Chapter Text
Logs moved, something crashed, someone cursed, and the pink menace would loom once more.
Treasure Town was not a town for those seeking a quiet retirement. Nor was it a place for those that treasured peace and quiet over raucous laughter and playful, and not so playful, arguments.
Once everyone had woken up from their impromptu nap the town went back to work. The damage Palkia had done had only just begun to be worked on by the time Darkrai made his move, and thus taskmasters found their plans for the future set back weeks.
It was the obvious choice to just speed up efforts.
It had been a month since Lucario had made her final stop here. Nearly three months since Darkrai had been felled, and his chaos stopped for good.
The guild had moved again. A horde of diglett and dugtrio had invaded Treasure Town. No one was sure if they were related to Diglett or not, but as they came together, they rebuilt the cliffside.
Rather than a broken remnant of what once was, the trail that led to the guild would stand strong once more, even stronger even!
The Wigglytuff Guild would be rebuilt!
And Wigglytuff's head would loom once more!
And it was well on its way. The cliff had been rebuilt, and the frame of the guild had been cut, hammered, and nailed together. Thankfully not all of the guild had been destroyed either, with part of the sleeping quarters remaining intact and a chunk of the bottom floor holding steady.
Sadly, the Swap Cauldron had not been recovered yet, and what little remained of Wigglytuff's library and private bedroom had long been lost to the waves.
Croagunk didn't mutter a word of complaint. He didn't say much of anything, really. Which wasn't uncommon. He had hidden strength in that small body of his, must have been the Fighting-type influence, and was the premier pokémon of the guild carrying lumber and holding and lifting things into place.
Bidoof was also proving to be of great assistance. He had called his own village in, and an army of his family members descended on Treasure Town. Bidoof were excellent woodworkers, and it had been a joint effort through them that created the scaffolding of the guild. Once that was done, they moved onto helping the rest of the town.
It'd be bigger, it'd be better, it'd be stronger.
There wasn't much that could protect against an attack from the likes of Palkia but making the construction a little less liable to collapse into the ocean was appreciated.
The town was energised. A buzz of excitement and activity vibrated into intensity. It was the building anticipation. And rather than the tense anticipation of something bad happening, it was exciting for something good to happen.
The guild was busy, the town was being rebuilt, and Azumarill had even taken on a student!
Which was fortunate because even with her health being good, her services were in considerable demand.
Charmander was working with her now. Learning what she did and how she did it. The gentle little mon was the pleasant sort, although Mane wouldn't see him with Azumarill out of that old shame.
Even though they had long since patched that up, and Charmander didn't hold a grudge. He understood that Mane didn't want to talk about emotions and pains with him, though. They had prior history, after all.
Azumarill was in high demand now, but Team Ion were generally given regular time to see and speak with her.
"And yeah…it is just a tricky thing for me to deal with at the moment," Scout said. His time with Azumarill was wrapping up today, but they'd had a good chat.
"Have you thought about talking with Dusknoir about this?" she asked kindly.
Scout hummed a little. "Well…yeah, I have. I'm never sure WHAT to say to start things off, though."
"Maybe you could try 'I was thinking about Cresselia'? He might know what you mean past that."
Scout considered it. "Yeah…yeah! I think that could work. It… it'll still be a bit difficult. But it would no matter what."
"I'm sure you'll get something out of it. Even if it is just to spend time with him. If you don't feel comfortable, don't push yourself too much. I understand your relationship has had its difficulties in the past."
"I'll say," Scout snorted.
Azumarill smiled. "Take each day at a time," she advised.
"And don't worry about next week," Scout finished. "Thank you."
Azumarill had him practising some healthier trails of thought. Rather than focusing on distant, unknowable problems that wouldn't be relevant for months to years, he was trying to take each day slower, enjoy the present rather than worry about the future.
He'd done enough of that, Scout agreed. In to many different ways.
He was shown out by Azumarill and took off back into town. He wouldn't find Rai or Mane there. Rai was out on a small escort mission to the Roving River. He was taking Yamper by himself; two Electric-type's would have it easy in that dungeon.
While Mane had gone off on his own for cunning, mischievous plans.
That was another aspect of the therapy Azumarill was having them partake in. Learning to be apart. All things considered, it was going well. Scout still had the occasional flash of fear that one of them would be hurt and he wouldn't be there to help them.
The fears were unfounded, and he knew that, so Scout reassured himself and moved on. Each night they'd talk about how the day had gone on an emotional level.
Mane made a lot of jokes, but they were less raunchy than his norm, so he wasn't really uncomfortable. Scout had the most trouble admitting his fears, but he grew more comfortable with it, and it did help to know that they knew and understood.
And that he wasn't alone in feeling that way.
Regardless of all that, he had something to look forward to tonight. Mane wasn't the only one with a plan; they all had a little part of the event to be enjoyed later.
Scout already had his part prepared. Thus, he was free to follow Azumarill's advice.
Team Sunrise had hunkered down in town, for the time being, helping with the reconstruction. Striker was an ace at slicing lumber to the measurements needed, Sean had that Fighting-type endurance and strength, Saniya was magic, and Guardian had strong arms for carrying.
