I tried to pretend I didn't know him, as though that would work well.

"I recognize you," the delivery man said. "Lyra, your mom ordered these Charti berries for you."

Lance's eyes narrowed. He swiftly climbed the counter and came out at the other side, facing me.

"Oh, hello," I said, taking my package from the delivery man. "Nice to see you again."

"Not nice to see you," he snapped. "Is it true that you were working with that Team Rocket man?"

"No."

"Liar. You enabled Proton to capture legendary Pokémon just so he can defeat me and take my rightful title."

"You're the one full of lies," I said. "That doesn't even sound like something I would do. It doesn't make sense that I would help a former Team Plasma member after defeating them multiple times, and I wouldn't want to face a more difficult champion."

"But you don't make sense in general," Lance said. "I'm a nice guy. I tried to help you at the Team Plasma hideout, remember? Instead of accepting my help, you ended up spreading atrocious information about me that became circulated by Team Rocket."

"Well—"

"Let's take this outside."

I didn't want to take this shit outside, because it was obvious he wanted to challenge me into a Pokémon battle where he would crush me publicly for revenge. With the Poké Mart's annoying pop music blaring in my ears, I opened my mouth to protest.

The electronic door behind me slid open. I didn't bother glancing there at first because I assumed that it was the delivery man leaving, but Lance's shocked Pikachu face made me look back. It was Ethan, which was surprising but not really. The strangest part was that Marill wasn't visibly with him.

"Hi Ethan, I'm dealing with this person right now," I said, so he knew exactly what was up. However, he was already glaring at Lance, so I guessed he was already up-to-date.

"I can't believe you have the audacity to come here," Ethan said.

Lance looked overwhelmed by this sudden and unexpected response. I admit, I hadn't heard Ethan be rude like that before, so I too was taken off-guard.

"You are nuts," Lance said.

"Ethan, is there a reason why you're here?" I asked gently.

Ethan looked at me for the first time in that conversation. "I came to speak with you, actually. I wanted to congratulate you for defeating the champion. I thought it was Lance you defeated, but no matter. Congrats."

His voice sounded flat and unlike him.

"Oh...thanks."

He turned back to Lance. "You know everything's been your fault. How could you possibly think otherwise?" His lower lip was quivering.

"Enough," Lance said.

"What is going on here?" I asked.

"It's really none of your concern," Lance snapped at me.

Everything on the shelves started shaking as those words left Lance's mouth. A few containers of relaxing Pokémon-themed jelly crashed onto the floor. For a split second I thought it was Lance's impenetrable rage manifesting itself into a psychic entity, but it only turned to be a minor earthquake. I came outside into the village of Cherrygrove City and everyone was freaking out for all of the two minutes the quake lasted. At first it didn't look like anything got damaged but when we returned to the Poké Mart, there were numerous items strewn all over the floor. There was also an injury count of one from when my elbow hit the door frame hurrying out from the place, and everybody in the city watched before going home as my elbow injury was treated with careful attention by an emergency nurse.

When I came inside the Poké Mart with a slightly numb elbow, it was clear that Lance and his co-workers had their work cut out for him. Lance remembered that he was wearing a Poké Mart employee themed apron and went back to work, giving me a cross look to remind me his confrontation wasn't finished yet. I couldn't find Ethan anymore so he must've left during the earthquake emergency and I ended up leaving, maybe a little earlier than Lance would've liked.

At this point, I was more than ready to leave Johto. The strange drama at the Poké Mart solidified my motives more than anything else. It was still before the evening when I headed to Olivine, which was frankly, rare for me. Like I've affirmed before, most of my journey happens in night when there's nothing else to do. It'll at least be interesting to get some badges from Kanto Gym Leaders, though.

Speaking of Gym Leaders, here are the final scores of the Johto Gyms compared using their average scores, from lowest to highest:

8. Falkner's Gym: 3.3/10

7. Pryce's Gym: 4.3/10

6. Bugsy's Gym: 5.3/10

5. Clair's Gym: 6.0/10

4. Jasmine's Gym: 7.3/10

3. Whitney's Gym: 7.3/10

2. Morty's Gym: 7.6/10 (he had a perfect Gym Trainer/Gym Leader score for not suing)

1. Chuck's Gym: 7.7/10

(I put Whitney ahead of Jasmine just because.)

