Author's note:

Hey guys! Remember when I said I was going to stop posting my stories on after this one was done? I decided that my decision was rash. I will continue to post on this site because of the fans I was able to build up within the... jeez, how long has it been, Two years? Three?

Yeah. It's been a while. That being said, I'm very thankful for each and every one of you who are reading my stories- and to express my thanks, I will continue to post on this site.

(Also the views are coming back soon and im excited about that!)

Enjoy!

-Neonugget

Chapter 52: Sharing a moment together

Pawmo kept his hand on Tinkatuff's back as the fairy/steel type cried so much that she created a tiny puddle of tears. She was flailing her legs and feet about like a child throwing a tantrum.

Pawmo hadn't said a word, and if he had to be honest…he was wishing he was inside of his Pokéball.

Tinkatuff had been crying for a while, and Pawmo stayed silent, because he couldn't relate. He remembered having a favorite tree nut he found but then it was stolen- but he had gotten over the loss within two minutes. Tinkatuff had been crying for what felt like… at least ten minutes. The electric mouse had no idea how he was able to stand this much crying for so long- his ears were practically ringing.

He could ask her why that hammer was so important to her, but he was afraid it'd come off as extremely insensitive.

But just because he couldn't relate didn't mean he couldn't understand. The hammer must have been very important to her…maybe it was even like family to her. That would explain why she was crying so much.

That had to be it. Pawmo took in a breath to speak.

"I understand that it was important to you," Pawmo said, "And I'm sorry…" He wanted to end his sentence with, 'but we have to get out of here,' but he didn't know if those were the right words to say.

Tinkatuff lifted herself off the ground, and then hugged Pawmo. Pawmo's eyes widened, his eyes darted back and forth and felt his chest become wet with the fairy type's tears.

It must have been hard for her, for her to cry for this long. That weapon must have been extremely important to her. Pawmo decided to pat her on the back. He didn't know the story as to why exactly… but it would help him understand better if he knew.

"Uh, Tinkatuff…" The moment Pawmo spoke, he immediately regretted speaking.

"Yeah?" Tinkatuff asked.

He was already this far. He may as well ask.

"Why exactly…was that hammer important to you?"

She explained herself, sniffling after every few words and choking between sobs. Pawmo could barely understand her, but from what she said, he understood this: Before she was caught by Kai, Tinkatuff had worked hard ever since she was born to create the perfect hammer. She was an orphan- her egg hatched and there were no parents to greet her. This was something that was common among wild Pokémon. She was on her own. Every time she created a new hammer, it would disappear.

Pawmo Imagined how it would feel to lose progress on a project over and over again. Every time she fell asleep, her hammer would be gone, and she'd have no idea who or what took it. That's all he was able to make out- everything else she said was just sobbing gibberish.

"Now I have to make another- another hammer- and some Pokémon might eat it again, and I don't know if I'll ever-..." Tinkatuff started crying all over again.

"Uh-.. I don't think there will be any Pokémon that'll come to eat your hammer.."

"But it always happens! " Tinkatuff cried. She pulled her face away from Pawmo's chest and looked at him with her teary eyes. "Whenever I start making my hammer…some pokémon, or something, anything- just comes to take it away! I have to go through all of that all over again..! I just know it..! I'm just absurdly unlucky… I always have been!"

"Is that part of the reason why you're sad? You're afraid you won't be able to make another hammer?"

"I'll be able to make another hammer- It's just that while I'm making it, something always comes to destroy it..!"

"Oh." Pawmo said. "Well- you should just make it when Quaxly or me are around to guard you."

"But what if something comes to get it while I'm asleep?"

"What do you mean, asleep? You'll be in your pokéba-...Oh."

"What?"

"...Oh… I get it now. You're not just crying because your hammer's gone. You're crying because you're remembering what it was like to lose it."

Tinkatuff sniffled. She pulled away and sat on the ground in front of Pawmo.

"Yeah." She said.

Pawmo sighed and sat next to Tinkatuff.

"Listen," Pawmo said, "Uh… it's not the hammer that makes you- it's… uh…you…that makes...you? I dunno- I was going somewhere with that- it sounded better in my head."

