"Are you sure you don't want any healing, Tamin?" Locke asked. "You're cut and bruised up. I've got some bandages and… well I've run out of oran berries but I'm pretty sure Scampi has some left over."

"Yeah I got some," Scampi confirmed.

"Yes, I am sure," Tamin said, her body slightly drooping down as a result of her wounds, but she kept walking forward. "I know the kind of denialism my parents get up to. I'm waiting until we're back to the guild so they can photograph my injuries, and then get healed up. I want some evidence instead of just hoping they'll trust my word for it."

"If that's your choice, that's your choice," the luxio said. "Just want you safe."

"What Tamin has planned is quite wise, if I do say so myself," Hunter replied. "The natural and obvious decision when hurt is to get healed. So if someone refuses healing, then they must have some reasoning for it. That is certainly true in this circumstance."

"Don't need to be all smarty-smart about it," Locke told Hunter.

"In what sense?"

"Just with how you're saying it. Trying to show off with big words and stuff. 'Pretentious', is what I think the word is."

"Locke, it's fine. I've had much worse before, I can handle these wounds. What's important is that we're all together now, and they're behind us," the cinccino said. "Are you prepared to go straight back or will we have to make any stops?"

"We'll come up on a river soon enough to refill our canteens. I've got food with me. What about you guys?"

"I still have my snackbar with me," Scampi said.

"I've got a full bag of trail mix. Mostly nuts. I'll be fine," Hunter answered. "We had to do a camp out to get here, but that was just because we originally left a fair bit into the evening. Keep walking at a steady pace; we'll get back before sundown."

"Good… that's really good. I just want to get back inside the guildhouse."

"It is good. How are you feeling right now? Okay, or…?" Locke responded and asked.

"I'm… fine," her response was delayed, and Tamin looked away. "I'm sorry, but could I just have a minute to think? I've got… quite a bit in my head right now."

"Sorry. I'll leave you be."

"Thanks… it's appreciated."

Tamin lowered her walking speed by a modicum to drop to the back of the march and looked away from the group. As she looked to the sides, she saw the trees of the forest grew less dense, with rolling- mostly arid- hills in the distance noticeable in-between the foliage.

The four traveled in silence to give Tamin the space she wanted; they moved like that for roughly a minute. They expected Scampi to break the silence with her overly talkative mouth, but to the surprise of Locke and Hunter, she was obedient to what Tamin wanted and stayed quiet in her march.

This made Hunter rather bored though. He slowly rolled his head over his shoulders to look at the luxio of the group.

"Heeeeyyyy~ Locke," the zorua said. "How's it like being a luxio now?"

Locke initially stayed silent, not wanting to entertain the zorua's escapades. Though, his mind couldn't help but think of some witty comeback. To his delight, his might was clear and sharp.

"I'd say it's good right now. Glad to see things from a higher perspective for a change. Just a bit worried for the future."

"Oh, what's got you so worried?" Hunter asked.

"Well with being a small shinx, there's the relief in knowing that when death comes, it won't take long to kill me. But now I'm so much larger, I've got a lot more meat to get through and thicker bones to boot. I'm just worried I won't be graced with a swift death anymore," he answered.

"Ah, I see," Hunter said. "Shame you've got to deal with that. Thankfully for me, I'm sharp on my feet and good at thinking ahead, so I can rest assured knowing I'm smart enough to not put myself in those situations," he replied, for he could tell it was about size and wanted to avoid this being turned on him.

"Huh, that sounds familiar to me…" Locke reflected. "Oh yeah, that was the same thing Sam said all the time."

"Sam? Whose he?"

"Oh right, you wouldn't know him. He died two years ago," Locke told him. "Got crushed by a rock. Sorta forgot about that detail since it happened in just a second."

"Understandable, we all make mistakes like that."

"You are right. We do all make mistakes like that."

"Well, maybe you're right. But hey, that just means my petite body will get to enjoy a swift death, and what's so bad about that now?"

"Oh wait, have you and Yuki gotten on bad terms recently?" Locke asked.

"No? Not sure why you ask, that's rather extreme non-sequitur, don't you think?"

"Well I asked because your half-sister's the only one I can think of who might grant you the privilege of a swift death," Locke explained. "Myself and everyone else I can think of would want to make sure your death is as slow as physically possible."

