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Description
     Poppins sighed with relief as he finally saw the Medical Tent. He didn't like the place or needed to go there, but his teammate's leg had developed a limp during the trek back from Snowy Village, and he needed to get Nella looked at in spite of her constant insistence that she was fine.

      Originally, he and the Houndour had planned on staying with his parents longer, but Chill mentioned that there was a gift giving event at Tao, and Nella jumped at the chance to give back to some of the other teams who had, in some cases literally, dragged the two pair of Rescuers out of danger since their career started. So, against his better judgment, the Mincinno let the two go back, on the condition that Nella would go straight to Doctor Quaak before she tried any gift giving and Popins delivered a bag of gifts for Mike to distribute through out the guild. Suddenly, the fire-type beside him stumbled, causing him to drop the bag and turn.

    "Are you sure you don't want me to drag you the rest of the way?" he asked.

    "It's not bad," Nella replied forcing a grin and picking herself up as she took the lead.

    "You're tripping."

    "I'll walk it off."

    "If by walk it off you mean damage that leg enough to make it fall off, I believe you. Wait is that blood? Did you tear it open again?"

    "Vhat do you mean tear it open again?" The two Pokémon turned around to see a Golduck glaring down at them. "Ach, you dumkopfe. Ve took zhe stitches out of her leg right before you left and now look. Bleeding. Vhat did you do? Remedy, I need your help out here."

     "Drop off the bag and make sure we add the Doctors to the list," Nella whispered as she offered her injured right leg to Remedy and began doing her best to answer all of the questions she was asked.

      Poppins hesitated before moving back to the Rescuer's tree house, climbing with only one wing because of the bag. Exhausted, he entered Mike's office. "Hey," he gasped. "I have a delivery from Chill."

     "Is it about the Triangle?" the Charmander asked turning to the Prinplup.

    "I don't know. He just wanted what's in this bag to be given to everyone in the guild and to give you this letter," Poppins answered handing over a bent envelope.

    "More presents?" Maple squealed, hopping into Mike's room.

   "They're for the guild," Mike replied opening the letter.

   "And I'm the guild's head musician," the Stunky declared digging into the bag.

   "A signed picture?" Mike gasped as he saw what came with Chill's message.

    "Isn't it great Mike? The bag is full of them!" Maple replied holding multiple pictures in her paws.

    "Yeah, let's start giving those out," Mike said, distracted by the letter. "Care to help?"

    "My partner's in the Medical Tent, so I need to check her out as well as figure out our plan of attack for the party," Poppins replied heading towards the door. He paused at the exit then turned back. "I know it's not much, but if you need someone to talk to about not having a partner, have someone send me over. I almost lost Nella on that Mission."

    "Alright, thanks," the Charmander replied. "By the way, since you completed the mission you earned this. You can trade it in for something at Leavanny's Tailoring." Mike dug a green, leaf-shaped piece of paper out of a desk drawer and handed it over to the Water type.

      "Thanks, I'll get something good with it," the Prinplup replied.

***

     Ice was pleasantly surprised by the work Team Mischief had been doing. Not only had they managed to finish most of the gifts they were going to give out, but she was actually having fun. The little Sneasel was grinning ear to ear, as she worked on stitching the pillow she was making for her brother. Ice hadn't really expected that she'd have as much fun spending hours sticking a needle and some of Leilani's thread through some fabric as she did when she was fighting. His teammates had probably already gotten him pillows and other stuff the two didn't have in Creeping Forest, but the Sewaddle had assured her he'd like it.

     "Having fun, Ice Creeeeeeeeam?" Sly purred in the other Dark-type's ear, and she had to do everything she could to make sure she didn't stick the needle clenched between her claws into him.

     Maturity, she thought as she forced out a few deep breaths. "I was," she replied, glancing at his work. "Hey, I actually made mine look like what I'm supposed to be making." She showed off the pillow, which consisted of scraps of fabric of a variety of colors that always made the Sewaddle cringe, but still had the basic rectangular shape.

     "This is exactly like what a bow tie looks liiiiiiiiiiike," Sly purred back lifting up his project.

     Ice hadn't seen a lot of bow ties, but she was sure that wasn't how they looked. From what the Sneasel remembered of the ones she saw the shape was something like a pair of triangles stuck together with a knot or, in the case of their Guild Leader Devonshire, a gemstone. She cocked her head to look at it from a different angle, but that didn't change the fact that she was pretty sure Sly's might have had a square on one side and a triangle twice as long on the other.

