Chapter Text
It was the night of a new moon, making the sky darker than usual and lending an ominous air to the world. Kokichi had switched out his usually bright clothes for a darker outfit, a dark purple cloak obscuring his form as he held his mask in his hand. He looked behind him at his team of five, all wearing hooded cloaks like his but in varying colors. Two in pink, one in black, one in red, and the last in blue.
"Are we ready?" Kokichi asked them. They were already wearing their mask, an army of brightly smiling faces staring back at him as they all gave him a salute. "Good," he said, placing his own mask over his face. He tapped his ear piece a few times to confirm that it was working before he spoke again. "Team smile, with me. Team Frown, go around the back. Now let's move out!"
The building had three stories and two entrances. While his second team would be making a quieter entrance around the back so that they could head up to the higher floors more quickly, Kokichi was prepared to enter the building with a bang. He tossed his two balls in the air, one a normal pokeball and the other a premiere ball, and out came his Ghastly and Misdreavus.
"Psybeam, Misdreavus!" The pokemon cried out in excitement before launching a beam toward the doors and blasting them open.
His two pink robed associates took the lead ahead of him, an Espeon and Umbreon at their sides. Kokichi kept to the shadows, keeping his eyes peeling for anything amiss. It took less than five minutes for someone to come investigate the commotion. Two adults wearing black and red, letting him know that his information was correct. Team DR always wore black and red.
The girl was wearing a red crop top and matching beret, with a black jacket draped over her shoulder and black pants with two belts across her waist, one black and one red that held four pokeballs. The guy was shirtless under his black jacket, wearing a black beret and the same style of pants and belt, but only two pokeballs on him.
"What the hell is going on here?" The guy demanded.
One of Kokichi's two subordinates, code name Joy, walked forward, waving cheekily. "Hi! We knocked, but no one answered. Hope you don't mind that we let ourselves in," she said.
The other, Trust, was more sedate in his response. "Just to confirm, you are part of Team DR, right?"
"Shit, they're onto us," the girl said, grabbing one of her Pokeballs.
"Oh good," Joy said as she reached beneath her cloak and pulled out a love ball. "You're making this easy for me."
"We're not letting you leave here," the guy added.
"They're making this really easy," Trust added, tossing a friend ball up and down in his hand. "It's a pain when they try to retreat."
The female DR grunt sent out a Gloom. "Make them feel despair!"
The guy silently sent out a Mankey.
"Let's go, Vivi!" Joy cried as she released her Espeon.
"Help her out, Eclipse," Trust said as he let out his Umbreon.
Kokichi only kept half an eye on the battle as he moved along the sides of the room, looking for anything suspicious. Ghastly kept close to him, while Misdreavus wandered to the other side of the room, keeping an eye out. He didn't see anything too important laying around and when Misdreavus floated back to his side, the quick shake of her head reported the same results. If there was anything important in this base, it would be on the upper floors.
Espeon made quick work of the first two pokemon, and Umbreon was able to dispatch the female grunt's second pokemon just as handily. That's when things got interesting.
"It's time to stop playing around," the girl said. "Destroy them, Tangela!"
"Annihilate them, Meowth!" The guy added.
Kokichi stood up straighter as he stared at the two new pokemon. Both had strange, dark auras around them, marking them for what they were, Shadow Pokemon. Pokemon that had been abused to the point of closing off their heart and obtaining a strange power. Kokichi clenched his fist to see them, even though he'd known to expect them. That was why he was here, after all. To steal these Shadow Pokemon right from under Team DR's noses.
The Meowth used shadow rush right away, disappearing into a dark blurr and barrelling straight into Trust, knocking him down. Shadow Pokemon had no hesitation when it came to attacking trainers and hurting others. The cruelty that had been done to them became second nature and they lashed out at whatever was in front of them.
Joy jumped away from the pokemon. "Attract, Vivi!"
The Espeon quickly followed her trainer's command, shooting out hearts that hit the Meowth head on and made the pokemon hesitate. The Tangela didn't though, using vine whip against both trainer and pokemon, making them both cry out in pain.
Umbreon let out a cry before disappearing and slamming into Meowth with a faint attack. Trust was able to push himself to his feet and Joy made her way to her partner's side to help him stand.
"You good?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Trust answered. "I've taken worse."
Meowth turned around and bit Umbreon, only to be knocked away by a quick attack from Espeon. Tangela released a purple powder into the air, but both Espeon and Umbreon were able to dodge the poison powder.
