Slowly, bit by bit, the sun began to peek its face out over the horizon, shining its faint early-morning light over Mt. Horn.
Flynn let out a yawn, already beginning to wake up. Even though they were no longer bound to the guild's rigorous schedule, his internal clock was still attuned to it. He blinked his eyes a few times as he adjusted to the light.
The Cyndaquil would have attempted to stand, but there was an odd weight pressing against his side and back, holding him down slightly. Glancing back over his shoulder, he saw that Melody was still peacefully dozing away. Her head was draped over his back as she used him as a makeshift pillow.
Flynn blushed faintly, his embarrassed fluster almost causing his fire to flare up a little on its own. Thankfully, he managed to keep it in check. That would certainly have given Melody a rude awakening.
The Skitty's quiet snoring was the only sound in the otherwise silent alcove. Flynn could feel each breath she took, as it ruffled his short fur and swept into his flame vents. Her tail curled around behind them, further pinning him in as it hugged against his other side.
Melody faintly mumbled something in her sleep. A gentle purr rumbled through her, and she nuzzled further into her warm, cozy "pillow". Flynn's breath briefly caught in his throat, and his face heated up even more.
...When he cuddled up next to Melody like this, the previous night, he hadn't really put any deep thought into it. He hadn't needed to. Melody was clearly cold, and he had plenty of warmth to spare. He wasn't going to just leave her to freeze all night. It was that simple to him.
And besides, he'd figured it wouldn't be that much different from what they'd done already. Melody had grown very fond of affectionately snuggling up to his side, ever since they'd gotten together, and he'd just about gotten used to that. He enjoyed it.
But... waking up to this did feel... different. Not a bad kind of different, granted. Just... definitely a step further than before.
He continued to gaze pensively at the sleeping Skitty. He knew he should probably wake her pretty soon. They did have a mission to get to today, after all. And if they really wanted to reach Fogbound Lake before sundown as well, they still had a long way to go.
Melody had never been a morning pokemon, at least in the time that Flynn had known her. So ever since they'd graduated from the guild, it had been up to him to make sure that they actually got up in the mornings.
But even though he knew it was about time for them to get up... he couldn't quite bring himself to disturb his sleeping partner. She just looked so... peaceful, like this.
Flynn could see her chest gently rise and fall, matching the steady rhythm of her breathing. Her mouth was slightly open, letting a couple of tiny fangs poke out cutely just like they tended to do when she smiled. One of her ears noticeably twitched as a slightly louder snore cut through the air, but it settled back down again after only a moment. A faint breeze blew into the alcove, much calmer than the wind the previous night, ruffling the Skitty's sleek fur a bit.
Flynn let his gaze linger on her a little longer, a slightly conflicted look on his face.
...There would always be a part of Flynn that considered himself human, no matter how much time passed, and no matter how much he adjusted to his new form. He would never be able to tune that part out completely, and he wouldn't really want to. It was an inherent part of who he was.
And that part of him still had a little tinge of discomfort every time the Cyndaquil side of him made it clear that, from a pokemon's perspective, Melody was... well, she was attractive.
...It was just something he'd have to get used to, though. Those Cyndaquil instincts were a part of him too, at this point. And, slowly but surely, he had been getting better at reconciling the two parts of himself. He felt less conflicted about it all now than he did the night Melody confessed to him, and he had felt less conflicted on that night than he had the night that he'd first come to terms with his own feelings.
And, at the very least... even the human part of Flynn no longer had any hesitation about the emotional side of it, by this point. For all of Melody's quirks, and as unmistakably pokemon as she was... he loved her. And that was enough for him right now. The rest... he could figure out as he went.
As if in response to that thought, Melody let out another soft purr and nuzzled contentedly against the Cyndaquil's back again. Flynn smiled. Despite some lingering awkwardness... there was a piece of him that almost wished they could just stay here like this all morning.
(...Maybe we can afford to rest here a little bit longer, before we start getting ready to head out again. Let Melody get a little more, um... beauty sleep.)
Blushing only slightly at that last thought, Flynn turned his focus back to the opening of the alcove. A soft smile spread across his face as he took a moment to simply appreciate the sunrise.
There had always been... something about seeing the sun in the morning that simply... resonated with him. It filled him with motivation for the day ahead, and yet also made him feel oddly content at the same time. He'd never been quite sure why, at first. But after learning about his past from Grovyle, it made much more sense. After living his old life in that bleak, darkened future, of course the sunrise would carry more meaning for him.
This was one of the things he missed the most about living at the guild, honestly. The opening of Sharpedo Bluff faced west, so he couldn't see the sun in the mornings as easily from there, like he could through the window in their guild room.
Some minutes later, the sun had almost fully risen above the horizon, and Melody still hadn't stirred. Flynn still felt a little bad about waking her, but he really didn't want to let any more daylight slip by like this.
"...Melody?" he gently called out. One of the Skitty's ears twitched in response, but she otherwise didn't move at all. He tried again, a little louder. "Melody? It's morning."
"Mmm... five more minutes..." she mumbled, still half-asleep. Her ears defiantly folded down in an attempt to block out the noise.
Flynn shook his head fondly. He had already given her several minutes as it was.
He shifted his body side-to-side slightly, trying to gently shake his sleeping partner awake. "Up and at 'em, it's morning," he said, a subtle grin on his face. He didn't shout the words like Loudred always had in the mornings, but given how close he was to Melody at the moment, even his normal speaking voice was enough.
"Alright, alright," Melody groaned. She let out a tired yawn as she finally cracked her eyes open.
The first sight that greeted her was the warm, fuzzy 'pillow' she'd been sleeping on. It was a very familiar shade of blue, with four large patches of red arranged across it, one of which was right underneath where her head had been resting.
