"Thanks, you too." Hesitantly, she scoops Starshine up and perches it on her shoulder, then offers it the Pokeball again in case it prefers that option.

Shoulder friend.

Shoulder friend it is.

She steps outside.

She realizes, as she begins to turn back toward the park (and, past it, the house), that she... doesn't want to go home, actually. She doesn't want to sit down for dinner with Aunt Gail. She doesn't want to speak to Aunt Gail. She would kind of like to exist in a world completely separate from the one that contains Aunt Gail.

She turns in the other direction, and starts walking.

North of Nuvema Town is Accumula Town. It's not much bigger than Nuvema Town, but it's at least got a Pokémart.

She's going to be walking for a while.

That's okay. She has a friend with her. A friend who has no context with which to scold her for her bad decisions.

Then, friend in tow, she will arrive in -

no wait that's a Scraggy, hissing loudly and swaggering towards her, holding up its moulting with both hands. Hiss hiss!

"Oh dear," she says. Can she run away? Is running away an option?

Starshine bumps a tiny round cheek against her face and meeps pointedly.

"—really? All right, if you're sure..."

C'mere, Scraggy, this candle wants a word with you.

Scraggy is so ready for a talk! It swings its leg in a low sweeping kick!

...which passes harmlessly through Starshine's form. The Scraggy overbalances and falls in a puff of road dust. An angry meep emerges as it scrabbles back to its feet.

Starshine takes a deep breath and lets out a meep so powerful it's almost more of a BOO!

The Scraggy flinches! It half-heartedly swipes at Starshine with its claws (which, again, pass right through it), but it seems pretty badly spooked.

Time to press the advantage with another spooksome shout!

That's enough for this Scraggy. It scampers off.

(Starshine feels great. Like it's got more Starshine in it. Like it could... do... fire?)

Fire, you say???

Ooh. Fire.

Starshine may now be doing a delighted pyrokinetic happy dance.

Concerning, yet adorable.

No further interruptions come out of the bushes! The remainder of their journey to Accumula Town is entirely uneventful.

They get there around midnight. The lights of the Pokémon Center are seductive; they'll have lodging for weary travelers and their 'mon.

Well, that's good news, because this traveler is pretty weary. (Starshine has by this point dozed off on her shoulder and been gently booped into the Heal Ball to save her the risk of falling off.)

The Nurse on duty shows her to a common room with several sleeping teenagers and supplies her with a sleeping bag and complimentary toiletries.

Flomp.

The first thing she does when she wakes up in the morning is let Starshine out and cuddle her. The world can wait.

Her stomach, alas, cannot. Sighing, she gets up and goes in search of breakfast, bag on one shoulder and friend on the other.

She can get a Kantonental breakfast at the Center or spend a few hundred pokéyen at one of the local diners!

She will go for the free food! Technically she has money, because she had some on her when she spontaneously walked out on her aunt, but it's not very much and she'd rather save it for situations where she has fewer alternatives.

When she's almost done with her breakfast, there's a commotion outside! The tenor of the commotion suggests less of an emergency and more of a minor spectacle.

She hangs back nervously...