Omfg I am so sorry for this ridiculous gap! My nervousness and self-flustering kept screwing me, even though I wanted to finish this in a timely matter... I need to learn to suck up my hesitation and just type my stuff down >-<
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Okay... So third part! Never thought I'd make a three part story for my first time doing this.... Tell me your thoughts and constructive criticism!
"Eeeeck!"
Lavinia stumbled backwards as spray and sparks from Shine bombarded her at the same time. The spray caught her by surprise when it made contact with her head and back fur, but the sparks that zipped to her body shocked her, backed by a bit of power from unintentional concentration. The Deino shook herself with a small whimper, sparks still crackling around her body. While Lavinia had her share of electric shocks from Shine and the kits, this small increase of power wasn't what she was used to.
The whimper made Shine, who had just finished in recovering from the sneeze, open her eyes and see Lavinia, whose fur was a bit puffed out from the electricity. The sight could have been comical if seen as such, but all Shine felt was worry and slight regret.
"Oh no! Lavinia are you okay? I'm so sorry," Shine asked as she leaned her head forward to see Lavinia's body. Hearing the worry laced in Shine's voice, Lavinia tried to reassure her with a tap on her paw.
"I'm okay Shine, really. It just... surprised me is all. It's not your fault that you had to sneeze, so don't worry about it. Okay?" Lavinia said with a pleading look in her face. Shine wasn't fully convinced that she hadn't hurt Lavinia, even a little bit, but she wasn't willing to try and coax her to say otherwise. She sighed and nodded her head softly before laying her head down on her paws, her eyes still furled with concern.
"Okay Lavinia. If you say so."
Lavinia sighed inwardly as Shine settled down a little. The sparks did hurt for a moment, but she would never say that to Shine - hurting Lavinia (even if it was on accident) was one of the only things that made Shine feel bad and conscious of her actions. Why make her sad when they were trying to play and win a game? She might've misdirected Shine once, but if it happened again, it won't be as easy to shake off. With a sigh, Lavinia turned around and sat at the mouth opening of the log, keeping an eye out for Peter and Jacob.
~~~~~~
A short amount of time passed before Lavinia heard voices in the forest. She stood up on her paws and narrowed her eyes with a competitive snort, making sure she was hidden enough from view. Just after Shine suggested that she back up for good measure, the voices grew more clearer. Surely enough, the voices, followed by the bodies, of Peter and Jacob came back into view as they passed the trees, making both the Luxray and Deino tense up and fall back into their previous competitive and playful demeanors.
'Oooh... Jacob has been caught! Now we have to wait for Peter to either find us or give up!' Shine thought with an amused chuckle. Her ears perked up as Jacob's voice spoke up in what seemed like frustration.
"Oh Arceus.... This is ridiculous! How come I am the first one to be caught! Did Shine tell you to find me first?" The Arcanine asked with a low growl. Peter scoffed and shook his head.
"Jacob I can't believe you just asked me that. Now why would I leave Shine and go right to you? You know she likes a good bit of suspense and anticipation in a game like this," Peter said as he looked up a leafy tree. Jacob scoffed and padded over to the mossy log, randomly tapping it with various parts of his body.
"No I didn't know what, and it's weird that you know it."
"Hey! Hold up a moment! Why does it have to be weird?" Peter asked with a flaming huff. Jacob reared his head back with a small smirk and laid down next to the log, moving the half rotten wood with creaks and slight shifts, startling the two hiding Pokemon and having them huddle together as the wood dust fell from the top parts of the log. The Arcanine waved a paw up and pointed it at Peter.
"Because it is. You don't see me telling stuff about other folks in a conversation."
"That's because you don't know that many folks to talk about," Peter teased as he padded behind a tree trunk. Shine strained to not snicker too loud as Jacob was shut down again, growling lowly as he tapped his tail on the log. He wasn't going to help Peter in finding Shine; he liked watching Peter struggle to find a larger feline when she could be hiding right in front of him.
