Treecko stared at the Miracle Seed she held in her hands. There was just something about the greenish gold type-enhancing item that left her simply awestruck. The symbol of her family's sovereignty and duty to protect Sekra, her father said. It was so intimidating just to hold it. This one item held so much power and signification. The weight of it all was overwhelming.
"May we enter?" a soft feminine voice called from outside the cave.
"You may." Sceptile answered.
Two floating psychic-type legendaries entered Sceptile's den.
Sceptile smiled.
"Celebi. Mew. So good to see you, my friends. What news brings you?"
"Mew and I have finished our rounds surveying and checking in on the forest pokémon." Celebi answered.
"And?"
"Every beast is in fine fur and feathers," Mew followed. "The forest-dwellers are faring far better than they had during the end of the reign of darkness. But their spirits are still unnerved even though many moons have passed since then."
Sceptile nodded.
"Well, this region has gone through quite a traumatic experience. It is to be expected that fear still lingers in the land. It will take much time to heal from all the damage and wounds our kind has suffered as a result. Restoration of peace and regaining our semblance of order will take time."
"Of course. It is just not easy to see the disheartened spirits of the inhabitants. We can only pray that Ho-Oh's nacreous grace falls upon the land and calm the residers of Sekra." Replied Mew.
"Indeed," Sceptile answered. He turned around and walked to the rear of his cave, plucking a Sitrus Berry from one of the branches penetrating the cave in the back. "I shall hold a gathering soon to give some solace and consolation to the residents. If it even alleviates at least an iota of their stress, it is worth it."
"Shall we inquire the other eminences to do the same?" asked Celebi.
Sceptile sliced the Sitrus Berry with the index appendage on his claw as he walked back to Celebi and Mew.
"No. I am certain the other leaders are keenly aware of how their subjects are doing and know what is best in order for their territories to be restored to a state of tranquility. Let them govern their land. Our duty is to the inhabitants of Sekra. I'm sure they will be fine. And if not, we will hold a seminal palaver to discuss the whole effect."
He held out the two halves of the berry to Celebi and Mew, who were both a little surprised.
"Sire?" Celebi wondered.
"Go on. You two have been working really hard to calm the residents. You need to replenish your health. Stamina and endurance will only keep you so long."
"Thank you, sire," Mew said respectfully as she bowed her head before she and Celebi took the Sitrus Berry halves from his palm and took a bite.
Again, Sceptile nodded.
"When you are rejuvenated, amass with Ninetales and Arcanine in the valley. They'll be passing through Sekra to deliver supplies to the forest-dwellers and offer them wisdom. Your report about their mental state will prove very useful to them."
"Forgive me, sire," Mew began as she swallowed the last piece of the berry in her mouth, "I'm afraid Celebi must inform them alone. Tonight I begin my trek back to my homeland and so I must prepare."
Sceptile smiled. "Ah, yes. Your journey back to your birthplace on that well away island far beyond the horizon."
"Yes. It is time for me to return to the motherland and pay my respects. It is the native island of my kind, after all. It also gives me the opportunity to congregate with others like myself. It has been so long since I last saw my artificial brother."
Celebi crossed his tiny arms.
"I am not fond of you making this journey alone." he huffed. "There are bounty hunters, evil humans out there who thirst for nothing but to acquire your precious DNA and make genetic copies of yourself for their own selfish gains. It has happened to your ancestors. It has happened to others we know. How many stories have you heard of those humans in white who genetically engineered pokémon? Travel by yourself is dangerous, Mew."
Mew rested a paw on Celebi's shoulder. "You worry too much, my dear. I am more than capable of evading greedy humans. I am not known as the elusive pokémon for nothing. If I sense a threat nearing by I'll just…"
A white ring of light encircled Mew and her body glowed white as she took on the appearance of Celebi.
"…Transform into another, more common pokémon. Although…"
She then transformed again, to Sceptile.
"…I suppose our sire's kind is a more common and appropriate pokémon than you. Heehee!"
Celebi grumbled.
Sceptile smiled. "I know how important this journey is for you, Mew. I've taken many journeys of enlightenment myself, and though I haven't been back to the tropical forests in Hoenn where my kind thrived in many many moons, I know how valuable it is to see one's own homeland and walk the soil your ancestors did from times past. You have my blessing, Mew."
Mew smiled widely.
