Gypsy clasped her hands together, glancing across at her fellow agent. "K-Kiki..."
Kiki glared up at her. "What?" she snarled.
"D-Do you w-want to g-g-go and train?"
Kiki huffed. "We might as well get it over with."
"O-Okay...I-I wonder how long Major Monogram wants us to be partners?"
"Don't know."
Gypsy sighed, feeling a little braver. "Look, Kiki, I honestly don't like this any more than you do, but we just have to suck it up and maybe even try to learn something."
Kiki scowled. "Fine. So how long have you been an agent?"
"Just a couple of weeks," Gypsy replied. "You?"
"Six years," Kiki replied.
Gypsy's eyes widened. I haven't even been in this dimension for HALF that time! "A-Ah...you're a s-senior agent, then?"
"Yeah." Kiki nodded. "Perry and I graduated at the same time."
"W-Wow..." Gypsy sighed. "I...I really am sorry for yesterday. I didn't mean to mess you up."
Kiki sighed heavily and didn't reply.
"D-Do you accept my apology...?"
"I might as well..." Kiki mumbled.
Gypsy sucked in a breath, unsure of how to take that. "Th-Thank you...?"
By then, they had made it to the gym. "So how much do you know?" Kiki asked, her head whipping over to the cat.
Gypsy stepped back automatically. "A-About what?"
Kiki rolled her eyes. "Fighting. Generally."
"Oh."
How am I supposed to tell her that most of my fighting includes using the ground and my powers?
"Perry's been teaching me," Gypsy replied carefully.
"How much has he taught you?" Kiki demanded.
"Not… Not much."
"Figures." The fox rolled her eyes again. "What attacks, then?"
"Uh..." Gypsy hesitated. "K-Kicking." She did a feeble kick.
Kiki raised an eyebrow. "And defence?"
Gypsy held up her arms next to each other with her fists protecting her face. "This."
Kiki groaned. "I need to give Perry some serious tips, then. How did you even BECOME an agent, then?"
Gypsy hesitated. "Well, I'm not technically a full agent. I'm allowed to go on missions and stuff, but I normally go with Perry to fight Doofenshmirtz every day, and he does most of the fighting there. I'm supposed to learn from him by watching him."
"Ah. Then we've got some serious work to do."
Gypsy nodded slowly. "I guess...but I don't know if I'd be ready to be a full agent. I get nervous on missions if I'm alone, even if I know Perry's nearby."
Kiki raised an eyebrow. "Then let's consider that half the reason we're training. You need to get more confident."
"I..." Gypsy slumped. "I...don't know if I can."
The fox grabbed her wrist. "Let's see."
Gypsy yelped in alarm at Kiki's touch. The fox agent pulled her hand away when she found that it was starting to turn green.
"What the...?!"
Gypsy shrunk, trying not to stare at her hands. THAT's new... "I...I..."
Kiki stared at her with wide eyes, holding her paw. Luckily, the colour was slowly fading.
"That wasn't me," Gypsy said immediately.
"Then what was it?!" Kiki snapped.
Gypsy had no answer to that. She COULDN'T tell Kiki about her powers. If she couldn't even tell Perry, she couldn't tell Kiki.
Unless...
"I...I'm a freak," Gypsy managed to say, before she burst into tears.
Kiki raised an eyebrow. "W-What do you mean?"
Unable to speak through crying, Gypsy held out her hands and made vines grow up from the cracks in the floor, which swayed in the breeze.
Kiki gasped and bit her lip. "Follow me."
Still crying uncontrollably, Gypsy blindly followed Kiki, knowing that the fox was going to tell Major Monogram and out her as a freak.
So she was surprised when she was led outside and behind O.W.C.A. to where there was a small pond.
"What are w-we d-d-d-doing here?" she stammered.
Kiki sat down by the pond, and gestured for Gypsy to do the same. "I figured this would be a better place to talk. It's more private."
