Kai was alone, walking through Hollyhead in the early morning. A wet mist permeated the air, and with the sun only barely penetrating the canopy above, the streets were deserted. This suited her plenty; beyond her preference for less Pokémon in general, with the scene Luca had caused the day before she was likely to be stopped by the more hotheaded Pokémon in town.

Unfortunately, she was not alone for long. As Kecleon's stall came into view, she could see a collection of Pokémon loitering by it. A Pikipek, a Monferno, and a Skiploom stood in a tight circle; they talked with familiarity, and although Kai didn't necessarily recognize them, they seemed like close friends. Based on their body language and the large bags each of them carried with them, they had all met by chance while making an early morning shopping run and were now catching up. Kecleon politely listened in, but Kai could see in his eyes that he was relishing the company. The early mornings and late nights must be lonely for him.

Before Kai was able to hear much of the hushed conversation, the mood shifted as the Monferno noticed her. His relaxed expression was wiped away, replaced with one of apprehension. As she approached, the Pikipek and Skiploom picked up on her presence as well and glared at her in precisely the same way. She only noticed the change in their behavior in her peripherals, however; she was carefully watching Kecleon's reaction.

Upon noticing her, a flicker of recognition had shone in Kecleon's eyes—but more importantly, a moment after, a secondary realization crossed the normal-type's face. The first was the expression of anyone seeing a Pokémon that they recognized, but it was the second that had meaning. It was only a moment, but he seemed amused before his customer-friendly nature took over and he smiled a gentle smile.

"Welcome, Vulpix," Kecleon said, ignoring his worried company. "How can I help you?"

Kai stopped at the counter, finally lowering her head. She had been hauling both of Luca's satchels using her mouth, and by releasing her jaw, she let them fall to the hard dirt ground. "Hello, Kecleon. I need these bags filled with food. Give me anything that will last a while in the heat, and the money's in the same pocket as before."

Thankfully, Kecleon seemed to understand. He leaned over to retrieve the bags and began the process of filling them without any complaints. Notably, he left the money pocket alone entirely; it seemed he recognized Luca's bags and was still willing to help her.

"Hey, Vulpix," the Monferno finally spoke up. "I heard that a Riolu came to see you yesterday."

"That's right," she confirmed, not taking her eyes off of Kecleon.

"Where is she?"

"None of your business."

"Why are you hiding an outlaw?"

"While I am hiding the Riolu mentioned in the poster, she is no outlaw. The Scizor is closer to an outlaw than her."

"How can you be so sure?" the fire/fighting type spat. "You know, aiding an outlaw makes you an outlaw yourself."

"That's why I'm helping the Riolu and not the Scizor. Mind your own business."

"No, I don't think I will," he said, aggression entering his voice. Kai could sense him approaching her from behind , trying to intimidate. "Why don't you take me to this Riolu and I'll decide for myself?"

One of the smaller Pokémon spoke up from behind him with a nervous voice: "H-hey, you don't need t—"

"Shut up," the Monferno snapped. "Well, Vulpix? Are you going to cooperate?"

Kai continued to face forward, but she closed her eyes to focus. She summoned her will-o-wisp above them, far enough back that it wouldn't be in the Monferno's vision, and prepared to mold the fire to whatever form might be required. "No, I won't. What will you do about it? Attack me in the middle of town with a total of three witnesses?"

"An outlaw is not going to threaten me with witnesses."

A distinct pause later, the nervous voice gained some assertiveness as it shouted with urgency: "Wait-wait-wait! Lee, you can't do this here. She's right, this isn't a good idea." Kai tensed up, ready to douse the Monferno in a whirl of flames.

"I'm afraid I must agree," Kecleon said from within his stall. "I will not abide fighting in front of my stall—least of all, fighting without a bounty hunter present."

Kai could hear the Monferno breathe out, slow but nearly uncontrolled. "Fine. I'll just follow you, then. You can hardly outrun me while you're lugging those full satchels."

Kai finally opened her eyes and let the flames still hovering above the Monferno dissipate. As she did, two soft sighs were audible from behind. It seemed his two companions had noticed the flame and were especially invested in stopping the impending fight. Either way, the danger of an open combat was gone.

Her vision returned, Kai continued watching the Kecleon's movements. He was conveniently about done and was just closing and securing all of the pockets and compartments he had opened.

