Chapter 14 of Orreian Tales and the introduction of Kristee to the story! She's Leah's longtime friend and like an aunt to Kajex and Kaja. As you will soon see... she's a bit clingy with them.

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It was a casual day for Kaja as she fumbled through the DR District of town. She was currently Leah sized carrying LOTS of bags of groceries for her mother. She was almost at Leah’s front door when she nearly dropped a jar of pickles for her.

“H-Hey mom it’s me!” Kaja stammered as she fumbled to the door, “O-Open up please! I-I’m gonna drop everything!”

With next to no delay Kaja was greeted by her mother at the door, who quickly took some of Kaja’s burden before letting her inside and shutting the door with her foot, quickly noticing a lack of Kajex.

“Where’s your brother?” Leah asked curiously, “I thought you both were to help buy groceries.”

“O-Oh Kajex got called into work unexpectedly today,” Kaja stuttered as she set her groceries on the dining room table, “Soooo… I had to do everything solo today.”

Leah set her groceries beside Kaja’s as the zoroark tried to catch her breath. When Kaja tried to begin to help put all the groceries away, Leah simply held her daughter’s hand and gestured her towards the couch with a stern look on her face.

“Sweetie, you go sit down after all you’ve done for me already,” Leah said in a stern tone, “I can handle this part myself.”

“I-If you say so mom,” Kaja stammered as she walked over to the couch.

Kaja plopped onto the sofa before she shrank back down to her normal size. She laid down in one of the many bed sized cushions and took a load off while Leah moved all the groceries into place in record time.

“You know I’m okay to at least help put it all away,” Kaja remarked awkwardly.

“I know you are sweetheart,” Leah remarked as she put something away, “But your well being is more important than putting some Oran Berries away.

Between each grocery put away Leah would glance at her phone and reply to some texts sent by an unknown individual to Kaja. Leah had a soft smile on her face with each message sent.

“Who’re you talking to?” Kaja asked as she adjusted her position a bit. “Oh it’s nothing sweetie,” Leah awkwardly chuckled, “Just an old friend of mine blowing up my messages.”

Leah was still putting away her groceries, but was soon caught off guard by another message her mystery friend sent her, a bit of an awkward sweat dripping off the side of her cheek.

“Feel free to relax here all day,” Leah remarked, “It seems that same friend of mine is visiting soon.”

“Wait… today?” Kaja asked awkwardly.

“Mhm,” Leah nodded.

Leah put away the last bit of groceries before joining Kaja in the living room, smiling as she saw her plopped against the cushions like a little doll like she always did when she was little.

“You’ll recognize her instantly,” Leah smiled, “She’s been out of Orrei for the past few years and she’s just now moving back in.”

“H-Huh?” Kaja stuttered as her heart skipped beats.

Time passed by now as Kaja awkwardly laid there sweating bullets. It felt like it was hardly a few minutes when however, a gentle knock was heard at the door followed by a faint, feminine giggle.

“Come on in Kristee!” Leah exclaimed, “The door’s unlocked!”

“K-Kristee!?” Kaja stammered, remembering that name VERY well.

With that one sentence, in walked a female floatzel, around seven and a half feet tall wearing not much more than a light blue hoodie, a red crop top, dark blue short shorts, some golden bracelets and anklets, and a red and white one piece bathing suit resting on her shoulder. She had a kind and carefree aura around her as she stepped into the room.

“It’s been ages Leah!” Kristee squealed as Leah stood up and pulled Kristee into a hug.

“I haven’t seen you since Kajex and Kaja were still in high school!” Leah exclaimed at the top of her lungs.

Kaja meanwhile awkwardly watched from the sidelines, remembering Kristee from their childhood all too well despite the fact Kajex took the full frontal assault of Kristee’s affection 99% of the time.

“Just left the orientation for my new lifeguard job at the local community pool,” Kristee began as she glanced at her swimsuit, “But, what have you been UP to this past 3 years?”

“Well, been just running my little bakery as usual,” Leah smiled as she let go of Kristee, “You should ask Kaja here what has been REALLY happening since you moved to Alola for a while.”

Kristee looked at the couch to see the unfamiliar face of Kaja sitting there awkwardly. She hadn’t seen her once since she was split from Kajex after all so it was jarring to say the least for the clueless floatzel.

“Wait… is that actually you Kaja?!” Kristee stammered in awe.

“I-In the flesh,” Kaja blushed, “I-It’s a long-”

Kristee JUMPED onto Kaja and yanked her into a tight hug after tossing her swimsuit aside, smothering her face with her chest as she snuggled the HECK outta her.

“OH MY GOD YOU’RE EVEN CUTER AS A ZOROARK THAN A RIOLU!!!” Kristee exclaimed at the top of her lungs.

