Mel smiled and took his arm, letting her group out to walk with them and letting Ithica lead the way. She did, however, make sure not to fall behind.

Ithica had Togepi in her arms, and Dragonair out next to her. Luckily, the Digglets in the cave left them alone, since she had the dragon-type out with her, so the trek to Pewter City was pretty easy.

Steven had to stop himself from wanting to stop every few steps to examine the rocks around them. He'd never gotten to properly study any of the minerals around Kanto; he'd always only ever been there on official League business and never had a chance.

Mel noticed the look on his face and grinned. "We'll come back this way, promise," she told him quietly. "After Ithica gets some of the craziness out in a good couple gym matches."

"I've always wanted to study Kanto's minerals," Steven admitted as he continued to walk with her. "It's fascinating to see how such things influence the pokemon of a given region."

Mel smiled. "You'll get a chance while we're here," she told him. "Have you ever thought of publishing your findings?"

"I've thought about it," Steven admitted. "But not for a while. I can't dedicate myself full-time to research, after all, not with my duties to the League."

"Maybe after the League, then," Mel mused, glancing at him. "Unless you're planning on just never retiring." She grinned a bit.

"I have to eventually," Steven said, grinning a bit. "Though likely not for a while."

"Probably not," Mel agreed. "And I don't think Ithica has any plans of becoming a Champion, so you're safe from her, at least."

"I can't imagine she would enjoy being the sitting Champion," Steven agreed. "She's too wild. I doubt she would want to deal with the official League duties. It's not all taking challenges and decimating tournaments."

Mel grinned. "Well, if she ever gets the idea in her head, I'll turn her over to you for a good talking-to," she said playfully.

Steven laughed a little.

"You do that," he said. "I'd give her to Lance. He's always been the one most determined to do everything by the book. They'd grate on one another."

Mel snickered. "Oh that would require tickets," she said gleefully. "And popcorn."

Steven snickered.

"No, what's really a show is when Red shows up and Lance gets it in his head to challenge him. I've seen it, once, it's spectacular."

"...Oh my." Mel blinked. "That will become a thing later, I think. Once Ithica thinks she's ready, she's going to challenge Red, I know she will."

"I can't say I'm surprised," Steven said, shaking his head a bit.

Mel snickered. "Neither am I." She grinned a bit.

"See anything interesting up there?" she called to Ithica, since Ithica was several yards in front of them by that point.

"Just fifty million Diglett-holes," Ithica called back as she picked her way around the pits in the path. Dragonair didn't have any trouble weaving around them, and trilled from up ahead.

Mel snickered. "Yeah, yeah, smug thing," she muttered about Dragonair. "If you vanish down one of the Diglett-holes I will laugh."

Dragonair just trilled in response. Ithica rolled her eyes even as Togepi squeaked happily in her arms.

"Diglett's Cave is long," she commented. "We'll probably have to camp in here tonight, and we'll make it to Pewter tomorrow sometime. Sound okay?"

"Fine with me," Mel said. "Not like we'll be lacking light or anything, so we're good."

"Awesome," Ithica said. Once they made it to a spot that didn't seem to be riddled with Diglett holes, she stopped. "Here looks good."

Mel nodded and set up a quick camp for them. It would work for the night.

"Dinner?" she asked, looking at the other two to see if they wanted her to cook or not.

"If you like," Steven said as he settled in as well. "Otherwise, I'm content with travel rations for tonight."

"Well, I can at least make a little something to go with." Mel started rummaging around in her bag.

Traveling went well enough. Mel geeked out at Professor Oak and was mostly entertained watching Ithica take down every gym in her path. It was highly entertaining, but a bit repetitive, since most of them didn't even pose a challenge to her. Mel, however, was more interested in the Day Care once they ran across that.