And they lived in the guild too. It was only fair.
Scout dodged running pokémon and unaware giants carrying entire trees worth of wood as he made his way to the guild. It was nice to climb the steps cut for behemoths and not little cats again, as pokémon went about their day, chatting and chattering.
Guardian was always an easy pokémon to spot. Huge, grey and gold, magnetic personality. He had a lot of things going for him. He was wearing what amounted to a toolbelt these days, being the mon to float around to hard-to-reach places.
"Hey!" Scout called, scampering up. Guardian set down a piece of lumber and lowered himself slightly, opening his arms and taking the full brunt of Scout leaping into his arms.
Which wasn't really much.
"Good morning, Scout," Guardian said warmly as Scout crawled his way up to his shoulder. "How was Azumarill?"
"She's good," Scout said, giving Guardian a rub with his cheek. "Got me thinking about better stuff as usual."
Guardian's eye quirked happily as Scout nuzzled him, and he picked up the wood again, floating towards the cliffside. "Do hang on. I'm just floating down here to get this into place."
"Got it." The claws came out to latch on, and Scout gazed over Guardian's shoulder to the sea below as they floated out into open air. It didn't make him dizzy anymore; Guardian was often doing this as he often chose to ignore gravity, just because he could.
"So, she gave me some tips for talking," Scout began, a little nervous but doing his darnedest to ignore it for the moment.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, she suggested I just…uh…."
"Take your time; I'll just get this into place." Guardian planted the wood with one arm and reached down to the toolbelt sized for him. He pulled out the hammer and some nails and quickly slammed them into place, attaching the lumber.
"So… Cresselia," Scout said after Guardian was finished and had placed the hammer back. Guardian's fingers twitched briefly, relieved he'd already put the hammer away, so he didn't drop it.
"Ah, I see," Guardian said; he glanced around. There was a hole into the guild where pokémon were going back and forth; he glanced down. "Maybe I could float down a little."
He drew closer to the waves. Not too close, as they were noisy but close enough that no one would overhear them.
Scout glanced wryly at the water before Guardian outstretched his arms and cupped his hands; Scout walked out onto his hands before turning around and sitting.
"Don't drop me," Scout said. "I'll be having a bath later, not now."
"Are you comfortable here?" Guardian asked. "I could find us a less… precarious place."
"Nah, I kinda like putting this trust into you." Scout flashed him a grin and settled on his hands. "I know you won't drop me."
Guardian nodded. "Thank you." What went unsaid was the obvious. "So… Cresselia?"
"Lot's of shit went down with everything over the last… not even two years. But I'd never actually killed anyone up to that point."
"You didn't," Guardian said swiftly. "I did."
Scout gave him a strange look. It was almost half a flat look, half a smile, and then a full mixture of 'I love you but don't patronise me'. Very strange.
"You can't take all the credit," Scout said roughly. He didn't feel good saying that, even as a joke. He cleared his throat. "I powered up the Shadow Ball, and I gave you my blood to just…spear her like that. Even if you had more of a hand in actually killing her, I can't pretend like I didn't have a hand either."
Guardian was quiet for a moment, eye meeting Scout's for a moment. "Scout…in the end, it was her or us."
Scout frowned and sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry, but you're not actually listening. But… that's also on me. I don't think we had any other choice, and because of how mentally shattered she was from it, really, it was just a kindness. I'm just… I don't know. I feel… well, I killed someone, and I don't really know how to deal with that."
Guardian's eye raised in understanding. "Ah… well, if there is anyone to provide advice and comfort, it would be me. There is blood on my hands, Cresselia, a few Shadow Pokémon, and I'm sure more from the Dark Future that I simply cannot remember."
"I don't mean to bring up that!"
"Of course, I know that, Scout. I just think it's a good choice to come to me; fatherly advice and comfort are a specialty of mine!"
"…Right."
"But first." Guardian drew his arms in, and Scout made a sound as Guardian hugged him. "You're such a brave pokémon," Guardian said emotionally. It was difficult to hear if he was happy or sad about that. Perhaps both. "You have had to go through so much and carry so much all on your own. But I promise you, you don't have to anymore."
Scout hadn't tensed when Guardian hugged him, progress! But he wasn't really sure what he felt before Guardian withdrew. "You know, one thing I do remember is talking with you about banditry outcomes, how you felt about what we had done. We would talk for hours."
He was wistful, and so was Scout.
"Yeah… so, why don't we do that again? Catch up every couple days, just us?"
Guardian's smiles were never as apparent as other pokémon. He didn't have a mouth on his face after all, and his belly mouth only opened and closed. But the quirk of his eye was all one needed to see.
"I'd love that."
Mane was positively jittering with excitement.
Scout thought it was one of the cutest things he'd ever seen. He couldn't tease without being teased back, however, as he was buzzing with eagerness too.
Most ironically, it was Rai who was the most composed out of the three. Upon Scout pointing that out, he said. "Well, I'm used to feeling super excited all the time! I still feel like I could run there and back, but I don't want to leave you two behind."
