"Yeah, I arrived just fine." My trainer was speaking to his magical device thingie to speak from afar. "No, I didn't get lost." Pokégear? Something like that. "Well, I did get lost, but then I found my way back which is the same as never getting lost." It could apparently project your voice very far, but only another pokégear would let you hear that. Weird. Jarque was talking to his twin sister Bera, telling her the same things he had told Mom minutes ago, also through the device for long speaking.

I was unconscious at the time, so I only knew because of what Jarque had told me. After losing our dance of skill, the people at the gym told him that their rules required him to wait one month before he could challenge the leader one more time. Since Bera already had her badge they agreed that there was no need for her to wait for us, so she began her journey proper. Mom also returned to Dagger's Dockyard where she worked as gym referee, since her 'vacation' only lasted for another week. Oh, I forgot to ask Mallet what a vacation was before he left! How silly of me.

Hah! My brother got so melodramatic when we had to say goodbye! He's always so emotional! In comparison, I barely cried myself, a-and only in order to not make him feel bad! Jarque and Bera were also a little affected that they had to say goodbye, since the twins had always been together. Although, as Mom said, it was more of a 'smell you later' than a goodbye proper.

During this last month Jarque had stayed in the city that housed the gym, Pike Port, or rather in one of its many inns. He used his 'savings', whatever those are, plus he would sometimes make money by challenging other rookie trainers. Valentine and I always had three meals a day, although Jarque often only had two. Sometimes one. There was one day he didn't eat at all.

It had been nearly a month since we lost. Tomorrow would mark the day when we would get to challenge the dragon-type gym leader again. Another chance! We would not let it go to waste this time. At first Jarque considered just leaving the competition and abandoning the League's challenge. Valentine said she heard him sob the night we lost, but I'm sure that was just her overactive imagination. Jarque would not do that! But it was Bera and Mom that convinced him not to desist at the end, and I'm thankful for that. Mom insisted that most trainers never get all badges — she only got four when she was young — but that the point of the League's challenge wasn't to win it, but to grow and learn with your pokémon. Vital experiences, I think she called them. I don't know much about that. I just think the idea of traveling together sounds fun.

And as much as I loved Mallet and Bera and Mom, I was actually pretty happy to be alone with Jarque. We were never truly alone at Home — the old orphanage — since there were always so many orphan kids and abandoned pokémon and nice ladies in black and later not so nice men in gray. And even in this new region, in our new home in Dagger's Dockyard, one of them was always around. But this time it was just me and Jarque…!

I looked to my side to the other pokémon staring intently at Jarque, who was still speaking to his magical device for long speaking. Right. No, we were not truly alone. There was her. Valentine. Out of all the many regions that must exist in the world, did we have to end up in the one that requires at least two pokémon to do battle?

"Is something the matter, Clover?"

Oh, great. Now she was trying to play nice with me. She was so transparent! She was only trying to get close to Jarque, that scheming vixen! Well, I refused to play into her hands. I turned my head aside in a very abrupt fashion, refusing to so much as look at her.

"Are you okay…?" Yeah, you keep insisting. I'm not falling for your whole nice girl trick, you thief. "Are you nervous about tomorrow's battle too, Clover?"

My ears perked up. Okay, okay, I will speak to you. But I won't look at your face. "Why would I be?"

"I figured you might appreciate a few words of support. Since we lost last time, I thought you —"

"You made us lose. I didn't lose." I glared at her, my eyes as fire. "You were the one to fall to a single lame Bite. How did you expect me to win alone against two dragons?"

The Fennekin took in a deep breath as if trying to keep herself from saying something she didn't want to say. Oh. Just say it if you dare. "And I've told you that I accept my part of the blame. Yes, I could have done better, I don't deny it. I was very nervous that day. But it is not fair to place all the fault on me alone."

"So what are you saying? That I am the one at fault here?" I tried to keep my tone as confrontational as possible.

The thief of affections shook her head almost violently. "What? No! I'm just saying, uh, that we all have a part of the responsibility to share. We are a team, right?"

"A team? Us?" I gave Jarque a quick glance to confirm he was still busy speaking to his device and not paying attention to us. Not that he would understand our words anyway. "Jarque and I are a team. We have been together for eight years, so we are inseparable. You? You have only been with him for a little over a month, so don't let it get to your head. You are with us only because this stupid region requires gym dances to be done with two pokémon at once. That's all. That's the only reason you're here. He's just using you. Don't assume he cares about you."

