The soft silver rays of the moon in the peaceful evening sky pours through the second floor's open window, and on a frowning Eevee sitting on the wooden floor, him gazing back at the large white orb in the heavens. His ears drooping, he closes his eyes and let out a sigh as a soft breeze drifts in, caressing his furry head.
A Nickit stirs on the bed as the gentle cold touch of the evening breeze brushes against her fur. She mumbles something, and soon her sleepy eyes slowly open. Through her hazy vision, she spots the Eevee sitting by the window. She blinks off the haziness as curiosity slowly overwhelms her sleepiness.
"Big bro?" she calls quietly.
Ears twitching, he turns and blinks at her. "Hm?"
She closes her eyes and let out a long yawn. "Mmm... I-is it morning already?" she asks as she slowly rubs her eyes with her paws.
With an amused smile, he stands on all four, approaches the sleepy dark-type on her bed, and pats her head. "Nah, it's not morning yet." His smile fades. "Go back to sleep, Plu."
She sleepily looks up at him and smiles. "Mmmkay." She gently grabs his paw and nuzzles it. "You go sleep too..."
"Soon," he whispers back with a frown. He tries to gently pull his paw back from her grip, but she doesn't seem to want to let it go. "Plu, let go."
She sleepily pulls his paw into a hug.
He rolls his eyes as she continues nuzzling his paw, feeling her tickling fur against his. "Plu..."
She then opens her mouth and pretends to gnaw his paw. "Nom~"
"Okay, now you're just being silly," he says with an amused smile as he finally pulls his paw away from the small and cute predator, only because she let him.
"Sorry," she quietly says as she looks up at him with a smile. "I'm gonna try and cherish the moments I have with you before he steals you away from me."
He blinks at her, frowns, and shakes his head. "Plu."
She sticks her tongue out at him.
He tries to smile back at her.
He fails.
And she notices.
She blinks and slowly rises to sit on her bed. "What's wrong?"
He arches a non-existent eyebrow. "You're supposed to go back to sleep, you little fluffball."
She frowns at him. "Big bro..."
His ears drooping, he closes his eyes and sighs. "It's... You're imagining things." He looks back at her with a fractured smile. "So go back to sleep. We're gonna be super busy tomorrow."
"I am still young and I still don't know a lot, but I'm not stupid!" she angrily and quietly tells him. "You looked really sad when you were looking out the window."
With another sigh, he sits on the futon and lies his head on the edge of her bed. "I was just tired."
"Then you should go to sleep, too."
"I have insomnia."
She blinks at him. "What's that?"
He shrugs. "It's me at the moment; tired but couldn't sleep."
She pouts. "Well, I'm not buying it."
"It's not for sale anyway."
She bops his head. "I mean I don't believe you!"
"Ow..."
With a frown, she lies down on her belly, facing him, their noses almost touching. "Big bro... Tell me what's wrong."
He closes his eyes and sighs, and silently hoping his breath doesn't smell bad. He'll blame the lack of toothbrush and toothpaste in this world for that if she'll complain. Then again, her breath isn't any better either.
"It's...nothing for you to worry about," he quietly says, eyes still closed. "It's...adult stuff. You wouldn't understand."
"At least tell me," she quietly tells him. "I can try to understand."
"You're not gonna drop this, are you?"
She boops his nose with her own. "Nope. So tell me!" She smiles, her tail wagging behind her. "You help us a lot, so maybe it's time to help you, too."
He opens his eyes, looking directly into her own, and frowns as he pulls his head off the edge of her bed so their noses stop touching each other, because the weird sensation is starting to weird him out. "I'm..." he trails off.
She blinks excitingly. "You're...?"
He closes his eyes once again. "I'm...leaving."
Another blink, her smile slowly fading.
He sits up straight and sighs as he hangs his head. "I don't know when, but it's soon. Sorry..."
"Where are you going?" she quietly asks.
"Home..." he quickly replies as he looks out the window.
She slowly sits up on her bed. "Don't you like it here?"
"I don't..."
He didn't get a warm welcome when he first got here. He can't fault the wilds that tried to kill him though, as it is what they are. But still...
And then there's the mistreatment of them in the city. Them as a food source, he can understand, but for something else? The Umbreon was right that it's not his concern and he shouldn't trouble himself with it, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth.
Other than that though, the Pokemon he has met so far aren't bad. The Kecleon could have easily yelled at him to go away, but he didn't. Maybe it's to not give him a bad rep, but even so, he felt the merchant is genuine in every moment they converse with one another.
