THAT SYLVEON

Hello, everyone! Awesome Sawss and Luanastar back here again to give you another chapter of 'That Sylveon'. Some bad news to give you, though. Approaching fast are my finals, and the last thing I wouldn't want to do is miss out on studying. Therefore, expect chapters to be moderately delayed from this point onwards. Sorry about that!

Awesome Sawss/Luanastar do not own Pokemon, or any other copyrighted franchises.

After 30 minutes of pure, pulmonary power, Barry was finally able to blow up the air mattress. Of course, without much help from his cousin. She was texting someone on her phone, but Barry couldn't tell who. Therefore, he decided to perform some traditional exercises, such as vertical push ups, constant squats and drinking lots of milk. Maybe the last one doesn't necessarily count, though.

Anais, as earlier described, was texting Lola on her phone… Probably. If so, it was most likely just Lola going on about Barry, but that was beside the point. As one could tell, it was quite a silent room for the two people that were in it.

As the awkwardness prevailed, Barry took the time to perform some foreign chants as he exercised, such as the following of which he freestyled in his spare time: "Je dois parler Français tous les jours, sinon le maître de la Français quittera!" Not many people understood what it meant, but Brendan could be heard guffawing from downstairs.

Finally, it got to a point where the silence of the room got to him, and he needed to find a way to break the ice. "Uh, what's the time now?" asked Barry, completing his 50th push up and standing up. Anais barely glanced away from her screen before she answered.

"Meh, it's about Wednesday…" answered Anais, tapping on her phone more and more intensely.

"Uh, Anais? I asked for the time, not the date." deadpanned Barry, moving onto sit ups. Anais shook her head, and squinted at her phone.

"Oh, right! It's… 20:42." said Anais, resuming the furious padding of her digits. It was a wonder how her paws didn't catch on fire.

Are phones even that interesting?

Uh-huh, yeah, I love you too, Mom.

What?! Firstly, d'aww I love you too, Anais! However, I'm not your mom! Are you listening to me?

Uh-huh, yeah, I liked that movie too.

Whatever. I'm gonna go and hide my rare candy in case Mewtwo gets upset with one of his clients again and wants to take a 'break'.

Uh-huh, yeah, Sitrus berries sound great right now.

"Oh, thanks. Although, no one actually says the time as if it was a 24-hour clock… Are you even listening?" Barry stopped his exercises and looked up and the Sylveon, who was completely focused on her phone.

"Uh-huh, yeah, I'm glad you won that tournie, Barry."

Now Barry was beginning to think that the Sylveon was hysterical. He stood up straight, dusting himself off and walking next to Anais' bedside, sitting on the mattress, though not making much difference to the total pressure being added to it. "Hey, who are you talking to?"

"Uh-huh, yeah, I like Mudkips too, Barry."

As Barry squinted a little more, he saw the image of a Ninetales in the top left corner of her phone, deducing to one conclusion. "Wait, you're talking to Nester?"

Anais' eyes shot open, realizing the value of her mistake. She immediately thrust her phone under where she was sitting, and glared at the Blaziken.

"W-What? No!" sputtered Anais, but to no overall effect to change the Blaziken's beliefs.

"I can't believe it... After all that you said about him in the ice-cream parlour, too." lashed Barry, lifting a leg onto the bed.

"W-What do you mean? You weren't even there when I was talking about him! You were ordering, remember?" tried Anais, but Barry's +3 social initiative allowed him to know thanks to other reliable sources.

"Well, Lola told me when we were shopping. I thought you were over him?"

Anais was caught off-balance. Lola was gonna get it the next time they met. So, she resorted to her best retort: Anger. "Y-Yeah? Well don't even act like you haven't liked someone before! Lola is all over you like your mom to your dad!"

Wasn't that uncalled for? "So? They're married, remember?" remarked Barry, stunned that Anais would try comparing him to his father, that would be an overstatement. Comparing Lola to his mother though? Don't even try.

