Only This Moment
Run
Mimi stood on a tree overlooking her new domicile, the cool mist flowing off her back. Her chest stood proud over her natural conquest. Those that had mocked her were now seeking her advice and even that Kecleon Saito bowed down to her and asked for forgiveness and seeking her friendship. Susana was next to her snatching up the bugs guarding the precious fruit below her pitcher-shaped, acid filled body. Everything was perfect, even in the moonlight. The shadows obscured another figure somewhat, but from the outline, she could tell it was an ambipom with something in its paws.
"My dear, see how the jungle loves you? You have nothing to be worried about," it said in a masculine voice. "I have a question to ask you... and I hope I am not being too forward, pom." The monkey in the shadows pointed to everything and more. "Look at what we have together, but even all of that... is...." The monkey trembled a bit. "...n...nothing like the love I have for you. Whew I said it!"
Mimi fought back a chuckle as she went to greet him in the shadows, ready to plan a deep kiss on him, but then he stepped out of the shadows. He... looked more like a she... The ambipom was hiding something behind 'his' back chattering in excitement. Soon, it revealed the object that was hidden behind its back the entire time: a fire stone carved into a hair piece.
"Will you be my mate, Mimi?"
Mimi woke up a pool of cold sweat, lying next to Nani who had her paws wrapped around her. It was a semi chilly night and no one could blame her for snuggling so close. Mimi hated to admit that she liked being caressed in her sleep by the fem, her comforting arms huddling close for warmth. She got up and lit a small fire that would keep Nani warm through the night... she had to leave...
Once more, she looked at Nani sleeping peacefully and departed. The new moon was unlike the daytime where total darkness abounded with the few bits of starlight that trickled its way only part way through the understory, being swallowed up by the darkness. Mimi looked at her smile weaken as if something had disturbed her peaceful rest. She bit on her lip watching Nani curl up more, the semblance of tears forming in her eyes.
"Good bye... I can't stand it... I can't possibly be in love... not with a girl... I..." She picked a direction and took off, a few tears blurring her vision.
Fly Away
She had no idea where she was going. The motor functions of one hand after another, and knowing exactly where the branches would be never stopped her from moving on. She couldn't think about her rash decision even for the muscle memory, only concentrating on the inborn mechanism of tree swinging. Still her heart ached so much from leaving her, she didn't know how to go about thinking about it.
Momentarily, she stopped swinging, trying to figure out where she had gone to. She turned up her inner fire and lit up the area around her that was damp with the late night fog cloud. The eerie shadows the trees left would have frightened her on any other occasion but her concentration on fleeing pervaded her mind. To the east, there seemed to be any amiable activities going on and from the west, there seemed to be nothing but that cursed tree they almost died getting food from.
She moved closer to the tree to check out the damage done in Mimi's scuffle with the cruel Saito. On it, she spotted many pokemon who were enjoying their new nests. She saw one happy couple after another sleeping peacefully in their little cubbies or nests, enjoying their new home. Quietly, she departed from it, smiling a bit. Nani had done something that benefitted more people than herself.
The warming feelings in her heart were immediately stifled by her age old fear of falling in love with her own gender. Her dream wasn't perfect with a female... even if she is all she really wanted. There was no way of getting everything she desired out of Nani... she had to keep on going and the only way left was away from the invisible moon.
She swung on a familiar set of branches, nothing the strangest of turns in which she wasn't able to make, bounding off the sides of trunks in an effort to not crash into thickets of densely cluttered epiphytes. She recalled the time when she daydreamed about Mimi, recalling how she extended a paw to help her make the turns, slinging her forward only to overtake her playfully minutes later. In spite of the skinnier monkey's build, she was always able to help Mimi out.
Eventually she came to the edge of the forest, the exact spot where they shared their first kiss. In the distance, she could see the glow of a few lanterns in the distance. A trail of lanterns followed behind a slow moving truck similar to the one that brought her out here. What were they doing out here at this hour?
She was so lonely the night she was dumped in the forest... the humans left her without anyone. Why did they leave her with none of her fellow primates? Maybe then, she would have found a male amongst them... she didn't know them that well due to her fear of being watched by the humans, but surely they would accept her. With that in mind, she turned in the direction of the vehicles and started to head in that direction. However, she wasn't alone on that branch. A smaller creature turned n her direction and began to trail her, fluttering silently in the night.
