinner before he checked out the lodgings in the Pokémon Centre. He ended up being put in a room with three other people, but at least it was free. John made good use of the lockers, and went to sleep for the night.

Meanwhile, early in the morning on the same day, the sound of racing footsteps could barely be heard rushing through Cherrygrove City. The sun was barely above the horizon, only just touching the city with the day's first rays of sunlight. A flower lady and her Oddish were setting up shop for the morning, but were broken out of their focus hearing these footsteps. The flower lady looked up, seeing a young girl with short black hair carrying a broom, running towards her with an Eevee on her shoulder.

"Excuse me miss! Does your Oddish know Sleep Powder?" The girl said, panting for breath. Where could she be rushing to so early in the morning?

"Yes?"

"Could I please borrow your Oddish? I'll leave Amber here. Please, I'll bring it back before the Ledyba come." The Eevee jumped off her shoulder as she says this.

"Um, I suppose so?" The flower lady says confused. The girl hands the flower lady presumably the Eevee's pokéball, and takes off again with her Oddish.

"What in the world…?" The flower lady says confused.

Sarah carries the flower lady's Oddish, and dashes towards the Centre of the city. The place that normally has the most foot traffic, and also has the most cherry petals.

"Alright, when I sweep the petals up, you shoot Sleep Powder at them. We'll repeat this as many times as we can before the Ledyba get here." Sarah says in between gasps.

Once Sarah caught her breath, they got to work. Sarah used her broom to launch clouds of petals into the air, which Oddish covered in Sleep Powder. It wasn't a windy day at all, which was perfect for Sarah. The wind tends to blow away from the ocean, so there wouldn't be many petals over there anyway. Sarah and Oddish worked for about half an hour before the cloud of Ledyba started to become visible from the north.

"Alright, we've done all we can. Let's get out of here!" Sarah picks Oddish up, and runs back to the flower lady. After getting Amber back, Sarah reviews what she knows before she proceeds. Sarah after the information lady a few more questions this morning, which she grumpily answered over a cup of coffee.

'The Ledyba come back around the same time in the morning, and are the only Pokémon that eats the cherry petals. The strong ocean wind blows the petals off the trees, but usually doesn't move the petals already on the ground, minimizing the risk of a person or owned Pokémon inhaling the spores. It will take me three hours to reach the Ledyba's nest, and from there I'll have about three more hours to get to work. There's only one variable, which I have about an hour of leeway for.'

For now, Sarah's next step was to go to a Pokémart and buy something called a "lure".

"Do you know anything about Caterpie's habits on that route?" Sarah asks the information lady.

"I thought you were trying to complete the Ledyba quest. Why do Caterpie matter?"

Sarah just kept looking at her with pleading eyes.

The information lady sighed and answered the question. "The Caterpie on the route generally hang around the northern end since that's where most of the sweeter berries are. Their favorite seems to be Pecha berries."

"If I wanted to bring all the Caterpie to one place… gathering a ton of berries might work, but I wouldn't have enough time to do it."

"Oh, you just want to gather them? You can get a lure from the Pokémart. It can lure a ton of Pokémon to one spot, and you can mix it with a substance that species likes if you want to attract one specific Pokémon."

"That's perfect! Except… could I maybe take out a loan? I don't have any money. Oh, and I also need a broom."

"UGHHHHHH." The information lady loudly sighed.

Sarah bought the lure, a water bottle, and returned the broom before travelling to Route 30.

'Let's see, the biggest variable is that I don't know where the Spinarak's nest is, and if I can't get them all up by 2 pm then this was all a waste. At the moment I have seven hours, but based on my experience from yesterday Spinarak don't tend to wake up until around 3 pm. The Sleep Powder should help buy more time, but I don't know exactly how much. An hour is just the best guess I have.' Sarah's mind furiously raced as she travelled, which was a trait of herself that she chose to abuse, making her travel time feel very short.

'This was where I found the Spinarak web yesterday, but if I can't set everything else up, then the Spinarak wouldn't have any reason to stay awake.' Sarah didn't even know if the Spinarak nest was around here, but it was her best guess. Guesstimating the time she needed to set everything up, it would probably be more than six hours.

"Alright Amber, we're going to have to pick up the pace to stay on track." Sarah said, partly to herself. "... I am going to be very fit if I keep doing stuff like this…"

The first step was to find a Pecha berry, and combine it with a lure to create a large crowd of Caterpie. Ideally the crowd would have to be further south than the Caterpie typically reside, and since Caterpie move pretty slowly this must be done first. Fortunately, Sarah could tell when she was getting close to the northern end, as the frequency of trees in the middle of the route picked up.

