Chapter 2
Aura smiled down at the fox warmly as they strolled down the street through the brisk evening air. Each time someone would walk past Aura could feel Fennekin's body instinctively tense until they were far enough. Aura stroked her back gently as a car drove by. "You really are timid. But I promise, everything will be fine."
She shivered slightly and shook her head. "S-sorry. I'm just not used being out like this again." As she said this, off in the distance a car alarm suddenly went off and frightened the fox, causing her to jerk back with her short claws digging into Aura's arm. He hissed through his teeth from the pain, but otherwise withheld from any sudden movements. As Fennekin slowly calmed her nerves, she noticed her trainer's discomfort and quickly realized her claws were gripping his arm, letting go immediately and frantically apologizing for it.
To Fennekin's surprise, Aura didn't show even a hint of ire as he just glanced his arm over before sighing and smiling at her softly. "Whew. Thankfully your claws aren't that big."
Fennekin folded her ears and whimpered. "I'm sorry… Hm?" Again, Fennekin was surprised by the human as he simply began to rub her head softly.
"I'm okay, Fennekin, Really. You were just startled so don't worry about apologizing. Like you said, you're not used to this kind of stuff yet."
Now Fennekin looked at him more curiously. "Do you… Can you understand me?" She asked sheepishly.
Aura scratched his cheek. "Yeah, I should probably explain that to you. I don't fully understand how I can myself, but for as long as I can remember I could always understand most Pokemon speech naturally." This information seemed to peak the small fox's interest as she didn't even notice another small group of people stroll by. "Honestly, it's probably best not to think about it too hard; otherwise you'll probably just give yourself a headache." He promptly followed this up by lightly poking her forehead playfully, earning an odd look from Fennekin before she nervously smiled and agreed with him.
The rest of their walk was quiet for the most part, and oddly enough, as they progressed, Aura could somehow sense Fennekin was slowly feeling less afraid of the city, although she still jumped a few times from cars honking out of nowhere.
As they neared the PokeCenter, Aura slowed his pace much to the confusion of his partner. "Why are you slowing down?"
He shrugged. "Have you ever been inside a Pokemon Center before?" She shook her head. "Well, they can be pretty crowded sometimes, and I didn't want you to get overwhelmed."
She looked at the front entrance of the giant building, and through the glass, Fennekin noticed a good amount of trainers with their Pokemon out, plenty of which were far larger than any of their trainers. She nervously gulped as they grew close enough for her large ears to pick up on the crowd inside. "O-oh…"
Aura glanced down at her concerned. "If you'd rather be away from the noise you can always relax in your Pokeball?"
Fennekin snapped her gaze towards her trainer and furiously shook her head. "N-no! Please don't put me in there!" She clung to his chest as he stopped to ask her why. She nervously tapped her paws together with a blush, "I don't want to be alone in there. What if something were to happen while I was inside?" She began to breath rapidly as her thoughts flooded with multiple possible scenarios where her being inside her Pokeball would end terribly.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! It's okay, Fennekin. I won't put you inside your Pokeball if you don't want to be in there." He assured her while softly stroking her back and instructing her to calm her breathing. "I know it may be difficult right now, but I'm sure as we travel you'll get used to being around other people more so long as I'm with you." He started toward the entrance again slowly. Fennekin lifted her paws to her cheeks as she felt them grow warm. She had only known this human for a little while, but something about him made her feel alive. And each time she would gaze into his eyes, her heart would flutter just a little. Never has Fennekin had these feeling before and so she didn't quite fully understand them, especially how they had come to be in the first place.
"Th-thank you." She whispered. He took a moment to reassure her once more before finally passing through the automatic doors into the trainer filled lobby of the Pokemon Center. As expected, the noise quickly began to overwhelm Fennekin's sensitive hearing as she was not used to such commotion, thus Aura took it upon himself to book them a room for the night as quick as he could.
