Craw smiled as he woke up. He didn't dare to move a bit feeling Ariela lying in his back and hugging him from behind. He sighed happily. Even though he was a bit tired still since they spent half of the night talking and cuddling a bit before they went to bed. Even though Craw felt a bit strange sleeping with her in one bed he enjoyed being close to her. He slowly turned around trying to not wake her just to find out that she was awake all the time. He blushed a bit. "Good morning."
She giggled. "Good morning." She kissed him softly.
He blushed a bit and nuzzled her. "How about we stay here till breakfast? Then we just go to make ourselves a bit fresh before going to breakfast."
She smiled a nodded. "That sounds wonderful."
So they just stayed in bed for a while and cuddled or talked about their plans for the team. They would for sure aim for the silver rank mostly because Kathrin wouldn't accept anything less. Then they would have several rooms for each team member one and even some more free rooms for future team members. They could even have their own kitchen and two bathrooms so the females and males wouldn't need to share one even though Ariela told him that she didn't seem to mind sharing a bath with him.
Craw blushed again at the thought but after some seconds he realized that they aren't wearing any clothes anyway and it didn't bother him till now. He sighed. "You really have some dirty thoughts sometimes."
Ariela giggled and kissed his cheek softly. "I thought we would be clean after a bath." He smiled innocent and looked to him.
Craw rolled his eyes looking to her. "Yeah sure."
They talked about it how they would handle the jobs in future and that they wouldn't be able to spend all the time together if Craw would be the leader but they decided to take at least one day a week a free day to spend it together.
Ariela was even so bold to ask him if they should live in a room together and even though Craw had some demurs against it they came to the consent that it would be the best idea.
As breakfast time was close they decided to separate for now and meet again at the breakfast.
Craw didn't want to separate from her and he guessed she was thinking the same. They held hands as they left till they reached Ariela's and Kathrin's room where they separated.
Craw sighed as she went inside and went to his, Brighton's, Damion's and Fletcher's room. He smiled calmly and even Brighton's comment that he surely had a wonderful night didn't bother him. He went to the bathroom and took a shower before he told them what he talked about with Ariela the same morning and asked them if they were OK with that.
All of them seemed to think the same way and even had some more ideas.
Craw smiled and nodded telling them that they would speak with Ariela and Kathrin about that at the breakfast.
So they went to the canteen but as they came to the table, on which they normally ate together with Kathrin and Ariela, Ariela sat alone without Kathrin.
Craw looked at her curious.
Ariela sighed and shrugged. "She said she isn't hungry. But I guess she is still just angry about yesterday."
Brighton frowned putting his head on the table. "I already told her that I am sorry and that I didn't do it by purpose..."
Ariela sighed. "Well to her that doesn't seem to matter."
Brighton frowned again.
Craw looked to Ariela. "You think she is OK?"
She shrugged. "Probably she will let out her anger at the next training." She grinned and looked to Brighton. "You should hope it's not you who will spar with her."
Brighton frowned again.
Craw chuckled and calmly ate something.
After breakfast Craw and Ariela separated from the rest and went on their date. First they strolled around exploring the city a bit.
At the market Craw even bought her a necklace with a smoothed lapis lazuli as gemstone.
Of course Ariela didn't want it at first but he insisted to gift it to her.
After that they went to their favorite café and had some lunch. Like so often they were alone in the café since it seemed to not have many visitors.
Ariela smiled while she looked at the gem. "It is so beautiful."
Craw looked to her. "Not as beautiful as you are."
Ariela giggled and looked to him. "Craw! Are you flirting with me? What a wonderful side on you!"
Craw blushed a bit and nuzzled her softly. "I thought I could give it a try."
Ariela smiled and looked to him. "I like it." She kissed him softly. "You should do it more often."
He smiled a bit bashful and nodded. "What would you like to do next?" He took another sip of his coffee like drink.
She smiled bold and put her head on her hands. "How about we take a bath in the hot spring together?"
Craw nearly spit his coffee out but he instead tried to gulp it down but coughed hard getting it into his snout. He needed about a minute to recover. "W-What?"
Ariela smiled calmly. "You heard what I said."
Craw blushed widely. "I mean..."
Ariela smiled. "I just mean a bath. I know some things are different for humans but for Pokémon a bath is just a bath." She kissed him.
He blushed. "Yeah... Still... It means something different to me..."
She smiled. "Well either you can come with me or not. But I gonna take a bath." Then she stood up and went away.
He watched how she left. "It is so different here..." He sighed and put his head on the desk. "Wait a second..." He lifted his head again. "What the hell I am doing here?" He quickly stood up and left some money on the desk before he ran after Ariela.