Due to the fact that Anais couldn't win with her ire, she turned to guilt tripping, which was a thousand times more effective when you were as adorable, amiable and lovable as a Sylveon. She lunged forward, and grabbed onto Barry's hoodie, shoving her muzzle into his detailed pectoral muscles.

"Okay, Barry! I can't get over him, alright! Ugh, he's just so overly perfect, you know? Of course, you wouldn't get it." Anais sobbed, looking up into the amethyst orbs of Barry.

Barry could feel himself tremble at the sight of the azure depths of Anais' eyes. It was as if he was making a vulnerable cub cry. "N-No! I get it. It's fine, r-rea-"

Though she had made her point, Anais felt like she could go a little bit further with her plan, just because she could. She held a special place in her heart for having control of what she called, the easily-emotionally-affected Blaziken.

"No, Barry, you don't. You don't understand the way females perceive males, let alone how I see Nester. J-Just leave me alone. You aren't helping me at all." This couldn't be any easier.

"I swear, I do! Listen Anais, it kills me to know that I've done you wrong; I'll do anything! I'm sorry!" begged Barry, his father's side kicking in, multiplied by a thousand.

Anais looked deeper into his lovely lavenders. "Anything..?"

"For sure. I'm really sorry that I did this to you, Anais. I… I hate to make people sad, so I wouldn't mind at all." Barry noticed how his speech could've been taken the wrong way - Not that he'd mind if Anais took it that way, however, fulfilling the Sylveon's aspirations was all he wanted to do.

Anais couldn't help but smile. It was a good thing that they were cousins - she would've pounced on him by now - as she still looked up to her Aunt Lyora, despite not seeing her in a long while. "For how long?" she asked.

"However long it takes you to get over your… emotional complex."

"Hm… So, if x is 2 while y equals 0 and x is 5 while y also equals 0, that means that the factorized equation of the graph must be…(Brownie points to the first person who gets it)" mumbled Barry, completing Anais' math homework for her. However, that was only the first of his instructions. Up to now, he still hadn't realized how his nice nature had got him into this mess, but regardless, he wouldn't mind. He was born to complete the wishes of others. It was how his father raised him.

8 years prior, Brendan stood over his son after an intense spar… Well, at least for Barry. Brendan was only 25, while Barry was merely 7. This left a large gap between their levels of battling. While Brendan was hitting level 98, Barry was barely in the 40s. The two of them were stationary in their garden. Barry had been bested between the two, and laid on his back against the grass.

"Good job, son. Keep training like this, and you'll be battling for your home region of Hoenn in no time!" complimented the older Blaziken.

Barry stood up, dusting his beige feathers of all the dirt they had collected in their fight. "Thanks pop. But, I don't know if fighting is really nice to do to other people."

Brendan guffawed, clutching his gut as he helped his son up. "It's not fighting, Barry! It's battling! There's a major difference!"

Barry scratched his head. "Oh. Sorry. I didn't know."

As his grinned at the polite etiquette that shone off his flourishing son, Brendan kneeled down to the growing Combusken's level, and put a talon on his shoulder. "Hey Barry. Lemme teach you a very important lesson, at least while I'm still around. Tomorrow, I'm travelling to Kanto."

Barry smiled too. If there was anyone he could take advice from, it would be have to be from his father. "Oh, okay Dad!"

Brendan blinked, and his expression turned suddenly serious. As he opened his beak to speak, Brendan could feel his son shaking in slight anxiety. "You see, when I was around… 16? I used to make fun of your uncle, Julley. Though, when I met your mother, I didn't know that they were related. I thought… She was going to dump me. From that point on, I swore to protect Julley with my life. I don't want you to become a person like how I was in high school." Barry looked into the starry eyes of his father, and nodded insecurely. "Do you understand? I don't want you to raise your voice in anger at other people, and always help them out when they're in need. I want you to live the life that I aspired to have."

"Yes Dad." solemnly nodded Barry, hoping to fulfill his father's dreams, as well as the people around him.

