Thank you all for your support, it means so much to me. As I post this chapter, which isn't exactly the longest one I've ever written, I am smiling. Because I'm happy. And I hope you're all happy with this tale too.

Never forget that if you wish to contact me off this site, find me on Discord at snowlabradorffn. I accept almost all friend requests. But first, enjoy this chapter and how romantic it is!

Current music: A Scar Is Born - Three Days Grace

On that happy thought, I swam back to Amanda's side and returned to the lounge chair. I felt a bit bad for getting the chair wet, but it's not like I could do anything about that. Unless…

"Hey, Lucas, they've got towels over there, you know" my wife pointed out, gesturing towards a pile of, hey look at that, towels.

I walked over to the towel pile, tracking water with each step, and grabbed one of them. Right away, the most remarkable thing happened.

Now, towels are supposed to dry you off - that's true. However, the way the towel wicked the water away from my fur so rapidly was quite something, and I basically gasped as soon as my fur was dry. And it was completely dry, as though I'd been sitting in front of a fire.

"Wow" I mouthed. "That's just like magic."

"On the contrary!" a male voice announced proudly from a short distance away. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic!"

Sure enough, it was Grimlock, the owner of the resort, who'd made that exclamation. He had that grin on his face, his two rows of perfect teeth glinting in the afternoon sunlight.

"I've heard that before" I mumbled, but my timid tone sounded so pathetic next to the hotelier's confidence.

"Those towels, Mr. Snow, are designed specifically for Pokémon. It's hard to get water out of their fur without them, after all, and wouldn't you rather dry off quickly once you're out of the pool?"

I didn't answer, because I didn't need to.

"In any case, Mr. Snow, you and Mrs. Mariner have got something to look forward to tonight!"

With a gulp, I wondered: Is this some luau or whatever they're planning for just the two of us? He's clearly emphasizing the romantic aspect of it.

"What is it?" I enquired, feeling more than a little self-conscious that they'd be planning something so special just for Amanda and I.

"It's our Saturday night tradition here at the Alolan Castle" Grimlock responded, the grin remaining on his long face. (Obviously, it was a literal long face, not a figurative one.) "We'll have fireworks on the beach, along with a feast for all of you!"

"F…fireworks?" I stammered. "It's not the Fourth of July, is it?"

"In a way, I guess it is! Consider this your Independence Day from your office job, or wherever you work! It's a night to celebrate your choice to vacation in Alola!"

"Thanks" I replied, because really, what other response would have made sense?

"It's a multinational party, and everyone's invited! And I'll use my catchphrase here: Tag, you're it!"

"Tag?"

"Those are my initials!" the hotelier responded, raising both his fists in the air. "Terrence Anthony Grimlock! And I've got all the excitement of a kid playing tag on a playground!"

Yes. I suppose you do, Mr. Grimlock. By the way, for the millionth time, this isn't what Amanda, myself, or any of the other guests chose, but that's beside the point.

"Anyway! Since every guest at this resort arrives and departs on Saturday, this ceremony can also be considered a welcome to Alola! I hope you will all enjoy it greatly!"

After that, the hotelier re-entered the building, leaving me to head back over to Amanda.

There was something else I realized right then, and if Amanda had overheard our conversation, she probably realized it too. Did I voice this concern to her? No, because I didn't need to ruin the mood, but I was damn tempted to.

Little did Grimlock know that he had just admitted something he'd probably rather have kept under wraps. (Of course, maybe he was playing 4D chess, who knows?)

The honeymoon suite had already been booked for somebody else by the time we got here. But that couldn't be right, because all the guests at the hotel were predetermined for the week.

In other words: Someone, somewhere in the chain of command, wasn't being honest with us.

Officer Lee: That first afternoon, after your conversation with the hotelier, did you come to suspect this Terrence Grimlock person of anything?

Mr. Snow: I don't know

Officer Lee: It's a yes or no question, Lucas. Either you did or you didn't.

Mr. Snow: Well, I didn't think it was anything criminal. Honest mistakes are made all the time, I guess. Amanda would have been more upset than me.

