Hey, guys sorry for the wait with this. Hope it's okay!

Sam grinned as his opponent's Pidgeotto fainted. Falkner reluctantly called him back to his pokéball and hooked it onto his belt. "That was a good match. You've connected with your Cyndaquil well."

Because he caught it. Sam's grin grew. "Thanks."

Falkner crossed the battlefield and handed Samuel a small, silver badge. "Here's the Zephyr Badge. You earned it." Sam took it and pinned it to his bag. "As you know, some of the pokémon you trade will obey you now and-"

"Yeah, he heard it when you told us," Jack called from the side of the field. "Come on."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Sorry." He shook the gym leader's hand and crossed the field over to the two.

Arthur only glanced up from his phone for a second. "Are you finally done?"

"Shut up; I got it," Sam huffed, adjusting his bag strap.

"Yeah, but you took so long," Jack complained, pushing himself to his feet.

"Yeah – I thought your Cyndaquil was better than mine." Arthur smirked, raising his eyebrows. He pocketed his phone as Sam glared at him.

"I caught mine."

"And I battled for less time."

"Yeah, fuck you." Sam folded his arms. He made sure not to catch his hand on his cardigan again. "Should we go and find somewhere to stay for the night?"

Jack shrugged. "What makes you think I want to stay with you nerds?"

"Hey." They all turned to look at the gym leader. "Can you guys get out of the gym if you're done? I do have other challengers."

"Sorry." Arthur cringed and they began walking to the elevator that brought challengers up to and down from the raised battlefield. "But given that you didn't leave during Sam's battle, I'd say you're staying with us."

Jack narrowed his eyes and pressed the down button. "Maybe I was just waiting to see how long it would actually take him to finish it."

"Oh come on," Sam groaned as the doors pinged open. "I was like... ten minutes."

"And I was five." Arthur grinned and walked in.

"You know what? Fuck you." Sam reluctantly followed him and Jack inside.

Jack pressed the button for the first floor. "You really need to come up with better comebacks." Sam just slowly raised his middle finger. "Okay, but seriously – do either of you have anywhere to stay?"

Arthur checked his wallet. "There's a hostel down the road and we should have enough money after that battle?"

"May as well check," Jack sighed. When the doors opened, they left the gym.

The 'TB' people were still gone, a few marks on the ground the only indicator of Jack's fight with them. The sun was beginning to set now after the battles, and the mainly white-walled city was dyed red and orange by the light.

The hostel was at the back of the pokémon centre, a gentler colour than the neon orange but still noticeable. Inside, a woman with purple hair smiled at them. "Hi, can I help you?"

"Yeah, can we get a room for three people?" Jack just put his money on the counter.

The receptionist glanced at her computer. "We don't have any three-person rooms, but we have one for five? Two people have already taken the other two."

Jack glanced back at Arthur and Sam. "Is that okay?" When both nodded, he turned back to the receptionist. "Yeah, we'll take those three."

"Perfect." The receptionist took his money and passed him out a key. "You're in room five."

Sam grabbed the key and began walking. "Thanks for paying, Jack."

Jack blinked a few times as Arthur snickered and followed him. "Yeah, that was really nice of you."

"Wait what?" He stared after them for a moment before jogging to catch up. "No! Hey, give me my money back! I'm poor!"

"You had enough money to pay for it." Sam shrugged as they reached the room and he unlocked the door.

Jack glared at him. "I want my money back."

"And I wanted a Cyndaquil at the lab but things don't go your way all the time." Sam shot a look at Arthur as he pushed open the door.

Inside was the boy from the lab and a girl with red hair. The boy looked up and grinned. "Oh, hey it's you. Did you decide who got the Cyndaquil?"

"I did." Arthur grinned and Sam flipped him off.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

Elliot blinked. "Oh, hi! I'm Elliot. I got my licence at the same time as them." He hesitated. "And you?"

"Jack."

"Oh, cool." Elliot grinned.

The girl gave a tiny wave as eyes fell onto her. "I'm Riley."

"Sam." Sam nodded and dumped his bag onto the bottom bunk of one of the beds. "And this is mine."

"Ugh, fuck you," Arthur huffed as Jack claimed the other bottom bunk. "I'm Arthur."

