Kalos, in the past.

Warm afternoon sunlight filtered through the large glass windows of an impressive sitting room, the room's raised position on the side of the manor giving it an unobstructed view of the carefully managed fields and impeccable gardens that its attached building lorded over. The inside of the sitting area itself was just as meticulously maintained with many of the gilded lounges, armchairs, tables, and other furnishings being older than the majority of the buildings in the large town just over the horizon, with the paintings on the walls showing the same knights, lords, and ladies that had still been alive when they had first been framed. Likewise the antique tea set and silver tray it was placed on was just as rare in the modern day, with even the pokemon holding it only seen in the more prestigious of households outside of its home region.

"Merci, Henri."

Sitting in one of the fancy armchairs, a middle-aged man with silver hair and a navy-blue designer suit turned his attention away from a held book and plucked one of the offered cups up off the tray. The indeedee serving him answered with a nod before stepping back, already aware that the lord of the manor needed none of the sugar also available. Moving on to the chair next to the man's, a single cube of sugar levitated itself up with a faint glow of purple to drop into a second cup before the tray was once again offered out, the master's wife daintily accepting the beverage with a smile as bright as the floral patten of her sundress.

"Perfect as always. Thank you."

Nodding again, Henri withdrew to stand off to the side with the tray still held in his three-fingered hands, ready to provide more refreshments if needed while his master scoffed with a smile.

"Thank you, mon amour? Spending too much time with your foreign friends, hmm?"

"Oh hush," replied the lady with a titter of amusement, the gold and emerald necklace around her neck glittering in the sun. "I have to socialise for the both of us, dear husband. Perhaps you would like to take over for a while, I know how you adore interacting with our fellow elite."

Despite the high quality of the tea he was sipping, the leaves grown in the estate's very own gardens, the suited man couldn't avoid a brief wince of distaste.

"I would of course be delighted to alleviate you of the burden, but unfortunately I'm preoccupied with the business concerns. The rubbing of shoulders with politicians and celebrities I'll leave to you."

"Of course, dear."

Any further conversation on the matter was interrupted by a series of light knocks on the wooden door connecting the room to the rest of the manor, which was opened a few moments later with another indeedee stepping into the room. Still standing quietly with tray still in hand, Henri couldn't help but lightly smile when the white apron-wearing pokemon met his eyes before nodding in greeting to both of their masters.

"Monsieur, Madame," she said in the perfect Kalosian fashion, even if the exact words would still be lost in interspecies translation regardless. "I am happy to say that Mademoiselle Madeline has returned to the household. She is-"

"Maman, Papa!"

Racing into the room with none of the prior politeness, the young girl in question made a beeline first to her mother and then to her father. Hugging each in turn, she laughed when her father ruffled her Kalosian-bob cut blonde hair much to her mother's amusement-tinted annoyance.

"My my Madeline, such a greeting after only being away for a day!" Chuckling, the lord of the manor looked over his daughter's navy-blue school uniform. "How was your first day at school? I trust the facilities matched the prestige, hmm?"

"It was very fun, papa! Marci and Annette are in my class for this year!"

"Well, I suppose that is more important." Smirking at his wife's roll of the eyes, the master continued on with renewed joy. "Both I and your mother are very proud of our little girl, well on her way to being a very educated and smart mademoiselle."

The scoff in return was light-hearted. "I am not little, I'm eight now!"

"Ah, of course. My mistake, forgive me."

"Perhaps she is ready dear?" The lady of the house spoke up, a knowing glance first shared with her husband and then with the pair of indeedee. "You heard her, she is eight."

"Hmm, perhaps," the man played along with much exaggeration, Madeline's blue eyes wide with suspense. The moment was drawn out with loud sounds of mock thought, the head of the household visibly enjoying the string along before he looked to the side with a smile. "Henri, would you be so kind as to fetch… the present."

The indeedee addressed was unable to keep himself from smiling at the strangled sound of excitement that Madeline made at the announcement, the young girl jittering on the spot with her grin going wider. Turning to his counterpart, he lowered his voice while Henriette took over holding the silver serving tray from him. "I suspect that this might get loud."

"Undoubtedly," she replied with a smile. "They're both still very young, after all."

Hands free of the tray, Henri left the room only to return with a small red cushion as a replacement half a minute later. With golden trim it was quite extravagant, but it was the item sitting atop it that was the real draw of attention. With an inverted colour scheme compared to a normal and very average pokeball, the white and red premier ball for this occasion also sported the name 'Madeline' etched across the front top face in intricate silver script. The young noble it was addressed to had ceased her excited movements and gone stock still as soon she had realised what it was, and Henri stopped before her and offered the ball on the cushion just as his master had instructed him to a few hours prior.

"A… a pokeball…" the youngest member of the household breathed out, eyes wide and locked on the ball before she looked to both her parents. "Is it… really mine?" At both of their nods she refocused on the ball before her, the girl extending a shaky hand out to the offered sphere before picking it up and bringing it closer to her face. Henri retreated back to stand next to Henrietta while still holding the cushion, and he was just able to hear Madeline whisper to herself as he did so. "My own pokemon…"

After a few more seconds admiring the ball, the youngster looked to her parents for confirmation once again. Still seeming to be in a minor state of shock, Madeline slowly raised the ball after another set of reassuring nods and aimed it at towards the space in the middle of the lavish room that was free of any furnishing save for the crimson carpet.

