26 – Full Circle

26 – Full Circle

It’d been nice to have two shoulders to lean on to get home. Brandy might have some of that Pokémon stamina in her blood, but even that had limits, and she’d pushed them far beyond reason today. Dragged back into her home like a drunk who’d forgotten which leg was which, her Poké-mom was there, ready to pat her head and try to tease out the details of how her gym battle had gone.

“I can’t tell you! Really!” Brandy said, blushing as she leaned over the kitchen table. Remi had done work getting rid of the poison, but Brandy had spent just enough time in her slime body that touching things was confusing; now she was back in her old one. Her mom didn’t seem to care. Looming over Brandy, her enormous moth wings fluttering behind her as she tried to wrap her daughter in a hug. Brandy wanted to resist it, but it was hard to fight comfy moth hugs at the best of times, and she was absolutely bushed right now.

“Just a hint.” Scoria finally got a grip and pulled Brandy back into a bug hug, and Brandy’s arms flailed out of the grip as Scoria smothered her with love.

“You’re friends with Lea, invite her to tea and ask her yourself!”

“Oh, I will! I can make her talk.”Th.ê most uptodate novels are published on n(0)velbj)n(.)co/m

Brandy groaned. That was almost a lie. When her Poké-mom had a cute human guest over, they were much louder than just talking. This house needed thicker walls.

“I’ll get in trouble if I tell you, mom! I lost, but I learned from it, is all I can say. You got to wait till the next season for more!”

Sparky waved a hand in the air, their chair wobbling as she vibrated with excitement. “Oh, I learned a lot too! I can’t wait to share.”

“Well, you could now?” Calcine asked, all casual, but Brandy could tell she was dying to know what Sparky had gotten up to with Lea and Honeycrisp. Calcine wasn’t sitting with the rest but watching the oven go as it cooked a pasta bake for them all. Brandy was pretty sure she’d have hugged the oven if she thought she could get away with it with dignity intact.

“Nah, I want to show, not tell,” Sparky said, blowing Brandy a kiss. “It’ll be worth the wait, though. Trust me.”

“It’s always good to see what surprising things you can do. When Fenny was doing Gym’s she used me as a barbecue for one. I think it was some kind of trust test? Or was it creativity?” Scoria said, tapping her chin. The white fur mantle drifted back and fore as she puffed out hot air while she thought.

“Wouldn’t that make the food all ... mothy tasting?” Brandy said, surprised she hadn’t heard this story before.

“Oh, with what they’d been doing with their mouths beforehand, that wasn’t a problem.”

“Aw! Mom! Gross!”

“You’re old enough to talk about sex now! It’s fine.”

“Yeah, and I will, but not with you!” Brandy hid her face in her hands. “You’re unbelievable.”

Calcine nodded. “Oh, I’m sure she is unbelievable. Perhaps you could give us some tips, Ma’am?”

“You are not getting sex tips from my mom! Absolutely not!” Brandy waved, trying to hide Scoria’s face as her mother blushed at Calcine’s praise.

Sparky leaned over the table, almost flat across it, as she stared intently at Brandy and her Poké-mom. “But she’s such a wonderful source of info! Scoria, what’s Brandy’s Type? Is she more Bug or Fire?”

“And she’s six foot two?” Calcine said, the pair of them ignoring her grasping hand.

“Yes, duh. She’s the same height as me!”

“Oh yeah, shit, you are really tall, huh?” Sparky laughed.

“Everyone’s tall to you.”

“O-hoo! Big talk from the flat titty Larvesta.”

“When I get a pair, I’ll smother you to death with them. Give it to me!”

Sparky stuck her tongue out at Brandy and went to continue reading before a loop of white string suddenly whipped the Pokédex out of her hand. It sailed through the air back to Scoria, who caught it in one hand as she finished ladling pasta onto the plates with the other.

“... that’s my trick!” Sparky squeaked.

“I think you’ll find it’s mine. I’ve been around a lot longer.” Scoria said, giving Sparky a big smile. “Good to know the youth have some skills.”

“Well, well, I got electric webs. They’re cooler!” Sparky returned, padding her hands together and letting electric webbing curl between her fingers.

“Naturally, Calcine and I are the hot ones.” Scoria licked her finger and ran it through the air, leaving a small flame burning in the air before it petered out.

Sparky gawped at her like a fish out of water, eyes flicking between Scoria and Brandy. As if Brandy were going to save her from her own big mouth.

Sparky throws up her hands in defeat and leans back, head resting on Calcine’s chest as she looks up at Calcine’s curious orange eyes.

“I say we stick to messing with Brandy. Scoria’s out of our league.”

Calcine nodded. “Agreed. You can’t handle her heat, and I don’t want to know what Struggle Bug does.”

Brandy knew from many sleepless nights precisely what it did, but there wasn’t enough money anyone could have paid her right then to tell them that.

The pasta was pretty lovely. They’d shown mercy and not added spices for Sparky this time, and while it lacked something without the usual heat Brandy was used to, it was filling. By the end, she was ready to curl up somewhere cozy and just enjoy letting it settle. From the looks Sparky and Calcine were giving her, they had a similar plan with some key differences.

“Oh,” Scoria said as she dabbed her lips with a napkin. “Will you all be sharing Brandy’s bedroom? She doesn’t have a very big bed,”

“Perfect,” Sparky and Calcine said in unison, all but shooting out of their chairs as they came over to grab Brandy. Spilling thanks to Scoria as they dragged her off, her Poké-mom not even bothering to hide her amusement. What a shameless setup!

She could be loud as revenge if she dared. She had so much payback to give there.