Brighton sighed and knocked on the door.
"Who is there?" Kathrin still seemed to be pretty angry judging by her voice.
"Brighton. I would like to talk with you." Brighton trembled. He was actually scared of her. He grinned. He never was scared of a girl. "Can I come in?"
"As if I could stop you from doing anything."
Brighton sighed and entered.
Kathrin was curled on her bed under the blanket only her head poking out.
Brighton sighed and closed the door before he sat down on a chair. "I am really sorry. It was an accident..."
Kathrin hissed at him. "I don't care."
Brighton looked down. "I hope you can forgive me one day..." He stood up to go but then he stopped. "I know it doesn't mean much now..." He was standing with his back to her. "I actually like you alot. You are never shy to say what you are thinking... Also you don't care if I am a prince or not. You always treated me like you would treat any other. That was always important to me. I hope one day we can be friends again." Then he left.
Kathrin was speechless. She suddenly widely blushed. "W-What?"
Craw sighed relaxed.
Ariela giggled. "And? Is it how you thought it is?"
He chuckled. "Not really. I don't know if it is because I was a Riolu for so long or if it always was like this..." He looked to her. "Still it is somehow in my mind that it should be different... That I should act more like a human..."
They were alone in the hot springs so he didn't need to worry about talking of his secret.
Ariela smiled. "Who knows? But I don't care. What did you actually thought it would be like?"
Craw sighed and looked to her a bit embarrassed.
She blushed. "Oh... You thought about that. Is that really a thing of you humans?"
Craw shrugged. "I don't know if it counts for every human but at least where I come from bathing is something what females and males not do together... At least not like this..."
Ariela giggled. "Why that?"
Craw looked to her. "Well... Unlike Pokémon the humans... Well their genitalia aren't hidden... That makes things kinda complicated..."
Ariela giggled amused. "Well I can imagine that." She kissed him softly. "That probably can a lot of trouble in moments like this."
Craw nodded. "Yeah... That is why humans wear clothes... Well that and to keep us warm. Humans have no fur or feathers after all..."
She smiled. "I wonder how humans look alike..."
He looked to her. "Well actually there are some Pokémon that have some similarities with humans. But it is hard to explain."
She looked to him with curiosity. "Oh really?"
Craw smiled and nuzzled her. "Could we please talk about something else?"
She smiled. "OK." She grinned bold. "Then tell me more about our future. I mean the one you see us married. You mentioned something about that yesterday you remember?"
He widely blushed. "You know what I meant..."
Ariela smiled and leaned onto his shoulder. "I actually like that idea."
He widely blushed and didn't know how to respond to that.
Ariela giggled. "You are unsure about it?"
He looked to her nervously. "I-I... It is just... I didn't really took my time to think about stuff like that till now..."
Ariela smiled and kissed his cheek softly. "Take your time. I mean it is something important that should be thought about." She looked to him. "To be honest I am unsure about that topic myself yet. But I started thinking about it and I just wanted that you maybe start thinking about it too."
He sighed and tried to relax. "Yeah..."
Ariela cuddled onto him making him blush. "You really don't need to worry too much about it but at least you should think about it."
Kathrin punched her pillow. "That dumbass..." She punched the pillow again and again frustrated. "WHY ARE YOU ARE LIKE THIS BRIGHTON!" She growled and threw the pillow away. "DAMN YOU IDIOT!" She let herself fall onto her bed and looked to the ceiling. "I really have to do something about you..." She frowned and stood up leaving the room. She needed to take a walk.
Brighton sighed. He could hit himself for being that dumb. He frowned and ruffled his head. "Why are you so dumb Brighton?"
"You know that speaking of yourself in third person is a sign of insanity my prince?"
As Brighton turned around he saw Lux. "I am not in the mood to talk with you right now."
Lux chuckled. "I was just strolling around. I saw you and you seemed to be pretty frustrated. Is your training not going so well?"
Brighton rolled his eyes. "That's not the problem." He turned to go away.
The Luxray grinned. "OK, then I guess it's a female."
Brighton sighed. "Just shut up and go away."
He chuckled. "Now that the king swore to keep himself out of your future I can give you some personal advice that hasn't something to do with getting married and make a heir to the throne." He looked to the Pikachu while following him. "I had to watch all these years how you suffered and I couldn't really help you. I mean I wanted to but I am too loyal to go against the kings orders." He sighed.
Brighton rolled his eyes. "Yeah and next you want to tell me how many females you had in your past." He glared at the Luxray. "But I don't care. It is not the type of problem I have right now that you can help me with."
Lux looked to him calmly. "First of all I only had one female in my life and we are still happily married. On the second thing: Test me."
