Somehow, travelling down the mountains was just as exhausting as hiking up the mountains. Or maybe a different kind of exhaustion, instead of having burning thighs from constantly pushing yourself uphill against gravity, our knees and calves hurt from the strain of having to permanently cushion our steps while walking downhill. Either way, after a day of hiking down a steep hill, my legs were in pure, infernal agony.

Over the course of the last few hours, the mostly barren rock, with some shrubs and grass growing in the crags, had been replaced by a shrub-covered hillside that had finally morphed into a lush, green forest. There were countless trees, none of them as impressive as the giant trees of the Eterna Forest but compared to the Coronal Mountains, it was wonderful.

“Is that smoke?” Claire asked, being the one up-front, who was currently responsible for navigation and watching out for hostile Pokémon. Well, we all kept our eyes open, but it was her primary responsibility at the moment, to give the rest of us time to mentally relax and zone out. Her words were enough to make me pay extra attention, taking in the environment carefully and moving up, to stand next to her.

Between the trees, we could see across a hilltop and from somewhere in the valley behind it, I could see a rising pillar of either smoke or steam, not terribly large but quite clearly visible. Looking around again, I tried to remember the various landmarks we had passed by before and what Cynthia had told us to look for on our way north.

“You think it’s that guesthouse Cynthia has told us about?” I asked, looking at Claire who gave an excited nod in response. Hearing my words, Cliff and Lucas perked up as well, the idea to get some fresh food, a hot shower and an actual bed were just about the most appealing things one could offer us at this point. For me, the hot shower had the biggest appeal, but that might be different for the others. Either way, all of us had gleaming eyes and were motivated to push ahead.

“Let’s go,” Lucas cheered, not quite rushing forward but looking like he wanted to. Claire just chuckled and changed our path, carefully making her way forward, past the shrubs and trees, keeping the smoke up ahead in sight.

Once we reached the crest of the hill and could look down, the previous smiles returned with glee. Down below, maybe a kilometre or so away from us, we could see multiple sturdy-looking buildings and the chimney of the central one was the source of the smoke.

“Let’s keep it steady,” I reminded the others, even if a part of me wanted to do nothing more than slide down the mountainside, trusting my sense of balance and athletic ability to see me through It was a risk, but if it got me to my shower just five minutes earlier, it was one I almost wanted to take. But no, that would just be stupid and likely delay my shower not just for a few minutes but maybe even hours, or completely prevent it, if I took a bad fall. No way I was going to risk that.

The slope wasn’t too steep and there were no serious drops or cliffs, just a few trees and some shrubs. From the number of trees and how little shrubbery there was between them, I was pretty sure that somebody kept the place organised and made sure it didn’t overgrow, allowing for the easy harvesting of the trees and preventing Pokémon or animals to make themselves too comfortable in the area.

Soo, we reached the bottom of the slope, where a sturdy-looking fence waited for us. It wouldn’t keep out a determined Pokémon, but almost two metres of fence, constructed from poles as thick as my thigh was enough to stop any casual intrusion. There was even some barbed wire worked into the fence, making climbing it a rather painful prospect, so we started going around. Looking through the fence, we could see the houses more clearly and also what was around them, namely large areas that looked cultivated, some of them growing crops, others growing vegetables, fruits and berries.

“They are doing quite a lot,” I mused, looking at the amount of land they were using.

“I mean, they need to get their food somewhere,” Claire reminded me and I had to nod. Yeah, getting supplies here would be a massive pain, unless you had a large and powerful flying Pokémon and even then, it would be troublesome.

We hadn’t walked far, when loud, barking sounds, coming from within the fenced area, caught our attention and likely told everyone within a few hundred metres about our presence. Moments later, a massive canine came from the buildings and moved in our direction, giving out a few more barks as it went. Just its size was intimidating, its head high enough to look down on me and a small part of me wondered if there was a way to ride it. I had never seen that particular specimen, the fluffy, black fur and odd-looking whiskers throwing me off a little but according to my Pokédex, it was a Stoutland and, from the power-readings, quite the powerful one. It wasn’t a Pokémon I wanted to battle casually.

Before there was a need to consider fighting, a human voice came from the buildings, “Bissmark, settle down,” the unknown male called out, and moments later, the Stoutland stopped barking, merely keeping a watchful eye on us.

