After Ran’s loss to Eugina, their small group’s time at the Lighthouse comes to an end in underwhelming fashion. Ran still has Caesar left of course, but without an opponent for him to face, he’s not particularly interested in waiting around for who knows how long.

  Doro for her part does actually beat her opponent with Strong, her weakened Hitmonlee coming out on top in a hard-fought battle, but it leaves her team in no state to continue on towards the next floor. As for Josie, she’s got no fresh team members left either and, though Soot the Houndoom could probably still go, she opts against continuing on to the next floor on her own. So, instead, their group abandons the lighthouse for now, figuring that they could easily return in the many days they’ve got left before their scheduled matches against Jasmine.

  It isn’t quite the outcome Ran was hoping for, but considering that his matches were against trainers of roughly similar strength to him, winning three and losing one is ultimately a result he can live with. Unfortunately, due to their departure, Caesar ends up as the only pokémon across all three of their teams who didn’t get a match in, but that’s something Ran easily makes up to him later in the day, when all of his other team members are recovering at the pokécenter, giving the trainer and his starter some undisturbed one-on-one training time, as they continue to work on getting Caesar to learn Dig.

  With how slow their progress continues to be, Ran can only conclude that he really should’ve waited for a TM, but at this point he’s too invested to back down. If he were more detached from the situation, Ran might consider the idea that he’s stumbling into a sunk cost fallacy, but Caesar is undeniably making some progress every day. It’s just far slower and far more incremental than they’re used to.

  Still, two days after their first run at the informal Lighthouse Gauntlet, Ran and his team are once more having a light morning training session to keep working on Bullet Punch for Croagunk, restraint for Golbat and Dig for the rest of the team. However, roughly halfway through the hour, Ran is distracted by the buzzing of his pokégear. A brief look is enough to see Grady’s name pop up, giving Ran a very good idea of just what message the younger trainer’s text contains.

  His suspicion proves correct, as Grady announces his impending arrival in Olivine, enthusiastically inquiring about Ran’s exact location. Looking forward to seeing his friend (and fan) again, Ran easily texts Grady to let him know which pokécenter Doro and he are staying at, before putting the younger trainer out of his mind once more, redirecting his focus back to his team’s training session. Elsewhere on the beach, Doro and Josie are putting in major sessions of their own, with Josie’s team in particular continuing to show off the leaps and bounds she’s improved by during their separation.

  He’s actually curious just how he compares to Josie, nowadays, but with her not having given any indication that she’s interested in another match, Ran hasn’t dared to raise the subject yet. Though thoughts of Josie, combined with Grady’s texts, do raise another question which he’s more confident about asking. He gives his team some further instructions and finally frees Golbat from his direct attention, before wandering in Josie’s direction.

  “Josie!” He calls, drawing her attention away from Lady the Vulpix and Soot the Houndoom, whom she’s working with. It’s a pairing that makes sense to Ran’s mind, with Soot’s immunity to psychic-type energy providing a safe target for Lady to figure out Extrasensory.

  “What’s up?” Josie asks, his friend briefly instructing her pokémon to continue working, before taking a few steps in Ran’s direction.

  “You came to Olivine via Ecruteak, right? Grady just texted me to let me know he’ll be arriving here, later today. I just realized that the two of you must have overlapped for at least part of your stay in Ecruteak, so I was wondering why you haven’t mentioned him?” Ran asks directly, only to be surprised when Josie’s eyebrow noticeably twitches.

  “You’ve kept in regular touch with Grady?” She asks slowly, before letting out a sigh and seemingly regathering herself, “Actually, never mind, not important. I never ran into him in Ecruteak. I like him well enough, but we didn’t keep in touch after Goldenrod, so I didn't actually realize he was there at the same time as me.”

  That’s easy enough to understand, though it does raise another worry, which Ran voices, “You don’t dislike him, right? I already agreed to meet up with him once we were both in Olivine, but if you don’t like him, I’ll make sure to meet him without involving you.”

  “Please, the kid’s alright,” Josie waves him off, “A bit hyper, but I like him well enough. Just didn’t keep in touch with him, don’t look into it as anything more than that. If anything, if he’s going to be around, I may have to see about getting my win back!”

  Ran’s next words slip out before he can stop himself, “Oh so you do want a rematch with him?”

  “Oh? Is that jealousy I hear?” Josie teases him with a grin, before growing more serious when she catches sight of Ran’s unamused expression, “Lighten up Ran, I just figured that I won’t be seeing the kid too often. You, however, I want to travel with for most of the circuit if we can make that work, so there’s no real rush for me to get that win back. Besides, I don’t want to give away some of my tricks before I’m really confident that I’ll actually win our rematch.”

