The Lopunny guild.

Every Pokemon signed up to it is going about their day, mission preparations, laughing at something random, arguing over nothing, or anything else.

But for Bolt?

"I seriously have to wonder just how reckless you are, Mr.!"

He's getting a verbal thrashing from everyone's favourite resident mother hen, Flare, a Ninetales. While the Pikachu receiving the verbal thrashing is wrapped up in bandages, staring up at the ceiling, in bed, in the infirmary.

"I know you're skilled in battle, but going through Magma Cavern, on an S-class mission no less, is going too far!"

"How do ice types even get the flu?"

"Don't change the subject!"

Bolt flinches at the fire type's tone. And volume.

"I just...we needed the money, and we haven't gone on a mission all week since Grace came down with the flu."

"That's no ex-"

"Karu recommended it to me!"

"Yes, and he's already at the lake, cooling down his burning tail. If he told you to jump off of a cliff, would you?"

Bolt makes a face. "The fuck kind of question is that? Course not."

"That job was pretty much the equivalent."

"It wasn't that bad.."

"How many Monster Houses, Bolt?"

".."

"Booolt?"

With his good arm, he covers his face. "3."

"You were lucky you found a Petrify Orb before you were beaten to death by a Golem."

He sits up clumsily and pouts. "I said it wasn't that bad!"

She gives him a "really?" look. "The client had to haul your electric ass outta there."

"It is electric isn't i-"

She deadpans. "Do you wanna join Karu at the lake, you little smartass?"

He blanches. "No, ma'am!"

With a smirk, the Ninetales stands up. "Well, I'll be going. Seeing as you're going nowhere, I'll send Blaze in here to keep you company."

"Jooooooyyyyy."

"Oh come off it, Bolt. You love her really."

He sighs and looks at Flare with a small smile. "She's family, why shouldn't I?"

Rolling her eyes and opening the door. "Blazey, your uncle Bolt wants to see you~!"

In seconds, a red blur bounds in, and leaps onto the bed. "Uncle Boolt, Uncle Bolt!"

"Oof!" Bolt exclaims. "Heeey.." He laughs and ruffles her little tuft of her, causing her to giggle. "You alright, kid?"

"Definitely, I made a new friend at PokeKindergarten today! She's the best~!" She grins excitedly, tails wagging. "A Pichu as well!"

"A Pichu?"

"Yeah! Lives at the local orphanage for some reason."

"She probably doesn't have parents to go home to.." Bolt goes back to staring at the ceiling.

"Poor Kami.."

Bolt's breath hitches right at the same second Blaze mentions the name, and he spaces out.

"Something wrong, Uncle Bolt?"

"Uh?" He snaps out of it almost immediately and looks at Blaze eyeing him. "Nothing, Blaze." He shakes his head to clear his head. "Nothing's wrong."

The young Pokemon tilts her head, as if unbelieving. "Uhhm...if you're sure."

"Grace, you up?"

Flare opens the door to Grace's room, and walks in. To her surprise, she is.

"Aaahh...that was the best sleep I've had in a while." The Glaceon stretches, yawning softly, and cricking her neck. "Hey, Flare."

She chuckles, shaking her head. "12 hours, you really never cease to impress me."

Grace responds with a mock pout. "Ha ha."

"And you look a lot better. Sound it too."

"I definitely feel it, Flare...I feel like a new Pokemon, I swear."

Flare giggles. "Well that's a relief. Coming in here and the room being covered in ice sneezes was beginning to get annoying."

The ice type glares at her. "You could at least try to be sympathetic, you know!"

"Crankiness. Definitely not a new Pokemon." Flare grins a shit-eating grin at the Glaceon, who facepaws, groaning.

"Sorry...maybe still feeling a little groggy." She looks around, tilting her head. "Huh...I'd have thought Bolt would have come and woke me up." She looks at Flare again. "You seen any sign of him today?"

Flare holds back laughter and looks away. "You'll either laugh or get pissed off."

"Try me."

"He's in the infirmary after Karu goaded him into taking an S-class job at Magma Cavern."

".."

".."

"Please tell me you burned him."

"He's at the lake, cooling off his tail."

"Good. What was Karu thinking?!"

"I think a better question is why Bolt actually went along with it and took the job."

The question lingers in the air for a few moments before Flare's maw jerks into another smirk.

"Maybe he wanted to impress you~!"

That smirk is instantly frozen by a well sniped Ice Beam.

"Shut yer yap, Flare, I told you, me and Bolt don't have that kind of relationship!"

Grace's blue face has red mixed into quite nicely. The ice on Flare's face quickly melts, and she tilts her head.

"But you wish you do."

