Late one morning, on the stretch of road near where Luna resided, several pokémon she knew in town awkwardly eyed each other as they arrived around the same time. The timburr, mienfoo, and torracat each looked at the others quietly, sizing up the intentions of one another as they stood together, a short distance from Luna’s modest home.

“Are you guys here why I think you’re here?” asked Moe, the timburr.

“Word spread fast of Luna’s absence today,” answered Taka, the mienfoo, solemn and unphased. “I wanted to check on her.” 

“So did I,” added Koa, the torracat, his tone more defensive. 

“But we can’t all go in and check on Luna at once. That would make it weird,” Taka pointed out. 

“I suppose…” Koa reluctantly agreed, trailing off.

An awkward pause followed between the three of them. Then, Moe extended his fist.

“Rock-Paper-Scissors oughta clear this up quick,” he suggested. 

Koa and Taka both shot Moe a glare. “Are you serious? We can’t even play that game,” Taka said. Both he and Koa held up their paws to underscore their point.   

“Geez, fine. Then how about Rock-Paper-Claw?” Moe counteroffered. 

“I should go first. I’m the one who last went out with her,” Koa interjected.

“We have all ‘gone out’ with her,” Taka reminded sternly, “You’re not any more special to her than the rest of us.”

“I’m telling you guys, Rock-Paper-Claw is the way to go,” Moe said again. 

“I would sooner toss a rock at your skull than play a hatchling’s game to see Luna,” Taka snapped. 

“Well, I don’t think she wants to see any of us after a scuffle. Or maybe you’re afraid you’d lose?” Moe replied, turning smug. 

Fire sparked in Taka’s eyes. “That’s it. You’re on.”

“I’m in, too,” Koa quickly added, eager to save his chance to visit Luna.

The three of them shook their respective paws and fist in a circle, playing several rounds in quick succession. With each round, they called out: “Rock, paper, claw!”

They scored a 3-way tie. An uneasy, befuddled silence fell upon them. 

“Are we sure we can’t all go in together?” Koa asked, desperate. 

“That’s just asking for trouble,” Taka replied. 

Moe chuckled. “Just how much porno pulp have [i]you[/i] been reading? That’ll never go well. What’s she going to do, flop into our arms like some weak, lonely vixen? We don’t even know how sick she is. Nah, we gotta keep it to one guy at a time. And the first one’s gonna be me.” 

“Are you sure about that?” Taka said. “You’ve yet to break our stalemate.”

“Don’t you know I’m the reigning champion of RPC in the guild?” Moe countered. 

“Cute. I’m the reigning champion at the juice bar,” Taka volleyed, “That scene is an unpredictable nightmare compared to lightweight explorers like you.”

Moe and Taka’s eyes both fell upon Koa, scrutinizing him. The torracat blinked slowly, perplexed. “I’m just running with my luck until it runs out,” he said, answering their silent question under pressure, “Luna’s worth the trouble.”

“Can concur,” Taka agreed, smirking.

“You’ve got me there,” Moe agreed as well, as he readied his hand. “Best 5 out of 8?”

“Ties count as a do-over,” Taka advised, also readying. 

“What? Ties are a point for everyone,” Koa argued, joining the other two.

“Ties counting as points is a road to madness,” Taka said, “Why even have rounds?”

“Forget rounds, then. We keep going until there’s a three-point lead.” Moe answered. 

“That’s crazy! [i]You’re[/i] crazy!” Taka proclaimed.

“Not crazy, just determined,” Moe replied. 

Silence fell upon the three once more. It slowly sank in for the three of them that their contest may not resolve any time soon. 

“May the best pokémon win,” Moe added cockily, putting on a veneer of sportsmanship. 

They began again in earnest. “Rock, paper, claw! Rock, paper, claw! Rock, paper, claw! Rock, paper, claw!”

***

Brush giggled as she watched Luna’s old dates through the crack of the door. “They’re really playing Rock-Paper-Claw for you!”

Luna lied upon her bed, hot and bothered, burying her face in her paws as she groaned in misery. The eevee hadn’t left her home since that morning. Brush had arrived at the usual time, Team Foxy’s supplies hanging over her back, and discovered Luna’s predicament. But Luna’s partner proved more amused than concerned, even as the fennekin served as a lookout. 

“Aw, you should be happy,” Brush light-heartedly assuaged. “You got several good picks to take care of your problem.”

“Brush, no!” Luna whined, “You know what happens if I go for that now. We’re still rookies! How are we supposed to go exploring and rise in rank if I get an egg like some idiot?”

Brush replied, “You know not [i]everyone[/i] can knock you up, right?”

“Like I’d know who could and who couldn’t,” Luna shot back, groaning again. 

“Maybe Moe?” Brush said, but Luna didn’t listen.

“Dammit! If only Shale was here. What if I brought him with me? We’d be going at it by now like bunearies! At least I know [i]he[/i] would’ve stuck with me,” Luna whined on.

“They’re back to a tie again,” Brush said, not addressing Luna’s regrets, “You sure you don’t want to go out there and save them the trouble?”

“I really don’t want to see them right now,” Luna insisted. 

“So what’re you gonna do? Go back to the Yellow Sand Labyrinth and find your [i]boyfriend?[/i]” Brush questioned, half-singing. 

