>>55125876"Do it again, and get it right this time, Hydrapple!" A cross-armed, amber-eyed boy instructed, and his serpentine pokemon complied, spawning multiple heads and firing synchronized beams of plasma in a smooth, practiced motion. Kieran clicked his tongue as he watched them crash on the training room's target, making the forcefield barrier ripple, but only somewhat. As expected after all their practice, they'd all perfectly struck the bullseye, but the energy readings were way too low for him to celebrate that fact.
"You fell short of the power mark again, Hydrapple. How do you expect to chain strong attacks if you can't even fire them at will?" He reprimanded his pokemon, and as he prepared to command him to go again, a voice interrupted them.
"You know, they do call that move the Ficke Beam for a reason, Kik...Kieran." His sister said, leaning against the doorframe and looking at him with an awkward smile on her face. He clenched his fists and looked away. He hated the way she looked at him now, how she spoke to him—but he guessed it was better than how she used to baby him, and disrespect him.
"What do you want?" He asked her coldly, refusing to meet her gaze.
"Well it's just—I'm leaving for Kitakami in a couple hours and I was wondering if you wanted us to go together, or—"
"I'm not going. I'm staying and training." He replied, his face solemn.
"What? But it's...it's Christmas!" Carmine replied, shocked.
"Not an excuse to slack off. I'm staying here and training, and beating Drayton when he comes back. If you had any sense of discipline, you'd stay too."
"What? But Grandma and Grandpa—"
"Will be fine. I'll call the morning of. They'll understand." He interjected, a tone of finality in his voice.
"Is that all? Or was there something else, Carmine?"
His raven-haired sister clenched her fists, her eyes fixed on the ground as she shook her head.
"No, that's all. I guess I'll see you after the break then. Merry Christmas...Kieran."