"Like you could outrace me," Mane snorted.
"You wanna go?"
"I think we're going out already!"
That gave Rai an odd twirly mouth moment. Like he wanted to smile, as well as frown, and then smile again.
"You're a goof," Scout laughed as Mane puffed up proudly. "You two wouldn't leave me behind anyway."
They certainly wouldn't. That would really just defeat the whole purpose of the night.
It was the most exciting night of all! Date Night!
Their first date night, to be exact.
And, as it turned out, their first in general.
"You two never went on a date before?" Scout asked, a few days back, gobsmacked. "You were together for a couple months at least!"
"We were a bit busy exhausting ourselves with missions and you know?"
Scout did know and he batted Mane on the nose for it.
"Don't kid with Scout too much, Mane." Rai twirled his tail with Mane when Mane tried the wounded cat look on him. "But yeah… no, we never did go on a date."
"Why not?" Scout asked, genuinely curious. "You weren't… waiting on me, where you?"
"Nah, not that," Mane said, shaking his head. "We didn't know you'd be coming back after all. At the start, well… you saw and then it was a case where we were like…."
"What is this?" Rai continued. "And then we were also so busy, going out on missions all the time, every day if we could. Just never really had the thought."
"Ah, fair enough, I guess… do you want to go on a date?"
"Oh my gosh, Scout is asking us out!"
"What should we say?"
"Guys."
"Have you ever thought about Scout 'that way?"
"Oh, only all the time."
"What would we do if he somehow came back?"
"Probably date him."
Scout flushed redder as they recounted an actual conversation they had or at least the approximation of one. He didn't remember too much about the days when he followed them as a faint self-aware echo. Which was good, because he was able to actually be alone without feeling like he was going to die now.
The first time Rai and Mane had found him after he went for a walk, shortly after he came back to life, he had gone into complete hysterics and couldn't move. Was just balled up crying his eyes out and making a god-awful noise on top of that. It took Scout some time with Azumarill after all the Darkrai business was wrapped up to even begin to approach his issues being alone.
"Is that a yes?" he asked, not expecting to actually feel nervous about their answer.
He received a double-pounce in response.
They left as the moon became visible, but before too many stars made themselves known. Mane was leading the way, tail raised proudly as he plodded along in excitement.
"Are we allowed to ask what you've got planned now?" Rai prodded.
"Yeah, you've been almost vibrating since you got back?" Scout added.
Mane hummed mysteriously as if he was considering it. Of course, he was too eager, and the small question was more than enough to break that straining wall.
"I've reserved us a meal at the fancy restaurant in Sicilly!" Mane beamed brighter than the sun. Rai also brightened, quite literally.
"Really? Wow, how did you do that?"
Scout nodded too, impressed. "Since Keira stopped in Sicilly for, what, half an hour, the place has been expanding like mad!"
Mane chuffed a laugh. "A little Team Ion street cred made sure we had a spot!" Mane smirked before rolling his eyes. "Might as well use all the love and adoring fame for something useful for once."
And that was enough. Sicilly wasn't far from Treasure Town, an hour and a bit's walk if they moved fast. Which they did. The excitement of their first date and Mane's pure, adorable eagerness made for fast footwork.
Sicilly had grown since Keira and Team Sunrise had visited it briefly. Word had spread pretty quickly. Seedot, the magnemite, even Killer the krokorok's words were more than enough to get curious pokémon sniffing around.
Plus, the whole recent disaster affecting the whole continent had pokémon moving to greener pastures.
Plus again, the growing fame, work, and reputation of Treasure Town. Team Ion and Team Sunrise had seen many new pokémon around, ones sticking around even as the immediate need for as many hands on deck diminished.
The Wigglytuff Guild might be expanding a little more than they had anticipated.
Sicilly, however, had developed from a small community of close families to a growing township. Soon it may even be considered a village, then a town.
And apparently, the Legendary Lucario restaurant was a fantastic place to eat. Scout hadn't been to many restaurants in his time in the past. He honestly remembered more in the Dark Future, however vague.
Spinda's Café wasn't quite a bistro after all, and besides some food vendors that set up temporary shop in town now and again, there weren't any places to go.
So, he was quite excited to see if the memories he'd filched from Sean lived up to his expectations.
Arriving in Sicilly, nothing was amiss. There weren't nearly as many pokémon here as there were in Treasure Town, and besides a few bits of constructing buildings, the place was small. The road was paved only by feet and time rather than stone or brush.
"Let me get the door for you two," Mane said cheerfully, stepping right for the door to The Legendary Lucario. It was more of a wild west saloon 'door,' but the gesture was cute.
Before he could, however, it swung open and nearly clocked him in the face. "Ah, Litleo of Team Ion! Welcome!"
Mane blinked as the maître d, a well-built farfetch'd, held the door open with his leek.
"Welcome, welcome," he said, nodding to Rai and Scout. "It is our honour to have you here with us tonight, Shinx of Team Ion and Meowth of Team Ion. Come in, come in!"
