Work Text:
“Once, I fell asleep on a granny’s floor.”
The hammering stops, for a moment.
“What? Where did that come from?”
Summer merely points across towards Mitonga Island; a Noctowl has flown closer to investigate the noise. It eyes the two of them, Nema balancing halfway up the mast making improvements, and Summer dangling her legs over the side. Deciding there’s nothing of interest, it turns away in a large, sweeping curve.
“What does Noctowl have to do with you sleeping on a granny’s floor?” Nema questions, puzzled.
So, Summer tells her about the quest of the insomniac granny, finding a Noctowl, bringing it back, and well-
“Must have picked a cheeky one, since it sent me to sleep too.”
Nema doesn't say anything for a moment, then she laughs. She leans forward on her makeshift platform, creaking as though it laughs with her. Grinning at Summer, she swings a wrench around on her finger.
"Maybe it just noticed you work too hard, and decided you needed some rest!"
Summer tries to look irritated, but it doesn't stick.
"That hard work saved the world, don't you forget," she reminds Nema. "Although it was probably the best sleep I've ever had."
"On a granny’s floor?" Nema asks, incredulous through her bemusement.
"Grannies have rugs. Comfy rugs. I can highly recommend it."
"I prefer a bed myself. Nice and comfy and warm–"
"You say that like you don't sleep in your lab half the time, Nema. How many times did Rand say he'd carried you to your room?"
"–but I guess you probably camp out a lot. Or just don't sleep at all, I sometimes think." Nema ignores her comment entirely, smiling wistfully at her.
"Camping is nice. You get to wake up to the sounds of the Pidove cooing, watching the sun rise-"
"Having masses of bug Pokémon hustle you for food..." Nema adds teasingly—Summer had made the mistake of telling her about the time Ben had nearly gotten carried off by Beedrill after eating a pastry he'd stashed away.
"Travelling, Nema!" She flops backwards, looking up at the blue sky above her; flashes of dark blue, red and green, and the many flapping wings of various bird Pokémon. "I get to see the world for work. I get to breathe in fresh air every day and bring justice for Pokémon and people while I do it. I couldn't ask for anything else. It's freedom."
In the corner of her vision, she watches Nema watch her in thought. She seems to have forgotten—or set aside, perhaps—her task of improving the wireless tower. Summer suspects the ruse of being protected here was a way of eking just a little more time out of Summer. Her departure date is on the horizon, she knows. Even if the Ranger Union doesn't ask her back just yet, her feet will start to itch.
Nema must know it too.
“What… do you think of Oblivia, Summer?” Nema asks after a moment. Her expression is hard to decipher.
“It’s lovely! The sun is so nice, I love flying between the islands. The people are great, too. Apart from the Pinchers, but hopefully we’ve sorted that.”
“Would you stay?”
“Well, I already have.”
“Forever?”
Summer glances at Nema. A frown is growing on her face, and she’s no longer looking at her.
“Maybe not forever, but I can go back and forth, especially now I’ve befriended Latias…”
It doesn’t seem to please Nema, and she sighs heavily.
"But you're the only person I know my age..." She whines. "And you've got loads of tech. I wanna get to know your voice nav. I want to get to know you."
"Then come with me."
Summer hears the words come out of her mouth before she actually thinks about them, but she likes them. She’s been thinking that she'll miss Nema when she goes; she'll miss the weirdly named contraptions, the explosions, the glint in her eye when she gets new technology. The sheer speed with which she can rewire a circuit board, truly a miracle of the same calibre of Summer befriending the legendaries.
Summer's job has never been easy, but it's always been something she's known inside and out. Watching Nema work takes her breath away, truly out of her reach.
Nema stares at her.
"What does that even mean?" She asks, bewildered. Summer sits up, and twists to face her.
“It means what it means. You could come with me.” It’s so simple, after all. But it’s also not–Nema is very clearly attached to Oblivia, and the people who live within it.
“But that's leaving here!” She says, voice bordering on shrill. She gestures wildly with her wrench, antenna improvements completely forgotten.
“You could join the Union, it you wanted. You could work with Professor Hastings, be his apprentice or trainee.”
The more she says it and thinks about it, the more she likes it. Nema could flourish in a new tech filled area–not that she doesn’t here, but to think of her in Pueltown, tinkering with all sorts of technology, it just fits. Summer thinks about returning to the Ranger Union labs, finding Nema taking something else apart, thinking of Hastings’ expression as she does so… She thinks that would be nice, and exciting, for Nema too.
“But this is my home!” Nema cries. “Mum and Papa are here, and Nick, and the Pichu… And my lab!”
Summer smiles gently. She too had these thoughts upon leaving Almia. She’s been to a lot of places in the world, but it’s never just a place that makes her feel at home. It’s people; their warmth and sincerity, their gratitude for her help. It’s why she doesn’t mind helping insomniac grannies, or diving to the bottom of the sea for people’s sentimental treasures.
“Home is a place you come back to. Home is a feeling. I have many homes. Oblivia-Rand's house, you: that's become one to me. Home is a place you can easily leave, but easily return to. Leaving Oblivia doesn't mean forever, and it never has to stop being home just because you're not there.”
Summer sends a sweeping gaze across the whole region; the storming clouds of Mt. Layuda, the frosty mist above the Aqua Resort: the windmills of Tilt Village turning slowly in the distance, the gentle smog from Faldera Volcano, Renbow Island spread out to the south below them. All of this is home now, and she will always return, but she will always leave as well. Home lives in her heart: even if she is not there, it lives on.
Looking back at Nema, Summer finds her staring at her.
