As time went on and the shows eventually came to an end, Fluttershy clambered off of the chair and waddled around the living room, looking high and low at all of the bric-a-brac and awards. First was a towering glass cabinet where Keychain housed all of his finest glasses, pictures, and even the occasional trophy or two. There were some words engraved into the gold base of the statues, but she couldn’t see them, let alone read what they had to say. She didn’t stay around it for too long as the height was making her feel even smaller than she already was, to the point where her hands and knees trembled at the size difference between her and the cabinet.
Fluttershy’s next room on her personal tour was the kitchen, where Keychain was washing up the plate he had been using for his toast as well as a bunch of other crockery and cutlery from the night before. All of it was drowned in a foamy sea of white, bubbly water, with some small droplets finding their way onto Fluttershy’s nose. Her pupils shrank at the sudden spritzing of water, so she shook her head like that of a dog to try and get it off. When some of it refused to obey her and stay adamant on her nose, she walked over to the tea towel hanging on the railing of the oven and buried her face in it, rubbing her nose from the other side. As she pulled herself out of the cloth veil, Keychain pulled it up off of the rail it hung from, took the objects from the sink with his free hand, then dried them off with the tea towel before leaving them to sit in the plastic draining board beside him.
As Keychain washed and dried away, buzzing noise and a tune came from his pocket. He pulled out a phone and pushed a green button before bringing it to his ear. “Talk to me,” he said.
“Hey, Keychain? Ya still down for a round on the lanes?” A laid-back female voice came from the other side. “They’ve got that special deal on for nachos if you’re in a group.”
“Sure thing, Lemon. I’ve just got some washing up to do then I’ll be there,” he said. “Cyber and Bench are gonna be there too, right?”
“Oh, for sure. They wouldn’t miss a round of bowling with us,” Lemon replied. “I mean, what else is there to do in this kinda town if you don’t get on out there and have some fun?”
“Not a whole lot, really.” As Keychain turned from the sink, he noticed Fluttershy at his feet. “Actually, Lemon. Change of plans. Ya think we can book the lane for five people instead of four?”
“Huh? What’s up, Key?” Lemon asked with a hint of confusion in her voice. “You sure you’re thinking straight today? There’s only four of us in our usual group.”
“I know, I know. It’s just that...” he tried to think of a way that he could explain Fluttershy’s inclusion to the group while she reached over for the cloth again; a corner now dangling over the counter. “Look, I know it sounds sudden, but I promise that I’ll explain everything when we get there. I’ll even pay you back for some of the extra dough you’ll be spending.”
“Hey, hey. It’s cool, man. I totally owe you after that tree course we did.” Lemon’s voice had a hint of care in it. “Didn’t exactly know how scared you were of it.”
“It wasn’t the heights that got to me, alright? It was how rickety and wobbly the thing was. I kept worrying that sooner or later, the thing was gonna snap.” Keychain’s brows lowered as his voice raised ever so slightly. “But in any case, I know you meant well, so I can’t really be too mad about it...”
“Yeah... Guess I should’ve known you weren’t a fan of those kinds of things. But hey, at least the zipline at the end was pretty sick, right?” Lemon replied.
“Yeah. If by sick you mean throwing up instead of good.” Keychain rolled his eyes.
“Ah, you’re only saying that because it was your first time. Trust me, Key. Ziplining’s not that bad when you really just let yourself go and enjoy yourself.” Lemon’s perky tone came back.
“If you say so...” Keychain just took another object out of the watery sink and dried it up, resting the phone on his shoulder. “Alright, Lemon. I really have to get this stuff done. I’ll see you at the alley once I’m done, okay?”
“Yep. See ya there, kid.” Lemon hung up, leaving a dial tone on Key’s phone. He slipped the thing back into his pocket before turning towards the cloth and a Fluttershy who finally managed to jump up and pull it off, only to land on her keister with the towel tumbling over her face. “You alright, Fluttershy?” He took the towel off, revealing her face once more. She just looked back up at him and gave another smile.