The following flash of light and glow of the beam died out to reveal a small grey pokemon standing on two stubby legs, a pair of large purple eyes blinking rapidly before their owner looked around herself trying to puzzle out where she now stood. They landed on Madeline just at the same time the young girl clapped her hands together with her own eyes wide and sparkling.

"An espurr!" she almost squealed, jittering on the spot in her school shoes. "So cute!" Everything else at the moment seemed forgotten with all attention on the new pokemon, the pokeball dropped on the carpet and the young lady crouching down with a speed so quick that the pokemon in front of her took a hasty step back in surprise. Henri noticed the youngster's fluffy ears twitch and felt an unexpectedly strong surge of psychic energy, but before he had even taken a step forwards with his own powers prepared to intervene the master got in first.

"Ralentir Madeline!"

The girl addressed froze mid-lunge before turning her head to face her father, the man still sitting in his chair with a stern look on his face.

"Have you forgotten your manners? I know that you are excited, but we must remember to always remain calm and act with responsibility. Look at your new friend, do you think she is comfortable being set upon in such a way?"

Attention was redirected back onto the espurr, who was in the midst of taking another shaky step back with her forelegs out in front of her as a flimsy shield. Madeline winced at the observation and bowed her head, her voice threatening to wobble as she answered the question.

"N-no Papa."

The lord nodded. "Let us try again after apologising then, with a proper manner of greeting." Then, unseen to Madeline, the suited man turned to Henri and gave a slight nod of appreciation. Meeting his master's eyes the Indeedee returned the gesture and quietly returned to his spot beside Henrietta, although he remained alert with the espurr's untrained powers still threatening to flicker out.

"Please forgive me, Espurr," Madeline started with a sniff, raising her eyes back up to look at the pokemon. "I didn't want to frighten you; I just want to be friends. I'm sorry if I scared you."

The espurr lowered her arms and the psychic energies only felt by the other two pokemon in the room started to fade, but she still radiated a strong feeling of unease. That started to recede as Madeline continued to speak however, the schoolgirl kneeling down on the carpet with both legs crossed under her.

"My name is Madeline, and I am eight years old. I… I hope that we can still be friends. You would be my first pokemon ever, and I promise to take proper care of you and we'll do lots of fun things together. I will be the best friend I can be to you, I promise, so can you please forgive me?"

With the teary plea ended, it was all down to the espurr. Looking away from the kneeling girl before her the tiny psychic type glanced around again with an usure expression filled with confusion. Skipping over all of the finery and ornaments of vast wealth, the two older humans were quickly examined before the pair of indeedee were focused on with a sideways tilt of the head. While Henri responded with a practiced smile and as much of a feeling of 'reassurance' as he could, it was Henrietta who finally helped convince the youngster with a warm smile and whispered "Go on dear, she won't hurt you."

Wordlessly the espurr refaced Madeline and gave her another look over, small tail and ears twitching but after another moment she took a hesitant step forwards. Pausing, the grey feline blinked at the way Madeline sharply breathed in with anticipation before taking another step towards her. Repeating the motions a few more times put the pokemon just within reach of the young girl, Espurr tapping her white front paws together and appearing to be unsure of her next move.

Everyone then watched as Madeline, with much more lady-like restraint than previously shown, slowly extended her hand out forwards in offering. The moment seemed to drag on for an age, but the gesture was rewarded when the espurr responded in kind and reached out with a tiny paw. Velvet soft fur and dainty skin made contact, and just like that all of the tension evaporated as if a switch had suddenly been flipped.

Madeline broke out into a grin that was soon matched by Espurr, and with gentleness and grace the young noble guided her new pokemon towards her and into a warm hug. Laughter quickly followed; Madeline giddy with glee while Espurr silently nuzzled against her stomach.

"See, it all worked out," Henrietta whispered with a smile of her own, silver tray still held in her hands. Nodding, Henri stayed quiet but still let out a short sigh of relief that the situation had been resolved without the need for any intervention. They had both been informed of the choice of pokemon to present to the young mademoiselle beforehand, and a cautious investigation into the espurr species had resulted in him learning that the pokemon's control of her budding powers would be a constant struggle at best.

Not that any non-psychic would guess it just looking at the pair at the current moment however, Madeline only breaking from fussing over the new pokemon in her lap to look up at her parents with her hands shaky.

"Thank you so much Maman and Papa, I promise to take the best care of her!"

"We expect nothing less, dear," the lady of the house spoke this time, her husband nodding along with her. Both parents had smiles of their own, a few more seconds of laughter and giggling from the two girls in the centre of the room occurring before she spoke again with a question this time. "Are you happy to keep calling her 'Espurr' for now, or-"

"No! She needs a name!" Madeline loudly proclaimed, her glee so infectious that neither parent sought to correct her for the interruption. Staring down at her espurr and meeting the purple eyes with her own blue ones, the eight-year-old nodded with steely conviction. "She's such a cute and good pokemon, so I'm going to call her 'Princess' from now on!"

The next few moments following the announcement were quiet save for the soft sound of the newly crowned 'Princess' nuzzling against Madeline's navy-blue blazer again, before it was broken by the master coughing awkwardly into his fist.

"A… bold choice for a name," he started, glancing to his wife briefly for support before smiling back at his daughter. "Why not something a bit more, hrm, traditional. Like 'Marie', for example?"

"Or how about 'Claire', Madeline's mother contributed with a following explanation. "She's got a very nice smile, after all."

Both offerings were met with a swift dismissal, Madeline shaking her head before leaning back down to give her pokemon a soft hug.

"They do not fit, and they are not special enough for her. She's my pokemon and my princess, so I want to call her 'Princess'. It is my choice, isn't it?"

