Learning to Love
A Scizor stood in the center of a clearing about 20 feet in diameter, panting hard. At one end of the field, a human of about 17 looked at him with concern.
'Damn it,' he thought to himself. 'Scizor's being pushed too hard. He's already had to fight nine other Pokemon.' Still, he reflected, his opponent could only have one Pokemon left, so maybe he'd be able to pull off a quick win and get to a Pokemon Center.
Zach Edwards sighed to himself. This was the price for being as famous as he was. He was currently in Hearthrome City, having passed by the Gym there when he had first arrived. He hadn't had any Pokemon with him at the time that would be very effective against the legions of Ghost type Pokemon he would have to face, so he had simply continued past it, managing to acquire every other badge. Now that he had a recently evolved Honchkrow and Drapion, he liked his oddsf a little better, so he had returned.
Unfortunately, when one accomplishes as much as Zach had, one tends to get a little famous. Upon arriving in Hearthrome, he was set upon by a crowd of no less than 15 people all demanding one-on-one battles with him. Not being one to back down from any challenge, Zach accepted. However, 15 straight matches would take a serious toll on even a team as strong as his, and one by one his Pokemon had fallen to the sheer numbers more than anything else, seeing as the Trainers of Hearthrome weren't particularly tough. Scizor was the last member of his team still able to stand up. Well, second-to-last, but in minor battles like this Zach always, always saved his ace until the very end.
"You are as strong as they say," called his opponent, whose name Zach couldn't recall. After the eighth Trainer, he had simply stopped trying.
"Well, if I wasn't, I wouldn't have this, would I?" he responded, reaching into his coat and pulling out the Sunnyshore City Gym Badge.
"Of course, that doesn't matter, cuz I'm gonna beat you right now," the other Trainer called.
'Oh yeah?' Zach thought to himself. 'Would you be this y if you hadn't had 14 other goons to wear my team down?'
His opponent reached to his belt and pulled out his last Pokeball. Enlarging it, he tossed it toward the center of the battlefield with a casual flick of his wrist. Upon colliding with the ground it split in half and released a large quantity of glowing white energy. The energy writhed around for about a second before quickly taking shape and solidifying into a burly Machoke. It flexed its arms slightly before staring down its opponent and growling menacingly.
Scizor cringed, and Zach groaned inwardly; the type-disadvantage meant that Scizor probably wasn't going to walk away from this. If he had been in top condition, it wouldn't really have mattered, because this Machoke couldn't be more than level 25-30 at the very most, as opposed to Scizor, who was level 59 going on 60. However, battered as he was, Scizor would probably lose.
Still, that didn't mean Zach was going to give up, and Scizor would sooner rip off his wings than surrender. Therefore, Zach gave a quick hand signal, to which Scizor responded by charging forward. The other Trainer signed as well, and the Machoke braced itself. In this day and age, if you tried verbally giving commands to your Pokemon, you would instantly label yourself a greenhorn and/or an idiot, and you were liable to get laughed out of the room. Doing so flat out told your opponent and his Pokemon exactly what to expect, which made it so pathetically easy to counter. The norm now was to work out a personal signal system with your Pokemon.
Scizor closed the gap between himself and his opponent and raised both his claws over his head. The Machoke raised its forearms in front of itself as Scizor brought both of them down in a powerful X-Scissor, leaving deep gashes in the proffered limbs. However, this fleeting triumph was soon lost, because before Scizor had a chance to pull away the Machoke had grabbed his neck and one of his claws. Hoisting him over its head, the Machoke turned on the spot and pile drived him headfirst into the ground. He did not get back up.
'Damn Vital Throw,' Zach thought, pulling Scizor's Pokeball from his belt and recalling him. He sighed dramatically as his opponent gave a whoop.
"Now you've only got one left," he called. Zach shook his head and grinned. This guy obviously had just followed the crowd and didn't actually know all that much about him. Otherwise he wouldn't be excited at all.
Turning to the figure that had been standing beside him throughout the match with crossed arms and a relaxed posture, Zach sighed again. "Well, what do you think? Time to surrender?"
Zephyr grinned slightly and responded the way he always did whenever Zach asked him this question. "Who are you, and what have you done with Zach Edwards?"
Zach laughed appreciatively. "I didn't think so."
