2000 years later.. anyway


Chapter 7

Thomas awakes to the subtle chirps of the local Starly beginning their morning singing. He notices it's pretty early as the sun has barely began it's ascension. Only the tips of light rays could be seen emitting over the distant Sinnoh mountain range from his window. It was late winter so Thomas decided to stay still and appreciate his pokemon's warmth. This is when he noticed that sometime during the night he rolled over in favor of considerably warmer fire-type. Azure was cuddled up as best she could to his back. This made Thomas feel a little sorry for Azure.

After multiple minutes, Thomas decides to get up as he can't fall back asleep. As cautiously as he tried, he still managed to wake both Azure and Amber in the process of him getting out of bed. After apologizing, he told them they could go back to sleep. They responded with a yawn and almost immediately passed out, snuggling into each other. After seeing this Thomas chuckled lightly then left for his studio.

If they were going to go camping Thomas needed to make sure he wasn't backlogged with any work. Typically work died down a little after the holiday season so he only had a couple quick things to do before he was set.

While he was finishing up his last little project he felt a little tap on his shoulder. Since Thomas had his headphones on and didn't notice his pokemon walk in so this startled him enough to make him jump. Taking off one of the headphone sides, he looked to see who it was. A tired looking Braixen looked up at him and smiled. "Oh, Good morning," Thomas said as he picked her up to hug her in his lap. Thomas was still a little chilly and saw the opportunity for a some warmth.

Amber picked up on his thought, she conveyed a little happy feeling as he stuffed his face in her shoulder tuft. Her fur was still dense and feathery from it growing for the winter. After a second he lifted his head from her shoulder and looked into her eyes and smiled. She began to blush a little but before Thomas could notice he gently adjusted her so that he could keep working on his project with her in his lap. Amber couldn't help but cuddle into him as he finished his work.

Sooner than she would've liked, Thomas completed the last of his work and got up from his station, gently placing her on the ground. "How about we go check on Azure and get some breakfast going?" Thomas said as he started to exit the room. She followed him out as he started heading towards the bedroom. Azure was still fast asleep on the bed but looked a little cold with most of the covers not actually covering her anymore. Thomas walked over and carefully picked her up and started to cradle her. She slowly opened her eyes to the sudden change and was greeted by Thomas smiling down on her. After a long, drawn out yawn she said, "Why are you holding me?"

Thomas whispered to her, "so I could test out your reaction time," and before she registered what he said he let go. As she was very agile, she immediately turned over and landed semi-gracefully on the ground. "Dick," she said, playfully punching him with one of her streamers. "That's what you get for waking up last," Thomas laughed, roughing up the fur on her head.

After a quick breakfast, they headed out into town to hunt down some camping supplies. It was still pretty chilly with snow storms still frequenting the area so Thomas once again decided to hold onto his fire-type whilst they walked. Azure took notice and asked why he was carrying her around. "Because she's really fluffy and warm," He replied as he stuck his head in her chest tuft for a moment, causing the small fairy type to chuckle a little bit. "Fair enough," she said as they continued their journey. Although, after he did this he sensed some bashfulness coming from his fox. He wasn't quite sure what that was about.

Some time later, after collecting various wilderness survival gear around town and generally having a good time together, they decided to head out of town for a little while. They made sure to pick a trail that was less traveled by trainers as to not accidentally come across someone looking to battle.

After about a half-day's travel, Thomas decided to settle down at what looked like a snowed over public camp ground. The area must have gotten a little more snow than the area where they lived.

"Amber, you mind using a weak flamethower on the area to clear it out a little?", Thomas asked. She was more than happy to comply. She pulled her stick from her tail and began to cover the small camp in a small blanket of fire, melting and eventually evaporating any moisture from the area. Thomas was intrigued by her seemingly masterful ability to shoot flames, even though it was a pretty typical move, and dampened at that. Once again, Azure noticed Thomas' staring. "See something you like?", questioned the Sylveon. Thomas shook his head away to look at her. "I think her form could use some work but she, herself, is quite beautiful," he said sounding as sarcastic as possible.

"Oh, what do you know about 'form'?" She said turning away, sounding a little annoyed. Thomas walked over and picked her up once again and brought her into a hug. "Aww, is someone a little jealous?" After a moment of her squirming and pleading to be put down, Azure finally settled down and embraced him back. "Ok, maybe I am a little jealous," she said reluctantly. "I just thought with us being together.. I thought it would only be us."

Up until that point, Thomas hadn't even realized it but he was starting to develop feelings for Amber just like when he met Azure. He slowly set her down and started to walk. Azure was confused by this and started to follow him. Amber stopped to look at them once she felt a strong change in Thomas' emotion. She slowly walked over to Azure and asked what was going on. She almost got mad at her but then remembered it wasn't her fault. "You know that me and Thomas are together, don't you?" Azure asked. "Of course, that's one of the reasons I followed you guys to your house. What does that have to do with anything?" She replied with a sense of genuineness. "I don't know for sure, but I think he's starting to gain feelings for you as well."

Amber didn't know what to say. She had started to like him but she didn't want to interfere with Azure. "I'm sorry," she quietly managed to stammer. She went on to explain that she just wanted to be with someone who wouldn't try to hurt her and would give her a good home. As much as Azure wanted to be mad at her, she knew she couldn't be. Although Azure grew up with a trainer that ended up betraying her, she never had to forage and struggle to survive like Amber did. She brought the confused fox into a hug and said she'd go talk to him. Amber said she'd try to get a fire started while they were gone.

