Me: Two-hundred revieeeews! :O Yaaaaaay!
Shard: *Mouth ajar* Wha... really?!
Thunder: Maybe we'll see the day when we reach three-hundred! :D
Shard: Don't jinx it... Now we'll never reach that! D:
Thunder: ...Aw...
Me: We should throw a party!
Thunder: Uh, woo-hoo!
Me: YAYAYA- Wait. Didn't we do that when we reached one-hundred reviews?
Shard: No. You made that special chapter from Fawn's POV with Treacherous Chasm. :/
Me: Oh... Well, I have no special chapters planned this time. Instead, what about... a super-extra-mega-fluffy-awesome-long chapter!
Shard: YAY! :D
Thunder: But what are we gonna do here? You know, in this non-story section that always starts off the chappie?
Me: We. Shall. GIVE AWAY PRIZES.
Shard: .O. Yeeeeees!
Me: The best shipping in this story goes to SHARDUNER, since over fifty percent of voters chose you two on my poll. :D *Hands Shard and Thunder medals*
Shard: *Gasp* R-Really?! Yay! :3
Thunder: WAH! I NEVER PREPARED A SPEECH. ;-;
Me: The trophy that goes to the best reader ever goes to... ALL OF YA. *Throws trophies everywhere* The cutest cub award goes to FAWN! The silliest shipping goes to STARANG! The strangest bird goes to XATU! And the worse Pokémon ever goes to RUBY! :)
Fawn: Yippee! ^u^
Star: What's a trophy?
Fang: Maybe we can eat it! :3
Xatu: I do not require painted plastic in order to celebrate being 'strange', as you call it.
Ruby: ...I hate you all.
Me: Now here's the extra-long, fluffy chapter to celebrate reaching this. Thanks a bunch, everyone! *Stares at Ruby* Why did I bring her here. Oh no. RUN FOR YOUR LIII-
Thunder's POV
With a fully grown fennekin by my side and us carrying three apples each, we squeezed our way through Orchard Hillside's crowd and headed towards three, fennekin cubs and a beautiful glaceon. I caught sight of them within the apple trees area and, after making sure three stems were still latched in my maw, hurried over to the four foxes.
Scarlet was the first to notice us. She appeared to have been dozing off in thought, but seeing Summer and I dashing over brought her back to reality. By the time we made it over, Scarlet had eagerly informed the fennekin siblings and glaceon of our presences. Fawn promptly stumbled to her paws in a rush at our arrival, trotted up to the fennekin by my side, and snagged an apple from her. Summer sighed with exasperation, carelessly letting the other two apples hit the grass, and she fixed her daughter a stern, scolding look. Fawn didn't seem to catch it as she joyfully dug her tiny teeth into the snack.
The sibling fennekins snuck up and quickly took the two apples that the mother had dropped. I loosened my grip on the stems in my mouth so one piece of fruit fell next to Summer, though she didn't notice right away with her attention locked entirely on Fawn, and I went towards my favorite glaceon with the remaining two. A small, polite smile graced Shard's lips as I dropped down beside her, gingerly rolled over her food, and started tearing into mine. Shard didn't start eating right away, instead taking the opportunity to talk. "I'm surprised you and Summer managed to get apples. The line for them is pretty long."
I hurriedly swallowed some of the apple bits in my maw before replying. "You should've seen the pile of apples they had. I swear, they must've been stolen from another forest or something with how many there are."
Shard pawed her apple back and forth between her forepaws, eyes shifting between the red fruit and me. "Well, even with a heap of apples, I bet all of it'll be gone in two hours. It's like everyone is trying to get some!"
"Probably true." I considered my own estimate for a short while and when I settled on one, lightly shook my head. "Nah, I give it an hour, tops."
The ice fox snickered and finally bit into her apple. Juice leaked out from the apple's broken, red skin, messily dampening the cyan fur on her muzzle. She quickly wiped a forepaw around her mouth, trying to dry the area off while nervously meeting my stare. Shard suddenly leaned over to lick my nose; she timidly pulled back with a lopsided grin and bubbly giggles. I scooted over so our flanks brushed together and, to return the affection, happily nuzzled her neck. A warm feeling spread through my chest as her squeaky, quiet laughter became slightly louder.
"Aw! You two are so cute! Thunder, now you kiss Shard!"
My face slightly heated as I took note of those words. I snapped my head away, startled from the shrill, cub voice. "Fawn, come on," Shard murmured. The glaceon weakly smiled at the cub as her colored face betrayed her embarrassment.
Fawn threw her forepaws to her muzzle, failing to bite back her giggles. "Gosh! Y-Your faces are so red!" The fennekin stumbled and fell over: eyes shut tight, ears pricked, and tiny paws flailing in the air. I felt my ears pressing against the back of my head, but even with the burning on my face, I couldn't help but also laugh. I didn't blush often, so if my face was red enough to make the silly cub laugh, I would join in with the laughter.
A worried mother arrived by the cub's side from seemingly thin air. Summer hastily nudged Fawn with her nose, motioning the little fennekin to her paws. "You shouldn't tease them about their relationship, Fawn. Now look, you nearly fell on and bruised your apple when you fell over. Let Shard and Thunder eat in peace while you have lunch, okay? Don't you want to eat with Copper? And Scarlet? Then you can play after."
