As we're walking out of the Pokemon Center, Claire asks, "Is Sandwich Shack fine by you?"

I nod. "Sure. I'll eat anything."

We had idly chatted about the battle on the walk back to the Center. It had been nice, but I didn't learn anything particularly enlightening from the conversation. The most I got was the impression that Claire is rather well-informed when it comes to the particulars of Pokemon Training.

"Good to know - there's one a block or so that way." She points down the street and we begin moving, Guise following behind us once again. "So - I've told you a bit about myself. Where are you from? Your accent tells me that you're Unovan - am I right?"

Damn - this is a subject I need to be careful around. I can't give specifics, but dodging the question entirely would look suspicious. I suppose that if my accent sounds Unovan, it'd be best to play along.

"Yeah - you got it. I'm from down south - I didn't exactly leave my home town amicably though, so it's a bit of a touchy subject." There's a grain of truth in there, but that's the best I can do working off of the limited information I've got. When I set up my fake identity, I'll have to do some research on wherever I'm supposed to be from. I change the subject. "So, what's the story behind how you met Solosis?"

If she thinks the change of subject is odd, she doesn't comment. "Oh, him? We met a couple of days ago on Route Five. Floated right up to me and asked to be caught. The lazy bugger thought he'd be in for an easy ride - free food and protection."

My brows raise. "Really? That's rather… mundane. Was the battle we just had you trying to convince him otherwise?"

She shakes her head, a dry smile crossing her lips. "Before I caught him, I managed to convince him that he needed to earn his keep. The battle was to prove to him that practice is necessary if he wants to do well. I had the feeling that motivating him to join in on training sessions would have been difficult if he still thought that he could take all comers. How about you and your Vespiquen? Did someone give her to you, or did you trade for her?"

"Neither. I stumbled across her hive a couple of days ago as it was being destroyed by wild Heracross. After we drove them off, we stuck together. She didn't have enough of a hive left to go back to, and I needed a team." I take care not to mention that 'drove them off' meant stabbed through the eye with a knife.

She stops, mouth hung agape and eyes wide in surprise. What? Was it something I said?

"You're telling me that she's wild!? And that you've only had her on your team for a couple of days?"

"Yeah, that's about the short of it. Why?"

She sputters. "Why!? Just about every trainer gets a Pokemon that has been raised by humans as their first. Too many wild Pokemon, especially ones that have already evolved like Vespiquen, are way too unruly for complete novices to handle. You really are totally new to training, aren't you?"

I begin walking again. Claire follows, shaking herself out of her disbelief.

"My Pokemon and I have an understanding. She'll back me to the hilt. Is that so hard to believe?"

"If I didn't just see proof of it with my own eyes, yeah - it is." She sighs. "Look, Vespiquen are a dangerous species. Don't do something like that again. Please - you could get hurt."

I put on a smile. She's underestimating me, but I don't really have an issue with it - her concern is a little touching, really. "There were mitigating circumstances, but sure. I don't plan on it, anyway. So, how about your starter? I haven't seen it yet."

"Who, Jack? He's a Spheal, and was a gift from my Mother. He's the son of Mother's own Walrien and the Pokemon of one of Mother's colleagues. We've been together for a few years at this point." The names of the Pokemon mean nothing to me - I suppose that Spheal sort of sounds like seal, but that could just be a coincidence.

I notice that we've just arrived outside the restaurant. We head inside.

The place looks pretty much exactly like a restaurant from my own Earth. Booths with leather seats. Windows looking out onto the street. Wooden tables with salt and pepper shakers, menus and plastic cutlery placed on top. Tacky decor - in this case, themed around some strange Pokemon that I don't recognise. There's a counter with a waitress behind who is preparing a drink for another customer. Behind that, I can see parts of a kitchen.

We head over to a booth seat, Claire and I sit down. "So -" She's interrupted by a ringing - a phone call? Guise raises his wrist, checking the screen of the watch-phone that I had seen other trainers use earlier.

He shakes his head. "Sorry ladies, this is an important call. I won't be joining you for lunch. Don't worry about me - I'll just take this outside."

That's good thinking on his part - this way, he won't have to worry about trying to eat himself while maintaining a reasonable illusion, nor worry about accidentally being bumped by Claire or I in the confines of the booth. He leaves the restaurant, sitting down on one of the bollards that lined the footpath.

