As the day went on, and customers came and went, Rae and Sear continued to converse at a couch and table, having established a friendship with each other after the events that had transpired today.
"- the poor principal nearly had an aneurysm after she found out what we did. We ended up having to clean up all the foam from her office afterward, but I think we set the standard that year. Well, that is if they even allow any other senior pranks after that." Rae laughed as she concluded her story of her senior prank. Sear was laughing along with her. "Oh man." The lopunny exhaled, calming herself down. "Did you get to do a senior prank?" She asked the smaller rabbit. Sear responded with a shake of his head.
"No, the seniors from the previous year almost set the school on fire, so we were banned from doing a prank of our own. Which sucked since we had been planning one since we were freshmen." Sear explained.
"Wow, that does suck."
"Having fun with your new friend, Bigpaw?" Rae rolled her eyes at the new voice.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you, Lexia." Rae turned her attention to the gardevoir who sat on the couch opposite of them, crossing her legs. Sear took the opportunity to study her. Lexia was a shiny gardevoir, sporting blue hair and hands, her hair covering her left eye. She wore a grey sweater with red stripes. She also wore a white skirt, black leggings and brown boots. She seemed to be shorter than Rose, maybe about 5'4".
"I hope not." Lexia jokes.
"Bigpaw?" Sear tilted his head.
"It's a dumb little nickname she came up for me not long after we met in middle school. For obvious reasons." Rae shook her head, smiling despite herself. "Anyways, this is Lexia, Sear."
"Hey." Lexia gave a small wave, as Sear shyly waved back. "Sear, how tall are you?" She then asked, leaning forward, curious.
"Lexia." Rae gave a disapproving glare.
"What? I'm just curious." Sear shook his head.
"It's fine, I don't mind talking about it. I'm two feet tall."
"Because of microsm, right?" Sear would be lying if he said he wasn't a little shocked.
"You know what that is?"
"Well, yeah. I'm friends with this giant." Lexia nodded towards the brown and pink rabbit, gaining another eye roll from her companion. "After I learned about her condition, I eventually learned of microsm when looking it up. Though, you're the first one I've come across with it."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Sear couldn't help but feel happy that someone else was aware of this condition's existence.
"Anyway." Rae spoke up, bringing the attention to herself. "Do you want to know how tall I am, Sear?"
"Looking for more opportunities to brag?" Lexia leaned onto her arm, smirking.
"Shut it." Rae reached over and playfully kicked the psychic and fairy type. "I know for a fact you wished you were as tall as me." The normal type crossed her arms smugly as a small blush appeared on the gardevoir's face. "I saw you looking up ways to grow taller." Sear couldn't help but giggle as Lexia was being called out.
"Shut up."
"Jealous?"
"How tall are you, Rae?" Sear asked, bringing an end to the teasing session. Rae smirked.
"I'm 8'7"." She proudly proclaimed, placing her hands on her hips, making it no secret that she was prideful of her size.
"Show off." Lexia mumbled under her breath, shaking her head. Hearing her, Rae couldn't help but stick her tongue out at her friend.
"You're at least taller than average."
"By an inch. It's hardly noticeable." Lexia pouted. "I'm pretty sure I'm shorter than the sylveon here."
"Rose?" Sear spoke up. "Yeah, she's super tall for her species. She's 5'7"." Upon hearing this, Lexia visibly pouted more, while Rae giggled.
"Okay enough of picking on me!" Lexia raised her hands into the air, standing up. "We need to go and meet up with Sandy and them anyway, so we should probably get going."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Rae said, standing up as well, once again showing off her height.
"Meeting up with some friends?" Sear asked, standing on the couch in an attempt to be closer in height with the two girls.
"Yeah, we were just stopping by to wait for them. It was nice getting to meet you though, even if we met because someone assaulted you." Rae said, a look of uncertainty on her face.
"It was nice to watch you kick his ass though." Lexia commented, grabbing her drink.
"It was nice to meet you two as well! You should bring your other friends with you next time." Sear suggested, hoping to be able to see them again.
