In case a new chapter didn't get released after a month, it's most likely because I got stressed out from academic activities.
Anyways, here is Chapter 7... part 1.
Chapter 7a: Obscure Desires
I had dinner with Morty and his Pokemon after the TV time, and again, the four Ghost Pokemon were eating with no table manners. Their tongue was sliding all over the plate and they chewed their food fast. If I were watching them, the scene would make me lost my appetite. So I should simply look down to my food, or to Morty who had sat across me. What bothered me was that his Pokemon were sitting at the sides of the table. I could still see them eating noisily when I looked at Morty. Despite that, I enjoyed the dinner because of the quality of the food he served to me. Once we finished dinner, we went back to the living room, followed by the ghosts.
There I was groaning, with the ghosts laughing around me. It was never clear why they laughed. My guess was they might have planned a prank, or maybe they liked me already? Nonetheless, it was the time I told Morty about their mannerisms.
"Mort, I must say your food was tasty, but could you teach some manners to your Pokemon?"
He glanced at his Ghost Pokemon before he answered, "That's just their way of eating food." He ended his words with a confident smile.
Sigh, he really couldn't come up with a better answer. Like what Morty said, I don't have to mind them too much. I should think more about myself and him, and so I realized it was the time for me to leave.
I calmly told Morty, "It's already late. I need to go home now."
His eyes opened wide when I said that, it was like he had forgotten that I have to return to Violet City sooner or later. "Yes, I understand," he responded with a gleeful look, "But... can I walk together with you on your way home?" His lips raised and stretched to the sides, which denoted that he was begging.
"Sure. That would be great." I showed a soft smile to him.
He was delighted because he got the desired answer. I knew that from his smile. Then he turned his eyes to his Ghost Pokemon. He told them, "Say goodbye to our guest."
The ghosts quickly surrounded me once they heard their Trainer's order. They stared at me for a few seconds, before they cried cheerfully together.
"Gastly!"
"Haunter!"
"Haunter!"
"Gengar!"
Gengar had waved his hand at me. The Haunter had thrown their unattached hands to my direction to wave them right on my view. I guessed it was wrong to say that Ghost Pokemon have no manners, they have them, though only a little bit. Knowing that, I waved my hand at them. Gastly gave quite a silly response, he rotated himself left and right like a spherical toy. The ghosts could become a nuisance sometimes, but they were able to be an amusement too.
Morty said, "OK, my Ghost Pokemon. Take care of the house, and if you spotted intruders, you can do whatever you want to scare or bait them out."
His Pokemon yelled their names and saluted at him with a big grin.
Before I and Morty stepped out of the house, we waved our hand one last time to the ghosts.
I took another stroll with him at Route 36 and 37, but as true lovers this time. Unlike before, I wasn't nervous when we walked close side by side. He brought so much positive emotions to me, even when we didn't look at each other. Being close to Morty was quite enough to gratify myself.
In the middle of Route 37, he said to me, "Falkner, thank you very much, for coming to my house."
"You don't have to thank me," I replied, "I'm the one who has to say 'thank you'".
"Why is that?"
"If I didn't visit your house, I wouldn't have a lover now."
He stared at me after hearing what I said. Then he turned his head away from me, sighing while patting his chest with his palm. There must be something that he hesitated to do.
"What's wrong?" I placed a hand, trailing behind his neck, onto his shoulder.
"Please don't say words like that. It made me feel the urge to kiss you."
So I found out that Morty was weak to my romantic talk. I wanted to kiss him as much he did, but maybe not there, in an open route.
"Sorry, Mort. And that will have to wait."
We walked slowly to Violet City. A slower walking equals more time together. Sometimes one of our arms touched the other's arm, because we strolled too close to each other. And it usually continued with us apologizing at the same time, finishing it with a shy smile. At Route 36, Morty once had asked me if he could hold my hand, like what regular couples do. Though I refused, I told him to hold his actions and wait until we were at my house. He looked straight to the front then. It seemed he was planning what he would do to me at my house. Hopefully, he wouldn't go too far again.
After strolling around a lot that day, I finally made it back to my house. When I stepped in, that was when I realized I had been forgetting my precious bird Pokemon. I enjoyed my time with Morty so much that not a single feather of my bird Pokemon came to my mind. They must had missed me.
"Pidgeooott!" Pidgeot rushed downstairs after he heard my footsteps, and then covered me with his wings.
I said to him, "I missed you too, Pidgeot!" I hugged Pidgeot in my arms.
"Pid, Pidgeoot?" He asked me where I had been.
