Chapter 8: High Notes

The next morning, Team Sunrise showed Scizor around town, helping him get a bit more reacquainted with how Treasure Town had changed.

It was still quite surreal for Scizor, seeing the mixture of old and new. The Marowak Dojo was still where he remembered, but it looked different, as if it had been torn down and rebuilt again from scratch. Duskull Bank was a bit fancier than it used to be, but it was still clearly the same place, and the Duskull in charge of the bank even seemed to vaguely recall Scizor, after he mentioned who he was.

Though, as Scizor had feared, his savings were not still waiting for him. It seemed they had been passed on to his relatives after his disappearance.

Similarly, his old home was already occupied. The old structure had seemingly been remodeled and expanded a bit, and apparently now served as the team base for a ‘Team Razor Wind’. Melody recalled having seen them around town somewhat often, among some of the other exploration teams that lived in the area. As she recalled, the team consisted of a Zangoose, Sandslash, and…

(…Wait a minute… isn’t the other member of that team a Scyther?) Melody realized. (…Maybe he’s a relative of Scizor, and wound up inheriting the place? A nephew, or a cousin maybe?)

Scizor’s eyes widened in realization after Melody mentioned it. He didn’t elaborate, though, and neither Melody nor Flynn wanted to pry. In any case, Team Razor Wind wasn’t home at the time, likely having already left to get a start on their day.

As Team Sunrise started to move on, Scizor cast one last, conflicted look at the building, before shaking his head and following the pair.

When the trio reached the Cafe, Spinda eagerly called out to them. “Ah, Team Sunrise! There you are!” He wobbled over to them and smiled excitedly at the explorers. “I figured you’d show up here before too much longer. What did you find? Did you learn anything about that supposed treasure, or what happened to…”

He trailed off as he finally noticed Scizor standing right behind them. He abruptly froze, staring blankly at the tall bug-type. Spinda blinked once, twice, before he recoiled in surprise, nearly toppling over onto the cafe’s wooden floor.

Once Spinda got over his initial surprise, Team Sunrise recounted the previous day’s events to him. As they finished, Spinda raised a paw to his chin, humming thoughtfully. “Hmm… Well, I can’t really help much with finding a new place to stay, but… I’ll tell you what.” He stumbled over to the recycle stand and began to dig through the assorted items that were stored there.

“Not here. Hmm… This drawer is for TMs, that one is for orbs… Where did I put it…”

Eventually, he found what he was looking for. “Ahah!” He triumphantly pulled out a gold ribbon. He held it over his head in a grandiose fashion for a while before presenting it to Scizor. “A team gave me this a couple days ago. Paid off their overdue tab and then some. I hadn’t gotten around to selling it to Kecleon yet, but it should be worth a fair bit.”

Scizor hesitantly stared at the ribbon for a moment. He was slightly taken aback, both by Spinda’s behavior and by the surprisingly generous gift. After a moment to collect himself, Scizor took the ribbon into a claw, holding it gently as he inspected it.

The golden fabric was definitely very high quality. It was luxuriously soft to the touch, and a simple but elegant pattern was sewn into the ribbon.

“…You’re sure?” Scizor asked. “Just like that?”

Spinda nodded. “It’s fine. Business has been pretty good here lately.” He tipsily made his way back to his counter, where a pair of customers were waiting. After quickly preparing a couple glasses of chesto juice for the Swellow and Wurmple team, he turned back to Scizor again. “Besides, part of the point of starting Project P in the first place was to give back to all the dedicated explorers around here! What better way than this?”

“Alright then.” Scizor wasn’t sure what this ‘Project P’ Spinda mentioned was, but he supposed that was a question for another day. He tucked the gold ribbon away in his bag before smiling genuinely at Spinda. “Thank you.”

It wouldn’t solve all his problems by any means. The ribbon obviously wouldn’t be worth nearly enough to pay for a new base or anything… but it should let him replenish his supplies and find somewhere to stay temporarily. It was a good start, while he worked to get back on his feet.

“It’s my pleasure!” Spinda replied. “I mean, it’s not every day you get to meet a legendary explorer who disappeared decades ago!” Scizor’s smile faltered a little at the reminder of his other problems, but he managed to maintain a straight face.

