When the next day dawned, I woke with sore muscles but otherwise, I felt good. Immediately after waking up, I went into the bathroom, to take the third shower during the brief stay at the Mountain Lodge, this time I even invited little Vio to share with me, before heading out to talk a little more with Lisa.

She had given me some more ideas while we had been working in the afternoon and maybe, there was more where it came from.

We met in the kitchen, where Greta was happily preparing breakfast and I was given another lesson on practical, everyday use of Pokémon, a subject the family knew better than almost anyone, Cynthia included. They were constantly living with Pokémon in a working state, so unlike the travelling state my partners and I were normally in. My partners helped keep me safe and battled against wild Pokémon and otherwise, they rested in their Pokéballs to conserve energy. But here, at the Lodge, the Pokémon were almost constantly active and outside their Pokéballs, helping on the farm and getting fed and cared for in return.

In a way, it was a form of training, maybe a more natural one compared to what my partners were getting. The Mountainback’s Pokémon were simply living as if they were wild, keeping to their shared territory, only that they were sharing that territory with their trainers who actively cared for them. It was an interesting arrangement, one that I hypothesised might be the original state of trainers and their partners, prior to the invention of Pokéballs.

During our conversation, the other Mountainbacks and my companions joined us and soon, breakfast was ready and served. It was another sumptuous affair, easily surpassing the various restaurants I had visited in the past and I gorged myself to the limit.

“Say, would you mind if Kedrik and Lisa join you on your way north? They both need to visit Snowpoint City and I think it would be good for them to travel with people their age, who are not family,” Gunther asked, as breakfast was drawing to a close.

Lisa immediately perked up, looking at the four of us in turn, her eyes shining with anticipation. Given her enthusiasm, I truly felt bad to throw cold water on her, but I felt that I had to.

“It depends,” I began, only to be met with sad puppy eyes, “We didn’t plan to head there directly, or rather, we didn’t plan to follow the official Route. There are a few wild areas we planned to cross, both to train and to cut some distance off our journey. It depends on them if they are willing to move through those as well and on you, whether you think they are ready for it,” I explained, getting a thoughtful nod from Gunther.

“Hm, I see,” he nodded, “Which areas do you have in mind, I might have some current information you don’t know about,”

The four of us explained the various detours we had in mind, making sure that our descriptions were accurate. Given that the terms we used were mostly from League-Reports, we couldn’t be certain that the “Snow-Covered Valley” described in the report would be the same Gunther was thinking of, when he heard the term. After all, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of valleys that would be snow-covered at times, depending on how big a valley had to be, to be called a valley. Just the names were quite meaningless but with the names, various landmarks, descriptions and distances, we could quickly establish a reasonably accurate understanding on both sides, one that was even more elevated when Gunther went into his study and returned with a massive map.

Compared to the maps we had seen at the Gym, this one was using a much smaller scale and so, the map that covered the entire table, using multiple sheets of paper, merely displayed the area north of the Coronal Mountains but the details were incredible.

“Greta, when did you check the map the last time?” Gunther asked, looking over to his wife, who was washing the dishes with one of their sons.

“Three weeks ago, there’s been that storm a couple of days ago, but otherwise, there shouldn’t be any changes. Maybe a couple of freshly broken trees that I didn’t see,” she replied and for a moment, could only look at the two of them in disbelief. Normally, the maps we used were at least a few months, maybe even a year or two, out of date, with revisions having to filter through the Gyms and onto the maps themselves. But one that was mere weeks old was incredibly useful.

Together, we poured over the map and Gunther gave us some interesting information. Spots where the paths we had planned to take were damaged, alternate routes that would allow us to circumvent some annoying areas and the territories of various Pokémon, which to avoid, which we could visit and which we could pass, but shouldn’t be too hopeful about our encounters. The territories changed constantly and encountering the right Pokémon was sometimes just a matter of luck.

Finally, after a long and in-depth discussion, all doubts and concerns had been dealt with and it was agreed that Lisa and Kedrik would travel with us to Snowpoint, just as Gunther had originally asked for. They would mostly just follow along, Lisa simply didn’t have suitable partners to play an active role, but if we happened to stumble across suitable Pokémon for her to battle or maybe even catch, she would step up. The excited look on her face made that point quite obvious and Gunther made sure she had a few Pokéballs to take along.

It was almost ten o’clock by the time everything was said and done and after a round of goodbyes, the freshly expanded group set off, Lucas in the lead, with Kedrik following directly behind him. One of the big advantages of the arrangement was that Kedrik actually had travelled to Snowpoint before and had an impression of the path. Where we had to rely on our compass, estimated distances and the description of landmarks to find our way, he could use his memories to supplement those things.

After we travelled for a little over an hour, Lisa let out a soft sigh, maybe only loud enough for me to hear. We had been travelling in the rear and she had slowed down a little but she didn’t look exhausted.

“You okay?” I quietly asked her, not wanting to embarrass her.

“Yeah,” she nodded, looking around, “It’s just the first time I’m this far out without mom or dad accompanying me,” she gave me a somewhat wan grin, trying to put on a brave face.

“It’ll be fine,” I promised her, trying to cheer her up. She had been nothing but kind to me and now, it was my turn to be kind to her. “You’ve got four friends and a brother with you, nothing bad will happen. We’ll get to Snowpoint and you can relax a bit, far from the watching eyes of mom and dad,” I grinned, getting a chuckle in response. Remembering how Claire liked to cut loose, I had a feeling that Lisa wouldn’t be alone if she wanted to go down that route.

“You know, that does sound like fun,” she grinned, the smile now looking a lot more genuine.

The journey of the day continued without much excitement, there were a few wild Pokémon looking for trouble, but nothing truly interesting. It was quite curious, how something that would have been the highlight of a day at the beginning of our journey had turned into something completely mundane by now. A part of that was due to the fact that we had now five reasonably capable trainers, Kedrik had two partners with him, both of which were at a similar level as Su, but another part was simply due to the increased experience we all had.

Due to that, I once again focused on directly training Vio, having her tag along next to me, or sometimes carrying her on my bag. That gave rise to a new method of training, one that made my head hurt trying to wrap my mind around it.

The idea was that Vio carried my backpack with her telekinetic power, while I carried Vio. For some reason, that arrangement didn’t transfer the weight of the backpack to me, but let it simply float along.

For Vio, it was a great way to train her focus and mental capacity, while it lessened my load and gave me extra time to bond and cuddle with my cute little Vio. A win for everyone involved, at least until Vio’s constant activity got the attention of a wild Pokémon that challenged Vio, making her drop my backpack into the mud. Vio violently chastised the intruding Starly for that, but the damage was done.

But other than that, it was a wonderful day of travel through the northern forest.