Shine and Lavinia were filled with excitement - they didn't know when Peter might looking here and find them. It was a miracle that he didn't look in here in the first place. As Peter looked for Shine and Lavinia, Jacob opted on laying down and lazily wave his tail around, making more wood dust fell from over Shine's head. The dust was annoying - falling on her back and ears, dust falling on her paws and tail.... Dust falling on her snout and nose. Crossing her eyes to see dust falling on her snout, Shine made sure to hold her breath she shook the dust off her, growling in her head as she glared at the Arcanine on her left side through the log.
'Stop tapping the log you overgrown pup,' Shine thought as she dusted her snout with her paw. After a minute, the thumping stopped; Lavinia peeked out from under Shine's head and whispered if everything was alright. Shine assumed it was and nodded, allowing herself to inhale for a sigh of relief.
But it was unfortunately convenient to the moment when Peter came back from the bushes, making Jacob wag his tail a little, which in turn made some wood dust fell down to her nostrils. When Shine inhaled, she sucked them up in her nose, making a tickle form in her nose. She gasped and reflexively snorted, but the sensation had already been settled in her nose. Lavinia looked up with a small look of confusion.
"Shine? Are you alright?"
Shine's only response was her panting softly from her mouth, trying to avoid breathing through her nose and stirring up the irritants within.
"I'm... Fine. Just... Great," Shine replied with a shaky voice. Lavinia couldn't help but think something was wrong, but Peter and Jacob were still nearby. She couldn't speak too much or else they'd be found.
"I can't find them anywhere. They're good at hiding. Shine sure picked a good spot," Peter commented as he sat right in front of the entrance of the log. Lavinia backed away and moved under Shine, who was steadily struggling on keeping her breaths even.
"Hah. Yeah. You gonna give up? They're not going to come out until you say that you're done looking. Give up, they're probably hiding in some tall tree and laughing at you," Jacob teased. Peter scoffed and pointed a paw.
"They're gonna be laughing at you too! You got caught first!" Peter retorted. All while this was happening, Shine's breathing got more and more harder to control. She eventually was forced to breathe through her nose from too much stimulation, and she snorted roughly, startling the Deino with a short gasp. Both the Pyroar and Arcanine lifted their ears at the noise, wondering where it was coming from.
"What was that?"
"I don't know... Come on, let's go search," Peter said as he dashed into the forest once more. Jacob got up and went after him this time, leaving the two in the log once more. When the coast was clear, Lavinia sighed in relief, which was short lived when something dripped on her head. She looked up to see a little bit of Shine's nostrils - shiny wet from the moisture inside them. The Deino crawled from under Shine and stood in front of the sniffling Luxray.
"Shine! I thought you said you was okay! You're sniffling and dripping over me!" Lavinia whined as she wiped her head with a paw. Shine lowered her ears as she tried to speak clearly.
"I-I know... I'm sorry La-*sniff*-vinia..." Shine rubbed her nose repeatedly with a paw, but it didn't help the tickle that was deep in her nasal cavity. Her breath constantly hitched, and at this point her fur began to spark energy just a smidge. Lavinia didn't want Shine to sneeze again - not with what happened earlier. She decided to prevent Shine from sneezing - just until the game was over.
"Shine.... Lemme help you," Lavinia offered as she lifted her upper body and placed her smaller paws on Shine's nose. The scrunching nose slowly stopped quivering and calmed down for the moment, which helped with the Luxray's breathing. No sooner had she calmed Shine's nose, Peter and Jacob came out of the forest, even more frustrated than the first time.
Peter went on a short rant on how they couldn't find the two anywhere, and Jacob somewhat complained and somewhat teased him for being unable to find them. Both Lavinia and Shine begged for Peter to say that he gave up, so they can finally be out of the log and go back home.
"L-Lavinia... You smell of.. Of.... I can't h-hold it much longer," Shine stammered as she felt another tickle spead in her nose. She reflexively sniffed once more, increasing the tickle several times more.
