"Nice," Aleron said appreciatively. "I assume you've done it already?" She mentally went over how well she could do with her two pokemon.

Margaret nodded.

"It wasn't all that difficult for me, but I also train psychic-types myself," she said. "It's a gauntlet match, but each Blackbelt only has one pokemon. Something about how the bond between them is stronger because they only ever train together or something like that."

"I don't agree with that, but then I don't have to." Aleron shrugged. "I think I may want to either get another pokemon first or bring in one of my other ones. Jolteon and Vulpix could probably do it, but it's still a five against two match, essentially, and neither of them has a particular type advantage."

"Anything in particular you want?" Margaret asked. "There are some fairly rare types that live on the routes leading out of Saffron, or we could go through Celadon and take the walking route next to Cycling Road down to Fuschia for the Safari Zone."

"Well, you know me. Anything fire-type I love. Otherwise, I'll probably just be looking around." Aleron shrugged.

"Well," Margaret said, thinking, "I'm fairly sure there's a Houndour pack that runs out between here and Celadon, if you want to wait until dark."

"That could be fun," Aleron said with a grin. "I met a Houndoor once. He was pretty cool."

"They give me issues," Margaret replied. "They're part dark-type."

"Yeah, I know," Aleron said, chuckling. "Hey, I think it's fun."

Margaret shuddered dramatically.

"They are the reason I want a Starmie," she said.

"Well, I'll get a Houndour and you'll get a Starmie or a Staryu and it'll balance out."

"Unless I can find a wild Starmie, it'll have to be a Staryu first," Margaret replied. "I have a water stone somewhere, though, so I can evolve it if it wants to evolve." She thought for a moment. "I could probably have my own pokemon translate for me, if I wanted. This is kind of cool now that the shock factor is starting to wear off."

Aleron snorted. "Oh yeah. Interesting is one word for it."

"Yeah," Margaret said. "Come on, if we're going outside the city, I want to stop back at home and at least get Metagross and Natu. I may even take Exeggute, as well."

"Well you said they come out after dark, so we'll have to wait a bit anyway." Aleron stretched and rolled her shoulders. "So where shall we go?"

"True," Margaret said. She thought for a moment. "Well, there's always the gym, the Dojo, or we could wander around the mall or something."

"Well I don't want to take on the Gym or the Dojo without at least one other pokemon," Aleron said. "Just so my two don't have it too hard. So I guess just wander around."

Margaret thought for a moment.

"Well, we originally came to Kanto to visit Pokemon Cave, and that's just west of Cerulean," she said. "Cerulean isn't far from Saffron, either."

Aleron nodded. "Alright," she said. "We'll make our way that way, and if we happen to run into the Houndours on our way I won't complain."

"Alright," Margaret said. "I want to pick up my pokemon, then." She would feel better going into Pokemon Cave if she had more than just her Espeon.

Aleron nodded. "Fine by me." She followed Margaret back towards her house, still looking around and getting a feel for the city.

As soon as Margaret went around to the back yard, she was swarmed by her Exeggute again. Metagross was settled in the shade of a tree, napping, and Natu was chirping at Noctowl, trying to get her to wake up and play. Margaret rolled her eyes and recalled all but Noctowl. She would let the nocturnal pokemon sleep. Noctowl wasn't much of a fighter, and preferred to be a companion instead.

Aleron chuckled as she watched them all, shaking her head a little. She waited for Margaret to be done, just humming a little to herself.

Once Margaret had gotten her Exeggute under control, she turned to Aleron.

"Ready?" she said.

"Yup. Let's get going," Aleron said with a grin, motioning for her to lead the way.