The Kantonian Gym Trainers on Ula'Ula Island absolutely LOVE Green. And Red loves Green, too- that's something that they just so happen to have in common.
[Established relationship, set in Alola. Domestic hijinks and fluff- but has use of strong language/cursing in passing!]
“There’s all the Choice stuff down there, too.” Green had been babbling for about half an hour now about the contents of the Battle Point exchange shop down at the Tree’s base, informing Red of its contents with piqued interest as if the two of them weren’t the ones who placed the very orders to stock it a few weeks prior. “I’m thinking of picking up an extra Band for Aerodactyl. He always seems to wear through them as soon as he gets them, the little bastard.”
The Pokémon in question was far from little, and actually one of Green’s favorites, but Red tactfully chose to refrain from correcting that. In fact, he hardly participated in the conversation at all, having mentally checked out of it about twenty minutes ago; he and Green had the rest of their lives to share in their mutual passion for battle strategy, so he was confident that whatever he was missing now would be regurgitated in multiple conversations throughout the next few days anyways. Green liked to talk in circles after all- he did more than enough talking for the both of them, and Red wouldn’t have him any other way. It was a trait of his former rival’s that he’d always found incredibly stupidly endearing, all the way from the moment it first become apparent that Red was a particularly quiet child.
So instead of investing himself into the BP talk, Red focused his attention on the small yellow Pokémon sprawled on its back in his lap, smiling toothily to himself as he flopped the little rodent’s paws up and down in a playful way.
“Kyyaaaa!” His Pikachu cooed, interrupting Green and seemingly jump-starting the spiky haired young man into remembering a point he’d meant to drive the conversation towards.
“Oh!” Green poked his head out from behind the open fridge door, tossing a bottled Roserade Tea at his husband’s head. He hadn’t offered or indicated before throwing it, nor had Red requested it- Green just knew he’d want it. Red loved tea of all kinds, and he caught it from his spot on the couch with surprising ease, as if he knew it was coming. It was a small, unspoken act that really demonstrated just how well they knew each other’s habits, after all the cumulative years shared in company. “Did you get the mail from the P.O. box today?”
Red tore his lips away from the brim of the drink he’d already opened, extending a finger and using the bottle like a prop to gesture over the back of the couch to the corner of their open living space. A plastic container of letters and packages sat there, dutifully retrieved by the silent man while his lover had been busy finishing up his last battle for the day. Green shut the refrigerator with more force than necessary before he hurried over to it, hoisting up the whole bin with an (excessive, Red thought. Overdramatic,) series of grunts. He carried it over to drop unceremoniously on the coffee table with a huff, explaining his sudden interest as he nearly flattened both his precious Eevee and Red’s kicked-up legs by crashing his ass carelessly onto the couch cushion next to him. “I ordered more Ribbons for us to give to victors,” he breathed the words out laboriously, but with an underlying happy tone Red that was able to pick up on despite the exasperation of a long day.
Only the two of them would choose to spearhead and host ambitious and intricate battling competitions during what was supposed to be a celebratory vacation to kick off being newlyweds. Nobody else would be stupid enough to do so. Nobody else would enjoy the tamped exhilaration underneath all the work required in the same way they both did. “I just hope they didn’t fall off the boat somewhere between Akala and Poni.”
Red smiled, and he was grateful for the fact Green was too busy digging through the envelopes looking for the bubble mailer of ribbons to see it, because it was one that let on knowing a bit more than he should. Gingerly dumping Pikachu onto the rug beneath them, Red leaned forward and put his tea down on the table, reaching into the bin and pushing two envelopes in the pile back with his finger before grabbing hold of the thin letter beneath them. It was addressed to Legendary Gym Leader Green, with postage from Malie. Red let out a huff of amusement from his nose as he shoved it into his husband’s point of view, insistent on bringing his attention to it before he’d even gotten the chance to find what he’d been looking for. Impatient as always.
Sitting up a little to see what was pushed into his face, Green quickly and unsurprisingly took the bait. His grin stretched so wide across his cheeks that his eyes drooped to a confident squint, practically gleaming under the written praise. He rolled back his shoulders languidly in the same manner his Pidgeot did when it was freshly preened, and it took everything in Red to not laugh at the predictability of it. Green was never, ever one to pass up being adored, after all.
“More fanmail from the Malie Gym, huh?” His words dripped with cockiness, and he tore into the corner of it with his teeth, ripping it open from the side, entirely just for the sake of being flashy. Red couldn’t help but roll his eyes, but it was full of fondness- although Green’s ego had once been the bane of him, it was now just a part of his life, and a guilty pleasure that he secretly enjoyed indulging.
For this instance in particular, the adoration came from a group of trainers that resided in Malie City over on Ula’Ula: there was a unique training establishment there, a self-proclaimed ‘Kantonian Gym’. They paraded around- pretending to be gym trainers, and even had a stand-in ‘Leader’, who gave out knock-off badges that were clearly supposed to resemble Vermillion’s. So, you can only imagine how crazy that group had gone when they learned a real, actual Kanto Gym Leader was on the archipelago. Ever since the word had spread of the Battle Tree’s Legends to other islands, the letters had been steadily coming in in small bursts, inviting him to the facility, inviting him to dinner, fawning over his expertise and general prestige.
It was nice, honestly. Red liked the fact that for once, strong trainers were seemingly glossing over himself, and instead throwing themselves all over Green, vying for his attention. It was how it should be. It was almost like finally some people saw him for all the wonder, and awe, and respect that Red saw him with. And also felt so relieving, to break the usual burdening tether of comparison for things that happened so many years ago between them. He knew Green liked it too.
He also liked the swell of confidence that burned in his husband’s chest for the rest of the night whenever he saw the fanmail. He loved the permanent full-of-himself smile that he didn’t wipe off until they were ready for sleep, the prideful way he caressed his beloved winner Pokémon after dinner, the impulsive kisses that chased down the burning amber sunsets… So, if Red had maybe started slipping fake letters of his own into the bins when he collected the mail just to puff up the pile even bigger, well, who could blame him?
Deftly weaving his fingers through the miscellaneous mail, he plucked out another, and another, and another, at a rapid and practically frenzied speed, shoving them all into Green’s lap. Photos, free (fake) honorary badges, written out team compositions asking for input or advice on movesets or items to run, and countless scribbled notes of just how much he inspired them all. Green snickered, his eyes shining like a kid in a candy shop as he read the first few, a beaming smile unfurling onto his face.
Red somehow found one on his, too.
“They really love me,” Green breathed, before shooting his spouse a side eye. “Obviously. I mean, I am the best of the Kanto Leaders. It’s just plain fact, not even an arbitrary opinion. Of course they would be obsessed with me, I’m the absolute top of what they’re trying to be.”
Red nodded, placing one of his hands on Green’s knee and giving it an encouraging squeeze. He pointed to the bottom of the letter Green was currently holding, where there was a crudely doodled layout of members from his typical team. Whoever it was seemed to be biased to psychic types, though, as his Alakazam looked most certainly more impressive than all the rest.
“It’s cute,” Green agreed, practically in a whisper, leaning over to take advantage of how close they were sitting to press a kiss to the tip of Red’s nose. Just to see him scrunch it and screw his face back in a huffy fluster- which he did, and that only goaded Green to do it again later. “This one in particular is funny. Look, the handwriting’s so horrible- and actually, I’ve noticed it seems like multiple of them there have this Arceus awful Torchic-scratch.”
He didn’t look up at Red as he feigned interest in the letter, but took great pleasure in watching out of the corner of his eye as his husband sat up a little straighter, his ears wiggling ever so slightly. That was his tell: the one that revealed his attempts to keep an unreadable poker face. He should know better by now. Green would always be able to read him, no matter how stoic he tried.
“I mean, seriously. Who taught these Alolans how to write?” Green huffed out laughter that he could no longer keep back, but not for the reasons he was trying to pretend it was for. “It looks like a grade schooler wrote it. I could probably teach my Pokémon to write better than that.”
Internally, Red was sweating bullets- but none of it showed on his face. Or, at least, none of it showed to anyone who could have tried to discern him except for Green. It wasn't out of offense, either: he didn’t write any of the letters he’d faked- his husband would have recognized his scrawly handwriting in a heartbeat, blowing his cover immediately. He realizes now that he shouldn’t have pointed out the drawings; of course that pompous son of a bitch drew himself sexier than the rest of his teammates. Furling his fingers into a stressed fist, Red simply stared at Green and gaped, praying to every Legendary above that he didn’t see the way his irises constricted at the implication of exactly what happened.
Much to his demise, Green went on. “It’s also wild, too, the messy ones always have these stamps. You know, they sell them down in the Seafolk Village PokéCenter! I’ve seen them on the stands there. I didn’t realize Ula’Ula had them too, I could have sworn it was supposed to be of the Poni Coast…”
Finally, he lifted his eyes to meet those of his best friend on this earth, the one he’d sworn to share his life with, the one he loved. And he relished in the sweet, delicious panicked expression he saw quaking in the twitchy, curt tugs at Red’s mouth in attempt to keep it flat. His own smile grew wide and knowing, and he watched as Red’s facade broke, his shoulders heaving and head dropping from where he’d been so attentively sitting.
The black-haired man raised his hands to sign the sentiment of ‘How’d you know?’ in KSL, but Green didn’t even give him the chance. Before he got the words out, the Viridian Gym Leader reached over and enveloped Red’s hands to hush him by draping one of his own over them, shaking his head with a small snicker. He knew him well enough to know exactly what he’d been about to say, and leaned over to press a taunting kiss to his red-handed husband’s cheek. He lingered there as he answered the unasked question, voice low and full of cockiness of having caught Red, of all people, off guard. This was like a battle, and he won. “Found one of the twisted spoons you bribed him with on the counter yesterday. His mega form does not need any more of them, you know.”
Red’s face was burning in embarrassment from getting caught, and it only amplified tenfold when Green freed the gentle hold on his hands to instead tuck an unruly black streak of hair behind his ear. His voice had grown almost husky, and was sickeningly full of love. And even though they’d well passed the schoolgirl crush stage of feelings ages ago, it still made Red’s heart skip three beats. “You know, I would have preferred if the love letters actually were from you.” Green leered forward just enough to close the gap, catching a real kiss from his beloved before all-but giggling against his lips and sitting more upright again. “You don’t have to go in kahoots with ‘kazam and pay him off to help you pretend to be a buncha Malie City Gym trainers just to stroke my ego.”
‘Not all from me!’ He was quick to clarify and remind the fact, his hand motions fluid and fast. His brow furrowed down deeply in insistence, and Green just laughed, finding him so stupidly adorable in a way only Red could be. It was that same fighting fire within him that made him fall in love with him in the first place.
“So you admit it?” Green teased, shooting him an inquiring look under a singular raised brow as he folded the letter back up. “You know, I could have been baselessly accusing. I bet you could’ve just convinced me Alolans were absolute shit at calligraphy.”
Okay, so it was a lie. He’d had him practically holding the smoking gun. But who was he if not maddeningly infuriating Red back to running circles in his defense of himself? Who was he if not just pissing him off a little, as a treat?
Red’s cheeks darkened, and his eyes darted around as he was backed into the confessional, shaking his head at first just out of instinct to prove Green was wrong, but the movement stopped as quickly as it had came. Instead, Red opted for shoving at his shoulder with a huff, and that was exactly the kind of reaction he’d been looking for. His howling laughter made that much painfully clear.
‘They make you happy!’ Red signed with a strong defensive vigor, and his adamant stance on fighting for something that just made Green smile and feel good about himself was more attractive to him than anything in the world. He loved Red. He really did.
“You like me when I’m all high and mighty. It’s okay. You can admit it.” Green’s tone of voice veered into more of a sing-songy kind of cadence, taunting and teasing and met with a sneer that had no malice behind it in return.
‘Worst.’ He signed, having grown more curt with being flustered- and it wasn’t hard to tell what he was trying to say was the worst. It only made the look on Green’s face even more smug.
“And yet, you love me.” His words were a statement above anything else- he knew it to be true. It had been proven time and time again, and would be proven over and over once more every day until they were senile and in rocking chairs, overlooking whatever great estate they were bound to settle in.
Red just huffed, and indignantly signed the more derogatory version of the word ‘idiot’ at him. And Green knew just how to read in between his lines- he meant: ‘Duh. Obviously.’
Getting married is supposed to be something to be celebrated, not worried over.
…And Red will remind Green to stop and smell the roses as many times as he needs to, for the rest of their lives.
[wedding fluff!! domestic sweet little things together🥺🍎🍏]
Everything beautiful starts in the spring.
When they had been little kids, it was the time where the bitter weather finally relented its icy grip on the crisp, deadened grass, new blades sprouting from the still-hardened earth and persisting through to get tangled in their ankles all over again. It was when they could finally play outside, when they could finally chase Rattatas back into their hibernation holes and run and hide and laugh as loudly as they wanted to, without fear of any noise complaint.
When they had left on their pokémon journeys, it had been the fall. All things considered, it was most certainly not something beautiful, but something scornful and full of hate, spite, and broken promises.
But years later, when Red returned down to sea level, it was to baby blue florets clambering over his feet. It was the warming over of a time consumed by blizzards and hail damage and biting ice. It was spring.
When they shared their first kiss, it was under the dogwood tree behind Green’s house (the very same one that Red had dared him to climb when they were 7). It was flowering then, and painted pink petals littered both of their hair by the time their lips pulled apart, bodies tangled and arguably just as interwoven with one another as the knotted roots sunken in the ground beneath them.
Now was no different- and it was most definitely the start of something beautiful.
Tomorrow, they would be wedded. They had long ago agreed that even that, too, would be in the spring; the breathtaking beginning of the rest of their lives, officially promised to be spent together. Just as they always once had been, and just as they were always truthfully meant to be.
They had the immense luxury of getting to stay in a cabin on-site of the venue itself; a beautiful open expanse in Berry Forest of Three Island. It was a place that was just secluded enough to ensure no media sources or hobbyist photographers made a ‘surprise visit’ to capitalize on their special day for a pretty penny, but familiar enough to where it still felt like they were home , still in Kanto, still close enough to feel real .
It was close enough, too, for their friends and family all to make the voyage down to the archipelago from Vermillion’s port. Some of the Kanto Leaders and Elite had been kind enough to leave their posts and take part in being within the wedding party. Ethan and Lyra had both managed to catch a Magnet Train and make it to the ferry in order to come as well. Red’s mother and the Professor kept each other company on the trip from Pallet on the back of Red’s Lapras. Daisy was Green’s maid of honor. Leaf pridefully chose to have her title on her own brother’s side to be ‘best woman’ instead.
The invitation list was otherwise small, and all of which had already trickled into the dock on the south side of the island over the course of today. Red and Green had both been playing the role of welcome committee- as their loved ones arrived, they greeted them at the Three Isle Port and walked up the path into the town itself, helping each check in to their group reservation of all the rentable cottages the small island had to offer. Red was actually only now finally getting back to he and Green’s cabin after assisting the last of them- Lance had come via Dragonite, but encountered wind delay south of Cinnabar, putting him behind the rest.
While perhaps a little biased (given he had chosen it), Red couldn’t help but admire the scenic venue with childlike wonder as he stepped off of Bond Bridge and into the forest itself. The sun was dipping lower and lower into the sky, smattering every color around him in an even more vibrant glow than they usually would be- bluebells jumped from the greenery and kissed his sneakers with each step, the leaves of all the trees surrounding them swallowed in a lush and verdant olive. Every few branches were even freckled with clusters of colorful blossoms and bulbs, raining pastels on the comfortable paths and making everything feel all the more perfect and ethereal and right.
He was ready for this.
His Pikachu leapt down from his post atop his shoulder, darting excitedly through the small patches of tall grass they had to cut through, making sure none of the wild pokémon so much as caught even the inklings of an idea to attack on such a jubilant and peaceful occasion. Red made sure to pluck extra berries off the countless bushes they passed on the way back as a means of thanks.
But for all the peace and how satiated of a smile had crept its way onto Red’s lips, Green exhibited none of it. Red found him hunched over in wrought, sitting on the grass that sprouted from the bank of where the forest held hands with the sea, plucking the blades absently in a nervous habit he’d not shown since they’d been six.
At least we don’t have to pay the landscaper anymore, he would have teased him outright on nearly any other occasion. But tonight, Red simply waved a hand to dismiss his pokémon to go find Green’s Sylveon, asking without words to be pardoned for a moment of privacy.
Despite the state of his soon-to-be-husband, Red found himself beaming in pure unadulterated awe at him as he steadily walked closer: Green was dressed so comically different from the way he would be tomorrow. He wore a plain white t-shirt that they had probably gotten for free as a handout from some League event a few years ago, the neck stretched out so far that it now loosely hung off his collarbones, and the logo pattern that was once printed on it long having been indecipherably chipped off from both being cheaply made and having been sent through the wash one time too many. And he was wearing basketball shorts that Red was actually pretty sure were originally his; a fashion sin, and something Green would never be caught dead in out in public. He just looked so domestic and with his guard down in such simple clothing- and guiltily, Red felt a gratuitous swell burn in the pit of his stomach over just how lucky he was that this side of Green was exclusively reserved for him and him only.
He didn’t say anything as he stepped up directly behind his fiancé- not that he really ever did, or ever had to. Green’s shoulders rolled back the tiniest bit; enough for Red to recognize that he knew he was there, and enough of a go-ahead for him to gingerly drop to his knees behind his beloved and reach out with an incredibly tender touch, pulling his messy hair back out of his face, running his fingers through as he gently raked it back. It was something that always helped Green relax, and it was evident this time was no exception, from the way his body practically melted backwards into a puddle that dripped flush against Red.
“...?”
“Just thinking.” Green’s voice was quiet, but full of a jitter that Red silently vowed to make his mission to eradicate. He sat back, and scooted in- no longer on his knees, but instead sitting behind Green now, kicking his legs out to flank either side of his fiancé and pull him enveloped into his chest. Thinking was something that Green did a little too much of if you asked Red- he had an awful tendency to over think and send himself on a worried spiral if not every little thing was accounted for and under his control. It was a product of both his upbringing and his childhood journey; one too many things so vitally important to him had slipped right out from between his fingers. Most notably Red once, too.
The dark-haired man in question wrapped his arms tightly around his lover’s torso: usually, Red was really not one to like being touched all too much. Oftentimes he shied away from even affectionate pats on the back or casual arms slung over his shoulder- but not with Green. Never with Green. With Green, he hugged and kissed and laid beside and everything in between. With Green, he almost craved the touch; his skin felt alive and its nerves signed, burnt back at the tips, all at the same time. With Green, it was a way of telling him I love you and I need you and I’m so happy you’re here with me in the way his voice couldn’t. And it was saying so now, as he crept the pads of his fingertips beneath the hem of Green’s shirt, splaying them flat against his stomach and chest in a way that could only ever be described as the very definition of loving.
