A Cub's Crush

by FenneThePenne

How can Fenara possibly like Fenray? Why does she shiver, yet smile at the mention of his name? Why do her cheeks always burn red? Why did Fenray have to kiss her! - Join Tailo in his scramble to keep the pack together. Join Eseral on her quest home to her loving family. Join Jack in the biggest mistake of his life. And most importantly, join Fenara in her adorable cub's crush.

6. Chapter 6: A Dead Fennekin

Make some popcorn and play some music because this chapter is super LONG!

Why? Because it's the best one yet. Boom! Just soak that in for a minute. This chapter is pretty cool. In fact, it's pretty cereal!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. I also hope you liked the last chapter, a little change of character felt nice for these beginning chapters. If you like this one, PLEASE leave a review or message me. (You don't have to of course but it's deeply appreciated)

And as always, thanks for being so awesome! I hope I can make your day better with a little enjoyable reading. I also hope that you are already having a great day. If not, eat ice cream! That fixes everything. If you can't have ice cream well then go have a cruddy day!

Just kidding. I still love you guys, just read the chapter already, have your popcorn ready?

By the way, Flareon is my new favorite Eeveelution now! I told you I would change it like every week. Jolteon might take the lead in like two minutes. Now that I think about it, their "tails" are pretty cool. Do they have tails? Someone please end this debate in my head because I have no idea if Jolteon's have tails or not? What do you think?

And if you have much more important things to do with your time, then go do them. If you would like to read my story instead, then you (hopefully by now) know my favorite words to get you reading!

Have a bodacious day! :D

- Summary of Last Chapter:

Fenara had just finished her fight with Alisa in a challenge to determine their friendship when Eseral says that they are having another race. All the cubs gather at the water's edge to listen to the Espeon's instructions. Fenara in her trance misses everything that Eseral says.

The cubs all race off, Fenara is left alone and hasn't started in the water yet. Eseral spots her and asks the cub if she's ok but Fenara feels a little worried. She asks Eseral if she can skip the swimming race but Eseral says no, believing it's all in good practice for the young cub. The wise Espeon reminds the small cub to follow her rules and Fenara starts swimming. She's far behind the other cubs and is soon alone while swimming by the shore's edge, twenty feet out.

Eseral is about to head to the other side of the lake when she is surprised by her husband Shadow. The two bicker back and forth until Shadow pushes his wife into the mud, all in good fun. They fight and laugh until both of them are covered in mud and drenched in water and then make it to shore. Shadow promises to see her again but he has business to attend to and runs off, thinking deeply about his wife and her behavior lately. Shadow the Umbreon is just happy that he was able to help cheer Eseral up. Eseral begins to run to the other side of the lake, expecting the cubs to finish the race soon.

Fenara continues to swim. She never heard the Espeon's instructions to swim to shore when she gets tired so she presses on, the water getting deeper and her paws getting more tired. She doesn't know how much longer she can swim for.

- End of Summary

Chapter 6: A Dead Fennekin

Fenara's mouth went under water. She screamed and panicked, trying so hard to push more water down in a feeble attempt to keep her head up. She succeeded but now she was even more tired than before. That was the fifth time now. Fenara had been counting, she couldn't keep doing this for much longer.

Fenara had joined in the swimming challenge as soon as all the other cubs were off. The young cub was late to join, so no one else was left in the tournament from what she could see. The sun was farther down in the sky showing that it was four o'clock, she had been swimming for almost a full hour. Some of the heat had disappeared from the hot day and now the water was freezing cold. Fenara didn't notice. Everything except her head and chest were already numb. Her paws continued to swim, but at an alarmingly slow rate.

Not one cub was left in the water besides Fenara. The rest of the cubs in training had all followed Eseral's instructions about swimming to shore when they got tired, the whole group was walking along the edge of the lake, heading towards where the Espeon was waiting for them. Eseral was busy at the front of the lake, the cubs walked along the edge, and no one stayed back in case they were caught lingering.

No one, except Fenara. The cub swam faster in fear of being late. Her lungs could hardly breathe and it was difficult to keep up with where she thought the pack was. Why was her fur so heavy? There was so much water.

Fenara treaded onward. She must be getting close, right? Her breathing was frantic. Her paw strokes had slowed to less than a third of their starting pace. She was out of energy, going off pure will. She wouldn't dare swim to shore yet, it would be too embarrassing if someone saw her quit already.

The Fennekin knew she must be getting close. She looked ahead, straining her wet fur out of the water for a glance upward. She couldn't see anything because of the thick reeds and more lake water in every direction. She thought she had been closer to the end but she had never swam this far in the lake before.

Fenara looked to her left. She was twenty feet from the grass. She was obeying Eseral's orders of staying close to the shore so that…

Her paw went sideways and she lost her momentum. For the sixth time, her head went under and she screamed. Water rushed through her mouth.

She threw her paws downward again, the muscles straining so hard they almost cramped. She was cold, she was wet, her heavy fur was pulling her entire weight down to the bottom, begging her to join the rocks below but she pushed down harder and burst back to the surface. Her ears had gone under this time. She didn't have much energy left. She had no energy at all to spare if she went under again. She couldn't keep doing this.

She choked out the water, finding it difficult to remember to keep her paws moving. They were so cold, so exhausted. Where was that finish line? Was she less then twenty feet away? Maybe ten?

Fenara was halfway across the lake. The finish line was over one mile from the thick reeds which she swam by now, twenty feet from the shore. Eseral smiled as some of the cubs made it to her and the whole pack arrived except for a few stragglers here and there. She had patience to wait for everyone so she sat back down and enjoyed the sunshine.

The Fennekin continued to struggle. Very slowly, her paw strokes became weaker. She was hardly swimming at all anymore. She couldn't do this for much longer.

Fenara heard a new voice. Her ears perked up in panic. She glanced below her where the water reached up to her neck fur, almost hitting her mouth.

"Survive." It faintly whispered, the sound tingled in her ears, in her mind. What was that? It was gone the second she heard it, but she was sure of it. Something was talking. Great, now she was going crazy. Where was this voice coming from?

"Survive Fenara." It whispered again, making the Fennekin's ears lower in fright. "Swim to the shore."

Fenara's eyes turned to the grassy shore just twenty feet out, the voice tempting her into it. She didn't know if she could take the pressure just by looking at lake's edge. Warm grass? Solid ground beneath her paws…

She had been debating it this whole time. Should she swim to the shore? Should she disobey Eseral's instructions and be the laughing target of all the cubs when she walked up freezing cold, exhausted, and embarrassingly out of the water. The other cubs splashing in the lake would just laugh at her as she sat on the shore.

No. She couldn't take it. She would swim farther, she knew she could. Fenara wouldn't dare take the embarrassment. The Fennekin pushed harder. Her paws shoved against the water, but they were too weak to even push her forward. Inch by inch, she slowly scooted in the water. Telling herself that Eseral was just waiting twenty feet away. She was almost there.

Inch by inch. Stroke by stroke. Her back paw started to freeze up, it wasn't moving.

The Fennekin had more worry in her thoughts. Why hadn't she seen anyone out this far? She new she was in last place, that was obvious. Maybe she had gone the wrong way?

Fenara panicked. A new thought occurred to her. She was alone wasn't she? She hadn't seen another Pokemon since she started. Not one Pokemon had peeked its head through the reeds and seen her and she couldn't look at the shore because it was too tempting. How long had it been? She should've seen someone by now, right?

Fenara looked to her left again. The reeds had changed to a soft patch of grass that stretched for just five feet, she could see the meadow grass past the lake. The shore was calling her, just twenty feet away. She would climb over the small gap of dirt that separated water from land, and then she could sleep.

Fenara licked her lips from the cold lake water. She looked up at the sun above her. It was so tempting. She couldn't do this any longer, she needed to stand on solid ground.

Her back paw froze up entirely. The muscles were cramping, the numbing pain kept it from moving. Fenara was only swimming with three paws now, but she was too absorbed by the shore to notice her lack of movement. Her fur was getting very heavy.

There. Right there, Fenara stared at the open patch of warm grass. She could sneak out, take a quick nap, and then the second someone found out she was on the shore, she would jump back in and start swimming again. No one would have to know she cheated, she wouldn't tell anyone. It was better than this freezing, numbing lake water. Just for a quick nap, she could take the embarrassment.

Fenara had her head turned while she swam past the gap of grass in hope. Her tail slowly leaned to her right by accident. Her right paw got weaker, she started twisting, and sinking.

The Fennekin realized it right away. She shrieked and through all her energy downwards, the heavy water attempted to pull her down again. Now she was almost completely underwater. Her three working paws still paddled, her fur floated in place. The water was up to her neck now, trying so hard to pull her further down. The water was pulling faster than she could swim, her head wasn't coming back up, she just floated there.

Her back paw wasn't moving. Fenara had the thought that her paw didn't feel right, but she shut her eyes and thought of survival. She had to swim, her life depended on it. She couldn't take the embarrassment.

She fought back. She pushed with all the energy she had left, feeling her heartbeat grow weaker and weaker but her paws working harder and harder.

"Survive Fenara. Survive!" She pushed up to the surface, finally making it and immediately started for the shore.

Forget it! The Fennekin made up her mind. She was walking. She didn't care who saw her, she didn't care how many months Tailo grounded her for this, she didn't care if Eseral scolded her in front of the entire training group, she was walking or she was going under the water.

"And then I…"

Fenara stopped swimming to shore. Her ears shot upright at the sound of a new voice. The Fennekin froze in place, still twenty feet out from the shore.

Oh dear Arceus! That was Alisa's voice…

"I swam all the way to the rock and you know it! I told you I'm the best swimmer."

Fenara wished she could hide underwater. She wished she could breathe and throw her head under just until they passed. What if the Eevee saw her? What if she just glanced this way and noticed her floating there, looking miserable and wet? The Eevee would make fun of her for months!

Twenty feet out from the shore. Fenara stared at the open patch of grass, two Pokemon coming into view as they walked beside each other. One of them was the unmistakeable Alisa, the most annoying Eevee in the world, and if that Eevee saw her way out here then Fenara would be doomed.

Fenara switched her eyes. Alisa was walking with someone, was that a Fennekin?

Who was the other one? Fenara wasn't quite sure. Her ears lowered against her head. Her eyes narrowed on the young cub. Wasn't that…

"I still don't believe you." The Fennekin growled, stopping in his walk and standing in front of the Eevee, making them both stop in the patch of grass. Now Fenara was never getting to the shore without getting caught. "Alisa?" The Fennekin continued. "No one believes you. You could tell the whole pack, I know that no one swam out this far. We're miles from where we started."

She knew him! Fenara felt a shriek of fear wanting to explode from her throat. That was the Fennekin she had ran into during the race. He was the one that got in the way and made them all trip.

What was he doing with Alisa?

"I did too!" The Eevee jumped up as proudly as she could, pointing behind her at the large rock that was already out of view. "I told you I was the best swimmer in this entire pack. Nobody beat me. I swam all the way out here until I saw your wet hide trudging along the shore. I swam past the rock, through the reeds, and I still had energy to spare. Everyone knows I'm the best swimmer!" The Eevee had to prove how cool she was. How dare this Fennekin challenge her?

Fenray, the Fennekin, rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter dry tail." He insulted. "I still don't believe you." He could tell when his good friends were lying, and it was even easier to tell with Alisa. Something told him that maybe she was telling the truth, but for right now it just didn't matter. "If you were such a good swimmer, how come…"

The Eevee shook her mane with pride and distracted the Fennekin. She stood up as tall as she could. "It doesn't matter Fenray. We're late anyway. All the cubs are already at the other side." She shoved the Fennekin in the cheek, making him turn around. Then she pushed against his bushy tail. "Get walking Fenray! We need to hurry." The Fennekin started walking when he was shoved forward. He growled under his breath but decided to let it pass, he knew very well that Alisa was a good fighter, and he really didn't want to anger her.

Besides, the stubborn Eevee was right. They really needed to get moving. The two Pokemon walked out of the grass, heading past the water and past Fenara.

Fenara watched their every step. Her eyes followed their movements. She couldn't stop staring at the Fennekin. Her ears could barely pick up what was being said but when she saw them walking away, her hope returned. Maybe now she could swim to shore.

No, not yet. She had to wait until they were further out. She felt the water lap against her mouth once again, it was up to her neck again, reaching further.

Twenty feet out from shore, and the water below her was more than twenty feet deep. The water pulled on her fur, dragging her neck closer and closer down. It reached up to her cheeks.

The voice in her head erupted twice as loudly. Fenara flinched and looked down again. At the screaming voice. It sounded like Eseral yelling instructions. It sounded like Tailo scolding her for sneaking out. It was screaming, it was deafening.

"Survive Fenara! Survi…" The voice fell dead silent.

Fenara's back right paw had already frozen up and refused to move. Her left one started to cramp. Her whole body sank backwards.

Fenara's back paws gave out. She panicked and tried to kick but only her front paws were moving. She was too numb to tell her paws from her sides. Her tail was completely underwater now. She was going further down.

Her front paws stopped swimming, her entire body froze. Fenara's eyes widened in fear. She was frozen, the cold lake water had finally gotten to her. It was winning. Slowly her fur was pulled into the water. It was up to her cheeks now, reaching her eyes. She was going to lose this fight once and for all.

It didn't happen instantly. Fenara refused to believe it. She was still swimming right? This feeling, she wasn't freezing over? She wasn't paralyzed, she couldn't be. She was still swimming. She was still moving her paws.

