Light - 6 "H"

Light, in our world, is a representation of energy. Any type of energy, what flows through us or through the world, that is energy. Is it a concept, a result of our actions in the material world, or is it something that exists in another plane? I think it more to be the latter, as in tradition, the spiritual realm and the energy realm have been confused.

Still, energy is something we all share, something that is irrefutable, and is what keeps us going. It binds us together, makes us all realize that we aren't so different after all. A mystical power that we don't completely understand, maybe like souls… that's what some like to think energy is. Faith in something we don't think exists… a hope that things will change, and while they will become something different, they will forever be what they once were.

The world's a mysterious place. One day, you're just minding your own business, walking around the city and watching some pokémon battles on TV, the next you're standing in the middle of the street under the rain with nothing but a sleeveless shirt and a pair of trousers. No shoes either, which is quite possibly the worst part about it. Nevermind the long black hair drooping down your face obscuring your vision, the real issue here is the possible pneumonia that I might catch from standing around in the rain waiting for the locksmith to come over. Moral of the story is to never, ever, live in an apartment that's more than 20 years old and the keys to the which haven't been changed for that long.

But you know, for such a mysterious place, there are a couple of laws that can tell you what's gonna happen: action and reaction, laws of thermodynamics, that stuff… but I honestly doubt that most of that stuff can hold water, especially in such a crazy world like ours. However, I do believe in two universal laws: the laws of gravity, and Murphy's Law. Now the first I'm not talking about the fact that we're all standing on our own two feet and aren't floating off into deep space, that one everyone believes in. I'm talking about something else: a philosophical law of gravity, that we are all being pulled towards one point in our lives. No matter who you are and what you're doing, you obey this law, you're being pulled towards something common to all. Some people call it fate, others heaven… You name it.

Murphy's Law is a funny one though, and it goes like this: if something bad's gonna happen, don't worry, because it'll get even worse.

And god help me if I'm not a firm believer of the latter.

Let's be honest, if you were to live in a world populated by two species, which one would you rather be: the weak, fleshy and intelligent species that likes to change the world around whenever it suits their mood and needs, or the strong, marvelous and rather passive species of up to eight hundred something varieties that all have mystical and marvelous powers that defy logic, and yet don't dare lift a finger to change the environment around them? If you chose the later, then congratulations, you're now a slave.

A slave, yeah, I'm not about to sugar coat the treatment Pokémon get in this world: stuffed into ball of all shapes, colors and sizes, probably brainwashed to serve their masters, and definitely treated like animals: fights, fashion shows, quite literal pets… and they're actually sentient creatures too, so it really makes you wonder just why they haven't gotten up in arms and tried to overthrow us.

Well, spoiler alert? They already did. And it backfired. Hard.

Nevermind that though, because it's most likely a story for another day. We only have so much time before you have to leave again, back to that world of yours, and I need to tell you about this. This is important, so keep your peepers peeped, got it? Good… so now, back to the scene, I'm just standing under the rain, essentially naked in that weather and with a wrapped up cloth in my arms. And inside this cloth is a white furred Riolu, shivering like a leaf, with so much mud and dirty blood on his fur that he might as well have looked brown, and so hot that I worried he'd caught a worse fever than the one I was about to catch.

If you've got a soul, then it'd probably going to melt when I tell you the poor thing is barely four years old and I found them about to be killed. It all happened earlier that day, I'd just taken my phone, put on some music and left my house for an afternoon run. My office job didn't exactly give me much room for exercising and keeping a healthy way of life, and Milktank burgers and chinese takeout combined with streaming services was only going to get me an early grave due to several simultaneous organ failures, or so my doctor had told me, so I decided to pick up that healthy habit.

And on one such afternoon I decided to go out of town. Running around under highly contaminated air wasn't healthy either, and there was a nice forest near the town I lived. It wasn't big or small, and it had every commodity you could need to have a normal, quiet life, and I was happy with that. What pushed to go out of town on that very afternoon though, to head down that one single dirt path and to take a left turn when the path in the forest forked… it'll forever be a mystery for me. Going back to that law of gravity I mentioned before… Looking back, it's always been working towards that moment, hasn't it?

