For once, she woke up without any nightmares. The dawn of the next morning was hazy, coated in the mist of Ilex Forest. She was the last one up, to her surprise. Ethan was packing up the tent he had, while the Kimono Girl watched him. Silver sat by a morning campfire that someone had built with Nuria's help. Crystal shivered without her Pokémon next to her. She was used to the Cyndaquil heating up her mornings.
Part of her watched the proceedings and decided she missed journeying on her own. Despite her enjoyment of having others around while she traveled, Crystal liked the normal solitude that just having herself and Red provided. It put her at ease, not being on her guard, and simply seeing the world with him.
Ethan cooked a breakfast for the group of Magikarp fished from the lake next to them, and then they were off. Once again, Crystal found herself next to the obnoxious silence of Silver, while Ethan chatted with the Kimono Girl ahead of them. Nuria snuggled in her trainer's chest, and for the sake of Crystal Red stayed silent. Which made her sad.
Soon the group found their way to a gate through which they left the forest. Once in the bright air again, Crystal was happy to see light hills and flatlands ahead of her. To her surprise, Crystal found that it was easier to traverse this route than it had been to traverse Route 29. She smiled at Red for a moment and then jostled Nuria.
"It's getting easier to walk baby," she said, "look at how far we've come on this journey, hey."
Ethan looked back at Crystal. "That tends to happen when you've been on the road long enough."
"He's right, you know," Red said in response. "After making my way from Cerulean City for the first time I really felt as though I could walk anywhere."
"Cyn! Da, da!" Nuria exclaimed in excitement.
Crystal looked down at the Pokémon in her arms and then over to the egg that continued to hang from her side. "I'm excited too, girl."
Red smiled. "Just wait until we reach Goldenrod City. If it's anything like Saffron City, you'll be amazed. I'm sure that when we get there I'll remember all this stuff and can help play tour guide for you."
All of a sudden Naoko burst out into speech. "Oh, Master Ethan, isn't that the day care you once worked at?"
"It is indeed," said the young man with an easy smile. "That's where Morty picked me up from. I used to breed his ghost types before he noticed that I had an eye for talent acquisition, so to speak."
"Well, you're certainly not a good ghost type guide," Silver mumbled. "Can't even show up on time."
He shrugged and looked first to Silver before turning to Crystal. " I was not meant to be there at that moment. A very potent cleanse tag had to be made. The souls of this world are very vulnerable to the vicious wills of ghost types. And I know, Silver, that this is something you care about."
"As if you knew," Silver said.
The trainer shook his head. "I know a lot more than you think I do."
"The two of you really should stop fighting," said Naoko. "There is no point in it right now. See, we're almost to Goldenrod City."
Beyond the fire shingles of the daycare Ethan used to work at, the group gazed upon the faint silhouette of skyscrapers. Even having been to Viridian City, nothing quite compared the grandiose of Goldenrod. The closer they got, the more the buildings began to loom over Crystal's head, shielding the group from the harsh whip of the afternoon sun. The city waved hello to them in the form of a massive gate through which the group passed to find themselves on paved streets once again.
"Well," said Ethan, "this is where we split off. It's been a pleasure travelling with you all."
"Yeah right," Silver huffed, without so much as saying goodbye as he walked away.
Morty's disciple turned to Crystal, unsure of what to say, yet a goofy grin lining his face. "That's one way to say goodbye, I guess."
She shook her head. "To be honest, I'm really not even sure what to call that."
"He's just finding his way still," said Ethan with a shrug. "Don't mind him."
"I won't," she responded. "Ethan, it was nice seeing you again. Naoko, it was a pleasure to meet you. May the both of you have a safe journey back to Ecruteak. It's a long walk."
The Kimono Girl laughed. "Oh no, now that we're here in Goldenrod, it will be much cheaper to hire a Charizard taxi. Thank goodness for the person who came up with that idea, it has made my life a lot easier."
Crystal laughed. "Actually, that was me. But really, it came from a time long passed."
"Well," said the Kimono Girl, "I thank you for that. It's really been nice meeting you, though. I hope you come visit when you're in Ecruteak."
"Of course," she said.
Ethan smiled. "Well, Crystal, be careful. You never know what you'll find in a city such as this."
She watched as the pair turned away and let Nuria to the ground. A sigh of relief passed through her lips and she let the weight of stress roll off her shoulders. To her surprise, Crystal had no idea while in Ilex Forest that she was so stressed. But it made sense, communicating with Red was difficult when other people were around.
"You happy to be able to talk to me again?" Red asked.
The girl shrugged. "It's no biggie. I've had plenty of company along the way. Why would I ever need to speak to a chatterbox like you? Like jeez, you just go on and on and on."
"I know for a fact you don't mean that. You missed your dear old master," said Red.
Crystal scoffed. "I'll have you remember that I'm your keeper here. So who is the true master, huh?"
"It would be me. Pokémon Master Red, champion of the world," he said with a cocky grin.
"Oh right," Crystal said, "what's the number for the insane asylum again? I forgot to inform them that they lost some guy who thinks he's the greatest trainer in the world."
