Return to you
DISCLAIMER: I Do NOT own Pokémon.
Chapter 17: Youthful Optimism
Other than the two requests, my friend and I had to come up with more. I provided the order while she gave me the remaining criteria
The outcomes can be crazy. Hope you guys laugh with us as well.
"Speaking of pokemon!" Pearl began.
"Speaking of pokemon," followed Diamond.
"Some pokemon evolve when they're holding a King's Rock."
"You don't say?"
"Yup, like Seadra evolves into Kingdra while Slowbro evolves into a Slowking."
"What about senior Gold's Politoad? Dia asked.
"It evolves with a King's rock but it doesn't have a king in its name," Pearl pointed out.
"Maybe it's because his trainer is already the royal jester," Dia finished.
"Hey! Don't make me be the one to whack you with a paper fan!" Gold exclaimed.
After a short laugh, Blue intervened. "Okay-okay! Let's start the game." She came over and made everyone pick a straw. "Everyone has one? Alright, who is the Slowking/queen?"
They stared at the tip of their straws while quietly waiting for the person who got the one with the red and white mark. Their pokemon grouped themselves together as onlookers to the strange human game. Only one pokemon from each trainer was out of their pokeballs; the two Pikachus, Gold's Ambipom, Sapphire's Minccino, Lapis' Kirlia and others that were small enough to not take too much space in the room.
After a minute or two, someone spoke up. It was Yellow. She gulped and raised her straw. "…It's me."
"Great job, Yellow!" Blue clapped cheerfully. "Now pick some numbers and issue your command, your royal highness."
The blonde lass suddenly felt pressured being called highness, but she managed to think of something on the spot. "Numbers 3, 5 and 9. Please give me a flower."
"Just a flower?" Blue quoted with a tinge of disappointment. "Yellow, you gotta think better than that! How about the best kind in the world?"
"I-Isn't that hard?" Yellow questioned nervously.
Blue shrugged her shoulders and giggled. "It's their problem."
"I figure you're not 3, 5 or 9." Crystal bluntly assumed.
"Correcto-mundo!" Blue winked with a wide grin. "Anyway, who got numbers 3, 5 and 9?"
"I'm number 3!" Gold exclaimed with excitement.
"Number 5 is me." Pearl raised his hand.
"Future Unova champ is number 9!" Black yelled.
"All boys! Isn't that great?" Blue was giddy with the result as she glanced at Yellow, but was a little downcast not having Red in the chosen numbers.
Gold glanced at his Kanto seniors. With a sly and cunning grin, he then turned towards his two juniors "Alright you guys, I have a plan follow my lead." The trio huddled together and discussed a plan. After a minute or two, they high-fived and walked over to the dexholder leader.
"Eh? What's wrong?" Red was feeling confused.
"Red, we need you to come with us." Gold declared as Black and Pearl secured the crimson-eyed trainer on both arms.
"Just following orders, senior!"
"Gold's idea. Not ours."
"A brilliant idea, I might add," The raven-haired breeder corrected.
"Red isn't part of the command." Yellow stood up to reason out but was denied.
"Don't worry your pretty little head, your highness. You ordered a flower and we're going to give you the best one we can come up with." Gold waved her goodbye as Black and Pearl dragged Red outside.
•••
"Good thing I got Nantaro and Sintaro with me." The golden-eyed breeder sent out his Leavanny and Sunflora.
"Just what do you guys plan to do? And why'd you take me here?" Red was still at a loss as to what they needed him for. The younger dexholders smiled and chuckled softly.
"Simple. Seeing that it's the beginning of autumn, there aren't that many flowers…" Gold began to explain while gesturing his Leavanny to weave a floral crown out of the red and orange leaves.
"…So we plan to make one." Black continued with a happy smile.
"And when we say to make one, sorry to say this, but senior you're going to be the flower." Pearl pointed out the important bit.
"EH?!" Red struggled but was held securely by his two juniors.
