#would you be surprised if i told you this was a duskull? probably because he has big gastly energy

[multi-realm]

Lin refs

(basic character info in read more!)

Name: "Lin" Gender: Male (he) Physical Age: 33-ish Height: 5' 10" (177.8cm) Pokemon: Duskull

Once a Ponyta, Lin died to unknown causes and returned as a Duskull several decades later. He has few memories of his previous life, and is more than happy to define himself in the now. Although he uses his scarf for gestures, he doesn't use it for more than that. He is currently courting Ju-Long.

[nelvana]

In which a birthday is celebrated

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which an agreement is reached Previous: In which a present is prepared

    Impatience rarely brought a good night’s sleep. Keahi knew this well, and found herself experiencing this problem on the night before her birthday. It had been such a long time since she went and celebrated a birthday just with friends, and she found herself more excited than she could remember being in a long time.

    Because of this, she now found herself laying awake in her nest, trying to catch just that last hour of rest before dawn. She would chat with Tsuki and Edgar, but Tsuki had insisted that Keahi needed to go back to sleep, so now that pair had gone downstairs as to not become distractions to Keahi trying to go back to bed.

    Unfortunately, this wasn’t working out as planned, since the torchic still found herself wide awake with anticipation. Even now as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she found herself staring around at the few decorations that they had set up upstairs for the celebration, or peering out the nearby window to glimpse the stars still lighting up the night sky. She could hear the faint whistle of wind outside, streaming by their window that was barely open a crack for some fresh air; a request from Alex and Tsuki that had been quickly agreed upon by everyone else, at least for as long as the nights stayed warm enough for it.

    Turning over in her nest onto her belly and laying her chin on the edge of the small bed, Keahi looked over at the rest of her teammates instead. The hammock at the back of the room sagged under the combined weight of the grovyle and shiny celebi, the latter of which laid peacefully on top of the former. Alex was resting on his back, as it seemed that he always did for whatever reason, though his breathing sounded less relaxed than usual. Either a nightmare or he wasn’t actually asleep, and Keahi couldn’t decide which would be preferable at this point; Alex needed some more sleep either way.

    Closer to her was the other nest where Nelvana was sleeping. Or at least Keahi hoped. The cubone was better at hiding whether she was sleeping or not than anyone else the torchic had met. Regardless, Nelvana also lay on her back, but she was a much more restless sleeper than the rest of the team, something that Keahi could see even now with the blanket that was wrapped around the cubone from rolling around throughout the night. Now that she looked closely, she also noted that Nelvana’s headgear had been tilted in her sleep, now laying slightly askew on her head, showing another thin scar on her right cheek that Keahi had only seen a few times prior.

    Temptation pricked at the back of Keahi’s mind to see if she would be able to sleep better if she joined her partner, but she turned down the idea in favor of trying not to disturb anyone more than she may already have.

    “Keahi?”

    So much for that idea.

    “Sorry if I woke you,” Keahi immediately apologized.

    “Nah, it’s fine,” Nelvana murmured, “I’ve been awake for awhile actually.”

    “Another nightmare?”

    “Mhmm…”

    Now that she had given away that she was actually awake, Nelvana lifted a hand to scratch the fur on her chest before stretching and trying to readjust the tangled blanket on it. Keahi sat up, shaking out her sleep-ruffled feathers before blinking over at her partner again.

    “So, were we all just awake but trying to pretend not to be as to not wake up anyone else?” Alex’s voice pierced through the moment of silence.

    Keahi couldn’t help but laugh, turning to look across the room like before, “I guess so! Ceebee’s up too?”

    “Yup, I’m here!” Ceebee hummed, lifting her head up to meet Keahi’s gaze through the darkness. “Now that we know this was the case, maybe I should have checked telepathically to see who was awake earlier. Good thing Nel spoke up, huh? We would have been left here in sleepless silence until morning.”

    “Why are you two awake anyway?” Keahi asked.

    “Same as Nel for me,” Alex sighed, absentmindedly rubbing the scar that lay across his muzzle.

    “Nice, we get to be nightmare buds,” Nelvana commented with a hint of playful sarcasm to her tone.

    “Hell yeah,” Alex replied, lifting his hand to fist bump the air for a moment before dropping it to hang limply beside the hammock.

    “Alex woke me up,” Ceebee added, “kinda hard to stay asleep when the person you’re sleeping on starts kicking around.”

    Alex let out a quiet huff before sitting up, something Ceebee barely noticed in time to flutter up in the air before sitting down again to avoid being rolled over. Seeing that everyone else had sat up by now, Nelvana pushed herself up to a seated position as well, fixing her shifted headgear and then shuffling in place to angle herself so that she would be able to comfortably be able to continue the conversation with everyone here.

    “How ‘bout you, Keahi?” Ceebee asked, “what woke you up early?”

    “Impatience,” Keahi sighed, “it’s hard to sleep when you just really want the next day to start.”

    “Well, we’re all awake anyway, why not just start the day early? We could take the time to make a big breakfast at the very least,” Alex suggested, already swinging himself out of the hammock, which swung back up with only the smaller celebi left on it.

    “It is almost dawn anyway, right?” Nelvana added, peering over at the window she was facing, which happened to not be the one she was closest to.

    “Okay! I’m not going to complain about an idea like that!” Keahi chirped, swiftly hopping out of her nest. “Hey Tsuki, Edgar! Turns out that everyone else is awake, so we’re just going to get today started!” she called out down the stairs.

    “I’m hoping that they woke up on their own, and that you didn’t just wake them up to pull this off!” Tsuki’s voice came echoing back from the lower floor of the house.

    “Don’t worry, we did!” Ceebee assured her before flying downstairs to meet up with the other two.

    The remaining three didn’t take long to hurry to join their teammates, and soon they were all preparing their early morning breakfast together. Having all six of them in the kitchen sometimes got crowded, but when two of them could fly around instead of taking up floor space, and making sure that everyone had a proper job and space, the task passed along much easier than it could had they gone about this in a more chaotic way. They had never tried preparing a meal with everyone participating at once before, but everyone unanimously agreed that this was a fun challenge and a good way to start such an early morning. As usual, this large breakfast ended up being pancakes with fruit, since it was not only something that everyone knew the basics of at this point, but could also be made in bulk for the entire team to enjoy a tasty and filling meal. They probably would make it more often if it didn’t require so much time to make.

    Just past dawn was when they had completely finished up with breakfast, now hungry for the next activity of the day. While Keahi had expressed in many events that she wanted to take place during this day, she had not set up a proper schedule. To most of the team’s surprise, Keahi told them that she wanted to do a couple missions still, instead of just having a full day off.

