Light's Adventures
Chapter 20: Companion
Light waited as Nick packed the rest of his things. The last few weeks, Nick had been way too lazy and was now trying to find everything. He said he had to hurry or he would be late. They were leaving the Pokemon Center and heading out to somewhere else, though Nick was keeping it a secret. However, Blaze also seemed to know, though Nick wouldn't let him tell.
Finally, Nick got the last of his stuff and started to put it in his backpack. However, he had been throwing things in there before and it was so disorganized, it was now unable to hold his stuff. His Pokemon waited patiently as he repacked his backpack and they started out.
They headed for the northern exit to the city. It was located near a large building called a museum. That was one place Light had refused to go. It was a building containing the bones of other Pokemon. That was just unnatural and too spooky.
After walking a few hours along a barely noticeable path, they came upon a large clearing. In the clearing were about twenty buildings. Nick's chest swelled with pride as he looked at it. Light realized it must be his hometown.
"We're here. This is where I grew up. It's still pretty small as it's a newish town, but I love it just the same. It's called Twinleaf Village," Nick said.
They set off again right into the town. A few people waved and said hello to Nick, who greeted everyone by name. They kept on until they reached the last house. It was a small two story log cabin with a nicely kept lawn.
Nick walked up to the door and knocked. His Pokemon surrounded his feet as they waited. Soon, they heard footsteps and then someone fiddling with the doorknob for a second. Then, the door swung open to reveal a middle aged woman with long brown hair. She had the same eyes as Nick, leading Light to thinking it was his mother. She wore a blue dress with a white apron over it.
"Honey, you're home!" she cried, hugging him tight. Light was afraid he would have to remove her with Psychic when he started hearing Nick choke and saw Ace take flight to avoid the bumpy ride.
"Hey . . . Mom . . . can you . . . let go?" Nick struggled out.
"Oh, sorry honey. Come on in," she said, stepping to the side.
Ace landed on Nick's shoulder as he went in, his other Pokemon following. The room they were in was nicely organized and showed a humble décor. There was a doorway to their right and in front of them. All the doorways inside had no doors, as far as Light could see. A stairway was on the left. Light tried to get a glimpse of the other rooms.
"Go on and make yourselves at home. Now Nick how-" his mother started.
Light tuned them out and turned to Cream, "Let's explore."
"Sure," she replied.
They entered the next room through the door in front of them and saw it was a kitchen. On the floor was a food and water dish. In the middle of the room was what Nick called an island. This room was also nice and clean. There were a doorway forward and one to their right.
As they headed to the right, a figure appeared in the doorway. It was about Blaze's size and was orange. On its back were black stripes. It had white fur around its muzzle and belly. It had a fluffy white tail to match its small mane. It was a Growlithe.
As it saw them, it got into an aggressive stance and started to growl. Cream scooted back, while Light stepped in front of her. He let his hackles rise and bared his teeth. Stay back, Cream, Light thought to her.
"Who are you two?" the Growlithe asked, realizing it was most likely outmatched, though it stayed in its aggressive stance.
"I'm Light and this is Cream. The lady let us in," Light said, hiding his teeth, though he kept his hackles up.
The Growlithe stopped acting aggressive and sat down, though he still gave them doubtful glances. "Who did you come with?" he interrogated.
"With our trainer, Nick," Light answered, letting his hackles lower.
"Nick's here? Hooray!" the Growlithe shouted. He shot up ran past them into the room they left.
Curious, Light and Cream followed. As they entered the other room, they noticed that besides Nick and his mom, only Ace was there on the banister of the stairs. Nick saw the Growlithe coming toward him and dropped into a crouch.
"Hey, boy, how have you been?" Nick greeted, as the Growlithe jumped into his arms. "Oof, you're certainly gained some weight."
Growlithe barked and started to lick his face at a rapid pace. Nick laughed and started to roll on the floor and play with him.
"It looks like Tiger didn't forget you," Nick's mother noted.
Nick slowly stopped laughing and picked himself off the floor. "I'm glad to see you, Tiger. Why don't you go and meet my new Pokemon?" he said, before turning back to his mother.
"So your name is Tiger?" Light asked.
Tiger nodded, "Yeah, Nick's father gave it to me. Sorry for being so aggressive earlier. So where's Blaze?"
"I think he went to show Blair around," Cream answered.
"Blair? How many Pokemon does Nick have now?" Tiger asked.
"Six: Blaze, Light, Ace, Red, Blair, and me," Cream said with a giggle.
"Ace is the Pidgeotto there. I guess you can talk to him later. He's roosting already. It seems all he does is roost nowadays," Light said.
"I heard that," Ace said, pulling his head out from under his wing.
