p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"–/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;"strong(Five and a half years after the Area Zero Incident; early spring)br /(Nemona's age: 23, Penny's age: 20 )br /strong/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;"strongbr /PRESENT DAYbr /br /emChapter 1:/em/strong/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"emstrongThe Little-Big Move/strong/emspan style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"br /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"–/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"br /br /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Nemona?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny's soft voice spoke with gentle, prodding concern from behind Nemona's right shoulder./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona had been staring at the photos she'd just finished unpacking. One of them had been from that night in Medali City, when Letty and Nemona had watched the fireworks together... Just seeing that photo for the first time in ages had sparked Nemona's mind into recalling memories from that day./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Clearing her throat, Nemona straightened the picture frames out a little bit on the /br /"Everything good?" Penny checked. "Was calling for you..."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Sorry, got distracted," Nemona dismissed any concern. "I'm fine."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona watched Penny's eyes dart to the photographs, then back to her./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""If you... need me to help unpack anything...-"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""N-No, no, I'm almost done with everything that goes out here, and...-" Nemona ran a hand up through her bangs. She was growing them out longer than she ever had. What had once been a trio of locks was now a thick cut of green fluff off one half of her hairline. Her roots were starting to show near the base of her green bits, though she'd started dying some green highlights into her ponytail for some flair, as well, growing her hair out more than she was used to. She finished her thought. "-... then I'll probably, uh, maybe tackle the bathroom stuff? I'm embeat/em, though, I'm gonna save my clothes and the bedroom things for tomorrow, yeah?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny just looked at her tenderly for a few seconds, her eyes seemingly glazed over. Nemona's stomach quivered with both warmth and worry./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Uh," Nemona eked out, eyes locked with Penny's. "Is that... OK?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Oh, sure," said Penny, nodding and closing the distance between them. Nemona instinctively lifted her palms, face up, ready to accept Penny's. They clasped hands together delicately, and Penny murmured, "If you change your mind about needing help, just ask." She then planted a soft kiss on Nemona's nose. "I'm sure it's kinda... a emlot/em... All this, then."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny turned her head to glance at the multiple cardboard boxes in various states. Nemona had been hard at work unboxing and unpacking for an hour or so, now./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""emEh, /emit's not too bad," Nemona downplayed it. "Not like I have that much emstuff /emneeding to unpack..." She glanced at the well-furnished, if dimly lit surroundings of Penny's flat. Er, Penny and emNemona's /emflat, now./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona had to admit, she was a emtouch /emwary about having walls and shelves that were so... emfull. /emOf emthings. /emPenny's massive collection of memorabilia—the posters, the boxed figurines, the emunboxed /emfigurines in a glass case in the corner, the emstacks /emof manga and disc cases that filled every pore of every shelf. It felt a little overstimulating, but Nemona always adjusted after spending an evening in the space. Penny had needed to make room for Nemona to put some of her own things around, of course. And she'd planned ahead and gotten a double-sized mattress for the two of them when she'd first started renting the place, which Nemona had already spent many a night sleeping upon, well before this long-awaited move /br /The flat had a simple layout. You walked up a single flight of steps attached to the left side of the two-story building, and upon entering, were greeted by the open space of the living room to the right. A black, three cushion couch faced the front of the building, with a fancy flat-screen TV mounted on the wall over a maroon entertainment system. In front of the couch was a 'gamer-rainbow' patterned coffee table on a black frame. And beyond that was a glass case in the corner that displayed Penny's most prized figurines, along with a bookshelf lined with discs and games and manga. In-between the bookcase and glass case, as well as on both sides of the entertainment center, were various Pokémon cushions on the floor, each one a different color, designated for a different 'Veevee' of Penny's./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Behind the couch was the wood shelving attached to the wall that Nemona had put her photos onto, with space for her badges and Champion plaque. It also had some trinkets from Galar and a few smaller figurines, the kinds that had that data chips installed in them that Penny loved to collect. There was also an autographed postcard of Marnie, that famous trainer from Spikemuth – every time Nemona saw that smolder in this Marnie girl's eyes, she wished she could challenge her to a fight, and get a real taste of what Dynamaxing was like... Maybe someday./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"To the right of the shelving unit, before the wall with the bookcase and still behind the couch, was a door that led to a very cramped bedroom for two people. The main reason being that it had a two-person bed as well as a computer desk in the corner. At least all of Penny's personal servers had been transferred to Clavell's office, where she typically worked (utilizing the old desk spaces Arven's parents had once used, back in the day). Regardless, the bedroom was /br /There was enough room on each side for someone to stand sideways, with a closet on what was designated as 'Nemona's side' on the left, and a weathered wooden dresser on 'Penny's side' on the right, where a window streamed light into the room, as well as offered a look onto one of the main streets of Mesagoza, right next to where the shops started popping up. There was at least some breathing space at the foot of the bed to do things like get changed, kiss your girlfriend in the morning, etc. The bedroom had various posters hung up on the wall, mostly from shows and stuff that Penny was into – a couple that Nemona had seen by now, too. And above them, boxed figurines were attached to the wall. It was like a licensed 'hero' set of various Champion Rank trainers cosplaying as... like, anime heroes? Or something?