Despite the urgency one might feel when waking up in an unfamiliar room, Xander's whole body was under the gravitational pull of bed. A dull ache had taken hold of the Litten's muscles, as if he'd spent the entire day before working himself to the bone.

Xander's nose twitched, his ears flicked, and his eyes skimmed the room for any signs of familiarity, but was met with a cacophony of uncertainty. The Litten forced his head up from the heavenly cushion of pillows to see if getting a better look would be any help. Still, there was nothing; not even another Pokémon accompanied Xander in this mysterious set of circumstances.

Despite his bones begging the Litten to lay back down, Xander pushed himself upwards and forced himself into a sitting position. The tip of his tail thumped up and down, up and down, up and down as he continued to scan the room. The Litten reached a paw up towards the golden ring around his neck and felt the smooth metal; at least that was the one consistency he could rely on. Though, now that he was thinking about it, where were the rest of his belongings?

Panic finally started to settle in.
Wait a second– the messenger bag! Where is it?!

Xander started to frantically shuffle the sheets around, even shoving some of the blankets off the bed, to search for the missing satchel– even if it hardly made any sense for it to be on his person while he slept.

Where the hell did I leave it? There's no way I could have possibly lost all that money AGAIN, right?

In his panicked frenzy, Xander hopped clumsily off the bed– leading to his limbs faltering and the Litten rolling onto the floor. Now on the ground, he spotted a familiar draw-string bag on the nightstand above him. Relief washed over as Xander pulled himself back up and nudged the pouch with a paw, and the quiet clink of metal coins greeted him. With that mystery solved, Xander's face contorted back into a frown. The Litten swiped his own ear with a paw. Priorities, dumbass! Where the hell am I?

The Litten slowly made his way to the door and opened it quietly, looking down the lavished hallway. Clean carpets, neat wallpaper, rather mundane modernist art, all this was enough to make him realize that, for some reason or another, he was in a hotel. Xander frowned. "Why can't I… remember. Ugh."

Xander backed his way back into the room and returned to his investigation. He considered roaming this inn for more information, but the dull pains in his bones argued against that idea. For now, Xander hoped that all the answers he needed were present inside this hotel room.

Aside from the entrance into the hallway, there were two other doors connecting the room Xander was in to elsewhere. Approaching one of the doors, Xander pushed it open with a paw and was immediately met with a bathroom. "I guess that shouldn't be surprising. But…" Xander slowly made his way to the other door and nudged it open. It was… another room.

On the big bed were two sleeping tapir Pokémon snuggled close to one another. Xander's heart swelled fondly, and a wave of relief washed over him. Whatever had happened, at least Gloria and Remmy were also here– and safe. His stomach sunk at the sight of a tattered, burnt messenger bag by the foot of their bed. A sharp pain shot through his head from the sight of it, and Xander wobbled backward while holding a paw to his mouth. The Litten didn't want to wake the couple up from their well deserved rest, so he kept himself from exclaiming his distress. He carefully pulled the door and clicked it back into place before settling back onto his own bed, face first into the pillow until his headache went away.

Once the ache and nausea faded, Xander sat back up on his bed. "I know I can piece this all together. My memory can't be that bad, can it?" The Litten laughed in an attempt to ease himself, but the fact that it was entirely possible his memory could be that horrendous lingered in the back of his mind. "I just… need to think."

Xander closed his eyes and attempted to focus. He needed to grasp onto something, anything, that could link events together in his mind– like some sort of chain. Even if it was a random memory to start out with, Xander just needed something to connect everything to. The Litten mulled over a few things in his mind, and eventually landed on his very first puzzle piece. Did I ever water the plants yesterday?

I must have, right? It was the first chore I wanted to get done after going to see Officer Jennifer. I know I got home safely… Well, mostly. I did have that conversation with Nuzleaf. Ugh… I can't believe Fire Fang was so expensive. The Litten's tail twitched from irritation. I thought maybe I could finally learn how to use moves that way–

A sharp pain pierced through Xander's brain once again, and the Litten recoiled backwards with a jolt. The sudden movement made Xander slam his head into the mattress's backboard, and he gripped his skull with an intense might– as if this would cure the throbbing pain.

Apparently, this series of events was loud enough to beckon a very concerned Gloria into the room. "Oh my goodness– Xander, Dearie, are you okay?" The Hypno rushed to the bedside and reached a hand out to the little Pokémon, who let out a loud hiss in response. Gloria pulled back, but she didn't take it personally. "My my… it's okay, dear. Do I need to get you some ice?"