Sarah ran east and quickly found a bush of Pecha berries. Most of them had bite marks in them, but it didn't matter. Sarah took the Pecha berry that looked like it had the most juice in it, and ran south once again. She knew it couldn't be too far, or the Caterpie wouldn't be in range of the lure. No more than twenty minutes walking from where she first saw a Caterpie. Sarah checked the sun to gauge the time. It wasn't near the middle of the sky yet, so it was probably around 10:30 am. This lined up with Sarah's estimates, but she was still cutting it kind of close.

Sarah applied the lure in an open area, added some Pecha berry juice to the lure she poured, and went back south. In total she passed the Ledyba's nest twice now. The only lead she had on the location of a Spinarak nest was where she found the webs before, which was south of the Ledyba nest by about half an hour. In hindsight, it would make sense the Spinarak would nest close to the Ledyba if they were hunting them, but still far away enough to hide from the Pidgey and Spearow on this route. That's a good thing, as it would make finding their nest easier if that was the case. There was still a crowd of Pidgey and Spearow in front of Ledyba's cave, though it was smaller than the day before, all according to plan. Sarah and Amber continued toward where they believed the Spinarak nest to be.

As Sarah and Amber travelled deeper into the eastern forest, the webs on the trees grew denser to the point they were completely visible even with the small amount of sunlight that got through. The path between the webs was getting smaller and smaller, but fortunately Sarah found the nest. It was very conspicuous, being a giant ball of web suspended between the biggest trees. Sarah had heard somewhere that spiders are very smart, and she could see that here. There wasn't a clear web structure, but also from looking at it she couldn't see any one web to cut to bring down the whole thing. It seemed likely that the Spinarak designed their home to require quite a bit of work if someone wanted to bring it down. However, if all the Spinarak were asleep, she would have the time necessary to take down the key supports. There was just the lure… and her own fear she had to attend to first.

'Alright, just a tiny amount of lure on my wrist, enough to hopefully wash off, then… I just have to try not to die…' Judging from the size of the webbing ball, even if it was completely packed with Spinarak, it was still nowhere close to the number of Ledyba there were. Even so, Sarah was terrified. She was already terrified by the idea of these dog sized spiders the day before, and now she's going to intentionally aggravate an entire nest of them.

"Amber, can you cut the webs somehow?" Amber nodded, but looked worried.

"I'll return you to your ball once the nest falls. No matter what, you'll be safe."

Amber was still looking at Sarah worried, almost pleading. Sarah's eyes widened when she realized that Amber was worried about her.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine! Everything is going to go according to plan, and then I'll have enough money to treat you to the best feast ever!" Sarah said, summoning all the confidence she had. Amber nodded, looking less worried, and focused on her task. Amber jumped up high through the trees, and cut through the webs in her way. Sarah noticed that there was no glowing to these attacks, unlike when she commanded Amber to use moves. Even when Amber used Sand Attack, the sand had a slight glow to it. She guessed that was probably what separated the move Scratch from just scratching normally. It took a long time, but Amber managed to cut through enough of the load bearing threads that the entire nest fell to the ground, with a loud, yet soft Pomph! sound.

'Maybe there's no Spinarak in there at all, maybe I'm not going to get chased-'

"SKREEEE!" A loud insectoid shriek sound came from the inside of the nest, followed by more loud chitter sounds.

"Alright, let's go!" Sarah returned Amber to her ball, applied a dash of lure to herself, then started running.

"OVER HERE YOU DUMB SPIDERS, I WRECKED YOUR NEST! COME GET ME IF YOU CAN!" Sarah shouted for good measure, before breaking into a full sprint.

'The lure will make sure they keep track of me even if I run too far ahead. Now as long as I'm capable of outrunning them, everything will work out.' When Sarah thought that finding the nest was the biggest variable, she hadn't yet considered the danger of this part of her plan. If she ran too slowly, or tripped, she would be dead. If the Spinarak could run faster than she thought, she would be dead. If she was actually more exhausted than she thought from the high amount of physical activity today, she would be dead.

Now, fear and adrenaline fueled her every step, with the screeches behind her being a constant reminder of why she shouldn't slow down. She didn't need to look behind her to tell that they were following her, but to her relief they were sounding further away. They were definitely chasing her, but she could run faster than them. It was early enough in the chase where they might decide to go back if she seemed too fast, so she had to stay within their sight. She slowed down, taking a short break before resuming running. The adrenaline helped keep the exhaustion away, but she was still panting at every breath. Her legs ached, and her throat was parched, but she wasn't there yet. She had to keep the Spinarak interested for approximately twenty minutes before she would arrive at Ledyba's cave. Each step felt harder than the last, but Sarah knew if she collapsed she would be dead. If her adrenaline wasn't pumping, she would have collapsed long ago.

