Marina sat up in her bed with a start, Arcanine looking up at her, eyes unmistakeably filled with worry. This was the fifth night in a row his master had woken in cold sweat so early in the morning.
“...I'm fine, Arcanine,” she said, standing up and rubbing her eyes, making sure she didn't step on a Growlithe on her way to the door. Arcanine got up and followed her out, letting his two pups sleep on. Marina got out coffee and put it into the machine, filled with with water, and turned it on, watching it slowly seep through the paper container and into the pot. She yawned and looked at the over clock, “...Five in the morning...oh man...” she pat Arcanine on the head, “Now I know you don't believe me when I say I'm fine,” She laughed and pulled out a coffee cup, “Well...an early start never killed anyone, right?”
Arcanine barked at her and walked away to the door, pushing it open and leaving. Marina kept the doors unlocked because they lived out in the middle of no where. Arcanine and his pups usually took care of any unwanted pokémon that neared the house, and any that got into the fields, Rapidash and Ponyta chased them out.

The coffee finished, making a chime. Marina poured herself a cup and added sugar and milk to it, taking a sip, and added more sugar. She slipped on her black tennis shoes, that contrasted her pajama attire of green with a pink heart on the front of her shirt and on the sides of her shorts, and pushed open the screen door, walking across the dirt driveway to the barn. Miltank was sleeping inside with a smile, dreaming more peacefully than Marina had. She set her coffee down and pulled out a bag of PokéRina and dispensed a good portion into the through. She stroked the cow pokémon on her head and grabbed her coffee and left the barn, greeted by Arcanine who looked a little more than disgruntled. He growled and padded around back behind Marina, growling at the fire horse that presented herself majestically, making herself seem taller than the Arcanine.
“Stop it, stop fighting, it's too early in the morning to have you bickering at each other...” Marina said, drinking her coffee, “Arcanine, get the pups, sweep the area for any wild pokémon hanging around the fields.”
He growled and barked at the Rapidash who stood back on her hind legs and slammed the ground, making the, actually, larger pokémon run back into the house to get the two Growlithes. They both needed to get used to waking up earlier and doing what they're told- Officer Jenny had entrusted her with raising Growlithes for the stations of Hearthome and Solaceon. It made sense as Marina was one of the best breeders around only rivaled by another ranch that specialized in raising water pokémon in general. Marina's specialty was raising Eevee and its evolutions for contest purposes and domestic pets. None of her pokémon were bred for fighting except the Growlithes but that's because they were to be police dogs. Arcanine fought, but he's the only form of protection for Eon Ranch. Rapidash is good at intimidating other pokémon, but for actual fighting, the horse is just not cut out for it. Nor is her Ponyta. Ponyta is being trained to race like her retired mother. Albeit, racing isn't terribly important to Marina, but the Ponyta seems to like pushing herself, and so Marina times her and lets her carry on.

Arcanine padded back out proudly with his Growlithes behind him, the pups trotting behind him with their heads held high. Rapidash let out a snort and stepped over to Marina to be pet, watching the dogs line up.
“You two, run the fields quietly. No barking unless it's urgent. I don't need you waking up every one...not like last time.”
The pokémon looked at each other and then took off over the fence and into the field.
Marina sipped at her coffee as Rapidash nuzzled her sleepy head.
“...You know it too...” she said, watching the Arcanine pace along the fence, expecting them to do a good job. Rapidash rested her head on Marinas shoulder and she pet her snout, “It's the same dream, Rapidash...it's becoming bothersome. Maybe I should go see a doctor.”
The horse nodded her head slightly and went to the fence to take a bite of grass. Marina walked back to the house and sat down in one of the chairs on the porch, putting her coffee on the matching plastic table, “I need to go into town today and pick up a shipment of berries for Flint, some more PokéRina for Miltank, and buy some stones off Kurt so I can evolve those Eevee...” Marina rubbed her head and took a drink, “Busy day, busy day.”

