Chapter 2: Little Steps
Author's Notes:
Sorry for the wait, the next chapter in this side story is finally out. Well not much happens here if I must be honest, frankly I feel iffy about this chapter. Still I hope you find some enjoyment out of it as of course we are still at the beginning of this story. To clear the air though I do plan to show other characters (side or one time) with different Pokémon. Frankly the intelligence of Pokémon varies from species so I am mainly looking at those who no doubt can understand humans and of course express consent. Anyways this is TheFoolOfTheNoon signing off!
/
"So let me get this straight, the three lake guardians appeared to you, gave you the ability to understand Pokémon and sent you out on a quest to prove that humans and Pokémon are ready to be together again. More importantly, they told you that you have a better chance of dating a Pokémon rather than a human woman."
I had recently gotten back to Dawn after my experience in the cave. Well, it's going as I expected some laughter with actual seriousness of the situation. She laughed more at the fact that legendary Pokémon made it a requirement for me to love a Pokémon as a human partner. I did see the amusement in it, just the fact its pointed at me that makes it not funny. I was taking deep breathes while Aurora was patting my back in comfort.
"Yeah, that is how it pretty much went down. I now have to play match maker for ten trainers who love their Pokémon more than partners while having to find love myself. How do we explain this to Professor Rowan?!"
"Hehe, well what you learned from the Lake Guardians should be good enough. We could fib a bit on the whole quest part if it makes you sound less insane. Though that is troubling that Uxie will wipe away the memories of everybody involved if you fail. Unfortunately, I don't know anybody who is pursuing a relationship with a Pokémon. Not that it is completely taboo in this region, but I doubt anybody would be open about it."
She's right, out of all the regions concerning Pokephilla Sinnoh has more laid out laws on the matter. Labeling that humanoid Pokémon are fine and if they can express consent. Anything else though is more restricted and frowned upon. I can see how that can make true love relationships hard due to the looks such a couple would earn. Though I guess that means its not impossible to find some trainers or folks who are in secret relationships with their Pokémon. I guess it doesn't count if they are ashamed of it.
"Hmm…well I better get looking then tomorrow. I'm going to have to check on a city-by-city basis for any chance I'll find somebody."
"Sounds like a plan, I'll be your 'mission control,' then, and do what I can from here. Besides, I think your whole finding a Pokémon girlfriend part is going to be easy. I mean you got Aurora over there and as far as I seen you two, you are practically a couple. You just got to make it official."
Aurora made an 'eep' sound when Dawn called us a couple. She was flushing red as a rose as I only sighed, "Dawn, it has to be true love, true compassion and understanding. Aurora's my partner, and even if I wanted to pursue a relationship with her, I wanted it to do it naturally. Not because it's a forced requirement."
My 'superior' only stared at me with amused eyes and a bemused smirk. It only dawned on me what just left my mouth and if I had a mirror, I am sure I am beet red right now. I think I made Aurora's situation worse too as when I turned to look at her, she looked close to fainting and steam was emitting from her head. I think she was muttering something to herself as well, but it was too low for me to hear.
"Uh huh…right. Hehe, well I got some messages to send to Rowan, including your notes. I suggest you take Aurora home before she passes out. Also make sure to keep it down when you are alone you lovebirds."
I bit my own tongue for the fact I don't have a comeback and I don't trust my immediate on the fly response. I just tell her to have a nice afternoon before taking Aurora by the hand and taking her home. She nearly became a noodle to my touch, and I had to hold her up from falling into the ground. When I got home, I found Cinder watching some Aerobics program on television and working with the instructor.
"I'm home! How is everyone?"
"Hey welcome back! Don't mind me, just getting my aerobic workout in. Well…you can clearly see that, not that I expect you to understand me."
"Yes, I can clearly see that, nice to see you keeping fit."
Cinder nearly tripped over his feet when he heard my response. I forgotten that I didn't tell anybody yet that I can understand them and in turn my best friend quickly recovered and began looking at me oddly.
