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A Lovers' Circle (Poly Haishira x Reader) Ch17 Setting Hearts A Blaze P3

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You didn't want to do this. But they asked to see your aunt. If they found out that you didn't ask her then they'll be upset. But if I DO ask her I know she's going to do something embarrassing like take their cups to read their tea leaves or show up in her fortune teller's outfit. Gods. What if she does the same thing she did when she met Gyomei?!

Your body cringed inwards on itself just picturing your aunt feeling Kyojuro's arm and then declaring he'd make a wonderful husband for someone she knew. Your gut feeling BEGGED you to not go through with it, and you had asked your boyfriend's opinion on the matter. He knew what she was like so surely he'd be against the idea too right?

"They requested her presence didn't they? It would be unkind to everyone if you don't at least tell her about the invitation."

Crap. He was right. Sigh. You'd have to go tell her the next time you saw her, which happened to be the very next day. So with a heavy feeling in your stomach, you drove all the way to her house and forced yourself to climb up the steps and enter the house where you found your aunt trying to manhandle giant boxes of Christmas decorations out of the thin entrance to her attic. 

"They want to what?"

"They wanted to invite you to dinner." You ducked avoiding the top plastic pine needles of a Christmas tree. "To thank you for helping them out. Um..Do want a hand?"

"I'm not old as dirt yet! I can put up a stupid tree." You only watched her struggle with the big thing until she wobbly placed it hard on the floor with a thud before sighing and stepping back to admire her work. "When is this dinner?"

"Um..I think Kyojuro said it was tomorrow night?"

"NO CAN DO, KIDDO!" She pointed up spinning on her heel and walking over to a big box labeled 'ornaments'. "I'm going to a speed dating event! There's only so much of me to go around!"

You sighed. A wave of relief flooding over you for a long moment. "So.. You'll be busy?"

"Honey, broken hearts and lonely souls are an epidemic in the world. When the world's calling me I must answer!"

"Well you didn't have to say it like a line written out of a story."

She waved you off. "Life is a story. Who's writing the story is whoever you decide to give the pencil to." Her arm then made a come here gesture. "Now come help me decorate the place! The halls won't deck themselves."

Everything seemed to go well enough the next day. Of course being a Saturday you had no work, but you still had the project with Giyuu and Shinobu to do due the last day of November which wasn't too far off. You opted to do it early in the morning so you could just go grocery shopping. So you did what you've been doing every morning. Getting up and ready before leaving to meet up with your friends at their house. Just ended up doing an hour of yoga before leaving to go grocery shopping at the local supermarket. Giyuu offered to drive you back but you declined as pretty much everything was within walking distance, even if it was pretty cold out. 

No doubt the first snow wouldn't be too far behind. That's what you thought to yourself as you walked into the thankfully warm grocery store, and grabbed a shopping cart to start pushing it around to start grabbing groceries and things you'd need for dinner tomorrow night, some rice and eel cutlets for unadon. So it really was a surprise for you to just be carting around listening to the generic Christmas music already being played over the loudspeakers and the squeaky wheel of the cart as you pushed it along, stopping every so while to grab milk and eggs and other small things, only to turn the corner into the other aisle and then completely pause.

You blinked before a big smile pressed against your lips at the realization of a familiar face. A man with short ink black hair was standing sideways at the end of the aisle. Shopping basket in one hand while his other ran across canned goods looking at each label for a specific product. Murata didn't see you as you started up towards him.

"Murata!"

"GAH?!" Said man jumped and whirled around as fast as a startled cat but he paused and blinked upon seeing you. "Y/n?!"

You giggled. "Yep! It's me!"

"Don't do that! I could've had a heart attack!"

Despite his frown you giggled again. "Sorry. I haven't seen you in like a month! How have you been?"

"Hmph. I've been fine. Trying to pay for rent and go to classes hasn't been easy to multitask lately is all."

"Oh. I'm so sorry. Your boyfriend ok?"

"Sabito's fine. Like I said, it's just been super busy." Murata paused taking a moment to lean over and look behind you for something. Or really someone. "Is..your boyfriend here too?"

"Gyomei? No. He's helping a friend move some stuff. Why?"

He didn't answer at first. Continuing to look behind you and then behind him as if making sure you both were alone before looking back at you in a dead serious face. "Are you here by yourself?"

"Um.." Your brow rose at him. "Yes? You're being kinda weird, Dude."

"I just wanted to make sure none of...those people were around here." 'Those people'? Who was he talking about? Looking around once more, Murata looked back to your confused face. "Remember when I said I had something important to tell you?" You nodded. You did but he never told you what he wanted to talk about. "I wanted to warn you sooner but you were surrounded by those guys all the time."

"Warn me?" That certainly surprised you. "Warn me about what? And what are you talking about?" 

"I'm talking about the polycule nuts!" You blinked as he groaned. "I'm talking about your boyfriend's boyfriends..and girlfriends!"

"You mean Giyuu and Shinobu?"

"And the rest of them!"

You were surprised. What about your friends warranted Murata wanting to warn you? It confused you to the core. "Why? What's so wrong with them?"

"Um. Everything??" He held up his hands. "When I first saw that guy I thought he looked familiar but I didn't know he was Himejima. If I'd known who it was then I would've told you to not go out with him!"

"Why? What's so wrong with him?"

"How do you not know about their reputation?!" He facepalmed with a loud groan. 

"Murata, WHAT are you talking about?"

"People call them the 'Haishira' on campus." He explained looking up from his hands. "And they're pretty notorious for their lifestyle."

"You mean the fact that they're polyamorous?" Your brow rose with a frown. "Murata, there's lots of people in the world that's polyamorous. I'm not being cheated on or anything if that's what you're worried about. I already know about Gyomei having other partners and I'm fine with that-"

"It's not just that!" He cut you off with a look. "It's already super weird, but it's WAY beyond having like an extra boyfriend or girlfriend on the side! I'm worried about you being around them. Especially dangerous people like Shinazugawa and Iguro Obanai. And that Tengen guy!"

Sanemi and Obanai? Why? What was wrong with them? And Tengen?  Your questions were answered as Murata continued talking in your silence.

"Both of them have got a bad reputation on campus and for good reason. They're always getting into fights and Sanemi sent a guy to the hospital his first year of Uni just cuz someone hit on his girlfriend! Everyone's scared of them cuz they're loose cannons! Not to mention that Tengen guy is like the biggest womanizer on campus! He's always flirting with people and winking and posing naked for the art classes-"

"Don't... people usually volunteer as nude models for art class all the time so the students can practice drawing anatomy?"

"That doesn't change the fact that they're all super weird to be around! Look! I'm like REALLY worried about you here! And as your friend, I'm begging you to stay away from those guys! They're trouble and there's a reason why people avoid them!"

Haishira? Avoiding them? Well you knew from Gyomei that many people tended to opt out of dating him due to his blindness or after learning about his orientation, but you never heard anything about them all having any kind of 'reputation'. The closest thing to that is when you had encountered Jake a second time at the pub. One of his friends had seemed to recognize Sanemi causing the group of them to flee the scene.

But Sanemi dangerous?

Not to you. He'd been nothing but respectful and passive towards most people outside of his relationships you've seen him interact with. He wasn't rude to anyone that didn't decide to poke him with a stick or decide to be rude or try to cause trouble to someone he seemed to care for. Most of the time around other people he just seemed neutral. Obanai...well you didn't know him too well. You've only spoken to him a handful of times but he didn't seem like someone who would harm someone on a whim either. As for Tengen, he was flirty whenever you spoke to him but that seemed more like his personality than him going around womanizing people.

"They never acted that way when I was around them."

"That's because you're dating their boyfriend! Which is a sentence I never thought I would ever say! *Sigh* Look. I just don't want to see you get hurt again!" His hand found your shoulder and a look of concern came over him. "I'd ask you to break up with him but I don't know if I'm in a position to do that. So instead I'm gonna warn you."

You still stared at him for a long, silent moment before sighing. "Murata, I appreciate your concern and I'm glad I have such a good friend. But I'm happy. Gyomei's not perfect, far from it actually, but for the first time I'm seeing someone who makes me happy and I'm worried about if he's going to ghost me or is secretly married. He makes me happy, and I actually like making friends with them. They're good people despite what rumors or people say. You don't have to worry about me."

Murata slowly sighed again deflating with a nod. "I had a feeling you'd probably say something like that. But...Would you at least please, PLEASE promise me you'll be careful?"

You smiled at him. "I promise but you don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine."

**************************************

You didn't know what to feel for the rest of the day. Running into Murata had left a bad taste in your mouth in your otherwise happy mood. It's not that you believed the rumors that were repeated to you in worry by him. Of course you didn't believe Sanemi was actually dangerous or any of the other ridiculous things Murata warned you about, but there was something bugging you.

Rumors usually didn't start out of no where.

Usually they were started by someone or they were based off something that did happen or sometimes a bit of both. So now which of the three was it? You debated calling Sanemi and asking him yourself but it would've been too awkward to just ask if he'd ever beat up someone and put him in the hospital. So instead you just went home and put your groceries away in some attempt to get your mind off the fact despite it still bugging you. Your day had gone by normally then but you still didn't shake the feeling of curiosity surrounding it all. In fact you nearly forgotten about the time because you were so distracted by it all. The clock showed up five p.m and the dinner was supposed to be at six.

OH CRAP!! YOU WERE GONNA BE LATE!!

It was a rush to shower and throw on a cute sweater before grabbing what you needed and running out of the door and towards the restaurant Kyojuro had insisted on you coming too. Luckily you knew exactly what restaurant it was. It was the new one Mitsuri wanted to go to but couldn't because it had been closed. It was right across from the park and the park wasn't too far away from your house as well. 

Of course the afternoon was cold and nearly dark as the days grew shorter this time of year, but you held your purse halfway in your teeth as you yanked your coat over your shoulders and hoped the wind didn't smear your makeup. You were going to be late. You were going to be late. Oh you hoped they weren't going to be mad at you for being late. The trip as the sun set quickly took you along the sidewalks on your usual route to the university only to go straight through the park as some kind of short cut and straight to the streets and buildings on the other side. Where you went to was the first big building  that let delicious smelling food waft on the breeze. That should be the one.

With a brisk pace you made towards the older styled building and opened the front door setting off a bell above your head, and a wave of warn air washed over your cold skin. Immediately after you stepped in, someone else was standing right there in front of you with a wide smile. 

"Greetings!," he greeted you with a smile on his customer service face and a waiter's suit slapped on his body. "Do you have a reservation, Ma'am?"

"Um." You pushed the hair from your face attempting to smooth it over from the wind blowing it about. "N-No."

"Oh. I'm afraid I can't seat you without a reservation."

"I'm actually meeting someone here. Uh..Rengoku?"

"Rengoku? Hm. Let's see." From his podium thing he looked down at what you assumed was a check book. "Ah, yes. Table fourteen. Of course." With a gesture of his arm he pointed towards the inside massive room of tables. "Please follow me."

You did hoping you didn't look too out of place amongst the fancy furnishings and dressed up people. Until you spotted a familiar face and head of red hair. ...And a very familiar sounding voice.

"Umai!....Umai!....Umai!!"

You heard him before you saw him. Following him to the table in question revealed three identical figures of long red hair. One of which was a young man shoving pieces of wagyu steak pieces into his mouth and yelling out each time he took a bite. Yep. That was definitely Kyojuro alright.

The worker stopped behind Kyojuro whom had his back towards you but gained the attention of his parents. Shinjuro and Ruka if you remembered right from the party. "Excuse me, S-"

"UMAI!!"

Both the worker and yourself jumped back as Kyojuro just whirled around to surprise both of you. His wide grin only instantly widened more and his eyes brightened up when he saw you standing there. 

"Y/N!!" Kyojuro announced loudly catching the attention of more tables turning to look towards the loud voice. "You've made it!"

With a blink or two you slowly relaxed back and awkwardly nodded. "Um. Y-Yeah. Sorry I'm late. I got..distracted."

"Nonsense! You arrived just in time!" With a scoot over, he easily moved his plate over and gestured to the place next to him. "Come sit! Join us and have something to eat!"

Taking the opportunity to make this less awkward, you quickly sat down next to Kyojuro and across from his father. The older man sat there with a neutral expression on his face as he watched you sit down in front of him. With a smile you turned to Kyojuro whom smiled widely and softly at you. A little strange but you figured it was out of gratitude for what you and your aunt did for them. 

