FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was a quiet autumn morning in Azalea Town. The sun was casting a warm glow onto the rooftops as it slowly broke the horizon, but almost everyone was still asleep… The key word being 'almost.' Jake had barely been able to sleep last night. He was nineteen years old and finally moving out of his father's house; an exciting prospect for anybody, but especially for him. Not only was he leaving the nest, but he was starting his journey as a Pokémon trainer… of sorts. Most boys who did so started at ten, the minimum age requirement, but Jake had a very different plan in mind than most.

His family was descended from members of the Galaxy Team Survey Corps, an elite group of Pokémon wielders tasked with researching the flora, fauna, and landscape of the Sinnoh region long ago when it was still known as Hisui. They had many skills not cultivated by the general population, making them essential to the Galaxy Team's success. One such skill was survival-ninjudo, a form of martial arts based on agility and using your attacker's force against them. Another was crafting Pokéballs out of Brown Apricorns and various Tumblestones, and using them to capture Pokémon to help them in their survey work. These and other traditions had been passed down through Jake's family to his Father, Kurt.

Learning about the wide variety of apricorns growing naturally in Johto, he decided to move there from Sinnoh and take up crafting Unique Pokéballs as his trade. Kurt taught all the skills of his ancestors to his son, who became fascinated with them and decided to master them before going off on his own. Jake had finally completed his training the week before, and to celebrate the accomplishment, Kurt gave him supplies to prepare him for his life ahead.

First, Jake received a traditional survey uniform to shield him from the elements. It was perfect for the Ilex forest, his chosen location to settle down and create a home. Next, Kurt gave him a crafting kit, some tools, and various provisions such as energy bars for long hikes. Lastly, he was given a deceivingly capacious leather satchel, standard for a survey corps member.

As he lay in bed that morning, he wondered what Pokémon he would catch for his starter, or for that matter, what sort of Pokéball he would catch it in. Even though he had no intention to make the Pokémon sit around in the ball all day (in fact he hated the idea of having it cooped up. The ball was a standard precaution for wild Pokémon), He was determined to craft a ball completely unique from any of the kinds his father made. Not that they were bad, not at all, but Jake wanted to test his skills and make something brand new. Hearing his father in the kitchen and smelling pancakes cooking on the stove, He gathered his things so he could say goodbye before heading into the forest. Kurt saw him come out of his room and said,

"Ah, good morning Jake, today is the day, isn't it?"

"Yes, but not until I get some breakfast. The spot I've chosen to settle is a few hours' hike, and I need some energy."

"You already have a place in mind? Excellent, you seem very prepared. Here," Kurt gave him a plate stacked high with pancakes and topped with butter and Cheri syrup. "Whole grain. That protein and fiber should give you the perfect fuel for a long trek in the Ilex, and the Cheri syrup will keep your muscles limber. Oh, and here's some moomoo milk to wash it down. Make sure to take an extra bottle for your journey as well."

"Thanks a ton dad." Jake said.

"...Are you going to be lonely without me here?"

"I'll miss you, son, but I've got slowpoke and your sister to keep me company between your visits. I'll be alright."

The slowpoke lying in the corner of the room lifted his head to look up at Jake.

"Brrraap."

"I'll miss you guys too. But I'd be lying if I said I'm not excited to find out what's ahead of me."

“I’m excited for you as well.” Kurt said. “I remember when I packed up my things and left Sinnoh to come here. I was nervous about such a big change, but with all the varieties of apricorns and tumblestones in Johto, the possibilities were vast, and I knew I had a good future here. I can see in your eyes that you have much of the same anticipation."

“Heh, yeah. I’m not sure I know exactly what Pokémon I’ll catch, or what kind of ball I’ll make to catch it, but figuring it out as I go will be part of the adventure." Jake replied.

"Indeed. You always were brave." Kurt said. "I'm very proud of you, Jake."

"Thanks, dad."

Jake finished his pancakes, packed his supplies into his satchel, and said goodbye to his father and younger sister, who wished him the best of luck. As he walked into the Ilex forest, he looked over his shoulder at Azalea Town, still basking in the warm glow of early morning. He would come back to visit his father soon, he thought. But not until he built a home and caught a Pokémon.

Over the next few hours, he made sure to remember the landmarks leading him to his new home's location, and pay close attention to his surroundings for his entire hike. That way he could start to make a map of the forest in his mind, a vital skill for someone who didn't have the resources to make a paper one. In around three hours, he had gotten to the site.

Towering above him was a giant Oak with a hollow under its roots that formed a sizable room just beneath the ground. A few dozen meters past it was a beautiful river, crystal clear and full of Goldeen, Qwilfish, and Magikarp. But Jake had no interest in catching any of the fish as his starter. He would much rather set up camp and rest for the night, then look for a Pokémon tomorrow.

He got a pocket knife from his satchel and started gathering wood. He eventually made a hatchet out of a strong branch and some black augurite for a sharp cutting edge. He then used it to dig a hole in the side of the hollow under the oak to serve as a fireplace, and made a door to secure his hideout. By nightfall he wove a thick, cushy sleeping mat out of reeds and started a toasty fire in his fireplace. As Jake settled under the Mareep wool blanket that his father gave him, he was exhausted, but very comfortable. Kurt had taught him well in terms of crafting, and Jake was quite proud of the progress he had made in just one day. He drifted off to sleep in no time, dreaming of the Pokéballs he would craft tomorrow.

The next day, Jake was quite well rested, and his work continued. He started weaving additional length, width, and thickness to his sleeping mat, and finished with a full mattress, perfect for him and his Pokémon to sleep on at the end of the day. He had a design for his Pokéball in mind, and wasted no time. He knew he needed sky tumblestones for his ball, and knew that he would have to climb a nearby cliff to get to an altitude where they could form. Or at least he would need to climb if he was a normal nineteen-year-old boy. But he had a better Idea.

Tightly fastening his satchel to his back and securing his survey uniform, he started to stretch his legs and arms. This trick was one he practiced before, but it required him to be supple and focused. Once he was ready, he faced a mighty pine a few hundred meters to his left, its top reaching just above the cliff he wanted to scale. Its lowest branches were at least 20 feet high, but that didn't worry him. He crouched down and burst into a sprint. He kept his body leaned forward and his arms swept back in a ninja running form to minimize air resistance, and just before he reached the pine tree, he jumped up, kicked back, whipped around and spun. He was whirling at at least five rotations per second, and when he touched down again, he transformed all of his angular momentum into a giant leap. It was a shinobi maneuver known as a spin conversion– or SC– jump. He landed on a branch nearly 30 feet up, and sprung off of it to another, and in just six jumps he was soaring up to the top of the cliff, and performed a tuck and roll on impact.

He paused for a moment to catch his breath before looking back down. Big mistake. In six perfectly calculated bounds, he had reached the top of a 23-story-tall plateau, and just remembered his slight fear of heights. His stomach sank and he scurried back away from the edge.

Collecting himself, he started to look around for sky tumblestone ore deposits, and he was in luck. He found one nestled into a rock formation a little ways away under an overhang, and walked up to it. Normally, a Pokémon would break the ore into usable pieces for you, but Jake needed these tumblestones to make a Pokéball, which certainly came before catching his first Pokémon. So he took a deep breath, centered his weight, and delivered a firm kick to the stone. He managed to break off a few chunks of iron and tumblestone that would be easy to work with, tucked them into his satchel, and started to look for an apricorn tree.

He knew that for his specific design, a blue apricorn would work best, and any other kind wouldn't have the right density for his purposes. He had to look an hour or two longer for this elusive crafting ingredient, but eventually found the tree he was looking for on a hill halfway to the bottom of the cliff formation, a few miles from where he started. He picked a ripe apricorn from the branches and had the final piece to the puzzle. He found a smooth, flat rock to use as a bench, sat down and started to craft.

He whittled away at the apricorn until its inside was smooth and wide, then reinforced it with iron attachments as was standard practice. But rather than using the tumblestone as just an outer shell of the ball, he formed the chunks into flaps that would fan out from the ball's surface when given backspin, and serve as propeller blades. These blades would slice through the air to create a boomerang effect. That way, instead of throwing the ball and having to retrieve it, he could throw it, catch the Pokémon, and the ball would return to his hand by the time it lost its spin. For a moment, he admired his work, and decided to call his creation the Loyal Ball.

With the softness and low density of the blue apricorn combined with the light but strong sky tumblestone, he knew that this ball would be very comfortable for whatever Pokémon he caught with it. Just what he wanted. He also knew that it would be extra effective on a Pokémon that trusted him, but that was just a byproduct of the materials he used, and likely wouldn’t come in very handy when trying to catch a wild Pokémon.

He knew that he was a few hours’ walk away from the hollow, but saw a shortcut ahead. There was a split in the earth leading to the bottom of the cliff, and if he was careful, he could slide down it much faster than he could walk or climb down the rocky formations below. As he slid down, a glint in the distance caught his eye. When he touched down at the bottom of the crevice, he shielded his eyes and looked more closely. What he saw almost made his heart stop.

The glint came from the claws of an Ursaring. There were two in fact, and they had cornered an Eevee, petrified in fear. An Eevee that didn't look much younger than him. Jake knew that if he didn't take action soon, that Eevee would get eaten. And he'd rather be damned to the darkest crevice of the distortion world than let an innocent creature get killed right in front of his eyes.

He silently burst into a sprint again, and using the same jump technique as before, leaped into a brittle old juniper tree above the Ursaring. He landed on a spot directly above their heads, and eyeing two heavy branches below him, dropped down and delivered two well-placed snap kicks to the limbs, rocketing them into the skulls of the ursaring. They made contact and felled the two bear Pokémon, but he knew that would only be for a moment. Their skulls were too thick and their bodies too bulky to make the stunning effect from a tree branch last very long. So with that in mind, he kicked off of the tree and rolled into a grassy patch several dozen meters away. He got up and grabbed the Loyal Ball from his satchel. Taking aim, he whirled around and threw it like his life depended on it, because the Eevee's did. He yelled,

"EEVEE, QUICK! GET IN THE BALL!"