It was there that Red could feel the tension of nervousness that laid hidden inside of Green, and he got to work on his job of diffusing it by tucking his head down and placing a feather-soft kiss to the top of his shoulder.
“I’m nervous about something going wrong with one of the vendors tomorrow.”
“Mm.” Another kiss. And another. They were slow, and gentle, and creeping their way up Green’s neck as he left the trail of them to venture over his collarbone and move in.
“-and I haven’t gotten the chance to look at whether they got into port today, or what if a storm hits overnight the way Lance was delayed-”
“Mmhm.”
“-and I know that’s not my job, and that’s why we hired a wedding planner to worry about that shit for me, but I just f-”
“Mm.”
Upon being interrupted, Green let out a curt huff, realizing Red wasn’t actually paying attention to his anxious rambling: he was just chiming in intermittently to sound like he had been. And as much as he hated to admit it (solely for the sake of knowing damn well it was exactly what he’d wanted, and hating to let him win), Red’s stupid little onslaught of affection was doing a very good job of making him lose his train of thought. His whole body grew warm in the embrace of his fiancé, a comfortable flush blooming just like all the flowers around them over Green’s neck as Red took his trail of kisses to practically map all of its slim crevices for the first time all over again.
“... And then a Donphan wearing a party dress started to juggle Pidgeot, Arcanine, and Exeggutor while doing the macarena.”
“Mmhm…” Red squeezed him a little tighter, and Green let out a chuffed scoff, elbowing him in the gut.
“Hey! Are you even listening?” He accused, and though his words said one thing, the tone and amused snicker that followed it said entirely another.
He could feel the way Red’s lips curled into a wickedly coy grin against his skin, quickly having reconnected with it despite the jostling. They had made their way up to just behind the lobe of his ear now, and his breath was warm as it sprawled across it in a quiet laugh. Red’s left hand slipped out from underneath Green’s shirt and twisted so his first two fingers and thumb were pointing at Green, opening and then subsequently closing to touch the fingertips of all three together without a single second of hesitation. [No.]
“Asshole.” Green spat out the insult practically on instinct, but couldn’t find it within himself to lace any meaning into the word. Rather, it came out much more like a term of endearment, and he wheezed out a low snicker despite himself, writhing in Red’s grasp and pressing a forceful kiss to his lips as payback for the drive to insanity that all his little ones had been.
“…I just don’t want to end up missing anything,” he breathed out over Red as a final say on the matter, only barely parted from him as he spoke. “I want it all to go right.”
Red smiled at the notion- an unabashed smile, a smile only Green ever got to see, and he softly pushed his lover back a little. Just enough so that he could give him a look, one that bounced between him and the horizon, one that he didn’t even need signs to say You’re going to be missing the sunset pretty soon if you don’t stop fretting about it.
It was the same way they had always been. Green had one foot into the future, looking ahead, pulling Red along, figuring out where they were going next and what they would do when they got there. Red had both feet firmly planted in the present, looking around, tugging Green back, making sure he didn’t get so lost in the will-be ’s of life that he missed out on the is-now ’s.
Green nodded, the golden reflection of residual sunlight washing his silhouette in a heavenly blur as he succumbed to agreement. He tumbled back into Red’s arms and faced the waves once more, eventually letting out a long, but elated sigh. As always, Red was right. This was a rose that was worth stopping for, something he simply couldn’t smell later (as he’d always been so inclined to do).
They were silent, for a little while, just enjoying this moment together as the sun sluggishly made its grand and graceful exit out of the sky. It was a quiet acknowledgement of how this was the last time they would do something like this as something other than husbands. Both had loved and cherished all of their time spent together unmarried, but yet, both were also ready to softly kiss it goodbye.
As usual, it was Green opening his big mouth that interrupted things. In any other relationship, it probably would have ruined the moment. “Sunset’s nice and all, but it’s not as pretty as I’m gonna look in that suit tomorrow.” He wore a toothy grin as he looked to Red for a reaction, even pressing a kiss to his cheek to accentuate the egotistical tease. “Don’t you agree?”
Normally, Red would be the very first to fire back a snide remark, and they would bicker in a battle of wit until either someone won or got shut up in defeat with a huffy, argument-ending kiss. But as he raised his hands out of instinct, he caught sight of the way the colors of all the florets and the ocean and the sky reflected back at him in all the rich hues of hazel of Green’s eyes from this close, and it made him falter. He glanced back at the skyline, and then back at Green again, and realized that despite the fact he would share thousands of sunsets with him over the course of their lives, he was certain that none of them would ever even so much as begin take his breath away in the way that Green always does.
Dropping his shoulders down, Red took a shuttered breath in before nodding. He flashed his beloved a small, almost sheepish smile, and signed the words he’d rehearsed a million times over, and would parrot back again to him tomorrow.
Contrary to popular belief, sometimes Lunick and Solana DO get different mission assignments. But even when they're apart, they try to stay connected as best they can.
[Canon-compliant, Post-canon fic. Just a cute little thing I made when I thought about the fact that they would probably call each other each night they were apart when out on different temporary stations or assignments! I wanted to explore what their relationship with one another was like even when they're apart.]
Despite being Ringtown-based, there were most certainly times where Lunick and Solana found themselves on temporary assignments to the other bases in Fiore. It wasn’t incredibly often, but since Fiore Rangers tended to work more as a single collective unit rather than strictly segmented out by base, whenever one of them needed assistance, the others were quick to relinquish some of their own to go and help. And the Rangers didn’t mind: honestly, it could even sometimes be a little exciting to get to switch things up and work on a specific project outside of their normal Base’s operation.
At the moment, Wintown was in need of the extra manpower. An entryway to Panula Cave had crumbled in, and while it thankfully wasn’t necessarily a dire emergency, the fact that it was one of the only main means of connecting the settlement to the rest of the region made the situation up there with those of topmost priority. The work was just a bit too precarious to allow the citizens to help with, so Elita had made the decision to call out for backup just to have some extra hands in clearing out the ice and rocks in an efficient and timely manner. All in all, the temporary assignment was to be clocked in at about 4 days of physical labor; maybe a week at most. Each of the other three bases sent two or three of their Rangers to help out since they were all in relatively peacetimes, and Lunick just happened to be one of Ringtown’s selected.
Solana, however, was not.
When the call for backup had come in to Ringtown’s on-duty operator, Solana was out on an active mission already at the time, helping a couple who had gotten lost in Krokka Tunnel. And, being Solana, she had gone above and beyond in her assigned task by staying and chatting with them to make them feel more safe as they navigated all the way over to Fall City.
So needless to say, when she landed back on the top floor of her homebase via Dragonite Bus and saw her best friend waiting right there with his bags packed and ready to depart, she had a few questions.
“... Where?” She was a smart enough girl; a quick visual analysis of him and two of their colleagues packed and ready to go was enough confirmation to know he was assigned station somewhere else for the short term. She was clearly only asking one of the three, and their other coworkers had long learned by now to take a hint with the two of them, so they walked right past Solana and over to the dragon type Pokémon without answering. And just as expected, she continued, unphased. “How long?”
“Just a couple days,” Lunick promised her with a small smile, hoisting his duffel bag higher onto his shoulder. “Wintown needs some extra muscle clearing a rockfall in Panula. We’re just going to help alleviate.” He opened his arms to give her a chaste hug goodbye, and after the gears spun for a little bit to allow her to process the new information, she stepped forward into it, letting him envelop her in a casual embrace. “How was Krokka?” He asked, still interested in hearing about her mission too, even though he had his own to attend to.
Solana looked up at him and brushed some hair out of her face, nodding in the memory of the job well done. “It went really smooth. I was able to hand them off to Aria once we got to the City proper, which I also made sure to extend my condolences for.”
He laughed at her joke, untangling themselves from one another and gripping his bag’s strap again once more. “Never had any doubt. I’m sure they were grateful to have you!”
She gave him a sweet smile as thanks, before jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. “Well, the tundra calls, you know. And I gotta get downstairs to report back, anyways. You owe me Wintown hot chocolate mix when you come home.”
Lunick shook his head with a grin, rolling his eyes in amusement at the demand. “Your wish is my command,” he grumbled under his breath, before he gave her one last fleeting hug again and split up to head to the Dragonite Bus as he was supposed to.
Solana crossed over to the glass elevator and stepped into it with her Plusle, and Lunick could see the two of them waving goodbye before they disappeared from view, down to the Lobby floor.
She reported back to Spenser on the status of her escort mission before taking her lunch break, pulling out her styler and sending a text to him even though she knew he wouldn’t get service while up in the air.
[Already quieter without your loud mouth taking up all my break time. :) Stay safe!]
Pocketing her phone with a small smile to herself, she leaned forward and kissed Plusle on the top of his head, grateful to at least still have his company. It wasn’t as if she and Lunick had never been apart since their friendship began- quite the opposite, truthfully, with how often they had to go out on solo missions. But the hollow silence still hung over her just the same whenever he wasn’t there to fill it- with no one to tease or chat or laugh at the ridiculousness of, breaks that once felt to fly by dragged on, and she found herself falling into the bad habit of just going back to work during them. They brought the best out in balancing each other, and even though he had just left, Solana already found herself wishing he were on his way home again.
Lunick landed within another hour or so, and pretty immediately answered the message from her as soon as he was within range.
[and… touch base in wintown!!!]
[It is. SO COLD here, sol. Times like these I almost wish plusle and minun were fire types, you know.]
His response came quick enough, which meant either Solana wasn’t very busy, or she was taking a short break off the job to text him back. The notion of getting the notorious workaholic to stop just for him made his heart skip a beat, and he grinned widely, able to feel the snark in her reply from here.
[We’ve barely grown a tolerance to our nerves being shocked to distortion world and back. I don’t even think you even can build tolerance to being BURNT, lunick.]
Huffing, he quickly typed out a message back, already trailing behind their colleagues on the way to the Wintown base’s elevator.
[don’t you have a patrol to monitor? :] ]
[Don’t you have an Elita to report to?]
Quicker than him as ever, her response was near immediate, and she had a point. She won. As usual.
[.... touche. Call me later tonight? <3]
The little heart emote made Solana’s own practically leap out of her chest, and she snapped shut her styler to hold it close and let out a wistful sigh. The way he could make her feel so elated from something so simple was a talent of his own, and she had to fight to hide the smile unfurling on her lips as she returned to her patrol route.
Later that evening, once they had both been relieved of duty, they were right back at it. Pretty much any time they were off the clock, they were on the phone, catching up on each other's respective missions they’d missed and keeping one another up to date on how the different towns’ bases were doing as a whole. They did call that evening, and talked on video chat for multiple hours before bed. Lunick showed her around the guest dorm room he had been given; it was considerably smaller than their home dorms since it wasn’t intended for long term stays, but at least he got to room alone, and only had to share the bathroom with one other Ranger that the room ultimately connected to. Most important of all, it had thick blankets on the made bed, which Lunick was hasty to dive into and ruin the neatness of after a day of having been out in the biting cold. Solana made some sort of snide comment about how there was no way he would ever be able to pry himself out of them in the morning what with how stubborn it was even to get him out of normal bedding, and he stuck his tongue out at her and hung up the call as a punishment for the jab (only to call her right back again). Even when miles and miles apart, they managed to spend all evening with each other.
This became their routine: as it always was whenever they were separated for multiple overnights’ worth of time. In the mornings, Solana would text him an early riser jubilant greeting, and then call him later just to be sure he was up and moving in time for pre-shift briefing (and, secretly, just to start the day off by hearing his voice like she usually did). Lunick went to work in Panula Cave with the rest of the allocated squadron, and Solana held down fort back home, making sure all the Ringtown residents were properly all taken care of. They’d text over lunch breaks, head back to work for the afternoon, then call again after dinner time once they were back into their rooms for the night until it was time for at least Solana to settle in for bed.
It was a nice routine, but it was a taxing one nonetheless. Being able to talk in all their downtime was great, but it was still no substitute for actually getting to spend free time together like they did at home. And the longer the assignment went, the more the realization of that fact got amplified for the both of them.
“Arceus, could I go for some hot curry right now,” Lunick blew into his gloves that he’d yet to take off as he crossed into the Wintown Base commissary, smiling cordially at the friends he was grabbing dinner with. He tended to sit at a long table with Freddie and Chris from Wintown, Andi from Fall city, and Miyoko from back home at mealtimes, sometimes add or lose a few depending on the time of day. “Thank you Hiyoshi!” He very gratefully took the bowl of hot food from the Wintown Ranger that was on serving/kitchen duty that meal shift and sat down with his little group, all laughing and happily joking and recounting the day’s work.
“You know, I don’t mean to brag, but me and my Medicham were pulling all of the weight that Freddie was dragging behind,” the Fall City girl teased, which got an incredulous reaction from the Wintown Ranger in question.
“Did not!” He huffed, which made Lunick laugh. “If anything, all your guys’ complaining about the cold made you MUCH slower at shoveling than us!”
Before the navy haired guy could chip in on the messing with his friend, his styler began to beep loudly, interrupting the whole conversation.
His eyes lit up when he saw why, and he awkwardly jolted up to his feet, hitting his knees clumsily on the table. “I-I gotta go,” he excused himself with a small grin, but he was a fool if he could think he could get out of this scott free.
“You didn’t even eat your curry!” Freddie pointed out, gesturing to his steaming bowl, shaking his head in laughter at his friend’s antics. “You were just saying how badly you wanted it!”
Realizing he had a point, Lunick scrambled to try and collect the food tray up and balance his styler and winter hat on top of it, scooping up Minun. “I’ll take it with me…! I’ll bring the dish back and wash it, Ranger’s Honor!”
“What’s wrong…?” The white haired girl from Fall City was able to put together from the look on all the other’s faces that she was the only one out of the loop, and it was Silent Chris of all people who answered her question, even if blunt and gruffly.
“Hinata,” he mused, a crooked taunting smile peeking onto his lips. “Nothing’s wrong. Kazuki’s just excited.”
“Oh, yeah,” Freddie chimed back in, ready to prod at a moment's notice when it came to getting on his friends backs for the way they were head over heels yet horribly unaware. “I forgot you haven’t yet learned this. Let me fill you in: there’s only one thing in this world that makes Lunick light a fire under it and get motivated like that, and her name is Solana.” The Ringtown Ranger in question had chosen not to comment on all that was unfolding around him, instead making sure he had everything to carry up to his room for the evening before turning without so much as a parting goodbye from the group as his ringtone still sliced through the conversation intermittently. “Hey, tell your girlfriend we say hi at least, would ya?” The skinnier of the two Wintown Rangers called out to Lunick as he left in a haste, which got him an unsavory gesture for the comment in return. But Freddie just snickered, and Lunick felt his cheeks redden from another reason besides the cold wind that had whipped against him all day as he immediately accepted the call on its last ring the second he was out in the hallway.
“Hey, Sol!” He greeted nearly out of breath, jamming his elbow into the up button on the Base’s elevator.
“...Did I interrupt something?” She was perceptive as ever, and happy to accommodate. “I can call you back later! It’s no big deal!”
“Nah!” He reassured, perhaps a little too quickly to be believable, and headed up to his temporary room, letting himself and his Pokémon inside before shutting the door behind him. “We went late today. I actually just got back.” He set the tray down on the little bedside table and switched the call to video chat, propping her up against his water bottle so he could freely sit on his bed and have his dinner as he talked to her.
“...You’re eating!” She pointed out, and while he knew what she meant, he couldn’t resist being a smart alec about it.
“Yeah, astute observation there, Sunshine. I’m hungry. That’s typically how it goes!”
Scrunching her nose at the remark, she shook her head. She was already showered and changed into around-the-base clothes, clearly having gotten home much earlier than he did. “No! You-! Shouldn’t you be down at the Caf? Is that what I interrupted? You didn’t have to drop everything just to answer me!”
Lunick shrugged, shedding his outer jacket and tossing it haphazardly on the floor before shoving his long sleeves back halfway up his forearms. He wasn’t used to wearing so much clothing all the time, and even though he’s only been here a few days, he couldn’t wait to get back to Ringtown’s climate. “I’d rather get to talk to you, anyways. Your time’s more important to me.”
It was such a simple statement, but it most certainly silenced Solana to her core, and he found great pride in the flustered look on her face. She let him finish his dinner without making him answer too many other questions, and he eventually shifted to laying in bed instead, holding the phone in front of him as they caught each other up for the day. Solana had apparently gotten to reconnect with the old Venusaur that lived tucked away in one of the hidden leafy grottos of Lyra Forest for help with controlling some Paras in the area, which was a rare treat. Lunick passed along the hellos of all their colleagues who missed her, and tactfully omitted the other things they had to add to that comment.
The conversation eventually settled, simmering down into a stretch of comfortable silences that just consisted of the two of them smiling like idiots at the image of the other depicted on their screen. It was so nice to get to see one another despite the time spent apart, and something about the way they both tended to end up just laying in bed, uncaring about whether or not it was an unflattering angle, just made this time together feel all the more warm, fuzzy, and intimate.
“Gh-! ACK!” Lunick dropped his styler, and it fell tumbling off the side of the bed, which for some reason sparked the desire to play within Minun. She just saw something moving fast and her mind immediately jumped to toy, so she swatted at it with her little blue paw despite her partner’s pleas. “Minun!! No!! Gimme her back-!”
Solana was practically rolling in her fit of giggles, which only got all the funnier as her screen went from blank ceiling to an intense closeup of Minun’s twitchy little nose as she sniffed the camera. “Hi, Minun,” the teal haired girl managed to coo adoringly through her laughter. “Yes, hi sweetheart. You got me. You sniffed me up real good! Can you do me a favor, and give me back to your dada?”
Minun seemed to listen to ‘mom’s wishes much more than ‘dad’s, because she fumbled to try and grasp the device upright, and Lunick was able to reach over the side of the bed and pluck it right out of her fuzzy little paws. “Thannnnnk you!” He sung as he took the styler back, before holding out the same arm again for his Pokémon to crawl up and come snuggle back into the bed with him. “She’s going a little nutso without Plusle, you know. She misses him.”
There was a short silence that followed after, and her ruby red eyes stared at him so intently that he hoped he hadn’t said anything wrong. But after a moment, she spoke up, more serious than ever, to clarify.
“... I miss you.”
They’d been telling each other such for the past few days, but usually it was fleeting, and part of their goodbyes to conversations. This admission felt so much more heavy leaded, so real, that Lunick physically felt his throat ball up at the way her tone was suddenly so somber. It was clearly something she’d been thinking about a lot lately, and a side of herself that she never showed to anyone else, and that strangled him in more ways than one.