"I'm glad you could make it!," he started with a bright tone, "With your busy schedule I was afraid you wouldn't make it."

You waved him off. "Oh no. I wouldn't miss this! It was really nice of your family to invite me for dinner."

"Indeed! Speaking of which, I don't see your aunt anywhere? Is she running late as well?," he asked looking over your shoulder and around the restaurant in search of anyone else coming towards their table. 

"I'm sorry but she couldn't make it since she's working tonight."

"That's a shame." Mrs. Rengoku smiled at you softly. "I was so looking forward to meeting her, but maybe next time. However I'm happy to make your acquaintance again. You're Y/n correct?"

You nodded. "That's me. I'm happy to hear that you're situation has improved!"

"Yes! My husband and I are very grateful! Thank you!" ....Ms. Ruka turned to her husband before lightly bumping her elbow into his arm.

He jolted turning to her. "What?" Ruka motioned her eyes towards you as he stared. "Oh. Right." He sighed before turning to you with a semi frown. "Thank you I suppose but I didn't need any help. It was nothing I couldn't have solved myself.. Eventually."

"There's no need to thank me really!" You held up your hands. "I'm just glad you all are doing better!"

"Well the least we can do is buy you dinner."

"Oh, you don't have to. I can pay for my own food."

You stopped blinking up as Kyojuro placed a hand on yours which he was still holding up. You blinked again looking between him and where he held your hand before he spoke up again.

"I insist. My treat. One meal is the least I can do to pay you back for all the kindness that you shown me."

"You?"

"Uh! M-My family too!," he quickly corrected. "I truly do insist! Please get whatever you'd like and I'll take care of it!"

"Well...I usually don't like taking other people's money like this."

"Then just take it as paying you back for those delicious cookies you've made us and we can call it even!"

You hummed again thinking it over. "Mmm...Ok. But just this once."

He beamed. "OF COURSE!! You won't regret it! Order whatever you'd like!"

"Thank you!" ....You looked down. "Um. Kyojuro." He hummed in question. "You're still holding my hand."

Immediately his eyes shot down and a bright pink color slapped across his upon the realization. "AH!! APOLOGIES!!" He immediately cried out loudly dropping your hand and making his mother giggle, his brother blink, and his father sigh and roll his eyes.

The dinner was nice. Casual even. Nothing really strange about it. You all talked about where everyone worked, what Ms. Ruka did as a calligraphy teacher, how Kyojuro came to work part time at the local shelter, a little bit about Senjuro's studies, and at one point Kyojuro asked how the project with Giyuu and Shinobu was going. Just a casual, normal family conversation...Minus yourself as you weren't a part of the Rengoku Family.

Slowly things came to a close. You did try to one more time pay for the small meal you had ordered but Kyojuro had pushed your card away and slapped down enough money to easily pay for both of your meals plus a tip for the waiter....

It was odd though. 

His parents paid for their own and his brother's meals. Wasn't he paying for everyone? You brushed it off in the moment as you all made for the exit and then as you turned to bid them goodnight, Kyojuro turned to you sharply.

"Let me walk you home." You blinked at him. "It's getting dark and I'm sure Gyomei would appreciate that I didn't let his girlfriend walk home alone one dark winter night."

"What about your home? Isn't it in the opposite direction?"

"Haha! I don't live with my parents and my home is much closer to yours than theirs. I'll be fine!"

You were a bit confused with the sudden gesture, but Gyomei and even Giyuu once or twice had walked you home before so Kyojuro walking you home wasn't a bad thing. "Ok. If you're sure."

That's when he offered his arm out to you taking you aback again. Wasn't expecting him to do that. Was it ok to accept? After debating on it for a moment, you accepted his arm and (after thanking his parents for dinner and telling them all good bye-) you both walked back towards the park. It was mostly silent now in the dark with the night sky overhead. The only lights in the park being the stars and street lamps. Eerie. You were kinda glad you accepted Kyojuro's offer after all.

Midway through the park you slowly glanced up at him. He wasn't looking at you and instead continuing to walk and look around with you leading him towards your house....Maybe..HE had answers to your problem?

"Kyojuro?" He snapped to you immediately with a questioning him. It was kinda spooky how fast he reacted. Hesitating you looked away from him. "Can I..ask you something?"

"BUT OF COURSE!!," His loud voice echoed over the park. "Ask away!"

You hesitated again feeling a bit guilty. "Well...N-Not too long ago I ran into someone else who goes to the university." You decided it was best not to throw Murata under the metaphorical bus and keep his name out of it. "And...they told me some stuff about you guys-"

You stopped. Well Kyojuro immediately holted to a stop yanking you back too. The sudden jolt had you blinking, looking at him in instinct only to pause at the way he was staring at you. Still smiling but it looked more...serious.

"I see..", he slowly said after a moment, "What kind of 'stuff' did they tell you?"

"Oh..N-Nothing I actually believe of course." You quickly added holding up your free hand. "It's just some rumors."

"What kind of 'rumors'?"

You winced shrinking up a little bit and looking away again. "Well...T-They said that...Sanemi and Obanai were dangerous- Again I don't believe that! And t-t-that Te-Tengen was a...playboy I guess- Again I don't believe any of it!" You again looked at him nervously. "I-It's just something that someone else told me and I-I thought you guys should know about it is all!"

.... Kyojuro blinked. "Oh. Is that all?" You were again taken aback when he threw his head back and laughed loudly. His laughing echoing off the wind before he looked at you. "Those old rumors again. You have nothing to worry about." He assured you waving a hand. "Those are baseless rumors people had made up over misunderstandings and bad intentions!"

A sigh of relief left you despite it all. Yeah. You already figured as much, but hearing someone else confirm it put you at ease. "I figured that already... Although there is one more thing bugging me."

His head tilted. "And what might that be?"

"This person also told me Sanemi got into a really bad fight with someone who ended up in the hospital." You couldn't shake the way those men literally feared Sanemi at the pub. Something clearly happened. "Is that true?'

Kyojuro stared at you still, looked you up and down, before sighing. "It is but it's exaggerated way out of context. What really happened was someone else tried to kiss Hinatsuru without her consent at a party. When they wouldn't leave her alone, Sanemi more or less punched him in the face."

"So..he did make someone go to the hospital?"

"Well I suppose technically but the only thing he had was a broken nose. People like to make it seem like he had beaten the man into a coma but it's simply just a matter of him defending someone he cares about."

"Like he did for me."

Kyojuro smiled wider. "Yes. Exactly! You get it! Is that everything that concerns you?"

You nodded in relief. "Yes it does. Thank you, Kyojuro. It's been really comforting. I guess it goes to show there's still things to learn about you guys."

A glimmer of excitement formed in his eyes. "Then you should come celebrate with Tengen next weekend!"

You blinked. "Huh?"

"There's this cloud we're celebrating Mario's birthday at! Since you'd like to learn more about us you should come along and spend time with everyone!"

"I-...I don't know. I haven't even been invited." 

"I'll throw the idea their way! If they say yes, you should come! It'll be lots of fun!"

"Well..Maybe. I'll have to think about it first!"

"SPLENDID!! Now come! It's getting colder and as much as I enjoy the beautiful night, Gyomei wouldn't be happy if I allowed you to catch a cold."

[originalwinnercheesecake]

what if the Revolutionary Girl Utena characters were pokemon trainers

I went back to the Utena tab, as one does, to brush up on my philosophy... Suddenly the question pops into my head "With Anthy's love of roses which flower pokemon would be her favorite? I bet it would be x." Then i started to think "If Anthy had "X" then maybe Utena could have "Y". "Nanami should have "C" because of that one comedy filler episode" You know the one. "Also wouldn't it be fun to create a sinister pokemon team for Akio." I literally went to sleep rolling these thoughts and potential teams around in my mind, and have spent all day working on getting the teams right.

Before I post my teams here were my rules

1.) Six pokemon for the rose crest duelists, one-three for the black rose duelists. Ruka got two

2.) All the rose bride duelists had to have at least one flower/plant/florial pokemon. This was not required of the black rose duelists or Ruka.

3.) Normally I do not let characters have legendary pokemon on their teams. But because some of these characters are Gods or embodiment's of legendary themes/tropes I put fitting legendary on the teams for four specific characters

4.) Utena was the only character I allowed a pokemon that can mega evolve. She is the one chosen to wield the power of Dios in the duels.

5.) To challenge myself I did not use any of the eeveelutions, or regional type variations (Alolan, Galar, Hisuin). These are usally heavily represented on my previous lists and I wanted this one to be more unique

In honor of pride month here is the RGU cast as pokemon trainers

Anthy Himemyia

a team that is half cute and girly , and half very very frightening

White Flower Florgus: This one is representative of Anthy's love of flowers, whoch she incorperated into her role in the duels, as the Rose Bride. A flowery fairy pokemon that devotes itself to its gardens. The red one is to sweet to be Anthy's pokemon. Plus given that both the roses in her coffin and the one she puts on Utena are white, I think that white may be her favorite rose color.

Wooloo: Anthy used the Wool from her Wooloo (and some red fabric dye) to make the sweater she knitted and gifted Utena in season 2. I love that because there are no hints that Akio told Anthy to make Utena the sweater. Anthy chose to make a handmade gift for her friend. Utena wore it multiple times later when she and Anthy were hanging out in their room. That was a really sweet gift, and symbolic of how much the two were coming to care about each other, so I wanted to give Anthy a pokemon representative of that

Apom and Rattata: These two both represent Chu-chu, a monkey that was the size of a mouse. They can also represent aspects of Anthy's way of expressing herself during the games. How she was always handy at chores, but had what one would call a quiet and mousy nature. Apom is a shiny pink to match Utena's trademark hair, and the pink outfit Anthy dawns (leaving behind her red goddess/rose bride outfits) to go out into the world and search for Utena.

Mismagius: A ghost type pokemon that is representative of Anthy's witch persona. It's poxides entry says that it is a havic bringer that can cause people great hapiness or misery, and that some will pursue it as if their life depended on it, though owning it can sometimes have less than favorable results. A very Himemyia pokemon

Spectrier: Representative of Anthy's, now long dead, goddess persona. This beauitful, dark, spirit horse shy's away from sight and rely's on its other senses. It is also said that it can seperate a soul from a body with one kick (Similar to what Anthy did to Dios when she gave up being a goddess). Spectrier shares a connection to pokemon owned by both Akio and Utena

Akio Ohtori

Note it was actually a lot of fun making this cutesy/sinister team for Akio.

Morella: This could be Akio's floral pokemon if you view "End of the World" as a rose duelist. I mostly picked it because it is cute and whimsical looking, but is parasitic and will drain a person of their energy when they are asleep.

Driftloom: Another whimsical pokemon. What a fun and safe looking little balloon... that leads small children astray and can cause them to go missing.

Delibird: It is his messenger. Before the final arc he mostly communicated with his students by letters. Delibird delivers them. Bad bird, bad

Palossand: Representative of Ohtori Academy. A palace and a kingdom where everyone lives trapped, with Akio as the prince who is in charage of everyone

Dusktops: A hollow husk ghost that it is unwise to get close enough to look inside of. Am I talking about Dusktops or Akio?

Glastrier: Akio's Princely white horse. A wild and crazy steed (kinda like his car), counter part to his sisters Spectrier, and also connecting to one of Utena's pokemon.

Utena Tenjou

What pokemon are enough of hero's for our protagonist. Are flashy hero pokemon really the ones she needs?

Roserade: Utena's Floral pokemon, and her mega evolution pokemon. I like to think it started out as a little Bedew that was left for Utena after that day all those years ago when she met the prince and vowed to become one herself. Roserade is not really a princely pokemon, but Utena never actually became a prince. I think Roserade is a good representation of the revolutionary character she did become.

Spritzee: Scent seems to be an important senese to Utena. She will comment on food smells and the one thing she remembers clearly about that day is that she could smell Roses. Given her love of fragrance she would probably also love a perfume pokemon

Marowak: Utena and Marowak both lost loving parents when young. Now they have grown tough and made the decision to help each other and carry on.

Growlithe: Representation of Utena's courage and fierce loyalty to those she cares about

Corvisquire: this one represents both the dark uniform and the ingenuity Utena shows. How she descends on the games, has less experience then the other duelist, but she uses tools around her, and eventually the traits she can glimpse from the other duelist themselves, to win.