The water reached up further. Her front paws were underwater now, her head tilted upwards towards the sun.

Fenara felt the water close over her eyes, distorting her vision. Her mouth stuck out of the water and her nose clanged to freedom. But the water, it was too strong.

The water brushed over her teeth. She swallowed mouthful after mouthful, still trying to move her paws, still believing that she was swimming up, but she was sinking.

Fenara's eyes shot wide. She realized what was happening. She looked at her front paws as they hung their lifelessly, the water closing over face.

Oh dear Arceus. She was drowning. She was actually drowning!

"Help!" Her mouth went underwater. The murky liquid rushed through her lungs.

A one foot tall Fennekin, and twenty feet to sink. She was completely underwater, it rushed into her lungs as she was still screaming for help, her paws thrashing in every direction.

Twenty feet to sink. Nineteen feet. Eighteen feet…

…

Alisa didn't hear a thing.

The impatient Eevee couldn't believe this. This was probably the third time she had been late today, and it was all because of this darn Fennekin. Heck, it was always because of Fennekins! Her Fennekin friends, Fenara and Fenray who she believed didn't know each other, would be the death of her someday if they kept showing up late to every meeting. Eseral was going to kill them. Alisa growled behind the slow moving Fennekin in front of her. "Fenray? Can you pick up the pace?"

The Fennekin just rolled his eyes, Alisa could see the action over his ears. They were both sick of each other by now.

Alisa couldn't tolerate this nuisance. Why did she have to choose him as a partner? Why did friendship require that you actually be friends with someone? "I swear Fenray, if you could just walk a little faster, we would be…"

She ran right into the back of his tail, squishing her face up against his tan fur. "Agh! Fenray? What the heck!"

The Fennekin had stopped. His head stood upright. Alisa spat out the tan fur that she had accidentally swallowed and jumped back in worry. Why did he stop? They were late! "Fenray!"

His head slowly turned. He was very serious. "Did you hear something?"

Alisa stood there about to snap at him, but she stopped. Her ears shot upright in concern.

She waited, then she shook her head. "No." She hadn't heard anything so therefore, it didn't matter. "And do I even care? No. We're late!" She screamed at him.

Fenray was not expecting a reply like that, he forgot that he had more patience than most of his friends. He turned around in compliance and started forward again. "Alright Alisa, I'm moving. Sorry I hit you with my tail."

"Hit me?" Alisa jumped upright in anger. "It's not my nose that's making me mad you moron! We're so late, Eseral's going to skin our tails off! Why do you keep stopping?" Alisa was putting an end to this. "Will, you, walk, faster!"

She shoved right past him, pushing the Fennekin over to her side. Fenray collapsed just a few inches from the water and watched as the Eevee stormed right past him. She was almost running she was so scared of being late.

Fenray shut his eyes and sighed. Honestly, why was he even friends with this jerk? "Ok, ok. I'm sorry. I'm com…"

He stopped. His keen eyes noticed something. He stood up and looked out across the lake, his tail twitching in concern.

Were those, ripples?

Five feet from the bottom. Four… The Fennekin kept sinking.

"Um, Alisa?"
Alisa stopped. She growled so lowly that her claws shot out in her anger. Why did this Fennekin have to stop at every single sight he saw!

Fenray may have more patience than all of his friends, he may spot things that others missed, but there was one thing the Fennekin had always lacked.

And that, was common sense. "Alisa, why are there ripples?"

Alisa's ears perked up. Her growl vanished.

Ripples? Why are there ripples? "You mean to tell me," she turned around and stormed right up to the Fennekin, ignoring the fact that he was backed up to the lake's edge. Fenray turned his head and shrieked in fear, the Eevee was inches from his face.

Alisa could not tolerate this for one more second. "You walk super slow, we're already late, Eseral's going to kill us, and you stop to ask me why there are… RIPPLES!"

Fenray had nearly gone deaf from the scream. His back leaned over the water to avoid the glare of this terrifying Eevee. The Fennekin's tail swayed side to side and he hit the water by accident.

Fenray flinched from the freezing touch of lake water. His head jumped forward and he smacked Alisa in the nose. "Ow! Fenray!"

The Fennekin shrieked in fear. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. Are you ok?"

Alisa jumped back expertly, shoving her paw against her nose. It didn't even hurt, at least not yet. Well this was even more awkward than before. She had to play it tough. She didn't want to lose this Fennekin as a friend if she appeared too weak. Fenray was cool, sometimes. "What? Hurt? No, it's nothing." The pain was leaping up into her skull now. How did Fenray have such a tough head? It wasn't like there was much of a brain in there.

Fenray felt terrible already. His ears lowered against his head and he ran up to his friend, already forgetting how she growled at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. It was just an accident." He tried to look at the injury but only got in Alisa's face which annoyed her more. "Will you back off?" She snapped at him.

Fenray leaned in even closer. He was so worried. "Is it ok? I can find a berry. It won't take long. It'll heal it right up. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you." The panicked cub jumped away from his friend and began searching the grass. "I'll find you one, don't worry. Where do Pechas grow?"

Alisa looked up in surprise, her paw falling from her nose. She watched her friend apologizing over and over, searching the grass as quickly as he could.

Alisa's eyes opened wide. Really? He would do that for her? Nobody ever gave her berries when they found them. "Fenray? I don't need a berry. It's fine. Lets just…" She let go of her nose again even though it still hurt like crazy. "I'm fine. Lets just hurry up and get back to the trainer." She turned around to leave.

Fenray looked up from the grass he was searching. "You sure? It looks a little bruised."

"I'm fine!" Alisa yelled at him. She didn't need help, she didn't want to look weak. "You don't have to get me anything." She smiled at the thought. She really did have nice friends. "Come on, lets just go. We're so late."

Sinking. Two feet. One foot… The cub hit the bottom of the lake. Three full minutes had passed.

Alisa kept walking forward, quickly putting some distance between her and the Fennekin. It wasn't her nose that was bothering her. The pain hurt but something was stopping her thoughts as soon as they came. It was becoming harder and harder to make words.

Alisa was ten feet away from him now. She looked behind her and Fenray smiled, then he frowned when he saw her bruised nose. Alisa quickly looked away.

A wave of nausea hit her. She felt tired, she felt sick. She looked down at her paws and watched as they swayed left and right but she wasn't even moving.

What was happening? Was she ok? It all started the second her nose flared up in pain, now she couldn't even think straight. The Eevee's eyes shot wide and she snapped out of her trance.

No. She was fine. Alisa shook her head and then shook it harder until her ears slapped her face, enjoying the feeling. She found that she was standing ten feet away from the Fennekin behind her. Fenray eyes her curiously.

How did she get way out here? Alisa didn't remember walking. She felt a warm drop hit her paw and she jumped in shock. It was red, it soaked into her fur.

Blood? Great. She had a bloody nose. This would be so embarrassing.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Fenray asked, having seen everything she just did. The Eevee was acting really weird. "Alisa? Can you hear me?"

Alisa wasn't sure if she was ok, but she was sure that her pride couldn't take anymore embarrassment. "I'm fine!" She quickly snapped. "Now can we go? We're so late. I hate getting grounded." She stormed off faster so Fenray wouldn't see her trickling nose. She hoped it stopped soon but at least she could think again. The second she was away from the Fennekin, the feeling disappeared.

Fenray smiled. Cool. So Alisa was ok then? She looked alright as far as he could tell, except for the weird head shaking and her shock over something he didn't see. The Fennekin smiled wider and stood upright so he could start walking. He wanted to be by her side. Even though she was a jerk, Alisa could be cool, sometimes.

The Fennekin took one step, lifting his paw up in the air, and then stopped.

His smile vanished. His ears twitched in fright. "Survive." The voice told him.

Alisa stopped walking. Her ears shot upright. "Survive." The same voice told her. Both the cubs heard it.

"Survive." The voice repeated over and over. "Survive Fenray." "Survive Alisa."

Alisa turned to look at Fenray. His ears were against his head and he was worried. He had never heard a voice speak like this before.

Something was wrong. "Survive."

"Fenray? What did you do?" Alisa yelled. She glared at him like it was his fault, the voice yelling in her head. "What did you do this time?"

Fenray was instantly insulted. "Me! What are you talking about? I didn't do anything?" Why did everything have to be his fault?

Alisa didn't like this. The voice repeated itself a hundred times until she could hardly think. "What are you planning on doing!" She glared at her friend. "I swear, if you're planning on attacking me, I'm going to rip your paws off!" Survive usually meant she was about to be attacked the few times Alisa heard it. The voice wouldn't keep quiet.

Fenray wasn't planning on doing anything, but the sound of panic in his heart wouldn't stop. He stared down in wonder, never having heard a voice in his head so loudly before.

His ears popped up. Hey? He knew this voice. It was the same one he heard when he was with Eseral. It was the same one during training.

But of course, it had never sounded this panicked before. "Survive Fenray! Water!"

Fenray looked over at the water without a thought. The lake was perfectly still. Nothing disrupted the water. He could barely see the movement of past ripples and he remembered what he had seen earlier.

Fenray may have had more patience than all his friends, he may spot things that others missed, and he may have had no common sense, but there was always one thing he never lacked on.

His curiosity shot through his mind. He ran over to the lake's edge and demanded to know what this voice was telling him.

Alisa's shrieked in fear. The voice in her head was so loud now it made her fur stand with worry. Her tail wouldn't hold still. She hated when it did that, it made her look so terrible and it ruined her fur in grass. "Please, Fenray? Can we just go?" The farther away she got from this place, maybe the quieter the voice would become.

"Hold on." The determined Fennekin said, holding up a paw. He stood by the water and looked over it. His heart thumping twice as quickly. His ears were tight against his head.

"Survive Fenray." The voice whispered, it shouted, it repeated a hundred times. "Survive. Water."

Alisa couldn't believe this. Her mind was telling her to panic, yet her friend stood there by the water as if he was in a dream. The Eevee turned in every direction scanning the grass with her keen senses. If someone was planning on attacking them right now, she was going to be so angry.

"Dang it Fenray!" Alisa screamed in her worry. There was no one to hear her except her friend. The rest of the cubs were still a mile off. They were alone, or so she thought. "Can we just go now?"

Fenray stood there. Staring at the water. Ripples. He was sure it meant something. There were very small ripples stretching over the water, they had almost faded by now.

What did ripples come from? The Fennekin's eyes opened wide. He knew that answer.

Movement. Ripples came from movement. Fenray inched closer to the water, his paws touching the edges of the lake.

The water was deep, it distorted his vision when he stared into it. The lake was very clear, and the sun shone above but Fenray had keen senses. He had always been very weary of his surroundings and his eyesight had never failed him.

Fenray stared deeper into the water. "I think I see something."

Alisa's tail shot straight up. "What? Did you find it?" The voice in her heart finally quieted itself, just a little. It was still screaming for her to run.

Fenray smiled. He could barely see it. A reflection in the water of something tan and red, but it was definitely there. It looked about his size.

The Fennekin's mind ran crazy with excitement. Maybe it was a cool stone? Maybe it was a new kind of berry? Maybe it was something kept secret from cubs that only the adults knew?

Fenray jumped straight upright. "I think I found it Alisa!" He cheered.

The Eevee shoved him over and looked herself. "Where?" She needed to keep this voice in her head quiet. "I don't see anything."

Fenray pointed with his paw. "It's right over…"

The Fennekin stopped. His paw was pointing right at the blur in the water, but his eyes noticed something.

His fur was tan and red, just like the thing in the lake. The Fennekin's smile disappeared.

The colors, they were an exact match. That was odd. Did that mean… He shoved his head under the water for a better look.

Alisa was trying so hard to see what he was staring at, then water jumped up and soaked her face. "Agh! Fenray? What the heck!" She jumped back a few inches as the Fennekin stood there awkwardly with his head completely underwater. What was he doing? Swimming?

Fenray stood there, staring through the water. It was hard to tell but it looked like it was a cub. The same tail, white cheeks, red and tan fur. It was probably a Fennekin.

What was it doing way out there? Fenray's lungs demanded for air.

Fenray yanked his head out of the water only to soak the Eevee again by his side. Alisa spat out the water and snarled at him.

Fenray didn't even notice that he had gotten her wet. He pointed again at the water. "I think it's a Fennekin."

Alisa stood there in complete wonder, then her ears dropped against her head. "A Fennekin! Have you gone mad? What kind of Fennekin sits underwater?" Why were her friends complete morons sometimes?

Fenray was sure of it. He had seen the Fennekin with his own eyes. He could almost make out the tail from when he saw her through the water. He shrugged since he couldn't explain it better to Alisa. "Maybe she's swimming?" He proposed the idea which made some sense in his mind.

Alisa's ears fell against her head and she rolled her eyes. How brainless could her friend get? "Fenray you moron, you keep your head above the water when you swim." Of course this Fennekin wasn't swimming if she was under.

Fenray thought about it. He stared at the water, knowing there's only one more alternative.

"So then, she's drowning?" Fenray asked.

The two cubs froze for five seconds, staring into each other's eyes. Then the truth dawned on them both.

Oh dear Arceus, "She's DROWNING!" They both screamed at once.

Alisa was upright immediately. "What? What do we do!" She panicked. Her brother had never taught her about this before. He had taught her tackles and pins and even how to run straight and hit hard but never how to save a drowning cub! The Eevee clawed at her mane. Her tail waved around frantically in every direction. "Fenray! If it's a Fennekin, then it's drowning! What do we do?"

