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Volo supposed the Survey Corps uniform was warm enough, but warm enough didn't defend against freezing temperatures the way his Ginkgo Guild uniform did, even if it wasn't exactly the height of fashion, and both uniforms paled in comparison to the feeling of being wrapped up by someone who loved you very much, consequently refused to let you experience even a little bit of cold-related discomfort, and, as a bonus, could change their size to the point you found yourself kept safe and warm by what more or less amounted to a living house.
"Eyes forward, Volo," said Rei in the tone of someone who normally would never have the authority to order someone nearly ten years his senior around and, upon being given the opportunity to do so, was taking full and complete advantage of it. "We're almost done with the Abomasnow research. I really don't want to come out here again, do you, Akari?"
"Hell, no," said Akari from a few paces north, where she was crouched behind a tree, mud ball in hand, eyes fixed on the aforementioned Abomasnow lumbering around about fifty meters away.
"So let's get this done today. The sun's on its way out; if we take too much longer, we won't be able to make it back to the village before nightfall."
Heaving a sigh, Volo turned his eyes away from the camp, which was impossible to see clearly at this distance but which he could feel a pull towards even if he'd been blindfolded, spun around, and thrown into the wilderness. That camp was where his heart was; he could no sooner lose track of it than he could lose track of his left arm. Every part of him ached: both physically, and with the need to be back among the shoddy tents and shitty workbenches. He pressed splayed fingers over the spot in his chest where his heart thumped steadily on.
I'll be home soon, he mouthed. I promise.
He made his way carefully to Akari, feeling Rei's eyes on him the whole way. After what had happened at the Temple of Sinnoh, no one would let him be alone with her, and he was intensely scrutinized even when they weren't alone. He was fine with that. He no longer had any use for her, nor any desire to spend time one-on-one. His interest in her had more or less been entirely about her association with the plates, and now that that was over, she was just another human living a carefree existence in the patchwork of Jubilife Village.
(Though Volo spent more time there now, mostly because of his required "community service", which consisted entirely of Survey Corps work, he wasn't there any more than strictly necessary — and while Laventon had offered to put Volo up with shelter, he had declined, knowing that such an arrangement was not at all in line with what Tioga wanted, even though they insisted vehemently that they wanted what was best for Volo, their own comfort be damned. But he wouldn't do that to them. Not after he had spent so long tormenting them by insisting they be Arceus, regardless of if he had known he'd been doing it.)
"You should have brought Typhlosion," he told Akari, keeping his voice low. This far away, the Abomasnow wasn't likely to hear them as long as they didn't raise their voices, but one could never be too careful.
Akari had moved just slightly so that her front was angled towards him — that way, he couldn't move without her knowing about it. He noticed, and he was sure she noticed him noticing, but honestly he couldn't care less. He'd wanted paradise for her, too, of course; he would have remade her in his new world, if he'd gotten his way. But no one could understand his grand vision, no one except Tioga. And so he didn't hold it against her, and he didn't try to convince her of what he had been planning. He simply interacted with her when needed, and nothing more. Let her be suspicious of him. Let her hate him. Let her feel any damn way she wanted about him. She was no longer important to him.
She said, "Hestia's recovering. She took a critical hit from a Hippowdon earlier. It'd be cruel to make her fight now."
Her narrowed eyes targeted him. He knew what she was thinking: that he cared nothing for his Pokemon, that he used them only as tools to achieve his goals. Ridiculous. Probably she thought that because she saw him as an evil person and nothing but. He wasn't, of course — but even if he had been, even evil had loved ones. His team of Pokemon, all of which were nestled within their own PokeBalls that hung at his waist, were his friends, just the same as anyone else who counted their Pokemon among their friends. They'd spent time with him, eaten with him, shown concern when he was hurt and he them ... just because a person's morals didn't align with someone who considered themselves the "good guy" didn't mean that they couldn't have friends. He thought fondly of Asmodiel, his Togekiss — he had raised her from an egg, kept her safe, warm, and fed, played with her, spent time with her, loved her, and she, in turn, had always been in his corner, cheering him on towards meeting Arceus. She would have died to keep him safe.
So let Akari think what she wanted. His bonds with his Pokemon were stronger than anything these Survey Corps people could have expected of him.
His fingers tightened around one of the Apricorns at his waist. "Then I'll use Zev. If we can incapacitate it enough, we can just go right up to it and take whatever notes we need. We don't need to be freezing ourselves to death in this atrocious weather."
