immortallifeform:

“Kinda hard to miss when the little guy grappled at the berry and wouldn’t let go of the thing. I’m guessing he already knew what kind of flavor he likes,” Hark chuckled as he joined her, checking on Zeke to make sure the big lug was alright.

Asleep, nice.

… Chesto berry? That did explain the fact that it felt like a chestnut. So berries were just this world’s fruits and nuts. Nice.

But, as much as he wanted to take a sliver for himself, the young Wrumple was already in his hand, nibbling away a sliver before passing onto another that was a lot bigger, squealing when it couldn’t hold it. And, after a few attempts, the Wrumple simply turned to Hark and looked at him pleadingly.

… Yep. Definitely starting to understand the way Hark worked as it didn’t even squeal this time as he moved the tiny creature and proceeded to pull a handkerchief from his pockets before putting the slivers onto the cloth and grabbing the bigger pieces to snap them in half.

Ecstatic? That wasn’t half of it, he was sure as the Wrumple crawled to reach the kerchief and resumed its feast.

He only chuckled as he shook his head before turning to Rebecca.

“I don’t think I’m getting a piece.”

Rebecca was laughing under her breath, her torso trembling from held in giggles. She was trying so hard not to wake up Zeke but this scene was far too cute.

“Lemme get this lazy bum off my lap and I’ll get some berries for both of us.”

The champion gently scratched under Zeke’s chin, very carefully nudging him little by little off her lap and onto the ground before getting up and going to her Pecha berry trees, picking a couple of those and moving to the Chesto trees. 

She picked a couple of those and came back over, plopping her rear back on the ground and offering Hark a Chesto berry.

“Here ya go.”

immortallifeform:

Sounded familiar. Very familiar with the way Zeke behaved, and could only laugh when both Pokemon and Master found themselves pouting at each other. Cute. Very cute.

But, as the Wrumple was now trying to climb his face, he caught the young caterpillar, and gently began to pet it while listening to Rebecca’s words. She had a serious point there.

“I figured. Not that different than when it comes to actual children, I’ll say. Just… What do you feed Pokemon?”

“Between all species? Berries. And even those depend on that Pokemon’s personal taste. Thankfully there’s five general tastes to work with. Sweet, sour, dry, bitter and spicy.”

“Pink, yellow, blue, green and red berries respectively. Go ahead into the orchard and pick out a berry for the little one to munch on. Just be careful with the first row, those are Cheri berries and they’re incredibly fragile and spicy.”

She held up her scarred hand with a sheepish expression. Zeke sniffed at her hand and nudged it, causing her to roll her eyes and rub his snout.

“The juice can burn if it’s not diluted.”

immortallifeform:

Hark knew well, knew very well how some people, some animals tended to become protective, even overprotective of the people that cared for them because of injuries, of near death experiences. He’d seen it happen so many times, he knew how to recognize the signs and what to make of them.

That was why he only smiled when he saw realization dawn on Rebecca’s face, chuckled at the nudge, returning it with the same gentleness, and lightly laughed at the reaction to the electricity.

Dumb Dragon-Electric types? Hark did not believe a word of that.

But he had bigger worries, namely the Wrumple that was now trying to get his attention, seemingly jealous.

Zeke let out a huff that sounded suspiciously like a laugh before melting under horn scratches and plopping his head on Rebecca’s lap.

“Lazy dragon. The funny part is that he’d get offended if I called him cute.”

Zeke let out a grunt and Rebecca softly laughed, a bright grin on her face, gently scratching under the giant Legendary’s chin.

“That’s right, you’re the cutest of Legendary Pokemon. One of the strongest, even if you’re too busy napping and asking for berries.”

The champion laughed happily when Zeke’s expression could only be interpreted as a stubborn pout. She yelped again when he gave her another zap and she joined in the pouting.

Then she looked over at Hark, grinning at his new plight.

