It was getting late. The world was almost a completely different place at night, where hidden dangers lurked around every corner. Even a small Rattata or the distant call of a Hoothoot seemed scary when you could barely see in front of your face. Every now and then Serafine, who walked beside him since he has never really thought to contain her in a Pokeball, exhaled a small puff of flame so they could get their bearings. Even then it was not enough to scare anything away â€“there were still eyes lurking everywhere. Flash would come in handy but he didnâ€™t have the correct tools to teach it to Raâ€™al, the little Chikorita that showed that Onix who was boss since Serafine alone could not accomplish defeating a rock type due to her type disadvantage.<br/><br/>When the frustration of being completely lost finally began to sink in a little too far, â€œWhy the hell did I refuse to take a map again?â€ Samuel asked himself as he tried to figure out how the hell to get to Mt Moon, to Cerulean City from signs and such. He had been walking for what felt like hours trying to find his way around; at one point he could have sworn he was going in one huge circle. Everything was beginning to look the sameâ€¦ just like the forest, despite this being more of a mountain path. The other trainers around were none too helpful in giving him directions either, seemingly minding to their own affairs and nothing more, but from a few experiences Samuel knew better than to completely rely on them. They only wanted to battle and being helpful was probably somewhere near the bottom of their agenda.<br/><br/>Somewhere along the line, Serafine became tired of walking and Sammy carried her. She was a little too big to be carried, but she was warm, that brought comfort. The night was chilly so he didnâ€™t mind, eventually she felt asleep with her head on his shoulder.<br/><br/>He walked a little further until a sort of commotion caught his attention, Serafineâ€™s as well. She snapped her head around and growled quietly, narrowing her eyes as her large, fox-like ears fell into an alert position. There was a strong smell thathe recognized â€“fire. There was a campfire nearby, or the remains of one. That meant there were other people still out and about as well. However, from the sounds of things there was some kind of battle going on or something. Maybe a gathering of some kind? One huge battle? He wasnâ€™t sure if he wanted to be a part of it, but maybe they could give him directions. Not asking has gotten him nowhere, and quite frankly he wasnâ€™t fond of the thought of setting up camp, especially because he didnâ€™t exactly have the right equipment and such to do so.<br/><br/>Though Serafineâ€™s body language rejected him heading towards the commotion, Sammy decided to check it out anyway.<br/><br/>By the time he had arrived at the scene the group and their Pokemon appeared to have calmed down a bit. The group was smaller than he had thought it would be, probably about four or five people. He heard some movements a distance away so maybe there were more? They were all trainers, naturally. And they have all gotten their Boulderbadge. What a relief it was to see that they had different Pokemon other than the native wilds; one of them even had a Sneasel, which he envied. Heâ€™s always wanted a Weavile.<br/><br/>â€œI hate to interrupt,â€ he spoke up as casually as he could, trying not to let his frustration and curiosity ring in his voice, â€œbut could someone point me in the direction of the nearest PokeCenter?â€