Archive of Our Own ^beta

Lechonk snuffled around the olive trees, searching for berries hidden in the dirt; his hooves leaving tiny indents in the soft ground. A woven basket resting near the base of one of the trees with a piece of red and white checkered cloth peaking out over the top. 

He had been looking for tasty berries all morning, thinking they would make a good treat for the picnic this afternoon. So far, he hadn't had any luck, wandering far from his usual spots but he wasn't going to give up yet!

He tilted his head to look at the green and black olives hanging from their trees when an idea suddenly sparked in his head. His friend, Smoliv, lived nearby and might be willing to help him look for the berries!

Excited, he picked up his basket by the handle and trotted off towards the mountain wall, where his friend had made his home. On the way, Lechonk spotted a Swablu carrying a red satchel as she flew away from the same direction he was headed, recognizing her as the well-known Swablu that brought letters to every pokemon in the area, handy if you lived a bit far from your friends and needed to send them a message without needing to travel very far.

After climbing up a hill, Lechonk found Smoliv tending to the olive trees that grew near his home, a small basket filled with said olives balancing atop the pokemon's head.

Smoliv turned just in time to see Lechonk making his way towards him, bouncing in joy at the sight of his friend and immediately realizing his mistake as the basket toppled off of his head and all the olives rolled away.

He shot Lechonk a sheepish grin as the pokemon chuckled, putting his own basket down to help Smoliv collect his lost fruit, the green ones being difficult to spot in the grass.

They settled down in the shade of the mountain once everything had been found and put back, the two deciding to take a small break.

"Sorry about that, I should really remember not to jump like that when something's on my head," Smoliv began to apologize but Lechonk simply waved him off.

"Oh don't worry about it, remember that time we were all hanging out near the cliff and I was sure I could keep a tower of berries on my back without them falling?" A smile appeared on the two pokemon's faces at the memory. They, Fidough, Combee and Bounsweet had been having one of their picnic's on a cliff overlooking the sea when Lechonk had boasted he was a balance master.

"Yeah and we're never letting you forget it either," Smoliv laughed, "your face when they all tumbled down and straight into the water was priceless!"

His friend's excitement made Lechonk laugh as well, "speaking of water, we should probably take the olives to a pond to get them cleaned up," he said through his giggles.

Smoliv nodded his head, leaves bouncing along with the movement. "Good idea, let's go!"

And so the two friends went on their way to find the nearest pond, passing a smallish town with a rickety old house standing slightly further away from the newer houses, an Espeon sleeping near the back door, body slowly rising and falling.

They ended up in the grassy field nearby, wildflowers blooming and bird pokemon singing as they perched on the highest branches. Two pokemon walking along the sandy path that ran straight through the field. Water would be easy to find here! Sure enough, it took almost no time at all to find a small body of water, surface shimmering in the sunlight, Surskit striding by while whistling a cheery tune.

They carefully washed of any spots of dirt or grass on the olives, needing to go slow as Lechonk's hooves had difficulty holding them and Smoliv didn't have anything to hold them with at all.

Once finished, they put the whole pile back in Smoliv's basket, Lechonk's ears twitching at the grass rustling in front of them, Fidough parting the blades and giving the two a bright smile.

"I've been looking for you two!" They yipped excitedly, bouncing up to their friends and raising their paw for a high-five, meeting Lechonk's hoof and booping Smoliv right in the face. "Did you get my letters? I send them out yesterday!"

"Oh I did! I did! It was an invitation for today's picnic right!?" Smoliv asked, jumping upwards as Lechonk quickly grabbed his friend's basket so the olives wouldn't fall out again, narrowing his eyes at his smaller friend but his slightly upturned smile told Smoliv he wasn't really upset.

"Oops! Sorry, again, anyways I brought these with me as a snack for today, is that okay?" Smoliv said as he kept bouncing in place, unable to sit still.

Fidough's eyes sparkled as they answered: "Sounds awesome! I brought something myself, see?" They turned to show the brown backpack strapped to their back, shrugging it off in a hurry and opening it up. Five freshly baked loaves of bread were kept inside, the smell making Lechonk's mouth water.

Though, now that snacks were mentioned...

Lechonk sprung up in a panic. "Oh! I completely forgot I was looking for berries," he turned to Smoliv and continued: "I was actually coming over to you to ask for help but I think we got a little distracted..." His ears drooped down sadly.

Fidough looked between their two friends, an idea already forming in their head, "Why don't we go visit Combee and Bounsweet? Their treehouse is right by the forest, there should be lots of berries there and we can go pick up our friends along the way!"

"That's a great idea!" Smoliv chirped, "race ya!" He ran off before Lechonk could remind him that he forgot his basket, Fidough offering to take it instead as they chased after their friend, happy grunts and yips echoing across the grassy field.

The forest was always beautiful during this time of year, rich green leaves creating a thick canopy with small spots where the sun could shine through, ferns and bushes growing towards the light, moss climbing up the trunks of large trees.

One such tree was home to Combee and Bounsweet, the girls having turned it into a tree house, complete with a kitchen, storage space, two separate bedrooms and a smaller one for a guest!

Lechonk, Smoliv and Fidough found Bounsweet standing on the ground, staring up at Combee as she danced circles in the air. The three explained their predicament to their friend, Bounsweet nodding and calling Combee down, the pokemon's wings beating rapidly.

"Berries? Well we did harvest some a few days ago but I think I saw some nearby," Combee twirled around as she talked.

"We made some of them into jam for the picnic 'cause we had a few left over!" Bounsweet added, bumping up against Smoliv in greeting, no hands solidarity.

"Might need some help getting the jars down though, if they break we'd be finding glass shards for weeks," Combee hummed, antenna's twitching.

"I can help with that!" Fidough exclaimed, already putting their paws on the ladder that led to the front door, "just put them in my backpack, I'll be super careful with them!" Combee seemed relieved, likely having been worried that she and Bounsweet wouldn't have been able to safely bring jars of jam all the way to their picnic spot without an accident.

As Combee followed Fidough up, choosing to go with them while Bounsweet led Lechonk and Smoliv further into the forest.

Lechonk could already smell lots of different types of berries, his walk turning into a cheerful jog. 

Within barely any time at all, they had a large pile collected in Lechonk's basket, their minds now several bad puns richer as Bounsweet hadn't been able to resist making them each time the group found a new berry.

Heading back to the tree house, they found Combee and Fidough waiting for them, eyes widening at the amount of berries their friends had found.

After checking to make sure the jam jars were secure in Fidough's backpack, they set off for their regular spot, the cliff near the ocean. Lechonk took the lead, Smoliv and and Bounsweet hopping after him, Combee flying near Fidough as they needed to walk a little slower to protect the jam.

Spreading the blanket Lechonk had brought with him, the group settled down to eat and talk, conversations lasting till the sun began to set on the horizon, its golden glow disappearing into the waves of the sea.

And, luckily for Lechonk, no berries fell into the water that day.