"Mmm. That's a good one, I like that. I'll have to do something similar to that to add to my own repertoire of jokes," Hunter complimented.

"Taking from others and impersonating them instead of using what you made yourself. Just like a zorua to do."

"Yes, but in order for me to properly trick others, I need to give up my handsome appearance to take on the visage of a far less handsome pokemon. Such is the curse of being a zorua."

"Hunter, I do not believe there is any aspect of your existence that isn't a curse upon the world," Locke said.

"Awww come on now, Locke. After all I've done, do you think I have at least one good bone in my body?"

"I don't believe you have any bones in your body. Just an endless ocean of black."

"Heheheh,"

The sound of giggling made Hunter and Locke look away from each other and towards the sound's source, which was none other than Tamin. Her eyes weren't looking towards the trees anymore. It didn't matter if it was from genuinely liking the humor or just enjoying the company of others, she was smiling.

"Well well well, looks like I'm the one that got the strongest reaction outta her," Locke said to Hunter.

"Right, I didn't really think she'd be listening in. I just sorta assumed her mind would be focusing on other things," Hunter said.

"Well she's got pretty large ears," Scampi pointed out. "And I could hear you two pretty very easily. You weren't that quiet."

"Oh yeah, you've got a point right there. Hey, did you know that the word 'hear' is actually an acronym?"

"It is?" Scampi asked curiously, her head rotating forty-five degrees.

"No it isn't," Locke interjected.

"It is!" Hunter stated. "The 'h' stands for 'hear', the 'e' stands for 'e', the 'a' stands for 'a', and the 'r' stands for 'r'. This references the fact that you HEAR with your EAR!"

"...Really man?" Locke asked with an annoyed expression. Scampi's face looked much of the same.

"Nah, I didn't think it was that bad," Tamin said. "Sometimes the bad puns are the good ones."

"Woo! Confirmation!" Hunter proclaimed.

"You know, we both tend to lean more towards the dark side of comedy, but I think it's safe to say that I'm just plain better when it comes to gallows humor," Locke bragged to the zorua. "I think you resorting to some bad puns just 'bout proves that."

"Ah, but forgive me if I am no master of the macabre and morbid as you have more than made yourself become. My mastery mostly lies in meticulous pranks; machinations made with minimal mistakes. My michevias escapades of such monstrous magnitudes that most men may say are malicious. Whether I'm meek or mighty, my mind is a manufacturer for mapping out schemes of mimicry. Maybe my jokes might miss in the moment, but moreso they succeed in manufacturing my methods of masquerade, misguiding and misdirection, that is not to be misunderstood or misappropriated. My methodology is made for the most important mission of being memorable."

Silence. All of them needed a moment to process what Hunter had just said. In that vacuum of noise, Hunter's smile gleamed. "Man, I love being the show-stopper," Hunter said. "Anyways, something just wanted to comment about, Locke. You mentioned Yuki being my 'half-sister', but really I just consider her my sister."

"Well you can't have the same parents because you two aren't the same species. So you aren't real siblings," Locke said. "I think it was Tamin who told me about how Yuki had a different mother."

"Well think about it, would you tell someone that their adoptive sibling isn't their sibling at all? Probably not. Because even if they don't share any biological parents, they're still the same family, they're still raised by the same parents. So you still call them siblings.

Same's true for Yuki and I. She's my sister."

"You do know she's done horrific things, right?" Locke asked.

"Yeah, and I ain't defending her for that. But I still consider her my sister all the same."

"Do you still spend time with her?" Scampi asked.

"Not nearly as much as I once did, given… you've probably heard the story. Don't want to ostracize her though since I'm pretty sure that'll just make things worse," he explained.

Between people talking, Hunter turned his head back to the cinccino to check on how she was doing. Her head had returned to looking away from the group and to the hills beside them. Simply the back of her head and her posture was enough for him to tell she had gotten forlorn. Hunter had a strong guess what caused this, it was the talk about family that she wanted to get off her mind. He didn't want to leave her like that.

"Hey Tamin?" Hunter called out.

"Yeah?" As expected, Tamin's voice was sadder.

"There's something I have been meaning to talk to you about, would now be a good time?"

