✔️Pokemon: Beastly Hunter (Leaf x Gary) (leafgreenshipping)

Episode 18: Back at the Mansion

Leaf and Gary walked through the forest all day till the early evenings. They walked in mostly silence as they navigated themselves through the dense forest. Nothing much happened during their journey.

While walking, Leaf took the time to enjoy her surroundings. Occasionally, she would look into a distance in a direction as if someone was there, watching her. Seeing no one was there, she would shrug her shoulders and continue walking.

It was toward the evening when the sun just set that they found the mansion they were looking for. Like the first time they saw the place, it was hidden from the outside world behind the trees. Everything looked untouched and abandoned.

"Well, that was surprisingly not hard to find," Gary huffed as he caught his breath in front of the mansion gate. He took a few deep breaths to get air into his lungs.

Leaf looked into the mansion gate and at the surroundings. "Surprisingly. I guess it may just be that this is the second time we got here," she said. "Shall we go in?"

Gary nodded his head. Seeing that, Leaf reached toward the gate and opened it softly. There was a soft creaking noise as the door opened. When the opening was wide enough for them to enter, the two walked through the gate and into the mansion.

Everything was the same as how she remembered the place. It was abandoned, old, and dusty. Everything was still everywhere. It seemed no one found this place after them, which was to be expected. However, Leaf did notice some differences in the mansion. It may be just her, but she somehow felt that the place was a bit cleaner than the first time. There seemed to be more light and fresh air at the place. The mansion was not unrecognizable, so she knew it was still the mansion that she knew.

Leaf and Gary walked into the mansion, where there will be more warmth. They closed the door behind them

"Hmm... It is getting late. I say we should just sleep in for the night?" Gary thought out loud and glanced at Leaf while talking.

"Sure, but where? Shall we just sleep in this room tonight?" Leaf asked. She looked around at the dusty lobby and shook her head. It was a mess, and she definitely didn't want to sleep at this place.

Gary rubbed the back of his head and looked up the stairs. "I remembered finding a clean room when we first got here. Maybe we can sleep in that room?"

"Whatever that fits the situation, I guess. But I think I should clean up this place tomorrow. We can't stay here. It will not be good for our health," Leaf said, signaling all the dust particles around the air.

"As long as it is not too clean. This is supposed to be an abandoned mansion after all. It will be weird if the place is too clean. I say we just clean the rooms that we will be using," Gary suggested as he led Leaf up the stairs to the room he was talking about.

Leaf sighed in a bit of distress. "I just hope that we can go back to the cottage once everything is over. It was still the best place to live," she muttered to herself. Leaf would still remember the small and cozy cottage that she stayed in for the past couple of months.

Gary glanced at Leaf as if he had heard her say something but didn't ask.

Gary opened a room on the third floor of the mansion that looked outward to the garden and the village. The room was cleaner and livable like Gary said. It was a large room like a noble's bedroom that was always shown in fairy tales. It was a large room, maybe even bigger than their cottage. Leaf looked around the room, and her eyes landed on the large bed at the side of the room.

"Don't worry about it. The bed is large enough for us both," Gary said. He noticed that Leaf was staring at the bed for a while.

Leaf turned to look at the male next to her and tilted her head. "No, I don't mind that. I was just wondering if the bed is clean enough for us to sleep in."

"It is clean enough. I did check it last time we came here," Gary said. "If you are worried, we can always change the sheets. Didn't May and Dawn prepare us some sheets?"

Leaf nodded her head. Together, they set up the bed and prepare to go to bed. Leaf stayed on one side of the bed while Gary stayed on the other side. They are only about two feet away from each other, so they were conscious of each other's presence.

"Tomorrow, I will check to see if there is anything that can make this place cleaner. I will also hunt some food," Gary said out loud about his schedule for the day.

Leaf just nodded her head as she snuggled into her blankets. "I may just clean this room and explore this place to see if there are any clues."

The two talked to each other for a while before they slowly fell asleep into the night. Leaf woke up in the middle of the night when the moon was still up in the sky. She moved around a bit but found it warmer than she remembered and a bit suffocating. She cannot move around easily.

Confused, she opened her eyes and felt a presence behind her back. Her back was leaning against Gary's chest as he was holding her in his sleep. She can feel his heavy breaths on her neck, which tickles her and causes her to brush. One of his arms was around her waist tight, as if he was afraid she would leave or feel down. She was fully awake with her heart running miles per second.

Leaf tried to calm down her heart a bit. "It is okay. He was just tired," she thought to herself as she stiffly stayed in the position. She was afraid that if she moved, Gary would wake up from his sleep. She laid there and closed her eyes, trying to go back to sleep. However, her mind was always focused on his presence behind him.

It wasn't a while until Leaf fell back asleep after she looked at the magical mirror that was with her, glowing in the dark.