"Are you sure you're up to it? You've been practicing pretty hard already…"

The tone Sumomo of the Kimono Sisters took with her was gentle but cautionary. Chloe's body did ache with all the dancing she had done today, but even with all the distraction she had been granted, there were still thoughts in her mind she couldn't quite shake.

So she waved a hand dismissively at Sumomo's question. "I'm sure," she said. "I just think it might be fun to try something new while I have the chance, you know?"

"I hear you," Sumomo said. "But are you sure you want to continue wearing the kimono while you practice?"

An embarrassed flush tinted her cheeks, and she shook her head. In her hair, still where Goh stuck it earlier in the day, was the prismatically glowing feather, quietly shifting between its three colors. "Y-Yeah! I am! It kind of completes the picture, right?"

The older girl laughed. "Alright, suit yourself," she said.

The two girls as well as their two Pokémon, Vaporeon and Eevee, were in a quiet corner of the Kimono Sisters compound, where Sumomo had set up targets made of straw for her to practice in, set not far from where they stood. It was night now, with electric lights lighting up both the area they stood and the area the targets were set up, though the pale, silver moonlight above them seemed bright enough to light everything, Chloe thought.

"Unfortunately, I only have one bow," Sumomo said, setting down the long, thin case on the ground nearby. "It's not too difficult to draw but you'll need to be careful, okay? Watch me do a few first."

"Alright," she said. "Eevee and I will wait right over here."

"Eievui!"

"Vapo…"

The cool and collected Vaporeon stood at her side, staring out across the darkened field. There was a look of confidence and intelligence in his eyes, one Chloe hoped Eevee would learn to emulate. Her partner Pokémon stood by her side, watching with anticipation what Sumomo would be showing her.

"There are eight principle forms in kyudo," Sumomo began explaining. "The way of the bow is a spiritual, mentally disciplined practice. So you should do your best to replicate each of these forms when it's your turn, alright?"

Chloe nodded, and Eevee excitedly jumped up and down. The girl kneeled down to the Pokémon. "Now, Eevee, you should watch Vaporeon closely as well. I'm sure Vaporeon will be acting along with Sumomo in her own way."

Eevee looked up at Chloe and tilted her head, but then she turned her focus to Vaporeon and watched the Bubble Jet Pokémon with wide eyes.

Sensing that her students were ready to pay attention, Sumomo took a proper stance. She held the long bow in one hand, and the arrow in another. "The first thing we need to get down is the ashibumi, or the footing. Without good footing, you won't be able to shoot well."

Chloe nodded. "It's like how you all explained the dancing. You have to have firm placement of your feet."

Sumono nodded. "Right. So you make sure to follow these steps. Square your feet with your shoulders so that your center of gravity is right between them, and you're standing tall and firm. Hold the bow and arrow each in a different hand at the hip, but make sure the bow is about ten centimeters from the ground."

As she explained this, Vaporeon seemed to be mirroring her body language, setting his feet firmly in the dirt, angling his feet towards the target. His tail was down, the fins slapping against the dirt as he took his position.

"Next is dozukuri, or correcting the posture. Keep everything lined up, and raise up the bow." Sumomo flipped the bow, with the long section now reaching high above her head, while the smaller portion was in her hands. The arrow in her hand was still at her side. "Make sure you're standing straight and tall, but keep your shoulders lowered."

While Sumomo did just that, Vaporeon raised his tail off the ground. Now it stuck out straight behind him, holding the line of fins that ran down his spine and tail parallel to the ground. Eevee turned and took a similar stance, though her fluffy tail was excitedly wagging at the sight.

"Next is yugamae, or readying the bow," Sumomo continued. "This part can be a bit complicated, so pay close attention. Right here on the bow, you can see I've got the area you're supposed to nock the arrow here. Put the arrow there and hold it there with your off-hand, and use your dominant hand-" here she held up her gloved hand "-and follow the string until you reach the arrow." She ran her gloved finger up the bow's string until she indeed found the arrow. "From here, make sure the grip on the bow is just beneath your fingers, and keep your hands straight. And importantly, don't use your forefinger to grip the bow." She did this as she spoke, demonstrating her technique as she did, holding her index finger away from the bow's body. "This is important. You're not making a fist. You're directing your heart and spirit towards the target."

"My heart and spirit…"

An image appeared in Chloe's mind's eye as a distraction, but she shuffled it away, not wanting to think about it at the moment. She turned her eyes to Vaporeon, who seemed to let his fins and frills relax and spread open.

"The last part of this step is to lock eyes with your target," the older girl explained. "This is the act of shooting your spirit before you release the bow. Ordinarily once you do it, you're not supposed to look away from the target, but since I'm explaining right now, I'll break it up a bit more." Sumomo took a deep breath.

