Chapter One : Empathy
As usual, a violet-haired female would rise from her place in bed within her cottage…
As usual, the sun would rise and fall without the slightest bit' of company to come.
She would tend to her plants and sing softly to herself, hopelessly awaiting the day that some sort of event would occur to cure her of her boredom.
Others found joy in many different instances, but matters were quite different for the violette. Emotions were a complex enigma for her- but they were often not her own. This particular female felt a range of different emotions, all shaped together like the most ornate, and oftentimes sloppiest of floral arrangements.
Lanthe was her name. A name translating to "violet flower"… She quite liked it, so much so that she had willingly dyed her own hair a lovely hue of lavender. Adoring nature had come to her like breathing at a young age when she had tended the garden with her mother on multiple different occasions. Flowers were her favorite company, for they were incapable of feeling mental pain.
Bearing a pain others would be incapable of understanding, Lanthe chose to store herself away within a cottage a few miles away from the closest town where she would be incapable of picking up on the mental pain of others. But how, you may ask, does one feel mental pain without interaction?
Lanthe never quite understood it herself, she simply knew she was different and felt things in a vibrant palette of colors. She oftentimes wished she'd be able to go into town more often, but whenever she did she would become overrun with fatigue. Some days a mental pain would fill her body so great that it would dampen her mood for the rest of the day. While she knew this pain was not her own, it had become almost unbearable as she had aged… The troubles of struggling authorities eager to feed their families was simply not comparable to a child screaming for its toy.
She herself had read of such a condition within an old book she had stumbled upon in the library. It talked highly of hypersensitive people with wonderful intuition. So wonderful in fact that they would unconsciously pick up on the feelings of others and could often tell when they were lying. They referred to this as being an "empath", but the thought of it frightened Lanthe. She chose to leave the book in its place and not think too hard on it. After all, such a thing was bordering upon witchcraft she felt… And she did not wish to be stoned to death or water boarded above all things.
Unsure of how to treat her own emotions, she brought herself away from the village and chose instead to live in isolation. While she knew it was for the best, an unbearable feeling of boredom often burdened her. She had taken up more side hobbies than she knew what to do with, and even they had begun to make her doze off.
With a sigh, the small girl strolled through her quaint cottage towards an outfit on the bed. The outfit was a one-pieced adorned in lace, ribbons and bows with princess sleeves that ran down from the wrists. It bore a lovely shade of lavender and cream and bordered on the edge of Victorian with a petticoat underneath the skirt to maintain a regal silhouette. She dressed herself slowly, careful not to rip a pair of lace-twined tights. When she had finally put on outfit, the violette slipped into a pair of short lavender heels and hesitantly approached the door.
She needed plant fertilizer quite desperately, otherwise she wouldn't have even thought to step outside. With another nervous breath, she slowly pushes open the stone door of the underdeveloped cottage and peers around outside with a set of nervous, sky-blue irises.
"Alright, you should be fine today… Just grab the fertilizer and come right back. You had that herbal tea before you left to calm your nerves, so surely everything will turn out fine." Lanthe whispered silently to herself, balling one tiny fist in determination. Without another word to herself, she shuts the door behind her and begins her usual stroll throughout the forest and onto the path towards civilization.
After an hour or so of walking, the jittery young girl finally hit civilization- a small, plant-covered town by the name of Temaz. For such a small place, Lanthe was often surprised that she still received emotional backlash… Still, though it wasn't always so persistent, it was very unenjoyable when it did happen.
"Just going to the fertilizer, right to the fertilizer…" She told herself, anxiously moving over towards the gardening store before she heard murmuring voices whisper out from the building beside her.
"Isn't that that weird girl who lives in that cottage…? She's not an eyesore, that's for sure. Do you think perhaps she's settled down?" A man whispers over towards his friend, so-called friend snickering moments afterwards.
"Oh, so you're going to try her out now? I wouldn't bother, she seems rather creepy… I'll bet she's a witch. In fact, I've heard she lives all alone… I figured she might as well have a Pokemon of sorts but I'm not seeing one with her." He answers, slyly staring over at the delicate female
"She's sure to have a Pokemon. How else would she be able to perform her daily chores, or plant as much as she does? Surely she wouldn't do it all herself. What an outright shame, such a waste of a pretty face." He answers with a sigh.
Upon hearing this, Lanthe's teeth grind against one another as she silently visualizes herself being stoned to death… or worse. This whole "witch" thing really wasn't something she was fond of… And to make matters worse, she felt a twinge of conflict in the man's words as he spoke. He likely had a wife… or perhaps a few other dating partners. Goodness, what a creep.
With a childish "humph", the violette strolled into her chosen store and began viewing their selection. She wondered what sort of plant she ought to tackle on planting next, ultimately deciding on chamomile before selecting a fresh package of fertilizer and a chamomile plant before strolling up towards the front counter.
