The next day Aiden and Lexi left Crocuta Town early in the morning, trading the hot brick road for a cool sand path. Rows of trees enclosed the path, providing some nice shade. Together they talked about a lot of things, Aiden's gym battle, which town to travel to and about the fact that this would be their first time sleeping outside. Whatever town they would end up going to, it would surely take them at least four days. Serafine ran around them, enjoying the shade of the trees and grabbing a mouth full of grass every now and then. Though Pero was still very cranky and refused to get out of his pokéball unless it was for food, Serafine had forgiven her almost immediately.
''Okay, we got a couple of options. The nearest cities and towns are Anisopera City and Pandam Town if we keep going forwards, we could also go back and go to Bumbus, but it's very small and doesn't have any Gyms.
''Uhm, I guess we can go to Pandam.''
''Okay, then all we have to do is go straight ahead,'' Aiden gestured and put his map back inside his backpack. ''Maybe I can catch another pokémon there, I've heard there are burmy's.''
Lexi looked around her, the right side was mostly populated with bushes and trees, but far away in the distance Lexi could see a very big, bare looking mountain. The sky above it was almost black, so many pokémon were flying over it. Lexi started to second guess her decision about going to Pandam and not towards the mountains.
''Look, a clearing,'' Aiden said, disrupting her thoughts.
The clearing was quite small, but had a recently used campfire pit and some fallen logs that functioned as benches. The ground was flat from continuously being walked on, and the stones and trees around showed clear signs of damage, probably from pokémon practicing their moves.
'What do you think about a training session to try out some things Jasper mentioned?'' Aiden said before sitting down on one of the logs, ''Of course after taking a break and eating something first, I don't know about you but I'm tired, I don't think I've ever walked this far in my life!''
Lexi sat down as well and took a sip from the bottle of moomoo milk she had taken with her.
''What's that?'' Aiden pointed to her bottle.
''This is moomoo milk, made by our miltank's. My mom gave me a lot of it, she says it can give pokémon a bit of their strength back if they're tired. But I like to drink it as well.''
''Could I try a bit? I've never had any. We barely have any in Ibis Town, and it is very expensive. I just drink water or soda.''
''Sure,'' Lexi said. She hesitated a moment. ''Hold out your hands, I'll pour some in.''
Aiden first held his nose above his hands and sniffed, before carefully licking it.
''It tastes…weird…but not bad. I wish my brother was here, he would love to try it.''
''I didn't know you had a brother, what's his name?''
''His name is Rory, he is my baby brother. Looks like me, just shorter and with lighter hair. He'll be six this november.''
Serafine laid down next to Lexi's log and started grazing. ''Serafine, move over a bit. Your bending my tent'' Lexi joked as she pulled her backpack away from under her ponyta.
''Your tent? Where? Is it that small circular thing on the back of your backpack?''
''Yes, it is,'' Lexi took the pale green tent cover of her backpack and handed it to Aiden, ''It is a pop-up tent, so don't open it because it is a pain to get it back inside. It used to be my dad's, when he was on his journey.'' Aiden handed the cover back to Lexi.
''Have you ever gone camping before? I have only done it twice with my dad in one of our empty meadows, but never alone and surely not this far away.''
''I've done it a couple times, together with my brother. My mom practiced it with me about a week before I went away, but I haven't had to do it yet. I had a uncle with a caravan who went away the same day as me, so I could sleep there the first five days. And the day after I had already reached Diptera Town.''
''I'm a bit nervous,'' Lexi confessed, ''All alone, at night, in a forest far away from home.''
''You're not alone. You got your pokémon, and you got me!'' Aiden flexed his arms but also pulled a silly face, making Lexi smile, ''Don't worry, together with me, you'll be fine.''
After they had finished eating, they let out their pokémon and started training. Aiden began with letting his pokémon run and fly the same route over and over again, in hopes of improving their stamina. Krabby, who still had great difficulty moving around with his stick, gave up pretty quickly and joined Pero, who had spent the short time he had been out of his pokéball digging a hole to mope in.
