Once they touched down in Kanto, the group spent a last day together at Bill’s penthouse (well, Jenn kind of did; she spent a lot of the day passed out and throwing up). Tim and Zoey decided to set out for Celadon City, while Mige & Jenn would stay with Bill at Cape Sapphire for a little bit, so they could recover and plan their journey. At the cottage, Mige and Bill poured over maps, trying to plan out the best route for Mige to collect his remaining four badges in the most efficient way. They did math and calculated angles. Nerds. Jenn mostly either quietly watched television or occupied herself with busy work; she did laundry (including Mige’s and Bill’s if they let her), cleaning, cooking or baking random whatever. Erika showed up to visit them at one point, and they treated Mige and Jenn to dinner at a pretty night place. That was nice! Bill eventually bought the two of them train tickets back to Saffron (after Mige managed to defeat Vensaur with his whole team—and it was close!) Once in Saffron, they swung by the gym only to find out that Sabrina was out of town on business. Mige took the opportunity to keep training. During this time, Jenn helped Mige as best she could, and Mige would capture a young Tyrogue. As Mige’s battle with Sabrina neared, they ran into a young street artist and petty criminal named Benjamin deWolfe. Mige didn’t give him up to the cops, which Benjamin was immensely grateful for. He explained that he’d vandalized a cop car, and apparently the cops didn’t like that. After introductions, Benjamin noticed that they were trainers and asked if they were any good at training. He brought them to the communal living area that he shared with a bunch of other hippies, artists, and vagrants. It was a decommissioned area in the old Saffron railyard. An old warehouse acted as a sort of “central meetting space” for them, while people lived in old, abandoned train cars. They grew their own food, made a lot of their own clothes, and generally just took care of each other. But not everybody was open minded about their way of life. They don’t know who’s doing it, exactly, but people have been coming in at night—masked and disguised—and terrorizing people; destroying gardens, slamming the train cars, shooting fireworks into the air, breaking into train cars and attacking people. Jenn was disgusted that such cruel people could exist, and she and Mige agreed to help. They waited, and that night saw a pair of vans pull up. A group of masked hoodlums descended on the trainyard, armed with bats and crowbars and firearms—-and a few Pokemon, including a Mr. Mime in a ski mask and leather jacket. Mige, Jenn, and Benjamin intervened and found that the culprit was the son of Saffron City’s mayor, an off-duty cop, and a handful of well-to-do and allegedly “upstanding” citizens. Jeffrey, the mayor’s son, claimed that they were “doing Saffron a favor” by driving out the filthy vermin who lived there. Benjamin lashed out; they weren’t vermin, they were human beings who had a right to exist. Jeffery scoffed. They lived in garbage and slept in the dirt. That made them vermin. Benjamin ended up head-butting Jeffrey and threw out a Bronzor. A fight ensued, and the thugs weren’t really shit. The off-duty cop was kind of dangerous, but Benjamin’s Bronzor managed to down him with a Confusion attack. Mige explained that there were people who were filming the whole thing, and if they came back, they’d leak it to the news. The people might be interested in learning what the mayor’s son got up to at night. After some roughing up, they all turned tail and ran. Benjamin cheered, and threw bricks at the vans as they drove off. The community was extremely grateful to them, and their leader promised Mige and Jenn that they were in their debt; if they ever needed anything, if was in their power to do it, they would, no questions asked. Jenn and Mige stayed there that night in Benjamin’s train car; he was one of a few people to live by himself, considering he often had…“company”, he said. The next morning, Mige invited Benjamin to join them for the gym battle and Benjamin figured that’d be fun. Sabrina was not a trainer to trifled with. Mige had prepared for this battle for some time, and he was approaching the battle with a degree of respect. Jenn believed in him, calling out support and cheering as the battle commenced. It was close, but Mige won after giving it his all. Benjamin was pretty impressed at Mige’s ingenuity during the battle and Jenn, impressed, remarked that she’d never really seen him battle like that before. To celebrate Mige’s win, Benjamin took them to an underground nightclub, which ended up being underground in both senses of the word. While they were hanging out, Mige offered for Benjamin to join them. Benjamin accepted.
Their next destination was Silver Town and they didn’t waste time headed that way. Along the way, they would help Anthony the Hitmonchef with his failing restaurant, and would travel through the dark Amana Forest (which Benjamin hated and often complain about).
In the forest, they would find an abandoned cottage and meet Henri and his Hatenna, and would help quell spiritual activity tied to a Dragapult.
As they traveled, first along the route and then through the Rock Tunnel, Jenn found she liked Benjamin a little less than she thought she did. He kind of irritated her with his cocky attitude, and overall just rubbed her the wrong way.