She kept close to the caravan, trying her best to intercept their path without drawing attention. The area wasn't well lit and even with her flames, she might into be readily identifiable. She bounded from one branch to another, her weight bending each one significantly. It was the same branches she used to trace her way to Nani after she didn't see her at the Enigma tree. Craters were everywhere, some were filled with water and others were just starting to heal. She swung past a Sceptile who was patching them up and past a few pokemon taking advantage of the readily available tree sap.
In her mind, she imagined how the fight went. Every impact of that iron ball, every branch that as dislocated, it was no surprise the branches seemed so weak here. Soon she came upon one that was too weak to keep her up. It snapped clean as she tried to land on it. The fall she took sent her down onto a very thick branch. The wind was knocked out of her lungs. Her grip on consciousness was weak at best. Slowly, she struggled to continue her trek towards the humans. She crawled towards the trunk and slowly tried to get onto her feet, stopping every so often to try to catch her breath. Her vision was a bit blurry, but she had to keep on going. She stumbled forth and took a leap towards another tree. From that tree, she tried to jump to a third only to tumble backwards, barely preventing herself from falling by wrapping her tail around the branch. Her momentum flung her onto the next branch, a much thicker one she couldn't wrap her tail around. She extended her paws and did a full swing around the branch, landing on top. She rubbed her eyes a bit more and continued her pursuit.
-----
The sky turned a harsh orange as the sun began to rise against the invisible moon and light began to filter through the darkness. One particularly strong beam flashed through the little cubby Nani slept in. she clenched her eyes shut and turned away from the light, as it pained her to look directly into it. She noticed the little fire that was still glowing next to her and sighed.
"She left, didn't she?"She poked at the last bits of fire left. Her heart felt so heavy after these few days of happiness with her. There wasn't much she could have done to prevent this awful change from occurring. First one tear, then two, then a cascading flow of salty water. She had put her small paws in front of her, bowing her head down, trying t o stop herself from shedding more, but it was too difficult. Nani had been so cool all her life and semi macho because she didn't know what she was missing... but Mimi changed all of that. It was only now that she started to really cry out her heart because no one was around to influence her to behave otherwise. No funny things came up in her mind, no battle fervor, no idle behavior, nothing but sadness. The fire soon burned out and afterwards drowned in her lamentations. It just hurt too much for her to do anything else other than cry in silence.
Hope in Her Broken World
The caravan stopped in a small clearing, near a grand tree, full of life. It unloaded a small number of crates then headed back in the direction of the town. She waited for a bit to see what would come out of them. Anxiously, she hid in the shroud of vegetation.
"I really hope it is someone similar to my kind in those crates. I really hope so. Maybe I can quell my heart with a male of my own species," she said. Mimi bit down on her lip a bit, thinking back on how perfect things were when she thought Nani was a guy. But no, this had to be better than perfect, one of her species' males.
"That's mighty shallow of you, Mimi!"
She sprung up from the bush and turned around to flame wheel the person who said it, just barely stopping herself when she saw the culprit. The frightened stalker flew back onto the branch. "What the hell are you trying to do to me you crazy monkey?"
"Why are you stalking me taillow?"
"That's Mr. Greg Taillow to you and I was watching you over the night. I was originally going with my wife to thank Nani for saving my life yesterday after noon but overheard you talking to yourself. I had to see what you were up to."
"You wouldn't understand what I am going through right now. My biology and my dreams point to a male being my mate. A mate who garners all of those traits I love, almost like Nani but... my dream mate is male. "Mimi didn't appreciate the little flying conscience telling her things her heart and body were already saying. Her mind was already having trouble rationalizing her flight but this just made it worse.
"But..."
"But nothing, leave me alone please. I didn't ask you for help."
"You are so... I don't know how to put it. I am not sure whether it is self-denial, paranoia, or some other bull crap, but it's so aggravating talking to you apes. You never like to listen. My mate isn't perfect and there doesn't exist anything perfect. My mate is much larger than I am but we are deeply in love. Her fluffiness isn't just external. I almost decided not to take the chance, but you know what, I did and I will forever love my decision."
"At least your mate is of the opposite gender."
