Chapter 3: Crushes and A Cold

Lucar clambered down the ladder of Wigglytuff's Guild, a sick Snowflake following him. Carlos, Sandra, and Luv were just heading toward the ladder when Lucar appeared. Carlos smiled, about to tell his teammate about the new mission he had found…and stopped upon seeing Snowflake.

"Lucar, what's wrong?" Sandra asked, bounding after her teammate.

Lucar arrived at the bottom floor of the Guild and located an unused room. Snowflake collapsed on the bed of straw, a small cough escaping her. The blind Riolu turned to the Eevee.

"Snowflake's sick," he explained. "I think it was the cold water in Serenity River. Who knows how long she was in that sack."

"Snowflake's sick?" Luv repeated, entering the room with Carlos in tow.

"Yeah," Lucar nodded.

"What should we do?" Sandra asked, looking at Carlos nervously.

"Maybe Joy knows how to cure her," Carlos suggested. "We could ask."

"But the mission," Luv pointed out. "You said we're not allowed to shirk work."

"I'm sure Chatot will understand…right?" Sandra looked at Carlos again.

"You guys go ahead," Lucar said at last. "I'll stay here and help take care of Snowflake. I want to make sure nothing bad happens to her."

"Are you sure, Lucar?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah," the Riolu nodded. "You guys can handle one mission without me, right?"

"Sure," the Pikachu replied. "Just make sure you don't get sick too, okay?"

"I'll watch out," Lucar promised, smiling at his friend.

/Carlos is a good friend. He's kind, trusting, and makes friends easily. I'm glad he trusted me enough to let me stay behind while we had a mission. Carlos, Sandra, and I are the three strongest of Team Legend. It's good to know that one of us can stay back and the other two can easily complete a mission. If I hadn't stayed back that day, I might've never fallen for Snowflake as hard as I did./

"Come on, guys. We've got a mission to complete!" Carlos cried, leaving the room.

"Good luck, Lucar!" Sandra wished.

"Get better soon, Snowflake!" Luv called.

"Thanks," the Glaceon said, stifling another sneeze. I haven't gotten sick since I was an Eevee. I forgot how much I hated it, she realized.

"You stay here. I'll be back in a minute." Lucar dashed out of the room, heading down the hall to ask Joy about how to cure a cold.

Snowflake sighed, rolling onto her side in her attempt to get more comfortable. It has been a long time since she got to sleep in a real bed. She was usually sleeping on grass or dirt or, worse, rock. Being a criminal's lackey wasn't a luxurious lifestyle, after all.

Her ear twitched as she registered the sound of approaching footsteps. When they reach the door to her room and stopped, she sighed and looked up. "So, Lucar, what did Joy…say?"

She wasn't looking at Lucar. It was a young Umbreon that was standing in the doorway. He was nervously shifting from paw to paw, looking around to see if he had been seen.

"Yusei? What are you doing here?" Snowflake asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

/Yusei is a total pest, in my opinion. If he's not getting in your way, he just sits in a corner, depressed. The only one who can cheer him up—or even bothers to—is Kevin. Thrax caught them both at the same time. Kevin is pretty useful but Yusei seems hopeless. Kevin drags him everywhere, hoping to show him the ropes. I doubt it'll ever work. The only valuable thing about him is the blue ring on his forehead. It's only there when he's sad, though. Other than that, he's pretty worthless./

"Kevin said you were sick," the Umbreon, Yusei, said as he stepped into the room. "He sent me in here to see if you were okay."

"Yeah, I'm sick," Snowflake nodded. "Tell Kevin to tell Thrax that I won't be coming back for at least three days maximum. With all the coughing and sneezing, I won't be able to make it back to base without attracting some kind of attention."

"Okay," Yusei nodded. "Also, Kevin wanted to know if yo—"

"Who are you?"

"WAAAAH!" Yusei jumped, whirling around to see Lucar standing there.

"I said 'who are you'." Lucar repeated. "I've never seen an Umbreon in the Guild aside from Lune and she's currently missing."

"I… I…." Yusei couldn't find the words.

"He's a friend of mine," Snowflake cut in. "He was looking for me after I got kidnapped. He was so relieved to discover that I was safe and sound here in Wigglytuff's Guild. Weren't you, Yusuf?"

