Fumbling around the keys with impatient fingers, a young man selects the key to the lock before him. Finally getting a grip on it, he jammed it in place, gave the mechanism a couple quick turns and pushed forward with unrestrained enthusiasm. Taking only one step into the living room, he bellowed out, "I'm Hooooome!" As he furtner walked in, his footfalls were drowned out by the thundering from the floor above.

Pads thumping down the stairs, claws scratching at the floor, the two sources of those noises were before him seconds after he heard them. Bodies of dark fur and red flashes, the weavile and the houndoom greeted the human before them, "Rick! You're home!"

Rick knelt down and scratched their heads, "I am! And have I got a treat for you today!"

"It's friday!" called another voice from upstairs, "Movie night!" Then a wide-capped creature hopped into the room.

"That's not all, Tarma! We're going to Video City to get it this week, and you know where that is!"

"The mall?" asked yet another voice beyond his sight, this one apathetic.

Rick's face was stuck in its excited state as he answered in his calm tone, "...Yes, the mall. We're going to the mall."

"And the park, too!?" asked the houndoom, hopping up and down.

"Yes indeed, Niter!" he replied amid the cheers of the three before him. "We'll be heading out right away! Carla," he turned to the weavile, "Get Ishtar. Tarma," he turned to the breloom, "get Gabe." The two set off. Within no time, she had returned with a lady of emerald and ivory features drowsily following behind. A few minutes later, another humanoid of the same colors entered with the breloom. The others were already in their pokeballs when they arrived. After beaming the mushroom kangaroo into his own, he dryly asked "Busy with something, Gabe?"

The gallade scratched the back of his crest, "Er, yeah. Had to wash my hands." To which he nodded with narrow eyes as he beamed him into his container last.

As he locked the door behind him, there waited a staraptor. "All ready to go?" it asked to the nodding of his pilot.

"Let's hurry, Louis!" Rick declared as he mounted and proudly pointed ahead, "To the mall!" And with a great flap they were off on their way.

Upon arriving at the courtyard, Rick released all the other pokemon and announced, "Okay, we've got about... two and a half hours, so I want everyone to meet back here then. Alright?"

"I'll be shopping in the northern halls," Carla stated.

Ishtar followed up, "And I'll join her."

He nodded, "Okay ladies, but please go easy on your cards," and the two were off.

Rick glanced over at the gallade that silently stood, before it finally spoke, "I-I'll search for something at the food court," And he hurried off with the breloom tagging along.

Louis was next, "And I'll keep an eye on Niter." Upon hearing that, the houndoom sped off in the park's direction, with the staraptor slowly taking off after him. Rick watched until the two were out of his sight, before making his way to the electronics department.

"...And the vulcanized tips add grip without cutting into anything," the clerk assured the weavile. She slid the glove on and lightly squeezed her arm to test before chiming to the gardevoir beside her.

["She wants to know if there are any pairs that are less heavy-duty,"] she telepathically translated.

"Tch. Yes, we do," the clerk confirmed with slight disappointment as he pulled out another, "Made of softer material, and a fair bit longer." Carla quickly switched the gloves, finding them going around her elbows. She gently ran them across her cheek before she happily chirped.

["She wants to know if you have anything similar for the legs,"] Ishtar translated again.

After all that, the two strolled out of the store, the gardevoir in a slow and uneasy gait. Her usual relaxed aura was clouded with doubt, and Carla took quick notice of this.

"Trouble with Gabe?" she asked.

"Wha?"

"You're bothered about something. I can tell."

"No, I just-"

"Isha. I can tell."

Ishtar sighed, "Yes."

"And it has something to do with Gabe."

"Yes."

"Well then, let's talk." she motioned towards a bench they were passing and they sat down. "Okay?"

"Alright."

"Now then. What about Gabe is bugging you?"

"I'm worried about... advancing our relationship...?"

"How do you mean?" Carla raised a brow.

"I mean, we live together, we've slept together. But we haven't... I mean..."

"Done it?"

"Yes."

"Is this because... kids, or something else?"

"Well, I feel like we've been on this level for a while and I'm not sure if it's healthy for it to be stuck on there for too long."

"...Okay."

"But I think if I'm too forward... Well, it wouldn't be fair to him."

"Wouldn't be fair? Wait, how do you know he doesn't want the same thing?"

"I... don't know. We haven't been communicating as much lately."

"Well, it sounds like that's your problem there. Talk with him, and I'm sure you two can work something out together. Then you two can screw and then problem solved."

Ishtar's mood drained and her eyelids lowered, "I was hoping you were going to stay serious about this."

"What?" Carla asked after she finished chuckling, "You haven't come to expect that yet? After all these years we've known each other?"

