Shades of Grey

fateful day in the cave, with the added detailing of more than a grand handful of jewelry hanging along their frames. A duo of two Pharaohs, as it were. If it’d been anyone else, Jackie would have smacked the thing into a raging bonfire & screamed bloody murder before she’d ever even think of doing something so bold. But this was Touya, & she’d had bigger plans when it came to him. “It’s a berry holder too! Functional & fashionable,” And gaudy. “Do you like it??” Happy fucking birthday, Touya!

What the f…

What the fu….

What the FUCK?!

Touya stared at the catastrophe in his lap, the weight of it dragging his heart down just as much as it was pressing down on his legs. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to think. When she first told him she had a present for him, he felt so excited.

Well - he wasn’t excited anymore.

His eyes jumped between different parts of the statue, agog at each individual detail he found himself processing, while simultaneously feeling his brain resisting the overall vision. It refused to accept what it was seeing. What was Jackie thinking? This was, quite possibly, the worst birthday gift he had ever received. Ugly, impractical, and whose fucking bodies were used as the reference?!…

For a moment Touya was crestfallen.

She tried to celebrate his birthday, and she missed the mark so fucking hard.

He didn’t know whether he should feel more sorry for himself, or for her.

Until a single word left Jackie’s lips: ‘Fashionable’.

That was when Touya realized.

He realized that he had been a fool to engage with this gift in good faith. There was no way she genuinely thought the disaster in his lap was fashionable, not least of all because Jackie herself was one of the most fashion-literate people Touya knew.

Which meant Jackie wasn’t trying to celebrate with him. Oh no, she was trying to destroy him.

Slowly, stiffly, Touya’s neck creaked and he lifted his head up to stare at the young woman.

She sat, glorious and chic, surrounded by the tasteful furniture and decorations of her living room… complete with the large, outrageous painting he got her for her birthday nine months prior hanging on the wall directly behind her.

She planned this.

She looked so smug.

She knew exactly what she was doing.

And she dared beam as if today was HER special day to celebrate instead of his.

The rictus grin that had parked itself on Touya’s lips finally parted.

“Wow,” he said. “This is…”

He paused. There were a number of words that sprung to mind, most of them only legal in Sinnoh. But the word he ultimately settled on was: “Unbelievable.”

And he truly was not lying.

“Every day that I carry this with me, in my bag, wherever I go, I will think of you.” And my hands around your neck, throttling you. “And to everyone who asks, I will say that you, my dear, wonderful friend, wanted to give me something so fashionable, so you DID.” Thus ruin your reputation wherever I went.

“And when I eat berries off your smooth, chiseled, marble bosom, it will be as if you were there with me in spirit, letting me do it to you for real, because you’re so selfless and generous and selfless. Thank you. Thank you so much. This is the best birthday ever. Your gift is my new… favorite.” – FUCKING! – “THING!!”

❝W-what?❞

She couldn’t have heard him right, surely. He didn’t really just ask if he could kiss her, did he? (the way he stumbled with his words and seemed so very flustered argued that yes, he did ask that).

Instinctively, her eyes dropped down and found his lips while her fingers lifted up and found her own.

❝Kiss? M-me? Y-ou…What?❞

Dokidokidokidokidokidokidokidokidokidoki.

❝Where did that…❞ 

Her shaking hand managed to find the doorframe and help support her while her heart seemed to try race out of her chest. Adrenaline sharpened the scene, but she felt distant from it as dizziness whispered to her.

Breathe.

In and out.

Touya wanted to kiss her.

She pressed her free hand to her face, as if it could cool down the blush that felt as if it was frying her entire body with the heat of the sun.

❝D-do you really want…I mean, um, you…kiss?? I mean, me, do y-ou, um, why do you?❞

What a mess!

❝N-never mind! I, um, I’ll be, uh, right back! Don’t worry!❞

Despite the fact the desperate desire to get some answers was trying to get her to stay where she was, Lisia turned and stumbled quickly inside. Her steps were hurried and unsteady, her limbs unable to work in the right way, as her panic charged them with too much energy.

Touya wanted to kiss her!

She scrubbed at her face, patting her pinkened cheeks as she rushed through the house. What was she supposed to do again?

Her hair dripped against her skin, causing her to flinch and then set her course towards where the towels were kept. Honestly, with the heat flowing through her, she was sure she didn’t need the towel anymore, her blush had probably dried out the whole ocean by now.