Summer began to lead Fawn away from us despite the cub's protests. After a bit of fidgeting, Shard called out, "D-don't worry, Summer. She can stay." The glaceon's reddened face was steadily fading down to pink by this point.
The fully grown fennekin stiffened and stopped leading her cub away. Summer reluctantly turned around, giving us an uncertain glance. "You sure? I don't want her annoying you too much."
"She's not some sort of burden," I hurried to mention. If Shard didn't mind the fennekin cub staying around us for a bit, I wouldn't either.
Fawn crisply yelped and bristled her pelt in anger, "Mom! Did you just call me annoying?!"
It was Summer's turn to laugh. The mother nuzzled the top of Fawn's head and quickly apologized. "Sorry, sweetie. If you need me, I'll be by Scarlet and Copper so I can watch them, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah... whatever, can you go now?"
"Behave." With that final note, she nudged her daughter towards us and darted off to find the fennekin siblings. Fawn squeaked in happiness and raced over in our direction; she barely remembered to fetch her apple on the way. With a furiously wagging tail, she skidded to a stop within reaching distance, and the little fennekin abruptly chomped a piece out of her fruit, effectively spraying Shard and me over with apple juice. The fennekin cub adorned a small, open-mouthed smile, showing apple chunks stuck between her tiny teeth. "Hehe! Got ya!"
Shard uncharacteristically bore a feverish glare into Fawn's eyes. The young fennekin looked confused for a moment before her ears and tail limply drooped. The two stayed like that for a few heartbeats until Shard completely lost the heated look and cheerfully bit down on her apple, showering Fawn in apple juice as retaliation. A playful grin etched into Fawn's face when she realized what happened. "Is this a challenge?" she questioned with a mock-deep voice. In response, I decided to chomp down on my apple, sprinkling both of the foxes in juice. "Oh, it's on!"
And with that, we somehow spent half an hour in an apple juice war.
Eventually, Shard and I had to leave Orchard Hillside. We were on a date after all, and Fawn kept interrupting any and all of our moments. We also didn't want to spend the rest of our date in that Pokémon-packed field, especially since it made us both uncomfortable, but we made sure to watch Fawn, Scarlet, Copper, and some other cubs in a land race before departing. In the end, Scarlet won; she apparently was a fast fennekin.
Even though Shard and I only had an apple each for lunch, we decided to not venture off to seek more food yet. Instead, we spent the following hours in Frosty Hills to play in the slush, which I learned would never become as fun as with powdered snow, and relaxing back at Silver Falls while watching some of the swim races. It transpired as my turn to choose where Shard and I would head to next. Since Serperior's Spa wasn't ideal, Shard wouldn't enjoy Sugarsand Beach's heat, and most of the other places we'd already visited, I much too reluctantly decided on... "What about the Cliff?"
The glaceon raised her head from within my scarf, blinking her violet eyes twice and absently pawing at the gem around her neck. "To... watch battles?"
"It won't be vicious fighting or something like that. It's a tournament that surely won't be dangerous." Her expression remained nonchalant and blank. I nervously backpedaled. "Uh, we d-don't have to go, though. I understand if it makes you uncomf-"
"Wait. I wanna go," she tentatively interrupted. "It'd be rude if I kept you from watching battles every time you're around me. It'll be fun, and it has to be c-controlled." I promptly caught on that she tried convincing herself to go. Once I tenderly nuzzled Shard's cheek, I rested my head on her neck to help the glaceon settle. I felt the ice fox tensing from my touch, but she gradually relaxed and placed her head gently on one of my shoulders.
"We don't have to go," I repeated softly. "What about we just walk around for a bit instead, or maybe stop by Forest Gr-?"
"No, no, it's okay. You've put yourself before me plenty of times... and I haven't. Also, I can watch a few battles without it being the end of the world, or something."
"...You're really sweet." We pulled out of our embrace and padded away from Silver Falls. Heading south-west, we stayed within step of each other while trotting pass ribbon-decorated trees and many groups of Pokémon. Forest Grotto came into sight, and I suggested going there for a second time, but Shard just shook her head and persisted on the Cliff. I nuzzled her flank and thanked her again for being so humble, and then we continued our way towards where the tournament would be held.
Trees lessened in number and the ground gained a slight incline as we neared our destination. More rocks than vegetation filled my vision, and we scrambled up a clearly imprinted path in the ground that weaved past several boulders. Shard stuck close to my side, visibly anxious, and it didn't take much longer till we made it to the end of the path. Fresh grass blanketed the then-flat surface except for in the center, where a large, rectangular area of dirt where the battling took place resided. Several Pokémon sat on the healthy grass and surrounded the battlefield, unsurprisingly letting off thundering cheers. Out of all the whooping crowds I'd seen that day, however, that had to have been the smallest and least enthusiastic one.
Dust stirred in the middle of the area, looking like two attacks had just collided. I turned to face Shard to see her slightly stunned by the sight. She abruptly whirled her head to face me, noticing my concern towards her, and adorned a reassuring smile. Any fear that she displayed moments previously had seemingly vanished. "Don't look so worried. I'll be fine." With that, she rubbed her neck beneath mine to further comfort me, which only partially worked. "Heh. Now let's hurry and try to find a good place to sit."