“How is that you get up so early?” A red haired boy asked from the doorway, his ever loyal Pachirisu perched on his shoulder, “Risu!” It chirped excitedly.
“Another bad dream?” He asked his sister, taking a seat on the other side of the table.
“Yea...why are you up so early, Flint?”
“It's only...almost six now.” He said, “Can you drive me into Hearthome today?”
“Sure...your berries come in today so why don't you go make poffins with a bunch of people instead of sitting in your room like a loser?”
“Shut up,” Flint said stiffly, “I enjoy making poffins with Paris!” He rubbed the Pachirisu's head, “He makes wonderful poffins! Don't you?”
“Pa!”
“Hm.” Marina mused, “Entering a contest then?”
“I'll win it this time for sure!” The boy stood up into a dramatic pose, “Kirlia is totally ready for the smart competition! My fashion bag is bursting with accessories and her dance moves are perfect!”
“And her acting moves?”
“Well...they aren't all smart moves but...she can clear it if she passes the first two with flying colors and does okay in the third round!”
“Sure of yourself as always...” Marina smiled at her brother and looked toward the field as the Growlithes came running back to her, out of breath. She pet their heads, “Good boys! Everything okay out there?”
“Growl! Growl!” They barked at her and wagged their tails excitedly.
“If I could trust Arcanine and Rapidash to get along when no one is here, we could leave in a bit, but...gotta wait for every one to wake up, then I'll get ready.”
“Why do they fight all the time anyways?” Flint asked, pulling out a pink poffin from his pocket and gave it to Pachirisu who crawled down into his lap and ate it out of his hand.
“I think it's a dominance thing...You mind staying out here so I can shower? Then you can get ready for your contest?”
“Sure, no problem,” Flint said, getting up and walking to the fence while Marina stepped inside with her coffee.

The boy hopped onto the fence and stared out over the field and the plains behind it at the horizon. Paris sat beside him on the fence, looking at the pokémon nestled in the grass. He felt his masters had stroke him- he was nervous for the contest. He'd earned a bit of a reputation. The Prodigy Failure. But he never gave up and the pokémon was proud of him for that. Flint and Marina's mother was both a breeder and an excellent Pokémon Coordinator to boot. She raised Flint and Marina on her own, having to give up her dream to do so, but she taught her children what she knew in the short amount of time she was with them. Flint's father, Marina's step-father, loved to be underground and went on a special archeological dig with some aspiring archeologists, and was gone longer than expected. The other diggers came back, reporting that he was no where to be found. It looked like he'd just gotten up and left. Another said it was like he wasn't even there. Their mother had left to find him after that, taking her beloved pokémon with her and leaving the neighbors of Aquari Ranch to help raise her kids and take care of Eon Ranch in her absence, Marina was only eleven and her brother eight. She's been gone for seven years. Rapidash and Arcanine had been gifts to the children before her departure. At the time, both pokémon were in their pre-evolution states and tended to hang around Marina more than Flint so he was lonely a lot of the time. But now he had Pachirisu who had also been lonely. They understood each other well, like Marina and her pokémon, but maybe even more so.
“Look, the sun's coming up,”
He looked at the horizon and squeaked, “Ri!”
“Yea, it's nice to just watch the sun rise...” Flint stretched his arms above his head, “It makes such pretty colors in the sky...”
Paris scurried up to the top of Flint's head, “Parii~!”

Espeon raised her head out of the grass and looked to the fence. She rolled her head back and gave a quiet call to the two sitting on the fence.
“Morning,” Flint smiled at the mother, Paris giving a wave of his paw.
Two little Eevee heads popped up at the sound of Flint's voice. They stood up and stretched and yawned, allowing Espeon to stand and stretch her limbs as well. It was finally wake up time for the family and for all of the others. Slowly but surely, Vaporeon popped out form the water, Glaceon uncurled herself from Jolteon who wasn't ready to get up, so bit her cap tail* and pulled her down. Leafeon crawled his way to the ponds edge to greet Vaporeon while Umbreon ignored the noises of waking up, deep in his sleep. Flareon woke up pretty fast once every one was stirring around and pounced over to the other side of the field were Rapidash had returned to after Marina left to go inside. Ponyta was just getting to her feet when Flareon came over and the two of them took off to play. And then last but not least, Miltank dawdled out of her barn and rolled along to the fence and sat up with a giggle, watching everyone getting up to their feet.