It took a moment for her groggy mind to wake up enough to recognize what she was looking at. A small jolt went through her when the realization finally clicked, and her face lit up with a faint blush. She slowly lifted her head to meet Flynn's gaze.
"Uh... G-Good morning," Melody squeaked out bashfully.
"...Morning."
A slightly awkward silence filled the air, neither pokemon quite sure what to say. Flynn eventually continued, "...Slept well, I take it?"
Melody nodded slowly. "Y-Yeah. V-Very well, actually." She finally got to her feet, another yawn escaping her as she stretched her body out in the typical feline sort of way. Flynn took a moment to stretch as well, working out the stiffness that came with being in the same position all night.
As Flynn took the treasure bag and began preparing the team's breakfast, Melody spoke up again. "T-Thanks. For, um... y-you know."
"...You're welcome," Flynn replied. He gave his parter a warm, albeit somewhat embarrassed smile as he added, "I... liked having you there, anyway. It wasn't any trouble."
Melody's blush deepened a little, but she was unable to hide the shy grin that overtook her face. She sat back down just across from Flynn, and started to nibble at an apple.
"S-Still, I feel a little bad," she said between bites. "I was... r-really comfortable, but you had to just sleep on the ground."
Flynn shrugged. "...It wasn't that bad." He started to open his mouth to say something else, but thought better of it.
Melody noticed his brief hesitation, though. "What is it?"
Flynn almost tried to brush it off. It really wasn't important enough to complain about. But it was probably too late to say nothing, now. He'd gotten Melody curious.
"...Honestly, the straw beds are almost worse," he quietly admitted. "At least stone doesn't itch. And doesn't poke into my flame vents, if I move wrong."
Back when they first started at the guild, it had taken him several nights just to figure out how to sleep comfortably in his new body. He hadn't been sure at first if straw beds were supposed to be totally normal for pokemon, or if the guild simply used them because they were cheap and easy to provide.
In hindsight, it was likely a little of both.
Melody hummed thoughtfully. "Well, there should be somewhere in town we could pick up some better beds. Maybe we can look into it sometime, when we get back."
"...I don't mind-"
"I know, you don't mind how it is now," Melody interrupted before Flynn could protest. She gave him a half-smile. "But... I don't really like them much either, to be honest. They're... functional, I guess. But that doesn't mean we can't look for something better. We do have a decent amount saved up at Duskull's, at this point."
"...Alright, then." Flynn nodded. He hadn't planned to make a fuss about it, but if Melody felt the same way, he certainly wouldn't complain about seeing the straw beds go.
"And besides," Melody continued, "our team base is still pretty empty, anyway. If we're really going to make it a home, it wouldn't hurt to spruce it up a little."
Flynn couldn't really argue with that either. Sharpedo Bluff had the essentials: a bed for each of them, a small natural spring that provided clean water to drink, and a few barrels to keep food and some other supplies in. But that was about it. There wasn't really much for them to do there at the moment, other than appreciate the oceanside view. If they were really going to look for better beds, they might as well pick up a few other things while they were at it.
The pair continued to talk a bit over breakfast, discussing whatever topics came to mind. But soon enough, they set out again, continuing the long trek they'd started yesterday.
Mt. Horn came and went fairly uneventfully. The rough, rocky terrain made things a little difficult at times, but otherwise it was just a routine dungeon run. Nothing that the team hadn't dealt with many times before.
Almost as soon as they reached the base of the mountains, however, things began to get trickier. Foggy Forest's namesake haze grew thicker and thicker as the pair trudged through the trees. Flynn kept his flames lit, hoping to extend their visibility a little, but the extra light barely accomplished anything at all.
By the time they reached the clearing where the guild had once set up camp, the fog that permeated the air was dense enough that it was hard to see where they were even going. If they weren't already somewhat familiar with the area, they might have detoured onto the wrong path before they even reached the mystery dungeon.
And even within the dungeon itself, the fog didn't let up at all. With a bit of effort, Flynn could just about see as far as the edges of the room they started in. And the room wasn't even especially large.
There was a short, tense silence as the pair tried to scan the room for any wild pokemon. The fog made it very difficult to tell, but after a few moments, both explorers were reasonably confident that they were alone here. If any wild pokemon were nearby, they likely would have made a move by now.
The team had accepted a mission for this dungeon. That was the original reason why they'd come out this way in the first place, before Melody suggested going to see Fogbound Lake again while they were at it.
It was a simple item retrieval mission. Their client had lost something here, and they needed to find it and bring it back. Team Sunrise had done missions like this countless times, at this point, and as such neither of them had really expected it to be anything too difficult.
But now that they were actually here, seeing the dungeon again, they were abruptly realizing the reality of what they'd signed up for.
Melody winced a little as she glanced around the room. "You know, I... hadn't really thought about it until just now. But... we have to find a lost item in all of this." She made a sweeping gesture with her tail as she stared out into the fog.
"...Might be part of why the reward was so generous," Flynn said, a thoughtful look on his face as he pondered how to proceed. "...We should be able to clear the fog, at least."
"Oh, that's a good point," Melody said, perking up a little. But a moment later, she realized the problem with that plan. "Though... if we want to do that, we'll have to find that drought stone thing again. Which is also going to be... somewhere around here, presumably..."
The tightly packed trees that formed the dungeon's walls seemed to loom over them ominously, in that moment. It was a daunting prospect, trying to find items in the midst of a hazy, sprawling mystery dungeon like this. They would have no choice but to painstakingly search every room along the way until they got lucky.
Still, they hadn't come this far just to give up at the first sign of difficulty. Team Sunrise was better than that. So they pressed onward, steeling themselves for the arduous task ahead.
At least their client's lost item would be distinct. The listing had described the item as a necklace, holding a small heart-shaped chunk of nevermeltice. A slightly strange item for a Furret to be carrying around, Flynn thought... but it clearly meant a lot to them, judging by the urgency in the job description.
