And now was the present. Cheren's eyes were still as cold as ever when they looked at her, but she thought nothing of it. He was always thinking, always calculating, always concluding. There was no room in his life for love, anyways. As she looked at him, her eyes were simply friendly, simply concerned. No deeper feelings, whatsoever.
"Humans would do the same thing, dear." Her mother calmly and clearly spoke with an air of experience in relationships. Before she married her husband, two men fiercely competed for her hand in mutual love. However, it was a painful experience to live through. She was conflicted with agonizingly kind thoughts—one of the men was exceedingly generous, the other exceedingly gracious—but in the end, she followed the sounds of her heart. She married the gracious man.
"And Cheren doesn't seem too hurt." Bel quickly inspected the small yet slightly moist cuts embedded into Cheren's delicate skin. "Boyd didn't cause too much damage."
"You're right, I know that." Bel brightly smiled, which lifted Touko's spirits a bit, but even Bel had to frown when Touko looked with downcast upon Cheren's face. She saw the cuts very sluggishly leaking out spheres of crimson, the way Cheren squinted slightly to even see straight, the ever reddening white plush cloth of the towel—"Are you sure that you're okay, Cheren?" Immediately, she retracted her voice—a feeling deeper than worry slithered out for just a moment, but as she closed her lips, the serpent rolled back to the back of her throat. She hoped it was just in time; she hoped that his sharp ears hadn't detected the desperation in her voice; she hoped he wouldn't flinch on the inside from sudden embarrassment.
He didn't even blink.
He turned his squinty gaze towards her, totally oblivious to any deeper meaning than the words themselves. "I'm all right. He only shattered my glasses. I can easily get new ones." But Cheren, like always, grew very impatient. His attention immediately reverted back to the chest as the Pokémon settled from extraneous activities. "Let's get back to this. I want to know what other Pokémon Alder had."
"Well…I'll just pick again." Touko's mother was the quickest to respond, and she took the Heal ball that caught her attention with its graceful and lustrous soft pink gleam. However, she took a minute to appreciate the very luster of this Pokeball. It was among the brightest with the most inviting and friendly of appearances; she was certain that the Pokémon resting inside, whatever it may be, was benevolent in nature to the extent that she even wondered if it was used for battle. Nevertheless, she repeated the instructions of her daughter and summoned the blob of the brightest white light.
The Pokémon quickly crowded somewhat near this flowing and morphing blob of light perching swiftly upon the table. As the light condensed into a dominantly pink mammal, the previously released Pokémon rejoiced—especially Mist and Rolf. They scampered to the creature and chirped excitedly at it, but it was struck with alarm and waved its hands back to steady the chattering boxes gleefully spouting all sorts of benevolences to its highly sensitive ears. Touko, in the midst of this language confusion, reasoned that this Pokémon—this Audino—was undeniably the friendliest one yet.
But she knew the reaction of Bel. The girl would go hysterical over the sheer attractiveness of the poor nursing creature; she would grab him, hug him, twirl those highly sensitive ears between her fingers, and blabber on and on again of the futures in Pokémon Musicals—her lifetime aspiration. And at the pinnacle of this outburst, she would never notice that this Audino was in fact a male.
As the Pokémon calmed down, however, the Audino sensed a greater disturbance all around him. The house was not familiar, the scent was not the same musty scent, and the human voices were not Alder's. He was not in his home. His ears perked at the squeals of Bel, and his attention focused to her as she blushed and marveled at the waves of light grazing off his groomed fur and his large eyes staring up to her in curiosity and awe. But he was kind in his temperament and soft in his chirps; in fact, it seemed that the Pokémon was superstitious of loud noises—any chirp higher than barely audible would be enough to wake some sort of spirit. At least, that's what Touko observed.
Her mother sighed in pure content at the remarkable grace and love shooting from this Pokémon's eyes. Unlike the others, he was not afraid, not angry, and not insecure. In fact, he was quite welcoming to his human strangers, but as soon as he paid his dues to them, he turned his heavenly attention over to his Pokémon companions. However, Cheren and Touya seemed somewhat floored by the sudden appearance of this Pokémon, and Touko noticed this quickly. She automatically assumed that Cheren was expecting some extremely rare Pokémon like a Chansey that so many Trainers have cried in defeat at their loss to catch it. But Touya seemed more in shock than even Cheren. He was expecting not a stronger-looking Pokémon but one that gleamed with the brilliance of toughness—one that exuded an aura of pure danger, pure excitement. And as he stared at that Audino and caught his eye, he sighed in defeat and concluded that there was none of that in the Pokémon.
