Never in her life had she regretted a decision so quickly. The tavern was crowded! Were there really just seven Pokémon in there?!

'Breathe in', she told herself. 'Breathe in and out, and everything will be fine and dandy, and you won't freak out, and Espurr won't think that you're a complete lunatic...'. She inhaled. 'I can do this. Probably'.

The Stufful slowly made her way to Espurr, who was standing before a really tall, orange Pokémon with some sort of tube around her body, going behind her neck- oh, they were a Floatzel, weren't they?

"Uhm, h-hi", she saluted, stuttering - why was she stuttering-, "uh, b-beautiful day we're having, am I right?".

The Floatzel blinked. "It's literally gawnna rain in two secawnds...".

"HAHAH I KNOW RIGHT?!", Ursa interrupted her. "That's EXACTLY what I was going to say! Rain's god for the plants, after all! It makes those leaves wet!".

...alright, there were eyes on her now! Lots of eyes on her! And Espurr was 100% judging her right now. Oh gods, why did she say that?! With that stupid, stupid tone, too! She might as well have worn a huge sign around her head saying 'hey, look at me, I am a complete weirdo, do not approach me if you value your brain cells!', this was-.

"Hey, uh... you alright?". Espurr's voice yanked her back to reality. "You're kind of... shivering".

"Bwuh?". Ursa blinked a couple of times, before realizing that she was, indeed, trembling a bit, her paws tightly clenched around her harness. "Oh, uh, no, I am fine! I'm just... a bit cold, yeah".

Espurr raised an eyebrow. "...cold. Sure".

There was a long moment of awkward silence, before the Floatzel simply announced: "Alright, uhm... room's numbah is three". She produced a rusted key from under her flotation sack, handing it to Espurr. "Heeuh's the key, bye!". And with that, she swiftly jumped behind the counter, and resumed polishing it.

As for Bazza, he remained silent for a few seconds, before awkwardly walking back to the kitchen, glancing at the Stufful all the way before disappearing behind a door.

"...well, uhm... neat". The psychic cat held the key high. "Follow me!". She waddled over to a staircase next to the counter.

Ursa followed her. A few creaking noises from the floor made her fur stand up, but apart from that... yeah, she was managing! She hadn't accidentally shattered anyone's spine so far - that was an improvement, right?

The room looked rather comfy. A wooden floor, four walls, a ceiling... heck, there was even a straw bed!

A STRAW BED!

"Wow, this is so cool!", she said, looking around. "So fancy! Oooh, it's even got a window - nice!".

"...yes, it has a window". Espurr placed her bag on the ground and started going through her possessions. "Alright so... money? Check. Paper? Check. Pen? Check. Food? Check... yup, that's everything!".

She then looked up... only to be greeted by the sight of Ursa laying next to the straw bed, eyeing it like it was some sort of huge diamond.

"Ooooooh, this must be so soft!", she heard her whisper while poking the hay with her paws. "Like a cloud! A little cloud of straw!".

For a split second, Espurr asked herself whether she'd be able to find another traveling companion amidst the inn's clientele. But then again, if it hadn't been for Ursa, she would probably still be in that cart right now, heading towards the Aeon Empire.

Heading home.

A shiver ran through her spine as the old mansion flashed into her mind for a split second - with its lush gardens, sitting atop one of the prettiest hills in Moncland, surrounded by green, with its dusty hallways, littered with ominous paintings of generations upon generations of Pokémon, all staring down at her, judging her....

...aaaaaaand that was enough thinking about that place for today!

Espurr simply pulled out a sheet of paper, a quill and an ink lid. Well, well, well, what to say now?

She could begin with 'dear Roy'- no, wait, that was too informal for a prince! But then again, he was her friend... if the letter fell in the wrong hands, however, people would find a lack of formality suspicious, especially from a - supposedly - random Espurr... but what if Roy thought she hated him?!

AAAAAAGH! THIS WAS A NIGHTMARISH CONUNDRUM!

"Whatcha doin'?".

She turned around; Ursa was standing behind her, hay hanging from her fur - like she had rolled over in the beds. A few blades of straw were scattered on her muzzle in a way that made her look like she had a mustache!

"Oh, I'm just... writing a letter", she explained, trying not to giggle at the sight. "To a friend".

"Wow, cool!". The Stufful sat down, tail wagging, and took a loaf-position, folding her paws under her belly. "Who's it for?".

"...a friend", she replied. "...why?".

