Shiro does the trick, but her magic acted a bit too much with a little nudge

Chapter by Nenen

You watch Shiro through the reflection, sensing her magic flowing. You pay attention as she looks at her paws and… "Presto!" There is no paper there, but… "I… I did it! I di-" Her paws are gone too… a smooth patch of fur on the spot they were. "Wh-whaaaa!?!?!?!"

"Shiro! Don't panic! I can still feel them. I can still feel your paws moving somewhere!" Honestly, you were freaking out as much as Shiro, but your own hands looked fine, and you could indeed feel hers, so it must be okay in some way. "Please calm down!" You know that phrase almost never works but you had to try something!

“Y-you do? but…” You felt her paws close and open. Still not used to feeling, well not your body, but her body move on its own. Thankfully she seemed to calm down a bit at that. “I-I can feel them. But, they aren’t here? Are they invisible?” She tried to touch the spot but her arms moved through the empty space like nothing. “Uhhh… Shirou? I’m starting to panic again.” Yeah, you could feel your shared heart start to beat faster. Okay, think. Her paws disappeared when she tried to make the paper disappear. But they haven’t stopped existing, since you can feel them. The times you did the paper trick you didn’t feel like you were destroying and creating a new paper. More like you were… taking things out of a pocket or something. Your eyes widen.

“That’s it! Shiro! It’s the trick! Your hands went with the card! You just have to finish the trick and they'll come back!” She looks at you surprised. “I’m pretty sure they aren’t gone. Just… somewhere. If you call them back they’re sure to come back to you. Just… focus, and remember what I did when I did the trick. You can do this Shiro, I believe in you.” You smile at her and see her mumbling something to herself. She takes a deep breath and nods, extending her arms. She closes her eyes for a moment, before opening them up. “PRESTO!!” She screams and for a moment you think you saw the air move as there, in her arms, are both of her paws, perfectly connected and fine. The paper is also there, though it looks a bit crumpled. “I did it… I did it ! Shirou I did it!!” Shiro is jumping in place, kind of like you did yesterday. You chuckle a bit and smile at her.

“Yes you did, Shiro. I knew you could do it!” There was a scare along the way, but she finally did it. She finally did her magic. Well, kind of. "Although we should figure out what just happened there." Shiro stops her jumping and makes an 'oh right' face. "So… do you have an idea what happened?"

"Um… I'm not sure. I tried to give a little nudge to that feeling you showed me. My magic. I asked to make the paper disappear and… that happened."

"I see… so just a little nudge?" You think for a bit. What could have been different. What you did was try to guide that feeling to get it to where you wanted it to be and then told it what to do. Maybe… "... is it control?" You muse aloud making Shiro tilt her head. "Ah, sorry. Was thinking about what we did that was different. I think it may be control? When I did the trick I had guided the magic all the way rather than give it a push. And when it was where I wanted I told it what to do rather than ask. So… maybe you used your magic too strongly? If that makes sense."

"Oh." Shiro looks defeated. "Figures i can't even do this right…".

"Shiro-" "I know, believe in myself! But… you did the trick too. You did it perfectly, multiple times. And I… now that I know I can do it, I just mess up again. I'm not good at this, am I?" Guess you should have seen this coming. How long has she tried, only to fail? How many sleepless nights, how many humiliations, how many times has she told herself 'one more time'... only to fail. But…

"Shiro. You did not fail. You used your magic for the first time ever, of course you won't know how to control it well. Mine was a lucky guess. That's it, I was just lucky and have no idea if I can even do the other tricks. But you Shiro, this isn't luck, this is your own determination showing results. Maybe you messed up this time, but so what? I know you're not going to let this get you down, not this time. So how about we keep practicing until you get it right? I believe in you Shiro, so please. Believe in yourself too." Shiro looks at you with tears in her eyes.

"Mama…" eh? "You're right… you're right Shirou!" She wipes off jwr tears and picks another paper. "Time to practice!"

And so she does. She practiced for like two whole hours. At first she kept making ber paws disappear, but then, little by little, less of them were going away. First the shape returns, then the paw pad at her palm, then her fingers and their paw pads. It took many tries, but Shiro managed to get enough control to not make her paws disappear.

"Presto!" She does the trick for like the… 207th time? You lost count at 163. She's better at not making her paws disappear, but the paper always comes back crumbled or torn. Still, it is progress. "I think I get it now. This feeling, this magic is mine so… I'm the one that controls it and tells it what to do. But because I was just asking vaguely…"

"... it went to the highest output right away, and the trick didn't fail, but took way more than what was needed." You finish for her. "It doesn't know how much power to use, you are the one that decides that. I think. That sounds right, right?" Shiro giggles.

"You're right. Very right, you know, right?" You both laugh at that. "I still take too long though. So I have to practice even more!" *Groowwwwl*. "... after lunch."

"Hehe, I guess you're right. Take a break and get your meal Shiro." You say as your vision fades from the glass to what she is seeing. Shiro goes around the kitchen looking for food when she stops suddenly.

"Oh noes, I ran out of potatoes." Are there potatoes in this world? You guess it makes sense. You just… didn't expect it for some reason. "I'll have to go to Uncle Max's shop. Um… Shirou? Are you there?"

"Yes, still here. I'm seeing what you see right now."

"Oh good! Now I can introduce you to Uncle Max!" Wait, what!? Before you can speak Shiro makes a rush to gather some things and basically jumps out from her door, before starting a sprint towards another part of her neighborhood.

"S-Shiro! I-I don't think that's a good idea." You talk to her, sort of disoriented from running without moving yourself.

"Why not?"

"First, ise your thoughts, I don't want you to be seen as having gone crazy and talking to herself aloud. Second… I'm not sure anyone would react well to hearing a family member suddenly has a passenger in their mind and body."

"Oh. But I'm talking with myself. You're just another me, right~?" You sigh, but feel a smile at her playfulness with that question. "And Uncle Max is cool! He's not really family, but he feels like an uncle so I call him that. I'm sure he'll like you and… I don't want to keep you in there forever, you deserve time out too, especially after all the help you've given me."

"Shiro, I think you may be going too fast with thi-" "We're here!" You pay attention to your shared vision and indeed, a greenhouse is in front of you. This is the place? "And I'm not going fast. It's just… I'm just super grateful, you know. I… can finally make my dream come true, all thanks to you so… I just want to thank you properly."

"Shiro, I didn't do much."

"But you did. You made me realize I had magic, you encouraged me at my lowest, and still do now. You believe in me and…"

"Who're you talking to?" Both you and Shiro scream at the sudden voice behind her. When she looks at the source you're able to see that the one there is a Sceptile. More human looking but still clearly a Sceptile with a Pikémon head. They are wearing a striped shirt and jeans, and seem to be carrying a bag over their shoulder. A straw of what in their mouth. "Hey there Shiro. How's your day so far?"

"Uncle Max, don't scare me like that." He's Uncle Max? "And it has been great! I finally did it… I did magic Uncle Max! I actually did it today!" Shiro is jumping in front of the smiling older pokémon, who just chuckles at her enthusiasm. "And all I had to do was meet another me that was in my mirror! Or mind! Not sure!" Aaaaand his expression goes blank. Eyes wide as he look at Shiro intently.

"Shiro…" you groan. Hopefully he takes it as a joke.

Suggestions:

•He plays it off as a joke. Just assuming Shiro's being playful.

•He takes it serious, wanting to have a good talk with Shiro.

•He takes it bad, thinking a ghost Pokémon is playing tricks on her.

•Something else.