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The first time Goh visits Cerise Park with his daughter, she is just over a year old and he, of course, carries her the whole time, all too certain that she might try to grab at a Pokémon who would not appreciate it and end up hurt. They tour the park with Professor Cerise that day, who seems amused when Goh admits his concern but doesn’t tell him off for it. Even still, they both note it: the excited glimmer in Lemon’s eyes each time they introduce her to a different Pokémon. She babbles at them; a few times, it even seems like she may be trying to mimic their cries back to them. It’s such a successful outing that when it is time for them to go home and for her to go down for a nap, she doesn’t put up a fight at all.
Later, when he tells Gary about it, Gary just laughs and says, “Well, I’ll bet you were the exact same way at that age. Gramps and Daisy say that’s how I was.”
But Goh was never exposed to Pokémon as a child, not directly. Long before he was born, his father had had Pokémon of his own, but by the time Goh was in the picture, they had been given away to other Trainers who he felt could take better care of them while he turned his focus to his business and his family. Instead, Goh had grown up watching Pokémon on the television—documentaries and battles and animated films and children’s programs. Eventually, sure, he started going to the local park to play with the wild Pokémon there. But when it came time to get a Pokémon of his own, he was inflexible. The only Pokémon he had ever really wanted to catch at that age was Mew, anyway. Was he even really capable of raising a Pokémon all on his own?
Still, in a way, it’s reassuring, and it’s a good reason to go back, and to, as time goes on, let Lemon get a little closer to the Pokémon in the park all on her own. For the better part of the year, he takes her back a few times a week, just to explore. It gives him a chance to socialize with Professor Cerise and Chrysa and Ren, and, sometimes, Chloe and Parker, too. They all say the same thing: the light in Lemon’s eyes as his Pokémon approach and play with her reminds them of the way he looks when he is out here with them. But to Goh, when he sees her smiling and hears her babbling and, eventually, saying their names and making simple demands of them—“Here!” and “There!” and “Play!”—all he sees is that soft, loving expression on Gary’s face that always appears when he is with his Pokémon. In those moments, he sometimes thinks he could watch her like this forever without getting tired of it. When she resists leaving, that feeling makes it all too easy to cave and allow her five more minutes, or ten, or forty.
It's during one of those times that Professor Cerise tells him they saw Suicune in the park recently, helping some of Goh’s Water-types to improve their precision with Special Moves. As much of a free spirit as it is, Suicune doesn’t tend to stick around for long. On the occasions that Goh has encountered it at the park, or the even rarer occasion that he has taken it on fieldwork with him somewhere else, it generally keeps its distance from the other Pokémon, and especially from other humans.
Even this time, Professor Cerise reports with some disappointment that as soon as it noticed him by the stream, it seemingly vanished from the park entirely.
But, to their surprise, when they walk into the park, they spot it immediately. It’s sitting by the water, eyes glued to the door as if in wait of the moment they stepped through it.
Professor Cerise stares for a moment, and then yelps out, “It came back?!”
At Goh’s side, Lemon peers curiously around him to see the professor, and then, following his gaze to Suicune, tugs excitedly on Goh’s hand.
“Pokémon?” she queries, and he smiles down at her. Mind made up, he reaches down to pull her into his arms and lift her up against his hip. Instinctively, her arms wrap around his neck, though she turns her head to look at Suicune, her curiosity insatiable as always.
As he walks, he explains “That Pokémon is called Suicune. It’s called the Aurora Pokémon. It can make dirty water clean again, so it’s a really special Pokémon that helps make the world healthier.”
Lemon’s eyes remain fixed on Suicune, even as they widen with interest. She probably doesn’t truly grasp the meaning of the words, but her curiosity about Pokémon is an endless fount. When they are close enough, she tries to reach out to touch it, but Goh brings them to a stop a few feet away, so that her hand isn’t quite able to bridge the gap.
“Pet!” she demands, wriggling in his hold in a fruitless attempt to get closer. He bites back a laugh at the stubborn flash of irritation on her face. She’s been spoiled by his and Gary’s Pokémon being so very tolerant of her touching them. This word is her favourite for Umbreon, whose fur she has often declared to be the “sof’es’.”