"Uh…Jack? Did you understand what I said?"
"Err…yeah…I did, long story. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Right now, I just need to eat and rest, or in Aurora's case here, just rest. Poor girl had enough emotional excitement."
"M-Mas-terrrr…"
Cinder just looked at Aurora and understood the situation and just left it be. I took Aurora to her room in the house and tucked her into bed. That was enough to snap her back to reality, she was confused and wondering why she was in bed. I comforted her and told her to rest as she just went through an emotional rollercoaster.
"Need anything? Water or maybe a little snack?"
"That's okay master…umm…but I do have a question though."
"Yes? What is it?"
"I um…ah…you know what never mind…I'll ask you later. I don't think it's a good time for it. I do feel thirsty though."
"Alrighty then, I know you'll tell me when you are ready. I'll get you some water Aurora, just take it easy for now."
She thanked me and within one motion I got her a glass from the kitchen and gave it to her to drink. I myself headed back and got something to eat before heading to bed myself. I couldn't help but think about what would come next as I lay there in bed, the thoughts awoken excitement in me. A new adventure, anything could happen.
/
The next day came and I prepared myself accordingly for the journey. Money, supplies, travel clothes and of course a great morning. I selected my Pokémon carefully for this adventure: Aurora, Cinder, Peck, Rover who is now a Bibarel, Raknorg my male Drapion, and Bliss my female Blissy. I figured they would be a nice team to take around and good for most situations. I made one last contact with Dawn before heading off in my new journey.
I would have flown towards Jubilife City but decided to take the scenic route. Most of the wild Pokémon avoided me thanks to the shared power of Aurora and Cinder who are walking besides me. The latter of which simply enjoying his time out in the open nature.
"Man! Good to feel the winds of travel again woot! So what's on the agenda?"
"Well Cinder our main goal is to find trainers who them and one of their Pokémon that have romantic feelings for each other. If they are already in a relationship and hiding it then we need to help them feel comfortable with it."
"Right…I forgot about that. Can we fit a few battles in there?"
"Cinder, master has a very important task to do. If he can fit the time then he will," Aurora said sternly. Her serious mode is in play and despite her docile nature she seems to switch between different facets of her personality. Her cute side is something I have seen quite a lot at home.
"Well now looks like you got your game face on! I like it! Hehe, fine, you call the shots Jack. You make the schedule, and we follow."
I'm happy we are committed to being organized, but the problem I am currently suffering from is figuring out how I am going to find somebody to help for our quest. Not to mention to keep it on the down low in order to not draw to bad attention to myself. I told them our main goal is to scope the area and listen for possible leads in the city. If we get some challenger battles from people, then we can accept them in order to get back into the swing of battling again. There was no arguments so we entered the city with some kind of plan.
Once inside the city of joy, as it called, I brought Peck out and told him to keep an ear to the ground for possible leads. He agreed and took off to be our eye in the sky and haunter of the streets. We did our own scouting at ground level and essentially just walked around, taking in the sights while keeping an eye out. Aurora was using her mind reading abilities to see if there was anything the populace was keeping secret in their minds. There is a whole invasion of privacy debate to be made here but I doubt a lot of psychic Pokémon or trainers really bother reading people's minds for fun.
We kept this up until it was time for lunch. So far nothing really came up as we sat at the table eating our meals. In the case of Peck, I gave him his Pokémon food in a bowl.
"Okay so far we got nothing. Which is okay since this is our first day of searching and we only searched for a few hours."
"Sounds like a day work for me, haha! But seriously this is like trying to find a Palosand in a beach. It's not like people are going let any secrets slip in public," Cinder let out a puff of smoke out of boredom.
"Cinder's right master, perhaps we should move away from the city? Maybe the nearby routes may have those who are looser with their secrets?"
"I thought about that, but even then, we would look a bit weird just roaming a route without a good excuse."
