"Here we are!" Rae nearly burst through the overhead door even before it finished opening, gesturing to the area in front of her with a hand. "What do you think?" She tried to look back at Sear as best she could, but only now noticed that the small fire type was shaking, clinging to her head.
"T-too fast…" He stuttered, trying to recover from the g-force his small body experienced. The taller girl chuckled nervously.
"Hehe, whoops. Sorry about that, guess you aren't used to going that fast outside of a car." The normal type apologized, squatting down to allow the smaller rabbit to hop off, who immediately flopped to the ground, landing flat on his back.
"Ooooh!" Aquari gaped in awe at the inside of the warehouse, walking in alongside everyone else, still not wearing clothes.
"Damn." Blaze said softly, impressed with the work they put into the place. The main area was spacious, it alone probably rivaled the size of the cafe. The immediate area that they were in was a kitchen setup with a picnic table to the groups left next to a wooden cabinet. To their right was a typical countertop with a sink and cabinets as well as spices and various kitchen tools and gadgets lining the counter.
To the right of the counter next to a door was a rather sizable fridge and to the left of the counter was a mini fridge, holding some water bottles and beverages. Further left was a stove, and next to that was some cleaning supplies. Finally, in the middle of the kitchen area were two free-moving islands, one topped with a fruit basket and banana hanger. Sear's eyes sparkled a bit once he stood back up and took in his surroundings, the large open area being a nice change from his kitchen.
"Is this just the kitchen area?" Blitz asked, looking around. "It's so big!"
"Mhm." Lexia nodded. "Then to the right past the restroom here is a sort of waiting area that we turned into a lounge. And then further up is the main area- hey! At least let me show you before you barge in!" She yelled towards Blitz, Aquari and Ivy as they ran forward, followed shortly after by Sandy, then by the grumbling gardevoir. Rae chuckled before motioning the rest of the group to follow.
In the far left corner of the room was a large tv, rug and a sizable couch, most likely bought with Rae's size in mind. There were various gaming consoles hooked up to the tv, no doubt Lexia's doing. To the right of that was a table, a small stack of card and board games in the middle. In the center of the room was a clothing rack, filled with a rather random assortment of costumes and outfits.
Next to that was a set of shelves, holding some other board games as well as various nicknacks. Against the back of the shelf was a small pile of beanbags, one far larger than the others.
Suddenly, Ivy rode by the group on a scooter, a big dumb smile plastered on her face.
"This place is awesome!"
"You just made yourself right at home, huh?" Blaze shook her head.
"There's scooters here?" Eli poked her head forward, trying to see Ivy past Sear's ears. Not long afterwards, Aquari came riding up in a wheelchair, followed by Sandy wearing a magikarp mask, and Blitz wearing a long, flowing cape and crown.
"A wheelchair?" Sear cocked his head, to which the water type simply shrugged.
"What are the costumes?" Blaze questioned with bewilderment in her voice.
"Rae let's us have a budget, so we buy dumb things." Sandy motioned towards the giant normal type.
"Are you like, super rich?" Ivy skidded onto the scene, pulling up near the three other trouble makers.
"You could say that." Rae scratched the back of her head, looking away. "I don't spend a lot as is, so might as well make some use of all the money."
"What do you do?" Eli asked, to which, Lexia was surprisingly fast to respond.
"She's a chiropractor."
"Nope." Aquari, blurted suddenly, gaining everyone's attention. "Don't like knowing that." She started turning around in her wheelchair. "Don't like." Before she could get far however, Blitz grabbed the back, stopping the water type in her tracks.
"What, leaving so soon? Here, let me help at least." The sibling said with a mischievous smile as he started pushing Aquari.
"Wha- hey! Wait no, this is dangerous, why are you going so fast? I can't get out!" The fish-like pokemon yelled out in panic as Blitz quickly picked up speed, too scared to try and stand.
"Is she okay?" Sandy asked, watching the two siblings fool around.
"Aquari doesn't like the sound of cracking bones." Blaze smirked. "Especially when Sear does his stretches."
"And you have to bring this up, why exactly?" Said fire type casted the taller ice type a look.
"Because it's funny to see her instantly become revolted." The glaceon gave a sly grin back, to which Sear could only shake his head in response.
"You do stretches?" Sandy inquired.
"If I'm standing around for two long while baking, I need to stretch out my legs. And the way I stretch them tends to make my hips pop."
"DON'T SHOW THEM!" Aquari yelled, gaining an eye roll from the small fire type.
"You bake?" Sandy leaned down towards Sear, her eyes sparkling.
"Sear is an amazing baker!" A far too enthusiastic Ivy suddenly swept Sear off the ground, gaining a yelp of surprise from the rabbit. "You should make some actually! Show them what you can make."
"This sounds like an excuse to get me to bake more food for you." The fire type glared up at the leafeon that was holding him in her arms like a stuffed bear. He was simply met with a big, toothy smile. "I don't think you even deserve it after you gassed my house!"
"Whaaat? Meeee?" Ivy exaggerated, giving her small friend a look of innocence. "I would never. Gah-!" She yelped, letting go of Sear as water splashed onto her, soaking her tank top and pants.
"LIEEEEES!" Her water type sister yelled out in an over the top fashion, pointing an accusatory finger in her direction while Blitz laughed from behind the wheelchair.
"You bitch! I told you I hate it when you do that!" Ivy turned around, charging at the two. Blitz, upon seeing her angry sister, booked it, leaving behind the wheelchair bound Aquari.
"Hey! You bad person, you can't just abandon a crippled- wait, no I'm sorry! IVY-!" The vaporeon cried out in vain, only to be tackled by her younger sister, resulting in them both toppling out of the wheelchair. Everyone else couldn't help but laugh at the siblings' shenanigans, even Eli found herself laughing.
