Travelling through Eterna Forest was slow-going and difficult. The underbrush was a tangled mess, making it often difficult to advance and trying to brute-force our way through only left us exhausted. Even if Charm ripped apart some vines, opening the path forward, the next cluster was often only steps ahead, forcing him to keep exerting himself, while Claire and I trailed behind. More often than not, moving around difficult or overgrown spots was easier, though it made for a longer path.

Using the compass to keep the direction, we slowly but surely made our way north, regularly having to fight against Pokémon. It made me wonder if there was a better Route, even as my common sense told me that if there was, it would have long since become the official Route. Trying to make the track through Etnera Forest as a fresh trainer would be nigh impossible, at least to my understanding as a veteran of two months.

After five days of trudging through the woods, the murmuring sounds of running water were an incredibly welcome sound. After six days without a shower, with nothing but a few, small rivulets to wash up, Claire and I were fragrant, to say the least. We, quite frankly, couldn’t stand the smell of the other, or ourselves.

So, when we heard the water, a sudden spring appeared in our steps and we moved forward with previously impossible alacrity. It didn’t take us long to follow the sounds and reach the bed of a small river, flowing down a small step and causing the sounds we had heard. For a moment, we both stared at each other, silently competing for the right to go first.

“You go, I’ll keep watch.” I decided, letting out a sigh. For once, there was absolutely no hesitation in Claire’s acceptance or the shedding of her clothes. Her pack hadn’t quite hit the ground before she was naked and carefully climbed down the bank of the small river.

“Not really white, is it?” she asked, probing with her feet as she moved into the water.

Watching from the bank, I had already called out Vio, just in case there was a Pokémon nearby. In the meantime, I kept watching Claire almost dive into the water, letting out amusing sounds of discomfort as she quickly started to get cold. The trees blocked out any sunlight that might have warmed the water, not that the moving water would truly become warm, making it a truly cold bath. Not that Claire seemed to care, the siren’s lure of hygiene was strong, the desire to truly be clean overwhelming.

Luckily, in the ten minutes, it took her to wash up, nothing bad happened. Neither did she freeze nor did we get attacked by wild Pokémon, at least not during the time she was in the water.

Once she was clean, she came out of the water, shivering and shaking her limbs to get somewhat dry, before towelling off. As I stripped, I called Vio back and sent out Charm, his flames giving some warmth back to Claire, while I hopped into the water.

The cold was biting but at the same time, the feeling was glorious, to wash off the sweat and stink of trudging through the forest an almost divine feeling that let me push past the cold. Once I was clean, I could cuddle with Charm and get nice and toasty, his flames more than enough to warm me up. The idea brought a grin to my face and happily scrubbed my skin, my mind focusing on the warmth I would feel later to banish the cold of the now.

Gloriously clean and shiveringly cold, I emerged from the water, quickly scampering up the slope to Charm and Claire, who was huddling near him. I didn’t quite dive into Charm’s arms but stepped close, the heat radiating off his body a wonderful sensation. When he reached out, gently pulling me close and wrapping his tail around me, his flame warming my back, I let out a sigh of contentment.

“We should probably wash our clothes.” Claire’s voice brought me out of the pleasant daze I had fallen in. Looking over, she was still naked, holding the clothes she had worn earlier in her hands and studying them with a disgusted expression on her face.

“Maybe it would be best to make camp here and do chores,” I mused, looking at Charm for a moment, “You think you could help dry our clothes, without setting them on fire?”

He looked back at me, his head cocked to the side, as if confused. Shrugging, I decided it was worth a try, or we’d have wet clothes the next day.

Soon, Claire and I were dressed in the clothes we normally used in the city, those sets being mostly clean, and played a quick game of rock, paper, scissors, trying to decide who’d do which chores.

With luck on my side, I managed to win the task of preparing the camp-site, while Claire moved back down to the river, carrying most of our clothes. Neither chore was pleasant, but at least, preparing the camp didn’t come with exposure to the cold water.

“Can you deal with them, please?” Claire asked as she came up the slope, carrying a pile of wet clothes. She looked incredibly cold, almost frozen, making me secretly glad that I had won the earlier game.

“Yeah, I’ll help.” I agreed, taking the cold, wet pile off her. She didn’t move away afterwards, instead, she stepped close to Charm, holding her hands spread out as if warming them near a fire. But then, Charm was the next best thing, almost as warm and with a much more reliable nature.

In the meantime, while she tried to warm up a little, I had to deal with the clothes. It wasn’t fun, wringing them out to get rid of the worst of it, before spreading them over sticks and shrubs to expose them to as much air as possible, but it had to be done. By the end of it, my hands were seriously water-logged and cold but luckily, Claire had taken over the remainder of my chore and even prepared a fire and some hot tea.

“Thank you.” she quietly said, as she handed me the mug, “I don’t think I could have finished the laundry.”

She looked a little embarrassed at that, but I just waved her off. We were companions and needed to work together on this journey. It made me a little worried, knowing that her plan was to only visit six of the fourteen gyms, or at least that she was only interested in six badges, enough to apprentice as a Pokémon Breeder but no more. At that point, I’d either have to travel alone or find another partner, neither prospect terribly attractive. Claire had her annoying and irresponsible side but overall, she was a good person to travel with.

Time would tell and maybe, I’d manage to convince her that getting ten badges would be worth it, if only for the special transportation training. Apparently, they taught you how to ride a Pokémon while it was flying, and I suspected that the Teleport Cynthia used might be taught at that point as well. Just for those, she might make the effort.

In the evening, Claire and I were sitting in our camp and, as so often, exchanging stories, trying to pass time. The stories didn’t have to make sense or be particularly good, just be amusing and somewhat entertaining to pass the time.

“You know, there might really be ghosts here,” she muttered, after I finished a semi-inspired ghost story, about the spirit of a dead girl, fading in and out of reality in an old caste, until she was finally taken to the afterlife by a passing ghost. It wasn’t terribly good, mostly stolen from things I had read in the library, but it had been good enough to pass the time. Claire’s words didn’t fill me with excitement, I was happy to pass the time, and I didn’t want to take the story seriously.

“You think?” I asked, an unhappy frown on my face. Some Ghost-types were incredibly dangerous, capable of killing humans without even meaning to, while others deliberately attacked humans for their own, unknown reasons.

“Mhm, Zack mentioned some rumours about it. Apparently, there have been sightings of Ghosts in this place,” she told me, my frown deepening. For a moment, I wasn’t even interested in who Zack was, as the name was utterly unknown to me. Maybe one of the many people she had hung out with in Floaroma Town.

“And you only tell me now?!” I snarled, unhappy at the revelation and even less happy that that information hadn’t been available at the Gym, or I would have found it. Probably.

“It’s only a rumour, I think he just tried to scare me, so he could hug me, to keep me from being afraid.” she rolled her eyes, shrugging. “I also didn’t tell you about the giant, rainbow bird one guy claimed to have seen, or the boasts about fighting a Machamp hand-to-hand atop a waterfall.” she shook her head, looking sceptical. Her utter disdain somewhat calmed me, but in my heart, I decided that we would keep our watches up at all cost.

“Did it work?” I finally asked, after a minute of silence.

“Hm?” she asked, a little confused.

“Did you get scared and hug him?” I clarified, a little curious.

“Eh, yes and no.” she shrugged, a crooked grin on her face, “I wasn’t scared, but I certainly snuggled up to him.”

Amused at her antics, I shook my head, relaxing a little more.