"Thank you, sire," she instantly transformed back into her original state. She turned to face Celebi. "And Celebi, don't you begrudge me for this."
"I am merely worried for you, Mew. Must you travel alone?"
"Yes. You know it to be so. This is a migration I must complete."
Celebi sighed. "Then I suppose…you have my allowance as well, albeit reluctantly so."
Mew smiled and quickly enveloped her mate in a hug. "Oh, thank you, my dear. You'll not regret it. I promise."
Celebi pulled back.
"But you must let me know when you arrive. Send me daily telepathic messages when you are free and before you lay your head to slumber for the night. Maintain communication. And should trouble surface, you must find a way to signal your distress so we can get to you. Promise me, Mew."
"Quite a lot of demands you are making, Celebi. But if it will put your mind at ease, I will fulfill them. You have my word."
Celebi nodded.
Sceptile nodded as well.
"Very well. You may start preparations for your journey, Mew. I hope you reap the most of this experience."
"Thank you, sire."
"And Celebi, you may leave to rendezvous with Ninetales in the valley."
"Yes, but first I need to check-in on our young one. Absol's youngest is watching her while we are away."
"Very well. You have my leave to go, Celebi. Safe journeys, Mew."
"Thank you, sire," they said in unison as they bowed their heads together.
The two floating psychic-type legendaries then flew out of the cave.
Sceptile turned around and looked at his daughter. She stared at him with wide eyes before looking back at the Miracle Seed she held in her hands.
Sceptile shook his head as he walked over to his father's resting boulder to prepare his next lecture.
Solana and Lunick burst through the Fall City Mall's double doors as they tried to locate Leilani. They found her several minutes later standing by a dining table near a kiosk. Murph, Percy, and Freddie were all there already waiting for them.
They quickly ran up to her.
"We raced over here as fast as we could, Leilani," Solana panted.
"What's the emergency?" asked Lunick.
Her hands were behind her back.
"Well, you guys…I was starting my day off as usual when I got this letter in the mail." Leilani smiled broadly. "It's from Starsi GmbH. We've got a spread in Trainers magazine! They sent me an exclusive print before they hit the shelves next week and I just had to show you guys! Lookie!"
Leilani removed her hands from behind her back, revealing the letter and magazine she was referring to. Gym Leader Juan was on the cover of the magazine along with his Milotic.
Percy grasped his forehead. "Wait a second…You called us all out here for a magazine?"
"Leil, you said this was an emergency!" Solana scolded.
"Solana and I rushed over immediately following a very exhausting mission in the Lyra Forest," Lunick added.
"This is an emergency. This is our very first spread in a magazine as actual models. We have to look at the pictures together."
The all gave a collective sigh.
"I knew you all would probably overlook it, so that's why I called yah'll down here. We were discovered together so it's only natural we look upon our work together."
"Let's just get this over with," sighed Freddie.
Smiling widely, Leilani, unfolded the letter in her hands. "It says ours photos are on pages 5 and 6, and 13 and 14. Let's see…Oh, I'm so excited!"
Leilani quickly turned to pages 5 and 6 and put the magazine on the table. The first picture was of Lunick and Freddie with their pokémon, with Lunick partially pinning Freddie to the ground, both of them laughing and their skins positively gleaming. Minun was perched on Lunick's shoulder with a look of concern and had slight sparks of electricity coming off his cheeks, while Weavile stood crouched beside Freddie wearing a disgruntled look. The second picture on the next page was of Solana and Leilani. Leilani's hips were pointed out, her arms up, and her wrists bent downward as the picture captured her while she was doing her dance. Solana was holding a beach ball in the crook of her left arm to the side and her other hand was on her hip. She had one foot crossed over the other, her head was slightly cocked to the right and she was wearing a weak smile.
"Ooooo-WE! Look at you fellas!" Leilani shrieked. "You guys are looking so sexy. All those workouts in the gym are really doing well for your abdominals and pectorals. Oh my God!"
"Aww man. I was hoping they'd use the shot of me with the pool noodle around Freddie's neck."
"Why? To show that you don't know what it means to fake roughhousing or act?"
"You both are missing the point. Look at how your skins are shining," Leilani added. "You are showing off that sunscreen beautifully."
"I guess so," said Lunick. "Hey, buddy. Nice touch adding those sparks in doing the shoot. You look really concerned Freddie and I are gonna kill each other."
"Mai Mai!"
Solana frowned. "It's just as I thought. My shot looks horrible."