"Next is uchiokoshi or raising the bow. Keeping your hands straight, you just raise the bow up, keeping the arrow parallel to the ground. It'll feel a bit weird, but this is why you keep your eyes on the target."

Sumomo raised the bow and arrow above her head, keeping her hands on both. She faced forward, keeping the bow parallel to her face and the arrow parallel to the ground. As she did, Vaporeon fully raised up his tail until it was pointing straight up into the air.

"Next is drawing the bow, or hikiwake. Push the bow slightly in the direction of your off-hand while your dominant arm bends at the elbow. It's not pulling like you'd see archers on TV. It's more like you're spreading the bow and the arrow apart. It's got a natural feeling to it, you'll get it."

Vaporeon mirrored her actions by curling his tail so that his tail fin was hanging behind his head. Sumomo drew the bow and held it forward until the motion lowered the arrow until it was much closer to her cheek than before.

"The next part I'll go into more detail in a bit on, so I'll just let this speak for itself. We finish the draw in the kai stage. This is the part where you've either succeeded or failed based on your spiritual mastery. You hold this for a moment in and after you've found that spiritual weight, you-"

Sumomo's fingers, that had been tightly gripping the arrow, let go, and the bow released its tension, loosing the shot through the dark. In the same split-second instant, Vaporeon snapped his tail back, and fired a Water Gun that flew parallel to Sumomo's shot. In a moment that Chloe found it difficult to follow with her eye, both the arrow and the pressurized water shot through the dark, and met the target with a satisfying thunk-and-splash combination.

"-release."

"Vapore."

The practitioner of the way of the bow smiled gently and exhaled her held breath before turning her attention back to Chloe. "It's called the hanare, and it's where the true beauty of kyudo comes. You keep your eyes on the arrow because you need to keep your spirit focused, sending it out with your arrow. We call it the zanshin, or continuation. It means 'remaining body and spirit'. Then you just go back to your original stance."

Sumomo demonstrated this by flipping the bow back around, so that the top was now pointed back towards the ground. Vaporeon let his tail flop back down into the dirt as he turned his gaze to Eevee.

"Now I'm going to go through everything a few more times in sequence, so just watch closely, okay?"

Taking another arrow, Sumomo once more prepared her stance. She flipped the bow around and held it up, nocking the arrow and raising both it and the bow above her head.

Chloe was impressed by how fluid the motion was presented as she spread the bow and arrow apart before releasing them.

As she did, Vaporeon's own stances went through their parallel process, looking much more fluid, like a wave crashing against a beach. Both kimono girl and Pokémon seemed to be united in harmony as they fired their arrow and spray of water forward. They then repeated the process a few more times. Chloe remained enthralled by the smooth, fluid motions and the controlled, serious look on Sumomo's face as she confidently went through each phase in the process of the firing of the bow.

"Sumomo, that's incredible…!" she said. "It looks so cool!"

"Vui! Eievui!"

Sumomo exhaled once more, letting go of the heald breath in her chest. "Thanks, Chloe," she said. "Now, would you like to try?"

Chloe balked, shaking her head. "What about all that spiritual stuff? Shouldn't I practice with that for a bit?"

She laughed. "Typically, yes, but we can let you try a few just for fun, right? Call it Instructor Sumomo's special treat."

She looked at the excited Pokémon at her feet. "What do you think, Eevee? Do you want to try?"

"Eievui!" she cheered, hopping up into the air.

Sumomo took off her glove, made of a thick, protective cloth, and handed it to Chloe, who put it on. It was a little big on her smaller hand, but it fit well enough to protect her.

She took the bow in her hand as well, and turned to face the target.

As she began trying to mimic the position that Sumomo originally showed her, the kimono girl spoke.

"The important part of kyudo is beauty. Beautiful shooting comes naturally if you approach it truthfully with a heart of goodness around you."

"Even if I haven't practiced it?"

That just made Sumomo laugh. "Well, you'll see. Do your best, okay? It's not necessarily about clearing your mind. But it's all about having a clear focus with no distractions."

"A clear focus…" Chloe repeated. "No distractions."

"Vui."

She tried very hard not to be distracted by Eevee.

She would do her best to embody beauty.

"First, the ashibumi."

Chloe nodded at Sumomo's direction and did her best to mimic the pose. It felt a bit silly to do, and she knew she was being far too mindful of how to stand, but familiarity could only come with practice.

"Dozukuri."

Chloe flipped the bow up, only barely avoiding hitting herself in the face, but she confidently held the arrow. She felt her shoulders shaking, but it couldn't be helped.

"Now, yugamae. Take it slow, this is the complicated step."

"R-Right…"

Chloe did her best to do the subtle hand gestures, though the only part she fully remembered was not to choke the bow with a closed fist. Still, the bow was now in her hands, and she wasn't thinking, if only because she was going on auto-pilot as Sumomo continued to direct her.