Marina came out of the house, pulling her dark blue hair up into a high ponytail, “Morning every one!” She yelled, “Early day again!”
Flint turned around on the fence and hopped off of it, “All right, I'm gonna take a shower, come on Paris,”
“Risu!” he jumped off and followed Flint inside.
“All right, Espeon...today's the day. I'm going to get some stones today and they'll be sold tomorrow...”
Espeon looked over at the Eevee that played in the grass, bumping up against their father. She nodded and looked back to Marina.
“Ah, you're so used to this...Glaceon is still getting used to leaving her pups.” The girl jumped over the fence using one hand and picked up on of the Eevee and sat down, “Let's have a look at your teeth,” she said, and pried the mouth open, “...Looking good there, girl.” She said and poked her nose.
“Eee~!” She giggled and wagged her tail.
“Eyes look fine...follow my finger,” Marina moved her index finger from side to side and the Eevee followed it. She snapped her fingers beside her ears then put her back on the ground, “Good girl,” The other Eevee trotted up to her, knowing it was his turn. Marina picked him up and gave the same examination of which he also passed flawlessly.
“Esp, you always have such beautiful children.” Marina complimented her and the pokémon rubbed her head against the girls arm.
“I guess I should time Ponyta a few times before I leave,” She said tapped a button on her watch. She stepped over the pokémon beneath her feet and whistled, taking off into a sprint to get out of the way of all the Eon's. Wouldn't be the first time Ponyta has come running through and stepped on somebody's paws or tail, or cap.
Ponyta's ears flicked and she changed course from Flareon to her master, running faster than Flareon could keep up with. Marina watched the fire evolution do a tumble in the grass and land flat on his stomach. Ponyta paused and looked back at him, waiting for him to catch up, whinnying in encouragement. He got back up and ran to catch up, Ponyta trotting along side him up to Marina. The girl reached into her overalls and pulled out a treat for Flareon, “Good running,” She smiled at him and fed another treat to Ponyta, rubbing her snout, “Ready to get some timing done?”
The horse gave a snort and neighed, kicking out her back legs and walked over to her starting position. Flareon sat beside Marina and pawed at her pants. She sat down, so he could see the watch, “On your mark...get set...go!” She tapped the button and Ponyta shot off like a rocket, galloping across the field at full speed.
“Flaaaaare!” The pokémon beside Marina cheered as the pony ran a mile, across the field four times. Marina stopped the watch as Ponyta finished.
“Three minutes and twenty-seven seconds,” She said, “That's ok, you're just warming up, right?” She stood and stroked the Ponyta's fiery mane, her hand perfectly fine because of their close bond, “Come on, try again. I still have a while before I need to leave, but I'll be gone all day.”
Ponyta bobbed her head and went back to the starting mark, her hoof scrapping against the ground.
“Wanna call it, Flareon?”
He looked overjoyed at this and looked at Ponyta, “Flare....eeeee...on!”
Marina started the stopwatch and they watched her cut across the field again, four times; Marina stopped the watch and yelled the time, “Three, fifteen!”
Ponyta stomped on the ground and went to her starting mark again.
“Think she's getting a little frustrated already?”
Flareon nodded a little.
“On your mark, get set, go!” Marina pressed the button and Ponyta took off once again. However, this time there was a bit of a problem. Flames from Ponyta started to spurt out and hit the grass because she was pushing herself so hard. Marina stood up, “Whoa! Ponyta! Stop, stop!” She yelled, but the flames had caught the grass on fire and it was growing. Flareon sprinted off toward the others and came back with Vaporeon while Marina tried to stamp out the fire. Ponyta looked embarrassed of her accident and stood away from the fire, looking down and kicking the ground. Flareon went over to her for comfort and Vaporeon used water gun to put out the fire.
“Thanks,” Marina sighed, brushing the burns off the bottom of her boots.
“Did she start another fire?” Flint asked, standing by the fence, dressed up nicely with his bag ready to go.
“Yea, just a small one though...it's fine. Get in the van,”
“Kay!” He grinned and walked over to the big white van, opening the side and letting Paris hop in.
“All right everyone!” Marina called to the pokémon, “Behave while I'm gone! I'll be back tonight!”
The pokémon called back to her in good byes and Arcanine escorted her to the van, watching her get in and then pull out, heading down the dirt road and into town.