"Definitely. I know I'll be making regular visits here. This place is great." Rae smiled down at Sear.
"Actually," Lexia got their attention. "Sear, is this place hiring? I'm in kind of need of a job since I quit my last one. The boss was a total creep." She said, the last part barely audible as she mumbled it under her breath.
"Oh right, you do need a job, huh?" Rae put a finger to her chin.
"Did you really forget?" Lexia raised an eyebrow, making Rae look away nervously.
"W-what? No, of course not." She waved a hand, gaining a chuckle from Sear.
"Yeah, we're always looking for new Pokémon to join. I'll be sure to let Rose know that you're interested. Just submit a resume and you'll more than likely be seen shortly afterwards." Sear smiled, gaining a nod and smile from Lexia.
"Nice, you can probably get me some discounts then." Rae joked, reaching down for her own drink from the table which, again, looked tiny in her large grasp.
"Don't count on it." Lexia remarked, gaining an annoyed look from the female rabbit Pokémon. Rae turned around, reaching toward the couch, but stopped halfway.
"Wait, where's my-"
"Purse?" Lexia cut her off, producing a large, pink purse from behind her, holding it in her psychic ability. "You're lucky you have me around. You would probably lose your own ears if they weren't hanging off your head." Lexia shook her head, levitated the purse into Rae's hands, who was blushing in embarrassment.
"Quiet, shorty, let's just go." Rae said, already heading towards the door. Lexia rolled her eyes before following her friend, giving Sear a wave as she passed him. Sear hopped off the couch, seeing the two girls out. As the two reached the door, Rae turned around before flashing Sear a smile and flashing him a peace sign with her hand. Just as she turned around to leave, she ended up smacking her forehead against the top of the door hard, making the fire type flinch.
Rae tensed up in pain, gritting her teeth, backing up and putting her free hand over her bump.
"Nice one, Bigpaw. Maybe I'm not as jealous now." Lexia snickered, passing in front of her friend and having no trouble going through the door. Rae gave out a cute growl before following the gardevoir, making sure to duck this time. After the two had left, Sear made his way to the back, planning on getting back to work.
"Hey lover boy," Aquari greeted as Sear opened the door to the back, catching him off guard. "have fun with your girlfriend?" A blush once again overtaking his face, Sear looked away from her, mumbling something under his breath. He made his way past her, trying to clock in. Upon finding his way to the computer, he was greeted by Rose, who had a smirk on her face.
"Don't." Sear said as she opened her mouth. "I already heard from Aquari; I don't need to hear it from you too." Rose chuckled, choosing to keep her mouth shut just this once. She instead decided to ruffle up the fur on top of the rabbit Pokémon's head before walking off. The small fire type rolled his eyes as he fixed up his fur. As he hopped onto the chair to finally clock back in, another voice emerged.
"Hey Sear, who was that lopunny?" Eli asked, coming across her similarly short coworker. Sear, not aware if she was looking to tease him more or genuinely curious, shot her a look. The small raichu yelped and hid behind her tail, timidly backing away.
. . . . .
Finally, the time came when the last customer of the day eventually left, leaving the three girls and one guy to clean up around Café Silver.
"Hey Eli." Rose called out, getting the small Pokémon's attention as she finished wiping down the counter.
"Yes, ma'am." She asked, standing at attention as she was caught off guard.
"Don't worry about the honorifics with me. You can just refer to me as Rose. I want to be seen as your partner, not your boss." Rose gave a warm smile, easing Eli's tension a bit.
"Oh, alright ma- er, Rose." Eli nervously smiled back.
"There we go. Now, what kind of drink do you like?" Eli tilted her head, confusion overtaking her smile.
"Uh, well, I like black coffee." Eli answered. Rose's eyes widened in shock, caught off guard by the electric type's answer. "Is… is that weird?"
"Uh-no, it's not at all. I was just… surprised is all. But, what about a drink for the night?" Rose said after she recovered from her initial shock. Eli hummed in thought for a moment, before answering once more.
"I do like lemonade." She said, gaining a nod from Rose.
