Originally Published: Jan 23, 2023

Part I: No Beauty Contest

    “Come on, Astarte! We don’t want to be late for the contest! It’s going to be tons of fun!” Saucez cheered on, patiently waiting for Astarte to slither her way through the doorway of the studio. “I can’t believe you dragged me into doing this.” Astarte muttered.

    “Hey, look! It’s a poster of a fox Pokémon wearing a costume! I wonder if this is an advertisement for a cosplay convention that’s happening very soon.” Saucez commented as she pointed to a poster with a sepia picture of a strange fox Pokémon wearing a masquerade and a bandana. The odd thing about the poster was the top and bottom parts of it seem to be torn off as if they were supposed to show some headings and text along with the poster. “Speaking of foxes, that reminds me... my boyfriend did call me about his Zorua who’s gone missing ever since his last trip here. I don’t think I’ve ever met the little fellow. But if we ever find that little guy, we need to contact him immediately.” Saucez continued to speak. “Whatever.” Astarte sighed.

    “It’s just like the two of us, Astarte! Only we always do a fantastic job with sticking together, am I right?” Saucez giggled while pinching her Milotic’s cheek. “Master, this is embarrassing! You know I don’t like to wear these ridiculous outfits.” Astarte continued to groan as she was clearly uninterested in this special dress-up event. “Aww, that’s not the attitude we need, Astarte. We need to win the extra prize money, so we can help the family pay off some of the debt. Not to mention, so that we can finally be able to afford insurance again.” Saucez explained the prioritized task. “We got to win at least...” She cuts herself off to count with her fingers for a bit. “Seven different contests to reach our goal, so we better get started,” Saucez said while patting her Milotic on the back. Astarte just groaned some more and rolled her eyes back. “This is not for me though.”



          Moving forward when the duo made it on the stage to show off their dresses and style, they had a tough competition with various opponents. Alice the Ampharos, who was rocking it was her fluffy hair complimenting her appearance. There was also Lux the Delphox, who was just there to try to impress the ladies, but wasn’t very competent with that accomplishment. Then, there was Chadeon the Umbreon who was pretty good with impressing the ladies with his handsome appearance and being so charismatic. There were too many competitors to count up on stage. The stage was decorated with columns with statues on top of each. A bright-blue sky background to spark the scenery on the stage. The bright shining spotlight was faced upon each competitor. Astarte felt so embarrassed and frustrated being in a warm, heavy dress up on the stage with the spotlight blinding their vision and in her perspective, her dignity as well.

          One of the judges made an announcement on the microphone to pizzazz the beauty contest event going on this morning. “Look at all of our competitors for this month’s Pokémon Beauty Contest! Such fascinating fashions we are presented with on the stage to compliment the scenery!” The judge giggled happily. “This is not funny! This is humiliating!” Astarte muttered under her breath as she resumed to growl quietly to not try to interfere with her master’s plan to win the beauty contest.

          The spotlight shined on Alice first who filled the air with a barricade of electricity for a showcase of display. The audience was cheering and gave their share of applause for the Ampharos. Alice finished it off with turning the electricity into flashing, booming fireworks to wow the audience and judges some more. Then, the spotlight shined on Lux secondly who blazed the scenery with hot, fiery rings of flames spinning around. It was impressive for the time being. “Ugh, I miss the times when we used to do Pokémon battles,” Astarte muttered under her breath. The rings of fire were able to nab the attention of the audience and judges. Massive applause and cheers were provided for the Delphox. Lux gave a pleasant bow. “I’m so going to impress the ladies this time... hopefully.” He cheers after giving his appreciation for the audience’s praise. “This is not going to be good.” Astarte continued to murmur. “Come on, Astarte! This is going to be wonderful. I think we’re next, by the way.” Saucez whispered to her Milotic cheerfully.

          At last, the spotlight shines upon the Milotic in the beautiful dress and ribbons, but with an ugly, moody attitude to be displayed on her face. Astarte groaned. “Come on, Astarte! Show them the trick of making ice sculptures in the air with ice beam and hydro pump!” Saucez cheered. Astarte sighed in a defeated sigh that indicated that she just wanted to get it over with, even though it’s really started to get on her nerves. Astarte head tilts up towards the air and show gushes out a big splash of water into the air. The water was sprinkling in the air like it was hovering as well. “Yes, yes. You can do it, Astarte!” Saucez cheered for her partner. The audience was clapping their hands in a pattern simultaneously saying “do it” repeatedly. This really started to bug Astarte on the inside. It was like her veins were about to pop and her nerves were going to explode because she thought this was so humiliating.