"Pft. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Suuuuuure you don't."

"Don't make me freeze you."

"You can try."

The two then share a laugh. A good old laugh.

"It's good to be back in action." Grace states after calming down and getting out of bed.

"I bet it is." Flare then looks down a bit. "Shall we go see if Blaze is having fun with her uncle Bolt?"

"I bet Bolt's just lying there bragging to Blaze about his mission or something, or exaggerating it to the point where he makes it sound like he took out all the Pokemon in the dungeon."

The two head out of the room, and towards the infirmary.

And when they get their, they only see Bolt away in dreamland. Same with Blaze, who's curled up near the end of the bed. It takes all of the two watching Pokemon's willpower not to break out in a fit of "d'awwwwwwwww!"

"Wellll..." Flare begins, at a loss for words.

"Yeah." Grace nods. "I know."

"I'll go put her to bed...do you want to stay here until he wakes up?"

Grace nods again, sighing. "I'm his partner, I should be by his side again, right?"

"You make it sound like a bad thing, Grace." Flare. Ever the observant.

"No, no! It's not bad, it's just..."

"You haven't left each other's sides much since you met?"

"...Yeah."

"That's true. It's very rare you see one without the other. Some even speculate that y-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll freeze your throat." So much ice in that sentence.

"I'm just saying! Pokemon talk about things. Remember the "rumours" about me and Karu? Before it was revealed they weren't mere rumours?"

"...How could I forget? There was a betting board in the lobby and everything." Grace giggles a bit. "I betted on it being true."

"Only because you actually knew."

"Yep. It was easy money. Right into my paws." The ice type gives a semi-evil laugh at the memory of the guild's Pokemon being forced to fork over the cash after Flare revealed all, with Karu hiding his beet red face. Grace was a happy Pokemon that day.

"Bolt was asleep through the whole thing, then was really, really confused about the big sack of cash you hauled into the room."

"Good times, amarite?" The two share a giggle, before Flare walks over, and hoists the sleeping Vulpix onto her back.

"Why are you so reluctant, Grace?"

"Reluctant?" Confusion flashes on her face for a moment, before she groans, realisation setting in. "You're still going on about that?"

"Answer my question." Flare doesn't budge.

"There's nothing to be reluctant about, Flare! Besides...not like he'd like me back that way, right?"

Flare gives Grace a look. Grace wilts under it.

"What?"

"I don't know who's more dense. You or him." She then walks out, leaving Grace's jaw to drop to the floor for a good moment.

"...What does that mean?!" She shouts after the retreating Ninetails. "Answer me damnit!"

With no reply, Grace growls, then closes her eyes for a few moments to calm herself down. She then looks back at Bolt's sleeping form.

"How are you still asleep?"

She looks at him for a few moments, then relaxes.

"What goes on in that head of yours...?"

She then trots over to the bed, and hops onto it, curling up in a way so she's facing him. She stares at him, waiting for a reaction. Nothing. Only the sounds of his soft snoring.

"You..idiot.." She whispers to herself, worried sick of his injuries. "Why did you let yourself get talked into going on that stupid mission? Why by yourself? What did you have to prove?"

5 hours later..

-Knock knock knock-

The bandaged Pikachu stirs awake at the sound of someone knocking on the infirmary door. He opens his eyes, and lets them focus, rubbing them as if to help.

"Unnnh...stiiiff.."

He sits up, and stretches his good arm, and a hint of blue becomes obvious in his peripheral vision. He turns and sees his partner and best friend sound asleep at the base of his bed.

"Grace..." The sound of knocking again makes him flinch. "Alright, alright.." He grumbles and slides off the bed, hobbling to the door, and opening it. "...Oh. Almost forgot.."

Standing there is a Sableye. "Greetings, Mr. Bolt! I trust your injuries ar-"

Bolt immediately clamps a paw on his mouth. "Ssssh!" He looks behind to see if Grace woke up yet, which thankfully she hasn't. "She's asleep, keep it down!"

"My apologies, Mr. Bo-"

"Just Bolt."

"Right...My apologies, Bolt, but you remember the reward the job description said you could claim? I came here to enquire about if you still want to claim it, and what you'd like done."

"Oh right...uhm.."

"Just to let you know, there's no rush. We have a store on the corner of Mineral Precinct, whenever you feel you're ready, just come down and place your order."

Bolt is taken aback by this, and blinks. "U-uhm...okay then.." He exhales. "To be honest, I was gonna ask if I could hold off anyway."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"Well...I've a feeling things are gonna take a few days to settle down, and I wanna make sure everything's...good again, before I do. Besides, Ice Queen over there's gonna give me a big frigging verbal thrashing when she wakes up." He laughs to himself. "Like she always does when I fuck up...Don't know where I'd be without her to be honest..." He shakes his head and looks at Sableye again. "Anyway...I'll go back and rest, I'll stop by whenever!"