Kokichi made his way closer to the fight from the shadows. He pushed his cloak off of one shoulder, revealing the machine that he wore on his arm. He took a premier ball in hand and charged it with the snag machine as he waited for his chance.
Meowth scratched Umbreon, who released a screech in turn, causing Meowth to wince from the loud sound. Espeon followed up with confusion, making the pokemon cover its head in pain. Kokichi chose that moment to strike, throwing his premier ball at the Meowth and watching as the pokemon was sucked into the ball.
"What?"
"What the hell?" the two DR grunts cried in unison.
His subordinates didn't hesitate.
"Quick attack, Vivi!"
"Faint attack, Eclipse!"
Espeon quickly slammed into Tangela, followed by Umbreon.
Kokichi quickly readied another premier ball and tossed it at the newly injured Tangela. Both balls stopped moving quickly, cementing their stolen status.
"They stole our pokemon?" The male DR grunt said in a shocked whisper.
"How dare you!" the woman yelled.
Kokichi stepped out of the shadows as Ghastly and Misdreavus went to retrieve the two balls for him. "If your superiors ask, make sure that you tell them you were hit up by the Phantom Mask." He caught the two balls that his pokemon dropped into his hand. "And make sure you remember that karma is bitch. Misdreavus, shadow rush."
Misdreavus cried out happily as her eyes glowed before she charged at the two trainers. Kokichi didn't usually like to have pokemon use shadow rush. It did recoil damage to the pokemon that used it and it was a reminder of whatever sick experiments that team DR had done to try and make their pokemon stronger. But he was a fan of karmic justice and letting an abused pokemon get to attack the trainers that hurt them was justifiable in Kokichi's book.
Joy and Trust were high fiving each other as the two DR grunts hit the ground, knocked out. "Great job, missy!" Joy said.
Misdreavus preened at the praise, floating around Joy before returning to Kokichi's side. He tapped his ear piece once. "Team Frown, how we doing?"
He could hear the sounds of battle in the background as one of his subordinates answered him. "Second floor was a bust, but there was an office on the third floor. Envy found a shadow Magnimite and Fear is holding off a team of electric types. Vaporeon wouldn't be much use there so I'm grabbing files from the office. Might be in your best interest to get up here, boss."
"Alright, I'm on my way," Kokichi said. He looked at his pink clad teammates. "I'm counting on you two to guard the exits in case anything happens. And tie those two up. I don't want them to get away before we can get Officer Jenny here."
They both saluted. "Got you, boss."
Ghastly floated ahead of him, showing the fastest route to the next floor. Before the end of the night he'd have at least one more Shadow Pokemon under his belt.
The lights were still on when they returned, well after midnight. Even in the dark the large sign that read Dice Daycare could be read. They had used glow in the dark paint to make sure that it would always stand out. It was a two story building with a rather large yard and a tall, sturdy fence meant to keep pokemon in and people out.
Kokichi looked up at the two ghost pokemon floating over his shoulders with a smile. "Take a look around and make sure things are alright for me?"
The two ghosts made sounds of agreement and vanished from sight.
Kokichi glanced behind him to make sure his five subordinates were still there, then he continued forward to open the daycare door.
Two of his Dice members were sitting at the front desk, sharing a pot of tea. To the left was Elaria, a delicate looking pokemon breeder with teal hair pulled into an elegant bun and large, bright blue eyes. To the right was his younger half brother Kouchi,who shared his hair and eye color but wore a mask pulled up over the bottom half of his face. The mask was currently pulled down so that he could sip his tea, but it was pulled up again as soon as he placed his cup down on the table.
"Welcome back," Elaria greeted.
"Anything cool happen while we were gone?" he asked.
"Not really," Kouchi answered. "How did it go?"
The rest of his team came in behind him, with the three members of Team Frown waving and giving brief greetings as they walked past them to the stairs that lead to the upper floors, likely to sleep. Team Smile meanwhile moved past Kokichi to talk to the others at the desk.
Member Joy, real name Orchid, hopped up onto the counter, Elaria moving her cup of tea out range for being accidentally knocked over. She tossed off her hood and took off her mask, smiling brightly at them both. The bangs of her bright pink hair fell over the left side of her face, partially covering one of her bright pink eyes, the rest of her pulled back into a messy ponytail, revealing the double piercings in her ear. "It went great!" Orchid told them. "We got three new Shadow Pokemon."