“N-no!” Luna stammered, blushing. “That’s a terrible idea. I wouldn’t know where to find him, and I’d have a huge target on my back.”

“More like your backside,” Brush quipped.

“You know what I mean!” Luna said. 

“Okay, so you’re not taking your chances with the boys in town, and you’re not hunting down your wild boyfriend. What’s the plan, then, fearless leader?” Brush needled. 

Luna pushed herself up upon her feet in a huff, stepping out of her bed. “We’re going to work, that’s what. We need a job, far away from here.”

“Um, how far? Like, overseas?” Brush asked, blinking with surprise as she turned towards her. 

“Yes! That’ll get me away from all the guys I know. I need [i]distance[/i].” 
 
“Well, that’s one way to handle it,” Brush said, amused. “Alright, once I get your neckerchief on you, I’ll go find a job and meet you at the dock.”

“Oh, um…you go right ahead. I’ve got something else to wear.” Luna said. 

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Just something to keep a low profile,” Luna carefully answered.

“Oh, boy. Just wave to me at the dock so I know it’s you, Luna,” Brush advised, as she turned back for the door. “See you!”

Brush slipped out of the hut through the door. The moment she was gone, Luna promptly shut the door behind her partner. She stopped for a moment, taking in a very deep breath. The eevee exhaled, as though to let the wound-up anxieties in her mind and body pour out. 

“Alright, Luna…you’ve got this,” she assured herself, her voice low. 

Luna trotted over to an inconspicuous pot in the corner of her hut. She climbed upon it by the forepaws. With her teeth, she bit into the handle of its lid and pulled back to pop it right off. After tossing the lid aside, she peered inside, spotting the cloth she sought to cover herself. 

Luna grumbled to herself: “Mom’s cloak. I can’t believe I’m using this.”

She leaned over the lip of the pot, reaching in head-first to take the cloth by her muzzle. Unfortunately, she lost her balance, and promptly toppled into the pot with a yelp. The frustrated eevee immediately began throwing her weight into the side of the pot, until it toppled over and rolled up against the wall. She finally escaped with the cloak in tow, crawling out of the pot with deeply wounded pride. Once clear of her clay prison, she unfurled the cloak with the whip of her head. As the heavy, midnight-blue fabric draped over her, she slipped her head through the hood. 

“Are you kidding me, mom?” Luna huffed. “If I wore this out in the desert, I’d cook!”

She felt around with one paw for the means to fasten the cloak around her neck. To her dismay, she discovered two dark, sewn buttons and a hole. 

“Oh, no. It could only be worse if it was laces,” she whined. She got to work massaging the hole over the outermost button with her paws, an ordeal that took several minutes, building her frustrations up higher and higher with every slip and failure. By the time the button got through, securing the hood snugly against her mane, she growled “Freakin’ finally!” in triumph.

At last, she was ready to go. The cloaked eevee cautiously cracked open her door and peered out. 

“They’re [i]still[/i] at it? Good…then I’ll just slip out.” 

Luna stepped out of her hut and quietly shut the door. She cautiously walked in the opposite direction, planning to loop around and head straight for the dock. But her nerves frayed as her footsteps proved noisy upon the hot sand that often gathered upon the stone-cobbled streets. She avoided the crunch of grains beneath her feet as best she could, hoping her aspiring suitors mistook them for the steps of passersby. Beneath her cloak, she seemed to float along like a faceless ghost. She suffered the curious gazes of the late-morning pedestrians, not daring to utter a word. 

Brush, sitting upon the lapras that waited in the ocean water, had similar thoughts on Luna’s appearance when she finally spotted the eevee approaching the dock of Sahra Town a while later. As Luna waved to signal she had arrived, putting a spring in her step to get off the sand and onto the seabound wood, her fennekin partner eyed her with even more amusement than before.

“Are you serious?” Brush said, stifling a giggle, “You look like the Desert Spirit of Sahra Town!”

“I’ll end up a spirit if we don’t get out to sea,” Luna answered, already sweltering beneath the dark blue cloak, “Please tell me you have the job and the liner passes.”

“Check and check,” Brush happily confirmed.

“Your partner’s cleared everything with me,” said the lapras, “But you’re sure you want to work today, right? I’ve got a schedule to keep, and these trips go one-way.”

“Yes, I’m [i]sure[/i]. Let’s go al-”

“Hey! Wait!”

Moe’s voice called out from the other side of the dock, startling Luna as her words were cut short. She spun around, her anxiety spiking, to see her flings coming to a stop after a breakneck sprint from the other side of town. The timburr’s hands were on his thighs as he hunched over, catching his breath, and his unexpected company of fellow bachelors flanked him, similarly short of breath. 

“H-How did you-?” Luna began to ask, but Moe cut her off again.

“I won the game. Your house was real quiet. We quickly realized you were out,” Moe answered. “You’re getting off this hot rock, huh? Must’ve scared you real bad.”

Luna detected an apologetic tone in his words. Brush, meanwhile, whispered to the lapras, “Um, how long do we have?”

The lapras spoke up so Luna could hear. “You’ve got two minutes,” she stated.

Luna at once started fretting in place. “N-no! And yes,” she stammered to Moe, Taka, and Koa. “Listen, hanging out with any of you is a real bad idea right now. It’s not worth the risk, because, well, [i]you know[/i]. So I’m playing it safe before I do anything stupid.”