Barry could feel a small tear form at the corner of his eye. Though that person was downstairs, he was like a hero to him. He turned around to face the Sylveon 364 days older than he was. She was still smashing the screen of her phone, making him wonder what she was actually talking about.

"Hey Anais, I've finally finished your math homework." told Barry, leaning back on his chair a bit. Quadratic and linear graphs had never been a true problem for him.

Anais chose to glance up from her phone, and cautiously watched the Blaziken teeter on his chair. "Oh… Thanks. I think I'll be fine for the rest of the night." she replied, yawning and stretching her worn out muscles. "In fact, I think I'm reading to go to sleep. We've got a whole weekend ahead of us, and I'm going to be busy tomorrow."

Barry shrugged as he saw Anais put her phone on the charger on the desk aside her bed, and switch off the lamp that illuminated the room. Barry decided to get some sleep too. Maybe, he could catch a battle tomorrow or something.

As he hopped onto his air mattress, he noticed a small white wire that ran across his mattress, and up to Anais' desk. It was probably the extension cord, as he saw in the dark. However, before he pushed it off, he followed the trail up to Anais phone, and stared at it's silhouette. Glancing at Anais, who was making her inhales and exhales rhythmic, meaning that she was getting to sleep. Barry knew that he was going to regret this, but slowly, he stretched and grabbed onto the electrical communications device, removing its from the charger and backing off onto his own mattress.

The phone felt warm between his talons, most likely from the constant use it was put through. Barry switched it on, seeing that the time flashed at the top of the screen was around 11pm, and was met with a five letter password system. He thought of the most common five letter word that he could think of, relative to the slumbering Anais. He tried inputting the name "Anais" for common reasons, but was declined access. She wouldn't be that obvious, would she? Out of curiosity, he typed in his own name, and was surprisingly allowed in. This made him wonder why of all names, she would choose his.

Nonetheless, he had the chance to turn back and just put the phone back where it was found. Though, he had gone too far. Barry selected the icon that had a speech bubble on it, bringing up all of her recent text messages sent. Then, he clicked on the option that had 'Nessie' on it, as well as a profile picture of the Ninetales posing in front of the camera. To say the least, he was surprised at what he saw.

Nessie: Yo babe. Can't call, but I can still txt

Anais: you actually msged me? OMAAA

Nessie: Yh, just 1dering if u wanted to go out w/me tomoz?

Anais: OMA OMA OMA YES YES

Nessie: Alright, meet me outside the skl gates around 1. That sound good?

Anais: 'Course! See you then 3

Aha. No wonder she was using her phone so much. She could barely speak to me properly!

That is correct. Perhaps she was so infatuated with 'Nessie' as you may put it.

Yeah, you said it, conscious!

Please young one. Just call me Cresselia.

Oh, no problem Cresseli-Wuuuuuuuut?!

I'm your 'Divine Advisor' as one may put it. Now, I suggest you get to sleep before you faint from the sudden epiphany… And now you're unconscious. Oh well, I guess it's back to Giratina's room for me. Ooh Cresselia, you naughty girl… Perhaps I should consult someone about that rare candy addiction.

"Barry."

Ugh. That was the last thing he wanted to hear when sleeping. Barry hoped it wasn't his mother trying to wake him up the old fashioned way. Usually, he was always up and early for school. Though, his parents loved to wake him up even earlier to get some training in.

"Barry!"

He felt the world around him begin to shake. His resilient mind tried to keep the thumps away, but to not much avail.

"BARRY!"

He was thrown awake by the shouts of Anais, her voice bellowing throughout the neighbourhood. The Sylveon's cerulean spheres seemed to shine in the start of the sunlight through the window.

"Huh? W-What's up?" stuttered Barry, jolting awake.

"Have you seen my phone?" asked Anais, walking back over to her bedside and checking under her pillow.