"OK, your packs are full. Now, hold on." Kecleon stepped over and out of his stall, suddenly standing over Kai. "These will be much more difficult to carry by yourself now that they're full. Do you mind if I help you secure them?"

"I'd appreciate it. Thank you."

Kecleon nodded. As Kai held still, he circled her and he secured the satchels. He used the main straps to attach them to both of her flanks, and by the time he was finished, it was actually surprisingly comfortable. Doing anything more flexible than a relaxed walk would be near impossible, but it was more than enough for her needs.

Now that she was ready to leave, Kai turned back to the three loiterers for the first time since her arrival and stared the Monferno down. He was barely holding himself back, all but salivating at the prospect of catching what he perceived to be an outlaw. "You're following me, then?" she asked.

"Yeah," he confidently asserted.

"And are you two as well?"

"...No," the nervous Skiploom said.

"Fine. Let it be known that I'm using minimum force."

"Wha—" The Monferno was cut off as Kai pumped psychic energy into his mind. True to his fighting-type nature, he was affected instantly and significantly; with his eyes clouded by dizziness and confusion, he crumpled to the ground. Kai cut off the stream, and as the pressure left her mind, she gave a sharp exhale to deal with the residual dizziness.

The Pikipek and Skiploom gasped with fear, but Kai ignored them and turned back to Kecleon. "I'm sorry I had to do this in front of your stall, but in these circumstances I wasn't given much of a choice. Thank you for all your help, though—from both of us."

She didn't wait for an answer, instead turning to leave before the Monferno came to his senses. She took the alleyway behind Kecleon's stall, and once the moaning of her would-be assailant faded away, the calming feeling of the deserted misty town returned.

Kai walked for about a minute before taking a sharp turn in the actual direction of Luca; there was no reason to think that the Monferno wouldn't sprint to try to catch her after he regained the ability to. After the turn, it was a few minutes of walking before she exited Hollyhead and a few minutes more before she was approaching where Luca was still meant to be.

Kai caught sight of Luca through the trees. She was sat with crossed legs in a way that looked remarkably uncomfortable, and spread out on her lap was a map. She was carefully inspecting it, repeatedly tracing lines with her blunt paws and visibly thinking hard.

Stealth was far from Kai's forte; as she approached, the snapping of twigs alerted Luca to her presence. The instant it did, she jumped like she had just been attacked, her wide eyes frantically searching the forest until they settled on Kai. She was entirely terrified for the split second before she realized it was safe.

"I didn't know you were so on edge," Kai said as she moved forward. "Sorry for startling you."

Luca gave a long, tired sigh as she visibly came down from the scare. "It's fine. Did getting food go OK?"

Now that Luca was calm, Kai could see that she was positively exhausted. Her eyes were lidded, and she moved with the sort of reluctant, languid motion that gave away just how difficult it was for her to stay awake.

"More or less," Kai said. "Did you sleep alright?"

"Oh, I'll be fine once we get moving, don't worry. Can we talk about traveling?"

There was clearly something that Luca wanted to hide, which registered as strange. She had been exceptionally forthcoming and trusting at every step thus far, so what could have changed? Kai made a mental note of it. "What about it?"

Luca looked down at the map, again tracing across it with a paw. "It's about 300 miles before the Cord, so I'm wondering how fast we'll be able to travel. I'm told that with this body I can go as fast as I'd like, so what can I expect from you?"

"What's the terrain like?"

"After about 10 miles of dense, hilly forest, it becomes almost entirely flat plains. At least, if I'm reading this map right."

"Probably about 30 miles a day in the plains. Not sure I can give an accurate guess for the forest, though."

Luca looked down at the map, tracing the path with her paw. "That's... a really convenient number, actually. If we assume we can manage the forest stretch today, that's a total of about 11 days of travel with room for error. We'd also come across a town every three days, more or less."

"That's not by chance. It's designed to be traveled."

"Mm," Luca acknowledged. "The terrain creates some issues though, don't you think? It's entirely open, meaning any old flying-type would be able to follow the trails and find us. Do you think it's best to stay away from the trial? Forge our own path?"

"No. Using the trail minimizes the possibility of interaction with wild Pokémon, and we'll be able to spend our nights in the safety of the rest stops they have throughout."

"Shouldn't we be avoiding anywhere that Pokémon congregate?"

"We need to give up on the idea of staying entirely hidden. You have nothing identifying you from other Riolu, so we have a much better chance if we act as though nothing is wrong and that we're unremarkable travelers."