Calyrex: This is Utena's Legendary pokemon. It is connected to both Anthy and Akio's legendary pokemon, how they both need her, and the choice Utena ultimately has to make on which one she wants to be with.

Touga Kiryuu

Touga' team is meant to be bad/dangerous but not necissarly as wicked or frightening as Akio's team

Vileplume: Touga's floral pokemon. I gave him a finale form in a 3 part evolution, similar to Utena's roserade, but of course not containing the same abilities or as powerful. I also really wanted him to have a flower that was also a poison type, because he himself is pretty poisonous.

Hitmonchan: Touga is shown to know how to box when he took out that kangeroo. So i figured since he would obviously have a fighting type pokemon, let's go with the boxing one

Purugly: He loves cats so he gets a cat pokemon. (Side note do we think he got to keep the kitten Anthy gave him for his birthday, or did it disappear after 24-48 hours, like the "gifts" Anthy sends Nanami). I decided to give him Purugly do them both having nice hair, being fairly rude, and most importantly, loving to sleep in someone else's bed.

Seviper: A snake is pokemon is another one that just fits Touga. Add that Seviper has a red sword like tail, and could maybe help Touga train, makes it Touga's perfect snake.

Yamask: Yamask's lore says it use to be a man who died. It came back as a ghost pokemon and it carries a mask that resembles the face it had as a human. I put it on Touga's team to go with Touga's own lore, and how there is all this discussion on if Touga is actually a boy or a ghost... Even if he is still alive he is kinda still a ghost, carrying a mask of the kid Saionji and Nanami remember.

Mudsdale: Touga has a horse because he wants to imitate Akio. But where as Akio's Galstrier is a beautiful and princely legindary pokemon. Touga only has a dirty mudsdale, a.k.a the one horse pokemon that is entirely based off of a regular, non magical, horse. Mudsdale can never be quite like Galstier. And Touga (thankfully) can never manage to be as manipulative and powerful as Akio.

Nanami Kiryuu

Her magistey the princess of ridiculousness, with her loyal court of fools

Carnavine: Nanami's floral pokemon. I did not want to give Nanami a more "delicate flower" looking pokemon, as Nanami is honestly one of the least delicate girls in the anime. Carnavine, like Nanami, is clingy and snappy so I think it fits her really well.

Vespaqueen: Becasue she is the school's "Queen Bee"

Morgrem: It is a prankster, who will sometimes employ false surrenders and dirty tactics, all of which are to hide its own insecurites and lack of self confidence. Nanami and Morgrem are kindred spirits in this regard. Hopefully she and it could help each other grow to accept themselves

Piplup: It has a tough attitude and a lot of bravado, but in truth it is pretty clumsy and falls down a lot. So piplup is another pokemon who I feel like it and Nanami would get each other.

Miltank and Exeggcute: You all know exactly why Nanami has a cow and eggs. No explanation needed.

Kyouichi Saionji

It was not my intention to give him the fluffiest team. I am laughing at it turning out that way though. Let's hope Saionji can keep himself and his teammates stocked on hair brushes

Cacturn: Saionji's Floral pokemon. He gets Cacturn because they are both green and prickly.

Fennekin: Well it is a hot headed pokemon that will have steam coming out of its fluffy ears when it gets really worked up. That certainly sounds like someone Saionji see's whenever he looks in the mirror. Also once it evolves, and starts carrying around sticks, he could teach it Kendo style staff techniques

Mankey: Saionji also needed a fighting type. I chose Mankey to represent just how Impulsive Saionji is. Both he and Mankey struggle to calm themselves down, and to stop fighting. If Saionji can ever manage to teach Mankey any control, then maybe he won't be completely hopeless himself. If not, it will at least be a funny ride.

Zangoose: Saionji got a Zangoose because Touga has a Seviper. Each of them have a rival pokemon that is always fighting with the other, but also can never help but seek the other out. I would say that is pretty accurate representation of Touga and Saionji's relationship, and how they feel about each other in their adolescences.

Farfetch: I was thinking because it carries the leak then maybe Saionji could teach it Kendo staff techniques now. Fennekin could watch. They would probably all enjoy that.

Shiny Sudowoodo: well it is bad at hiding and hates water, that is similar to Saionji. But really I gave it to Saionji because he likes poetry, and Sudowoodo (particularly its shiny form) are about the closest I could think of to a poetic looking pokemon. Another thing is that Shiny Sudowoodo looks like a tree in the fall, when things change. Change is a concept Saionji struggles with, and he needs to learn to better deal with it if he wants to leave his coffin

Miki Kaoru

I kind of wish his team could have been bluer, but I am happy that 2 are garden creatures and another three look a bit like childhood toys. Nature and nostalgia are strong themes if Miki's

Sunflora: This is Miki's floral pokemon. He gets an actual flower based one. A sunflower caught in the Sunlight garden back when he was a child

Baltoy: So Miki is a time keeper for the student council (supposedly, as no one knows what he is keeping time on with his stop watch) and carries a lot of nostalgia for his past. So I had to give him a "time" pokemon. However he is not a strong enough trainer to command a legendary, like Celibi or Dialga. Baltoy was the only one left, but it honestly works. I like to imagine that it stays next to Miki at student council meetings and every time he presses the button on his oh-so-confusing stopwatch Baltoy will cease its spinning and speak.

Chimeco and chatot: Two music based pokemon to sit with Miki and keep him company at the piano. Chimeco will try to calm him down when he gets stressed. Chatot will repeat things: notes or phrases that it has heard Miki/his teachers say. Miki loves Chatot, but it often makes him more stressed.

Scyther: All of Miki's pokemon so far have been small and cute. But Miki is a tough fighter too. I wanted him to have pokemon he could sword train with, and that would come off as more imposing in battle. No fighting types really fit him so I got more creative. Scyther would make a pretty good fencing partner. He probably caught it in his garden like Sunflora, only he was older by then.

Male Meowstic: This one is representative of his caring yet strained relationship his sister Kozue-she has a female. Miki's male meowstic is both the male, and the more defensive of the pair, just like him.

Juri Arisugawa

before anyone asks Juri does not have a sward pokemon because she does not need one. She already has a sword.

Lurantis: Now this is the perfect floral pokemon for Juri. It is girly without being soft or frilly. It is vivid, tough, and glamours. It is also super sharp and does its best to fool people into seeing it as someone its not. Basically it suits Juri's strengths, while also highlighting some of her vulnerabilities.

Luvdisc: Okay the romantic heart pokemon that is considered a symbol of love might seem like a strange one for Juri,given how she feels about, well, romantic feelings and all that. One I do think Juri is a romantic, but, just like with miracles, she has some trouble believing in romance after what went down with Shori. Secondly lone luvdisc's can become despondent and disheartened... which again is kind of how Juri feels, when thinking about all the things she is scared to believe in. Both Juri and Luvdisc need hugs

Cloyster: This one represents how closed off and self motivated Juri has become

Brozong: It strong steel/psychic typing suits Juri pretty well, and it being a 360 degree shield does show how defensive Juri is now. Most importantly it can summon rain showers. The culmination of Juri's arc was her locket getting broken, her forfeiting her duel as she finally lets herself cry over what she lost, then stepping into a rain shower, to try and began herself again. That was such a powerful scene for Juri, so I gave her a powerful pokemon to represent that time in her life.

Jangmo-o: Here is a little dragon that personality wise is on almost the same wave length as Juri. Both are diligent trainers, humble, yet have the pride of warriors. I could see these two taking each other far.

Mienshao: This is Juri's fighting type pokemon. One that is very graceful and elegant, as well as being a skilled, and sometimes overwhelming, fighter. Like with her Lurantis I could see this one joining her in both a battle and on the runway.

Now on to the black rose duelists. Once again they were smaller characters so I am only giving them 1-3 pokemon.

Kanae Ohtori

Apples for the princess, fairy tales dictate she should have refused

Applin: So they are sometimes viewed as romantic gifts between people in a committed relationship. Akio gave this Applin to Kanae, who joyfully accepted it as a "symbol of their love". But another way to look at it was Akio telling Kanae his plans. Applin is a worm that burrows into the center of an apple and then feeds on the fruit to stay protected, plump, and strong. Akio is the worm. Kanae's family's academy is the apple. Kanae's Applin is most definitely not evolving into a Appletun.

Kozue Kaoru

I imagine Kozue and her girls are out to either get their party up or throw some shade down. No in between

Female Meowstic: the sibling pokemon to Miki's male one. Like Kozue this meowstic is the aggressive female counter part to its more defensive brother.

Bellossom: Kozue is not a rose crest duelist, but she still has a flower pokemon? Okay I am not saying Kozue should have joined the student council with Miki, or competed for the rose bride, or anything like that. Bellossom is also a party pokemon. It is always dancing and chatting away with others. Kozue takes Bellossom with her when she goes out to look for new boyfriends. It is also there for her after hook-ups, when she is all alone again. Bellossom might be Miki's favorite of Kozue's pokemon. Kozue likes Miki's chatoc, because she can teach it to say phrases that annoy her brother/ scare away anyone that might hurt him.

Taillow: This is Kozue's newest pokemon. She is shown to like birds. She found this one injured, became protective of it, and took it in. She told everyone she caught it because the injuries proved it was tough in a scrap, and it is tough in a scrap, but that was still a lie on Kozue's part.

Shori Takatsuki:

So cute on the surface, beneath that... well sometimes it is a little less pretty and a lot more messy

Psyduck: Because Shori follows people she likes/wants around like a duck, and she is driven to headaches by her own refusal to accept feelings. Both her own feelings and other peoples as well. It will be a long and stressful ride, but caring for Pysduck could possibly help Shori break this negative cycle of denial she has locked herself in.

Corsola: The tips of it spikes can be painlessly broken off and then made into pretty jewelry, that are prized as treasures. Shori deeply wants to be someones treasure, so I imagine she wears corsola jewelry a lot to try and boost her low self esteem. This also goes with Juri's luvdisc, as luvdiscs are a pokemon that love corsolas.

Phanpy: This is Shori's last pokemon, and probably her oldest. She is not able to/has no desire to evolve it. Phanpy's look like innocent little dolls, are very playful, and has a tendency to hurt those it feels affection for...Just like Shori.

Mitsuru Tsuwabuki

Gorwing up is really so tough

Impidimp: One evolution behind Nanami's Morgrim. Like their trainers the pair get along and are good friends, but often tend to prank the other. It is a bit of a ongoing challenge to see which is the most sly and devious

Bagon: Like Mitsuru with adulthood, Bagon dreams of the day it will be a full grown Salamence, and waits for all the things it will be able to do then. Mitsuru and Bagon want to grow, evolve, and achieve their dreams together.

Love Sweet Carmel Swirl Alcreamie: I gave Mitsuru an Alicreamie because he shown to be able to cook/bake, and likes to do it for Nanami. I really was hoping that their was a chocolate version of Alicreamie, because of the symbolism of the partially eaten chocolate bar his friend leaves behind in his black rose episode. But I was out of luck. I decided to give him a Carmel Swirl Alcreamie because its cream has a bitter taste. Right now Mitsuru is at a stage where he feels very bitter about still being a little kid. I figure his Alcreamie can help him learn to mix that bitterness with other feelings/flavors to create good results. Love Sweet because Mitsuru is a romantic of course.

Tatsuya Kazami

I hope that he got back out of ohtori again quick, and that this time he and Wakaba stayed in touch....maybe as friends, maybe as more. In the end that is up tot he two of them, not to Mikage, Utena, or Akio.

Oddish: Oddish is a pokemon that kinda looks like a onion, at least that is what Tatsuya thought when he met Oddish. It reminded him of Wakaba and how she used to call him "The Onion Prince" , so he caught it and made it his partner.

Slowpoke: Slowpoke is called the patient pokemon, and Tatsuya's best and only quality is that he is willing to patiently support the girl he loves, while waiting for the day she maybe decides to give them a chance to be something more.

Wakaba Shinohara

You take care of everyone you meet. But who will take care of you?

Swablu: A very friendly and fearless, normal/flying type, bird that goes around with its head is the clouds and cotton covering its ears. That is definitely similar to our girl Wakaba. But it will also grow into a very strong dragon/flying type, Altaria; just like how Wakaba shows she will grow into a very strong young women one day. For now Wakuba and Swablu have got each other, and are committed to helping the other grow.

