After finishing things up with Triss, we headed out, knowing that it would take about a day for our task to be assigned. The preacher was still nearby, and while a part of me wanted to know more, especially regarding the behaviour of the protestors near the Stadium, I wasn’t about to walk over again. Instead, I turned to Claire.

“Did you replenish your supplies yesterday?” I asked, curious about her date. Shopping for supplies seemed to be so very utilitarian, not giving a romantic feel at all.

“No. I think I know where to go, but haven’t gone yet.” she shook her head, looking towards the city-centre.

“Then let’s. That way, we are flexible once we hear our task.” I suggested, getting a nod in response.

We spent the next few hours walking around Jubilife, checking out the shops and stocking up on the necessary goods. Most of them were easy to get, but there was a curious incident when Claire wanted to restock her Pokéballs. Buying them required a Trainer-Card, that was normal, but the scrutiny was, once again, rather intense. It loosened a little, when she turned over the used Pokéballs for recycling, but it was still a little odd.

Finally, after a late lunch, we returned to the Pokémon Centre. Not having something to do was a bit of an odd feeling. Claire borrowed a slender novel, one of the type I had Prince Charming burn in the past, and curled up to read, while I returned to the Gym, studying their reference material.

As I was reading, I overheard a few people talk about the Church of Freedom, causing me to perk up.

“I’m telling you, those people are trouble.” a male voice growled, clearly unhappy. Even without seeing him, I could hear the scowl on his face.

“And what can be done about it? They preach and protest, it’s not like the Guards can act on just that.” another male voice, this one sounding resigned, replied.

“Look into how they move between towns. The agitators are not local, they’re from outside, stirring up trouble here. Find out where they come from, how they travel and talk to any trainer who would facilitate them.” the growling voice suggested, now no longer as growly.

“That is one thing we are looking into.” another voice, this one female, sounding clear, composed and very strict replied. “But even if we find out how they move, I am not certain I would feel comfortable to prohibit accompanying them. It is, at the end of the day, a question for individual trainers and as long as the trainers don’t act against the spirit of the League, we should not interfere.” the same voice added, sounding a little pensive.

“And helping a group that calls for the League to be torn down is not against the spirit of it?” The angry man was angry again, and growling.

“The League is there to keep People and Pokémon safe. As long as those Freedom-preachers don’t endanger others, I’m willing to look the other way if they endanger themselves.” the stern voice replied and there was no more conversation after that. Maybe because they had stopped talking, maybe because they had moved on.

For a minute or two, I just stared at the page before me, my mind digesting what I had heard. It certainly added a bit of context for the intense checks at the Gate and in the shops. While getting a League-Card was simple, there was a bit of procedure involved and some scrutiny. Without Cynthia helping things along, I might not have qualified, despite already having a Pokémon. For obvious reasons, people did have a desire to keep powerful Pokémon from those who would abuse them. Having a Charizard that decided it didn’t like its trainer, turned said trainer to ash and rampaged around town was an incredibly scary idea. One that only got scarier, with the limitations of Pokéballs in mind. Once a Pokémon had their energy aligned with one, it took a week or two of remaining outside of it, for its energy-signature to return to its natural state, allowing it to be caught again. In such a situation, finding the Pokéball and hoping that it was undamaged was the only solution, other than killing the Pokémon.

Shaking my head, I focused back on my reading, considering a visit to the Valley Windworks, located about a day outside of Florarome City. It was a relatively small, experimental power-plant where the generation of electricity without the need for Pokémon was studied. Unlike most places, who simply had groups of Magnemite work together, they felt that using the wind to drive turbines was a better option. So far, according to Triss, they had solved the problem of generating electricity but had yet to come up with a way to keep the transmission from disturbing wild Pokémon, who had a habit to violently object to being disturbed.

After reading some more, it was time to meet Claire for dinner.

“Would you mind if Steve joins us for dinner?” she asked, once I returned to our room.

“No, I don’t. Are you sure you want me tagging along on your date?” I asked, quite happy to find some food on my own, if Claire so wished. For a moment, Claire looked rather insecure, before giving me a grin.

“It’s not a date. Steve asked me if I wanted to join him for dinner, but given that yesterday was a bit…” she paused, letting out a sigh, “Let’s just say, I’d rather have you with me. I told Steve I promised to have dinner with you, but that he was welcome to join us.” she quickly added, and one of my eyebrows started to twitch a little, trying to rise upwards.

“If you are uncomfortable, just tell him to shove off.” I admonished her.

“I’m just not sure. Okay?” she threw up her hands, frustrated and obviously insecure. Stepping forward, next to her bed, I pulled her into a hug.

“It’s perfectly okay.” I assured her, as her arms wrapped around me and held on. Gently rubbing her back, I simply provided quiet support. While I would have loved to help her figure out that particular quagmire, I wasn’t certain my solution would work for her. Mostly, because I wasn’t sure how I’d try to solve the problem.

“Anyway, let’s get ready and head out. I’m hungry.” I told her, after a minute of holding her.

“True. Want to take a shower first?” she asked and I nodded, heading into the bathroom.

GIven the limits to our supplies, it didn’t take us all that long to get ready. Given that we both had one good set of clothes, solely to be worn within towns, the question of what to wear was quickly and decisively answered. For me, that meant dress-pants, a blouse and, as always, the coat I had been given by Cynthia, while Claire had a long skirt paired with a nice, yet simple, shirt.

“So, where are we meeting your Steve?” I asked, as we walked into the lobby. My question was quickly answered, though not by Claire. There, dressed in rather chic clothes, stood a waiting Steve, with another guy next to him.

“Hello, Steve. You’ve met Dani. Who’s your friend?” Claire asked, after we had walked over.

“This is Roger. Hi Dani, nice to meet you again.” He gave me a nod. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought him along?” he asked, studying me before his eyes went back to Claire.

“No, I don’t mind. Let’s go to have dinner, shall we?” she asked, hooking her arm into mine as we walked to the door, leaving Steve and Roger to either follow, or not. Her behaviour made it quite clear that she didn’t really care.

They followed, and we made our way to a Kantonian Restaurant, serving small treats of rice, vegetables and, for some reason I couldn’t even begin to guess, raw fish. Once I got past the question, did I want to even try raw fish, and the uncommon smell, the food was delicious.

Given Steve’s interest in Claire, and her own indecisiveness in dealing with said interest, I spent a bit of time talking to Roger, getting to know him a little. It turned out that he worked at a local technology-firm, producing Pokéballs and similar tech. While he was in management, it sounded like a fascinating place to work at and he was a gifted narrator, managing to turn a story of missing paperwork and misplaced forms into a tale of brave adventurers, daring the depths of the Forbidden Archive, to do battle against the monster that had its lair there, Clippy, the Mighty Paperclip. Animated by fell forces, it was impossible to get a Word in, forcing people who wanted a window into the archives treasure to listen to its advice.

When the end of dinner came, Claire quickly paid for our share, leaving Steve to reach for the bill ineffectively.

“Steve, I’d love to go dancing with you, but we’ve got an early morning tomorrow. Maybe some other time.” she rejected his suggestion, before pulling me along, after I wished Roger a nice night.