"No." Xander hissed through his teeth. "I'm fine." He took a series of rushed breaths before hesitantly letting go of his head. "I'm fine…"

"Are you sure?" Gloria slowly reached a hand back out to him again. The Litten looked up at her with tears of pain welling up in his eyes. "Oh… Xander…" The old Pokémon frowned hard. "I'll be right back, okay? Keep still and take deep breaths."

Xander sniffled as he watched Gloria return to her room for a spell. He tried to follow her instructions… but he couldn't possibly keep his composure while fighting his crying eyes so hard. The Litten glanced down at his paws… his claw tips being laced with traces of blood. The Fire Type trembled. Was he really gripping his scalp that hard?

Gloria hurried back inside Xander's room with two berries in her hand. One of them Xander knew was an Oran berry, the other was a weird and lumpy piece of fruit with a sort of salmon coloration.

"Alright, Xander. Nibble at these… The Oran berry will heal that nasty head bump, and the Persim berry will cure the headache."

Xander slowly nodded before taking small bites of the fruit Gloria offered to him. Xander winced slightly once the Persim berry's juice hit his tongue. It was nasty levels of bitter, but just one bite was already helping the ringing in his brain go away. The sweet old Pokémon just watched him worriedly as Xander ate, not speaking a word until he had finished consuming both of them.

"Any better?…" Gloria spoke quietly.

"Much better… thank you." Xander mustered a tiny smile, but it faded fast. "Gloria, what's going on? Why aren't we at the Drowsy Munna?"

Gloria withdrew herself. "You don't remember, then… I shouldn't be surprised. It was all so much."

Xander's stomach twisted into knots. Despite knowing the likely answer, he still asked– "Is everything okay?"

The Hypno stayed quiet as she kept her eyes off of Xander. After a heartbeat, Gloria sat down on the bed next to Xander and held her own hands. A small smile worked its way onto her face, but her eyes were clouded with worry. "Everything is okay, dear. No one is hurt… Everything is fixable."

Xander tucked into himself, ears flattening backwards. "Then… Why can't I…" He looked back up at her face. "Please tell me what happened…"

Gloria hesitated. "You really want to know? You want to remember?"

"Of course I–" Xander froze, a realization sinking in. "Why… wouldn't I?"

Gloria closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she removed a metal ring from around one of her fingers. Moving herself further onto the bed, the Hypno crossed her legs and patted the mattress in front of her. Xander understood the gesture and positioned himself across from her. "I need you to focus on the hypnotizer. Keep your eyes on it, and try not to blink, understand?"

After Xander had given her a quiet nod, Gloria began to swing the pendulum back and forth. The Litten did as he was instructed and kept his eyes on the little washer. "Take a deep breath." Gloria's voice broke the silence, and Xander did what he was told without giving it much thought. "Hold it… now, slowly, release."

Gloria commanded Xander to do this a couple of times before moving on. "You're at the Drowsy Munna. You've just gotten back, and you see a note from the innkeepers."

"They'll be back soon…" Xander mumbled while in a haze.

"You decide to do your chores until you are interrupted by two guests. One is a Girafarig, the other is a Skarmory."

"I gave them room 3A…" Xander mumbled once again. "They kept causing problems… but that's okay. I needed to help them… If I drove guests away… that would be bad for business. Gloria and Remmy might kick me out…"

Gloria winced, clearly wanting to reassure him– but couldn't risk jeopardizing the session. Xander needed to continue existing in the past for a little longer. "You remember the fire."

"The… Fire…"

Xander's pupils followed the hypnotizer as it flicked back and forth, back and forth, back and forth as he felt the pull of the fiery tendrils once again. Flashes of the nightmare returned to him.

"The fire… It was trying to consume me. I… had to think of something happy to make it go away… but I couldn't." The dream was returning to Xander in a sudden wave. The flames, The Eclipse, Celebi, and what they told him about Aster. A pain shot through his head, but this one was duller than the last. "No, no… the fire. I remember the fire."

"I'm sorry! Did I make you spill the water again? Augh… D-don't worry! Please, I insist on helping you clean it up this time. H-hey, whoa… Are you… Are you okay? Litten?…"

Xander could feel the flaming tendrils latching onto his limbs once again. Only this time, they couldn't try and pull Xander apart. Gloria– The hypnotizer, it was keeping him still. It was keeping him safe from the fire.

