~ Meteor Mashed! ~
...
Cleffy and Nile finally arrived in the Arbor Area, where they continued to be for the rest of the day. Cleffy Clefairy spent the rest of the day being herself and practicing devil-may-care and holding on loosely while at the same time not letting go and brushing away the pesky flies.
And she had to admit that being free of any worries for once felt absolutely brilliant.
She laughed freely, she expressed herself. She was trying hard to come out of the protective shell she'd been hiding for so long, and at the end of the day, she had to admit that she did enjoy the Meteor Mash-up after all.
When she and Nile were about to return to the Dance Zone nearing dusk, she felt the need to thank the Riolu for the useful insight he had given her.
"Hey, don't mention it," he said in his signature carefree style. "It was nice meeting you, Cleffy. You're quiet and you're a better listener than speaker, but you're really something. That Mega Punch earlier was still the most epic punching move I've ever seen."
"H-hey, it was Treecko's idea," Cleffy brushed it off. "A-and I'm glad to have been paired up with you. You m-made me realize how useless all my worrying has been." She blushed. "And I'm still sorry about my s-silly fainting back in that cave..."
"It's really all right," Nile said breezily with a smile, leading Cleffy to the poster portal to go back to Wish Park as the sun began to set over the windmill in the Windmill Way.
"Like I said, I brush those pesky flies away."
Pairing 6: Nile x Cleffy – Fin
...
The next time Tepig saw Darwin again was when the sun was about to set, signaling the end of the Meteor Mash-up. She was walking back to the Dance Zone with Hypno and Snivy.
He smiled when he saw her approach near.
"Hello!" he greeted her Roselio-style.
"Hello," Darwin said. "I'm sorry for being gone for so long."
"That's OK," Tepig said brightly, although she technically left for the whole duration of the rest of the Meteor Mash-up. He turned to where Hypno was still chatting with Snivy. "I see you caught up to him! Good for you, Darwin!"
However, Darwin turned and stared daggers at the two who were still talking animatedly.
"Yeah, and fat lot of good it did to me," she grumbled under her breath. "I almost never had any chance to talk to him. He was still really preoccupied with Snivy's stories about royalty and all the awesome adventures she's had. He saw me, but he didn't even say hi. Even worse, I met a lot of the others on the way and they all seemed to be having loads of fun. How very lucky." Her voice was positively dripping with sarcasm.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Tepig said, surprised when he realized that Darwin had been having less fun than he was. He'd originally thought that by going off and looking for Hypno, she was certainly having a way better time. "I was pretty much all right also; your friend Altaria came and we talked about a lot of different things."
"Oh, you did?"Darwin turned to her friend, but her face gave nothing away.
"Yup, I did," Altaria replied. She turned to the fire pig with a smile. "Thank you for your time, Tepig! I really enjoyed our chat."
"Oh, don't mention it," Tepig said pleasantly. "I had a lot of fun, too. It was really nice meeting you, Altaria!"
Darwin could only look back and forth between her best friend and the timid fire pig. "Oh, I'm glad at least someone's been having fun," she drawled sarcastically.
Tepig and Altaria didn't even seem to hear her since they were back to talking among themselves, just like Hypno and Snivy.
Darwin huffed and turned away.
Altaria is about the only person who doesn't participate in the Meteor Mash-up but ends up with a new special friend, she thought. And I was right about this whole Meteor Mash-up concept right from the beginning.
She glanced at where Hypno and Snivy were standing again.
Hypno...
And Snivy.
Grr.
Darwin clenched her teeth in annoyance.
This isn't how real love works!
Pairing 9: Tepig x Darwin – Fin?
...
Oshawott and Lizzy finally stopped playing a bit before dusk, after Lizzy had won almost every game (Oshawott won. Once).
Oshawott stood up, red-faced, as Lizzy tidied up the cards.
"OK, I wasn't up to my optimum performance because I haven't had any practice," he claimed. "And even after the Meteor Mash-up is over, you can expect me to suddenly appear at your house for a rematch!"
He paused. "Err, after you give me your address, of course."
Lizzy laughed. She reached into her fleece again and took out the piece of paper with the Unown letters on it. On the back was her address.
"OK!" Oshawott took the paper and grinned at her. "I'll be sure to practice and surprise you with my awesome card-playing skills!"
Lizzy smiled awkwardly. "U-um, I'll be looking forward to that," she said. "Y-yeah, you'll be welcome anytime, Oshawott. We'll play Slap the Mosquito again."
"Yeah." The Sea Otter Pokémon grinned enthusiastically as the sun sank even lower.
"And I'm gonna win!"
Pairing 3: Oshawott x Lizzy – Fin
...
An hour before sunset and the end of the Meteor Mash-up, Rem and Lombre decided to cease fire. There were no winners and losers - they'd had enough fun already trying to hit the other with sweet treats.
However, now they didn't look so sure. Cofagrigus' room looked as if a meteorite covered with cake and icing had hit it. It was going to take a really long time to clean everything up to the way they were before.
"Aww man, Cofagrigus' gonna kill us," said Rem.
However, Lombre had just gotten an idea. "Not if I can help it," she said.
Suddenly, there was a huge wave inside the room that washed all the cake away. Even Rem and Lombre got free "showers". After the wave had died down, all the cake had been washed away.
"Surf," Lombre explained brightly. "Instant clean-up."
"Yeah, but now everything's all wet," Rem complained, fingering his wet and limp cotton that stuck to his arms.