To make the search more manageable, Flynn and Melody decided to split each room and search independently. Though they made sure to always regroup before moving on from a room. The last thing they needed to do right now was lose track of each other.
Even with the two of them splitting the work, though, it still proved difficult. The rooms were too large, and too numerous. And the wild pokemon that occasionally emerged to harass the explorers only slowed them down even more.
The team diligently kept up their search. They did find some items, here and there, but not what they needed. A couple times, Flynn spotted a flash of red out of the corner of his eye, and hoped that it was the drought stone. But both times, it was merely an apple.
Six floors later, and they still hadn't had any luck. Flynn wasn't sure how long they'd been here, at this point, but he felt like it had been at least an hour and a half.
He could tell Melody was starting to get frustrated. Her tail dragged listlessly behind her, and her normally vibrant eyes seemed slightly glazed over, tired of scanning the same dull scenery for so long. Earlier on, she'd been quietly humming a tune to herself, but she couldn't even muster the enthusiasm to keep it up at this point.
Flynn tried not to let his own annoyance show. He tried to keep up his stoic, confident demeanor, so as to not further drag down the team's morale. But, he had to admit... the sheer monotony of this mission was beginning to get to him.
He was searching his half of yet another large room, when he noticed something glistening deep in the grass. He tried not to get his hopes up again; it could easily just be an orb or something. But... it didn't look like anything he'd seen yet. Cautiously optimistic, he started to walk closer.
Before he could get a closer look, however, a wild Stantler charged out of the mist. It rammed into Flynn's side with a powerful Headbutt, sending the Cyndaquil into a tumbling roll.
Flynn grunted in pain as he got to his feet. He cast an annoyed glance into the haze, trying to spot his attacker, but it had already disappeared.
This was about how the fights here had tended to go. The wild pokemon were not very strong, but the fog gave them a notable advantage. They were used to this fog, and Team Sunrise wasn't. Flynn couldn't retaliate very well against a target he couldn't even see.
After the first couple rooms of the dungeon, though, Melody had reminded him of something that helped even the playing field. At least a little.
Flynn took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he started to focus. He ignored his inner fire for the moment, and drew from a different kind of energy instead.
Before long, the energy formed into a trio of glittering stars. The stars orbited around Flynn, gradually starting to spin faster and faster. All the while, Flynn stood silently and tried to focus his mind on the Stantler.
The grass suddenly rustled off to his side. Flynn took that as his cue, and fired the stars away all at once. They flew together with a mind of their own as they homed in on the foe hidden in the fog.
A series of soft bangs signaled that the Swift had found its target. The Stantler stumbled out of the fog, knocked out of its attempted charge. Flynn quickly followed up with a Flamethrower, knocking out the stunned pokemon before it could move again.
Flynn gave a satisfied huff. Swift was a move he'd learned ages ago, technically, but he'd only really used it a handful of times. By the time he'd learned Swift, he'd gotten a decent grasp of using his fire, and it just felt... natural, fighting that way. His fire moves were far stronger than Swift would ever get. The only advantage Swift had was its ability to home in on enemies.
And... maybe it was a little prideful, but he liked to think that his aim had gotten fairly good by then. He had figured that he didn't need a move that aimed for him. So he never bothered practicing the move very much, and had nearly forgotten about it altogether.
But Swift was honestly impressing him a little in this dungeon. It was situational, but maybe it was still worth spending some time to practice the move, after all.
In any case, with that foe taken care of, Flynn resumed looking for the gleam he'd spotted. It took him a moment to find it again after the tumble he'd taken. His eyes lit up with relief when he found a small necklace lying in the grass, matching the description that the job listing had given.
Flynn called out into the fog, trying to get Melody's attention. The current room was large enough that it took a moment for him to find his partner. But eventually the team managed to regroup. Flynn held up the necklace, and Melody grinned happily at the sight of it.
"Alright! That's the important one out of the way, at least," Melody said. "We'll... still want to find the drought stone, i-if we're going to head for Fogbound Lake. But hopefully that won't take too much longer."
"...Maybe if we're lucky, you'll find it as easily as last time," Flynn replied after a moment, trying to hide a grin. His words brought an embarrassed blush to the Skitty's face, and she hastily averted her gaze.
On their first visit here, Melody had been so distracted by the fog that she had almost literally tripped over the stone. She had tried to play it off, and Flynn had played along, willing to let her save face. But both of them knew full well that he'd seen what actually happened.
"W-We, uh... we t-technically might be able to find the cave entrance, e-even without the drought stone," Melody said, trying to return to the topic at hand. "A-As a last resort, at least. But yeah, with any luck, w-we'll just easily find it along the way."
So, the search continued for a while. But the team's morale was definitely a lot higher, now that they'd completed their actual mission.
Less than half an hour later, fortune smiled on them again, and they happened upon the drought stone. And with that out of the way, the rest of the dungeon was fairly straightforward from there.
The Groudon statue was still right where it had been the last time. Flynn placed the drought stone within the statue's chest, and the fog quickly lifted. The sun shone down on them for the first time since they'd entered the forest. It seemed to be late afternoon, already.
Now that the explorers could see where they were going, it took no time at all to reach the entrance to Steam Cave. Just one more mystery dungeon, and they would finally have made it to Fogbound Lake again.
(Oof. This place is... just as hot and humid as I remembered...) Melody thought to herself. She attempted to fan herself with her tail, for as little as that accomplished.
The red stone that made up the cavern was warm to the touch. It wasn't so hot that it hurt to walk on, but it was enough to make Melody hurry along, not wanting to stand and linger on it any longer than she had to. Small pools of scalding water littered the floor, and jets of steam periodically burst forth from cracks in the walls.