/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"To the left of the living room was an open space that Nemona was currently using to store her moving boxes, though they were mostly broken down by that point. The floor connecting that space to the living room was waxed over wood, a pleasant dark brown color. In fact, every room in the place had hard flooring – the living room area was wood, and the bedroom, too, while the kitchen and bathroom had tiling. Penny had insisted on a place with this kind of flooring because it was 'low maintenance' for keeping her Pokémon out all the time, more durable against padding Pokémon claws and feet and the like, and in general just far easier to keep clean than carpet would've been. Nemona wasn't the biggest fan of it, herself – she had a habit of slipping a bit on smooth, hard floors, for one – but it was just flooring, in the end. And this whole situation was tentatively temporary, anyhow...br /br /Directly ahead of the entrance was the kitchen space as well as the door to the (also cramped) bathroom. The kitchen was surprisingly homely for Penny standards, with a pleasantly stark black and white color scheme – white flooring, black cupboards, a black sink with a white dish rack. A window above the sink had an Oddish pot that was currently growing aloe, as well as a cleaning sponge modeled after Pyukumuku. The fridge was silver and metallic, and actually the newest thing in the whole house, having just been installed when Penny had moved in by necessity of the old one being busted. A microwave was tucked on the counter, directly right of the fridge. Said fridge had a collection of Eeveelution themed magnets and a couple Naranja Academy promotional magnets. There was a photograph of Penny and her family, taken when Penny had graduated. So, Penny in her graduation gown, her mother and father, and her big sister, Peonia. Nemona hadn't evespan style="text-decoration: none;"n /spanemspan style="text-decoration: none;"known /span/emspan style="text-decoration: none;"Penny had a big sister until after they'd started dating – the subject had just never come up, though Penny seemed to be on much better terms with her sister those days than Nemona was... And the same could be said about their current relations with/span span style="text-decoration: none;"their parents, for that matter.../span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"The family photo of Penny at graduation had text written in pen on it:br /spanemspan style="text-decoration: none;"'To my amazing daughter,/span/em/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"emspan style="text-decoration: none;" the true adven-tour awaits!'/span/embr /br /Every time Nemona saw it, it sent a tingle of warmth reminding her of the support Penny's family gave them both, despite everything. And with that came a pang of guilt and bitterness about the memories of her emown /emgraduation, best left unspoken...br /br /The kitchen's right side had a garbage can shaped like a Munchlax, with a pantry shelving unit beside it to store dry food, Pokémon food, spices, and the like (other stuff like canned food was in the cabinet below the microwave). A clock hung on the wall above the trash can (the wall against the bedroom) depicting a deformed Wooper at the center, its two... 'antennae?' The things that stick out from a Wooper's head... served as the clock hands. It was... unconventional. But then, so was Penny. And Nemona found the clock charming now, when at first she had found it to be hideous. It just went to show what familiarity could do for perspective. And to the right of the pantry shelf, just before the tile kitchen floor transitioned to wood, was a stack of Pokémon bowls, clean as a whistle, to hold water and food for Penny's 'mons.. Nemona shuddered at the thought of having to watch so many 'mons make a mess of the kitchen every single night, much less wondering how she'd feed her emown /em'mons amidst such chaos, but... they'd figure it out./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Beside the bathroom door, under the shoes-and-coats area, were more sleeping cushions for Pokémon. The bathroom itself had barely enough space for someone to stand in, with a corner shower so small that Nemona emknew /emshe was going to loathe using – and luckily, there were showers at the Academy she could use before/after work, anyway. A toilet and a sink with a mirror and medicine cabinet rounded things out, with a small window to let some sunlight in over the toilet./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"It wasn't much, especially compared to the manor Nemona had grown up in over in Cabo Poco. Just a cozy, cramped flat in downtown Mesagoza was all Penny needed. And honestly, it was probably all Nemona needed, too. It wasn't like she was the type to spend much time at home, anyhow. She barely had any decor, so the place being fully furnished made things a cinch. Some closet space, including room to stack her various Pokémon food and training supplies. A coffee table to use her laptop on when she needed to review e-mails and scheduling at home. And a single shelf to display a handful of photos, her old Paldea badges, and her Champion's plaque. That was essentially all Nemona needed in a living space, right?/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"But as Penny nuzzled herself into Nemona's neck, their height difference even more pronounced than the day they'd met, Nemona acknowledged that it took more than a chunk of living space to make a home for her. It took knowing that Penny would always be there waiting for her, supporting her, loving her... emthat /emwas what would make this place a real home. Though there emwas /emone pivotal feature missing, and it was probably about time to bring them back here.../p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Guessin' it's about time for you to pick up the kids, huh?" Nemona posed. She pressed her jawline softly into Penny's red-and-blue loose braids./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Ah, good call," said Penny, her hands sliding down from Nemona's shoulder, caressing across Nemona's bosoms softly as their contact broke. "Hopefully Flarey didn't cause himself a mischief today," Penny lamented as she began to wipe her eyeglasses./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona went to pull out the carefully bubble-wrapped highlights of her display collection out—her gym badges and plaque. Just as well polished as ever. A wooden box containing her Champion's dueling gloves – which matched the ones Geeta and the Elite Four wore – was tucked into a corner of the box, as well./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Cautiously unrolling the wrap around the badges, she commented, "That little doofus had embetter /emstart learning to behave himself... Maybe I should get Lyla to help teach him some obedience?