The Eevee saw the ball whirling towards it through streaming tears, and made eye contact with Jake. It nodded, and leaped right into the ball. As it snapped shut, The ball's propeller flaps fanned out, and it whirled back towards Jake, who caught it neatly. He put the ball back into his satchel right as the Ursaring saw him, so he ran. He jumped off of a rock as if it was a trampoline, and started hopping from tree to tree, gaining altitude and eventually perching at the top of a cedar to catch his breath. The Ursaring started pursuing him from the ground, and it was at this moment that Jake had a flashback to when he was about 12.

When he got home from school one day, he noticed a letter in the mail addressed to him. He excitedly ran to his room and opened it on his desk. It was from his pen pal in Kalos, Stanley. He wrote to Jake often, telling him about the Pokémon he was catching on his journey. This particular letter talked about how his Teddiursa had recently evolved, and included the Kalos Pokédex entry for Ursaring:

"Although it has a large body, it is quite skilled at climbing trees. It eats and sleeps in the treetops."

By the time Jake came to his senses, he saw that the Ursaring were already halfway up the tree, shaking the top violently. He took this opportunity to use his enemies' force against them, and started swinging on the branch along with the motion provided by the Ursaring. Just as they were about to slash at him, he swung off to another canopy a few trunks away, and heard fearful crying coming from his satchel. He started jumping from tree to tree again, and yelled to his back,

"Don't worry, I'm getting you to where it's safe!"

He kept bounding and swinging from birches to elms to oaks and eventually lost the ursaring, who were no doubt a mile behind them now; but Jake wasn't taking half a chance on this one. He touched down to the forest floor in a few careful hops, and started running again. He made sure to dive underwater while crossing a river to make sure the Ursaring couldn't follow his scent. Stanley had talked about their excellent sense of smell too. He kept running for what felt like hours, but could only have been 20 minutes, because he managed to get back to the hideout before nightfall. He went down into his living room and started a fire in his fireplace. It would not be fun to be cold and wet in October past sundown.

Once the fire was going, he sat down on his bed, reached into his satchel, and let the Eevee out of the ball. He saw that it had fallen asleep on the way home, or rather, she had fallen asleep; judging by the deep tone of her scruff, she must be a female. This was the colder half of the year, and the scruff's winter fur is lighter on a male. She was super fluffy and cute; Jake started to grow angry thinking about how those Ursaring were just going to kill and eat her. But his mind reset to anticipation when he saw her stir. She stretched and yawned, and woke up with a jolt when she realized she was sitting on a comfy mattress in front of a fire, rather than on the receiving end of an Ursaring's slash. She looked around and saw Jake, and jumped over to hug him. He hugged her back and sighed,

"Oh, I'm so glad you're alright, Eevee…" He chuckled. "Man, I wish I knew your name so I could stop calling you by your species like a fricken scientist."

"It's Cassie." The Eevee said sadly, knowing he wouldn't understand her.

He would probably give her a new name and start ordering her around like other Pokémon had told her humans would. Then again, he had saved her life, and he seemed very kind, so she was going to make the most of it.

But this time it was Jake's turn to have a jolt, because he DID understand her, which he very much did not see coming. He pulled back in shock and said,

"What did you just say?"

Cassie cocked her head at him, and despite not quite believing what was happening, decided to test the waters anyway.

"What did you just hear?"

"I think I heard you say your name was Cassie," Jake said as his eyes widened further, realizing what was going on. "But I've never heard a Pokémon talk before."

Cassie's eyes filled with excitement. This wasn't anything like what she thought it would be. He was being so nice to her; letting her out of the Pokéball in his house in front of a warm fire rather than in battle, and not only that, he understood her when she spoke!

"And I've never had a human understand me before!" She exclaimed. "Umm…" She was in a bit of shock, and couldn't find her words easily.

"Wh-what's your name?" She said with a laugh.

"I'm Jake!"

"Hi!"

"Hi!"

They sat there for a moment, their surprise keeping them speechless before Cassie broke the silence.

"Uhh… I-I'm really hungry, you don't happen to have anything to eat here, do you? I was running a long time before those Ursaring cornered me, and…" Her words dropped off.

Remembering what she had just gotten out of was painful, even now that it was over.

Jake jumped up.

"Of course! I'm really hungry after running that much too, actually…" He looked in a small basket in the corner of the room.

"Um, I kinda just got here and didn't have too much time to forage… Do you like mago berries?"

Cassie cheered right up again.

"No way, they're my favorite! Where did you find them?"

"There’s a bunch of different berry trees in a clearing nearby. Here."

Jake gave her three big mago berries and took two of his own.

Cassie looked at the berries and at him and said,

"Oh, you're bigger than me, you should have some of these."

"Don't worry." Jake said. "I have some other food too. You can have as many mago as you like, they're your favorite, right?"

Cassie's eyes welled up, but the tears were happy this time. Jake was the nicest person she'd ever met.

"Oh, thank you, Jake!" She started eating one of the berries he gave her.

It was so sweet and rich, the best berry she had eaten in a long time. But that could be because she was so hungry. Or maybe it was because of the sweet person she was eating it next to.

“Absolutely.” Jake sat down again, munching on a nice oran berry and thinking about what happened that day.

He would really enjoy having Cassie here to keep him company, but she probably had a family that was worried sick about her. It was crazy that he could understand her, and he'd like to get to know her better, but he had to do the right thing.

"You can go tomorrow once you've had a good rest." He said. "I can't imagine what your mom and dad could be thinking right now. They must be really worried about you."

Cassie looked up at him.

"Actually," she said, "I never knew my parents. I've been living on my own since I hatched."

"Really?" Jake's heart sank at the thought. "That's so sad. How long have you been alone?"

Cassie laughed.

"It's pretty normal, Jake. I'm okay. But to answer your question, I'm turning eighteen next spring."

"Oh." Jake said, reassured at her confidence. "I figured you were about my age."

"Ooh, how old are you then?" Cassie asked.

"I'm Nineteen." He replied.

"So… Do you want to live with me, then? It would be really nice to have someone to keep me company, especially someone to talk to."

"Really!?" Cassie was overjoyed.

When she first saw Jake, she thought he was going to keep her as his Pokémon to train and battle. But it was clear now that he saved her life because he cared, and now he was asking her to be a member of his family. She felt like the luckiest Pokémon alive.

"I would love to!" She gave him a hug again,tears streaming down her face. "Thank you!"

Jake put his arms around her and said,

“Of course.”

He knew he had wanted to catch a Pokémon, but this was different.

It was better.

He had found a friend.

They finished their meal and realized that the day had really knocked it out of them. Jake laid down and Cassie curled up next to him, both comforted knowing the other was there.

The next morning, Cassie woke up to Jake finishing a table for them to eat breakfast on.

“Good morning." She yawned.

Jake was startled by the abrupt end to the morning silence.

"Oh, Cassie, you're up! Good morning. Hahah. Sorry, I was kind of worried I might’ve been dreaming last night. Being able to understand you was something I really didn't want to go away in the morning."

Cassie looked at him and said,

"Jake, are you crying?"

"Yeah, a little, but I'm okay." He replied. "I'm just so glad that everything from last night was real.”

Having a Pokemon to keep him company was something he had in mind in the first place, but one he could have actual conversations with and confide in was a blessing straight from Arceus. Cassie looked at him with an 'aww, you’re so nice' kind of expression and Jake knew she didn’t think less of him for his sensitivity, but he still felt like playing it into a joke.

“I'm glad to have someone around. If I'm alone, I start talking to myself. Jake's a pretty cool guy, but I know everything he's about to say."

Cassie laughed. "Thank you, I'm glad you're letting me stay."

Jake smiled. "Of course." He was done tying the legs onto the table with twine, and invited Cassie to sit on one of the chairs, which he had already finished.

"Wait, did you build these all yourself?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, but I had all the wood pre-cut two days ago. I just had to fit and fasten them together."

"Woah. Well, they look sturdier than the whole tree. Is this just with twine?"

"Yep. The wood pieces are cut so they fit snugly together anyway. That kind of woodworking is mostly lost today."

"Wow." Cassie said.

Jake was so cool. But he had been doing so many nice things for her, she wondered what she could do for him in return if he was capable of all this…

Jake walked over with breakfast. He made poffins. They were still warm! How did he have time? He also had chocolate milk… Odd. Miltank didn't graze anywhere near here. He must have come to the forest really recently and not have run out of his first supplies. Good Moomoo milk doesn't spoil for weeks anyway.

"Thank you!" Cassie said.

"No problem." Jake chuckled. They started eating.

After a bit, Cassie piped back up.

"…If you don't mind me asking, why did you come out here anyway, if you knew you might be lonely in the forest? I mean, you already had a ball, so you must have been planning to catch a Pokémon, but you don't seem so eager to be a trainer. You just look like you want to live here."

Jake paused. She really hit the nail on the head. She'd realized more about it than he had, actually.

"Well, I came here partially because that way I wouldn't have to pay rent. And I probably couldn't find a really good job anywhere anyway because most of my skills haven't been useful as a career for hundreds of years. But they're super useful here. Being able to run and bounce around the cliffs and trees and being able to craft almost whatever I need is great for living in the forest. Besides, it's fun being self-sufficient."

Cassie continued.

"So why did you need a Pokémon? You have all the skills you need to live on your own here, and you don't seem to have interest in being a trainer, but you still had a ball ready when you found me."

Jake chuckled.

"Well, I thought I wanted to be a trainer for a long time. But that faded away into just wanting a friend. I don’t have many real friends. I have an old one that I still write to occasionally, but I haven’t seen him in a few years. Pokémon are so cool, though. I always wanted to be friends with Pokémon, and I thought being a trainer was the way to do that. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt that being a trainer was more like being a boss, and that friends really had to be equals. The ball I made was for emergencies, but I hope it was comfortable.”

“It was!” Cassie said. “It was a little small, but it was just like a nest that I made myself for the autumn months one time. Did you do that on purpose?”

“Yeah, I’m glad!” Jake said. “It’s all in the materials and how you use them. But if it was small, you don’t have to use it again.”

Cassie giggled. He was so considerate.

“Thanks. But I think you should keep it around, just in case. What kind of Pokemon did you want to catch as a trainer?”

