I find myself in the midst of a dream, the world once again pastel.

The forest is gone this time- replaced by a gigantic wisteria tree. It obscures a blinding, radiant sun with its leaves, its warm light peeking down at me through the gaps in the branches. The field of flowers, the one made when I took that step, remains as it was, verdant emerald grass carpeting the ground beneath the vibrant rainbow.

A quick glance finds that my form has changed again, though only slightly. My wounds, once open to the air, now are protected against the world with bandages. A slight amount of basic pink lace has been added to the skirt and straps of my dress, extending their length just a tad. The biggest change is that a facsimile of Sofie’s work has been transferred. The slightly lengthened tips of my hair have been dyed the same pink that I had outside of the dream, and I find to my surprise that they curl a bit as well.

I hesitantly step forward towards the gigantic tree but no major change occurs this time. As I move, each step is as if walking through water, and I seem to make no progress towards my goal no matter how long I walk. Eventually, I stop in place, deciding that it was a futile effort to continue forwards as it was. I sit down, the lack of feeling far stranger than when I had been standing.

Noticing a gaze upon me, I turn my head to see two Pokemon staring at me from atop a small hill. The two white horses, one nearly twice as large as the other, have majestic flowing manes of pink and blue, tufts of strangely gaslike fur above their hooves- and a pitch black horn spiraling with white upon their heads. The Galarian forms of Ponyta and Rapidash.

Upon entering my sight, the Rapidash immediately turns and disappears, but the Ponyta instead looks at me for a moment. When we lock eyes, I feel our hearts connecting for just a moment; The first, far too fleeting feeling I have in this entire dream is its pure, unadulterated curiosity. Then, it turns its head as if someone had called for it, and it begins to step away, only to take one last glance back at me before it vanishes.

Standing up, I consider following behind them, but decide against it. Looking back up towards the tree again, I notice something I hadn’t before, namely that one of its gigantic branches seems to be slowly withering. I take one last deep breath, then close my eyes.

When I open them, I am within a tent, a deeply warm comfortable feeling over my entire body. When I attempt to move, I find myself wrapped tightly in a blanket- then the reality of the situation comes flooding onto me. My body begins to burn, and after a very short wiggle session I rest my face in my hands, mentally screaming. What- I don’t- Ehhhh?!

Snickering beside me, Eve reaches out and pokes me with her paw. I peek at her through my fingers, then look at what she points to. My breath hitches at the sight of Sofie snoozing with her back against the tent’s wall, Cappuccino in her lap. The girl’s piercing crimson eyes are hidden, the face framed by her chocolate braids seeming exceptionally brilliant when illuminated by the scant morning light filtering in through the tent. Absent-minded, I look (respectfully) for a good few seconds before I begin to unwrap myself as quietly as I can, though apparently not enough.

“Hmm…?” Sofie’s eyelids flutter open, and my heart does a little dance when her face softens upon looking at me. “Ah, good Morgen…”

We both freeze at her Freudian slip, then share a long giggle together. Groaning as she wakes up, Cappuccino sleepily stands on her tip toes and rubs her tail against Sofie’s face. I finally escape my imprisonment as Sofie mutters a couple unintelligible words through the fur, only for the chinchilla to wander over and give me the same treatment once I do. It’s strangely refreshing, if a bit stifling, like having your face washed. Cappuccino then toddles over to Eve, who actually returns the gesture by giving her head a nuzzle.

Sofie zips open the tent to step outside, only for Chamomile to pop out of her ball, directly onto my friend’s head. Laughing to myself, I crawl out of the tent as well, grabbing a protein bar out of my bag, splitting it with Eve as normal. I hesitate, then take one out and walk over to Sofie, who is packing up the camping gear, poking her in the shoulder with it. She turns with a raised brow, then takes the bar with a roll of her eyes.

“I’ll settle for this for now, Clumsy,” She says, a smirk rising on her lips, “But we’re going to lunch when we get into Santalune, whether you like it or not.”

I nod a bit meekly, not particularly feeling a need to argue. The reservations I had yesterday are pretty much moot at this point. Eve grins as she saunters over to me, rubbing herself along my back while spreading some teasing affection through us. I playfully push her, and just like that I flip her switch.

The Absol dashes away a few feet, gets low to the ground and barks, then playfully rushes at me. Ready for it, I hop a foot sideways right when she is about to hit me, then retreat a second, repeating as needed. We glide through the small clearing for a bit, Sofie watching with a smile on her face from the side. Eventually, I mess up though, tripping over my own feet as I habitually go the wrong direction. Having noticed my fall before me, Eve speeds up a bit, catching me by the back of my hoodie. Proud of herself, Eve trots over to Sofie with me hanging from her jaws.

“Pfff, Eve. I just,” Sofie giggles, “You look like a Persian holding up a kitten!”

