Stara looked up into the sky,catching the scent of the air on her wet nose as she walked the path towards the woods. She had decided it was about time that she repay the girl that had helped her (and in all reality, saved her), but she was beginning to wonder if she should have picked a better day. The sky was filled with rolling grey clouds, reminiscent of a bleak winter day, though it was still October. A firm breeze was also blowing, sending yellow, orange, and red leaves dancing through the air. Stara continued retracing the journey she had previously made with Frank into the woods. Tall trees creaked and moaned and their needles and leaves rustled in the wind as she continued to the fallen tree.

Now that she was an espeon, and taller than her previous form, she could easily hop up onto the tree trunk. She sat down and looked at her surroundings. The beedrill was still there, it had been a couple weeks and the body was undergoing decay. She didn't really want to think about that fight. She felt it was her fault that the entire thing had happened.

"Although, I suppose it did help me get closer to Frank."

Stara let her head drop and sighed.

"What's wrong, friend?" A familiar voice asked.

This time, however, it wasn't telepathic. She turned her head toward the voice in time to see her friend materialize next to her. The cream-colored victini had long, orange, pointy ears and big, sea-blue eyes. Her paws matched her orange ears, and a small pair of cream wings, which Stara found to be just adorable, adorned her backside. However, she noticed the victini's fur was matted and dirty, and she looked a little malnourished.

"You can become invisible?"

Her friend disappeared for a couple of seconds, reappeared on Stara's other side, and giggled.

"I sure can! Thank you for keeping your promise and coming back to see me, by the way. I don't have any friends to play with." The friendly victini chirped.

"I should be thanking you for saving us, and what about your family, if you have no one to play with, you're not alone out here are you?"

In the first sad tone Stara had heard from her new friend, she responded, "I'm not sure what happened to my family. We were separated when a trainer attacked us with his pokémon and tried to capture my mom. We ran but something weird happened and we couldn't communicate with each other anymore. I got lost and ended up here."

Stara tilted her head. "How long ago was this?"

"Around spring."

"Sp-Spring?! What have you been eating? Where have you been staying?"

The little victini shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I eat what I can find, mostly berries. I live inside a hollow tree in the woods." She pointed off into the distance.

"Ok, well stay here for a bit." Stara jumped off the tree trunk. "I'm going to grab you some food, and see about helping you find a place to live while I'm at it."

"You don't have to do that!" She reached out vaguely at Stara.

"I can see your ribs, and your coat is pretty dirty and matted, so you don't make such a great argument there."

Stara smiled at her, and the victini turned away and blushed from embarrassment.

"Do you mind if I bring Frank along?"

"Sure," she replied without thinking. Being called out about her appearance and general lack of well-being had really caught her off-guard.

"Wait, you mean your human?!"

Stara had already bounded off down the road, though.

The run in with the people who had tried to capture her and her family had been her only direct contact with humans, and this had left, understandably, a fairly bad impression of them on her. She fidgeted nervously on the tree trunk, thinking about it.

"Well, Stara is really nice,and she seems to be taken care of and treated well. Maybe, then, her human isn't so bad."

She hadn't considered, until now, that she might have just run into bad people, and that not all were like that. She attempted to groom herself and make herself presentable as she thought about it. A low rumble came from the sky, announcing the impending storm. The victini looked up at the ominous sky.

Frank walked with Stara to meet her new friend. He had brought some food and a bottle of water at her suggestion, and also brought some towels and an umbrella after seeing the weather report.

"We can't stay long, Stara, it's about to start storming pretty hard."

"I know, but she doesn't really have a home or anything, so we could do this much for her, at least."

"How did you meet this one again?"

"Well..." Her words trailed off as she hesitated to answer.

Frank found it strange, but decided not to push any further. As the two entered the forest it began to rain. Droplets collected on the needles of the pine trees before falling again, bouncing off his umbrella, producing a relaxing ambiance in the forest. Stara walked under the umbrella with him, guiding him. He watched her walk gracefully, her adorable face held high and her twin-ended tail swaying as if it had a mind of its own. She had had him tie a small bell around one of the ends with a red ribbon to match her collar. She wanted to be more like her big sister, who had a bell on her collar. It jingled lightly as she walked, and he found it cute.

"Its good my mate finds me attractive." She turned and smiled. Frank smirked in response.

As they continued walking, the rain became heavier and the calming rain gave way to lightning and loud thunder.

"If this gets any worse, we might have to find a place out here to take shelter," Frank warned.

"Mm."

Large puddles were forming along the path by the time they reached their destination. Frank looked for Stara's friend and found her sitting on top of the tree trunk. Stara walked up to her. It surprised him to find such a rare pokémon sitting there.

"A vi-vi-vi-victini?! Wow! Never thought I'd see one."

The victini hid behind Stara and watched him nervously.

"H-hi there," she told him telepathically. "You're Stara's human, right?"

He smiled. "I sure am. Hello to you too."

Frank noticed how wet and dirty she was, just like Stara had told him.

"Stara says you don't have a home, is that true?"

"I do, kinda. It's in the bottom of that tree."

Frank looked where she was pointing. The home she was speaking of was the hollow base of a dead tree. He walked over to it and inspected her nest. The entire tree looked to be rotting away, and the hole she was staying in didn't seem to offer much protection from the elements. It was lined with twigs, leaves, and grass that it seemed she had insulated it with, but it was clear that it wasn't stopping water from leaking into it. Frank returned to them, and stood over the victini so that the umbrella shielded her and Stara.

