It's still Valentine's Day somewhere, right? Alaska? Hawaii? I'm not late with this dangit! Anyways just a small little collection of very short stories dealing with how some of my PCA kids are handling and doing on Valentine's Day.

All characters belong to their respectful creators.

Story icon (C)  The_Lost_One (sorry man, was just too cute for me not to use)

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Carnel paced nervously in front of the hotel restaurant. Behind him, his tail swayed erratically, brushing away any snow that might have been accumulating from passerbys. Every few minutes he'd check his watch and sigh before looking around. He knew he shouldn't be worried, it wasn't like he hadn't had dates before now, but this was the first time he'd actually been with someone on Valentine's Day and he had wanted it to be special.

He glanced around again and tugged on the jacket he wore, pulling it tighter around him. The waiting was too much and the cold of the air was starting to get to him. He turned on his heels finally caving in and deciding to wait for Emily inside. At least there it would be warmer.

No sooner had he turned when he heard his name being called out. The treecko morph stopped in his tracked and turned to face the source of the female voice. Running up to him was Emily. The grovyle female wore a thick orange colored jacket and matching hat. She panted harshly as she reached him but smiled. "Sorry I'm late," she stated.

"Everyone was asking me about this."

Carnel nodded and smiled, most of his nervousness waning a bit. He was still nervous about something else though. He hadn't mentioned that his mother worked as chef here and that he wanted her to meet Emily. Still, he was sure that things would go well. His mother wasn't one to ruin a special day like this for him.

***********

On the other side of the city, Obsidian Catseye-Cailin rummaged through his room. All ready on his bed were an assortment of outfits. Some casual, some formal, some that he had no intention of ever wearing in public, and some that were a mix of casual and formal. He rubbed his chin a bit and sighed.

"Oh for the love of. . . Choosing something to wear shouldn't be this damn hard!" He huffed to himself and dug out another set of clothes and tossed them on to the bed with the rest.

Though he muttered to himself, he knew he only had himself to blame, suddenly doing things at the last minute. He hadn't even planned on going out for Valentine's Day, but a thought had struck him and he followed through with it. He'd just finished making one very important phone call, and then made dinner plans (something he quickly learned was insane to try on this day). Now he just needed something to wear.

"You should wear the white jacket with the black turtle neck and jeans," a soft female voice suddenly came from next to him.

The absol gave a yelp of surprise and jumped away, turning to face the newcomer. He was greeted by the smiling face of his guardian, a female pidgeot named Helen. She chuckled softly and shook her head.

"You have a date?"

"Something like that," he replied.

"Who?"

"No one important...yet." He smiled at Helen. "Maybe after it, I'll bring them home to meet you."

Helen chuckled softly. "Is that a promise?"

"Yes."

**********

Back at the PCA campus, a male farfetch'd made his way quietly towards the female dorms. At least, he tried to make his way quietly, however his zigzagoon companion felt like voicing his opinion constant on the farfetch'd's plan.

"Look, Malcolm, I just said that I don't get why you're doing this. I mean, sure she's kinda cute and all, but dammit, she got an insane set of lungs and is probably the biggest spoiled bi-" He cut himself off at the glare Malcolm gave him. "brat, anyone's ever seen."

Malcolm rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Yeah, Fred, you've been saying that this whole time. You know, you don't have to come with me. I'm just dropping something off." He held up the small pink envelope he held in one hand. "Just putting this under her dorm and heading off. That's it. And her being a brat? Who cares? I'm a stubborn spoiled brat myself yet you hang around me all the time."

The zigzagoon sighed in defeat and nodded quietly. Malcolm thanked the powers that be for small favors. He loved Fred like a brother, but the zigzagoon tended to complain too much. He shook his head a bit and looked at the letter he held. He didn't know how it would be received but he hoped for the best. This was really just the first step in things after all. No need to get hopes up or have big expectations.

The pair entered the dorms and made their way upstairs. It wasn't long before they reached the room Malcolm had wanted. He quietly slipped the letter into the nameplate that read "Kimberly Fayrin" and knocked at the door. Before the occupant could answer, zigzagoon and farfetch'd were already heading off.

