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Urban sighed. Why was he at the beach? Oh yes...because Cam had asked him to go to the beach with him...and seeing as he was working on that whole...friendship thing with Cam so there they were...sun, sand, blue water...and babes as far as the eye could see! He was knee deep in the water at the moment, Cam was out on a surfboard and he admitted it...he was admiring the other. He couldn't surf.

Not far off in the water was Phee, or Lyre as she was attempting today...and listening intently to the names people used for one another. Nothing was striking her fancy. A sigh escaped her and she dove under the water and swam deeper for a few moments to enjoy the cooler depths.

In the sand was Mei...who was staring at Brenny curiously. "And whats the point of sand? Its getting in my fur..." she was less than impressed by it really as she poked a foot at it.

"I don't know!" Brenny chirped cheerfully, "But it's fun! See? If I get it wet, it goes up like this!" The celebi boy demonstrated by patting sand down into his pail with his shovel, and turned it upside down. He waited ten seconds, ten pulled it up off of the molded sand. "Yay!" he exclaimed. "See, it's a sand castle! I made it for you, Mei! Now you have a castle and you can be a princess!" Girls liked to be princesses, didn't they?

Niall was not so far away from Phee. After his initial reaction to having been transformed, he had found that hands could be as useful as flippers. It had taken him several days to adjust, and now, for the first time he was exploring the beach in his new form. He had been watching the Manaphy carefully for a long while from the shore. What was she doing? She seemed kind of bored, he figured. Maybe she was? He waved her over. He'd never seen a manaphy before! What was she doing there?

Fun? This was fun? It was gritty and annoying... still she was semi fascinated by the sand keeping its shape when wet, and she settled in the shade being thrown by someone's large umbrella more than happy for it and tried to mimic what was done...but forgetting to wet the sand and it falling to a pile. "Guess it's a good thing one of us can build castles." she laughed in amusement.

Urban decided to swim and moved further into the water and ducked under enjoying the feel of the cool water. Cam for his part wiped out and came up laughing and swam back to shore to have another go of it.

Phee was surprised to see someone else under the water like she was...and at the motion to come closer she did, glad she'd left her boots, and other what not on shore in her backpack. They would have weighed her down a whole lot. She paused by the boy, looking at him curiously.

Brenny giggled at her attempt, shaking his head. "No no, silly," he said, "you have to get it wet first!" He went to the water and filled up his pail, bringing it back over to Mei. "I saw Cam, I think!" he told her excitedly. "The boy who gave me the money for icecream! He's swimming, just there!" he pointed towards the waves, but was surprised to find that the boy had come up onto the shore. "Cam, Cam!" he called to him, waving. "Come make sand castles with us! It's fun! I'm teaching Mei to make them!"

"Want to play?" Niall asked, tilting his head slightly. He wasn't used to playing with others; he had a habit of attempting to ignore that others existed, when his sister was around. But since she wasn't--and he lacked an alternative form of entertainment, he figured he might as well find someone to talk to. "We could look for shells," he said, gesturing to his empty pail. "My trainer likes to put them up on a shelf."

"Ohhh..." she sounded sheepish at that and was in the middle of getting up to get water in the small pail when Brenny got all excited and caused her to look where he was pointing...only to blink at the teen boy coming over towards them and jabbing his surfboard into the sand and settling. "Sandcastles huh? That looks like fun. Sure, I'll help for a little bit. Nice to meet you Mei, I'm Cam." "Hi Cam, Brenny's told me a lot about you."

"Play?" she looked at him blankly. "How do we play? I've not played since I changed..." she looked so lost at the idea! "Shells is a good thing to look for though. We can dive down and get some from the bottom!" well, why not?

"Yay! Good. I think Mei's learning well," he said, and then lowered his voice, leaning closer to the teen's ear, "She forgot water though. If you help me teach her, I think she'll be happy!" He paused and glanced to where he had first seen Cam. "Where's Urban?" he asked. "Is he with you? Maybe he'll want to make sandcastles too!"

"We play... well... I don't know. I don't think I've tried to play since I changed either. I didn't figure it would be so different. We can still play chasing games and have swimming races," Niall began thoughtfully. "We could do that!" he agreed immediately. "I'm not sure I can hold my breath that long now, though..." But maybe! Maybe he had kept that ability!


"Urban is here...somewhere. I went surfing..." he turned to look out towards the water. "Oh, there he is. Why don't we let him swim a bit, and then maybe he will." maybe. He didn't know. "You two going to go swimming?" "Swimming?" Mei didn't know how.

"I didn't think I could hold my breath that long either, but I still can, so maybe you can too. If nothing else I can always go down and find some for you. The prettiest ones are always down there." so much for her acting big and bad and tough. She was in her element, and in a happy mood really. "I'm Lyre...." and here she wrinkled her nose. "I really don't like that name. I'm Phee. For now. Till I find a really good name!"

"Oooh, he's swimming!" Brenny had caught sight of Urban when Cam had turned to look for him. He'd followed the older boy's gaze. "Okay, we can let him swim for a while," he agreed. He hesitated, before adding, "I can't swim." He had never gotten the chance to try. He had been hatched in the late autumn of the year before, and had only been just discovering the world outside his egg when winter had struck full force. "Can you teach me?" he asked, hopefully. "Mei, do you like swimming?"

"I just changed," Niall said, frowning slightly as he glanced at his hands. "I'm still not used to it," it had taken a while to get used to walking up right. And to having legs, hands; being so big. "You think I'd be able to?" he asked, smiling slightly. It was nice to think some things hadn't changed. "Alright, I'll try. We can find her some really nice ones." And if he couldn't, the manaphy was nice enough to help him. "I'm Niall," he said. "Lyre's a pretty name, but if you don't like it, I'll call you by the name you gave me. Nice to meet you, Phee!"