And we come up with the average score of 5.186 using my subjective method! We'll have to see how Kanto compares.

When I came inside the place to enter the boat, I was unexpectedly approached by Professor Oak.

"Hello!" he said. "You're starting to have..." He struggled for words for a few moments. "The attitude of a champion! That was what I was looking for."

"Thank you," I said.

"I'm going to upgrade your Pokédex to the National mode," he said. He took my Pokédex and tapped a bunch of stuff before giving it back.

"It won't be easy to complete the National Pokémon, but I'm sure you'll make an honest attempt on our behalf."

I'm sure he was trying to guilt-trip me with that one because he knew perfectly well that I barely made an attempt at capturing Pokémon on my journey.

He noticed the time on his watch. "Ah, look, time flies. I need to go on to my radio show at the Goldenrod Radio Tower. You must be heading for Kanto."

I nodded.

"Well, if you come near Pallet Town, do drop by my Pokémon Research Lab." He walked away, and I was left in the station alone.

I got admitted and in the length of time it took for me to walk to the actual boat Baoba suddenly found a second to call. He told me about how he was going to let me arrange objects around the Safari Zone and I should see him soon. I said fine, but I had to go onto my amazing trip to Kanto so I decided to do the traveling first.

At this point, it was dark—how the hell did that even happen? I thought it wasn't even evening before! Anyhow, I was the last passenger for the night so I got on the boat. I didn't get to walk even five inches in when an older man walked right into me.

"Excuse me, I was in a hurry."

"Okay..."

"My granddaughter is missing!"

This was a crisis. We cannot have grandchildren missing on a boat to Vermilion City, so I agreed to help him.

Okay, so looking for a granddaughter in a boat with plenty of cabins seemed like difficult work, so in the end, I figured I'll just barge into everyone's room for the sake of my public service. There was no police on board as far as I could tell, which meant I had to work as law enforcement on my own.

I started on my first investigation into the first cabin I saw. The second my foot hit the ground inside, a man challenged me.

"Hey kid! Want to battle with me?"

"Well—"

Before I could confess my intentions to do otherwise, he took out his Delibird, which Hamako took care of in two hits. That was his only Pokémon, so that battle was over fast.

"You're traveling all alone?" he asked with worry. "Isn't your mom worried?"

"I'm not as young as I look." There were two young children in the same room, and I glanced at them, my silent intent noticeable.

"You think I'm a baby?" one of them exploded. "Not fair!"

She tossed out a Phanpy while her twin took the time to throw out Teddiursa. Their Pokémon, despite being childish as choices, were stronger than their trainers' ages might suggest.

To make the odds better, I threw out Kitty to join Hamako in this fight. While the twins may have stronger Pokémon compared to others their age, they were no match for my own and they quickly lost in a couple of turns.

"We lost," they both said gloomily, withdrawing their Pokémon.

"All right," I said, "so did one of you see a lost looking kid around here? A girl?"

The only thing they did was glare at me. "Baby is a rude name to call someone," one of them said.

"I never called you that." At least I didn't say it out loud.

The other one also looked skeptical of me. "Sometimes, kids are smarter than grown-ups."

Kids are annoying, so I left. I headed to the cabin next door, hoping for more promising results. I found myself in a more elite looking cabin with blue carpeting. There was a dining table with a cup of still warm tea settled on it. Despite this cabin only having one bed, suggesting one inhabitant, it was the same size as the one I was in before with three occupants.

"Excuse me..." I said, moving to the older man standing beside the table.

He seemed shocked by my presence and jumped when I spoke to him, despite me being in front of him the entire time. "Oh, hello. My granddaughter is still missing. If she's on the ship, that's okay. She's an energetic child, so she may be bothering someone. That worries me..."

Shit, it was the same guy. I couldn't even recognize him that well because all older man dress alike. While I was trying to figure things out, Liz called me, except she didn't know what to say so she hung up. Great job, Liz. In all honesty, I feel that's something she'd done before.

I went to the cabins across from those two I've previously mentioned. One was empty, so maybe it was supposed to be mine. It looked a lot like the older man's place, except my table was smaller and had a basket of flowers instead of a cup of tea. This room was even less interesting than my place at home so I moved on. The room next to mine had a hiker who was blissfully getting drunk on cheap wine and still wanted to battle me. After I was done with that, I turned my attention to the rest of this fascinating place. I battled plenty of other people on that ship, most of those individuals useless in my pursuit of justice.