Barry could tell the truth and face the consequences, or he could tell a lie and stuff the device in his feathers. Personally, he wanted to tell the truth, since it was his motif to be nice, but…

Young one, it is Cress- Uhh, ah, your Conscious. Perhaps, it is best that you tell the truth to your cousin. You care for her, just as she cares for you, so please do make the right decision.

I guess you'd be right, Conscious. It would be better to tell the truth and be done with it, rather than lie and dig myself a bigger hole. Thank you.

You're welcome, my child. But, just refer to me as Cresselia- Oh wait, NO!

It was a little too late. The realisation hit Barry again, and his brain immediately switched off, as he laid against the bed, comatose.

Anais turned around, and saw the Blaziken sprawled on his mattress. Inspecting him closely, she defined all of the features that made the sleeping Barry… Well, a sleeping Barry, such as the fact that his beak was in a smiling position as well as ajar as he slept, as well as one of his eyes.

Gross, he sleeps with his eyes open.

I can't talk now. Someone grabbed all of my rare candy, and now I'm stressed out.

Oh. Well, have fun dealing with your addictions, I guess.

Anais stuffed a paw into the tuft of feathers that Barry had around his chest, and was shocked to find her phone in there. She hadn't an explanation for that as of now. Since you can't chastise an unconscious Barry, she sighed and left to go downstairs.

Once she got down there, she found her brother, Julius, already watching television in front of a bowl of 'Crunchy Nuzleaf' cereal. She noticed that she barely talked to the Eevee. Maybe she hadn't due to the fact that she had so much… Things, going on during school times, to the point that it pretty much occupied her whole social life.

"Yo little bro! How did your time at Aunt Alice's go?"

Julius looked up from his bowl of cereal, donning a special smile that only he could pull off. "It wash weally good! Yuna is a lot of fun!" exclaimed Julius, his mouth full of the honey flavoured goodness.

"That's great, Julius." replied Anais, already losing interest in their attempt at conversation. "Anyway, where's Mom or Dad?"

Julius stuffed another spoonful into his mouth, before pointing towards the direction of the room next door. Anais put up a paw and moved onto the kitchen, hoping to see her parents there. Fortunately, there was her father there, accompanied by her mother, who were both sipping from mugs of tea and coffee.

"Good morning, Mom, good morning Dad!" chirped Anais, padding onto the marble plated floor in the centre of the kitchen.

"Good morning, Anais." said Julley and Cassidy in unison.

Anais watched her mother closely. Each of her specific actions were a sign of whether she was in a good mood or not, and this was what this whole operation relied on. It was for a fact, her father was going to let her go out whatever the weather; He was just lenient like that. On the other hand, when her mother put her paw down, there was nothing you could do to stop it. Not even her father's notions would do any justice from then on, thus the mission had to executed perfectly.

I don't know… The way she's holding her coffee with one hand instead of two gives me the feeling that she doesn't want to negotiate with anyone.

Yes, but look closely at the way she's watching Jul- Er, your father. That's the look of dreamyness. She's clearly having a cheerful day today.

… I'll take the risk.

"Hey Mom?" asked Anais, walking up to the table at which both her mother and father stood at. Cassidy turned around, making the mood suddenly more tense as they made eye contact. "Can I go out with my friends today? To the mall?" She added that last part in so it sounded more believable.

Cassidy gazed at her for awhile, Anais could feel sweat trickling down her nape.

"What time will you be back?" questioned Cassidy, taking another sip of her morning coffee.

Anais' heart jumped for joy as she was allowed to slip out beneath her mother's protocols. "3! Thanks Mom! See you later!" Within the blink of an eye, Anais was out of the door. Julley blinked as he tried to focus on the battling section of the newspaper. It was important that he kept up with all of the hot topics in battling so he could join in the conversations at work.

"She seems to be going out a lot, don't you think?" asked Julley, reading about his fellow brother-in-law in the news articles again. Brendan had made history as one of the most prolific opponents beaten ever. Well, good for him.

"Yeah, but it's part of her growing up phase, dear." replied Cassidy, grooming her fur carefully.

