Love is Everywhere, Love is Suffering (Volkner One-shot| Pokemon)

The last oranberry! Just what she needed for the perfect Red-Velvet Poffin Cake.

"Piplup?"

"Yes darling, you're really the best." The tall blond woman leaned down, gently rubbing and scratching her starter pokemon's white cheeks. He fluffed-up his feathers happily as he permitted the praise.

Pidgey the Piplup was always hungry, for anything really. He had the habit of climbing on top of his trainer's head to get the high-ground where he would observe for food and delicious smells. Once he found what he was looking for he would point in the direction of the food, puffing up with pride and lead her to it. It made her smile. There was nothing more adorable than Pidgey the Piplup and his squeaks.

The old lady behind the fruit stand turned to start packaging her fruits in fancy boxes that...in reality, were what reminded her what today was. Valentine's day. How hadn't she noticed it before? The fancy pink and red garlands in the shapes of hearts, the amount ridiculous amount of posters advertising for chocolate sales in the Pokecenters, the scent of roses that always permeated the air...

"Laera?"

The woman's forehead crinkled for a split second, not at the sound of her name, but rather at the voice saying it. As she turned to look at the male, there was no mistaking him for anyone else in the entire region of Sinnoh.

"Volkner...I was expecting to see you out with Flint or Candice."

His blue bomber jacket, dark casual jeans, spikey but soft blond hair...there was no mistaking it. The Luxray further confirmed it.

"Nah..."

Those blue eyes that tended to pierce straight into her soul, that laid back attitude that made her pause, those lips that she'd tasted once before...

The grocery lady handed Laera her bags of berries, with the last oranberry in the whole district tucked away somewhere in there. She thanked her briefly before turning to face the gym-leader of Sunyshore's Electric gym. The pair stared at each other in silence.

Pidgey the Piplup turned to face Volkner's large Luxray and boldly stuck its tongue out at it. The large cat responded with a glare that made the little water penguin hide behind his trainer's legs.

"Shopping on Valentine's day?" He asked, hands in his pockets as he regarded her bags.

"I have nothing better to do, plus, I can cook a good meal for my Pokemon if I get everything I need." She sounded bashful, and it annoyed her a little. It was one kiss! Why could she never get it together around this man.

There was another pause where she couldn't look at him in the eye.

"Mind if I tag along?"

"Not really."

Volkner raised an eyebrow at the woman in front of him. He could never tell what her deal was. She was funny, energetic (some would even say hyper) and intelligent (despite the fact that she never bothered to evolve her Piplup). Her voice was like coffee. It made his chest warm, his pulse jump...around her he felt as though he actually had a drive to hold his own again. Her smile made him bite his bottom lip and her touch...was electrifying. There was no woman in Sinnoh that had ever made Volkner feel half of what Laera did...

So why was it so difficult for him to talk to her?

The gym-leader stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed behind her in silence as she took her chances at different booths. Her eyes lit up whenever her Piplup pointed out something delicious and-

"Oh! A couple! How lovely! We have couples discounts for the chocolate selections today."

Laera's head shot up from looking at the chocolates, to the young shopkeeper behind the stand, to Volkner. The panic in her eyes was clear.