A Vacation, an Adventure, and the Story of a Lifetime

Chapter 52- Rekindlement

(Despite corona shutting almost everything down and wreaking havoc worldwide, I'm somewhat enjoying my impromptu break off from school--more time to write, after all. However, this outbreak has gotten pretty bad, so I hope you all stay safe and corona-free until something gets done about it. Good luck, everybody!)

Finally, it's time for Luna's brunch with James! Will the old friends make up, or will things just get worse between them? Read on to find out!

       -Luna the Space Fox

Key:

Author's notes

Thoughts

"Telepathy or emphasized words"

"Speech"

"{Pokemon speech}"

Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, this wouldn't be a Wattpad fanfiction and the Sun/Moon anime would have had the same animators as X/Y~

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Luna touched down in Melemele meadow, Lunalox and Midnight swiftly running forward. They surged through fields of yellow flowers before they reached a picnic table, and the brunette realized she had arrived before James.

Which was strange, since she was a little late already.

With a deep breath as she sat down, the brunette pulled out her phone, ignoring the hundreds of messages she was receiving from online- likely responses to her speech that she was going to go through later- and instead busied herself in a short-lived game of solitaire, which she lost.

Eventually, Luna just shut her phone off and slipped it into her pocket, reaching down to stroke Midnight's fur, doing the same with Lunalox a few moments later. "{Where could that purple-haired idiot be?}" The former grumbled, her blue-ringed black ears twitching.

After a few more minutes- Luna almost thought he bailed on her- there was a commotion in the distance and Luna could see a man dressed in a short-sleeved plaid button-up shirt and a nice pair of khakis running toward the table as awkwardly fast as he could, a picnic basket in one of his hands.

When James saw her, his faced turned to a grimace, and the second he made it to the table he was sputtering apologies. "I'm sorry I was late- Jessie trying to keep me from coming- couldn't find nice clothes," before he had to stop and breathe, ragged heavy breaths.

"Just sit down, you've obviously tired yourself out," Luna waved off, opened up the basket to spread a red-and-white checkered tablecloth over the picnic table before pulling the food out, setting the malasadas she had bough minus the one for Cloudy on a paper plate.

He looked down in shame. "What a great way to start my apology brunch," he muttered scornfully. "Again, my apologies, Luna."

With a sigh, she said, "James, it's fine. Forgive, forget, move on."

He looked up at the brunette with regret clear in his gaze. "But some things shouldn't be forgiven, and some things shouldn't be forgotten. back then... I''m sorry, for what I did and said. I chose crime over my best friend, and I don't know if I'll ever forgive myself for that."

"Then stop working for them and come back," Luna whispered, turning away and she nibbled on some of the berries James had brought.

"Luna, you know I can't do that-" James began, but Luna cut him off.

"Why!? You're here trying to... to apologize and make up for what you did, but you're just repeating everything you said back then. I'm here in Alola to get away from my past and to enjoy a change of pace; that means keeping toxic things- and people- behind me," she told him with an upset, bittersweet tone. "I want to forgive you, James, but you really don't make it easy."

The purple-haired Team Rocket member put his head down, his voice dropping half an octave in an instant. "Jessie, Meowth, Wobbuffet... they brought me out of a rough place in my life. Money, shelter, friends. Even if Jess can be overbearing and obsessive, I've had a chance to see the good side of her. She actually cares about people, even if she doesn't like showing it. They gave me a chance at a better path; I can't just roll out on them after everything we've been through. And though she's gung-ho about capturing your brother's Pikachu and your Eeveelutions, you know I'd never let her do that. It just occupies her time and keeps her from actually harming people like the rest of the damn organization. I had to chose the lesser of two evils; you get that, don't you?"

Tears pricked the corners of Luna's brilliant blue eyes. "... I do. But it still hurts." Her voice caught in her throat as she spoke as she tried to hold back a sob from emerging. Lunalox curled up in her lap, trying to comfort her, while Midnight climbed onto her shoulder and rubbed their faces together.

"Which is why I'm trying to make it up to you," James continued softly. "We're older and wiser now, right? You're done with the media, at least for a little while, and my only job is to pretend to hunt Pikachu. We can be friends again."

"I don't want to get hurt again," Luna whimpered, ears flattening against her head. "But... I can't stop remembering all the good times we had when we were younger... I don't want to let all that go."

He stood up from his spot on the bench, across from her, and approached her side, arms outstretched. "Then don't."

She turned to him, emotionally wide open to someone other than Midnight for the first time in what felt like forever. Wiping her eyes on her sweatshirt, she slowly fell into his grasp, which was tucked just under her wings, wrapping her own arms around his back. It took all her self control not to start weeping, but instead she was silent as she hugged her long lost friend.

It had been a long time since they last saw eye-to-eye like this, as friends instead of regretful enemies. But it felt just like it used to in an instant, and Luna felt safe and warm in his embrace, almost like a child held in the protective arms of their older brother or sister.

When they pulled apart, she playfully hit his shoulder. "So we're friends again? And we're gonna try to be more considerate this time around?"

He smirked. "It's up to you, though I think that hug was a pretty good indication of your answer."

"Hey! You're the one who almost blew up my sister the other day with that Bewear bot at the pancake race! Middy's still upset about that!" She retorted, looking to the Umbreon that was giving him the stink eye.

James put his hands up as if pleading innocence, gaze jumping between Luna, her shiny Umbreon, and the unique canine Pokemon that sat in her lap. "I'm sorry! Meowth said he had everything under control, and you know how Jess has an obsession with free food!"

Luna just rolled her eyes and fell back against him, grabbing a malasada and taking a bite. "Get a malasada before they go cold. Cloudy'll kill me if I let that happen to hers again. Lu, Mid, you guys can eat the sour one, and if you don't like it, I bought an extra sweet one."

James reached out, picking up the dry one as well as the lemonade. "You're too kind for someone who was at my throat two minutes ago," he joked. Luna turned around to punch his shoulder again, but he gave her a lopsided grin, his lips stained with berry filling. "'m sorry, it was a joke, Kitten!"

"Kitten?"

"You've got ears and wings and a tail... I know they're Lunalox-like, and that means you're technically more of a dog, but puppy just sounds weird and you're more of the cuddly type like kittens so I just thought-"

"Nah, it's fine. I like it. People are totally gonna think we're dating if you call me it in public though," she laughed.

"It's their fault they don't know the true power of best-friendship!"

She chuckled as she picked her Roserade tea up from the table and took a sip. "Yeah, you're right."

Unbeknownst to them, two semi-white-haired, blue-eyed figures had watched the exchange from behind a cluster of trees, gaze flitting between the temporarily-retired champion and the new Pokemon species contently snoozing in her lap.