During the next week Gardevoir noticed that Paul seemed to become increasingly worried about something. One day after breakfast she asked, "What are you worried about?"

Paul blinked a couple of times. "Huh?"

Gardevoir sighed. "Don't 'huh' me. You're worried about something. Spit it out."

Paul grinned in spite of himself. "Guess there's no fooling you. I'm just wondering how worried my mom is, since I haven't written to her in months."

"She's probably getting a little frantic. You might want to write soon."

Paul nodded. "The question is how. I suppose we could break into someone's house and use their email again."

Gardevoir frowned. "Let's not. Last time nearly gave me a heart attack."

"OK, then. To the nearest town!"

The nearest human settlement happened to be a large city, as they found out a few days later. Gardevoir eyed it apprehensively, but Paul, after crossing the city limits without trouble, seemed perfectly at ease.

"We should find somewhere to wait until night. The streets shouldn't be nearly so crowded then." he said. They found a narrow, relatively clean alley, sat down, and waited. The streets did become less crowded after dark, except near various movie theaters and restaurants.

"Help me find a working pen." Paul said as they began to roam the more deserted parts of town. The first three pens they found didn't work. The fourth, however, wrote well on the scrap of paper Paul had brought for that purpose. An hour-and-a-half of scrounging around yielded enough loose change to buy a stamped envelope. Various fliers gathered from trash cans provided paper.

"Isn't your mom going to be suspicious when she finds that it's all written on the back of advertisements?" Gardevoir asked as they headed towards their hiding place at the edge of town.

"Nah, she should be used to it by now." Paul answered, "I usually just tell her I couldn't find anything better."

Gardevoir wisely kept any remarks to herself. The only activity going on at this late hour seemed to be a dance. Slow music drifted out into the night air as they stopped to listen. Paul set his stuff on the ground and bowed to Gardevoir.

"May I have this dance?"

Gardevoir restrained a a giggle and curtsied instead. "You may."

After a few false starts they were able to glide around in a simple waltz. Each tried their best to restrain their laughs as well as avoid stepping on the others toes. The song ended, and Paul bowed.

"You are an excellent dancer."

"As are you." Gardevoir couldn't help but grin. "Aren't you glad your mom made you take those dance lessons?"

Paul snorted. "I still would've rather had a root canal."

Another slow song began playing. Paul grinned.

"One more dance, then off to bed?"

Gardevoir laughed. "I'd love to."

They began dancing again. Deep in the shadows, the watcher smiled. They were learning. Slowly, but they were both learning.

The next day Paul, after writing his letter and having Gardevoir proofread it, wrote '1 stamped envelope' on a scrap of paper, gathered the amount of change needed, and headed to the post office. He received quite a few strange looks, but no objections. When he placed the money and note on the counter, someone asked, "Is that legal?"

The cashier read the note and shrugged. "As long as it has the money."

Paul nodded thanks as he took the envelope and hurried back to Gardevoir as fast as he could without attracting much attention.

"How many weird looks did you get?" she asked.

"At least twenty-five." Paul replied as he stuck the letter in the envelope and sealed it, "I guess they're not used to seeing a Gallade ask for an envelope."

"Well, most Gallade don't have anyone to write to."

"Yeah, I guess you have a point."

They waited for a while, then casually strolled by the post office. Paul dropped the letter into the box as they went past. Their mission accomplished, they headed for the outskirts of the city. They went into a seemingly deserted alleyway and were about halfway through when a noise made them turn. The way they came was blocked off by Meowth and Glameow. They turned to find the way forward blocked in a similar manner. In front of the group was a Persian who was obviously the leader.

"This is our territory." he growled.

"We were just leaving." Gardevoir said, keeping the nervousness out of her voice. The Persian looked amused.

"Well look what we have here." he purred, "On a date? How cute."

"Bodyguard, not date. Get it right." Paul gritted as he searched vainly for a way out. There wouldn't be a problem if it were just him, but he had to make sure Gardevoir got out, too.

"Bodyguard, huh? Let's see how well you guard."

Paul felt a small piece of gravel underneath his foot. He kicked it with all his might. The Persian yowled as it hit him in the eye.

"Time we weren't here." Paul muttered as he picked up Gardevoir and leaped over the Persian and his crew. He didn't pause as he set Gardevoir down. They ran as fast as they could, but the sound of their pursuers remained constant. The alley ended and they burst out into a busy sidewalk. Dodging between people and bicycles, Paul and Gardevoir made for the outskirts of the city.

"I'd just as soon avoid any large cities from now on." Paul grunted as a woman took a swipe at him with her handbag.

"Same." Gardevoir panted. After several narrow scrapes involving either the Persian gang or traffic, they made it out of the city and to the safety of the sparse trees. Wearily they sat underneath a large tree.

"I don't care what mom will think, I'm not going through that again."

"I don't blame you." Gardevoir said, "Especially when everyone thinks we have some sort of romantic interest in each other."

"Eww, gross." Paul made a face, "That would be just wrong."

"I'm sticking with the 'just friends' idea, myself." Gardevoir agreed.

"Sounds good."

Once they had regained their breath they started walking until sunset.

"I wonder where we are?" Paul said as they lay down.

"I saw a sign that said 'Crystal City,' if that helps." Gardevoir yawned.

"Crystal City?" Paul whistled, "We're a long ways from home." he became very quiet.

"Feeling homesick?" Gardevoir asked after a moment.

"Yeah. A little." To Gardevoir it sounded like it was more than a little.

"We'll get back home. Don't worry."

Paul was quiet a moment. "Thanks. I'm feeling a little better now."

"You're welcome." Gardevoir yawned again and went to sleep.

Paul stared at the stars through the leafy canopy. It reminded him of when he was little, and Gardevoir was still a Ralts. They used to sleep under the trees in his backyard almost every night during the summer. In fact, during the summer they practically lived outside, coming inside only for the occasional meal, supplies, and bad weather. How long would it be until he saw that backyard again? He hadn't been keeping very good track of the days, but he thought it had been close to a year. Paul glanced at Gardevoir, curled up on the ground. At least she was still there. And she considered him a friend. Paul liked that for some reason. Who else could honestly say that they were best friends with their Pokémon? Gardevoir didn't care if he looked like a human or a Gallade. Paul smiled at this as he closed his eyes.