Lightning sighed softly and stared at the setting sun from his perch on a tree branch.
"Hey, Lightning!" Lightning turned around to see the grinning face of Swift, his fellow teammate and girlfriend, hanging upside down from a tree branch.
He smiled and motioned with his tail for her to join him.
The Aipom swings from a few more branches before stopping and coming to join him on the branch he was sitting on.
"What's up?" she asked to get the conversation started.
The Pikachu chuckled slightly and rolled his eyes at his girlfriend.
"Really, Swift? You just had to start with 'What's up?'" he raised an eyebrow at her and she blew him a raspberry.
"Oh shut up," she muttered while giving him a sour look. "What's wrong with you anyway? You usually love my weird timing of phrasing things!"
Lightning frowned and lowered his gaze.
"I-I don't know, it's just..." he sighed yet again and rubbed his forepaws together anxiously. "I guess I just have a lot on my mind as of late."
Silance fell on the two Pokémon for a few moments before Swift spoke up again in an attempt to break the tension in the air.
"Oh, Lightning, is this about what happened with Blizzard?"
At the mention of Swift's former boyfriend, Lightning's expression turned sour. "Yeah, I just can't understand why you even dated him in the first place!"
Swift sighed softly and stared up at the canopy of leaves above them in thought. "It's kind of a long story... and I don't really want to talk about it."
Lightning blinked and gave Swift a confused look. "Huh? But why not?"
Swift bit back a snippy retort as she began speaking again. "W-well, i-it's just..." Swift frowns and curled her hand-shaped tail around herself, not looking her boyfriend in the eyes. "I just don't want to bring up certain memories."
Yet again, Lightning stared at his girlfriend with confusion shining in his eyes. "But why not, Swift?"
The Aipom sighed again and shifted her eyes around the forest, almost as if she was making sure they were truly alone.
After a few more moments of looking around the woods, Swift finally met the curious and concerned face of Lightning.
"Please just talk to me, Swift." His voice sounded a bit desperate as he spoke. "What's wrong? Did something happen to Blizzard to make him the way he is?"
It took a few moments, but eventually, Swift took a deep breath and met her boyfriend's gaze.
"Yes, something did happen to Blizzard..." she paused for a minute before continuing. "But the story isn't a very pleasant one to tell."
Lightning blinked and tilted his head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean?" he asked her with a questioning stare. "How bad could it be?"
Swift gave him a deadpanned stare. "Really really bad." Was all she said in response.
The Team Pack leader flinched, and stared at his girlfriend with wide, panic-filled chocolate-brown eyes.
After a short while of tense silence, Lightning spoke up in an attempt to break the ice.
"Could you tell me anyway?"
Swift gave him a startled look. "Are you crazy?" she gasped out in a mix of terror and disbelief.
Lightning just smiled and gave Swift a small shrug in responce to her
"How did you meet Blizzard?"