Fenray's tail hadn't even flinched. He was worried but he refused to panic. He had to remain in control so he could think what to do. The Fennekin bit his lip and began thinking. He needed a plan and fast! He stared out at the still water.

How long had the cub been in there? Fennekin's couldn't breathe underwater right? No, they couldn't, Fenray thought. So that definitely meant she was drowning. Someone had to go in there and pull her out.

Fenray's ears shot straight up. A smile leapt across his face. "Hey? You're a good swimmer, right?"

Alisa's heart sank straight to the ground.

"Quick! Jump in after her. You can pull her to shore." Fenray shouted. Problem solved. Alisa could save the drowning cub.

Alisa stood there, panic filling her face, her paws inched backwards from the freezing lake water. "Um…"

"What are you waiting for?" Fenray was in no mood for whatever game Alisa was trying to play. She was wasting precious time. "She's drowning! You have to go save her."

"I, I ca…" Alisa choked. The words wouldn't come out of her mouth. Admit to a lie? Never, she couldn't!

"Alisa!" Fenray was right in her face. "What are you doing? Swim! She's going to drow…"

"OK, I LIED!" Alisa screamed at the top of her lungs. Fenray jumped back from the scream, he nearly fell in the water, his paws getting soaked at the rim of the lake.

The poor Eevee was bawling in tears now. "I lied! I lied! I lied, lied, lied, lies!" Alisa couldn't scream it enough. Her life source was pounding in her ears and demanding her to do something but she just sat there and cried. "I can't swim! I suck at swimming! I can't even swim thirty feet." Alisa had to confess everything before it tore her heart in two. "I jumped out of the water and ran past the first rock and then jumped back in and then I saw you and then I bragged about being a good swimmer and then you stopped walking because something was wrong and I, I…" She went into sobbing, no more words coming out, at least not coherently. She stumbled over her words four times. "I, I, I… I lied!" She threw her paws over her face and cried into her fur.

Fenray had heard enough. This poor Eevee in front of him was obviously not going to do a thing. Alisa couldn't swim? So who was going to save the Fennekin?

Fenray stared down at his own dry paws in consideration. They were tiny, they sucked at swimming. He looked at his panicking tail behind him that wouldn't hold still. That thing soaked up water like dried grass. He was a Fennekin, a fire heart, not a trained swimmer.

And he was still a cub. Alisa when she wasn't panicking may have made it thirty feet but Fenray would only make it ten. He sucked at swimming. The only thing he was good at was sinking.

The Fennekin stared at his dry paws one last time. His breathing was getting heavy in worry and time was passing too quickly. He had to decide something now. He was a terrible swimmer, but a drowning cub was even worse.

Alisa couldn't stop her crying. She had never cried this much before, her heart was beating so quickly it sent her mind on a daze and she felt light headed. She felt sick just thinking about someone drowning. Already she was dizzy from the thought of swimming in the freezing cold lake water. She shut her eyes and tried not to panic but it was very difficult. How was Fenray able to handle this?

"Fenray? I'm sorry." Alisa confessed as her sobbing finally slowed down. "I didn't mean to lie. I was scared. I can't swim. I can't! She's going to drow…"

A jump, then a splash. The Fennekin was gone.

Alisa looked up, her ears falling against her head. There was no one there. "Fenray?"

No answer. The Fennekin was gone. Alisa's panic shot to life and she jumped upright, looking in every direction. She stared at the disturbed water before her that had just splashed the shore. There were ripples again. The water bounced back into position and then held still as if it had never been touched. The Eevee's ears twitched in fear, her tail brushed the grass behind her in every direction.

Ripples. That meant something was in there, just like Fenray had said. The Fennekin was gone.

Alisa, was alone.

The frightened Eevee sank to the ground. She felt something worse than tears wanting to spring from her eyes, her throat clogged up in panic. She had always tried to look as tough and tall as she could, but now she had never felt smaller. The blades of grass around her were standing taller than her own bravery. She was a coward. She was alone. Her friend had left her. Alisa couldn't even breathe, her fear was too close. She started hyperventilating. She had to do something. She couldn't sit around and wait for a miracle, she had to act. But how?

Alisa's ears perked up a little, a new thought occurred.

Didn't Fenray say it was a Fennekin? But there were only two Fennekin cubs in training. It wasn't Fenara, was it?

The Eevee sank to the ground. Oh no, she was going to lose her two best friends. They were going to drown unless she did something. Fenara was going to drown and Fenray was moronically risking his life for her.

Should she swim after them? Should she run for help? Should she find her brother? The Eevee plopped on the ground and was blinded by her onslaught of tears. She did the only thing that seemed reasonable for her age.

She screamed as loud as she could. "MOMMMYYYY!'

…

A jump, then a splash. The Fennekin was gone.

The first feeling to hit Fenray was the freezing cold temperature of the water. His fur shot against his sides, his paws froze for just a few seconds. His head was freezing now and he had his eyes shut, the water rushing around him in every direction.

Three seconds passed and the bubbles from his splash finally escaped. The temperature was still freezing but Fenray opened his eyes. His determination was strong, he forced his paws to work and ignored his life source, telling him to survive. He had a different objective in mind.

Fenray narrowed his eyes, his tail stood strong behind him in the cold water. He was saving that cub, or he was going to drown trying.

Fenray's paws jerked left so he could spin his head underwater. He searched the ground frantically to find his target, that little tan and red blob that was floating in the water.

There she was, twenty feet away. The Fennekin was lodged between two rocks, her body completely stuck to the ground. Her ears floated upwards and so did the lower half of her tail while the other parts remained on the ground. Her paws were sprawled out in the water, her fur was soaked and swayed in every direction.

Her mouth was open. No bubbles were coming out.

Fenray wasted no time. He shot his head forward and pushed with all his strength, inching his way through the deep water. He was already six feet under, getting closer to the Fennekin. Fourteen feet to go. Thirteen…

A new thought occurred to Fenray. He wasn't a good swimmer and he hadn't taken a breath before he jumped in. The panic filled his mind as the first signs of pressure spread across his chest, pressing his lungs inward. He knew what that feeling meant, he was limited on his air.

Fenray's throat felt tight, he bit his teeth together as hard as he could until it hurt. He could probably hold his breath for how long? Twenty seconds? Maybe ten? Most cubs his age could do about thirty but he was a only halfway to the drowning cub now.

The Fennekin shook his head and pressed on, narrowing his eyes once again. Now wasn't the time for panicking like Alisa was doing, he had to save that cub! That tan and red furred blob floated lifelessly in the water. He just had to!

Ten feet. Nine… He was getting closer. His paws were getting tired.

The Fennekin's eyes caught it before his mind did. He had seen the two rocks but he didn't know what that meant. The Fennekin was lodged right in the middle. Why was only half her tail floating?

He stared at the cub, getting a closer look as he closed the last of the gap. She was about his age, with very large ears. The tan in her fur was starting to disappear for a blank, cold looking white.

He finally made it. Fenray felt a sense of relief, he even dared to smile. His paws came to a halt as he floated in the water just inches from his target.

He decided to try and yell in victory. It was a bad idea. Water flushed through his mouth and Fenray shut his jaw the second he could. The cold liquid attacked his throat, it penetrated his lungs until he almost coughed but he didn't dare open his mouth again. There was no oxygen down here, only death.

Fenray was running out of air. He probably was already out with the pressure on his chest, the cold water stirring in his system. Nothing but pure will was driving Fenray's mind now.

He had to get to the top. Fenray looked up. The surface wasn't too far away, maybe if he started now he could reach the top. Twenty feet was a long ways to swim.

But the other Fennekin was still down here. Fenray looked back down, he decided his own air wasn't as important as getting this Fennekin some. He had to bring her to shore. He had to keep her alive.

Fenray made his decision. He pushed forward and closed the last inch between him and his target. He didn't notice, but his vision was going black around the outside rims of his eyes. His heart was beating less frequently and his paws started to feel the swelling. They would give up soon if he didn't find a way to the top.

Fenray opened his mouth, and grabbed the end of the Fennekin's waving tail, biting so deep it almost tore out her fur. Water flushed into his system, but he tugged as hard as he could, his mouth wide open and his paws scrambling for help.

There was hope, Fenray was going to pull her out, but then it vanished. Fenray's eyes shot wide with the realization that the tail was pulling back just as hard as he was pulling her. He wasn't moving.

Arceus, she was stuck! The huge tail was going to be the death of Fenara.

Fenray tugged again and again. Water rushed into his throat until there was no more room. The black of death started to creep around his eyes.

The area turned completely dark for a second and then it was light again. Fenray froze in the water. He dared to look up.

He could see it. A reflection. A huge one. His ears tightened against his head in fear and he spat out the tail, closing his mouth and saving what little oxygen was left in his heart. He had lost a third of his vision now, his head was starting to swell in pain and it was taking him longer to think. What did a shadow mean? What was that?

The Pokemon above him had been swimming peacefully, until it noticed the disturbance in the water. This was his territory, no intruders aloud, what was a Fennekin doing here?

The shadow stopped, it turned towards Fenray. The Fennekin's tail froze in fear.

That was a massive horn, larger than Fenray's tail had ever hoped to be. It pointed right at the cub, and then charged.

…

"MOMMMYYYY!"

Eseral was there in less then fifteen seconds after the screaming had gone off. "Alisa! What's wrong!"

Alisa didn't know what to do. Her vision was so blurry from tears she couldn't even see where she was anymore. Her ears were ringing so badly she wasn't sure who she was talking to. These darn tears were driving her blind! She had to say something!

She pointed right at the lake, her throat hyperventilating but some words coming out. "He, he, he's…"

Eseral would not tolerate this. She grabbed the Eevee as gently as she could by the mane and wiped the cub's eyes so she could see. The Eevee's entire face was drenched in tears. "Alisa! Please? Speak! What's going on?"

Alisa choked. She sobbed, it took her five tries to get air into her lungs. "He, he's, he's…" She pointed again since her panic was forbidding her to talk.

Shadow came charging through the grass in twenty seconds, just after his wife. "Eseral! What's happening!"

Eseral looked up. Her husband was still soaking wet from their playing in the water, his rings only shined in panic. He had heard the scream from more than a mile away.

Eseral shrugged. She didn't know what was going on. "She's trying to talk but she can't. I think…"

Shadow was in front of the cub in a heartbeat. He shoved his wife aside. "What's wrong Alisa!" It was a question, the Umbreon demanded an answer now!

The Eevee pointed again. She couldn't talk. She frantically pointed at the water over and over, her throat was so clogged she couldn't breathe. Red tightened around her eyes. Her paw fell limp just the slightest bit. She forgot where she was. So much panic, so much noise, Alisa didn't know what to do.

Shadow looked at her paw, and then out at the water. "Arceus Eseral! That means someones out there!"

More cubs showed up. Ten curious cubs kept their distance but watched from eight feet away at the commotion. Why was Alisa crying? She never cried? Was she the one who screamed?

Alisa couldn't take this anymore. Her sobs grew shorter. Her vision turned black. There was so much noise. She thought she was in trouble. Was someone attacking her? Eseral finally let go of her mane and the Eevee fell to the ground.

She couldn't see, she couldn't hear. Alisa shut her eyes and curled up on the ground, her tears no longer coming out.

Her mind screamed one thing. The red closed around her eyes.

"Survive Alisa." It told her, its voice sweet and calm. It brought her out of this chaos and into serenity if she only listened. "Survive Alisa. Survive."

Eseral let go of the Eevee and jumped to the water's edge. She searched in every direction.

Her husband gently squished beside her, careful not to shove her in by accident. He took one look and spotted them before his wife ever saw the two shapes in the water. "There!"

Eseral looked. Two objects, both tan and red and one of them moving frantically.

Fenray tugged on Fenara's tail. Nothing. Both Eseral and Shadow could see the defeat on the Fennekin's face even through the distorted water. It was obvious something was wrong.

Eseral's ears dropped straight to the side of her head. Her tail jerked in every direction. "That's Fenara and Fenray!"

She jumped to run forward. Shadow grabbed her neck as hard as he could, and yanked her back from the water.

Shadow pointed again, every Pokemon looked further up the stream. There was another Pokemon coming their way.

"And that," Shadow pointed further up, his claws coming out and his rings lighting up darker and more aggressively. His trained senses knew what was coming, it was obvious with that tip on its forehead that this new intruder was aggressive and dangerous. It was heading right for them.

Shadow finished what he started saying. "And that, is a Seaking."
…

Half his vision was gone. Each thought took three more seconds to process.

Fenray felt himself sinking. His tail had gone from puffy and furry, to as heavy as lead. The heavy weight pulled him down, his ears hanging limp by his sides. He could no longer feel the warmth in his paws as they started to go numb and refused to work. He needed air, or he would never make it to the surface. He hardly had an ounce of oxygen left in him.

Fenray stared straight up. The shadow passed over him, the horn against the sun looked huge. The dark shadow covered all of the Fennekin for a few seconds before the bright sun illuminated the water again.

The Seaking stopped. It felt paws moving, a disturbance in the water, in its territory. The huge Pokemon made one move and faced the two intruders.

Fenray's ears tucked against his head. His tail straightened and held still in the freezing water. Something told him to survive, something louder told him he was going to die. That Pokemon was huge!

Fenray gulped. The Seaking narrowed it's eyes and found it's target. Him.

The creature charged. It's horn glinting in the sunlight, blinding Fenray for a second when he realized what it was doing.