Spinda’s attention turned to Team Sunrise. “And hey, you two deserve something for your troubles too, considering you’re the ones who finally rescued him after all this time. How about a free round of drinks? Or maybe a gold prize ticket from the recycle stand?”

“Maybe another time,” Melody said, shaking her head slightly. “We still have to figure out what kind of mission we’re going to pick for ourselves for the day, now that we’ve largely finished showing Scizor around.”

Spinda nodded in understanding. “Ah, okay. I’ll see you all later then.” He waved goodbye to the trio, a sympathetic half-smile on his face as he glanced at Scizor in particular. “You take care of yourself, alright?”

“…I will.”

The trio left the cafe, emerging out at the crossroads at the edge of Treasure Town. “Well, I think that should be just about it,” Melody said as she looked up at Scizor. “There’s still the guild, but otherwise I think you’ve seen most of Treasure Town at this point.”

Scizor had a pensive look on his face as he looked back at the town again. “It’s still a lot to take in. But… it does feel a bit less overwhelming now, at least.” He smiled down at Team Sunrise. “Thank you both again, for all of your assistance.”

Melody returned the smile, her tail slowly wagging behind her. “Like Spinda said, it was our pleasure. And what kind of exploration team would we be if we didn’t help out a fellow explorer in need?”

“Still, I should let you two get on with your own matters,” Scizor said, glancing up at the mid-morning sun. “I’ve already taken up a fair bit of your morning.”

“Alright, then.” Melody wanted to say it was no trouble at all, but at the same time, they did need to get moving soon if they still wanted to get anything done today.

She would offer to show Scizor to the guild before they parted ways, but… considering its location, it’s not as if he would have any trouble finding it, whenever he wanted to go there.

“I wish you luck on your travels, Team Sunrise,” Scizor said, giving a small bow of respect to the two smaller pokemon.

Almost in unison, Melody and Flynn replied, “…You too, Scizor.”

So, Team Sunrise went on with their usual routine. After a bit of deliberation, they decided on an item retrieval mission off in Foggy Forest. A Furret had lost a valuable possession of theirs while in the area, and wanted a team to recover it. Not too difficult of a mission, overall.

Of course, just getting to Foggy Forest from Treasure Town was going to be a fairly lengthy journey. Taking the same route that they’d used during the guild’s expedition, they’d have to go through both Craggy Coast and Mt. Horn along the way. It wasn’t going to just be a quick, one-day mission.

Still, the reward was generous enough to make the trip worth it. And besides, it had been far too long since the team had been there, in Melody’s opinion. They naturally tended to stick mostly to the mystery dungeons that were a bit closer to Treasure Town itself, since it was more convenient. Not counting the guild’s expeditions, it was somewhat rare for them to even go as far out as Mt. Horn.

That thought got Melody thinking about Fogbound Lake. (It’s been so long since the expedition. This would be a great excuse to finally go back there again, while we’re already in the area…)

The idea was tempting, without a doubt. But at the same time, it seemed… inappropriate, somehow, considering the lake’s importance. As much as Melody wanted to see Fogbound Lake again, she wasn’t sure what Uxie would have to say about it…

Maybe she could ask Flynn about it later. They would still have time to think it over along the way. But for now, she decided to focus on the task at hand.

The team had come quite far already. She and Flynn continued to walk along a rocky cliffside overlooking the sea, knowing that the entrance to Craggy Coast couldn’t be much further now. They kept a slow but steady pace, not wanting to exert themselves too heavily this early on in their journey.

A series of faint squawks rang out as a flock of Wingull flew high overhead. Melody took in a deep breath of the salty ocean air, letting it out in a contented sigh. Something about the atmosphere just felt relaxing.

Almost subconsciously, she began quietly singing a tune to herself as she walked. Her tail gently swished back and forth in time with the rhythm.

“You are the ocean’s gray waves… Destined to seek, life beyond the shore, just out of reach…”

She supposed that the view of the ocean nearby was what had reminded her of the song. As long as it had been since she’d heard it last, she was pleasantly surprised that she still remembered the words as well as she did.

