"I really don't think this is such a good idea…"
"Why not? You could use the practice. And it isn't like I'm doing much else."
"You're not doing much… so you want me to try burning you… This is a new level of boredom, even for you."
Crystal couldn't blame her at all for this new bout of recklessness. A month of house arrest. A whole month of having Carl waiting just outside their doorway to make sure neither Emizella nor Crystal even thought about leaving before their month was up.
It wasn't so bad, Crystal thought of it, using the time to practice her summoning and manifestation skills. But Emizella was starting to feel cramp and constricted within her own home. The poor girl, she really needed a good walk at least three times a day to feel sane. Crystal supposed that was where this sudden insistence to use her own body as a practice dummy came from. On the one hand, Crystal was grateful for the help in honing the final step of her new move. On the other hand… this was plain madness.
"Look, I haven't completely lost it." Emizella continued to persist, "I've got some full heals and rawst berries to take care of the burn. I'll hardly feel it!"
Crystal pursed her lips, "You sure?"
"Positive! Now c'mon, show me what you got!"
Crystal gave a short sigh. She wondered if a better friend would have tried talking her out of it a bit more. She wondered how much better that kind of pokemon would be if she didn't understand who Emizella was: a bit stubborn and proud and insisting to have things her way. It wasn't "using" her, it was "sparring" with her opponent refusing to move from her grounded stance.
Maybe she'd feel a bit better if Emizella wasn't standing still like a dummy…
"Alright," Crystal decided to give in to the riolu's demands, taking up her generosity and focusing her mind on utilizing it to the fullest.
She let out a slow, easy breath, eyes taking on a subtle glow while her mind painted a picture of fluttering little bundles of light flickering to life. The first one stumbled into existence with a tumble, steadying itself once Crystal got back into the groove of pulling its strings. Like Lillian's bubbles, Crystal couldn't help feeling a sort of fondness for the floating flame, studying its calming hues that didn't seem as ghastly to her anymore. No longer a haunting entity but, instead, a small piece of her—a twinkle of her power.
Crystal pulled another gout of fire from her imagination, and then another, and another until she had a small ring dancing and hovering around her body. She felt a warm tingle in her head with every little push and pull, a gentle little pinprick telling her where each little light floated around her.
She looked between them, "I bet I could make them dance if I practiced hard enough." she thought aloud in a soft whisper.
"Dreaming big, I like it." Emizella interrupted her short trance, pulling Crystal's attention back to her waiting figure. "But let's focus on hitting a target first."
Crystal felt her heart squeeze with embarrassment. "Right," she chuckled sheepishly, "baby steps…"
She tuned her mind into that little tingle, paying careful attention to their positioning. All she had to do was will them to move where she wanted them to. All she had to do was get them to obey the command to attack. But they were flighty little things, either missing their target completely or vanishing before they even got halfway.
Scarlet made it look so easy. Her flames were well behaved and determined to please. Crystal's, on the other hand, were new and very clumsy, but they tried. Crystal liked to imagine they tried. They put forth their effort to follow Crystal's will, flying towards Emizella with no semblance of order. They were scattered like unruly children making their way to the same destination, and when they reached the riolu, they linked around her body in a messy fashion.
The little orbs of fire wound themselves tighter, squeezing together and disappearing into Emizella's body. The glowing in Crystal's eyes ceased, her control stopping once the last of her flames were transferred over.
They definitely transferred something into Emizella, leaving her body with a reddened tint that covered her from the tip of her ears to her toes. She looked down at her hands, checking the new shade that blossomed and colored her fur.
"So… How do you feel?" Crystal asked with a soft, curious tilt in her voice.
Emizella thought about it a second longer before her body winced, the tint flaring up and biting into her. It flashed brightly for a moment, sending the riolu to her knees and gritting her teeth to bear through the pain. The intensity soon faded but the ailment was still there sitting on her body, waiting to flare up again.
"Emi!" Crystal went over to her side. So much for hardly feeling it…
"I'm good, I'm good." she insisted, holding up one hand to stop Crystal's fretting and another to pick up the bitter-tasting remedy to cure herself. She bit into it, her nose scrunching up at the flavor coating her tongue but she ate the medicine without any further complaint. It was instantly taking effect, washing away the red and leaving her fur rich and bright again. She breathed a short breath of relief, "That has some kick." she commented, "It's getting better. A bit more control and you'll have it mastered in no time."
