Chapter 137: Bus Ride

Just a reminder that characters in this fanfic had their ages bumped up by 4-5 years. Trainers don't start their journeys until they're fifteen years old too.

The one exception to this is Cynthia, and she had her age decreased to be only three or four years older than Itsuki.

Like with the last chapter, I'm using Friday/Saturdays to re-visit my older fanfics. I may post them on Sundays together with my other fanfics, if you don't see them posted on Friday/Saturday.

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One Hour Later

A sole bus could be seen moving along the streets of Viridian City. Weaving through traffic like none other, it eventually made its way westward. The high towers of modern life slowly grew further and further away. This bus continued its path westward, taking the west exit out of Viridian City, finding itself on Route 22.

Route 22 was not frequently used by trainers, as most would find their journey continued northward, the same path we took when we started our journey about half a year ago. I'm already amazed at how far we've come in just five to six months, sporting four badges for each of us. We are going to essentially do what's called a gym gauntlet since we have a month to beat the remaining four gyms, if we want to remain on our schedule that is.

The present schedule is that after Liko gets situated in Indigo Academy, we will fly back to Fuschia City and battle Koga before this week ends. From there we will make our way to Saffron city to battle Sabrina, then likely take a jet to Cinnabar Island to battle Blaine. If we go the long route and try surfing or cruising across the ocean, it will likely cause us to be late, so taking a jet to Cinnabar Island was the best play here. It wasn't like the games where only one path exists. It was the real world, here, and I had quite the bank account thanks to being Lillie's caretaker and a Professor. Taking a jet to Cinnabar Island from Saffron City definitely wasn't out of the question.

A look of anticipation appeared in my eyes to say the least, this next month is going to be jam-packed. The bus that was currently driving us exited the long tunnel, and we were greeted with the blinding rays of the sun. Yet the moment the rays faded, we were greeted with a wide and open grassy landscape, full of rolling hills and trees near and far alike.

'Wah...", Serena's voice said, marveling at the sight before us in surprise. It was as if we entered an insanely large wild zone, much larger than the Safari Zone. The Safari Zone failed in comparison. It went on as far as the eye could see, and there were a ton of Kanto Pokemon roaming about. Flying Pokemon were enjoying taking to the skies while Water Pokemon rested near small ponds. It really was a heaven for Pokemon. It didn't seem like it was just tied to Kanto Pokemon either, I could see some Johto and Hoenn Pokemon as well.

After all, this place was largely untouched for most trainers. It was the last stop for those who've gathered all eight badges. From here, it would take trainers to Victory Road to challenge its elite trainers, and then, the Indigo League where these elite trainers would battle against each other for the top spots. Only then would they have the right to challenge the Elite Four, and eventually the Champion. I haven't seen Lance since he cooperated with us to take that Snag Machine and investigate how it was built, but I'm sure he's been doing fine. Each championship is held each winter, so after we meet up back in Pallet Town, there would still be six months for us to train up all of our Pokemon.

I did also have interest in the Orange and Sevii Islands, so perhaps taking a detour to challenge trainers there would be a good opportunity during that time period.

While this was the end place for many trainers, it was also the starting place for them too. Trainers either had the option to visit Gramps personally in his lab in Pallet Town to start their journey, or they had the second option which was choosing their partner Pokemon at one of the schools nearby. Indigo Academy was by far the most popular choice, and it was where Ash, Gary and Green went to study. I would often find gramps paying a visit to Indigo Academy in dropping off several kinds of starter Pokemon. The regions have started to get in cooperation with each other more. Sure, Gramps let us choose from the Kanto starters, but if we held interest in other regional starters at the time, I'm sure he would have worked his magic. Trainers nowadays, especially if they take trainer classes in schools, are given any sort of regional starter.

That's how I got my Raph, which was now my Wartortle, how Serena got her now Shiny Greninja. Lillie's case was a bit special, and we were all given Alolan starters as a result of her decision in becoming a trainer. That meant Gramps still had his Charmander and Bulbasaur.

With all that in mind, however, I didn't have to worry about Gramps giving out his two remaining Pokemon to students at Indigo Academy. After all, they were already picked up by two people we knew very well. Seeing Serena's eyes start to sparkle as she looked out the left window to observe many different Pokemon currently strolling about in the grassy plains, we heard a voice that we haven't come across in the last five months or so.

"Heh, that reaction is quite normal for folks who haven't entered Route 22 before. It is a fantastic place for Pokemon to roam about, not wanting to interact with many trainers. After all, aside from students going to and fro from Viridian City to our academy, this route is hardly used throughout the year. It's only busy period is when the championships happen at the end of each year.", A familiar voice reached our ears.

Inside the bus, Serena, Lillie and I could be seen seated in the back row. We weren't alone, since other students wearing school uniforms could be seen further seated in the front. Every so often, they would glance our way, but we ignored them for the most part. I was seated beside Serena, while Lillie was seated to the right of me, but we all still had a good view of the outside. But we weren't alone, two figures sat beside us to our right, one being a fifteen year old boy, and a fifteen year old girl, and the two of them could be seen holding hands.

The boy's hair was much more prominent in its color, which was auburn, and stood mostly upward and unruly, since it was very spiky hair. It wasn't unkempt though, his hair was neat and tidy, I could see hairspray in it too. Next to him was a rather thick and long brown haired girl with large bangs, but she didn't appear as shy and mischievous like she used to be back in Pallet Town. Her eyes showed a lot more clarity and were a bit more mature. These two likely underwent their last big celebration while we were out on our journey.

