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Chapter Text

-Penguin-

Law makes the mistake of admitting he doesn’t have a partner Pokémon.
Wolf just about chokes on his coffee, trying to both speak and swallow at the same time as his long suffering Mightyena barely raises her head from the dog bed near the fire. Penguin and Shachi both shriek like children, their twin Eevee’s tilting their heads in a bizarre choreographed unison with wide eyes. Bepo is the only one that doesn’t really react, the Beartic/Urshifu cross Mink blinking in confusion.
“It’s not a big deal.” Law mumbles sourly, poking at the sunny side up eggs on his plate, watching their yolk wobble with each stab with the metal prongs, “I just didn’t get my egg before stuff happened.”
“Stuff happened.” Wolf parrots, rather deadpan, but shaking his head in dissatisfaction at the world, “It’s a partner Law, it’s ancient North Blue tradition!”
“We always just assumed it was sea bound.” Penguin ponders softly, with real sympathy that Law clearly doesn’t know what to do with, except flush a little red over his cheeks and sink a little into his seat.
“Yeah, we thought you were visiting them every morning so that’s why you leave for the clinic early.” Shachi whistles with a rather regretful tone that Law scowls at.
“It’s a Pokémon, not a life skill.” He huffs dismissively, earning himself a chorus of denials and protesting Eevee mewls.
Bepo is bullied into agreeing with Penguin and Shachi on the matter, the poor Mink beset by Daylight, Penguin’s Eevee and Nightlight, Shachi’s Eevee into translating their own dismay over not having a secret friend that Law had been hiding from them to play with.
The revelation scatters them a bit, Penguin a bit more distressed over the news that he feels he should be, clinging to Daylight’s fur as she wriggles in his arms demanding to be petted.
Pokémon were often paired at birth in the North Blue.
An egg, randomly selected from a jumble at the Daycare were placed inside the cribs of their partners. Penguin himself was only hours old when his father placed Daylight’s egg in his bassinet. It was almost sacred, the bonds that these partners formed, from birth to death, a constant companion that mirrored you in almost every single way.
And Law, with his secrets and his pain and his sour puss attitude had nobody to share it with on such a fundamental level.
It horrified him a little, clutching at his proverbial pearls, holding Day close as she sensed his upset and curled around his shoulders the rest of the day.
He wakes during the night, nightmares of Day being swept away in the sea by the tsunami, of being sold by Shachi’s Aunt and Uncle, of not having her at all. He threads his fingers in her fluff, reassuring himself that she was still there, a weak shuddering sigh leaving him as her small tongue laps at his cheeks for the salt in his tears.
He catches sight of his money jars, the two of them sitting on the window sill with loud labels of death warning people, mainly Shachi, that there will be punishment if a single berri is missing. He had pilfered the two jars from the dump while scavenging for parts with Wolf, the old man snickering as he tossed some loose coins into them telling him that he will need more than mason jars if they want to get themselves a ship.
But it wasn’t for their future ship. It was for Daylight.
His father had been the proud partner of a Vaporeon, who helped him on the fishing boats and with other duties around the small harbour. Penguin had sat on his mother’s lap by the fire, her lofty Skarmory perched near the window listening to his father gush about the long traditions of Vaporeon in their family and he wanted that too, just a little reminder that not everything except the hat his mother made him is returned to the sea.
Stones were notoriously expensive on Swallow, the local proprietor of Evolution Stones in Pleasure Town having already chased him off once or twice from the store front as he merely stopped to admire their shimmer, worried a street rat like Penguin would turn to theft if left alone around them too long.
It’s why he took up bussing tables at the local restaurant, having begged the older lady who ran the place on hands and knees to work there, even at a cheaper rate than the others if it would allow him to earn some berri. He was surprised his first wad of cash on payday was equal to those of the other waiting staff, the old woman with her snappy Joltik, sourly admitting he was a good worker despite his history of minor theft and garbage rummaging.
He had split the money into three, it hadn’t been a lot, but it had been satisfying to divide it up, one slim slip of bills into his personal fund, another slightly thicker one into the Stone fund. The rest he had went out and bought some snacks, even if the shop keeper had watched him like a hawk the entire time, grilling him over where he got his money, Daylight growling on his shoulders at the ornery Chatot chanting ‘Thief’ the entire exchange.
The humiliation of being interrogated over buying mere sweets and ice cream nearly made him cry, but watching Shachi and Bepo, even Law to an extent go wide and starry eyed over treats settled the bitter sorrow that threatened to choke his throat into a warm content feeling.
He frowned at the jars, both nearly to the brim, his pay from yesterday more than enough to finally get him that stone after nearly a year and a half of saving. Tomorrow, Daylight would be a Vaporeon, he thought in awe, the Eevee purring as he settled back into the bed again.

Shachi was practically vibrating as he watched Penguin remove the jars from the shelf and stuff them into his rucksack, “Today’s the day!” He crowed, Nightlight excitedly running circles around the room with Daylight in hot pursuit. “Man, Law is going to be so sulky he is missing this!”
“I’m going to get some good cuts of meat from the market too for a celebration.” Penguin grins, shaking his personal tin, “You know clinic work is way more interesting to him than this, besides, you guys will only see the end result, we’re going to go somewhere quiet so Day can have her moment.”
“Good luck dude.” Shachi grins, getting pounced on by the two Eevee’s before handing a squirming Daylight up to her partner.
“Good Luck, Day! Penguin!” Bepo chirps happily, hugging both the older boy and the Eevee close when they get to the kitchen, pouncing on them after abandoning vegetable cutting duty.
“Thanks Bepo.” Penguin grins, light and airy, like nothing in the world could spoil his moment, “I’ll bring back some Ice Cream too.”
The Urshifu mink grins happily, nuzzling his cheek to Penguin’s.
The walk to town is a ten minute stroll, filled with a content air as Daylight bounds through the crisp winter snow, Penguin’s grip on his backpack tight and secure. Today was the day.

Penguin takes a moment outside of the shop to breathe, fingers in their gloves flexing anxiously over the straps before pushing open the Stone Proprietor’s shop door.
There is an old Poliwrath grouchily sitting behind the counter, its eyes narrowed sharply as Penguin shuffles in, Daylight chirping excitedly at his heels.
It’s a nice store, light and airy, with stones secured behind thick glass and set tastefully on cushions. Atop the shelves were assorted items and knickknacks, with a far wall dedicated to occupied egg incubators of all things, each slapped with a sticker that boasted an eye watering number of Berri for the unknown creatures inside. For a poor teen like Penguin, the whole store was a bit overwhelming, even with Daylight trotting over to the cabinet beside the discount shelves that housed the small collection of Water Stones.
“What are you doing here, boy?” The owner rumbles, causing Penguin to jump, the change in his jars jangling as he spins to the find the cantankerous man scowling like his Poliwrath from the entrance to the back rooms.
“I’m here to buy a stone.” Penguin manages, trying to sound like he had a right to be here. He wasn’t a skinny waif of an abused child peering in warm windows anymore, he was a paying customer.
The man watches him a moment but rolls his eyes with a grumble, settling on his stool near the counter, waving a hand in dismissal and beginning to read his newspaper.
He crouches beside the counter, examining each blue stone with hardly a clue to what exactly he was looking for. Daylight quickly grows bored with his pondering, already nosing at a rickety looking egg incubator with several peeling stickers of price drops attached to it.
The variety of water stones was a bit overwhelming with price ranges that made his heart tighten in panic as some of the clearer cuts would clear out both of his money jars twice over. He calms a little, breath coming out in a low whoosh of relief when he spots the more rougher water stones at the bottom, some half hidden by the rock while others were barely worth calling an evolution stone at all with how small they were.
Law had walked him through some of the basics of which water stone he should pick, hammering into his head that he would need a water charged stone big enough that would jump start and agitate Daylight’s evolution genes less he waste his time with something that couldn’t evolve something her size.
So deep in his inner debate, he almost topples backwards onto his backside when Daylight licks his hand.
“Day!” He scolds, a little embarrassed by her chittering cry when she starts grabbing his long coat in her jaws and starts tugging him towards the discount bin, “Stop it! I’ve almost got a stone for you!”
The Eevee legitimately barks up at him, her moist brown eyes filled with an anxious urgency that makes Penguin swallow his protests as he allows himself to be led over.
His partner lifts a paw to bat gently at the old incubator, the egg inside still looking rather healthy despite its clearly unstable home.
“Oh, Day, no.” He sighs crouching to scratch her ears when she whines sadly at him, still pawing away at the glass, “We’re here for your stone remember?”
She looks up at him so defiantly he wonders if this is really his Eevee, swishing her tail in a tantrum and nipping his fingers.
“Day, please,” he asks, feeling something slipping, crumbling in his chest, wondering if it is heartbreak, “It’s our only chance.”
His Eevee is kind, he knows, much kinder than him, a layover from when he was a child with a heart that could hold more than just what they have now, “You won’t be like Fisher, wasn’t that what you wanted?”
Daylight flashes her sharp little teeth in a smug grin, puffing her chest, her paw firmly resting against incubator and mewls one of her unique sounds.
It is a high trill, meaning that she had spotted Law. A short yip was Shachi, a loud bark was Wolf, a loud purr was Bepo and a content chirp was for himself.
Daylight wanted this for Law.
It nearly brings him to his knees in shock as she repeats the noise over and over again, mouth dry even as he hears the shop keeper fold away his paper and stalk over with a frown.
“You decided yet kid?”
He feels unbalanced, shaky, even as the words slip from his mouth and he gestures to the incubator, “Why is that egg here?”
“It’s past its hatch day by several weeks,” the man shrugs, raising a brow, “Kid, I’ll be frank, I don’t think it will make it and if it does hatch? Well, you don’t exactly have much spending money do you? A second Pokémon costs resources you don’t have. It took you months to get enough for a stone big enough to jump start your Eevee.”
He had wanted her to be a Vaporeon so badly, he cries in his minds eye, his daydreams of swimming with Daylight slowly slipping out of his grasp the longer he looks down at her.
His partner gazed back with a determination that seems too grand for what the moment is. It should be simple after all, giving the gift of a partner to someone who has never had it, it should be so simple to choose. But Penguin is selfish, selfish in a world that has only ever taken from him, until a boy in a fluffy spotted hat started giving.
Penguin swallows and nods once to his Eevee, his partner who chirps up at him in delight as he gestures to the egg incubator, “I’ll take it off your hands.”

He stops on the way home in the small forest clearing he had wanted to evolve Daylight in, a shaded snowy place where he allows himself to curl around the incubator and weep, howling like a child with Daylight curled into his side like a sentry, her nose pressed against his cheek. His family’s tradition of Vaporeon’s is gone, just like the wave that took them and he is alone again, with only his hat and his Eevee.
It takes an hour for him to pull himself together, exhausted for what is about to happen when he walks back through the door of Wolf’s home to find his friends waiting.
He is done crying for just now he thinks, telling the egg as such, tapping on the warm glass, apologising for his sobbing, “You be good for Law, yeah? Day and I will be with you every step of the way.”

It’s barely light outside when he stumbles through the snow to the front door, psyching himself up before shoving open the door.
Wolf, Shachi, Bepo and Law all stare at him in shock, no doubt taking in his rather soggy visage, even raising half from their seats as they spot Daylight primly trotting into the house still as much as an Eevee as when she left that morning.
“This.” He begins, putting the incubator onto the table and sliding it over to its intended recipient, because if he doesn’t get this out right this moment he will start sobbing again, “Is for Law. Congratulations.”
“Penguin!” Law begins to sharply retort, looking a bit murderous, sitting between a shell shocked Shachi and a slack jawed Bepo, reeling back like a kicked puppy when Penguin holds up a hand, swiftly cutting him off, already feeling tear tracks running down his face.
“Don’t.” Is all he pleads, voice almost a whisper, Daylight chirping softly from the bottom of the stairs. He goes to her, measuring his steps to make it seem like he isn’t rushing, isn’t running away, only stopping to pick up his precious Partner in his arms and retreat into the dark upstairs.