I groan at the joke, but then I hear ripping and we both pale. Sofie catches me as I suddenly drop, my old hoodie ripping in Eve’s jaws. She immediately puts me down, and I pull my previously most reliable piece of clothing off to check the damage. I am dismayed to find that the entire back is completely ruined, the fabric itself having failed, cleaving a huge slash in its burgundy flesh.

“Well,” I murmur, looking at the city in the distance, “I hope there is a cheap clothes store in Santalune.”

It turns out there is. After an uneventful morning walk into the city through route three, after leaving our pokemon at the center for a checkup, Sofie nearly immediately approaches an old stall owner hawking crepes. After buying one for each of us, she casually asks for a good thrift store, to which the shop owner immediately gives us the location of. He gladly boasts that he’s friends with the owner, and we politely stand there as he squawks a sob story of how they once knew love, but he politely walked away from the relationship when he realized that she loved someone else, yet was holding back because she still cared for him. Despite the urge, I quietly decline to inquire on his opinions on polyamory, considering his age.

It’s a five minute walk there, a pleasant walk through a business district filled with traditional Kalosian buildings, each storefront filled with various souvenirs and bright clothing. A few cute dresses do catch my eye, but I force myself to look away knowing that there was no way I could afford them. A couple pokemon walk the streets, primarily a wide variety of various cats and dogs, but I even catch a few Farfetch’d following a particularly large member of their species with a gigantic leek. The galarian variant, if I remember right.

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Sofie frowns when we reach an intersection centered around a fountain, taking a moment to glare at her phone before grabbing my hand and dragging me to the east. I find myself staring down at our connected hands, the warmth of which makes me feel a bit fuzzy, then even a bit regretful when she releases it upon our arriving at the store.

A bell rings as we step inside, and I am immediately overwhelmed by the cavalcade of clothing scattered about on racks and tables. Sofie walks up to a rack, pulling off a bright pink shirt, holds it up to my chest, then clicks her tongue as she walks off. Stepping out of the back upon hearing the noise, an older woman who I assume is the owner walks up to me, glares down at me, then walks over and grabs some clothes, throwing them at me.

“Try these on,” She mutters before going and sitting behind the store’s counter.

I look down at what she threw, my mind going blank when I do. The first item in question is a simple white singlet, which thankfully had quite a high neckline. Second is a long, high waisted, straight black skirt, which would probably stretch to below my knees even if it rested just above my stomach. I stare at them for a moment, then awkwardly stumble into a changing room.

Stripping out of my clothes in a public place is always strange, but this is beyond anything I had done before. Pulling on the shirt, I find myself turning a bit red when I realize that while the fabric did cover a lot of skin on my chest, as the straps come together in a X shape on my back, they revealed quite a bit. Somehow, I didn’t really dislike it much. Pulling the skirt on, I find my heart beating a bit harder at the unfamiliar breeze across my thighs.

Taking a deep, hesitant breath, I step in front of the mirror and my chest becomes filled with butterflies at the sight. I do a little spin, giggling giddily as the skirt catches the wind and lifts a bit. Making my decision, after pulling my boots back on, I step outside, noticing Sofie and the woman chatting up at the front of the store.

I start towards them, but pause when I see a black hoodie with pink lining hung up on a hook. Feeling it’s perfect, I pull it on to find it the perfect size, then walk up to the front. Upon seeing me, the older woman clicks her tongue, then presses a few buttons on the cash register in front of her.

“You win, Lil’ miss,” the woman grunts, tearing a receipt and slamming it onto the counter, “Fifty percent off, it’ll be 2k.”

I think for a second, then reach into my wallet and pass the shopkeeper the money. She greedily nabs it, then waves us out of the building. The butterflies return as I see Sofie really take a look at me, a grin widening on her face. She pulls me in for a hug, and I find myself not exactly sure what is going on.

“I made a bet on whether you would choose the hoodie or not,” Sofie finally explains before she leans in whispering into my ear, “You look great, by the way.”

Taking my hand, Sofie begins to parade me through Santalune, heading back the way we had come from. Feeling a bit lightheaded, I soon find myself far more sensitive to the various glances from the people around me than normal. I anxiously squeeze Sofie’s hand, getting her to turn around to smile at me.

“Once we get to the center, you can carry Cappuccino for a while,” She murmurs, waving to the crepe guy from earlier, “She’ll be good to cuddle while you get used to the feeling of your new clothes.”

I meekly nod, glancing over my shoulder when I feel another stare. I go into a bit of a daze as we walk, thinking about the upcoming gym battle that Sofie and I were going to have to conquer. I wasn’t too worried about my friend, but the prospect of fighting so many bugs at once was… actually really daunting for me. I could usually handle them from a distance, like the Surskit from yesterday, but strong, well trained ones are a different story.

