It's Time to Evolve

It was a somewhat grey afternoon. It wasn't warm or cold. There was next to no wind, so many believed there would be a possible storm on the way for the city. The clouds were rather low and filled the sky as far as the eye could see, but there was the slightest hint of the sun above trying its utmost to break through the monotone cotton candy separating the heavens from the plane below.

Yukiko Crescent was walking back from her shift at work. It had been a relatively early set of hours she had done today, so she had from now all to herself, and had decided to stop in at the local supermarket on her way back to her apartment, and back to Melody who was awaiting her return.

Melody...
For the past couple of nights, the little Chao had been overly excitable about every tiny thing, then as soon as she was spent, she was sleeping for hours and hours before waking back up to do the very same thing again. It was rather tiring for the snow leopard, as she was more often than not left to tidy up her companions mess left behind. 
She knew it wasn't entirely Melody's fault though. Not too long after these actions started, she looked up possible reasons behind sudden irritability and overloads of energy. Each and every result she found all came to the same conclusion.

Melody was close to evolving into an adult.

It was a very exciting time for both of them; Yukiko because her partner was going to be advancing into her adult form, which would not only make her stronger, but also more stable in terms of growth. While she loved the tiny Chao with all of her heart, her actions were very unpredictable at many intervals, stressing the feline out to no end, especially if she just happened to float off to chase something shiny. She only wanted to ensure the small creature was safe and sound after all.
For Melody, well the poor little Chao had no idea what was going on. She had left the garden and only returned part time with her partner to check up on things and keep the garden from falling back into disrepair like it was before. She hadn't seen her other friend, Cinder lately, but she determined he must be busy with his own companion, Caen. Oh well, it would only be a matter of time before they potentially met up again. The city wasn't that big, and that was coming from a Chao.
The little white and blue water creature was currently sitting on the back of one of the couches in the living room, flicking through channels on the TV across from her with a full sized remote. It looked quite adorable with her having to press right down on the buttons with her weight pressing the majority of her body on to it. She had grown accustomed to how to work the big screen though, as Yukiko had taught her how to change channels. That wasn't the only thing she knew though. Over time, Melody had been taught, or learned how to work many of the objects in her home by herself.

The small Chao had been feeling a lot more giddy than normal. She had been experiencing a strange bout of homesickness out of the blue, so she decided once her partner was home from work to ask if she could take a walk to her garden. She assured herself it was probably nothing big, and just that they hadn't visited her family in a while. Knowing Yukiko wouldn't have a problem with it, she turned off the TV, before floating over to the unit below to place the large buttons back where they should be. Afterwards, she flew back onto the couch and lay on one of the big cushions to go for a short nap.

Meanwhile back with Yukiko, she had finished her short shop in the market, and had even managed to get some small Chao treats for Melody. She had a very big love for cashew and pistachio nuts, so bought a bag each for the little teardrop shaped baby. 
Taking a moment to shuffle the bag in her hands, she fished her apartment keys out of her waist pocket, being mindful of the pen and notepad she also kept in there from her work. Her new uniform was so much more respectable now, but the waist pinny was something she always forgot about. Having her home keys in it gave it a little weight so she felt it there all the time. Pressing the card to the scanner, the door opened and she stepped into the spacious lobby area and called for a lift to come down. 
Once the lift got to her, she pressed her card again and hit the number "2" button on the panel to get to her floor. The doors closed, and in no time she was out and in front of her own front door, unlocking it to step inside.

Almost immediately, she was met by a frantic greeting as Melody was due to fly at her just about now.

Except she didn't. Yukiko had braced herself, only to find the apartment was in silence. 
A small twinge of worry passed through her, but she brushed it off as best as she could as she got to the kitchen to place the shopping bags down on the dining table.
Walking back into the living room area, Yukikos white tipped ears perked at the sound of very light snoring nearby, and as she looked over to the couches, she spotted a familiar bundle of white and blue curled up on one of the cushions. Melody looked so small when she sat on them, and it made a small gracious smile grow on her white muzzle. She was safe, that's all that mattered.

About ten minutes later, and after putting the shopping away properly, Yukiko took this time to go to her small partner and try to rouse her from her nap. If she stayed asleep now, she wouldn't sleep tonight. She carefully sat down on the other side of the couch and softly rocked the small Chao.

"Melody... Come on, you need to wake up and face the rest of today. I got you some of your favourite nuts too."

Melody slowly began stirring before sitting up and rubbing her eyes. As soon as she saw Yukiko's face, she gave a large smile, which quickly turned into a look of realisation, as told by her bobble turning into an exclamation mark. Yukiko tilted her head slightly in question.

"Chao! Chaoooo kik chikk Kiko ch ch!"

To any other, that would just be regular Chao babble, but living with one really helped understand their language so much more. Yukiko raised her ears a little and looked down to Melody who was now full of energy and hovering off of the cushion excitedly.
"You want to go visit your garden? Well, alright I suppose so seeing as we haven't been in a while.I supposed you're a little homesick, right?"

