A Day at the Beach [open]

Aqua had awoken early that morning and now found herself sitting on the beach watching Manaphy splash around in the shallow part of the water. She couldn't help but smile as she watched the childlike pokemon. It was so adorable! Just then Manaphy had looked over at her and smiled back, waving as it did so. Aqua giggled and waved back before moving closer to Manaphy and the edge of the water. It was nice to see her pokemon enjoying itself."You're having fun aren't you? We'll need to plan more trips to the beach soon. I'm sorry we haven't had the time to come sooner as of lately." Manaphy then jumped into Aqua's arms, nuzzling her in affection. "Mana, Mana!" Aqua returned the affection by nuzzling her cheek against Manaphy's head. It was so wonderful having her own pokemon.

Just then a splash in front of her had drawn her attention. Looking up she spotted a pokemon in the water staring at them. Aqua grinned and looked at Manaphy."What do you say to a battle, Manaphy?""Mana!" Aqua took that as a good sign and placed Manaphy on the sandy beach as she stood and readied herself to battle.

Kimiko and her two pokemon were walking down the beach when they saw a girl and her pokemon. Kimi wasn't too sure what pokemon it was, but boy would she like to find out. Rio and Nike were so excited that they dashed over to where the pokemon and trainer were.
"Rio, Nike, wait!" she shouted verbally and mentally. They came to a halt about five feet from the manaphy and Kimiko quickly dashed over.

"I'm so sorry about that, they were so excited to see another pokemon, they couldn't help but run over and try to make friends. They're both rather friendly. This is Rio, and this is Nike," Kimi gestured to her pokemon. "What's your pokemon's name?"

Aqua was thrown off her game when she suddenly heard the approash of feet running on sand. She turned her head just as the pokemon stopped a little aways from Manaphy. When she looked back she noticed the pokemon in the water was gone and frowned. Her concerns were hightened though as Manaphy had drawn closer to her. Aqua picked Manaphy up, trying to reassure it that everything was fine. Manaphy still clung to Aqua as it evaluated the two other pokemon.

Aqua on the other hand had now focused on the other girl that was now approaching them. She smiled as the other girl apologized for startling them. Aqua was just glad it hadn't frightened Manaphy. It sometimes took forever to get Manaphy to stop crying."Oh it's fine, just a bit startling. This here is Manaphy. Say hello Manaphy." The pokemon in question smiled and waved. "Mana!" Aqua giggled and held Manaphy closer. "So what brings you to Sunyshore?

Kimiko sat down in the sand and Nike automatically hopped onto her lap and started purring. "Oh, you dastardly little kitten," she chuckled and patted the pokemon's head. Rio crossed her legs and seemed to hover for a second before settling on the ground. "Hey now, missy. No showing off." "Riolu," the little pokemon pouted. Little did she know that she was actually talking to them through their connection, mouth not moving at all.

"Hello, little Manaphy. You're quite the cutie," Kimi smiled at the small pokemon in the other girl's arms. "Looks like she takes good care of you." Just then, Rio tapped Kimi's shoulder, reminding her that she needed to reply to the girl, out loud.

"Oh, sorry. I'm out here mostly to start searching for new friends and maybe a travel companion. It's my first time out of the shrine in a very long time. Uhm, I'm an Aorist. So, if I seem quiet, it's because I can somewhat speak mentally to pokemon. Especially my two. Your Aura feels good by the way, really soothing, like water."

Kimiko smiled happily and started loosing herself in the calming nature of Aqua's Aura. "My name's Kimiko, by the way. You can call me Kimi if you wish."

Aqua stared at the girl with confusion when she didn't immediately recieve and answer. Manaphy smiled at the new person, sensing that she was very nice. Manaphy then lept from Aqua's arms and back into the water, resuming it's play. Aqua sat down again as well, watching her pokemon carefully. She almost didn't register that the other girl had spoken."Ah, I see. Well I'm just getting started. I hadn't planned on much travel really, simply making sure Manaphy is happy, but I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to get around a bit. I'm Aqua, it's nice to meet you Kimi. Fair warning, I don't know a thing about aura so if I just nod and go along with it, don't be offended." Aqua laughed and saw Manaphy go to splash Rio, when Aqua got the upper hand. She shot her hand out quickly, flinging it upward, sending a small wave crashing into Manaphy."Phy!" The look on it's face had been priceless, caushing Aqua to topple over laughing. Manaphy clearly hadn't expected that.

