Aurora

Secrets

Tired from the Festival, the next morning I stumble into my family's central cave, absentmindedly pick up a fish, and wander outside to see what time it is.

When I see the sun, I panic. It's almost midday. I hurriedly gulp down my fish and scramble down the path to the cliff.

Despite all my panicking, I actually get to the training grounds early, so I spend a few minutes poking around in the streams nearby. Dipping my toes in, I slowly freeze the water solid. I feel it turn pleasantly cold around my paws, which continue to feel normal, as if they aren't frozen in a block of ice.

"Hey, Aurora."

I jump out of the ice in surprise, and icicles stab out of the creek. Jet leaps back, looking frightened.

I relax. "Holy Arceus, you scared me!" I chastise.

Jet still looks worried. Surprising myself, I smile. "What, you thought I finally snapped and tried to kill you?"

Jet smiles nervously, not replying.

I laugh. Well, I guess that answers that question. "Well. You know. It could still happen."

I de-icicle the creek in time for Cirrus's arrival. The Glaceon looks a little surprised to find Jet and me talking in a civilized manner, so he hurriedly starts today's lesson.

"Today we're going to learn how to control your powers even in emotional situations. Now, I'll be showing you some very emotional material today to help simulate situations you might face. Some of it is heavy stuff and it might  frighten or anger you, but I've already gotten permission from your parents, so don't go crying to Mommy and Daddy, okay?"

Jet and I share a glance with raised eyebrows. This must be intense. Cirrus never warns us about anything.

Cirrus conjures a screen of mist in front of himself. "Now then," he says in a businesslike tone of voice. "Ladies first." He beckons me with a nod.

Not really sure what I'm supposed to do, I hesitantly walk over to the screen. "Okay," Cirrus says. "I want you to make it snow."

Now that we've been at this for over a week, making it snow is offensively easy. I do so with a smirk.

"Now I want you to watch this screen and keep making it snow. Try not to relax or intensify it."

The first image that appears on the screen is a pleasant one: a mother Vaporeon licking an Eevee on the head. I suddenly find it hard to keep the flow of snow steady. The image is just so relaxing.

Somehow I manage to keep my powers stable, and the image on the screen changes. This time it's much more powerful: Brook and Crystal, huddled together and looking terrified, surrounded by smirking Jolteons.

Forget snow. Icicles spurt out of the ground. Cirrus sighs.

"Okay," he says. "You certainly have powerful reflexes. Let's try that again."

The image disappears, this time replaced by a picture of a Flareon. With a handsome face and kind eyes, he looks a little like Ash. I can't help relaxing. The snow is replaced by a slight chill.

Cirrus and Jet both look at me weird. "Okayyy..." Cirrus says slowly. "Not the reaction I expected."

I gulp. I hadn't thought about that.

The rest of the images are pretty predictable: friends and family being attacked, peaceful or frightening scenery, fire or ice, that sort of thing. Overall, I perform very poorly.

"Well," Cirrus sighs. "No one's good at everything. I guess you're just a natural hothead." I get the feeling he expected more from me.

"Alright Jet," Cirrus continues. "Your turn."

Most of Jet's images are similar to mine, designed to relax, anger, or sadden him. However, near the end of the test, Cirrus takes on a thoughtful expression, and the image changes to one of me nuzzling another male Vaporeon.

The reaction is instantaneous. Jet's gentle drizzle changes into a storm with the power of a hurricane, and geysers gush up out of the ground all around us.

The geysers around us splash onto Jet and me, the water freezing solid when it hits my skin. My fur freezes into thousands of tiny icicles, and I feel myself turning cold with anger and embarrassment. I can tell I'm blushing again.

Jet, realizing his mistake, has turned scarlet. We both glare at Cirrus, but the latter doesn't seem to notice. He's too busy staring contemplatively into the sky. I sigh. Of course. Cirrus would never do something like that just to tease us. He'll find a way to work this into our training somehow.

Looking back down again, he continues as if nothing happened. "Okay. Battle positions."

I look up at he sky in disbelief. Shouldn't we be done by now? I realize with horror that it's only been an hour. I still have half an hour to go before I'm free.

Barely stifling a groan, I begin to circle with Jet. He looks nervous but determined. My fur is still frozen with anger, so I use this to my advantage. Suddenly rocketing towards Jet, I collide with him, knocking him over. My fur repeatedly pricks him, and while he's distracted I begin to grow a cage of ice around him. I've already won this.

Nope. Suddenly a powerful geyser erupts under me and I'm sent flying into the air. Landing hard on my side, I'm winded and unable to avoid his next attack.

A torrent of water hits me and knocks me flat on my back. Jet seizes the moment and leaps on top of me, pinning down my limbs. My fur has gone back to normal with exhaustion, and I don't even try to get up. I stare at him in amazement. It's the first time he's ever beaten me.

Cirrus is euphoric. "Excellent job, Jet!", he cries. This is the most expressive I've ever seen him. "You had excellent power behind those geysers, but you still need to work on the timing. If you'd timed it better, you would've only needed to hit her once."

I sigh. He always has ways we can improve.

"Aurora," he says sternly, "you should have thought that through a little better. Don't just rush headlong into an attack without first gauging your enemy. If you'd looked a little closer, you would have noticed that he was angry and therefore more powerful. If Jet was a Flareon, you'd be dead right now."

I growl internally. Right now, I couldn't care less about charging into battle. It seems like such a long way away. I just want to go play with Brook or sleep.

I think Cirrus knows I'm not listening, because I hear him tell Jet to hold me down a little longer while he lectures me. I can tell Jet isn't too happy about it, but he grudgingly obliges.

Eventually, Cirrus finishes his long-winded  chastising and tells Jet to get off me. Jet does so eagerly, creating a gentle vertical wave under me to help me up. Surprising myself, I let it carry me, pleasing Jet noticeably.

After Cirrus lets us out, Jet and I hike up the cliff together, commenting on how cruel the Glaceon is.

"I'm - I'm sorry ab - bout..."

I smile. "That's okay. That Grimer back there was the one who made you do it."

Jet laughs, appreciating the insult against Cirrus. "See you tomorrow," he says as we part ways.

As he leaves, I turn to watch. Is it actually possible that I'm making friends with Jet? A few weeks ago I wouldn't even talk to him. Now I'm honestly starting to like him.

Shaking my head, I turn to go fulfill "fish duty."

Just that pesky character who won't do what her author wants her to do.

Shoutout to Charr777 for helping edit this chapter!