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"Of course," Skye smiled, "I knew you wouldn't accept, but still, I wanted to suggest it anyway. And when the time comes and you're ready to start taking on the gyms with your cute little 'run of the mill' -" Here, she made air quotes, her voice sarcastic, to inject the statement with the irony it deserved - any pokemon that managed to coax Ginga into battling alongside it would have to be a very special one! "- Pokemon, I'll be right beside you, cheering you on!"

She stopped to take a sip of her cocktail. Mmm, the day Ginga ended up winning her first badge was gonna be a red letter day indeed. It seemed she was never going to get around to it. Maybe she was just waiting for the right moment... or the right pokemon pal to get her started.

"Mmm, I wouldn't mind sipping one of these cocktails on a gorgeous beach. I've never been to Hoenn. It's got a massive volcano right in the center, right?! That must be so cool!"

"Mmmm... hot springs!" Skye said, tipping a little extra champagne into her glass and sipping at it. "I could do with a long soak in one of them. Just switch off and forget the world..."

Her expression drifted off dreamily for a few seconds. She came back down to earth shortly, a strange tapping sensation on her ankle waking her up. "What...? Oh Ginga! My bag!" she gasped, pointing down at her leather purse, which had previously been sitting innocently on the floor, "It's... hopping!"

She picked it up, and noticed this time how oddly bulging it was. Pulling the flap back, there was what seemed to be a minor explosion - miniature streamers burst up in her face, confetti covered the bar counter and fluttered all down her front. "Pancake!"

Skye's precious little Mime Jr spun out of the pocket and levitated in midair, arms raised triumphantly, as if to say - 'Yes, it is I! Ta-da!'

"Naughty!" Skye laughed, spitting several pieces of confetti out of her mouth at the same time. The confetti and streamers all over the place thereafter vanished - they'd been illusions, albeit incredibly convincing ones, all along. "What have I told you about crawling in my bags, you naughty girl?"

Grabbing her in both hands, she pulled her close and tickled her, coochie-coochie-coo-ing all the way, then gave her a big hug. "Pancake, where are your manners?! Say hi to Ginga!"

The little Mime climbed up over Skye's shoulder and perched there, giving a wave to Ginga and mouthing "Hello!" Then, she squeaked - "Mime!~" - and gave a little twirl, turning around to wave and dance for the other patrons who'd turned to see the source of the disturbance.

"Dear me, she must've been getting bored in there. Just couldn't wait any longer to make her entrance!"

With her bag in her lap, Skye took out her phone and glanced at the time. "Ahh- it's past three! Shall we be going? We don't want to miss any of the shops!" Putting her phone away again, she looked down at her plate, which still had about half of her pie left. "Oh dear - I'm very bad at eating a full meal these days, aren't I? I could just ask the nice man if he can wrap that up for me-"

A loud sucking noise came from her shoulder, like someone trying to slurp a ton of liquid up through a straw that was half blocked by something. The pie disappeared off the plate and reappeared in Pancake's mouth, stretching it comically. She fiddled with it using her tongue evidently, as it turned over with some difficulty and transformed her mouth into a massive semicircular grin of golden-brown pastry, oozing a little bit of gravy at the side.

"...Well," Skye said, choking a little bit on her amusement, "I suppose that's decided that, then."

(She gave the little clown a gentle poke in her soft pink tummy as she tried to swallow down the entire human-sized meal at once. "Chew your food, silly!")

"Yep - I'm ready!" Skye nodded, showing her pearly white teeth in a smile. On her shoulder, Pancake attempted to imitate her, but the mass of pastry still stuck in her mouth impeded the mimickry. She waved the barman over and gave him his pay, plus a hefty tip and a kiss on the cheek for good luck. He looked as if he'd won the lottery, and when the table of businessmen clapped as she slid off the bar stool in her short skirt, she winked at them and wiggled her behind, eliciting raucous cheers. She laughed, slung her back over her shoulder and wrapped an arm around Ginga. "Alright, babe - let's go! Where to first?"

When they'd finally escaped both the cafe and the alley-like street, Skye finally opened up amongst the bustling crowd. "Sorry about back there, but we've gotta be careful, you know, just in case. Especially considering my big news is two of my most important staff for Meloetta walked out on me today!"

Skye gave a little shrug, her arm still wrapped around Ginga's shoulder. "You know what? I'm not even sure! The director was pulling some kind of bullshit about a megaton of rewrites and the writer was in hysterics and I told them to pull themselves together and then a couple of hours later, they were gone!"

"Uugh you don't have to remind me about how last-minute it is. I even had to extend the pre-production schedule by a week because those two just couldn't agree on anything, and I couldn't agree with the director," she sighed, shaking her head. Pancake mimicked her, flecks of pastry still around her mouth.

"Oh, and when you get home to Striation tell those gym leaders to keep a freaking leash on their brother. He nearly managed to break himself in half trying to get into my house today. And I'm pretty sure half of the I dunno how many thousand fan emails that got forwarded to me were just from him!"

"Hahaha, I'm only teasing. Honestly though, SOMEBODY needs to put a leash on that boy," she replied, rolling her eyes, "Honestly, I could do with one of those hot springs right now - look at those SHOES!!" she cried, dragging Ginga over to a shop window. They were pink patent high heels - not the kind of thing you see every day! "SOOO CUTE!"

Skye didn't need telling twice - she was into the shop, stuffing her feet in different-sized pairs and buying the perfect pair before you could say 'Astaraffalahtah.' While she was paying for them she turned and grinned at Ginga and nodded her head at the shelves. "Go on, choose something! I'll treat you!"