"What are you talking about, Sole? Our picture looks great."
"No, Leil. You look great. Your body is beautifully elongated. I look horrid. I'm positioned so awkwardly. No wonder Gisela kept telling me to stop posing in the beginning. I had no idea what I was doing."
Lunick put his arm around Solana.
"Aw, come on, Babe. You don't look bad at all. I mean look at your face. Gorgeous as always."
"I'm not selling cosmetics. I'm selling skin care."
"And that's what you're doing, Sole. Your skin is glowing beautifully. But if you're dissatisfied with this picture, let's look at the last spread. Maybe you'll be more pleased with that one."
Leilani turned to pages 13 and 14 where the last two pictures took up both pages. They showed Freddie, Leilani, Solana and Lunick. On the first page they were all standing up, Freddie was standing behind Leilani with his arms around her shoulders and neck, and Lunick and his left arm around Solana's waist. Minun stood beside Lunick with his paws up in the air, Plusle laid beside Solana, Lucario sat down crossed legged to the right of Leilani and Freddie, and Weavile crouched down beside them on the left. On the second page they were lying down on lounge chairs. Freddie was reclined back and Leilani was lying down on top of him, while Lunick was on top of Solana rubbing AWM lotion on her thighs, their eyes locked and faces mere inches away from each other. Her arms and legs were snow white covered with sunscreen.
"Wow! You all look great!" Murph exclaimed.
"I'll say," Percy commented. "What kind of suggestive positions are you guys in? You all look like you are about to – "
"It's all part of marketing, Percy," Leilani interjected, cutting him off, "The first photos were more fun and commercial to target teenagers while these last two are meant to be more intimate and sensual to appeal to young adults. We gotta appeal to the target demographics."
"Did you guys enjoy yourselves?"
"That's an inappropriate question."
"I agree, Freddie," sided Lunick.
"It's a fair question," argued Percy.
"I think someone's bitter they weren't chosen to come along," countered Freddie.
"As if."
"As if my ass. You jealin' big time right now, dude."
"Do the little boys want to take it outside in the sandbox?" Leilani asked as she arched her left eyebrow. Both Freddie and Percy scowled and turned away from each other.
Solana studied the first group photo intensely. Her frown deepened greatly.
"That's not me."
"Huh?" questioned Leilani.
"That's not me."
"What are you talking about, Babe? Of course that's you."
"I know how my body looks, Lunick. They did something to me in this shot. They retouched the photo."
"Retouching is a natural part of photography, Solana."
"Retouching is very expensive, Leil. Part of the model's job is to make as little work as possible for the clients. Nobody wants to spend money unnecessarily. They must've saw something they didn't like."
"You're over-exaggerating, Sole. I mean, if I study my photo hard enough I can see they retouched my body too and cut my chest down a cup size or two to balance out the photo. Modifications are sometimes necessary in this line of work."
"Are you seriously comparing a having a breast reduction edit to having a tummy tuck fix in a photograph? These two things are worlds different!"
That hit a nerve with Leilani.
"Excuse me?"
"You can't possibly think that the two touch ups are the same. You got retouched because your girls were too big. I got retouched because Raúl, or Gisela, or Victorian is dissatisfied with how I look. They are not the same."
"Uh! Did you bonk your head on that mission you were just on? The hell you get off talking to me like that? Girl, you better check yourself before I do it for you. You wanna turn a positive into a negative you go do that at home by yourself."
Lunick stepped in between both of them.
"Okay. How about we just take a step back, breathe for a minute, and not let things escalate to a point that we will regret."
Leilani shoved her letter back in her pack and threw the magazine on the table beside her, still glaring at Solana.
"Naw, Lunick. I'm good. I need to get back to Summerland anyway. Let's go, Percy."
And with that she angrily walked out of the sitting area they were in. Percy offered up a sympathetic glance before following behind his partner.
"Yeah, I need to head back too," Freddie said uncomfortably as he and Weavile left in the opposite direction.
Murph nodded. "I have to get back to the base myself. Need to check inventory and work on a paper for the Professor."
And with that he left, leaving the two remaining rangers and their pokémon there by themselves.
Lunick turned to face Solana.
"Solana?…"
She crossed her arms. "I didn't pick a fight."
"You kinda did." He said walking closing to her. "Why'd you say that to her?"
