"It had to be a jungle, didn't it?" As I ran, my heart pounded in my eardrums, avoiding vines and tree roots poking out of the earth. It made it hard to listen to the rustling in the trees and surrounding vegetation. Suddenly, a grovyle leaped out of a tree coming down with their blades ready. Just before they could reach me, a pillar of stone shot from the ground and nailed them in the chest, shooting them back into the trees. I turned around and saw Nina who summoned the pillar in a single stomp. "Nice shot," I complimented.

"Thanks, now let's keep running before more of them catch up," Nina said. I nodded, and we continued our escape with an orb in tow.

We ran out of the bandit's territory and ran a little more. Even though we've been traveling for almost two months now, it did not prepare me for all this sprinting. Eventually, we both stopped to catch our breath. "Well…that was…fun," Nina joked in between breaths.

I was ready to keel over at that point. "I'm never letting you convince me…to do that again," I said while leaning on a tree for support.

She smiled and shook her head, "admit it, it was fun to go on a mission again. One of the most intense retrievals I've had to do too." Nina had begun to gain her composure again. I was as well but still had a bit of labored breathing. She was right. The rush of completing our goal was a feeling I missed. It felt like ages since I've felt like this. But I didn't feel like giving her the satisfaction of confirming. We continued to our destination, and we found ourselves on the outskirts of the jungle. Nearby was a village; stone walls that were barely taller than me surrounded said village.

We approached the entrance and were greeted by some of the residents. A floatzel and grotle eagerly led us to the home of their village chief. Many of the homes here were colorfully painted. There wasn't any sort of theme some communities may follow. If there were a theme, some might call it bright or cheerful, just like the many residents. The chief's home was no different. We arrived at a house made of adobe painted a bright green with large browned leaves acting as the roof. Compared to the others here, it was a large home but with good reason. The two Pokémon led us inside, and we found their chief, a large torterra, sleeping. The grotle quickly ran up to the torterra shouting, "granddad! Granddad, they found your treasure!"

The elderly Pokémon woke with a start, clearly shocked by their grandson's shouting. But as soon as he saw us with the orb, his eyes grew wide and almost matched the same excitement and enthusiasm the grotle did. "You found it! You found our precious heirloom!" He exclaimed. At this point, both Nina and I were pulled into a hug by the chief's vines. After a solid minute of being smothered by the torterra, he released us and asked, "how could we ever repay you two for helping us save our village's heirloom?"

Nina asked, "Well, we are actually hoping to set a sort of base nearby that way we can keep helping you guys around here. Do you think you could lend some help to do so?"

The torterra's eyes grew wide, "you're going to stay here? Truly? I'm so glad you've changed your minds about staying here!"

I turned my head to Nina and whispered, "yeah, Nina, when did we change our minds?" My comment was met with an elbow in my side.

"After seeing who these bandits were, it's very likely they may come back and try to steal your orb again," Nina said. The chief's expression immediately changed. He looked almost scared.

"Oh my…" he mumbled. He turned to the floatzel, "Xandra, would you please return our heirloom to its rightful place and let all our builders know that we need to find a location for friends here to build a home." The floatzel nodded and quickly left with the orb. The torterra returned his attention to us, "thank you again. You have no idea how much this means to me. Most of us here aren't well equipped to fight because we've spent so much time living peacefully. Ever since those bandits showed up, I was at a loss of what to do, and then you two appeared out of the blue." The pokemon's eyes were being to get watery, and before either of us could react, The Chief pulled us into another vine hug.

Nina tried speaking despite the vines squeezing her, "sir, we're glad to help, but, er, your hugs might get to us before the bandits do."

The chief quickly released us and apologized, "Sorry, I can get carried away sometimes. We're just blessed that a kind couple like you two just happened to help us out in our time of need."

Couple? I eyed Nina, who also happened to look at me. "Uh right, well, I actually need to speak to Nina privately, so we'll be leaving now if you don't mind, sir."

"Of course, and since you're going to live here, feel free to call me Granddad like everyone else," said Granddad.

"Okay, see you around, Granddad," I said, already pulling out Nina. We made some distance when Nina pulled away from me.

She asked, "why are you holding my paw?!"

"Huh? I'm was trying to just get you out here so we could talk." I responded. Her face blushed with a slight purple hue. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…sorry that couple comment got to me," Nina said, turning away.

