"Ow! Son of a-"

"Will you hold still already?" Altaria chided the Delphox, her beak still full of dress strings. Another rough tug pulled a great deal of fur along with it, causing Panne to hiss through her teeth.

"Ack, geez! I'm gonna die if you keep pulling like that! It's tight enough, I swear!" Panne managed to pull away without falling from her chair. The next time she tried to inhale, the constricting fabric only allowed half a breath into her lungs, and most of what she inhaled was just the savory-sweet fumes of the shampoo she had used too much of. "Why do I even need to wear a stupid dress, anyway? I already have one that grows on my body! And this one probably looks stupid when my natural one's cut short like it is. The fur would just bend upwards beneath it and make me look all lumpy."

"You don't look lumpy! You look...shapely!" Altaria insisted, butting the chair with her head until Panne was turned towards the mirror. The Delphox first regarded the skeptical look on her own face, then the seamless green silk that strangled her body from the chest down. It didn't match the color of her eyes, or any other colors for that matter, but at least it fit with the Harmony Scarf. She tried to flatten down the unruly tufts of fur that were apparent beneath the dress, and while she could contain most of the mess, her suspicions about the fur skirt were well-placed. Any attempts to straighten it out were met with a stubborn bounce.

"It doesn't look that bad, honestly," Mawile said as she wrapped herself in her own velvet shawl. It was such a shameless shade of bright red that Panne could still see it in her peripherals-Ampharos' favorite color. "Perhaps you could keep it down with a belt, or...or a sash or something."

Panne took hold of her staff from all the way across the room and mentally pulled it towards her. She stood up with its help, but continued to grimace at the blatant imperfections. "We don't have time to get our hands on anything like that! I was barely able to get this dress to begin with, and it's not like any of my old clothes fit anymore. I wasn't expecting to evolve anytime soon so I didn't do anything about my wardrobe until now!"

"C'mon! We're going to be late if we keep messing around!" Altaria motioned towards the door with her head, a wavering jingle filling the air as a result of the jewelry around her neck. "Just think of how it's going to look to your village friends when you show up thirty minutes late with less than two legs! I'm sure Vallion's going to be upset if we string this along any further!"

"Pfft. What's he going to do, get married without me?" The Delphox brushed the final few knots out of her fur and hopped up onto her staff. Even now, she was still trying to get used to the shift of pressure in her temples when she had to support her own weight. It had taken a few days to settle in, but the fatigue of constant telekinesis was getting pretty bad. "But yeah, this is good enough. It's not like I'm ever going to make myself look any better... Geez, how are we even going to dance?"

The halls of the Expedition Society were deserted. Fiery evening lights filtered in through distant windows and bounced all the way through the corridor, a telling sign of how low the sun was situated in the sky. Everyone must have been out in the courtyard if it was this quiet already. Despite Altaria's fussing, which only seemed to get worse after they got home, Panne took a leisurely pace into the main chamber. She only made it halfway to the center before the wafting scent of the kitchen stopped the Delphox in her tracks. Something delicious was in the air, and if they were late already, what would a few extra minutes do?

"Paa-aanne!" Altaria gave a shrill reminder.

"It's just one peek! What harm is it gonna do? You gotta lighten up or you're the one that's going to end up having a heart attack," Panne assured the dragon as she started towards the dining hall.

Mawile merely shrugged and followed along. "I mean, she's right. Weren't you the one who said that Panne has to take it easy from here on? Rushing straight into the courtyard into so many faces would definitely be overstimulating. Might as well take this thing one step at a time, right?"

"I- But- You quit doing that!" The dragon's talons stamped on the tiles as she hurried after them. "You know I only want tonight to run as smoothly as possible! After these last few weeks, I don't know how much more my heart can take..."

As they drew closer to the kitchen, the sweet smell only grew more pungent and distinct. Swirlix's ramblings echoed well into the hall. "...So what? It's an event, and events need proper catering! You can't tell me you'd rather go without food, would you?"

