He runs a hand along the banded tail that sidles up to him, touching jade then garnet then jade again, the ceiling fan sending his loose t-shirt and Sceptile's palms whispering softly to each other as they lounge peacefully on the terrace. Peaceful does not equate to silence, though, and there's a brief trample on the birch flooring as Sapphire dodges a blast of brine, laughing at Emerald's misfire, tumbling back onto the grass and scampering off only to be struck by a water pulse from the direction opposite.

By the fence, Ruby is smug, high-fiving Zuzu in that self-assured manner of his, and Sapphire growls, her sopping wet hair slipping out of its clumsy ponytail when she shakes the water from it; Emerald runs over while she's vulnerable and, cackling, jets more water on her head with a nimble press on the garden hose. Ruby's resulting laugh is like the soft chime of a bell.

Despite their manual rain, the torrid, sultry heat brushes its influence over Hoenn with malice, and Wally idly observes the blades of grass highlighted white. It was the stifling air that had led him to seek respite and dry off under the fan early.

The grass type beside him has a look of complete repose on his face, eyes shut and arms crossed, taking in the sounds alone. Rarely do they ever meet like this, yet, they spend their time together so freely as if they'll see each other tomorrow.

Sapphire lunges for Emerald, who trips over the length of hose pooled around his feet, shrieking, and she snatches him up instantly, impishly holding him upside-down. The boy yells, cusses and tries to reach for the ground that his height won't allow, and with a wave of a hand Ruby casually sends another deluge their way.

It had all begun as a meeting to "check out our pokemons' awesome mega evolutions together", but as noon casted the sun to the centre of the cloudless blue sky, their excitement evaporated, together with much of their energy, and they'd all lumbered into the silent, uninhabited confines of the Birch residence for some shade. Ruby brought Zuzu for a wash in the garden, Sapphire followed, unleashing the pandemonium of waterworks that now glistens the floor and the grass.

Sapphire begins to frustratedly wriggle out of her soaked shirt, and both Ruby and Emerald yell at her for it, though perhaps Ruby had foreseen the war because she has two layers. She flings her discarded shirt at Ruby's face and he's interrupted mid-rant, sputtering, and though Zuzu grabs her in time as she tries to pounce his trainer, Emerald dodges the swampert's arm and brings up the pipeline to blast Ruby in the face, just as he throws Sapphire's shirt to the side in disgust.

xxx

One by one, they retreat to the haven under the suspended fan; first, Ruby, who was getting a little too dirty, and not long afterwards, Emerald being chased by Sapphire. A minute or two of slipping about and everyone joins him and Sceptile in an exhausted heap, covered in wet grass and soil.

Everyone is leaning against Zuzu's large, snoring frame, save for Sapphire, who's given him a bit of a problem. She's splayed horizontally over his legs, comfortable enough to be fast asleep, snoring softly, and he's not sure how to deal with her warm, smooth belly over his calves just yet. Ruby's eyelids flutter, but Wally hopes he's unconscious too.

xxx

He dreams of flowing, bisque patterns, of circles and lines that bridge them together, and of the sound of a terrible, mournful wailing, echoing in the far distance, a place he cannot reach no matter how much he runs, and it pains because that voice is familiar to him. It's black everywhere he turns, save for the sinuous, neverending trails of the yellow motif that flanks him on both sides, beckoning, leading him along a path to nowhere.

xxx

Emerald complains of a migraine, perpetually rubbing his temples, while Sapphire's scratched a chaotic polygon on the back of her hand, pale grazes against her tanned skin because "it itches". Gently dabbing ointment on the scrapes, Ruby chastises her.

"There's probably some hairy, squishy bacteria with a dozen squiggly tails multiplying by the second right here, all because you insist on rolling about in the mud. Isn't that disgusting?"

"Yer way more disgusting," Sapphire quips, and Ruby flicks her nose in response. She lunges forward to bite his finger.

The sky is a molten canvas, purple falling into orange falling into red, dusk-painted clouds and scores of bleating wingull retreating into the horizon in chase of the retiring sun. A cool breeze sweeps through the trees from the ocean, sending the shrubbery chattering and goosebumps climbing up Wally's bare arms, and he rubs them up and down in a feeble attempt to preserve some heat. Only hours ago had he been very willing to remove his shirt, sweating a river under the blazing sun. Hoenn's climate can be as bipolar as the legends behind it.

A brief shriek when Sapphire catches Ruby's hand in her teeth doesn't faze Sceptile, who merely rolls his shoulder, readjusting his muscles after napping flat against the wall for hours. His scales have an orange tint that gives him a dramatic glow, and Wally can't help but smile at his former pokemon. Noticing him smiling, Sceptile pauses his exercise and eyeballs him, cooing curiously.

"Are you cold?" he merely asks for the sake of asking. "I kind of am."

The grass type shakes his head– maybe he isn't cold-blooded after all– but smiles a little, dragging his lengthy tail to curl around the boy's crossed legs, and though it doesn't do much to break the cold breeze, he does feel warmer, however metaphorical.