Zev was the name of his Arcanine; even without the element of surprise, Zev would be able to easily take down the Abomasnow in front of them, due to its double advantage against it. It wouldn't even be a fair fight.
Maybe that was why Akari shook her head. Or maybe it was— "No. I've already gathered research on Abomasnow after I've defeated them. I need to know what it's like in action. Or when distracted. I don't have enough notes on that, yet." She thrust her Pokedex out to him suddenly. So suddenly, in fact, that he didn't know what to do and was left standing there and looking very stupidly at the book with the tattered page edges being offered to him. "Will you watch while I make it chase me? I still need to gather data on what attacks it prefers, and..." She swallowed, hard. "...its top speed, or as close as we can get to it."
Volo realized, slowly, what Akari was intending to do.
There was a lot he didn't like about Akari. Chiefly, he hated that she had gotten in his way every single time that he had attempted to collect a plate in order to call down and challenge Arceus. He hated that she had apparently been the one chosen to be acknowledged by the god of all Pokemon while he and his people had suffered innumerable tragedies all their lives and begged for any sort of deliverance from the god that was supposed to be watching over them. And he hated that she had become Jubilife's golden child for the simple reason that she had come from a time where humans and Pokemon were companions, and therefore warmed to them easily. He'd done the same, hadn't he? Gotten along with Pokemon? And yet, despite the effort he'd poured into befriending them, he had been only the subject of side glances and people backing away when he came near.
It was just another unfair thing in the very long line of unfair things that had happened to him in his life.
But. He could see, as Akari held out her Pokedex to him, the way her fingers were shaking, and not just due to the cold. He could see the way she refused to meet his eyes, trying so very hard not to let him catch sight of the fear within hers. And he could see that this was not a ploy — that she was truly expecting him to take the Pokedex so she could risk her life out in the cold and the snow in order to fulfill the dream of someone who must have been dead for centuries in the time period she had come from.
He hated it — but Akari was a good person.
"No," he said, pushing the Pokedex back towards her. "I won't watch. But make sure you do."
There was a flash of hurt in her eyes, for just a second. And then it disappeared, because her eyes were wide with shock and fright as she watched Volo throw himself out into the snow, so abruptly that the Abomasnow immediately was alerted to his presence.
Rei walked up beside her, unable to do much now that there was no chance of the Abomasnow coming after either one of them. His hands were shoved into his pockets; he whistled as he watched Volo sprinting like a maniac across the icy ground. Several times he nearly slipped, but caught himself just in time. The Abomasnow, enraged by this human that dared to play games with it, sent icicles crashing after him — he narrowly avoided each of them, and it looked like he was only able to do so because he had been in a similar situation before and been a little less lucky.
"Might want to get started researching," said Rei, unsure of what else there was to say.
Her eyes still wide, Akari nodded. She crouched in the snow, dropped the mud ball, and began to write furiously.
“That was ... incredibly stupid."
"Yeah," Volo said, hissing through his teeth as Rei and Akari helped him back to the camp. "I've been told I can be quite impulsive. Ouch — ah, not there, anywhere but there. Fuck me."
Akari readjusted her fingers; she'd accidentally pressed on one of the several thin lines that had been sharp enough to pierce the Survey Corps uniform and open up Volo's pale skin. Though the black fabric below made it so that the blood was impossible to see trickling down his arm, she could see that there was an area of the undershirt that was darker black, meaning that he must have been bleeding enough to cause a stain. Damn. She felt awful, even though she never in a million years would have asked — or expected — him to do what he'd gone and done. Then again, she supposed that there really was a person with thoughts and feelings inside the crazed young man she'd faced at the Temple of Sinnoh. There had to be some reason he was loved so fiercely, after all. And speaking of which—
"Tioga's going to be so angry at us for letting you get hurt." Akari didn't relish the idea of seeing the hatred in Giratina's eyes again. She'd already been the subject of it once, and it had haunted her nightmares for a month afterwards. "They're going to want to rip us limb from limb, even though we didn't have anything to do with it.”
"Probably," Volo said cheerfully.
"Volo!" Rei chastised him.
"I'm joking, I'm joking ... well, I'm not, but I'll make sure they know what happened." He swore again under his breath. "Damn if they're not going to read me the riot act over it, though."
Once they'd crossed the threshold of the camp, it turned out pretty much exactly as Rei and Akari had been expecting. It was late enough at night that the only lights were from the camp and the fires that had been set to keep the inhabitants warm — but Tioga was in their Giratina form, and consequently the largest thing in the camp, so it was quite easy to see them notice that the three humans were back, rise from the position they'd been sitting in, speaking with the professor, and bound over to them. They were so big it was like a small hill had detached itself from the ground and come galloping over. Rei and Akari immediately moved out of the way.