"Sounds good. I'll be back in a moment." Rose said, turning away from the girl and heading to the back, leaving behind a confused Eli. Unsure what else to do, she climbed down from the stepstool. After a moment, Sear emerged from the back, holding his coffee-soaked clothing in a plastic bag in one hand and holding hot chocolate in the other.
"Hey Eli, almost done cleaning?" Sear asked as he neared her.
"I just finished up actually. Are you heading home?" The raichu asked, pushing the stool underneath the counter.
"Oh no, I'm getting ready for our afterwork tradition. Are you going to join us or are you heading home?"
"Afterwork… tradition?" Eli tilted her head cutely.
"Yeah? Did Rose not tell you?" Sear also tilted his head in response. "We always get together after everyone clears out. We just have drinks and talk before heading home."
"Here we are Eli." Rose appeared from the back, holding her drink in one hand and the smaller drink filled with lemonade for Eli.
"Rose, did you forget to tell Eli what we do after hours?" Sear turned around, looking up at the taller sylveon, making her stop in her tracks.
"Uh…" Rose tried to recall, looking down at the two smaller Pokémon.
"I think your old age is getting to you, Rose." Aquari quipped from the front of the counter. Rose shot her a glare, which only prompted the water type to giggle in response. Sear also couldn't help but chuckle, while Eli silently asked the fire type how old Rose actually was. After a short explanation from Rose, Eli agreed to stay with the three.
Happily accepting the drink from Rose, she and Sear followed the two taller girls to a nearby table. Aquari quickly grabbed some nearby pillows for their smaller friends.
"So, Eli, how was your first day?" Rose asked as she sat down across from her and Sear. Aquari soon followed afterwards, sitting by her sister this time.
"It was a lot easier than I was expecting it to be. I was afraid I was going to mess a lot of things up." Eli visibly squirmed in her seat, nervous about saying something wrong. "Though, I was kind of scared about what happened to Sear." She turned to the small rabbit, giving him a concerned look.
"Yeah. What was that guy's name? Ven or whatever? Dick" Aquari grumbled, taking an angry sip of her milk.
"How are you after that Sear?" Rose asked, concern laced in her voice. Sear shook his head, giving them a smile.
"I'm alright, honestly. It barely hurt thanks to my fire typing. If anything, I was more annoyed that my clothes were soaked. But other than that, I'm good. Plus, I got the satisfaction of watching Rae beat him up afterwards." Sear reassured them. Aquari, recovering from her pout, pursed her lips in a smirk at the mention of the lopunny.
"Are you sure it's not because you got to talk to her afterwards?" The water type leaned forward, resting her head in her hands.
"Why? I thought we were done with this." Sear groaned, hiding his face as he felt it heating up. Rose shook her head at her sister's antics. Looking over at Eli, she saw the girl on her phone. Curious, she got her attention.
"Everything alright Eli?"
"Huh? Oh, everything's fine." She said, pocketing her phone. "My brother is a part of a rescue team, so he sometimes tells me about any crazy stuff that he encounters on his adventure." She smiled, looking up at Rose.
"You have a brother?" Aquari asked, the subject distracting her from her continued teasing assault of the now red-hot fire rabbit. "And he's a dungeon explorer?"
"Yes, he's been one for… almost a year now? I think. He told me today was the first day he encountered a savage Pokémon, as he's only encountered feral Pokémon up until then."
"A savage, huh?" Rose murmured. Savage Pokémon are Pokémon that are like Rose or Eli but have lost their intelligence and become violent and animalistic, usually running on all fours or lacking clothing. On the other hand, feral Pokémon are naturally animalistic, such as many bug types like snoms, or some water types, like a wailord. "Is he alright after the encounter?"
"He's fine. He said since his teammate had a type advantage over them, he wasn't in too much danger."
"Is he a raichu like you?" Sear asked, recovering from his earlier harassment. Eli shook her head.
"No, he's still a pikachu. He has a thunderstone ready, but he wants to become an Alolan raichu. He's hoping that he'll be able to visit the region on one of his missions so he can finally evolve."