The Sableye nods, and turns to walk off. "Rest easy, Bolt!" He dons a knowing smile as he exits the guild.

Bolt meanwhile, heads back to the bed and hops on, groaning. "Fucking injuries.."

At that moment, Grace chooses to wake up, yawning softly, and blinking her eyes. "Ahhh...oh, Bolt, you're awake.."

"Yeah, I have been for about...5 minutes." He looks at the window. "Good sleep?"

"I see what you're doing."

"What?" Bolt looks back at her, perplexed.

"You're trying to divert my attention away from the Donphan in the room."

"Am I Hell! I'm just asking if you had a good sleep!"

"Well you know what?! No, I didn't!" She glares at him hotly. "After I came here and saw you tucked in bed and an assload of bandages, I fell asleep to some nightmare about being unable to save you!"

"Wh...wha?" Bolt calms right down.

"I dreamt that you went down into Magma Cavern, all by yourself, like real life, but I wasn't stuck in bed from flu. I found out, and went after you. I got to the 9th floor before I found you. But you were being ripped apart by the rock Pokemon there! And I had to witness that happen." She starts to blink rapidly, trying to stop tears from creeping out. "After a while, the r-rock Pokemon got bored and just left you there, beaten black and blue, beaten within an inch of your life!"

"Grace, I-I did-"

"You died, Bolt, I tried to drag you out, but...but you didn't make it!"

Welp.

Now Bolt feels like the biggest ass in the world.

With nothing to say, and unsure if he should even try hugging her or not, he hangs his head down.

"It felt so real, that's what freaked me out."

Bolt's eyes travel up to meet his partner's deep blue ones, threatening to leak tears.

"And the scariest part is, that could have happened. If that Pokemon you rescued hadn't been there, you wouldn't be here right now. They'd have fucking murdered you...and the worst part is, I wouldn't have been there for you, like that time in Brine Cave."

"That time was different. I was a little electric rat who was too curious for his own damn good, and thought type advantages were all that mattered. When I heard about that pattern on the wall right at the end of the cave, I thought I was untouchable in that place, with all the water types..."

"Then what's different now, Bolt?"

"...My partner was ill, I needed to earn the money for the team, and..." He trails off, his eyes suddenly finding the window interesting...again.

"And..what?" The Glaceon leans forward, wanting him to finish.

"...I just wanted to make you proud."

Grace gulps quietly. "Bolt, you idiot."

Bolt makes a face, and looks back at her, and finds her...giggling?

"Something funny?"

"You thought I wasn't proud of you?" It turns into a full blown laugh.

He pouts and crosses his arms. "I really fail to see what's funny here, Ice Queen."

She rolls her eyes at her supposed nickname. "Have I already told you you're an idiot?"

He sweatdrops. "Yeah, you call it me a lot, you icy weirdo." His response is her wrapping him in a tight hug.

"C...can't...breathe..."

Well.

At least his nerves tell him he's healing soundly.

"I'm always proud of you, silly. Ever since we first started the team, I've been proud of you." She loosens her grip, but still holds him, smiling at him now. Sweet Arceus, he loves it when she smiles.

But he'll never admit that.

"S...seriously..?" Warmth spreads across his face.

"Why shouldn't I be? I mean sure, you're an idiot-"

"So you've said."

"-You're reckless, and you always try too hard...which landed you in this state in the first place." She flashes him a smirk, making him silently beg for her to smile properly again.

Bolt tilts his head, waving his paw in a circular motion wanting her to go on. "Nnyeees?"

Grace sighs, then gives her smile again, making Bolt relax a bit more. "But I can't say that last thing's really a bad thing."

"You...you think..?"

Grace nods, settling down next to him. "It shows how much you're willing to try for the both of us, even when one of us isn't at the top of their game." She even leans her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. "I'm gonna try my best from now on."

His face gets a little warmer, as well as his heartbeat picking up the pace, but he smiles and rests his head on hers. "You already have been, Grace...I honestly couldn't ask for a better partner."

"Even though I scold you a lot?"

"It doesn't phase me much. Besides. It shows me how much you care about this scrawny electric bastard."

"Hey. Not like I'm much bigger than you, remember."

"True...wouldn't replace you with a taller Glaceon even if I was offered like, a Trillion Poke."

"You'd...you'd turn down that much to keep me?" She glances at him weirdly. He looks back and shrugs.

"Well...yeah."

