They were all on the ship, they left mainland Kanto a few hours ago and boarded a ship, it wasn''t as large as the S.S.Anne obviously but it was big enough for them to all stay on comfortably, especially since this would only take a few hours.


    They spent most of those hours just relaxing and enjoying the sea. Ash also found out that during the break Misty managed to get at least understanding with her Lapras, so he''ll at least train and battle for food sometimes when he feels like it, which just makes him feel like the new Charizard with that level of disobedience.


    But at least it''s not as bad as with Brock and Aerodactyl, unlike with Lapras, Aerodactyl is actively trying to hurt Brock at any given moment, the only reason it cooled down is because over the break they had, Brock beat the bricks of this thing.


    Other than that not much else, they allegedly did some extra training but other than Yellow he doesn''t really believe them, and that''s more or less how the trip went, along the way Ash introduced them to Lapras which everyone not named Brock and Yellow looked jealous about that he just found one.


    Misty also let out hers so that they could meet, but told Pikachu to be ready and shock him if anything happened.


    As soon as Lapras came out of his Pokeball, he looked around frowning with a scowl on his face as he saw Misty and other humans, then his visions was caught by another Lapras, it wasn''t clear if this was love, finally being able to see one of his own, or just surprised, but Lapras'' expression lightened when he saw her.


    —


    {a few hours later}


    The captain called out as they finally docked on land, "We are now here, welcome to Cherrygrove City, and welcome to Johto,"


    Everyone walked off and stretched finally, at that moment as soon as they were out Abra appeared again with Scizor and Scyther now that they didn''t have an Egg.


    Ash nodded, "Got everything you wanted to do?"


    They nodded so Ash returned them to their Pokeballs and strapped them back to his belt before turning over to Green and Gary, "So I guess we''re all getting hotels and going our separate ways,"


    "Probably," Gary said, "I''m going to go further ahead and both of you need to go to New Bark right, Green for Silver and you to go ask about Kurt,"


    "Seems about right," Green said crossing her arms, "But I was planning on just going now, I think I should be able to make it before midnight,"


    "I mean probably, New Bark town isn''t that far of a walk, if you fly over you should get there in like 3 hours I guess, maybe less," Gary said.


    Green smiled as she sent out Wigglytuff and grabbed her foot as she became a balloon and started flying away, "Alright then boys, I''ll be seeing ya, don''t have too much fun without me!"


    As she flew away Ash and Gary stood side by side, "you think she switched shorts because wearing a skirt was a bad idea while she flys like that,"


    "Oh almost definitely," Gary said, "But we both know she''ll never admit it, we''ll never let her live it down,"


    Ash chuckled agave a light punch at Gary''s shoulder, "By the way I''ve been meaning to ask, what''s up with you being alone, where are your cheerleaders, don''t tell me they left after you became number 2,"


    Gary rolled his eyes, "Uhh, don''t remind me, turns out I found out that they were hired to ''protect'' me by the mayor, Gramps'' brother,"


    Ash nodded, one thing he was surprised to learn when he got here was that Oak had 2 brothers, the town mayor and the postmaster. Which was wild to him, because that didn''t include Samson who was his cousin, not a brother, these were 2 completely different People.


    Thankfully when he did see them as a kid they weren''t monsters like the Professor, in terms of battling the mayor was worthless in a battle and the postmaster only had 1 Pokemon he could beat by the time he was at the third Gym.


    Probably for the best that they weren''t champion-ranked trainers like their brother. Kanto was already the one that produced the most and didn''t need more reason for other regions to think something was up with the water here.


    Ash nodded and smirked, "So in the end, remember what I said way back, golddiggers~"


    "Uhhh, I hate it when your right, but they didn''t stop because they didn''t get paid anymore, I told them to stop, if they weren''t genuine I didn''t need them," Gary said


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Ash elbowed him again, "And you have a girlfriend now~"


    "You shut up you, Grace, and I haven''t made anything official," Gary said blushing


    "Come on, you like her and she likes you, it''s so painfully obvious, more than Pink," Ash said as Pikachu nodded laughing at Gary trying to deny it.


    "I hate you," Gary said as he walked off.


    Ash chuckled and waved him goodbye, "I know and I''m your best friend," then he walked back to his friends to sleep through the night, but first he had to call his mom since he made that promise.


    —-


    {The next day}


    Green arrived at New Bark first during the night and met with Silver, of which he was happy to see her since she was like an older sister, both figuratively and literally since she encouraged him to call her big sis.


    But that didn''t matter at the moment as after that she went over to his hotel and grabbed a room and got some much-needed sleep.


    The next morning when they got ready they checked out since Silver would be starting and according to what he told her, 2 other kids were also getting one today, but he didn''t know anything about them.


    As they were walking he explained everything, Green sighed, "Silver I swear you need to learn to be more sociable, you can''t just have us as friends, we aren''t always going to be around,"


    Silver sighed, "I know I should, but I''m just not used to it, talking to people I mean…"


    "But I mean you talk just fine with me, or Ash, or a lot of people we know, and I''m still not convinced you and Paul don''t have a psychic connection," Green jokes.


    "Those are different, they approached me, I pushed them out, and then they gave me a second chance… even though I know that''s not a healthy way to start a friendship,"


    "Yeah, you do have a point," Green said bluntly


    Silver waited for a bit, "...And?"