Member Trust, real name Cormac, leaned on the desk beside Kouchi as he removed his own hood and mask. Cormac had short, messy white hair and pink eyes that were darker than Orchid's. "A Tangela, Meowth, and Magnemite."
"A Meowth," Kouchi repeated. "Koharu will be happy to hear that."
Koharu was his other half brother and Kouchi's full brother. His two half brothers had only found and joined him recently, but they were a good fit for Dice. Koharu, for all of his arrogance and difficulty getting along with people, was really good with pokemon and animals alike. In contrast, Kouchi was really good with people. He was soft spoken, kind, and a bit of a night owl, making him a good choice for nightwatch at the daycare.
The other core members of his group included his twin brother Kimochi, the twins Aoko and Arin, psychic trainer Hunter, and cool trainer Kanade. Kimochi and Kanade were on the Attack Team, battling with Shadow Pokemon and taking down the stronger members of Team DR. They were currently away on a mission and Kokichi wasn't sure when the two would be back. A few of his former classmates also worked with him on occasion, but he hesitated to call them official members just yet.
Kokichi let out a loud sigh and sprawled out on the counter, causing Elaria to again quickly move her cup of tea before it was knocked over. "I can't believe neither of you have greeted your beloved leader."
Elaria took a sip of her tea before dutifully saying, "Hello, beloved leader."
"Welcome back, Kokichi," Kouchi added.
"Lackluster, both of you!" He glared at them before forcing his eyes to water and sniffling sadly. "Wahh! Neither of you care about me! If Kimochi was here, I'd never be treated so poorly."
"Tragedy of tragedies," Kouchi said, sipping his own tea. "How will you ever recover?"
Orchid raised her hand enthusiastically. "I appreciate you, boss!"
"It's too late!" he cried. "I know that none of you love me."
"Was that supposed to be on the test?" Cormac asked. "Shoot, I knew I forgot to study something."
Orchid laughed. Kouchi thought his grin was hidden because his face was covered, but Kokichi could tell by his eyes that he was smiling as well.
"You're all horrible minions! You're fired."
"I'm your brother, you can't fire me," Kouchi told him.
"I can," Kokichi insisted, slamming his hands down on the counter. "I'm firing you as a brother."
"Oh, can I be your new brother?" Orchid asked excitedly.
"You're hired."
"Yes!" Orchid cheered.
Kouchi just shook his head before standing up. "Are you in for the night? Can I lock up?"
"Yeah, go ahead," Kokichi agreed. "We should all probably get some sleep soon."
Orchid hopped off the counter with a yawn. "You don't need to tell me twice," she said. "Night everybody. Night new brother."
"Good night, big brother," Kokichi said with a grin.
Kouchi frowned. "You don't call me big brother."
"Well you're not my brother anymore, are you. You got fired."
"And what, she immediately got a promotion?"
"Yeah."
Elaria got to her feet and collected the tea cups and tea pot. "Would you like another cup before bed, Kouchi?"
"No thank you," Kouchi answered.
Kokichi waved at her as she left the room. "Alright, I'm off to bed, minions."
"Good night, Kokichi."
Kokichi woke up to his bed shaking. The confusion only lasted as long as it took him to sit up as he was immediately wrapped in an embrace. "Good morning, Kokichi!" Orchid chirped happily.
Kokichi sighed and slumped against her, submitting himself to being cuddled as he tried to blink the sleep out of his eyes. "Why did you wake me up?" he asked.
Orchid was a morning person and she made it everyone's problem. Cormac was the usual target of her morning wake ups, since the two were childhood friends, but everyone had gotten it at least once. She was a social butterfly and the only way to prevent her from waking someone up for company was if someone else was already awake or she decided to wander off and get herself into trouble.
"You'll miss breakfast if you sleep too long," she told him. "You're the last one still in bed."
"That's not true," he said immediately. He knew for a fact that Aoko wouldn't get up before noon and it was nowhere near that late.
Orchid paused before leaning back and smiling widely. "You're the last one who's door was unlocked."
Kokichi knew he had forgotten something last night. He groaned and pushed her away. She was dressed in a long flowy pink dress with a large hibiscus flower in her hair and a coral bracelet on her wrist, looking remarkably like she had the day he met her. They were both a few years older, but nothing about her had change at all.
"Go away so I can get dressed," he told her.
"Will you just go back to sleep?" she asked him.