Melody removed her detect band early on in the dungeon, simply because wearing a scarf like that made the already awful heat feel even worse. She didn't really need the extra evasiveness right now... though she'd gotten so used to having it lately that fighting without it felt a little strange.
Judging by the subtle frown on her partner's face, Flynn wasn't particularly enjoying his time here either. The heat was obviously not a problem for a fire-type like him, but the unrelenting humidity was annoying in its own way.
Somehow, though... the dungeon wasn't even the biggest thing on Melody's mind at the moment. It was unpleasant here, yes, and she was certainly looking forward to getting out of this awful cavern as soon as they could.
But at the same time, thinking about the fact that Fogbound Lake was waiting for them at the end made Melody feel like there was a flock of Butterfree flitting around in her stomach. It was an unruly mixture of excitement, nervousness, hope, fear, anxiety...
...And that was all without even focusing on the talk they'd need to have with Uxie, first. She was really trying not to dwell too much on that just yet.
She knew that Flynn was probably right. There wasn't really any reason for Uxie to do anything more severe than just deny them entry to the lake. At worst, they'd make fools of themselves in front of Uxie, and they'd have wasted the trip through this heat for nothing.
No matter how much she told herself that, though, she still couldn't help but worry about it a little.
She felt something gently nudge her side, and turned to look. Flynn simply smiled at her. "...It'll be fine," he reassured, his voice tired but still warm.
Despite her lingering nerves, she smiled back.
The cavern's temperature only continued to climb as they went along. Sweat and humidity bogged down Melody's short fur, making every step even more cumbersome. Wild pokemon, most of them either fire or bug-type, appeared at every turn to slow the explorers down.
But Team Sunrise pressed onward, navigating each floor as quickly and efficiently as they could. After only about an hour, they had reached the end of Steam Cave.
The air itself felt tense as they emerged into a very familiar wide-open chamber. The only sounds they could hear were their own footsteps on the hot stone, and the occasional hiss of steam.
"So, it is you two," a voice suddenly spoke directly into their minds. Melody jumped a bit in surprise, and the fire on Flynn's back briefly flared as he instinctively put up his guard.
"I could sense that someone was climbing up through Steam Cave, but I could not tell precisely who it was," the voice continued. It was dry, almost emotionless, but there was an undeniable hint of curiosity underneath. "Team... Sunrise, was it? It has certainly been a while."
Both explorers scanned the room with their eyes. They couldn't see anyone, but it was easy to tell who was 'speaking' to them.
"H-Hey, Uxie," Melody called out hesitantly. She smiled awkwardly, not quite sure what to say. "Um... l-long time no see?"
There was a brief flash of light as Uxie revealed himself, hovering silently in the middle of the room. He slowly floated closer to them, his twin tails almost brushing along the cavern floor as he went. His eyes were closed, as they always were, but somehow Melody felt like he was staring right through her. Judging her. Questioning why they were here again.
It didn't help that Uxie's face was completely emotionless, giving her absolutely no idea what he was actually thinking. So all her nervous mind could do was speculate, and prepare for the worst.
Finally, Uxie spoke. "...I suppose belated thanks are in order. The flow of time has returned to normal, both here and elsewhere, thanks to your efforts. You have done the world a great service."
His face remained as stony as before, but the words were warmer than Melody had expected. She let herself relax a little. (Maybe this won't go so bad after all,) she thought.
Before she could decide how to respond, though, Uxie turned his head to the side. He motioned with his hand, and a semi-transparent visage of Groudon instantly flickered into existence next to him, towering over the group.
Uxie calmly stared up at the titanic beast, not seeming to notice as Melody hurriedly backpedalled away with a faint yelp. "I was ready to use my Groudon illusion to fend off another pair of intruders, if it came to that," Uxie said. "But it seems that will not be necessary, after all." With another wave of his hand, the illusion disappeared, and Uxie turned his focus back to his visitors.
Melody let out a shaky breath, still a bit startled. "T-That's, um... that's a relief. I-I'd been a little worried we might have to fight it again."
"There would be little point in that," Uxie stated. "In truth, since the Time Gear no longer resides here, my duties as guardian are technically over. Mesprit has already nearly abandoned her own lake, spending most of her time aimlessly flying around the continent wherever her whims take her. If we wished, Azelf and I could likely do the same.
"But I have grown... fond of this place. So I intend to keep up my vigil over the lake, for as long as I am able. Those with ill intent still do not get any further than this, but there have been a few visitors lately who were merely curious. I have chosen to allow those pokemon to proceed, so they can witness the lake for themselves. It truly is a sight to behold, even without the Time Gear's glow."
For just a moment, Uxie's lips curved upward slightly, a genuine smile gracing his features. But just as fast as it appeared, it was gone again.
"...But I have digressed enough. What is the purpose of your presence here?" Uxie asked. "I assume, if you two have come all the way here, you have some sort of important business with me?"
"W-Well, um... about that..." A forced smile settled on Melody's face as she nervously shuffled her paws. She still felt so silly, admitting the real reason why she'd wanted to come here again. But it's not as if she had a choice now.
"We a-actually came out to Foggy Forest for a mission, t-to be honest," she admitted. "But while we were nearby, we thought... why not visit Fogbound Lake a-again? We both fondly remember our previous visit here. A-And..."
Melody paused, giving her partner a pleading look. The Cyndaquil responded with a confident nod and a smile. If it weren't for the faint hints of flame that erratically flickered from his back, she would think he didn't have any doubts at all.
Drawing strength from Flynn's stoic confidence, Melody continued. "...And, well... i-it's just a very romantic view, y-you know? So, um... a-assuming you don't mind, we just wanted to... spend some time here again. J-Just the two of us."
There was a long, awkward silence after that. Uxie continued to simply float there in place almost motionless, seeming to stare blankly at the duo in front of him.