Behind him, coming out of the same area the dog had come from, came a man who might be related to Kodra, the massive, almost ursine, Gym-leader in Celestic Town, they certainly shared the size and built. While he wasn’t able to tower above the Stoutland, he could at least look it into the eyes.

“Who goes there?” he asked, now clearly looking at us, asking for our identities.

“Some trainers, travelling from Celestic Town to Snowpoint City. We’ve heard that there are some people living here, who put up travelling Trainers for the night, is that right?” Lucas replied, shouting to be heard across the distance.

“Aye, we do put up travellers. Come to the entrance over there,” he pointed towards the northern side of the compound and started walking in the same direction, his Stoutland moving with him.

Given the distance, nobody was about to keep conversing, not when you had to shout to be heard and soon, we stood before a gate that was just as sturdy and intimidating as the rest of the fence. After Gunther easily opened the gate, I could see that he was just as big as I had thought, with close-cropped, brown hair and a short beard, giving him a seriously intimidating look.

“Welcome to the Mountain Lodge, you can call me Gunther,” he stretched out a hand and for a moment, I had the funny image of all four of us shaking it at the same time, it certainly was large enough for that.

“Thank you for the hospitality, I’m Lucas and these are Claire, Dani and Cliff,” he introduced us and we took turns shaking Gunther’s hand, or rather, having our hand completely enveloped by his massive paw.

“Come in, come in, it’s nice to have guests,” he invited us and we walked in, somewhat cautious but given what Cynthia had told us, we had a bit of trust in the place.

“Tell me a bit about you, we only get so many visitors each year, new stories are always welcome,” Gunther asked, as we walked along the path to the house, the Stoutland keeping pace with us after giving each of us a quick sniff.

Lucas and Claire did most of the talking and I mostly focused on the Stoutland, even letting myself fall behind a bit so it had enough space to walk next to me. Somehow, while its size was incredibly intimidating, there was also something calming about it. When it pushed its massive head towards me, lowered a bit as if to ask for head-scritches, I hesitated for a moment, calling out to Gunther, “Is it okay to pet your Bissmark?” I asked, having heard the name earlier.

“Sure, he’ll like that,” he nodded, after looking over his shoulder to see the situation. With permission from the owner, I let my hands sink into the incredibly fluffy fur, almost stumbling from being entranced by the feeling. The only Pokémon I had that was furry was Su and even before he had become extra moody these last few days, he hadn’t been the fluffy sort.

By the time we reached the courtyard formed by the three large buildings, I was babbling to the Stoutland, calling him a good boy and praising the ultimate fluffiness that was him.

“Greta, meet Lucas, Claire, Dani and Cliff,” Gunther called out, introducing us to another person. His voice managed to shake me from my fluff-induced trance and I looked around, noticing the female figure that stood in the door of the building in the middle. For a moment, I wondered if my eyes were playing tricks on me, as she looked just tiny. Walking up, I realised no, my eyes were fine, she was just that small, maybe not even a metre and a half and incredibly slender with it. Her hair was flowing smoothly down her back, light-brown with only a few, grey streaks.

“This is my wife, Greta,” he introduced her, when we were close and again, there was a round of handshakes. Looking between the two, I wasn’t sure what to say or think but decided that discretion was the better part of valour.

“Welcome, children. Wash up, dinner is almost ready and the boys should be back soon,” Greta told us, before calling out, up the nearby stairs, “Lisa, come down, we’ve got guests.”

Moments later, rapid footsteps were heard and another female figure, looking incredibly similar to Greta, only about thirty years younger, roughly our age, came down the stairs.

“Lisa, please, show our guests the guest rooms, I’m sure they’d love to freshen up before dinner,” Greta told her and the teenager gave her mother a nod, before looking at us.

“Follow me, I’ll get you to your rooms,” she invited us, heading back up the stairs.

She didn’t talk much as she guided us, first to one side of the building, where she told Cliff and Lucas that they could room then to the other side.

“You two can sleep here,” she told us, opening one of the rooms, “I’ll share my bath with you, it’s over there. That’s my room,” she pointed to a few more doors, introducing the place to us.

“I’ll leave you to clean up, dinner will be ready soon. If you’ve got questions, just knock on my door,” she added, before leaving us alone.

“You can have the first shower,” Claire told me, invoking feelings of immense gratitude in me.

“Thank you so much,” I grinned, not standing on ceremony, instead grabbing my stuff and heading into the bathroom without hesitation.

Hot shower, here I come!