"My mate Dharma is an Altaria, almost my polar opposite and very different from the taillow of my dreams. But you know what, I love her. I know you love Nani, so why all this?"
"I... I..." She looked away from the bird at the monkeys as they fled the cages and joined the troop that lived in the grand tree. She moved towards them, but something stopped her from going any further. She watched her former group introduce the new members to the rest of the clan, welcoming them with open arms.
"No one ever did that for me... they were too busy being annoyed with me to care about who I was." Greg said little of anything, only staring along with her. Her tail flame grew dim as she recalled the surprising wake up call she received... her first meeting with Nani. She remember being startled by her sudden appearance hanging upside down in the doorway and she remembered the punch she delivered that sent Nani up like a pendulum into the branch she was dangling from and then the following faceplant. Then the first enigma berry and the kiss... Nani's tears of joy when she realized she was still alive... and it all made sense...
She turned around and started heading back. The taillow smiled and followed her, his job was complete. "Nani is the best person for her... she knew it all along, but couldn't settle it in her mind."
Mimi returned to the tree as fast as she could, bounding through the trees in a seamless arch, trying her best to beat the sun out as the morning became full on day, ignoring her quickly languishing body as she burned up all her energy.
"Please Nani, forgive me, please be there," she chanted to herself. Nothing would stop her from reaching the cubby where they slept. With her only barrier to happiness out of her way, she was going to be sure to grab with will all paws. Greg followed her for a while before returning to his nest to where his sleepy-eyed mate awaited him. The fire monkey briefly paused to thank him for showing her some truth to which responded in his usual manner. "I am glad that you did listen for once, goddamn monkey. Now go, I'm sleeping."
She chuckled a bit then took off. She only had a few hundred meters to cover but as she got closer, something else clicked in her mind, something that hastened her journey almost recklessly. In her flight, she never took into consideration what Nani would do if she woke up with no one beside her. The thought of that scenario frightened her.
"Nani! Are you there!?!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. She looked inside of the cubby and saw a circle of dampness where the fire used to be. "Nani! Naniiiiiiiii!" Her cries fell on deaf ears... Nani wasn't there any more. Mimi tried to sniff her out to see where she could have gone, tracing the ever so faint smell to the west of their home, but it ended at a bromeliad. She peered in and saw signs of purple fur there, but no way to trace it from there.
"NAAAAAAAANIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!"
No response. She was gone... Mimi cursed herself for being so idiotic. Why did she behave so selfishly?" Her body felt heavy all at once and all of her late night wandering was getting the better of her. She slammed her fists weakly into the branch, crying loudly, heaving out weak calls for Nani. Soon the wear and tear caused her body to shut down.
"Please come back Nani..." she said, soon drifting to sleep.
Epilogue
Mimi sat next to Susana, enjoying the advent of the warmer season before the rains. It had been three weeks since she last saw Nani and was just getting over the pain of losing her. It was very tough but she learned to cope with her guilt. Even for the time, she never gave up hope of seeing her again. Every now and then, her spirit would sink and...
"Mimi, Susana happy crying stop," signaled Susana as she handed out a berry with her single large vine. She softly caressed the fire monkey. "No worry, soon, we find her."
"I hope so too, I really miss her." Mimi started frowning a bit more. Sensing this, Susana changed the topic, discussing Dharma and Greg's new situation with Greg suddenly similar in size after his evolution. The two friends chuckled over it.
Later on in the evening, as Mimi walked back to the cubby, she thought about her ambipom mate who seemed to disappear from the face of the world. She walked past a little carving she made a few days after Nani disappeared with a heart shape and Mimi & Nani. Even inside of the cubby, there was another crude confession of love in whatever language a monkey would write in. it didn't take long for her to drift to sleep.
----
Mimi stood up and stretched, scratching her lower back since there was no longer anyone else watching. For a moment she enjoyed the quiet solitude. The sounds of distant birds echoed off the aged old trees. The sound of nincada was long gone, replaced with the flurry of bird calls, particularly of those that were mating. At least before stomach rumblings shook up the quiet. "I guess I should have eaten more last night."
She walked towards the entrance, rubbing her eyes when suddenly, a familiar face popped up in front of her. "HI!"