"Cool." Riley nodded slowly.

Elliot's eyes landed on Sam's bag and lit up. "You guys got to the gym? I thought it was blocked off."

"Nah, just a few assholes trying to cause shit." Jack smirked. "I got rid of them."

"It wasn't that impressive." Sam rolled his eyes.

"I didn't see you getting rid of them." Jack shot a look over his shoulder. "And you took twice as long as us with your battle."

"Well I had less time to train my Cyndaquil because someone ran out of the lab with the other one and left me stranded for a few hours."

"Are you guys okay?" Elliot asked after a second.

Sam glanced at him. "Yeah, of course." He grinned. "So what did you two do if you didn't go to the gym?"

Elliot glanced at Riley. She glared. "Hoe, don't do it-"

"We went to Starmiebucks."

Riley sighed as the other three groaned. "Alright, time to find a spoon to stab you with."

Elliot jumped out of his chair and onto the top bunk. "Nope. No."

Riley raised an eyebrow. "I'm taller than you. Do you think I won't come up there to stab you?"

"You'd get blood everywhere."

"No blood if we burn the building down," Arthur mumbled under his breath.

Elliot huffed and grabbed his wallet, climbing down to the door. "I'm going to Starmiebucks."

"Say it again and I will actually stab you."

"You ready for this?" Salem nudged Elliot as they and Riley walked towards the gym. "Your first battle. This sets up your entire career as a trainer – how you do in this singular battle."

"Please don't," Elliot half groaned, a feeble smile etched onto his face, cheeks pale. "I'm already nervous enough."

"You'll be fine," Salem assured him, grabbing his arm and giving it a squeeze. "Just take him out quickly."

Riley glanced up from her phone, eyebrows raised, but didn't comment on the situation. Technically, he would be better off drawing the battle out and using defence lowering attacks. But she was pretty certain that Elliot had only taught his pokémon offensive moves.

"I know." Elliot nodded as they reached the doors and he slowly made his way in.

The elevator brought them up in silence and once they emerged, Falkner turned to smile at them. "Another challenger? You're piling in recently. How many are there now?"

"Just me." Elliot rubbed the top of one of his pokéballs, a nervous habit that was developing fast, as he stepped forward. "I mean- unless-" He glanced back at Riley, but she shook her head. "No. Just me."

"I see." Falkner's eyes shone, and he cocked his head to the side. "Well my usual trainers are out so you'll just be facing me head on. I hope that's okay."

"Yeah, of course! That's fine." Elliot nodded and moved a little closer. Salem and Riley made their way to the edges so they could watch the battle without becoming part of it. "So, uh... should I just-"

Falkner threw a pokéball up and it flashed. "Pidgey, come on out!" The Pidgey cooed as it emerged. It circled around his head for a moment before settling on the battlefield.

Elliot chewed his lip before throwing his pokéball too. "Chikorita!"

His Chikorita darted out and stood proudly in front of him, tossing her head back.

Falkner regarded his pokémon with a hum. "This doesn't look like it'll be a difficult win for me. You should have thought this out a little better."

Elliot chuckled nervously. "I mean, I know grass isn't great against flying, but Chikorita's my bae and I love her." He paused. "Or she will be my bae. When she evolves. Cause she'll be a Bayleaf."

"Stop," Riley groaned from the sidelines, miming hitting her head off the railing.

Elliot tried not to laugh as Falkner sighed, looking far more tired than he had when they walked in. "The challenger can go first."

The battle was actually harder for Falkner than he had anticipated – largely due to Elliot mock battling with Riley and Salem, and fighting most pokémon he came across in the wild. Used to going up against fire and flying types, Chikorita's agility had gone up and she had grown accustomed to sudden orders as well as literally jumping onto the opposing pokémon.

When Falkner's Pidgeotto came out, Elliot had to switch to a Ratatta – a lower power level but strategically better. He wore Falkner's pokémon down, and then switched back to Chikorita towards the end of the battle to finish it off.

It was a chaotic mess of a fight; the equivalent of throwing a ball into a crowd of dogs. But he managed to win.

Falkner called his Pidgeotto back as Chikorita trudged over to Elliot. "You did well," he admitted, "even with a weaker type." Elliot crouched down and gently rubbed Chikorita's head before calling her back to his pokéball. "But you need to take better care of your pokémon. You wore your Chikorita down a lot there."