"Hold still! You're lucky I have a grass-type and a bug-type. It would have turned out differently if I didn't, since the three of us have fire pokemon as our starters." Gold placed his hands on his hip as he took another look at their would-be flower. "Nantaro will provide the costume while Sintaro will take care of the floral smell with Sweet Scent."
"Play along. It's for senior Yellow." Pearl tried to make things optimistic for Red as Gold's pokemon began their work.
•••
A few minutes later…
Gold came in and announced, "Presenting Flower boy #2!"
Doing their best to refrain from laughing, Pearl and Black dragged Red back in. The dexholder leader smelled like the sweetest bouquet. Around his head and neck was a crimson and saffron leaf ring that could easily be mistaken for petals. It was almost like a Vileplume except for the pointed tips and stem-like veins of the make-shift petals. Many of the dexholders was giggling nonstop, even Lapis found it hilarious.
Yellow was hiding her face, trying not to laugh. She knew it partly her fault for issuing such a dare.
The trio came over with Red and knelt down, presenting their one-of-a-kind flora. Gold kept a straight face but inside he was already dying of laughter. "Here you are, your highness."
The three left Red in front of Yellow and went back to their former places. The blonde lass was blushing uncontrollably. It was both embarrassing to have Red dragged into this but it was also cute see him in that situation.
"Kiss!" Blue cheered all of a sudden, jolting Yellow and making her completely flustered. The other trainers followed in and yelled out the same thing.
"C'mon Yellow! There's no harm done kissing a flower." Gold snickered.
The brown-eyed healer didn't know what do to anymore. Red noticed her uneasiness and placed a hand on her head as he looked at everyone in the room. "Don't force her if she doesn't want to."
"But she really does want to. "Blue muttered, pouting.
"I-I don't mind." Yellow spoke up shyly. "I-I just don't want to force you deeper into this."
"Is that it?" Red inquired, glancing at the girl's face.
Yellow nodded.
"Well, then." Red cupped her cheek and gave her a kiss on the lips.
Everyone in the room either gasped or squealed, but all was happy of the outcome, especially Blue who concluded the absolute success of her plan.
After Red broke away, he squeezed her hand as he whispered to her, "It's not forced if it's with the person you love, right?"
Yellow smiled and nestled close to his hand. "I guess not."
•••
"Next round!"
Everyone drew straws again then they glanced at each other, figuring who was the next Slowking/queen.
"It appears I am the new Slowqueen." Platina held out her straw with the colored mark.
"To what thou, thy lady Berlitz, commanded thee?" Pearl asked in a haughty accent.
"Make it something to eat. I'm hungry." Diamond suggested, ruining his manzai partner's act.
"Alright then. Number 6 bake something for #1." Platina ordered.
"Aww… I'm not number 1." Diamond sighed in disappointment.
"Too bad, Dia—I mean Diamond. I guess I'll have to eat it." Pearl showed the number on his straw which was 1. "So whose baking skills do I have the pleasure of testing?"
"Uhm… I'm number 6." Sapphire spoke up, having a short relapse of the chocolate-making incident before Valentines.
"Nice knowing you, Pearl. You will be missed." Gold extended his condolences.
"T-That isn't funny!" Pearl stammered with fear. With a hopeful expression, he turned his attention towards the Hoenn brunette. "So ah, Sapphire. Have you ever baked before?"
"I tried …once," She replied with embarrassment. "…It didn't end well."
Pearl's face went pale at her words. What does she mean, it didn't end well?!
"Did you kill someone?" Gold inquired with obvious sarcasm.
"No, I didn't!" Sapphire fumed.
"Hey, give her a chance. I'm sure it's not that bad." Lapis spoke up, optimistically.
"I'll help." Platina stood up and accompanied Sapphire to the kitchen.
"Hmmm… On second thought, a wild girl and a pampered princess isn't a good mix." Lapis patted Pearl on the shoulder. "You have my sincere condolences."
The dexholders waved the blonde boy goodbye as he gulped and looked back on his life.