Zephyr turned to look at his opponent and his face took on a slightly bored look. "This'll be cake," he said. "I won't even need the type advantage. The only reason this thing won against Scizor is because he was already so worn down in the first place. The type disadvantage didn't even have much to do with it." Of course, Zephyr hadn't actually spoken out loud. Zach had tried several times to teach him the human language, but his vocal cords seemed to be unable to make any sound other than his battle cry. So instead, he communicated using a mental channel, thinking his words directly into Zach's brain, or whomever else he might be trying to talk to. Being a Psychic type had its advantages.
If anyone blinked at that second, they might have assumed that Zephyr had simply vanished into thin air. In the next second, the Machoke roared in pain as a rather nasty slice appeared in its back, spouting blood. Then Zephyr appeared in front of it, crouched in the typical Gallade fighting pose: body tilted sideways, one arm forward, one arm back, both blades extended.
"Too slow," he taunted, wearing a wicked grin before vanishing in a blur of speed.
Zephyr was not like normal Gallade. It was true that Gallade were typically fairly fast creatures, but Zephyr had speed that was several levels beyond that. Ever since he'd been born, he'd always been just a little bit quicker than the others at his age, and with each evolution, his speed multiplied. When he'd finally become a Gallade, it had exploded to the point that he could match a Pikachu that was using Agility, which was quite easily saying something. Most opponents considered it a major accomplishment if they even managed to make contact with Zephyr more than three times. As for defeating him, well, even the Elite Four themselves were starting to wonder if that was even possible for anyone less than Cynthia herself.
The Machoke looked about itself in confusion, trying to get a lock on Zephyr. A sudden rustle of movement above its head caused it to look up just in time to have its nose broken as Zephyr stamped on its face. Flipping neatly in the air, he landed lightly and stepped to the left as the Machoke attempted to punch him in the gut. Then, before the Machoke even had time to register that its blow had missed, Zephyr had grabbed its wrist with his left hand, brought his right hand over his head and swung it down hard on the Machoke's exposed upper arm.
The was a very audible CRACK, which was immediately followed by the sound of the Machoke howling in pain as it clutched its now useless right arm. The sound was muffled suddenly when Zephyr buried his fist into the creature's face, and when it took its hand away to grasp its jaw, he took the chance to dig his right arm blade deep into its exposed chest, leaving a bloody trench behind. Then he was gone in another blur, only to reappear in mid-air behind the Machoke a second later. He stay put barely long enough to deal a powerful spin quick to the back of its head before he was gone again, this time appearing in a crouching position in the front of his opponent as he swept its legs out from under it and caused it to fall to the ground.
Zach looked away from the rather pathetic scene and glanced across the field at his opponent. He was very gratified to see the boy was as white as a sheet and not nearly so arrogant now. Zephyr had that effect on people.
'Where's that ego now?' Zach thought mockingly. 'Or have you realized just how far out of your depth you are?'
Zephyr paused in his attacks and surveyed his opponent. The Machoke had been reduced to a bloody, quivering fetal position on the ground, moaning piteously. Zephyr thought that surely it must have had enough, but then it sensed that the attacks had ceased and stood up again, roaring with anger.
"Oh cut the dramatics," Zephyr said to it. "You're half dead."
"Shut up you little prick!" it roared at him. "I'll paste your damn head into the ground!" Zephyr laughed a little derisively. Normally he was a very agreeable person, but when battle rolled around he just couldn't stop himself from throwing out a little trash talk.
"And this will be after you catch me, right?" he mocked.
"Alright Zephyr," Zach called from the end of the field. "Finish it off and let's get out of here. I've got some tired Pokemon to get to the Center." Zephyr waved at him before turning back to his opponent, who was now lunging at him. He stepped smartly aside and, retracting his arm blade momentarily so that he didn't puncture a lung or something, he elbowed the Machoke in the back as it sailed past, causing it to pitch forward onto its hands and knees. The he raised his left leg in a vertical split before he dropped it very hard onto his opponent's back, making it fall onto its face. Before it could move again, Zephyr had hoisted it with both hands and hurled it into the air.
It went up about twenty vertical feet before it started to fall again. However, it had only fallen two feet when Zephyr appeared next to it, having jumped up after it. He grabbed its exposed leg and, flipping once in midair to gain momentum, he hurled it downward. It sailed straight down like a missile, howling with before slamming into the ground with a massive BOOM and leaving a large crater. Then there was a slightly smaller boom as Zephyr landed on top of him with fist leading. He waited for a full minute to make sure his opponent wasn't playing dead, and then reached down and checked for a pulse to make sure his opponent wasn't actually dead. Satisfied that neither was the case, he then hoisted the unconscious Machoke over his shoulder, climbed out of the crater, and dumped it on the ground before thrusting his fist into the air.