I was walking around when I came across a sailor. He gestured to the room next to him, which was...mine.

This was news to me.

I came in and it was like the other rooms in that it was drab. A major difference between my room and the others was that I had a PC that allowed me to move Pokémon in and out of my party. I could also send messages to Ethan with it, but I chose not to.

After flickering through random pictures of my journey, I looked outside and discovered we were nowhere near Kanto. Going to Kanto by leaving through the Pokémon League entrance seemed like a better idea at that point. Then I had a nap for a few hours because every defender of justice deserves an occasional break. It was strange because my elbow was awkwardly bandaged, but it was okay in the end when sleep devoured every conscious thought in my head including mild discomfort.

I felt pretty good about my room until I went to the one next to me, which had a television with a Wii. I felt like that this was unfair treatment because I don't remember ever being able to choose my room. Maybe I'll write a complaint about it later.

I headed down a floor. The rooms down there had no doors, and a single room was crammed full of beds. I guessed this was the "economy" option. I poked my head into one of those rooms, only to find a juggler who was standing next to the trash can.

"Hi—"

"I'M SEA SICK!" he screamed, tossing out Mr. Mime. I was then forced into a random Pokémon battle while he kept puking in the trash can behind him. I wasn't sure why we were battling, and I tried to stop but he had us continue for whatever reason. It was probably misguided pride that was the problem. There are too many people in the world who have nothing to be proud of but feel like they should be.

Well, moving on. I found a sailor who told me to look for this other sailor who was sleeping on the job, so I found this other sailor. It didn't go pleasantly.

I went to the room and told him to stop sleeping. Of course, he got triggered by that statement alone. He burst out of the bed and shouted at me to show some respect.

"I resent your implication that I was napping on the job. I challenge you!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I challenge you," he repeated, because some people have no shame.

I had no choice in the matter but take his lead.

He tossed out his Machop which was defeated in one turn.

"Fine!" he shouted, his voice shrill. "I've something better."

He tossed out his Machoke which was defeated in one turn.

"Seems like I've got something better," I said flatly.

"No!" He finally took out his Psyduck, which looked straight at me and made throttling noises.

"Let's do this, Lorcan." Lorcan was so awesome he went before the Psyduck could even blink, and he defeated it in one turn.

"Well, I couldn't focus after I just woke up," the sailor insisted. He then tried to act politely towards me so I wouldn't tell the captain of his moment of sleepy weakness, but I made no such promises.

After undergoing a series of steps back downstairs, I continued exploring the area. I found another random person strolling around the basement and she also wanted to battle. I don't know what's up with this ship. Does it specialize in Pokémon trainers or something? I could see maybe a few Pokémon trainers battling to test their skills, but "a few" shouldn't comprise of ninety percent of the people I talked to.

I should've known Elm had an ulterior motive for sending me to Kanto. He wanted me to defeat all the trainers on this battle ship so I would have a name for myself when I hit the new region so he could brag about me. Clearly that's what was going on.

I headed to the control room of the ship that may or may not have been restricted to the general public. But hey, nobody stopped me from getting there. So it had to be okay, right? I found an old man who appeared to be the captain, whom a young girl was talking to. I deduced that this girl had to be the granddaughter, because I had already searched through the entirety of the ship at this point and nobody seemed like they could be titled "annoying granddaughter character" besides this person.

"Captain, please play with me, please? I'm bored. I want to play more! Now."

"Hey," I said to the kid.

She took it the wrong way. "You're going to play with me? Let's play hide-and-seek! I'll hide. You can close your eyes."

Now I could see why the man wasn't as upset as he could've been that his granddaughter was missing and was instead slowly drinking tea in his cabin. That kid was on little kid hyper power. She ran out of the room as fast she could so I basically failed in returning her to her grandfather at that point. I ran after her because I rarely shrink from the possible satisfaction of a job well done, although I had no idea where to go. By dumb luck, I found her sitting cross-legged at a room's corner.

"You found me!"

"Yes. And you need to go back to your grandfather."

She ran out and I watched after her to make sure she wasn't up to anymore jokes. The grandfather seemed pleased that I managed to find his granddaughter simply because he bumped into me when I came in, so he gave me a metal coat as a thank you gift. I was just slipping it into the right compartment when there was a ding, accompanied by an announcement that we arrived in Vermilion City.

