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She always liked Paldea's nighttime breeze, particularly during the winter months. She'd long ago developed a habit of trotting around Mesagoza after most of the lights had gone out, and only a scarce few populated the streets. When all of her favorite spots to lounge and trot were untended and unguarded. Bakeries and delicatessens were often closing up for the evening, and they would offer her any delicacies they didn't want to waste as a token of kindness to her.
They would offer her their hard labor, because she was a cute Sprigatito. She was designed, by nature, to appeal to the human eye and draw good favor, no matter her age or demeanor.
She would wander the night freely because her sight functioned best in the dark.
She would sit on stone ledges and architecture comfortably, because she had dense fur.
Quinn had been privileged.
It was all a distant memory, though. She was no longer a stunted Sprigatito, living in mundane comfort years after she should have evolved, repeating the same old routines, never pushing her boundaries because she never had to. Nobody ever made her, nor would she let them.
That had changed last year. A scruffy-headed, loud-mouthed, brazen World Champion had sauntered into Clavel's office, and boldly offered her a Silph Collar so that she could speak.
As if she would want to speak to a crude, cocky, battle-obsessed ruffian who thought of nothing but his next emblem or credential to laud over the world.
Life was funny. Within hours of knowing Ash Ketchum, she did want to speak to him. He was a dose of excitement, and unconventional intrigue. He kicked down the borders she'd built up around her life in that Uva window sill, and she liked what she'd seen through the cracks.
Now, she was a Meowscarada, fully evolved. She walked on two feet, and had a lovely leafy cape coasting over her shoulders, with a matching mask over her face. An Uva Academy ribbon was tied neatly around her torso, coming together in a bow behind her back; fashioned into an Expert Belt by two of Kanto's most skilled and adept fashionable hands.
She pawed at it. Her trainer helped her tie it on, every day. It was a parting gift from Clavel, and aside from her pale green fur and her puffy tail, it was her only feature that was still familiar.
She liked the sensation of the ribbon brushing her skin, with the nighttime breeze. She wasn't looking over Mesagoza's prided ancient architecture, but instead, some hills and valleys leading up to a crystalline waterfall in Paldea's northeast. Outside city limits, the skies were dotted with shimmering starlight, occasionally disrupted by a Drifloon soaring ahead. Their haunting howl was a little alarming, the first few times she heard it. Now, it was the night's routine for her.
She was no longer coddled, but she was still a cat. She preferred night to day. After Ash and her other peers turned in for the night, she liked to sit outside, knees out and folded under her, and enjoy the breeze. Ash would let her sleep in, anyhow, lightly tapping her with her Poké Ball without waking her, and letting her snooze until the next battle. She was still a little privileged.
It didn't particularly bother her when she had to blink the sleep out of her eyes ten seconds before taking on the next trainer. She'd become adept at battle's split-second trickery.
She reveled in her ability to stand over a defeated foe right after a nap, even. She would strike a nonchalant pose, even as Ash's glowing praise and charcoal eyes made her heart quietly patter.
How long had she hated the idea of a battle, again? She'd lost track of the years.
Quinn quietly laughed to herself, with no audience. What a paltry, ridiculous thing she'd been.
Little did she know, it would be the last time tonight that she'd find the past amusing.
"Quinn!?"
Her ears perked. Ash's voice rang, but it lacked his usual gravelly candor, or honeyed allure. He sounded out of breath and panicked. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the outline of his shaggy, mildly graying hair under the moonlight. He was frantic; looking about in a panic.
"Sca?" She mewed, beckoning him.
"Quin! Where are you!?" He was still in a tanktop and shorts, fresh out of slumber. But, nothing about him seemed groggy. If anything, he looked ready to jump out of skin at any moment. He scoured the nearby hills, looking desperately for the cat. Behind every rock and log, even.
Had he even heard her?
"Nya!" She cried, raising her voice.
That one seemed to hit his ears. He moved as if he was in the heat of danger, pivoting all the way around to face her. In fact, she'd never seen a human being move so quickly. By the time she blinked, he'd closed the distance between them. She was admittedly a bit afraid.