The distance closed rapidly. Fenray didn't have time to think what to do, he had to do something.

Twenty feet. Ten feet… The horn plowed towards him.

Fenray screamed. His mind caught onto what was happening. For the first time in his life, he was under attack. He threw his paws upwards as fast as he could.

He sunk faster. Two inches from the bottom. One.

Five feet from cracking his skull. Three feet. Two…

Fenray hit the bottom, his head gently touching the large rock where the other Fennekin was stuck. He shoved his paws over his head, and pushed.

The Seaking crashed! Rocks flew everywhere. Fenray's vision shot black and he was spinning uncontrollably in the water. The current from the attack pushed him through the liquid like a leaf on a windy day.

He stopped spinning, opening his eyes again. He was still floating and his tail felt heavier than it ever had before. He was so tired and adrenaline couldn't keep him alive forever.

He looked up but it was to the rocks below. He looked down and found the sun above him. He was upside down. The Fennekin quickly flipped himself over in the water. Where did that Pokemon go?

Fenray spotted him first. It was still floating where it had attacked the rocks. It looked very, very angry.

The Seaking jerked it's head in every direction. A rock had been split right through the shining horn and had gotten stuck. The Pokemon finally flicked one last time and the rock went flying through the water and then slowly sank to the bottom. Now it was free to attack again. The Seaking would not dare miss a second time.

Fenray's eyes noticed something else. A Fennekin was floating to the bottom again. The paws of the drowning cub hung limp in the air, its tail above her in the water. She hit the rocks below and the tail sunk into its place, finally holding still on the lake floor.

Fenray's mind clicked. A brand new thought occurred, A thought of hope that screamed he had a chance. His life source shot to life. He might just make it.

The tail, it was free! He could grab her and swim for it.

The Seaking spun his direction. It had found its target. Fenray met its eyes, fear rushing down his throat and into his mind. He didn't have much time.

The creature had missed the first time, but it would not miss a second. It watched as Fenray frantically clawed at the water, swimming for the other Fennekin now only five feet away. She had floated closer to him in the attack.

Fenray reached her. He tried to grab hold of the Fennekin, pushing with his nose, not daring to open up his mouth again in case he ran out of air. He couldn't use his teeth or he would drown himself.

She was too heavy. No, he was too weak. The black closed around his eyes with each push he gave. Soon he could no longer see. His paws were too weak to feel the pain. Everything from his chest to his ears was swelling in tearful pain but his mind paid no heed. He was going to survive. He had to bring his target to the shore but now he wasn't so sure.

Fenray could only see the Fennekin in front of him. He felt the water rush past him as the creature made another charge to attack. Twenty feet. Ten…

The young cub had no strength left. He could hardly even float in place. This was it, this was the end.

Fenray may have had more patience than all his friends, he may spot things that others missed, he may have had no common sense, and his curiosity would probably get him killed, but no cub in the world was as determined as Fenray, to survive.

"Survive." The voice in his mind told him. The Fennekin was too weak to judge where it came from, it filled his ears but came from nowhere. It felt like his mother's comforting hugs on cold nights. It sounded like her sweet tone when he apologized and she said she forgave him. It sounded like home. The Fennekin ignored the black in his vision and listened as closely as he could.

It was the same voice he had heard during training. It was the same voice he had been messing with for years, never getting it to be coherent, but now it was clear as day. It echoed through the water and vibrated on his ears. It bounced off every wall, in every vein.

"Survive. Ember. Try it Fenray. Survive using Ember."

Fenray opened his eyes, the voice disappeared. Ember? A fire attack? At a time like this?

He had only done it once back at training earlier today. Eseral had congratulated him and all the other cubs cheered in joy when the tiny flame leapt from his throat. He had only burned one blade of grass in front of him, the attack was no longer than an inch long.

The Fennekin had his doubts, but the Seaking was charging in. Five feet. Three…

His lungs had no air to spare, his brain had no oxygen, but the familiar flame inside every Fennekin's heart would always survive. No matter how much water you poured on it, the flame would always burn bright. A flame was the last thing to die out in a Fennekin's heart.

Fenray shut his eyes and began to think, just like he did in training. The flame leapt to life.

Three feet. Two…

He thought of fire. He thought of warmth. He thought of that tiny, inch long flame he had created in front of the cubs. That thing, was going to scare this Seaking away?

Fenray's ears twitched to life. The cold water disappeared inside his throat. He felt warm once again, even hot. The water around him turned hot in temperature, his fur leapt to life with a glow of red and tan. His heart was boiling, it was scorching.

Fenray had one ounce of air left in him, deep inside his life source. He was going to use every bit of it. The flame leapt to life and exploded, no longer in his life source, but reaching out to the world.

One ounce of air, and then it was gone. The Fennekin opened his mouth.

…

Eseral could hardly see the water through her own tears. "What's going on!"

There was so much noise. Cubs everywhere were peering into the water and yelling out questions. Everyone wanted a look. Everyone wanted to know who was going to die.

Shadow was biting his tongue so hard it bled. "I don't know sweetie. Don't fall in though." Why was his wife leaning so close? "We can't do anything from up here. Not with that Seaking there!" Shadow was smart. He wouldn't dare jump in the water, not yet.

Eseral couldn't stop her tears. Thoughts raced through her mind. "But, they're cubs! We have to do something! Shadow? What about that Seaking! What's he going to…"

The lake burned red. Everyone's eyes shot open in wonder. "Agh!"

The red flames burst out in every direction. Everything within fifty feet of the Fennekin burst to life and Eseral jumped back as the flaming water jumped out at her. "Eek!"

Shadow threw his paws up just in time before he got burned. He could feel the heat of the flames smack his paws and the water shot up against his face. The whole lake shot to life as the water displaced with wild flames.

Then instantly, it was gone. The water fought back the fire, the lake came back to a still and the water froze to a halt. It was a flash attack, lasting for just one second but a very powerful second. It was an ember like Shadow had never seen before.

Shadow knew that attack. His eyes were wide as the fire dissipated and everyone blinked in surprise. "Ember?" The Umbreon whispered. He had never seen one so big before. Where did it come from? How was it launched underwater?

Shadow looked back down at the lake. Everyone was scrambling to the edge again to see what was happening. Only the Umbreon had seen the attack spread out and the back of his paws suffered the price when he blocked his face from the flames.

Shadow looked down. The Seaking was swimming away. The defeated Pokemon sped down the lake as fast as it could go, scared out of its mind. The whole lake had gone up in flames when it was just inches from the Fennekin. The giant Pokemon raced through the lake believing the flames were still behind it. It wasn't staying long to find out if the flames were still there.

Shadow looked over at the two figures in the water. He could see Fenray, the cub was just floating there. Now was his chance!

Shadow watched him for just a second longer. Fenray's eyes shut closed, his tail sank towards the bottom. Slowly he was going to the rocks below. His mouth was wide open.

Shadow gulped. There was only one thing to do now. He kissed his wife and jumped into the water.

"Shadow? Shadow!"

…

Fenray had no life left. The sight of the flames filled his mind and he wasn't sure what had happened. There was water and fire, he couldn't see anything but red. He knew he had done it. The exhausted flame in his heart sure felt like it had done whatever he had planned.

Fenray had done it. A full Ember attack. The Fennekin sank lower and lower. As far as he could tell, he was floating in the clouds. He no longer felt cold from the water.

Fenray rested on the bottom, it was soft and fluffy. At least he wasn't going to die on cold, wet rocks.

Something grabbed his neck with its teeth. The pain shot Fenray's mind back to life. Was something grabbing him? Was he being saved?

The Umbreon yanked upwards. Fenray exploded from the bottom, he started rising.

Wait!

Fenray dug his claws in every direction. He reached down below him and grabbed the soft fur in all four of his paws. He wasn't going all this way just to lose the Fennekin. He yanked as hard as he could until his claws almost came out.

He grabbed the nearest thing to him, her tail. He grabbed the thick, wet fur as hard as he could and together, they rose to the surface.

Shadow pulled once but was surprised when the Fennekin was twice as heavy as he expected. He glanced down to see Fenray holding Fenara, but the Umbreon didn't have time to think twice. He would have to pull them both. Shadow shut his eyes and yanked upwards with twice as much force. Slowly he started to rise. Together he was going to pull all three of them out.

Twenty feet. Eighteen… He was getting to the shore, or he was going to die trying. Ten feet. Six…

Nine minutes had passed since Fenara had started sinking. The Fennekin was dead after six.

…

Eseral waited. Her paws frantically dragged against the ground in panic. She tore up the dirt below with her claws. "Come on Shadow. Come on!"

The Umbreon was one foot away from the surface and his rings came into view. Eseral plunged her head into the water and grabbed the first thing in her reach.

It was his ears. "OW!"

She yanked, bringing the entire Umbreon to the shore. The Espeon didn't let up and pulled until Shadow was more than four feet on the shore.

"Ow. Ow. OW! Eseral? Let go!" Water erupted from the Umbreon's mouth and he couldn't speak further. He dropped the cub in his mouth and choked from his lack of air.

Eseral finally let go, just as he commanded. The Umbreon's poor ears were already shining red in pain. "Shadow? Speak! Please!"

Shadow laughed in between his coughing panics. What was his wife so worried about? He had only been in there for a few seconds. He tried to talk but instead he coughed water onto his wife's face and made her flinch. She wouldn't stop staring right into his eyes and he hated that look of panic. He hated when his wife was terrified.

Shadow continued laughing, it was all he could do in his panic. "Go, check, the cubs." He let his head fall and closed his eyes. He wasn't going anywhere soon, not until he could get his lungs under control.

Eseral looked up. Every cub did the same thing. Before them were two cubs that looked more like water than fur. They looked more dead than alive.

Fenray was sure of it, he was dead. This was what death felt like. This cold murky feeling with nothing below his paws, nothing in his sight, floating and sinking at the same time. He…

His ear twitched. His heart beat once and his paws shot to life. Was that ground below him? Was that wind? Arceus! Was he alive? "Hel…" His mouth exploded in water.

"Fenray!" Eseral sprinted over. With one paw she grabbed the Fennekin by the neck and pulled him to drier land away from the shore. "Fenray! Don't speak, just breathe. Breathe!"

Fenray tried. His mind told him to but instead he just threw up the murky liquid inside him. Water went everywhere.

Some of the cubs were disgusted. "Eww."

"Fenray! Breathe!" Eseral begged. The cub was seconds away from passing out and she knew it. "Try! Please!"

Fenray tried so hard. There was so much water, he couldn't get it out. His body was soaking in it and his lungs were filled with it. He was coughing up more and more.

And then, at last, the first inhale. Air filled his lungs. He felt pain but he felt alive. Every sense shot to life in a single, fresh, heartbeat.

The black disappeared. His eyes shot to life. His thoughts jumped in every direction. Fenray felt his heavy lead paws against the ground, pain in every muscle, pain in every strand of fur. "Owww." He moaned. At least he was breathing but at the realization of what he felt like Fenray almost wished he was still in the lake.

Eseral couldn't stop the smile that leapt across her face. She was so relieved her whole body sank four inches towards the ground in her weary exhaustion. "Oh dear Arceus." She wept in tears and hugged the cub, squeezing him as gently as she could manage. "Arceus Fenray, what were you doing?"

Fenray felt the warmth of the Espeon's dry fur. He felt life in his heart. The small fire in his chest had almost gone out in the lake, but now it was back to its tiny flame. It was alive. No matter how much water you poured on it, no matter how dead a Pokemon could get, it wasn't going out. Fenray was still alive and his flame had stayed bright. He coughed up more water.

He was ok. Shadow knew it, the cubs knew it, they could hear the sputtering. The weak Umbreon shoved his paws against the ground and lifted his wet fur above the grass. His limbs were shaking like crazy but he had to stand up. He had been through worse pain before, he could tolerate pain and he needed to look to see if everything was alright. The Umbreon knew that now was not a time to panic and rest was for when they got home. He turned himself around and stared at the confusion.

Fenray tried to stand as well. Immediately he fell.

Eseral was at his side in a heartbeat. "No! No, please don't stand. Just rest. Don't move. You'll only hurt yourself."

Fenray did as she commanded. He lay back down gently. He tried to say ok like his mother had always taught him to but no words came out. He told himself that he had to say something to Eseral since she had commanded him to do a task, but just this once the obedient Fennekin made an exception and he kept his mouth shut. He could apologize for scaring the adults later when he could finally breath correctly. "Ow." He moaned.

Fenray had trouble breathing, but he still knew how to smile. The Fennekin felt joy in his heart. The warm flame inside him fought the freezing cold water that drenched his fur and he let his head collapse against the wet ground in victory. He knew how to smile, and smile he did. He was alive even though he felt nothing like it.

There was no smile on Shadow's face. Eseral turned to him. "Shadow. You saved them. I think you saved them."

Shadow pointed his paw. Everyone turned their heads.

He had saved one. But no one was saving her.

Eseral turned her head. Her heart had already sunk in fear, but now the chance of hope was completely gone. She felt like her paws melted into the dirt below her. "Fenara?"

The cub lay there, stretched out across the ground. She was on her back, her four paws by her side, still clinging to thin air. She was laying there a foot from the water.

Where her fur had been red she was turning pale. Where she had been tan she was now white.

She was not alive. She was dead.

"Fenara!" The Espeon raced up to the cub. "Fenara. Please?"

Eseral prodded her. There was no movement, there was no feeling of a beating heart, there was only wet fur, there was only more water in every direction.

