Pokémon Chronicles 零 (ZERO)

Episode 28: Mimia's trial? The first anima transformation!

"I'm so sorry, Ba'ul... I didn't mean to push you so hard," Elise moaned, rubbing the side of the whining Tropius. Despite the harsh burns and bruises it had received when it was hit by the firework, it settled down contently, and was allowing Elise's other hand to help heal it using synthesis.

"Hey, um, Elise... be-be careful with the bestia usage," Shelly warned, watching her from a distance.

"... What, so it's okay for us all to go all out when it comes to saving Crystal, but I should watch it when trying to heal our childhood friend?" she challenged, not looking at him. Both of them went quiet, thankfully not turning it into an argument.

Our predicament with landing on Seafoam Island was solved by landing right at the bottom where its fireworks wouldn't be hitting us. From here, we had a surprisingly sparse amount of flat ground to make preparations on; preparations for a climbing task up the island's seemingly endless slant. I gazed up at it in bother, not able to spot any obvious shortcuts to abuse on the way up. It was just plain, green grass at an almost ninety degree angle, stretching from sea level right up beyond the clouds, so far that the structure at the top couldn't be seen at all. Thankfully, since the path had no obvious shortcuts, it also meant that there weren't any obvious difficulties either. We just had to brave it, and take on the potentially day long climbing task.

"Hmm... looks like a long way up," Lucca moaned, sweating.

"What, your legs stopped working or something?" Azeth joked. He slumped forwards.

"Um... I mean... sure, if I had any, they probably would stop working halfway up there," he sighed. He perked up at a sudden thought, and started to playfully wave his tail in her face. "I do have this though; it's useful for taking care of smart-mouthed troublemakers."

"Lucca- hey c'mon- cut it out!" she coughed, having to bat him away continuously. He kept going however, carrying on by hopping into her. What started as a hug quickly turned into a skilful moment of Lucca slipping around the Azumarill's body, with her trying to not only push him off, but jump on his back, from the looks of things. They kept giggling and mouthing sly teases to each other the whole while, so it never looked bothersome, but I was confused about the out of nowhere behaviour.

"Ha, I win!" Lucca announced, latched to her back cutely. He had his arms wrapped right around her front, and tapped her belly to make her blush.

"What's with you, why can't you just climb?" she squeaked.

"Because mister fish tail here won our bet, that's why!" he giggled.

"Ugh, you know I never really agreed to that, right? Besides, I might get tired halfway, you're heavy and you eat too much!"

"Oh come on, you have Huge Power! With muscles like yours, I must be lighter than a feather... even if I did have a big breakfast this morning. Hehe."

"Exactly. I can only carry you right now because I'm so strong? Carrying you and climbing is just..."

"Erm, if the two of you and done, can we get on with the trial?" Megan complained. Lucca tapped Azeth again and giggled, and her face flattened.

"Don't worry; I'll pay you back later, mister fish tail's promise," he giggled again. He went closer to her ear and mumbled something that got her attention, evident by her suddenly widened eyes.

"Are you for real? You drive a hard bargain, you know..." she sighed, blushing while scratching that ear. "You know what, fine. But I'll be using that as my bargaining chip from now on, warning you."

"Er..." Brine spoke up, completely confused.

"Are you all ready? Because we are, and I'll be carrying Lucca," Azeth smiled.