"I... see," Uxie hesitantly replied, unable to completely hide his puzzlement. "...When I saw that the heroes who prevented Temporal Tower's collapse had returned, I expected the reason to be... deeper than that."
Melody's blush intensified, and she hastily turned back to look at the way they'd come from. "W-We, uh... we could just leave, i-if you want. We wouldn't want to be a nuisance, if-"
"No," Uxie interrupted. "No, it is... fine. The lake is... certainly big enough to accomodate you, I suppose."
He quietly sighed, and Melody thought she noticed one of his tails flick the air in annoyance. But after a moment's pause to collect himself, he turned around and began to float towards the passageway on the opposite side of the room. He gestured for the pair to follow him. "This way, then."
Melody blinked slowly. She... hadn't expected it to be quite that easy, for some reason.
She shared a brief look with Flynn, and they both quickly moved to follow Uxie.
The three pokemon quietly made their way through the gently sloping corridor that led to Fogbound Lake. As they went higher and higher, the cave's temperature finally started to grow more bearable, and the bursts of steam grew gradually less common.
The climb was just long enough for the silence to feel awkward. Melody briefly considered trying to say something, but decided against it. Given the circumstances, trying to make any sort of small talk with Uxie would probably only make things worse.
Finally, they emerged from the cavern. Despite the sun being low in the sky by this point, the air here was still relatively warm. But after the long trek that Melody had been through, this felt heavenly by comparison.
"Well, here we are," Uxie noted dryly. "I suppose I should remind you again, the absence of the Time Gear does make a difference. The view will not be exactly as you remember it."
"O-Oh, that's fine," Melody answered. "T-Thank you for the hospitality, Uxie. W-We really do appreciate it." By her side, Flynn gave a silent nod in agreement,
"As I stated before, this place is rather large. I... cannot truly claim that your presence here is imposing upon me, in any notable way. If you desire to remain here overnight, you may do so. It is the least I can do, considering your contributions."
After a brief pause, Uxie's expression seemed to harden very slightly, and he added, "Just... do not do anything to tarnish the lake. That is my only demand."
"O-Of course! W-We won't!" Melody replied immediately, her cheeks burning.
Uxie stared at the duo for a moment longer, before nodding in acceptance. "I will be on the far side of the lake. That should give you more than enough... privacy. If you need to speak with me, simply seek me out there."
Melody nodded. "A-Alright. Should we, um... W-When we're ready to leave, should we tell you first?"
Uxie thought for a moment. "...Yes. I could easily teleport the both of you back down to the forest floor, at the very least. And in any case... I would prefer to know when you have left this place."
His tone wasn't any harsher than before, but the words made Melody inwardly cringe a little regardless.
"If there are no further objections," Uxie continued, "I will be on my way."
His gaze slowly passed from Melody to Flynn, and then back again, as his silent closed-eyed stare bored through the explorers. Melody timidly shook her head and averted her gaze off to the side, but Flynn defiantly stared right back up at the floating Legendary. There was a bit of fire in the Cyndaquil's eyes, despite the slight fluster that was still clear on his face.
"Very well, then." Uxie turned around in the air, focusing on a point on the opposite end of Fogbound Lake. "I suppose I will leave you two to your... date."
With that, Uxie vanished in another bright flash of light, leaving the couple in silence.
Melody let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. All things considered... that conversation had gone reasonably well. Better than she'd been afraid of, at least. Uxie clearly didn't seem to be thrilled with their reason for being here, to say the least... but despite that, there hadn't been any fighting, or memory wiping, or even much of an argument. He had simply let them through. It seemed Flynn had been right, after all.
Melody tried to cast a glance across the lake, but it was simply too far across. She trusted that Uxie was over there, somewhere, but even if he was, he would only be visible as a tiny speck from here. Of course, that also meant that he hopefully wouldn't be able to see them from over there, either.
Content that they really were alone, Melody's attention shifted back to her partner. She opened her mouth to speak... before suddenly realizing she wasn't sure what to say. She'd spent the whole trip up here thinking about this moment, and yet somehow she still felt unprepared, now that they were actually here.
"S-So, um... now what?" she awkwardly asked.
Flynn frowned, seeming a little concerned about something. He nodded out at the lake. "...Should probably have a bit to drink, before anything else."
All at once, the long, sweltering trip through Steam Cave seemed to catch up with Melody. She'd been so focused on everything else that she'd almost tuned it out, but she was... extremely parched right now. "R-Right," she said, only now realizing the slight hoarseness in her voice.
After setting aside the treasure bag nearby, she stepped up to the side of the lake, and leaned over the edge a bit to quench her thirst. It was a little warmer than she might have liked, but it was clean and refreshing, which was what mattered.
She was probably there for over a minute, just gently lapping up the lake water. In the meantime, Flynn silently sat by her side, gazing out at the lake as he waited patiently for her to finish.
Finally, Melody lifted her head from the lake, settling down on the rocky ground with a relieved sigh. "I needed that."
Flynn smiled softly at her, before casting a glance back at the team's bag. "...It's a lot cooler out here, at least. You could... probably put your detect band back on, if you wanted."
"I... guess I could," Melody quietly responded, tilting her head slightly in confusion. "Why, though? I... would hope we shouldn't need to fight anyone, now that we're here."
The Cyndaquil looked a little embarrassed, and it took a moment for him to reply. "...There isn't much reason, I guess. I just... think it looks nice on you."
"O-Oh..." That wasn't exactly an answer that Melody had expected. But... "T-That's... probably reason enough, I g-guess, on a night like this..."
Trying to hide a bashful grin behind her tail, she retrieved her detect band from the treasure bag. Flynn had to tie it for her, like always, since her paws weren't exactly suited to the task. Once Flynn was finished, Melody stepped back over to the lake's edge again so she could check her reflection in its surface.
