"Up and up, Spitfire," Barry commands, "Flame Wheel!"

Chimchar leaps over Piplup with a loud roar. Fire bursts through his arm, and Roserade lifts its flowers over its head in a last minute block.

Two jingles of a bell. And a wordless yell of 'go!'

Piplup charges forward, its motion clear in a range of Peck.

Roserade doesn't expect another attack from below. It's thrown back, and Chimchar surges on forward, flames in its path. Flame Wheel hits its target, and Roserade yells out, rolling back from the impact before fainting.

A loud whistle calls.

"The match is over!" Gym guide Jim calls out. "Leader Gardenia is out of Pokemon. Challenger Barry and Challenger Luce are the victors of the match!"

The crowd above cheers, and Barry and Luce pump their fists victoriously.

When they high five, Barry's other arm clasped carefully at his crutch.

Psyduck and Starly were sprawled by the benches, sleeping. 

Starly's wing had taken damage in yesterday's Galactic mess, so Barry couldn't use him for this battle. Psyduck was just being lazy. But that was fine, because the Pokemon from Professor Rowan's lab had better synergy anyways.

Chimchar and Piplup hurry back to their sides happily. 

But before Chimchar could leap into Luce's waiting arms, his body began to glow, and it freezes in its place, a tremor reverberating through its body.

Piplup finds itself in a similar state, and the light engulfs them, his body growing larger in size, head morphing for horns. Chimchar's tail emerges, lengthens-- and lights, in greater flames than before.

When the gleam eases, they've attained new forms. Barry and Luce can't help but gawk as the crowd cheers even louder from above.

"Monferno, the Playful Pokemon," the Pokedex reads. "A bigger fire on its tail and a brighter blue pattern on its face means its rank in its pack is higher. It uses ceilings and walls to launch aerial attacks."

Luce and Barry get on their knees to greet their Pokemon, Luce happily spreading his arms as Monferno engulfs him with a hard hug. Prinplup is a little less touchy about it, but he raises a fin when Barry prompts a high five.

"Chimchar evolves into Monferno, and Piplup into Prinplup," Gardenia says. "That's one of the coolest milestones you can cross on your journeys, kids!"

Gardenia steps up to them, returning her Roserade to its Poke Ball.

"You know what else is a really cool milestone to cross?"

Luce and Barry raise their hands to catch something being tossed their way. It's a small, metallic emblem, crested with the image of three trees.

(Just like the kanji for 'forest', isn't it?)

(Ah, no... from the history of Chinese characters, it's the other way around.)

"Well, earning the Forest badge, of course!" she boasts, "I, Leader Gardenia, proudly bestow upon Trainers Barry and Luce the Forest Badge of Eterna City Gym, in honour and-- blergh, you know we're meant to say that stuff but no one ever does, so whatever."

Luce smiles understandingly and Barry just laughs.

"Mister Roark didn't even try with that one."

It's a little tough to focus on the conversation, though.

Monferno's arms are big enough to surround Luce in a proper hug, so he's busy abusing Luce's ribs in his excitement. Prinplup wants Barry to keep looking at him because look, I have horns now! I am cooler. LOOK.

"I am a little surprised they evolved at the same time, though. I mean, I'm two badges in and Luce is still one," Barry says, to which Luce signs something, and Barry hums in realization, "oh, right. You went through the forest. I guess that was some cool training you got."

Barry reaches over to Monferno, putting his hand under his arms to try and lift it.

It takes effort, but Barry manages. "Man, you're so heavy now, Spitfire!" he raises the chimp into the air, to which he excitedly cheers, and Barry nearly drops him. "I don't know if Luce's shoulders can support you anymore. His twig bones might just break under the weight."

Luce gives him a deadpan stare as Monferno reacts with a panic.

Meanwhile, Prinplup, still fascinated with his new coolness points, decides to ask for attention from Luce. Luce isn't nearly strong enough to lift him, so he doesn't quite try.

Luce decides to teach him the signs to say 'I am the coolest penguin in the world', even though Prinplup couldn't correctly mime them. Barry would have some opinions about his obnoxious ego later, but for now was fine.

Psyduck and Starly came over, the latter perched on the former's head like an oversized, very fluffy hat.

As the two evolved Pokemon scrambled over to apparently chat about their new forms with brimming excitement, Barry and Luce turned to see Friendly Teenager Roy and Gym Guide Jim walk over with their belongings from the lockers and some Technical Machines in their hands.