Once all of the washing up had been done, Keychain walked out of the house with Fluttershy scurrying behind him. What seemed like a walk to him was more like a stride to her. She ran as fast as her tiny little legs could carry just to keep up with Keychain as he arrived at his car. A simple, sedan with a rounded design, brown body, and hatchback. Keychain walked Fluttershy around to the right-hand side and opened the door, then proceeded to lift her onto the chair and strap her in, with only the bottom half snugly around her body.
Note to self: if this thing lasts a long time, remember to buy Fluttershy a booster seat... Keychain stared at seatbelt for a good few moments, fearing what would happen if the worst were to occur and Fluttershy wasn’t properly secured by the belt. Eventually, he shut the door, walked back over to the driver’s seat and clambered in. “Now, I’m gonna drive pretty slowly, since you’re not really in the safest of conditions. Let’s just hope Lemon’s still getting herself and the others ready.”
Keychain put his car key in and turned it to spring the engines to life. A quick purr filled the car as he planted his feet by the accelerator and brake. He moved the gear lever to a letter named “R”. He was thankful for having bought the automatic since having to juggle multiple gear switches at once would have been too much hassle; especially in a tense situation where Fluttershy wasn’t properly seated. He pushed the accelerator and reversed the car out of his drive, before changing the lever to the letter “D” to drive forward towards the bowling alley.
As Keychain drove forward, Fluttershy tried to look out of the windows to see where they were going, but due to her height, all that she could really see were the faint edges of the rooftops and the orange and golden-leaved trees that surrounded them. Beyond that, she had a rather clear view of the sky; a large, endless slab of blue with small, fluffy spots of cloud, white as snow and idyllic as they drifted through the air without any resistance.
The silence between Fluttershy and Keychain was broken when he reached for a knob on the dashboard of his car. When he twisted it, the box filled with classical music. Wind, brass, drums, and a hefty amount of string music filled the air and gave some life to the drive, rather than it be a slow, silent journey. Keychain felt a sense of comfort as the music flooded his ears, while Fluttershy just looked up at him with a tilted head as if questioning what was going on.
“Oh? What’s the matter, Fluttershy?” Keychain took notice of her through the overhead mirror. “Is this not your kind of music?”
Fluttershy didn’t not her head and she didn’t shake it either. Instead, she slowly lifted a finger to her chin and continued to stare at him. This was the first time she had ever heard anything like this. Or at least, to her memory. She hadn’t grown old enough to appreciate Keychain’s style of music.
“Oh. Well, if it’s a bit too much, I suppose I can leave it until later...” Keychain turned the music off, with an awkward tone in his voice. “It isn’t really a long drive to the lanes anyway. It’s just the speed we’re going at that makes the trip longer.”
With the song silenced, Fluttershy returned her attention to the view outside, captivated by the sights of trees and clouds. Along the way, she saw some birds flitting on past them. This gave her another smile as she watched the birds swoop and roll across the sky in a group, before turning off into the woods.
Eventually, the car approached a building with a neon sign. It wasn’t lit, but it depicted a bowling ball hurtling towards some pins before sending them flying into the air. The car park was moderately sized with only a handful of cars parked between the lines, not including the one Keychain drove and set down in a spot by the front door.
“Well. We’re here.” Keychain climbed out of the car, went over to Fluttershy’s side, opened the door again, unbuckled her, and picked her out of the vehicle. “Welcome to Cedar Grove’s very own bowling alley, Fluttershy. Twenty-eight lanes of people launching balls down lanes in an attempt to knock as many things over as they can. I imagine you’d find it quite fun, actually, given how young you are.” He tousled her hair, causing her to shake on the spot.
Keychain held Fluttershy’s hand and walked her toward the building. When he got to the steps, Fluttershy let go and put both of her hands on the step, hoisting her up onto the next one. She did the same with the next step. And the next. And the next. Until she climbed all the way to the top, with Keychain effortlessly walking up them normally afterwards. As he waltzed towards the door, she ran over to Keychain and grabbed ahold of his hand again as the electric doors slid open for the two of them.
