Books are the unspoken version of a person's heart and soul

As far back as Janine could remember she had been surrounded by books. Medical textbooks, field guides, history books and maps as well as picture books and magazines. When she was young and wasn't training her father would read her an article or a story or flip through a picture book or field guide with her and quiz her as they looked. She read everything with a voracity that surprised even her father. One acolyte commented, "With her personality and all that energy she has, you would think that reading a book would be the last thing she would do in her free-time."

Even after her and her father's promotions she would still make time to read. She would visit Ecruteak and read about the legends, Olivine, Celadon and Goldenrod were constantly visited by her (or more specifically their libraries were) and she would stay there for as long as she could, even Canalave City in Sinnoh and Nacrene City in Unova were visited every once and awhile. She had surprisingly befriended Lucian an Elite Four member of Sinnoh and Lenora the previous Gym Leader of Nacrene as well as some other notable people of repute. While it was unintentional she still treasured their friendships and made sure she visited them every once and awhile. However, what really caught her attentions were the various works of fiction, particularly fantasy and sci-fi. Her father gently disapproved saying she shouldn't be reading that, she had more important things to do. She couldn't help it; she just loved books too much.

She didn't know he liked to read. In fact she assumed that was the polar opposite of what he did in his spare time. Being known as a pretty boy wind-rider she always thought he would be out in the fields or training some place. So, she was surprised to see Falkner of Violet City sitting in the corner with his nose buried in a book. Using all the stealth she could muster, without looking like a complete weirdo, she crept closer and saw Birdkeeper's Guide to treatment and cleaning of feathers. 'Of course' she smirked. Glancing to the rest of the pile she saw a few things that caught her attention; Legends Come to Life: A compilation of the Various Myths and Legends of Regions Beyond, The concepts of aerodynamics, Planet of the Aipoms, and Pokemon Sematary. 'Strange tastes' she thought amusedly and snuck off without another sound.

"So, you're a bookworm huh?" she asked lightly as she laid back on the grass. The two had decided to take their meeting to the National Park and both were enjoying the beautiful, cloudless afternoon. He opened an eye lazily, "What?"

She smiled a bit. "You, I saw you at the library. I never pegged you as a bookworm." She laid her hand behind her head and looked at him with amusement and faint curiosity. "Oh, that," he shrugged, "I was just researching was all." She scoffed, "Yeah, cause obviously Pokemon Sematary and The Haunting of the Chateau Macabre are related to Bird Pokemon. Never pegged you for a horror reader either." He sighed, "All right so you found me out." He turned over to face her and sat up, "What about you? You were at the library, so unless you're stalking me, you obviously read too." She thought for a bit." He smirked, "Unless you do stalk me? Never pegged you as a stalker." She glared playfully and stuck her tongue out, "Don't you wish." She gave a pause and continued, "Yeah, I read a bit here and there. My dad had a whole bunch of books lying around when I was a kid, when I got bored I read." She shrugged, "Old habits die hard. And what about you? What's your amazing story on how books became your crack?"

His normally stoic expression softened and, after a moment's pause, pulled out a thick, worn out paperback titled On Altaria's Wings. The jacket showed an Altaria floating among a vast cloudbank with patches of pale sky and shafts of light in between the breaks. "My mom wrote this," he said handing her the book, "she was a wonderful writer." She took the copy and thumbed through it gently until she came to the author's note: I couldn't have done this without my friends, Pokemon, and, most of all, my family. Thank you to my husband who provided me with motivation and my son who provided me with inspiration. She thumbed back to the beginning and read the second page: Thanks to my husband, whose love and support were the tailwind I needed and to my son, Falkner, who is the wind beneath my wings. She flipped the book over and read the back. It was about a daring pilot who flew with his trusted Pokemon in a small plane back when the Great Pokemon War was in its worst years. He was famous for his exploits and flying skills that led his fleet to victory every time, that is, until he lost his Pokemon. She read the entire summary and asked, "Is this an autobiography disguised as fiction?" He shook his head, "My parents aren't that old and my grandparents have no records of anyone serving in the war." She looked at the book jacket again, the author's name was completely torn off. "May I borrow this?" she asked and when he gave a dubious look she gave him her cutest expression and said, "Pleease?" He acquiesed, so long as she never made that face again. She spent the entire night and half of the morning reading the story, and and she was riveted. The plot was magnificent and the scenery and style of writing had her in her chair for so long her Pokemon voluntarily popped out of their PokeBalls to remind her that she still had other obligations.

