His breath is measured and hot as his eyes go unfocused and he leans in to press warm kisses to the column of Alex’s neck.

“It doesn’t matter,” he says, finding the pulse at his throat and dragging his tongue across it. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

And it doesn’t.

“Please. Just tell me what to do.”

[attr="class","mintag"] Alexei Ivanov

Their situations reversed with such rapid speed that Memo felt dizzy. He imagined their little scene spinning out like a scene transition on old episodes of Batman.

“Hey.” He reached up and scrubbed at Alex’s arms, as though to rub the warmth back into him. “You’re okay. We’re right here. We’re safe.”

It was the same thing Alex had been telling him all night. He exhaled, long and slow, realizing. The heavy truth settled in his gut.

“We’re both going to be okay.”

[attr="class","mintag"] Alexei Ivanov

“You’re okay,” Memo told Alex, hearing him bellyache over the heat and trying not to get distracted by the gleam of his skin and the weight of his presence and-- focus, Marcelino. “Though maybe we should have brought sunscreen? Be careful not to get burned.” By the sun or the lava, he supposed.

Alex swapped his Pokemon and the Garchomp eagerly dove into the work, tossing aside clumps of dirt and stone. It was a bit slow, though, so he released his Numel. “Tumsi, use earth power, please,” he requested, and the little camel yawned and bobbed her head.

The ground beneath them began to tremble and shake. Fissures broke open and sharp points of rock erupted, stabbing up into the sky. It rings something true in him, something deep in his soul, that he is here to interrupt the bright, startling order of his mountain; to rearrange it into something that benefits him.

“There. Piece of cake,” he says, setting a palm on Tumsi’s head to congratulate her on a job well done. “What’s next?”

---

ground type moves totaling 160 power - tumsi the numel uses earth power (power of 90) !

wearing

Alexei Ivanov

☉