It was disorienting enough that she'd made no thought to act or react. She was in his tight embrace by the time she blinked. A little too tight, even. She shouldn't be able to feel her ribs compressed against her chest, either. He shouldn't be able to hold her tight enough to hurt her.
Hell, he would never try.
"Nya-sca!" She cried in protest.
That did the trick. Ash's grip on her loosened, and he pulled back to get a better look at her. "Quinn," he choked out. "You're here. Good. Are you okay? Did they get their paws on you?"
"Scara…" Quinn frowned, tilting her head. What on Earth was he talking about? Who, even?
"You look okay. Thank goodness." His hands held her shoulders, as he looked her over for any signs of injury. At least that was the impression Quinn got from his words. His eyes looked glazed over and unaware. She'd be willing to bet that even if she was wounded, he'd miss it.
"Scanya." He was frightening her. His fingers were trembling. "Meow!"
"I think I'm here in time." Was he listening to her? He wasn't. "Didja see any guys in black? Any vans? If they even come near you, I swear-"
"Scanya!" She shouted back. Pleading for him to listen. Then, it hit her.
With their bond, he'd been able to hear her every word for months. She'd nearly discarded her Silph Collar a couple of times, not caring whether others understood her or not. But now, he wasn't registering a single thing. She might as well have been speaking in meaningless syllables as she did with any other human before they'd met.
Ash wasn't here, with her. He wasn't properly conscious.
"It's fine… It's fine." Her trainer pulled her in again, cradling her. He was more tender, this time, cupping her slender frame with care. The only physical discomfort, really, was her face being buried in his mane spilling over his shoulders. Despite it though, Quinn was still frightened.
She wiggled her arms out from under his, and held her paws together. With a flicker, one of her signature flower buds appeared before her very eyes, as if it were magic. Sleight of hand was her species' specialty, after all, and it would serve her well. She mewed once more. "Nya."
Ash looked over. Without warning, Flower Trick exploded.
A harmless puff of light and smoke doused the two of them in ashes.
She was tailor made to see through her light shows and parlor tricks. She only waited for the smoke to settle. Ash's face was covered in soot, and he blinked slowly.
"Flower Trick… Good… good call," he stammered out. "But couldja try not using it so close to my face?"
"Sorry. You might have been liable to crush my ribs, otherwise." Quinn dismissed the worry with humor, as she was wont to do. But, concern crept back into her voice. "...Are you back?"
"Oh!" Ash released her immediately. "Sorry, sorry, I just…" His eyes darted around. He was still in a tizzy. "Wait, what do you mean, am I back? You're the one who vanished!"
"I took a short walk to enjoy the breeze," Quinn defended. "What do you…" She trailed off. Her jagged mouth hung open. "...You just heard me."
"Of course I…" The man's eyes widened in realization, and beyond that to a look of shock. This time was different, though. Ash looked coherent. All too aware of something she wasn't privy to.
"...Shit." He cursed hoarsely. Whatever fight-or-flight had been keeping him going started to crumble, and he gripped at the grass at his knees. "Sorry, I just… I wasn't… Y-you were here, and… I woke up, and you weren't, and…!" His shoulders rattled with the peaks and valleys of violent sobs. Before Quinn's very eyes, he unraveled, biting his lip to quell the tears. It drew blood, instead.
"O-okay!" Quinn stammered, and in a panic, pulled Ash into her chest in a tight embrace. She had to do something, even if she had no idea what. "Slow down. It's okay. It's alright." Her arms dangled over his broad shoulders. Intermittently, they trembled. She took to lightly grazing his back with her claws. "You're not a Cyclizar, love. You don't have to talk at light speed, you know." She tried to ease his nerves - and her own - with an admittedly lame joke.
"You can take your time."
Ash took her advice, waiting out ugly sniffles and gross sobs. She could tell he was losing patience with his own damned mental breakdown, by his grunts of frustration that followed them. If that wasn't emblematic of who Ash was, she wasn't sure what would be.
"You weren't yourself," Quinn said softly. "You didn't know where you were. You hardly knew I was here… You couldn't hear a word I said." She tutted, mulling over it all. It put a sick, unfamiliar pit in her stomach. Had she ever seen him so vulnerable?