    But a part of her was still trying her best to comply with the directions as she began to charge up the ice beam to launch at the mid-air splash to form an ice sculpture. Astarte was trying to fight with her emotions and motives at the moment. It was almost like an inner match of arm wrestling between two sides of her emotions right now. The combined annoyance of having to wear a dress and ribbons on a public stage, with the audience cheering for forced compliance, and the spotlight shining brightly all over her face was too much for her as the ugly side of the sea serpent had won the inner arm-wrestling game as the water falling back down on her face to indicate that she failed her performance attempt, was the final straw for her.

    “I can’t take it anymore! This contest nonsense is so humiliating! How ‘bout I heat things up with the Milotic Mash?” Astarte shouted to show that she finally snapped and wanted to do her own thing instead. “Astarte, no!!” Saucez cried out loudly, as Astarte slammed her tailfin against a nearby column on accident. Astarte turned her head, realizing her destructive mistake. As a statue that was on top of the column collapsed off into the opposite direction of the way the column was tilting over towards. “Jessi!” Astarte began to sense the danger her master was going into as the statue was heading toward Saucez as a target. She swiftly bolted towards Saucez to push her out of the way, but she was half a second too late for her courageous rescue. The statue landed on top of Saucez, injuring her brutally.

    Astarte stood there in shock as she watches her own master wallow in pain with bruises and blood splattering all over her face and body. Astarte couldn’t believe what she has done to her master; the trainer who raised her to evolve from her former unappealing self to her unreachable beauty self. It was her objective to protect Saucez at all costs and she blew her goal on her selfishness of having the desire to spice her hobby up. Astarte not only damaged the contest stage, but her master, her promise of total protection and loyalty, and her own reputation all at the same time.

    “N-No.... NO! NOOOOOOOOO!!! JESSI, PLEASE SPEAK TO ME!!” Astarte stuttered and desperately called for her master for a response. Security has come to get Astarte and the rest of the contestants off of the stage, as paramedics swiftly approached Saucez’s wounded body. “Get off of me! I need to see if my trainer is okay!” Astarte firmly demanded the security to stop pulling her away from her beloved trainer. “Hey, you, Milotic, you need to go!” One of the security guards commanded her. “NOO!! I WON’T LET YOU STOP ME FROM GETTING TO MY MASTER!!” Astarte rebelled against the security concerned about Saucez’s health, as she aggressively pushed back on security. What the security guards didn’t understand was Astarte’s motivation at this time was to check to make sure Saucez was safe, but since they couldn’t understand her as much as her trainer does, they mistook her as being a wild and violent Pokémon. “Code Red! Deploy the pester ball!” One of the security guards shouted in a walky-talky. A pester ball was launched towards Astarte’s head. A purplish gas was sprayed out of the ball, which caused Astarte to become drowsy and fall asleep. She blacked out from the incident.

    When Astarte woke up, she was facing the wall that was in some kind of hospital room, indicating she was in a Pokémon Center. But, then she realized she wasn’t in any Pokémon Center, but a Beta Pokémon Center, which treats both Pokémon and humans, in case both the Pokémon and trainers get into a tragic accident, and they still want to be together. Astarte was also wounded a little from the incident too as she had a few bandages wrapped around her tail. She looked around the room and noticed she was in the same room as Saucez and her family. Her family was surrounding their poor, injured daughter’s hospital bed, still trying to recover from the incident.

    “Jessi!” Astarte cried as she slithered towards her master’s hospital bed, only to be halted by her master’s father. “No! You stay back! You are a vicious, vile beast! You did this to my daughter! I knew we shouldn’t have trusted you to be with her from the start! Now, get out of here!” Saucez’s father firmly insulted his daughter’s partner. The father wasn’t even batting an eye towards Astarte as he was looking towards the side while pointing aggressively towards the sea serpent. This is because he doesn’t want to stare at the “monster” who caused the injuries for his daughter and he knows looking at Astarte would becalm his words, as Milotics often do. Astarte felt violated by the words that came out of the individual’s mouth, but she knew she couldn’t hurt her master’s father. Saucez’s mother was just there sitting by Saucez, holding her hand, but was blankly stared at her like she was in shock from witnessing her daughter’s injuries.

