"Let it go, Touko," Her Mother chimed in with the same gentle voice she always loved. "He'll come around someday. They all can't like you, right? It'll take time to gain his trust."
"She's right." Bel, with her light-hearted and cheery voice, had to speak whenever she detected a hint of sadness or frustration inside any of her friends. "Even your grandfather must've had some trouble with them."
"Maybe you're right." Touko sighed with gracious defeat. "Maybe this is what Grandpop meant by 'testing' me. But if it's just one, I can deal with it."
"I wouldn't bet on it being just one." Cheren had sufficiently cleaned the blood off of his face with Bel's assistance, but he was far from forgiveness to the Mienshao. "They all might not obey."
"What do you mean, Cheren?" Touko asked with some genuine concern and mild confusion. However, she wished she didn't ask that question because she knew how irritated Cheren's attitude was after that instantaneous incident. Still, she thought, it wouldn't hurt to ask. Cheren sighed with slight exasperation as he glanced to Touko's general direction—he could still see quite a bit without his glasses, yet everything still had a dull blur in his eyes.
"I mean that we don't know how much your Grandpop trained these Pokemon. Highly trained Pokemon will only respond to a highly skilled Trainer. You can measure a Trainer's skill by how many badges they have earned. You, Touko, haven't earned a single one."
"Yet, of course." Bel quickly added right after Cheren ended as if to subtly convey the message of hope for her friend. Cheren merely gave her a glance that was a hybrid of sly and annoyed.
"Yet. Of course." He turned back to the hesitant Touko; she didn't know quite what to say. Her eyes looked away from him for a moment to the group of Pokemon, but it still began. Her mind raced months, possibly years into the future, centering on her eternal cycle of badge-collecting and the terrible, mind-blowing frustration with every defeat after defeat after defeat—
Touya, sensing this great chaos, recovered from his initial shock moments before to place a reassuring hand on his sister's shoulder. When she looked over to him, she instantly noticed that determined fire in his eyes. "And if she has any trouble," he spoke with a confident grin and soft eyes. "Her stronger brother will be there to help her out." Her face adopted a flush of anger, but she bit her tongue to stay quiet. At least, she wasn't rolling in turmoil of defeat, still. Touya, apparently, was oblivious to her rosy skin—he patted her a few times on the back in honor of their siblinghood then took his seat, but he remained wary of the Mienshao as the Pokemon glared at him for being closer to the Oshawott.
"But what still intrigues me," Cheren spoke once more with a true glint of curiosity in his cold coal eyes. "Is the fact that the Mienshao escaped from his Pokeball." He caught the attention and bewildered curiosity of the others, but instead of looking at him, they focused on the Mienshao "playing" once more with the Shinx, but Mist was involved this time with reddened-rosy cheeks.
"I never heard of that before." Touko's voice was more of a faint whisper, a hollow resonation of her full sound. "Grandpop never told me about that."
"Well, I suppose it is possible." Cheren leaned back on his chair with a look of content—he refused to ponder on problems he had no method to solve. Instead, he added the question to his mental checklist of mysteries to solve once his Trainer life finally commenced. "If something lives in that sort of complex technology, it must have found some way out."
"But that might be problematic!" Touko spoke a bit louder this time, and her voice was apprehensive. "What if they all can do that? If they won't obey me, how can I make them stop?" The room was quiet with a silent agreement, but Touko still looked around for some sort of encouragement that total chaos would not consume her.
"That may not happen." And up spoke Touya, who read her like an open book. Touko let out a silent breath of relief—no matter how much she would deny it, she always proved herself thankful for Touya's existence. Without him, she would simply fall apart. They were two halves of a whole, two parts of a story, two sides of a coin. They were twins—brother and sister—and yet, they often behaved like one being. "Boyd did that because…I think he was, somehow, jealous."
"That's too cute!" Bel chimed in, as if on cue, but the Mienshao merely scowled at her. Mist, however, blushed into a pink rose after glancing at Boyd with Bel's words chiming in her head.
Truth be told, Touko never expected a Pokemon to share a human's feelings, especially if those feelings were the romantic type. She assumed that Pokemon thought and behaved exactly like animals—which, essentially they were—but there was no denying some sort of evidence of jealousy in Boyd's countenance. Touko could have sworn that the eyes of the Mienshao gleamed like those of a young, hot-blooded young man. There was no mistaking that fire.
"But was it really necessary to attack Cheren?" Touko still had her voice laced with concern for, arguably, her closest friend.
In childhood, Touko had aspired to one day become the Pokemon Champion, or at least a powerful, commanding Trainer who was compassionate and accepting of all Pokemon in existence. Thus, she enrolled into the Trainer's School along with her twin, who also shared her ideal dream; however, Touya craved the fame and fortune over compassion. Within those years dutifully engulfing every plate of knowledge presented to them, Cheren and Bel made their acquaintance. Cheren only wanted to pursue absolute strength, and so he strived passionately to be the top of his class and defeat the Champion one day. Bel, however, became enthralled with the overwhelming number of the types and kinds of Pokemon. She did have some aspirations to become a powerful Trainer, but that desire seemed to take a backseat. Now she was almost completely interested in traveling the world to see all the Pokemon species she could in one lifetime. Henceforth, the four became the best of friends and made a solemn pact to always test each other and help each other become stronger. Pokemon was the very glue that held the four together so tightly.
