#jarres

               Soft plinks and plops of rainspattered along the walkway.  Fat, heavydrops hit the dry earth, slow at first, and then faster and faster.  It turned into a downpour quicker than aliepard could hide a sneeze.  Waterrushed down the green hillside, quenching the thirst of the summer drought in asatisfied sigh of petrichor.  Crisp, dryleaves gained a new luster, and a group of tympole unburrowed to splash in theforming puddles.  The world let itselfbreath again as the buzzing of nincadas ceased and the heat of summer wasbanished by the rain, washing away a layer of dust.

               Voices spilled through thetrees, over the hillside.  Yelping andlaughing, they were followed soon after by running feet splashing through therainfall.  Two figures appeared over thehill, and one let out a cry of surprise, pointing.  They turned to each other, one with a head offiery red, the other of palest pink, and began a mad dash down.

               Stumbling and skipping, the twobarely managed to keep their footing as they skidded onto the walkway.  Flying feet brought them under the overhang,and they slammed into the wall with a thump that echoed through the halls.

               “Should have known the one dayduring this blasted drought we decide to go out we get caught in a rainstorm!”Tawny shouted between gasps and grinning teeth.

               “F-f-fairly s-certain ourl-lunch is r-ruined, th-though,” Rabbit said, wringing out her drenched shirtand returning Tawny’s smile.  “N-not thatI m-mind t-too m-much.  B-been a w-whilesince I h-haven’t f-felt the t-tickle of th-thirst in my th-throat.”

               “You may not mind, but Ido!  That picnic looked delicious and nowit’s going to go to the pidgey or whatever else gets at it first.”

               “W-well the-en I’m g-glads-someone will enj-oy it.”

               Tawny gave a somewhat dubiouslook.  “Really?  You worked so hard on it, and you’re not theleast bit upset?”

               “W-well…”  Rabbit hedged, then relented.  “O-okay, th-that e-egg s-salad s-sandw-ichlooked am-m-maz-ing,” she said, and the two let out a laugh along with eachother.

               “Vegetarian my ass,” Tawnyteased, grinning hard.  “You cheater.”

               “H-hey n-now!  E-eggs a-aren’t b-born y-et!  D-don’t c-count f-for th-at s-sorta th-thing!”  Rabbit defended, but she was grinning aswell.

               “Oh whatever,” Tawny squeezedsome of the water out of her shirt, looking around.  “Hey, where are we anyway?”

               Following her gaze, Rabbit’seyebrows rose.  “I h-have n-o id-dea!  I’ve g-gone through a l-lot of th-thesew-woods, a-and I’ve n-ever s-seen th-this m-mansion before…”

               Indeed, the entire place couldhave been easy to miss.  It was utterlycovered in ivy, and the two had mistaken walkway formed by the overhang abovethem to be a cave at first.  Now theywere closer, though, with manmade walkways of tiled stone beneath their feetand windows looking into the manor set at regular intervals, it was unmistakable.  What had seemed like rocks of a cliff side beforecould be distinguished as the peaking roof, a circular window with intricatedesign at its center.  Rabbit couldn’t besure, but she almost wondered if it was southern Kalosian architecture, orsimply a trick of the light.

               “I think there’s a door overhere,” Tawny’s voice echoed from further along the walkway.  Rabbit snapped back to her senses to find herfriend near the thickest of the hanging vines, rummaging through it.  She jumped, and followed after, running pastwater splattering down from the overhang, shoes squelching on the stone path.

               “F-find a-anyth-thing?”  She asked, slowing as she got nearer.

               “Seems so.  Maybe there are some towels or something inside,”Tawny said, stripping back the ivy to reveal a brass knob, turning green inplaces.

               “O-oh my A-arceus, T-tawny!  A-are w-we b-breaking in?”  Rabbit said, her voice hushed to a whisper,eyebrows raised as she tried to suppress a grin.

               “I’m sure no one’s going to mindif we take some shelter from the rain,” Tawny said, trying the knob, with noresult.  “Pretty sure plenty of Pokémon-oof—Do already!” She continued, wrenching at the handle to no avail.

               Rabbit licked her lips, glancingaround, before stepping closer.  “H-here,l-let m-me t-try,” she said, digging in a handbag and producing a hairclip.  Tawny raised her eyebrows, butmoved out of the way.  In only a fewmoments there was a satisfying click, and the door swung inward.

               “Well well!  Where did you learn that, Rabbit?”  Tawny asked, following her friend inside,looking impressed.

               “S-sometimes th-there’d b-beth-things f-folks w-would l-lock away f-from me th-that I d-didn’t w-ant l-lockedaw-way,” Rabbit explained with a shrug.  “L-learnedm-my w-way ar-ound it.  H-helped w-when Id-decided to l-leave, t-oo.”

               Inside, the sound of the rainbecame muffled.  It pattered against theroof above, and somewhere was the distinct sound of droplets plinking againstmetal.  Cold wind blew from furtherwithin, giving an eerie quality to the dark halls, covered in dust and debris,plants pushing their way through the floor in places.  Rabbit felt herself start to shiver, and shebegan to regret the pretty sundress she’d worn that day.  It clung to her skin, wet and cold, sappingthe warmth from her.  Even if it had beena warm day before, the rain was more than enough to add a relative chill to theair.

               Tawny seemed to be in a similarstate.  Her teeth chattered, and sherubbed at the swanana pimples forming on her bare arms.

               “W-well, w-wanna g-g-goexp-ploring,” the redhead asked.  Rabbitrolled her eyes, at which Tawny shot her a grin.  “W-what? Th-they s-s-say i-imit-tation is the m-most s-sincere f-form off-f-f-flattery!”