"Xander, dearie… can you hear me?"
"Listen to me, sweetheart… You need to take a deep breath–"

Xander took in air through his nose, then breathed out slowly with his mouth. "I remember… you. I… Remember… I…"

The pain shot through Xander's head for a third time, this time worse than ever before. The Litten gasped so hard and so suddenly that it broke him from the hypnotism spell– his eyes snapped to Gloria's left shoulder. Xander could no longer keep his breathing calm as he looked on in terror at the Hypno's singed fur and flesh.

"I hurt you!" The Litten screamed, tearing his eyes away from the injury to stare in horror at his paws. "No, no no no! No no no! I–" Xander's breathing turned into choking hyperventilation, and the sudden emotion from the memories flooding back overtook him. "The inn! The fire! Those tenants– you!" Xander coughed, gagging on his own snot. Only now was the little Fire Type realizing he had been sobbing.

"X-Xander, honey, breathe!" Gloria placed both her hands on the Litten's shoulders, taking a gentle but stern hold. "Everything is okay, I promise–"

"No! No it isn't! What's WRONG WITH ME?!" Xander screamed again, this time bringing Remmy into the room. The extra set of eyes only made Xander panic more. "I'm a bad Pokémon!"

Remmy looked on in horror at the scene before him, but only for a moment. The Musharna levitated as quickly as he could over to the both of them, reaching one of his nubby hands out to pet Xander on the head. However, Xander snarled and pulled away from the both of them.

"Don't touch me! D-don't–" Xander coughed and sputtered from his crying fit. "Stay away from me!"

Against the will of his trembling body, Xander springed off the bed and booked it towards the door. As his paw reached out to shove it open, his body forcefully froze. The cat Pokémon yowled as he struggled against the force of the Psychic. Screeching, hissing, flailing, nonsense demands to let him go–

"FOR ARCEUS'S SAKE, EZEKIEL, STOP RUNNING AWAY FROM US!"

The Litten came to an abrupt stop once Gloria yelled. His sobs suppressed into quiet sniffles as he turned to see Gloria's own crying face. Everyone was quiet, even while the Hypno slowly lowered Xander back down and released him from her telekinetic hold.

"P…please… No more running. Please…"

Quiet conquered the room. It took everyone a long time to move, and Xander was the first– slowly making his way back towards the bed. Remmy followed Xander's example and floated closer to his wife, placing a hand under each of her eyes to wipe the tears away. Xander didn't bother climbing back up the mattress, he only looked up at the elderly couple from the floor. The Litten bit his lips, unsure if it would be a mistake to ask–

"Who's… Ezekiel?"

Remmy looked down at Xander, a deep sadness in his aged eyes. "Ezekiel was… our little boy."

"I'm so sorry, Xander." Gloria interrupted quickly, wiping the snot from her nose onto her furred arm. "I didn't mean to… I…" The old Hypno broke into tears again, and Remmy continued to comfort her. "It's a long story… but, I lost my composure there… You didn't deserve to be yelled at like that."

Xander looked down at the floor. His stomach was churning, and he both wanted to be anywhere but there… and have the strength to comfort Gloria. But, there was nothing the Litten could think to say. Slowly turning, Xander looked back at the door he almost crashed through. What would running away have solved? Where would he have even gone? There was nowhere he could go. Xander laid down on the floor, his body getting comfortable by becoming a compact loaf-shape.

No one said anything for what felt like hours.

It took a knock on the door to get everyone out of their haze.

"Uhh… Hey! Mister and Missus Dreamer? It's me, Mirror. I knocked on the other door but uh… no answer. Are you in there? I just wanted to check on you all."

Xander watched as Remmy's eyes glowed, using Psychic to open the door for the Girafarig. Mirror was there alone, a basket of goodies being held to his person by the Girafarig's tail. "I hope you're all doing alright…" He said with a nervous smile.

Although everyone's tears had long since dried, Mirror could obviously tell the three of them were not, in fact, doing alright. He carefully trotted past the floor-bound Xander and set the basket down on the nightstand. It looked to mostly be an assortment of fruits and berries. Xander thought perhaps there were also some candies, but those could also very well be soaps or candles instead. He couldn't tell all that well from the ground.

"We're doing as well as we can…" Remmy spoke for them all.