I chuckled, "Oh right, that. He's just an old guy making assumptions. We can always clear things up later.

Nina began to walk past me, "Fine, but what did you want to talk about?"

I followed after her, "what do you mean? What do I wanna talk about? I wanna talk about how all of a sudden you decided we're going to stay here and help this village out?"

She exaggeratedly groaned, "Jeez, you really are dense. Haven't you noticed?"

"Notice what?!" I asked, getting frustrated.

"That you're happy! Ever since we left, you've been mopey and hardly reacting to anything, but you've slowly been opening back up since we've started helping out others in our travels." Nina stopped and turned to put her paws on my shoulders. "Especially since we've arrived here, you've started looking like your old self again these past two weeks."

I was caught off guard. Maybe it was because I've been stuck in my own mind for the past two months, but I didn't think I was changed that much. It is true that I've been thinking less of the past now and what happened. "I-I don't know, what about our old base and-"

Nina let me go and said, "Listen, since we'll be set up here, we could figure out a way to send a message letting them know that we'll be staying here, and then boom! Just like that, we have two bases to carry out missions and help others."

I hated to admit it was convincing, "So what now? We make this village our new home and somehow manage two bases hundreds of miles apart?"

She shook her head, "obviously, we could have someone take command over there to deal with day-to-day stuff. Now stop trying to come up with excuses and admit that you love this idea."

I couldn't help but laugh, "Fine, you got me. There's still a lot of details we'll have to work out, but for now…I guess I can enjoy what this place has to offer."

Nina was right; I am doing better now. There's still something deep inside me that still gnaws at my heart, but I believe that I found out how to make it go away. We continued looking through the village; we saw several familiar faces that greeted and thanked us. It's been a while since I've been admired this much. Back home, we still received praise for our work, but being in an area populated with several different teams, most accomplishments went unnoticed. But here we're treated like heroes. I admit it's a feeling I missed. It has been so long since I've felt like this. When was that? When I was a totodile? Back when I was with him.

We eventually found ourselves in the village market; in the center was a 3-foot tall wooden podium. On it was the orb, we recovered. Nina spoke, "It is kind of cute that their village's heirloom is an All-Protect Orb."

"That's true…I'm pretty sure they don't know it doesn't work outside of dungeons, so it was a good call to have us stay to help them out," I said. "Should I tell them?"

Nina rolled her eyes, "don't be an ass. Come on, let's go find Xandra and see if we can help out."

After searching, we found Xandra and the team of three builders: a smeargle, a bibarel, and a conkeldurr. It was a bit of an odd mix, but they made a surprisingly effective team. With smeargle making the design, bibarel gathering materials and conkeldurr doing most of the heavy lifting and building. We were able to make an impressive base. At first, everyone was under the impression that this place would be home like all the others in the village, but after Nina and I stepped in, we discussed that we wanted a place of operations rather than a small home. After convincing Granddad almost immediately, we decided that it'd be best to make our base east just outside the village walls.

As the project continued, things became more and more tedious, but thanks to the generosity of Granddad and the rest of the village, we were able to create a base worthy of any solid rescue team. In return for all their help, we decided to teach those that were willing how to fight. There weren't as many as we would've liked but at least now, if something happened to us, they wouldn't be completely defenseless.

In seven weeks, we were finally done. Our base was done; it was comprised of four sphere-shaped buildings. I was against the shape for the building at first, but the smeargle was insistent since we saved their orb. It did eventually grow on me. The main hub was the first building nearest to the village's new gate. Currently, it's pretty empty. We have a mission board in there for anyone to post requests for our assistance. Maybe we planned too far ahead but maybe if this village grows more we could have this place full of new team members ready to help those in the area. The other two buildings to the left and right of the first were meant for new members to live. The right one was a sort of a mess hall. The left was the largest of the four, able to house up to 20 pokemon, well, those that were about my size.

Then the last was a home for Nina and me to share. I've tried several times to explain that we weren't together, but no one seemed to believe me. In the end, the home was built, and I felt guilty asking for help creating another house so we got stuck with the one. Nina seemed indifferent, so I figured I shouldn't be making a big deal about it.