With two towels in hand, and a stomach full of butterflies, she started to make her way back through the house to the outside area. She tried to calm the storm of thoughts and emotions as she went. This was no big deal, right? He didn’t really say that. She must have imagined it. Or if he did say it, she probably misinterpreted it! He probably meant a kiss on the cheek or something, for all her help during the day! Yeah!

She had just imagined it all or overreacted, as usual. Things would be fine.

Things would be fine…as long as she didn’t think about the idea of him kissing her.

(So distracted by totally not at all thinking about him kissing her, she almost walked into the glass door as she headed to the patio)

❝Um…❞ she said as she stepped outside, chewing her lip, ❝I brought the towels. Do you want a drink? It’s kinda h-hot right now, don’t you think?❞

A despondent Touya looked up from the perch he’d made for himself atop a deck chair. He retreated there after the girl vanished into the house, resigning himself to a dark cloud of humiliation and disappointment.

He had no idea what he was thinking, asking if he could kiss her.

Even worse, it was possible he wasn’t thinking at all.

He wouldn’t let it happen again, though. Not after the resounding rejection he received. It was so obvious to him now that this stranger, or, well, pseudo-stranger, was only being nice because she was a decent human being. There was no ulterior motive. No nothing. Asking to kiss her just because she was nice - it was shameful.

To be honest, the only reason Touya didn’t run away in disgrace while the girl was gone was because he didn’t want to come across as an even worse person.

Though as she came back, the trainer couldn’t help but regret having to face her again. She looked so uncomfortable.

“Thank you,” he mumbled, taking one of the towels and starting to dab at his body. “I could drink, sure. Though it’s... gotten kinda cold, honestly.”

Spoiler: their perception of temperatures was a metaphor.

“Listen,” he started after an awkward stretch of silence. “About the rest of the day. If you’d rather call it off, I’d unders--”

His words were interrupted by the piercing shriek of a large bird of prey: Braviary.

The sound was followed by the shadow of a large bird of prey passing overhead: Braviary!

And Touya leapt to his feet, looking about ready to have a fit: Braviary?!?

He couldn’t let this strange girl meet Fuffles. NOT WHEN SHE WAS SUCH A HUGE BRAVEMAN FAN.

The trainer whipped his head left and right in a panic before pointing oh-so-dramatically at the girl and commanding:

“STAY.”

Then he added:

“I’ll be back!”

Then he spun on his heels and sprinted out the side gate, clad in nothing but swimming trunks and a towel draped across his neck.

If Lisia had been paying attention, she would have then piped up with a confused declaration of the fact she didn’t have a ‘sidekick’ (unless Ali counted). But she wasn’t paying attention, no, she was tuned into a whole different world of rainbows, sparkly backgrounds, and pure happiness. Touya’s arm was linked with hers! So, she let go of Chaz in order to wrap both her arms around Touya’s, hugging it as she leaned against him for slight support.

She tried not to bounce on the spot, but her eyes seemed to bounce between the two guys, while her grin didn’t so much as waver. Touya would laugh again soon, she was sure of it! And she wasn’t going to miss it this time, she was going to be riiiight up against him, ready to hear it in all its glory.

Chaz, on the other hand, was properly scandalised by the fact Lisia hadn’t spoken up to refute the whole ‘sidekick’ business. She always spoke up when it came to ‘rivals’, but she drew a line at sidekicks? Did that mean she truly thought of him as such?

He huffed, face flushed, “I’m not! Tell him, Lisia! You and I are two parts of one spectacular whole! Isn’t that right? We’re equals!”

Except he could never seem to beat her in a Contest…and so he conceded somewhat, “Everyone will see it one day! I’ll beat you and Ali in a Contest, and you’ll see too!”

Except…it was pretty clear that, at least for the moment, Lisia wasn’t going to see anything other than the guy she was clinging to. Chaz could almost see the stars and hearts floating around her head.

What the hell?

“Who is this guy anyway?” he demanded.

HIS FACE.

That’s all it took.

Touya burst into such uproarious laughter, it caused some random pedestrian on the other side of the street to actually pause and stare. If that’s the impact it had on someone two lanes apart from them, imagine what Lisia’s experience was like, standing right there at the epicenter of this seismic event.

In fact, don’t even bother imagining.

As it turned out, Touya’s laughter was so wild and untamed, he ended up clinging to Lisia for support - wrapping his other arm around her shoulder in a makeshift hug while burying his face in the crook of her neck. His entire body shook against hers as his delight rolled and rolled, deep and loud.

And that was Lisia’s experience.