We started over towards the crowd, but then I immediately halted; something unusual stirred in the air, making my ears twitch and fur stand on end. It took mere heartbeats until I discovered why, spotting a sphere of warm colored hues shooting out from the battlefield. Pokémon in the crowd hastily tottered out of the way to avoid it and as a result, the sizzling, flaming sphere had a direct path towards us. Shard's terrified gasp made me rush to action; I threw a foreleg over the glaceon and shoved us both against the grass. My ears flattened down instinctively so they wouldn't get burned, but I could still feel the heat of the attack singing and blackening the tips of my fur.
I removed my foreleg from around Shard once the fireball passed. I leapt to my paws, angrily searched for where the fire attack had gone, and noticed the flaming sphere thinning out and dispersing by large, gray boulders behind us since no vegetation could fuel the flames. With a growl building in my throat, I pivoted around to face the battlefield where a exhausted mole with gigantic claws and a fiery red, tall bipedal were standing. They both panted on opposite ends of the battlefield with the red bipedal farthest from us. The excadril appeared either too tired or too angry to show concern, and the blazikan took the opportunity of the distracted, wheezing excadril to launch himself forward with a powerful leap. The leg he didn't use to spring himself into the air lit up with smoldering flames, and the excadril barely had time to look surprised as the Blaze Kick slammed into him. The mole was sent sprawling up, hung in the air above the crowd for a heartbeat, and plummeted behind the shocked-to-silence audience with an audible thud. After a moment's hesitation, the excadril struggled to bolster himself up on his claws, but then he gave up on standing, dropped to his stomach, and refused to get back up.
Shard shakily climbed to her paws and pressed against my flank. I prepared to yell out at the blazikan for being so careless with his fire, but I ultimately restrained myself as a jaunty, resonate voice boomed into the air. "Jet the blaziken wins this enticing match and moves to the semi-finals!" Since the gap in the crowd where the fireball streamed through didn't fill in yet, I could easily witness the proud blaziken grinning triumphantly as a shaggy furred, light gray quadrupedal scampered onto the battlefield. The mightyena announcer spoke up with that official-sounding tone once more. "Jet the blaziken shall face off against Chip the braviary soon, the fantastic avian that has been winning in landslides! But first, our other semi-finals match shall take place as Jet receives a well-earned break. Coming up, prepare to see Musi the kadabra versus Faolan the manectric!"
After a short gasp, a furious, unruly growl released from deep in my chest. "Seriously?!" It earned me the eyes from a few, puzzled Pokémon that I uncaringly ignored. That jerk made it this far? Never realized he could be that strong.
Shard also reacted at the mention of Faolan by shuddering against my side, but when I glanced at the timid glaceon, she didn't look alarmed in the slightest. Instead, she practically masked over her emotions with an oddly tough coat of insouciance. She blinked blankly at the confused stare I held and tilted her head. "What?"
My anger from hearing the name of a certain manectric weakened as distress took hold. "Uh... A-are you alright? I mean, we barely avoided that attack. It's only natural that I ask," I flimsily explained. I wanted to instead inquire if she wanted to leave for a better area, but I could easily tell Shard was getting tired of my fretting.
The glaceon beamed a small smile and, with that usual shyness of hers, pecked my cheek. "Of course! But if you hadn't... Anyways!" She skittishly avoided my gaze with a wobbly frown. "I'm s-sorry for acting so, eh... strange. I don't want to be a bother around you, so I decided to try and, well, you know, get used to battles and stuff."
It was my turn to kiss her cheek. Her impassive composure shattered as a perplexed, curious look sparked in her eyes. "You're no bother! Where's this thought about changing coming from, anyways?"
She appeared frightened to answer. "Just... like I've said earlier, you've been doing so many nice things." She talked in a rushed and prompt style, as if giving a confession. My worry just deepened. "You keep paying for everything when we go to places, you're so caring about how I am, and not to mention you're nice enough to do things such as letting me rest at your den... you know, like around th-the time when Ruby attacked me. You're just really kind, and I can't think of anything that I've done for you!"
I paused, unsure on how to respond. Fortunately, she didn't seem like she would explode in rage or was on the verge of tears, but just sounded very passionate about her words. She really wanted to do something selfless for me. A silence rested between us for a few heartbeats, but I hastily ended it. "Just one battle. We'll watch Faolan get creamed, and we can go get something to eat."
Her frown vanished and a sincere smile crossed her muzzle. "Deal!" she agreed with satisfaction. The glaceon nuzzled the cheek that she kissed moments prior and padded towards the gap in the crowd, which had barely remained there during our chat. I trotted after her, and we managed to claim somewhat good spots for viewing the upcoming battle. Shard leaned against me, rested in my flaxen pelt, and even though we tried, we couldn't get a small conversation going before that mightyena announcer's perky voice filled the air. "The first of the semi-final matches is about to begin!" The female canine calmly walked into the center of the battlefield as several Pokémon cheered and clapped. Two Pokémon trudged onto different sides of the field; one appeared as a mostly goldenrod humanoid with a large, bulky tail, and the other was a familiar, blue and yellow quadrupedal lazily striding across the dusty ground.