Brushing it off, with a small frown of disappointment, Mane continued leading the way. The Legendary Lucario was not a modest establishment.
Shining blue crystals pulsed with esoteric energy, lighting a comfortable room. Couched stuffed with wooloo wool beckoned to weary legs with tables made of actual glass.
Farfetch'd led them quickly past the riffraff that populated the floor, families and groups of pokémon, to a private area. Which was something, as everyone immediately stopped to stare at the three.
"Are there any drinks I can get you three?" Farfetch'd asked as they settled onto their seats. Sized for quadrupeds, with another modified seat for Scout. It was almost… tailor-made for them. Right size and angle for Rai and Mane to eat without trouble, with a place for Scout in between them.
"Perfect Cider, please," Mane said, getting a pair of raised eyes from his dates. "Hm? I'm not trying to get you drunk or anything."
They rolled their eyes but didn't protest, looking down into the menu as Farfetch'd hurried off.
"Nice place," Scout said, eying the footprint runes. He could read them without much trouble now, but part of him missed the simplicity of the unown alphabet.
"Only the best for us," Mane purred, putting both of his forepaws on the table to rest his head and blink cutely at them.
"These prices, though!" Rai said. "The Legendary Lucario 90% tax, I guess?"
He got a pair of smiles for that.
"It's good that we get a private booth, though," Scout added, glancing around. There wasn't much space past all the eyes, but at least there was a divider. He could hear excited chatter past in the bistro area, his hearing the best out of the three.
There were only two guesses one could make about the content, and the first didn't count.
"Even if it is a privilege." Rai nodded.
"I reckon we earned it, though," Mane said wryly.
"Yeah, yeah," Rai gave a small laugh though
Farfetch'd came back, professionally taking their orders, and departed again. He did linger briefly at the divider before carrying on, leaving Team Ion to their conversation.
They had already talked about their days and weren't going to start chatting about private things in public. So their conversation was the kind of comfortable trail-of-thought best friends had.
Despite the exorbitant prices, they each ordered something for themselves. Rai and Mane both ordered something with meat, Scout did not.
The Perfect Cider, made of Perfect Apples, of course, did happen to be fantastic. They weren't going to have more than a glass each; there were still more parts to this date.
A small hiccup occurred when Scout's senses got triggered, and he saw a pancham sneaking into the room, fur cloaking them in the dimmer light of the private quarters.
"Excuse me!" he snapped, and the pokémon froze, glanced up at him for a moment before scampering off.
Mane frowned heavier than Rai as Scout brushed it off, and they returned to their conversation, Mane chewing slowly as he focused on the door.
"Could you keep a better eye on this place?" he asked when Farfetch'd returned. "Someone was sneaking in before."
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! So sorry!" Farfetch'd bowed and apologised over and over, backing out of the room with the glasses. "Who, we can have them thrown out this instant!"
"It… doesn't matter who, just keep an eye, please."
"Of course, of course, thank you, sirs."
Mane frowned some more until Scout rubbed his paw. "They're probably busy," he suggested. "You saw how many people are out there."
"Yeah," Mane agreed, glancing back to the doorway. "Which is odd. This place is usually quieter due to the prices and all."
"Maybe they have a special on tonight?" Rai wondered. "We didn't actually ask."
Mane hummed and continued picking at his food.
The second hiccup hit them as Farfetch'd returned with less of a bill than was expected.
"As thanks for all that you have done," he said primly. "The owner says your meal is on him tonight!"
Team Ion blinked. "Oh… thank you so much."
He set a pair of items on the table next. "The staff here were wondering if you'd be willing to give us your pawprints?" he asked, unable to hide the hope in his voice.
One tray of ink, black as night, the other just a simple square of parchment. It wasn't the first time Team Ion had been asked for autographs. The worst being that one golem who wanted them to scratch their signatures into her body.
"Oh uh… sure." Rai was the first, Scout second. Mane dallied, but he didn't say anything, and Farfetch'd was satisfied, hopping off pleased as punch.
"Ah… this isn't going as good as I hoped," Mane sighed as they began to finish the drinks. "Thought this place would be a bit more, let's say… intimate." He winked.
"It's nice and dark here," Scout said.
"What are you suggesting~?"
"Nothing you ingrate."
"I don't believe that."
"Nothing to look into."
"I think it's-" Mane cut off when a soft giggle reached his ears, and the three of them turned. Something scampered off, realising they had been caught eavesdropping.
Mane gave a low growl, sparks popped through his teeth. A paw on his back caused him to flex as Scout gave him a stroke. "It's okay, Mane."
"Yeah…."
Deciding they had stayed long enough, the trio gathered their things…or rather Scout did and poked his head out. A hush fell over the chatter of the pokémon, pausing in their own conversations and meals as Team Ion emerged from the private room.
They did not listen to what was being said.
"Wow, it's Team Ion."
"I heard the meowth was a human."
"I heard he was a Night Mate once!"
"So cool."
"Is it true Shinx was a wild pokémon?"
"I heard Litleo was hatched a Shadow Pokémon, but they purified him!"