Anyways, as I delved deeper into the forest I happened across quite a breathtaking scene: a beautiful spring in the middle of a clearing, some flowers all over the place, and not too far away beyond the moor were ridges and mountains. I thought it was a nice play to stop for a bit and relax, but I couldn't have been further away from the truth, because seconds later a howl echoed between the trees, signalling the presence of less than happy pokémon in the area. I wasn't and I still aren't a trainer, I don't intend to be one for obvious reasons, so I didn't have anything to defend myself against wild pokémon other than my own two legs. I sprung up and took off running, daring to glance back… only to check that it wasn't me they were hunting.

A pack of mightyenas were chasing after the white furred Riolu I am holding in my arms now, and they were tearing the poor thing apart: every lunge and bite hit its mark, tearing the skin and fur, so many wounds and bruises that it was a miracle he could still run. And yes, later on I learned it was a he because I had to wash it so it wouldn't die. A little voice in my head told me I shouldn't get involved, that it was all nature's law… but I didn't pay any attention to it. Leaving him to die like that would not only weigh down heavily on my conscience but also leave a sour taste in my mouth. Besides, I wouldn't be able to presume of being a pokémon rights activist if I let one die, now would I?

I looked round and grabbed the biggest stick I could find, and came out swinging. The noise, my own size and the fact I was brandishing a wooden stick like I was a goddamn maniac probably shocked them, but it wasn't enough to scare them away, though it was definitely enough to draw the attention off the Riolu. I went on the defensive, a cold sweat running down my back as I realized just how much of a huge mistake this had been, with the voice in my head bashing me repeatedly, saying "I told you! I told you!". Luckily, the Riolu I'd just saved didn't do the sensible thing either way.

Instead of running away, he fell onto his back, faced the Mightyenas and fired one hell of an aura sphere. The explosion dazed them and left my ears ringing, and it definitely burnt some of the grass, which I promptly used to light up my own stick and wave it at the hyenas. It had effect, and they ran with their tails between their legs. Once a few minutes had passed and everything quieted down I turned to look at the Riolu, smiling and giving him a thumbs up… before shouting in pain and dropping the stick on fire, having burnt through all of it and burning my own hand, putting it out with my foot.

Once that was out of the way, I approached the Riolu, and just as I'd expected, he tried to cower away from me, dragging his lower half across the mud in a vain attempt to at least get into the water and away from me… but he didn't go that far before his own exhaustion and wounds got the best of him. After this, I think I'll press the fast forward button: I took responsibility for my actions, cleaned the guy as best I could, took off my shirt, leaving me in my undershirt and sweating and wrapped him in it to dry him off, and then started running back home, and of course on the way back it started raining, and to finish off the day, I turn the key in the lock, and wouldn't you know the thing snaps in half.

And now we're here, waiting for the locksmith I called on the phone to arrive, already being fifteen minutes late. My body's so cold that there's no doubt in my mind I'll be going to work sick tomorrow. And no I can't just call in sick, otherwise I'll lose my job. Life's fantastic, as you can probably imagine, but hey there's always a silver lining: at least I could be evicted and permanently living out in the street. Or dead. Things could always be worse, Murphy's Law I'm telling you.

I'm still hugging the bundle of cloth in my chest, trying to keep the little guy as warm as possible, even if he's coming down with a huge fever. Now, I didn't take him to the pokécentre for three reasons: one, I am not a trainer, and appearing in the centre with a wounded little guy like him would draw a lot of attention that I didn't want on me; two, I don't have any way to pay the treatment, barely having enough money to sustain myself; and three, those marks on his right arm.

Now, I'm not a biology expert, because if I were I wouldn't working at an office job, I tell you what… But even I know that Riolus have these bone protrusions on the back of their paws, but this one has the right one missing, and instead it's replaced by a strange pattern: lines curve and extend over his arm in an intricate pattern, circling and spiraling, going from his shoulder all the way down to his paw, where it all came together on the back, making an emblem that everyone is more than used to seeing these days: that five pointed star with ten circles around it.

