"So, spring has been looking pretty nice so far, yeah?"

"Yeah, I suppose it has been," Tamin replied.

"The leaves came out pretty quickly once they sprouted, didn't they?"

"I noticed that. I knew about that for a while," the minccino said. "I am kinda familiar with trees."

"Oh, that makes sense. I've just spent most of my time out there in the wild, so I know how to appreciate it."

"I see. You know, it is a bit odd that the leaves came back. One would think the leaves would leave and not do the opposite. But seeing them come back has been a huge relief."

"Heheh, good one."

"Thanks."

"I think you're getting better at making puns, really."

"Aww, why thank you. I actually find that really nice to hear."

Tamin walked down the hallways of the guildhouse, side by side with Locke. Her eyes locked on the windows of the guild, although that had become expected. Just her ears being pointed towards someone was acceptable for holding a conversation for her, for anyone else they'd just have to get used to that about her.

Still, she still didn't return completely back to her old self, back to how she was before she dated Nidorino. Her smiles were faker, and the area around her eyes felt heavier. Seeing Nidorino around didn't help matters in the least. That certainly contributed to why she chose to stare outside at the growing leaves, grass, and flowers instead of around the building.

"So, have ya done a mission today yet?" he asked.

"Have not, no. I'm thinking about leaving for one soon though," Tamin replied. "Just trying to clear my head right now."

"Could you put that in hold?"

"Did you have something else in mind?"

"I was thinking about just going to town and enjoying the season together, stop by someplace to eat while we're at it too."

"I'm not hungry right now."

"Just a snack then. C'mon, it'll be sweet."

"Alright then, I can do that," she agreed. "Want to head out now or in a bit?"

"I'm up for right now."

"Then I'll come."

"Thanks!"

"No problem," Tamin managed to move her facial muscles enough to smile.

The two walked straight out of the guildhouse, feeling a light breeze as they stepped out. With the clear blue skies along with the cool atmosphere and the warm sun, it felt like it was perfectly suitable for a short trip out.

"Alright, Hunter. Don't mess this up," he thought to himself, retaining his shinx smile. "I've got my audience with Tamin, I'll just need to go with the flow from here on out."

Locke wandered from room to room in the guild basement. He walked slowly with eyes darting left and right, searching with accumulating confusion and annoyance.

"Where is she? She wanted to show me something down here, so she's being super late," he thought when he walked from one room to another. "Tamin said she's be here at four, so either she's super late, something's stopping her, or…"

The shinx stopped in place in the random room that he was in. "Gosh dangit, that wasn't the real Tamin, was it?" he thought to himself. He planted his paw on his face. "Oh, and she doesn't even like the basement, I should've remembered that. Man, I really should have trusted my gut instinct that time. And I was really looking forward to exploring a new part of the basement, too."

Locke didn't wallow around for too long, but the annoyance did linger. He turned around and began backtracking. "So if that was Hunter instead of Tamin, why did he lead me down here? Was there some trap he was planning? I feel I should've found it already if there was. Maybe he wanted to distract me from something?"

The pieces started clicking into place. Locke tried to put events into a timeline to figure out everything which transpired. "If he's trying to distract me from something, then I should definitely be getting back upstairs."

The shinx's simple walk turned into a sprint. He could retrace the route he took without flaw as though he was following a map. Left, forward, right, left, another left, dead forward, he raced through the halls.

Until suddenly, a blur hopped directly in front of him from around a corner, far too sudden for him to get a clear sight of what or who it was. Quickly dodging around something wouldn't usually be a problem for him, but with as much momentum and little reaction time he had, that was an impossibility.

Locke did his best to slow down, but inevitably collided with it. He tumbled and spun around with whatever it was down the hallway like a speeding barrel. He still wasn't able to see what it was, but felt it had warm fur and was clothed. There were feminine grunts mixed with Locke's own grunts.

Once the momentum stopped, the two broke apart. Locke rolled from his back to his belly to look at who it was.

It was Yuki the vulpix that was the other pokemon that he'd just tumbled together with, and she wore a harness much like his own.

"Yuki?!" Locke shouted at her.

"Hey Locke, sorry about that," Yuki responded. Her voice wasn't the one of false innocence like she once held. "Wasn't ex-act-ly planning that, but it was the only thing I could think about at that moment. I just need you here for a minute."