"Well, uh, our checkout is soon. I figured we could all leave for your inn and… assess the damages. Silver and I will be in town for a few days, so I wouldn't mind helping you try to rebuild. The only thing I'll be busy with is tomorrow."

"You don't have to, young man." Remmy mustered a weak smile and levitated the gift basket over to him and Gloria. "You've already done quite enough. An escort back to the inn would be plenty good for today."

"Nonsense… It was all my fault that this even–"

"No it wasn't."

Xander's cold voice put a halt to any pleasant facade the room had going. All three of the other Pokémon turned their heads toward the Fire Type without a word. Xander didn't look back at any of them, he just slowly stood to his feet.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Mirror. Neither did Silver. Even if I don't understand why it happened, I still did it." He finally returned Mirror's stare. "It's okay that you want to help, we probably need it more than anyone wants to admit it or risk inconveniencing you, but don't take the blame. Please." Xander closed his eyes to take a slow breath before letting himself look at Gloria and Remmy again. "I need to step out for a while… is that okay?"

The elderly couple exchanged tired glances, and Remmy pursed his lips to speak– but his wife interrupted him. "Sure, dear. Just meet us back at the Drowsy Munna before sunset… okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Xander grabbed the coin pouch off the nightstand and turned around to take his leave, but was stopped by Gloria's pleading voice.

"Promise?…"

Xander stood in place, feeling the stare of all three Pokémon upon him once again. His heart tugged the floor below him, as if Gloria's simple words were a hex to keep him in place. Xander strained the tears forming to stay put as he turned his head back to look at Gloria, but his gaze couldn't quite make it all the way. "Yeah… I promise."

With that, Xander pushed open the door and moped his way out of the unfamiliar hotel. Turns out it was called the Golden Peliper, and wasn't all that far from Constella's entrance. Walking down the road would lead him back to mainstreet, and, with nowhere else to go, Xander started to make his way to the market square.

The late-morning sun felt wonderful on Dimitri's chlorophyllic fur. Such a pleasant warmth was almost enough to distract the Sprigatito from how weird of a day he was already having. There were a lot of emotions he didn't even feel like bothering with, but it wasn't exactly easy to just ignore them. Today would have been Dimitri's second day of school, if the Sprigatito was actually accepted into R.E.D. Academy. He didn't feel that perturbed by not being admitted, but it was hard to just write it off after he had been memorizing the starting date for so long.

The next oddity of his day was a lingering scent of smoke and ash. That offput dream-therapy inn located near Dimitri's boarding house looked like it had been through a catastrophe of sorts; at least one that left the front entrance looking like a burnt Tepig-roast. The Sprigatito stopped and tilted his head. How could such an unassuming place catch fire?

After giving himself a moment to ponder a few possibilities, Dimitri continued on his way to work. He was already late, after all, and there was no way Dimitri's boss was going to be happy about that. Still, as if the Sprigatito's day couldn't get any weirder, a Pokémon he hadn't seen in ages was calling to him from a nearby alleyway. The hooded figure gave the Grass Type a coy wave before slipping back into the shadows. Dimitri sighed.

Following the Nickit into the darkness, Dimitri's tail flicked in a display of mild irritation. "I swear if you're trying to wrap me up in something outlandish, forget it. I really don't have time for Outlier shenanigans today, Lunar."

"Aww, c'mon Dimitri, don't be like that." Lune teased while pulling his hood down. "We haven't chatted in weeks, and that's the first thing you say to me? I should be hurt." The fox Pokémon laughed as he placed a paw on his chest and posed dramatically against the brick wall in supposed heartbreak, which only made Dimitri roll his eyes. Lune settled back into a normal position with a bit of a frown. "Also, don't call me Lunar. I've told you, it's just Lune now."

"Yeah, yeah… can you please hurry up? I really need to get to work. Rent is already hard enough to pay without you getting me into ill-tidings with my boss."

"Alright, jeez. What happened to the chill, 'gives no shits' Dimitri I'm used to?" Lune set his satchel on the ground to start digging through it. "Don't worry, though. This will only take a second."

Dimitri watched as the Nicket shuffled around through his things. "Now… where did I put it? I know I grabbed it before I left the base… Ah-ha!" Lune smiled as he snatched a large, green candy from his bag. The Sprigatito raised an eyebrow at him as the fox presented it towards him. "For you." Lune said with a wink.

"…You stop me on my way to work, when I'm already running late, to give me a Grass Gummi?"

"Uh, yeah!" The Nickit laughed. "C'mon! I know how much you love these things."

