Although she thought the whole Ranger team thing was wonderful, the fire-type pokémon had to admit that this time she had gone a little overboard. She hadn't meant to hurt that strange Rowlet either, but the situation had boosted her ego to the point where even she wasn't aware of her actions, which was obviously no excuse.

  The four members had run along the edge of the forest until they reached a secluded edge of town, where she lived a few yards ahead. The sun was already setting on the horizon, descending over the calm sea in a sky somewhat filled with grayish clouds with a few clearings, through which shone a wonderful orange light worthy of an emotional moment, though it was far from being the case. Timb and Carry couldn't handle the effort of that little run, lying on the ground at the drop of a hat, with their wooden beams at their sides.

  "-Bah, we've done very well, so those three won't laugh at you again, my dear Braixen!" said Ger in unnecessary chivalry, taking one of her hand and trying to kiss it, but she roughly pulled it out of his hand.

  "-I have a boyfriend and you know it, Ger! Why do you think I have a pair of twins to raise?"

  "Hey, I didn't mean it that way, you know that!" rebutted Ger. "Besides, it's part of our little presentation act!

  "Ugh, whatever..." she sighed.

  "- Agh... Remind me not to ever do that again.... It hurts all over, agh..." Carry looked very choked up, though Timb at least still had some energy.

  "-Yeah, we almost didn't get in trouble..... I'm knackered, my paws hurt for running so much...".

  Braixen was indignant: on top of the fact that they had started with that joke, they were complaining, did a proper team behave like that? Of course not!

  "-Well, I remind you that you started this whole mess!". And he immediately began to adopt a victimizing demeanor "And while you guys were drenching me with your 'joke', they're laughing at me, a beautiful Braixen whose acting skills are going to take her to the top of the stars and fame...!" She took a few menacing steps towards her children, wrinkling her nose "But NO! You guys always ruining everything, every single plan i have, always making your poor young mother who fulfills such high expectations wither.Right now I could be in Pokewood, while I'm having a top cocktail before going out to shoot, I'll do no worse, because you anchor me, you sequester me on this damn island for taking care of you two-bit Timburrs!

  Both brothers stood aghast, recoiling suddenly and hugging each other with a sort of sad gleam in their eyes.

  "-But, Mom, we didn't mean to...seriously we didn't..." they tried to vociferate. "We just wanted to play a harmless prank on you!"

  "-No excuses, no forgiveness! You certainly aren't worthy to be the children of such reputable pokemon as I am!" That sounded rude, even to Ger himself.

  Both brothers were about to burst into tears, in disbelief at the words of their own mother, who kept glaring at them with tremendous fury. until suddenly, a shout from behind erupted:

  "-Then I don't see why you're still here!"

  Braixen blanched. It was Incineroar, her boyfriend.

  He had heard everything.

  They turned around and some kind of anthropomorphic reddish feline with a scowl was heading towards them. In his belly, a multitude of flames burned brightly, implying that he was quite angry, for everything he had heard his girlfriend say, surely.

  "-Oh, my mother!" whispered Ger, swallowing saliva, feeling intimidated.

  "-Daddy!" cried the two Timburrs, running towards him. The Incineroar lifted them in his arms and hugged them to his chest as they cried.

  "-Come on, come on, it's okay..." he whispered, trying to make them forget about it. "You certainly are naughty little creatures!" he laughed to them, making them understand that he was not going to scold them, far from it. Meanwhile, his serious countenance did not leave Braixen and the Gengar indifferent.

  "We just wanted to have a few laughs...we didn't mean to hurt mom..." said Timb.

  "We were bored, we didn't think she'd take it like that!" whined Carry. Likewise, their father licked their heads affectionately, while telling them that nothing was wrong.

  "-Honey!" exclaimed Braixen, surprised "You shouldn't have come back yet" W-weren't you supposed to be training?

  "-And you, shouldn't you be wherever you're supposed to be? Or rather, where do you 'think' you should be?" he asked him with a very serious and distant look. Turning around, he was about to walk back the way he had come, but his girlfriend was quicker, getting in his way. Meanwhile, Ger followed behind them from behind.

  "Hey... Okay, I know you may have heard that last one, I admit that was really ugly of me, but it's just that they literally came this close to wetting my tail, and you know I HATE that!"

  Actually, that "I Hate Him" had sounded much louder, to surely attract more attention.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "-Well, if it gets wet, you wait for it to dry and that's it, I don't see the problem with that" He said without leaving his tone, continuing on his way.

  "-Of course, if it had been your case you would have been even angrier, maybe even more than me!"

  "-No, because they both know very well that pouring water on me would mean making me very weak: the belt of flames would go out and then it would look very bad, and believe me, the Timburrs are not stupid, they know perfectly well what they are doing" his tone had changed to be quite curt and direct, as if it were someone you knew about nothing.

  "-Don't use that tone with me, Incineroar!"

  Suddenly, the opponent was level with his face, with his greenish gaze fixed on his reddish eyes, startling Braixen suddenly.

  "-Well then don't say those things to your children" He exclaimed forcefully, leaving his girlfriend impressed, as well as internally indignant. "We're going home, now."

  They both maintained a defiant look; They could continue the discussion infinitely or simply talk about it all at home more calmly (if they were lucky). In the end, Braixen began to walk, but not without pouting in return. She felt sore and devastated. Incineroar continued after her, without even saying goodbye to Ger, who was watching them astonished, not knowing what to do about it.