However, the next moment, he also got an idea.
"Watch this," he said, summoning several twisters to blow everything dry.
"Hurricane aka. instant dryer," he said smugly to Lombre, proud not only because he'd managed to dry Cofagrigus' room, but also because his cotton was back to being its bouncy, puffy state.
After tidying up the furniture, they were amazed to see that Cofagrigus' room looked as if nothing had ever happened in it - especially not any food fights involving sticky cake.
"¡Ay caramba! We did it!" Lombre exclaimed happily. "We're not gonna get killed after all!"
Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound that surprised both of them.
Lombre looked sheepish. "Lo siento, that was my stomach," she said apologetically. "Huh, all this food-fighting has made me hungry again."
Rem didn't answer. Lombre looked around with a start and realized that Rem was no longer standing next to her.
"Here."
She was surprised by Rem's voice coming from behind her. She whirled and saw the Whimsicott standing behind her holding a box.
"I saved some of this," he said gruffly, not meeting her eyes.
Lombre accepted the box and opened it. Inside were several pistachio cupcakes; her favorite flavor.
"Oh! These are my favorites!" She smiled, but for once it wasn't annoying nor could it be called a smirk. "Muchas gracias!"
"I actually set them aside so that no one would use them in the food fight," Rem explained quickly, turning away. "They're a pain to clean from cotton." He fingered his now-clean cotton.
"Of course." Lombre grinned and took out one of the cupcakes, biting into it eagerly. "These are heavenly. Don't you want any?"
"Nah." Rem shook his head. "They're for you."
Lombre tilted her head meaningfully. "Oh, so you were going to give this to me? I thought you said you set them aside so no one would use them in the food fight."
Realizing the contradiction in the things he'd said, Rem quickly turned and began to walk to the door. Lombre couldn't see it, but he was blushing all the way.
"Ah, what the heck, let's just go already."
He kept walking and all in all acting as if he was about to leave her behind.
However, Lombre would see for the second time that he could say something or imply that something was the case and then act completely differently.
Sure enough, it turned out that he was waiting for her outside at the door.
As for the Whimsicott himself, he'd actually began to think that participating in the Meteor Mash-up wasn't too bad an idea after all, and Lombre not too annoying a girl after all, either. In fact, she had been really fun to spend time with - to be rivals with. Lombre wasn't your typical girl, but she had her own charms.
But he wasn't about to tell that to neither Lombre nor the friend who'd signed him up, of course.
And then they walked, together, back to the Dance Zone, and ultimately the end of the Meteor Mash-up.
Pairing 8: Rem x Lombre – Fin
...
Staraptor and Tori had gone flying and landed in the various Wish Park zones. They'd seen Treecko and Amelia in the Cake Zone and glimpsed Breloom and Braixen in the Power Zone. They had lunch, they had tea.
However, Tori had to admit that she was happiest when Staraptor performed aerial acrobatics. She never knew that flying could make her feel so free. She loved feeling the breeze in her hair. Miraculously, her glasses didn't fall off.
Staraptor and Tori were flying over Darkrai's majestic Wish Castle when the sky began to turn orange and pink. The Gardevoir knew what this meant: the Meteor Mash-up was going to be over soon.
Staraptor seemed to read her mind although she was supposed to be the psychic here.
"Time to get back to the Dance Zone," he muttered. He sounded as reluctant as she was.
Tori sighed. "What a shame. I'm beginning to really like flying."
Staraptor chuckled. "See, everyone loves flying. Eventually."
"No, but I'm being serious here," Tori protested. "You're the first Pokemon to make me feel like I'm at the top of the world. For much of my life, I've been stuck down there with the theories on aerodynamics. This is the first time anyone has ever made me realize what it's like to see those theories in action."
"...Huh. That was really scientific, but I'm glad to know that I was able to make you happy," Staraptor said.
"You didn't only make me happy, you made me see things from another perspective," Tori replied. She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "Thank you, Staraptor. You just gave me knowledge today, and that's one of the most precious things someone can have."
The Flying-type blushed. "Uh, you're welcome," he grunted. "Since we're almost going to have to land soon, why don't we do one last aerial trick, huh?"
"Loop the loop!" exclaimed Tori excitedly. It had gone from her most feared aerial trick into her favorite one. A lot of physics theories can be applied to that, that's why, she'd said.
Staraptor laughed. "OK then, hang on tight."
When he performed the final loop the loop for the day, Tori was ready.
However, her glasses weren't quite.
Suddenly, Tori felt her glasses slipping, and the next second it was falling off.
"My glasses!" cried Tori.
As he had been with Tori's manuscript pages, Staraptor was ready. He did a sudden drop (which this time Tori wasn't quite ready for since her stomach did a sudden drop also), and was fortunately able to catch the glasses before they hit the ground (and shattered, obviously).
"Got it!" he exclaimed.
"Whew!" Tori sighed in relief and laughed. "That's the second time we had... "incidents"... while we were flying today."
"Yep, but we managed to prevent anything disastrous from happening both times."
"Now I've got to thank you for showing me the laws of gravity in action," Tori chuckled pleasantly.
"And don't forget the laws of potential energy as well," Staraptor added, who had heard Froslass talk about it (many times) before.
Tori laughed. "Yeah, you're absolutely right! You're a fast learner, Staraptor."
And with that, they flew in the direction of the setting sun and the Dance Zone, and ultimately the conclusion of the Meteor Mash-up.
Pairing 4: Staraptor x Tori – Fin