Before long, Melody noticed that Flynn had begun softly humming along as well. Melody blushed, her voice faltering briefly. But after a moment, she continued her song, somewhat more nervous now.

She was very conscious of the minor slip-ups she made. Especially as she neared the end, where her memory of the lyrics was much fuzzier. But Flynn didn’t seem to mind the mistakes much, judging by the warm smile he silently gave her after she finished. Melody smiled back, a bit more relaxed again as the pair continued onward.

“…What was that song, anyway?” Flynn asked after a while.

“I-I think it’s called ‘Lost in Thoughts, All Alone’,” Melody answered. “I learned it from Mom… though that goes for most songs I know, really.”

“She sings too, then?” Flynn still hadn’t heard very much about Melody’s family, so he was glad for the chance to find out a little more about them.

“Yeah. There’s a little theater, back in my old town. They do plays and such there too, of course, and Mom acts in those as well every now and then. But singing was always her favorite.”

Melody paused. “I-I was… never really as interested in music as Mom is. Or as good at it. A-And I could never sing in front of a crowd like her. But, well… some things were bound to rub off over the years, I guess.” She gave a shy laugh, her ears twitching self-consciously as she gazed at her partner.

Flynn affectionately poked her forehead with his snout. “…You seem pretty good at it to me.”

From most other pokemon, the words wouldn’t really mean that much to Melody. But from Flynn… there was a warmth and sincerity in his tone that sent a pleasant flutter through Melody’s chest. Her blush deepened, and she couldn’t help the subtle pride that shone through on her face.

A short, comfortable silence passed as the pair continued walking.

After a while, a silly thought struck Melody. “S-Say, Flynn… You’ve heard me sing quite a few times, at this point, but… I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to hear you do anything more than hum along, every now and then…”

The flame vents on Flynn’s back flared slightly in surprise as he realized where she was going. He shook his head firmly. “Nope.”

“Aw, come on…” An uncharacteristically teasing grin tugged at Melody’s lips as she stepped closer to Flynn.

“Nope.”

“Just a short little bit?”

“…I wouldn’t be any good at it.” He tried to maintain a stoic face, but the faint tinge of red on his cheeks betrayed him.

“There’s no-one else around to hear it, is there?” Melody said, fighting back giggles at Flynn’s reaction. He was so hard to phaze, most of the time. Seeing him flustered over this, of all things… Melody had to admit, she found it cute. “Just a couple lines, that’s all. How about just the first verse from the song I just did?”

Flynn hesitated, the flames on his back flickering nervously. After a few moments, he sighed. “…Alright. For you.”

He cleared his throat, shuffling uncomfortably on his feet. He looked as if he would rather be somewhere, anywhere else at the moment. Still, he shook his head, deciding that there was no point in stalling.

“…You are the ocean’s gray waves…”

Flynn’s voice was quiet, even more so than usual. If Melody wasn’t still right next to him, she might not have even heard him. He went noticeably slower than Melody had gone, clearly trying not to stumble over any of it.

His performance was… somewhat rough and unpolished, admittedly. He seemed to have forgotten several of the words already, and there was a brief but noticeable voice crack at one point as well. It was very easy to tell he’d never tried something like this before.

Still, he was actually trying. Honestly, that was already more than Melody thought she’d get out of him. The fact that he was actually willing to humor her at all brought a bright smile to her face.

It didn’t take very long for Flynn to finish. Almost as soon as he was done, he started walking again without another word, his gaze fixed squarely on the path ahead. His face was still red, though not as much as the fire that continued to crackle sporadically on his back.

Melody hastily made to follow him. “Hey, that was pretty good, for a beginner!” Melody said genuinely. “Probably better than my first ever attempt, to be honest.”

Flynn snorted at that. “…Somehow I doubt that.” He met his partner’s gaze again, an embarrassed half-smile on his face. “But… glad you liked it, at least.”

He still felt like he’d made a fool of himself, but… he supposed it hadn’t been that bad. He wouldn’t be in a hurry to give it another shot anytime soon. But if Melody asked him to again… maybe he’d consider it.

