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.”

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?”

Brandy gave Sparky’s legs a kick under the table, and with a giggle, Sparky kicked back. The two quickly got into a furious game of all-or-nothing footsie.

“Oh, Fire indeed. Brandy was never one for mischief. But her love for Pokémon is quite infamous. When we visited the school, they always talked about how she got too distracted during lessons to focus properly.”

“Fire doesn’t mean horny,” Calcine said, warming her hands on the oven’s passive heat. “Just passionate.”

“Oh, that’s true,” Scoria nodded, blue eyes lit up with amusement. “But it is still more likely for a Fire Type to be like that, and I’m sure you’ve both noticed by now that Brandy can be quite fiery.”

Brandy wished she had a slime body again. Then she could melt and escape this conversation down a drain somewhere. Her legs were all tangled up with Sparky’s now, and while the Joltik had her trapped, she’d gotten ahold of Brandy’s rucksack and was leafing through it. Brandy knew better than to ask why, but she was sure it was some kind of mischief.

“She can be a little slow to spot things, but I think her feelings are unquestionable,” Calcine said, getting to her feet and stretching. Her jet-black body had some of that sheen she got when she’d softened some. Brandy was happy to admire Calcine’s arms as she leaned on the back of Sparky’s chair. “She throws her all into things. It’s nice to feel her get absorbed in taking us in.”

“Yeah, it’s good,” Sparky said, rubbing her thighs against Brandy as she pulled something out of the bag. “She makes me feel good when she stares at my tits.”

Scoria hides her laugh with a hand as Brandy glare at her.

“Thank you, Sparky, for agreeing with me in the worst possible way,” Calcine said, patting the Joltik’s head as she wiggled happily in her seat.

Scoria lets Brandy go from her smothering hug. “It’s a small thing to find enjoyment simply from each other’s attention, but that’s a firm foundation to build on.” She sighs. “Ah, to be young again. It was all so exciting!”

“Did Fenny get a lot of badges?” Calcine asked as Scoria went past her to check the oven. Sparky leaning around on her chair to watch her,

“Only three! She wanted to impress me more than do the full challenge like Brandy. Once I’d convinced her she impressed plenty without even a single badge, she gave it up.” Scoria laughed as she opened the oven, handling the dish without needing oven mitts. It’d take more than an oven to burn a Volcarona’s hands.

“It took three for her to notice?” Brandy said, “She said she did three because it’s a nice number.”

“You and she are very alike in some ways,” Scoria said as the smell of tomatoes and pasta filled the air, making Brandy’s stomach grumble. They’d never warned her the Trainer life would make her so hungry all the time. She’d have to remember to get a proper camp stove when she finally got some money. She doubted Calcine would be so willing to be used as a grill.

Calcine looked over Sparky’s shoulder while her Poké-mom got to warming plates for the food, smiling and pointing to something Sparky had.

“What are you two conspiring about?” Brandy whispered over the table. Brandy leaned to look and saw the red edging of her Pokédex poking out from Sparky’s hands.

“... did you ... did you dex my mom!” she squeaks. “You can’t do that. Give me that!”

Brandy reaches over the table to grab her Pokédex back, but Calcine gets in the way while Sparky leans back, reading off the screen held up in the air above her.

“Did you know your mom can do Flame Wheel?” Sparky said, reading it out like she was revealing scandalous hidden truths.

“Yes! She does it for the night bonfire on All Heart’s Day sometimes. It’s pretty cool to see. It goes really high. Gimme that!” Brandy hisses, flexing her fingers.

“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.