Even with my Dad being a ranger, waking up in an unfamiliar bed in the morning was something I have never done ever since I arrived in this world.

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, enjoying the warmth that permeated from my touch, "can you turn down the air-conditioned bud?" I said, yawning, the cold was nice, but I wouldn't be able to do anything with it in the morning.

Grimer called out his name from somewhere in the room and moments later, the sound of the air-con started to die down and I could finally sigh. Stretching, was great, but during the cold? Ha, you can wish that your joints wouldn't become tense again but that wouldn't happen.

Seconds later, I was awake enough to leave my bed and go through the room I rented; looking it over, I couldn't help but commend Grimer for finding a place like this after Azalea town had gotten dark. The place was spacious enough that it can fit two more people, the motel allowed Pokemon of all kinds to be out of their Pokeball as well, and right as long as said Pokemon behave, they can even freely go out on the motel's premises to enjoy the things the place offered.

After patting Grimer on the head, I went over to my bag and searched all of my items, "let's see... Tent," I said, pulling out a small, orange cube, "repels, more caving gear, rope, and all of my Pokeballs." I took each of them out one by one, making sure to look them over. My bag, despite being considered as "standard trainer issued," was relatively small storage wise and I couldn't just shove anything I want in there without putting it at max capacity.

Checking up my items was the best way for me to make sure that none of them took more space than they should; repels could fall over, the tent could puff up, and ropes could suddenly get uncoiled. With it being done though, I closed the zipper and placed the backpack on the center of my bed where I proceeded to lay out my change of clothes.

A shower later and I was good enough to start exploring Azalea town and since I wasn't going spelunking yet, I left my backpack in my room.

Azalea town was large, far larger than what most people would expect from a place like this. I knew that Gyms were supposed to be an important location when it came to human settlements and by extension, society as a whole and I also knew that - thanks to my mother, - if a Gym is, let's say, perpetually losing, the money that the place the gym is in would start to dwindle. To me, it was a miracle that Bugsy even managed to make the town look like this, and I knew that it wouldn't be this way if he was some sort of pushover.

I've never been to a gym, and the only encounter I had with the Bug-type gym here was when Dad was letting me practice on Route 34 and from the woods, out came a rather beat-up Bugsy. Dad helped as much as he could despite the guy's protests and after an hour of him giving out supplies to the Gym Leader, - such as potions and the like because Bugsy refused to let my Dad escort him to a Pokemon center, - the purple-haired boy went back to the forest with renewed Vigor.

I didn't know what caused someone like him to get beaten up like that and Dad never tells so my past self just assumed he encountered something strong in the forest's deep parts and he couldn't handle it.

"Grime?" my Pokemon pulled me out of my thoughts,

I met his eyes, "I don't know," I looked around, where do I want to go actually? "I mean, we can go hang out at some of the places here?" I started walking, Grimer slowly following behind me. "how about..." I caught my pokewatch in the corner of my eye, "a cafe?"

"Grime?"

I nodded, "yep! it's still morning and we have a lot of time before anything important happens around the place so how about we take this as a small break?"

Grimer reluctantly nodded but followed me into the nearest cafe regardless.

The one that we found was a place called "Sunkern Kiss." - a cafe that both Vhira and Whitney have been recommending me for some time now. I saw that this was the perfect opportunity to check it out so I did,

When I entered, the faint aroma of coffee started to waft into my nose and I couldn't help but grin. This was something that I enjoyed back in my old life because a few of the people that I was related to brewed and sold Native coffee, I always went to the cafe every morning and got myself a cup.

Because of a few things - mainly my mother, - I never really got the opportunity to drink coffee in our house, and right now, what I'm doing is finally drinking a brew after all this time.

I waved at the girl on the counter and she smiled back, her eyes going down for a moment before meeting mine again, "hello!" her chippy voice had a soft hum to it, "how may I help you?"

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

I looked the menu over, "uhm... I guess just standard cappuccino?"

she nodded, "of course!"

"and uh... chocolate dumplings," she nodded, "three?" I looked at Grimer, "uh, how much can you eat?" he raised an eyebrow, then called out his name, "that makes sense, make it seven."

looking at Grimer, the girl hummed, "how about you buy the Sunkiss Dumpling?" her smile was polite as she pointed at something on the corner of the menu, an oval dumpling with the design of a sunkern, "it can have both chocolate and caramel fillings," she added,

"I guess I'll take it?" she nodded and went over to the coffee machine on the far corner of the counter,

she handed me my caffeinated drink, "someone will give you the dumpling sometime soon so for now, just enjoy this," she gave me a small candy, chocolate flavored.

"thank you," she nodded in reply as I left.