"You know, our parents are actually retired dungeon explorers." Rose commented, getting the younger girl's attention.
"Of course, you remember that, but not the simpler things." Aquari quipped, giving Rose a smug, shit-eating grin. That is until a feeler wrapped around her head and covered her mouth.
"Your parents were dungeon explorers too?" Eli asked, trying to ignore the abuse the water type was experiencing.
"Yeah. For the most part, it was only them, but they were a great team from what they have told us. They actually met on a mission. Before they teamed up, our dad went on solo missions because he had his Eevo Pearl. It helped to boost his power, so he could handle himself most of the time. However, he ended up getting cornered by some savage Pokémon.
"When it looked like he was going to die there, he started to feel the ground shake. The next thing he knew, the savage Pokémon were blown away, and he was looking up at a giant 60 foot, in his words, 'extremely fluffy eevee'."
"Wait, mom can dynamax?" Aquari interrupted, prying the feeler from her mouth.
"First of all, she can gigantamax. Second, how did you not know? Don't you remember that she used to always joke about how I got my height from her?" Rose asked, bewildered that her sister was unaware of their mom's gigantamax ability.
"Well, I thought she said that because she was tall." The water type tilted her head.
"Mom isn't even two feet tall!" Rose let out a sigh, shaking her head. "Anyway, that's how our mom and dad met. After that encounter, they ended up teaming up, and the rest is history." Rose concluded quickly.
"I wish I knew mom could dynamax-"
"Gigantamax."
"-I would love to dynamax myself." Aquari put a finger to her chin, already daydreaming.
"Sounds like a bad idea in the making." Sear raised an eyebrow, a look of concern on his face.
"Oh, c'mon Sear! It would be fun! Heck, even you could dynamax!" Aquari reasoned, making Sear think about what she said.
"I… well…" Sear stammered; he couldn't say he wasn't interested in the idea. "Well, it would be an experience I guess."
"Sear, don't encourage her." Rose said.
"Wouldn't you want to be a giant too?" Aquari turned to her sister, stars in her eyes at the prospect of being huge.
"I'm already tall enough as is. I don't see why I need to be any taller." Rose stated, making Aquari pout.
"You're no fun. What about you, Eli?" She turned to the last Pokémon at the table, gaining a look of surprise from the electric type.
"Uh, I don't know. I feel like going from being small to being super big would be… scary?" Eli responded, seemingly unable to find the right words. "I'm not sure." She looked away, nervous.
"I'm sure it won't be that bad. What about just for the experience?" Aquari tried to encourage the raichu to join her enthusiasm in being giant. Just then, the door to the front of the café opened. Rose sighed, not looking towards the entrance.
"Sorry, we're closed now, I'm-"
"Blaze!" Aquari cried out, startling everyone at the table. She jumped out of her seat and ran towards the front. The rest turned towards what Aquari was running towards. At the entrance were three Pokémon.
"Nope!" A deep, yet still feminine voice yelled out. The next moment, the female, shiny glaceon named Blaze shot an ice beam out from her hand, encasing Aquari in ice, stopping her in her tracks.
"Blaze, I'm happy to see you, but what have I said about freezing your sister?" Rose questioned, getting up from her own seat. Sear shook his head while Eli had a look of horror on her face.
"She was going to tackle me." Blaze stated matter of factly, crossing her arms. She wore a long, thin grey hoodie and jeans, and her 'hair' hung down to her hips. She was also tall like Rose, standing at 5'4". Rose sighed, putting a hand to her head.
"Hey guys!" The leafeon behind Blaze yelled out, jumping onto the glaceon's shoulder, much to her annoyance.
"Hey Ivy." Sear waved, still at the table. Ivy wore a green cardigan, a white blouse and jeans as well as sneakers. She wasn't much taller than Aquari, being 4'7". While everyone was distracted, the last member of the trio, a flareon, was in the back finishing thawing out Aquari from her frozen prison. They both had a mischievous look, before sneaking up on Blaze and jumping on her back, tackling her to the ground along with Ivy.