What really got to her was the main character, a man with a practical, tough-guy attitude who had a set of brains in his head and used that to his advantage. 'If this guy was real,' she thought, 'he would've made a helluva ninja.' Although the character was smart he was also a go-getter and when the odds were stacked against him he would plunge into the storm faster than an Abra could Teleport. Through cunning, cleverness, and courage the man in the novel would take victories left and right with his loyal Swablu by his side. When she got to the part where the Swablu evolved to save the protagonist and his best friend she felt like cheering and when the Altaria hummed a mourning song at the friend's funeral with the Trainer crying by its side she felt like weeping with them. She, a ninja who had taken not only the dreams but sometimes even the lives of Trainers who challenged her, felt like crying. When she neared the end of the novel she was near close to tears. The protagonist had lost his Altaria in a guaranteed suicide mission and had plunged into a state of deep depression. He continued his service to their forces but had lost all the passion and fierceness he originally had, he was nothing more than a husk. Then he had met a woman, they had met when she enlisted in the service. Her voice was what got to him; it was the same beautiful voice as his Altaria. From there it was story of healing wounds and starting anew, and that was the end.

"So, how did you like it?" Falkner asked. They were at National Park again; same beautiful, cloudless day like last time. She had kept the book for two weeks reading and re-reading from cover to back. "Amazing," Janine said immediately, "It was so beautiful and awesome and I can't believe you're related to someone who could write like that!" He smirked a bit and said, "Yeah, I told you she was a wonderful writer." Janine flapped her hand, "That's an understatement; she really knows how to write. You think I could get a signed copy of that book?" The expression that flashed across her friend's face made her regret that statement. "Oh, hey I'm sorry," she started, "Is it a family thing?" He took a deep breath and sighed, hair flipping up, "Not your fault, you didn't know. My mother died a long time ago. Drove my dad near crazy. We got that book "published". An exclusive, literal one-of-a-kind publication in honor of my mother." Janine nodded in understanding and let him have his moment of silence before picking up the conversation again, "My mom died when I was young, too young for me to remember her anyways. My dad used to tell me about her from time to time but nothing too much." She looked at his face carefully before asking, "Do you remember your mom?" He paused and gave her a look that would be the closest thing to sadness she would ever see, "Yeah, I do. She was pretty and nice. She was great with Pokemon too." She nodded and left it at that.

It was nearing sunset when the two decided to part company. She turned toward her friend and said, "Hey, Falkner," He turned. "Our moms were pretty cool weren't they?" He smiled slightly and nodded. "Oh and one more thing..." He raised a brow. "My dad is still cooler than yours!" she laughed and ran as he aimed a rock at her. "Don't kid yourself!" he yelled, "My dad is way cooler than yours will ever be!"

'He lifted her high above his person, strong arms powered with passion. He felt like God had sent him an angel. An angel with the voice of an Altaria and the beauty that not even a Milotic could match. She laughed joyously and his heart galloped, it was like she was the light that came to purge all the demons and ghosts that had so haunted him these past years. She was the rain that quenched the raging fiery, torments of his heart; the antidote that would cure any poison, ill, or ailment; the breath of fresh air after almost drowning in sorrow. She was his life, love, and laughter and as the sun rose and their faces were greeted by the dawn he knew that his former life had ended and his new life was beginning.' ~ On Altaria's Wings

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Author's Comments- First author's note, geez. This is the fourth chapter and I'm pretty proud of it. I probably won't type something this big again. Reviews of any kind would be appreciated and any grammatical errors pointed out wins you a free cookie. As the pair moniker says it IS fatherlyshipping and it seemed to work to my advantage when writing the end to this. If anyone can give me a few suggestions on how to improve that would be wonderful. Peace ~ ATU12

Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo, Gamefreak, Satoshi Tajiri etc. I am in no way making profit from this.