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Most people knew how much of a scourge seagulls could be, especially when encountered by the seaside.

However, Mike was a different level altogether.

Since this particular Pelipper had grown up surrounded by verdant nature as well as being touched by a splash of urban, the dual-type Pokémon didn’t spare any expense—especially when it came to dive-bombing for stray food that was left out!

Today just happened to be the day Alexei had left a picnic basket’s worth of food unattended by pure accident when he’d remembered that he’d forgotten to bring the drinks along, and therefore made a mad rush back to pick up the container of drinks he’d accidentally forgotten.

By the time he’d made it back outside with the drinks in tow, most of the container of sandwiches was empty. Only the container itself remained, along with a remorseless Pelipper perched on one of the nearby trees, belching up crumpled pieces of tissue wrapping.

“MIKE!”

He always wondered why Mike was… horrified whenever female Pelipper came by. Was there something that the male seagull didn’t like about them?

The realization didn’t hit him until the time that angelo vestri had sent over a Pelipper to keep Mike company did he realize just exactly what the hell was up—

Was Mike just like him?

Finding solace in those that were of the same gender as he was…

The loud shrieking noise from one of the trees made him look around—there it was.

Both of the obviously, painfully male Pelipper were building a nest in one of the trees, alternating and bringing in straw and whatever else fallen branches in order to make their little ‘nest’ of comfort.

A smirk then crossed his face as he whipped out his phone with his left hand and sneakily took a video of the two male Pelipper alternating, bringing up pieces of wood and straw to make a nest before cutting the video and sending the clip to Angelo.

‘I think there’s something up,’ was the only caption the video had before he sent it to the pilot.

Okay so there was something definitely up.

Now that the first two Pelipper had built their ‘love nest’ in one of the taller trees that dotted the Sanctuary grounds, he was—kind of alarmed.

Because there was a third Pelipper right now, and it also looked like this one was male as well!

“Oh, no,” was all he could say because holy crap, there would definitely be some kind of ‘seagull war’ if the three decided to have a royal rumble—or worse, a battle royale in the air.

And he knew how much of a capricious little shit Mike was…

“Mike! I’m trusting you to keep the peace!” he called out as he watched the other two Pelipper sizing themselves up; it looked like things were going to get… nasty.

What the hell.

Was this some kind of a ‘Romeo and Benvolio’ kind of thing?!

“What?”

The little jingling of the crown that was now permanently askew on William’s head alerted him that one of the troublemakers was headed his way.

“Baa,” the conceited Wooloo said his way, shaking his head.

“Why are you shaking your head at me?” he asked, blinking and wondering what the fresh hell the very faded pastel-colored Wooloo wanted to imply. Or say.

Understanding PokéSpeak was hard, okay?!

“Baa!”

“Oh, come on, Will! You know I can’t understand your strange language!”

Right then and there, another soft ‘thump’ing noise caught his attention—it was Smokey, the more sensible of the two.

“Where’s the little troublemaker?”

“Baa,” this time from the still sparkling, galaxy-coated black Wooloo.

“What, don’t tell me—” he stammered, his eyes looking around quickly, wondering if the small one was slumbering by the gigantic repurposed cat towers where his Eeveelution armada frequently slept…

“Baa?”

This time the high-pitched squeaking noise came from the smallest—aww, there she was!

“Geez, you two. Don’t scare me like that. What the hell.”

Now that there were… four Wooloo around, it was time to wrap his comprehension around the situation.

Normally Alexei was known as ‘that crazy Pikipek guy’ in the collector’s circles, but… well, apparently his obsessive collection started to spread beyond the borders of avians because, well, he now had four Wooloo.

Was he going to be stopping anytime soon?

Definitely not.

Whose fault was it?

(Definitely William’s.)

The shiny Wooloo could only groan—what was happening, why were there more idiots around compared to last time? At least the newest member of the ‘herd’ wasn’t as dumb as William!

“Baa?” the newest Wooloo bleated, preferring to trot around rather than roll—as they all did.

“Baa!”

The single bleating noise shattered the silence as the newest Wooloo child, bless him, came trotting out from behind the sofa.

Normally, most of the Wooloo that called the Sanctuary home were either shit heads (or worse), however this little guy was proving everything wrong in so many ways.

Of course, Smokey, the shiny Wooloo had noticed that this kid had a sensible head on their shoulders. Well, well, at least someone else was willing to step up to the plate and take respon—

“BAA!”