"Still think you're batshit crazy for falling for her," Fred stated one last time.

"Maybe I am crazy," Malcolm replied with a slight smile. "Maybe I am."

**********

Over in the male dorms, Jasper Drake slumped on his bed. He was thankfully alone for now, Les had gone off on a date with his girlfriend and Varen had suddenly had to leave. The vulpix didn't say where he was going, just that he needed to go and that he'd be gone a while. It didn't matter to Jasper, though he was a bit happy that the shiny vulpix had become more social and wasn't completely reliant on Les any more.

Having the dorm room to himself suited the lucario just fine. It definitely made things easier. He smiled a bit to himself. It meant that he wasn't going to have to ask awkward questions when he got a visitor. He was still readjusting to having a girlfriend again and all the awkwardness that went with it. He didn't need anything more making it even more awkward.

A light knock came at the door as he was thinking this. His smile grew at the sound and he stood up, padding over to the door and opening it. He was greeted by the sight of a female tepig who looked to be a year younger than him. Her dark green eyes lit up as she smiled brightly at him.

"I keep you waiting?" She asked, her voice soft and almost not fitting for her slightly muscular yet oddly rounded frame. She padded in as Jasper stepped to the side and shook his head.

"No," he replied. "Not at all." His own smile grew as he embraced her from behind after shutting the door. "We have the place to ourselves today."

The tepig rested her hands on his own and nodded slowly. "That's good." She looked back at the male, despite being in pigtails, her hair brushed over his shoulder as she did so. "So, ordering out?"

Jasper chuckled softly and kissed her ear. "Yeah. You okay with that, Amy?"

Amy nodded again. "Yeah. Some pizza and cuddling up with you sounds like a good way to spend a night."

***********

Jennifer padded quietly down the hallways of the PCA. All around the buizel girl, decorations hung. From the streamers than crossed the ceiling rafters and hung down from them to the hearts made of construction paper stabled to the bulletin boards all done in reds, whites and pinks to her fellow students that were on their way out, arms laden with flowers, cards and chocolates. Each hammered in the fact that Valentine's Day was there and with force.

The romantic holiday was in full swing and for the first time, she found herself depressed by it. In years past she had always had someone to just hang with even if she didn't have an actual date. This year there was no one. All her closest friends were busy with dates of their own and there was no one she particularly close with for a date. To say that it was a sobering experience for the normal jovial female would be an understatement.

She gave a soft sigh. Before the last few months, she had never really considered settling down with one person. She had always kept her eyes open for a fun time or someone who'd be cool just to hang with. Enjoying life and having fun had been foremost for her and while that hadn't changed, it seemed less fulfilling than before.

Lately, she had started to find herself restless and oddly lonely, longing for serious companionship. The reason behind it all eluded her. She wasn't sure if it was just simply growing up, if it was from all the responsibility she had been taking lately, or the fact that everyone she really knew had managed to find someone (even her stoic and prudish team leader and managed to find herself guy!).

It wasn't as if she didn't have her eye on someone, but it didn't help that the two she really had found interest in were either not ready to settle down themselves or were too shy to even think about a relationship (and wasn't lacking of other possible suitors herself). She gave another sigh and shook her head, a wry smile on her lips.

"Well this just blows."

**********

The soft beep on the other end of the phone was followed by the dull, monotonous sound of the dial tone all of it sounded muted and distant to the purloin who held the cell phone close to her ear. How long Ashlyn held it there, she didn't know, though eventually her arm grew tired and fell limp by her side. The cell phone slipped from her loose hold and fell to the ground, landing soundlessly on the plush carpet that lined the floor to her bedroom.

She blinked slowly, tears welling up in her eyes as she started to clench her teeth. She sniffed and panted a bit, a hand coming up to clutch at her shirt near her chest. Strength left her legs and she slumped to her knees, her other arm limp at her side. The tears that had begun to form in her eyes flowed down over her cheeks as she choked out a soft sob.