Claire turns to me. "Is he a businessman?"

I smile and nod. "Something like that." I grab a menu from the table. "What are you thinking?"

She picks up a menu of her own, and I begin perusing the options. I don't recognise much of it - I spot the names of some berries that Chitin had shown me, but that's about it. I could go for a beef and gravy sandwich about now - too bad that doesn't look like an option.

A pang of melancholy hits me. That probably won't ever be an option, if there aren't any cows in this dimension.

At the bottom, I notice a key; the standard stuff is there - gluten free option, and so on. Except, rather than vegetarian, there's an icon for 'contains lab-grown meat'. I look back through the options - of the twelve or so sandwiches offered, only two have meat on them.

Is eating meat rare in this world? That's… I don't know what to think of that. Why? Because of Pokemon, presumably - are they all as intelligent as Guise and Chitin? No, that can't be right - I saw fish Pokemon in the river: they can't be on the same level as two humanoids.

How about the 'lab-grown' part? I'd heard Earth Aleph was pursuing technology along those lines. I suppose that with everything I've seen about this dimension so far, the idea isn't too far fetched.

Would eating meat be a faux pas among trainers? It might.

But…

I really want a beef and gravy sandwich. If I can't have that, something similar will do.

Claire hums, reading through her own menu. "I'm partial to the classic Sitrus and Oran myself. You?"

I look at the two meat sandwich options - 'Spicy Emboar strips with Tamato sauce and Qualot slices' and, 'Roasted Bouffalant in Chilan sauce'. Spicy doesn't sound like what I'm looking for, so I'll try the other one.

"I'm thinking Roasted Bouffalant."

She raises an eyebrow. Before seeming to come to a realisation. "You weren't kidding when you said that you would eat anything, were you?" She shakes her head. "I've never eaten Pokemon meat, but I suppose that there isn't really any problems with the lab-grown stuff."

I put down my menu "Is it a taboo in Hoenn?"

She does the same, shaking her head "No - it's more of a thing that trainers just don't do. My family are all trainers, so I never really got a chance to try it myself. You know what… I think I'll have the same. It'll be good to try something new."

The waitress finishes serving the other customer, and walks over to our table. "What can I get you two?" She takes out a notepad and pen, waiting for our order.

Claire smiles, putting on a friendly expression. "Two Bouffalant Sandwiches, thanks."

The waitress gives us a surprised look - is it really that unusual for trainers to eat meat? But she doesn't say anything about it. "Can I get you any drinks with that?"

She nods "Yeah, I'll have a Chocolate Moo-moo-milkshake."

The waitress turns to me. A Chocolate shake sounds great to me. "I'll have the same, thanks."

The waitress thanks us, the leaves for the counter. I turn back to Clair. "So, what are your plans once you've got your Pokedex?"

"Well, I'll start looking at taking on the gym challenge. I haven't settled on an order yet, so I might just end up wandering. How about you? Planning on taking on the gyms too?"

I nod "It's definitely something I want to do at some point, but I won't be able to really make a start until I finish up my business in Castelia."

"Fair enough, I suppose. So - got any ideas for which Pokemon you want on your team? I'd jump at the chance for an Emboar, but they're pretty rare so I don't really see that happening."

The waitress returns, placing the two milkshakes in front of us. We each take a sip - it's good. A little different to the milkshakes from back home, but very tasty. "Not anything in particular - more bugs, I suppose. If I could control one, a Pinsir would be pretty good."

She cocks her head. "You planning on being a Bug specialist? There aren't too many of them around - especially compared to, say, Water Specialists."

Specialist? I suppose that must mean a trainer that only trains a particular sort of Pokemon. I shake my head, taking another sip from my drink. "Not really, but I might end up with a few more than usual." I've already got Guise, after-all. Restricting myself to a single subset of the Pokemon available to me seems foolish at best.

"Fair enough. Pinsir are a force to be reckoned with, if you can get their loyalty. If I recall correctly, they aren't really victim to the usual problem that most other Bug types have - poor long-term growth potential."

"What do you mean? I haven't heard anything like that before."