But Suicune’s gaze is as chillingly intense as ever. It does not move, even as Goh gently grabs Lemon’s outstretched hand and pulls it back toward his chest. Behind them, Professor Cerise creeps closer too—slowly, so as to not spook Suicune, though Goh can see clearly in its eyes that it has no intentions of leaving, no matter how uncertain of the professor it may still be after all these years.
“I wondered when you two would get to meet,” Goh says softly. “Suicune, this is Lemon. If you’ll let her, I think she would really like to come over and meet you.”
Suicune watches them for a beat longer, and then bows its head. Cautiously, Goh steps closer, and draws Lemon’s hand back out toward Suicune, gently bringing it to rest upon the Pokémon’s head. At the touch, Suicune tilts its head again, angling its nose toward Lemon’s face. And then, to Goh’s surprise, it sticks its tongue out and licks her cheek. She erupts into giggles, saying, “See-cune! See-cune!”
Finally, Cerise has come to a stop at Goh’s side. As Suicune continues to lick Lemon’s face, he breathes out, “Incredible. It’s a rather nurturing Pokémon, isn’t it? It must be able to tell how much you love her.”
“Maybe,” Goh murmurs. Gently, he lowers Lemon down to her feet, and watches as she toddles forward, between Suicune’s feet. It crouches down, allowing her to bring her arms up and touch its mane, and then glances up at Goh, as if in wait of a command. Though he knows he ought to be nervous, something about Suicune’s compassionate serenity sets him at ease. He nods at it, and then steps closer again, saying, “I think Suicune wants to show you around the park. Want to get on?”
Her eyes brighten. “Up!”
Without missing a beat, he obliges, lifting her up on to Suicune’s back. As he steps away, the anxious voice in the back of his head trying to convince him she is too young, it isn’t safe, he can’t let her out of his sight, very nearly has him reaching forward again to snatch her away. But before he can, Suicune’s ribbons come forward and wrap gently around her, securing her in place. Letting out a shaky breath, Goh tells her, “Wrap your arms around its neck, okay? Like this.”
As he guides her, she falls flat against Suicune’s neck, her cheek coming to rest against its mane. Suicune gives a grunt of approval, and then, quicker than Goh can react, bounds off. Lemon shrieks with pleasure and excitement; before long, it has left their sight completely, only her delighted laughter echoing between the trees left to reassure him that they are, indeed, still within the park.
As he breathes out his trembling fears, he says, “Gary’s gonna kill me.”
“It was very gentle,” Professor Cerise reassures. “I can’t imagine it would do anything that could hurt her.”
Despite himself, Goh’s lips twitch up a bit at that. “That’s not why he’s gonna kill me. He’ll just be mad that he wasn’t here to see this himself.”
Cerise pauses, then lets out a chuckle. “Well, that may be so. Let’s hope Suicune isn’t averse to a picture.”
“A picture probably won’t be enough to save me from his wrath, but something tells me it won’t mind posing for one. I wonder why it chose now to come around and meet her.”
Cerise hums in thought, considering that. After a few moments, he suggests, “You’ve been letting her explore on her own here more and more. Maybe it was simply waiting for the moment you would feel comfortable with it taking her on a little journey of its own.”
“I’m not sure I do feel comfortable,” Goh has to admit. “I know it won’t hurt her, but…with any other Pokémon, I don’t think I could just leave her alone with it. Even with Cinderace, I worry when she’s not right in front of me or Gary. I can’t really help it.”
He’s so lost in thought that when Cerise sets a gentle hand on his shoulder, it sends a jolt down his spine. He looks back at the professor feeling, suddenly, like a child again, turning to him in desperate want of something that, even now, he does not always know how to name.
“It’s normal to want to look out for our children,” Professor Cerise tells him kindly. “But one of the most important things we can do for them is let them experience the world through their own eyes. She’s very fortunate, to have such incredible experiences like this just waiting for her because of the bonds you’ve formed with Suicune and all the other Pokémon here. It will only benefit her when she’s old enough to leave home on her own journey.”
