[attr="class","rosepost"]She pinched the bridge of her nose. Her Pelipper was her longest companion and also the most obnoxious. Slowking was a new member of her team and an important one because of the wide variety of moves he could learn with technical machines. "Strategy, Pelipper. You can't do the same thing over and over again."[break][break]

It didn't help that she felt a hard deadline approaching - though when it was exactly was vague. She just felt a ticking clock about the strength of her team. She needed to be able to protect herself; Hoenn had proved to be a much different beast than Sinnoh. She felt her own patience wearing thin like Slowking's, who was annoyed with Pelipper's repeated supersonic and used disable. [break][break]

Pelipper cawed in upset and betrayal. "You guys, we have to work harder," she tried, but neither pokemon was as interested in her direction as they were with one-upping the other.

[break][break]Josh Devlin [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]Sylveon scurried ahead, sensing something. She slowed in her pace to watch as Sylveon tasted the air. [break][break]

A brutal swing came from out of nowhere, a striking limb attached to a tall fairy. Sylveon barely dodged out of the way, kicking up a sand attack as he found new footing. He faced the Hatterne and growled. It prepared a brutal swing again, but Sylveon used copy cat to strike the Hatterne with the same attack. Hatterne startled at the sudden turn of battle, and it's pause gave Keiko the window she needed. She tossed a pokeball to capture it.

[break][break](catch)

[attr="class","rosepost"]'I'm already stuck in the past, I don't want to be stuck in the future too.' Poignant. He had these brilliant moments of self-reflection that seemed to conflict with his naive perseverance, but it still suited him. These little fragments that became the mosaic of Rex, and she could see him for all his parts if she just looked a little longer. [break][break]

Like he was. He was red like magikarp, and she let the moment hang between them like a morning dewdrop on a heavy blade of grass. "I like that: living in the moment." She closed the distance between them, easy enough with how stunned he was, and brought a hand to his chin, forcing him to look her in the eye. [break][break]

"This moment is precious." She kissed his nose. "And this one." She kissed his cheek. And she leaned in, teasing at his mouth, but she didn't press her lips against him. "And why don't we visit the Pinap palms and see if there's a precious moment there, hm?" She dragged him along, clothes roughly folded on her arm but forgotten just as quickly, dropped at the border between sand and grassy growths. [break][break]

She leaned him against the tree, kissing from his jaw to his ear. "Why don't you keep track of time for me?" She dipped her mouth lower.

[break][break]Althus Rex [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]His question struck her as a little insane, really. "How do you not?" In Sinnoh, just about everyone kept one eye forward and one on the past, mindful of how history repeated. Mindful of the rhythm of Almighty Sinnoh's life and will pulsing through reality.[break][break]

"Time is a privilege," she explained as she joined him out of the waves. She took her blouse off, though it was a bit of a fight as the neck of her top caught on her hair pin. "Being wasteful of it is, well, kind of sinful?" Sin wasn't perhaps the best word, but it was such an understood topic where she was from that she had a hard time articulating some of the tenets of her faith. Absorbed in her task, she let the blouse fall and took a moment to pull out her pins fully, letting her hair down for the first time in a few days. [break][break]

She continued undressing as she spoke, looking off at the sea as if the right vocabulary would swim right up to her. "It - you just have to plan ahead, y'know? Scrambling for your next step is terrible. In most situations, but in this one specifically, of course." She bent to gather all of her shed clothing, feeling at the fabric to estimate how long they'd need to be laid in the sun. [break][break]

"It scares me sometimes, how little I see everyone else plan. But, to be fair, you're very focused. Very present." She finally turned to him.

