"This expedition is kinda funny, isn't it?"
Ethan rolled over, shifting from on his back looking at the stars to on his side looking at Fennekin. "What is?"
She let out a few quick, embarrassed giggles. "Sorry. Just thought of it...we're Team Stargazers, looking at the stars, on our way to find the Starlit Grove. Kinda funny."
"Maybe it's a sign," he joked as he rolled back onto his back. "Only fitting our first expedition would be to a place with 'starlit' in its name."
"Hopefully a good sign."
"Yeah," he responded absentmindedly, getting up and moving to their quickly-dying fire to add some more wood; he knew Fennekin could just restart it if it died down, but something about tending the fire was oddly relaxing to him.
As he thought of Fennekin, his eyes drifted over to her. "Hey, Fennekin?" he asked before even realizing that he had spoken.
"Yeah?"
No going back now, he supposed. "Is everything okay?"
She rolled over, a small smile on her face. "That's kind of an out of nowhere question. What's up?"
"I don't know, just…" He threw another stick on the fire. "I can tell you're excited about this expedition, but you almost seem more worried about it."
She stood up and walked over to the fire before sitting across it from him. "It's just our first expedition. I don't want to mess this up."
"We've been making good time." Another stick; oddly relaxing. "And they all understand it's our first time, and that they might even be sending us to look for something that doesn't actually exist. And even if we do mess up, everybody's seemed really nice about everything. I don't think they'd actually be mad at us."
"I hope so too."
"Fennekin…" He ruffled his brow for a few seconds, unsure of how to proceed. "I apologize if this comes off the wrong way, but I asked if everything's okay because this is your dream, and you've seemed really hesitant and worried about a lot of stuff we've done. I'm not mad or blaming you for anything, just...worried, I guess. Is everything going fine?"
She stared into the fire for a few moments before responding. "Things are going fine, but I just...I guess I'm worried, too. Worried that I'm just getting lucky, or that you're the one who's good and just carrying me along, or that we haven't actually done anything hard yet but it seems like we have. I just don't want it to all fall through, and then I'm stranded in Pokéopolis with nothing."
"There are some really experienced explorers helping us; I'd think they'd know if we were just getting lucky or looking like we were doing better than we were." A brief pause. "I mean no, we're not ready to graduate from the Academy anytime soon, but I don't think we're falling behind. And even if this expedition doesn't pan out, you can't win 'em all, right?"
"Can't we, though? Team Sunstriders could have easily done this for themselves, but they sent us, so they're expecting us to come back with something."
"They expected us to try," he corrected, "not necessarily to succeed. And yeah they could, but they've been exploring for longer...well, I don't know how old you are, but...hm. Okay, I don't know how old either of us are, but they've been doing this for a long time, maybe longer than either of us have been alive. Also don't know how long they've been doing this." He groaned, pressing his fingers to his temples. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that they've been doing this for years and we've been at it for what, a month? It's not really fair to us to expect us to succeed just because they would." Another pause. "It's not fair to you, Fennekin. You're doing great."
A tiny, sad sigh seemed all he'd get from her before she spoke up. "I just really want being an explorer to pan out because I traveled so far just to join the Academy. I don't want to have done so much and followed my dream just to fail."
"Where are you from, anyways?"
Silence.
"That's fine, if it's too personal—"
"No." He stopped talking. "I'm just...from a town really far to the northwest of Pokéopolis."
"Could you not have tried exploring there? I'm not really sure what the Guild does outside of Pokéopolis, but it sounds like they have at least some presence in different places."
"Not in my town, and nobody wants to hire explorers there for anything. I also...kind of ran away from home."
"You ran away? Aren't your parents worried sick about you?"
"My mom sent some Pokémon after me to bring me back, but worried I doubt."
"And your dad?"
No response.
"Sorry. I shouldn't have asked."
"It's fine," she sighed. "You didn't know. And neither did I, I guess. I don't even know what species of Pokémon he was."