"My, if it isn't Lanthe… It's been a while young lady, stopped by for fertilizer again? You're always in such a rush, it's not often I see such a hard-working gardener. Nowadays people just have their Pokemon do all of the work, quite sad really." The store owner rambles on, smiling over in the girl's direction. She seemed to show signs of age, but a kind smile sat plainly on her wrinkled features.
Though the elder's words were kind on the outside, she could mentally feel the sadness behind them. It left a bitter taste in her mouth for reasons the youth could likely guess, since she felt similarly. It was this sort of sadness that she did not mind empathizing with.
"I don't think those creatures are meant to have the purpose of slaving away on household chores and other human needs. Doing the work myself is more fulfilling anyways, though it comes off as strange to others…" She mutters almost absent mindedly, though she knew that the store owner agreed with her. The use of Pokemon as a source of labor had just begun to revolutionize around the elder's teenage years, so she had likely bonded to the creatures… Nowadays you needed a work permit of sorts just to own one.
"Oh, just ignore those who call you strange, Lanthe. They wouldn't understand the passion you put into your work. Now, dreary talk aside my dear, when are you going to bring me more of your lovely home-made tea?" The store owner inquires, this time her tone is a bit' more bright than before but Lanthe still cannot wave off her feeling of discomfort.
It was like this every time, it seemed. The owner of the store said such kind, sweet words… Yet, it was as if she couldn't fully appreciate them. It was hard to consider the kindness behind her words when a feeling of loss shone through to Lanthe quite vibrantly from the elder. What was it she had lost, she wondered? In fear of feeling more than she had wanted to, she had never tried asking.
"I'll bring some next time for sure." Lanthe promises with a smile. She hands over the cash required, counting her pennies sparingly before strolling out the door with her goods and only a slight feeling of discomfort in her chest. It was sure to fade so long as she left the town quickly, so before she could receive any more criticism she jumped back onto the trail towards her home and continued onwards.
Everything was going to be just as it was before… She told herself as she walked, yet this stirred nothing within her. There were times where Lanthe simply wasn't sure. Was it better to feel too much, or was it better to feel nothing? Was she making a mistake by stowing herself away? So long as she could create an environment that would harvest life, she felt as if she had some sort of purpose for existing…
Still, was that really enough?
Deep in unwanted thought, the Lolita continued to walk down her usual path until a glimmer of something caught her gaze. She stopped in her tracks, her bags clutched tightly in her hands as she slowly peered over towards what seemed to be a figure collapsed on the ground. Had it not been for a glimmering ornament in the figure's hair, she would hardly have noticed.
Confused, Lanthe wondered if she ought to approach the figure or not. Deciding against her better judgement, she set her bags down on the forest floor and slowly started to approach the lump of cloth on the ground. As her delicate heels crunched against the leaves, the figure before her fidgeted a bit' on the ground.
"… Is it a person?" Lanthe thought silently to herself, leaning over to peer over at the figure. The figure's clothes were covered in dew and appeared to be ripped in several places. She tried to observe its features, but the entity was covered in leaves and other foliage. Concerned over the fact that she may have just found a dead person, Lanthe brought herself down onto the forest flower to attempt to move the foliage off of whomever was buried underneath it.
As she uncovered the individual, she was able to observe more features. A tan top revealing a masculine midriff leading down to a dirtied pair of dark brown slacks and black boots… A brown scarf… and an odd necklace in the shape of an orb… Just who was this person? She continued piling leaves off of them, her eyes widening at the newly-uncovered man she had just found.
His facial features, as dirty as they are, looked quite gentle as he slept. He looked almost as if he belonged on the forest floor, and the disastrous humidity hardly harmed his appearance. His hair appeared to be a rich blonde color, but as it extended out towards the tips it possessed a sort of hombre effect with red tainting the ends. Odd, black arrows looked to have been painted across the folds of his eyes- yet they looked almost as if they had been tattooed neatly to the boy's skin.
As Lanthe continued to observe the boy in awe, she felt her heart jump with surprise as the boy's eyes shot open.
"… You… It's you, isn't it? I can tell… Your empathy, your concern… I can see it." The figure whispers weakly, deep brown eyes focused intensely into the girl's cyan irises. Before Lanthe could even dare breathe, the toned man instantly grasped at the red and white orb necklace that had been dangling around his neck. He tore the orb off from the chain and with one swift moment, shoved his hand towards Lanthe's chest.
Confused, Lanthe's mind flooded with fear and her chest filled with pain as she peered down before her to see the man's hand phasing through her chest cavity through a bright veil of red and white light. She let out a scream, her insides burning and spasming as they struggled to merge with the object he had implanted into her essence.
At this, the odd-natured man grinned and brought himself up into a more stable sitting position. He shut his eyes, another bright veil of light concentrating around his back. In a moment, a set of wing-like appendages materialized out from his back and flexed throughout the air.