"Yeah… I wish I could ask Scarlet… It feels like forever since I spoke with her properly about them. I'm going to develop bad habits…" she murmured mostly to herself, feeling her paws drag out from under her to flop her down flat on the ground where the tips of the grass blades tickled her nose.
"Nothing wrong with a few bad habits, is there?" Emizella asked, walking closer and crouching down in front of Crystal. She played with the tops of her ears, lightly pinching them between two digits and making them sway and dance on top of her head. "If it's not hurting you, then it's not so bad, right? Like a signature or something. Besides, I think your will-o-wisps are way more adorable than Scarlet's."
Crystal stared up at her past her ears that were pulled forward to block her view. She knew it wasn't all just flattery that flavor her words with a honeyed sweetness. Sure, she liked to butter her up, liked seeing her melt under such generous praises, but it wasn't like there was nothing genuine about them. She picked at only the pieces that she truly believed in and amplified it up by a thousand with her charm and kind, beaming smile. What else was she supposed to do against the riolu's antics but accept them.
"You know that tickles, right?" she stated behind the light rosy flush dusting her face while her ears were pulled to block her eyes.
"Does it really?" Emizella asked, sounding truly surprised by the fact.
"Mostly," Crystal answered, standing and shaking her grip off along with the fluttering feeling in her chest. But maybe tickle wasn't really the right word for it. There was a bit of a warm buzz pulsing from Emizella's pinching. It was still lingering under her skin, making her start to scratch at it with a ferocious abundance of kicks.
She caught Emizella messing with her own ears in the corner of her eyes, her leg stilling to turn her attention to her. "Maybe it's a size thing…" Emizella mused, pinching at their small, triangular shape but not getting nearly as much fire going as Crystal felt in her own ears.
"Who knows, maybe they're just sensi-" she stopped herself before she could finish the damning word, something screaming in her head to not give the riolu such a powerful weapon.
Emizella turned her head, "Were you saying something?" she asked.
Bullet dodged… "Nothing at all. You're probably right, it's just a size thing." she said, waving the conversation away before they could round around back to it again.
Emizella gave a soft hum before shrugging her shoulders. She lowered her hands, "So, you ready for another go?"
"Wait, you want to go again?"
"Of course! You still want to work on it, right? Right here! C'mon." Emizella patted her chest, ready to take on the brunt of Crystal's flames and their curse once more.
"I do but… don't you think you've had enough for today?"
"Hm? Not at all." Emizella answered, blunt and unconcerned, "You can burn me way more times than that. Don't worry, I can take it."
"Hey Carl," a voice interrupted Crystal's protests before they could properly form in her mouth.
"Oh, Jezebel. What are you doing out here?" their guard responded, pulling their eyes to the doorway as they stared with curious anticipation at the promise of something new.
"I've got some business with the two 'convicts.' Mind stepping aside? It's pretty important stuff."
"Depends, how important are we talking?"
There was a moment of pause while the torracat's heavy paws shifted her closer to the doorway and, presumably, the watchog in charge of making sure they were staying put. A mutter was shared between them, Jezebel's murmuring voice spilling into the air where no eavesdroppers could pick out their little secret. Well, no eavesdroppers with ears small enough, but it seemed like Crystal's ears were made for picking up whispered secrets.
"The responses from the guild were delivered just today."
"Seriously?!" Carl's voice blurted out followed immediately by an urgent shush. Crystal could see him slapping a hand to his face with the swift smack that came in tandem.
"You get it, right? Ace is willing to cut their punishment short for this so you won't get any trouble for letting them out early."
"I…I got it…" The leaves crunched under his feet, the weight of his shadow leaving their entranceway and making room for their visitor to pass through.
Jezebel squeezed herself pass the leafy opening, swinging her head past the branches that bent to her muscled frame. "Did this place shrink or something? Why does it feel even smaller?"
