Novels2Search

Chapter 41

“It’s not fair,” whined Beverly, for the umpteenth time.

Nina simply smiled as she gently stroked Espy by her side. The girl had found the sweet spot for her new Pokemon located around the scruff of her neck. Despite Espy’s best efforts to put on an indifferent front like her father, Nina could see the Eevee’s eyes crinkling ever so slightly everytime her fingers went through that particular spot.

The two girls were now on a little private beach within the Sea Cottage estate, accompanied by Hikari who decided to take the day off and spend it with her guests. The older woman was wearing an elegant looking sundress and straw hat, while Nina was wearing her usual one piece looking two piece swimsuit.

Beverly, however, had lamented the lack of string bikinis for nine year olds (Thank Arceus!), and opted for a frilly looking two piece. Sometimes Nina felt like her friend was a little too eager to follow in her cousins’ footsteps. Hopefully she’ll gradually grow into becoming her own person when she goes on her journey next year.

“You know, Violet has a Vaporeon,” said Nina. “I’m sure they must have given at least a few eggs over the years.”

“Nah, Vi’s Vaporeon is male. I doubt it.”

“Try asking, you never know.” Nina chuckled. “Knowing Violet, I doubt she’d let go of the opportunity to cash in on her own Eevee. She must have attempted a few schemes during her time with Vaporeon.”

Beverly hummed. “Yeah but I kinda don’t wanna rely on those bitches too much, you know? They’ll just keep dangling it over me for the rest of my life.”

Nina paused her handling of Espy and pulled Beverly in for a hug, much to Espy’s disappointment. “Your cousins love you. But right now, they’re treating you like a bratty little sis. So just showcase your adorable side from time to time and they’ll take the bait — hook and all. I promise.”

Beverly groaned. Just the thought of sucking up to her cousins made her sick to the stomach. “Easy for you to say, Nins. You don't even have to try to be all cute and adorkable. The grown ups all love you.”

Nina chuckled. “You’re cute too, Bev. You’re my cute, cool and reliable senior. You just need to be more confident in yourself and stop trying to copy the older girls. Just let your inner beauty shine on its own.”

Beverly blushed at the compliment. “Urgh, you sound like some cheesy commercial. Also a girl can’t be cute and cool at the same time, Nins.”

“That’s not true!” Denied Nina. “You think Misty is cool right? And if you’ve ever seen her in a onesie then you’ll know that she can be cute too.”

“Exactly, Misty can be cute or cool, but not cute and cool,” argued Beverly.

The two girls bickered back and forth for a little bit until Hikari chimed in. Which was good, because at some point, Nina began suspecting that her friend was just fishing for compliments.

“Girls, girls… You’re both very cute. Now how about the three of us head out into the water to cool off?”

“Are you sure you want to join us, Hikari? Wouldn’t the salt water ruin your pretty dress?”

Hikari responded to Nina by removing her hat and casting off her sundress in one big flourish, unveiling a bombastic figure and an elegant looking white one piece underneath. The woman grabbed hold of Nina and Beverly’s hands, and dragged them with her towards the sea to join Tini and Luna who were already playing in the water.

In the meantime, Espy was content to just sit there and watch over the humans and their silly antics, utterly disinterested in getting her fur all wet. Being near the sand was irritating enough already — the fine granules were going to be a nightmare to clean.

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“But wait,” she thought. Now that she had a human of her own, she didn’t have to groom herself anymore. She could just get her human to do it for her. Upon coming to that important realization, Espy allowed herself to lay down and enjoy the warmth of the sand beneath her.

The little Eevee smacked her lips thinking that it would be nice to have refreshments on hand. But she’d have to wait for her human to come back to procure some Berries. The human girl seemed to have an endless supply of the treats.

Espy closed her eyes for a little nap, dreaming about her new life to come. She had always wondered what life beyond the ranch was like. At least now she wouldn’t have to deal with all her other dimwitted cousins anymore. Humans, for all their faults, were excellent providers and intelligent beings. That one time Espy was taken to the human laboratory had already shown her wonders beyond her imagination.

***

Nina stood by and watched as Pikachu slammed into Espy with a Quick Attack. The little brown fur ball yelped in pain and was sent tumbling on the ground.

Seeing the Eevee struggle to stand up made Pikachu falter. But after noticing that Nina had yet to call a stop to the match, Pikachu continued charging towards her opponent.

However, just as the electric mouse was about to prime another Quick Attack to close the distance, Eevee looked at her abuser with big, round, teary eyes, as if pleading for Pikachu to stop hurting her.

