Chapter 4: Memories
"Mom! Dad! Help me! I'm sorry, I won't do it again! I promise!"
"Asch, are you okay?" I gasped and looked at my side. Luce was there, sitting beside me, and he was looking at me, worried. "Were you thinking about something... bad?" He asked, again. I knew exactly why he knew it. I was sweating a lot, even though the breeze was very cool. "Don't worry. I'm fine," I lied, not wanting to worry him.
"If you said so," His voice was a bit shaky. I could tell he was death worried about me. But at least he could shave off the thought by drinking his drink.
Why did I think about something 'like that'? "It was where we first met, right?" Luce said all of a sudden, with different tone. My eyes widen like plates as I looked at him. Did he really say that? I grabbed his shoulder and stared at him. "Did you say something?" Luce was startled and looked at me. "Huh, what? Did something matter?"
"No," I shook my head and sat back and stared at the sun. It was setting, and the horizon was raging a beautiful crimson. We always went to the cafe the day before holiday or day-offs, sharing our time by drinking our favorite drinks and sitting and enjoying the sunset. The reflection of the sun on the lake was more beautiful. Accompanied with song sung by Jorge, the Kricketot, the whole cafe had a warm atmosphere. It almost made you feel at home.
"Hey, Asch," Luce called, holding my paw with his. I looked at him and saw his curious eye. "Could you please tell me what I was like?" Why so sudden? "Err - sure," I cleared my throat and took a deep breath.
"Long ago, there was a Cyndaquil, stranded on a boat on a middle of a lake," I pointed the lake in front of us. "The Cyndaquil was scared because he is a fire-type, and it was about to rain. But thank Arceus a Buizel saw him. He swam and reached the boat in less than a minute. That Buizel was a swift swimmer, and the Cyndaquil was mesmerized. But the Cyndaquil's hope was crushed when the Buizel asked, 'Are you okay'?" I chuckled, but Luce growled, blush on his cheeks.
"Then the rain came. The silent lake became a wild lake. The boat rocked crazily and the Cyndaquil almost fell off into the lake. The Buizel, on the other hand... or should I say paw, was all fine. He could easily swim back to the shore, but instead pushed the boat. A several minutes of pushing later, the boat capsized because of the waves and the Cyndaquil fell into the water. He struggled to stay afloat, but he couldn't. He drowned into the water with despair, and he knew he would go straight to meet the maker. But perhaps, fates worked differently. Or perhaps, lady luck was smiling at him. The Buizel, dived in and saved the Cyndaquil." "And the next thing was very tiring," Lezard suddenly appeared behind us. Luce almost jumped from his seat. "Luce was tired, and that's to be expected from an 8-year-old boy. And I had hard time to give both of you first aid." "Leave those lovey-dovey couple, and come here and serve my cocktail, ol' man," Dia, the Espeon, and boss of Luce and me, shouted from the bar. Lezard grumpily got back to the bar. Luce chuckled, though his cheeks were still burning.
"So I saved you back then," Luce said, still staring at the lake. "And it's been 12 years since then." "12 years?!" Luce snapped, almost couldn't believe that it was so long ago. "Yeah, from that day, I started living with you. And it was your father who allowed it," I said. "I-I... I see..."
