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“I don’t know what your deal is but you were whimpering and moaning most of the night, thought I’d let you sleep in some seeing as you finally settled down around dawn.” Cathy was busy in the kitchen making a large stack of pancakes three at a time in a large frying pan. It was obviously going to be too many even if all the Pokemon ate some too. Akane also noticed a small coffee maker as it gurgled and hissed the last of its dark liquid into the carafe. That was the smell that had got her going.
“Can I have some please?” Akane asked quietly.
Cathy looked puzzled. “Are you sure, kiddo? You know it's coffee, right? And I do make it a little strong.”
“But I'm still feeling so tired. I'm sure it will help me wake up.”
“Well, if your sure … maybe a small cup … with lots of milk ...” Cathy still seemed a little unsure that she should comply with the young trainers request. “Well, anyway, the pancakes are almost all done.” She glanced at the three stacks of pancakes she had on the one large plate and the batter that was left in her shiny metal bowl and nodded to herself. “Should be plenty left for later” she said to no one in particular. Cathy finished cooking up the last few pancakes and added them to the plate, transferred the whole lot into the microwave and nuked the triple stack for a dozen seconds “Just to warm them all through” as she put it.
“Now then” Cathy said as she sat the plate of yummy down on the kitchen counter “We've got butter and syrup for the pancakes. Dig in!” The gracious host then traversed back to the coffee pot and poured two cups of coffee. The one that she filled and kept black was her own, the other she only filled a little less than halfway from the carafe and topped it up with milk and three generous spoons of sugar was for Akane.
“Thanks” the blonde girl replied shyly. “I hope I like it. “

The breakfast was delicious and just what Akane needed to wake her up and feel less tired. She wasn't entirely sure the coffee helped and she didn't feel any different after drinking it, it was rather weak having been diluted with so much milk after all. It was pretty yummy though, mostly because of the sugar thought the young trainer. The Pokemon all had a pancake each as well and seemed to be getting along rather well too, which was good, specifically Colandra and Marcel. Those two had finished eating and were copying each other doing various dance steps. It was rather adorable.

“Now, help me get those dishes out of the way and we can have that battle” Cathy said as she clapped her hands and rubbed them together. “I'd like to start my painting before lunch if I can.” The artist looked determined and excited.

Cheered by her new outfit and Karrigan's approval, Amy was compliant to head up the stairs towards the TM shop, the thought of giving her Pokemon new moves never occurring to her before. The bespectacled girl quickly drew out her Pokedex, beginning to scan through the pages of moves that were sold in TMs. She had no doubt it could get pricey here, but if she could get at least something for one of her Pokemon that worked out well... And then her brain kept trying to work moves into combinations, estimating their visual appeal. You have to think practically now, Amy told herself as they ascended up to the next floor. You need to get a full team of strong Pokemon... and who's to say that strength can't be their beauty?

"Did you have anything particular in mind?" she asked Karrigan as they reached the next floor, relieved that this floor seemed a tad quieter than the one below. People seemed to be focused more on clothes around this time, but there were more obviously experienced trainers around here, browsing the stores with sharp eyes. She looked between Karrigan, the store, and her Pokedex, confidence waning some. With the money she had, it would pretty much clean her out if she were to buy just one TM... and then there was the matter of figuring out which of her Pokemon needed an extra boost the most and which TM to get. The brunette let her redheaded companion take the lead this time, deciding that this would be much more of a challenge than shopping for a new outfit. Well, you look the part, time to act like it.

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"Oh, you've seen Psyduck before?" Jade asked mildly, giving Aquarius a small pat on the head as he waddled over to her side. "Man, then you know how annoying they can get. Not you, though," she added, smiling fondly at her new Pokemon, "you seem pretty decent. Guess you can prove yourself in a real battle soon enough." Her voice grew softer and she paused, looking at Jake, who seemed to be lost in his thoughts.