"I don't know how to swim either. Never had a place to swim where I lived." Cam listened to the two of them and smiled. "I sure can teach you to swim. Why don't I start with you Brenny? I bet I can get Urban to help you Mei." "No its okay. I can sit in the shallow water and watch." and cool down!

"I changed not that long ago. I've been traveling around but I missed the water and decided to come back today for awhile." and she was glad she had! She felt so much better being in the water, more energized. "Okay on three we'll go down, and you can see if you can stay down or not." she grinned began to count. "One, two, three!" under she went then, breathing just as easily underwater as above.

Brenny beamed at Cam and nodded. "Okay!" he agreed. "We can start with me! I want to be a good swimmer. Then I can surprise Daddy! He'll be so impressed," the boy was delighted at the prospect of learning something new. He looked forward to showing his father how much he'd learned today. "Can you teach me now, and we can make sandcastles after?" he asked. "It'll be fun!" He hesitated and glanced at Mei. "Don't you want to learn to swim?" he asked. "You can show Daddy after! I'm sure he'll be proud of you too!"

"I've never left the beach," Niall said, shaking his head slightly. "My trainer lives there," he pointed towards a small cottage. "With her mate and my sister. She changed too. We both did. We were looking for shells for Iona, she's my trainer, and we found stars instead. They were very pretty, so we picked them up to take them--" he hadn't noticed the manaphy girl begin to count, until she hit three. He took a breath and dived under, a second too late. He held his breath for a long moment, afraid of what would happen if he didn't. When he couldn't hold it any longer, he let it go and found he was breathing under water just as he had been able to before. He pointed to the sandy bottom. "There! I saw something!"

"Sure lets go into the water now and we can do sandcastles later." Cam eased to his feet and held his hand out to Brenny, looking back at Mei. "Maybe later. I dunno...the water is sorta...unnerving." she'd never been to an ocean before! "Alright Mei. You sit in the water and watch and maybe later we'll try."

"Ohhh how neat. I got tired of every one telling me I was cute, and sweet and helpful...I'm trying to prove I'm not!" and doing a poor job of it in this moment. She listened to him talking until she went under, and waited patiently for him to figure out if he could breathe under the water or not. Seeing he could, she grinned and swam deeper. "Where?"

Brenny took Cam's hand, beaming at the older boy. "You're so nice," he said. He meant it, too. Cam was almost as nice as his Daddy was! He was sure if they met, they would become friends. "Is it scary?" he asked, once they reached the water's edge. "You won't let me drown, will you?"

"You are cute," Niall said, flashing Phee a small smile. "But I won't call you sweet or helpful. I don't like being called those things either." Cute wasn't such a bad thing, though. His trainer called him cute regularly. "Cute, though," he began, "I think it's a way for people to say 'I like you'. My trainer tells me I'm cute. It means she loves me."

Cam squeezed that hand gently as he made it to the waters edge and watched Mei settle in the shallow water, looking like she was cooling down some, and spotted Urban and waved him over. "Hey, mind helping my new friend Mei learn to swim?" Urban looked down at the tiny (to him!) pokemon. "Sure, why not. Hey kid." he gave Brenny a smile and moved towards Mei then, while came gave a gentle laugh. "I won't let you drown, and it can be scary, but fun. When you get good at swimming you can do other things like diving, and surfboarding."

Phee looked ready to protest till Niall explained the sentiments behind it and she looked thoughtful. "Huh. I never thought of it like that before. I'm still learning about this sort of stuff. I never had a trainer after all." she gave him a bright smile, and found a pretty shell with some green inside. "How's this?"

"Yay, Urban!" was the celebi boy's response to Urban's greeting. "Mei gets to learn to swim too!" And even if the mienfoo seemed afraid now, Brenny was sure Urban could help. "Let's go!" Brenny was reassured by Cam's words. The water could be scary, but it would be fun? And fun was always a good thing. "You'll teach me how to dive and surfboard, too?" he asked. "If I get good enough? It might take a while, but I'll be good at it, and then you can teach me!"

Niall nodded in understanding "I'm learning too," he said. "I hadn't had a trainer until the week before I changed. Aoife and I were playing in the water, and I got caught in a net. So Iona saved me! She cut me out of it. I don't know what would've happened if she--" he paused, glancing at the shell. "Oooh, that's perfect!" he exclaimed, moving to the sand to hopefully uncover more.

Urban gave a smile to Brenny, and looked to Mei and after the other two walked off, sat down to talk to her a little so she relaxed. Wouldn't do to go rushing into this. Cam smiled at Brenny and nodded. "It'll take time, but once you're good enough yes I'll teach you, and your dad too if he'd like." well it didn't hurt to offer he knew. "Alright, into the water we go, I'm going to help you lay on your stomach in the water. My hands will be on your chest and stomach..." and Cam began to carefully explain the swimming process.

"Oooh...well thats good she saved you! I hate those nets." she huffed some, and handed him the shell while sweeping sand off of others, a few broken ones pushed away and a really pretty white one pulled up. "Looks like you! All pretty and white!" yes...she'd just called him pretty in a round about way.

"Oooh. Daddy might like that!" Brenny exclaimed, delighted. "I'll tell him you offered! I don't know if he can swim or not. I never asked him! Oooh, I can ask him tonight! I'll tell him you're teaching me!" He followed Cam into the water, and cautiously allowed him to help him lay onto his stomach. "You won't let me drown?" he asked, watching the waves move around them. "You promise?"

Niall flashed Phee a bright smile. "Thank you for helping me," he said. "I'll introduce you to my trainer sometime. I bet she'd let you visit. She's really nice!" He beamed. There were two things he truly loved to speak about. One was his sister. The other was his trainer. He was equally possessive of both of them, and loved them dearly. He blushed at the compliment, taking the shell. "I wonder if I'll find one cute and blue like you!"

"Well I can always teach him if he doesn't know how." he was used to teaching people things, and he was between jobs with that whole body guarding thing, and his school was lacking students at the moment. So his time was his own really. "I won't let you drown I promise." Cam was sooo patient!