    “I like going through dungeons with you guys and helping others!” Keahi explained, “besides, I wasn’t actually born until the afternoon, so I want to save all the really fun stuff until then!”

    “Well, it’s your day, so it’s your choice!” Nelvana responded.

    “Gosh, when was the last time we left for a mission this early? We’ve gotten up early recently, but we still usually wait to get to work. Probably when we went to fight Zapdos and rescue Shiftry, right?” Keahi commented as they walked outside, keeping her gaze on her partner. “That feels so long ago, but it wasn’t really! It’s just that so much has happened since then!”

    “Long enough ago that it was just the two of us in this house and that fighting a legendary felt like an impossible task,” Nelvana agreed, swinging her club up to rest on her shoulder. “Yeah, a lot has happened…”

    “I think we should get out in the mornings more often,” Alex said, “it’s nice and quiet out here, and you can look around for all the dewdrops.”

    “And for the sunrise,” Nelvana added.

     Alex nodded, “of course.”

    “However, from the perspective of doing our job, there are fewer missions on the board early in the morning,” Tsuki pointed out. “I am certain that in some cases, getting that extra sleep can be more important.”

    “Says the one who never sleeps,” Alex chuckled, patting Tsuki on the head and ruffling her fur.

    “Says the one who thinks we don’t notice that he never sleeps!” Edgar chimed in, “are you sure we don’t talk too loud? You’re rarely actually get any rest, and Nel isn’t far behind with that problem!”

    “Eh, we’re light sleepers, don’t worry about it. We already get a lot more sleep than we used to,” Alex replied, waving away the duskull lazily with a hand.

    “How come? It’s because of where you’re from, right? Always staying alert? Why isn’t Ceebee a light sleeper then?” Edgar continued, circling around the grovyle as he spoke.

    Ceebee giggled at the sudden endless questioning, “yes, it’s because of where we’re from. I… I found better places to sleep though, and most pokemon don’t want to go out and attack a mythical anyway, so I didn’t… have to be as alert,” she answered, her expression falling slightly as she went on.

    “Oh! That makes sense!” Edgar exclaimed, “thanks for answering my questions!”

    “You’re welcome, but you know, you don’t need to thank us each time we answer a question,” Ceebee responded patiently.

    As they all passed through Pokemon Square, they were quietly greeted by the various shop keepers up early to fix up their stands in time for opening them up for sales. Keahi received birthday wishes from each of them, Kangaskhan being the first to mention it and then starting a chain of every citizen in the vicinity adding on now that they were reminded and the timing felt right.

    The mission board outside of the Pelipper Post Office sat nearly bare. Like Tsuki had mentioned, it was hard to find much work in the early mornings. There were still a couple missions left though; an escort and an item delivery. While these were some of the least favored types of missions, it was still work. Plus, it gave promise that things were getting better for everyone. Fewer actual rescue missions just meant that fewer people were in danger.

    Team Galaxy completed the two missions that they had chosen before noon, returning to their base to enjoy the rest of their day together. Keahi mentioned that they had gotten back a bit earlier than she had expected, but that it just meant that perhaps they could get started on the celebration sooner.

    “Well, the cake isn’t completely ready yet, so I think I’ll be using some of that extra time for that,” Ceebee announced, fluttering over into the kitchen. “Tsuki, do you want to help me? I think you put away the icing anyway and I’m not entirely sure where that went.”

    “I want to help!” Edgar chimed in.

    With that, the duskull swiftly floated over to join his friend, and Tsuki calmly padded behind him.

    “What about the rest of us?” Alex questioned, glancing over at the remaining two with him.

    “There are still some balloons we could blow up! Oh! And remember the party hats we found the other day? We could bring those out!” Keahi exclaimed.

    “I left the hats upstairs, I can go get them,” Nelvana responded, taking the initiative and began climbing up the stairs.

    “Okay! Alex and I can get started on the balloons then!” Keahi chirped, directing the mentioned grovyle over to the living room area.

    Keahi tugged a bag full of colored balloons off the shelf, spilling the contents out on the floor. After some struggling with trying to hold one in her wing talons, she managed to bring one over to her beak to use, but then paused and glanced over at Alex.

    “Do you know what we need to do here?” she checked, accidentally fumbling with her balloon and dropping it on the floor again. “Ah, whoops!”

    “We’re just filling them with air, I know. It was mentioned when we first bought them,” Alex replied, “do you need help?” he added with a snicker.

    “I’m fine!” Keahi huffed, “it’s just hard to hold these at first without proper hands. I’ve done this before!”

    “Alright, if you’re sure then,” Alex shrugged, turning away from the torchic in order to hide his smirk, which he also covered up by taking one of the balloons in his mouth and beginning to blow into it.

    The two of them began trying to blow up the balloons, each experiencing some difficulties of their own. However, it wasn’t long before Nelvana returned, wearing a green and yellow spotted party hat, as well as carrying five other hats with her, most of them hanging off her left arm while two of them were held with her right hand. Leaping over the railing of the stairway, she hurried over to the pair, throwing the red and yellow starred hat at Alex, who easily caught it with a free hand, and plopping the green and blue striped one atop Keahi’s head, causing her to spit out her balloon in surprise, sending it spitting through the air as it deflated.

    “Ta-da!” Nelvana giggled, waving her hands in the air before wandering over to the kitchen for a moment to lay down the remaining hats before returning.

    “Nel! You ruined my balloon!” Keahi whined as she adjusted the hat on her head.

    “Yeah, I was waiting to see how she was supposed to tie a knot with that,” Alex added, putting his hat on his head. “Ack, these are not comfortable,” he muttered.

    “Sorry, you can get another balloon though,” Nelvana responded, sitting down with the others. “Aren’t we going to use them all anyway?”

    “Yeah, yeah!” Keahi stuck her tongue out at her partner before crawling over to where her balloon had landed and collected it.

    “Hey, Keahi, your hat looks kinda like another feather,” Alex pointed out, “if your feathers were weirdly colored and patterned, of course.”

    “And cones,” Nelvana added.

    “Of course,” Alex repeated.

    “Would your feathers all fit under that hat?” Nelvana asked, leaning over to poke the torchic’s hat.

    “I mean, they would…” Keahi replied, “wait! I’ve got a better idea! One hat for each of my larger feathers!” she suggested.

    “I’ll donate my hat to that cause,” Nelvana agreed, tugging off her hat and strapping it over one of the feathers, before helping her partner strap on her own hat onto one of the other hats.

