-Terry's POV-
"TERRY! YOU'RE LATE! GET UP!"
The words smash into my head like a cannon shot as I fly out of bed and, screaming, crash to the floor. Dazed, I look up. Standing in the doorway, a smirk on her pale, white face, is Angel, my Kirlia. She's in the process of trying to hold back a laugh, and I would like to add that she isn't doing very well at it. I don't mind though, just seeing her brightens my day.
"Yeah, sure, give me a heart attack. Real funny." I grumble out loud, climbing to my feet and throwing the covers back on my bed. The smile on my face revealed that I was just messing with her, though, and in response she grins at me. My 15 year-old self stares at me from the mirror next to my bed. I'm about 5 foot 8 inches tall, with emerald-green eyes and thick, coal black hair, which is spread about, bedhead style.
Angel walks over and stands next to me, holding onto my pajama pants leg. Her sunset orange eyes gaze into the mirror, where her light blue hair and orange horns on her head are reflected back. We stand there for a moment and I watch as her grin fades away, replaced with a look of worry. I pick her up gently, then lay back on the bed. She moves slightly, getting into her favorite position in my lap, so her head is on my chest, over my heart. Closing her eyes, she sighs softly.
-Memory-
Even though I got my pokemon licence at the age of 10, Angel, still a Ralts at the time, and I talked to my parents about staying a few more years, until I was older. Both my parents agreed. Mother was in tears and was happy to have me stay a bit longer. Father was applying gauze to a wound that his partner Gallade, nicknamed Blade, had gotten earlier that day while training. Not taking his eyes off the cut, he agreed that it would be great to have me stay. He even said that while I was here, he could help me and Angel further increase our bond before we start traveling.
The biggest thing he taught us was the act of Physical Reassurance. We, even mom, wondered why he and Blade always lounged together for hours at a time one specific way after training. Dad explained that while on his journey, one of the most important things he did was head over to Psychic City. It was near Floccesy town, close to the Cave of Being, he said.
People that want to move on to a bigger stage in their Bond with a Psychic Type would go there and rent one of the many cabins there for an average of just over one year. During that time, the Trainer and Pokemon, aided and given ideas by the assistants, would lay on the couch in the main room whenever resting between training sessions, in a different position every two weeks.
Any positions the pair preferred, they would continue to practice after they left. The purpose, father said, was to develop a way for the pair to relax, in a calming sort of way. Lounging like that, in a peaceful environment, in a familiar way each time, helped ease any mental, emotional, and physical stress the day had brought. This, in turn, allowed for a stronger bond and anything that needed to be talked over could be done in that way. If your bond is strong, you can even prevent your partner from feeling pain while you treat him or her. It was such a good thing to do, he said, that now the pokemon centers each have at least two private rooms setup just for that kind of bonding moment.
When Angel became a Kirlia, dad, her and I all sat in my room and debated about the positions we should use. It was an interesting talk, dad was never the speech making kind of guy, I was 13 and Angel had just turned 9 at the time. He asked us to be completely honest and truthful. "If I asked you two to lay on this bed together in any fashion, would you do it?" It was kind of shocking for obvious reasons, but we both nodded nonetheless.
We layed on the bed in the position we are in now, in the present, and he didn't even have to ask if we liked it. We layed like that for an hour each night before bed, and it worked great. Relaxing like that helped both our moods, and our bond strengthened.
-Present, Terry POV-
I breathed deeply, letting our mental connection flow. She sighed again as my calm, content feelings went from my mind to hers, and her agitation lessened slightly. I brought my hand that wasn't supporting her over to her head, and softly stroked behind her ears. "You're scared to leave because everything will be so new." It wasn't a question, I could tell. She was extremely shy, and having assholes come over to our house everyday to demand to buy her because of her unusual coloring didn't help. She looks up at me, and I don't need to read her mind to see the fear coming back.
"I don't want to leave. What if someone tries to hurt you because you're with me?" She says softly.
I'm slightly taken aback by her reasoning, but I try not to let her know. "No one will hurt me, or you, while we are together. I will protect you." I smirk a little, trying to brighten the mood. "Besides, have you seen my arms?! I'm like a gorilla, no one will try me." This gets a small laugh out of her, and I can tell it worked.
"Thank you, Terry. You always know the right thing to say." She responds, smiling slightly.