Lavinia began to grow worried - why was it not working? It had been working all this time... Was the sneeze too big now? And what did she smell of? Lavinia's gaze then drifted from the scrunching muzzle to her own paws. Squinting her eyes, the Little One saw small grains of yellow on her black paws. Lifting a paw to her own nose, Lavinia sniffed lightly, catching the scent of sweet flowers. Suddenly it dawned on her - earlier in the day she had ran through that flower bush, twice! The pollen must be all over her body. She looked back and sure enough, there were little patches of yellow all over her black and blue body. Her tail, her paws, her chest... It was all over! Maybe that's what was irritating Shine's nose.
Suddenly, a small tingling feeling began to make itself known in Lavinia's paws. Tilting her head, the Deino realized that the sparks were growing, and growing rather quickly. Shine's endurance was growing thin, which was a surprising thing considering Shine's endurance when it came to battles, and the sparks made it hard to keep the paws planted. Lavinia was torn - let Shine sneeze and end the game, or make her wait until the game as over? Hearing Peter and Jacob continue to argue made it seen as if the game might not end so voluntarily, and seeing the look in Shine's now tearing eyes showed how desperate she was in not doing so. All because she feared in hurting Lavinia. But Lavinia didn't want Shine to struggle anymore!
"Shine, I give up, you can sneeze now! We won the game already," Lavinia said with a sense of urgency. Shine shook her head with a sniff, determination in her eyes as she panted.
"No, I c-c-c-can wait long-g-ger. I-I-I-I don't want to hurt y-y-you," Shine argued.
"I can run away! Just do it, it's okay," Lavinia begged. Shine whimpered and strained to keep her sneeze in, but things were quickly falling out of her power. Eventually, due to the growing wetness on the edge of Shine's nostrils, one of Lavinia's pollen covered paws slipped in one of the black, quivering spaces, wiping the pollen on her irritated walls.
"Ack! *snort!* hiih-h... Hahh... Ahh-h..."
Shine started to build up involuntarily, which set off the sparks on her fur that were now gradually building. Lavinia quickly withdrew her paw from Shine's nose and wiped her paw on her own fur, but the sounds of Shine's gasping made her jerk her head up. She gulped nervously as she slowly backed away, but flinched in pain as the sparks still manage to reach her body. The little Deino needed to get out of the log now -- she had no other choice at this point.
Lavinia watched nervously as Shine's jaw grew slack, and ears flatten to her head as she rose it higher and higher. Eventually, she couldn't raise it any higher, and simply pressed her mane on the roof of the log.
"Ahhhh... AhHhh....Aaahhhhh..."
Lavinia left the moment the sparks were too much for her. She ran out of the log panting in a slight panic, keeping her gaze set on the green and brown log that was begunning to show yellow sparks. She then ran into something with a thud, making her fall back with a gasp. She had run into Jacob's legs, which made him stop arguing for a minute to see what had hit him. When he saw it to be Lavinia, he gave a quizzical growl while he lowered his head.
"Well this is a surprise. Aren't you supposed to be with Shine?" Jacob asked.
"Yes, but I came out here because she-"
"Because she's what? Is she hurt? Where is she?" Peter quickly interjected. Lavinia pointed at the log and tried to say that Shine wasn't hurt, but Peter was too hasty in his departure, dashing over to the entrance of the log to see if Shine was alright. Lavinia gasped and tried to run over to the fire lion to stop him, but Jacob held her back with a paw.
"Lavinia, what is the matter with you? Why are you trying so hard to stop Peter?" Jacob asked with concern. Lavinia pointed a paw out frantically as she spoke the answer as fast as she could.
"Because Shine's going to-"
"AAAA'CHIIEWWW! AAAAA'CHIIIEEEWWWW! HIH-HIICHEEW! AACKCHEWW! AH-AH-AAAHH! AHHH'HHCHEWWW!"[A few moments earlier]
Shine tried her hardest to stave her sneeze, hitching helplessly while still under the impression that Lavinia was still with her. Her nostrils were widened as far as they could go, her nose was running and dripping constantly, her eyes were tearing up as they were shut tight, and her chest was even tighter. Shine didn't know how long she could take it before she was forced to release her sneeze. Then, right when it was at its most critical, when the nose was its most sneeziest and her fur was the most sparkiest, the sneeze was stopped at the last minute. Shine's face couldn't do anything more but a permanent pre-sneezy face, and she kept still for a moment.