Having released Ruby, Sapphire makes a show of sticking out her tongue in distaste as the latter fumbles for some anti-bacterial hand cream from his pocket.

"I'm cold too," Ruby states, rubbing his hands together. "didn't think we'd stay here so long. Should we go in for a little bit, before he head home?"

Sapphire sniffs. "It's not cold. And what if we wanna stay outside?"

"What if we don't? Wally, it's warmer inside the house."

He plays with the leaves on Sceptile's tail. Despite the temperature, he likes the ambience of the sunset after a tiring afternoon too much to be willing to leave it. "To be honest with you, Ruby, I'd love to stay here a while longer. Is that okay? You can go inside."

"Yeah, go inside." Sapphire parrots dismissively, for the sole purpose of irritating her counterpart. Ruby sighs.

"I'll be alone in there. Emerald, don't you want to sleep on the couch or something?"

Sapphire giggles, "Yer a wuss."

"Everyone shut up." Emerald finally mumbles from his position– face down on the floorboards– turning his face to give Ruby and Sapphire a tired look. "Migraine here."

"See? Rald's dying of cold. We should go in." Ruby concludes.

"But, hey, there are actually lotsa blankets 'n stuff inside," Sapphire hops up, "I'll go get some for Wally and Emerald!"

Unsurprisingly, Ruby stands up as well. "Oh, that's fine too. I'll go with you, then, just a minute guys~"

It's barely audible, but Wally hears Emerald grumble ever so softly, "Safety first."

A muffled "What do you mean there aren't any lights?" and a lot of thudding and trampling from the house behind them lets Wally and Emerald know that they won't be out for a while. For a while Wally sits in silence, watching the sky, while Emerald lazes about on the floor, mumbling to himself about his headache.

The sound of glass breaking comes from inside causes the two boys to stare at each other for a moment. When the crash is followed by back-and-forth yelling, Sceptile chuffs in mirth, and the two can't help but also burst out into fits of laughter.

xxx

Although it's getting dark, he manages to see Ruby bend a little to graze her cheek with his lips. She jumps at the contact, but their hands are joined so she doesn't go far. The resulting squabbling, too, grows distant, until they're out of sight.

"Gross," Emerald remarks, making a face of disapproval at the retreating figures and turning away with arms crossed. Wally merely smiles placatingly, though he can only imagine what it would be like to have been in love for as long.

"Well, I'll be going the other way. 'Till next week?"

Through the snark, he can see a light to the boy's eyes– hope, maybe, that these meetings will work out. He doubts Emerald will admit it so freely, but he shares a closeness to Ruby and Sapphire that Wally probably wouldn't understand. It almost makes him feel sad, being... well, fourth wheel.

"Of course." Wally beams.

Emerald returns his smile with a smirk of his own, and with a wave of his hand, turns to leave. Sceptile watches the printed 10 on his back for a moment, but turns back to Wally. After a beat, the pokemon puts his claws on his shoulder, crooning.

Wally manages a small grin, gently brushing off Sceptile's hand.

"Hey, go on. Your trainer's leaving." he whispers softly.

The pokemon's amber eyes fall. He croons again. Wally's heart sighs.

"It's alright, you know– I'm... I'm happy. Because I know you're happy." He reaches up to stroke the pokemon's head. "Don't worry about me, Sceptile."

Sceptile regards him silently for a moment, before slowly, reluctantly, he nods. Wally can only wish he could understand his language.

Emerald's pretty far along, but his steps have been slow– has he looked back? At all? Sceptile soon follows, loping after the blonde's retreating back, tail marring the sandy path with thin lines before finally slowing by his trainer's side. They're too distant, but Wally thinks the boy says something.

Sceptile looks back once, raising his claws in silent goodbye, and turns the corner with his trainer, tail brushing the flowers.

The trainer watches the place where they last stood for a while, the evening breeze batting at his clothes and hair.

Wally is alone.

A sudden, muted feeling of emptiness settles in his heart, in the place where his friends had just been. It lingers despite him reminding himself of the arrangements for next week's meetup.

But the unease inside him continues to grow, far beyond envy or loneliness to... something more. It's all consuming and there are lights behind his eyes, and for a second he thinks it's his asthma as he reaches for his throat–

A distant cry, one that seems to echo in his skull, suddenly clears his muddles thoughts. His gaze is drawn skyward, searching for the source. The dark canvas, peppered with constellations and the dance of volbeat, is otherwise still– until a streak of sinuous gold, almost like a shooting star, soars far overhead. It's mostly concealed by the miasmatic clouds, but he sees it. Glowing patterns begin to edge his vision again, but they disappear as soon as they appear with the passing of the false comet.

As much as the event confuses him, it simultaneously makes him acutely aware of all the warnings he'd received. Something is coming– and soon.

Pokemon playdates or otherwise, he now knows that fate will be bringing him and his friends together again. For their sakes, he fears what is to come.

wrote this not long after ORAS (game) was announced. there's a lot i ended up leaving out, but i think i managed to do what i wanted: hoenn quartet fluffs. ;-; i'll just put this out there as is, especially after how the actual arc disappointed me.

thanks for reading!