    “Here’s your third one,” Alex said, tossing his hat back over to the other two. “It’s uncomfortable anyway.”

    Nelvana caught the tossed hat, quickly strapping it onto Keahi with the other two hats. The strings overlapped and the rims of the hats had to bend each other to all fit, but now the torchic had a party hat over each of her three large, yellow head feathers. There was a pause as Nelvana and Alex looked their work over, before Nelvana couldn’t help but laugh, and soon the rest of this trio joined in.

    “What are you three laughing about? I thought you were blowing up the balloons,” Ceebee, who had just hung her hat loosely from her neck, asked from the kitchen.

    In response, Nelvana swiftly picked up Keahi from under the wings and brought her partner over to the others, showing the torchic off proudly with all three party hats on.

    “It’s the birthday girl!” Nelvana giggled. “Here she is!”

    “Here I am!” Keahi continued, flapping her wings about.

    “Oh, that’s adorable!” Ceebee squealed, “please tell me that you’re going to keep wearing those hats like that for the rest of the day!”

    “I just might! This is kinda fun!” Keahi replied, “since we’re here, how’s the cake going?”

    “It’s going good! It’s really fun to decorate this!” Edgar exclaimed, “but no looking yet! Or else you’ll be spoiled! We want this to be a surprise!”

    “Alright, I’ve got it,” Keahi hummed, “c’mon, Nel, let’s actually get working on those balloons.”

    “Have a good time with that,” Tsuki said after setting down a bottle of frosting that she had been holding in her jaws. “But do try not to let any more of the balloons go, that noise is distracting,” she added, licking her whiskers before glancing away.

    “Oh, sorry about that. We’ll try and keep a better handle on things,” Nelvana responded, turning back with Keahi towards the living room.

    Once they got focused on their tasks, work went faster for everyone, even enough so that the trio that had been decorating the cake were able to joins the others in finishing up with the remaining balloons. And when the balloons were done being blown up and scattered around the house, they managed to find other forgotten decorations to pull out and use. There had already been some streamers and banners taped up the day before, but there was a confetti popper that had been hidden up until now that they used, after making sure everyone was ready for the bang, of course.

    Now with all the preparation was out of the way and the sun had passed its way into the afternoon, the question of lunch arose, and whether they would start actually celebrating Keahi’s birthday now or closer to the evening instead. It didn’t take long for Keahi to answer this quick dilemma, deciding to “get the party started” now rather than later.

    No one argued to this, and thus they began to prepare some food, which had been decided to be pasta and beans. Unlike breakfast, it was agreed that it would be better for just some of the team members to make this meal, those members were quickly being Ceebee and Alex, the former of which instantly volunteered with the opportunity to get to try cooking more, and the latter of which decided to join in “just because”; leaving everyone else to start up the party games, of which were mostly just some short and silly activities that Keahi and Edgar had chosen earlier.

    Cooking, games, eating, talking, games…

    Cake.

    “Where did we put the candles?” Nelvana asked, pawing through the various cupboards.

    “With the other non-food and dishes items,” Ceebee answered, adding a final frosting touch to the cake that she had just realized that she had forgotten.

    “Actually, I relocated them under the sink so that they would be easier to reach,” Tsuki inputted, “I had predicted that I would have to gather them, but I was wrong, sorry.”

    “Don’t worry about it, thanks,” Nelvana replied, crouching down to the cupboard under the sink so that she could finally find the small boxes of matches. “There we go!” she hummed to herself, approaching the cake. “Here you go, you can set them up if you want,” she told Ceebee.

    “Thank you, but you can actually set those up! Just make sure that it isn’t on top of any of the designs we’ve already set up, of course!” Ceebee chirped, fluttering away from the cake and back over to the others.

    Blinking in surprise, Nelvana stepped in front of the cake. She hadn’t actually seen it like this before now, all decorated up only for upcoming consumption. The frosting on top was a light-colored vanilla, and all lined up on the edge was a series truffle frosting. There was writing that had the simple message of “Happy Birthday Keahi!” along with the team’s “logo” messily drawn atop the cake. After taking a moment to look this over, bringing a smile to her face, Nelvana began carefully lining up the candles around the cake as well. She used up most of the candles in the small box, fifteen out of twenty to be exact, and then after looking it over once more, she turned around to face everyone else gathered by the island table.

    “Alright, I’m done… should I bring the cake over then?” Nelvana asked.

    “Yup! Bring it over here, and then you all can sing the birthday song, like I mentioned before!” Keahi chirped, bouncing excitedly on the stool she had seated herself on.

    Carefully, Nelvana grabbed the plate that the cake had been set on and brought it over to the table, setting it in front of her excited partner before sitting down in the stool beside her. None of the others had decided to sit down yet, them all either being tall enough to comfortably stand without missing out on anything, or just being able to float around.

    There was a pause after the cake was set down, and then Ceebee began singing the short song that, as Keahi had mentioned just moments before, had been taught to them a few times in the prior days. The shiny celebi had presumably sensed Keahi’s anticipation and decided to take the initiative, which no one else would complain about. The singing was awkward and quiet, but not off-pitched or janky. Afterwards, Keahi made sure to cheer and flap her wings about, letting the anxious tension that had built off quickly die off.

    “Okay, okay! So, usually we light the candles and then the goal is to blow them all out at once, but as a fire-type…” Keahi hummed, and Nelvana could already feel the fiery heat coming off the torchic. “We go the other way around.”

    With that comment, Keahi let a controlled, thin stream of flames come out of her beak; likely a compressed ember move. Carefully, she tilted her head over the cake, letting the fire follow and lick the tops of the candles. The first sweep lit most, but not all of them. With still some breath left in her, she tilted her head back the other way in an attempt to finish the job before running out of steam. She was granted success… but only for long enough to get her hopes up, where after that, one of the candles whiffed out on their own. Narrowing her eyes and letting out a huff, Keahi lit the final candle on the cake, prompting some cheering from the others.

    “You going to try blowing them all out at once too?” Nelvana asked.

    “Actually, I might. Back at home, usually someone get impatient and either shoves the birthday kid’s face into the cake early or someone ends up accidentally breathing too hard and blowing them all out again,” Keahi laughed.

    “We can provide either of those options, if you’d like,” Alex snickered, lazily propping his head up with a hand, elbow leaning on top of the table.

    “Let me try first!” Keahi snapped back, but only amusement lit up in her eyes.