Any other day the answer would be yes. The day after a raid, however, he had too many things to do and she probably knew it. Ugh, he hated his group sometimes. "No."
Orchid hugged him one more time before bouncing off the bed. "Okay! See you downstairs." She closed the door behind her.
Kokichi groaned as he fell back onto the bed. Today was going to be a long day.
Kokichi met a wall of noise when he descended the stairs to the daycare. Ghastly and Misdreavus were floating over his shoulder and he yawned as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Ghastly appeared in front of him to make a ridiculous face, turning his yawn into a laugh.
His classmate, Kirumi, was standing behind the counter. She nodded her head as she saw him. "Hello, Kokichi. I've prepared breakfast and left it on the table for everyone. I made plenty so don't be afraid to eat your fill."
"Wow! Thanks mom!" he said cheerfully.
Kirumi's face scrunched up in distaste. "Please don't call me that."
"Someone's got to be the mom around here," he said.
"I don't wish to have any children, let alone children that are my same age," she said calmly.
"Aww, you love me just as much as my real mom!"
Kirumi looked troubled by that, but Kokichi skipped past the counter before she could say anything more.
The bottom floor of the daycare consisted of one large room separated by the front desk, and a kitchen area but an open doorway. There was a decently sized bathroom off to the side of the main room, the door to which was kept open when not in use.
Koharu and Elaria were sitting at the low table in the main room. His half brother Koharu was more concerned with appearances than the rest, so even this early he was wearing a dash of eye shadow and had a bit of color on his lips. He was the youngest of Kokichi’s brothers by around two years and Kimochi spoiled him way too much, but his twin was very indulgent with those he liked. Koharu was far too uppity in Kokichi's opinion and insufferably smug when he wanted to be, but Kokichi had gotten used to him and wouldn't want to go back to life without him. He'd never say that though. The biggest upside of Koharu was that he was good with pokemon and animals alike, and he was as big of help at the daycare as Elaria was. Vulpix was dozing on Koharu's lap as he picked at a platter of fruit on the table between them.
Elaria was dressed as delicately as she looked, with a thin white veil hanging from her pinned teal hair, and a dress that made her look a bit like a fairly. She had a Cyndaquil in her lap and was using a special brush to brush his fur. There was a cup of tea in front of her and her Ralts sitting beside her was attempting to lift the tea pot to pour her a cup. Elaria looked amused as she gave her young pokemon encouragement, but Kokichi was sure that was going to end with spilled tea. Ralts was just a baby and it liked to imitate its trainer whenever possible, which didn't always go well.
"Hey," Kokichi said as he walked past them.
"Good morning," Elaria greeted softly.
Koharu just nodded at him. "Kokichi."
He continued past them to the kitchen where the rest of his awakened members were. Cormac was sitting at the kitchen table nibbling on a piece of bacon. There were flowers in his hair which Kokichi was sure were courtesy of Orchid and a coral bracelet to match her own around his wrist. Orchid was sitting across from him with a stack of pancakes covered in syrup and topped with berries. Hovering over the counter was the psychic trainer Hunter, who liked to use his telekinesis to be obnoxious whenever possible, emphasized when he stole a bite of Orchid's food by floating it off her fork and into his mouth.
"Hey!" she objected.
"God, this is like pure sugar," Hunter complained. He kept his dark hair pulled back from his face in a ponytail and his green eyes had a hard look to them even when he smiled. "How can you stand that this early in the morning?"
"If you want something less sweet, get your own," she told him. "Or steal from Cormac."
Cormac just raised an eyebrow as he pushed another piece of bacon into his mouth.
Kokichi guessed that the twins and Kouchi were still sleeping.
Over to one side of the room was a row of food bowls where the eeveelutions were eating. Orchid's Espeon, Cormac's Umbreon, Hunter's Jolteon, Aoko's Vaporeon, and Arin's Flareon. Kouchi's Absol was also near the food bowl, curled up like it was sleeping, and Kirumi's Houndour was there, too. There were a few pokemon missing, but he wasn't worried about it. They didn't always let their pokemon out all at once.
Kokichi took a seat at the table, helping himself to half the eggs and all the remaining bacon. "Is there coffee?" he asked.
Orchid made a face of disgust as Cormac answered. "Yeah, there should be."
"Can you pour me a cup, Hunter?"
"Sorry, my hands are full," Hunter answered, reaching down to pick up his plate and bite into a piece of toast.
