In the evening, we all got together again. After my conversation with Kodra, he had asked me to send Claire to him, as he also had a task for her. She had met with him in the afternoon, and now, it was time for Lucas, Cliff, Claire and myself to discuss our plans for the near future.

“Claire, what’s your task? Dani said she was asked to escort a specialist while they do road maintenance, what about you?” Cliff asked once we had all settled in around the dinner table.

“I don’t get a specialist, I’ve been asked to do some maintenance in the forest, below the plateau. I’ve been working with Twiggy and I’m pretty confident that he can do it, especially as it’s in the forest. Just clearing up some boulders, smoothing out the path that was destroyed by a Pokémon, nothing too special. Shouldn’t take more than a day or two, plus a day of travel each direction,” she explained, her task quite similar to the one given to Lucas, just in another direction.

“So my task is likely going to take the longest?” I grumbled but there was little I could change about that. “Personally, I’d prefer to travel north to Snowpoint next, what are your plans? I feel that the group has worked quite well with four people and on a difficult leg like Snowpoint, I’d like to keep it that way,” I explained, pushing the more important question, namely where to go next, to the forefront of the discussion. If it turned out that we wouldn’t continue travelling together, the whole question about our tasks would become a little moot.

It was a weighty question, one that they had likely considered before. After all, only Lucas and I had truly been set on acquiring all badges in order to be eligible for the League Conference, Claire had originally only set her sights on ten badges, so she could begin an apprenticeship with a Pokémon Breeder, while Cliff had, as far as I knew, considered getting all of them as well, but didn’t have any real plan. Getting them had been an idea, a temporary goal to work towards, but he didn’t have any real interest in the Conference. Lately, it seemed he had gained an interest in medicine, especially in relation to Pokémon, which would require him to get either six badges or ten badges, depending on his exact plans.

Either way, going to Snowpoint was a massive pain in the rear, due to the distance and difficult journey, making it the least visited town in Sinnoh. If one were to skip any badge, the Icicle Badge of Snowpoint City was the best choice.

“You think there’s a test baked into your task?” Claire asked, a pondering expression on her face. “You know, a test whether you are reckless enough to simply decide, yes, I can do this without help? That you are supposed to realise that escorting someone shouldn’t be done on your own and organise some help?” she explained her thinking, making me frown.

“It could be,” I allowed, feeling a little annoyed about the free form of the tasks, that it might be what she said but at the same time, it might be the opposite, a test if I was capable and confident enough to fulfil a challenging mission on my own.

“Second-guessing sucks,” I grumbled, realising that there was no way to know Kodra’s intentions.

“But you still didn’t answer my earlier question,” I pushed aside the questions regarding my task and focused on the question at hand.

“Honestly, I don’t really want to travel to Snowpoint. Going there means we won’t get back to the West before winter and crossing the Coronal Mountains in winter is a bad idea. We’d have to stay in the East till spring,” Claire replied, looking slightly guilty.

“Fair,” I nodded, seeing her point, even if it disappointed me.

“I’ll have to think about it,” she quickly added, “I’ll give you the answer after completing my task here.”

“I want to make the trip,” Lucas gave his own reply, “I’m not sure I’d want to go there this year or wait until next spring to make the trip, it would give my partners some more experience and training, making it safer.” he paused for a moment, “It’s a long, long way.”

“I don’t have an answer, either,” Cliff shrugged, mostly looking at Claire, “How about we get together after we all have the Oracle Badge and go from there?” he suggested.

“Maybe you can even put up a notice at the Gym or Pokécentre, there might be other people who want to travel north,” he added, after a moment of thought. “You can’t be the only ones.”

There was little I could do but agree to the suggestion to wait and see. I would post a notice at the Centre, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to go on such a long journey with people I had only just met.

“How about we meet again here in ten days' time? That’ll give me time to accomplish my task and you can set your schedule however you like,” I told them, pushing away the feeling of dejection, trying to cover up my disappointment. Taking on my task on my own would give me an idea just how difficult travelling without my companions would be, with the added hardship of having to escort someone else. I had no idea just how that would work, that Wera was a trainer herself after all, so she should have some competence, but I just didn’t know. Maybe asking Cynthia or Professor Carolina for advice would be a wise idea.

“Ten days? Sure, we can make that,” Lucas nodded in agreement, after exchanging looks with Claire and Cliff.

Quite annoyed, I returned to my room, before spending some time with little Vio and forcibly petting Su, quite amused at his antics. He always looked as if I was torturing him with my petting but at the same time, when I stopped doing so, he began nudging me with his head, as if he wanted more attention. Only to go back to looking aggrieved when he got the attention.

The next morning, I went straight to the Gym, planning to give Kodra my reply and make arrangements to meet Wera. When I got there, the attendant waved me by, telling me that I should just knock on Kodra’s door. He’d receive me any time this morning.

A little surprised, I did as told, following the same path as the day before and knocking on the door. Immediately, I was called in, my eyebrows trying to rise in surprise, but I controlled myself.

Inside, I wasn’t faced with one bear, but with two. One was Kodra, still huge, with bushy hair and beard, the other seemed to be cut from the same mould, only the toggle for sex switched to the other position. She was easily a full head taller than me, towering at almost two metres in height, with similarly bushy, brown hair, only that hers was longer, the added weight making it hang down. Age-wise, I was pretty sure she was roughly my age, but her sheer physicality made it hard to tell. Even wearing quite loose-fitting garments, I was pretty sure she was incredibly muscular, though not as buff as Kodra.

“Ah, Dani, excellent. What are the arrangements for your task?” he asked, sounding quite enthusiastic, his rumbling noise making me vibrate a little.

“The rest of my group will fulfil their tasks, while I’ll accompany Wera to clear that path you talked about. When can I meet her?” I asked, briefly glancing at the additional person in the room. The moment I finished my words, I realised that I was doing just that and only pure willpower allowed me to keep my facial features under control. Just from the looks, I would have made almost any bet that there was a close family relation between Kodra and the female, who I was pretty sure was Wera, something that was confirmed moments later.

“Right now,” he grinned, looking at the female. “Why don’t you introduce yourself?”

“Hello, I’m Wera,” the female offered a hand, her voice combining the rumbling depth of Kodra with friendly warmth.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” I shook her hand, amused at the way her paw swallowed my hand. I wasn’t dainty or small by any means, but next to her, I felt like a doll.

“Wera, you know the details of your task. I hope the two of you can work together well,” Kodra grinned, before focusing back on the papers on his desk, the dismissal clear.

Looking at Wera, she blushed a little, looking not too happy but nodded towards the door.

“Why don’t we get going? There’s no reasoning with him when he decided on something,” she told me, already moving towards the door.

With quite a few questions and a few concerns, I followed after her, not quite sure where this was going. But I’d most certainly find out.