“Nice.”

  “You think so?” Valerie asked as she looked at herself in the mirror. Michelle stood beside her with a satisfied smile as her daughter inspected the outfit she had given her.

  She wore a white, knitted top over top of a set of light blue jeans, a simple green cardigan covered the girl's exposed arms, and a straw hat completed the look her mother had gone for.

  “Absolutely! You look stunning!” She gushed, “Although, maybe the green cardigan clashes a bit with your hair color…”

  “Let me find you something better!” Michelle was back into the depths of the clothing shop before Valerie could object. So she simply sat down next to her Pokemon by the changing station.

  “Haah, I swear she just doesn’t stop…” Valerie complained silently to nobody in particular. Her eyes fell on her Pokemon, and she flourished her clothes a bit for effect, “What's your guys' opinion on the clothes?”

  Natu simply quirked its head to the side, still not entirely sure of the use clothes had, “They look good?”

  Larry instead gave her a nod and a smile, doing his best to show a thumbs-up without the aid of any fingers, “It looks great!”

  “Thanks, I guess.” Valerie smiled.

  Their group had been dragged along by Michelle for pretty much the entire day, and they had been shopping around the area near the League entrance for the better part of three or so hours by now. The place wasn’t as big as a city, but it was still a tourist spot, so one was sure to come by expensive shops selling you everything under the sun.

  Valerie got a variety of trainer supplies paid for by her mom, from the Potions and Pokeballs, to things which weren’t normally seen in the games, like PokeChow and grooming kits. They had then gone on a shopping spree, buying at least something from every shop around the area.

  It was amazing that Michelle was still going, as Valerie had already tapped out by the second or third store, simply giving simple teenage rebukes to her mother's incessant questions like “What do you think of this?” and “Do you need something like this?”

  Larry saw through the facade though, he saw that what her mother was doing was a bit of retail therapy. Her daughter had been in some dramatic and potentially traumatizing events recently, so she had decided to buy her some pretty trinkets to get her mind off things.

  He couldn’t ascertain if it was working, as Valerie always kept a guarded facade up around her mom, only really dropping the act when she turned back to her Pokemon, ‘Wonder what went down there for that to happen?’

  Michelle finally returned, with a cream, salmon, and pink cardigan respectively draped over her arm. She pushed the clothes into her daughter's arms, “Go and try these on.”

  “Sure…” Valerie shucked off the cardigan she wore, wincing as the slightly reddened skin on her shoulder brushed against the cardigan. “You know, I don’t think these clothes will work well when I’m going on my journey. Maybe we should go look for some more outdoorsy clothes that are easy to move in?”

  “A great idea!” Michelle agreed with a nod, “Let's go look at some more stores after we’re done here!”

  “Haah…” Valerie sighed, “Suuure…”

  “Oh, but I already found one thing here!” She searched through the pile of clothes they’d accumulated, “Here, a Pokeball belt!”

  She held a belt out to Valerie, who took it with clear interest. It looked like a simple leather belt, but running along its middle were what looked like silvery pieces of metal. Valerie quickly strapped the belt into her jeans, she gingerly pulled her Pokeballs out of her pocket. When the balls were held against the belt, some sort of magnetic lock attached them to the belt with a satisfying Click!

  Valerie stood up and went to a nearby mirror, inspecting herself from every angle. An excited grin blossomed on her face in the reflection as she saw herself with her Pokeballs attached to the belt.

  “Oooo~! My daughter is all excited for her journey, isn’t she?” Michelle teased with a mischievous grin, holding a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh.

  Their trainer didn’t respond, instead giving her mother a signature teenage eye-roll in the mirror before she continued, “We should get some more gear for trainers.”

  “Sure, but let’s get you some more normal outfits too.” Michelle agreed, already on her way back into the aisles of clothes.

  In the end, much of Valerie's wardrobe was filled out of her mother's pocket. Her mother enjoyed a casual look, going for comfort first and style second in everyday clothes. Larry wasn’t schooled in women's fashion, if anything, the topic was practically alien to him, so it was an eye-opening experience for him as well. Natu was far too wild to have any opinions about fashion, using the time far more to stare in the rectangular light sources built into the store's ceiling than at any pieces of clothing.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Valerie did choose some more pieces of her own as well, buying the only skirt of the day. It was clear that the girl was out of her depth in the fashion department and that she was right to rely on her mother. She had absolutely no concept of color theory, mashing together things like green and red for a look which might just barely work on Christmas Day, but not any other day of the year.

  Luckily for her, her mother managed to convince her to choose some less festive color schemes before they went on to the next stores.

  …

  Entering a trainer store, they made their way to the clothing section and went shopping for some more clothes and gear. Some jogging pants, shorts, leggings, and socks for bottoms, along with some breathable shirts and sports underwear for a long hiking and walking trip, were purchased first. Afterwards, it came to outerwear, a breathable wind and waterproof jacket for rainy days, and an insulated jacket for colder climates was also purchased.

