PART TWO - LIVELY TOWN

Location: Sheer Mountain Range (night)
Date: June 29th

Lyra and I have been on the road for a few days now, and one thing I noticed right away is just how slow she travels when she's in a new place. When we're in a Mystery Dungeon we tend to move at the same pace, but when we're in a field or hiking up a mountain Lyra often falls behind.

I feel conflicted...part of me wants to remind her that there are Pokémon hunting me down, so we can't afford to be lax about this. However, another part of me knows that Lyra's never been outside of the village apart from the limited radius she had to travel to mystery dungeons. Now that she's unshackled, she's experiencing tons of new things and she wants to drink it all in. It's her first real adventure! Her first step outside her tiny village, and her first real taste of freedom. Who was I to rob her of that?

Besides, not like we've actually encountered any trace of the Beheeyem since we left. Maybe we don't have to worry, after all.

Lyra's slower pace also gives me a chance to enjoy the experience as well. I saw a few interesting sights when Nuzleaf and I were on our way to Serene Village but didn't have enough time to enjoy them since we were on the run from the Beheeyem. I tried taking my time enjoying the sights in the mystery dungeons, but wild Pokémon often soiled that experience by attacking us out of nowhere. That constant fear and desperation to find the stairs made it impossible to enjoy exploring at my own pace. Much as I enjoy mystery dungeons, I like traveling outside of them far more.

I find myself taking in a deep breath through my nose and releasing it through my mouth a lot. I loved living in Serene Village, but it feels SO nice to explore this world freely. Since Lyra's with me, we're both wide-eyed newbies experiencing everything for the first time together. When one of us discovers something cool and points it out to the other, we can share in the amazement of the discovery.

In that sense, I'm glad I'm not traveling with Nuzleaf. Although he'd be undoubtedly chill throughout this adventure, he's...a veteran explorer. All the new stuff Lyra and I discovered together probably wouldn't be new to him, and the excitement of exploring would be kinda sullied. I'd be the only one in constant amazement, and it'd get old fast.

For example, yesterday Lyra and I found a spring in a hidden grove as we passed through a forest. Various bug and grass Pokémon lived in the grove, but they were docile. The spring spouted clean and delicious water! Seriously, it was so good...water is normally flavorless, but there was something crisp and refreshing about the water from that spring. And get this – it glowed! We spent last night at that spring, and when night fell the water illuminated the area in a beautiful blue glow!

Ordinarily, I'd be worried there was some radioactivity in the water to make it glow like that, but we seem to be fine. The plant matter that sprouted around the grove wasn't dying or decayed. The other Pokémon reassured us that they come to the spring every day to hydrate themselves, and there didn't appear to be any adverse or strange effects...I think we're fine. It was just an unusual, but thoroughly pleasant discovery!

Again, Lyra and I discovered it together, so we were both amazed and overjoyed to have discovered the spring, and we delighted in our giddiness. We had an amazing time chilling with the other Pokémon. Shame we had to leave...

However, if Nuzleaf and I had discovered the spring...something tells me he wouldn't have been impressed. Nuzleaf's seen tons of things and has been exploring for years. Maybe he would've been as amazed and overjoyed, or maybe he wouldn't have, but either way it wouldn't have been the same as last night. He's cool and all, but...I dunno how to describe it without sounding like a stuck-up teen, so I'll just say it. Nuzleaf's an older dude, so it kinda would've been a drag.

Discovering something new with your parent(s) isn't really the same as discovering something new with your friend(s). There's something more thrilling about it, something fresh and boundlessly energizing. With your parent(s), it's like...cool. I'll come back and check it out later if I feel like it. With your friend(s), it's like...hell yeah! New memories to make together, new fun times to have! Let's explore more! Let's keep this fun train moving! This is so awesome!

It's just different. I don't know how else to put it.

Back to what I was saying before...this is nice. Liberating. Relaxing. No Pokémon to flee from, no obnoxious school to trek to or Nuzleaf looming over me. No Expedition Society work to grind through while sticking around Serene Village, no rumors of Beheeyem to concern myself with.

Just me, my friend, our bags and the openness of the world around us. New discoveries and experiences around every corner, nothing but time to relax and travel at our leisure.

What could be better?

Well, that's how our journey started. Once we left the forest, Lyra caught sight of this mountain and immediately narrowed our boundless freedom down to...the mountain. Said we needed to get through the range to get to Lively Town.

Ugh, it's a little frustrating. We have all the freedom in the world, can go anywhere we want and become whoever we wish...and she still wants to limit that freedom to what the Expedition Society wants. Why bother exploring wherever you want when you could be exploring where the Society wants you to?

No, I know. It's always been Lyra's dream to join the Society and complete the world map, and we can't do that if we wander around aimlessly enjoying our freedom. And...who knows? Maybe they can unlock more areas for us to explore that we currently have no access to. Still sucks that we're confined to doing what others want us to do, only this time we're deciding to limit ourselves.

But...Lyra also wants to help others, and it'd be selfish of me to indulge in whatever exploring I wanna do. While we're enjoying our freedom, there are folks who are suffering and who we could be helping. Pokémon who weren't as fortunate as the Serene Village kids.

I won't lie, the idea of branching away from Lyra to explore this world on my own is tempting. There's a whole world out there just begging to be explored! But I can't. Lyra and I made a promise that we'd be there for each other, and I don't wanna go back on that. I...much as I want to explore to my heart's content, I won't abandon Lyra. She has a dream, and I'm gonna help her accomplish it.

So...come tomorrow, we're crossing the mountain range.