It's time for me to buy supplies. My first stop is a hole-in-the-wall electronics retailer. I manage to pick up a refurbished older-model cross-transceiver with a charger included for two-thousand-p. Not bad at all - maybe electronics are a lot cheaper in this dimension?

The thing has already been charged, and when I turn it on, I'm surprised to find that it doesn't need a sim-card or anything. It's fairly bare-bones - the thing does audio and video calls, has a compass, a clock, a calendar and not much else. No internet, no options for custom software, no map, no radio, no storing or playing music. It has the ability to do electronic money transfers, but it tells me that I need to set up an account with a bank first.

Clothes are next on my list. I buy two pairs of jeans, a belt, two shirts, a coat, two sets of smallclothes and a pair of hiking boots for four-thousand-p. The boots are the bulk of that - I make sure to get a quality pair. Most of the clothes I buy are from goodwill shops, so that drives the cost down a bit.

That leaves me with two-thousand-two-hundred-p. What else do I need?

I've got water-bottles and a good bag, thanks to Contessa. Rations? More Pokeballs, maybe? A first-aid kit?

A compact first-aid kit runs me four-hundred-p from the pharmacist. Two more base-model Pokeballs is another four-hundred on top of that. My bag is nearing full at this point, so I ask for the bathrooms in order to change into my new clothes.

The Pokemart clerk points me to where I want to go, and I find them easily enough. The bathroom is empty, and Guise waits outside. His illusion drops as soon as I'm inside. I quickly go inside a stall.

Stripping out of my costume, the unsightly mess of scars that is my skin is revealed. Glastig Uaine's healing hadn't removed them - whether she had been instructed to leave them by Contessa, or simply did not care to, I don't know.

I stare at the reflection of my face in my mask's lens. For whatever reason, one thing she had fixed was my vision - no more glasses for me. I hadn't initially noticed because Contessa had also switched out the lenses in my mask. I'm grateful - it means far less hassle for me.

The bullet scar where Contessa had shot me through the head is plain for the world to see. On my arm, the ragged burn-scar where Lung had cauterized my stump, only for it to be grown back later stands out against my pale skin. Countless other smaller ones dot my limbs and torso - too many to remember where I got them from. My time in the Wards, maybe? The fights with the Endbringers? The fight with Scion? Before I switched sides?

All of the above, most likely.

There are the remnants of other scars there, too. Hidden - mostly healed with time. Where Bonesaw had cut into my head. The ones from my fight with Bakuda. The locker.

None of my scars hold pleasant memories. My costume may have protected me from a lot of things, but it can't protect me from everything.

I shake myself from my introspection, changing into my new clothes. I fold my costume up, packing it away at the bottom of my bag. There's quite a bit more space, now - mostly thanks to the absence of my new boots and coat.

I attach Chitin and Guise's Pokeballs to the clips on my belt. I'm not sure how the clips work - magnets, maybe? But in any case, they stick firmly - I'm not going to accidentally lose a Pokeball just because I was being a little acrobatic. I clip my knife to my belt too, for good measure. I had spied a few older trainers with one earlier in the day, so I don't think it's against any laws here to carry one.

Regardless, it's mostly hidden by my coat - I'll still be able to draw it easily, but the hilt isn't displayed for everyone to see, so I shouldn't have any problems.

I leave the stall. Looking at myself in the mirror, I look just like any other trainer. A pair of Pokeballs on my belt, ragged clothing and sturdy shoes. Maybe a little paler than usual, but nothing too out of place.

Good.

I leave the bathroom, and Guise - no, Leo, now that I'm out of costume - covers my face with his illusion. I probably don't need it anymore - I had seen all of four security cameras during my entire time in the city - but coming out of the bathroom with a different face to the one I had gone into it with would be a little suspicious. None of the cameras had been in public spaces, either - all of them had been inside businesses. I suppose that's a fairly serious strike against the notion that there's some sort of surveillance network in this dimension.

It's getting late in the afternoon at this point. I'll need to act soon if I want to pick up some food before the stores close. I manage to make it in time, and spend four-hundred-p on two packets of 'Trainer Survival Rations'. According to the label, each packet contains four bars of 'Nutritious, non-thirst-provoking sustenance suitable for humans and Pokemon', with each bar apparently enough to replace food for an entire day in a survival situation.

That claim sounds rather outrageous at face value - each bar isn't a great deal larger than the typical granola bar from my own dimension, but with all the technology I've seen so far, it doesn't seem too unreasonable to me that they've somehow engineered the bars to be hyper-nutritious.

What's my next step?

Castelia City.

I fish out the pamphlet containing a map from my bag. I'm in Nimbasa City right now so I need to head…

Directly south. About two times the distance to the bridge that I had seen back out in the forest is from here. That makes it about a two-day journey, assuming that there's a road that I can walk on. What sort of conditions should I expect?