    Taking in a deep breath, Keahi began blowing cooler air over the candles instead, swiftly snuffing most of them out in one sweep over them. Like when she was lighting them, there are just too many candles to go through after the first sweep, so Keahi tried again, and this time getting the rest of them out; with no fake outs.

    And then Alex shoved her face into the edge of the cake.

    “I believe there was a chant that we were supposed to do before that,” Tsuki pointed out, disguising a chuckle as a cough.

    “Yeah, but that ruins the surprise. I thought surprises were pretty important for this,” Alex shrugged with a sly smirk.

    “You just wanted to shove her face into a cake,” Ceebee responded, but she too held no sternness in her tone, despite the words that came out of her mouth.

    “Someone had to,” Alex replied, “Keahi told us; it’s tradition.”

    “I don’t remember it being tradition,” Nelvana muttered, before looking over at Keahi, who’s face was still in the cake. “Keahi! One bite!”

    “Iff r’ally goof h’ough,” Keahi said, the message muffled from her mouth still being full of the cake.

    Letting out a sigh, Nelvana grabbed onto the middle party hat that Keahi was still wearing, tugging it upwards and pulling the rest of the torchic, smiling beak and fluffy cheeks smeared in frosting, with it.

    “This cake is really good!” Keahi exclaimed, in case the first comment didn’t get through enough.

    “Strawberry cream,” Ceebee hummed, more for everyone but Keahi, seeing at the torchic already knew what it tasted like. “Kangaskhan recommended it to us, and it sounded like something that you would like!”

    “Arceus, Kangaskhan really deserves some sort of thank you gift someday for all of her help,” Keahi giggled, trying to lick the remaining food from her face.

    “She got to adopt Tsuki,” Alex joked, finally taking a seat on one of the stools.

    “Alright, alright, I’m going to cut the cake now,” Ceebee announced, lifting the plate back up easily with telekinesis and bringing it back to the counter.

    It was easy for the cake to be cut up into sixths and then distributed to the entire team, and soon everyone was chowing down on the delicious cake. Edgar was the only one who didn’t finish his slice, and seeing as he had been trying to eat a bit of everything today despite being a ghost-type that doesn’t require eating, it made sense. Though, even if he was full, he was also fully energized and was soon zooming around the base and excitedly chattering about what they would be doing next together.

    Next, as it turned out, ended up being some unexpected visitors knocking at the door.

    “It looks like our B Squadron!” Ceebee chirped, her antennae flicking back and forth with a slight psychic glow to them.

    Opening the door only confirmed this statement, as the rest of Team Galaxy stood at the doorway. Rayden was floating the closest to where the door had been when it was closed, so evidently they were the one who had knocked. Gathered around and behind them was the other four; Pearl and Bobo standing underneath the magnemite, close to the doorway, while Hiram and Baguette waited behind everyone else. Clearly, they were more well-versed in birthday traditions, and sang a little song for Keahi before pulling out a card.

    “BZT! WE DID NOT FIND ENOUGH TIME FOR INDIVIDUAL PRESENTS, SORRY. HERE IS A CARD THAT WE ALL WORKED ON THOUGH,” Rayden explained as Pearl brought out the card and handed it to the torchic.

    “Don’t worry about it!” Keahi chirped, accepting the card. “I’m glad you all decided to show up! You know, we do have some games in here, you guys could join us!” she offered.

    “Ooh! Could we?” Bobo exclaimed, glancing up at Rayden before turning back to look at the others.

    With a disappointed sigh, Hiram shook his head, “sadly, no. We picked up a longer escort mission, and are supposed to get started in five minutes. We’ll be out of the area for a few days on this,” he explained before looking down at the paras. “And you know that,” he hissed quietly.

    “Yes, sorry about that. We would love to spend more time with you all, but the client called us to let us know that this got bumped up a day, so we’re in a bit of a rush now,” Pearl added.

    “It happens!” Edgar hummed, “at least you still took the time to visit!” he continued, “good luck on the mission though!”

    “Where are you escorting this ‘mon to, anyway?” Alex questioned.

    “Ah! Just a lil’ bulbasaur who missed their herd going east! A shy fellow, they only bumped up the dates because they had written them wrong in the first place,” Baguette explained.

    “BZZ BZZ. HE DOES NOT SEEM TO LIKE FIGHTING MUCH THOUGH. THAT IS WHY HE ASKED FOR AN ESCORT. USUALLY HE HAS HIS HERD TO HELP, BUT AS BAGUETTE SAID, BULBASAUR MISSED IT. BZZ,” Rayden chimed in, “WE HAVE AGREED THAT WE ALL SHOULD HEAD OUT ON THIS ONE.”

    “Very well,” Tsuki murmured, “well, we wish you all luck out there.”

    “Yes! Good luck!” Ceebee said, “and do try to enjoy yourselves out there!”

    “Thank you, and we will,” Pearl hummed, “now, we should be off now. You all have a nice day, and happy birthday again, Keahi.”

    Giving more goodbyes and last birthday wishes, the B Squadron was off again, heading off towards Pokemon Square to pick up their client before heading off on the mission. Now, it was just the A Squadron left in the base again as if that interaction had been taken place to begin with, aside from the new card sitting with the others on top of the bookshelf.

    And with that, it was decided that the presents would be distributed next. All of them, except the one from Nelvana, had been carefully wrapped and set aside for this moment. The bracelet that Nelvana had made was too small for any box or bag, so she had decided to hide it until she had to actually give it to Keahi.

    “Oh! Can I go first? Can I?” Edgar exclaimed, clearly still bouncing on that sugar high.

    Keahi could only let out a laugh in response, “alright, go ahead.”

    Letting out an excited cheer, Edgar dove over to collect the large box that he had wrapped up. There were a couple lines where the wrapping paper didn’t quite meet up, clearly the half-blind duskull misjudging how much he needed, but otherwise it was well-done. The box rattled with the various contents as he picked it up and brought it over to Keahi, setting it down in front of her to open up.

    She paused to look it over and then smile up at Edgar, before beginning to claw it open with her wing talons. The wrapping paper fell off easily, and Keahi opened up the cardboard box to reveal all the various trinkets inside. There are much more than when Nelvana had peeked at the collection a few days ago, and she can’t help but think that moving everything to a box rather than that sack was for the best. Keahi’s beak parted open in a look of surprise, and she gingerly reached inside the box to sort through all the items.

    Unable to contain himself any longer, Edgar begins speaking again, “they’re a bunch of lucky items I found for you! Look! Nel told me that the rocks with rings around them are lucky, so I found a lot of those, and Spinda said that his nephew likes feathers, so I found some of those by the cliffs!”