A deeper voice responded. "I'm just saying we ought to be making some actual food to go along with the FIVE cakes you've already made. I want something of substance, you know? Not all of us can eat three pounds of sugar for dinner." Panne floated past the corner to see Swirlix fumbling about with a few utensils, the back of Vallion's head as he tried his best to manage the fairy, and only three of the five cakes that he mentioned.

Panne considered trying to sneak up on the Serperior, but with Altaria jingling around close behind, she'd have a better chance at waking a hibernating Ursaring. "See?" The Delphox said as she dismounted her staff, using it to support her one good leg in single swift motion. "Told you we wouldn't be missing out on anything!"

As soon as Vallion turned his head, the wrinkles of stress on his face began to soften up. "Ah. Wow. If I had known you were going to look so beautiful, I'd have picked something out myself. Now I just feel underdressed."

"Yeah, you really don't need to go that far, Val. I already know that I look like garbage." Even so, Panne glanced down and motioned to flatten the fur beneath her dress once again. At least it flowed nicely around her legs, despite the fact that one leg was completely limp and smothered in bandages.

"Hush. Don't be silly, you do look gorgeous." The Serperior slithered over and gave her a nuzzle beneath the chin, gentle enough not to shove her over outright. Panne pushed into him anyway and wrapped her free arm around his neck, pulling herself up off the ground. Val hardly even buckled as he took on all of her weight, and coiled around her in an embrace. His scales brushed over the fabric of her dress as he squeezed, and the dense muscles that flexed with the motion effortlessly planted more than one involuntary thought into her head. The Delphox quickly found herself breathless again.

"Are you sure you don't just want, like, six cakes?" Swirlix chimed in with a mouthful of something. "Seriously, if you tried one of these things I'm sure you'd want more. Just in case, right? There's even sitrus berries baked into them, just like you like! I'm on kind of a sitrus kick right now so I gotta make more anyway."

When Vallion spoke, Panne could feel his voice travel all the way through her chest. "No, thank you. Seriously. You can make more cakes, but just bring out some real food first. alright? Sides and entrées and all that. I have to run back outside because I'm a terrible host. Can you get right on that, please?"

"Mmmm-I guess so...I still think cake is what you need more of, though." The fairy mumbled to herself as she hopped back to work. There were only two and a half cakes remaining by the time everyone else had left the kitchen.

Panne rode on the Serperior's back all the way until the door to the courtyard itself, leaning the side of her head against his neck and staring out into nothing. Val nudged at her with a vine, urging her off before they rode out into the actual celebration. The Delphox sighed and hopped up onto her staff. As the double doors swung open, the setting sun shined straight into her eyes, and the sound of jubilant conversation was carried over on the wind. The particular voices she heard made her ears perk forward.

"There you guys are," Mismagius appeared beside them, looking outwards with them as if he'd been waiting invisibly by the door this whole time. "People were starting to get anxious, wondering where the two big stars of the party were. Get your fur caught in a knot?"

"No, of course I didn't!" Panne lied, unconsciously flattening herself out yet again. "Hmph. I guess you don't deserve the full blame, though. You aren't a lady. You wouldn't understand how long it takes to get ready for these sorts of things."

Mawile chuckled. "As if you're really all that lady-like to begin with, Panne."

Just as the Delphox sucked in a breath to respond, a tingling sensation broke out on the back of her head, and with it came a voice. 'I have no idea how you managed to be the one who's late to the party when you literally live on the same property as it.'

"Meowstic!" Panne forgot about what she was going to say and rushed further into the courtyard.

Before she could reach the bulk of the celebration, the psychic type walked out from behind a hedge and regarded her with wide eyes and a smile. "And if time is moving at the same speed for the both of us, why does it seem like you went through three years in the three weeks you were gone? To think that the both of you managed to evolve in that short a time is insane. You better not be planning on dying before me!"