Brighton looked to him a bit surprised but still seemed to be frustrated. He never knew much about the Luxray. He didn't know that he didn't even know that Lux was married. He sighed and told him everything quietly so nobody else would hear it.
Lux calmly listened till the end and after that he seemed to think about it a little bit. "Well... That is really something... But I would say before you do something else you let her alone for now. Let her calm down and then you maybe can speak with her about everything."
Brighton sighed and nodded. "Yeah... I just feel so dumb."
Lux chuckled. "You never had a hand for females. Sure... You learned how to speak to Pokémon but you never really learned how to act towards females. You will make a lot more mistakes in future but you will learn from them."
Brighton frowned. "I wish I would have grown up like a normal Pokémon."
Lux shook his head. "You can't give your father the fault of everything. You could have at least tried to speak with females. I know you always feared that the king would try to engage everyone with you but you should have known that he would never have accepted someone as your mate that hadn't a high social status. You could at least have tried to speak with normal females."
He sighed. "As if they wouldn't have acted like if they really like me. They would just have tried to become my friends to get something from me. Or they would have scared me for what could happen if I get angry..."
The Luxray laughed loudly. "Really? The most of the kids didn't even know who you are. You could have played with them and learned how to act and speak normally to others."
Brighton sighed. "Couldn't you have told me that back then?"
He chuckled. "Well... That is your father's fault."
He grinned grimly. "My old man really enjoyed destroying my life..." He sighed. "At least my mom taught me some things about how to act normal to people."
Lux sighed. "He just had other plans with you."
Brighton growled angrily. "Yeah but he never cared for what I wanted!"
Lux sighed. "Well he always thought on the best for the kingdom."
Brighton rolled his eyes. "He only thinks on the best for himself!"
Lux looked to him. "He is the king. The king is the kingdom. The best for him is the best for his kingdom."
Brighton grit his teeth. "The best for the citizen is the best for the kingdom. A king that has no citizen because they all die is worth nothing."
Lux chuckled. "You will be a good king one day."
Brighton sighed. "If I ever become a king." He looked to the Luxray with a serious face. "I am honestly not thrilled to become king. Please don't tell my father about that. No, I order you to keep it a secret from him."
Lux nodded. "As you say my prince."
Brighton nodded. "Good. Thanks for your help anyway. I will have to think about it a bit. Now please leave me alone." He turned to go.
Lux smiled and watched him leave. "I hope you get happy prince." He said it quiet talking to himself.
Craw stretched himself. "That was really relaxing. I feel much better now."
Ariela smiled. "See? I told you it was a good idea."
Craw smiled and nuzzled her softly. "Yeah you were right." He looked to her. "What do you want to do next?"
She smiled. "I want to go somewhere on my own. Could we meet later in the canteen for dinner?"
Craw looked to her a bit disappointed. "You want to be alone? But I thought we have a date..."
Ariela giggled and kissed his cheek. "It will just be till dinner."
He sighed. "Well OK." He kissed her softly. "I hope you have fun then."
Ariela smiled and nodded before she left.
He sighed and watched her go. Then he started whistling while he thought what else they could do today. After some time he saw a certain Pikachu that was kicking a pebble around. Craw sighed and went to him. "What's up?"
Brighton startled. "I didn't follow you two!" He looked to Craw nervous. "Wait... Where is Ariela?"
Craw smiled. "She wanted to do something." He looked to him. "Now stop distracting and tell me already what's going on."
Brighton sighed. "Well you see..."
Ten minutes later they were sitting in their favorite café eating some cake.
Craw looked to him. "You really messed up there." He chuckled.
Brighton glared at him. "Stop laughing at me."
Craw grinned. "Well who would have guessed the silver tongued prince has problems with females?"
Brighton wanted to throw something at Craw but the only things in reach were cake that he didn't want to waste and knives and forks that would be too dangerous to throw. "I am serious. That is not funny."
Craw smiled. "OK OK." He thought about it a bit. "I think Lux is right. You should let her some time to calm down again before you talk with her about that again. Or better wait till she talks with you about it."
Brighton sighed and nodded. "Yeah... Probably you are right." Suddenly Brighton paled and stared out of the window.
Craw turned around to see what his friend was looking at and saw her.
Kathrin glared right back at them.
Craw looked to Brighton. "You stay here. I will talk with her."
Brighton gulped. "Craw-"
"I know." He quickly left and went to Kathrin pulling her away from the window. "Hey let's talk."
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" She glared at him angrily. "Don't you dare-"
Craw slapped her. "Hey calm down already. You are too angry to think straight right now and even though I can understand it a bit you should at least listen to what I say."
Kathrin was so close to beat the shit out of Craw but she held herself back. "Say what you have to say."
