Another set of plinks, another set of notes with no rhythm. She wasn’t making much progress, but tried she did, even as her body glowed from determination.

Until she heard something get close to her. By close, it meant literally right behind her, sniffing as her tail. She turned to look at the source, a Nidoran. There was a baffled expression on the Eevee’s face for a moment, until she finally realized her body was glowing.

Oh.

Her tail swung away from the Nidoran, towards her own body. “This, uh, doesn’t make it smell any different,” she nervously said, “My trainer would’a noticed if it did.” At least that’s what the other Pokemon he had said. “I just glow when I get really focused on somethin. Or it just happens sometimes.”

She looked back at the toy keyboard. “Guess I got to into makin a song, huh?”

CJ Mizikar

Yeah, it was strange; she didn’t know many other Pokemon that did the same thing she did, and the other Eevee’s her trainer had couldn’t do it either. “Doesn’t really do much, other than make me glow like this. I don’t feel anythin different.”

There was a small sigh from her. “But it doesn’t matter much. Not like my trainer can see it. And he can’t feel it or hear it or nuthin, and I sure don’t wanna test if he can taste it.” What point was there in glowing like this if her trainer couldn’t see it?

A light went off in her head - metaphorically speaking, though she did open her mouth wide as she remembered one other detail. “Oh! And, uh, sometimes it makes these glowly flowers appear. Look like they got shiny rocks in’em.” She’d been told their name before, but she just couldn’t recall it at the moment. “They’re really pretty! I think if we go outside, I could make some of’em!”

CJ Mizikar

“Yeah, they’re weird. And mine’s even weirder ‘cause he can’t see nothin.” For a while, she even believed that was the case for all humans - until she met one that wasn’t blind.

That was a fun talk with her parents.

At her now-friend’s recommendation, she nodded furiously. “Yeah! Yeah, I can show you what they’re like!” She was quite literally bounding her way outdoors, a massive smile plastered on her face as she looked for a suitable spot. She was quick to find a nice patch of grass that wasn’t already being played over by many of the other Pokemon staying here.

“Alright, so I just gotta focus hard enough.” She stared down at the grass before her, her body tensing up and she began to shake slightly. A Spotlight glowed over the patch, the light around her body once again appearing as she struggled, a small audience forming around to see what was going on.

And sure enough, something did sprout from the ground: a small flower sprouted from the ground, a gemstone in the middle -

And prompt slumped over, the two centimeters that rose unable to bear the weight of the gemstone. The Eevee just stared at it, tensing up once more, but that flower wasn’t growing any taller. “...they, uh, they're supposed to get bigger than that.”

CJ Mizikar

The Eevee stared at the tiny flower she’d made, disappointment clear on her face. She usually had better luck than that, though maybe it was just because the soil where she usually stayed was better than what was here.

Yet the Nidoran sounded impressed by her attempt? She looked up at the other Pokemon, baffled that this poor display would be impressive. “I, uh, just focus real hard on the ground there,” she muttered, her voice gradually reaching a more audible level, “Then flowers pop up. It works better when I put a Spotlight like that there.”

She tapped on the sole slumped flower with her paw, unfortunately doing nothing to help it rise once more. “I think it’s the light that does it, or somethin like that. But I get more than that. And bigger ones too.”

She sighed. “Sorry I promised somethin better than that.”

Not like her trainer needed them though; he didn’t seem to care much about these flowers popping up anymore. There were other Pokemon he had that could do it too, more reliably. “I might have better luck with that piano toy.”

CJ Mizikar

The Eevee lit up (metaphorically) as the Nidoran sounded so impressed by her creation. “You really like it that much?” she asked, surprised, even blushing slightly. “Just that little thing?” It didn’t seem like much, not when compared to what her trainer’s other Pokemon could do. “Well, I kinda guess it is incredible, me glowin and making a flower like that.”

As for what she’d been doing before? “It…really don’t. My trainer can’t really see me glowing, and he’s already touched those flowers a bunch, so I don’t got much else to make him like me.” She let out a small sigh. “I keep thinkin maybe he’d like some music, ‘cause he likes singin with some others, but music’s hard.”

She’d struggled even putting together a small tune. “And it’s gotta be really good! Not just good enough. Glowin and makin flowers grow just ain’t enough, even if mama say it's real nice.”

It had to be great, to get his attention.

Or maybe, just maybe, her friend here might have an idea. “You know any way to get attention from something that can’t see? Without bitin 'em - I already tried that, and he wasn’t too happy ‘bout it.”

CJ Mizikar

She couldn’t help but feel somewhat embarrassed about how much this Nidoran liked her flower, cheeks reddening further.

But her embarrassment shifted to protest as the Nidoran spoke about her trainer. “It’s not his problem! I just gotta stand out! He’s got so many other Pokemon that if I don’t stand out, I could get forgotten!” And wouldn’t that be embarrassing, being forgotten by your own trainer because you were boring.

Her interest was piqued by the Nidoran’s question, following along as the Nidoran darted around the yard, even clumsily trying to match her steps. “Well…that was the only one I saw. And I know he likes the noise they make. He listens to a lot of it.”

Before she could ask what she was being led to, she heard a lovely song playing up above her. She looked up, spotting the strange things making the sounds.

“Those sound…really pretty! I think he’d like’em a lot.” She reached up, as if to push them around herself, though she couldn’t reach. Not even close. “But…I can’t touch’em from here, so how’d I make the noise when I want to?” There was a brief pause as the cogs in her brain turned, before her mouth opened in joy. “Oh, right! Like this!”

She turned in place, a few small stars flying out from her tail. The Swift stars smacked against the chimes. The sound of star hitting metal wasn’t nice, but the tune afterwards brought a smile to her face.

CJ Mizikar