He's right, of course. No matter how nervous it makes him, he has no intentions of getting in his daughter’s way on the journey to her dreams. More and more, those dreams are taking form all around them, in how deeply she loves Pokémon. Whatever path she takes, these moments will be the stepping stones to that wide open road. And when she needs him, or Gary, or any of their Pokémon, of course they will be there for her, with all the love and care they have ever shared amongst each other.
Something in him seems to settle. More genuinely now, he offers Professor Cerise a smile. “Thanks,” he says. “Now, they should be coming back soon enough… Just how many pictures do you think I need to take to earn Gary’s forgiveness?”
When Goh initially told him about Suicune carrying their daughter around Cerise Park on its back, he frankly didn’t believe it. Never mind the absurdity of a Legendary Pokémon imprinting on a two-year-old like that, the idea that his husband—who barely even trusts their closest friends to watch over her on their own—might ever let their child climb on top of a Pokémon recorded to be able to run faster than the wind was downright laughable. Actually, he did laugh at it, and told him point-blank, “If you’re going to tell me a lie, at least make it a believable lie.”
But it was no lie. He even had pictures to prove it.
The thing is, Gary hasn’t met Goh’s Suicune that many times. Aside from one or two research outings they took together years ago that Goh elected to bring it on, he’s never seen the Legendary Beast at all. According to Goh, it spends time with his other Pokémon at Cerise Park sometimes—but any time Gary’s visited and demanded to see it, Goh’s just shrugged and said, “Doesn’t seem to be here today. Maybe it knew you were visiting and decided it didn’t want to see you.”
Which was obviously just his way of teasing Gary for being too interested, but it’s not a Pokémon he’s ever encountered in the wild before, so who can blame him for that, really? Suicune are famously illusory Pokémon, and quick to flight when they detect humans. His grandfather told him once that it’s likely most Suicune don’t trust humans because they see too clearly the ways humans have hurt the planet by polluting the water. It’s not necessarily surprising that Goh managed to earn one’s trust—his earnestness is a shining beacon Gary’s sure could be spotted even from the deepest depths of outer space—but it’s beyond clear that his Suicune isn’t particularly fond of any other humans.
Except, apparently, Lemon. Which is why it’s so damn frustrating that every time after their first meeting that Gary accompanies Goh and Lemon to the Cerise Institute to see it for himself, the Pokémon is nowhere to be seen.
It’s almost a year later that Gary actually gets to see it—and see, too, the way it approaches their daughter, with all the care and compassion Goh described to him initially. Like a glimmering guardian angel.
They’ve brought her out into the park today along with Chloe to enjoy a picnic with the Pokémon. At first, it seemed to be a visit like any other: many of Goh’s Pokémon approaching them to excitedly greet their Trainer, and then to run off playing with each other, Lemon chasing after them to join in on the fun. Over time, Goh has gotten more comfortable with letting her race around with them, so long as they all keep her within his sight. His Pokémon more than likely sense his anxieties, even without him speaking them; they are incredibly gentle with her, and there is never a point when they are in the park that Gary can’t spot at least three of Goh’s Pokémon keeping a sharp eye on Lemon the whole while. Whether Goh realizes it or not is harder to say, but, if nothing else, being surrounded by his Pokémon has always helped him to relax anyway.
But while the three of them watch her play tag with Misdreavus and Stantler, there comes a sudden strong breeze, and, all at once the park seems to stand still. Lemon doesn’t notice the shift in atmosphere, too focussed on reaching out to grab Misdreavus, who, at the last moment, vanishes, leaving her stumbling into thin air. Before she can fall to the ground, Suicune is there, gently nudging her back up to standing.
Gary stares. Even when Misdreavus comes over to their blanket, cooing apologetically to Goh for disappearing on Lemon in its moment of fear, Gary cannot find it in himself to tear his gaze away as his daughter effortlessly reaches up to stroke Suicune, who in turn brushes its nose against hers and sends her into giggles.
“Well,” says Chloe faintly. “I think I know who’s going to win family Pokémon Show and Tell when she gets old enough to go to school.”
Goh chuckles. “I don’t think Suicune would really be into that. I’ve never gotten the sense it likes being the centre of attention much.”