Elliot winced. "Sorry."

Falkner just shook his head. "It's not me you need to apologise to. Just be more careful." He took something out of his pocket and made his way closer. "Here." He dropped the badge into Elliot's hand. "Go heal up your pokémon."

Elliot's eyes lit up. "Thank you! I won't let it happen again!"

"See to it that you don't." Falkner nodded and Elliot ran over to his friends.

"I got it!"

"That's great." Riley grinned at her as Salem mimicked her actions.

"Yeah, well done!"

"Thanks!" Elliot giggled, half breathless with the adrenaline rushing through his body. "Oof, sorry."

"Don't apologise." Salem shot him a look. "What are you apologising for?"

Elliot shrugged and shook his head. "Compulsiveness. Sorry." He turned towards the elevator. "Come on – I need to go to the pokémon centre and then we need to get lunch."

Riley nodded slowly. "Yeah, we're meant to meet up with the others at that sandwich bar."

"Which others?" Salem raised an eyebrow.

"Oh – Samuel, Arthur, and Jack," Elliot explained. "We met them yesterday at the hostel. They're relatively nice."

Riley shot him a look. "Jack threatened to stab you."

Elliot shrugged, laughing as they entered the elevator and he pressed the down button. "I mean, so did you."

"Yeah, but I'm not nice."

Elliot's face warped to a look of comedic horror and mild concern. "What? No! You're amazing!"

Riley gave him a small grin but shook her head as the doors opened. They were quick about leaving Elliot's pokémon in to be healed, and the nurses assured them that they could go to lunch and come back to pick them up.

They found the trio waiting on lunch outside a small café. Sam had pulled his hat down on his head to shield his eyes from the warm light, and Arthur was squinting at his phone. Jack was just leaning on his hand, watching a lazy Pidgey hop around on the ground.

Elliot slid onto the bench beside Arthur and held out his badge. "Guess who just got his first badge?"

Arthur grinned at him. "Ey, well done."

Jack smirked at him. "How long did it take you?" Sam glared at him but Elliot just laughed.

"Ages. Like, I was fighting for at least half an hour."

"It was forty minutes," Riley cut in as she sat beside Jack. "But to be fair, he had a type disadvantage."

"Yeah, Sam." Jack turned to the other boy, smirking. "What's your excuse?"

Sam just shoved him – almost off the bench. "I hate you." He turned to Elliot. "But well done."

"Aah, you too," Elliot half screamed. Well, no; it wasn't a scream. Not a real one. More like a strained whisper-scream. "Sorry. I'm bad at compliments."

"You're fine." Arthur shook his head as Salem coughed. Loudly.

Elliot blinked. "Oh, right! This is Salem. Salem, that's Sam, Jack's the one on the floor – are you okay?" Jack gave him a thumbs up as he pulled himself up again. "Good. And this is Arthur."

Salem gave a friendly nod and extended his hand to shake all of theirs. He frowned when Sam didn't take it, but didn't object. "Have you guys ordered yet?"

"Not yet." Jack shook his head. "Arthur insisted that we should be polite and wait for you."

"I still think that was a bad idea," Sam muttered. "You took too long. No offence."

"None taken." Elliot grabbed a menu. "Sorry."

"Hey, no apologising." Salem elbowed him. "She gets that you were battling."

Elliot's eyes flickered to Sam. "Oh, uh... by the way – I never got to ask what pronouns you guys use." He spoke a little more loudly than necessary, as though to drown out the already spoken words.

"He and him," Sam replied, purposely glancing at Salem as he said it.

Jack gave a wave. "Yeah, me too." Arthur just nodded. "What about you?"

Elliot hesitated. Fuck. He really hadn't thought this through properly. Not with Salem there. "Um... I-"

"What do you mean by pronouns?" Salem cut in.

Jack waved a hand. "What to refer to you by. So if someone said you went to the shop, would they use he, she, they, or something else."

"Oh, yeah he." Salem frowned. "Who would use they? Or something else- there isn't even something else."

"A lot of people." Sam frowned at him. "And there are other things. Some people use zie or ey or-"

"But they're not words."