Both parents couldn't help but give in on that point, the master of the manor conceding with a nod after a long look around to the other occupants of the room.

"I suppose you are correct there, so the name 'Princess' it is. Congratulations on your decision."

The announcement was followed by a cheer from Madeline, who missed the following shaking of the heads and silent laughter from her parents. Henri took the serving tray from Henrietta so his counterpart could announce her own happiness with light clapping, and while doing so he stepped closer to his master's chair and overheard the lightest of whispered scoffs from the seated man.

"Sacré bleu, I am so sorry young one. Hopefully she'll change her mind and pick another one once the excitement dies down…"

"Come on Princess, we've almost got her! Go for another scratch!"

Panting, Princess pushed herself up from the cool grass and stood back up once again, the bright sun up above and the morning's workout taking their toll on her. As oppressive as they were however nothing could compare to the obstacle standing before her a fair number of body lengths away, even if her trainer Madeline seemed confident in victory. The titan of battle staring her down with a prowess surely only matched by champion-level pokemon, if not the deities of life and death themselves, shifted on her own two feet with another set of esoteric powers likely already primed and ready. Off to the side, leaning up against their rakes with bottles of water in hand, two gardeners taking a break from tending the lawns of the manor behind them were lucky enough to bear witness to the bout that was certain to go down in Kalos history.

Teeth grit with determination, Princess readied the three small claws of her right paw and prepared for another charge against her vicious foe.

"Indeed, I'm sure that you'll be able to hit me if you give it your best!" Henrietta encouraged with a genuine clapping of her hands. "You can do it; we're cheering for you!"

The indeedee's haughty taunting ignored, the young espurr dashed forwards as quickly as she could with Madeline cheering her on from behind. Focused on her quarry, Princess didn't miss how the pokemon maid smiled when the twin horns on her head glowed faintly with the tell-tale sign of psychic energy.

The first clump of earth and grass thrown at her was easily dodged, although the second clump of sod briefly caused Princess to slow when it forced her to leap to the side mid-run. The third was even harder to avoid, splitting into two mid-flight while still surrounding with a light-pink glow, but a quick lash out with her left forearm easily smashed apart the larger of the pair with no ill effect save for her fur getting flecked with a few more spots of moist dirt. Almost at Henrietta and preparing to leap and finally make contact, Princess opened her mouth with a cry of victory with her claws at the ready.

She completely missed the fourth flash of pink from the ground just in front of her with the blue and white form of Henrietta taking up most of her vision, but the massed clump of dirt and grass that shot straight up a split second later certainly didn't miss her. It was like being punched in the chest, and although the impact wasn't enough to do any lasting damage it still caught her by surprise and knocked her backwards while lifting her into the air. Smacking down onto her back in the grass with a solid 'oof!', the air was forced out of her and Princess was left gasping for air while Henrietta leaned over her with a look of concern.

"Oh dear, that might have been a little more forceful than needed. Are you okay?"

Groaning, and spitting out a few stray grains of dirt and blades of grass with a splutter, Princess didn't even bother to try and move her tired limbs and instead just pouted at the head maid above her.

"Why don't I have any psychic moves yet? It's not fair."

Henrietta smiled down at her, horns glowing again with bits of dirt levitating out of Princess' fur. "If you keep training like you have been then you'll learn to control them quickly I'm sure." The resulting huff was ignored, Princess watching with more than a little jealousy while the indeedee collected up all of the loose earth and grass and expertly returned them to the spots she'd pulled them from without lifting a finger. Wriggling her ears and trying to emulate the maid's display of psychic prowess, all Princess got for her efforts was a momentary surge of energy before the start of a threatening headache forced her to give up. Henrietta finished tidying up and levitated her back up to two feet, Princess mumbling out a 'thank you' right before her trainer reached the two pokemon.

"That was so cool!" Madeline seemed to not care one bit that Princess hadn't even managed to land a single hit, Henrietta subtly levitating the hem of the girl's yellow summer dress up just high enough to keep it out of grass when the girl crouched down. The resulting embrace that Princess found herself in was soothing despite the aches in her arms and legs, her trainer laughing while she hugged her. "Henrietta is much tougher than she looks, isn't she?"

"Yes…" she couldn't help but quietly admit, even if her trainer wouldn't understand it anyway. If the pokemon watching over them heard she didn't show it save for a warm smile at the two of them. Looking up at Madeline, she met her trainer's sparkling blue eyes with a furrowed brow and a determined nod. "So we have to train every day until I can beat her, yes?"

The human couldn't understand her words, but evidently the meaning in her question was communicated across loud and clear. Matching her nod, Madeline puffed out her chest and lifted her up in front of her.

"We'll do it together Princess, we'll both keep on training and get stronger and stronger! By the time I turn fourteen and go on my journey you'll be the most skilled espurr in Kalos!" Even with the sting of recent defeat still fresh the young espurr couldn't help but feel herself swell with the shared confidence, and her doubts had long been replaced with a wide smile when her trainer lowered her back to the grassy ground. Hands free, Madeline fished around in a dress pocket and pulled out a small grey case that looked like a tougher version of a coin purse, the sound of a zipper accompanied by a bubbly explanation. "I told papa that I want to you to come with me, and he said that being a trainer is really tough so I need to have a tough pokemon with me. So he gave us this!"

