PMD: Stargazer Chronicles

Guildmaster- Synching Up

"You should have seen her in action. Once we got down to business, teams started to pile- Are you listening?"

"I'm glistening... Uh, listening! Listening."

Flareon Light missed a few parts when Slowking Chad described the battle. He sat across from him at a table filled with emptying plates from lunch. Now that they were back on the ship, everyone's moods improved. Some of their meals turned into feasts. This was one of them.

On the same cushion with Light, Sky Shaymin Ariel snuggled up with him and played with his ears. With her holding his paw, he couldn't be more content. Combined with the warm, sea air flooding the room, he'd be napping soon.

"Well, I do suppose the next part is common knowledge," Chad reasoned. "We won, and Jessie pulled Sacred Treasure Lobera from the stone. I'd show you my memories first-hand like last time, but I'm trying to save my strength for our training session in a few minutes."

"Speaking of, why don't you train with me today?"

Heliolisk Jonathan swayed on his feet as he approached the table. Ariel's grip on Light's paw tightened for a second.

"I was already training with him," Ariel answered.

"Well, I'll teach him better," he said. "That is what you want, right? To keep him safe? Then let me."

A fire erupted in Ariel's eyes. Her green eyes and Jonathan's blue held the same, sharp glint. Light put his paw on her back and tried to calm her down. Chad sat idle, keeping out of it.

"Let's just compromise," said Light. "You're both good at different things. We can-"

"Anyone can have a fierce willpower and hit hard," Jonathan said. "If you don't have skill, it doesn't matter. Being strong is the easy part."

"Scars won't make it harder to break your bones like the toothpicks they are."

"Let's just fight and get this over with. I'm not going to let Light get in trouble just because of your feelings."

"Took the words right outta' my mouth."

Jonathan grunted. He slowly turned and walked past the table to the hallway in the back of the dome-shaped room.

"Airy," Light whispered. "He's prideful, but he means well. Please don't."

Ariel turned her glare down. "But didn't you hear how that brat talked to me?"

"I know. I'll talk to him later. Just train with me today, okay?"

Light leaned on Ariel. She leaned back, let go of the fiery breath she had been holding onto and wrapped her other arm around him.

"By the way, you two," Chad said, "I got a delivery for you from a Pelliper that flew in. Apparently you ordered it, Ariel?"

Ariel's head shot up. "Is it the shirts?" she asked quickly.

"Yes, I took a glance..." Chad cleared his throat. "It's a very interesting birthday present, Ariel... Has your, uh... personality, all over it..."

Ariel fell into a small laughing fit. Light tried to read Chad's expression. He couldn't gleam anything from his indecipherable, half-smile.

A shadow zipped over Light's head. As he looked up, a small brown cardboard box floated down in front of them and landed on the table. Ariel opened the cardboard folds on top and pulled out twisted mounds of cloth. After a quick once over, she handed one of the soft, white shirts to Light.

Light rotated it around to view it correctly. Printed on the shirt, a picture of Ariel flexing her beefy right arm and winking. The green text over it read "If lost, return to Ariel." Light's face warmed.