It was Nani... it was really Nani. Tears flowed from her eyes as she ran up and kissed her as she hung upside down. "Oh Nani, I missed you so much, can you forgive me?"
"I dunno..." She said rather casually, shoving a sour berry in Mimi's face. The monferno was taken aback by her cool nature and wondered what was going on. Nevertheless she went along with it, still hoping she wasn't too mad at her.
"Usually when there is a conflict of this magnitude, there is a custom amongst some Ambipom that the two halves of the conflict will share in a very sour berry, one that will emblazon the lessons learned in our minds. Afterwards, they eat the sweetest of the berries to show that they will remain together." She offered a very sweet berry with one of her tail paws, even as she hung upside down outside the entrance of the cubby. Her eyes caught the little poem in the corner, barely betraying her happiness. She didn't want to look ultra eager... yet.
"Will you promise not to run off again?" The monferno shook her head vehemently as she took a huge bite out of the sour berry.
"I love you too much to do that again," replied Mimi. The ambipom landed in front of her and kissed her deeply once more, taking a bite of the sour berry out of her mouth with her own teeth.
"Then let's share on the promise and start anew, Mimi." She started to smile again and nuzzles her gently, even a bit too strongly. The pair shared a mutual sense of completeness as they embraced, kissing once more in the glow of sunset. From that moment, it was almost like they had never been apart.
"So, where did you go after I left?" asked Mimi, curious as to how she never saw Nani.
"I went into a town northeast of here and stayed there for a few weeks. Whenever I am very very sad, I always go there because there are plenty of distractions. I learned the finer points of fishing from listening to the fishmongers in addition to a bit of the Spanish dialect that a lot of pokemon in that area pick up, like that Susana or Saito. Usually, pokemon that know how to speak it have had numerous encounters with any humans."
Nani stopped talking as she watched Mimi smiling warmly. "Is something on your mind?" She said, nosing her gently, her tail paws encircling around her.
"You're perfect... you forgave me for my mistakes..." was all Mimi said.
Nani smiled and kissed her on the cheek and Mimi enjoyed. Perfect, even if she was a girl.Chapter End Notes:Thanks for reading this story and thank you Minun for your everlasting patience
Mimi stood on a tree overlooking her new domicile, the cool mist flowing off her back. Her chest stood proud over her natural conquest. Those that had mocked her were now seeking her advice and even that Kecleon Saito bowed down to her and asked for forgiveness and seeking her friendship. Susana was next to her snatching up the bugs guarding the precious fruit below her pitcher-shaped, acid filled body. Everything was perfect, even in the moonlight. The shadows obscured another figure somewhat, but from the outline, she could tell it was an ambipom with something in its paws.
"My dear, see how the jungle loves you? You have nothing to be worried about," it said in a masculine voice. "I have a question to ask you... and I hope I am not being too forward, pom." The monkey in the shadows pointed to everything and more. "Look at what we have together, but even all of that... is...." The monkey trembled a bit. "...n...nothing like the love I have for you. Whew I said it!"
Mimi fought back a chuckle as she went to greet him in the shadows, ready to plan a deep kiss on him, but then he stepped out of the shadows. He... looked more like a she... The ambipom was hiding something behind 'his' back chattering in excitement. Soon, it revealed the object that was hidden behind its back the entire time: a fire stone carved into a hair piece.
"Will you be my mate, Mimi?"
Mimi woke up a pool of cold sweat, lying next to Nani who had her paws wrapped around her. It was a semi chilly night and no one could blame her for snuggling so close. Mimi hated to admit that she liked being caressed in her sleep by the fem, her comforting arms huddling close for warmth. She got up and lit a small fire that would keep Nani warm through the night... she had to leave...
Once more, she looked at Nani sleeping peacefully and departed. The new moon was unlike the daytime where total darkness abounded with the few bits of starlight that trickled its way only part way through the understory, being swallowed up by the darkness. Mimi looked at her smile weaken as if something had disturbed her peaceful rest. She bit on her lip watching Nani curl up more, the semblance of tears forming in her eyes.
"Good bye... I can't stand it... I can't possibly be in love... not with a girl... I..." She picked a direction and took off, a few tears blurring her vision.