Though the pain still shot through her body like wild fire, the violette forced herself up onto two unsturdy legs and shot the entity one last look of absolute bewilderment before taking off towards her cottage in absolute fear and dismay. She wasn't sure what she had just witnessed or what he had done to her, but her fight or flight instincts were telling her to run, and that the individual she had just uncovered was abnormal and dangerous.
"Wait!" A voice called out from behind her, but she let her legs carry her through the foliage, scraping her skin at every turn and harming her joints as she struggled to run in her heels. After a few more moments of running at top speed, she was within doorstep of her home before she heard the voice again.
"I said wait, dammit!" It came yet again, and before Lanthe could hurl open the door a gust of wind hit her like a propeller, throwing her violet hair all over her face and across her eyes. The figure from before landed gracefully on its feet in front of her from above with its wing-like appendages outstretched and flapping as he landed which only proved to startle her more.
"What do you want from me?!" She cries out, covering her face with hands as if he were going to reach out and sock her across the face.
With an exasperated sigh, he outstretched one arm with the female's bags containing the fertilizer and herbs clasped within his fist. "You… forgot these." He says, eyes settling on her intensely. "Sorry for scaring you, I've just been uh… Looking for you for a while. No I mean, gosh that sounds weird… Listen, can you listen to me for a second without running away? I'm not going to hurt you I swear." He promises, bowing his head over towards her respectfully.
She stares at him, confused and almost unwilling to listen to him until he holds out her bags from earlier. She shakily takes the paper bags into her tiny arms, pushing past him and his gigantic wings as she opens up the door to her small cottage. She draws in a deep breath of air, turning to look at him as she peeks out from the door. "C-c-c-come in f-for some tea, w-wont you?" She murmurs, letting the door creak open as she places the bags on her counter and nervously begins the process of preparing tea.
He blinks at her, feeling rather puzzled at her sudden hospitality. Rather than questioning it, the avian-like boy finds his way into her cottage after struggling with his wings and shuts the quaint, wooden door behind him. He turns to look at the lavender-clad girl, a dorky expression clear on his face as his wings knock over some papers and other objects from a nearby desk.
"Sorry 'bout that! I'm not too used to these always being out… Right, you're probably confused. Well, for starters, my name is Aven. What's yours, miss?" He asks her, pulling out a dusty chair from her coffee table and taking a seat as he attentively peers up towards Lanthe as if he were dog awaiting a pat on the head.
"Lanthe." She answers, pouring him a cup of coco sea salt caramel tea before taking her seat across the table from him. She folds her two hands together, her usual pale tone flushed a shade of pink purely out of anxiety. "Please, do explain to me what is occurring…? Why were you laying in the middle of the forest outside of my home? Is this some sort of practical joke? My chest… It still burns, did I imagine that?" She asks him all at once, breathing out a large sigh after speaking.
"One question at a time!" He tells her, smiling pleasurably at the light, sweet taste of the tea she had prepared. Though she appeared to be frightened, she certainly didn't cut corners when it came to the care she had put into the beverage. Aven wasn't sure why, but this increased his fondness of the girl.
"You haven't imagined anything. Your pain you're feeling is temporary. It'll bother you for another couple of days or so, but it should wear off by then." He tells her, leaning in closer and keeping eye contact with the girl in a sympathetic attempt to comfort her. "I have been looking for you for a week or so… I heard about you and got so excited that I couldn't stop looking! Of course, this means that I haven't really been eating or drinking properly… I guess the heat finally got to me and I collapsed! Pretty stupid of me, huh?" He says, smiling brightly over towards her.
"Is that really something to smile about?" Lanthe wonders to herself, resting one elbow against the table as she leaned against the palm of her delicate hand.
"Anyways…" Aven continues, taking another sip of tea before continuing. "I'm sure you've noticed that you're different than others, right?" He asks her, chocolate eyes fixated upon her thoughtfully.
"Different?" Lanthe echoes, her instinctive empathetic responses instantly coming to mind. She pouts at the mention of it and breaks eye contact with the boy. "I don't think I'm that different. I'm just a little more sensitive than other people, that's all." She huffs.
"Yeah, yeah… "Sensitive". We call people like you "empaths". It's nothing paranormal before you worry, it can actually be scientifically explained… To put it simply, the portion of your brain that controls emotional responses and intuition is larger than average. What seems obvious to you could be impossible for others to comprehend." Aven explains. While she didn't reply to this immediately, he knew she was listening so he continued to speak.
"This is where things get tricky to explain. Please listen with an open mind. Consider what you've just experienced, a try to believe me." He says.
Lanthe was still thinking over what he had said. To be honest, it was a huge relief of sorts. So… she wasn't a witch after all? She had thought maybe she was a freak, a monster… The way Aven put it made quite a bit' of sense, so much so that she almost didn't mind listening.