"HM01, you know what it is?" Roy asks them, to which Barry grimaces for a short moment before nodding. "What's with that?"

"No, just," Barry hums, "there was this weird lady..."

"Cynthia," Luce reminds him.

"Why did you remember her name?" Barry chides. "She was talking all about how our Pokedexes mean we're some sorta chosen ones or something. She tried to give us one of those too, I guess, but we said no."

Roy frowns at that. "That's a strange thing to be offended by."

Barry scoffs, "it isn't. We just want to journey, okay? Not get inevitably involved with some calamity-wide nonsense," he insists.

"I'm sure she didn't mean anything malicious."

"Well yes, I'm sure she meant... well," Barry admits, "but it doesn't change anything. Have you read about what disasters are in the other region and how Pokedex Owners had to single handedly fix them every time?"

Luce looks away guiltily.

"Wait, seriously?" that's Gardenia.

"Yeah. News like that doesn't get really easy out in the Sinnoh region, though," Gym guide Jim tells them. "Legendary Pokemon, world-ending calamity-- it's happened before, and will happen again. It's like we're taking turns."

"Yikes."

"And they're saying children were responsible for saving the world? What were the adults doing?"

"Hold on, isn't Team Galactic being an ultimate foreshadow right now? Should we be alarmed?"

Barry huffs. "Well I did," he says, and clarifies, "literally just last night. And me and you? You and me, you see, are not getting involved. Seriously, why do we have adults?"

Yeah, that's the normal reaction.

"That's a pretty bold thing to say," Gardenia says, her arms crossed and a resigned smile on her face. "But I admire that. I'm sure everyone would lend a hand in times of crisis, but only the mindless would volunteer to lead the charge. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone."

And well, that was fair.

Luce and Barry both receive the TM86, Grass Knot. Despite Barry's recluse for it, Luce gratefully accepts the HM01 from Roy as well. They do need it, after all.

"So what's your plan from here? You can't get anywhere without cutting through Mount Coronet now," Gardenia says.

"Oh," Barry sets their Forest Badge in their cases-- Luce's is red, his is green-- as Luce labels the TMs. "We're heading down the Cycling Road to Oreburgh first. Luce hasn't challenged that gym yet, after all."

Gardenia hums in acknowledgement. "Then it's Hearthome after that, huh?"

"So it's goodbye here, huh?" Roy hums. He takes Barry's hand and shakes it firmly, doing the same for Luce. "Fair winds to you. May Victini watch upon your journey."

Barry blinks. "Victini?" Luce lifts his head at the name, for a slightly different reason.

"It's a Unovan myth," Roy explains. "It means 'may your battles be victorious'. I know you two are going to be great-- call it a hunch."

It's a little embarrassing to be praised so upfront, but Barry and Luce smile back at it.

"Whatever you do, don't do anything that'll bring shame to the Forest Badge, though," Gardenia says.

"We won't," Luce assures. He gestures for Monferno and Psyduck, waiting for them to come over to return them to their balls.

"We'll come back stronger, Miss Gardenia," Barry grins, returning Prinplup and Starly to their Poke Balls as well. "We can have a rematch sometime, right? So I can fight your actual team! Like that Tangrowth, for example."

Gardenia grins. "Them's fighting words, buddy!" she says. "I'll be waiting!"

They wave, leaving the Gym with a cheering crowd.

-

Rad Rickshaw waits outside the Pokemon Center. He's wrapped in a whole roll of bandages, but he's still trying to look smug.

Two Clefairy are beside him, one trying to help him walk while the other waves at the boys to get their attention. There's a Cleffa on its head, the same Cleffa the Youngster held a couple days ago.

Clifford the littlest hops right into Luce's arms when the boy offers.

"So Cliff, Clifette, and Clifford, right?" Barry counts them, only for the two Clefairy to whine noisily, insisting otherwise for each other. Barry corrects himself, "oh, so you're Cliff, and the other is Clifette? How do you tell them apart, Mister Rickshaw?"

The Clefairy give Mister Rickshaw a skeptical side glance.

"Oh," Barry notes, leaning hard on his crutch, "you can't tell them apart either huh."

Rad Rickshaw clears his throat sharply. 