Chaz expected Touya to be shocked and filled with jealousy at the sight of Lisia being so familiar with him, it was all that was helping him maintain his composure and ignore how the idol was pressing so close. He didn’t yet realise that Lisia was quite familiar with the other guy too.

The way Touya spluttered about and rushed out words only served to straighten Chaz’s shoulders, and the very fact Touya then tried to run away only proved to him that the guy was nothing to Lisia. All in all, Chaz was rather convinced of his own good position.

So when Lisia’s expression, and very aura of happiness, shattered at the young man’s sudden attempt to leave, Chaz felt the world shift.

Or maybe that was just because Lisia had started to push him towards Touya.

“H-hey! Lis-“ he tried to protest.

At the same time, she called out, ❝Wait! Touya! You can’t go yet!❞

Chaz stumbled as she let go of him, his widened eyes taking the way she flung herself at Touya and wrapped her arms around him. Those eyes of his then narrowed as he, once again, straightened up, smoothing the material of his clothes.

“Lisia, you shouldn’t be so close to him, you don’t even know him!” (Though it occurred to him then that she must, in fact, know him, since she had used his name.) “He’s just a common fan, you’re probably going to give him a heart attack.” (Not that he cared)

❝I do so know him!❞ was the muffled counter from Lisia, you could almost hear the pout.

The next sound was a (not-so) manly yelp from Chaz, as Lisia’s hand shot out and grabbed him, pulling him towards herself (and Touya).

❝Say something funny, Chaz!❞ she requested, but all he could say in response was, “???”

Touya produced a sound that may or may not have been a “Gack!”

His exit had been foiled. By none other than Lisia. Oh, how could she betray him like that? Did she want to see him crash and burn this badly? Was this the cutthroat nature of showbiz? WHY WAS SHE SO EAGER TO BACKSTAB HIM?

Or wait.

Touya blinked, brain processing what was happening.

Lisia might have stopped him from beating a hasty retreat. But what she didn’t do... was correct his mischaracterization of Chaz as her sidekick. And what she didn’t do... was listen to Chaz’s demands. And most important of all, what she DID do... was take Touya’s cue and play along, asking Chaz to say something funny.

Touya’s heart swelled.

Lisia was on his side all along.

The young man linked his arm with the idol’s, feeling emboldened.

“I knew you were her sidekick,” he said with a snigger.

Touya made the not-so-gracious but sufficient landing! … Bri did not.

　 　 Bri definitely did not.

That landing wasn’t cushioned. That had to hurt.

　 　 “DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO.”

That landing definitely hurt, but not nearly to stop a retort from getting hissed back at Touya. Her head is pounding, and their agitation towards each other wasn’t helping one bit. Honestly, why of all people did she have to be stuck here with him?

Hell, all of this is giving her flashbacks to her completely disastrous incident with that overgrown sunflora flower youkai. Best to act fast, if she doesn’t want this incident to end the same way - there’s no pokecenters here to rescue them.

Because oh sweet Xerneas WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?

Seeing the giant pillar of ‘fuck everything that was standing in this exact spot’ was more than enough to spur the witch’s anxious rambling back into overdrive -

　 　 “We need to go, need to go, need to go, need to go-”

But the command would be heard loud and clear.

Careful what you ask for, Touya - Bridgette would make another lunge at him to quickly get them both back up into the air, the wings in question materializing at the peak of the arc and keeping them aloft. But at least this time Touya specifically asked for it. 

Ah– hm. Oh dear. Wings he asked for. Nearly being dropped, probably not.

As the initial speed boost wore off, the witch would make another lunge - both arms snagging him by the torso before he would completely slip out of her grasp.

　 　 “WHY ARE YOU SO HEAVY?” 

Turns out that Bri’s Carrying Capacity is absolutely horrible! This is a very bad to find out in midair.

“WHY ARE YOU SO WEAK?” came the counter-jab.

Not that Touya was trying to be malicious. He was acutely aware that his continued well-being rested in the witch’s hands -- quite literally. It was just that... he was currently feeling under a lot of pressure, ya know? Giant swarms of wtf-is-that bearing down on his ass and all.

“Get us away, get us away!!”

The trainer kicked in the air and flapped his arms, looking to be performing a misguided attempt to aid in the war efforts. An understandable act on a reflexive level, perhaps, but all his needless squirming most likely only served to make Bridgette’s life harder.

“Cliff! Cliff!!”

Touya stopped flapping (thank goodness) and pointed at the cliff they’d originally emerged out of. And, granted, returning to their initial point of origin, before all hell broke loose, wasn’t a wholly terrible idea from a strategic standpoint. The cave there could offer refuge - perhaps a chance to regroup.