Chancy: A caring and nutruing pokemon. This one helps Wakaba take immaculate care of everyone in her life. It also tries its best to take care of her and reminder her that she is still important to it during her darker moments. Like when Saionji leaves her. Or Utena starts spending most of her time with Anthy/Akio and has less and less for Wakaba.

Shiny Skeledirge: Like Wakaba this pokemon is caring yet meddlesome. I could see them getting up to a lot of trouble that they had no business being in, but also helping a lot of people too. It likes to help wakaba with her chorus homework, and sing for Wakaba when she is feeling down. Hopefully it's powerful enough to at least intimidate the boys Wakaba does not have the sense to know are bad news. I also gave it to her because wiki says it is modeled after a tennis athlete (Tennis is implied to be Wakaba's favorite sport), and that the bird on its snout functions as a separate entity. So it was a sneaky way to actually give Wakaba four pokemon. Why is it a shiny, because Wakaba deserves a rare shiny pokemon. She was a rare bright spot in that hell school after all.

Keiko Sondo

I got the idea to give her all bug pokemon because her episode is called Vermon.

Meadow Pattern (a.k.a Pink) Vivillon: I picked Vivillon because it is very girly and frilly, and Keiko comes off as a being a really girly girl. I picked the meadow pattern because it seemed the most romantic, and at heart this girl is another huge romantic.

Male Combee: This one is her relationship to Nanami. Nanami had a female Combee that evolved into a Vespadqueen. But male Combee like Keiko's cannot evolve. No matter how hard either Combee or Keiko work and train they are not royalty, but mere parts of the hive. Combee shares Keiko's resentment that random chances of birth seemingly made Nanami and Vespaqueen more special than them. It is just not fair.

Grubbin: Yeah here is a not so pretty, underground, grubby buggy. But there is so much more to Grubbin than appears. They are attracted to sparks of electricity and will burrow to and stay by it, until he day they can evolve and generate their own. Also when worked into a enough of a rage they are capable of causing birds that try to prey on them fly away in fear. So I am giving her Grubbin to show that of all three conies, Nanami was not able to break Keiko as totally as she did the other two, and their were moments in the show where Keiko was able to stand up to/take on Nanami.

Souji Mikage

Yes I am calling Mikage the fourth most powerful character character in RGU. He was definitely a victor in some previous round of the duels, and for whatever reason Akio and Anthy kept their hold on him for 30 years... to use him to test future victors that won the first round to easy? I mean it is stated he used to have 100 back rose crests and flowers, but by Utena's time he only had 6 left... Off topic

Hypno: it helps him mess with the kids who come into his elevator for therapy; using its hypnotic power to pull their most jealous and anxious thoughts form their minds and mouths.

Bisharp: This one represents how professor Nemuro saw himself before meeting Mamiya and Tokiko, and what he, as Souji Mikage, became after their loss. This is a dark and steel type robot, that commands subordinates to fight underneath it, while it pushes towards its own goals.

Celibi: He slips backwards and forwards through time, while always remaing the exact same age. So I gave him Celibi because it can take itself and invited companions through time. Once he learns that there was really no way then or in the future to have saved Mamiya, can Celibi please take him back in time to tell the real Mamiya "Good bye"?

Ruka Tsuchiya

And here is the guy who in the two episodes he was in before dying, he seemingly made himself more hated than Saionji and Touga combinded, almost as hated as Akio.

Haunter: Because haunting was a thing he liked to do before dying, and from what I have heard, possibly afterwards too. It is also possible Haunter stayed with Ruka even after his death. Admirable loyalty on his pokemons part

Hawkamo: A dragon one evolution higher than Juri's Jaogmo-o, because Ruka was always one step ahead of Juri. After he dies I imagine Hawkamo stalks around the fencing dojo, trying to pick a new trainer. It would be interesting to guess who it would pick.

[vinlynce]

Now here we go... Some of the canon divergent in how they are now characters!

Starting with Kanae! Her original fight with Douma led her to her wings tearing and being coated in ice-like tera-crystals, thus making her have to retire from active duty as one of the highest ranking adventurer of the Wisteria Guild. Now she helps still in the Butterfly Mansion with healing and helping people. Yuichiro! Little guy. The original sparking event in the twins joining the guild in the first place was when as infinity dungeon pulled them in against their will, the two of them escaping in rough shape before being found by Amane. Yuichiro was on the verge of death after this and ended up losing his arm. Though now he works with the Wisteria Guild, even if he is a bit grumbly about it half the time.

Tsutako! After an infinity dungeon "spawned" on top of her with little warning, Herself, Giyuu, and her Fiance were dropped into it and had to get out of the mystery dungeon in some way. Her fiance was unfortunately killed in the surprise attack, but Tsutako managed to protect herself and Giyuu until they could find an exit. Long story short, the pair are found by Urokodaki and Giyuu trains under him in hopes to join the Wisteria Guild while Tsutako heals from her comatose-causing injuries. After enough time has passed she joins the Guild herself under the Butterfly Mansion to try and help others. I imagine she has to have frequent breaks along with some sort of occasionally used mobility aid.

But... There were more who trained under Urokodaki at different times! The most notable of which were Makomo and Sabito. Both were trained by him and tried to become adventurers at different times, Sabito trying to form a duo with Giyuu a while after Makomo had perished. Both being killed by a massive spiteful Muk who had been trapped in the Mystery Dungeon converted to the place where the Guild's final selection for adventurers (those who go after those causing the Infinity Dungeons in hope of stopping more from being created) took place. But... Let's just say there's a specific Pokemon known to be the souls of those who perished with their bodies full of Malice, and the words that Muk spoke to them in their last breaths were to do little more then cause hatred.

[lazypanartist]

I'm SO in love with Drayton rn. He's SUCH a bastard, but like. Not mean? Like, he's the kinda guy who'll tease you about practically anything, while at the same time offering you the biggest place in his life so he can praise n dote on you. Idk. We love the duality of men ^-^

[waywardstation]

Forgot

Phione Akari AU

Ingo is pushing himself too hard and forgetting important responsibilities. Kana is not happy dealing with this.

I wrote this based off a combo of requests, one requesting an AU-specific situation where Ingo needs to hide Akari somewhere, and a general request for more interactions with Kana. And then I remember at the time I wrote this I had been dealing with a pretty awful sore throat and lost voice, so I cast that upon Ingo just to get some of my irritation with it out. It's cathartic writing about it so I can at least relieve it for other characters, haha.

OR read here on AO3!

AND check out the Phione Akari AU masterpost!

Enjoy!

————

The worn bench creaked quietly as Ingo sat down, leaning forward against the table with a sigh.

It felt good to sit down on an actual seat after another trek of five extensively rough days, devoted entirely to fruitlessly scouring the coastlands for Akari. 

Well, in a sense. Her body was still out there somewhere (he believed at least, from what Akari had managed to share with him through writing in her pokedex), but Akari herself was right here with him. And she always had been, it just took the entirety of this trip to realize that. Now a small, watery pokemon hidden just within the flap of his coat collar, it was easy to keep her out of sight.

Ingo felt some guilt over the fact that he could no longer carry her in her water bucket around Jubilife, or even really have her out in the open at all. She had grown attached to residing in it during trips (and understandably so – phione dried out fast), but it was simply becoming too bothersome with Kana and her friend Miki snooping around. And Fancy – Miki’s staravia – was too interested in Akari for their own good. It always gave her the same stare those hungry coastlands murkrow did.

Thankfully though, he had yet to see any of them yet today. Perhaps it would be a little too hopeful to think they were currently too busy with corps work to come find him tonight. But he didn’t hold out on that – usually a trip into Jubilife guaranteed a forced visit with at least one of them anymore.

Ingo had seen a lot more of the two women lately than he would have liked to, ever since they caught a glimpse of poor Akari. 

The phione’s true identity had been easy for Ingo to keep from the two women when the truth had been obscured even from himself, and he simply knew her as ‘Passenger’ . But now that he knew, Ingo felt it may take a little more strain to keep that narrative going; Akari had made him promise not to reveal her demise to anyone, especially not to Kana or Miki. And while returning back to Jubilife, she had made it abundantly clear she wanted him to just keep them away from her for a while. So for now, as far as anyone else was concerned, she was simply a wild pokemon that had become attached to him, nothing more.

But obscuring the truth would allow some problems to continue. During their last few run-ins, Kana had been heavily implying that if he wasn’t going to bother catching the novel Pokémon, she would catch it herself. She ‘had a job to do so as a survey corps member’ , as she had put it (not like Ingo had ever seen her particularly motivated to assist Professor Laventon with filling out his pokedex, though – he assumed it was simply a front to get her hands on a relatively new, conventionally cute, and conveniently portable pokemon that had caught her eye). 

And even if Kana had been exaggerating her intent, Ingo did not want to risk that hypothetical. Not once had he tried to capture Akari in a pokeball, and he absolutely did not want to test to see if he could. He was fully aware that Akari was freaked out by all the unknown consequences that would accompany such an incident, even more so if someone like Kana would manage to catch her.

So, no bucket in town – nothing to tip off that he had her with him for anyone, but especially not for Kana and Miki. And not a word to anyone that she was alive and well, except for the fact that she was stuck in the body of a phione.

While Ingo had his own reserved thoughts about these tracks going forward, he understood Akari’s desired route. Technically, she had gone directly against Kamado’s orders. And after what had happened in the last few months, after the sky bruised red, Ingo knew Akari’s nervous uncertainty was… still there. And while he felt it would be received much better than she was expecting, and he felt ultimately it would be better to say something now rather than later, a small part of him didn’t blame her hesitance.

So for now, he would honor her wishes, despite the extra effort.

A soft clack against the table pulled Ingo from his thoughts. Beni had set down the order he’d made at the canteen’s front — the usual plate of potato mochi, bowl of rice, and steaming cup of tea. 

“Ah, thank you.” The warden pulled the hot food and drink towards him. A quick scan of his order, and he realized something was missing. “…Oh. By any chance, could I request a cup of water as well?” 

“It’ll be right out.” Was Beni’s only reply. Ingo suspected that the man knew exactly why he was asking for it. He’d seen Ingo order it just for his accompanying companion a few times, and probably knew she was with him. Ingo did not worry about him knowing, though. 

The warden cleared his throat delicately, as if the simple action hurt. “And if you’ve got it, some combee honey with it as well?”

One of Beni’s eyebrows raised.

“Ah, not in the water, just with the order.” Ingo was quick to try and explain himself at that sight. He gestured vaguely to his neck. “For my tea. Sore throat.”

Surely, Ingo thought, Beni had heard him constantly shouting Akari’s name like a broken record outside Jubilife’s gates at some point over the last week and a half. 

“Of course, I’ll send Magby out with it shortly.” He finally answered, turning to slip through the restaurant’s door and re-enter his kitchen.

“I appreciate it.” watching the door to The Wallflower slide shut, the warden was left alone to survey the Jubilife strip. At this time of evening, few people were out and about, browsing shops at their own pace, or standing in small social groups. A flock of what he presumed to be starly were out in the distance, amongst the sunset clouds…

Ingo felt something wriggle under the collar of his coat, impatient to move from off his shoulder. The sensation reminded him of the damp spot that had developed there.

“Stay on schedule, Miss Akari.” Ingo reminded her of what they had discussed earlier on the way back to Jubilife. “Remember, safety checks first.”

Squinting against the fading sunset he was facing, Ingo scanned the Jubilife strip street, looking out towards the Galaxy Hall.

A quick peek at the people shopping and talking. A few folks he recognized, but no Kana. 

A glance over his shoulder at the training grounds. No Miki.

“Alright, it is now safe to exit the cab.” The warden tugged the flap of his coat collar back with a finger. He turned his head to find his hidden companion under the fabric, intending to safely remove her himself. However, he instead felt something damp wriggle down his arm from inside his coat sleeve. The suddenness caught Ingo off guard, but she was out of the fabric bridge and onto the table before he could even do anything.

Akari was certainly impatient to get something. Ingo would have guessed the plate of mochi was her target, but he didn’t find himself too surprised when he saw her heading for his cup of tea instead.

“ Phi! ” Akari grasped at the edge of the cup with her flippers, making sounds in her effort to pull herself up and over.

“Ah, refrain from boarding, I am drinking that.” Ingo gently nudged her away from it, before picking it up to take a sip. “I requested water for you, and it will arrive shortly.”