Held in-between a thumb and a forefinger was some sort of bonbon, the shiny blue and metallic wrapper glinting in the sunlight. Princess tilted her head at the item and tried to figure it out, as while she wasn't going to turn down the offered treat it was questionable just how it was meant to make her stronger. Even weirder was that it had apparently been given to Madeline by her father, who had lectured the young girl multiple times on how it was unhealthy to sneak pokemon chocolates and other sugary human delights they weren't meant to have.

Henrietta was the first to recognise what the wrapped item was, the dutiful indeedee raising one of her eyes and putting a hand over her mouth. "Oh my, what a gift!"

"Why?" Princess asked, with Madeline answering it indirectly when she continued to talk.

"Father said that this is a special treat you give a pokemon that you want to get stronger, you just have to eat it." Unwrapping it, Madeline held out her hand and offered Princess the hard sphere that was covered with blue and pink swirls. "He said that it works best after a really hard battle, and I think that you deserve it after all your effort!"

Glancing from her trainer's face to the gift, Princess leaned forwards and took an exploratory sniff of the colourful ball. The vanilla was from Madeline's perfume, but above it was the strangely strong and enticing scent of an unknown berry mixture. Any exact ingredient was impossible for the espurr to deduce from smell alone, but what was for sure was the promise of sweetness and a hint of something that was already causing her mouth to water.

'Well, if it's to make me stronger then surely there's no harm just this once.' Prodding it with a paw, Princess looked back to Madeline who answered her questioning look with a nod and smile of reassurance. 'Also, Madeline does want me to eat it…'

Picking it up between her two forepaws, her digits too small and weak to grip it, Princess didn't waste another moment and popped the gift into her mouth. Any prior concerns vanished the moment it hit her tongue and filled her mouth with possibly the best combination of flavours she tasted in her short life so far, and that was saying something considering the quality of food both human and pokemon-specific she had access to thanks to the manor's trained kitchen staff. It was as if the bonbon was made from all of her favourite berry flavours at once, combined with all of the delicious sugary pastries she'd tried so far.

It wasn't just the flavour of it that was amazing however, each suck on the treat seeming to revitalise and fill her with energy well past the levels she'd previously felt she had. Any remaining ache from her repeated falls to the grassy ground vanished without a trace, her muscles relaxed, and any trace of headache or strain was chased away with the torrent of deliciousness. Even her fur felt sleeker, somehow.

The entire time Madeline and Henrietta were watching her, both of them grinning at her reaction with her trainer unable to hold back a giggle of joy.

"Aw, you look like you enjoy it a lot! You're so cute with that smile on your face! Papa said that these are really special and rare treats, but if you like them that much then I'll really bug him to give us one every time you do really well in your battles!"

Princess just nodded happily and continued to enjoy what she already had. Getting stronger in battles and getting to eat really delicious bonbons for doing so? She had no problem with that arrangement, not a single one.

The hard brown sports ball whistled through the air above Princess's head and missed her by an inch, her ears ruffled by its passing while at the same time light pink energy spilled out from them to surround her with an intense glow. Feeling the grip of her immaterial powers seize the object and halt it mid-flight, the espurr grit her teeth together and willed the ball forwards back to the one who had first thrown it. All the months spent practicing her use of confusion on the rocks in the garden hadn't been in vain, and the sports ball sailed through the air with almost as much speed as it had come at her with.

Unfortunately the indeedee she was facing wasn't a slouch either, Henri neglecting to counter the projectile and instead angling his upper body to the side so that the ball sailed just under an arm thanks to the thinner nature of his upper torso. Footing still firm in the grass of one of the many bountiful lawns, another flash of a psychic move from his horns indicated that he was far from done. Not mistaking his closed eyes and slow breaths in and out for a show of disinterest or simple relaxation, Princess whipped her head back around to her silent trainer in the hopes that she'd receive some instruction before the opposing pokemon fortified his abilities any further than they already were.

"Madeline!"

"H-huh? Oh!"

It took almost all of Princess' willpower to not openly frown at her trainer, the young human girl looking up from the pastel pink flip phone in her hands with a couple of blinks at the reminder that she was meant to be giving orders. Ever since Madeline's eleventh birthday a month ago the human communication device had seemed to be all consuming, vacuuming up precious training time thanks to the schoolgirl's new ability to keep in touch with a rapidly growing social circle of her peers. Even now she was still dressed in her navy-blue school blazer and skirt despite returning home hours ago with the late afternoon sun above already rapidly descending, her usual habit of swapping out her uniform for something more light and airy as soon as possible having also been usurped by the priority given to the technological interloper.

"Um… try to get in close and scratch, use confusion on him to keep him distracted!"

A bit late, but to the young espurr the orders seemed appropriate enough. Dashing forwards with the claws of her rear paws keeping her steady on the lawn, her entire body glowed again with her opponent opening his eyes just in time to receive a telekinetic smack to the side of the head. Unfortunately the psychic attack didn't even cause him to stumble, Henri getting away with a slight wince and nothing more. Princess unsheathed the claws on her right paw and readied her arm for the oncoming swing, another burst of confusion hammering Henri in the belly to the same effect as the first. Eyes focused on the indeedee and his glowing horns, she zig-zagged on the last spurt of her approach in anticipation of any psychically propelled obstacles that she'd come to expect whenever she was training against the butler/maid pair.

None came however, and with a final burst of speed Princess leapt at Henri with her right paw already swinging forwards in a targeted swing at his midsection.