"They are." Riley hummed, looking up from the menu. "They're not Johton pronouns but some people prefer them."

"But that doesn't make sense. If you speak Johton, why wouldn't you use Johton pronouns?" Salem shrugged.

"Because. They mightn't speak Johton or prefer the sound." Riley looked at the menu again. "Like, I don't so I can't really speak for people that use other pronouns, but just respect them. Ask how to use them if you don't know."

"That's too difficult." Salem shook his head as the waitress neared them. "Just use Johton ones if you speak it."

Jack frowned at him, a half disbelieving grin stretching over his face. "I'm not even Johton. You know that right?"

"Well- Yeah, but you speak Johton when you're here," Salem pointed out, folding his arms.

The waitress hesitated. "Should I come back later?"

"No, it's fine," Elliot jumped in. "Come on – let's just order. It doesn't matter."

Salem huffed and looked at the menu but didn't argue until they had all ordered their food and drinks. "I just mean you should learn the language of whatever region you're in and use it. It doesn't matter what pronouns you usually use – just use the ones there."

"Okay." Sam leaned over the table. "So Alola doesn't have gender specific pronouns. They just use the equivalent of they and them over there. So you'd be okay with no one referring to you as a boy or calling you he?"

"I guess?" Salem scoffed. "But that doesn't work grammatically."

"It's a different language," Elliot mumbled. "And it still works in Johton."

"No, it doesn't."

"Are you really questioning my grammatical knowledge?" Elliot raised an eyebrow but sank back down into his seat when he saw Salem's frown.

"Okay, but no one uses they."

"I do," Riley spoke up. "Like, I usually use she but they and them are good too."

Salem shook his head. "That doesn't make sense. You're a girl."

"Yeah." Riley shrugged. "But I'm not cis."

"So you were a boy?"

"No." She took a sip of water. "But I'm not cis."

"I don't like the word cis." Salem wrinkled his nose. "Why do we need a word for-"

"If you say normal, I swear to God-" Sam cut himself off, glaring at Salem. "Just fucking respect people's pronouns."

"No." Salem folded his arms. "Why should I?"

"You know what?" Jack smiled. "Salem's right. Why should she need to respect pronouns?" Salem blinked a few times but didn't question it.

The waitress returned a few moments later with their food. "Grilled cheese?"

"Oh yeah, that's hers." Jack pointed over at Salem.

The other half laughed and took the sandwich. "Uh, yeah. I'm a guy."

"Yes she is." Jack nodded solemnly. The waitress just looked too tired to deal with them, so she left the rest of their food on the end of the table for them to sort out themselves. Salem turned to frown at Jack, who shrugged. "What? Why should I respect your pronouns if you don't respect other people's?"

"Why do you fucking care?" Salem muttered.

"Why do you care about purposely doing that?" Jack shrugged, taking an easy bite of his curry. "Because you must. You know. If you feel the need to assert your cis-ness by refusing to use the right pronouns."

"I don't want to use that word."

"How does that affect you being cis?" Jack shrugged.

"You know what? Fine." Salem grabbed his food. "If you're just going to get pissy with me, then bye." He stood up. "C'mon, Belle." He didn't look back to check if Elliot was following him.

Jack just grinned. "Bye Selena!"

Riley glanced at him. "You don't need to go with him if you don't want to," she mumbled.

Elliot shook his head, pulling out his wallet. "It's fine," he mumbled. "I'm sorry about him." He pulled out a hundred and fifty poké. "This should cover my food – sorry." He hurried out of the restaurant after Salem.

Jack swallowed another mouthful of curry. "That was fun."

Arthur stretched as they left the hostel. Elliot and Riley were both still asleep and they had all done their best not to wake them – Elliot had come back to the hostel in tears at midnight and Riley had had to go on a walk with him to calm him down. None of them were quite sure when the two went to bed.

"Where's the next gym?" Jack murmured, still used to the quiet of the room. It was early, so there were only a few Pidgey milling around on the sidewalk, cooing in the heat.

Sam checked his pokédex and let out a slow breath. "Azalea Town."

"Oh, it's really nice there." Arthur grinned. "My brother and I went there a couple of times as kids. There's a Slowpoke well there and they used to play with us."