"Go ahead."

"So I'm probably not the wisest pokemon around, or even in the guild… I don't know who'd I'd call the wisest in the guild now that I come to think of it, but I'm getting sidetracked. Anyways, there is a pretty old saying I've heard that I think you should know about."

"What is it?"

"It's a saying that goes 'the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the room'," Hunter said. "It's quite the old saying, thousands of years old, in fact. 'Blood of the covenant' refers to blood fellow warriors would shed on a battlefield together, or it can refer to a practice where people would signify a bond by cutting themselves and putting the wounds together. Point is, that 'blood of the covenant' refers to the relationships you form in life, it refers to the people you've grown so close with that they'd be willing to fight beside you and put themselves at risk. 'Water of the womb'- on the other hand- refers to the family you're born into, the relationships that you were forced into and had no choice in making.

So all-in-all, the expression says how the relationships you make are more important than the family you're born into."

"Huh… that's kinda funny because my parents actually did tell me about that same saying, but they shortened it to just 'blood is thicker than water', and spoke of it like 'blood' referred to family instead," Tamin reflected. "And I guess 'water' referred to commodities? That part of the expression never really made sense the way they said it. But they'd guilt me with it."

"Nah, that's just the corrupted version of the expression they're using. The truly original expression is 'the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the room'. Family is the water, not the blood. And friendship is more important than family," Hunter explained. "Actually I think the original expression might've been 'blood is thicker than milk', but it's the same regardless.

Point is, right now you've just escaped from your awful, awful family. And you did it with friends who you made by your own actions, each of whom willing to risk themselves for you, and some of whom bleeding themselves because of it. So, I think it was something worth teaching you right now."

Tamin looked upon the whole group. Really, it was just as Hunter had explained, and she couldn't put it in much better words herself. Her original family was uncaring, unloving, and did everything wrong. Yet the people she was with now were the people she needed, they were the ones who actually did want to keep her safe, the ones who did want to keep her happy.

Just then, she had an epiphany about herself, she understood her own emotions with clarity. She didn't feel like she had betrayed her family, Tamin felt like she was with her family. Tamin didn't feel like she was running away from home, she felt like she was walking towards it.

"...Thank you," was the only thing she could say. "Thank you all you much,"

"You are welcome!" Scampi proclaimed.

"I'd do it again," Locke smiled.

"Yeah, I'm glad I taught you that saying…" Hunter expressed.

Hours later.

"So are you planning to evolve anytime?" Tamin asked Hunter.

"Not really. I'm thinking about just sticking as a zorua my whole life."

"Prefer to stay small?" Tamin asked.

"A bit. Mainly I just want to keep my tail. Zoroarks don't have those."

That response left Tamin stunned for a second. "That seems like… strange reasoning. I mean tails are good and all, but isn't the dexterity you'd get from evolving way better?"

"I like my tail," he said with a shrug. "Plus I know Yuki would brag to me about having tails while she doesn't. Especially when she evolves into a Ninetales and gets three more of them. I'd never hear the end of that."

"Locke's got you beat as well right now," Scampi commented.

"What? Umm, no?" the zorua replied,

"I've got just one, before and after I evolved," Locke said. "Do you think I'm hiding one behind my leg or something? Heh."

"No, he's got four," Scampi elaborated. "Look at the star at the end of it, it's got four points. You count the endings of it. So he's got one, two, three, four, four tails."

"Okay what? No, you count the base of it, those do not count as separate tails at all," Hunter said, still befuddled.

"I cannot move the star ends independently of the other ones."

"Yeah I'm having a hard time following your logic, Scampi," Tamin commented.

"No, you count the ends of it! That's how Espeon has two tails, even though it starts as one," Scampi argued further.

"That's different. There's a lot more after the split, and they are distinctly different parts," Locke said. "The star at the end of my tail is just one part, so I've got one tail. But- like- Espeon's is two parts so that's what gives him two."

"Well I've actually pictured him as having one-and-a-half tails," Tamin commented.

"A tail's a tail, you can't say it's only a half!"

"A forked tail is still just a tail. Espeon has only one tail, not two. What are you talking about?" Hunter said.

"I mean the tail is part of the spine. So for pokemon like Yuki, her six tails are just her spine split into six parts. So does she actually only have one tail?" Scampi said. "That's what you guys are saying."