"My heart—" Volo had only just barely begun to be able to get out before he was knocked over into the snow by Tioga, who set to work covering him with swift and affectionate licks like an excited Growlithe. Despite his injuries, Volo couldn't help but dissolve into overjoyed laughter, lifting his arms up and taking Tioga's enormous face into his hands where he could. Likely it hurt his injured arm quite a bit, but maybe the adrenaline of seeing someone you loved so very much made the pain take a backseat ... or something. Akari wouldn't know. She'd only ever had crushes before — not this all-encompassing, life-changing love that Volo had for the creature he'd pulled forth from the shadows.
For a moment, it seemed that was all that would happen — Tioga licking him over and over, crooning, Volo, my Volo, I missed you so much, darling, every moment without you was like a hollow cavity in my chest I could never even hope to fill — and then they must have tasted the blood, because they froze mid-lick and their red eyes dilated dangerously.
Akari's heartbeat quickened. She could tell the fury was beginning to fill them up. All she could see was that moment at the Temple of Sinnoh, where Tioga had curled protectively around Volo, their wings flared, their claws trembling with outrage, the air around them seeming to boil with the strength of their hatred. She whimpered without meaning to; Rei noticed and moved to her side, his arms around her as if he could hope to do anything if Tioga decided they truly wanted them gone. He would be vaporized in an instant. But he was holding her tight enough to make her feel like maybe if they were vaporized she wouldn't be leaving this world alone.
Volo noticed too, of course. He patted their face to get their attention; they ignored him the first few times, and then reluctantly looked back down at him with those eyes as big as his head.
"It wasn't their fault," he was saying. "Alright, sweetheart? It wasn't their fault. It was me. I was being foolish — I went and antagonized an Abomasnow because I wanted to get home to you more quickly. And don't blame yourself for that, either — I was being ridiculous — it was a very short-sighted action — I suppose I haven't entirely cured myself of the parts of me that can be impetuous to a fault."
Tioga's wings, which had been stiff, extended out to their sides in a battle pose, slowly crumpled back up like a parasail might after the parasailer landed. They folded around Volo's sides as if to warm him. Is it bad, darling?
"It's just a cut. But thank you for worrying, sweetheart." He pushed himself up with his uninjured arm and kissed their cheek, prompting them to glow a little bit gold with the ferocity of their blushing.
Rei's arms relaxed around Akari, and after a moment, he dropped them entirely. It seemed, for now at least, that the two of them had escaped divine retribution.
For all his and Akari's caution regarding Tioga, it was almost alarming how easily Rei accepted their offer of being his living pillow for the night. They were big enough to make it back to Jubilife in less than half an hour, of course, even with passengers — but that would mean leaving all of the supplies, and no one wanted to tear any of it down after such a long and exhausting day. So Rei and Akari found themselves gathering the blankets from the guest tent they shared and resting against Tioga, who was exhibiting a behavior Akari, being from a much more modern time, would have called "loafing". With the nearest fire not five metres away and Tioga being a cold-blooded creature who was currently running quite warm due to their proximity to the campfire, it was much more comfortable than either of them would have expected. Rei was so exhausted he ended up passed out against the curve of Tioga's tail and snoring loudly in less than ten minutes.
Akari, however, was finding it a bit harder to sleep. "A bit harder" mostly meaning that she couldn't do it at all — she lay against Tioga's middle right leg for nearly forty-five minutes, staring up at the stars, before finally giving up and getting to her feet, making her way up to Tioga's front, where their head was ducked low, doing something repetitive and ... was that more licking going on?
The campfire flared up for a second, and her eyes adjusted accordingly; she was staring at Volo, on his stomach, draped over Tioga's front right leg, his chin resting on his folded arms, looking for all the world like a very sedated and consequently very content ... something. She had to move a pace or two backwards as Tioga came in for another lick, and was surprised to see that instead of the fervent full-body licks they had been giving him when the three of them had returned from their expedition, they were now giving him long, slow, and purposeful ones, starting from the small of his bare back and continuing up past his shoulder blades until they reached the top of the back of his head. His hair, which normally would have been falling over his shoulders, was now sort of clumped up and spiked in the back in a way you didn't really get often, because humans did not often receive this sort of treatment from Pokemon. Not that she knew of, anyway.
She opened her mouth and realized she was at a loss for words here.
