He set one hand on Alex’s upper back and stood by him as he caught his breath. He was freshly off a near-major reconstructive surgery of his chest cavity, and was in no shape to be running wild all over god’s creation.

“We’ll find him,” Memo promised, waving Paloma skyward to search for their missing Wooloo. The jingling of Will’s bell-crown was steadily getting further away.

Memo released Corazón, who immediately put her snout to the ground and began searching for a scent trail. While the Stoutland detected, Memo stepped around to the front of Alex, helping him stand up.

“You can go back home, if you want,” he said, setting a gentle hand against Alex’s wrist, “and I can keep looking from here?”

Because they were getting into ghostly territory.

Corazón sniffed all the way up a Claydol that rose up out of the ground, startling back. Memo winced at the creepy effigy, knowing that it was just a precursor of things to come. While Cora and the doll were locked in a staredown, Memo hit it with a Pokeball, mostly to get it out of the way.

He immediately wished he hadn’t. Cowering behind the Claydol was a little pastel teapot, chipped near the handle. It peeked nervously from under its lid.

Despite himself, the familiarity of it made him smile.

“Remember when I said the scariest thing in the Galar region was the ghost of cold tea?” he asked.

Alexei Ivanov
ghost/psychic
catch attempt claydol

☉

“He’s just worried,” Memo said, coming to bat for the wayward Wooloo. It was a pattern he kept falling into and one he would gladly repeat, because it seemed like very few people were willing to do so.

“Good.” He bit back a wry remark about hopefully he doesn’t have any more mystery babies, another pattern; the anger that Smokey’s transgressions evoked in him (themselves moderately innocent given the general lack of weight Pokemon decisions seemed to have in the world) was definitely a concept he would have to investigate at another time.

Alex stood to his full height and Memo looked up at him, reaching out to take his hand and give it a comforting squeeze. He appreciated Alex’s bravery, even if it meant there was definitely going to be suffering in his future.

“He seems nice,” Memo said, glad for the distraction; then the teapot popped up and ruined everything.

“It’s probably just scared!” he said, after the Polteageist took a swing at Fenrir, putting himself protectively between Alex and the ghost of cold tea; he couldn’t help but laugh at the accidental capture. “Why does that keep happening to you?”

Cora barked from up ahead. Memo tugged Alex along behind him as they traversed the mist, breaking through a particularly thick cloudbank to find the Stoutland locked in a staredown with a Metang. Memo tossed a Pokeball at it to clear their path.

“See? It’s not so bad.”

Alexei Ivanov
ghost/psychic
catch attempt metang

☉

“No,” Memo said, unable to keep the disappointment from his voice, “just a wild Metang.” He knew Alex was not having a good time and that meant that he was not having a good time. No one liked to watch their loved ones suffer, after all.

At least the Bronzong made Alex laugh. Memo found himself giggling along, too. He took his boyfriend’s hand and they continued on into the night, as the mist grew thicker and thicker around them.

If not for the missing sheep and Alex’s powerful fear that permeated everywhere-- Memo could feel him shaking in the space beside him-- it would almost be incredibly romantic.

He frowned into the dark. God, he was really down bad if he thought this was romantic.

“He’s just worried about the lamb,” Guillermo repeated, cocking his head to listen for something that could’ve been the tinkling of a bell-- or his imagination. “I’m sure once he finds them he’ll start heading back. We’ll probably bump into them on their way.” It was both wishful thinking and also 100% his true opinion.

Will couldn’t do a whole lot of wrong, in his eyes. He had brought them together, after all. Well, pictures of him.

They were interrupted by a Sableye morphing out of the dark; Memo stepped in front of Alex to defend him. Before the dual-type could attack, Frollo flew down and landed on its head, then released a loud, cacophonous chatter straight into its skull. The thing winced and fell back on its ass, allowing Memo to zap it with a Pokeball before it could do any harm.

His Chatot looked back up at him, cocked his head, and opened his beak: releasing a distinctive sound, like jingling bells.

Alexei Ivanov
ghost/psychic
catch attempt sableye

☉

Memo couldn’t help himself but laugh. Of course Alex wasn’t afraid of Sableye, somehow. Of course. “I can’t believe-- that thing is way creepier than so many other ghosts-- creepier than the teapot, definitely-- and you’re not scared of it?”

He pulled Alex along behind him, letting his boyfriend go on and on about the ins and outs of Sabeleye gender differences. Frollo was jumping between perches, leading them on to where, Memo hoped, they’d soon find Will and the lamb. He continued to mimic the jingling noise of Will’s crown as he went.

“One guess. Probably because he’s a little shit.”

Their luck was not up that night. Frollo’s next perch was a suspiciously sharp object; he’d almost landed when the Doublade reared up, blades glinting in the moonlight. The parrot cawed raucously in fear, flailing backwards to get out of the way of the slash aimed at him. Only Corazon grabbing the pink scarf and giving the thing a vicious shake saved him from having his head bisected from his body.

Memo let go of Alex’s hand to catch the panicking psittacine, cradling him to his chest as he continued to scream. Cora spat the roughed-up Doublade free, the swords clanging to the ground. Memo zapped them with a Pokeball before they could get back up.

Alexei Ivanov
ghost/psychic
catch attempt doublade

☉