Froakie
Froakie awoke to beams of sunlight blinding him. He squinted, sitting up in bed, trying to see clearly, blinking to get the sleep out of his eyes. At last, he could see clearly. He could also feel, quite easily, something leaning against his arm. He looked to his right, and was almost startled to see Chikorita lying next to him, her cheek pressed against his arm, her face holding on it a small and almost unnoticeable smile. Whatever dreams she was having, they were definitely better than the ones she had woken up to last night.
Froakie had been slowly dragged out of his sleep in the middle of the night. He didn't know how long it had taken, but by the time he was fully awake, he could hear her mutterings. Well, "mutterings" weren't the exact words. It sounded as though she was trying to scream, a small, barely noticeable squeaking sound emanating from the back of her throat as she shook on her bed. Instantly, Froakie had jumped out of his bed, scared that perhaps Chikorita was having a seizure of some kind.
But, luckily, it had just been nightmares. When he had woken her up, he knew that she would have attacked him had he not been someone she knew. When he had finally calmed her (though he didn't know how long he had stayed with her, given that he and she were both half-asleep at the time), he had gotten up, assuming that she would call upon him if she needed something else. He knew he would be waking up again if she had another nightmare; it wouldn't pass over his radar for so long if it happened a second time.
Instead, though, she had timidly asked if she could sleep in his bed with him. He, being fairly exhausted and also not really wanting to have to get out of bed again in the middle of the night, decided that it wouldn't harm either of them for her to sleep in the same bed as him. He had expected her to hog the covers, something he had told her to avoid doing, but she hadn't. In fact, sleeping with a companion in the bed was much more comfortable than sleeping alone, especially a companion of his size.
And now he was here, in a comfortable sleeping position, Chikorita's face pressed against his arm, his skin tickling when her breath escaped. He smiled a bit, feeling easy, and much more comfortable and stress-free than he had been in… well, Arceus, in a long time. Just to have someone to sleep with him was enough. I could get used to this, he thought.
He pushed that heinous, almost criminal thought, out of his mind as quickly as he possibly could. What the hell had he just thought? No, not that. Anything but that! He could get used to a companion in his bed, sure, but it couldn't be her. It could never be her. They were trainees of different Nations that, within a week's time, would never see one another again. There was no use even trying to get used to this, he realized, and not only because she would be gone within a week. Also because his father would never even approve of the two of them sleeping in the same bed, even if it was nothing but platonic.
At that moment in his thoughts, Chikorita snuggled even closer to him. His mind screamed at him to back away, to even get off the bed and to close the door until Chikorita awoke so that his father wouldn't get suspicious (even though nothing was going on). But, he realized, he didn't want to leave the bed. In fact, he liked her snuggling so close to him. He felt almost protected in a way. But at the same time, he felt like a protector. It was as though they were equal to one another, a yin and yang that formed some sort of beautiful-
Oh for the love of Arceus, stop it!
Froakie shook his head and moved a little ways away from Chikorita. At that moment, he head flopped down, landing just below the pillow and on the mattress. Froakie sucked in a breath, hoping, almost praying, that she wouldn't wake up, only because he didn't know whether or not she would be able to remember clearly what happened the other night, and he was afraid of what she might say when she discovered where she was now sleeping.
But she did not wake up. She sighed, turned over, and was breathing her steady sleep-breath once again. Froakie let out a sigh of relief, and his heart relaxed. His heart then immediately sped up and almost leapt out of his chest when he realized Greninja was staring at him in the doorway, his arms folded, his face taking on a look of amusement. "I told you I was only joking," he said.
Froakie sighed and slid off the bed. "I know what it looks like," Froakie said hurriedly, "but I can explain."
"No need," his father replied, holding up and hand to signal Froakie to go on no more. "I heard your entire conversation last night. I think it was for the best, actually. She's just so… so broken."
Froakie looked over at Chikorita, who was still sound asleep. "Yeah," he said. "She's so nice, too. She didn't deserve to have her father and sister just… scooped off the face of the planet like that."
Greninja sighed. "So much in this life isn't fair," he said. "So many of the good die young and so many of the evil live forever. Justice is just a thing of the past, it seems. One minute, all is cheery and the next…" Greninja sighed. Froakie looked at his father sympathetically. He knew who he was thinking about, and Froakie's heart broke into tiny fragments every time his father talked about her.
Froakie knew his father was caught off guard when he hugged him, but it didn't matter to Froakie. It didn't matter to Greninja after a moment either, for his wrapped his arms around his son, just as lovingly as his son wrapped his arms around him. After a few seconds of their father and son embrace, Froakie pulled back. "You looked like you needed it," he said.
Greninja turned away, wiping his eyes with his arm. "Yeah," he said, turning back to his son as he spoke. "Yeah… I guess I did."
Greninja cleared his throat, then looked down at Froakie with authoritative seriousness. "But we do need to talk about a more pressing matter."
"What?" Froakie asked, suddenly remembering the meeting Greninja had attended with other Great Warriors and two members of the Council. Had something happened? Was something being planned?
"Well," Greninja said, "we've come to a conclusion as to how to ease the tension of the past few days for the citizens of the city. We're going to be holding a dinner party at the dining hall. It's a fairly big space, roughly a quarter of a mile in diameter, so it should work out fine for anyone that wants to come by. Feraligatr's going to be hosting it. There's going to be a few things there that are rather… important."
At the mention of important things, Froakie saw his dad's gaze dart over towards Chikorita. Then it was back on his son. "For one, the Grass and Fire Nation trainees are going to be publically introduced to the city. Sort of as a way to show that they won't be here forever. Then there's going to be a commemoration for Senator Empoleon, maybe a few other soldiers that fought in the battle at the Desert. And then there will just be more talk."
"That sounds nice," Froakie said, though a part of him was worried. He came to accept at that moment that he had grown to care about the trainees that were now living within the Water Nation's borders. Even Chikorita, who he had not even known for a full day, seemed like someone he would be willing to call his friend. What would the public think of them, just based on knowing who they were and nothing else?
Froakie's fears were addressed (and made a bit more fearful) by Greninja's next remark. "We've also decided to allow the trainees, so long as they're under you and Piplup's supervision, to leave the houses before the party, so as to sort of adopt them as a normality for the time being."
Froakie shook his head. "No, dad, you can't be serious! A crowd of angry citizens would tear these guys apart! You already saw what they did to Chikorita, and look at that bandage on her! She's clearly been injured somehow, but they were still willing to berate and distrust her for being Grass Nation!"
"I know," Greninja replied calmly. "I didn't want that either. But… majority rules."
Froakie sighed. "Fine," he said. "I guess we'll meet up with Piplup and the others sometime soon.
Greninja nodded. "That's up to you," he said. "No one is forcing you and her to go out there. But if you think that's something that can be done, something that would be okay with you even if you don't agree with it, then do it if you wish."
"Maybe," Froakie said, looking back at Chikorita.
Then, he realized it with a start. Bandages. He looked over at his father. "What about her bandages?" he inquired. "Will someone be able to change them?"
"Yes," Greninja said, snapping his fingers. "Right! I nearly forgot! Simipour will be here any minute to replace Chikorita's bandages."
Froakie nodded. Good. That was good. He looked back at the sleeping figure in the bed again. He studied her hard, studied her complexion, that small (dare he say "cute") little smile on her face. He thought back to her, and who she was, of what little he knew about her. And he came to startling realization, one that he hoped his father wouldn't see spread across his face. And the realization was that he did want to get used to laying in that bed with her. That he didn't want her to leave, and that, when she eventually did leave, he would cry his sorry heart out.
And that realization filled him with both joyousness and dread.
