As her admirers dispersed, Aurea decided it was actually time to find Fennel. The day had been long, and she was about ready to go back to the hotel, order some service, watch some television or maybe a movie, and generally wind down before the conference’s continuation tomorrow.

“Alola!” a voice called out from nearby. “Professor Juniper!”

Aurea turned. Normally, she would be alarmed by a shirtless man running toward her, but this was an—and perhaps the only—exception. She recognized him as Professor Kukui, the local Pokémon specialist.

“Hello—Alola,” Aurea corrected herself. The region’s traditional greeting was so unusual and she was not quite used to it yet. “What can I help you with?”

“Oh, I just wanted to offer my thanks for such a great presentation. You don’t see too many people who research the origins of Pokémon, and I found it really interesting. I learned a lot,” Kukui said. “Oh! Sorry, I should introduce myself.” He stuck out his hand. “Abe Kukui. You can just call me Kukui, though.”

“Then you can just call me Aurea,” Juniper said, shaking his hand. “I know you though. I saw your presentation yesterday on Pokémon moves. I learned a lot as well.”

“Thank you,” Kukui said proudly. “Well, I don’t want to keep you, but just know if there’s anything I can do to help you while you’re here, please let me know.”

Aurea was prepared to thank him and graciously exit—but she stumbled.

“Actually,” she started, “now that you’ve brought it up…”

“Oh?” Kukui perked up.

“You see, it’s my wife and I’s first time in Alola,” she said, “and our one-year anniversary is tomorrow. We agreed that the… expenses of traveling to this conference together in such a beautiful region would be our celebration. Still, I’d like to surprise her after the conference breaks in the afternoon, but I’m not sure with what.”

“Well, I’ve got the perfect thing for you.” Kukui grinned. “An Alolan specialty: Battle Royal.”

“Excuse me?” Juniper raised her brow.

“It’s a special kind of battle where four trainers fight against each other,” Kukui explained. “And it just so happens that Royal Avenue, the location of the Battle Royal Dome, is here on Akala Island and not far off from Heahea City.” He lifted his hand to his firm chin with practiced thought. “It’s also the arena where the very strong and very handsome trainer, the Masked Royal, appears…”

“Is that so?” Aurea asked, amused.

“Oh yes.” Kukui nodded reverently. “Even my wife admits he’s a real stud. I know him personally, so I could get in contact with him and get you comp tickets for the front row.”

“Would you really?” Aurea straightened up.

“Sure!” Kukui nodded eagerly. “If you give me your email, I’ll be able to put you in touch.”

“That would be wonderful,” Aurea said. “Thank you very much!”

They exchanged information and a few more pleasant words before Kukui was called away.

“He’s handsome,” Fennel purred from behind Aurea once Kukui was out of earshot. Juniper nearly jumped in surprise and turned just in time to see a questioning look fall across Fennel’s face. “Do you think he ever gets cold not wearing a shirt all the time?”

Aurea stared through her.

“What’s with that look?” Fennel frowned.

Her pout caused Aurea to break into into a laugh; she shook her head tiredly and smiled.

“Well, I’m sorry to report he’s married,” she said. “And for that matter, so are you, Therese.”

“Hey, I can still appreciate the aesthetic appeal of muscles,” Therese said with teasing nonchalance.

They laughed together at that.

Hours later, after eating, Juniper holed herself up in the hotel bathroom, managing to sneak her laptop in with her. (Fennel believed she was only showering. If Aurea was on her computer with her wife in the room, there was no chance her surprise would stay secret. Therese had a habit of… hovering). For good measure, Juniper turned on the shower head as she booted up her computer.

To her surprise, she already an email from whom she could only assume was the Masked Royal, given the address was [email protected], and the sender icon feature a shirtless man wearing a colorful mask.

It read, in all caps:

ALOLA!

MY VERY GOOD FRIEND PROFESSOR KUKUI TOLD ME YOU AND YOUR WIFE WANT TO COME SEE ME TOMORROW NIGHT.

I CALLED THE ARENA AND TOLD THEM TO OFFER A PAIR OF FRONT-ROW SEATS TO AUREA JUNIPER. THEY ASKED YOU SHOW YOUR ID AT THE TICKET BOOTH.

WOO!