The Fennekin lowered her head and ears, keeping her legs close together and her tail low. Did I go too far…? She looked really affected. I almost felt bad for her, but then I remembered what was at play. Jarque's affection! No, I was not letting this homewrecker get away with it.

"Sorry." Oh. She was apologizing? Yeah, that suited her better. "I-I know you two have something very special, and it was never my intention to get in between you two."

"So long as you understand."

I heard a beeping sound. It seemed like Jarque was done speaking to Bera through the device for long speaking. I wondered where she could be right now. She and Mallet had a one-month head start over us, but I'm sure we would catch up to them in no time! Maybe we would meet them again in our travels. Since the two twins were doing the League's challenge, it wouldn't be too out of the ordinary for them to meet in one of the many locations that housed a gym. And since they had those pokégear things, they could even coordinate to meet on purpose if they happened to be near one another.

"This thing is running out of batteries," Jarque said, looking at the strange device as he rotated it around. He placed a hand in his pocket and produced a wallet. "I think I have barely enough to buy some of the good ol' triple-A. Girls, wait for me here, okay? I'll be back in just a few minutes."

"Sure thing!" I said to him, nodding my head. He would not understand me, but I think he had at the very least caught up on the particular meows I use for yes and no.

"Stay safe!" Valentine said, raising her head high. "We will watch the place!" Heh. This was just some random room in an inn. It's not like anyone was going to try to steal something from the room of a random orphan trainer who didn't have a single badge to his name. Uh, yet.

After saying goodbye to the both of us — but to me first! — he took up a small bag and left, closing the door behind and leaving me alone in this room with the thievish vixen. I didn't get too many chances to be alone with her. Should we continue our chat so that I can put her in her place?

"I really don't mean to cause trouble," she said as soon as our trainer left. She was sitting close by my side, but she avoided my gaze. "I understand you are his first pokémon, and thus his starter proper. That is fine. I can get used to that. I feel like you have this impression that I want to… steal him from you or something. Far from it! I just want to be part of a team, even if it is not in a lead position."

"Is that so…?" I scanned her face for any signs of deceit, but that was tricky to do when she was staring at the floor.

"Right! Surely you can sympathize with this imperious need that species like yours or mine have to associate with a human to help us develop. It is the reason humans envisioned the entire trainer system, as well as practices like the League's challenge. Going on a journey with a human we trust, as we grow alongside other pokémon teammates and face challenges like gym leaders, is an idea that is inherently attractive to most kin, specially for us starter species. That is all I want out of this, Clover. I just want to help our trainer succeed as much as you do."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "As much as I do…?"

She raised her head to meet my eyes, but took a single step back. "I-I'm sure you like him more than I do. That's not what I meant. I was only trying to say that we are both walking towards the same goal, so I hoped we could, um, walk side by side as friends, you know?"

Friends. Hearing that word uttered from someone standing so close to me almost made me recoil. I had friends. Lots of them. Jarque. Bera. Mom. And also many of the orphan kids and nice ladies in black back at Home. But I must admit I never got along all that well with fellow pokémon. There was Mallet, but he was my brother so I'm not sure he counted. It's not like I hated other pokémon or anything, but it is true that I always preferred the company of humans. For species like mine, that wasn't necessarily something rare either. 'Starter pokémon', I think humans called us. They gave that title to species that favored the company of humans even over that of their own kind, which is why we were often offered to newbie trainers as we were particularly loyal and harmless.

And this Fennekin was proposing that we became friends. What was her angle? What was the trick? Her orange eyes had a nervous gleam to them, but if she were trying to deceive me she would be the best liar in the entire continent. How could someone look so earnest? You are making me feel bad! Can you even just ask someone to become your friend? Like, is that a thing? Is that how it works? You are allowed to just ask?

I closed my eyes to think. It made me look cool and suave when I did so, I bet. I don't think Valentine was trying to trick me, since I was smarter than her so I would have figured it out by now. But I didn't like her. Why? She was harmless. She might have a type advantage over me, but I was pretty confident I could take her on if push came to shove. I could defend Jarque from her if she ever went mad! So why didn't I like her, then? After all, having more pokémon in our team meant Jarque would be safer. She wasn't as strong as me, of course, but I would begrudgingly admit that she wasn't terrible when it came to dances of skill either.

