Charter 14

Making Friends

Xandora came crashing down into the rough, rocky ground. Minor burn marks were found along various parts of his body. He was gnashing his teeth in pain as his claws slowly racked into the rocks. Tenebris approached the zoroark while Frostbite stood back, frozen in fear from what he witnessed.

"That was beyond foolish," Tenebris said. "You don't think I've planned this out? You don't think I already had in mind you would try your transmutation abilities to try escaping me? Let that attack be your first and only warning. If you as much breathe out of line, I'll end you in a matter of seconds. Hell, I might even be a little convinced to see how Zorzo's body reacts to it too."

"Don't lay a fucking paw on my son, you demon," Xandora struggled to say through his gritted teeth.

"Then co-operate and everything will be fine. Now, we're almost at the shore. You'll be turning into a water based pokemon to transport us to the north eastern parts of Mardol. According to Frostbite, those are the least secure areas in Mardol as they focus too much around defending Whitestone. Nevertheless, it should be a few more weeks until we finally arrive at the destination."

It was business as usual back in Whitestone. Nixie had to continue her training with Mystic. It took some time, but she eventually was able to get Rose to get up and leave the house. Rose was currently in the daycare while Nixie was learning another lesson.

"Alright, Nixie, you are now quite familiar with your psychic ability by now, just struggling to actually use it. Something you will need to learn are the schools of magic, are you familiar with them?" Nixie shook her head. "Well, it is not all that complicated, the schools consist of abjuration, conjuration, divination, illusion, transmutation, and the two forbidden schools: necromancy and black magic."

It all sounded like a foreign language to Nixie. "I'm not so sure I follow."

"That is quite alright, as magic can be a bit confusing upon the first glance. The most basic school is conjuration, almost every pokemon is a natural conjurer at heart. Conjuration is the art of making something from nothing. For instance, you conjure water from within your body. Your body could not possibly contain that much waster, so instead, your body has naturally allowed itself to conjure the water from thin air. Your neighbor, Flint, conjures flames from his body. There are three requirements for fire: heat, fuel, and air. All liquids inside a fire type are flammable, that would be their fuel. The air is pretty obvious. Fire types are radiate heat naturally. What Flint, and other fire types alike, does is construct the chemical resection of combining the three components to create the fire."

"What exactly does this have to do with my training?"

"Simple, you will gradually learn bits and pieces found within the teachings of the other schools of magic. First, I will be teaching you lessons of abjuration. It is easily one of the more beneficial schools of learning. In this school, you learn about abilities focused on blocking, banishing, and protecting. The move you shall be learning is protect, this allows you to create an impenetrable barrier. The only downside is being able to do it every so often."

"Where do I start."

"You have already began learning the basics for the move. When you were moving that ball of water a couple days ago, you had created a barrier around it. This one was not impenetrable, but it was invisible. If you can focus on making your barrier stronger while keeping it invisible, you shall have an upper hand at defending yourself, if such the occasion were to arise. For starters, let us practice on the size of your barrier."

Nixie and Mystic's session went on for a couple hours. By the end of it, Nixie had began creating larger barriers, but they still weren't impenetrable, they also slowly became more visible as their size increased. Mystic made it clear that their meetings had to be shorter now since she was currently filling in for Starshine's spot. Nixie was then excused from her training for the day.

After picking up Rose, the two of them walked back to Nixie's home. The walk was awfully silent, Rose had still been feeling down about Flint's departure. The sun was almost fully set by the time the reached the him. Once inside, it was still the usual silent barrier between the two. To Nixie's surprise, Rose had been the one to break the silence.

"... do you know when he's going to be back?"

"I wish I did, they weren't too specific on the days. I'm sure it won't be too long."

"But I miss him so much, he's the only one who takes care of me. Now he left me behind..."