She takes a sip from her drink. "I forget that you don't have a trainer background like I do. I suppose that if you didn't grow up around trainers, these sort of things aren't that obvious." She pauses, composing her words. "Well, there isn't too much more to it - most Bug type Pokemon just don't have the capacity to reach the levels of power that other types do. A well trained Dragon will always outclass an equally well trained Bug in terms of raw ability, to give an example. Of course, that doesn't mean there isn't a place for Bugs on a balanced team - just that if you're looking for a powerhouse, you'd best look elsewhere."

I nod. I suppose that makes sense. I'm not particularly surprised to hear that there are Dragon Pokemon, either - compared to intelligent, bipedal, illusion-making wolves that's fairly mundane. "And there are exceptions to that? Like what?"

She hums, thinking. "Well, off the top of my head; Heracross, Scizor and Volcarona. There's probably more, but those are the ones that usually come to mind when someone says 'powerful Bug type'."

The waitress returns, laying the two plates in front of us. "Enjoy the meal, ladies. Would that be all?" Claire nods, thanking her. She leaves, and I look at my sandwich. The meat looks fairly similar to beef, I suppose. The sauce doesn't look like gravy though - it's white. Maybe it's similar to the white sauce from my own dimension? Overall, it looks appetizing, and smells even better.

I pick up my sandwich. "Looks delicious."

Claire makes an uncertain noise, not saying anything. She picks up her own sandwich, and we each take a bite.

We spend the rest of the meal making small-talk about the food. It was pleasant, and the food was as good as it looked. The Chilan sauce was entirely unlike anything I had tasted before - it had the consistency of well-mashed potato, but had hints of sweetness. It wasn't terrible, but gravy would have been far better. Claire had been initially uncertain about the meat, but she eventually got over whatever qualms she had and finished the meal.

Claire picks up a napkin, cleaning the sauce from her fingers. "I enjoyed that way more than I thought I would. I might have to try meat again sometime." Her smile is happily content.

I finish off the last of my shake. "Yeah, that really hit the spot."

She tilts her head, thinking. "Say, I'll be passing back through Castelia after I get my Pokedex. Maybe we should meet up again then?"

I smile. "Sure, I'd like that." This has been really nice - it's been too long since I had the chance to just talk with someone like this.

A pang of guilt hits me. Claire doesn't know my face - I've been talking to her under false pretenses this entire time. I don't really have an explanation that I can give her, either.

Her smile almost glows with happiness. "It's a date, then! How about… two weeks from now, the main Castelia Pokemon Center at eleven?"

"That's fine by me."

We stood up, and Claire paid the bill. We left the restaurant, and Guise conveniently finished his 'call' just as we were walking out. Walking back to the battlefield, we made smalltalk about Guise's 'work'. I'm surprised at just how well he can think on his feet - his cover is self-consistent and detailed enough not to arouse suspicion.

Before we started the battle, Claire spoke quietly with Solosis on her side of the field. Apparently his reaction didn't meet her expectations, because we went ahead with battle. It went much the same as the first - Solosis had good defenses, but just didn't have the offensive capability to match up against Chitin.

It was another long battle, but Chitin eventually came away with another win.

"Good match." Claire didn't offer another handshake. I don't know what to think about that - what did she think had happened?

"Yeah. Hopefully that'll be enough to motivate Solosis."

She nods. "Yeah, hopefully." She opens her satchel, rummaging around in it. She produces a thin wad of bills. "As promised, your payment. Eight-thousand-p. That should be enough to get everything you need to start off a journey. I insist - you've been a great help"

She offers the wad to me. Is that a lot of money? I don't know - it seems like it is. Our meals and drinks had been two-thousand-p all up - assuming that it cost the same for a sandwich and shake here as it does in my world, that's probably about equivalent to a bit over one-hundred dollars. It doesn't feel right to take it, but this is exactly what I need most right now.

I take the bills from her, uncertain. "Thank you Claire. Really - you didn't need to do this."

She huffs, smiling. "Oh, please. What else am I going to do with the money? I've already got everything I need for my journey. Oh - make sure you get a cross-transceiver. I want to be able to get your number from you when we meet back up again in Castelia!" She laughs, and walks towards the gate to the battlefield. "I'll see you later, Kelly!"

She leaves, leaving me alone in the empty battlefield. A dull melancholy settles over me. She truly is genuinely a nice person. Could we really be friends?

I…

I don't like deceiving her like this.

The smart thing would be to just not show up to our meeting in Castelia. She's likely already cottoned on to the fact that I'm not what I appear to be. But…

I don't want to make myself do that.