  ***

  The house where the four of them lived was medium-sized, right next to the shore of the same coast as before. It only had a large central room and a rather small bedroom for the two children, with two straw piglets. As it was hot that night they did not need any sheets to cover themselves, but rather slept in the open. Meanwhile, in the central room, Braixen was sitting on the couch listening to a news program on the radio, which she had put on to have some noise, because her boyfriend had not spoken to her in an hour, but had first met her. He had stayed with the two Timburrs bathing them on the beach, obviously careful not to get wet, and then he had been very busy talking to them, assuring them that nothing was wrong, that a joke was harmless depending on who they were doing it to, getting on with it. himself as an example.

  "-This is ridiculous... we can't even have a television when you can afford anything... And all because you are friends with that Dragonite who has now decided to be mayor!"

  But he did not receive any response, he was more busy in the small room, rocking the brothers, who had long since fallen asleep. She watched him leave in silence, half closing the door and looking at her two sleeping children, lying comfortably on the straw while they snored.

  "-Good night, my little ones," he said, smiling tenderly, and closed the door very carefully.

  "-Ugh, finally!" Braixen blurted out. Incineroar looked at her strangely and with some embarrassment, waiting to know an explanation. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

  "-Actually I should ask you: what's that for?" he growled

  "-Very simple. You are using the law of ice against me, and that is very contradictory coming from a fire-type pokemon."

  "-What the hell? Don't mix one thing with the other, it has nothing to do with each other. Besides," he said, narrowing his eyes with a frown, "You and I know very well that we have to talk."

  "-Okay, whatever you want, sit down and give me a damn interrogation! What is this going to be, good cop, bad cop?"

  Incineroar put his hand to his face, shaking himself in disappointment. He loved Braixen, but he had always had that attitude of wanting attention, but not so exaggerated when she was a Fennekin. He sat next to her, crossing her arms as she just lay back making sure she got comfortable.

  "-You know I heard that scream. Inside the forest many Pokémon have been alarmed, many have not stopped coming to me asking me what that was."

  "Well, it wouldn't be anything, I guess... Maybe some human wanting to be funny, you know that these young people nowadays go around doing anything that isn't normal..."

  "We're starting again... It came from the clearing in the forest! Weren't you there? Then you would have

  to know what it was! No?"

  Braixen swallowed hard and refused to talk more, wanting to hide what had happened that afternoon.

  "Braixen, you know that hiding it from me won't help you, you know that."

  She was right, but she was not willing to let them discover her, she just needed to find a good argument, only... with the anxiety and nerves of the moment she did nothing but stutter...

  "I didn't do anything, I swear!"

  "Alright, I'm all ears." The boy answered without leaving his position.

  "I was just... uh... sleeping, then Timb and Carry came and... well, then Ger came and we stayed there... and that's it, nothing else happened!"

  "Are you sure it's the truth?" She nodded quickly, wanting to evade

  that situation. But the truth always came out, and Incineroar was no fool. Suddenly, she began to meditate, as if she really wanted to play along and think that he was right, which at first she felt relieved about. But suddenly, a furious look looked at her, followed by an almost inaudible whisper:

  "Do you think you can tease me?"

  "What do you say, honey?" she asked, confused.

  "I mean," she said in a normal voice, standing up suddenly, "Do you think I'm an idiot!?

  Braixen stood up suddenly, scared by the loud voice so suddenly.

  "The kids are going to wake up because of you!"

  "Don't lie anymore, dammit! Is this how couples stay together, hiding things from each other and saying things that aren't true?" She gaped at him, as if she didn't know what she was talking about. "Arceus..." she muttered, sitting down again and putting her hand to her forehead. "I know what happened to Row."

  Immediately, Braixen was left speechless. She felt herself freeze inside with anxiety.

  "Well...uh..."

  "Timb and Carry have told me everything, so you have no excuse. Doing that to a child, just because he laughed at a joke? And that Gengar, Ger, I don't understand how he has the malice to attack him with an ability so strong, luckily it was nothing serious for them..."

  "Very well, I did it, I admit it, that's it! She gave me helplessness and I wanted to teach her a lesson. Are you happy now?"

  "I won't be until you apologize to all three of them! Jeez, Arceus, how can you say that!? They're just kids, and the worst part, Percy and Eevee are your nephews, and you go and..." he doesn't. he was able to finish the sentence of the disappointment he felt

  "First of all, Luc and Cind are not dating, and second, the three of them wanted to outwit the Ranger team! Besides, I don't have a sister..."

  Incineroar growled loudly.

  "Team Ranger, of course! You're already getting that idea out of our children's heads!" He demanded, annoyed "And tomorrow we are going to the cave where they live, you will apologize to them for the damage."

  "Ha! And seeing that pathetic Cinderace?"

  "Your sister, Braixen, and she's not pathetic!" Both remained silent, face to face, defiant and with the atmosphere very heated by the situation... or perhaps because their hot auras had increased due to the discussion. "Tomorrow. And let's say no more."

  And so that night ended, with Braixen's dignity on the ground and with Incineroar looking into the darkness, both lying on their backs. And from time to time, when they looked at each other, they separated a little more. But she, however, was not going to let herself be defeated so easily... and much less by an unusual Rowlet.