-Law-

Law sits by the fire, his new lanky, growing frame curled around the battered egg incubator that Penguin had handed off to him not an hour ago like a possessive brooding hen. He runs his fingers over the warm smooth glass, the pads of his fingers catching on the sticky patches where pricing stickers had littered the surface, admiring the mystery egg’s soft curve and gentle cream and green colouring.
“He gave up having a Vaporeon for you.” Shachi had told him, his usual quick temper and boundless energy dulled by what Penguin had done, “He’s really taking a gamble on you, you know?”
It was the most thoughtful Law had ever seen the red head, his shades pulled down and squinting his light sensitive eyes to properly take in what was happening, before something seems to click and he had nodded sharing a meaningful Look with Bepo and Nightlight before placing a hand on Law’s shoulder when he moved to go after Penguin.
Shachi wasn’t big on touch, unless it was Penguin, much more prone to swerving or ducking out of reach reflexively when a hand was extended his way, even if he was only being handed a plate of food. He never instigated contact, not with any of them except maybe Bepo on a good day for a cuddle or if the younger boy was being especially cute. So, naturally, it makes Law jump when the warm palm is placed on his shoulder, “Congratulations, little brother.”
Law doesn’t know what to make of the statement, mind going a bit blissfully blank in surprise, Bepo going starry eyed with a gasp before Wolf chuckles with a shake of his head, his lazy Mightyena huffing as he simply says ‘kids’ with a fond exasperation and shooing the pair of them to read by the fire.
Bepo had carried the incubator for him, admiring it and excitedly going off on a tangent about what could possibly be in the egg. It is mid tangent that the bear remembers that there is a book on eggs in Wolf’s small shelf of battered tomes in the shed, handing off the gift delicately before rushing off and leaving Law to stew in his own thoughts.
He knew how much the Water Stone had meant to Penguin, enough that the older boy had faced ridicule from the townsfolk over his shady past to get a job and save for it, yet he had come back with a battered incubator and an egg already one foot in the grave instead. It was also apparent that it had drained all of Penguin’s saved cash, almost a years wages gone in one apparent split second decision and for Law of all people. They wouldn’t be around much longer than another year at most before leaving Swallow Island and Penguin had said that anything he earned after the purchase of his stone was going into their ship fund.
Did that mean Penguin didn’t want to leave Swallow now? Law pondered, a sharp pang of distress causing him to curl more over the egg incubator, would he stay a few more years scraping by to earn enough for the next attempt at a stone?
“He won’t abandon you Law.” Wolf comments, Law glowering at him balefully when the old man wanders in to sit on the couch by the fire, “Penguin’s just a little upset right now.”
‘How do I make it better?’ He wants to ask, fully aware that he wasn’t exactly the most emotionally available person in their oddball quartet, but settles for continuing to stare sharply at their caretaker until he mulls the unspoken question over.
“You do right by your new partner, you do right by them as their ringleader. Penguin will be fine Law, he’s given you a Gift. I think that took more bravery that what he was willing to admit. He’s like you, Shachi too, they’ve been betrayed at almost every turn, he’s taking a hell of a gamble letting you in this far.” Wolf eventually speculates.
Law nods along before turning back to his egg and holding it just ever so slightly closer as Bepo returns with his books on navigation and egg care.

-Penguin-

The morning brings a bit more drama than any of them were expecting.
Penguin wakes, groggily shoving Shachi off of him, the pair of them having cuddled together as he cried last night, grieving everything all over again, to find Daylight intensely staring out of the window, perched on the window sill where his money jars used to occupy, her little face scrunched up as she was illuminated by the dawn’s rays.
“Day?” He asks sleepily, feeling more himself again, a little emotionally raw perhaps, but more settled.
She chirps her special greeting for him, a mere casual glance before going back to her intense concentration.
Nightlight is sitting wide awake at the foot of the bed, the other Eevee’s tail wagging to and fro like a fan as he alarmingly just sits there and watches Daylight.
Then he notices it, a bright white glimmer, strings of light sparking and fading into being in the beam of sunlight that Daylight is bathed in.
“Daylight?” He asks in awe, now wide awake as even Shachi scrambles awake to Penguin’s hurried slaps over his face, “Shachi! Shachi look!”
The webbing of white light becomes more prevalent the longer Daylight sits patiently on the windowsill trying to trigger her Evolution seemingly by spite alone. Penguin panics a little, Shachi holding his shoulders to prevent him from breaking the cycle, both of them bewildered as to how she was doing it. The sun wasn’t strong enough in the North Blue to stimulate an Eevee’s evolution genes, according to Law when Shachi had asked one evening while pondering his options for Nightlight.
Then all at once, Daylight yips, relaxing with a smug look on her muzzle and in a blinding build up of shimmering white and aqua light, triggers her Evolution using nothing but the weak sunlight of the morning.
Shachi shouts, hands coming up to cover his light sensitive eyes, the noise attracting a frazzled looking Law and anxious Bepo to practically crash through the door, both of them pulling up short at the light show.
Penguin shuffles closer, the light burning his eyes, but he just couldn’t look away. The normal Eevee shape of his partner was elongating, the thick fluffy paintbrush tail flicking once, twice before snapping into a long, forked snake like appendage, her small legs lengthening and thinning, her collar fluff migrating to long tufts just below her widening ears and narrowing face.
Penguin grips the covers of his bed in anxious awe when the cocoon of light bursts into sun bright sparkles, leaving an Espeon proudly lashing her tail on the window sill. Shachi half falls off the bed when the velvety furred purple creature turns to look at them, bright purple irises crowned with a ruby red gemstone graced upon its forehead.
Nightlight ruins the magical moment by giving a delighted bark, tail wagging so fast it’s a wonder he didn’t take off.
“Day?” Penguin croaks, ignoring everything but his partner, lifting his shaking hands up in their usual way of asking for her comfort.
The Pokémon sighs her new species name sweetly, elegantly before rising from her prim seat to jump down onto the bed and trots right into his grasp.
“Look at you.” He exclaims for lack of anything better, enamoured with her short but satin soft lavender fur, already knowing he is ugly crying in wondrous joy, his little brothers all respectfully silent but in equal awe of their first experience of a Pokémon’s evolution.
Daylight chirps their special chirp and Penguin gives up fighting the urge to hug his Pokémon close, holding her as if she were the most precious thing in the world.

Chapter Text

-Shachi-

Shachi was always the first up of their little gang. It was a habit that had spawned from living with his relatives, be awake at dawn or be jerked awake by freezing sea water dumped all over him and his bed by his drunkard of an Uncle. Sometimes the drenching would happen anyway, his Aunt claiming he was too dirty and forcing him to stand outside in all weathers with Penguin while the sea water was tipped over them and their distressed pair of Eevee.
Looking back it was a wonder he had survived and Penguin had been able to stay with him at all. The night they had finally slipped free of the adults had been the night they were drunkenly celebrating their plan to sell Penguin and Daylight. He had risked another beating to pilfer leftovers from the kitchen, his Aunt’s Granbull lazily opening an eye and letting him pass, much more sympathetic than her master to overhear them plotting selling off his best friend to the yearly traders that were coming into dock in the next week.
So they ran, their Eevee at their heels and they disappeared into the forests surrounding Pleasure Town, hunkering down in abandoned hunting huts until their entire world was tipped on its axis yet again by a talking Beartic like creature wandering the wilderness.
The habit of getting up early was still with him, still urging him up with more energy than he sometimes knew what to do with, an adrenaline spike setting him off like a live wire when he would sleepily wake to the sound of water running or the pitter patter of rain against the window over Penguin’s soft snoring.
Not willing to risk Penguin’s smothering or Daylight’s unfriendly nips when she was awoken by anything other than kibble hitting her food dish or Penguin himself, he would shuffle out of bed and down the stairs to let Nightlight run out his own energy. The little Eevee thankfully less likely to take a chunk out of someone now that he had the space to burn off his seemingly limitless energy.
He mostly had the house to himself and his overly energetic Eevee for an hour, wandering through the rooms aimlessly or sometimes just to settle the anxious need to reassure himself that this was a safe space before Penguin would stumble down stairs with Law, Daylight and Bepo in tow to begin making breakfast together with minimal fuss.
Bepo had suggested the Morning Breakfast Club one day after Law had a minor melt down over cold coffee left in the pot while running on the minimal amount of sleep. In turn, the younger boy’s growling and thumping around the kitchen had Shachi retreating into a corner with memories of fists and sharp heels flashing in his mind, leaving a quick thinking Penguin holding Nightlight by the scruff as the reactive Eevee had basically let off a flash bang in the kitchen using Flash and had went for Law’s throat.
The incident was quickly swept under the rug, none of them really addressing it after Nightlight had been given to a shaking Shachi to hold and cuddle, running his hands through his glowing Eevee’s fur, quick staccato breaths slowly lengthening as Nightlight half purred to him and growled at the rest of the room.
That evening Bepo had suggested having breakfast together in the morning, all eager innocence that Shachi didn’t think twice about the fact the Mink was offering it for his benefit at the time. For months they settled into their new routine, Shachi up first sweeping the house, Penguin and the others coming down as a group with Wolf wandering in even later usually stinking of whatever metal or substance he had been working with at his Workshop this time.
They had all quickly learned that Law was never to be left in the kitchen alone beyond making coffee when they had tried to prepare a small celebration lunch together the day after Daylight’s evolution.
Penguin, as the oldest and the only one of them that had a paying job so far, was the most experienced in cooking of the lot of them, having picked up some skills from the chefs that worked at the restaurant and being the one to mostly cook breakfast.
In a pretty stupid move, Penguin had asked Law to cut the meat while he was on the other side of the kitchen teaching Bepo how to properly gut and debone the freshly caught fish Shachi had dived for that morning in the harbour, leaving Shachi to watch in mild horror with Nightlight and Daylight at his feet who stared up in bewilderment as Law casts a small ‘Room’ with a psychotic grin over the two types of meat Penguin had wanted prepared.
“Uh Law, what are you doing?” He asks delicately, Nightlight giving a yip of nervousness, his tail swishing like an agitated cat.
“Making it more nutritious.” Law replies smugly, the fish and beef fillets popping like fireworks into tiny cubes with a flex of his skinny pale fingers and beginning to suture the cubes together in what could have been a very fetching checkerboard pattern had the end result actually looked like something that would cook properly.
“Fish is rich in Omega 3 and beef is good for protein and iron.” Law parrots, clearly memorised from some textbook he had read in the local library, “I’m going to call it… Surf and Turf.”
“Really?” Shachi deadpans as the slightly shorter boy levels him an offended scowl, holding his creation up so the red head could see it better.
“Don’t judge me.” Law huffs, something like a pout crossing his face when he doesn’t get the reaction he was hoping for as Nightlight takes one look at the now mystery meat and fakes choking up a hairball.
Daylight on the other hand, tilts her head like she is trying to figure out Law’s thought process, which as a newly evolved Psychic type she is probably actually attempting to do by the slight flicker of neon blue that crosses her eyes every so often.
“I’m judging you. Very harshly at that.” Shachi sighs, “All of the offence, Law, but you are not cut out for the kitchen.”
Before Law can smack him or do something more impulsive, like throw ‘Surf and Turf’ at him, Wolf takes that moment to burst through the door, with a grin on his face.
“You Shachi boy, are getting a job.” Wolf smiles smugly as the four of them stare at him in confused silence.
“‘Hello boys, how was your day.’” Penguin asks mockingly to which all four of them chorus, “We’re fine, Mr Wolf.”
“I see we’ve moved on from asking me for the time.” Wolf sasses back with his hands on his hips, his Mightyena huffing before padding over to her bed and flopping down dramatically, “Good, now Shachi, the local salon needs an extra pair of hands and I suggested you. You’ll even get paid for it.”
“You. You were in a hair salon?” Law asks in disbelief both Penguin and Bepo snickering in the corner as they take in Wolf’s usual wild hair that didn’t look like it had been touched by scissors in its life.
“Shut up brat, don’t think I haven’t been getting told about you haunting the clinic waiting room!” The older man grumbles pointing accusingly at the young teen who suddenly looks a bit self conscious.
“The hair salon?” Shachi wonders before snapping his fingers in recognition, “That little place near the restaurant that does styling for both humans and Pokémon?”
“That’s the one.” Wolf nods smugly, “Am I the best or what?”
“Or what?” Bepo genuinely asks earning a bark of laughter from Penguin while Law seems to still be spiralling over getting caught harassing the local doctors for mentorship.
“Yeah, I’ll take Law with me to scope it out. Take the new mum and his egg on a stroll.” Shachi shrugs, kicking the spotted hat wearing teen in the shin to get going less he wanted an interrogation over what exactly he was doing every day while everyone was studying or working.
Law hisses like Nightlight does when spritzed by the water bottle in the greenhouse before agreeing through his teeth that he will only be a moment, practicing using his powers to Shamble himself over to his egg that hasn’t left his sight since he received it yesterday.
“Remember to be back by nightfall, word around town is there’s some shady stuff going on deeper in the woods.” Wolf warns as Shachi tugs on his coat and hat, Nightlight doing laps around his ankles, “Rumour going around is that it is Ghost Spawn.”
Bepo shudders at the mention as Shachi sighs irritably, “So a few drunks go missing in the woods every few years, it’s their own fault for going near a ghost nest.”
“‘Chi.” Penguin warns lowly, worried, as if he hadn’t been cutting it close yesterday rolling up just before sundown.
“We have Nightlight with us. Ghosts can’t do squat to him.” He continues boldly, crossing his arms sulkily, Law padding back into the kitchen with his incubator tucked securely into his larger backpack.
“Maybe you should take Day too?” Penguin suggests, leaning down to scratch the Espeon’s chin earning a happy chirp.
“You’re worrying about nothing Penguin, we’ll be back before night.” Law scoffs, rolling his eyes, making Shachi grin smugly and childishly stick out his tongue at the older boy. “Oi Wolf hand over some Berri, we’re going to get lunch in town too.”
The old man splutters some nonsense about not being a bank but when Law, abusing the power of his minions already, has Bepo use his ‘Baby Doll Eyes’, the inventor crumbles like a house of cards and hands over a few bills.
“Sweet. Let’s go!” Shachi grins, opening the door to a crisp winter afternoon, Nightlight leaping full throttle into the nearest snow drift as they hear Penguin make a noise of mortification over what Law has left on the cutting board.

