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Mabosstiff has always taken care of his human. It’s what he’s meant to do, and he’s been happy to do it every since he was a tiny Maschiff. He knows enough to know that his human is still pretty low-leveled, and needs to be looked after, and other humans didn’t really look after his human.
Or at least, they didn’t used to. Now, though…
“Hey, Arven!”
“How’s the make-up work going? We decided to come help.”
“We brought snacks.”
His human has a proper pack, now. Mabosstiff likes the three female humans, especially the one who helped him and his human when he was sick. She drops a big bag of snacks on his human’s bed, and gives him a scratch on the back in the spot that’s really hard for Mabosstiff to scratch himself. He leans into it. Oh yes, he really likes her.
“Hey there, big guy,” she says, “How’re you doing?”
He was a little worried about the stress he can smell on his human, but he knows that smell will go away now that his human’s pack is here. He barks at her, and she moves to scratch behind his ear. She gives almost as good scratches as his human does.
The tallest human leans over his human and looks at what he’s writing, “Oh, bio homework? No problemo! I can help you knock that out in no time!”
“You don’t need to -” his human says.
“Arven, shut up and let your friends help you,” the smallest one says.
“… Thanks, you guys.”
The smallest one lets Sylveon out of her Pokeball. After a moment, Lycanroc and Skeledirge join them. They greet each other with a bit of sniffing and then settle into a comfortable pile. Skeledirge is on the bottom, because she makes a perfect heating pad. Lycanroc leans against his side and Sylveon sprawls on top of them all.
‘It’s cute the way our humans play,’ Sylveon says, ‘My human used to be so lonely.’
‘Mine too,’ Lycanroc says, ‘It’s better to have a pack.’
‘Everyone needs a pack,’ Mabosstiff agrees.
Skeledirge hums thoughtfully, ‘Maybe not a pack. But no one should be alone all the time.’
Sylveon’s human is opening up some of the snacks. There’s a package of little cakes, and she puts one in her mouth, and gives one each to the other humans. They smell good and Mabosstiff wouldn’t mind having one himself, but Skeledirge is warm and comfortable, and if he got up Sylveon would fall off. He opts not to move. His human will definitely make sure the Pokemon get snacks later.
“Ooh, cream-filled, best kind!” says Skeledirge’s human brightly, “Anyone up for some music?”
‘Me!’ Skeledirge cries, predictably.
The three female humans argue for a little bit over what music to play, but everyone can tell it’s just play-battling. Mabosstiff’s human doesn’t have an opinion, he just watches them with a small smile on his face. His human smiles a lot more now. He hadn’t really noticed it before, but his human also used to be very lonely. Maybe Mabosstiff was lonely, too. They had each other, but one Pokemon and one human isn’t really a pack, even when they love each other as much as Mabosstiff loves his human.
Some music is decided on, and another package of snack cakes is opened. Mabosstiff gets up, and barks for treats.
It’s good to have a pack at last.