     "Uh huh," she said getting back to work. Then again, this was a gift to the one Pokémon in Tao who might be weirder than Sly, so maybe it'd be well received.

***

     With a little help from Ice, Leilani had managed to finish a string of decorations to hang on the accessory shop, and was now dragging it through the snow. She knew she should have asked her teammates to help, but this was the longest she had seen either of them sit still, and something about the gift giving had made the Sneasel calm down a little, so she didn't want to ruin the moment. She sighed, hopefully the trailing parts wouldn't get damaged.

     "May I help you ma'am?" someone asked.

     "Oh, yes, thank you, sir," she replied as she felt her load of decorations getting taken off. She looked up to see who was helping her, and when the two made eye contact both froze. The last time they had seen each other, the Sewaddle was moving away to get some Oran Berries to recover from his Ice Punch, while the Mankey was bound and gagged in a tree.

     "I've been told to help with decorating. So, where are you putting these?" Maurice asked. She seemed to genuinely need help, plus she was on Silver's sister's team, and it probably would be best for the boy if the two teams got along.

      "Oh, I'm hanging them at the Accessory Shop."

      "Do you want help hanging them too?"

     "Oh, that would be great," she replied, surprised that he'd help her hang decorations from a building after she already hung him in the middle of a forest. The Sewaddle looked around, and noticed they were near the bone yard. "What brings you to these parts? Ice said you lived in the Village."

      "I'm trying to figure out some gift giving to someone in the area. Perhaps you know of Mister Renegade from Team Shadowheart?"

      "I've seen them around, although our teams have talked a little, although I don't know what he'd be interested in."

     The Mankey looked around briefly, then said, "Do you know when his team leader, the Ninetales, is not around? My team had a negative encounter with her, and I think it'd be easier to give Mr. Renegade his gift if she wasn't around."

     "I see," Leilani replied. During one of the brief conversations the two teams had, the Sewaddle had noticed that both Stellaluna and Ice disliked Maurice's team leader. "I'm sorry, I can't help you. Like I said, we don't talk much. All I've noticed is that he's fond of Miss Stellaluna, the Ninetales. Why don't you go with your instincts."

     "Okay, thank you."

     The two continued together to Leavanny's Tailoring, passing Kyurem and heading to the door.

     "This place reminds me of home a little," Leilani said, shaking off the snow.

    "How so?" Maurice asked as he placed down the string of decorations and knocked on the door.

    "My parents are both Leavannys. They didn't have their own shop, but they did sew. I miss them, but I'm having a lot of fun with Mister Sly and Miss Ice. There are so many opportunities here."

    "I see."

    "Do you miss your parents?" the Sewaddle asked looking towards her companion. Maurice froze and looked down leaving a long silence hanging in the air, until finally a Cherrim opened the door.

     She was around Leilani's age, with an apron tied around her waist and a leafy hairclip pinned to her hair petals. Sherri smiled brightly and asked, "Hello, how may I help you?"

    "My name is Leilani. I wanted to offer my thanks to you and the other tailors for your help by hanging some decorations I made and volunteering at your shop," Leilani replied. "This is Maurice, he offered to help hang the decorations."

    "Okay, feel free to hang your decorations, although before you help out I have to ask how much experience you have," the Cherrim replied.

    "My parents taught me when I was little," she responded as she began untangling the string of decorations. Unfortunately, some parts the thread she made from her String Shot had stuck together, but it was an easy fix. When she had freed one end, she handed it to Maurice who climbed up to the roof, the bits of glass and metal tied to it glinting in the sunlight. "I haven't done a lot of sewing since I came here, outside of the gifts my team is making, so I don't have any good samples."

    "Thank you, I'll talk to Winston," the flower-like Pokémon said as she moved back inside.

      In the mean time, Leilani climbed up the side of the building and began using String Shot to secure the line of decorations to the building. She and the Mankey made quick work and were able to hang the string and glass in a way the complemented the lights already hanging.

     "Were you the one who said she'd help at the shop?" a Whimsicott said, squinting up at them through his orange sunglasses. It was Winston, who provided most of the stores fabric and had more or less taken over managing the shop while Crys was overcome with his obsession over a mysterious fabric that he recently received.

     "Yes, sir," she replied, climbing down after nodding to Maurice in thanks.

    "Come on in, we need someone to help Chrys's sister with the sewing," the Whimsicott gestured and headed inside, followed by Leilani.

    Maurice waved good-bye and began wandering the village, a habit he had taken to recently as he tried to figure out what to give to the small group of Pokémon in Tao he was fond of.