[break][break]Althus Rex [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]Like vulnerability was a competition between them, he insisted he needed her even more than she needed him. She nearly laughed, but then he was kissing her, and she kept him close with the hand tangled in his hair. [break][break]

Even still, untamed guilt gnawed at her at the insistence. She couldn't speak to anything off of the island. Who knew who they would each be when they were free? She needed him now, but she wouldn't need him after the island. She would only want him. And if he really needed her afterwards, she feared the consequences. The responsibility of being needed. [break][break]

The metaphor was lost to her now, but there was something to be said about the lines of survival or compromise or lying. It all looked to the same to her from the sea. "I'm with you," she says instead of anything truly incriminating. "Now, let me take care of you." She dips her head in for one final taste of sea salt before nudging him towards the shore. "If you get an infection, I'm never letting you live it down." Doctor's orders, and all that. [break][break]

"And now we'll need to lay these clothes out to dry but get you somewhere where we reduce the risk of sand getting into the wound - that'll make for improper healing, and we'll have to..." She rattles off their next steps, thinking several steps ahead while staying in the safety of the confines of the island. What happens after, she can't face just yet.

[break][break]Althus Rex [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]Keiko stretched her arms over head. Sylveon lifted his head up in his best mimicry as they walked. The sun shined pleasantly, even if the air was crisp because of the elevation. It was a pleasant walk, and she had no mail to deliver this time. No, her goal was different. She was seeking new pokemon.

[break][break](fairy incense used)

[attr="class","rosepost"]Togepi was a souvenir of that event? So, he punished himself every day for surviving. Reminded himself constantly of what was lost. It was sick. How could you heal if you held open your bleeding wounds? [break][break]

She pulled him in close, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to keep him in a vice grip. She brought a hand up to his hair to bring his head ever closer. For a moment, she was at a loss for words. She wanted him to leave the Togepi behind and stop carrying the death of his neighbor like a shadow, to stop strengthening the pokemon like a living apology. But that, too, was selfish. That for all she saw it as self-deprecating behavior, it was his coping mechanism, and losing the Togepi would be like losing his neighbor all over again. That was clear. [break][break]

But she hated the knowledge that Togepi was his penance. She would ask Almighty Sinnoh for guidance the next time she convened with Her spirit. [break][break]

"If it were you who died, I would be lost on this island. Dead, maybe." Not the comforting words he thought he needed, but what she wanted to say about time healing all wounds would've fallen flatter than it had the first time. He would not appreciate her faith, but he might appreciate her selfish, human honesty. "I'm glad you're here with me. I... I need you."

[break][break]Althus Rex [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]He was insistent. But she didn't want him to feel like he owed her some debt. Worse still, as he prodded her for a question, Littleroot sat at the tip of her tongue. She wanted more information about the sighting of Almighty Sinnoh, but to demand a retelling of what was clearly his greatest trauma for her personal benefit was beyond horrific. [break][break]

She screwed her eyes shut. Who was she, if she could even think of it? [break][break]

She knows she needs to ask something, time ticks away, but she blurts out a question without it fully forming in her mind: "How did you meet Togepi?" Well, she could've done worse on the spot. [break][break]

"That's your oldest partner, right?" Maybe it wasn't. "Why Togepi?" They were weak, largely defenseless pokemon. His was particularly capable, but most didn't regard those pokemon with any special care until they were Togetic. As Togekiss, they were the most comfortable fliers for the elderly and for children, making them staples in hospitality and medical industries where either protected demographic needed service.

[break][break]Althus Rex [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]"Right!" The Zoroark was brave for facing down such a powerful beast without flinching. It suited Yvaine, though Keiko didn't think that kind of commentary would be appreciated right now. She settled for obeying the instruction. [break][break]

"Give it all you got!" Sylveon huffed and generated a fairy wind. It seemed a gentle breeze at first, but the energy generated in the attack picked up speed as it passed them, hitting a fever pitch as it struck the Dragapult and knocked her off her feet. "That was a good hit," she complimented Sylveon. The dragon rolled over into the ground, leaving the two Drakloak to close in on them. They sought retribution for the mama Dragapult, no doubt. [break][break]

Sylveon looked at the intimidating Drakloak with baby doll eyes to lower the attacking power of the encroaching dragons.

[break][break]Yvaine Varron [break]