"I wonder where your grandfather picked up this sweetie." Her mother was hopelessly infatuated. She cupped her hands on her beating chest and sighed in pure happiness at the soft-spoken Audino. At her words, the Audino turned around with slight confusion as he gazed upon Touko, but unlike the others, he exhibited no trace of fear and smiled angelically at his newly recognized Trainer. But his smile caught her off guard. She was expecting something defiant, something insecure from this creature, as she had the same dealt to her with the last four. Instead, she was greeted with the most heavenly of images she had experienced yet, and even her heart was willing to comply this time. If Bel's intense hysteria was an infection, Touko was considered dead. Her heart sped at the slight twitches of the Audino's ears and the quiet and meek chirps she could have sworn meant 'Hello! How are you today?' Before she knew it, she was falling in girlish love with the oblivious creature.
"She's too adorable!" The Audino froze and turned straight to Bel with a look of confusion in his large, disarming eyes. His smile slowly bended into the reverse—a frown, and by the looks of it, he was slightly annoyed at her remark. Yet, his annoyance was so gentle that she barely even detected it in the first place. But Touko realized this almost immediately. She couldn't blame Bel, however. The girl was absolutely fascinated with anything furry, fluffy, and pink. Enter Rhys—all of the aforementioned. But she still was perfectly harmless. The worst she would do was potentially strangling the targeted Pokémon while stroking its silky, plushy fur of the crown of its head. Yet, Touko would still claim that this was an obsession.
"Bel," Touko spoke with some confusion of her own as she flipped through the pages of the manual she, as well as the others, temporarily pushed to the back of their minds. Touko had noticed this strangeness in the Audino to the extent where she almost felt the Pokémon's pain herself. But she brushed it off as a mere coincidence and double-checked the manual. "I think it's a boy Audino." Bel's lips closed over themselves as if they were buttoned. Out of embarrassment, she blushed quite viciously; she knew that the Audino had comprehended her words and took slight offence. Nothing could have struck her more than the sight of a downcast, adorable, fluffy, and nursing Pokémon. When the calm had finally swept over the females at last, much to the males' relief, like a powerful tidal wave, Touko scanned the document again in search of a name. "Grandpop even states it right here. 'Male Audino are rare, but this one is most truly a male in the most biological sense.' But I can understand you." Touko now smiled in grace for the truly saving angel Bel strived to become with every sunrise to every sunset. It worked with little effort. Bel snapped right back into a cheery mood, brushing aside her previous embarrassment like fields of dust and uncovering a small smile.
Despite her obvious blunder, the Audino remained kind in nature and countenance, especially as he greeted all of the humans in polite turn, but when he turned to Touko, he achieved a slight sense of solemnity. She read off the name as quickly as she could locate the script, and she addressed the heavenly form of a Pokémon staring into her eyes with wonder and awe. He chirped once more and slowly nodded his head in her direction, but she was struck with excitement and debilitating relief. She had prayed that this Pokémon would act more civil as opposed to the very previous one; she had prayed that this Pokémon would be much easier to understand than the others and much more willing to understand; however, what she had subconsciously asked to some great deity Pokémon was that this Pokémon would not harm anyone around her or anyone she held too close. Miraculously, her pleas were answered.
"You seem to be a polite Pokémon." As she addressed the Audino, she noticed his rigid stance, the focus of his ears that twitched with minimal frequency, and the consistent attention beaming from his light blue eyes. He was an angel in a creature's flesh. "You're name is Rhys? I'm Touko. Do you mind if I pet you?" He chirped again rather quickly, but she couldn't notice what stance his tone took. So, she proceeded to stroke the crown of his head with the gentleness of the back of her fingers. He slightly flinched at the initial rough contact—he was not a sturdy Pokémon. In fact, Rhys was quite fragile and accident-prone. It was nothing that he could be blamed for, other than bad genes, but Alder, in an act either of mercy or of advantage, purposefully excluded Rhys from the partaking of any battles, whatsoever. Thus, the feeble Audino became strictly a healing Pokémon to nurse the others bent out of shape from countless rigorous battles and training, but some of these injuries were often self-inflicted from sheer recklessness.