•••
They had permission from the innkeeper to use the oven and the needed ingredients were paid for by Platina. The quickest recipe they could find was brownies so they went with that. And to make things quick, Momo helped to clean the messes as they kept on baking.
Ten minutes later, Platina and Sapphire came back with what should be a pan of chocolate brownies, but it looked more like a thin rugged version of a Crustle's rock.
Pearl stared at it and hesitated. "I-Is it safe?"
"We read the instructions," Platina pointed out, recalling the steps written on the brownie box mix.
"R-Read?" Gold raised a brow at Sapphire's direction.
"What? I read it! …Most of it," The Hoenn teen murmured the last part.
Pearl kept on eyeing the rocky brownies with deep discretion while the others anticipated what he was about to do. All was locked in a heavy silence until Lapis walked over and nudged the blonde boy out of his daze. "Go on already."
"If you're so pushy, why don't you eat it?" Pearl murmured, not wanting to be heard by the two girls.
"Alright." Lapis cut off a piece and took a bite without hesitation, shocking everyone in the room. He continued to chew on it as everyone wondered how it turned out. Then the blue-eyed boy smiled sincerely and looked at Sapphire. "It's delicious."
The Hoenn teen felt relieved and thankful from hearing it. She wondered if she should have given the chocolates to Ruby before. They might have looked bad, but maybe the taste wasn't. Though she can't give them to him anymore, at least, next time she had some courage to give some to him in the future.
Lapis cut off another piece and handed it over to Pearl. "Better eat it up. If not, I'll take it."
Having concluded that it was edible, the blonde from Sinnoh took it from him and stuffed it in his mouth. It really wasn't as bad as he predicted. In fact, it was good. Because of curiosity, the remainder was eaten by the rest of the dexholders who also found it tasty and chewy.
•••
Third round commenced with Yellow once again as the Slowqueen. With expectations from her friends higher than before, she took a deep breath and issued her order. "Numbers 8 and 11 tell us one secret."
"Whoa. How juicy." The dare perked Blue's interest. "So who will it be?"
"I have number 8." Platina indicated, showing her numbered straw. "So for my secret…" The dark-haired heiress pondered deeply. "Before I had this deep admiration for someone …but he had someone else on his mind." She paused for a bit and recalled the memory. "I was glad for him and the girl he loved."
"So you had your heart broken before?" Pearl asked, somewhat taken back by her sudden revelation.
"Are you alright?" Diamond inquired further.
Platina kept a sincere and strong front as she smiled at her two closest friends. "Quite yes, to both questions because now I have someone else and I like him more than I did that person before."
"That's good. But could you be more specific?" Blue questioned with a tinge of disappointment at the vagueness of how the Sinnoh lass answered.
"Blue, I think its fine. I only asked one secret, after all." Yellow defended her junior. "I rather prefer that we don't meddle into other people's love life…. Like you did mine." The blonde flushed as she whispered the last few words.
Blue inched closer and nudged her fellow Kanto dexholder. "But it worked for you."
"Please stop reminding me. It's embarrassing." Yellow hid her face.
The Kanto brunette sighed and asked for the second person to reveal his/her secret. Much to her surprise, the one who drew number 11 was Silver.
"Alright!" Gold grinned widely with high expectations.
Silver remained emotionless as he plainly answered, "I don't have one."
"What?!" The raven-haired breeder didn't believe him. "There should be at least one thing."
"…Nothing."
Blue wrapped her arms around the redhead's neck. "Really? I'm curious to hear what little secrets my sweet Silver hasn't told before."
"Sorry, but I can't think of anything." Silver replied.
"C'mon! There has to be something." Gold persistently nagged his fellow Johto dexholder, but even then, the answers were the same. In the end, he decided to think of something for him. "Are you even a natural redhead?"
"What?"
"Is Giovanni really you're father?" Gold was raining question after question though it was already a well-known fact.