    Keahi’s beak closed into a smile, “these are really nice, thanks Edgar. I think I’ll have to use some of these to help decorate the house a bit more,” she hummed, “spreading the luck around,” she mused.

    Edgar giggled cheerfully, pleased that his gift was accepted.

    Without a word, Tsuki brought her present out next. She had been unable to wrap it herself, and had enlisted Nelvana’s help to get it done, since the cubone wouldn’t be wrapping her gift anyway. It was another large box like Edgar’s, but it didn’t make any noise when moved, and when Keahi opened it up, she could see that the cooking ingredients that Tsuki had gathered for her present were neatly organized inside.

    “I still don’t know that much of cooking, but I figured you would find some use to these ingredients,” Tsuki murmured.

    “Oh! These are great! Kecleon doesn’t even sell some of these herbs; where did you find them?” Keahi exclaimed, doing her best not to disturb the orderliness in this present while still looking through all its contents.

    Tsuki only gave a knowing smile and a shrug of her shoulders in response, silently prompting the next person to present their gift.

    Ceebee took this silent prompt, heading over to where she had placed her much smaller box. It was the same box Nelvana had seen her with three days ago, and it was in the same red and orange striped wrapping paper that Alex had cut and dropped. She carefully set this in front of Keahi as well, patiently waiting for her gift to be revealed. It was swiftly opened like the others, showing the fiery red gem left inside.

    “Is this… a fire gem?” Keahi asked, almost hesitant to even touch the item.

    Ceebee nodded, “yup! One use item, boosts a fire-type move. We haven’t run into any close calls lately, but… just in case, you know? It’ll make for a real nice flamethrower, no matter where you end up using it!”

    “I’ll have to make sure to save it then,” Keahi said in awe, closing the box again and setting it aside with the two larger ones.

    After a quick glance over at Nelvana, Alex walked over to where the last of the presents that had been set out was left. Despite being just a square envelope, he had wrapped it in wrapping paper like the boxes. Ceebee had told Nelvana that Alex had thought that everything had to be wrapped, but part of Nelvana thought that he just wanted a chance to try using the wrapping paper properly. This was opened faster than the earlier gifts, only requiring a sharp slice with one of her wing talons to open up the top of the envelope, and a bit of shaking to get the TM to fall gently on the ground in front of Keahi.

    “TM94?” Keahi read aloud, “that’s rock smash!”

    “I figured we needed some more fighting-type moves in the party, especially since you will become one if you evolve,” Alex commented, “I figure a lot of torchics in your family have used that move before…?”

    Keahi nodded, “yeah! Since we can’t really learn much better until evolution, you know? I think we even had the old HM version of it until it got lost for good a few years before I hatched. This will be really handy… I’ll actually go ahead and learn it now!”

    As she had done with the last TM that she had learned, which had been flamethrower, she slammed her head down onto the disc instead of picking it up and bringing it to her forehead. Ceebee and Edgar, who had never seen this before, flinched in surprise and began worriedly checking on the torchic, but the laughter from the other three soothed any nerves from this action. The TM glowed beneath Keahi’s feathers, and then cracked.

    And then it was Nelvana’s turn. Standing up, she went over to the bookshelf where she had hidden the bracelet in between the pages of her book like a bookmark. A simple hiding spot, but one she knew that Keahi wouldn’t check if she wanted to see any presents early. This was her book, and because it was written in the human language it was rarely picked up by the half of the team that still didn’t understand that tongue. Carefully, she pulled out the braided string from its place, pausing to look it over one last time before turning back around and giving it to her partner.

    Keahi’s expression was hard to piece together at first. Of course, it takes a moment to register exactly what is being handed over, that’s a given for any item. Then, she carefully took the bracelet, carrying it between each of her wing talons and looking it over. One could almost see the gears moving in her mind as she continued studying the simple bracelet, her beak slowly parting open again with recognition and her brown eyes become filled with understanding.

    “Did you make this?” she finally asked softly, looking back up at Nelvana.

    “Yeah…” Nelvana managed to answer, crouching down beside Keahi again, tempted to give an explanation of her choice like the others but finding her voice stuck.

    Keahi’s face twisted up into a familiar wide smile, and Nelvana felt relief come crashing down onto her at the sign of approval.

    “It’s beautiful,” Keahi whispered, “it’s… it’s like what Combusken has, but it’s mine and you made it for me and you even went and found the right colors…” she continued, emotion bubbling up from inside. “Thank you.”

    There are no more gifts after that. All the cards that were given had been gone through, and no one in Pokemon Square had managed to pull off anything more than that. They threw out most of the wrapping paper, and then that was the end of presents for this birthday.

    Afterwards, there was still some time for everyone to get involved in some games before having to even think about supper. They replayed some of the better ones, but made sure to try everything that Keahi and Edgar had come up with first.

    When supper did come up, they ended up simply having some corn chips with salsa, and later a card game was brought over to play while they ate. During this, Kangaskhan visited briefly like the B Squadron had done a few hours ago. She only had a few minutes before she would need to leave for her supper and then return to the storage stand, but she was able to give some kind words and more birthday wishes before leaving the group alone with each other again.

    “I wish I knew how to make pozole,” Keahi mused, “that would have been really good.”

    “This is still pretty good!” Ceebee responded, taking another chip and dipping it into the salsa almost as if to make an example of her statement.

    “Yeah I know! But pozole is super tasty, and I really like showing you guys new dishes,” Keahi sighed, “but that’s one recipe I never managed to pick up from my mom… I guess I’ll have to wait for a couple days.”

    “…what’s happening in a couple days?” Alex questioned, raising a brow before playing one of his cards.

    Keahi blinked in surprise, and then began nervously laughing, “oh, I guess I was thinking about it so much that I forgot to actually tell you guys… I want to go visit my family again in a couple of days. Maybe celebrate my birthday there, maybe just… visit them again,” she explained.

    “Ah, that’s fair,” Alex murmured, his expression relaxing only slightly.

    “I’d just be gone for the day, I’m sure you all can handle yourselves without me,” Keahi added.

    A few more hours later, and everyone was ready to turn in for the night. It would be good to get some more rest before another more work-filled day, especially since they had all woken up so early. However, while everyone else got settled down in their own sleeping spots, Keahi curled up beside Nelvana in the cubone’s nest. This didn’t happen terribly often, but often enough that Nelvana was adjusted to suddenly getting a warm bundle of feathers shuffling under the blanket beside her.