“Oh, I always wanted a Greninja to practice Ninjudo with, but…"

And he muttered,

"good luck finding a Froakie evolution in Johto, right?"

Cassie laughed hysterically.

"Good luck finding one anywhere! Aren't they a protected species? You'd have to be a ten-year-old in Kalos, near Lumiose Lab, to get one. On a good day!"

Jake nearly drowned on his last sip of chocolate milk.

"Woah, are you okay!?" Cassie asked frantically.

She realized she kind of overreacted to his very small joke.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine." Jake assured her, still clearly choking a little. "Pardon my French, but it's kind of relevant. How the hell did you know that? I learned that from a pen pal in Kalos, school doesn't even go over that kind of geography!"

"Oh, sorry. That was a little spontaneous. There are a lot of migrating birds that come through here. Real chatty. You pick up a ton of information from those guys."

"Like, Pidove and Fletchling?" Jake asked.

"Starly and Taillow come through here sometimes too, but yeah. But keep going about what you were saying."

"Okay," he said. "Well, all my friends wanted Pikachu–"

"Bad move." Cassie interrupted. "They act cute, but they're asshole divas."

"That's what I thought." Jake said. "Even the ones people were keeping as pets were super bratty. And they're not that cute! I've seen rattata that were cuter!"

"Haha! Most Pikachu have to be caught before they care about their appearance. One tried to hit on me once–" Cassie began.

"Wait for real?" Jake laughed.

"Yeah. Shoddiest fur I've ever seen, and he talked like a wannabe serial killer. I knocked that creep out in one hit."

They both laughed for at least a minute straight. They were having so much fun just chatting.

Jake began the conversation again.

"Anyway, I've long since decided against it, but back when I still wanted to be a full-on trainer, I wanted to have my team be Typhlosion, Pidgeot, Golem, Machamp, Electivire, and my ace would be a Vaporeon. I've always thought Vaporeon was super cool."

He looked back at Cassie and his stomach instantly dropped. She was so easy to talk to that he forgot she was a Pokémon. Not that that would make much of a difference, except she was an Eevee. And he, her new roommate, had just said that Vaporeon was his favorite Eeveelution. He immediately panicked, the words flooding out of him.

"OH MY GOSH I'M SO SORRY! I didn't mean that, like, I wanted you to evolve into a Vaporeon! I didn't even think about it! I know that that's such a super important choice for an Eevee to make and it's absolutely none of my business and I really really don't want to influence your decision! CRAAAP!"

He buried his face in his arms on the table and started to cry. He'd just met Cassie, the coolest person he had ever known, and he'd already tainted their friendship by influencing something as sacred for an Eevee as deciding what to evolve into.

Cassie was deeply touched by how much Jake cared about her. Most humans would just pick an Eeveelution, and that would be that. But he broke down sobbing at just the thought of coloring her decision of evolution. He really wanted it to be her choice and hers alone. Compassionate, Brave, Strong, Smart, Sensitive, Caring, Talented, Funny, and Thoughtful– If she was into him, he'd be unbeatable boyfriend material. But that would be weird… right? She was sure he was into human girls anyway. Come to think of it, would it even be okay for him to be with her? AAH, WHY WAS SHE THINKING ABOUT THAT??? her new best friend was on the table he just built for them 12 minutes ago crying because he thought he'd just ruined her life! Luckily, she had exactly the thing to ease his mind. She put her paw on his arm.

"Jake, don't worry, it’s okay. I want to be a Vaporeon anyway! I just haven't evolved yet because Water Stones are super rare here."

That wasn't just something she made up to console him. It was true.

Jake looked up from his tear-dampened survey robes. "Really? Please, please don't say that just to make me feel better. I want you to make that choice yourself. That's so important for you."

"I'm not just saying it, I mean it." Cassie Said. "I agree with you. Vaporeon are cool! I've always liked swimming, but my poofy fur gets in the way of having mobility like on land. And melting into the water to go even faster and become invisible? That sounds so fun!"

Jake sniffled a little, but he stopped sobbing.

"More fun than running super fast and shooting your fur like needles?"

"Yes."

"Or freezing the water in the air?"

"Yes."

"Or sensing emotions or drawing power from the sun or moon or smelling super nice all the time or breathing fire?"

Cassie giggled.

"Yes."

She put her arms around him. He normally spoke super coherently but anytime he felt a strong emotion, his grammar fell off a little. He was so funny.

Jake hugged her back. Man, she gave good hugs. He already felt better. He laughed too.

"Yeah, that does sound more fun. Dammit, sometimes I wish I was a Pokémon."

"Oh, shut up, most fully-evolved fighting types couldn't dream of the shit you pulled running from those Ursaring. And don't forget you might get caught by a trainer. Not everyone who catches Pokémon is as kind to them as you are to me."

"Well, I don’t wanna be your trainer. I wanna be your friend." Jake said.

"Oh you snagged that a while ago, buddy. You're my best friend."

Jake couldn't believe she said it. It was the nicest thing he’d ever heard someone say to him. He was her best friend. Yeah, he saved her life, but what was he supposed to do? And he invited her to live with him, but she would've done the same. He didn't see how much of what he'd done was so unbelievable. But they were best friends.

His eyes started to tear back up.

"Don't make me cry again! I never had a best friend!"

"Okay crybaby." Cassie said. "So, that breakfast was amazing. How about we go outside and get ready for snow? Being a Vaporeon is gonna be cool, but I still wanna be fluffy for this winter and winter doesn't come for free."

Jake wiped his eyes and nose.

"I'm willing to pay a premium to have somebody fluffy like you around this winter." He said. "So, first we're going to need a backlog of firewood and any food that doesn't grow in the winter. What do you know about that kind of stuff? Because I'm clueless about anything except those berry bushes in the clearing."

Cassie realized how her knowledge of the forest would be useful going forward.

"Well, for two omnivores, that would mean most berry, grain, and nut varieties around except for pinecones and aspear berries, which aren’t deciduous. And… fish? Do you like to eat… um, Sentret?"

"Sentret have feelings, Magikarp don't." Jake said confidently.

Cassie grinned.

"Couldn't have said it better."

They climbed up the stairs to the surface and went to work. Or at least Cassie was about to before witnessing Jake leap into action at unnecessary speed.

He jumped into a tree using an SC jump from a standing position (and take it from the author-- someone who broke his ankle in six places trying a similar maneuver-- that is only for experts). He flipped from one branch to another– only the dead ones– with the exact force and precision required to knock it into a pile at the bottom and bounce to the next.

Cassie watched him take less than 30 seconds to prune this tree of all its dead branches, and once he was done, touch back and forth between living ones on the way down like he was wall-jumping. He landed neatly and stood back up, breathing heavily.

"Okay, ninja boy. I've got a question. Why don't you flip everywhere?"

"It's exhausting. Why don’t you jump everywhere, isn't that bouncier?"

"Okay, fine, but where did you learn how to do that? Are these the antique skills you were talking about?"

"Yeah, ancestral skill, mostly. Shinobi maneuvers are so fun. But this is enough wood for the winter. we’re gonna need more food that keeps than what we've got."

Cassie looked at the newly made 12-foot woodpile by their house.

"Yeah, no kidding that’s enough. Well, don't you know your way around at least a little yet?"

"I'd like to say I have a sense of direction, but I’ve explored the area very little, so it won't be of much use to me yet."

Cassie happily launched into everything he'd need to know.

They spent the better part of an hour going over the tricks for foraging and wilderness pathfinding, and once they went out to go try, Cassie was way better than Jake at it because her sense of smell was much more acute. Either way, by the end of the day (they ate lunch during their excursion), Jake's satchel broke every law of three-dimensional space it was supposed to–

"How the heck does it all fit!?"

"It's all in the arranging. Ancient Hisuian secret."

--and they had plenty of berries to last a month and a half just on those.

The next day, they planned to gather nuts and honeycomb. But before they could, Jake saw through the morning forest haze that they were getting a visit from a Fletchling; a peculiar thing to happen at this time of year. Fletchling aren't super bothered by the cold but would usually have migrated to someplace warmer by now-- like Hoenn, if not Alola-- until the winter subsided.

But the purpose of his-- yes, his-- visit was clear to Jake when he saw a roll of paper in his talons. This was another letter from Stanley. The Fletchling's name was Flint, and he was always the one to deliver Stanley's letters. Cassie saw him first because she was out collecting and chopping usable wood for the pantry shelves Jake was building.

"Oh, hello!" She called. "What brings you here?"

"I'm delivering a letter for Jake." Flint said. "It's from Stanley in Kalos."

"Ooh, his old pen pal! Jake's coming now." She gestured to the door opening at the bottom of the stairs.

"Is that you, Flint?" Jake yelled excitedly.

He hadn't talked to a single other Pokémon than Cassie in almost a week, and was wondering if understanding her worked with other Pokémon as well.

"Hiya!" Flint said, his normal greeting.

To Jake's disappointment, all he heard was chirping.

"Dammit! It would be so cool if I could hear what he said too!"

"What is he going on about?" Flint asked Cassie.

"He can understand my speech." She replied. "He thought maybe he could understand you too. Apparently not. It would have been cool."

"Wow! You two must be really close for him to be able to understand you that well." Flint remarked. "But why'd he be able to understand me? I deliver his mail, we barely talk, he gives me an Aguav berry, I take his mail back to Stanley. It's a great gig, but not exactly something that builds a bond. He's not even my trainer."

"No, you don't get it," Cassie said. "He understands my every word verbatim, just like how I'm talking to you. And it's not a long-time bond, we've known each other for three days. This is a new thing for him, so he was testing if it was universal."

Jake could have interjected to confirm this, but he stayed silent to let the bird stay confused. This could be fun.

"Oh, yeah?" Flint loved to challenge BS like this. "Ask him what 'Hey guys, did you know' is from. He'll know if he can understand you." Flint snickered.

Cassie frowned at him. "I'm evolving into a Vaporeon this spring, thank you. And that joke is so old. I'm sure it's a dead meme by now."

"Oh. Sorry." Flint said.

Jake put two and two together and was insulted on Cassie's behalf.

"Did he seriously try to have you make me repeat the Vaporeon copypasta to him?"

Flint still didn't believe them.

"Well, he could kinda tell from your indignant tone and inflection. He didn’t actually hear what you said."

