She traveled through the jungle of trees, her white tail whips dangling behind her like obedient ribbons and dancing alongside the purple cape that flowed over her entire back, enshrouding her aqua-ish skin and white underbelly in a mysterious velvet hue. Her strong forelegs and hindlegs trampled across the leaf-covered ground within the trees' towering watch, her paws sailing across the dirt like a silent wind and therefore making her steps seem unnoticeable by even the native Pokemon that were watching her fly through the nature of the Ilex Forest. Her ruby eyes, which flashed all over her surroundings as she passed them, were mesmerizing to those who peered into them. The short white fur of her muzzle slowly twitched upward as a frown formed across her snout, her long, gleaming head crystal dubbing the air around her in a blue veil and making her glow in the darkness the ebony night had dubbed the forest haven in.

Where was she going? To tell you the truth, she wasn't quite sure.

Making a sharp turn left, then right, she avoided a large family of Nidoking that had been sneaking around the forest like a migrating herd scrutinizing for food. Perhaps, she thought for a second as she passed them, she could help them search for a meal worthy enough to fill their bellies. She soon pushed the idea aside, however; she would rather not get into the business of a family that concluded of such rough beings, even though they were all amazed as they watched the water-type dog shoot past them with grace.

Instead she continued, her ruby eyes furrowing with determination as she jumped down a large ditch, only to fly upwards with a gentle leap and land softly on the rising plateau afterwards. Dodging a tree, she turned left and focused on landing accurately on a pile of step-like logs, which would help her reach the higher ground of a large cliff.

Perhaps she could go look for her comrades – the Legendary Entei and Raikou. Yes, they were mostly likely up to something that would surely require her help in one way or another, as always. So, with another graceful leap, she landed on the plush grass of a large clearing and made her way to the small pond that flourished in the center of it. Allowing the long weeds of grass to caress her paws, she crouched down, her eyes glistening alongside the ripples of the sleeping, deserted liquid, pondering all in the while on how she would find her comrades.

"Ah, Suicune," a gruff voice then muttered, causing the water dog to jump a little and snap behind her to eye the firm, lion-like body of her fire counterpart – Entei. The fire-type Legendary, multicolored fur swaying in the brushing wind and ruby eyes softened, waltzed over to his friend, his old age and his countenance that matched making him appear fatherly to the water-type.

"Hello, Entei," Suicune simply replied, her desponded voice making Entei frown and ponder on the possible reason behind the abnormal tone of her usually heavenly, yet strong, accent. In silent replication to continue the conversation, the fire lion merely sat beside his water correspondent, his eyes filled with gentleness, although none of this convinced Suicune to look at him in glee. Instead, the said Pokemon kept her eyes on the pool of water, slightly nuzzling her snout into the cold liquid and basking in its fresh taste and soothing touch.

Suicune wasn't sure why she suddenly sounded sad when Entei had appeared, although it was what she originally wanted – to meet him without spending all day searching for the old Pokemon. Despite that she pondered on what they both could possibly do now, another question flooded her mind instead – a question that made her groan on the inside and scold herself for even caring.

"Where's Raikou?"

Entei turned to Suicune in interest after she had asked the question, his mouth contorting into a frown and his eyes traveling downward as he searched his mind for the answer. He was somewhat surprised Suicune even cared for the location of the thunder tiger, as she didn't exactly hold the best respect for their thunder counterpart. Nonetheless, he took the question as a sign for a slowly-growing friendship between them and replied in a bewildered tone (although his gruff, powerful voice hid the implied confusion within it), "I don't really know, Suicune. To tell you the truth, I've been searching for him all day."

Suicune sighed at his words, her teeth somewhat gritting at the idea that she found his answer unbearable. Since when did she care about Raikou so much? She always liked Entei as a father figure since he was always there to philosophize about everything and make sure she didn't cause any apocalyptic disasters during her watch over the creatures of the Johto region. However, Raikou was another story – a story she despised reading, telling, or even thinking about. The said thunder tiger was nowhere near as wise as Entei, and his arrogance usually led to his foolish downfall whenever the Legendary trio were protecting innocents against rampaging Pokemon, or helping with negotiating a treaty between rival Pokemon clans.

"Don't mind me asking…" Entei eventually questioned, his voice trailing off, yet earning the attention of Suicune, which she set her ruby eyes on him in a gaze of interest. "But you seem really out of it, and I haven't seen you smile at all lately. Is there something bothering you?"

Suicune turned the other way immediately, her eyes darkening from obvious sadness, despite that she was hiding it well from the concerned fire lion. Thinking about it, she knew he was right; she hadn't bothered to place a grin, or even a smile for that matter, on her snout in a long time, and she wasn't even quite sure why. Maybe it was because of the fact that Raikou's arrogance kept on skimming through her mind and filling her with anger at the mere thought of it, or just by the ordeal that their previous encounters always ended with an unconscious thunder tiger and a very mad water dog. However, despite all this, she somehow yearned to see Raikou again – yearned for him to talk to her once more and boast on how the thunder element is a lot more powerful than the water element. Although she hated thinking such thoughts, she couldn't help it.