Nixie had to think of the best words to help comfort Rose. "I'm sure it's tough, Rose. I kinda went through something similar when I was a little younger than you." Rose seemed slightly interested to hear what she had to say. "You see, my parents were my care takers, but..." realizing her next choice of words, Nixie bended the truth a little, "my tribe didn't approve of certain things... so my parents decided to no longer take care of me. I had no idea how to deal with it at the time, I was lost and confused."

"What hapened? Why couldn't your parents look after you anymore? What were they doing that your tribe didn't like."

"They, uhh... it's kinda hard to explain, you're a little young to know."

"Hey, I'm not that young." Nixie casted a somewhat doubtful glance. "I mean, well..." Rose was a bit lost as something else popped in her head that distracted her from her previous questions. "Nixie."

"Hm?"

"Do you..." She looked around nervously, "bleed?"

"Yeah, every living pokemon bleeds-"

"No, I mean... a special type of bleeding."

Nixie then understood what Rose meant and was already finding the conversation a little uncomfortable. "W-where did that come from."

Rose nervously tapped her paws together. "Well, you're a girl, I'm a girl, Flint's not a girl. Flint and Kindle told me a little bit about it when I had bleed for the first time not too ling ago. I was kinda curious if you bled like that too and if you could give any advice."

This was definitely not a conversation Nixie had been expecting. It wasn't necessarily a topic she would ever expect to talk about either. "Well... yes, I do. There isn't much advice I could give you, I hardly know too much about it myself."

"Why does it have to hurt so much? I don't even understand why we have to bleed."

"I honestly don't know, our creators probably just wanted females to suffer. On the bright side, both of our species only have to deal with it annually, unlike some creatures that have it monthly."

"Arceus, I can't even begin to imagine how annoying that'd be." There was a bit of a pause before she continued. "Hey Nixie, mind if I... ask you something a little more... personal?"

Nixie was curious to what else Rose could possibly have on her mind, but then again, she already fond this conversation quite peculiar. However, this was the most Nixie had ever talked with the eevee, she wanted to do anything she could to keep Rose's mind temporarily from thinking about Flint. "Sure, go ahead."

Rose hesitated a bit and also looked around nervously, not quite so sure if she wanted to follow through. "I..." she trailed off in mumbles. "Uh, nevermind."

"Rose, it's fine, you can talk to me about anything you'd like, you know."

"I understand that, but this... I don't even know how to ask this without it... being weird."

"Well, you've already asked about my cycles, so it can't be too bad."

"I guess you're right..." Rose then leaned a little closer and lowered her voice a bit, as if others were listening. "Have you ever... had sex?" It was like a pen had dropped. It was entirely silent after that specific question. Rose had a very embarrassed look on her face. "I-I told you it would be weird..."

"I...I wasn't really expecting that."

"Let's just forget I asked anything, o-okay?"

"It's fine, Rose. I get that you're becoming curious about these things, I was too at one point, but... what made you ask that?"

"Well...I was told that females bleed when their able to produce children. I already know the basics that a male and a female need to mate to make a child. I kind of... lie around Flint. I act like I'm not interested in having a mate, but in reality, I'm curious to what it's like. I want to KNOW what sex is like."

"I see. I don't have any experience to share. Like I said the other day, I never really found a mate. I understand your curiosity a little more, but you shouldn't rush to find the answers to this type of curiosity. You just need to be patient and eventually you will probably find a mate."

"I understand that," Rose said, lowering her ears. "I just want to know more. I accidentally did something near the end of my cycle. I was restless because I felt that burning felling inside myself. I tried maneuvering myself around, but a sheet ended up rubbing along my... area. It all felt so foreign. Not in a bad way, but rather, enjoyable. I don't know how to describe it."

"Pleasure? I think that's what it is. I'd advise not giving into your desires. Your brain and your actions are two different things. Don't let one overpower the other, just overcome what your brain is wanting."

"Why though? Why should I resist something that feels good for me?"

"I..." Nixie thought for a bit, "it's hard to explain. Like I said, don't rush to understand this better. Just take your time and wait for a mate."

