Dratini chirped at her again, looking pleased. Of course it was up, the sun was up.

Mel spluttered a bit at that. "Well, now I'm awake," she grumbled. "Alright, fine." She huffed and set Larvesta on her lap, sitting up.

"Why are you such an early bird?" Ithica grumbled as she rubbed her eyes and sat up.

Larvesta wriggled a bit when it was moved and made a small noise at being disturbed.

Dratini cooed and rubbed its cheek against hers, clearly enticing her into getting up.

"Sorry, sweetie," Mel mumbled to Larvesta. "Swablu's an early riser." She grumbled a little, although she was also pulling out her pokedex to take a picture of Swablu being adorable in the puddle.

Ithica grumbled a little but didn't push Dratini away.

"Okay, fine," she said, sitting up, "I'm awake."

Swablu continued to bathe itself until it was satisfied with its state of cleanliness. Then it hopped out of the puddle and proceeded to flutter as much water out of its wings as it could.

Dratini cheeped in satisfaction and went to go investigate the puddles around them as well.

Mel moved away from the flying drops of water, making a face. "Oh c'mon, right here?" she asked, not quite whining.

Ithica couldn't help but snicker at Mel.

"Better that than having it soaking wet if it decides to be a hat again," she pointed out.

Mel pouted. "I don't even know why it would want to be a hat," she muttered to herself. "Silly thing." She pulled out a biscuit for herself and a snack for Larvesta. Hey, she was up, might as well get a snack.

"Who knows?" Ithica said, grinning. "Maybe it's a quirk with just this one?" She draped Dratini over her shoulders as she got up and started to gather her things up again.

"Maybe." Mel started gathering up her things as well, curious to see what the little Swablu would do.

Once Swablu was mostly dry, it fluttered up and settled itself on Mel's shoulder with a small chirp. It liked this human, it was going to stay for a while.

Mel didn't even protest. She just huffed and shook her head. "Fine, fine," she agreed. "Are we ready to go or not quite yet?" She looked at Ithica.

Ithica looked at her pokemon.

"We good to go, guys?" she asked them.

Dratini trilled, clearly ready, while Zorua just retreated into its ball for now. It didn't feel like traveling out with them today.

"Yeah, seems like we're good to go," Ithica said. She could see Zorua bracing itself a bit and looked at it. "You sure you don't want to walk with us?"

Zorua nodded at that, walking over to tap on its ball in a silent request. Dratini chirped but didn't disagree.

"Okay," Ithica said. "Return." Once Zorua was safely inside the pokeball, she clipped it to her belt and grabbed her bag. "Let's go then."

Mel nodded and set off again. She expected they'd probably have a pretty quiet day, maybe see some new pokemon. She didn't think anything exciting would happen, though.

Ithica certainly wasn't expecting them to run into anyone in the caverns. She jumped slightly when they rounded a bend and saw someone kneeling down in front of one of the walls.

Steven wasn't expecting to see anyone in the caverns, either. He had only gone there to see what sorts of rare rocks he could find, and to train with his pokemon a little. So the two ladies suddenly coming around a corner made him pause what he was doing.

"Sorry," Mel said, breaking the silence first. "We didn't expect to see anyone here, we're just kind of on our way through." She smiled apologetically at him. "Didn't mean to disturb you."

"Oh no, it's fine," Steven said, standing up and dusting off his knees. "I'm out here quite often, so it's not a problem at all." He smiled at them. "Travelers?" He made note of the pokemon the girls were carrying. It was unusual to see trainers traveling together and letting their pokemon walk free.

"Yeah," Mel agreed. "Just kind of exploring for now." She smiled a little. "How about you? If you're here often, must be something special about this place."

"Ah, I collect rare minerals and stones," Steven said, still smiling. "I often come here to Meteor Falls to see what the water washes up."

Ithica blinked, and did a double take.

"You're Steven Stone," she blurted.

Steven paused.

"I take it you've heard of me."

Mel still looked bewildered, looking between the two. "Um, no...?" she ventured. "At least, not me."

"I know exactly who you are," Ithica said, nodding.

"Interesting," Steven said. He gave a bit of a sheepish grin. "It's not often I meet someone who doesn't recognize me. I have to admit, the anonymity is kind of nice." He looked at them both. "But yes, my name is Steven Stone, and I'm the reigning League Champion in the region. Good to meet you."

Mel blinked. "Nice to meet you too," she replied. "You seem pretty down to earth for a League Champion."