"I'd really like that Niall. I like meeting new people...and hearing their names. Maybe one day I'll find a name I like. I named myself...and it's too similar to Manaphy." and she frowned some. Though there was a blink and a slight blush at his words, a sort of shy smile given. "Oh...well...uhm...I can help you find one." she didn't know anything about relationships...crushes...or any of that. So that she was blushing at him calling her cute was...unexpected! She didn't know how to react!

Brenny felt himself relax. Cam was really good at this, he thought. He was good at reassuring him that he would be safe, even when he was afraid. "Okay. What do I do now?" he asked, instinctively beginning to kick his legs to avoid being washed away by the waves.

"I can help name you, maybe!" Niall said, concentrating. He'd never named anyone before. It would be a new experience. "Maybe Laura? That's kind of like Lyre, though... I don't know. Something pretty. Something that suits you. I don't know if any name ever could, though. A name certainly couldn't hope to be as pretty as you are!" He moved to pick up a shell. His smile widened as he swept the sand off it. "Look, Phee! It is blue, just like you! It's a snail shell! See, it spirals. It's for you!"

"That's perfect Brenny, you kick your legs like that. You also need to move your arms which helps pull you through the water as well." he held the boy firmly so he wouldn't feel in danger of slipping and coached him. He noticed Urban now doing similar with Mei a little ways away and smiled at the Mienfoo listening to Urban's instructions, though it sounded like there might be some squabbling there too. Still, he'd let them work it out.

Oh was she ever a mass of mixed emotions...he was so sweet really, and made her feel things she hadn't ever before...but there was uncertainty too. Did she like him too? Maybe...she didn't know. He was so nice though, that maybe it wouldn't hurt to find out right? Right! If nothing else they could be friends... "Help would be really nice. I dunno...I've gone by Grant, Merit, Lyre, Lynx, Bob..." and she began to rattle off the names...only to blink in surprise at the shell and took it from him carefully. "Oh wow this is so pretty! Thank you Niall!" she would have hugged him, had she known about hugs!

Brenny followed Cam's instructions, moving his arms against the water awkwardly. "Like this?" he asked. "But we're not moving," he observed. He glanced over to Urban and Mei, and smiled brightly. So she had decided to learn how to swim, after all! He'd have to tell his Daddy about that, too!

"Bob?" Niall repeated, grinning. "Some of those are boys names, and you're much too pretty to wear any of those," he said, shaking his head. "Maybe Mary, or Hope," he began rattling off names he'd heard before, either on the beach or at home. "You need something pretty." He moved to hug her when she took the snail shell and admired it. "You're welcome!" he said, flashing the girl a smile. He wasn't usually generous--but she was pretty, and a girl. Like Aoife!


"No we're not. I'm standing still. In a moment I'll walk into slightly deeper water so you can kick and paddle against the water and feel it pulling at you. Don't worry if it's hard. It will get easier as you get better."

He saw Urban was already at that step with Mei, who was faring well enough, though he admitted it was probably difficult to learn to swim like a human as a pokemon. "Hey Urban, keep her shallow!" "Sure Cam."

"There's a difference?" she blinked in surprise. She didn't realize there was a difference in girls and boys names. This brought another frown to her face. But no one had ever told her before. The fact her clothing choice made her look like a boy didn't enter her mind. The hug was new and made her eyes widen in shock, a whisper coming from her. "What was that? That...that thing you did with your arms?" how stunned she was! The shell was looked at again and she carefully put it into a pocket of her shorts so she wouldn't lose it. She wanted to keep it! Maybe see if she couldn't make it into a necklace!

"I'll try," Brenny promised, continuing to kick and paddle. He wasn't sure if he understood the concept, but he would try! "Mei's older than me," he confided in Cam. "She's closer to Daddy's age, she said she remembers being young like me many, many, many years ago." The boy's eyes widened with each 'many', as if to prove his point. "She's very smart! She likes being my pet, I think."

"Older than you huh? That has to be sort of interesting for all of you." he smiled and moved into the water to let Brenny kick and paddle against it then, watching and Urban did move to more shallow water for Mei, an approving nod given before he looked back to Brenny. "I'm glad she's happy there with you both."

"Ohh...no ones ever told me there's a difference before. I've just listened to names and tried them out...none seem to fit though." she frowned some and let out a sigh one bare foot kicking at the sand and uncovering some more shells. "A hug? I didn't know...never seen one...or hand one...or done one." how puzzled she sounded! But she was smiling anyhow, and did hug him back, even if it was kind of awkwardly.

"It is! She's smaller than I am, so it's hard to remember she's all grown up. I tried to buy her a doll when we met a bully, but she said she was too old for dolls. So I told her she could get something else. She's very good at playing catch!" He kicked and paddled against the water, attempting to keep afloat. "Yay, I'm doing it!" he exclaimed. Apparently the celebi boy had forgotten that he was being supported by Cam's hands.

"Well, now you have," Niall said with a nod. He had a feeling there were many things the girl hadn't experienced yet. He was willing to teach her, he supposed--but there were many things he hadn't experienced, either. "We can learn together," he said with a smile. "We can learn all about everything." He thought for a long moment. "You could be named after a flower," he said. "Lilac or Daffodil--" he wrinkled his nose. "Nah, that's a weird name. "Maybe Rose or Juniper..."

"Well thats good she can play catch really well. I'm sure in time you'll remember she's older than she looks." he gave the boy an indulgent smile at his cheering and lowered his arms a little so Brenny was more in the water. "Turn your head to the side so you can breathe while swimming..."

"That sounds like a really good idea!" she beamed at Niall then, though look at her blink. "Really? After a flower? Flowers can be names?" as he listed some off her eyes widened. "Oh, that one! Rose! I love roses, they're so pretty! I didn't know that could be a name though. but maybe not for a first name...I dunno...is there something like a second name?" she didn't know about middle names!