"No, that is not the same thing at all. The split happens inside of the body, before it is its own appendage. So it's six appendages, and six tails," Tamin said. "Umm, uh, think of it with different limbs. You've only got two arms (or, four legs for you, I guess) and then those split into different parts of the paw. And those arms eventually connect back to your spine inside of you body."

"I actually don't think my sister's tails count as being part of the spine anymore. I think they're their own bones. I don't believe the spine can actually split like the way you're describing," Hunter said. "I… might be wrong with that though."

"You count the ends!"

"GUYS! We're almost back to the guildhouse! Let's just move forward!" Locke interrupted all of them.

Tamin, Hunter, and Scampi all looked forward. Sure enough, the town had manifested itself ahead of them, not too far away either.

Each of them stopped side-by-side in a line to look.

"There it is. There it finally is," Tamin said. "I don't know about you guys, but I've never been happier to see this old place again."

"I think I can agree with you on that," Locke said. "The first time I came here, I was mainly just doing it for shelter. Didn't want to spend another winter outside. Then came… him, then came Olivia, then Crystal started abusing me… but now, Olivia and Crystal are locked up, and I'm coming back home with you…

Hunter's still here though, so maybe not hundred percent perfect. But I'd say two outta three's good enough."

The zorua smiled. "I'm happy to be coming back as well, Tamin. And you too, Locke. Couldn't imagine living here without you," he said.

"Hey Scampi, what's been your fondest memory with the guildhouse?" Tamin asked.

"Playing hide-n-seek in the basement with all of you!" Scampi was the most cheerful of them.

"Aye, good choice," Tamin reflected. "C'mon, let's get back inside. We need some rest."

The four started with just walking towards the building again. But as Scampi shifted into a full sprint, it inspired the others to follow in suit and run back as well.

At last, they came back to the entrance. The yard seemed greener than it ever was, the doors were just as open as they ever were, and the rooms therein were clean.

Tamin could remember that on the day she was officially recruited into the guild, she was offered to be introduced to the entire roster at once as a crowd, but turned it down. That memory came back to her during that time, as she imagined that experience would've been similar to what happened when she re-entered the guild.

The four took the fastest route to the office Espeon used. Several different members noticed them, all focusing on Tamin. Some expressed thankfulness with comments of "Tamin!", others expressed concern saying "are you okay?!", and some did both. All took notice of her unhealed wounds.

Not long after meeting with Espeon, Tamin was rushed off to the infirmary to get patched up. Locke stayed with Espeon to give his account of how the actual mission went down.

At her request, Tamin got her injuries and wounds captured in a polaroid camera before any treatments were applied. It was a small thing, but Tamin wanted hard, inarguably evidence that the wounds were inflicted. No gaslighting or clever wording could ever make the pictures evaporate like they could with memories. Once they were taken and the negatives were hung in a dark room, she accepted the healing from Audino.

By themselves, the wounds were far from the worst that Audino had seen. The main thing she was concerned about were small objects impaling Tamin's flesh, as healing through oran berries would only seal the entry wounds while keeping the objects inside, which was asking for an infection. Audino carefully examined her up and down, and to all of their reliefs, there wasn't a single foreign object to be found. Though, it was still concerning that she'd spent hours walking around forest and hills with those openings, so Audino applied copious amounts of disinfectant before patching them. It stung like fire, but Tamin knew the worst was already over.

She was dismissed from the infirmary thirty minutes after entering. Bandages dressed her body like rudimentary clothing. Tamin pulled the door open to see Scampi and Dewott waiting for her. Dewott looked emotionally exhausted, needing to put effort into moving his facial muscles even though the smile was earnest all the same. The rockruff looked as she always did.

"You're all patched up now!" Scampi got the initiative with talking first.

"Well, I am physically," Tamin replied.

"I am so, so sorry for what happened," Dewott admitted as he stepped closer. "I should've noticed something was wrong with the mission, I should've fought better, I shouldn't have let you be kidnapped, I should've helped with getting you back, I-... I'm sorry,"

"It's alright, Dewott," Tamin said.

"What are ya wanting to do now?!" Scampi said.

