Summary: Traveling companion acquired! Onward to the pokémon!

Warning! Chapters 8-12 were all posted back-to-back, make sure you don't miss any of them!

Chapter 10 – New Company

2B was pleased with the day so far. It was only the first day of her Journey, and she'd already checked several things off of her list! She'd not only caught an excellent pokémon to round her team out with, but found one of the 'traveling companions' that Ash and Daisy both had talked about. Admittedly, she didn't fully understand the point in them, but she wasn't against it. She'd certainly worked with partners, like 9S, as often as not. Bonus points that she wasn't even expected to execute this one! She supposed she should make sure her companion was 'the right sort' of human, rather than a criminal or other neer do well. But she was still a bit fuzzy on how to determine that. She'd just have to carefully observe her new companion to find out if she was 'up to something fishy.'

There had been companionable quiet between them as they worked their way back to the road. It had been just after noon when she'd reached Route 26, and she'd spent the better part of an hour finding her fishing spot. Another four for the actual fishing and encounter with her new companion meant that it was just after five, with evening approaching, as they hit the main path again. That observation made her hum in thought for a moment, then break the silence.

"I do not believe we are likely to reach the Reception Gate before nightfall. Are you wanting to push on after it gets dark? If I recall correctly, the Gate does have facilities for those who are preparing to go up Victory Road. But I am unsure if those facilities are available to trainers still on the Circuit."

Zoey blinked, tilted her head to look up at the sun, then frowned.

"Drat. I got so distracted that I derailed completely from my plan. I had intended to look for the Ponyta herds on the Route for a little bit, to see if there was one that suited me. Now, even if I skip that I think you're right, we wouldn't make the Gate until after dark. On the other hand, you need to get your new Pokémon seen too, as well…"

2B shook her head.

"That is not necessary. The Heal Ball will have restored it, and my time working for the Oaks means I have the experience and equipment necessary to check it over just to be sure. I'm only waiting until we settle somewhere for the night so I have proper time to introduce myself and my other pokémon to Chinchou."

Zoey blinked, processing that, then tentatively nodded.

"That makes sense. Um, would you mind if we looked for the Ponyta then? Because of the Division 1 Gym Circuit rules I had to leave all but one of my non-regional team behind. I'd hoped to start filling out a Kanto-based team quickly…"

2B shook her head.

"I had planned for up to three days on Route 26 and only arrived today. I wasn't at all sure how long it would take to find a suitable water pokémon for my purposes. It is perfectly fine if you want to seek out a pokémon of your own."

Zoey smiled brilliantly in response.

"Thanks! I've…never really traveled with someone before now, other than my pokémon, so I'm not used to having to plan this out for more than just me. And the Gym Circuit is a lot less restrictive than the contests that I've usually had to plan around, so I've mostly been planning based on areas with pokémon I'm interested in. Well, that and the handful of badge restrictions for various gyms."

2B nodded. That wasn't too surprising. Only Kanto-native trainers typically bothered with the 'traditional' route. Foreign trainers participating in the Circuit tended to hit the Gyms more randomly, with only the restrictions some Gyms put on who qualified to challenge them really mattering. The League allowed the Gyms only so much leeway, all 'Major' Gyms had to accept challengers with four badges and up. They also had to accept that those badges could come from the 'Lesser Gyms.'

The arrangement both funneled some early-season attention away from the Major Gyms, taking the pressure off in some ways, while also allowing them to handle early-season challengers for higher badges. Those were somewhat common, as each badge was good for two years, meaning that many trainers split their League Challenge up.

Taking two full League seasons to do their Gym run allowed a better chance of securing all eight of the Major Gym badges, which was required if you wanted a guaranteed spot in the end-of-circuit League Conference. You could apply for a spot with fewer than 8 Major Badges, using two Lesser Badges to replace one Major. But doing so put you into the pool of applicants that were used to flesh out the number of contenders each year. Meaning you might not make the cut if the people sorting those applications didn't think you'd been impressive enough to be prioritized. The fact that the extra season also meant time to strengthen your team was also a not insignificant advantage. The majority of Indigo Conference Winners actually came from those that took the two-year approach.

The 'traditional' challenge path was mostly the result of how the Gyms had developed over time. The Pewter and Cerulean City Gyms were the only two Major Gyms that allowed challenges for all badge levels. The fact that they were close together and surrounded by a wide range of terrain types for pokémon catching had caused that pair of gyms to attract basically everyone who was ambitious enough to push for a single year run. Which developed the start of the 'traditional' route.