Sam stared at him. "You played with Slowpoke as a kid?"

Arthur nodded. "Yeah, we went down into the well and everything. It was great."

Sam shook his head. "Okay. That's... okay."

Jack rolled his eyes. "It's not that good of a town." He began walking towards the edge of Violet City. "It's a bit better than here though."

"We'll need to try and get through fast." Arthur chewed his lip. "I don't think they have any hostel or anything aside from the Poké Centre and I don't really want to sleep on the couch there just yet."

Sam just shook his head. "I'm not running for four hours through a forest just because you don't like sleeping on a couch. We'll sleep in the Poké Centre if we have to."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Fine."

Jack glanced back at the two, eyes flicking between them. "So we're all going there together?"

"I mean it makes sense." Sam shrugged. "We all have fire types so it should be pretty easy. And if anyone's pokémon gets injured, they won't be stranded there."

"I guess." Jack nodded in agreement. A small group of children playing with a soccer ball began nearing them. "We split up after Goldenrod City though. Agreed?"

Arthur shrugged. "I guess. If it makes sense."

"Yeah, we're not going to just split up if it would end badly." Sam narrowed his eyes and flicked hair out of his eyes. "Especially if it's just because of pride."

"I never said it was because of pride," Jack snapped. "I just don't want people do think we're actually friends."

"Hey, watch out!"

Arthur looked up as the soccer ball went astray and pulled Sam out of the way. It bounced off his head and made his vision swim, but it didn't exactly hurt. Not as much as a ball to the face would have.

A small kid ran up to him to grab the ball. "Sorry."

He felt the child's hand brush his wrist and air hit his skin where one of his bands used to be. He grabbed for his wrist, and sure enough, only three bands were left. Fear shot through the child's face as Arthur lurched forward and she darted away, throwing the ball back to her friends.

The friends cheered her on as Arthur shook his head. "Wait!"

"What happened?" Sam asked as Arthur staggered to his feet.

"She stole my fucking wristband." He ran after the child, towards the edge of the town, with his companions not too far behind him.

He was gaining on her, and was usually a bit faster, but he was dizzier than he wanted to admit after being hit by the ball, and they were into the route beyond the city before he managed to grab the kid.

"Let go!" She snarled, pulling away, but Jack swooped in and snatched Arthur's wristband out of her hands. "Hey! I need that!"

"Why do you need it?" Arthur protested. "It's not even yours!"

The girl frowned at him. "Not telling."

"Is it something to do with those kids you were hanging out with?" Sam raised an eyebrow. The child folded her arms.

Jack didn't look impressed by her sullen silence. "You know we can call the police about this, right?"

"It's just a dumb wristband," the girl muttered.

"It's my wristband." Arthur took the band from Jack and clipped it back onto his arm.

The girl rolled her eyes. "They said they'd let me play if I stole something from someone."

Sam's jaw set. "Want to know what to do if someone tells you to do that again?" She peered up at him, cautious. "Punch them and tell them you don't want to play. They're not good people to hang out with if they make you steal stuff."

The girl kicked the ground. "I'm not allowed to hit anyone."

"You're also not allowed to steal stuff," Sam pointed out. "If I show you how to hit someone, will you stop listening to them?" The girl's eyes lit up and she nodded. "What's your name?"

"Carla."

"Okay Carla, show me your best punch."

"I'm just gonna-" Arthur wandered over to a nearby tree and sat down. Jack followed him over.

Carla ignored them and punched Sam's arm. Sam nodded. "Okay, give me your fist." She obliged and Sam untucked Carla's thumb so it was outside her fist. "If you grab your thumb when you punch, you could break it. Go again." The child obliged. "Okay, better. Keep your elbow closer to your body like this." Sam demonstrated though he didn't actually touch her. Carla mimicked his actions. "Great. Now just-"

The lesson continued for a while, with Sam calling Jack up so she could test her punch on him. Once he was satisfied, he nodded. "Okay, you're done. Here."

Arthur made his way back over, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small pin. He held the pin out to Carla. "You can tell them you stole this if you want. That way, you can either play or lure them in close enough to punch them."

"Are you sure?" She looked a little nervous, but Arthur nodded.

"Yeah, go on."

She snatched the pin before he could change his mind and ran back towards the city. "Thanks!"