The smells of the bowling alley immediately hit Fluttershy and Keychain upon entry. A mixture of shoe odours, hot food, freshly waxed wooden lanes and air conditioners. To their left stood the aforementioned lanes, where some people were already throwing balls down them and taking down the pins that stood at the end. With benches to sit on, computers to track their scores, rails that held their balls and balls unrelated to their bunches in place, and a red carpet with different coloured shapes separating the wood from the rest of the building. To the right of the two was a desk, where three familiar faces to Keychain stood.
One was Lemon, dressed in a pink shirt with a logo of some lemon slices, as well as a black vest on the top of it. She wore yellow shorts with a belt hanging lopsided above it. Her sneakers were black, with light blue laces and pink soles. Again, they bore the same logo she wore on her shirt. She wore two wrist warmers; a light blue one on her left arm and a pink one on her right. Her hair was jagged and its’ usual shades of green and yellow, with her pink headphones with a pie slice emblem on each speaker plain as day for all to see.
Lemon stood with two others. One was Cyber, with a neon blue shirt and plain black trousers. He wore some bracers on his wrists, which were blue in colour and read “Digicon 2018” on the left and “On the Grid” on the right. His shoes were bright red with velcro straps locking in his feet. His hairstyle was purple and mostly combed, with a few strands pointed backwards from the center of his head.
The other was Bench, who wore a red tank top and a blue headband, pushing his brown hair up into the shape of a shaving brush. He too wore shorts, but they were tied up and almost at his navel with how high they were lifted. His shoes were sports trainers, white in colour and tied up tightly. He carried a small blue leather bag with him, with a decal of a bench press machine on it.
“Hey! There he is!” Lemon called loudly from the desk as she watched Keychain and Fluttershy walk over to the group. When he arrived, she pulled him in tight patted his back tenderly. “How’s it hanging, Key?”
“Good, good. Same old stuff, really.” Key blushed slightly as Lemon kept on patting him. “Been paying the bills, had my breakfast, came over here for a round with you guys just like old times, eh?”
“Ya know the bet’s still on, right, Key? First of us to break two-hundred has to pay the other.” Bench grinned as he showed off his new shoes. “And this time, I came prepared to crush you and get that dough.”
“Hopefully, you don’t mean literally. Right, Bench? It’s not going to be like that time you and Key had that makeshift wrestling match after you took him on that road trip to see your favourite wrestler?” Cyber just lifted a brow at Bench as he brought his shoes back.
“Hey. It was close to the town and he rarely even tours anymore. What was I supposed to do? Not go and see him?” Bench just turned to Cyber and chuckled at him. “You’d totally do the same if there was some hi-tech computer coming out that you wanted to see.”
“I suppose you’re right there.” Cyber just rolled his eyes and turned back to Key. “By the way, Keychain, Lemon said that there was going to be five of us bowling today. Did you make a new friend since last time, or have you found another of our old school friends?”
“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain but, I kinda found this friend on my doorstep.” He put his hand down to his side, in an attempt to touch Fluttershy’s head again. But instead, he ended up touching nothing but thin air. He twisted his head down and shot his eyes open when he saw she was gone. Keychain frenetically looked around for Fluttershy, thinking that she had wandered off to see the lanes for herself. When he turned around to the door, he found Fluttershy huddled behind his legs, hidden from everyone else’s eyes. “Oh. There she is.” He stood aside, revealing her to the group.
“A kid? Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting to see someone like her at a place like this.” Lemon walked up to Fluttershy and squatted down to her height. “Hey there, squirt. Ya doin’ good?” She waited for a response but got no such words out of Fluttershy’s mouth. “You don’t really talk much, do ya? It’s cool. It’s cool. Ya don’t really need words to play this game.”
“How old is she, might I ask?” Cyber pointed to Fluttershy. “She certainly doesn’t seem old enough to use the proper techniques in bowling.”