“ Phi,” She squeaked up at him, a tone in her voice revealing that she seemed to be lamenting something. It was so much harder for Ingo to understand her like this, but with some trial and error oveer the last day, he had gotten by with guessing most times. He knew she was starting to dry out by now, and was eager to find a substitute for her bucket.

And most likely, it was partially his fault that she was so desperate to get rehydrated. But he hadn’t had the heart to interrupt Anthe when she pulled him over to her shop for a half-hour conversation the moment she spotted him wearily shambling through Jubilife’s gates. 

Bless the woman’s insistence on attempting to hearten him with every update to the Galaxy Team’s recovery efforts on Akari over his five-day absence. 

“Nothing turned up in the fieldlands, but they’re still searching through the highlands, and they’re supposed to start combing through the mirelands soon… oh Ingo, they’re trying so hard.”

Anthe ended up apologizing when she became emotional herself, and Ingo could do nothing but extend comfort to her. She had no idea the watery blue pokemon situated within his coat collar was the very teen she was so worried about. And Akari had no choice but to slowly dry out on his shoulder over the course of that well-intentioned, but lengthy conversation.

“The tea is too hot for you. The water will be a more suitable option. We do not need you evaporating… again.” An earlier visit to Firespit Island had taught both Ingo and Akari that a phione’s aquatic body was quite prone to evaporation, especially when presented with the heat that the area exuded.

Ingo coughed, restrained but hoarse. He cleared his throat again gently, just as he had earlier. “And I require it in order to properly service my cab. Our last trip had left me in need of it, as I’m sure you understand.”

Endlessly shouting Akari’s name all throughout the coastlands for days on end, even after his throat had been stripped, and his voice cracked. Minimal water breaks sacrificed to instead continually search for her. Breaking down gracelessly the day before at the sight of Akari’s belongings strewn about Castaway Shore, and the horrific implications that such a scene presented. Then breaking down all over again when he realized that not only was Akari still alive, she had been right by his side the entire time.

Understandably, this all took a toll on him. Ingo had sorely overused and undermanaged his voice these last two weeks while searching for her. And for him, it took a lot to get to that point.

It was the entire reason why upon returning back to Jubilife after almost a week in the wilderness, Ingo’s first stop had been The Wallflower. He was sleep deprived, emotionally shaken, his muscles ached terribly, and both himself and his clothing desperately needed a proper scrubbing. But his throat was absolutely killing him, so tending to that came first. 

Another sip from his hot tea, grimacing as a swallow spurred a sharp stinging sensation to flare down his throat. It hurt now, but it would get better. 

He set down the steaming cup, but kept an eye on it to ensure Akari would keep out of it. As it was, he could see her staring at it longingly.

“Your water will arrive shortly, I assure you. But for now,” Ingo pushed the plate of potato mochi closer to her. “Take some time to properly refuel; we haven’t been keeping on schedule doing so as we should.”

The last five days had simply consisted of grazing on plucked berries whenever he had passed by a populated tree or bush. Stress-induced heartburn at night had already made the process discouraging, but it had been hard to justify sitting down to put together an actual meal when hypotheticals nagged at him.

Hypotheticals about how Akari may have been just out of sight, hidden right over the hill. Probably hurt. Maybe bleeding. Possibly passed out, or even-

At the time, it felt morally reprehensible to do anything else other than put every ounce of energy into looking for Akari, but in retrospect, it had been irresponsible to neglect his cab like that. 

Akari had been even worse, though. With frequent refusals to eat any of the berries he offered her, she sometimes even threw them back at him in apparent irritation. Now that he knew this phione as Akari, he recognized she had been understandably frustrated at him for not realizing who she was. But back when she was simply ‘Passenger’ to him, a clingy and high-strung enigmatic Pokemon, it had been exasperating and confusing behavior.

“Phi.” Phione pointed at the potato mochi, then at him. 

“In a moment, I will. I’d like to take care of this first.” Ingo gestured to his throat, before reaching for his cup of tea again. Without honey, the fleeting relief was much too temporary. “Go on and eat.”

“Phi-phi.” Akari squeaked, seeming to accept his answer for now. Using her flippers, she pulled herself over to the plate, and flopped over against one of the potato mochi patties. Ingo watched as bubbles began to fizz inside her transparent body, similar to water slowly climbing towards its boiling point.

Her body was simply just dissolving the mochi to absorb. Over the course of the two weeks she had been with him, Ingo had seen her gradually shift to eating like this. At first mimicking human eating habits and gumming on food, Akari had eventually succumbed to this method instead, realizing it was easier for this form.

Ingo remembered that Laventon had hypothesized the species used their bodies to filter feed in the ocean as they drifted in the cold depths. Phione didn’t exactly have teeth. Or a skeleton. Or a recognizable muscular system, or even proper skin. He didn’t really know what the frail species’ body did have – as far as he could tell, they were almost entirely made up of water. So he supposed a process like this shouldn’t be surprising.

Soon enough, the patty was gone. Ingo cleared his throat gratuitously after another sip, setting the cup aside for the moment. “Alright Miss Akari, I’ve been thinking about our next trip out to the coastlands.”

“ Phi? ” Akari shot him a puzzled look. 

“Indeed! It’s been on my mind the whole trip back,” Ingo guesstimated Akari’s reaction. “And I’m considering when we next depart, our first stop should be over around Veilstone Cape. If that’s where your belongings were found, perhaps your, well… your original body is still somewhere nearby.” 

“ Phi!” A firm, disagreeable shake of her head. 

“No? Do you think we should look somewhere else?”

“Phi-phi!” Was that a yes, as in “yes, look somewhere else!” ? Or no, as in “no, you’ve got it all wrong!” ?

“Ah, should we… survey the cliffsides then?” Thoroughly confused, Ingo had no idea if he was even interpreting things right anymore.

“Phi!!” Akari was definitely becoming more animated with her methods of disagreement. He was headed down the wrong track, surely.

“Alright then, do you believe it’s not even located within the coastlands anymore?” Ingo was trying to make sense of her adamant disapproval. “Should we set our destination somewhere else? But how far could it go? Surely as a natural water-dweller, I would assume it would be slow to leave the shore…”

“Phi-phi!” At some point during his rant, Akari had flopped off of her mochi patty and over to his arm, just to smack his wrist with a flipper. 

Ingo halted to turn his attention to her; ok, that was her ‘please stop and listen to me’ tone. He would know after being constantly subjected to it for two weeks. “I am sorely misinterpreting this, aren't I?”

Finally, an agreeable head nod. It seemed the complexity of this conversation needed more than just ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers to maintain itself.   

And Akari was very much aware of that. She leaned over the side of the table and pointed down at his… waist? His thigh? The bench he was sitting on? It was admittedly hard to tell when she was gesturing with an amorphous flipper, as opposed to a clear finger.

“Um,” Ingo’s confusion put a stop to Akari’s attempts at pointing. She sat back and stared down at the wooden patterns on the table for a moment, clearly considering something, before she squeaked enthusiastically. Ingo watched as she held one of her flippers out stiffly in front of her, while wiggling the other in front of it. Big, determined eyes stared up at him intently the whole time, hoping he’d understand.

It almost looked like she was imitating the act of taking notes in a…

Oh!

“Are you requesting your pokedex?”

Akari nodded her head vigorously, seemingly happy he finally understood.

“Bravo!” Ingo mirrored her sentiments before it fizzled into a cough – that’s right, Akari had used it yesterday to try and communicate with him, pointing to words and pictures, and even attempting to write something at one point (it had taken a very long time and hadn’t been very legible in the end, but they could work on that). He turned to the side, reaching into his coat pocket in search of the waterlogged field book. In the moment, he had practically forgotten he had it on him. “Alright, let me retrieve it for you.”

Maybe she had a map in her pokedex? So she could point out the location they needed to go to next? Or perhaps she even had something recorded within the pages about this pokemon she has swapped with, that could give them a hint as to what happened-

“ Starr! Rrravia!!”

Sudden, frantic squawking and flapping of wings directly by Ingo’s right ear jumpstarted his heart. A loud bang as his knees hit the underside of the table, causing the dinnerware to clatter. Almost dropping the pokedex, Ingo jerked his head back up to see the very two people he was attempting to avoid for Akari’s sake, now heading right for his tableside.

The culprit of the excited squawking — their curious staravia, Fancy — was pecking around his plates on the table. 

“Ingo! Where have you been?”

Great. That sentence was sharp with thorns.

“Ah, Miss Kana, Miss Miki… Hello.” Ingo’s tone wasn’t as warm as he supposed it could have been, noticeably so. But then again, five days of agonizing over horrific hypotheticals in the wilderness had drained him of social courtesy in the presence of unwanted company. 

Plus, he couldn’t entirely help his aching throat from sounding like it was full of rough gravel.

A quick, not-so-inconspicuous survey of the table between calibrating blinks as Fancy continued to poke around the table. Among his dinnerware, Akari was suddenly nowhere in sight — something that was equal parts relieving and terrifying to him.

Was she hiding from them?

“It’s been five days since we last saw you! Were you out in the wild this entire time? We were starting to wonder if something happened!” Miki told him. 

“Ah- no, no-” Ingo’s words stalled, attempting to simultaneously search around the table, and keep a proper conversation going. Fancy seemed interested in the general area by his plate. Ingo attempted to see where its gaze was pulled, in case it had caught a glimpse of something small and blue. “Besides a rather sore throat and tired cab, I am alright, I can assure you. I was solely searching for Miss Akari. And unfortunately, I- ahem , I still am.”

Ingo hoped that wherever the teen was, she understood the double intent and kept close to him. He didn’t want Fancy finding her before he did.

A look of empathy crossed Miki’s features (or maybe it was pure pity; Ingo was acutely aware of how worn down he looked, and his broken voice had involuntarily cracked. It could have easily been mistaken for swelling emotion), but Kana only seemed to grow annoyed at his words. Ingo wasn’t surprised, as he knew how she felt about how much time he was putting into searching. 

Kana never stated her feelings outright, but her behavior had made it very clear to him that she was irked. Irked that Kamado was basically allowing him to drop half of his work to voluntarily look for Akari out of his own volition, while she was ordered to do the same thing.

The survey corps are already looking for her, Kana had practically scolded him the last time she saw him, five days ago when he was first heading out to search. That’s our job, because we’re the survey corps. You’re not. We’ll find her, but we need you here at the training grounds, doing your assigned job at least some of the time, ok?

She used ‘we’ a lot, most frequently during perplexing admonishments like this. Ingo sometimes wondered if Kamado was aware of just how much implied authority Kana utilized to try and inflate her words’ influence. She talked to him like she was Kamado, sometimes. 

Or like she was Zisu, at least. But Zisu would never talk to him the way Kana tried to, even if she technically had the authority to.

“Well, have you found anything helpful yet?” Miki seemed to not be keeping an eye on her staravia at all. To Ingo’s slight exasperation, she either didn’t notice or didn’t care that Fancy was now pecking at his plate of mochi. 

“Ah, I recovered a few things that might be of help, I suppose.” Ingo collected his plate and bowl, pulling them a little closer within the protection of his arms. Fancy glared.

“Well, that’s good…” while it was more appreciated than Kana’s hard silence, Ingo could not tell whether Miki was being pitiful, sympathetic, or unbelieving with that painfully, poorly-hidden sorry tone.  

However, his statement was not a lie. Just a vague truth. He had found Akari and some of her belongings, now they just needed to find her body, from what he understood. 

…Though, right now he was still vying to know where Akari herself was at this moment. With both himself and Fancy searching for her and coming up with nothing, Ingo was practically convinced she was not anywhere on the table, which worried him.

Speaking of the feathery pokemon, the absence of exposed food now left Ingo’s cup as the only lure. Fancy stepped closer, curious eyes fixated on the drink. Ingo could see their intentions coming from a mile away, and he was not about to have hot tea spilled all over the table and himself.

“Fancy, please-“ Ingo grabbed the cup right before they could poke their beak into the drink, sheltering it close with his food.

“Starr!” Fancy squawked indignantly at the action, flapping their wings. It hopped the rest of the way across the table to invasively jab at Ingo’s hand, most likely in an attempt to snatch his cup.