A few minutes later, the team finally reached Craggy Coast. After a short break, they pressed onward into the dungeon.

Unsurprisingly, Craggy Coast was packed with water-types. Pools of seawater dotted the floor, and the early afternoon sun shone down through the hazy film that marked the dungeon’s ‘ceiling’.

It wasn’t an ideal place for a fire-type like Flynn… but all things considered, the team had dealt with far worse. As long as they watched their steps, the water here was all easily avoidable, and the wild pokemon were still weak enough to defeat without too much fuss.

Melody took the lead this time, since she could handle the wild pokemon more easily. Really, if she could just turn her Normalize ability off, her Thunderbolts would probably allow her to breeze through the dungeon on her own.

Though, even in a place like this, Flynn still refused to simply hang back and let Melody do all the work. Any time a fight started, he still stuck close to her side, ready to chip in whatever offense he could.

Of course, he naturally took some hits as a result. Wingull were annoyingly common, and loved to fly overhead and shoot Water Guns at the bright, fiery target on Flynn’s back. And at one point, a Krabby rushed out from a nearby pool of water and latched onto Flynn’s leg with a Vicegrip before he could react. A Lava Plume quickly forced the crab to let go, but Flynn continued to walk with a slight limp for a while afterwards.

More than once, Melody offered him an oran berry from their bag. But each time, Flynn shook his head stubbornly, insisting that he could keep going.

The pair entered another new room, and found a large Sealeo lounging on its side. It glared at the explorers as it slowly righted itself, before it launched a Water Pulse at them.

Melody gracefully dodged out of the way, her detect band shimmering slightly as it helped to bolster her agility. She feigned a strike towards its face, but then abruptly changed her trajectory, pouncing into the Sealeo’s side with a Feint Attack.

Flynn charged in a moment later, rolling into the opposite side of the foe while cloaked in a Flame Wheel. He’d hoped it would be enough to finish the job… but no such luck. The Sealeo managed to barely hang on. It had just enough time to spray Flynn with a heavy blast of seawater before Melody knocked it out with another strike.

Flynn winced harshly as the Brine attack washed over him. His flame vents sputtered as some of the saltwater got into them, and the lingering injury on his leg suddenly stung that much harder. He collapsed, just barely resisting the urge to cry out in pain.

“Flynn!” Melody rushed over to check on her partner as soon as the Sealeo was down. She quickly withdrew an oran berry from the team’s bag and set it down in front of him.

“…’m fine,” Flynn managed to force out, fully aware that it didn’t sound very convincing. He shakily attempted to get back on his feet. “…I can-”

Melody interrupted him with a light swat from her tail. “Y-You are not ‘fine’. A-And maybe you can walk it off, but we still have plenty of oran berries at this point.” She nudged the berry closer and looked Flynn right in the eyes. “Please?”

The pleading look in her eyes made Flynn finally relent. He popped the small berry into his mouth and chewed it slowly. A relieved sigh escaped his lips as he felt his aches and pains begin to fade away, soothed by the oran’s healing properties. He’d taken more damage than he’d realized.

“…Thanks,” he whispered. “I… probably needed that.”

Melody gave a soft laugh at the admission. “Just… don’t push yourself too hard, okay?” she said, a fond but slightly exasperated smile on her face. “You’re probably the bravest pokemon I know, but sometimes you can be way too stubborn for your own good.”

“…Sorry.”

It wasn’t exactly the first time this kind of thing had happened. Flynn had tried to work on it over time, but it was… still a work in progress.

It didn’t help that, type-matchups aside, this should be an easy dungeon for their skill level. It stung his pride a little to have to ‘waste’ supplies on himself here. He knew that was a foolish way to think, but it was hard to shake sometimes.

(…I wonder if I’ve always been this way, even as a human,) Flynn thought. (Probably. I remember Grovyle remarking that I seemed to still be the ‘same old Flynn’ underneath, despite everything.)

He glanced over at Melody again, a soft smile spreading across his face. (We really do balance each other well. I help give her the courage to face her fears and not back down. And she helps rein me in whenever I let my stubbornness get the best of me.)