Emizella moved aside slightly, moving closer to Crystal and offering a bit more space for the feline. "It's the same size it's always been." she said, crossing her arms but altogether happy to see her face. "Maybe you're just getting bigger." she smirked.
"Hmph," Jezebel huffed, taking a seat and making a show of flexing her arms, "Guess I can't argue with you there. I'll forgive you this time."
"How generous." Emizella rolled her eyes, shaking her head and giving a sideways glance towards the fennekin sitting beside her. Can you believe this cat, her eyebrows seemed to quirk, pulling a soft giggle from Crystal's chest.
"But that's not even the half of it." Jezebel spoke up again, "Elder Pines wants to see the both of you and has asked me to personally escort you back."
Crystal did her best to feign ignorance, "What does he want to see us about?"
"Can't say," Jezebel shrugged, "just that it's very important and he wants us to hurry back." She turned back towards the entryway, a paw pushing the leaves aside for their departure. "Now enough talk, let's get going."
~uwu~
Jezebel led them quickly back to the village, ignoring the shouts and hollers for attention as they made their way down the village path. In her mind, there was no time to allow the pair to receive thanks and endless gratitude that stayed strong over the past few weeks. No time for bounding greetings and skipping hellos either, proceeding down her beeline to the village hall where more important matters were waiting for them.
"No squirts past this point." Jezebel leapt back to the rear, cutting off the curious crowd of children that followed them this far with their chatterings and happenings.
"I'm not a squirt." a teddiursa pouted, stamping his feet at the insult.
"Then no brats. Shoo, off with you." she nudged him away with the back of her paws, clearing them out so no little noses or toes were caught in the closing doors. She breathed a short sigh of relief when the excited murmurs began to fade away, the children going back to resume what they had been doing before. Although, the slack in her shoulders wouldn't last long, an "ahem" putting tension right back into her spine.
"Jesse," a warning tone pulled the torracat's nervous gaze back towards the brionne waiting inside, "don't you think you were a bit rude back there?"
"I-It's not what you think. Me and Angello, that's just how we do. I was just joking with him, that's all. He'll get me back for it later, I swear." Jezebel did her best to defend herself again Lillian's scolding stare, a smile yanking at the corners of her lips to mold a matching expression.
"Really?" Lillian's eyes narrowed to a dangerously slim degree.
"Yeah, he knows I was just messing with him."
Lillian gave a soft hum, staring through the cold sweat and anxious twitch flicking at Jezebel's tail before her eyelids fell into a grin. "Is that so? I'm glad to see you getting along so well."
Jezebel released her held breath.
"And speaking of…" Lillian's attention turned to Crystal, sliding over to her quickly and wrapping her flippers around her body in a tight embrace. "Oh, my precious floof. How have I managed to live so long without you in my life?"
"Greatest mystery known to pokemon kind…" Crystal squeaked, her back legs barely touching the ground while Lillian continued to squeeze and hug and sway her body from side to side.
"Indeed. It shall stump my descendants for generations to come." she gave a troubled sigh colored with zestful tones of heartache.
Crystal felt a set of hands tucking themselves under her arms and then a pull to pry herself out of Lillian's grip. "Touching reunions aside," Emizella said behind her, setting all four of her paws back down to the floor, "Jesse has been teasing at something really important waiting for us, so…"
"Oh right! Sorry about that. But Jesse wasn't overexaggerating or anything like that. It is, indeed, very, very important."
Lillian took up the reigns, leading them further into the village hall through a corridor of painted portraits. Founding mothers and fathers and their families huddled close together within their frames to bear witness to every step they made, watching them as they were escorted to the set of double doors waiting for them at the very end.
Jezebel rounded to Lillian's side, assisting the brionne with pushing the wooden slabs open with a soft huff and a grunt. The heavy doors milked every second of the moment, cultivating anticipation with every ounce of effort that went into sliding them apart. And for their reveal: a small gathering of Elder Pines and his two leading security officers talking amongst themselves up to Lillian's announcement.
"Elder, Emi and Crystal are here."
"Oh yes. Good, excellent, thank you Lily. And Jesse, thank you for making the trip out to fetch them." the old trevenant turned his smiling gaze towards the door, nodding his head at the job well done.