“You’re in heat?” Koa said. He coughed, hard. “So, then…how long are you going to be like this?” asked the torracat, his words walking carefully over eggshells.

“Could be a few days, could be a week. Don’t know for sure. So, you guys give me some space, okay?”

Taka sighed. “If that’s what you want, we can respect that. I’ll say one thing before you go, though.”

Luna’s mind raced: [i]Don’tcommentonthecloakdon’tcommentonthecloakdon’tcommentonth-[/i]

“I don’t understand what you’re wearing, but it looks cute on you,” Taka complimented, smiling.

“It does look cute,” added Koa.

“Heck yeah, it does!” Moe confirmed. 

Luna internally screamed. Out loud, she replied, “Um, thanks! Well, gotta go, see you later!”

The eevee promptly hopped upon the lapras beside her partner. She clammed up immediately. Thankfully, Brush took the reins of the conversation, waving as the lapras began to set off for the sea. 

“Later, boys! Don’t get in too much trouble while we’re gone!” the fennekin called out to them. 

“Hah! Ditto!” Moe called back. 

“Huh? Where?”

“I mean ‘the same to you!’”

“Oh! Okay! [i]Byyyyye![/i]”

Luna tried her best to join Brush in waving, but her heart wasn’t in it. As soon as the coast of the Sand Continent disappeared behind her, she flung off the hood of her cloak to take in the ocean air and quietly whined. 

“Brush…please tell me we aren’t going to the Grass Continent.”

“Hmm? Nah, I wouldn’t do that to you,” Brush assured. She added teasingly, “Knowing your mom, she’d try to keep you locked up.”

Luna dropped her brow into Brush’s back, and let out a deep sigh. 

***

“Well, talk about a sight for sore eyes.” 

By midday, after Team Foxy arrived in Noe Town and took a short trail into the wilderness of the Mist Continent, their client finally greeted them at the entrance to a lone cave not far from the path. He waved at them as he spoke to himself, smiling warmly. 

“Hello!” Brush called back. But Luna stopped cold. 

“Brush, don’t tell me that’s our client,” Luna whispered anxiously. 

“Yeah! That ought to be Rowan. What’s the matter?” Brush whispered back, as the two of them began to close the distance to keep up appearances. 

“He’s a nickit, and he’s hot!”

Indeed, to Luna the nickit was quite hot. The red fox with the white underbelly had a tall, exotic countenance with an aura of confidence, with exotic markings of black and white that accentuated the look of a dashing rogue. Although his quieting, plush forepaws and the oversized plume of a tail that dragged behind him potentially aided in questionable deeds, Brush, and Luna especially, quickly gave the nickit the benefit of the doubt. He was their client, after all.   

“Like I knew he was going to be tall, dark, and handsome,” Brush said.

“Then you do all the talking, Brush. And keep it professional!” Luna replied, “He’ll notice I’m in heat, so [i]don’t say anything about it![/i]”

“Alright, geez!”

Luna and Brush hushed up as they finally got in close to their client. Rowan looked quite pleased to be in the company of fellow foxes. At least, he assumed as such. It was hard, at first, for him to tell who was beneath that heavy, dark-blue cloak skirting over the ground. But the flash of pretty, brown paws stepping forward, not to mention her scent, managed to tip him off.

“Team Foxy in the flesh,” Rowan greeted, “Thank you for coming all this way. With the three of us working together, we’re sure to catch this thief.”

“Oh, no. Thank [i]you[/i] for giving Team Foxy a shot!” Brush said. “That thief won’t give you the slip with an explorer team hot on his tail.” 

Luna kept her gaze averted beneath the cloak, staring at Rowan’s black, plush paws. She quietly recollected the details of the job Brush took for the team, as the two discussed during the trip overseas: Rowan, who fancied himself a spelunker, discovered his collection of natural gems being raided by a dark, shadowy figure with glowing eyes, who fled upon being discovered. Rowan managed to track the thief to an unexplored cave, and now sought the help of an explorer team to flush said thief out. In his job posting, he especially sought a team with a normal-type for aid, which Brush figured made Team Foxy a perfect fit.

“And that’s your normal-type partner under the cloak? Good. We just might keep the element of surprise,” Rowan said.

“Oh, yeah, Luna’s definitely a normal-type,” Brush confirmed, “But what you mean by ‘surprise’?”

Luna began to squirm. She wanted to spell it out for her partner, but didn’t want to invite Rowan’s interest any further. Fortunately for her, Rowan himself followed through. 

“I’m almost certain that our thief is a ghost-type. That makes Luna’s cloak ideal for deception. If this thief puts up a fight, it’ll waste any ghostly attack it thinks it can inflict upon her. The perfect opening to take it down. Being hard to see in the dark is just a nice bonus on top of that.”

Rowan stepped in closer to Luna, cocking his head with growing interest. “You are a clever eevee for sure, Luna,” he told her, “When we’re done here, I bet you look forward to dressing down without a moment to waste. The weight of that cloak must feel downright oppressive.”

Luna’s heart pitter-pattered against her mane. [i]Dammit! This cloak keeps backfiring on me![/i]  

“Oh, guess we’ll see after the job’s done, won’t we?” Brush said quickly, heading off a conversational train likely to get derailed. “Let’s head in before the trail gets cold.”

