Chapter 12- On Hiatus from the World

It had been days since Starling abruptly left Julia like that, and he didn't feel like talking to her for days. This saddened her a bit, so she went to see an old friend of hers.

He went to beautiful part of the forest where a wood house and a couple of human objects were crafted out of forest material. This was where the human like Pokémon lived. The very minute she reached a wooden country house, a young Ralts ran up to her, arms outstretched to hug her.

"Julie!" he called out. Julia knelt down to hug him "Declan! Oh my, you have grown!"She remarked while hugging him and carried him for a minute. "You came to play with me and Edith again, right?" he asked. Julia smiled "Oh yeah! You bet."

Declan, the Ralts grabbed her hand and raced off to his house yelling "Mama! Julia came back to see me! I know she would." Another Ralts came towards her and grabbed her other hand, trying to pull her in. Julia grabbed her and embraced her too "Edith! Naughty little punk!" she teased playfully and messed her hair. "Geez, you guys are big."

"Julia, did you know that Mom taught me some cool psychic tricks?" he playfully inquired jumping up and down. "Oh really? I'd love to see them." She replied, happy that she wasn't the only psychic in the world.

She followed him to their garden which had more grass and fewer flowers and two tall trees. In the centre, there was a stump where a stone hammer lay. Declan went up to it and made Julia watch from the other side. "Watch this!" he said, as he struggled to lift the item. She watched closely and saw that he managed to lift it telekinetically and then it cracked and fell the ground with a deeper imprint. Clearly, she was impressed.

"I just used Confusion." He proudly declared. Julia giggled at his adorable innocence. She met him when he was a newborn and often visited, they stayed friends ever since for eight years. Later on, his little sister Edith was born, who was just as adorable and often competed with Declan for her attention. She enjoyed this at times, but distanced herself afterwards as she was growing older.

"That was awesome!" she exclaimed clapping her hands. "Do you know any more?" she inquired. He looked at her wistfully "No. Mama told me that I'm too small to practise the really hard ones." He replied. "Even then, it was good." She consoled. "Mama said that that she can do much more awesome tricks. I want to be just like her, strong and powerful." He admitted.

"Hmm... are you sure this is all you know?" she asked him. "Yes." He answered. "Well, because I know a better way." She replied. He was confused. Julia led him to the hammer and put it back onto the stump. "Now, when you do this the next time, close your eyes and move your hands upward. It'll work better, trust me." She advised. Declan agreed and retried following her advice. He practised the same Confusion attack and Julia noticed that it was levitating higher and in seconds, the crack intensified. It grew deeper and deeper until Declan opened his eyes and stopped. It fell down but this time, it broke.

He stared in amazement and wonder. Then, he started jumping up and down screaming "Yay! I did it! I mastered Confusion!" Julia smiled proudly, thinking "Yeah, with an inanimate object."

Tired, Declan went off with her and gave her some water. They had mild conversation while sipping it. "My trick was awesome, wasn't it?" he asked. "Yeah, it was." She replied, slightly wistful. "So why are you so sad?" he inquired. Julia cringed, Ralts could sense feelings. He could probably read her mind too. Creepy.

She walked away and Declan followed her "Are you leaving?" he asked. "No," she sighed. "You don't have to be magical to be my best friend you know?" he said grabbing her arm. She was surprised. "Declan..., can you really read minds?" she whispered softly. "I don't know. My friends tell me I do." He replied.

"You look like you've been working out. What did you do?" Julia asked spontaneously. "Well, I'd been practicing my psychic powers for a long time, so I'm tired." He replied yawning sleepily. Julia sighed. This was clearly something he couldn't stand but was doing anyway. His talent was psycho kinesis and even she could see it.

"Say... How would you like to blow off some steam?" Julia inquired smiling evil. "What does that mean?" he asked. "You know, chilling, relaxing and having fun. You've exhausted yourself with all that practice." She replied, coming up with a genius plan. "Ok. Let's play tag!" Declan suggested slapping Julia's back. "I have a better idea. There is this awesome trick I learnt- my friend taught me this. Wanna try it?" Julia recommended.

Declan nodded in excitement. Julia ordered him to sit on her back piggyback style and he did so. "Now hold onto my neck for dear life, but don't press it. For you're gonna have the time of your life!" she exclaimed as she started running like an airplane before takeoff, slowly increasing speed. "Wheee! This is fun!" Declan exclaimed. "Boy you're heavy! But this isn't the best part. This is warm-up!" Julia boasted as she started running faster and faster until she was ready and levitated herself in the air. "Keep swallowing." She commanded.

Then she started flying higher and higher, moving swiftly and quickly and finally gliding like a bird. Declan was first confused "Come on Dec! Aren't you excited? You're flying!" Julia exclaimed. She then started moving faster and he held onto her neck for dear life, but he started enjoying this. "Wow, you're right Julia! This is the best part!" he yelled happily, feeling blissful.

Julia just smiled as she flew away from his house and took him around the world, or so she felt. She flew all over the country as much as she could cover, for Declan was heavy. "How is this? You like it?" she asked him mid-flight. "This is awesome! I love it!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Well, there's more!" she replied. "Watch this." She swooped down and he felt a little weird until he saw a big field filled with flowers, roses predominating. "This is my favourite spot. How d'ya like it?" she said. "It's beautiful! I love it!" he answered almost squealing.

"Care to travel another time, sir?" Julia inquired. "You bet!" he answered and she did this whole thing again, till she felt tired and came back to his place, but circled the sky twice before landing.

Edith watched some of this and watched in childlike curiosity. When Julia landed, Declan got off and she stretched herself, only to be grabbed by Edith and finding the 4 year old chanting "Me want to fly, me want to fly!" Julia sighed. "This isn't that much of a secret anymore, is it?" She agreed and warned Edith the same way like she did with Declan and then took off, flying all round, but a lesser distance as she was younger. Edith saw the world in her eyes and loved it, even seeing the meadow Julia loved. They landed there and foraged for flowers. " Not for too long though!" Julia reminded. They found a few beautiful flowers, Julia taking a few roses and giving a pink one to Edith. "For you." She said, presenting it to her. "And for Dec." She said, giving Edith a red rose.

"Thank you, Julie!" Edith hugged her and then they returned home, with Julia circling the air a few times.

But just as she was landing, their mother saw this and was shocked. When Julia landed she walked up to her. "Julia! Did you just..." "Levitate? Yes, I did."

The Gardevoir was still stunned. "Julia, you did this for how long?" she asked. "I've been doing this with them for hours and by myself, about three weeks." She answered.

Still stunned, the Gardevoir grabbed Julia's hand "Julia. Come with me. I'm afraid there's something we have to tell you..."