Kimiko listened to the girl with a smile and chuckled when the girl mentioned knowing nothing about Aura. She laughed even harder when, with the wave of a hand, the water seemed to answer Aqua's silent call and splash her manaphy.
"You may not know anything about Aura, but you sure have a way with water!" she giggled. Rio, the original target of the splash, got up and went into the water. With both paws, she splashed some water at Manaphy. If it would splash back, Rio would show off a bit and make an Aura shield.
The purrloin's face would contort into a nasty grin and she would charge her friend's back, effectively making her land face first in the water, before quickly bounding back over to Kimi's lap and preening herself.

Aqua nodded at the girl's world in agreement."Well I should be. I've been practicing for years! It was nowhere near that easy when I tried to do it the first time. I could barely make a ripple effect. I can manage some waves now and a few other little tricks, but nothing overly major." Aqua watched as the riolu splashed Manaphy. Manaphy looked up at Riolu and used both arms to try and get Rio back. Manaphy didn't expect the Aura Shield and started to tear up at that. Aqua stood, ready to go get Manaphy when the purrloin went and caused Rio to faceplant in the water, to which Manaphy smiled and went to splash her again.

Aqua laughed at that too. Manaphy was really something. Aqua noticed the time of day and called out to Manaphy. "Manaphy, time to go home." The blue pokemon looked up at it's trainer, it's mouth in an 'O' shape before it smiled and left into Aqua's arms again. Aqua smiled at Kimi brightly. "Why don't you join my family and I for dinner? We can always leave tomorrow if you'd like. My parents are both scientists so I can't guarantee they'll agree with all of your points. Probably best not to talk about aura if you can help it. Your pokemon are welcome too. We have some PokeChow in the house that we keep for Manaphy."

Kimiko couldn't help but laugh at the three pokemon's antics as they played in the water. When Aqua invited her to dinner Kimiko smiled brightly and hugged the cat in her lap. "I would love to, Aqua. I am actually kind of hungry. I can always use some of my supplies if your parents would rather that I not come in," the girl with silvery white hair and deep grey eyes said calmly.
"But, uhm, what do you mean don't mention my abilities with Aura? Do they not like that kind of thing?"

Aqua sighed as she rested her cheek on Manaphy. Manaphy reached up and touched Aqua's face to which Aqua couldn't help but smile. She then motioned for Kimi to follow her. "Well it's just, they're view people that can use aura as different and different to them automatically means it's 'bad' because it could have an impression on me. You see, my family has been able to manipulate water for generations, but since my parents both had bad experiences as children, they don't want me to use my gift. I've been keeping my practices a secret for some time so can you not mention that either? They may force you to leave if you mention either topic." Aqua sighed again, thinking about how thick headeed her parents were. Aqua was nothing like them. She embraced most things in life, hardly ever closing an idea from her mind.

Aqua would lead Kimi and her pokemon through most of the city before they reached Aqua's massive two story house on the edge of the town. It was quite extravagent, but closed off from most of the city. Yet another example that her parents tried to close themselves off from the rest of the world. "Well, this is it. My parents make a lot of money doing what they do, but they never see reason to spend it. It makes no sense to me. They could at least help the town out." Aqua would walk through the tall iron gate, and up the long lane to her home. There was more room than needed, which was more than reason enough for Aqua to want to be at the beach all day. "Good Luck." Aqua whispered as she entered her large home.

Kimi just said 'oh' in response to Aqua's explanation and followed her through the streets. This town was so different from what she was used to. She would only go to Hearthome every once in a while to get supplies for the temple. So, walking through an entire city was a new experience for her. When they got to Aqua's house, based on the girl's aura, it definitely wasn't home.
"I'll try my best to not mention anything related to my abilities, or yours. I just hope they won't be able to tell that anything's different about me. The priest did tell me that a lot of Aorists end up with a Lucario at some point, and if they're scientists, they should know that riolus evolve into lucarios."
She was so nervous about meeting this girl's parents, especially if they felt so strongly about people who were different. She really didn't like being picked on. That one thing hadn't changed in the ten years she spent with the priest, living at the temple.

Aqua closed the door to her home and was met with dead silence. "Wait here for one moment please, I'll see if they are taking dinner in their study or with us." Not a sound was made other than her own footsteps as she walked over to the stairs that were in the middle of the room. Her parents were probably in their studies, waiting for dinner to be called. knocked on the doors each in term asking her parents if they would be eating dinner together. Both her mother and father agreed, following behind her slowly. They did not seem to be very please.

