Dragonair POV
"Venomoth, what are you doing?" I asked.
"Sapphire told me to knock you out," she replied, still trying to hit me with Hypnosis while I quickly kept my eyes averted.
"Get away from me! She wasn't being literal!" I said forcefully. Venomoth sighed and backed off.
"Me sparkin'. Where Ember go?" Spark asked, looking around anxiously. "Ooh, soft!" he squealed, running and nearly tackling Blaze, hugging his tail. Everyone stared at the kit, all of us lost for words.
"He's hugging my tail," Blaze said in disbelief. "Why are you hugging my tail?"
"Me like soft and fluffy. You tail soft and fluffy. Me hug," Spark explained cutely and Blaze stared at him blankly.
"The rest of me is soft and fluffy, too. Why did you target the tail?" he asked, and then suddenly froze, as if he couldn't believe what he just said. Fortunately for the Flareon, Spark didn't realize the unintentional invite to hug Blaze, but released the tail.
"Hi pretty dragon," he called cutely as Sapphire returned. Blaze looked towards me hopefully and I rolled my eyes.
"He's a kit, and I don't hurt kits. Now if you said that, I'll hit you," I told him. Sapphire gave me a small glare and I tilted my head at her in confusion. "What happened?"
"Ember left," she replied, coiling up next to me, but noticeable a few inches away. I blinked, glancing at her questioningly.
"Where?" I pressed.
"I don't know, but she was very agitated."
"She scorched you, didn't she?" I demanded angrily, noticing she kept one area of her tail out of sight. I could pay the Charmander back for that if she hurt Sapphire.
"Let it go, Dragonair. Ember was your friend, and you upset her so much she left and wanted to be left alone, refusing to talk about it," Sapphire said firmly, but without anger.
"Well, what am I supposed to do?" I asked with a sigh. Sapphire shook her head.
"I don't think you can do anything. She didn't seem very interested in company, and I don't know if she even intends on coming back."
"So...we just continue on and don't concern ourselves? She could get hurt," I said, stunned by this revelation.
"Good to see that you actually see the gravity of the situation," Sapphire said, her gentle nature back in full force. "But I honestly don't see any solution at the time being. We can't force her to talk to us, and following her would be unfair."
"She also knew we're leaving, so if she wants to come back, she'd have to travel to Johto," I added bitterly. "Well, let's go now."
"Can we finish our fish?" Blaze asked, casually brushing his tail against Aura, who rolled her eyes. "I spent...five seconds cooking them, and I at least want to enjoy my hard work," he explained.
"I spent five seconds upsetting Ember so much she left, but you don't see me enjoying the spotlight," I said snidely.
"Upsetting her was a bad thing. Him cooking was a good thing," Aura pointed out, sounding intent on stopping an argument. "Nice work, Blaze," she said kindly and the Flareon grinned, taking another bite of the fish. Venomoth flew over to the stream, hovering over it as she took a drink. Spark watched her in awe, and then looked towards Sapphire anxiously.
"Me want Mommy and Daddy," he whined. Sapphire floated over to him and patted him gently, whispering something to him and he perked up.
--
Several minutes later, we continued towards Saffron at an almost leisurely pace. Venomoth had pointed out that the subway was closed today anyway, so we were in no genuine hurry until tomorrow. In all honesty, I still had no idea how I was going to manage to get two Dragonairs, a Pichu, a Vaporeon, a Flareon, and a Venomoth on a human-only subway in the middle of Saffron City. Whenever someone asked, I dodged the question the only way I could without being suspicious, which was nuzzling Sapphire. Needless to say, Sapphire eventually realized I was being doubly affectionate whenever asked that question, and asked me the question herself.
"Dragonair, how do you plan to get us on the subway?" she asked. I briefly considered how to dodge the question, after eliminating rubbing against Aura as a possibility. I wanted to live after dodging the question, so instead I pretended not to hear. This worked very well, until Sapphire slammed me against a tree and repeated the question.