               “H-hardy h-har,” Rabbit said,trying her best to cut down on her own stutter. “H-h-here, I-‘vve g-got s-something f-fffor th-this.”  Reaching into her handbag again, she retrieveda Pokéball and, with a flash of red light, released the contents.  In front of them now stood a large ninetails,sitting on its hindquarters and giving a yawn.

Jarres eyed the two of them, expression unreadable, and gave a littlechuff of what appeared to be annoyance. She stood and stepped over, wrapping around Rabbit with comfortingwarmth.  Little wisps of steam rose intothe air from where her flank touched Rabbit’s clothes, and soon the shiverabated entirely.  Tawny gave a grin as itcame to be her turn, and let out a yelp as hot fur touched cold skin.

               “Careful there, or you’ll giveme a sunburn,” she muttered, garnering a snort in reply.

               “T-tawny, y-you sh-shoulds-s-see th-this,” Rabbit’s voice came from the next room, and Tawny raised aneyebrow, following after.

               Stepping through the doorway,she stopped in her tracks and stared. Before them lay a huge ballroom, its center caved in, one wall fallingto pieces and revealing a courtyard beyond. Light and rain filtered through from a hole in the roof, illuminatingthe tree that had grown through the floorboards, wildflowers springing uparound its base.  The source of the metalplinking could also be seen, a sculpture of a young girl and some Pokémontoppled over.  A stream had formed,running past the tree and out a small hole in the far wall, fed from the pondin the courtyard.  As Tawny watched, agroup of marill and one azumarill spotted her and Rabbit and hopped into theprotective waters, appearing in the pond and eyeing them suspiciously.

               “Shiny,” Tawny gasped, mouthagape.  “This is beautiful.”

               “S-seems l-like w-we’re a-alwaysf-findi-ng s-something n-new and am-mazing, do-oesn’t it?”  Rabbit said. Tawny nodded and stepped forward, stopping just before the rain, still staringin astonishment.  Rabbit, meanwhile, hadmade her way to the statue, and was staring at it, an odd expression playingacross her face.  She jumped when Jarrespushed her head under Rabbit’s hand, and shot the ninetails a smile.

               “M-maybe w-we sh-shouldn’t d-doanym-more e-xploring, a-alright?” She said, and Tawny blinked, tearing herselfaway at last.

               “Think so?  I’d love to climb that tree, though,” shesaid, making her way over.  “Hey, is thatcelebi?”

               “Th-this?  L-looks l-like it?  B-but I d-don’t r-recognize the g-girl,” shesaid, shaking her head.

               “Probably the daughter ofwhoever owned this place,” Tawny said with a shrug.  “Maybe someone back at town knows.”

               “M-maybe…  I j-just g-get the f-f-feeling I-I’ve h-heardof s-something l-like this,” Rabbit said, before shaking her head.  “W-well w-whatever the case, w-we sh-shouldw-wait the s-storm out.  M-most l-likelyit w-won’t l-last t-t-too m-much l-longer.”

               “Sounds good.  Wanna watch the rain while we wait?”  Tawny asked, and Rabbit gave a smile and anod.

               Finding a dry spot under theeaves in the courtyard, the two settled down, leaning against Jarres’ warmflank, watching the rain fall from above and splash into the pond.  After a while the marill resumed theirplaying, joined by a group of tympole, frolicking under the falling water andalong the waterfall formed from collapsed rubble.  Little white flowers growing at the edges ofthe pond caught Rabbits eye, and she sat up.

               “L-look!  W-watercress! H-hey, T-tawny, you h-hungry s-still?”

               Tawny looked conflicted.  “Normally I’d leave you to your lopunny food,Rabbit, but…” She trailed off, and as if in to finish the thought her stomachlet out a rumble.  Rabbit gave a snortinglaugh and shook her head.

               “S-stay here, I-I’ll g-go g-getsome,” she said, skipping out into the rain. As she approached the marill retreated underwater once more, eyeing herfrom afar.  They only seemed satisfiedonce she’d returned to Tawny’s side, holding some of the plants, a few leaveshanging from her mouth.

               “T-try it,” she said, offeringit to Tawny, who took a dubious bite.

               “Peppery!” Tawny exclaimed,looking a little surprised.  “Would gowell with some fruit.”

               “Mhm!” Rabbit agreed, taking amoment to swallow.  “L-lots of f-fruits-starting w-with the l-letter aft-er O. M-my f-favorite to a-add is th-the o-one that r-rhymes with a-air.”

               “Pears?”

               “Mm!  S-sorry, ha-ard to s-say,” Rabbit said,cheeks going pink.

               Tawny let out a laugh, wrappingan arm around her friend.  “You don’tneed to apologize.”

               “I n-know, b-but…”

               “Feels like you have to?”

               “Yeah…”

               “Well you don’t have to aroundme,” Tawny reassured her, leaning back against Jarres, who let out a deepbreath.

               “Th-thank you,” Rabbit murmured,resting her head against Tawny’s side.

               A few minutes passed as the twowatched the marill play in the water, the rain adding a wonderful soundtrack ofwhite noise.

               “Well Rabbit, we didn’t have ourpicnic, but I think today turned out fantastic anyway,” Tawny said, smiling outat the courtyard overgrowing with wildflowers. She waited for a response, but when none came she glanced down to findRabbit’s eyes closed, her breathing regular, fast asleep.

              Rain fell in a steady rhythm, lulling the party to sleep.  It shook the grasses and colorful flowerswith each impact, like waves of green. Water type Pokémon frolicked in the pond, while others took shelter Inthe abandoned mansion, weathering the storm. The brook babbled past a tree growing in an unlikely place, and nearbywater plinked on a metal sculpture of a familiar girl, and a guardian of theforest.