Chapter 24 

Ito Has Been Even Busier

Ravina’s Travel Journal — Day Twenty-Five

Found Ito, She is alive.
Rocky is still enormous.
Hibi looks good.
Webby is still Webby.

Droplet is gone.
Apparently Ito found Ethan and returned Droplet
She called this “reparations.”
She did not apologize, naturally.

I asked how Ethan was.
Ito said “resting.”
I made the mistake of asking follow-up questions.
I am not writing the answer.

Toni met Ito.
Toni immediately called her small.
Then discovered the extra eyes.
Excellent priorities.
Ito also held her without dropping her, stealing her, putting her in a pocket, teaching her crime, or feeding her anything questionable.
This may be Ito’s greatest achievement.

Less encouraging:
Ito is somehow richer than me.
She does not have a job.
She claims she wins “bets.”
She refuses to tell me who she is betting with.
She also admitted that not all of her money is stolen, which implies enough of it is stolen that she felt the distinction mattered.

Most importantly, she is doing well, Annoyingly well, Suspiciously well.
She has better travel gear than I do.
I have no idea how.

Calling home next.
Hopefully Professor Elm has not already seen the provisional file.
He has definitely already seen the provisional file.

- - - - -

Chapter 24.1

Ravina found the outdoor lounge by following the signs, she found Ito by following the Onix.

Rocky occupied enough of the courtyard that the word lounge had become optimistic.

The Ranger Station had clearly planned for large Pokémon. The outdoor accommodation area was broad and partly covered, with reinforced stone underfoot, heavy timber posts, water troughs, shaded resting areas, and a wide gate opening toward the service road. It was still not designed around the assumption that someone might casually bring an Onix to the inn.

Rocky had solved this by curling himself around the outer edge of the courtyard like a section of misplaced fortification. Hibi lay in a patch of afternoon sun between two sections of his body. Webby had constructed something ambitious between a railing and one of the shelter posts, apparently without consulting management.

And Ito...

Ito was sitting sideways in a chair with her legs hanging over one armrest, a tall glass of something pink and iced in one hand, basking in an afterglow.

Her upper eyes were closed. To anyone who did not know better, she probably looked like a small girl in an unusually convincing Espeon-inspired outfit.

Ravina knew better.

One of those supposed eyebrow markings cracked open the instant Ito noticed her.

Then the other.

"Ravi!"

Ravina sighed.

"Subtle."

Ito grinned.

The upper eyes remained open now, no point pretending around family.

Ravina stopped a few steps into the courtyard. Ito looked exactly as comfortable as someone who had absolutely no right to be.

Fresh drink. Decent clothes. Well-rested Pokémon. Not a sign of financial stress anywhere.

Suspicious.

Very suspicious.

Toni's tiny head emerged from the depths of Nikola's fleece, her dark eyes blinking slowly as she took in the newcomer across the courtyard. The movement was deliberate, the hatchling's curiosity overcoming her earlier caution as she processed the unfamiliar figure with focused concentration.

Ito's grin vanished.

She stared.

Toni stared back.

Ravina watched the two of them regard each other, the moment stretching with an unexpected weight that had nothing to do with the normal chaos of their interactions. This was different. This was something new.

Ito slowly lowered her glass, the pink liquid sloshing against the ice cubes as the movement became more deliberate, more careful than before.

"...What is that?"

Ravina immediately moved to cover Toni's ears, her fingers hovering just above the hatchling's head before she remembered herself. The gesture was instinctive, protective, but ultimately unnecessary.

"She can probably understand you. She hatched yesterday."

Ito's expression changed.

Not softer, exactly.

Ito had never been particularly skilled at looking soft. Her features were too sharp, too otherworldly for conventional displays of warmth.

But something in it shifted. A quality of attention that transformed from casual observation to focused interest. A subtle recalibration that suggested the fae had just registered something important, something that required her full consideration.

"Yesterday?"

"Yesterday."

Ito slipped from the chair, the movement fluid and unnervingly silent as she came closer. Her upper eyes remained fixed on Toni, the lower pair tracking Ravina's reactions with predatory awareness as she closed the distance between them.

Toni shifted in Nikola's fleece, her tiny head turning to track Ito's approach with focused concentration. The hatchling's dark eyes widened as the fae drew closer, her body instinctively pressing deeper into the Mareep's warm coat as if seeking reassurance from the familiar texture.

Ito stopped before them, her movements unnervingly silent as she lowered herself into a crouch that brought her closer to Toni's level. The height difference between them became almost comical—the diminutive hatchling barely reaching Ito's knee even with the added height of Nikola's fleece.

Toni stared at her face.

Then her ears.

Then the closed line where one upper eye had been a moment ago.

Ito noticed.

One upper eye opened, the dark orb fixing on the hatchling with predatory intensity.

Toni froze.