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny chuckled softly through her nose. "Knowing how emthose /emtwo get along, I'd be worried they'd level the bloody building if you attempted that."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Lyla's a emgood /emgirl," Nemona defended her Lycanroc—whom she had finally gotten around to naming at Penny's insistence. "She'd never let something like that happen..."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona couldn't help but wipe her cleaning cloth over the badges in their display case as she toted them over to the shelving unit behind the /br /"As well trained as she may be, she's still a Pokémon at heart," Penny pointed out coyly, heading over to the entrance of the flat to pop on her black boots. "But I'm more worried about what emFlarey /emwould do if even an emounce /emof discipline was used..."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""We're gonna have to figure that one out sooner or later," Nemona pointed out with some trepidation. "A disobedient Pokémon just gets worse the longer you put off disciplining them."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny sighed at this, and that well-worn subject of mild disagreement between them reared its ugly head, neither of them backing down, but neither attacking the other over it. And neither of them had the capacity to get into that discussion right then and there./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""I can't... disagree," Penny conceded, popping on her leather jacket. emUGH, /emit fit her so well... She'd outgrown it a little, so it showed off just a little bit of belly, but Nemona emloved /emthat... Penny ruminated, "But I've emtried /emthe methods you recommended, and it hasn't taken. If it becomes too much of a problem at the daycare, I don't know emwhat /emwe're gonna do..."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona was going to scoop up her precious Champion plaque (which didn't have a single scratch on its front), but at Penny's worrying, she opted to re-prioritize. Approaching her girlfriend, she helped zip up Penny's jacket with an encouraging smile. She patted at Penny's arms brusquely./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Hey, if it comes to that, we'll figure something out. We always do, yeah?" She winked, rubbing her thumb across Penny's oh-so-soft and squishy cheek, flexing skin backward and admiring the moon-like gray of Penny's eyes./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny nodded gently, the corner of her mouth raising a bit in a small slice of a smile./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"It had been five and half years since Penny and Nemona had become actual friends, thanks to their perilous adventure in Area Zero with Scarlet and Arven. In those years, Penny had grown her hair out now to be about as long as Nemona's had back then. But it was typically woven into a large, loose braid that bobbed up over her skull and tightened at the back into a braided tail. The various strands were dyed red and blue, and the effect of the contrasting colors weaving together was really cool, Nemona thought. She'd swapped big round glasses for ones that were more typical in shape, and in fact seemed to have some fancy AR tech built into them she'd use as needed – like checking out products in the shops and scanning QR codes with a /br /Penny hadn't grown much taller, but her figure had widened out a bit. Years of sedentary life meant that her tummy had grown out a bit, her thighs widened a little, and her arms gained thickness – and all of its was soft and doughy, by Nemona's measure. All the more squishy cuteness to snuggle, which was fine by her. She'd even managed to grow a little bit in the chest area, thanks to the medications she'd taken. Her rounded cheeks and dimpled chin were as cute as a button – and Nemona very much liked to smooch at those cheeks on Penny's /br /Penny's sense of fashion was about as chaotic as ever, if a little more coordinated as of late. She preferred blacks and grays with accents of color. Her old hoodie didn't really fit her anymore, and her Eevee backpack was too tight on her by that point, as well. But she still kept them tucked away in the closet for old time's sake. She'd really taken to wearing tights, sometimes fishnet stockings, denim skirts, and even the occasional long, flowing skirt when the mood took her. At the moment, she was garbed in a button-up blouse patterned with multicolored Veevee's, and a wide, gray denim skirt that went down to her knees. Below that, she was wearing gray tights and canvas sneakers – one red, one blue. It was a funny mix of 'business' and 'casual,' which made enough sense, as Penny had just gotten home from work not too long ago. And to top it all off, she'd put on that slick leather jacket she'd gotten second-hand at a charity shop a year or so back. It was adorned with some buttons and pins, including pride themed pins displaying patterns like the transgender and lesbian flags./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"br /Nemona, meanwhile, was dressed in one of her casual fits, the rare instance of not having needed to dress for work, training, emor /embattling. She was donning pair of slacks that were tight at the waist and tapered wider just above her heels. She emhad /embeen wearing a pair of simple athletic sneakers – the same custom red, black, and white model she'd been getting fitted for herself every six months for what felt like ages. (Though emthat /emwas going to be a thing of the past, now, wasn't it...?) Her top was a dual layer of an in unzipped training hoodie over top a tourist T-shirt from the Lake of Rage, depicting a cartoonishly suave looking Gyrados flying through a stream of sakura petals. The unzipped grab over top this shirt was an old orange and black colored training hoodie with the Fighting Type logo emblazoned on the chest, and on the back it bore the iconic gray and orange fist of the Stow-On-Side Fighting Gym of Galar. It was a parting gift from Nemona's Sifu, Bea, after completing three years of training under the martial artist's watchful eye back in the previous /br /Lastly was Nemona's hair. About twice as thick as it had been when she'd reigned as Student Council President, and about 50% longer, as well, Nemona had grown her hair out over time. It was a source of pride she took with her appearance, especially as freckles across her face and shoulders got darker and more plentiful with age. (Penny was absolutely firm that these were adorable, but Nemona couldn't shake them off as blemishes on what she'd been taught was supposed to be smooth, evenly colored skin, which her relatives were adept at masking with makeup) Regardless, Nemona took great care of her mane, having integrated long streaks of green dye highlights that ran the length of her ponytail, interwoven through the jet black cascade. Her plentiful side bangs, as well, were entirely green, and she thought really added to a more full, mature look, though she always carried a hair clip around to keep them out of her face when she needed /br /Having eyed each other with anticipation that this whole... being emroommates /emthing was for real, really, for sure, actually emreal, /emPenny cleared her throat, edging toward the front door./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Well. I'll go pick the little rascals up, maybe... take 'em for a walk? Wanna make sure you have time to put stuff away before they invade the place..."