(…It’s cheesy to say, but… we complete each other, in some ways,) Flynn mused, holding in a chuckle.

The pair rested there for a minute or two longer. The oran had mostly healed Flynn’s injuries, and Melody hadn’t taken very many strong hits at all so far, but still, it wouldn’t hurt to rest for a bit.

Eventually, Flynn decided that their impromptu break had lasted long enough. A brief wave of dizziness struck him as he stood back up, but it passed quickly. After igniting his back to clear away the lingering moisture from it, he nodded to Melody, and the pair started moving again.

The next several floors passed without incident. Flynn took more care now, putting a bit more priority on not getting hit rather than helping out with battles.

As they walked, the team made sure to keep an eye out for any useful items. With the length of their journey, it would likely be at least a day or two before they made it back to Treasure Town again. They’d have to make their supplies last. They’d packed plenty of the essentials, but it wouldn’t hurt to pick up as much as they could along the way.

Before long, Team Sunrise had gotten through most of the dungeon. Flynn couldn’t recall off-hand exactly how many floors Craggy Coast had, but he was pretty sure they only had a floor or two left to get through, after this one.

Just as the team reached the entrance to another room, though, Melody suddenly halted in her tracks. She visibly tensed up, her tail abruptly standing on end.

“What’s up?” Flynn asked, keeping his voice down just to be safe.

Rather than answer, Melody stepped to the side a bit, giving Flynn a better view of the room ahead. He quietly groaned after a moment as he picked up on the problem.

To the untrained eye, the room didn’t seem bad at all. The stairs to the next floor were in plain sight, and there were no obvious foes around to guard it. But the number of items strewn across the ground was a dead giveaway. Two orbs, a couple apples and berries, a scarf of some kind… and that was just what Flynn could immediately spot from here.

The explorers shared a grim nod. That many items clustered together in one place like that, in a mystery dungeon?

It was almost certainly a monster house.

Without a word, Flynn reached into the treasure bag. They had learned their lesson long ago, and always made sure to bring orbs to help with situations like this.

“…Do we fight?” Flynn asked in a whisper, now holding a slumber orb in a paw. “Or just rush the stairs?”

Melody silently deliberated for a moment. “…The items would be useful…” she admitted. “…We can probably manage, if we’re careful.”

Flynn nodded. The pair readied themselves at the doorway, bracing for the imminent fight. Flynn quietly began counting.

“…One.”

“…Two.”

“…Three!”

Both explorers rushed forward in sync with each other. Almost as soon as they crossed the threshold into the room, a Wingull let out a warning screech from above, prompting a horde of wild pokemon to burst out of hiding. Some splashed out of the pools of water on the floor, while others emerged from small holes in the rock walls. There seemed to be roughly a dozen of them in all, by Flynn’s quick estimation.

The wild pokemon immediately started to swarm the team. Flynn and Melody used their ranged attacks, hoping to pick off a few before they could get close. Two frail Wingull fell to Melody’s Thunderbolts, one after the other, while Flynn wore down a Krabby with a prolonged stream of fire, eventually knocking it out.

Just as the swarm had nearly closed the distance, Flynn raised the orb into the air. It glowed for a moment, pulsing with energy before shattering. A pink haze quickly spread through the room, lulling all of the wild pokemon to sleep in an instant.

The effect wouldn’t last for very long, but if things went well, Team Sunrise wouldn’t need it to.

A part of Flynn wanted to just run right into the middle of the enemy group and let out a Lava Plume to damage all of them at once. But he restrained himself this time. In a different dungeon, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad plan, and it had worked for them a couple times in the past. But here… it would probably just wake them all up, and leave him stranded in the middle of a bunch of weakened but angry water-types.

So instead, he stuck close to Melody. With the two of them working in tandem, they were able to knock out almost any of the wild pokemon with a quick pair of attacks before they could wake back up and retaliate. Not as flashy or exciting, but it got the job done.

By the time the orb’s effect started to wear off, and the last stragglers started to wake up, there were only a couple of Sealeo left. And while they were durable enough to take a few hits, they were far too lumbering to keep up with the explorers on their own.