Faolan and who I easily assumed to be Musi glared at each other over the considerably long distance between them. The mightyena stood rigidly in the center with equally fair distances between both battlers, red eyes bright as she cheerfully looked over the audience. "To one side of the battlefield," the canine started, tossing her head in Faolan's direction, "is Faolan the manectric! Throughout all his tournament battles, he had toughed his way into the winners' circle from many entertaining, neck-to-neck matches! Will he power his way into the finals, I wonder?" Some cheers resounded around the area in agreement, causing the battle-ready quadrupedal to stomp a paw down and smile brightly at his fans; I couldn't help but groan.
"And to this side," the announcer threw her head towards the opposite side of the battlefield where Faolan's opponent calmly levitated, "is Musi the kadabra! She's a talented 'mon that has mastered the ways of a psychic! Although she has different ranges of time limits on her psychic moves since they'd leave serious injuries otherwise, it just proves she's not a battler to mess with!" Musi crossed her arms over her chest in a lax way like Hunter always did, and since she faced away from Shard and me, I couldn't see her reaction besides that massive tail waving side to side and how she twirled a silver spoon in a single, clawed hand expertly.
The mightyena paced off onto the sidelines and stared at the battlers with anticipation. "The battle may now commence!" she announced joyfully. Shard started to restlessly shuffle her paws and I felt her pressing herself further against my flank. I ripped my eyes from Faolan so I could quickly nuzzle and kiss the anxious glaceon, and when I returned my gaze, the manectric had dashed towards his opponent with a crackling, electric-filled mane for a rash start.
With an unamused, forced sigh, Musi teleported away from Faolan's direct line of attack and reappeared some distance behind him, but he promptly swerved on a paw to face her new location without halting his run. She crossed her arms to form an X-shape as a reaction, appearing ready to block whichever move Faolan decided to launch, but my thoughts were proven wrong as curves of pink light encased her arms. With newly created blades of psychic energy, the kadabra stopped levitating and sprung forward with a cocky smirk. The manectric planted his paws on the ground, effectively skidding to a halt, and hastily discharged an arc of vicious electricity. Musi pushed her forearms together and swung downwards as the Discharge made contact, deflecting the attack so the course of electricity sharply bent and struck the ground. Dust overtook the kadabra, but Musi rushed out into sight with her psychic-sheathed arms down by her sides and that overconfident smirk.
Faolan's opened his maw to reveal giant fangs coated in bright flames. The manectric and kadabra both strode towards each other with attacks at ready, and when they each entered reaching distance, Musi swung a bladed arm vertically with certainty sparkling in her eyes. Faolan avoided the blade by dropping to his stomach, the Psycho Cut barely missing, and he opened his flaming jaws wide around one of Musi's legs. She reacted upon reflex and kicked both feet forward before Faolan could snap his mouth shut, but he only got slightly knocked back and still trapped a small leg in his maw.
Musi growled and hurled her arms downward, managing to strike Faolan's back with her Psycho Cut. The manectric released his teeth's grip and crumpled beneath the attack with a pained yelp, but he then swiftly climbed to his paws, fell into a crouched position, and propelled himself forward at his opponent with such speed that she couldn't react in time. His head slammed into Musi's small abdomen and his crooked, blue furred tail got shoved into her face, causing both of the battlers to tumble backwards into a sprawled heap.
From what I witnessed, none of the attacks were inflicting terrible wounds in the least. Faolan's Fire Fang had closed around one of Musi's ankles, but he didn't dig his teeth in much; he allowed the fire to singe her skin and his slight bite to cause damage. When Musi's Psycho Cut made contact with the snide manectric, Musi had purposely dulled the psychic blades so they wouldn't create large cuts on his back. In every which way, they followed the rules of the tournament by not leaving serious damage, but they still chipped each other's health down all the same.
Musi's eyes filled with intense, red light, Faolan's medium-sized frame highlighted with faded pink, and the manectric was lifted off from the pile Musi and he had been sprawled in. He hung helplessly in the air, flailing his four legs in a feeble attempt to escape. The kadabra sat upright sharply before tossing an arm to the side in a wide, sweeping arc, and the quadrupedal was harshly thrown into the ground. Dust swirled around the losing manectric so he rested hidden from view; when the dust cloud dispersed, Faolan laid battered and motionless on the battlefield. Musi tilted her head, confusion evident in her no longer crimson eyes. "What?! You can't possibly tell me that's all you got!" she whined childishly, slowly rising with levitation while doing so.
When I thought about glancing at Shard to see her reaction, I became interested in the battle once again when a scorching beam of fire shot out from Faolan's muzzle. Since the manectric's back faced me, I didn't notice the red orb that had to have been charging inside of the quadrupedal's mouth. Musi had torn her gaze off Faolan to look at a perky mightyena, seeking the announcer for guidance on if she won or not, and displayed surprise when Faolan's Flamethrower became within her close vicinity. I managed to see her eyes brightening with crimson light again, but the flames hungrily engulfed the kadabra before she could redirect the Flamethrower. The flames highlighted her small form in bright red, causing her staggering figure and tightly shut eyes to be visible through the blaze.
