By the time we decided to make camp, neither of us looked all that fresh. Throughout the day, we had been faced with aggressive Pokémon again and again, all but one of them either Starly or Bidoof. That single outlier had been a Kricketot, the Bug-typing making it easy prey for my Prince Charming. It was savagely amusing in my eyes, both Pokémon had a similar, orange hue, only one was highly flammable, the other happily spit fire. Physically, the two couldn’t be more different, one a lizard, the other a bug, with an orange shell, a creme-coloured collar around its neck and a set of two black, curled antenna sticking out its head.

Other than that, we had taken turns fighting them, trying to spread the load equally between our three Pokémon. Claire had considered trying to catch a second Pokémon, taking the time to evaluate the Starly we encountered, but none of them had caught her interest.

While I couldn’t be sure without using the better scanners at a Pokémon-Centre, I was quite certain that Vio had increased her level and Prince Charming was well on his way.

Setting up camp was done in a quick and efficient manner, it had been something Cynthia had drilled into me repeatedly, to the point that I had a feeling I would be able to prepare a rudimentary camp-site in my sleep. Which had likely been the point.

There was only one part where I shamelessly cheated. Given that my dear partner was a Fire-type, with a perpetual flame burning on his tail, a flame he could increase in intensity at will, I was not willing to gather wood, traipsing through the forest in search of try branches and such.

“Come out, Charm.” I quietly called, pressing the button to have him appear. His first impulse was to look for the enemy, as his day had been a mix of resting and fighting, but when he noticed no foe, he looked to me, seeing the pot in my hands.

“I’ll need your help to cook.” I told him, a grin on my face. He happily stepped over, positioning himself so that his tail-flame was hovering on one side of me, while his body was right before my legs, so I could give him scritches, as payment for his help.

Cooking above his flame was incredibly comfortable, with a simple word, the temperature increased or was lowered to a simmering heat, allowing for great temperature-control. A part of me wondered what I’d be able to make, if I had the right ingredients, as images of cooking flashed before my eyes, weird, polished appliances, filled with various ingredients, unlike those I had seen recently. Here, I only had the ingredients for porridge with nuts and berries. It was about as simple as food could be, but it was light-weight and would give energy for a whole day of travelling. If necessary, I’d even be able to share it with my partners, the berries similar to those used in the universal-kibble.

“Dinner’s ready.” I called out, getting Claire to rise from where she had dropped after we set up the tent. “Why don’t you get some food and water into you, before going to sleep. I’ll wake you in a couple of hours for a night-watch.” I told her, getting a nod in return. Her state reminded me of my own, just a month ago, after the first day of training. Ready to drop and sleep for a week. I made a mental note to wake her gentler than I had been woken, as Cynthia had her Garchomp stomp around my tent, letting the rumbling and rolling earth wake me. Stumbling out of the tent in pitch-black darkness, I stared into a wide open maw, ready to devour me. At that point, I may or may not have screamed, much to Cynthia’s amusement.

“That’s so unfair.” she grumbled, looking at my impromptu fireplace.

“Your Twiggy has his own talents. Pretty sure he’s able to find berries much easier than either of mine and when it comes to digging, he’s quite useful.” I replied, looking to a bush behind which a hole for certain necessary functions had been dug.

“Mhm, true. Twiggy is awesome.” she grinned, giving her Pokéball a caress.

“They all are. They’re our valuable partners and without them, we’d be in trouble.” I returned her grin, before loving up Prince Charming, who lapped the affection up happily.

Soon after, Claire retreated into the tent, leaving me sitting in silence.

“Do you want to return to your ball, or sit with me for a bit?” I quietly asked Charm, letting him make the decision. Normally, he should rest, but a part of me yearned for the warmth he provided, so I let him make the decision. When he happily cuddled against my leg, I took that as his desire to stay out and decided to use his flame to make some tea.

Sitting there, in the night, I felt peaceful. Despite knowing that there were creatures out there who wanted to battle and defeat my precious partners, the forest around me was quiet, only the sound of Charm’s flame and the wind in the trees audible.

After an hour of quiet sitting and talking to Charm, I noticed that I was starting to doze off, the warm presence next to me lulling me into a stupor.

“Charm, you go to sleep.” I told him, calling him back into his ball. With him gone, the cold air returned, shocking me awake. Still, it didn’t take long for the sleepiness to return, so I stood, quietly walking around the dark clearing, making sure not to make too much noise.

Now, without the light, the noises of the night suddenly changed, the rustling I had easily dismissed before suddenly seeming loud and a little intimidating, the wind in the trees becoming a precursor for a massive bird-type to swoop in and either destroy our tent or try attacking me.

The loamy scent of the forest made me wonder if some Ghost-type was sneaking up on us, and when I fumbled into a spider-web between the trees, I had a Pokéball in hand, convinced that I had just shaken some bug-type awake.

Pushing down the fears, I focused on the training with Cynthia, trusting that she had steered me right. That I needed to trust my companions and my senses.

Calling out Vio, I quietly asked her to walk with me for a bit, taking her hand as we quietly made our rounds in the night, her psychic ability to detect danger giving me the reassurance that everything would be alright.

Finally, after hours of sitting, walking and thinking, I decided that it was time to shift watch. After calling back Vio, I stopped my attempts to be quiet and moved to the tent, in order to wake Claire.

“Wake up.” I called out, not too loud, so I wouldn’t attract any annoying pests of the night.

When Claire didn’t wake after repeated calls, I crawled into the tent, shaking her shoulder gently but firmly. Finally, after a few more shakes, she started to mumble that she just needed a few more minutes and that ‘Mom’ shouldn’t be so annoying. I didn’t even try to contain my laughter at that, which was what finally shook her awake.

“Dani? Why are you in my bedroom?” she asked and I just lost it, her expression simply too sleepily adorable.

“Where? Oh…” before I managed to stop myself from laughing, her sleepy mind put two and two together, finally coming up with four.

“It’s your turn to be awake and keep an eye out for trouble. It would really suck if some Bidoof decided that our tent was great nesting-material or something like that.” I told her, once I had stopped laughing.

Looking at her, I realised that she had slept in her underwear and wasn’t quite willing to come out of her sleeping back, with me almost looming over her in the narrow tent.

“Next time, sleep in something that you’d be willing to move in, if there’s an emergency.” I reminded her, before crawling back out of the tent, amused as I listened to her, trying to get dressed in the darkness. I could have sent out Prince Charming, his flame made for a great torch, but she had to learn to rely on herself. Or so I justified it to myself.

Finally, she got out of the tent and I crawled in, snuggling into my own sleeping back after putting on a long shirt and some shorts. Once the fabric had warmed a little, I almost instantly fell asleep. For once, no memories haunted my dreams, only sweet oblivion.