Jezebel waved a paw, "You don't have to thank me for something that small, Elder." she said, settling by the door, "Besides, there's no way I was going to miss being a part of this."
"Okay," Emizella interjected, raising a hand up to excuse the interruption, "can somebody please clue me into what's going on here? Between these two's teasing," she pointed between Jezebel and Lillian, "and Crystal clamming up the whole way here, I'm starting to think I'm the butt of a joke."
"That's not it at all." Crystal told her, nudging at her side gently to pull her down from her huff, "It's something too important to spill prematurely. I had to clam up."
"'Had to'? Wait, how do you know about it? Nobody was supposed to say a peep!" Jezebel exclaimed, her hackles rising into a fiery pyre.
Crystal turned to look at her, smiling an apologetic smile as she gestured to her ears, "Sorry… I can't really turn these off so I kind of heard what you were muttering to Carl earlier."
"Ack!" her flames extinguished with a defeated sizzle, "So then…you…"
"Jesse!" Lillian whined, her cheeks inflating behind her pursing, pouting lips while her tailfin tapped away against the floor, "You let it slip too early. Neither of them were suppose to find out till now!"
"To be fair, I'm still not one hundred percent sure what all is going on." Crystal corrected.
"I'm not even ten!" Emizella declared, throwing her arms up in her dismay.
"Then I suppose I better cut to the chase and alleviate that frustration of yours." Elder Pines spoke up again, putting their attention back where it truly belonged.
Although he didn't look disturbed in the slightest, his jagged smile never leaving his face, a guilty look plagued the youngsters' eyes.
"Sorry, Elder Pines." Lillian apologized.
"Sorry…" and Jezebel did the same.
"It's quite alright. This is an exciting time after all. It's not every day we get mail from the Adventurers League Guild." he said with an amused chuckle.
"Mail from the guild?" Emizella asked, this new turn of events being just the right step in improving her mood, "For who?"
"Why, for you, of course." he laughed again, reaching into the bundle of leaves that cuffed his wrists and pulling out two envelopes from the tangled overgrowth. "And one for you too, my little busybody."
He handed them over, one to each of them, and stepped back to watch them examine the envelope. Emizella studied the print on the front, her eyes squinting to pick out the small details before flipping it to look at the wax seal. Their emblem was stamped into the crimson material, the initials "ALG" raised within a diamond shape. It all seemed legit but Emizella kept a scrutinizing eye on the paper bundle.
"Go ahead. Tell us what it says." Elder Pines said, his weathered, old voice edging into excitement for what lied inside.
Emizella raised her head, nodding at the request and peeling the wax up to open the flap. Crystal couldn't help ignoring her own letter. Her eyes fixed themselves on the riolu, her mind already set to record the moment into her memory.
Emizella's dream. Her dream was etched onto that paper, its fate determined within those written words. Crystal couldn't miss this. What kind of partner would she be to miss this?
The letter was pulled free from its bindings and opened to its full length. She began to read:
"Dear Miss Emizella,
"We have received your letters of recommendation and testimonies to your character. After reviewing your reputation within your community, we have found you to be a brave, loyal, and dedicated individual. Such individuals are what we seek in our adventurers and so we are happy to offer you-"
Emizella stopped, a hand pressing to her mouth as her eyes began to glisten, wet with tears that she fought to hold back. "This… this can't be real, right?" she asked, holding the letter close to her chest and wrinkling it against her body. "This is an invitation to the internship exam but… but I never applied, did I?" She turned to look at Crystal, "Did I?" she asked again, thinking it completely possible at the would do such a thing while being completely unaware of her actions and surroundings.
"Not that I know of…" Crystal breathed out in a soft whisper. She wasn't really one to do much of anything in her sleep aside from squeezing Crystal like a living pillow.
"I know we might have surprised you with this but please understand that each and every one of us truly believe that you're ready for this next step. You've come so far since your brother moved away, and after what you and Crystal have done for us, we agreed that it was time you both officially tested yourselves." Elder Pines explained, gesturing to the small gathering who played a hand in letting the guild know about their little home-grown heroes.
Emizella looked between their faces, "No way… you guys really wrote letters of recommendation for us?"