  Josie’s words make sense, lifting Ran’s mood and presenting a very obvious opportunity for a rebuttal, which he gladly takes, “Oh, so we’re not rematching until I’m retired, then. Alright, good to know.”

  “Watch it you,” Josie jokes threateningly, wagging a finger in his direction, before waving him off and returning her attention to her own training, “Go and bug Doro if you’re too lazy to train properly, me and mine are working here.”

  Ran leaves it at that, returning to his own team and finishing up their training, before spending the rest of the day once more exploring Olivine City. The main highlight of the day’s excursion proves to be a music store, which has instruments fit for use by pokémon. Not all kinds of instruments for all kinds of pokémon of course, but there are a few instruments that work for Ran’s team, and it's these he eagerly rents for an hour, to let his team play with.

  Caesar gets some large maracas which have been modified to slide over his tail, rather than having a traditional grip. He’s obviously delighted by the temporary ability to rattle once more, like he used to be capable of when he was an Ekans. That the rattling sound itself is altogether more musical and less threatening than it used to be doesn’t seem to be enough to sour his mood in the least.

  Aria gets to have fun with an enormous harp, but rather than stand upright, it lays on its side, allowing her to run across its strings, producing sounds with every enthusiastic step she takes. Her attempts to combine the twanging of the chords with her typical chittering song are… discordant to say the least, but she seems extremely pleased with the end result, so Ran simply weathers her efforts stoically, making sure to raise an approving thumbs up in her direction whenever she looks his way.

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  Golbat actually partakes in the noise, to Ran’s pleasant surprise, as he lays claim to some very large wind chimes, which he shows some surprising gentleness with. If anything, what sounds he does produce are by far the most restrained of the evolved members of the team.

  Skorupi is actually the only one who doesn’t want to play, preferring to cling to Ran and listen to the noise the others produce from his trainer’s back. Not seeing any reason to force Skorupi into playing if he doesn’t feel like it, Ran is content to allow the smallest member of the team his perch for the hour. The only real demand he makes for Skorupi comes after a particularly beseeching look from Aria, as he nudges Skorupi into clicking his tail claws together in an approximation of applause, to Aria’s evident delight.

  Finally, there’s Croagunk. With his cheek pouches, peculiar vocal habits and general tendencies to be a lot more reliant on sound in his communication, rather than the non-verbal cues some of Ran’s other team members rely on, he seems made for a trumpet or some other wind instrument. But Croagunk clearly feels differently, gravitating towards a set of drums with stars in his eyes.

  Generally relaxed to the point of laziness when not sparring or training, Ran expects a slow, relaxed beat from Croagunk. Which is why he’s well and truly caught off-guard after the first five minutes. Because those first five minutes are slow and, Ran initially assumes, lazy. It’s only later, when looking back on the moment, that he realizes that Croagunk wasn’t being tentative or disinterested, but rather methodical.

  Because after five tranquil minutes in which he gently tests out each part of the drums a few times, Croagunk starts laying into the drums at an impressive rate. Crucially, unlike the rest of the team however, there’s an actual method to his madness, as Croagunk actually produces a consistent beat and a recurring rhythm. It’s enough to get all of the others to stop for a while, as they all congregate around Croagunk’s drums, Ran’s newest team member so devoted to his newfound entertainment that he doesn’t even notice their attention.

  For at least five full minutes, Croagunk lays into the drums with an unexpected passion that has Ran examining the price tag before the thought of actually trying to transport a drum set as a traveling trainer brings him back to reality. Still, when Croagunk finally draws to a halt, he’s met by cheers and applause from Ran and the rest of the team, to his evident surprise, as he falls off of his stool in shock, clearly having zoned all the way out whilst drumming.

  He’s quite bashful afterwards, but when the others eventually return to their own instruments, Croagunk’s newfound bashfulness isn’t enough to keep him from returning to his drums. Though he is a bit more restrained in his playing from that point on, to Ran’s open amusement.

  Ultimately, they move on. None of the other stores or stalls they visit that afternoon quite match the music store for entertainment, but the day still proves enjoyable enough. Especially when, upon returning to the pokécenter just before dinner, having agreed to meet up with Josie and Doro once more to go and get something to eat, Ran is pulled out of his own thoughts by an enthusiastic shout, “Ran!”

  Looking towards the source of the voice that’s calling him, Ran spots Grady jumping up from the seat he was clearly waiting in, the younger trainer clearly having been waiting for his arrival in the pokécenter’s lobby for some time already. Grady enthusiastically jogs over, Ran’s eyes dropping for a moment to the four pokéballs on the younger boy’s belt.

  “Grady,” Ran greets with a smile, “Good to see you. I don’t see any of your stuff, so I reckon you already got a room?”