"Alright Zephyr!" Zach called, also pumping the air with his fist. Zephyr walked over to him with a proud smile on his face. When he was near enough he raised his hand over his head, which Zach slapped, took hold of and squeezed affectionately. "I don't think I'll ever be able to tell you how much fun it is to watch you work," he said. Zephyr shrugged modestly.
"It's just what I do," he replied.
"Well, I certainly hope you keep doing it. Cynthia doesn't stand a chance."
Still laughing with triumph, Zach turned around and began to head toward the Pokemon Center, completely ignoring his opponent, who was looking at his Machoke as though it was a meteorite that had just hit the ground. Zephyr turned to follow him when he suddenly got the feeling that he was being watched. He turned quickly, but there was nothing in that direction except a lone tree just beyond the outskirts of town. Shrugging, he turned and followed his Trainer, failing utterly to notice as a slender figure stepped out from behind the tree where she had hidden and watched him walk up the street.
-(000)-
Zephyr was leaning against the trunk of the same tree that evening while Zach and the rest of his team slept around the smoldering remains of their campfire, Zach in a tent, the others sprawled haphazardly about. Zach generally didn't sleep in the rooms offered by Pokemon Centers, due to their being rather small and very bare bones, and was prone to sleep under the stars if someone hadn't offered him a bed, which didn't happen often. Whenever he did this, he would always let his team out to stretch and get some air. If he had his way, his Pokemon wouldn't stay in balls for any length of time, but since the custom was for a Trainer to only have one familiar, and seeing as some of his Pokemon were rather large, this was not the case.
Zephyr glanced over his companions briefly. There was Scizor, fully restored and healthy, leaning against a large rock as he snored rather loudly. Honchkrow was sleeping right next to the campfire with her head under one wing, and Drapion was laid out on the ground next to her, one pincer clutching a rather large rock. Honchkrow had evolved about a month previous and had gotten used to her new form, but Drapion had only changed about a week ago and was still playing with his new strength. He had amused himself for most of the evening by picking up large rocks and crushing them to dust.
There was also a Salamence curled into a large coil on the ground. Most people who saw her usually had to make a supreme effort not to run in , but that was before they realized just how playful and friendly she was. That is, when she was not unleashing a massive jet of flame at their doomed Pokemon. Next to her was a Luxio whom Zach had just caught. He was kinda small compared to most every other member of the team, but he had a mouth on him that should have belonged to a creature three times his size, and way too much energy.
Zephyr allowed his gaze to rest briefly on each one, glanced at Zach's snoring tent, and then returned his gaze to the heavens, where it had been a moment before. He was not on watch duty; there was never a need for one, because pretty much everything, Pokemon or human. Left Zach and his team alone for good reason. He just enjoyed staying up late for a little while and watching the stars and the moon, which tonight was full, round, and gleaming.
Suddenly a slight movement caught Zephyr's eye. He lowered his gaze to focus on what had caused it, and his mouth dropped open. Standing at the edge of the nearby forest, outlined in silver moonlight, almost like a scene from a storybook, was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen: a young Gardevoir with shining forest green hair and a graceful hourglass figure over which was worn a snow white elegant dress. She had the face of an angel, and her ruby red eyes were gentle, kind, and captivating.
'Oh my Arceus,' was the first intelligible thing he managed to think after staring at her for twenty solid minutes. He was suddenly very grateful that, as far as he could tell, she had not noticed him gaping like an idiot. 'Well, am I just gonna look all night?' he thought to himself before lifting himself off the tree and walking slowly towards her.
She failed to notice him until he was practically right beside her. Suddenly, though, she turned to look at him, looking slightly startled. "Sorry," Zephyr said quickly. "Didn't mean to disturb you. I just like watching the stars and here seemed like a good spot. You don't mind, do you?"
"Oh, no. Not at all," she said in a voice that made Zephyr's heart skip a beat. It was soft, smooth, and melodious. "I love watching them too." She stepped aside slightly, offering him a better position by her side, which he accepted. "The moon is very beautiful tonight," she commented.
"Yeah, I noticed that too," he replied. "I could be wrong, but I think it's trying to match you." He glanced at her to see that she had looked at him with a slightly surprised expression. "Not doing a very good job, though," he commented.