Tinkatuff chuckled lightly. At least he was able to make her smile a bit.

"Uh.. well... losing your weapon can be...an opportunity to make an even better one. Maybe instead of trying to make the perfect weapon, maybe…make it a competition."

"A competition?"

"Yeah. With yourself. Every time you make a weapon- compare it to your last weapon. If it was better than before, that means that you're improving. There's no such thing as perfection. At least that's what my Dad told me. It's okay to grieve about what you've lost…but maybe this is an opportunity to make an even better hammer."

"...You're right." Tinkatuff said. "I just…need a minute to grieve a little longer."

"That's okay." Pawmo said. "Take your time."

Pawmo and Tinkatuff remained quiet for a while. They listened to the echoing sound of water dropping, and heard some pebbles from the rubble behind them fall to the ground.

Tinkatuff slowly leaned her head against Pawmo's shoulder- and Pawmo felt a jolt (Not an electric one) of panic run down his spine.

He could feel his heart pound in his chest. A lot of thoughts ran through the electric type's mind at that moment, but eventually, his shoulders untensed. He let out a sigh as he closed his eyes and even began to blush in embarrassment.

Tinkatuff was blushing too, but she was smiling. Eventually, Pawmo got used to the feeling of Tinkatuff's head on his shoulder.

"Well, we're here, Aeon. How do you think we can find them?" Kai asked.

Kai, Arven, Atticus, Quaxwell and Aeon stood around each other. Behind them was Atticus's base, and the grunts were hard at work trying to reconstruct it. Kai was holding his now asleep baby Charcadet in his arms.

"Give me a moment." Aeon said, turning his head back and forth.

"Are you doing some robot things and scanning the area for stuff or something?" Kai asked.

"I wasn't equipped with technology that helps me with mystery solving. But I have the next best thing."

"What's that?"

Aeon pointed at his head. "My brain."

Kai narrowed his eyes. "But you don't have a bra-"

Arven elbowed Kai on the side. "Let him do his thing," he said.

Aeon saw some blades of grass that were slightly burnt. He crouched down and looked at them.

"These couldn't have come from a fire," Aeon muttered to himself. "If it came from a fire, the entirety of this field of grass would be burnt. But instead, only this bit of it is charred. The only thing that could cause this kind of damage in this tiny place is lightning…"

Aeon stood up and turned to Atticus. "Atticus, you said that Tinkatuff was angry, right?"

"Yes."

"She wouldn't listen to reason?"

"Not according to my grunts."

"I see." Aeon smiled to himself. He was enjoying acting like a detective. "Tinkatuff had to have attacked Pawmo… and possibly Quaxwell. Isn't that right, Quaxwell?" Aeon turned to Quaxwell and he nodded.

Aeon then turned his head back to the slightly burnt blades of grass. Then, his eyes looked about. If those two fought…then…

Aeon's eyes caught a still standing tree but it had a piece of its bark ripped off of it form the middle. Either someone punched it, or something crashed into it... Aeon nodded to himself.

"I think I'm starting to piece this together, guys. Come with me." Aeon said. He walked on ahead, and the rest of the group followed.

"Hey Kai," Arven asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Aeon's back hurts from how hard he's carrying* us right now?"

"I think he's used to it," Kai replied.

Tinkatuff suddenly leaned away from Pawmo's shoulder, and Pawmo raised his eyebrows.

"It's about time we figure out how to get out…" Tinkatuff said.

"Oh." Pawmo said, sounding a bit disappointed. He was kind of wishing that they could stay like that for a little longer.

Tinkatuff and Pawmo looked at the rubble together.

"So… got any ideas?" Tinkatuff asked.

"Ideas? Wha- can't you just destroy the rubble in front of us with your fists or something?

"...I can't do it without my hammer," Tinkatuff said.

"But- you were able to punch the lights out of me when we fought and even dug us into the ground with your fists alone-"

"Wait- What?!" Tinkatuff cried. "I fought you!?"

"...You were pretty angry." Pawmo said. "You wouldn't listen to reason, so I had to fight you. I thought if I took you down, it'd tire you out and get you to calm down. But…uh… I ended up kissing-"

Tinkatuff's eyes widened.