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona warily thought to herself, em'If you'd just put them back in their pokéballs for a while we could spare ourselves the trouble,' /embut knew not to say this out loud. It was a sticking point between them, and hadn't changed much since they'd begun dating three years ago. But compromises between their approaches to raising Pokémon had certainly taken place, so it wasn't like progress hadn't been made./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"And now, kind of the emultimate /emcompromise was about to start between Nemona and Penny./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"They were going to be roommates in this small, homely space./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"But it was also kind of the ultimate adventure, in a way, too. Heh, or maybe the ultimate em'adven-tour?'/em Sharing your entire existence with someone was even more intense than being Rivals for Life, after all. Nemona had never thought back in those early days that she would ever want this with emanyone/em, but things with Penny had just grown and grown over time in the past five years and change./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""That... work for you?" Penny checked when Nemona didn't respond./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""emOh, /emyea. Brill," Nemona said, copying one of Penny's Galarian slang terms (to which Penny smirked just a little). "I'll call you when I finish, 'kay?" She gave a quick, fluttering wave, bending over to break down a now empty box and flatten it./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny double-checked that she had the right phone on her. She'd been using a second phone lately, and when Nemona had asked about it, she said it was for 'secret work purposes,' but in this really emteasing /emway that made Nemona weak in the knees. Like it was something way cool that Nemona would eventually find out about./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona had clocked that the phone Penny was looking was emnot /emthe usual RotomPhone, though. It was some emother /emkind of phone – so, probably related to, like, her 'secret work project' or whatever. Penny was really cagey with it, but Nemona knew well enough from her family experience that it was a direct competitor to the RotomPhone: it was a PoryPhone./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Regardless, Nemona emhad /emto get in a good-bye smooch, so she traipsed over to her girlfriend, played with Penny's braided ponytail for a second (which caused Penny to close her eyes and endure it with a flushed smile) and ended with a small kiss on the lips./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Adiós, mi tesoro," Nemona bid softly, pressing her hand against Penny's arm and squeezing it a /br /"Adiós, mi amor," Penny replied, her face pink. She'd always get embarrassed every time she spoke even a bit of Paldean, but Nemona frickin' emadored it/em./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"As Penny left out the door, bound for the Pokémon daycare at the edge of town, Nemona took stock of things regarding her unpacking. She'd only really brought the possessions that she needed or that mattered most, leaving heaps of things left back at the manor. The manor she no longer wanted much to do with... Her things would get moved into a storage unit, most likely, which she was fine with. But then again, her parents might insist on keeping the room maintained, that this was all 'just a phase' or something...br /br /All of the fragile stuff had been taken care of, so... she figured it was the right time to enlist some help in unpacking, and she had just the 'mon in mind for the job./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"She released her trusty Pawmot from his pokéball, and he stretched, nodding his head up at her casually before scratching his rear end and gawping around./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Hey, Puñito," she greeted, using the nickname she'd given him after a few years of loyal service. He'd taken to it well enough. She ruffled her hand across his head fur, and he yawned. "Gettin' a little beauty sleep in there, huh? Well, we're emhere. /emCheck it out."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Puñito gaped around the surrounding area, which he was rather familiar with by that point. He looked slightly confused at first, but shrugged it off. Little guy surely would've figured this place made sense, right?/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""I know it's a little... cramped, compared to our place back at Cabo Poco," Nemona remarked nervously, arcing over slightly to look down at him. She lifted a finger. "But... it's emcozy, /emdon't you think?" She winked at him, and he gave her a bemused look. "And now we're right here in Mesagoza—no more commuting! Plus, all the trainers to battle from the Academy we could emask/em for."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Puñito nodded thoughtfully, already beginning to clamber around onto the black couch and sniff curiously. It was full of hairs of all sorts of colors, no doubt from a pack of 'Veevee's' running rampant and a housemaster who hadn't the time or energy to clean too much in a few days. Nemona wasn't so sure how well equipped she'd be in that regard, either, but... maybe between the two of them, they could commission one of Nemona's family staff to swing by once a week, or...-? emGah, /emalready getting ahead of herself./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona proceeded to unpack her toiletries, enlisting Puñito to move some things into the bedroom and break down the boxes. His methods were... a little less tidy than she'd have preferred. But it was good to give him something to do, to let him feel helpful. And she was already beginning to feel worn out from the move, so any help was appreciated./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"At the end of the bathroom unpacking, Nemona had one last touch to add. She ditched the single, worn out toothbrush sitting in the mug on he sink's corner. She opened a pair of fresh toothbrushes and placed them into the mug. She was taking note of the printing on said mug: it bore the Paldean Pokemon League logo, the organization Penny worked for now. Perhaps unexpected that Penny would take a corporate gift and use it as a toothbrush cup./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"As if on queue, Nemona's Rotomphone buzzed./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"["Call from... strongCordia/strong."]