The loud, conceited bleating of William shattered Smokey’s train of thought, and boy that was enough to make the shiny Wooloo roll his eyes at his partner the moment the jingling crown made its entrance.

“Baa?” the new Wooloo kid inquired, extremely confused at the sight of the crown. What—what did that mean…?

Who knew that having so many Pelipper would come in fucking handy some day?!

At least—that was what had gone down pretty recently at the Lilycove Fish Market. So many loud, raucous avians causing nothing but pain for the fish vendors, and he’d recently returned with the herd of his own Pelipper that had helped to (temporarily) fend off the aerial menaces that threatened the stall owners on a daily basis.

But the problem was…

He had a bad feeling they were going to return…

“Really, Mike? That’s all you can think of?” he deadpanned as he stared up at the self-proclaimed ‘Commander in Chief of the Shitsquawk Brigade’, hilariously coined by Guillermo Marceliño himself.

All he got was a loud squawking noise in response.

“Oy.”

“Now listen to me, you two.”

Today… well, what was it with him adopting more and more mcfucking Wooloo?! It was like… like some of the other farms around Fortree knew that there was someone willing to take the wayward sheepies in, and hilariously they all kept getting pointed towards the Sanctuary.

“Will. You’ve got to man up!”

‘Baa!’ the shiny Wooloo nodded, while the Wooloo with the crown… just rolled his fucking eyes!

“William!” he barked, and the other Wooloo blushed, embarrassed that he’d been caught in the middle of the act.

“Smokey has never been so disappointed with you…”

‘Baa…’ the black Wooloo grumbled, giving his partner another ear nip.

He knew that his boyfriend had so many questions about—about the djinni.

However they still hadn’t found time to actually properly sit down and talk about it, but then again…

He’d actually snuck out of bed one evening, in the dead of night—like, close to three in the morning dead of night—and crept out towards the open-air ‘arena’ of the gym proper.

Rummaging around for the lone Cherish Ball he carted the dedushka around on, he popped it open, watching as the brief flash of red light materialized into the Wandering Stormbringer himself, who stretched and flexed his arms upon release from the confines of the little container.

“I… I know. Beings like you aren’t supposed to be kept under lock and key… well, in this case in a small Pokéball because of the power you possess…” he began as the Tornadus began to circle around him quietly, like a thief in the night while he was… having a little monologue.

“I wanted to thank you for the help back at Littleroot, because… if you weren’t around then shit would’ve gotten a lot worse. And…”

He stopped, at a loss for words.

That was unusual, him? Out of words?

“I know your… the other you mentioned that these were of little consequence, but.”

He rummaged around his neck, pulling something out from under the shirt he wore to sleep—revealing one of the feathers he kept strung up alongside the bird whistle and running his fingers along the length.

“What do you think of it?”

“I know you’re not that talkative, but.”

He continued to look at the Wandering Stormbringer, wondering if the other could really understand human speech.

(Admittedly he’d gotten a little spoiled by the other Tornadus who talked to him previously.)

“H-honestly, I’m a-afraid. Afraid… of so many things.”

Was it alright, to speak his mind? So openly, with the small piece that was travelling with him?

“Afraid of… of losing him. I-I mean, you saw him, r-right? Like… like the life’s being drained out of him. I-I… I don’t want… how should I even say this?”

He then pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I don’t want him risking everything just to protect me! I can protect myself j-just fine!”

“Am… am I wrong, though?”

He was out in the middle of the night again, at the open-air arena. The wandering Stormbringer had taken to circling around the place, like he was a guard or something.

“Am I wrong for being afraid… am I wrong for being terrified for his life?” he mused quietly as the purple-and-green blur continued to wander around, listening to what he had to say.

“I know… I know he can stand up for himself, but there’s… there’s always that single fear that. Something… something bad might happen… you know?”

It was a shame that legendary Pokémon—well, the one in front of him at least, couldn’t mega evolve… to be fair, they were already powerful enough in their own right.

Another sleepless night had come, and here he was again, out on the open-air arena watching the Wandering Stormbringer circle around the perimeter.

“It’s like… I don’t know,” he mused as he laid down flat on the arena grounds, staring up into the starless evening sky.

“I know he can fight, but fuck, I’m kidding if I said I’m not scared for him as well, the way he drops everything to protect me…”

He continued to stare up at the inky blackness, the silent whooshing noise the indication that the Stormbringer was there, circling the area.

“But I want to protect him, too. What can’t he understand about that? I can stand on my own two feet, too. I want… I want to return the favor. He’s literally bent over so far back for me I’m just…”

A quiet sigh escaped him.