Finally having arrived in Silver Town, Mige was focused on training for the Aero Badge. Jenn was ready to help him with the training, but when they arrived at the Pokemon Center they were surprised to see Bill, Erika, Ron, and Houndour waiting for them! Bill revealed that they’d come to surprise Mige for his birthday! This was very surprising to Jenn, who only then realized that she didn’t actually know his birthday. Mige hadn’t planned on bringing it up.
Bill had arranged for them to stay at a cabin at Silver Town’s famous ski resort. They took a shuttle to the cabin, where they were surprised to find Tim, Zoey, and Armand waiting for them! Jenn ran to Zoey and pulled her into a hug. It felt like they’d been away so much longer than they had.
Of course, the first thing that Mige and Tim wanted to do was battle but Armand quashed that notion; they could face each other in the League, and battling each other now would only serve to give knowledge to their opponent. Jenn and Zoey let out a collective sigh of relief; they both just wanted to hang out. However, Benjamin (fucking Benjamin) suggested that they used Pokemon they weren’t bringing to the League.
This led to another battle, where Benjamin and Armand fought over who got to referee (with Erika eventually doing it herself, to Jenn’s amusement). Mige would win again, but it was a MUCH closer bout this time.
After the customary battle, the group decided to hit the slopes. Having grown up in Viridian City, Jenn had gone snowboarding before and while she wasn’t an expert, she was confident enough in her skills. Fun and shenanigans happen in the snow, and Jenn found herself more or less at peace. It was nice for however brief a time it would last.
That night, everyone settled in around the cabin and drank hot cocoa. Sweating, soaked, and cold, Jenn showered and quickly got to doing some laundry. Tim found her while she was folding some clothes fresh out of the dryer—so warm, so soft—and asked how things were going. Jenn smiled and shrugged; things were fine. Tim cleared his throat and leaned in, wagging his eyebrows as he said, “How are thiiiiingggsssss going?”
Jen is a little flustered and stammers her response at first. “Dammit, Zoey….” she muttered and Tim chuckled.
“Aw, don’t blame Zoey. We’re kinda dating—I don’t think we’re allowed to keep secrets anymore. Even then, I’m not as oblivious as Mige.”
While hesitant at first, Jenn eventually opened up to Tim and talked to her about what happened and how she was struggling with it.
“Well, you’ve been as blunt as you could possibly be—with actions. But have you actually told him how you feel? With words?”
Jenn shook her head and Tim sagely nods.
“The guy can talk to a wild Oshawott and figure out its favorite food, but he’s pretty clueless when it comes to other people.”
“Yeah, Bill said something similar once. I just don’t…I don’t know to bring it up.”
“Try taking him out to dinner. Or like…to an old movie. Mige digs all those movies that need subtitles.”
Jenn chuckled a bit and nodded, thanking Tim. She got to her feet and gave him a hug; he was a good friend.
“I know I am.” he said with a grin, “Now come on out for cake. Everyone does the cake thing.”
Eventually, she and Tim would join Mige and Zoey on the deck, where they watched the stars dancing in the dark winter skies.
After everyone went their separate ways again, Jenn and Benjamin got to business helping Mige prepare for his upcoming battle with Wendy. After some sparring, they set up some lunch and Benjamin was setting up the bowls, Jenn realized that it was just her and Mige now. She thought about Tim’s words.
“Hey, um…you know we’ve been training hard for your battle with Wendy,” she said, “And uh, you know, I think—well all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy right? For sure. Yeah. So, um—-I was thinking it would be kind of nice to like—I mean if you wanted to, um, maybe we could get dinner?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah, dinner’s fine. I assumed we’d be having dinner together.” Mige said, not getting it.
“Like, I guess I was more asking if you wanted to, like, get dinner with me? Like, just the two of us. I saw a place that I think you’d like back in town, and maybe we could see if anything is playing at that second-run theater or—”
“I dunno, I was gonna spend tonight training. I’m worried about my progress. Maybe another time?”
“Sure. Yeah. Another time….” Jenn said, her ego deflating and that familiar pain flashing through her chest. She sighed and just kept preparing lunch. She didn’t know what else she was expecting.
They would help a Hoppip later, and after the ordeal, Benjamin pulled Jenn aside and told her that he was worried about Mige. He seemed tired. Jenn sighed and agreed. She didn’t know what to. Benjamin’s idea was for them to present a united front and not give him a chance to say no.
“Mige! You. Me. Jenn. Put-Put. Let’s do it.” Benjamin said with a big grin. Despite ‘not giving Mige a chance to say no’, he said no and went to bed. The two were disappointed but there wasn’t much they could do. He offered to buy her falafel and she declined, instead just heading up to her own room because she was D E P R E S S E D.
Two days later, Mige clashed with Wendy and, after a hard-fought battle, Mige won his Aero Badge. This led to them deciding their next move. The logical next step would either be Fuchsia City or Crimson City. Benjamin suggested that Fuchsia might be better for Mige, considering he had a strong ground type AND a strong psychic type. Mige, however, seemed to want to return to Vermillion City first.