"That aside!" he says, interrupting Luce's happy little nuzzle session with Cleffa. "I haven't thanked you two for yesterday yet. I've already treated the rest of a town to drinks and meals, but for you two, I think these are better, right? I do have a Roark order for Barry, after all. "

He steps aside, showing them a set of Sinnoh exclusive foldable bikes.

To say Barry and Luce were fascinated would be an understatement. Luce juggles the Cleffa to his other arm, setting his free hand on the bike's frame, and his jaw drops open in surprise. Mister Rickshaw grins happily at the reaction.

"Lighter than you think, right?" he boasts. "Excellent leverage, incredibly lightweight, and fits right into your bag! That's the pride and joy of Rad Rickshaw's Bike Shop. And you're both getting it for free!"

"I was getting it for free already," Barry says.

Luce smacks him in the back of the head. Cleffa bursts into laughter.

"Thank you," he signs, despite knowing that the man wouldn't understand it. Some things can be gathered with sentiments, after all. "We'll treasure them."

Mister Rickshaw seems ready to burst into tears. "Look," he gestures at Luce like he was a holy object, "someone appreciates me."

Barry continues to stare judgmentally, so Mister Rickshaw sighs.

"I heard from Miss Gardenia that you Dex Owners come in threes. So you can take the extra, you know? And give it to your other pal when you see them," he offers.

Barry and Luce pause. They were getting three?

"What the-- one for Dawn, too?" Barry gawks, "but you haven't met her!"

Mister Rickshaw huffs, "a friend of you guys is sure to be great as well," he says, undoubting. "Heard about your curse of heroism or something-- well, we adults got to help out any way we can, right?"

Luce's jaw is still dropped. "Are you sure?"

"What, not satisfied with that much? You can ask your pal to come thank me personally, if it bothers you guys," he then hands the kids something else. "One more thing-- if you're becoming a trainer, I'm sure these can be of help in the future."

In one hand, Barry's handed a translucent stone that gleams yellow in the center. In the other, he's handed a teal, mostly opaque stone, glittering white near its core.

Mister Rickshaw hums. "My Clefairy found them, but I've got no use for them."

Barry immediately knows what it is.

"Evolutionary stones!" he says with a gasp. He brightens up immediately, evidently over the moon with these. "This is so cool! Thanks, Mister Rickshaw. I'll use them with care, promise!"

That makes Mister Rickshaw smile. "Just glad I can help, kiddo. Take care, alright? No more busting into dangerous buildings, though."

"Hey c'mon, that was Luce's idea," Barry shoves his friend under the bus.

Luce signs back an offended, "you're very ungrateful," in retaliation. The Cleffa in his arms looks over, confused at the human signs it didn't understand.

"Yes, yes, thank you," Barry shoves the items in his bag before facing Mister Rickshaw again. "No joke though. Really happy about it, Mister Rickshaw. If I make it big, I'll make sure to spread your business name all over the region."

"We'll be sure to ask Dawn to drop by in her own time, too," Luce promises.

"Oh, I'll appreciate that!" Mister Rickshaw laughs. "By the way, I notice you kids colour code everything..."

-

It's laughter and a few more words later that Mister Rickshaw and his Pokemon bids them goodbye, and they're left to their own devices.

"Can you bike with that foot?" Luce wonders.

"I'll make it work," Barry assures.

The chime of the healing machine rings out, and a number displays outside the building.

"Ours," Barry calls, standing up.

Luce sets a hand on his shoulder, "I'll do it." And heads in on his own.

"No need to coddle me. It's just a sprain."

"I'm not, idiot."

The Pokemon Center building plays the game theme on repeat through the loudspeakers, so Luce finds himself reminiscing in the strangeness of game mechanics. He kinda misses the music now... and though it plays in his head, he can't hum them.

Monferno comes back with a loud hug, as if he's been gone for ages. The Soothe Bell rings around his neck, scraping a little against Luce's chest as they collide.

He laughs it off, greeting Psyduck and Prinplup with equal vigor. Starly isn't nearly as excited, but he lands on Luce's head in a notion of trust, his wing now fully healed.

(If there are bells, perhaps there are other instruments as well.)

(Ah... didn't they use to play a piano? It would be nice to have one again.)

Luce thanks the Nurse Joy and heads out.

-

"Mister Looker probably wants to see us before we go?" Barry asks, incredulous. "Come to think of it... he was in the Galactic building for some reason, wasn't he?"

