Walking In Another's Shoes

Nighttime and Memories

As Graiden finished dinner and quickly helped with cleanup, he couldn't help but notice Avia was beginning to pale again. Sighing a little, as it was probably something she had forgotten to tell him was happening, he came over and held her hand.

"What did you forget, sis?" He asked, to which he almost immediately regretted his decision to ask as she looked down with the same pale, scared expression and replied in a hushed whisper:

"I had a sleepover planned for tonight with my friends. There is no way they will accept suddenly being cancelled on..!"

His heart sinking as he realized what that meant, he felt his knees buckle as he sank to the floor.

"Oh why did we have to switch this week..? Why couldn't it have been next week?" He cried out, feeling tears prick his eyes. He felt scared and lost. Here he was being thrust into everything that a girl did, and he didn't have a clue how to do it all.

"Which friends..?" He asked. Avia had a lot of friends and he needed some kind of an idea of what was going to be happening. Avia sighed before replying:

"Asria, the one with brown curly hair and green eyes that usually fangirls with me over every Musical we love," she said, holding up a finger as she counted, "Keyera, the blonde with long hair and brown eyes that usually does my hair whenever we have an important event including my practices and recitals. And Brandi, the dark brown haired girl who is the best to talk to about having a crush!" She finished, all the while Graiden looked on with wide, lost eyes.

"Lord Arceus, help me through this trying time..!" Graiden prayed in his head. He didn't mind doing the Musicals for Avia as he wore her face for the moment and he didn't want to tarnish her reputation...but he did not have the foggiest clue about how to act at a girl sleepover!

Avia and his own mother must have seen his expression of utter loss and worry as they both quicky approached him. Unbeknownst to him, the two had actually already talked about this in a secluded part of the room and determined that the best course of action to help Graiden with this...was just having him experience it with very vague answers to guide him.

"What am I supposed to do? How do I even act around them?! I don't know anything about your friends Avia!" He cried out, tears threatening to fall from his panic. He normally wasn't this emotional, he even knew this, but he also couldn't help the panic that threatened to swallow him either. And it scared him to be this scared. This vulnerable.

Rina hugged her son tightly, rubbing his back in a gesture of comfort. "Hey, hey. It's okay sweetie. You'll get through it. Besides, you know how your sister acts around her friends right..? You've heard them several times when she's had them over before!" She consoled, while also reminding him of his previous experiences with Avia's friends.

Graiden shut his eyes as he felt comfort rise inside him. Letting his mind drift a bit, memories of Avia's previous sleepovers coming to him...

"Could you keep it down?!" Graiden yelled, his hands shaking from how angry he was. He had been trying to finish his homework for Type Advantages and Disadvantages class, but his sister and her friends had been laughing and giggling about boys and Musicals.

It wasn't like he could tune them out either. His room and his sister's room were next to each other. So he heard pretty much everything they talked about.

Frowning a bit, he opened his eyes as he willed the memory away. "I only remember how frustrated I was whenever she had one because I would be trying to finish homework for school..." He admits, looking away from his mother. He had never admitted to being angry. It wasn't an emotion he felt comfortable expressing or talking about. Annoyance was one thing...but full on anger frightened him.

Rina frowned slightly. "Why didn't you ever tell us about this sweetie? We could've told them to quiet down.." She trails off, before sighing. "Unless...you didn't want to tell your father and I?" She questioned, her Cyndaquil making its way slowly up to her shoulder.

Graiden looked down at the floor as Avia frowned and a glistening came to her eyes. She didn't know her sleepovers had made him so angry because he hadn't been able to focus. Sniffling and wiping her eyes to rid herself of any tears coming, she stared at the floor as well.

Rina nodded. "It's okay to feel bad about how you behaved back then. But now is what truly matters. We can't change the past, but we can change the present for a better future. " She states profoundly, before looking at her son again. "Try to remember those sleepovers, but try to imagine yourself as Avia. For some reason, those who are swapped by Manaphy's Heart Swap move are able to tap into the memories of the one they are swapped with if they imagine themselves in that person's shoes in the memory. I like to call it the Manaphy Effect." She states. "And we have nothing to lose by trying."

Graiden nodded, a bit nervous. How was the memory going to change once he was in his sister's point of view? Closing his eyes and calling the memory, he focused on it and willed himself to be in his sister's shoes instead of his own...

And then...