Who's that pokémon?

An hour ago when she had given him this, it had sounded like an okay-ish idea. Now, Míngzé was starting to worry if he had not made a big mistake. Giving a pokémon as payment or present was never a good idea. The reason he’d accepted it was because she could not look after it. Which he completely understood given everything.

“Oh come on, you behaved so well an hour ago,” Míngzé said, clearly irritated. There were scratches all over his hands caused by the pokémon in his arms. After he said goodbye to Lucina, the Pokémon started acting up. His hand was even bleeding because it had bit him earlier. There was even a scar on his cheek.

As he got closer to home however, there was something that caught his attention and made him momentarily pay less attention to the pokémon in his arms. It was only a feeling, but one he had grown familiar with. The pokémon of course noticed how he was distracted and grabbed her chance. She jumped out of his arms but Míngzé was quick to react and caught it before it could escape. The problem was that he’d caught the pokémon’s tail, only angering it further. “Ah— stop it!” Somehow the pokémon had managed to bite down on his arm, luckily the small teeth were stopped by his jacket and did not pierce his flesh. Still, he refused to let go.

The first time this feeling had hit him, it had scared him. Each time there was this unsettling chill that went down his spine, telling him something was wrong. It had been horrible but now— For a change he knew who was near, even without the other needing to announce his prescence. No matter the wrongness, it was nice.

And it would've been nicer if there wasn't some pokémon dangling from his arm. "Hi," he muttered rather distracted as he kept struggling with this new pokémon. "Not at all." Mingze turned his gaze towards Sang. There was a tone to his voice he had not heard before and could not place, but it did not sound too bad; Perhaps the other was just getting sick, which was not unusual with this weather.

"You remember that eh— the girl— you know— the naked one?" A blush came to his face when memories of that day came back to him. Minngze took a deep breath, in an attempt to collect himself. "She— auw, fuck." The pokémon bit down hard, causing Mingze to lose his grip. The pokémon fell to the ground and immediatly created some distance between her and Mingze, but she stayed close.

Míngzé was not what some might call a ‘pokémon trainer’. This was his first time raising not one, but two pokémon. It was a far different experience compared to when he received Qiān. With Dai things were okay, but this new one seemed to be more difficult.

His hand was aching and bleeding a little from where she’d bitten and scratched him. Part of him did not even mind that she was now running around. Perhaps she would even run off now that she had the chance, and she might have if it was not for Sāng and his poémon. Míngzé raised his brow at the sound of the growl. However the Eevee understood and lowered herself to the ground as she backed away, once more closer to Míngzé.

Not knowing exactly what was going on, Míngzé simply shook his head and sighed. What a mess. “Please, don’t remind me,” he said like it was some painful memory. The fact that Sāng had witnessed it all— fuck. “It was an accident. You know I would never— I wouldn't.” He rubbed his eyes. WHy even bother explaining what happened? So far Sāng was the only one who’d seen it happen and he hoped it stayed that way. “Anyway, she gave me this Eevee, because I helped her or something.” The only reason he accepted was because she told him she was not capable of taking care of the creature.

Míngzé feared he would never recover from that little incident. The fact that Sāng of all people saw what happened, made it even worse. There came no funny remark, nothing to try to increase his awkwardness. Which was a nice change for once. It was bad enough that it happened.

When Sāng next spoke Míngzé looked at him in confusion. “What do you mean?” he asked with a deep frown. The pokémon was somewhere around his legs and he tried to look at it. All he saw was the slightly gray blob of its body. “She told me it was,” he said slowly as he recalled the conversation. Wait didn’t she say she thought it was an eevee?

A deep sigh and Míngzé rubbed his eyes. “So it’s not an eevee?” Figures. It was a good thing Sāng was here too at the exact same moment.

A deep sigh filled the silence surrounding them. It was not even an eevee. He could not blame the girl, she probably did not know either. Perhaps if this vulpix did not try to bite his hands off, he would’ve known exactly what pokémon it was.

“Great.” Luckily Míngzé was told now and not a few weeks later. “Thanks, what would I d—” It was when he turned around to Sāng once more that he noticed it. Like a sudden shift in the air. A silver down his spine. His breathing halted for just a second. There it was again. The same exact same feeling as during the bonfire.

Míngzé noticed he was staring at Sāng and quickly cleared his throat. “Sorry, I uh— remembered something I still need to do today,” he explained. Part of him wanted to know what the fuck this was, but at the same time he was not sure if he would like the answer that came with it.

It kept happening and he did not know why. Not entirely true, Míngzé partly was aware of what was causing this and it made it all the worse. Not that it was enough to answer the whole why. Back at the bonfire he’d noticed it twice, but very faintly, now it was here again but stronger. But why?

“Right, yeah, I’ll leave you to it.” Míngzé managed to bring a smile to his face, masking the lingering questions. “Thanks.” The pokémon at his side sat down and looked up at him with a weird expression. While Sāng walked away, the feeling he’d grown familiar with slowly disappeared too. The new, unfamiliar one however remained for a while. It was as if he was not quite alone just yet. Just what had his life turned into?