The tears would not flow fast enough this time. "Fenara? Fenara please? Fenara!" The Espeon was screaming now.

Eseral gripped the cub in both her paws. She threw her head down against the Fennekin's chest. "Fenara. Fenara!"

There was nothing. It was silent. The cub was turning white, the lake water turned her to a sick blue. There was more water than there was fur.

And there was no heartbeat. Only a little bit of warmth, the smallest feeling of it against her freezing cold fur. The last dying warmth of an ember in her heart, a small undying flame that never dwindled no matter how much water you poured on it. Supposedly that was true, but Pokemon had their doubts. Fenara had hardly even heard its voice, just a faint whisper. She would never hear it again.

The Espeon's noises were more tears now than words. She sank into the ground, her paws giving out. She wanted to touch Fenara's fur but it was so cold it scared her. Eseral didn't feel the warmth inside the cub's chest. The flame was slowly flickering and dying out.
Shadow knew it. It was harsh. He had never seen it happen to a Pokemon so young before. "Eseral?"

The Espeon yanked herself away from the cub and gripped her husband. She pulled at his fur with her claws, wrapping her neck against his rings and begging to be caressed. She needed comfort. "She, she's, she can't…"

Shadow shut his eyes. He was trying not to cry, but it was hard. "I'm sorry." He let his wife claw at his fur until it nearly bled, but he didn't dare flinch. He had to be strong. Even for this.

The Espeon now understood. It dawned on her mind like it had to her husband. The word finally reached her mind and it reeked of a thought she dared not tolerate. It couldn't be true, the cub couldn't be…

The cubs all saw it. Not one ear was up. Not one cub was scared for their life.

Death. The Fennekin looked of it. She smelled of it. The water was undeniable. She was not alive. Fenara could struggle, she could bang against every wall, she wasn't waking up without help. The flame flickered and it was dying out.

The cubs started to cry. Some were unconvinced but everyone was scared. It had to be true, no cub had ever looked so white.

Shadow finally let his first tear burst out. He had to tell his wife. He would have to break it to everyone and live with this, no matter how much it hurt. Times of trouble were ahead for them all for years to come.

"She's…" He stopped, taking another breath. "She's dead Eseral."

No one saw the Fennekin walking up to his target.

…

Fenray lay with his tail to the commotion, he couldn't see what Eseral was panicking about but it made his heart twist in a sickening way. He didn't know adults could cry and scream like that. The command that Eseral gave him rang through his heavy soaking wet head. "Just rest. Don't move, you'll only hurt yourself." The Fennekin kept reminding himself that he shouldn't stand up but his mind told him to turn around. Something was going on and he wanted to help.

The Fennekin pushed down with his paws. He got an inch off the ground, then he fell back down and smacked his head. Why did he feel so heavy? Why was he so weak? He coughed again and forced air into his weary lungs.

"Fenara?" He heard the Espeon question behind him. There was a new intensity in her voice. "Fenara? Fenara!"

Fenray's eyes shot wide open. That was not a voice of question or fear, it was a voice of terror, a scream of a terrified Espeon afraid she was losing someone she loved.

Fenray grit his teeth. He was already dead tired, his lungs needed to recover, but he pushed against the ground again.

He made it three inches. He fell back down to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Fenara? Please!" The Espeon's sobs came to a halt as she threw herself at her husband.

Fenray had enough. He had to do something. He didn't come all this way just for that Fennekin to lay there and die!

He pushed up as hard as he possibly could, his paws shaking and his head going light. He finally managed to stand upright and hold himself off the ground. The whole world tried to throw him over as he shook and stumbled in place.

The life rushed back through him. He was lightheaded, he could hardly think, he wasn't even sure if he was breathing but he was standing. Every muscle hurt as it shot back to life and his mind quickly recovered. Blood flowed back through his veins and the Fennekin felt warmth again. He liked that feeling, warmth for a Fennekin was the difference between life and death.

Fenray turned around. He saw Eseral throw herself off the cub and onto her husband. If Fenray could think clearly, he would've cried. He had never seen an adult do that before. He had never seen such scared faces but it was harder to think than it was to stand so he let the thought pass. He had one goal in mind.

Fenray could hardly think straight but he had just one goal. Everyone else had given up hope, but he had an idea.

Arceus could try to stop him, but he was a very determined cub. He trudged forward on his weak paws and reached the sick white cub in front of everyone. Her mouth was still open, filled to the brim with murky water. No one saw the two cubs close together.

Fenray didn't have time to think. He just knew he had to try something. Maybe it would work, maybe she was already dead. Maybe he was just kidding himself. Or maybe, with the smallest amount of luck, his life source was right.

He had to try something drastic. He had to try something that every other Pokemon would've convinced him was impossible. But against death, it was worth a shot.

Fenray remembered when he closed his eyes in the water. He remembered the last sight of the Seaking charging at him before everything went red and flames were everywhere. A very distinct feeling had leapt from his heart and given him life.

Amidst all the water, amidst all the pain in his lungs, Fenray recalled one feeling. That fire, the one deep in his heart, it was alive and warm. That warmth kept him alive long enough for Shadow to pull him to shore. It never burned out. But maybe for a drowned Fennekin, it could.

Maybe Fenara's tiny flickering flame had finally given out.

A Fennekin could hold its breath for three minutes if it was well trained, a young cub for about thirty seconds or just a little more. It took at least six minutes to drown a determined Pokemon.

A flame took twelve minutes to die. Fenray shut his eyes, and hoped this would work.

…

Fenara had been screaming when water closed over her mouth. Her fur felt very heavy.

She was never good at holding her breath. She was screaming for help while she sunk lower and her paws refused to work. She never had time to close her mouth, the water rushed in too fast. The black had surrounded her eyes by the time she finally hit the rocks on the bottom. She thought she was struggling, she thought she was moving, but her paws refused to work. She just floated there in pain and misunderstanding.

Slowly the black closed around her eyes. She stopped screaming, her mouth completely filled with water. She couldn't shut her throat, she couldn't feel a thing, darkness came over more than just her eyes.

The black closed around her quickly. Fenara tried to breathe. She imagined the air coming through her lungs instead of this painful, murky water that was everywhere. Her head swelled in pain and she realized it was over. She didn't shut her eyes but they closed against her will. She couldn't do a thing to keep them open now. It was over, she thought she would never see light again.

Pain and darkness. The cub cried in her mind, begging for air. There was none to be had. She begged of a feeling of dry ground and warm fur and the sun against her side, anything but this cold, murky, deadly water. She didn't want any of this. She had to…

And then suddenly, it was gone. The only pain she felt now were her thoughts, still telling her that she needed to live. That voice was screaming before but now it was just a mere whisper. Everything grew faint and disappeared. The voice was gone. She tried to grasp it but it all disappeared before she could move. She couldn't think, She couldn't feel, she didn't know where she was. Was she anywhere? What happened?

There was silence. There was nothing. There was no black or white or anything. Fenara couldn't process a thought, not a single word or idea. Not one image came to her mind, but she was somewhere. She felt life with no pain this time. She wasn't in the lake anymore, she was sure that the water was gone. The feeling of fur and paws and a heart shot to her mind quicker than she could blink. She was alive again.

Fenara opened her eyes. She felt something. She was sprawled out on the ground. She was out of the water on dry land. Her paws touched the cold floor and pushed up.

It was dark beyond imagining.

The Fennekin blinked her eyes. There was no pain. There was nothing. She was standing on solid ground, not cold or hot, but there was ground below her somewhere. She stood upright with no difficulty, her fur was weightless. She wasn't tired, her tail flicked in every direction, her ears stood upright in panic but extremely curious. What happened? Where was she? What was this black abyss? Was it even black? She couldn't quite tell but it was massive and she was very alone.

Fenara was scared. She was curious. She was tearful. Every emotion heightened and bombarded her before she could think about them. The dark seemed so scary, her fur so soft, truly she was no longer alive, not in this place. She felt like she was real, she had her four paws, but just by looking around her Fenara knew she wasn't herself. She wasn't a Pokemon laying down on the grass, she wasn't curled up by her father's side, she wasn't somewhere where sunlight reached this world. She was alone. Wherever she was, whatever she was… There was no escape.

The cub wondered if she was perhaps dreaming, it seemed very likely. She remembered very well where she had been just a few seconds ago, her memory didn't fail her but how did she even get here?

Fenara blinked to try to counter the darkness. She shut her worried mouth and looked around her in every direction. Of all things she felt, she felt small. She felt like a cub. She even felt curious. Thoughts of Oran berries and sneaking out at night came to her mind out of nowhere. Thoughts of her father passed through her mind with no control. She couldn't stop any of her thoughts and they pressed on, going deeper. She thought of the race she won, she thought of her best friend cheddar, she thought of that sweet voiced and comforting adult she had imagined to know so long ago.

Fenara had never seen her mother but she imagined her fur was warm. She was too young to even see. The cub started to cry but couldn't find a way to sob. She tried to whimper but couldn't finish the sound. She could not stop the thoughts here. Why? Why would they not stop coming?

Where was she? She could think, but she couldn't feel. She could see, but there was nothing except darkness? Was she in her own thoughts? Would they ever stop coming? Could she find a way out?

The young cub felt like crying. How long had it been? Ten seconds? An hour? The thought of her mother persisted. She was no longer curious. She curled up tight and shut her eyes, her tail brushing against her tear stricken face. At least now she was warm.

Warmth. True warmth from her father's fur on a cold night. Warmth even from a ray of sun in the middle of the day. She missed it. Here deep in her mind, warmth was the only thing that would keep a Fennekin alive. She would give anything to feel it once again like she had before. She was young, too young, and so alone. She wouldn't survive without some kind of warmth. Not here, at the bottom of the lake.

Fenara could not tell size but she felt very small. She couldn't see anything else to compare her size to but somehow the world seemed heavier around her. When she looked up to nothing, she knew that she wasn't the same size as before. Maybe she wasn't even alive. There was nothing here except the vast emptiness, it made her fur cringe at the realization of how small she really was. Was there anything here to make her feel tall?

There were blades of grass that could be squished underneath a Pokemon's paw, there were raindrops that dripped on those blades of grass, there were things inside the raindrops by the thousands that allowed it to fall, and there were things inside of those too.

Thoughts were smaller than things in raindrops, and smaller thing still made up thoughts. The smallest of them all seemed the largest when a Pokemon faced death. Fenara was there now.

She was tiny, minuscule, still smaller than that. Every emotion, every thought felt so tall and enormous that she couldn't control them. They came and disappeared just like that. Were there any rules here?

Would she ever get out?

Fenara turned her head in every direction. She took a few steps to try out the black ground below her. There was still nothing. Each step felt like a mile, but nothing before her changed. She wondered if she was even moving. When she looked down she could see her paws and their outline of detail. They were still the same color and still full of fur so that was a good sign, it helped to relieve her anxious mind to know that her fur was still tan and full of color, she could just barely make out her black nose and her white furred cheeks. She was alive, she was the same, but the world was not.

Fenara looked around her in every direction. She would be here forever if nothing changed. She sat down comfortably. She was in awe of this place. She didn't feel like crying, she wasn't even curious anymore, maybe she would feel different in ten seconds. Was there even time here?

She thought of the only reasonable thing to do. "Hello?"

There was no echo. She was too small. She gulped at the sound of her pitiful voice against this black abyss. "Hello?" A mere whisper, it died before it left her throat.

She was alone. She knew it. The cub felt like crying again. She wanted something to comfort her. She wanted a hug, she wanted an Oran berry, a full stomach, not to be drowning in the lake. She wanted her mother. "Mom?"

A small light. A glowing source. The Fennekin whipped back around, fear pouncing in her mind and all her thoughts vanished. She was no longer alone.

There was a glow. An orange one. It had no boundaries but pulled towards her, the only other living thing in this abyss. Had it always been there? Did it just appear? Was it watching her? What was it?

Fenara stared at the flicker of heat. Her questions disappeared as the flame grew. Her curiosity was satisfied. She had never seen anything like it.

The Fennekin's fluffy tail dropped to the floor. Her ears lowered against her head. It was a single flame that she saw, small yet significant. It was the size of a match, and her body was too small to see from a blade of grass. She stretched her head towards the sky and couldn't see the tip. Did it ever end?

Fenara could tell, the warmth from this flame could light forests on fire, it would burn through solid metal, melt ice as far as the eye could see, yet it soothed her with the perfect temperature. Warmth. It was here. She had found it. Was it hers? Had it always been here? Where was she?

Fenara gulped in awe. She feared she had to shut her eyes or go blind from its power. She had never heard the term life source before. She had never heard of the undying flame in every fire types heart. Hers was massive. She had no idea.

The Fennekin's ears perked up. Wait a minute. She thought she was dead, but if this flame still burned, if she could feel it's warmth, then was she truly gone?

The flame twitched. The entire abyss shot to life. "Survive?"

The words echoed off the walls. It made Fenara cower in fear. This was the voice, this was the one she had been hearing all this time in the lake. She was so small that she dared not speak, yet this fire carried its own voice here. The voice was clear and unmistakeable. Above all, it was comforting. It was warmth.

"Survive?" The flame asked a second time. It flickered because of water fighting it outside of her mind.

The abyss turned to nothing. Each flicker destroyed all life around Fenara, then as soon as the flame came back to life, she could see again. Fenara looked down to reveal her nose and paws in her clear vision. Everything else was still dark but at least she could see herself.

