This past week, Val had taken Foofy on many happy walks, but none happier than this. To Foofy, this may seem like the best day ever, getting two walks from Val in one day. The nub of his tail wagged a mile a minute as they walked away from the animal shelter forever.

Likewise, Val could not be more thrilled which made a skip enter her step, only serving to drive Foofy into an even greater state of animation. He practically bounded at her side with all of the excitement. Additionally, this further instilled in Val the belief that Foofy could reflect her emotions.

By his doggy intuition, Foofy seemed to understand that something much bigger was at play than a mere second walk—something even bigger than his very adoption. Together, they would venture to the Summit of Ascension, as that journey had begun at last.

Unlike Ross heading out in the middle of the night, Val left for the Summit of Ascension during the middle of the day. Despite her better timing, Val still found herself doomed to have to walk all throughout Brillion City to get to anywhere she wished to go. Sadly, dogs could not take any form of public transit, even though Foofy would surely look better and behave better than some of the sketchier people in the city.

Just as Ross had walked for the majority of the night in order to arrive at the motel, Val had to walk all day to reach that same place. The sun continually beat down on the sidewalk, causing that heat to radiate back up to her. Similarly, the sun’s rays also bore down on Val’s forehead. From both above and below, the sun assaulted her with its warmth, making this day in early October too hot for her liking. Autumn should have been a more pleasant time to begin her journey than this.

Because of that bothersome sun, her skin began feeling warm from more than just walking. Her best guess: her fair complexion would not look so fair anymore. Instead, her face would probably beam red from sunburn. For that, Val silently cursed herself for not thinking to pack a little tube of sunscreen nor a baseball cap to protect herself from long days out in the sun. She would pay that price with a permanently red face.

The entire time, Foofy panted with his tongue hanging out. For both Val and Foofy, some breaks were needed. One such break included tying Foofy’s leash to a bike rack outside of a convenience store. This much-needed errand should only take five minutes.

Val checked that she had secured his leash well, then shifted her attention to Foofy. “Sit.”

As she had ordered, Foofy sat back against his haunches slowly.

“Good boy! Stay.” Val had no idea if he knew that command or not, but in the event that he did not, he could start learning right now. To emphasize the command, Val held a hand out to Foofy like she would in a gesture to stop. “Stay,” she repeated again in a long, stern voice.

With that, Val hurried to head into the store. Some Dobie whines sounded from behind her, but she did not bother to go back to reassure him. The less time that they lingered around the store, the less likely somebody would try to yell at Val for tying her dog up on the bike rack.

Inside the store, Val purchased a small package of disposable bowls. Once again, Val had failed to think ahead very well for her supplies, however she lacked anything that would cover Foofy’s needs despite her best intentions for him.

From the entire package, Val only wanted one bowl for Foofy. At the foot of a shaded bench a ways off, she set it down and poured some water for him. While the dog tongue lapped against the water with a slap, slap, slap, Val straightened the smile on her face so that she could take a long gulp from the water bottle for herself. They needed this break to rest and rehydrate for a moment. Val closed her eyes and let her head tip back into the shade.

Later, they made another stop, but this time at a pet store when they passed one. Here, Val got to take Foofy inside, using Keep the Peace to prevent him from pulling on the leash like crazy. Going up the aisle of dog food, he wanted to sniff and tear into every bag, but Val certainly did not want to pay for all of those so she kept him on a literal short leash. While the cheapest bag of dog food was tempting, Val had done a little research on canine diets on her phone. Apparently, that food practically starved the dogs that ate that brand due to its low nutritional value. Rather, she went for a small bag of practical dog food, both in price and quality. With sustenance for Foofy, they headed on out with Val holding a fifteen pound bag of dry kibble in her arms.

Together, they continued on, walking on and on. Under normal circumstances even with her divine blood, Val crossed through areas that she would not feel safe as a young woman alone, especially carrying a backpack. As a local, she knew which areas she absolutely needed to avoid, while the others, she could take the risk. Surprisingly enough, Val experienced no trouble at all. For this, she credited the imposing form of Foofy as a Doberman Pinscher. The good Dobie kept her from having to deal with any nuisances in the city.

At any rate, the harsh light of the sun ceased its assault on them as the day faded into afternoon. Walking across the city took a surprisingly long time, though it made sense, given that Brillion City happened to be a major metropolis in the Southern Peninsula, or South Pen as the locals called it. Eventually, afternoon gave way to dusk and thankfully, this also brought the arrival of Val and Foofy to the motel.

The same woman worked at the front desk as the night that Ross had run away. Presently, she helped some other rough-looking clientele get sorted out with a room.

With key in hand, the man turned back to glower at Val before sauntering off to his room. As he walked off, a short growl rumbled from Foofy’s voice, making the man check back over his shoulder and quicken his pace.

If not for wanting to avoid trouble, Val would have laughed out loud, both from the hilarity of a random stranger’s spiteful glare and also from her fraying nerves. She really would feel uncomfortable in this part of the city, if not for her divine blood. Of course, no one knew her status as a demigoddess looking in on the outside, so Val felt overwhelmed with gratitude as she looked down to Foofy.

More than just a natural guard dog, Foofy—that amazing Dobie—served as her personal protection dog. Whether that man quite deserved a growl or not, Val still regarded Foofy for his instincts and trusted that he did.

With his big brown eyes blinking, Foofy looked up to her as she gazed back at him. Through that sharp appearance of his with the short, pointed ears and lean, mean body, no one would mess with Val so long as Foofy stayed by her side.

“Good boy,” she whispered down to him.

His face lit up from the praise, eyes opening wider with a sparkle from the lighting in the lobby.

“Let’s go,” Val said with a tug of the leash. To the receptionist, she spoke louder in a normal, neutral voice. “Good evening. Just to double-check, this place is dog friendly right?”

“It sure is! Just take him outside to do his business and make sure that he doesn’t wreck anything in the room, so we will not have to bill you extra.” The receptionist stared down at Foofy with a slight frown.

“No problem. Can I get a single?”

With the exchange of a room key and a good chunk of money, Val headed on her way to the room. Inside, she did the door bar since she had no plans to go anywhere for the rest of the night. After that, she stopped in the bathroom to drop her backpack off in the tub. That way, if this place did indeed have bed bugs as Ross had alluded to, none of them could hitch a ride in her backpack and continue to terrorize her throughout her adventure.

Back in the room, Val wandered over to the bed. “Well, Foofy,” Val said as plumped onto the covers like Ross had, “time to see if you will have any problems with house training. You better not try to do your doggy business in here.” While she may have spoken sternly as though Foofy might understand her, Val did not particularly want to develop any skills to be an animal whisperer with her divine blood.

Since Foofy had relieved himself not that long ago before they had checked-in, hopefully they would not have any accidents. For the time being, Foofy looked on at her with some dumb, innocent blinks.

“Would you like to come up on the bed?” Val asked with a pat over the blanket.

Foofy leaped up and made himself at home on the foot of the bed.

“Good boy!” As much as she wanted to sit around idly and pet him—her new dog, Val had work to do. Her body felt exhausted, but luckily her mind had cleared. Laying back on the bed like this, Val let her weariness from so much sun and walking wash away.

Her eyes closed, but by no means to sleep yet. After all, Val was now refreshed from her previous use of Past Insight, and it was about time for her to use her ability once again to continue to see where Ross had gone next.