"Welcome to the Pokemon Center. How may I help?" The nurse behind the counter asked.
"I'd like to rent a room for the night." He told them hastily, presenting his Trainer ID for them to scan. Thankfully, trainers participating in the League are given the privilege to stay at Pokemon Centers at no cost so long as they have a valid Trainer ID, so after just a quick scan of his card, Aura is given access to a room and hurried off to get Fennekin away from the crowded lobby. Ascending the stairs to the second floor, Aura quickly scanned the doors along the walls for his room and once he found it he unlocked it with his card and entered. "Finally. It should be nice and quiet for you in here." He said while bringing Fennekin over to the bed and setting her down on the sheets.
The room wasn't much but it still looked rather nice and was very well kept. It was a fair size with just enough space for a large bed and a small sofa and chair facing a moderate flat screen TV.
As Aura took a step back to put down his bag, Fennekin sat on her haunches and glanced at her trainer nervously while anxiously rubbing her foreleg. She took a breath and bit her lip before speaking. "M-master?" He looked at her. "Since you can understand me…" Fennekin paused as she noticed the look Aura gave her didn't speak very well.
He sighed. "Fennekin. Please. You don't need to call me 'Master' or 'Trainer' or anything like that. Legally I may be your trainer, sure, but I don't own you. Even if you are technically my Pokemon, I still consider you a part of my family first. So if you want to call me anything, just call me Aura."
Fennekin blushed as a tiny smile creased her lips. "O-okay… But, since you can understand me, I wanted to ask you something?"
Aura nodded with a caring smile as he caressed her cheek. "No need to be so anxious. You can ask me anything."
She swallowed hard and nodded. "Wh-when we were back at the… the lab," she started, momentarily forgetting what the place was called, "when we first saw each other, did you feel something...weird?" Aura silently blinked, and for a second, Fennekin worried he just thought she was being crazy, but he just looked at her warmly and smiled.
"I did. I don't know what it was, but something deep down within myself just told me that you and I were meant to be partners." He placed the tips of his fingers on her paw and stared into her eyes. "I've never felt such a strong connection with anyone before… Let alone someone I had never even met."
Fennekin stared deeply back into Aura's eyes as well. "You were the first human I've ever felt safe around, too."
The two of them sat in silence for a while longer until Aura sat on the bed beside Fennekin and picked her up into his arms. "I heard what happened to your parents. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. But I promise that you'll never have to be alone again. Because now you're a part of my family, and so will every other Pokemon that joins our team." Aura pulled Fennekin into a soft embrace with her chin resting on his shoulder.
She didn't know what to think as Aura's speech echoed through her mind endlessly. Memories of her past years spent alone began to resurface, and with them she could feel several emotions, both good and bad, welling up inside. Overwhelmed by these feelings, she let out a hic as more tears pooled in her eyes and slowly dripped down her cheeks. The moment Aura noticed her quietly sobbing in his ear, he pulled her away just enough to see her face and ask if she was okay. She sniffled, "Y-yes. I'm fine. I'm just so happy to finally have a new family."
Aura softened his expression and tightly hugged the fox again, allowing her to cry on his shoulder for a few minutes longer until she calmed down. "I'm just happy to help you." He said while stroking her back. "It's getting pretty late, I'll get us both something to eat real quick then we should get some rest. Today has been pretty eventful." Seeing as it was almost ten-thirty at night, Aura simply pulled out a can of chili for himself while taking out a cylindrical container of Pokefood for Fennekin. "Sorry if you were expecting something more, but my mom insisted on bringing some. Although Kibbs seems to like this stuff."
Taking two bowls from his bag, Aura poured his chili into one while filling the other with the somewhat soft chunks of Pokefood. Fennekin rubbed her eyes briefly before hopping off the bed and approaching the bowl set on the floor. She sniffed it curiously while Aura went to microwave his food.