"I guess... thanks for listening to me. I don't think I could have this conversation with Flint. I wanted to talk to Kindle, but she was never around much when she was here in Whitestone. I feel slightly comfortable talking to you, though."

There wasn't much more to the conversation after that, much to Nixie's relief. She had learned a lot more about Rose than she would have hoped to, she even learned that Rose was hiding a bit of a secret from Flint. Something both of them had in common.

There wasn't much left for the two to do. Nixie and Rose had a light meal before they fell asleep. The next day was just like any other. The sun shone brightly in the sky, the flying types chirped, and the streets were busy with pokemon. As usual, Nixie had to continue her training with Mystic while Rose went to the daycare.

Nixie had seen how much Rose disliked the daycare ever since her first day there. She couldn't help but admit that Flint kept a bit of a leash on Rose. She wasn't able to stay alone anywhere, she never had a say in anything, and Flint barely seemed to let her make her own decisions.

Mystic had still been emphasizing Nixie to practice training her barrier. The main problem Nixie struggled with was making it impenetrable. Mystic was constantly able to shatter the barrier with a psychic attack. It seemed the only real progress was the size of the barrier.

"Hmm," Mystic thought, "I may have an idea you could put to use."

"I'm all ears."

"So, the problem you consistently struggle with is the fact that your barrier is destructible. This would only be good to either defend yourself against one attack, or at least negate some of its effects. The size of the barrier is determined on your creative abilities, the more creative your thoughts are, the bigger the area will be. The strength of your barrier is a different story. That is determined by your mind drawing a blank or some other rare scenario."

"What exactly do you mean?"

"Simple, really. You know that feeling you get when you try remembering something but you just can not quite remember it for some unknown reason? That same effect can help produce an even more powerful barrier. Let us give it a try. I want you to create a barrier right after I ask you a question, try answering the question as well."

"Alright, it's worth a shot. Ready when you are."

Mystic took a moment to think of a question. "Alright, let met see..." She then lifted a blunt object that Nixie was unaware of. "What color was the ball I first threw to you during your first training session?" Mystic then suddenly launched the object towards Nixie.

Nixie didn't have much time to react, but in her fear of being hit by something, she quickly created a barrier while blurting out her answer. "Blue?" A clear wall formed in front of Nixie. The object came into full canter with it and bounced off.

"There you go, even though your answer was wrong, you still managed to build the barrier. The reason I hurled that object at you was for you to develop the instinct of creating one on a moments notice. Sometimes you will not have time to crate one, but if you make it instinctive, you could create one within milliseconds."

"It's great to see some improvement, feels slightly rewarding too"

"Trust me, you are only scraping the tip of this ice burg. With the right amount of training, you should have the ability to crate your own unique attack by the end of your lessons."

"That all sounds nice and all, but why would I need to learn such attacks if I don't intend to battle?"

"Self defense. Knowing all of this information will easily lead to enemies underestimating your capabilities. Even if you do not plan on battling in the future, know that your opponent will not always give you the choice. Anyway, that will conclude your training as of today, I have a meeting to attend here soon."

"Why is it exactly that Starshine put you in charge? It seems like such a daunting task to assign to someone."

"You see, Starshine and I have been friends ever since we were young kits. She grew up from a predominantly royal background, whereas I came from a lower class. She was a bit rebellious in her youth, always snuck out trying to see what city life was like...

A young eevee scampered around the bustling streets, running between various pokemon. A smile spread across her face, she had yet again outsmarted the guards allowing her another successful escape. She was now following a peculiar scent that wafted in the air. It was sweet. She wasn't sure what it was, but her nose would lead her to it eventually.

After a few turns, she had found it. On the corner of a street was a bakery that specialized in baking pies. The young eevee's mouth began to water, nothing would suffice her hunger more than a cherry pie. She decided to buy one and enjoy it in peace and quite.

She looked around for someplace that was out of sight. After all, she was the latest princess, her presence always drew a bit of a crowd. She finally settled on an alleyway that formed between a tavern and a chapel. She thought the placing of the two was odd, but ignored it. The only thing on her mind was a delicious pie.