Fenara's ears twitched in realization. The flame was obviously talking, but it was asking her a question. She was in charge? It was asking for her opinion?

Fenara didn't answer.

"Survive?" the flame questioned again, growing more urgent. It flickered three more times in quick unison. Something was telling the flame to give up and Fenara wasn't answering the important question. The fire didn't have forever. Water was just as strong as an element and she was drowning in it.

Fenara felt it. Something like water crept up behind her where she dared not look. The flame was losing it's brightness, the area was freezing over like ice, like murky lake water. Darkness was coming over.

It was the last time the flame would ask before it would make the decision for her, it couldn't fight death forever. If a Pokemon didn't want to survive, what could a life source do against it? The question always remained in the final stages of life. It mattered how much a Pokemon truly wanted to see the sun again. "Survive Fenara?"

Fenara looked up at the flame. The cold behind her reached her tail. She bit her lip from the pain. It wasn't natural, it wasn't normal. She could feel the cold as it lurked in all corners and came closer. Lake water was powerful, even to a never ending flame. If she didn't answer, Fenara would be lost forever. The feeling was freezing her back paws now, reaching up her fur. She didn't have long.

"Survive?" The flame was begging. She still had a chance.

Fenara jumped upright. She begged with her paws and her ears, her tail flailed in every direction. "Yes!" She wanted to survive. She was crying from the pain in her tail. It was cold, she hated drowning. "Yes! Survive, please?" She wasn't giving up. This fire had to protect her.

The flame was flickering. It was scared and feared Fenara's choice, but the answer was clear. She had chosen to survive.

In an instant, the flame was back upright and the fire burned as tall as possible. Fenara blinked and the cold was gone. It made no sense.

Fenara felt something different. She turned around to the black abyss. There was nothing to see but something was coming.

Like a wave against the shore, like a fire bursting forth in a forest, she was suddenly warm again. The Fennekin shivered and felt fine. Emotions rushed through her head. What was happening? Was she dying? Was she going away forever?

No, it was the opposite. Fenara turned around and the life source was gone. The world around her seemed the smallest bit more real. She was coming back to life.

This feeling. She stared down at her heart, deep in her chest. It beat for the first time and came back to life.

That feeling, the one her life source begged for, like cold nights by her father's side, like times she cried alone, it was here deep inside her mind, farther than she had ever come, something was bringing her back to life. She would never remember it. She was too small to recall it, but it was there. She had finally found it.

It was, it was warmth.

The Fennekin had to smile. She couldn't explain it. She was alive. She was coming back to life. She felt like dancing. She felt like floating. Deep in her subconscious things were ok again even for a short time. She felt that she would never be lonely again. Whatever it was, no matter the cost, could she have it for just a second more?

The black disappeared and the feelings leapt away. With a huge blink Fenara shut her eyes and she was alone again, but not for long. She couldn't feel just now, she couldn't think yet, but her first thoughts were returning. The life came back into her veins. Her tail twitched once and the muscles came back. She was alive. All because of warmth.

No matter the cost, no matter what she told herself, she had to find out what this was. Something brought her back to life. It had to be nothing short of her mother's or her father's love. Something so deep it penetrated death. The Fennekin dreamed of opening her eyes the second the blood returned to her head.

But for now, she was dead. Fenray opened his eyes and realized what he had just done.

…

Fenray had his eyes shut so he could concentrate. That's what Eseral had told him to do, you can't launch an ember attack without concentrating first.

The attack was weak. The attack in the lake had scared off a fully grown Pokemon but this flame could hardly burn a patch of grass. If anyone had seen the tiny flame that leapt from his throat, even for just a second, they would've laughed at how pathetic it was.

But for a drowning Fennekin, it was enough to survive. Fenray launched his attack, his eyes closed, and then the flame was loose.

It went clear through the water, clear through Fenara's throat, and straight to her heart. Fenray opened his eyes in surprise. Was that, warmth? Were her cheeks warm? What the heck? But she was stone cold two seconds ago?

His eyes shot as wide as they could go. His ears stood taller than they ever had before, his tail flinched from the feeling. He could feel it, right against her white cheeks. She was warm. Warm like something alive.

His idea. It didn't work, did it?

Fenray's smile disappeared when he realized a different thought. Warm cheeks? He looked down past her nose and realized why he was feeling warmth. His face was kind of touching hers. He was kind of close to her, face to face, even nose against nose. Was he standing over her too? How did he get so close? He didn't mean to? Why were her cheeks so warm?

What if someone saw him? The Fennekin's own cheeks lit up red in both warmth and embarrassment. Oh no.

Fenray didn't know what to do. He was frozen in fear, unable to move. He tried to back away but his own astonishment kept him still. He tried to move but his paws were frozen and all he could do was stare. What was wrong with him? What If someone looked over? If Eseral or Shadow or any cub saw him like this, he would be the laughing stock of the whole pack. They would see him standing so close, too close. What was he doing? It was just an ember attack. He had to get it through the water, this was the only way, this was a complete misunderstanding!

Why was he touching her mouth? Why couldn't he back away? Was he entranced? A spell, paralyzed? He had to move right now…

Too late. The Fennekin's tail twitched. She stirred on the ground. She was waking up and it was way to late now for Fenray and he was standing right over her.

Fenara had never felt anything like it. She was dead, no thoughts, no feelings, but then her heart leapt to life. One pulse and everything felt alive again. Fenara felt color in her paws, her muscles felt strength, her tail twitched once in delight. Everything was working again, she was alive!

Her lungs forced in air. Her head exploded in wonder. Everything was going to be ok. She fought and fought to make her brain work, trying to think what happened. She remembered warmth. She remembered almost dancing. She remembered the colossal flame that lit up the entire black abyss. The more she thought about it, the more like a dream it seemed. That couldn't have happened. That feeling of warmth, it didn't exist. Who was she kidding? She stirred awake and felt her heavy eyelids trying to open for the first time since she drowned.

Fenray had to act now! He watched as the cub started moaning and stirring. He was still standing right over her. His cheeks so warm, the fire in his heart still dancing. This was a big mistake. This was a big mistake! Why couldn't he move?

Fenray's eyes watched in wonder and horror at the same time. The color poured back into the dead Fennekin just an inch from his face. Where she was once dead her fur now turned tan and red, her ears fluffed in fur and shot back to color, her life source was hard at work. It had all the warmth it needed. In fact, it was a little too much. Fenara's cheeks shot a bright, bright, red.

Fenara felt it again, the color and life, the warmth, so it wasn't fake. She couldn't tell if she was smiling or not, but she was happy. She was alive! She had never known what it felt like to come back from drowning. Everything floated, nothing stayed in place. She felt her mouth come to life, trying to form words.

Wait? Warmth? The Fennekin stopped. Something was definitely touching her. Her correct thoughts snapped back in place. Something was touching her entire face. Something soft, fuzzy, even wet. Was it fur? Was it lake grass at the bottom of the water? Why was it warm?

Was it, alive? Was something on top of her? Was something alive touching her cheeks, her nose, her mouth?

Fenara forced her heavy eyelids to open and she squinted from the sun. She forced her eyes to see clearly even though the light was blinding, it was the first light she had seen since she hit the bottom of the lake. She had to see what was above her, it was definitely fur she was tasting and it tasted like lake water.

She could just barely make it out. A Pokemon of some sort. White fur? Black nose? Was that a Fennekin?

It wasn't her father, it was obviously not her mother, but it was definitely another Fennekin. Fenara's mind racked with who it could possibly be. Another Fennekin, but who else did she know? It wasn't Eseral, it wasn't Alisa, it wasn't her father. Who was it? She could now see his fur. The eyes fell in place. The glare from the sun was finally fading away and she could see for the first time.

Those eyes. They were… Really close!

Her thoughts were confirmed. Fenara stared in complete confusion. It was definitely a Fennekin, and the poor cub was absolutely terrified.

Fenara blinked, she squinted. Wait, she knew him, it was that Fennekin from the race, the one that was with Alisa! What was that feeling? Was he touching her fur? Was he standing on her! His face was too close. Too close! What was he doing? "Mmff!"

Fenara tried to scream but it was muffled. Her throat choked, she couldn't make words because this darn Fennekin was covering her mouth and she had swallowed too much water. She threw her paws in every direction and screamed. What was he doing? Why was he standing so close! "Mmff! Mfgh!"

Fenray knew it. He watched the Fennekin scream and knew he was caught. He was doomed. He didn't even mean it. It was all an accident, a misunderstanding! This was all a big mistake, he just wanted to save her life, not this, whatever he could call it.

Fenara finally got a grip on his bright tan fur. She grabbed his cheeks and kicked him in the gut as hard as she could. Fenray flew clean over her face and was off her in two seconds. "Ow! Ok, ok."

Some of the cubs looked over from the sudden complaint. They had just enough time to see it. Fenray was close to the cub, but now he was on the ground grabbing his injured cheek. He rubbed his white fur where it was turning red from both embarrassment and swollen pain. She didn't have to kick him so hard? It was an accident.

Fenray stopped rubbing his cheek. His eyes went wide in fear. Some of the cubs did see him, and worst of all, this Fennekin before him was now awake. She would tell the whole pack without hesitation. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

What did he even do? Why did his mouth taste like fur and lake water? It tasted horrible. Actually, she tasted horrible.

Fenara was squirming left and right. If she wasn't awake before, she was now. "Get off me! Get off!"

Now everyone looked over. Eseral blinked her eyes open in surprise, still gripping her husband's fur. She knew that tiny voice.

The frightened cub jumped upright, just as Fenray did at the same time two feet away. They stared at each other for just a moment both just as confused as the other.

Everyone stared at the two. Fenray couldn't believe it. She was alive. It had worked. He had launched a fire attack right in her mouth and now she was wide awake. His idea had worked!

The Fennekin's smile disappeared. His idea had worked. He had touched her mouth. Oh no.

Fenara couldn't believe it either. He had touched her mouth! What the heck was this cub thinking?

Why wasn't she dead? "Fenara!"

Everyone looked over. Shadow fell to the ground in surprise when Eseral let go of him and ran towards the cub. Eseral had driven the idea in her head, the cub was dead. Nothing was reviving Fenara. And yet, here stood the Fennekin, alive? "Fenara? Fenara! Are you ok?"

Everyone waited. Eseral ran right in front of the cub and blocked Fenray's view of her. Everyone that could stared at the soaking wet, miserable looking cub who just stared into nowhere. Some of the cubs wondered if she was actually awake.

She was, and one thought rang through her head. Warmth. Why where those cub's cheeks so warm?

Fenara opened up her mouth to speak. Her throat choked and she made a weird croaking sound. Then she threw up.

Eseral was at her side in a heartbeat. "Fenara! Arceus, just hold still. Don't talk." She caught the Fennekin before the cub collapsed to the ground and held her with a gentle paw. Fenara wouldn't stop coughing. She couldn't breathe. There was just too much water.

Fenara had seen everything. The huge flame in her heart, her life source begging her to stay alive, and then this Fennekin's warm touch? What was he doing? It wasn't true. That warm feeling didn't come from him, that wasn't even possible? What was he doing! She threw up more lake water and it covered Eseral's paw. How much water could she hold in her puny stomach? Perhaps she shouldn't have eaten so many Oran berries over the last few years.

Fenara coughed and coughed. More water came up. She tried to talk but it was a disaster. She had never realized how sick she really felt. It was worse than eating too much, It was worse than any sickness she had ever felt. She gave up and shut her eyes so Eseral's gentle paw could take all the weight. Most of the water was on the ground in front of Fenara but she feared talking in case that revolting feeling came back up again. Fenara hated lake water, she never wanted to swim again.

There was only one expression from the cubs that could describe the scene before them, again. "Eww!"

Eseral wasn't sure how, but she knew she had to act quickly to keep this Fennekin alive. Fenara looked like she would pass out any second and then who knows if she would wake up again? "Fenara, don't talk! Just relax. Breathe. Breathe just like Fenray did."

Fenray? Fenara's ears twitched in worry. The young cub that stood over her? That Fennekin that was touching her mouth!

She forced open her mouth to talk. She had to say what he did. "But he…"

"Don't talk!" Eseral yelled. She was too panicky to stay calm. "Just live, please! We can talk once the water's out of your lungs. You're going to be ok but please just focus on breathing first." She was so worried she didn't care what this cub had to say. It could wait, she had to remain calm and if Fenara puked one more time she was probably going to faint. Eseral hated it when cub's fainted!

Everyone was mesmerized. Shadow took a step closer in wonder. All the cubs huddled around the poor cub. The only Pokemon that wasn't surprised by the miracle was Fenray. He quickly backed up as far as he could in terror. He wondered how far he could run before he was caught, maybe he could disappear for a week and then see if things would calm down. Everyone would be making fun of him for what he did.

He had touched her. He knew it too. Fenara looked up, her lungs gasping for breath. She stared right at him.

Fenray gulped in fear. He was going to be in so much trouble.

Maybe he had hope though. He did save her life after all.

Fenara was able to breathe now. She followed Eseral's orders and let every limb hang loose. It hurt too much to think, standing was even more of an issue. She coughed and coughed against the swelling pain in her lungs. It took fifteen seconds for her heart and lungs to finally catch up with her body and she felt alive again. There was so much water, but it was all gone now.

Eseral couldn't believe it. She was holding a living cub. "Fenara?" She gasped in tears. "Fenara? Are you ok?"

Fenara felt awful, of course she was not ok. She tried to talk but she needed every bit of air she could manage. The only thing she could manage was staring, and stare she did.

