We're here...now what?

Kotone just giggled at her sister's blush and allowed herself to be pulled into the changing area. She heard her sister say something about a birthday present and all thoughts of the trick she was going to play fled from her mind. "Aww, Akari, you know I don't expect anything from you! Having you as my sister and you protecting me is all I want from you. Not that I don't want the present, that is." She added in the last part because she knew Akari would somehow make that sentence a bad thing.
She quickly changed and put her belt in a waterproof, theftproof bag and tied it right back around her waist. In her towel, she scampered over to the springs and slowly glided in. Oh how the heat felt good!

Akari just nodded and rolled her eyes at her sister's predictable answer. Of course she had to get Kotone something for their birthday, it just wouldn't be right if she didn't. Akari felt another blush coming on as she started to change. She felt so vulnerable and by the time she had finished Kotone was already in the water. Just perfect... She decided to let Lilith out of her pokeball just in case she needed some back up. The houndoom would enjoy the heat from the springs. "Lilith, watch the others ok? I'll give you a treat when Kotone and I are done here and a grooming session alright? Just don't attack anybody unless they try to take anything of mine or Kotone's, in which case by all means take them out." Akari smiled and pet the Houndoom a couple of times before shuffling her way over in her towel, that she didn't believe was large enough, to the water, blushing terribly the whole way."This is so embarassing. Why do people come here?" Akari got into the water as quickly as she could and submerged herself down to her nose level, trying to hide as much of her as possible while still managing to glare at Kotone. Still, the warmth did feel so familiar and she couldn't help but heat up the area around her just that little bit more with her fire. After that she loosened up a bit and sighed happily This wasn't so bad.

"You answered your own question, sister. People come because it's relaxing. Some say it's even healing." she stretched happily and saw Lilith guarding their things. She would have gotten out and put her belt over there, but the warmth was so nice, she didn't want to get out.
"Hey Akari? What do you think of mom and dad? Do you think that our grandparents taught them how to use their talents?"

Akari sighed and wondered why her sister chose now to talk. They were supposed to be relaxing. She looked over at his sister and sat up in the water to answer."I don't know. Mum and Dad seem to have really missed us. I kind of remember them, don't you? They're really nice too. They want us here, they care." Akari paused a bit, getting her feelings together before she answered the second question."I'm assuming if the elemental abilities are genetic that our grandparents must have taught them, but that might not be the case. We can ask them if you want." Akari went back to enjoying the hot water the moment she stopped talking. She was kind of glad no one was too close to them though or she might not have answered at all.

"Yeah, they do seem to miss us. I wonder how different things would have been, you know? I might have specialized in flying types or something." she said with a chuckle. The water was really helping to relax her and she almost dozed off, if not for a stiff breeze swirling around her. "I remember dad the most. Maybe it's because we share the same ability, or maybe it's just that he held me more. I don't know. I think it would be nice to stay and learn from them. It's not like we have to make it permanent. We both know that we like the freedom of roaming the land a lot."
A second stiff breeze came around Kotone's head and she tried making it go away, only to here the words dinner and soon float out of the breeze. "Apparently dinner is soon, and it smells delicious. Some of the smells were carried on the wind."

Akari shrugged in the water, only half listening to her sister now. She did sort of wonder what she would be like if nothing bad had happened. Maybe she could've been who she wanted to be and not who she had to be. Akari moved her hand across the top of the water once or twice watching as more steam rose where her hand trailed. "I remember mum the most. I don't know why, nor do I really care. They're both still strangers at the moment seeing as we really don't know anything." Akari stood from the water after that, only barely catching her sister say something about dinner. She ran over to Lilith who was still guarding the items. Akari threw on her clothes as fast as she could and placed the pokeballs back on her belt. Akari left Lilith out of her pokeball, remembering her promise."Kotone, I'm going home, if you want your present before dinner you should come too! Let's go Lilith." Akari started to head back, a scowl on her face even after the relaxing waters, her mind elsewhere. Lilith growled at anyone that even came remotely close to her trainer, it seemed she understood her trainer's emotions completely.

Kotone scrambled out of the water and quickly got dressed as well. She let out her swablu who flew beside and around her, as if warning away people from her happy master. Kone always did like the water and felt really relaxed now, well, as much as someone raised by evil people could be. She caut up with her sister just before the house and pulled Akari into a brief hug. She knew her sister didn't really like the whole touching thing, but also knew that she needed to clear her mind. Must be a twin thing. "So, what's my present?" she giggled and followed her sister to where ever she had hidden it.