Rowan nodded to Brush. “A sound plan. You two take point, and I’ll cover our tracks from this thief.”

“Great! Let’s go, Luna,” Brush said, beckoning with one paw as she began the first steps into Flagstone Cave. 

“Mm!” Luna quietly affirmed, stepping past Rowan with a bit of haste. She got close beside Brush as the nickit quietly followed. She soon turned to look at Rowan over her shoulder.

“Rowan, we’ll scout ahead a bit, to make sure it’s safe. See you inside.”  

“We are?” Brush began to ask, but was quickly quieted by a sudden prod against her shoulder. She kept her pace with Luna as the two rushed into the cave, a few minutes out of earshot from the nickit. They soon came to a stop, after their due diligence to check for looming threats. 

“You should stay behind me,” Luna whispered to Brush.

“Shouldn’t I lead?” Brush whispered back in retort, “Rowan and I would keep you covered in a fight, right?” 

“Brush, he’s already [i]flirting.[/i] Please?”

Brush sighed. “Okay, I’ll try. But I think he’s already picked a favorite. You’re the [i]clever[/i] one, remember?” 

At this point, Rowan caught up to them. “Seems we’re safe, for now,” Rowan remarked. “Let’s carry on.”

Luna stifled a whine and took the lead as Brush pulled back to the middle, the group now moving single-file further into the new, mysterious cave. And so began Team Foxy’s overseas task. 

***
 
The cloaked eevee had hoped that the cave would be a small, secret base, with a thief dozing off and caught off-guard, and soon apprehended, so that she and Brush quickly got out of Rowan’s sight to spend the rest of the day isolated amidst the ocean waves, well before the nickit could try his luck.  But Luna found no such luck of her own. 

“Hope you don’t mind me saying, but this cave’s crystals got a [i]wonderful[/i] glow to it,” Brush told Rowan. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say we found a new mystery dungeon!”

“It could also be a pleasant spot for a rendezvous, if you know what I mean,” Rowan said. “It’d certainly be a waste to come here alone.”

Brush giggled, “Then good thing you have some company, don’t you?”

Luna mumbled with newfound misery, thinking: [i]Brush, you’re supposed to deflect him, not encourage him![/i]

The cloaked eevee spoke up as she stopped and turned to the others, trying to steer the conversation back to the mission: “Rowan? Any sign of our thief?”

“Let me come up for a closer look,” Rowan answered. Without much warning, he trotted past the fennekin and stopped right at the eevee’s flank. Luna immediately clammed up and froze on the spot, her look of surprise hidden beneath her hood, as Rowan sniffed for a trail and gazed ahead.

“Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?” Rowan asked, turning to Luna.

“Um, bad news first,” Luna answered.

“The thief barely has a scent to follow, though that’s expected of a ghost. But the good news is it’s been careless with the goods. Some of the smallest gems have fallen to the ground, and they aren’t natural to this crystal cave. We follow that trail, and we find our thief.”

“Oh, er, lucky us,” Luna said, relaxing a bit. “It’s good when you can have it easy.” 

“There’s something else, though,” Rowan continued.

Luna paused. “Oh?”

The nickit leaned in and brought his voice down to a whisper, his muzzle close to the side of her hood. “Are you here for more than just the job?”

“Um, what? I really don’t know what you mean,” Luna pressed back.  

Rowan slid one of his black paws forward and pressed it over Luna’s, enveloping it in a warm, plush sensation only a nickit could invoke.

“I think you do,” Rowan said. “You’re not just clever, but also quite…bold.”

Luna immediately fretted on the spot, yanking back her paw before she could melt any further from its touch. She broke out into nervous laughter. “Hahaha, oh, no no no! It’s not what you think! It’s not you, it’s just the hormones. Craaazy hormones. I’m here to work like any explorer. I didn’t come all the way across the sea for [i]that![/i] It’s just bad timing. [i]Really[/i] bad timing.”

“Ah…I see.” Rowan said, frowning. “Sorry to misunderstand. You’ll have to forgive me. It’s said that the grass is greener on the other side. There’s a similar truth to the prettiness of vixens.”

Brush quickly stifled a giggle in response as she watched.

“Hahahaha! Um, well, let’s just put that behind us,” Luna nearly blurted, “How about you fall back and I press forward, okay? We know what to look for now.”

“Sure. We still have a thief to catch,” Rowan acknowledged, as he stepped to slip behind the fennekin again. “Brush and I will have your back.” 

“G-Good!” Luna said. The cloaked eevee began to trot on, albeit a bit too quickly. “And the sooner we find that thief, the sooner we can get out of here.”

“Luna?” Brush spoke up, noticing the eevee’s speed. “Don’t go too fast. What if there’s-”

The fennekin’s words were cut short, as a click beneath Luna’s paws caused the cloaked eevee to immediately disappear in a mystical flash.  

“…traps?” Brush finished. Explorer and client alike raised their eyes in alarm.

“Was that a warp trap?” Rowan asked.

“That was a warp trap.” Brush answered.

“Oh, dear.”       

***

Luna reappeared moments later, flung far from Brush and Rowan by the warp trap into the unknown recesses of the crystal caverns. She squelched the yelp of panic that nearly flew out of her muzzle, held her breath, and completely froze. Her mind raced in response to the sudden wrench thrown into Team Foxy’s assignment, the most prominent thought being “Not again! Crap! Check for exits, check for enemies!” 