The only problem was: at their current speed, the swarm would overcome them long before they reached the cliff.

        “ WELL, YOU CAN BE THE BETA TESTER THEN. ”Kubo says with a little smirk as he crouches to stare down the cliff side. It’s not that big a drop – but you could probably break a limb if you fell from here, or, meet certain doom if you landed on your head. “ Also, drampas are nice, if you don’t ANGER them, that is. You’d surprised how much they rampage when something upsets them. ”

        Now, Kubo might be a stubborn and prideful child, but he was also clever and observant. His tawny eye widens when he realizes – to his horror, that Touya was about to toss all their work over the ledge. “ WAIT! ”

        Thankfully, the other took notice before it would have been too late. “ I’ll say, ” The child breathes, relieved. “ How would we get down if you just threw it over? ”

        He begins to look around for a sturdy structure to act as a post to keep the rope tied around. They couldn’t go too far away from the edge – lest the rope wouldn’t be long enough to reach the bottom. “ I’M SURE there’s a tree or rock we could tie it to nearby. I doubt we could just use you. ” He jokes.

“Using me is the worst idea I have ever heard,” Touya said, though his smile indicated this statement might not have been the truth.

Either that, or he liked the worst ideas.

“Hey, is that a stump over there?”

Squinting at something a little further down the cliff’s edge, Touya began marching towards a bunch of ferns, and what looked like a tree stump sticking up from their midst.

“Ooh, it is,” the trainer said following a closer inspection.

And voila, they had their solution.

The rope ladder was secured to the stump shortly after, then tossed over the edge. It neatly unfurled in a satisfyingly ASMR-inducing display.

The good news: it looked almost professionally made, so that was cool. The bad news: it didn’t quite reach the bottom. Touya recognized that fact and proceeded to make a series of deep hrming noises as he grappled with what to do next. They could pull the rope ladder back up and try to add a bit more rope to it. OR...

“A’ight, I’mma test it,” the young man blurted before the kid could protest. And swiftly he began descending. Truly he was super eager to enjoy this adventure for all it was worth.

And he really did enjoy it. Until about three-quarters of the way, when one of the rope steps under his foot came undone.

She imagined the two of them heading inside, her showing him around and letting him meet some of the other pokemon around. She thought they could all hang out, play a game or watch a movie or something (that was what friends did at each other’s houses, right?? She hadn’t had anyone over in such a long time). And once the stars were out, they could once again go swimming, and her Staryu would glow and put on a bit of a light-show, and it would be awesome!

All of this was playing in her mind like some kinda cheesy film montage, but it was yanked to a stop and hastily rewound as she processed his words.

❝Oh.❞

Like a cloud moving to cover the sun, her expression dimmed. Of course he had to step back for a bit, he probably had other things to do! And she had been dragging him around all day, hardly letting him get a word in.

❝That’s okay…makes sense…❞

He was probably eager to get away- But wait…

“I’m yours for the rest of the day.”

The cloud was blown away, returning the warmth and brightness. A faint flush tinted her cheeks as she grinned, and she was jumping a little on the spot while she let out a cheer, ❝Yay!❞

If she had a little more sense and control, she would have then simply clasped her hands together to restrain herself…but she didn’t. She stepped closer to him and hugged him tightly. There was very little that could have made her happier in that moment, than the fact that Touya wanted (or at least was willing) to spend the rest of the day with her.

But the hug was a little too brief. She let go and skipped over to her bag, plucking it up and digging through it for her keys again.

❝C’mon, we’ll go inside, and I’ll get some towels!❞

Her, rather bouncy, steps took her across the patio and over to the large glass doors, which she then unlocked. She rested her hand on the door, preparing to push it open…and she hesitated, her heart speeding up and returning the blush to her with a stronger touch.

❝Um…I’ve never really…I mean, I’m not used to having anyone over…it’s kinda weird…but exciting.❞

After she pushed open the door, she turned to face him as she chewed her lower lip. Her nerves settled, and she smiled, ❝I know you have to go for a bit soon, and you might get too busy and not come back…so I just wanna say now that…❞

Her smile turned into a grin, ❝I’m really really reeeally glad we ran into each other today! It’s been so much fun and I love spending time with you and it’s been one of the best days, and I really hope it’s been a good day for you too and you’ll come to love Sootopolis as much as I do! I’m really glad we got to share today, it means a lot to me. I hope we get to keep doing fun things together!❞

Touya stared.