It was then that his plan for his defence became apparent however, the espurr mid-lunge sensing the surge of built-up power a split second before a blast of raw psychic power hammered into her like a solid wall. Scratch abandoned, Princess tried to roll to the side to at least offset some of the force upon landing even as her face ached along with her body, her attempt to lash out with her own powers quickly snuffed out against the far stronger force unleashed against her. The landing on the grass was still harsh despite her efforts however, and the small pokemon first bounced once, then twice, before she slid to a stop with her fur covered in upturned dirt and lawn.

Face down in the grass, Princess took the time to reflect on the failure of her 'direct attack' strategy. She was well aware that her current array of powers were less than adequate especially when facing against pokemon that shared her typing, and she had been improving more and more with daily training, but as it stood it seemed as if the major limiting factor in her bouts was her small amount of options. Sure she wasn't the slowest, but being able to out speed either Henri or Henrietta didn't mean much when everything she threw at them just tended to bounce off. It also didn't help that Madeline had been preoccupied with other things such as friends and her schooling, leaving them little time to work on their teamwork in preparation for the big upcoming journey. The whole line of thinking left her feeling pretty glum, and she grumbled incoherently into the lawn's cool embrace even as a pair of white feet walked over to stand beside her.

"Are you okay? You're not hurt too badly I hope."

"I'm fine," Princess grunted, her answer to Henri not exactly convincing. With a short sigh she pushed herself up and back into a sitting position, planting her rump down and crossing her forearms in front of her with a huff. "I'm just not powerful enough yet."

In reply the indeedee shrugged his shoulders and made a show of rubbing the side of his head and a spot on his stomach, a small smile on his face as per normal. "At least you're making improvements and are managing to hit me, a year ago you were failing to do even that. If I hadn't had the time to focus myself, your confusion might have knocked me around quite a bit." He shook his head at her resulting scoff of disbelief.

"Another year, and I might even be able knock you over for once."

Instead of addressing the dour observation directly, Henri raised an eye at her with another topic in mind. "I noticed that you neglected to try and attack with the new move Henrietta helped you learn last month. It's not the most effective against me, but if you practice with it more you might find better results."

Another sigh, Princess unable to stop herself from nodding in agreement. "I know, but I think that Madeline knows what I need to do. We've been going… okay." As soon as she finished speaking she glanced back to where her trainer was standing, and Henri followed her example so that the two of them were looking at the young human tapping away with her face buried in her phone's glowing screen. Apparently the climax of the training battle had gone unobserved, the unsurprising revelation not doing much to lift Princess' dour mood.

Henri appeared to not have much to say after that, a drawn-out silence following the statement that was only disturbed by the calls of a few birds high up in the air and the incessant tappity-tap of fingers and manicured nails against phone buttons. Sitting down on the grass and listening to the audial reminder that her training wasn't currently the more important thing in Madeline's life, Princess felt a very rare combination of emotions swell inside of her. Henri must have noticed from his spot standing beside her, either out of his kind's affinity for the wellbeing of others or just from the way her eyes were furrowed and her mouth quivering.

"Little one, are you sure that you're okay?"

His previous words and advice playing back in her mind, Princess wiped a single tear from her eye before shakily standing back up on two legs.

"No." Sniffling, she gave her head a shake to clear it of the bad thoughts and looked back to meet Henri's warm brown eyes filled with concern. "I want a rematch."

In a very rare moment, Henri hesitated at her words and took a few seconds to find a response. "I… I'm not sure that would be the best of ideas. You're already tired and there's always tomorrow." He glanced at the sun, at most an hour away from dipping out of sight completely. "It will be time for the evening meal soon, and I'm sure the young lady will be anxious to head inside and prepare."

After a pointed look back behind her, Madeline still focused on her phone and her phone only, Princess huffed.

"I don't think she is." Then, bowing her head towards him, she hit Henri with another meek sniffle that was far too easy to get out. "Please Henri, I really need this. I'll… I'll even help with the washing up without complaining, and I won't drop any plates this time!"

It another teary-eyed look of desperate pleading, but Princess got her wish when the valet sighed in defeat. 'Very well, you can have another try today I suppose. However, if you are ordered to stop then you will stop without any grumbling, am I clear?"

"Yes sir!"

"Return to your initial spot and count to ten, if your trainer doesn't give you any commands then we will begin."

Perked up and nodding in confirmation, Princess raced back to her original starting spot and turned around to face her opponent once more.

"Ten, nine…"

If Madeline paid any notice to another bout about to begin then she didn't show.

"Eight, seven, six…"

Not that Princess minded at this point, the young espurr eager for the chance to try and redeem herself. She'd gotten so close she could feel it from the tips of her tiny claws steadily flexing in and out to the psychic organs throbbing underneath her fluffy ears. Trainer or not, she was going to achieve something at least.

"Five, four…"

Counting down under her breath she kept her eyes focused on Henri, the indeedee shifting his stance into a more secure footing but remaining otherwise still. Almost unconsciously she copied him, no concrete plan swirling around in her head but merely a vague idea of trying something different.

"Three, two, one!"

Already she could see Henri levitating up two fresh clumps of dirt and lawn, the projectiles smushed together in his practice psychic hold. Knowing that they would be sent her way in but a moment, Princess darted forwards and immediately booked it for the side of the lawn directly under the shadow of the manor in the hopes that the developing darkness as the sun set would provide some measure of protection. The indeedee wasn't deterred nor going easy on her however, and the whistling of incoming soil a few seconds later forced her to duck and dodge to avoid the first salvo. Wincing at the feeling of one of the clods grazing her back and almost sending her off-balance, not to mention the dirt in her fur, Princess grit her teeth and tried to will her small legs to run faster while another pair of projectiles were readied in the distance.