Kokichi gave him a flat look, which the psychic ignored. "You are all the most disrespectful minions ever," he grumbled as he pushed his chair out.
"I know," Hunter replied with a grin.
Kokichi blew a raspberry at him as he walked to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee, pleased to find that it was still warm. He took a long sip, draining a quarter of his cup and filling it back up before returning to his seat. It was mostly quiet as they eat, just the sound of forks and knives hitting plates and the background sound of the Pokemon. That was until the twins finally stumbled.
Aoko came in first, her cheeks puffed out as if she was already angry at the day. Her black hair was short and wavy, covering half of her face and leaving only one light brown eye uncovered. She kept her hair styled so that her small red hoop earrings could be seen, an accessory that she shared with her twin brother. Said twin, Arin, had a much more timid expression. His hair was much longer than his sister's, though worn in a similar way so that it covered one eye and left his ears uncovered.
"Did you sleep badly?" Cormac asked Aoko after seeing her sour expression.
"It's too early," she groaned.
"Then why did you get up?" Orchid asked. "It wasn't my fault, your door was locked."
"Did you try to wake her up before me?" Kokichi asked.
Orchid smiled. "Of course I did. Aoko is funniest when she just wakes up."
"Shove off," she groaned.
Arin pushed the remaining food onto two plates, placing one in front of his sister. "Missy came in and woke us both up."
"Her vile, evil ways are showing," Aoko grumbled. She looked up and pulled her plate close, shoveling a forkful of eggs into her mouth.
That explained where his pokemon had wandered off to.
"Excuse you," Kokichi said. "Missy is my best Pokemon."
"What about Ghastly?" Cormac asked.
"Gassy is also my best pokemon," Kokichi answered.
"You let them get away with too much," Hunter said.
"Be lucky they don't target you," Kokichi said with a grin. "Psychics are weak to ghosts, riiight?"
Hunter grumbled and went back to eating an apple.
"So what's the plan today?" Cormac questioned, pushing himself away from the table and taking his plate to the sink. Hunter was kind enough to float the other empty plates to the sink for him, but not nice enough to actually help with the washing up.
"Gotta introduce the new pokemon," Kokichi answered. "Kimochi and Kanade probably won't be back for a while, so someone else will need to take care of them. We'll talk about it once Kouchi's down."
His half brother didn't join them until after they'd cleaned up breakfast and had convened in the main room. Kirumi was still at the front counter, leaving his group free to talk among themselves without interruption.
"So," Kokichi spoke up, looking around the room to make sure he had everyone's attention. "We got three new Shadow Pokemon yesterday. A Meowth, a Tangela, and a Magnemite."
Koharu's eyes lit up immediately. "A Meowth, you say."
Kouchi chuckled behind his mask. "I knew that would catch your attention as soon as he mentioned it."
"I've had a lot of practice with cats," Koharu said confidently. "So I'm the obvious choice for a cat pokemon."
"I doubt that anyone wants to argue with you over it," Kokichi said. Koharu was very protective of the pokemon that they looked after and they all learned that he was also incredibly stubborn. Even if someone else did want to claim the pokemon, most wouldn't want to go through the effort to fight with him over it.
Koharu looked around at them all, nodding at the lack of objection. "Good."
"Do any of you want to claim responsibility for the Tangela?" Kokichi asked.
After looking around at everyone, Arin hesitantly raised his hand."Um, I can try."
"Great! That takes care of that then," Kokichi said with a smile.
"What about the Magnemite?" Hunter questioned. He was hovering in the doorway of the kitchen, keeping as far on the outskirts of the group as possible. He wasn't a fan of being crowded together and always found some way to keep his personal space, even when he needed to use his powers to do so.
"I'm going to offer it to our lovely benefactor."
That provoked a response immediately. Koharu glared at him disapprovingly while Aoko and Orchid made objections, Cormac and Arin made noises of surprise, and the others were silent. Hunter had raised a judging eyebrow, while Elaria and Kouchi both waited patiently for him to explain.
"I told you all before about my associate, right?" Kokichi asked, receiving nods all around the room. "Well it just so happens that they've been wanting another Pokemon and now is as good a time as any to test her reliability."
"You're going to let someone untested have a Shadow pokemon?" Koharu questioned. "How does that make you any better than Team DR."
"Koharu!" Kouchi exclaimed disapprovingly. The other didn't back down though and continued glaring at Kokichi.
