Ithica snickered.

"You are obviously the best perch," she teased.

"Obviously." Mel's voice was completely deadpan at that, but she smiled a little. Clearly she was fond of the fluffball.

Ithica just snickered at that and continued with her breakfast.

By the time breakfast was finished and everything was cleaned up, Mel was ready to move out for the day. Still lots to see, after all.

Steven was also ready to move out, though he was fairly certain he wasn't headed in the same direction they were.

"I believe this is where we part ways for now," he said to Mel.

Mel nodded. "I'm sure we'll see you again," she said with a smile. "And in the meantime, take care. Try not to get lost too often."

Steven laughed.

"I'll make sure not to," he said. He waved at them, mostly at her, and disappeared into the trees.

Mel grinned and shook her head a bit as she watched him leave. Then she turned to Ithica.

"Alright, let's head out."

"Ready when you are," Ithica said, hefting her bag and letting Dratini settle on her shoulders. Feebas and Zorua were both settled in their pokeballs.

Mel nodded and started walking. Fortunately it was a nice day, so the walking was pleasant.

"So, I noticed you flirting a bit with Steven," Ithica said after a little while, grinning a bit.

Mel considered denying it and then shrugged. "A little," she agreed. "Doesn't hurt anything. It was kinda fun."

"It was adorable," Ithica said, grinning. "You two would be a cute couple, gotta admit."

"Oh come on," Mel said with a little grin. "Maybe, but think that's ever gonna happen? Probably not. Which is okay, flirting is fine and fun and all, I'm okay with that. Besides, it's still kind of an odd time to be starting a relationship, even if it was possible, y'know?"

"Come on," Ithica wheedled. "He was totally flirting back, and we have no idea how to get home again, if we even can. So why not?" She grinned. "And you'll be able to say you dated a Champion. Hardly anyone can say that."

Mel snickered at that. "True," she conceded. "Next time we see him, then, I'll do something about the flirting."

Ithica grinned.

"Good," she said. "Now, onward to the next gym city!"

Mel snickered. "Lead on," she said, shouldering her pack again.

Ithica easily took down the next gym. Fortree didn't give her any trouble, really; of the flying types, only the Skarmory was really an issue. However, after that battle, she was completely blindsided when Dratini evolved into Dragonair.

On the way to Lilycove City, she made sure to take a detour to Mount Pyre so that Mel could find a Vulpix, and then she lingered in Lilycove for a while to make a ton of blue pokeblocks for Feebas.

She did notice that she had small children starting to follow her around in the larger city, however, and didn't realize why until she spotted herself on TV one evening in the pokemon center.

Mel had seen her on TV before already, and was highly entertained by Ithica's lack of knowledge about her own growing popularity. So she watched everything, amused, and waited for Ithica to finally notice that she was getting quite a bit of media attention now.

Fortunately, at least so far, no reporters were demanding interviews or following her around. That would have annoyed both Ithica and Mel, so Mel was just counting her blessings on that one.

"--trainer came out of nowhere, and her rise through the League ranks has been absolutely meteoric--"

"This feels vaguely like the twilight zone, not gonna lie," Ithica said as she watched the talk show segment. She glanced around and saw that there were other trainers in the pokemon center also watching the talk show on other screens and looking over at her curiously.

"Yup," Mel agreed easily, grinning at her. "But it's true, you have been rising fast, you've caught the attention of several people."

"When did this even happen?" Ithica asked. Dragonair trilled and laid its head on her shoulder.

"Two gyms back, I think," Mel said after a moment. "Remember when the people in the gym started to recognize you? I'd say about then."

"This is so bizarre," Ithica said, letting Dragonair snuggle. "I can't be the first one to do something like this." She glanced at her pokemon. "Maybe it's partially because these three are so uncommon?"