    "What do you mean you don't want anything?" someone squawked from across the town square. Maurice moved over to investigate.

    "We're pretty happy with what we have," said an Eevee, smiling and wagging her fluffy white tail. The Nidoran beside her nodded in agreement.

     "But I'd still be frozen if you two hadn't helped Poppins," added a Houndour. Maurice immediately recognized the Fire-type as one of the Pokémon he had delivered medicine to; she and her partner both looked more tired than they did when he last saw them.

     There was a long silence before the Nidoran finally said, "well, if you really want to, you can just give us games and toys."

    "Thank you," Nella replied enthusiastically. The two teams parted.

    "This is going to be a nightmare. Are we part of some minority of Rescuers think getting stuff would be nice?" the Prinplup said throwing up his wings in frustration.

    "The Merchant and Rogue team didn't give us too many ideas either," Nella sighed, "We'll try to look around the Kecleon Stand to get some ideas."

     "Worst case we just buy a pile of thank you cards then give most of the money my family gave us to Hearth," Poppins laughed and the two Rescuers turned around and headed over to the small stand and looked around, unaware that Maurice was following them.

     The two Rescuers walked over to the stand. "Just this once," Nella commented as she bent down so Poppins could climb on.

      "Try to get higher so I can have a better view," Poppins replied, as he stood as tall as he could on his partners back. "Alright, PK's gone all out on this." He was right, there was still a pretty good variety of things to look at, ranging from everyday items like berries and basic tools for repairs to items that they hadn't seen at the shop like lava lamps and paintings. "I think we can probably find something for everyone we're buying for- oh no."

    "What?" Nella asked.

    "The prices. We won't be able to afford all of this."

    "Oh," Nella replied, her ears drooping.

   "If you want, I can help pay," the Mankey answered. Poppins fell off of Nella startled.

   "What's your problem? Why'd do you startle us you-" Poppins started to rant only to find a dark paw over his beak.

    "He's offering to help us with this, don't yell at him," the Houndour hissed in his ear before turning to him. "Really? Why would you do that?"

     "I was planning on getting you team something to make up for, well, some of Madam Coco's behavior. This seemed important to you, plus I think the two of you can help me try to mend things with another team," Maurice replied.

     "Alright!" Nella agreed nodding enthusiastically and headed to the back of the line.

Description
     Poppins sighed with relief as he finally saw the Medical Tent. He didn't like the place or needed to go there, but his teammate's leg had developed a limp during the trek back from Snowy Village, and he needed to get Nella looked at in spite of her constant insistence that she was fine.

      Originally, he and the Houndour had planned on staying with his parents longer, but Chill mentioned that there was a gift giving event at Tao, and Nella jumped at the chance to give back to some of the other teams who had, in some cases literally, dragged the two pair of Rescuers out of danger since their career started. So, against his better judgment, the Mincinno let the two go back, on the condition that Nella would go straight to Doctor Quaak before she tried any gift giving and Popins delivered a bag of gifts for Mike to distribute through out the guild. Suddenly, the fire-type beside him stumbled, causing him to drop the bag and turn.

    "Are you sure you don't want me to drag you the rest of the way?" he asked.

    "It's not bad," Nella replied forcing a grin and picking herself up as she took the lead.

    "You're tripping."

    "I'll walk it off."

    "If by walk it off you mean damage that leg enough to make it fall off, I believe you. Wait is that blood? Did you tear it open again?"

    "Vhat do you mean tear it open again?" The two Pokémon turned around to see a Golduck glaring down at them. "Ach, you dumkopfe. Ve took zhe stitches out of her leg right before you left and now look. Bleeding. Vhat did you do? Remedy, I need your help out here."

     "Drop off the bag and make sure we add the Doctors to the list," Nella whispered as she offered her injured right leg to Remedy and began doing her best to answer all of the questions she was asked.

      Poppins hesitated before moving back to the Rescuer's tree house, climbing with only one wing because of the bag. Exhausted, he entered Mike's office. "Hey," he gasped. "I have a delivery from Chill."

     "Is it about the Triangle?" the Charmander asked turning to the Prinplup.

    "I don't know. He just wanted what's in this bag to be given to everyone in the guild and to give you this letter," Poppins answered handing over a bent envelope.

    "More presents?" Maple squealed, hopping into Mike's room.

   "They're for the guild," Mike replied opening the letter.

   "And I'm the guild's head musician," the Stunky declared digging into the bag.

   "A signed picture?" Mike gasped as he saw what came with Chill's message.

    "Isn't it great Mike? The bag is full of them!" Maple replied holding multiple pictures in her paws.