"I was going out with Morty in the afternoon. We went to the National Park. I visited his house also."
Pidgeot noticed that Morty was standing behind me, and he quickly flew to the person who had cured him one time. Pidgeot greeted Morty by raising its right wing and cried, "Pid-geot!"
Morty leaned his head forward. "Ah, Pidgeot. It's been some time, how are you?"
"Pidgeot, Pidgeot!" He raised both of his wings this time, showing that he had been in great form.
"Uh, that's nice," Morty replied, smiling as he shrugged. It was quite amusing to see Morty short on words, because I am the only person who could fully understand what my bird Pokemon said.
"Pidgeot!" My Pidgeot shouted in agreement.
I later remembered that Morty needed to go home soon. So I would want to have a little talk before he left, just the two of us. "Pidgeot," I called the bird, "You wait upstairs with Pidgey and Pidgeotto. I'll see the three of you."
Pidgeot understood what I told him, and he went into my room on the second floor. I watched Pidgeot flew, but when I turned away, Morty had already stood in front of me.
"I should be going to Ecruteak now," said him.
"Yeah, your Pokemon must be looking for you too."
It was a little bit sad to see that Morty would have to go back to Ecruteak City. But that was alright. I could meet him again the next day, and then spend our time together like this day.
He didn't go to the doorway after that, instead he approached me. I could tell what he was going to do to me. He grabbed my shoulders, looking at me in the eye, and said, "I'll be thinking of you." He leaned forward slowly. Our eyes closed as his head moved closer to mine. His lips pressed against mine, feeling the softness of it. A farewell kiss, which I had in mind earlier. The moment was ended with Morty's sweet smile, which had always cheered me up.
Oddly, that didn't happen for that smile. As I walked him to go outside, I felt a strong emotion inside me. It was getting stronger the closer we get to the door. I could feel my heart starting to feel heavy, as if it would fall down from its place. The sensation made me had difficulty breathing. It was very unpleasant. I began to wonder what triggered the pain. Did I do something wrong?
Morty was already by the door. He opened it, and walked out of my house while I stood inside at the doorway. His final words were, "Goodbye, Falkner."
Those words... why did they sounded so distressing? I watched him going to the distance. Everything became worse. I tried hard to stay strong, by facing down, only to look at Morty again few seconds later. If I wasn't able to resist my emotional suffering, I might shed tears before I went into my house. But then Morty stopped, turning his head towards me. He looked worried of me, as he was not smiling. I smiled on the contrary, trying to convince him that I was fine. The faked smile I did, somehow stung my own emotions. It didn't help me to recover from sorrow. I was smiling from the outside, but inside I was screaming, desperately hoping that I wouldn't part from him. I shouldn't have thought I would be alright if I knew I had to bid farewell to him.
I decided to go inside so I could cry without being embarrassed. I had to face the fact that we couldn't be together all the time.
Suddenly, I heard Morty's footsteps. "Falkner?" He called me, his whole body facing towards me.
"Y-yes?" It's difficult to talk while trying to control one's emotion.
He didn't say a word. Later he only said, "Uh, it's nothing."
It seemed that I still had hope. "Mort, what do you want to tell me?"
"It's not telling actually. I want to ask you something... but it's obvious that I have asked too much from you for one day."
"No, it's OK! Please say it." There was a chance, which that evening wouldn't be a goodbye for us.
"Well, I was wondering..." He said as he was scratching his head, "If you want to... stay at my house for some time."
My heart, which nearly fell, cheerfully had jumped back to its place. "Of course, I want to! And how long is 'some time'?"
That was the point we started bargaining. "Hmm... can you stay for seven days?"
"That's too long. How about two days?"
"But that means you're leaving tomorrow. How about five?"
"Four."
"Four it is."
If I could, I would jump to the night sky that time. I told Morty that I needed to take some of my belongings with me to his house, but he said I didn't have to bring too many because he would supply some items for me. Inside my house, I ran upstairs to greet Pidgey and Pidgeotto. They gave me a confused look when I told the two that we and Pidgeot would be staying at Morty's place. It was really sudden to them. I began packing up some stuff such as clothes and bathing goods into my old bag. Because I was excited, I packed up my stuffs quickly. Morty probably was planning his next actions to me outside. I wondered what those were...
Morty's going to take Falkner back to his house...
Should I yell "oh yes" or "oh no"?
Is Falkner aware of his situation? Let me remind you that in this story, we cannot know what are in Morty's mind.
I can say that he's thinking about a lot of things.
Next chapter is Chapter 7 part 2. You'll see what will happen to Falkner.