“I miss you too, Solana.” Lunick clarified, his eyes growing softer as he looked at her with a small smile. “I can’t wait to be back with you.”
“When do you come home?” She almost sounded like a pouting little kid, but she was unfiltered and pure with her expression. She didn’t have to hold anything back, didn’t have to look strong for him. She could just be herself. “I really, really miss you… I know it’s only been a couple days, but it’s really not the same without you here.”
“It should only be another day or two,” he promised, propping himself up on one elbow. The distance was killing him, too, especially right now, when every instinct in his body was telling him to hold her and tell her it would be alright. “We’re making really good progress on clearing the cave. But I think about how I wish you were there with me to make it more tolerable just about every second of the day.”
She seemed to like that answer, and that eased and rattled his heart all at the same time. “...You say that like I wouldn’t just make you compete with me over arbitrary things like who can clear a bigger ice pile,” she commented with a tiny giggle, and it was just about the most endearing thing in the world.
“Exactly,” he spoke without missing a beat, “and beating you at said ice pile challenge would make me feel good, and therefore, more tolerable.”
She outright laughed at that, and it was beautiful to see her smile even when her tone was otherwise melancholy. “You wish.”
He just hummed with a smile in response, and before he could even open his mouth to segway into the fact that it was getting late, she beat him to it.
“Hey Lunick…?” Her voice was small again, and he could tell there was a favor attached to the backend of this question. And whatever it was, he was certain he’d do it for her.
“Yeah, Sol?”
Solana broke her eye contact with him, hugging her Plusle close for comfort. “Would you… Be okay with plugging your styler in to charge and leaving the video call open tonight?” She was timid in her asking, looking back up at the camera with big Deerling eyes. “It gets so lonely after we have to hang up each night, and I… Sometimes it’s hard to sleep, too. I think I’d just feel a lot better knowing you’re right there.”
Lunick’s heart just about ripped out of his chest, shattered, then glued itself back together again as he listened. It was like a dream come true and a worst nightmare all at the same time; she wanted him, more than she had let on. But all he could do to help was sit, trapped on the phone through a call that could drop any minute the cell signal decided to give out. He wished he could be there. And in a few nights when he could, he silently vowed to himself he would do everything to coddle her as much as she damn pleased.
“Of course, Solana,” he breathed out laboriously, eyebrows upturning in his concern for her. “So long as you’re okay with my obnoxious snoring.” He softballed to try and lighten her mood, and it at least worked a little, based on the way her teeth were peeking out in a small smile.
“I actually think I may welcome your obnoxious snoring,” she parried, pushing some hair back out of her face as her head hit the pillow again. “It’ll make it feel almost like you really are here.”
“And soon, I will be,” he reminded her, pulling the blankets up to his chin. “Do you want to try and sleep now, Sol? I do really think it would be good for you, especially if you haven’t been sleeping well the past few nights.”
She nodded meekly, and gave him a gaze he couldn’t quite read, but knew was at least positive. “You sure? I won’t wake you up in the morning…?”
“Honey, I pride myself on having grown immune to you even trying to wake me up in the morning.” He spoke with some sass to make her laugh, and she did. “Put some respect on my name.”
“Don’t make it a challenge,” his best friend was quick to warn, another smile on her lips as she reached over for the light switch. “Thank you, Lunick. You getting some rest, too?”
He sighed happily at her tone’s flip back to adoration, feeling elated at having such utter care showered on him. “I will. I promise. Goodnight, Sunshine. I hope you have sweet dreams.”
“Goodnight, Lunick,” she mumbled back sweetly, before her screen went dark with her shutting off the light. Lunick did as told and plugged in the device before propping it up haphazardly on the pillow, almost as if she really were laying there beside him. He let out a long exhale as he rolled onto his back, trying to stay quiet as to not disturb her while his mind ran a mile a minute, recapping everything about their conversation that had just transpired. He desperately hoped he got to be dismissed tomorrow, if for nothing else but to get to hug her once he got home.
“...I’ll be home soon,” he promised to the dark phone via whisper, turning his head to look over at it even though he knew there’d be no reply.
All that he got back was the soft sound of leveled breathing paired with the tiniest of wheezy snores. She had successfully fallen asleep, after all. And that was all he needed to crack into the widest of smiles, burying his face in the blankets so he could rest with her.
The writing's been on the wall for years now: Lunick and Solana were enamored with each other, and the question was when, not if they would get together. But once they finally do, they choose to keep it secret, at least for a little while... and just let their relationship be truly only theirs.
[Canon-compliant, Post-canon fic. Some established relationship/dating in secret trope fluff! I wanted to finally write a companion piece to one of my arts I've made.]
Normally, both Lunick and Solana were the exact opposite of the type of people who would hide behind deceit and secrets kept from their friends and family- especially those within their own Ranger Base. But hey, extenuating circumstances called for an exception every now and then.
The glass doors to the Ringtown base slid open as Solana entered through them, ready to give back her report from the mission she’d been on so that she could be off the clock for the evening. She stepped up to the Operator desk with a gleeful grin- which was admittedly perhaps one of knowing a bit too much- and plugged her Styler into the save machine, charging up any energy she’d expended as the Operator on duty handed her the typical report paperwork.
The teal haired girl slid them across the desk towards herself, and leaned over it as she began to fill the forms out. “All went well?” the young man asked, and Solana nodded, looking up at him in a fleeting glance.
“No hiccups,” she confirmed, scribbling in her badge ID number at the bottom once she’d ticked off all the correct boxes and sliding the forms back to him for processing. “Has Lunick come back yet?”
The blonde man let out an amused huff and straightened the papers on his desk, turning in the chair away from her as he reached to place them to work with later. “About half an hour ago. Said he was going to catch the 6:00 ferry to Summerland and get in some beach time while he could.”
It was a lie. And she knew it. He was not in Summerland right now- nor on the way there. But it was by far something she held judgment about in even the slightest way; for she was just about to as well, and was really just making conversation to sell the alibi. Solana grinned toothily, pushing some hair out of her face with an eye roll. “We’re lucky he’s not stationed there, you know. Him and his vacation obsession; we’d never see a day of work outta him in his life if he lived there full time.”
“I was just surprised he wasn’t going with you,” the man teased, a crooked smirk on his lips. “Usually you’re attached at the hip.”
“So the rumors say,” Solana simply joked back with a small laugh, too elated to disagree. “I actually think I’m gonna run out for the evening too, if anyone asks and is looking for me. The sunset off of the Fall City Harbor is just beautiful, you know. And it’s been a while since I spoke to the owner of the Lapras down there.”
“Harbor’s another great date spot,” he mentioned passively, and was met with a knowing deadpan at the insinuation, which he raised his hands in surrender to. “Just saying! I could easily give Kazuki a ring on the styler for you if you wanted to change your plans!”
Solana laughed, shaking her head and taking her styler back with a satisfied click of disconnecting the cord. “Very kind of you, but somehow I think he and I will manage to both enjoy our evenings just as they are, thanks.”
Pivoting with a small snicker, the girl hurried upstairs to the dormitory floor. She hastily showered and changed out of her uniform and into casual clothes, and was in the middle of braiding her hair up into an otherwise regular ponytail when the text came through.
Right, two lefts, another right, middle path, then another left :] <3
That was all the message said. And she grinned upon reading it, able to decode exactly what the content meant. She typed back a response: Be there in 10. See you soon! <3 and hurried down the stairs with her Plusle on her shoulder, excitedly rushing out the door and to the north, into Lyra Forest.
But instead of turning right at the riverbank to head through Krokka Tunnel to Fall City, the Rank 10 Ranger made a left, crossing the small wooden bridge and veering herself deeper into the heavy thicket. Deep Lyra Forest had always been a beast within itself- the treelines were all so similar and maze-like, and it was so incredibly easy to get lost within. Rumors had even been passed around town for generations that some spirit of the forest itself changed the paths each night, rendering it unmappable and unable to be navigated properly. And it was almost true- only the most seasoned Ringtown Rangers knew their way best around these areas. And even then sometimes Solana still felt herself get turned around.
Which also, however, made it the perfect place to hide in plain sight. Solana carefully followed the instructions given to her at every fork in the path once she’d hit the deep forest- right, two lefts, another right, the middle path, and then a final left, dumping her into a small clearing that was shaded nearly entirely by the large canopy of decades’ old trees surrounding it. The slowly-setting sun just barely peeked through them in irregular shapes of a casted warm glow, really setting the scene to take Solana’s breath away- even though she’d knowingly arranged to meet here. And standing right in the center of it all, with a small Ivysaur he’d captured and befriended on the way in making a lopsided heart with its vines behind him, was Lunick himself.
“Evening, Sunshine. Had a good day at work?” He smiled: it was that same crooked and adoring smile he’d always given her. And it made Solana surge forward all at once, practically crashing into him instead of answering, and grabbing either side of his face to press her lips against his in a fervent kiss.
He immediately reciprocated; in fact, he’d practically met her halfway, as his arms wrapped around her back in a loving need to just be able to hold her close. It was this that they were hiding: the fact that they’d recently come to terms with the realization that they both have had romantic feelings for one another, for years now, actually. And had just been too dense and afraid of ruining what else they had to be able to address it before now. They were bound to be met with countless ‘I told you so’s and ‘I knew all along’s once the Delcatty got out of the bag, and so… They’d agreed to keep it their little secret, at least for a short while. To keep the nosy friends, and coworkers, and townspeople- all in the dark of the truth, to just let their relationship… be theirs. Surely they were owed the right to that after all this time of dancing around what both hoped it would one day come to be.
Still, the change was so new, and they were both learning to navigate it together. Solana pulled back, rubbing her thumb over his darkened cheek, and searched his eyes with her own. They practically sparkled in this light, and Lunick couldn’t help but feel almost entranced by them. “Is this okay?” She asked, abetted on a whisper, practically just an exhale of catching her breath. And Lunick just laughed, a haughty laugh, right in her face, before pressing their lips together again briefly in affirmation.
“Just saying- Getting to kiss my girlfriend is so much more than okay,” he swore with the widest of jubilant grins, pulling her torso flush against his own so he could wrap her even further in a warm embrace. He didn’t have to clarify to her what her title was in the way that he did- she was there when they had defined their relationship for good, after all. But he liked saying it anyways, he liked the way the word felt on his lips, liked the way he’d been dreaming of calling her that for real for so long, and now he finally could, and never planned on stopping saying it unless it changed for an even better one down the road.
Even though he teased, Solana just beamed back up lovingly, unable to find it within her to get worked up over the way her breath caught at the reality of it all hitting her again. “Just making sure,” she spoke softly, using her fingers to skim through some of the dark hair that ghosted the nape of his neck. But that inability to fire back at him was temporary, for the smile quickly curled into something more smug, as she stretched on her tiptoes to whisper against the shell of his ear. “By the way, capturing an Ivysaur just to make a grandiose romantic entrance is so cheesy of you.”
He scoffed, reeling back just enough so she could see the determined look on his face. “Not uh. I finally get the chance to spoil you this way, I will not be shamed for going all out. Quite frankly, I don’t think it was enough, I should have found a Roselia and-“
Solana just laughed and interrupted, kissing him again to cut him off (and just because she could). “I never said it wasn’t cute.”
Lunick let out a flustered huff- she had him exactly where she’d wanted him. She finally untangled herself from him just for a moment, dropping to a kneel to pat the middle evolution on its bulb and give it some very deserved praise and affection for a job well done.
Her boyfriend watched as she cooed and coddled over the wild Pokémon, and it only made him fall for her harder. Moments like these, where it was blatantly obvious just how much care and love for the world around her Solana exuded… Those were amongst some of his absolute favorites to witness.
“Thank you for going along with his crazy schemes,” she spoke with a small delighted hum to the grass type, scratching under its chin. “You’re free to go home now. Or you’re also free to stay with us here, if you’d like.”
Before she’d gotten the chance to stand up, she was bombarded by the greetings of a little blue mouse, who careened into her and nearly knocked her off her crouched balance. Solana giggled, catching Minun before she could fall back to the grass beneath them, shaking her head in amusement at the enthusiasm. “Hi, sweetheart, yes, I know. I didn’t say hi to you yet either!”
Plusle at least took care of getting Minun off of Solana for her- by latching onto the other mouse himself and tumbling the both of them down into a snuggle pile on the soft grass. Staring at the two Pokémon in fondness, the teal haired girl stood back up to her feet, immediately looking over at her beloved expectantly. As if to express that she almost wished that were them right now.
He took her hand in his with a small smile of his own, and gently gestured to the backpack he’d brought and set down against a gnarled stump over on the side of the clearing. “I brought us a blanket to share, if you wanted to lay out and look up for a while. I mean, I don’t know how much of the sky we’ll really see, but maybe we can spot some treetop Pokémon in the branches, too.” Lunick squeezed her hand before leaning over to kiss her cheek, enjoying lavishly the way her skin warmed under the touch of his. “Oh, and two boxes of takeout for dinner. Some of your favorite.”
Solana’s eyes narrowed at him, but opposed to their usual glare they held whenever she did that, this was out of her flushed reaction filled with complete and utter adoration of him as a whole. And they did exactly that; together, they spread out the picnic blanket that Lunick had packed and dropped down onto it, slumped against one another with his arm around her hips as they ate the food he’d brought for them. It was nice. It was nice to be there- to be together- and the both of them very thoroughly enjoyed getting to be honest and open about their feelings in the privacy of being hidden within the forest.
Eventually, they did end up laying on the blanket just as Lunick had suggested. And it was just like all the hundreds of times they’d cloud or stargazed before- except a million times better, because they got to hold each other’s hand and press their sides so close and curled into each other that it was hard to tell where Lunick stopped and Solana started. And they could do this freely, without worrying about overstepping a boundary, without potential scrutiny, without anything else besides their love for one another.
Things fell quiet every now and again: they didn’t need to fill the silences when being together was simply enough. Lunick found himself staring at the sky blankly- he hadn’t even registered the shift from bright amber to burnt auburn that had melted now into a rich, deep navy blue. He felt Solana’s free hand on his chest, and let out a profound sigh, knowing she could feel the way his heart was pounding even after all this time.
“I think Spenser knows,” Lunick confessed, and tore his gaze away from where they’d been fixated as he was spaced out. He turned them over to his girlfriend now, awaiting her response, and only realized then that she’d never been staring at the sky at all. She’d only had eyes for him- she’d only ever had eyes for him. He smiled. He should have known.
“…I think Spenser has always known,” she parried back with a small snicker, scrunching her fingers up into a gentle fist on his breastbone before unfurling them again and smoothing out the maroon fabric of his t-shirt beneath them. “But the one good thing about having gone unaddressed as long as we did is that we’ve basically created a perfect excuse, Lunick. I mean, we hardly even have to be mindful of how we act when we’re in front of them all- I’m sure that a lot of it can be just written off as how we always were.” He pressed his lips together in a thin line of agreement, and she had the tiniest of toothy smiles in return. “So long as you don’t go kissing me in the Lobby, I think we can keep it all just for the two of us as long as we want to.”
Lunick rolled on his side to face her, greedily wrapping his arm around her side and cupping her face with his other hand as he snickered with a wicked grin. “I can't make any promises, Sol,” he taunted in a low voice, leaning in to catch her lips in a wanting kiss. When he pulled back it was barely an inch, the sides of their noses still touching, and his breath was close enough to hit her skin when he spoke. “But I agree. And I’m happy to keep it to ourselves for as long as we need before the tease-maggeddon starts.”
She laughed, reaching behind his neck to bury her fingers in the dark hair tufts just above the back of it. “And I’m just happy to be with you,” she added, and it sounded sincere. And don’t get me wrong- it was- but he knew her far too well to not see through the tactic.
“And you’re turning this conversation into a one-upping competition,” he accused with a grin, leaning forward to happily press their lips together before she could deny or try to ‘win’.
He loved her. He wasn’t ready to have that conversation yet, not so fresh into their actual established relationship, but he did.
And just the same way that he didn’t know she’d reciprocated the romantic interest all this time, he didn’t know now that she loved him too.
Even if he couldn't ask Solana outright, Lunick was sure he could get her to play along with the game of dancing around their feelings enough to be his valentine.
[Canon-compliant, post-canon Lunick/Solana shipfic all about dancing around what they actually want to do for each other on Valentine's Day.]
It started last week. Which was, in itself, innocent enough.
Solana hadn’t thought much of it at the time- why would she? It was a simple question, thrown her way over shared dinner in one of the booths within the Base’s commissary.
“Are you busy next Thursday?” The words had come out of the blue as they sat down with their homemade little personal pizzas: Lunick on one side of the table, Solana on the other, with their Pokémon already chowing down on a bowl of kibble on the floor by their feet. Completely within their usual.
“Not particularly,” she replied passively, breaking up a nanab berry to add as a treat to the Pokémon’s food and not even bothering to look at her best friend as she gave him his answer. “Why so?”
He waved his hand in dismissal. “No reason,” was all she got, before he changed topics altogether. Honestly, within seconds, Solana had pretty much forgotten all about the odd inquiry.
Until the weekend. When he asked again.
They were washing dishes together- one of the around-the-base tasks they were still obligated to do in order to help out even when off active, official duty. Lunick splashed her with a particularly sizable soap bubble mound, and Solana gasped at the indignance of doing such a thing before elbowing him in the side. “Uncalled for,” she chastised, whilst secretly already plotting how she could get him back even worse. But he just crossed his arms with a smirk, tossing a damp towel over his shoulder.
“Absolutely called for,” he insisted, puffing out a curt exhale to blow some of the dark hair out of his face. “Oh, by the way, I meant to ask! What are you up to on…” He pretended to count on his fingers, before nodding in affirmation. “The 14th?”
The ruse worked, because Solana was too enwrapped in figuring out her revenge to put the two and two together of what month it was. “Mmm… nothing?” The answer was more of a question, before she did the math herself. “That’s this upcoming week, right? We have our in-house training drill day on the 13th, I think, but other than that… no specific missions or anything, no.”
He smiled. “Perfect. Just making sure I wasn’t missing something.”
An inkling in her head prodded to ask what he meant by that cryptic phrasing, but she let it slide, instead opting to turn the flexible sink head directly at his chest and slamming him with a spray of water for good measure. “Only thing you missed was your chance to run while you had it!”
…Then, once again, came Monday.
The two of them sat in the common room on the first floor of the base, both in various states of dishevelment after having worked on their statements for the past few hours. They were written forms; pieces to help the operators file and document all the things they had done in the field within the past week or two back to the Ranger Union. It was certainly one of the less glamorous sides of being a Ranger, but at least they were able to do it in their casual wear and slumped against the base of the couch, huddled over the coffee table.
