After the commotion of the day, I felt a whole lot better after a short nap with the lazy Bidoof layabouts in the afternoon sun. Call it recharging. Besides, we weren't going to rush straight out into the woods to answer the call of adventure blindly, as that could only end poorly. I needed to figure out how to handle a few things first, especially if I wanted to have any idea where I was going.

First things first, I needed to have a map. As much as I liked the idea of finding a Pokégear or something with access to digital mapping, it wasn't like we were going to just be able to charge it up. Maybe if I found a way to transform into an electric-capable Pokémon, but even then I would be more likely to blow it up or fry it than recharge the battery. A good, old-fashioned paper map would probably do just fine. However, even adding just this one simple object brought on a whole new problem: storage. Was I supposed to just carry it around with me all the time? How was I going to protect it from rain and everything else that can crop up while travelling? I know the Pokémon world has borderline magical storage bags available, but I doubted they were just lying around for me to conveniently find.

Food was further down on my list of things to try and resolve, but it was definitely still present. There were likely to be plenty of assorted sources of food to potentially acquire, but how many of them were already going to be claimed territory? Imagine if we had to deal with an angry wild Pokémon every time we wanted to have a meal. Were we going to steal food from towns? If we had any money, I doubted it would be an issue for a Pokémon to make a purchase, but where was the money going to come from? Man, the shows I remembered always made it seem so easy to just start walking and boom, you're on an adventure, no questions asked.

Additionally, I wanted to get some actual practice 'roughing it' in short forays into the wilds before I started trying to play region-wide travel. Both for my own sake, to adjust to what I was firmly expecting to be a rather large departure from the cozy comforts I had been enjoying thus far, and also to make sure that Pidgey was really sure that she wanted to travel with me and knew what she was likely getting herself into. I'd hate for her to suddenly decide that she doesn't want to travel together after actually experiencing what it might involve, but it was better to test things out in advance than having her decide she wants to quit when we're half a region away.

That's enough gathering my thoughts. I'll have to figure out a way to deal with some of those problems later, but I was itching to actually commit to doing something. The last problem being one that could be addressed right now without issue made it leap out toward me as one to start tackling right away. Wandering over in the direction of the bird flock, I approached my travelling companion and transformed myself into a duplicate Pidgey once again. "So, your Mom lives out in the nearby area, right?" I prompted, jarring her from her own daydreaming to twist around to face me.

"Yeah, of course. Why? You want to ask for advice?" Pidgey rolled her eyes at me, and sighed out, wings fidgeting with a restless energy. "Don't bother, I already went and told her that I was thinking about going out further, to travel, and all she said was 'Good! It's about time!' and waved me off like I was a stubborn hatchling who didn't want to get out of the nest."

I decided not to respond to that, as the pasture may as well be a comfortable nest to hide away in. Sometimes there are arguments that don't need to be made to keep arguments from arising between friends. "Well, I did want to ask for some advice, since she's the only connection I can think of to a 'wild' Pokémon who might actually be willing to answer some questions. But if we can't, then that's fine too, I suppose. I was thinking that maybe we should fly out and try to spend the night in the woods ourselves. Try and fend for ourselves for food and find a place to camp out, get used to being outside in a less controlled environment. What do you think?"

Pidgey bobbed her head in a quick nod, "Sounds good!" She agreed readily, seemingly as eager as I was to actually try and do something new. The way she was fidgeting and clawing at the grass betrayed her nerves, though, so it seems we had that in common too.

"Look at us, we're both so jittery and we're just going out for a couple hours before dark. Some adventurers we are, huh?" I forced out a painfully fake laugh, trying to sound more reassuring than I felt at the moment. "We've got each other's backs, though, so we'll be fine! We still have a few hours before sundown, so we can try to fly out and find our own food for dinner, and a place to stay out over the night? I feel like not being hungry is a pretty good incentive to have us actually do some proper looking around for food, and having a big meal right before you head out to do some travelling practice seems like cheating."

That brought her to a pause for a moment, looking at me with concerned eyes, and she seemed to be hesitating to speak out. "Aren't you sort of a... picky eater?" She remarked, as my dinner habits hadn't exactly remained a secret.

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"Not really? I mean, I have my preferences, but I don't think I'm really that picky. I just found something I liked and stuck with it. Oran berries are pretty nice, okay? But I've eaten some of the other ones, and I've tried the seeds out here, they were pretty decent."

