When I walked back into the Pokécentre, I was a little lost in thought. Worry about Claire mingled with the mixed feelings that lingered after the conversation with Kai. A part of me wondered if I had been too harsh, or maybe not harsh enough. Or if I should simply have walked away, letting someone with more experience answer his questions, or if I should have given different answers. There was no ultimate truth, no transcendent meaning to our existence, so flaring up at him for questioning the life I had chosen, or maybe that had chosen me, was a little immature. And yet, there was a part of me that felt satisfied at the harsher words I had chosen.

“Dani, it’s been a while.” a voice startled me out of my contemplation and when I looked at the speaker, I instantly recognised Lucas. He was coming from the back parts of the Centre, where the rooms for travelling Trainers, very much dressed for a day around town. Walking next to him was Cliff, looking similarly relaxed, though his eyes seemed to measure me.

“Lucas, Cliff. How have you been?” I asked, a polite smile on my face as I approached the two of them.

“Eh, you know how it is.” he shrugged, a relaxed grin on his face, “The wicked are always well.” The grin on his face was hard to read, making me wonder if he was poking fun at me. Letting out a soft sigh, I tried to keep my polite smile and glanced toward the door to the treatment rooms.

“How about you? When did you come in?” Cliff asked, mustering a bit of enthusiasm.

“Claire and I just got in today. We ran into a bit of trouble, but came through quite well.” I replied, “You travelled to Oreburgh and through the mountains afterwards?”

“We did.” Cliff nodded, glancing over to the seating area, “Why don’t we exchange notes? We’ve been wondering whether to go across or head to Floaroma first.”

I considered the idea for a moment. Compared to just hanging around and waiting for Claire to come out, or maybe pestering the attendant for information, talking to the two of them might be fruitful. That they may have actually useful information was a cherry on top.

“That works for me. Let’s sit for a bit.” I agreed, walking over to the seating area and making myself comfortable. Cliff and Lucas followed after, sitting down across the table from me.

“Now, why don’t you tell me what you experienced? I’m quite curious how travelling through the mountains was, we considered it but decided against it due to weather concerns.” I suggested, wanting them to start the conversation off.

“Sure, works for me.” Lucas nodded, after exchanging a look with Cliff. “I think we left Jubilife a day after you.” Cliff nodded at that as if to confirm Lucas’ statement.

“The first part of the journey was quite trivial, just through the forests and meadows, a bit of hilly terrain but nothing difficult. We stuck to the Route for the most part and only ventured forth a little. Given that there actually is a bit of trade along the Route, few Pokémon are living nearby, only the weakest, that have been forced out by stronger foes.” Cliff explained, only for Lucas to throw in, “Well, the weakest and the timid. Cliff here managed to snag himself a new partner on that Route.”

“Congratulations.” I gave him a smile, curious what addition to his team he had received. He did have a Squirtle and a Budew the last time we fought and I didn’t know him well enough to guess his tendencies, so it could be anything.

“I got lucky. Or maybe my new partner chose me, instead of me, choosing her.” he shook his head, the smile a little self-deprecating. “Anyway, Lumi, that’s my new partner’s name, is an Abra, though I think she’ll soon evolve to become a Kadabra. She’s been making some nice strides since leaving Oreburgh.”

“He quite literally stumbled across her when taking a leak,” Lucas added, causing Cliff to blush a little and glare at Lucas before continuing.

“No need to tell that.” he grumbled, “Anyway after we left the hills, we had to climb up the Burghpass, in order to reach Oreburgh. Luckily, the Route is well-maintained or it would be a really rough patch. There are switch-backs, nasty climbs and all kinds of difficult terrain in that area, but the Route makes its way around them all We got a little lucky, there was an intense storm two days before we started the climb, if that had hit us, we’d have been in serious trouble.” he shivered a little when mentioning the storm. Given that I remembered that same storm, I could emphasise.

“Oreburgh was something else. Part of the city is built underground, mostly in old mining shafts but some claim it reaches even deeper. Have you heard of the Underground?” Lucas asked, after taking the narration over.

“I’ve heard the name, but don’t know the details,” I admitted, trying to remember the few times it had been mentioned. It seemed to be some sort of huge cave system, stretching across the entire region. Incredibly dangerous, due to the wide variety of Pokémon living there, to say nothing of the more mundane threats, such as the total darkness, crags, cliffs, accumulation of toxic gas and of course cave-ins.

“It’s only for more experienced Trainers, we aren’t supposed to go down there. Too dangerous.” Lucas grinned mischievously, “So we just had to take a look.”

“That sounds foolish,” I admitted, raising an eyebrow.

“Eh, it was fine, we just looked around near the entrance before getting out of there. Helped quite a bit when we did the Gym-task, cause we had to head into the Oreburgh-Mine and help scout a tunnel down there. Working underground is a seriously different challenge.” Lucas waved me off, clearly not willing to go into it.

“We managed to get the Gym-badge in Oreburgh and afterwards decided to head here. We considered going east but decided against it. There had been a large landslide on that Route and the Pokécentre suggested we head north, first, while a few veteran trainers were clearing the landslide up.“ Cliff took over again, beginning the next part of the narration.

“After Oreburgh, we headed through the mountains. The Route is…” he shook his head, a frown on his face, “It’s difficult. The mountains themselves are hard to traverse and there’s no easy valley to follow. You’ve got to move along the slope and at times, the path has been washed out and you need to climb around. Always up and down, few good resting spots, it’s not fun. In addition, there are a lot of flying Pokémon and without cover, they will get you.”

“I hate Zubat,” he muttered, barely loud enough for me to hear. A sudden surge of sympathy washed over me when I remembered my own battle with that kettle of Zubat.

“Luckily, Lucas caught an Onix in the Oreburgh-Mine, without that, it’d have been a lot more difficult.” he let out a sigh.

“But we made it.” he looked at me, curiosity in his eyes, “Now, tell me about your journey. Floaroma and Eterna Forest, right?”

“Yeah, that’s where we went.” I nodded, thinking back to the time we had left Jubilife.

“At first, things started out smoothly. While there is little trade, the Route is well-maintained and we did our part to keep it so. You know, cutting away fallen trees and battling a kettle of Zubat.” I shook my head, the memory haunting me still.

“Little Vio really stepped up to the plate there, you remember her, right?” I asked Cliff, a smile on my face. He could only nod as I wouldn’t believe he had forgotten the Pokémon that had walked over his team and looked good doing it.

“Floaroma itself is a wonderful town. I think Claire considers moving there at some point, she loved it, but that might have been due to the Seedling Festival they held. There even was a small tournament and Claire did quite well.” I smiled, thinking of the wonderful smells.

Before I could continue with my narration, the door to the back opened again and a slightly pale-looking Claire walked out.

Standing, I waved her over.

“Hey Claire, look who’s joined us.” When she stepped up, I gave her shoulder a brief squeeze, not sure how her consultation had gone. Either way, I wasn’t about to ask with the two guys present.

“We’ve been telling stories about our travels. They came up from Oreburgh, sounds like the path there is loads of fun.” I snarked, and the three of them exchanged greetings.

“I was about to tell them our stories in Eterna Forest, but maybe you’ll add a bit about the Ravaged Path? I wasn’t feeling all that well there.”

“I can do that.” she nodded, sitting next to me, not quite leaning against me, but almost. Fearing that she had received bad news, I tried my best to covertly support her, as she talked.