We checked out of the pokemon center early in the morning.

Rini tried her best not to cry, as much as we reassured her that it was okay. She alternated between watching me pack my bag in silence and burying herself in the bedsheets. I couldn't do anything for her. I hoped some distance from here would do her some good.

Raine was excited to leave. She couldn't control the fire on her back from the excitement, and almost burned a hole in the pillowcase. Where are we going? What does it look like? Can we see everything? Can I be out of my pokeball there? She asked questions faster than I could answer them. I didn't understand. She'd spent her whole life in Santalune. Yeah, we can (technically) go anywhere in the world that we want, but I expected leaving would have more of an impact on her. I didn't know why she didn't feel small and confused and lost as well as excited. Maybe I was just projecting.

I returned Raine and Rini, turned in my key to the room I'd been staying in for close to a month, and left the center. I headed to a park, though, and sat down on a bench in the most hidden area I could find. It was finally time to leave and I was scared. I didn't want change, but both Rini and I needed to get away from this city.

Violet came close, put her front paws in my lap, and looked at me with the cutest eyes she could manage. I smiled, broke out of the downwards spiral of my thoughts, and gave her little scritches behind her ears. She purred and when I was done, she asked, Would it help to talk about what route we're taking? Talking about it might make it more real.

I hesitated for a second. Yeah, I can do that.

Violet nuzzled me softly. Did you decide how we're getting there? You weren't very talkative about this last night. Are we taking Route 4, or are we headed over by train?

Kalos was connected through a series of trains and highways. There were a few routes of wilderness specifically maintained for wild pokemon, but the majority of people didn't travel through them. Non-trainers don't want to climb through miles of wilderness to commute from the suburbs to the city, or from one city to another, for their job every day. Trainers were really the only ones who frequented the routes, in part to catch pokemon and in part because "well, hiking the routes is just what trainers do, obviously."

Route 4. It's one of the easiest routes to go through, and I'd like to be able to walk at least one of them.

We don't have any camping gear and the route's too big to walk in one day. 'Especially at the speed you walk' was the unspoken implication there. It hurt, but she was also right.

The path connects to a lot of suburbs and small towns along the way. We can head out in the mornings and make it to another town by nighttime. We'll sleep at the pokemon center, and take rest days as we need to.

I could feel her skepticism bleeding through the psychic link between us, but she didn't voice it outright. I didn't quite know what to do. I knew it sounded far-fetched, but this was something I really wanted to do. I couldn't take on the frozen wastes of Route 17, or the badlands on Route 13, or hike to Connecting Cave, all because the terrain is too tough. There were so many beautiful things I couldn't see, and pokemon I couldn't meet without going to a breeder. I wanted to see something beautiful that wasn't just the inside of a subway car.

I sighed and stood up. I can't stay here forever, can I?

Violet didn't need to answer. I left the park, climbed onto a bus, and rode as far as it would take me. I checked my phone briefly for directions and once I was oriented, I took the walking path out of the city.

I put away Violet's leash and vest when we got out of the city and let out Raine and Rini. Raine walked next to me while Rini, after getting permission, rode on Violet's back. After a few minutes, Rini asked me, Why can't we be out in the city? I want to see what it looks like.

People get really scared about having pokemon outside of their pokeballs. If a strong enough pokemon has a tiny accident, then half the city gets destroyed. Instead of saying, "A Charizard in public can be dangerous, but a cute little Azurill won't hurt anyone", they ban all pokemon from being out unless they're essential.

Oh. Rini looked sad, and I realized I just implied she was her inessential. I wanted to take it back, but it was too late for that. She didn't comment on it, though. What does a Charizard look like? I got out my pokedex and showed her the giant fire lizard. Her mood brightened up a little.

Route 4 was a long, wide path cut through a forest. Close to Lumiose were a large water fountain and large labyrinthine gardens you could lose yourself in for days — an attempt to keep the area tamed (and amenable to tourists). I wasn't anywhere close to that landmark, though. That was probably a few days away.

Two hours later, the four of us were roughly five miles out from where we started. As I walked, I noticed lots of trainers come from behind and overtake me. They walked and it seemed like they covered seven leagues with every single step. It seemed impossible for me to try to keep up with that pace.

A few minutes later, I suggested stopping for a while to rest. My leg ached despite the slow pace and the weak painkillers I'd taken before leaving Santalune. I sat down, placed my backpack on the ground, and got a water bottle so we could all quench our thirsts. I lay down on the grass to stare at the clouds, trying to push intrusive thoughts of ants and other insects crawling over me out of my mind. I tried to do cloud watching, but with every thing I said, either Raine or Rini asked me for clarification. What's a Luxray? What's Prism Tower? What's a bookshelf? Eventually I stopped because I had no more energy for answering questions, and I resolved to show them the world around them more actively, somehow.