The kindhearted Pikachu felt a pang of stabbing pain in her chest from guilt and stopped in her tracks, which was when Espy swiped at the ground and sent a cloud of sand and gravel her opponent’s way. Now it was Pikachu’s turn to cry out in pain as she desperately rubbed at her eyes.

Capitalizing on the opportunity that she created, Espy rushed forwards with a nasty Bite on Pikachu’s neck, causing the electric mouse to cry out even more and instinctually begin emitting sparks from her body.

“Okay, enough you two!” Declared Nina as she went and separated the two battling Pokemon.

Nina, Espy, Tini and Pikachu were at their usual fishing spot near the Sea Cottage. While Tini was doing his own thing in the water, Nina had asked Pikachu to battle against Espy without any special attacks just so that she could come to grips with her new Pokemon’s abilities.

In hindsight, she probably should have done this back at the ranch but was worried that Espy would feel bad about hurting her family.

“Sorry Pikachu, I know you don’t like to battle. Thanks for doing this favor for me. I’ll make sure to grab an Aspear smoothie for you on our way back.”

“Pika!”

The first thing that Nina did was stop Pikachu from rubbing more sand into her eyes. She then proceeded to wet a towel using her thermos and gently dabbed away most of the residual sand before washing the electric mouse with more water.

Nina also did not miss the look of disdain Espy gave to the parts of her fur that were all matted and dirtied. The dainty little Eevee was trying to lick herself clean with a frown on her face, probably not liking the taste of dirt in her mouth.

“And sorry to you too, Espy. I’ll make sure to give you a thorough cleaning when we get back. It’ll take some time before the special grooming kit I ordered for you arrives, but we still got the general use one I bought from Pokemart. And I’ll also apply plenty of my Saphira conditioner that you like so much.”

Nina had been with Espy for a couple of days now, and one thing she realized about her new Pokemon was that she was very dignified. Espy abhorred anything she deems uncouth and takes great care to maintain her appearance. Which unfortunately meant she wasn’t a big fan of battling.

That said, the little Eevee idolized her father a great deal and is willing to step into an arena if asked to. She also takes her training very seriously which is good. After all, there’s nothing more unseemly than being a weakling. It just means that Nina had to take extra care to pamper her little princess after a hard day’s work.

After hearing Nina’s assurances, Espy stopped fussing over her fur and began purring against Nina’s leg instead. This usually meant that her highness was demanding Berries.

Nina chuckled and gave her Eevee a little stroke. “I know, know. Give me a sec while I heal up Pikachu, then I’ll get you both Berries.”

After being healed up with a Potion, Pikachu grabbed her Aspear Berry and ran towards the water after deciding that she wanted to go for a little swim. Meanwhile, Nina carried Espy over to her camping chair and settled her royal highness on her throne, a.k.a Nina’s lap.

“That was a good use of Baby-Doll Eyes and Sand Attack. Your timing was impeccable.”

Espy silently listened while daintily eating Berries off Nina’s hand. The awkward little Eevee may try to hide it, but Nina knew that she was pleased with her compliment from the way that Espy was waving her tail around.

Another thing that Nina noticed about Espy was that she didn’t really have a preference of Berries. Not that the little Eevee was indifferent or anything, it was actually the opposite. Espy was a connoisseur who enjoyed all the different varieties of Berry flavors.

In fact, she liked having a different mix of Berries in her food to excite her palate, not unlike a fancy gourmand. It was just another unique thing about the Eevee that made Nina love her more.

“We really do need to teach you Quick Attack though. It’s an extremely useful move which you can appropriate as a movement ability in addition to being an offensive attack.” Espy’s ear drooped a little at the comment.

In line with her personality, Espy was much more proficient in special attacks over physical attacks. So although she knew some advanced moves like Baby-Doll Eyes, and was swiftly picking up other moves like Swift, she struggled with learning the fairly basic Quick Attack.

Nina gently stroked her furry little princess in assurance, telling her that there’s no need to rush things. “Everyone has things that they’re good and bad at. Tini, for example, is a little awkward on land. He’s better now, but it took a year of hard work to reach his level of improvement. Besides, I’m still underage so there’s plenty of time for us to train before we need to battle with any regularity.”

“Eee…” Cried the dejected Espy.

Nina leaned in and kissed her little princess on the forehead, earning the girl a glare. It was important to note that Espy liked being pampered but not doted on. This might have something to do with her advanced intelligence. But in Nina’s eyes, she was just like a cute little child trying to act more mature than she actually was.

Nina giggled at the irate fur ball and smothered Espy in a hug, finding amusement in the squirming Pokemon struggling to deny her affection.