"You don't think psychic-types are a threat?"

"They're an unavoidable one."

"...You won't be able to lie, though."

"There are ways to deceive that don't involve direct lies."

Luca sighed, relenting and once again showing just how tired she really was. "Fine, we'll try it. But I don't feel good about it."

"It'll feel better once we've done it for a few days. Now, do you want to put the map back and we'll get going?" As Kai spoke, she turned to offer Luca the map pocket of her satchel on her flank.

"Oh, can I carry the bags? They're not likely to make me tired with this body."

"Sure. You'll have to help me take them off, though."

Luca stood, returning the map to its place before starting in on releasing the straps. "How'd this happen, anyways? Did Kecleon help you?"

"Yeah. He's a kind one."

Luca slid one of the packs onto her shoulder. "I'll need to come back and repay the favor someday. I wouldn't have survived without his kindness... and although I could say the same about you, I'm not willing to thank you after what you did to Sarin."

"...I understand."

"Good," Luca said uncharacteristically harshly as she slipped the second bag's strap over her other shoulder and moved away. "Ready to go?"

"Yes, lead the way."

"Then let's hope that I can manage to not get us lost," the human-turned-Riolu sighed as she turned to move into the forest. Kai followed her, padding forward and staring at the back of the blue head swaying in front of her. Kai had underestimated how upset and angry Luca was about Sarin's death; she had been acting normally right up until she was reminded of what had happened. Only then did the anger appear—but when it came, it was still much weaker than Kai would have expected from any other Pokémon. It was as if Luca was struggling to remember to be angry; perhaps the emotion didn't come to her naturally.


A Riolu's natural endurance never ceased to amaze Luca. Even when long days of hiking through deep snow in the mountains hadn't resulted in the slightest bit of discernable exhaustion, she was still somehow thrilled by the fact that after a full day of going up and down hills and climbing over the messy forest floor, she still felt perfectly fine.

The sun was setting when the trees finally began to thin out. Looking ahead, Luca could see the plains. They were absurdly flat, and with the clear weather Luca could see a dizzying distance. Moving to the treeline, Luca stopped and blocked the sun with her paw before gazing into the distance. Nearly imperceptible against the blue sky, tiny mountains peaks lifted just above the otherwise flat horizon.

"There's no way that's the Cord in the distance, right?" Luca asked, continuing to squint.

"Ah, Arceus, we made it," Kai gasped. Unlike Dante, she made no effort to hide the exhaustion in her voice as she let herself down onto the grass in a rare display of vulnerability. "Dunno about the mountains, but what else could they be? It's so flat out here."

"I guess we can't get too lost, then," Luca said, looking around. "Look, there's the path," she observed, pointing to her right down the treeline. A few hundred feet away, a stamped-down dirt path came out of the forest, splitting the plains in two. "We won't have to search for it, at least."

"Do you want to just sleep here, then?" Kai said from her place on the ground. "I'm not going much further without rest."

"Oh, sure. Go for it." As Kai prepared herself for sleep, Luca turned to look at the sun. It had only just touched the flat horizon, meaning it would only be a handful of minutes before she was plunged into darkness once again.

Luca shuddered. During the day's travel, she had almost forgotten the terrible night she had before; without Dante's light by her all night, her fear of the darkness was debilitating. While her new companion was still a fire-type, she surely needed to be conscious to make light—and between the two of them, she needed the sleep to be able to travel. Once it got bad Luca would need to ask for an opportunity to sleep, but for now, she would be fine.

Besides, the previous night she had made an interesting discovery. If she relaxed like she was trying to sleep while looking at her Aura, she would enter a sort of meditative trance. It wasn't sleep based on how she felt when morning came, but she didn't remotely perceive the passage of time during it—meaning a sleepless night was at least tolerable. She was beginning to realize just how much of a boon her Aura abilities were.

Luca sat next to the already asleep Kai and let herself down onto her back. The grass was comfortable against her fur, but Luca retreated away from the sensation and into the warmth of her inner flame. Letting the prickling fear of the dark wash away and herself relax, Luca waited for the pseudo-sleep to come for her...

...

...

...

"...—ca, wake up."

Luca jumped, wrenched out of her unconsciousness. She was still in the grass at the forest's edge, and Kai was standing over her with blank eyes in the early-morning light. It seemed as though she was back to her cold emotionless self, and she was waiting patiently for Luca's response.