/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"It was her Big Sister calling./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;"strong(Five and a half years after the Area Zero Incident; early spring)br /(Nemona's age: 23, Penny's age: 20 )br /strong/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;"strongbr /PRESENT DAYbr /br /emChapter 1:/em/strong/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"emstrongThe Little-Big Move/strong/emspan style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"br /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"–/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"br /br /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Nemona?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny's soft voice spoke with gentle, prodding concern from behind Nemona's right shoulder./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona had been staring at the photos she'd just finished unpacking. One of them had been from that night in Medali City, when Letty and Nemona had watched the fireworks together... Just seeing that photo for the first time in ages had sparked Nemona's mind into recalling memories from that day./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Clearing her throat, Nemona straightened the picture frames out a little bit on the /br /"Everything good?" Penny checked. "Was calling for you..."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Sorry, got distracted," Nemona dismissed any concern. "I'm fine."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona watched Penny's eyes dart to the photographs, then back to her./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""If you... need me to help unpack anything...-"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""N-No, no, I'm almost done with everything that goes out here, and...-" Nemona ran a hand up through her bangs. She was growing them out longer than she ever had. What had once been a trio of locks was now a thick cut of green fluff off one half of her hairline. Her roots were starting to show near the base of her green bits, though she'd started dying some green highlights into her ponytail for some flair, as well, growing her hair out more than she was used to. She finished her thought. "-... then I'll probably, uh, maybe tackle the bathroom stuff? I'm embeat/em, though, I'm gonna save my clothes and the bedroom things for tomorrow, yeah?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny just looked at her tenderly for a few seconds, her eyes seemingly glazed over. Nemona's stomach quivered with both warmth and worry./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Uh," Nemona eked out, eyes locked with Penny's. "Is that... OK?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Oh, sure," said Penny, nodding and closing the distance between them. Nemona instinctively lifted her palms, face up, ready to accept Penny's. They clasped hands together delicately, and Penny murmured, "If you change your mind about needing help, just ask." She then planted a soft kiss on Nemona's nose. "I'm sure it's kinda... a emlot/em... All this, then."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny turned her head to glance at the multiple cardboard boxes in various states. Nemona had been hard at work unboxing and unpacking for an hour or so, now./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""emEh, /emit's not too bad," Nemona downplayed it. "Not like I have that much emstuff /emneeding to unpack..." She glanced at the well-furnished, if dimly lit surroundings of Penny's flat. Er, Penny and emNemona's /emflat, now./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona had to admit, she was a emtouch /emwary about having walls and shelves that were so... emfull. /emOf emthings. /emPenny's massive collection of memorabilia—the posters, the boxed figurines, the emunboxed /emfigurines in a glass case in the corner, the emstacks /emof manga and disc cases that filled every pore of every shelf. It felt a little overstimulating, but Nemona always adjusted after spending an evening in the space. Penny had needed to make room for Nemona to put some of her own things around, of course. And she'd planned ahead and gotten a double-sized mattress for the two of them when she'd first started renting the place, which Nemona had already spent many a night sleeping upon, well before this long-awaited move /br /The flat had a simple layout. You walked up a single flight of steps attached to the left side of the two-story building, and upon entering, were greeted by the open space of the living room to the right. A black, three cushion couch faced the front of the building, with a fancy flat-screen TV mounted on the wall over a maroon entertainment system. In front of the couch was a 'gamer-rainbow' patterned coffee table on a black frame. And beyond that was a glass case in the corner that displayed Penny's most prized figurines, along with a bookshelf lined with discs and games and manga. In-between the bookcase and glass case, as well as on both sides of the entertainment center, were various Pokémon cushions on the floor, each one a different color, designated for a different 'Veevee' of Penny's./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Behind the couch was the wood shelving attached to the wall that Nemona had put her photos onto, with space for her badges and Champion plaque. It also had some trinkets from Galar and a few smaller figurines, the kinds that had that data chips installed in them that Penny loved to collect. There was also an autographed postcard of Marnie, that famous trainer from Spikemuth – every time Nemona saw that smolder in this Marnie girl's eyes, she wished she could challenge her to a fight, and get a real taste of what Dynamaxing was like... Maybe someday./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"To the right of the shelving unit, before the wall with the bookcase and still behind the couch, was a door that led to a very cramped bedroom for two people. The main reason being that it had a two-person bed as well as a computer desk in the corner. At least all of Penny's personal servers had been transferred to Clavell's office, where she typically worked (utilizing the old desk spaces Arven's parents had once used, back in the day). Regardless, the bedroom was /br /There was enough room on each side for someone to stand sideways, with a closet on what was designated as 'Nemona's side' on the left, and a weathered wooden dresser on 'Penny's side' on the right, where a window streamed light into the room, as well as offered a look onto one of the main streets of Mesagoza, right next to where the shops started popping up. There was at least some breathing space at the foot of the bed to do things like get changed, kiss your girlfriend in the morning, etc. The bedroom had various posters hung up on the wall, mostly from shows and stuff that Penny was into – a couple that Nemona had seen by now, too. And above them, boxed figurines were attached to the wall. It was like a licensed 'hero' set of various Champion Rank trainers cosplaying as... like, anime heroes? Or something?