She choked out a scream from the extreme burning and fell to her knees. The fire weakened and flickered out after a short moment, revealing the black singes scattered over her goldenrod and chestnut skin, but Musi still stumbled up defiantly to her feet. Faolan had taken the time to gather himself on his paws and prepare another Discharge during that time, and when Musi's eyes glowed with glaring red again, a powerful streak of yellow launched itself at the kadabra. Musi held out a single, empty hand towards the electric attack with those gleaming eyes and sharply threw her arm to the side again. The bolt of electricity suddenly froze in midair, radiated a faded pink, and exploded in a rain of brilliant yellow and rosy sparks.
Musi adorned a tiny smirk, but it had been short-lived once she realized how close Faolan had become. With eyes as round as Oran Berries, her gaze fixated on the quadrupedal that had a sphere of ravaging flames in his snout. A stream of fire rocketed out and engulfed the humanoid, causing her enraged, disgruntled scream to entwine with the sizzling sounds of the flames. She staggered back but remained her ground, appearing like she was trying to gather up strength during her endurance of the attack.
Even though she attempted to push through the pain, the kadabra's legs collapsed beneath her and she crumpled down. As soon as the fire finished dealing a great amount of damage and died out, Musi barely managed to stand and start levitating before getting zapped down. The manectric released several, small streaks of electricity at his opponent, further scorching Musi's skin. After the cleverly planned onslaught of crackling electricity finished up, Faolan leapt at the much weakened humanoid and firmly placed both his forepaws on either of her blackened shoulders. I could hardly notice Musi's eyes brightening with dim red, but the weak light dispersed just as Faolan let loose a powerful, close-ranged Discharge that enveloped them both in golden light. She didn't even contain enough energy to scream.
Loud crackling ended the suddenly dead-silent audience, and as soon as that potent attack came to an end, Musi's closed eyes and stiff body betrayed her state of unconsciousness. She laid on the field immobile besides the steady lifting and falling of her chest. Faolan stepped off his defeated adversary with his snout high in the air to blatantly exhibit his overflowing content and smugness. The mightyena announcer instantly voiced a narration of the battle's finish. "And as a mighty Discharge comes to an end, it is plainly obvious who reigns victorious of this battle! Faolan the manectric moves on into the finals with flying colors!"
I couldn't suppress my frustrated groan. He actually won, and against a psychic no less! Hopefully, that blaziken wins his battle, or else Faolan will have a big chance of winning in the finals! But that braviary is going against a fighting type, so... After dismissing my shocked and disappointed thoughts, I faced a certain glaceon to take in her reaction. She didn't appear heartbroken or saddened from watching the battle, fortunately, but instead carried a slightly annoyed expression.
"Faolan won," she muttered as she placidly stood, appearing ready to leave. "Oh well. Maybe he'll lose in the finals. I don't know what I'd think if he won the entire tournament." The glaceon met my blank stare and cheerfully smiled with a small giggle. "We should get something to eat! What about Ninetales Café? It'll be the first time we go there as a couple, you know."
Before I could reply, my ears flicked downwards because of the sudden, booming uproar around us. I'm really starting to get tired of all this noise. "Can..." Since I could barely hear my own voice, I trailed off and tried again. "Can we talk when we're somewhere quieter?" I hurriedly requested. Shard didn't even seem to think twice about it as she nodded, and we began searching for the easiest path out of the crowd.
It didn't take long, but we squeezed out of the excited, bustling audience and rushed down a partially steep incline until the cheers became faint. Shard and I slowly came to a stop on the thin path, and we quietly moved aside next to a large boulder so we wouldn't block up the trail. We weren't going to wait until we reached the bottom of the path to decide on where we'd eat. Even though few Pokémon left or headed to the Cliff, a small group came by occasionally and we didn't want to inconvenience them by standing in their way.
I decided to begin a conversation with a specific question that had been plaguing my thoughts since the end of Faolan's match. "D-did the battling bother you at all?"
The glaceon casually shook her head, definitely surprising me. "Fighting like that is better than most others. I expected bl-bloodshed, so things went smoother than I thought. All that fire made me uncomfortable, though..." She batted absently at her necklace's gem again, and a small amount of fear became visible in those violet eyes.
"It's over now, at least. Now you get to choose where we eat. Didn't you say we should head to Ninetales Café?" Shard didn't answer, getting lost in thought as she messed with her necklace. I leaned over and softly nosed the bottom of her muzzle to regain her attention. She stopped pawing at the heart-shaped gem and pressed against my gaze with her own, displaying such a tiny, cute smile. I couldn't help but chuckle at her adorable expression.
"Y-Yep. Ninetales Café... Time to sit around like we've done during most of this date, except this time with food!" Shard joked, and she followed up by adding some lighthearted giggling. The glaceon then scooted closer and nuzzled my chest, looking downright ecstatic all of a sudden. My heart fluttered for a moment, and my grin felt so wide that I probably looked awkward. She perkily kissed the tip of my nose and rubbed her neck against mine, uncontrollably giggling and smiling.
The noise of a forced, unnecessarily loud groan filled the air, effectively tearing my attention away from my favorite glaceon. A large, white-furred bear with giant paws faced us from on the trail; he had his arms crossed over his chest, contained a disgusted look in his judging eyes, and he pulled his icicle-fringed mouth back in a half-grimace. "Get a den," the beartic drawled with an eye roll. His words had quickly ended Shard's blissful mood. The ill-tempered bear snorted before stomping his way up the thin path, and I refused to take my glare off of him until he rounded massive, tall stones and disappeared from sight.