Officer Lee: Why didn't you let her know? By your account, she desperately wanted that honeymoon suite, did she not?

Mr. Snow: I didn't want her to dwell on it. Hell, I was the one who kept saying that we shouldn't care what room we were in. For all I cared, we might be relegated to the resort's kitchen and I would've been happy enough with it.

Officer Lee: That would have been a major downgrade from your expectations, wouldn't it?

Mr. Snow: You wouldn't get it, Officer. You wouldn't get it.

We spent the next few hours in our hotel suite, hanging out on the couch and watching the news on the flat-screen TV. Some Pokémon tournament was taking place in Sele City - a battling tournament, which seemed to be what Spencer the Riolu was so obsessed with.

Considering how aggressive the creatures were with one another, they should have been ripping each other to shreds, and yet this was what they did for fun. To call it culture shock would be a gross understatement.

Not once did Grimlock's admission enter our conversation, and I intended to keep it that way. Amanda and I must have looked like an odd couple, what with our massive difference in size, but that didn't mean we weren't a happy couple. This probably sounds cliché, but we were madly in love.

"Let's head to the balcony" I said eventually. "It's a nice view, isn't it?"

We did just that, and soon we were looking out over mountains covered in thick greenery. The sun was still high in the sky, though it wouldn't be much longer before it began its descent - and once it got dark, we would party on the beach.

I heard a sniffle from off to the side. There was only one Pokémon it could have come from, because it certainly wasn't me.

"Why are you crying, Amanda?" I enquired. "Those are tears of joy, I hope?"

The red-eyed Braixen also known as Amanda wiped her nose before glancing back at me. "Both" she sniffed.

I frowned. "Both? Both of what?"

"They're tears of joy, yes, because I'm with you, Lucas. In that respect, I wouldn't have this trip any other way. I wouldn't have my life any other way."

"Awww, that's sweet of you" I cooed, leaning over and pecking my wife on the cheek.

"I mean it, Lucas. If I had to live a thousand lifetimes, one after the other, like that movie Groundhog Day, I would marry you in at least seven hundred of them."

"You don't know that," I said. "Maybe you would have been born somewhere else, like Mauritius or Belgium."

"We would've found one another eventually" Amanda asserted. "Love is a funny thing, isn't it?"

"I suppose it is."

"Look, Lucas. Sometimes, if something is meant to be, it's just meant to be. It doesn't matter where we're born."

"So you believe in destiny?"

"Well, not exactly. I believe that some things happen the way they're supposed to happen, and even Lady Luck's best efforts can't deny them their occurrence."

"So, in other words, it's destiny?"

Amanda laughed, a good hearty laugh that could have melted all the world's glaciers in one fell swoop. "You just don't get it, Lucas, do you?"

"Maybe I don't," I admitted. "That is a possibility."

Soon enough, the laughter emanating from my wife ceased, to be replaced by tears once more. I'll admit that I tried to ignore these tears at first, but eventually, I could no longer do so.

"There's no reason to be so sad, Amanda," I told her. "Look at this view! Look at where we are!"

That did not, however, seem to console my wife, and I was left to figure out why not. Soon enough, though…

"The view is exactly what's making me sad," she whispered. "This isn't the honeymoon suite, Lucas, and it never will be."

"Why are you still hung up on that?" I asked. "I'm having the time of my life, and it's because you're here."

Amanda sniffed. "It's because we got ripped off. And I like knowing what to expect - surprises aren't my favorite thing in the world. In any world" she clarified.

I sighed. "I don't know how to help with that. I would have liked an ocean view as well, but it would've come at the expense of these mountains. Isn't it gorgeous either way?"

"I guess you're right," my wife said softly. "It's just…this view kind of makes me sad. It's a reminder of what's rightfully ours. What I truly want is to get what we pay for, you know?"

Silence.

"But since we can't have that, I'll try not to ruin this vacation for you. So I'll put this subject to rest. At least, I'll do my best at that."

"You weren't ruining it" I insisted. "You had a valid concern."