  “I’m happy you’re planning to buy all this for me.” Valerie looked over the five different mounds of clothes they had accumulated with slight confusion, “But how am I going to carry all of this?”

  Michelle turned, another piece of clothing in her hand, “Well, it's gonna have to be a Silph Co. Bag, isn’t it?”

  Valerie's eyes bulged for what felt like the tenth time on her shopping trip with her mom, “But aren’t those like, super expensive?!”

  Her mother simply scoffed as she laid down the articles of clothing in her hands, “You wouldn’t believe what some families pay so their kids can have a comfortable journey. Your father's dad almost went bankrupt back when they prepared for his journey.” She reminisced, “You know what he said back then? A trainer without the proper equipment is nothing more than a hobo!”

  ‘Wow, harsh. But Silph Co.? That’s a company that was in the games as well, right? I wonder how similar this world is…’ Larry was reminded of the Silph Co. in the games and their place in the story as they were raided by Team Rocket and the protagonist had to stop them, ‘That must’ve been big news if it also happened here, maybe I’ll hear something about it?’

  Their trainer's mother continued, “And we don’t want you being a hobo! So I’m getting you a Silph Co. Bag and all of this stuff here!”

  Valerie didn’t have the heart to object, “Alright, if you’re sure…Thanks, Michelle.”

  “Don’t you worry! Gustav and I are well off! And what wouldn’t I do for my lovely little girl!” She pulled the groaning teenage girl into a hug, “Just make sure you call me mom from now on, alright?”

  Rolling her eyes, she agreed, “Ok, thanks, Mom.”

  Releasing the hug, Michelle continued, “Now, we’re far from over, a trainer out along a Route isn’t going to sleep under a tree, they’ll wanna sleep in a tent! So we’ll need some camping equipment as well!” Pulling along her daughter, they went over to the camping section of the store. “Let's go look.”

  …

  “Oomph!” Valerie dropped into her bed with the five different bags from multiple stores, and her mother followed shortly behind, dropping another three bags onto the pile.

  “Wow, these rooms all look the same.” Her mother mentioned looking around curiously.

  Looking over at the Silph Co. Bag, Valerie took it into her hands. The bag was made out of some kind of hard material with a soft fabric covering it, it was built more akin to a miniature suitcase. She opened the zipper of the bag and found the bag to be entirely dark on the inside.

  “Woah, freaky.” She turned the bag to her audience of Pokemon and family with a cheeky grin, “Check it out.”

  “Weird,” Larry thought aloud with an arm at his chin, ‘But I guess that's pretty much the only way a trainer could carry that much in a simple bag.’

  Natu stared at the bag with her signature stare, “How does it function?” Puzzlement was clear in her voice.

  Valerie stuck her hand inside it and continually lowered it, her expression slowly turned to shock, until her shoulder stopped her, “Arceus…Now that’s freaky.”

  “You can say that again. I’ve seen the Ads, but I never looked at them that seriously." Michelle's expression was one of intrigue. She handed Valerie a potion. “Try dropping this inside! I wanna see what happens!”

  She dropped the potion inside, and the entire room waited with bated breath for any noises. After half a minute or so with no sound, Valerie started talking as she turned the bag upside down, “So, are they endless or what-? Woah!” The potion dropped out of the bag almost immediately, falling onto the floor with a simple THUD!

  “Amazing!” Michelle clapped and laughed at her daughter's antics as Natu and Larry stared at the magical device in wonder.

  ‘It's like an honest to god pocket dimension!’ Larry thought to himself excitedly, ‘I shouldn’t be surprised in a world where matter can be converted into energy and back without any sort of loss that pocket dimensions are a thing, but it still seems kind of crazy.’

  It was obvious now how trainer could store entire bicycles and fishing rods in their small little backpacks, but what surprised Larry more was that this wasn’t a universal technology, but instead just some small-form luxury item one could buy, ‘You would’ve thought this would’ve revolutionized logistics and stuff by now, but we never hear about this kind of stuff anywhere else in the lore. I wonder why it's only limited to trainer backpacks?’

  Next up, Valerie threw both an Antidote and a Potion into the backpack. She pushed her arm after them, “How do I know what I’m grabbing at?”

  After some more testing, it turned out that the items were simply floating inside the backpack, and one was forced to sort through them by hand as they looked inside the bag. The only real sorting system the bag sported was a simple array of other zippers on its front and sides, which allowed one access to a different part of the floating cloud of items floating within.

  “I didn’t wanna say it again but…freaky.” Valerie opened the Zipper at the front and stuck her hand upwards. Her arm should’ve been out a long time ago, but only her fingers started to appear at the top opening of the backpack.

  “This is starting to turn into a circus act.” Her mother argued as she pulled the bag from her daughter's grip with a smile on her face, “We could do this all day. So let's get all your items in the bag for now.”

  “Yeah, agreed.”