Since Saffron, Celadon, Vermillion and Fuchsia all accepted 3rd badge and up challenges, hitting Pewter and Cerulean first meant you could proceed straight through Major Gyms without needing the Lesser Gyms at all. After all, once you had at least four out of those six, all of the Major Gyms were required to accept your challenges until your badges started expiring. The fact the Viridian gym was one of the two that only accepted challenges for your fifth badge and up thus made it logical to start in Pewter, then head to Cerulean through Mt. Moon and onward from there.

After Cerulean, Saffron had been the long-time traditional next Gym, though that had gotten fuzzy after Sabrina came around as a child prodigy psychic and utterly thrashed the Fighting-type Gym that had been Saffron City's Major Gym for close to a century before that. Sabrina was a much harder fight than Surge, Erika, or Janine. Which had resulted in the 'traditional' path getting less usage in the last decade. A lot of people now broke off to hit at least one of the others before Sabrina, though 2B hadn't intended to do so herself. Now, she carefully considered Zoey's comment and realized she might need to be more flexible. She had really only picked the traditional route as it was the most inherently structured approach and traditions seemed like a good way to learn about humans.

"Did you intend to start in Pewter? Or do you have badges from the previous year to use in Viridian?"

Zoey shook her head, smiling.

"No to the badges. I stuck entirely to Johto last year. I learned from Ash and another Coordinator that there was value in learning battling, rather than only focusing on contests. So last year I attempted to do what Ash and Nando had done and do both Contests and Gyms. It…didn't work very well. My style so was so focused on Contests that I found myself struggling with the Gyms, and my pokémon of the time were too focused in their own training to do well on the Gym Circuit too."

Zoey frowned, looking into the middle distance as they walked the main path through the route, clearing looking back on her experiences of the previous year.

"I did learn a lot, but the most important thing I learned was what I needed to unlearn. In order to properly develop a style that takes full advantage of both traditional battling methods and contest methods, I need to learn the basics of battling from scratch, rather than just tacking them on in bits and pieces. That's why I'm doing the Division 1 challenge in Kanto this year, with a mostly new team and no contests."

2B nodded at that. Pokémon Leagues were split into Division 1 and 2. Division 2 was essentially unrestricted. Generally filled with Ace Trainers and similar, it was the route used for those intending to challenge the Elite Four and possibly the Champion. You had to pass through Division 2 if you wanted to challenge the Champion for his position, though winners of Division 1 could challenge the Elite Four if they so choose. Mostly for prestige, it had to be said. Beating one of them would allow you to take their position, but it rarely happened, as Division 1 winners typically lacked to experience and power needed. More normally, reaching the final 16 in Division 1 meant you gained Ace Trainer status automatically and no longer required badges to challenge Division 2. Giving you a path forward if you were series about making a run at the championship.

Division 1 was honestly mostly what the Gyms were for. There were multiple methods to become an Ace Trainer. But none of them were overly realistic for newbies. Gary Oak was one of the only Kanto rookies known to have succeeded in getting an Ace Trainer title via gaining all Kanto Gym badges in a single circuit, for example. Most Ace Trainers got their title via either a Top 16 finish in Division 1, or by completing all eight Major Gyms during two separate Division 1 runs.

Division 1 was really meant to get serious battlers started. The Gyms had restrictions on the number and strength of pokémon they could use at each Division 1 badge level, giving starting trainers a chance. On the flip side, the trainer side was also restricted to only pokémon caught within the region, after the start of the circuit. The single exception was for your starter and/or a long-term companion pokémon registered to your 'starter slot.'

Such pokémon were recognized as an exception, as much companion and safety net against wild pokémon as they were battlers. You could carry them between regions, seasons, and so forth. Gyms would, however, be alerted to your starter and were allowed to push harder against that pokémon if it was a repeat. Technically, Jigglypuff hadn't been a 'caught' pokémon until earlier that morning. Prior to that, she had been registered to the Oak Ranch purely as a research aid pokémon, which had only recently passed the 'baby' stage. Vulpix was 2B's actual starter, with Jigglypuff being young enough to be considered a legitimate capture under the Division 1 rules.

"As for Pewter, I honestly haven't decided. Purugly, my starter, is strong but not particularly suited for the Pewter Gym. A Ponyta isn't a good match either, but I'm not sure I'll end up with better team members later, either. I have a bit too much Coordinator experience with water types, you see. Too much to easily unlearn. And I have a little bit of the same problem with grass types…"

2B hummed and nodded. That was an issue. Clearly, Zoey was making a serious attempt to expand her repertoire. But that limited her in some ways. Thinking over one of her own discarded plans, she offered it up as a possible solution.

