first of all, thanks to everyone for the great reception of the first part. you guys really did wonders for my self-confidence as a beginning writer <3



alright, enough sappy talk, it’s time to get back to the hijinks

enjoy





The next morning AJ was reluctant to get out of bed.

“Get uuuuup,” Burrito moaned. “I’m hungry!”

“Ugh, no,” AJ muttered from underneath his blanket. “Today’s gonna suck, I can already tell. Why bother getting up.”

“You just woke up,” Burrito mrowed. “You haven’t even started this day yet.”

“I had a nightmare, okay,” AJ snapped, as harshly as a person still half-asleep could.

“You’ll have another if you don’t feed me soon, you-”

Abruptly, Burrito stopped. A smile creeped on his face.

“What kind of nightmare?” he asked, in a teasing tone. “Was it about… a certain someone?”

AJ mumbled something indistinct. Most likely it was something obscene.

“Oh, I bet it was,” Burrito continued, grinning. “I bet he was naked, too-”

“If I feed you, will you shut the hell up?” AJ interrupted.

“I’m glad we’ve reached an agreement,” Burrito chirped, content, and left the room.

AJ groaned, threw away his blanket, and got up.





AJ went on to brush his teeth, get dressed and eat breakfast. Gradually, his mood became more and more at ease as the sun rose higher up in the sky, and by midday, he felt as good as he had felt waking up the day before.

“How’s the day sucking so far?” Burrito inquired, as he saw AJ on the couch, reading the same book as yesterday.

“Eh,” AJ began, but failed to come up with anything else to add.

A quiet thump was heard from the table next to them. Katie had put down a small vase filled with ridgeblues.

“Yeah, this seems like a good spot,” Katie quietly said to herself.

“Wait… are those the flowers Red brought?” AJ asked and turned to look at Gator, who was in the next room. “Gator, what’s this about?”

“Uhh-” the crocodilian tried to begin, but Katie answered first.

“I asked Gator to give them to me,” she explained. “Don’t worry, they’re harmless. Trust me.”

“Well, could you at least put them somewhere else?” AJ requested. “I don’t want him to see them through the window and think that I’m actually falling for this ridiculous ploy of his or something.”

Katie gave a resentful ‘hmph’, picked up the vase, and marched out of the room.

AJ got up, looking irritated. “I’m going for a walk.”

He tramped into the hallway, causing Burrito to leap onto and curl up in the now free, pre-warmed spot on the couch.





Upon stepping out of the door, AJ froze in place. His face twisted into an expression of intense contempt.

“You again,” he snarled.

Red was sitting on the front lawn, looking tired, still in his clothes from the day before.

“You sure took your sweet time,” Red sighed. “Normally you leave the house at least two hours earlier.”

“Leave.” The word was uttered with utmost disdain.

“I’m not leaving until I achieve what I came here for.”

“Then what did you come here for?” AJ exclaimed, clenching his forearms towards himself in fierce frustration. Every single word of his sentence was emphasized and filled to the brim with aggression.

“Let me inside and I’ll tell you.”

“Like hell I will!” AJ shouted. “What makes you think that, after all you’ve done to me and my friends, I’d let you in my house?”

“Well…”

“Piss off, Red.”

Red didn’t react.

“It means ‘leave’,” AJ sighed.

“I know,” Red said, unfazed. “I’m just not leaving.”

“You know I have a restraining order against you, right?” AJ said. “I could call the cops on you right now-”

“Don’t bother,” Red sneered. “The police in this part of the region are a joke. I once attacked a man only about half a mile from here and-”

He stopped.

“…Forget you heard that,” he said.

AJ grunted and slammed the door shut. He waited a moment, and then peeked out the window. Red was still there, dully staring at the grass. His pants were stained with green.

“He’s not leaving, is he,” he said, turning to Gator and Burrito, both of whom had arrived to see what all the yelling was about.

“No, I’m not,” sounded a shout from behind the glass, resulting in AJ promptly shutting the window blinds.

“Maybe we need to move him by force,” Gator suggested. “I’ll go.”

“No need,” Burrito purred. “I’ll handle this.”

“You?” Gator laughed. “What are you gonna do, hiss at him?”

“Just you watch,” Burrito said, cracked the door, and slipped out.





Noticing the espeon, Red darted upright. His face grew more and more suspicious as the feline neared closer.

“Hey, pretty boy,” Burrito cooed, slowing down. “Here for some sugar, huh?”

“No, thanks, I’ve got plenty at home,” Red replied.

“It’s an expression, hun… Nevermind.”

Burrito lay down on the grass, right next to Red’s feet.

“You don’t have to be so shy, sweetie,” Burrito meowed. “I know why you’re here.”

“You do?” Red said, crouching, unnerved. “You won’t tell him, will you?”

“Of course not, hun. I would never take away your chance to tell him face to face,” Burrito assured. “And besides, it’s more fun this way,” he added with a smirk.

Red, seeming uncertain, sat back down.

“Now, sweetie,” Burrito began, “tell me just how you’re gonna do it. I wanna hear everything.”

“Oh… really?” Red gave an uncanny smile. “Sure, I’ll tell you a secret. Come closer.”

Eyes wide, curiosity piqued, Burrito creeped closer. Red slowly leaned towards the feline, gently placed his hands on both sides of the espeon’s head, resulting in Burrito letting out a brief inquisitive purr.