"I'm listening." She tells him, fixing her eyes upon him once more.
"Pokemon are very rarely treated like pets or friends nowadays with the new licensing law and with how hard it has become for trainers and coordinators to make a living. I'm sure you've noticed that they're treated more like cattle now, or housekeepers." He continues, hesitating every now and again to collect his thoughts. "There was an organization within our government that has been attempting to mix Pokemon DNA with humans in an attempt to essentially create humanized weapons with the ability of a Pokemon, but with the loyalty and intelligence of a person. They have been successful in some ways, but for the abilities to actually be activated, the person in question must share their conscious with a person that has that enhanced empathetic portion of their brain." He explains, waiting to see what she would say- though he did have much more to say.
It was quite a bit' to take in, but when Lanthe considered the big picture she wasn't all too surprised that their government would attempt such a thing. Resources were growing sparse, sure… Still, it was hard to see anyone experimenting on humans.
"So that orb you shoved into me was… your conscious? Does this mean we're connected or something?" She inquires thoughtfully.
"It was a programmed simulation orb of my consciousness. I have a matching one implanted into my chest with the program of someone with an empathetic mindset, so as soon as it came in contact with your consciousness it activated immediately. We need empathetic individuals for this project because the orbs act off of mental instinct. As you experience new emotions from others and your experiences, I'll acquire new abilities and knowledge as well. There's more science behind it, but I'm sure you understand the basic concept." He tells her, having had finished his tea in between sentences. He hoped she would be understanding at least, it was hardly an easy thing to explain.
"And it didn't occur to you to ask? I can hardly say that I want to be part of some sort of abrupt, dangerous contract. This is my first time hearing your name, after all… An explanation would've been better coming earlier rather than later." She scolds him, worry gnawing at her chest at the sound of all of this. She was enjoying her simple cottage life to an extent, but she would be lying if she were to say it didn't grow boring at times… Still, when she wished for excitement this wasn't exactly what she had pictured.
"Oh? I see, well I'm sorry but you're not given the option to decline according to the orders of the organization I work for. People like you are sparse, and we have a detrimental situation that has come up where we need all of the people we can get. Just think of it like you've been drafted!" He tries to explain optimistically, a smile still clear on his face in spite of the words flowing out from his lips.
"Drafted?!" Lanthe thinks to herself, her eyes widening in outrage. Why, the nerve of this man! Making himself all cozy in her home, only to tell her she's been drafted to some strange, paranormal-sounding organization. What an unbearable person! … Or perhaps he was a bird? … Whatever it was he was, he was unbearable!
"And what is this "detrimental situation" that is apparently stealing my cozy cottage and easy living away from me?" She asks.
"It's not happy news, I'm afraid… You see, individuals from other countries and even within our own country have long since figured out how to splice Pokemon DNA with humans. However, their method is asinine and unsafe… They corrupt the people they splice, and the people they corrupt are extremely dangerous. They're capable of tearing down buildings and killing in cold blood. The saddest thing is that they're originally children or adults whom have been kidnapped or sold to the market. It's our job to try and get into their heads and release their human conscious from the Pokemon's. This is perfect for you, because you can tell how the victim will be feeling… Even if it is difficult at first. The chemical reaction caused by them reaching an understanding will negate out the conscious of the Pokemon spliced within them, which will cause their corruptness to fade. We will not be killing them." He explains, drawing in a deep breath. He hoped everything would be make sense to the girl now, and that she would come with him without issue.
Lanthe continued to listen to him in silence. She dared not to interrupt, primarily because his story was just too interesting to pass up. Though what he was explaining sounded scary, she wasn't entirely against it… She wouldn't be murdering anyone, so maybe she would actually be able to be useful?
"I will abide by your wishes. I don't have a choice, but when you lay it all out I'm not against what you're saying. Although I will miss the comfort of my home…" She says, silently admiring the boy's wings as they lay by his sides. This would be who she would be working with? At least he seemed social able and kind.
"I'm happy that you understand. To be honest, I hate talking about all of that stuff. It's so serious." He says, sitting up from the coffee table and stretching a hand out towards her. "So how about it, partner? Ready to pack? The government site isn't all too bad, they have a nice garden and other facilities and-"
Aven continues speaking, wings flexing happily as he continues to talk the purple-haired female's ear off. Lanthe could only peer up at him and listen, silently accepting her role in a story that had been abruptly thrust upon her.
To think, this odd Pidgeotto mix would become her partner? She wasn't sure how it all worked, but as they packed her belongings, she felt a small feeling of excitement well up in her chest.
Though it wasn't your typical Pokemon adventure, it was her adventure nonetheless. How it would fold out would be left to the merciless and oftentimes nurturing hands of fate.