“Her age? I barely even know the girl apart from her name, her shy nature, and that she loves animals!” Keychain threw his arms downward, palms facing upward. “She just showed up at my house one day with no rhyme or reason. As for where her parents are, I’ve no idea. I thought that maybe a game of bowling with you all would have made her just a bit happier.”
"Well, I mean, there's nothing against us having any kids. Just..." Lemon fidgeted on the spot as she took one look at the lanes, then another look at Fluttershy. Comparing her tiny body to those of the pros, a creeping sensation climbed her body. "I kinda feel bad that we're gonna beat her."
"I mean, you could always just give her one of those ramps and give her the rails. Sure it wouldn't be much of a hassle..." Bench pointed over towards a metallic frame. "We need to give her at least some form of a fair shot, right?"
"I mean, she's not guaranteed to be able to score higher than any of us, but we should at least make it so she's not handicapped..." Cyber scratched his chin. "I must admit, this is the first time I've ever gone bowling with such a little kid like her."
"Same here." Bench raised his hand.
"Eh, it ain't my first. I remember when I used to do stuff like this with my cousin. Though... I'm gonna be totally honest here, I kinda forgot for a bit there." Lemon gave off a lame chuckle. After the brief silence, she snapped out of it and regained the smile. "Anyways, let's get our shoes. Can't exactly bowl with these things on. Even though personally, I wouldn't mind it..."
After the conversation ended, the group got their bowling shoes from the counter. The usual pairs were doled out. A size 12, an 11, and two size 13 shoes. Then, when it came to Fluttershy and the lady at the counter asked her for her size, instead of giving her a verbal response, Fluttershy bent down and took her shoes off, before reaching up and jumping on the spot to try and put them onto the counter. Keychain reluctantly took the shoes and put them down before the woman compared them and gave Fluttershy some size 1 shoes.
With their new footwear in hand, the group of five went over to a lane marked with the number "16". While Cyber typed away the names and specifications for each player, Bench went over to collect the nearby metal frame and lay it by the hatch where the balls were being dispensed out for the group. All while that was happening, Lemon and Keychain were putting on their shoes before Keychain helped Fluttershy with hers. One singular velcro strap on each shoe, tightened up so that Fluttershy's teeny feet were comfortable but didn't pop out as she moved.
"Hey, Keychain? Do you think you could take over for me? Seeing as how you know this child and all?" Cyber asked and, in no time at all, stood aside to let him sit down.
Keychain typed in Fluttershy's name clearly on the monitor, before pushing a button that caused a pair of lines to show up at the edge of her initials. Once that was done and all of the names had been put in, Keychain scrolled down on the screen and hit a button that said "Random Order." As he did, the screen above the lane showed off five different scoring boards, with the initials of each player descending vertically from LS, CS, BP, K, and F. Underneath the grid, the name "Lemon Zest" was clear for all to see.
"Guess I'm starting us off." Lemon Zest wandered towards the rack, picking up a lime-green ball using her thumb, middle, and ring finger. The others took their seats as they watched Lemon take some deep breaths, lifting the ball up. She cracked a grin as she lined up her shot, then ran towards the lane, swinging her arm as she approached the foul line, launching the ball down with her toes mere inches away from the edge. "Now, come on! Lemon needs a new pair of strikes!" The ball careened down the lane in a perfect line before crashing straight into the arrangement of pins, launching them out in all directions. With Lemon's hit, she took down seven, leaving two on the left-hand side and one on the other. "Darn! A four-seven-ten. That's not the way I wanted to start this off..." She muttered as she returned to the group and her score was recorded.
"Hey. It could be worse. You could've started with a seven-ten. Then you'd really be getting mad." Cyber patted Lemon on the back as she waited for her ball to be returned to her via the mechanism.
"Oh, thanks!" Lemon gave him a small slap on the chest. "Not that I needed the extra pressure or anything."
"You totally got this, Lemon. Now c'mon. Give us a good pick-up." Keychain gave Lemon a pat on the back as the ball returned at last. As she took the ball back, Key lifted Fluttershy onto his shoulders, allowing her a clear vantage of Lemon taking her next shot.