I have no idea who this Riolu is, why he has that emblem, or what it means, but if I'd brought this little guy in chances are I would've never seen them again… and I may or may not have been assassinated by some government special ops or something, I forgot my tinfoil hat in my wardrobe that morning. Point is, something is really fishy about this kid, but he probably hasn't the faintest of what it all means. A sound rouses me from my thoughts and I look up: the van with the logo of the door company that made the goddamn trap behind me is here. I greet him and joke about the pneumonia I'm going to catch and we share a good laugh as he unlocks the door. I wasn't about to blame or get angry at the guy for getting there late, it probably wasn't his fault. He sticks with me just in case the one to my flat also breaks and offers to have a new set of keys sent in the next two days, which I am very glad to hear about, and the best part of it all is that he doesn't ask questions about the pokémon in my arms!

I thank him and the moment he leaves I rush into the bathroom, turn on the heater and ready a bath to properly wash this poor guy. I have bandages, alcohol and disinfectant at the ready, and when I'm done he actually looks pretty cute, covered in bandages like that and sleeping like a baby on my bed. I take my own bath afterwards, and take a long time to think over all that's happened today. Whatever it was, it sure as hell meant that things were going to change drastically from there on out, which I wasn't too stoked about.

See, I'm just a guy who just wants to relax. I've lead a complicated life, filled with problems and strife of all kinds, and I only want to wake up every day at six in the morning, work for eight hours, go back home, sit in front of the TV and put on some anime and eat fried chicken, rinse and repeat for the rest of his life. I've got no family in town, I live completely alone, and the prospect of getting a girlfriend or something like that isn't appealing. I don't do friends either, though I do go out with my colleagues every so often to have a few beers and share some laughs.

I got out of the bath, dried and put on my pajamas and did just that: sit down on the sofa and relax. Picking up some pokémon like that was really the least appealing thing I'd done in quite some time, but I'd still done it for some god forsaken reason, so I'd have to pull through, take care of them until they recovered and see what happened from there on out. I mean… how hard could it be to take care of a little pokémon like that?

Since the poor guy was out like a light and snoring away, I decided to join him, metaphorically speaking, not physically, and opened up the sofa and laid to rest with the seventh season of "Friends" going until the TV shut off when I fell asleep, which must've been a few two hours after I had that shower and ate dinner. It was both a combination of me being lazy, but also tired. Seriously, just that whole business with those Mightyenas had left me exhausted for some reason… that and the splitting headache and huge cold I'd caught, so I thought laying down was the best course of action.

Turns out that it was the complete opposite: I woke up and I could barely stand up because my head weighted ten times more than it usually did, and just moving it hurt. It was almost as bad as waking up from a hangover, only that I also had what I'd later figure out was strep throat, combined with a cough that made my entire body convulse and spew out mucus. In other words, I was a complete and utter mess. With a groan and a desire for Zapdos to smite me with a thunderbolt, I got out of bed and trudged my way to the bathroom, opening up the closet and quickly getting those heavenly painkillers, which mitigated the pain. I kept the bottle by my side, knowing I was going to need it that day: I had work, of all things.

I stared at the mirror and death returned my gaze: an unkempt beard and a messed up hair on top of a face pale as milk greeted me. I looked like a ghost, and I was tempted to call it quits and not show up to work that day. I was a planck's length away from quitting it too, since my boss was the type of guy who counted actual one penny coins, those small copper ones, so I was definitely lucky I was getting paid minimum wage. Still, gotta pay the rent, so I pulled out my shaving kit and got down to business… when I saw something that scared me even more than my ugly mug.

The little fucker was already up and about, bandages and all.

And he was sneaking past me.

I turned on a dime and faced him, yet the scurrying bugger bolted for the door, slipping on the floor and almost breaking his poor face on the wood, though he recovered quickly and made a mad dash for the handle… only for it to stay in the same place. Thank god I had the foresight to lock the door before I went to bed, otherwise he'd be gone like the wind, never to be seen again. That wasn't the end of it however, as he started pummeling the door itself with his own bandaged fists, desperate to get out of that hellhole, which I totally understood, I also wanted to get out of that apartment, but that was definitely not the way.