"Oh, uh, nothing, nothing, it's just...". She remained silent for a few seconds, right before averting her gaze. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone write a letter before - how's it going?".

Espurr shrugged. "Not great, to be honest... I kind of don't know where to start?".

"Well, you could start from the beginning!", the Stufful chipperly proposed.

The psychic cat's ears quivered for a split second. "...I know. That's how starting stuff works, usually".

"Oh, y-yeah, I... I suppose you're right". The Flailing Pokémon remained silent for a second. "Uhm... s-so, uh... who's this friend of yours, exactly?".

"I met him at school", she lied. "We got along pretty well and-".

Ursa gasped audibly. "You went to SCHOOL?! That's so cool! You must know so many things!".

Espurr stared at Ursa in disbelief. "...yes, Ursa, I went to school... what about that?".

"Uh... nothing!", the stufful chipperly exclaimed. "Nothing at all, we all went to school, we are LITERATE!". She turned around and walked to her straw bed like someone who was trying too hard to appear casual. "We can READ! YEAH!".

The psychic feline remained silent for a while.

...finding another traveling companion wouldn't be an asshole move, right?

Ursa was acting weird now, and that worried her a lot. The thought of being locked in the same room with her for a night seemed... slightly terrifying.

Wait, no!, she reprimanded herself. She saved me! So what if she's a little... odd? I still owe her, holy heck!

She shook her head. No time for that now; she had a letter to write!

THIS WAS SO GREAT ESPURR WAS SO COOL SHE WAS LITERATE SHE KNEW HOW TO READ AND WRITE AND SHE WAS SO COOL AND SMART-

Wait, no! This wasn't the time to gush about Espurr! Trying to muster all of her inner calm, Ursa sighed and stared at the door that her friend would soon come through.

She started repeating the dialogue out loud.

"Ah-ehm... hi, Espurr, can I talk to you for a second? Sure, Ursa, what is it? Well, you see, you are basically a demigod, and I am a fucking idiot, this is going to be so embarassing, she's going to think I am a lunatic, and then she's going to ditch me, and-".

"Who's going to ditch you?".

Ursa basically jumped in the air; oh gods, she was so caught in her own monologue that she hadn't even noticed Espurr entering the room!

"Uh, nothing, nothing-", she quickly answered. "So, uh, did you manage to send your letter...?".

"Well, I put it in the mailbox", the Psychic type answered, "but Arceus only knows when it will arrive... or when he will respond...". She shrugged. "Ah, well, what can you do about it, am I right?". Sitting down, she pulled out a book from her bag; it looked rather old, with its black cover half dangling and golden decorations peeling off. "Well, uh... I'm going to read for a while, so-".

"W-Wait!". Ursa inhaled, staring the creature in those heliotrope eyes of hers. "...there's something very important that I've been meaning to tell you".

Espurr blinked.

Something important?

She hoped it wasn't about that whole dream thing...

"Shoot".

Ursa didn't answer immediately, but Espurr could almost feel the gears turning in her head. "...you have superpowers", she ended up blurting out.

"...what-".

"I know it sounds insane", the Flailing Pokémon continued, sitting down with a weirdly loud THUD, "but you are, like... way more powerful than you think". She paused for a second. "...and, uh, the same actually goes for me... it's... kinda scary, to be honest".

...Espurr didn't reply. Well, not vocally, at least, but her expression was a mixture of confusion and doubt, with a contour of bafflement and annoyance. Mostly annoyance.

And then, after seconds that seemed to stretch into eternities, the psychic feline spoke.

"Sounds to me like someone's high on X-Eye Seeds". She gave a light chuckle before opening the book to a page with a folded corner.

...oh gods she had just laughed at her, why did she have to sound so stupid all the time?!

"N-No, it's true!", she insisted. "L-Like... I can lift a house! A-And so can you, we just need to-".

"NO!".

Ursa froze. Did... did Espurr just scream at her...?

"What's up with you and thinking I'm special?!". The psychic feline shut the book closed with a thump! "Well?!".

The Stufful flinched, taken aback by the feline's sudden aggressiveness. "N-Nothing, it's... it's just...". She remained silent. "...sorry".

Ursa turned around, going back to her hay bed, sitting down on it with a little flump, before turning to face the wall.

Good. Espurr recovered her book and started to read from where she had left off, eager to know whether Pelagius and Lynn would kiss under the fountain and make their relationship known, or go to the Northern front against the Kastos barbarians....

She fell asleep soon after.