It wasn't her first time seeing it on herself, obviously, since she'd had the detect band for a while now. But the vivid red cloth really did complement her pink and cream fur, she supposed. She'd always considered herself rather... plain-looking, to be honest. But the detect band did make her feel just a little bit prettier.
...Or rather, it usually would, at least. Right now, the effect was undercut by how disheveled the rest of her was. Her fur was still bogged down with sweat and humidity, and visibly tangled in a few places as well. There was even a small burned patch on her side, where a Numel's Ember attack had singed her.
Flynn, for his part, wasn't exactly in pristine condition either. But his fur was far shorter than hers, and again, the heat of Steam Cave hadn't been an issue for him at all. Overall, he looked far less worn-down than she did right now.
Melody frowned a little. She... usually didn't let this kind of thing bother her too much. She always tried to keep her fur reasonably tidy between adventures, but she had known from the beginning that exploring like this was going to require getting her paws dirty a lot. It was just part of the job.
But... tonight, of all nights, she would have liked to look just a little bit nicer than this.
Despite her current shabby appearance, though, Flynn still just smiled at her with all the same warmth and affection as usual.
Melody leaned against his side. Both because she wanted to, and because she hoped he wouldn't be able to see her burning cheeks this way.
The nervous fluttering in her chest still hadn't settled down, even after Uxie had let them through. If anything, it was only getting worse now that they were actually here, and she'd had a moment for it all to sink in.
They were... really here again. It still felt a little surreal.
Melody cast another look out at the lake. The geyser wasn't currently active, and the Volbeat and Illumise hadn't come out yet, so the view was admittedly a little plain, at the moment. But hopefully, they had arrived early enough to catch the 'show'.
Assuming that whole lightshow always happened here every night, anyway. That... wasn't necessarily the case, now that she thought about it. Maybe it was relatively rare, and they'd gotten lucky to have seen it the first time they came here. Perhaps they should have asked Uxie a little more, before he'd left...
Even if this was the only view they were going to get, though... Melody still wouldn't complain. The serene atmosphere here was perfect. Just being here again was already bringing back good memories.
She wasn't sure when, or even if, they would get the chance to come here again... so she wanted to savor their time here as much as she could. This place was special to her.
"Y-You know..." Melody whispered, feeling Flynn shift slightly in response. "I... didn't mention this before. But... there's a-another reason why I really wanted to come back here, in particular."
"Hm?"
"That n-night, the first time we came here... T-This was where I first realized that I was... starting to f-fall for you."
The words hung in the air for a short while, a thoughtful look settling on Flynn's face. "...That was... about a month after we met, right?" Flynn asked eventually.
"That sounds about right," Melody said with a nod. "Maybe a little bit longer, but yeah."
Flynn hesitated a few moments before speaking again, his voice coming out quiet and solemn. "...It took... a lot longer for me. I'm... not honestly sure how I would have reacted, if you'd said something way back then."
"Y-Yeah. I'd... figured as much, b-back then." She couldn't really blame him for that at all.
"...I'd wondered sometimes, recently, how long you... felt that way, and didn't say anything. I... wouldn't have guessed this was where it happened. But it's... a fitting place for it, I suppose."
Melody nodded in agreement. She smiled softly as she thought back to that night, letting the fond memories wash over her.
"I-I'm really glad that Uxie agreed to let us come here again," Melody said. "F-For a moment there, I was sure he was going to refuse, o-or worse. But... you were right. It really did work out just fine."
Flynn nodded. "...I almost wouldn't have minded a rematch with his fake Groudon, to be honest. But it's better that we didn't have to fight. Uxie was... a little more imposing than I actually remembered."
"R-Right?" Melody agreed, shuddering slightly. "I don't think he was even trying to be intimidating for most of that. It's just the way he looks at you... even though he doesn't open his eyes, it feels like he's s-staring into your soul or something."
"...Still kinda wonder why he does that at all," Flynn said, a curious expression settling on his face. "He can clearly sense everything just fine, with his psychic abilities. But... why?"
"I-I, um... I r-remember I looked more into the old legends about Uxie, after the first time we came here. A-And the same legends that claim that Uxie can wipe your entire memory clean... say that looking into Uxie's eyes is what t-triggers it."
Melody knew that Uxie had told them that he could only take away memories of Fogbound Lake specifically, so clearly the legends weren't completely accurate. But that part very well could be.
The very idea made Melody shudder even harder. It would have been so easy for Uxie to wipe away those precious memories, if he had decided to do so.
She shook her head, trying to clear away that thought before it went any farther. She wasn't going to let herself ruin this night by dwelling on thoughts like that.
As she tried to think of some lighter topic to switch to, she happened to glance down at her and Flynn's reflections in the surface of the lake again. A lopsided smile crossed her face as something came to mind. It was a silly thought, she supposed, but...
"Y-You know, it's always seemed a little weird to me. Whenever you see... drawings and such of Skitty and Cyndaquil, they usually make it look like our species' eyes are always closed like that, too."
Flynn leaned over the side a little more as he glanced at his reflection as well. "...We do tend to... squint a little."
"A-A little, yeah," Melody admitted. "But not enough that you can't see our eyes at all!"
"...Does it bother you?"
"N-Not really. Like I said, it's just... weird."
Mustering up a bit of courage, Melody raised her head to look Flynn directly in the eye. "I-I mean, I've... always thought your eyes were really... s-striking, I-I guess."
Flynn's eyes were a rather piercing crimson, which was standard for Cyndaquil and its evolutions as far as Melody knew. The color was already striking enough on its own, but what really stood out to Melody was the... the quiet intensity that always seemed to shine in them. Flynn was always so quiet, and his eyes often gave a bit of a window into what he was actually thinking.