/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"To the left of the living room was an open space that Nemona was currently using to store her moving boxes, though they were mostly broken down by that point. The floor connecting that space to the living room was waxed over wood, a pleasant dark brown color. In fact, every room in the place had hard flooring – the living room area was wood, and the bedroom, too, while the kitchen and bathroom had tiling. Penny had insisted on a place with this kind of flooring because it was 'low maintenance' for keeping her Pokémon out all the time, more durable against padding Pokémon claws and feet and the like, and in general just far easier to keep clean than carpet would've been. Nemona wasn't the biggest fan of it, herself – she had a habit of slipping a bit on smooth, hard floors, for one – but it was just flooring, in the end. And this whole situation was tentatively temporary, anyhow...br /br /Directly ahead of the entrance was the kitchen space as well as the door to the (also cramped) bathroom. The kitchen was surprisingly homely for Penny standards, with a pleasantly stark black and white color scheme – white flooring, black cupboards, a black sink with a white dish rack. A window above the sink had an Oddish pot that was currently growing aloe, as well as a cleaning sponge modeled after Pyukumuku. The fridge was silver and metallic, and actually the newest thing in the whole house, having just been installed when Penny had moved in by necessity of the old one being busted. A microwave was tucked on the counter, directly right of the fridge. Said fridge had a collection of Eeveelution themed magnets and a couple Naranja Academy promotional magnets. There was a photograph of Penny and her family, taken when Penny had graduated. So, Penny in her graduation gown, her mother and father, and her big sister, Peonia. Nemona hadn't evespan style="text-decoration: none;"n /spanemspan style="text-decoration: none;"known /span/emspan style="text-decoration: none;"Penny had a big sister until after they'd started dating – the subject had just never come up, though Penny seemed to be on much better terms with her sister those days than Nemona was... And the same could be said about their current relations with/span span style="text-decoration: none;"their parents, for that matter.../span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"The family photo of Penny at graduation had text written in pen on it:br /spanemspan style="text-decoration: none;"'To my amazing daughter,/span/em/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"emspan style="text-decoration: none;" the true adven-tour awaits!'/span/embr /br /Every time Nemona saw it, it sent a tingle of warmth reminding her of the support Penny's family gave them both, despite everything. And with that came a pang of guilt and bitterness about the memories of her emown /emgraduation, best left unspoken...br /br /The kitchen's right side had a garbage can shaped like a Munchlax, with a pantry shelving unit beside it to store dry food, Pokémon food, spices, and the like (other stuff like canned food was in the cabinet below the microwave). A clock hung on the wall above the trash can (the wall against the bedroom) depicting a deformed Wooper at the center, its two... 'antennae?' The things that stick out from a Wooper's head... served as the clock hands. It was... unconventional. But then, so was Penny. And Nemona found the clock charming now, when at first she had found it to be hideous. It just went to show what familiarity could do for perspective. And to the right of the pantry shelf, just before the tile kitchen floor transitioned to wood, was a stack of Pokémon bowls, clean as a whistle, to hold water and food for Penny's 'mons.. Nemona shuddered at the thought of having to watch so many 'mons make a mess of the kitchen every single night, much less wondering how she'd feed her emown /em'mons amidst such chaos, but... they'd figure it out./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Beside the bathroom door, under the shoes-and-coats area, were more sleeping cushions for Pokémon. The bathroom itself had barely enough space for someone to stand in, with a corner shower so small that Nemona emknew /emshe was going to loathe using – and luckily, there were showers at the Academy she could use before/after work, anyway. A toilet and a sink with a mirror and medicine cabinet rounded things out, with a small window to let some sunlight in over the toilet./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"It wasn't much, especially compared to the manor Nemona had grown up in over in Cabo Poco. Just a cozy, cramped flat in downtown Mesagoza was all Penny needed. And honestly, it was probably all Nemona needed, too. It wasn't like she was the type to spend much time at home, anyhow. She barely had any decor, so the place being fully furnished made things a cinch. Some closet space, including room to stack her various Pokémon food and training supplies. A coffee table to use her laptop on when she needed to review e-mails and scheduling at home. And a single shelf to display a handful of photos, her old Paldea badges, and her Champion's plaque. That was essentially all Nemona needed in a living space, right?/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"But as Penny nuzzled herself into Nemona's neck, their height difference even more pronounced than the day they'd met, Nemona acknowledged that it took more than a chunk of living space to make a home for her. It took knowing that Penny would always be there waiting for her, supporting her, loving her... emthat /emwas what would make this place a real home. Though there emwas /emone pivotal feature missing, and it was probably about time to bring them back here.../p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Guessin' it's about time for you to pick up the kids, huh?" Nemona posed. She pressed her jawline softly into Penny's red-and-blue loose braids./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Ah, good call," said Penny, her hands sliding down from Nemona's shoulder, caressing across Nemona's bosoms softly as their contact broke. "Hopefully Flarey didn't cause himself a mischief today," Penny lamented as she began to wipe her eyeglasses./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona went to pull out the carefully bubble-wrapped highlights of her display collection out—her gym badges and plaque. Just as well polished as ever. A wooden box containing her Champion's dueling gloves – which matched the ones Geeta and the Elite Four wore – was tucked into a corner of the box, as well./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Cautiously unrolling the wrap around the badges, she commented, "That little doofus had embetter /emstart learning to behave himself... Maybe I should get Lyla to help teach him some obedience?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny chuckled softly through her nose. "Knowing how emthose /emtwo get along, I'd be worried they'd level the bloody building if you attempted that."