As Touko stroked the plush fur of his head, her hand automatically slowed the motions into a gentle brush, a gentle flow of her hand that resembled the feeling of cool water streaming across the skin of his head. He felt relaxed, for the most part, but Mist quickly seized his attention and chirped at him some nonsense that was completely alien to the humans. "It's lame how we can't understand a single thing about them if we can't understand their language." Touya, with his arms on the table and his head resting on him, hummed quite lowly as he mindlessly watched the expression of the Audino fade into something of dread. Before anyone else had the chance to speak, Rhys leapt into action. He turned his attention to Cheren and wordlessly observed the cut skin of his nose and forehead, but Cheren stared blankly back at him. Those coal eyes were still analyzing the Audino, making note of how well he seemed to communicate with the other Pokémon, but he always came trailing back to the conclusion that this Audino was no worth to advancing a Trainer's journey to glory.
But he would be proven wrong.
"Oh, look at that!" Touko's mother gave an airy laugh while watching the worry in the expression of the determined Pokémon. "He noticed Cheren's cuts. You know, I've often seen Pokémon Centers have Audino as nurse assistants. He must want to help Cheren. An old friend of mine said that an Audino's saliva has extraordinary healing properties. Go on, Cheren. Let Rhys help."
"I'm not even bleeding. I'll be fine." Cheren instantly looked at the Audino perched right in front of him with eyes ablaze with concern and sheer kindness. Automatically, his will and heart were captured and submitted before the Audino's alluring grace and glorious divinity as even the chandelier's light exuded a radiant form from his skin.
He could do nothing but comply and lean forward for Rhys to quickly commence his work. Immediately, Mist became interested and watched Rhys's every movement, stitching every word and demonstration into her abstract vault for late use. Within minutes, the Audino supplied a fair amount of saliva on every one of the ripped flesh carefully and systematically while provided some instructions for Mist to utilize later. But it was all so foreign to the humans. They marveled at how efficiently and dedicatedly this Audino worked, but the rate of Cheren's healing caught and maintained their eyes. Immediately, Touya raised his head with sharply aroused interest; Bel slightly gasped at the work of this magical fluid; Touko's mother silently watched the phenomenon she had only heard and dreamed about; Touko made a mental note to thank her grandfather in a prayer she would chant later; yet, Cheren witnessed no difference with the exception of the feeling of a gooey, cool liquid sticking to his skin.
Seconds after the saliva was applied, the folds of the slightly rippled flesh animated seemingly by sheer will. Fleshy fibers extended from both ends and intimately entangled themselves in a series of tightly woven bonds that drew and propelled the ripples forth and reconcile. One by one, the holes were filled in, and the flesh renewed itself perfectly, flawlessly. But Cheren felt no difference other than the absence of a sharp stinging and the sticky evaporation of the applied oral juices. Rhys smiled in kind love towards the humans and chirped to Mist some final tips of the healing process with pure happiness in his eyes. If serving meant happiness, this Audino was mirth itself.
Bel brought Cheren to the mirror of the foyer to show him the proof of such a success. He was baffled through and through. He found his fingers absentmindedly trailing over the stick areas of his nose and forehead, but, although he had the proof in front of him, he still had difficulty in accepting the truth.
Until he felt Bel's fingers also grazing over his forehead.
She chuckled quite politely and smiled kindly at his incredulity, but there was something in her voice that caused him to adopt a shade of faint pink in his cheeks. Her touch was soft and delicate because her intentions were never rough play nor malicious in nature; her voice carried through with the sounds of a choir of Chimecho in the very heart of winter when celebration engulfed the world like waves of fire; her invigorating spirit was enough to pull anyone out of the darkest depths of melancholy and place them front and center for the sun to account for them in the world. He couldn't help but see something in her that he fancied. "See? Everything's healed! That Audino is really something, huh?"
"I'll be damned." He may be lacking glasses, but he could certainly see the results on his forehead with more focus than he thought was possible. "So this is why Alder had that Pokémon." Bel instantly detected that same calculating and cold thought process Cheren held when it came to Pokémon, and, just as quickly, she frowned in their defense. Yet, even she debated on bringing the topic to mind.
Touko came to the foyer and looked over the railing to her two future rivals with a small smirk within her eyes, especially as she mentally timed how long Cheren stared at his forehead's clean reflection. However, her eyes quickly lost that smirk as she recalled the image of the heavy doubt written all over his face as Rhys proceeded with his administrations. She had assumed that Cheren wrote off the Audino as weak, like Rolf, and as a big mystery to Alder's motives for using the Pokémon at all. Once again, he had fallen into the assumption that Alder possessed solely strong Pokémon that had fought consistently and courageously to secure him the title of Unova Champion. And once again, he was wrong.