Althena, she thought, forehead creasing in her confusion. Who's Althena? Was it a Psyduck he had met in the past? But Jake didn't seem all that... experienced. How many other trainers had a Psyduck that he had traveled with? The girl frowned; she had just assumed that she was basically on par with Jake, considering he only had two Pokemon and one badge, but was there more that he wasn't telling her? The raven-haired girl looked ahead, reigning in her suspicions and composing a normal facade. If there was one thing those haughty little princesses had taught her, it was how to control her emotions, how to carefully craft her own mask of politeness and courtesy for the sake of appearances. It was all about appearances, with the kimono girls. Jade bit back a laugh at the thought and continued on, knowing that she had her own secrets to keep. If Jake did too, well, that was just fair, wasn't it?

"Were there any places you wanted to visit? Not just in the region but... in the world, really." Jade's question was casual, something to keep conversation going and make their trip a bit faster. But her eyes flickered to Jake, trying to read his expression. Show me your cards, cowboy, and I might just show you mine. Full-on into suspicious paranoia mode, the smile on Jade's lips was light and her hand brushed over her Psyduck's head as he waddled side by side with her, ignoring Solaris' heated glares from the other side of their trainer.

Karrigan had also taken her PokeDex out and was busy looking through it, occasionally pushing away Amber's nose as the Vulpix was very interested in what her trainer was up to. The redhead knew that the fox Pokemon's moves were mostly limited to Fire-types, but when she considered that they were heading into a Grass-type gym, well, it didn't matter too much. Zaira only had Spark, Bite and Tackle for attack moves, but she didn't plan on using the hyper young Shinx in the next battle anyway. She wanted to give Aegeus a few new moves as well, but the Rock Snake wouldn't do so well in the Grass-type gym, either. She realized that Amy had asked her a question, and she shook her head, once again pushing Amber's nose away. "Nothing in particular, but I was thinking of getting something for Ikouma. He deserves it." Her sourpuss Sneasel had put up with a lot lately, especially being outwitted and defeated by the sassy little fox, and she had promised him a new move some time ago. "Possibly either Brick Break or Aerial Ace."

This floor was a lot less crowded, though many of the trainers up here, like Amy and Karrigan, had their Pokemon out with them. Being from Sinnoh, Karrigan didn't recognize a lot of them and she shifted from looking up moves to identifying the Pokemon she saw, hoping to spot something that she wouldn't mind adding to her team in the future. There was a Growlithe, and that large, brown rat from before, Raticate, as well as a Persian, an Oddish, Pichu, Jigglypuff, and a Staryu, and Karrigan was in the process of scanning a two-headed bird as they entered the TM shop. It wasn't as vast as the clothing store below had been, but the shelves were lined with what could have easily been mistaken for music CDs if one didn't know better. They were labeled by only a single number on the spine, and the redhead showed an uncharacteristic spark as she squeaked in excitement and ran ahead. It didn't take her long to find the two TMs she was interested in, though now she truly couldn't decide between Brick Break and Aerial Ace. She knew she didn't have enough money for both, but she quickly reasoned that if she got Brick Break for Ikouma, she could also get Dig for Aegeus. It would nearly bankrupt her, but it would be worth it. She collected the two TMs, flashed Amy a smile and practically raced for the counter, Amber struggling to hang on to her trainer as she ran.

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"Yeah," Jake answered, nodding. "She was a bit of an oddball, but the happiest little creature on two legs. She could use Psychic, too," he added, his eyes slowly shifting back and forth as he tried to figure out how his brain and mouth were making these connections. He could picture the goofy little Psyduck in his mind, clear as day, but that was it. He didn't know how he knew her, or who she even belonged to. The memory had made his head start to pound and he groaned, once again rubbing his temples. Maybe I can find someone to hypnotize me or something, he thought sadly, the hollowness in his chest suddenly feeling almost unbearable. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, calming himself before he opened them again, noticing that Jade and her two Pokemon had started forward. He smiled, taking the two Pokeballs that held his own Pokemon in his hands and releasing his partners to join them on the walk to Floaroma.

