nina held her breath, hoping for a victory—but the wave, as it crested and rolled away, revealed they weren’t finished yet. trubbish was there, still standing, angry, and giving them two trashy fingers.

“nothing personal, dirt bag!” she called with a grin. ”kipkip—“

mudkip prepared to attack on command, but vulpix intervened first again, opening its mouth to send an ICY WIND at their soggy opponent. ”vulpix, no, not again!“ but it was too late. the damage would be done.

maybe it was a good thing they wouldn’t need to play fair very often.

NIKO MANNER

they won! maybe not fairly, but it was still enough to fill her with a sense of accomplishment and spread a smile on her face again. she’d work on vulpix’s etiquette later.

bending down, she petted over the swirling fur on its head anyway. ”good job guys!” mudkip gave a victory yip and then turned to jump up into nina’s arms. ”oh—“ it surprised her. she immediately thought of the stains that must have been on her shirt now. then, she didn’t care, and snuggled the little amphibian closer.

grinning, she looked back up at niko. ”that was fun!”

NIKO MANNER