"I guess I can make something. If you girls don't mind me using the kitchen here of course." Sear looked up to the three owners in question.
"Go for it, I'm interested in seeing what you can make. Though, we don't have a lot of ingredients for baking here." Lexia stated, gesturing towards the fridge and cabinet for emphasis.
"If you want, you and me can go shopping for some stuff Sear." Rae smiled.
"Oh, uh, yeah, if you don't mind." The smaller rabbit stuttered. Why was he so nervous? "Um, I guess I can make some cheesecake for everyone. Maybe raspberry." Sear said, mostly to himself, but gained a hum of delight from Rae nonetheless.
"Sounds delicious. Want another ride? It's probably faster than by car." The normal typed offered with a confident smirk, gaining a gulp of fear from her smaller friend. Out of sight, the terrible trio were all watching the two interact, full of interest while Aquari had a dumb smile on her face.
. . . . .
"So where do you want to go?" Rae asked, lightly jogging with Sear on her shoulders at his request. "Supermarket? A little corner store? Or a bakery?"
"A bakery? Why there?" Sear couldn't help but chuckle.
"I'm kinda in the mood for some sweet bread." Rae laughed. "I don't know if they sell ingredients there, but I could hope, right?"
"Well I could try making you some sweet bread myself if we get the ingredients."
"Nah, you don't have to worry about that. I'll probably pick some up after today."
"You sure? I really don't mind."
"Well I won't stop you if you really want to." Rae smiled, though it went unseen but the fire type. "But anyway, you didn't tell me where we should be heading."
"Uh, I guess the supermarket. I know it'll have everything I need."
"Will do!" The taller girl happily quipped, picking up her pace, weaving through the crowd when needed. Sear appreciated how careful she was being with him, something he doesn't usually get when riding with someone like Aquari.
. . . . .
"So how did you meet your friends? This sugar here?"
"Yeah that one" Sear confirmed as Rae easily grabbed the bag of sugar from the top shelf, placing it into the cart. "I met them in middle school. They kinda saved me from some bullies who were picking on me because of my height. Blaze stuffed them into a locker and froze it." He chuckled, even if it resulted in her getting in trouble. "I was a raboot still, so I was even smaller than I am now. I think I was a foot tall or so."
"Really? Jeez. I don't think you'd be much bigger than my hand if you were still that height." The normal type commented, bringing up her hand to look at it. "But you know what's funny? That's like how me and Lexia met. I came across her being bullied, for being a shiny of all things! While I was still a buneary at the time, I was almost three times the height of one already, so that helped me put those asses in their place."
"Do you make all your friends through fighting pokemon harassing them?" Sear chuckled, pulling out some whipped cream from the shelf. Rae let out a small laugh.
"Only you and Lexia. I met Wren on relatively normal means. She was somewhat of a loner, but I wanted to take a chance and see if she'd be willing to be our friend. Lexia had met Sandy during one of her classes and introduced me to her. Anyway, Wren was sitting by herself during lunch, so I decided to pretty much bother her, in a friendly way of course! At first she seemed like a hard pokemon to talk to, but she was just a very matter-of-fact person. Plus, she doesn't really show much emotion, both in her voice and actions, but that's just who she is.
"Eventually, our group was formed, and we've stuck together ever since." The taller bunny explained, taking the whipped cream from the fire type.
"I'm honestly surprised that you can make friends normally." Sear smirked, gaining a raised eyebrow and smirk in return.
"Oh, so we're at this point in the friendship already huh? Okay fire butt." Rae squatted, gently, but somewhat forcefully poking him in the forehead, gaining a small, surprised grunt from her shorter friend. Rae chuckled evilly, standing back up, but not before re-adjusting her hoodie. "Ugh, I think this hoodie is at its end. Maybe the pants too." She mumbled to herself.
"Hm? Are they old?" Sear asked, rubbing the fluff of his forehead still.
"No, not really, they're just getting kinda small."
"Wait, are you still growing?"
"Looks like it." Rae gave Sear a smile. "We can check my height once we get back. But my doctor said I could still be growing for a while. It's apparently hard to predict the final height of pokemon with macrosm since we have a seemingly random growing period compared to regular pokemon. He told me that there was one guy that kept growing till his 30's. I could keep growing till that age too, or even beyond it, and there's no telling how tall I'll actually get either. Who knows, I might just grow to dynamax size naturally." She said, a hint of excitement evident in her voice, gaining a concerned look from Sear. "Don't worry, I don't think that'll actually happen, and even if it did, I'll be careful around everyone."
"Just don't crush me." Sear commented, gaining a small laugh from Rae.
"The most I'll do is tease Lexia more. She despises that she's the shortest of us. I wasn't joking when I said she was looking up ways to grow taller. But she isn't looking for temporary height gains like dynamax, she wants something permanent." Rae placed a bottle of vanilla extract in the cart. "What about you? How do you feel about your height?"
"I'm honestly alright with it, but I wouldn't mind being a bit taller. I don't need to be a giant like you, but maybe just a few more inches would be nice."
"Fair enough. But we should get going and look for the other ingredients, everyone's waiting." Sear nodded as Rae grabbed the cart and moved on. "I might grab some extra clothes too, I'm not like your friend Aquari." Rae chuckled with an eye roll.
"They're a bunch of weirdos, but I still love them." Sear said, walking alongside the lopunny, who was walking considerably slower to compensate for her smaller friend.
"That I can relate to. All of our friends are weird. But I don't think I'd have it any other way." They laughed with each other as they headed towards their next destination. Once the laughter died down, Sear found himself looking up to Rae for just a little longer. There was just something… cool about her. Her confidence and attitude about life, as well as being a nice, caring friend.
Were his cheeks heating up again?