Soon, the last of the wild pokemon had been defeated. Flynn took a cautious look around, just to make sure they hadn’t missed any. When it was clear they hadn’t, the two explorers traded satisfied nods, before starting to gather up the scattered items.

The quality of the items varied a bit. Neither of the two orbs turned out to be very helpful; just a hurl orb and a rainy orb. And the scarf, upon closer inspection, was heavily torn and not worth anything. It was only a pecha scarf, regardless, so no big loss.

The apples and berries would be extra food, though. Considering how far they still had left to go for this mission, those were definitely worth bringing along, at least.

And Flynn spotted something else, as well. Off in the corner of the room, there was a small cloth pouch. It was plain brown, fairly inconspicuous, but it stood out amid the grey stone of the dungeon.

Flynn picked it up to inspect it a bit closer. It was tied shut with a thin line of string. From the weight, it seemed to be about half-full, the tiny contents shifting around slightly as he held it with his paw.

(…Gummies?) he guessed, based on the way it felt.

He untied the string and checked inside. Sure enough, the pouch contained a small collection of blue gummies. There looked to be about… ten or so of the tiny but nutritious treats left in the bag.

“Oh, that’s a lucky find,” Melody said. “Red or white gummies would have been a little bit better, I guess, but they’re certainly nice to have anyway.”

They stowed the pouch away in the team’s treasure bag, along with the other items that were worth keeping from the monster house. Once they were done, they continued up the stairs, pressing onward through Craggy Coast.

Soon, the team had reached the dungeon’s end. Now that they were finally leaving the coastline, the terrain quickly started to dry up. The rocky ground grew more and more uneven as Flynn and Melody climbed further into the mountains. The steep climb certainly posed its own difficulties, but the pair had much more experience under their belts by now than they’d had the first time they came here.

The sun had started to dip lower in the sky by the time they reached the entrance to Mt. Horn’s mystery dungeon. The team decided to stop and rest there for the night. Given the barren terrain, there was only so much they could use to ‘make camp’ with. But they did manage to find a small alcove in the side of the rock, which would provide them with some measure of cover, at least.

Melody gave a sigh of relief as she set the treasure bag down, finally stopping to rest her tired legs. “Whew. We’ve finally made it this far, at least.” If they had gotten as early of a start as usual, and if they had hurried along a bit faster, they probably could have gotten through Mt. Horn as well before night fell. But this was fine. They were still pretty much matching the pace they’d gone during the expedition.

Flynn started sorting through their supplies. “…Should have at least two more days of food left, still.” He withdrew a couple of apples, as well as a few berries the team had picked up along the way, before closing the bag again.

“That’s good. It should be easy enough to find more once we reach the forest.”

Flynn let out a gentle stream of fire from his mouth, slowly roasting one of the apples in front of him. He’d been gradually getting better at it as of late, figuring out just how much fire to use and for how long.

He’d started doing it more lately because the team couldn’t rely on Chimecho’s cooking anymore, now that they’d graduated. But… it was fairly relaxing, actually. Especially after a long day of exploring and fighting. He still didn’t really have practice with any recipe more complicated than just ‘apply fire to fruit’, but it genuinely might be interesting to try and learn. It wouldn’t hurt to broaden his skills a bit.

The pair ate in comfortable silence for a while. But eventually, Melody decided to speak up. “H-Hey, Flynn?”

“Hm?”

“I was thinking… I-I know that after we find the item we’re looking for, we’d normally just start heading back to Treasure Town right away. It’ll be a long trip all the way back again, a-and we probably shouldn’t keep our client waiting for too long…”

Flynn cocked his head slightly, not quite sure where she was going with this. “…But?”

“…But I-I was thinking… we’re already coming all the way out to Foggy Forest, anyway. So… w-we’ll be right near Fogbound Lake again, for pretty much the first time since the expedition…”

Flynn nodded in understanding. “…Wanting to detour there, before we head back?”

“Y-Yeah… I was considering it, anyway. It was so beautiful and… romantic there, you know?” Melody stared off into the distance, a starry look in her eyes. “I’d love to see it again. E-Especially with just the two of us this time.”