Fluttershy watched with interest as Lemon aimed her ball at the two pins on the left, licking her lips and adjusting her arm. Using her free hand, Lemon twisted a piece of her headphones in a circular motion. Then, she took the shot again. Only this time, the ball skimmed the edge, sending the two pins straight into the one on the right, knocking them all over. Fluttershy couldn't help but clap her hands as Lemon fist-pumped and returned to the group.
"Booyah! Not a bad start after all!" Bench exclaimed, giving Lemon a thumbs up as his elbow bore into his leg.
Lemon blew a small raspberry at Cyber, who took a different ball from the rack and headed towards the lane. The words "Cyber Shock" were shown on the TV now, with the second row highlighted in a shade of red.
"So. I've gotta ask you something, Keychain." Bench turned to Key as Cyber took his shot. "What more do you plan on doing with your life? I mean, you've got a nice enough one as it is, but... I dunno, doesn't it seem like you're just restraining yourself?"
"What do you mean, Bench? I've been living my life to the fullest? Isn't that what we're supposed to do with our lives? Use them or lose them?" Keychain lifted his hands. "I mean, that's what we always said in school whenever we had to do something big or scary."
"I know I said that, but it still applies regardless. Y'know we're not kids anymore, Key. And life sure as heck ain't gonna get served to you on a silver platter." Bench kicked up his legs, putting his hands behind his head. "You've gotta get a bit out of your shell some more, Key."
"Uh, hello? That's why I made friends with all of you, right?" Keychain put Fluttershy down and saw Cyber retrieve his ball. "Cyber's got all of the smartest aspects of us, you've got me in a contest for who's the strongest and toughest, and we've also got Lemon." He wrapped a hand around her shoulders. "She might be a bit of a handful, but my goodness, does she know how to have fun."
"Yeah, the whole balance of attributes stuff is nice and all, but that's not what I mean, Key. As well as being able to have all of these good things, you have to think of some kind of main goal. Something that you'll want to get, be happy with when you get it and still feel satisfied when the journey's over." Bench pulled out his phone and opened an app, showcasing a bunch of charts and numbers. "Right now, I'm training to be one of the top athletes here in Cedar Grove. We need someone to be able to represent us for that big strongman contest coming up in a couple of months. Right now, that someone's looking a heck of a lot like me if you catch my drift."
"An end goal?" Keychain just stood there, eyes wide open as he buried himself in thought. "I never really thought about anything like that..."
"Hey, that's what you've got us for, Keychain. Whatever you wanna achieve, we'll be there to help you get it." Bench threw his arm around Keychain's shoulders. "Is there any kind of promotion or dream job you want? Or some kind of place or thing you wanna get or go to?"
"Well..." Keychain thought back to everything that the group had done together; all of the times that they had been friends through and through. The night when Lemon Zest wanted to go to a scary amusement park maze but only if the others joined her, or the time when Keychain and Bench challenged each other to a decathlon at their local gym, even the days when Cyber tried to get them introduced to virtual reality. All good memories, but nothing contributing to the situation at hand. "I don't know, Bench. There's just so much to do and so little time to do it in."
"But that's exactly why you're with us. We use our lives instead of losing 'em." Bench gave him a wink as he stood up and went for his preferred bowling ball size. "Anyways. Be right back. There's a strike on that lane with my name on it."
"And a TV monitor too." Lemon pointed it out, showing the name 'Bench Press' brightly for all to see.
"End goal... What could I be after?" Keychain looked back more on himself this time. His life since he left his parents' home. The memories that he had made in Cedar Grove. All of the times that he had ever been interested in things but never found the time to commit to them. "Thing is, that's the problem with having something like this. You need to be able to focus solely on it if you want it. And when you're juggling life, the bills and suddenly Fluttershy, your end goal gets harder and harder to reach."