After meeting his boss and confirming his new work schedule, Law teasing him over his wide eyed excitement when the kind elderly man running the place agrees to mentor him through becoming a stylist for both humans and Pokémon, they head to the small shop to pick out some lunch, bickering like they usually do, arguing over the Sora characters and debating various cool ways Law could attempt to use his devil fruit on the next training day they had.
He is in the middle of peeling an orange to share with Law, perched on some public benches overlooking the sea next to the harbour bar, when overhear that the Baker’s daughter has gone missing.
“Ghost Spawn.” One man is slurring, chugging his ale like it is water, “Bet you she was in the forest meeting that boy she likes and on her way home got nabbed.”
“Heard she was picking medicinal herbs for her mother when she got out of her dad’s bakery for the day,” says another which draws Law’s interest, “You know the one? That cranky Doctor at the clinic.”
“No.” Shachi says immediately when the younger boy turns to him with a particular look on his face that just spells trouble for everyone involved.
“You said Ghost Spawn wasn’t an issue as long as we have Nightlight.” The spotty hatted brat replies throwing his words back in his face smugly, Nightlight preening a little between them on the bench.
“Law, Nightlight is good, like ‘we were underground fighting for a period’ kind of good, but actual Ghost Spawn? Different category. It’s basically ghost breeding season. There’s a reason Marines and travellers are encouraged to come to Swallow for extermination parties.” Shachi protests, backtracking his cocky statements a little, worriedly looking down at his Eevee blinking up at him with a cheery tilt to his head.
“Fine, you help me get that girl back and I will help you save up for an evolution stone for Nightlight.” Law bargains sourly, “I need her to get a shoe in with her mother. That cantankerous witch has been foiling me at every turn to try and get mentored in that clinic.”
Shachi pauses, blinking a bit stupidly behind his shades, admitting to himself that he had never really put that much stock into what Nightlight would evolve into. He had asked for options of course, not really having a set Evolution in mind, unlike Penguin, who’s family history of Vaporeons had been rather well known in their tiny village before it was wiped off the map in a torrent of water.
He had been the son of a lighthouse keeper, whose Ampharos had lit up the night to safe guard the fishing vessels that called the cove home. His father had been absent, dead or ‘wandering’ as his Aunt had commented a few times rather snidely, but his mother had never told him. She had only smiled and said he had his father’s eyes and his talent for seeing in the dark.
He had been scared of the dark as a younger child, able to see things that lurked a little more clearly than most. His mother had her Ampharos teach his Eevee the move Flash, making him a literal nightlight that Shachi could hug and keep close as a light source should he ever be scared.
He hadn’t imagined Nightlight being anything other than an Eevee.
Nightlight had said through Bepo a few times that he feels irritated in his fluffy body, like there is something waiting, lurking, trying to get out. It scares him a little and he had asked Bepo quietly to not translate Nightlight when the Eevee was in his more frustrated moods which were getting more and more often as they all tried to fit together into one janky jigsaw of a unit.
“Fine.” He groans, Law grinning like he had just won the lottery, making him jump when the other boy grabbed his sleeve and dragged him off the bench, Nightlight leaping atop Shachi’s shoulders with a bound to rest his paws on the top of his Partner’s head.

-Bepo-

‘Never look at the full moon.’
It had been ingrained in him since birth, said to him when he was smaller than he was now, Zepo’s large paws playfully covering his eyes when he was stubborn and puffing his cheeks, double dared by his crèche mates to stare at the pale disk in the sky when it was full.
It was circled on the calendar several times in red ink, something Law had done for him for throughout the year when he cried about almost seeing it in summer when they were messing around down the beach past sociable hours.
In two days it was a full moon, he thought fretfully, peering out into the now dark sky with no sign of Shachi and Law in sight.
Penguin was sitting at the table, rather ticked off if the harsh way he is flicking through his accounting book was anything to go by. Daylight, much more calm overall, ignored her dramatic partner to trot over to where he was glued to the window like a fair maiden waiting for her love to return from war.
“They will be back soon.” The Espeon purrs, leaping in one elegant bound onto the counter, arching her back as she rubs herself along him, her rumble getting louder as he lightly scratches her back in return with his claws, “You needn’t fret quite so much. Nightlight won’t let anything happen, he’s far too feisty.”
“But Wolf said it was Ghost Spawn.” He replies lowly, so it wouldn’t set Penguin off on a rant again about how he was going to throttle both younger teens when he got his hands on them, convinced that they had went galavanting off to search for the ghost Pokémon nests despite being warned.
The pair didn’t return for dinner and the sun had gradually dipped below the horizon, revealing the waxing gibbous moon creeping into the sky.
The Espeon thinks a moment, as if seeing off into a time and place that is too far flung for them to comprehend, “You worry too much. The pair of you.”
“Are you two conspiring again?” Penguin asks moodily, to a chirp of innocence from his partner and a ramble of protest from Bepo, “Bepo, they will be fine, the clowns are probably living it up in town. Odds are if you baby doll eyes at Law once I’m through with him you can get some ice cream out of him for leaving you out of the adventure.”
Just like that, the thought of ghosts and missing big brothers is pretty much erased from his consciousness, feeling his mouth salivate over the possibility of ice cream, but the worry crawls back in a little, taking hold in his belly in a tightening knot when he catches sight of the almost full silver disk out the window.

-Shachi-

It took them a few hours of searching, wandering almost aimlessly and checking various caves and paths before they find the Baker’s Daughter hypnotised and her life force being drained by a nest of ghosts.
With a singular shadow ball, Nightlight scatters the baby ghosts with howls of fright, the pair of them grabbing the girl and running as fast as they can through the undergrowth, Law too exhausted to cast a ‘Room’ to even give them much of a head start while lugging his egg around.
“Go!” Shachi orders as Law tugs the delirious zoned out girl ahead, Nightlight bounding back to him and standing alert before their group, a determined barrier between them and the ghosts swarming after them.
“Don’t be an idiot Shachi.” Law snaps, a flighty note of panic in his voice, gasping as he tries and fails to form a ‘Room’ face twitching between looking murderous and anxious, “Let’s just keep running.”
“They’ll catch us before we get to Wolf’s.” He protests, his own fright stuck in his throat like a vice, mentally wincing when he hears his own raspy quick breaths and panic sending his tone higher than normal, “Besides we can’t let them Possess your egg. It’ll kill it. Go back and get Penguin and Bepo, I’ll draw their attention with Nightlight.”
Law full on shudders, eyes frantic and wild like the world is becoming too small, like the trees around them are becoming a cage, “Law.” Shachi barks, gloved hands coming up and catching the younger teen’s cheeks, “Eyes on me. I’m scared too okay? But I’ll be fine, I have Nightlight. You have to take care of your egg and the girl okay? She’s your ticket to getting to be a doctor right?”
Law nods, silver eyes locked with Shachi’s, the panic fading and his aloof grumpiness returns as the smaller teen slaps his hands away rather imperiously, “You are not allowed to die. Captains orders.”
“Aye aye.” Shachi grins, giving a quick salute as he turns, gazing down at Nightlight who buzzes with energy, “Let’s go hunting Night.”
The Eevee growls it’s name with a relish that Shachi takes an alarmed note of, before plunging into the undergrowth, leaving his little brother behind as Nightlight lights up the dark with an attention grabbing Flash.