Craw sighed. "First I am sorry that I slapped you." He looked around. "Come. Let's go somewhere we can talk alone."
Kathrin glared at him and sighed. "Then hurry. I have to beat someone up."
Craw nodded and went into a side street. "I would prefer if you don't use Brighton as punching bag." He stopped as they reached a good spot. "OK. I know what happened. What I don't understand is why you are still so angry about it. It was an accident."
Kathrin glared at him. "That's none of your business."
"It is if it disturbs the teamwork. You are as much part of the team as Brighton is and I want to hear your part too. So tell me. Why does it make you so angry?" He stared at her with a serious face.
She growled at him. "That is none of your fucking business!" She wanted to go but Craw stopped her. "Let me go!"
He looked at her. "Seriously Kathrin. You are freaking out about something that was an accident. I think there must be something more about it and I want to know it right now."
She hissed at him. "FUCK OFF!" She tried to punch him but he swiftly dodged, grabbed her and threw her on the ground.
"You won't get out till you tell me..." Then he noticed something.
Kathrin was lying on her back her tail between her legs. She had tears in her eyes und her face showed fear. She even whimpered a bit.
Craw backed off. "Now I get it... Kathrin... Why... No... You are right... It isn't my business... I am sorry... I am so sorry that something horrible like that happened to you..."
Kathrin stood up and cried. Then she quickly ran away.
Craw ran after her. "Kathrin stop!" He looked at her surprised as she actually stopped.
Kathrin slowly turned around. She was still crying and her whole body was shaking.
Craw sighed. "Kathrin. You can't run away from this problem. You have to face it. If you don't tell me everything then tell at least everything to Ariela."
Kathrin whimpered. "I can't... I-I don't want her to worry about me... She was the first Pokémon that I called a friend... I had to hide it so long from her and I don't want that she feels what I felt..."
Craw sighed. He could understand that. "Then talk with someone else about it. Someone you trust. Anubis or lady Serene or maybe even Brighton if that helps you."
Kathrin cried and whimpered. "N-No... They... I don't want that they know it... I don't want that they pity me..."
Craw knew exactly what she meant. He went to her and softly hugged her.
Kathrin flinched first but then she let him comfort her. She cried and whimpered for some time but then she looked to him. "C-Can I talk with you?"
Craw looked to her surprised. "Me?"
She nodded. "I don't know... I have the feeling I can trust you..."
Craw nodded. "If that helps you you can do that."
Kathrin sobbed and nodded starting to tell him everything.
Ariela smiled and knelt onto the ground in front of the tombstone. She put down some flowers and stroked some leaves from the stone. "Hey mom... I miss you..." She sighed. "You remember Craw right? Of course you do... After all you two were married... I hope you aren't angry on him anymore that he lied to you back then... He just wanted to protect you but you surely know that already..." She smiled calmly. "He is cute isn't he?" She giggled. "Yeah... I know... It is strange to talk with you about that. But I have to ask you something... Will you issue us your blessing... I want to spend my life with him..." She smiled as if she was waiting for an answer. "He is honest and caring and even though I still have to think about it for a bit I am sure I want to marry him one day..."
A breeze blew through the leaves and then through her hair.
She smiled. "Thank you mom."
Craw sighed as he sat down again. He ordered another of the coffee like drinks and looked to Brighton who seemed very nervous. "Kathrin went back to the guild. You should let her alone for the next days..."
Brighton looked to him nervously pecking with his fork on the same cake he had as Craw left him. "What did you two talk about?"
Craw looked to him with a serious face. "Don't. Don't ask me and don't ask her. I know we said we won't have any secrets anymore but... Well she asked me to keep it a secret." He sighed. "Please. Just don't ask. It will need some time for her and maybe she will never talk with you about it but at least she won't beat you up anymore."
Brighton nodded nervously. "Is she OK?"
Craw laughed. "Really? You think she is OK after how she acted? No, she isn't." He sighed. "Just drop it for now. I know it must be frustrating but she needs time."
Brighton sighed. "Why is she talking with you about it and not with me?"
Craw looked to him. "You really can't stop it right? Drop the topic already. If you don't do it when I ask you then I have to order it and I would prefer to not do that."
Brighton gritted his teeth. "You mean you would use that on me?"
Craw sighed. "Under this circumstances yes."
Brighton frowned. "This is so frustrating..."
Craw nodded. A Zangoose brought him his coffee like drink and Craw took it thanking her before starting to take a sip on it. "I know."
Author's note: Another chapter! Let's see where this is going next... Brighton is frustrated, Kathrin is... well hard to say what Kathrin is, Ariela is happy and Craw just has more things to worry about. Hope you like it.