Red snickered. "Please, if they picked anyone up it would be you. I mean, really, Crystal, talking to the air, thinking you know the ghost of a Pokémon master, people must think you're insane."
"Eh, Nuria will back my story up. Won't you, girl?" Crystal responded.
Nuria looked at her trainer and then back at Red and stuck her chin up at her. "Cyn! Daquil!"
"Traitor," Red mumbled.
Crystal shimmied her shoulders. "That's right, mama loves you too."
"Ready to go exploring?" Red asked, the smile on his face bright and wide.
She laughed. "Of course."
"Well, I figure since we missed out on training in Ilex Forest, we can do it here in Goldenrod City," said Red.
Crystal raised her eyebrows. "What in the world are you prattling on about?"
"Don't worry," he said with a smile as he looked at Nuria. "You both will be well taken care of."
She slapped her forehead. "Nuria, watch out, he's going to send a horde of Zubat against us again."
"Please, we both know you enjoyed that," said Red.
She glared at him. "No!"
"Well, I know you like having speedy Pokémon," said Red. "If you'd actually had your gym battle you would've seen how effective the training would've been. It comes from natural defenses. Nothing beats that."
"Oh great, here comes Red of the wild. Really, do you expect to find the wilderness in a city?" Crystal said.
He smiled. "Of course I do."
Crystal bit her lip and slapped her forehead once again. "Come on, idiot, let's go. Let's find out what's around."
For the first hour of walking around the city Crystal was faced with massive feats of architectural wonders. Buildings with twists and turns, and massive glittering windows. She spied a baseball field off in the distance. Red began to explain the history of Goldenrod to her, and she became enamored with everything from the life teeming around her to the coast that shined off to her left.
"And so, this is the financial district, hence all of the fancy architecture, but there's also a massive food scene here in Goldenrod. This place is considered the food capital of the region," said Red.
Crystal sniffed the air. "I wonder what the famous dishes are, I can smell something amazing around the corner."
"You'll have to find that out after your gym battle," said Red. "Because as far as I calculate it you're close to stone broke, and the food here isn't cheap. Unless you want to try to get someone to pay for it. But I don't think you have enough womanly charm for that."
She stared at Red. "Please, your best friend is into me, isn't he?"
"Yeah, but Blue's an exception," said Red, "he has an eye for nerds. Which, of course, you are."
Crystal rolled her eyes. "Says you Mr. 'oh Goldenrod Milktanks are the best baseball team in Johto because of blah, blah, blah...' Who even cares about baseball?"
"I do," Red protested. "I used to be a fan! Now I have no idea how the Pewter Geodudes are doing. Two years have been wiped from my memory."
"You're ridiculous," Crystal said.
He rolled his eyes. "Well so are you. I mean, really, what did you do before trainer-pocalypse happened, so to speak."
"I used to cook," she said, a wistful smile blooming on her face. "And I would sometimes accompany Professor Elm on research trips. I looked after their lab and the Pokémon sometimes. My mother and I would also sometimes craft and paint together."
"Such girly hobbies," said Red.
Crystal shrugged. "Can you blame me? It's what I enjoy. I never really thought that I would have fun doing things like traveling and exploring, but I guess there's a lot for me to learn still."
Red grinned. "Speaking of learning, are you ready to train?"
"What?" Crystal asked. "We're near a bunch of alleyways. There's nothing here."
"Exactly," said Red. "This is the perfect place to train. Nuria, fire an ember at the wall."
The Pokémon obeyed Red, and fired a strong burst of fire at the wall. To Crystal's surprise, it came rebounding back towards her, at which point she had to jump out of the way. Nuria, on the other hand, took the fireblast. Both girls glared at the elder trainer who was laughing.
"And what in the world do you think you're doing now?" Crystal growled.
Red shrugged. "Today's training is evasion skills. I don't ever really remember battling her, but people say that Whitney's Milktank is fierce with that rollout attack. You need to be able to dodge it if you're going to win the battle. What better way than to—"
A low growl cut off Red's speech. One of the trash cans in the alleyway rattled. Nuria backed closer to Crystal, and Crystal stood her ground ready for the attack, yet still frozen in fear. She glanced at Red for a moment, until something brown leaped out of the trash can, dirty and angry for being disturbed.
"Hey, hey," said Red. "It's alright. Just a wild Pokémon, that's all. Don't be spooked, you've dealt with them in the past."
The creature looked up at Crystal with soft eyes, and subtle whimpering. "What Pokémon is this?"
"It's an Eevee," stated Red.
Crystal blinked, looking at the Pokémon which growled at her. Then, bubbles of laughter rose from her stomach. The Eevee, though trying to be scary, really only kept itself at a distance until it's stomach grumbled. At which point, it laid down and huffed, as if giving up trying to be mad.
Nuria looked up at Crystal. "Cyn...?"
"He's hungry, girl," Red responded, when Crystal's stomach growled. "And apparently your trainer is too."
She rolled her eyes. "It's because you and your training are so exhausting, Red. So, what do you say crew, can we go eat?"
To this suggestion the Eevee bounded in front of in front of Crystal and circle her legs. "Vee!"
There was no translation needed there. "What? And you thought you weren't coming along too? Come on, let's get you fed."