"Did they really beat Lucario?"
"Dialga and Palkia died, and they didn't. How is that possible?"
"I don't believe it."
"Thank you so much, Team Ion!"
Out of politeness, Scout paused at the counter to thank the staff for the meal, but he didn't get more than a few words out before something triggered his senses again, and he swiped his tail out of range.
A baby kangaskhan had wandered over and went to grab it. The mother came barrelling over, shaking the building, swearing apologies, but Scout had to wonder why she let her child wander so close before intervening.
"It's alright." Scout smiled. "No harm done."
As they left, cheers and stamping applause rocked the Legendary Lucario restaurant again.
All three of them had polite, blank looks on their face as they left. And more than a few pokémon found reasons to finish their meals as soon as they did.
"I think it's time to have that race," Scout suggested, glancing behind him before patting the tensed shoulders of Rai and Mane. "Go on three?"
"One."
"Two," Rai said.
"Three!"
They bolted.
Scout was the fastest for a moment, running on two feet, then Rai and Mane overtook him, not even using Quick Attack yet. Keen-eyed, Scout dropped to all fours, the small bag he wore jingling with coins, and raced ahead of them again.
Two Quick Attack's later, and Scout was eating dust. Yet, the moves could only be used in bursts. As they waned, Scout's reliable speed closed the distance, pulling ahead for another moment before they repeated.
It was a lot more fun than sitting in a dark room, pretending like an entire crowd wasn't hoping they'd come out to mingle.
Scout led the direction they took this time, nudging the other two along a different track. At least the excuse to run helped him mask his part of the date for a little longer than Mane had been able to bear.
Mane was a little put-out, however.
"I'm sorry," he said, panting as they ended the race with a three-way tie and moved into walking. "I thought that'd be a bit more private. I wanted to spoil you two."
"Aww, but you did," Rai said, licking him on the cheek.
"I didn't even pay!" Mane said, scuffing the ground. "I mean, dine-and-dash would have been fun too if they weren't cool with that as well."
"At least the run wiped the ink off," Scout said, observing his paw for any imperfections. He gave it a lick anyway. His tail crept over and curled around Mane's. As did Rai's, after he noticed what Scout was doing.
"Thanks," Mane said, smiling. "But please let go of my tail. Three is getting weird."
Snorting, they released him, and Mane gave a stretch, claws popping out. "You know, I never thought being popular would be worse than being hated."
"It's not THAT bad, is it?" Rai asked, worried.
Mane considered it. "Well… on one paw, I can get free stuff, and people don't glare at me on the street anymore. So, that's nice. On the other hand, there's just no privacy! It's like everyone knows me, but I don't know them." He frowned. "I hate that people know my past."
"You weren't a Shadow Pokémon," Scout said. They hadn't tried, but they had still all heard what the crowd was muttering.
"Close enough."
"No!" Rai said loudly. "No time for being down! Dinner WAS nice, Mane. It's not your fault the owners decided to tell everyone we'd be there."
"If only we could leave a negative Yelp review," Scout sighed. "2 stars. Food was good but famous people aren't left alone there. That'd teach them."
"Pfft. Not even sure what you are talking about."
"Weird human stuff."
"Cool."
"So, Scout, you wanted part two, right?" Rai asked. "How far did we run off the track?"
Scout smirked. "Oh, we didn't run off it at all! I led you both on this track intentionally. It was all a trick. I deceived you."
"Hardy-ha-ha."
"Where are we, then?" Rai asked, cocking his head and glancing around.
"Well, we're not there yet, but I talked to Drifblim about some out-of-hours work. So, we're heading to her stop point!" Drifblim hadn't been utilised by Team Ion yet, with faster travel with teleporters often being there or dungeons not so far away that a walk was unreasonable; it, it meant they hadn't been around to her before.
Scout, however, didn't miss the chatter in the guild.
Drifblim's Drift didn't set up shop in Treasure Town. Rather she was seated in Feoira, but she'd moved slightly farther away as well to expand easier to Quad Town and Sicilly.
Which was helpful for them right now, heading back from Sicily. Scout took them down a different path, closer in the direction to Feoira, knowing where they'd end up.
"So, I get part one of the date," Mane said, "and the last, heh, wink-wink-wink." He winked as he said it. "You've got us a ride of a different kind, though?"
"You ever flown before?"
"Uh…no?"
"Drifblim floats up, and she has a basket tied to her. Basically a hot air balloon, but it's alive and also not."
"Ghost-type joke."
"Thank you for explaining that."
"You're welcome!"
Scout's smile was loopy, and he shook his head. "Rai, I swear you are far too cute sometimes."
"Sometimes!?"
"He's adorable all the time!"
Rai and Mane spoke at the same tie and exchanged a look as Scout giggled at them. They shared another idea through facial expressions and prepared the deadly pounce.
Mane's little butt wiggle gave them away, and Scout moved as they did.
Two heads clonked together, and a paw swept through the fur of a white-tipped tail, clutching onto nothing. Rai and Mane leapt at Scout, and Scout evaded them.