    “I-I just want to see-” Astarte murmured but was abruptly cut off by the father. “I don’t know what you are saying, and I don’t care either! You need to stay away from her! We can’t even afford this treatment for Jessi and it’s all your fault!” The poor Milotic felt even more guilt than before after hearing that. The words cut her emotions like a rusty knife. Astarte was on the verge of tearing up. Despite it being an accident, she still felt like it was she was responsible for her master’s injuries because she acted up from sheer boredom and selfishness.

    Saucez’s brother, Edano, steps into the feud. “Father, please stop!” he rebelled against his father. “Maybe you should see the look in her eyes.” He turned his father head towards the sea serpent. “Look into her eyes. I can sense the regret and her desire of redemption for Jessi in them. Why can’t you?” Edano asked. The Father turned back towards him. “Edano, who do you think you are? I’d expect my oldest son to be better than this!” the father responded. “Father, this Milotic is what’s been bringing Jessi happiness for the past for decade. Her Milotic made a terrible mistake. The glaze within her eyes are telling us that she wants to redeem herself because she is just as, if not, more concerned about Jessi’s health and well-being than you and Mother are combined. If there is anything she can do to make it up to you, I think you should tell her this instant.” Edano explained. The father just stood there, thinking to himself, when eventually the following comment squeezed out of his mouth, “Hmm... very well then.”

    He then made eye contact with the large snake in the room. “Listen here, uh, Astarte, is it? If you can somehow find a way to get the money to help pay for Jessi’s treatment, you will have our trust again.” The father said, making a deal with Astarte. “Maybe you should try to win that beauty contest to get the prize money because I don’t know how else you will earn the funds without having any limbs.” The father added. “Thank you.” Astarte agreed, as she slithered out of the room and out of the Beta Pokémon Center to complete her task. “Father, how is she going to get the money without Jessi to help her out?” Edano asked with a confused look. “She won’t.” The father responded with a smirk. Edano was caught off guard with a disbelief look on his face now. “And I’d expect my own father to be better than this! You do realize Jessi’s corpses would’ve sunk down to the bottom of the ocean if it wasn’t for Astarte saving her, right?” Edano was calling him out. His father concluded with, “That beast needs to prove me wrong then, and that’s final! I want to hear no more from you, Edano! You may have moved out, but you still got to respect your parents’ authority.”

    She was on her way back to the studio holding the Pokémon Beauty Contest which was conveniently close by to the Beta Pokémon Center. While she was slithering through the streets, she noticed that various bystanders were giving her either dirty looks or frightened looks. She overheard one little girl asked her dad, “Daddy, is that one of the monster snakes the T.V. warned us about?” The dad responded with “Yes, be careful and don’t make eye contact with it.” Astarte was confused at first, but eventually realizes that her aggressive actions during the contest made the local news. Astarte heard another bystander comment, “Ha! How can you becalm hostility when you can’t calm down your own?” Astarte was annoyed yet embarrassed at the same time. She started to think she just ruined the reputation of Milotics around the city. This was nothing lovely for her situation because she as another negative trait that just piled on top of her. She started to hustle a bit more towards the Pokémon Beauty Contest as she decided to ignore any more comments that were made by the bystanders.

    When Astarte got to the studio, she was halted by security. “Apologies to you, fellow Milotic, but you are blacklisted from entering this contest for your damaging actions and behavior. Also, you must have a trainer participant with you. So, I must ask you leave.” One of the security guards firmly stated. Astarte just could not get a break from all of the consequences she is receiving from her actions earlier. Astarte was about ready to snap again because they don’t understand her desperate situation in needing the prize money for her owner’s treatment for recovery, but she had another desperation in holding back in releasing her rage because that would be proving their points in her previous behaviors. Astarte was nearly turning red from all of the rage she was holding in, but released a sign out of her mouth instead as the result, with a lightly spoken “okay” coming out as well. She was under a lot of stress and pressure that she had to work out at the gym to relieve her stress out. Hitting the punching bags with her tail was one of her stress relieving methods.



    After some time went pass by, when Astarte was at the gym, she was hitting a punching bag over and over again with her scaly tail. “I call this one the Serpent Smash!” Astarte did a war cry as she slammed the punching bag up into the thin air as the punching bag began to wrap around the pole that was hanging it. “Still isn’t helping...” Astarte mumbled to herself. Despite that, she still couldn’t believe how much frustration, guilt, and regret she was possessing at the moment. Hitting the punching bag didn’t help her as much as she thought. She just wishes she could rewind back in time and stop herself from the actions she did back in the contest that caused tons of harm to her master. But she is mostly concerned about if Saucez is going to make it out of that hospital okay or not. Since the deeds have been done, all she could do now is try to improve herself and redeem her reputation with Saucez, her family, and the public. She feels like she needs some kind of guidance to be with her right now. Maybe even some kind of friend wouldn’t hurt either. Astarte’s inner self was just pleading for some to be understanding with her right now, but then...