"Can I offer you a place to stay until it stops raining?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I want you to come stay the night with Stara and I tonight. I'll cook a hot meal for all of us, too. I just don't want you to have to sit here in the rain and get sick."

She thought about his proposal. She didn't like humans, but she was lonely, cold, tired, hungry, and she liked Stara. All of these things wore at her thoughts and resolve. It seemed way too good to be true, but she didn't honestly care anymore. If it was a trap and he was just going to capture her and keep her as a slave, or whatever, then so be it.

"At least I won't have to hide anymore and I won't have to wait for my parents to come back."

Stara picked up on her thought, but kept her mouth shut. She didn't want to make things worse. Besides, she knew Frank didn't have malicious intentions.

"Ok." The little Victini replied.

She flew up into the air, under the umbrella, and let Frank guide them. They arrived back at the house as the storm began to pick up in intensity. The wind howled outside, and raindrops drummed on the roof. Frank closed the door behind them and took off his shoes. The first thing she noticed about his home was how big it was...and warm...and dry. She also noticed the scent of other pokémon in the house, but didn't see them.

"Alright girls, let's get in the bath."

He led her to a comparatively small room filled with many strange things. Frank ran the hot water and turned to Stara.

"Can you show her what to do while I go get the others?"

After getting a nod from her, he disappeared through the door. The espeon jumped up onto the edge of the large tub and lowered herself into the warm water. Her friend followed her. She found the steamy water very comfortable, and relaxed against the side of the tub. Muffled thunder boomed in the distance.

A very excited cinccino ran into the bathroom, jumped and pulled itself up the side of the tub, and fell face-first into the water, startling the victini. After sitting up and rubbing its head, the cinccino noticed her.

"H-H-Hello," it said timidly.

Frank then came back in, carrying a glaceon in his arms who immediately noticed her. The glaceon watched her curiously as Frank sat it in the water and turned off the tap. Stara and the cinccino played while Frank quickly washed the glaceon, which was already panting from the heat. He rubbed a gel from a bottle into her light blue fur, lathering it until it formed a foamy, bubbly white layer on her coat. He scooped water into his hand and rinsed her repeatedly until all the foam was gone, then picked her up out of the tub, setting her down and rubbing her vigorously with a large piece of cloth. When he was done, the Glaceon shook her body and then wandered off, out of the room. He then turned his attention to her.

"Close your eyes so I don't get water or soap in them."

She complied and felt the warm water he poured over her ears run down her head and neck. After hearing the squirt of a soap bottle, she felt his warm hands grab at the tips of her ears. He closed his hands around them and stroked downwards, spreading the shampoo, before lathering it in with his thumb and fingertips.

"Oh MyiYiy AreReRceUhUhUhSsss." Her voice bounced as his fingers massaged her sensitive ears, inside and out.

She smiled and relaxed, her eyes closed, as he continued lathering the rest of her body. The raging storm outside, which would have likely been a life-or-death situation had she stayed at her home, was now nothing more than an afterthought, ambiance for her bath. She felt safe. Stara nudged Binx and nodded toward the victini, who was rubbing back into his hand. "Vi-vi-vi"s slipped from her mouth. The two sisters watched her and smiled.

"She's so cute." Binx whispered.

"Yeah, it's her first bath, so I'm sure she's loving it."

After rinsing and drying her and washing the other two girls, Frank carried Binx and the victini into the living room and placed them on the couch next to Rii so that he could take his own shower.

"So, are you Frank's new pokémon?" Rii asked.

"Ehehe, no. I wish I was, though. You guys are too lucky, he's very nice and this home is amazing. I'm Stara's friend. Frank was being nice and letting me stay here while it rains."

"Oh?"

"She doesn't really have a home, and she has no family, Rii." Stara jumped up on the couch with them.

"I do have a home! It's just..." She hung her head, "...not a very good one."

"I'm sure he'd let you stay, why don't you ask him," Rii replied.

"I don't think he would have much use for me."

"Have you asked him about it?"

"No."

"Then don't assume that. Ask him when he comes back."

The victini fidgeted nervously. She really didn't want to ask him that, but Rii's speech made her feel like she needed to.

"She would make a good big sister, she is very affirmative and convincing," the young victini thought.

Frank returned from his shower several minutes later and headed toward the kitchen to prepare dinner.

"Hey Frank..." Stara spoke up.

"Yes?"

"Our friend here wants to know if she can stay with us."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"She'd like to live with us..." she winked at him, "...and let you be her master."

Frank looked over at the victini, whose head was lowered. "Is that true? Are you sure?"

She nodded and looked up at him, almost in tears, nervous and afraid of rejection.

A huge grin spread across Frank's face. Vicitinis were incredibly rare, and now one wanted to be his partner. He needed a fire-type too, so it was a double score for him.

"Sure," he answered. "Do you have a name, by the way? I've never heard you say it."

She lit up, fluttered up a few feet, and let out a chirp before looking at him.

"I don't, I was never given one."

"You were never given a name? How about Vivii?"

She seemed to like it, since she was beaming and chirping. Frank continued to cook their chow, happy that he had such an interesting new family member. Vivii snuggled into Stara, ecstatic that she had such a wonderful new home and family, a name, and a reason to live.