She looked away, an embarrassed but appreciative smile on her face and a slight emerald tinge to her cheeks. "You're too kind," she said.
"Nonsense," he returned. "I only say what I feel. I'm Zephyr, by the way," he went on.
"My name's Rain," she said a little shyly.
"Rain, huh? Well, it fits: a beautiful name for a beautiful woman." Her blush became even more pronounced.
He smiled, and then looked back up at the sky, not at the moon but at the stars this time. "Let's see…" he muttered to himself. "It should be right about…there," he suddenly said, pointing at a cluster of stars. Rain looked up and followed his finger.
"What?" she asked, a little puzzled.
"Gemini," he responded, but she only looked at him with confusion. "The twins?" he offered, but still nothing. "See, there's the one over there." Here he pointed to a cluster of stars. "And the other one is-"
Then it clicked. "Wait, you don't know what a constellation is, do you?" he asked.
"A what?" she asked, looking lost. Zephyr smacked his forehead.
"What am I saying? Of course you wouldn't. Hang on, I'll be right back." With that, he jogged away from her and toward the camp of Pokemon he had left. He quietly unzipped Zach's tent and, being careful not to wake him, rummaged through his pack and pulled out a large, yet thin, book. This acquired, he dashed back over to Rain's side and split it open.
"A constellation," he explained, rifling through the pages, "is a picture made of stars. Humans took several famous images, like the virgin Virgo and Scorpio, the giant Skorupi, found clusters of stars that looked sort of like them, and used them to tell the seasons back before the calendar was invented"–at the word calendar, she looked at him a little blankly-. "Now they're just used for stargazing. Ah, here we are," he said, opening to a particular page and showing it to her.
"Gemini, the twins," he read. "Gemini is the third sign of the Zodiac, and is associated with the third astrological house. The sign Gemini is said to rule over such matters as communications, siblings, neighbors, travel, and education." Below this passage was a picture of the star clusters that were supposed to represent the two twins, connected by imaginary lines.
"Now, look up at that spot and imagine that the stars are being connected by lines," he said, directing her gaze up toward the heavens. "Can you see the twins?" For a moment, she looked disappointedly upward, clearly not seeing anything, but then her face lit up.
"I see them!" she said excitedly. "There's the one over there, and the other one is right next to him, right?" Zephyr smiled.
"Very good," he said.
"Are there more constellations?" she asked, sounding excited and full of interest.
"Sure, but most of them can only be seen during certain seasons. Still, tonight we should be able to see Libra somewhere over to the west."
He flipped to the appropriate page, showing her the outline before searching for the actual star cluster. "I see it!" Rain called suddenly, pointing. Zephyr looked up with an amused smile, expecting to see just a random bunch of stars that weren't actually anything. However, to his surprise he found that he actually was looking at Libra. He looked at her, impressed.
"You catch on quickly, don't you?" The grin she wore was clearly etched with pride.
"I try my best. What's another one?"
They spent the rest of the evening like that, with Zephyr reading about the constellations while Rain searched for them. Both completely lost track of the time, and it wasn't until the stars faded from view in the approaching sunlight that either realized just how much time had passed.
"Well, I guess I'd better get back over there. Zach'll wonder where I am if I'm not the first thing he sees in the morning."
"I wish you didn't have to go," she said, looking disappointed. "Last night was so much fun." He smiled at her.
"I had fun too, but don't worry. We'll be staying in town for another week at least, and we'll probably be camping out back here again, so I'll still be here for a while." He stretched, yawned, and picked up the book from where he had placed in on the ground. "Man, I'm gonna be beat today. I hope I don't have to fight any battles."
"Oh, that reminds me," Rain said. "I wanted to congratulate you on your victory yesterday. You were…well, you were amazing." Zephyr blinked.
"So that was you, was it? I thought someone was watching me. Well, thanks."
He gave her a quick, final wave before turning around and heading back to the camp. As he settled down next to the tree to get whatever sleep he could manage, he gave one last glance to Rain as she slipped back into the trees. 'Arceus, you might want to do a head count,' he thought to himself, before sleep overtook him. 'I think you'll find you're short one angel.'
-(000)-
Fortunately for Zephyr, he did not have to fight any battles. The day's itinerary consisted only of a visit to the local PokeMart to restock on potions and revives. After that, Zach had taken his team to watch a Pokemon contest. Try though he might, Zephyr found it very hard to focus on the demonstration before him, which was a pity, because it was rather show stopping. Again and again he found his thoughts slipping back to Rain: the evening they had spent together, her smile, her laugh, and her beautiful face. He found himself actually counting the hours until the time when Zach usually called it a day, which he eventually did.
