Waking up in a bed, with a soft mattress and comfy blanket was pure bliss. Not having to remain cautious, constantly vigilant of a Pokémon-attack that might destroy some important piece of equipment if not countered in time, allowed me to remain snuggled in, relaxing as my mind drifted a little. Visions of battle, dreams of future partners and accomplishments drifting through my mind, akin to the images of a spinning lantern.

“Dani, want to go have breakfast?” Claire’s quiet voice brought me out of my thoughts and back to reality. Blinking away dreams of getting carried through the sky by Prince Charming, realistic enough that I had felt the wind blowing through my hair, I looked up, realising that Claire had woken up before me. I was about to reject her, remain in bed for a little longer and hunt for food later, when my stomach gave a loud, rumbling growl, loud enough that Claire must have heard it in the quiet room.

“I guess that’s a yes.” she laughed, as I blushed. Maybe going with her wouldn’t be too bad.

“It is.” I nodded, throwing back the cover, “But let’s get a load of laundry started before we head out.”

Once I was dressed and a bit of house-keeping was done, we walked out into the lobby. It was mostly empty, likely due to the early hour, and we could directly head to the counter.

“Good Morning. How can I help you?” the attendant asked, a polite smile on his face.

“We’d like to collect our Pokémon.” I replied, handing over the chits.

“Certainly. If you’d show me your trainer-card as well?” he asked, and for a moment, I shared a look with Claire, before shrugging. Both of us got out the case, handing it over and after a moment of scrutiny, the attendant nodded, handing them back.

“Thank you, I’ll get your Pokémon right away.” he assured us, walking into the back.

Once I had my Pokéballs back in hand, a weight I hadn’t known was there lifted from my back.

“We’re new in town, travelling, you know? What’s the first thing one should see coming to Jubilife?” Claire asked the attendant, a friendly smile on her face.

“The Stadium could be a worthwhile visit, if you enjoy professional Pokémon Battles. Or the Gym, but that’d be more of a professional obligation for you, I guess.” he shrugged.

“Or you can go shopping, Jubilife has the best shopping in Sinnoh.” he added and I noticed Claire’s eyes light up.

“I’m Steve, by the way. If you like, my shift’s over in an hour, I can show you around.” he offered, the smile on his face getting a little wider.

“My name’s Claire and I might take you up on that. But I promised my companion that we’d have breakfast together, so there’s that.” she replied, giving him a grin on her own. “See you later.” she promised, stepping away from the counter.

“He seemed friendly.” I noted, as we walked out of the Centre. While we could have visited the cafeteria, the fare there wasn’t really exciting. Hopefully, we’d be able to find a nice place, by walking around a little.

“Mhm, he did. I might really take him up on it, if you don’t mind.” she mused, looking around the street. It was quite a bit busier than Twingem had been, more people, more noise. I wasn’t sure I liked Jubilife.

“Oh, go ahead. Just,” I paused for a second, not quite sure how to express what I wanted to say, “Just be safe out there. There are predators much different from Pokémon.” I warned her, using the formal farewell between Trainers who walked into the wild, the reminder that the world could be a dangerous place.

“Thanks.” she replied after a moment of consideration, giving me a side-hug as we walked.

“Doesn’t that place look good?” she asked, nodding towards a small store, with rooster-sign above the door.

“Wallonian Waffles?” I read, not quite sure what they were. “Sure, why not.” I agreed and we walked in.

Maybe it was a good thing that we wouldn’t be in town for long, or the goodness that were Wallonian Waffles would have seen me unable to walk at the end of our stay. I might be forced to learn Roll-out to keep moving, the waffles were just too delicious. Warm, served with cream, a variety of berries and hot chocolate, they were Gluttony on a plate.

“Arceus, that was delicious.” Claire sighed, as we walked out of the shop, stuffed to the brim. There were no words to describe the experience, a part of me wanted to head back to our room, lay down and simply sleep for a week.

“I feel like a Snorlax.” I laughed, patting my belly. It felt still solid to the touch, my muscles standing out faintly, but it felt as if I was bulging with food.

“I’ve decided, I’ll walk around with Steve.” she stated, sounding almost entirely convinced.

“I’m sure you’ll have fun on your date.” I nodded, acting as the supportive friend.

“What are you going to do?” she asked, the faint blush on her face suggesting that she wanted to avoid further discussion of the D-word.

“Maybe check out the Gym, maybe visit that Stadium. Not quite sure.” I glanced around for a moment, feeling just a little paranoid, “Maybe try finding out why our cards got that much scrutiny.” I added, speaking quietly.

Claire simply shrugged at that. “Maybe it was just because we were new faces. People can be just nosy, you know?”

“Maybe.” I nodded, not convinced but it was possible.

When we got back to the Centre, Claire and I shared a brief hug and promised to meet up in the evening. For a moment, I watched her walk to the counter and chat up Steve, before going my own way. The laundry-cycle had been finished and it was only polite to not occupy the communal washing-machine longer than necessary.

Once everything was squared away, I walked out of the Centre standing on the path for a moment, not certain where to go. Without much of a destination in mind, I walked down the road, simply looking around if I saw something interesting.

Like that, I walked around for about an hour, aimlessly drifting through the streets, until I got to a wide building, flamboyantly decorated with posters of Pokémon in battle, their Trainers standing behind them.

The sign above the entrance-portal told me I was before the Jubilife Stadium, with a byline that introduced it as the home of Pokémon Battles. My curiosity perked, I began wandering around, simply following what appeared to be the public parts, entering into an open lobby, similar in set-up to the lobby in a Pokémon Centre. The obvious difference was, where in a Pokémon Centre the wall held a large map and a variety of reference-books, here the wall was decorated with similar posters as the outside, some of them showing Pokémon, others only the trainers, some of them standing in weird poses, with a Pokéball conspicuously displayed. Why anyone would want to stand on one leg, the other raised to the point that the knee almost touched the chest, while using two arms to hold a Pokéball above their head was a mystery to me, but I had to admit, the combination of pose and costume worked for the woman in the image. Though, a large part of that might have been because she was objectively beautiful, making it easy on the eye in the first place.

“What brings you to the Stadium?” a guy who had walked up asked, his voice genuinely curious.

“Just looking around.” I replied, turning away from the posters. “Hi, I’m Dani.” I introduced myself, offering a hand to shake.

“Forrest, nice to meet you.” We shook hands, the smile on his face widening a little. He appeared to be a little older than me, not by much, and was quite good-looking. Fit with slightly messy, brown hair and a bit of stubble on his chin, giving him a slightly rugged, windswept look.

“If you want, I can show you around.” he offered, and with a shrug I decided to nod in acceptance.

“Are you looking to become a trainer, too?” he asked, obviously having missed the Pokéballs I was carrying under my coat.

“Already am.” I replied, with a smile of my own.

“Oh? That’s odd, I thought I knew all the cute trainers in town.” he complimented, to which I raised an eyebrow.

“Got into town yesterday, late at night. It would be a small miracle if you knew me.” I replied, amusement filtering into my voice.

“A travelling trainer?” he asked, sounding taken aback a bit.

“I am.” The mix of surprise and shock on his face was enough to make me confused. “Why is that so strange?” I asked, not quite sure what to make of him.

“Didn’t expect that, I guess.” he replied, before shrunning.

“Well, I guess I can show you the Stadium, though most travelling Trainers I’ve heard about dislike the whole scene here.” he shrugged again, gesturing deeper into the building.