"I guess you two are falling for each other! Hah!"
Rai burrowed into a ball and then flipped, glaring at Scout from upside down. "Your bath privileges are evoked."
"… Don't you mean revoked?"
"No. No, I don't."
If they were a little late getting to Drifblim, at the very least, Scout would be spic and span.
"Welcome, dearies," Drifblim giggled as the trio of world-saving pokémon approached her. By this point, night had well and truly fallen, and the three were looking forward to resting their feet.
"Thank you for waiting for us, Drifblim," Scout said warmly.
"Oh, not a worry, not a worry~ I prefer the night, heehee, being able to take a team on a romantic journey over the land, oh how it makes me blush."
She certainly seemed excited.
As if by magic, hidden hands, or just a nice, useful, Psychic, the straps to the basket floated up and tied themselves securely to Drifblim, and she raised herself slightly, pulling the basket into the right position.
Scout got in first and helped Mane in. Rai divebombed the basket with a high pounce, 'accidentally' winding up on Scout.
"Hello."
"Hi."
"Get off?"
"Mmm…what can you offer me that's better than having you like this?"
"Mane."
"I'm not helping you."
"I'm offering Mane."
"You can't sell my body like a piece of meat! I thought you were the Night Mate, anyway."
"Mane is warmer and more comfortable."
"Hmm."
"Hey, don't drag me into this!"
While Rai was pondering, Scout revealed his inner muscles and tossed Rai onto Mane. "Hah! Who's the top cat now?" He jumped on them.
He managed to pin Rai for about three seconds and was probably given two of those seconds for his boldness.
All the while, Drifblim waited patiently, not wanting to disturb the cuteness below her. As the rowdiness relaxed, she spoke. "Are we ready?"
"Oh, uh, yes, sorry!" Scout said, embarrassed at how easily they'd gotten carried away.
"Ohoho, don't worry at all! It's cute and an honour. Now, hold on, I'll be gentle, but you may want to brace as we rise."
They hadn't come to her service before, and Drifblim would remember. Figuring there was a decent chance no one had flown before, she was more careful than normal rising up.
Sunflora talked of the horror trip with Team Gazer, cramped and blindingly fast and terrifying.
Drifblim raised up quickly, the safety of terra firma leaving Team Ion's paws in moments. Scout popped his head over the edge of the basket curiously, watching as the ground grew smaller and smaller.
Rai and Mane joined him, but Mane dropped back to the safety of five walls after a moment. "Oooh," he eeked out, crouching to the ground. "We're going HIGH, aren't we?" His voice rose a couple octaves.
"As high as the mountains, dearie," Drifblim giggled.
"Maybe not THAT high?" Mane suggested, voice breaking into a squeak briefly. He cleared his throat and spoke in a deeper voice. "Like, you know, for Meowth and Shinx."
"I'd probably survive a fall from this height," Scout said, still peering off. Rai turned to give him a disturbed look at that morbid thought. "I've taken worse hits."
They rose above Feoira and flew high enough that the tallest trees looked like matchsticks.
The glow of a near-full moon, shining luminescent in the sky, cast a gentle light across the world. The night was not silent, as the night never was. A gentle wind blew, ruffling leaves and swaying branches.
From high above, Rai and Scout saw the world in a different view. The greenness of the trees, darkened by the soft light, cutting against the brown and the red of the soil. They floated further, and Scout pointed at a river cutting a snaking trail.
"That's the river that fills the watering hole!" he said.
"Mane, check this out!" Rai said. "It's beautiful."
"I'm, uh…"
"Mane?"
Mane slowly crept up and carefully poked his head over. He made a sound and recoiled, squeezing his eyes shut. "Uh, it's really high?"
"Ah? Mane, don't you like heights?"
"Heh, I wouldn't know. Never been this high before."
"I should make a catnip joke," Scout said. "Wait, is that even a thing here?"
"Hm?"
Scout reconsidered. "Mane?" He retreated from the sights to come down to where Mane was not looking so good. "You alright?"
"I'm fine," he said. "You lookin' fine in the moonlight, though~!"
"I'm not sure if rocking this basket is a good idea, Mane."
Mane almost gagged from the idea. "Yeah, okay." A wind blew, and the basket did rock slightly; Mane began to look ill.
"You alright?" Scout asked, worried. Rai pulled away from the sights as well to come to Mane's side.
"I'm feeling…" The body's response overruled fear, and Mane vomited over the side of the basket.
"Oh, dear!" Drifblim called, hearing it. "Are you alright?"
"I'm so sorry Drifblim, I think we're going to need to go down. It went over the side, though, not in the basket."
Mane kept his head over the side of the basket, but with his eyes clamped shut, and Scout rubbed his back while Rai looked lost. Scout was half-hugging Mane. There wasn't much space, and Mane needed some air to breathe.
They were going down, gently, though.
"Ah gosh, I'm sorry about this," Drifblim said as they neared the ground. She had set her sights for a flat area next to the river.
"No, don't worry. Litleo's never flown before, and we did eat beforehand and then run."