"That was nice," Sam mumbled as Carla ran out of sight. "Aside from most of it."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Let's go. We shouldn't have stayed this long if you wanted to get there before nightfall."

"It's still only midday," Arthur complained as they began walking. "It's not that far away."

"Given how long it takes Sam to finish his fucking battles, it'll be nightfall before we actually get out of the gym."

Sam glared at him. "Shut up."

It was the light that woke Elliot, and an unpleasant taste stained his mouth. He groaned and rubbed a hand over his face, turning on his side.

Riley looked up from her book. "Hey."

"Hey," he mumbled. He licked his lips to try and get rid of the taste. "What time is it?"

"About one." Riley slid a bookmark between the pages of her book and closed it. "You okay?"

Elliot frowned. Of course he was. Why- Oh. He groaned again and pulled the duvet over his head. The darkness didn't provide any sanctuary from the memories of Salem screaming at him. "I'm fine," he mumbled.

"Are you sure?" Riley raised an eyebrow and Elliot slumped.

"No. But it's fine."

Riley had already had to deal with way too much of his anxiety attack the night before – she didn't deserve to deal with him just being a self-depreciating slob today.

He let out a slow breath and kicked off the duvet, forcing himself to sit up. "I'm fine," he insisted. "Don't worry about it."

Riley hummed but didn't question him. "We need to go in the next hour unless we pay extra for late checkout."

Elliot shook his head. "No. No, it's fine. I'll be ready once I shower." He grabbed some clothes out of his bag. "Just give me a few minutes."

Riley nodded and picked up her book again as Elliot slipped into the bathroom. Once the door closed and he turned the shower on, he slumped against the door. Calm down. Calm down.

Fuck.

"I thought you were my friend! Mine!"

"I am!"

"Then why didn't you back me up there?"

"Just because I'm your friend doesn't mean I'll tell you that you're right when you're not."

"You think he was right?"

"I just-"

Elliot squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Breathe. After a few minutes, he forced himself to actually undress and climb into the shower. It was fine. Salem wouldn't hate him. Probably.

"There's no 'just'! If you're my friend, then support me!"

No. There was literally no point in thinking about it. Elliot put the shampoo back and washed out his hair. When he was done, he dried himself off roughly – the texture and movements kept him distracted. He quickly pulled on his clothes and wandered back out to Riley.

She looked up and closed her book. "Ready?"

Elliot nodded, shoving his pyjamas into his bag. "Yeah, let's just go."

Their journey was silent for the largest part, with Elliot occasionally pausing to take a photo of Riley or the surrounding area. She offered to take one of him, but he declined with a small smile and a word of thanks.

After a while, his phone rang and he glanced at it. A photo of Salem grinned up at him. Riley raised an eyebrow. "Maybe don't answer it."

Elliot just shook his head and hit the answer button. "Hello?"

"Where are you? I'm at the hostel."

Elliot hesitated. "Uh, we're already on the way to the next gym."

"What? Why didn't you wait for me?"

"I, uh..." Elliot swallowed, eyes flickering to Riley. "I didn't think you'd want to come with us."

"Of course I do. You're one of my best friends."

"Well we're not too far away, so if you want to come-" Riley's eyebrows arched, but Salem cut him off before he could even finish the sentence.

"No – if you don't want me there, then fine."

"Wait-" The dial tone rang in his ear and he sighed, hanging up. "Uh, yeah, he's... not coming."

Riley slowly nodded. "I gathered. You okay?"

"I'm fine," Elliot mumbled, looking around. "I'm just... going to take a photo of the flowers over there." He turned his back on her, trying to ignore his burning eyes. He took long, slow breaths as he crouched down by the flowers. Just as he took the photo and calmed down, his eyes landed on the yellow seeds beneath the bush.

He frowned and scooped them into his pocket, double checking to make sure they were all gone before he returned to Riley. She had a handful of similar seeds with her. "Did you find these too?"

Elliot nodded. "Yeah. Do you think someone dropped them?"

"I don't know," she admitted, "but they're going to make some pokémon drowsy if they eat them."

Elliot nodded. "Let's just... take a look around and make sure there isn't any more. That could get dangerous."

"You sure?" Riley raised an eyebrow.