Brenny turned his head to the side as instructed, kicking and padding against the water. He wasn't sure about this. It had been much easier when Cam had been supporting him more. This was...kind of scary.

"Yeah, flowers can be names," Niall assured his new friend. "They're used as names a lot. I've heard them on the beach, when I was a seel too." He hesitated, frowning in confusion. "I don't know about second names," he began. "I don't have one, I'm just Niall. But I think my trainers have second names... I don't know."

"You're doing really good Brenny!" Cam's voice was full of encouragement for the boy and he made sure to keep him afloat well as he continued to walk so he'd feel like he was swimming. Mei was coming back up from under the water looking furious and stomped out of the water and up onto the beach yelling at the Aggron, who was yelling back, which made Cam sigh. "Looks like they're not getting along. Shall we go see whats going on?"

"Well then I like Rose a lot...so that's an all the time name now yay!" she beamed a moment, looking thoughtful. "I saw some books the other day...and there was a name I kinda liked on one..." she looked thoughtful...and then pieced the two together. "Armitage Rose...?" she looked at him curiously, wondering his thoughts on the name choice.

"Uh-oh," Brenny said, following Cam's gaze. He winced at the sight. "Sometimes Mei can be bossy," he said, in vague defense of Urban. But he'd seen that Urban could be bossy and rude--and Mei didn't seem to like rude people. She certainly hadn't appreciated Zevian's behavior. "Let's go see. Maybe we can fix it!"

Niall struggled pronouncing the name Phee suggested, and eventually shook his head. The name defeated him. "I can't say that," he complained. "Ami--Am--Arm--ugh! I'll just call you Rosie," he beamed at her. "See, it's pretty and it's not hard to pronounce."

Cam moved back to shallower water with Brenny and helped him back to his feet. "Good idea on checking on them. Urban can be a jerk...and you'll learn older people can be bossy." he gave a light chuckle and got close enough to hear an exasperated ..."........dropped me, twice!" "Just once. The other time you slipped." "I so did not slip!" "Yeah what ever. Are you done now? Or are you still being a drama queen?" "I'm done. I don't want you near me." she huffed and coughed some more, spitting out more sea water looking very unhappy. "Oh boy..." Cam sighed.

Phee frowned. Oh how she frowned. It was too hard? There was a full fledged pout on her lips then, and she of all things sat on the ocean bottom with a sigh, looking lost in thought. "Okay...so I won't go by Armitage...I want people to be able to say my name...but I still like Rose..." she was trying hard to come up with a suitable name! She looked up at him with wide eyes, looking hopeful that this was a doable thing.

Brenny hurried to Mei's side. He scooped her up, frowning in concern. "He dropped you?" he demanded, glancing up at Urban. "You dropped my pet into the ocean?!" His frown became a scowl. "But I thought I could trust you. I thought you were good at protecting people. You can't even protect a little pokemon?" He cuddled Mei close to his chest. "I'll take care of you," he promised. "You don't have to learn to swim with him. You don't have to learn at all, if you don't want to."

"No, it's pretty!" Niall said, frowning slightly. He'd upset her? Oh, this was awful! He moved to sit down next to her, leaning over to put an arm around her shoulders. "Just because I can't say it yet doesn't mean I won't be able to," he said. "I'm still learning things, just like you. Maybe I'll learn to say it. But until then, can I call you Rose?"

"She shouldn't have bitten me!" "I didn't bite you." Mei was honestly really upset at this point. He'd been rough from the start, and she'd accidentally scratched him, but not bitten him. Of all things she struggled out of Brenny's arms...and took off running, looking like she might cry. The look on Cam's face spoke of bad, baaaad things to come for the Aggron and Urban knew it. He couldn't help a grin though. He always did manage to piss Cam off royally...to constantly make him lose his temper. That was one reason they couldn't date. Cam gave Urban a withering look. "You're such an enormous jerk words don't even begin to describe it. Come on Brenny, lets go find her."

She was surprised by the arm on her shoulder, but merely leaned against him and sniffled. She'd never been sad or upset before! It was possible she was crying though in the water like this it was impossible to tell. But there.....his words brought a soft smile to her lips and she gave a soft nod. "I'd like that Niall..."

Brenny was astonished when Mei lept from his arms. He was distressed further when she took off. He sent a glare Urban's way, and stalked over to him. He kicked him in the shin before taking off after Mei. How was he going to fix this one? He'd show Urban later. Failing to protect his pet. Endangering her. Dropping her in the ocean and making her so upset. He'd show Urban! Oh yes. "Mei, come back!" he called after her. "It's okay, I won't let him hurt you!"

Niall was relieved when Phee smiled. He returned the smile and swept a hand over the sand in front of them. He picked up a shell. "Here," he said, holding it up for her to see. "It'll remind you of today," he said. "It doesn't really look like a rose--and it's not blue like you, but I know it's as special as you are. Look!" he gasped, holding it up into a ray of sunshine that had trickled down beneath the surface of the water. "Look!" he said again, gesturing to the inside of the shell. It was shiny on the inside. "I knew it was special!" he declared. "Just like you!"

Cam watched them run and he couldn't help but follow Brenny's example and kicked Urban. "You are such an a*****e Urban!" Urban muttered and rubbed both shins watching as Cam took off after the other two. Mei had very simply run a short distance away and under a pier, hiding in the shaded area and behind a pylon and dropped to sit with a sigh looking dejected.

Well didn't she already have one shell to remind her of today? Maybe two was okay though...especially when it sparkled. "Oh wow Niall! How pretty!" she sounded so excited and she hugged him (and better than before!) before taking it. "Thank you I love it!" she was all smiled again now.

Brenny was having trouble finding Mei. He searched behind logs. He looked near the shore. He stuck his face in the water to see if she'd fallen in--only to yelp and realize his eyes were stinging from the salt. And realize that the ocean was possibly the worst tasting water ever. Why hadn't suicune visited here? The water definitely needed purified! Yuck! "Mei, Mei!" he called, hoping for an answer. Was this what it was like to lose a pet? Was Mei lost? Would she be gone forever? At the thought, the boy gave a sniffle. He had to find her! He just had to!