"Can I ask why do you dislike me?"

Her question caught me off-guard. The thief of affections wasn't reading my mind, was she? I think her kind evolved into psychic-types, but there was no way she could do something as advanced as telepathy in her current stage. Was I that transparent? I thought I was very covert about my intentions. But, good question. What reason did I have to mistrust the Fennekin?

"I don't dislike you, Valentine," I… lied? Was it a lie? I wasn't sure. I didn't hate her at the very least, but I would have preferred it if it were just me and Jarque alone. But why? Wouldn't he be safer with more pokémon around? I didn't understand my own thoughts sometimes.

"Are you perhaps…?" There was a word that was about to leave her mouth, but didn't dare to. She just fell mute.

"What?" I urged her on.

She cleared her throat in this very cutesy way. "A-Are you jealous of me?"

"Jealous?" I tilted my head, both confused and amused. Now why would she think that? Okay, sure, being able to spit out fire sounded cool, but I could make vines grow and she couldn't. Different pokémon could specialize in different skills, big surprise. "Jealous of what?"

"I notice you… glare at me quite intensely whenever master pets me or praises me for a good battle. Whenever he brushes my fur you want your fur brushed too, and whenever he gives me a bath you want a bath too."

Okay, I was starting to see how she had figured out I disliked her. Back at Home, Mom or one of the other ladies in black took care of bathing and caring for us pokémon, but sometimes the older human kids would also collaborate by taking care of specific pokémon that trusted them. Even back then Jarque would help brush and clean my fur, give me baths, and sleep with me on stormy nights when I was scared. Bera would do the same with Mallet, although I know in his case he wasn't scared of storms and was just pretending. Cheeky! But Jarque and Bera never did this with any other pokémon.

Up until a month ago, I had been the only pokémon Jarque would caress, and hug, and bathe, and kiss, and sleep with. Up until a month ago. And then Valentine joined us, and although he wasn't nearly as effusive, he would also pet her and give her hugs and even kiss her forehead at times. Although he never kissed her in the lips like he did with me! That's something we had been doing since he was a little kid and I was a cub. It's a Sprigatito thing, a way my species creates rapport.

But still. I had been the only pokémon Jarque pampered for the eight years we had known each other, but that changed as soon as the Fennekin joined our team. Was that the reason? Uh. Maybe she was on to something after all.

"I'm not jealous!" I said to defend myself. That was the easy part, but now I had to explain my argument and that was harder to do because I had none. "Don't get so haughty just because you are so cute and have such a nice, velvety fur."

"O-Oh, buttercakes! Thanks, Clover." She looked down, smiling shyly. Wait, that wasn't a compliment. Don't take it as a compliment. "You're cute too, and I'm sure master enjoys petting you a lot."

Damn right he did. "I'm his favorite," I insisted. "So long as you remember that… I suppose there's no reason we cannot get along." It's not like I was excited at the prospect of making a friend my age or anything dumb like that, but since she seemed so sincere I guess I could make a sacrifice and oblige just this once. At the end of the day, it just meant one more pokémon to keep Jarque safe, plus we needed more pokémon in our team to participate in gyms. And petting the Fennekin's alluring but still lower quality fur would only make Jarque appreciate my splendid fur even more anyway. I was just using her, really.

"That's good to hear, Clover!" Valentine said, beaming wide, her tail wagging behind her. How honest. I guess so long as she wasn't a threat I wouldn't mind keeping her around. She moved closer to me, although her fur still didn't touch mine. "We've been together for a month, but I realize I don't know much about you, or about master for that matter." I scrunched my nose. Why did she keep calling him that? Lab pokémon sure are weird. "Maybe it would help if we learned a little about each other. So why do you like master so much, if you don't mind me asking? I understand there's a strong biological component to it since we pokémon are predisposed to liking humans, but your loyalty reminds me of that of Adelaide towards the professor. It is laudable, Clover."

A small chuckle escaped my mouth. "It is, uh?" It just felt natural to me. It wasn't anything I would consider noteworthy. "We have been together for eight years, so it's normal that we trust each other this much."

