Brandy had to give it to Morgan that she probably had helped. The maid dresses had Spitfire worked up, but getting her to release some of that pressure on Blaze meant she could focus enough to walk them through the day. Blaze would stay near the fountain and act as the event hub, while Brandy and her team would run back and forth, delivering orders.

"What about Lixi?" Sparky said innocently, leaning to the side so far she almost tipped over. "Is she coming out to help?"

Blaze was lying in a pile of Cinnamon tails, looking serene as Cinnamon fussed with her. She answered in a lazy drawl. "I'm not about to sabotage you all. Lixi would distract you all far too much. If things are going badly and you need me to salvage the event, I'll bring her out, but I hope you can manage without her."

"Aw," Sparky's shoulders sank. "Where am I going to get my Carkol eye candy?"

Calcine hip bumped Sparky. "I'm right here."

"Ah! Permission to stare at your butt the entire day, I'll take it."

"Denied." Morgan covered Sparky's eyes with her wings. "I want a piece of eye candy, too. Don't let me be the only one suffering."

"I have enough butt for you both to stare at." Calcine grinned, "It's an Evolved butt."

Brandy pinched her nose. Today was going to be a tough day.

"Look at our daughter!" Scoria yelled in a breathless rush. "She looks so professional."

Oh, cool, it gets worse!

"Mom! Other Mom!" Brandy held her hands up. "This is a gym challenge. You can't embarrass me."

"I would never embarrass my little Larvesta," Scoria lied, fluttering over to wrap Brandy up in a hug. Her Poké-mom was a warm, soft hug that was hard not to enjoy, but Brandy made her best effort. Arms flailing as she tries to escape the proud, crushing grip of the Volcarona.

"Scoria! Stop!" Brandy wheezed. "I can't breathe!"

"Then you'll have to inherit quickly!" Scoria cooed, rubbing her cheek into the top of Brandy's head. "Because I can't resist such a cute girl."

"Scoria! Let go of me," Brandy whined. "You're going to rumple my outfit, and we just got them!"

"Fenny, look!" Scoria cried out, hugging Brandy tighter as she turned to show her wife. "Look at our perfect daughter!"

"Mom, seriously, please." Brandy groaned, but she might as well have been talking to a wall.

"She's so fancy." Fenny waddled over to wrap her arms around both of them, her hug gentler than Scoria's. Her eyes were barely open, and she laid her head against Brandy's like a pillow. "Fabric's so soft. Comfy."

"Are you okay, Ms. Joyce?" Blaze said, "You look a little ill."

"I've never felt better," Fenny yawned and kneaded Brandy's outfit, fluffing it up. "Basking in the warmth of family."

"How's the Baby coming along?" Sparky asked innocently, "I guess it's only been a day. It's not like you've been doing nothing but fucking since we last met."

Fenny's single puff of a laugh as reply became more of a nasal snore.

"Let me just-" Calcine halted the sentence there, carefully picked Fenny off Brandy, and then laid her over Spitfire's tail. Fenny stretched out and sighed happily at the warmth of it. "Scoria, can we have Brandy back, please? We do need her."

Brandy couldn't escape a kiss on both cheeks from the excitable Volcarona, and she could feel the lipstick sticking. She'd have to remember to wash that off.

"Thank you all for doing this," Scoria said, so happy the tips of her wings were buzzing as she fluttered them. "I've never kept Fenny from her work, but having a family day for Nexus feels extra special. They're all working so hard here to help foster difficult relationships. Making it a bit easier to manage their own is the least we can do."

Ugh. It was so sappy, but being mad at Scoria for having a big heart was hard. As deathly embarrassing as the moth mom was, it often came from genuine enthusiasm. Most of the time. She was a Bug, after all.

"I love you, Mom," Brandy sighed and wrapped her arms around Scoria's neck and hugged her back before managing to worm free.

"Love you too, my sweet girl," Scoria said with a bow, her black spotted wings fluttering out behind her. "Can't wait to make you a sister."

"Yeaaaah," Fenny groaned. "Can't wait. But barbecue."

"I think Fenny could do with some food," Calcine said, pushing Brandy towards her. "Practice the first order? You ready, Spitfire?"

"I don't see why not," Spitfire replied, carefully picking Fenny up and cradling her against her chest.

"Curse my weakness for Fire boobs," Fenny grumbled as she snuggled into Spitfire's rather impressive bust. The snake lady just grinned at Scoria as her eyebrow arched up further and further. Then she gave Fenny's butt a firm squeeze, making the human gasp, and Spitfire poked her tongue out at Scoria.

Bug types. No saving them from themselves. But Brandy tried.

"What do you want to eat, Mom?" Brandy said and rattled off the options. They'd kept it simple: a mix of meat, vegetable, and berry kebabs, a few bowls of soup for the less hungry, and some chips and dip that didn't need cooking. All easy to transport and simple to make. Today was going to be hard enough without making more work for themselves.

"I like hot food." Fenny mumbled, "But I don't think you can do it hot enough for how I like it?"

"Really?" Spitfire said, trailing a finger through Fenny's hair. "You think I'm not hot enough?"

"Nobody can match up to my Scoria."

"Really," Spitfire hissed. "Nobody can."

"Her worst is your best, sorry. But you can try!"

Spitfire held Fenny tight while making the angriest kebab Brandy had ever seen grilled. Hot sauce and peppers rolled into the meat and fried. Sparky started walking back, shielding her eyes as the scent filled the air.

"I see where Brandy gets a lot of things now," Morgan said. "Fenny can really motivate a Pokémon."

"She's going to melt!" Sparky gagged, "Ugh, it burns from here!"

