A Love -Hate Relationship
8
~Under The Stars~
A/N: This Fan Fiction is based on the Galar region and games (Sword/Shield) featuring CanonXOC
The sun soon fell and night set heavy over the Wild Area. It was far bigger than the two anticipated, and leave it to Hop's recklessness and Anani's no sense of reading a map for them to wind up lost like a couple of idjits despite not being too far off from their destination in the first place.
That aside, they still managed to get a few wild battles in, fill out a few Poke'dex pages as well as had their fair share of trouble makers.
Hop was panting heavily as he finally returned from chasing a Purloin that had cleverly stolen his pack. She was a playful rascal and eventually left him alone, after he gave her a good chase to have his stuff returned.
"Sheesh, this is bonkers!" he huffed as he finally made it back to camp, "At home it's Nikits we have to deal with..." he blinked, "Here in the Wild Area, it's Purloins..."
Anani giggled as she stirred the pot of curry while their Poke'mon romped around playfully together.
"You've got to admit though..." she said between giggles, "That Purloin was cute!"
"Aye, but that's how they get ya!" Hop stated, "My mum has a Purloin...you can't trust those little buggers as far as you can throw them!"
"Well...we wouldn't have had that problem if we didn't lose our way to Motostoke..." she sighed.
It was dark now and far too late to keep going. It became near impossible to see too well, even guided by the light of the millions of shining stars above them.
"No worries, I used the GPS location of the map function on the Rotom phone!" Hop stated, "We're not far off from Motostoke at all. Come morning light we'll be there mid day, before noon." he said.
"So...around lunch time, then?" Anani blinked.
"Pretty much." Hop shrugged, "Plenty of time to make it for registration."
"That's good to hear." she said in relief as she hummed a soothing tune while she stirred the pot. Hop took in a deep breath, inhaling in the rich scent of hot curry.
"Mmmm~" He hummed hungrily, "That's looking mighty scrummy there, mate!"
"Scrummy!?" she twitched, "What does that mean exactly?" to her, it sounded like an insult.
"Oh. no, no!" Hop said waving his hands franticly. When Anani took on that hot look of intensity in her Magenta eyes, she looked down right scary. Almost as though they had their own glow with the shine of Wishing Stars. Especially at night. "Scrummy is a good thing mate!" he explained, "It means yummy, or in other words scrumptous..."
"Oh..." she blinked blushing awkwardly, "S-Sorry...I misunderstood again..."
"Nonsense!" Hop laughed, "I'm at fault too, I forget you're still rather new to Galarian speech." he chuckled. They enjoyed a fresh hot bowl of a well cooked meal together with their Poke'mon as the moon shone high overhead, and as meal time died down the knackered Poke'pals lay calm while Anani and Hop, unable to sleep yet from the excitement, sat up exchanging playful night terror stories.
"And so...lured in by the Phantump's childish cry, the Drifloon had their prey...and whisked them away. Vanished, without a trace."
Anani shuttered as he finished up with a dramatic ghostly cry.
"Poke'mon are amazing creatures..." she spoke in a low tone, "Yet somehow you also managed to make them sound creepy too."
Hop chuckled as he shrugged.
"Well...it's just a silly story anyway." he said as he fell back on his arms.
But the story itself got Anani thinking deeply for a moment in silence.
"Say...Hop." Anani blinked, calling for his attention.
"Oh, Aye?" Hop replied, "What's up, Anani?"
"You don't suppose something like that is possible, do you?"
"What do you mean?" Hop asked.
"You know...that thing about Poke'mon...spiriting someone away like that?"
"I'm pretty sure that type of story is just a silly fairytale parents tell misbehaved children to put them in line." he blinked, "Why do you ask such, Anani?" he turned to her curiously when it finally hit him, "Oh...right." he blinked as he sat up slowly to be on level with her as she hugged her knees to her chest, lost in thought.
"Could you be thinking about how you wound up in the Slumbering Weald back when I found you?" he blinked, "You think it right possible to be some form of spirited away by some mad Poke'mon?"
"Maybe..." Anani shrugged, "I keep trying to figure that out but it's all for naught." she sighed.
"Why rush it?" Hop blinked, "I understand it's a right strange situation you're in..." he blinked, "But I imagine trying to force yourself to remember can only bring about a mad head ache."
That managed to give her a light chuckle.
"Well...you're not wrong." she chuckled and let loose a long sigh as she leaned back on her wrists, eyes facing up to the stars.
"Of course." he blinked, "But aye, I can see how it might be frustrating." he chuckled awkwardly, "not really having an identity of your own, at least not one you can recall, your name is Anani, and that's all we know." he blinked, "Anything else is a right mystery even to you...but, perhaps it is a mystery that can be solved as you take this journey and discover new bits about yourself." he smiled, "You can forge your own identity by then..."
"...I do manage to recall things from time to time." she stated, "Nothing too clear though."
"Really?" Hop blinked curiously, "Anything you can tell me of?"
She shook her head and sighed.
"Not too much." she stated,"...I feel like I was running from something...but I can't recall what or why."
"Running?" Hop blinked and he shot up with balled fists, "You don't think someone's out to hurt you, do you!?"
"Well like I said I can't recall." she blinked, "I do seem to connect to fear to that memory though..." Before she could finish her sentence, she soon found herself wrapped up in the tight warm embrace of a good friend.
"I promise you, Anani..." Hop said, speaking in a sudden serious tone that was odd to hear from him, "So long as I'm around...no one's gonna hurt you..." he said as his embrace tightened around her,"...I'll see to it!"
She wasn't entirely sure if there was someone after her...her memories were fuzzy. For all she knew that mysterious faceless person who spoke such cruelty could have wound up being her own voice in her head. She couldn't know for certain. But it certainly felt real enough to her... That being said, it still made her feel good knowing that she had a friend like Hop, waiting it out with her beneath the same starry night sky.
To Be Continued