Finding the shell had been worth it, then, Niall decided, when he saw the girl smiling. "Let's go back to the surface," he said, gesturing upwards. "I'm getting tired--and my fingers are getting wrinkly," he wiggled his fingers in front of her.

It was too noisy to hear Brenny calling for her, too many people about making it impossible...and after a few minutes of calming down she looked out...only to realize she had no idea where anyone was anymore. Panic filled her as she realized that. Cam was keeping pace with Brenny, and they had moved away from the pier at this point. Urban was grumbling..mostly to himself...and making his way back to the car. He'd call a taxi maybe. He could see Cam and that brat in the distance...and he saw that damn pokemon looking around lost.

He couldn't help a small smirk. Until he noticed her wandering around lost...and someone kicking her and sending her flying. He heard a kid yell "Look! A pokemon! I'm gonna catch it!" and pull out one of those blasted balls. Urban dropped his gear and took off at a run, and scooped up the dazed Pokemon before the ball connected. "Heeeey! No fair give it back! That's mine!" "Like hell she is! She belongs to a kid I know." "WAAAH! Dad make him give it back!" the kids dad took one look at the glowering Aggron and shook his head. "No, no he's right...come along son..." "Smart move." the words were growled as he brought his fingers up to his lips and let out a loud, piercing whistle, and watched Cam's head shoot up and look around. "Brenny...c'mon I think Mei's been found."

Phee...or Rose as she was now going to be called by him giggled and nodded. "Wrinkly fingers!" she didn't have that problem really and wiggled her own webbed hands a bit before she was kicking for the surface, her head breaking the water and she breathing deep.

Brenny looked up. "Urban?" he asked, blinking. Urban had found Mei? Maybe he would forgive him for being mean, after all! The celebi boy ran towards the teenager. "Mei!" he cried, reaching his hands out to take her. "She's hurt?" he asked, fretting over the mienfoo. He studied her carefully, before his expression darkened. "What attacked her?" he demanded. "I'll--" he wasn't sure what he'd do. But he'd do something. They'd hurt his Mei. They'd hurt his pet! His friend! His--she was family! He glanced over at the kid with the pokeball. He scowled and sent--he wasn't sure what that was. Sparkling, rainbow hued leaves came from behind him and moved at a rapid pace towards the boy in question.

Niall followed Phee, grinning. It seemed she had the ability to stay under water for long periods of time without any wrinkly fingers. That was talent. He surfaced, glancing at the manaphy. "Race you to shore?" he asked.

"She was kicked as she went darting out. It stunned her. She'll be okay in a few minutes." Urban had been in the process of handing her off to the kid, when he let loose with his attack. Cam saw, and he did the only thing he could, he got between himself, and the human child arms thrown up to protect himself as best he could as the leaves attacked him instead. Mei came out of her daze about this time, and though she was still sort of stunned there was a clear "Brenny no, stop!" from her even as Cam held his ground against the leaves.

She grinned and nodded. "Okay race you!" she raced that way with a laugh, feet kicking as she started for the place she'd left her stuff. She knew he was bogged down with the pail though, so didn't want to make it too unfair to him.

Brenny stopped, eyes widening in horror. "I'm sorry!" he said at once. He hadn't meant to! He wouldn't have--he couldn't have--what had he done? "Urban, take care of Mei? I have to--" he didn't finish his sentence, hurrying to Cam instead. "Cam!" he cried, wrapping his arms around the teenager. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, I never hurt people, I was just--Mei was hurt and that kid--and I just--" he sniffed. "I just--I just wanted to protect her!"

Niall chased after her, laughing as he swam. This was his element. He was momentarily distracted by noisy people--he wrinkled his nose at a particularly noisy bunch. Honestly, a kid with green hair? He'd have to tell Phee about that later. Green hair!

Urban kept a hold of Mei, who was sitting up a little and rubbing her head with a wince while Cam himself winced at the hug, and patted Brenny on the head. "It's okay Brenny...easy on the hugs though. That was some attack." he gave the boy a smile. "I think the day at the beach is about done. You two want a ride home?" he thought home sounded pretty good about then. "Urban, hand Mei to Brenny, and go get my things please?" Urban gave a nod, and uncharacteristically walked off without a word.

Phee was on the shore waiting while sitting in the shallow water, laughing some. "Yay you made it!" she'd missed the noisy group of people herself. She wiggled her feet and dug out her socks tugging them onto her wet feet, and then her boots. Before long she had her spiked bracelet back on, and the collar, and her chain back on her shorts...and looking very boyish.

"I don't know how I did it," Brenny said, frowning at the realization. "I don't know how I did it, I was just so upset... I wanted to protect Mei, and--" he concentrated, his forehead creasing as he did so. "I can't do it again," he complained. "I don't know. I was worried about Mei and--I didn't mean to hurt anyone!"

"It's okay Brenny...here in a few days you can come by my house, and we'll work on it together, see if you can't maybe do it again. If you did it once, you'll be able to do it again, it'll just take some practice is all. Like swimming." Cam watched Urban come back carrying the surfboard and his bag, stopping to get his own things. "Come on, my cars this way. I'll drive us all back."

To say that Aoife was excited about this sleep over would be a bit of an understatement. She was over the moon! The seel was in the kitchen with her and her brother’s mom. A veritable snack buffet had bet set up along the counter. Apparently it was THE thing to do. Fortunately for the seel twins, Iona seemed to have a good bit of experience in regards to this whole slumber party thing. Movies, stories, games, lots of snacks, hanging out in PJs, staying up late, maybe spooky stories too, all seemed to be important parts to a relatively typical sleep over. Iona had also said that they can make up their own ideas for what sleepovers ought to be.

