New Faces, New Friends

by ZephyrStrife

Chapter 8

Vinny eased himself back into his lounge chair, holding a warm cup of tea that he called 'Zebrican Red Tea', Which was supposed to be a very rare and valuable commodity. He even explained it in a sentence that even a voltorb could understand...

"Trust me Mick, that's a nice name by the way, once you get a taste of Zebrican red tea, all other drinks pale in comparison. And it's so expensive because so few zebras become wandering traders that usually someone has to go all the way to Zebrica to get the tea... As you could probably tell, there's a lot of races on Equus that prefer not to venture too far into the desert sands surrounding Zebrica's cities."

Mick easily saw the reasoning, with similar situations he could compare back home about why the rare candies had been so sought after. He actually began to wonder what they tasted like now that he was a pokemon, he had tried one when he was a human and nearly gagged at the taste, leaving it as something that was probably more suited to what pokemon prefer to taste.

At that precise moment his stomach decided to add its own opinion to the conversation by making a loud growl.

Vinny started to chuckle a little, "I think someone's hungry... Don't worry Mick, I've got plenty for us all to eat, I just have to warm it up." He explains as he gets up, leaving the group in the living room.

Emma lets out a nervous cough as she finishes her cup of orange juice. "So... Vinny's certainly a good... guy..." She starts, fumbling a little over her words as she tries to get a conversation going.

Widget nods. "He's a tad eccentric... but he's a good dog, I'm proud to call him family." She says with a smile as she leans against Gleaming Gem.

"That's not to say he wasn't downright terrifying when you first introduced him to your coltfriend..." Gem ammends, causing her to chuckle. "It's not funny! He chased me for five blocks with that frying pan of his! I don't even know how he got so good at beating anyone senseless with it."

"In the end he let you be his cousin's lover..." Widget replies with a roll of her eyes.

"Only because the city guard threatened to arrest him for attempted assault on an ambassador."

Widget chuckles a bit, while Mick and Emma contentedly listen, "Well, you shouldn't have gotten into his dirt garden and disturbed his worms."

"It was a complete accident... we've been over this, I don't even know how I got down there, there was only one entrance and I don't remember ever sliding down it." Gem defends. "I even saw the fact that he had a grate over the top of the entrance and I don't know any teleporting spells."

"It doesn't matter anyway... What matters is that my family approved of my lover..." She coos as she gives him a kiss on the forehead, causing Mick and Emma to chuckle. Gleaming Gem chuckles as well.

"Joke's on you guys, I'm secure enough in my masculinity not to be embarrassed by a show of affection."

Emma lets out a happy sigh as she wraps her forepaws around Mick, pulling him into a hug and making him blush. "I'm happy you're a pokemon now..." She whispers as she nuzzles his head, "I can give you all the hugs I couldn't when you were a human..."

"Emma..." Mick grumbles as he tries to shift around in her embrace, managing instead to find a more comfortable position that nearly made him want to nuzzle a bit closer and fall asleep.

"You're still a young Cyndaquil, you're going to need to rest and eat before you will be strong enough to hold a flame." The Quilava says as she strokes his fuzzy head.

"Can we start my training tomorrow? I really want to get stronger..." Mick pleads.

Emma bites her lower lip, conflicted about letting him train, before she finally relents. "Yes... We'll start tomorrow by finding out what moves you do know."

"I'm back!" Vinny calls as he brings out a tray of bowls that still have steam coming off of them. The scent of warm food quickly grabbed everyone's attention as they all gathered around the medium sized table in the middle of the room. "My specialty, mushroom and tater soup!"

Mick gave the mixture in front of him an odd look, the milky white substance did give off a faint potato-like scent, mixed with a few other spices that he couldn't quite place. When his stomach gave another rumbling insistence that he begin to feed it he gave a small chuckle and brought the bowl up to his mouth, intensifying the scent of the spices.

The taste of the soup definitely wasn't bad, the texture was a bit too squishy for his liking when it came to the mushrooms, but the taste was definitely a decent taste. He began to eagerly drink up, having little difficulty using the pads of his paws to grip the sides of the bowl.

As he placed the bowl back on the table with a smile he mused aloud, "I wonder how Grepa berries would make it taste..." Which got a light punch to his shoulder from Emma. He gently rubbed his shoulder while he smiled at her, making a mental note of how her coat still seemed to shine in the light despite the near death situation they had been in only a week prior. Everything else seemed to fade from the world as he watched her, life moved in slow motion as she blinked and turned her attention towards him. Her beautiful, sparkling ruby eyes asking the one question he never knew he wanted to hear...

"...Hey Mick? Are you alright...?" Emma asks with a little concern at the open-mouthed Cyndaquil staring at her. Her concern grew a bit as he nodded as if in a stupor. "...If you say so..." She relents, turning her attention back to Vinny. "Uh... Cousin... Cousing Vinny? What happened back at the Discretionator... You went from really sad to really happy, why?"

