"About time you two get back. Take your sweet time browsing clothes again? Hang on, why the long face?" Upon noticing the two rabbit pokemon stepping into the building, Lexia raised an eyebrow at the apparent downtrodden look on Rae's face.

"She's upset because she didn't realize cheesecake takes a day to make if you want it to be good." Sear answered for the taller rabbit, hopping up to the seat next to her as the group had convened around the picnic tables.

"How was I supposed to know that? I've never made cheesecake before!" The normal type pouted, placing the bags full of groceries down on the kitchen counter.

"Well, it's mostly from the chilling process." Blaze threw in her two cents.

"Again, how was I supposed to know?"

"Sounds like a you problem." Sandy said with a cheeky grin plastered on her face, gaining a glare from her rabbit friend.

"Oh and you're so knowledgeable?"

"I could at least assume it'd take a long time." Realizing that the electric type was trying to get under her skin, Rae rolled her eyes before turning her attention elsewhere.

"Here let me try." Both of the rabbits' attention was drawn towards the voice of Aquari, who was just handed a bag of crackers from Eli, the latter who appeared to be struggling to open the bag. "The trick grabbing from the edge and…" The water type held her breath as she attempted to open the bag herself, but to no avail. "What the fuck…"

"There's no way your little baby arms are going to open that. Let a big, strong man handle that for you." Blitz mockingly sneered, gaining a pout from his sister as he snatched the bag.

"You're barely taller than me-"

"This is going to be a disaster." Seeing her fire type brother struggling with the bag too, Blaze raised her hands up and walked away, but not before telling the others: "I suggest finding cover."

"Can't we just find some scissors to cut it open?" Eli suggested, scooting away from the siblings before being whisked away in Lexia's telekinesis, letting out a surprised yip.

"No way! I'm not letting some stupid plastic win against me!" Blitz almost growled, but his struggles ceased when the shiny luxray yoinked the bag.

"My turn!" Sandy almost proudly proclaimed. Lexia and Sear were hiding behind the wooden cabinet, Eli soon joining them as the gardevoir released her from her psychic grasp.

"Wait, where am I supposed to hide?!" Rae looked around, her large size putting her at a disadvantage.

"Hunker down and pray!" Lexia almost laughed. "Pray that big butt of yours acts like a bullet sponge!"

"I don't need to hear this from you, twig!" Just as the two were yelling at each other, the bag flew past Rae and a crunch was heard as it smashed into something.

"I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that was on purpose." The voice of Wren shocked everyone, seeing that the crackers had been pierced by her horn. Salt and crumbs fell from the torn bag as she waited for an answer. The absol was out of her SCU uniform, instead wearing a black blouse, torn jeans and a pair of flats.

"Eheheh… it, uh, it slipped." Sandy nervously twirled her fingers, unable to look her friend in the eye. "She's going to kill me." She whispered as everyone came out of hiding.

"About time you joined us." Rae said as she walked up and removed the bag from her friend's horn, taking the opportunity to shake out some crumbs and plop them into her mouth. "Mm, not bad actually."

"You are not helping." Wren simply stated, walking past the giant lopunny.

"I'm sorry that I'm hungry!"

"This place is a mess more than usual." The dark type ignored Rae, looking around. "If I had to guess, it's because of our new guests."

"This place is awesome!" Ivy responded, gaining an eye roll from Wren.

"As long as you goons clean up after yourself."

"I've never been called a goon before." Blitz snickered as he watched the absol place her purse down.

"New adjective unlocked." Aquari joked, before a broom suddenly smacked her in the face. "Ow- hey!"

"You heard her, clean up your mess." Blaze scolded, earning a grumble of compliance from her sister. "You too." She turned towards her other siblings, making sure they joined the water type in the cleanup before making her way back to the tables.

"You'll help too, Sandy." Wren told her shiny friend while cleaning her horn with a tissue she pulled from her purse. While her voice was as monotone as ever, Sandy was able to pick up a tone in it that told her there would be consequences if she didn't help, so she rushed right over to the clean up crew.

"So what took you so long anyway?" Lexia asked as she plopped back down at the table, being joined by Sear and Eli soon afterwards as the two smaller pokemon hopped up onto the bench.

"Oh, you know. Meeting some old friends!"

"She got into a fight."

"Sear! You weren't supposed to tell!" Rae hissed, glaring at the smaller rabbit.

"What, why would you care?! Wren was there too! So if I didn't say, she probably was!" Said dark type ignored the argument between the two as she headed for a nearby trashcan to dispose of her used wipes. "You've already gotten into 2 fights since I've met you! It hasn't even been a month!"

"And plenty of others since we've known her! She's got a quota to fill!" Sandy shouted towards the tabled group from her clean up crew. With a roll of her eyes, Lexia continued the conversation.

"So, what's the plan from here?"

"Well," Sear turned towards the countertops. "If Rae ever hopes to set eyes on my cheesecake, I can get started on making it here."