"Uchiokoshi."

Chloe awkwardly held the bow and arrow above her head, though she did glance upward and saw that her arrow was off-kilter, so she tried to adjust the angle to keep the pose correct.

"Alright, now draw it back…"

Chloe pushed forward and pulled back at the same time. It felt strange, but the motion did help her understand the idea of spreading the bow open rather than just pulling on the string.

"Stop!"

Chloe froze in place, feeling a bead of sweat roll down her cheek in the cool winter air.

"Alright, relax. You're not firing that."

Chloe relaxed her arms and the bow regained its original shape. "Sorry…"

Sumomo shook her head. "Honestly, you weren't even doing that badly. I just didn't want to cause an accident. Though…"

Chloe looked back at the older girl, tilting her head curiously.

At her feet, Eevee did the same.

"...I did say it's not the same as clearing your thoughts, but it seems like you just didn't think about anything, did you?"

She felt her face blanche at the statement, just as much an admission of guilt as anything else could possibly be. "S-Sorry…"

"Don't sweat it," she said, shrugging. "It was only your first attempt and while your poses were shaky, you looked like you had a bit of a knack for them. It was a good first attempt, and if you'd like to try it again, I'm sure you can get a better start with a solid foundation."

"Thanks, Sumomo," Chloe said, smiling before turning to the kimono girl's loyal Pokémon. "You, too, Vaporeon."

"Poreon," he responded, flicking his tail from side to side.

Sumomo took the glove and bow back from Chloe, putting them away in her case before standing up. "Well, dinner'll probably be soon, so you should relax for the rest of the evening," she said. "We do have a big day tomorrow."

Chloe nodded. Their plan to save the Pokémon habitat known as the Burned Tower hinged on their dance and the follow-up deception caused by the Ghost-type Pokémon that were living there. It was a plan that should work fairly simply, as long as the illusions created by the ghosts are effective enough to sway a hardened business man.

Her hand went to the still glowing feather in her hair. It would have to be enough.

Sumomo smiled at the feather, seeing her touch it. "Ah, now I'm feeling jealous…"

This made Chloe raise an eyebrow. "What, about this?"

The kimono girl just laughed. "Yeah, maybe. But I was thinking about something else, too…"

"Something else like what?"

Sumomo waved off her question. "Maybe later. But try to rest up before dinner, okay?"

Chloe shrugged. "Later, then."

With that, Sumomo and Vaporeon left Chloe alone with only Eevee and her thoughts for company.

She turned back to the target, seeing Sumomo's arrow still sticking out of it, and she wondered for a moment to herself about how much practice that took, for a skill such as that. "It's about spirituality… I guess she has a pretty strong spirit. I wonder what she meant by her question, though…"

Chloe ran her hand back to the feather before she paused, her mind putting the two pieces together rather simply. "Wait, did she actually-?"

"Vui?"

Chloe sighed. Of course, she realized it now.

"I guess wherever we go, someone's going to tease Goh and I about liking each other…"

It was a common refrain, one that even Mika and Deliah, her friends back home, would poke and prod her over. The only person who she could honestly believe had never made a comment about it that she knew was Ash Ketchum, and that seemed more like a function of his complete ineptitude in matters of the heart than anything else. It was enough to drive her to distraction.

And yet.

Closing her eyes, she could see Goh gallantly standing against both the terrible trio who had ambushed her and Ash in the temple, as well as his triumphant return atop a Legendary Pokémon to save her at the top of Mount Tensei. He wasn't just her scared, antisocial Pokémon-obsessed friend anymore. He was growing into a fine young man who fought to protect his friends and the world he lived in.

And that, at least, was something that Chloe could quietly admit to herself that she did find appealing.

Even in the cold winter night, she felt a sort of nervous energy in her as she thought that to herself. She wasn't sure if it was the cold or the acknowledgement that there was something about Goh that shifted her perceptions recently, but she couldn't sit still. So instead, she began pantomiming the kyudo forms as though she was holding an invisible bow and arrow, going through the motions as she continued her private thoughts.

'Okay, so Goh can be a little cool, I guess. And he's maybe a little handsome, but it's awful when he gets full of himself.'

She didn't need to think of anything more than the time when Felix, the wealthy heir to a Pokémon Breeding enterprise, had met her in the autumn.

Felix managed to manipulate Goh into acting incredibly selfish and self-assured that nothing would go wrong. Even having her childhood friend ask her to go on a date with someone else was more surprising than anything else, but if Goh only ever saw her as a friend, then it was something that made sense, though his inability to commit still irritated her despite putting it behind her for their friendship.

It was very much like he didn't understand how she felt, at times.

Though, she supposed, she wasn't much better.