After trying to get him to train with them, Lexi had given up and decided to focus all her energy on Serafine instead. And though her pokémon did everything she asked without delay, Lexi felt annoyed at the lack of communication with Pero.
''Krabby, come and join the others. We should be training together, as a team.''
Aiden knelt down and tried to pull his pokémon out of the hole, but Krabby braced himself and small bubbles started to appear around his mouth. ''Stop being so lazy!''
Aiden jumped away just in time to dodge a stream of bubbles. Krabby climbed out of his hole and fired a second stream, missing Aiden once again, but hitting Lexi, who was standing behind him. The force of the attack knocked Lexi off her feet and left a bright red mark on her arm.
''Ow!'' Lexi exclaimed. She was momentarily dazed because of the pain, but then ducked down and started crawling to her backpack fearing for the safety of her egg. But her egg wasn't there anymore, only a soaked empty towel. Serafine jumped forward and positioned herself in front of Lexi, trying fight back as many bubbles as she could.
''I can't find it,'' Aiden screamed out as he ducked behind a tree, ''Where did I leave my pokéball?!''
Hoothoot jumped in front of Krabby and seemed to argue with him before being thrown back by another stream of bubbles, flying past Pidgey who tried to hide itself between some bushes.
Lexi was still looking around franticly until she felt something poke her. She turned around and saw Pero, who was holding her egg. He looked away from her, but held out the egg. She carefully took it from him and wrapped a new towel around it. ''Thanks.''
Hoothoot and Serafine were still fighting Krabby, together they were able to corner him and protect their trainers and the camp from his destruction.
Finally Aiden jumped up, pokéball in hand. ''Return!'' he commanded.
Both Hoothoot and Serafine moved to the side, and with one more angry ''Ku ki!'' Krabby got sucked into the pokéball.
Aiden dropped the pokéball into his backpack and turned to Lexi. ''I'm sorry, I had no idea Krabby would get so mad. Are you okay?''
Lexi had taken cover behind one of the logs and held the egg close to her chest. 'Yeah, I'm okay. Just a bit bruised I think. I'll survive. I am just happy the egg didn't get hurt.'' Lexi stood up and smiled to Serafine and Hoothoot, ''Thank you for protecting us.''
Lexi and Aiden tried their best to clean up the clearing before continuing their journey, as both trainers agreed it was their responsibility to leave it as it was found. The countless twigs and leaves were blown away by Pidgey's Gust, the logs returned to their respective places and the branches that were covering the ground got piled up against one of the trees.
The walk to their first camping spot was silent from then on, as they both wanted to preserve their energy. Aiden had started to walk slower and slower, and Lexi had matched his pace mindlessly, as she was too distracted by the pain in her arm. Not only was the pain itself tiring, but it also withheld her from using both arms to hold the egg.
After Aiden once again complaint about his feet hurting, they decided to put their tents between some trees, a few feet from the sand path. The spot was very cramped and there was no water nearby, but as the map showed the next river to be at least a couple more hours away, both of them had accepted that they would not be getting a hot meal today. The two tents were finally standing upright, as Aiden had not been very cooperative, and all pokémon were out of their pokeballs again, except for Krabby.
''Well, no water so no cooking, it's going to be bread and food bars today.'' Lexi opened her backpack and threw one of the bars to Aiden, who ripped it open immediately.
''I got some candy with me,' Aiden held up his backpack, ''Tell me if you want some.''
When the sun went down they both closed up their tents and went to sleep. But the night wasn't peaceful. Everywhere were sounds of footsteps, twigs breaking, the rustling of leaves. Hundreds of nocturnal pokémon were waking up and beginning their day. Lexi looked at the shadows moving against the side of her tent. Serafine was lying next to her tent, head down as if asleep but eyes open, staring into the night. She could see a rattata walking past, and a zubat fly above her. Every now and then she'd lift her head, looking up at Aiden's Hoothoot, who had found a resting place for him and his teammate to sleep on a small branch right above his trainers tent. Pidgey had its wings folded, head pulled in and eyes closed, but Hoothoot had its eyes wide open, intensely looking at every skunky that waddled past, each misdreavus that hovered above the trees looking down at them. Sometimes he would let out a small 'Hoot' as a warning.
