Journey Towards Greatness

Marina was looked at Julian as if she had seen a ghost.

Marina "Mr. Julian are you perhaps the former champion of Kanto?" ​​

Marina hesitated while asking, she is a big fan of Lance and she had seen every one of his battle which was live or broadcasted, and there was only one person that defeated Lance and that is Julian.

Jimmy "Former Champion? Marina, what are you saying?"

Julian "Oh you recognized me, people from Hoenn don't know much about me, except few"

Marina's eyes sparkled as soon as her doubt was confirmed.

Marina "How can I not recognize you, you are very famous all over Jhoto as well, I also feed my pokemons the special recipe that you introduced in the market, my pokemons have improved greatly"

Jimmy "Wait, you are telling me that I just had a battle with a champion, how is that even fair"

Marina "Shut up Jimmy, can't you see Mr. Julian didn't even use his old pokemons, look at them they are still young"

Marina said while pointing at Julian's pokemon who are training.

Julian "You still have a lot to learn Jimmy, I know you will be a great trainer in future"

Jimmy stayed silent.

Jimmy "Mr. Julian when I become stronger I want a rematch"

Julian looked at Jimmy and smirked.

Julian 'This kid is too confident, well it might be a good thing'

Julian "Ok, you got your rematch but I hope you don't disappoint me next time"

Jimmy just stared at Julian.

Marina, on the other hand, was going through her backpack and took out a notebook.

Marina "Mr. Julian can I have an autograph, also a photo as well"

Julian "Sure"

Marina skipped happily and shoved a camera on Jimmy's hand and stood next to Julian.

Marina "Hurry up what are you doing, take a picture"

Jimmy "Okay, don't shout"

Jimmy took the picture and soon the photo was out, Marina took the photo and looked at it carefully.

Marina "Great, Mr. Julian please sign on it"

Julian took and marker and signed the photo and gave it back to Marina.

Marina "Thank you so much"

Marina took the picture and safely kept it inside her backpack, seeing Marina act like this Jimmy got jealous.

Jimmy "One day I will become as strong at the champions and defeat both Lance and Julian"

Jimmy murmured silently, of course, Julian clearly heard him but didn't say anything.

The funniest part about Jimmy and Marina's relationship was both had a crush on each other but both of them were too scared to express it.

Julian couldn't help but laugh inside seeing this, suddenly his Pidgeot flew down from the sky and landed in front of him.

Julian "Is the food ready?"

Pidgeot nodded his head as he nuzzled against Julian's chest.

Marina saw Pidgeot and was in awe.

Marina "Is this your Pidgeot Mr. Julian?"

Julian "Yes"

Marina "Wow can I touch him"

Julian "Sure"

Marina carefully walked towards Pidgeot and reached her hand up to touch Pidgeot.

Marina "I can't believe I am touching a Champion level pokemon, his feather is so smooth to touch"

Jimmy was also looking at Pidgeot in awe, he had never seen such a majestic Pidgeot.

Jimmy 'So this is what a champion level Pokemon looks like'

Jimmy also noticed that Pidgeot had a ring attached to his leg and on that ring was a weird looking marble.

Jimmy "Mr. Julian what is that?"

Jimmy pointed towards the Mega Stone on Pidgeot's feet, Julian looked at the Mega stone and them at Jimmy.

Julian "Oh that, its a special item, you might learn about it in the future, you might even be lucky enough to find one for your pokemons"

Jimmy "What does it do?"

Julian "You can say, it raises your pokemon's power when activated"

Jimmy "It raises a pokemon's power"

Jimmy has never heard of such a thing before.

Julian "How about you guys join us for some lunch, we have plenty"

Marina "That sounds awesome"

Julian sent away Pidgeot back and walked towards the campsite as his pokemons, Jimmy and Marina followed him.

Once they reached campsite Marina was once again fascinated as she was able to see all of Julian's pokemon except Gyarados as he is underwater in the river nearby.

Marina "Wow so many champion level pokemon, this is just like a dream"

Daisy saw two new faces and was surprised.

Daisy "Who are they?"

Julian "They are just some trainers I met, I thought of inviting them for lunch"

Daisy "Ok that's great, we have extra to spare"

Marina "Hello my name is Marina and this is Jimmy, nice to meet you"

Daisy "Nice to meet you too, come join us the food is ready"

Jimmy and Marina joined them to lunch, Marina got attached to Daisy when she found out she is a pokemon groomer, Marina asked Daisy to groom her pokemons, she introduced her Croconaw and other pokemons and asked Daisy on how to groom them properly.

Marina is currently a pokemon coordinator and already won a Grand Festival, Jimmy had participated in the previous year Jhoto league and went till the semifinals, he plans to participate in the next Jhoto league again, he is now in Hoenn traveling and training.

Julian "You are not going to participate in the league?"

Jimmy "No, I want to win my first league in Jhoto itself, then I will conquer the others"

Julian just looked at him and said nothing, even though Jimmy was much like Ash he had a different way of viewing things.

Julian didn't mind any of these ideologies, on one hand, Ash trained new pokemons in every region which allowed him to develop as a trainer more, Jimmy, on the other hand, tried to concentrate on increasing his current team's power which made his a strong trainer, but in the long way road, Ash would still come out on top because of all the experience he gained training new pokemons everywhere he went, he would be a more versatile trainer than Jimmy in the future.

After finishing their lunch Jimmy and Marina decided to leave as they needed to go to Lilycove city.

Biding farewell they left, Julian decided to train his pokemon the whole day as tomorrow he will be in Fortree city.