"Stress makes you age faster, it's not my fault!" Panne grumbled, then glanced away. "And, uh. I- I'm sorry about the note thing. I know I left without saying anything, and I know I was being-"

'Hush,' the psychic voice filled her temples in an instant. Meowstic shook her head and spoke from her own mouth instead. "Come on, most of us knew you were going to disappear once anything came up. You've been doing it since you were a kid, remember? You exclusively used to leave the village by sneaking out. And nobody blames you for snapping. You had good reason."

The Delphox exhaled in relief. "Aw geez! Really? I've been worrying about that since I left! Now I feel all dumb and silly...Dammit, thanks for forgiving me." She dismounted the staff and leaned against it, only to gather a strange look. "...What?"

"Does stress break your legs, too?" Meowstic's head tilted. "Wait, did I say 'break a leg' at all before you left? I feel like I might have. I didn't mean for you to take it literally, I swear."

A chuckle bubbled up in her chest. "No, bad ideas break legs. And not only is this leg broken, it's completely disconnected from my nervous system, so I'll never be able to use it again. So yeah, lots of poor choices."

"Excuse me?" Sawsbuck said as she stepped forward, Sliggoo following close behind as usual. "What the hell, Panne? First thing I hear you say is that you've permanently lost an entire leg? You can't just drop that on us right as we're supposed to be celebrating! That's a total mood-killer!"

"That's what I was saying earlier!" Altaria quickly joined in. "That's not information you'd ever want to write on the invitations at all, so I knew she was going to have to break the ice with it! What else can you even do? That's kind of a big deal, you know?"

As soon as Vallion caught up with them, the conversation fell away, and all attention turned to him. Panne had noticed that he seemed to gather far more stares than when he was a Servine. Not just around his friends, but out in town where there wasn't any particular reason for him to stand out. Though she hadn't seen too many Serperior in her life, Panne was starting to believe that the supposed aura that surrounded the species might not actually be entirely in her head.

"Vallion, you're looking great!" commented Sawsbuck once the strange moment of awe had passed. "A lot better than before, really. I've been worried for you ever since you guys left, and that one letter really didn't tell me much." She shot an accusing glance at Panne, but the expression melted as quickly as it had formed. "Anyways, you were really out of it back there. The amnesia's all cleared up, right?"

"I sorta don't even remember having amnesia at all, so I guess maybe not!" Vallion chuckled, scratching the back of his head with a vine. "It was just one moment straight to the next, no context or warning or anything. I only know what's been told to me, and even then everyone's been all vague about it."

The Delphox bit her lip. "I told you, I'll explain all that junk in actual detail later. There just hasn't really been a time where I've felt ready to get into that since it's...It's still a mouthful." Her right wrist start to itch as if there was still a scarf wrapped around it.

Further into the courtyard were the rest of the faces Panne had been missing. She dove onto Carracosta's back without a second thought, who twisted around and scooped her up in kind. Once that warm introduction was over, Pops tried to set her down once more, and the topic of what happened to her leg immediately sprung back up over the fact that she nearly crumpled to the ground. With Mawile's help Panne was able to explain most of the injury, but the look of concern on Carracosta's face quickly burned into the back of her eyelids. It was a hard conversation to steer away from, and would have continued to be so had Archeops and Nuzleaf not sauntered over to join in on the commotion.

To the Delphox's delight, this was also the first time she had seen Bunnelby in a long, long time. He had returned to his old home with a lover of the same species by his side-the reason he left the Society in the first place. He spoke of the children they had back at their nest on the northern side of the continent, and how one was already old enough to watch the others while they were away.

Accelgor had also managed to make it in time, despite issues with the invitation. His lover was unsurprisingly the Ninjask who had been zipping around the party asking everyone outlandish questions. Much to Accelgor's apparent exasperation, Ninjask seemed a little too interested in the concept of marriage, wanting to drain every ounce of Vallion's knowledge on the subject despite how little he actually knew about the real thing. Her enthusiasm was coupled with the heightened buzzing of her wings, and soon the party had no choice but to be centered around the topic of Val's strange courtship ritual.