Then the other.

Toni's entire attention sharpened.

PURPLE.

SMALL.

Ravina snorted, the sound soft in the quiet courtyard as she translated the newborn's assessment.

Ito narrowed all four eyes, her expression shifting from curiosity to something closer to offense.

"What?"

"She thinks you're small."

Ito looked genuinely offended, her upper eyes widening with theatrical indignation as she processed the insult.

"Your child is rude."

"My child hatched yesterday."

"Then she has learned quickly."

Toni stared again.

MORE.

The impression bloomed in Ravina's mind, clear and absolute as the hatchling processed the unusual arrangement before her.

Ravina laughed, the sound soft and genuine in the quiet courtyard.

"Now she's noticed the extra eyes."

Ito's expression brightened, her upper eyes widening with theatrical appreciation as she processed the compliment.

"She's observant."

Toni tilted her head, the movement sending her tiny body pitching slightly in Nikola's fleece. The hatchling's dark eyes remained fixed on Ito, her curiosity overriding any sense of balance.

Ito tilted hers the other way, mirroring the movement with predatory precision.

Toni tilted farther, her small body leaning precariously as she continued her examination of the unusual face before her. Ito matched her, her upper eyes remaining locked on the hatchling as her lower pair tracked the precarious angle of Toni's descent.

Ravina watched this continue, her magenta eyes narrowing with exasperated amusement as she observed the increasingly dangerous game between the two.

"I hate that you're both doing this."

Ito tilted farther still, her movements fluid and unnervingly silent as she pushed the hatchling toward the edge of Nikola's fleece. Toni almost tipped out of the sling, her tiny hands flailing in empty air as she lost her balance.

Ravina caught her, her movements swift but gentle as she intercepted the tiny escapee mid-descent.

"Enough."

Toni squeaked, the sound high-pitched and indignant as her planned tumble was thwarted.

Ito laughed, the sound bright and genuinely amused as she straightened from her crouch, her upper eyes still fixed on the hatchling with predatory delight.

“What is she?”

Ito's voice carried an edge of genuine curiosity, her upper eyes narrowing as she examined the tiny hatchling still nestled in Nikola's fleece.

“No idea.”

Ravina's response was matter-of-fact, her fingers absently stroking Toni's shell as the hatchling shifted position in the warm wool.

Ito stopped her perusal of the courtyard, her attention now completely focused on the exchange between Ravina and the mysterious Pokémon. The ice in her glass clinked softly as she set it down on a nearby table with deliberate precision.

Ravina nodded, her expression caught between amusement and resignation as she recognized the familiar pattern of Ito's escalating interest.

“Yep.”

“No, really.”

Ito's voice lowered, her upper eyes narrowing with predatory intensity as she leaned closer, her movements unnervingly silent as she examined the hatchling from every angle.

“No idea.”

Ravina's response remained unchanged, her posture relaxed as she watched Ito's growing fascination with the newborn.

Ito stared at Toni again, her upper eyes narrowing with focused concentration as she processed the hatchling's unusual characteristics.

“Cool.”

“That was also my reaction.”

Ravina's voice carried the weight of shared discovery, her magenta eyes meeting Ito's gaze across the small distance between them.

“Did the Pokédex explode?”

Ito's expression brightened with theatrical anticipation, her upper eyes widening as she imagined the technological chaos that might result from scanning such an unusual creature.

“No. Worse.”

Ravina's response was dry, her lips twitching with suppressed amusement as she remembered April's clinical assessment and the inevitable paperwork that would follow.

Ito's eyes brightened with genuine delight, her upper eyes widening as she processed the implication behind Ravina's words.

“It made paperwork?”

“Provisional research entry.”

Ravina's confirmation was delivered with the gravity of someone who understood the full bureaucratic implications of such a classification.

Ito recoiled, her expression shifting from delight to horror as she processed the true extent of the administrative nightmare that had been unleashed upon them.

“Monster.”

"April was the one who added the medical data."

"April's here?"

"And Berry."

Ito made a small noise, something between a hum and a click that suggested careful processing of information rather than actual speech.

Ravina narrowed her magenta eyes, the movement sharp with suspicion as she tracked the subtle shift in Ito's posture.

"You know Berry."

Ito's expression became carefully neutral, a studied blankness that did nothing to hide the flicker of recognition in her upper eyes.

"I am acquainted with Berry."

"That is not what I asked."

"It answered the question."

"No, it didn't."

Ito smiled, a slow, deliberate curve of her lips that revealed nothing and everything at once.

There it was.

That strange way she had of telling the truth while somehow providing less information than if she had outright lied. A skill so refined it bordered on an art form, so maddeningly fae that Ravina had almost forgotten how much she both hated and missed it.

Ravina sighed, the sound soft in the courtyard as the realization settled over her.

She had missed this.

She hated that she had missed this.