'Come on!' she silently shouted at herself, her ears flapping wildly as she ran the fastest she had yet with a desperate idea wedged in her mind. 'It could work, I just need to make it!' A stumble over a raised tuft of grass threatened to trip her up but the espurr somehow managed to keep her balance, the sprinting pokemon in her focused tunnel-vision missing how the throbbing of the eye-like organs in her ears seemed to pulse particularly strong in the exact moment. The subtle pink glow growing around her rear paws also went unnoticed, Princess' attention mostly focused on the psychic dirt-missiles shooting towards her. 'Why do I have to have tiny legs!? I can't go any faster!' Teeth gritted, she could do nothing else but try and push herself forwards with sheer determination, one clump of dirt just missing her left side in passing with its brother a mere second behind unfortunately being right on target.

The whack to the side of the head sprayed wet dirt across her face with the psychic attack behind it adding a sizable amount of telekinetic force to the blow, and Princess cried out as she felt her legs go from under her. Falling forwards, she could only despair at the failure of her shoddy plan and close her eyes to brace for the oncoming impact, her head already pounding as if in preparation to meet the ground.

It never came, the floating feeling of weightlessness during the fall continuing on for longer than it should have. Cracking her eyes open, Princess took a moment to process the fact that she was still upright and moving forwards before the glow around her legs caught her full attention.

'Wha…?'

No, not just her legs, but her entire body was surrounded by a psychic embrace that was holding her aloft just off the ground. More specifically it was her psychic abilities, the aching from her ears made barely tolerable by the new revelation. After a few blinks to check that it wasn't a dream or hallucination caused by possible brain damage, Princess acted on the first thought that popped into her mind.

She willed herself forwards.

A wince accompanied the fresh shiver of pain that travelled from her ears all the way down her spine, but the results were undeniable when she zipped forwards without her paws even touching the ground. Blades of grass tickled her feet with her newfound levitation propelling her onwards into the shadow of the manor, and the either as a consequence of the speed of her newfound method of locomotion or stemming from the shock of observing it on behalf of Henri, no more flung dirt made it to her and she reached the darkest patch of the lawn with the sun dipping down behind the imposing manor. Just in time as well, the throbbing in her ears reaching a crescendo and forcing her to clamp down on her powers.

As quickly as it had arrived her levitation cut out and Princess landed down on two feet once again, the cool grass a stark contrast to the burning heat that was radiating out from her head. Her ears continued to give involuntary flickers however, and with a wince she noted that her powers had never been as hard to constrain as they were at the current moment. There was not much time to recover and assess however, the young pokemon snapping her eyes up and back to Henri when the indeedee appeared to regather his thoughts with a shake of his head and lifted up another set of lawn without verbal comment.

While she watched the masses of dirt form in the air in front of Henri, Princess stumbled forwards a few steps with a wince. With her strained legs burning and her head throbbing she wasn't going anywhere fast anytime soon and given the pain in her ears she doubted that a second attempt at levitation would end well. The gloomy shadow of the manor wasn't a guaranteed shield either. Trying to think of a way to fight back, another pulse of stray psychic energy from her sore ears refused to obey her limited control, and Princess yowled out with discomfort as she subconsciously flung it forwards in a blind effort to just be rid of it.

The wild confusion attack from the struggling espurr surged forwards as a shoddy wave of invisible force instead of a focused strike, Princess clamping her paws down on her brightly glowing ears in a vain attempt to keep her powers contained. The accidental discharge crossed the distance between the two pokemon in a blink of an eye, catching even Henri off-guard when it buffeted into his prepared projectiles and shattered them apart while still held in his own psychic hold. This time it was the normally impeccable indeedee who was blasted with damp dirt and the occasional blade of grass, his eyes screwed shut and his balance thrown off with the psychically powered assault peltering him as if it was like birdshot from a shotgun.

Princess wasn't aware of the results of her unexpected attack at first, her own eyes shut with tears flowing from them at the unceasing rebellion of her own abilities. The surge of energy fought back hard against all attempts to focus and regain control, the pulses growing in both strength and frequency even after the latest expenditure of power. Ears ringing on more than just the audial and physical levels, the small pokemon wrenched her forepaws away from her malfunctioning organs and stared at the crackling pink whisps of power that swirled around them.

'Too much…' she realised, almost collapsing to one knee when another ache caused the pink to glow even brighter. 'Got to… get rid of the buildup!'

Not knowing what else to do and, still vaguely aware that she was supposed to be battling, Princess dragged her eyes up to focus on Henri. She half-noticed that he seemed to be off-kilter and covered in dirt but was clueless to how it had happened, instead she pressed her white-furred wrists together and pointed her front paws pad-out towards the distracted valet. There hadn't been many chances to practice the most recent move that Henrietta had helped her learn, but with the current circumstances as they were it made sense to at least try and uncork the pressure by using her most powerful attack. Even so it was unlikely to achieve much against the fellow psychic type she was aiming for, though any thoughts of actually winning the battle had been discarded long before.

With teeth gritted, Princess tried to direct all of the gathered power tormenting her to her forelimbs instead. In a second stroke of luck for the battle it actually seemed to finally obey, the energy flowing from the organs in her ears coalescing around the tips of her paws and taking on a darker hue. The individual strands all came together in a sparking sphere just a hair length away from her paw pads, a further second of buildup growing it to the size of a tennis ball, before a final and strained moment of concentration unleashed it out towards Henri in a narrow beam of focused psychic power.

