“So wait, you’re like one of the heroes we get taught about in school?” Lani asked with stars in her eyes.

  “Maybe? Please don’t say I'm like one of them,” I thought about the group of heroes and heroines that called Unova home. “They all did so much back when Ghetsis was making power grabs. It feels wrong to compare me to that.”

  Lani opened the door to our room for me, “Fine, but I won’t let you down py any heroics you accomplish, deal?”

  “Deal. Now let's get to bed already.”

  With a nod her way, Ionia cut off the link and hopped onto the bed with Oxide to curl up. Tirtouga went into the tub to rest alongside Adrian’s Staryu. Vupix and Dewpider were released, and went off to snuggle up in a chair.

  We both shrugged, and got out our pajamas and took turns in the bathroom getting changed.

  After I came out all nice and comfy I realized something.

  There’s only one bed, what if she doesn’t want me in it because I’m trans I-

  “Hey,” Lani whispered into my ear, “You are you, and that is beautiful. You’re a girl and always will be. Now get under the covers and go to sleep!”

  I pretty much teleported into that bed due to the sheer weight Lani put behind that order, which was a good thing, because I then proceeded to melt on the spot with an incandescent blush to go with it.

  I felt her get into the bed herself, and after a few adjustments she looked me right in the eyes.

  “Good night Psyche,” Lani whispered.

  ***

  I was in absolute bliss, I was warm and cozy, the pillow clutched in my arms was soft and warm, the hand running through my hair was divine.

  “Wake up sleepy head.” A voice whispered.

  My eyes fluttered open and instead of a pillow my eyes opened to see Lani’s pajama top right in front of it. I looked up, and saw Lani’s smiling face.

  “Good morning sleepyhead, did you sleep well?”

  Clearly I was just dreaming about waking up, so I id my head back down and tried to go back to bed. Only for quiet snickering to draw my attention back to Dream Lani.

  I blearily gave her a look which only had her ughing harder as her hand moved down to cup the side of my face.

  “Arceus you’re so cute when you’re sleepy.”

  I felt myself blush a bit as I squeezed around my pillow which turned out to be her waist. “am still eepy, call back ter.”

  Dream Lani’s other hand cupped the other side of my cheek and she gently pulled me forward.

  “It’s ter sleepyhead, and it’s time to wake up.”

  She then kissed me on the forehead which practically made me short circuit.

  ***

  I woke up from a very… interesting dream to find Lani was already up and dressed.

  “G’morning,” I greeted my sundress cloaked companion.

  She seemed to blush for some reason, then looked back at me with a smile. “Morning Psyche, ready to head on towards Striaton?”

  I nodded softly, “I’m so comfyyyyyyy”

  Lani covered her mouth, but I still heard her giggles.

  “Do you want some help getting out of bed?”

  I thought about it and Dream Lani cuddles rose to the front of my mind. I blushed and nodded quietly thinking she’d help me up herself.

  I was a fool. That much became evident with her response.

  “Oxide, she’s all yours!”

  A shadow fell over my head, and my eyes twitched that way to find the Oxide-blob had returned to this mortal coil for revenge upon my sleeping in.

  I do unfortunately have to admit that once again tiny cold hands were quite effective at waking me up.

  Several minutes ter, we were joining Adrian for breakfast served by the hotel which appeared to be waffles with berries for us and our Pokemon. Staryu was put into a rge colpsible pan that Adrian filled with water and dumped some sort of powder into it.

  “Staryu and Starmie absorb nutrients through their bodies to eat,” he expined once asked, “the powder is just a nutrient mix they can filter from the water.”

  We both nodded, and watched as Staryu seemed to sink into the pan, their song rexing by the moment.

  We ate in retive silence until with a satisfied groan Adrian finished first.

  “I can’t really thank you enough Psyche,” he insisted. “I was looking at having to pay through the nose for a super expensive hotel, but you basically gave me a free room.”

  I blushed, “it’s fine, just… um… pay it forward?”

  Seemingly noticing that I wasn’t well equipped for the topic, Adrian thankfully left it alone after that, and asked something else that I should’ve been prepared for.

  “How was Concert Night?”

  A cold shiver went up my spine, and I became very aware of the case locked up in our hotel room. More importantly; both the dangers it represented, and that I was the owner of the closest thing Shadow Pokemon had to a life preserver while adrift in the murky abyss their chained hearts left them in.

  After that pleasant thought, I realized that I didn’t really experience Concert Night, which was a bit of a let down, but more importantly, I barely knew Adrian. And while I did trust Lani despite meeting her just over a week ago, I had met him just st evening.

  “Oh it was cool!” Lani grinned, seemingly unaware of how much she bailed me out at that moment, “I stared down an Altaria for a while, and Psyche got to see her favorite band!”