Finally, she reached the Ledyba's cave, with the Spinarak barely close enough for Sarah to tell they were still after her. The last five minutes of the run was the hardest part, when she knew they were going to keep coming after her. She needed to speed up to get out of sight before she clears the front of the cave, while she was already exhausted from running for fifteen minutes. There were still a few Pidgey in front of the cave, being the "early bird" Sarah guesses, but she doesn't want them here.

Sarah didn't have the breath to speak, but Amber already knew what to do. Once Sarah threw Amber out, Amber attacked all the Pidgey she could, even making barking sounds to try and intimidate them into leaving. Sarah honestly didn't know that an Eevee could bark. Finally, as her last act, she used the water she brought to wash the small amount of lure off her, before running into some thick foliage and finally collapsing. Amber ran over to the same spot once she was done clearing the Pidgey, and hid with Sarah.

Sarah drank some of the remaining water, and tried to slow her breathing so her frantic breaths wouldn't give away her location to the horde of Spinarak. Fortunately, when the Spinarak arrived, they took notice of Ledyba's cave being completely undefended. They forgot about hunting Sarah, and instead began to set up their webbing. Once Sarah had recovered a bit, she got up and took the long way back to Cherrygrove. She was sure if the Spinarak saw her, then the cave would become a secondary priority. Once she was far away enough, she went back onto the main path, practically limping the whole way. It wasn't just her legs, but every part of her body hurt from how much she exerted herself. Amber noticed how tired she was, and opted to walk alongside her, rather than sitting on her shoulder like normal. The cloud of Ledyba flew towards the cave about an hour later, and four hours after that Sarah arrived back at Cherrygrove. Sarah had been out for eleven hours, returning to the Pokémon Centre at 6 pm.

Sarah entered the Pokémon Centre, and promptly collapsed on the table nearest to the Information booth.

"Hey, what did you do?" The Information lady called out to Sarah. It wasn't in an antagonistic tone, just pure curiosity. Sarah would have responded with something, but it felt like her body was shutting down. Sarah could vaguely hear the lady getting out of her booth and walking over, but currently the only thing that was keeping her awake was-

Grumble

Sarah was hungry. It was an exhausting day, and she hadn't eaten anything.

The Information lady heard this and sighed again. "Alright, I'll get you something to eat. You'll owe me 2000 Pokken though."

Sarah felt alive again!

It's a wonder what a good meal can do for you, especially when you feel at your lowest. Sarah was happily chowing down on a large bowl of Udon, the warmth and nutrients fueling her depleted energy. Everything still hurt, but at least she didn't feel like she was going to pass out anymore. The Udon had meat in it, but Sarah felt she was better off not asking where it came from.

"Okay, so what were all those questions yesterday and today about?" The Information lady asked.

"Uhh, which ones?" Sarah's mind was still kind of foggy from exhaustion.

"What did you try to do about the Ledyba? Why were the Caterpie important? Why did you need to borrow a broom?" She asks in rapid-fire.

"Well, I noticed the Spinarak seemed to be trying to hunt the Ledyba, so I created the perfect environment for that to happen."

"... You know I wasn't with you during everything you did today, I have no idea what's happening."

"Okay, so when I was checking out the route yesterday, I noticed that there was a lot of Pidgey and Spearow outside of Ledyba's cave, seemingly helping them defend it. So I thought 'why would they do that?', and the answer was because the Ledyba were attracting more Spinarak."

"So you defeated a smaller number of Pidgey earlier to scare them off before the Spinarak came?"

"Nope, well, actually yes, but that wasn't my strategy. I guess I'll start from the top."

"Yes, please do. I'll write this down for you so you can submit it to the Request booth."

"Step one, making the Ledyba oversleep. That was simple enough, I borrowed somebody else's Oddish, and used the broom to flip up the petals that the Ledyba normally eat and cover them with Sleep Powder.
Step two, getting the Pidgey and Spearow away. I did this by using a lure to make Caterpie all crowd one area. Pidgey and Spearow were around the Ledyba cave because Spinarak were there, so they would more likely be in the north side hunting Caterpie in the morning, then if I made that easier for them then they'd have no reason to come south later in the day."

"But surely some still would, and that's a lot of Pokémon for a trainer with no badges to beat at once. Also, why did you need the Ledyba to be asleep for longer?"

