04 - 01
"I can't believe I fell asleep during the ride!" the Nickit says with a pout, her glaring eyes burning holes on her meal. "It was fun, too!"
The other three around the table chuckle at the young dark-type.
"What ride was it, dear?" the Miltank asks before taking a bite of her meal.
The Nickit blinks, and slightly tilts her head. "Um... I don't remember," she tells them, making the Eevee roll his eyes in amusement.
The four continue their breakfast, with the Nickit sharing yesterday's fun activities she and her brother had. The Pangoro bursts out laughing after the Nickit tells them what happened to the Eevee after the roller coaster ride, and the normal-type can only try his best to ignore the large Pokemon's outburst.
After breakfast, the two smaller Pokemon clean up while the other two walk up the stairs to get ready for their date.
"Why not go with them, Plu?" the Eevee asks as he rinses the suds off of a dish.
The Nickit shakes her head and smiles up at him. "No! We're gonna practice!"
"Practice what?"
"Swift!" the Nickit happily chirps, her tail wagging a bit. She then frowns at him. "So that the meanieheads won't take you away from your home again."
The Eevee sighs. "...yeah, I guess you're right."
She nods. "So hurry up! Time's a wasting!"
The Pangoro and the Miltank walk down the stairs and enter the kitchen just as the Eevee finishes cleaning the last dish. After listing off the things they're allowed and not allowed to do, they then say their goodbyes and walk out the building.
The Pangoro looks back and smirks at the frowning Eevee. "You got all that, right?"
The Eevee rolls his eyes. "What? You want to see a list or something?"
He laughs and shakes his head. "Right, right." He nods. "Good luck with your practice." A sly grin. "Don't be too loud now, you hear?"
"Get your mind out of the gutter."
The Nickit blankly looks at them. "I don't get it."
The Eevee sighs. "You will when you're older," he tells her with a roll of his eyes.
The Nickit frowns at him.
With one last laugh, the Pangoro gives the young dark-type a pat on her head, and the couple then head down the road towards the lower portion of the city.
After waving a paw goodbye, the Nickit then brings her paw back down and then smirks at the Eevee. "Okay, rookie! Let's get to training!"
He blinks at her. "What?"
She puffs out her chest. "You heard me! Now get to the backyard!"
He rolls his eyes, smirks, ruffles her furry little head and runs back inside before she can bite his paw in retaliation.
Closing the apartment door behind her, the smiling white Vulpix takes a deep breath and lets out a warm and happy sigh, greeting the morning with the brightest of smiles.
Leaning on a fence, a Cyndaquil is smirking at the approaching fire-type. "Look who's blooming today," she says with a smirk.
"Good morning, Cindy," the Vulpix greets her as she approaches and nuzzles the fire-type's neck. She pulls back with a smile. "Such a wonderful day, isn't it?" she asks, her six tails wagging slightly.
Cindy stares at her for a second or two, and then chuckles. "You're really glowing today." A sly smile. "Did something happen last night?"
The white Vulpix looks away with a small hint of a blush on her cheeks. "I know what you're thinking." She shakes her head and starts walking on the sidewalk, her friend walking beside her. "But no, we didn't." She looks at her with a frown. "It's too early in our relationship, don't you think?"
Cindy stares back at her. "Vixie, you're seriously asking me that, huh?"
Vixie blinks, chuckles and shakes her head. "Right, right." She smiles at the road ahead, where many Pokemon are busy cleaning and taking down their stalls. "But, I dunno." She shrugs. "Linik and I will get there eventually."
"How old are you this year again?"
Vixie blinks at her. "Huh? Why do you ask?"
Cindy shrugs. "Just humor me."
Vixie blinks once more, shrugs, and looks at the road ahead. "I'll be turning nine this year."
Cindy smirks at her. "You two better hurry then. You're only a year away from getting the so-called midlife crisis if you two won't do it yet."
Vixie rolls her eyes, making her friend snicker. She then throws a sly smile at the fire-type. "Speaking from experience, Cindy?"
"Fuck you."
They both laugh as they continue heading towards the guild, talking about random things along the way. They eventually reach the guild, where a smiling yellow Shinx is standing on the wide steps toward the building.
"Hey, you two," he greets them, and then blinks at the smiling white Vulpix. "Wow... Is it just me, or are you radiating today?"