"Not all the time, but I try." I disagree. "Shall we get going?"
"Sure, I'll wait in the living room while you get dressed." She gets up off my chest and walks to the door, where she pauses.
"Alex is going to meet us at the Research Center so we can talk to Professor Juniper before we leave. He is getting Nicky registered as his first pokemon today!" She says happily.
I smile as a reflex to the joy that spreads through my heart, although not all of it is mine. "That's great! We could travel together!" At this, Angel jumps back into my arms and hugs me.
"You really mean it? That would be so much fun! Get dressed so we can go meet him!" Before I can react, she jumps back off me and runs from the room. I'm not surprised that she's happy about that. Alex turned 10 yesterday, and has a Kirlia that he bonded with, by the name of Nicky. Nicky and Angel are like brother and sister, going on this journey together would be beneficial to both of them.
A few minutes later, I'm dressed and have joined Angel in the living room. I kissed mom goodbye, and, with Angel perched on my shoulder, headed out. As we got nearer to the center, I can see Alex, with his purple-dyed hair and tan skin, along with Nicky, talking to Professor Juniper. When we walk up, Juniper hands Alex his pokedex and extra pokeballs. I extend my hand in greeting.
"Hey, Alex! Hi, Professor Juniper!" I say.
Juniper looks up and smiles. "Hey, Terry! Alex here just got registered. Oh, and Angel! How are you?"
Angel hops off my shoulder and walks onto my extended arm, where she shakes the Professor's hand as well. She smiles, although I can feel her shake just slightly.
"Hi… I'm doing ok... How are you, Professor?" Angel responds softly.
Juniper looks surprised for a moment, as last time she saw Angel, Angel wasn't very developed at telepathy with other people and I had to translate. But she also backed off a bit and became less energetic. I had a feeling she knew that Angel was still shy, and I sent a look of thanks when she checked her enthusiasm.
"I'm doing very well. You seem to have developed your telepathy greatly. Good for you." She turns to Alex. "Alex here is in a similar case as you were when I first met you, he's still translating for Nicky."
I'm not surprised by this, most Kirlia are unable to communicate with people they didn't bond with for a while, and the trainer often has to translate. I decided to try something, though. I concentrated my thoughts, focusing on a simple, clear message.
"Nicky, can you hear me?" I think. Nicky's reaction was immediate, he jumped as though a loud bang just sounded behind him, then looked up at me.
"Yes, I can hear you. How can you talk with me, even though I'm not bonded with you?" He asks, sounding majorly confused.
I laughed, both Alex and Professor Juniper were looking at me with confused expressions. Out loud, I said, "I can communicate with Nicky because my partner Angel is close by, and our bond has strengthened to the point that I can communicate with other psychic types through her mind." When Alex and Juniper continued to look confused, I went on. "I just talked with Nicky telepathically. You could consider Angel here like an old fashioned Telephone operator. Through her mind, I was able to pick up Nicky's thought waves." Now they looked impressed.
"Wow!" Alex said excitedly. "Will I be able to do that with Nicky?" I smiled warmly.
"Yes, you will, in time. I developed that power with Angel here when I was 12." I said as I gently pulled my partner off my tiring arm so I could cradle her near my chest. "I came here to congratulate you on becoming a pokemon trainer, Alex. I also wanted to know if you would like to journey with me. I'm setting out right after this. Angel and Nicky would like it, I'm sure." Alex smiled wide.
"It sounds great! Ill grab my stuff and meet you at the entrance to the route!" He raced off, with Nicky at his heels. I laughed, inhaling the sweet air of the trees that surrounded our little town of Nuvema. Joy and love filled my head, I looked down and smiled at Angel, knowing that we were sharing our feelings through our bond. Professor Juniper could probably tell that our minds were in sync, she quietly bid us goodbye and went inside her research facilities. I carefully set Angel back on my shoulder, and together we walked to the edge of town. Alex was waiting for us, with Nicky on his shoulder as well. I smirked.
"Copycat."
Alex smirked back. "Hey, it's a good idea, and I still give you credit. Shall we?"
I nodded. "We shall."
Together we took our first step onto route 1.
(Author's Note: Rewrote chapter I to fix a couple of grammar issues. If you guys see anything that needs to be fixed or explained, let me know! Thanks! Happy Reading! -Orthros)