Entei slowly turned his head to the side after catching sight of a swift, shadowed form sweep across the ground behind the concealing bushes. Shooting an occasional look at Suicune to make sure she hadn't noticed his movement, Entei slowly snuck over to the trees, nearly jumping back when the tiger-like face of Raikou peaked up nervously from the bushes. Growling slightly, Entei mentally scolded at the thunder tiger; that is, before the said thunder-type spat out a small group of objects from his short snout.

A bouquet of sunflowers?

"It's all I could find, really," Raikou whispered to his fire counterpart, making extra sure not to inform Suicune that his presence was in the area. Entei only rolled his eyes in response, simultaneously wondering what the picked flowers were for.

"They're for Suicune," Raikou then muttered again after he caught sight of Entei staring at them bewilderedly. "I've noticed that she's been seeming kind of down lately, and with my childish actions I probably haven't been helping."

Entei quirked his eyebrow. "You're admitting your immature wrongdoings?"

Raikou only nodded, his ruby eyes somewhat narrowed with determination. By the way his mouth twitched every now and then, though, Entei could tell that the thunder tiger was nervous about his upcoming encounter with the short-tempered Suicune, and the fire lion could only shake his head in disappointment at the sight. Gulping, Raikou moved forward out of the bushes, while Entei entered them to give his comrades some time alone to think out their differences. Perhaps letting them solve this immature, idiotic war once and for all would make Suicune finally return to being her old self.

Still not facing, nor aware, of the approaching Raikou, Suicune softly muttered, "Entei, I think I'm going to go ba –" She stopped when she turned around and met the glowing eyes of her thunder counterpart, her mouth still open although she forced it closed when she turned away from him coldly. Raikou frowned at the action, his head slightly lowering in shame.

"I knew you were going to turn away…" Raikou softly muttered, his dimmed irises shifting to the side of his slit eyes. He ceased his movement, the sunflowers still dangling from his mouth as he stopped a few feet away from the angered Suicune. He shot a look at her every now and then, frowning more each time when he learned that she still wasn't facing him.

"Of course," Suicune snapped, her back still turned to him. "Why would I even bother talking to such a child?"

Raikou pulled back, hurt by her vicious words, yet understanding why she had said them. He deserved such a title – "Child" – it fit him, and he earned nothing better of the sort. He had to agree with her earlier assumptions that he was a sad excuse for a Legendary, and even contemplated on why Ho-oh bothered to create him when it was an obvious foreshadow that he was going to be a complete failure. Perhaps, however, he could at least solve one little problem…

Sighing slightly, he walked over to Suicune and softly dropped the sunflowers from his mouth, watching them plop to the grass right beside the water dog before stepping backwards like a peon backing away from a strong emperor. He watched in interest from his somewhat short distance, slightly afraid that the water dog was going to lash out at him like some sort of confined lunatic, although he would never dare dub the said Pokemon with that kind of title - both out of his respect for her, and also the fact that he didn't want to become a stuffed ornament.

Oh, and also because he loved her.

Yes, the great Raikou loved the graceful Suicune. Everything about the water legendary amazed him to the extent where he always tried to show off for her, but always wound up failing in the end. Was this affection for his comrade the reason behind his arrogance? You could say that, and Raikou would gladly admit it to Suicune if he wasn't so afraid of her reaction to his confession.

To his surprise, though, Suicune eventually turned her head, eyeing the dropped sunflowers with emotionless interest. Then, she bent her head down to sniff them, her eyes closing in gentle delight before she rose again so she could eye her thunder counterpart.

"Thank you…Raikou."

And there it was…a smile.

It was the softest smile the thunder tiger had ever seen her express, and he couldn't help but smile warmly as well. He somewhat turned stiff, however, when she moved forward to affectionately nuzzle the thunder-type Legendary under the chin, which made a light tint of pink make its away across his face (although his fur hid it well). Then, the water dog pulled away and asked, "Why'd you give me these flowers?"

Raikou, who was still trying to recover from Suicune's sudden display of affection, cleared his throat. "I, um, was just trying to say that I'm sorry for being so arrogant and immature all those times ago. I know it caused a lot of bad reactions on our previous encounters with Pokemon in need, so I thought I'd make a…uh" – he frowned slightly as he tried to search for the right word – "…an arrogant abstinence, by giving you those sunflowers."

Suicune smiled again, her eyes softening. "Thank you again, Raikou." She then began to make her way towards the bushes, in which Raikou suddenly frowned in sadness and quickly muttered a question his heart practically made him scream out.

"Don't you want to…um…talk for a little bit? We are friends, right? That is, if you want to stay with me for a while."

Suicune turned around, eyeing him with a gentle glance and yet again smiling at his actions. Following this, and somewhat chuckling at Raikou's nervous face, she responded, "I would love to talk, Raikou, but only on the behalf that you tell me the real reason you gave me those flowers."

The thunder tiger pulled back, his eyes darting to the side nervously. How did she know that his 'arrogant abstinence' wasn't really the main reason why he gave her the sunflowers? Was he really ready to tell her his feelings? The thought of her being mad at him still haunted his mind like a replaying nightmare, and he wanted anything other than seeing her turn ferocious. When he noticed that she was beginning to stare yearningly at him, obviously waiting for an answer, he replied with a simple sentence – the only sentence he could think of that would help postpone his confession until a later time when he was ready – a sentence that seemed to satisfy Suicune, as her soft smile grew bigger in response.

"Just trying to make you smile."