“Fancy! No!” Miki finally took initiative to admonish her poorly-mannered companion, reaching over the table to pull her staravia out of Ingo’s personal space. The scolding finally forced Fancy to flutter down to the ground, squawking all the while. With a sour disposition, they had to settle for simply pecking at the dirt instead. 

“Sorry! I think Fancy’s just looking for your little friend!” Miki attempted to brush off Fancy’s behavior, as she always did. “…Where is that strange pokemon that’s always clinging to you?”

While straightening his coat and brushing stray feathers off himself, Ingo almost laughed at how desperately he wanted that question answered himself.

“Ah, Passenger uncoupled itself from me, and I am no longer sure of its whereabouts.” Again, a truthful statement. And again, Ingo hoped wherever Akari was, she could recognize the inherent worry that the phrasing implied.

Though maybe, Akari had retreated somewhere into one of his coat pockets. Was that why Fancy had been poking at him? Ingo kept his eyes on the two women, but all focus shifted to what his fingers were feeling out, his hand subtly moving to pat his coat pockets from under the table. Where was she-?

“What is that?” An element of morbid curiosity entered Kana’s voice, the woman speaking up for the first time in this whole conversation. The tone alone made Ingo’s hands freeze midway in one of his pockets. 

“Is that… Akari’s pokedex?”

“Her pokedex?” Miki peeked over the edge of the table to get a better look. “Ooh! Did you find it out there?”

“O-oh. Well-” Oh dear. They’d seen the waterlogged notebook in his lap when he leaned away from Fancy. 

All things considered, it was only Akari’s pokedex. But then again, it was Akari’s pokedex. Gut reaction told him it would be best that Kana and Miki not know he has that right now.

Why? It would cause trouble. How? Ingo wasn’t entirely sure yet. But he was holding onto Akari’s missing things. He hadn’t shared where they had been found with the Galaxy Team. He had Akari herself with him while the survey corps were still breaking their backs looking for her. He sort of knew what had happened to her, and kind of felt like he could piece together how to fix this.

There was a lot to uncover, all things considered. Putting it like this, Ingo for the first time properly reflected on just how much he was withholding. And it wouldn’t have mattered if he really only learned the truth about all of this yesterday — if Kana found out about even one of these things, he knew she would not spare any empathy if the narrative was in her hands.

Nervous jitters begin to tickle inside his ribcage. This felt comparable to suddenly realizing the tallgrass fields were unnervingly quiet because they weren’t empty.

“-Yes.” 

That sounded much too certain, he chastised himself. Add some uncertainty.

“I… believe it is, at least?”

Ingo tentatively picked up the bloated bundle of notes to show it to them. People showed things to other people when they had nothing to hide, and he certainly had nothing to hide. Definitely not. 

“I, ah, happened upon it while searching; the contents of the pokedex have sustained significant water damage, as you can see.” Ingo carefully flipped through a few curled pages to prove it, before setting it back down beside him. “So it is difficult to tell for sure. I was on track to deliver it back to Professor Laventon for confirmation, but when I arrived, it appeared his station had already closed for the day.”

A truthful statement. Laventon’s office was dark, because at some point in the warden’s absence, the professor had most likely joined the last survey corps group on their last departure. Laventon frequently went out searching for Akari too when he could, he simply was not as solitary as Ingo when it came to his methods.

But it didn’t seem like the two women cared much about that, though. At least Kana didn’t — she just stared at him with the same look she’d been giving him throughout the entire conversation. 

Hands on her hips, it was beginning to feel like she was trying to come across like she was expecting something.

Expecting him to say something.

Ingo swallowed uncomfortably, this time more from social pressure than any kind of sore pain. Maybe he missed an obvious social queue… the majority of his attention was still lingering around what was going on beneath the table, if he was being honest.

Fancy had sneakily begun pecking at one of his shoes, furthering his suspicion that Akari was somewhere on his person. Ingo gave himself another subtle pat-down from under the protection of the table. She was definitely not anywhere within his coat pockets. If she was, he would have expected to feel a damp flipper bap his searching hand in response by now.

Where was she?? Nervous energy was continuing to build, only able to be somewhat subdued by a bouncing leg. 

“So… is that all?” Kana’s barbed voice broke the silence, somewhat refocusing Ingo’s scattered attention.

Where was this even supposed to be going? Why were they still lingering around? The conversation felt awkward with how it was dragging, like they were beating around the bush. Ingo just wanted this interaction to be over, so that Kana and Miki could leave, and he could properly look around the area for Akari, and stop stressing over the idea that Fancy had grabbed her-

“Ah, I believe so?” Perhaps that would have sounded more authentic if he didn’t have so much urgency to just end things.

Wrong Answer. Kana, clearly exasperated at this point, exaggerated a sigh as she rolled her eyes. 

“Our training session, Ingo. You weren’t here for my training session today. After you told me you would be.” She crossed her arms, her tone suggesting the experience was entirely unpleasant. “I had to train with Zisu.” 

Poor Zisu, Ingo’s tired mind lamented what his manners would never let slip past his lips.

“You did?” Ingo said instead. “There was no need; I’m certain we rescheduled due to my expected absence. But not to worry, I will still be on schedule for it tomorrow morning.” 

Kana’s hard glare gained a bewildered quality to it, as if Ingo’s skin had suddenly turned blue. “What? Today was the reschedule, Ingo.”

“It was?” Ingo’s split concentration once again reconvened on the conversation for a moment. “…It was.”

That’s right. He had scheduled a training session with Kana the day he was supposed to get back, having only been set to make up for another session he had missed earlier in the week. 

But after finding Akari’s things scattered across the beach yesterday, he had sort of deviated from his plans of going back to Jubilife that evening. He had been so distraught, that he couldn’t see himself in any state to be around others, and still keep his dignity. 

It seemed all the physical exhaustion and roiling emotions had scrambled his schedule and fed him unchecked assumptions — an extra day in the wilderness did not mean a pushback on the training session.

That’s why Kana had approached him. She was looking for an apology from him, or an explanation at the very least. And he had given neither.

The stark realization that he had failed to meet the schedule he had set brought an annoying, unwanted flash of heat to his face. 

Ingo found himself sitting up a little straighter, haste fumbling his words. “Oh dear. I- I greatly apologize Miss Kana, I didn’t mean to derail like that. Genuinely, I had forgotten-”

“You always forget,” Another frustrated response was the harbinger that warned Ingo of the oncoming storm.

“Kana, don’t,” And Miki’s hasty attempt to quell it further told him that this had apparently been brewing for a few days now.

“Ingo, this is what I’m talking about.” Kana ignored Miki and took over. And because he’d already strained his voice way too much to speak over her quickly-raising anger and reclaim the conversation, Ingo let her. “You keep doing this! For almost two weeks now, you’ve been throwing aside your responsibilities at the dojo for something that other people are already taking care of-”

But they were all looking in the wrong place anyways, Ingo added a mental footnote. 

“-and you’re not even following whatever you do manage to schedule!” Kana continued, none the wiser to his annotation. “People like me depend on those schedules you set, you know. I spent my only break in between these search expeditions waiting around for you, when I could have been resting instead! And look at you; correct me if I’m wrong, but I bet you’re going right back out there again first thing tomorrow, if not tonight!”

No correction was hurriedly inserted into her terribly brief breath between words, for really, she was not wrong.

“Ingo, I know Akari is missing, but you’re not helping anyone like this.”

Ingo’s frown deepened, not out of indignance or hurt, but as a plain reflex to opposition. He might have felt deeply offended by such blunt words, or even taken them to heart under different circumstances. But it was hard to truly do either when Akari was alive and well (wherever she currently was at this table), and it was solely because of him. 

“ Ok, Kana,” Slightly horrified at the way her friend was talking to someone who was already clearly so spent, Miki pulled back on Kana’s shoulder. Ingo’s pulled frown must have given off an upset quality. “He’s just worried about her.”

“Aren’t we all?” Kana retorted. “We’re all looking for her! The difference is, we’re taking shifts to juggle all the other responsibilities we have around here. And he- ” an accusatory finger jabbed at Ingo. “-is not. Tomorrow, I’ll be surprised if he even still has a job here once I have a talk with Kamado.” 

Miki actually appeared offended enough on his behalf to let out a little gasp, which surprised Ingo a little; normally, her reputation as Kana’s malleable friend led to stubbornly agreeing with her. Throwing a quick glance at him, she pulled Kana a few steps away to squeeze half-audible whispers through gritted teeth.

Now Ingo’s frown really did emphasize a conflicted expression as they conversed about him. While objectively Kana’s entire viewpoint did come off as insensitive, Ingo couldn’t help but feel he wouldn't be so torn on the treatment if he hadn’t failed to meet the expectations that he himself had set.

The biggest problem here was that Kana felt she had been stood up by him several times now, because all things considered, even if they had been accidents, she had been.

Really, the only reasonable path forward was to apologize to her, offer another solution to the dilemma, and hope that went over well. First and foremost, he wanted to right his wrongs where he could. However, he couldn’t deny that a tiny part of him was motivated to just get them out of here quickly, so he could find Akari.

But a genuine apology required talking. Lots of talking. And Ingo felt his vocal cords were running out of steam for that. 

Kana and Miki were still currently arguing at the end of the table. Ingo grabbed his cup and tipped it back, expecting another swallow of hot tea to soothe the fire in his throat long enough to present an offer. He could get this over with quickly, then-

To say his poor heart stopped would be an understatement when he felt a loose, lukewarm blob bump against his lips with a warning squeak.

Tea sprayed out his nose and between his teeth. Whatever Kana and Miki were saying halted abruptly as Ingo lurched forward, choking harshly into his cup. Only after the dramatic reaction had calmed somewhat did Ingo become aware the flow of words had stopped around him, and he was being stared at intently.

“Wrong… wrong track, apologies-” He half-bluffed, wiping at his mouth as he continued to cough through his words. “-I’m alright.”

“You sure?” Miki extended.

“Yes.” Ingo attempted to regain composure and clear his throat as he moved to protectively place a hand over his cup. 

So that’s where she had been. 

Perhaps Fancy’s attempts to get to his tea had been more deliberate than he thought. But at least he had found her. 

“Look Ingo, it’s clear you’re… working through a lot of things right now.” Kana gestured to him with a palpable irritation that only sharpened otherwise-understanding words. “Just forget it, tomorrow-”

“-No, please stay for a moment.” Ingo hated interrupting Kana, especially considering where he stood with things right now, but he had to correct these tracks. “Miss Kana, I would like to propose an apology. A proper one.”

Despite it being the last thing his aching legs wanted to do, Ingo pushed himself to stand up from the table. A proper apology required approaching it and addressing recipients with seriousness and respect, and it just seemed more genuine not to do things while sitting down. He kept his cup of tea within his hands, though.

“One must conduct themselves with integrity, and keep to their expected schedules for those that depend on it. And yet, I failed to arrive at our set destination yesterday. For that Miss Kana, I deeply apologize, and I fully intend to make it up to you. Your time is important.” 

Kana said nothing, simply looking him up and down. Perhaps she was sizing up his apology, expecting more. Or maybe she was even questioning if he was in any state to uphold such a thing, believing him prone to forget yet again. And Ingo could see where she was coming from; her knowledge of his true situation was slim to none, and he was aware of how flippant things must have looked to someone who did not know.

Could she cut him a little more slack? Maybe (definitely). But he had essentially neglected her twice now. 

And he did genuinely feel bad about that. 

“Now, I wrongfully assumed my schedule included our training tomorrow morning, and as such, I have already set aside time for it. That offer is still open. I am well aware my word may not mean much to you at the moment, but would you be available at that time to begin the training session we missed?”

“I’m leaving early tomorrow with a group to comb through the highlands. I won’t be here. Remember?” A flat, barbed response unapologetically slapped Ingo across the face.

“Alright then…” Shake it off. Ingo cleared his throat again, to the point where it was becoming annoying. “When are you scheduled to return?”

“Three days. Could be four.”

More of a push than a slap this time. “Well then, when you return, I will be stationed here, ready for two consecutive training sessions with you… If you are up for that, of course.”

Kana seemed to consider it. Miki nudged her.

“I can do that.” Her tone suggested the compromise was still unsatisfactory to her.

Another nudge from Miki.

“And I’m sorry. About what I said about you. I know you’re trying to do a lot.” Rather mechanical words that practically creaked with how rusty they were. But it was an unexpected surprise all the same, even if it had been prodded out. “But Ingo, you can not forget again. Or I will tell Kamado about every single instance you’ve left me waiting within this week.”

