"I love doing this bit." Pix's glowing eyes were spread across a large wall screen, bouncing excitedly as everyone came over to look. "You ready to see the other side of yourselves?"

Calcine was still helping melt Brandy out of the webbing, but she nodded anyway. Seeing the bond between her partners was just too tantalizing to wait for her to be properly presentable. Tips had gone to take care of her Partner in a small waiting area with a couch and a few drinks, offering some chilled water to the exhausted woman in her arms. They were going to sneak a peek, but Brandy didn't mind. She'd have found it impossible to resist in their place. 

"I'll walk you through it all," Fenny said, "It'll look a mess to start, but that's normal, I promise you. Our imaging still needs work."

Sparky was bouncing on her feet, dancing in front of the screen. "Brandy got in so much trouble with us all. I want to see who she loves the most."

"That's not how it works." Fenny waved her clipboard at Sparky with a frown. "I'm sure Brandy is quite capable of loving all of you. She has a lot of Joyce energy."

"Does she now?" Morgan was sitting on the edge of a desk, swinging her legs as she looked up at the screen. "We'll have to put that to the test later." 

"Oh yes, Joyce's have a long history of being insatiable in bed." Fenny grinned, "Why, if you'd like later, I could-"

"AHEM," Brandy growled, staring at her mother. "Less flirting, more science."

"Take them all out for a meal and tell them stories." Fenny finished. "What did you think I meant?"

"That you were going to fuck us," Calcine said, completely stone-faced serious. 

Fenny didn't have the shame to look embarrassed about it, turning to the huge wall screen instead with a swish of her lab coat. "Pix, if you could! Let's see the full imaging."

Pix's face disappeared and was replaced with a picture that looked like someone had thrown up a rainbow. Bright lines of light curled out of a messy splodge of swirling color.

"We're a huge mess." Sparky said, "I knew it."

"No, that's normal." Fenny got a laser pointer and waved it across the screen, circling the giant splodge of color. "To keep it simple, which helps me because we don't know most details anyway, bond energy is two-way. It's generated by Pokémon. Humans act more like a catalyst, where it is forged and returned in slightly larger amounts."

"That doesn't look small," Calcine said, "By any definition of small."

"Correct! That's because of these" Fenny whirled her laser around to point at Brandy's binding balls. "Usually, the bond flows across in small amounts during peak intimacy. We're not sure yet if that's a hard limit or simply to avoid overwhelming the human. But when a human binds with a Pokémon, that channel can be widened, and much more energy can flow through."

"Binding with a human makes you stronger," Sparky nodded, "So that's why I wanted to do it so bad! Well, that and thighs."

"Also a family trait," Fenny said proudly.

"Can I come to a family meeting sometime? Love to meet all the Joyces."

Brandy flicked some of the last bits of webbing at Sparky, who ducked behind Calcine for cover. 

"We should have a family reunion. My sister's been out in Kalos for far too long." 

All her Partner's ears pricked up at that, Fenny suddenly the center of a very attentive audience.

"So it's just a blotch?" Brandy said, desperately trying to steer the conversation away from potentially fuckable aunts. 

"Oh! No, we've not applied filters yet. Thankfully you've quite a diverse team, so it should be a lot clearer for us. It can be trickier with Ace's. Pokémon that share moves seem to have very similar signatures. "Who do you want to see first?"

"I think I'll be the least exciting," Morgan said, "I'm rather new, so shall we go backward from when Brandy met us?"

"I wouldn't say you haven't been excited," Brandy said, "But if that's okay with everyone?"

There weren't any arguments, so the screen darkened as the color faded and parts of the image blurred. Just about visible now in the background were four blurred figures. Brandy couldn't pinpoint exactly which point of their 'Pass the Brandy Parcel' it was, but she was clearly in the middle with her spiky hair.

As everything devolved to a smudge of greys and whites, a shape emerged out of the mess in the pure black that cut through everything else. A dark green silhouette of Morgan, hat and all, with small wispy tendrils of sickly green that floated around her body. A tendril lashed out of her body, piercing one of the blurry figures with a sharp point, and the black spread through their body like plant roots.

"I look like an infection," Morgan tutted. "I'm really more of a dashing rogue. If I stole hearts, I'd do it with much more flair."

"Brand new bonds tend to look a little messy." Fenny said, "This one seems to have sunk deep, though. It's usually a bit more gentle to look at, I'll admit."

"I was on a rebound," Morgan said, arms folded. "Brandy helped me out of a relationship that wasn't working out. Is it suggesting I've latched onto her?"

"Or that you're hungry for a new connection or many other things. I have to stress. We really don't know a lot yet. This is still a fairly new field. I wouldn't take anything you see here to heart. Except that for a new bond, you're already quite intimate."

"Sticking it in so deep already," Sparky gasped. "Gosh, you've no chill."

"Brandy needs a firm hand." Morgan shrugged, "And a firmer-"

No one actually interrupted Morgan. She just stopped and grinned, leaving the words floating there. Brandy went over and touched her stomach, ruffling her hands into her feathers. "Really am happy to have you. You've got a lot of experience to teach me, and you are stunning."

"Oh, I know," Morgan smiled and pulled Brandy into her lap, tracing her fingers along Brandy's hips. "I'll corrupt you fully later. Let's see Calcine."

"Okay, um," Pix mumbled. "This one might look a bit confusing, Fenny."