Hell, anyone?
"It was like…"
"...like I wasn't there?"
"There we are," she cooed. "And there we go, finishing each other's…"
"...sandwiches."
She smiled. That joke was one of their dumbest bits. She'd scowled at it when she was a Floragato, but snickered shamelessly after her full bloom. Right now, it was grounding.
"...I wasn't," Ash said, sniffling. His fingers grazed the fluff of her tail. If that was how he wanted to comfort herself, she'd humor it, wagging it. "I wasn't here at all. It was like I went back twenty years." He wiped his mess of tears into her chest fluff. "I thought I lost you."
"...That condition. I swear it sounds like something I've heard from Miriam," Quinn mulled.
He nodded. "I've got… it's this…" He'd gotten pretty far without the dam breaking again. Unfortunately, Ash started to sob again, much to his frustration and Quinn's concern.
"Sh, sh, shh… shit," she cursed. "There should be a manual for this. One for Pokémon with troubled trainers."
"Usually," he hiccuped, "'s the other way around." Sniffle. "Hate to say it."
"Yes, well it's not tonight. So, lay your head in my lap. Lie back. Relax."
They rearranged themselves in the grass, with Ash leaning his head back into her thighs; the rest of him sprawled out on the grass. His breaths were still labored and conscious, she noticed.
"Comfortable?"
The man nodded. The pain in his wrinkled, tensed features was still palpable.
Quinn ran a padded paw through his messy hair, tutting. "You haven't lost me, alright? You'd be hard-pressed to do that with your noggin's weight on my thighs." A beat. "You trained me well. Were I still a Sprigatito, this would have crushed me flat."
He didn't smile at the joke, but he didn't sob again, either. "Uh-huh. Right."
"Tough crowd. But, it's progress. I didn't graduate to the stage just to fold on a cold open." Quinn's eyes widened. "Here I've gone and crumbled under pressure. I forgot my opening act."
Ash's eyes flicked up inquisitively. All the while, Quinn waved her paw thrice, as if chanting an incantation. Suddenly, a mist of fine pink pollen filled the air, surrounding them both.
Quinn had used Sweet Scent. Immediately, they were inundated with a calming aroma.
"I woke up, 'n you were gone," Ash muttered. It seemed to be sufficient to at least allow him to talk again. "It scared the shit out of me. I thought they had you."
"As I said, I was stargazing," Quinn reminded him. "By the by. Who is 'they?'"
"...I don't really remember well, now." He shrugged. "Probably Team Rocket, though."
"Team Rocket…?" Behind her mask, her eyes widened. "That traveling troupe with the Meowth and the Scovillain!?"
Ash averted his eyes. "It's complicated."
"You act like familiar friends!" Quinn gestured widely. "Is Jessie not courting your mother!?"
"We are, and she is."
Quinn squinted. This was getting stranger by the second, and she didn't like it. "Then what could they have possibly done to break you like this."
Ash sniffled, wiping his tears and mucus on the back of his hand. "Mostly try to steal my Pokémon every other day of my life."
She felt something she didn't even know she had in her snap. "...Pardon."
"Every other day. Since I was ten. They'd pop up in some stupid scheme, after some stupid trap, with their stupid motto, and snatch our friends away. Usually Peeks. He was their golden goose."
Were Quinn in her right mind, she might have questioned the fact that she'd surely seen Peeks and that talking Meowth of theirs kissing, more than once. But, she wasn't. Her face was red hot, and her claws dug into the earth, and her chest tightened. "I'm going to rend them. I'm going to claw them into something so fine that you'll be able to fit them into a matchbox."
"Don't bother." Ash snorted. "It won't fix anything. We're…" Another unsteady breath caught up with him, and came out as a hiccup. "...we're cool, now."
"How could you possibly…!" Quinn summoned her strength, and took a deep breath. She was supposed to be calming him, which wasn't all too easy when she needed to calm herself. "...how could you possibly be 'cool.' I'm sorry, Dear, but are you out of your min-"
An awkward pause passed, enunciated only by the faint chirping of Nymble.
"...Of all the faux pas."