"I thought we've been over this since the events concerning Arceus." Silver was starting to get irritated, but he kept calm and mature in his girlfriend's presence.
"Have you ever been jealous of senior Green?" The black-haired breeder asked. Silver flinched when he heard the name. Much to his dismay, Gold noticed it. Curving his grin slyly, he dwelled deeper into the subject. "What do you think of senior Green?"
"Senior is strong and I look up to him." Silver replied, steadily keeping his composure together under the pressure that the other boy was building up.
Blue listened intently while observing her boyfriend's reaction. She was just as interested as Gold to know what Green meant to Silver, especially when the redhead knew before that Blue had a crush on him.
"Sure. He gave you his Rhydon that you evolved into a Rhyperior. But I'm more interested on what you think of him when senior Blue is concerned." Gold elbowed his friend.
Silver glanced at the girl whose arms remained around him. Blue stared back at him with a gentle smile, making the air around more tense and heavy. The redhead inhaled deeply, "What do you want me to say? I was jealous? -That I didn't think that I'd ever be seen anything other than a little brother? Is that it?"
Gold was starting to get the answers that he wanted. Perhaps, even more. "So you admit it?"
Silver knew things won't end until Gold was satisfied. "Fine! I was jealous. The fact that I thought he suited her more than I ever could, irritated me-"
"-You added thought so I presume you proved yourself wrong?" Blue tightened her grip and leaned her head against the boy's back.
Silver gave a short nod as he placed a hand on Blue's arm. "It's seems I did."
Gold grinned, feeling accomplished for helping his friend while annoying him along the way.
•••
"Let the fourth round begin!"
Everyone drew a new set of numbers and this time it was Blue who became the Slowqueen. The game was her idea in the first place; the dexholders feared what else she had in mind for her order.
"Hey, why is it only the girls who get straw with the red and white tip?" Gold questioned.
"By matter of luck, I guess." Silver replied, not giving much of a care.
"Okay! For my royal command, number 4 give number 3 ….a Piggyback ride!" Blue ordered with eagerness while the people in the room glanced at each other with dread, except the one.
"I'm number 4!" Black shouted, standing up.
Blue grinned satisfyingly and looked around with anticipation. "So who's number 3?"
"…I-I'm number 3." Crystal presented her straw with the number in question.
Gold stood up and protested. "No way! Objection! I won't allow it!"
"It's only a game, Gold. Loosen up," Blue persuaded with an amused grin.
"Don't be such a party-pooper. Everyone accomplished theirs. It's unfair if they didn't do it," Lapis said further.
Black ran up to the couple from Johto. "Don't worry senior, I'll be careful not to drop her."
"That's not what I'm afraid of." Gold grumbled and cursed under his breath.
In the end, there was no stopping them. Black carefully secured Crystal's legs between him and supported the girl's weight on his back. The blunette held on to the Unova boy's shoulders as she was carried around the room.
At one side, White sat with her Syleveon on her lap while watching her fellow Unova dexholder carry their senior around the room.
"You okay, senior?" Black inquired with a wide grin.
"Yeah," Crystal whispered while secretly glancing at his boyfriend at the side.
Gold was fuming with agitation and jealousy at the sight, but all he could do was cross his arms and tap his foot continuously, swearing that he'd make up for it, the next time around.
•••
And that chance came when he became the Slowking of the fifth round. With a smug grin, Gold eyed his subjects with inferiority. "Piggyback ride, huh? Well this time, I want to Princess Carry number 5!"
Crystal remained silent as she showed him her number which was regrettably number 4. Gold missed her by a mark. But that didn't let him down, but the next events did. The girls showed that neither of them had the said number. All that was left was the boys. Gold's face drained of blood when he saw Red raise his straw with the number 5.
"You have got to be kidding me!?" The flustered Breeder exclaimed in disbelief.
"Rules are rules. You've no choice but to do it." Lapis flashed a mocking grin in Gold's direction.
"Shut it, Flower boy!"