The eevee licked her lips as she prepared to enjoy the sweet pastry. Before she could get a bite in, she heard the scrapping of paws approaching her. As she looked towards the source, she saw three fairly larger pokemon. There was a noctowl, a snubbull, and in the middle was a swalot.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" Said the swalot.

"Looks like an eevee," said the snubbull, "and there's only one eevee in the whole city."

The noctowl looked at him with a weird glare, "No there's not, you moron. Remember that she's not an only child?"

"Oh, right. Still, what would the young, Princess Crystal be doing out of the castle all by herself."

"Would be quite a shame if she just disappeared one day," the swalot said.

"What do you want from me you creeps?" The eevee, known as Crystal at the time, said.

"I'll make it easy for you to understand, kid," the noctowl said. He then flew forwards Crystal and pinned her down to the ground using his talon. "When someone as important as the princess goes missing, the city begins to panic. Once everyone fails at finding the princess, the parents become desperate enough to offer large lump sums of money as rewards."

Crystal was both disgusted and horrified. "Y-you can't do that!"

All three laughed, then the noctowl glared her in the eyes. "Who's gonna stop m-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a rather large rock pelted him in the head. He fell almost instantly, a large gash in the beck of his head steadily poured blood. He wasn't dead, but unconscious for sure.

"Who's there!?" The swalot yelled. "Show yourself coward!"

"Coward?" A feminine voice said, but they still couldn't locate the source. "How am I the coward when you stoop low sigh to kidnapping to make money?"

"Shut your trap, money is money, doesn't matter how you look at i-"

Before the swalot could finish his sentence, he felt a sharp pain in his head. The severity of the agonizing pain caused him to pass out. The snubbull then seemed a little shaky, not sure if he should stay or not.

"And then there was one..." an espurr then walked from seemingly nowhere into the alleyway. "You gonna stay or run?" The snubbull glared, he wasn't going to run away from some kid. Before he even came in contact with the espurr, he was forcefully pushed into the wall by any unseen force. He too fell unconscious. "Usually the last pokemon is smarter, not in this case I suppose. Are you hurt?" The espurr then asked Crystal.

"N-no, I'm fine... thank you."

"It was no problem. Here, let me help you back up." The espurr offered a paw to assist Crystal, which she gratefully accepted. "I am Mystic, by the way. Whom might you be?"

"You're kidding right? Everyone knows who I am."

"Well, yeah, I do know who you are. But hey, I prefer proper greetings." Mystic offered a paw to the eevee.

Crystal looked at it, she smiled and shook it. "I'm Crystal. Hey, do you like cherry pie?"

"Oh my arceus, you have no idea!"

"... and from there we basically became friends and hung out quite occasionally. Oh yeah, but back to answering your question. Starshine has developed a sense of trust directed towards me, therefore she trusts me with such important responsibilities, such as watching over the kingdom while she is gone. It is similar to how Flint let you temporarily watch over Rose in his absence, he has a sense of trust towards you."

Nixie felt her heart warm up. "You mean that?"

"Of course, I see no other reason as to why he would not."

Something else seemed to catch Nixie's attention, it lied within the story Mystic had just told. "There's a couple things in the story that I'm slightly confused on."

"What would they be?"

"Well, one, I realized that you referred to Starshine as Crystal."

"Yes, that's because eevee are given neutral-type names at birth. Starshine was born with the name Crystal, but once she evolved into an espeon, she claimed herself to be known as Starshine."

"Thst makes a lot of sense. Rose had mentioned something like that involving eevee naming. The other thing I'm confused on is who is Starshine's sibling? The noctowl mentioned she wasn't an only child."

Mystic looked down. "Yes, Starshine had a sister, her name was Spectrum. Quite a docile person, she was."

"What happened to her?"

"Tenebris happened... He killed her for pursuing the want to become an umbreon. He believes he is the only one allowed to be an umbreon. It is imperative that Rose does not evolve into an umbreon... or else Tenebris will target her next."