"It's still true," Cream said.
Ace harrumphed and turned to Tiger, "Nice to meet you. Who's your trainer?"
"My trainer is Nick's father, Brandon. May, Nick's mother is takes care of me while he's gone on business trips," he answered.
"Can you show us around the house?" Cream asked.
"Sure. This is the entry. The room you came from is the kitchen," Tiger said, taking them back into it. He led them straight into another room. This one had two large white things on one wall and a basket of clothing near them. "This is the laundry room."
"What's it for?" Light asked.
"I don't know, but they put their cloths in the white thingies every so often," Tiger answered.
He then took them into the room they had almost entered before. In this room, there was a large table in the middle with candles in the middle of it. A large, glass cabinet showed things for humans to eat with.
"This is called the dining room," Tiger said.
Light and Cream nodded and they moved on.
There was only one other doorway from here. It was also on their right. As they went through, a doorway to their right in the new room showed the entry again, completing the downstairs. This room had soft cream colored carpet and a few large chairs. A long couch sat in front of a fireplace. Light noticed there were socks hanging from it. Also there were long green things hanging from the walls about halfway up.
"This is the living room. Don't ask me about the weird socks and strings. They put them up every year around this time for some reason. There's also a big, fake, pine tree they put up in the corner that they hang things on. They're putting that up tomorrow," Tiger said.
He took them back into the entry headed toward the stairs. However, as they got close, Red came down. Tiger stopped in his tracks and gaped at the Vulpix.
Red saw them and came over to them. She glanced at the gaping Growlithe and asked, "Who's this?"
Cream giggled at Tiger's reaction and said, "This is Tiger, Nick's father's Pokemon."
"Nice to meet you, Tiger. I'm Red," she said, dipping her head in greeting.
Tiger stared at her for a moment before realizing she was talking to him. "O-oh, umm, n-nice to m-meet you, t-too," he stuttered.
Red whispered to Light in his ear, "Does he always act like this?"
Not earlier. I think he likes you, Light thought to her.
Red blushed, though it was hardly visible with her red fur.
"So, I guess we'll go on and look at the rest of the house by ourselves, if you don't mind, Tiger," Cream said.
Tiger didn't acknowledge them as they passed. Light chuckled quietly with Cream.
(0)
Red finished looking at the top floor and started going down the steps. She passed Ace, who appeared to be roosting on the banister. All he does is sleep these days, Red thought.
She came to the bottom of the stairs and looked around. Light and Cream were nearby with a Growlithe next to them. The Growlithe was handsome and she could see laugh lines around his mouth, however, at the moment, the Growlithe's mouth was hanging open for some reason. Curious of the new Pokemon, Red approached them.
"Who's this," she asked Light and Cream.
Cream giggled and answered, "This is Tiger, Nick's father's Pokemon."
Red turned to the Growlithe, "Nice to meet you, Tiger. I'm Red." She dipped her head in greeting.
She became uncomfortable as the Growlithe just stared at her for a few seconds. Finally, it started and stammered, "O-oh, umm, n-nice to m-meet you, t-too."
Confused, Red turned to Light and whispered to him, "Does he always act like this?"
Not earlier. I think he likes you, she heard in her mind. Red blushed as he sent it to her. She was glad of her red fur.
"So, I guess we'll go on and look at the rest of the house by ourselves, if you don't mind, Tiger," Cream said.
Tiger didn't even acknowledge them as they passed right by him. Red heard them chuckling as them left. Tiger took a breath and asked, "W-would you like s-someone to show y-you around?"
"No thanks, I've already looked," Red answered.
Tiger's face slightly drooped, "O-oh, okay."
"Is there any place to sit comfortable that we're allowed on?" Red asked.
Tiger's face lit up again and he nodded, "Y-yeah, f-follow me." He headed into the living room and stopped by the couch. "As l-long as y-you're . . . n-not dirty, y-you're allowed on t-the couch and the c-chairs," he stammered.
Red jumped up on the couch and padded the space beside her, "Would you like to talk?"
Tiger shuffled his feet some, "S-sure." He easily leapt up beside her.
"What do you want to talk about?" Red asked.
"You," Tiger blurted out without thinking. He quickly covered his face with his paws, obviously embarrassed.
"Sure," Red said. "Okay, I was born two years ago during the winter in the wild. I was captured about a year after my birth after having recently acquiring a den of my own. Since then, I've been traded twice and then given to Nick in another year's time."
Tiger seemed a little more at ease as she talked. "I'm sorry you've been moved around so much," he said, saying his first sentence to her without stuttering.
"So, what about you?" Red asked.
