The sun has not yet begun to rise, but inside a cottage in Manila Pokemon University, a green-haired girl had already awakened. She glanced at the clock. Seeing the 4:26 AM displayed, she took out her phone to check for messages before getting up.
"Shelly, Chichi, wake up. It's time for morning exercise."
"Accel…"
Accelgor awoke to the sound of her Trainer's voice. Her bandaged hands reached out, shaking the Minccino beside her who was still drooling in her sleep. Mincinno yawned, her hands stretched above her head as she drowsily looked at her surroundings.
"Let's go, Chichi. You can catch up on your sleep later."
Shinobu said as she changed out of her nightwear and into her jogging gear.
She walked out of her room and glanced at the closed door opposite- Candice's room. At the beginning of the semester, said girl had been her jogging companion.
However, after a week, Candice gave up, stating that she preferred to train more late into the night than the wee hours of the morning.
Shinobu smiled in amusement and led Minccino and Accelgor out of the cottage.
Almost at the exact same time, a white-blue-haired girl walked out of the opposite cottage with her Dragonite.
"Morning, Focalors."
"Hmm, good morning as well."
Their steps fell into a rhythm as the two walked naturally side-by-side, doing warm-ups together with their Pokemon. The cold morning air blew, ruffling their hair.
"I saw the news. Will Mr. Neuvillette come here?"
"Ah, I'm not sure. Father said negotiations would take quite a while. Depending on the Philippine's stance, he may or may not help."
"Is that so?"
Shinobu murmured as the two of them started to jog around the campus. Their Pokemon already sped past them, their human speed not even a warm-up for these creatures.
…
When Shinobu and Focalors returned, they encountered Candice who was suppressing a yawn as she trained her Abomasnow and Cubchoo in the open field in front of their cottage.
Abomasnow was constantly releasing snow, while Cubchoo was running around with a light weight on his back.
"Geez. I don't know how you two can endure waking up so early everyday."
Candice yawned and complained. Before attending University, she thought getting up at 5:30 to exercise was already considered a strict morning routine. So when her first roommate turned out to be someone who trained an hour earlier, she was flabbergasted.
"It's easy once it becomes a habit."
Shinobu chuckled as she moved to the side and started Accelgor and Minccino's training. Focalors also did the same with Dragonite.
A serene scene befell the field. There were constant sounds of moves being used, as well as the occasional shouts of three youthful girls guiding their Pokemon.
"You know, I've been thinking. Sister Mualani said she wakes up by 6. And Dante doesn't even do morning exercises. Do you think not training in the morning is actually the secret to becoming stronger?"
Candice asked Shinobu and Focalors, a hint of humor in her tone.
"That's…an interesting proposition."
Focalors put a hand under her chin. Although it sounds counterintuitive, but Pokemon are not logical creatures to begin with. Maybe there's merit to the idea of less training gaining greater results?
"Isn't it!? From now on, how about we start our morning routine at 6? Hehe, all for the sake of science!"
Shinobu stared at the grinning Candice. Although she knew her friend was joking, she couldn't help but mull over her words.
The reason she practices so hard is because she's accustomed to the mindset of more training leading to better results.
However, when she thought about it, that wasn't necessarily true. There are Trainers who only train casually, but still emerged stronger than the others.
The most prominent example is her uncle Itto. From childhood, she observed him just messing around with his gang everyday. But out of the blue, he won and became their countries' Bug-type Gym Leader.
Are there other factors involved in the increase of Pokemon's strength besides training?
"Uh, Shinobu? Focalors? Yoohoo!"
Shinobu was awakened from her contemplation by Candice's dissatisfied shout. The twin-tailed girl stood akimbo as she stared at her and Forcalors with a pout.
"Even if my joke is not funny, don't just stay silent like that. It hurts my fragile maiden heart~"
Candice swooned exaggeratedly.
"No, I was thinking. You may have a point."
"Huh? What point?"
"About practicing less to gain more strength."
"Hahaha, that's a good one, Shinobu."
Candice laughed. However, when she saw the serious expression on Shinobu and Focalors' faces, her laughter subsided into an awkward chuckle.
"Huh?"
"I, myself, think the idea holds some merit."
Focalors said. She remembered that after their mother died, her Father's Pokemon made successive racial breakthroughs.
Until now, she thought the reason for that was because he and his Pokemon trained themselves everyday to the point of exhaustion. But can breaking the racial limit really be that easy?
Most criminals treat their Pokemon as tools, forcefully training them in various inhumane ways. But in the end, few can match a Gym Leader in strength, much less the Elite Four or Champion.
"Wait, wait, wait, you two are serious, aren't you? So, you'll move your morning exercise from 4:30 to 6?"
""Of course not!""
