[attr="class","merkI"]
It was way too hot outside. She could only take the heat so long before it was really starting to get to her. Her tent wasn't keeping her cool nearly as well as she would have liked. This heatwave truly was something else. Used to Galarian weather, this was practically a nightmare.

With a heavy sigh, she finally managed to pack everything up and finish the short trek to the beach to hopefully cool down along the water's edge. However, she was quite surprised to find a rather familiar face. Alexei was standing on the ground next to a rather large Gyarados, with some other pokemon she couldn't truly tell what it was from this distance. Eager for familiar company, Ruby quickly waved rather excitedly before making her way down the beach until she eventually arrived to speak with Alexei.

"Hey!" She called out, smiling ear to ear at the man. "You can't just show up out of nowhere, and not tell me, you know." Of course, she had a soft, teasing smile on her face, eventually breaking down into a few soft chuckles before rolling her eyes and looking back at him. "What are you doing down here, anyway? Trying to cool off as well, huh?"

However, Ruby's eyes couldn't help but glance over the strange pokemon that he had with him. Even from this distance, she didn't have a clue what it was. Probably some water pokemon, given its coloration, but she truly had no idea. "Is that... And what kind of Pokemon is that, Alexei?"

Notes: N/A

There were some people who were curious at what was happening due to the appearance of a ‘corridor’ of rainy weather despite the heat—it wasn’t until he started calling out for anyone and everyone who wanted to cool down their Pokémon did they get the idea that they could go for a walk through the area where the concentrated efforts of the Rain Dance was a good idea to cool down from the terrible weather.

“Hera. Hera!” he chastised the Gyarados as one of her beady eyes began following a young kid’s Psyduck who was making all loud manner of quacking noises. “No scaring the kids,” he added a few moments later, and the dual-type gave out a huffy sigh before returning its concentration to the Rain Dance ‘corridor’.

Soon people were coming by in droves, letting their Pokémon (and in some cases, themselves) walk through the area to cool them down. It wasn’t until much later did he hear a familiar voice. He turned around to find none other than Miss Ruby joining him.

“Well, this was all of a sudden, so,” he explained, scratching the back of his head. “You know. Keep the heat wave away, cool people and Pokémon down while we’re at it—“ he continued before he saw the little troublemaker, the Phione, make a beeline straight toward Ruby.

And of course, what was she known for?

Face-hugging!

The Phione didn’t give two shits at Alexei’s alarmed expression as she floated over, bringing her Rain Dance along with her and going right for Ruby’s face in an attempt to squish her in a hug!

---

for the heat wave mission!

[attr="class","merkI"]
It seemed he was making little pockets of rain all over. A rather charming act, she had to admit. Everyone could use some water today to keep them from being fried like barbeque. With a quiet chuckle, Ruby didn't even have time to summon some of her own pokemon to attempt to help beat the heat with, before a pokemon suddenly slammed straight into her face, and bringing the rain with it.

Ruby gasped, falling back into the ground. And yet, she couldn't help but laugh as she got absolutely soaked. The creature was hugging her, and that was just downright adorable. Whatever it was, it was downright precious. She giggled quietly, reaching up to attempt to gently hug the pokemon back in response, carefully attempting to pry them away from her face so she could hold the pokemon in her own hands. "Well, aren't you a cutie."

With a quiet laugh, Ruby suddenly sent out her Pokemon to play in the rain, only to realize that she was bringing along the slow-crew for today. Both Slowbros, Slowking, and her Slowpoke were all sent out. As well as Whisper the Hatterene, who quickly vacated the rain lest her hair gets ruined from it. However, Ghost the Sobble was quick to climb up her back, perching over her shoulder as it nervously blinked at everything. The slow-crew, for the most part, seemed to just lazily stand still, soaking in the rain. Except for Slowking, who seemed to curiously look over the strange pokemon that had hugged Ruby as well.

Slowly walking over towards Alexei, and theoretically continuing to bring the rain with her assuming it stuck to the strange Pokemon, Ruby would laugh as her entire body just slowly got drenched. "Well, gotta admit, I don't know who this is, but they are downright precious. Where did you find them?"