"Oi! Stop that you bugger, don't break my f-" He spun and pointed his paw at me, and I saw that familiar glow… "Don't! I swear to god don't fucking blow up anything you son of a bitch!" My shouts certainly didn't stop him from making the thing, an aura sphere the size of a melon, essentially quite huge, but at least he didn't fire it, which was progress. "I am up to my neck in debt! In the red! Legally poor and stripped of all my human dignity! You blow a hole in the wall they're going to come and try and repair it and when I don't have any money they'll take away the TV, the consoles… whatever, and I can't afford that! Just for the love of whatever it is you care most and whatever deity you believe in don't shoot that sphere!" A long silence hovered over us after my long spiel and I guess he must've recognized me through the shaving cream as the guy who saved his life the previous day, or just didn't feel like blowing me into bloody chunks. Whatever the case, he didn't fire it, that crisis was averted and I let out a sigh of relief, followed by a violent coughing fit.

"Ah, fucking fantastic… you made me shout and now I'm probably gonna be voiceless for the rest of the week…" I groaned and got up, turning away from him and deciding to finish shaving my face. I'm sure that my course of action is confusing: I just convinced the Riolu to not blow up my house, so you'd think I'd interrogate him further, ask him how he was feeling yada yada… well, I had a better plan, and it involved ignoring him for the time being. I could see his tiny head pop out from behind the door frame on the reflection of the mirror, and I kept splitting my attention between him and my shave, somehow avoiding cutting it all up.

Once I was done with that and the other morning activities of the bath… which he watched with the utmost curiosity, which was honestly creepy, I walked past him and opened up my wardrobe to put some clothes: a simply gray business suit which smelled weird. I needed to take it down to the Laundromat… I'd do that later, it was too late for me to do that now. I got ready, groomed my hair as best as I could, grabbed the keys and walked to the door and unlocked it.

"There's food in the fridge, fruits on the table and some cans in the cupboards. I'll be back in eight hours." I opened the door to leave…

"You're leaving?!" I let go of the handle as the Riolu finally opened his mouth to speak, turning around and closing the door again.

"Finally, I am blessed to hear your voice! You've kept quiet for the entire morning, not even a 'thank you' for what I did yesterday?" The Riolu looked at me, confused.

"Wait… you understand me?" I nodded, and he grew skeptical. "You human!"

"Well, humans and pokémon do come from the same gene pool you know… besides, there are a lot more people that can understand pokémon, but considering the current political climate they opt to stay quiet about it, and for good reason too." That was the short version of it, but the message got across. His voice was really high pitched, he must've been like five or six… how in the world he'd managed to survive on his own for so long, let alone speak up and threaten a human like that at such a young age was beyond me. I knew pokémon were essentially born to fight, but I wasn't expecting that.

"...I need to leave too."

"No can do." I remained in front of the door again, and he rose his paw and threatened to summon another sphere. "Ah ah ah, what did I say about blowing up the house? If you do that the police will come, and then you'll be taken away to god knows where." He shot me a funny look, but his paw didn't lower.

"Po...lice?"

"Guys in blue suits, usually with guns and tasers, they are there to preserve the safety of us upstanding citizens… and also evict you when you're not so upstanding." That didn't help satiate his curiosity, but the overall meaning got through: if he went out, he'd be alone again and probably taken to an even shittier spot, or at least that's what I thought, and thus relayed this message to him.

"Police… bad?"

"Depends on who you are."

"You… bad?"

"Depends on what your perspective on life is. I'm just a guy trying to get by. nothing more nothing less. I just so happened to find you getting eaten alive for some Mightyena, my heart melted at the sight and we are now… by the way, I don't know you're even standing." I wiped my nose, and while I didn't have a trail of snot coming from my nose, he did… quite a lot of fact, and the poor thing had barely noticed it, so enthralled he was in getting to know me. "Look… I really don't know what to do or what to say to you outside of… I brought you here to keep you safe, and I managed to save your ass, so I'm in a way looking out for you kiddo… So listen up: I need to go work at my stupid office job because I need to make money, the thing that makes this world go 'round and 'round… so that way we can stay in this house, warm and with food. Did you get that?" His reaction was him pulling away his paw from his snout, a trail of snot connecting them, and looking up at me with innocent eyes, shaking his head.

Arceus bless this kid.

"Alright well… how about this… I need to go get food, alright?" He genuinely looked lost, and I couldn't blame him for it: a human his age could've never understood the cruel reality of the world we lived in, let alone a pokémon cub. Though with such a gross simplification he seemed to find his beatings.