He sets the pace at a jog, making sure to tuck his sunglasses under his hat, his eyes, the ones that match his father’s so sensitive to the low light it was like morning was dawning as he scanned the trees around them, keeping an eye on the ghostly wisps and shadows that clambered after them. He makes sure to not look directly at Nightlight, a beacon of pure light that would surely send him into a splitting headache, but one reflexive glance to keep track of his Eevee is all one of the ghosts needs to graze a claw along his cheek, gasping as he barely dodges the full talon from ending up in his eyes, mentally thanking whatever gods there were that Penguin was constantly twirling his spear around with little spacial awareness in training forcing him to be very good at dodging.
It feels like a hair has been plucked from his head, a sharp sting in his temple, a connection so brief with the ghost that he nearly loses his footing with the shock of suddenly having the creature grab a memory from him. As he begins to lead them in a wide circle, relaxing now that he can start running for home, a shriek rings out in the dark.
“Running away as usual! Useless brat!”
Shachi stumbles into a clearing, a panicked gasp leaving his chest as the one person he never wanted to see again stands before him.
“Worthless piece of trash, you should have drowned when your mother did.” His Aunt snarls at him, her red hair perfectly styled, her eyes as sharp as knives running over his shuddering form, the gaze like needles prickling over his skin as he tries to stand his ground, Nightlight whining at his heels. Her form is hazy at the edges, some of her features a little skewed out of proportion, her smile too stretched, eyes too wide, a shade of otherworldly red like a vicious blood thirsty beast, but it is enough, enough to trick his exhausted mind.
“I escaped.” Shachi gasps to himself, mind tumbling, visions of dark rooms, fighting pits and ice water sending a shot of frantic anxiety through his veins, beginning to list everything that was real in his world, a technique Penguin had started with him when storms woke him up screaming. “It’s not real. I’m safe. I have Nightlight, I have Penguin, Daylight, Bepo and Law. You’re locked up. You’re not here!”
It calms him, listing his friends, his brothers, out loud and in his mind over and over, a protective mantra giving him strength, before the latent anger rises, his face twisting into a scowl at the woman that should have loved him just as much as his mother had, Nightlight sensing his mood and beginning to growl, tail swishing, fur glowing brightly.
“I’m not some scared little boy anymore!” Shachi shouts at the ghostly visage of his aunt, her elongated claw like nails stretched towards him, as she picked her way closer, “You were the worst! You hit me for looking like my mum, for being like my dad! You hurt my best friend in the whole world and threatened to sell him! I hate you!”
Nightlight is growling at his ankles, fur all puffed out and standing on end, the remnants of Flash still clinging to the cream patches of his fur illuminating his sharp teeth bared in a threatening snarl.
“I wish it had been you the sea took away!” The red headed boy screams at the ghost that recoils as Nightlight advances, dark slivers of energy sparking on his jaws, the almost full moon slowly revealed by the rolling dark clouds above to spotlight the small clearing, with pale silver light. “You didn’t deserve the life you had! You hated me the moment the Marines gave me and Penguin to you! I’m not scared of you anymore! I have friends! I have a family again! I’m never letting anyone take it!”
The moon’s radiant light peels back the darkness of the world as Nightlight leaps toward the transparent vision of a startled Haunter. It’s illusion, plucked from Shachi’s mind, splintering and shattering like glass as Shachi denies the woman any more control over his psyche.
Threads of light, pulled from the very moon itself, dance and thread together in a swirling vortex around the bounding Eevee, the shadows beneath cast away as if Nightlight had let off another Flash, sending a searing pain into Shachi’s sensitive eyes as the evolution genes are agitated and activated with an enraged howl.
The Haunter shrieks in panic as the light bursts open and an Umbreon with its shrieking howl lands upon it, cloaked in throbbing purple and black energy, it’s golden rings dazzlingly bright with moonlight and red eyes burning.
Nightlight’s jaws clamp down on one of the disembodied hands, the loud crunch of powerful jaws breaking the laws of the world to hurt the ghost causing the once vengeful creature to wail and thrash, using its natural ability to slip between the worlds to detach itself.
The Umbreon howls to the sky enraged, pacing back and forth spilling dark energy as Shachi blinks away the tears that stream down his cheeks, a headache already beginning in his temples from the overly bright sight.
He collapses to his knees in awe of his Pokémon, his stalwart defender and partner, snarling and dashing to and fro across the clearing, fending off stronger ghosts from approaching the path back to town with a pulse of dark energy that sends several wailing back into the deeper parts of the forest in pain.
“Let’s go Night!” He shouts, fumbling like a new born fawn over roots and nearly taking himself out on low hanging branches as he runs for Wolf’s house, to safety, to home.

His heart is thrumming, burning as inclines turn to slopes, to steep climbs and sharp drops. His legs are on fire, despite the training Law has made them go through, ducking and weaving in the undergrowth, skidding on barely noticeable deer trails, always one step ahead of the howls and shrieks of ghosts. His mind plays tricks on him as he jumps down a ledge, almost as if he can feel the ghostly claws snagging on his coat, the cackle of his Aunt ringing in his ears.
It could be minutes, it could be hours that he runs, his gasps puffing out into the air like dragon smoke, with a final desperate surge, he lunges for the expanse of white beyond the trees, surely the main road to town with a person like smudge barely visible a against the glare of the snow on his sensitive eyes.
He bursts dramatically out into the snow and accidentally takes out Penguin of all people as he fails to stop, sending them both skidding down a small verge.
“Shachi!” His older brother shouts, angry beyond belief from under him, his voice raspy as if he had been calling for ages, pausing only when Shachi gives into the urge and basically clamps his arms and legs around him, “‘Chi?”
“I did it, Peng.” He rasps, shaking like a leaf, adrenaline, fear, exhilaration, everything and nothing rushing in his mind, “I shouted at her, told her I hated her, I did it.”
“Shachi.” Penguin lies back in the snow, wide eyed and shocked, but he laughs softly, with pride, “You had us worried when you and Law didn’t come back before the moon came up. You made Bepo cry. Wolf’s taking the Baker’s Daughter back to town, I think you and Law are grounded for the foreseeable future.”
“He’s not our dad.” Shachi huffs, content to just lie in the snow with his best friend and feel his chest rise and fall, “I’ll set Nightlight on him.”
“Where is he Shachi?” Penguin asks, softly giving him a shove to get him moving, both of them sitting up and looking around, spotting Daylight, Law and Bepo rushing towards them, the mink and the smaller boy sliding to a stop as the Espeon places herself between them and the forest where eerie screeches still emanate.
It all goes silent with one last shriek, Law grabbing Shachi’s shoulder to reassure himself his minion is still amongst the living with a grin before they all turn to watch as in the shadows of the trees, golden rings ripple with light.
“Nightlight.” Shachi cries, jumping up and staggering through the snow drift, dropping to his knees, skidding the last half meter to wrap his arms around the Umbreon that trots out of the forest, red eyes and rings aglow with dark energy rippling around its form, fully illuminated by the waxing gibbous moon.
Law almost manages to grab Shachi back before Penguin stops him, silently shaking his head as Daylight trills beside them in excitement.
The fury from the Pokémon fades, long powerful legs collapsing underneath himself as Nightlight curls into Shachi’s embrace with a tired chattering cackle, his head tucked into the shaggy red locks of his sobbing partner, the blood red eyes sliding closed in contentment, the golden rings scattered across his body pulsing gently, casting light around both human and Pokémon.
“He says he feels better now. The monsters are gone.” Bepo says softly but loud enough to be heard from where he waits a respectful distance with his brothers, the mink speaking with the weighty gravitas of translating such words for this moment.
“I know.” Shachi wails, gloved fingers digging into the thick sleek black fur, holding onto his partner for dear life, “I’m sorry Night, you’ve been fighting for so long.”
The Umbreon lets out a deep rumbling purr and just like he used to in his previous form, begins to wag his paintbrush like tail.

Chapter Text

-Law-

It turns out Penguin can be pretty scary when in full ‘mother hen’ mode.
Thankfully, despite the amazing wonder that was Nightlight becoming an Umbreon, Shachi still had to sit and listen to the older teen’s lecture the same as he did the next morning after breakfast. Which was to say, the pair of them were actively trying to absorb themselves into the couch while Penguin paces the living room like a storm incarnate, calling them every adjective for stupid under the sun.
Bepo was only cringing like the older boys in the corner because he was far too sympathetic for his own good, even if he was trying to make it look like he was engrossed in his Way Finding textbook.
As extra insurance, Law had made sure to be holding his egg when Penguin collared him for the lecture, just in case it turned into another hot headed scrap rolling around the floor which sometimes the three of them ended up in if they set each other off a bit too much.
So while he clutched his incubator stubbornly, he was soothed by the warm heat radiating off the glass, trying to remain aloof and nonchalant in the face of, if he were to admit it privately, a rather deserved dressing down.
He had told the baker’s daughter that her family owed him a favour in exchange for returning her to her worried family. Wolf had laughed under his breath at his demands of making sure the message was delivered to the ‘old witch’ from the clinic, demanding to be mentored at the doctor’s surgery as reward for retrieving the woman’s daughter from Ghost Spawn.
Wolf had relayed the message, in cackling hysterics when he returned, telling Law that the woman’s face had been thunder at his demands, her joy at having her daughter returned marred by the imperious demands of essentially a squeak of a teenager still in the midst of a late onset of growth spurts.
“It was an exchange.” He had huffed, wiping down his egg carefully with a towel after listening to his partner’s heartbeat before returning it to the incubator that night when they had all returned to the house dead on their feet, “I fail to see why she is being so difficult. She needed her daughter saved, we went and did it. I want a reward for doing so. I’m not a charity.”
He begins to tune out Penguin as the older teen starts to repeat himself, focusing his attention on his egg.
This was his, he had often marvelled since he received it, running fingers over the curve of the glass, reminding himself of the odd rough texture of the egg last night when he had removed it in a panic that the jostling and running had injured or cracked it in some way. This was going to be his lifelong friend, an almost spiritual companion of his very own, who would love him for him and wouldn’t leave him behind. In a moment of weakness yesterday, he had asked Penguin subtly what it felt like, to have Daylight from day one of his life.
The response had been sweet and sappy, with rose tinted glasses so thick that not even Law’s dire life outlook could crack them. It made him quietly jealous, listening to Penguin ramble on about getting into mischief with his partner and Shachi as small children, best friends since they were learning to walk, using their Eevee for balance.
The White City had been in the southern areas of the North Blue, a much more temperate climate than the Upper North where he had ended up. Where instead of balmy days even in winter, the Upper North made its frigid bite known in all seasons.
The pairing traditions in the Southern North were different than what Shachi and Penguin had described, with kids being given a more accurate choice in their partner than whatever fate placed in their cribs upon birth.
He had been five when his parents gave him a book on Pokémon that lived in the area of Flevance and told him to begin thinking about what partner he wanted.
Memories flicker on the edges of his psyche, forcefully shunted away as he refocused to find Penguin glowering down at him from under his hat, “You have no idea what I just said do you?”
“Was I supposed to?” He sassed back stormily, glaring when Penguin threw up his hands and walked out of the room, sighing that he needed to get going for work.
Shachi snickered beside him, shuffling off the sofa, also heading for the coat rack, his first lessons with the Salon scheduled for first thing this morning. Their Pokémon trailed behind them as they always did, Daylight with her new speedy bounding grace rubbing herself along the back of Penguin’s thighs with loud chirps and exaggerated arched back while Nightlight trotted over to plonk himself loyally at Shachi’s side, a hand already having migrated mid conversation with Penguin to scratch at the Umbreon’s favourite spot behind his ears earning a rough grumbling chatter of happiness.
They had changed forms but internally they remained as steadfast as they always had, Law ponders, watching them go with something almost that could almost be wistful longing in his cold heart when Penguin called back to the house that they were leaving for the day, the warmth sucked from the rooms as the door was pulled open and the snowy wind of winter rushed in with a flurry of flakes.
“Remember you and Bepo are meeting us for lunch outside the restaurant!” Shachi calls back as the pair almost trip over their partners when Daylight and Nightlight launch themselves into the snow with matching yowls of excitement.
Law smirks as he hears the door slam closed, the janky latch catching with a groan of rusted metal, adding it to his mental checklist to annoy Wolf about later when the older man returned from his mysterious workshop down at the quayside.
It was something that had started just after Penguin got his job. They had showed up, plastering themselves against the glass of the restaurant to see if they could spot Penguin, all three of them a bit jittery that the eldest of their little gang of orphans was missing for almost a whole day when they had all been sharing the same space together for months.
Law smiles privately to himself as he set his egg down, shuffling himself over the couch to grab the thick tome of home remedies Wolf had begrudgingly picked up for him from the Trader’s Market last year and began to flick through its pages, determined to commit most of the text to memory.