If Ash caught what she was about to say, he didn't comment on it. "Well mostly, they just really, really sucked at their jobs."
"That's not an excuse!" She shrieked; her venom and fear all at once leaking into her voice. She saw the fear on Ash's face, and went back to clawing at the grass angrily to distribute her stress away from him. She sharply inhaled the Sweet Scent, for her own good and his. "...It would explain why you appear so nonchalant about them. You speak like it was an annoyance." His haggard breaths and sobbing had all but dried up, now that she paid attention to that fact.
"That, or the Sweet Scent is working."
"You smell sweet as always," Ash jested, offering the faintest of smiles. There was that charm, even during his worst hour. "For a long time, it was just an annoyance. We'd fall into a hole, they'd get us in a scam, or I'd wake up with Pikachu being pulled into their hot air balloon."
He grunted, looking up at the sky, as if expecting them to pop up at any moment. Nevermind that they'd long since retired their act. "That was the worst part. For five whole years, I always had a reason to be on-guard. Or my best friend could disappear, right under my nose."
A Meowscarada's mask served its natural purpose of concealing their emotions behind a facade. Behind it, though, Quinn's face twisted in… fury? Horror? Disgust?
Many different things she wasn't used to feeling at once.
"That's not an 'annoyance,' love. To wake every morning, knowing the distinct possibility that your friends could be poached from you? To know that you must predict their disappearance and act against it, with no end in sight!? That's… That's a veritable nightmare."
"It was what we were used to," Ash rationalized.
"You shouldn't have been!" Quinn cried. "It almost sounds like you're defending it!"
"You remember when I said it's complicated?" Ash asked. He took a deep breath, and she watched his chest rise and fall. Tears started to trickle from his eyes again.
Quinn read the room, and waited for him to speak. She spent that time gently stroking his cheek with the dull end of her claw.
"When I say Team Rocket… I don't mean them. I mean the real Team Rocket."
"The real Team Rocket…" Quinn blinked. "Was that not the name of a rogue organization of some sort? I thought it sounded familiar, but I assumed they just siphoned the name for themselves."
"They were part of it. But, those three were just a couple o' fuckin idiots, following us everywhere. The gang they were part of, though? Made the three of 'em look like a couple of Happiny. They're the ones who really gave it to us. They're why I have PTSD."
Ash averted his eyes, as if he was at least, in part, lying. She had the itching suspicion that he was trying to cover for those three scoundrels. But, she was altogether too distracted by the diagnosis. "PTSD… Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder! That's it, yes!?"
Quinn paused.
"I sounded entirely too excited to hear that. Sorry."
Ash snorted. "That's it. Charged, guilty…" Ash sighed heavily. "Whatever."
"You poor, poor thing…" Still, Quinn found something out of place. "But, those lot are from the history books, yes? Surely they were thwarted, at some point? Surely, they're no longer your problem?"
"Mhm." Ash hummed affirmatively. "We made sure of that."
"Oh, well thank the Gods above that…" She squinted. "Pardon. 'You' made sure of it?"
"After that awful couple o' weeks that messed us up when I was a kid… I made it my life's work. I couldn't stand what it did to me. What it did to Peeks. All of us. I decided that I was going to be strong enough to put away people like that for good, so they could never do it to anyone else."
Ash was starting to look surprisingly steady and stern; he'd rebuilt his constitution, and seemed to be banishing his anguish away with the sands of time. However, the conclusion he was reaching towards filled Quinn, herself, with dread. A creeping chill took her in its grasp.
"I decided to become Champion."
"It wasn't just them, though," Ash continued. "Team Rocket, I mean. There were nutjobs and poachers, the world over. Aqua, and Magma… Galactic. Plasma, Flare. Everywhere, there was some freakshow who wanted to take everything for themselves. Or, get rid of it all."
He spoke about it all so casually. There was disgust in his voice, granted, but passive disgust. All the same, he smiled. "I wanted a world that was safe for people and Pokémon, everywhere."
Trickle, drip, drip. Salty tears tapped his skin, rolling down his cheek. They trickled down from the grooves in Quinn's masquerade. Her chest heaved, and she sniffled crudely.