Rather than join in, Pangoro could be seen skulking around the outskirts of the garden. He eventually started to urge Sliggoo away from the commotion, pushing him towards the edge of the courtyard where Floatzel and Kadabra were already waiting. While Floatzel leaned against the hedge with his arms cross and his expression fierce, Kadabra looked like she wanted nothing to do with what was going on, fidgeting non-stop and angling herself away. Panne couldn't resist the curiosity and angled her ears towards the group, keeping an inconspicuous distance away.

Though it took some concentration, the Delphox managed to hone in on Pangoro's voice. "...Ridiculous! How can you even stand to be here? Doesn't it bug you at all?"

Sliggoo hummed. "Not really. I really have no idea what you're are talking about. Why is it a bad thing that other people are allowed to love each other?"

"Because we have no one!" Floatzel snapped back. "You're saying this kind of thing has never gotten under your skin at all? Like, especially right now, when everyone's rubbing it in so much? This entire party is based around something we don't have! Why are we even here to begin with?"

"To support our friends?" said Sliggoo. "I dunno, it sounds to me like you guys have some problems."

"What?! We don't have any problems!" Pangoro slammed his foot down. "Kadabra, help us out here! You're part of this, too! You at least know what's wrong with all this!"

"I-I just wanted to eat some cake and meet some of the pokemon from Serene Village," the psychic type said as she shied away another few inches.

At some point during her eavesdropping, Panne had lost sight of the Serperior entirely. That alone was surprising, considering how much he stood out from the rest of the pokemon here. He couldn't have gotten far, though, and he certainly couldn't have slipped right past her back into the compound. The Delphox excused herself from the bulk of the party and left the courtyard altogether, levitating out into the empty brick streets beside the docks. Once the buzz of conversation was nothing but a distant mumble behind her, she could finally start to hear the gentle crash of the ocean.

Panne found the Serperior coiled up at the edge of the water, eyes locked firmly onto the glistening waves. What was left of the sunset had smouldered away and made way for the abyssal violet that crept across the sky. The warmth that had sunk into the bricks throughout the day was in the process of being swept away by the same chilly breeze that whipped at her dress. Panne made her way over and set herself down next to him, her good leg braced against a rock to keep herself from falling right into the water. "How'd you even get away from Ninjask?" she said.

"Very carefully," Vallion muttered at the end of a breath. He shifted in place to move closer to her. "I really have no idea what I'm doing, Panne. I honestly don't. I can't think of what to do after the scarves, and I've been thinking about this moment for years. I get that there's a party, but what else? What's the marriage part of it all? I didn't get to this part in my dreams."

"That's easy. We'll just make it up as we go," The Delphox said with a shrug. "It's really not a big deal what we do as long as it feels like it matters. I mean, you're the only human here, and it's not like you haven't been living as a pokemon this whole time. There's not much reason in trying to fully copy something you're not even supposed to know about in the first place. We gotta make the ceremony about us and not about what humans used to do. Just us."

The Serperior huffed. "Well, what do we do to make it about us?"

"I- uhh." The question hung in front of her like a abstract picture on a wall. Although she could think of a few immediate answers, none of them really stood out as being particularly worthy of all this trouble. It had to be a gesture or an oath or something. And they already had the Harmony Scarves... "Um. We could maybe trade our scarves around? I guess?"

"What do you mean?"

The Delphox bit her tongue trying to put the thought together. "I mean we could just take the one we're wearing right now and just kinda...give it to the other person. Okay look-I know it sounds stupid, and that's because it really kinda is, but my train of thought here is that we've already been wearing these things for the better part of a month. Er, mostly I have- Whatever, let's just get into that and just pretend that we've both been wearing our prospective scarves this whole time. We've probably developed some kinda sense of ownership over them, right? Like a feeling that this is MY scarf around my neck, mine and not yours. So what if for the ceremony we just switched 'em?"

"Mm..." Vallion stared up at the clouds. "I do kind of like that."