"She was honestly trying to compare her having her chest retouched to look smaller to me having my stomach retouched to look completely different."
"Does it matter?"
"Of course it matters!"
"Solana, your body looks great the way it is. Any retouching done by Starsi's team has nothing to do with how you look or how beautiful and attractive you are. Victorian asked you herself to model for her, remember?"
"Then why was it retouched?"
"Maybe it wasn't."
"Lunick, I know how my body looks."
"And I'm telling you that even if the photo was retouched it wasn't because there was some flaw in you that needs to be fixed. Photos are retouched for plenty of other reasons to balance the elements as Leilani said."
Solana turned away slightly.
"Easy for you to say. They were pleased with your performance."
Lunick finally understood what was going on.
"You're still upset about that?"
"Lunick, they were so frustrated with me."
"They were frustrated with everybody."
"Not like me. And now that I see that they actually modified the photo…How terrible was I? How much of their time did I waste?"
Lunick held her arms lightly from behind.
"None of that matters, Solana. We did our job. We took photos for them and raised awareness of melanoma. You don't need to be concerned about this anymore. Let's put it in the past, okay? Please?"
Solana slowly turned around to face him. She could see the concern all over in his face.
She nodded slowly. "Okay. Deal."
Lunick nodded back. He kissed her on the forehead and let her go.
"Come on. We should to get back to the base and brief Leader about our mission."
He started walking ahead of her.
Solana turned back to the table where the magazine Leilani received rested. She picked it up and put it in her pack before zipping up her pack and following behind Lunick.
"Plah Pla?" Plusle wondered as she trailed behind her human.
Solana and Plusle entered the Fall City Cruqué Studio. It was now very late in the afternoon and she and Lunick had about a twenty minute gap before they were likely called on another mission. While Lunick went to the Capture Arena to try to beat his high score, Solana told him she was going to the mall to pick up some clothes she had on layaway. She didn't like lying to Lunick but she knew he wouldn't approve of her going back to the studio especially after she promised him she would put it all behind her. But she couldn't leave it in the past until she got some closure as to why the photo was edited.
As Solana entered the room where the photo shoot took place, she saw several people moving about, moving props, lights, and cameras and walking past her out the room. Raúl was standing in the center of the room eating a box of Chow Mein.
Solana walked up to him.
"Mr. Raúl, what's going on?"
He only turned around slightly to face her.
"We're packing up. We got three days to get all this stuff to Hoenn for our Fall line shoot. It's nearly impossible but there's no convincing Victorian otherwise. We've got a deadline to meet and that's all that matters."
He whistled, "Let's move it people! A Snorlax can move faster."
"Actually, Raúl, I wanted to talk to you about the photo shoot we did a couple weeks ago."
"If Victorian wants your services again, she will contact you."
Solana held up her hands. "Oh no, it's nothing like that. It's about the prints."
"What about them?"
Solana unzipped her pack on her hip, took out the magazine, and flipped through the pages.
"My friend Leilani received an early copy of the spread and we looked at the pictures together…and I noticed that the pictures appeared to be edited."
She held up the magazine for him to see but he didn't look down once.
"They were." He answered easily.
Solana lowered the magazine.
"So the photos were retouched?"
"Kid, this is what I get paid to do. I make edits, cleanup photographs, take out all the unsightly and undesired elements that damage the image. Yes, I give directions, but my job is to get the best shot for the client."
Solana lowered the magazine further.
"Why'd you do it?"
Raúl sucked his teeth.
"You know what, kid? Why don't you go bother someone else with your questions? I don't have time for this. I'm on a very tight schedule to meet unreasonable and unrealistic demands and I don't need to hear your whining right now."
Solana's eyes hardened.
"I am just asking why you retouched the photo, sir."
"I just told you. It's my job."
"No. Not why do you retouch photos. Why did you retouch this photo? What was wrong with it? What was wrong with me?"
"You've got to be kidding me. Solana, I do not have time to go through with you the intricacies of why photo-retouching is necessary to get the clearest, most exceptional shot."
"I'm not asking you to. Just tell me why you edited this one? Please."
Raúl stared at her long for a moment.
"Victorian told me to." He answered.
Solana's eyes widened ever so slightly.
"You want to know why?"
Solana nodded.
"Come with me."
Raúl led her to the monitor that recorded the photographs taken by Gisela at the photo shoot. He sat behind the monitor a plugged in a flash drive. After surfing through several files on the touch screen, he selected specific ones from the day of the shoot.