Akari flinched as she felt her sister hug her. She tried not to react though since her sister was technically an acception to all rules. She left her arms limp at her sides and then slightly pushed her sister away. "Here, I snatched this from one of the members a little while before we left. It's not mean or anything so it must not have been in the building very long. I hope you like it." Akari handed over the pokeball to her sister and then continued walking as if nothing had happened. She would most likely without a doubt hear her sister's reaction soon. She doubted it would be disappointment so she didn't want to stick around in case her sister got overly happy or something.

Kotone smiled at the pokeball and nearly freaked when she saw the pokeball and was explained what type of personality it was. It was probably going to be monster cute! Without saying a word, she ran out back and let the pokemon out. It came out, looking around saying it's name cutely. "Pichu? Pichu pichu?" Kotone scooped the little mouse pokemon up and squeed cutely, well, perhaps not to her sister's ears. "You're so kawaii! Oh, what should I name you? I know! I'll name you Rai! I'll have Rei and Rai, so cute!"
Kotone attached the ball to her belt and ran inside and nearly tackled Akari in a hug. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you! He's so cute! Thank you, Kari! Mom, dad, look what Akari got for me for our birthday! The necklace I gave her doesn't feel anywhere near enough now!"
While she had been squeeing, Rei popped out of her ball and Rai wriggled out of her arms. The two electric pokemon studied each other and eventually started playing cutely beneath the dinner table.

Akari let out a small growl when she felt Kotone practically glomp her. "Kotone, stop with the hugs today! Geez! You're welcome!" Akari went to the table and sat down quickly after that, Lilith joining her soon after by sitting next to her chair like a good guard hound. Akari looked at the food, suddenly finding she wasn't all that hungry. She really just wanted to sleep so she could think for once. Their parents were already sitting and smiled at the two. "That was very nice of your sister. "Yes, it seems she knows you well. Your grandfather had a Raichu when I was just a kid. It was one of my best friends in fact! Though those shocks can be a bit of a doozy." Their father laughed whole heartedly at the memory before going back to his dinner. After another second their mother spoke again."Oh, and girls your room is ready. We've been keeping your room fairly up to date with your age in case we did find you."
Akari remained silent through most of dinner, simply playing with her food. Lilith placed her head in Akari's lap halfway through to try and keep her trainer calm. It did actually help a little. She got to the point where she was just finished with conversation and stood to leave."I'm done. Goodnight."Akari then practically ran up the stairs, finding the room with ease and throwing herself on her bed. Lilith followed and jumped up on the bed, curling up next to her trainer.

"Okay, sorry Kari, I'll stop. I was just really excited." "Pichu!" the small pokemon said in what seemed as agreement. She was so happy that she got this little guy and she sat down quietly at the table. She ate a little, but everything today had been a bit overwhelming, so she wasn't as hungry as normal. One thing she could say was that their mom or dad or whoever cooked was a great chef. Rai even stole some food off of Kotone's plate now and again. She was quiet like her sister through dinner, though she did ask questions about their parents and if they had pokemon too. When Akari went to bed, Kotone smiled softly at her sister and allowed a few minutes for her sister to try to get comfortable. Kotone always had an easier time falling asleep. Soon after her sister left, she followed and crawled into the bed that wasn't occupied. Rai decided that he wanted in his ball and Rei curled up with her trainer, keeping her warm.

The next morning Akari woke first, as was usual between the twin. It seemed like Lilith had already left the room, which didn't sit well with Akari. It was really early in the morning, even for her. Surely no one else would be awake for another hour or two. She slowly crept out of the room and went down the stairs to find that Lilith was outside. That was odd. Akari went outside and wondered what the problem was."What is it Lilith? Everything ok?" Lilith simply remained still before she spat fire at her trainer and growled. Akari backed off a bit before throwing fire back."What is your problem, Lilith? If you wanted to practise all you had to do was say so. I'll even get Angelina out here." Akari brought out her white charizard and explained what was going on. Angelina seemed to agree before both fire types started to throw fire at Akari as she tried to build up some strength and control. However, things quickly got out of control as she found herself unable to control Angelina's blue fire, which seemed to be of a hotter temperature. She jumped out of the way the best she could but ended up burning a good part of her shoulder. Akari bit down on her lip in pain and returned both of the pokemon. After that, she tried her best to stay quiet as she went back to the room and shook her sister's shoulder."Kone, wake up, please." She wasn't sure how her sister would react waking up to an anomaly of things. One, Akari said please. Two, Akari was crying heavily. And Three, Akari's shoulder was a nasty shade of red and her clothing was singed. Yeah, this would go over brilliantly.