Notes: N/A

The only thing Alexei could do was stare in silent horror at what the troublemaker was up to—unlike most of his companions that could use Rain Dance at a safe distance, she had absolutely no control over her application and therefore wherever she went, the danged rain clouds followed.

Without fail.

The look of shock on his face was replaced with a bemused one as all manner of Slowpoke started emerging from Ruby’s pockets—well, that was a Slowpoke, a Slowbro (he thinks), a Slow…king, and what appeared to be a Slowbro but with the arm all chomped on instead of the tail?

The only other Pokémon he recognized was Whisper (who had evacuated from the rain clouds) and a Sobble that was now hanging around nervously—and then he realized what was about to happen when she came closer, holding the cheeky little troublemaker in her hands (who looked like she gave absolutely no shits at all about bringing the rain clouds over them), clapping rather happily.

“That’s… a very long story,” he began with an embarrassed chuckle as he felt his clothes starting to get soaked the longer they stood under the pouring ‘rain’. Well, he did need to cool down a bit, too. Looking over to where the other ‘rain corridors’ were, he could hear shouting, children squealing and Pokémon chasing after them as they dashed through the pockets of controlled weather.

“It involves the Shoal Cave. Would you—would you like to know more?” he inquired, hoping that he wasn’t going to bore her with a very long story.

---

for the heat wave mission!

[attr="class","merkI"]
Even as the rain cloud moved, it seemed that most of her slow pokemon didn't even seem to notice. They were idly standing around, slowly looking around as if they weren't even sure what they were looking at, or that the water was vanishing. Her Slowking certainly seemed more intrigued by the strange pokemon, however, walking alongside her. And honestly, she couldn't blame them. He was a very bright pokemon, curiosity was second nature to them.

Ruby's eyes examined his face as he spoke, or at least attempted to with her glasses getting soaked and covered in water. With a quiet laugh, considering she couldn't see anyways, Ruby slid her glasses onto the top of her face as she finally responded. "Well, I like stories, you know! Besides, it's not as if I have anywhere to be right now. I just came down here to try and cool down at the beach, you know?"

Suddenly, it seemed a small commotion began behind her back with her other pokemon. One of the Slowbro's realized the rain has gone, and with a quick dance, set up its own Rain Dance, causing the other Slowbro and the Slowpoke to surprisingly cry out in cheer. Ruby simply rolled her eyes at their antics. What a bunch of troublemakers. She couldn't wait until the Slowpoke itself evolved into a Slowking from home, but these things took time.

Turning back to Alexei, blinking away through the rain, she carefully attempted to pass off the clapping cutie back to him. "Honestly, I've never been to Shoal Cave yet. Is it as pretty as it sounds?"

Notes: N/A

The Phione had never been more proud of the shit she’d done.

Alexei, on the other hand, was up to his eyeballs with her antics—this was exactly the reason why he kept her in her Dive Ball as much as possible! Looking over his shoulder to watch Ruby’s herd of Slowpoke cry out because the rain was gone, he chuckled as another Rain Dance drenched them again—why couldn’t things be as simple as this?!

Anyway…

Turning back to face her, he then shoved the wet hair that was threatening to cover his eyes out of his face, slicking it back amidst the downpour.

“Zelle, get back over here,” and with that he calmly retrieved the Phione before giving it a light bonking gesture atop its head. “What did I tell you about the face-hugging?” he tried to scold—but she was way too cheerful for this shit.

Sighing, he then let her float around them, thoroughly drenching them from head to toe. Ah, drying his clothes out would be hell later.

“Well… there were stories about an egg being spotted down in Shoal Cave, so me and another person went down to check it out. We were chased around by a flock of annoying Golbat, and almost brought one part of the cave system down because we were literally… swarmed by a crapton of Golbat,” he recounted, shuddering at the mention of the seemingly near-endless Golbat horde.