    “Hey there,” Nelvana whispered, patting the hatless head feathers of her partner.

    “Hello!” Keahi softly chirped, nestling up closely to the cubone.

    “Would you call this a good birthday?” Nelvana asked.

    “Mhmm, I had a good time,” Keahi hummed.

    Nelvana smiled, “that’s good…” she mused, trailing off as several thoughts spun around in her mind. “You know, I’ve been thinking…”

    “About?” Keahi prompted, blinking up at Nelvana.

    “I want to do something about bringing back Gardevoir,” Nelvana sighed, “I know that we can’t do anything about it without… Shinobi, or Gengar, or whoever… but I dunno, I want to do something. I feel like there is still something we can do.”

    Keahi paused, her brows furrowing as she mulled over this information, “me too… it was Gardevoir herself that said that it wouldn’t be possible without him though, right?”

    “Yeah,” Nelvana confirmed, nodding.

    “Hm… maybe, if you really want, we can ask Ceebee to use telepathy and get in contact with Ninetales, so we can ask more about it,” Keahi suggested, “later though. We should just get some rest for now.”

    “Alrighty then, goodnight,” Nelvana murmured.

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which an agreement is reached Previous: In which a present is prepared

[nelvana]

In which two foes begin to journey together

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which the mountain of fire is explored Previous: In which an agreement is reached

    “So, you ready to head out now?”

    Nelvana couldn’t remember the last time she had had to travel without her friends before. Even with amnesia blocking her access to most of her memories, she felt fairly certain that she had only started traveling as a human after she had met Alex.

    So, knowing that she would be heading out on a dangerous path with someone she had very few even okay interactions with didn’t fill her with that much confidence. Not that she would admit it though, because she knew that they didn’t need to stir up more conflict for this situation. Plus, as she reminded herself and her teammates, there were plenty of backup plans if it came down to it.

    “Yeah, as long as you still have everything in that bag.”

    She would just have to tolerate him for the time they had to work together. It could be worse.

    “Of course I do, I don’t often lose my belongings that easily,” Gengar huffed, adjusting the strap of the large bag over his shoulder.

    “Our,” Alex corrected, “remember, you happen to be carrying the supplies for the two of you on this trip.”

    “Yeah, of course,” Gengar sighed, narrowing his eyes.

    “You guys are leaving now?” Edgar asked, his eye flickering for a moment in the left socket of his skull.

    “Looks like it,” Nelvana told him, subconsciously tugging at the ends of her scarf, tightening the fabric around her own neck.

    Keahi bounded up next to her partner, leaning in close against the cubone’s side.

    “I’m ready!”

    After some more negotiating in the afternoon of the previous day, Keahi had been allowed to accompany the other two up until Scorched Plains, where the torchic would leave them to be visiting her family there. After that, it would just become Nelvana and Gengar traveling to the Frosty Forest.

    “You didn’t even need to pack,” Nelvana chuckled, wrapping her arm around the torchic and holding her closer to her.

    “So, I was ready that much faster!” Keahi giggled in response, reaching up and loosening the scarf around her partner’s neck slightly from the extra tightened state it had been in. “And I am bringing the bracelet you made me, so that’s something!” she added, shifting her position to show Nelvana the string bracelet tied around the torchic’s shoulder.

    “I guess so,” Nelvana hummed, “well, I’m assuming the rest of you will want to say something before we head out then?” she asked, looking over the rest of her team.

    “You assumed right,” Alex replied, stepping forward. “May I?”

    “Sure,” Nelvana responded before looking back down and ruffling Keahi’s head. “Alright, cutie, I’ll be back in a sec,” she murmured before walking away from the torchic and over to the grovyle.

    “Oka- hey! C-Cutie? Where did that come from? Nel? Nel!” Keahi sputtered.

    Nelvana held back her chuckles at Keahi’s reaction as she joined up with her other partner, who lead her a few feet away from the rest of the team so that they could talk more privately. Alex paused for a moment, considering… something that Nelvana couldn’t quite pinpoint right away.

    “So, did you just want to tell me to be careful out here, or did you have something important to tell me?” Nelvana teased, crossing her arms in front of her.

    Alex laughed, shaking his head, “no, but I suppose that wasn’t a bad guess. But I know you’ll be careful. I know you, and I can trust you to handle yourself out there,” he told her, “I… I have to admit that I’m concerned regardless, but that’s just instinct at this point. We always look out for each other.”

    “O-Oh, thank you, Alex,” Nelvana murmured, taken aback slightly. “Well… what did you want to tell me then?” she questioned after a few seconds.

    “Eh, a lot of things, if I’m honest…” Alex muttered, glancing away for a moment before meeting Nelvana’s gaze. “I’ll save it for later though, and just give you this instead.”

    Reaching into his own satchel, Alex brought out a tattered piece of purple cloth, passing it over to Nelvana.

    “The mobile scarf?” Nelvana questioned, smoothing out the fabric with her thumb as she looked it over.

    Alex nodded, “yeah! You’ll definitely find more use of it out there then we will over here,” he chuckled, “plus, I’m sure Gengar will have a good reaction to seeing that thing again,” he added.

    Nelvana couldn’t help but laugh, “alrighty then Alex, thanks,” she said, carefully tying the torn scarf around her left hand. “Was… Was that it, then?”

    “I… I guess so, yeah. For now,” Alex sighed, “I’d say good luck, but I doubt you’ll need it. Just don’t let Gengar give you a hard time, alright?” he continued.

    “I won’t, don’t worry,” Nelvana hummed, “thanks, again.”

    “No problem.”

    The pair rejoined the others, Nelvana being immediately approached by Edgar, who swiftly flew directly in front of her face. He bounced in the air in front of her for a bit before actually speaking.

    “Nel! I wanted to say goodbye too!” Edgar exclaimed, “and I think Tsuki did too, but she couldn’t come outside… with her headache and all. But I think she would want to wish you luck too! And we know that the two of you will be able to bring back Gardevoir together!”

    Nelvana smiled, “thanks Edgar, and you can pass my thanks and goodbye to Tsuki too.”

    Edgar shook up and down in a sort of nod, but did not say anything else at first. When he stopped moving, he locked eyes with Nelvana, the glow in his eye darkening slightly. In that moment, Nelvana couldn’t help but wonder if Edgar had only ever gotten this physically close to her in this interaction so that no one else would be able to notice this change.

    “Look… just between you and me, I think it’s a good thing that you’re the only one going on this,” he whispered softly, “I believe that Gengar can become a better person, but the others are going to judge him too harshly and prevent him from pulling that off properly. We know though. He helped you in the spirit realm; he can do good things. And you’re the right person to help him with that.”