-Bepo-

The snowy paths to Pleasure Town were almost as pristine as when the snow had first fell with only the tracks of local hunters and pokemon marring the edges of the more trodden route from Wolf’s house to town.
The air was crisp, with more of a chilling bite than usual in the the air nipping his nose when he turns his snout into the wind.
As big and fluffy as he is, the chill of today doesn’t bother him, more comforting than irritating which sometimes makes him confused when the older boys complain of cold hands or other extremities being frozen. In fact he recalls their mild panic when they found him buried in a mound of snow one afternoon after leaving him to his own devices, their frantic hovering relaxing only when Bepo innocently reiterated to them that he has both Urshifu and Beartic traits.
It was sweet how they mothered him, not really acknowledging his differences other than that Law, when in a cuddly mood, would lean on him and absentmindedly thread his fingers through his thick fur. As a Mink, he matured quickly like most Pokémon did, grasping concepts of the world and understanding it much better than what a human eleven year old would.
He likened it similar to Daylight sounding like a mother in her mannerisms when she spoke to him, nurturing, kind, mature beyond the seventeen years that she had shared at Penguin’s side, though now she had the elegance of evolution in her mannerisms. Nightlight had not yet really found his feet after his evolution not half a day prior, having nearly crushed Shachi when, still thinking he was Eevee sized, tried to leap into his partner’s arms and sent them both tumbling onto the floor of the landing and nearly down the stairs had Law not quickly cast a ‘Room’ and switched them both with the rug at the top of the stairs.
Confused, he had asked the Espeon and Umbreon at breakfast why they were so different in their ability to adapt to the change of their bodies, Daylight twittering a laugh in his head while Nightlight grumbled on the floor with a hyena like chatter.
“I was ready to become Me.” Daylight purred, licking her paws clean, flicking her tail so that it deliberately whacked Nightlight on the head, “Nightlight rushed it.”
“Needs must.” Was all the Umbreon huffed, long black ears ringed with gold pinned back distastefully, before fondly turning his ruby eyes to watch Shachi and Law duel it out with their knives for the last pancake, only for the pair of them to lose out when Penguin rolled his eyes and stole it from under them, “I would rush it again.”
His nature as a Mink set him apart from the humans he now called brothers, he spoke the language of both worlds, human and Pokémon, blurring the lines between the two so that they were perfectly intertwined. Shachi had gushed excitedly about his abilities to translate their Eevee when he admitted sheepishly that he could understand every word they spoke, the red head’s amusement turning to offence when Bepo told him that when he baby talked to Nightlight the Eevee was swearing back at him with some colourful phrases that he really shouldn’t have been repeating at nine years old.
So lost in his own world, he jumps when the wind lulls, bringing with it an aroma that tingles in his sensitive nose. He pauses, Law still wandering ahead, gloved hands clasped around the straps of his backpack that held his egg, muttering under his breath the ingredients to make some poultice from his text book like it was some self imposed test.
The smell was mineral like, charred earth and salt, smokey with the crackling electric of burnt ozone, heavily tainted with petrichor.
It was confusing to his senses, the scent making something deep in his brain tingle, locking on like a bloodhound.
It is only when Law grabs his wrist that he jumps like a live wire, jolting back to the present so sharply, he stumbles from where he had been about to disappear into the forest, his footsteps in the snow sluggish and dragging.
“Bepo!” Law snaps, eyes bright, shifting every which way, on alert for danger of any kind, smaller hand tight around his wrist digging into the fur in a grip that spoke of how anxious he really was, fingers of his free hand spread out, ready to call a ‘Room’.
“Sorry!” He squeaks, his ears tilting down sadly, not exactly sure why he is apologising but doing it anyway to cover all of his bases, “It, it was a scent I’ve never tracked before.”
“Later.” Law says slowly, taking a slow breath in and letting it out, “Don’t just wander off like that, we’re going to be late to meet the idiots in front of the restaurant.”
“Okay. Sorry!” He repeats, eyeing the depths of the forest as Law turns to make his way back to the path, shivering when he swears he can see a glimmer of red hued light shimmering in the gloom, spooking himself and rushing after the older boy with a panicked gasp.

-Law-

Bepo’s odd behaviour aside, they make it to the restaurant in time to see Penguin stepping out into the cold with Daylight, the eldest of the quartet looping his red scarf around his neck as Shachi jogs up excitedly with Nightlight, already speaking a mile a minute over how much fun he was having learning in the Salon.
They are greeted with warm smiles that make his long thought dead heart twinge with fondness, a pang of bitterness welling up as memories of a silly wide grin and black feathers flash before his eyes before Bepo is grabbing his hand in his large paw, the paw pads an odd juxtaposed sensation with the silky fur between the rougher skin pads keeping him grounded as they walk in a small huddle against the bitter wind coming off of the sea towards the harbour.
“The stylist is giving me brushes home to practice with Nightlight.” Shachi explains as Penguin digs around in his pockets for the meagre remains of his pay check, coming up with an admittedly too small for comfort slip of crumpled bills and flicking through them with a frown.
Nightlight doesn’t exactly look thrilled to be a test subject, his ears flicked down and muzzle scrunched in distaste, but Bepo pretty much has stars in his eyes when he grabs Shachi’s hand with his free one and asks the other boy for his fur to be brushed out.
Law drops Bepo’s hand with a put off sigh as Shachi slings his arm over the bear and tugs him into a half hug with a wide smile, the pair of them lost rapidly in a debate over shorter combs and soft or hard bristle brushes.
Penguin chuckles, tapping Law on the hat with a light closed fist making him scowl, “We have enough for some stuff from the boats but don’t go too crazy okay?”
“We wouldn’t be having to go to the fish market if you hadn’t been so impulsive.” Law says a bit more sharply than he intends, earning a warning trill from Daylight as she whacks his shins with her long forked tail.
“Hmm I suppose.” Penguin hums, like it isn’t an issue anymore, which if you asked Law was complete nonsense. “But, we wouldn’t be eagerly awaiting your partner’s hatching then would we?”
“How can you just brush it off?” Law blurts out, he had seen the tears, the internal agony shining in Penguin’s eyes that evening from under the lip of his hat, a despair that Law hadn’t been sure there was a coming back from a second time.
“I haven’t.” Penguin admits with a pondering tone as they stroll along the sea path, the waves thudding with rhythmic booms against the high stone walls, tossing white froth into the wind to spray over their winter boots, “But with Daylight so happy in her new form, I can’t help but love her more for it. This was her decision Law, to give you your egg, to evolve with the sun, she’s everything I had hoped she’d be in the end. I can’t be upset about that, not when the decisions she made are what I would have done if I wasn’t quite so broken.”
Hearing that wounds him a little, his mouth drying as he contemplates what to say in return that won’t end up with him tossed into the sea for being a smart ass. So he doesn’t say anything, merely let’s his own gloved hand reach for Penguin’s and slot them together with what he hopes is a reassuring squeeze.
“I’m grateful all the same.” He mutters, feeling his cheeks heat, bringing his shoulders up so that his cheeks sink into his scarf to hide the embarrassing heat that is beginning to collect there.
Penguin’s smile, when it isn’t flipped into his usual frown, is dazzling against the cloudy sky and blustery wind, the older boy not saying anything but merely dragging him on a bit to catch up with Shachi and Bepo who are now peering into the stalls of the local fishermen and picking out their lunch.
They settle on fresh oysters and some freshly grilled saury from the stalls, Penguin and Shachi knocking back the shucked oysters with a skill that makes Law shudder while crunching into the crispy flesh of his saury on a stick. Bepo had tried the oysters at first too, his snout scrunching up in polite disappointment before he quickly plucks a saury stick up and begins furiously munching on it. Daylight and Nightlight had managed to somehow charm a fisherman out of a raw fish each and the pair of them were content to enjoy the small alcove the boys had staked out away from the worst of the growing wind grooming each other free of the dried salt that had accumulated in their coats.
“I’d better head back.” Penguin grins, ruffling Bepo’s fur on his head, making the bear whine playfully when his ears are caught in the jostling, “It’s our turn to cook supper tonight Bepo, we’ll keep you occupied as a group at the table while that full moon is going on.”
“You say that as if I have been unbanned from the kitchen.” Law grumbles sulkily, picking at his teeth with the wooden stick that had been jammed through his saury.
“You know what you did.” Penguin says simply as Shachi takes a quick look at the harbour clock and yelps that he will be late if he doesn’t head away right this minute, “See you guys later!”
“Thanks for lunch, Penguin!” Bepo calls after them with an enthusiastic wave that Law wishes he could replicate, but settles for merely a small barely there wave as he lets go of his backpack straps with a feeling that almost feels like happiness warming his chest.
He lurches suddenly, almost falling over onto his side if Bepo hadn’t reflexively caught him, as if something in his backpack moved violently, shifting his centre of gravity. He gasps, kneeling in the sheltered space with Bepo hovering mid panic, slinging off the backpack and flipping the cover up, revealing the egg incubator.
There, in the centre of the cylinder, the egg moves sharply to the right before it settles.
“I can hear sounds coming from it!” Bepo cries in excitement, his paws cupped over his ears to sharpen his hearing, “It’ll hatch soon!”
Law glances up at Bepo with wide lost eyes, resealing the bag closed and returning it to his back, shaking hands curling back around the straps. He was going to have a partner soon, he thought with a dizzying explosion of nausea and giddiness. “Let’s get home, I don’t want to be between town and the house if it does decide to hatch.”

He tries desperately to act as if nothing is wrong when Penguin and Shachi tumble into the house later that evening, beating the sun down by only half an hour, their partners panting from the jog, greeting him with a trill or rough bark respectively before flopping in front of the fire to warm themselves and be rid of the wet chill the snow had left on their fur.
The egg had stopped moving hours ago, it’s violent rocking stilling as Law watched it like a hawk from his spot on the couch, the incubator placed on the side table that had been dragged in front of him.
He wonders if it has died.
It is a deep sharp knife of a thought, that the movement had been the baby Pokémon’s last fruitless struggle to exit its shell, some error of its creation causing the shell to be too thick or the Pokémon too weak.
He wants to cry, to scream, but settles for maybe adding another mark to join the countless others across his wounded spirit, teeth grit as a strong wave of depressive guilt tenses his jaw and the salt in his budding tears sting his eyes.
He wonders if he was ever worthy to begin with.
He forgets to breathe and the sharp inhale of shaky breath is what draws Bepo and the older boys from the kitchen where they had been sharing news about their afternoons.
“Law?” Penguin asks tentatively, brave in the face of the watery eyes that peer up at him from underneath a spotted hat, “Are you okay?”
The question is the twist of the knife that nearly breaks him, silently gesturing towards the egg and then wringing his fingers needing the pressure to elevate the gaping hole that was opening up again in his heart.
Shachi bravely decides to flop onto the couch next to him while Bepo shyly takes the other side, both scooting ever closer so that he is bracketed by them both.
“You’re such a worrywart.” Shachi sighs, clearly not knowing how to elevate his mood but going at it like a bull in a china shop like he usually does.
“Day?” He hears Penguin ask, leaning over the back of the couch, warm palms settling on Law’s shoulders in reassurance that he would keep him together should it all fall to pieces, “Can you maybe connect with the Pokémon in the egg?”
The Espeon chirps willingly, rolling upright from her spot next to the fire and trotting over. Her outline smudging blue and the clear violet eyes erupting with neon sapphire light.
It doesn’t take long, the purple cat like creature trilling cheerfully, a loud purr erupting from her throat before she nuzzles against the glass.
“‘She’s just tired. She wants out. She can’t wait to meet you!’” Bepo translates in delight, a hand gripping Law’s in his excitement.
The relief is a wave, a dispersive flood rushing in his body as Penguin flexes his grip on his shoulders to express his own relief. Shachi chuckles from beside him, elbowing him in the ribs for being so dramatic.
“See? Worrying over nothing.”
He finds it in himself to hope, surrounded by the warmth of the equally broken people he would willingly call brothers. He allows himself to be happy, a smile twisting his lips.
Then a loud crack spilts the silence of the room.
They all collectively jump as the incubator lets out a shrill alarm, like a literal egg timer going off, only stopped when Bepo prods it’s activation button, powering down the contraption.
Law leans forward, lifting the lid, grabbing the egg from its warm prison, pulling the rough shell to himself, examining it and finding the beginnings of a deep crack splitting the side.
They all gasp in amazement when they hear muffled high pitched cheeps and the soft tapping of claws within.
“Looks like she wanted to see you sooner rather than later.” Penguin laughs joyfully, a tender smile across his face where his usual frown would be, leaning on Law a little more as another flurry of taps and sharp movement causes the cracks to splinter even further in all directions.
“Might as well put her on the floor on a cushion, we might want to stay back a bit since we don’t actually know what is going to be popping out of there.” Shachi suggests, getting off the couch and dragging his cushion with him to put in the middle of the living area, “I don’t know about you, but crushed to death by a hatching Ponyta or Seel is not how I want to go.”
Law scoffs rolling his eyes, but doing as he suggested, shuffling delicately off of the couch to place the egg on her comfy pedestal before settling on his knees a little away, scowling a little up at Penguin when the older boy had stolen his spot on the couch when he moved, the space now filled with the expectant trio staring down at him, Daylight and Nightlight having bounced up onto the couch and lying along the back of it, their tails wagging or flicking happily.
He goes to make a more choice protest when the egg shudders once more, a third loud crack sending a shard popping free, white purifying light spilling into the room as all at once the shell is enveloped in energy.
The light show is stronger than a standard evolution, simply pure power taking form rather than external stimulation drawing energy to activate genetics.
Half blinded, Law squints as the light show dies down, vision blurry and spotty with an annoying after effect from not managing to clamp his eyes shut fast enough.
He hears her, a loud tweet of happiness that snaps his head up reflexively to find his partner, his new companion for life. His heart filling with all the hope and happiness that he had been told the moment would bring him since he was a child staring longingly at a book his parents had given him.
And it all falls apart.