But only for a moment.
"Shine! Are you okay?" Peter asked as he rushed himself inside the log, oblivious of the sparks zapping outside the log and the situation inside the log. Shine shifted and gasped in surprise - through her nose. Small grains of dust flew into her nose, and it was the little push needed to make Shine explode. She released a small fit of pent up sneezes, her fur doing the same with electricity. With every sneeze, her fur released a shock of electricity the equivalent of a Discharge attack. Smoke and dust from the electricity striking the ground rose and spread out, blocking the view of the Luxray, Pyroar, and the log.
When the fit ended, Shine was a sniffling, panting mess. The tickle and irritants in her nose were gone thank Arceus, and she could breathe normally again. Her fur sparked occasionally, but it was just a few stray sparks that would eventually calm down. But strangely enough, she felt a nose that didn't feel like Lavinia's, or at least not how she remembered it. Taking a couple of hesitant sniffs revealed that it didn't smell like her either. When the dust cleared a little, Shine saw a flat brown nose, making her gasp and lift her head up.... Wait, lift it up? She can lift her head? Looking around, Shine realized that she had broken the log up, making her blink in surprise.
"Oh dear.... Did I do this?" Shine sheepishly asked herself.
When the dust cleared all the way out, she looked in front of her only to gasp in shock - to her great embarassment, she realized that Peter was in front of her!
"Wow Shine. That's some sneezing. Bless you," the lion said with a small chuckle. But instead of a smile or a giggle, he only saw a flustered Shine, whose face went from its normal coloring to a deep red that could've rivaled Cheri berries, lowered ears that went really close to her head, and was stumbling backwards as she stuttered while speaking. What Peter didn't notice that Shine was abke to see so easily was that her electricity puffed out his fur! His mane was all frizzled and sparking, and the rest of his body was all fluffy as well. What did she do!?
"Oh Arceus I'm so sorry! I-I-I never meant to sneeze on you! I didn't know you were there and I-"
Peter rushed to stop Shine from talking and leaned into her. He was in shock when he saw Shine nearly in tears - she normally wasn't this quick to get so emotional. "Shine, calm down, it's alright. You couldn't help it, so it wasn't your fault. I'm alright see? You didn't hurt me," Peter said as he backed away a little. Shine sniffed and looked at the fluffy lion. After a few moments he gave a smile, which made Shine giggle a little.
"Hehe.... T-thanks.... But you are a bit fluffy you know," Shine muttered as she pointed at Peter's mane. He looked down and gave a short gasp, blinking in surprise as he looked all over his body. He looked twice as big and twice as spikey than normal.
"Oh wow, you're right. Well then, looks like you'll have an extra fluffy pillow to sleep on," Peter joked with a wink. Shine laughed and pushed him away, walking towards the middle of the small clearing where Jacob and Lavinia were staring silently. When the little dragon saw Shine coming she ran from Jacob, and went to the Luxray's legs to nuzzle them.
"I'm sorry for making you hold it for that long. I was just trying to help," Lavinia said with a small pout. Shine chuckled and picked the dragon up with her tail and nuzzled her head, reassuring her with a friendly smile.
"It wasn't your fault Little One. And besides, I kinda wanted to hold out on my own. At least we won the game," Shine said with a chuckle. Jacob tried to protest and say that he won the game, but with everyone saying otherwise, Jacob quickly lost the battle.
"Alright, let's go back home. I wanna do something that has to deal with water."
AN:
Pokemon is so wonderful to me - I just love watching the show and catching up on the latest news about new games or whatnot. Part of my wonderful memories of childhood stemmed from this thing. So [partly] the story is due to that. The other part is from the simple fact that I wanted to make small stories with my OC - Shine the Luxray. She's my go-to character if I was to do an Rp, and I just love playing as her (considering how she's partly fashioned in my likeliness).
This whole thing is within the universe of an Rp that I'm currently doing, so the characters and setting is stemmed off of that.