They held each other's gaze for a long while. Both of them were blushing slightly with embarrassment, but neither made any move to look away.
...And then Melody's stomach decided to choose that moment to let out an audible growl, shattering the mood.
Melody cringed, her blush deepening as she abruptly broke eye contact. A mix of embarrassment and annoyance shot through her.
Flynn tried and failed to hold in a quiet chuckle, and Melody cast a half-hearted glare at him in response. "...Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I suppose... we both kinda forgot how long it's been since we ate."
Right on cue, Flynn's belly chimed in with its own hungry rumble. Melody giggled softly in response, shaking her head as her annoyance quickly faded. "...Y-Yeah. I guess you're right." Come to think of it, they hadn't really stopped to eat much since partway through Foggy Forest. And with the sun already beginning to set, at this point, they probably were overdue to stop and have dinner.
Flynn silently made his way over to the treasure bag, pulling out a pair of apples and beginning to roast one with his fire. In the meantime, Melody turned back to the lake again, letting her mind wander for a moment as she waited for Flynn to finish.
Flynn still wanted to keep an eye out for the wild Volbeat and Illumise's lightshow, whenever that might happen. So he tried to be relatively quick about picking out their food. He roasted an apple for each of them, so they could have something filling. But after Melody had told him about her idea to come out here, he'd made sure to also set aside a few of the berries that they each liked until they got here.
For Melody, that meant pecha berries. She happily munched on the small pink berries, savoring their sweet taste. Despite her hunger, she still ate slowly, trying not to let the pink juice stain her fur.
As for Flynn, he'd saved himself a couple of cheri berries. They had a satisfying spiciness to them that Flynn had found he enjoyed. But he'd also set aside one other, slightly different item that the team had picked up along the way.
Reaching into the treasure bag again, he pulled out a small, ruby red seed. Its shape resembled a stylized plume of fire, and it felt very faintly warm to the touch.
Usually, blast seeds were meant to be thrown at enemies. They were known to be extremely volatile, and a sharp impact would cause the seed to explode in a damaging burst of flames. Rookie exploration teams could often get a lot of mileage out of them... but to an experienced team, like Team Sunrise, blast seeds were simply too weak to be useful anymore. Flynn's own fire was far stronger than anything a blast seed could produce, at this point.
But, even if they were no longer of any use to the team for that purpose... there was still one other use for them that Flynn knew of...
Almost as soon as Flynn had pulled the blast seed out of the bag, he noticed Melody subtly scoot away from him. She didn't go very far, but she went far enough to be solidly out of the way. Honestly, Flynn couldn't say he blamed her.
Flynn bit down on the blast seed, careful not to bite too hard. As soon as the shell cracked open, a small bang rattled Flynn's mouth as the seed's contents started to react.
An intense surge of fire instantly blossomed forth from the broken blast seed. Flynn tried to hold most of it in, channeling it into his own inner fire, but several wisps of flame managed to slip out of his closed jaws regardless. A few more tiny pops and bangs followed, shattering whatever was left of the blast seed's broken shell.
Even though Flynn had braced himself, these things always managed to catch him a little off-guard. It felt like he was literally eating fireworks.
Within a handful of seconds, the blast seed was fully spent. Flynn exhaled heavily, a few lingering embers scattering to the wind. The fire on his back burned brighter than ever, thanks to the extra fuel, though he knew that it would gradually settle back down to normal again within a minute or two.
When Melody was certain it was over, she warily scooted back over to his side. She shook her head in quiet disbelief. "I-I still can't believe you actually enjoy those things."
Flynn shrugged slightly. He was well aware it seemed a little crazy. But the best way he could explain it was simply, "...It's a fire-type thing."
"I-I know. B-But even then... remember when I asked that one team in town about it? Even that Ponyta and Camerupt had the good sense not to try eating something like that. So I still say it's at least as much of a you thing, as it is a fire-type thing."
"...You know, you could try the next one we find, if you want," Flynn jokingly offered.
He couldn't help but chuckle at the absolutely revolted look his partner shot him in response. She gave an exaggerated huff, and half-heartedly swatted him on the side with her tail. "I-I can barely even stand spicy food. Eating something that would literally set my mouth on fire sounds absolutely a-awful."
"Not curious at all?" Flynn asked with a lopsided grin.
"...Okay, maybe a little curious," Melody admitted. "B-But even my curiosity has its limits."
Both pokemon had finished their food by this point. The last traces of the sun had already vanished over the horizon, evening having given way to night in the time since the pair had arrived at the lake.
For a while, the conversation petered out into comfortable silence. But eventually, Flynn decided to speak up again. Somewhat continuing from the previous topic, he asked about what other kinds of food she liked. Especially anything from before they'd met.
Melody hummed thoughtfully. "Well... you already know that I have, um... a bit of a sweet tooth," she admitted. "Back in my old village, there was this really nice little bakery run by an Ambipom. They'd sell breads, and poffins, and other kinds of pastries, with all sorts of different kinds of berries baked in. They had stuff with pecha berries, mago, bluk..."
Flynn cocked his head a little in amusement at that one. "Bluk?"
Melody giggled. "I-I know the name sounds silly, but they're actually really good. Even without cooking them into anything, the berries themselves are rather sweet. T-Though, um... the juice is a really dark blue, a-almost black, and it can... k-kinda get all over i-if you're not careful."
From the embarrassed blush Melody wore, Flynn had a feeling she was speaking from experience. He imagined a younger version of the Skitty, half of her face dyed black with bluk berry juice, trying to put on the most innocent face she could. It was a rather adorable mental image, and Flynn couldn't help but chuckle softly to himself, much to Melody's chagrin.