Lami had always been adamant that her choice of Pokémon was going to be better than his.
He had had ‘boy ideas’ of a super cool Pokémon, one with blades, sharp teeth or wings and thrashing spiky tails, the book his mother and father had given him turning dog eared rapidly, marked with throughly researched notes and arguments for why he should be allowed to bond with one of these creatures.
Hers had been more pastel in nature for lack of a better word, ‘girly ideas’ of pinks and purples, fairy wings and soothing auras.
She had told him his ideas were stupid, a new word that she loved throwing at Law whenever she annoyed him, that her favourite trumped his and that his grand final plan to go for a Pawniard was also ‘stupid’.
He had called her stupid in return when she came to him later with her childish drawings, done in her over saturated markers, a stick figure in a spotted hat and her favourite Pokémon coloured in beside him in the odd coloured variant, the head a vibrant peach over soft cream and the red and blue markings switched.
It had led to a rather wild chasing around the house, shouting stupid at each other, watched over by his mother’s bemused Nidoqueen and father’s sleepy Chansey, finally curtailed when his mother had laughed and caught Law around the middle hoisting him up into a hug.
“You’ll have who you were meant to, love.” She had said, pressing a kiss to his cheek which he tried to squirm away from as his father catches a shrieking Lami in the background while growling playfully like an Ursaring, “You’ll see.”

He comes back to the present slowly, frozen like a statue as he stares dazedly at what his egg had hatched into.
The baby Pokémon is egg shaped anyway, it’s body mostly encased a white shell, with red and blue triangular markings switched, small fluffy feet poke out from the bottom, the fur a rich vibrant peach instead of cream, matching the spiky fluff covered head that pops free from the top with a flurry of cheeps and trills, small claw nubs that it calls hands waving.
“What is it?” He hears Shachi ask in confusion, the sound muffled, almost tinny as he tries to move his dry mouth and swollen tongue.
There is a high pitched shrill sound in his ears, he wants to run, to find a dark place, to hide, his chest feels tight, his limbs but leaden blocks rooting him in place.
It stops when Penguin reaches for him and holds his shoulders, “Breathe Law, with me.”
In, One, Two, Out, One, Two.
It had been months since he had needed this technique. It had helped when his new growing pains had blind sided him after the Amber Lead was removed.
Embarrassingly he had thought he was dying again, using his new ‘Scan’ technique over and over again on himself when he managed to sneak away for some privacy from his ever lurking minions. It had left him waspish and upset for days, exhausted from internal panic as he triple and quadruple checked that every speck of Amber Lead had been ripped from his body, not understanding why he was in pain.
Bepo of all people had made the innocent comment one morning that he was seemed taller after a few nights of being curled up and gasping to himself, walking himself through the fragments of the breathing exercises he had picked up from Shachi when the older boy’s occasional panic attacks sent him into a defensible corner to work through it.
He felt rather stupid over the realisation, but that hadn’t stopped his tears from eventually overflowing one evening when the deep ache of stretching skin and growing bones reminded him a little too sharply of suffering the Amber Lead. Bepo, as his room mate, had panicked when he could barely voice his distress, bolting from the room and dragging a half asleep Penguin into the space with a grumbling Daylight, still an Eevee back then, on his heels.
Penguin had handed him Daylight to cuddle, the Eevee tucking close, her warm nose pressed against his cheek.
“You’re growing.” Penguin had soothed while he cried, hands firmly massaging at his sore arms and legs, humming the folk songs of Swallow in between commenting that this had helped him when he was going through a bad growth spurt.
He was ashamed to admit he began calling for his family as Penguin told Bepo to go and stay with Shachi for the evening, mind spiralling in a cathartic mix of relief and pain, bleating for Cora, for Lami, for his Mother and his Father like a lost lamb.
Law had made Penguin promise not to speak of it the next morning, threatening everything under the sun, from disassembly to stabbing, huffy and mean for a few days for fear the older boy would laugh at him and his dramatics over thinking he was dying.
But he hadn’t, smiling that small private smile that he only shared with Shachi, Bepo and himself, his hand patting Law on the hat before shoving it roughly down making him squawk as the eldest laughed, “No enemies here, Law.”
He could trust him, he could trust Them with this.
“Togepi.” He croaks, his voice a quiet whispery thing, his shell-shocked, blanched face staring at the small baby Pokémon like it is a live bomb while it sits cheeping happily at the world it had just been born into, “It’s a Togepi. My…my little sister wanted one.”
He slowly moves out from under Penguin’s grasp, shuffling toward the baby Pokémon tottering to its feet on the cushion and chirping to herself, he jumps when she finally looks at him, those tiny eyes curving in delight and a loud peal of twittering chirps and calls of its species name herald a dawning rush of protective love, smashing through the dark reminders of a world long gone to fire and smoke.
“Hello,” he whispers, utterly besotted as he lifts her into his arms, the baby cheeping happily, tiny claw nubs raised and wiggling, catching on his shirt clumsily, “I’m so glad I get to meet you.”
“Law? What will you name her?” Bepo asks softly, voice distant as his world shrinks to just him and his partner, sharing her first moments in such a cruel unforgiving world.
He brings shaking fingers up, threading them through the spiky peach fluff of his partner’s head, earning a happy coo, small claw nubs gently poking into his wrist as it is grabbed and the small head is pressed further into his palm with complete devoted trust.
“Lami,” he rasps, the Togepi tweeting up at him curiously when he brings her up to press his forehead to hers, the small paws patting him on the cheeks, examining his tear tracks with a sweet purr, “Her name is Lami.”