The next question that Jade shot at him was a lot harder to answer than it should have been, so Jake opted to just be casual about it, and he shrugged. "I really don't know of any place specific," he answered truthfully, bending down to scratch Bibarel behind her ears. The Beaver Pokemon gave a toothy grin and thumped her tail on the ground before darting off ahead, moving much faster than one would expect. "I want to travel to all points of the compass," the spiky blonde went on, raising an eyebrow as Bibarel had decided to headbutt a rock - and split it in two, at that. "I want to see the tropics. I want to see the prairies, the mountains. The oceans, deserts, snowy tundras. I want to see it all. I know it probably sounds a bit vague, but it's true. I want to explore the world and discover new things." Of course, while one suffered from amnesia, mostly everything was a new discovery, but Jake covertly omitted that part from his statement. "What about you, Jade? Where do you want your journey to take you? What are you looking for?" he asked, tilting his head to look at his traveling companion.

Oh no! With her Pokemon confused it was going to be difficult to win this. All Akane could do was to keep trying and hope that Twinkers and Colandra came to their senses before too long or things could get ugly. Or maybe, just maybe she could use the dancing to her advantage.
“Twinkers! Metronome! Colandra! Sweet spread some Sweet Scent around.”
The big hope was that Metronome would work even if Twinkers continued dancing.
“Marcel! Confusion on that Oddish! Come on Remmy get the lead out and Karate Chop!” Cathy was certainly keeping the pressure on. “Lets go!”

While Colandra seemed to ignore the command, continuing to dance along happily with twirls and some vigorous leaf shaking, Twinkers went with the music as hoped and started waggling its arms in time with the music in her head, her fingertips glowing brighter as she continued. Marcel concentrated hard and formed a halo of psychic energy around his head before releasing it against the oblivious Weed Pokemon. A hemisphere of swirling, overlapping, golden rings surrounded Colandra and sent her flying several meters, the Oddish landing near Akane’s feet, unconscious. Remmy continued to sleep, the only movement on his part being the bubble coming from his nose shrinking and growing as he breathed in and out. In the mean time, Twinkers had finished preparing the Metronome and released it at the Mime Jr. Several dark tentacles erupted from the ground beneath Marcel and quickly wrapped the two foot tall pink and blue Pokemon up tightly in their collective grasp, squeezing tightly.
“Colandra!” Akane rushed to her Pokemon’s side and picked her up gently in her arms. “You did good, little one. Have a well deserved rest”. The young trainer pulled out the Oddish’s Pokeball and recalled it in the now familiar red light it emitted. She wasn’t sure Colandra could hear her, but she still felt she needed to say it anyway.

With Twinkers still confused and Colandra fainted, Akane was in a whole lot of trouble. Cathy was in some trouble too – Remmy was asleep and Marcel was caught in a bind, literally. But the bind won’t last and Remmy would probably wake up soon. Twinkers should also snap out of the confusion, but that still left Akane on the bad side of a two on one battle.
“Twinkers! You can do it! Copy Cat Confusion and hit Remmy!” ordered Akane.
“Remmy! Wake up damn it! Really need that Karate Chop! Marcel! Double Slap your way out of that bind!
The Smeargle continued to sleep on, that bubble continuing to shrink and grow with the Pokemons steady breathing. Marcel tried in vain to slap his way out of the shadowy tentacles that kept him pinned so effectively but he was obviously not strong enough to succeed this time. The Mime Pokemon squealed in definite pain as the tentacles squeezed ever tighter. Twinkers was still dancing and failed to do anything useful at all; at the very least she didn’t hurt herself doing anything weird.
“Sing to the music. Sing!” Akane tried to get Twinkers to work with the music rather than against it seeing as it seemed to work somewhat last time.
“I need you Remmy, get up!” ordered the dirty blonde haired painter. “Marcel, get out of that bind!”
Twinkers sang but seemed too caught up in the dancing to be able to focus the singing at anyone in particular. It was another wasted command. Remmy’s sleep bubble popped, the Smeargle managed to stand up groggily and rub the sleep from his eyes. Marcel, however, took Cathy’s words to heart and began to glow, faintly at first but steadily getting brighter. The light quickly made it hard to see anything that the Mime Jr. was doing and also seemed to give Twinkers enough of a pause to snap back to her senses and gape at the spectacle. The light began to fade away rather quickly leaving in its place a Mr. Mime and the tentacles nowhere to be seen. Marcel had evolved!