"Oh, Hector! Hector come! I've finished the mural!" I heard the smeargle, Yule, call out to me. I was wandering the village a bit aimlessly, so I followed without question. I found that Nina was already waiting by the mural on the wall. Yule informed us that whenever a significant event occurred in the village, they would memorialize it with a painting on the inner walls. Granddad insisted that Yule should create a mural to commemorate us helping the village. This time Nina tried to assure them that there wasn't any need for it, but Granddad reminded us of all our accomplishments in the village. The fact that we recovered their heirloom, stopped the same bandits from stealing the village's food and supplies twice, and several other minor things.

The mural was made, and it wasn't too bad. Nina and I were painted facing each other, with our heads bowed. We held the village's orb with flowers as the border or the mural in our paws. I leaned towards Nina and whispered, "do you think the flowers are a bit much?"

"Oh, I don't know, I think it's adorable. The color of the flowers match us, and Yule even used the same flowers you gave me that one time."

I examined the art more closely, "Hmm, you're right. He did." I returned my gaze to Nina. She was admiring the mural with a longing look. I could see a light blush on her cheeks. I've been suspecting that she's been hiding her feelings from me. It was only a recent discovery, but after putting some clues together, like how she acts when someone in the village mentions the rumors of us being together. Nina's voice would change when she spoke to me. I wasn't sure what it was, but it seemed comforting and boosted my morale.

Nina noticed me staring, "what is it? Why are you staring at me?"

This is my chance to test my theory. "Oh, I was just thinking that it'd be funny to copy Yule's mural."

Nina's face became flushed by my words. She tried to speak but stuttered every letter. Yule, who was looking over his work until just now said, "Yes! Yes! I would love to see my vision become a reality!"

Nina was still in shock from the sudden situation she was placed in. She turned to me as if she wanted me to answer for her. "Yeah, why not? I don't mind, and I don't think Nina does either, right?"

She finally regained composure and responded, "y-yes, we can do the pose. For a little bit."

We stood just off to the side of the mural, as Yule suggested. I stood facing Nina with paws awaiting hers. Nina placed her paws facing up on mine, it was evident that she was nervous, and holding her paws proved it even more with how clammy they felt. Her paws weren't significantly smaller but just enough for me to clasp my digits over her paws. I barely noticed the quick glance she gave when I did so. We bowed our heads and heard Yule say, "Hmm, if only I asked you two for this in the first place. I'm only now noticing the proportion mistakes I made."

We continued this for almost a minute as Yule continued to critique his work, "Perhaps I could ask Granddad if we could have you two hold the heirloom to see if I am missing anything else."

"Maybe we can hold something similar? Like an egg?" I joked.

Nina immediately pulled away. Her eyes were wide, and her face was a shade of purple. "I-I have to go," Nina said and ran away.

There was a moment of silence, "I was not expecting the lady to be the one to run away," Yule said.

I did feel a tinge of guilt. That joke definitely went too far, and I need to talk to her. "Sorry, Yule, I need to find her and apologize to her."

Yule shook his head and said, "do not worry, you two have helped me a tremendous amount already. I can make my mural what it should have been in the first place. Now go, a child is a very serious business that you two need to figure out."

"Right," I said. I began to leave when I realized what Yule was saying. I wanted to correct him because despite this village's very kind people, they spread stories and rumors faster than wildfire. It's a problem for another time I decided I should find Nina first.

Thankfully she wasn't challenging to find. I headed straight to our home and found her sitting at the log table, which was the only furniture that adorned the first floor of our house. "You're sleeping outside tonight, asshole," Nina said without moving or looking my way. She sat in the chair that faced the fireplace, it was lit, but there were only small flames. It was the only source of light in the room. The window had white sheets of cloth that blocked most of the sunlight trying to peer through.

Nina continued to stare at the fading flames as I approached her. I tried to apologize, but Nina cut me off, "you know, don't you?"

"...Yes, I do," I admitted.

"Then tell me why," her voice cracked. She sniffled and turned to me, "why are you always messing with me?" Tears stain Nina's face, my heart dropped, and all I could think about was how I fucked up.

"I-I…" I stammered.

"All I want to do is help you. All I've been doing is helping you! Since we left everything behind! I was scared, but I just wanted to see you safe and happy, so I went with you to help you. Then you go and fuck with my feelings for what? What are you getting out of this, Hector?!" Nina broke down into a sob.