Aqua's mother was an older carbon copy of aqua. The only differences were that her mother's hair reached to about mid-back and she wore glasses. Her father on the other hand had dark, navy blue hair that was slicked back very properly. Her mother wore a casual white blouse and black pencil skirt while her father wore a nicely tailored black suit. It would be easy to tell the difference between how proper her parents were and how laid back Aqua was. Her parents glared at their daughter when they realized they had unexpected company, still, they would be pleasant enough. Manaphy closed it's eyes and buried it's face in Aqua's chest.

"Mama, Papa, this is Kimiko. She's visiting Sunyshore and I thought I would invite her over for dinner. I hope that's alright?" Her parent's gazes shifted back to the girl in question. She seemed normal enough, she would pass. "Yes, quite alright, dear. Shall we head into the dining room?" Her mother stated before she and her husband walked through another room, into the dining room as the food was being brought up. Aqua sighed in relief and smiled at Kimi."Yeah, sorry about that. They aren't really socialites. Well, we should get this over with. The PokeChow has been set aside in a sort of 'play' area Manaphy in the corner. Mama and Papa are a bit...upset that they weren't able to study Manaphy. I wouldn't let them." Aqua then walked into the dining room, setting down next to her mother at the table meant to seat 6.The two chairs at the end being occupied by her mother and father. Manaphy was placed on the ground and able to walk over to where the PokeChow was.

Kimiko waited in silence while Aqua went and retrieved her parents. Even before she saw them, she could feel that they didn't much like anything, especially people. She gulped and almost started quaking when their aura changed to a darker tone.
She quickly bowed in respect and said, "Thank you for allowing this simple shrine maiden in your home for a meal. May the gods bless this house hold." If she couldn't expose her Aorist nature, then she would exude the training the priest had given her as a shrine maiden.

When they left toward the dining room, Kimiko could barely breathe. She hadn't felt such judging auras in a very long time, and it scared her. A hand fisted and was clutched by the other to her chest as her pokemon tried to comfort her. "I- I don't know about this Aqua. Their Auras don't feel all that nice," she would whisper to the girl, following her nonetheless. When Aqua sat down, she wasn't quite sure where to sit, but she urged her pokemon to follow Manaphy and sat down across from Aqua.
Aqua's prescence was so calming that Kimiko decided to focus on feeling only her Aura for the rest of the night.

Aqua really did feel bad that Kimi had to deal with this. She knew the girl had to be uncomforable. Her parents even made her feel uncomfortable. Aqua started to slowly eat her food, steak tonight it seemed with a side salad, as the silence filled the room. After some time her mother cleared her throat. "Aqua, darling, where were you all day? We had something to give you but we couldn't find you anywhere." Aqua set her silverware down and stared at the table. She felt so awkward."I was visiting the lighthouse. Kimi happened to be walking by when I met her." It was an obvious lie but her parents had banned her from the beach, it was better this way.

"Oh? Well wonderful. And how was Manaphy today? Any new developments?" Her mother's harsh stare was once again focused on Aqua. "That is none of your concern. Manaphy is my responibility as given to me by the pokemon rangers." Aqua was getting more and more upset. It was one thing to have this conversation alone, it was another to do it in front of company.

A deeper voice interupted her this time. "We are just inquiring as to how Manaphy is, nothing more. We have agreed not to press the issue. As an apology we acquired a water type egg from a local breeder. We hope you will take care of it as well." Aqua finally glared then. "Because another egg is just supposed to fix everything? How can you even think that? I'm not like other people, I'm your daughter. How can you see pokemon as materialistic things only meant to be locked up and observed? Don't you have a heart?" Her father just stared once more at his daughter."Aqua, that is enough. We simply see how happy you are with Manaphy and wanted to further that." Aqua sighed and nodded. She wasn't sure what to believe.

The conversation dropped back into a silent one. It was better this way. When her parents had finished eating her father stood and left while her mother trailed behind. Her expression softened somewhat and she hugged her daughter. "We messed up and we're sorry. We're trying to make up for it, but we don't know how because it was so awful what we did. We love you Aqua, I hope you see that. The egg is in your room." Her mother left then and Aqua looked up at Kimi, she now looked very tired. "I don't know how they do that. Make me so upset to the point that I snap, and then make me feel like I'm the bad guy. A talent, I swear. Anyhow, shall we head up to my room? We'll have more fun there and my parents won't bother me for the rest of the night."