A thick mist hung over Viridian City as a young man looked out over his home town. Wow, I wonder how many other trainers have begun their journey like this? This feels so very… overly dramatic. Kressen watched from the top of a small hill, as the first rays of sunlight began to reflect off the water droplets of the mist. The sight was very beautiful to behold, and it made Kressen glad he was such an early riser.

As he was about to turn and leave, the first pokeball on his belt shook and from a red beam of light appeared a charmander. The small fire type was bleary eyed from being up so early. It yawned and a small puff of smoke drifted from its gaping maw. “Well morning sleepy head.” Kressen scratched the top of the charmanders’ head affectionately, earning a sleepy, but happy sigh from the fire type.

Kressen set his back down to check it one last time. He ruffled through it, as his partner tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. “Lets see pokémon food, clothes, flash light, pokeballs,” he goes through the huge hiker back pack, “fishing rod, and my walking stick. Yep we’re ready buddy.” He heaved the hefty pack onto his shoulder, then turned motioning for Gigas to follow.

“First we head to Pallet town to get a Poke Dex from Professor Oak, then on to Pewter City.” Kressen adjusted his baseball cap, as he turned to enter the Viridian Forest. He started to walk into the maze of trees, full of hope and vigor. He took a deep breath savoring the smell of trees, the grass, the flowers, and the smoke. Smoke? “Gigas not again!” He turned around to see his charmander curled up on a pile of dried leaves. Its’ tail lit the end of the pile on fire and it was slowly starting to spread. He ran over and kicked dirt onto it, smothering it before it got to big. “I hope this isn’t an omen Gigas.” The little fire lizard dozed on its’ pile of leaves undisturbed by what just transpired.

With the train finally coming to a stop, passengers were filing out of their seats and out of the nearest doors. One young teen was only just waking up and making sure he had everything in the green backpack at his feet. “That wasn’t so bad now, was it Lizith?” Riley said, addressing the Pokémon lying down on his head. The only response he got in return was a soft sigh. He chuckled, “The ride was kind of long, I guess. I’ll try not to wake you up then.” He cast one last glance around him before climbing out of the seat and thoroughly stretching his arms.

The train was nearly empty by now, so Riley followed the last few stragglers out. He slung the backpack onto his shoulder and continued following the crowd up the nearby stairs leading up into a closed off dome full of people going here and there, up and down the stairwells leading to the other trains. Riley paid little attention to his surroundings, though, and allowed his feet to carry him the large, central pillar of the subway station. ‘First things first, I need to head to Nuvema Town and found the professor there.’ In no time, Riley found himself standing in front of the massive pillar, a map of the Unova region nailed to it not too far away from him. He took a few more steps to the right and he had a good view of it. It took him awhile to actually figure out what was what and see where he was on the map.

‘Hmm… If I’m in Nimbasa City… I should head south and follow the main routes to get to Nuvema then.’ His mouth formed a half smile as he clapped his hands together. ‘Sounds like a game plan!’ His backpack decided to slide off his shoulder right then and land right in the inside of his elbow. He almost buckled and fell down from the sudden shift, but he was able to keep his composure for the most part. The Gothita sleeping on his hair murmured some before settling back down, grabbing a few strands of hair. Laughing at himself, Riley pulled the backpack up again and put on the other strap. ‘All I have to do now is found the exit to this subway and I can properly begin my adventure.’ He turned around and immediately saw a set of stairs heading up and out of the dome. “Uh… I knew that was there…” No one in the mass of people around him seemed to care about how stupid he sounded talking to himself.