“Baby Pokemon tend to be very whiny and want your attention a lot. You’ll be able to feed ‘em when they’re like this though.”

immortallifeform:

That… explained a lot more than he’d ever hoped it would. Although he wasn’t exactly sure who team Plasma was exactly, the injury, the way Zeke had reacted…

He was not just a pet, and she was not just its master. Zeke probably, no, most definitely believed that Rebecca was part of his pack, or something similar. The Pokemon believed her, believed in her, and wanted to protect her as it probably believe that no one else would give similar care. And that… was a bond that couldn’t be broken.

Hark smiled, stopping his scratches and looking at the creature with understanding.

“I do. You care for him, don’t you? Showed him love, gentleness. And when that attack happened… he must have felt close to losing you, probably thought you wouldn’t live. That devastated him. Hurt Zeke a lot. And when you finally got out alive, he must have been overjoyed. Happy. And promised himself that nothing, no one would ever hurt you again. So he’s wary, careful. He’s not sure he can trust me because I’m new and I’m obviously not from here. Hell, he might think I’m dangerous and he’s not wrong.”

Before giving a gentle, careful pet and speaking to it.

“But I won’t harm her. I know how you feel, and I feel the same way towards her. One of her alternates, a similar being from a different dimension, is my daughter, and I’d rather save her from pain and suffering than inflict injury. She’s safe with me, I promise.”

… Gosh, he hoped it would understand…

“I’ve cared for him since I ended up summoning him with the Dark Stone…”

There was realization dawning on the champion’s face just as Zeke raised his head to very gently nudge Rebecca’s cheek.

She gently hugged Zeke’s head as the giant Legendary glanced at Hark. It took a moment of observation before he pulled away from Rebecca’s arms and gave Hark a very gentle nudge as well. A chance at trust. The lazy Legendary them plopped his head back into Rebecca’s lap, practically nuzzling against her stomach.

“Lazy bum.”

Her voice was full of affection, just like when she called to Zeke before to get his attention. Then the dual type gave her an affectionate zap of electricity, causing her to squeak and her hair to poof up. Rebecca grumbled something about ‘Dumb Dragon-Electric types’.

immortallifeform:

Hark blinked, trying to understand why Zeke was acting like he was. This was not normal cat behavior. In fact…

It was closer to a dog.

A dog who didn’t want their master hurt, from the words and the looks Rebecca was giving. Did it really think that he would hurt her? But she…

It didn’t know, that much was obvious, but from the way the master made her way to it…

The happy chitters of the Wrumple coming out of its hiding place got him to hesitantly smile as his ears slowly unfolded, hand carefully going behind the horn to gently scratch before speaking softly.

“How did you get to meet Zeke?”

That threw the champion off a little, causing the giant Legendary to growl a bit before melting under the scratches.

“It’s kind of a long story but I’ll try to shorten it as much as I can. It needs some context, ya see. It all started ten years ago when me and my friends, Cheren and Bianca, started on our journeys together…”

Rebecca softly recounted the Plasma incident, kneeling on the ground while she gently pet the giant Legendary. When she got to the part where she was injured, she went quiet for a bit. She must have been quiet for too long, because Zeke promptly plopped his head on her lap with a huff.

The champion smiled and quietly kept going, a hand ghosting over her headphones.

“I was injured badly in what should have been the final attack on Team Plasma, however I managed to call Zeke here before I passed out. He pretty much destroyed the Plasma castle and he flew me to the hospital. He’s been like this ever since, never could figure out why either.”

Zeke let out another huff, blowing Rebecca’s bangs out of her face and causing her to chuckle.

immortallifeform:

Terrified. That was how Hark felt as the humongous Pokemon neared him, trying to sniff him out. He wasn’t used to this. He wasn’t used to something alive being this big, nor this curious.

In fact, only Rebecca’s words reassured him, reminding him of a master and its pet, and slowly made him come out of his hiding place. It was trying to place an odor on him? With him sticking him close to Rebecca and his new clothes, it probably couldn’t…

Slowly, hesitantly, he took off his hat and shed his trench coat before stepping out from behind Rebecca, ears flattening, of course, but getting close enough for Zeke to take a whiff as he felt the Wrumple skitter from his shoulder to his back.