But it doesn’t mind Lemon’s attention at all, kneeling down and letting her crawl all over it with not a concern in the world. It’s such a staggering difference from the snarling beast Gary remembers meeting all those years ago when he and Goh were out in the field together researching a disturbance in the water at Sendoff Spring together as a favour to Professor Rowan, or even a few years after that, when they had gone out to Chargestone Cave together to investigate the sightings of a Raikou in the area. This is a Pokémon whose every gentle breath sings out its kindness. Whose every slow blink imparts an unwavering trust in Lemon—or, rather, in Goh.
“I think if you want to approach it,” Goh says, “you probably can.”
Gary glances back at him, incredulous. “Approach it? Last time I saw that thing I thought it was gonna bite my hand off if I got too close!”
“It wouldn’t do anything to hurt you in front of Lemon.” Goh rolls his eyes, like he’s the weird one for being concerned. Then, he rises, and offers a hand down to Gary. “Here. You’ve never really had a chance to meet properly before, right?”
Gary’s retort about that not being his fault dissolves on his tongue as he glances over his shoulder to see Suicune and his daughter again. She’s twisting strands of its mane between her fingers, as if trying to braid them together the way Gary sometimes braids her hair to keep it out of her face.
Wordlessly, he reaches up to accept Goh’s hand, and lets him lead the way over to the Legendary Pokémon. As Goh lets go of his hand and settles down on the ground next to Lemon, gently taking hold of her hands to guide her through the proper motions for braiding Suicune’s mane, Suicune looks up at Gary. Its crystalline gaze is sharp. Severe.
Gary clears his throat, and says, weakly, “Hello again, Suicune.”
It tilts its head to get a better look at him. A few long moments stretch by. Gary does not move a muscle; he gets the distinct impression that, somehow, it is staring deep into his very soul.
At last, it turns around again to look at Lemon and Goh, apparently content to let Gary stay nearby. He lets out a shaky exhale, at last lowering himself to the ground next to his daughter and husband. If his legs tremble a bit as he does so, he supposes that is a secret to be kept between himself and Suicune.
A few metres away, from the picnic blanket, Gary sees Chloe take out her phone and snap a picture. When she catches Gary looking, she just smiles, and points out, “If Suicune won’t go to Show and Tell, then aren’t pictures the next best thing?”
All he can really do is concede. After all, he never would have believed it if he hadn’t seen a picture, either. And, he can’t quite help wanting to prove it to others—that Suicune thought his daughter was special enough to watch over like this. Any parent would be proud. But how many other parents could even say something like that?
With that in mind, he moves to the side, so that Chloe can snap a clearer picture.
When both Raina and Ivory come crashing breathlessly into Gary’s office, he immediately assumes the worst. That one of the Pokémon is gravely injured. That something exploded and he was too immersed in his work to notice it. That someone is at the entrance to the lab with horrible news about his husband or his child or his grandfather.
Instead, Raina bursts out with, “Professor, there’s a Suicune in the yard!”
He’s halfway to standing when her words sink in. He pauses, and looks up at her with a raised eyebrow. “That’s it? That’s why you came running in here like someone had died?”
Ivory gapes at him, while Raina demands, “What do you mean, that’s it? A Suicune! A real life Suicune! And it’s just—sitting there! What should we do? Do you think it’s trying to tell us something? Do you—”
He puts a hand up, stopping her short. As she comes to a stumbling halt, Ivory says, slowly, “You’re being…really calm about this, sir.”
“That’s because it’s probably just Goh’s Suicune.”
Now, they’re both gaping at him. Raina’s the first to recover, saying, “Professor Oak’s…? What?! Are you joking?”
“What benefit could there possibly be to joking about that?” Gary asks, exasperated. “Anyway, it probably won’t let you get very close to it. I’d imagine it’s just here for a play date.”
“A play date?”
“With Lemon. She should be home from school soon.”
“You guys are insane,” Raina says immediately. And then, without any particular weight or remorse: “No offence, sir.”
“Can we go outside and observe it, at least?” Ivory asks. Their eyes glimmer hopefully.
“I don’t see why not, as long as you don’t get so distracted by it you forget that I’m not paying you to stand around and gawk at a Suicune all day.”
