Was he getting separation anxiety because of the missing Wignull floatie?

(For lack of a better word: yes!)

Either way, he now hung onto the remaining Wingull floatie like a dice-obsessed gremlin, determined not to lose it because if and when both were irretrievably lost… then he would be doomed.

Doomed to dive, again, without any kind of support…

“Where can it be?!” he whined as he slowly, begrudgingly took another dip into the churning waves for today.

“How many times—” he trailed off, embarrassed look on his face giving it away.

“You can call me Alex! And ‘Mr’ makes me feel way older than I already am, so… yeah. Or did you forget what I taught you about not talking like a royal when you’re around friends?”

There was this unreadable look on his face after he said those words. Anyway…

“You know, since you brought your own Noivern, it’s only fair I do the course with mine, too. Oh, have I told you?”

Unable to resist, he then led the way towards the outdoor arena behind the building, narrating the entire shebang of how Isaac Merlo had brought a Golurk for his non-trad challenge attempt and all the obstacles having to be blown up to excessively-huge sizes to accommodate the insanity.

“Oh, man, and don’t get me started on how the little Josh did with his challenge. It was… do you want to see the highlight reel?”

(Love you fam Josh Devlin!)

The moment he saw the Chatot, this unreadable grin flashed across his face—while he knew that his partner had a Chatot of his own (and was hilariously named… Frollo, of all things) and he had his own bitchy Chatot as well (unfortunately the Toucannon Armada™ really took the cake) this one had the balls to claim they were the best.

Really now?

“Hmm…” he thought, looking up at his now-calm passenger. “Well, do you want to tell them anything?”

“Get me a Skitty balloon!” she began, petulant frown on her face. “I’ll know where they are when they get me that balloon! And it can’t just be the normal pink Skitty, it’s gotta be the shiny version of Skitty!”

Oh, dear deer. Did he have a brat on his hands?!

He couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You know, giving the Chatot some help would be nice, too,” he gently chided her, watching as her face turned red before babbling off what her parents looked like, all embarrassed.

‘That stupid Shuckle shirt’ took the cake, though.

The other Wignull floatie was still nowhere to be found.

He was in ‘righteous panic’ mode at this point. How was he going to go diving if he only had one floatie and not two?! Wouldn’t the other plastic Wingull get lonely?!

Anyway…

“Help me find the other floatie later, please?” he begged his boyfriend partner as he took a nervous look at the churning surf—and decided to dive down even if he only had one floatie on his arm remaining.

What would he retrieve today, he wondered.

“One sec,” he went on as he then began rummaging through his jacket, trying to remember which pocket he put the recently-purchased CD in.

(Yes, even in this day and age where digital streaming was the norm, it didn’t hurt to release physical copies of an album, right? For the collectors?)

“Aha, found it,” he remarked as he pulled out a thin package—a disc featuring his current companion’s latest music release.

“You have… no idea how long I had to wait in line for this. I had to get the special edition, because it’s for my boyfriend’s birthday on the twenty-sixth—”

Okay, Alex, you’re rambling again!

“Can you make the dedication to Memo?” he continued; this hot blush rising on his face.

His gift to his boyfriend last year was that magical word, now he was hoping to at least top or make this year’s birthday better than the last.

(But then again, how could you top a birthday present where you agreed to be his partner for life?!)

(Earlier in the day.)

The moment he saw the next name on the challenger’s lineup, he had an inkling this was also going to be one for the history books.

What made him even more excited for this was that she’d chosen the—

“Yes!” he cheered to himself quietly as he gathered the staff that weren’t too busy to have them get the course outside set up.

---

He’d already seen the arrival of the Noivern on the CCTV cameras, and knew that he was going to ride Fenrir for this—he would just have to give her the tour towards the outside.

“Hello Miss Elise,” he began as he met her right at the entrance and unable to conceal his excitement. “You have no idea how hype I am to receive your challenge today.”

(Much as he wanted to mention that Amor Rose had come by previously for a badge challenge, he decided not to—at least for the moment. Manners, and all.)

“So obviously you’re bringing Minerva for today, right?”

Thankfully, his ‘companion for the day’ wasn’t being too snivelly when a familiar voice joined him—

“Fancy seeing you around here,” he greeted the other blonde who’d joined them. “Actually, yeah—I found her not too far from here and she was alone, so we’re on the lookout for her parents.”

The child then leaned over to look at their companion curiously before returning their attention to peering over the crowd in order to find her parents.

“Hopefully we can find them, and soon. I mean, have you seen the crowd that came out to enjoy the rides today?!” he exclaimed as he tilted his own head to gesture at how there were so many people around this particular day.

(Fear of missing out, for one thing.)

He couldn’t believe it.

Hoping that the other knew what they were really and truly getting themselves into, he’d sealed himself in the kitchen for a few hours (days, really) baking the cutest-looking macarons he could ever conjure up—

For they were decorated with Natu on the face of it! (Well, Natu and Xatu even though the Xatu stare really creeped him out on so many levels.)

Though he had no idea what flavor the other would like when it came to desserts, he decided to err on the side of caution and made a mix of flavors; making sure to top out the icing on the faces of the avianid Pokémon macarons once he was done.

(Oh, and there was a Pidove-decorated macaron in the middle of the box for good measure.)

He had no idea what the other’s theme was going to be since it was so hush-hush, however one Teleport express later and he was at Lilycove, his second most-favorite city.

Obviously Fortree was the first but shh.

And now, time to look for Lam’s new digs, so to speak, with box of macarons in hand!

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Wow. Josh, a rider—actually passing on an attraction that involved riding, even in theory, a mechanical Tauros?

(If it were a Bouffalant, would the other man change his mind, though?)

“I—I never thought I’d hear you say that, you? Passing on a riding game?” he blinked.

Just as a joke, he threw the next lines, “Who are you and what have you done with Josh Devlin?” before breaking into a fit of laughter.

Right then and there the carousel sped up—but to him it was nothing, he’d cruised at higher altitudes than this, and on actual ridable avianid Pokémon with no saddle whatsoever!

He looked almost lazy, even.

Hm, would he hit the Dugtrio Ring toss booth when they got off the ride next?

(Who knows if his cursed luck with carnival attractions would continue…)

---

prompt: reference a Dugtrio ring toss game.

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From his comfortable perch, he had to do a take-two when he realized just where the other had chosen to ride. Wasn’t that the… huh. Unless he was seeing things, two of the ‘ridable’ Pokémon on the carousel resembled the ones that were sighted out on—

He had to fight down the momentary wave of panic that rose up his gut; forcing himself to take a deep breath before hanging onto his perch like it was nothing.

“Obviously,” he remarked with a knowing smirk. “I have several, too, however they’re all the way at the Sanctuary grounds because I can’t move the aviaries out of there, it’s too much trouble,” he cackled.

(Hello, Toucannon Sam.)

And then he realized—

“Have you gone to that booth? The Taurus rodeo?”

It didn’t hurt to ask!

---

prompt: reference a Taurus rodeo game.