NSO Ch 29: Day 3, Part 1

Happy 2020 to all! I'm heading back to school tomorrow, and I'm just glad to end off my holidays by having enough time to type out this chapter.

I don't own Pokemon.

Cleo lay on her bed, staring at the empty spot where Zenith had slept yesterday, now empty. In its place was a note, which Cleo had already read. The words written on it were barely legible, scribbled on messily with a pen, as if the Umbreon had made the note in a hurry.

Have urgent business to deal with.

Be back v soon.

Looking around, Cleo noticed that her once closed bedroom window was now wide open. Clearly the Umbreon had chosen the silent option to exit the house so as to not wake the Vaporeon from her slumber, her bedroom door always creaked loudly when it was opened. Smiling to herself at Zenith's thoughtfulness, Cleo got up to shut the window, before flopping back onto the comfort of her bed.

Cleo didn't mind Zenith's sudden disappearance. It gave her time to think about all the things that had happened to her since her move into this town. Especially the relationship status she had gained with Zenith. She regretted none of the choices she had made so far, but it always seemed that the two of them were...missing something. Unable to think of an answer immediately, Cleo's mind began to wander in newfound boredom, trying to find something to do. Glancing around her room, the Vaporeon's eyes finally landed on her bookshelf, filled to the brim with numerous romance novels.

That's it.

Romance.

But would romance with Zenith make their relationship better? That one question remained in Cleo's mind as she closed her eyes, imagining scenarios from her many novels, but with her and Zenith enjoying those romantic moments instead of the books' main characters. On one paw, they would make their relationship seem more of a... relationship, but on the other paw...

Cleo tried to come up with an effective argument to her own points, but her mind was already working against her, drowning her out with more imaginary scenarios, each more inappropriate than the last, all stemming from the books that the Vaporeon kept hidden when Zenith was around. Cleo was pretty sure that she was dreaming by this point, but she didn't care anymore. There was something odd, though. As the scenarios changed at their rapid pace, they changed with a muffled thump. The thumps slowly grew louder and louder, until some part of her subconscious realised that the sound must be coming from the world outside her dreams.

Cleo awoke groggily, still reluctant to leave her dreamscape. She found herself laying face-first on her bedroom floor, which left her confused for her moment, before deducing that she must have fallen off her bed in one of her more... intimate scenes.

She may have figured that part out, but the thumping still continued. It seemed like it was coming from... in front of her? The water-type raised her head, and her eyes widened with shock and surprise, all sleepiness now dispelled.

It was Zenith. He was standing on the window ledge, hammering on the thic pane of glass. The Umbreon seemed to be shouting, most likely calling out her name, but his words could not be heard through the window. Cleo scrambled to her paws and rushed to her windowsill, and released that it was latched shut by force of habit, restricting Zenith's normally easy access into her room. By now, Zenith had stopped pounding on the window, but was still staring at Cleo through worried eyes. As Cleo unlatched and opened her window, the Dark-type leaped into her room immediately, circling the Vaporeon, giving her body a once-over.

"Cleo! Are you alright? No one answered the door when I rang the doorbell so I tried to enter through your window but I found you sprawled on the ground. I thought something had happened to you and your window was locked and-"

Zenith's words were ct off as Cleo threw her paws around him in a giant hug, the water-type patting his back to calm him down, smoothing down ruffled fur as she gently stroked his back. Cleo continued until Zenith's frantic, rapid breaths slowed down into a more composed, relaxed rhythm. She then pulled away from their hug to stare into Zenith's crimson pupils.

"Feeling better?"

"Much better. Thanks, Cleo. Sorry you had to see me like that." Zenith ducked his head, embarrassed at the huge contrast to his usual calm and levelheadedness that he had exhibited earlier.

"It's fine, Zenith. Actually, its cute to see you all worked up over me." Cleo responded in a coy voice, causing Zenith to blush even harder under his dark fur. "And it's always nice to call out the Zenith comfort train." Cleo added.

Uh... Dialga? A little help over here?

I guess that you could change the subject, but-

Great thanks!

I wasn't finished...

"So... why were you on the floor like that? You worried me to half to death when I saw you."

"I was... sleeping. I think I fell on the floor, but didn't wake up. You know how deep of a sleeper I am."

