"Take me away, see, I've got to explain.
Things, they have changed in such a permanent way."

The sun shined with happy abandon. Wind came to cool the pleasant warmth before sweat could arrive and tarnish the time. Max felt the grass bend beneath his paws, and then it disappeared. A field of ash took its place. He looked down and around to find all the life had left his surroundings. "Max?" someone called. A familiar voice he could no longer place. He turned to the side, a familiar face, yet one that he could no longer name. A charmander, yet his hindpaws had turned grey, and his tail had lost its flame. "Don't you remember?"

Scales turned to stone. Color left as Max dug through his mind for the memories. The charmander toppled over and began trying to claw over to him. "What's… happening?" it strained to ask. The stone took over its chest and froze its face in horror as it begged for salvation.

Its name, what it was, how it knew him all got trapped on Max's tongue. His throat strained to force out what wasn't there. Lost memories blocked his breath. He couldn't breathe. His sight faltered. His limbs grew heavier. He looked down to see the same stone engulfing him. A scream rattled out of his throat as his vocal cords petrified.

His own scream ripped him out of slumber. Max reached to grab his chest with one paw, and the other grabbed his scarf while he gasped in breath. His eyes shot around to see the surroundings had completely changed. Except they hadn't, not really. Breath returned to his lungs. "A dream," he mumbled. "A nightmare." His panic smoldered into silent rage. "Thanks for that," he said to the air.

I hold no power over your psyche. If you refuse to face your emotions on your own terms, they face you on theirs.

Max rolled his eyes. "I didn't mean the dream." He went over to drink from the stream. "I wouldn't have that nightmare if you hadn't done that to us." The early morning air chilled the water and made it so much more soothing to his dry throat.

Did I ask you to come stop my plans for world domination? You were the ones trespassing, you know.

Max chuckled. "You never get tired of that joke, do you?"

Finally, you appreciate good comedy. I started to wonder if I'd ever feelyou laugh again. What's got you so chipper?

The reminder undercut the feeling with his own confusion. Usually, nightmares ruined his days. It didn't take long to find the different variable, though. The totodile. "I thought you fed off negative emotions. Shouldn't you avoid making me laugh at all costs?" His confusion twisted into a chip of guilt. He'd broke his own rule for Cori, and he didn't even know why.

It's what I know, yes.

Max raised a brow, but didn't push it much more, engrossed in his own concerns. He'd never had trouble staving off a new meeting before. Even before his deal for the devil, he could shut down his emotions before even thinking of sharing them. This time, it all just fell out. He didn't even feel like he'd said it. It felt like someone had taken advantage of his panic and spoken for him.

Well, you weren't talking, so I thought you wouldn't mind if I took over for a moment.

Every hair on his head shot up. "You what?" he shouted.

You used me to shout at them. It's only fair.

"You!" Max grit his teeth. "I got overwhelmed, all right? What happened to eating my negative emotions or whatever?"

I'm trying to watch my figure.

A growl rumbled from his throat. "You make jokes like a kid excited to show off for show and tell."

Excited? Maybe. It certainly could be that, do you think so?

He bit his lip, and a snarl curled up to flash his teeth. "I should've left you to dissolve alone."

Yes, you should have. I'm glad you didn't. Thank you.

"Chuu," he growled in frustration. Instincts started taking over. His ears fell, and he whimpered as he felt control slipping from his grasp. He grabbed his scarf and started counting the threads with his claws. Whimpers trickled from his muzzle. Tears overflowed his eyes and rolled into the stream-water drenching his mouth. Rage, desperation, loss swirled in his mind and spilled down his cheeks as he cried in the wordless jabber of a feral.

"Ready?" Cori asked.

"No," Max whimpered, clutching their head even tighter.

A claw reached up to clutch one of his. "I've got you, okay?" they comforted. Max clutched his eyes shut. The world beneath him shifted to one side as they took one step forward. Max did his best to keep control of his breath with slight success for a total of two steps. The light barrage of water trickling nearby became explosions flooding his hearing. He snaked his tail around Cori for added security. A light tap to his side dispelled the brief image of an ocean dragging him to crushing depths. Several short, quick breaths began invading his deep breaths. He tried to squeeze tighter but found his limbs physically unable.

Max shook his head. His heart pounded in his ears, but he could still hear the stream. How could it be that loud? Was Cori alive? The stream must have taken him, because Max didn't feel him walking anymore. Another, even harsher shake of his head did nothing to dispel his worries. He couldn't open his eyes, too terrified at the grisly scene he knew lay beneath him. "I can't," he choked out.