He didn’t know how to respond.

The girl’s speech had taken his breath away.

It was by far the boldest, most blatant display of ... whatever it was she had been showering him with throughout the day. Was she doing it on purpose? Carefully and meticulously disarming him one chip at a time without him realizing, until finally delivering the killer blow when he’d been rendered vulnerable?

Or was she an unwitting culprit? A criminally sweet girl who truly, genuinely wore her heart on her sleeve?

Did any of it even matter anymore?

Not really.

Touya didn’t care for her motives any more than he cared for the promise of towels inside.

Instead, every little thing that had been building up during their time together -- her flattering comments, her lingering touches -- finally came to a head.

He didn’t even realize what he was doing. One moment the trainer stood at the poolside, watching her. The next moment his feet had delivered him directly to the strange girl, marching up to her at the doorway. And through a pink haze he asked:

“Can I kiss you?”

A beat later Touya realized which four words had just left his mouth.

And so, swimming they went! (“Swimming, great idea!” she’d said, “You’re the best! Let’s go! It’ll be so much fun!”)

She did, in fact, know all the best places to swim around there, and the one she took him to was one she had mentioned. Her uncle’s house was large and stylish, but they didn’t need to go inside just yet, the large pool outside was easily accessible from a gate along the side of the house, which Lisia had a key to.

The only thing better than swimming, was swimming with someone else: It was what she had said as they’d approached the swimming pool, referring both to Touya and to the group of pokemon already enjoying themselves in the water.

The majority of the ones splashing about, or relaxing, were her own family of water types, as her uncle’s ones usually remained at the Gym. There was nothing quite like swimming together with your pokemon, Lisia thought.

She wasted no time in putting aside her bag and stripping off her dress to expertly dive into the water. The pokemon greeted her and Touya with great enthusiasm, encouraging them to play with them, and even engage in a few friendly races and games. Some of the pokemon even wanted to show off part of the routine they had been working on for the Water Show that was coming up, much to Lisia’s delight. 

She cheered them on and then noted how her pair of Finneon took a shine to Touya after the little display, they were fluttering quite close wherever he went, blowing little heart-shaped bubbles at him and causing her to giggle.

But soon enough, it was probably time to get out of the water, and maybe head inside for a drink.

❝We should come out again tonight, when all the stars are out!❞ she said as she moved over to the edge of the pool and started to climb out.

Touya didn’t think much of the whole ‘my uncle who works at Nintendo uncle’s pool’ thing until they reached said uncle’s house. And instead of entering through the front door like a normal human being, the strange girl led him to... a side-gate?

The trainer was two seconds away from wondering what trespassing laws were like in Sootopolis before the girl produced a key.

He would have probably remained suspicious-slash-thrilled even after that, just as a matter of principle -- it did feel like they were sneaking into the place, after all. But then he saw the pool in question.

IT WAS HUGE.

Every other thought went sailing out of Touya’s ear, as the sheer size of it proceeded to invade and occupy every available space within the young man’s head. He always knew this stranger was rich and came from a privileged background, but to actually see it manifest in reality was no less mind-blowing.

Oh right, they were there to swim, not gawk.

Stripping down to his swimming trunks required slightly more micro-management than the girl needed in order to discard of her dress. Nevertheless, he was not far behind, diving into the water after her. And oh, the pokemon that were already present - Touya was probably just as delighted by their presence as they were of his. So many beautiful new friends to make the acquaintance of and play with. And he only butchered the name of two of the new species he was introduced to. You go, Touya!

In the end, the young man had so much fun, he completely lost track of time. It was only when he caught sight of the girl beginning to climb out that he suddenly realized he had no clue how long he’d been playing in the water. Based on the position of the sun in the sky, it was well over an hour. 

“Oh geez,” he muttered.

He offered a few farewell hugs to the group of pokemon surrounding him that he had been laughing with up until now. Then he climbed out as well, dripping all over the place.

Finally he was able to turn his attention to what the girl had said: come back tonight. That statement was loaded with so many assumptions: that Touya would still be around; that Touya would have a free schedule; that Touya would want to; that this supposed uncle wasn’t going to kick them out or call the cops.

But the nitpicky voice inside Touya that tried to point all these things out was too weak. The rest of him was already pondering how best to sneak off and rendezvous with Fuffles for a bit before returning. He liked it there.