    Nelvana blinked back at Edgar, taken aback by this whisper. While it was still spoken in the same soft tone and just in a quiet voice, the message carried meaning that she usually didn’t hear from the cheery duskull. Almost seeming to worry about this, he flinched, the light returning to his eye as normal.

    “A-Ah! Don’t worry! I believe in you!” he assured her, “we all do!”

    Nelvana let herself relax again. This was still the same Edgar; he hadn’t meant to startle her like that. He probably just didn’t understand how unnerving doing something like that could be... Though, she had to stop underestimating how much he picked up on too.

    “Thanks, Edgar,” Nelvana replied, offering him a small smile.

    “Well, I’m not sure what else there is for me to say at this point!” Ceebee giggled, crossing her legs in a seated position while she continued flying in the air. “You’re going to do great out there, Nel! Just remember that we’re all back here supporting you the entire way!” she cheered.

    “I will!” Nelvana exclaimed.

    “Does this mean we can head out now?” Gengar complained impatiently, “you guys take forever to just say goodbye. It’s just one word, no need to add any extra comments to it.”

    “Be patient, Gengar!” Keahi huffed, “just because we actually care for each other as teammates doesn’t mean you have to be mean about it!” she continued, sticking her tongue out at him.

    Gengar rolled his eyes, crossing his arms against his chest and glaring down at the ground. Nelvana exhaled, before walking over to those two and standing up beside them. For a moment, she couldn’t help but think about what Edgar had told her. If Keahi, or most of the team for that matter, had been coming with them… would these types of interactions just take up the entire journey?

    “Alright, I think I’m actually ready to head out now,” she told them.

    “Finally!” Gengar gasped dramatically, earning him a glare from Keahi.

    “Goodbye everyone! We’ll see you again soon!” Nelvana called back, waving to her teammates as they headed away from the team base and down the familiar path towards Scorched Plains; their first stop.

    The walk from the land of and surrounding Pokemon Square over to Scorched Plains had never been a long one. Certainly not as long as the journey that Gengar and Nelvana would soon have to make. Regardless, at a relaxing, slower pace Keahi would be able to accompany them for about a half an hour.

    During this time, Nelvana steered her partner towards the topic about birthdays again, and what the torchic would do with her family for it. There was mention of pozoles again and pinatas, as well as a few more songs that the cubone was certain that she had never heard of before. Judging by some of the comments and expressions Gengar gave in this conversation, he probably hadn’t heard of those traditions either.

    A faint smile grew on Nelvana’s face as the grass faded over into the fiery colored fields that she had grown familiar with despite only walking through a few times. Instinctively she thought back to those times as she turned her gaze upwards to the morning sun in the sky. She couldn’t help but think to herself about how they should come out here more often.

    “Well… we’re here,” Keahi said, yanking Nelvana back out of her thoughts.

    They had arrived to the mouth of the large cave that Keahi’s family called home. It seemed to be a quieter day for them, considering it took a moment for Nelvana to pick up the voices of the habitants there.

    “They aren’t expecting you, are they? It’ll be a nice surprise for them; they’ll be happy to see you again,” Nelvana hummed, turning her gaze from the entrance and back over to her partner.

    Keahi smiled, “yeah, so will I,” she agreed, “y’know, you could go in to say hi at least. I think they’d be happy to see you too,” she added.

    “That’s a tempting idea,” Nelvana admitted, idly rocking herself in place on her feet as she considered the idea. “But…”

    “But no?”

    “Gengar is getting pretty impatient,” Nelvana sighed, glancing back to where her client on this mission was standing just a few feet away. “And we both know that he can’t go in. Besides, it would be for the best to not have to be traveling through the night. So, no delays. Sorry.”

    “It’s fine, I understand,” Keahi murmured, “I was just hopeful. So, this is where we have to part ways?”

    “Only for a few days.”

    “Hey, that rhymed!”

    The pair laughed at the observation for a few moments before fading away again.

    “It’s only for a few days,” Nelvana repeated, “I’ll be back before you know it.”

    “I know…” Keahi mumbled, scuffing at the dry grass with a foot. “It’ll still be weird without you around.”

    “The others will be there,” Nelvana continued.

    “Yeah, I know,” Keahi huffed, “it isn’t the same though. I’ll miss you.”

    “I’ll miss you too. But I’m not gone for good, I promise I’ll be back, and I’ll check back in on everyone when I can.”

    “Okay.”

    “Okay?”

    “Okay.”

    There was a pause where neither of them spoke. Nelvana’s mind seemed to spin in circles as she racked her brain for something else to tell Keahi, but nothing right came up. Finally, she leaned down and rested her forehead on Keahi’s, who slowly relaxed and exhaled.

    “I’ll be back before you know it,” Nelvana hummed, “love you.”

    Keahi smiled, leaning back to make eye contact with the cubone, “love you too.”

    “Goodbye. See you soon.”

    “See you.”

    Keahi took the first step away, towards the entrance of the place she had called home not that long ago. Nelvana gave her partner one last pat on the head before turning away, walking back over to Gengar.

    “Hey, Nel!” Keahi called back, “you come back soon, you hear me! And make sure to bring back Gardevoir safely with you!” she cheered.

    Nelvana looked back, seeing the torchic with a wide, encouraging smile and bright eyes again.

    “You’ve got it! I will!” Nelvana responded.

    Right away, Nelvana found Gengar… an interesting person to have to travel with.

    He was fast enough; she could give him that. However, he clearly didn’t know how to pace himself properly. Impatience seemed to tempt him to speed up, but then he would end up asking for breaks more than not. Eventually, Nelvana grew tired of this pattern and forced Gengar to stay behind her so that he would have to follow her pace instead.

    And of course, he wasn’t much for conversation. Not that Nelvana knew what to talk to him about besides this mission, so it worked out for the better anyway. Part of her was tempted to start asking him more questions, but she decided against that for now. He was obviously already in a bad mood, and she decided not to possibly make this journey start of on even worse footing.

    “Hey, can we take another break?” Gengar requested.

    Nelvana paused; he hadn’t asked for a break in awhile… she glanced around at her surroundings again, judging where they were currently and comparing that information to when she was here last.

    “Let’s get up that hill, and then we can,” she decided.

    It was simple for her to pad over to their little “checkpoint”, and she glanced back to watch Gengar trudge after her. Once he had joined her, he sat down on the grass and leaned back.