Zephyr wasn't really sure why he forced himself to wait until he was sure that Zach was asleep. He certainly wasn't doing anything wrong. Still, he didn't dare leave his usual position until he heard Zach's low droning snore coming from his tent. When he did, he stole silently over to the tree line, searching for her.
He found her standing in roughly the same spot she had been in last night and walked up to her. As before, she heard him coming before he had managed to make an effort at announcing his presence. She looked up and, when she recognized him, her face broke into a grin. "Hello Zephyr," she said. "Good to see you Rain," he replied. "So," she asked, her tone playful, "is the moon faring any better tonight?"
He smiled appreciatively. "Not even close."
He retook his place by her side and set his gaze to the heavens, but by and by he noticed that she seemed to have something on her mind. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked, but all he got was a confused look. "Sorry, human phrase. What's on your mind?"
Suddenly she looked a little embarrassed. "Well," she began hesitantly, "I was thinking about last night, when you brought that book. I mean, you were reading it like it was nothing and I, well, I couldn't make sense of anything except the pictures. I was wondering…I hoped that, if it wasn't too much trouble-I mean, you probably wouldn't want to bother. It's stupid, really. I just sort of-"
He put one finger to her lips, cutting off her babbling. "You'd like me to teach you to read, right?"
She nodded before quickly adding, "It's alright if you don't want to. If it's too much trouble-" but he cut her off with a raised hand.
"Don't be silly," he said kindly. "Of course I'll teach you." With that, he marched back to camp.
When he returned, he was holding a chalkboard and a book for young children, the same one Zach had given him when he was learning to read "First thing's first," he said, laying the chalkboard across his lap and scribbling on it. "You need to learn the alphabet. It's the source of all writing, at least in this language. There are 26 different symbols called letters, and they make up all the words people write. 20 of them are called consonants," he continued, writing the appropriate letters in a separate column. "The rules don't usually change much with them. The other five letters are vowels, and they're a little trickier, but we'll get to that in a second. With me so far?" She nodded, looking at the symbols intently. "Now, the letter y is a bit of an oddball, but we'll get to the specifics a little later. For right now, we'll just call it a vowel, cuz that's what it's used as most of the time. Now, each letter makes a certain sound, and while sometimes that sound changes, especially with the vowels, most of the time it stays the same. We'll start easy, with the letter b. The sound it makes is "buh". And c makes the…"
And so it went. Rain was an excellent student, learning extraordinarily quickly. At first, she had to ask for help a lot, but as she slowly managed to remember the secrets of the written language, she needed help less and less. In an hour, she had already moved on to the book itself.
"See…the ball," she read slowly. "Piplup…likes the ball. He…um."
"Chases," Zephyr prompted. "Remember, a c and an h together make the "chuh" sound."
"Right, let's see. He chases the ball. He is happy." She turned the page and continued. "Oh no. Where did the ball go? Piplup is sad. He…" She continued on, reading the whole book in about five minutes, which was less than half the time it had taken Zephyr to get through it. When she was done, she asked if there were any harder books she could try.
Unfortunately, though Zephyr looked, he couldn't find anything that was on her current reading level. The only other thing he could find was a rather long novel, which she quickly admitted was beyond her. So instead, Zephyr sat against a nearby tree trunk and read the story out loud as Rain sat next to him. It was a romance about a farm boy who met a beautiful wandering around lost. Falling for her immediately, he took her to his hovel and cared for her, earning her affection as well.
Sadly, the turned out to be a princess, and eventually her father found her and took her away. Royal decree prevented those of higher status from marrying peasants, so the boy tried to become a knight so that he might be allowed to be with her. The rest of the book detailed the various adventures he went on during his apprenticeship, including the slaying of a rather vicious dragon. In the end, he gets knighted, marries the girl, and lived happily ever after. Rain listened intently throughout, asking many questions about concepts that she didn't understand. They finished the story just before daybreak, said their good-byes, and went their separate ways, each already looking forward to seeing the other that evening.
-(000)-
"Hello? Earth to Zephyr. Incoming communication. Do you copy?" Zephyr flinched away as Zach waved his hand in front of his face.
"Sorry," he said apologetically. He'd been daydreaming about Rain again. "Spaced out for a moment." Zach looked at him a little curiously.