Nixie didn't want to believe one pokemon would kill any other pokemon just for wanting to be an umbreon. Then again, she remembered he was the same reason her entire colony was murdered. Their home stood on precious land that he wanted. If he'd go to great lengths to claim land, there was no doubt he would go after Rose if she was an umbreon.

"Speaking of Rose," Mystic said, also trying to change the subject. "You should let her come over to my place and meet my kids. It would probably be beneficial for her to hang out with children around her age rather than spending time at the daycare here at the castle."

"Sure. I just don't know where you live though..."

"Not a problem. You just pick up Rose and meet up with Psyche, he should be getting off soon. He can take you to the house and the kids can all meet. I should hopefully have time a little later tonight, I will try and get home."

"I apreciate it. I'm sure Rose would enjoy that a lot more as well, she doesn't like the daycare at all. Speaking of Rose... her and I talked a little but last night, but I was unsure how to handle the subject."

"What were you two talking about?"

Nixie shuffled around a bit. "She's...curious about her heat cycles... and sex."

"Hmm, she is that age. I had advised Flint to take her to a sex ed class, but I am unsure if I will be able to teach those classes now that I am watching over the kingdom."

"You teach sexual education?"

"I teach a lot of things. I teach sexual education, history, the Avarian language, statistics, and the likes. Ever since I took this position of responsibility, I have had even less time to teach those lessons."

"When you do have time again, could you teach Rose... and maybe even me?"

Mystic glanced over at Nixie. "What would I need to teach you? You are old enough to know these things now."

"Yes, I know, but... you've seen my past, I haven't really been taught about this stuff. I'm nearly as clueless as Rose."

"Good point, but why do you want to know? Are you trying to impress Flint?"

Nixie blushed heavily, "N'no, i-it's not like t-that-"

"Alright alright, calm down, I was just teasing you. Yeah, if I find the time, I can try teaching both you and Rose."

Nixie did as Mystic instructed. She had picked Rose up from the daycare and then headed towards the entrance of the castle to find Psyche. He was rested up against a wall, patiently awaiting they're arrival. Mystic had telepathically told Psyche to meet up with Nixie and Rose.

As they approached, Psyche's ears twitched a bit and he looked their direction. "Ah, there you two are." He then looked towards Rose, he had never formally met her. "You must be Rose, it's a pleasure to meet you. Oh, but where are my manners, I am Psyche."

"Nice to meet you."

Rose seemed a little confused and Nixie then realized she hadn't explained to Rose what their plans were. "Rose, Psyche here is Mystic's husband. We'll be going to his house so you can meet their children. They're around your age and we're considering letting you go to their house instead of the daycare for now on."

Rose's ears perked up. "You mean it? I don't have to keep going to the daycare?"

"I'm not going to force you to do something you're opposed to."

"I can't thank you enough, those kids are too young... and loud... and obnoxious."

The three started heading to wherever Psyche and Mystic lived. It was in the same general direction that Flint and Nixie lived, however, it was further up the mountain.

"So, Nixie, how have things been since you arrived here in Mardol?" Psyche asked.

"It's been rather fine, a bit of a culture change, that's for sure."

"I could only imagine. So I heard Mystic took you under her wing to give you some special training. What do you think of it so far."

Knowing Rose was present, Nixie and Psyche both had to be vague about the training. "It's rather interesting. Mystic seems quite surprised by how well I retain the knowledge and put it to use."

"That's good to hear. Most of her other students quit around the area you're probably at."

"Other students?"

"Well, yeah, Mystic teaches that special training to a small handful of pokemon that we find capable of the course. Most feel like they're ready, but Mystic's rigorous training method causes most to start feeling like it's no longer worth the training. Don't let that discourage you, though, go until you no longer feel you can, just know that it's mentally strenuous, not physically. Don't let your mind play games with you."

