Why they hadn't just met up at home and went together, he didn't know. But after snow had fallen on Hoenn (Which was a rather strange, and certainly discomforting thing to adjust to considering the obvious issue of Hoenn being tropical) Izumi had insisted they head to Sootopolis for a date. It might sound like a funny thing, a married couple going on a date. Something that many married couples moved past once they tied the knot. But for Josh, he didn't mind one bit the idea of taking his wife out on a date. Especially if it was something she was clearly very excited about.

As for why he was late? Well, since she had informed him of her intentions a little late, he had to actually find his skates. He hadn't had any use for them since their return to Hoenn. Then there was fielding questions from the twins of where he was going and what the skates were. And then of course there was the issue of getting there quickly in the snow. Fawkes was a Fire Type, and thus wasn't a big fan of the cold. Covering the flame on his tail with something was necessary as well. Then there was bundling up, and ensuring that someone was watching the twins before Josh finally headed out.

Once he flew to where this makeshift rink had appeared, he recalled Fawkes to its Pokeball just as he spotted his wife. Trudging up to her, he smirked lightly as he placed a short peck on her forehead.

"Next time, let's just go together from the house" He recommended with a light chuckle. This would have been much easier if they had just gone together on her Braviary.

“Have you seen how crowded the ‘rink’ is? Look at it!” was her initial response once he had finally arrived; very, very spiked hair giving him away along with his height.

No kidding, there were a lot of people skating across the frozen ‘lake’ this evening, and due to how the ice was holding up the ‘rink’ only needed a blast of Frost Breath from several Ice-types on one side every few hours or so. There were so many people enjoying themselves tonight, so understandably it was going to be a bit hard to find some space to actually skate around everyone else.

“Wait. Who did you get to babysit the twins?” she remembered, turning around to stare at him while she was lacing up her own skates. Normally ladies had white-colored ones but Izumi didn’t like the notion of color tying her down so of course she had a pair of black ones.

(And besides, black coordinated much better with most anything.)

“I also had to check if there were people hawking hot chocolate around. Thankfully, over there,” she added, pointing some distance away to where some festival goers were huddled around a stall, nursing actual mugs of hot chocolate in their hands.

Who knew it would get so cold to the point that even this isolated city would turn into this?

“Come on slowpoke, hurry up,” she teased, finished lacing up her skates and waiting for him to follow her out on the ice.

She was right. The makeshift "rink" was rather crowded, wasn't it? But he was sure that with his height and size, people would steer clear enough once they saw them to make sure they were able to go on their skate date unimpeded. Not that Izumi would be much help in that regard considering most people might not even see her with hers.

His wife inquired as to who had been set to babysit the kids, and he deadpanned as he stared at her. "... I thought you had set up a babysitter" He spoke up, eyes widening in horror for a moment. But very quickly his gaze changed as he chuckled lightly. "I'm kidding, dear. Mom is on it. She offered the minute we mentioned the date. I mean, it's not like it's hard for her considering she lives with us, right?" He remarked. Lightning had also stayed behind in a rare instance, the Raichu had been busy chasing the children around when they had left.

The whole color thing went unnoticed by Josh. He'd never been educated to associate color by gender.

With mention of hot chocolate being just around the corner, it seemed they wouldn't go cold for long at least once they were done here. He would finish lacing his skates, smirking lightly when she would hurry them along. Once he was finished, he would take a moment to get his balance with the skates before hopping onto the ice. He took her hand in her and squeezed it tight as he glided across the rink, taking her with him.

"Being here in Hoenn, it takes me back" He admitted softly. "Do you remember when we met? Near Lavaridge all those years ago?"

Izumi turned to face him in horror, this look of shock dawning on her face.

Much as she loved Josh, sometimes the humor went way over her head and my goodness it was terrifying. She was pretty much ready to shank him with the tip of her ice skate when his expression changed and he let out a laugh.

Sometimes she could not understand his dry humor—especially when the kids were involved.

Once he began cutting a figure through the ice, she followed along—really, would anyone be bumping into them because of his height? They would see him coming from a mile away. Thankfully the other skaters who were in their path cleared out once the beanpole came sailing by, her hanging onto his hand as they passed everyone else by.

After a while, he spoke to her. There was a hint of a blush on his face and she didn’t know why—until he started talking.

“Getting all nostalgic now are we?” she teased, squeezing his hand gently. “Of course I do. What about it?”