MASKED ROYAL

Therese was watching the news when Aurea came out of the bathroom, fully showered and dressed. She tied up her damp hair and climbed into bed beside Therese.

“Anything exciting happening in the world?” Aurea asked.

“It's wedding season in Alola, apparently,” Therese said.

Juniper hummed. “Well, in retrospect, maybe we ought to have held our wedding here. It probably wouldn’t have rained, and my hair and make-up wouldn’t have run, and your dress wouldn’t have gotten all gray and frayed at the ends,” she remarked.

“No way,” Fennel refused. “Our wedding was perfect for those reasons. It was messy, but we had so much fun, and the photos were fantastic. Plus, with all that flooding, we mostly had to stay inside for the honeymoon.” She lowered her voice playfully when she added, “That was even more fun. It was like college all over again.”

“Cheeky,” Aurea tutted. “I can’t believe it’s already been a year.”

“Not yet,” Therese reminded her.

“Splitting hairs,” Aurea yawned. “It will have been after we sleep. And speaking of which…”

The lights were out minutes later. Juniper fell asleep quickly, especially with the secure warmth of Fennel beside her.

… But the sweet reverie ended in what felt like only minutes—even though, when Juniper checked the clock, it was hours later.

“Come on, get up,” Therese said excitedly into her ear.

“It’s 4 a.m., go back to sleep,” Aurea groaned, rolling over.

“Exactly,” Therese said. “Which means it’s 10 a.m. in Unova, which means it’s been a year since we got married.”

“Well, happy anniversary,” Juniper yawned, to which Fennel hit her arm. “Ow.”

“Get up! Come on, I want to take you somewhere,” Fennel implored.

“Okay, geez, fine,” Aurea grumbled as Therese dragged her out of bed.

They didn’t bother to change, even as there was a light drizzle outside. Aurea remarked that she supposed it wouldn’t have mattered if they held their wedding in Alola; it would have rained anyway. Therese, however, didn’t reply as she hurriedly led her wife down the dark, puddled streets. Juniper was about to ask where in the world they were headed when suddenly they turned the corner, and in the damp haze there stood a small bakery with its bright yellow lights shining down the street.

Juniper’s hair was sopping, and the ends of Fennel’s pajama bottoms were heavy and dark when they stepped inside. The woman behind the cash register looked very surprised to see them as Therese marched up to her and said, “Two sweet Malasadas please!”

“O-Of course!” The woman rang them up and handed them two sugary confections. Aurea stared down at hers as Therese led her to a booth.

“What… is this?” Aurea asked just as Therese took a bite out of hers.

“It’s—” Fennel paused to chew and swallow. “It’s Malasada. It’s an Alolan specialty. It’s a little bit like a donut. Try it! It’s good.”

Juniper glanced down at the warm treat in her hands before taking an experimental bite. A sweet, Pecha filling oozed out.

“Mm, it is good,” Aurea said. “Where did you get the idea for this?”

“Well…” Therese trailed off. “Do you remember Professor Burnet?”

Juniper paused to think. “Oh!” she then exclaimed with remembrance. “Kukui’s wife. She presented on her dimensional research two days ago.”

“Yeah, her!” Fennel nodded. “Well, I had a moment alone with her yesterday, and… I know we agreed not to do anything else for our anniversary, but I wanted to surprise you. She suggested this place.”

Juniper was initially touched—and then she laughed.

“That’s funny,” she said.

“What’s funny?” Therese inquired, her face twisting with confusion.

“I wanted to do the same for you,” Aurea explained. “I asked Kukui for advice, but he suggested going to see a Battle Royal match. I have front-row seats reserved for tonight.”

Therese’s jaw dropped.

“What! Ugh!” She snapped her fingers. “Outdone again by the brilliant Professor Juniper.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Aurea began, amused, “I didn’t pay for them. Kukui, apparently, has connections to the shirtless Masked Royal and got me the seats for free—so you can enjoy the aesthetic appeal of muscles all you want tonight.”

“Oh,” Therese hummed. “So my gift is technically more valuable.”

“Technically.” Aurea smiled. “By $4.29.”

They laughed, and Aurea leaned across the table to kiss Therese, catching some of the sugar on the edge of her lip.

“Thank you for this,” Juniper said. “Happy anniversary.”