"Anyway, ya never told us why ya got stranded on that boat?" Dia asked from the bar, but this time she was a bit... How should I put it? Drunk? What did Lezard put on her drink? "Hey, answer me!" "Okay, okay!" I growled and lay back on my seat. "I lived beyond that mountain once. You know some of them, right Dia?" I pointed out at the mountain in front of me, obviously trying to change the topic. "Yeah, most of them are fire-types, and they always come to buy foods and sometimes herbs from Lazlo," Dia nodded. "Lazlo came from there to, right?" "Yes, my dad used to tell me about him. He was a famous inventor, but he travelled and left the village when he was a Vulpix and I don't know why he ended up here, and as a Ninetales at the top of that," I said, closing my eyes and sighed. "And why did you ended up stranded?" Luce asked. Urgh! It was always a tough job to distract him. "Well, I was... Man, it was embarrassing..." "Be a male and say it!" Dia shouted again from the bar. I started to get pissed, and I really wanted to gag that Espeon with a rock. Salt rock if possible! "Okay, okay! Sheesh! I was trying to get onto a boat, and suddenly some Pokemon pushed the boat and I'm ended up here." I said, lying to them since
Luce sighed and shook his head, "What's so embarrassing about that?" He asked, staring me with his only eye. His stare was like a dagger, and I would have died if his stare could kill. "And you know what. You didn't answer my first question." "First, question? Oh! You are weird. You helped someone who you don't even know. You RISKED your life for them," I answered, smiling as I recalled the past, the event when he saved me and the time when we were like brother. But as I recalled my past, I remembered that Dia was, and still, a very tricky Espeon. She could easily pretend nothing happened when something HAD happened. And that's mean... "Hey Asch, c'mere and drink it like a man," Dia said, pushing a bottle of liqouir. "Don't worry. It's on me." Her giggle was equal to that of a witch or devil!
"Using liquor to interrogate him? Why not?" Luce encouraged. I sighed in defeat and glanced at the bottle of liquor. "Give it to me," I said. Reckless it might be, I didn't care. I could handle some liquor.
Dia used her Psychic energy and floated the bottle right onto me. I took it and gulped. I looked at Luce and he encouraged me with a nod. I looked at the bottle again, this time more carefully, as if it could explode anytime. "You can do it," Lezard said from the bar. I could feel another pair of eyes staring at me, coming from the kitchen. I shrugged and locked my lips on the bottle neck and leveled the lower part. The liquid started to flow into my mouth. Despite being cool, it gave me warmth. Indescribable warmth. The warmth started to course through my veins. My head suddenly grew heavier, and everything seemed to be spinning. Everything felt funny, and I felt drowsy. "Mhehehe~," I laughed before losing my consciousness.
"Asch, wake up~." I opened my eyes and yawned. My mom was smiling at me while preparing what seemed to be breakfast. I smiled back at her and rubbed my eyes. I looked at the other direction and smiled at my dad, who was sitting and preparing his fishing equipments. My dad and mom are Typhlosions. For me, they are the best parent in the world. I couldn't ask for more.
"Did you sleep well, son?" My dad asked, which I nodded in response. "I slept like log!" I answered, stretching my body. I pushed myself up from the bed and stood on it. I looked at my mom and gasped. "Mom?!" I screamed, finding that she was drowning. "Dad! Mom is drowning!" I shouted as I turned around and looked at my dad, only to find he was drowning too. "Dad! Mom!" I screamed, but my sound was muffled by a gag. A gag?
I rubbed my eyes again and the scene changed. I was... at my bed. The bed I shared with Luce. And Luce wasn't around. My paw touched the bed and felt something sticky. "Mffph?" I looked at my paw and blushed at what I saw. It was... sperms. Probably from me and Luce.
'Just what happened last night?' I thought, opening the gag that was attached into my mouth. I groggily got up from my bed and quickly cleaned myself up in the bath. Once it was done, I quickly headed out.
After a few minutes of walks, I stopped at the harbor and scanned around. Luce and Dia weren't around. Dia was probably in her office. "Hey, Luce is finally back. That fag is finally back." I could hear some workers were bad mouthing Luce. I would kick their asses if Dia didn't threaten me by saying she would fire me and Luce.
I shook my head and walked toward the office. The chatters of some workers were echoing in my head. There were too many to list, but most of them are talking about me and Luce. I picked up the pace and walked faster, but the chatters were still echoing. I shrugged and practically sprinted, and finally, after ten minutes hearing those chatters, I reached the door but stopped when I overheard Luce and Dia talking about something. "You should know it better that I'm not the Luce that you know. I'm different! And I don't even know how your Luce is and would act!"
I froze on my spot and opened the door slowly. "You didn't really mean to say that, did you, Luce?" I asked.
To be continued...