"Love your enthusiasm, but I think I just need a breather," Tamin exhaled. "Say, where's Locke and Hunter?"

"Locke's still with Espeon talking with him and I think Hunter went up to his room," Scampi said.

"Huh… say, I don't want to be rude, but could I be by myself for a little while? I'm getting rather overwhelmed by all the people talking to me."

"Alrighty," Scampi's voice fell, like she'd done something wrong.

"Of course. Stay safe," Dewott told her.

"Thank you. Stay safe as well," Tamin said as she began walking off.

Tamin had made her way up to the second story of the guild. She strategically evaded potential conversations and line of sight with commonly crowded areas in the guild.

Walking across the hall, she counted the doors to find the right one.

The cinccino halted right in front of one door and raised up a paw to knock on it. There was a moment of second-guessing herself as her paw remained being held up, but she ultimately went through with it. Thrice she knocked on the wood, one second later, she heard shuffling coming from inside.

Hunter the zorua opened up the door. He showed a faint look of surprise at seeing Tamin. He tried to hide it by putting on a stern face, but Tamin saw through it.

"Tamin?" Hunter asked. "Are you doing alright?"

"I'm doing better, yeah," she said. "Can we go inside? I don't want to talk in the open like this."

"Yes, of course," Hunter stepped to the side to allow the minccino inside.

The room was mostly in black and white, with walls as dark as Hunter's fur and some objects painted or dyed white to contrast. It had dimmed lighting, but details could still be made out.

As Tamin went in, Hunter closed the door, but he did not lock it. "Wanting to speak in private?"

"Yeah," she admitted. "Don't really want to be caught with you considering the infamous reputation you've built for yourself. Especially from Locke."

"I totally understand that. I would've offered for you to come in myself if you hadn't," the zorua admitted. "Although that could easily be seen as creepy and such, so… yeah really glad you brought that up yourself."

"...Right," she flatly said.

"Anyways, what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"First of all, don't tell anyone this meeting happened, okay?"

"Didn't need to ask, heh."

"Good. Because I really don't know how to start this off verbally. So sorry if this is too sudden."

"Wha-"

Tamin stepped and leaned forwards towards Hunter. She raised her arms up and wrapped them around his neck, placing her head besides his at the same time. Hunter was too stunned to respond as Tamin hugged him.

She held onto him for three seconds before she let go and stepped back.

"...I did not expect that," Hunter admitted, still stunned.

"Well, you did save me from my parents, so I'd be wrong for me to not show some appreciation," Tamin said with a somewhat awkward smile.

"Still, I was expecting something more like a 'thank you'," his eyes were still widened.

"Look, let me try and explain," Tamin said. "Back when I was with my family- growing up with them I mean- I tried my hardest to earn their approval, but they never gave me any appreciation for anything I did. They just decided that I was the bad kid early on and that I didn't deserve anything good because of that. Then whenever I gave up on trying to earn their approval, they'd hate me for it, I'd never hear the end of it, and they just used that to prove how I was the 'bad kid' of the family.

So when I was brought back to them, it reminded me who I should NOT be and why I should never be like them. And now on the way back, I was thinking about you," she leaned her head forward.

"Giving me appreciation for helping to save you now, like your parents never did?" Hunter asked.

"More than just that," she replied. "I don't like how you disguised yourself as Locke to try and bring me on a date, but I can tell you did try and make me happy with it. Before that, I heard about how you offered yourself up to Yuki so I wouldn't have nearly as bad of a time with her. Then there was that one time...when you gave me some serious advice on how I could train myself for combat, which did gave me a lot more confidence when I applied what you said. Then- yeah- you seemed to have done the most in that rescue mission back there.

Now please know I don't condone everything you've done. You toyed around with many people in the guild and you're the main reason why Locke was put in that harness when you intentionally provoked him. But, I'd be wrong if I only criticized the things you did bad and never appreciated the good things you've done.

As far as I can remember, you've only tried to help me and treat me nice. So Hunter, thank you. Thank you for what you've done."

Hunter took in every word she had said. He could feel a blush coming on, so he looked away so he didn't need to see her eyes. "Thank you, Tamin," he reciprocated. "I-I really appreciate that."

"Yeah. This might've been a long time coming, or maybe not. Either way, I feel I needed to do this."