“You think too lowly of us,” Raina says, sniffing indignantly. Her hand shoots out to wrap around Ivory’s wrist, and then she is pulling them away, shouting over her shoulder, “Thanks, Professor!”
Shaking his head, Gary follows them out of the office toward the yard. It’s just like they said: Suicune lies patiently amongst the other Pokémon, many of whom give it a wide, respectful berth, while a few others—mostly Pokémon of Goh’s, Gary notes—approach and greet it. Goh’s Raichu even brings a Berry over to it, which she then splits in half for them to share.
Raina and Ivory keep their distance, too, though Gary sees them whispering furiously to each other, while Ivory intermittently scribbles down notes in their notebook.
He’s so invested in watching them, he almost doesn’t hear when the door out to the yard opens up again to let Goh and Lemon out. She immediately spots Suicune, crying out its name and happily running toward it. As she goes, Goh comes to stand beside Gary, smiling softly at the scene before them.
“I wonder how it can tell,” he says, and Gary glances over with a raised eyebrow.
“Tell what?”
“That Lemon needed a friend today.” His lips pull down; the expression is caught somewhere between rage and concern.
Gary reaches out, placing a hand on his cheek and then bringing it up to smooth out the crease of his brow. “What happened?” he asks.
Goh sighs. “I don’t really know. It sounds like someone in her class has been picking on her the past few days... She wouldn’t tell me very much, but she was obviously upset about it.”
Gary’s hand stills. “Who?” he demands. “I’ll give them a reason to be upset.”
A beat passes, and then Goh laughs. He reaches up to grab Gary’s hand, pulling it away from his face and interlacing their fingers instead. “I think you doing that would probably just do more damage in the long-term. I’ll talk to her teacher when I take her to school tomorrow. She seems competent enough, so I’m sure she would have intervened if she had realized what was happening.”
“Still. If a kid is being a jerk, someone needs to straighten them out.”
“Oh, yeah?” Goh shoots him a teasing grin. “Who straightened you out, exactly?”
Gary rolls his eyes. “Oh, whatever. I got plenty of lectures about being a jerk, believe me.”
“I don’t need to imagine it. I give you one every other day.” Goh tugs him closer to him, wrapping an affectionate arm around his waist. As his mirth fades again, he nods toward Raina and Ivory and asks, “What’s up with them?”
“It’s not every day a Suicune drops by your workplace, y’know.”
“Oh.” He pauses. “Do you think they want to meet it?”
“I think they’re perfectly happy just staring at it, to be honest with you.”
Goh cracks a smile at that. “Well, maybe next time, then.”
With that, his gaze drifts back to their daughter, who is chasing Suicune around the yard. It bounds away from her elegantly, but with a distinct playfulness about it. It is clear that it is here for no other reason today than to cheer Lemon up.
Keeping that in mind, Gary is all too happy to just stand back and watch, too.
When Lemon turns eight, Goh permits her to begin going out into Viridian Forest for short stretches of time on her own, as long as one of his or Gary’s Pokémon is there to protect her against wild Pokémon. It’s good practice for when she’s older and journeying on her own, even if part of him still feels like she’s too young for it. Gary points out that he will probably never stop feeling that way, and it’s a fair point, really; when he was her age, he was so eager to turn ten and get his Trainer license that it never occurred to him that he was still really rather…small, and fragile.
It’s good practice for him, too, then: practice at being okay with letting her go, and trusting that she will be able to keep herself safe with nothing more than a Pokémon partner to look after her.
But today, she’s been gone longer than she was supposed to be gone. Each minute that passes where she is not flinging open the kitchen door and excitedly rambling about the Pokémon she saw in the forest today only makes him worry more, until he can’t sit still in his concern any longer and grabs his coat to go after her, cutting through the lab on his way to bring along a Pokémon just in case.
On his way, though, he bumps into Gary, who must see something in his gaze, for he stops him and asks him what’s wrong. When he explains, Gary’s expression contorts with worry and he follows after him, clearly just as anxious as Goh feels.
In a sense, it’s relieving—the knowledge that he is probably not overreacting—but in another, it only makes Goh’s gut curl in on itself with greater intensity. If Gary is not telling him there’s nothing to worry about, then there really must be a reason to be frightened for her.
