Hitting the showers after was the first call for any Trainer. Brandy was too exhausted to do anything other than get clean. Scuffed clothes, grass stains along her arms, and petals hiding in her spiky red hair. Brandy had expected to come out of her first Gym Battle a lot worse for wear. In the end, the most significant injury had been her pride. It had only been a matter of time before she got her ass kicked; Brandy knew that on some level and had even prepared for it when she’d gone to find her first Pokémon. All the successes she’d got under her belt had given her the belief that maybe, just maybe, she was special.

“Aw, you look so sour,” Sparky said, hugging Brandy’s side and nuzzling her head to get under Brandy’s chin. Sparky’s hair was an odd soft against her body, denser than most hair but smoother, too. It was very comfy to rest a chin on, even when trying to be miserable about things.

“Let you both down, is all. I really thought we could win that,” Brandy said, rolling her head to dig a little into the soft hair blowing along the top of Sparky’s head. It made her multiple eyes flutter, her body shaking from a held-back giggle.

“No moping! I had a lot of fun, even though I thought I would miss out. How was it, Calcine?”

“It was great,” Calcine said, as taciturn as she lathered Brandy’s arms with soap to get the grass stains off. Sparky rolled her eyes at the complete lack of detail.

“Give me a little more than that!”

“You going to tell us what you learned with Lea?”

“No way! You’ll find out,” Sparky grinned.

Calcine gave a little shrug and continued cleaning Brandy up. Her rocky body was easier to clean once it had hardened up again. It hadn’t taken long for her usual shine to return. Brandy was taking work.

“Well, even if she isn’t going to tell me the juicy parts, the point is, we enjoyed it! Except for getting bitten by tiny bug Wooloo’s. That bit sucked,”

“Sorry,” Brandy huffed, burying her face in Sparky’s hair. The shower water ran off her in rivulets onto the Joltik until her yellow fur matted up in a big tangle.

“Sorry, sorry! Boo hoo!” Sparky mocked, “We wouldn’t fight for you if we didn’t enjoy it, so none of this sad sack stuff!”

“I’m actually glad you lost,” Calcine said as she moved to soap up Brandy’s tangled hair. The short red spikes loved to become a bird’s nest any chance they got.

There was an awkward pause. Calcine took a long time to realize what she had just said.

“Because it’ll force you to improve,” she added quickly. “Not because I enjoy seeing you lose. I just want you to win through more than perseverance and quick thinking.”

“Calcine’s being mean to me,” Brandy mumbled into Sparky’s hair, hugging the Joltik closer and squeezing the underside of her breasts. “She doesn’t believe in me anymore, Sparky.”

“Wow!” Sparky gasped, rolling her shoulders back against Brandy affectionately. “Calcine, that’s horrible. I can’t believe you’re a glory chaser.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you both know it!”

Brandy squirmed to pull away from Calcine’s hands as they rubbed soap into her hair. Calcine got a hand around the pair of them and mercilessly rubbed Brandy’s hair until Brandy was left crying with laughter. Sparky bobbing below her, seemingly happy to enjoy all the extra rubbing from the twitching trainer.

“All right, all right!” Brandy squealed. “No more Rock hand rubs! I believe in you. I’ll do better!”

“Darn right you will,” Calcine said, flicking soap flecks at the furiously giggling Sparky. She just got a tongue poked back at her. “I didn’t pick a quitter.”

----

Brandy picked at a hole in her shirt sleeve as they returned to the Gym’s entrance. Between Calcine stealing her clothes and the drag-down battles she was getting into, she’d already run out of clothes that didn’t have some battle damage.

“I know I’m not meant to mope, but no Pokébucks will be a problem. I can’t just walk around everywhere naked.”

“Well, actually, “ Sparky started.

“I don’t want to walk around everywhere naked.” Brandy cut in before she could finish, “I need new clothes!”

“The ones you got aren't bad. They’ll last a little while longer.” Calcine said. Annoyingly, the shirt she’d stolen off Brandy was in a far better state than the one she was wearing. That hardly seemed fair. She may need to see if she could get one of Calcine’s sports bras to fit. Or raid a few charity boxes and hope she didn’t come out looking like an old pair of curtains.

Maple’s human mother, Willow, was waiting by the entrance, just as she’d promised. She was smoothing her lab coat nervously as Brandy came over, which just felt odd. Brandy didn’t really have much interaction with Willow growing up. She’d worked out she was a very serious and focused woman from the little Brandy had seen of her. Pretty much the opposite of her own researcher mother. Maybe that’s why she’d never really seen them get together.

