Tori joined Hisoka in preparing their dinner, scooping out two bowls of food for the Pokémon and serving them first. Once both found their food and started eating, Hisoka and Tori settled down to their own meal.
Beside them, Bulbasaur ate enthusiastically, lapping up tonguefuls of pellets then noisily gumming them to paste. Meowth looked on wide-eyed and slowly mimicked Bulbasaur's whole-mouthed chomps a few times. Deciding it preferred its own method, Meowth resumed scooping dainty pawfuls and nibbling from them, but it kept a wary eye on the happily-munching grass type. Tori joked and Hisoka laughed, and both called out cheerily to their Pokémon.
Caught up in the thrilling novelty of their adventure already, Tori felt on the verge of enjoying herself. The night was warm, their dinner was good, and the day had been full of best-case scenarios...except for James' outbursts, but the events of the morning felt small and far away.
If only Aiden were here, everything would be perfect. She had anticipated an emotional night of post-graduation reverie with her best friends, recalling stories from school and imagining possibilities for the future now that they had their first Pokémon.
But she shouldn't let the imagined perfect be the enemy of a pleasant present, she told herself. Spending time with just Hisoka was fun too.
Tori leaned over her plate, now half-empty, and leered down at Hisoka's. He arched an eyebrow at her.
"You...want the rest of my food?"
"No," she replied, "Just trying to gauge how interested you're going to be in dessert."
Hisoka delicately loaded his fork, then popped it in his mouth. He chewed slowly and swallowed, then said, "Some people like to take their time and enjoy their whole dinner first."
"Then you better go Bulbasaur-style on it." Tori and Hisoka both glanced at the Pokémon. It looked up at them, kibble bits falling from its mouth. "...Speed-wise not efficiency," she clarified. Hisoka snorted; they burst out laughing. Bulbasaur seemed confused, but didn't stop chewing.
"Meanwhile, someone barely touched their food." Tori followed Hisoka's eyes as they panned from Bulbasaur to Meowth. They giggled again, but quietly; the tiny feline Pokémon was asleep, its front paws on either side of its bowl and its tiny chin resting on a bed of food pellets.
Firelight reflected in its golden coin. She watched the Pokémon wistfully as she and Hisoka finished their meal in companionable silence. Its sides rose and fell gently with tiny snores. Its whiskers twitched, tail swished. Tori again felt the ache in her heart of loving something so small and so precious so completely. Following that feeling rose excitement. This was just her first day with Meowth, the beginning of their life together as partners. What would it be like, to spend every day together?
"Are you happy?"
Hisoka's question shook her from her thoughts. "Wha-?"
"With Meowth. You two already seem to gel."
"Oh." Tori took a moment to consider her answer. "Yeah, of course. Meowth is so tiny and cute, there's a chance even my parents might like it. They'll have to let me keep it in my room, at least."
"I didn't even think of that… Your parents never let Pokémon in the house, huh? Good thing you didn't end up with something huge like an Onix." Hisoka and Tori shared a laugh again. Onix wasn't a likely starter Pokémon unless a student really committed to a terraforming curriculum.
"How about Bulbasaur? It seems to have grown on you." Tori put on a face of exaggerated glee, waiting for Hisoka to acknowledge her pun.
It took a beat of silence, but he finally turned to her with a look of disgust. "Low-level. Just absolute bottom-of-the-barrel humor."
Tori's mind raced for a follow-up.
"Is that your sincere...be-leaf?" The last word left her grinning as she leaned into his space to deliver the punch. Her face was centimeters from his, the up-close view of his exaggerated revulsion made that much funnier.
She pulled back and stood up, gathering both their plates in the process. "Hmm?" she added, encouraging him to actually answer.
Hisoka stood too, gathering the remaining items, and followed her. They headed for the creek to wash up.
Once they were a few steps away from Bulbasaur and the sleeping Meowth, Hisoka spoke up again.
"Bulbasaur's great, I think. It'll be a big help in the garden, and maybe with mom too if we can get its vines under control." He knelt down at the water's edge and started rinsing their cups. "It'll probably drive Abby up the wall though."
Tori's expression softened when Hisoka mentioned his mother. Neither of them would say she was the warmest woman, but she was always happy to see Tori, and Hisoka loved her devotedly. As Tori saw it, Hisoka's dutiful care of his mother was one of his most endearing traits. His mother's on-and-off illness made her all the more cherished by Tori after losing her own mother so suddenly, so young (and being treated so poorly by the woman who replaced her).
At the fresh thought of her stepmother, Tori glanced back over her shoulder, in the direction of her family's house. Hisoka noticed and followed her gaze. She shook her head trying to dislodge her awareness of the woman, even for a few weeks, or even just for a night.
"You ok?"
Tori turned back to Hisoka.
"Yeah! Are you?" She reached down into the water at their knees and splashed a handful up at her friend.
"Hey!" Hisoka sputtered and flailed, then used the cup he was washing to scoop more water and retaliate.
The splash caught Tori in the face, dousing her hair and the front of her dress.
Hisoka looked worried briefly that he'd raised the stakes too high, but Tori let out a barking laugh. She stood, kicking off her boots, and splashed out into the creek. She stopped a couple meters out, the slow water already to mid-thigh, just touching her hem, and executed an imitation Water Pulse in Hisoka's direction.
The crashing and squealing brought both Pokémon running to the water's edge. They watched intently, seeming more curious than concerned.