"I have no idea. It's something I've been working on for a while, okay?" I explained hastily and Sapphire rolled her eyes.
"So you spent the last hour or so dodging a question because you didn't know the answer?" Aura said. "You could have simply said you didn't have a plan and we could have helped brainstorm."
"I've got the perfect plan!" Blaze said triumphantly and everyone stared at him. "First, we disguise ourselves as humans..."
"How? We're two 13 foot long snakes, a large bug, a baby electric rat, and a fluffy dog thing, and a quadruped with a mermaid tail," I interrupted. Blaze's ears dropped slightly, and then almost immediately perked up.
"I've got the perfect plan! First, we disguise ourselves as humans..."
"Blaze, you said that already," Aura said gently. Blaze's ears drooped again, but once more perked up.
"Here's the plan. First, we sneak onto the train and kill the passengers and hide in their luggage," he said dramatically.
"Why the hell would we need to kill them? And how would the 13 foot long snakes hide in luggage? And if we killed them, why would we hide?" I demanded.
"Um..." the Flareon considered this, ears drooping once more. "New plan! We disguise ourselves as grocery bags..."
"What?" Sapphire asked, blinking in astonishment.
"Sorry, I lost my train of thought," he said, scratching his ear with a paw awkwardly. Aura giggled softly at his expression.
"Does anyone have a plan that doesn't involve killing anyone and might actually work?" I asked impatiently. Venomoth smiled slightly.
"I could use Sleep Powder or Hypnosis to put the passengers to sleep, but that still leaves the problem of getting on the train in the first place."
"We could try to figure that out when we get to Saffron, which should be in the next hour or so. We'll sleep outside the city, and we'll have an early start," Sapphire announced.
"I got it!" Blaze yelled, causing Aura to jump in surprise. "Sorry, Aura. First, we disguise ourselves as humans..."
"Say that again, and I'll hurt you," I threatened.
"You have no sense of humor. Anyway, the real plan is that we casually walk to the platform and the Pichu distracts the guards with a cute act while Venomoth goes aboard the train and puts everyone to sleep. Then, I knock the guards out and we double check to make sure there's no hidden guards on the train. Then boom, we're set," the Flareon finished, grinning proudly.
"And after you've knocked the train guards out, what prevents investigations and police?" I asked sarcastically.
"Ok, we don't knock out the train guards, and Spark just distracts them so we can all get aboard," Aura said before Blaze could respond. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"What me do?" Spark asked, still nodding.
"You can stop nodding now, for starters," I said with a faint smile. "We'll go over it later. Right now, we're turning in," I gestured to the clearing just outside of Saffron's gate, off to the side so as not to be stumbled on by humans.
"Me sleepy," Spark said cheerfully, lying down under a tree and curling up. Venomoth landed next to the Pichu and wrapped her wings around herself. Blaze cheerfully followed Aura to a flowery area, smiling innocently when she stared at him suspiciously.
"Uh...can I sleep near you?" he asked hopefully. Aura rolled her eyes as she lay down.
"Whatever. Only because it's still Luvdisc Day," she said indifferently, the Flareon curling up next to her.
"You warm enough? If not, I can move closer." Blaze said, still grinning. Aura shook her head slightly as she put her head down, closing her eyes to sleep. Blaze yawned, stretching out before following suit. I turned towards Sapphire, who was examining the area for an ideal nesting spot. It took her about three attempts before finding one and she gestured for me to come over to her. I coiled around her protectively.
"Good night, Dragonair," Sapphire said, kissing me briefly before lying her head down.
"Good night. I'm sorry about earlier..." I whispered back.
"Don't worry about it. You didn't have the best day, either," she replied.
"Still, I should make it up. This was the first Luvdisc Day since we met," I insisted.
"You can if you feel that strongly, just try to sleep for now," she murmured sleepily and I laid my head on her coils, slowing my breathing to match the gentle movements of her coils, quickly drifting off to sleep. It was going to be a tough day tomorrow, I could feel it.