“You should see her and Kajex side by side sometime, “Leah giggled, “It’s even better!”

Kaja could hardly breathe or think in this situation. She remembered Kristee being a hugger, but she got a LOT worse over the years. She felt like her lungs were being smashed down to size.

“I would KILL to see that!” Kristee smiled, “Where is Kajex anyways? I wanna see my little buddy!”

“Sadly he’s at work today,” Leah replied.

“Awwwww no fair!” Kristee sighed in disappointment.

Kristee finally let go of Kaja after a bit longer, leaving the zoro gasping for air as she began to think clearly again, looking at Kristee as she pieced her thoughts back together bit by bit.

“A-Anyways…” Kaja panted as she sat up again, “C-Can I start explaining?”

“Oh go ahead dear!” Kristee perked up, “I didn’t mean to get so forceful with that hug!”

“D-Don’t sweat it,” Kaja stammered before she began.

Kaja took a loooot of time to explain everything, from how they met Thorya, to how she and Kajex were finally split apart, to even meeting people like Cherry. It was a LOT for the overly out of date Kristee to take in, but she got the basic gist of it.

“That’s a story and a half right there!” Kristee exclaimed, “I’m shocked you’re still intact after all of that!”

“You’re telling me!” Leah exclaimed, “These two have been through so much!”

Kaja was blushing redder than her hair, knowing how much had happened and how much more is bound to happen in the near future. She was simply speechless over everything. Kaja clearly wasn’t the same edgy little kid like she was when she last saw her.

“And the ride doesn’t seem to be ending now that Kajex knows a witch,” Kaja remarked as she clenched her vest.

“And who knows what’s bound to follow!” Kristee exclaimed as she hugged Kaja again, “You and Kajex need some long overdue auntie Kristee love!”

Kaja was cut off from her oxygen flow again, face buried in Kristee’s chest again as Leah awkwardly chuckled as she watched, seeing Kaja flail around as she tried to grasp for more air once again.

“I missed my little buddies more than anything!” Kristee exclaimed as she swung Kaja around, “And now I come to see they’ve changed so much! No faaaaair!”

Kaja was clearly trying to catch her breath, Leah noticing how little Kaja was actually able to breathe.

“Kristee dear…” Leah awkwardly chuckled as she tapped the floatzel’s shoulder, “You may wanna ease your grip on Kaja a bit before she passes out.”

“O-Oh whoops!” Kristee chuckled as she loosened her grip as her tails spun around, “I always forget!”

Kristee let go of Kaja again as her eyes spun around like she was dizzy. Of course Kristee was still in a snuggly mood, but she recalled ooooone little quirk that Kajex had that was too fun to pass up testing on Kaja.

“Mind if I see if this still works at least?” Kristee giggled as she booped Kaja’s nose out of the blue.

It was so sudden that Kaja couldn’t even say something along the lines of, “Wait stop!” The boop made Kaja shrink even more than a boop to Kajex would do, making her dwindle aaaaall the way down to the size of a doll, VERY much to Kristee’s delight.

“HOW DO YOU GET CUTER THAN YOUR BROTHER WITH EACH INTERACTION?!” Kristee exclaimed as she grabbed the flustered Kaja.

“Kaja hasn’t had as much training as Kajex,” Leah chuckled, “So when you do that the results are more… extreme.”

Kaja begrudgingly accepted the doll treatment. She remembered how many times Kajex had suffered through this and figured that she couldn’t escape the overly attached auntie anytime soon.

“I’m gonna have to shoot Kajex a text that I won’t be home for a while,” Kaja thought as Kristee planted a smooch that covered her whole face, trying to reach for her phone.

Leah knew she couldn’t stop her friend from utterly crushing Kaja with an obscene amount of love, so she just decided to stroll over to the kitchen to grab some snacks for the two to munch on.

“Well, guess I’ll be having you two around for a good while,” Leah remarked as Kaja was swung around in another hug, “Want me to make anything?”

“Oh I'm good!” Kristee exclaimed, “I ate a big lunch before I came over.” “Kaja?” Leah asked.

Kaja looked like she was about to hurl. Her eyes were spinning around and her body was behaving with ragdoll physics. Clearly she was unable to even think anymore.

“Just give her like… an hour,” Kristee awkwardly chuckled as she cuddled with the zoroark on the couch.

“I forgot how clingy you get with those two alright,” Leah mumbled with an awkward smile.

Kaja was now trapped there for seemingly hours, unable to pry herself away while her mother awkwardly watched from the sidelines. Worst of all, they both knew Kajex was going to get the worst end of it all when he eventually meets with auntie Kristee once again.

“And I doubt that’s ever going to change no matter how much they grow up,” Kristee giggled as she snuggled her cheek against Kaja’s…