Vixie blushes as she chuckles. "Blooming, and then glowing, and now radiating?" She shakes her head in amusement. "Did everyone eat a thesaurus while I was asleep?"
"Maybe while you and Linik were at it," Cindy quickly says, and jumps out of her friend's swiping paw.
The Shinx smirks. "No wonder Linik looked tired."
Ignoring the fire-type's laughter, Vixie glares at the electric-type.
The Shinx's smirk grows even wider. "What? Am I wrong?"
"We didn't do 'it', Shino," Vixie hisses.
"Not yet, you mean?"
The ice-type sighs in frustration, her ears drooping slightly. "Seriously, you two. Knock it off."
"Right, right," Shino says, and chuckles. "Backing off, but seriously, Vixie," he says with a smile. "I'm really happy for you both."
Vixie returns the smile. "Thank you. I'm really happy, too."
The trio then share a group hug.
"I feel left out," a familiar voice suddenly says.
Breaking the hug, the trio then turn to the tired and smiling Sentret.
"Linik!" Vixie quickly runs up to him and gives him a hug, which the normal-type quickly returns with a chuckle.
"I feel better already," he says with a sigh.
"Yo! Linik!"
The two break their hug and turn towards the voice.
Up a few steps, a Snivy is smiling at them with a small Joltik on his head. The serpentine grass-type then winks and gives him a thumbs up. "Great job today, buddy!"
The Joltik nods in agreement, although it's barely noticable from a distance. "But don't push yourself too much next time!" she squeaks, her tiny voice barely reaching the others.
The Snivy chuckles. "Yeah! Like, seriously, dude!" He shakes his head and takes his leave. "Well, enjoy the rest of your day, you two!"
"But not too much!" the Joltik squeaks, and the two walk away, blending with the traffic of Pokemon on the road.
Blushing, the Sentret scratches his head as he turns back to the smiling ice-type. "I should introduce you to my teammates next time."
"Looking forward to it." The white Vulpix then frowns a worried frown at the normal-type. "But you look really tired. Want me to walk you home?"
His blush intensifies. "Er... S-sure!" he says with a goofy smile, but disappears in a blink. "But, will that get in the way of your work?"
"Ah..." Vixie says, her ears drooping as she looks back at her teammates.
"Oh! Don't worry about it!" the yellow Shinx suddenly says, winking at the Sentret. "Vixie can just catch up later anyway."
Cindy smirks at the couple. "But don't take too long, you hear?"
Vixie blushes as she glares at her two smirking friends. "You guys are really...!" She groans and shakes her head. "But seriously, is it really okay?"
Shino dismisses her worries with a wave of a paw. "You two just go already."
Vixie smiles and nods. "Thanks, guys." She then turns to the Sentret. "Come on, sleepy head." Her smile grows sweeter. "It's my turn to walk you home."
Blushing, the Sentret chuckles and starts walking alongside the ice-type. "If you insist. I'm kinda hungry though..."
"Should we get breakfast first?"
"Maybe takeout. I know a place." An excited smirk. "You should try their burritos there, 'Xie!"
A sweet smile. "Maybe I will."
The Shinx and the Cyndaquil are all smiles as they watch the happy couple go. The fire-type lets out a happy sigh as she turns to the Shinx, and squeals. "Oh my gosh, Shino! I'm so happy for them!"
Shino chuckles. "Heh... You're not the only one."
Cindy then throws herself to hug the startled electric-type. Recovering, he smiles and hugs her back. They soon break the hug, and the fire-type chuckles. "We should start doing our job now."
Shino shrugs, and the two then walk up the steps and enter the large guild building.
Two frowning faces stare at the small white orb floating in between them. Ears drooping, the Eevee closes his eyes and lets out a sigh as he wipes his sweaty forehead with a paw. He then reopens his eyes and blinks. "How the fuck am I able to sweat anyway?" he mumbles under his breath as the Nickit grabs the white orb, and the duo then watch it slowly fade to nothingness.
"I wonder why you can't do it," the Nickit asks as she throws a confused look at the Eevee.
He shrugs. "How about you explain as best as you can on how you do it." He smiles. "Maybe I can get some sort of clue."
Her frown goes further down as her ears droop. "But, I don't really know how to explain it!" She closes her eyes, takes a breath, shakes her head, and exhales as she reopens her eyes, looking up at him with a determined look. "But I'll try!"
The Eevee smiles and nods.
