Welcome to Gaia! ::

"I must admit," Aranxia spoke up sheepishly, "I brought only a small dagger. Mostly because it has uses other than as a weapon ... I use it for my work as well."

She shifted her bag from her side to her back and showed the others the short blade sheathed at her side.

"Good enough," Andarien said brightly. "That means I don't need anything!"

"I also stopped at the kitchens before I came up," Aranxia added, letting her bag fall to her side once more. "We can stay out all day, I brought food for us."

Aranxia smiled right back. "Yes, I had been hoping for that."

She looked at Ai, then at Andarien. "Where are Eon and Ponydash?" she asked him. "I can't imagine you would go on something like this without them ..."

Andarien grinned. "I promised I'd let them out as soon as we're outside. Ponydash wants to run really badly and I don't know if he would hold himself back if I let him out in here."

"He sure will," Andarien grinned.

Very soon, they were outside, and as promised, Andarien let Eon and Ponydash out of their Pokeballs. Eon bounded around in circles, but Ponydash took off at a gallop down the street.

"It's a good thing the palace isn't actually inside the city," Aranxia smiled softly. "It might be a bit dangerous to let Ponydash run inside the city. Perhaps we should avoid it altogether, at least for now."

It would be easy enough to get to the other side of the island without going through the city. It might even save them some time, since they wouldn't have to maneuver around people and streets.

"Very true," Aranxia agreed. She wasn't looking where they were going, though: she was looking over the edge of the steep cliff along which they were walking, at the sea down below them. It was a long way down, but she wasn't afraid of the height. She was sure of her footing.

A few moments later, Ponydash galloped back to them. It made a circle around them, neighing with pleasure at being allowed to run at last, and then took off again.

Andarien laughed. "Boy, you can sure tell he feels good."

Andarien smiled dreamily. "Yeah ... I wonder when he'll grow like Eon and Ai did. Evolve, I mean. And I wonder what he'll be like when he does."

Aranxia laughed softly. "Always looking ahead. Just enjoy the now, why don't you?"

Andarien blinked up at Miyuki. "What do you mean, the same way Eevees do?" he asked her, not fully understanding the question. "It's got a different form, if that's what you mean ... and ... and I think it needs to get stronger before it will change ..."

Was that what she meant, though? He wasn't sure.

Andarien looked down at Eon, who was trotting happily alongside him. "Well ... Eon and Ai have those stones in their collars, right?" he mused. "To make sure they evolved into the right kind ... but I think Ponydash only has one choice so he doesn't need anything like that. I think Ponydash just needs training, is all. Lots and lots of training."

As he spoke, Ponydash returned, and rather than running off again, it stayed at Andarien's side, almost bouncing as it walked.

Andarien wrinkled his nose. "No. And I don't think I need to, either. If I learn to ride a horse then I'll need all that stuff to go with it ... and I don't think Ponydash would ever wear all that."

Beside him, Ponydash neighed his agreement, bobbing his head up and down.

"But I bet if I just got up on him I could ride him," Andarien added with a grin.