Aoife was helping stir some dip for the chips. There was salsa, but in the fridge. The bags weren’t open yet, lest the chips inside start to grow stale. The pizza delivery guy had come and gone and there were three medium pizzas lined up too, lids down to help keep them warm. Boy, they smelled really great, but they had to wait. Mama said it’d be rude if they got started before company came. “Niall, what are you doing to help?” The girl called to her brother. “We’re piling up in the living room, right?”

Phee had all of her things tucked away securely in her backpack. That nice lady had been so helpful picking things out for her...that even though they were all pink she hadn't protested...and she really, really liked those fuzzy bunny slippers anyhow. The nightgown not as much...but she'd live with it.

She recalled how to find Niall's house...he'd pointed it out to her on the beach that day after all...and when she ran into him a few days ago he'd brought up the sleep over and told her what day to come to the house. So she made her way though as she neared his house, she felt sort of nervous.

What if his sister didn't like her? What if his parents didn't like her? Her steps slowed as she got closer, hear thumping away and she wiped suddenly sweaty palms on her torn, ragged shorts...not that they were old. She'd fashioned them that way herself! Finally...she made her way up the steps and across the porch to the door, hand raising...and she hesitated...before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door. She did want to see her friend after all!

"I'm making a pillow fort!" Niall said, pointing to his stack of pillows. He had brought several of them from his bed. "But I need more pillows or it won't be big enough for me and Phee," he didn't mention Aoife. Maybe he wasn't planning on sharing the pillow fort with his twin? He fetched another pillow--this one from Aoife's room. He grinned at her, before looking around the room for Iona. "Momma!" he complained, "Momma, there aren't enough pillows for a good pillow fort. Can you help me make a blanket fort with the table?" He was looking forward to seeing Phee more than forts, more than snacks, and games, and the promised scary stories.

Phee was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. Even prettier than his sister; and that was saying something. No one was prettier than Aoife. Iona was almost as pretty, but not quite there. "Aoife, Aoife! Look, I'm making a blanket fort instead!" Instead of fetching another bunch of pillows, Niall hurried to his bedroom and fetched his quilt. He beamed. "This'll be big enough," he said. "We can have a blanket fort and make shadow puppets with a flashlight and Daddy can tell us stories!" And maybe after Aoife fell asleep, he'd finally have some time alone with Phee.

With the dip properly and thoroughly stirred, Aoife set it aside, raking the spoon off on the rim of the bowl. She ran some hot water over the spoon until it looked and felt clean, putting it in the drying rack. Moving around to simply watch her brother busily move about trying to perfect his pillow fort, the girl placed her little fists on her hips, angling her head at his not mentioning her. It was THEIR sleepover. It’d be mean if he didn’t intend on including her. Of course, she also knew that he probably wasn’t thinking purposefully. He talked often about Phee and, gracious, was he all grinny when he did so. If Aoife had to hazard a guess, she’d say her brother had a bit of a crush. Hey, wait! Wasn’t that one of her pillows?! “Niall, I don’t think we have enough for a pillow fort that’s too big! If you want to borrow some of my pillows, you ought to ask, not just taaake.” She huffed a soft sigh, looking up to their mother.

Iona hung a dish rag on a drawer pull, turned and leaned her elbows on the counter, peeking over to what her son was doing and what it was that he was wanting. “We might be using the table a little later, honey. But you could use the bookcases if you’d like. You three could put a couple of heavy books on the edge of the blankets and drape them over the armrests, pop a few pillows inside, and you’ll have yourself a nice, open and yet cozy tent to crawl into. Nothing too high up though. I don’t want any of you falling and getting hurt. Alright?”

Aoife nodded. “Yes, mama, we’ll be careful. I promise.” The girl continued to watch her twin bustle about, she couldn’t help but grin to herself. Yeah, she thought, he’s definitely gotta be some kind of sweet on Phee. “We can do a tent up nice! It’ll be like in some of the stories we’ve been read.” When a knocking came to the door, the seel excitedly bounced on the balls of her bare feet and chimed, “I’ll get it!” Running to the door, Aoife stopped and gave herself a quick once over to make sure she hadn’t gotten any food on her shirt or anything. With a clear check, she opened up the door slowly before swinging it open wide. She smiled to the girl that stood outside. “Hello,” She began while tucking a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. “You’ve gotta be Phee. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Aoife, Niall’s sister. Come on in!” She stepped aside, waving Phee inside. “Mama said we can all sleep in the living room, so you can put your stuff wherever, or if you’d like it out of the way, you’re welcome to put it in my room. We might be sleeping downstairs, but I’m gonna change into my jammies up there.” She punctuated this statement with a nod. “Just make yourself at home, okay?” She finished with a smile.

Phee smiled brightly at the girl that opened the door and felt a little out of place what with her thick combat boots, the torn slightly holey pants, the chain hanging off it, and the rock shirt she wore...she'd at least left off the spiky bracelets and choker she owned and had stuffed in her bag! Everything that was said was listened to and processed. This was all so...strange. She'd never been so close to a house before...let alone in one! This was...well sort of neat really. "Oh...out of the way is probably good..I have something to change into for sleep in there too...and some slippers." she was suddenly struck by shyness! This was really her first time talking to another girl her age after all.

She stepped inside so the door could be closed and looked around. "Make myself at home? But...it's not water...?" how puzzled she was really. "Sorry...this is all new to me...I usually sleep in the water...or find somewhere if I'm too far off to sleep, like up in a tree, or under it if the grass is soft enough..." she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly feeling really out of place suddenly. A sore thumb...maybe she should go. There was an uncertain step backwards at the thought of leaving.

Niall immediately left his pile of blankets and pillows and hurried to Aoife's side. He not so gently pushed her aside and took Phee's hand. "You're here, you're here!" he exclaimed, nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet. "You came! We're going to have a fort and Momma's going to help us make it and Daddy's going to tell us scary stories and we have pizza and we have popcorn for later and we've got all sorts of things!" To say Niall was excited would have been an understatement. He wrapped his arms around her happily, oblivious to the legendary's discomfort. "I'm so glad you're here," he said, beaming up at her. "Now you can meet Aoife and my Momma and Daddy!"