"These are your shots. If you notice most of them look very clunky, chunky even. You have a very athletic build, Solana. Your muscles are well defined. You have sort of a mesomorph body type, which is very good. Very healthy. But you have to be careful with it for modeling."
"So…you retouched the photo…because I'm too muscular?"
"You're in a lot of awkward positions. And if not positioned and angled right, you can make the camera think that muscle is chunky fat. You also got to be mindful that whatever you move closer to the camera, will appear bigger to the camera as well. And when you bend forward like you do in this scrapped picture here, you create a crease in your belly and the folds of your skin touch. You see? Your friend wasn't quite so awkward and she knew a little more about how to position her body in front of the camera but she was a little too busty and didn't know exactly how to angle herself appropriately. In order to keep the photo from looking like an adult film, we had to reduce her chest to balance the photo and make it less X- rated and more friendly. Modeling is all about knowing your angles and how to position your body. But you all are not models. That's why the photo had to be retouched. Don't take it personal. Okay? Do you understand now?"
Solana rolled her tongue in her mouth. She took the magazine off the monitor and nodded her head slowly.
"Yeah…I understand…Thank you for your time…" she said quietly before walking quietly out of the room.
Raúl furrowed his brow as he watched her leave. She said she understood, but somehow he sensed she wasn't happy with what he said.
"Hey Raúl, where do you want the clothes for the shipment to go?"
"Put them in the long crate labeled 'Wardrobe' and put them on the truck. Honestly, are you all compete idiots?"
Freddie tapped his pen to his lips as he recorded his missions and cases in his Wintown logbook. His workload was piling up and he was already pushing the hours he was dropping Niema off and picking her up at the Pokémon Breeder Center. Mrs. Otaka was very understanding and empathetic of his situation, but he knew he was imposing on her and he felt guilty. But he had no other alternative. He wasn't going to cause any confusion with his parents being separated, and his brother had long gone years ago. There was no one else who could help him care for Niema while he was at work. He was grateful to the Otakas for watching her for him, but he knew he would have to look for some other care soon.
Freddie heard soft footfalls coming from the staircase behind him.
"You should be in bed." He said without looking up.
"I couldn't sleep." replied a soft, babyish voice.
"Did you have a bad dream?"
"No. I jus' can't sleep. Can you read me a story?"
"I'm working, baby."
"Please, Daddy?"
Freddie stopped writing and sighed. He turned his head slightly to look behind at his daughter. She was wearing her footsie pajamas and holding her Teddiursa doll in her arms. She had such a sad, longing look on her face that tore at Freddie's heart.
Rolling his eyes very slightly and knowing he was going to get even further behind in his work, Freddie put his pen down.
"Alright."
Smiling widely, the little girl bolted down the stairs and ran to the sofa to sit beside her father. Freddie gathered up the documents of his missions and cases and put them back in the manila folder they were in, then put that manila folder in his logbook and closed it. He rested it next to him on the other side.
"What story do you want to hear tonight?"
Niema looked at him with big wide eyes.
"Tell me why you became a Pokémon Renja, Daddy?"
That question took him a little by surprise.
"You know why I became a Pokémon Ranger, baby. To help people."
"But why?"
"Why do I want to help people?"
"Why did you pick a Renja tah help people? Aren't dere oda jobs dat help people, Daddy?"
Freddie nodded.
"Yes, there are. There are plenty of jobs where people help and serve to keep the community and public safe."
"So…why did you decide tah be a Renja, Daddy?"
Freddie smiled softly.
"I guess…I chose to become a ranger, because I believe in everything a Pokémon Ranger stands for."
"What do you mean, Daddy?"
"We live to protect and preserve nature. Our duty is to keep the citizens and pokémon of our region safe. We are constantly working to better our world and bridge the gap between pokémon and human relations. We catch bad guys, yes, and we stop destructive phenomenons, but our primary objective is to keep our region safe and to protect. I remember when I was kid, my brother and I were playing in the mountains. There was this big avalanche that snowed-in the entire town and trapped us in a cavern on the Cliffside. Had it not been for the Pokémon Rangers, your uncle and I may not have made it out that night."
Niema continued to look at her father in awe.
"I love being a Pokémon Ranger. There's nothing in the world I'd rather do."
"Can I be a Pokémon Renja when I grow up, Daddy?"