  Okay maybe not unaware at all.

  “Roxie’s band isn’t my favorite, I normally prefer calm and quiet music.” I hedged, “It’s just if I’m in need of some excitement, Roxie’s music is my go to.”

  “Hey I getcha,” Lani said with a teasing grin that sent Butterfree through my chest, “sheltered rich kid having a love for the most popur punk band in the region makes sense.”

  I let out a noise of indignation, “I am not sheltered!”

  Lani looked at Adrian and cocked an eyebrow.

  “Hey, I barely know either of you, so I can’t say if you’re right or not.” He reached down to pet the Staryu who had drained the soak pan dry. “So I’m just gonna stay out of it.”

  I gave Lani a look of gratitude for covering for me without asking as we got up from the table and gathered our dishes. Once we were heading out of the restaurant, and following behind Adrian she looped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close.

  “You’re welcome.” She whispered into my ear.

  Once we got back to our room, we started packing all of our stuff back together, Oxide being as helpful as ever, was in charge of checking hard to reach corners for anything we might’ve missed.

  She didn’t find anything of ours down there, but she did find some random wallet that had fallen between Adrian’s bed and the nightstand.

  “Belongs to some guy named, ‘Stu Dioh’” Lani said with a raised eyebrow.

  “Just turn it into the front desk,” Adrian commented, “no point in going on some adventure to find this guy.”

  “Speaking of adventure,” Lani replied, “you wanna come with us?”

  Huh?

  Adrian and I both looked at her in shock. “Uh are you sure?” he asked.

  “Yeah! We’re all walking in the same direction, and there's the whole safety in numbers thing when it comes to Wild Pokemon!” She sent me an inquisitive look.

  “I also know the area around the Dreamyard. Gotta help you fulfill your cookie jar dreams after all.” I said with a wink.

  “I uhh sure!” He agreed, “Makes things easier for sure!”

  I adjusted my visor, “Not super easy just yet, everything in this area of Unova is fairly tame, none of us have the ability to get super deep into Wellspring, and Pinwheel isn’t too bad unless you go off the main path.”

  “Once we’re done with Southern Unova is when things start getting a lot tougher.”

  Oxide jumped up onto my cap and made a little marching sound while pointing at the door. Reaching up, I gave her a little pat before moving to the door.

  “I guess Oxide wants us to discuss on the go,” Lani giggled then saluted the Pokemon, “Fair enough little dy.”

  A quick stop by the front desk to return the wallet and check out ter, and we were walking towards the northwest area of the town.

  “Okay so Route Two isn’t anything incredibly difficult,” I started having pulled up a map on my phone, “it’s a three-day winding path with rger biodiversity among the Wild Pokemon, but the only thing to really beware of is Purrloin trying to steal from us.”

  Lani peered over my shoulder, “Couldn’t we just go straight through the forests?”

  I grimaced, “We could, but it’s more dangerous going off-route like that, Southern Unova being gentle assumes we stick to the paths.”

  Adrian gave a thoughtful noise, “So we stay on the path unless a Pokemon one of us wants is off-route?”

  “Pretty much?” I said with a grimace, “I’m not looking to expand my team with anything from there so if either of you two want something, say it now.”

  Neither of them had anything they wanted to go out of their way for, so I continued onto the City on the other end.

  My former home.

  “Striaton is fairly bare bones for trainers unless you’re going to the Dreamyard, or want to challenge The Triplets to a Triple Battle.” I paused to think for a few moments, “There is a fairly big Pokemon Daycare nearby, and trainers tend to use Route Three as an off season training area. But other than the Dreamyard we don’t have anything to do there other than just pass through.”

  Hearing his next destination brought Adrian into the spotlight, “How long will it take to go into the Dreamyard and find a Munna?”

  “Not too long,” I replied, “although you’ll need to get permission from Musharna first, and she can be a bit fickle sometimes.” I turned to look him in the eyes, “If she denies your request, don't try and go around her. She doesn’t take things like that too well.”

  He nodded and fshed a thumbs up, “don’t go behind her back, got it!”

  I didn’t tell him about how his pns were highly subject to change, fate had an incredibly strong pull in that area.

  “So we have Route Two, a nothing burger of a city, unless we want to challenge the Triplets, Adrian’s quest to catch a Munna, and that’s it?” Lani said while ticking off her fingers.

  “Pretty much.” I replied.

  “Then let’s get on with it already!” Lani excimed, “I’m dying to get out on the road again!”

  “We can’t leave just yet!” I reminded her, “We need to pick up Pokemon food and berries!”

  That turned out to be a mistake, considering Lani instantly grabbed my hand, and zipped us away towards the nearest grocery store.

  DeliriousSprite