Answers!

Here I am in Sprout Tower. The center pillar rocks slowly back and forth. It is a design flaw that will cause the entire place to collapse some day; I'm sure of it.

Monks are the only opponent to speak of in here...

Well now wait a second, these monks all have several Bellsprouts. Why couldn't that kid from back in town have just gone here and traded with one of these guys?

Why he even wants one so terribly is something of a mystery to me. They're certainly not hard to kill.

I'm pretty sure Cairo slept through this entire fight.

The temperature keeps dropping the higher up I climb.

It's due to these ghosts, no doubt - just being within 10 feet of one chills my breath in the air.

They don't do anything to bother me besides sticking their tongues out though, so I have no trouble breezing through the place.

I must be at the top, considering the lack of more ladders. There's another monk flanked by two statues at the end of this hallway, but... who else is there?

I know I recognize those beautiful red locks.

He turns around, and my suspicions are confirmed. It is my Knabbs.

Oh, Knabbs. How you intrigue me so. Your complete disrespect towards every molecule of my being just interests me more.

He turns away from me and throws some kind of rope up in the air.

And somehow, he is gone.

What was it he was saying to me? Something about how I'm weak because I care for my Pokémon? Whatever you say, Knabbs. You may be the prettiest human specimen I've come across, but I still know I'm better than you. Mark my words, Knabbs.

You will learn to see me as I see you.

The monk asks me what's wrong. Apparently I've been standing in one spot and glaring at where Knabbs was for 10 minutes now. I punish him for his insolence.

Clearly, he is no real foe to me.

He is delighted at my strength and command over my team. He hands me some sort of CD - I wasn't aware old monks had a thing for music. But apparently, it's an instructional disc used to teach my Pokémon the move "Flash". He explains that I can't use the attack outside of battles until I get the city's gym badge. Why not? Is there some sort of anti-piracy method installed in the instruction? It makes no sense to me, but I thank him anyway.

And thus with the Sprout Tower conquered, I set my sights on the Gym.

The inside is shaped in a giant S-pattern. Were it my Gym, that'd be an F.

Actually, wasn't the leader's name Falkner? It should be an F anyway...

Falkner's associates are as cocky as every other Trainer I've had to deal with. But they are also just as pathetic. I defeat both of them quickly and approach Falkner. He is intimidating, if a bit short.

After his monologue describing all of the best ways to defeat bird Pokémon (really counter-productive if you ask me), we fight.

He is a disappointment. His first Pokémon is a Pidgey no stronger than those I just faced at the hands of his apprentices.

This is seriously his strongest Pokémon.

I do not understand why or how he came to be a Gym leader. Are the rest of Violet City's folk really so weak compared to him? It is concerning.

Reluctantly, he gives me the Zephyr Badge. It is silver and shaped like a pair of wings extending skywards. Falkner explains that it will earn more respect from not only Trainers, but also my Pokémon.

Yes, because you were such a terrifying opponent... Laughable.

Arrg. Just when I think I'm alone, Professor Elm has something else to whine at me about. Really though, it's interesting this time. I'm to be given back the egg that I fetched for him in the first place, because he has this idea that it won't hatch without my radiant wondrousness.

I find his assistant in the Pokémon Center. He carefully hands me the egg. It is warmer than I remember it.

What will hatch from this? Only time will tell. Maybe it will be some sort of insanely-powerful and never-before-seen creature capable of altering the very fabric of the universe itself.

In fact, it definitely is. I have my heart set on that.

NEXT TIME: Frez finds a cave place and does some other things! Jumping Jehoshaphat!