“Of course, of course.” Quick to end the conversation on surprisingly agreeable terms, Ingo nodded his head. “That is more than reasonable. It will not happen again, I can assure you.” 

“For your sake, I’d hope not.” It seemed as if injustices had been made right. Satisfied enough with the outcome, Kana turned to leave. Miki was quick to follow, with Fancy trailing behind. “I’ll be seeing you as soon as I get back, Ingo. Don’t go get yourself lost in the wilderness again.”

“Ah, likewise,” Ingo wondered if she could even hear him with his limited volume. “Please enjoy a good rest of your evening, both of you.”

Miki at least waved goodbye to him as they moved on towards the Galaxy Hall. Ingo stood there in silence, posture rigid until the two women were out of sight. As soon as the hall’s doors closed, Ingo sat back down and leaned closer over the cup, finally removing his hand from over the top. 

“Miss Akari!” He whispered into the escaping steam. “I am proud of you for following procedure and hiding… but really? Of all places, it had to be in here? ”

“Phi!” The green-tinted liquid stirred, and a pair of miffed brown eyes blinked back up at him from within the ripples. Ingo didn’t need her to write it out for him to understand what she was implying.

“I didn’t know; I hadn’t seen where you had gone.” His stern features softened some. “I apologize, but next time, please board elsewhere.”

“Phi-phi phi,” Akari went on about something entirely indecipherable to Ingo, but it died down as she caught something. Ingo followed her gaze to spot Beni’s magby finally approaching their table, his honey and Akari’s water on the tray in its hands. 

It had certainly taken long enough! But Ingo gave Magby some slack, he knew the Pokémon was rather shy, and had probably been waiting to approach the table after such incensed company had left. It looked like it was expecting a comment on its tardiness regardless though, keeping its eyes on the tray so as to avoid a stern look.

“Thank you, Magby. Your service is much appreciated,” Ingo made sure to properly thank the Pokémon as it finished unloading the tray’s contents with shaky claws. Bashfully (and somewhat elated), Magby chirped at him before turning to take the tray back inside, leaving them both in peace once again.

Akari immediately leapt from Ingo’s tea, splashing into her cup of water.

“Better?” Ingo asked, already pouring the honey into his cup.

“Phi,” Akari splashed the water with her flippers in satisfaction before submerging.

Stirring the honey into the contents of his tea briefly, Ingo tipped it back and swallowed the improved remedy – the relief was instant. Much better. “I agree.”

“Phi-phi!”

Akari’s give-me-your-attention tone. Ingo was pulled out of his little piece of heaven to see Akari leaning over the side of the cup, jabbing a flipper over at the Galaxy Hall.

“Uh,” A few days ago, it would have been impossible to parse the correct intent from such a non-specific gesture. But now that he knew this was Akari he was talking with, and knowing how much Akari liked to snoop when she could, he thought he knew what (or in this case, who) she was wanting to talk about with him. “...that conversation went better than expected, didn’t it?”

“Phi-phi,” Akari nodded her head with a compliant tone. Whew, that was what she was wanting to talk about.

“I know, I only got my head bitten off once,” Ingo’s attempt at an amused tone cracked terribly, and he stopped to take another drink of tea. “Though, there is some good in this. Now that tomorrow’s schedule has been cleared, It seems we’ll be able to depart first thing tomorrow, and head back out for the coastlands.”

Akari had been largely passive from within her cup, but it seemed these words put a fire under her. With a squeak, she practically threw herself out of her water and flopped across the table. It startled Ingo when she just kept going right over the edge after a quick peek over the side at his lap.

“Miss Akari, what are you-!” Ingo instinctively reached to break her fall, but lethargy slowed his reflexes, and she plopped the rest of the way down onto her Pokedex, still set down on the bench beside him. “-what are you doing? Be careful!”

“Phi! Phi!” Stern squeaking and both flippers smacking the Pokedex’s cover was her only response. 

She urgently wanted to tell him something, and it was more complex than what a simple guessing game of yes and no could decipher.

“Alright, alright, one moment,” Ingo picked up the pokedex and pushed his plates back to make room for it on the table, balancing Akari on top of it all the while.

She got to work instantly, attempting to pry the cover open until Ingo gave in and opened it for her- 

“Here, just let me know when to stop,”

-thumbing through the pages and waiting for an indication of some kind.

Ingo flipped past pages of maps, hand-written observations on pokemon, and informational notes on local flora. But Akari made no sound or movement, so Ingo kept thumbing through them. Only once the pages began flashing blank faces did she reach up to bap his hand.

“Here?” Ingo stopped, exposing two blank pages to her.

“Phi!” A resounding yes. So, blank pages… she was going to write or draw something for him then, he assumed.

“Alright,” Ingo pulled out the pokedex’s writing pen from where it was clipped on the side and handed it to her. Her tiny little appendages wrapped around it as best they could, and Ingo leaned forward to watch as she began to scribble on one of the pages. 

T…  

Perhaps it was because he had been setting his mind towards nothing but marking and reaching certain destinations for weeks , but Ingo’s mind couldn’t help but jump right to a location. Tranquility Cove? Or maybe Tombolo Walk? Both locations were not exactly on land. But there were sheltered places amongst rocks and ship wreckage near both areas. Would the phione possibly seek out shelter there? Ingo just knew that he’d find a way to them if that’s where they needed to go-

A…  

TA? Neither place had A as the second letter. There goes his previous train of thought.

She definitely was not writing out a location. She could have used one of the maps for that anyway. It was going to be a message.

And this message was going to take a while, Ingo assumed. With the limited mobility of her flippers and the size of the pen in comparison to her, the work was rather messy and slow going. He resigned himself back to his rice and potato mochi as she continued – both would have normally been considered disappointingly cold by now, but if Ingo was honest with himself, it was still leagues better than anything either of them had eaten in days out in the wild. 

When she was done, Akari dropped the pen with a slick splat and leaned to the side, glaring up at him expectantly as she pointed with her flipper. 

Ingo’s hypothesis had been right – on the page, in big, boldly-scrawled yet shaky writing, it read:

TAKE A BREAK!!!

Three exclamation marks. She was serious.

Stalling on the words, Ingo mulled them over for a moment. “Miss Akari, I can assure you that I am alright, and will be even better tomorrow. Our departure is already scheduled, and I intend to keep with it.”

No squeaking, no shaking of her head, and no upset glare like he half-expected – Akari simply turned back around and continued the taxing effort of scrawling words across the page. When she had once again finished, she jabbed her flipper at the words with surprising vigor, then repeated the agitated movements at him.

NO TRIP. NEED REST

It surprised him a little, how adamant she was about this when her actual body was at stake. But it was clear she just wanted him to regain some lost energy, instead of trying to expunge even more from a tank that was already empty.

And perhaps she was right in wanting this. He had just spent five days out in the wild. Could he really put himself through something like that again? His will said yes, of course he could. But it was paying no mind to the aching in his muscles, already groaning at the thought of going back out there. 

And honestly, what could he do like this? A sore throat. A headache feeding off of sleep deprivation. A deep aching that one night’s rest realistically wouldn’t pacify. Maybe if he had managed his cab a little better out there… but that was nothing more than a hypothetical now. 

“Alright. I will… rest my engines.” Breaking up the sentence with a sigh, Ingo finally relented. He leaned forward against one aching arm as he gently massaged tired, darkened eyes with the other. He was in need of some decent sleep. “I do suppose the service is sorely needed. We will stay here tomorrow.”

Celebratory squeaking started up. A cold, wet flipper was felt against his wrist, bapping it animatedly – the only way she could really say thank you in this state. Despite his display of exhaustion, Ingo let out a quiet sound of amusement. 

“Just for a day,” He reiterated. “And I still intend to be productive in my search efforts tomorrow. Perhaps just within Professor Laventon’s numerous books this time, rather than the coastlands’ beaches.”

The agreement was still plenty satisfactory though, it seemed. Akari clapped her flippers together in appreciation and made her way back to her cup of water. 

Good, Akari had been pacified. Now Ingo just had to pacify his stomach – once he finished his meal here, he could finally go to sleep… in an actual bed! Ingo told himself he had been more than ready to go back out into the wilderness, but he couldn’t deny the thought of resting with an actual stuffed mattress under his back and soft blankets keeping him in a tight, warm hug until noon sounded like a dream.

“Alright now, give me just a moment, and then we can depart.” Ingo closed Akari’s pokedex and pulled his plates back towards him. Akari watched lazily from her cup as he resumed eating and drinking what remained, and while it only took a few minutes to put it all away, by the time Ingo looked back to see how she was doing, he could see she had fallen asleep. Drifting around lazily at the bottom of her cup, little bubbles were slipping up to the surface as she slept.

Quite a different energy from what she had been displaying earlier. She had apparently been much more tired than she had let on. Very in-character for her, honestly.

“Miss Akari,” Ingo tapped her cup gently after stacking his empty dinnerware together, freeing a small cloud of bubbles from her mouth in surprise. “Are you ready to depart now?”

A half-asleep nod. She was barely with him.

“Alright,” Ingo lugged himself off of the bench and stretched contentedly. “Next stop then, the dojo’s spare unit-” An intrusive yawn in between. “-All aboard.” 

Slipping Akari’s pokedex back into his coat pocket, Ingo held his hand out to her, waiting for her to hop on. She flopped onto it sluggishly with a little yawn, and he brought her up to set her back within the familiar spot of his coat collar as he started for the training grounds.

The street was much quieter now. The sun had set a while back, and the dark strip was rather barren with barely any activity in sight. Ingo didn’t mind, though. As he walked, he cleared his throat; tonight’s situation had turned out relatively ok, but if that happened again, it might not go as well the second time around, and he had to address that. He hoped Akari was awake enough to listen to him.

“Ah, Miss Akari… I would like to discuss something real promptly, if that is alright. I want to admit that well, traveling down this route is much rougher than I had anticipated.” Ingo turned his head slightly in her direction as he headed up the hill for the gates, hoping she was listening. “I understand your feelings on this and am trying to honor them. But tomorrow, if we are going to relieve ourselves of some stress at your request, I ask that we also relieve a few others of theirs. Tomorrow, if he returns back to the station, we must bring Professor Laventon up to speed on your situation.” 

“Phi! Phi!” Ingo’s frown pulled at the immediate argumentative squeaking that started up. It had taken a moment to kick in, but she was definitely listening, and it had certainly woken her up a little. At least she was paying attention.

“He is worried sick about you. I am sure he would be relieved to know you are alright.”

The squeaking began to lean more on the desperate side. Ingo felt a cold flipper bap his neck a few times.

“Now, you know he would not discuss your predicament with others if you requested, including Kamado. Your current situation will be safe with him. You must know that.” Ingo stopped outside the dojo’s doors, but kept himself from entering.

“Phi!”  

That was her correctional tone. He had misinterpreted her reasons. A proper glance over at his shoulder – Akari had been staring up at him, but she averted her gaze at the possibility of eye contact.

Sheepish. 

She was embarrassed.

“Miss Akari… I could not imagine him becoming angry at you, given the circumstances.” Ingo recalled the day Akari left on her fateful trip to the coastlands. She had told him that Laventon had suggested she take someone with her, and Kamado had required it. He would have gone with her, had she simply waited for him.

Ingo imagined Laventon would feel a lot of things if he revealed that the small pokemon he had gotten a glimpse at a few times over these last two weeks was actually Akari. Joy, relief, confusion… maybe disappointment for disregarding his suggestion, but not anger. Not in that moment, surely. Ingo could not possibly see Laventon getting upset when faced with the impossible truth that Akari was alive – he’d be too busy celebrating. The man’s optimism always seemed to outweigh any possible anger of his.

Kamado would probably be a different story. But they would not get into that. 

“I believe Professor Laventon would simply be appreciative to know you’re alright.” Ingo attempted to reassure her. “You have seen how much he’s been worrying about you. He is feeling… very much like I was before I had known. Even if he is not past admonishment upon realizing, it may still be rather amiable in comparison to what you’re expecting. Wouldn’t you agree with that?”

“Phi-phiiiii-” Akari groaned, but the drawn-out tone suggested her concern gave way to reluctant agreement. 

“So, you understand what I am asking?”

A squeak that sounded agreeable.

“And you are alright with it?”

Another agreeable sound, but it was significantly quieter and more delayed.