If we manage to make it to Pallet Town in one piece it will be a miracle. Kressen wiped some sweat from his brow as he glanced at his partner. Three times in the span of several hours he had to put out small fires caused, by his charmanders’ tail being carelessly swung about by its owner. Kressen could have tried to put Gigas back in his ball, but it would be a wasted effort. Now that the little guy was fully awake, he wanted to explore and would refuse to stay in his ball.

Gigas was of course oblivious to the damage the ever burning tip of his tail was, so Kressen constantly had to keep an eye out for him. I need to get a water pokemon fast, or buy a couple extra fire extinguishers. He had a small one strapped to his pack for dealing with his partners fires, but having a water type would be far more efficient than lugging around another extinguisher. “You’re goning to set the world ablaze one day aren’t you buddy.” Gigas just gave him a curious glance before running off to sniff a tree stump.

“Gigas stay by me okay buddy?” He blinked as Gigas turned away from the stump and his tail brushed up against it. Three seconds later a small blaze was roaring around the stump. With a gasp of alarm and annoyance Kressen ran over and pulled out the fire extinguisher. He yelled as he blew the foam over the blaze putting it out. “I should’ve named you fire hazard!”

The fire sputtered out and Kressen turned to stare at his partner with an exasperated look on his face. “Gigas I need to put you back in your pokeball. I can’t have you burning down the forest with your carelessness.” The pleading look of sad pokemon is not what greeted him as he gazed at his friend. It was instead a look of horror was on his partners face, of which Kressen had only seen once before. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Kressen slowly turned around to see a trio of Weedle covered in foam, emerging out from under the stump. The trio let loose their cry and an ominous buzzing started to echo through the forest.. He looked back to his partner and formed a single word. “Run!”

While most Pokemon probably would have recoiled from a stranger approaching them without caution, Lily the Ivysaur had the exact opposite reaction. The Seed Pokemon grinned broadly and eagerly showed off her budding flower, bumping her head against the boy's hand. What Lee had said had been misunderstood by the Grass-type and her ego, so rather than hearing "You and your Pokemon are tough," Lily heard "You and the other Pokemon are tough." This behavior wasn't foreign to Miharu, and she sighed as her Ivysaur hammed it up. Starrie, meanwhile, stood beside its trainer, not making a sound or so much as even moving, but again, this was typical for the Starmie. Miharu herself was just glad the match was over, though winning with three of her six Pokemon still able to battle definitely made her feel like she'd been in control of it from the start. "Th-thank you," she said, a slight flush creeping into her cheeks as she lowered her head so as not to have to look at Lee, her hair doing a rather good job of obscuring her face. "Your Pokemon are tough as well, especially that Z-Zangoose of yours. I've never s-seen such a strong C-Crush Claw before."

Lee just laughed, tilting his head to peer at the girl as she attempted to hide behind her long, green hair. She was kind of cute, in a conservative, preacher's daughter kind of way, and he smiled at the girl, leaning further so he could see her eyes. "Hey, I've got an idea," he said, jumping to his feet so abruptly that he startled Lily. "We've got a bunch of Pokemon here that need healing, so what do you say we head back to Goldenrod, get treatment for our Pokemon, and then go get some dinner somewhere? My treat," he added, deciding he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Dinner?" Miharu repeated, her head jerking up in surprise. "Well, uh..." Leroy's request was possibly the last thing she was expecting, and her gaze quickly fell back to the ground, and then to her sandals, which had become quite dingy from all the walking she'd done lately. It was true that their Pokemon were in need of healing, and she was feeling rather hungry. She chewed at her bottom lip for a moment, turning the idea around in her mind. "That sounds nice, actually, but, you, um, don't mean dinner, like a date, do you?" she asked, feeling quite stupid for even asking.

Lee chuckled, amused by Miharu's innocent question. "Well, that's not exactly what I meant," he said, adjusting his blonde ponytail as he looked back at the girl, flashing his charismatic smile. "But, after being bested by such a strong and lovely trainer like you, I certainly wouldn't mind taking you out on a date. That is, if you don't mind."