“…Sounds good.” Flynn smiled softly as he pictured the lake in his mind. The first time they’d gone there, he’d had too much on his mind to fully appreciate the view. It would be nice to go back there again.

He noticed that Melody was still fidgeting self-consciously, a nervous half-smile fixed on her face. “…What’s wrong?” Flynn asked.

Melody’s smile faded somewhat, and her ears drooped. “I-It’s just… I-I guess I’m just not sure what Uxie would have to say about it.”

“…Oh.”

“Fogbound Lake was such a mystical, almost sacred sort of place. Uxie even took away people’s memories of the lake, just to help keep the Time Gear safe. A-And here I am, wanting to go back and trespass there again just for… w-well… f-for a date, e-essentially.” She raised her head to meet Flynn’s gaze again. There was a conflicted look on her face as she let out a strained laugh. “I-It’s probably a silly idea, huh…?”

“…I don’t think it’s silly.” Flynn nuzzled her side supportively, earning a soft purr from the Skitty. “The Time Gear isn’t there anymore, so… it should be fine, I’d think.”

“I-I know, but still… Uxie’s probably still there anyway. It feels rude to intrude on his solitude j-just for this.”

“…Maybe he’d appreciate the company?” Flynn suggested weakly. It seemed somewhat unlikely, from what they’d seen of Uxie, but it wasn’t as if they knew him that well. Given Melody’s unamused stare, though, she didn’t seem to take much comfort from the suggestion either.

So Flynn tried a different approach. “…If Uxie doesn’t approve… then we’ll just leave,” he said with a shrug. “…We’ll have wasted an hour or two climbing Steam Cave… but I’m fine with that, if you are.”

“But what if…” Melody started to protest, but she trailed off into silence. She honestly wasn’t sure how to continue that sentence.

(…What is the worst-case scenario, if we go?) she asked herself.

(We might have to fight the Groudon illusion again, I guess. But even then… it wouldn’t be nearly as scary this time, knowing it’s just an illusion. We beat it before, and we can definitely do it again, if we have to.)

(Uxie could take away our memories of the lake, potentially… That’s a scary thought. That night at Fogbound Lake is still one of my most precious memories from across all our adventures. I’d hate to risk losing that… but would Uxie actually do that, at this point? He already let us, and the whole guild, keep our memories of that night. There would be no point in making us forget it now. Especially since the Time Gear isn’t even there to protect, anymore.)

(And… like Flynn said, maybe Uxie won’t even mind at all. Maybe it’s not that crazy of an idea, after all.)

“…A-All right then,” Melody finally said, nodding to herself. “I guess… i-it’s a date, then.” She gave her partner a shy but determined smile, which he happily returned.

About an hour later, the pair had settled down for bed. The sun had completely gone down, leaving the moon to cast its pale light over the mountains.

Flynn let out a faint yawn, laying on his stomach as he tried to fall asleep. The rough, stony ground wasn’t exactly the most comfortable bed, but after a full day of work, he didn’t really care that much. He doubted it would take very long for him to drift off.

A moderate breeze sounded from outside, blowing right into the alcove. The frigid wind washed over Flynn, but his inner fire dulled the bite of it.

He almost hadn’t even noticed the cold, until then. (It’s not nearly as bad as Blizzard Island was, but… I suppose the air would be cold, this high up. If I wasn’t fire-type, it’d probably be pretty chilly.)

The thought made him pause. He cracked an eye open, and sparked a faint wisp of flame so he could see better. He glanced over to where his partner was curled up, just a couple feet away.

The Skitty visibly shivered a little as another gust of wind blew through the alcove. She curled in on herself a bit tighter, her ears folding down and her tail hugging close to her side.

Flynn frowned at the sight. After a brief moment of deliberation, he stood back up, walking over to Melody and lying down right next to her. She blushed slightly in response, but raised no complaint.

Another gust blew through, prompting Melody to snuggle closer to Flynn’s side. He could feel her gently purring as she shifted around a bit, trying to get comfortable.

Before long, Melody had fallen asleep, leaning fully against Flynn as she used his back as a pillow. A few minutes after that, Flynn drifted off too, soothed to sleep by the calming rhythm of Melody’s breathing.