Kokichi glared back. "She's not untested," he shot back. "She both has a pokemon and goes to the academy, where's actively learning to be a better trainer."
"Having a pokemon isn't the same as having a Shadow Pokemon. That could be dangerous for both of them," Koharu argued. "Not to mention that Shadow Poklemon require more care--"
"Don't act like you're the only person that's ever loved a pokemon before," Kokichi snapped.
"This isn't about love, it's about competence."
"And you don't know her competence."
"Which is exactly the point!" Koharu said sternly. "You don't know what kind of trainer she is. She couldn't possibly be prepared--"
"You don't know what I know," Kokichi said. "And it isn't your decision one way or the other. It's mine."
Koharu glared and geared up to speak again when Elaria placed a hand on his arm. "Koharu, I'm sure Kokichi doesn't plan to just drop a Shadow Pokemon on someone without help or experience. Perhaps listen to his plan first."
Koharu huffed, but Elaria was a voice of reason that would actually listen to, so he remained silent. It didn't stop his glare but Kokichi didn't give a damn about being glared at.
Elaria smiled at him and nodded. "As you were saying."
"Thank you, Elaria," Kokichi said. "I'm glad that some people actually have half a brain around here."
Koharu immediately opened his mouth again, but Orchid leaned forward to cover his mouth with her hand. His glare switched from Kokichi to her, but she was equally as unconcerned about it.
"Now then. Since she was the one to make my snag machine, I was going to see if I could get her to make a few more and if I commission her, that'll give me an excuse to have her around. We can easily teach her how to handle Shadow Pokemon as well as keep an eye on her. Plus, I can see her at the academy."
Koharu still didn't seem pleased by this, but he held his tongue on any other complaints, even after Orchid moved her hand.
"I don't think it's a bad plan," Orchid said with a shrug.
Kokichi noded. "Does anyone not named Koharu have any objections to make?" He looked around, but no one spoke. "That's that then. We'll go outside to say hello to Tangela and Meowth. Anyone that doesn't want Shadow Pokemon duty is free to go."
"Alright!" Orchid said as she practically jumped to her feet. "Thanks boss man." She grabbed Koharu's hand, pulling him up and out the back where the pastures were.
"Unhand me," Koharu groaned, but the complaint was drowned out by Orchid's laughter.
Hunter stormed off next, making a beeline for the stairs and going back to his room. The rest dispersed more slowly. Aoko and Arin heading outside, Cormac to the front desk, and Elaria after smiling at him, also went toward the back door. Kouchi was the last to move, speaking softly as he asked, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"You doubt me, too?" Kokichi aske with a sigh.
Kouchi was silent for a moment, thinking of how to choose his words before he spoke. "Your benefactor, as you called her, you mean Iruma, don't you?"
Kokichi crossed his arms. "And if I do?"
"She's not the kind of person that I would think of if I needed a caregiver. That's all."
Kokichi sighed. "Miu is... she doesn't have many friends. You can probably guess why. She's not great with people even when she tries to be. People like that are always a little better with Pokemon. Pokemon aren't judgemental in the same way as humans and it's a steel type, which will make her feel a bit more kindred to it. She's good at inventing things, which means she's both used to a few shocks and can make something to keep herself safe if she has to." He met his half brother's eyes, or tried to. Kouchi dropped his gaze a bit, making himself look more submissive than he really was. "I didn't make this decision for no reason."
"I didn't think you had," Kouchi said. "I just wanted to be sure."
Kokichi walked past him, going toward the back door. "You coming?"
"No, I don't think so," he said. "Kimochi sent a letter earlier and I didn't get to read it. I'm hoping to find out when he'll return from his mission."
Kokichi knew when he was supposed to return, but he also knew that anything could happen while they were on the road. Part of him misses the days when it was just him and Kimochi, traveling from town to town, city to city, trying to stay out of trouble they didn't cause and running straight into the trouble that they did. The daycare was a good idea, but it sucked to have his second in command away so often. Kimochi would have been able to handle Koharu without getting into a ten minute fight. Kimochi got along with their new brothers much better than Kokichi did.
"Tell him to hurry back when you write your reply," Kokichi said. "That's an order."
Kouchi chuckled. "I'll be sure to pass it along."
Kokichi watched as Kouchi walked to the stairs and ascended before finally walking out the back door to try and get acquainted with a new Shadow Pokemon.