Our training had led us to a small house just outside of the forest. A kind woman let us rest there, and I enjoyed some good cooking for the first time since I left home. After taking a few tips on how to prepare berries and fish to be more palatable to humans, I rested there for a time.

When I woke, I saw that my face was on the television. It's very hard to describe the feeling you get when someone starts spouting out how exemplary you are, and how powerful a trainer you happen to be, over national television. I felt unworthy, actually, at the excitable trainer in the house with the woman. He called me a celebrity, but really, I was just happy to see Roy and Sarah in their original states, my Luxio's past probably dragged up from the man who happened to be filming my battle against Team Galactic. I know it hasn't been long since their evolution, but it was still nostalgic, exemplifying how quickly Pokemon change, adapt, and grow to their conditions.

But does that mean I'm pushing them too hard? I haven't even aquired my second gym badge yet, and already my trio can easily take down all of the trainers on this road. They don't need training so much as instructing, and this makes me feel a bit left out.

Part of me wishes I would have somehow captured that Buizel. At least then I'd have someone else to train while my private army breaks through anything in our path. I feel powerful beside them, yes, but a trainer should feel powerful standing with their Pokemon, not next to them like an ornament with an awesome hat.

I've noticed that they are predicting my commands just a second before I say them. I thought this would be a good sign of myself growing as a trainer and the bond between us becoming stronger, but I know that can't be right. Me and my Pokemon are friends, but in battle, I can feel this tension growing, like they know what they should be doing and don't even need my guidance anymore. If a Pokemon grows too fast for their trainer, then its only a matter of time before that Pokemon starts to disobey their master. I can't imagine any of them going against my orders on purpose... but maybe, if they believe that they can see another way of winning, a way that I have already discovered would lead only to defeat, and they take action themselves instead of listening to my command... I can't help but be reminded of Galactic's Mars. If there was one error in that battle, one mistake, one miscommunication, it would have ended much worse. I can't let that happen.

I need to show them that I'm still a strong leader, and that, though I am their ally, they need to respect me as their master.

But I've waited long enough to enter these woods. Standing at the open maw of the forest. Eterna lay just beyond these trees, and through them, I shall find the next gym.

Within those walls, I hope to gain respect. I just hope it doesn't cost the friendship of the three at my side.