THIEF! Chapter 5
Secret
"Let me be perfectly frank. I know that it was you in my house last night, Liana."
She was caught! Liana felt the world sinking around her. How could he possibly have known? Wasn't he asleep during the whole time she was there? She felt frozen in indecision. "How…" she began, then stopped abruptly. There was still time to deny it, to pretend she didn't know what he was talking about. "How would you know something that wasn't true?" she asked, trying to sound unconcerned.
Bobby looked at her flatly. "Don't play games with me, Liana. Even if I didn't see you, Combusken did."
Aha! Liana felt relieved. He must be just bluffing; trying to get her to confess. Because, as she asked Bobby: "How, pray tell, did your pokemon manage to tell you that the thief was a girl from your high school?"
Now Bobby looked a little afraid. In a very serious voice, he said "If I tell you, you'll have to keep it a secret. Then I'll keep your secret."
"I don't know what secret of mine you're referring to." Bobby gave Liana a hard look. "Oh, fine. And I suppose that if I don't agree, you'll tell everyone that I was the thief, even though I wasn't" she added as a last-ditch attempt. Bobby nodded. "Well, alright. I'll accept that if I have to." But Liana didn't think this was turning out too badly, since Bobby would keep her secret, and she would learn one about him.
"Alright," he said. "Then I'll tell you what I've never told anyone before. It all began when I first got my pokemon, who was a Torchic then…"
Insert a flashback effect here if you so choose
"On my seventh birthday, I was to receive my first pokemon. I was given a Torchic. We got along together right away, and I started dreaming of being a great trainer. So, we started patrolling around together, Torchic and I, although I wasn't a very good trainer yet.
"One day, I met a boy who had a Kadabra. This kid was already an experienced trainer, so his pokemon was more powerful than mine. But I didn't care, because he insulted Torchic, and I got mad. I challenged him to a match, to prove that my pokemon was strong. And so we battled.
"Kadabra started off with Future Sight. Back then, I didn't know Future Sight's true power, and I laughed when nothing happened. Torchic used Peck and hurt Kadabra some, but it shook Torchic off and used Calm Mind. Then I had Torchic use Ember. It burned Kadabra, but not very much, and the pokemon countered with Confusion. It threw Torchic into a tree. My pokemon was hurt and I ran to it, to see if it was okay. Just as I reached Torchic, and touched it, Future Sight came. The attack blew through us both, and we both passed out.
"When I woke up, I saw Torchic standing over me, worried. 'Are you alright?' it asked. I thought this was strange, since Torchic never opened its mouth, but I was still groggy and didn't think anything of it yet. But, from then on, we have always been able to communicate with each other, without speaking. Future sight must have done something to partially merge our minds when it hit us together.
"And that's how I knew that it was you. Combusken told me."
Liana gazed, spellbound, at Bobby for a few moments, before responding. "Wow. You're a great storyteller Bobby. But why do you keep it a secret? It's cool!"
"I don't want anyone getting concerned about it, or trying to duplicate it. That could be dangerous. I'm going to hold you to what you promised. Please keep it secret."
Liana smiled gently. "Ok, Bobby. Ok."