"...That guy's annoying," Shard irritably grumbled once he was gone. She heavily leaned against my chest and rested her head in my scarf, maintaining a sulky composure.
"So many of our moments have been interrupted today," I sadly remarked while nodding my agreement. I scratched the back of my neck and yawned a bit, becoming somewhat sleepy because of the warmth Shard emitted. Even if she was an ice type and her pelt radiated a slight chill, she still gave off a comforting heat.
We rested there for some time. Our sour attitudes from the beartic's interruption had slowly faded, and we enjoyed the presences of each other within our warm, comfy embrace. Few words were exchanged since the silence was more enjoyable as we remained there, ignoring whoever passed by until my stomach rumbled badly enough for Shard to hear. We shared a moment of laughter and after sharing our cuddly moment a short while longer, we continued our descent back into lively vegetation.
Shard stubbornly insisted on paying for our meal at Ninetales Café during our trek down from the Cliff and wouldn't tolerate no for an answer. I offered for us to at least share the cost, but Shard was quick to refuse. She really wants to do more selfless things for me. Neither of us carried Poké at the time, though; we'd left it all back at our dens. We thought that lugging around a bunch of coins all day would be annoying, so we decided that if we needed to buy something, we'd stop by one of our dens and fetch an appropriate amount for it. Seeing that Shard felt so strongly about paying, we had to stop by Shard's den before eating at Ninetales Café.
It was frustrating to practically trek across the entire forest for her Poké, but at least we took a bunch of breaks on our way to and from Frosty Hills. I volunteered to store those gleaming discs of currency in my battered scarf once we reached Shard's den, and the coins continually and annoyingly slipped out of the cloth. Before we departed for Forest Grotto, which was a fairly long distance away from the snowy area, we hung out in the slush and played for the second time that day. The sun had considerably moved in the cloudless, light blue sky once we nearly arrived at our original destination, and I realized with a start that we spent somewhere just under two hours fetching Shard's Poké. "I guess we should've taken shorter breaks," I sheepishly admitted. We had used too much time pouncing around through slush and cuddling by the bases of ribbon-adorning trees.
We stayed practically pelt to pelt as we weaved our way through the animated place. I hardly managed to keep all of Shard's Poké within the folds of my scarf, especially when a clumsy timburr had somehow rammed straight into me at one point. A wooden structure painted with the warm tints of numerous, berry juices soon stood before us, and we hastily forced ourselves into the overly busy building. The line was insanely long and all the tables appeared full; Shard and I could endure the line's wait, but I felt nervous from some thoughts of vulpix kicking out customers. I didn't want our two hour quest for retrieving Shard's Poké to be wasted, but the only other place that we could've bought food at was Ivysaur's Berries, and that place closed for the day due to all the free berries for the Spring Festival.
The line started to move remarkably fast at one point, and it took only a couple minutes till we were at the front of it. The vulpix that needed to take our order had his fur on end and nearly all his tails carried a wooden plate or bowl. With a stressed look in his eyes, the fire fox met my stare and demanded with impatience, "Either order fast or get out. We can't afford to waste time."
"Uh..." My cobalt eyes locked with Shard's violet ones. "I'll go ahead and order for both of us. What do you want?"
She didn't answer for some heartbeats, but then quietly replied, "We should share a plate of Pecha berries, maybe? Um, and an Oran smoothie for me."
I nodded, immediately considered what I should've gotten, and looked back at the stressed, impatient vulpix. "We'll have a plate of Pecha and Leppa berries, an Oran berry smoothie, and some Persim juice." The vulpix huffed and rushed to write it down on a small, slightly torn piece of paper with a worn quill in his only free tail. When he finished, he dropped the quill in favor of the paper, and waved us off as he sprinted through a doorway behind him. I shared an uncertain look with Shard, and then we were harshly forced to the side by a snappy customer. The rude Pokémon grumbled something about us holding up the line and shifted his attention away, short-temperedly waiting for some vulpix to arrive to his aid and scribble down what he wanted.
"The business here is really putting some Pokémon on edge," Shard remarked offhandedly. She continued talking once we met each other's stares once again. "Do you think we can find our own table?"
I surveyed the busy area, grasping onto a slim chance that we could find somewhere to sit, but my small amount of hope diminished quickly. "I doubt it," I replied after the slight inspection. This place is just too packed!
The glaceon swerved her head around as she also searched for an empty spot. Her diamond-shaped ears remained lowered from all the noise, per usual for the day, and she squinted her beautiful, lilac eyes in utter concentration. "How are we going to get our food? The vulpix always bring the meals to a table, so we can't get our berries and things without one." She swiped her eyes over all the blocks of red-orange painted wood representing tables, abruptly sighed in exasperation, and whirled around to face me. "Someone's bound to finish their own meals and leave before our food is ready. We should just wait around until someone gets up and we'll quickly take their table!"
My attention momentarily shifted from my favorite glaceon to the chaos that surrounded us. Pokémon were bustling everywhere and I could barely spot the tables out of the crowd of customers. "I don't really want to eat here anymore. I mean, I want out food from here, but we can never relax in all this, this... craziness!" When I glanced back at Shard, she held a frustrated gaze. She hardly managed to explain that she couldn't hear me because of the noises that strengthened around us, and I had to restate everything while straining my breath to talk loud enough.