She flapped and nodded her head emphatically when he mentioned losing something – her things were definitely lost! Maybe her clothes were in the bushes? That didn’t explain where her necklace had gotten off to, though … She never let it disappear like this. It hadn’t fallen somewhere in the water, had it?? She dove under, suddenly – but came back up after a short while, having not seen anything glittering like her necklace would have. ‘ Qua … ’ She let out a small, dejected quack – even if they found her clothes, they were pretty useless to her without her necklace … 

“Ah--!!”

The creature threw itself into the water before Touya could stop it.

Maybe it was a water-type.

(or maybe it was trying to drown itself in its sorrow)

When Duck resurfaced, Touya breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness.”

So back to the original crisis at hand: it seemed like, at the very least, this pokemon was looking for something. And until they could establish some kind of two-way rapport, Touya was GODDAMNED USELESS TO IT.

“Hey, listen, do you know what drawing is? Can you draw? The visual thing that you see in your head - can you turn that into abstract shapes that you have willed into being using your wings?”

As he asked this, the young man produced a pad and pen from his bag, putting them on the ground.

     ‘– Qua?! ’ The duck flapped her wings, propelling herself away from the other, startled at the sudden poke. When had she become a duck? Where was her necklace, and where were her clothes? She looked around frantically, and not finding them nearby, turned her attention on the male. He didn’t have them. What was a pokemon? And who was he? She didn’t recognize him at all.

     ‘ Quack qua quack!! ’ She flapped back towards him, attempting to gesture with her wings to indicate that she’d lost something.

Touya, who was no stranger to animals pokemon that were very expressive and communicative, instantly went from ‘Oh no this is the cutest pokemon I have ever seen (since this morning)’ to ‘Oh no something is terribly wrong!!’

Unfortunately, as expressive as Duck was, wings still lacked nuance.

“What’s wrong? What are you pointing at?”

The young man stared in apprehension, trying to make sense of all the flapping.

Her fingers idly stroked the fur around the Buneary’s ears (the small pokemon was drifting to sleep, and Ollie had already curled up for a nap), her attention on Touya. So he was busy working? That must have been why he never replied to her messages, right? At least that meant he wasn’t straight out ignoring her… (she hoped anyway). And he wanted to see her again!

Her mind was already off, imagining and practicing what she might say, and how she would apologise for the spa thing, and do better at mentoring and helping him and Fuffles this time around.

Touya’s movement brought her back, silencing the waves of thought. He wanted to see more of the city?

❝Of course!❞ she said, excitement causing a smile to bloom brilliantly, ❝I’d love to! Are you done eating then??❞

They’d made a good effort on all the food, most of it was gone, and the leftovers could easily fit into one of the containers provided. Lisia carefully shifted Bunni in her arms and leaned down to fish out the pokeball from her bag. At seeing that her Politoed was also asleep, she smiled and sighed.

The two pokemon were returned to their pokeballs before Lisia set about tidying up the remains of the meal. Her foot tapped, and her leg bounced, her enthusiasm about showing Touya more of the city was trying to pull her body along like a puppetmaster pulling on strings.

❝So what do you wanna see or do next? We could go to the museum! Or we could go swimming! Or the Art Gallery! Or swimming! Or we could go to one of the Lookouts! Or to the library! Or to my Uncle’s house, there’s a huge pool and we can go swimming with the pokemon! Or we could go to the Water Theatre! Or just go swimming! Whatever you wanna do! I just wanna have a lotta fun together and make this a great time for you!❞

And there, on the heels of calling him ‘cute’, she said another thing.

Wanting to have a lot of fun ‘together’.

Touya sucked on his lower lip, making one final effort to push back the warmth that spread inside of him. But it was to no avail. This girl -- this ridiculous individual he didn’t even know the name of -- was like a ray of sunshine.

At the very least he was sure that her attitude towards him had changed with time. It’s not like she had always been giving him this kind of attention and he’d been blind up until now.

No, this was something that developed recently. Ever since that snow storm.

Touya sighed. His brain didn’t want to think about it. He just wanted to enjoy it.

“How about,” he said, then paused, as if considering her list of options. But no consideration was necessary. It was far too obvious what she wanted to do with him. “Wanna go swimming? It’s such a crazy, random idea.”

He gave her a lopsided smile.

     A SUDDEN PEAL OF LAUGHTER BUBBLES UP from inside him, prompted by Touya’s enthusiastic response. “ Aren’t all roads though? ” Warm giggles are sure to follow – even as they continue to braid the makeshift latter one rope at a time. “ I’m assuming you know the jungle well then – BEWEARS, DRAMPAS, SALAME – ” He cuts himself off. No, no, they weren’t going to talk about that one. “ Uh, FLYGON … ”

    His eye squints as he folds one rope over the other, staring at it with the same amount of concentration as he did folding paper. “ It’s like – folding ORIGAMI, you know? That kinda thing … ” Then, more giggles when Touya whispers.