The psybeam impacted against Henri with the indeedee unable to dodge it in time, and he staggered back under it despite his natural resistances. Any further effect on him was lost as, coinciding with the beam growing in intensity, Princess' vison started to swim as the eye-like organs in her ears continued to pump more and more power into her attack. She tried to cut it off but it was of no use as her inexperienced body refused to obey, the white spots of light in her eyes growing wider and wider with each burst of power that seemed to surpass even the lofty heights that she had previously reached in dreaming only.

Then, faster than the power had risen, the flow of energy abruptly ceased in a single moment and finally released her from her attack. The last thing the espurr felt before her vison went completely black was a sudden feeling of weightlessness, her consciousness failing her quickly after.

…

…

…

"-cess"

"-incess!"

"Princess! Can you hear me?"

With Henri's words ringing in her ears Princess started the struggle to open her eyes, the heaviness and stubbornness of her eyelids matched only by the same feeling in all four of her limbs. At least any pain in her head was suspiciously absent, and the by-now familiar feeling of cool grass on her back was somewhat of a hint that she wasn't dead just yet. Failing to move either her legs or arms outside of weak wiggles, Princess could only groan out a response while cracking open a solitary eye.

"Huh-gah? Wha…?" Rapid blinks helped to clear her fuzzy vision a little, the blue and white blob floating above her in the deep orange early evening sky morphing into the more recognisable shape of Henri's head. Leaning over her with his brow furrowed with concern, the senior pokemon breathed a short sigh of relief and relaxed a little at her laboured response.

"Oh my, what a relief." The indeedee's three-digit hand patted his own chest. "I know you've been eager for a result, but I have to admit that I wasn't expecting this to happen during our rematch."

Through a cough, Princess managed to get her other eye open and a more legible question out. "What happened? Did I win?" The fight must have taken a heavy toil on her, the young pokemon noticing that her voice seemed to be little deeper then she remembered.

"Win?" Henri almost scoffed lightheadedly, making a show of dusting dirt off of himself. "You certainly caught me by surprise and bowled me over with your psybeam, but you earned a larger prize today than a mere battle victory. I certainly can't refer to you as 'little one' anymore."

His answer only served to befuddle her more, but before Princess could ask Henri for clarification she was interrupted by a high-pitched squeal of girlish excitement.

"Ah! Princess!" Rushing up to stand beside Henri, Madeline's wide blue eyes gazed down at her. There was no phone in sight as far as Princess could see, with her trainer's clenched hands shaking while Madeline seemed to almost be hopping on the spot with how strong her jittering was. Mouth agape, the girl gave her a lengthy and gobsmacked lookover before she managed to say something else. "You… you evolved!" Then, breaking out in a grin from ear to ear, the young noble clapped her hands together with a skip of her feet. "And you look so pretty!"

'…what.'

The latter observation from her trainer didn't even make it past the mental roadblock caused by the hundred-car pileup that was the former, the big 'e' word reverberating in Princess' skull drowning out any following conversation. After a few seconds of wide-eyed processing she struggled to push herself up, her exhausted body only letting her get up to one elbow so that she could gaze downwards and freeze at what she found.

Gone was the silky grey fur that formerly covered the majority of herself, replaced by a pure white coat that from a cursory glance appeared no less soft than before. A tuft of deep blue fur around her neck just in eyesight felt like it was part of a natural collar, but more strikingly was the change to her legs. Outside of the altered colouration, the matching blue fur covering most of them making it look like she was wearing fancy stockings much like Madeline's mother did on occasion, the most notable difference was their increased length in proportion to her new torso. No longer was she cursed with tiny, stubby, (and 'cute' according to Madeline) legs, but instead they were finally longer than her arms.

'You… you evolved!'

Madeline's breathless words repeated in Princess' head, and she managed to tear her eyes away from ogling her new form to instead alternate a look between the two beings standing over her. Both Madeline and Henri were watching her and evidently waiting for her to say something (even if only Henri would understand it), and with a new wave of fatigue washing over her Princess just managed to get a single short sentence out.

"I feel really, really sleepy."

Then the blackness returned, and she was out like a light.

"…and it's so unfair that Annette's birthday is two whole weeks before mine! You have no idea how lucky she is, everybody at school is talking about it!"

The clinking of fine silverware accompanied Madeline's latest complaint and the teenage girl scowled at her half-eaten quiche as if it was the source of all her troubles. Sitting beside her at the red-tableclothed dining table, a matching cushion on the mahogany chair giving some extra needed height, Princess took another bite of the poached wishiwashi impaled on her own fork and lightly nodded while she chewed in idle and expected support of her trainer. Most of the meowstic's attention remained focused on the pair of cutlery levitating above her plate however, the light blue energy surrounding each silver tool also matched by the steady glow mostly hidden by her still folded ears. Each cut of fish fillet with the knife, every slice of accompanying sitrus lifted on the fork from plate to mouth, all took far more concentration than her neutral expression and occasional closing of her eyes hinted at.

At least the months of intense dinnertime practice to remain prim and proper while eating with Madeline and her parents had been worth it so far in terms of honing her psychic ability; Princess could understand why trying to eat while a meowstic had their ears fully up and visibly pulsing with psychic energy at the same time could be a little off-putting for some. Especially after the initial few weeks following her evolution and resulting boost to her power, where there had been more stray misses and 'loose flying cutlery' than everybody had been comfortable with.