Chapter Text

-Bepo-

Spring was in the air as he stepped out of the house.
The chilling bite of Swallow’s wind was still present, fangs always bared even on days where the ground was a mess of muddy melt water from the winter snow finally loosening its grip on the earth below. His boots squelch into the mud that the path to town had turned into, making his way to the restaurant to meet his brothers.
It had gotten harder to ignore the scent coming from the forest, it’s ozone and mineral odour becoming heavy enough to almost taste on his tongue, beckoning him to abandon the path and follow, it’s tantalising allure only growing with the warming of the air.
Since Law dragged him back the first time, he kept his head down, staring at the uneven path, muzzle scrunched as he tried to focus on making it to town where the smell of the harbour and the bustling businesses would mask the luring, siren call of the scent.
It was a difficult, lonely wander nowadays, but he didn’t want to worry the other boys, not now that they had figured out a decent routine.
Law had gotten his wish to be mentored at the Doctor’s Clinic. The woman had spotted them from her office in town a week or two after Lami had hatched, their group a bit frazzled from the baby Pokémon’s unintended Metronome antics that had warranted an immediate shopping trip to curb the habit with whatever toy they could afford at the time.
Bepo smiled to himself at the memory, it had been scary in the moment, the woman’s Machoke striding over and grabbing Law by the scruff of his coat, holding him like one would scruff a cub before simply walking away with him, threats and Lami’s happy twitters fading into the wind as they had all just stared after the Machoke proudly bearing a medic armband in shock.
Law had sulked with them afterwards for just letting a random Pokémon walk off with him, though he still puffed up with pride when he told them that he was going to be shadowing the nurses of the clinic to begin with while the ‘Cantankerous Witch’ made a lesson plan for him to shadow her in surgeries.
Bepo had immediately caved to his sulking, even if the spotty hat wearing teen’s angry visage was rather ruined by the sheer wonder on Lami’s face as she shook, turned and twisted her new puzzle toy to get at the treats inside it from the safety of Law’s arms.
Penguin hadn’t caved, telling Bepo that he was spoiling Law by letting him believe he was right all the time, “He hadn’t been in any danger Bepo, that Machoke had clear medic bands on it. There was no intent to harm at all.”
“Yeah Bepo, trust me, we would know.” Shachi had grinned and that just made him feel even more guilty, of course they would know what malicious intent looked like. Daylight even commented as much at the time over Nightlight’s cackling.
He smiles to himself as he spots the trio loitering near the restaurant, Penguin with Daylight hoisted over his shoulder as the lavender cat struggled and Shachi was crouching down attempting to pry Nightlight’s jaws open. Law had a smile that was two degrees too malicious for this time in the afternoon, even as Lami, now in her usual spot of sitting in Law’s hoodie hood cheeped over his shoulder, her small paws batting at the twin gold piercings on each ear he had gotten with his first pay check from the clinic for doing odd jobs with the nurses.
“What’s going on?” He asks, jogging over curiously as Shachi lets out a shocked gasp pointing at Bepo, Nightlight snapping his head around, mouth open to bark a happy greeting, before Shachi shoved something into his muzzle and held it shut.
“Tablets to prevent parasites and other things.” Penguin grunts, a slender purple leg booting him in the sternum as Daylight attempts to desperately climb over his shoulder, “It doesn’t taste good so they are being dramatic.”
“Lami doesn’t seem too upset.” He comments earning a glower from Shachi practically wrestling Nightlight into swallowing the tablet.
“Lami is a baby. She only needed a check up to make sure she was functioning.” Shachi grumbles, still holding Nightlight’s jaw shut, “I’m not letting go until I see you swallow a few times, Night, I Know you, you have it under your tongue.”
The Umbreon growls, trying to shake his muzzle free, nearly tipping both himself and Shachi over.
“As Shachi says, Lami just needed a check up.” Law smirks, reaching up to gently pet the soft thick peach fur on Lami’s head, earning a delighted cheep from his hood, “My mentor demanded that we all get a check up when she realised she didn’t have any data on us. Apart from Penguin needing to eat more and Lami being oddly coloured, there luckily isn’t much wrong with any of us.”
“Turns out sensitive eyes are common in this region.” Penguin sighed despairingly, tugging his hat a bit lower, “That quack doesn’t know what she’s talking about, I eat enough.”
Bepo frowned to himself, thinking back, sharing a look with Law that confirmed, yes, Penguin was lying out of his backside. Daylight has gone still, flopped over her partner’s shoulder like a hunted deer, a low whining mewl the only prompt Penguin needs to flip her over onto her back in his arms with a grin.
“Giving up Day?” He teases, before squeezing her tight in a hug, dropping her back to the ground when he is done, digging into his pocket and offering the tablet to the annoyed looking Espeon.
The lavender cat huffs, tail trashing like a tortured snake as with a grace that seemed far too imperious, opens her mouth and accepts the medication, her silky fur standing on end immediately as the sourness hits her tongue before swallowing with a shudder. Penguin laughs gently, scratching behind her ears earning a begrudging purr, “That’s my girl. You done Shachi?”
Said red head is flopped half on top of Nightlight, holding the beast down as finally the Umbreon gives in and swallows.
“Done!” He groans, earning a slobbery lick from Nightlight in revenge, covering his sunglasses, “Nightlight!”
The Umbreon bounds away with a hyena like cackle, Daylight joining him to race around Bepo’s ankles before leading the way to the harbour.
Bepo grins at Shachi’s grumbling, taking off his shades and squinting with annoyance while rubbing the dark lenses clean on his shirt, it makes his heart swell, the shades of lonely pangs chased from his mind as they follow the pair of Pokémon to the worn stairs that lead down to the beach.
Law hovers for a moment at the top of the stairs as they barrel down onto the sand, Penguin and Shachi already stripping off their jackets and shirts in preparation for a swim. Bepo pauses at the bottom, turning to watch as Law psychs himself up, carefully plucking Lami from his hood to hold her in his arms as he picks his way down towards the water.
Lami coos up at her partner, small claws flapping up and down excitedly against Law’s arms as he then crouches to place her gently onto the sand. The baby totters for a moment, cheeping up at Law and Bepo happily before in a flurry of movement and a small spray of sand, the Togepi runs off as fast as her little feet can carry her.
Which admittedly isn’t exactly very far when in two long strides, Law can keep pace with her as they follow to the spot where Penguin and Shachi are beginning to stretch, completely bare for their swimming shorts they had put on that morning.
“First to the Clauncher pot?” Shachi grins, holding both hands over his head and pulling up in a full body stretch as Penguin pulls one of his arms over his chest, stretching his shoulders.
“There and back again with the best one for supper. Loser has to cook them.” Penguin bargains, “Do you want to count us down Bepo?”
“Okay!” He smiles, settling onto Shachi’s splayed out jacket that prevents the rest of his clothes from being covered in sand, Nightlight trotting over with a long driftwood stick that Daylight levitates and flings away for him to fetch.
Law is still occupied keeping Lami busy, the Togepi offering up random beach paraphernalia to her partner in wonder as she finds it, be it a shiny patterned stone or iridescent shell that Law dutifully puts into the pockets of jeans before she wanders over to Bepo and plonks herself down beside him. The Togepi smiles brightly, then begins to curiously rummage around in the pile of clothes on Penguin’s jacket, Law joining her with a soft barely there laugh and placed her in the protective loop of his crossed legs as he settles in to watch the competition.
“Ready?” He announces, the older boys making their way to the water, barely shivering as the frigid water laps at their feet, travelling up their legs as they wander in deeper, rather vulgar smack talk lost to the wind as they playfully shove and taunt, “Go!”
In a massive splash of water, the pair abruptly disappear into the waves.
“Good thing we have a half day today.” Law comments idly, offering Lami her finds from the beach to pick through, smile softening when she gums at a shell before tossing it dismissively from her collection, “I don’t think they would have been dry enough to go back to work.”
Bepo smiled shyly, feeling a little guilty, knowing that they were all taking the next two days off to keep him occupied during the full moon, “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Law says dismissively waving a hand, “I want to plan out some tattoos with Shachi tonight anyway. He’s getting good with some of his designs.”
Bepo grins happily, wondering if Shachi would also be able to do a tattoo for him if he shaves off the fur around the area he could do, turning to ask Law as such but finding the other teen already dozing in the weak afternoon sun, the dark smudges under his eyes rather stark when he looks a bit more closely.
Law had thrown himself into training with his mentor with every fibre of his being. If he wasn’t running after Lami as she grew into herself, he was pouring over text books of medical information until he passed out. Bepo was sure he had even heard Law mumbling about skeletal structure in his sleep one night when he got up for a glass of water.
They were all growing up. Far from gentle, Shachi and Law’s frequent physical squabbles and their own individual training routines would attest to that, but they were on their way.
He wonders if Zepo would be proud.
The thought startles him. It had been a while since he had thought of his older blood brother, too wrapped up in learning the ins and outs of this new group to really mull on the gaping absence that Zepo had left in his life.
He had been even more of a cub than he was when he first met Law and the others, so young that his parents were more conceptual than tangible memories in his mind. Zepo had tried his best, he was sure, he remembered the love, but there was always something missing when Bepo would smile up at him innocently and call him his dad.
Zepo would gently tell him that no, he was his big brother, the best, the Pangoro mink had grinned, bopping Bepo on the nose, but not mum or dad. That honour went to those that only the elder mink remembered.
But Bepo hadn’t, and truthfully if he examined it closely, beneath the guilt for thinking it to begin with, really cared. He had just wanted a family, someone to love him.
Then, Zepo left him.
The pain had been horrible, his world crumbling at the age of seven, the abandonment had left him clingy to his caretakers, the kind neighbours that Zepo had begged to look after him, before they had a cub of their own.
Again. He had been left in the dark, alone and oh so lonely, the gaping chasm of an internal ache that he desperately wanted to fill.
It was the idea of finding Zepo, that maybe his leaving had been a test which led him to Swallow Island, the lonely snowy island in the North Blue.
He barely remembers how he got here, the loud rumbles of Zunesha and the alien cries of her Pokémon caretakers, the legendary giants, mere flashes in his mind before it was nothing but the sensation of falling, snow, rough sea and icebergs until he could see nothing but water until the horizon kissed the sky.
Then he met Penguin and Shachi and the rest had been rather shoddy history. The loneliness lingered though, nibbling at his mind when the others left for work and left him behind, the only thing consoling him was that they returned to him, calling back jovially in the mornings that they would return in the evenings.
He smiles to himself, tilting his head into the small patch of sun that had struggled through the cloudy sky, the warmth settling into his fur pleasantly as he hears Penguin and Shachi splashing and floundering as they return, Law jolting awake when they start screeching about clauncher sizes and who beat who back first.
He likes to think Zepo would be proud, but then again, he wasn’t sure he ever knew his brother to begin with. It had been so easy to leave him after all.

-Law-

Bepo had been acting odd all evening.
He wasn’t sure how to broach it, chewing on the end of his pen as he took notes on his most recent homework thrust upon him from his mentor. Lami was ‘helping’ by trying to solve her puzzle toy, shaking it occasionally to get her treats before going back to rotating and twisting it for another.
The bear mink had been fidgety, so restless that he couldn’t even settle when Penguin suggested he try and show them some of the maps he had been attempting to replicate, the bear mumbling something about going out to the greenhouse for vegetables to pair with the Clauncher and had rather distractedly wandered off outside to the small patch of summer in the garden.
It had been going on for months, almost since the day Lami hatched and Law pondered over if it could be jealousy.
True, the Togepi had drawn a lot of their attention, Bepo included, she was just so sweet and naive as any baby would be at her age that the house had just revolved around her for a few weeks. Even Wolf who barely returned to the house these days working on the finalities of his ‘Magnum Opus Of Engineering’ had spent an afternoon coddling the spiked ball Pokémon when he came home to find Law’s egg had hatched. Adding their daily work to the mix meant that they spent less time as a group hanging out, so maybe the Mink was getting lonely?
He was suddenly drawn out of his musings when he took a puzzle toy right to the forehead, making him jump as he took in his partner frowning reproachfully up at him, twittering angrily with puffed cheeks as he realised the toy was empty when he picked it up from his paperwork and shook it.
“Ah.” He smirks a little, leaning back on his chair to shout through the slightly ajar bedroom door, “Penguin, Lami’s toy needs refilling!”
“And like most of the population of this world, you have legs! So use them!” Penguin’s voice echos back from downstairs, in the midst of walking Shachi through cooking the Clauncher they had caught that afternoon for supper.
He rocks back and forth on the back legs of his chair for a moment before deciding with a grin.
Sue him, he was feeling lazy.
“Apple!” He calls in return, hearing Penguin groan loudly in response before a faint, ‘Placed’ is shouted from the bottom of the stairs.
“Ready Lami?” He asks the Togepi whose little eyes widen happily, small arms flapping up and down with excited chirps when he picks her up and settles her in the crook of an arm, holding out his palm towards the floor. “‘Room’” he commands, the bubble of blue blooming into being, covering the house. Once it is big enough, he tilts his free hand up, his thumb, pointer and middle finger splayed upwards, “‘Shambles’”
His mind locks onto where the apple Penguin had placed is, commanding himself and his partner to switch places with the object in a rush of teleportation.
They appear seated at the table where Penguin lingers with an unimpressed frown, the older teen raising a brow when he pops the ‘Room’ with a smug smirk, Lami squeaking in his arms.
“I don’t waste my power on trivial matters.” Shachi mocks from beside the stove, a few plasters covering his fingers from where he had attempted to tie the Clauncher’s large crusher claws shut.
“I’m a teenager, let me live a little.” He snaps back with a huff, gently placing Lami on the floor where she enthusiastically makes a beeline dash for Daylight and Nightlight sitting beside their bowls patiently waiting to eat like the rest of them, the pair greeting her with nuzzles and gentle nudges.
“Bepo sure is taking forever to get those potatoes.” Penguin muttered lowly, crossing his arms and tapping a foot anxiously, “I’m going to go find him. Shachi make sure Law doesn’t get within three feet of that stove. I’m not having another Surf and Turf fiasco in my kitchen.”
“Once. I try something fun once and I get punished for it.” Law complains as the red head guffaws, watching the elder boy slip on his long coat and boots.
“You weren’t the one that had to try and cook that checkerboard monstrosity.” Penguin snaps back, two fingers coming up to point at his eyes underneath the lip of his hat before swivelling to point at Law in a clear ‘I’m watching you’ gesture as he makes his way out into the spring evening.

-Bepo-

As soon as he left the house, the mystery scent hit him like a wave. It was a still night, rare on Swallow, the wind light and fragrant with the forest’s natural odour, interspersed with the tell tale scents of various wild Pokémon going about their more nocturnal routines.
The stillness seemed to magnify the smell, burnt ozone and earth dripped in petrichor. He shakes his head to begin with, snorting irritably, denying the pull, determined to cross the small gap between house and greenhouse with nary a thought about it.
But then, as he is unlocking the nearby shed for a trowel, his ears twitch with the sound of a storm.
Puzzled he peers into the sky, something niggling in the back of his more animal side’s mind as he takes in the stronger stars beginning to dot the early evening sky, the pale glimmer of the full moon barely an outline in the clear expanse painted with oranges, yellows and bruised purples.
The storm persists, roiling, a crackle of lightning, an echoing roar of captured wind somewhere in the wild beyond the safety of the house, the smell stronger as it latches on and demands he follow.
He drops the trowel, the rattle of it dropping into a metal bucket feint and far away as he listens to the beckoning urge itching under his skin.
So he goes, not a thought crossing his mind for those waiting for him, his will set on finding the source of his mounting frustration that only he seems to be able to sense.
He doesn’t know how long he walks in the woods, doesn’t know if he wandered through stream or clambered over babbling brook, but he jolts more back to reality as he finds himself face to face with a cave glowing bright with reds and pinks within its depths.
Shaking he stumbles back a bit, a headache building behind his eyes as he tries to get his bearings around him, breath coming in quick sharp pants when he realises that he is completely lost.
The cave glows brighter, welcoming, a gentle heat like the living room back at Wolf’s when the fire was burning out. Another luring rumble comes from within, a fresh waft of that alluring perfume that clenched its talons around his mind like a vice.
He looks up, eyes wide when he sees the dark navy of the sky above him, another world of countless stars in all their glittering glory shining down on him from between the trees.
The panic builds within him abruptly.
‘Don’t look at the full moon.’ Zepo had warned, a palm resting over his eyes when he tried, ‘Only when you are ready.’
He doesn’t know when he should be ready. The other boys had speculated it was an adult thing. Done when Mink’s were mature. He had left Zou and travelled to here, the edges of the North Blue. He was mature for that wasn’t he?
But not really, Shachi still actively called him a baby over things, Penguin would hold his hand when he was scared. Law, even prickly, sassy, sharp tongued Law would often curl up and cuddle with him when he was lonely.
Even Daylight and Nightlight watched over him like they now did to Lami.
Between the moonlight liable to find him any moment and the cave, with its eerie light show and cacophony of smells, he makes a split second decision, rushing into the entrance, into the light and the warmth with the promise of a roof overhead as the chilly wind begins to pick up outside.
He wonders if it was a trap, a last single thought bursting across his psyche as the ground gives way beneath him, the dropping sensation so similar to that day that felt like lifetimes ago when he left Zou, his world becoming a whirl of dark purple clouds flashing with red and pinks as he falls directly into the storm, alone as he always was.