After I finished repeating myself, her soft voice barely reached my aching ears. "You're right." She scratched a side of her head with a forepaw, seeming to ponder about what to do next; once a short moment passed, her ears slightly lifted and eyes widened. "Maybe we can..." Shard's voice faded off within the numerous voices that filled the building, adding to my frustration. The glaceon started over, appearing more miffed than before. "Maybe we can wait by the counter for our food to come out! Then I'll pay, we can leave with our food, and we'll find a better place to eat! Sound good?!"
Instantly, I answered the glaceon with a loud, "Yeah!" We shoved our way past some grumpy customers until we reached that wooden structure we always ordered at. For the umpteenth time that day, Shard pressed herself against my flank and slightly relaxed at the touch of my static-filled fur; she did that so much that it could've been her new habit.
Many vulpix dashed out from behind the counter, and they sprinted back with vacant trays and disappeared through that wide doorway. None of the waiters carried out our dishes yet, though some of them held a plate of rosy pink, heart-shaped berries or a frosty blue slushy, getting us excited for nothing. Eventually, a frantic, red-furred fox darted out of the kitchen, and her tails were curled around each item that Shard and I requested. The mentioned glaceon quickly brought her head out from against my scarf, ears and tail pricked with her pelt bristling. I stumbled out of my sitting position, sidestepped around the startled glaceon, and sprung into the path of the stressed vulpix before she made it far past the counter. The vulpix barely managed to skid to a hasty halt and somehow kept all the food items from spilling over me. Surprise glittered in her red-orange eyes, and the exhausted waiter hurriedly attempted to slip pass me.
With fast reflex, I sprung on my paws and forcefully blocked off her path again. She finally picked up that I wasn't accidentally cutting her off; she communicated that comprehension by boring an intense, restless glare into my cobalt eyes. "Out of the way!" she spicily demanded, lips reeling back to expose a fierce, intimidating snarl.
"Whoa! I'm not trying to annoy you! That's our food!" I defensively explained, gesturing over at Shard and myself. The waiter's frizzed fur steadily started to flatten down, but a slice of fury still stayed put in her quizzical gaze.
She seemed to consider my words for a moment. Reluctantly, she curved a tail down so a tray holding a large, wooden plate of both hot red and pink berries hovered by the side of her head. A thin sheet of paper had been crinkled up and pinned beneath the plate; the doubtful vulpix gently pulled it free with her fangs, laid it back down on the tray, and briskly smoothed out some of the paper's wrinkles with her beady black nose.
She peered at the flattened paper for a brief moment, her focused eyes quickly looking side-to-side as if reading. The vulpix glanced momentarily at Shard and me, and then back at the paper. "It lists the food items purchased from a glaceon and jolteon. Looks like Aero forgot to catch their names, though... but I don't think there's another glaceon and jolteon pair in here. Your species are rare, anyways." The final traces of hostility in her stance faded and the vulpix moved a hazel-brown paw up, nervously rubbing the back of her neck. "Sorry 'bout that. Just hand over the Poké fast and I'll get out of your fur."
While enjoying the relief of her calming down, I moved my forepaws towards my battered, crimson scarf. Since it'd take forever to pull the coins out one at a time, I forcibly tugged at the worn cloth and shook out the gleaming discs. They clinked against the wooden floor and shined in dim light. I made sure not to shake all of the Poké out, knowing not much had been needed to cover the cost, and watched as the feisty vulpix pawed a majority of the spilled coins in her direction. She bobbed her head in satisfaction, collecting our total payment. I rushed to store what she didn't take in my scarf before any tired, frustrated customers would stomp in our direction and accidentally - or, if some Pokémon were spiteful enough, purposely - kick Shard's Poké around.
The vulpix scurried back into the kitchen, barely remembering to leave our food on the counter before doing so. We somehow managed to tell her that we wanted to eat outside and, since she had no time to deal with us much longer, she sternly ordered to return the wooden bowls and plates once done. She said that if we didn't, she'd personally track us down once her shift ended and claw each of our ears off. Neither Shard nor I thought that she lied.
We made it out of the busy building to trudge through a just-as-chaotic crowd that waved through Forest Grotto. Shard carried both bowls of our purchased drinks in her muzzle, and she couldn't help but spill some of the Persim juice. The only reason her drink didn't splash everywhere was because of its half-frozen state. I had immense difficulty trying to keep all the Pecha and Leppa berries on the plate I carried, though I couldn't prevent a few from rolling off and getting squished. Some Pokémon sent us dark, angered glares when they noticed we were the cause of them getting their hoof or paw soaked in berry juice.
Once we barely escaped the mayhem of Forest Grotto, unscathed besides a couple scratches here and there, we slowly continued away until little to no Pokémon stood in sight. With the Spring Festival going on, we could hardly find any quiet, secluded places that stayed that way for long, so bearing in mind that we stumbled into a very tranquil area seemed lucky. Flowers packed an otherwise empty, circular space of grass surrounded by thorn-laden shrubs and thin, undecorated trees. Vivid daises of many colors and plenty of dandelions blanketed the little area, and a small amount of sunflowers tilted to face the warm rays of sunlight. Shard and I settled down beside the base of a red maple and immediately placed our dishes down.