The map is frustratingly sparse on the details. The part of the peninsula that I need to cross is coloured a sort of beige. What does that mean? Badlands? Desert? Moor? I don't know. There's a forest relatively nearby, so I can't imagine it being terribly dry.

There's only one way to find out, I suppose. I don't have anywhere to sleep in the city, so I want to get some distance and find somewhere to camp before the sun actually sets. By my estimate, I've got about an hour-and-a-half of usable light left in the day.

There's no time like the present.

I make my way towards the south of the city. Within ten minutes, I find another gate, much like the northern one. Leo and I enter. Unlike the one at the north of the city, however, this one is lined with merchant stalls. Business has ended for the day, so thankfully all of the vendors are too busy packing up to hawk their wares at me.

We pass by, unnoticed. Exiting out the other side, I'm met with a blast of warm, dry air. In front of me, there's a road stretching southward. Further in the distance is a raised highway that the road passes under. To either side of the road are tall, rocky hills and the ground between the hills and the road is sandy.

The change in climate is absolutely jarring - not twenty minutes north by foot is an absolutely verdant forest, and here I am, staring into a scene that wouldn't look out of place in New Mexico. Maybe it would be better to sleep in the city. I'd be burning through valuable water if I made a start now and slept out in the wilderness - in a climate like this, that could be deadly.

Yeah. That's the sensible choice here. I turn to Leo. "I'm going to have to find a place to sleep in the city, then head out in the morning. I wasn't expecting a desert."

A sardonic grin crosses his face. "Yeah. It's a bit of a shock." He stifles a yawn. "If it's all the same to you, could I go back in my ball? I've been keeping up illusions pretty much all day and I'm due for a bit of shut-eye."

"Sure thing. Great work." Unclip his ball, returning him. Placing it back onto my belt, I turn around and head back into the city.

Alright, then. I need to find a place to sleep. I burn the rest of the daylight on a park bench reading through the pamphlet about raising Pokemon. I don't make it too far in, and what I do learn is rather trivial.

I figure out from the some labelled diagrams concerning Pokemon diets that the word 'berry' in this dimension has a far wider meaning than it did in mine. I mean, I already had a bit of an inkling that that is the case, considering that Gwen called the cantaloupe sized fruit she likes an Iapapa Berry. But, it seems to me that the term applies to pretty much anything edible grown on a plant that isn't a seed, nut, root or leaf.

The most interesting tidbit I get, however, is that almost all Pokemon can sustain themselves off of a non-meat diet - thanks to the very high nutritional content of most berries. The booklet also notes that wild captures who are used to a meat diet may not be easily convinced to switch to a berry diet.

I suppose that makes sense. From what I gather from the tone of the writing, there's a bit of a stigma around killing and eating wild Pokemon. That, combined with the lack of non-synthetic meat on the menu back at that restaurant suggests to me that I'd best practice caution around the subject.

It may well be that a trainer killing Pokemon here is regarded much the same as a Cape killing other Capes was back home. It makes a degree of sense, now that I think about it. Just to be safe, I'd better step more carefully in the future.

I don't feel any remorse for killing the Heracross, but other people may not think along the same lines as me.

A thought occurs to me. Could the Heracross have been just as intelligent as Gwen? Maybe. Hell, considering what I gathered of it's biology, I'd even say that it's likely.

I take a deep breath and let it back out.

It… still doesn't bother me an awful lot. More than before, certainly, but it's absolutely trivial in comparison to some of my other regrets, if I'm honest with myself. I shake my head, as if to dispel my thoughts. There's no use dwelling on it now.

I just need to learn from my mistakes and move forward.

I end up sleeping under a tree in the park. I release Gwen to keep watch for me - according to her, she had slept in her ball for much of the day, so it didn't trouble her.

My rest is fitful, plagued by unpleasant thoughts. What am I going to do, long term? Could I even function in a world without Capes?

Training is the obvious path to take, but what I know currently hasn't satisfied all of my doubts. Compared to people like Claire who have been immersed in Trainer culture for their entire lives, what could I even hope to bring to the table? I'll be playing catch-up for a long time. Hell, I don't even know what the top trainers do for a living. Battling, presumably - but are the winnings enough to pay rent, for example? Or are all trainers vagrants, constantly moving from town to town?

I don't want to spend the rest of my life like that. I want a place to call my own. Somewhere safe.

I'm up with the sun, hungry from skipping dinner. I unwrap one of the bars, chowing down. It tastes fruity, but looks just like the survival bars from my own dimension. Is it made from berries? I check the ingredients. Yes - it is, or, at least partially made from them, anyway. I only recognize a few of the names.