    "Yeah, let's start giving those out," Mike said, distracted by the letter. "Care to help?"

    "My partner's in the Medical Tent, so I need to check her out as well as figure out our plan of attack for the party," Poppins replied heading towards the door. He paused at the exit then turned back. "I know it's not much, but if you need someone to talk to about not having a partner, have someone send me over. I almost lost Nella on that Mission."

    "Alright, thanks," the Charmander replied. "By the way, since you completed the mission you earned this. You can trade it in for something at Leavanny's Tailoring." Mike dug a green, leaf-shaped piece of paper out of a desk drawer and handed it over to the Water type.

      "Thanks, I'll get something good with it," the Prinplup replied.

***

     Ice was pleasantly surprised by the work Team Mischief had been doing. Not only had they managed to finish most of the gifts they were going to give out, but she was actually having fun. The little Sneasel was grinning ear to ear, as she worked on stitching the pillow she was making for her brother. Ice hadn't really expected that she'd have as much fun spending hours sticking a needle and some of Leilani's thread through some fabric as she did when she was fighting. His teammates had probably already gotten him pillows and other stuff the two didn't have in Creeping Forest, but the Sewaddle had assured her he'd like it.

     "Having fun, Ice Creeeeeeeeam?" Sly purred in the other Dark-type's ear, and she had to do everything she could to make sure she didn't stick the needle clenched between her claws into him.

     Maturity, she thought as she forced out a few deep breaths. "I was," she replied, glancing at his work. "Hey, I actually made mine look like what I'm supposed to be making." She showed off the pillow, which consisted of scraps of fabric of a variety of colors that always made the Sewaddle cringe, but still had the basic rectangular shape.

     "This is exactly like what a bow tie looks liiiiiiiiiiike," Sly purred back lifting up his project.

     Ice hadn't seen a lot of bow ties, but she was sure that wasn't how they looked. From what the Sneasel remembered of the ones she saw the shape was something like a pair of triangles stuck together with a knot or, in the case of their Guild Leader Devonshire, a gemstone. She cocked her head to look at it from a different angle, but that didn't change the fact that she was pretty sure Sly's might have had a square on one side and a triangle twice as long on the other.

     "Uh huh," she said getting back to work. Then again, this was a gift to the one Pokémon in Tao who might be weirder than Sly, so maybe it'd be well received.

***

     With a little help from Ice, Leilani had managed to finish a string of decorations to hang on the accessory shop, and was now dragging it through the snow. She knew she should have asked her teammates to help, but this was the longest she had seen either of them sit still, and something about the gift giving had made the Sneasel calm down a little, so she didn't want to ruin the moment. She sighed, hopefully the trailing parts wouldn't get damaged.

     "May I help you ma'am?" someone asked.

     "Oh, yes, thank you, sir," she replied as she felt her load of decorations getting taken off. She looked up to see who was helping her, and when the two made eye contact both froze. The last time they had seen each other, the Sewaddle was moving away to get some Oran Berries to recover from his Ice Punch, while the Mankey was bound and gagged in a tree.

     "I've been told to help with decorating. So, where are you putting these?" Maurice asked. She seemed to genuinely need help, plus she was on Silver's sister's team, and it probably would be best for the boy if the two teams got along.

      "Oh, I'm hanging them at the Accessory Shop."

      "Do you want help hanging them too?"

     "Oh, that would be great," she replied, surprised that he'd help her hang decorations from a building after she already hung him in the middle of a forest. The Sewaddle looked around, and noticed they were near the bone yard. "What brings you to these parts? Ice said you lived in the Village."

      "I'm trying to figure out some gift giving to someone in the area. Perhaps you know of Mister Renegade from Team Shadowheart?"

      "I've seen them around, although our teams have talked a little, although I don't know what he'd be interested in."

     The Mankey looked around briefly, then said, "Do you know when his team leader, the Ninetales, is not around? My team had a negative encounter with her, and I think it'd be easier to give Mr. Renegade his gift if she wasn't around."

     "I see," Leilani replied. During one of the brief conversations the two teams had, the Sewaddle had noticed that both Stellaluna and Ice disliked Maurice's team leader. "I'm sorry, I can't help you. Like I said, we don't talk much. All I've noticed is that he's fond of Miss Stellaluna, the Ninetales. Why don't you go with your instincts."

     "Okay, thank you."

     The two continued together to Leavanny's Tailoring, passing Kyurem and heading to the door.

     "This place reminds me of home a little," Leilani said, shaking off the snow.