Cori's paw tapped his again—he was still there, good. "You already did," they whispered. "I've been standing in the stream for a while." A light sprinkle spackled Max's face.

Panic consumed him entirely. Water was on his face—drowning! He was drowning! He leapt backwards as far from the body of water as he could, begging grass to be where he landed. Strands tickled his back and belly as he rolled across the hill. Safe. He grabbed the ground as best he could with all of his paws and pressed every inch of his body against it. Ground. Safe. Sturdy.

Paws pattered grass down in front of him. Instincts clawed for control of his mind, demanding he attack the imminent threat. He let the impulses go. Fighting them couldn't help, especially while fear gave them nothing but extra footholds. He needed to breathe. Let them pass. They always did.

The paws crunched down the grass beside him. Claws combed through his fur. "I guess I'll teach you how to float some other time," Cori chuckled. They sat down next to him.

Max repressed the impulse to lash out. The petting calmed him down some, at least, and it seemed to dissipate the urge to attack as well. Somewhat. He didn't know if he could talk right now, so he nodded instead.

"Have you always been this afraid of water?"

Max shook his head. If he raised his tail, he could probably get off a thundershock before they noticed. Their claws started wiggling side to side a little bit on the route from the top of his head to the back of his neck. His grip on the ground loosened, and he risked letting one paw go of it to reach for his scarf.

"You really like that scarf, huh?"

The thought they wanted to steal left his mind as soon as it came. He nodded while the tension in his back relaxed. The calming feeling grew just strong enough to walk right up to felicity. The calming euphoria squeaked out a quiet, "Chaaaa," from his throat. He slammed his mouth shut, cursing himself for letting his guard down.

"Are you gonna be all right?" If they noticed the squeak, they didn't seem to care.

Confusion interrupted his fading panic. He couldn't think of how to answer that one. The soothing pets worked even better with the incidental opportunity. The quivers shaking his body stopped. He hadn't even noticed them until then. One eye peaked open. The spring rested well away from him, and the placid sky hung over them without a single cloud to interrupt the blue. He peeked over at Cori and felt surprising delight they were so close, so used to feeling a need to fight any pokémon within a mile's radius. One deep, smooth breath finally had a chance in without interruption. He mumbled a quiet speech test on the exhale. "Y-yeah. Thanks."

Two more pets slid down his back, ended by two swift pats. "I think that's enough 'swimming' for today," they announced. Max let out a deep sigh of relief. "You sure this is a good idea? We got closer that time than the other two, but I feel like I'm just scaring you and making things worse."

Max pushed himself up to sit. "Yeah," he said. "The most effective way to treat a phobia is exposure therapy. By encountering something you fear in a safe environment, you wear down the fear response as your body and mind get more and more comfortable with the stimulus."

Cori stared at him. "Did you have that prepared?" they asked.

"Hm?" Max quirked a brow and glanced at them. He quickly looked away with a light sting of warmth in his cheeks. "No. I've just studied a lot of psychology."

Cori perked up. "Oh, are you a wandering therapist?" they asked.

Max noticed the piqued interest in their eyes when he glanced over. "N-no," he said. "Did you need one?"

"No!" Cori shouted. They shot their gaze away from Max, who chuckled despite himself. Their denial deflated into reluctant admittance. "Sort of."

This couldn't be a good idea. Max put his paws behind himself and leaned on them. "What's got your goat?" Cori squinted at him. "What's bothering you," he clarified with a sigh.

Cori's eyes lit up. "Oh, sorry," they started. "Well, um, so, ah…." They traced their claws over themselves and glanced up at him a few times. Without thinking about it, he flashed a quick smile to reassure them, and it seemed to do the trick. "There's a… delphox I'm kind of interested in. We've known each other for a long time, but I don't know if, ah, uh, we both want the same thing. I want to try dating, but I don't know if… the delphox wants to."

Max nodded along for the whole explanation, giving them time to figure out precisely what to say, patiently waiting for them to finish. He let the question hang in the air, ruminating on the words and letting the air lose its tension. A light smirk tugged at the side of his cheeks. "Is he gay, too?" The look of pure shock and terror answered for them, and he burst out laughing.

"How did you know?" Cori asked. Max didn't feel any hurt from the toto, so he didn't bother repressing his laughter.

"Well," Max managed between chuckles. "There's only a few reasons someone would ever be that careful not to even imply their crush's gender." Another little fit of giggles erupted from his throat emboldened by the sight of a smile tugging at Cori's cheeks underneath what he could swear was a blush.

His laughter started spreading to them, as well. "Okay," Cori giggled. "I get it." The little bit of tension in the air shattered into a pool of shared mirth. "You don't think that's weird or anything?"