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Lyla's a emgood /emgirl," Nemona defended her Lycanroc—whom she had finally gotten around to naming at Penny's insistence. "She'd never let something like that happen..."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona couldn't help but wipe her cleaning cloth over the badges in their display case as she toted them over to the shelving unit behind the /br /"As well trained as she may be, she's still a Pokémon at heart," Penny pointed out coyly, heading over to the entrance of the flat to pop on her black boots. "But I'm more worried about what emFlarey /emwould do if even an emounce /emof discipline was used..."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""We're gonna have to figure that one out sooner or later," Nemona pointed out with some trepidation. "A disobedient Pokémon just gets worse the longer you put off disciplining them."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny sighed at this, and that well-worn subject of mild disagreement between them reared its ugly head, neither of them backing down, but neither attacking the other over it. And neither of them had the capacity to get into that discussion right then and there./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""I can't... disagree," Penny conceded, popping on her leather jacket. emUGH, /emit fit her so well... She'd outgrown it a little, so it showed off just a little bit of belly, but Nemona emloved /emthat... Penny ruminated, "But I've emtried /emthe methods you recommended, and it hasn't taken. If it becomes too much of a problem at the daycare, I don't know emwhat /emwe're gonna do..."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona was going to scoop up her precious Champion plaque (which didn't have a single scratch on its front), but at Penny's worrying, she opted to re-prioritize. Approaching her girlfriend, she helped zip up Penny's jacket with an encouraging smile. She patted at Penny's arms brusquely./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Hey, if it comes to that, we'll figure something out. We always do, yeah?" She winked, rubbing her thumb across Penny's oh-so-soft and squishy cheek, flexing skin backward and admiring the moon-like gray of Penny's eyes./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny nodded gently, the corner of her mouth raising a bit in a small slice of a smile./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"It had been five and half years since Penny and Nemona had become actual friends, thanks to their perilous adventure in Area Zero with Scarlet and Arven. In those years, Penny had grown her hair out now to be about as long as Nemona's had back then. But it was typically woven into a large, loose braid that bobbed up over her skull and tightened at the back into a braided tail. The various strands were dyed red and blue, and the effect of the contrasting colors weaving together was really cool, Nemona thought. She'd swapped big round glasses for ones that were more typical in shape, and in fact seemed to have some fancy AR tech built into them she'd use as needed – like checking out products in the shops and scanning QR codes with a /br /Penny hadn't grown much taller, but her figure had widened out a bit. Years of sedentary life meant that her tummy had grown out a bit, her thighs widened a little, and her arms gained thickness – and all of its was soft and doughy, by Nemona's measure. All the more squishy cuteness to snuggle, which was fine by her. She'd even managed to grow a little bit in the chest area, thanks to the medications she'd taken. Her rounded cheeks and dimpled chin were as cute as a button – and Nemona very much liked to smooch at those cheeks on Penny's /br /Penny's sense of fashion was about as chaotic as ever, if a little more coordinated as of late. She preferred blacks and grays with accents of color. Her old hoodie didn't really fit her anymore, and her Eevee backpack was too tight on her by that point, as well. But she still kept them tucked away in the closet for old time's sake. She'd really taken to wearing tights, sometimes fishnet stockings, denim skirts, and even the occasional long, flowing skirt when the mood took her. At the moment, she was garbed in a button-up blouse patterned with multicolored Veevee's, and a wide, gray denim skirt that went down to her knees. Below that, she was wearing gray tights and canvas sneakers – one red, one blue. It was a funny mix of 'business' and 'casual,' which made enough sense, as Penny had just gotten home from work not too long ago. And to top it all off, she'd put on that slick leather jacket she'd gotten second-hand at a charity shop a year or so back. It was adorned with some buttons and pins, including pride themed pins displaying patterns like the transgender and lesbian flags./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"br /Nemona, meanwhile, was dressed in one of her casual fits, the rare instance of not having needed to dress for work, training, emor /embattling. She was donning pair of slacks that were tight at the waist and tapered wider just above her heels. She emhad /embeen wearing a pair of simple athletic sneakers – the same custom red, black, and white model she'd been getting fitted for herself every six months for what felt like ages. (Though emthat /emwas going to be a thing of the past, now, wasn't it...?) Her top was a dual layer of an in unzipped training hoodie over top a tourist T-shirt from the Lake of Rage, depicting a cartoonishly suave looking Gyrados flying through a stream of sakura petals. The unzipped grab over top this shirt was an old orange and black colored training hoodie with the Fighting Type logo emblazoned on the chest, and on the back it bore the iconic gray and orange fist of the Stow-On-Side Fighting Gym of Galar. It was a parting gift from Nemona's Sifu, Bea, after completing three years of training under the martial artist's watchful eye back in the previous /br /Lastly was Nemona's hair. About twice as thick as it had been when she'd reigned as Student Council President, and about 50% longer, as well, Nemona had grown her hair out over time. It was a source of pride she took with her appearance, especially as freckles across her face and shoulders got darker and more plentiful with age. (Penny was absolutely firm that these were adorable, but Nemona couldn't shake them off as blemishes on what she'd been taught was supposed to be smooth, evenly colored skin, which her relatives were adept at masking with makeup) Regardless, Nemona took great care of her mane, having integrated long streaks of green dye highlights that ran the length of her ponytail, interwoven through the jet black cascade. Her plentiful side bangs, as well, were entirely green, and she thought really added to a more full, mature look, though she always carried a hair clip around to keep them out of her face when she needed /br /Having eyed each other with anticipation that this whole... being emroommates /emthing was for real, really, for sure, actually emreal, /emPenny cleared her throat, edging toward the front door./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Well. I'll go pick the little rascals up, maybe... take 'em for a walk? Wanna make sure you have time to put stuff away before they invade the place..."