Lunick groaned from where he was draped: his head was dangling off the edge of the cushion that he sat upside down within, and reached out to snatch Solana’s pen right out of her hand to get her attention. “Hey. Hey,” he insisted, breaking the peaceful silence that had settled over them just enjoying one another’s company as they worked. “We don’t have anything going on this week, right?”
Solana hesitated for a moment, indecisive on whether this was actually another inquiry specifically about Thursday for some reason or not. Her mouth was agape, poised to question why his sudden fascination with her schedule on that date in particular, but she shut it again, and shook her head. He didn’t actually ask- he was just talking about the week as a whole so it seemed; so she gave him the benefit of the doubt.
It was a mistake she should have learned by now not to do when she knew he was up to something.
When he asked again on Wednesday, she had finally reached her breaking point on the topic.
Once a month, as per their contract with the International Union, all Rangers had to perform a routine set of training exercises for grading and monitored upkeep of their required skills. It wasn’t the same day for everyone- there was a definite rotation in place to ensure the area still had enough Rangers out in the field, but those who tended to work together most usually shared their in-house training day to better their synergy.
The day consisted of a variety of tasks: capture challenges, timed physical obstacle tests, and written examinations to document that they were up-to-knowledge on which PokéAssists were best used against which targets, to name a few. At the moment, Lunick and Solana were practicing their hand-to-hand combat; it wasn’t something that came up particularly often in their line of work, but all Rangers were required to be proficient in it anyways in case of an emergency threat situation.
And, for the two of them in particular, it was a fun excuse to get to roughhouse with each other. Both were exceedingly competitive: Solana out of a thirst to win, and Lunick out of the desire to get to mess with Solana. So days like these were actually quite enjoyable, as they became much more a prolonged game for top spot than anything else.
Once the whistle had been blown, both of the Rangers ran at one another from the opposing corners on the cushiony safety mat they fought on, crooked and mischievous grins on their faces at the notion of getting to whoop their best friend’s ass. Solana was the first to lunge out at him, and the both of them fell into a rhythm of trying to strike and then subsequently parrying the blow. Back and forth they went, practically circling one another around the mat, until Solana tried to drive her forearm down onto his shoulder and he blocked it with his own, leering in as they pushed against one another and then cheekily speaking in a plain matter, as if this were a very normal conversation happenstance. “Hey, Sol. You doing anything tomorrow?”
The blue-haired girl grumbled in her surmounted frustration, and broke around him to grab his wrists in a vice grip that twisted behind his back so he was in a compromised position, much akin to someone being arrested. “What!” She spat out, unable to see the very pleased, troublemaking smile on his face at finally riling her up enough with the asking to get a reaction like this. “WHAT do you need tomorrow?! YES, I am free!! What is with your obsession of asking if I’m busy?!”
Biting his tongue to contain a snicker that would reveal him too soon, he kicked one of his legs out behind him, swiping her own right out from underneath her and spinning to pin her down to the ground once she’d hit it. Flipping his hands as she fell, he grabbed both of her wrists in a locking grip and shoved them to the mat, a very jubilant look on his face. “I just keep hearing rumors,” Lunick teased, having the gall to push the ‘joke’ one step further by crooning forward to hover over her. “Everyone keeps saying that we’re going to be each other’s Valentine. I’m just curious to know if those rumors are true~!”
If the hard collision with the wrestling mat had not been enough to knock the wind right out of Solana’s chest, the answer she had gotten surely was. She puffed out a curt exhale and writhed her arms in a futile attempt to escape his scrutiny, but it was fruitless. “You are insufferable,” she ultimately concluded; a meek attempt at regaining at least the banter high ground, when in reality he had her quite literally pinned right where he had wanted her. Something about the way he had been so insistent, and the position of delivery of the taunt, mixed with the subject matter… her brain felt like it was short-circuiting, a little. She couldn’t find any of the right words, much less hardly anything to say at all.
“And you’re down for one… two…!”
“Alright!” Solana shook her head, pushing with nearly everything she could muster to send him tumbling off of her. She rose to her knees and took a few haughty deep breaths, pointing at him in an accusatory way as he just laughed at how flustered her face looked. “I’ll tell you what.” Solana straightened her headband, patting off any dust from her uniform. “You win this combat, and I’ll be your Valentine. Fine?”
Lunick snickered, pushing himself up to his feet and retreating back toward his corner so they could have a fair fight in earnest. “Gotta say, Sunshine. That ought to be the most unorthodox way I’ve ever seen someone ask~!”
“I wasn’t-! Ugh!!” She charged at him in her fury of his aggravating behavior, grabbing him by the waist and trying to throw him onto the ground. But he was of much more level head, and writhed right out, flipping the script. The two of them wrangled one another and fought for a little bit, but within a minute, Lunick had her back toppled down onto the mat again, a laugh even escaping from her mouth as they called the match in his favor.
As hard as she may seem to get frustrated with it, this back and forth with him was one of her ultimate favorite parts of their friendship. And he knew it. He knew her better than anyone else.
Pursing his lips together in a thin line and squinting down at her, he shook his head. “You didn’t even try,” he stated blatantly, quiet enough so only she could hear him.
And he was right, even if she would never admit it: the second she had offered the ultimatum, she knew she would purposefully lose. But she couldn’t openly admit that guilty truth. “Did too,” Solana hissed back at him, sticking her tongue out childishly.
“Liar,” Lunick huffed and just rolled his eyes in complete amusement, sitting up and getting off of her, before holding a hand out to help her stand up too. She took it, pulling herself to her feet and brushing some hair out of her face.
It was time for them to start wrapping up their assessments for the day anyways, so she just waved it off, grabbing him by the uniform and dragging him excitedly towards the Grassland Capture Arena. “Last one to the Capture Challenge has to get the flowers~!” She joked, releasing her hold before bolting out the door, with him hot on her tail.
That was yesterday.
Though she’d done her best to hide it, Solana was truthfully a bit of a bumbling mess about the whole debacle when behind closed doors. She’d always secretly adored when the region teased the two of them for being inseparable, and while she knew being one another’s valentines was (at least… partially) a joke, it still didn't stop the way her chest tightened whenever she remembered it was true. Her morning proceeded normally enough: it wasn’t like it was out of the usual for her to get up early enough to pick up breakfast for the both of them and bring it back upstairs for them to split in his dorm room, anyways. But it still made her heart race today nonetheless.
Picking off a piece of the red velvet muffin she’d grabbed for him and feeding it to Plusle on her shoulder as tax, Solana rode the elevator back up to the living quarters’ floor. She made her way to his door that she knew so well, kicking the base of it as a means to knock since her hands were preoccupied with their shared food tray. “Oh, valentine~!” She teased in a singsongy manner, the grin already unfurling on her face. “Nothing like having your wonderful partner deliver breakfast in bed, dontcha think??”
The door clicked open, but as per their regular routine, it wasn’t Lunick who had opened it from the other side. It was his Minun, whose body weight was juuuust barely heavy enough to lay on the long part of the handle and cause it to drape down and unlatch, allowing Solana to be able to back up into it and push it open enough to get through. “Thank you, Minun,” she praised softly, before crossing the room and setting the tray onto Lunick’s desk. He, on the other hand, chewed the inside of his lip nervously as he began to stir from all the commotion- the bold greeting had flustered him more than he would’ve liked to let on. Sure, she brought him breakfast almost every day, but something about this time just felt far more intimate than the others, with the ramifications of the holiday surrounding it. And it resonated, as he thought about what things would be like if she meant those words for real… just how much he wished that they were. He did his best to damper the blush that followed, and rolled to face her, giving a squinty and crooked smirk as he peeked his eyes open just enough to see his best friend right on schedule with her wake up call.
“Morning, Sol,” his voice was still groggy from waking up, and something about it made Solana’s cheeks darken a few shades too as she stepped up to his bedside, reaching forward to rake a hand through his bangs and push them up out of his face to reveal his rarely-seen forehead.
Huffing with a smile, her eyes flickered around the room, before shooting him a playful pout and standing up straight again, arms crossing her chest. “What? No flowers for me?” She was entirely just teasing, but he groaned in response, sitting up and quick to swing his feet out of bed.
“No,” he confirmed, gently grabbing her shoulders as he stood and pushing her out of his way, backwards to fall and sit on his bed in his place. He turned his attention to the drawers of his desk and rifled through a few of them, having already stuffed a chunk of the muffin she’d gotten for him in his mouth, and not even bothering to have the decorum to finish chewing it before he talked. “You’re not the type of girl to want flowers, anyways.”
It was true- she didn’t hold much value in bouquets the way other people seemed to; she would have much rather seen a field of flowers intact and in the ground than any grouping of them in a vase. Lunick seemed to find what he was looking for, and grabbed the thin box before slamming the drawer shut, holding it out in her direction with a toothy smile. “Chocolate covered rawst berries, however…”
Her face lighting up at the notion of the sweets, Solana snatched it right out of his hands, very pleased with the turn of gift-giving events. Even though he was by far the more food-motivated one of the two, she did tend to have a sweet tooth when it came to certain things, and this was one of them. “Hmm.” She resigned in agreement, holding the box close to her chest and eyeing him up with apprehension. “And how many of these did you help yourself to already, I wonder…?”
Sitting on the edge of his bed next to her, Lunick laughed at the accusation, flicking open the full box and picking one up, popping it into his mouth right there in front of her. “...One.” He pointedly answered with a mouthful, tossing out the leafy top away and into the trashcan at his bedside.
Solana helped herself to one as well, and they were just as delicious as she was hoping. It wasn’t often she had them, but she knew they were a very popular treat for Valentine’s Day… Which did beg the question in her mind, though, of just how long he’d been planning getting these if she only agreed to the ruse yesterday.
It was a question she decided she didn’t want the answer to, and would rather choose to leave up to mystery in order to allow herself to hope the truth would have been the answer she wanted, instead of that he just picked them up last minute for the sake of the joke.
They split the rest of the treats and the breakfast she had brought up for them to share, laughing and enjoying the quiet moments of a morning spent privately together before heading down to the Base’s lobby for their pre-shift briefing. As Solana had promised multiple times over; there were no important missions today that required their presence and attention, so all of the active duty Rangers for the day were allocated in patrolling pairs around the parameters of the Ringtown Base’s region of operation. Lunick and Solana were given the assignment of patrolling to the south of the town itself: where the trees started again and led to a thin band of forest that was generally closed off and not for public use, as it led to a sharp cliffside down to where the landmass met the ocean that would certainly be catastrophic to fall from. Patrolling there was typically more of a job of ensuring the wild pokemon and natural infrastructure were all okay, and every rare once in a while steering lost civilians back towards the town itself for their safety. It was definitely one of the quieter patrol routes, but it was a peaceful one, as it felt almost like it was a place all their own, where no one else could bother them.
“We haven’t been down to the cliffs in a while,” Solana mused under her breath, shooting her closest friend a soft smile. “Turns out you do get to spend the day with me all for yourself after all.”
Heeding their assignment, both Lunick and Solana hoisted their respective electric types onto their shoulders and exited the Base, headed for the southmost part of town. The second they were out of the front doors and reasonably out of teasing range, Lunick caught her off guard by grabbing her hand with his own, a cheeky grin on his lips. “Can’t go losing you out there, Valentine.” She rolled her eyes at the toying wink that followed, and wasn’t even given the chance to scoff yet by the time he followed up. “Joining me for a long walk on the beach, this day just gets better and better…!”
“I’d hardly consider a wooded, dangerous cliffside a beach,” she was quick to correct with a coy laugh at his ridiculousness, yet entertained his notion nonetheless by affirming their grip on one another and sliding their fingers between each other's in order to knit the handhold even further. Her face was alight a pink glow; it wasn’t as if the two of them had never held one another before, not by any means. But that was the fickle thing about crushes- they never got easier, no matter how many times the lines blurred.
“Ah! Lunick!! Solana!” Their moment was interrupted by a young man who lived in town, only a few years older than them, if any at all. They generally knew just about all the town’s residents pretty well since Ringtown didn’t exactly boast a large population, and this man was no exception. He was clutching a heart-shaped box, presumably of chocolates, and both Rangers’ attention turned to him immediately, startled from being caught fraternizing on the clock. It was clear the man did anything but mind that though, as right after approaching them, he smiled, and gestured between the two. “Oh! I’m so happy to see you are celebrating today with one another after all. I’m sure the rest of town will be too, you know this whole region’s rooting for you two!”
It wasn’t intended to be intrusive nor over the top, but it fumbled both receiving parties all the same, and they stammered a ragged attempt of response to that. But what could they really say? I mean, today especially, it’s not like they even could deny that they had agreed to be one anothers’ valentine. All they could do was fight to talk over one another, then both stop to let the other speak, before Lunick finally cleared his throat and forced a toothy and sheepish smile on his face. “That’s so… Kind, of you to say, Anthony…!!” He squeezed Solana’s hand even tighter, searching for backup from her, and nodded for the other man to go on. “Was there something you needed assistance from us for? You certainly seemed to have a strong motive when you first came up!”
“Yes!” The resident exclaimed, cascading back into his frenzy of preparation for his date. “Is it true?? Surely you two would know best, you have a pulse on everything around here! Are there really Luvdisc in the river up in Lyra Forest? Arceus, I just know my date would go perfect so long as we got to see one!!”
Solana chimed in via gesture, her eyebrows knitting in confusion before she shook her head just the tiniest amount. “I’m sorry, Tony, but Luvdisc are saltwater Pokémon. I highly doubt you’d find any even in the backmost areas of Lyra, as the water sources there are all fresh water. They don’t even get brackish until closer to Fall City.” She smiled consolingly, before talking with her hands to emphasize her next suggestion. “You should take your date to Summerland, if either of you have a flying Pokémon or you can catch the ferry! They’re reef Pokémon, so I bet you’d really have a good shot at seeing them in the waters there! Usually they’re most often found hiding in the branches of Corsola nearby, so if you can find any of those, you can probably find Luvdisc not too far away!” She pulled out her styler with her free hand, and scrolled on it for half of a second in deep focus before her face lit up. “The next ferry leaves Fall City harbor… at 12:30! If it’s integral to your plans for the day, I would definitely take them there!”
The young man heeded her advice with a swift nod, already checking his watch to coincide with her info. “Oh!! I can… I could maybe meet them… Gah! Thank you! I hope your date goes much smoother than mine has been!!” And with the well wishes he was off, leaving the friend pair to descend into flustered messes once again at that bidding of adieu. Solana pointedly avoided eye contact with Lunick for the short term, but he did nothing but gape directly at her in awe, allowing himself to be dragged to the outskirts of town before anyone else of the residents could make comment.
“Since when were you an expert on Luvdisc Biology…?” He asked in bewilderment, shocked at the amount of detail she was able to give. While yes, both of them were exceedingly knowledgeable about all the Pokémon typically native to the region, the way she spat out everything so plainly like it was second nature had him befuddled in the most inspired way, and it was as if he were remembering why she amazed him every day all over again.
“They’re native to Hoenn,” Solana explained plainly, a nostalgic smile on her lips. “The Gym Leader from my hometown actually used one on his team, even. So I’m pretty familiar with them.”
Lunick huffed with a nod, carefully stepping over some underbrush to keep up with her as to not give any reason to let go of their conjoined hands. The both of them began their patrol route together, snaking through the thick wooded area and rocky clearings a few times over, and it really was nice to have each other all to themselves, just as Solana had joked about.
Things had calmed down teasing-wise over the course of the morning, and they had even gotten to take some time to coerce and befriend a small family unit of Treecko to play with them and Plusle/Minun in one of the few natural clearings that their patrol area had within it. Which… was technically not something that had required their assistance, but they certainly planned to write it off as recordkeeping notes for future reference in case they needed cut field assists on their day’s work anyways.
By the time they actually reached the cliffside, Lunick was ready to take a well-deserved break to enjoy the secret hideaway, since nothing else on their route thus far demanded their dire attention. He let go of her hand to pass ahead of her and jump up onto one of the huge jagged rocks, sweeping his arms out dramatically as he faced her with a big grin. “Now THIS is a view!”
“Be careful…!” Solana warned, albeit not fully getting her message across with the right urgency given the way it was paired with a giggle at his overdramatics. “If you get hurt it will be me left with all the paperwork!!”
“And heartbreak~!” He added as a tease, but it was true. He was fluid in his motion to turn and sit down on the protruding cliff and cross his legs beneath him, before looking back with a small snicker as he patted the spot next to him. “Plan on joining your darling valentine here, or what?”
“What,” she snarkily chose the latter, but hypocritically climbed up in stride to take his invitation and hoisted herself to sit right beside him. The second she sat, his arm was instantly wrapped around her side to hold her close, and she melted right into him for it. “... This really is a breathtaking view. I get why the public can’t come down here, but I feel very lucky that we do.”
Lunick let out a small sigh in agreement, dropping any joking insincerity and falling into her new tone of somber honesty as his thumb skimmed one of the seams on the waist of her uniform. “Yeah…” He trailed off, having nothing to add to her sentiment and just wholeheartedly conceding with what she had said. He glanced over at her fondly, just for a moment, before leaning forward a little, having noticed an uptick in splashing commotion beneath them. “Oh my Arceus!! Look Sol!”
He let go of her to point directly down off of the cliffside to the rocky waters below, a bright and excited smile on his lips. Solana’s eyes followed, and she saw quickly what he was pointing at- but instead of the jubilant and awestruck expression he wore, her breath left her chest and her face began to sear a bright crimson of knowing the implications of what it meant.
“Luvdisc!” Lunick exclaimed, and even though they were tiny from the distance, the color and curvature of them as they leapt and played in the foamy waters was unmistakable. “A whole school of them, too!! I can’t believe it!” He laughed, and the way his face lit up at the sight so adorably most certainly did not help temper Solana’s flushed reaction. “I guess Anthony was right that there was Luvdisc by Ringtown, after all.”
“... Uh-huh!” She had grabbed a fistful of Lunick’s pantleg out of disbelief when she saw it, and now gingerly forced herself to let go of the grip and smooth it back out in effort to not raise too many questions.
But unknowingly, Lunick said everything that could make the matters worse. “Too bad he can’t come and see these. I guess they decided to only come just for us!” He laughed at his own joke, before breaking his gaze away from the massive school of them to look at Solana, and his face fell immediately at her nearly panicked expression. Instinctively, he reached up and cupped either side of her face to express his genuine concern, all the attention in the world within his eyes. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Blistering right there on the spot, she quickly nodded, covering his hands with her own and hurried to reassure him. “I-I’m fine!! It’s okay…!”