"You idiot." She laughs and goes back to leaning on him. Bolt only laughs and goes back to how they were.

"Heh. Maybe I am. Rather be skint and have you with me than stinking rich, with a Glaceon who might not even want to be my friend." "Or possibly more...wait, where the bloody Hell did that come from?"

"Awww...how did I end up with a partner like you?"

"Because I'm not the only one of us who can jump into dangerous situations to rescue someone." He gives off a smirk.

"Oh yeah." She nods sagely. "Comes with the job description."

"Amen."

"Well aren't you two so cute together?" Joy the Audino coos at the two from the doorway, causing the two to jump away from each other, faces beet red, and sputtering denial simultaneously. Joy only laughs at their reactions. "I'm only kidding, calm down!" She then gets a devious grin on her face. "Uuuuunless there's something you aren't telling~!"

"NO!" The two shout, then look at each other for a moment, before turning away from each other, huffing.

"Alright, if you insist~! Bolt, I was about to do a check up, but considering you're on your feet again, I'd say you're fit to go!"

"Wait...really?" Bolt looks back at Joy, who nods.

"Just take it easy, and don't take any strenuous jobs in the meantime!"

"Yes ma'am."

"And Grace?"

"Yeah?"

"Look after Bolt while he gets better. Never leave his side."

"I can't even go to the lake and relax?" Bolt asks with a mock defeated look, ears drooping and everything.

"Ehhhhh.." Grace drawls out playfully. Bolt whips to her, a pleading look on his face.

"Pleeeeease."

"Alright, alright, just be careful. Can you do that for me?" She gives him that smile again. That always works.

He nods, and smiles back. "Scout's honour!"

"Good." She goes to walk past, but not without giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Her face red as a beet at what she just did, she walks past him, and out of the door quickly.

He's standing there, blankly looking into thin air.

Joy turns her attention to him.

"Bolt?"

".."

Joy deadpans and walks over, and pats him on the head, snapping out of it.

"Ma'am!"

"You're free to go."

He salutes her, walks over to the side bed, to grab his favourite blue neck scarf, then walks out. It's only then he looks at the damage.

His scarf looks like it's seen better days. And by that, I mean it's, for want of a better word, fucked.

"Ohh...damn."

With a seemingly defeated sigh, he deposits it into his and Grace's room, and closes the door, walking to the lake.

Karu.

This Lucario has seen fights. Good ones. Bad ones. Hell, even hilarious ones.

And has probably been in around 99% of them.

Nevertheless, he spends his time meditating, keeping his aura levels stable, feeling the flow of life around him. And that's exactly what he's doing now.

Whilst nursing a burned tail, courtesy of his mate.

"Ugggh...Flare...I love you so much, but damn, you're too stubborn for your own good when you're pissed off. Not an Oran Berry in sight. Damnit."

He takes a deep breath before exhaling again, ears flattening against his head.

"Still...could have been worse. A lot worse. Like that one time I-"

His eyes open suddenly, and a certain bandaged up Pikachu fills his sight.

"You look like crap."

Bolt scoffs, rolling his eyes.

"I bet your tail looks like crap, mate."

"Hrngh. Flare hid all the Oran berries from me, said I have to deal with the pain for a while."

Bolt laughs, hobbling over and sitting next to him. "You struck lucky with her, pal. A mate that keeps you in check, and isn't afraid of showing tough love."

"Yeah. Tough love meaning torching my tail if I screw up." Karu retorts giving a roll of his eyes.

Bolt looks up at him, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah...but you love her though, don't you?"

"With all my being." The Lucario gives a small smile. "I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world." He looks back at Bolt. "Soooo, when are you finally gonna make a move?"

"A move?"

"You know..."

"...Do I?"

"...No, it appears you don't."

"...Well then." He pulls out a Rawst Berry, and throws it over. "By the way, Oran Berries might be restricted, but these sure aren't~!"

Karu looks down at it, then licks his lips, looking back to Bolt. "Sometimes I don't know whether you're a dumbass or a genius."

"Possibly both, somehow." Bolt replies without missing a beat.

Picking up the berry, Karu starts to eat it, feeling the effects already.

"...So...you claim your reward from that Sableye yet?"

"Not yet, no."

"...You gonna get her something nice?"

"You make it sound as if we're together, mate."

"Well...it's just the anniversary of the two of you forming your team is like, 3 days away."

"I know, why do you think I took that risk? I wanted to get her something nice...you sly motherfucker."

Karu laughs at that last part, and finishes his Rawst Berry, sighing in relief.

"Don't think too hard about it, alright? 5 years, you two have been going strong as partners, so get her something you think she'll love. Something she'll cherish for the rest of her life."