"Quinn…?" Ash's eyes grew wide. He tried to sit up, but her strong paws held him in place.
"My privilege… disgusts me," she choked out.
"Your what…?" It was Ash's turn to look lost and concerned. "What're you talking about?"
"All of my life, I was coddled. Coddled and hidden from the world. I was so fucking stupid." The feline shook her head. She didn't dry her tears. She didn't deserve to hide her shame.
It was her own doing.
"You spent your days fighting for your life - for everyone's lives. And I thought so little of you."
Quinn's trembling paws and burning lungs could only be explained by an old truth, wrapped and packaged in old lies. They all came down to the months, preluding Ash's arrival in her region.
"'The World Champion is coming,' they said. The staff was abuzz. The… the streets were alive with -hic- gossip and excitement! Intrigue, over the so-called strongest trainer in the world."
So-called, she repeated to herself in her mind. As if he hadn't coaxed her from only knowing Scratch to facing Gym Leaders no-holds-barred in roughly half a year, plus an entire team.
"In my sheltered little mind, it was a farce. A celebrity rag nightmare come to life, sweeping over our prestigious steps and institutions. Could… could you believe that!?" She wiped her tears on the back of her wrist. With a snap of her claws, those tears vanished. More still dripped down her mask, without any signs of stopping. "A 'World Champion.' I couldn't have thought of anything more pretentious. I… I cracked jokes. Laid a web of cynicism for your arrival!"
Those streets she'd wandered were sullied and stained by hindsight. By every time she'd walked past the patisserie, and seen a Tinkatuff hammering away at table legs for scraps.
She thought them crude, but it didn't stop her from gossiping. From casting undue judgement.
"'Our streets are going to be littered with cheers for an arrogant blowhard,' I'd tell them. 'Our students are going to be imitating his every gesture and recycled catchphrase for months to come!'" Her voice cracked. Why did her harsh words ring so clearly still, of all things?
"Oh, how I wish for that, now… For them to be…" She choked out a sob. "...as precious as you!"
"Hey, hey…" Ash smiled up at her. How on god's green Earth did he smile at that. Was he a better jester than her? "You've told me about all this, remember? After I caught you."
They'd conversed, days after they'd left her city on a hill. The first time Ash heard her voice, they'd chattered about this and that. She'd rudely fallen asleep atop his head, and he'd blown a raspberry on her belly to wake and displace her. He'd howled with laughter, and she'd bristled in indignation. It was their first true exchange of honesty. Sure, she'd teased him. But, he'd taken it in such good humor that she'd caved in on her guilt, and told him this all, already.
Back then, he'd taken it in stride.
"That was only when you were kinder than I'd expected!" She howled. "Not after hearing that you've made our collective peace your life's work!"
"I didn't do it all for bragging rights," Ash snorted.
"Yet -another- displacement of my expectations…" Quinn crouched down, planted a tender kiss on his forehead. It was still matted and sweaty, from his earlier episode. That bitter taste was her recompense. "I spent my whole life in my ivory tower. Never facing turmoil beyond a student baby talking me, or a Wattrel, stealing my lunch. I thought those were problems," she laughed bitterly.
"Meanwhile, you were suffering and toiling, all so I'd never see hardship in my life!"
She was caught off guard by a strong hand cupping her cheek tenderly. His thumb grazed her fine lime fur, grazing the excess crescent of fluff framing her ears. She was jarred from her lamentations to see him smiling. That kind, almost cat-like upturn of his lips.
It reminded her of a Meowscarada. His black frayed bangs and lack of fur did little to betray that impression. It always accompanied something unexpected. She never felt alone in her act.
"I'm glad for it," he said softly. "You never hurting means that it was all worth it."
What could she do, then, but cry harder? But cradle his head in her arms, touching her forehead to his? "You've given me… HIC. so much… More than you could ever imagine," she whispered.
"A Pokémon shouldn't have to expect being poached," he snorted, brushing noses with her.
"I think that's the bare minimum."
"More than that," she muttered. "You gave me peace. You made me feel seen, and pushed me to grow and bloom. You gave me the passion to battle artfully. Tonight, you've given me more."