She sighed, "I suppose."

"Well, here's an idea," she pointed to a Victoria's Secret down the marbled hall, "Get something there that can... entice him..."

"...What are you getting at? There?"

"You may not need to outright say, "I want to have sex," to him. You could help him want it if he doesn't already."

"...I don't think you don't understand how lingerie works, Carla..."

"Oh, I'm not saying you need to present yourself in nothing but that before him. Just let him get little glimpses..."

"How so?"

"A glimpse of stocking here, a bit of uncovered strap there. Maybe a little gesture now and again as well..."

Ishtar was silent for a moment before she began to respond, "Well..."

"I mean you already wear it, why not get something a little more... alluring? That way it will seem more appealing to him if he isn't already interested, and then discussing it with him will feel a bit more familiar."

"I suppose..."

Meanwhile Gabe and Tarma sat in front of a Thai bistro, with cups of bubble tea. Gabe listlessly looked down as he stirred his with the straw.

"You know. You're supposed to drink in the tapioca balls through the straw whole, right?"

"Mmuh..." the gallade replied into his elbow.

"Of course, you wouldn't think they're, like, pudding. Since they've got all these flavorings and colors. You'd think they were berries, or soft candies. Kinda like those cheris they put on sundaes."

"Mmph..."

"Now I know a lotta guys would have second thoughts of ingesting balls. And plenty don't about having a milky, creamy drink. But you know, we don't come here often. We don't frequently get an authentic taste of localized emulated Thailand cuisine."

"Hmm..."

"You know, you haven't stopped talking since we started eating. That fork of yours must have been made from a recycled phonograph needle." he tapped a rimshot into the table and received only an awkward silence, "...Yeah, I guess that would have only worked for the Marx Brothers, or in their time." Still nothing. "Seriously man, say something! You've been like this all day! You don't usually keep stuff that's bugging you from me."

Gabe lifted his head up and let out a sigh, "I'm sorry, Tarma. Mind's been clouded."

"Well, what is it?"

"It's about Ishtar. Well, Isha and I."

"Okay, go on."

"Well, we've been a thing for a while now..."

"Yeah. Pretty much since back when we called Rick 'master.'"

"And we've been at the same level for a while."

"And you want to take it to the next level?"

"Um... Well, yeah. But, it's complicated."

"How complicated?"

"I get the urges, and I'd love for it to get... intimate? I think that's the word. But I don't want to screw it up."

"Screw up screwing?"

"Eh... Maybe. I guess not satisfying her, but I also don't want to be aggressive or anything. Heck, I don't know if she even wants it. And if I ask, then what is she supposed to say? I'd be pressuring her and-"

"Slow down."

Gabe sighed, "I don't want to be forcing her, but I don't want to be so passive or held back that she'd think I wouldn't be interested."

"Uh, okay," Tarma scratched under his cap, "I wish I could offer advice, but I'm not that experienced in this sort of thing. But-."

Rick's voice interrupted, "What sort of thing?" They turned to see him with a pair of plastic bags, one with a bunch of miscellaneous snack foods, the other with a single rectangle. "Hey guys! Got the gear for the movie!"

"Hey Rick!" chimed Tarma while Gabe averted his eyes, returning to the table.

"So, what's up?"

"Well," the breloom began before, "Gabe's a little conflicted..."

"About Isha?"

"Yet again," the gallade answered.

"Figures," he said as he sat down beside them, "So, anything new about it?"

"Well, I want to do it with her, but I don't know the approach, or how to go about it."

"It's kind of like when you first wanted to ask her out," Tarma added, "I forget. Who was it that finally asked?"

"Uh-huh. Well, on those sites, they don't really show how one would realistically ask."

"Yeah, I didn't think so."

"Wait," Tarma asked, "what sites?"

"Er..." Rick hesitated.

Gabe opened, "Basically, I browse a couple sites online that help me... Well, porn sites basically."

He continued, "And I choose what sites are safe enough for he and Carla to use."

"Oh," Tarma answered, "I can see Carla using those. And I guess you'd have use for those too, Gabe."

The gallade cleared his throat and took a sip of his drink as Rick followed up, "Well, I can't help but thank you for sticking to those. Its easier on the computer."

"...There's already enough on those..." he mumbled to himself.

"But that is more or less prolonging the issue. Now, I haven't had many girlfriends... One... But I know the two of you, and I think the best you can do to cut the tension is just talk about it with her. You two did plenty of that before this thing came up."

As the hour passed they all met where they parted and filed into their containers for the haul back home. The remainder of their night was spent with the explosions, jokes, and occasional one liners of the movie.