  “I did, yeah. Not here though, this place didn’t have any rooms available. I’m at the one near the river instead!” Grady replies enthusiastically, oblivious to Ran’s pained wince on the younger trainer’s behalf.

  Having been in Olivine for a few days at this point, Ran actually knows which pokécenter the younger trainer is talking about and, though the river will probably be enjoyed by Chinchou, the center Grady got a room at is out of the way of everything of importance. The younger trainer is going to be spending a lot of time each morning and evening making his way from and back to his pokécenter. It’s something Ran would be more than a little annoyed by, but as he watches Grady vibrate in place, enthusiasm and energy almost visibly pouring off of the kid, he realizes that if anybody could do with some extra distance to cover every day, it’s probably Grady.

  “Alright, cool, I bet your Chinchou will appreciate that,” He replies kindly, focusing on positivity, “Have you eaten yet? I’m meeting up with Josie and Doro for dinner in a bit, so if you’d like, you could come with us.”

  “I haven’t yet, I’d like that!” Grady accepts enthusiastically, “Were you going to your room? Or were you going to hand your pokémon in? Or maybe you wanted to call someone? I’ll just wait here for you!”

  “Sounds good,” Ran simply accepts, not bothering to answer any of Grady’s overactive questions, already adapting to the boy’s hyperactive conversational style once more, “Just give me a few minutes. Josie should be headed this way as well, so if you see her come in, feel free to flag her down.”

  “Sure thing!” Grady promises, moving back to his chair before he turns his attention to the pokécenter’s entrance, watching the doors like a Fearow.

  Ran amusedly lets the boy be, heading to his room before returning just a few minutes later, shirt replaced and jacket - which he left behind earlier in the day when the sun was still high in the sky - firmly in place on his shoulders. Reaching the lobby, he notices that he’s missed the first meeting between Grady and Doro, as both Josie and Doro are standing with Grady, listening along as the sponsored Goldenrod native explains something in a suitably excited fashion.

  Wandering over, Ran greets the group, before they all head out for dinner. As they catch up, it’s Grady who dominates the conversation initially, as he briefs Josie on his (mis)adventures, providing Ran a bit more detail than he’d gotten through texts along the way and giving Doro a very quick and thorough picture of Grady’s conversational style and personality.

  There’s a few vital differences between this reunion with Grady and the earlier one with Josie though. For one, Ran and Grady kept in touch far better, which means that whilst Grady regales Josie and Doro with what he’s been up to, Ran has time to think. Which brings him to the second major difference between Grady and Josie. Unlike the blonde fire-type specialist, Ran has never directly battled Grady before. Which is why, when the conversation starts to turn in the direction of what Grady’s team looks like nowadays, Ran speaks up before either Josie or Doro can.

  “You know Grady, we should have a battle. That’s way more fun than just listening to descriptions, colorful as they are.” Ran offers enthusiastically, his words appearing to freeze Grady in place for a moment.

  “B-battle? You and me?” Grady asks with a slight stutter, as if not believing what he’s hearing. Before Ran can reassure him however, he’s already beaming, “Of course! I’d love to! Let’s do it! You want to go right now? There’s got to be an arena somewhere nearby right this is a big city I’m sure we could find a place with no trouble oh we should make sure to pay and then-”

  Grady starts to ramble in his enthusiasm, to Josie’s evident amusement. Before Ran can calm him down however, it’s Doro who calmly claps a hand on the younger trainer’s shoulder. It’s enough to shock Grady, shutting him up for a second, which is all Doro needs to speak up dryly, “After dinner, Grady. We finish eating first. Then, we can go to a field, I know a place that’s nearby enough.”

  “Oh… right… hehe, sorry.” Grady chuckles apologetically, seeming to shrink back into himself.

  Doro waves his words off however, clearly not bothered, though Grady doesn’t seem to realize as much.

  “Enthusiasm is good.” She states simply, clearly not seeing the need to add anything further. Ran knows Grady a bit better than Doro however, so, just to make sure, he does clarify his friend’s words.

  “She means you don’t have to apologize, Grady.” He offers gently, gratified to see Whitney’s sponsored trainer smile in relief at his words.

  “Indeed.” Doro states simply, not even looking up from her plate, as she sticks her fork into a piece of meat.

  “Right, right, I got that.” Grady tries to assure them ‘coolly’, expression and intonation not at all matching his words, to Josie’s ill-concealed amusement.

  She ruffles Grady’s hair warmly, the younger trainer squawking in dismay even as Ran lets out a beleaguered sigh. It’d been a hard enough battle to get Grady to take off his hat for dinner already. If Josie’s going to mess with his hair, it’s only going to be more of a struggle in the future.