But they don’t need to venture too far into the forest, or fend off any wild Pokémon, in order to find her. She’s come out here today with Gary’s Umbreon, who is sitting back with a sharp, attentive gaze as a gash on Lemon’s leg is tended to by Suicune. As Goh comes upon them, he feels his chest stutter with an emotion he can’t quite name. Though as she looks up to see her fathers it is clear that she has been crying, she is not in tears any longer.
“What happened?” Goh asks, stepping cautiously forward to kneel beside her and get a look at her injury. It’s a long cut, running from the middle of her thigh down to her knee. Whatever did the damage has cut clean through her shorts.
Wordlessly, she points up at the tree above her, to a broken branch. Just as Goh is opening his mouth to chastise her for climbing trees that are clearly not stable enough to be climbed, his gaze catches on something else: a metal contraption just below the snapped branch. It’s broken now, and the net underneath has been shredded by what Goh can only assume would have been Umbreon’s claws, but its purpose is all too clear.
“Pokémon hunters,” Gary says flatly, following Goh’s gaze. With a sigh, he comes forward too, and leans down to brush Lemon’s hair out of her face, offering her a look caught somewhere between prideful and stern. “Honey, you should have come to get us instead of trying to break the trap on your own. You could have gotten hurt a lot worse than just getting cut by the metal. What if those Pokémon hunters were still around? Umbreon alone might not have been able to protect you both.”
She sniffles. “I’m sorry, Papa. I just wanted to help Pidgeot. It was trapped… It sounded scared.”
Goh glances over at Gary briefly, grimly, and then turns to look at Suicune. Its ribbons rub soothingly against the skin around Lemon’s wound, as it lifts a paw to touch it. Though she winces, it stays in place, a ripple of soft white light extending out around its paw. As it pulls away, the gash remains, but…
“What was that?” Gary asks. “Some kind of…healing Move?”
Goh shakes his head. “Suicune doesn’t know any of those. I think…maybe…it’s cleaning the wound?”
Suicune turns its head to face them, letting out a soft bark that Goh can only take as affirmative.
“Huh,” says Gary faintly. “Didn’t know it could do that.”
“Me either, but, well…blood is mostly just water, so I guess it makes sense. But we should get home and wrap this up so it doesn’t get dirty again.” He smiles at his Pokémon, and reaches out to affectionately run a hand over the side of its face. “Thank you, Suicune. It’s good to know that you’re watching over her.”
It nuzzles against his hand briefly, and then pulls back in order to lean down and offer space on its back for Lemon to get on. Goh nods in understanding, and puts an arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders to hoist her up, cautious to not pull at her wound as he lifts her and deposits her on Suicune’s back.
As they all rise to leave, Goh catches Gary hesitating. Umbreon stands dutifully at his side, looking up in wait of a command as he considers the broken trap above them.
“We’ll come back to sweep the area after we get Lemon home,” Goh tells him. At once, his stormy slate gaze comes down to meet Goh’s, and, more lightly, Goh adds, “It’s like you told her, right? Umbreon is strong, but she might not be able to hold her own against a whole group of Pokémon hunters. Besides, if they’re still hanging around, I want to be here to give them a piece of my mind, too.”
Gary’s lips twitch up. “All right,” he agrees. “I have to admit, getting to see you give someone other than me a piece of your mind for once is a pretty tempting offer.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.” He steps into place beside Goh, and leans over to press a kiss to his cheek. “You’re cute when you’re mad, that’s all. Let’s get going, then. We’ll have to pass a memo about this on to Officer Jenny, too.”
Goh nods, and lets Gary lead the way after Suicune and Lemon. As Goh watches, he sees Gary set a hand on Lemon’s back; Suicune doesn’t so much as flinch at his close proximity. It’s so different from the first time they met, he can’t quite help the small smile that curves at his lips at the thought. He and Gary aren’t the only ones who have changed because of Lemon.