Kimiko was glad that she had packed some food in her bag, as right now, her stomach wasn't really up to food, though to keep up appearance, she ate a few bites of everything, passing it off as she didn't eat much food in general. She really wanted to just run and hide when Aqua's parents and her started arguing a bit. She was used to lovers spats, those were very different from what was happening though.

As soon as the adults left the room, Kimi automatically felt better, calmer. "I-I don't know how you've been able to live with them for so long. I am glad you are you, and not like them. I haven't felt that- afraid in years." Rio and Nike ran over to her and started rubbing all over her legs and Nike jumped onto her shoulders so that she could lick Kimi's face with her rough tongue.

"Your room sounds like a good idea. Any place seeped in your Aura sounds good actually."

Aqua nodded again and pushed herself away from the table. Manaphy had finished eating and Aqua picked Manaphy up once more, before walking out of the room and up the stairs. She was in a different wing of the house than her parents and she couldn't have been more thankful for that. She came to the end of the hall and opened a plain looking white door.

Even though her parents didn't want her going to the beach, her room was depicted as such. It had been her choice when they repainted. Her floor was a nice sandy yellow while the walls looked like that of an aquarium. It didn't contain much, simply a desk, her bed with satin blue sheets, a few scattered drawings here and there with a fish tank along the wall.

"Well, this is it. I have a few game boards we can play with, Manaphy has some toys if Rio and Nike wish to play with her." Aqua paused for a minute wanting to explain hereslf. "I hope you don't mind that. Manaphy technically doesn't have a gender, but I can't bring myself to call it 'it'. It doesn't feel right, so I refer to Manaphy as a girl." After another pause, she continued her explanation of the room. "Anyway, that door leads to the bathroom. There is a guest bedroom across the hall, also with it's own bathroom, and that's really about it. I'm not in the house very long to have acquired much." Aqua placed Manaphy down so that she could go play with whatever she wanted to. Manaphy had instantly picked up a small ball and threw it at Nike. Aqua smiled and turned back to Kimi. "So what would you like to do. I'm sure I can find something."

Kimiko followed her new friend up to her room and couldn't help but smile brightly because it looked like the beach. Rio and Nike automatically went and played with Manaphy. Nike especially was having fun trying to pounce Rio, and Manaphy every now and again.
"I don't mind. If either of my pokemon didn't have a gender, the one they acted more like is what I'd call them. Or whatever their aura felt like," she said with a shrug.
"You mentioned earlier that your parents had a bad experience with the whole water ability thing. Do you mind if I ask what it is? Or do you even know yourself?"

Aqua flopped oh so dramatically onto her bed and sighed. "Yes. You see, they were both raised in small towns, where there wasn't alot of diversity. And because of that, they were picked on by nearly all of the other children because of their gift. My grandparents did all they could, but my parents took it with bitterness. When they were older and after having met each other via their job specializations they moved here, where they could have access to all the top equipment and be cut of from most of society. That's why they don't want me using my gift, or speaking with people who will tell me it's ok to be what I am. I think they have it all backwards. I don't think a gift sound be suppressed. It's not healthy."

As Aqua finished up her story she rolled herself over from her back and noticed the egg sitting on top of her pillow. She drew it close to her and turned it, inspecting it. "Huh, this one is different than Manaphy's egg. it's more solid. Manaphy's was more of just a soft shelled blob. Like an orb of water." Aqua placed the egg back where is was and looked over at Manaphy who seemed to be enjoying herself. "Mana Mana!" Manaphy laughed happily as she went to shoot light bubbles at the two pokemon. They weren't hostile in any way so hopefully the pokemon wouldn't view it that way.

Kimiko flopped on Aqua's bed and listened to her tale. She couldn't understand how, but they had turned out to be so mean and spiteful to people. Would that have been her if she hadn't had so much support?
"Aqua? It amazes me how your parents turned out so- foul. My childhood was so similar. I remember the first time my abilities started showing up, I accidentally teleported myself a few feet. I was made fun of, and it got so terrible that my mother took me to live at the shrine just outside Hearthome."
She watched Sophie examine the egg and smiled at it's blue color. "Well, by the color, we can tell that it's a water pokemon for sure. Since it's blue anyway."