“...Is it the Luvdisc?” Still visibly worried, he let her take his hands and drop them to her lap, peeking over his shoulder down the edge of the cliff again to get a good look. There were so many of them that the waters practically looked pink, and truthfully, he hoped there really wasn’t anything wrong with that, because it was a breathtaking sight he had been loving getting to share with her. “Is it bad that they’re down there? Should we tell so-”
“No!!” His best friend interrupted frantically, and it snapped his attention back to her, before she let out an awkward and sheepish laugh. “It’s… You remember how I know a lot about Luvdisc, yeah?”
Lunick just nodded intently, more focused on listening to her words than she’d practically ever seen anyone before. And it amplified the butterflies that absolutely consumed her chest cavity right now. “I… There’s uh, there’s these rumors about it…! The reason Anthony was so insistent on bringing his date to see one, for example.” She squeezed his hands, and then swallowed thickly, letting out another laugh at the whole situation, because of course it happened like this. “Besides the fact that they just look like sideways hearts, there’s myths that… well, basically, if a couple finds one, uh, it’s supposed to mean that they will be promised with an eternally loving relationship that never ends.”
Her best friend took a solid few seconds to process her words, and she could swear she could physically see the little Klink gears turning in his brain as he worked out what she was saying. “Oh,” he eventually spoke, nearly quiet enough to be missed, as he looked down once more. And that was all just if they saw one. There had to be hundreds of them right now, splishing and splashing about right beneath them, where no one else could even bear witness.
“Yeah,” Solana breathed out, looking down at her lap shyly before letting out a small laugh. “So definitely don’t tell anyone we saw them, unless you never want to hear the end of it.”
Lunick pressed his lips together in a thin smile at her redeeming humor, and let go of her hands in order to delicately push back some of the light blue hair that had fallen into her face. “The secret’s safe with me,” he promised, and before he knew what exactly he was even doing, Lunick had leaned forward and pressed a quick, ginger kiss to her forehead before scrambling back up to his feet in order to prevent himself from acting upon anything else he might regret. He planned to just write even that slip-up off to the Valentine’s Day act, but couldn’t fight off the genuine, prideful grin that sneaked onto his lips at the delight of having gotten to kiss her, no matter how miniscule. “…Solana! Slacking off on patrol?! I cannot believe you!” He offered as an escaping tease from having to acknowledge the situation more if she didn’t want to. Then dared to put his hands on his hips and gasp in fake offense, knowing full well he was the one who suggested they stop for the scenic lookout in the first place.
And, like clockwork, she scrambled to her feet, a bright smile on her lips too as she jumped off of the rock they’d been sitting on to meet him back on solid ground and grab him by the shoulders. “You are the worst,” she chided, but the bright grin and tone of complete adoration betrayed her harsh words. And he couldn’t help but let his arms wrap around her back just for this second, smiling down on her from the small height difference between them.
“I know,” he vowed, and offered his hand as he stepped forward to continue their patrol together, as if nothing had changed. And, more grateful and fallen for him than ever before, Solana took it.
7k+ sequel fic to the canon-rewrite I did of the postgame Groudon mission!
Lunick and Solana finally take a much-needed vacation in Summerland together, where they get the chance to relax, enjoy the beach, and perhaps accidentally... confess their feelings.
Part 1 | Part 2 [You are here!]
Bringing Lunick back to consciousness was absolutely no small feat for the universe to pull off this time.
...That’s not to imply that such a task was ever to be mistaken as ‘easy’; the guy was absolutely one of the groggiest, heaviest sleepers in all of Fiore. Maybe even further. No alarm clock, no vibrating phone, no lights on a timer could ever wake that man up before he decided he was done sleeping.
(Well, except for one alarm clock. A particularly obnoxious one, with blue hair, that broke into his dormitory in the mornings and practically jumped on him like an overexcited kid until he got up and yielded to her wishes. But that was neither here nor there.)
Today, however, the poor dude had just straight up nearly died earlier. He deserved the nap. And so, even though Solana was awake before him, she’d simply spared him the trouble and let him rest.
Groaning to himself, Lunick rolled onto his back and pushed the hair out of his face, reacquainting himself with the world. He wasn’t in his bed back at the Ringtown Base dorms: ah, that’s right. He was actually on a vacation, for once. The humid air and the lazy salty breeze licking at his skin suddenly felt a lot more in place.
The gentle wind hadn’t only brought in the classic Summerland smell; it carried a quiet voice along with it from the open screen to the bungalow’s private deck, one he knew all too well. Smiling to himself, he hoisted up to a sitting position, swinging his legs over the edge of the bottom bunk bed to get them underneath him. He swayed a little as he walked across the wooden floors, still sleepy, and rubbed his eyes as he slid open the screen quietly.
Solana was on the phone out on the deck, sitting in one of the two chairs in the shade and facing out to watch the ocean as she chatted. Her legs were crossed and tucked up onto the seat of the chair with her- something both Plusle and Minun had apparently taken as an open invitation to curl up together on. Her hair was braided back into a ponytail that draped over the seat’s backrest, which Lunick crossed over to stand behind and absentmindedly combed a hand through as he cleared his throat to bring attention to himself without interrupting.
She immediately looked up at him from where she sat, a sheepish and apologetic expression on her face as she covered the microphone of the phone to address him instead. “Sorry,” she half-whispered, squinting in the bright sunlight of late afternoon. “Did I wake you?”
Lunick just shook his head, an amused huff leaving his nose. He practically mouthed the words since his voice was so hoarse and quiet: “Who you talking to?”
The teal-haired girl uncovered the phone, answering his question just by going back to her conversation. “Sorry mom, I missed that last bit. Lunick just finally rose from the dead.”
The comment got her ponytail a playful little tug, and he reached over her shoulder, taking the phone right out of her hands without asking and putting it to his own ear instead. “Hi, Mrs. Hinata,” he greeted, clearing his throat again in attempt to rid it of the groggy, gravelly texture to his voice. This was far from the first time he had ever talked to her parents; over the year and a half of he and Solana being inseparable at the hip, they’d most certainly become acquainted with one another. And she had mentioned earlier she had intent to call home- anyone from her hometown would absolutely lose their marbles at hearing the legendary encounters she’d had in the past few days. “You know, your daughter really, really saved my sorry ass today. Saved all of ours, actually.”
He took the phone and started heading back into their bungalow, having completely commandeered the call with her own mom for himself. Solana rolled her eyes and twisted towards him in order to protest that he had been the one to actually fulfill the Groudon capture, but Lunick had already walked back into the living room with her mother in tow, the two of them gushing like old knitting buddies on and on all about her. It was almost a little disgusting how long the both of them could go, boasting with pride over Solana’s achievements; she’d “unfortunately” seen it happen firsthand.
Rolling her eyes with an amused scoff, the 21 year old gently slid their two Pokémon back down to the wooden deck and stepped inside as well, both electric rodents bounding at her heels to follow. She made expectant hand gestures at him to surrender the phone back over- and he begrudgingly complied, a very pleased-with-himself look on his face as he watched her end the call. “Okay, okay. Yes, I will get that headshot of me sent over, okay…! Do not send my high school photos in to the Sootopolis papers…!!”
Lunick laughed a little at the intensity of which she stressed that point, admittedly a little curious just quite what Solana’s school pictures growing up must’ve looked like. He’d never been to Hoenn, much less the isolated caldera of a city that she was born and raised in, but going home with her one holiday just to see it all for himself was definitely on his bucket list some time.
“Okay. Yes, I’ll call Base and ask them to send my portfolio for you to give. … Alright! Okay!!” She gave a small laugh, amused at how excited her parents both were over hearing their daughter lived a part of their culture’s lore so intimately. “Mmhm. Alright, I’m gonna let you both go now, alright? I’m starving, and Lunick’s always an endless cesspool when it comes to food, so I think the two of us are gonna go get something to eat now that he’s up.”
He heard her parents reply something muffled, but didn’t make it out. It made Solana huff and blush, though, so he could extrapolate well enough that the comments and teasing had extended beyond the region of Fiore. “Yeah, yeah. I love you both too. Talk to you soon.”
She hung up the phone, and Lunick finally let out a prolonged groan he’d been holding in as he stretched down to scoop up his Minun. “Sleep well?” He asked Solana as he righted himself again, his eyes drooped already back to half lidded as he pressed a kiss to the top of the Pokémon’s head.
“Mmn,” Solana answered, punctuated with another yawn. “Yeah, but I’m still exhausted.” It meant a lot to hear her speak so honestly- with anyone else, Solana was always a go-go-go personification of the Energizer Buneary. “It’s like, lethargic, almost. I mean, I’m not quite sleepy anymore, but like, when I was out there on the phone, just staring at the waves… I just felt like I was sinking further and further into the beach chair.”
Lunick flopped unceremoniously onto the couch of the vacation living space they’d been allotted, smacking the cushion next to him twice to imply she should sit with him. Which she did, and nearly sunk in as soon as her body hit the seat.
Laughing to himself in realization, he shook his head. “Solana, you’re relaxed.” Giving her shoulder a lighthearted shove, he cornered himself against the armrest so he could face her more, propping his head on his elbow. “For once in your life, that is. You’re not used to living your life outside of a rigid itinerary.”
Based on the look on her face, he could tell that was quite exactly what she’d been planning to do. And before she could even say so, he cut her off, leaning forward as he caught it. “No. We are not making one, either.”
“... I don’t feel relaxed,” Solana protested, and her partner just shifted, putting a hand on her knee.
“You’re not used to feeling relaxed.” He corrected, a small toothy smile worming its way onto his lips. “You want something to do this week, yeah? Itching to be productive. I know.” Most of the time when he pointed out how much of a workaholic she was, it was via a means of dismissive teasing, but his words now were nothing but sincere and understanding. “How about this? You aren’t just bluffing off, doing nothing this week: you’re learning to take a good break. By the end of this week, I bet you’ll even be the master of vacationing, if you relax hard enough. That’s a better mindset framing for you, don’tcha think?”
The shorter girl eventually nodded, letting out a long exhale of giving in to his persuasion and collapsing onto his shoulder. “I meant what I said on the phone, you know.” She said, abruptly changing the subject, “I am actually starving.”
“And you meant what you said about me, too. I’m an endless cesspool when it comes to food, as you so eloquently put it, hm?” Lunick teased, patting her on the back reassuringly to let her know he was done harping on her unhealthy work ethic for now and allowing the topic to shift. “We should go out to eat at one of those touristy, on-the-beach sunset view restaurants. It’s almost sundown- I think that would be as good of a kick off to vacation as any, don’t you think?”
She agreed, and the both of them peeled themselves off the couch to do exactly that, spending the evening together lavishing in the gorgeous Summerland sunset over a delicious meal. When it was time to head back to their accommodations for the night, they enjoyed the tiki-torch-lit walk back on the beach, and both agreed to turn in for sleep quite early, still absolutely exhausted from the morning.
Unsurprisingly, Solana woke up the next morning far earlier than Lunick did. Bone-tired or not, early bird habits died hard. She wasn’t up quite at the crack of dawn as usual (and Lunick had insisted her alarm be shut off all week, if nothing else than for his sake while they were sleeping in the same room), but it was still probably at least an hour, maybe two before her best friend would rise from his slumber. She gently woke the Plusle up that slept on the pillow right atop her head, giving him a sweet head scratch before slinking down the ladder of the bunk beds she and Lunick had been sharing for the stay. He was a snoring, tangled mess within the sheets, all separated from the blankets and half dangling down onto the floor beneath them… And she couldn’t help but smile affectionately at it. Grabbing a post-it, she hastily scribbled down a note, just in case he were to wake up before she returned.
[Morning, sleeping beauty.
I’ve gone out on a run on the beach before the sun gets too hot. I’ll be back by 9 at the latest.]
It was a white lie, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t kill him. Changing into activewear, Solana grabbed her styler and holster and snuck her way into a small little clearing of underbrush that led into Olive Jungle. Her plan was to silently help the relief force and handle sectors of the jungle behind everyone’s back- so even though she wasn’t technically assigned the mission, she could at least contribute some sort of helping hand toward the restoration efforts.
And of course she did good work- albeit unwarranted, since there were Rangers actually assigned to do so that could have been perfectly capable to do the same once they fanned out far enough to reach the quadrat she was working in. But it was satisfying nonetheless. She’d lost herself in the hard work- using field moves to clear fallen trees from the quakes, capturing aggressive Pokémon and relocating them to safer areas, all the like. By the time she’d checked her watch, she realized she really probably should have started heading back by now, and hurried her way back out to the beachfront, unafraid to cut corners and take the nicks and scratches from the thick underbrush if it meant getting back quicker.
When she returned into the bungalow, not only was Lunick awake, but he was staring at her in a way that felt like he knew every last secret, and there was no use trying to hide. Of course, she still did try, but the disappointed mom vibes were very much still prevalent nonetheless.
“Oh, good, you’re back. How was your… beach run?” His tone of voice made it clear he was prodding, and he tried to play it off by grabbing them both bowls of cereal for breakfast, setting them down on the small table for two tucked away in the corner of the room.
“It was alright. You know me and my morning runs. Certainly even on vacation I can at least keep my routine, right?” It was punctuated by a half-nervous laugh, which was her fatal mistake. Now Lunick was certain she was lying.
“Crazy how you managed to even go on a run with your running shoes left here, you know. And miraculously, your work boots were nowhere to be found…” He huffed, turning to face her. Gingerly, he took one of her wrists, twisting it a little to eye up one of the scrapes her hurry back had given her. “You were out in Olive Jungle. Doing fieldwork, that you’re not supposed to be doing.” He accused, and the hand-in-the-cookie-jar embarrassment on Solana’s face was enough to confirm it.
Crossing over to the sink, he wet a few ripped pieces of paper towel for her to clean the new wounds, shaking his head. “That’s breaking rank, Solana,” he gently (but sternly) reminded her. “I know you’re not used to there being problems present and being told not to help… but this is not our problem. You’re even downright on administrative leave…!” He took her arm once again and pressed the wet towelette to it, pursing his lips in a thin line at frustration with her actions.
She pulled her arm back so it was no longer under scrutiny, huffing in indignance. “No one caught me,” she assured him, taking over and cleaning the few nicks she had herself. “I got in and out, completely under any radar.”
“I caught you.” Lunick corrected. “You’re lucky it’s me, because otherwise I’d have half a mind to report it.”
“But you won’t,” Solana butted in, more a statement than anything else.
“I won’t,” he agreed, and reached over to put his hands on her shoulders, tone turning more to one of pleading. “…If, you promise me you won’t do it again.” He gave her shoulders a squeeze. “…Please, Solana. I know being a Ranger fulfills you like nothing else on this earth, I know it’s been your dream for years now. But I also know you push yourself constantly without any rest. Please, just try to let yourself have this week off. And take this vacation with me.”
She was quiet for a short bit, digesting his pleas internally. And then she nodded, surging forward to accost him a warm, affectionate hug. “I’m sorry,” she apologized, even though he hadn’t been looking for one in the slightest. “… Thank you, you know. For fighting me so hard as you do to take care of myself.”
He gave a small grin, simply full of relief the small argument hadn’t grown into anything more. “Eh. What are partners for?”
Rolling her eyes at him discrediting his own efforts, Solana stepped back out of the embrace to sit herself down in front of one of the bowls of cereal he’d poured. “…Sharing breakfast with?” She lobbied, gesturing for him to take the other seat, which he complied to happily. And they did just that, the rest of the meal far less contentious than their minor altercation had been.
In return, Solana allowed Lunick to take the reins for the day and dictate their itinerary, which was really anything but: just a vague ‘we’re going to the beach!’ and nothing else as far as details.
Packing a bag of things they’d need after the breakfast, the two of them both changed into appropriate beach attire and hit the sand, as thankfully the walk to an open beach area was pitifully short at worst. It was an absolutely gorgeous day out today, too- albeit, very brightly sunny. But at least it wasn’t too sunny; compared to how the weather had been during the legendary beast’s rampage before they quelled it, this was nothing. And it wasn’t all too often that the both of them got to rock a pair of sunglasses, either, so it was almost a novelty.
Scoring a pair of public-use beach chairs already propped up on the beach, both Lunick and Solana claimed them by sprawling out their towels, which Plusle and Minun were quick to curl up on so they could snooze in the sun for once. Their conjoined beach bag went right behind the two Pokémon, and Solana was already rifling through it. “We should probably put on sunscreen,” she responsibly reminded, and pulled out the tube of the thick cream to share with him. “I’m gonna need assistance, if you don’t mind.”
“I’ll tell you what,” Lunick leered forward with a small smile, more than happy to do any favor for her, especially those where he got to both hold her and look out for her general health. He plucked the tube she was using to point at him right out of her hands, and waved it around himself to prove a point. “I’ll agree to help you- IF, you help me do mine as well.”
She laughed, and peeled off the oversized t-shirt she’d been wearing over her swimsuit as a coverup, balling it up in her hands and absolutely hucking it straight at him. “Deal,” she punctuated with a grin, taking the sunscreen back in his stupor to claw the shirt off his face, and squirting some out onto her hands to start the front side of herself, at least. “But do not draw on me or leave splotches, or else you will so pay for it.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Sol,” he huffed right back without missing a beat, pulling his own shirt off over his head as well and kicking off his sandals. He turned towards her and patted the beach chair in order to invite her to sit on it, making grabby hands up to where she stood to tell her to fork over the sunscreen and let him take care of her back. “Gimme. C’mere.”
Solana snickered as she did as she was told, sitting right in the chair in front of him, his legs on either side of her as he allotted himself some of the lotion and gingerly began to swipe it across her back. His movements were so soft and tender as he covered her skin- and it wasn’t like he had never touched her back before, either, but the way every touch was just so caring… Solana felt herself almost leaning into him, very soon found the skin on her face and ears searing for an entirely different reason than the blazing sun above them. She was just grateful he wasn’t in the position to see it, and that she could smother it away with the stark white cream before he got the chance to even know it was there.
“All set,” he vowed all too soon, reaching around her in a back hug of sorts in order to smear the residual sunscreen that was left on this thumb onto her cheek with a playful smile. “Me next?? My turn?”
“Yes,” she agreed with a fake exasperated sigh, secretly very much enjoying his antics, even if she wouldn’t let on. She stood up and twirled her finger to instruct him to turn around, and he did exactly that, trying his absolute best to just focus on covering the front half of his torso and not panic at the way she so delicately did his back half. Coming on a beach trip was a very good idea after all, so it seemed, and he guiltily felt the sudden desire to make sure they were extra diligent in reapplying, so long as they kept getting to share intimate moments of just caring for one another like this.