Cassie knew how to settle this. She had talked with so many passing mail birds that she was a near-expert in internet culture despite never having seen a computer. She said,

"Tell me to change the chorus to The Witchdoctor and he'll repeat it. Those sure aren't words, but he'll still understand me."

Flint looked at her weird.

"Uhh… replace the ooos with aahs…?"

Cassie did so.

"Aah eee aah ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang." Jake said. "Boom. Magic. I dunno how it works either, man. What did Stanley send me?"

Befuckery like this was above Flint’s paygrade.

"O-okay, Umm… Here's the letter.”

Jake took the letter and read it aloud, getting increasingly intrigued and worried as it went

"Dear Jake,

I know I haven't written to you in a while, so I hope you haven't changed addresses just yet. I caught wind that you're moving out. Congratulations! I would love to ask for an invitation, but I know how much you love surprises, so I booked my train already! I should arrive at your new door within a day of Flint finding you, that is, midday on October 27th! Worry not, I have no plans to stay the night; I'll keep you only as long as it takes me to see your wonderful Penthouse Suite, or better! The son of Kurt the Apriball Master can be nothing but successful, I'm sure!

The utter best of regards,

Stanley Meltonbenger."

Jake chuckled.

"Me nothing but successful, huh? Flint, how many times has Stanley made champion rank?"

"Dude, Kalos has literally the easiest league in the world. He's defeated Diantha seven times now. Once with a full team, and a solo run with each of his team members at level 100. People are talking about making him the new top champion over Diantha, and the only reason they're not outright protesting for it is because she's a movie star."

Cassie translated.

"And I'm a dude in the forest who lives in a very comfy hole in the ground.” Jake sighed.

“Hey! You built that hole in the ground with your bare hands!” Cassie retorted. “It’s the best hole in this whole forest!”

Jake laughed a little.

“You're right. Thank you Cassie. hhhhhoookay, It is…"

Jake looked at the angle of the trees' shadows on the cliff face.

"9:15. On the 27th. And considering he'll be flying in on the back of a level 100 talonflame as soon as he's off the 11 O'clock train in Goldenrod, with this very helpful northbound wind, he should be here in around three hours. Thank you very much Flint, please help yourself to the best Aguav berry in the basket, we don't like them that much anyway. Oh– and I have no mail for Stanley."

Flint gave a nod, and hopped down the stairs.

Jake whipped out a headband and swiftly tied it over his forehead.

"Okay! what do we have to do to prepare?" He asked.

Cassie shrugged.

"I mean, the whole place was swept yesterday, and we aren't very messy people. I'd say we finish the pantry shelves so we can put the food there."

Jake thought about it for a moment. They were quite cleanly. He untied his headband and put it back in his satchel.

"Yeah, you're right. Good idea."

He took the next few boards from the pile she made and carried them back down to fit them into the pantry he dug out from the wall. They completely finished the project; shelves, doors, and all; an hour before Stanley was supposed to arrive, and admired their handiwork.

"Alright, so we have a super comfy bed, a dining room, a fireplace, wide windows, and a pantry big enough to hold most of a winter's worth of food." Cassie said. "Is there anything else?"

"I don’t think so. You want to go swimming while we wait for Stanley?"

"He'll be here in an hour, won't he? We'll still be wet by the time he arrives. And won't it be too cold for someone with no fur?"

"Nah, I've got a trick for both of those. C'mon, I wanna practice at least a little swimming before the river freezes over. In spring you'll evolve and I'll have no hope of competing with you. What do ya say? Just one more swim as an Eevee?"

When he said it like that, Cassie got nostalgic. This would be her last full year unevolved. She might as well take a swim with him while she still had fur to even the playing field. Besides, he clearly had no fear of hypothermia, and someone so smart had to have good reason to be so stupid.

"Okay, if you're sure." She said.

"Sweet." Jake quickly started a fire for when they got back and stripped down to shorts.

"Ok, let's go."

They headed outside and Cassie splashed in. It was chilly, but her winter coat worked the way it was meant to. She looked back at Jake, who went into a full-on sprint. Once he reached the river's edge, he put his feet on the water and skied all the way to the middle before he lost his momentum, and he fell straight through the surface.

He swam over to Cassie and said,

"Wow, it's cold!"

"Yeah, dude, were you expecting something else?" Cassie could barely hold in her laughter.

"Not this kind!"

They swam laps for a few minutes, just for some exercise, and Cassie said,

"Okay, have you had your fill? Because Stanley will be here soon and you haven't revealed the magical ninja technique where you make wetness disappear."

"Oh, yeah. Let's do that!" Jake said. He dove underwater and when he resurfaced, he was going fast enough that he jumped clear back to shore. Cassie was expecting some kind of trickery where this dried him off somehow, but he was still soaked.

"You're still wet, Jake. Was that what the fire was for?" She asked smugly.

"Not really." He said. "C'mere, water 'mon, I've got a trick to show you!"

She shrugged and swam to shore, shaking off most of the water when she got out. She was still shivering slightly.

"Okay, balance your feet on my hands." Jake said, holding out his palms.

A weird request, but Cassie trusted him. She did like he said. He carefully lifted her up above his head and grasped her paws in his hands.

"Okay, I'm gonna do a weird jumping trick, but you'll be just fine, alright?"

Cassie didn't know what he meant, but again, he was balancing her perfectly, and she trusted him completely.

"Alright."

Jake crouched down, and jumped into a blinding spin. He kept Cassie's center of mass perfectly parallel with his own, and when they touched down, they stopped instantly.

Cassie opened her eyes, and to her amazement, she wasn't dizzy, and she was completely dry. So was Jake. His skin was pale from being so cold and wet half a second ago, but he didn't have a drop of water on him.

"What'd I tell ya?" He said happily. "You're fluffy again! How does a fire and some hot cocoa sound?"

“That sounds great!”

He set her down and they walked back to the house. Jake got some hot cocoa mix that he still had packed, and made them both a mug. He got changed back into his robes and sat down in front of the fire with Cassie. She thanked him and took a sip. She had never tasted hot chocolate before and didn’t know what to expect. It was rich and a little creamy with a great flavor she had never experienced.

“Wow, this is great!” she said.

“I’m glad you like it.” Jake said. “The river is super clear, so when I boil the water it's great for this. Actually, it tastes better with milk. I can get some moomoo milk and more mix when I go into town for supplies.”

“Ooh, that sounds good.” Cassie said.

They sat next to each other, sipping their cocoa for a few moments before Cassie sheepishly looked up and said,

“Jake, Is it okay if we cuddle? I know that can sometimes be weird if you haven’t known someone very long.”

Jake smiled.

“I don’t think that would be weird at all. I feel like I’ve known you forever. Come here.”

He put his arm around her and she nestled into him.

It was now that Jake felt something that he'd never felt before. Something he didn't expect. But it was ridiculous. After all, this was basically just a hug, right? He loved her hugs, but that didn't mean anything. She was his friend, not his… but he shrugged it off and didn't think about it. Instead, he just enjoyed her company.

Cassie loved spending time with him, no matter what they were doing, but this was giving her a feeling she didn't see coming. His strong arm around her was comforting, but it also made her feel like she… No. That couldn't be right. They were best friends, but they were still just friends. She dismissed the feeling and simply laid against him.

After they finished their hot cocoa and felt totally warmed up, Jake said to her, "I think Stanley's going to be here soon. We should go out and see."

"Oh yeah, I'd like you to introduce me."

They got up and went to wait outside. As they watched the skies for Stanley's Talonflame, Cassie realized something and asked Jake,

"Um, how much should we tell him? You know, about how you can understand me. From the way he basically invited himself in his letter, he didn’t seem very open-minded."

Jake didn’t consider that yet. What was he going to say when Stanley arrived? 'Hey, so nice to see you again! This is my new roommate, Cassie. I can understand her speech and I have no idea why!'

Jake looked at Cassie and said matter-of-factly, "I don’t think we should tell him much of anything he doesn't pick up himself. If he's going to intrude on us, Let him spy. We'll see if he figures it out."

Cassie smiled but saw something past his head and said, "Hold that thought, I think I see him." She pointed up at the clouds and Jake followed her paw.

Way up high, he could see the silhouette of a large bird of prey soaring amongst the clouds.

He called up at him and so did Cassie.

High in the air, Stanley was thinking to himself,

"When I talked to his old man, he said that Jake had moved into the middle of this forest. But I can't find so much as a log cabin for the life of me. Where did he go?"

For minutes on end, Jake and Cassie's calls were lost to the air rushing past Stanley's ears, but eventually one cry stuck out to him.

"IF YOU CAN'T EVEN HEAR US, WE'LL JUST PUT THE FIRE OUT SO YOU CAN'T FIND THE SMOKE AND WE'LL LEAVE YOU IN THE SKY!!!

It was an exasperated shriek from Cassie, so what he actually heard was,

"EEV EEV EEV EEV VEE VEE EEVEE EVOI!!!"

He looked down toward the sound and initially thought, "Why is that Eevee so upset?" But he saw a faint trail of smoke leading to what first looked like a tree, but upon closer look must have been Jake's new home, because not only did it clearly have a chimney, but out front was a faintly visible figure clad in dark blue, waving up at him. And when he strained his ears, he heard Jake say something like, "I'M ABOUT TO TAKE HER UP ON HER OFFER, MAN! LAST CALL!"

"Ha!" Stanley yelled. "That must be him! Gallus! Down there!"

Gallus looked at Jake and Cassie. They were about to go back into the house and put the fire out.

"Oh shit, we want to see them? Why didn’t you say so? I spotted them 15 minutes ago." He went into a gentle descent down toward the Oak.

Jake took one last look up at Stanley and remarked, "Oh wait, he actually saw us. Cassie, looks like we have to put up with him for a while after all. He's coming."

She tried to say, "oh, whatever." But her voice was completely inaudible.

Jake was livid when he saw the damage Stanley's apathy had caused. "Did you lose your voice yelling up at that asshole?"

Cassie nodded sadly. The most extra special thing about her relationship with Jake had been ruined. She couldn't talk.