Aurora paused but agreed with my train of thought. Silence befell us all as we silently ate our meals. Just as I was close to finishing off a sandwich, Peck started pecking my head. After some short declarations of pain, I look over to him as he gestured with head behind him. I looked and saw something that put a smile on my face. I see a young man, probably just turned 18 years old flushing red holding the claw of a female Weavile. Said Pokémon was also red in the face which would be a odd sight to see considering the nature of the sharp claw Pokémon. To any normal person it just seems like cute scene of a trainer walking around a nervous Pokémon. However, to me, it looks to be something more.
"Want me to shadow them boss? See where they go?" Peck said with a somewhat gruff voice. Honestly, I was not expecting that kind of voice considering how cute he was in the past. Then again I never really knew how my Pokémon sounded like until yesterday.
I told him yes and he took off, I smiled as we finished up our meal and carefully studied the couple from a distance. We pretended to mind our own business while trying to avoid any serious attention. Did not stop a few people from recognizing me and asking me for a signature considering what I am. I even had a challenge from one cocky trainer who thinks I gotten soft in my days away from being a champion. Cinder had fun wiping the smile on his face as he alone wiped out his entire team without any issue. This also worked in my favor as the duo stuck around a bit before walking away.
I gave more signatures for my performance and gave some tips to the cocky trainer before heading off in the direction where the couple went. Route 203, a nice calming path with not much going on. Oreburgh city is not far from here either, but I'm more focused on the couple here. They came to a rest near the pond and set up for a picnic, honestly, it's the most adorable thing I ever seen. Noticing my surroundings, it was less populated around this route and very quiet.
"The perfect setting for a date…hmm…we need to do something in the meantime."
"Master, may I suggest we use the pond? We can pretend to fish or simply lounge around. Anything that will take his notice as I read his mind and it appears he has an assignment from a school he is attending. He is looking to interview somebody, but his social awkwardness is preventing him from picking a person."
"Really now, that's good to know. If we can make it natural, then he will be more likely to open to us. Though we need to relate to him too if we want to get him comfortable to talk about his relationship with his Weavile."
"Does that mean you need to fake a relationship?" Cinder looks over to Aurora who began flushing red, "If you ask me its going to be more believable if Aurora is the one to be your pretend girlfriend, granted I doubt it would be pretend for you two."
He shot a smile at me; I only rolled my eyes at his tease, but it made sense. Though I am not sure if Aurora was ready to play pretend. Her face was red as a tomato berry at this point, but she slapped herself to focus. At least that is what I think is the reason why she did that, "Master it'll be o-okay, I'll keep it together for it to work. Just need to calm my mind…"
"Okay, do your best Aurora this is a bit awkward for me too but all we need to do is act like we normally do when we work together."
"For the sake of the mission, and the ability to keep talking to you like this I sure hope you two act as natural as possible," Cinder crossed his arms as he went to set up a picnic area for us as Aurora and I took some time to practice talking like a couple which was a little difficult as my Gardevoir had trouble overcoming her nerves.
I did my best to convince her to talk to me just as we normally would. I'm not exactly an expert in relationships but I do notice there is certain periods with relationships. The initial being the romantic and loving period and the latter down the line the normalization period where couples are used to each other. Aurora and I have to act like the latter in order to be approachable. In order to do that we practiced being casual with each other. Using our friendship as a base and recalling our moment back in Canalave city. She understood and ironically used calm mind to focus her thoughts. I mean she could probably do it without using the move but hey whatever works.
She looked more relaxed and got into character almost immediately. Sitting next to me and leaning on me and gently holding me. It was almost scary how well she took to the role, a little too well. Cinder was casually fishing and only looked at us with a smile as we enjoy a small picnic together. Aurora of course wanted to feed me, and I let her as I did my best to play my role. Telling her some sweet words and in return she cooed and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. I know we are getting into character, yet I still can't help but flush red at the action. It has been a while since I ever held somebody like this.
("Master, they noticed us. Should we go talk to them now?")
