Red snickered at them and let his team out. His team were all fairly well behaved. But his Pikachu did pop up to settle in his lap, looking somehow smug. Red just heaved a long-suffering sigh.

Ithica grinned.

"Yeah, I hear starters do that," she said. Dragonair trilled again and draped part of itself across Ithica's shoulders. "Case and point."

She studied his team for a moment, eyeing the Espeon longingly before shaking her head a little and giving Zoroark some head-scritches as the pokemon settled in next to her. Metagross rumbled and settled down not far away, and Milotic curled up nearby as well.

Red noticed the look though and smirked. Oh that was going to be fun. Espeon was a bit of a show off and an attention whore, so this could be highly entertaining. For him.

Ithica stretched and yawned, and then went about taking care of her team for the night. She even ended up breaking out her steel maintenance kit when she saw some tarnish starting to build up around Metagross' joints. She glanced over at Red as she worked.

"Does Blastoise need any attention around his cannons?" she offered. "While I've got the polish and everything out? Or does he generally not need it?"

"Generally pretty good," Red said, watching her work. "I check to make sure. Just checked a few days ago."

"Alright," Ithica said, nodding a bit. Once she was done with Metagross, she put the kit away and took out a brush. Zoroark promptly went over to her and settled in to be brushed.

While Ithica was distracted by the others, Dragonair went over to investigate Red and Pikachu. It was curious about the only trainer so far to be able to defeat Ithica.

Red held out a hand so Dragonair could sniff to its hearts content. Pikachu just sneezed, sitting up and taking notice again, but in a friendly manner rather than defensive.

Dragonair sniffed Red's hand, and then leaned in to sniff Pikachu. Once it was satisfied with its findings, it trilled, pleased, and nuzzled Red a bit.

Red blinked, surprised, before he chuckled quietly. "Hello there," he murmured, gently stroking Dragonair's head. "Curious one, aren't you?"

Dragonair trilled again, clearly content. It might be fierce in battle, but outside of battle it really was a sweetheart.

Red chuckled again, and Pikachu sneezed before settling down. Clearly Pikachu was not at all bothered. Instead it chirped at Dragonair.

Dragonair trilled and tilted its head a bit, flapping its little headwings a little.

Ithica was watching the interaction with a bit of interest, and so was the rest of her team. Zoroark was content being brushed, and Milotic and Metagross were comfortable where they were, but Togetic and Chandelure went over to investigate as well.

Red chuckled at that. "Well, come on, then," he murmured to the other two, holding out his free hand for them. Pikachu bounced over to Togetic to investigate in return.

Chandelure drifted forward, investigating. It gave a soft, crooning sigh as it extended one of its arms to cast more light on Red.

Togetic floated down and greeted Pikachu with a small chirp.

"Hello there," Red murmured to both of them.

Pikachu chirped back at Togetic, its tail twitching a little in its excitement.

Chandelure crooned in greeting, waving its arms a bit. Dragonair just trilled and bumped Red's arm, looking for more head-scritches.

Togetic laughed and clapped, settling down next to Pikachu.

Ithica looked over and blinked. Then she laughed a bit.

"Looks like they like you," she said.

Red snorted and went back to scratching Dragonair. "I suppose so," he agreed, humoring the pokemon. He even reached over to poke Chandelure gently.

Pikachu bounced a bit and started playing with Togetic, because clearly this was going to be a thing.

Milotic just rolled its eyes at them all and settled in with a soft trill.

Ithica grinned.

"Seems my group is more cuddly than yours," she teased Red. "Except Pikachu, of course." She glanced at his group briefly.

Red snorted quietly. "They're more reserved," he said. "They can be cuddly, when the mood strikes."

Ithica snickered.

"Snorlax, maybe," she allowed. "Espeon, possibly. But I've never even heard of a snuggly Charizard, or Venusaur, or Blastoise."

"You'd be surprised," Red said dryly. "Venosaur will literally grab me for cuddles sometimes. Charizard makes a good napping spot."

Ithica snickered at the mental image of Red being grabbed with vines.

"Oh I might actually pay money to see that sometime," she said.

"Stick around long enough and you won't have to." Red smirked a bit and settled in again. "Just wait."

Ithica just laughed a bit and settled in. The next morning, she slept in long enough for Dragonair to decide it was time to wake up, and ended up being poked out of bed by the dragon.

"Okay, okay, I'm up," she mumbled, rolling off the couch and stretching.

Red was already up and laughing silently at her over his cup of coffee. Pikachu bounced over to boop Dragonair and say good morning.