    “Excuse me...” Astarte retrieved a tap by her side. She turns around to face what appears to be a very bright white and blue sealion. She was wearing a pearls around her hair and forehead, and they looked just like the pearls Astarte was wearing around her neck. She was wearing pink starfish like you would for a rose in your hair. She had a big nose like a clown would, but it was pink instead of red. And she had these veils around her forehead, neck, and waist. The sealion standing in front of the sea serpent had beautiful, light blue colored hair as well.

    Astarte glared at the big sealion who was already glared at her, when the following words came out, “Hi there! You seem a little upset right now. Is everything going all right?” asked the sealion. “U-uh, not really. I’m really taking hits of stress and guilt all the way from the top of my head to the scales of my tail.” Astarte replied. “Do... I know you?” She asked the mysterious sealion afterwards as she was seen as a stranger by her. “No. I don’t think we’ve ever met before, but my name is Sonata. In case you didn’t know, I’m a Primarina. My species is very popular on the small islands out in the west. I’m working to become strong at this gym. What’s your name?” Astarte was still overwhelmed with layers of stress, but she slowly presented the Primarina with more and more of her attention and eye contact as time went on. “I-I’m... Astarte.” She eventually responded to Sonata’s question. “Astarte? That’s a lovely name.” Sonata complimented. “Yeah, thanks. My... master... named me that after the Goddess of Beauty.” Astarte stuttered while slightly blushing a little.



    “Um, I’m... sorry... to ask... but why aren’t you, you know, afraid of me like everyone else?” Astarte asked with a confused yet curious look. “Why would I be afraid of you?” Sonata asked with a chuckle. “It’s because...” Astarte swallowed before she finished her explanation. “I did a violent act... at the Pokémon Beauty Contest... and there are some people and Pokémon who are afraid of me right now because of it despite being an accident. I was blacklisted from the Pokémon Beauty Contest. I’m surprised I wasn’t blacklisted from this gym or locked up in an asylum at this point.”

    “That’s it? So what if you were a little violent at a fashion show that’s probably rigged to begin with? Nobody’s perfect. Not to mention, Pokémon are violent towards one another all the time for battles, so that makes them hypocrites. Don’t let them get to you.” Sonata said to reassure Astarte as she lifts one of her flippers to pat the back of Astarte’s noodle-like body. “No, you don’t understand... Sorry. It’s not the public I’m concerned about, it’s my master’s health and well-being. I accidentally knocked over a column with a statue on top and the statue fell on my master, and she was brutally injured and it’s all my fault.” Astarte explained. “Oh, dear.” Sonata commented. “I hope your master is all right. However, I wouldn’t say it was completely your fault though, Astarte. It was only an accident, correct?” Sonata asked to try to cheer her up. “I guess, but it was because I don’t want to participate in these fashion showcases. They are just so boring, and I feel so humiliated in those bright-colored eyesores of apparels.” Astarte answered in complete honesty. “I just miss when me and my master went onto to fight off wild Pokémon and have trainer battles for prize money. I don’t know why, but the feel of knocking out another Pokémon is oddly satisfying to me. It makes me feel strong and victorious. But I only get that enjoyment because I’m only doing it to protect and impress my master. So, I’m not saying that I enjoy harming others. I mean, I’m not some sociopath.” Astarte explained further to the Primarina. “So, why did you two stopped battling altogether?” Sonata asked in response. “We’ve stopped doing the battles since taxes for the necessities and medical supplies have raised and we’ve been struggling to afford them.” Astarte stated, releasing a sigh afterwards.

    “Well, I don’t see how all this makes you a bad Pokémon. You clearly weren’t meant to participate in fashion shows. Your body and mind are telling you that you were meant to be a fighter. Judging by the way you were hitting the punching bag; I can see that.” Sonata commented. “Yeah, I guess so. I just want to prove to my master’s family that I’m not a bad Pokémon though, since I lead what caused my master to get severely injured.” Astarte added as she wasn’t very hopeful in herself despite Sonata trying to boost her confidence back up.