"K..K-Kissing myself goodbye because I thought I was going to get knocked out. Y-You were really, really strong! So you can do it! You don't need the hammer!" Pawmo chuckled awkwardly.

"Oh, okay." Tinkatuff said. "That…makes sense…"

"You don't need the hammer! You just need to pump yourself up!"

Tinkatuff stared at her hands. She watched herself open and close them.

"I can think of plenty of things to say to pump you up," Pawmo said. "Maybe I can give you an inspiring speech, or, maybe a pep talk, or-"

"Get me angry."

Pawmo furrowed his brow.

"What?" He said.

"Get me angry. Think of something. Anything."

"Oh- uh.. I don't know how I'm going to be able to do that… uh…" Pawmo said, scratching the back of his head.

"Before you think of anything, maybe you could just… stand in front of the rubble? That way- when I try to punch yo-"

"Wait wait wait-" Pawmo raised his hands in a surrender motion as he went to stand between Tinkatuff and the rubble. "You want me to stand in front of you when you throw your punch? Are you trying to kill me?"

"I mean, you can just move out of the way, right? Like, at the last second? Electric types are supposed to be fast, right?"

"No! I'm not that fast! And even if I were, I wouldn't bet my life on dodging a point-blank punch!"

"It won't be out of nowhere- you'll know! What's going to happen is that I'm going to steadily get angry as you hurl insults at me or something- it'll be quick!"

"I have a 60% chance of getting punched in the gut and sent to Arceus early. I'm not taking those chances!"

"You were able to survive a fight against me earlier!"

"Yeah- BARELY."

"But you did! The difference is I'm not going to be angry at you forever!"

"No, the difference is that you're within point-blank range, and you're going to pulverize me!"

"I'm not going to pulverize you!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm NOT!"

Tinkatuff threw a punch, and Pawmo dodged. All of the debris that was in front of them flew out like an explosion had blown them away.

"See!?" Tinkatuff shouted, turning to Pawmo.

Pawmo was smiling.

"Gotcha," He said.

"I- WHAT- YOU-..." Tinkatuff began to pout. "That's not fair!" Tinkatuff started wailing her fists (very lightly) against Pawmo's chest, and Pawmo grinned as he kept his arms crossed.

"You told me that I had to get you angry." Pawmo said.

"But you didn't tell me when!"

"Why would I?"

Tinkatuff narrowed her eyes at Pawmo in clear frustration as the electric type's smile grew.

"There they are!" Arven cried. Tinkatuff and Pawmo turned their heads to see the group of humans, Aeon and Quaxwell come their way.

"And there they are." Pawmo said.

"Jeez…" Kai ran over to the two of them quickly. "I can't believe we lost you… Thank goodness you're both back. I was worried!" Kai crouched down to their level. "I'd hug you, but uh, my hands are kinda busy with Charcadet."

Pawmo and Tinkatuff both exchanged looks before they both went to hug Kai.

"Whoa!" Kai cried. "Hey- I can't hug you guys back!"

Atticus turned to Quaxwell.

"My debt to you is paid." Atticus said. "I bid you and your friends farewell."

Both Quaxwell and Atticus shared a nod. Atticus crouched before moving so fast that he seemingly teleported.

"Jeez. I literally blinked and the guy's gone," Arven said.

Aeon sighed.

"What's wrong?" Arven asked.

"I'm just a little bummed. I almost solved the mystery. I was going to impress you and Kai with my deductions…only for an explosion to just practically give us the answer as to where they were."

"It's okay buddy!" Arven said, putting his hand on his brother's shoulder. "There'll be a chance for you to shine."

"Yeaaah-... I know." Aeon said, sighing.

"I've got a mystery for you to solve."

"What's that?"

"What am I going to Make you and Kai for lunch? You have until later to figure that out."

"That's obvious. It's steak."

"What? How'd you know?"

"I guessed."

Arven narrowed his eyes as Aeon started to chuckle.

*Carrying: A term used when someone is doing most of the work in a group effort.
"Man, Steve did most of the work and carried our butts to victory!"
I feel like I described this word before, but I can't remember where. If I did, feel free to let me know, haha.