"Think of it as carrying a bouquet of Red roses." Pearl added with a chuckle afterwards.
The dexholder leader didn't have the floral headdress anymore but he still smelled of Sintaro's Sweet Scent. The plan completely backfired on himself. Gold cursed his life and himself for impulsively spouting a crazed order.
It took some time and a lot persistent encouragement, but finally they all got Gold to do the embarrassing command. Lapis got his camera out and made some quick shots, not wanting to miss a moment of it. Blue and Pearl were already asking for copies. The others were rolling on their futon as they laughed their hearts out.
Carrying Red in his arms, Gold kept mumbling to himself while trying hard to maintain his faltering poker face. On the other hand, Red tried to keep his mind off things but he was also embarrassed by the turn of events.
After a minute or two without even completing the lap around the room, Gold dropped his senior and hastily retreated to Crystal's side to try and forget what just happened. But Lapis, who was at the other side, gestured to the screen of his camera, showing a perfectly shot photo of the breeder carrying his senior.
"I'll get you for this!" Gold glared and waved his fist threateningly.
•••
Sixth round, Pearl became the Slowking. He carefully looked at his companions and curved his mouth slyly. "Alright! As King, I order numbers 7 and 1 …to cross-dress!"
Everyone flinched and glanced again at their straws. The boys were the ones hoping from the bottom of their hearts that they were not the chosen two. Many sighed in relief that it wasn't them but a few remained quiet but restless.
"I got number 1…" Sapphire spoke up softly, unsure of what she needed to do.
"One down…" Pearl looked around, waiting eagerly for the last person to present the number but nobody made a peep.
"I don't have it." Lapis flashed the number 9 on his.
Blue understood where he going with this. If each of them presents their number, the number seven would have no way to hide. "Number 5!"
One by one, dexholders raised their numbers up in the air. But halfway through the role call, Gold suddenly stood up and stared at everyone with a darkened expression. By the time they suspected, the unfortunate breeder made a break for the door at lightning speed.
"Grab him!" Pearl shouted as he bolted towards his victim. Black and Lapis followed suit. Gold was almost at the door when Silver threw a sausage-shaped pillow directly at the back of the golden-eyed boy's head, striking him to the floor. When Gold tried to get up, Pearl and the other two were right on top to subdue him.
The run-away breeder frantically flailed around in an attempt to escape but Lapis and Black managed to hold him down. Pearl smirked and eyed him with a sly grin. "You think you could get away, huh senior?"
"C'mon! Give me a break. First I carried a guy around the room and now you expect me to dress up as a girl!?" Gold was practically begging for his juniors to take pity on him, but the dare was too good for the trio to let raven-haired prankster slide. Even Silver didn't think of letting him off. For once, a part of the game made him interested.
"No can do," Pearl answered without a tinge of guilt in his tone. "Since it's a boy and a girl, how about we let you two switch clothes? Your usual garbs, not the yukatas."
Gold's face drained of blood as he recalled the pink ensemble that Sapphire wore here in Johto. He yelled and doubled his efforts to break free but still it proved futile.
"Just be careful not to stretch the fabric." Lapis chuckled.
"You sound like prissy boy," Gold murmured while glaring.
Lapis flinched but he easily shrugged off the comment. Blue borrowed a set of clothes from Sapphire and handed it over to Pearl while Crystal was the one who rummaged through Gold's bag to get his clothes to give to Sapphire. Platina along with the other girls helped out especially with the hair style. Momo also went along with her trainer.
And because Gold could not be trusted, Pearl and the other two boys had to help/force him into the girly pink attire. Silver stayed outside the door to stand guard to make sure that there was no escape for Gold.
•••
Half an hour later, the boys were still not back. The girls were done much earlier. Sapphire managed to pull off the look with the reversed gold and black cap hiding most of her hazel locks, leaving only some ruffled bangs sticking out on her forehead. The orange hoodie was a nice flexible fit as well as the knee length pants. The way she projected it, she could easily be mistaken for a guy.