I snapped back to reality at her telepathic thoughts echoed in my head, ("Uh right, yes we should.")
("Are you okay master? I can feel some flux of emotions coming from you. Am I doing it too well?")
("No its fine Aurora, just been feeling some old emotions.")
She understood what I meant and hugged me closely which didn't help me very much, but we still got up together and walked over to the couple. I noticed they tensed up a bit when we closed in, the weavile quickly moving her claw away from her human lover. We greeted the two with warm smiles.
"Hello you two, we noticed you been looking at us. Is there something that caught your eye?" I kept a calm and composed voice while remaining casual in tone. I mean literally the former champion of the region is talking to you so its best to keep things as if they are normal. Well as normal as having a Gardevoir holding onto you from the side.
The young man was trying to calm down as his Pokémon partner elbowed him. It worked to get him to focus as he finally spoke, "H-Hello! Sorry for staring but aren't you Jack?"
"Yes I am Jack, I think I saw you in the crowd for a bit when that one trainer challenged me to a battle. Heh yeah it must be weird meeting the former champion out here, so what's your name?"
"M-Mack sir, whew um…can I just say that's its an honor meeting you face to face?"
"The pleasure is all mines, nice to see I left an impression even when I'm no longer champion."
"Heh yeah…umm..this may be sudden but if you are interested. I would like to interview you if you would like that is?"
"I would love to; not like I do much these days," I gave a small chuckle before I sat down and gently took Aurora with me. In response she tenderly hugged me before breaking away. Something Mack and his pokemon noticed together as they shot glances towards one another. They blinked a couple of times before Mack took out his notebook and carried on with his interview.
It started off with generic questions. Like what it was like being Champion, how do I approach Pokémon battles, what was my daily routine for my Pokémon, etc. I answered all the question and gave some good detail that he can use in his report. The excited look in his eyes as he took his notes and of course recorded our conversation. We shared a few laughs as I shared some funny information about the Sinnoh elite four to which aren't well known. Getting caught up in the fun I let it slip that Aaron has done intense training to deal with fire type and flying type Pokémon which are his Pokémon's weakness. Reason being that he is frustrated for being steamrolled by trainers with those types.
"Wow that's cool! I honestly respect bug type trainers; they do their best against the odds."
"I would have to agree, Aaron really made strides since I last fought him. I heard he gives a lot of trainers in the Pokémon league a run for their money."
"Well nice to know the elite four are still living up to their name. We are getting to the end of the interview, I got one more question and we are done."
"Sounds good to me, shoot."
"Okay, what part of being a Pokémon researcher appealed to you?"
"Well Mack, as you know. I love Pokémon as any other person, but you can say my curious mind drove me that direction," I explained my entire reason to him which also includes the ability to teach other up and coming trainers as well. I even told him that it feels like a new journey for me.
After taking the last of the notes and stopping the recording. Mack packed his things and just flashed me a smile, "Wow, that was amazing Jack. The guys back in school won't believe this."
"Heh, well I am glad to be of help. You seem quite pleasant yourself Mack."
"Thanks, I won't forget this though…" he trailed off as he looked over his Weavile companion. She looked a little worried but nodded to him, "I have one off the record question though before I go."
"Hmm? Yes I can answer that for you. What's the question?"
"Okay, don't take this the wrong way but are you in a relationship with your Gardevoir? Because it looks like to me you are pretty close and well…um…"
His nervousness rose but I just flashed him a smile as I held Aurora close to me, "Why yes, yes I am. Her name is Aurora, say hello Aurora."
She smiled and for a moment a brief energy of psychic power was used. He was surprised to hear her and said hi to her in return. He looked over to his Weavile and bravely took her hand and brought her close to him. He was nervous but he smiled as he kissed her head gently.
"Jack, well this is Ayleen. She is my girlfriend and…well we been keeping our relationship a secret for a few years now."