"Eight years…" Valentine repeated, her wide eyes displaying clear amazement. I think. That must have been like over two thirds of her life, since she seemed a little younger than me. "How did you two meet? I have heard fragments, but I haven't pieced together the full story. From what I understand you grew up in an orphanage together, right? Is that were you were born?"

"Oh, no. I was born… elsewhere." I looked aside, trying to look cool and enigmatic and mysterious. "I was born in — uh, I think it was a lab. Or a human facility of some kind." Wait. Did I really want to tell her about this? I didn't know how much I wanted to reveal my hand. I haven't even told Jarque — although that was because he couldn't understand me. Then I looked back to her, to those shiny, big eyes filled with curiosity and expectation. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to share a little. "I don't remember much of my time as a cub, truth be told. I remember being there with Mallet. You remember him, right? Bera's Litten. My brother."

Valentine gave an effusive nod, as if to prove she was listening with great attention. "I've been meaning to ask. When you call him brother, is that meant to be an affectionate appellative? A female pokémon can only give birth to members of her own kind, with few exceptions. A Sprigatito and a Litten cannot share a single mother."

I lay down on the cold floor of this room and tried to make myself comfortable. "I think we are technically only half-siblings."

She lay down by my side, as if mimicking me. "So then you share a father, but have two different mothers?"

I rested my head on my front legs and closed my eyes. "It's complicated. I was too young to remember properly. But sometimes, when I'm dreaming, I seem to recall a Meowscarada dad and an Incineroar mom."

There was a short pause before Valentine spoke again. She must have been thinking hard about it. "But that isn't possible, is it? If that were the case, you would be a Litten yourself too, Clover."

I raised my head only a little, enough to look at her. "What are they called? Those pink blob things."

Her large ears perked up. "Oh! You mean a Ditto! I guess that makes it possible for you to be half-siblings. Although that is a… well, that is quite a bit of a strange family structure. Um. And it was a lab, you say? I was raised in a lab too."

"Wait, you too?"

"Of course! Most of us starters are raised in labs in preparation to partner us up with humans when we are older. Although I technically wasn't born at the lab, but rather at a daycare center."

"A what now?"

Still lying down, Valentine began to gesture with one paw. "Adelaide told me about them once. It's this place where pokémon who want to have children go to, and then they…" She buried her face in her legs, her yellow cheeks turning brighter for a second. "You know. They have an egg. That's how I was born, apparently." Her ears sunk and the characteristic glint in her eyes vanished for a moment. "Although I never met my parents. According to Adelaide, my Dad and my Mom had a trainer that wanted them to have lots of children because they were very strong gym-level pokémon, but they gave most of the kits away. Some to labs, some to loving families, some to natural reserves."

And some to orphanages. Yes, I think I knew what she was talking about. I had met a few pokémon like that back at Home. It's not something I fully understood myself either, but I heard that the offspring of strong pokémon were very sought after by people with lots of money. So sometimes one or two successful trainers would have their pokémon lay a lot of eggs and keep the best ones, donating away the rest. I guess Valentine must not have been among the fortunate ones. Although I wasn't sure if that was good or bad luck.

"So you never met your Dad and Mom?" I asked, and she gave a docile nod. That's kind of harsh. I didn't remember much from my young infancy, but at least I did spend time with dad. I think. "Then they sent you to the lab of… what was that guy's name? Lovelace?"

She let out a gentle giggle that made my ears feel tingly. She was kind of cute, I had to admit. Not as much as me, of course. "My earliest memories are with Adelaide and the professor."

"That's the old Delphox, yes?" I asked, and she again nodded on cue. I stared at her well-kept yellow fur for a moment as the gears turned in my head. "Wait, could that be your final evolution? Are you two…?"

She looked at me in silence as if waiting for me to finish my sentence, before it clicked in her mind what I meant to ask. "Oh, no, no! It's just a coincidence, Clover! Although I guess she is old enough to be — but no, Adelaide doesn't have any offspring. Like, I have never met Dad and Mom, but I know who their trainer is, and it's not the professor. Maybe they sent me to the professor's lab precisely because there was a Delphox there, but we have no blood relation. She just cared for me and raised me."