Of course, these two beside us were Gary and Green.

"Gary's right. Many first timers enjoy the wide open view of Pokemon running freely out here on Route 22. Yet even to upperclassmen like us, it is still a sight to enjoy. It never gets old.", Green said, sporting a smile over her face.

"Yeah. No doubt about it that this land is a luxury for wild Pokemon. Still, it is nice to see you two again. Guess your studies have been wrapped up huh?", I said, looking at the two.

"They sure have, Big Brother. I was surprised when you said you three were in town. I didn't think it would have a literal meaning. What brings you back over here in western Kanto?", Gary asked.

"The three of us met a new friend of sorts, and she has plans to start attending Indigo Academy here when the next semester starts in fall. Serena and I could have stayed back in Fuschia but we wanted to meet her and see what she is like together with Itsuki.", Lillie explained.

"Yeah! It's always good to make new friends. I am quite curious to see what Liko looks like. Director Clavell didn't give any indication on that, did he?", Serena asked me.

"Afraid not, I'm afraid. All I know is that she has dark blue hair and likes to wear a hair accessory to keep her bangs in check. It's in the same style as Ash's hat so I'm sure she will be easy to spot. We have a couple hours to burn, I didn't think you two would come to welcome our arrival, and back in the bus center in Viridian no less.

"Heh, the moment you called us, we had to come. It's been half a year after all. You guys really have grown since our last visit.", Gray said, rubbing the bridge of his nose a bit with his finger as he let out another laugh.

"I could say the same to you. You don't seem shy anymore after the two of you started a relationship. Looking forward to heading out on your journey next month?", Serena asked, causing Green to nod her head.

"We are. By the way, Gary here forgot to say that we were kind of expecting your guys' arrival. We received a call from Professor Oak not too long ago.", Green explained, letting the current situation become more clear. I saw Gary frown.

"Hey, you weren't supposed to say that part, Green. I wanted that to be a surprise for them.", Gary retorted, causing Green to stick out her tongue at him.

"Too late. From how things were going, you weren't going to bring it up at all. Stop being such a sore loser.", Green retorted back with a pout of her cheeks.

"Gramps reached out to you two? Guess that would explain why you aren't surprised the moment we mentioned Director Clavell's name.", I mused.

"Quick to judge as always. Despite looking more mature than last time, you haven't changed a bit, Big Brother. But it's as Green said. Gramps told us you would be coming, so we kind of knew where to pick you guys up. Sorry 'bout that.", Gary said, feeling a bit dejected seeing Green respond like that.

"Hehe, it doesn't matter if it was meant to be a surprise or not. I'm just glad to see you two. It's good you're in good health. If there's just one thing to point out though, I don't see Ash with you guys. Guessing something happened.", Lillie wondered, since all she saw was Gary and Green with us, and Ash was nowhere to be seen.

"Our classes may have ended, but Ashy-boy couldn't wake up in time after learning about you coming to Viridian City. They still let us use the dorms until the new students start arriving. Saw no reason to return home yet since we have our gathering set a month from now. Still, that idiot stayed up all night trying to figure out some way to impress you. His sleep schedule gotta be messed up now.", Gary said, revealing a playful grin.

"It's sad, but true. Ash was way too overly excited knowing that you were coming here. Hopefully when we arrive, he'll have woken up.", Green said, shaking her head as well.

"Haha, that's definitely Ash alright. But what is with this Ashy-boy business? Didn't think you'd be one to take on nicknames.", I asked with interest.

"It's more to annoy Ash, really. Gary here started to take Ash on as a rival. You'd be surprised to see how much we've studied here, Itsuki. All three of us already have our starting Pokemon. Didn't you want to challenge Itsuki to a battle, Gary?", Green asked. Hearing that caused me to

"Sure I do. If you have enough time, that is, Big Brother.", Gary said, looking back at me.

"Of course. Sounds like you three have had plenty of progress. I can show you ours with the four badges we've earned.", I responded with a smile.

"Great! We can go check on Ash to see if he's woken up, then we can head to one of the battle fields. There's quite a few since a lot of students at Indigo Academy partake in trainer classes. I can also take you to the headmistress, you're still a Professor so you two should get acquainted. Who knows, perhaps you could do an impromptu lecture with the remaining students who are still on campus who haven't left yet.", Gary suggested.

"That works. We have about three or four hours before we have to head back to the airport, so we can use a couple hours to battle while I could give an hour lecture to the students there. It's been a while too so I might be a bit rusty.", I said, nodding my head.

Still, the five of us nodded our heads seeing the proposed plan. It was a shame Ash overslept and didn't get to see us arriving into Indigo Academy, but that was his loss for being over excited. I ignored any wandering eyes. It wasn't too bad, since most of these students had Viridian City in close proximity, which was filled with trainers. We saw the bus stop along Route 22, and saw a few more students board the bus. They looked toward us with raised eyes showing their interest, since they weren't expecting to see trainers with them. But since Gary and Green were here, they were quick to see that the two were upperclassmen who had graduated. They just quietly boarded and found nearby seats.

Once the stop was over, the bus continued along its windy path, letting the endless scenery of wild Pokemon frolicking in the grass pass by us, eventually reaching a large institute, the Indigo Academy.