"Hello Jack, its nice to know we aren't the only pokehuman couple. Heh what am I doing…not like he can understand me," Ayleen had quite a feminine voice, with hints of a tomboyish attitude.
"Heh that's okay Ayleen, I can understand you completely."
The female weavile nearly jumped as I just revealed my loaned blessing to them. They looked so surprised, and I quickly explained, while omitting the legendary details, that I can understand Pokémon completely. They were still shocked, but they eventually calmed down and rather looked elated at the news that there is somebody who can understand Pokémon. They did admit having trouble communicating at times, but generally knew what the other is trying to say.
"Well, I am glad to see you two still are by passing the barrier. Anyways, I understand you two are keeping your relationship a secret?"
Mack looked away while awkwardly scratching the back of his head, "Y-Yeah…I haven't told my parents either. I know it considered 'taboo' but I couldn't really help it. Ayleen been there for me when I needed it, you know the story. Human girls find me too unattractive, made fun of me, one even got my hopes up and crushed it. Yet, despite that Ayleen been through it with me and comforted me. Before we knew it, we been going out alone together and we just became a couple. I love her, I truly do but I am afraid of what would happen if our relationship got out."
"Yeah, I wouldn't want my Mack to get in trouble. Or worse separate us. Still…I would not give to be more in the open with our relationship. Be with other people who are like us, so we don't feel so alone in the world."
Clearly, I am not going to get any results today but maybe they are worth investing into. Besides the words of a champion no doubt will give them some peace of mind, "I see, well being on a journey myself to help poke-human couples. How about we keep in touch? I would love to keep track on how well you two progress as lovers."
"That's great! Honestly knowing that the former champ is in a relationship with a Pokémon too and backing us up gives us some security."
"Heh glad to hear it, oh and if you find any other poke human couples that need help please let me know. The former champ got your back."
"Thanks man! You are a life saver…" Mack and I exchanged contact information with our phones and afterwards we had more fun conversations. We basically became friends and so did the girls with each other.
The day was almost over and before we parted ways, I gave him some advice, "Don't be afraid to be different. Love is love as they say, and its beauty can only really shine when you let it."
"I'll remember that thanks!"
We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, for now. We met up with Cinder who gathered a good number of fish to eat, and we decided to camp out for the night. I allowed all my Pokémon to be outside their pokeballs so they can sleep naturally. As for me, I was planning to sleep in the tent. Today's events still fresh in my head and preventing me from sleeping. I have to get those two to be more open and maybe then I can get some results for my efforts.
"Nothing I can do but wait I suppose. I hate waiting though, especially when I have things to do. *Sigh* I better make plans for the next city."
"Umm…master? Can I come in?" I got up from my sleeping bag and noticed the familiar shadow of Aurora. She has her own tent to sleep in, but it wasn't uncommon for her to come knocking. Actually, now that I think about it I been quite lax in letting her do what she wanted. Hmm…
"Sure come on in Aurora, I'm pretty awake still," She opened up the tent and crawled inside. Despite the low light I can tell she had something on her mind as she took a seated position.
"Thanks um…if you don't mind. Can I speak to you with telepathy? I don't want the others to listen in what I want to talk about."
"That's fine with me, what's on your mind?"
("Well…master, firstly I must ask how you are feeling? The entire time we been pretending your heart rate was a bit higher than normal. Not that I am one to judge considering how I initially acted to the idea.")
("I'm feeling fine Aurora, I already explained to you about this. Still I won't lie, it feels weird to fake a relationship.")
("Indeed…master, you do realize that we have to keep up this ruse for as long as possible for people like Mack bought the lie. I doubt we can keep it up for very long especially if they desire proof. I say this because I am not sure if you would be comfortable having to fake emotions for the quest.")
("I appreciate the concern, Aurora. I will admit that I didn't really think the plan through. I am…not stupid to not notice that you took to the role of being my fake girlfriend very well. Maybe too well…but I suppose its only natural for you is it?")