"So she is your Mom."

"That's not…" Valentine let out a soft purr as she buried her head in her legs, and I noticed a slight reddish tinge on her cheeks. Oh, no. Too cute. This little devil was too dangerous. I was going to have to up my game if I wanted to remain the cutest in Jarque's eyes. "I-I guess I might have seen her as a mother figure of sorts? Might have even accidentally called her Mom once or twice." She let out an awkward laugh, her eyes shifting back and forth. Was she embarrassed? But nothing about that sounded embarrassing. "And it wasn't just her. The professor was a bit stricter, but he always taught us lots of things, and all the other caretakers and lab assistants were always very kind too. And of course, it was fun playing and training with Glass and Rose and all the other pokémon in the lab as we waited to be old enough to join a trainer's team."

I just remembered why I resented her, why we didn't get along from the beginning. The Fennekin had been blessed with such a nice, comfy, sheltered upbringing. And it's not that I was envious or anything, but I couldn't help but compare. "Darn. We had very different experiences growing up. I was in a lab when I was young too, but it wasn't, like, a professor's lab. I'm not super sure what kind of lab it was. But I for sure would have preferred your lab if they treated you guys that nicely." Although then I wouldn't have met Jarque, so maybe not.

"Was your experience that bad, Clover?" Valentine had a special skill to paint her words with concern in a way that would pierce your heart like a needle and make you not want to worry her.

"Yeah, it wasn't fun. My memories of that time are fuzzy since I was so young, but I remember us having very little freedom. We were often confined in small cages as they moved us from room to room to do tests and jab us with needles. But they didn't hurt or anything because I'm a strong girl! And they usually kept Mallet in a nearby cage, so I was never truly alone."

"Heavens…" She looked at me with that heartfelt gaze of hers that seemed to whisper 'everything is okay now'. Don't you dare. Don't pity me. "Did they…?"

The Fennekin fell silent. You could at least make an effort to finish your sentences. "Did they what?"

She seemed to have trouble finding the words. "Did they abuse you?"

I wondered for a second if I had misheard her. "What? Where did that one even come from? No, they didn't beat me up or anything. My memory isn't the best, but that I would remember for sure. Why would they ever need to get violent anyway? It's not like anyone could escape." I stood up, proud, keeping my head high. "Except for us, of course."

She stood up too. Why did she always copy what I did? "Escape? You did?"

"Me and Mallet, yes! I think Dad helped break us out, but again I was a cub and my memory is foggy. The lab people tried to stop us, but we were just too fast and too sneaky for them!" I had a big grin. "We fled them into a nearby city and it was very cool, and although they followed us we were too smart for them and always managed to dodge them just fine."

"That's terrible…" Wait. That's not the intended reaction. You were supposed to be amazed at my feats and admit my superiority.

But I would not let her tepid reaction dissuade me. "Y-Yeah, and then we lived in the streets, surviving off of trash and leftovers and occasionally stealing. And we never got caught! And we didn't need the help of anyone else! It's shocking how good we were at surviving completely on our own!"

"Clover…"

Don't look at me like that. Please. "A-And the nights were cold, but we had each other so it's fine. I bet people spoke in fear of the green and red menaces sowing chaos wherever they went! And since we were scared of — sorry, since we were wary of our pursuers we had to be constantly on the move. We never knew what humans and pokémon we could or couldn't trust, so we avoided interacting with anyone. We just lived in the shadows, and it was awesome and very rad."

Valentine rubbed her nose against my cheek. Don't cry. Don't show weakness before the thief. Don't cry. "Mallet always gave me the biggest part of all the food we found. He thought I didn't notice. I did. But I said nothing because my tummy hurt and growled all the time. I was quite the trickster, uh? And all that time I just thought of Dad and wondered what happened to him, and if I would ever get the chance to thank him for getting us out." I managed to hold a smile on my mouth. I wanted Jarque to be here to give me a big hug. How had I let this thief trick me into telling her all this?

"You were very courageous." She began to rub her cheek against mine. One of our cheeks was wet, but I honestly couldn't tell which was which. "I'm sure your father would be very proud and happy that you two made it this far." This stupid thief. You don't have enough trying to steal Jarque's heart? You want to steal mine too?