Popping up to his feet, Lunick pushed his sunglasses on top of his head and spun to face his best friend- she was putting the cream on her face and rubbing it on, and looked at him expectantly. “Did I miss any?” Solana asked as she capped the tube back up, tossing it back into their bag haphazardly.
“Just a little,” Lunick told her candidly, then stepped forward. “Here, I’ve got it.”
What he did was the exact opposite of keeping her skin from burning: he cupped her face with both hands, and very lovingly swiped his thumb under the curvature of her eyes, evening out any white blobs that had been left. “There,” he said with a small toothy smile, seemingly proud of his work. “You’re clean now. Ready to go?”
He held out his hand for them to run into the surf together, but Solana’s mind was too frantic and panicky at the moment from the way he had just held her to do the rational thing. So, mid-shutting-down, she resorted to doing what she knew best: smacking his hand to leave it empty, juking him out to make it a competition. “Last one to the water has to pay for lunch!!”
Her movements had been so sudden that it woke up the Pokémon briefly, but they’d known her too well at this point to bother being fully disturbed from their cuddle puddle. And Lunick knew her too well at this point too to let her get away with it fully, charging down the hot sands after her.
Despite the fact Solana went on runs in her free time more often than he did, she was better at endurance. When push came to shove, he could certainly still catch up to her in sprints when he wanted to, and this was one such case. As she slowed to avoid falling once her legs were waded into the blue water, Lunick came surging from behind her with his full momentum, trapping her in his grasp by throwing his arms around the waist and picking her up into the air. “NOT SO FAST-!”
She let out a loud squeal as she kicked and splashed in retaliation amidst her laughter, but he was headstrong and unrelenting as he carried her deeper. “Let me goo!” She whined through the bursts of giggles, and even heard a snicker or two coming from him as they waded in, too. And as soon as they were deep enough to safely do so, despite all her desperate pleas, he practically threw her down into the water, dunking her hard.
She gasped for air when she resurfaced- part to show her feigned offense, and part just to be dramatic, as she clawed at his chest to try and return the favor.
“Oops,” was all Lunick said, with the most mischievous smirk on his lips as he stood, unwavering under her attempts to push him down. “Did you say it was the most wet who had to buy lunch…?”
Letting out a loud groan of frustration (that her best friend only laughed at even harder), Solana kicked her legs against his underwater and sent him tumbling into the waves with a satisfied grin, crossing her arms triumphantly when he resurfaced again. “I suppose I can be amenable to that change in ruleset. Looks like you’re still paying.”
He snickered at her wit, shaking his hair out of his face like a wet Herdier and slicking it back over his head, smiling at her as he settled in to bobble over the waves together and just chat. “Fine,” he agreed happily, especially since she had gotten him back fair and square. “You win. I’ve got meals today.”
Pleased with the surrender, and unable to help the way her coarse challenger attitude softened upon seeing how adorable he looked with his hair wet, Solana settled in up to her shoulders to float, too. The waves were only swells at best, and didn’t really crash at all, so they were able to just watch the shore together peacefully, swaying up and down as the ocean took them. “…You know,” she spoke up after a short while, plastering the wet hair back out of her face, too. “This is… kinda nice.”
“Good,” Lunick immediately answered, so fast that he practically hadn’t even let her finish her sentence. He looked over at her with a sideways smile and only through one eye squinted open in the sunlight, and though she didn’t see it, Solana could feel his hand seeking out hers under the water's surface as they floated together. Just to make sure the tidal currents didn’t separate them, of course. “I’m really, really glad to hear you say so.”
She flushed- even if just out of not knowing how to answer someone caring so deeply about her, and instead chose to watch the sand, where Plusle and Minun had awoken and begun to play together. They were just two little red and blue dots amidst the bright reflective tan from out here, but they were seeming to have the time of their life, happily chasing one another up and down the beachside.
Lunick’s eyes eventually shut- but he wasn’t sleeping, she could tell that much. He was just soaking up the sun, enjoying the peaceful waves and having her there right beside him. And so she tried to take a page out of his book, to upkeep the promise they’d made earlier, and mirrored him exactly, resting back into the water lazily.
And it was nice. Not only was it bewildering to be not running everything a mile a minute, but so relaxing to be sitting here so still with her favorite person in the world, doing the same exact thing, sharing that silence with her. Maybe he did have a point, after all. And maybe deep down, she understood all this time why he always drove it so far home whenever he brought it up.
When their hands became too pruny to hold anymore, they agreed to get out of the water, immediately feeling bathed in the warmth of the breezy, Summerland air. Back at the chairs, they agreed to split up for an hour or so- Lunick, to take a quick nap, and Solana to explore the wrack line and look for odd looking seashells. They reconvened after and gathered up Plusle and Minun to grab lunch (which Lunick did, in fact, pay for) then returned to the beach for the afternoon, finding snorkel gear rentals at a shack on one of the docks. The reefs just off of Summerland were breathtakingly beautiful, full of color and abundance of Pokémon they rarely got to see up close or in person since marine life wasn’t their typical capture clientele. And if they swam far enough, there was no one else near them, so they got to experience it alone together. It was incredibly nice for the both of them to get to wholeheartedly share their love of wildlife with someone who understood and felt the same outside of a work setting for once; plus, the way Lunick screamed into his snorkel excitedly whenever he saw juveniles of his favorite reef Pokémon was just too endearing for Solana to focus on anything else.
Once both were sufficiently tired out from being in the sun all day, they went home to their rented bungalow to shower all the salt and sand off, changing into cozy clothes and settling in together for a board game and a movie. Dinner was ordered as a delivery so they could stay crashed on the couch together longer- and when it was all said and done and time for bed, Solana clambered up to the top bunk first, and Lunick would sit out on the deck and stare at the stars reflecting in the water until he was sleepy enough to crawl into the bottom one and join her off in dream land.
And so, that became their routine. They’d wake up whenever (a foreign concept to Solana- so she would usually get up first and venture out to get breakfast for the two of them), head to the beach, spend the day there, and come home for the night to just hang around the rental. And there was some variation: some days they made sand sculptures, others they went out to eat for dinner somewhere fancy by the seaside, and even managed to score a charter boat past the patch reefs one afternoon to get to watch a whole herd of Lapras frolicking and breaching out of the deeper waters, singing their beautiful songs. All in all, it was only barely halfway through the week, and they’d already been growing to love the laid back, vacation life very much.
In fact, just earlier today, they’d mistakenly forgotten their water bottles back at the bungalow when they set back out to the shore for the afternoon. Lunick had graciously offered to go run back and get them himself, which didn’t take very long… and yet, when he returned, he found Solana sound asleep in a hammock hung in the palm tree lines’ shade, swaying gently in the warm, misty breeze as Plusle and Minun played in the bushes behind her.
It was an incredibly adorable sight, and one he feared he truly may never see again, so before anything else, he whipped out his styler and snapped a photo of her all bundled up and cozy, taking what might’ve been among the first afternoon naps of her life.
Evidently, the noise of the camera shutter was loud enough of a click to disturb her, and she groaned laboriously, her face all scrunching up into a dramatic display of not wanting to be awoken quite yet.
“Shh,” Lunick mumbled quietly with a wry smile, crouching to put the metal water bottle that he’d gotten for her within her reach on the sand in case she woke up dehydrated. “Go back to sleep. No need to get up yet.”
But to that she groaned even more disapprovingly, and her arm stuck out of her little cocoon and waved lazily in his direction, grappling at the air aimlessly and practically in slow motion until it finally caught purchase on what she’d been looking to grab.
Which was Lunick’s shirt.
Yanking on it, she practically made him fall right over her. And he would have felt guilty for the way his clumsiness shook and nearly flipped the entire hammock she’d been so peacefully snoozing in- if the entire ordeal hadn’t been surrounded by her fits of sleepy giggles, quite pleased with herself and how he fumbled so awkwardly in attempt to keep from disrupting her more. “Lay with me,” she demanded in a soft tone, only just now bothering to barely peek open one of her eyes from behind where the wisps of her teal hair had fallen into her face.
And after all- who was he to say no to that? In what world would he ever?
Dropping his own water bottle and straddling his way onto the swaying bed, Lunick crawled and flopped on into the hammock with her, letting out a satisfied hum as he collapsed down into the fabric and laughing at how his lack of gentleness nearly sent her tumbling right out onto the sand beneath them. Even now, the momentum was kept from the haphazard entry and they swung back and forth, both of them pinned to one another in the center where their shared weight dipped the sling the lowest. “Gracefully, I meant.”
Lunick laughed quietly as she looked up at him, his arm just falling around her out of instinct (and half to ensure she didn't get any bright ideas to shove him out onto the ground for being so rowdy) as he wormed in close, getting comfortable. “See, that wasn’t specified,” he snickered at the halfhearted wallop she’d delivered against his chest, knowing very well it was a bluff based on the way he could see her toothy, amused smile. “I’m honestly just still in shock to see you of all people taking an afternoon nap.”
She huffed in indignance at his tone, wasting no time to curl up into his chest and rest her head against him. “You’re a bad influence,” she accused, but it held no fire behind it with the way she was already half asleep again and practically slurred them together.
“And I’ll continue to be, proudly,” he promised over a whisper, closing his eyes as well and burrowing his nose atop her head to nestle in for rest. They napped like that together longer than originally expected- but hey. That’s the perk of the only rule of their itinerary being that there was no itinerary; it didn’t matter that they’d spent more time snoozing than intended.
As it turned out, the week they happened to have gotten the chance to spend in Summerland was an incredibly fortunately-timed one. Leilani had called, and let them know to keep their eyes peeled that night for the annual schooling and breeding season of Lumineon and Finneon. It was bound to be a fantastical display of colors and light from beneath the waves all around the island: something they even closed the beaches early for that evening in preparation for the natural phenomenon. Apparently, the start of the spectacle was sudden and breathtaking, and the both of them agreed to camp out on the deck they had over the water all night to watch it.
The event was predicted to begin some time between 8 and 9PM, but there was no certainty of exactly when. And Solana’s sweet tooth had gotten the best of her- there was an absolutely delicious homemade ice cream shop only two piers over from the one they were staying at. She knew she could make it there and back in time.
Lunick stayed watch on the edge of their deck- he’d slipped off his shoes inside, and let his legs hang down over the water’s edge to dip in it just barely as the last remnants of the sunset melted into a rich navy blue. All of the residents of Summerland agreed this time of year to keep all street lights off so they could enjoy the spectacle in its entirety, so the sky grew even richer with stars than it had been the nights before- a visual treat within itself.
“Did I miss it??” Solana’s voice came flooding into his ears, along with relief of knowing she hadn’t. Lunick shook his head in his awed daze, unable to tear his eyes away from the sky at first as she stepped out onto the patio to join him. Her hands were full as she’d been juggling to carry both of their cones, and took the liberty in licking the back of one of her hands where the sweet treat had started to dribble down it. “Good. Here, take yours, they’re melting.”
He smiled up at her, looking at her with the same amazed and awe-inspired gleam in his eyes that he’d had when he was staring at the stars, as she was no less beautiful. He let out a loud huff in amusement as he took the handoff of his rocky road ice cream, letting out a small laugh as she sat down. “You treated yourself to some of mine on the way back, huh? Was it tax for having gone and gotten them?”
“I did not!” Solana falsely claimed, her face growing as crimson as the red velvet ice cream in her own cone for having been caught in the lie so blatantly. And he just shook his head, biting his lip to keep in a snicker.
“It’s on your face, Sol.” Before he’d bothered to think about the consequences of his actions, Lunick leaned forward and licked the creamy chocolate smear right off of her face, just barely outside the corner of her lips. “Yup. That’s my ice cream,” his own lips came into contact with her skin and just barely grazed over it as he spoke, before he sat upright again. And quickly put the two and two together of what he’d just done, when he saw her reaction to that.
Solana was absolutely paralyzed in stillness. She was more flushed than perhaps he’d ever seen her, and her eyes were so wide he could see the whites on each side of her irises. In horror? In shock? It was unreadable, but Lunick was quick to backpedal hard anyways, mentally screaming at himself for having been so stupid to allow himself to fall victim to the easygoing, endearing past few days feeling almost as if he and Solana were a couple. To the point where he must have clearly overstepped a boundary.
“...I’m so sorry,” he breathed out all at once, shaking his head in his own panicked shock that rose in his chest. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I got caught u-”
Lunick watched in practically slow motion how his best friend’s fingers loosened around her cone slowly, until it dropped right in the seawater around their feet with a punctuated plop. And as it turns out, his was quick to join it- he would never get to enjoy the rest of that scoop beyond the tiny taste he’d stolen. Because Solana very suddenly surged forward like a striking Ekans, using her newfound free hands to hook around the curvature of his jaw as she kissed him square on the mouth.
It had been the final breaking point. For months now, they had been fallen for each other, but never dared to act upon it. The feelings had only blossomed and grew all that time, despite neither knowing the other reciprocated them. And today, they finally came to light.
The dark haired man was caught so off-guard by it all that he forgot to breathe for a moment, and in that pause, Solana began to draw back, just in case it was now she who was making an advance unwanted.
But he didn’t let her. Lunick instead wrapped his arms around her waist tightly and put his hands firmly flush against her back, immediately chasing her lips as they tried to leave in order to kiss her back in fervent way- lest the moment be lost forever.
A bright flash of light from below was what made them tear apart. Both stayed holding the other close, but whipped their heads with mouth agape out towards the horizon, which had lit up aglow with the heart-stoppingly gorgeous teals and greens of hundreds of Lumineon, swimming and dancing and weaving around one another in the most breathtakingly graceful way. They both let out a quiet gasp at the sight before looking back again at the other with a soft smile each, the shimmer of the bioluminescence reflecting beautifully in both of their eyes. “I couldn’t take it anymore,” Solana confessed, and Lunick let out a bubbly laugh as he kissed her curtly again, just because the precedent had been set that he could. She looked up at him lovingly with no regard for the natural wonder surrounding them and knit her fingers into the hairs on the nape of his neck, twirling them gently. “You know, when I was looking for you in the Relic, I promised myself I would at least tell you before it was too late how I’ve felt about you all this time.”
Lunick’s exhale was shuttered as he stared at her, taking the words in as fast as his foggy, elated mind would let him process it. “All this time?” He parotted back in disbelief, his tone of voice so soft and full of love. “You mean, we’ve both been waiting for nothing…?”
She held either side of his face with a joyful smile, tears of happiness misting her eyes. “Waiting for the perfect moment,” she told him, the same thing she’d been telling herself for so long now whenever she even thought about bringing her feelings to light. “Which, in hindsight, I realize now would have been thirty seconds later than what I did.”
He laughed at her joke about the Lumineon, louder than he needed to with her right here so close to him. But he couldn’t help it- her humor and the way she could so effortlessly bring levity to an otherwise heavy conversation were two of his absolute favorite things about her. “Every moment with you is a perfect moment,” he promised, and she lunged forward again to throw her arms around him, practically on his lap.
“I want to be like this,” she told him, curling her head into the crook of his neck so she could watch the Pokémon glow from her craned position enveloped with him. “I want to be like we have been this week for the long haul, maybe even after our final contracts with the Union. I just want to be with you.”
His heart soared, and he was certain she could hear it thumping wildly as the blood rushed to his ears and cheeks at her words. He wanted it too; he wanted it so much more than he could ever tell her with words alone. He’d wanted it for so long of their existing relationship already, and to hear her express the same… he almost had to pinch himself to ensure this wasn’t a twisted fantasy dream he’d wake up from far too soon.
“Then let’s start today,” Lunick counter-offered her, one of the hands on her back rubbing in soothing circles of pure adoration. “Solana, there’s something I think I’d like to finally ask.”
She knew. She knew what it was. It was the words she’d always dreamed of hearing, and today, she finally got to. Peeling herself back from him to receive them properly, she turned how she was sitting on the deck to face him more head-on, her knees bumping into his as she nodded. “I can’t believe you’re actually going to beat me to it.”
Lunick snickered, and took both her hands in his, the entire right side of his face aglow in the blue reflection of the gorgeous sight. But her eyes were only on him: he was the view, as far as she was concerned.
“Solana- I, your best friend, Lunick Kazuki, would truly and wholeheartedly love nothing more on this entire earth than to be officially yours. And I’m saying this for real this time, not just in the eyes of others, not just to get a couples coupon, not just to fend off any weirdos hitting on the other… Would you please, please be my girlfriend?”
The teal haired girl laughed at his bumbling dramatics and nodded wildly, leaning forward to peck him on the lips at how adorably goofy he always was. “It would be my honor,” she whispered, breathless, and crashed right into him as he pulled her in to cuddle and watch the rest of the migratory patterns together.
So as it turned out, Spenser was right all along: the vacation to Summerland was well-needed, even if not for the reasons he may have expected. And it was surely one that neither Lunick nor Solana would ever forget.
[8k+ one shot. (or two shot-now with a 7k+ sequel!)
This is just a rewrite I did of the post-game ‘Ringtown Rescue Duo’ mission from the first Ranger game! I stuck relatively close to canon all things considered- just elaborated on it a lot more to make the emotions much more realistic instead of the stagnant curt game dialogue!
Takes place from the POV of Solana being in the role of the game’s protagonist, IE, wrote the letters to Spenser.
Lunick/Solana implied, but just from the heartwarming fluff kind of way (for this part)!]
Part 1 [You are here!] | Part 2
“Aren’t you tired?” The words seemed to conflict with Spenser’s dynamic stance as he delivered them; the arms over his chest and broad, powerful footing did not match the caring question whatsoever. In fact, when Lunick first reported down here to the base’s lobby, he was positive his Leader had a ripe new mission ready for him.
Spenser’s typical dark circles under his eyes stretched thin as he squinted down at the younger Ranger; beyond just caring for his team as humans and having the decency of wanting them to take breaks, it was also part of his actual job to make sure they didn’t burn out, so to speak. A unique part, one that seemingly fell square on the shoulders of his own responsibility as a manager of his own base. All work and no play tended to make Rangers want their contracts to go away. And he couldn’t dare afford to lose either of his top two right now.
“You’ve been ping-ponging around all of Fiore for weeks now, between the whole Super Styler recovery and putting a stop to Gordor up north, to helping Elita with all the recovery Sekra Range needed. Hell, you and Solana only got back a few days ago, and Hastings has already whisked her off to Fall City for help in development of the Ranger Record thing he’s trying to implement in our next wave of stylers. You two have GOTTA be exhausted.”
And it was true- as much as Lunick loved this line of work, it was by no means a conventional 9-5. Being on contract with the Union was an internationally based employment, so the typical mandated days off a week for Fiore’s labor laws simply didn’t apply to them. And it’s not to imply that they got no time off, but… Certainly holidays were much fewer and far between. Even on days without active duty, there was always something to be done around the base custodially or otherwise to help keep the space a livable facility for all the Rangers stationed there. So with all the commotion of the past few weeks, and how crazy busy everyone had been, himself at the epicenter of it… Yeah. He was tired.