"Yeah, that should work! What's yours is mine and mine is yours and all that! I can barely even tell the scarves apart anyway, so it's not like we're making a particularly huge jump." Panne's chest tightened beneath her dress as she thought back to the jungle, recalling how difficult it had been to get Vallion to wear his in the first place. Despite her best efforts to keep those recent memories suppressed, there were hundreds of little things that kept reminding her. She trained her eyes on the fading horizon, scared of what she'd see if she looked at the Serperior's face.

Val broke the silence himself. "Alright. Tonight's simple enough, but what about afterwards?"

"What do you mean afterwards? Like, what we do tomorrow?"

"What we do from here on," he said with a sniffle. "That's what we were talking about before all of this started happening. We never really figured out what we were going to do after the vacation."

Panne's ears folded backwards. "Ugh. I don't like thinking about it still. We're probably going to have to hunt down more of those Spiritomb before they can become a problem. If there even is more." The Delphox felt him nuzzle into her cheek. She responded by leaning against him, finding more than enough Serperior to wrap her arms around.

"I don't think we have to." he whispered. "There's plenty of other adventuring guilds out there that we can dump that problem onto, and I'm sure some might actually want to do that sort of thing. We've already done enough as it is." Vallion placed his head in the crook of her shoulder and continued to stare out into the distance. Two-thirds of the sky had darkened into that deep violet, and in the sun's wake came the tiny twinkles of stars just bright enough to overcome what light was left. "You still feel like you're going to skip Floatzel's underwater map?"

A scoff escaped her throat. "Yeah, no. That's not going to happen. Especially now that I've got less than two legs. I just need a freakin' vacation for once, that's all. Is that so much to ask, universe?"

"Yeah, that was pretty unlucky, I'll admit. Pretty average date for us though, right?" Vallion sighed. He shifted over a bit out of Panne's peripheral view, and the next moment she felt his nose poke beneath the arm opposite to where he was sitting. The Serperior wrapped around her chest, pulled her close against the main coil of his body, then came to rest his chin in the crook of her neck after one last half-loop. All the Delphox really wanted were moments like these, where nothing was going on she could simply enjoy being next to the most wonderful pokemon in the world.

There was barely an orange shade on the eastern horizon by the time someone came looking for them, and it was still one of the last people Panne expected. Swirlix came bounding out of the courtyard with a plate somehow balanced on the top of her head, screaming for Vallion specifically. The fairy came to a screeching halt just before she would have launched herself into the water, and threw the plate down in front of them. On it was a single slice of sitrus cake. "Vallion you have to try the cake NOW!"

"Why do I have to try-"

"Because it's incredible! That's why! You better get back to the party right now or I'm going to eat all eight of the cakes!" Just as soon as she had come, Swirlix barreled off towards the courtyard once more and disappeared behind the hedges.

Panne giggled. "I guess you're trying the cake, then."

"Eight cakes? Seriously..." Vallion shook his head before he finally gave in and extended his vines to at least get the cake off of the ground. It took another few contemplative moments for him to even consider taking a bite. The Delphox couldn't quite stifle her laughter as he slowly chewed the his bite, seemingly deep in thought about it.

"What's the matter?" she said with a chuckle. "Did she put too much philosophy in the frosting or something?"

"Hm." The Serperior lowered the plate. "I'm not sure why, but it tastes kind of off. I mean, obviously it's a great cake and all, but I'm not so sure about these sitrus berries is all. But I mean, they taste perfectly ripe still... Hm."

Panne's breath caught in her throat like a stone.

"I guess we've kept them waiting long enough if they're already scarfing down cake, huh?" Vallion spoke up as he uncoiled himself out from around her. Panne managed to stand on her own with the help of her staff, but she never stopped staring at the Serperior's face. Instead of fearing how his face might have settled differently, she actively tried to pluck out what seemed like changes. He merely smiled at her in response. "Yeah?"

"Ah-nothing. It's nothing," she said, planting a quick kiss on his nose. "Come on, let's go trade our scarves and finally get to dancing. I've got some new stuff I wanna show you since I've evolved."