"Thank Arceus. I thought something bad had happened to you."

But you're a light sleeper... that was why I had to leave through the window in the first place...

Don't bring that up.

"Really? Like what?"

"Like..." Zenith seemed to ponder that question, but then shook his head vigorously, as if trying to clear his head of bad thoughts. "Never mind that. You're safe, and that's all that matters to me."

"Aww..."

"So... half the day's gone. I have a plan for the rest of the day... but I kinda need your permission for it."

Cleo' curiosity was piqued once again. "What did you mean by 'needing my permission'?' Her tone was wary, and caused Zenith to shuffle his paws on the ground nervously, now doubting the faith he had in his 'plan'.

"You know how your cell structure is similar to water, right?"

"Yeah..."

"And you can control water with your mind?"

"Still can, but I don't see where this is going..."

"Well..." Zenith took a deep breath, before blurting out the words on his mind.

"Since you can control water and you're kinda like water... I wanted to see if could change the forms, shapes or sizes of your body through your control of water." As the words left Zenith's mouth, he realised that the words he said were dumb. And judging from Cleo's incredulous expression, Zenith thought that Cleo felt the same way. Stammering, he felt to backtrack, to take back the plan that he now regretted coming up with.

"I-I mean, let's just forget everything I just said. That was a dumb plan anyway. Why don't we just-"

"Zenith."

"Y-yes?"

"I think that it's a great plan."

Zenith blinked twice at Cleo, the water-type's words slowly sinking in.

"Are you sure? It might be dangerous, and since we've never done this before I have no idea what will happen to you..."

Cleo stared at Zenith intently as he continued to ramble on. He was staring at her through worried eyes, and his paws were shifting nervously on the bedroom floor, as if unsure of his actions. He was so different from the Zenith that she knew, the Dark-type that laughed in the face of danger and kept a level head in all sorts of situations. What could've caused him to act so the way he was now?

"Zenith, you're acting weirder than usual. What's up? I've never seen you this worried at the prospect of danger and all that."

"It's just that..." A small pause as a hesitant Zenith tried to answer. "I'm fine when it's me who's the one in danger, and I'm also fine when we're in dangerous situations together, since we watch each other's backs. But seeing you facing danger yourself? I can't bear you to enter a situation we know nothing about, and get yourself hurt and I'm harmless to stop it."

Zenith slumped to sit on the floor, lowering his head to hide his expression, and Cleo's head ached at the sight.

Looks like the Zenith comfort train has to make a few more stops.

The Vaporeon sat on the floor, leaning her head on Zenith's shoulder as she sat beside the Umbreon. "Zenith, that's so sweet, it could've given me diabetes." A smile from Zenith. That was good. "But I really want to do this. It seems fun, and I too feel the same way as you do now when you battle solo in all those fights, but I trusted you to make it out safely, and you did. You now have to do the same for me. And after all, I have to prove that I can take care of myself."

You know, Cleo's words don't hurt a much as I thought they would.

That's because you think she's right. Just let her do the experiments.

Wait, you ARE the god of time, right? You can see into the future?

I can do that, but I won't tell you. That would be spoiling your results. Dude, just trust her. She's as strong as you are and then some-with proper training. She clearly trusts you, and as long as she's in control of what she does, what could go wrong?

Wow. That didn't sound ominous as all. But you do have a point.

Getting up from the floor, Zenith extended a paw to Cleo, which the Vaporeon accepted with delight. She could feel the aura of worry which surrounded Zenith before being dispelled, and to be replaced with confidence. Knowing what this meant, she gave Zenith a warm, long smile, which he returned with a thankful one.

"Thanks for the pep talk, Cleo. I really needed it. Meet me on your front lawn in five minutes. I need a bit of time to prepare first.

And here's the first chapter I'm publishing in 2020! As this 2020's an important one in my school year, I'll be uploading monthly instead of weekly. And i'll be sure that all chapters I publish from now on will contain more than a thousand words. It's the least I can do.

You may have noticed that this chapter contains a lot more dialog than usual. I'll try to cut down on this, but I see these stories play out in my head, like some sort of drama. And dramas mostly contain dialog. But that doesn't mean that there's no more action. There definitely will be, and it'll happen soon.

That's all I have to say for now. See you in February!

Packing my bag for school,

BTJE