"I'm awake," Luca sighed, reluctantly sitting up. "I'm awake," she repeated. She felt so much worse than she did the day before—a splitting headache protested her every movement, and she already felt her focus on the Vulpix standing above her wavering and slipping out of her grasp.

"Do you want to talk about what's going on with you?" Kai asked. "Why you're so tired?"

"Since you asked, no, I don't. Can we go?"

Kai broke eye contact to look towards the trail. "Nobody in view, so now is as good a time as any."

Luca forced herself to her feet, stumbling a bit as her body grew used to her demanding it to move once again. Once she had her balance, she moved towards the empty path and let Kai follow her.

With that they were on their way, walking on the most boring possible journey. It was beautiful seeing the scale of the world sprawling out before her of course, but there was only so much time Luca could spend walking in the same conditions. Fortunately, however, she was doing much better than Kai; once again, over the course of the day, she slowly got more and more exhausted until her facade fell away and she began acting more like a normal—albeit exhausted—Pokémon. Her eyes no longer stared blankly at whatever she was looking at, and she spoke without the intimidating and cold matter-of-fact tone that characterized her voice. After a long day of exertion, she was like an entirely different Pokémon.

Although most of the time it seemed as such, they were far from alone on the path; while it was exceptionally scary the first time, they ended up passing about a dozen Pokémon on the trail. Most of the travelers they passed were just like them—traveling with only the the bags they could carry—but Luca noticed that a disproportionate amount of them wore clothing or some type of accessory. Goggles, cloaks, scarves, shoes, and hats—Luca even saw a Machop wearing a full outfit with proper shirt and pants. It was a stark difference from the typically unadorned Pokémon she was used to seeing at the Coalition camp and during her brief run through Hollyhead during daytime. She figured that the traveling Pokémon would typically find more use in these things than your average citizen in town, but that thought only confused her more. The Coalition Pokémon were traveling all the time, so why were accessories so rare among their number?

These were the type of ruminations that kept Luca busy during the day of walking, as thankfully her body had quickly forgotten its lack of proper sleep. As it was, Luca estimated they still had an hour or two of daylight remaining when they were approaching the first structure.

"You said there was rest stops, right?" Luca asked, still moving forward. "Is that one coming up?"

An inordinate amount of time passed before Kai finally responded, but Luca waited patiently; her exhaustion was audible, and it got worse as she struggled to see the structure in the distance. "Yeah, that's it," she gasped. "We made really good time, actually. Just a little bit more..."

Getting closer, Luca was able to see the rest stop with more detail. It was on the right side of the path, with rough wooden walls and a thin metal roof. Despite its relative shoddiness, it was massive and sturdy to accommodate for larger Pokémon. The doorway was left open and pulled onto the path, and what looked like a cart meant to be pulled by a horse was left against the close wall.

"It seems like we'll have company for tonight," Luca observed. "Big horse-like company, I'd guess."

"What does that even mean?" Kai whined. "Horse?"

"Horse is an animal from my world. I figured you all might have the word since I know you have 'bird'."

"Love that you defined it with 'animal', another word I don't know."

"...Right. Doesn't matter, anyways. Point is, please be careful to not use my name around whoever is inside."

"Yeah, OK."

Getting closer, Luca inspected the cart more carefully. It was crafted from sturdy wood with a sturdy iron structure, and it was absolutely packed with what appeared to be a shop's worth of supplies. Everything from a wide variety of food and ingredients to specialized tools was stored with tight organization; it seemed that they had come across a shipment.

Armed with the new information, Luca turned to the open door. Trying to act as casually as possible, she confidently walked in.

The inside was just as shoddy as the outside, but it at least appeared watertight in the case of rain. A massive metal receptacle stood in the center of the room, and looking more closely, Luca could see a bunch of candles within it. The hay that was strewn about the wooden floor and gathered into bunches was clearly meant to act as bedding for a large amount of Pokémon, but there was only a single, massive form inside. It was a mound of black, brown, and orange body mass, so large compared to Luca she felt she had just walked into an elephant pen. Although it was laying with its back to them, Luca could tell: before her was a Mudsdale, and once again seeing drawings of these large Pokémon had no comparison to seeing them in person.

With the only Pokémon present apparently asleep, Luca was caught a bit off guard. As she stood there staring at the Mudsdale, Kai pushed past her and flopped down onto the hay with a sharp emanation of relief.

