Luckily, the sudden storm passed as quickly as it appeared. We didn’t have to stay in the small cave Myna had found for more than an hour, just enough time to sit down, make some tea and relax, watching the pouring rain outside. With Charm’s tail-flame giving off light and warmth, things were surprisingly cosy, but we all were quite happy when the weather cleared back up, the dark clouds being replaced with clear skies, bright sun and a rainbow in the distance.

Sadly, the rain had done little to dissipate the heat of summer but added a whole lot of humidity to the atmosphere. It turned from a feeling one might expect in an oven, to the feeling one might expect in a steam cooker, getting broiled instead of baked. By the time we decided to stop for the day, we were all completely drenched in sweat and incredibly happy about the small brook we had found, just large enough to have a bath.

Given that this time, it was Claire’s and my turn to prepare dinner, Lucas and Cliff got to have a bath first, while we made food. It wasn’t anything special, we would have to forage down in the lowlands to add some fresh wild vegetables to our diet, or we’d be seriously sick of the porridge with dried berries by the time we reached Snowpoint City. But there was little to be done about that, there were simply limitations of what you could preserve and carry.

“The water is wonderful, I let Iris have some fun and I think he loved it, too,” Cliff told us, a smile on his face. He had let Iris, his Feebas, play in all of the springs we had stumbled across and the little fish had shown his appreciation more often than not. He didn’t need to be permanently submerged, even if his species resembled a fish, but he clearly enjoyed clear water.

“No hostile Pokémon?” I asked, making sure that nothing would jump at Claire and me while we were washing up.

“Nothing we saw, but who knows out here, better be cautious,” Cliff reminded us. It was a little annoying but that was just how you had to travel, always cautious that no Pokémon made trouble.

With that reminder, Claire and I played a quick game of Grass, Fire, Water, determining who got to bathe first. My fire burned up her plant and I got to go first.

Squatting in the water, using my hands to splash it on my body was wonderful. The water was cold, surprisingly so, making me wonder if it came from some glacier further up the mountain or if there was some other reason, it felt a little too cold to be normal. But in the hot, humid atmosphere, the water sensation was wonderful, to the point that I lay down, submerging myself as much as possible as the water was flowing across and around me.

“Any trouble?” I asked, after walking out, standing in the light of dusk to let the sun dry off some of the moisture on my body.

“No, nothing that Yo or I noticed,” she assured me, giving Yo, her Medidite, a quick pat. As one would expect, she hadn’t felt like just watching me wash, that would be a little creepy. Instead, she had called out Yo and done a bit of training, Yo’s presence making sure that any Pokémon wouldn’t go to harass me but instead challenge Yo first.

“Good, you go wash, the water is wonderful, just like Cliff said,” I told her, walking over to my own Pokéballs without bothering to get dressed first. There was a slight breeze and combined with the rays of the sun warming my skin, it felt just too wonderful to describe.

After considering for a moment, I called out Su, hoping that the surly feline would finally get over himself. He had been extra surly for the last few days, his behaviour even worse than it always had been. I wasn’t sure what was going on with him, but it was starting to get worrying.

When he came out, he gave me a disdainful look, just like he always had, ever since I caught him, but there was something else in that disdain. It wasn’t just that he was looking as if I was bullying him and he was a poor feline that was just trying to get by, but that there was true aggravation in his eyes as if he wasn’t just playing.

“What’s going on, buddy?” I asked, squatting in an attempt to pet him. That had always helped to get close to him, even if he had acted as if I was torturing him, though he had also acted as if I was torturing him when I stopped petting him.

I reached out, intent on petting him like always, only that this time, his hair suddenly stood up in an almost spiky fashion as if there was electricity running through his coat and I even noticed a few sparks jumping between him and the ground, as he let out a true hiss of annoyance, not just his usual display of feline arrogance.

Feeling my heart grow cold, I stood, taking a step back to give my partner a bit of space, not sure how to react. A part of me was burning in anger, the arrogance of the feline trying to intimidate me, his trainer, was unbearable. But at the same time, I was the trainer, I had to correct his behaviour, but I wasn’t sure where to start. Or how to start, his display showed quite clearly that he wasn’t interested in getting along with me.

After considering for a moment, I decided to give him a bit of time to get over it and called him back into his Pokéball, an action he readily accepted.

Letting out a deep sigh, I wasn’t sure what to do. While Su had always been surly, this new resistance and aggression were worrying. I just didn’t know what to do or how to deal with it. That it might be a consequence of the change in my internal energy wasn’t helping my mood, as that might mean I couldn’t continue training him. But I would have to see how our relationship developed over the next few days and weeks, not make a snap decision because of one bad interaction.

Shaking my head, I decided to call out Vio, simply to have some company and lighten my mood. If nothing else, my little Kirlia was always a wonderful companion, happy to cuddle and snuggle up to me, no matter the situation.

The moment she appeared, she looked around cautiously, making sure nothing was intent on attacking us before her focus snapped to me. Normally, that was the time when she grabbed hold of my pant legs and took up position behind me, but now, there were no pants to grab hold of. For a moment, she reached out regardless, gently touching my thigh before turning away, almost a little bashful, and putting her back against me, as if asking to be hugged.

“Silly little Vio,” I chuckled, putting my arms around her, my action happily received by her and she moved a little as if to get comfortable. With an excellent listener in my grasp, I started telling Vio about my troubles with Su, her occasional cooing and humming sounds making me feel as if she was carefully listening and trying to come up with advice. I had no idea if that was true, the actual intelligence of Pokémon and their capability to understand and empathise with humans was hotly debated, but our interactions made me feel good and she seemed to enjoy them, too. So there was no problem.

Just after I finished telling her my tale, Claire came out of the water, looking happy and refreshed.

“Did anything happen?” Claire asked, looking at me, still naked and cuddling Vio.

“Eh, Su being a surly little feline,” I replied, trying not to take it to heart. “He’ll get over it.”

She simply nodded and both of us began getting dressed after standing in the sun for a bit.

“Did you take my bra?” Claire asked, looking at me with a frown on her face. I just shook my head, pulling on the fresh shirt I had prepared, before making sure that all my clothes were there.

“Of course not,” I assured her, looking around if it might have been blown off or something like that. Claire didn’t look happy but didn’t continue asking, instead, we both got dressed in fresh clothes, grabbed our washed and now mostly dried stuff and walked back towards the camp.

On the way there, just before we got to the site where Cliff and Lucas should be waiting, Claire let out an angry gasp, looking at a piece of fabric that was left between the rocks.

“How much attention did you pay to your surroundings while I was bathing?” Claire asked her tone somewhere between worried and accusatory.

“Apparently not enough,” I replied, accepting the blame as a ball of fire started burning in my gut. From the looks of it, a certain prankster had sneaked up on us and decided to snatch a bra, likely getting a lot of good looks at Claire and my naked form in the process.

We shared one more look, both of us burning with indignation, before heading back to camp, intent on tearing some strips off Lucas’ hide. Or maybe taking an eye out each, that way, he wouldn’t casually cast his eye on other people.