The sky was clouded when they got out of their tents the next morning, and cold winds blew through the trees. They set out late, both trainers had trouble starting up after the draining night. With their tents finally packed and the pokémon returned to their pokéballs, they got back on the path. The whole day they saw nothing but trees, big straight brown trees, with orange leaves and short branches. The path seemed to be never ending and never changing, except that Aiden had to stop every few feet to get the sand out of his shoes, much to Lexi's annoyance.
There was just one small moment of excitement when a small cloud of black dots flew over them. Lexi could not recognize the pokémon as it was too far away, but suspected that it would be a group of starly's migrating. When the day ended, they had only travelled half the distance they had meant to. Both were tired after another toilful day that ended with pieces of bread and foodbars. Aiden had found some pink berries on a blue bush which enriched the meal a bit, but still tasted bad compared to what they were used to.
That night almost all pokémon were let out of their balls again. Aiden did not dare to let Krabby out of his pokéball yet, but, after consulting Lexi, decided to let him out the next day, far away from everyone else, to prevent another injury. Lexi could still not use her arm well and had trouble putting- and packing up her tent each day. The second night was even worse than the first. The ground was cold and hard, and there was constant drizzle. Serafine was back in her pokéball, and Aiden had retrieved his Pidgey as well.
Hoothoot and Pero insisted on staying outside. Pero had buried himself deep into the ground, so Lexi had only been able to see a moving pile of dirt when she closed up her tent, and Hoothoot had positioned himself under a thick branch which stopped most of the rain. Lexi felt a little better, knowing two pokémon were guarding outside their tents, but she still couldn't sleep.
She thought about home. Her parents were probably lying in bed right now. Her mom, tired from working on the farm, would probably be fast asleep, while her dad was still reading. How she wished she was home now, lying in her own bed so she could go downstairs and grab some food out of the refrigerator. The foodbars weren't very filling and after eating them for two days straight, the flavour became a bit nauseating.
Not long after they started the next day, the forest changed into grassland. In the distance ran a river, which widened into a lake. Aiden and Lexi, with Serafine next to her again, walked in a steady pace through the tall grass. The path disappeared together with the trees but they knew which way to go, straight to the river.
''I thought we'd never get out of that forest'' Aiden opened his arms and breathed in, enjoying the fresh air. The grass stood very high, almost up to their waist. They could see the grass move left to right. ''I wonder what kinds of pokémon are hiding in here''
He got on his toes, trying to see above the tall grass. Aiden even leaned on Serafine to keep his balance, earning a surprised look from the ponyta. ''I think I want to try and catch one. Why don't you catch one as well, the next Gym is Dark type so it's best to catch a Bug pokémon.''
And with that he dived into the grass. Aiden went to every grass patch that moved, but though he found many Pokémon, he was not able to catch any of them. They either ran or flew away before he could throw his ball, or were too strong to stay in it. The last one was neither strong nor eager to run away, but was knocked out almost immediately. Lexi had made her way through the tall grass and now sat next to the stream waiting for Aiden. Her pants had multiple green stains on them and her shoes were decorated with tiny blades of grass. Serafine was still in the tall grass, her fire was controlled so did not burn the foliage, but it still caused the grass around her to become limp.
''Are you done?'' Lexi stood up and motioned to a red bridge not far from them, ''because I'm not sure how we're going to get over the bridge. I think some wild pokémon had a battle there, it has multiple holes in it and doesn't look very safe.''
Aiden shrugged,'' Well, I think it's the only way over, so unless you want to swim...'' And with that he ran past her towards the bridge. He was already on it by the time Lexi got to the bridge. It looked old and worn down, some of the floorboards were either broken or chewed off and it had lost some of its paint so the original grey color was visible. Lexi hugged her egg a little tighter and followed Aiden, who was running and jumping over the old wooden planks like he saw a bag of pokédollars on the other end. The whole bridge seemed to shake a bit and the wood squeaked under his shoes.