Anais leaned on the sedimentary brick walls that ran around her school, counting the many cars and buses that coasted along the road just in front of her. The sun still stared down at her in sullen pity. She wondered to herself. About the people she surrounded herself with, or to be more specific, Raidon and Nester. Both boys, she undeniably found handsome, but the Ninetales would win in any contest. On the other hand, Raidon was very humble and honest, whereas Nester seemed to boast quite a lot. In the end, she just didn't know who or what to like. Society told her to go out with Nester, but deep down…

Her train of thought came to a destructive end as a blur of beige came into view. The Pokemon that she had been waiting for all this time came in front of her, and Anais began to feel a little weak in the legs as she stared into the brown eyes of Nester, replacing her bones with sponge.

"Heya, babe." cooly cooed Nester, flicking his extended hair to one side. "You ready to go?"

Anais could barely speak, so she only nodded her head. Nester grinned at the effect he had on her, and turned around to point in the direction, in which they would being walking, Anais following like a lovesick puppy.

"S-S-So," stuttered Anais, already making a bad first impression. "Where are we going?" she asked, catching up with the fast-paced Ninetales.

Nester smirked, slowing down a bit to give the Sylveon a chance to catch up. "Well, I was going to take you to the local ferris wheel, before going to a restaurant in the middle of town." told Nester.

"That's great. Thank you." responded Anais, but was sure that the fire type did not catch her influences of despondence within her tone.

As enticing as that sounded to the Sylveon's ears, this time, she just wasn't feeling as excited as she did once before. Nester was a great person, but going to all of these places… It made her feel as if they were going out somewhere, rather than 'going out', which is what she thought at first upon seeing the text.

Ugh. I love him and all, but I feel as if… As if he's not really doing this because he loves me.

He loved you? Oh, I mean, what made you think that?

Oh, ha, ha. Aren't you funny.

I'm just saying. He's never actually said that he loves you or anything.

Yeah… You're right.

Walking to the Ferris wheel only took about ten minutes. However, the wheel was not as big as one would hope so. The highest you could go on it was about 15 meters in the air. 'C'est la vie' as Barry would always say in these sort of circumstances.

Nester gave the Raichu standing at the entrance to the wheel a bill, requesting him to "keep the change". Anais followed through, sitting inside of a small compartment for them both to sit in. Nester got out his phone, and began to take pictures of himself as the Ferris Wheel began taking them into the air.

Anais felt isolated, to say the least, looking out to the massive distances of residential, commercial and industrial infrastructure alike. She turned over to look at Nester, who looked amazing even with the rapid winds blowing at his face.

"Hey Nester!" she called, getting his attention almost immediately. "This is such an amazing view!" Anais aspired to create conversation with the Ninetales while she could. She was still flabbergasted at the fact that out of all people, Nester had chosen her, to be his… well, what was she?

"It is pretty good, but I've seen a lot better." gloated Nester, looking away from the Sylveon to watch the rest of Pokemon life went on all around them, and under their noses.

I'm not trying to rush you or anything, but if you want to ask him any questions, it better be now.

I know, I know! I'm just waiting for a good opening.

The wheel slowed down once they got to the apex of the wheel's arc, giving Anais crucial time to talk with Nester for real, now.

"Hey, Nester. Can I ask you something?" prodded Anais, slowly sidling closer to the Ninetales. Nester whipped his head around again, his hazelnut irises looking at the Sylveon in wonder.

"Sure, anything, babe."

That word ringed around in her head, but at this conflicting stage in their relationship, Anais didn't know what that would actually mean for her.

"How would you describe 'us'?" Anais questioned, using a paw to gesture to the two of them being together.

"Easy. You're my girlfriend." confidently replied Nester, smiling at the Sylveon. Yet, Anais didn't feel the same way.

"Then… Then if I love you Nester, do you love me back?"