    “I didn’t know ghost-types could get tired,” Nelvana commented, eyeing the ghost-poison-type.

    Gengar narrowed his eyes at her, “we can. Don’t you have a ghost-type on your team? That duskull?”

    “Yeah, that’s Edgar. But he hasn’t really gotten tired yet,” Nelvana responded.

    “Well, I can get tired, alright?” Gengar huffed, “I haven’t had to travel like this in a long time, okay?” he added in a mutter.

    “When was the last time then?” Nelvana asked.

    The only response she got was Gengar unintelligibly muttering under his breath. Nelvana didn’t bother asking him again, letting herself take in and enjoy the quietness out in the open air.

    After five minutes, Nelvana decided that they would continue forward again, only to have Gengar speak up again to voice a question.

    “Are… Are you sure that you don’t need longer?” Gengar asked, “l-look, I can’t have my escort fainting because of hunger of all things.”

    Nelvana sighed, “I know how to take care of myself. Let’s keep going.”

    It was only a bit over an hour before Nelvana could spot their first dungeon on this journey; Lapis Cave. Spotting the cave up with its bright blue rocks decorating it ahead brought a smile back to her face.

    The rock that she had collected the last time she was here now sat up in their bedroom, now joined by some of the various items that Edgar had given Keahi for her birthday the day before. The rock that Alex had collected from here was still in his bag. He had never found the right spot for it, and it was a pretty object to just be able to pull out on the go anyway.

    For a moment, Nelvana wondered if Gengar would even be able to take interest in this, but as they approached the dungeon, she could see his eyes widen at the sight. She let them pause for a moment again, letting the both examine the outside of this cave.

    “I… I don’t think I’ve seen a, uh, pretty dungeon before,” Gengar whispered, crouching down to peer at the crystal-like surface more closely.

    Nelvana smiled, “yeah, it’s nice out here,” she hummed, “Alex and I took a couple of the broken pieces from the ground. You can throw one in the bag too if you want.”

    Gengar didn’t respond, but out of the corner of her eye Nelvana could see him pick up one of the small jewels from the grass and stuff it into the bag.

    “There are fourteen floors here, and it’s mostly poison-types,” Nelvana said, “they aren’t that strong, we should be able to pass through here easily.”

    “Mhmm.”

    Nelvana was correct with this statement. Any dungeon pokemon only needed a quick bat with her club to be knocked out, so they could mostly stroll through the cavern. Fourteen floors later, they headed back out under the open sky and onto the trail without too much excitement.

    After another hour or so, they could see the next dungeon coming up in the distance; Mt. Blaze. It hadn’t changed much from the last time Nelvana was here either. The huge mountain still had lava pouring out from it and pooling in the surrounding area.

    “That’s a lot of smoke,” Gengar commented, “so, we tackling this today, or shall we set up camp?”

    “Set up camp. Let’s not stretch things,” Nelvana responded, despite part of her wondering if they would be able to cross the mountain in the remaining daytime and just get a full night’s sleep by the Frosty Forest.

    Setting up camp didn’t actually require much effort out of either of them. Nelvana sought out the tree that she had rested by before, and the two of them sat down in its shade to enjoy a meal while watching the sun slowly sink into the horizon. It was only when it started to get dark when a complication came up.

    “Can we… have a campfire?” Gengar asked.

    “A campfire?” Nelvana repeated.

    “Yeah.”

    “…why? We have enough light and warmth coming from Mt. Blaze over there. There isn’t really much of a point-”

    “I just want one, alright!” Gengar snapped, “you don’t have to question all my choices, alright?”

    For a moment, Gengar expected Nelvana to continue pestering him about this, or to just flat-out deny him. However, she stood back up, stretching again before exhaling and nodding.

    “Fine. If you can find enough sticks, I’ll get us a firepit here.”

    Gengar was more than happy to oblige, scurrying back off to find some of the other dry trees to collect tinder from, leaving Nelvana alone by their camp. Considering the surrounding area and upcoming dungeon, it was easy enough to find some branches that would suffice for a fire.

    By the time he returned, Nelvana had prepared a spot where they would be able to safely light a fire without it spreading and becoming dangerous. She set right away to stacking the sticks in a pyramid formation, adding some of the dry grass under and around it.

    Gengar was about to ask how she was going to light to fire, but the cubone had already carved out a block of wood with her club, and began spinning one of the stronger sticks in the small hole she had created. He could only watch with awe as she expertly drilled until smoke began streaming out, and even continued a bit after at before setting the warm sawdust in the fire pit and blowing a fire to life.

    Sitting down against the tree, Gengar watched as the fire crackled and danced in front of him. He could feel himself relax with its glow, keeping the growing darkness of the night at bay. While he refused to admit it to his braver companion… he had wanted the fire so that he wouldn’t have to fear the dark.

    Speaking of his companion, Gengar glanced across him, across the fire to see where Nelvana was still crouched. The cubone was leaning forward, her blue eyes lit up in the warm light of the flames in what could only be described as a look of fascination. It was an odd sight to him, to see such emotion in someone that he usually knew as being serious and more guarded. Here, she was relaxed, and almost vulnerable. He was hesitant to break this trance, but he couldn’t help but speak up again.

    “You know, for someone who was so reluctant to set up a campfire, you really seem interested by fire.”

    Those were not the words he had wanted to say.

    Nelvana looked up, “mm? Oh… well, it’s not that I don’t like fire. I just… don’t find the chance to really have it around often. I guess it’s fine now though; just instinct holding me back.”

    “What do you mean?” Gengar questioned.

    “Usually a bright light will just attract the wrong kind of people,” Nelvana sighed, shaking her head. “Why did you want a fire so bad, anyway?”

    “Are we really back to this?”

    “Ah, it’s different now. I already answered your question about fire.”

    “Hmph, okay, you win,” Gengar huffed, crossing his arms. “It’s… kinda for the opposite reason. I find that fires keep away the wrong kind of people,” he explained.

    “Hm, interesting. Different histories, I suppose.”

    “What’s that supposed to mean?”

    This time it was Nelvana who didn’t respond, instead going back to watching the fire. Eventually, she pulled up her badge and began messing around with some buttons before setting it, and the end of her scarf, back down again.

    Later, she would decide to get some rest and leave Gengar to guard. After a quick comment to Gengar about what she was doing, she climbed up the tree they had prepared camp by, settling on a couple of the branches and going silent again. Gengar questioned her sleeping choice, but she didn’t respond again, leaving him alone with the night.

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which the mountain of fire is explored Previous: In which an agreement is reached