"Yes! I can help!"

"Rae, do you even know a single thing about baking?"

"Uh, do you know a single thing about shutting up, Lexia?" The normal type mocked back, only to gain a grin from the gardevoir.

"That means she knows jack." She leaned her body to be able to look at Sear, who surprisingly, let out a small laugh at this.

"It's fine, I probably need help getting what I need anyway, so it'd be appreciated." The smaller rabbit reassured, offering a warm smile. Rae was a little taken back, as she was joking for the most part, but with the genuine warmth radiating from the cinderace, she found herself smiling back. "Maybe I can even teach you a thing or-" Before the fire type could finish what he was saying, a sudden barrage of foam darts started pelting him in the side of the head, causing him to lose his balance while standing on the seat. Rae, though bewildered, was quick to act, and managed to catch the smaller rabbit before he hit the floor.

"Awesome!" Aquari shouted as she wielded a dart minigun.

"Aren't you knuckleheads supposed to be-" Before Blaze could finish her sentence, a giant dart was shot directly at the ice crystal on her forehead, silencing her as she stared in utter disbelief.

"Mega darts!" Blitz shouted at a similar volume to his sister, as he wielded a large sniper-like dart gun. The ice type simply stared in annoyance, removing the dart from her head, but not without a surprising amount of resistance.

"Okay-" Another dart was shot at her, almost in the exact position as the last. Blaze's eye twitched. "Blitz. Do that again, and I will-" Once again, a dart was fired, hitting her in the mouth this time. "That's it!"

"We've angered the beast, run!" Sandy shouted as she and the eeveelutions split up, running in all directions once Blaze leapt over the table.

"You good?" Rae asked, lifting him up to be closer to her eye level.

"Y-yeah…" Sear couldn't help but look into her eyes as she held him, almost mesmerized by the pink irises, surrounded by jet black sclera. Regaining his composure before his thoughts could run wild, he spoke again. "Uh, Rae? You can put me down now."

"Huh, oh! Y-yeah!" The lopunny almost sputtered out, before lowering her fellow rabbit pokemon down to the ground. "So, uh, cheesecake right?" She almost ushered, to which Sear was quick to comply. On the side, Lexia couldn't help but give the two a look as they made their way to the counter.

"Lexia, watch out!"

"Huh?" Turning her attention back to the commotion in front of her, Lexia was met with a large pineapple costume landing on her, obscuring her vision. "Ie-what the hell?!" The psychic type fumbled with that cloth, caught off guard, as Eli attempted to help her get out of the entangling costume.

"So, where are we starting?" Rae asked as she moved a step stool to the counter to allow the shorter rabbit to reach with ease.

"This is something you can do actually, if you want, grab a nice stack of the graham crackers and place them in the blender. We'll start by making the crust, at the same time, I'll get the butter melted." The fire type instructed while scooping some butter into a small bowl, before lighting his hand ablaze just above it.

"Just blend crackers?" The normal type rabbit asked while opening and grabbing a stack of crackers that looked too small in her large hands. She flinched as two darts stuck to the cabinets near her head, before casting a glare to the rowdy bunch.

"Not yet, break them in half, then we'll add in sugar and toasted pecans beforehand." Nodding, Rae gripped the crackers, attempting to snap them in half, only to completely pulverize them. Her eyes went wide before looking at Sear nervously, but was relieved to see he was preoccupied with the butter, noting he seemed to be concentrating on maintaining the fire. Not wanting to mess up the recipe but at the same time not really knowing what to do, she simply dumped the crushed crackers into the blender.

"I'm not built for delicate tasks like this…" The lopunny silently mumbled to herself before grabbing the bag of pecans. "Uh, how many of these things?" Before she could get an answer, out of her peripheral vision, she saw a large dart flying towards them. But she was too slow to react, and it was headed straight for-

Without flinching or taking his eyes off his task, Sear effortlessly caught the dart in his free hand, shocking the larger rabbit, leading to her almost dropping the nuts.

"Sorry, what was that?" The fire rabbit asked without missing a beat, tossing the dart behind him.

"Uh, er, pecans?" Rae pointed to the bag, not having much else to say.

"Ah, about a third of a cup. Then you can grab a fourth of a cup of sugar and blend it all together. After a quick blend, you can pour in the butter while blending it all a bit more. Make sure to try and get an even distribution." Sear gave a gentle smile towards the taller rabbit, who could only give a blank stare in response. His smile faltered. "You want me to do it?" Rae sheepishly nodded, gaining a small laugh from her fire type friend, before motioning her to pass everything to him. Gladly doing so, she stood behind the other rabbit, having a clear view of everything he was doing.

"Here's how you do it." Sear's voice faded from her ears into a gentle background noise as she watched him work. She couldn't help but watch as his tiny hands moved about with such coordination, even when handling everything that was too large compared to him. Coupled with the fact he was taking time to explain everything so that she could understand and learn from this painted him in a new light.

'Cute…'