"Nina, I'm sorry! I just…I just wanted to make sure." She continued to cry. Her face was buried in her arms as she wept. I wasn't sure if she heard me or chose not to answer me. This is the worst way to do this. "Nina, I wanted to make sure because…I also have feelings for you."

Her crying was shortly interrupted by two words, "fuck you."

Those words stung worse than I could imagine. I messed up. My selfish manner of doing things might cost me my only friend and partner. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. "Nina, I'm sorry. I promise I'm not messing with you right now or ever again. You deserve better than that. You are the kindest and most giving pokemon I've ever met. Without you, I may very well be dead, and I don't think I can ever repay that." My voice trembled, but I continued, "Ever since we got here, my days have gotten brighter, and my nights have gotten easier. I thought it was this town helping me, but it was actually you. Every time you smile or say my name, I feel like myself again." I took a pause. My paws trembled. I clasped them together and have my digits try to soothe my nerves. I felt so anxious after being so honest. "Seeing you like this makes me realize I've been a shithead to you despite what you've done for me. I'm sorry."

Nina's sobs have receded by this point. She sniffled and said, "you are a shithead." She sat back up and looked at me. "How do I know you're not messing with me again?"

"I-I'd never! I promise I will never lie to you about this. I-"

Nina let out a soft chuckle, "I don't think I've seen you this worked up before. Is it that hard to be nice?"

"I guess so…" I said, feeling ashamed. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I just didn't know the best way to go about things."

"I appreciate your apology, Hector." Nina stood, wiping her face, "we can talk about this later. We should return to Yule since we left so abruptly."

"Actually, Yule said he was fine. He said we needed to figure out the…" I bit my tongue. I definitely shouldn't bring up the kid thing. "Problems we're having."

"Oh alright, well, I guess we should figure out where to go from here," Nina said, returning to her seat.

I joined her at the table sitting across from her with the fireplace's heat on my back. It was an awkward conversation at first. Neither of us expected a relationship to develop beyond friendship, so Nina asked what I wanted from her. "I don't know, I guess I just want us to continue caring for each other and working together. The only thing we're missing now is to be more intimate together."

Nina bluntly asked, "what like sex?"

"N-no! Listen, I'm not interested in that. I mean, uh, we can talk about that later. I just mean we could be more affectionate or something."

Nina thought before saying, "I think I'd like that too. I'm trusting that you're being honest with me because I really, really care about you. I want to believe you share the same feelings as me."

Nina's serious attitude was unnerving. She was trying to find any reason for me to be lying. I didn't blame her, I haven't always been the partner I could've been with her, and I just bullied her into tears. But I wasn't going to waver. "I just want to make you happy as you've made me. I promise I won't ever make you cry again."

Our conversation continued, it was a bit uneasy, but we eventually agreed to take things slowly, so not to cause any strain to our current friendship. That was until that night. I had just finished helping move food into storage for the village. It was already dark, so I went straight home.

Once I arrived, I made my way in quietly. The home was silent, so I assumed that Nina was sleeping. I climbed our staircase and found Nina resting in the newly formed large bed of dried grass. We've had our own beds this whole time, but I was caught off guard by this new change. Once I approached the bed, Nina bed sat up, looking at me sheepishly. "Hector, I know I said we should take things slowly but I thought it might be okay if we shared a bed. I hope you're fine with that.

It was a surprise, but a welcomed one. "Yeah, it's fine with me. I'll just uh, take this spot." I knelt and sat next to her on our straw bed. Her face was gaining a shade of purple that was barely visible from the moon peering through the skylight. After a short awkward exchange, we laid down facing one another. I felt nervous. I was unsure if I should ask to hold her or anything intimate afraid to push her boundaries.

Eventually, she broke the silence and asked, "is it okay if we cuddle?"

Her voice was a bit shaky, but I was relieved to know that she was thinking the same thing. "Of course," I replied, scooting closer to her. She did the same, and soon we laid face to face with my arm wrapped around her. Nina had both paws placed on my chest. I felt her breath on my neck, it was warm and oddly comforting. The only problem was that she felt very tense; was I the same way? "Hey Nina, you can put your arm around me if you want."

"Ah no, it's okay! I…I like being held like this," she responded.

My chest and face suddenly felt warm. I pulled her in a little closer while watching out for her horn. It has been so long since I felt this kind of warmth. That night was a sleepless one, but I wouldn't change it for anything.