I felt nice and comfortable, with the sun shining down and the breeze blowing gently. I felt my eyelids getting heavy and I yawned. I'd closed my eyes for a second or so before I felt the sharp sting of bubbles popping on my cheek.

I sat up straight. Ow! What was that for?

Rini immediately cried out I'm sorry!

Violet nuzzled Rini gently. Sleeping in the sun in the middle of June does not seem like the smartest idea. Hence asking her to wake you up.

You could have done that more gently. I cringed a little; it sounded too much like I was whining. Violet came up to me and started licking me softly. I played up my reaction. Ahh, sandpaper tongue, sandpaper tongue! I giggled and squirmed as she licked me.

I heard Raine said What's that? Violet stopped licking me and we both turned to look where Raine was facing.

A small Ralts was walking over to us. Young Ralts tended to gather around this area to play in the clearing. I'd never seen one this close, though.

What do you think... I started.

They, Violet said.

Thanks. What do you think they want? Are they wild?

I checked my pokedex. According to it, Ralts only appear to people if they were happy or content. People always said that Ralts only showed themselves to people who are really special, and so I wondered what they were doing coming up to me. I didn't know if our resting and being silly had attracted them. As they got closer, however, I noticed they held a folded piece of paper in their hands, and those thoughts were dispelled. They were definitely not wild.

The Ralts stood in front of me and offered me the tiny little note. I took it from their hands, afraid to be too rough with the delicate pokemon. I opened the piece of paper up and read it. "Hi. I saw you from the distance. You're the first trainer I've seen with a psychic type. I think that's really neat. I'd like to ask for some advice, if that would be okay. May I come and say hi?"

I didn't quite know what to say. I wasn't really used to people being excited to meet Violet. We were usually given a pretty wide berth when walking around the city. Positive attention from a stranger was almost disorienting. I turned to Violet. What do you think?

We need to get to the next pokemon center before it's too dark. As long as this doesn't take up too much time, it should be okay. I can't pretend I'm not a bit curious.

I nodded. Turning back to the Ralts, I said, "Sure, your trainer can come over."

I half-expected them to start shuffling back across the clearing to wherever their trainer was hiding. Instead their horns shone very briefly and then they sat down to wait. Telepathy was such an integral, intimate part of how Violet and I communicated that I'd forgotten that other people can do it too. It almost felt wrong, like they were encroaching on something important and personal, but I knew that thought was weird and possessive. I idly fiddled with a bracelet on my wrist and waited.

The trainer didn't take too long to appear. As he got closer, I tried to pick out details of his appearance. He seemed tall, but not as tall as me. His hair was short and straight, and some nondescript shade of brown. He wore a bland looking shirt and khaki pants. There was nothing distinguishing about his face. Faces on the whole were hard for me to understand or make sense out of; they all looked like grotesque, interchangeable messes. He got close, sat down with his legs crossed. I looked him in the eyes - or rather, I looked at his nose, or a few inches to the side of his eyes, because that was as close as I could comfortably get. I think he was doing the same, and it surprised me; I didn't know anyone else who avoided eye contact like I did.

He waved. "Hi. My name is Jasper."

"Hi. Kira. You said you wanted to talk to me?"

He nodded. "I saw you had a psychic type, and I was curious. Umm, Eru and I have only been together for about a day, and I don't know anything about how to train them. You have a lot of pokemon and you didn't seem scary, and I thought that maybe you could help." He looked down and his voice was suddenly a lot less confident. "I can leave if you want me to."

"No, no. It's fine. I just don't know how much help I can be."

He tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"Violet doesn't battle. She's not allowed to. She's an emotional support pokemon. There's not really many battling tips we can give you. At most, we can give you some training exercises."

I expected him to grimace, or look away, or get up. The typical reaction to finding out Violet doesn't battle was pity. People didn't dare say it to our faces, but everyone thought one of two things: either that if she doesn't battle, what good is she; or alternately, that she must be miserable taking care of me instead of getting to battle other pokemon. I expected him to sit here until he found a good excuse to go.

He didn't, though. His eyes seemed to twinkle and he smiled wide. When he spoke, he gestured more with his hands. "Oh, wow, really? I'm jealous. I wanted a service pokemon growing up."

"What?"

His voice got quieter for a bit. "My mom always said one'd attract too much attention, and I could get by without one. It's part of why I was so excited Eru chose me when I got my pokedex yesterday."

"Wait. You and Eru met, defeated Viola, and left the city in a day? It took us almost three weeks to do all of that. That's really impressive."

He blushed and looked down. "We... We didn't quite do that. We'll take Viola on later. Way, way later. I just needed to get out of Santalune as soon as I could."

