Matt vehemently rejected the idea of him not being in his wheelchair. Did the little fucker listen?

No.

Would Matt end up punishing Alexei for that later?

We'll see, now, won't we?

For now, he was scanning the area, noticing a leaf pile nearby. He was tempted to jump in the pile and just be a kid again. Arkose had the same idea, since he was already running in and jumped, rolling around in the leaves.

"Hmm? What is it?"

He was distracted, only for a moment, until the question really hit him.

"... has it been sixty days? Really?"

Matt genuinely lost track. But, if it was, he wondered how Alexei would do without his aids now. He looked back at him with a curious look.

"Do you think you can walk better now? Or that your wounds have healed better?"

Arkose noticed a leaf falling in front of him, prowling like he was on the hunt for pray.

"Alexei. Honey. Sweetheart. Darling. My love," Matt said, walking closer so he could take his face in his hands and push his cheeks together.

"You know better than this. You know by now that you should not rely on me to keep track of stuff like that. I will absolutely forget. I will do anything for you to the best of my ability. But I completely forgot."

Matt was not afraid to admit that, because it was true. And Alexei knew that was true. They'd known each other for ten years. He should know by now.

Matt was forgetful. It wasn't something that he tried to do.

Hearing the shriek, he dropped his hands from Alex's face, looking at the sky. Then he looked down, examining the area for the threat that Alex's Pokemon had noticed.

Arkose came to attention as well, sniffing the air, the rocks on his neck sticking up.

Whatever soft, cute moment the two were having was over now.

It was time to get to business.

"I got it," he called back to Alex, beckoning Arkose to his side. The Lycanroc obeyed, prowling over and standing ready to attack.

"You see where they are already engaging? I need you to go there. You have full permission to use whatever means it takes to take the Mightyenas down, okay? We'll be over shortly. Go!"

With a woof, Arkose took off, a streak of gray-brown as he met the Mightyena group.

Then he saw white.

"The hell is going on!"

The closer the Wooloo got, the more detail Matt could make out on them. He felt a twinge of nervousness in his stomach. Would they be stampeded? Rolled to death by a rolling herd of Wooloo?

Looking over as Alex spoke, he nodded. Taking off, he went to the barn to get the chair.

Matt soon returned with it.

"Hop in."

Matt would show more concern for Alexei if they weren't trying to save a literal shit load of Wooloo from a pack of Mightyena coming to eat them. So as soon as his butt was in the chair, they were off to try to push back the trouble.

Arkose was attacking with STONE EDGE to his best ability, but as they got closer, Matt knew that he had taken a few hits.

Taking out more of his main party, his Onix and Rhydon joined the fray. Best thing about rock-types? Blunt force.

"What the fuck? I've never seen anything like this."

Matt couldn't help but give a snort in amusement.

"Surprise?"

It was true, that Tephrite wasn't often out of his Pokeball in the apartment. He was just... really large. Same with Scoria. They stayed in the sanctuary most of the time, where they could actually stretch and not make a mess.

Matt's chest swelled with pride as his Pokemon went on the defensive, building some sort of rocky barrier to make sure the Wooloos had time to escape. They were taking hits like champions and dishing out damage just as easily.

The dual ground-type Onix dug under the ground and popped back up, startling back a few of the Mightyena.

"Atta girl!"

His attention was drawn away from the fight when Alexei called him to look at a Wooloo that appeared. He jogged over, looking at the Pokemon in his hands.

"Woah. It's tiny."