"I've got a bit of a stitch in my belly, yeah," Rai agreed. Rai, the only one not braced, tumbled over onto his face when they hit the ground, not expecting it to be a little rough.
Scout had hold of Mane and anchored themselves. Mane groaned as they landed. "Are we down?"
"We're down."
He opened his eyes carefully and then smelt the water. Mane jumped out onto solid ground and dunked his head in the river.
Scout gave the basket a look over for any splatters and was relieved to find nothing. Rai went to Mane's side as Scout apologised to Drifblim.
"Goodness me, stop apologising!" Drifblim called. "It's not your fault, and it's not mine either. I understand, not everyone feels right in the air. I'm not offended, Meowth."
"You were great, though," Scout said, switching to compliments. "The view was amazing."
"You are always welcome to come back, together or on your own."
Knowing they weren't going to fly further with her, Drifblim took up her basket. "Do you know the way back to Treasure Town?" she asked before giggling. "Silly question, of course, you would."
"Oh yeah, definitely!" Scout said. "But what was it again, just to be sure?"
She smiled at him and gestured with a feeler. "That path."
"Knew it. Thank you, Drifblim. Have a good night."
"You as well, Meowth. Shinx. Litleo, sorry!"
"It's okay," Mane said, swallowing another gulp of water and shaking his head, spraying Rai with droplets. "Sorry."
"There's nothing to apologise for. Take care, you three." And she floated off, a little disappointed for sure, but flying did not agree with everyone.
Mane was downcast as they began the trip back home. "I've mucked the whole night up," he said, head bowed. "My part was shit, and now I've barfed up all the fancy food and ruined Scout's part."
"Aww, Mane, it's not your fault."
"But it is!"
"The night's not ruined," Scout said, slinging an arm around Mane and smiling at him. "Maybe a bit different to what we had in mind, but when has that been so bad?"
"I can name so many things you had 'in mind' that turned out different and bad."
Scout fell silent and didn't really know what to say.
Mane scoffed at himself. "See. NOW I've ruined it."
Scout gave him a small smile. "Maybe our parts didn't go so well, but RAI is still got his part to go."
"That's right!" Rai said. He was sparking very gently, lighting their path. "You're going to love it!"
"Maybe you two should do it, and I'll just go back home?"
"Absolutely not!" Rai barked, terribly offended at the sheer notion. "It's gotta be all three of us!"
"Why? It's not like we'll do three-mon dates every time. Get some practice in; I'll have the next one!"
"Mane, you're coming with us," Scout said. "Come on, we want you with us!"
"Mmm."
"I mean," Rai started. "No one is as handsome as you." He poked Mane's mohawk.
"Or as fiery," Scout teased; Mane groaned at the pun.
"He is warm," Rai said, nodding along with Scout. "Nice to cuddle up against."
"Nicer than me, really, in at least three different ways."
"Warm," Rai counted by popping claws out of his paw. "Fluffy…."
"And fun to tease!"
"No," Mane said. "That's you. You're the best to tease."
"I don't know," Scout said, smirking and leaning in. "After all, it's not so easy to make me blush."
"You were blushing about playing with Drifblim there."
"Well, she was RIGHT there."
"It's not like we were doing anything."
"Still. Hey, this isn't about me."
"This was about how fun it is to tease you."
"Nah, Mane, you are fun," Rai said, leaning in too. He bumped rumps with Mane and stepped into line, his glowing body causing Mane's fur to puff up from the electricity.
"Nooo, my bad boy look!"
"I've got it," Scout called, petting the fur down. "Who says cat can't pet cat?" He was patting Mane's butt fur, and Mane was steadily growing in body temperature. The first sign he was getting flustered.
"Hey, I want scratches too!" Rai said, bumping Mane a little more and pressing him over. Scout wound up crawling onto Mane's back before planting himself in the middle of them.
"Don't separate," Scout requested. "Or I'll fall."
"Yes, sir," Mane drawled. "Would you like your tea readied as well?"
"With some sugar, please."
"Oh, I'll give you something sweet."
"I prefer spice," Rai added, licking Mane's cheek. Scout laughed as one side of his seat sharply increased in temperature.
"I… you two are not fair," Mane said, pouting. "I'm trying to be moody and depressed, and you're making me feel good! Stop iiiit."
Scout shared a smile with Rai. Mane was whining, which meant he was definitely on the road to being okay.
"Sorry," Scout said, scratching Mane behind the ear and causing his claws to pop and a purr to manifest out of nowhere.
"That wasn't me," Mane said when Rai grinned at him.
"Sure it wasn't."
"Scoouuut, save me from this smirking evil!"
Scout laughed at him.
"Raiiii, Scout's laughing at me!"
Rai also laughed.
Mane groaned hoarsely, tossing his head and giving a body ripple to jostle Scout. "Not fair that you two are so loveable," Mane said, faux-angrily. "I really don't deserve you," he added.
If one could feel the force of expressions, Mane would be blasted by Rai and Scout's mutual frown. Before they could speak against something so untrue, Mane added. "Not in a depressed, I'm so unlovable way. Because I'm a catch, and I know it! Just in, like, I love you both so damn much that I can't believe I actually have you."