"Oh."

"It's, umm. My parents." He tried to stammer an explanation, but I cut him off.

"It's okay," I said. "Yeah, I understand." Part of me wanted to give him a hug, but he was also almost a complete stranger. It'd be weird.

He nodded and stopped. We sat in silence for a few minutes. I fiddled with my bracelet; he rocked very slightly back and forth. Jasper broke the silence first. "C-Could I ask you for a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Would you mind having a pokemon battle? It'd be our first."

Raine came over to me, jumped into my lap, and started licking my hand.

Oww. Don't press there, that hurts, I said. She readjusted herself and went back to licking my hand. I couldn't help but giggle.

Sorry! A battle would be exciting, though. Could we, please?

Rini bounced close and looked at me. What's going on?

Right, she couldn't understand me when I spoke. I assumed that Violet had been translating this whole time, but in retrospect, I had no reason to expect that; neither of us had said anything of the sort. I really needed to be more attentive about it. Violet caught my eye and I was sure she was thinking the same thing too. I pet Rini softly. Jasper — that's the new person's name — wants to have a battle. Would you like to take part?

I don't know what battles are like. Do I have to?

Not really, no. I'm not going to force you.

I'm curious! I don't know if I can, though. Can I just watch?

I gave her a small smile — or at least what I hoped was a small smile. Sure. That's okay.

I got my cane upright, planted it on the ground, and put weight on it to help me get up. I wobbled for a second but managed to stand. "Is a one-on-one battle okay with you? Raine versus Eru?"

"Sure. I've never seen how an Azurill battles."

I blinked. "Oh, umm. Raine is my Cyndaquil."

"Oh, I"m sorry. I just thought, you know, rain and a water type. The name would fit."

I nodded. "Anyway, we should give them some space to run around in."

"Right." Jasper got up and got a few yards back. "Is this enough?"

I nodded.

Be gentle, I said to Raine. There's no point in anyone getting hurt.

"How do we know when to stop?"

"We stop when one side asks for things to be over. Are you ready?"

He nodded.

Get up close and use a lot of fire. Eru will probably be a lot like Violet, and we know how to deal with Violet.

Okay!

Raine moved with a burst of speed. She seemed to blur as she closed half the distance towards Eru. They and Jasper both jumped a little; I didn't think either of them expected Raine to move that quickly. It didn't really seem like she could on her stubby little legs, but she could attack quickly if she wanted to.

I expected Jasper would act like I did, and give his commentary through telepathy. Instead he said commands out loud and fumbled with his words. "Okay, umm. Try a Confusion attack!"

Eru's horns shone and a wave of raw telekinetic force flew out towards Raine. It was invisible and we shouldn't have been able to see it, but it hugged the ground and threw up grass and dirt as it moved. It didn't move as quickly as I expected it should. Raine moved with another burst of speed and dodged it easily. She quickly circled behind Eru and sent out small wisps of fire. I wondered if it was more hot air than fire, really. She could have sent out a lot more, but then again, it was only a practice match.

"Look out! Get out of there!"

Eru flinched for a second but didn't move away; they probably would have been too slow to get any meaningful distance. Instead they turned and fired another blast of telekinetic force. It was such a jerking motion that I wonder if it happened on instinct. The attack pushed a small amount of the fire back and managed to score a grazing hit on Raine. It took her by surprise. Regardless, Raine pressed her advantage and tackled Eru.

Jasper cringed. I didn't know whether he'd started using telepathy, or whether he just didn't know what to say.

At the moment of impact, motes of pink light flew out of Raine and into Eru. Raine stopped and tried to catch her breath; she seemed more tired than I expected her to be. Eru twitched, the beginning of an attempt to get up again.

Can I end this now? Raine asked.

Go ahead.

Raine ran towards Eru, pinned their limbs to the ground with her own, and started to build up a fireball in her mouth.

I looked at Jasper. "Do you give?"

Eru squirmed a little under Raine. Their horns glowed and Raine flinched slightly, hit by a wave of psychic force. It wasn't enough to displace her. Raine growled a little and built up more fire. She opened her mouth just a tiny bit; I think it was to let hot air flow over Eru.

"We give," Jasper said.

Raine got off Eru, ran over to me, and started to nuzzle my leg. I sat down slowly next to Violet and let Raine climb on my lap. I pet her softly.

Are you okay, dear?

Yeah, I am. I-I hope that Eru isn't too mad at me.

I gave her a kiss on the nose. I doubt they are. They were the ones who wanted it in the first place. It's okay.

Rini bounced over and started jumping extra high. Oh wow, that was really cool. Can you show me how to do that?

Raine took Rini to the side and started detailing the process of building up a fireball. I looked at them curiously, figuring Rini would gain nothing from it, but she suddenly shot out a large bullet of water. Ahh, don't hit me! That was really good, though, try again! I left them to it.