Freddie shrugged. "Well, you could. You could also become a Pokémon Trainer, a Pokémon Coordinator, a Pokémon Breeder or a Pokémon Idol. There are many different jobs you can have with Pokémon, Niema. Being a Pokémon Ranger is a very dangerous occupation."
"But you're a renja, Daddy?"
"I am. And I am well aware of how dangerous it is. But I love what I do. You have plenty of time to decide what path you want to take, Niema."
"As long as I git tah have a pokémon, any job is fine wit me."
Freddie chuckled lightly and he brought his daughter in for a hug.
BANG!
A loud resounding blast shattered through Freddie's front right window. Shards of glass scattered all over the hardwood floor and Freddie's home alarm sounded.
Niema's high-pitched screams echoed throughout his house. Freddie held her close as he crouched down low on the ground.
"It's okay, baby. Everything's going to be okay. Daddy's right here. You're safe…You're safe. Everything's going to be fine."
Weavile quickly sprinted into the living room from the kitchen, thoroughly alarmed.
"Weavile! Weavile Weave!"
Freddie turned his head slightly to her and nodded to the door.
Nodding her head, Weavile made several copies of herself with Double Team and stealthily and sneakily crept to the windows and front door out of visible sight. When she appeared at the entrance, she and her copies peered outside the broken window. Three of her copies then jumped out the broken window to survey the perimeter of the house. After another minute or so, Weavile turned to Freddie and shook her head 'no', dispelling the remainder of her copies soon afterwards.
Freddie grimaced. Then he noticed a torn up wrapper on the floor underneath several shards of glass.
"Weavile," he called.
His Partner Pokémon quickly ran over to him and crouched down.
"Watch Niema."
"Weavile." She nodded as she protectively held her human's offspring.
Freddie turned to his daughter. "Stay here."
"Daddy!" she cried.
"Stay here, Niema. Don't move."
"Daddy!"
Freddie crept away from his daughter and pokémon. He crawled over to where he saw the torn wrapper. He very carefully brushed away the shards of glass so not to cut himself and unwrapped the piece of paper.
Burn in Hell was written in a red paste on it.
Freddie's eyes lit aflame.
He could feel himself starting to lose control when his daughter's hysterical screams and the blares of his home alarm reminded him that he didn't have time to get consumed by his emotions.
Freddie stood up, crumpled the wrapper with one hand, and walked over to his daughter. He sat down on the floor and held her tightly in his arms, assuring her that they were in fact safe and that everything was going to be okay.
Leilani pushed the rice and beans on her plate back and forth. Usually she'd be up watching T.V. or getting ready to call it an early night. But tonight, she just couldn't quite settle down. She had been called on so many late night missions with Percy, she was half-expecting her styler to go off with Cameron calling her in for the night shift. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't put her mind at ease.
"Loo."
Leilani glanced at Lucario. Her Partner Pokémon was sitting crossed legged across the room from her.
"Wanna send some calming aura my way, buddy?"
"Loo."
She chuckled lightly, "You know I don't meditate. Not my style."
"Loo."
The Soothe Bells hanging outside the front of Leilani's beach house started to chime. Leilani installed them in place of a doorbell as she thought the bell's calming chimes would be more comforting and respectful to the surrounding pokémon.
Leilani looked over to her wall clock which read 9:15.
Getting up from her kitchen table, Leilani walked to her front door. She opened it up to see Solana and Plusle on the other side.
"Hi," she said sheepishly.
Leilani didn't answer. She merely left the door opened for her to come in.
Solana came in and closed the door behind her. She then followed Leilani into her kitchen.
"Where's Lunick?" she finally asked as she walked back beside her chair.
Solana stood in the doorframe.
"Home. He headed straight there after our mission."
"You didn't join him?"
"No, I came here."
Silence passed between the two of them for a few moments.
Solana finally spoke up again.
"I'm sorry, Leilani…I shouldn't have said what I did to you earlier."
"No, you shouldn't have." She said with crossed arms.
"It was insensitive and uncalled for. You were just trying to make me feel better and you were already excited to see the pictures and I ruined that for you and I'm sorry."
"I accept your apology. What I can't understand, Solana, is why the photo being retouched is affecting you so deeply."
Solana shook her head. "It doesn't matter."
"Obviously it does. It's upsetting you so much. It's just a picture, Sole. It's not a statement about who we are or what we need to be. It's just selling a product."