"Yusuf?" Yusei repeated.

"Yes, Yusuf. That's your name." Snowflake gave him a glare that clearly told him to leave.

"Oh, yeah! Yusuf! That's me! Yeah!" Yusei backed out of the room. "Well, I'll be going! Bye, Snowflake! See you later! Get better soon! Bye!" He turned and ran down the hall, running as fast as he could out of the Guild.

"That was one weird guy," Lucar commented.

"Yusuf's very forgetful," Snowflake said. "As you saw, he tends to forget his own name half the time. He's hopeless, really."

"Okay…" Lucar sat down beside her. "Joy told me that the best cure for a cold is drinking lots of fluids and eating plenty of berries."

Snowflake smiled, blushing slightly. At least he's even bothering to care for me, she thought.

Lucar picked up a bowl he had taken from the mess hall and sliced up the berries he had brought, dumping them into the bowl. Taking out a stick, he smashed the berries together until it was a pasty liquid. Sticking his finger in and tasting it, he quickly shook his head and dropped in another Oran Berry to smash up. Tasting it again, he smiled it satisfaction.

"This should be good enough," he said, holding the bowl out to Snowflake. "Try this. Joy said a berry mixture does best to cure colds."

Snowflake stared at the purple berry mix before hesitantly tasting some. Lucar held the bowl up for her so she didn't have to dunk her head in to have some. She licked her lips, surprised at how sweet it tasted.

"This is…good," she complimented.

"Good thing Joy knows her medicines," Lucar said. "She's good at this kind of stuff. Well, I guess she has to be since she has a kid." He suddenly became quiet. Has one now…and had one before, he remembered.

"Lucar?" Snowflake looked at him strangely. "Lucar, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh… Sorry about that. I must've drifted off there." Lucar apologized.

Snowflake ate some more of the berry mix, drinking some of the juice in it too. A trickle of it ran down her chin and, before he even knew was he was doing, Lucar reached out a paw and wiped it off. Snowflake froze before relaxing again, realizing it was only Lucar.

"You know… You're really pretty," Lucar suddenly said.

"…Huh?" Snowflake blushed heavily, staring at him. Isn't he blind? How would he know if I looked pretty or not?

"Uh…" Lucar blushed, suddenly realizing what he had just said. Why did I say that? I'm blind! I can't possibly know that! So what if her fur feels soft? That doesn't mean she's pretty! "I'm really, really sorry! I… I don't know what came over me, honest! I…" He looked away, embarrassed.

"N-no, it's okay," Snowflake reassured. "It's just that…nobody has said that about me. Not in a long time, anyway. I… Thanks."

"R-really?" Lucar looked back at her.

"Yeah," Snowflake nodded. Idiot! Why did you tell him that? You're not in love! It's the cold! The cold, darn it!

"I… I really meant it, you know," Lucar said.

Snowflake blushed again. Oh, great! It's not the cold! I really do like him! This isn't good! He's the enemy! The enemy!

The Glaceon looked away, trying to hide her blush.

/Love has never been good to me. My parents and siblings loved me but rarely paid attention to me. My friends loved me but were never there when I really needed them. My ex-boyfriend loved me up until he found what he deemed a 'much prettier girlfriend' to be with. Thrax and my co-workers have no love for me, not that I would want it to begin with. Love has simply been a pain to me. Why would that change now?/

"Snowflake, are you okay?" Lucar asked. "Your aura's panicked again."

"I… I'm fine, Lucar. Don't worry about me." Snowflake said. The blush still refused to leave. Maybe… Maybe love will be kind this time. Even if he's the enemy, it's not like anybody else will know. Not Team Legend, not Thrax, no one. Just us. Besides…what Thrax doesn't know won't hurt him.

"Want some more?" Lucar asked, holding out the bowl of berry paste.

"Yes," Snowflake smiled.

At Thrax's base of operations…

Raptor looked from Yusei and Kevin to Thrax, wrought with nervousness. "So, Snowflake's not coming back?" he asked.

"At the moment, no," Kevin replied.

"She has a cold," Yusei explained. "She's afraid if she tries to get here, she'll attract attention because of all the noise she'll be making. She says it'll only be three days maximum."