“I’m... a home to you?” Nema murmurs, eyes wide. Her tone carries hope and doubt. Summer glances away, a heat to her cheeks.
“Yeah. You're not the only one. I've got many homes, like Ben, the Ranger Union, Pichu... But yeah.” Nema still looks bewildered, and Summer chuckles. “Did you think I was just going to forget you when I leave?”
The torn look on Nema's face breaks her heart, just a little.
“I was never going to forget. How could I? You were always there: smiling, helping, fixing my styler, making a time machine, building a new wireless antenna-Nema, do you have any idea how amazing all that is? How amazing you are?” Summer stands up, striding to the antenna and reaching up. On her tiptoes, she can just about poke Nema's cheek softly. “’Cause it is, you know. Don't tell him I said this, but you could be even better than Hastings at tech.”
“Really?” Nema whispers. Summer nods, smiling as she puts her hands on her hips, rocking back onto her heels. “Really really?”
She nods again. “So, if you wanted to join the Union, or even just travel with me, you could. Definitely.”
“But wouldn’t I just be in your way? I mean, you do all this derring do…”
For a mad second, Summer doesn’t understand what she means. After all, Nema is the one doing the ‘derring do’. Nema is the one who snuck onto the Sky Fortress, who got kidnapped, who accidentally shot at her on a Z.Z. Flyer, then laughed about it later. The one whose lab blew up when her parents weren’t home, the one building a time machine, and getting Summer to attain power for it without even knowing what that power was for.
Summer was just doing her job. Nema was doing it all of her own accord, which is kind of mind-boggling, really.
Summer pins her a disbelieving look, because how?
“Me? How about the girl who made up a myth about three wishes to get me to drag a Z.Z. Flyer up from the seabed? Who blew up her lab? Who snuck onto the Sky Fortress and stayed just to help us? And you think I’m the adventurous one?”
“Well, obviously! You fought a Mewtwo!” Nema says, waving her hands about.
“You hid in an enemy base to help charge my styler. Without me asking, without anyone asking. You’re plenty qualified for ‘derring-do’, Nema.” Summer sends her a hard look, then melts into laughter. “Imagine you, thinking you’re not adventurous.”
Nema pouts.“Well, when you put it like that…” She murmurs, but a smile cracks its way onto her face, and she leans forward, eyes gleaming. “So, where would you-we, go? Provided Mum and Papa agree, of course!”
Summer grins, and spins on her foot, walking to the edge of the platform. The level below, she can see Pichu chasing the Magnemite around, and holding on for any gusts. He looks positively gleeful when he gets zapped by the stray wires–soon to be fixed, she’s been told. Spreading her arms wide, she stares out over Oblivia for a moment, before turning back to Nema.
“Where do you want to go? It depends on my missions, but if it’s just patrols, I get some say.”
Nema is practically glittering in anticipation, thoughts whizzing around her head. “Unova’s got a lot of technology. Almia’s got some lovely places to explore. Kalos isn’t that far. Kanto, Alola, Fiore–there’s so many places. We could go somewhere I know, or we could go somewhere completely different. It’s up to you, Nema.”
“Mum’s conference was in Kalos! And I saw a travel brochure on Johto! But-I think…” Nema tilts her head a little, tone going quieter and her face tinging a little pink. “I think, maybe, it’d be nice to see your home.”
Summer just blinks. All the technical marvels, all the wonders of the world, and- and Nema wants to see her home. Her home.
“I mean, you’ve been in my house so much! And I’d love to see the region you come from, and also, maybe, you haven’t been home in a while ‘cause you’ve been here? So that might be nice for you?” Nema splutters, flapping her hands about. “But if there’s a reason why you don’t go home then sure, but I’d like to see where you grew up, what made such a top Ranger!”
It’s very thoughtful of her, but equally curious. It’s just like Nema to try and find out more about her.
“Well, in that case, I can show you the Ranger Union Headquarters. Almia Castle is pretty, I’m told. The Chroma Highlands are really atmospheric, all misty and stuff…” Summer starts, thinking about Almia and all that’s there. “The Ranger School…”
She recalls all the times in school, creeping downstairs and Ben getting scared by the Gastly, Summer laughing her heart out. Shopping in Pueltown; holidays to the Haruba Desert. She remembers the confusion and terror with Team Dim Sun and the Rangers that stopped it all, inspiring her–and others–to become a Ranger.
She’s missed it, she realises. It’s not strong, but there is an ache to go back home, even just for a little while, to see her parents and sleep in her own bed. To show Nema her old haunts, have her meet the operators guiding her through missions and the technicians working on the equipment–especially that. She imagines Nema’s face upon chatting to people of a similar calibre as her in the tech world, imagines their faces when she tells them what she’s done.
She could go home. And take Nema, who will be seeing it in an entirely new light. One home meeting another. She wonders if her parents will like Nema–although it’s a given that they will. They’ll want to hear of her adventures here face-to-face, since it’s been almost a year since she last saw them.
Setting her eyes back on Nema, she returns Nema’s gentle smile.“Yeah, we can go visit my home.”
“So when we going?” Nema asks.
“Not right now. I’ve got a few quests to finish up and we need to sleep on it first.” Summer thinks of the rocks on Mitonga Road, of finding all the Pichu, of diving into the Eastern Sea to look for a package.
Nema grins.
“You need a granny’s floor rug and a Noctowl for that?” She teases. Summer sticks her tongue out at her, but can’t stop herself from laughing.
Home will always travel with her, but sometimes, maybe, it’s good to actually go home. Even better if Nema comes with her–she can’t wait.