"I think Dratini would wipe the floor with those two," Mel agreed after a moment. "Alright, that's a good plan, we'll go with that."

"Awesome," Ithica said, grinning. "Hey, maybe we'll even run into Steven again, if he's still there. I know his father owns Devon Corp, at least in the games, so it's possible."

"It is," Mel agreed. "We'll see when we get there. I wouldn't be surprised at this point if we did run into him again."

"Like, I want to challenge him," Ithica admitted. "But I know he'd kick my ass and I don't want to put Dratini and Zorua through that. But I really want to challenge him."

"Later," Mel soothed. "After you've got more battles under your belt. He'll still be around." She grinned.

"But I need it~!" Ithica said, wringing her hands dramatically. "I'll have to see what other pokemon I end up with, if I find any others. But there are at least twelve battles standing between me and him, anyways."

"Right. And I bet you will end up with more pokemon, at least a full team." Mel grinned. "No way you wouldn't, now."

"I'm going to be picky, though," Ithica admitted. "I have a vague idea of what I want, and I don't want to catch anything that doesn't mesh with what I want, because I don't want to have to release it after working with it." She grinned a bit. "This is going to sound ass-backwards, but I want either a Feebas or a Magikarp. Because Milotic and Gyarados are worth the training."

"Oh I know, that doesn't sound backwards at all." Mel grinned. "Whereas I, on the other hand, just want like all the Pokemon I wanted growing up with no particular set team in mind."

Ithica just laughed a bit.

Over the next few months, she continued to work with Dratini and Zorua. The gym battle in Rustboro seemed surprisingly easy, even taking into account the fact that Ithica knew what to expect. Dewford gave her some trouble, since Zorua was at a type disadvantage, but they managed to eke out a win there as well. Mauville didn't give her any troubles, either, but it was after the gym battle that she managed to encounter someone looking to get a Feebas off their hands, and she jumped at the opportunity. The Feebas wasn't much help in the Lavaridge gym, but Ithica didn't mind.

Unbeknownst to her, her rather rapid rise through the gyms had garnered her a bit of a fan following already.

Mel, as promised, was her personal cheering squad, but she didn't battle nearly as much as Ithica. Once in a while, sure, but she much preferred to raise pokemon. Which is how she ended up temporarily taking care of a Charmander for a while before returning it to its owner, and ended up with an Eevee when the little pokemon wouldn't leave. She didn't have the same kind of fan following that Ithica did, but her name was getting out there, nonetheless.

Ithica had managed to find a nice place out near Verdanturf Town to settle for the night, on their way back to Petalburg for her next gym challenge.

"It's nice and quiet out here," she commented, stretching a bit and letting her Pokémon out near and in the small stream.

"Mmhm," Mel agreed. "I like it out here." She grinned a bit. "I should look into finding a place somewhere."

"You could," Ithica said, nodding a bit. She grinned and teasingly added, "though you could teach Eevee Secret Power and have a secret base." She set her things down and started to get settled, watching Dratini and Feebas play in the stream while Zorua stayed dry on the bank.

Mel snickered a little at that. "Yeah, that would be more on the more chaotic side of things, though," she said with a grin. "And I'd still need to fin a decent location anyway." She grinned as she watched Swablu go flutter in the stream and clean off.

"Though speaking of Secret Power, I'm tempted to see if I can track down a Move Tutor or something and see if Zorua is willing to learn Hidden Power. It'd be pretty cool to see what type the move ends up being, because it won't be dark-type."

Mel snickered. "Well you certainly can if you want, it's not like we're broke, and we're bound to come across something as we travel."

"We are certainly not broke," Ithica agreed, grinning. She spread out her bedroll and sat down on it. "So Petalburg is next on the docket. Normal-types. Should be a challenge, since I don't have anything even resembling a fighting-type."

Mel snickered. "Yeah but your team works well anyway," she pointed out. "Not like you've had to re-challenge anyone yet."

"This is true," Ithica said, grinning. "I hate having to do that. I'm glad Dratini likes to battle. And that thing Zorua does with the illusions is awesome."

Mel snickered quietly. "Yup," she agreed. "You get to keep battling, and I'll just raise pokemon." She paused for a moment. "And one day I swear I need to get my hands on a Ditto." She glanced at Eevee meaningfully.

Ithica grinned.

"I can't wait to see that," she said. "I only know of Ditto in Kanto and Johto, so we would have to get out there for one."

"Pretty sure we're planning on getting out there either way," Mel pointed out reasonably. "I'm okay with waiting. I can be patient."

"I vote Kanto, once we're done in Hoenn," Ithica said. "Just take the inter-regional ferry out of Slateport and straight to Vermilion."

"Done, I'm down to go to Kanto," Mel agreed with a grin. "Maybe I'll find a Vulpix there..." She trailed off, grinning.