    "And what, you''re right, that''s not a way to form relationships, the best thing other than us you had was those guys who called you ''boss'' and I''m not convinced all of them weren''t there just because you paid them,"


    "Err..well they chose to do that on their own…so I gave them some money...it''s not a big deal"


    "No, 5, the first 5, were there on their own, the next ones were there because you paid the first 5," Green said


    Silver sighed, "You know aren''t you supposed to make me feel better and encourage me I''m going to do better,"


    "Why?" Green said with a smile, "Besides, we both know that doesn''t work on you, besides isn''t it better if you learn like this,"


    Silver shook his head, and gave up, "Fine, I get it, but still some advice would be better than whatever you''re doing right now…I mean at least Ash would,"


    Green laughed, "Psssh, Ash, yeah right, he would do much worse, those little speeches he did when we were kids, they were good but they aren''t the norm, most of the time he takes nothing seriously, I think I only ever saw him serious 1 time, maybe 2 if you count the League."


    "Really is that bad?" Silver asked


    "Oh yeah, compared to how I''m treating you…. actually no it would be about the same, only I bully you like an older sister, he''d bully you as an older brother even though you''re older than him."


    Silver shook his head, "I see, well then c-" Then he stopped as he saw something in the corner of his eye, something blue.


    Green noticed Silver stop, and also stopped, "Hey what''s up?"


    Silver walked over and went into an alleyway where he saw something ruffling in the trash, as he got closer he looked down and saw a small blue crocodile munching on whatever food there was, it was a Totodile.


    Silver looked confused and went down to grab it, it tried to bite him but he dodged and grabbed it by the back of its neck and held it out, Totodile looked up at him curiously.


    Green walked over, "Wow a Totodile? And out here, good catch, those are crazy rare in the wild."


    Silver nodded but looked confused, "What''s it doing out here, does it have an owner or something, was it abandoned?"


    Green shrugged and handed Silver a Pokeball, "Check,"


    Silver took it and tried pressing it on Totodile, but the defense system that captured Pokemon had activated and a thin forcefield appeared around Totodile, preventing him from being caught.


    Silver shook his head, "Seems like it belongs to someone," as he did Totodile got a good sniff of him and stopped trying to struggle now just looking at him expectantly.


    Green looked cursorily, "Aww, looks like he likes you,"


    Silver rolled his eyes as he now held the Totodile closer ready to pull back if it tried to chomp, but it didn''t instead it just looked up at him.


    As they walked out of the alley, Green held her hands behind her head looking at the Totodile curiously, "Well what should we do with it, should we take it with us to the Lab?"


    Silver was still holding the Totodile, and nodded, "Seems like we should, what if we-"


    "Stop Thieves!" another voice called out,


    When Green and Silver looked over they saw a boy on a skateboard, he had a red jacket and a yellow and black hat on his head as he approached them, this was Ethan, or just Gold if you knew him from the Manga.


    Ethan stopped in front of them and pointed at them, "Stop right there, that Totodile doesn''t belong to you!"


    "Aibo!" Then he threw out a Pokeball releasing an Ambipom that clenched his tail fists ready for an order.


    "Hey, we aren''t th- we aren''t Pokemon Thieves, we found this Totodile in the alley!" Green said positioning herself in front of Silver as a hand went to a Pokeball


    "A likely story, just because you have a pretty face doesn''t mean you''ll get away that easily, now hand over the Totodile and come with me or we''ll have to do things the hard way!"


    Green frowned at how he was acting, she was willing to just hand over the crocodile but now she was annoyed, "Listen, we didn''t steal this Totodile, and besides that, we found this Totodile in the alley so you can either let us go or we can do things the hard way,"


    "Is that a threat, i know it that pretty face of yours hides a nasty personality, Aibo get ready!" Ethan said as the Ambipom got ready.


    Green frowned and pulled out a Pokeball, "Silver watch closely I''m going to give you a crash course in schooling overconfident narcissists," she said as she threw out Nidoqueen.


    "Aibo use [Low Kick]" Ethan called out as the Ambipom ran forward, his two tail arms charging red as he aimed for Nidoqueen''s feet.


    Green smiled, "Too easy, [Ice Punch] on the ground!"


    Ethan was surprised by the sudden attack and as Nidoqueen punched the ground the floor around her was covered in a thin sheet of ice making Aibo slip and unable to continue as he flew passed.


    "Now [Earth Power]!" Green commanded, taking advantage.


    Nidoqueen stomped her foot on the ground as the sheet of ice cracked and shattered. A surge of energy flowed through the ground and exploded under Aibo sending it flying high.


    Ethan was surprised, "Aibo no!"


    As Aibo fell to the ground and got back up, Green looked at them, "I can see, both of you are strong, infact you might be as strong as me in terms of raw power, but I can see it, you have no creativity."


    Ethan flinched at that, "H-hey, is this a lecture or a battle!"


    "Tell me, have you ever been in a serious battle," Green said


    "Y-yeah, plenty, I battle my friends all the time!" Ethen defended himself


    "Really, and is that it, no wonder, you''ve been fighting comfortably, you haven''t had to change how you fight for more than just your friends," Green said crossing her arms


    Green looked back at Silver, "Silver remember, battles aren''t about who has the strongest Pokemon, they are much more complicated than that, if you fight with brute force you''ll never reach your full potential,"


    Silver and Totodile looked at each other then back at Green and nodded in unison.


    Ethan felt like he was being ignored, and as much as he didn''t want to admit it he was a bit of a show-off, "Hey don''t ignore me, Aibo use [Return]!"


    Aibo used one of his handtips to throw himself into the air and then got close to Nidoqueen sending a double punch at her, and even though they connected and Ethan celebrated, Nidoqueen took it and showed no reaction.


    Green frowned as she swiped her arm, "Nidoqueen let''s finish this, use-"


    But before she could say something a web came out of nowhere and wrapped Nidoqueen''s hands together and tied Aibo up before picking him up and gently taking him back to Ethen


    Then as they looked up they saw Ash sitting there on a rooftop with Abra on one shoulder, Pickchu on another, and Beedrill flying over,


    He looked down and frowned at them like a father, "I think that''s enough, both of you stop fighting."