"Yep!" Lillian answered for them, "Everyone here wrote one for both of you while I gathered several testimonies from the villagers. They were more than happy to share a few good words about you."
"Everyone here did?" Crystal asked, her eyes turning up to Ezekiel and his hardened face.
Of everyone in the village, she never really understood him the most. Actually, it felt like he didn't want to be understood beyond the gruff person he always shoved to the forefront. Scowling eyes and scowling lips, he was content being known as the village grump. At the worst, Crystal figured he had no interest in her, never paying any actual attention to her as long as she didn't get to close to the sacred tree by herself. But now she was hearing that he was paying attention, and not only paying attention but also having some nice words to say about her.
She didn't know what kind of face she was making at the luxray, but it sent the scowl even deeper into his brows. "Stop that." he ordered, "Don't get the wrong idea. The only reason I wrote anything for you was because Ace insisted I say something as a pokemon of influence. All I put down was that you had potential and you were tougher than you looked behind that meek demeanor, nothing more."
Lillian chuckled behind a flipper, "That's what you say, but I'm sure Crystal's letter will speak way more volumes."
"Oh!" Emizella turned to her, "Right, don't leave us in suspense. What does yours say?" she asked, leaning over to look at the still-sealed envelope.
"Sure, let me just…"
She began working her paw under the envelope's flap, pulling at it and pushing through the seal to break it open. Paws did not make going through mail easy but she didn't want to ask any of her more dexterous friends for help. Half the joy of whatever was inside would have been lost if she didn't open this herself, so she worked the last fold open without complaint and crouched over the paper to keep it from folding back.
Crystal was barely a line in when she heard Emizella's prodding. "So?"
She flicked a glance back to her hovering companion before continuing on with her own personalized message. The letter called her kind and thoughtful based on the stories given by the villagers. It called her dependable and trustworthy, referencing the testaments to her character. With those reasons, the author of the letter extended an invitation to her as well, finding her a worthy enough candidate to test if she was truly fit to join the big leagues.
Crystal read it again and then a third time just to be sure she was reading it right. The words remained unchanged, clear and unmistakable. "They're inviting me too." she answered, her voice sounding soft hanging over the letter.
Lillian hid her smile behind a flipper, "'Nothing more,' he said. Looks like you were pretty convincing even with a minimalist letter like that."
"Knock it off." Ezekiel warned with a low growl.
"Well," Crystal interrupted the rumbling in his throat, lifting herself back up while still holding the letter down to the floor, "whatever it was you wrote, thank you… all of you. It really means a lot that you would go out of your way to do this."
Ezekiel huffed, turning his attention away from her smile. No doubt, he was thinking she was being much to appreciative of simple works and exchanged messages. All he did was write on a piece of paper what he had seen and noticed from her for the past few months. There was no need to get so mushy. But he didn't have the tact to say that without spoiling this exciting moment. Ace, however, Ace was used to saying things in just the right way.
"Come now, there's no need for all that. You girls did most of the work. Had you two done nothing so noteworthy, there wouldn't be much to say, now would there?" he said, smiling his big smile that made his large frame so warm and reassuring. "Give yourselves some credit."
Crystal let those words sink in, taking them and putting them into practice. She remembered what Emizella whispered to her when they got back home, letting it ring and sing in her chest. "We did that."
She can feel proud about that. She had every right to feel proud about what they did—about what they could do. And after this exam, after they became professionals and after they placed a few more notches in their belts, there was no telling what more they could do.
Her head nodded, her lips too giddy in their smile to say much else. She felt Emizella's arms wrap around her, lifting her up in a tight hug strengthen by the excitement threatening to make her heart burst. She rubbed and nuzzled into her fur, humming and buzzing and tickling her all the while.
"I can't believe it. I can't believe it. This is actually happening. We're going to be actual adventurers. Real, professional adventurers." Emizella muttered away into Crystal's soft body.
Well, there was still the exam to worry about, but nobody was willing to add that into her ramblings. Let her ramble away in her bursting excitement. Let her squeeze and jump Crystal's body as much as she wanted. Her future starts now. Their future starts now, so let her enjoy this high moment in her life where her dreams were endless and the horizon looked infinite.