“Well, after that we found this one area of Shoal Cave that extended into the darkness… and there we found her egg. We talked about who would raise her, and I actually volunteered to do it myself. Now look what it got me. A troublemaker disguised as an angel,” he added with a chuckle.

---

for the heat wave mission!

[attr="class","merkI"]
Zelle. What an interesting name. However, even she couldn't help but laugh quietly at his attempt to scold the thing for simply showing affection. It was too precious to really even be mad about. Even despite the rain overhead, Ruby was patient and listened to his entire story.

A strange egg being spotted in Shoal Cave, prompting their entire investigation. That alone obviously had Ruby's entire attention, leaning in a bit closer. Partially to see him better, with her glasses off. That said, it made it seem like this was not only an incredibly rare pokemon but certainly a special one as well. However, it also was a reminder that Alexei had certainly gone on many interesting adventures of his own, potentially dangerous ones too. She supposed that only made sense, even if it was a bit shocking.

When he finally finished, Ruby simply smiled softly and glanced over at Zelle. It was no time to break out her Pokedex, with the rain all around them, but she certainly was going to try at some point in the future. "Well, I think they're quite cute! I mean, trust me, I'm used to raising troublesome pokemon." Almost as if on cue, Whisper glanced over at her trainer from her safe, dry space. Only to casually smirk and turn away once more.

"Well, do you mind if I help with the whole rain thing? I don't uh... know how well they'll do since I'm still training them myself, but they all have water-type moves! Would you believe that the Slowbro back from the Galar region is actually poison type too? Anyways, just tell me how to help, and I'll attempt to direct them!" A bit shy, and yet eager to also help, the Sobble on her shoulder gave a bit of a nervous grin up at Alexei.

Notes: N/A

“By all means, more help is welcome!” he enthused, and before long more and more people were coming over to take a sprint, or a stroll through the ‘rain corridors’ in order to cool down before heading to the beach proper.

“Just find a spot and have your companions use Rain Dance. The people will follow,” he explained as he pointed over to the corridor that was maintained by the Swanna and the Pelipper—there was a rather large flock of kids running through the ‘rain’, screaming and giggling all the while accompanied by their Pokémon.

As for the Phione? All he did was give it a light bonk atop the head.

“Zelle, cool it, we’re getting soaked,” he chuckled and the Phione pouted for a few moments, before concentrating and making the rain stop completely around them. Now the Phione had a cross look on her face, but all she did was huff before settling herself in his hair.

“…and she likes hiding up there, I have no idea why,” he added a few moments later with an embarrassed chuckle as he attempted to shake out the water from his clothes.

What a mess!

---

for the heat wave mission!

[attr="class","merkI"]
Ruby couldn't help but smile as she watched some of the kids running through the rain. It was honestly quite precious. Granted, she couldn't see the finer details and everything was intensely blurry, but she could tell from all the giggling that they were having fun.

As Zelle eventually canceled her own rain, Ruby was quick to give a smile and dig into her backpack for a simple towel to dry off her glasses. After she could finally see well again, she glanced up at Alexei with the pokemon in his hair and quickly laughed. Well, that was definitely a precious sight to see.

Turning around, Ruby called out to her Pokemon. "Alright, you guys! Go and make some kids' days!" However... they didn't respond. The two Slowbros and the Slowpoke were so slow, they'd probably hear her in several minutes. With a sigh, she reached over and motioned for her Sobble to climb onto Slowkings shoulders. "Okay then, you two. Go have fun, alright?"

The two grin, nodding both their heads as they set off. Ghost the Sobble quickly using Rain Dance as they walked off across the beach. More than knowledgeable about how to interact with people, her Slowking was quick to draw a small crowd of kids who were seemingly playing with squirt guns and wanted the two to join in. The Sobble was simply too shy, hiding behind the crown, but Slowking was certainly enjoying it. Luckily, he didn't know any super powerful water moves like Hydro Pump, but Water Gun would certainly suffice for this little game.

Only after some time had passed did the Slowbros collectively react to Ruby's shout at the same time, slowly waddling off. She couldn't help but grin, shaking her head. Today was going to be an interesting day.

Notes: N/A