"You've been doing that a lot the past two days. Something on you mind?"
'Only the most beautiful thing to ever grace the face of the earth,' Zephyr thought privately, but to Zach he said, "Not particularly."
"Well, try to stay focused," Zach said bracingly. "I know this Gym'll probably be a cakewalk, but we still need to play tough. Don't let your guard down for a moment."
-(000)-
"Hi Zephyr," Rain said brightly when he reappeared that evening. "So, is the moon doing any better tonight?" Zephyr laughed.
"Not in the least. So, what shall I teach you tonight?" She looked at him, a little surprised.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, that's how these evenings seemed to be going. The first night I taught you about constellations, and last night I showed you how to read. What'll it be tonight?" She considered for a moment.
"Well actually," she said at last, "I've been rather curious about Pokemon Trainers. Why do they catch Pokemon? Do they do anything besides battling? How did training get started?"
That was how it went for the next week and a half. By day, Zephyr would travel around Hearthrome with Zach, running errands here, fighting a few battles there, and all the while building up to the Gym battle looming on the horizon. At night, he would educate Rain on matters as different as meteorology and cooking. She was a ravenous learner, always ready with a question or a new topic. Zephyr was glad to tell her everything he knew and did so without hesitation. Eventually he realized that he had fallen completely and inescapably in love with this beautiful creature. While this was a happy thought most of the time, he also couldn't help but think about the fact that he wasn't going to stay forever, and the thought of leaving Rain behind was painful. Still, he hid this from her as best he could and focused on enjoying the time he did have.
However, ignoring an issue will not make it go away. Eventually Zach tried for and acquired the Relic Badge, and with a surprising amount of ease at that. Drapion had been more than enough to carry him the entire battle, and had won with plenty in reserve. Zach was already making plans to be back in Sunnyshore within three days, which meant that they'd be leaving tomorrow.
These thoughts kept forcing themselves on Zephyr as he walked over to Rain for what seemed to be the last time. She looked up as he approached and smiled. "Hello Zephyr," she said. "Is the moon doing better tonight?" He laughed.
"The moon can try all it wants to, but it will never match you, and I'd stake that claim with my life." She blushed at that and looked away. When her gaze returned to him, however, she found him looking toward the heavens with a profoundly sad air.
"What's the matter Zephyr?" she asked, and he looked at her with morose eyes.
"I'm afraid this is the last time I'll ever see you," he said. "Zach won his badge today, and he's planning to leave tomorrow morning." Zephyr was surprised to see just how badly this news affected her. She looked beyond crestfallen, almost devastated.
"I'm gonna miss you," she said softly.
"Me too," he said.
"Still, you'll being going to the Pokemon League, right?" she said, trying and failing to put on her usual happy face. "You'll be going into the Hall of Fame for sure. I have complete faith in you." At that, he smiled warmly.
"That means more than I can say," he said, and at his sincere and grateful tone, she managed a genuine smile.
"So," he said. "This will be our final lesson. What would you like to learn about?" She considered for a rather long time before answering.
"I'd like to learn about the heart," she said at length. "You mentioned it last night, but I didn't bother to ask. What is the heart, and what does it do?"
"Well, the heart is the most important muscle in a living thing's body," he explained. "In every living creature, there are thousands of tiny tubes called veins which carry blood throughout the body. Blood carries nutrients to the various organs and muscles, so it's pretty important. However, it can't move on its own; it needs a pump. The heart is that pump. However, that's not all," he continued. "The heart also has a symbolic meaning to humans. Apparently, the heart is how humans feel love, and it's the symbol of affection and romance."
"Love…" she said softly, looking oddly wistful for a second. "What are some human customs concerning love?"
"Well, there are a few, and most actually stemmed from slightly more primal sources. For example, in a romantic relationship it is often the case that one of the two individuals will offer the other a gift, usually of flowers or something precious like gold. That came from the offering of a mating gift that Pokemon do."
"It's also common for humans to write love songs to each other, which I'm betting stemmed from mating calls. Human songs, though, are rather more melodious. Do not ask me to demonstrate, by the way; I have no singing voice at all." Rain could not help but laugh at that.
"Then there's dancing, which stemmed from the ritual mating dance. Human dancing is generally a bit more flourishing than that, though, and generally more formal, at least when it's two lovers dancing."
"Wait, don't tell me," she interrupted with a mischievous grin. "Don't ask you to demonstrate, because you can't dance to save your life, right?"