Gwen had eaten the last of my fresh berries overnight. Should I detour back to the forest to stock up? I'll need to feed my Pokemon, too. The bars I bought yesterday are apparently suitable for Pokemon too - will seven bars be enough for the three of us?

I return Gwen, thanking her for keeping watch and bring out Leo. "Hey." He yawns, stretching. "Need any illusions today?"

I shake my head. "Not today, I think. I want to know whether Pokemon get hungry inside Pokeballs. How much food will I have to bring for our trip through the desert?"

"We won't starve if we don't get food for a few days, if that's what you're asking about. But I wouldn't count on us in a battle after something like that." He sits down, laying against the tree I had slept against. "We probably won't need as much food if you keep us inside the balls for most of the time, but we'll still need one meal a day if you want us to be battling."

I nod - I've got more than enough to feed us all, then. "Alright, thanks. I'm about to head out into the desert now. Next time you're out will probably be there."

I return him. If things are as he says, I'd be best to conserve my team's energy for when I need it. Keeping them fresh inside the Pokeball will also serve to reduce how much food they need to eat, if I've understood him correctly.

I make my way towards the southern gate. Passing through, I see the vendors setting back up for the day, not yet open. Once I'm out the other side, I look out over the scenery. It's still early in the morning, so it isn't quite warm yet, but I can tell that by midday it will be uncomfortably hot.

I start walking, following the road. Within the hour, I need to stop and sort out my clothing situation. It's too hot for my coat now, and I need something to protect my face from the sun. My costume might work, but I'd prefer to only wear it from this point onward when I'm actually doing hero work.

I give the problem some thought, before arriving at a solution. I put my coat back into my bag, and tie my second shirt around my lower face and neck. I don't need to worry about sunburn on my arms and legs, thanks to my long pants and long sleeves. My hair also covers my ears well, so hopefully that will be enough.

At about the end of the first hour of walking - seven o'clock, by my watch - I reach the raised highway I had seen yesterday. It's fairly busy and is mostly used by trucks rather than cars. Where does it lead? From what I remember of my map, both directions of the road point towards the sea. The hilly terrain prevents me from seeing whether it turns north or south. Perhaps it leads between Nimbasa and Castelia?

I don't know, and it really doesn't matter.

I continue walking. After another hour, the overpass barely pokes above the horizon, and the road begins curving to the west. I haven't seen a single Pokemon yet. I've heard the sounds of fights off in the distance, but nothing has approached me.

It's around eight-thirty when a warm breeze begins blowing, and doesn't let up. A worrisome thought strikes me. Do I have to worry about a sandstorm? The terrain has been getting less rocky and much more sandy - it could be a serious risk if things continue like this.

Already, the wind is picking up sand and pelting it at me. It's blowing from behind, so thankfully I don't have to worry about being blinded too much.

I continue walking. It's hot and I'm a sweaty, sandy mess but I push through the discomfort without trouble. By around eleven, things get dangerous. It's nearing the point where I can't continue to push myself without risking hurting myself.

I need somewhere to break for rest until things cool down again.

There's nowhere in sight that would suit, though - it's all just small rocky hills and sandy plains. The small amount of shade cast by the rocks isn't enough to rest in, and wouldn't last long as the sun moves closer to midday anyway.

Off in the distance - away from the road - are larger rock formations. They'd cast enough shade for a rest, I'd wager.

On the other hand, while the road is covered in a thin layer of sand, it's a much, much better walking surface than trying to trek through something deeper. Not to mention, despite no Pokemon having approached me while I've been on the road, I can't count on the same remaining true off the road.

I sigh. That's all well and good, but if I don't cool down I'm going to risk heatstroke. Then I'd really be in trouble - wild Pokemon attacks or no. I release Gwen, explaining the situation to her. She'd be better to help protect me than Leo, since she can fly above the sand. Hopefully the breeze doesn't mess with her too badly.

I can tell that she's not exactly comfortable in the heat, but she tells me that she can handle it. I've no reason to not believe her, so I take her word for it.

I peel away from the road. Walking through the sands is far more tiring. Each step has my foot sinking an inch into the ground, meaning I had to work all that much harder just to keep going.

Gwen pivots sharply in the air, charging a Power Gem. "Watch out!"

I leap away from where she's facing. I can see the sand shifting in a way that could only be caused by something rising to the surface from underneath. An ambush?

She fires off the attack, and it peppers into whatever is causing the disturbance. Sand flies into the air in plumes where her attack strikes. Whatever it is yelps in an almost nasal tone, before scurrying back under the sands. I catch a flash of darker brown and black, but don't make out anything more than that.

Gwen spins about, trying to find where it went. I keep an eye on where it went under. It doesn't resurface. After a minute, we continue walking.

It seems that whatever it is doesn't want to deal with us after all.