"What? No, why would I ever want to be with you?" Locke asked. "Weren't you locked in the second basement?"

"Yeah, something's changed. I'll gladly explain it all, but I really just need you to be here for a few minutes." The vulpix stood up and positioned herself to block Locke's route back to the start of the basement. "First thing you should know, and this is really im-por-tant, is that this isn't my plan. It doesn't really involve you either, Hunter just doesn't want you getting in the way."

"Wait, what- no, just get out of my way!"

"I just need some time to explain myself, Locke."

Not bothering with words anymore, Locke ran forward again and leapt up.

Quick and nimble, Yuki reacted by jumping upwards, causing the two to collide again, though this time, not as hard. Still in mid-air, she grabbed around Locke's chest with her front paws.

The two slammed onto the basement ground. A second later, a faint clicking sound was heard. Locke had to check to see what made it.

Yuki had used her tails to clip a metal carabiner on their harness rings, connecting both of them together. Locke tried pulling away, but the carabiner just caused Yuki to be pulled forward with equal force. Once she could get her bearings again, she planted her paws onto the floor of dirt.

"Please, just let me explain myself."

Tamin and Hunter walked down the cobble roads once more. Hunter still kept himself veiled in his illusions to look indistinguishable from Locke.

"Thanks for coming along, Tamin. I just wanted to do something to spice t'day up," he said.

"No problem," Tamin replied. "So when you want to get a snack, I'm assuming you're wanting to go to your sister's ice cream shop?"

"Actually, no. I love her ice cream, but I have that like everyday when I'm with her. Just wanting to have something else, y'know?"

"Ah, I see."

"Good, really glad she bought that excuse. Now I can go where I want and don't need to trick Locke's sister as well," Hunter thought to himself.

"I'll be honest, I still find it a bit weird saying that Elley is your sister," said Tamin.

"Don't blame you, it was a big surprise for me as well."

"Yeah just… still strange, I dunno…" Tamin paused for just a moment. "Anyways, where did you have in mind?"

"This shack around the south of town with some snacks. It's up on a hill, and has actually got a decent view."

"Ah, I think I know about what you're talking about," Tamin replied, a memory resurfacing. A minor one, but she could vaguely recall a building that matched that description.

"You probably are thinking about it. I've been there a few times, it's pretty good."

"I'll take your word for it. Just lead the way, I don't remember where I saw it too well."

"Already doing just that," he replied.

They kept walking and turned down another avenue at the pace of a leisurely stroll. It was a road that Tamin had never been down before. She greeted it with a swift once-over partly to examine the new buildings, and to scan for threats. The odds of there being something that was actually harmful to her was low, she was well aware of that. Though, there wasn't a price to double check.

Hunter led Tamin step by step, further away from the guildhouse. Hunter found himself tensing up in anticipation. He had to cool his nerves to stay calm in front of Tamin. If he was thrown straight into the main event then he knew he'd get in the zone and nail it, but it was this buildup and anticipation that got to him. He couldn't quell the feelings right away, just resist them.

The two scaled the hill and reached the shack he had talked about. It was less than what Tamin had anticipated. She didn't expect a super fancy restaurant, but was hoping for more than what it was.

The shack was small and constructed out of antique wood. Large windows that allowed them to see inside, and the interior contained shelves and shelves of snacks, trail mix, drinks, canteens, bags, souvenirs, and more of the like. To Tamin, it was clearly a place meant for those travelling the countryside and making a stop, not a common spot for town residents to go to.

"This is the place you had in mind?" Tamin asked.

"Yeah. I stopped at tons of these places when I was out in the wild. It's nostalgic in a way," he responded.

"Ah," she said, her voice in a high tone as the response was satisfactory.

"Perfect, she bought that as well. Feel like I convinced her I'm Locke even better now," he thought.

"Right. Let's head in."

The shack's door stood out; the building had antique wood, but the door was cleaner and unchipped. It had clearly been installed to replace a previous door sometime recently. Opening the door and stepping inside, the interior was the same as they had seen through the window although the floor was better swept than she had expected.

"Welcome to Samuel's Stop," a Hattrem behind a similarly antique register said. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Hey," Hunter said. He had to remind himself that the cashier wouldn't recognize him in the illusion he was in.

"Hey," Tamin echoed.