My loyal friend's eyes looked away as she began flushing a little red, ("R-Right…master, please don't think less of me for my acting…I uh…ummm…")
She was having trouble finding the right words. I mentally told her to just come on out with it as it would be better for her to just speak her mind. Between me and her, she should feel comfortable sharing whatever is on her mind.
("Its alright, take your time.")
("Thank you sir, this needs to be said…I…really care about you…I mean really really care about you. I am aware its natural for my species to develop a strong bond with a caring trainer but master…how I feel about you goes beyond master and guardian. When we were pretending…I only acted so well as your girlfriend because I really wanted to be just that.")
("Aurora…you love me? For how long?")
("Since…when I was Kirlia. When you first held me close when I got scared at a nightmare I had. The one where I thought you'll leave me behind…")
I remember that moment in time. We were having a losing streak and much of those losses caused by Aurora being unable to adapt to a changing battle. I was still 13 years old when that happened, and I was growing frustrated and angry. I didn't blow up at her, I'm not that stupid to do so but seeing me like that must have scared her at the time. Yeah…the picture is coming clear in my mind.
/
"Aurora? There you are! I was looking everywhere for you!"
I open up my tent to find Aurora cuddling my hat, my concern justified when she turned to look at me. Eyes puffy and red with clear tear trails. My worried expression only grew as she gasped and began bawling as she ran towards me. I got on a knee as she leapt and hugged my chest, a tight grip preventing her from being removed. Returning the hug, I gave the others the signal to be left alone as I got into the tent with her. Holding her close while letting her get it out of her system. I think I sat there holding her for five minutes at least before she finally calmed down.
"There there, all out of your system?"
She nodded, ("Y-Yes…master…")
"Good, and uh you don't have to call me master. I still feel awkward with you calling me that."
("Don't care…just…don't leave me please master…")
"Leave you? Aurora where did you get that idea from?"
("Well…its just that…I mean I haven't been performing very well as your Pokémon. You were g-getting angry and I got scared…then I had a nightmare of you leaving me. I-I don't want you to leave m-me…")
"Aurora, I will never leave you. When I got mad, I was just trying to blow off steam so I could clear my head. You try your best and I understand that."
("R-Really? You mean that master?")
("I do, I know you can get stronger and better in battles. It will take time, but we can only do it together.")
Her grip relaxed as she looked up at me with a weak smile, ("Do you promise?")
"I promise Aurora, we'll be partners as long as I draw breath."
("Master…mmm…") she went back to hugging me and I return the warm hug with my own. It was clear she wanted to stay like this, so I gave in and just found a place to lay down so I can be comfortable. I gave her a small kiss on her head as eventually I ended up falling asleep.
/
("I remember Aurora, I was there for you when you needed me. Gosh that was so long ago, that is a long time to hold onto those feelings Aurora. I guess its only now that I am older that I was able to see the signs.")
("Master? You knew I liked you?")
("Not exactly, I had a feeling you did but I didn't want to push you for answers. You must truly love me if those feelings haven't faded in the ten years.")
("I do master, my feelings only strengthened since then. I tried my best not to overwhelm you with them and only dropped small hints. Which I thought was working since you played along with my service to you.")
("Yeah, I did, frankly I thought it was endearing that you would do so much for me. I appreciate it too. I won't lie, you make me very happy Aurora whenever we spend time with each other?.")
("Master…do you…love me back?")
("I…do I? I…huh…I need to think about this…") Aurora looked me with a worried look but I eased her emotions when I gave her a smile, ("Its not a no…but I need to think about it Aurora. I…I mean…")
I tried to finish my thought but was interrupted by my loyal companion pulling me into a hug, ("Shhh…its okay, I understand. Just don't keep me waiting for an answer master.")
("Th_thank you Aurora, I promise I won't keep you waiting.")
("You better,") she flashed me a warm smile before kissing my forehead. I was lost for words as she giggled and left my tent, "Goodnight!"
It was only after that I found the peace of mind to lay down and sleep. I can figure things out tomorrow.