With the chants of the crowd, and the shiny metal badge in his hand, Davos collected Jared by slinging him over his shoulder and left the gym.

Once outside, Davos began appreciating the sky in a good mood. "Time to call my ride!"

He then returned Flareon to his Pokeball and released the long-necked Fearow.

With only three and a half meters in height, and appearing to weigh under a hundred pounds, Jared wondered how the red-crowned bird was going to carry them.

Pulling what appeared to be a leather harness out of his bag, Davos put it on himself, then grabbed Jared before bending down so his back was angled to the sky, "Alright Fearow, use fly, we're headed home!"

The large bird hopped on Davos' back and gripped the straps.

Suddenly the wind seemed to whip up, and a veil of air formed out of nowhere.

Glowing in white, Fearow spread his wings out, and with one flap, they shot up in the air.

Jared couldn't help but shout. He felt as if he was on a roller coaster.

When Jared looked below, he could see that the ground was already getting far away, while the pocket that surrounded them hugged closely. This pocket of air kept the wind at bay, as they flew at insane speeds.

"Boy, we are now over Viridian forest, wheres is your pokemon at, you should be able to feel him."

Opening his eyes, Jared realized that they were hovering high above a maze of trees. Fearful of the Fearow, small pidgeys and spearows could be seen abandoning the sky and escaping downwards, while in the distance he could see the city they had come from.

"Uhm... just a sec," Focusing for a moment, Jared pointed at a spot in the distance, "He's there I think?"

"Alright Fearow, you caught that right? take us down!"

With a woosh, the two men were back on solid ground.

Seeing a large shadow above, a small keen-eyed bird hid further in his leafy hiding place.

"Pidgey, It's me, are you here?"

Upon hearing the voice, the pokemon stuck its head out, and warily eyed the surroundings before tilting his small head in the direction of the sound.

Seeing his trainer, the bird immediately left the tree and landed on Jared's outstretched arm.

"piddggyee pidg?"

"Yep, it's good to see you too, and it's all settled, we are home free!"

Crossing his arms in displeasure, Davos laughed.

"Home free? so NOW you trust me? "

Jared shrugged. While the man had offered to hold pidgey in a Pokeball, he didn't like the idea of Davos keeping his pokemon.

"Sorry about that, I'll take that Pokeball now though."

"Whatever, you've done me a big favor."

Handing a Pokeball over, Davos asked, "Are we sticking to the plan, do you still want to be dropped off in Gardenia town?"

"I think your idea was good, I will stick to it"

"Let's get going then."

"Wait, Davos, I know you don't accept students, but do you mind if I asked you a few questions anyway?"

"Let's get back in the air first. We can't linger here long."

.

Just below the clouds, Jared spoke in the air bubble,

"About what you said about Pidgey before. What does 'change' mean?"

"That? Change is one of the four great bottlenecks, didn't you learn this from your parents?"

"Actually, I know pretty much nothing"

Davos raised his voice in disbelief, "Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Alright, for helping me out, I'll tell you a few things then."

"Where to start, where to start..."

"Before talking about 'change,' I need to tell you something else or you won't understand. A pokemon's combat ability can be broken into four levels: novice, intermediate, advanced, and elite."

Davos grinned, revealing his teeth, but Jared couldn't see that, because he was danging high above the ground, "Of course, elite is just a name, if you were to put the average elite pokemon up against the elite four, they would stand no chance."

"How can you know if a pokemon is a novice or an expert?"

"Simple, just remember this, everything comes down to elemental purity."

Jared mouthed the two words, committing them to memory.

"To a real trainer, the four tiers go by another name. Form, Control, Change, and Flow. 'Beginner', or rather, 'Form' is the weakest level of elemental purity. A pokemon that has not mastered 'form,' is using a hundred points of effort, but only achieving fifty points of power. Impure attacks also contain murky colors"

Now that Jared thought about it, in the pidgey vs rattata battle he once saw, the Pidgeys gust was a different shade of gray than his own Pidgey. At the time, he didn't mind it, but now he wanted to know more about it.

"Then which color is the wind element? White or grey?"