"Well, yes. But that's why there's such a thing as multitasking. I do it all of the time whenever I'm downloading something very important. I do some other errands while I wait." Cyber Shock took a seat next to Keychain this time, barely even noticing Fluttershy rubbing her arms on his legs. "Honestly, Key. That was always one of your weaknesses when you were growing up; overthinking things. I might be the genius of the group, but even I know that wasting too much time on something leads to nothing."
"But how can you make such big decisions like that so easily, Cyber? I mean, this end goal business is pretty big!" Keychain threw his arms out. "I'd need to do exactly what Bench said. Find something that I want or somewhere I want to go to, feel satisfied with the thing when I do it and know that it'll keep me happy for years to come. If any of those three aren't there, then what was the point of doing it?"
"Decisive decisions are hard, Keychain. But it's only hard if you decide to think too much about it; to make worse of a bad situation." Cyber Shock laid a hand on Keychain's. "Don't think about the outcome. Think about the benefits. Then, the rest should click into place. If you don't figure that out, then what hope do you have of an end goal?"
"None..." Keychain looked down at his feet.
"Exactly. But that's just why you need to be a bit more outgoing, more gung-ho, as it were. Don't drag yourself down, Key. Instead, use yourself and what you like to build yourself up; make the most out of what you have and commit to what you really like most of all. That's what you should shoot for." Cyber gave Keychain a pat on the back. "Now, I think it's time you get on up there and live." He gave him a grin. "Bench just scored a killer strike. Think you can match him?"
Keychain looked out onto the lanes and saw Bench giving him a smirk. With renewed vigour, Keychain gave Cyber a nod and grabbed ahold of a bowling ball. Despite how heavy it was, he was still able to lift it to some degree. He could feel the muscles in his body working overtime as he carried the ball over, swung it with a run a hurled it down the lane, straight at the balls. Unfortunately, it rolled off in a curve and so only scraped the edges of the pins, but it was still enough to cause a massive cascade that collapsed all of the bowling pins.
"Heh. Game on, Bench." Keychain got a devilish smile on his face as he strode back to the team. "That two hundred dollars is gonna be mine today."
"That's what you'd like to think, kid. It's still only the first frame. There's plenty of bowling left to be had." Bench got his own sinister look in return to Keychain's. "May the better bowler win."
"Hey. Not that I like to bust up your little playful rivalry and all, but there's still one more player we've yet to account for." Lemon pointed over to Fluttershy, who looked up at the screen and saw her name on the board. As soon as she saw it, her miniature body waddled over towards the rack of bowling balls. "Hey... ya think there's any lightweight balls there? I don't wanna be responsible if she ends up getting flattened by something she can't handle."
Fluttershy was already fiddling with each of the different balls on the rack. She was just big enough so that her head was level with the spherical weapons of mass pin knocking-over. Her hands were a different story, as she found that she could fit at least two or three of them into one hole. Regardless, she tried in vain to pluck one of the balls from the collection, only to find herself straining and struggling to do so.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Fluttershy. You're gonna get nowhere doing it like that." Keychain came over to her side quickly and found a ball with much smaller holes and the number '4' on it. "Here. You might wanna try this one out. It's just right for someone like you."
Fluttershy noticed that the holes were indeed smaller than the ones that she had been trying to work with. She tried putting her fingers into it, but quickly popped them back out, as she had tried using her index and middle finger, rather than her middle and ring. Another attempt used her middle and ring finger, with similarly unsuccessful results. It wasn't until Keychain showed her how to properly hold the ball that she gave it a few practice swings on the spot, before pitifully letting it slip and hit the edge of the platform, where it just bounced back to her.
"I... think she's gonna need that ramp now." Keychain went over and set it up while the others helped Fluttershy retrieve that ball and lift her up to the lane's edge. Once it was all set into place, Fluttershy stood by the edge of the ramp, with the ball resting against a metallic arch that prevented it from falling back onto her.
"Here, why don't you play around with it a little?" Lemon Zest tweaked the angle of the ramp, pointing it in different directions down the lane. "Once you're ready, just give it a push, uh..." She leaned back and took notice of the name. "Flutter...shy. Not the name I would've chosen, but I suppose it's fine enough."