They had finally reached the house. It was fairly larger than the one Nixie currently resided in. Their house was made out of the same white stones every other building was made from, but theirs had two floors. The door was made of an orangish wood which complimented the blue and yellow flowers that grew in pots next to the door. Psyche unlocked the door and let Nixie and Rose inside.

Not even giving Psyche a chance to close the door, he was tackled by two espurr; one was gray, the other was pink. "Dad! You're home!" The pink one said, clearly a female from her voice.

The gray one then took notice of Nixie and Rose. "Who are these two, dad?"

"Right. Children, I'd like you to meet Nixie and Rose. Nixie works with your mother, and she is currently watching over the eevee, Rose."

"Whoa," the gray one said, then approaching Rose. "I've never seen an eevee. Oh, by the way, I'm Hocus."

Before Rose had a chance to respond, the pink espurr approached. "And I'm Pocus. Hocus and I are twins, but I'm cooler because I'm totally pink!"

Rose was pretty timid around the rambunctious children. It didn't seem much different from being at the daycare.

"Children," Psyche said. "Give her some breathing space. Your mother thought it would be a good idea for you three to all meet and hang out. Why don't you guys take Rose to your room and go play a game, or whatever it is you kids do nowadays."

Hocus and Pocus both seemed delighted about the idea. Without much thought, the two rushed off up the stairs, Rose slowly followed them, still uncertain how she felt about the situation. While the three kids all did their thing, Psyche and Nixie had engaged in small talk. At the top of the staircase, Rose saw Hocus waiting outside a doorway, beckoning for her to come over. She did so and was lead into their room.

Inside were two beds, one had blue sheets, the other had pink. There was a window between the two beds that housed a small flower pot growing red colored flowers. On the ground was a rug that had a target pattern alternating between maroon and gold. Lastly, in the corner was a plush chair.

Hocus then approached Rose. "Well, now we're away from the adults, so now we can have some fun."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, first, you have to have your initiation." Rose looked at him with a confused look. "Pocus, bringith me thy rapier."

"As ye wish, sire." Pocus then grabbed a rectangular box from under Hocus's bed and brought it to him, while kneeling down.

Hocus removed the top of the box to reveal a wooden sword inside of it. The words "rapier" were poorly etched onto the blade. Hocus took the blade and held it high in the sky. He turned to face Rose and gently placed the blade on her right shoulder.

"What is thy name, young traveler?"

Rose stood there completely bewildered from what she had just witnessed. She wasn't sure if the two were being serious or not. At the same time though, she found it quite amusing, it was much different than what the kids in the daycare usually did.

Rose decided to play along. "My name is Rose."

"Rose, is it? Hmm, yes. I see, I see. That is the name of a truly remarkable warrior. I've been searching for worthy friends who fit the caliber for my type of work. My only question is, are you willing to fight along side me and Pocus to defeat evil?"

"I am."

"So be it, Rose. I knight thee." Hocus then shifted the blade to Rose's left shoulder. He and Pocus then bowed. "Now, to find you a weapon. Pocus, grab your gear. It's time."

"Right." Pocus then went to her bed and grabbed a makeshift bow and a quiver of ten "arrows," which were actually just sticks.

"Were are we going?" Rose asked.

Hocus walked over to the window and pointed at a small cave that happened to be in the wall of the mountain. The cave was blocked off by the house. "There. That's the Cave of Trials. This is were every adventurer must go for their first adventure. It will be tough, but I see it in your eyes, that you're ready for the challenge."

Hocus opened up the window and beckoned for the two girls to follow him. They did, and followed him to the cave's entrance. Sitting outside were two makeshift signs. On the top of the opening was a header that read "Cave of Trials," while the other had the word danger written in red with a crude drawing of what looked like a spider of some sort.

They then began descending into the cave. Darkness followed. Rose felt a littler unnerved. She thought it was odd how they were now acting and the fact that they left the safety of the house. However, she could not deny that it was a better than the daycare. She decided to play along with Hocus and Pocus to see what would came out of the game they were playing.