Aqua sighed and sat up, running her fingers lightly through her short blue hair. She looked over at the door on the other side of her room that led out to the balcony. Aqua stood, walking over to the door and looking at the gardens below. Manaphy's eyes followed her curiously before going back to her own game. "I just think they don't want to admit that they'd be more accepted now in society. Children are cruel because they don't understand or they're jealous. They can't do it, so they pick on the one that can. Most adults aren't like that. I'm not like that." Aqua pressed her forehead against the glass and sighed. "Ok, enough wallowing. Let's go outside since it's dark. We have a huge pond out in the gardens and we can see what aura and water look like together. What do you say?" Aqua was now back to her usual peppy self, as if nothing had affected her in the first place.

Nova sighed and shook her head, "If they only knew, they'd be able to accept their abilities."
Sophie mentioned something about going outside and seeing what water and aura looked like together. "Well, it would be rather interesting to see what they look like together. Let's go!"

Aqua cheered and swooped Manaphy up before jumping up and down excitedly. "Woohoo! Let's go!" She ran out of her room and flew down the stairs, turning around the corner and headed back into a type of drawing room before she ran out one of the clear glass doors to the darkened yard. Manaphy would then leep from her arms and jump around in the small pool.

The yard was full of several bushes with a few trees here and there. There were a couple statues of pokemon around the gardens and flowers to accentuate them. It was very beautiful for anyone to view. Aqua took a deep breath, calming her senses before grinning. "Alright, Kimi, what should we try out?"

Kimi laughed and followed Aqua as she ran out to the pond. What should they try first? What should they try- Bingo!
"I'm going to make a sphere and contain some water in it. See if you can make a small whirlpool in it!" She concentrated and the sphere appeared in mid air above the pond and stayed, at least until Rio and Nike ran into her legs and knocked her over.
She landed face first on the grass and she made a small fence-like container around the two pokemon until she heard a mental 'sorry' from them.
Trying again, she concentrated and formed a complete sphere, water inside. "Okay, I can only hold this for up to three minutes at a time."

Aqua rolled her eyes at Kimi's pokemon's antics. It seems like those two would be a handful. She was just thankful that Manaphy was easy to deal with when she wasn't crying. Aqua saw Kimi create the aura sphere and smiled for a moment. "That all? Alrighty then." Aqua flung out her hands once more, one hand hovering over the other as she spun then in a counterclockwise circle. The water would simple start to stir, swishing back and forth as it gained speed. After a minute or so Aqua had managed to pick up the speed to where theres was a small whirlpool effect inside the orb. After maintaining for a short while. She broke her hands from their movements and returned one to her hip while the other dangled. "Not bad. That was kind of fun actually"

Just before Aqua broke her control on the water inside the orb, she lowered it into the water and released. The whirl inside would be able to expand into the pond.
"That was fun. Oh! I've done this a few times so that Nike could look at the fish in the koi pond without getting wet. I'm not sure if it can hold a human's weight though." She would then turn to the cat and mentally ask if she wanted to look at some fish. The cat quickly nodded and Kimi made a clear, slightly glowing box around the purrloin and made it hover over the water, and then without warning, she did the same to Rio.
At first the fighting pokemon went wide eyed and wondered what was going on, but understood when Kimiko explained silently.
"If you splash them, they shouldn't get wet," Kimi said with a giggle.

Manaphy jumped into the swirling water as soon as Kimi released it from it's sphere. She enjoyed the small circling movements that the water produced. Aqua's attention was still focused on Kimi as the two pokemon were placed into the boxes of aura. "Oh, just splash em? Ok, no problem. I'll go one step further." Aqua was about to perform said act, when Manaphy noticed the pokemon in the boxed. She lept towards them and was met with a block, instead hitting her face pretty hard."Phyyyy! Phyyy!" Manaphy started to cry, both from the impact and then not being able to reach her friends. Aqua instantly ran over, concerned and picked Manaphy up, bouncing her slightly. She hated to see Manaphy cry. "Hey, you're ok. You're fine. We're just playing. You can see you friends again in a minute." Aqua whispered. Manaphy calmed down a minute later and Aqua decided she would do what she could with one hand. She flicked her wrist in a sort of circling beat pattern and watched as the water moved around each box, creating a type of bow. Aqua laughed when Manaphy clapped. "How's that?"