"Well that ties into step three and four, wake the Spinarak up earlier. If the bird Pokémon are there because of the Spinarak, then there wouldn't be many earlier on in the day."

"Ah I see, it wouldn't have been a very difficult fight at all then."

"Step four is to lead the Spinarak to the now deserted cave, and clear out the small number of bird Pokémon in front of it, then hide."

"Hide?"

"So… the way I brought the Spinarak over was kind of reckless…"

The Information lady appears to piece it together, as she puts her head in her hands and grumbles "So that's why you were so exhausted." She looks up at Sarah again, and finishes the story. "So the Spinarak have now set up traps at the Ledyba's home cave, and because of the Sleep Powder you guaranteed the Spinarak would have enough time to do as they please."

"Yep!"

"... It's quite impressive how you came to understand Route 30's whole ecosystem, while most other people wouldn't have bothered. If these actions get tangible results, which I'm sure they will, then I have no doubt you'll be able to pay me back."

"Is that why you were so curious?!"

"Partially." The Information lady rips the piece of paper she had been writing on out of her notebook, and hands it to Sarah. The method was put neatly into the steps Sarah took. Also, the lady's handwriting was notably good.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my post. I only have fifteen minutes before the intern is allowed to leave my post unattended."

"Thank you for all the help! And for the food!"

"Don't forget, you owe me 3,000 Pokken."

"Didn't you say 2,000?"

"No, I said 3,000."

"Oh, okay." Sarah's mind was still hazy, so she just accepted it. If she was getting 50,000 Pokken, an extra thousand wouldn't make much of a difference anyway.

The Information lady paid and left, and after Sarah finished her food she went back to the Pokémon Centre to give her method to the Request booth. Since Sarah didn't battle any of the Ledyba directly, she wasn't required to leave the city during the three days. As Sarah went to sleep in the crowded lodgings, she wished there were some more immediate benefits for her troubles.

Non-Canon Corner:

"Wow, congratulations on your first badge!" Sarah says.

"Thanks. It was both harder than I thought it would be, and easier than I thought."

"What do you mean?"

"Well when Brock threw out Kabuto first, I was scared his ace would be something different that I wasn't prepared for." John explains.

"Oh."

"Plus, you did an amazing job too. If I got that quest I would have assumed the correct answer would be beating all of the Ledyba in a fight. Then I would have gotten frustrated and left the quest until I was strong enough to brute force it." John says, laughing at himself.

"Well, I'm sure with your knowledge you would have found a way to brute force it." Sarah says.

"I'd need Rhyhorn to learn Rock Slide before that's a possibility. It's the only non-ground move he gets for a while that can hit multiple targets."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Speaking of your Rhyhorn's moves, it knows Horn Attack, Tail Whip, Smack Down, and Bulldoze, right?"

"It should, yes. I figured Tail Whip would be helpful for Brock, and Horn Attack is just a direct upgrade to Tackle, so why not get rid of it?"

"But you used Tackle against Bulbasaur in Viridian Forest." Sarah points out.

John pauses.

"But… wait then which move did it forget? Oh no, I didn't delete Smack Down by accident, did I?" John says, starting to panic.

"What if your Rhyhorn knows five moves?" Sarah asks.

"No. That's impossible."

"Maybe it was a big deal for the games, but in the anime that rule was broken quite a few times. Maybe your Rhyhorn is just special?"

"Wh- what do you mean broken?"

"Well Ash's Snorlax knew like six moves, and then there was this Dragonite that knew ten moves-"

"TEN?!"

"Point is, maybe Rhyhorn knowing five moves isn't weird?"

"Alright, I guess so. I know game logic isn't entirely applicable to this world anyway."

There's a pause between the two, as they don't really know what to talk about.

"Wait, what are you doing next chapter?" John asks.

"It looks like nothing major would be happening over the next three days for me, so I guess nothing."

"Huh, what a coincidence. This map says the journey through Mount Moon should take around three days… -Wait!"

"Congratulations, you're getting the next chapter to yourself! Make sure to not be boring like usual!"

"Does the Non-canon corner have to end with you making fun of me?" John asks.

"Well no. It could end at any time." Sarah responds

Author's notes:

So as you may have guessed from the non-canon corner, the next chapter will be 100% John. In chapter 6 I'll be doing a little catch up with what Sarah did over the three days before continuing with her journey. Just like the gap between this chapter and the last one, don't expect chapter 5 for a little while. Finals were brutal, and I still have a few major things to wrap up before I can lock in and put more focus into writing this story. Don't expect chapter 5 until late April/early May.

Thank you for reading!