/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona warily thought to herself, em'If you'd just put them back in their pokéballs for a while we could spare ourselves the trouble,' /embut knew not to say this out loud. It was a sticking point between them, and hadn't changed much since they'd begun dating three years ago. But compromises between their approaches to raising Pokémon had certainly taken place, so it wasn't like progress hadn't been made./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"And now, kind of the emultimate /emcompromise was about to start between Nemona and Penny./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"They were going to be roommates in this small, homely space./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"But it was also kind of the ultimate adventure, in a way, too. Heh, or maybe the ultimate em'adven-tour?'/em Sharing your entire existence with someone was even more intense than being Rivals for Life, after all. Nemona had never thought back in those early days that she would ever want this with emanyone/em, but things with Penny had just grown and grown over time in the past five years and change./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""That... work for you?" Penny checked when Nemona didn't respond./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""emOh, /emyea. Brill," Nemona said, copying one of Penny's Galarian slang terms (to which Penny smirked just a little). "I'll call you when I finish, 'kay?" She gave a quick, fluttering wave, bending over to break down a now empty box and flatten it./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Penny double-checked that she had the right phone on her. She'd been using a second phone lately, and when Nemona had asked about it, she said it was for 'secret work purposes,' but in this really emteasing /emway that made Nemona weak in the knees. Like it was something way cool that Nemona would eventually find out about./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona had clocked that the phone Penny was looking was emnot /emthe usual RotomPhone, though. It was some emother /emkind of phone – so, probably related to, like, her 'secret work project' or whatever. Penny was really cagey with it, but Nemona knew well enough from her family experience that it was a direct competitor to the RotomPhone: it was a PoryPhone./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Regardless, Nemona emhad /emto get in a good-bye smooch, so she traipsed over to her girlfriend, played with Penny's braided ponytail for a second (which caused Penny to close her eyes and endure it with a flushed smile) and ended with a small kiss on the lips./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Adiós, mi tesoro," Nemona bid softly, pressing her hand against Penny's arm and squeezing it a /br /"Adiós, mi amor," Penny replied, her face pink. She'd always get embarrassed every time she spoke even a bit of Paldean, but Nemona frickin' emadored it/em./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"As Penny left out the door, bound for the Pokémon daycare at the edge of town, Nemona took stock of things regarding her unpacking. She'd only really brought the possessions that she needed or that mattered most, leaving heaps of things left back at the manor. The manor she no longer wanted much to do with... Her things would get moved into a storage unit, most likely, which she was fine with. But then again, her parents might insist on keeping the room maintained, that this was all 'just a phase' or something...br /br /All of the fragile stuff had been taken care of, so... she figured it was the right time to enlist some help in unpacking, and she had just the 'mon in mind for the job./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"She released her trusty Pawmot from his pokéball, and he stretched, nodding his head up at her casually before scratching his rear end and gawping around./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""Hey, Puñito," she greeted, using the nickname she'd given him after a few years of loyal service. He'd taken to it well enough. She ruffled her hand across his head fur, and he yawned. "Gettin' a little beauty sleep in there, huh? Well, we're emhere. /emCheck it out."/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Puñito gaped around the surrounding area, which he was rather familiar with by that point. He looked slightly confused at first, but shrugged it off. Little guy surely would've figured this place made sense, right?/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;""I know it's a little... cramped, compared to our place back at Cabo Poco," Nemona remarked nervously, arcing over slightly to look down at him. She lifted a finger. "But... it's emcozy, /emdon't you think?" She winked at him, and he gave her a bemused look. "And now we're right here in Mesagoza—no more commuting! Plus, all the trainers to battle from the Academy we could emask/em for."/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Puñito nodded thoughtfully, already beginning to clamber around onto the black couch and sniff curiously. It was full of hairs of all sorts of colors, no doubt from a pack of 'Veevee's' running rampant and a housemaster who hadn't the time or energy to clean too much in a few days. Nemona wasn't so sure how well equipped she'd be in that regard, either, but... maybe between the two of them, they could commission one of Nemona's family staff to swing by once a week, or...-? emGah, /emalready getting ahead of herself./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"Nemona proceeded to unpack her toiletries, enlisting Puñito to move some things into the bedroom and break down the boxes. His methods were... a little less tidy than she'd have preferred. But it was good to give him something to do, to let him feel helpful. And she was already beginning to feel worn out from the move, so any help was appreciated./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"At the end of the bathroom unpacking, Nemona had one last touch to add. She ditched the single, worn out toothbrush sitting in the mug on he sink's corner. She opened a pair of fresh toothbrushes and placed them into the mug. She was taking note of the printing on said mug: it bore the Paldean Pokemon League logo, the organization Penny worked for now. Perhaps unexpected that Penny would take a corporate gift and use it as a toothbrush cup./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"As if on queue, Nemona's Rotomphone buzzed./p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"["Call from... strongCordia/strong."]/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"It was her Big Sister calling./p