It took us all a little by surprise when we walked along yet another mountain and noticed something angular in the valley ahead. We had been travelling for eight days, with a few breaks on the way and had anticipated it would take us ten days to get to Celestic Town, but unless there was another town, we were already looking at it.

“We must have made better time than anticipated,” Lucas grinned, sounding enthusiastic. Just seeing the town was enough to lift our spirits, to the point that I was almost able to feel the wonderful, warm water of a hot shower cascading down my back.

“And we didn’t run into any major trouble. That counts for something,” I added, not even trying to hide the silly smile that spread over my face.

“Let’s push it and get down there, I want to have a nice, hot meal that’s not porridge,” Cliff said, shifting his backpack a little.

Despite having the town in sight, we didn’t make the mistake of trying to hurry. We would get there but if we made haste and had an accident due to carelessness, the whole journey might end in disaster, not a hot shower.

As we continued moving along the mountainside, the distant shapes became clearer, allowing us to see them as buildings and, after a while, we even could see small figures moving between them.

Compared to the wide valley that was home to Eterna City, Celestic Town was in a distinctly worse locality. There was no massive lake to provide a ready supply of fish and freshwater. Instead, it was on top of a long mountain ridge, on a plateau overlooking vast swathes of eastern Sinnoh. It occupied the boundary between the real Coronal Mountains and the foothills that stretched further, reaching the sea.

The town we could see was quite small, similar in size to Twinleaf where Claire and I had started our journey so long ago. Similar to Twinleaf, the area around the town was filled with fields and we could see people working them as we approached. By the time we reached the fields, our previous caution was gone and while we didn’t quite run, we were too exhausted for that, we most certainly walked as fast as we could.

From what we could see as we approached, the town looked quite neat, all buildings in a relatively similar style, with very little that stuck out. As if it had been planned that way a long time ago and never really changed. What we also noticed was that the people working the fields seemed to all be trainers, or at least they were all working with Pokémon. Compared to the few Pokémon we had seen working with people in the western part of Sinnoh, the change was too extreme and obvious, making me quite curious for the reason. Thinking back, when I had been at the Pokémon League, it had been common and normal for trainers to walk with their Pokémon in the buildings and around the campus, but after teleporting to Twinleaf, Pokémon had been out of sight, unless they were needed for battle, the sole exception being Floaroma and their festival.

When we reached the gate, the guard had watched our approach for quite some time, maybe since we had made our way down the slope and onto the plateau itself, and he had a grin on his face.

“Good afternoon, welcome to Celestic Town. Is it your first visit?” he asked, his voice polite and welcoming, a stark difference to the attitude we had experienced in Eterna City.

“Good afternoon, yes, it’s our first stay,” Lucas replied, a smile on his face, “Could you give us direction to the Pokécentre, our partners could use some care and we all desperately need a shower.”

“Head through there, go past the first three intersections and down the stairs on your left, then you'll see the centre right across the road,” the guard explained, gesturing with his hands. “It’s the largest building in town, if you get lost, just ask anyone, they’ll be able to show you.”

With directions given, we ventured into town and, once again, I was struck by the difference between the people of Eterna City and Celestic Town. In Eterna, people had given us strange, somewhat hostile looks but here, in Celestic Town, the looks we got were full of welcome and curiosity.

We didn’t even make it to the Pokécentre when a young woman, roughly our age, approached the four of us.

“Hey, are you new to town?” she asked Lucas, though from the way she acted it was clear she addressed all of us.

“We are,” Lucas nodded but didn’t continue, maybe a little unsure what was going on.

“Neat, I’m Jessica, nice to meet you,” she gave him a wide smile, “The four of you should check the Youth Centre later, I’m sure you’ll love it,” she added, before giving us a wave and walking off.

“What was that?” Lucas asked, sounding completely flabbergasted.

“Maybe she was struck by your excellent looks, or maybe your body odour, and just couldn’t help herself,” I snarked, though I was wondering about the same thing.

“Harharhar,” he grumbled, “Let’s get to the Pokécentre.”

“Sure, we wouldn’t want you to attract more people,” Cliff grinned, somewhat amused but also wondering what had just happened.

Finding the Pokécentre was, indeed, incredibly easy. Even without the directions given, there were a couple of signs guiding us and the large building with the red roof had been visible from the distance, we just hadn’t known what it was.

The small, round square in front of it was quite artistic, half of it tiled in red bricks, the other with white tiles, with a fountain in the middle. Walking down the stairway towards it, we could easily recognise it as a symbolic Pokéball, the image bringing a grin to my face. There were dozens of people in front of the Centre, some standing, others sitting around. As we approached, we could hear people discussing their Pokémon and training.

It felt a little odd, the only time I had seen something even remotely similar had been in Jubilife City. The crowds had been similar in size, though it felt that the crowd in Celestic Town was a little larger - In a town that was an order of magnitude smaller than Jubilife City.

As we walked up, the people respectfully opened a path for us, giving us a friendly hello or a welcome to Celestic Town.

On entering the Pokécentre, we were greeted with a similar sight, the few people at the counter immediately making way for us.

“Good Afternoon, welcome to Celestic Town Pokécentre. Do you need treatment for your partners?” the attendant directly asked, concern visible on her face.

“Yes, please, the journey wasn’t easy.” Cliff nodded, taking out his Pokéballs, “Here, our trainer cards and Pokémon.”

“I’ll take a look in a moment, once your partners are squared away,” the attendant waved him off, quickly collecting our numerous Pokéballs before retreating into the back.

As soon as she vanished, the people who had been at the counter made their interest known, introducing themselves to us and asking where we had come from. It was a little overwhelming, to the point that I deliberately retreated behind the others, letting them deal with the people.

Before long, the attendant returned, “Hey, let me deal with the formalities first, you can chat later,” she chided the people, though there was humour in her voice.

“Now, I need your Trainer cards and have to trouble you for a report on the Route you used to travel here,” she reminded us, already pulling out the now-familiar form.

“Here’s my card, I’ll take the report,” I offered, handing over my card. If I had the form, the people around us hopefully wouldn’t bother me. “Do you have rooms free?” I asked, still looking forward to that shower.

“Of course, we’ve got a guest house next door, there are plenty of rooms,” the attendant replied, as she jotted down the information on my card. “If you like, I’ll send someone over with you, you’ve got to be tired from the journey.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you,” I replied, returning her smile.

Filling out the form didn’t take long, by now I was quite accustomed to them and there hadn’t been anything truly worth reporting on our journey. A few, small things but nothing that was urgent or extraordinary so by the time the others had their details recorded and answered some questions of the people around us, I was done.

The four of us headed next door, to the hostel. There was another attendant here, a youth maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, manning the counter. From his looks, I was almost certain that he was related to the attendant at the Pokécentre next door, their facial lines were quite similar and their dirty-blonde hair had the same shade.

Procedures here were just as quick and easy as they had been in the Centre and we were guided to our rooms, one for each of us.

Finally, I could hop into a hot shower, letting the spray wash away sweat, dirt and exhaustion. I didn’t know if there was a paradise, but if there was, it had hot showers. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be paradise.