Max's laughter had all but faded, but his smile stayed behind. "Eh, I guess it's weird," he said. "But it's a weird I'm very used to." He shot Cori a wink. All of Cori's nettles nibbling at the ends of his nerves finally left, and both shared a sigh of relief. "Where I'm from, we have a saying." He sat up and looked into their eyes with all the gravity of the world. "There's no worse fate than being straight."

Another spurt of laughs shattered the facade of significance. Cori didn't share in the laughs this time, looking more confused than anything. "Straight?"

Max raised a brow. "Not gay."

"Oh," Cori said. "Where are you from? I figured your name would be the weirdest thing about you, but you top it with the stuff you say constantly."

It was time, again, to panic, if only a little bit. At least he had a safe answer prepared for that kind of question. "I mostly just wander," he let his eyes shift mock-innocently to the treetops. "I spent most of my days on the Water Continent, though."

"Oh, okay," they said. "So, your name and stuff is normal there?"

"No," Max chortled. "Not even a little bit." He almost laid back to reminisce when he caught himself. The petrified screams of a charmander took over his vision when he dared to close his eyes. "But we're talking about you." He looked over and saw the reminder startle the toto. It seemed they had forgotten themselves. "If he's your friend, just tell him. Maybe he'll feel the same, maybe he won't, but asking won't hurt anything."

Cori nodded while their eyes scanned the ground, and Max felt their nerves biting at him again. "I guess," they mumbled. "I'm just worried. I don't really have a lot of experience with relationships at all, and even less… y'know." They looked up at Max and shrugged. "I don't know if the mechanics or whatever are too different."

"I get it," Max said. He nodded along. "Luckily for you,I," he jammed a 'thumb' into his chest, "have plenty enough experience to know these mechanics pretty well." He rested a paw on their shoulder. "Relax as it goes in, clench as it goes out, and for the love of Christ do not push." He waited for the punchline to land with a dumb smile across his face. It didn't. His smile flattened a touch.

"What?" they asked.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "Try it out, see how it feels. If it works out, great, if it doesn't, fine. It doesn't matter all that much." He leaned forward and looked at the grass beneath his paws. "It's just another kind of friendship, and those are always—," his voice faltered when a frozen knife stuck through his heart, "—worth having." He painted a smile over his panic and looked over to see if Cori picked up on that slip.

They hadn't, instead looking at the grass in front of them while rubbing their claws over each other. Even before they admitted it, he already felt their nerves nibbling on his own yet again. "I'm still scared," they said, and Max felt an all consuming burn biting at his heart as confirmation.

Something, anything, he had to do something to help. Wasn't he already comforting them? They clearly needed more. "Hey, yeah," he rushed to say. He hopped up to his paws and realized he had no idea what he thought he was going to do. He shuffled towards them with the certainty of soap assimilating into water. He could swear his limbs felt heavier. His painted smile chipped when they looked up at him with confusion.

The gnawing fear abated slightly, though, so he must've been doing something right. He looked away for his own sake and plopped down right next to them. An instinct suggested he lean in and buzz them with his cheek, but that didn't seem the best course. Oh shit, his instincts were chiming in. He knew he'd done approximations of this before, but the memories faded before he could see them. Hug! he thought to himself, surprised not to feel repulsion from his instincts. They seemed eager to do that, actually. He hurriedly wrapped his nearest arm around them and realized they had barely known each other for two days and retreated his paw to the back of their head to bring it up between their eyes and strained his arm to reach high enough to pat them there. "Th-there there, bucko."

The mere existence of water as a concept was sufficient to dissolve his paper smile. Cori had a smile of their own, and it seemed to falter as well. Panic choked his breath—had he done something?—their breathing got more erratic. He could only watch in terror as their veneer of a smile jerked and broke under the burgeoning pressure of what he'd done.

Right as he was about to retreat with an arsenal of apologies, a piercing explosion of laughter filled his ears. He jerked away from the sound before he could process it—were they preparing an attack?—but relaxed his defenses when he finally did. "Y-you-what was—haha," Cori tried speaking, unable to break out of the binds of laughter.

Good job! You managed to cheer them up.

Max nodded while a frown tugged at his expression. He pulled his paw away and let his gaze wander away from theirs. They felt better, and that should've made him happy, but the embarrassment made him want to run.

Cori thwarted every attempt at a retreat by yanking him into a hug. "Pi!" he yelped in terror. His paws splayed out in every direction while their laughter shook him. The laughs died down. He managed to relax enough to let his paws wrap around them.