"So… does this mean we can be friends?" Hunter asked. "Just friends."

"So long as you don't let Locke hear about this, then yes," Tamin said.

"Private friendship then?"

"Yes. And if you make me choose between friends, I will choose Locke."

"I understand. Thank you again," Hunter gave a smile. Not a cheeky smile when a joke landed or a prank was successful, this one was smaller, but a hundred times more powerful.

"It's no problem. Now… never make me regret doing this," the cinccino said.

"With all of my heart, I promise I will not."

"Good. Now for both our sakes let's hope that promise remains unbroken."

"Could you give a rough estimate on how many houndoom you defeated in there?" Espeon inquired.

"Besides that leader person I mentioned, I knocked two out," Locke elaborated. "I know Scampi knocked out one, and I couldn't tell you at all for Hunter and Tamin. But I'm fairly sure they got a few of them too."

"Did any of you kill anyone there?" he asked while writing down his answer.

"I doubt it. I know for a fact that the ones I fought weren't killed. Scampi wouldn't never do something like that, nor would Tamin. Hunter would absolutely be the type to be willing to kill, but I have to admit that he's too calculated with his actions to do it, he's too skilled to do it by accident and wouldn't do it if it doesn't benefit him."

"Thank you for all of this, Locke. Given they have wealth, I think it is highly likely that they will drag us into a legal battle. So I'm trying my best to prepare for that storm," Espeon finished writing on the paper. "Any other details about how things went down that I should know?"

"I think that covers everything," Locke said.

"Understood. Again, you did an amazing job at getting Tamin safe, I really have to commemorate you for what you managed to accomplish," Espeon put the pen down. "Especially as you were working with someone who I understand you are on very poor standings with."

"Thank you. Really, just glad that Tamin is safe again," he exhaled.

"We all are. Although I think now we should talk about the other matter at hand here. Could you describe how you evolved during this mission?"

"It just kinda happened when I was fighting that leader houndoom. Not after beating him, in the middle of the fight."

"About what I had expected. Was the experience distressing for you at all? Evolutions don't always come smoothly, so that's why I'm asking."

"No, not really. It feels surprisingly natural already. Like I've always been like this, sort of thing."

"That's not uncommon either. That's sort of like what evolution was for me as well, if I remember correctly," Espeon said. "And what happened to your harness there?"

"Broke off when I evolved. I didn't try to break it,"

"I believe you. About what I expected," Espeon looked upwards towards the blank ceiling. "I wonder if the harness was physically limiting you from evolving and growing larger, but then the harness got torn in your fight with that mercenary leader, and it being torn weakened it enough to allow evolution to transpire. There's got to be some biological mechanism to prevent pokemon from evolving into tight spaces they cannot occupy, so the harness might've been inadvertently triggering that mechanism."

"I really have no idea," Locke said.

"Oh, sorry. I was more of just thinking out loud," he returned his gaze to the luxio. "Anyways, there's another matter related to that subject I wanted to discuss with you."

"What is it?" Locke had his curiosity piqued at this. He didn't know why, but he felt good about this.

"When we originally decided to use that harness, it was in response to how violent you were with other guild members, meant to serve as both a way to restrain you if necessary, and a passive punishment.

But as time has gone on, there has been a very noticeable improvement in your behavior. Not so much from one incident, but the lack of them. I have one report of you attacking Hunter in town with a thunderbolt, but that seems to be about it.

I've been thinking about this for a few weeks, but I think now is a good time to do it. Locke, today we'll officially get rid of the whole harness and you won't need to wear anything anymore."

"Wait, really?!" Locke bopped up.

"Yes. Really. You've done an excellent job at improving your behavior."

"Yes! Freaking finally!" he expressed. "Gosh I hated that thing."

"I realize that I probably should have done this sooner, so sorry about that. But this will serve as a very good reward for what you've done."

"Yeah, I think this was a real long time coming. How long was I in that?"

"Sorry…" Espeon became sheepish. "In retrospect, I think we only did that out of how much of an emergency the situation had become. We kept that going for way too long. I was busy with other problems in the guild and got distracted."

"Just glad it eventually happened," Locke said.

At this point, Espeon had taken notice that Locke hadn't said 'thank you' or 'it's alright' to him yet. He considered commenting on it, but decided he couldn't blame him.