Fly Away
She had no idea where she was going. The motor functions of one hand after another, and knowing exactly where the branches would be never stopped her from moving on. She couldn't think about her rash decision even for the muscle memory, only concentrating on the inborn mechanism of tree swinging. Still her heart ached so much from leaving her, she didn't know how to go about thinking about it.
Momentarily, she stopped swinging, trying to figure out where she had gone to. She turned up her inner fire and lit up the area around her that was damp with the late night fog cloud. The eerie shadows the trees left would have frightened her on any other occasion but her concentration on fleeing pervaded her mind. To the east, there seemed to be any amiable activities going on and from the west, there seemed to be nothing but that cursed tree they almost died getting food from.
She moved closer to the tree to check out the damage done in Mimi's scuffle with the cruel Saito. On it, she spotted many pokemon who were enjoying their new nests. She saw one happy couple after another sleeping peacefully in their little cubbies or nests, enjoying their new home. Quietly, she departed from it, smiling a bit. Nani had done something that benefitted more people than herself.
The warming feelings in her heart were immediately stifled by her age old fear of falling in love with her own gender. Her dream wasn't perfect with a female... even if she is all she really wanted. There was no way of getting everything she desired out of Nani... she had to keep on going and the only way left was away from the invisible moon.
She swung on a familiar set of branches, nothing the strangest of turns in which she wasn't able to make, bounding off the sides of trunks in an effort to not crash into thickets of densely cluttered epiphytes. She recalled the time when she daydreamed about Mimi, recalling how she extended a paw to help her make the turns, slinging her forward only to overtake her playfully minutes later. In spite of the skinnier monkey's build, she was always able to help Mimi out.
Eventually she came to the edge of the forest, the exact spot where they shared their first kiss. In the distance, she could see the glow of a few lanterns in the distance. A trail of lanterns followed behind a slow moving truck similar to the one that brought her out here. What were they doing out here at this hour?
She was so lonely the night she was dumped in the forest... the humans left her without anyone. Why did they leave her with none of her fellow primates? Maybe then, she would have found a male amongst them... she didn't know them that well due to her fear of being watched by the humans, but surely they would accept her. With that in mind, she turned in the direction of the vehicles and started to head in that direction. However, she wasn't alone on that branch. A smaller creature turned n her direction and began to trail her, fluttering silently in the night.
She kept close to the caravan, trying her best to intercept their path without drawing attention. The area wasn't well lit and even with her flames, she might into be readily identifiable. She bounded from one branch to another, her weight bending each one significantly. It was the same branches she used to trace her way to Nani after she didn't see her at the Enigma tree. Craters were everywhere, some were filled with water and others were just starting to heal. She swung past a Sceptile who was patching them up and past a few pokemon taking advantage of the readily available tree sap.
In her mind, she imagined how the fight went. Every impact of that iron ball, every branch that as dislocated, it was no surprise the branches seemed so weak here. Soon she came upon one that was too weak to keep her up. It snapped clean as she tried to land on it. The fall she took sent her down onto a very thick branch. The wind was knocked out of her lungs. Her grip on consciousness was weak at best. Slowly, she struggled to continue her trek towards the humans. She crawled towards the trunk and slowly tried to get onto her feet, stopping every so often to try to catch her breath. Her vision was a bit blurry, but she had to keep on going. She stumbled forth and took a leap towards another tree. From that tree, she tried to jump to a third only to tumble backwards, barely preventing herself from falling by wrapping her tail around the branch. Her momentum flung her onto the next branch, a much thicker one she couldn't wrap her tail around. She extended her paws and did a full swing around the branch, landing on top. She rubbed her eyes a bit more and continued her pursuit.
-----
The sky turned a harsh orange as the sun began to rise against the invisible moon and light began to filter through the darkness. One particularly strong beam flashed through the little cubby Nani slept in. she clenched her eyes shut and turned away from the light, as it pained her to look directly into it. She noticed the little fire that was still glowing next to her and sighed.
"She left, didn't she?"She poked at the last bits of fire left. Her heart felt so heavy after these few days of happiness with her. There wasn't much she could have done to prevent this awful change from occurring. First one tear, then two, then a cascading flow of salty water. She had put her small paws in front of her, bowing her head down, trying t o stop herself from shedding more, but it was too difficult. Nani had been so cool all her life and semi macho because she didn't know what she was missing... but Mimi changed all of that. It was only now that she started to really cry out her heart because no one was around to influence her to behave otherwise. No funny things came up in her mind, no battle fervor, no idle behavior, nothing but sadness. The fire soon burned out and afterwards drowned in her lamentations. It just hurt too much for her to do anything else other than cry in silence.