Dimitri looked down at the candy in Lune's paws before giving him a skeptical glance. "You're buttering me up for something. Don't lie."

"Sweet and chewy… puts a pep in your step… like consuming straight sunshineee…" The Nickit smirked as Dimitri's eyes fell back on the Gummi. It took half a second before it was swiped from Lune's hold and already in the Sprigatito's mouth. "See! I knew you couldn't resist."

"Mphh… alright, alright." Dimitri grumbled with a mouth full of candy. "What do you want, Lune?"

"I have a small favor to ask of you, little kitty." Lune said while pulling his satchel back over his shoulder. "We need to smuggle something into Red Academy–"

"Stop. Nope. Absolutely not. No way." Dimitri growled.

"Not even after I very generously spent my own money to buy you that absolutely delicious Grass Gummi?"

"You are so full of it, Lunar. I know you stole it."

"But you ate it anyway, didn't 'cha?"

Dimitri swallowed the rest of the chewed up sweet in his mouth so he could properly sigh. He fell right into Lune's devious trap practically willingly. Without confirming that he would actually do it, the Sprigatito motioned his paw to signal Lune to continue his request.

"Boss got intel that the Academy staff put in an order for more teas from your stall. When you make your delivery, we need you to drop this off somewhere inconspicuous." Lune reached into his cloak's inner pocket to take out a shining blue Wonder Orb.

Dimitri raised an eyebrow. "Okay, but, what exactly is that?"

"I thought you were in a hurry? Do you want me to explain our whole plan to you, or are you actually in a rush to get to work?" The Nickit smirked teasingly, but had to duck out of the way from a playful paw swipe at his head. "Ha! It's a Warp Orb. Normally using one in a dungeon leads to you ending up in a random place somewhere else on the same floor, but we've synced this one to a second Warp Orb. I don't exactly get it, but that means that once we smash that orb– it will bring us to the other orb's location. Easy security bypass."

"Whatever. I guess I can do that. But, I expect more than just a Gummi after I do." Dimitri smirked slightly. "You also better hope I don't get connected to your stupid operation."

"You won't, on my honor as a pick-pocket." Lune lifted his paw like he was making some sort of pledge, before handing the Wonder Orb to Dimitri. "I trust you'll get this done. You know I'll take the fall if you don't though, right?"

"Pfft. Maybe I'll purposefully find a way to set it in front of security, just to fuck with you." Dimitri smirked. "No worries, though. I wouldn't want 'Mr. Outlier' to kick you to the curb."

"Thanks, Dimi." Lune pulled his hood back over his head. "I'll see you later. Get your ass to work." The Nickit blew a teasing kiss at the Sprigatito before scampering off deeper into the alleyway and hopping onto a rooftop. Dimitri blushed slightly as he watched him.

"Heh… Asshole. I wonder if his flirting has an off button."

As much as Dimitri was already expecting it, being yelled at by your boss is never exactly a sought after experience. Especially when your boss was a Pignite.

"Where the hell have you been, Dimitri? You know it stopped being sunrise hours ago, right? This isn't the first time you've been late. You really are a no good, lousy slacker! I should have fired you tens of times already. You're the luckiest Pokémon alive considering I practically have to keep you around. Congratulations on your docked pay, Dimitri! If this happens again, I swear to Lord Arceus above that I'll–"

It was the same speech Dimitri had heard a dozen times before. The Sprigatito simply ignored him while dressing up in his apron, giving the occasional "no, sir" or "yes, sir" or even "thank you, sir" whenever appropriate.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bao Zhong. It won't happen again."

"I'm holding you to that this time, Dimitri!" The Pignite snorted out embers before turning around with a fake smile on his face to greet a passerby.

Dimitri stuck his tongue out at his boss once he wasn't being looked at, which made an Igglybuff in a baby stroller giggle as she was being pushed along by her father. This put a smile back on Dimitri's face as he got to work organizing the types of teas and bags of coffee beans. He was generally expected to beckon passing Pokémon over to Mr. Bao Zhong's stall to promote sales, but the Pignite was usually so caught up in his own shouting to notice Dimitri not doing the same. Yet even with his lack of shouting, a potential customer was strolling slowly towards the side of the stall Dimitri was working on. As he drew closer to the counter, Dimitri could tell he was noticeably worse for wear.