Lunick closed his mouth again, letting the words sink in as he just gave his superior a small nod. He didn’t even realize how exhausted he was until Spenser had brought it up, but now that he did, it was crushingly obvious.
The Base Leader just gave a knowing smile, breaking out of the formal stance to step forward and put a hand on Lunick’s shoulder. “I bet you are,” his words dripped with empathy, and Lunick’s muscles all dropped to a sluggish posture, thankful for his understanding. “Anyone would be tired after going through what you went through.” The green-haired man reached over and scratched under his Minun’s chin from where she sat atop his shoulder, smiling at the partner Pokémon. “You too, little one.”
Still not following what Spenser had called him down here for, Lunick rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish to be seen as lazy. It was a particular insecurity of his, especially since there had definitely been a handful of times he’d had to have been reprimanded for accidentally sleeping in past pre-shift briefing. “Uh, thank you, Leader,” he said formally out of habit, hoping that it goaded Spenser into going on about what this was really all about, because he could tell the senior Ranger was not done.
“Cameron’s prepared the perfect gift for you, Kazuki,” Spenser began, and guiltily relished in amusement at the way it made Lunick’s eyes widen nearly in panic with the knowledge of how the Summerland Leader was NOTORIOUS for gifting horrible gifts. The truth was, Spenser had actually planted the idea in his old friend’s head and asked for it as a favor, but… well, he couldn’t let his top Rangers know he had some favoritism toward them.
Laughing at the response, Spenser shook his head. “A real one, this time, I swear!! He’s arranged a vacation for you and Solana, to stay in Summerland. To take some well-deserved time off from being on-duty all the time. And while I know it’s for private, personal use, this time…” He crossed back over to the operator desk, quickly signing a paper and filing it with the current operator-on-duty. “I’ve authorized usage for the both of you to get there via the Dragonite Bus.”
Lunick breathed out a sigh of relief, a warm smile beginning to spread on his lips as the reality of the situation began to settle in. “Thank you, Leader,” he repeated, and it was much more earnest this time, as he quickly headed back to the elevator and swiped his Union ID for access back to the dormitories so he could pack up for the week and be off.
The flight across the region was not a long one: about 45 minutes to an hour of flight time until he was on the island that Summerland residents called home. The entire time, he couldn’t help but start to get more and more excited… An entire week! A whole week of relaxing on the beach, spending time with his best friend and their two Pokémon, sleeping in for once.... Nothing but sunburns to worry about, only sandcastles and playing in the surf on their itinerary. He was also excited by the fact that this would actually force Solana to take a freaking break for once in her life; after all, her case of WorkaholicTM was so bad that being ordered by the Leader to go on vacation was probably the only way she would ever actually do it.
“Hellloooo, Summerl-EYYYEH!” The drop-off from the Dragonite Bus had always been less than stellar, but this time in particular it really… burned. The planks of boardwalk out front of the Summerland Base were scorching, nearly melting the sunglasses right off his face. He scrambled to his feet to dart inside, if nothing more than for the air conditioning. And even still, that hardly seemed to break a dent.
“Arceus, it’s hot!” Lunick proclaimed as soon as he stepped through the sliding glass doors, dropping the duffel bag off his shoulder. “Is the forecast like this all week?? How do you guys do it??”
“Lunick!” Cameron wiped his brow, an apologetic look already on his face. It was then that the Ringtown Ranger began to read more of the subtleties of the room; even the Summerland Rangers looked on the brink of dehydration and hustling to provide pallets of water out to the citizens. “We… Just entered a Shelter in Place.” The Leader broke the news to him but couldn’t bear to make eye contact, feeling already horrible for getting the kid’s hopes up only to (quite literally) drop him into a disaster zone. “This heat wave’s kicking us like no other. It’s come on so suddenly that-”
Cameron’s words were interrupted as a tremor shook the grounds on which they stood, snapping everyone’s heads to attention. A few of the Rangers swore under their breath in worry, and while Lunick had been regretting not changing into something of less layers to wear when he first landed, he was grateful now that he was still in-uniform, because it was becoming increasingly apparent they needed all hands on deck. “Any leads?”
The Base Leader had hurried behind the operator desk, working a screen to gather data on the quake. “Uh, epicenter read at site of the Jungle Relic, yup…!”
Lunick clapped his hands together, his face lit up. “That’s good!” There was a silence, and he realized no one shared his excitement, and cleared his throat. “Uh, sorry, right. Bad that there’s natural disasters happening. But what’s good is I know that place…! I can help scout it out. I was there when it erupted, I have firsthand knowledge on it.” He carefully left out reminding them all that he was the reason it erupted. “And, I have an existing repertoire with Entei, after all! That has to be what’s causing all this! I can calm it down. I know I can. I’ve done it before…!”
Grabbing his styler out of its holster, he leaned over the desk with pleading eyes. “Please, Leader. I can be a great help. It’s really, really important to me that this gets resolved before Solana gets here, if possible. She… She really needs the break, sir, and I just know that she won’t be able to rest knowing there’s something she could be doing to help.”
Cameron wiped his forehead again, and gave a curt nod. “Lunick Kazuki, I am hereby assigning you this official mission: Investigate the Jungle Relic and see what you can do to figure out what’s causing this weather!” He turned to his own Rangers, on a roll with leadership, and began to instruct them all their commands, too. “We are to ensure that all inhabitants, people and Pokémon alike, are safe. Please, check on our residents and make sure all have water and appropriate shelter, and that all infrastructure is still sound!”
Already pushing his way out in a newfound hurry, Lunick saluted over the shoulder that Minun wasn’t occupying. “Thank you, Leader! I’ll be back before Hinata even gets here, just you watch!!” (His choice in wording was… Ironic, at best.)
Heading into Olive Jungle only made the severity of the situation that much worse; with coming closer to the source, also came brutal heat. Stepping into the Relic itself? It was like a furnace. If he didn’t know any better, Lunick might’ve thought his blood was actually bubbling.
Flipping open his styler, he made sure to report back once again- he’d promised that since he was going ahead on his own, that he would update the base regularly of his status. “It’s all from one Pokémon…” Sure enough, the readings on his styler denoted his findings to be true. He quickly typed a text of that update and sent it back to the operator, too, more confident than ever now that he’d been correct in his original assessment and could sufficiently handle this so Solana didn’t even have to.
The small handheld machine that was his lifeline beeped weakly, and the messages were starting to bounce back. The earthquakes must have put at least one of the save machines within the relic out of commission- thankfully it wasn’t something that would impair its capture ability, but signal for message sending was getting wimpier and wimpier.
It was clear, just by stepping into the atrium of the challenge site, that this had to be where the quakes were all stemming from. Stalactites were falling and crashing left and right, with rubble accumulating nearly everywhere he stepped. Not that, of course, he worried much anymore about destroying the Relic. I mean, kinda been there, done that. Moreso was his focus on not falling into the areas of fragile geothermal ground, because that was a recipe for a third degree burn just waiting to happen.
Thankfully, like he had told Cameron, he knew his way around in here. He knew where all the Pokémon tended to like to hide out, and while they were all (understandably) a bit more rampaged and distressed than usual, he knew just the spot he had to stop to snag a poké-assist from. While the challenge chambers were all shut, keeping him from entering the challenge of water den and receiving aid from either the Kingdra or the Gyarados that had at least once called it home, he knew of another oasis, still active in the volcano. Or, at least, he hoped hadn’t up and evaporated quite yet in this excruciating heat.
Much to his surprise and dumb luck, the cavern he’s thinking of is still there, and honestly quite a bit cooler inside than the rest of the Relic. He was sure he had this geological feat to thank for the fact there were still two Poliwrath stomping about inside, a small stream behind them that they were protecting. Now THEY would be useful for assisting with Entei. Both ran straight at him as soon as he entered the hideaway, something he was ready to handle and able to side swipe out a dodge for, whipping out his styler again to initiate capture. They provided more of a challenge than he realized they would be, if not just because there were two of them going for his capture line at the same time, in opposite directions. He ultimately had to have Minun’s help, with using her poké-assist to startle them steady in place long enough for him to loop around them enough to complete the capture.
...Unfortunately for him, however, perhaps the worst of the quakes yet struck right in the middle of his attempt, causing him to stumble and break his line. This one… This one was no joke. He fell to his knees, and was completely surrounded by the loud cracking of what could only be from the Relic around him. Looking around frantically, he recognized the newly-forming spiderweb cracks that were widening right above the cavern entrance and… Without thinking, he grabbed ahold of Minun and absolutely chucked her out to safety, much to her devastation after hitting the ground. The both of them scrambled to their feet at the same time, but it wasn’t enough; the opening to the oasis cavern caved in at that very moment, solidifying the only entryway and separating Ranger from Partner Pokémon.
Potentially worst of all, while the dust was still settling from the initial crash, Lunick could hear her crying out on the other side. The crackling of desperate electric bolts let him know it wasn’t that she was injured, it was that she was scared about him. But her efforts were fruitless; he had just drained her energy all out for a poké-assist, after all. She whimpered endlessly, upset at being apart. And that tugged at his chest horribly and twisted his heart into a million knots.
“Minun…!! Minun, hey, I’m okay, I’m okay!!” He was screaming as loudly as he could in any form of hope she could hear him through the giant rubble, and at least, the crying subsided a bit. Having her on the other side hurt him, too, but he at least could this way hope she had the decency of mind to know when it was time to get out of there and leave him behind to save herself if things were to come to that.
Lunick flipped open his styler desperately, and was completely and utterly crushed at the NO SIGNAL symbol at the upper right of the screen. He tried once, twice, thrice to send out SOS messages back to Summerland base to update them of his dire situation and to send backup, but it didn’t matter. None of them went through, and he knew it was pointless to keep trying. No, he could figure this out by himself. He had to. He’d been in precarious situations before, and gotten out just fine. This was merely more of the same, he was sure of it.
“Okay, Lunick,” He talked to himself to try and work this through, pushing up on his palms so he could stand once again. The Poliwrath had hopped back into the river to hide when the tremor hit, so he was no longer being charged as he paced back and forth, so long as he didn’t get too close to their territory. “This is a puzzle. How do you solve it?” He pulled his headband off and let out a huff, readjusting it back on his head in the same exact place out of nervous habit. “No visible exits. No Minun. Two Poliwrath. A river, which is at least a potential water source… Being guarded by the two Poliwrath. Rocks covering the entrance.” He gave the boulders an earnest shove with all his body weight, letting out a loud grunt as he tried to displace them, but as he suspected- they didn’t budge.
Desperately (though deep down he knew was not the case), he crossed over close enough to scan the Poliwrath with his styler: Level 3 water assist, confirmed. A level 3 crush field-assist instead could definitely solve all his issues right now, but he simply didn’t have one. And didn’t have a way to text his colleagues to get one and come let him out, either.
His heart still descending towards his stomach, the dark haired man still went ahead and instigated them anyways, initiating an encounter in which he could try again to capture them. He made sure to only encounter one at a time to make it much less of a burden on himself, and between the new tactic and the extreme focus being in a dangerous situation channeled within him, the captures themselves were easy enough.
“Poliwhirl, hydro pump on that pile of rocks!” He pointed and instructed the both of them, which did as he asked. It was all he could do to hope the water stream from them combined was powerful enough to move the impediment.
But, with his gut’s assessment, it didn’t work. He was truly starting to feel like he was running out of options here. Running at the wall of rocks, he let out a frustrated scream, crashing into them and only doing damage to himself, not the obstacle at hand. Crying out in pain and anger at himself for even thinking that might work, he collapsed down to sit on the ground, defeated.
What was he supposed to do? What tactical error had he made that went wrong?? How was he supposed to know this would happen?? He pulled out his styler one last time in a bleak, waning hope of the signal issue having changed, but it was just as useless to him as everything else he had tried. He dropped it, too, to the ground, and rested his head on his knees. It was time to face the reality of the situation. The tremors were getting worse, and basically to rub salt in his wounds, the entire place ripped open a new one once again, crashing even more rubble in with a loud plunk! into the river.
After everything he’d been through… After all the things he’d faced in his career of being a Ranger… It was rocks. Rocks were the damned thing that could be the end of him.
This was supposed to have been his vacation, a celebration of all the things he’d accomplished. Just time for he and Solana to enjoy themselves, and-
Solana.
Arceus, he couldn’t even imagine what she would do if she knew. If this were her, and he had to find out she was gone, and know she had gone stupidly, specifically so he didn’t have to worry…
He felt nauseous even thinking about it. He couldn’t imagine her having to live it.
Maybe she didn’t have to. Maybe backup was on the way. Maybe Cameron changed his mind and ordered some of the Summerland Rangers out to the Relic, too. Maybe they’d get here before the whole damn thing caved in on itself.
… He didn’t know. Idiotically enough, his mind was still berating himself for having ruined Solana’s vacation by putting himself in this situation. He knew that was a stupid priority to have, but it was one that was keeping him from opening the pandoras box of dwelling on the fact he might never even see her again, might never see any of them again. Not even Minun.
Uncontrollably, he felt himself start to choke on his hopeless emotions. He was sure the involuntary tears weren’t helping his already-rapidly-dehyrating state, either.
The Poliwrath were no longer indebted to him by any stretch, but still felt the goodness of Lunick’s heart from the capture, and quietly made their way over to the broken Ranger for some sympathy. It wasn’t much, but if he wasn’t getting out, it meant they probably couldn’t either. And they might as well be some company.
One sat on either side of him, nudging their way under either of his arms to snuggle up for companionship. The gesture was nice, but only made him choke harder, as a perfect example of just why he loved this job so much. Of why he wasn’t ready to stop helping.
But, unfortunately, all he could do at this point was hope. And it was a resource he was very much starting to run out of.
***
Breathing out a long sigh of relief, Solana was just happy to finally be going home. Spending time with the professor was always an honor, and Aria was… Mostly tolerable, during their mission together out on the Safra Sea, but seeing (and capturing) actual, physical Kyogre was just the sort of crazy enough thing she needed on top of all the chaos she’d been through to make her desperately want nothing more than an easy, relaxed, patrol of Lyra Forest for the next multiple weeks.
The short flight back to Ringtown was one where she tried to merely process what just happened. Before Spenser had accepted her many begging letters to join the Union, she’d lived all her life in Sootopolis City, Hoenn; all her life she’d heard nothing but stories and legends of the three of them: Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza. And now she’d just faced one.
Upon being dropped in front of the Ringtown Base, she all but ran inside, nearly out of breath in excitement to share with Spenser and Lunick. “Leader!” She called out from across the room as she hurried up to him, but he beat her to the punch.
“Solana! I just got off the phone with Joel! You captured a Kyogre?! That’s mind blowing!”
Despite having been more excited to share the story with Lunick, being beaten to her own huge news by her Leader deflated her immediately, stripping the wind right out of her sails. It was enough of a shock to where you could physically see the energy high that she’d been running on peter right out of her, leaving behind only the shell-shocked, exasperated state of being that she’d learned to inhabit. “Yeah,” she puffed out, her arms feeling like lead. “It’s been insane, Leader.”
“Which is exactly what I want to speak to you about,” Spenser segwayed with a small smile, pitching her the same thing he had to Lunick only an hour and a half prior. “Take the Dragonite Bus,” he punctuated the explanation of her vacation with, a small smile on his face. “And enjoy the break. That’s an order.”
Solana heaved out a long sigh in relief, and nodded her head in knowing amusement. It was no coincidence that those were his choice of words; he knew she would only truly relax on direct order to do so. “Yes, Leader,” She gave him a small, half-hearted salute, then hurried upstairs to catch her flight to the easternmost settlement of the region.
Solana’s timing, however, could simply not have been any worse. The period when Lunick’s state was deteriorating overlapped exactly with her Dragonite Bus trip to Summerland, meaning she hadn’t had a clue about any of it. Word of the heat wave had not yet been spread beyond Summerland when she was sent off, as it had only barely begun when she had first been reporting back the Kyogre mission. Spenser would go on to discover the news of it right after she left, but by that point it had been too late to stop her.
When she landed, coincidentally, her initial reaction was nearly identical to that of which her partner’s had been. “Yeesh!” The girl shook out her palms, feeling like they had charred over just upon catching herself during landing. When she stepped into the Summerland base, her headband was already off and being wrung out, cutting through the tense air unknowingly like a knife. “Wow, is it hot out tod-”
Her words were cut short in confusion of watching Percy and Leilani gear up in Search & Rescue tactical gear, something that Summerland Rangers nearly never even touched since most of their S&R missions were done by boat, anyways. Rarely did tourists venture far enough into Olive Jungle to warrant it, and most of the area wasn’t even legal for the public to enter, anyways. “What’re y-?”
Solana’s head whipped around as Cameron interrupted her, looking more serious and stressed than she had ever seen him in her entire life. “What a rotten time to invite you here on vacation…” He wiped his head, but it was not only the heat that was making him sweat. It was nerves, too. “With this abnormal heat and earthquakes… So much for getting rest and relaxation…”
He was beating around the bush of something. She could tell. Solana looked around, her eyes narrowing, and she quickly noticed that someone who was supposed to be here was notably not in the room. Just before she could speak, the ground rumbled again, and the overwhelming feeling of dread consumed her as she tried to parse out what little information had been given to her. “Cameron, what’s going on?” Her tone had a sharp edge to it, and her posture was suddenly straight as an arrow.
“That’s… What’s got me worried even more, yup. It’s Lunick, he’s gone to the underground volcano to investigate. But we’ve lost contact with him. He’d been looking forward to meeting up with you right back here, he’d said he’d have to get done with this mission and get back to the Ranger Base before you’d even got here, so you could take the time off, but…”
“I’m going.” The very second Cameron had said the words ‘it’s Lunick’, she had already ripped a set of the S&R tactical gear off the walls and begun fitting herself within it.
“I’m worried you might be too close to this,” he interjected, shaking his head a little. “Percy and Leilani are already on the mission, they can handle-”
“I am going.” She insisted, her jaw clenched. It was extremely unlike her to talk back to or second guess any superior, much less a Base Leader themself. She hooked up one of the older-fashioned walkie talkies to the local communication channel and fastened it on her vest, steely in her regard.
“You’d be breaking rank.” Cameron reminded her, crossing his arms over his chest. His silly personality may make him seem to be the type to be a pushover, but make no mistake; there is a reason he is a Leader. “This is unlike you, Hinata. This is not your mission.”