Fluttershy put her hands on the ball and only noticed that something was different. There were two fences around the edges of the lanes that hadn't been there when Keychain and the others had bowled. Lifting a brow at the fences, she pushed the ball down the lane towards them. And, in doing so, they ended up bouncing the ball back and forth as it travelled up towards the pins; the metallic edges wobbling with each hit, but still holding in place. Eventually, the ball slowed down and the bounces got less and less frequent as her ball hit the pins. It took out half of the pins, leaving a clear line at the back and one sticking out on the left side.
Fluttershy wobbled back over to the unit that held all of the balls, jumped down off of the platform and grabbed the ball she had just used. Toddling back over to the ramp, she lifted the ball up over her head and put it down, taking hold of the edges of the ramp as she aimed her next shot. She pointed it at the large cluster of pins and pushed. This time, as the ball rolled down, it only hit the wall once and bounced back towards the pins. This hit was able to knock three down while taking a fourth with it. That fourth and final pin was able to clip the end of the last pin, making it sway on the spot, yet still stand in place.
Fluttershy looked at the last pin still standing and stood there as the resetting mechanism knocked it over for her, before putting another ten pins down in its' place. A small pout formed on her face as she pulled the ramp aside and tried to walk down the lane and undo what the machine had done, only for Lemon Zest to pick her back up as her foot touched down on the black line.
"Hold your horses there, Flutters." Lemon turned her around and was greeted by folded arms and a grumpy face made from Fluttershy. "I know you're disappointed that you didn't exactly get 'em all down that time, but that's why bowling games last ten frames. There's still plenty of time." She put Fluttershy down at the side and pushed the ramp away. "Y'know, why don't you watch me and see how I do it?"
Lemon Zest jumped down and picked up a bowling ball, faced the lane yet again, swung her arm out and shot the ball down the lane with so much speed that it caused every pin at once to fall over. "Ha! See that, kiddo? All ya need is speed." Lemon Zest reached down and tousled Fluttershy's hair, causing her to reach up and push it back to the way she liked it. "Next time you're up there, give it a try for yourself. You might be surprised."
Fluttershy just stood there wide-eyed as she saw the next few shots being taken by Cyber Shock, Bench Press, and then Keychain. Every single one of them threw the ball fast, causing it to go fast down the path towards the pins. In comparison to her measly throws, theirs were strong enough to cause most, if not all of the pins to fall down in a single roll. As every shot went, her sulk seemed to shrink slowly into a smile once again.
When her turn came again and the ramp with its' ball was set up for her, she took her position and giddily put her hands on the ball. Then, laughing to herself, she squatted down, then threw herself up and pushed the ball with so much force that it lifted from the ramp briefly before falling back down onto the rail and speeding towards the pins. When the ball hit, it took every single pin down in a single strike, causing Fluttershy to jump up and down for joy, giggling over her first strike of the day.
"Nice. The kid's coming on quite well. Second frame in and she's already scoring strikes." Lemon watched as Fluttershy came back down to Keychain and the group. Then, Lemon saw Fluttershy come over and hug her legs. The sudden show of affection caused Lemon's face to flush a shade of red. "O-okay there, kid. That's enough." Lemon tried to push Fluttershy away, but the hug just got tighter. Lemon found her legs truly tied up by two teeny hands.
"Hey. I think she likes you, Lemon." Bench gave her a playful nudge on the elbow. "Perhaps maybe you could help Keychain out with raising her."
"Yeah, right. Because I was ever qualified to handle kids." Lemon broke out of Fluttershy's hold at long last. It didn't take her a few steps for the hug to resume, tripping Lemon up and causing her to suddenly prop herself up on the platform. "And if that's anything to go by..." She muttered as Fluttershy moved on from the legs to giving her a hug on her back.
The others couldn't help but laugh as Fluttershy curled herself up on Lemon's body, to the point where she was still clinging on even when Lemon Zest went back onto her feet to take her next bowling shots.