Yes, its only a canvas sky
Hanging over a muslin tree
But it wouldn't be make-believe
if you believed in me

How was it possible they were only just starting on this damnable “journey” everyone was always going on about? Had she really taken her sweet time for this long? Two months in this region, maybe more, and what did she have to show for it? A couple of a babies and a trio of eggs and not a single ribbon. She didn’t even think they had contests here. She’d heard tell of a hall a couple cities away and that was her main goal for the time being. Get through the routes, maybe catch some cuties, and train train train to get ready for the contests she’d come here for. That was part of the reason she’d come where she had. A new environment, a chance to make her mark in a new region, see new people maybe even new species. She’d yet to have a mutation, then again she only had two pokemon on her team for now so it was probably from lack of trying. Nothing to do with the fact that they were super duper rare. Nope. Definitely not.

Aislin wasn’t sure whether to consider herself lucky that they’d made it part of the way down Route 1 without a single wild pokemon encounter or very unlucky that she still had nothing else to add to her team. Astrape’s trick she’d learned by accident at the beach had been very impressive and she definitely hoped to work more on that when they got a chance. According to the map she’d received at the lab forever ago there was a lake on this route. Maybe it had a beach or at the very least a shore they could train on. If nothing else a quick dip would be a nice bit of relief from the awkward humidty of early September. She’d start out the day chilled in a cute autumn outfit but by midday was melting - just like now. Sweat trickled unattractively down her back to make her cotton raglan cling to every dribble. Surely she could find a bush somewhere out here to change behind into her swimsuit. No way was she skinny dipping for a tynamo to give her the shock of her life! Yes, she could play in the shallows with Chloris while Astrape was safe on the shore practicing her glass work - hm...she’d have to be sure to make sure she knew how bad it would be if she zapped the water itself of course. That could end very badly!

Looking up from the pokedex in her hand - she’d been trying to figure up just how friendship points worked and how to increase those….after the disappointment of the battle at the magidome she wasn’t going to waste anymore time - she saw the lake was just down over the next hill. Perfect timing. She was probably going to die if she didn’t find shade soon. They could eat their lunch just under that tree over there and then the swimming. Yes. Good. Perfect. She took the balls labaled “Astrape” and “Chloris” from her purse and clicked them to release her girlies, ”Lunch time kiddos! First one to the tree gets two cookies for dessert instead of one!” she told them, smiling as they took off before they could even hear the prize. It wasn’t exactly a fair race with Chloris still just barely toddling but damn if she didn’t give it her all anyway. She’d get Aislin’s cookie for the effort. Her trainer was watching her waistline anyway - not that walking every fucking where wouldn’t keep her trim enough as it was.

Aislin walked along at a normal pace behind them, taking advantage of the path Astrape cleared straight through the tall grass. She could already feel her hair lifting up and away from her head at the remnants of the static electricity left in the elekid’s wake. Good, Chloris could do with some good old fashioned absorption of the nitrate left in each thud against the rich soil beneath their feet. She was constantly worrying about things like that, really. If she was doing enough for them as their stand-in mother. It was hard not to feel that way when they were literally baby pokemon and their only other siblings hadn’t even been hatched yet.

It didn’t take long at all to reach the tree and as promised Aislin pulled four cookies from the package in her oversized purse, along with three wrapped sandwiches the way they each liked them in decreasingly smaller sizes. Chloris got a sippy bottle of water and Astrape got an energy drink and Aislin enjoyed a fizzy orange soft drink. Aislin took a bite of her peanut butter and syrup on honey wheat bread and emitted a sigh of pleasure both from the way it hit the spot in the stomach she didn’t even realize was so empty until she’d started eating, and the coolness of the shade finally relieving the sting of the sun on what little skin was exposed. Speaking of, fuck decency, she was taking that shirt off. She could lounge around in a sports bra, it was fine. There didn’t seem to be another person for miles on this flat expanse of land anyway just before she’d come down over the hill towards the lake. ”Eat your lunch first and give it time to digest and then we can play in the water and sand.” she told them, taking another delicious bite of her sandwich and breaking off a piece of Chloris’s sandwich to feed it to her since her little arms couldn’t quite reach her mouth. It’d be handy when she evolved. Whenever that would be…

They spent the next few minutes of eating together in relative silence, broken only now and then by Astrape remembering one funny thing or another that had happened to all three of them the last couple weeks and recounting it as if they were not in fact all three there, with every detail explained despite the lack of need for it. Aislin had long since given up on trying to reign in her peculiar little mind. It wasn’t hurting anyone, so she let her be. So long as she kept it up with those gorgeous thunderbolts of hers she had nothing to complain about. But then...something foul crept into her nostrils and she looked at Chloris as if she’d just turned into a stinky little Brussels Sprout, ”Did one of you….fart???” she asked, horrified at how noxious the smell was already. Astrape outright gagged, dropping her tuna and pickle sandwich - she could stomach that but not this!! < Ewwww nooo!! > she protested, backing away and pointing at the purse behind Aislin where a cloud of pink smoke was erupting and spreading out over their little picnic scene.

”What the fuck! Sorry! I didn’t mean to say fuck!” she screeched, reaching for the purse and gingerly dumping out the contents, trying her best not to hurt the eggs but desperate to get whatever had gone horribly wrong out of her priceless designer bag. And that’s when it hit her. ”Koffing….” she said, gagging on the word as sure enough the hazy purple egg tumbled out last of all with a big hole cracked in it, bizarrely pink smoke pouring out. She kicked it as gently as she could away from them and watched it roll the rest of the way down the hill towards the water, stopping just short of it with the smoke continuing to billow out. She shoved everything back into her purse and motioned for her pokemon to follow her to a safe distance. Now that she knew what it was the smell wasn’t bothering her so much as the toxicity she knew was in the gas it had released. She’d have to have everything specially cleaned at the next town. Why oh WHY did she think it was a good idea to keep that vile thing instead of just giving it away??

Chloris and Astrape were confused as could be but followed along behind their trainer obediently, packing the food dutifully, sneaking glances to the egg as the smoke slowly sputtered to a stop little by little. ”A dud?” Chloris breathed, her words were rare and this apparently was one of those special times where a giggle and raspberry wouldn’t do the trick of communicating her thoughts. She looked genuinely sad. After all the Koffing egg had been around before she had, so she’d always known it as being one of three future younger friends. She’d helped take care of the egg just as Astrape had. Her lip trembled as no more signs of life seemed to be coming from the egg. Astrape pulled her baby sister close for a hug of comfort, Aislin oblivious to their feelings as she continued to watch it herself. Should she call poison control for that unknown gas? Environmental protection to make sure it hadn’t damaged any local flora? Then, just as suddenly as the sulfuric smoke had started up, microcracks formed on the egg. And then! It splintered! Into a hundred tiny pieces - and up up up floated a round asteroidal pokemon, looking up at them with the stupidest smile on its face. < Mama! > he bellowed, pokespeech heard in the egg having built up a minor ability already. Chloris cheered and Astrape whooped, running headlong down the hill to greet her brother with Aislin coming right behind in protest and Chloris getting with the program and following suit.