    “ YOU THINK IT’S READY TO GO? When we drop it down – we oughta check to make sure its long enough. ”

The list of pokemon earned a quirk of Touya’s eyebrow. “Oh, yeah, I know of those. Though there’s no reason to beware drampas. They’re really very friendly.” Touya had no clue what a Bewear was, lord help him.

The trainer then surveyed their handiwork, testing the ladder’s strength by trying to tug the braided ropes apart.

The knots held firm.

“Hm, hm, well, it’s probably as ready as it’ll ever be.” Then he happily declared, “You’re smaller, so you should be fine, but if it turns out to not be strong enough, I might fall to my doom!”

A moment later Touya peered over the edge of the cliff, assessed the distance between himself and the ground down below, and his smile waned.

“Actually, that might not be such a good thing for me, heck.”

His unease lasted a whole one-point-three seconds. “Oh well! Let’s do this.” He grabbed the bundle that was the rope ladder and, in his eagerness, was about to toss it over the edge..

“Whoa, wait,” he blurted, stopping himself with a start. “We need to tie it to something up here first, yikes. I almost made a huge mistake.”

Oh look at him squirm. The little shoulder devil that appeared now was having quite a giggle at his expense. Push him more about it, was the urging from it. Lisia once again nuzzled (and hid) against Bunni to stop herself from laughing. She needed to get hold of herself! Touya wouldn’t appreciate her giggling at him, and he might become suspicious of her too.

Thankfully, Touya himself pulled her from her amusement by his sudden mention of her name. 

She sat up straighter, surprise relaxing her features but tightening her embrace of the pokemon a little. Why did he bring that up? ‘No goodbye’? 

She didn’t have time to feel slightly miffed, or confused, or even hopeful, as that amusement of hers came rushing back and washed away all else. A giggle left her before she could stop it, her head giving a small shake while her eyes turned away, as if she couldn’t handle looking at him anymore. His awkward little rambles always got to her…

❝You’re so cute.❞

Like the giggle, the words came out before she could stop them. In fact, she didn’t even realise she had said them. Other thoughts took the prominent position in her mind. Was he worried about her (aka Lisia)? The shoulder devil piped up with an idea…

Maybe he misses you/her? Ask him. Ask him. Ask him.

It would be easy to teasingly ask, but could she get away with that? Annoying or pushing him was the last thing she wanted to do, especially with his mood seeming to shift downwards.

Lisia sighed and pulled her gaze back over to Touya with a touch of curiosity.

❝Do you want Lisia to come back? I mean, I’m sure she will be back once she’s feeling better…❞

Touya’s eyebrows shot way, way up.

Did she just call him cute?

How on earth was he supposed to respond to that? Where did it even come from?

He was still struggling to figure it all out when she presented him with a question of her own, leading him to give a somewhat distracted answer.

“Well... yeah.”

There was a beat before he caught himself and added: “I mean. I was too busy working when she left. ...Interpreting! ...so it was all very sudden. It would be nice if she came back and I could see her again. Ya know?”

But even with that addition, Touya’s mind was still preoccupied.

Part of him was kicking itself, perturbed that he was not giving the topic of Lisia the full attention and consideration it deserved. He was so worried about her earlier. Where was that concern now?

But the rest of him couldn’t help it. After the rough week he’d been through, the positive attention this girl was showering him with was really... nice...

Chaz nodded to himself, confirming the Total Rightness of his speech. It felt good to let it all out, and he’d done a good deed too! Now the stranger could burst into animated laughter and not take a word of what he’d said seriously.

Wait what.

Laughter. Giggles. Chortles even! What the glorious heck? What was so funny?

Despite the flush coming to his cheeks, Chaz straightened himself up further and narrowed his eyes at the too-happy young man. With a ‘tsk’ and slight toss of his head, he tried to set the other guy straight.

“Well I’m not her sidekick, I’m her rival and equal! And what would you know about the contest forums anyway? You-”

While he went on, implying all sorts of things, a certain Idol was nearby, having just exited her apartment building (had Chaz been heading this way to ambush her so they could attend the photoshoot together? Probably). 