However, the relationship between Touko and Cheren was somewhat different, even in the beginning. Cheren was like a sponge—he absorbed every detail and scraps of information presented to him from the teacher and the textbook. This vast knowledge came in use for others when Touko started struggling in the higher level courses. She had once—and only once—failed a test of Abilities, the very same test that Cheren passed with a perfect score. Coyly, and a bit enviously, she had asked for his tutoring sessions more than once, and he had agreed; however, neither of them were aware of their perception of the other at any point before this. At the very first tutoring session, Cheren arrived early, as always, but he felt slightly off—he was ridden with anxiety. He had no objection to tutor Touko for an hour, to instruct her on the correct path, to read over her shoulder to make sure everything went smoothly in her writing, to gaze into her eyes as he spoke seemingly nonsense on the wonders of Pokemon, to discreetly catch and wonder of her playful and whimsical aroma, to listen to the music that she spoke, to have her hand quickly brush by his as they exchanged papers, to see that lovely and earnest smile warming the flesh of his cheeks, to 'wantonly smother those immaculate and soft lips with his own—he knew what was wrong. He was smitten with her. It only became worse after that day.
On the other hand, Touko noticed that she held some interest in him, as well. However, the tutoring sessions for her were filled with frustration and bitter tears at the sheer difficulty of memorizing and organizing names with abilities. Back then, she was oblivious to the stranger within Cheren. Yet, she was not completely detached from him. His intellect and patience—one that she only knew—for her understanding had served to gnaw at the personal barriers she steadily erected over the years. Scarily by the unnoticeable rate of her attraction, she began becoming closer to him than both Bel and Touya. They often studied together, ate lunch together, walked to and from school together while mindlessly chatting off each other's ear of Pokemon, abilities, natures, Pokeballs—until she came with the notion that she was falling for him. Still, this was not yet realized by her mind. She assumed that she wanted nothing more than to be extremely close friends with him, to share a bond almost as strong as hers with Touya. She was content with that, content with the freedom of heartbreak if he did not have mutual feelings. During the tutoring sessions, he always took care in reasonably distancing himself from her skin. If she would have accidently brushed his hand while writing or exchanging notes, he would flinch and instantly retract his arm with a silence that she could hear all too well. If she were to smile, she noticed he would hurriedly tear his eyes away to the floor and say very little in reply. She had assumed that he was disinterested in her; therefore, she would refuse to acknowledge any type of deeper feeling than friendship.
Yet, her feelings were there.
A trip to the library was all that it took for the enlightenment to encompass both youths. Touko was sent to retrieve the Encyclopedia of Pokemon Abilities for their study session, but this textbook was perched upon a higher shelf, too high for her reach. She utilized a ladder that was apparently washed, but she paid no heed, even as her feet climbed the slathered rungs. She succeeded in her mission, but just as she turned, she slipped upon the slipperiest film of water of the topmost step and unceremoniously fell from a full ten feet.
Time went still for a moment.
Before she realized it, she was laying right on top of Cheren, the very boy who attempted to catch her and succeed, but Cheren was never the very athletic type. The youths silently stared into each other's surprised and shock eyes, both paralyzed to do or say anything else. It was then that Touko finally noticed the classical scent of her closest friend, and it was here when she blushed in his presence for the first time, and it was a horrible blush, indeed. Her face was the color of a tomato—so red that Cheren had thought she was holding back a scream. Perhaps she twisted her ankle or broke a bone during the fall? But he was just as red too, and his mouth was slightly ajar as he took in every seemingly minute detail of her face—her adorable blush, quivering lips, glossy eyes (perhaps she was on the verge of tears?), the way she fit perfectly against his body—but he stopped his thoughts all at once and expressed his concern for her well-being. Touko said nothing; she nodded slowly, silently, and, all too quickly, lifted herself from his body.
They stood for a while, silently enduring each other's presence, and then Touko started giggling with, at first, a girlish tone of some amusement. Her giggle later turned to embarrassment as her eyes slowly filled with small tears. Cheren, noticing some anxiety within himself, chuckled along with her giggles. He adjusted his glasses as the soft laughing continued for a minute or so; however, when it died suddenly, both youths were exposed. His glasses flashed white under the bright shine of the library lights; her eyes were somewhat enchanted by this quick flash, lured in by the pure light. She found herself closing in on him; He found himself closing in on her. With her back pressed softly against the wall, she calmly watched him close the distance between him, but her fingers knew not what to do. They stayed at her sides obediently, nervously twirling with the fabric of her longer jean shorts; Cheren's did the same by sticking to the rim of his pockets. Neither knew exactly what else to do; it was all too foreign to their worlds.
Yet, it felt perfectly natural.
Eventually, Cheren closed the distance of world between them completely. Their lips brushed slowly, tantalizingly over each other. Electrical pulses from each other's hearts could be felt by the other. No oxygen filled the lungs of either newcomer. Their worlds, their times, their thoughts stood still.
But this was only for a moment.
Cheren pulled back immediately—so fast that he wasn't quite sure that his actions had fully crossed the border. Touko didn't seem to notice; instead, the skin of her face was burning to the point where she almost fainted right on top of him. She asked herself repeatedly if what had happened really had happened, if her mind hadn't played a trick on her, if Cheren was angry, sad, confused, if Cheren knew of her feelings since long ago, if Cheren loved her—but they went back to conformity with the sharp sound of another being entering the library lobby.
They never expressed their feelings so blatantly since then.