I was the first person to leave.

It was different. I knew that the second I left the boat, soaking in the Kanto air. I hadn't been to Kanto since I was a young child and I moved away from there, leaving my birthplace, Saffron City.

I was trying to relax during my first few steps into Kanto as I passed through the port to enter Vermilion City, but my plan was destroyed right away when I randomly saw Suicune on the top of the waves. I'm serious. It looked like he was walking on water. I made a sound of surprise, and Eusine ran towards me from the opposite direction. Suicune then hopped a few times and ran into the heavy woodland area behind it.

I blinked a few thousand times trying to get my bearings together while Eusine spoke next to me.

"THAT WAS SO CLOSE! I thought I could corner it by ambushing it here..."

He shook his head, looking amazed. "But running on water...is beyond me."

"As it is for me," I replied dryly.

"Maybe, but I'm starting to see a pattern here. Suicune prefers water!"

"Like almost all Water-type Pokémon..."

I could see the gears turning in Eusine's mind, but I wasn't sure where this was going.

"Well, sorry, Lyra! Got to go." He walked unhurriedly towards Vermilion City.

I took a deep sigh as that nonsense was over. Aided by the streetlights, I walked onward. My footsteps pounded against Vermilion's stone pavement, and I examined the place for a small while. First off, the location was incredibly small, and didn't give justice to the name "city", though I suppose these things are to be expected. I noticed that there was a Pokémon fan club, which seemed interesting so I drifted in.

I came to a room where a man was staring at a Clefairy statue, which is as best of an impression of the club as I can give. I found a note at the back of the room that said, "If someone brags, brag right back!" which technically contradicts the other message about listening politely to other trainer, but overall, it summed the club up. It was like middle schoolers made it.

"I'm the chairman of the Pokémon Fan Club," the chairman said. "I've raised over 150 Pokémon. I'm very fussy when it comes to Pokémon."

He gave me a scrutinizing look before continuing. "Did you visit just to hear about my Pokémon?"

I said yes, because why not?

"Good! Then listen. My Rapidash is cute...lovely...smart...adorable..."

Yes, this is the Pokémon Fan Club. They come together and talk about how much of a pet their Pokémon is.

"Irresistible...plus...amazing... Don't you think so?"

"Sure."

"Oh, so...wild...beautiful..."

Well then.

"Hug it... It's warm and cuddly..."

I understand that people love their horses, but this was not what I was expecting.

"Oh, it's spectacular...captivating...simply divine... I treasure it..."

Wasn't expecting that part either.

"Sorry, I've kept you too long."

For listening to him speaking about his Pokémon weirdly for several minutes, he gave the gift of a rare candy. So in the end, it wasn't all a loss. I shoved the candy into my bag and proceeded onto my average (spelling mistake, I actually meant EXCELLENT) Pokémon journey.

Vermilion City had its own Gym, which made matters more convenient for me. What was not convenient was the fact that there was a small tree growing in the way of the only path to get into the Gym. A TREE. This was confusing. How are people supposed to get and out of the Gym when the path is clearly blocked by a growing tree nobody bothered to cut down? I ended up cutting down the tree myself with Cinder in order to challenge the Gym Leader because somebody had to do it.

It was after this I realized that I should've healed my team before trying to enter the Gym, so I went to the Pokémon Center and healed my Pokémon. Then I came out, and saw that THERE WAS ANOTHER TREE. Rarely had I been more shocked in my life.

There had to be menaces hiding around just to block the Gym's entrance again whenever I'm not there. I swear, I can't make this shit up if I tried. I took out Cinder again, who was cross at having to do the exact same move twice in less than five minutes. This stuff was too strange so I glanced around but I couldn't find a single bush nearby for anyone to hide in. The situation was so odd, I even asked the guy walking around aimlessly next to me if he saw anything.

"Um...like what?"

"Like someone running out to randomly plant a tree." I pointed to the scene of the crime. "Like there."

"Well, I don't know about that. I just know that it's near Vermilion City Gym." A fact that would astound nobody, I'm sure.

I decided to move on. Vermilion City wasn't that interesting so I was ready to just defeat the Gym Leader and leave. I had better places in sight, after all, and I was looking forward to Saffron City.