Kotone moaned awake. She was no morning person, but she could get up. Then she realized that she could smell salt on the still air and the almost desperate plea of her sister. She sat up quickly looking at her sister who was cradling her burn. She silently scurried off of the bed and over to her bag where the burn cream and bandages stayed. Akari always had the butterfly closures for when Kone cut herslef up with wind. Dashing just as silently back, she pulled her sister onto the bed and slowly moved parts so she could see the burn. Luckily it had just grazed her flesh, and it was brand new or this could be terribly bad.
Kotone called a soft cool breeze to float around the room and sooth her sister's burns. The cream was applied next with a gentle hand. One layer was rubbed into the reddened flesh and the next layer was slathered on thickly. "Kari, you promised you'd have me there when you practiced just incase something like this happened. I'm guessing you were training with Angela? Why? She's brand new, Kari, you could have been hurt really bad. I know you don't want me to make a huge deal out of this, so I won't tell our parents or anything, I just want you to be more careful with yourself. You're my best friend, Kari, my only friend besides my pokemon. I don't know what I would do if I lost my protector."
The very end of her words were accompanied by soft tears and the wrapping of bandages before getting her sister a different shirt from her bag.

Akari sniffled miserably as she felt the sting of the fresh burn lighten a bit. She felt so utterly stupid at the moment, the light scolding from her twin only made it worse. She was just glad that Kotone knew how to treat this stuff, but she was defensive over her words."It wasn't my fault! Lilith started it. I just...I thought I could handle it." Akari remainded silent through the rest of the treatment, simply listening as the pain lessoned. When that was done she slipped on the shirt her sister handed her and slipped it carefully, a slight smile on her face as she whiped some of her tears away and hugged Kotone."Thank you, Kone. I'm sorry. I'll be more careful next time." After about a minute or so of both giving and recieving comfort, Akari would pull away and look towards the door. "Do you want to go eat? We can go looking for stuff to do around town later too if you want. Maybe we can even go to the next town over. I don't really care." Akari almost hated that she was letting some of her softer side show, but at the moment she didn't really feel like acting out all that much.

She hugged her sister gently and shushed her tears. "I have no doubt you could do it. The thing is that you need to practice, just like I needed to practice more and more once i discovered I could use the wind as blades. Maybe next time you practice, have Angela fire a small spout, just so you can get used to the heat. Don'tyou remember howlong it took you to be able to bend Kira's flames to your will? His flames are different too. You can do it! I know you can!" She was trying to get her sister's spirits up and softly wiped any lingering tears.
"Let's eat and then look around town. Maybe we can look at the different native pokemon." she said with a bright smile.

Akari had to bite back a couple harsh comments this time, but she didn't really feel like fighting."Kira was different. I know Kira. Angelina didn't hold back, which was my fault for not saying anything. And I usually pick up on new tactics relatively quickly. I wasn't expecting to have trouble with a little bit of heat. I don't even care anymore. Let's just go." Akari stood up, gently so as to not irritate the burn, and walked downstairs. Again she found herself with a lack of appetite, but she could probably get away with not eating another meal. Their parents seemed to be morning people, both alert an awake, the table already set with the meals. Their father simply sat reading a newspaper and their mother was enjoying a hot cup of coffee. "Good morning girls.""Did you sleep well? No problems I hope." Their father smiled brightly as he set his paper aside and started in on his own breakfast. Akari simply nodded and took her seat, glaring at the delicious looking plate of eggs and pancakes.

Kotone sighed at Akari's sudden back switch to the "ice queen" mode. She silently waved to Rei and the electric cat followed her down the stairs. She was happy to see their parents already at the table, it would give her someone to talk to while Akari was like this. "We slept pretty good.it was nice to sleep in a bed again. Camping's fun, but I love beds." A sleepy look came over her eyes before she noticed her sister not eating. She made a point of taking a bit and then looking at Akari's burn area as if to say 'you are healing, you need to eat'.