"It's a special blend made of Pecha and Oran berries. I thought you'd appreciate it since I saw you eating Pecha berries earlier." He explained.
Fennekin showed a small smile as she started to eat. "Thank you, Aura." She said as Aura happily watched from the small kitchen.
Once his food was heated Aura took his bowl and decided to sit on the floor next to his partner. "By the way. I wanted to ask you something as well." Fennekin looked up at him. "I'd rather not just call you Fennekin forever. So I was wondering if there was anything else you'd like me to call you."
Fennekin looked down slightly. "I've never actually had a proper name before… But I'd be happy if you wanted to give me one."
Aura waved his hand. "Remember how I said you were your own Pokemon? It wouldn't feel right for me to just decide on a name for you."
She blushed faintly from the way Aura gave her so much freedom to make her own choices. However she soon sulked as she couldn't think of anything she'd like to be called, mostly due to not having anything to really compare to. But as soon as she visually struggled to think of a name, Aura gently placed his hand on her head and assured her that she could take all the time she needed to figure it out.
Once they'd finished eating and Aura washed off their dishes, he grabbed his shorts from his bag and was about to start changing for the night, although after taking off his shirt and undoing his belt he paused as he remembered Fennekin was a girl. He glanced at the fox a bit awkwardly as she quickly looked away with a slight sweat and a blush on her face. "Right… I'll just go change in the bathroom." With that he took his shorts and shut himself inside the bathroom, leaving the Fennekin to glance back at the door and blush as the image of Aura's shirtless figure sent confusing thoughts through her mind.
The entire time she was alone, Fennekin was questioning these abrupt feeling she seemed to have developed. Why did she feel so drawn to her trainer's body? As she heard the door creak open, Fennekin quickly shook these thoughts from her mind, however she couldn't avoid them as her trainer stepped out with not only his shirt off, but only wearing a pair of shorts. Before he could notice her expression, she whipped her head around and tried to push these thoughts back, thankfully managing to calm down shortly after.
Aura put his folded clothes on top of his bag and stretched. "It's getting pretty late so we should get to bed." Climbing under the blanket, Aura gestured for Fennekin to join him. Although a bit reluctant thanks to her unusual feelings, Fennekin still hopped onto the bed and padded her way over to the pillows, her odd attraction to her trainer far overshadowed by the simple desire to just have him close as currently he was the only family she had now, and that thought alone manged to calm her mind and brush away everything else. As she curled up against Aura's bare chest, her previous affections seemed to melt away and were now replaced with the familiar sense of security she had when they first met eyes. She much preferred these feeling over anything else and so held onto them tightly until the two of them finally drifted off to sleep.
A knock on the door stirred Aura from his sleep. The trainer groaned and opened his eyes slowly, smiling as he saw Fennekin still soundly asleep beside him. The fox began to stir too as the knocking continued a little louder. Aura pulled himself away from Fennekin and stood up to stretch. He quickly threw on his shirt and went to answer the door as another short knock came from it, though this time it sounded much lower than before and not as loud as the other two. Letting out a brief yawn and rubbing his eyes, Aura unlocked and opened the door to see Dan standing in the hallway with a green and brown Pokemon grinning playfully in his hands.
"Morning." He greeted with the Pokemon in his grasp waving happily with an energetic "Chespin!" escaping past its buck-toothed grin. Aura rubbed his eyes again and smirked, repeating after his friend with a "good morning" of his own. "I'm guessing you only just woke up?" He asked.
Aura nodded. "Yeah, I'll go get myself dressed and we can head out for breakfast. I noticed this place has a food court near the lobby." Gesturing for Dan to come in, Aura shut the door and quickly scrambled up his clothes and hurried into the bathroom while Dan took a seat on the sofa. Only taking about a minute to change his pants, Aura came back out from the bathroom and stuffed his shorts into his bag before hoisting it over his shoulder. "Come on, Fennekin. Let's go... Fennekin?" Aura scanned the bed for the fox, but instead of seeing her by the pillows where they slept, he noticed a lump under the blanket farther down. He dropped his bag again and leaned over to lift the blanket. Fennekin was curled up in a ball with her paws over her eyes. She was taking deep breaths and didn't seem to notice Aura watching her.