And surely they would agree with him, that Phee was the prettiest girl they'd ever seen. "And we have games!" the seel boy continued excitedly. "And movies, and we can hear scary stories and make shadow puppets and--" he blushed, seeming to have at last realized he was still holding onto the manaphy. He let go. "Come on!" he said. "I'll show you my room!"

Aoife staggered at the not so gentle shove out of the way. “Hey!” She exclaimed at the treatment. Flashing her twin a bit of a scowl, she shook her head and refocused on Phee, picking up on her discomfort. Her brows furrowed slightly. “Well…If you’d be more comfortable in water, we’ve got a couple of bathrooms. We could fill up the tub and you can sleep in there if you’d feel more at ease.” The seel patted the legendary’s back, at least, as well as she could from her brother attaching himself to her.

Iona moved around the counter and place a hand on Niall’s back. “Honey, you have all night to do all of those things. I know you’re excited, but how about we let Phee get comfortable first, hm? Slow down a bit.” She looked to the Manaphy and offered her a smile and an extended hand. “Hello, Phee. I’m these two’s mother, originally this one’s trainer. Mother now though.” She ruffled Niall’s hair with the hand that had been on his back. “You can call me Miss Iona, if you’d like. The living room is right here,” The woman said with a sweep of her hand to her side. “And the kitchen is right here.” She stepped aside and gestured towards her opposite side. “We’ve got plenty of snacks and we have pizza that is just waiting to be gotten into. Dugan is out getting some extra drinks, but he should be home soon. Now, why don’t you two finish giving Phee the tour and let her set down her things up in Aoife’s room. I’ll start getting the plates out. Mine and Dugan’s room is down at the end of the hall there, if any comes up during the night.”

Aoife nodded. “Let’s start down here and work our way up. My room is on the second floor, so we’ll get to it soon. There’s a dining area off of the kitchen and there is the laundry room and a little bitty bathroom across from the stairs up.”

Phee didn't have much time to focus on feeling uncomfortable. Not with the dynamo that was Niall suddenly there and hugging her. She hugged back and relaxed a smile on her face. "Niall!" she sounded happy at least, which was a good thing. His bouncing made her bounce a little too he was so exuberant!

She looked up at Iona and smiled shyly. "Its nice to meet you Miss Iona." there was a thoughtful look and a nod. "Okay. I don't know what most of that is, but it sounds like fun." her eyes were wide as she looked around. "Wow...it's big..." she stared at things as they went, not knowing what most things were but nodding and smiling as they were pointed out and explained.

"Thank you for inviting me over! This is so different, and I'm a little nervous...but I'm so happy to be here! Niall talked about you a lot Aoife."

"But Momma," Niall complained, "I want to do them now!" What good was all night if they couldn't have fun right this instant, too? "And Phee's happy!" he pointed to his friend to prove his point. "See? She wants to play with me." He was distracted though, as he took Phee's hand. He blushed. "Come on," he said again. "Momma says we can give you a tour! So I can show you my room! It's a tower room. Like a castle!" Niall had only recently learned about castles--and that they had towers. He'd found it very exciting.

"And Aoife's room is across from mine," he pointed to his twin's room. "I stole one of her pillows for our pillow fort, but she'll forgive me!" He looked around the hall for a moment, before grasping for Aoife's hand. Though some part of him wanted to spend time with Phee alone, it was a small part of him. The bigger part wanted to include his sister in everything he did. He hated being apart from her for any amount of time. "I'm sorry I pushed you, Aoife," he said. "I was just really excited to see Phee."

Will & Shou:
It was a balmy weekend that had Shousuke and Will out together, chatting amiably as friends often do after a long absence. Work had taken the two friends away from one another for far too long, they had surmised. It was time for a hang out day, and what better way to spend it than kicking it up at a music store?

Walking in ahead of Shou, Will held the door open for the smaller male before stuffing her hands back down into the pockets of her loose pants. She knew she was in the right place the moment she heard the music overhead. It sounded a lot like the kind that her band had played when they were still together, and what she attempted to play on her own. If she could manage to sing without sounding too feminine she’d be in business, but alas, that was Shou’s department. “You said you were looking for…what exactly?”

“Something to get the clubs blood pumping. I can’t make all the mixed cds, you know. Guys gotta take a break sooner or later.” Shousuke lead his way down one aisle, flipping through cds as he went without ever really stopping on one. “ I mean, I could always start singing….” He grinned sadistically, turning to Will with a mischievous glance.

“That would yield results.” She stated stoically, her eyes never leaving the drum kit near the back. It was an alabaster color, and so beautiful….


Phee & Llyr:
Phee had become defacto manager at the music store, the previous one up and leaving out of the blue and she the only other person working there. It’d left her with very little free time, and in need of a worker or two. Which was there the rather quiet Butterfree teen came in. He was her new higher, and currently wandering the floor tidying up in the usually busy store in one area, while she got new instruments and such to the floor.

Seeing the pair walk in, Llyr stopped what he was doing, and ambled towards them making sure he was seen so he wouldn’t startle either of them. “Can I help you find anything?” he was still within his first few weeks of working here, but it was a decent job…as far as he could tell what with it being his first and only job ever. Phee glanced over her shoulder at him and gave a thumbs up to him as she carefully set a guitar on a stand. If he needed her, he’d let her know she knew.


Will & Shou:
Though Will had been the first to see Llyr approach, it was Shou that took the front man position. "Sort of? I'm the DJ of Underground, which as you can guess, is an underground club-" He gave a little eye roll with a smirk, loving the play on words from his job. It was great. "and the music has gotten stale. Most of the time I make my own mixes, but I'm out of ideas, so I'm kind of poking around for new ones. Testing the field, you know? Got any suggestions?"