Both of them started looking around at the inventory. The minccino actually had her curiosity piqued. Despite the substandard housing, the foods on the display were made with a home cooked charm to them, obviously better than the raw ingredient foods she'd come to know. She stepped closer and leaned in to read their labels.

"Anything in particular you wanted to show me, Locke?" Tamin asked.

"Yeah."

"What is it?" Tamin turned away from the labels to the disguised zorua.

He turned his head to the side to grab one of the cylindrical jars in his teeth, and brought it over to her. She grabbed a section of it that wouldn't have saliva on it and looked at it.

"It's a food topping that I think you'd like. It's got a good amount of garlic mixed into it," he explained. "Since it's a topping, you can put it on other foods you want and make the meals at the guild better."

The glass was tinted, making it harder to see, but Tamin could tell that the mystery topping had a similar consistency to coleslaw. She unscrewed the top, brought it to her nose, and took a deep sniff. She could certainly smell the garlic that Hunter was talking about, but there were other ingredients as well that she couldn't easily recognize, giving a certain depth to the scent. Each one was tantalizing in its own way and worked together. It only took one sniff to get her salivating.

"Oh wow, that does smell really good actually," she said as she pulled the jar away from her nose to look at it again.

"Ha! Knew you would," he bragged. "Don't worry, I'll pay for it. There's a few other things I want to show you. Trust me, this place is great."

"I'll be happy to see them," the minccino said, eyes closed and with a smile.

While her reaction was positive, something just felt off about what he had just said. She couldn't put her finger on it right away, but the words "I'll pay for it" just didn't sound right to her.

She pondered on it for a few seconds, and then it suddenly hit her. "Wait, isn't Crystal taking all of his money from him? Yeah, when we have ice cream I had to pay for him. How does he have money now? I… guess Crystal has been getting better."

While she did tell herself that reasoning, the situation didn't feel right. It wasn't a smoking gun per se, but it did make her raise her guard. Suspicion had begun, and would only grow as she began to watch out for any other odd comments.

"So Hunter is trying to date Tamin right now while pretending to be me?" Locke asked.

"That's the gist of it," Yuki the vulpix confirmed. "And I cannot stress this enough, this is his plan, and not mine. If you want to report this to Sylv-e-on afterwards and have Hunter get punished for it, go ahead. But I'm just doing him a favor to help him out a bit, and I really cannot afford to get this added to my name. I'm only doing this very re-luc-tan-tly."

"You don't seem very reluctant about this," he snapped.

"Hunter was begging for me to do this, I really didn't have the heart to turn this down."

"And now you're really in my personal space because of that."

"I'm not happy about this either."

It was a sight to behold: their chests were forced to be very close together from the carbine loop connected to their harnesses. They were forced to be side-to-side just to avoid having their heads touched, but their sides still made contact.

"This is dumb, how long do you plan to keep me like this?" Locke asked, he extended his claws, but didn't make any actions yet.

"He said he only needed 'a little over an hour'. So that," Yuki replied.

"And do you know how much time has passed so far?" Locke had a pretty strong idea and internal clock, but asked nevertheless.

"Umm… I don't know," Yuki admitted. "I would check the time, but I can't exactly do that in this position. I would unclip us, but I don't trust you won't run off."

"Could you explain to me why I should follow along with this dumb plan?" he asked, as annoyed as he could sound.

"Sorry, but Hunter just didn't want you disrupting his plan."

"I've done this long enough, I'm-" Locke planned to get aggressive, but then a different thought came to mind. "Hang on, why exactly shouldn't I tell Sylveon about what you're doing right now?"

"That is my one request I have for you. I know you hate Hunter more than me, so I'm letting you turn your anger against him if you want. But if you're going to report me for this, then I'm not letting you go."

"Then let's make a deal. You let me go right now, and I won't tell Sylveon about this," Locke said with a smile.

"Well… Hunter won't get what he wants if I just let you go."

"Why you so concerned about that? You said you were reluctant about this plan, right?" Locke said.

The vulpix paused for a moment and looked towards the ceiling, taking Locke's words into careful consideration as she subtly bounced her head around. "...Alright, fine. I'll admit that this plan turned out pretty stupid when I was actually doing it."

"Why did you go through with this at all?" Locke asked.

"To be per-fect-ley fair, this plan was only plan C," Yuki explained.

"What are plans A and B then?" Locke asked.