She finally looked up and jolted as Aura seemingly came out of nowhere. Fennekin began to stutter frantically as she tried to apologize and ask who the other human was. Aura smiled at her and gently eased her out of hiding, although she kept her face push into Aura's chest as he lifted her into his arms. "Fennekin, this is Dan. You don't need to be scared of him either. He cares a lot about Pokemon too and is also going to be traveling with us for a while." Aura explained.
Like before, something about just being held by Aura and hearing his voice was enough to calm her nerves enough to where she could finally look towards the newcomers. "H-hello…" She squeaked out. She looked up to Aura again. "Can he understand me too?"
Aura shrugged and whispered he didn't think so, and judging by Dan's somewhat confused expression, he in fact could not understand her. He did, however, notice the way Aura communicated with his partner but didn't want to be rude and ask about it at the moment.
"Sorry about that. Fennekin is a little shy and might take some time to get used to you." Aura explained.
Dan waved his hand and stepped back to the door. "No worries, as long as you two get along. Now shall we head down for some brunch?"
Aura hung his bag over his shoulder and let Dan lead the way down to the lobby. "So you chose a Chespin as your starter." Aura mentioned while the grass-type cheerfully hummed a tune to itself and tapped its trainer's arm to the beat.
Dan chuckled. "Yeah. He was just really enthusiastic to come with and I didn't want to ruin that for him." He looked down at his Pokemon. "Plus grass types are usually pretty in tune with nature so I figured having one would help with finding and gathering herbs."
"Have you given him a name?"
Dan shrugged and grinned awkwardly. "Well it's a little cliche and unoriginal, but he seems content with the name Spyke. But spelled with a Y instead of an I."
"Oh, how fancy," Aura snickered. "Well, I think the name fits him."
Once they had checked out of their rooms, they headed to the large cafeteria across the lobby. To their surprise, it was much less crowded then they expected, but some of the many tables were still occupied. Aura took a minute to look around and luckily found an empty booth in the far corner with no one else sitting near it. Thinking it would be a good spot for Fennekin, he pointed it out to Dan and they promptly walked over and sat down. With how many trainer normally came to the cafeteria on a daily basis, rather than there being a menu there was just a long buffet table against one of the walls.
Leaving their stuff in the booth, Aura and Dan carried their partners to the buffet and each grabbed a plate off the stack. Many of the trays were either empty or being cleaned for lunch so there wasn't a huge variety of food to choose from, but there was still a good amount of options. Dan filled his plate rather quickly while Aura took some extra time to browse what was available. "Anything you'd like to try?" He asked Fennekin.
She shook her head a little and looked at her trainer. "I don't know what all of this is really… But is there anything sweet?"
"Probably." He scanned the food and eventually took a few pancakes with syrup along with a plastic cup full of various diced berries. As he returned to the booth and set down his plate he propped his bag up for Fennekin to sit on. Right as he sat down he cut into the pancakes and held the fork out to Fennekin. "Here. This should satisfy your sweet tooth plenty," he laughed.
Curiously sniffing the food, Fennekin put her trust into Aura and took the food in her teeth and chewed it slowly. The two trainers snickered as her eyes slowly widened as she gradually chewed faster and quickly swallowed. "So? What do you think?" Aura asked while cutting off another piece for himself as he awaited the Pokemon's verdict.
Fennekin yipped happily. "It's good! I've never had anything that sweet before!"
Aura and Dan laughed a little louder at Fennekin's sudden change of attitude from just a simple breakfast pastry. Maybe she wasn't quite as shy as they thought. She blushed from their reactions but continued to smile nonetheless. Aura placed the cup of berries in front of the fox and let her dig in cheerfully as he continued to eat the pancakes.