Fenray felt the eyes pierce right through him. He knew what that look meant. The minute Fenara could talk she was going to tell everyone what happened. She was going to talk of cheeks and lake water and him standing over her. Of touching and fire and, and… Warmth.

Fenara's eyes lowered the slightest bit. It was true, and every time she stared at him and his bright red cheeks she was reminded of it. In her head she enjoyed it. It sent her spinning and in a daze, it made her feel alive. But now? It was… Gross! He was touching her fur! Her look turned right back to a snarl and Fenray flinched.

The poor cub had to get out of here now. Fenray looked around him and noticed that only Fenara was staring at him. He could escape, if he really tried.

The Fennekin gulped, taking one last look at the confused cub before him. His own thoughts ran rampant in his head. Then he made a break for it.

Fenara realized he was trying to escape. "Hey, wait! You…" She coughed up more water. Her words failing to form any meaning. Nobody could understand what she was choking over, but he was going to get away! "He…" she coughed again. Why did her chest hurt so much?

Fenray turned to run. He only made it ten steps before his head slammed slammed into the thick black paw directly in his way. Oops, he wasn't supposed to run into the largest adult here during his escape plan.

Shadow looked down in surprise. "Fenray? What are you…"

The cub tried to run again, but Shadow slammed his paw in front of him. It forced Fenray to turn around and stare at Fenara, her eyes still glaring at him in between her coughs. She finished and took in another breath, eager to let her toughest turn to words. This Fennekin was so dead!

Fenray was doomed. Shadow watched as the cub knelt down in the grass and tried to hide in plain sight. Was this a joke? "Fenray, what are you doing?" Holy Arceus, his cheeks were red!

Shadow was the only one who had seen Fenray. He stared down in surprise and stepped closer but the cub wouldn't move his eyes from Fenara. "Um, what are you doing? Are you ok?" Was this a joke? what had happened? Everyone turned their eyes back to the cub who had been dead just moments earlier. Fenara was the center of attention again, even Shadow looked up.

Everyone stared. Fenara had strength again. The Pokemon all held their breath as the cub stood upright on her shaky paws without Eseral's help. She was soaked, she was miserable… And she was furious.

She glared right at the cub that was cowering in the grass. She could see his red cheeks from here. "You!" She yelled. "Why did…"

Fenara didn't get to finish. The first one to get over their shock was Eseral, and now she was overjoyed. "Fenara!" She leaned down and grabbed the cub, squeezing the air out of her lungs again and making her lose her words. "You're alive!"

Fenara tried to squirm free but it was hopeless. Now everything hurt again and she moaned in pain from the strong hug. Arceus Eseral was strong. Finally the Espeon dropped her to the ground. "You're alive! We need to find Tailo. We need to tell everyone. The whole pack needs to know. Fenara's ok! She's going to live!" The excited Espeon paraded in every direction in pure joy. "You're going to be ok!"

She jumped in front of her husband and he yanked her by the ear before she could move again. "Ow! Shadow? Ow! Let go of me!"

Shadow laughed. He pulled harder and made Eseral pay attention. "Sweetie? If you don't mind, Fenara is trying to talk." He pointed at the shivering wet cub.

Everyone fell dead silent. They all stared at Fenara who had just been dead moments earlier. Fenara found that despite her best efforts, she was at a loss for words. How was she supposed to explain this?

She lifted her paw and pointed. Hey? Where did the Fennekin go?

Everyone turned. Fenray had almost made it away from the group but all eyes turned to him. His tail fell to the ground and he turned his head in the tall grass.

He gulped. "Um, I can explain."

Shadow laughed. His bellowing laughter helped to ease everyone's tension just a little. "Explain? If you can explain how you managed to make Fenara come back from the dead, then please do so."

The large Umbreon took only three steps and was in front of the cub. He stared down at the terrified Fennekin with as much compassion as he could.

It wasn't enough. Fenray gulped and his ears fell so low they hit the ground below him. "I didn't touch her."

"Yes you did!" Fenara screamed. "You touched me! He touched me!" She looked at everyone around him.

Fenray was immediately angered. "No I didn't. I didn't meant to, it was an accident."

"Yes you did! You were right on top of me!" Fenara couldn't scream loud enough. All eyes turned back to her. "You were touching my fur! What were you doing? What could you possibly be doing that your cheeks were touching mine?"

Eseral flinched from the sudden words. "Wait, what?"

Everyone looked back over at Fenray. He gulped, he wasn't sure what to say.

What was he doing? He was using an ember attack. He was doing what his life source was screaming at him too when the first colors of white started to stain Fenara's fur. He did the only thing that seemed reasonable in a time of chaos. He took charge and made a move. He knew that warmth was the only thing keeping him alive when he was drowning in the lake, why would Fenara be any different.

Fenray gulped, but then stood his ground. He shuffled his exhausted paws below him and held his ears up tall. "I was saving your life."

Everyone was silent, for a few seconds. "You touched my mouth!"

Eseral flinched again. "What!"

Fenray bolted upright. "No I didn't. It was an accident."

"Yes you did! You were right on top of me! I could see you. Your fur was touching mine."

"I wasn't TOUCHING YOU!"

Shadow snarled so loudly that every cub flinched. Even Eseral's ears fell down. The argument was settled as soon as the Umbreon spoke.

Shadow was not angry, he was not even agitated, but he did have an idea of what had happened, and he didn't like it. "Everyone go home." He turned to address everyone except his wife and the soaking wet Fennekin's before him. "This is only for Fenara and Fenray. For the rest of you, training is over. Go home and tell your parents that everything's ok."

The cub's ears immediately fell down. What? They had to leave? Aww, that was so not fair. One look from the Umbreon though, and they knew it wasn't negotiable.

"Leave." Shadow commanded a little more impatiently. The cubs got up as quickly as they could and left. Already the rumors were beginning to happen. The first thing all the cubs were going to tell their parents was that training was awesome and a cub had nearly drowned. The second thing they would tell them was that they wanted to go tomorrow but for now, it was over. Only one cub stayed behind, hidden in the tall grass. The small Eevee hoped that nobody saw her because her parents would kill her if they found out she was listening to this. But a chance to eavesdrop on her best friends after they had argued with each other? Alisa couldn't possibly turn this offer down. She crouched lower in the grass and listened in with her well trained ears.

Eseral was a little stunned by her husband's words, but after she thought about it, the command made perfect sense. Who was she kidding? Training was way over. She'd be lucky if any of the adults even let her see their cubs now.

Eseral sighed at the thought. She even wanted to cry. She noticed that her husband was staring at her while the two cubs below here were locked in each other's eyes.

Shadow smiled at her. He even winked.

Eseral flinched for the third time now. What the heck? What was that wink for? "Um, Shadow? What are you doing?"

Shadow stood upright again and sighed as loudly as he could. Both the cubs were staring at each other, Fenara obviously the more angry, but now everyone looked up at the Umbreon.

Shadow took his time. He studied Fenray's face, nodding once in approval. Then he studied Fenara's soaking wet and furious expression. He nodded once again.

He smiled. He giggled. He even laughed. "So Fenara? You said he touched, your mouth?"

Fenray's ears fell straight down. Oh no, he was so doomed.

Fenara was upright in a second. "Yes! He did. Don't listen to him, he's lying."

Shadow held up his paw before anything could begin. He couldn't hold back his smile. Inside his heart he was actually laughing as hard as he could. He was rolling on the ground in hysterics but he needed to confirm it first. He was around cubs, therefore, he must not act like one. But it was so darn difficult.

Shadow turned his head to Fenray. The poor cub looked so frightened.

Wait, Shadow wasn't angry? Fenray crossed his eyes. What was Shadow doing? Was he, laughing? Was this some kind of sick joke? What was this adult laughing about? There was nothing funny about this predicament at all, he was being blamed for saving a cub's life.

Shadow shoved a paw over his mouth and snorted. He wasn't staring at Fenray's expression, he was staring at his bright red cheeks. "Did you seriously kiss her Fenray?"

Everything clicked in a heartbeat for Eseral. The idea made complete sense. She sank four inches towards the ground. "Oh no."

Shadow couldn't hold it back any longer. Both cubs stared at him in complete confusion. It was too much. He dropped his paw and shut his eyes.

It was true. The two had actually kissed. "Bwahaha!"

Eseral slapped his face as hard as she could. "Are you crazy? This is a serious problem!"

Shadow continued to laugh but it was difficult with his cheek swelling in pain. "Eseral? This is hilarious. I don't believe it. It think Fenray's kiss may have knocked her back into her senses. Fenara's alive. It was a life, saving… Kiss!" He bellowed again in laughter.

The two cubs watched as the Umbreon and Espeon fought and then Eseral slammed her husband to the ground. Both the cubs looked at the arguing adults like they were crazy. Adults played too? Fenara didn't know that. The last time she had seen Tailo act like this was before he was alive, because he had never done something so much like a cub!

"Will you hold still!" Eseral yanked her husband upright by the ear and forced him to sit still. "I'll rip the other one off if you keep laughing at their red faces!"

Both the cubs perked up in worry. They put a paw to their cheek at the same time.

Shadow bit his tongue so hard he thought it was going to fall off. "Ok, ok. I'm calm. Now. Tell them what happened." Both the cubs were still staring at them.

Eseral had forgotten for a second who she was. She glanced down at her dirty fur from when she had tackled her husband. Great, she was the worst role model for cleanly fur in the world. All this effort and the cubs saw her look horrific anyway.

she sighed and stood as tall as she could, acting like nothing had happened. "Fenara? Fenray? I think what you guys did was…" Her throat choked up. It couldn't happen. What would these cubs even think of this? Perhaps she should just leave it be and never tell them. Maybe with enough Oran berries she could keep both of them quiet for forever and they could forget this ever happened.

Eseral looked up at the sky. She pawed at the ground and tried to pick the dirt out of her fur. "Well, um, we think," she pointed to her husband and then to herself. "Well? We think that you guys, kissed."

Fenara stared at Fenray. Fenray glanced at Fenara. Fenara stuck her tongue out.

They both turned back to the adults. "What's a kiss?"

Eseral perked up in surprise. Oh great, did they have to explain that too?

Shadow beat her to it. She screamed when Shadow kissed her cheek and then pulled away. Then she slapped him.

Shadow laughed, but it was a good example. "That, my dear cubs, is a kiss."

Eseral and her husband waited for the reactions. The cubs stood there in complete wonder, in complete misunderstanding. Fenara was the first to react.

Very slowly the cubs ears fell against her head. Her wet fur sank to the ground and her paws shook in horror. She had seen that before, and now it all made sense.

Fenray finally had the idea dawn on him. "Wait. A kiss? No I didn't. I used Ember."

"AAAAGGHH!"

Fenara threw her face into the dirt. She dragged it across the ground with her paws. "He kissed me! Gross!" She took a mouthful of dirt by accident and choked. Now her entire face was covered in the wet mud below her. "Eww!"

Fenray gulped. He took a step back but some movement caught his eye. Hey? Where were Shadow and Eseral going?

Fenara had seen that plenty of times before. Parents always giggled with it, they played with it, they kissed each other all the time as some kind of joke. Never, ever, in her life did someone else do the same to her.

But on her? A kiss? A kiss from a Fennekin she hardly knew? She had never even heard the word until now. What did it mean? What did it look like? What was that Fennekin thinking!

Fenara froze in fear. The whole thing made sense. Warmth, that fire in her heart. It was all from… A kiss?

"NOOO! NO, NO, NO! NO!"

Fenray was frozen. He couldn't even blink. All he could do was stand there, wide eyed. He really, really wanted to run but he was a good cub and always faced up to his crimes, although he still felt he had done nothing wrong.

Besides, there was a big misunderstanding. "I didn't mean it."

Fenara looked up from the ground. Her ears jumped upright. "What?"

Arceus. Fenray averted his eyes so he wouldn't say anything about how dirty Fenara's face had become. He noticed that the two adults were well out of sight now, it was just him and her. Well this was more than awkward.

Fenray had to make his point clear. "It wasn't a kiss. I didn't mean to. It was an ember attack."

Fenara actually cringed form the words. Was this Fennekin being serious? "Not a kiss?" She screamed in anger. Fenray could feel his own worry building in his paws. He should've been halfway around the world from this cub by now. "Not a kiss! What are you talking about? You were touching my mouth!"

Fenray was insulted. "I used an ember attack. I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"You kissed me!" There was no way around it. The memory played again in Fenara's head and she remembered how close he had been. "Aah! No!" She threw her face into the dirt.

Fenray had nothing else to say. He reached up and rubbed his ear, his signature move for when he was highly embarrassed. What better moment to act like a cub than right now? "I'm sorry, Fenara? Is that right?"

"Stop!" Fenara screamed. Fenray almost fell over from the scream. "Just stop! If you tell me it's an accident, one more time?"

Fenray gulped. He really had no choice. "I didn't mean to."

Fenara hoped with all her heart that it somehow wasn't true, but him denying it wasn't going to make it go away. She could see his red cheeks, his lying face, his simple stature. She could see his bright white fur, his puffy ears, his eyes…

Fenara flinched and snapped out of her anger. Her heart twisted and she looked down in worry. What the heck? That was a new feeling.

Thoughts bombarded her head. Her fur stood on end. She thought of warmth, and naturally, she thought of this Fennekin.

The two were intertwined. Happiness and dancing and floating emotions, they all depended on him. Fenara felt like she was going to smile. Then she wanted to throw up.