The black filled in as color returned, and this time, Pix muted out some of the brighter colors and slowly changed the image to enhance the edges of shapes. Morgan had been identifiable, but Calcine was anything but. A swirling vortex of melted energy, light oranges slowly intensifying to a bright red core. Two rivers of orange came out of either end, picking out the blotchy shape of Brandy and an even smudgier-looking Sparky.

Fenny looked at it for a long while, clipboard tapping against her chin. "She's bonded with Sparky? I don't really understand."

"I don't think so, ma'am," Pix said, her eyes briefing appearing over the image. "Let's get Sparky in here too."

The brighter colors returned, jaggy lines of energy that arced out of Sparky, swirling around the river of energy between her and Calcine. The spikes pierced Brandy's body from tip to toe, crackling energy filling her until she looked like Pix had drawn her into the picture with mad pen scribbles. 

"A link? That is interesting." Fenny said, "Are you two close?"

"Hate her," Calcine said while Sparky got in a "Rocks for brains."

"They're close," Brandy laughed, brushing her hands over Morgan's feathered arms. "Just don't like to admit it."

Fenny nodded and went over to the pair, looking at them curiously. "There are Pokémon who end up very close, even if the Trainer isn't around. For all my trying, we've never gotten a pair in here before."

 That scratched something in the back of Brandy's mind. Had she met a pair like that? 

"So I'm getting Rock gunk all over me?" Sparky said, rubbing her hands on Calcine. "Have it back!"

"There's no harm in being close, is there?" Calcine just ignored Sparky, "What's a link do?"

"I suppose it'd be like a power-sharing agreement," Fenny said, swirling her lased pointer over Calcine's skin and Sparky's fur. "Like the story of the Yamper and the sickly Minccino, keeping them from fading with their love."

"That's just a story, though." Sparky said, "And Calcine's not sickly. When she gets fired up, she's unstoppable."

"Well, there may be some truth in it anyway," Fenny said, "It is fascinating! I'd love to do follow-up tests with you both."

"So it's special?" Brandy said, a little too much excitement in her voice. Fenny patted her cheek. 

"There's nothing special on that screen." Fenny said, "Just a lot of hard work. Which is as it should be."

Brandy blushed and shied her eyes away. "Feels special."

"Good, that means you're doing well. You've got a strong bond with a new Pokémon and a pair who draw strength from each other. Be proud of that, even if you're not some kind of special hero."

"She's our special hero," Morgan said.

"So twee." Sparky snorted. "Didn't know you had it in you."

"Don't care, she is." Morgan grinned. "And you all know it."

"Morgan got the whole Train ride with Brandy, and she's singing her praises," Sparky said, "But she's not wrong."

Brandy's blush was there for a different reason now, but she couldn't hide her smile. Even if she weren't some one-of-a-kind trainer, she'd settle for being the best in her Partner's eyes. 

"So more testing?" Fenny said hopefully. "It'll be worth it!"

"We'd love to," Calcine said. "But we want to tackle the Gym and Brandy's in a tournament too. I don't think we'll have the time for it."

"Maybe I can convince you yet," Fenny said, flashing Brandy a sly look. "But you said a Tournament? I'll have to follow it. Which one?"

"The Wandering Whimsicott," Brandy said, "We don't know anything about it yet."

"Oh, I do, I do!" Pix said, reappearing on the screen. "It's a traveling tournament. Hosted in a different city every time, you get to really explore for it! Only for Trainers who haven't won a tournament before, too, to keep the competition fresh."

That made sense why Maple picked it, then. It'd be perfect for a group already planning to travel a lot. If they both did well, she might actually get to fight Maple and probably lose horribly to her, but it'd be so good it'd be worth it. 

"Look at her blush," Fenny said, an arm around Calcine and Sparky. "She's excited about it."

"No buttering us up. We're busy!" Sparky said, "You can't trick me into the lab again by being hot and tall."

"Could we find you a different group?" Calcine said, "We'll meet a lot of people anyway. Maybe we could find two Pokémon who are close for you."

"Okay! Okay. I'll let you all have your fun," Fenny sighed. "Even if I am very curious why your bonds got entangled."

"'s a mystery," Sparky said. "We're just a pair of regular Partners."

Fenny narrowed her eyes at her, and Sparky tried to put on an innocent face, making her look even more guilty. Calcine trying to diplomatically get them out of it without having to explain their suspicions. Calcine and Sparky had been ridiculously close at times. It made sense that something like this had happened, and good for them, they really got along well.

Morgan leaned in to whisper to Brandy while she watched. "A shame Harper isn't here, or you could stick Calcine and her in there. I'd love to see the readings for that, though they'd probably break the cage given the chance."

Fuck, they really would. Calcine had two Pokémon girlfriends if you included Sparky and Harper. Was that going to be a secret to her Fire side? Brandy had her suspicions helping Calcine accept her more commanding side was the key to it, but maybe it was more complex than that. 

Staring at the messy bond interactions left on the screen, Brandy couldn't help but get excited. She didn't mind being messy at all as long as everyone was having fun, and she was happy to help boost their bonds to new heights. She wanted them all to be as strong as they wanted and then some. They'd just have to drag Morgan into the mess with them and really confuse her mom the next time they came in. 

At least they'd avoided disaster with Fenny. Her Partners were staying on her side and not causing trouble between them. It really was appreciated that they would get out of here without someone losing all their clothes.

"Fenny?" Pix said, briefly reappearing. "Scoria says she's landing shortly. Do you want me to send her to the balcony?"

Oh shit. Nevermind. Brandy had to get out of here right away. Or they were going to see things they'd never be able to unsee.