But the cloaked eevee barely began to gather her bearings when a voice nearby cried out in surprise. “Whoa!”

Luna spun hard towards the voice. Her eyes fell upon a fellow pokémon as it threw up its hands and recoiled, the likes of which she hadn’t seen before. The bipedal pokémon stood several inches over her height, purple in color, impish in physique, frayed at the elbows and bearing claws. But what caught Luna’s attention most was its face: wide, pointy and cut like a gem, with sharp, sleek ears, a long row of sharp teeth, and a glowing, eerie gaze of pale-blue gemstones. 

“Uum!” Fresh panic set in as Luna leaned back. It immediately dawned on her that this purple, ghostly imp might be Rowan’s thief. 

“Fuck [i]me,[/i]” the imp cursed, relaxing its posture to scrutinize Luna. “A new ghost, huh? You’re certainly no sableye. Geez, did you die just [i]now?[/i] You look real sad.”

The tone of the ghostly pokémon proved more masculine than expected, and not quite as spooky or devilish as he looked. Luna saw a chance to stall and winged it as best as she could: “Oh, you’re a sableye? Um, good to know! But, uh, how are you sure I’m dead?” 

Her eyes began to scan the premises more closely, looking for any signs that the sableye was the culprit. She didn’t want to start a fight, neither prematurely nor alone. But the area proved quite small, more like a den lit by a single growth of crystals, and traces of Rowan’s gemstones proved hard to spot with her untrained eyes. 

“Let me give you the scoop. One,” the sableye began, counting on his claws, “you popped in out of nowhere, girl, and two, you’re sure drooping about like a sad ghost. I can barely see your face!”

Luna didn’t enjoy the implication, but didn’t want to give away any advantage. “No, no, no,” she said back, “I didn’t just become a ghost! I’m still alive, I swear.”

“Uh-huh, sure. You at least remember your name?” quizzed the sableye.

“I’m not telling you if you don’t tell me yours first,” Luna insisted. 

“Heh. Trying to stall? It’s Jet. Your turn.”

“Luna. And I’m [i]not[/i] dead.”

“That’s what all the sad ghosts say,” Jet said with a shrug. “You got that heavy aura of someone who’s ready to go, but needs something so bad you just can’t leave. You’re one of those tragic maiden types, aren’t you? Died a virgin and all that.”

“Am not!” Luna snapped. “But, um, that’s not common here…is it?”

“The lost ones wander in here on occasion. You’re the first one to pop in and nearly scare the fucking gems outta me. At least you’re cuter than usual,” Jet remarked.  

Luna stamped her foot down, her patience gone. “That’s [i]enough![/i] I’m an explorer that stepped on a warp trap, you dumb ghost! I’d never let myself die so soon, Jet, so stop talking nonsense!”

“Wait…an explorer?”

The sudden shift in Jet’s tone as he fell quiet and mulled left Luna tensed on the spot. Her paws clutched the ground, expecting Jet to turn hostile, fearing the type advantage Rowan banked on wouldn’t work against those claws and teeth. 

And then the light bulb clicked over Jet’s head. “Oh yeah, an [i]explorer![/i] That means you’re friends with that nickit, right? Tell’im I’m still waiting on my next delivery.”

“…what?”

“You know, my gems! He’s sketchy and all, but I can’t say no to a big pile of ‘em. That shit’s fucking delicious. You know how much rock I’ve got to dig up on my own just to get to the good stuff?”

Luna’s voice dropped to a whisper as she bowed her head in contemplation. “But…Brush and I came to…”

Luna suddenly shot her head back up, her eyes aflame with a scorned gaze. 

“Whoa!” Jet exclaimed, startled once again.

“That smooth-talking bastard! He’s tried to use me [i]twice![/i]” Luna angrily exclaimed at Jet.

“Geez, now what’re you on about?” Jet asked. 

“Don’t you get it? That nickit set you up! Rowan hired me and my partner to get rid of you. He said you were a thief! We even had a trail to lead us right to you.”

Jet’s gemstone eyes flared red at the betrayal. “What?! No fucking way! I should’ve known…and you just took the nickit’s story at his word?” he asked. “The fuck’s wrong with [i]you?[/i]”

Luna’s temper flared up defensively. “Why do you think I’m wearing this awful cloak?” She raised the buttons of her cloak with an upward push of her paw from beneath. “I’m in heat, you moron!”

That shut up Jet real fast. He tried several times to respond, but faltered, running a gamut of expressions as he struggled to talk that touched upon confusion, epiphany, and embarrassment.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, Jet,” Luna said. 

“Okay, Luna, so you got a good excuse,” Jet conceded, shrugging. “But now we know he was trying to fuck [i]both[/i] of us. That means we rip him a fucking new one once he gets here, right? Not like you’d want to get his dick wet anymore.”

Luna’s gaze awkwardly trailed off from Jet’s gaze, not saying a word. 

“Seriously?” Jet pressed, leaning towards her. “That’s fucking crazy.”

“Oh, shut it, Jet!” Luna snapped back. “It’s not like you can do anything about it…um, not that I want you to.”

Jet rested his arms akimbo as a toothy grin drew across his face. “You sure about that?”

Luna eyed Jet out of the corner of her eye, momentarily struck dumb. “…What? Jet, you’re a [i]ghost.[/i] Look.”

