“Ho, the camp.” A voice called out, as Claire and I were just about done setting our camp for the night. We had pushed hard, getting back to higher, solid ground, using the same camp-site we had used the day before and during our journey towards Sandgem-Town and by now, there was a certain familiarity with the rocks on the ground. I had even named one of them, a pointy bastard that somehow had managed to get under my sleeping-mat on both occasions, despite me throwing it away both times. If it managed to do so a third time, I would throw a Pokéball at it, just in case Mr. Pita was a cleverly disguised Pokémon.

“Afternoon.” I called back, my hand habitually lingering on Vio’s Pokéball. Normally, unexpected noises in the wild meant Pokémon-attack, but unless we were dealing with something weird it was actually another traveller. A solo-traveller, judging by the footsteps.

“Cliff?!” Claire exclaimed, when the traveller stepped into sight. He was roughly our age and dressed in a similar manner, sturdy clothes, rather muddy from a trek through the swampy area. Blonde hair, bright eyes and a wide smile, as he stared at Claire, almost transfixed.

“Claire, I’m so happy to see you. Your mom told me you already set out.” he enthused. A part of me expected to see a tail happily wagging behind him, but if his tail was wagging, it was thankfully covered up by his pants.

“Who’s your friend?” he asked, looking at me, the smile visibly dimming.

“Cliff, meet Dani, my travelling companion.” Claire introduced. By now, I had spoken enough with Claire to hear the tension in her voice.

“Dani, this is Cliff, a former class-mate of mine.” Claire continued, Regardless, I gave the newcomer a nod, bringing a polite smile to my face.

“Pleasure.” I studied him for a moment, before deciding that the decorum was taken care of, and I had wood to gather. For once, I wasn’t about to ask Prince Charming to provide the heat for cooking.

“I’ll be back in a bit.” I told Cliare, before giving a glance to our guest, quietly adding, “Take care.”

With a nod from her, I walked into the woods, looking for dead wood from last year, broken trees, anything that had dried out nicely and would easily burn. It took some time, a good half-hour, but I managed to find an old,fallen tree that had only fallen half-way, crashing into other trees and getting stuck. The lower branches had mostly dried out, and being off the ground meant that they hadn’t taken in extra moisture, making them suitable.

There was more than enough wood to last for the whole night, even multiple nights, and once I had enough for cooking and some extra, I started to make my way back, setting obvious markers so others might be able to find the deadfall, so the gathering would be easier on them.

When I got back to our camp, Claire was focused on her pack, looking through it, while Cliff looked a little like a bump on a log, standing there without quite knowing what to do. He had set up a tent, but didn’t look too comfortable.

“If you are interested, I left marks to an adequate supply of firewood.” I told him, placing down the wood I had just gathered.

“It’s okay, I’ve got ready-to-eat meals with me.” he replied, making me shrug. Cynthia had given those to me to try and the taste had been lacklustre. While the simple porridge I had settled on wasn’t too complex, it was a lot easier to carry, only needing water, heat and the mix of dried berries with nuts to make a warm and filling meal. In comparison, he carried more dead weight, with a worse taste and gained less energy from eating. In addition, having a fire meant it was easy to prepare tea, which was a necessity in my eyes. A hot tea helped to make the world seem less bleak, even during the darkest of nights. Or something like that.

“Suit yourself.” I shrugged, beginning to set up the fire. It didn’t take long, even with Prince Charming, making fire had been part of my lessons, and soon, I had a nicely burning fire going. Compared to my usual heatsource, it was far inferior, but preparing porridge wasn’t high-class cooking, so I could deal. I didn’t even say anything when Cliff plopped down on the other side of our fire, stretching his hands towards the heat. What I did notice, however, was that Claire was rather quiet, almost subdued the whole time.

There was an air of awkwardness around, neither of the two acquainted people speaking, not to each other, nor to me. Instead of trying to change something about that, I decided to simply ignore it, silently reminding myself that the next day, we’d get back to Sandgem-Town and just happen to leave at a different time, compared to Cliff. Or maybe just straight-out telling him to leave, that would work, too, but wasn’t quite within the spirit of the League’s guidelines on trainer-conduct.

“Can you take the first watch?” Claire quietly asked me, after dinner. For some reason, she whispered into my ear to make sure Cliff couldn’t hear her. Letting out a sigh, I decided that she’d tell me, if I needed to know what was going on, and simply nodded, after a short glance at Cliff.

“Thanks.” She stood, moving towards our tent. “Good night.” she added, an almost normal smile on her face.

Letting out another sigh, I took a moment to check Prince Charming’s Pokéball again, noticing that he was almost back to normal. Letting out a soft sigh, I put the ball away again, putting some more wood onto the fire.

“How do you know Claire?” Cliff asked, a bit of tension in his voice. “I’ve never seen you before and I’ve known her for ages.” he added, his voice between whining and accusing. Letting out a sigh, I managed to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

“Her aunt is a friend and benefactor of mine. When she suggested that Claire would make a good travelling companion, I was happy to entertain her suggestion.” I replied, not rising to his bait.

“We have managed to clear the initial task for our first Badge and I have no doubt that we’ll obtain it the day after tomorrow.” I added, hoping to take any wind out of his sails.

“I’ll show you that I’m the better trainer and companion!” he whined, his hand already going to his Pokéball. For a moment, I was taken aback, only to realise what was going on. “I’m challenging you to a Pokémon-battle!” he announced, standing from his bag, pointing at me.

Letting out a sigh, I didn’t bother to stand, instead I simply took another sip of my tea.

“Idiot.” I muttered, loud enough for him to hear me. “I refuse. What sort of imbecile would battle in the middle of the wild, where a fight might attract wild Pokémon? And that’s without taking into account that neither of us has a full team, yet, so getting even one Pokémon knocked out could leave the loser in dire straits.” I replied, shaking my head at the idea.

Granted, there seemed to be some novels out there, in which the protagonists always used Pokémon-battles to get their way, no matter the situation or if the battle was blatantly unfair in the first place. Joyce had given me one that masquerades as a romance to read, for reasons unknown. Before I managed to get more than halfway through it, the urge to have Prince Charming reduce the thin book to ashes had overpowered me. I had been forced to apologise to Joyce later, but she had taken it with good humour, maybe because Cynthia had fallen from her seat when I told them what had happened.

“Go to sleep.” I just told him, a little amused at the memory.

For a moment, it looked like he was about to say something else, but I simply focused on the fire, ignoring him. After a moment or two, he turned, walking over to his tent and vanishing inside.

Looking at it, it made me wonder, what did he plan on doing in the future? Was he seriously considering travelling alone? That sounded like such a horrible idea, to the point that I was feeling bad for him.

Not bad enough to offer to have him join us, but bad nonetheless. While he hadn’t ingratiated himself to me, I didn’t want him to die in the wilderness, because he was all alone.

Maybe, I could introduce him to Lucas. For a moment, a shudder ran down my spine, but as sudden as it came, it disappeared. Shrugging, I put another branch on the fire, settling in for the oh-so-exciting duty of night-watch.