"Hungry…" The broken speech didn't help to alleviate the cute factor, but I was already late as is, and he could probably find his way to the fridge, get food… Or at least that's what I was thinking, but my body decided to betray me and while I was thinking this I'd already grabbed a plate, berries, fruits and whatever sweets I could find to give him, and a glass of water too.

"Ok, this should do it for a bit… Now I'll be gone for a little while, until midday. Thankfully I don't work full time, so you should…" There was another trail of snot coming from his nose, and I took it upon myself to clean it with a tissue, which I promptly trashed in the bin nearby. "As I was saying, you're gonna need to stay here, I'll be back…" I looked around and pointed at my digital alarm clock, the red numbers changing with every minute. "Alright, so you see those symbols?" I asked, walking over and pointing at the last two digits: it was currently thirteen minutes past seven, so I was most definitely gonna be late. He nodded. "Well when these two appear…" I pointed at the two first slots, which were the hours. "Here, then I'll be back, ok?" He nodded.

"Right, if we're settled then, eat a bit, get your strength back and I'll bring some food for you later. And after that…" I stopped talking: after that what? What was I going to do with this kid? Now I had another damn mouth to feed, something that I'd actively avoided, since I was constantly short on cash… this was just a bad idea from the beginning was it? "Well, after that I promise we'll figure something out, ok? And we'll talk about your name and all that jazz… sounds good?"

Of all those words I'm sure he understood two, but he nodded again and stayed quiet, still looking at me with those big eyes… though once again when I turned around and opened the door I heard someone padding behind me. "Alright, what is it now?" I turned around and he was closer to me than ever before, looking up.

"What… is… promise?" Now that I definitely couldn't believe I'd just heard.

"Wait… you don't know what a promise is?" He shook his head, and I huffed. I really didn't want him to follow me just I could explain what that was… so I crouched down, getting down to his eye level, and looked at him. "Well… A promise is like… you say something, alright? You want to do… something for someone. I just said that I am going to bring you food, right?" He nodded. "Well… that's a promise. There's a lot more than that but… basically, when you say you're going to do something for you or for someone else, that's a promise."

"Promise…"

"Yep… and I promise I'll bring you food… but in turn, you gotta promise that you don't leave this place, alright? When you promise something to someone else that person also usually promises something back. So, if you stay here and don't break your promise, I will bring you food. Sound good?" I extended my hand, and he backed away in fear, scared to look at my hand, but I edged him onward with a smile and a nod of my head, and he tentatively moved his paw forward and grabbed my thumb and index finger, tightly holding them and almost crushing the two together.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Promise." After that short exchange, he let go of my hand and sat down, keeping his eyes on me still. I could feel something wet on my hand, and when I looked I noticed it was all covered in his snot.

"Ugh…" I rubbed it off with a tissue and rubbed his head. "Alright, then I'll be back in a few." I finally managed to open the door and walked out of the apartment. "See ya!" And once I was gone, I closed and locked the door behind me. I sighed as I did that, resting my head against the wooden door, still regretting all my decisions… but I knew that work would be a fantastic way to draw my attention away from all of that. And so, I set out for a boring day at the office, knowing that when I came back I'd find a tiny curious Riolu looking at his snot covered paw and murmuring the same word over and over.

"Promise…"

For once, luck seemed to smile down on me, since my boss wasn't in the office, so I didn't get scolded for being late, and I got out early so I managed to make enough time to get chinese take out and headed back home. I doubted my furry friend had ever tried out chinese food, but I certainly hoped he enjoyed it, because that's what we were having for lunch that day. I used the temporar key I'd been given by the locksmith and made my way up to my flat, unlocking and slipping inside.

"Noon!" I called the Riolu, who I noticed was just sitting in front of my alarm clock with his legs crossed, mesmerized by the numbers, probably waiting until the clock rolled over to the time I'd told him… but he did acknowledge my entrance by turning to face him, pointing at the clock. "Promise!"

"Yeah yeah, I know I said I'd be here at quarter past… but I got here earlier, so that's better! I didn't break our promise, I improved on it." I looked at the floor besides him and noticed he'd cleaned the bowls I'd left him, and the ground around them was spotless, which was a relief since I didn't feel like cleaning the floor. There was some snot on his fur though, which I cleaned up. "Well, at looks like you improved on your promise too!" I cleaned his nose and told him to blow on the tissue, which he.. gracefully did, bending his whole body forward as I feared he might shred the paper into bits. He had some powerful lungs that's for damn sure. Once he was satisfied and I cleaned my entire arms and wrists, I opened the bag on the table and motioned the little guy to sit on a little stool opposite of me, and I pulled out our lunch: rice, spring rolls, fried chicken and those little triangles that I loved so much.