Gypsy slowly sat down next to the fox, wiping her eyes. "You're not...g-g-gonna t-tell on me?"
Kiki shook her head. "No." She paused. "Listen... I know that I probably come off as mean, but..." She sighed. "I guess I was just really frustrated in myself for needing help."
Gypsy nodded slowly. "I'd say I understand...but I ALWAYS need help."
"But you've only been an agent for a couple of weeks, and not even officially at that," Kiki pointed out.
"I've always needed help." Gypsy hesitated. "I...I had four siblings. Two sisters and two brothers. The former two were my littermates, and I always relied on them for everything. Then...then it was my brothers whom I relied on. I've always needed help."
"That's what happens when you're not part of an O.W.C.A. family," Kiki replied. "My mother died giving birth to me, and my father is an agent here. I've learned how to be fairly independent."
Gypsy was trying to listen, but mentioning her siblings caused her to dissolve into tears again.
Kiki bit her lip. "W-What happened?" she asked quietly.
"I-I'm from the Second Dimension originally," Gypsy croaked. "My whole family was part of the Resistance, but my parents g-got captured straight after my sisters. M-My brothers and I tried t-to escape but I-I was sucked through a portal. M-My last sight of my home w-was R-Raziel being sh-shot by a N-Normbot."
"Oh..." Kiki hesitated. "Perry told me about the other dimension. I... I'm so sorry."
"I don't even know what happened to them. Or if they're even alive."
The fox closed her mouth, unsure of what to say.
"I'm sorry." Gypsy shook her head. "Anyway, that's how I got these powers. The portal I was shoved through by my parents altered me somehow."
"I see..."
Gypsy hesitated. "I-I know I'm a freak..."
Kiki shook her head. "No, it's an amazing gift. I just… You should work on controlling it now."
Gypsy stared at her. "Y-You...you think it's amazing?"
The fox nodded, smiling. "Yeah."
Gypsy's face slowly broke out into a smile as she took Kiki's paw. "Can I show you something, then?"
Kiki looked a bit hesitant to make physical contact with Gypsy after what had just happened, but she said, "Sure."
Gypsy placed her hands under Kiki's paw, and concentrated. Pretty soon, a small flower began growing from Kiki's palm.
Kiki blinked. "W-W-Wow..."
It bloomed into a small daffodil, which Gypsy then plucked from Kiki's palm, causing a slightly uncomfortable feeling in her hand. Then Gypsy gave it to the fox agent.
"Wow," Kiki breathed again, checking her paw to make sure it hadn't mutated at all.
"Completely safe," Gypsy assured her. "I promise."
"That…really is amazing…"
"That's just the tip of the iceberg." Gypsy sighed. "That's where the vines came from yesterday. Me."
"I had guessed," Kiki chuckled.
"I'm just confirming it." Gypsy clasped her hands together. "You know...you're the person I would least expect to tell my secret to. Even Perry doesn't know."
Kiki raised an eyebrow. "Whoa..."
"I-I'm just terrified that he'll think I'm a freak and hate me..."
"Gypsy, if I don't, then there's no way he will."
Gypsy inhaled shakily. "I just can't tell him right now. Not until I'm fairly sure of what he's going to say."
Kiki nodded. "Alright. I understand."
Gypsy sighed. "I've had these powers for almost a year, now. I tried to supress them when I first got them, so it kind of exploded on me all at once. I do find it difficult to control them because of it."
"That's something to do in your spare time, then," Kiki pointed out.
"I guess...I'm discovering new things all the time. For example, I've never turned someone's hand green before..."
Kiki uncomfortably rubbed her paw against her fur at the memory.
"S-Sorry about that," Gypsy added nervously.
The fox sighed. "Well, no harm was done."
"THIS time..."
Kiki exhaled. "Well, let's go try and train together," she suggested, changing the subject. "Maybe it'll be a bit easier now."
Gypsy smiled weakly. "You're not so scary when you're being nice."
Kiki chuckled. "Let's go."