After making sure Shou was set up with assistance, she nodded politely to Llyr, and moved past the two towards the drum kit. Her tail had taken notice of the drum sticks on the wall, giving little snaps at them, willing them to be closer so it could chew on them as it did hers…


Phee & Llyr:
Llyr listened to the teen talking, his expression unreadable even as his pulse raced a little. What a question to ask of him! He glanced around a moment at the rows of cd’s and such he’d just been straightening up and he walked towards a rather over looked section and selected a couple of cds. “As strange as it sounds…these are good. They’ve got good beats, since it’s African tribal drums and stuff. But it’d give a good back beat. As for something else…” he looked around still in thought. Hm..what would work…

Phee heard the footsteps approaching and so she turned with a smile to the teen walking to her. “Welcome to Brazen Beats, can I help you with anything?” she could see the eyes being made at the drum kit and motioned towards it. “Want to take a closer look?”


Will & Shou:
Shousuke cocked a brow, a little concerned when Llyr started to bring out African beats, but after a bit he nodded his head. "Do you have somewhere that I can give these a listen? Or at least a sample? It sounds like a good plan, but I want to make sure before I break out the tribes on these people. Spoiled rich kids would flip on me."

Her tail turned to Phee first, grinning with a wide, manic smile before Will herself turned to look. She nodded, her face mostly impassive. "Is that alright? I wasn't sure if I could, since it's a floor model." Her version of "looking" would be to play the s**t out of it, and she was afraid if she got too into it loose bearings from the not fully put together floor model might slip.


Phee & Llyr:
"There's a booth back here you can listen to them." he could see the doubtful look on the others face and knew they were warranted. It was an out there sound...and as the other had said, people might flip. "Wouldn't want to start any riots." he unlocked the booth for the other and motioned him in.

Phee laughed and nodded. "Yeah I don't mind if you try it out first. You're not the first person to want to try the instruments out. I try to make sure they're all fully functional and ready to use." and from time to time she and Llyr messed with the instruments and such. Usually during an abnormally slow time. The sounds tended to drag in people from the street at least.


Will & Shou:
The small wigglytuff laughed and shook his head. "You wouldn't believe how out of shape club goers can get when you mess with their jams." He followed to the booth, and went inside, taking one last look at Will first. "While we're out of the way here, how much would that drum kit happen to be? My friend theres a little tight on cash, and his is played out, so I'd like to help him out." He peeped around the corner, pointing to Phee and Will. "That one, that one right there. See it?"

A genuine smile lit up Will's face. "Thanks. I haven't been able to play as much lately, and it's been a pain." She moved around to sit, adjusting the seat for her added height. Reaching for the tester sticks, she moved them around in her hands, and checked everything over before ripping into it.

At first the sound was quiet, testing the waters as it were, but as she played her smile grew and so did the sound.


Phee & Llyr:
Llyr looked at the kit that was being motioned to, it not hard to figure out what one was meant when the other sat down at the drums to give it a test. “That particular set is three hundred and ninety nine…after taxes closer to four fifteen…but we have a sale right now which would knock about a hundred off that. My boss there is wanting the instruments to move.” Which they hadn’t been lately.

Phee made sure the guy was set and good to go, before she stepped away a moment to finish with the display set ups, keeping half an eye on everything to make sure there was no funny business going on here. Better safe than sorry.


Will & Shou:
Shou felt himself wince at the price. Even with the knock off it was still a chunk of change, but he knew he would afford it, tight bills or not. With Tryce camping out on his couch more often than not the bills had gone up, but he knew Will would never be able to pay for it herself. And in truth, he band used to bring in a lot of business to the club when they were still together, so much so that he'd gotten paid extra so it would be a nice bonus. Nodding, he moved inside the booth. "I'll take that too, and couple pairs of sticks as well. Now, let's see about these tribal beats, yeah?" He paused, then looked at Llyr, "Do you play an instrument? Or are you just a music fan? And what about that girl out there, does she play anything?"

Ah-ha, this was awesome! Will was absolutely tearing into this kid, her flop of pink hair moving around on her head as if it were possessed. She'd missed this so much - it was the only real time she felt free. There was no light music coming from her; it was all hard core beats, things that would no doubt carry down the street.


Phee & Llyr:
"Sure thing, I'll make sure those get run up and if you give an address we'll set up delivery for the kit." easier than anyone schlepping it around after all. "I play guitar, Phee...my boss there she taught me. That's all I can play. She can play a few instruments though and sings more than she admits to." he'd heard her more than once.

Phee looked up at the beats coming from the drum, a smile on her face. The guy was good, that's for sure! A natural it would seem though she suspected there was a lot of practice behind the playing. The bell over the door rang, and she glanced up to a group of guys coming in. With a laugh, Phee looked to Will. "Want a job sitting there playing to draw in customers?" she was only partially joking!


Will & Shou:
"Sounds like a deal. I'll write it down later when we check out. Maybe even keep it a surprise." Oh, she'd have a field day with that! Grinning, he leaned back against the booth and pondered. "You two wouldn't happen to be interested in a band, would you? I mean, Will out there, he plays drums, obviously and has been looking back to getting into the business, but hasn't been able to since his bandmates went off. One got married, the other went back to school, things like that."

Will laughed. "I wouldn't mind the practice, if you don't mind me showing up." When she was't working with her sister, she wouldn't mind the extra time to just get stress out of her life. "I'm not so good with pop songs, though."


Phee & Llyr:
"That sounds like a good idea, I'm sure your friend would appreciate the surprise." Llyr was about to move away from the booth when he blinked at the band question, and gave an almost shy nod. "That'd be kind of cool I think. I can always talk to Phee, she might be up for it too." he couldn't speak for her after all.

There was a laugh from the Manaphy teen and something of a grin. "Not exactly a pop song sort of music store anyhow, so you're welcome to play what you want whenever you drop in." why not? She was already proving to be good for business. "I'll pay you for the time you spend here too, how's $12 an hour sound?"