He stared at the banquet in front of him, confused. "Well? Better not get used to this, because this is just a special occasion, kiddo!" I grabbed my chopsticks and dug in, looking at the Riolu expectantly. He looked at my motions curiously, and did the same, trying to separate this chopsticks… and snapped them in half. He looked at me, panicking before he started sniffing, tears in the corners of his eyes. "Hey hey hey, don't cry!" I couldn't help but laugh as I got up and got a spoon for him. Maybe I'd judged wrong and he was younger than five… so I wasn't about to trust him with a fork, much less a knife. Besides, the kid wasn't stupid and knew how to handle food, if him cleaning the plate hadn't been an obvious indication.

He stared at the thing in awe, staring at his reflection and chuckling, and then look back at me. I mimicked the motions of him eating with a spoon, and soon enough we were enjoying the rice and the chicken, albeit the spring roll he had to it with his paws, as if it was a sandwich, with the bittersweet sauce just… flying everywhere. It was adorable, sure, but I still chastised him, which ended up with him bawling and wailing in apology… this was going to be much harder than I thought.

After I managed to calm him down with a piece of chicken I sat back down and watched him happily chew on it, doing some really cute noises and whines. "Rioo! Rio!"

"You like it?" He nodded enthusiastically. "Glad to hear… well, now that you're fed and… somewhat clean, maybe we should talk for a bit… what's your name, little guy?"

He could obviously understand me, because otherwise half of my flat would be missing, but he didn't seem to understand that question… that, or the situation as worse than I thought. "Alright… umm… what about your mommy and daddy? Why weren't they with you when those Mightyena attacked?" At the mention of that he suddenly stopped eating and looked at me in the eyes. Slowly but surely, his face shifted from happiness to shock, then sadness and fear in the span of a minute, looking down at the ground, then at his wounds, sobbing quietly and biterly.

I huffed and laid back: that meant that they had been gravely wounded and abandoned him… or most likely dead. Either that or something else that escaped my mind… whatever the case, the question had brought back unwanted memories, and I wasn't having anymore crying and snot in my house… so I got up and hugged him. This was a grave mistake for several reasons: he smelled quite horribly, even after yesterday's bath, his chest and face were covered in snot and he sobbed and got my shirt messed up with all of the above… but I still hugged him, because I'm not a cruel and cold asshole… most of the time anyways.

"Hey, it's alright kiddo… Nothing bad will happen to you, ok?" I patted his back, trying to calm him down by rocking myself back and forth. By now I really had to consider the fact that this guy was going to stay here for a long time, which… I really didn't want to do. It was already hard enough to sustain myself like that, but now I also had to take care for someone else, a pokémon cub no less… Why'd I even take this little furry bastard in?

I shook my head. Those types of thoughts were definitely not going to help the poor thing, and I'd have to sort out my mind later. For now, I managed to cheer him up a bit more with that and some more wonton, which he crunched with a smile. I rubbed his head affectionately, smiling. "Well, for now, you'll have to stay here: but you need to obey some rules and make some more promises with me, alright? I'll keep ya safe, fed and warm, alright?" He smiled and nodded, hugging me back. This was probably his way of showing me thanks, probably something he'd picked up from me. "Ok… and we also need to sort out the issue of your name. Can't keep calling you little guy and Riolu, now can I?"

I looked around, searching for some inspiration or a name. I'd always been terrible with names, hence why I couldn't write for the life of me, but I did read quite a lot, most of my reads being in an electronic book, since I couldn't afford the bookcase for them… and I thought about it for quite a while, and finally settled on…

"Aiolos." I looked at the Riolu, smiling. "It's god a nice ring to it, don't you think? You like it?" He looked back at me, and seemed to be in deep thought, comprehending that we were deciding on his name. He was pretty intelligent for his age, even if he was kind of slow in some other areas. He nodded, and breathed in to pronounce his own new name.

"A...Aio...los… Aiolos."

O accursed one,