As Kai lay there, her flank heaving, Luca let the bags off her shoulder and placed them next to her. "Do you want water or anything?" Luca asked quietly, hoping to not disturb the sleeping giant. "And if you don't mind, could you light the thing up there?"

Kai shook her head and closed her eyes before again going still. Then, warm light filled the room; without any apparent interaction from Kai, the fixture was lit. Luca would have to remember to ask her how her fire moves worked, as she felt certain that Dante would have had to at least spit fire.

"Ah, I thought I heard someone enter," an absurdly deep voice came. He spoke slowly, as if the words were coming out waist-deep in molasses. "Welcome, Riolu. And if you're still awake, welcome Vulpix."

Kai groaned with displeasure in response as Luca turned to the Mudsdale. His body hadn't moved, but his head was lifted up and turned so that a single, massive eye could look back and see her. "Hi, Mudsdale. Did we wake you?"

"Oh, no. I'm only trying to cool down after a day of walking. I'm sure your companion needs to rest, but would you mind some conversation, Riolu? This stop is mighty lonely."

"Oh, I don't mind at all," Luca smiled. It had been so long since she had talked to someone that didn't constantly get on her nerves, so there was no way she wasn't going to jump at the opportunity. "Mind if I come over there?" she asked, starting to walk over.

"Please do," the Mudsdale said. "And sit where I can see you with your head down, if you don't mind."

Luca complied, making her way across the hay-filled floor. Bunching clumps of it together, she created a bed for herself against the wall to the right. Once she was done, the Mudsdale could still see her with his head relaxed in the hay.

A large eye inspected her, lazily drawing itself across her form. "So," the Mudsdale drawled. "What's your story?"

"Nothing exciting," Luca lied. "Before recently, I'd never left Hollyhead."

"It's not exciting that you've left?"

"Exciting for me, maybe. I figured it wouldn't be for anyone else."

"So, why did you leave?"

"I realized that I wasn't happy, staying there forever. I want to travel, see the world."

"Mmm, you're about that age, I'd guess. And where does your Vulpix friend factor in?"

Luca looked across the room at Kai's resting form for dramatic effect. "I'm not sure. When I said I was leaving, she said she was coming with me. I think it's to keep me safe, but I don't think she expected just how tiring traveling can be. I'm sure she'll give up and head back soon."

"Maybe," the Mudsdale mused, his single visible eye glimmering knowingly. "Or maybe not. I'd wager she cares for you an awful lot, doing this to herself for you."

Luca shrugged, turning back. "How about you, then? I imagine that was your cart outside."

"That's right. I move goods between towns, as needed."

"And how do you like it?"

"I like it," the Mudsdale said simply. "Good for the body, I get to see a wide range of Pokémon, and I see the world. Not much to complain about."

"Oh, you travel all over? It's not just the same path?"

"That's right. I rent a room wherever my most recent job took me."

"But you're traveling alone. Don't you get lonely?"

"Sometimes," he admitted. "But sometimes not. It's part of life. So, do you know where you're headed? Or are you just wandering?"

"I was planning to head to Cord's End. Thought it might be interesting to explore the Cord."

"Would you like a ride there?"

Luca perked up. "You're going to Cord's End too?"

"I am. A bit more weight in the cart won't bother me, either."

Luca paused, considering the offer. Spending an extended period of time with a single Pokémon would significantly increase the chance of them discovering her true identity—but at the same time, gaining his trust would create a much more convincing cover. It was a bit of a gamble, but going with him would also have the benefit of making travel go so much smoother.

"I guess it's safe to assume that she'd be very interested," Luca finally said, nodding towards Kai. "So if you don't mind, we'd appreciate the ride—or more specifically, she'd appreciate the ride. I have no issue walking."

"Then the price of your passage will be company and conversation during travel," he drawled with a relaxed smile. "So why don't we follow the example set by your Vulpix friend and save the talk for tomorrow?"

"Suits me," Luca shrugged. "See you tomorrow, then, Mudsdale."

The Mudsdale blinked in warm acknowledgement before his massive eye closed—and then, Luca was alone in the rest stop. With even the corners of the building being filled with warm light, Luca could finally—finally—sleep. The instant the thought even cross her mind, an unnatural and overwhelming drowsiness came over her. Without the least bit of fight, she allowed sleep to overtake her.