-Law-

They had been wandering the forest for nearly an hour when Nightlight finally picks up Bepo’s scent, the Umbreon, glowing with Flash loping ahead of them with a loud bark.
“Why would Bepo go into the forest on a full moon?” Penguin worries as they keep pace, Daylight bounding above them across tree branches for a good vantage point, her swift pounces sending a small flock of birds scattering with panicked shrieks.
“Maybe he felt ready to look at the moon?” He replies, Lami tucked into his hood like she normally is, the Togepi already dozing despite the excitement of being outside, “Minks do theoretically age quicker than humans do due to their Pokémon ancestry.”
“Bepo doesn’t know half of his own culture Law.” Shachi protests, his sunglasses pushed up into his hair under his hat, the vibrant emerald irises darting all around them, with even Penguin having taken off his hat and letting his own slightly less light sensitive eyes aid him, “He’s admitted he has no idea when it is acceptable for him to look at it.”
“I’m just saying I’d rather not come across a Sulong powered Beartic/Urshifu mix in the woods when I can hardly see a fucking thing.” Law growls, tripping over what must have been the hundredth root in the last ten minutes, Lami chirping a rebuttal at him when she is jostled, “Some of us don’t have eyes that can see like it is daytime.”
“Skill issue.” Shachi chimes back from somewhere ahead of him, with Law determined to at least aim a middle finger in his general direction by showing it in a wide arc around himself like he is brandishing a cross.
“Can you two be sensible for five minutes?” Penguin sighs despairingly like a mother stressed out by her unruly children, stopping when Daylight lets out a loud yowl from above them, Nightlight slowing to a walk as their attention is dragged to what could only be an odd light source of red and pink glimmering in the distance.
“Well that’s not ominous at all.” Law sighs to himself, frowning as he places his hands on his hips, squinting into the dark as Shachi even puts his glasses back on as they draw nearer, the light building until there is also a rumble of thunder and the sizzle of energy zipping coming from the cave entrance.
“It’s a Power Spot.” Shachi whistles, crouching down to examine some pink tinged crystals beginning to form around the entrance, “I read about them from Sora and I remember my mother used to read me some old Swallow Legends text books. Remember the Germa, Law? With their massive Lapras dragging them around the ocean.”
Law frowns thinking to himself, flicking through his mental library of Sora novels, snapping his fingers in realisation, “Gigantamax.”
“Right?” Shachi grins excitedly, tossing Law a crystal to examine, the surprisingly sturdy prism almost star like in shape, “That must mean a Wishing Star fell here.”
“It’s lost its charge, but it definitely reacts to the Power Spot.” Law ponders, holding it near the cave entrance and watching as the stone lights up with a very feint purple/blue glow.
“Surely Bepo won’t have went in right?” Penguin frets, adjusting his hat back on his head, jumping like the rest of them when an earth shaking roar screams out from underneath them in a whirlwind rush of noise, wind and the strong smell of a storm.
“Well whatever is in there is mad.” Shachi says nervously, Daylight trotting up to them and taking her place by Penguin’s side.
“Is he in there Day?” The eldest asks simply, face set in a determined frown that Law knows is going to get them into some sort of chaotic trouble.
The Espeon purrs loudly, Bepo’s unique sound from the psychic Pokémon, both Shachi and himself wearing matching grimaces as Penguin grabs their wrists and drags them into the light.

-Penguin-

The barely make it two steps before they almost fall straight into a deep hole, the lot of them saved by Daylight levitating them all over the sheer drop into nothingness with a reflexive psychic.
“Thanks, Day.” He puffs, trying to calm his thundering heart, Law quickly checking Lami beside him, the baby cheeping sleepily as he accidentally wakes her from her nap. Shachi had grabbed Nightlight like a plush toy to prevent the dark type from disappearing into the hole, Daylight’s psychic slipping over him like water off a ducks back, naturally resistant to her power.
“Well I guess we go onwards.” Shachi drawls, pulling himself to his feet, wobbling a little, “Want to give us a light, Night?”
The Umbreon cackles, his rings throbbing once, twice and on the third time, a pulse of light begins to emit from him as they pick their way deeper into the gloom.
Another bellow from below them shakes the cave, loose dirt and roots dropping onto them from above in a wash of breath clogging dust. The noise is also getting gradually louder, more irritable on his ears as they spot the cave beginning to go down ahead of them into the bowels of the earth.
“Someone’s been here before.” Law points out as rough stairs seem to have been hewn into the earth leading down in a very unnatural spiral like staircase.
“Legends did say that people used to come down to ‘Raid Dens’,” Shachi says nervously, “It’s said that monstrous giant Pokémon naturally cause Pokémon growth minerals to develop around them, drawing out things like Zinc and Iron. Swallow hasn’t had Power Spots for hundreds of years though so I don’t understand why one would be active now.”
“You said it yourself,” Law states grimly, showing them the drained Wishing Star held between his fingers as he takes the first steps down, “A Wishing Star fell to earth and reactivated it.”
“And the energy must have called out to the strongest candidate to harness it.” Penguin theorised as they began to go down, thinking it over with a deepening frown, internally longing to just go back a few hours so he could keep Bepo locked up in the house. “You said Minks still have Pokémon ancestry, what better powerhouse do you need than a mink who is a cross of powerful Pokémon?”
Law makes a noise of confirmation as they reach the end, the stairway blooming into a massive cavern so large that Penguin swears there is no ceiling in sight, only a roiling mess of cloud like smoke and red lightning.
The cavern is lit by massive towering crystals of pink energy, the ground below their feet a vibrant red earth that is unusually flat. It takes Penguin’s breath away at the beauty, only coming back to himself with a start when Daylight and Nightlight leap in front of them with matching snarls.
Daylight’s fur is standing on end, her long forked tail sticking straight up like a dowsing rod, sharp needle like fangs bared as she growls, back arched to make herself look bigger, hissing with a long whining yowl. He has never seen her like this, not even with Shachi’s Aunt and Uncle did she ever look so murderous, her eyes have a glimmering film of psychic blue flashing in a rather distressing display for such a laid back Pokémon.
Nightlight is no better, crouched, ready to pounce, his golden rings lighting up in a threatening warning display, his muzzle peeled open to show off thick canines that snap when he barks a warning.
Even Lami is on edge, her chirps from Law’s hood now sharp and piercing like whistles, a quick glance at her showing her small claws have dug themselves sharply into the fabric bunched on Law’s shoulders, her usually happy face a storm of discontent.
“Back away.” He says sharply to Shachi and Law, eyes flickering around the room, trying to find the source of the Pokémon’s defensive anger. He needs to keep them together, slowly, reversing as the air suddenly becomes heavy, the swirling storm at the far end crackling the undulating twirls of its energy beginning to flux and destabilise.
And from the storm walks a giant.

-Shachi-

He had obsessively read books about the Giants of Swallow when he was a child. They had been cartoonish a lot of the time, his mother reading to him the fables of massive Lapras fighting Kingler so big that their claws brushed the cloud cover. There had been more heroic stories too, of towering Coalossal radiating enough heat to save an entire island with the power of Gigantamax and Blastoise that defeated an entire enemy fleet because of its cannons.
His mother had laughed as he asked her if she had ever seen them from her post at the top of the lighthouse, fighting out at sea.
“They are gone now, sweetheart.” She had said laughing, “Maybe if you Wish for it Eternatus might grant you a star.”
He was really beginning to regret wishing so hard as what could only be a Gigantamax Urshifu stands before them, its powerful stance rippling with unbridled power. It is beautiful in its own way, pure white fur, cut with bright sapphire filigree at the knees and long cerulean fur that drifts like a loincloth between its legs. The colour fades back into white in a ribbon like feature that haloes its head. Its knuckles also bear the same vibrant hues with flowing markings that cut dynamic lines over its towering form. Fear roots him to the spot as it opens its maw and roars, the mouth itself awash with pure glowing energy from within that matches its eyes that are covered in the pale yellow brightness.
“Bepo?!” Law chokes from beside him, as the Urshifu Rapid Strike Style stares down at them uncomprehending of what or who they are, only that they have intruded.
“This is so much worse than Sulong.” He wheezes in a panic, grabbing onto the back of Penguin’s jacket like he would be able to do something.
“Law. You said Lami knows Life Dew correct?” Penguin asks sharply, like he has a plan which also jolts Law into thinking mode.
“Yeah, the witch at the clinic had one of the chansey’s teach her.” Law agrees, wearily, clearly on the same page but not liking what he was reading at all, “We might not be able to do this Peng-ya.”
Penguin grins, a bit reckless, a bit wild, like when they were children messing around on the beach, “We need to get our little brother back. I’m not leaving until we do.”
“I’m in.” He says, gazing down at Nightlight who barks up at him with a determined flash in his crimson eyes, “You’re coming up with a game plan Captain Law, trial by fire and all that.”
Daylight trills sharply in agreement as Penguin doesn’t even have to share a glance for them to be mentally in sync.
Law takes a deep shaky breath, letting it out in one long whoosh of air as Lami purrs over his shoulder, “Alright. Let’s do this.”

-Bepo-

He wakes up nearly five days later back in Wolf’s house.
It is a rather rude awakening, with Lami of all Pokémon dropping an ice cube into his mouth and nearly choking him to death. He sits upright coughing, the Togepi laughing cheerfully like a menace before she is levitated away by Daylight curled at the foot of his bed and plonked into the curve of her legs.
“Bepo!” She cries happily, her paws and stomach a mess of sterile white bandages, “You’re awake! We were worried.”
Nightlight peers up over the edge of the bed from where he had been on the floor, one of his hind legs in a sturdy looking cast, “About time you woke up. Lami has been a nightmare.”
Lami, still a baby with no real communicable language to speak of yet beyond sensations of mood, cheerfully repeats ‘nightmare!’ like a broken record.
“Where is everyone?” He blearily asks, checking over himself, startling when he finds bandages all over himself as well, “What happened? What are these?!”
‘These’ were dark navy markings cross crossing his white fur, covering his knuckles and running along his chest and arms. Something new and rather scary.
“You fell into a Raid Den.” Nightlight says with a yawn, flashing his sharp teeth, “The energy latched on and you became big. Law says the markings of the Gigantamax were possibly kept because of your Mink nature.
“We came to get you!” Daylight chirps happily, as he scrambles in his mind to remember anything but red light and falling into nothing, “The others are at work. They didn’t want you to be lonely. So we volunteered to stay and look after you.”
“Left us to babysit more like.” Nightlight sniffs as Lami toddles along the bed, nearly giving the Umbreon a heart attack when she wobbles like she is about to nose dive off the side.
“I’m not lonely though.” He mildly protests, as the two older Pokémon give him judging looks.
“You are family Bepo. Even if we don’t necessarily say it.” Daylight soothes, “Well more like can’t say it with those three, but they will get there.”
“Codependent Clowns.” Nightlight grumbles, but shows his affection in his own way, by giving Bepo’s now Blue furred knuckles a quick lick.
“I’ll admit it’s been a bit difficult.” He says softly, feeling sleepy even as he hears the front door downstairs open and a trio of familiar, beloved voices fill the companionable silence of the house. “They were all just so excited about their new jobs. I didn’t want to worry them.”
“Rest, Bepo. We won’t leave you.” Daylight soothes like a mother would a child, the words poured into the gaping chasm in his mind, filling it to the brim with a deep rooted love, “For we are all gifts to each other.”