Bolt continues to sit there and think for a moment. "I'll..see."

The two friends sit there, in total silence, taking in the sunset reflecting on the lake in front of them. Occasionally, Bolt's attention shifts around their surroundings, and for a few moments, on various Pokemon living in the nature surrounding them, all of them with mates, nuzzling each other before settling down for the night.

He closes his eyes, and his right ear twitches. "I'm maybe gonna regret asking this." "Hey, Karu?"

"Hm?"

"This might be a stupid question..."

"No question's stupid, Bolt. Aside from 'Why is the grass green?'."

"Right...so...what's it like? Being in love?"

"..Uhm...well..."

"Hm?"

"...Right...well...me...I can't imagine life without Flare. Before we started going out for real...before we became mates...it drove me crazy. She drove me crazy. Heck, she still does, to be honest."

"Crazy?"

"Not in a bad way."

"Oh."

"Well, unless being absolutely frustrated because I didn't know how to get her to notice me."

"'Senpai'?"

"Shut the fuck up."

Bolt holds in his laughter. "Sorry."

Karu sighs, running his paw down his face. "There were times...I couldn't get to sleep because my mind was running at about a million miles an hour."

"About?"

"Her. All her. How she eats, what she eats, her likes, dislikes, the 'maybes', the 'what ifs'...sometimes my mind even went morbid."

"How morbid?"

"Thinking about possibilities like 'What if a Mystery Dungeon opened up right under her and swallowed her?'"

"...Yikes.."

"She was all that was on my mind...well...aside from joining this guild." He sighs, then continues. "And honestly...I don't regret a single thing about the times I've had with her. Nothing at all."

"...Even the-"

"Yes, even all the times she's Flamethrower'd me for stupid shit I did." Karu gives Bolt a smile. "Ultimately, for me, being hopelessly in love with Flare is the best feeling in the world."

Bolt returns the smile in earnest. "Especially now you've got Blaze as well now right?"

He nods, looking forward again. "If anything, she brought me and Flare even closer. And I wouldn't trade it for the world."

"Huh...wonder if I'll ever get that in my life someday. Someone who completely loves and adores you."

"Who knows, Bolt...maybe you've already got it, and you don't realise it?"

Bolt scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Yeah. I'd have to be a real idiot not to notice that."

Karu does the same, holding back the urge to howl with laughter. "You don't know the half of it."

4 hours later...

It's fully dark outside now, with a full moon gracing the night.

Bolt has just spent the last few hours walking around the general area of Mineral Precinct, after a few Sitrus Berries, but still feels a tiny bit stiff.

Nevertheless, he feels content, and is planning on going back to exploring in the next few days. He walks into the guild, right as a Mawile is getting ready to raise the drawbridge.

"In you come, ya bruiser." She teases even without looking at him.

He groans and facepaws. "Faye, seriously, you too?"

"Sorry, couldn't resist." She laughs for like 10 seconds before fully raising the drawbridge. "Word's gone around like a wildfire."

"Yeah, I can tell." Bolt replies flatly. "Even the Kecleon brothers couldn't stop themselves."

"Ah, lighten up. Grace's already asleep, by the way, so be quiet about it, alright? She doesn't like being woken up before she has to."

"Yeah, don't I know it?" He walks off, giving her a wave. "G'night, Faye!"

"Night, Bolt." She waves back, before smiling to herself.

Bolt rolls up to the bedroom door, and slowly opens it, and is flabbergasted by what he sees.

His scarf.

Completely fixed.

Wrapped around Grace.

With her asleep in his bed.

"No way, she...she fixed my scarf?"

He quietly walks up to his bed, and takes a closer look at the scarf.

"It looks as if it'd never been messed up...Grace.."

He watches Grace's chest gently rise and fall as she sleeps, and moves a paw over, caressing her head.

"You didn't have to do that for me.."

He looks over at Grace's bed, and grimaces at a memory of the last time he slept in her bed. He woke up in his own with his tail frozen.

"She doesn't really like me sleeping in her bed...not really."

With a little hesitation, and a little bit of awkward shuffling so as to not wake his partner up, he eventually gets comfortable on his bed, lying with his back to the sleeping Glaceon.

"One thing's for sure though...I am extremely lucky to have this girl in my life."

It isn't until after he fully falls into slumber, that blue forelegs hug the electric type from behind.

Just something I whipped up to get myself into the habit of writing again!

Yes, Quest will be updated again before anyone asks! Not before I go back and fix glaring errors in previous chapter though.

Might continue this as a series of oneshots as well!

What did you guys think?

See you next update!