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Bath Time
Today was cleaning day. That meant everyone on the Brave Asagi worked together to clean the ship, top to bottom, and give the Pokemon baths. Cleaning day usually went smoothly, they typically did cleaning day every other week, since chores were done daily and the Pokemon either cleaned themselves or were given their own baths independently from cleaning day.
This cleaning day went about as usual. The crew had breakfast, the kids had a battle, morning snacks were had, then they got cleaning. The only rooms that really got done on community cleaning day were the kitchen, meeting room, living room, observation deck, infirmary, engine room, and below the deck in the storage room. These went by pretty quick with the crew splitting up. Murdock and the kids did the kitchen while Mollie, Orla and Friede did the meeting room, then group a did the living room and observation deck while group b did the infirmary and engine room before everyone tag teamed the storage room.
They took a brief break just after noon, about halfway through their second rooms, to have lunch. Once lunch was finished, they finished cleaning before setting up four baths out on the battle deck. There, they paired up, with Friede being on his own, since none of them would make Ludlow do so much labor. They divvied the Pokemon differently each time, with today consisting of everyone doing their own Pokemon first, then splitting the ship’s wild Pokemon. Friede was to do Nosepass and Noctowl today, as well as getting Char and Cap clean.
He decided he’d do his partners after, since they tended to be pretty easy to bathe. The professor prepared the sponge and got it wet in the small tub he had full of water and used just a bit of soap before gently starting to scrub the compass pokemon. Nosepass made it fairly easy to clean, extending its arm as Friede got to it. After he was sure the pokemon was covered in suds and scrubbed clean, he stood up to go grab one of the two hoses they had screwed in. Luckily, both hoses were long enough to reach the far end of the battle deck with some space to spare.
When he came back to hose off the pokemon, he’d noticed Noctowl was perched on its head. “Now what’re you doin’?” He teased the owl, kneeling and turning on the hose. Noctowl turned its head and looked at Friede with a hoot. ‘Comfy’ was what he gathered from the pokemon and he snorted, using his hand to ensure the suds got washed away. “Doubt you’ll be comfy for long.” He chuckled and moved around to the other side of Nosepass to hose that side.
Noctowl chirred before resuming its near-sleeping position. Friede hummed and finished hosing down Nosepass before standing up and turning off the hose head. Roy jogged up to him and bounced from one foot to the other. “Friede, could Murdock and I use that hose?” The professor handed the boy the hose, getting a brief thank you before the boy ran off. Friede shook his head fondly before patting Nosepass’ head. “Alright, all finished. Noctowl, your turn. In the tub you get.”
He got an indignant hoot which he caught a ‘Not a chance’ in and he scoffed, already making his way over to simply pick up the Pokemon. He succeeded in picking the bird up and putting it in the tub, but that’s about as cooperative as the bird wanted to be. As soon as it was in the water, it splashed water everywhere, hooting and cooing at the man to not touch it and that it’d splash him into leaving it alone. “Hey-! The sooner y’let me do this, the sooner you’ll be let free, c’mon-!” Friede laughed, shielding his face from the splashing.
His words did not seem to settle the bird, but he managed to distract it just long enough to start scrubbing. Once the suds were clinging to the feathers, the bird seethed, but stopped splashing. It let the professor rinse the suds before splashing him again and taking off. The man sighed and shook his head before calling for Charizard and Cap. Cap was perched on Charizard’s head when they came over and Friede smiled. “Alright. Who’s first?” Cap hopped down and stood beside Charizard, arms crossed. Charizard growled lightly and stepped forward. “Alright. Lemme run and grab the other soap.”
The professor, although wet from all of Noctowl’s splashing, jogged inside the ship before going to his room. He flicked on the light to navigate to the connected bathroom before grabbing the bottles of shampoo and body wash he usually bathed Cap with. The Pikachu was slightly picky and only washed with the Pokemon soaps if Friede also used his own soaps. When he asked, he only got a noncommittal answer about wanting to always smell him. Friede checked the bottles to see how much was left before jogging back out, leaving his bedroom light on.
When he got back outside, Cap was already in the little tub, periodically ducking his head under the shallow water like a duck. Charizard was above him, its tail warming the water. Friede walked over and knelt down, humming softly, and Cap stood up in the tub, arms flinging up, splashing Friede. “Hey-!” The professor laughed and set his shampoo down. “How rude!” He teased, picking up the Pokemon soap. Cap snickered and waddled closer to Friede to allow the man to wash him. Friede smiled and put some of the soap into his hand before starting to scrub it into Cap’s fur.
When he was ready to rinse the soap, he used his hand first, cupping water in his hand and rubbing away the suds. When he got what he could, he stood up to go grab one of the hoses. He ended up having to wait for a bit while Liko finished hosing off Floragato, but he eventually walked back to his tub with the hose in hand. Cap was splashing around in the water to rinse himself off. “You’re gonna get all that dirty water all over your clean fur, bud.” Friede chuckled and knelt back down before hosing Cap off. He set the hose down to pick up his shampoo. “Alright, Mr. Picky, c’mere.” He teased, squeezing some shampoo in his hand.