Finding a seat wasn't that hard, with it being a slow morning and all that. When I made myself comfortable, I looked around the cafe and noticed a Heracross standing in front of a certain red-haired girl for some reason, I couldn't take my eyes off of her, and because of that, she eventually made eye contact and I flinched before looking away.

I took a sip of my coffee, the sweetness calming me down somewhat. I raised it again to take another sip when I heard the sound of scraping in front of me, "are you following me?" the red-haired girl's words were blunt and I took a step back mentally,

what?

"what?" my mouth mirrored my thoughts perfectly and I only got even more confused when she started glaring. I looked over to the calm Heracross and couldn't help but frown, he looked like he didn't care about what was going in front of him... the girl meanwhile, was way too volatile, "I don't know what you're talking about?"

she scoffed, "you were there in the booth yesterday and now you're in this cafe," the edge of her lips smirked upwards, "you think I'm fucking stupid?" she slammed her hand on the table and Grimer moved in front of me with Golden eyes locking into the Heracross to our left,

it simply scoffed and nodded at my Pokemon, "Cross,"

his words made it all click, "why are you even paranoid?" I said, leaning back slightly so that the spilled coffee wouldn't go into my pants. She stayed silent so I looked at the stoic Heracross, he huffed, "ok?" I raised an eyebrow, "you're not used to meeting someone consecutively, how is that my problem?"

"listen here-" she went over to the table and tried to grab me by the collar, only to get stopped by her Pokemon. She went back to her seat peacefully and looked at the girl on the counter, I followed her gaze and noticed that she looked like she didn't mind any of this at all. Like the stern face that she was putting up was nothing but a show to make sure that anyone watching wasn't suspicious...

I pushed back my thoughts and went back to the red-haired girl, "well, whatever it is that made you act this way, it's clearly because of me so," I offered a hand, "I'm sorry,"

"sorry?" she hissed, "sorry for what?! making him think twi-" the snap of the girl from the counter cut her off and I turned to see a Sunkern dumpling the size of my head.

"see? my food's here," if her face distorting was any indication, it was that the glare that I shot her wasn't unnoticed. I shook my head in exasperation, eyes wide, "look, if you think you're oH sO SpEcIAl to get stalked," I stood up from the table, dumpling on my hands, "then I'm going to leave and sit at another spot okay?"

"can't you see?!" she stood up, "that's exactly the problem! you're in the cafe," she started fuming, "in such a perfect time," her fist started balling up, "HOW. CAN. YOU-" a carapaced hand stopped her in place before she could punch me and the Heracross shrugged my way, giving out an apology.

I waved it off, "it's fine," I stared at another table, "you don't mind if I sit here for a while right?" the Pokemon nodded.

...

An open area seemed like the perfect spot after that encounter in the cafe, and Azalea town has the perfect spot for such things in the form of a group of plazas evenly distributed around the place. I was currently in one of them, drinking a bottle of water with Grimer on my side.

The bench we were on was relatively empty and since it was still morning, the park was empty in the best manner possible. Right as long as you go out, the atmosphere in the early mornings was something to enjoy, and people such as an occasional jogger that came past knew that the pleased expression on their face was anything to go by.

"Grime," my Grimer didn't think that way though. He slumped on the bench, his sludge-like body starting to soften as his eyes started drooping. The way he looked with melancholy at the other Pokemon on the mark made me feel a bit guilty for taking him in. I patted his head, "Grime?"

"what you're feeling is probably normal," I said, reaffirming his fears of him probably being too far from home and the chance of going back there is little to no right as long as he stayed by my side. I sighed, "you know, in some ways, we're probably in the same situation."

"Grime?" he started waving his arms around in a panic, something that I'd never seen him do for the past two months now, "Grime, Grime, Grime!"

I scratched the back of my head, "ah, really?" I chuckled, "guess understanding you has been pretty hard," I looked at a nearby Metapod hanging on a tree, "but still, feeling that way towards that Heracross is normal," his panicked expression turned grim but I continued, "he's quite strong you know," I gave out the observation that I never wanted to say in front of that Pokemon, "I don't know why but I feel that if that thing went against Kangaskhan, he would win."

Grimer nodded, "right?" I met his eyes, "seriously, what is something like that doing here?"

"Grime!"

"the girl? Probably," I tapped on the bench, thinking, "I mean, I noticed a few things odd with her..." I narrowed my eyes, "and that cafe earlier, what did she call it?"

"Grimer,"

"the cafe." I frowned, "that's a weird way of phrasing, sounds like she owned the place didn't it?" I hummed as Grimer stayed silent and the two of us just sat there for a while, not talking, just, there.