Jasper walked over to me and sat down in front of me. He held Eru in his arms gingerly. I passed him a few berries and he gave them to Eru to eat. Jasper looked at me excitedly. "How did you do that? Half the time when I try to give Eru commands, they ignore them because there's just no chance for them to act."

"It looked like you were silent for a lot of it."

"Eru and I tried to do telepathy as much as we could. Sometimes I got excited and said things out loud. Sometimes they just couldn't keep up the telepathy if things were happening."

"Telepathy is really useful, and it lets you say things faster and more clearly than voice. It takes practice, though. The more reliably you can do it, probably the better you'll be." He nodded. I kept going. "As for commands... I don't really give many commands, to be honest. Violet is smarter than me—"

Am not.

I gave her a look and kept going. "Violet is smarter than me. Raine and Rini are at least as smart as I am. We all have about the same amount of experience, so there's not much I can add."

He nodded and went quiet.

If you'd like, I can try to give you some training exercises. I made them up myself in the last few weeks, training with Raine.

I turned towards her. Wait, what? I was confused until I realized she had been talking to Eru. Oh.

Eru got up from Jasper's lap and walked toward Violet. She led them a few feet away to a tree they could batter with psychic blasts. That left Jasper and I alone, all awkward with each other.

"Could you tell me about your gym battle? How'd you beat Viola."

"Lots of luck, mostly. Luck and espionage."

"Ooh, tell me all about it."

I started the story at the morning of the gym battle and tried to tell it as accurately as I could. Close to the end, when I reached the part about fighting Viola's Vivillon, Raine and Rini came back over. Rini jumped in my lap and Raine started nuzzling Jasper's leg. He looked at me as if asking permission. I nodded and he picked her up to put her on his lap. She nuzzled him and he smiled. I finished the story.

I looked at my watch. It was almost noon. It seemed like time was slipping away from me. I didn't know how much longer Violet would take talking to Eru. I got some food out of my backpack, shared it with Raine and Rini, and ate. We sat in blissful silence.

About half an hour later, Violet and Eru came back. Eru gave Raine a look, not understanding why she was still nuzzled up on Jasper's lap. Violet gave me a tiny headbutt, asking for scritches, and I gave them to her. I asked, Are you okay to keep walking, or did training with Eru tire you out?

I'm okay. We can get going if you'd like.

I nodded. I stood up with a bit of effort. "It's past noon already. I don't walk very fast and I need to get to the next town before it gets too dark."

Jasper stood up and looked at the ground. "D-do you mind if I walk with you?" I raised my eyebrow. I didn't know what to say. He continued. "I'm headed that way too — I kind of forgot to get camping gear — and I don't have anyone else to talk to. It's totally okay to say no, and I can leave whenever, but I don't want to be lonely."

I looked around the area, trying to avoid his gaze, and saw his backpack. It was tiny compared to what other trainers I'd seen had been carrying. "How many supplies do you have, anyway?" I asked, concerned. I didn't know if he could adequately take care of himself if I left him alone.

"I... I didn't really have time to get much. I have a few clothes and a computer."

"Do you have a compass? A map? Food and water for you and Eru? A tent?" He shook his head at all those.

To be fair, you aren't very prepared either. The sum of your plan is 'hope to get to a pokemon center before the sun sets'.

I gave Violet what I hoped was an exasperated look. Violet, now's really not the time.

"I can fix a lot of that in the next town. They're bound to have a pokemart. I just need to get there."

"Are you sure? I walk really slowly. We'll have to take a lot of breaks."

"I don't mind."

This was unexpected and I wasn't quite sure how to react. I looked at Violet pleadingly; I hoped she would have an answer so I would have to make the decision myself. I like Eru, and you're at least slightly fond of Jasper. I've never been someone's teacher, and it's surprisingly meaningful for me. Your comfort's important, though. We can say no. We can kick them out whenever we want. No matter what, it won't be for long.

Raine was still in Jasper's lap, though she looked straight at me. I asked for her opinion and she said, He feels really nice when he holds me. I like him.

I explained the question to Rini and she spent a minute in silence. Jasper looked at all of us nervously, eyes darting back and forth between us. I wanted to say something, but didn't know what. Eventually Rini spoke, I don't mind if he stays. I don't mind if he goes. She climbed up on Violet and nuzzled into her fur. She didn't want to be part of this conversation any longer.

The decision was up to me. I frowned. I took some time to think. Jasper opened his mouth like he was about to speak, probably to take it all back, and I interrupted him, decision made. "Sure. Everyone's okay with it. Let's get going." His eyes lit up and he smiled wide and I hoped I wasn't making a mistake.