"Hunter's plan A was to take Tamin while you were off on a mission. That went awry when Dewott left on a mission while you stayed. He told me that made it gau-ren-teed that you'd go out on one with Tamin in the aft-er-noon."

"You telling me he stalks to see what missions I go on with who?" Locke asked.

"Not actually that hard to check," she said.

"And what was plan B?"

"Just trying to get you to take a nap in the middle of the day."

"Uh-huh… Wait a second, like two hours ago Tamin came up to me and told me that I "looked tired" and "should get some rest". So are you telling me that was Hunter the whole time?"

"Prob-al-ly," Yuki said. "Out of cur-i-os-ity, why didn't you sleep?"

"Just didn't feel like a good idea, I don't know."

"Right, you have really keen instincts. Forgot about that."

"Okay, enough of this. You admitted this plan was dumb, so why are you still keepin' me here?" he asked. "Let me go now or I'll tell Sylveon."

"Right, right."

She opened the carbine with one of her tails to unhook their harnesses. Both of them immediately took a step apart from one another to regain personal space. "Alright, you're free now. Just don't tell anyone about this or expect me to tell you where Hunter is."

"Well.. I don't want to say 'thank you', but, umm… thanks, I guess," Locke stumbled over his words and didn't know the appropriate response.

"Mhm. Looking back, there were cer-tain-ly better ways I could have distracted you. I guess I've dulled a bit down there," the vulpix reflected. "Seems my brother wasn't so smart with this plan either. Wonder why."

"Yeah, yeah. Cya," Locke ran off in the basement, building up momentum for a dead sprint to get back to the above ground.

The shinx didn't know where Hunter could have been, but he knew that he would still have to be in town. From there, only basic hints and his gut instincts could guide him.

"Now where would a zorua drag Tamin onto a date with," Locke thought. "Well it's not the right time to have a restaurant, and… ummm…

Wait a second, he'd want to go somewhere to buy himself some more time. And a place I'd probably go to. Now where would that be...?"

Tamin nibbled on some snacks as she walked down the sidewalk next to Hunter, still in his unphased disguise as a shinx.

"So, do you like plays at all?" Hunter asked.

"Plays?" Tamin asked.

"Dances, improv shows, drama shows, stuff like that."

"Ah. Not really, to be honest."

"Why not?"

"My parents made us participate in one once, and I really didn't enjoy it," she confessed. "Don't even remember much of the show, just the endless recital and getting dressed."

"Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that," Hunter said, actually having some earnesty and just just his usual deceptiveness.

"It's alright. Now you know."

"I don't want to push you if it gives you bad memories, but maybe you just had a bad experience with that particular one? It could be different if you're in the audience."

"Maybe. Have you gone to plays before?" she asked.

"Yeah!"

"When?"

"Oh, while I was still in the wild. I went to one or two I think," Hunter said. After the fact, he realized that didn't make a whole lot of sense, but had to stick to it.

"Right…" Tamin said. Her suspicion was rising. Still not enough to make any brash conclusions, but she wouldn't readily dismiss it. "Was there a play you were planning on going to?"

"Yeah, one in a theatre nearby. Should be starting soon, so I was thinking we could go to that for some fun."

"Not sure it's my cup of tea, but I hope you have fun with it if you're interested."

"Well, I was actually thinking of going together," he explained. "We could enjoy it more that way."

"Really now?"

"Yeah! More for the fun of doing it together than for the actual show," he said with a smile. "Hanging out with something to talk about. We can be whispering comments into each other's ears and stuff."

"Huh, I see…" Tamin trailed off. Wording like that, it interested her. For a long time, everything she'd done for entertainment was for how much fun she had with a certain activity or an event, however, doing something just to enjoy being with friends was something new to her. She couldn't deny that she wanted to try it out.

"When is the show starting?" Tamin asked.

"Five-thirty about," Hunter said. "We could get the best seats if we go now though. That would be perfect."

"I'll… think about it," Tamin said. Previously, it was only on her mind subconsciously, but just then it clicked.

The way he was speaking was too clean, too refined. Locke would make the occasional grammatical error as he spoke, but the person she was talking to had fluent and eloquent speech. She didn't have a full list of Locke's vocabulary and what he would or wouldn't say, but could just feel that the person she was with hadn't been using the words he'd actually used. It was subtle, yet it became apparent overtime.

Tamin decided that she needed to prod for more information.