Nester's smile was ironed out straight. He focused on the landscape around him, instead of actually answering the question as he was meant to. The wind speeds seemed to stop and wait for an answer as well, but Nester hadn't a response to give to the Sylveon.

"Well?!" shouted Anais, needing an answer to the question she longed for like an oasis in the desert. A desert of despair and desolation. Nester refused to open his mouth, and instead let his body language to the speaking for him. From this point on, Anais understood completely of what she thought of him. "I see. You don't see me at a girlfriend at all, do you?"

Once again, the question proved to be rhetorical as Anais didn't get an answer, making her violently shake with anger and confusion.

"You don't, I bet! I'm just another one of your 'chicks' that you think are trophies, aren't I?"

Anais realized that there was no use trying to interrogate him for any more information - The Ninetales was dry. Dry of any love left to give anyone, as Anais would put it. She moved across, further away from the fire type and to the edge of her seat. As of now, she just wanted to go home. She had no business with a man who claimed to be her boyfriend, but didn't have the guts to admit their feelings.

As if it were years before the wheel got back down on the floor, Anais stormed off the ride, and waited for Nester to come off too, so she can give him a piece of her mind in detailed quality. However, the Ninetales didn't even bother. He stayed in the compartment, realizing that his fears had finally caught up to him.

Anais went red with ire, and shouted at the top of her lungs, "That's it! I don't want to see you ever again!" leading for many people to look at her in worry. Though, she couldn't care less about what the public thought. She was going home. Not even Giratina had the gall to try and console her. It was in his best interests not to intervene.

Anais opened the door to her home after fidgeting with the keys for a while. She slammed the door shut, and stomped up to her room. Julley, who was left behind as Cassidy left for shopping with their son and nephew, looked up from reading the newspaper in the kitchen. He hadn't expected his daughter to return for another hour and a half.

"Anais!" he called, putting down his newspaper. It was a shame, too. He was just beginning to understand the fixtures.

"WHAT?!" screamed back the enraged Sylveon from her room. Julley immediately felt belittled by the roaring strength of his daughter's voice.

Julley. If I were you, I wouldn't even try going up those stairs.

Say's who? Where were you for the last twelve years?

Julley. I know we've had a lot of friendly banter over the years, but from one organism to another, don't try and console her. She's confused, upset and resentful. The only thing you'd do is make it worse.

That's my daughter, Arceus. Not yours.

Julley, going against his better judgement, walked up the stairs and entered his daughter's room, seeing her lying on Barry's air mattress and sobbing into his pillows.

"Anais?" he cautiously asked, slowly approaching the Sylveon.

"What, Dad?" came the muffled voice of the irate Anais.

"What's wrong?"

The question came out as more of a sneer of cold command, as Anais took to removing the pillow away from her face, revealing the tears that soaked her pink cheeks, and the crimson patterns that surrounded her eyes.

"Don't worry, j-just leave me alone." whined the Sylveon, falling back onto the bouncy mattress of air.

"Anais, tell me wha-"

"DAD! LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed, beginning to start crying again into Barry's area of rest. Julley felt the force that resounded from his daughter's cry, and knew that this was an uphill battle not worth fighting for. He turned around, walking towards her door and opening it for him to take his leave.

He took one last peek at the wailing mess, and shook his head. Not because of what he saw, but because of what he couldn't do. Julley sighed, closing the door and leaning on the wall in the hallway.

Being a father was a lot harder than it was made out to be.

Finally done! Thanks to all that read this, especially if you're on the Discord server! We got a lot of work done thanks to the ease in co-operation. I can't respond to reviews as of now, though, so sorry about that.

Also, I'd advise you to take a look at the story named "A Fiery Tale" which is a collaboration between myself and the very skilled Jirulius. It is a rendition of this story, but altered in the terms of two protagonists diverting from their original fates. But hey, you'll have to read it to fully understand what I'm talking about. Anyway, thank you all for reading, and I'll see you all next week!

-Awesome Sawss/Luanastar/Jirulius/The TU Discord Community