Stanley swooped down a few dozen meters ahead of them and put Gallus in his Pokéball, a Luxury Ball. Jake prepared himself to feign cheerfulness for what would hopefully not be very long. He needed to figure out how to get Cassie's voice back.

"Hey Stanley, long time, no see. This is my new house you– somehow heard about."

Jake expected Stanley to pass some kind of judgment on his drab home but he looked at it and said,

“You built it out of an Oak! How ecogenic, it still looks alive! And it's just like those tiny homes I've seen! It looks lovely, may I see inside?”

Huh. Well, no pleasantries. Maybe this really would be over quick.

"Oh, sure." Jake said. "Come in." They walked into the house and he swept his arm across the space. "There you have it."

Stanley thought it was delightful.

"It's so cozy, yet you have everything you need!" He walked over to the bed and felt the mattress. "This looks so comfortable, how did you manage to get it all the way out here?"

"Oh." Jake said. "Actually, I wove it from some reeds. It's the weaving pattern that makes it springy."

"Amazing!" Stanley said. "...Well, um… I suppose I've seen everything… Oh, but you haven't introduced me to your Eevee here! Is she the first Pokémon that you caught? I'm excited that you've finally started your journey! We must battle sometime!"

Jake looked at Stanley a little sternly. How dare he assume so much about them?

"This is Cassie." He said. Cassie smiled politely and waved hello. "But I didn't catch her and she isn't my Pokémon. I found her and she decided to stay with me. She's my friend. As a matter of fact, you'll never get to battle against her unless she chooses to of her own accord."

"Oh, I apologize." Stanley said. "I didn’t mean to sound so forward about it. It's nice to meet you, Cassie, I'm glad Jake will have a friend to keep him company." Stanley shook Cassie's paw. "Well, I'll be off now that I've seen your lovely home. I'm sure you have much to do." He shook Jake's hand and went on his way. As Jake heard Gallus' cry, he said to Cassie,

"Okay, I want you to rest on the bed for a few minutes while I go get some honey for your tea." She hopped up on the bed and he put the blanket over her.

"I hate to leave you here alone, but I'm not going to rest until I get to hear your beautiful voice again. Okay?"

"Okay." Cassie mouthed. She gave him a big hug. He held on to her and said, "I promise."

He set her down and ran out the door. The nearest store was a few hours' hike away back in Azalea town, but Jake wasn't going to hike. He was going to get there as fast as he could so Cassie didn’t have to be alone for long. He made sure he had a few balm mushrooms from yesterday packed in his satchel, and started jumping up to the treetops, where he'd get the springiest part of the trees.

He made it to town in about 20 minutes, and wasn't really winded. He had been able to conserve energy by doing more bouncing than jumping. He ran to the PokéMart to sell the mushrooms. The clerk looked at him funny.

"Jake, is that you? Did you meet Dialga in four days? You look like you came straight from Hisui."

"I don’t have time for this, Bryan." Jake said. "How much can I get for five balm mushrooms?"

"Holy crap, bro! If you've got five of 'em, I have a 40,000 Pokécoin stack of bills with your name on it!"

"Great." Jake said. "Sold."

He gave Bryan the mushrooms and took the cash. Then he went into a drink shop called Calaba Coffee Co. It was a generations-old family owned business with roots in Sinnoh. "Do you have honey and Chamomile Tea?" Jake asked the woman up front.

"Indeed." She said. "And we have a special on hot cocoa if you're looking to stock up on that for the winter cold."

Jake paused.

"Actually, I'm not much of an impulse buyer, but I'll take a whole carton of mix and a half gallon of moomoo milk to go with my tea and honey. How much?"

"4,000 total. Thank you very much, young man!"

Jake stuffed his purchase into his satchel and broke into a sprint. On his way past his old house, he saw his father.

"Jake! How're you holding up out there?" Kurt said.

"Hey dad! Pretty well, but I have a sick Pokémon to get back to! I'll see you later!"

He jumped back into the treetops and Kurt said,

"That's my Jake! I knew you'd be the best caretaker!"

Jake made it back to the Oak just under an hour from when he had left, and was slightly out of breath. He looked around and found the one secret ingredient he needed: a pep-up plant was growing near their home. It was a good thing he hadn't picked it yet; it was fresh. With the pep-up plant's flower in hand, he ran down to make Cassie's voice-healing tea. He heated the water, added the Chamomile tea and honey, and crushed up the entire flower of the pep-up plant into the mixture. Once the tea was ready, he woke Cassie up and gave it to her. She mouthed thank you to him and he said,

"You're welcome. But you should still rest your voice. You'll need to eventually drink this whole batch and get a good sleep tonight, but your voice should be back in the morning."

Cassie hugged him again. It was terrible that he couldn't hear her wonderful voice, but the hugs were an upside. He loved her hugs.

…But he got a twinge of that feeling from before again. The one he got when they cuddled in front of the fire earlier. He did his best to ignore it. He needed to make sure he took care of Cassie.

He didn't leave her side until they fell asleep together.

The next morning, Cassie's voice was back to normal. Jake was enormously relieved that such an ancient remedy lived up to the stories. They spent most of the day talking with each other, just enjoying the fact that they could.

That was how they spent most of the winter, actually. The first snow came early that November, and every day they were either enjoying the snow or warming up inside. This gave them plenty of time to talk, and talk they did. The majority of their conversations were about each other's childhood. Jake's life in Azalea Town and learning the ways of the survey corps from his father, and Cassie's life in the forest and how she learned everything herself that she didn’t know instinctually. Both were very impressed at all that the other had to tell, and they loved each other's stories. Every day they laughed with each other, cuddled up in front of the fire on their bed sipping hot cocoa and talking.

But there was something else going on. Every time Jake looked at Cassie, he slowly felt more and more of what he felt when they cuddled that very first time. He was… attracted to her. She was lively, athletic, charismatic, and super compassionate; a lot like him, in fact (Though he wouldn’t consciously make a comparison between Cassie, someone he viewed so highly, and himself. He didn’t think he was particularly better than anyone). But she was cute like nothing else and it wasn't long before Jake started having dreams about her. He came to the conclusion that he had fallen in love with her, but… what if she didn’t feel the same? It would utterly crush Jake if he were to confess his feelings and Cassie reacted the way he was afraid she would. Confusion, or worse, disgust. They were best friends, but there was no way they would ever be together. She was a Pokémon, and he was a human. The last time that happened was thousands of years ago, and it was freakish even then! It was weird that he felt this way about an Eevee; he couldn't tell her. The best he could do was act like nothing was different and stop himself anytime he realized he was looking under her tail. And she would evolve into a Vaporeon soon. "And with no fur to hide…" Agh! Just don’t think about it!

Unbeknownst to Jake, Cassie was experiencing many of the same things.

She loved spending time with him. She loved talking with him and hearing his stories. She loved cuddling with him by the fire, and she loved how he always made sure they had some hot cocoa to share. He was so considerate, he knew how to make her laugh, he was so talented, he was kind and caring and smart and strong and thoughtful, he was… unbeatable boyfriend material. She realized now that not only did she love so many things about him, but she was in love with him. But that was insane. A human and a Pokémon couldn't be partners in that way. He would think she was weird, or crazy, or even worse, a freak. He would never accept her. She had to keep those feelings buried or he would never look at her the same way again. But she couldn't outright deny them. Her feelings were real, and they were very unlikely to actually go away. She just had to enjoy spending time with him without taking anything too far.

November lazed on, and Jake asked Cassie what she wanted to do for Christmas.

"Nothing except spend time with you. What do you normally do on Christmas?"

"Well, my dad's Dialgan," Jake said. "so normally nothing except sit around the fire sipping hot cocoa, which–"

"–we already do every day!" Cassie said happily.

"Yeah." Jake smiled. "Every day is like Christmas with you around."

"Then don't worry about presents. You're more than enough of a gift for me."

Jake smiled.

"You have such a way with words." He said. "You're the only Christmas gift I'll ever want, too."

December came and went. January did much the same. February was a little warmer and March marked the beginning of spring. Cassie's birthday was just around the corner. By this time Cassie and Jake had spent so much time talking to each other in front of the fire that they knew almost everything about each other.

Cassie knew about the majority of Jake's life before he met her. She knew that Jake's favorite color was light blue, his favorite food was Crêpes, his birthday was the 9th of August, he was afraid of small bugs, and his dream was to live in the forest his whole life with his best friend. She was delighted to learn that she had fulfilled his biggest goal just by being there for him.

Jake had learned about most of Cassie's childhood and teenage years as well. He now knew that her favorite color was dark blue, her favorite food was Mago berries (but of course he learned that the day they met), her birthday was the 1st of April, she was afraid of big thunderstorms, and that she had never necessarily thought much about big goals.

One day late in March, Jake mentioned this to her, and she replied simply,

"I've just had the best time living with you, Jake. I feel like I've crossed stuff off of a bucket list I never made."

"Well, I can think of one thing you definitely wanted to do sometime." Jake said, with a grin starting to occupy some serious real estate on his face. "In fact, you wanted to do it this spring as I recall, and I think I can help you out with it."

Cassie's eyes got as wide and bright as Jake's smile.

"Did you really find one?" She asked in a voice hushed by her rising excitement.

In response, Jake reached into his satchel, and pulled out a beautiful blue crystal with round bubbles throughout its interior. It was smoother and shinier than a silent pond, and cool to the touch like the sea.

A Water Stone.

He held it out in front of Cassie, and she couldn't say a word for a solid 20 seconds. They were the longest 20 seconds of their lives; every moment filled with paralyzed anticipation.

Finally Cassie said,

"Let's go to the river!"

They bolted out the door and ran to the riverbank. It was barely any distance, but their hearts were beating rapidly. This was a huge moment for Cassie. She looked at Jake, who knelt down and held the Water Stone out to her.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yeah." she said. She reached out and touched it. As she glowed brightly, Jake could make out that her mane was turning into a neck frill and she was growing a finned head crest. Her ears shortened and widened and moved to the side of her head. Her tail grew longer and split at the end. Eventually, her evolution was complete and her body stopped glowing. She was now taller and longer, light blue, with rubbery skin instead of fur; and had a finned head, a frilled neck, and a powerful, thick, finned tail.

She had finally evolved into a Vaporeon.