The ice type had a look of murder, growling as she tried to push herself back up, but was unable to due to the combined weight of the three. Blitz, the male flareon, wore a red flannel and jeans, and stood at 4'10". The three shorter Pokémon were snickering like children after their combined effort to fell the giant. Rose and Sear couldn't help but join in on the laughter.
"Sear?" Eli leaned over, getting his attention. "Who are these three?" She asked, a look of concern and worry in her eyes.
"Oh, these are more of Rose's family. Blitz the flareon, Ivy the leafeon, and the seething glaceon filled with hatred is Blaze." Sear explained, failing to quell Eli's worry.
"How were mom and dad?" Rose asked, pulling up a chair instead of getting the two girls and guy off Blaze, agitating her. "I thought you were supposed to come in tomorrow."
"We were, but we ended up making it back earlier than expected, so we decided to surprise you guys." Ivy stated, making herself comfortable on top of Blaze by leaning back onto Blitz and crossing her legs. "Also mom and dad are doing great. Not much has changed with them since they moved into their new house. They've been enjoying spending time with each other."
"Can you asses get off me?!" Blaze yelled up from her spot on the ground. The three shared a look, before saying 'Nope!' in unison. Blaze groaned.
"Has anything changed here since we've been gone?" Blitz asked, who was currently being cuddled by Aquari.
"Well, we did get a new team member." Rose nodded her head back to Eli. Upon being made the center of attention to these scary Pokémon, she tried her best to hide behind Sear, though the size difference made that difficult. "And we might be getting another one soon." Before Rose could continue, Aquari cut her off.
"Also Sear got a girlfriend!" Sear's eyes widened as he became the center of attention.
"Oh god…"
"What?!" Ivy yelled out, a look of shock on her face as she put her hands to her cheeks.
"Who?!" Blitz questioned.
"The gremlin finally did it?" Even Blaze looked impressed.
"I do not!" Sear cried out, closing his eyes and clenching his fists as his face became red hot. "I don't have a girlfriend, and I'm not interested in anyone!" He finished by hiding his face with his ears.
"He's totally in love." Aquari whispered to Blitz, who couldn't help but chuckle.
"And in denial." Rose added. Finally growing tired of sitting on Blaze, Ivy got up from her living, seething seat. Feeling the weight on her lessen, Blaze was quick to act.
"Get off!" She yelled, pushing herself up and throwing off the remaining two Pokémon. While Aquari was able to jump off, Blitz on the other hand fell backwards, sliding off his taller sister. He turned around, able to catch himself before he hit the ground, but soon after, he went limp, choosing to lay on the ground. Aquari and Ivy started laughing as their brother played dead, while the ice type was dusting her clothes off, grumbling to herself.
"So I assume we're still getting together tomorrow?" Rose asked, getting up from her own seat.
"After all this? I don't think I want to." Blaze said, rolling her eyes. However, after saying that, she summoned Aquari by her side, who latched onto her arm.
"C'mon! It'll be fun!"
"Let go of me, fin-face!" Blaze tried pushing her sister off, but her iron grip proved to be too much for the shiny Pokémon.
"Will Sear still be making cookies?" Blitz asked, dropping his dead act and pushing himself off the ground. Sear, who had recovered from his earlier harassment, gave them a look.
"After you harassed me? I don't think I should." Blaze smiled as he mimicked what she said earlier.
"Cookies?" Eli asked, unable to hide her interest as her eyes sparkled. Sear turned around to answer her, but Ivy appeared behind him, placing her hand on his shoulders and head on his own.
"Yeah, Sear bakes. Actually, do you want to join us tomorrow? It'd be great to get to know you!" Ivy gave a toothy smile, radiating nothing but pure joy.
"Ivy, please get off. You're kind of heavy…" Eli looked at Ivy, then turned to Rose in the back, who gave her an encouraging thumbs up. After mulling it over in her head, she gave Ivy a small smile, still a bit weary.
"S-sure, I'd like to ."