Akari made a slight scoffing sound when she heard Kotone say camping was fun. Like camping was ever fun. Akari would take a bed and a roof over the ground and the chance of being attacked at any minute. Already halfway through his first place, their father nodded, eagerly absorbing any small bit of information about his long lost daughters."Of course, of course. I'm glad you feel comfortable enough with us that you didn't have trouble sleeping." Always the chipper person, their father grinned and returned to his paper. Akari then noticed Kotone's slight stare and sensed that she wanted her to eat. That stupid twin telepathy thing really sucked sometimes. Well Akari wasn't going to cave. If she didn't want to eat, she wouldn't. She glared back her own little 'I don't care. I don't want to' and hoped Kotone would just drop it.

Their mother seemed to sense a sort of tension between them and set her cup down."Is everything alright. Akari you haven't touched your food. I can make something else if you don't like it. Akari wanted to yell at everyone that her eating schedule was her own business but she didn't, oddly."Everything's fine. I'm just a little tired so I'm not all that hungry." Not a total lie, but she was dancing around any direct subject .At that moment, Yuno decided to pop out of her pokeball and went to go sit by Rei. Going to swat her on the head, as was a normal 'Hi' for her.

Rei playfully batted back at her "sibling" with an electric purr. The white cat purred happily and rolled over to ask for play.
Kotone just rolled her eyes when her sister refused to eat and turned back to her own plate. She was quiet for the rest of breakast before she excused herself and went back up to their bedroom. She really liked it here, but she also knew it was dangerous for them to stay in one place to long.
Coming back into the dining room, she said, "I know that we just got here and that we all would like to spend time together, but Akari and I have been travelling getting to know our pokemon. We could probably stay for a few more days. We'd be back sometime of course, but there's just so much to see and do out there."
How she hoped she wasn't hurting their feelings.

Their parents expressions seemed to fall when they heard that their children would be leaving again, but as every parent must acknowledge was that their daughters were almost fully grown and it wasn't like they were disappearing forever. There was some promise of them coming back. Their mother stood and went to hug them both."I'm not happy about that, but I know it's something you have to do. But you'd better call often with these, they're called Xtransceivers. They allow video calling no matter where you are. It'll also help in case you two get seperated."Akari looked at hers, it was white colored. Something she very much liked. It would come in handy. She nodded and strapped the item to her wrist, as she went to stand by Kotone. "We'll do what we can. But we really should go." Akari went and picked up Yuno who seemed to be having fun playing with Rei."Come on Kone."

Kotone smiled sheepishly and hugged her mother before taking her tranceiver thingy. It was black and didn't look clunky at all. She immediately put it on and admired the fact that it looked good and matched her style of darker colors. She then took Akari's hand and pulled her to their room once more to grab their bags. "I think I'm ready to go, how about you?" In all truth, she wasn't really ready to go. She wanted to stay and maybe train with their parents. She really wanted to master her windcraft. She kept her eyes trained on her backpack and Rei nuzzled her knee. She was squatting down, making sure everything was packed in tight.

Akari's bag was already ready since she hadn't really taken anything out and the most she added were some clean clothes and a stuffed Buneary that had button eyes. She would never admit that she felt attached to it, but it was her comfort item. She didn't mind that they were leaving. It always seemed like it was just her and her sister. They would make visits back too and if anything they had the devices so what was the point in being sad about leaving?"I'm ready to go too. Let's leave before we waste the entire day and end up having to walk at night again." Akari threw her pack over her shoulder and walked downstairs to wait on her.

Kotone giggled and slung her bag over her shoulders. "Well, you have to admit that my little glowing ability comes in handy when we're walking at night. But you're right, we should go." She reached out forher sister's hand. If it was taken, she would lead them from the room and out the door. Where should they go first? Definitly not the direction they came from, but where were they to go?

Akari let her hand get taken once more and be pulled outside. She didn't really know where to go exactly. Still, Akari had a feeling that staying around their hometown would be a bad idea so neighboring towns would be out. Akari tugged at Kotone's hand and drew out Angelina's pokeball. "Angelina can fly. So can Kira. Why not use them to go to Slateport City? Dad's newspaper said that there's a museum there that just opened up and lot's of fun stuff."Akari stood, fiddling with the hem of her sleeve as she waited to see if that was an alright answer. She hoped so since Slateport apparently was a pretty active town. It wouldn't look suspicious if they were there rather than the isolated town of laveridge.

Kotone smiled and nodded happily when Akari mentioned the museum. She immediately pushed the button of Kira's ball and used the wind to climb high on his back. The giant black pokemon looked down expectantly, almost pleading to get another look at the white beauty. He wouldn't admit it to the other charizard, but he thought she was absolutely beautiful. "Will you want help up or will you just have Angelina give you a boost? I swear I wouldn't lift you any higher than necessary."