"Oh, yeah?" Ash scooted back, so he could more comfortably be cradled by the masked magician. His hand that'd cradled her cheek moved to drifting through her ear fluff. "Like what?"
"Two new goals," she said certainly. Her eyes were red and puffy, but her words were steady again. "First of which, I want to be strong. So strong that you never have to fear losing me."
"I like that one."
"Good. Now, the second… I want to hone my craft of trickery and entertainment. So that I can make the world smile. More importantly, to make you smile… Naturally, those are one and the same." Her crooked smile grew wide and earnest. Even she found that embarrassing to say.
"Oh, that's so corny!" Ash cackled, pulling her in tighter.
"It made you laugh, did it not?"
"You're lucky I like bad jokes. It'll hold us over while you think of the A-material."
"Are you telling me that you have low standards?" She wiped at her irritated eyes, smiling still. "You'd best watch what you say to your audience, World Champion."
"Even the best in the biz have their off-days," he fired back. "You're just giving me somethin' to look forward to."
"You're too quick on your feet," Quinn complained. "Not so easy to tease and fluster."
"You're damn right." Ash smiled to himself, full of pride. He exhaled, and she felt his chest sink. It was a breath he had to have been holding for a while. "...You remind me a lot of Serena."
"I'm content with that. She's an exemplary woman."
"Damn gorgeous too," Ash added.
"Quite," she giggled. "I still remember the night I met her. My pupils must have dilated threefold."
"You have that in common," Ash tacked on, baring a coquettish grin.
She felt her fur stand on end, and his face fill with heat. "Y-you can't just say that!" She howled, before tackling him into the grass.
Ash was subdued in a moment flat. He gazed up at the flustered cat, and smiled adoringly. "Y'know, you don't get caught off-kilter like that, these days. I kinda miss it."
"Keep up your streak, and it'll be back," Quinn replied. She nestled into his shoulder. "I was privileged in Mesagoza. I love that city, but now, I feel as though I was always meant to move beyond those grounds." Her fluffy tail wagged. "It's the only reason I am who I am today. I'd never ask for that ignorance back."
Ash liked to hear her talk. His fingers grazed up and down the fur on her back without a word.
"But, in a way. I'm still privileged." She sat up again, meeting his gaze with coral pink, half-lidded eyes. "I have the privilege of you."
"Shut up, that's even more corny," he laughed, not quite meaning it. He tilted his head, meeting her lips. They grazed one another with a couple more pecks, getting their fill.
Quinn sighed happily. She'd almost forgotten their shared anguish. Almost.
"Do you plan to go back to sleep?"
"I doubt it," Ash replied. "Probably gonna stay up 'till morning and take the day off."
"Good. You deserve a break."
"We both do!"
"Very well. A truce. We both do." Quinn reluctantly pulled herself off of him, and sat up, knees folded as they were, earlier. She patted her thigh. "Tell me about your adventures? I want to know what shaped you. I'll shed my ignorance, one captivating tale at a time."
"Yes, Ma'am!" Ash settled back into place; this time, lying comfortably on his side, with his cheek in her lap. Sweet Scent's allure still lingered, and he breathed softly and comfortably.
He felt her paw and claws in his hair, and could have nodded off, right there. But he'd rather talk. "So, there was this one time where one of their schemes went so wrong-"
"When you say 'their…'"
"The three stooges."
"Right, then continue."
"Right, so it went so wrong that we ended up stranded on this island of giant Pokémon!"
"...Do you mean Galar, by chance?"
"Nope. Not Dynamax. Like, just plain giant Pokémon. Only, they turned out to be giant robots!"
"I feel like you're making this up."
"Everyone always says that to me! I'm not stopping. So, we got caught on this runaway roller coaster cart with those morons to get away from the robots! But, we got tied up in cable wire…"
"Oh, I don't like where this is going."
"Yeah, no one did. Then we ran into a loop-de-loop!"
Quinn was privileged. Privileged to be on a journey full of wonders, and laughs, and tears. Privileged to hear her trainer's lovely voice; always accompanied by new surprises.
A little bit of privilege was okay. Just a bit.