Luna dropped her head to slip her paws beneath the hood and pull it back. She flung her head back up, her ears, face, and type now fully exposed to Jet’s view. 

“See? I’m not just alive, I’m as ‘normal’ as it gets. So forget about it. I’ll just have to keep my guard up until we take Rowan down. Then I’ll go back home before I get any more bright ideas.”

In response, Jet chuckled. “Well, Luna, I’ve got news for you.”

Jet caught Luna off-guard as he closed in, reached out with the palms of his claws, and gently pushed the cloaked eevee over by the shoulders. She gasped as he carried his momentum to catch and cradle her head, her back landing on the ground with the [i]fwop[/i] of her oppressive, blue cloak. The cloak splayed wide open, baring Luna’s body to the cool air flowing in from the outside. It barely hung on around her mane by the buttons of her hood. 

“I’m not a pure ghost, as you can see,” Jet told Luna, as he laid down her head. “And I know a thing or two about helping maidens like you. Not a big deal if you’re not a ghost at all.”

Luna burned up fast, turning as red as a ruby. “Um! W-wait, Jet, hear me out,” Luna said, shooting up a paw to Jet’s chest to pause the sudden turn of events. Her pad pressed firm against the round, red gem embedded in the sableye there. “I know you’re trying to help, b-but I’m trying not to get an egg, from [i]anyone[/i].” 

“Heh. That’s your call, but you ever heard of a Normal getting ghost eggs?” Jet replied. “Whatever. I know something else that’ll hit the spot.”

Jet reached with a single claw to un-do Luna’s button, unfurling her cloak upon the ground, now merely a plush sheet for the nude, nervous, and red-cheeked eevee. “You won’t need that double-crosser’s dick after [i]this[/i].” 

The sableye got to work. Shuffling down, his head drew close to Luna’s hindlegs as his claws pressed her inner thighs to spread them apart. Luna quickly raised her head as she fretted over Jet lingering so close to her down below, beholding the moist, petite mound that betrayed her lewd thirst.  “Uh-uhm! Jet, this is crazy, it’s not going to wo[i]Aaaan![/i]”

Jet cut off Luna’s words as an immensely wide tongue ran along the length of her folds until it flicked off the top of her mound. The act threw back Luna’s head with her sudden moan before she shot her paws to her small muzzle, embarrassed beyond compare by her outburst. As Jet’s tongue stoked the eevee’s desperate needs to the surface, he rolled it back to click her flavor once against his mouth.

“You taste real good,” Jet complimented, grinning, “Better than amber. You liked that, huh?”

“…Jet?” Luna replied, her voice hushed after a pause.

“Yeah?”

“K-Keep going. I don’t want to be caught like this.”

“Only if you ask nicely,” Jet teased.

Irked, Luna clamped her hind legs around Jet’s head. “Don’t waste our time, just [i]do it![/i]” she demanded. 

Jet’s mouth pressed firm against Luna’s mound, the sableye caught off-guard by the eevee’s sudden forwardness. But his surprise quickly turned to delight. With a short “hrm” of acknowledgement, Jet slipped his arms past her outer thighs, clutched her chest with his palms, and helped himself to her mane with gentle scratches that ran deep to her skin. He pulled his mouth back ever-so-slightly to extend his tongue, aiming its tip between the lips of her pussy before dropping his head back down to slide the wet muscle far between her folds. 

[i]“Aaanmmmnf!”[/i] Luna quickly cupped her mouth with her paws again, silencing an even louder moan as she felt Jet delve into her pussy. That tongue wormed all about inside her, lapping up every ounce of her juices as it churned for her pleasure. The eevee felt electrified after what felt like the longest bout of resistance in her life, huffing uncontrollably as the fire in her loins catalyzed into a powerful blaze. 

“Haan…Aaan…A-aanh~”

Luna’s forepaws wrapped over Jet’s claws, clutching them for dear life as she gasped ravenously. Her mound wrapped tight around Jet’s tongue, squeezing erratically for more. The eevee’s voice quavered and gained a crazed, desperate pitch as the sableye’s tongue stirred her every heat-fueled fantasy, from the hopeful and loving to the dark and degrading. Jet’s widening smile could be spotted out of the corners of his mouth as he reduced the maiden vixen to a melting, breathless mess. 

“J-Jet! Don’t stop! I’m…!”

Her paws clutched tighter. Her toes curled in the air. Her back arched hard and high. Her muzzle seized shut, desperate to muffle her voice for one last time. 

[i]“Mmmmmmmfmmnh!”[/i]

Luna finally came, her climax seizing her like an explosion. Her orgasmic juices rushed out from her pussy, saturating Jet’s tongue and splashing against his lips. Muscles deep within clamped hard and fast, squeezing Jet’s tongue where she would have tied the knot of her breed. In that moment of release, she imagined all the males in her collective fantasies plunging their cocks deep to seed and impregnate her, whether out of love, instinct, or dominance. The sheer thrill deepened her moment of bliss, her paws slipping from Jet, her faint breaths stammering in her primal stupor as she crumbled and fell limp.  

“Haah…H-haah…”

Luna wasn’t the only one pleased. Jet, his tongue still deep in Luna, peered across to the eevee’s pleasured face quite smugly. He aimed to tease her one last time. With some force, he plopped his tongue right out of her, the sharp motion surprising Luna with a moan she couldn’t quiet in time. Jet rose up to kneel, cleaning off his face, as Luna now felt almost as mortified as she was satisfied.  