Lisia stood there, eyes wide at the sight of Chaz and Touya together. Her mind raced with all sorts of convoluted nonsense, but the mess of it was cut through by the sound of Touya’s laughter and the happiness that seemed so evident. Had she ever seen him like that before? Touya laughing! It was such a free sound, and sweet doki dokis, it was just so cute!

All that mattered right then was getting closer! (she had to be sure this wasn’t a weird dream after all, right?).

Before she even knew it, her excited steps took her over to the pair and she grabbed onto Chaz’s arm. At first it was just because she had miss-stepped, but then she hugged his arm properly, her eyes alight in a way that had never been directed at him before.

❝Chaz, Chaz, Chaz!❞ the bright greeting was accompanied by her action of tugging and squeezing his arm. The need to know what he had said or done to make Touya laugh was bubbling up through her, but she managed to catch herself and switch questions, ❝What are you guys talking about??❞

Her eager attention turned to Touya, so she missed the way Chaz seemed to flit between being completely flustered and totally smug. Having Lisia cling to his arm was the perfect revenge, he really didn’t need to say anything.

Heck!

It was Lisia. THE Lisia! What was she doing there? Where did she come from? What kind of bizarre shoujo universe was Touya currently inhabiting?!

However, while these world-building questions were very important for worlds that needed to be built, Touya had slightly more pressing matters to grapple with. Namely, Chaz was a moron, but Lisia was not. If Touya tried to keep lying in order to mess with Chaz, Lisia would know.

“L-Lisia! Um, uh, hi! Err, I was just-- uh, we were just-- um.”

He was still smiling of course, and something akin to a giggle even escaped his throat. But it was obvious he was nervous.

After a moment he decided to hell with it.

Plastering a huge (though somewhat forced) smile on his face, he declared in one continuous breath: “I was just talking to your sidekick he’s really funny okay bye.”

And he tried to turn around and leave.

“No, nothing quit so pressing, I am afraid. A doppelgänger would struggle to infiltrate my circle of acquaintances. No, this is a less serious matter, at the very least. I have come in search of cryptids that relate a fair bit closer to humans. Swamp men, bigfoot… witches. All manner of unusual human-like cryptids and legends.”

Despite its sheer weight, Diana’s boot quietly finds its way onto the doorframe in a manner that would not attract attention, but would definitely prevent it from closing.

“To be perfectly honest, it is something of a dispute between an acquaintance of mine and myself. She seems to be insistent that humans are merely another form of pokemon. I intend to prove her wrong. What I have found so far has sent me here, to this region.”

Touya couldn’t help letting the corner of his lips curl downward at the mention of ‘witches’.

He’s had some very mixed feelings and experiences involving witches and witchcraft.

Not only that, but she dared breathe that word -- ‘witches’ -- right alongside the likes of bigfoot and swamp men. Those weren’t even in the same classification group. Matters of the occult had nothing to do with cryptids.

But that was why Touya entered the picture, he presumed: to educate.

“Well,” he said. “We’re not currently at the office, so I don’t have my files and documents on-hand.” Tabloids and yellowed library tomes, respectively. “But tell you what. If you’re here for some cryptid consultation, the first ten minutes are free. Please, step inside, miss, uh...?”

With an accent like hers, this young woman’s name had better be Hapferstoodle or something like that.

  X // “ IT WILL BE HEAVY, BUT – it’ll make a decent shortcut. ” He hypothesizes. “ You don’t have to help me – but, if you insist, then take this end. ” He offers one end of the rope to the other. “ You know, I’m not sure if this is legal or not. I mean, it IS a rope ladder but … ” Weren’t there people who were all about environmental safety? Would they get in trouble for creating a shortcut down the sloping path? // @binarycolours

‘Legal’?

The kid would find himself on the receiving end of the blankest of stares.

Then Touya said: “You don’t ask if an adventure is legal or illegal. You just have an adventure!”

Actually, it was probably a good idea to ask if th--”AND SERIOUSLY.” Wait, the narration wasn’t done tal--”This is the stuff adventures are made of. You know what’s down that route?”

Touya pointed to where the path snaked out of view.

“Main road. Been there, done that. Boring as hell. Full of traffic and people, so congested, ugh. But down there??”

He pointed to the steep incline.

“Adventure!”

His case would have probably been a bit more convincing had the view not been of the most uninspiring stretch of empty plain. Yellowed patches of tall grass were the most exciting thing in sight, a random small boy making a step ladder at a cliff’s edge notwithstanding.

Speaking of, Touya accepted the tip Kubo handed him and began braiding it into one of the ‘steps’ in said ladder.