"Pure white."

Jared nodded in understanding, 'So the less gray, the better.'

The buff man continued, while his Fearow continued to slice through the air, "When a pokemon gathers elemental energy, it is easy to tell whether or not they are still in the forming stage. Even a Charizard could, in theory, be considered a beginner, regardless of their ability to defeat an elite stage pokemon."

Jared was now hanging on his every word as he tried his best to remember everything.

"Fire is pure red, water is pure blue. It is very simple the tell the difference once you know the trick."

"How do I train pidgey then?"

Davos shrugged his massive shoulders, almost dropping Jared. Almost.

"It's not something that can be taught exactly, it's more of a feeling. For rock pokemon, the easiest training method is to pound boulders rich in rock energy. Of course, this process is sped up and amplified when their trainer is nearby. I'm Sure Pewter Gym has many methods, but good luck prying that knowledge out of them now. "

"Wait, pound boulders?

"That's right. By fighting a boulder, a rock pokemon can get the feel of pure rock energy. Once that feeling is engraved in their body, they will naturally break through the 'beginner', or rather, 'form' stage. Pewter Gym is the holy land for rock-type pokemon, and it's no coincidence. Pewter Gym sits where the rock element is the highest. Not only that, but since Pewter gym sits at the center, all other elements weaken the further into Pewter City you travel.

"So I should have Pidgey fly on a windy day to train?"

"Hahaha, no. Most Pokemon don't need to go that far in the beginner stage, your pokemon just needs to practice attacking where the wind can be strongly felt, or battle other trainers.

Davos then frowned as if he encountered an issue. "This may be a problem for you actually... "

.

Every year the caravans would arrive. They would stay for two weeks around the old ruins of Gardenia arena and hold a tournament festival.

The Gardenia clan's fall is a cautionary tale.

Every city deals with overpopulated pokemon species. They rely on scouts, and rangers to constantly patrol and identify any latent dangers. Through a series of unfortunate events, an unchecked herd of scyther fifty miles from town had bred to the point they could no longer find food in their direct vicinity. In normal situations, the hunt for resources would cause the scyther to fight among themselves, lessening their population, but before this could happen, a scyther evolved into a scissor. This scissor then happened to find Gardenia town. Leading an army of scyther to Gardenia town, they finally found food. A lot of food.

By the time the Elite Four cleared them out, the Gardenia clans were no more.

However, in recent years, the town had been making a comeback, thanks in part to the caravans.

People and mules need food and water, and the small town of five hundred residents was more than happy to provide it. In fact, their whole economy had been built around profiting on these caravan visits.

To the south of the arena ruin was a river. three Tauros and two Ponyta pulled the five wagons while pokemon of all types protected the flanks as they moved.

A scar-ridden middle-aged man was impatient as he spurred on his little group, "Let's go, let's go, or we will lose the best placings!"

Nobody took it seriously as everyone laughed. The arena ruins had already been bustling with human life for over two days. They were already the last to arrive, so how would rushing change things?

A man in his twenties walked alongside the scarred man, "Samuel, I'm thinkin, i'm thinking I'm going to finally leave."

Samuel sighed, "We will talk about this after the festival, I still need your strength."

.

Five miles from the town, Jared and Davos had touched earth.

Davos then gave his farewell, after handing Jared a generic poke device, "Good luck kid, and that device has got half the amount I would have lost. In a hick town like Gardenia, you'll practically be a tycoon."

"Davos, I want to ask you. Did you write it?"

The large man responded with a question, "You mean the letter? And how would knowing that change anything?"

Sighing, Davos patted Jared's shoulder.

"You have talent, whatever you do from now on, don't be ordinary."

Watching Davos get flown away, Jared sighed.

"He still didn't answer the question..."

Jared then released Pidgey from his newly acquired Pokeball.

The bird looked around in shock to find his trainer alone.

"Is it nice in there?"

"piiddgeeyyyy"

"It's like you're half asleep?"

"pii"

"As long as you don't mind it, then that's fine."

"Now then... let's do our best to get past the rangers. Davos said he couldn't spot any from above, but they could be hidden somewhere."