“That worked well. Want me to clean you up?” Jet offered.

“You might as well,” Luna grumbled. 

Jet worked quickly. He dropped down to clean the juices between Luna’s thighs, his wide tongue making the task effortless on someone so petite. But as he finished the job, the sableye rose up again to his knees and frowned with worry.

“Uh, Luna? I think we fucked up,” Jet said, “That cloak of yours is [i]soaked[/i].”

Luna’s eyes flared, spinning to jump to her feet. “Screw the cloak!”

She bit upon the heavy cloth and, with a whip of her head and a muffled grunt, threw it into the farthest corner of the den. “I’ll deal with that awful thing after we deal with Rowan,” she added.

“Um, that’s not the only thing.”

“What is it n-Ack!”

Luna had turned to Jet and immediately zeroed in his formerly featureless crotch. There, the sableye’s arousal now prominently displayed: A glowing-white, tapered, ectoplasmic phallus that hung unmistakably erect.

“How do you even have a cock?!” Luna exclaimed. 

“I told you I’m not a pure ghost,” Jet defended. “You gonna help a guy out over here?”

“Are you kidding?! Brush and Rowan could be here any second!” Luna cried, breaking into a panic. “Can’t you phase into the wall or something?”

“I’d have a real easy time digging gems if I could,” Jet answered. “Sorry, girl.”

“Oh, no!” Luna’s eyes darted along the ground, desperate to come up with something. “Quick, come up with a boner-killer and-!”

[i]“Holy crap!”[/i]

Too late. Luna and Jet both spun defensively to the sound of Brush’s shocked voice at the entrance. There, they saw the widened stares of both the fennekin and the nickit. The gazes of both explorer and client shot back and forth between the fully exposed eevee and the prominently hung sableye, their jaws dropping as they immediately pieced together what was likely going on. 

Rowan stepped forward. “Luna, what in the world is going on?” he asked, on the verge of staging an intervention. 

Luna felt she could die on the spot. That feeling quickly angered her, as she fought to keep her head above the drowning sea of humiliation. “N-no! You don’t get to drive the conversation. We’re putting a pin on…all this!” Luna parried, “Jet, cover yourself! And you, Rowan! You lied to us!”

Jet promptly got up and cupped his crotch, not wanting to get in the way of Luna’s scorn. Rowan recoiled at the accusation, blindsided.

“Huh? W-What are you talking about?” Brush stammered, “Oh no, you’re on a first-name basis with the thief. This is bad.”

“Jet’s no thief. Rowan gave him the gems in the first place! Isn’t that right, Rowan?”

Brush paused. “But why would he-?” And then the light bulb clicked. “Oh. Ooooooh.”

Rowan steeled himself, breathing a disappointed sigh. 

“And it was going so well, too.” Rowan began. “After all, why would a rookie team from across the sea take a creepy-looking thief at his word? With the yarn I spun and the pieces I planted, it would have been open-and-shut, and that pesky sableye would’ve been out of my way. I should have accounted for rotten luck.”

“Rowan, you fucker! This is my home!” Jet cursed.

“So you admit it, then,” Luna pressed.

Of all the pokémon in that chamber, Brush looked the most crushed of all. Her form drooped as the disappointment sank in. 

“Why deny it? You’re too sharp. If you knew about sableyes at all, you likely would have pieced it together yourself,” Rowan said. “They rarely leave their caves, after all.” 

“Why’d you have to be so greedy, Rowan?” Brush said, her words heavy with regret. “You could’ve settled for me if you hadn’t lied. Now we have to take you in.”

At that moment, the nickit began stepping forward. “If you have to take me away, there’s something I must know, Luna. You ducked and weaved from my advances, and yet now you’re naked and eyeing the freakish cock of some spectral gem-eater. He’s not who you [i]really[/i] want, is he?” he asked.

The eevee began to lean away, starting to step back, “H-Hey, I said we’re putting a pin on t-!”

Luna’s words abruptly stopped as Rowan sprang forward and spun to stop right by Luna’s side. Without the brown cloak between them, the nickit pressed his flank and his advantage, brushing his svelte fur and his warmth upon the small vixen. He curled his sizable brush of a tail around Luna from behind, crossed a foreleg over hers, and ran his muzzle along her ear. Luna gasped and froze on the spot, suddenly enveloped in Rowan’s caress. 

“I’m pulling that pin,” Rowan told her.

“Tch!” Jet glared at Rowan. “Get off her, you fuck!”

“Calm down, Jet. You don’t want to harm Luna by accident, and neither does her partner,” Rowan warned. “I just want to make an offer to our needy little eevee, just so we can put this whole mess behind us.”

“…Rowan?” Luna spoke up, her voice delicate and teetering.

“Yes, Luna?” the nickit asked back, without missing a beat. 

“You can save your breath. I…I already got an answer for you.”

The eevee carefully crossed one forepaw back in front of Rowan. It pressed upon his own paw, nearly sinking into its the plush, gloved sensation. And then…

[i]“Oow!”[/i]

To Rowan’s shock, Luna stomped fiercely upon his foot. Before the nickit could retaliate, the newly-flustered eevee leapt away in retreat, stopping between Jet and Brush to confront Rowan proper. 