I rubbed my cheek against hers. I don't know why, it just felt right. Her fur was dangerously soft. Jarque, I understand why you like to pet her, all is forgiven. She was far too nice, and usually when someone is far too nice it's because they're trying to con you or get something out of you. There was also a very small possibility that this Fennekin was just genuinely this kind, which would make me a bit of an ass for treating her the way I did. But regardless, I couldn't deny that it felt good to finally be able to share this with someone other than my brother, since humans couldn't understand me.

I didn't feel like crying. Not anymore. It was okay. But I made a mental note to keep an eye on the Fennekin, for so soon as she developed telepathy and could communicate with Jarque she may just become a very serious rival.

"It wasn't that bad," I said. "Rather, it was bad, but not for long. According to Mallet, we lived as vagabonds only for a little under a year before joining Home." A noticed her ears perking up. "Uh, Home is how I call the big house where we used to live along with Jarque and the others."

"The orphanage?"

"That's the one! One day I was exploring the streets of a city with Mallet in search for food, when he passed out from exhaustion since he hadn't eaten anything in a few days. I didn't know what to do. We were in the middle of a city and I refused to just abandon him. I stayed by his side in hopes he would wake up soon, when suddenly Mom appeared." I noticed Valentine tilting her head. "By Mom I mean Euchre. Remember the middle-aged lady that was with the twins?"

"Oh! Her! Isn't she their mother?"

"No. Not biologically, anyway. Although I guess she did adopt them after all." Human customs were so strange. Adoption. You could just decide that someone was your mom or your dad just like that. "Back then she was one of the nice ladies in black that worked at Home. She and the other women there took care of looking after the orphaned kids and abandoned pokémon until they were adopted."

"Ladies in black?" Valentine began to swing back and forth as she thought. "Were they like nuns? I take it those were the ones in charge of the orphanage, Clover?"

"I think so. Anyway, Mom was on her way back after getting groceries when she happened to run into us. Jarque and Bera also happened to be with her at the time, as she was teaching them how to buy stuff in human society. They were just little kids back then! Mom was quick to propose giving us food and bringing us to Home to heal us. But all I saw was a bunch of humans trying to take Mallet away from me, so I put on my best scary face and didn't let them get any closer. I thought the food was just bait to lure us, and I was just not buying it. Too smart to fall for such an uninspired ploy! Mom didn't bring any of her pokémon with her that day, so she warned the two kids not to get any closer as it could be dangerous."

Valentine hummed, displaying a wry smile. "I haven't known the twins for long, but I have known them for just long enough to know they probably ignored her warning."

"You know it. Bera nabbed a piece of bread from Mom's bags and the two siblings began to advance towards us, Jarque on the front. I also placed myself in front of the still unconscious Mallet, and began to growl at them to show I meant business. But that didn't make them stop. I got into a bit of a panic once they got closer, and I jumped at the girl that was crouching down beside Mallet with something in her hand, not knowing it was food. But then Jarque covered her and intercepted my attack, holding me as I scratched and bit his arms and hands, never letting me go even after I drew a little blood. It took me a moment to realize they genuinely didn't mean any harm until I desisted and let them help us."

I noticed her staring at my paws, so I raised one to give her a better look at my claws. "That must have been… uh, a way to meet. Then they brought the two of you to the orphanage, I take it?"

"Yep. They healed our wounds, brought us food, and then realized we didn't have any trainers to send us back to. I think they discussed for a while what to do with us since that was only an orphanage for humans at the time, but Mom managed to convince the rest to let us stay. The twins had gotten attached to us, and Mom argued that our presence would offer comfort and support to the orphans. And I guess she had a soft spot for pokémon since she had been a trainer during her youth."

I never stopped to consider it at the time, but we were immensely fortunate that it was these three that found us first before any other human or pokémon. I would rather not imagine what could have happened. Uh, I suppose life did deal me very good cards after all, just not in my starting hand.

The door opened suddenly and with no warning, and my entire body tensed up. But that tension was short-lived as I soon recognized the familiar scent. So Jarque was back from getting those 'batteries', whatever those were. I jumped to receive him, of course. I expected lots of head pats and lots of kisses.

And I guess I was kind of okay if Valentine received a few of those too. She didn't seem like a bad girl. But I wanted two kisses for each one she got!