Cap climbed up to stand on the edge of the tub, arms raised. Friede smiled and gently lathered the shampoo into the short fur of the yellow mouse. His shampoo was scented, and although it wasn’t a special scent, Cap seemed to love it and only bathed if he could use it. Without being told, Cap turned around carefully and let Friede gently lather his back and tail. He drew shapes in the suds before rubbing over them, the action soothing to the pikachu. Friede pat his head before picking the hose back up. By now, he was the last one outside, since everyone else was paired up.
Liko and Roy came over as he started hosing off Cap, drawing his attention. “Hey, Friede, do you need any help? Everyone else has already gone inside to take turns showering. And Murdock is starting on dinner.” Friede looked over at Charizard, who was the last pokemon he had to bathe. “What do you think, bud? Want the kids to help give you a wash?” Charizard growled softly, which Friede picked up as a yes. He looked back up at the kids as he turned off the hose,” Sure! Charizard’s my last one, so we’ll wash him together.” He stood up. “Just be careful. His tail can’t go out.”
The kids nodded and walked over. Roy picked up the pokemon soap and gave himself and Liko some soap and the two started rubbing the soap against the scales. When Liko saw Friede capping his shampoo, she tilted her head,” Is that a different pokemon shampoo?” Friede looked up,” Oh, no. It’s mine. Cap’s picky with baths. He’ll only bathe if I let him use my shampoo.” He chuckled and picked up the towel that had Cap’s name on it. All the Pokemon had their own towel. He wrapped the pikachu in the soft white towel before picking him up.
He gently toweled the pokemon off before letting him climb up onto his shoulder. Once Cap was comfortable, Friede walked over and helped the kids soap up Charizard. “Why do you always end up on your own on cleaning days?” Roy asked out of nowhere. Friede hummed and went to pick up the hose. “Well. It’s mostly just that we're an odd number of people. Though, Cap only ever lets me bathe him, and Charizard has separation anxiety around water. And I usually get Nosepass ‘cause it’s most comfortable around me.”
He walked over and started carefully hosing Charizard off. “Separation anxiety?” Liko looked up, capping the pokemon shampoo. “Yeah. It’s only really around water, and to a degree on ledges. He gets really anxious around water without me. And he gets anxious for me when I’m around ledges.” Liko and Roy looked at each other before looking back up at Friede. “How… often are you around ledges?” Friede laughed softly and shrugged. “I mean, as often as one usually does on an airship. It stems from when I was young though, I haven’t had a scare like that in… years. A lot of years.”
The kids hardly looked convinced, but Roy brought over Charizard’s towel when Friede turned the hose off. “You two can head inside now, I’m sure at least one of the showers is open. I can finish up out here.” The kids glanced at each other before nodding and going inside. Friede carefully toweled off Charizard before scratching under his chin. “All clean, bud. The kids did a great job, huh.” Charizard growled his agreement and nuzzled against Friede’s hair as he laid both towels over his arm. “I’m gonna head inside and shower, go ahead and take a fly. Noctowl is up at the crow’s nest, so you can just fly to dry off and relax. I’ll come find you for dinner.”
Charizard flapped his wings and pressed his chin against Friede’s head again before taking off. Friede watched his partner disappear over the edge of the deck and smiled before dumping his tub and taking it and the supplies he still had out with him inside. He set the tub with the others and turned the hose off at the faucet before wrapping the hose up like the other one. He tossed the pokemon shampoo in the bucket with the others before hanging up the pokemon towels to dry. “Alright. I’m gonna go shower, Cap.” Cap nodded and bumped his head against Friede’s cheek before jumping down and heading to the wheelhouse.
After Friede showered, he made his way to the kitchen to check on dinner. “Dinner’s just about ready. Could you round everyone up?” Murdock turned and asked Friede, a spatula in his hand. “Sure. Be right back.” The professor went around the ship, spreading the word that dinner was just about done. He went outside, his gaze being drawn to the sunset. He leaned against the railing, wind blowing his hair before he spotted Charizard. He waved his arm to draw his attention, which worked. Charizard flew over and landed on the deck beside him. “Dinner’s just about ready, bud, let’s go.”
Human and pokemon went to the dining room, where everyone was already gathered. The Pokemon had their bowls and most of the humans had theirs. Murdock was still dishing food out. Dinner went by relatively quickly and the Rising Volt Tacklers helped clean up before splitting for their bedtime routines. Orla went to the engine room and Mollie went to the infirmary. Murdock got started on the pastries for tomorrow and Friede and Cap went to the wheelhouse.
The professor sat at the wheel, observing the autopilot to make sure they stayed on course. Cap curled up in his lap and he relaxed, hand slowly petting through the short fur. He didn’t know when, but he did eventually fall asleep there in the captain’s chair. In the back of his mind, as he fell asleep, he knew he’d wake up with a sore neck, but he was content to rest here after a long day of cleaning and bathing.