“Hideo.”

The flowers around here didn’t appeal to Hideo all that much: they didn’t seem to have much smell to them, and their nighttime glow didn’t add much for someone who was blind. Still, someone had asked that they help make sure these flowers were guarded, and who was he to refuse a decent pay?

Though he did make sure to bring a good set of eyes to watch out for anything: way up above them was his Alolan Exeggutor, her height no doubt a valuable asset in spotting incoming threats. And down below was his Cinderace, the tall bunny ready to get in the nitty-gritty of a fight with some flaming rocks and his Flame Body.

Also helped to have others keep an eye on stuff, as Hideo had his mind a lot more on what had happened recently. The request for his name did remind him he didn’t quite remember the name of the guy he was working with, so his mind did wander for just a moment. “And your name was…um…what was it again?”

DEREK HOFFMAN

Hideo could hear his partner’s - Derek’s - Sobble nail a Pokemon with a timely Water Gun. Had Hideo been more focused, he might’ve heard it coming - though maybe it was easy to spot with the lighting they had. He didn’t know, and it wasn’t something he’d considered.

Once told it was his turn, Hideo nodded. His Pokemon were quick to take shift - or just his tallest one.

His Exeggutor was careful, her Egg Bombs avoiding any of the flowers. However, they were also indiscriminate in the sense that anything outside of them was getting a face-full of them: several Bug Pokemon were blown away by the force of the attack, each one squealing and retreating from the overwhelming force.

Hopefully his partner hadn’t left any Pokemon too far out.

“Um…Derek?” Hideo started, more of a murmur at first, though he raised his voice as he spoke more. “Have you ever lost someone? Like a friend?”

DEREK HOFFMAN

It wasn’t too surprising to hear he wasn’t the only one facing some kind of loss. With all the chaos in Hoenn, he’d heard of more than one person dying. This was just the first time Hideo himself was dealing with it.

“You hear about what happened to Ruby Walker ? She was a friend of mine.” It felt wrong to refer to her in the past tense, those words practically stinging his mouth. “I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her in a while, and then I read about that happening.”

There was an awkward silence as Hideo wondered why he’d brought it up. Maybe he’d thought talking about it would help, but it only hurt to say it.

His Cinderace took note, staying close to the boy while the Exeggutor continued keeping an eye out for any intruders.

“It’s just…scary.” The way she died was startlingly similar to what he’d heard happened to others looking into the Amulets. Something that almost happened in front of him to other people he knew. Something he was involved in.

But maybe someone who’d lost someone more than a friend could help him, even if only to help handle Ruby’s death.

“I guess…how did you deal with it? Losing someone like that? How should I deal with it?”

DEREK HOFFMAN

To Derek’s first question, Hideo was silent. It was never something he’d considered up to this point - having to take care of someone else’s Pokemon because they were gone. Would she have taken care of someone else’s Pokemon? Probably - he knew she earned the name “The Saint of Slateport” for good reasons.

She’d probably do it without hesitation - unlike Hideo.

Hideo listened as Derek went into detail - that it was his little sister that he’d lost. “I’m sorry,” was all Hideo could muster up to say as he listened. He couldn’t tell that Derek was pointing at the Sobble, but he could guess that was the Pokemon that ran off, spewing water at any threats as his Exeggutor Egg Bomb’d them away.

And the mention of being in the Hall of Fame sent a pain through Hideo’s heart: a goal not unlike his own. Ruby wouldn’t ever be able to witness him reach his own goal.

If only he’d been faster.

He nodded along as Derek elaborated further. Only once Derek finished did Hideo speak again.

“We…aren’t sure what to do with her Pokemon. Me and her other friends, I mean.” It was a conversation nobody had started, yet was bound to come up at some point: they had to decide what to do with her surviving Pokemon. And who knew how many she had - they couldn’t all be at the treehouse. “It doesn’t feel right to just take them. I don’t know if she has any family we could send them to.”

There was a lot he didn’t know about Ruby. Yet he still felt awful about what happened to her.

“I won’t stop going for badges and becoming Champion, but…I just don’t know what to do.” He could still remember talking to her about their badges, about how she took a shot at the Elite Four.

Hideo could feel his Cinderace place its hand on his shoulder, pulling him in for a hug. It was only when he felt the soft fur on his face that he noticed the tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Dammit - he didn’t want to cry in front of some guy he only just met.

DEREK HOFFMAN

With a deep breath, Hideo was able to mostly compose himself, cutting off his tears before he was truly crying. Didn’t help his stuffed-up nostrils, but he’d minimize his embarrassment.

If he was going to be Champion, he couldn’t be weak like this.

Gently, he pushed away his Cinderace, wiping his tears away with his sleeve. “I…” he started, but trailed off as he didn’t know what to say. It was something he had to talk about with everyone else in their group - if they couldn’t find any of Ruby’s family.

The words soon found his mouth - little as they were. “I’ll…think about it.” It just wasn’t something he really wanted to think about. “If…if we can’t decide, then we could talk to the r-rangers.”

Still, letting her Pokemon get “relocated” seemed a lot like just letting them out in the wild. Would her Pokemon even want to be moved like that? He knew his wouldn’t.

And that would be like cutting off one of the few remaining things they had of her.

His face cleared of tears - albeit slightly reddened - Hideo sighed. It helped him calm down a bit, though the uneasiness in his chest wouldn’t go away. The best he could do was just distract himself. “Come on. Let’s just keep the flowers safe.”

DEREK HOFFMAN