“Time to give it up, little girls.” The man in charge of the group of hunters, the owner of the Mightyena that even now snaps aggressively at Lemon as she stands back-to-back with Lime, as far away from the thing as she can get, wears a disgustingly self-satisfied grin as he steps forward to get a better look at them. Behind him, the captured Pokémon cry out and struggle to escape the cages they’ve been unfairly locked in, in spite of Lemon’s and Lime’s best efforts. “Meddlesome pests like you need to be squashed, for everyone’s sakes.”
Lime turns her head, glaring at him. “You think we’re going to just let you take these Pokémon from their homes? You’re a total loser! And you stink! Ugh, what a creep!”
His eyes flash dangerously. He takes another step closer, getting right up in her face. “You wanna say that to me again, sweetheart?”
But just as Lime is opening her mouth to repeat the insults, a sudden blur of purple and blue slams into him, knocking him flat on the ground. As he comes crashing down, his lackeys back away in a sudden fear, while Mightyena looks around desperately trying to avoid assault—fruitlessly, because then their saviour hits it from above with a fierce Hydro Pump, knocking it out cold in one hit.
Suicune lands gracefully on its feet in front of Lemon and Lime, glancing back to give them both a quick once over, ensuring neither of them is hurt. Then, it turns around, teeth bared in a snarl, and stares the other hunters and their Pokémon down.
“What the heck is that?” Lime demands.
Lemon’s heart leaps up into her throat, but she can’t quite keep the grin off her face as she says, “It’s my dad’s Suicune. I think it’s here to help us.”
“Your dad’s…?” Lime trails off, and then abruptly laughs. “You really are something else, aren’t you? Is it gonna listen to you?”
Lemon’s grin widens. “Let’s find out. Suicune, use Water Pulse!”
Without missing a beat, Suicune unleashes the Move on the hunters assembled before them. They dive out of the way, hitting the ground hard and leaving their Pokémon in the line of fire. With just a few short, powerful attacks, the entire team of hunters and Pokémon have been wiped out, humans and Pokémon alike too exhausted and injured to rise and try to fight back.
“Wow,” says Lime. “I guess it’s true that Legendary Pokémon are in a whole league of their own, huh? It doesn’t even look tired!”
Lemon steps up beside it, affectionately patting its side, and gestures for Lime to come forward and meet it, too. She does, offering out a tentative hand for it to sniff. Suicune does, and then leans forward to lick her face, making her splutter and, after a moment, start laughing.
“What a sweet thing,” she gushes, reaching out to pet the side of its head. “I thought Suicune tended to avoid humans, but this one’s really friendly.”
Lemon’s heart flutters as she takes in the radiant smile on Lime’s face. It takes a moment for her brain to catch up to what Lime’s said before she’s able to explain, “My dad saved this one from Pokémon hunters when he was even younger than we are, so he says it didn’t really like humans much either. I guess that just means it can sense what a pure heart you have…”
Lime straightens up, looking over at her, and bursts into laughter all over again. “You’re such an idealist, Lemon! Anyway, let’s get these Pokémon out of here already. I think they’ve suffered enough as it is, don’t you?”
Disdainfully, she steps forward, only coming to a stop once she is standing before the leader of the hunters. He dazedly lifts his head as she crouches down and reaches out to yank the chain with the key to the cages off of his neck. As she does, she says, “Knocked out by one measly hit? You really are a total loser!”
Lemon stifles a laugh as she rises and haughtily stalks away from him to go and open up the cages. The Pokémon come out, dispersing with thankful and joyous cries, stepping over the bodies of the hunters and their Pokémon with what Lemon can only call a sense of real vengeance.
Once they’ve all gotten away, Lime comes back to join Lemon at Suicune’s side, looking very pleased with herself. She reaches a hand out to set atop Lemon’s, still brushing against Suicune’s mane, and draws Lemon’s gaze back up to her.
“Let’s wait here with Suicune for Officer Jenny to arrive,” she suggests. “And then we can head back to the Pokémon Centre and get some rest.”
Lemon nods, relishing in the warmth of her friend’s touch. “Okay,” she agrees. And then: “I’m really glad Suicune seems to like you.”
Lime looks down at the Legendary Beast, eyes sparkling. “Me too. Thanks for your help, Suicune.”
Suicune gives a soft grunt, turning its head slightly to nuzzle against their joined hands.
Over its head, they share a heartfelt smile with each other.