It almost seemed like he was daydreaming given how many times he'd lose himself in his own thought that night. That his head was drifting off into the proverbial clouds as the late hours crawled on at a seemingly agonizing pace. And to anyone who would assume such a thing, implying that there would be someone with him right now aside from the two gummy-candy-like creatures that rested in his lap, they would be correct... to a degree.

It was at peaceful times like this where he couldn't help but lament about his time spent travelling the pentagonal region all those years back. Being raised by like-minded humans, making new friends, growing stronger with each passing day... small things like those were special to him, and were miles above what his lifestyle was like now.

See, since the last major threat that loomed over the region has died down and his path diverged from his trainer's, Greninja... hardly did much. He had a surprising amount of downtime for someone with the title "Kalos' Guardian"- an almost staggering amount of it, really. Peace seemed to come to the region once things came to their resolve, and it didn't look like it would leave anytime soon; living out his life with the two core pokémon in absolute solitude as a result. Not that it bothered him, or anything. Solitude was something the ninja frog enjoyed quite a bit. Though, it would be nice to talk to someone that didn't behave as a "shoulder devil" or "shoulder angel" that dictated his every whim like it was nothing. Just for once.

His mind trailed on, sifting through his memories as he began to grow a bit weary due to staring out at the twinkling horizon; recalling all of his past teammates and friends. Only to come to an abrupt stop when one particular pokémon crossed his mind.

That Braixen the honey blonde girl had.

How... how was she? Last he heard, there was only light consideration on going to wherever "pokémon contests" were held after winning the title as the region's queen for her trainer. But not much else after that. Which was kind of a shame, quite honestly; since it wasn't much of a secret that he cared about the bipedal vixen. The two just wound up drifting apart as their paths began to split. Something that was rather unfortunate to not only him, but to her as well.

He didn't even get to spend time with her before he separated from the party, let alone give her a proper farewell. Which was, probably, one of the biggest things he regretted.

And wasn't the first time she crossed his mind like this since their years apart began either; and it certainly wasn't going to be the last. In fact, the Zygarde cores got his behavior down to a near science whenever that fox crossed his mind: a stern, almost ominous gap of silence, and a shift in his aura to indicate negative emotions. It was almost like clockwork.

And as their system went; Greninja soon found himself slumped in his sitting position, staring out at the moon which was in perfect view of his cave tonight. Getting caught up on that one pokémon once more.

Could they really blame the guy though? He had to suddenly burn bridges for their sake. Of course he would be upset over not saying goodbye to her-

"Thinking about her again?"

Greninja flinched at the sudden voice that cut through his train of thought. Immediately recognizing who the voice belonged to. He peered over to notice that one of the Zygarde cores had left the confines of his lap and crawled up to his shoulder, all without him noticing. "Why are you awake?"

"Why am I awake? Why are YOU awake?"

Greninja rolled his eyes. "Answer the question, please."

"You reminiscing about your previous girlfriend woke me up. I just wanted to see if you were alright."

He sighed reaching over to the core that sat on his scarf tongue. Trying to hide a faint blush as he poked the slimy legendary. "She's not my ex. We weren't even dating to begin with. She was just a great friend, that's all."

"Just 'friends'?" The Zygarde core pushed back. "You wouldn't be mulling over her too much if that were the case."

"We were close."

"And?"

"Can't friends be close?"

"Yeah, but you two are different. I can tell." The core hopped up on the ninja frog's head. "At least tell me you had a crush on her."

Greninja was about to speak up once more, only to have the core cut him off again.

"And don't even think about lying. We can sense your aura, remember. We can basically tell when you're lying."

He suddenly shut his mouth, the subtlety in his blush fading away as he slumped back on the rock he sat against. A small, yet immensely awkward silence trailing on by shortly afterwards.

"Your silence speaks volumes."

The frog shook his head, reaching up to pluck the pokémon off the top of his head. "Alright, Squishy." He grumbled bringing the red-bellied core to his eye level. "You got me."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with liking someone! Sure I may not be the 'type' to help much, but I'm sure that-"

"Do you even know where she is right now?"