“...Would you like to discuss it more in the morning?” Ingo could tell sleep was weighing heavy on her again.

A cold spot nudged against his neck. She was nodding her head while leaning against him, not even opting to make a sound anymore. Yep, he was losing her again.

“Alright,” Ingo finally slid open the dojo’s door. A part of him was a little relieved that it was unlocked – Zisu had still been leaving it open in case, just for him. He stepped through into the darkness, closing it back behind him. “We’ll talk about it more tomorrow, then. Thank you.”

[whosyourfavevoicedby-polls]

[penumbramewtwos]

Short story around the time of Unova's capture, and of Okita's origins.

PLEASE READ THE TW TAGS BEFORE READING!!!

Hearing nothing but echoing corridors, Gary Oak was sure he was done for after his trip into an infamous Aunuran desert Trapinch hole. With his head bound, he knew he wasn't out of the woods just yet. He hears a familiar craggy voice address him as he's pushed onto a chair and bound in an unknown room.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Said the unknown voice, Gary's ears piped up as the man continued.

"Just as nosy as your grandfather in the pursuit of knowledge, rest assured your nosiness ends here."

After the statement from the unknown man, Gary's head covering had been lifted off, revealing a dark room with a spotlight upon himself. He knows this man… Not only from the Kanto region, but as the head of Rocket industries in Aunura, Giovanni.

"tch, well well, I knew that old man stink was bound to be you. This whole place smells of retirement home and failed yakuza." Gary quipped.

Giovanni, looking the same as he did back in the mid 2000's aside from the hair dye running down his face, leaned in from his wheelchair towards Gary to offer a deal out of this place alive. "I know what you've been digging up… Our team has taken the liberty of confiscating your 'findings'. Rest assured, you won't be publishing any of them; in fact, you'll do as I say or you'll end up more dismembered than that arm you collected."

Giovanni leaned back in his wheelchair, with a large grin on his face creasing his crows feet even more. Gary was unphased by the threat and smirked back at the acquaintance as he spoke back in a nonchalant manner, "I heard on the grape-vine you're getting back into the genetics commissioning game, and had to check it out for myself! Seems like whichever geneticist you hired this time can't even get one of those creatures to form properl-"

"Enough talk!" shouted Giovanni. "There's one more thing, seeing as you're so interested in our development"

Giovanni leant forward once more with a stern look on his face, as Gary remained stonewalled. "Your skills will be needed here one day, 'Professor Oak', I know you've been collecting and studying Arceus plates for medical research for some time now."

Gary's eyes shuddered in anger, "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I W-"

"You despise the thought of pokemon in pain, and I'm giving you an opportunity to t-"

"Yeah yeah… So you'll put them in pain so I can take them out of it… Sounds completely ethical to do that to an innocent creature, Artificial or not…"

Giovanni paused and smirked as he leant back in his wheelchair. "So you know of the pokemon Mewtwo, and it's origins"

Gary Squirmed within his bound state in a fit of fury, "Why are you making so many!??! Some of them are still alive out there! The ones your disgusting cronies buried and chopped!"

"It doesn't matter, those ones are merely unable to form, as you put it yourself, Gary… We're nearly there, and I will have one obey my commands if it's the last thing I do on this Earth!" Givovanni coughed loud and hoarsely at the end of his statement. No one would tell if it was just his talking or the musty dark room that caused it.

Just as Gary was squirming around in his bindings, he'd been slowly able to get a pokeball to finally drop from his pants pocket, unleashing his Arcanine. "Grrrrwaarrh!!!"

In what felt like a flash, Arcanine chomped it's way through Gary's bindings and shoved Giovanni backwards into the wall with it's hind legs with no hesitation. Gary grabbed a hold of his Arcanine before using a teleportation device he refers to as 'Escape rope'.

Two Team rocket grunts charge into the room to assist the frail Giovanni as his phone rang, "Sir you need to see the medic! You shouldn't take thuds like tha-"

"I'M NOT AS DECREPID AS YOU ALL THINK!? Nghhh…"

Groaning from the incident, Giovanni reaches into his inner jacket pocket and pulls out a black rotom phone, answering it in a huff. "This better be good news! Have you found more DNA from the Unovan experiment, Drake!?"

Through the video call is a bright, curly haired woman with a piercingly defiant voice. Some of the team rocket grunts refer to her as 'the clown', as a smile has barely ever wiped off her face. Except for those few who tell tales of a grim reality behind the mask… "It's always good news! You just don't know how to take progress, ahahaha!!!"

Giovanni stared blankly into the phone's camera as she cackled, before continuing, "ahah… Well, not only did we get the rest of the samples, but we got the main cretin themselves here! Well, we let it go after we t-"

"YOU LET IT GO!?!?!? THAT WAS OUR CHANCE TO CLONE HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS OF THEM, YOU FUCKING IMBI- what!?" As Giovanni began to unleash his tirade, the clown, known formally as Professor Kana Drake, showed him a fogged up glass and metal chamber with what appeared to be a nearly complete foetus of a mewtwo.

"I hope you're read to listen or you wont get your kitty cats!" She widely grinned and giggled through her words.

"We let her go, as we still don't know how she even got pregnant in the first place"

"P-Pregnant!?" Giovanni spluttered, "They're pokemon? They are meant to have"

"Yes, Eggs! Ahahaha! We thought it best to let her go and hope that she is found again with another baby just for us, Gio!"

She laughed more and more maniacally before continuing "This one will be a sure thing, fuse it with a docile psychic pokemon or psychically gifted human and it'll be too indecisive to think for itself!"

Giovanni grumbled with reluctance, putting more faith in the eccentric genetisist. "Drake… Once you bring it back here, I'll take care of the other component…"

"Hahahaha!! Of course sir! I knew you'd understa-"

Giovanni had hung up before she even had a chance to finish. He leans forward again, almost lost in thought. A grunt goes to ask about his condition before they're cut off by Giovanni. "Have the Gym leaders of Symphony come to their senses yet?"

The grunt blankly stares at him before checking his watch in a hurry "a-ahh! sorry sir, right away! … … Their last email reads… uh…'Get fucked, we own the gym by law, no 'protection' money will be paid… Sincerely, Ai and Amare Spes… P S … How do you plan on forcing it from us? Your pokemon are undertrained and undervalued'."

Giovanni must have been infected with the clown's disposition as his smile widened, wrinkling his elderly face as he looked at an email on his rotom phone.

"Well, how about that… According to my intelligence division, they've frozen an embryo in recent days… How lucky for us".

[peppermint-twst]

sorry idk how to explain it but these are all the same person

[shironezuninja]

Completely stupid that the 2011 Wolverine anime series ended in tragedy. Everybody had to get killed!? I wanted Kurohagi to be killed by Wolvie’s claws, not become a dried up husky corpse from his own biological weapon. I’ll let you know when I’m sober…and when I’d rather have Will Smith on my bedroom ceiling rather than the golden haired boy in the red coat.

[roxyloserlesbian-arts]

Demon slayer but they're pokemon trainers

[9823678]

⚡ / meet kana! /⚡

[kana-go]

Detective Pikachu

...is investigating the secret of stolen merch

[scrimblyscrorblo]

Demon Slayer Pokémon Au cuz it’s running rampant in my head, it’d be like Heart & Soul or something:

Champion:

Yorichii - Fire (charizard coded)

Elite Four:

Himejima - Rock

Sanemi - Flying - You meet him in an arguement w Genya

Giyuu - Water ((he tests tanjiro/Nezuko w a battle after finding them at the beginning of the game)) ((Yes Urokodaki takes Oak’s place))

Shinobu - Poison ((my queen)) You meet her at Kanae’s gym w Kanao

Gym Leaders:

Mitsuri - Fairy - we need a buff fairy leader, one of the strongest

Kanae - Grass - you meet Kanao, a rival, at this gym

Tengen - Steel - you fight his wives before hand and his partner pokémon is so a fucking Loudred ((ugly ass))

Kyojuro - Fire - One of the first you beat - Senjuronis not a rival but he gives you a fire TM move

Obanai - Dark Type - You meet him at Mitsuri’s gym at first - He has one of her ribbons on his wrist

Hakuji - Fighting - he deserves this I’m sorry He needs an au where he’s good and okay w his wife, one of the toughest to beat - mentions Kyojuro in passing

Muichiro & Yuichiro - Psychic - His partner pokémon is an Espurr ((thousand yard stare)) - you fight them with a rival methinks ((genya??))

I imagine you pick Tanjiro or Nezuko to play as, Inosuke and Zenitsu acting as your core rivals. Then Genya and Kanao as secondary rivals, met with their older siblings.

I’m going to fixate so hard on their Pokémon teams

[feenixmork]

Buddies!

[lazypanartist]

Ride of Your Life

Giacomo x Reader

Notes: my younger sibling gave me this idea, actually! Wrote this in about 15 minutes, starting, like, as SOON as they told me the idea. Kinda OoC. Your character is meant to be your character in-game.

Word Count: 600

-----

"It'll be fun!"

Giacomo shook his head, taking a step back.

"I am NOT getting on that thing! Are you kidding?"

You rolled your eyes, gently scratching under your Raidon's chin. "No, I'm not. You were okay with the Starmobile, but draw the line at something that can jump?"

"Hmm…"

He shook his head, but stepped closer. "I actually value my safety, Y/n."

"That's bull."

He chuckled.

"Of course it's not! I was Student Council president for a while; put some rules in place that're still used today."

Raidon purred quietly, tilting their head at him.

"I've heard that some of 'em we're pretty stuffy."

He wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, so what? They put me in charge, then got ticked off when I tried to get a system set up. Wouldn't exactly call that a me problem."

"Whatever." You reached about again, trying to fight the urge to roll your eyes at his words. "Hop on."

He sighed, taking another step forward. "This is a terrible idea."

"So? If the Pokemon doesn't catch us, my phone will."

"Wha-"

You grabbed his hand, tugging him onto your Pokemon. Quickly hopping on in front of him, you chuckled.

"Grab on!"

"Whoa!"

He lurched forward as Raidon began moving, throwing his arms around your middle. You laughed, and could feel as he chuckled nervously against your back.

"Comfortable?"

He shifted, and you could feel his chin on your shoulder.

"'Bout as good as I'll get."

"Yeah? Then get your head offa there; don't want you to get hurt."

"Hurt- oh."

He pulled his head away, though you could feel him lean into your back some more. His fingers tightened slightly against your shirt, scrunching the fabric beneath his touch.

"Alright, Raidon!"

With no more instruction, the Pokemon leapt into the air. Giacomo tensed against your back, but you could feel him laughing as you landed.

Your ride jumped a few more times, seeming to hover in the air for a few seconds at the peak of massive leaps. Giacomo, at some point, had separated somewhat from your back, though he was still holding you by your shirt. Reaching up from the Pokemon, you squeezed one of his hands.

"Still a bad idea, mister-ex-student-council-prez?"

He chuckled, then began laughing harder again as Raidon spun around midair.

"Almost feels like Navi's Spin Out!"

Raidon landed finally, crouching down. You laughed with Giacomo, giggling dizzily as you slid off the Pokemon's back. He followed, collapsing onto his knees while laughing.

"I wasn't.. hah.. didn't expect 'ya to spin, buddy!"

Raidon churred, gently headbutting your chest.

"Hey now!"

Giacomo made his way up, gently holding Raidon's back for support.

"Wow."

"Yeah?"

He chuckled, leaning forward slightly. "Yeah."

"Never answered the question.."

He reached up, scratching beneath the Pokemon's chin the same way you had been.

"No.. not a bad idea. Thrill wise, at least. Safe, though..?"

You groaned quietly, shaking your head.

"Seriously?"

He laughed, offering you a small smile.

"Still not too bad.. probably 'cause you know what you're doing."

"Nah.." you began scratching under Raidon's chin as well, your fingers bumping into Giacomo's. "It's the partnership."

"Probably why I felt just as safe as I did while on the Starmobile."

You nodded, fingers brushing with his again. "Interpersonal connection."

"Of course."

His fingers twined gently with yours beneath the Pokemon's chin, thumb brushing against yours.

"...So."

"So?"

"..Can we do this again?"

You glanced up at him momentarily, before returning your attention to where your hands were connected.

"The ride, or just hanging out?"

"Both?"

Squeezing his hand gently, you smiled.

"Both sounds great."