“You’ve got some nerve trying to pull that after what you’ve done!” Luna angrily proclaimed. “You’d disappear without a trace the moment you didn’t need me anymore.” She pointed to Jet. “At least [i]he’s[/i] more honest. You’d be more of a ghost than [i]him![/i]” 

Jet threw his head back with a delighted cackle. “Haaa-ha-ha-ha-haaa! She’s a real gem, isn’t she?” he said to Rowan.

It dawned on the nickit, at that point, that the odds weren’t stacked in his favor. Three pokémon now began to close in on him, ready to punish, and in his hubris he put himself in a corner. His cool demeanor faltered into more open panic. 

“I must protest! You’re jumping to conclusions, Luna. I’d care more about you than I would some ghost,” he argued, as he inevitably started to backpedal towards the cavern wall behind him.

Luna glowed with the power of Helping Hand, channeling its boost of strength into partner and denizen alike. “Too late, Rowan. You deserve what’s coming to you!” Luna said. “Get him!”

Brush’s muzzle lit with flames and Jet’s claws glowed a threatening shade as he raised them. The both of them pounced. Rowan cried out.

“Wait, stop! Aaaaiiiiie!”

***

Rowan proved more of a deceiver than he was a fighter. Team Foxy unleashed a merciless beatdown of scorching flames, spectral slashes, and pummeling stars along with the sableye. Outnumbered and overpowered, the nickit soon fell into a singed, battered, and spiritually lacerated heap, unconscious and utterly defeated.  

The sableye poked the nickit with one foot after the fox dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. 

“He’s not getting up for awhile,” Jet confirmed. “Heh, you girls are stronger than you look…Hm?”

Jet soon realized something was up. Moments after Rowan went down, Luna had slumped into a sitting position, suddenly overwhelmed. Brush stood beside her with newfound worry.

“Too close…that was too close,” Luna murmured to herself. 

“Hey, you’re okay now. You handled Rowan just fine,” Brush assured. 

“But I’m such an idiot, Brush,” Luna spoke up, turning to the fennekin. “Rowan nearly had me wrapped around his paw. We should’ve done more digging before we took the job.” She hung her head lower. “I should’ve stayed home instead. Home and miserable.”

Jet took a moment to cover himself once more, remembering Luna’s earlier demand. He approached Team Foxy, Luna in particular, standing before the eevee.

“Hey, Luna? Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Jet told her. If someone else took the job, I’d likely be booked as the outlaw instead of that fucking fox. You saved my ass from rotting in a cell. Thank fuck for that!”

“Um…well, that’s one way to look at it,” Luna admitted, looking up at Jet. 

“Also, you weren’t so miserable about, eh, 5 or so minutes ago,” Jet teased. 

Blood rushed to Luna’s cheeks, as Brush side-eyed her partner with a knowing smile. 

“Just how far did you go with Jet?” Brush prodded.

“Th-that’s none of your business!” Luna pushed back. 

“I see how it is,” Brush replied. “Tell you what, Luna: Rowan’s a little big for the both of us to carry back. If I go report him to the authorities back in town, you get to hold the fort with your new lover-boy for a while.  How’s that sound?”

Luna’s eyes popped with surprise as Jet shared in Brush’s grin. “That’d work,” Jet added. “More time for the both of us.” 

The eevee drowned in embarrassment and exasperation, dropping her face hard into one paw. she said: “No offense, guys, but I’ve got a better idea.”

Luna pried her face out from her paw, eyeing Jet. “Jet, if you’re serious about, um, ‘helping’ me more, can you first lead us safely out of here and haul Rowan back to town with us? You’ll be fine as long as Team Foxy’s vouching for you. Just…calm down a bit first.” She added that last part as her eyes wandered to Jet’s covered crotch. 

“Is that all? You fucking bet I’d dump this double-crosser for you,” Jet affirmed. He walked off right away towards the unconscious nickit, scooping Rowan right off the ground to lay the fox over both shoulders. “Ready whenever you are,” He assured. 

“Well, that’s a relief,” Luna sighed. “And Brush? Please tell me we have the money for a room tonight.”

“Um…no? We usually head right back home after working abroad, remember? Because you’re the one who doesn’t like ‘wasting money.’” Brush told her. 

“Oh, no.” Luna dropped her head again. “We’d never hear the end of it if Jet came back with us, even if he wanted to.” 

“Heh. What’s the problem? I got a ‘room’ right here,” Jet reminded. “You’re both welcome to stay as long as you’d like. It’s the least [i]I[/i] could do.”

Luna sighed, again. “Well…it’ll do,” she confessed. The eevee rose to her feet. “One last thing, Jet: Do you mind if I leave my cloak behind? I’m, uh, not going to need it anymore.” 

“Whatever,” Jet said, shrugging, “I can take out the trash later. Ready to go?”

Luna nodded. “Let’s go. Lead the way, Jet!”

The three of them began to walk together with the nickit carried along, the sableye taking point as Team Foxy followed close behind.

“You know, I’ve never seen a ghost pokémon get busy before,” Brush mused to Luna.

“You don’t get to watch!” Luna immediately shot down.

“Aaaw, you’re no fun. Guess I’ll just have to listen in,” Brush sang.

Luna grumbled.  Jet stifled a snicker.