Clemont put away the phone in despair, closing his eyes wearily.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the next day.
Haley got up early, sitting on a chair in the laundry room while looking in the mirror, waiting for the clothes in the washing machine beside her to finish drying.
She had wanted to procrastinate for a while, but because Minccino insisted, she compromised and stuffed all the clothes to be washed into the washing machine.
"This is really convenient," Haley said, fixing her hair to ensure every strand was in its proper place before putting away the mirror.
She had been a bit unsure how to use this thing at first.
Although Pelican Town did have washing machines, they were somewhat outdated.
After waiting a while, the clothes finished drying. Haley hugged the clean, warm clothes and, under Minccino's direction, properly packed them into her backpack.
As soon as she stepped out, she ran into Ron, who had come to get her.
"Let's go. After breakfast, we need to head out."
Timing-wise, things were still a bit tight. If they delayed too long on the road, Haley wouldn't make it to the Contest in Laverre City.
"Oh, okay." Haley said, taking out her Pokédex and listening to Ron's plans for the next few days' travel as they walked.
"Huh, Lumiose City also has a Gym?" Haley glanced at the information on her Pokédex, then turned to ask Ron: "Are you planning to challenge the Lumiose Gym?"
Haley didn't know much about Gyms, but when she had asked Abigail about them before, she had heard that collecting a certain number of Gym Badges would earn you the opportunity to challenge the League.
Apparently, the League Conference would also be broadcast on television then.
Because the broadcast would announce where participants were from, if you won, you might even make Pelican Town famous in Kalos.
"Gyms—" Ron paused, remembering the Bellossom he had specially brought along, and the Level 50 Froakie currently on his shoulder. He thought for a moment: "Sure, if we challenge one on the way, it shouldn't take too much time."
(T/N: Gawddamn)
Both of their levels had been raised quite a bit. Just an Electric-type Gym shouldn't be a problem.
Just as Ron was thinking this, two passing trainers couldn't help but glance at him, then fixed their gaze on that unevolved Froakie.
The two were silent for a moment, then looked at each other. As expected, they saw a bit of speechlessness in each other's eyes.
One of the trainers held back and held back, but ultimately spoke to Ron: "Um, friend, hello. May I ask, how many Gym Badges have you collected so far?"
This kind of ignorant and overconfident trainer wasn't uncommon. According to the League's recommended route, after completing the relatively simple Santalune Gym, Lumiose City was a necessary stop on the way to the second Gym in Cyllage City.
Therefore, there were always some people who thought they were the chosen ones, blindly challenging the Lumiose Gym, which was fifth in the recommended challenge order.
Of course, normally speaking, there was no need to argue with these trainers. After all, once they reached the Lumiose Gym and were beaten to a pulp by Gym Leader Clemont, they would honestly follow the proper challenge order.
Especially for trainers like Ron, whose starter Pokémon was a Water-type Froakie.
But because the girl beside him was so beautiful—whether it was competitiveness or some other emotion at play—the two of them had no intention of giving Ron any face at the moment.
"Badges?" Ron thought for a moment, not quite remembering if he had challenged the Santalune Gym, so he rummaged in his backpack and took out his Badge Case.
This action did give the two a moment of pause.
Because normally, there was no need to check for three or fewer badges. So if he was taking out a Badge Case, that meant he had at least three or more.
"Could we have guessed wrong? Maybe he came back to Santalune City specifically for something?" one of them whispered to the other.
The one who asked also hesitated, but thinking about it, he hadn't said anything unpleasant, so he didn't take it to heart.
Even if he had, he could just flatter him for a bit afterward and it would be fine.
Thinking this, he heard Ron look at the Badge Case.
"Oh, no badges yet."
"?"
"?" The questioner asked with a speechless expression: "Then what were you digging around for?"
"Couldn't remember if I challenged the Santalune Gym, so I checked while I was at it," Ron said, putting the Badge Case back. The two didn't look very friendly, so he lost any desire to engage with them. He turned to Haley and said: "Let's go. If we're challenging a Gym, we need to move faster on the road, or we won't make it to the Laverre City Contest."
Haley laughed upon hearing this, then jogged a few steps to catch up without even looking at the two.
Of course, she was laughing purely because she found the statement a bit funny. She didn't think Ron's strength was the problem—partly due to blind confidence in Ron, and partly because she had no idea what the number of badges meant. She only knew there were eight total, and you needed to collect all of them to participate in the League Conference.
This feeling of losing face in front of a beautiful woman caused one person's face to instantly flush red. He hurriedly called out to Ron: "Then have a Pokémon battle with me!"
Ron paused in his steps.
"No need."
"Are you scared?" the man said, releasing his Braixen: "Although mine is a Braixen, the type matchup isn't too unfavorable for you. Although I already have one Gym Badge, but—"
The man kept talking nonsense behind Ron's back. Before Ron could react, the Froakie on his shoulder turned around, unable to bear it any longer.
The next second, a Water Gun struck that Braixen.
Ron didn't look back. He continued walking forward, conveniently taking a Poké Puff from his bag and handing it to Froakie's paws.
"Well done."
A cry of anguish came from behind.
"Braixen—"
The man's partner then shouted: "You actually ambushed us? Quilladin, use Seed Bomb!"
Froakie, while chewing, turned its head and fired another Water Gun.
"Quilladin, hang in there!"
"What are they doing?" Haley turned her head, glanced at the two figures holding their Pokémon and sprinting frantically back toward Santalune City, and asked curiously.
"Nothing," Ron paused, then turned to Haley and said: "When you run into strangers on the road, don't look them in the eyes."
"What do you mean?"
"Seems like it's popular here that if you make eye contact, you have to have a Pokémon battle. Since you're only participating in Contests, there's no need to grind experience."
Ron said this, then remembered something, and couldn't help but take out a Stardrop from his backpack.
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