Vinny gave her a wide grin. "I was hoping you would ask that my dear, It's actually due to a philosophical saying I heard in one of the marketplaces." He explains before taking a sip of his tea. "...The ground is the past... and the sky is the future... If you spend all of your time looking at the ground, you'll miss every opportunity in life... If you spend all of your time looking at the sky, You'll trip and fall because you won't see where you are going... if you focus on what's in front of you, then you will live long and prosper." He gently smiles with a happy sigh before taking another drink.

Emma places a paw over her right ear as she tilts her head in thought, focusing on the spot of table in front of her while she mulled the saying over in her head. "That... Makes a lot of sense actually..."

With that, Vinny claps his paws together. "Well, it's getting late and the lantern workers are dimming the streetlamps, it's time to get you all off to bed, you've got a lot of prep work to do before you all go anywhere. I'll show you where you can sleep."

---

[Warning: If you are uncomfortable with one of the characters reacting a bit more like a mother and prepping their 'child' for bed please skip to the next page break. I decided to try something that would develop Mick and Emma's relationship a bit more in a closer setting. This content is completely optional and no major bearing on the plot.]

Emma and Mick both sat on the small bed in the spare room, she gave him an extra soft hug as she looked out the window at the last glimmers of the day-life of Kinholdur. "Mick..." She whispers as she hugs him a bit tighter.

"Yes Emma?" The little Cyndaquil replies as he nuzzles into her soft fur.

"Do you think Arceus will be able to bring our family back together?"

When she looked down at him he was giving her as confident a look as he could muster. "I don't think so Emma... I know he can, he brought us to this world, and if he could do that, he could bring us all together... or at the very least point us in the right direction."

She chuckles a little, stroking his head while letting out a purr of her own. "You're so mature... It's hard to imagine that you were ever just a thirteen year old human at one time..."

"Well... Mom and Dad did make sure that I got the best education... that way I could travel and not have to worry about school." Mick replies with a smile.

Emma gives him a gentle, motherly lick on the head before she starts to shift around, "Come on Mick... It's time for you to get to bed, and there's a little bit of a nip in the air..."

"Alright... but... what are you doing?" he asks as she places him on the bed near her belly.

"You need to be kept warm... you're still young, and besides... I know you'll like it..." She coos as she nudges him closer to her soft, warm fur.

He hesitates a few moments, unsure about whether he wants to be this close so soon... but... She cares about him, and not doing it would hurt her...

Deciding to bite the bullet and 'man up' as it were, he inches closer.

The effect was almost immediate as her warmth washed over him. She gingerly lowered herself so that her entire body covered him like a really, REALLY, soft blanket. Mick actually noticed that he had no trouble breathing despite being covered by Emma's fur, for the first time since he had woken up in Equus... He could feel some kind of purr wanting to rumble up from his own throat as the safety and security of the more mature pokemon enveloped him. If it were not for his own sheer amount of willpower he would've fallen asleep immediately, he was fighting a losing battle though as his vision became more and more blurred while sleep overtook his defenses.

Emma was happy that Mick was asleep so quickly, her blush that tinted her fur red across her muzzle had grown incredibly warm just before she leaned down and gave his back a small nuzzle. The movement made Mick shift a little in his sleep, but he didn't wake.

"...Goodnight... My little Cyndaquil... I love you so much Mick..." She coos before curling up to fall asleep, enjoying dreams of finally truly having a family with Mick, once he was a bit more mature of course.

---

The next morning Mick yawned a little, before quickly shaking his head to get the fur out of his mouth. He realized that he had turned over in his sleep and ended up getting a mouthful of Quilava fur in his yawn. He chuckled a little to himself as he pressed his nose a little deeper into her fur to take a whiff of Emma's fur.

The scent of an oak campfire with a slight tinge of Grepa berry, although the Grepa scent was getting much fainter. It had always relaxed him, kept him feeling safe even when there was nothing to truly be afraid of. She had always been by his side, dedicating her life to his safety above even her own. There was a short time when he had wondered if it was because of the pokeball she had been in, but even after he had offered to let her go on her own, she stuck by him.

He hated his moments of Introspection... they tended to make him feel depressed, and it was never a good thing, so he began to worm his way out from under his Quilava, mentally frowning when he did realize how much colder the air was in the room compared to the warm bed he had just crawled out of. He was even tempted to go back to bed just for the warmth.

Sighing, he settled on leaning his back against her side, snuggling into her warm body as he lost himself in thought again.

Author's Note:

Well, isn't this interesting, a quicker update than once in a blue moon!

I can't believe how full of muse I've gotten, at least for the moment. I definitely want to put more adorable moments into the story at a later date.

If I made any errors, let me know and I'll be happy to go back and fix them.

You know, I have an idea, if you guys want to submit a character to possibly join the party or become an acquaintance through the progress of the story simply send me a PM and I'll see if I can fit them in.

Comments

[Lexiebommel10]

1st comment and Da'wwwwwwwwwwww