Despite the odds, the Mew believed him and even decided to help him. Her telling his secret to the Umbreon still irks him, but he can't really blame her for it. He needs to learn her name, and should ask her the next time they meet.
The Miltank and the Pangoro let him stay with no trouble at all. He got suckered into dishwashing though, which he's still angry about, but other than that, they're really nice and he's thankful to have met them.
And then there's Plu.
He slowly turns back and sees her sitting on her bed, with a worried frown on her furry little face. He tilts his head with a small smile, slowly extends his paw towards her, and slowly pats her head.
"Don't be silly, Plu," he quietly says. "I do like it here. It's just..." He frowns as he pulls his paw back. "There's someone I need to return to..."
"Oh," the Nickit whispers, her head and ears drooping. "I think I understand." She then looks back at him. "But you'll come visit, right?" She frowns. "You promised that we'll be a team once I become a rescuer!"
He winces. "I... I did, didn't I?" He hangs his head. "I...don't think I can come back once I return home." He closes his eyes and sighs. "I'm sorry, Plu."
She sniffs.
Ears perking up, he looks up at her and wraps his paws around her, pulling her into a hug. "Sorry, Plu... I'm so sorry."
She buries her teary face on his white furry collar. "I want you to stay..."
He grits his teeth. This is exactly why he doesn't want to make any connections to anyone while he's in this world. Leaving would have been easier.
But now?
He nuzzles the top of her head. "I'll still be around," he whispers.
He can at least try to ease the eventual pain, right?
He brushes his paw on her back, trying to help her calm down. A few minutes later, Plu pulls away from the hug, her head still hanging as she sniffs. She wipes her nose with a paw, and looks tearfully at him.
He smiles a sad smile. "We should get some sleep."
She nods as he turns around. She grabs his tail, making him look over his shoulder.
"Plu?"
"S-sleep with me," she mumbles, blushing.
An explosion of thoughts suddenly fill his mind, and he tries his best to push the proper words through all the chaos out of his mouth. "U-uh, pardon?"
She wipes the tears off of her eyes with a paw and slowly lies down on her bed, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "Please?"
With a worried frown, he carefully and quietly climbs up the bed and lies down beside her.
She then drapes a paw over him while worming the other under him.
Getting the picture, he breaths out a sigh of relief as he wraps his paws around her as well. "Good night, Plu," he whispers as the Nickit rubs the top of her head under his chin.
They soon fall asleep a few minutes later.
"Nothing happened," the Eevee hisses with a glare. "So get that smirk off of your goddamn face already!"
The heavily-blushing Nickit tries her best to melt on her seat as the Pangoro continues to smirk at the two of them.
"Dear," the Miltank pleads, but even her is having a hard time hiding her smile. "You're making breakfast awkward."
"Alright, alright, I'll stop," the Pangoro says as he grabs his mug. "For now anyway."
"Eep!" the Nickit eeps.
The Eevee groans in frustration as he stabs his meal with a spork.
The awkwardness thankfully dies down enough for them to have a relatively okayish breakfast. As the Pangoro forces the Eevee to sit down and listen to some pointers about love that he doesn't want to hear, the Nickit shakes the embarrassment off as she runs into the kitchen where the Miltank is preparing the cooking utensils for another busy day.
"Mom," she calls. "Is it okay if I go out for a while?"
"Huh?" the Miltank turns to her. "Whatever for, dear?"
She looks up at her, determination written all over her. "I have a mission to do! Oh, and don't tell anyone!"
The Miltank tilts her head. "I'm...not sure if I understand what's going on, but..." She smiles. She has never seen her daughter looking so determined before, and never had she looked like she really wants to do something before. "Just be careful, okay? And be back soon."
Smiling, the Nickit gives her mother a hug. "Thanks, mom!" She pulls back and nods, fire burning in her young eyes. "I'll be back soon!" She then quickly turns around and runs out of the kitchen.
Shaking her head, the Miltank turns around and resumes her preparations.
The Nickit quietly and awkwardly returns to the kitchen, and opens the Eevee's bag lying on a chair. The Miltank pretends not to notice as the young dark-type pulls out a piece of paper, reads its contents, nods to herself, returns the paper back inside, closes the bag, and she then exits the kitchen.
Steeping out of the restaurant, the young Nickit looks at the outside world as the door closes behind her. "Right," she says as the early morning breeze brushes against her fur. "Mission, start!" She runs through the busy cobblestone street, heading down towards the lower portion of the city.