Dimitri wore his typical customer service smile as the Litten glanced tiredly back at him. "Hello there! How can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah… can, uhm… I get one bag of mixed breakfast teas and another of Eastern Coast coffee beans?"

"Can do! Give me a second." Dimitri about-faced to grab a couple paper bags with his mouth. Since he was on the side with most of the coffee types, he planned to fill that one first. It was a bit tricky for quadrupeds to unfold the bags, but Dimitri had done it enough times to make it look like a breeze. Grabbing the scoop with his mouth, he started to shovel East-Roast beans into the sack.

Once the Sprigatito was done with one part of the order, his eyes fell back on the Litten in front of him. The way he was staring emptily forward was starting to freak him out… "Hey, sir? Are you okay?"

"Oh–" This seemed to snap the Litten momentarily out of his funk. "Yeah, sorry about that. I'm fine. I've just had a rough morning."

"Ah, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to pry." Dimitri set up the second bag to scoop Litten's order into. "I've had kind of a weird morning too, actually. Must be one of those days?" Dimitri chuckled slightly to try and lighten things up, but the Litten's stormcloud remained. He was no longer weirded out by this guy… He wanted to cheer him up. "Dude, my boss chewed me the hell out for being late again. You'd think a Grass Type like me would be more careful around him, but–" The Sprigatito lowered his voice. "He's all bark and no bite. He threatens to fire me like every day! And still hasn't! I've worked here for two months!"

A small smile appeared on the Litten's face as he let out a soft laugh. Success! It occurred to Dimitri that maybe the guy was faking it to be polite, but something about it must have worked– because there was this slight shine in his eyes that wasn't there before.

"I actually stopped by this stall about a week ago. My friend and I needed directions, and your boss looked super pissed at us for even asking."

"Sounds like Mr. Bao Zhong! Haha!" Dimitri picked the scoop back up and filled the tea order within a few seconds. He continued speaking once the tool was out of his mouth. "I must've been off that day. I would've remembered a face like yours." The Sprigatito beamed, and the Litten blushed slightly in return. The two of them shared a quiet moment of just looking at each other before Dimitri's eyes widened. "Oh yeah! That'll be 175 Pokécoins all together."

The Litten pulled a small satchel of coins off from around his neck and placed it on the counter, the blush not leaving his face. "I only have hundred-value coins. Do you have change?"

"We should. I can ask Mr. Bao Zhong to break a hundred."

"Thank you." The Litten took two coins out of the little drawstring bag and slid them closer to Dimitri.

Dimitri snatched up the coins and walked them over to his boss, who gave him a dirty look until he realized the Sprigatito was holding money. Dimitri handed both the coins to him, "I need two tens and a five."

The Pignite walked over to a small chest under one of the counters and opened it up to toss the new coins in and take a few out. He actually seemed to be in a much better mood now, which Dimitri assumed meant he must've made a good few sales while he wasn't paying attention. After a quick coin hand-off, Dimitri returned to the counter to give Litten his change.

The Litten put the coins back in the little sack and tightened it. Afterwards, he struggled for a second to get the string back over his neck. Dimitri couldn't help but laugh, and the Litten did not look too happy about that.

"Sorry, sorry. I just… Pfft. I know your pain, bud."

"It really shouldn't be so hard… but it's better than the way I was carrying this around before."

"It's never a good idea to carry money in your mouth." Dimitri snickered again when Litten's eyes widened. "It wasn't hard to guess, don't look too shocked. When I was little, my mom sent me to our local farmer's market to get some milk. I must've made it like, half a mile from home at best before I dropped the money somewhere."

Something about that little anecdote brought a lot of ease to Litten, and the Pokémon gave Dimitri a very earnest smile. Dimitri smiled back.

After Litten grabbed the two paper sacks off the counter with his mouth, he hesitated to leave the stall. Setting both bags on the ground, he gave a slight sigh. "I hate to be a bother, but is there any chance you have some sort of bag I could carry these in?"

Dimitri frowned. "Hmm… not that I could just give to you. I'm sorry."

"Heh… It was worth a shot. Thanks anyway." The Litten stretched his neck back down to pick up the bags– but Dimitri felt something overtake him as he outstretched a paw over the counter.

"D-Dimitri!" The Sprigatito blushed hard and blinked a few times. "Erm– I mean. My name's Dimitri." The smile returned to his muzzle.

The Litten blinked a few times before smiling again as well. He pressed his own paw against Dimitri's. "I'm Xander."