She got it in one. Melody was so happy to be going back that she began circling her partner happily, chirruping and cooing while The feline put on her casual clothing and a light blue cardigan over the top. Grabbing her bag, the two made their way out of the apartment to travel out to the Chao garden just outside of the city. 

The walk was quite uneventful, and the only thing slightly out of the ordinary was just how excited Melody was to get to the garden. She was always happy to go, but today t was as if it was drawing her to it somehow. 

Yukiko knew. She knew the real reason why she needed to go. 
It was time.

As the violet leopard crossed over the invisible bridge, Melody soared over the waters quickly, and waited impatiently at the entrance; the mouth of the waterfall. The moment she reached the other side, Melody dashed off again right under the waterfall hidden doorway. Yukiko could see her companion getting more and more antsy, so she picked up the pace and jogged through to get into the garden herself.

She was greeted by the many coos and calls of the other inhabitants inside. Chao of all colours and ages were playing, napping, or eating, but took at least thirty seconds to come over and say hello to her. It was the same every time. They were such gentle creatures, and she could honestly just stay here all day if she was able to. 

Looking around, Yukiko spotted Melody having an excitable chat with one of the older Chao that lived in the garden. She could see the older one looking quite exasperated at just hoe much energy the smaller and younger Chao had, and a rather large sweat drop appeared on the poor creature. He didn't want to be rude as he knew the typical actions and behaviour associated with what was about to happen, but she had just woken him from a well needed nap.
Yukiko felt terrible, and walked over to pick the smaller bundle up. "I apologise so much, Chaosky. Melody has just been overloaded today. please go back to your slumber and I will assure you she will leave you be."

The older Chao smiled appreciatively as he lay back down to return to the land of dreams. Yukiko turned her attention to Melody and saw the sudden sheepish expression. In her outburst she hadn't even realised that the older Chao wanted to sleep.
"No Melody, you must be careful. Not everyone is awake at the same time as you." The female scolded softly. Melody looked up to her with big watery eyes before nodding gently, and asking to be let down. she nuzzled Yukikos hand before looking up at her with an unusual blank expression.
The next thing she knew, Melody simply sat down and stared straight ahead unblinking. It was quite unnerving, and for a brief moment, Yukiko grew slightly concerned. Then, just as she was about to reach out to touch her partner, a bubble surrounded itself all around the smaller Chao.

A small gasp escaped from the violet feline as she realised what was now happening right before her very eyes. This was the first time she would witness this sort of thing, and she was beyond excited to see what would happen.
As the minutes wore on, the bubble shaped similarly to a typical Chao head, and ever so steadily grew more solid with the passing seconds.
All this time, Yukiko was wondering what type of Chao would emerge from the cocoon. Considering the amount of flying melody did, she thought perhaps a flying type, but she also did her fair share of other things, such as running and swimming. She could end up a mix of two as well, which was less known, but not completely uncommon either.
A small chime sounded, indicating that the evolution was complete, and the bubble began growing transparent again. Slowly but surely, Yukiko began to see the results of Melodys evolution. 

In front of her was an adult Hero Chao, a Teal coloured halo with a light lilac inner colouring. Her headpiece resembled fins but also hair, and her tail was longer than before, ending in what could only be described as a slight fish tail. Her wings were a similar colour scheme to her halo, and were quite a bit bigger than before, along with looking rather feather-like as well. 
The tips of her hands,chest, feet and tail had also gained similar colouring to the halo and wings, but in lighter shades.

Melody had turned into a hybrid swim-fly Chao, and she looked beautiful.

The cocoon faded away, and Melody blinked quietly for a few moments before moving her now much larger head up to look at Yukiko, slightly confused. She felt very strange; like a new purpose had been given to her. the pent up energy she felt just minutes before was gone, only to be replaced by a relaxed feeling, a stronger feeling.

She felt so much better. What had happened?

"You finally evolved. Well done Melody. You're amazing." Yukiko explained as if she read her companions mind. "Wait a moment, I will take a photo of you so you can see how you look now."

A small camera was brought out and Yukiko quickly snapped a couple of photos from different angles to show her full body off. 
As soon as Melody took a look at the pictures, she audibly gasped at her new shape and size. She was now around the same size as the older Chao in the garden. This was amazing.
What she didn't fully understand however was why she felt so weird before, and why couldn't she just do it at home? 

Again, Yukiko knew she was wondering these things, as she was not a dumb creature, only curious. "There is a mystical magic in Chao gardens that you automatically tap into when you stay here, Melody. We do not have that magic at home, so in order for you to age up into your current form, you had to come here. that is why you were so full of energy and then sleepy all the time; your body was getting ready to evolve. You are very special creatures because this magic can only be used by your own, and nobody else can take it from you."

The look of sheer awe given as a response indicated just how amazed the now larger Chao felt. Her partner knew so much about her kind than she did, and she was so lucky to have her guiding her along the way.

Melody babbled her sincere thanks and bounced up into Yukiko's arms to give her a hug. 
"Thank you, Kiko..."