He laughed. "Is it that obvious?"
"However, there's one gesture that humans have that doesn't really compare to any mating ritual that Pokemon have, at least as far as I can tell. It's called kissing. Kissing is the placing of one's lips to another, generally to their lips or cheek. It's considered one of the most intimate gestures there are."
For some reason, this caused her to fall silent, and she sat with an odd look on her face for a moment. Zephyr briefly considered progging her emotions, but almost immediately rejected the idea. She wouldn't mind, seeing as that sort of thing was almost expected of the Ralts line, but he had decided long ago that he would not dare violate the sanctuary that was her heart. Besides, what fun would it be trying to figure out her thoughts if he could see them anyway?
"I don't suppose I could ask for a demonstration of that, could I?" she asked at length, seeming oddly nervous and uncertain for some reason.
Zephyr weighed his options for a moment. On the one hand, doing what he had just thought of could make him look like an idiot. If she didn't feel the way he did…well, dying of embarrassment would be putting it nicely. On the other hand, if she did, words would not be enough to describe his joy. Still, when he thought about it objectively, he was never going to see her again either way. Nothing much to lose. "I don't see why not," he said, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
The touch lasted for only a second, but in that second Zephyr felt as though his heart had skipped several beats. He felt happier than he could ever remember being, and even when he pulled away, he could have sworn he was hovering a few inches off the ground.
When he managed to focus on Rain again, he noticed that she was staring ahead as though she simply could not believe what had just happened, and her eyes seemed to look without seeing. Almost unconsciously, she slowly reached one hand up, touch the spot on her cheek where he had kissed her, and looked at it as though she didn't recognize her own fingers.
"…so that's a kiss," she said at length, in a very quiet voice.
"Yeah," Zephyr said. "…I think…I like it," she said, after another pause.
"Oh really?" Then he walked over to her, placing one hand lightly on her shoulder and the other on her cheek. He stared deep into her ruby red eyes, and in that moment, both knew beyond all possible doubt exactly what the other felt. "Then have another," he said, leaning in and meeting her lips with his.
This time he did not pull away, but continued to lean into the contact, and she leaned back, kissing him as hard as she could. The slight fleeting joy of a moment's past was completely forgotten. This was true bliss. Zephyr thought his heart must have grown wings and taken flight. In that space of time, nothing else existed. There was no forest, no city, nothing at all. The moon stopped shining. The wind ceased to blow, and there was nothing at all in the world except for him and her.
A thousand years seemed to pass as they stood there, and yet at the same time it seemed that time had stopped. How long they stood there, neither would ever be sure. When they finally did break apart, their arms were still entwined around each other, and each had eyes only for the one in front of them.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Both figures jumped and turned on the spot to see Zach standing about four feet away wearing a slightly bemused expression.
"Uh, hi Zach," Zephyr said sheepishly. Rain suddenly seemed to find the ground incredibly interesting. "What are you doing awake at this hour?"
"Oh come on, I'm not an idiot," Zach said with mock indignation. "Did you really think I wasn't going to notice how tired you've been getting? You've been like a zombie all week. Tonight I decided to stay up and see if I could figure out what was keeping you up all night. Imagine my surprise at what I found." Zephyr's face burned slightly while Rain continued to study the ground.
"Now Zephyr," Zach said, sounding a bit more serious now and not so teasing, "you've been my best friend these past few years or so. We have good times, and we've had bad times, but we've always been together. I've always done whatever I had to make you happy." Zephyr knew what was coming. Zach would tell him that he was better off with him and to just try and forget Rain. They were moving on to bigger and better things, yada yada yada. All he was going to hear was that he was leaving Rain behind. The thought hurt like a knife in his side.
"However, from what I've just seen, there is no doubt in my mind that no matter what I did, I could never make you as happy as she could," Zach continued, causing Zephyr to blanch. "I know that if I take you away from here, away from her, that you will never be happy again, and I could never do that."
"I want you to have this," Zach went on, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a Poke ball, which he handed to Zephyr. He considered it for a moment, not understanding, and then the penny dropped.
"Is this-"?
"Your Poke ball," Zach confirmed. "As of this moment, I'm releasing you from my team and returning you to the wild."
Zephyr stared at the small red and white sphere in his hand. "I can't do this," he said. "I can't just walk out on you after everything you've done for me. You gave me my life back. You gave me a reason to live again. I owe you for all the times we've spent together. I owe you that spot in the Hall of Fame. I-" but Zach raised a hand, cutting him off.