"What about a Steel Type? It isn't common knowledge, but if you got somewhat off-route near Pewter, you can sometimes find Skarmony due to migration from Johto. For that matter, there are some Machop in the mountains around Mt. Moon, even if they are not as common there as they are in the eastern parts of Kanto. So a fighting type is also possible."

Zoey blinked, then frowned slightly.

"That's…I didn't know about the Skarmony thing. They are impressive in both looks and power. Going off-route is a little risky without more of my experienced team with me, though. And the Rangers might give us trouble."

2B shrugged.

"I have official authorization to do so. Less because of my pokémon than because of my aura abilities and position as a research assistant for Professor Oak. The Machop can be found without going off route, however, if you would prefer that."

Zoey looked to be considering, but slowly shook her head.

"Maybe. But I think that's getting ahead of ourselves, anyway. I'll think about it. But for now…" she raised a hand to point to where a small herd of Ponyta had just come into view, down in a valley from where they were on the road. "…there's a Ponyta to look for! Then a place to camp to find, I think. Let's get started!"

2B nodded, smiling in echo of the eager grin on Zoey's face as she saw the gorgeous group of Ponyta and Rapidash. She would have to watch and see if Zoey knew what to look for. She was more experienced than 2B, obviously. But 2B had worked with this species before at the ranch…

... ...

Zoey was quite pleased. For a short time after her abrupt offer for 2B to travel with her, as the silence had stretched on as they made their way back to the road, she'd wondered what the hell she'd been thinking. She'd traveled two entire regions solo, with only her pokémon for company, and been perfectly happy with that fact. She was no introvert, she'd be a terrible Coordinator if she was, but she also wasn't the type to need to surround herself with people all the time. Her pokémon were enough.

Though being forced to leave most of them behind had been…rough. She didn't understand how Ash did that so casually. She respected the man, but he was more than a little weird. If he and his pokémon didn't obviously build such tight bonds, she'd have thought he was the callous type with how easily he pushed them off on Professor Oak. Though he did regularly go back to Oak's ranch, between League circuits, as 2B could apparently attest.

Perhaps being reduced to just Purugly had made her a little lonely. That and hormones had certainly been at work. Along with the mysteries 2B represented. The quiet had seemed a bit awkward to her, though, having her questioning if it had been a mistake. Thankfully, once they reached the road that had changed. 2B was still…odd. But she'd been happy enough to talk, and completely accepting of Zoey's reasoning. She'd even seemed to think most of it made sense, offering up suggestions like the idea of a Steel Type.

Skarmony was admittedly pretty far outside her regular strike zone of what she looked for in pokémon. But, then, she was also intentionally trying to get away from her usual thought process. So it might not be a terrible idea if they could do it safely. That, however, was a thought for much later. For now, she'd discovered that 2B had another ability that Zoey was immediately in love with and wanted to keep her around forever for.

She was a pokémon magnet.

More of one than even Ash had been.

Ponyta were notoriously skittish. It was one of the reasons that they weren't actually all that common of a sight in either battle circuits or contests. Generally, the ones you did see came from breeders, not wild captures, as few people could get close enough to them to achieve the latter. Zoey had felt reasonably confident she could do so, having brought a supply of berries they were known to like, and being more than willing to be patient and slow in her approach. Rapidash, a few of whom almost always guarded herds, were mildly psychic and could sense intent. She'd hoped that would keep them from fleeing, giving her the time to approach slowly and calmly.

She still thought it would have been possible, but 2B had made it utterly irrelevant. She'd simply stopped the moment she got close enough for the herd's Rapidash to move to an alert posture and started radiating enough aura that even Zoey could get the general meaning. The entire herd had perked up, with three of the Guardian Rapidash cautiously moving toward the girl who was radiating what amounted to 'curious-happy-welcome-friends.' When they'd reached 2B, they'd examined her critically, something complex Zoey could only vaguely sense the edges of passing between them.

Then they'd happily shuffled closer and lined up for pets and scritches from 2B.

Zoey had simply gawked for quite some time. She wasn't ashamed to admit that. But once the pokémon seemed satisfied with 2B, the white-haired girl had turned their attention to her. She'd been able to tell they were weighing her in a similar way that they'd done with 2B, but far more suspiciously. 2B had calmly informed her it was now up to Zoey to convince them to let her talk to the Ponyta and see if one wanted to come with her.

Zoey had been blown away by that, but she was well aware pokémon were intelligent enough for such things. Even if said intelligence and the priorities behind it were very different than a human's. As a Top Coordinator, she was also used to thinking on her feet, thankfully, and had quickly gotten over her surprise. She'd laid out her intent to look only for a Ponyta that would be a good partner, looking to get stronger with her. Eventually, after a painful long pause, the Rapidash had nodded…and let her approach the herd.