Before anyone was about to get up and check for the boys, Pearl came through the door, clearly exhausted from what seemed like an intense struggle. After he caught his breath, he stood up straight and motioned the others to bring Gold in. Lapis along with Black seemed just as tired as they made their way inside the room. Silver took it upon himself to do the rest and bring the still resisting cross-dresser inside for everyone to see.
Everyone in the room was stunned speechless but really they were just holding back their laughter for their unfortunate fellow dexholder's sake.
Gold finally gave up. He jerked his arm away from Silver and marched in, sulking. "…Happy?"
None of them could hold back any longer. They burst out, laughing to tears. Gold was wearing the long pink coat but the front couldn't be buttoned so the stretchable white slip inside was visible. If that wasn't enough, the side of his hair was tied in a short messy ponytail by the matching scarf that went with the coat. And for some reason, he had some make-up on though some of it was smudged because of continuous struggling. It was Lapis who did it, much to everyone's surprise but they didn't put too much thought on it because they were too busy looking at Gold.
Lapis feigned sleepiness as he secretly took pictures of Gold wearing the pink outfit. Afterwards, he directed his camera to Sapphire and got some shots too.
The cross-dressed girl noticed and glanced his way. She wasn't at all embarrassed. More like, she was comfortable in those types of clothes. But she knew Ruby wouldn't approve of something like that. He would rather see her in feminine clothes like the ones he sows. She didn't hate it. It was just that she was mostly mindful of the fact whether it suited her or not. According to Ruby's sincere compliments, they do.
Sapphire stood up and went over to Lapis. "Ya plannin' on showin' them ta Ruby?" She asked softly with curiosity.
"Well, I think he'd like the pictures of you wearing the Milotic yukata." Lapis replied, somehow unhappy at scanning the pictures of Sapphire in Gold's clothes.
"Speaking of the yukatas, did Ruby make them?" Sapphire questioned further, but still keeping hush tones so the dexholders wouldn't hear.
"Very observant as always." Lapis laughed shortly. "You're right."
Sapphire's face gloomed partially. "Ain't he feeling sick? I thought he had some important stuff ta do. Why'd he waste his time making them?"
Lapis put away his camera and looked at her. "You think he's wasting time if he also wants to make your journey more enjoyable? Sure, he has things he needed to accomplish, but ignoring little things like making the yukatas for you and the others can't just be ignored that easily especially if he knew that you'd look really beautiful in it and that it would make you happy to wear it."
Sapphire took in the sincerity and straightforwardness of his tone. The voice still reminded her of Ruby especially when he mentioned the word beautiful. Other than that, she also found it strange how Lapis knew Ruby so well. She asked herself once again who he really was to Ruby.
"But you know, you're right in some ways. He can't keep slacking off if he wants to properly come back to your side as soon as possible." Lapis added with a hint of melancholy.
"Hey, what are you two doing?" Gold drew the attention of the blue-eyed duo.
"Nothing, Goldilocks." Lapis answered with a smirk.
With several veins popping on his head, Gold clutched a pillow and flung it towards the blue-eyed boy.
Lapis neatly ducked out of the way and laughed. "You throw like a girl."
"Nice one!" Pearl chuckled.
Gold was furious as ever. He grabbed another cushion and threw it across the room. Once again, Lapis evaded the soft projectile, but this time he returned fire. Gold side-stepped and managed to dodge, but Black who was behind him was struck by the sausage-shaped cushion.
That was the start of an all-out pillow fight. Crystal tried to intervene, but when she was caught in the cross-fire, she didn't hold back and joined in the fray. All of them were growing up, but once in a while it didn't hurt to act a little childish especially among good friends.
The pokemon in the room also found it was a good opportunity to have some fun in human games. Assisting their respective trainer, their participation added a more excitement and thrill. Gold had an advantage with his Ambipom having two handy tails to fire twice the ammo, but it was no use with Lapis who had a psychic type. Azura easily controlled the pillows with her abilities to either launch towards the opponents or defend herself and her trainer.