She looked back up at Jake and said, "What do you think?"

To Jake's relief, her voice was completely the same. He was very nervous that her beautiful, clear, smooth voice would be different upon evolution. But she was still the same Cassie, now in a beautifully blue fishcat package.

"You look amazing!" He said, giving her a big hug. She was super smooth. Just as nice as how soft and fluffy she was as an Eevee, he thought.

"Thank you." She said, hugging him back. Her hugs were still the best, too, Jake noticed. "Do you want to go for a swim?"

In response, Jake simply backflipped straight into the middle of the river. He surfaced in time to see her run and dive in. Jake watched from underwater as she swam, happy as can be.

She was so graceful and powerful. And fast. Holy crap could she move. This was something she'd been waiting to do for a long time, and something he'd been waiting to see.

She swam up in front of him and held up her front toe.

Then she vanished.

Jake's jaw dropped, but he quickly shut it and covered his mouth with his hands. He had heard about this plenty before, but he had never seen it happen. She had turned into animated water. A power only Vaporeon had and one that was part of what made Vaporeon his favorite Pokémon. He had started to really drink her performance in, but he was mortified at the thought of accidentally drinking her in. He swam up to get some air and thoroughly emptied his mouth. She reappeared in front of him and asked,

"Jake, did you really think you might get some of me in your mouth? I'll be careful, you won’t have to worry about that."

"Okay, good. Because yes, I was absolutely terrified." He said, and they both laughed.

They swam until Jake was exhausted, and then Cassie let Jake hang on to her and she carried him around along the river for a while. At the end of the day, they had both had a blast, and they ended it with cuddling and hot cocoa, completely normal at this point, but it was more celebratory this time. And now, when Cassie leaned against him, she was tall enough to rest her head on his shoulder, and she wrapped her long, strong tail all the way around him. She sure couldn't do that before. Jake loved that there was even more of her to cuddle now, but as he felt her tail gently squeeze him, the pressure in his pants told him that maybe he was enjoying this extra contact a bit too much. He stole a look at her and OH ARCEUS NO, HE SAW IT.

Luckily the blanket was wrapped around his lap so Cassie couldn't see his reaction, but it still took all of Jake's willpower not to show his panic. FUCK, he only saw it for a fraction of a second, but the image was burned into his memory, probably forever…

Great pillars of spears, these feelings were never going to go away. He found everything about her amazing. The thought made his stomach hit the floor, but he would have to tell her how he felt about her. This couldn't go on. He'd been wrestling with being in love with her pretty much all winter, and now it was a bit more sexual. Faaaaaaantastic. He thought about her night and day; she lived just as rent-free in his head as in their house. Up till now, he'd been excellent about keeping these thoughts almost exclusively to his dreams, but now that might be impossible. He had seen it. He had finally seen it without a single tuft of fur hiding it, and he could never go back to when he hadn't. It was official. It would be better for her to know that he was a Poképhiliac freak than for him to have to keep bottling his now extremely strong feelings inside him. Even though there were only maybe a handful of timelines where she would still accept him. They would definitely never be together, but it would be much healthier to have his emotions out in the open, no matter how she reacted. But how was he going to break it to her?…

Cassie put her tail around him because she knew he'd like it. She knew for a fact that he loved her hugs. He had told her Vaporeon was his favorite Pokémon, why not let him cuddle all of her at the same time now that she was one? At least, that’s what she told herself, but deep down, she knew it was just for her. She was hopelessly in love with him, and she was getting worse and worse about hiding it. She didn’t expect to be able to feel as well with her tail as she could with her pawpads, but she could distinctly feel every one of Jake's strong, supple muscles, and she loved it. Oh, he was so hot.

AHHHH, think about something else, Cassie. She thought. If you HAVE to think about how much you love everything about him, think about something less sexual than his physique. You have so much to choose from! Like his intelligence! He's so darn smart!

She thought about something he told her one time right here on their bed that just proved he was some kind of genius. He told her that reality was effectively infinite, that somewhere way out in the cosmos, there was an entire other timeline, like a separate universe, where they had both made different choices in life. Maybe she had decided to be a Jolteon, for example, and there were numberless other timelines in their multiverse where they had made different decisions in each. But not only that, there were whole other multiverses separate from their own, where the fabric of the universe worked differently. Maybe Pokémon didn’t exist because their powers were physically impossible for some reason, he said, and all animals were typeless. When she thought about it, it made perfect sense, but who just knows something like that?

He didn’t learn it in school, he had to be a genius. Oh, he was so smart, and kind, and strong, and muscular, and oh crap we're back to him being hot again. She sighed. She had felt this way about him to some degree since the morning she woke up to him finishing their dining room table, and every day she found a new thing to like about him. Only now, she was thinking more and more about how muscular and hot he was, and how sometimes his dark pants showed a little more when it was bright outside… and how she'd love it so much for him to finally just put his warm, strong, gentle hands on her torso and– Oh Arceus, it got worse! She couldn't keep living like this! She was having these thoughts every day now, she couldn't keep him out of her dreams and now she was losing the capability to keep his body out of her waking mind too! She loved absolutely everything about him, why was she focusing on this? It was disrespectful to him and kind of superficial. It wasn't the only thing she liked about him; she was madly in love with every facet of his being.

And being fully evolved now introduced a new issue: not only would she have desire like anyone, but she would probably go into heat sometime soon now that it was early spring. What would she do if she lost control when her whole body was screaming? She had to tell him how she felt soon so that if they really did hit a scenario where she snapped, he'd have some kind of context. She wasn't actually afraid that she would throw herself at him. That wasn't it. But she was already transfixed on him to the point of lucid fantasies. When her very bones would be longing for release, she might embarrass both of them to death. That was it, she had to confess her feelings to him. But she had to wait for a good time and now was not it. For now, she just had to do like she always did, and enjoy the warm feeling of him at her side without thinking too hard. That was easy enough when she tried…

Despite the delusions of certain city hall interns, March had a 31st day, and this one was the last day before the first of Cassie's birthdays Jake would get to spend with her. He felt he had to make it perfect, so he planned the whole day in advance.

First, he would make her a cake. He knew how to make a poffin cake out of any berries, so he searched for the best Mago berries he'd ever seen, and stashed them away, along with a few other berries to round out the flavor.

Next, they would take a long walk on a route he had planned, through mostly meadows in clearings, and they could talk for hours about whatever she wanted. The weather patterns screamed that tomorrow would be a delightful partly cloudy.

Then, they would go to Azalea town and get Ice cream. She had been wanting to try it, but he couldn't get it back before it melted, so he would take her to it. She might have to ride in the Loyal Ball, because walking there would take hours, and that path wouldn't be nearly as nice as their actual walk. But he hated the idea of keeping her in there. It felt so domineering to do that to someone who was your equal. Any exhibition of superiority over Cassie, whether or not there was any intent behind it (and there never would be), repulsed Jake. But it would only be for a few minutes, and she said herself that it was comfortable, if small, so it would be up to her.

He woke up early the next morning, and got to work. First, he quietly started a fire to bake the poffin cake. He used Mago berries for the base and decided that the best way to finish off the flavor would be a little spice, so he added two large, juicy Leppa berries as well. He tasted the batter and instantly felt warmth in his heart. Oh perfect, I'm getting good at this! He had no idea what he just did, but more on that later.

He baked the cake and iced it, knowing that the smell of Mago would wake Cassie up as soon as she was well rested. Sure enough, she soon yawned and stretched, smelling the air.

Her eyes flew open.

"Jake, you shouldn't have!"

"Yes, I absolutely should have! Happy birthday, sleepy Vappy!"

She hopped off the bed and said,

"Thank you. …Do I smell Mago in that cake?"

"Your nose is leagues ahead of mine, you tell me."

She smelled it up close.

"Oooh, and some kind of spice! Is that cinnamon?"

"If you of all people can't tell, I'd call it a secret ingredient."

"Okay, well can we have a taste?"

"After you." He said, cutting her a slice.

She took a bite and felt the same warmth in her heart that Jake didn't know the significance of. Neither did she. Hoo boy, they were in for a long day.

"Oh, that tastes so good! Jake, this is wonderful, thank you!"

"Absolutely." He said. "And I planned a nice walk for us since there's not much else to do. We swam all day three days in a row since you evolved, might as well give land a chance. I mean, If that's okay with you. It's going to be gorgeous today anyhow. But if you want to do something else, by all means, it's your day."

"No, that sounds lovely. My tail is exhausted. I don’t think I'm meant to swim constantly, I still have good legs for a reason." She giggled.

They finished the cake and headed out. They walked into the deeper forest, and sure enough, the light peeking through the trees was warm, not harsh. As they started following the trail, Jake asked her what she wanted to talk about.

"Ooh, tell me more about the Polyverse Theory!" She said. "I've heard of the Multiverse Theory a little bit from passing mailbirds, but they didn't know much and I thought it was just in superhero movies! How is the polyverse different?"

The polyverse was something Jake knew more about than anyone else did, and he was glad she was about to let him do most of the talking, at least for the time being; He would have been very distracted otherwise. He had had trouble keeping Cassie out of his mind for six months in this forest, but a whole day with no work to be done where he would be doing nothing at all but spend time just with her? His intrusive thoughts were more than intrusive today, they were horny. So very intrusively horny, and nerding out was the best thing to do to fill his mind with something other than her… wet… ahh, just talk, Don't think about it…

"Well, the difference is the extra layer. While the multiverse deals with indefinite timelines, the polyverse is exactly the same but with indefinite multiverses."

"Alright."

"The different multiverses are provable, but basically inaccessible. Even Solgaleo and Lunala can't hop multiverses, only timelines…"

Cassie was relieved he was going to be talking about something he was so passionate about, not only because she loved listening to him, but because this particular subject was very complicated when you got into it. So complicated that she would be able to listen to it for hours without her brain getting bored, and also complicated enough that he would be able to talk about it for just as long. She needed something to occupy her brain other than his body. His body was her dirty side's absolute favorite subject, but today her dirty side had somehow been kicked dangerously into overdrive. It might have been the 12 hours ahead of them with nothing but each other; she didn't have a clue what else it could be. He was her favorite thing in the world, a whole day filled with him at this point in their relationship was bound to make her horny…

As Cassie hoped, the Polyverse Theory proved beyond nebulous when she encouraged Jake to go deeper. She was fascinated with the whole thing. The different levels of naturality and how they interacted, the ways timelines could split, what kinds of laws there were, the phenomenon of cosmic doubles, the concept of splitdeath! It was so engaging for both of them, and thank Arceus, because it gave them something to do, but they were both still viciously horny for the entire eight-hour walk. Luckily, they had almost gotten back home.

