"I mean, partially, yeah," Mel said, because clearly she had watched a few of these specials already. Almost absently, she petted the Vulpix lounging on her shoulders. "But it is mostly just because of how quickly you're taking down the gyms. You haven't had to redo a single gym, and Dragonair is the first in your group to evolve." She shrugged. "Honestly the only thing that surprises me is how fast they caught on."

"Zorua might be close to evolving," Ithica commented idly as she thought about that. "Zorua and Dratini both evolve around level 30, so it's probably pretty close." She was quiet for a second and then snorted. "And I don't have to worry about re-doing Mossdeep City gym, at least. Psychic types. Be that'll make for interesting footage, if it gets filmed."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it does, or if someone tries," Mel agreed. "But for now, yeah, you're becoming a celebrity. Surprise." She grinned.

"It feels so weird," Ithica admitted. "Like, I didn't jump into this wanting to become famous. I just want to beat down the League and move on to the next one." She paused. "Which sounded a lot less savage in my head."

Mel snickered. "Yup, I know. But people have noticed how fast you're doing things, and that won't make you slow down any, so you're going to become famous."

"I guess six gyms in four months is a bit fast, isn't it?" Ithica mused. She shook her head. "Still. Feels weird that people recognize me when I'm not some sort of regular customer or anything."

Dragonair trilled again and Ithica grinned.

"You're no help, darling, everyone recognizes you too. You're not exactly native to the region," she added.

Mel snickered. "Oh just wait, you'll get more popular," she predicted.

"It'll be inevitable once I take down all eight gyms," Ithica said, making a face. "Gearing up for the League will be fun. I'll have to figure out how to run the Elite Four gauntlet with a team of three."

"We'll see if you don't come across any others that you like," Mel said. "Otherwise, stock up on potions and things." She grinned a bit. "It'll be interesting, that's for sure."

"I wonder if it actually will be a gauntlet?" Ithica mused. "In the games it was, and Full Restore was my best friend. But in the show it was more tournament-style. Either one could be interesting."

"Right." Mel shrugged. "I suppose you'll find out when you get there. You'll be fully stocked either way, so you're good."

"Right," Ithica said. She stretched and sighed and flopped back on the couch, pretty much right on top of Dragonair. She grinned a bit when the dragon squirmed. "Shouldn't have been behind me, darling."

Mel snickered at that and shook her head. "I'm sure she'll learn," she said with a bit of a grin. "Someday. Eventually. Maybe."

"Maybe," Ithica agreed, grinning. She sat up so she wasn't laying on Dragonair.

Mel shook her head. "So, any plans for now? Or are we just staying here for a bit?"

"I figure we can stay here for a few more days," Ithica said. "Make more pokeblocks because I have so very many blue berries in my PC account and I really kind of want to face down Wallace with a Milotic of my own. Then we see if there's a ferry to Mossdeep City."

"Sounds good." Mel smiled a bit. "We can work on pokeblocks tomorrow, though. I kind of just want to relax for the rest of today."

"Sounds like a plan," Ithica said, nodding. She glanced around and saw other trainers still looking at her. "I wonder if anyone is going to try to challenge me to a battle...?"

"Hard to say. Some of them won't, that's for sure. But I'm sure it's crossed some of their minds." Mel shrugged, unconcerned.

"Some look like they want to," Ithica mused. "This isn't a gym city, though, it's a contest city, so I doubt a lot of them are hardcore battlers, unless they travel like we do."

"Which some of them undoubtedly do," Mel pointed out. "But even still. We'll just have to wait and see."

"Yeah," Ithica agreed, settling in some more. She grinned. "Maybe you should go for some of the contests, see if you're any good at them. Larvesta would probably do well in a Cool or Beauty contest."

"Probably," Mel agreed with a grin. "I might try, I haven't decided yet. We'll see how long we stay here."

"You should," Ithica encouraged. "Though they may make you go to Verdanturf first, if it's like the games... We'll see. If they do, we can head back there for a bit, if you want to give the Normal Rank contests a try."

Mel snickered a bit. "Well, tomorrow I'll go investigate, see if they won't let me enter here."