"Don't fire types normally prefer spicy foods?" Dan asked.
"I guess, but Fennekin prefers sweet tastes. In fact when I first saw her at the lab she had a bunch of Pecha berries with her," he chuckled. "By the way, you probably won't believe me but I figured it would be a better idea to tell you this sooner rather than later."
Dan cocked his head to the side curiously and ushered for him to continue. Aura took a breath and briefly informed his friend of his unusual ability to understand most Pokemon, and to an extent, his ability to partially sense the stronger emotions of others. Dan scrunched his face and stared at Aura perplexed.
Aura sighed. "You think I sound a bit crazy don't you?" Dan glanced away and awkwardly shrugged with a sound of uncertainty. "I knew you wouldn't really believe me," he pointed out casually, "but I could easily prove it to you."
Dan smirked coyly. "Alright, any ideas on how you'd do that?" Aura suggested he translate something Spyke were to say and have the Chespin confirm or deny whether he was correct. "I think that could be enough proof. Okay, Spyke. Think you can do that?"
The Chespin nodded fast and quickly began to think of something to say. "Pin Chespin Chespin?" He asked.
Aura grinned. "To answer your question of 'Can you really understand me?' Yes. I can understand you just fine."
Dan looked over to see his Chespin stood in awe and asked if he was correct. Spyke raised his paw and nodded with an enthusiastic "Chespin!"
"Wow. So you really can understand them?" Dan rubbed the back of his neck. "To be honest, though, I was a bit suspicious when I saw how deeply you spoke to Fennekin. But this is mind-blowing."
"Heh. Well it kind of loses its appeal when it's been something you could do your entire life. I do still hear their natural speech so it's like being able to understand another language and translate it in your head." He glanced over to Fennekin and chuckled as he took a napkin and wiped some syrup off her chin. "Being able to understand them was most likely the reason I spent more time around wild Pokemon than other people growing up. But thanks to that I was able to learn real quick just how similar humans and Pokemon really are."
As they finished their breakfast and Dan returned Spyke to his ball, Aura remembered the promise he made to call Kibbs and his mother. After Dan assured him he would wait by the front doors, Aura hurried off to the public phone booths and sitting down with Fennekin perched on his lap. He quickly dialed the number and waited as the call pended. Within a few seconds the screen flashed on with a live video feed showing his mother on the other end.
"Aura! How are you doing, sweetie?"
He nodded. "I'm doing fine, Mom. Just thought I'd call to fill you in on my journey so far."
Darlene chuckled. "I know you promised to call often but neither of us expected a call this soon." Aura scratched his chin and smiled. He asked for her to bring Kibbs over too as he wanted to introduce them to someone. Darlene left his view for a minute and returned with the Growlithe hopping up onto the counter.
"Well don't keep us waiting. Who do you want us to meet?" She yipped.
Aura looked down and grinned before he lift Fennekin into view. "This is my partner, Fennekin. Fennekin, this is my mom and Kibbs."
"H-hello." Fennekin sheepishly greeted.
Darlene responded with a hello as well while the Growlithe swooned in adoration. "She's so adorable. I can't wait to meet her in person." Kibbs waved a paw and greeted the fellow Fire type with a cutesy hello. "You be sure to keep our boy safe, Fennekin. He can be a bit of a handful, or I guess in our case, a paw-ful." Kibbs giggled at her own pun as Aura and Darlene both rolled their eyes.
"I-I'll do my best." Fennekin affirmed.
"Hmhm. Anyway, I also wanted to tell you guys I met another trainer on my way here and we'll be traveling together for a while. His name is Dan and he's working on becoming a Pokemon Doctor." Aura explained, mentioning his companion was actually waiting by the front entrance so he would introduce him another time. "I know this talk wasn't long, but Fennekin and I should probably get going. We still need to discuss where we'll be heading next."