Shinobu and Focalors shouted at the same time.
"Before we can obtain more concrete data, it's too reckless to arbitrarily change our schedule."
"Indeed. And if there's a more efficient training method, I'm certain Father and my family elders would have informed me."
That they didn't, made Focalors assume there's a problem with that method. As for them not even noticing? She didn't entertain that idea at all. She wasn't so self-centered as to assume they were the first to discover this discrepancy.
"But if we don't try it, how will we know? Do we ask the Professors?"
Candice asked, her eyes alight with curiosity.
"Hmm, I don't think the Professors know about it. If they did, they would have taught us about it at the beginning of the semester, or at least mentioned it."
"I just messaged Father. However, it's midnight in France right now. I estimate he'd wake up and answer it around lunch."
Focalors said as she put down her phone. She also included in her message the question of why he hadn't told her; if there really is a more efficient training regime.
"Thanks, Focalors. Lunch, huh? Speaking of, I remember Dan planned to do something later that would make you jump in joy, Candice."
Shinobu smirked. This morning, a notification was sent to her phone. It was just an update about a delivery for Dante- he linked it to her number in case he wasn't there to pick it up.
"Ah! Is it, that thing?"
Focalors covered her mouth and chuckled. She had received a similar message. Indeed, just as Shinobu said, Candice would be over the moon.
"Don't play riddles with me, you two. What is it?"
Candice pouted. These past few weeks, she noticed that the relationship between Shinobu and Focalors had suddenly gotten much closer. At this rate, her status as Shinobu's best friend was in jeopardy.
"Hehe, just wait patiently. I assure you it's something you'd love."
"Mouu, you're such a tease~"
—
"OMG! OMG! OMG! YOU'RE GONNA EVOLVE VULPIX!!?"
Candice's eyes turned into hearts. In front of her, Dante stood, with Alolan Vulpix in his arms.
"Jeez, you wanna shatter everyone's eardrums?"
"Ahhh, Alolan Ninetales. The most beautiful Pokemon in the world. Hehehe, I'll make sure to rub her whole body later."
Candice didn't even hear Dante's complaints. She danced around the field, grinning all the while under the amused expression of Furina, Dawn, Kachina, Mualani, Liuai, Isa, Shinobu, and Focalors.
"Just how much does this girl like Alolan Vulpix…"
Dante sweatdropped. He knew Vulpix and Ninetales are cute, but this is almost bordering on obsession. Look, even Vulpix has burrowed deeper into his arms in fright.
"Don't worry, princess. I'll make sure this bad guy won't be able to touch you."
Dante gently rubbed Vulpix's soft and smooth fur. Her six tails fluttered, each one curling around his hand.
When Vulpix was born, she only had a single tail. It split in accordance with her growth in strength- and it had already been quite a while since they reached their maximum number of 6.
"You sure about this? You know you can't turn back, right?."
"Vul~" (I'm sure, Dad~)
Vulpix stared at the 'Perfect-Grade' Ice Stone held in Dante's other hand, anticipation welling up inside her.
When she saw the appearance of Alolan Ninetales for the first time on television, she was instantly mesmerized by its elegant and beautiful charm. Right then and there, she made a resolve to one day evolve into the same beautiful Pokemon.
And now, after training in the PMD world for more than half of her lifetime, she was ready.
Vulpix jumped off Dante's arms and sat on the grass in front of him. Then, under everyone's gaze, Dante knelt down and gently tapped the stone on Vulpix's forehead.
Her body and the Ice Stone shone a brilliant white. Vulpix felt a warm and soft sensation wrap around her body- it was as if she was back in the Egg with Eevee. But different from that time, she felt her body being filled with power.
From the outside, Vulpix's form began to visibly change. Her height slowly increased from half a meter to a full meter. Her tails uncurled and elongated. Her snout also shifted, becoming more pronounced.
The light dimmed. Standing in Vulpix's place, was a canine Pokemon covered in thick, luxurious snow-white fur. She has a small mane of thicker fur around her neck, and a long, wavy crest atop the head. She has slender legs with three-toed paws and nine wavy long tails with bright, white tips. Her eyes were the color of sapphire, and she had pointed ears, and a triangular blue nose.
It was Alolan Ninetales!
A/N: This chapter was just supposed to be some of Shinobu's POV, with Vulpix's evolution as the main focus. But it spiraled into so many directions, most of which not having included Vulpix's evolution lol. I had to wrangle it back to have this ending.
Also, damn. Genshin dropped a massive lore bomb today. When I saw the four Shades, I had been tempted to assign Dialga's appearance as Istaroth and Asmoday as Palkia for their human forms due to their similarity in authority. It's a pity their color schemes didn't match though, and there are already too many girls in the story.