You reach the mansion escorted by Lycanrocs bounding along beside you. They seem to be anxious over their fallen leader. Guzma's breathing heavy, blood still dripping from his snout as he lies across your Mudsdale's back. At the door, he clumsily tries to remove himself from the horse, collapsing again on the ground. You recall your pokemon, and try to help him to his feet. It's difficult, and you realize you're not much help, but the two of you manage to make it inside, where you lay him on the couch you'd napped on earlier.
There's Lycanrocs all around you, but only one approaches Guzma, peering over him and taking in all of his injuries. This one must be Plumeria.
You watch a moment. Another Lycanroc appears beside her. Liam? They're fretting over him the best they can, but how much could they do in this form? Your mind is whirling. You could just leave. At the very least, you'd gotten him back inside. He had let you go after all, right? And you've been gone a full day, so surely Garret and Alana are worried. You had her Yungoos, so you had what you'd come to Po Town for. The logical thing would be to leave, wouldn't it be?
And yet... If you were hesitant to walk out the door before, it's nothing compared to how you feel now. You think about how even after you'd clearly intruded on something private and he had been upset with you, he'd charged out to save you anyway. You think about how he'd crossed the border, knowing what would happen. You think about the dining hall and how warmly the grunts had greeted him; how they all seemed to care about him, especially Plumeria and Liam, who are in front of you now, distressed. If they can be this concerned, then maybe there's more to Guzma than you'd originally seen. Maybe, especially after saving you, he deserved to be saved too.
It's risky - unreasonable even - but it feels right. You want to stay. You'd allow yourself to be submerged in all this place is, at least until Guzma's better. It's the least you could do, and you admit that it'd maybe satiate some of your persistent curiosity. "I'll stay with him," you say to the two Lycanrocs.
They both turn to you. Plumeria approaches you, looking into your face questioningly.
"Just show me where first aid stuff is, ok? I'll do what I can."
She comes closer and nuzzles into you; the only thanks she can give right now, and leads you off into the mansion for the supplies you'll need.
Guzma passes in and out of consciousness. You'd done your best to dry off both of you with towels you'd brought back, but with all the mud and grime it's difficult. You know the couch he's on is probably ruined. When he hazily comes to, he looks at you and smiles toothily. "You're a mess, princess."
You shake your head at him, wondering why he insists on calling you that. "Yeah, well, you should see what you look like."
He laughs a bit, wincing with the pain it causes. "Hey, I'm a mess every night."
You take a warm, wet washcloth to the large cut on one of his arms, and he yelps, recoiling away from you. "Shit, that hurts, you know?!"
"Would you rather it get infected?"
He stares at you a moment with his glowing eyes, then reluctantly offers his arm back to you, and quietly lets you work. You clean the large cuts and bandage them, though you suspect they may have to be redone when he changes back.
The blood has stopped dripping out of his mouth and nose, but there's still a good amount of it left behind. You begin to wipe it from his face and he says quietly, "You don't have to do this."
You stop, and wait for him to continue.
"You can go if you want. You don't have to stay here."
You resume cleaning the blood from him. "I know. I'm choosing to stay. For a little while anyway."
"But... why?"
You decide to go for levity. "The enchanted cupboard and fridge were hard to pass up."
He huffs, grinning at you. "Well, you can stay and take whatever you want from the kitchen as long as you like."
You smile back. "Good, because really, there's no other reason to stay."
"You're just as charming as I am, huh?" he laughs.
"Yeah, but twice as scary when I'm mad."
"I'll keep that in mind." His smile dims, and he goes back to looking serious. "I'm sorry. Maybe that doesn't mean much and I'm not - I'm not good at this, but I'm sorry for everything. The Yungoos, and trying to keep you here... all of it."
You're surprised for a moment. You weren't exactly expecting him to apologize, figuring he was too proud. "Thank you," you tell him. Maybe he deserved an apology too. "I'm sorry too, for going in that room. I didn't mean to intrude like that."
"It's alright."
"And," you continue. "Thank you, for saving me out there."
He smiles again. "Eh, Big Bad Guzma wasn't gonna let you go out like that."
You give him an amused look. "Big Bad Guzma? Like the Big Bad Wolf?"
"Hadn't made that connection before," he laughs. "Fine. Your boy Guzma."
"I mean, it's more like, 'my Lycanroc Guzma' right now, but sure. Any other catch phrases?"
"You'll just have to wait and see, doll."
You roll your eyes playfully as you finish patching him up.
It's a rough night, as Guzma alternates between painful wakefulness and uneasy sleep. You drift off occasionally too, at one point waking up to find you'd been sleeping with your head resting on his shoulder as you knelt next to him on the floor. The night's long, but eventually morning comes. Plumeria reappears just before dawn, and uses her mouth and paws to make sure there's a towel covering Guzma before running off. When light creeps into the mansion, you find out why, as human Guzma is suddenly naked on the couch.
Ignoring the palpable awkwardness of the situation, you move to fix the bandages, since they're now too loose to be useful.
He yells, once again shrinking away from your touch. "Ah, shit. Jeez, good morning to you too."
"Oh quit moving, you big baby," you say, taking his arm again. Neither one of you seems willing to look at each other or bring up the fact that he's completely undressed except for the towel, and the combo of gold chain and sun glasses - the only things that seem to stay between transformations. "Your glasses are dirty," you note.
He removes them from their perch in his white hair and begins using the towel to clean them.
You quickly look away from the skin this further exposes, face reddening slightly. It's not like you can see anything that private, but you feel embarrassed anyway for some reason. "Why - why do you wear those anyway?" you ask.
"Hey, just because I can't leave Po Town doesn't mean I can't keep up my look," he says putting them back atop his head.
"And is being naked part of 'the look?'" If he wasn't going to bring it up, you would.
He grins at you, putting his hands behind his head. "Nah that's just an unexpected benefit."
"Don't you mean disadvantage?" you say, giving him a dubious look.
He moves a hand over his heart in mock pain. "I'm already wounded, you don't have to wound my ego too."
Despite yourself, you smile. "And here I was sure that was invincible."
"It's maybe more fragile then I let on," he says, grinning back at you.
The moment is interrupted by Plumeria and Liam coming toward you, now also transformed back.
"Eyy boss!" Liam calls to Guzma. "How're you doin?"
"Well, I'm not dead," he answers.
Plumeria smiles at you. "Guess we have you to blame for that." She gives you a sincere look, placing a hand on your shoulder. "Thank you."
"I was just... returning the favor," you say a bit sheepishly.
"Well, you didn't have to come back, but we're glad you're here. How's about getting you two cleaned up?"
You look down at all the mud you hadn't managed to get off. Your clothes are once again cold, wet, and sticking to you. A shower sounds absolutely perfect right now. Plumeria leads you off in search of clean clothes and a hot shower, while Liam carefully helps Guzma up the stairs, a towel wrapped around his waist.
It's funny, you think. Now that you're staying here of your own free will, the mansion and all you've left to discover in it seem somehow even more enticing than before. You'd return back to Tapu Village soon, but for now you're thinking of every excuse you can to extend your stay.