Luce raises his Vs Recorder. They had gone through it last night extensively on their own, after all-- and Mister Looker could definitely make good use of it. "Battle data," he says. "We don't know when we'll see him again."

Barry shrugs, "I mean, you have a point, but it's not exactly convenient to go right back into the building to see if we can find him. How about next time."

"Dishonest." This is, after all, the whole reason Looker gave it to them.

"Maybe next time, we plan a meet-up spot before we part ways."

Luce pouts. Barry ignores him.

Monferno and Prinplup, still exhausted by the long battles despite going through the Recovery Machine, decided to stay in their Poke Balls. Since they were going down the Cycling Road, their Trainers would be fine unsupervised a little longer.

"Ah-- I'm so glad I caught you two!'

The two boys freeze in their spot as the woman's voice reaches their ears, and Cynthia steps up to them with a Garchomp by her side.

Barry's first instinct is to grimace, and Luce, realizing it with alarm, swings a hand right over to pinch his cheeks out. Look decent, you idiot, don't be a brat!

Before Barry can say no heck you, Cynthia has caught up to them, stopping right before them with a light catching of breath. She held a rucksack on one shoulder.

"I was looking for you. I really wanted to apologize," she says. And Barry actually stills, taken by sheer surprise. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed my ideals on you like that... I came on quite rudely assertive, and that must have made you both incredibly uncomfortable. I hope you can forgive me."

Luce stands there, completely in awe by how extensive that apology was.

Barry, in a similar state, had his jaw dropped open.

She didn't need to come up to them to say this-- hell, it wasn't even that big of a deal, Barry and Luce would've forgotten it by their next encounter.

And yet... there she was.

Barry looks away, flustered as Cynthia lowers her head. "Ah, yeah," he tries to stay composed, utterly failing, "it's alright. It's no biggie. Really."

"It's okay," Luce signs.

Cynthia smiles, relieved.

"But I do have something to entrust to you two," she says, lifting her rucksack before them and loosening the strap to reveal an incubator, inside of which revealed a Pokemon Egg.

(There it is! The game event, the gift Togepi Egg.)

"An Egg?" Barry asks.

In this world, Eggs were often entrusted by Senior Trainers to Junior Trainers, an indication of acknowledgement and a loud calling of trust from one trainer to another. It's a mark of sincerity, and a wish of wellness and great journeys ahead.

Much more so than any Technical or Hidden Machine, this was a mark of honour.

"Would you accept and raise this Egg in my stead?" she asks.

And there was really no other response they could give. Eggs were delicate things, and to be entrusted with this responsibility-- it's like being knighted, depending on who was talking to you.

(And this is the Champion.)

So when Luce takes the incubator in his arms, he can't help but smile widely.

"That's wonderful!" Cynthia says, "the Pokemon in the egg is happy, too. I'm sure of it. And when it hatches, I hope it'll become a great companion by your side."

Barry hums, "well, uh... it's really nice of you. So thanks, Miss."

"Cynthia," Luce reminds.

"...Miss Cynthia," Barry corrects himself after a moment of deliberation. He doesn't acknowledge the touched smile on Cynthia's face, but he does flush, like he's embarrassed he ever tried saying it. "Anyways, we'll take care of it!"

"Thanks," Luce signs happily, "I'll be responsible."

Cynthia giggles at that. "I'll leave it to you two, then," she says. "See you again!"

She's gone just as quickly as she comes, her Garchomp nodding sagely as Luce nervously tilts his head in a greeting of some sort.

"Well, that was a weird encounter," Barry says.

"Is she forgiven?" Luce asks, half-jokingly.

"Forgiveness is earned, not bribed," Barry immediately replies. Then, under his breath, he mutters, "but she has earned some half points. Let's see if we meet her again."

Luce doesn't tell him that, by law of main character syndrome, that's guaranteed. He's sure Barry is very well aware, and he's already dreading it.

(Well, that'll only make it so much more amusing, huh?)

-

"Oh! Hey, hey you two!"

They're almost at the entrance to Cycling Path when they're stopped by a slightly familiar older man in a labcoat.

He seems to have hurried over, breathing heavily.

"You're Barry, right? And Luce?" he asks, though he seems pretty sure.

"Ah, yes-- oh!" Barry recognizes him, though Luce is still confused. "You're one of the assistant professors in Prof. Rowan's lab!"

"Yes!" the man seems pleased to have been recognized, straightening proudly-- but immediately doubles back over to continue catching his breath.