"Okay, so um..." She blinks, and closes her eyes. "I uh..." Her ear twitches. "Erm..."
A white and star-shaped energy suddenly appears in front of the young dark-type. Small at first, but quickly grows and brightens in a split of a second, startling the normal-type.
The Nickit reopens her eyes and smiles. "Like that!"
He blinks at her, and frowns. "Either I've gone deaf or you forgot the explanation part."
She blinks back, and blushes as she scratches her head. "Oh, oops." She shakes her head as the Eevee grabs the star-shaped energy and starts studying it. "Well..." she starts with a frown. "I guess I just focus my energy to go out of me." She blinks. "Does that make sense?"
It does, the Eevee thinks, but that's already obvious though. What kind of energy, exactly, and how does one just will it out and take shape?
Well, he is able to do it. Sorta.
As the star fades, he looks at her. "So, how exactly to you let it out?"
She blinks. "Um... I just do?"
He shakes his head. "I mean, before you get it out, do you like, store the energy on your head first, or chest, or paw?"
She tilts her head, blinks, and looks down at herself as she places a paw on her fluffy chest. "I guess here?" She shakes her head. "I never really wondered about that before." She smiles. "So I'll try again and see if I'm right!"
She closes her eyes and concentrates on the feeling of her energy flow as best as she can, sensing a warmth inside her chest, making her smile. She is so used to it that she doesn't really think about it much. But now that she's paying attention, holding the energy in, she frowns when she suddenly feels the warmth in her chest start to feel slightly uncomfortable, so she decides to let it out, feeling the warmth slowly dying down as she quickly thinks of a star out of pure instinct, but as soon as as realizes what her mind is thinking, the gathered energy within herself is totally gone.
Opening her eyes, she sees the familiar star-shaped energy hovering right in front of her. She then smiles at her brother. "I got it!" She jumps on all four and starts hopping in place. "I got it I got it I got it!"
He can't help but smile at how cheery and energetic she is. He chuckles as the star starts fading. After her sister settles down a second or two later, she explains what happened to the best of her abilities. He blinks. "Huh... So, like, store a good amount of energy in your chest, and then release it while your mind shapes it?" he repeats, mostly to himself.
She nods with a smile. "Yep!" she says as she sits back down. "Wow, I can't believe I figured it out!"
He chuckles and pats her head. "Great job, Plu."
She smiles proudly. "Now you try!"
He still doesn't know how to just release energy, but he's able to do it for some reason, so he supposes that he'll just do what he's been doing, but this time, he gathers his energy in his chest first.
He closes his eyes and...
How can he gather energy though? Or rather, how can he gather his energy on one certain spot? Can he like, visualize it? Plu said that she felt her energy gathering in her chest, so perhaps he can feel it, too?
He shakes his head. He should stop doubting himself and, like that shoe's tagline mentioned, just do it. He concentrates on his chest. He breathes in, and then out, and repeats the process, until he starts feeling light-headed.
"You okay?" Plu asks as she helps him sit upright again.
He chuckles and pats her head. "I guess I kinda overdid it." He takes a breath, closes his eyes, and exhales. "I'll try again."
She frowns at him. "Don't scare me like that again, please."
He simply smiles back, but it fades a second or two later as he focuses on his chest once again, and not on his lungs and his breathing, as something tells him Plu will smack him if he teeters once again. Right, focus on his chest, and move his energy and gather them there. Don't question, just do it.
How exactly?
He quickly shoves the question out of the way as he continues his focus. Why is his chest feeling warm all of the sudden? Wait... Is that it? Probably. So how can he release it? How does he do it?
His closed eyes twitch. Stop questioning yourself and just do it, he mentally tells himself. Okay, so release it, let it out, and mold it with his mind. Star. Turn it into a star. Shape it like a star.
Does it have to be a star?
Wait, why is his chest no longer warm? Did he finally do it?
He quickly opens his eyes, blinks, and frowns at the white orb floating in front of him. He closes his eyes once again, his ears drooping and his head hanging.
"Well," Plu starts, tilting her head and blinking at the white orb, "it's bigger than last time."
Wondering what she meant by that, he quickly lifts his gaze up at the orb. It is bigger than his previous ones. If he's to give a guess, it's almost twice the size!
He smiles as he grabs the orb with his paws, the warmth radiating off of it. "Progress is progress," he says with a smile as he looks at the smiling dark-type. "Thanks, Plu!"
She grins at him.