She considered herself something of a realist, so dismissing the existence of ghosts, or spirits, or even gods was something that she wasn't afraid to do usually. But after their talk on Mount Tensei, she could tell that it bothered Goh on some level that she wasn't as willing to believe as he was. There was a childlike innocence in his wish to believe that she didn't quite understand at the time, but she was willing to let herself be open to the experiences that seemed to be coming her way, for his sake at least.

And so she did. And they ended up helping Ash's friend Dawn, as well as duplicates of the four of them who lived in another world. It was an experience Chloe had only ever read in a novel, but she couldn't deny the evidence of her own eyes.

In the back of her mind, she had been worried about Goh after he disappeared into the Gate, but she held her wits about her and worked with Ash to find a solution, and eventually everything worked itself out.

She even met the Pokémon Arceus, who had been called a god, albeit briefly.

Truly, there was more to the world than she thought.

The more she continued thinking and going through these motions of firing imaginary arrows, the deeper things seemed to go into her mind. While her thoughts had logically started further in the past, they seemed to be catching up with her present, and the event that caught her off-guard today when Goh literally bumped into her.

He seemed a bit shocked at her appearance, and she did catch him staring a few times as they had their lunch together. But she was sure he was only staring because he still wasn't sure why she was dressed in the kimono or wearing makeup. It wasn't possible that he was actually taken aback by her beauty, was it?

She giggled to herself. That was assuredly as much fantasy as any book she had read about falling into another world.

Still, even with her own nervousness about the dance to call Ho-Oh coming up, Goh had seemed determined to show her a nice time, and such a time is what she had. He had even reached out to her and gifted her an object of seemingly magical importance, though aside from its color changing properties, it seemed just like an ordinary feather. He gave her something that important just to make her feel better, and he leaned in and romantically put it in her hair himself.

He was calm, confident, and cool, only wanting to show her things to help her relax and listening to her concerns and answering them. And if there was anything Goh could do to encourage the small crush Chloe could admit she carried for him, it was that.

It was enough to inspire her into bold action, such as when she stepped in to attempt to give Goh a chaste kiss on the cheek before darting off, though Goh, in his calm kindness, mistook it for tripping, giving her a moment to fall back and change course. So while her lips never touched his face, she still felt her heart thundering in her chest at that moment, and even now she could feel her thoughts of him turn her cheeks and the tips of her ears red.

But Goh wasn't interested. His actions around Felix, where he basically tried to trade her for a map to find Mew, proved that more than anything. It definitely put a damper on her thoughts, but it wasn't something insurmountable, she estimated.

Though, being tactful with this was paramount. Goh was one of her oldest friends, and definitely the friend she had the closest bond with. If he wasn't interested in her, she couldn't let that ruin the nearly decade of friendship they'd forged by this point.

But there was a part of her heart that seemed to call out for him. It was almost painful to carry a crush like this, but she would retain her composure, both for his sake and for hers. Goh was an awkward guy. If she came on too strong, it might damage his ego. It would be better to let him know she was interested and let him make the first move.

It was at this point in her repetitive rotations of kyudo forms that she released an invisible arrow, only for it to splash against the target. "Wait, what was that?"

Looking down, she saw Eevee faintly glowing blue, with her tail raised like Vaporeon's was when he was firing alongside Sumomo.

"Eevee?"

"Vui?"

The question didn't get a proper answer.

She smiled, laughing at herself. "I guess I'm getting way too far into my own head, huh, Eevee?"

The Normal-type nodded and leapt up into her arms, where Chloe caught her and held her close to her chest.

"Let's go see if dinner is ready," she said to her partner Pokémon. "I think we've done enough practicing out here."

"Eievui!"

She began heading towards the residence building for the sisters with Eevee in her arms, setting aside her tender thoughts for her kind, awkward friend.

She would have more than enough time to continue refining her spiritual strength.

Hello there! It's Purim again.

Please forgive me for indulging a bit with kyudo. While I'm not a practitioner myself, I've watched a lot of videos and done a lot of research on the subject! As a martial art that has a lot of spiritualism in it, it's a lot of fun to think about the focus required to perform it at a high level. Sumomo is an expert, but Chloe has a lot of potential. Truly, her possibilities are endless, just like with Eevee.

As well, if I got any of the details wrong, I humbly apologize to any kyudoka in my audience.

The focus of this short story, in addition to being a showcase about kyudo, is Chloe's reflection on her feelings for Goh. We don't often get to see the story told from her perspective, but it seems she's been growing a crush on him ever since he saved her back in the Stone Temple. Have you noticed the hints up to this point that perhaps Chloe has been feeling more for him than she lets on? We're certainly past the tipping point on the two of them and the slow-burn of their relationship with each other, but it will still be some time before they do find the courage and the faith to push forward with their hearts. Thank you for joining me on this journey with them!