    "How so?" Maurice asked as he placed down the string of decorations and knocked on the door.

    "My parents are both Leavannys. They didn't have their own shop, but they did sew. I miss them, but I'm having a lot of fun with Mister Sly and Miss Ice. There are so many opportunities here."

    "I see."

    "Do you miss your parents?" the Sewaddle asked looking towards her companion. Maurice froze and looked down leaving a long silence hanging in the air, until finally a Cherrim opened the door.

     She was around Leilani's age, with an apron tied around her waist and a leafy hairclip pinned to her hair petals. Sherri smiled brightly and asked, "Hello, how may I help you?"

    "My name is Leilani. I wanted to offer my thanks to you and the other tailors for your help by hanging some decorations I made and volunteering at your shop," Leilani replied. "This is Maurice, he offered to help hang the decorations."

    "Okay, feel free to hang your decorations, although before you help out I have to ask how much experience you have," the Cherrim replied.

    "My parents taught me when I was little," she responded as she began untangling the string of decorations. Unfortunately, some parts the thread she made from her String Shot had stuck together, but it was an easy fix. When she had freed one end, she handed it to Maurice who climbed up to the roof, the bits of glass and metal tied to it glinting in the sunlight. "I haven't done a lot of sewing since I came here, outside of the gifts my team is making, so I don't have any good samples."

    "Thank you, I'll talk to Winston," the flower-like Pokémon said as she moved back inside.

      In the mean time, Leilani climbed up the side of the building and began using String Shot to secure the line of decorations to the building. She and the Mankey made quick work and were able to hang the string and glass in a way the complemented the lights already hanging.

     "Were you the one who said she'd help at the shop?" a Whimsicott said, squinting up at them through his orange sunglasses. It was Winston, who provided most of the stores fabric and had more or less taken over managing the shop while Crys was overcome with his obsession over a mysterious fabric that he recently received.

     "Yes, sir," she replied, climbing down after nodding to Maurice in thanks.

    "Come on in, we need someone to help Chrys's sister with the sewing," the Whimsicott gestured and headed inside, followed by Leilani.

    Maurice waved good-bye and began wandering the village, a habit he had taken to recently as he tried to figure out what to give to the small group of Pokémon in Tao he was fond of.

    "What do you mean you don't want anything?" someone squawked from across the town square. Maurice moved over to investigate.

    "We're pretty happy with what we have," said an Eevee, smiling and wagging her fluffy white tail. The Nidoran beside her nodded in agreement.

     "But I'd still be frozen if you two hadn't helped Poppins," added a Houndour. Maurice immediately recognized the Fire-type as one of the Pokémon he had delivered medicine to; she and her partner both looked more tired than they did when he last saw them.

     There was a long silence before the Nidoran finally said, "well, if you really want to, you can just give us games and toys."

    "Thank you," Nella replied enthusiastically. The two teams parted.

    "This is going to be a nightmare. Are we part of some minority of Rescuers think getting stuff would be nice?" the Prinplup said throwing up his wings in frustration.

    "The Merchant and Rogue team didn't give us too many ideas either," Nella sighed, "We'll try to look around the Kecleon Stand to get some ideas."

     "Worst case we just buy a pile of thank you cards then give most of the money my family gave us to Hearth," Poppins laughed and the two Rescuers turned around and headed over to the small stand and looked around, unaware that Maurice was following them.

     The two Rescuers walked over to the stand. "Just this once," Nella commented as she bent down so Poppins could climb on.

      "Try to get higher so I can have a better view," Poppins replied, as he stood as tall as he could on his partners back. "Alright, PK's gone all out on this." He was right, there was still a pretty good variety of things to look at, ranging from everyday items like berries and basic tools for repairs to items that they hadn't seen at the shop like lava lamps and paintings. "I think we can probably find something for everyone we're buying for- oh no."

    "What?" Nella asked.

    "The prices. We won't be able to afford all of this."

    "Oh," Nella replied, her ears drooping.

   "If you want, I can help pay," the Mankey answered. Poppins fell off of Nella startled.

   "What's your problem? Why'd do you startle us you-" Poppins started to rant only to find a dark paw over his beak.

    "He's offering to help us with this, don't yell at him," the Houndour hissed in his ear before turning to him. "Really? Why would you do that?"

     "I was planning on getting you team something to make up for, well, some of Madam Coco's behavior. This seemed important to you, plus I think the two of you can help me try to mend things with another team," Maurice replied.

     "Alright!" Nella agreed nodding enthusiastically and headed to the back of the line.