    “What your master’s family and a lot of people have forgotten is that there's no good without evil, no love without hate, no life without death, no innocence without guilt, and the list goes on. Those people often forget that you will inevitably have to walk into grey areas at once in your life. I mean, how can anyone be professional and well-behaved for the rest of their life? Someone out there makes a bad decision every day, every hour, every minute, every second, and maybe even every millisecond. So, in reality, they are just as clumsy as you are, and they are just in denial about it. They always prefer to shun the negative aspects of themselves, and in turn, it causes their good aspects to turn on themselves. There’s no such thing as perfection. Practice doesn’t make perfection, practice makes progress.” Sonata confronted the following to Astarte.

    “Yeah, I just don’t understand why people would fear me over wanting to be myself.” Astarte groaned a little. “People are only choosing to be afraid of you because they don’t understand your inner you. The best thing you can do is to show them that you have good intentions at heart.” Sonata added. “You know what? You’re right!” Astarte said, now starting to feel better with her emotions. “See? You just needed someone to give you a confidence and ego boost. That was my duty!” Sonata giggled. “Thank you, Sonata!” Astarte partially wraps herself around the sealion as a hug, with tears of joy slightly leaking out of her eyes. Sonata landed her flippers around the sea serpent in return. “Anytime, Astarte! I believe we’re going to become the best of friends.” Sonata said with excitement while patting one of her flippers on Astarte’s back while hugging. “I think we should never get separated. That’s for a fact.” Astarte said with pride as she nuzzled with Sonata a little in excitement of their new and growing friendship.” It’s amazing that Astarte were from depression and bummed out to happiness and glee in a matter of minutes for the conversation with her new kind and understanding Primarina pal. It was a miracle for this situation.

    As the two girls went back to face each other once again, Astarte asked the following question out of curiosity, “How are you so good at confrontations?” She looked deep in her new friend’s eyes with a genuine smile that drew below her snout. “Well, I can actually relate to your situation because I have a similar interest of becoming a strong fighter too, yet I’m forced to attend a nursery school to sing and play with little children because my master is a behavior coordinator, and I was trained to be a therapy pet. You won’t believe what some of those kids did to me. Some of them have the pleasure to honk my nose like I’m some sort of clown and glued puzzle pieces on my tail. But there are times where I’m in the back of the classroom listening in on the conversations as my master is pretty good at discussing and reasoning with the students when they are in need.” Sonata happily explained. “Aww, that’s nice. It’s so great to meet up with Pokémon like you.” Astarte said with glee. “Yeah, this is at least better than that one time we shadowed a school in a different country for an international program as I had to listen to that one educator teach his students about the Pythagorean theorem. It was so boring and painful to listen to.” Sonata cringed just thinking of that painful moment. “It’s worse than learning the fact that I was only breed all because my breeder was a shiny hunter, and I wasn’t a shiny Popplio, so I didn’t meet their standards, but oh well.” Sonata laughed it off.

    “Can I show you something, new bestie?” Astarte asked. “Go right ahead, bestie!” Primarina responded with a giggle, willing to give her full attention to her new best friend. “I know the move, Knock Off. It’s odd how it’s considered a dark-type move, but I can make my tail knockback anyone as they will lose their grip of anything they are holding.” Astarte said with confidence. “Oohh, can I see?” Sonata giggled into one of her flippers. “Sure. Allow me to demonstrate.” Astarte said with a nod as she faced another punchbag. She readied herself up to show the punchbag who’s boss. She took a deep breath before using her specific move Knock Off as she slams her tail against the punching bag, causing the punching bag to disconnect from its chains that it was hanging from, and it went flying to hit a wall. Thankfully, nobody got hurt. “Oops.” Astarte muttered with her eyes wide opened. “Wow, guess the punching bag did get knocked off.” Sonata commented with another giggle.

