victory_road | May Catch All

Ever since the aftermath of prom, Dimitri has been rather... withdrawn, to a degree. He still patiently goes out every day to train with his team, of course, but it's obvious that he's been incredibly bothered by what happened. Guessing why isn't particularly hard - he was locked away from the people he most cares about during a raid, and then got to hear about how Chip got possessed.

A bit of space away from it all, some time to decompress in the pleasant town of Olivine, has been helping... just, bit by it, steadily. Sometimes time is all that can really be done to help something like that, even if Dimitri's training sometimes keeps him out late. He rarely shows up early nowadays...

Except today, where Claude will hear Dimtiri calling for him. Or, well. Sor of calling for him.

"CLAUDE! Claude, where are- no no no no, Gwin, hold on, hold it in, we're almost - Claude!"

Claude's spent a decent chunk of the time after prom worrying about Dimitri and how withdrawn he's been. He's tried to draw him out of his shell as best he can, but...the damage isn't so easily smoothed over, all the more so because it's mostly pain from old scars that run deep.

So when he hears Dimitri yelling for him, the only thing that stops his Gear from hitting the floor at screen-cracking force as he launches off the bed is a startled Sturm managing to catch it with sticky-padded fingers.

"Dimitri? Dimitri!" He's kneejerk alarmed, running towards his voice, not knowing what could possibly make Dimitri call for him like this but intending to find out immediately. He'll practically skid right into the man. "What's wrong?"

It's not just Dimitri Claude almost runs into. He has Gwin's tiny blue body cradled in his arms and... something else. It's only apparent for a split second: the way the little Swablu is practically fidgeting in place, wings fluttering, cheeks puffed out - and a peculiar light seeming to well up deep within him.

The second Claude shows up, that light quickly becomes less something within, and something that overtakes his entire body.

It happens in the blink of an eye, before Dimitri can say anything. The light unfurls, hiding within it an immense body, and soon.... Claude will find himself with a faceful of cloud. So much cloud. Maybe a body in there?

Pulling back will reveal just exactly what's happened. No longer a tiny little orb with wings, Gwin has grown... and grown... and grown up into a massive Altaria who's body seems to take up most of the hallway, almost - or maybe that's just how it looks when someone is still prying their face from something that looks and feels suspiciously like cloud.

Although it can't be denied that Gwin is huge, now. Huge enough that he seems to almost entirely envelope Dimitri himself, only his legs visible from beneath the white mass as he still somehow tries to keep a grip on his Pokemon. Gwin's neck has now not only become apparent, but seems to have made up for its absence as it rises high enough that the bird is forced to curve it and look down at Claude.

Gwin makes a trill.

Dimitri's voice manages to come through. "Adarllwchgwin evolved."

Well, this is the most thing that's happened to Claude in a few days.

The cloud somehow does and doesn't have give, but something in it has substance enough that Claude can push himself back somewhat to blink up at Gwin. It takes him a few moments for his brain to catch up with the everything that's just happened...but once it does, he breaks into a grin. "Hey, Gwin! You've really grown up fast, huh? In more ways than one."

He tries to catch sight of Dimitri around Gwin, but...that's probably not going to be possible until Dimitri puts the Altaria down and steps away from it a bit. "I'm glad I got to be here for it, but...what about Gabby? She should be here too, shouldn't she?"

From past all the cloud, there's an answering 'mooooooooooooooooooooooo', and the sound of little hooves thumping against the hotel carpet. Some of the cloud fluff is shoved up and out of the way, until the Gabby in question can stumble through onto the other side where Dad 2 is. Wobbling upright again, she tilts her head back and moos again at Claude in delight before pointing at Gwin.

Look! He got bigger!

"It started to happen rather suddenly," Dimitri says, still mostly obscured by Gwin's body. "It did not feel right to exclude you..."

Claude smiles in relief and delight when he sees Gabby. "Oh, good. Gwin's sister needed to be here for this." He reaches down and scoops her up in his arms so he can hold her up towards Gwin's head, now that it's so much higher off the ground than before. He figures she should be able to get a good look at him.

Claude, meanwhile, cranes his head to look for Dimitri. "Come on over here, نور چشمم. You're not still holding him up, are you? You should get a good look at him."

Gabby makes a little gurgling moo of delight, reaching up at the same time that Gwin lowers his head so that she can lightly pat at his face. He trills a little, wiggling in place.

That certainly isn't helping Dimitri's case here, and he makes a small noise from within the fluff. "But - I have always been holding him, Claude." His tone is that of a dad who has refused to come to terms with the idea that he can't regularly hold his child now.

It's his child, Claude.

"You put him down sometimes when he was smaller, too," Claude says patiently. "You haven't been holding Gwin every moment since he was hatched. You can pick him back up later if you want! But for right now, you do want to get a look at him, don't you? You can't do that buried in his wings."

Claude supposes that when you're as strong as Dimitri is, there aren't many pokémon Dimitri has to worry about getting too big and heavy for him to hold.

It's hard to argue with that kind of logic - you know, when Dimitri has slept a full eight hours, eaten regular meals, and isn't on a delusional streak. So there's a pause from within the cloud fluff.

"I... I do," he admits, and there's some rustling within the feathers. Slowly, slowly, Gwin begins to lower as he is placed onto the ground. From the fluff emerges Dimitri, looking as frazzled as he was before, although now a little sheepish as well. Straightening up, he looks down at Gwin - how much bigger he's gotten, the long curve of his neck.

Excuse him, he has to press a hand to his heart now.

Claude grins at Dimitri looking stricken, sidling over to him. "Isn't he big and impressive now?" he asks, leaning against Dimitri's side, Gabby still held comfortably in his arms. "All grown up...but still very definitely Gwin. He's gonna be a menace with that long neck of his, y'know. We're going to have to work pretty hard to keep any squishable things we don't want squished out of his beak."

Gwin lets loose a little trill, head bobbing from side to side, as if asking Who, me? in response to all those allegations. It's still very much a 'him' sort of response, and Dimitri smiles just a bit, leaning against Claude in turn.

"He already roughly knew how to open zippers," Dimitri murmurs, as Gwin leans down again at Gabby's reaching hooves. "But his round little body couldn't quite get into the places he wanted. With a long neck, that's going to be so much worse..." He's still smiling as he says it, reaching out to softly stroke the neck in question.

"It's peculiar... I have seen so many evolutions now, but this one is hitting me particularly hard. I wonder why."

"Because he's ours, right?" Claude says, looking up at Dimitri with a smile. "I mean, mostly yours, because I gave him to you, but...it meant a lot to you when I did. And we've shared a lot of being with him and watching him grow up. Gabby evolving would hit you just as hard, probably, if Miltanks evolved. But once she gets big, you'll be just as emotionally overcome." He chuckles, looking down at her fondly. "Or who knows? Maybe she'll stay small. Some pokémon do have size differences within the species..."

"She's already gotten a little bigger since she hatched," Dimitri murmurs, watching as the little Miltank rubs her face against Gwin's head, a delighted and happy nuzzle. "She didn't used to have horns when she first hatched, and her udders hadn't properly developed... Whitney's Miltank partner is three times as big. Can you imagine that..."

Hearing Whitney's name draws out a happy moo from Gabby, and she tilts her head back to beam at them. This allows Gwin to just shove his head up against her chest, for more hug.

May Catch All

For Claude - backdated roughly last week - their child grows up

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