"Mane…."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm a poet and minstrel, and my words are like honey slathering your-" Scout slipped onto Mane's back to give him a hug from behind, and the Mane's words fell short.
"I love you too," Scout said, nuzzling his cheeks into Mane's neck. For felines, it was a big deal to do that. Scent glands in their cheeks helped mark territory. Scout wasn't sure if it was the case for meowth, but it felt right to do.
Mane shivered as his neck was touched but didn't flinch. The scar the Omastar Brother's left had loosened up over the last year, and he had full control of his heads rotation again. However, it still was a sensitive, sometimes sore, spot.
"Have no idea what I would do without you," Rai said, nuzzling Mane's neck as well and leaving a tingling trail. He was still glowing.
"Well, you don't have to learn," Mane said, trying to be gruff but being soft instead. He sighed. "Fine, I'll continue the date."
Rai beamed at him brightly, and they skipped off. Scout remained on Mane's back, getting a lazy bastard comment from Mane but no actual complaint.
Paws were getting weary, but spirits had been raised as they arrived in Treasure Town. Rai, to no one's surprise, veered left at the crossroads, and they began to walk towards the beach.
"I wonder what you've got planned," Mane said with faux-suspicion. He didn't trust Rai to be so obvious for a second. Rai gave him a cheeky smile and a wink. They got past halfway before Rai veered again, left again, and they stepped off the track and into the trees.
"Where are we going?" Scout asked curiously. "To Sean's old camp?"
"Nah," Rai said, shaking his head and tossing glints of light all over the dark leaves. "Although I did get him to help me with this!"
"He's not going to be here, is he?" Mane asked dryly.
"We kicked him out almost every night until he figured out why, Mane, he didn't want to stick around here."
"I dunno, you seem nice enough to invite someone else on our date."
"Well, thank you, but also, how dare you?"
"I know; I surprise myself with all these compliments today."
"Not the part I was worried about."
"Then worry." Mane licked Rai on the chin, and Rai rolled it off and stepped a little quicker. Scout was still on Mane's back.
"And here we are!" Rai said, gesturing with a paw as they stepped out of the thicker underbrush and onto a small cliffside. The trees did not reach the edge, only soft grass that was plush underneath their feet.
As the trees released them, twigs and leaves caught in their fur, Mane and Scout gave soft sounds of wonder as they saw the sights.
Rai had chosen a place close, but not too close, to the beach. They were at a ledge, ancient stone jutting out to crest over the woods below. In the distance was the beach, bubbles almost glowing in the moonlight, but far enough away that they appeared to be stars resting in the blue sea.
Without a cloud in the sky, a glittering array of stars twinkled down at them with the moon unveiling the night to the pokémon who coveted it.
"That's stunning," Scout said. It was a whole new look at the beach. "How did you find this place?"
"Sean showed it to me," Rai admitted. "A while ago, actually. Not with this in mind, he found it while camping out and hiding from Guardian."
"That feels so long ago now."
"It really does."
"And what's this?" Mane asked. While the sights were stunning, that was hardly the only thing. A blanket with a basket had been set on the ground.
"I thought after dinner and entertainment, we could come here for a picnic," Rai said, blushing a little and glowing brighter for it. "What do you think?"
"I think, thank the legends you convinced me not to be a sourpuss," Mane said as Scout slid off his back. "This is really nice, Rai."
"What do you have in here?" Scout asked, pulling the picnic basket open.
"Dessert!"
"Cream?" Mane asked, grinning.
"Only if you're good."
"I'm always good."
"Ah, that explains a lot."
"Heh."
Scout handed out the servings of a pie that Kangaskhan had made at Rai's request, blueberry pie. A true treat.
As they ate, they talked about nothing and everything, as they were oft to do during the later night. Eventually, Mane stared out at the sea for a while longer, something on his mind.
"This is really nice," he said gratefully. "I would have thought you'd want to be closer to the beach, though. You can barely see the bubbles, and I know you love them."
Rai gave him a simple smile, slightly cocking his head. "No, I like the bubbles. I love you two."
Nothing could ruin how sweet that was. Despite a rough beginning, the night ended wonderfully.
These boys are so LAME!
I love them.
Rai to the rescue, you can always count on Rai to clutch.
This was Chapter 69 in the original story, which seemed most fitting for the most wholesome chapter I've written yet! Hahahaha. I'm sure these good vibes will last the whole time.
Welcome to Arc 3! I should have had this chapter and story out ages ago, was honestly stuck on the blurb for it. For people who are reading the story for the first time, this will be a rocky ride! For those who are returning, this Arc will feel the ramifications of everything else I've changed and planned ahead. Original Arc 3 was my favourite of the arcs, but it had some rough parts for similar reasons to Arc 2 (that being I changed a core aspect of the Arc that I had planned for ages, though at least it was changed before I started writing it instead of in the middle of the chapter where it happened like in Arc 2).
Hope we enjoy!