"M-My, um... my little sister was a-always worse about that kind of thing, though," Melody said, blatantly trying to shift the subject a little. "A-And she'll pretty much try anything at least once, just to see what it's like. She... heh, she probably would eat a blast seed, if you offered her one. She'd probably get all excited over the idea of spitting fire like a fire-type can, and wouldn't even stop to think about how much that would probably hurt."
"...Sounds like quite a character," Flynn said with a grin. "...If I remember right, you said she's a Meowth?"
"Yeah. Aria's a little bundle of energy. She doesn't try to get into trouble, most of the time... but she's impulsive enough that she usually ends up finding a way, regardless." She laughed softly at that, a fond smile lighting up her face.
The conversation continued on like that for a while. Melody recounted various stories about her sister's antics, or other details about her family, or her old village, or whatever else crossed the pair's minds. Much of it was fairly mundane, but Flynn still enjoyed hearing about it all.
He did feel a little bad about how one-sided the conversation was, admittedly. But... pretty much everything that he knew about his own past, Melody already knew too. There really wasn't a lot he could tell her. Thankfully, she didn't seem to mind, gladly carrying most of the conversation on her own.
After a while, Flynn had almost forgotten that they were even waiting for anything. So it caught him slightly by surprise when a faint rumble went through the ground underfoot, and the loud sound of gushing water suddenly came from the center of the lake. Melody cried out in excitement, hastily gesturing towards the lake. "I-It's starting, Flynn! Look!"
Sure enough, the geyser had finally erupted. The tower of water sprayed high into the air, sending rippling waves all around the lake as it crashed back down again.
The wild Volbeat and Illumise seemed to take that as their cue. Before long, the sky was filled with the small bug-types. They fluttered gracefully through the air, their paths intertwining and weaving around each other in an intricate midair dance. And all the while, the lights on their backsides glistened brightly off the water.
It really was beautiful. Maybe not quite as breathtaking as last time, without the Time Gear's ethereal glow shining up from the water's depths, but it was close enough, in Flynn's opinion.
At some point, Melody had pressed up against his side again. Haltingly, Flynn reached out with a paw, settling it on her back and gently stroking the Skitty's fur. He could feel the soft purr she let out in response.
He wasn't quite sure how long they stayed there like that. Just gazing out at the lake, cuddled up together as they soaked in the moment.
After a while, Flynn felt Melody silently shift around a little. He didn't think much of it; he assumed she was simply getting more comfortable or something.
And then, without a word of warning... she licked him right on the face, grazing the corner of his mouth just a bit.
Caught completely off-guard, Flynn couldn't help but visibly flinch. The fire on his back flared to life in an instant, and he was pretty sure his heart skipped a beat from sheer surprise.
He hastily turned his head to look at Melody. She was pointedly avoiding his gaze, her face as red as he'd ever seen it. Every now and then she nervously glanced back at him, trying to gauge his reaction, before snapping her focus back to the lake again.
Flynn sat there in silence for a moment as his brain finally caught back up. He numbly raised a paw to his face, still trying to parse through his thoughts.
...As strange as it had felt, it... honestly wasn't even unpleasant, exactly. Just... very unexpected.
Melody easily picked up on how conflicted Flynn was. She tried not to let the disappointment show in her face, but she wasn't all that successful.
"S-Sorry..." she timidly whispered. "I-I just figured, um... since w-we're, you know... b-but I guess I should have known t-that would still be... weird f-for you. S-Sorry..." Her ears drooped, and she stared down at the ground guiltily.
Seeing her looking so... dejected like that only made Flynn feel worse. None of his reluctance here was any of her fault, as far as he was concerned. It was just...
Flynn let out a sigh. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts a little, and forced an awkward smile. "...It's fine," he said, softly nuzzling Melody's cheek. "You... don't have anything to apologize for."
In hindsight, it probably wasn't even that odd, coming from a Skitty. If he'd thought more about it, he probably should have expected something like that. It was just... going to take some time for him to get used to that being... a romantic gesture. One more for the list of things he'd need to get used to about this relationship, he supposed.
With all that said... he wasn't really comfortable trying to reciprocate in... quite that same way. That was still a little much for the human in him. So, after a moment of hesitation, he leaned in to plant a kiss on Melody's forehead instead.
He... might have even considered going for a more 'proper' kiss. The idea may or may not have crossed his mind once or twice earlier in the evening. But his snout would have made that rather difficult and awkward, so he ultimately settled for this.
He hoped that the thought would count for something, at least. And judging from the gentle smile that Melody gave him, she seemed to understand just fine.
It was... still going to take some effort, from both of them. But they would make this relationship work.
The couple went back to watching the lake. But all too soon, the geyser slowly sputtered to a halt, and the Volbeat and Illumise dispersed to their nests. The light show was over.
And yet, Flynn and Melody remained right there, in that cozy little spot. Neither of them was in a rush to get up, or to say anything more, lest they spoil the moment.
All in all, the night hadn't been perfect. But it was enjoyable and memorable, and they would both agree it had been well worth the journey getting here.
A/N: As usual, this chapter took longer than I meant for it to. I'm really sorry for the wait, once again. Though, the chapter also turned out a good bit larger than I expected, so um... hopefully that makes up for some of the wait?
There is even a full additional scene that was originally going to be in this chapter, but I cut it out. Both because the chapter's fairly long without it, and also because it would significantly break the flow of the rest of the chapter. That scene is still basically complete, though, so I'm planning to post it as a bonus chapter in about a week's time. If you wanted to see a little bit more of Uxie, then look forward to that.
And after that... I probably shouldn't try and make any promises about when the next chapter will be, given my record lately. But at the very least, it should be a lot shorter and simpler than this one was, so hopefully it shouldn't take as long to finish.
Also, a quick thanks to Jusmove for looking over this chapter early and offering a bit of feedback on it! That helped out a good bit when I was working on the last few little pieces for this chapter.