Elliot just nodded. It would be a good distraction. "Yeah, let's do it."

Jack sighed and leaned against a tree. "Are you two done yet?"

"We just sat down a few minutes ago," Sam huffed. "We don't need to leave just yet."

"I want to get my next badge."

Arthur scoffed. "What? You're planning on getting every badge in eight days?" He shook his head. "We're going to need to train our pokémon for a bit before we go in to fight."

"I guess." Jack glanced behind him.

"We need to what?" Sam looked up, one earbud dangling from his ear.

"Train our pokémon." Arthur shrugged. "Did you really think we'd be able to take down the next gym today?"

"I mean..." Sam mimicked his action. "Yeah. Fire is strong against bug types so why wouldn't we?"

Jack shook his head. "Cause our pokémon barely beat the last gym. Arthur was slower than me, but he probably fared the best." Arthur shot him with his finger. "You were just reckless as shit and impatient, even with you being slow as hell."

"You were no better," Sam snorted.

"I at least used potions and power increases." Jack rolled his eyes. "You just attacked."

Sam bit his tongue and looked away. He had wanted to finish the fight quickly so his pokémon didn't get too tired, but it wasn't the easiest battle on them and it had been longer than he wanted. "That's fair."

"I know it is. It's a fact." Jack glanced over his shoulder again. "You two need to get better at fighting before you take on the next gym."

"You do too," Sam huffed, turning back to the picture he was doodling in a notebook.

"Maybe." Jack glanced back at him. "But yeah. This gym leader will be a lot stronger than the last one."

Arthur hummed and skipped a song on his phone. "Well we could just- oh!" He jumped up, grabbing a pokéball.

Sam and Jack both looked towards where his attention was now directed to see a brown pokémon with a fluffy mane and long ears nibbling a berry.

"No fucking way," Jack muttered, staring at the Eevee. "How the fuck-"

Arthur threw the pokéball and Cyndaquil popped out. The Eevee turned and glared at the other pokémon. "Ah, fuck, I don't want to hurt it."

"I will." Jack grabbed a pokéball.

"No." Arthur shook his head. "Cyndaquil, use Flame."

"Quil!" His Cyndaquil's tail fire flared as a ball of fire grew in his mouth, and he spat it at the Eevee. The pokémon whined as the fire hit it.

"Now tackle!"

Cyndaquil darted forward, but the Eevee skidded out of the way just in time. It narrowed its eyes and shuddered. Copies of it began to surround Cyndaquil.

Arthur chewed his lip. "Fuck."

"You're useless at this," Jack snorted, shaking his head.

"Shut up." Arthur scowled. "Cyndaquil, use Flare again." Cyndaquil nodded, flare lighting up. Arthur's eyes lit up as the sudden light revealed that only one Eevee had a shadow. "The one right behind you!"

Cyndaquil twisted and aimed the fireball at the Eevee. It knocked the creature off its feet, and the copies vanished. Arthur grabbed a pokéball and threw it, but it missed.

Jack tried not to laugh.

"Fuck off, it's dyspraxia," Arthur muttered. He quickly moved closer to the Eevee and basically dropped the pokéball on it before it could move.

The Eevee vanished inside and the pokéball shook a few times before the red light faded.

Arthur grinned and picked it up. "Thanks, Cyndaquil."

"Quil!" The Cyndaquil beamed at him as he called him back to his pokéball.

"Well that's a change," Sam muttered as Arthur clipped both pokéballs to his belt. "You actually managed to catch something."

Arthur flipped him off, and Jack glanced over his shoulder again. "Why do you keep doing that?"

"What?" Jack looked back at him.

"Looking behind you."

Jack hesitated. The noises. He could have sworn he heard footsteps following him, and a voice. But it could easily have been a humanoid pokémon. Or another trainer. He was probably just being paranoid again. "Nothing," he mumbled. "Are you two ready to go now?"

"Yeah, yeah. We've got another few hours before sunset." Sam stood up and brushed the grass off his pants.

"Well forgive me for actually wanting to get there in good time." Jack hung back a little, looking around once more. Nothing. A breeze stirred, and the leaves waved down at him as a few Pidgey and Spearow flew overhead. He sighed and followed the other two.

Just his imagination.

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