"Oh! Okay, thank you!" He started to turn, but it seemed that Hoopa had his "dare" ready. "Ah, sorry, Miss; I'll have to look for it later! It's my turn now!
"A teapot song, hm? Oh, we have lots of teatime songs over in the Grand Gardens of Sylfleur! Except at Princess Summerlight's parties. She doesn't really like tea. Or singing. But sure, I'd love to learn a new one!"
He waited patiently as Hoopa imagined the song and dance at him, paying very close attention to be certain he would remember it. He didn't have hands, true, and he couldn't really stand on his hind legs for very long, but he could probably make the same gestures with his vines, right? So a dip here... a spin there... hold that note, mmhmm... seemed simple enough!
Steplively trotted out to an open space, hummed little warmup scales to himself, cleared his throat, beamed at everyone present, and sang out in a clear, bright voice:
"We're no strangers to looo-oooove
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy!"
He did a little twirl as a pair of flower-bud–studded vines snaked out from the foliage on his back, bending them so that one touched his hip and the other was held up and out.
"Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lii-iiie and hurt you!"
For all that he seemed to be blissfully unaware of the disconnect between the lyrics and the movements, he was doing an admirable job of improvising a dance that actually matched the beat of the song. He cantered and skipped jauntily around the clearing, alternating the vines between handle and spout.
"(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh, give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)"
(There were additional tiny voices coming from somewhere, singing the backup lines. The... the chrysanthemums on his back?)
"Iiiiii just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand..."
He sprinted forward suddenly, then leapt into the air, spun into a backflip and landed with a dainty little clop-clop right in front of Vegeta.
"Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lii-iiie and hurt you!"
And, with a final flourish, Steplively brandished his vines again—this time, inexplicably, with one wrapped around the handle of an actual floral-patterned teapot and the other supporting a matching dish and teacup. He tipped the pot forward, poured fresh tea into the cup, and graciously handed it to the mudkip as he held the final notes. The tea was hot and smelled of rosehips.