"Why not try Santalune?" Darlene told him. "The Gym there specializes in Bug types so Fennekin would have an advantage."
Aura bit his lip. "Yeah… I guess so. Although, you see, Fennekin's not exactly very outgoing, and I don't want to push her into a battle without her approval."
"Then I guess you'll have to look for another Pokemon to train as well." Kibbs said matter-of-factly.
"Heh. I guess so. Anyway we should be heading out. I'll call you guys again when I have more time."
"Okay, hon. We'll be looking forward to it." Darlene said as they gave their farewells and the screen went black.
Aura sighed and stood up from the bench. He grabbed his bag and carried Fennekin towards the entrance where they met up with Dan. As they left, Aura mentioned traveling to Santalune for his first Gym Challenge which Dan agreed upon. Of course, they still had to do a bit of shopping to keep their supplies fully stocked for the road. Once they had their bags fully packed and practically bulging with supplies, the new trainers started off in the direction they had originally come from, towards the gates to Kalos' Route 4.
As they strolled down the surprisingly empty sidewalk lined with shops selling mostly souvenirs and other trinkets and baubles, Aura noticed Fennekin gazing intensely through the window of a jewelry store. Seeing as they were not walking very fast, Aura managed to follow her gaze towards the vast display of accessories. There were many types of necklaces, rings and bracelets scattered around, but out of the possible hundreds of glittering objects, Fennekin's eyes had locked onto one specific necklace. Its chain appeared to be made of a shimmering silver material with a small square gemstone embedded within a slightly larger silver socket hooked to the chain from one of its four corners by a tiny ring.
Aura abruptly stopped and approached the window much to the others' confusion. "You really like this kind of stuff, huh?" He asked Fennekin.
Fennekin continued to gaze at the necklace. "What is that?" She asked. Aura looked more deeply at the necklace only to find it lined up perfectly with Fennekin's reflection, making it appear she was actually wearing the beautiful piece of jewelry. He thoughtfully explained the gemstone looked to be a diamond, noting how it was likely famous for being one of the strongest and most beautiful stones in the world. Fennekin's gaze only grew stronger as Aura could see a wishful look in her eyes through her reflection.
Thinking for a moment, Aura set Fennekin down and walked into the store. Dan had come a little closer just as the two watched a man take the necklace off the display only for Aura to come back out a minute later with a black, velvet lined box in his hands. He knelt down in front of Fennekin who's face lit up as he presented her with the box, opening the lid to reveal the necklace resting on a red silk. He lifted it by the chain and set the box to the side as he proceeded to hook it around Fennekin's neck, Dan noticing how the chain appeared much shorter than before.
Once he leaned away from her, Fennekin lifted the diamond to look at it in awe. "Y-you… You got this for me?" Aura just silently nodded as tears of joy welled up in her eyes. "Why?"
"I could see the way you looked at it, and since it looked beautiful on your reflection, I knew it would look beautiful on the real thing."
Fennekin leaped up into Aura's arms, the two locking into a happy embrace. "Thank you, Aura! This means so much to me!" Fennekin looked at her necklace again with a smile. "Aura? I think I know what I want my name to be." He raised his brow and asked her what it was. With a moment of suspense, Fennekin blinked away another tear and looked up at him. "I'd like my name to be Diamond."
Aura's smile widened. "I think that name is a perfect fit. Not only are you beautiful like one, but I think you can prove you're also just as strong."
With tearful eyes from such a heartfelt moment between a trainer and his partner, Aura and Diamond, joined by their friend Dan and his Chespin, continued on their way towards the first step of their brand new lives as trainers and the challenges awaiting ahead of them.
For those who are re-reading this chapter after its revision, I had tried to show a bit more of the suddenly developing attraction Diamond has towards Aura. Going forward, I also intend to tone down her timidness as well while still trying to keep her quite shy and afraid of certain things.
