31. In Which Kip Loses a Race

Twig wasn’t necessarily acting off as Kip ordered a meal to split between them at Spinda’s Cafe. She was still herself. She still laughed the same, over-loud way, she still loved the seasoning on that one grilled berry dish and wanted to figure out how Spinda made such a bland, slightly sweet fruit the star of a savory meal, and she still hated juice and always ordered water instead. But there was something underlying all of that. She laughed loudly, and it seemed like a performance— a way to convince him that she was having a good time. She chit-chatted about that one dish and it seemed like she was trying to distract him from the way her tail nervously twitched against the floor. She ordered water and always took a sip when he asked her a question, like she needed to buy herself precious seconds to think of an answer. 

They finished at Spinda’s and started on the walk home. It wasn’t too long of a distance, but it certainly wasn’t to the market and back, so it was starting to get dark by the time they hit Treasure Town. 

They chatted as they went, and Twig seemed more relaxed as they walked holding each other’s hands. Maybe Kip was judging Twig’s nervousness too harshly. It had been three years since he had last set foot in Treasure Town, and Twig always did have a habit of making things up in her head into bigger sources of stress than they needed to be. He should know— he had the same bad habit of overthinking and catastrophizing. 

They really were a perfect match for each other in that way. They both knew how the other’s brain worked— for the most part, at least— and knew how to talk them down from whatever mountain of worries they had worked up for themself. It was a good fit for them to be friends. It made for a wonderfully self-regulating dynamic. 

“You look more like a swampert than a marshtomp,” Twig said, breaking the silence as they walked. 

“It kind of freaked me out, to be honest. I thought I was sick or something. Our medic said it was an evolution that almost doubled over. Can you believe it? I almost became a swampert in one fell swoop! Imagine how tall I’d be…” He trailed off, elbowing Twig playfully. 

She didn’t elbow him back, instead looking crestfallen all of a sudden. 

“Are you okay? Did I say something weird?”

“You’re fine, Kip, I just… I was thinking about how I barely evolved at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I’m more charmander than charmeleon. Sure, I’m a bit beefier and I’ve got less baby fat, but I still have a charmander’s coloring and everything. I talked to Celebi about it, actually, and she said it’s probably the temporal distortion acting up. She’s not sure I’ll ever evolve again, or if I’ll fully evolve if I end up getting another evolution by some miracle.”

“Hey—” Kip put an arm around her shoulders. “You know evolution isn’t that big a deal, right? Lots of pokemon only ever evolve once, or not at all. It’s not an important thing around here. Not unless you want to evolve like Ursaring did. And then you have all the trouble of people mixing you up!” He joked halfheartedly. It killed him, seeing Twig so upset. She didn’t react to the humor, and he worried he overstepped, but he wasn’t sure how to cheer her up.

Twig’s brow creased in frustration before she sighed, relaxing. “Yeah. You’re right. I dunno why I’m treating it like getting good grades in school or whatever. Why cry over it? It’s not a problem worth worrying over.”

“Yeah! Though, um… Definitely get checked out by a professional if you evolve again and it’s another half-evolution. You might have some health problems if you do, and as much as I love Celebi, she’s not exactly certified.” 

A small smile twitched at the corners of Twig’s mouth. “You’d think that she would be, after how long she spent bragging about bringing Grovyle back from the brink of death.”

“It’s a little worrisome how proud of that she is.”

“Seriously. I get that she’s saying she’s good at healing people, but I thought that she would be a bit more tactful about it.” 

“You’re one to talk, Miss I beat up multiple Legends and only died once on a technicality, therefore I am the best fighter ever.”

“Wh— that was a joke! I was joking! I was doing a funny bit! And it wasn’t even that concerning!”

“Grovyle looked like he was going to have an aneurysm. I thought that I was going to have an aneurysm.”

“You guys just can’t handle a good laugh. That’s all.” 

“Or maybe you can’t handle us worrying about you, kidder.” 

Twig fell abruptly silent, eyes wide and mouth still opened in whatever rebuttal she was prepared to launch back, but then snapped her jaws closed, silent.

“… Twig? You good?”

She shook herself, and Kip recognized how she tried to disguise the shift in whatever she was thinking about as a shiver. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m just tired. And cold. It’s freezing out here.”

“Oh! Yeah, we’re having a really late frost this year, apparently. Dugtrio said he could feel it in his toe-claws. Which… is weird. I didn’t know he had claws. Or feet.”

“Yeah, that’s a bit… extremely unsettling. But a late frost? Again? It’s been warm for ages, but we’re getting one final little hurrah of a cold snap! We had one a couple years ago, and it was the worst. I was practically holed up inside for the first few weeks of spring.”

“You need to get tested or something. It’s not often that a water-type handles cold better than a fire-type.” 

“It’s not often that a fire-type didn’t grow up as a fire-type, either.” 

Kip slapped his forehead. “Oh. Duh, of course. I know you were once a human, but sometimes it feels like you were always a charmander before we met. I mean, it might as well have been that way, considering that you don’t remember being human much.”

“Uh… yeah. Yeah, you’re right.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yep, just chilly. Come on, let’s pick up the pace and get back to the bluff already!”

“Wh—” He froze, shocked when Twig took off in a sprint. He rushed forward to keep up, struggling to match her speed. “Slow down! I’m not as fast as you!”

“Loser has to make dinner!”

“We just ate, you menace!”

Twig let out a cackle, high and proud in its sound, and Kip held onto the hope he was just making up the way she looked so terrifyingly sorrowful when he mentioned her amnesia.