We didn't talk much for the next hour or so. We just watched the sun sink further in the sky, content with the choices we'd made, even if they hadn't led to a perfect outcome.

"We'd better head down to the beach" Amanda observed eventually. By this time, the sun had gone down, and it wouldn't be much longer before the first stars were visible above us.

"Yeah," I concurred. "The feast will probably start soon."

"I just need to get my luggage," my wife said. "I'll need to find something suitable for a dinner on the beach. Not too revealing, but not so formal like our wedding was."

I must've given her a pretty hard glare, because the next thing she did was chuckle awkwardly.

"Yeah, fair point. I guess we don't need clothes anymore. It's just…wow, I'll never get used to this part of it."

"True" I acknowledged. "It's hard to grow accustomed to nudity. That's the way it works."

"But our fur…" Amanda said. "It'll cover everything…everything that needs to be covered, right?"

"It should. I'm sure Grimlock would have said something otherwise. Or maybe he's just in shock like the rest of us."

"Maybe."

Officer Lee: You didn't actually prance around in the nude all day, did you?

Mr. Snow: I'll admit it. We didn't wear clothes that whole trip. Fur was more than enough to stay warm - Alola's a tropical country.

Officer Lee: But don't you care about modesty, Lucas? Wouldn't you be shocked if someone discovered you naked?

Mr. Snow: They've got nude beaches all over the world. Plus, it's not so embarrassing when nobody else has clothes either. Perhaps that's how Arceus intended it.

Officer Lee: Arceus? What's that?

Mr. Snow: While in the world of Pokémon, I learned that Arceus is the Creator of the Pokémon world. Some of them worship Him, some of them don't, though most believe He exists.

Officer Lee: So he's like God?

Mr. Snow: I don't know. We probably shouldn't deal with the metaphysical here.

Officer Lee: On the contrary, Lucas, you're the one who brought the metaphysical into this conversation. But I do agree - this is going off the rails fast. Let's get this deposition back on track.

The omega-shaped beach consisted of perfectly white, granular sand, the color and texture of cane sugar (though probably not the same taste.) Of course, it was hard to tell that at night.

Against the darkening sky, a series of torches had been lit up to illuminate the area. Thin plumes of smoke rose into the air from them, and I felt certain they'd also ward off mosquitoes (or whatever this world's equivalent of mosquitoes were.)

There were several buffet tables set up on the beach, each one manned by a different resort employee. One of them I recognized - it was Charles Weldworth, the guy who'd driven us to the Alolan Castle by boat.

These tables were laden with a variety of dishes. There was fried calamari, beef kebabs, chicken kebabs, seafood that I didn't recognize, platters of fruits and vegetables, and more. Suffice it to say that there was more food than we could possibly eat, so it was a good thing there were many of us.

My stomach roared like a lion waking up from its slumber. Come to think of it, I hadn't eaten anything that day save for an iced lemon loaf at the Logan Airport Starbucks. (Yes, I go to Starbucks for the pastries, not the coffee itself.) The journey between planets had left me famished.

"Hey, Mr. Weldworth?" I asked as I walked up to his table, a paper plate in my mouth. (Hey, there was no other way I could carry anything - another reason being a quadruped sucks.)

"You can call me Chuck," Weldworth insisted. "In fact, I'd prefer you did. Mr. Weldworth is far too formal."

"Call him Upchuck!" came a booming voice from a ways down the beach. I didn't glance in its direction, but I felt certain that voice belonged to Grimlock.

Weldworth snorted. "I'd rather not be called by a euphemism for losing one's lunch. Anyway, Lucas, what was your question?"

I'd been so amused by the nickname "Upchuck" that I'd almost forgotten what I was going to ask the guy. Fortunately, I remembered pretty quickly.

"Is this food safe for Pokémon to eat? I mean, as a human I'd love it, but I don't want to get food poisoning or whatever."

"Upchuck" appeared insulted, and in hindsight, I don't blame him for that. I resisted the urge to facepaw as I realized that this suggestion had likely been offensive.