When we observed what remained of our food, we discovered that half of the berries were missing - mostly Leppa - and there had been gradually less of my Persim-based drink than before I first received it. Some of Shard's Oran slushy covered and slowly melted on the bottom of my drink's bowl; the only way Shard could only carry both beverages at the same time if one laid on top of the other, and doing it the opposite way would've resulted in spilling most if not all of my Persim drink. The glaceon meekly apologized for splashing my drink around too much, and I responded by saying she didn't need to say sorry. After that small exchange, I emptied the Poké from my worn, crimson scarf, and when I noticed about half of the remaining change from our meal was missing, I ironically gave an apology to Shard as well. She just laughed and playfully hit my shoulder.
We both started munching down on Pecha berries. I switched between the two kinds of berries we had until I ate all the Leppa, and started impolitely slurping up most of the Persim juice to lighten the leftover spiciness in my maw. Shard chewed down a couple Pecha before sipping her Oran slushy, and continued eating her meal accordingly.
"So it's been an interesting day," Shard remarked indifferently, letting out a slight yawn.
"Yep. Free berries, friendly battles, and so many races," I specified with a chuckle. After I shortly reflected about all the races we witnessed, I wondered aloud, "Maybe we should've entered in one."
The feeling of a warm nuzzle brushed against the top of my neck. I lightly smiled. "We could head to Orchard Hillside after this. I know you'll win a lot of races by a landslide, and I'll be cheering on the sidelines!"
I bit down on a Pecha, pondering her words. "Well, mosht of da day..." Realizing how slurred and messy my speech came out, I swallowed bits of the sweet, succulent berry before starting over. "Most of the day, we've just been sitting and running around. Spending the rest of the day doing the same thing is kinda, well, lame."
The glaceon snickered. I moved my head slightly, looking right into those cheerful, violet eyes and observed her humored expression. "You get to choose where we go next, anyways, so what do you suggest?" She flashed a small grin and momentarily returned to her meal, sipping up the half-melted remains of her slushy.
An uncomfortable feeling sparked in my chest. The last time I felt that strange, light anxiousness was when I offered heading to the Cliff earlier. I weakly chuckled and stared down at my nearly-empty bowl of Persim juice, unable to restrain my surfacing nervousness. "What about, uh, S-Sugarsand Beach?" When Shard finished up her Oran-based drink, I felt her pressuring, confused stare grazing my neck.
"Even after last time? You know, when we got trapped in that tunnel?" She didn't sound as surprised as when I brought up the Cliff idea, but she did have that odd tone in her voice that let me know of her uncertainty.
"That was Fang's fault." I had been slow to point that out. "Besides, since the beach is huge, there's bound to be a vacant spot somewhere that we can hang out at. Won't it be great to get away from all the crowds?" I met her nonchalant stare and grinned; I felt confident that we'd have fun in the tropical area.
A bright grin shattered her stoic expression. "I've hated all the noise!" she laughed. "Ha, seriously. Eating here in peace has been my favorite part of today. Well, besides finding out that Star and Fang are dating, and nothing can beat spending time with you!" She smiled sweetly and pecked my nose, causing a light, cheerful pink to instantly color her cheeks.
I responded to her sweetness with a warm smile. My eyes briefly looked over the vivid, fully-bloomed meadow of flowers before us, and then my stare moved towards the cloudless sky. When we started eating, the sun had been sinking away and the usual, light blue was all you could see. At that moment, marigold and birdsong blossomed in the sky and plump treetops obscured my view of the sun. I silently 'hmm'ed. "Did you ever notice that when we usually eat stuff from Ninetales Café, it becomes sunset?"
Shard first appeared to ponder my insight before giggling her agreement. "True!"
I chuckled a bit with her and proposed an idea. "How about we finish up these Pecha berries, return the bowls and plates to the Café, and then go to the beach? I don't want that hot-headed vulpix tearing off our ears, ya know."
After hearing her cute, lighthearted laugh, she responded, "Heh, sounds like a deal to me!"
This chapter was so fun to write. :D I wish I finished it sooner, though. Geez, these revisions of earlier chapters are really making these updates slow...
Okay, I know I'm getting new chapters up at slowpoke speed still. But! I promise you that after one more long wait for a new chapter, I'll be getting new chapters up quickly like I used to. Mainly because Chapter 30 is where things get interesting. :3 I'm also getting close to finishing the earlier chapters of this story, so that contributes to giving me extra time for focusing on new chapters. Yay! xP
And here's to reaching 200 reviews! *Throws confetti and streamers everywhere* Seriously, you guys are awesoooome. If I could, I'd give you all gigantic, ursaring hugs, but all I can do is this: *You got hugged!*. Imagine that with the old-fashioned "You got mail!" tune!
Lastly, I know you guys were probably expecting something besides Sharunder for this chapter. Something with Starang, Coppeawn, Petal, or Ruby! Well guess what's next chapter? I'll just say... there's gonna be a lot of different POVs. xD I wanted to get all the Sharunder amazingness out of the way before getting to the other characters. Next time, expect a lot of stuff! :)
(P.S. This is about 9,000 words! :P Yay for extra-long chapters! Expect the next one to be super long as well!)