Hope in Her Broken World
The caravan stopped in a small clearing, near a grand tree, full of life. It unloaded a small number of crates then headed back in the direction of the town. She waited for a bit to see what would come out of them. Anxiously, she hid in the shroud of vegetation.
"I really hope it is someone similar to my kind in those crates. I really hope so. Maybe I can quell my heart with a male of my own species," she said. Mimi bit down on her lip a bit, thinking back on how perfect things were when she thought Nani was a guy. But no, this had to be better than perfect, one of her species' males.
"That's mighty shallow of you, Mimi!"
She sprung up from the bush and turned around to flame wheel the person who said it, just barely stopping herself when she saw the culprit. The frightened stalker flew back onto the branch. "What the hell are you trying to do to me you crazy monkey?"
"Why are you stalking me taillow?"
"That's Mr. Greg Taillow to you and I was watching you over the night. I was originally going with my wife to thank Nani for saving my life yesterday after noon but overheard you talking to yourself. I had to see what you were up to."
"You wouldn't understand what I am going through right now. My biology and my dreams point to a male being my mate. A mate who garners all of those traits I love, almost like Nani but... my dream mate is male. "Mimi didn't appreciate the little flying conscience telling her things her heart and body were already saying. Her mind was already having trouble rationalizing her flight but this just made it worse.
"But..."
"But nothing, leave me alone please. I didn't ask you for help."
"You are so... I don't know how to put it. I am not sure whether it is self-denial, paranoia, or some other bull crap, but it's so aggravating talking to you apes. You never like to listen. My mate isn't perfect and there doesn't exist anything perfect. My mate is much larger than I am but we are deeply in love. Her fluffiness isn't just external. I almost decided not to take the chance, but you know what, I did and I will forever love my decision."
"At least your mate is of the opposite gender."
"My mate Dharma is an Altaria, almost my polar opposite and very different from the taillow of my dreams. But you know what, I love her. I know you love Nani, so why all this?"
"I... I..." She looked away from the bird at the monkeys as they fled the cages and joined the troop that lived in the grand tree. She moved towards them, but something stopped her from going any further. She watched her former group introduce the new members to the rest of the clan, welcoming them with open arms.
"No one ever did that for me... they were too busy being annoyed with me to care about who I was." Greg said little of anything, only staring along with her. Her tail flame grew dim as she recalled the surprising wake up call she received... her first meeting with Nani. She remember being startled by her sudden appearance hanging upside down in the doorway and she remembered the punch she delivered that sent Nani up like a pendulum into the branch she was dangling from and then the following faceplant. Then the first enigma berry and the kiss... Nani's tears of joy when she realized she was still alive... and it all made sense...
She turned around and started heading back. The taillow smiled and followed her, his job was complete. "Nani is the best person for her... she knew it all along, but couldn't settle it in her mind."
Mimi returned to the tree as fast as she could, bounding through the trees in a seamless arch, trying her best to beat the sun out as the morning became full on day, ignoring her quickly languishing body as she burned up all her energy.
"Please Nani, forgive me, please be there," she chanted to herself. Nothing would stop her from reaching the cubby where they slept. With her only barrier to happiness out of her way, she was going to be sure to grab with will all paws. Greg followed her for a while before returning to his nest to where his sleepy-eyed mate awaited him. The fire monkey briefly paused to thank him for showing her some truth to which responded in his usual manner. "I am glad that you did listen for once, goddamn monkey. Now go, I'm sleeping."
She chuckled a bit then took off. She only had a few hundred meters to cover but as she got closer, something else clicked in her mind, something that hastened her journey almost recklessly. In her flight, she never took into consideration what Nani would do if she woke up with no one beside her. The thought of that scenario frightened her.
"Nani! Are you there!?!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. She looked inside of the cubby and saw a circle of dampness where the fire used to be. "Nani! Naniiiiiiiii!" Her cries fell on deaf ears... Nani wasn't there any more. Mimi tried to sniff her out to see where she could have gone, tracing the ever so faint smell to the west of their home, but it ended at a bromeliad. She peered in and saw signs of purple fur there, but no way to trace it from there.
"NAAAAAAAANIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!"
No response. She was gone... Mimi cursed herself for being so idiotic. Why did she behave so selfishly?" Her body felt heavy all at once and all of her late night wandering was getting the better of her. She slammed her fists weakly into the branch, crying loudly, heaving out weak calls for Nani. Soon the wear and tear caused her body to shut down.
"Please come back Nani..." she said, soon drifting to sleep.
Epilogue
Mimi sat next to Susana, enjoying the advent of the warmer season before the rains. It had been three weeks since she last saw Nani and was just getting over the pain of losing her. It was very tough but she learned to cope with her guilt. Even for the time, she never gave up hope of seeing her again. Every now and then, her spirit would sink and...
"Mimi, Susana happy crying stop," signaled Susana as she handed out a berry with her single large vine. She softly caressed the fire monkey. "No worry, soon, we find her."
"I hope so too, I really miss her." Mimi started frowning a bit more. Sensing this, Susana changed the topic, discussing Dharma and Greg's new situation with Greg suddenly similar in size after his evolution. The two friends chuckled over it.
Later on in the evening, as Mimi walked back to the cubby, she thought about her ambipom mate who seemed to disappear from the face of the world. She walked past a little carving she made a few days after Nani disappeared with a heart shape and Mimi & Nani. Even inside of the cubby, there was another crude confession of love in whatever language a monkey would write in. it didn't take long for her to drift to sleep.
----
Mimi stood up and stretched, scratching her lower back since there was no longer anyone else watching. For a moment she enjoyed the quiet solitude. The sounds of distant birds echoed off the aged old trees. The sound of nincada was long gone, replaced with the flurry of bird calls, particularly of those that were mating. At least before stomach rumblings shook up the quiet. "I guess I should have eaten more last night."
She walked towards the entrance, rubbing her eyes when suddenly, a familiar face popped up in front of her. "HI!"
It was Nani... it was really Nani. Tears flowed from her eyes as she ran up and kissed her as she hung upside down. "Oh Nani, I missed you so much, can you forgive me?"
"I dunno..." She said rather casually, shoving a sour berry in Mimi's face. The monferno was taken aback by her cool nature and wondered what was going on. Nevertheless she went along with it, still hoping she wasn't too mad at her.
"Usually when there is a conflict of this magnitude, there is a custom amongst some Ambipom that the two halves of the conflict will share in a very sour berry, one that will emblazon the lessons learned in our minds. Afterwards, they eat the sweetest of the berries to show that they will remain together." She offered a very sweet berry with one of her tail paws, even as she hung upside down outside the entrance of the cubby. Her eyes caught the little poem in the corner, barely betraying her happiness. She didn't want to look ultra eager... yet.
"Will you promise not to run off again?" The monferno shook her head vehemently as she took a huge bite out of the sour berry.
"I love you too much to do that again," replied Mimi. The ambipom landed in front of her and kissed her deeply once more, taking a bite of the sour berry out of her mouth with her own teeth.
"Then let's share on the promise and start anew, Mimi." She started to smile again and nuzzles her gently, even a bit too strongly. The pair shared a mutual sense of completeness as they embraced, kissing once more in the glow of sunset. From that moment, it was almost like they had never been apart.
"So, where did you go after I left?" asked Mimi, curious as to how she never saw Nani.
"I went into a town northeast of here and stayed there for a few weeks. Whenever I am very very sad, I always go there because there are plenty of distractions. I learned the finer points of fishing from listening to the fishmongers in addition to a bit of the Spanish dialect that a lot of pokemon in that area pick up, like that Susana or Saito. Usually, pokemon that know how to speak it have had numerous encounters with any humans."
Nani stopped talking as she watched Mimi smiling warmly. "Is something on your mind?" She said, nosing her gently, her tail paws encircling around her.
"You're perfect... you forgave me for my mistakes..." was all Mimi said.
Nani smiled and kissed her on the cheek and Mimi enjoyed. Perfect, even if she was a girl.Chapter End Notes:Thanks for reading this story and thank you Minun for your everlasting patience