"Any friends or siblings that might be worried?"
She blinked rapidly a few times, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "I'm an only child. And nobody ever really liked me, so I never had any friends."
"I can't imagine your mom's not at least a little bit worried. I'm not...well, not that I know of, not a parent, but if my only kid ran away and tried to travel on their own so far, I probably wouldn't even be able to think from all the worry. What makes you think she's not?"
"She's not a good Pokémon. She hurts a lot of people and—" She cut herself off and clenched her jaw.
"And?"
"And, uh...I, uh, I don't think she cares that she's hurting so many others."
"Fennekin, did she…" He trailed off, hoping she knew what he meant so he didn't have to say it out loud.
"No." She shook her head, dislodging some tears and getting the fur around her eyes wet. "Not like that, not to me at least. As a mom, she was just really strict. And we fought a lot, too. I don't think she ever actually loved me."
Unsure of what to say, Ethan simply stared into the fire. Fennekin soon followed, the only sound being the snapping of burning wood and the distant croaking of frogs.
"I'm sorry," Fennekin spoke up after what felt like hours but was more likely only a few minutes.
Ethan flinched, not expecting the sudden break in silence. "Why?"
"That was a lot to dump on you. You probably just wanted to hear that I'm nervous but really excited and I'll get over it, right?" She gave a few quick laughs, but he didn't even have to try in order to notice that they were fake.
"I wanted to hear the truth," he corrected in the most comforting tone he could muster, "and you gave it to me. I didn't do it hoping to fulfill some expectation of mine, I just wanted to help you."
A tiny, very weak smile fought its way onto her face. "Have you remembered anything from before you were a Pokémon?"
"Can't say I do. Why?"
The smile settled; it was still small, but warm and no longer fighting for its place. "Nobody's ever really cared enough to ask me how I was doing and actually listen, so I wasn't sure if you were some kind of helper when you were a human. Or a leader, if our explorations in mystery dungeons are any indication. Even on our first one, you seemed really comfortable taking charge and leading us."
"I had no idea what I was doing," he laughed. "Still feels like I don't. Let me know if you want to lead, I'm just doing it because it feels natural."
"I don't think you don't know what you're doing, you've been very effective so far; even Houndoom complimented you, remember? I could never be as decisive as you especially when we don't know something, which is why I like letting you lead."
"I don't even think about the fact that I need to lead; I just think about what we need to do. Maybe I was a leader, I'm not sure. You seem to know a lot about humans, do you know anything about what might've caused this? Have you heard of humans turning into Pokémon before?"
Fennekin stared into the fire for a few moments. "I don't, sorry. I don't even know all that much about humans, I just know for sure they exist and that they're not evil."
"You said you saw something that made you realize that. What was it?"
Her jaw clenched slightly as she continued staring into the fire, deep in thought.
"It's fine if that's too personal a question."
"Thank you," she responded quietly. "I'm sorry."
"For not wanting to talk about it?" She nodded. "Don't worry about it Fennekin, we all have things we don't want to talk about. Well, I'm sure I used to. You've been there for pretty much everything I can remember, so I can't really hide things. But don't feel bad if something made you upset and you don't want to talk about it; for as close as we're getting, you've still only known me about a month."
"About a month," she echoed. "Feels like it's been forever. In the good way." After a big yawn, she stood up. "I'm probably going to head to bed now, but thank you for everything. Not just tonight." Her face turned light pink as she moved her head slightly to just barely avoid his gaze. "You're a great friend."
He smiled broadly. "You've been a great friend too, Fennekin. Thanks for everything."
"Hey, Ethan?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I…" She giggled nervously. "Can I call you my best friend?"
His smile got even larger as he nodded. "I'd like that. Guess that'd make you my best friend, too."
Fennekin made a sound that Ethan could only describe as a squee as she walked over to him and hugged him tightly. "Thank you for being my best friend, Ethan. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather that be."