September 9
Finally the long night ended and a cold misty morning welcomed the start of the new day. The windows were covered by thick curtains but slivers of sunbeams penetrated from the thin gaps along the frame. Everyone in the room was still sleeping soundly. There were thirteen people in the room but only twelve futons in the room. But due to the exhaustion, most of them didn't care where they fell asleep.
Sapphire, being early-bird that she is, woke up first. She sat up, yawned and scratched her head as her tired eyes adjusted to the morning light. After the lethargy died down a bit, she shifted her head around to check how her friends were sleeping as well as their pokemon who settled down next to them.
Platina was lying properly on her futon with her Pachirisu curled up beside her head. Diamond was at her right hugging a pillow that his Munchlax was unconsciously nibbling on. On the opposite side, Pearl was sleeping in a fetal position with his Chatot nestling warmly on his shoulder.
White was in her own futon, sleeping peacefully with her Sylveon. Black was at the bed next to her, but his pose was more awkward and his pillow and blanket all over the place. Plus, his Musharna was munching on his head.
Red was lying on his back on the bed with Yellow sleeping against his arm. Their two Pikachus were curled up together in a space above their heads. Blue and Silver huddled together closely under one cottony sheet with a Wigglytuff and Weavile resting at either side of the bed.
Ataro, Gold's Ambipom was snuggling in a pile of pillows with Crystal's Smoochum, Chumee. The breeder was sleeping the floor with just a thin blanket beneath him. Surprisingly, he was still in his cross-dress outfit but the pink coat was gone as well as the scarf that tied his hair, leaving only the thick white slip and black shorts. The coat was with Crystal to act as a blanket because she fell asleep without even setting up her bed. Gold was probably the one who placed it. He cared enough to do that but he was too tired to change back into his usual clothes after releasing all his remaining energy in the pillow fight while wearing Sapphire's attire.
Seeing the type of clothes her senior was wearing, Sapphire took another look at herself. Sure enough, she was still dressed in the orange hoodie and knee-length pants. Her chocolate hair was down. Gold's cap was missing. It was probably lost somewhere in the room, but the she found it a second later on Momo's head. The tuckered-out Minccino was curled on top of a pillow with the black and yellow hat covering her whole head, making her ears flop to her sides.
Everything and everyone was accounted for, except for a certain someone and his pokemon. Sapphire stood up and quickly grabbed a plain skyblue robe to cover up in. Then she stepped outside, guessing the whereabouts of the missing teen.
Sapphire located the closest forestry and a moment later, she got a whiff of a strong soothing scent coming from beyond, easily recognizing it as the scent of Xylo's Aromatherapy. Following the smell, she found Lapis with his Kirlia and Sawsbuck who had just finished using the healing technique.
Sensing a nearby presence, Azura told her trainer about the approaching company with the use of telepathy. Lapis smiled and turned towards the predicted arrival. "Good morning."
The boy was still wearing the simple green robe along with his signature headband. Sapphire guessed that he woke up a bit earlier than her, but that wasn't what bothered her. It was the fact that so far, in their times together, Lapis always needed to use his pokemon's Aromatherapy. She recalled that she asked before but he really never gave a concrete reason.
"Are ya feeling okay?" Sapphire inquired.
"Sure, as long as I have Xylo with me." Lapis answered as he patted his Sawsbuck on its neck.
Sapphire remembered that Ruby was also not well when they met that time in the woods and Lapis had this unexplainable need for his pokemon's Aromatherapy every now and then. Were they connected in some way?
End of Chapter 17
Hope you found it funny. :D
There was no cheating here. It was all randomly chosen. And it all ended well especially the cross-dress.
Thanks to all who participated in the game. Another big thanks goes to Vikeila! *solo clap*
This was long interlude.
But this concludes the end of the Ho-oh festival.
Now, on to the main story about badges and Ruby's disappearance.
Keep on reviewing! Please and thank you!