Yep, Hark was glad Zeke wasn’t cranky. Thunderclouds or not, he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to see something this big angry.

Rebecca took only a single glance at Hark before softly huffing, mirroring Zeke’s deadpan expression when the giant Legendary looked back at her.

“Zeke, if you don’t play nice, I’m going to ban you from Pechas.”

That wiped Zeke’s deadpan expression off his face and there was suddenly a whining noise. Rebecca raised an eyebrow, nodding her head towards Hark.

“Don’t give me that look, ya lazy bum. Play. Nice.”

The ancient Legendary huffed before promptly plopping on the ground in front of Hark. Rebecca squatted down and gently scratched under Zeke’s horns, giving Hark a bright smile as the Legendary melted under her scratches.

“Go ahead and give Zeke a scritch, hun. He’s definitely not gonna bite. Just be gentle and don’t scratch too hard.”

immortallifeform:

Pokedex, Zeke, catching. That was definitely a lot to take in, and while the terminology didn’t sound right too him – from what he knew, catching was making something a prisoner, not making a pet – there was probably something he wasn’t getting. A deeper meaning that would only come the longer he stayed.

There was still something incredibly familiar about the animal realm, though, if he could call it that, as the Wrumple caught his retreating finger and began climbing it. Looks like he made a friend. Definitely wasn’t the squirrels or the smaller birds of back home, but…

His thoughts got cut off when he did hear the growl, head snapping up at attention. Yes, it sounded non-harmful, but it definitely sounded like it came from something big. Something very, very big.

If that was Zeke, as Rebecca said, then Hark could only hope it was actually nice and didn’t try to chomp him. As far as he knew, Zeke, whatever it was, could be a possible carnivore, and as powerful as he was back home, he wouldn’t stand a chance if that thing decided he was dinner.

He swallowed, and gave a nervous smile before sticking close.

Rebecca softly chuckled with a warm smile, gently squeezing the other’s hand.

“Don’t worry, Zeke won’t hurt ya as long as I’m here. He’s one of my partners.”

“He’s like a cranky old Meowth- erm, I mean cat, once you get to know him.”

Once they passed the orchard full of berries, she gently snapped an Oran off one of the trees and tossed it up in the air with a ‘Zeke!’. It was snapped up in seconds by the giant Legendary, who then simply flopped back on the ground like a lazy cat.

“Come on, ya lazy bum, I know ya like t’relax when you stop by but we’ve got a visitor.”

Zeke flopped onto his front and glanced at the other before huffing and stomping closer to get a good look.

immortallifeform:

Fauna… And flora? Wow. That did open up quite a realm of possibility when it came to possible creatures. Hell, Hark could only imagine how many species existed.

He could only blink at first, though, as Rebecca explained, eyes trained on the tiny creature. A Wurmple. And the tri-brained creature was a Reuniclus? He’d… need something to file the names. He was not about to give himself a headache trying to remember them all. Along with the types.

Hesitantly, carefully, he brought a finger to touch and brush the Wurmple before giving a small snort and a smile.

“And here I thought I had seen everything. I most definitely haven’t.”

He then looked at Rebecca with a lopsided smile.

“How many types are we talking about? And I’m guessing the Reuniclus, Goop, is not the only one of his species? Are you keeping it as a pet?”

“My Pokedex is nearly filled up, you can use that as a reference once we get to my house if you’d like. Zeke should be there too, hopefully he’s not cranky today.”

The tiny Wurmple let out a happy chitter, flailing it’s tiny legs at the other’s finger.

“Not in the least, the world’s full of ‘em. I never would’ve asked Goop to come along with me if he was the last of his species. As it is, I’ve only got one partner who’s the true last of his species and y’can hear him right now if you listen carefully.”

There was a faint growling coming from Rebecca’s house but it certainly didn’t sound malicious.

“That’d be Zeke. He’s been stopping by ever since I caught him a decade ago.”