[quote=@prettydrops]
...

"Hey, uh," he paused, searching for words. "Good to see you guys. Right, Margo and Dan and me-- we decided to go our separate ways." He shrugged, trying to hide the surge of pain he felt. "But you know, that's how it is. How are you guys doing?" He figured he could at least inquire. It was the polite thing to do and they would probably dismiss his general concern. Then he'd be on his way.

Right?

Right???
[/quote]

[center][h3]May 28th, Jimmal City, Pokemon Center[/h3][/center]
"Oh..." Jack paused. "Sorry to hear that." He then huffed and sat back down in his chair. He took another bite of his apple, which was almost finished at this point, and stared off into blank space, just the way Indigo had found him when he arrived. 

Before the silence got too awkward, Jill explained. "Jack lost in last night's contest. The Saturday contests are generally for established trainers, but given our reputation, they made an exception for Jack." 

"And I got my ass kicked." Jack said, still staring off into the distance. "I did well in the appeal rounds, but I was slaughtered in the contest battle. I was just... too weak..." 

Indy sympathized. Losing sucked. "I doubt you were weak. I think it just happens sometimes." 

Jill shrugged and crossed her arms. "He shouldn't have accepted the invite to begin with. Nobody else in that contest had been a trainer for less than a whole year. It was a-" 

"And now I'm a laughing stock." He interrupted, dropping his apple core onto the plate below. "My reputation is ruined." His face remained stoic, but his voice shook. 

Again, saving everyone from silence, Jill spoke up. "So what's your next move, Indigo? We're still trying to figure out ours."

"Weeeeell," Indigo drew out the word. "I... don't really know. I was just going to go to the next contest?" It sounded more like a question than an answer. "See the sights too, on the way. I haven't thought about it too much... What about you guys?"

"Well, the next arena is in Valpisa Town." Jill answered, happy to change the subject. "It's home to the Clear Sky Arena. We'll have to go there eventually. I need the badge and you two need the ribbon."

"Right," Indy nodded. "Valpisa? I still haven't looked up where that is. Thanks for letting me know. Do you know when the contest is? And how long it takes to get to Valpisa?"

Jack remained silent, content with letting his sister do the talking. "If we were to go straight there, it would take about two days, counting time to rest. Of course, we would want to catch Pokemon and train along the way, so we're probably looking at longer than that."

The very mention of that much effort woke Jack from his daze. "There has to be a better way to get around. That's ridiculous."

"Well, until we catch Pokemon that we can ride, that's the only way." Jill shrugged. "What about you Indigo? Have you caught any Pokemon that you can ride yet?" 

"No," Indy shook his head. "I've seen some cool ones, like I saw this Rapidash the other day-- super beautiful. But I don't have any of my own.... Wait, could we maybe rent some ride pokemon?" 

"Rent ride Pokemon? Yeah... I think I heard something about that." Jill answered. "I think there's a Pokedex app for that." She pulled out her Pokedex. "You have to download it though. It's not pre-installed."