Luce and Barry exchange flat looks, but there was nothing they could quite do except wait for this terribly unfit man to regain his composure. Monferno was going to leap over to tell him to hurry up, but he'd only make things worse, so Luce hisses at him in a disapproving way, to which the monkey only pouts in response.

A moment later, "I'm not a professor yet actually, just an assistant--" he says, "you can call me Mister Dawnes, though. Thanks for being a good pal to my daughter."

(Oh. This man's Dawn's dad!)

"Wait..." Barry's face scrunches up in confusion, "your name is Mister Dawnes? So Dawn is Dawn Dawnes?!"

(Yeah. Yeah, that.) Luce facepalms. He knows Barry should be smarter than this, but he will digress, he spent a moment being confused about that too.

Mister Dawnes barks out in laughter. "No, no! Her name is Platinum. Or Platina Dawnes," he says, "she's not too fond of that name, though, hence the nickname she prefers."

At that, Barry lets out an understanding hum. "Oh... guess that makes sense."

Luce hums as well. It rounds up the last of the game titles. Is it some sort of dumb coincidence that all three of them dislike their real name and thus are going by a nickname, though?

(And why Platina instead of Platinum? Is it because of the Japanese pronunciation, or... oh, to match up with Giratina? Is that the-- wait, is that the name origin? Holy shit.)

(Yeah, okay, fair enough, Giratinum doesn't sound as nice.)

Mister Dawnes clears his throat, which draws Luce's attention right back toward him.

"Anyways-- I'm here to check up on your Pokedex records, kids," he says. "There's a recent update Professor Rowan wanted me to apply for you guys-- it'll really help out in your work."

And as they handed him their Pokedexes for him to take out and replace some compartments, he continues talking.

"I see you two are doing quite well. Luce has seen quite a few more than Barry," he chuckles, and Barry sulks a little.

"That's because I went through the forest and Blair skipped."

"Hey, I met a Drapion," he insists, "quality over quantity."

"Well, it matters little in the long term," Mister Dawnes assures them, and apparently he was already done, because he hands the Pokedexes right back to the boys, who take it to inspect the difference.

Luce finds a new button at the corner of the screen that says connect.

"Now, you guys can share your gathered data with each other every time you meet up," Mister Dawnes says. "It'll certainly help when you guys go separate ways, don't you think? Of course, Platina's got the same upgrades, too."

Luce stares in awe as the data of Drapion registers in his Pokedex, and Barry gawks at the register of a shiny Budew on his own.

"Dude! Luce! You didn't tell me about this!" Barry accuses, and Luce gives him a snarky look, earning himself a noogie. "I am drilling you for stories after this, you punk!"

"No, go into the forest yourself," Luce says.

Mister Dawnes sighs contentedly at that. "At least you're enjoying yourselves," he says, picking up his luggage to hand them a pair of Technical Machines, "and then, this."

"What are you sir, an out-of-season Santa Claus?"

"No, I'm just Mister Dawnes," he replies immediately as Barry takes the discs, confirming that it is, indeed, white. "TM54, False Swipe. Platina is the one more focused on capturing Pokemon among you three, but I'm sure you two can make use of that as well."

Which was true-- Barry had a planned team he wanted to pursue, and Luce simply wasn't interested in catching too many Pokemon in the first place. But they'll take this gratefully anyways. You could never have too many options, after all.

"Thanks, Mister Dawnes!" Barry says, tucking them into the pocket of Luce's bag.

"Thank you," Luce adds.

Mister Dawnes smiles approvingly.

"Well, that's all the errands I had to do today," he says, letting out a relieved, job-well-done breath. "Finally! I'm going home to conk out!" he cheers, releasing a Honchkrow from his pocket and casually climbing on right then and there.

Luce was still too flabbergasted at the sight of a fricking Honchkrow. Dude this twig of an over-exhausted man has a fully evolved Dark-type flyer Pokemon? Rent a Staraptor Flight like every other adult, please!

"Say hi to my daughter for me, she'll be in Oreburgh. Bye!"

And then he's gone.

Luce turns over to see Barry wearing the same disheveled, bewildered, 'what the actual fuck...?' look on his face. 

He's still staring at all the convenient things they've conveniently received over the past hour-- the special Pokemon Egg, the new bikes and Technical Machines, the upgrade to their Pokedex...

And then, "so this is what it means to be the hero of the story, huh..."