"...and if you want to reanimate a splitdead timeline, you might as well not even bother." Jake continued.

"Because its past can't naturally influence its future since choice has been held in limbo." Cassie said. "Wow, free will really is an element of reality, even though it's not a pillar of existence."

"Woah, you're talking like a theoretical physicist. You'd be a very responsible timeline traveler, Cassie."

"Thank you. But I don't think I'll have to worry about that for another few years."

"Another few years?" Jake asked. "What, do you think we’re going to be on a trip across spacetime in a few years?"

"Oh, not for at least six." Cassie said in an unconvincing deadpan tone.

They laughed all the way to the door and flopped onto the bed. They were exhausted, both from an 8-hour walk and from expending so much energy and willpower to hide their tension. They would rest there for a moment, and Jake would take her out for ice cream once they caught their breath.

It was at this moment that Jake knew.

He fucked up.

He forgot to get her a gift.

He had spent so much time making the perfect cake for breakfast, planning the perfect route through the forest, and crafting the perfect day that he completely forgot to actually get her something she could keep.

He started to cry.

Cassie looked and saw how distraught he was. She hated when he felt like this, it broke her heart to see him so sad.

"Oh no, Jake, what's wrong?"

"I forgot to get you a birthday gift." He sniffed. "I spent so much time planning the day that I completely forgot to get you anything."

Cassie knew she needed to cheer him up, but she played the 'But you're the best gift I could ever get' card on Christmas. And there was a good reason for it that time. Jake had never done Christmas presents in his family, but he did do birthday gifts. He had told her about so many meaningful birthday gifts he had got, his Survey Corps gear from his nineteenth birthday being his favorite. Clearly, he had wanted to give her something just as meaningful. He wanted to so badly that he totally fell apart when he forgot.

Oh, he was so sweet.

Wait.

That was it.

This… was a hell of a gamble. The longest shot she would ever take, but she wasn't going to throw it away. It was the only thing that even could work, so she had to try. She sat up, put her paw on his arm, and said,

"Jake, don't worry. I already had something I was meaning to ask for."

Jake took his hands off of his face and asked,

"Really? What is it?"

"I wanted to go on a romantic date with someone."

It was over. She loved someone else, like he knew she had to have. He was crazy to have ever entertained the thought that she would be into him. But he loved her, and he wanted her to be happy, even if that didn't mean with him. At least now he had closure.

"Oh, okay. Who's your boyfriend? Did you meet another Eeveelution?"

She had known it deep down. He wasn't into her. If he was, he wouldn't be so chill about saying something like that. But she had already started to spill the beans. Now that the chili was on the office floor, there was no use trying to stop it now. She blushed lightly.

"No, actually. Listen… Today was amazing. You made such a delicious Mago poffin cake with your bare hands, just for me. You meticulously planned the perfect route through the forest for us to walk through, eight whole hours worth of trail, and the entire walk was beautiful. I don't know how you could have managed that, but you did, just for me."

A tiny spark of hope flickered in Jake, but he didn’t dare think it could be true.

"That special cake and gorgeous walk through the forest made today the most romantic date I can think of, even though you didn’t realize."

The spark of hope in Jake's heart burst into a burning flame of anticipation. There was no way…

Cassie's face flushed.

"Jake, I'm… I'm in love with you. And I have been since fall. I never told you because I was terrified of what you would think. But the more I tried to bottle my feelings up, the stronger they got. I even started having lewd dreams about you, but the reality is, I'm in love with everything about you, not just your body. You're strong, and gentle, and caring, and funny, and smart, and you're the most thoughtful person I’ve ever known."

‘But you won’t get to have him.’ said a voice in her mind. Cassie hung her head and started to sob into her paws.

"I can't imagine what you think of me right now! You must think I'm disgusting. But I just had to tell you because I can't keep these feelings inside anymore. I'm so sorry you have to know someone like me!"

Jake couldn't believe it. It was so validating to hear her say it. All this time, she had been in the exact same situation as him. She was in love with him just like he was in love with her. She was terrified because she thought he would think she was a freak, and he had been struggling with the same fear. It wasn't anything like what he had thought. He tenderly took her paws off of her face and held them in his hands. She looked at him, confused.

"Cassie, don't you dare be sorry. I don't think you're disgusting at all. I think you're beautiful. I was in the same dilemma this entire time, I'm completely in love with you, too. I love everything about you. You haven’t left my mind since the day we met and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

As he spoke, Cassie’s face turned from dismay, to disbelief, to unbridled joy.

“You mean it?”

“Yes! We were in the exact same situation. I had lewd dreams about you too, and I never told you any of it because I thought you would never accept me for it. You are the most compassionate, charismatic, intelligent, powerful, and absolutely the cutest person I have ever met or will ever meet. I am obsessed with you, and it is the biggest relief ever to know that you feel the same way about me.

Cassie’s lips quivered and she said, “OH, JAKE, I LOVE YOU, KISS ME!” and she tackled him with the biggest hug she gave him yet. When they landed, their lips were locked in passion. Finally. Finally, after half a year, they could be together. The useless waiting was over.

When their mouths finally parted, Cassie said, “Oh my gosh, I think I figured it out.”

“Figured what out?” Jake asked.

“What was your ‘secret ingredient’ in our cake this morning? The one that gave it a little spice.”

“Oh, it was two Leppa berries. Why?”

Cassie rolled off of him, cackling with glee.

“What’s funny about Leppa berries?” Jake asked, confused.

“What’s funny about them is they’re why we were so horny all fricken’ day! They were overripe, weren’t they? Overripe Leppa berries are super strong aphrodisiacs!”

Oh, no, they were overripe. Jake joined Cassie in a laughing fit of his own.

When they calmed down,

Jake said, “So, birthday girl, now that we have that out in the open, what do you want to do?”

Cassie gave him a lewd side eye.

“You.” She tackled him.

"How about we cuddle for the rest of the night?" Cassie asked once they had tired themselves out.

Jake wrapped his arms and legs around her and said,

"That sounds awesome."

He was exhausted, and he was about ready to fall asleep holding her, but she suddenly gasped.

"What's wrong?" Jake asked.

"Nothing!" Cassie said. "That's exactly it, nothing in the whole world is wrong! I finally figured it out!"

"What?" Jake asked again.

"Have you ever heard someone say that soulmates can understand each other in a way that no one else can?"

Jake did remember hearing that before.

"Yeah."

Cassie continued, tears welling up in her eyes.

"You can understand me when I speak because we're perfect for each other. we're not some weird anomaly as a couple just because we're different species, it's the opposite. We're soulmates."

Jake teared up too. He had been in love with Cassie for months, and had occasionally chastised himself for being in love with a Pokémon, but that night he realized that all the feelings he had for her were right. And now Cassie showed him that they had Arceus' blessing all along.

"We're perfect for each other..." He said. He thought about everything he loved about Cassie, which was everything. "That sounds about right."

"It makes total sense." Cassie said. "You're strong, talented, loving, smart, and funny. You're everything I'll ever need. You're my partner now. But you've always been my best friend."

"How am I supposed to follow that up?!" Jake laughed. "Hahhh. Cassie, I'm completely in love with you. You're the cutest person I've ever known, you're so energetic, and hilarious, and so compassionate, and I swear you're smarter and stronger than me."

Cassie smiled. "Awwww, Jake!"

But Jake wasn't done showering her with the praise she deserved.

"You are everything I've ever wanted. I'm so excited to be your partner–"

"I think you're still excited." Cassie giggled. "I can feel it on my tail, you know."

"Hey, that first time was the best I've ever felt. You've satisfied me forever, as far as I'm concerned. Ignore it. You're just really freaking hot, okay?"

"Hehe, okay." Cassie said.

"And I am excited. I'm so unbelievably ecstatic that I get to spend my whole life with you as my partner. But I'm excited for another reason too. Can I tell you a little story?"

"I love your stories!" Cassie said. "Tell me."

"Okay." Jake began. "One day, you and I woke up together and had a breakfast of poffins and chocolate milk and I found out that I wasn't dreaming that you could talk to me. I got super excited then. But I broke down sobbing that morning because I let slip that Vaporeon was my favorite Eeveelution and I thought I ruined your decision about what to evolve into. But you gave me one of your big, warm hugs that I love getting so freaking much–"

Jake squeezed her and she giggled.

"–and you told me that I didn't have to be sad because you wanted to be a Vaporeon anyway, and I cheered up when I knew I hadn't ruined it for you. And then you gave me the best news I've gotten in my entire life...”

“I’m your best friend."

"Aww, Jake, really?"

"Yes. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me. And it's even better now that we can have sex together, because holy crap, you have the best body ever and I was trying so hard not to look under your tail all winter because I didn't know you liked me too. But the excitement I felt when I heard you say those words has never really gone away."

Cassie was touched. He was undyingly devoted to her, that much was proven…

but he didn't feel just that kind of attraction. He was into her and everything about her: mind, body, and heart. And she felt exactly the same way.

Jake looked deeply into her big, blue eyes and said,

"I love you, Cassie. I love you so, so much."

Cassie looked deeply into his hazel eyes and said,

"I love you, too, Jake."

"I love you more than anyone in the world."

Dear Stanley Meltonbenger,

This is a very quick letter before a regular letter. I have a very important question. As Kalos' top Pokémon trainer, you are the best person I can think of to ask this: what egg group do humans belong to? Just wondering, but I really really feel like I need to know for some reason. You know how my curiosity can be.