"You're gonna get our clothes all wet!" Hisoka protested weakly from the shore, as if he hadn't cast the second splash.
"Coward!"
An impulse struck Tori. Moments later, her damp dress and scarf sailed through the air towards the shore. Bulbasaur caught them in its vines.
"Tori!?"
Despite the warm weather, the water was chilly.
"Eeeehehehehe!" Tori crouched down until it covered her shoulders, hiding her body. She was a cackling head floating on the creek's dark surface and free as a Butterfree below it.
"The water's great!" Tori called back by way of an explanation. She moved out a little deeper and twirled, weightless, her long hair spiraling around her. On the shore, she heard Hisoka hesitate, then the clink of his belt as he started to disrobe. When she heard splashes, she turned to face him.
From what Tori could make out of his face in the moonlight, under his shaggy hair, he looked worried? His mouth was open and his chest rose and fell rapidly. Tori giggled. She swam away from his approach and kicked up a spray of water in his direction.
"You're nanabs, Tori!" Hisoka waded out to his waist, then pivoted with his arms out, sending a huge curve of water towards her. She shrieked and paddled further away. They splashed back and forth, laughing and slapping at the water, until the distinct jingle of a belt buckle cut through the noise. Both of them looked towards the shore.
Bulbasaur was trotting away. Held in it vines were their clothes.
"Ah no, it's got our stuff. Bulbasaur…come back!" Hisoka started splashing towards shore.
"It's ok, Hisoka!" Tori called after him. "Just put on clothes from your pack!"
As Tori made the suggestion, Bulbasaur stopped next to their packs, hoisted them both onto its bulb, and continued on into the shadows beyond the firelight
"Bulbasaur, no!" Hisoka yelled. He sloshed onto the bank, then hesitated. He covered himself with his hands and looked back at Tori.
"Our stuff!" Tori scrambled out of the water right behind Hisoka, then blew past him in pursuit of Bulbasaur. She felt the responsibility to cover herself too, but she didn't have enough hands, so she focused on the clothes.
For all Bulbasaur had struggled to keep up on their earlier hike, it had no problem zooming off now. It cleared the embankment and plunged into the tall grass in the field beyond. Tori legged up the incline, but once she crested it, the grass Pokémon was impossible to pick out from the vegetation.
With an audible heave, Hisoka vaulted up behind Tori. His sudden presence, and the giddiness of their nudity, startled her into an aimless run. He followed her, probably assuming she was tracking Bulbasaur. No matter the reason, running with someone on her heels gave Tori a burst of adrenaline. She was sprinting. Hisoka lagged for a moment, then exerted himself to catch up. When he drew close, Tori tried to run faster.
When she couldn't outpace him, she started to laugh. Part of it was illogical panic, and part of it was at herself. She slowed down to a trot and then stopped altogether. Her laughter made her double over. She put her hands on her thighs, trying to catch her breath.
Hisoka trotted up beside her, trying not to look at her and trying not to seem out of breath.
"Did you see? Bulbasaur?" He pulled himself up tall and looked around. "Where'd it go?"
"I was- I just.." Tori sucked air into her lungs then laughed it out in long, body-shaking wheezes. Finally she started to come down, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes, forgetting to assume a modest posture. "I just started running, I didn't see anything."
Hisoka chuckled. Then he was laughing with her again. "I thought-"
"I know!" Tori savored the feeling. She didn't want to stop laughing.
"There!" She looked up. Hisoka was pointing back towards camp. The grass moved oddly, like something was displacing it as it walked. She might never have spotted it on her own.
Hisoka took off after his ping, and this time Tori followed on his heels.
As they got closer, Tori could see Bulbasaur's telltale vines waving above the stalks of grass. They were no longer holding bundles of clothes. The two slowed their pace and approached cautiously.
'Hey, buuuuud." Hisoka stepped cautiously into Bulbasaur's path, hands raised in front of him. The Bulbasaur stopped in its tracks, then sat on its hindquarters.
"Bahl?"
Tori scanned the area around Bulbasaur, but there was no sign of their clothes or their backpacks. The ridiculousness of the situation made her tremble again with stifled laughter. She calmed herself with the reminder that her own bedroom was just a jog away, but then she realized she'd be doing that jog in the buff. There would be no surer end to her brief opportunity of adventure than to be caught naked out at night. Her parents had no such sense of humor.
"Where's our stuff, buddy?" Hisoka held his arms wide, palms up, and looked around performatively. He looked back down into the Pokémon's vacant eyes. "Backpack? Shirt?" He patted his chest where a shirt should be. "Take me to our clothes."
Bulbasaur stood up. Tori and Hisoka looked on eagerly.
Its squat head swung left, then right, trying to get its bearings in the grass that towered over it. Its nose twitched, searching for a scent. Finally, it seemed to lock on to something. With still-surprising speed, Bulbasaur waddled away into the grass. Keeping close watch on its vines this time, the pair had far less trouble following their target.
"Do you think it's actually taking us to our stuff?" Tori asked. She followed in Hisoka's footsteps, the three of them a strange parade parting a path through the waist-high stalks. Hisoka threw his hands up in a dramatic shrug. The darkness made it hard to tell direction and neither knew the stars. It wasn't until Hisoka heard the burbling of the creek that he realized they were headed back towards camp.
"We're going in a cir-"
A shout from nearby cut Hisoka off, masculine and full of fear.
"Aiden?" Tori took off in the direction of the sound. Hisoka followed, and so did Bulbasaur.