It’d impact Eve’s ability to fight if I got too distressed, and I needed her to be at the best of her ability if we wanted to succeed. Viola wasn’t a pushover, afterall. She had twenty years of experience as a leader, twenty years of hard fought battles. It’d be bad if she decided I was truly a threat.

I come to my senses in the center when Sofie hands me Eve’s pokeball, my partner’s joy at her leg being healed bringing me back to reality. Nearly immediately, Sofie releases her two pokemon, and as promised she stuffs a bewildered Cappuccino into my arms. Chamomile squeaks with happiness at being able to go back to her favorite pastime, to which Sofie rolls her eyes.

“Well, now that we have our Pokemon back, do you wanna go get signed up for the gym?” Sofie smiles at me, putting her hands on her hips.

I nod, before long we’re standing in front of a huge green roofed building with the Pokemon League symbol plastered on the front. A few trainers stand around the outside, psyched and devastated at equal values. Sofie locks eyes with me as we both share a grin, then step into the gym itself. It’s far too late, but as we do I remember that Viola is a professional bug photographer- and this place was her gallery.

My stomach does a flip as the first thing I see is a gigantic, Wurmple lifting a flower to the camera lens. I shudder, feeling as if the thing was staring right at me. A glance to the left isn’t any better, where an array of images, portraying a furry Larvesta evolving into a gigantic, terrifying Volcarona. My legs grow weak as my ears start ringing, and I feel Cappuccino turn in my arms to look at me. Sofie catches me as I stumble, looking me in the eyes and saying something that I can’t hear as my breaths go shallow.

Thankfully, a quick dose of heavy love from Eve pulls me back enough to realize that I was safe. Looking into my friend’s eyes, I force myself to take deep breaths, doing my best to center myself in reality. While my ears remain ringing, I stop trembling and my breathing returns to normal. I close my eyes, then reopen them to find Sofie’s worried expression. Righting myself, I take a step back out of my friend’s arms, then begin to thank her for catching me, to say that I was fine.

No words come out of my mouth.

I can’t seem to speak, and I feel my heart grow cold as I touch my throat. This was new, and probably a bad sign. Eve circles heavy concern, and I thankfully find that I can return it still. I scratch a worried Cappuccino, who swings her tail around to wipe away tears I didn’t realize had marked my cheeks. I smile at her, then look up to Sofie before pointing to my open mouth and shaking my head.

“You… Can’t speak?” Sofie’s eyes go wide, then walks up to me and pulls me into a hug.

“It’ll be okay,” She says, her voice shaking, “I’ll speak for you when you need it.”

I nod, then notice that we had garnered quite a few eyes while I had been panicking. My face burns as I grab Sofie’s hand, dragging her into the line for the reception. I do my best to not look at any bugs, finding that it’s easier to just look down at the Chinchilla in my arms then at the things around me and risk catching sight of a bug. Eventually the stares disperse, and we soon reach the gym’s attendant.

“Are you here to sign up for a challenge?” Not even looking up, the receptionist speedily types away at a keyboard.

“Yes, we both are,” Sofie says, giving me a bittersweet smile, “She’s non-verbal right now, so I’ll speak for her.”

That gets the woman's attention, and after looking up at us, she shrugs.

“I’ll need your trainer cards, and for you to take turns putting your pokeballs into the machine for a power reading.” Reaching out she takes our pre prepared cards, quickly scanning them before handing them back.

We place Eve into the pokeball slot first, and soon the machine starts whirring, lighting up with a bright blue light. The woman behind the desk whistles.

“Absol, at least second badge strength, upwards of fourth. You’ve trained this one well.”

I nod enthusiastically, taking my partner back, and I can’t help but dopily smile when I feel the sheer amount of smug pride coming off of her. Sofie is next, recalling her pokemon before nervously placing them into the machine.

“Hmm.” Reading from the machine, the woman nods with a smile. “Minccino and Petilil, both first gym badge at minimum, likely close to the second. You’re both good to go.”

Giddily Sofie retrieves our little friends, releasing them before pulling them into a hug. Cappuccino leaps over to me after humoring her trainer, and to my surprise I find that she moves her ears to cover my eyes. I hear Sofie giggle, but though I smile, no laugh seems to come. My friend leads me out of the building, and once we’re outside, Cappuccino leaps away to let light back into my pupils.

“Is it any better now that we aren’t near any of the pictures?” Sofie squeezes my hand anxiously, but I just shake my head.

I couldn’t speak, and I didn’t know exactly why. It wasn’t exactly a problem for now, but if it never went away… I shutter, then gesture away from the building. Perhaps if we got far enough away I could reset my brain or something. Sofie sighs, then once again begins to lead me towards the Pokemon Center.

Hopefully, a bit of rest would help.