He smiled softly as he leaned over to place a gentle peck on her forehead when he saw the reaction coming. "My apologies, lover. I couldn't resist. The opportunity was too good. You know me well enough by now that I'd never endanger the twins. They mean far too much to me to dare do anything without thinking of them first."

He didn't regret scaring her, it was all in good fun. But he had perhaps horrified her a bit too much for one day.

The two began to talk of nostalgia, and he chuckled slightly when she asked about it. He squeezed her hand in turn. "I guess it's... Well, I'm not exactly great at romantic talk, so I'll just say what's on my mind. It's crazy to think that all those years ago, how many has it been now? It was just around here that we met, both really just getting started as Trainers, both still trying to find their footing, doing odd jobs for a bit of money and experience. I was just coming out of that... Hell, and you were trying to find identity outside of just being part of the Izakaya, and things just... Clicked between us so easily.

I also remember we were both a bit of a handful at the time" He added with a laugh.

"It's crazy to think that we've done so much, travelled so far together in the years since. It's crazier still to think that we left this place, and when we came back... We're completely different people. Married, with the twins, and the world behind us yet still more of the world before us.

I just wanted to say... I can't think of anyone that I would have wanted to share this journey with more. I'm happy it was you. I'm happy you stuck it out with me."

“I’ve lost count, to be fair. You were never a great shake when it came to being romantic, honestly. I think you needed more than just a nudge in the right direction when it comes to expressing your feelings,” she teased. Honestly, before she came into his life, did he seriously not have any experience with anything in the field of romance?

Well, the red carpet proposal was evident enough he stumbled so bad when it came to anything remotely romantic. He could only guess that a friend of theirs had suggested the proposal in front of everyone. Well, that had happened due to a variety of reasons—one of which was that he had a lot of stalker-ish fans that kept hounding him, and man did it do a number on her and piss her off so bad.

“When we left, we were still greenhorns in everything. How far did we go again? Too far, right?” she mused, coming to a stop and reliving the journey that they had gone through.

So many regions explored, so many people met…

“…how do you think that friend of yours is doing? The rich playboy?” she inquired a few moments later. Surely he knew who she was referring to, grin on her face.

“Remember that time we joined that costume contest and blew everyone away because of how freakishly accurate we all were?” she continued with a chuckle.

"I dunno, I thought the proposal was pretty good" He remarked with a laugh when Izumi affirmed that he wasn't the best at romantic talk. "Didn't rehearse or anything. Didn't stutter much. Think I did pretty well with the language too" Josh joked. He remembered the proposal well enough, and why he had done it. Izumi could be... Spitefully possessive, and he had figured if he was to propose to her, while he wouldn't normally in a public setting... Doing it at a moment that would make her happy, and even happier that she could turn and grin at people she wanted to spite with a ring on her finger - it seemed right. That was all he had cared about in that moment. Making her happy.

"We went way far" He agreed. "Board of directors in a huge company, veteran trainers in our own right... But parents, most importantly. I can't think of anything I'd rather be than a father to Zackary and Lyra... And a husband to you."

She asked how their friend was doing, and he shrugged his shoulders. "No idea. Maybe those sharpedo got him after all?"

He chuckled when she brought up the costume contest. "I remember. I almost miss those days. But I'm happy we've finally found a life here... Hopefully one we can settle into permanently. I..." He trailed off, letting out a sigh as he wrapped his arms around her, keeping their movement on the ice going as he spun them around a bit, holding her close. "I think I'm finished hopping from region to region, if I'm being honest with you. I think I'm done moving to different homes. I think I've grown a bit tired of it, but... More importantly, the kids don't seem to be adjusting well" He admitted. "They aren't taking this moving around thing as well as we are, now that they're old enough to understand more that they're being thrown around places they're not used to.

It really is about time we start thinking about them, and not just our own interests. So perhaps this should be it. Maybe this should be our permanent home. Thoughts? How long have we been hopping from place to place now?"

“Clearly they don’t like moving around so much… I guess… I guess they’re not into adventuring like we are. At least, not yet anyway,” she added with a shrug, blushing hotly as he twirled her closer until they were almost face to face with each other.

Now, everyone else who saw this pair sailing by gave them a wide berth as they skated further out, to more privacy. It was for the best anyway.