"I was given to Nick's family from a professor as an egg. I've been with this family for a little over two years now. Nick was my friend, but his father was my real master. I'm glad to see Nick's back, even for a short while," Tiger said, his tail starting to wag.
"Why were you gaping at me earlier?" Red asked.
Tiger blushed enough for Red to see it through his fur. He looked away and stuttered, "Umm, b-because, I-I think y-you're . . . pretty."
Red blushed at the compliment. "Really?" she asked.
Tiger looked back at her, though he didn't meet her eyes, and nodded, "Y-yeah, in fact, y-you're the most b-beautiful Pokemon I-I've seen."
Red blushed even more, "Thank you. Do you really mean that?"
Tiger finally meet her eyes, "Of course."
Red licked him on the cheek, "No one has ever told me that before."
"N-not even . . . not even y-your mate?" Tiger asked hesitantly, looking away again.
"I don't have a mate," Red said.
"O-oh, really? Well, t-then, I-I know t-this is s-sudden, but . . . c-can I be y-your mate?" Tiger asked quietly.
Red blushed, but said, "Well, can I think about it?"
Tiger looked back at her, "S-sure."
Red nodded, "Thanks." She jumped off the couch and walked away, her heart soaring. Light had been right.
(0)
Light came down the steps with Cream beside him. Blaze and Blair followed him, ready to meet Tiger. Red was sitting on the last step looking at the wall in front of her, spaced out. She had a twinkle in her eye that hadn't been there before. She didn't even twitch as they went around her.
Do you think they hit it off? Light asked mentally.
Cream heard the question through their channel. The look in her eyes says it all.
Ace was still sitting on the banister, appearing to be roosting, though he said he wasn't. Nick and his mom were gone. They entered the living room to see them sitting on the couch, Tiger between them. Tiger jumped down as he saw them come in.
"Hello, my name is-" Tiger started.
"Tiger," Blaze finished a smile on his face.
Tiger looked at him for a confused second before it dawned on him. "Blaze?" he asked.
Blaze chuckled, "Yeah, it's me. How have you been?"
"I've been well. Who is this?" Tiger asked, motioning to the other Flareon.
"I'm Blair. Nice to meet you," Blair said.
"Nice to meet you, too," Tiger said, dipping his head. He turned his head to Light, "Hey, can I ask you something in private?"
"Cream has to come along as well," Light said.
Tiger looked at his paws and blushed enough for them to notice, "Okay."
They went into the laundry room, going through the dining room to reach it. Once there, Tiger sat down and Light and Cream followed suit.
"Okay, I have some questions for you. What is Red's favorite type of berry?" Tiger started in a whisper.
Light looked at him confused, "Why would I know that?"
"It's spicy berries," Cream spoke up.
"Okay, does Red like anyone else? I mean as a potential mate?" he asked.
Light knew this one, "Well, she tried to get Blaze as a mate, but he was still grieving from his first love and didn't accept. I found out that she also liked me, however, I found out Cream liked me, too, at the same time. I had feelings for Cream, so that's over. That's as much as I know," Light said.
"She hasn't mentioned anyone else to me," Cream put in.
"Okay, one more. Do you think she likes me?" Tiger asked.
"Definitely," both Light and Cream said in chorus.
Tiger looked really relieved. "Thanks you two. I owe you," he said.
"It's nothing, really," Light said.
"Well, it's worth a lot to me," Tiger said. "Would you excuse me? I want to go get something."
"Sure," Cream said.
Tiger trotted out of the room and started to look through the lower cabinets. He showed signs of frustration as he continued to look through them.
Let's see if Nick has some spicy berries he can use, Light thought.
Aw, that's so sweet, Light, Cream thought.
I still remember how nervous I was. It's not fun, he thought, starting to head toward the living room.
Ah, but it still worked out, Cream pointed out, following him.
Light approached Nick and waited for a lull in his conversations with his mom. He opened a channel and said, Nick, do you have any spicy berries we could have?
Nick held up a finger to his mom and answered, Sure, let me get them. He pulled his backpack off and started to go through it. He eventually pulled out a few red berries and handed them to Light. He then turned back to his mom and started to talk again.
Light took the berries through to the kitchen, making sure to go through the dining room. Tiger was starting to get in a panic as he looked through the last few cabinets near the floor. Light approached him and set them down.
"Here," Light whispered.
Tiger jumped at the sound of his voice. He turned to them and saw the berries, "Oh thank you thank you." He picked the berries up and walked as calmly as he could into the entry, though his excitement was still shown by a slight bounce in his step.
Light and Cream left into the living room to give the two some privacy. Light smiled as he remembered when he had asked Cream the question. It was only a few weeks ago, but it seemed like years since they had been mates. That had been the best decision in his life.