"Thanks," they said. "I really needed that." Another squeeze squished some air out of him, but then they let go. "You're really nice." If they really thought that, they were in danger. Horror flooded his lungs.

A burn of embarrassment flushed his cheeks. As much as he wanted to disappear, he knew he had to say something, anything. "Ka, pi ka p—," he stopped talking the instant he heard himself, but it was too late. He glanced up and saw shocked realization flash on their expression. Everyone knew about the effects of prolonged dungeon exposure. Everyone knew the symptoms. Now, they knew about his. His mind raced again. He had no idea what to say, and realizing he couldn't say it if he did made that all the more terrifying. The twinge of embarrassment in his cheeks erupted into horrified humiliation. Every cell in his body wanted to tell them he wouldn't attack, that he wasn't a threat, but a growing ball of fire in his stomach told him those were all lies. He had to protect them; he had to get away.

"I'm so sorry," they said in a delicate tone. He stood up and backed away, keeping close, suspicious eyes on them. "I had no idea." The concern in their expression cut him with guilt. He took a step back. They stood up, and it took all the self control he didn't have to resist attacking and running away. "It's okay." They put their paws up and stepped back. "You're safe. I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Pi," he whimpered. He had no way to tell them the real danger. He didn't care if he got hurt. His eyes darted around the hilltop to find his bag… on the other side of Cori. He tried to look back up at them before they could follow his gaze. It was too late; they looked back at his bag, and then at him.

Without a word, they stepped to the side to give him a clear path to it. "Go ahead," they said with a nod. He wanted to do as they said, but held himself back. Deep breaths. He closed his eyes. "Do you wanna go?"

In. Out. They were letting him go. Home free. He shook his head, baffling himself. Of course he wanted to run! What?!

"Do you want me to?"

"Chu!" he shouted, shaking his head much harder than before. Get a grip, he berated himself. You have to get away! Run! Water weighed down his limbs.

"Oh. What do you want?"

Max blinked a few times. "Ka," he mumbled. His thoughts flew too fast to parse. He didn't have a chance at figuring out what he wanted with his instincts fighting faster than he could comprehend. Conflicting thoughts and emotions flooded him; he was drowning again. The usual instinct to flee had its usual appeal, but each glance at Cori soured it further. He almost felt like he wanted to approach them—his tail and ears shot up; did he want to attack them? The thought brought an avalanche of fear, but his instincts spouted even more disgust at the idea.

As hard as he tried, he just couldn't steel himself and run. He knew he needed to, knew he could, should, but his legs wouldn't cooperate. Another deep breath. His gaze sliced at every inch of Cori's posture, expression, breathing, all with a melancholy fear behind his eyes. "Chu?" he mumbled inquisitively. The sight of them horrified him with how threateningly inviting they looked.

His cheeks burned again as he watched Cori try to parse the question. Even he couldn't figure it out. "It's all right," they reassured. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Pika!" he shouted in an explosion of desperate frustration. Deep terror flashed in his eyes. "Chu, Pi pika. Chu ka pi," he whimpered apologetically, shaking his head. His hindpaws stumbled backward. Even after that, they didn't look scared. They refused to look at him with any emotion but heartfelt concern.

He felt their eyes look him over. "You?" they guessed. He kept looking into their eyes, desperately hoping they could figure out what he couldn't. "You won't hurt me."

Max nodded; "Pi!" he cheered and let out a sigh of relief. That helped to calm the whirling conflict. Panic of his own fought the calm when his hindpaw took a step forward of its own accord.

"It's okay!" they reassured him. He remembered the feeling of their claws running through his fur. "I'm not scared. I know you're not going to hurt me."

A paw wrapped around him, yanking him out of the water. The tottering wobbles brought stability to his breath. He took a few steps closer, examining the toto's every micro-movement for the fear he knew was there, had to be there, but found none. He closed his eyes and let his instincts guide him.

The stream burbled underneath him again. Water splashed his face. He felt his paws clench their scales for stability, safety, and the sensation mixed in a drop of peace. Calming claws raked through his fur. The tumultuous waves calmed. Two paws wrapped around his back. "It's okay," they whispered into his ear. He opened his eyes. He was hugging them. Tears stung at his eyes. "It's all right. You're safe."

Cori squeezed him ever so lightly. Every instinct and desire to run dissipated in an instant. He wanted to be near them, needed to be close to them, and collapsed into the hug. A flood of tears poured out before he had a chance to think about repressing them while his paws clutched the toto for dear life. Waves of sorrow crashed over him, but he held tight onto all he had left to keep himself afloat, his life raft squeezing him back to let him know they had a tight grip.