"I don't plan to immediately announce it to other guild members. Or- well, how about this. How do you think I should go about sharing this information?"

"Tell it to Sylveon and Niot so they don't get on me, and don't talk about it otherwise. I just want to forget about it. Explain it just to people that ask."

"Will do," Espeon confirmed. "That should cover all I needed to talk to you about. Anything else you wanted to ask or discuss?"

"Umm… Oh yeah! There is one thing."

"What is it?"

"How many tails do you think of yourself as having?"

"Just one. Just because it splits doesn't mean I have two tails like Sebastien has."

"Huh…"

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it'll take awhile to explain."

"I one-hundred percent believe that," Espeon said. "Anything else?"

"Nah, that's all. Cya,"

"Alright. Have a great day Locke and get your rest,"

"Thank you," he said as he stood up.

"There it is," Espeon thought to himself.

Locke went to the entrance of the office and opened it. As the wooden door creaked open, he saw Tamin the cinccino on the other side, in all her bandaged up glory.

"Heard from the grapevine you were still with Espeon," she said.

"Well, I'm out of there now," Locke said. "With some good news as well."

"I'll be happy to hear it then," Tamin said with a smile. "Also, supper's soon, so we should be ready for that."

For the next few hours, Locke and Tamin stuck together like siamese twins. They talked with one another, sat beside each other while waiting, laid in together in Tamin's room, and discussed evolution.

They took a look outside, and realized it had become dusk right under their noses. In wordless agreement, they both went onto the guildhouse's porch to join each other in watching the sunset.

The sun's blinding yellow transitioned into that which was far more pleasing to look at. They stood so close they touched, it was simply the best way for them to share the moment.

Save for the soft winds blowing the leaves, the scene was silent. It wasn't abrasive or uncomfortable, it was the perfect amount of noise to accompany the picturesque sunset.

As the red sun touched the horizon, Tamin opened up her mouth; as well as her heart.

"You know, after all that has happened today, I can't help but think back to the day we first met." Tamin said to Locke, getting his attention. "Back in that forest mystery dungeon, I think a week after I originally ran away. I got to see how you looked as a rogue explorer with all those backpacks and pockets on you

I remember it all so clearly, that day. You tried to guide and escort me out of there safely, I triggered a trap, some pokemon came to ambush us, you did everything you could to defend me,. Then Rustin, Armin and Max ran in to save us. When they talked about the guild, you asked to join, and I followed. In a way, it all seems like it was yesterday.

And I bring this because looking back, I don't think I could have asked for a better pokemon to meet on that day than you."

After hearing these heartfelt words from Tamin, Locke lowered his head to contemplate them properly. He began speaking for himself.

"On the same note- although I think I would have ended up joining this guild eventually- I don't think I could have had a better day to do it on. As I did it on that fateful day, I got to meet you, I got to go through the recruitment process with you, and I got to become friends with you.

You said it best, really. You and I make a great team together, and I'm glad that I got to continue this day."

"Yeah… I have to say, I never felt safe when I was with my parents. I never felt safe when I was going through those mystery dungeons. I never felt safe when I was being blackmailed by Yuki. I never felt safe in the basement of the guildhouse, even.

But with you, for the first time in my life, I feel safe. And… it feels quite nice," Tamin's eyes gleamed.

After Tamin finished speaking, both of them turned their heads away from the sunset and to each other. They started bringing their faces towards one another- but pulled their heads back while slightly blushing when they simultaneously realized they had the same idea in mind. One rotated their head to the left and the other to the right, and saw their actions cancelled the other's out so no difference was made. They then set their foreheads against each other and smiled to themselves on how silly and needlessly difficult this situation was getting. When the top of their heads touched, they moved the rest of them to the other, putting their mouths against one another.

As the sun set red beside them, Locke and Tamin kissed each other in a lovers' embrace.

End of chapter 39.

Note from the author

I hope that chapter was enjoyable for you, and wrapped a lot of things up like I had intended. In many regards, this chapter was an ending.

From here on out, the next chapters will read more like a sequel to what you've read so far then a continuation of the same story. I do have reasons on why I have decided to not separate this into two stories, though. I just decided that I would give you all that heads up.