And just like that, he fell through. The plank could no longer hold him and snapped in half, falling into the water below. It was followed by Aiden's legs, and Aiden let out a scream when he felt the cold water surround and drench his lower body. ''Help!'' Aiden screeched.
Lexi stood in place, shocked. When she heard Aiden scream a second time she quickly put down the egg and proceeded as fast as she dared.
''Take care of it Serafine. Make sure no other pokémon or person goes near it. '' Lexi shouted.
Aiden was still under the bridge, holding on to the plank in front of him. ''What took you so long!''
Aiden had a scowl on his face, though Lexi wasn't sure if it was of anger or just concentration. She held out her hand and tried to keep her balance as Aiden pulled himself up. Back on the bridge he rolled up his pants legs and revealed the big red lines scratched into his skin. ''My legs hurt, they need to be treated! And my pants are torn up as well.''
''I got a First Aid Kit in my bag, but first you need to get of this bridge. You go ahead, I need to go back for the egg. And don't run, okay?''
Aiden didn't answer, he carefully crossed the last part of the bridge and Lexi went back to get her egg.
''Everything okay Serafine?'' She picked up the egg and petted her ponyta. ''I think I'm going to put you back in your pokéball for now, better put as little weight on the bridge as possible, but I promise to let you out as soon as I'm at the other side.''
When she got to the other side of the bridge, she couldn't see Aiden anywhere. 'He's probably busy changing his pants,'' Lexi said to herself, looking around. The other side of the river looked pretty much the same, with its tall grass and trees in the distance. But the grass itself looked different, and so did the trees. The grass had a small white line down the center of the blades and was a lot higher, almost up to her neck, so that wouldn't be a great place to put the fire, but it could create some nice shade. The top of the grass looked fresh and minty green, but the base at the bottom was brown and the floor was covered in dead dried up blades.
By the time Aiden came back, Lexi had already put up her tent, brushed Serafine and started with dinner. Now that they had a water source nearby, she could finally use some of the soup mixes her mother had given her. Aiden, who had replaced his green pants with a blue one decorated with zubat, set up his own tent before sitting down near the fire. ''Nice…pants,'' Lexi tried, but Aiden didn't respond. Both trainers stared at the boiling pot in heavy silence. Eventually Lexi stood up, divided the soup evenly and gave Aiden a bowl and spoon.
Aiden stared blankly in front of him, earning a annoyed look from Lexi. She was tired, hungry and not in the mood for any more problems. When she was half done eating her, slightly plain tasting, soup, Aiden finally moved his spoon to his mouth. His nose wrinkled, and he forcefully spit it out on the dirt beside him. ''Ugh, what this? It tastes horrible!''
''Well…it's what we have. There are still food bars left if you prefer them, but I think you should give it another chance.''
Aiden played around with his spoon, ''You know, my mom always makes the soup with little leaves in it, and that tastes pretty good.''
''Then grab some leaves from the trees, that branch hangs pretty low.'' Lexi pointed.
''Hey, no need to be snobby.''
''Snobby?!'' Lexi stood up, putting down her empty plate. ''Why do you call me a snob, I'm not the one expecting a homemade dinner while in the woods! I did my very best to make us something. If you don't like it then YOU can make it tomorrow.''
''Fine!'' Aiden stood up as well,'' but I'm not going to stay here and listen to you complain about me.'' And with that Aiden picked up his stuff and moved away. Lexi went over to Serafine, who had walked away from the camp when the argument started, and stroked her head. ''It's okay, we're done yelling. I'm sorry girl.''
They walked back and sat down near the fire. Aiden had put his tent up and let out his pokémon, who were very confused by the space between the tents.
And that's how they stayed the rest of the night. Lexi glanced at Aiden every now and then, trying to see if he would come back. But when she got inside her tent and closed her eyes, the spot beside her was still empty.