“What, settling down here? Right back where we met all those years ago?” she teased, mischievous grin on her face. “Well, we already have the property picked out, surely it would do the kids some good if they stayed in one region altogether. Learned a sense of permanence. Like… what have we been doing, running around all over? We haven’t stopped to seriously consider their thoughts and feelings about this whole moving around business…”

It was here she booped him on the nose.

“You’re so silly,” she breathed out a few moments later, letting her feet glide her along the ice, come what may.

"They're young, give it some time" He suggested as he would wrap his arms around her waist and pull her close, leaning his head on her shoulder as he would steer for them. "That's something they need to decide for themselves. But I do think it's time to settle down for awhile at least, yes" He spoke softly as he would look around to ensure they weren't going to hit anyone. But people had given them enough space, so he wasn't too worried.

She agreed with him on the sentiment, and he smiled softly as he nodded his head, bringing his head back to look her in the eyes again. What had they been doing, she asked?

"Trying to establish RaiCorp in other regions, trying to find where Light is hiding out after we stopped their Veria branch from making progress. But things have calmed down, and... I think this is as good a time as any" He admitted. He smirked slightly when she referred to him as silly.

"Silly's what you married, dear. You knew that."

“You were always going full blast… you’re the one who needed to calm the hell down and stop to smell the flowers every once in a while…” she teased back, booping him on the nose.

“There was this one time you kept on going to work non-stop, and well from what I heard you fell asleep in between takes… look, you really need to slow down and take things easy. That’s another thing you need to learn: slow down!” she chuckled a few moments later.

“Silly, yes, but at times you can be way too serious…” she added a few moments later, giving him a harmless cheek pinch. She let him lead them around the ice, and soon enough they were alone.

Well, alone as alone could get, as they’d skated clear out to the opposite side of the rink. “Wow, will you look at that,” she remarked as she tilted her head up to look at the sky above them.

“Look at the stars.”

He was the one who needed to slow down? She brought up the time that, during a time where he balanced three different jobs, he had begun finding places to catch a nap out of sight, between scenes. There was no "heard of" about it, either, as it had been his own future wife who had caught him doing it. There was also the time she had caught him napping on the recliner in his home office while investigating a case, attributed to his overworking himself. He was down to one job now. And that was working at the CEO of RaiCorp. Well, that and the full time job of being a parent. But he still overworked himself sometimes.

He let out a resigned sigh, as he smirked lightly. "I guess I do" He spoke softly. He had only realized recently they needed to slow down, for the sake of their kids. But... It seemed that Izumi had been ready for this for some time. She had just respectfully waited for him to feel the same. He supposed it was time for them to settle down in one place, and diver their attention to... Well... Being a family.

Yes, he supposed he'd like that very much.

Izumi would motion upwards, and he would look up to see the stars come out. He smiled gently. "Beautiful" He spoke softly. "Though... Not so much as you" He then teased, with a small smirk.

“Oh, you tease me,” she replied with a grin, crinkling her eyebrows in his direction as he turned to look at her. While it wasn’t that common for married couples to go out on dates anymore because either one or both parents were working, they still managed to find time between their kids and all that.

“Honestly? Best decision ever, moving back here. Right where it all began, don’t you think?” she muttered a few moments later, scooting over closer to him and sharing his body warmth. “You flatter me so much,” she added afterward, her cheeks turning a nice shade of red.

Either way, she was getting flustered.

“Do you… want to head back now? Or would you want to stay out some more and enjoy this private time we have before we go back home?” she asked after letting some silence pass between them. The wind was nice and nippy, the stars had come out in the night sky, and here they were, dancing on the ice to a quiet tune that only they could hear.

"Not a lie, though" he teased again as he held her against him, placing another peck on her forehead before tapping his nose to hers with a playful smile. She brought up that it had been a good decision for them to move here, and he nodded his head. "Agreed" he spoke up. Where it all began, indeed. There wasn't a better place to decide to finally move in together full time. They were getting older and it was getting to be about time to settle, anyhow. Their world-travelling days were basically over. Now that those who had gone after their family were starting to disappear, it was time to focus on said family.

Izumi asked if he wanted to head home, and he shrugged his shoulders. "Up to you. I'm happy either way, honey. I don't mind if you want to stick around a bit longer, steal a bit more time, just you and I" he spoke softly.

"Crazy to think we're parents now, though. We've come a long way."