"Hey, there are some things I'm wondering about," Tamin spoke.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"How have things been going with you and Elley?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, my sister has been really nice," he said.

"How often have you been going out with her?"

"Oh, like every other day. Been a lot so I don't remember all the times."

"What's she like?"

"Very nice and sweet!"

"What are some of the things she likes?"

"She's a quiet type. Does lots of reading."

"What books does she read?"

"A bunch of adventure stories. I haven't read them myself."

"What were they called?"

"I think one was called 'Sylia's Tear'."

Tamin could feel she had set the bar too low and asked questions that weren't specific enough. She spent a moment in thought, searching for a better question to ask.

As the minccino was momentarily lost in thought, Hunter looked up towards the sun. Seeing where it was in the sky gave him a rough gauge of what time it was. The sun moved closer to the horizon than he would've liked. He couldn't tell the exact minute, but he could tell that he was on borrowed time, that his candle was burning out. Hunter did not know how much time he actually had, for his borrowed time was solely dependent on how long Yuki could keep the real Locke away.

The lack of knowing how much time left just made seeing the sun scarier. It reminded him that it could all rip apart in just a few seconds regardless of how immersed he was.

He turned back towards her. "Want to start heading over to the play?" he asked. His voice was a touch more desperate.

"If we have time, then not right away," Tamin. "Just… need some time to think right now."

"Okay…" Hunter trailed off. "Hey… could you and I get to someplace private?"

"Could it be done here?" Tamin asked, driven by her suspicion.

"Alright then," he said. "I just wanted to ask… did I make you happy today? Are you glad I took you out?"

The question caught her off guard. She expected something objective, this was not that. She had to look inward to find the honest answer to that question.

"Well… yeah," Tamin admitted. "Today has been fun, if a bit short."

"Glad to hear that! Anything else you want to do today?"

"No, I think I'm good," she said, though still curious where this was going.

"Alright… Want to do this again sometime? There are other places around town I would like to show you."

"Sure, I'm up for that."

"Really glad to hear that!. So… since you really did enjoy this, there's something I'd…" Hunter said before he paused. It wasn't a normal pause of someone just needing to figure out what to say next; something caught his tongue. He both questioned whether he wanted to continue the sentence or not, and he needed to gather the courage to say it. "There's something I'd like to admit to you," he finally managed to say.

"What is it?" Tamin said while taken aback.

"I haven't been entirely honest with you today. So you deserve to know that-"

A thunderbolt came from the side of the street and directly hit Hunter. He flew back and tumbled across the dirt.

Tamin jumped back and swung her head around to see where the thunderbolt came from. On the other side of the street stood Locke, the real Locke, complete with a vengeful expression displayed on his face. Whipping her head back around to look at the one who was struck, she saw Hunter the zorua leaning against the wall. His illusion had broken as the dirt settled, and the truths started to sink in.

"What the heck!" Tamin screamed.

"I am so sorry I did not get here sooner," Locke said as he ran up to the minccino. "Yuki came, got caught up from Yuki blocking me, couldn't find you in town, I couldn't find you right away, I… well, I'm here with you now."

"I-I'm... so sorry that I didn't recognize him," Tamin said, stunned by what was going on. "Well- I didn tell something was off- but I just didn't want to call him out."

"It's okay," Locke said.

"I'm sorry as well," Hunter said as he got off the wall and slowly walked closer. "I didn't want to disguise myself today, but I-"

"Shut it, Hunter!" Locke screamed. "Leave us the hell alone already!"

Tamin didn't interrupt and simply observed. Locke stared at the zorua for another second to ensure he would not speak again, and then turned back to Tamin. "Let's head back."

"You know, I think that's the first time you've hurt him since you got that harness," said Tamin quietly.

"First time he's pissed me off enough to deserve it," he replied. "Don't tell others about that, though."

"My lips are sealed."

"Good… glad this is all over."

"Yeah… let's head back."

Hunter watched the two turn and start walking back towards the guildhouse. He knew that it would give him a very poor image of himself if he stalked them, thus his window of time to be able to talk to them was slowly closing.. He didn't want to go for a whole conversation when Locke shushed him just a minute ago, so Hunter thought what he could say in one go.

"Don't forget what I did to you today!" Hunter shouted out as they walked away. He saw Tamin's ear twitch, so he knew she heard him.

End of chapter 31.