Luckily, Weldworth didn't seem to take it personally for very long. "Yes, it's perfectly fine for you to eat. If it wasn't, we wouldn't serve it. You must be very hungry, Lucas, so you might as well feast!"

I gestured with my eyes to the freshly-roasted beef kebabs, some roasted potatoes that were loaded with cheese, and some rings of grilled Alolan pineapple. It all smelled delicious, meaning that it likely tasted delicious too. Quite frankly, I could have eaten a Lucario.

Amanda and I sat together on the beach, out of earshot of the other couples and families that were populating the curved stretch of sand. It's not that we consciously sought out privacy, but rather that the others seemed eager to grant us such privacy.

So there we were, holding hands (or paws, as it were), going to town on some grub. Neither of us faced the other, instead staring out to sea.

"You know," Amanda said in between bites, "there's a reason I always loved looking out at the ocean like this."

"And what might that be?" I enquired.

My wife smiled, her snout pointing outward. "I always felt that when you look out to the horizon, no matter what time of day, you've got a literal sea of possibilities. Right now, I feel like nothing is impossible. Anything can happen."

I laughed. "You mean, that we might get spirited away into the Pokémon world? Or something else?"

"Well, that's one thing that could happen, I guess," Amanda admitted. "But it's not just that, either. I just feel like we've got our whole lives ahead of us."

"We do," I pointed out. "We're both young, after all. I want to travel like this more. Well, maybe not exactly like this."

"Embrace the uncertainty, Lucas," my wife instructed me. "That's the best way to look at it. The sooner you learn to appreciate everything, both the good and bad, the more fun you'll have traveling."

I snorted. "Since when have you been the optimistic one?"

Amanda was sent into a laughing fit, her guffaws drowning out the crackling sounds of the torches. It was a while before she replied.

"I guess it's time for us to shut up and eat."

We did exactly that for a while. Indeed, "going to town" on the buffet would be an understatement. I ate so abundantly that my stomach might well burst, but the food was just so delectable that I didn't care how full I felt.

The beef kebabs were coated in a special sauce, and it tasted like it came from the freshest ingredients, not that processed shit you find on a Big Mac. The grilled pineapple was scrumptious, with just the perfect amount of sweetness present. I didn't even care that, without utensils, I had to be making quite the mess.

Indeed, when I next turned towards my wife, she burst out laughing.

"Look at yourself!" she exclaimed. "You look like you lost a wrestling match with a steak!"

I rolled my eyes, blushing as I did so. But, truth be told, I was laughing as well, because it was funny!

Soon the fireworks began, blindingly bright dots that rose in the air like comets before exploding into a veritable rainbow of colors. Some of these dots took the shape of letters, numbers, or shapes.

I didn't pay attention to any particular pattern, because the fireworks themselves were such a spectacle that I couldn't care less what they meant. They didn't need to mean anything - they were simply a visual (and audio) manifestation of a good time, of pleasure for its own sake.

"I think they just spelled out a word!" Amanda exclaimed, clasping my front right paw in hers.

"Wh-what word?" I stammered, snapping out of my reverie.

"The word was 'welcome'. They're welcoming us to the resort, I guess!"

This was all very wholesome, and I had to admit, as we held paws, that it didn't really matter how our trip had started. The fear and anxiety I'd experienced upon landing at the wrong airport was no longer relevant.

Because right now, I was with Amanda Mariner, the love of my life, and we were enjoying a romantic evening on the beach near our hotel. And it wasn't even some budget Cape Cod hotel, but rather a luxury resort on a planet most Earthly people didn't believe existed. If they knew about it at all, they saw it as nothing more than a fairy tale.

Indeed, my love for Amanda felt just like a fairy tale. I wanted her to wrap me in her arms, her paws and claws giving me a back massage, and never let me go. I wanted to stay in that position forever, or at least for as long as possible.

Looking at it now, it's quite fitting. If I could stop the story right now, leaving you all with this adorable mental image, I would do just that. Not only due to the valley of pleasure I'd found myself in, but also the mountain of pain that was to come.