My mind was filled with questions, as we walked into the Gym. To believe that a Pokémon had created the world was an idea I wanted to instinctively reject. Hearing that Arceus created Time and Space, letting the two concepts be governed by two Pokémon that I had seen, it seemed to be ridiculous. The disconnect between the beings I had seen and the impossibly large concepts was just impossible to reconcile. To say nothing of the tale about the Renegade Lord. That it existed was obvious, I had seen it after all, but to hear the claim that it had come from the beginning of Space and Time? I could only shake my head at that, at the impossibility of it.

Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I looked around the lobby, slightly amused that it was so very similar to the one in Sandgem Town. Larger, with a couple extra people manning counters, but there were similar maps on the wall, places to sit and read while waiting and shelves with reference-material.

“Let’s apply for a task.” Claire pulled me along, apparently not confident I wouldn’t stop and listen to strange people again.

“Yeah, I got it.” I followed along, getting into the shortest line.

It didn’t take long, and soon, it was our turn.

“Good Morning and Welcome to Jubilife Gym. What can i do for you?” the attendant asked, a polite smile on her face.

“Good Morning. We are seeking to earn our second badge and would like to hear the local procedures.” Claire replied, while I nodded along, letting her take the lead.

“Certainly. If you would show me your Trainer-Cards, please?”she asked, and at the expected question, both of us handed the case over. Again, similar to the way it had happened at the Gate and the Centre, the attendant studied the papers closely, peering at us to ascertain that we were the people these belonged to.

“I apologise, these appear to be in order.” the attendant nodded, turning them back over after jotting down a few notes. “Local procedure is to give you a task, complete a written test and have you compete in a battle.” when we both nodded at the explanation, she continued.

“That said, do you already know in which direction you will continue your travel? One of the tasks the Leader likes to set is maintenance on a suitable Route leading away from town, handing you the badge in advance and having you confirm it at the next Gym on your Route.” she asked, and both Claire and I had to shrug.

“No, we are not sure yet. We came from Sandgem, and Twinleaf before that, but where our journey will take us next, we have yet to decide.” Claire replied.

“Can we leave that blank for a bit? We’ll take a look at the reference-materials and make a decision once we are informed.” I suggested, getting a nod in response.

“That works, If you like, I can give you an idea which Routes and paths are suitable. In addition to the official Routes, there are multiple paths you can take to the other towns, depending on the power of your teams. We try to keep as many of them maintained as possible, though it can be incredibly difficult to do so in the higher levelled areas.” the attendant suggested. Claire and I exchanged another look, before shrugging and nodding.

“Excellent. Why don’t you head to the map and I’ll come over in a moment?” she asked, before waving us aside.

“What can I do for you?” she asked the person in line behind us, as we walked to the wall, looking at the large map.

“So, three directions. Canalave, Oreburgh and Floraroma. Which to pick?” Claire asked, studying the different Routes, not certain where additional paths would be.

“Let’s go over them one by one. Canalave has the disadvantage that it’s remote. Unless we want to head out to sea, we can only go back to Twinleaf from there.” Claire was already shaking her head at the idea, so I continued, a small grin on my face.

“Floraroma is to the north, I think it’d take us a week to get there. Mostly forest, with quite a bit of hills and shrubs. We would have to cross the lower reaches of the Coronet-Mountains, but if I see this correctly, it’s only a day, maybe two, of mountainous terrain. We should be fine.” I glanced athe map, before looking back at Claire.

“If we go there, we can head through Eterna Forest afterwards. It’s a difficult path as far as I know and afterwards, we have to climb up to Eterna City in the Coronal Mountains.” a frown appeared on my face, as I compared the distances on the map.

“I think you need three days to get to Eterna Forest and roughly a week to travel through it. Afterwards, three to five days through the mountains, depending on our stamina and the weather, until you reach Eterna City.” I added, not really looking forward to two weeks without a hot shower. But that was the life of a Travelling Trainer.

“Or we can go really hard, and keep going north after crossing Eterna Forest, and make for Snowpoint. But that’s a hard enough trip, the League doesn’t even try to maintain a Route there, too long, too hard. Maintaining the Route from Celestic City is apparently difficult enough.” I added, shaking my head at the idea. It was a month-long journey and trying to do so during the winter, was almost certainly suicide.

“Last, but not least, Oreburgh. Three days of forest, followed by a week of climbing through the mountains. From there,” I paused, looking at the distance between Eterna City and Oreburgh, before shrugging, “Call it two weeks of travelling through the mountains? Maybe even three, it kinda depends. Or we can go further east, through even more mountains, until we reach Hearthome City.” I snorted, before adding, “Did I mention, there will be mountains in our future? And climbing?”

“Why, no, you didn’t. I would never have guessed that we need to go through the mountains to get to the other side. Maybe we should catch a bunch of Diglets or something, have them dig a tunnel.” Claire snarked back.

“And live for a week or two underground, hoping that no mushrooms start growing on us? I’m not turning into a Paras!” I shuddered at the idea. Just knowing that there was a mountain above me, just waiting to crash down and bury me, was not a comforting thought.

“Mhm, maybe not such a good idea.” she shook her head, a grin on her face.

“Though we might want to keep out of the mountains for a little longer. Down here, it’s a nice spring, but the mountains might still have some snow. To say nothing of difficult conditions, due to the recent thaw.” I thought of the short time I had stood upon Mount Coronet, a shudder running down my body as I remembered the cold wind. Reaching out, I instinctively wrapped my coat around me tightly.

“Sounds wonderful.” Claire shook her head at the idea.

“That makes the decision kinda simple, doesn’t it?” she asked, looking at the map once again.

“True. Twinleaf, here we come!” I snarked, only to have her stick out her tongue at me.

“Yes, yes, we obviously go to Snowpoint. Directly, post haste, not passing Go on the way.” this time, she only rolled her eyes at me.

“Such a tough sell. Let me guess, you want to make for Floraroma?” I asked, and finally, she was satisfied and nodded.

Turning around, I noticed the attendant who had helped us before walk up.

“We think we know where to go.” Claire told her, while I realised something.

“Oh, by the way, I’m Dani, this is Claire. Thank you for your help.” I introduced us, realising that the attendant was going out of her way to help us.

“It’s nice to meet you two. My name’s Triss.” she gave us a smile, one that we both returned. “Now, tell me what you’ve got in mind, and maybe why you made that decision?”

“Well, sure. We decided to head towards Floraroma…” I replied, explaining the reasoning and our general plans. Doing so, was a bit of a challenge, as Triss had a lot more information, pointing out difficulties that I hadn’t even considered, telling us about a few, solitary people who lived in the wilds near the Routes who were known to put up travelling Trainers from time to time and generally poked holes into almost everything I said. She even knew about Pokémon who had their territory near the official Routes and where one might cut through theirs, to save time or earn valuable battle-experience.

But at the same time, she made sure to fill the holes she had created, leaving us with a lot more knowledge about the next leg of our journey.

Which, ironically, would take us to Florarome City, just as Claire and I had figured out on our own, the questions and considerations ultimately confirming our not-so-informed decision.