“Then assign it to me!” Her voice was raised, and she threw her arms out in indignation, only proving his point about her proximity to the situation potentially making her make emotional decisions instead of rational ones. “I can help. Let me help. I’m the best asset you have for this situation. I know exactly how he thinks. Assign me the mission.”
This kind of behavior would absolutely not fly with any of the other three Base Leaders, but there was the added layer of complexity to Cameron: his heart. If Solana had to ever pick a Leader to turn to if she had to spill out all her emotions, it would easily be him. He understood that side of people so much more than the others, who could completely remove it from themselves when in the field. His stare turned from one of sternness to one of sympathy, and... despite his better judgement, he relented.
With a defeated sigh, he stood up straighter to deliver the official assignment. “Solana Hinata, I hereby cancel your vacation leave, and assign you onto the mission of uncovering what’s causing all the trouble here in Summerland.”
“Thank you, Leader!!” She was like a whirlwind strapping on the tactical boots, already grabbing things she would need and shoving her styler into the holster haphazardly and smacking the SEARCH AND RESCUE identifier tab onto her vest.
“Woah, woah, Solana, wait for us!” Percy and Leilani were trying to keep up with her pace, but she was already on her way out the door, more determined than she’d ever been. “You can’t go out alone for S&R missions!!”
“On the record it’ll just show I left with Lunick, since we’re partners.” She spoke with confidence, more instructing than offering. She flashed a small smile, hoping Cameron would forgive her for it. “Right, Leader?
“You’re pushing your luck, Hinata!” He warned, but she was already through the doors, Plusle in tow.
“I know!! But thank you again!!”
Unable to have patience when her best friend was in danger, Solana absolutely took off through Olive Jungle, never so much as dropping to a jog as she tore through the familiar paths back deeper into the island where the Jungle Relic stood. The weather abnormalities had started to get the better of the jungle wildlife as well, she’d noticed- various Pokémon looked incredibly distressed as she passed them, and some of the quakes had seemed to cause some weird geological incidents and trees to have fallen. But she didn’t have time right now to handle any of that- she called it in over comms so the Summerland Rangers knew what they were running into, but as for her own mission at hand... the jungle would have to wait, and she’d have to double back for it later.
The Ringtown Ranger didn’t even hesitate to plunge herself down the staircase and into the active volcano, nearly tumbling down multiple flights as another earthquake rippled the ground. It was much more intense here than out in Summerland proper. She flipped open her styler and found much of the same information Lunick had discovered himself earlier; it was all coming from… one Pokémon. Whatever it was, it was seriously powerful.
“If you see anything that could be a hint of them, please, let me know.” Solana was soft spoken to her partner Pokémon, and he let out a small cry in agreement to let her know he heard her instructions loud and clear. The two of them descended into the main atrium where the home of the four challenges once stood; the place it had all begun for Entei only a few months prior. Returning and being awash with all the heat emanating off of the chamber instinctively made her flush in guilt all over again for having completed the fourth challenge with the very guy she was hopelessly looking for, but it was by no means the time nor the place to be dwelling on that again now.
Wild Pokémon were practically running in circles in a panic all over the pathways, some rushing to charge at her, some hurrying to flee away when she’d approach. She nearly got absolutely bodied by an aggravated Rhydon horn-attacking right in her direction, and had to dive out of the way just in time to stay wholly intact.
And then there was the most wonderful sight she could have ever seen.
“Minun!!” There she was, the little yellow and blue rat, jumping wildly on a ledge right above the entrance to the old fire challenge. Solana scooped up her own partner Pokémon and nearly tripped up the steps, what with how fast she was scaling them to get to her. “You don’t even know how happy I am to see you safe.” It was true- seeing Minun was at least a sign, but it was an incredibly terrifying and worrying one that she was alone. Solana was shaking now, her panic getting the best of her, but she swallowed her fear and did her best to push on. “What… Where is he…?” She asked with a wobbly voice, scared of the answer.
The little electric type jumped frantically onto the giant pile of rubble- so large, that Solana hadn’t even noticed at first that it wasn’t just part of the structure, and was actually where the small oasis cavern had once been. Her stomach twisted multiple times over, and she shook her head, trying to remember to breathe. No. Certainly Minun would not be this excited if all they were recovering was a body. He had to be okay.
“...Give me a second.” Solana’s voice cracked as she ran back down the stairs, dealing the ultimate uno reverse card on the Rhydon and charging at it this time, styler already equipped in hand and at the ready. She captured it in complete record time, using all her emotions to channel an extreme focus to not make a single mistake in the process. “Rhydon, crush those boulders to clear out that opening!”
Lunick trembled in fear of being squashed like a bug type every time one of the quakes ruptured through the ground, but this one… This one felt like it was practically bullying him with how close it was. Everything was shaking, and he scrambled back from the boulders that had been blocking his exit, until… the dust settled. And it wasn’t a quake at all. “Solana?!” He jumped to his feet, rushing forward, and the two of them all but collapsed into each other, arms wrapped around one another so tightly and secure that this was real.
“Lunick…” She heaved, the flood of relief all catching in her throat at once as she buried her face against his neck and held him close. “You’re alive…!”
“Thanks to you,” he stood still, letting her pull back and examine him for any major wounds that would need immediate attending to. Thankfully, he only had the caked-on dirt and multiple open surface scrapes from his escape attempts: something that would have to be cleaned as to avoid infections, but not inhibiting his mobility.
“I have him!” She called into the walkie-talkie strapped to her shoulder, reporting back on the local frequency, which wasn’t jammed by the save machines having been destroyed. “He’s alive, and conscious. Will need first aid, but nothing critical. Over.”
“You… came to rescue me.” He took in the specialized uniform she was wearing, and shook his head in disbelief. “Arceus, Solana, are you a sight for sore eyes...”
She laughed, but it was breathy and hollow, and more out of shock and relief than actual amusement. Without missing a beat, she gestured to his dirtied and torn up skin, and followed up with: “And you’re a sight that makes my eyes sore.” She tucked some of the stray hair back out of her face, looking up at him expectantly. “Look at you! What happened?!”
It was out of a place of the utmost care, and the tone of her delivery showed it. He couldn’t help but smile at her snarky choice of delivery, and looked behind his shoulder at the Poliwrath, which were cautiously distant from the new person they didn’t know, but intrigued by their new friend. “There was... a tremor that caused a rockfall,” he explained, feeling her hand on his cheek and letting her pull it back so he was looking at her again. He swallowed thickly, resting a hand on her wrist, and she could see the fear still in his expression. “I was trapped down here, and the stylers’ signal is out. I tried everything I could to get out on my own, but… It was scary, Solana. I… started thinking about what might happen to me if no one came. I felt so lost and discouraged.”
She didn’t say anything, just pulled him back into another tight hug, and he appreciated the comfort more than he could verbalize.
“I’m sorry I ruined your vacation,” he whispered after a moment, and she laughed at him right in his ear.
“I know you did not just even think about saying that as if that’s the priority right now.” Before he had the chance to defend himself, the ground rumbled once again, and they got ripped apart from one another from the sheer force of it. “Man. These quakes are just getting worse and worse…!” She looked over her shoulder to check on Plusle and Minun, and then jolted upright suddenly, looking like a kid in a candy store. “Quakes… QUAKES!!” Lunick could tell her mind was running a mile a minute; whatever realization she’d stumbled on was a big one. “Earthquakes and severe droughts…!!! Yes!! Lunick, I know what’s going on here!!”
“My money was on Entei going on a rampage again, is that what you mean?” He didn’t know what was so crazy about the idea, but with the way Solana was shaking her head so vehemently, he felt silly for having even suggested it.
“It’s Groudon! I’m sure of it!!” She huffed, all worked up in her explanation. “I spent my whole childhood hearing all about this. I know this tale!! Kyogre brings a relentless flood and unfathomable tides and whirlpools, the creator of the seas long ago. Groudon? The relentless sun, so strong it can dry up whole oceans, and earthquakes so mighty it can crack continents into two!!” Solana looked away, sheepishly, realizing she’d gotten overexcited about such a thing, before adding on. “Or so the legends say, of course. They’re forever locked in a war with one another, and that MUST explain why Kyogre had vicious rake marks on its back!”
“On its back…?!” Lunick’s face was twisted in confusion, running a hand through his hair to push it back. “Solana, did you see Kyogre or something?!”
“Oh,” she said, entirely too casually. “Yeah. I captured it. Yesterday, in the Safra Sea.”
“WHAT?!” Lunick screeched, and his voice alone caused a few more loose pebbles to fall from the ceiling of the large challenge atrium. “You what?! And this is when you tell me?!?!”
“You were a little bit busy wasting away in an active volcano for me to be able to tell you, you know!!” She smiled, though, because this was much more the reaction she was looking for when she’d tried to break the news to Spenser earlier. She reveled in Lunick staring at her in dumbstricken awe for just a second, then continued on. “So if Kyogre is real, that means Groudon is real, and it must be what’s causing this! Both of them must have come to Fiore to recover after their fight!” She put her head in her hands, muttering under her breath. “Arceus, I need to call my parents after all this is settled.”
“It must have come here since this is a newly active volcanic site,” Lunick agreed, and Solana nodded insistently, reactivating the open channel on the walkie-talkie.
“Percy, Leilani, you here yet?” Solana turned up the volume knob so Lunick could hear, and Leilani was the first to report back.
“We’re just outside, heading in now.”
“Don’t!” Solana’s exclamation was so quick it nearly cut the blonde girl’s sentence off, and she was quick to explain herself. “Sorry, I mean…! We have plausible reason to think Groudon is what’s causing all of this. All of the symptoms Summerland is experiencing are one for one with what it’s known for in legends…” She looked up at Lunick and asked him a silent question, and he agreed. “We think it might be best to go in with a smaller team. If we overwhelm it by having too many people approach at once, it might rampage even worse, and who knows what kind of irreparable damage that could do to Summerland as a whole. Leader?”
Cameron chipped in over comms, having been surveying them the whole time from the Base. “... Our highest priority right now needs to be minimizing the damage from this event, both people and wildlife alike.” He agreed, “but Hinata, Kazuki, are you sure you’re within the capacity to handle such a thing? Lunick, you especially? Neither of you were even supposed to be on active duty today...”
She passed it to him and he spoke for himself. “Thank you for the concern, Leader.” Even though they couldn’t see their colleagues, they could both tell that hearing his voice firsthand was a breath of relief for all of them. “But I’ll be okay. We are already in here. We might as well finish the job.”
His partner took the device, following up with support. “Olive Jungle really looked worse for wear,” she reminded them. “I really think the assistance would be much better allocated there. That way too, if we do need backup, they’re not too far away for dispatch.”
Cameron grunted over the comms in agreement, taking their advice to reallocate the Summerland Rangers to help with jungle rehabilitation and prevention of any further sustained damage. Solana and Lunick were both quick to capture one of the Poliwrath apiece, knowing very well that if their assumptions were correct, the poké-assists would prove invaluably helpful for them later on. Once both were settled, Solana climbed up over some rubble in the way, holding out her hand to help him scale it too since she was sure he was probably far more overexerted than she was. But when he was back on flat ground again, she didn’t let go of him, still shaken up from the thought of having lost him earlier. It had been a sobering moment that sometimes she took getting to work with her best friend for granted, and by the apologetic way she looked at him as she knitted their fingers together, he could tell she needed the comfort.
“Just to keep you on a tight leash so you don’t wander off and get trapped again,” she mused, and Lunick rolled his eyes affectionately at her jab.
They traversed deeper into the volcano, the increasingly suffocating heat letting them know they were headed in the right direction. Much to their surprise, however, they were not alone.
“Hey, hey, sweethearts! Having a little date alongside this scenic magma pond?” Both of the Ringtown Rangers nearly jumped out of their skin, neither having expected to come across anyone else in here. Much less… Someone from the Go-Rock Squad, based on the uniform?! They let go of one another to both whip out their stylers at the ready, sharing a nervous look between themselves. If the catastrophes were actually all being caused by a Go-Rock resurgence rather than a hurt Pokémon, it would be a lot more trouble for them.
All of those fears subsided, however, once the ex-grunt opened their mouth again. “While you’ve been fraternizing, I’ve been here, dreaming about my return up to big capers…! Don’t you know who I am??”
Lunick and Solana both dropped their guard a little, more confused than threatened. “...Uh, no?”
“I am the Solo Go-Rock Squad! My glory will be greater than theirs has ever been, and I-” The Rangers weren’t intentionally being rude when they laughed but… After everything they’d faced the last few months, they couldn’t help it. “... You snickered?! You’ll pay for that!!”
They did not, in fact, pay for it. Actually, the poor ex-grunt was such a feeble match for the two of them that the ‘battle’ didn’t last more than 30 seconds.
“Tch. I guess ‘Solo Go-Rock Squad’ is a silly name after all… I mean, you’d need more than one to make a squad. I guess it’d work for you two. Look at you- all connected and in sync with one another. It makes me jealous…!”
“Do yourself a favor and evacuate, immediately.” Lunick cut through the waffling, shaking his head. “We cannot be held responsible for your safety should you choose to ignore that warning.”
They left with haste as advised, which allowed Lunick and Solana to continue deeper down. It was at this point that they first began to hear Groudon’s roars through the infrastructure, and… It became increasingly obvious that it was coming up through the ground. Through holes in the ground that they would have to jump down through, more specifically.
“Ladies first,” Lunick joked the same way he always does when they’re faced with something like this, and Solana gasped, shaking her head and refusing to have it just like usual.
“Oh nonono. You’re coming down with me, whether you like it or not.” And with that, she tugged on their conjoined hands, sliding down into what they recognized to be the chamber that had been under the Challenge of Wind.
Groudon roared and shook the ground more violently than ever, and the two of them could now see the opening to the cavern it was hiding in. “...You ready?” She asked him, letting go so they could both have full mobility in case they had to split up and flank it on either side.
“As I’ll ever be,” he promised back, and both charged headfirst into the chamber.
It was exactly as they’d inferred; the Groudon was rampaging primarily from pain of the notable, large gashes striped across its otherwise armored exterior. Between the two of them, they were able to bait out the hyper beam attacks into safe(r. No hyper beams in a small concealed cavern of magma can ever be considered safe) directions and away from themselves and their Pokémon, and with all the immobilizing assists, were finally able to manage to calm it down. Lunick was ultimately the one to complete the capture, and after conveying his feelings to it, he walked up to the large legendary completely fearless, holding a hand out to it.
“It’s okay, now, big guy.” He gently touched a gloved hand up to the beast’s neck, and it originally flinched, which made both Rangers stiffen, but ultimately relaxed into Lunick’s soothing. “I know you’re in a lot of pain. I know this isn’t who you are.”
Solana beamed, always enamored wholeheartedly with her partner’s caring-beyond-belief bedside manner, whether it was when dealing with distressed humans or Pokémon. He always knew just what to say to make everything alright. Together, they burned through the full extent of both of their healing items on hand, and seemed to patch up the legendary well enough for it to cease its destructive temper tantrum, receding into the hottest pits of the volcano where they couldn’t follow.
Lunick put his arm around Solana’s shoulders, and she crashed into him for support, opening the comms again. “All’s good,” she breathed out, the exhaustion she’d been feeling after coming home from Kyogre washing over her all over again. “It was Groudon, and it’s stopped now. Lunick captured it, but we can give full report when we get back to Base.”
“The heat’s already letting up out here!” Percy chimed in, ecstatic. “You guys did great!! I’m so thankful to hear it went well enough! Go back to Base, Leilani and I can deal with the aftermath!!”
“He’s right.” Cameron’s voice cut in, and instinctively both Lunick and Solana stood up a little straighter. “Come straight back to Base, yup. My Rangers can handle the rest, yeah.”
“Yes, Leader,” both of the Ringtown Rangers heeded the order, and made their way out of the Relic and through Olive Jungle at a tired, meandering pace. They’d both been through a lot, just today even. Certainly they were allowed to enjoy the trip back, just together as the two of them.
As promised, as soon as they returned from the impromptu mission, both saluted and gave report in full detail of what they’d witnessed so it could go on record.
“You know, now that I know you’re okay, I envy you two for having gotten to see Groudon up close like that.” Cameron huffed, wiping his head and shuffling some papers around. “But actually, after having overlooked how today panned out, I had to pull rank and have made some decisions, as I feel some reparations are due.” First, he turned to Lunick, reading off the official document he’d submitted for him: “Lunick Kazuki, after today’s events, you are hereby out for one week on medical, effective immediately. Both mental and physical. No missions whatsoever until you are cleared for return after your days of rest.” The Leader then turned, and Solana cowered shyly, knowing whatever was coming to her was fair, even if she did get the job done. “Solana Hinata, due to your outright insubordination and egregious lack of following standard S&R operating procedures, you are relieved of your duties for 7 days of administrative leave as punishment.”
“Yes, Leader,” she accepted, dropping her head down apologetically. “I’m sorry for my tone, earlier.”
“Water under the boardwalk,” Cameron reassured her, all whilst Lunick was staring at his best friend wildly. Insubordination?! Scary Solana was out, and he MISSED it?!
“And by the way… Since you both happen to be on leaves of your contracts for the next week… Cabana 34 is rented out for you to stay in, as it just so happens. What a shame you missed your vacation…”
Picking up what he was saying, both Ringtown Rangers lit up in wide smiles, more grateful than they could ever express. “Yes, Leader. What a shame indeed.”
The Summerland Leader passed the keys to the hut over to Lunick with his own jubilant and knowing grin, giving them both a curt nod. “Consider it a thank you. Because of you two, Summerland’s back to normal. I’m very grateful for it.”
His expression quickly shifted right after, before they could escape it. “You know, I just said Summerland’s back to normal… But what’s going on? It’s still abnormally hot… What’s causing this heat wave?” The operator behind the desk snickered, already knowing where this was going, and Cameron continued. “... Oh, I get it now! This heat… It’s coming from this smiling couple right here! Ooh-la-la~!”
Lunick and Solana were both so red and huffy, you really would think the heat wave was back, but just for the two of them. Grabbing Solana by the arm, Lunick began to book it out of there, their two electric type Pokémon scampering behind them. “AnywaysWe’reOnLeaveSoGottaGo,SeeYouAllBye!!”
Once they were out front of the Base, both nearly the same color crimson of the Groudon they’d just faced, Solana snatched the keys right out of her best friend’s palm, a toothy smile on her lips. “Betcha I can sleep longer than even you can right now,” she taunted, running down the boardwalk towards the vacation huts to beat him there.
“Literally only you could make napping a COMPETITION!!” Used to her antics, he ran after her, shaking his head in complete awe of how things that had looked so bleak ultimately ended up so perfectly. The next week was going to be exactly the time off together that the both of them needed. He just knew it.