"I... do not."

"Then you wouldn't understand."

"Awh c'mon bud! I'm sure it's not that ba-"

"She's in Hoenn."

"... Nevermind."

"That's what I thought." Greninja sighed as he placed the core back in his lap. "Go back to sleep please. We're patrolling the region tomorrow and I need you two to be awake."

"What about you? Don't you need to sleep too?"

"I'll be fine. Just sleep."

Squishy just huffed in response, curling up in the ninja frog's lap. "I'm just trying to understand so I can help."

Greninja watched him as he nestled his way into his lap, waiting for the core pokémon to fall back asleep; letting out a sigh once he felt him relax. "I know you are." He softly spoke as he reached out to pat the core's head, looking out to what he could see of the horizon as he did so. "I know."

••••••

The moon seemed to be awfully bright tonight. Was something she thought as she peered out the window she sat by. Then again, it's a full moon. Of course it would be bright. She rested her head on her paws, staring up at the bright orb in the sky, sighing through her nose as minutes passed.

Could she blame the full moon on her insomnia? Perhaps. But was it really the reason why she was up? Not even remotely.

Her mind has been running wild as of late. Turns out, pokémon Contests are far more draining than Showcases were. There was the flourishing, yes. She was a pro at capturing the hearts of the crowd. But then there was the battling- which always caught her off guard somehow; resulting in several close calls that led her to the "Master's Contest"- or whatever it was called. She was generally worn out by the end of it all to pay enough attention, to be frank.

Not to say that she hated it though! She adored participating in these contests! The fun of it just seemed overshadowed by the labor intensivity of it all. Especially when it came to training since she was never really the "battling" type; so the change in her training routine was anything but "pleasant", to say the least.

Boy, wouldn't it be amazing if he were here right now?

If there was one thing she knew about him, it was that he was an incredible fighter- essentially having the fundementals of battling course through his veins. Everything she learned about fighting, embarrassingly enough, came from him.

If he were here, she would've loved to learn a bit more from him... in preparation of what's to come, of course- nothing more!

"Braixen?"

She shot up in her spot, her eyes widening as she heard someone calling her name. she turned around to see the host of the voice- a pokémon draped in pastel and ribbons- stare back at her with concern.

"S-Sylveon!" she rubbed the back of her head with slight embarrassment. "Why are you up?"

"Full moon." She nonchalantly responded, approaching the ottoman Braixen sat on. "You?"

"Yeah, same..." She sheepishly laughed as she watched the eeveelution hop up on the ottoman, taking a seat right beside her. "... With the... full... moon... thing."

Sylveon glanced over at Braixen, subtly shaking her head. "Brai. C'mon. You know that excuse only works for Fairy types." She placed a ribbon feeler on her shoulder. "What's up?"

Braixen hesitated, brushing the feeler off her shoulder as she turned to glance out the window once more. "I don't know, to be honest." She propped her head up on the windowsill. "I guess a lot of things."

"Like?"

"Well..." She paused, letting out a sigh. "There's that big contest coming up, and Serena wants me to participate. And I don't think my battle strategy is up to snuff for it yet, and I fear it won't be within ten days."

"Why in ten days?"

"That's when it's happening. In ten days."

"Oh, so you're nervous?"

Braixen tisked. "Nervous is an understatement."

"Terrified?"

"Yeah..." She nodded. "...Yeah that's more like it."

Sylveon frowned, her concern for her friend growing stronger as a moment of silence slipped its way between the two. "Is there..." She started after a brief pause. "Anything else? Anything I can do?"

Braixen shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Okay then." Sylveon hesitantly hopped down from the ottoman and returned to the bed where she was at before. "Just remember that I'm here for you, okay? Don't hesitate to come to me if something else pops up."

"Okay."

"And if you need a training partner tomorrow... don't hesitate to ask."

"I'll..." Braixen's voice trailed off as she glanced out at the moon once more, somehow feeling more comfort than she did before; having something about it, whatever it was, pacify her anxiety over the upcoming event.

"... I'll keep that in mind."