Hoping this letter finds you very quickly and well,

Jake Pettittattittep

Dear Jake Pettittattittep,

Female humans give live birth, and therefore the species as a whole belongs to no egg group at all. In fact, all in-depth accounts of Human-Pokémon relations from ancient times mention strict inability for the females (of either species) to conceive. If you're worried that you may have impregnated Cassie, rest assured that you have indeed not, and no eggs will ever be on the way. Yes, I know about you two, including your ability to understand her. Flint can, in fact, write English and he has told me that you are perfect for each other. You make an utterly adorable couple and your secret is more than safe with me and Flint. The only reason he blabbed is that I was already suspicious about it and threatened to take away his Switch privileges if he didn't tell me.

You have my wholehearted congratulations on tying the knot, and my lips are sealed.

Wishing you a long, happy, and undisturbed life with Cassie,

Stanley Meltonbenger

Dear Stanley Meltonbenger,

Thank you so much for so thoroughly easing my mind. I was terrified that Cassie would lay a clutch of eggs because neither of us have any desire for children and we have no easy way to care for any. To continue our regular conversation, now that you've decimated the Kalos league, where do you plan to take your travels next? Johto is always lovely and Cassie has expressed interest in battling. We would be delighted if you were to come down for a spell and help us train.

P.S.:

I swear on my life and honor to the Four Deities of Spear Pillar that I will fucking kill you if you tell anyone about me and Cassie. I will feel no remorse for it. I can move three times as fast and agilely as your ace Greninja, and any self-respecting shinobi could overpower your entire team with their left pinkie toe anyway. But you have absolutely nothing to worry about because your lips are sealed.

I don't break promises,

Jake Pettittattittep

"Do you really think that'll deter him?"

"Stanley can be oblivious in person sometimes, but he knows my writing style well enough to know that postscript is law. He's also so happy-go-lucky that my last sentence will put him right back in GoodVibesVille. Here you go, Flint. That whole thing goes for you, too, buddy. And here's your Aguav berry. Have a safe trip back!"

"Um… okay. Thanks…"

Flint flapped out the window.

"Now where were we?" Jake asked.

"We were gonna snuggle on the bed and tell each other how cute the other is for a few minutes while we hand-feed each other Leppa berries, and we were gonna see if that puts us in the mood."

"Well, will it?"

"Compliments are super lewd; Of course it will. But we have to do it first."

"I can't wait! C'mere, cutie."

"No, you come here, cutie!"

She tackled him.

Unfortunately, this is the end of the story of how Cassie and Jake met, became best friends, and fell in love. But don't worry; while it's the end of this story, it’s far from the end of their story. I, EpsiloniusRandall or EpsilonRandy, wrote Six Months in the Ilex, but it is not my only literary work. I am well into the lengthy but rewarding process of writing a full-length comedic science fiction novel, which will be a fully canon crossover of all of my creative works up to the point that it is finished, including Six Months in the Ilex. To put it simply, and appropriately…

Jake and Cassie will return.

It was 11:00pm on a May night in the Ilex forest of Johto. In the middle of the woods ran a clear, quiet river, And not far from the river's west bank was a proud Oak. A hollow under the Oak was the home of two people, a 19-year-old human named Jake, and an 18-year-old Vaporeon named Cassie. They were not asleep, as they arguably should have been, but arm-wrestling, best six out of nine. The winner would top that night. Yes, that kind of top.

Cassie and Jake were inseparable. Partners in every way life offers, very much including the way that involves someone as a top. Aside from having a great time in bed– which was every time, just cuddling or a bit more– they were often doing something athletic in their free time, occasionally competing in some way. At the end of this particular day, they decided to combine all three, and athletically compete to decide who would smash who.

Anyway, they were arm wrestling. Well, Jake was arm wrestling. Cassie was tail wrestling. That made it much more fair. Jake was a very strong and supple individual who was highly trained in the arts of the ninja. And Cassie… was part fish (Her tail was more dolphin-like, but we all agreed on the term 'fishcat' long ago). You can see how paws would have been unbalanced. They were locked in the ninth round. Cassie had a one-point lead, but remember, it was 'best SIX out of nine,' so you had to win by two or the match reset. They were more focused on staring each other down than actually wrestling, and if the competition was judged on that, the afterglow would’ve ended hours ago. Jake had eyebrows for days. But it was not. So they were staring more deeply into each other's eyes than they usually ever did…

when a meteor hit.

They both fell backwards off the table as the shockwave shook their house. Luckily the windows didn't break.

"What… IN THE FICKETY FACKITY???" Jake yelled. "Cassie, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just confused what that was… aww, I was gonna win…"

"We have to go check that out. I think it was a meteor." Jake said, getting his outdoor robes on and fastening his trusty satchel to his back.

"Why us?" Asked Cassie. "We were gonna have so much fun.”

Jake made the full-face grin he made every time he persuasively used bad logic.

"We're protagonists, Cassie. Remember the personality test we took? We're the main characters, we have to! Besides, this will be fun and we fool around basically every night, we don't even have to skip it! C'mon."

"Okay, fine." Cassie said. "But we have to race to ground zero. Loser tops."

"Done."

They burst out the door and Jake jumped straight to the top of their Oak tree in two hops, such was his excitement. He scanned the horizon, looking for the blast crater. He found it quickly, too. It was at the end of a landing trail a kilometer long. The meteor must have come in low and fast. Not Jake's style at all. He quickly planned a path across the treetops to reach it in less than a minute, but realized there was a problem. The meteorite rested just on the opposite side of the river and had dragged across the ground parallel to said river, meaning that the terrain between Jake and ground zero was about 90% water.

…So was his girlfriend.

He heard a faint but clear call coming from the crater:

"HA-HAAAAA! YOU HAVE TO SMASH ME NOW, NINJABOY!!!"

Cassie had known that the meteorite was just across the river the moment it landed, no doubt. Having a water-based biology, she was very in tune with vibrations. She used her power as a Vaporeon to melt into the river and swim near the speed of sound, arriving at the site less than six seconds from leaving their door. Jake stood no chance and had lost before he began. He always knew she was just a little bit smarter than him. Even in a situation so out of the blue, literally, she used it all as an elaborate ploy for her to bottom tonight, and thinking how darn cute she was, Jake had no objections. But first, he had to go meet her at the crater and see what the hell happened there. He jumped across the trees and performed a tuck-and-roll right next to Cassie.

"Woo! You're so good at that!" She said.

"And you can swim super freaking fast, cheater!" Jake said with a smile. But he realized he was so dehydrated that his throat stuck to itself. "Guh. Speaking of water, I didn’t drink enough today. I’m parched after a burst of energy like that.”

“Well, just say so!” Cassie said. “Here.”

Jake opened his mouth for Cassie to spout some water for him to drink. Vaporeon produce pure water, higher quality than most bottled varieties, and by now, this wasn't weird for them to do. She spouted a long, steady stream for him.

After he drank it, he said,

“Squirting for me already? We haven’t even climbed in bed.”

Cassie rolled her eyes at his obvious joke, but she still smiled. It came from a place of horniness and she reciprocated. In fact, his remark got her a little excited, and she was starting to get impatient.

“I’m happy to let you drink my actual juice just as soon as we take care of this. I've been wanting to get into your pants for almost an hour now.”

That sounded great to Jake.

"Alright. Let's see."

They walked up to the rim of the crater and looked in. In the center was a light blue quadrupedal creature with a finned head, a frilled neck, and a dolphin tail.

"IS THAT A VAPOREON?!" They exclaimed in unison.

They rushed to it to see if it was okay. Jake knew from the length of the crest that she was female. He checked her pulse, and she was alive. In fact, looking at her, She was completely unscathed. Odd considering she had rubbery skin and had just been shot from space at mach two. Looking even closer, she was remarkably like Cassie, too. She had the exact same figure and form. Not all Vaporeon are alike, but the two next to Jake were. Cassie nudged the creature with her nose and Jake shook her gently.

"Are you alright?" He asked her.

The creature stirred and they both gave her some space to breathe.

She lifted her head up and looked at Jake. Her eyes flew open and she jumped up to hug him as if she had not, in fact, just fallen from the sky.

"Ewan, you're here! Good! Where the crap are the others?" She said in a Voice perfectly identical to Cassie's. Cassie jumped when she heard it.

Jake had gotten plenty of hugs from Eeveelutions before, but this didn’t feel right. Why did she sound just like Cassie and how could he understand her too?

He gently pushed her off and set her straight.

"Woah Vaporeon. I don’t know who Ewan is– he must be a cool guy if you confused me for him– but my name's Jake. The lovely Vaporeon next to me is Cassie. Now can you please calm down and tell us your name so we don't have to call you by your species?"

The creature looked at him and then Cassie quizzically. A look that slowly turned from confusion to dread.

"Oh, no."

"Ooooohhh no oh no oh no oh no oh no…"

"Hold on. Why do you sound like me?" Cassie asked nervously.

Jake was pretty sure he knew what was going on. This was a common prank.

"Okay, Ditto. Do you have a name to share with us or can we go home?"

Cassie calmed down when she realized what was happening, but the creature was not as easily reassured.

"I know what you think this is, but it's not." She said.

"I am not a Ditto. I'm not a Vaporeon. And I'm not a Mew either." The creature said. "So, you're not Ewan, correct?" She asked.

"Correct." Jake replied.

"And you're sure you're Cassie?"

"Definitely." Cassie said with a questioning look on her face.

"Okayy… Well first, I'm not a Vaporeon--"

Cassie water gunned straight into her face, and the water mostly clipped through her skin and disappeared.

"You sure have water absorb." Cassie said.

"–but I am a fishcat. Thank you actually, that was refreshing."

"You look really tired. I'm happy to help."

"I am what is known as a Mystera."

"Okay, and what's your name?" Jake asked.

She took a deep breath and smiled at them apologetically.

"Listen. I'm sorry I scared you. You two seem like an adorable couple, and you both look very horny for each other. I'm so sorry to ruin your fun night but I'm afraid I'm going to need your help for a while, otherwise there might not be many days ahead of us, or ahead of anyone else in the cosmos for that matter."

Cassie looked slightly terrified.

Jake was incredulous.

"Okay, how could you tell we were a couple, how could you tell you were delaying us having sex, and who are you?!?"

The Mystera gulped, as if she was as afraid to give the information as Jake and Cassie were to hear it.

She said it slowly to lessen the blow.

"My name, in fact…"

"Is Cassie."

<<To Be Continued>>