Since then, she and Purugly had been playing with the various Ponyta, getting a feel for them. Several of them had the spirit of a performer, which would have made her pick them at any other time. But only one seemed to have the heart of a battler. In fact, it…a male she was pretty sure, had outright challenged her. Smiling, she stuck to the basics as she ordered Purugly's attacks. Her starter was utterly overkill for this. But she didn't have any other pokémon with her, so she'd just have to be gentle.

"Purugly! Start with Scratch, then dodge into Fury Swipes!"

Scratch was a basic move, and she'd had a quiet word with her starter before the match, telling him to move at half speed. Even so, he was still faster than Ponyta, landing a weakened Scratch, before obeying her preemptive order to dodge the Ember that the young pokémon leveled at him. The ember was quite strong and accurate for what it was, but Purugly was nearly as agile now as he'd been as a Glameow, despite his chunkier body. He easily slipped around the ember, ending up beside the young Ponyta and slashing it repeatedly with a weak set of Fury Swipes.

"Ttttaaa!"

The Ponyta clearly recognized how outclassed it was, but that only seemed to piss it off. Much to her surprise, it showed incredible instincts by riding the Fury Swipes and dropping to its forelegs. Both of its rear legs flashed out, lit up with Type Energy in what she was fairly sure was a Double Kick. That was enough of a surprise that Purugly had to stop sandbagging for a moment to avoid the attack, and Zoey instinctively shouted out a counter order.

"Swagger!"

Purugly charged with energy and moved with a sort of taunting, dismissive grace, its body seeming to distort and waver. Just as it was supposed to, the Ponyta was clearly enraged, but also confused about exactly where her pokémon was. It launched a much more powerful ember…that missed by miles.

"Aerial Ace!"

Adding injury to insult, Zoey's Purugly went airborne in a spin, its confusing movements leaving the Ponyta completely disoriented and staring at where it had been. Charged with Flying Type energy, Purugly came down right on top of the Ponyta, slamming it into the ground. Instinctively sensing that the fight was over, Zoey cut off her next order and instead recalled Purugly. Sure enough, the Ponyta was unconscious, though it appeared only lightly injured. Smoothly, she threw a premier ball at it, only remembering the others present as the ball took flight.

Thankfully, the herd's Rapidash didn't make a move to knock the ball off course, despite easily being fast enough to do so. It struck the downed Ponyta and the ball rocked only once before sealing with a ding. Moving to the ball, she scooped it up with a smile.

"You've got a strong spirit, Ponyta! And great battle instincts! You'll become a great member of the team!"

Moments later, she felt herself being nudged, and turned to find several of the youngest Ponyta looking at her with big eyes. Grinning, she reached out to pet them. 2B didn't seem in a hurry to get anywhere, and the little girl in her wasn't about to pass up the chance to play with an entire heard of adorable young Ponyta…

... ... ... ... ...

A/N 1: So, obviously, I'm trying to flesh out how the Gyms/Leagues work as I go. The way they work in both the cartoon and games alike is...utterly nonsense. The Contests in the show are better, but even those are very...limited. A lot of what you'll see me doing has been done before, like Gym's having different levels of challenge for those doing different badges (number wise). That's a pretty common far as I know, what I've done with the Divisions is original to me (I haven't run across it, at least). It makes sense to me, though. Not only does throwing brand-new trainers into the same exact League Conference as veteran trainers sound like the height of stupidity, but splitting it this way also provides an actual excuse for Ash's habit of only taking Pickachu with him between Leagues.

If he's essentially always running Division 1 Leagues, then the rules I've established make it make 100% sense. He would only be allowed to take his starter along between Leagues, and mostly only for protection and to help catch new Pokémon. That this also allows me to retool Zoey's team with new Pokémon, so I'm not locked into her Contest lineup, is another advantage. It will even allow me to do something similar with 2B's team when she eventually travels abroad. If I so choose. Or, if I want to keep her core Pokémon around, I can simply have her aim for Division 2 in one League or another.

A/N 2: The multiple perspectives is something I decided I was going to need from the start. Which is actually why I introduced a companion so quickly. 2B is a very unreliable narrator in this, and having an outside viewpoint to show how surreal some of her actions are is something I felt was going to be needed. I was already doing it with Daisy and Prof Oak. Now Zoey will be the primary alternate perspective. For the time being, at least.

A/N 3: Zoey's Purugly is the logical conclusion of the fact that's she's been operating with what was originally her Glameow for multiple years at this point. Unless she intentionally held it back, it's virtually certain to have evolved by this point.