"She's being cared for by the stupid Guild, right?" Thrax asked.

"That's right," Kevin nodded.

"Three days," Thrax tapped his hand-claw against his chin before frowning. "That's too long to stay in that Guild without being able to contact us, baby. She could mess up and get caught somehow. We can't make a good plan of attack without her and we can't afford to lose her, baby."

"How do we get her out, boss? I mean, it's Wigglytuff's Guild!" Raptor reminded. "That's not an easy place for criminals to sneak into!"

Kevin turned to look at Yusei. "Yusei, you still have the Guild clearance from when you ran away the day Thrax took us, right?"

"Y-yes," the smaller Umbreon nodded.

"Good," Thrax said. "Here's the plan,"

The four villains huddled close as Thrax explained his plan.

At the entrance to Wigglytuff's Guild…

The sun was beginning to set when Kevin reached the top of the steps that led to Wigglytuff's Guild. Stepping forward, he stopped just short of the grate. Thrax's orders echoed in his head.

"Tonight, I want you to go in and sneak Snowflake out of the Guild. Go somewhere that nobody is bound to be and give her the plan of attack. If you're met with trouble at the Guild entrance, don't cause a ruckus, baby. If they don't let you in, don't bother. We'll think of something else then."

Kevin sighed, lifting a paw. He had a similar appearance to Yusei and since Yusei's head ring wasn't blue the last time he was here, Kevin shouldn't have any trouble convincing the Guild sentries that he was Yusei.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered, stepping onto the grate.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" Diglett shouted from below the grate, making Kevin jump.

"Who's footprint? Who's footprint?" Loudred demanded from within the Guild.

"The footprint is Umbreon's! The footprint is Umbreon's!" Diglett replied.

"An Umbreon? Could it be…?" The ground shook as the gate opened. Loudred stepped out and gasped. "It IS! It's YUSEI, Diglett! He's BACK!"

Kevin yelped as Loudred hugged him and bit back the urge to fight. Idiot! Remember, you're Yusei now! Not Kevin! Yusei!

"Are you OKAY, Yusei? We haven't seen you in SO long!" Loudred cried.

"I'm fine, Loudred. Some things came up and I couldn't visit. Sorry. I missed you, too." Kevin said, acting as he assumed Yusei would in this situation. "Could you let go of me? I have a friend I have to see."

"Okay! You DEFINITELY may ENTER!" Loudred stepped aside, allowing Kevin into the Guild.

Kevin quickly worked his way to the bottom floor of Wigglytuff's Guild and followed Snowflake's scent to the room she was in. He peered in and frowned upon seeing Lucar with her. Both of them appeared to be asleep. He barely set a paw into the room when the Riolu suddenly sat up.

"Who are you?" Lucar asked. It's another Umbreon, he noted. This one's different from the other one, though. There's something…menacing about him.

Kevin cursed himself for thinking he could slip past a Riolu, even one that had its back turned. "I'm a friend of Snowflake's. I have something to tell her…alone."

"Snowflake's sick," Lucar said firmly. "It'll have to wait."

"What's going on?" Snowflake lifted her head, yawning.

"Snowflake, we need to talk. Now." Kevin growled.

"It's late. Can you come back in the morning?" Lucar asked, a sharp edge to his words. Why won't this guy leave? Snowflake needs her rest!

"No, I can't," Kevin replied. "Snowflake, let's go."

"Why should she?" Lucar demanded.

"It's important, a matter of life or death!" Kevin snapped, saying the first thing that came to his mind. Take that, you stupid Riolu!

"Lucar, it's okay. I'll go," Snowflake stood up, her legs shaking from the effort. "Let's go, Kain."

Kevin's ear twitched at the name. "Right," he said.

Snowflake looked at Lucar over her shoulder as she left the room. A blush crept over her cheeks. "Goodbye, Lucar," she said with honest kindness.

"Goodbye, Snowflake," Lucar said, smiling at her.

Kevin stopped in the hall outside of the room. That tone… Snowflake really does love him! How could she? He's the enemy!

Snowflake stepped into the hall and stopped beside Kevin. "Let's go, Kain. Where are we going?"

"The beach," Kevin replied.

The pair left Wigglytuff's Guild, Snowflake's heart racing.