She just stared at me like I was being stupid on purpose, and then rubbed her head with a wing, sighing all the more heavily in my direction. "You're a hatchling, right? I keep forgetting that because you actually battle pretty well. So how long did you spend out in the wild by yourself before you came here?" Her voice was particularly patient, like she was forcing herself to remain polite rather than yell at me.

"Not counting the time it took to walk here with Bibarel? Maybe all of five minutes. Bibarel found me almost right away, and then invited me to follow him back here. I almost didn't, but the woods over across the river were so creepy and silent I ended up chasing after him. Why? What does that have to do with anything?"

Pidgey tipped her head from side to side, looking like she was struggling to come to a decision on what to say, before just staring at me. "You know, not all Pokémon have a diet of berries..." She trailed off, staring at me expectantly and waiting for me to follow along. "And even if they do like berries, it's not like the entire forest is a berry orchard, so we'd probably have to fight or sneak past someone like my Mom if you wanted to get at wild berries."

The Pidgeotto was nesting in a berry-producing area? Well, I suppose that made sense. But what-? Oh. OH. I could feel my expression slipping as I realized that the berries being guarded wasn't the crux of the issue. It was the rest that I had all but instinctually glossed over. "You mean, eating other... Pokémon?" I could feel the twisting of my stomach just saying the words. It made sense, this was a world with an entire ecology and it wasn't like berries were going to hold up everything together. But the idea of eating a Pokémon had a very instinctual reaction of disgust from me. I didn't want to imagine it, let alone ever be forced into a situation where I needed to do it. "No, no, no. Absolutely not, I'm not eating-. No. Just no!" I didn't even want to say it again.

Aside from a brief sympathetic glance, Pidgey didn't make a remark about my actions, likely having expected this reaction from me to some degree. She just waited for me to fight down the disgust that rose up at the idea, awkwardly staring off to one side while I tried not to think about it. "Yeah. Especially since you're practically a hatchling, even if you battle surprisingly well, I figured I should at least tell you..." She murmured, "I'm not saying that we have to do it, or we even should, but it's going to really limit your choices if you're going to... worry so much about what you eat." I appreciated her attempt at talking around the issue instead of being blunt about it, but I still felt vaguely nauseous.

"Okay, I've changed my mind, I don't think I'm going to need to eat much tonight at all. I don't even want to try and eat berries right now, because I think I'd just be sick..."

"Do you want to wait and do a trip outside tomorrow then? Maybe you'll be feeling a little bit better?"

I really, really wanted to say yes. I wasn't in a good condition at the moment, but I also didn't want to back down. Backing down now would just make it harder to face later, and I could keep coming up with excuses to push back and stall forever if I didn't firm my resolve. If I didn't go out now, I should just resign myself to a cozy, comfortable stay on the pasture and give up the whole adventure thing. "No, I'm okay. I'm good. Let's go out. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Not really. But I want to try it anyway."

Pidgey nodded at me, and we both took to wing, while I tried to focus on the flow of air against my face more than where I was going. I honestly was just following my companion's lead in flying in wide circles as we gained height. "How about a compromise? Why don't we go visit my Mom and nest out there for the night? It'll be like a halfway point between just us two being out somewhere by ourselves and staying in the pasture. Mom keeps anything too big and scary away, but there should still be some small Pokémon around that aren't other Pidgey. Learning how to avoid getting into fights is just as important in the wild as being good at fighting. At least, Mom says that if she fought everyone who came nearby who wasn't part of the flock she'd never get to sleep."

"Honestly? Yeah, I think I can appreciate a halfway point at the moment. I need some time to, well, calm down and adjust..." Suddenly, I realized something and let out a laugh. It was more a self-depreciating laugh, as I realized that this was the first time in either of my lives a girl asked me to come and visit her parent, even if it was obviously not in that sort of context.

"What are you laughing about now? Don't get me wrong, it's an improvement over moping and looking ill, but did you just go crazy or something?" Pidgey asked as we started to wing out over the trees, heading out past the fenced-in area of the pasture and into the woods proper.

"Nothing, nothing. Don't worry about it. You lead the way, since I have no idea where we're going." I brushed off the remark and returned my attention to scanning the trees below us and the skies around us, wanting to ensure that there weren't any Pokémon looking to cause trouble and interrupt our flight. We were technically already out of the safety of the secured area of the pasture, after all.

"Fine! Keep your secrets. It's this way!" She scolded me as she turned to bank aside and change our direction slightly. This little outing was a small first step, but hey, I had to start somewhere.