    Suddenly, the two girls were cut off by abrupt voice. “H-Hello.” A voice came besides the two girls as they look around for a bit, until they pick up on the particular voice again, “Hello.” The girls realized that the voice was coming from a lower level in their prespectives, so the duo had to tilt their heads down to the side to reveal a small, light blue colored, bipedal otter was standing beside them. The otter’s body was clearly shaking nervously, but they had a slight yet nervous smile on their face. It was an oddly small Dewott. “H-Hi... I... I just wanted... to say... you girls... are... beautiful...” The strange, little Dewott complimented with having a bit of a lovestruck look in his eyes as he gazed upon the two girls towering over him. “Dorian?” Astarte immediately asked confused as if she was familiar with the Dewott. The nervous, little guy gasped with a shocked expression. He turns around and loudly whispers to himself at full speed, “Oh my gosh, that Milotic cutie knows my name? I can’t believe it! She actually knows my name! Ohhh, this just got so intense for me! Wait, I’m blowing it with my introduction.” Astarte and Sonata looked at each other for a bit out of confusion until the Dewott swiftly turned back to face the two girls. “Why, yes. My name is Dorian. It’s nice to meet you- AHH, FORGET IT! I ALREADY BLEW IT!! SORRY! I JUST REMEMBERED THAT I GOTTA GO GET MY HAIRCUT!! SORRY!” Dorian abruptly and swiftly exclaimed before bolting it out of the gym. There was even a trail of his sweat droplets that were left behind him.

    “Aww, what a sweetheart he was. He was willing to tell us how beautiful we were. Kindness like that is needed around the world.” Sonata commented with one of her flippers touching her chest like if the compliment touched her heart. “Are you kidding me? That was awkward as heck.” Astarte commented with a disgusted look. “Now, now, Astarte. He clearly had good intentions in his heart to give us compliments. You wanted to improve your image, correct?” Sonata chuckled. “Yeah, but that was Dorian. What he doesn’t know is that he’s the same Pokémon that used to pick on me when I was a Feebas and when he was an Oshawott. Now, he seems to have a crush on me... or you... because I’m beautiful now.” Astarte explained about the odd backstory and connection between her and the otter. “Well, give the little guy some time to redeem himself and maybe you both can make it up someday.” Sonata replied. “The only thing weird is he was very small for a Dewott.”

    Yet another Pokémon walks up to interfere with the girls’ banter. “Hey, Astarte. You’ve got quite a temper problem, dontcha?” is what the Pokémon spat out. It turns out to be a Gallade. Astarte just couldn’t help but roll her eyes back and sighed. “Scooter, I’m really not in the mood.” Astarte moaned. “Oh, I’m sorry. I won’t interrupt your workout because you really need to get into shape!” Scooter mocked Astarte. Astarte was tempted to charge at the Gallade, but then Sonata stepped in. “Excuse me, but that’s pretty disrespectful for you to say, especially to a woman. Please have some dignity!” Sonata called out the Gallade, defending her new friend. “Oh, sorry.” Scooter spat out sarcastically. “I guess you girls should take care if you can.” Scooter walked away laughing. Astarte and Sonata just blankly stare at the Gallade vanishing from their line of sight. “The nerve of that guy’s mouth.” Astarte mumbled while slowly shaking her head in disbelief. “Don’t let him get to you.” Sonata commented while patting her flipper on Astarte’s back.

    “Anyway, what can you do to redeem yourself for your master’s family?” Sonata asked to get back on-topic. “Well, I was promised by her father to gain back trust on something about getting funds for my master’s treatment to recovery.” Astarte explained to give Sonata some more context about her situation. “I think you should look for a job to help you gain these funds.” Sonata responded. “Since your reputation is a little iffy right now, maybe you could ask some other friends to see if they can help you get one. There’s got to be some friends out there that still have trust in you despite the incident.”

    “Well, I know this one Absol named Walsper. He and I are quite good buds.” Astarte confirmed. “Go to him. I’m confident he will help you out with your sticky situation.” Sonata said with a cheerful smile. “Thank you so much, Sonata.” Astarte replied with pleasure. “High fin?” Sonata offered with her tailfin sticking up. “High fin!” Astarte replied all excitedly, as both the girl’s tailfins slapped against one another to indicate a heavy sign that their friendship has gotten stronger and tighter. Both the girls were very satisfied with the way their tailfins connected together from the high fin. The girls signaled their waves goodbye. Sonata did the wave with her flippers while Astarte had to do the wave with her tailfins since she lacks the limbs to do a normal wave goodbye. Astarte left the gym out with pure confidence filling through her body. She was ready to tackle anything; metaphorically speaking. The Snack-sol Café was close by the gym too, so she didn’t have slither away a long distance. It was so conveniently close that she sometimes visits the café after her workout at the gym.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Characters used/mentioned:
-Astarte (Milotic), Dorian (Dewott), and Sonata (Primarina) - AwesomeSaucez 

-Walsper (Absol) - Walsper 

-Scooter (Gallade) - Glace Fyre

-Lux (Delphox) - LaVallett1 

-Alice (Ampharos) - MiragePotato