Volo, his eyes half-lidded, looking like he might fall asleep any second, said, "Tioga’s giving me a bath. Did you want something?"
"A … a bath," Akari repeated. She couldn't seem to think of any original words. She could only repeat the very strange ones she was hearing.
Volo heaved a sigh, but even that was devoid of most of its usual exasperation. It sounded like he was trying very hard not to make it sound like what it really wanted to be, which was a sigh of relief. "Isn't that what I just said?"
She had not missed this sort of snarkiness from him. She watched for another few seconds as Tioga continued to groom him like a baby Shinx. Finally, she said, "Does it ... feel good?"
"It feels absolutely goddamn wonderful," Volo said truthfully. His silver eyes glinted in the light of the fire as he watched her. "Is there a reason you came up here, or were you just interested in staring at me and my boyfriend while we share an intimate moment together?"
Before she could stop herself, Akari's eyes flicked towards Volo's legs, which were stretched out behind him. Oh, thank God. He was wearing pants. Only his top half was unclothed. Her face burned as she said, "I couldn't sleep. So I guess I just wanted to come up here and, uhm. I don't know. Uh. Thank you, I guess. For, uhm ... for going out and messing around with that Abomasnow, and keeping me from having to do it. You didn't have to, but you did, and it meant a lot to me."
Tioga was still a moment. Akari could sense the questions forming in their mind, and was not surprised in the least when they gave Volo's ear a tiny lick and said softly, You said you threw yourself out there because you wanted to come home and you weren't thinking properly. You ... You did it for Akari?
"I did want to come home to you, darling," said Volo, a little desperately. "Every moment without you is agony. I started missing you the second I took my eyes off of you."
Tioga regarded him quietly.
He groaned in the way of someone who had gone to incredible lengths to keep a secret, most of them dangerous and half of them probably illegal, and been found out in the end, anyway. "But yes," he admitted, "I did it because Akari was shaking like a leaf, and, you know, she's got such stubby legs—" This, Akari would have contested if Volo didn't tower over her at a hundred and ninety centimeters, which was unfortunately not the case. "—so yes, I thought it best to be the one to provide myself as bait for their research. They're just kids, you know. They'd probably have gotten themselves eaten if I hadn't come along."
Akari could feel their love from here like a physical thing. When next they spoke, it was a quiet murmur, thick with emotion: Oh, my sweet boy. My treasure. You’re so kind and thoughtful … I'm the luckiest creature on earth. Are you absolutely positive you're mine?
Volo readjusted himself so that he was now on his side, able to see each of them equally — he smiled sweetly up at Tioga and said, "I'm absolutely positive. Devoting myself to you was the best decision I've ever made in my entire life, and there is not a single thing on this earth that could make me regret it. Hold on — can I kiss you?"
Akari was sure they kissed each other — and did much more — on the regular, but there was something tender and kind about asking permission. Tioga lowered their head and closed their mouth, and Volo pushed himself up to dance his fingers along their chin and press a soft kiss to their beak. About sixty feet back, the tip of Tioga's tail began thumping gently in pure and unadulterated happiness.
"Well, anyway," said Akari. "That was all I came to say, really. I still don't like you..." She said this while keeping her eyes on Tioga's red ones and bouncing up and down on her feet, ready to bolt if the dragon before her decided this was too much of an insult to tolerate, but Tioga remained where they were, purring with satisfaction. "...but you did something dangerous for me that you didn't have to do just because I was scared to, so ... you probably deserve to have a good night with Tioga. Or something."
She turned then and walked away, hearing their whispered conversation behind her, mostly because Tioga's voice was telepathic and therefore played in the back of her head until she was a good distance away. She resumed the position she'd been trying to sleep in before, the stars above her, her small and frail human body fitting in the gentle curve of Tioga's central legs, and pulled her blanket over her. She missed space heaters terribly. She wondered if there was something paradoxical about attempting to be the one that invented them in the first place.
She almost fooled herself into believing that that was what had happened, because suddenly she felt a surprising warmth. Opening her eyes, she was taken aback to see that a dark, fibrous material had been draped over her as a second blanket, one that shut out all of the short bursts of frigid cold that were creeping into and under her own regular blanket. The material was Tioga's wing — she caught their eye as they glanced back at her and then quickly looked away so as not to give themselves away, as if the wing could have belonged to anyone else. As Tioga burrowed their head into their front legs, nuzzling into Volo, Akari curled up, warm and content, and was asleep with a smile on her face little more than a few seconds later.