The Conductor (Jolteon x Vaporeon)

Chapter 70 - Imagination

The sun danced across the sky, undergoing its usual daily routine. Rise early in the morning, the world basking in its celestial glow, before beginning its journey to the very peak of noon. Once it hit the peak of its ascent, it began slinking back down, setting off in the distance, leaving its lunar sister to reflect its light in its place as the sun fell behind the horizon line, its shine reduced to a golden orange. Currently, the sun was beginning its descent, the clouds in the sky already fading from white to pink as evening dawned on the world.

Tempest kept a close mental note of the time in his head, hoping that it would be cool enough to go outside soon. Throughout the entire day, he and Vanessa had hung out, just like they used to back in Moonshine. They lazed around in the morning, playing music all the way until lunch, when they decided that they would cook together, giggling and poking fun at each other. Whenever Tempest dropped or spilled something, Vanessa would just laugh at his embarrassed expression, until he eventually had enough, shutting her up by pushing a berry into her maw. The sourness of the sitrus berry quickly twisted her tongue, Tempest now the one laughing as Vanessa glared at him.

After they cleaned up lunch together, they spoke about Vanessa's newly realized abilities, Tempest very excitedly inquiring her about everything. He had been told about the Krookodile fight, but actually seeing her in combat against her Ash really put into perspective how much she had grown since the incident with the Dewott and the Prinplup. Hesitantly, Vanessa tried to explain the process of liquidation, as she played around with it in her paws.

On its own, it was difficult to control, and it left her feeling strange afterwards. It was like ice, clinging to her scales as it coiled around her paws, taking the shape of anything she imagined vividly enough. When she was angry, her emotions overriding her lack of confidence, liquidation seemed to control itself, her desires being met naturally as she progressed through the battle. When she needed more range to actually hit Ash, liquidation responded, extending the reach of her punch. Had she not been so surprised by it, and then overly focused in it, she probably would have figured out how to utilize it more effectively.

Not only that, but the potential was limitless. Offensive forms, possibly even taking the form of weapons, as Orenji had described. Walls as hard as concrete, or even a more elastic form, probably able to be used like a rope or a whip to latch onto things from afar. Essentially, it was a disjointed entity of water that she generated from the surplus of water stored in her body, an extension of her very form in itself, a new muscle she needed to learn how to flex. Tempest was beyond fascinated as Vanessa explained her understanding of the technique, his eyes wide with awe, watching her play around with it in her paws. The dark blue fluid coiled around her paws like a spring, which she directed with ease at the simple point of her digits. When she tried to shape it, it briefly took the form of whatever she wanted, before falling apart a few seconds later.

"I.. I-I can't really do a whole lot with it yet.. but once I'm able to figure it out, I-I think it'll be really useful.." Vanessa explained, her voice sounding distant and distracted as she languidly stared down at her own paw. Tempest's eyes followed hers all the while, watching the small, swirling water display which she held within the pad of her paw.

"I think it's really cool! I mean, you could do absolutely anything with it, if you get good enough!" Tempest exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air with excitement. "You could cover yourself with it like a suit of armor! Or, you could turn it into a big sword, or.. or even like, a giant hammer!"

Tempest recalled a certain pokemon, Tinkaton, which favored crafting hammers from the corpses of steel type pokemon they hunted, Corviknight being their primary target. The weapons often ended up being three times their own size, resulting in an incredible power for such tiny pokemon. Imagining Vanessa walking around with a weapon of similar caliber looked cool in his head, his imagination artistically depicting the scene far more dramatically than realistically possible.