Aleron nodded. "You want coffee or tea or anything? I was thinking of getting a cup to go." She almost wanted the extra caffeine that morning.

"I would love one," Margaret replied gratefully. Caffeine sounded wonderful. She fished around in her bag with one hand, searching for one particular shirt. When her fingers finally brushed the right material, she pulled it out and took the shirt and her other clothes into the bathroom to change into. She came back out dressed and looking slightly more put-together.

Aleron wasn't back yet, but it didn't take her long to get back with two coffees and hand one over to Margaret. Then she stretched a little and went to go recall Gyarados so they could get going again.

"You ready?" she asked when she got back.

Margaret nodded as she took the coffee.

"Ready when you are," she said. She recalled her pokemon and shifted her bag into a more comfortable spot on her back.

Aleron nodded and started walking, Vulpix trotting next to her placidly. It was a good day so far. Now it just had to stay a good day.

Margaret couldn't help but feel like them toting the egg around with them was just asking for trouble, but they hadn't had any issues with it before, so she didn't say anything to Aleron about it. She just walked with her friend, Espeon draped across her shoulders and over the backpack.

Aleron hummed to herself as they walked, keeping an eye out for any trouble. So far, so good. But she wasn't counting on that to last. She was just hoping it would. That would certainly make their lives easier, if nothing else.

So, naturally, nothing happened. The entire day.

And Aleron found herself almost bored.

Oddly, Margaret was bored, too. She'd gotten so used to tripping over legendaries that the quiet afternoon was just... bland. They didn't even run across anything particularly rare, either. Just the usual Pidgeys and Rattatas, with the occasional Nidoran. She was almost glad when they stopped for the night and built the fire.

Aleron settled down, keeping her eyes open for any sign of trouble. Or a Houndour. She still wanted one, dammit.

"So. What next?" She looked over at Margaret. "Besides going to get information on Mewtwo, anyway."

"I guess we wait and see if this egg gets claimed," Margaret said uncertainly. She'd been sure Mew were extinct, so she wasn't sure how the egg had even been found, and if there was a parent around to claim it. "Hey, maybe while we're in Saffron you could try for the Marsh Badge. Sabrina's always taking challengers. And maybe we could take a trip down to Fuchsia afterwards, maybe pop into the Safari Zone or something." There were always rare pokemon in the Safari Zone, and there was always the Gym to challenge, too. Margaret had the badge, but Aleron could always try.

"Sounds good to me, just as long as Gyarados doesn't try to kill me again." Aleron sighed and shook her head. She was making progress with the stubborn pokemon, though. Letting him out and giving him food was helping, quite a bit. She was actually rather proud of herself for not having been killed yet.

Then she paused when a thought occured to her. "Hey, if no one comes to claim the egg... Do you think we'll have to raise it?"

Margaret's eyes widened almost comically.

"I don't know," she replied. "I hope not." She knew how to take care of psychic-types, but raising a baby psychic legendary was another thing entirely. "Maybe it'll be like Onixes or something... immediately self-sufficient." Okay, so she was grasping at straws, but still.

"Yeah, maybe. If we're lucky." Aleron snorted. Their luck couldn't be that good.

Shaking her head, she settled in. "Oh well. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Maybe we won't have to worry about that after all." She grinned when she heard things moving around them. "Hey, maybe I'll get that Houndour, finally."

Margaret grinned and rolled her eyes.

"Go on, then," she said. "I'll hold down the fort here, you go and look for your dark-types." She would hunker down and hide behind Metagross if she needed to. Very few pokemon wanted to tangle with a big steel-type. Unless, of course, they were legendary, but they were starting to run out of legendaries that they hadn't already run into.

Aleron grinned. "I'm going to leave Jolteon here. Makes it easier if I only have one with me." And then she bounced off quite happily, Vulpix trotting next to her. Jolteon just sighed a very put-upon sigh and laid down by Margaret.

Margaret just nudged Espeon closer to Jolteon. Espeon gave her a very clear are you sure? look.

"Oh go on," Margaret said. "Don't you trust Metagross and Exeggcute to proect me?"

Espeon looked at her for a moment before going over to settle down next to Jolteon.

Jolteon laid his head across her back, looking marginally more relaxed now. But he still didn't like leaving his trainer with just Vulpix.

Aleron didn't come back for almost an hour, but when she finally did come back, she looked tired but pleased. Vulpix was laid across her shoulders, also looking weary, and Aleron plopped down across from Margaret.

"Got one."

"Great," Margaret said dryly, though she was still grinning. A thought struck her, and she grinned more. "Now once Natu learns Miracle Eye, she has something to practice on."

Aleron snorted. "That will be interesting. He seems kind of bad-tempered, but I suspect that'll wear off in a little while." She shrugged, careful not to dislodge Vulpix.

"Your Gyarados seems kind of bad-tempered, too," Margaret pointed out, teasingly. "They can grumble at each other." She grinned. "I'm sure he'll mellow out soon, though. I think most pokemon are bad-tempered when they first get caught. Exeggcute was, at least, and so was Noctowl, when she was a Hoothoot."

"Yeah, I figured. Jolteon was born with us, and Vulpix wasn't too bad tempered." Aleron just grinned. "It'll be nice once they've mellowed out. Much more fun to work with when they're not growling at me."

Which was true of any pokemon. Always more fun when you weren't being threatened with bodily harm.

"I got Espeon from a breeder," Margaret said. "And my parents gave me Metagross as a Beldum. Exeggcute and Noctowl were the only ones I caught myself before Starmie." And oddly, Starmie had been kind of mellow when she caught it as a Stayu. But all pokemon were different, so it was probably just the way it was. She grinned. "If you want, you can borrow Starmie to keep your Houndour in line. It'll probably listen better than Gyarados would."

Aleron snickered. "Thanks, I'll see if I need it. Luckily I can talk to Houndour, so that makes things easier all over the place." She grinned. "I'm sure he'll calm down in a few days."

"Maybe you and I should train against one another sometime," Margaret said after a moment. "It would be good for my team, at least. Help them figure out how to take on dark-types." She gave a wry grin. "I usually try to avoid them at all costs."

"Yeah," Aleron agreed. "That would probably be a good idea, actually. Just to get everyone used to other types. Mine aren't used to psychic or steel, I know."