"Our body is the product."
Leilani furrowed her brow.
Solana sighed.
"Nevermind…It's unimportant."
"Solana –"
"Leil, it's okay. Let's not talk about it anymore, okay?"
Leilani wasn't satisfied with the conversation ending but she wasn't going to push Solana anymore.
"Okay…New subject. You're really not going over by Lunick tonight?"
Solana chuckled.
"Maybe. If I do, we most def can't sleep in the same bed. We agreed to take it easy after last week."
Solana instantly realized her mistake the moment it slipped out her lips.
"Waaiiit…What happened last week?" Leilani inquired, raising her eyebrows questioningly.
"N-Nothing! Nothing!" Solana stammered.
Leilani's eyes stretched wide. "Oh my God!…Did you two –"
"No! NO!"
"You totally did! You guys –"
"Leil, we didn't! I swear! We got real close but we didn't!"
Leilani's mouth was wide opened and her brown eyes were wide with excitement.
"Ooooo! Have mercy!"
Solana covered her face.
"I knew it! I knew you two couldn't resist temptation that long. So tell me, is Lunick all man or what?"
"Leilani!"
"Too soon? Okay. We'll save that for when you go all the way. So what'd you guys do? Oral? 69?"
"LEILANI!"
"Oh, come on? You've got to give me something? Baseball metaphors. How far did yah'll score?"
Solana crossed her arms and turn away.
"Up to third base." She said, nearly in audibly.
Leilani's jaw dropped, then she gave a loud squeal.
Solana covered her ears.
"Leilani, would you stop that!"
"I'm sorry, girl. You gotta admit, this is big. Does this mean you guys are going to be doing this from now every time you want to be intimate?"
"No!…yes?….I don't know. We haven't talked about it. We just agreed to take it easy for now."
"Well, when you do, make sure you fill me in. This is mind-blowing stuff!"
"Tell no one."
Leilani rolled her eyes slightly.
"Of course not, Sole. My lips are sealed tighter than a Cloyster's shell."
Just then, the back door in Leilani's kitchen swung opened. Alejandro stepped in, his face hard and serious.
Lucario stood up from the floor across the room.
"Hi, Alejandro," Solana greeted.
Alejandro just stared at Solana, his stare unwavering.
Solana glanced back at Leilani. She was also staring at Alejandro, her cheery demeanor now gone, replaced with a more plain and unmoved stare.
Solana was beginning to feel very uncomfortable.
"I think, I'll just go home now. See you tomorrow, Leil."
"See you, Sole." She replied casually.
"Good Night, Alejandro," Solana said sweetly.
He continued to glare at her. Solana could feel his eyes burrowing into her until she walked out Leilani's front door. She didn't know what was going on but she wanted to get away from there as fast as possible.
Alejandro looked away from the front door and shifted his gaze to Leilani.
"When were you gonna call me to tell me you got home?" he asked coolly.
"Alejandro, I had a long day –"
"So, you decided not to call me?" he asked as he approached her.
"Don't cut me off when I'm talking."
"Excuse me?" he said incredulously as he stepped closer to her.
Leilani held up her hand.
"Look, it's late. Too late for me to deal with your temper right now."
He stepped even closer to her.
"Are you giving me attitude?"
"You need to back up."
"Because I don't like attitude."
"You need…to back up."
Alejandro stepped even closer, now being mere inches from Leilani's face as he towered over her.
"What'd you say, bitch?"
Leilani crinkled her brow as she stared at him in disbelief.
"The hell you just call me?"
Alejandro's eyes intensified. He grabbed Leilani by the shoulders and shoved her against her cabinets, causing several of her pans and dishes to fall on the ground.
"Loo!"
Lucario leaped across the room and wedged himself between Alejandro and Leilani. But Alejandro held onto her firm.
He pressed his forehead against hers.
"Let's get one thing crystal clear, bitch. You don't talk to me any ole way you want. Your ass is mine. Got that? You will respect me! Understand, Lani?"
"LOO!"
Alejandro looked down at Lucario and smirked.
"You think this little punk can protect you? If you wanna keep it, you'll train it to respect me too."
He finally let her go but not before shoving against the cabinets one more time.
"Call me as soon as you get home next time!" he called as he exited out her back door.
Leilani's eyes shimmered. Her face very slowly contorted. And after a few uncontrollable exhales…for the first time, in a long time…Leilani cried.