Fenray was going through something similar. When Fenara finally looked up he snapped out of his trance and grabbed his ear again, looking away. Wow? What just happened?

"Um." Fenray bit his lip until his teeth almost sank right through. "Perhaps I should go." He turned to leave, getting ready to run for his life.

Fenara had no words to say. She was wet, she was miserable, and she was cold. If no one was looking, if this Fennekin was the source, she would've asked for that warmth again in a heartbeat. She needed it, she felt so cold right now.

But a kiss? How could it be? What kind of sick game was this? She didn't like kissing? Was Eseral telling the truth? Was kissing this Fennekin truly the only way to feel that same way again.

She had nearly died, but Fenray brought her back to life. She turned to leave and hoped the pack wouldn't make fun of the dirt on her face.

That was the least of her problems. "You know I did save your life…" Fenray turned his head. He stopped mid walk.

One glance and he couldn't keep his mouth shut. "EEP!" He threw his paw over his mouth.

Fenara whipped her head right back around. "What? What's wrong?"

Fenray bit his tongue as hard as he could to keep himself from talking. He pulled on both his ears and stamped on his tail. He shuffled his paws against the ground and moaned in worry. He even tore the fur from his neck. Nope, he wasn't saying it, he wasn't saying it. He wasn't telling Fenara what happened to the back of her.

Fenara stood there, her eyes glaring at him. What was this Fennekin's problem? Did he see a ghost? Was he going to comment on her fur? "What's going on? Tell me what happened?" It's not like she didn't already want to kill him anyway.

Fenray dragged his claws across his face and then pointed. His back paws already turned to run the second Fenara started to turn her head. "Your, um, your tail?…" Fenray didn't finish his thought. What he meant was the huge lack of what used to be behind Fenara.

Fenara's huge ears shot upright. Her tail? What happened to her tail! She turned her head.

Where there had once been a fluffy, prideful, well groomed tail, there now stood a ripped, torn apart, twig like appendage that had nothing but a few fur strands left. The red was gone, the softness was gone, and the beauty was destroyed. What remained looked like a tree with it's limbs burnt off in a forest fire. It looked hideous. It was even frightening to stare at for a long time, and it was stuck to Fenara's back for the rest of her life. Tail's took how long to grow back? A year? Maybe two?

Fenara didn't know what came out of her throat, but it was worse than a scream. "AAAEEK!"

She whipped her head back around. Fenray was gone. The Fennekin was running for his life through the grass and disappeared from her sight. He wasn't staying long to find out how she reacted to her new look.

Fenara was desperate. She screamed and cried out in anger at the same time, tears pouring from her eyes. She didn't want to look behind her but she could feel it now, the ugly branch that stuck out behind her. When she sat down it touched the ground and made her jump. "Aah!"

She turned her head again. There it was. Missing. Her tail! It had to be around here somewhere? Where was all the fur? How could it just disappear?

Fenray was well into the meadow by now and out of sight of the furious cub. He looked down at his claws and knew what lay there. He remembered how he had gripped the closest thing to him when Shadow was rescuing him from the lake. Not surprisingly, he had grabbed Fenara's tail. Sure he saved her hide from drowning, or at least, most of it.

Fenray stared at his claws. There it was, the bright tan fur He had torn out almost every strand of her tail by pulling her to shore and now the rest was stuck at the bottom of the lake. He might as well sign his own death sentence now because Fenara was going to kill him.

Fenara was going to lose her mind to panic. She was going to tear up every blade of grass she could see for miles around. "Where is it!" She screamed, running around in circles. "My tail! It's GONE!" She searched the undergrowth, there had to be more fur around here somewhere. The whole thing couldn't just be missing.

Fenara stopped running in circles. She had a new thought, one that brought her ben more horror. But, grooming? What would she do about grooming?

The Fennekin brought her paw to her face and licked it once, getting the already soaking wet paw as wet as she could. She dragged it across her tail in the hopes that maybe it would make it better. Maybe after so many years of ignoring her father's and the adults advice, grooming might save her from this hideous thing attached to her back. She dragged her paw across the fur over and over.

Nope. Still ugly. The cub started to cry.

Fenara cried and cried. No one was here. She was alone, and when she got back to her home the whole pack was going to laugh at her horrific tail. There was nothing left for her, she was doomed. She might as well have just drowned and got it over with.

And it was all because of that red cheeked, ear pulling, big eyed, wet, ugly, excuse of a Fennekin named… "FENRAY!"

Fenara heard something crash through the bushes behind her. She turned her head in complete surprise, her tail moving behind her and away from sight.

Cheddar had been patiently waiting at the edge of the lake, but when no one arrived she started her search. "Fenara? Hey! I found you."

The Chespin smiled and ran forward to meet her friend. The soaking wet Fennekin could only do one thing. She gulped. If Cheddar found out about all this?

Cheddar didn't even look at her friend as she began to ramble on. "So first I get to the edge of the lake but no one shows up. So then I tried searching and I found paw prints everywhere. Where were you guys? I searched everywhere but there's no Pokemon! Where did everyone go?" The Chespin threw her paws up in despair and had yet to even stare at her best friend. "Were you guys still swimming? Maybe the race finished and I missed it. Did it? I don't think so." Now Cheddar's eyes scanned everything except the condition of her best friend. Fenara shuffled her paws in fear knowing it was all over soon. Just one look, just one look from Cheddar and she would have to explain everything. "I think I swam the farthest, just past the rock but everyone else quit early. I think…" The Chespin stopped talking.

Fenara gulped. It was over. Her fur was wet, her cheeks were red, and she had no tail. What would Cheddar say? What would the pack say? What would her father say?

Cheddar had a lot to say about her best friend's current condition. Actually, the Chespin just had a lot to say. "How come you're so wet? Did you just finish the race? Did you fall back in? Did you take a bath? Where is your…"

Cheddar stopped. What the heck? She tilted her head. Nope, it was definitely not there. "Um, Fenara? How come…"

"Cheddar!" Fenara interrupted, she wasn't taking this torture. She started growling and turned it into a snarl. She was done with questions. If one Pokemon asked her about her tail? "Don't you dare say it."

Cheddar had always been one to take a dare, especially when it's against her best friend. "Where's your tai…"
The Chespin couldn't finish. It was rather difficult to talk when Fenara's paws wrapped around her throat.

…

Fenray finally stopped running. He was a hundred yards away from the lake and only green grass surrounded him in every direction. He had considered running back to the pack but thought it was wiser to run to the middle of nowhere where he could be alone. At least out here he could think things through, and he had a lot to think about.

The poor cub collapsed on the ground. His lungs were heaving for air, his paws were throbbing, his fur was still wet, the only good thing about what happened today was that training was over. Fenray had always been one to see the best out of the worst situations, but he didn't see anything else good about this one. He knew he looked miserable, was freezing wet, too tired to even run, but hey? At least he had a tail.

Fenray couldn't keep his thoughts inside for much longer. He shoved his head against the ground. "It's all her fault." He told himself, muffled by the dirt but the words were still deafening in his mind. "If she just didn't swim out so far, if she wasn't so mean, if she didn't drown!"

Fenray's voice fell silent. His ears fell down in shame. Who was he kidding? It was his fault entirely for bringing her back to life, he wasn't perfect either. He had blame in this conflict, like how he pulled on her ears and tail. What about all his arguing? His instincts to admit to something were taking him over, why did he have to be such a rule obeying cub? Fenray wondered what his mother would say? There had yet to be a problem that she couldn't fix for the poor cub, but now Fenray had his doubts. He just wanted to be alone, and he didn't want his mother to know. He wouldn't tell her, not yet but soon he would need a hug, and he would need a very long one.

Fenray's soaked ears fell and they hit the ground. The imaginary weight on his back was so heavy, but his head felt so light, he was just so confused.

He had saved a cub today from drowning, Shadow had yelled at him, he may have upset Eseral, he scared his best friend, and worst of all, Fenray had somehow managed to accidentally kiss a Pokemon he didn't even know.

An accidental kiss? How did that even happen? "It was just an ember." Fenray whispered to himself, pawing at the grass before him. "It was just an ember, not a kiss."

A kiss? Fenray's eyes opened wide. Out here alone, he dared to let his thoughts continue before he shut them down. A kiss? What did he really think about it?

What did really he think? Fenray felt like he was going to puke. He grabbed his stomach and fell to the ground in a curled up ball of wet fur. He felt absolutely miserable.

His stomach turned, his head was spinning, but he played the memory of reviving Fenara back in his head right until she woke up and he was standing over her. He had never seen anything like it. No one in the world had felt like he had in that moment.

The cub gripped his stomach harder. That moment in time wasn't even the worst of it.

The ember from his throat was warm and powerful. He had never launched one like that before. But even Fenray knew that the fire wasn't the worst part either.

The cub was curled tight on the ground now. Forget the stomach pains from swallowing too much lake water, forget the fire that leapt from his throat, the real pain was in his cheeks.

The cub lifted a paw up to his face. The feeling of his cheek fur was his worst fear confirmed and deep inside his mind he knew it was all coming true.

Fenray opened up his eyes in horror once his paw pushed on his cheek and he uncurled from the ground. His old mother's story came back to him from so long ago. He had heard the tale every time his mother tried to teach him something, usually because he was guilty of the very thing she was teaching.

The words played through Fenray's mind. "A red cheeked Fennekin, is a lying Fennekin." If a mother says it, then it must be true.

Fenray's paws fell from his face. The truth came to him and he realized it for the first time. Red cheeks could only mean one thing for him now, he was lying to himself.

And what was he lying about? What was the one thing Fenray persisted, "It was only an ember."

The cub's cheeks were burning red. The memory played through his head over and over. The color, her fur, the warmth…

The truth was. Fenray kind of liked it. Now he knew why he was paralyzed when Fenara was waking up, now it made sense why he couldn't move when he should've ran, he had kissed his first girl. How could he possibly move from a feeling like that?

Kissed his first girl? Fenray gulped. He felt like puking, but dancing seemed nice. He felt like bathing in the sun, but curling up next to his mother in a crying fit was also a possibility. He was so confused, yet his heart had never been more set.

These feelings, they were all so… Warm. Kind of like his cheeks right now.

"That, was, AWESOME!"

Fenray snapped out of his trance and whipped around in fright. His favorite friend was here. The Eevee bounced right up to him from where she had been watching in the grass back at the lake. She had stalked him all the way out to here and now it was time for her dramatic entrance, just in time to ruin everything.

Alisa couldn't believe it. She had never had a more exciting day in her entire life. "That was so cool! You saved her life. The ember attack, the Seaking!" She cheered and fell onto her back to stare up at the cloudless sky, her mind dreaming of what it must have felt like to attack such a large creature. The fight was obviously her favorite part. "Fenray? You my friend, are so, so, cool!"

She waited, looking at her paws to see if they needed to be cleaned or not. Of course she didn't get in the water herself, she never liked getting wet. She waited for Fenray's reply patiently staring at her perfect fur. She had taken time to clean it of course after her panic with tears going everywhere, that would be embarrassing if anyone found out that she did that.

Fenray wasn't answering. He was too embarrassed. Alisa smiled cunningly, this was good because it was so much easier to make fun of her friend if he was embarrassed. She loved embarrassed Pokemon. "Oh yeah, nice kiss by the way."

Fenray hopes dropped to the ground. "You heard?"

Heard? Alisa saw the whole thing."Come on, you don't think I know a kiss when I see one? Even Jake knows what it's like." Truthfully, Alisa wasn't quite sure what she was talking about, she just knew that kissing made for good insults and she had heard Eseral use the word a few times. "What did you even do? You almost looked like you enjoyed it. Of course…"

"I did not!" Fenray yelled before thinking.

Alisa kept on. "Of course it was only to save her life, so it makes sense. You were just keeping her alive so it wasn't truly a real one. That was so epic! How in Arceus's name did you…"

Wait, what did Fenray say? Alisa turned her head and met her friend's eyes. She had never seen a more frightened Fennekin in her life. "Wait, what did you say Fenray?"

Fenray knew his mistake, he had said it just a notch to loudly. "I didn't enjoy it." He whispered. just a pitch too quietly. Alisa was going to catch on to his obvious behavior. It wasn't like his face was giving everything away in the first place.

Alisa was the princess of lying. She could convince her parents, she could convince Fenara, she could even sometimes convince her brother. But this? She knew a lie when she heard one.

The curious Eevee pointed with a confused paw. "Why are your cheeks red?"

Fenray couldn't speak. The secret was out and this Eevee would tell the whole pack once she figured it out.

It took Alisa a few seconds. She stared at Fenray with the thoughts going through her head. Her ears went from up, to down, to straight back up.

Red cheeks meant he was lying or he was embarrassed. If Fenray was embarrassed then he was probably hiding something, or denying something that was true, so what would he deny? He had saved Fenara, then he kissed her, he claimed he didn't like it…

Alisa's eyes jumped wide. She fell back onto her paws because the idea was to heavy to hold without sitting down. "Holy Arceus! Do you actually…"

"Don't say it." Fenray begged. He was in tears. He couldn't admit to this. "Please don't say it?"

Alisa smiled cunningly. She laughed. She pranced on her four paws in triumph and turned in circles. Oh, this was way too good. Her best friend had kissed someone and she was there to see it, but this just made the Fennekin's problem way too good to be true. The Eevee turned and faced her friend, inches from his embarrassingly red face.

"Fenray? You actually like her, don't you?"