“You see…” Red softly started.

Suddenly, his fingers burrowed deep into Burrito’s skin and his grip became inescapably firm.

“I don’t quite like eevees,” Red calmly whispered.

Burrito’s expression had switched from confident to aghast. He couldn’t move a muscle.

“So, unless you want me to turn you into a nice, pink rug…” Red continued.

Burrito’s ears were swung as back as they could bend. His tail was tucked between his legs.

“…you had better go back inside and tell your worthless friends to let… me… in.”

Upon the final word, Red released Burrito from his grasp. Burrito immediately bolted across the front yard and slipped in through the cracked door to meet a worried AJ and a smug Gator.

“Well,” Burrito squaked, subtly trembling. “He might be in love with you, but it appears that he hates us others just as much as before.”

“He’s not in love with me, Burrito,” AJ groaned. “He’s just plotting something, and this… act of his is part of his plan.”

“Do I go now?” Gator sighed.

“No, don’t. I want to get to the bottom of this,” AJ mumbled, pulling out his phone. “I’m gonna ask Abe.”

He opened the texting app, tapped on Abe’s name and began typing.

“what the hell is your brother doing” he wrote, and sent the text.

Some seconds passed. Then the phone buzzed, and a reply appeared.

“Who is this?”

“aj. don’t you have my number”

“Red told me to delete it.”

“typical.” “but why is he here”

“Beats me. He just got dressed up and left without saying anything, just like yesterday.”

AJ sighed quietly.

“don’t play dumb. i heard you two talking behind my door”

“Oh.” “Sorry.” “But I can’t tell you why he’s there.”

“why not”

“He needs to say it himself.”

“say what himself”

“I can’t tell you. It needs to come from him.”

“im not letting him in my house abe”

“Just let him in and do what he says. He’s not there to harm you.”

“no, are you crazy” “since when has he not wanted to harm me”

“You’re just going to have to take his word and mine for this.”

“has he got something on you” “is he making you say this”

“I’m telling the truth, AJ.” “Let him in.”

A message with some confidently smiling emojis followed. AJ cringed.

“hell no” “im sending him back” AJ typed, sent the message and closed his phone. It soon buzzed again, but he ignored it.

“Well, well, well,” Burrito chuckled, now fully recovered from his state of shock before. “Looks like I was right. That boy really does want the D. And I’m not talking about our Kalosian friend here.”

“You want me to shoo him away now?” Gator groaned to AJ, ignoring Burrito.

“Go ahead,” AJ said. “It doesn’t look like we have much of a choice.”

“Thank you.”





The feraligatr decisively marched out the door. He fixed his eyes on Red, who, upon hearing the door open, had gotten up and adopted a moderately aggressive stance.

“Alright, kid,” Gator shouted, crossing his bulky arms, “time to scram.”

“I thought I had made myself clear,” Red growled. “I’m not leaving.”

“Then you leave me no choice,” Gator boomed. He began slowly approaching Red.

Red didn’t budge. He merely kept staring at Gator in anticipation.

The hulking beast kept stomping forth until he was only a couple of feet away from Red, then stopped to tower over the stubborn young man.

Some second passed with both remaining immobile. Gator’s face began to show some confusion.

“What?” Red barked.

“…Aren’t you gonna pull a knife on me or something?”

Red looked at the ground, discomforted, not answering.

“You don’t have a knife on you, do ya.”

No answer.

“Well, good,” Gator said, standing up straight, cracking his knuckles. “That’ll make this a lot easier.”

With one swift motion, Gator sweeped Red onto his arms and lifted him up.

“Wh-” Red tried to protest, but Gator interrupted.

“If you won’t move by yourself, it means I gotta move you myself,” he confidently remarked.

“Put me down,” Red hissed.

“Nah,” Gator blurted, indifferent. He began to trudge out of the yard. Red flailed wildly for some time, trying to escape from the giant’s grasp, but soon gave up with a displeased sigh.

“I’m just going to come back, you know,” Red said.

“Fine with me. I’ll just ‘relocate’ you again,” Gator replied, secretly smiling to himself.

“Are you seriously planning on carrying me the whole way back to Pallet?” Red scoffed.

“Of course not,” Gator replied. “We’ll take the train. But first…”

He glanced at the sparkling waters of Route 27, where they had arrived.

Red’s eyes widened in realization.

“Don’t you dare-” he tried, but it was too late.

Swinging his arms, Gator flung Red into the bay. A hearty splash rung out.





A polite knock sounded from the front of the house.

Abe put down his phone and rushed to the door from the living room. He looked through the peephole, sighed and opened the door fully.

“I believe this is yours,” Gator announced, holding up a dripping wet, upset-looking Red.

“Hi, Red,” Abe said monotonously.

“Hi, Abe,” Red mumbled, jaded.

“Welp, my job is done,” Gator said, and nonchalantly dropped Red on the ground, causing the human to utter a weak whimper of pain. “Come back tomorrow if you want a few more nice dips in the summer sun. See ya.”

Having said that, Gator turned around and sauntered off.

“…Are you okay?” Abe cautiously asked.

“I’m fine,” Red snapped, voice quivering slightly.

“Do you want me to do anyth-”

“Just… leave me here for a second,” Red grunted. “I’ll come in soon.”

Abe awkwardly lingered in the doorway for a moment, but eventually hesitantly closed the door and walked back to the living room.