Sam walked alongside Wilbur on the trail. He knew he could ride on Wilbur and keep the same pace. Wilbur was a Mudbray and could easily bear the load, but there was something else on the line. Sam didn’t want to look lazy next to the rest of the group, so he stayed on his feet just like everyone else. His Natu, Smith, was quiet now, nodding off a little on his shoulder. That bird pokemon loved sleeping almost as much as it loved getting upset over nothing. 

At that moment Sam was near the back of the group, but then he took a look at the map on his Pokegear and saw that they were making good time. It wasn’t a sure thing, but based on a little mental calculation Sam figured out that if they went a little faster they could be there in time for him to make a few sales pitches that same day. Time was money, and even a few hours could be valuable if he used them right. With ideas of how to figure out how to find good prospects in his head, Sam picked up his pace by jogging a little and headed towards the front of the group, closer to Cho and Ezekiel.

Along the way he waved at Judas and Naoko, but kept a wide berth from Squegg. He had heard about how a Trapinch could chew through anything, even had an idea for an excavation company using some of them at one point. He kicked himself for not patenting it, just  the other day he saw a news story about a billionaire trying a similar idea for building a tunnel network. Evidently  that man thought that the commute between his rocket factory, his mansion, and his car factory was too onerous when he had to wait in traffic; that sounded like the kind of problem Sam dreamed of having.

When he got close to the front of the group, Sam decided to try and liven things up by starting a little conversation. He said “So, we got a ways before we hit Violet City, but I was wondering. When we get there, are you guys going to go straight to it and challenge it, or are you going to try to prepare a bit?” after a little hesitation, he added “Who do you think will be the first of us to get the badge?” He didn’t say it out loud, but he had the feeling it wouldn’t be him. Sam could talk a big game, but when he was honest with himself he wasn’t too confident in his skill as a trainer.