"You've not seen a true flame," Spitfire said, flipping the meat and slathering it with the most noxious-smelling chili oil Brandy had ever caught a whiff of. It wasn't even a scent, really. It was more of a feeling. A promise of tongue-melting pain.

"Fenny, you can't actually plan to eat this?" Blaze said from her fluffy pile, covering her eyes and groaning when Fenny nodded. "Joyces are going to be the death of me."

Fenny's eyes were shining, and she was salivating as Spitfire gave Brandy the kebab skewer so Brandy could give Fenny a polite curtsey and then offer her up her deadly order.

"I can't watch," Sparky had her face in her hands, her watering eyes peeking through her fingers. "This is inhumane."

"My wife can handle it," Scoria said, hands over her heart. "She can take anything."

Fenny took a massive bite of the kebab, bitting off several chunks at once. A brief gust of wind kicked up before Brandy to hold back any sauce splash.

Then Fenny just sat there. Eyes wide, her face slowly turning red.

She chewed very slowly, swallowed with one gulp, opened her mouth, and lolled her tongue out.

"Not bad," she said, voice weak. She opened her mouth to bite again and got a mouthful of Spitfire's finger instead.

"If I put a glass of water on your head right now, it'd boil."

"Nuh-uh," Fenny said, sweat pouring off her forehead. "It's a bit spicy, but I've had hotter."

Brandy tried not to wince. Fenny wasn't usually this bad, but her loyalty to Scoria was writing spicy food cheques even her mother's iron tongue couldn't cash. At least it'd get her a break from Scoria for a little bit. Even the Fire Bug probably couldn't handle that stuff.

Hrm.

There was an opportunity here, a way to have Morgan and Sparky focus without lusting after Calcine and herself the entire time. It just required a terrible sacrifice. Well, Fenny was her mom, and a good one at that. It's time for Brandy to pay a little of that back.

"She should share it," Brandy said. "So we can all know what it tastes like. See if we should recommend it to others."

"Nope." Sparky shook her head and waved her hands. "That's not happening."

"Calcine, Morgan?"

"Sure," Calcine said, holding out a hand. "Morgan? You got the guts for it?"

"Hah! No chance." Morgan tipped her hat to Calcine. "I'll fight you on things I care about. Incinerating my mouth isn't one of them. This is all you and Brandy."

"Fine," Calcine took the kebab and bit off most of what was left before giving the last few chunks to Brandy. It didn't make Brandy any more confident that Calcine's skin glowed with orange lines of fire, and a few licks of flame leaked out of her mouth. "It is pretty good. I like that you balanced the heat out with a touch of honey."

Sparky rubbed the sides of her head and blinked rapidly. Even the sight of this hurt her. "Incredible how good her tongue is, and she only uses it for evil."

Brandy looked at what was left. She could just ditch it. She didn't actually have to do this. But Fenny was still breathing hard while trying to look like she was coping, and she just knew the love-struck fool would finish it off to prove she loved Scoria's spicy cooking more.

The things she did for her family and a gym badge.

Brandy took a deep breath and bit into a chunk of meat. Brandy saw Morgan's wings twitch with each chew, her body shivering in place as the taste spread across her mouth. The heat came later, a soft, warm glow that initially felt pleasant but grew and grew until it felt like she was trying to deepthroat a Magcargo.

Her eyes teared up as she choked it all down. Then coughed, the heat filling her whole body. It was all she could do to keep a straight face and not start drooling like Fenny.

"That's not bad." Brandy wheezed, handing the rest off to her mom. "Really good. Really really good. I hope somebody orders this."

"No!" Blaze yelled. "Don't you dare make another. I'm not having you putting an entire business in the Poké-center. No encouraging anyone to eat horrendously spicy food."

"That's not against the rules," Morgan said, head tilted up imperiously.

"I can fail you for any reason I want! Mass poisoning is definitely one of those reasons. Only do it if they've got a powerful Fire inheritance, and even then." she looked at the sweating Fenny. "Maybe not even then."

"I'm fine." Fenny groaned. "I can handle it."

"She can handle me, and I'm the spiciest thing here," Scoria smirked as Fenny nuzzled into the fluff around her neck.

"I'll get your parents sat down and a pint of milk for our Spitfire doubter," Blaze said, reluctantly crawling out of her Cinnamon tail fluff prison. "Get ready to serve. People will be turning up any minute."

Scoria was already helping Fenny as they went off, kissing her to help lick some of the spice out of her mouth. Terror. Hopefully, she'd let Fenny have a rest today. It'd be embarrassing to take her mom to the Poké-center.

"I can't believe you did that," Sparky said, patting Brandy's butt as they picked up trays. "You got a glow to you like Calcine."

"Family does stupid things sometimes." Brandy smiled and leaned back into Sparky's hand. It was time to test if her natural repel spray had worked. "Give me a kiss."

"No! Spicy mouth! I'm not kissing you until we catch up with Maple, and she has Mahi powerwash your mouth out."

"Oh, come on," Brandy pouted. "One little kiss. Morgan would kiss me."

"Absolutely not." Morgan cut in. "Find a Pokémon with a ceramic tongue to make out with. We can kiss again when you're not spicy. Now go! Scoot! I can't touch, but I can still enjoy those legs moving!"

This was the best plan. Brandy just had to hide the tears while she flirted and remember her tongue was wickedly spicy. It's not like there'd be anyone so pretty here she'd forget. Brandy knew she was bad, but she wasn't that bad.

Five people into serving, she finally remembered Scoria's lipstick was all over her cheeks. But that didn't count. She would remember the spicy tongue!