Thomas wasn't very far away and was pretty easy to find. He looked like he was deep in thought and didn't notice when Azure walked up next to him. She sat down next to him, not quite sure what to do next. A moment later she poked him on the shoulder. This seemed to free him from his trance. "Listen Azure, I'm sor-" he was cut off by her giving him a quick peck on the lips. "It's ok," she cooed. "But I-", he started "No, I mean it Thomas. It's alright. I had a little talk with her and it's alright that you like her too. Our relationship is already weird as it is," She said trying to lighten his mood. "Besides, it's not like I'm going anywhere," she continued starting to wrap her streamers around him. "So you're not mad at me?" Thomas said as he hugged her back. "Of course not," she said in her most sincere tone, as they just sat there holding each other in the cool, early evening.

Minutes later, the duo made their way back to camp. It was just beginning to get darker and cooler out. "welcome back," Amber smiled as she saw them approach. "Need some help with the firewood?" Thomas offered as he started looking in the small clearing that was made upon arrival. He didn't really wait for an answer though as he found a couple relatively dried logs nearby that he promptly threw onto the flames. After he saw that it didn't put out the fire he sat next to the small fox.

Thomas looked at her for a moment then looked down. "So I guess I have something I need to tell you," he said to her in a quiet tone. After a quick silence, he began to feel an unease and panic emotion start to emit from her. "Don't worry, you're not in any sort of trouble, in fact, quite the opposite." She looked up at him confused by what he could mean by this. "So earlier I was joking with Azure and she brought to my attention that I might like you a little more than you might think," he continued starting to go a little red in the face. Another short silence later he continued,"So if you might have had any feelings for me, it's ok."

For a moment she was shocked, she looked over to Azure to see how she would react to this but to her surprise she simply smiled and gestured towards him. Thomas saw she was still confused and asked if the Sylveon would try to better explain the situation while he got the tent set up.

After he got up Azure sat down next to her, she could see tears starting to form in her eyes from not knowing what was going on. With a small sigh she looked at the flustered fox and said, "You know me and Thomas' relationship isn't something that normally happens between a human and pokemon, right?" Amber slowly nodded and let her continue. "Well I saw just how much Thomas has been admiring you since you became part of our 'team' and when I saw you also had feelings for him I couldn't blame either of you." The foxes tears were turning from tears of fear to tears of joy as Azure continued. "So, since our relationship was weird from the beginning why not let you be part of it too," just as she finished her sentence Amber brought the cat-like pokemon into an embrace thanking them endlessly.

Thomas noticed the small explosion of happiness coming from behind him as he finally got the tent up, albeit with probably more trouble than he expected, he finally settled down next to his two partners. "So I guess Azure could explain what was going on a little better than I could," he said rubbing the back of his neck. Before he knew it, the small fire-type brought him close and quickly kissed him on the lips. "Wow, maybe I should have her do more of the talking for me from now on," he joked as he kissed her back.

"Now, not that I'm ungrateful for everything that's happened on this trip so far, this isn't quite what I came out here for," Thomas said as he walked his pack over to where they were sitting.

With a smug look on his face he began to reach into his bag. The two were utterly confused until they saw what he brought along. "Did you really need to bring a computer out here with you? Aren't we good enough," Azure said with a hint of sarcasm in her tone. "What, you think I just wanted to come out here just to rut? We can do that back at home. No, I pull a lot of my creative inspiration from nature," he said getting it set up. "Specifically from sunsets and sunrises, so be ready to get up real early in the morning," he continued with an even wider grin on his face. "Yeah right, two days in a row? as if," she said as she walked over to see what he was doing.

Thomas had brought along his laptop which doubled as a graphics tablet so he could draw while they were out there. Although Azure thought it was kind of cheating, both her and Amber did enjoy watching him draw. So for the rest of the evening they watched as he painted and sketched out various things.

The clearing they were in had almost no trees around for miles and had a great view of the distant mountains. They all enjoyed talking and having dinner around the campfire until the sun finally went beyond the horizon. So after a bit of a long, confusing day, they all agreed to go to bed pretty early. Just as the fire was going out, turning into nothing more than hot coals in the pit, they all huddled up inside the tent. With Amber being the best source of heat they decided to cuddle up around her instead of Thomas.

Once again, Thomas was the first one up, but since he wasn't the center of attention this time, he was able to more successfully get away from them to get out and start drawing again. After getting the coals back up to a more useful, warm burn, he got out his laptop and continued his practice. A few minutes later he heard some quiet stirring from inside the tent and a moment later Azure stuck her head out. "I thought you were kidding about getting up early," she said in-between yawns. "Sorry if I woke you, no I wasn't kidding but you can go back to sleep if you want," he said trying to not wake the slumbering fox inside. Azure walked over to him to lean on him, "I can't fall back asleep," she said. Thomas picked her up to put her in his lap and continued working, and what seemed like seconds later, she fell back asleep.

For the next hour or so, Thomas worked on a picture of the sunrise until the sun was fully suspended in the sky. Hearing another yawn from the tent, Thomas saw his little fox stumble out of the tent with what seemed like a little limp but after another second she seemed fine. "How long have you been up," she barely seemed to emit in her still waking state. "Well, she got up a little after I did an hour ago but then passed out in my lap." he said, but just as he said that she began to stretch and get up.

"You're still drawing? How much battery life does that thing have anyway?" she said. "Well if you must know, I have a battery bank in my backpack and I brought a small solar panel for when I'm not using it. So who wants some breakfast?" And with a groggy, conjoined "me" he got up and grabbed the box he stuffed in the snow the night before.