“We’re done!” Brandy tried to put some cheer in her voice. She felt a lot more mellow after her partners had cheered her up. All the money problems swirling around her head would not let her come out of there full of smiles. She’d really been banking a lot on clearing this Gym first shot.

Willow adjusted her glasses, tucking a lock of blonde hair back behind her ear as she looked over at the trio. “Before you go, I’d like to remind you to not discuss the test with anyone. The format will change at the end of the month, and then you’ll be free to tell your stories about it.” Willow said, all serious. The tension in her eyes gave her away. She was eager to rush through this part, but too darn professional to allow herself the expediency.

“We won’t!” Sparky said, “We’re raring to come back and try again soon. Not going to get ourselves blacklisted.”

“Good. I still recommend the Starter Course if you’d like to prepare more for it.”

“No, thank you,” Brandy said. “It’s a nice offer, but if I do anything more today without some food and a nap, I’m going to collapse.”

“Ah,” Willow fidgeted with her clothes. “Be that as it may, I have a request of you. It won’t require much physical effort, I promise. Could you go talk to my daughter? Maple is at The Poke-center still, and I think talking to someone going through the same journey she is may get through to her better than myself.”

“Well, we’re not exactly. I mean...” Brandy flailed as she tried to express how Maple was about as enjoyable to hang around with as licking a Persim Berry for Brandy. It was impossible, you couldn't tell someone’s mom that.

“In good spirits? I understand. It isn’t easy to lose.”

“No! Uh...” Brandy’s thoughts flail in anger as she throws away a perfect excuse.

Calcine stepped in, giving Willow a polite curtsey. “Brandy’s just a little awkward with her words. Don’t worry. We’ll help her through it.”

Willow breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. She’s usually so driven. It will be good to see her return to normal.”

Still stun locked, Calcine and Sparky drag the shocked Brandy out with some hurried goodbyes.

---

The Pokécenter was busy. A few groups of trainers were getting their Pokémon treated after intense battles. The rest were there for recovery after some equally fierce loving. But for Trainers, usually their days weren’t as active as Brandy’s had been lately. Most were here for a quick drink or something to eat on their travels, clustered around the corner tables, all chatting amongst themselves. It was a thrill for Brandy just getting to see so many Pokémon in one spot. Brandy had gotten kicked out of the Pokécenter her fair share while growing up trying to sneak looks. It felt almost heretical to be coming in for a good reason.

“I’d like to queue to add in Lapidary’s name,” Calcine said, gesturing to a queue that was in danger of sprawling back out the center’s front doors. “Will you be okay to go see Willow with Sparky?”

“You signed us up for this!” Brandy huffed. “No bailing!”

“Yes, I accepted this task because it was the right thing to do, and I didn’t want to hold off on getting Lapidary her name any longer.” Calcine said, “You’re going to tell Maple you already partnered with two Pokémon. I don’t think you’ll hate that as much as you act.”

She had a good point, but bailing on them was still pretty cheeky.

“We could wait for you?”

“You could, but this place is heaving. I don’t think you want to spend all day standing around.”

She wasn’t wrong. There was a massive crowd of people today. Maybe it was the nice weather? Or some kind of local accident? Brandy was pretty sure there wasn’t a festival due for weeks yet. Looking over the crowd, she couldn’t work out the reason easily. Mainly because she saw a tall bunny girl looking Pokémon with red-tipped ears and a sticky plaster over her nose. Brandy was lost internally, screaming at how cute they were.

“Standing around with you two isn’t so bad. I would love that. We need to bond after all,” Brandy said, staring at the cute Pokémon.

Sparky looked between the two, panic in her glowing blue eyes. Brandy felt her anxiety flow up along the bond and reached to take her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Or.... you’re excited to get home?” Brandy guessed

“You owe me so much quality time! You put it off anymore, and I’ll web you up and drag you back to your bed.”

“I’ll help with the dragging,” Calcine nodded. “Sparky’s put up with a lot. Don’t push your luck, making her wait any longer. You can admire people’s ears tomorrow.”

Brandy blushed, caught! “Sorry! I am really thankful for all you did. Okay, okay, we’ll go without you. But I still think you’re a sneak for setting me up like this.”

“That’s a lovely compliment. I enjoy being smart,” Calcine said, beating her chest.

“Not a compliment!”

Sparky used her handhold to swing Brandy’s arm, skipping to pull her off. “It’s okay to suck at insults, Brandy! You’re good at sucking other things.”

“Hey! How come I have to improve, and you both still get to be awful to me!” Brandy yelped as she dragged off.

“Character building,” Calcine called after her. “Be nice to Maple now, or I’ll be disappointed in you!”

Right. Maple. Time to do a good deed for the completely undeserving.

Character building sucks!