"I'm sure it's not quite as bad as you're making it out to be," commented Madeline's mother with glass of white wine in hand, sitting at the other side of the table and separated by three silver candelabras sitting on the table in between. The woman's black evening dress meant that the ornate necklace around her neck glittered twice as brightly in the candlelight. "It just means that in two weeks you'll be the one getting all the attention, and fourteen isn't that much of a milestone." A quick sip of wine. "Really Madeline, you should enjoy your youth more. In a decade or so you'll be positively dreading birthdays."

Taking a pause from devouring what was once a magnificent steak, Madeline's father scoffed from his chair seated next to his wife.

"Don't remind me, at least you're not the one who's just turned forty. Quelle horreur indeed." As his wife laughed softly to herself, the master of the manor in his maroon smoking robe turned and raised an eye at his daughter instead. "I also can't imagine that your friend has been catered to that extravagantly this year, I seem to recall Pierre lamenting the previous year's purchase of that positively gaudy gemstone-studded dress. Like mother, like daughter, so they say."

Turning back to his wife with an expression Princess read as a teasing smirk, both of the adults missed Madeline's glare intensify until she loudly stabbed her defenceless meal with her fork.

"It's worse than that, much worse. She's got a litleo now." The glare intensified. "A shiny litleo."

"Oh…" Madeline's father replied, attention focused back on his steak with another delectable piece already speared on his fork. "Which one is that, again?"

"It evolves into Pyroar, dear," his wife provided with the helpful reply quickly overshadowed by a wail from Madeline.

"It's the really cute one! Ahh, I can't believe how cute it is!" The other three diners at the table all winced collectively, although with Princess it was more because of the noise her trainer was causing rather than the smack of a fist holding a fork on the table that the adults focused on. Ears quivering and leaning away to the side with an irritated grimace, the meowstic just managed to maintain control over the items she was shakily levitating even as Madeline continued on about the new 'cute' pokemon sighting of the week. "You'd understand if you actually saw it. It's the cutest little pokemon I've ever seen ever, and of course it's Annette that has it!"

Princess would have put more stock in her trainer's words but as it stood the girl seemed to use 'cute' as a label so often that it had lost much of the meaning. Besides, there was little point worrying about another trainer's pokemon taking the limelight for a day or two only for it to turn back onto her as always when there was delicious wishiwashi and sitrus to attend to. Ignoring Madeline's lamentations and instead concentrating on lifting another forkful of white meat and stewed berry to her mouth, Princess received some vindication in the form of the man at the other end of the table shooting a smile at her after a swallowing a mouthful of steak.

"Now you're definitely exaggerating things Madeline, for all of us here know that the cutest pokemon we've ever seen is the one sitting right next to you now."

Even it was unneeded praise, and probably a little hyperbolic, Princess couldn't help but sit up just a bit straighter and smile with the new morsel of food in her mouth. All eyes upon her, she gave a show of manipulating her knife and fork with peerless grace, taking pride in the way she could clasp both her forepaws together and still separate the last piece of fish into perfectly identical pieces without lifting a claw.

Then, Madeline scrunched up her face and grumbled out a single sentence through her pout.

"Princess used to be cute, but then she got bigger so she's not cute anymore."

A loud clattering followed the statement when the meowstic's powers faltered and a dropped fork impacted against a fine plate, her knife also falling out of her immaterial grasp to smear the red tablecloth with juices from her meal. With eyes wide, it took her a second to establish mental control and scramble to correct her mistake, both pieces of silverware shakily levitating back up to where they were before. After a quick bow of her head in apology to the husband and wife staring at her she tried to ignore the sudden stab of pain in her heart and continue on as if it had just been a slight slip-up, but the next bite of food she shoved into her mouth lacked most of the delicious taste of the preceding forkfuls.

"Madeline…" began the lady of the household after a few moments of silence, Princess barely aware of the look towards her while she continued to stare at her own plate and joylessly chew. "You should be very careful with your words, even when upset. When speaking with anger, we can often say things that we don't really mean." The following mumble from the cross-armed teenager was indecipherable even to the pokemon sitting next to her, which was probably for the better. "I'm sure that this is the case right now, no?"

There was another few seconds of silence, before it was broken by another set of cutlery clacking down onto a plate and a chair sliding back.

"I'm going to my room," announced Madeline with a huff, hand dipping into her school blazer's pocket and retrieving her mobile phone. "I'm not hungry anymore." With that she stormed off before anyone could stop her, even with her father half-rising out of his own chair.

"Madeline!"

His wife's hand on his arm stopped him from going after his wayward daughter, and reluctantly he sat back down with his eyes furrowed.

"Her attitude grows worse and worse, I don't understand!"

"She's a teenager, we both knew to expect something like this."

Struggling to swallow the mush in her mouth, Princess didn't give any acknowledgement when the attention was turned back to her. Everything just felt floaty and far away at the moment.

"Still," Madeline's father said with a frown, "I'm starting to doubt that we made the right choice for the gift this year considering her latest outburst. It might just exacerbate the problem instead of solving it."

A sigh from the lady at the table, who finished the last of her wine with a tired gulp.

"A little late to change our minds now, unfortunately. I already have Henrietta working on the preparations." There was another glance from the two of them to Princess, who had finally finished her meal and was trying to lose herself in getting the traditional arrangement of her knife and fork perfectly straight on her plate. "Hopefully, and with a little luck, it will be something that brings them back together again."

"Hmph, maybe," her husband replied with a dour scoff. "We'll have to see."

AN: Had to split this chapter into two parts, it was just a touch too long for a single chapter this time (which says something considering the usual lengths).