Stepping through the door of his family's apartment in White Gardens, Liam found their pet Furfrou levitating nervously over the dining table, paddling its paws through the air.
"Espie," he said, "put Furfrou down."
Furfrou flopped onto the table, knocking over a half-filled cup of water. Liam rushed over to help Furfrou down and started cleaning up the mess. By his ankles, he felt Espeon purring.
"You need to stop terrorizing her" said Liam. "Your psychic powers are going to your head. I'll keep you in your Pokeball if you can't behave."
Espeon mewed innocently up at him,
"Don't even try that," said Liam, setting down his canvas bag and taking out the Sweet Hearts Taylor had given him.
"From Cass," explained Liam, "and Furfrou gets hers first."
Espeon made a face and scampered off upstairs. It had gained a bit of an attitude since it evolved—it wanted, so far as Liam could tell, to explore its newfound power while continuing to be treated as a spoiled pet. Liam gave a Sweet Heart to Furfrou.
"Sorry about that," he said. "Espie will get over himself eventually."
Furfrou devoured her Sweet Heart eagerly. Her tail started to wag again, which Liam took as a good sign. He passed another Sweet Heart up to the Sneasel on his shoulder, who sniffed it suspiciously before swallowing it whole. As Furfrou trotted off, Liam picked his bag back up and trudged up the stairs to his room.
Liam's bedroom was small and rectangular, barely wide enough for anything besides his bunk bed, a small bookshelf, and a desk for his laptop. As Liam closed the door, Sneasel climbed off his shoulder and scaled its way to its favorite perch on his top bunk. Espeon was already curled up on his bed, taking a sort of resentful nap on his favorite blanket. Liam smiled. After releasing Murkrow, which fluttered over to its usual spot on the wooden bookshelf, Liam sat down at his laptop. He hadn't been expecting an email from Cass, but his heart fluttered a bit when he saw a new email titled "Something for you" in his inbox. He clicked it with trembling fingers.
Hi Liam,
I guess you're probably starting school really soon. We've still got a month before school starts in Castelia. Bonus time from not having Lunar New Year, I guess. I hope your first day back goes well. Taylor is supposed to give something to you, so make sure he doesn't forget. I decided to get one more badge before school starts. I'm worried that I might get rusty during the school year, since my new school only has elective classes for battling, and I have a lot of catching up to do. I'm jealous of you, getting to do another year at Everspring. I'll be thinking about you and all the others a lot today.
Oh, one more thing. I've been listening to this song a lot, and I thought you might like it. Tell me what you think.
I miss you,
Cass
At the bottom of the email, Liam saw a file attachment:
Noctowl_City_Fireflies_mp3
Liam clicked the file and plugged in his headphones. Four minutes later, he took off his headphones, wiped his eyes, and looked over at Espeon, who was watching him keenly.
"It's a really good song," he said. "Wanna listen?"
Espeon gave an assenting purr.