The puppy nursed, and Sydney smiled.

It had been a few months since she and Arcanine had laid their eggs. The pink egg had disappeared one night, with only the ghost of fey laughter on the wind promising where it went. As soon as the others had hatched, Sydney had adopted them out to responsible, trusted trainers. Even the Ekans—they couldn’t help who their dad was.

But the Growlithe, she kept.

They were a male and a female—Blaze and Zen, respectively. Blaze shared his mother’s coat, but Zen was special. A shiny.

It was this little one, rambunctious and golden-furred, who was cuddling up to Sydney now, happily sucking away and wagging her tail. Sydney laughed and gave her a small boop on the nose.

“Enough of that,” she said good-naturedly. “Come on.” She set down the little pup, who immediately placed her paws on Sydney’s shins, whining and begging to be carried and to be nursed more.

But Syndey was immune to her daughter’s charms. “Come on,” she repeated, buttoning up her blouse, “follow me.” With Zen at her heels, she strode to the stables, where she’d just had a side room installed. Opening the door, she revealed a room that was part den, part playplace—covered in straw and strewn with chewy toys. “You and your brother have been getting too energetic in the house,” Sydney said with a smile, happy with Zen’s immediate, obvious delight. “And it’ll get worse when you’re weaned, so the two of you will be staying here for now.”

The little Growlithe bounded in, squeaking with excitement. On the far end, the pups’ other mother, Arcanine, was nursing Blaze, but at the sound of his sister, he tore himself away and pounced on her, the two pups rolling and tumbling with laughter.

Arcanine trotted over to Sydney, panting happily, and Sydney rested a hand in the mane of the pokemon she had grown exceptionally close to the past few months. “Yeah,” she said, “they’re growing fast, aren’t they?”

Shaking her head, she took her leave, Arcanine following on her heels. She had a match scheduled tomorrow she had to get ready for.

---

“And the winner is… Sydney!”

The crowd erupted, praising Sydney for her debut after a months-long sabbatical, and she answered with a lazy wave, smiling. Her suppositions had been proven correct—her team’s new intimacy with her (and each other) had borne dividends on the battlefield. Charizard and Aggron had made a great team to lead things off, and she’d closed the fight with her newest addition, Blastoise. He was still a bit unproven, but with more training he’d be a knockout member of the team—and his shiny coloration had driven the crowd wild.

Across the battlefield, she could see her hated rival, Vion, glaring at her. He’d always played second fiddle to her and had not borne his losses with good grace. He was a bad man who kept a bad team.

Let him stew on his loss, Sydney thought. This was her moment.

After the fight, she gave her pokemon to the nurse in the stadium’s Pokemon Center and then went to the women’s showers to get cleaned off while her team was healed. She’d arranged to be interviewed shortly after the match and wanted to freshen up.

She didn’t hear the sound of the door quietly opening and shutting as she showered; the water masked it.

Turning off the spray and toweling herself, Sydney stepped out into the main locker area, humming—and that’s when it happened.