"You don't owe me a thing Zephyr," he insisted. "If anything, I'm the one in your debt. You've carried me beyond anything that I ever thought I could be. It was you being by my side that made me believe I had a shot at the championship. You wouldn't believe this, but I never really thought that I would amount to anything before I met you. I didn't believe that I was any good as a Trainer. But you believed in me. You gave me your faith and your trust, and that gave me the chance to believe in myself. I owe you for every victory I've ever won, and this is my way of trying to pay you back."
Zephyr looked at the sphere in his hand again. "I don't know what to say." Zach put a hand on her shoulder.
"Say yes," he prompted. "Say that you'll stand by this woman's side and protect her. Tell me that you will love her every minute of every day, and that you will make sure she knows it. Say that you will stay with her, and that you will be happy."
Zephyr said nothing for a full minute. On the one hand, there was this beautiful, wonderful creature who made his heart glow just by being near her. On the other hand, there was his Trainer, who had been his friend for years. Both choices were wonderful, and yet terrible; wonderful because of what he would have, but terrible because of what he would leave behind. It was just like the choice he had made about his evolution: himself, or his friend.
But when Zephyr made that comparison in his mind, his choice almost made itself. Zach was doing the same thing he'd done before. He was putting Zephyr before himself. It was that kindness that had originally made Zephyr love him as a brother, and now he was showing it one last time.
He closed his fingers around the little ball that held so many fond memories, memories of a time that he would cherish for the rest of his life. "I will," he said, and then turned to look at Rain. "I will stay." The look on her face was one of pure radiance, and she threw herself at him, embracing him tightly. He put his arms around her in return and felt his heart swell.
He then looked back to Zach's face, and was no longer ashamed of the tears he was trying to hold back, because he could see that Zach was doing the same thing. Neither was sure who started the gesture, but suddenly both were giving each other a firm hug. "Goodbye, oh mighty Razorwind," Zach said in a choked voice. "So long Fearless Leader," Zephyr replied, his voice equally tremulous.
They stayed that way for a long moment, but eventually the two broke apart. Zach and Zephyr looked at each other, and even though Zephyr was glad of the choice he'd made, his heart still ached. Zach had given him his life back, his hope, his will to do something other than survive. They'd enjoyed so many incredible advetures together, achieved impossible victories, and won fame and glory wherever they went. Now he was leaving, and Zephyr was pretty sure that they would never see each other again.
Zach gave his final good-byes to the pair before heading off into the rising sun, picking up his team as he went. Zephyr and Rain stood watching as he left, hand in hand. He marched off into the rising sun, and Zephyr had no doubt in his mind that he would take that Championship. Every Trainer from here on out would know the name of Zach Edwards. Still, as he walked away, Zephyr could not help but feel that a part of him was leaving with him, and it hurt. "Goodbye Zach," he said to no one in particular. "I'll never forget you."
However, when next he looked at Rain, seeing her smiling face, the pain of seperation seemed to recede just a little. He knew that he would always miss Zach, but he also knew that he had made the right choice, the choice that would make him happiest. In that moment the pair locked eyes, and an unspoken vow of devotion passed between them.
"Well, come on," Rain said suddenly, turning and marching toward the forest. Zephyr followed obediently.
At that moment, Zach stopped and turned around just in time to see Zephyr disappear into the treeline. He knew he had done the right thing, letting him go to be with his mate, but it still hurt to see his best friend going away forever. "So long Zephyr," he said to no one in particular. "I'll never forget you." Then he turned and continued on his way, and soon he was lost to the horizon.
"Where are we going?" Zephyr asked after they had gone some ways into the woods. Rain laughed.
"Well, if we're going to be living together, I'll have to introduce you to the rest of my pack." Interpreting his shocked silence correctly, she laughed again. "Come on, you didn't really believe I was out here on my own, did you?" Zephyr now felt a little nervous.
"Do you think they'll like me?" he asked, causing her to laugh yet again.
"Don't be absurd. They'll love you."
-(000)-
"And so they did," Zephyr finished. It was late afternoon, and the shadow of the tree that they were still sitting under was now long across the meadow. Rain sighed contentedly as she continued to rest her head on his shoulder.
"Not as much as I do," she said, and he kissed her forehead.
"Well, isn't this sweet?" came a new voice from directly behind them, a voice that spoke of fear and and all the evil things of the darkness. A voice as cold and dark as the deepest pitch-black night.