"DIMITRI!" Mr. Bao Zhong called loudly, suddenly enough to make Dimitri's tail puff out. The Sprigatito turned his head and saw a Messenger Pidove perched on the counter beside his boss, who was holding an unrolled parchment.. "I need you to pack and run a delivery."

"Oh, okay." Dimitri said while the paper was being shoved into his arms.

"Assemble all those teas and take the order to Red Academy. I trust you can handle that?" The Pignite growled as he gestured for the delivery bird to leave. The Pidove cooed and tipped her hat before flying off.

There it was, the Red Academy order. Looks like whatever intel Team Outlier got was on the money. "Yeah, yeah. I'll get right on it, Mr. Bao Zhong." Turning back around, Dimitri's eyes widened at the sight of Xander still standing there. "Oh, uh… Did you need something else?"

Xander looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be weird about it. Would it be awkward to ask if… I could accompany you while you make that delivery? I have a friend that goes to Red Academy. It… might be a nice excuse to see her today. I could even help out, if that's okay."

Dimitri perked up slightly, his happily raised tail revealing his feelings about Xander's request before his words could. "I don't really see a problem with that. But, are you sure? You wouldn't get, like, paid or anything."

"I don't care about that. I think using you as my logical reason for popping into the school unprompted is payment enough." Xander laughed, his tail joining Dimiti's in happily swishing.

"Heh, suit yourself. Let me get this order ready and you can help me carry it all."

Dimitri continued having moderately pleasant conversation with Xander as he prepared the order for the school. For whatever reason, they needed a LOT of tea. Usually it was the sort of thing Dimitri imagined one person brewing for themselves, so it was hard to picture an entire meal spread of academy students drinking tea every single day. Dimitri probably would have packed everything up faster if he and Xander weren't chatting it up so much, but this was the first time in a while that the Sprigatito was having a pleasant shift.

"Okay, so I put all these little boxes of tea into these carrier bags. If I were going alone, we actually have these wheeled carts to get big orders around. But, since you're offering an extra set of paws, just the two of us and our backs should get the job done."

The delivery bags had straps that went over a Pokémon's back and belt loops to secure them that swung under one's belly. There were actually two bags that hugged both sides of the Pokémon's body, meaning there were four full satchels of tea between both the cats. Dimitri had to help Xander get his on, and placed the Litten's own tea order in the left bag on his person. When he was sure no one was watching, Dimitri slipped the Warp Orb from his personal satchel into the delivery bag.

"All set and ready to roll. Let's go, Xander!" Dimitri beamed at his new pal before slowly making his way to the Academy. "I'll be right back, Mr. Bao Zhong!"

The Pignite huffed, grumbling something Dimitri's Sprigatito ears could barely catch. "Damn slacker recruits some random Pokémon off the street so he doesn't have to work as hard. Lousy, no good–"

Dimitri didn't bother listening in on the rest. He instead shifted his attention to watching Xander slowly adjust to carrying the extra weight.

"Let me know if you need any help, 'kay?"

"I've got it, I've got it…" The Litten insisted.

"Just making sure. Don't be afraid to ask me for help. It's a lot for an untrained tea-transporter to handle." Both Pokémon laughed as they walked, but Dimitri soon shifted to a more sympathetic glance. "Bummer your friend made it into the Academy, but you didn't."

"Oh– uh. It's not that big of a deal." Xander looked off to the side. "Actually… I should be real with you. I didn't apply. It's her dream, not mine."

"Oh? Sorry for assuming, then. I only brought it up 'cause I didn't get admitted into the school. I was banking on us having that in common." Dimitri let out a soft chuckle, but now it was Xander's turn to give him a sympathetic glance. "Aww, man, don't look at me like that. I'm okay with it." Dimitri went quiet for a bit. At least, I think I'm okay with it. "Free room and food would have been nice, though. Guess it just wasn't in the cards."

"Do you still really want to be an explorer?" Xander asked with a tilted head.

"It really wasn't about exploring as much as it was about making something out of my life. Pfft, but you don't need to hear about all that crap." Dimitri waved one of his paws like he was pushing the topic of conversation away. "I live in the great city of Constella. I'll find a calling eventually. No rush, right?"

"…Yeah, right." Xander looked away from Dimitri. "No rush."

The two Pokémon continued down the road in casual silence. As the Academy's front gate came into view, Dimitri's smile faltered. He looked up at the imposing fortress ahead of him…

No rush.