She hated herself for being so foolish. Since the day she had met Jasper, she had harbored a crush on him. He had been a major help to her when she started at the PCA after her adopted father enrolled her there. They had formed a quick friendship and she was hoping that it could have gone beyond that, but she never had the courage to confess her feelings. Even after finding out that they had been put on a team together, she couldn't get herself to do so and now it was too late. She had seen the signs, seen how close he and Amethyst had been getting and she had deluded herself in to thinking that that wasn't as serious as it had looked. She constantly told herself that if she just got the courage to say something that she would have a chance. If there had been, it was gone now.
The tears flowed freely over her cheeks as she curled up in a tight ball and cried. Her stomach hurt from the nervousness of making the call and the emotional blow had felt like a punch to the gut.

For hours she laid on the floor, crying until no more tears came. Her throat hurt and was hoarse, snot ran from her nose, eyes were blood shot and the fur on her cheeks darkened from her tears.

If not for her phone suddenly ringing, she probably would have remained curled up all night. The cheerful ring tone hurt her ears and in her mood, she found it annoying. She reached out and grasped the cell phone and was half tempted to throw it across the room until she saw the name on the display. "Sumisu Shinjin" it read.

Ashlyn blinked a few times and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. Confusion settling in. Sumisu was her other teammate and the two weren't exactly close. Why she would be calling now?

"H-hello?" she asked as she answered the call, her voice cracking as she spoke.

"Ash? Are you okay? You sound odd. . ." Sumisu's voice held a sharp twinge of worry.

"No," replied the dark type. "I'm not. I..." She stopped herself and wiped her nose. A realization that she desperately needed someone to talk coming over her. Not just on the phone, but in person. "H-hey, could you come over?" She asked. "I- I really could use the company."

There was a long pause on the other end before Sumisu replied. The worry her voice held had become stronger. "Okay. Yeah. I'll be there in twenty minutes, if the buses cooperate."

"Thanks."

"Sure thing."

Ashlyn ended the call and dragged herself on to the edge of her bed. It still hurt, her heart. The emotional blow still prevalent but maybe talking about it sharing it finally would help. She hoped it would.

***********

Julie stretched and smiled to herself as she left the Julafton household. Considering everything, it had been a pretty productive few days for her. She had finally accomplished her goal of getting her cousin to realize that Lesleigh wanted to be his girlfriend and she had managed to help move things along more between Petie and Anne. Sure, she was a little jealous of them but she was happy for Petie for finding someone he really liked. She was also pretty confident that anything else that needed to be moved forward could be done by Rose.

She made her way towards the PCA campus, deciding to drop by the gyms. She still had a bit of extra energy in her and figured a little training couldn't hurt.

As she went along, she couldn't help but find herself thinking on her cousin and his friend's relationships. She had been spending most of her free time since she had come to the school and found Jules just trying to open his eyes to realizing that Lesleigh like him and then when Anne had shown up and picked up interest in Petie she just couldn't help the two out. Now, it was all done. It was an odd feeling. Now what would she do? What would she focus herself on next?

She frowned as she pondered over the possibilities. More and more, the realization of just why she was a little jealous clicked inside of her. She'd been so busy on helping others out with getting relationships started that she hadn't even considered herself. She was kinda jealous of they had and wanted to share that feeling as well.

She clapped her hands together and nodded to herself. She had found her new goal: get herself a man!

She pushed open a door to a gym that seemed almost deserted. The almost part was because of the gym's lone occupant. Near the far side of the empty gym, a young oshawott boy had set up a few training dummies and was practicing what seemed to be shell techniques.

Julie watched a bit in awe as the water type threw his shell, missing the target. At first, she thought that it was simply a bad throw but noticing the male's demeanor she realized that he'd meant to miss. The shell boomeranged and struck the dummy in the back. She blinked a few times and made her way to an out of the way bench. Fascination in her eyes as she watched him perform more tickshots with the shell. So lost in the sight was she, that her new found quest was completely forgotten and she ended up spending the rest of the day simply watching the young water type.

~FIN