Chapter 9: A Heart to "Heart"

"It's… It's down…" Aeon stared at the downed Klawf with wide, shocked eyes as he stood beside Arven, Kai and Miraidon, who was resting beside them. "Wow." Aeon said.

"See?!" Kai said. "And I did it all by myself! Well, not really, I had a bit of help from a wild Tinkatink which is now my Pokémon, but I did most of the strategizing. Heh. I'm the best, aren't I? You don't have to tell me, I know I am!"

"Huh. Nice job, little buddy!" Arven said, nodding to Kai in approval. He quickly pulled his phone out. "Now, if we're able to go back to where we first found it... we should find what the Titan Pokémon was eating that made it that big in the first place… Hmmm…" As Arven thought to himself and as Aeon's astonished look faded, Aeon's eyes shifted to Kai, who had a bright smug smile on his face.

"Take THAT! Ya stupid Klawf!" Kai cried, raising his fists into the air. "WOO! I WON! LET'S GOOO!"

Kai turned to Aeon and grinned.

Aeon then wordlessly raised his hand and very softly bonked Kai on the forehead with a downward chop without looking his way.

"Hey!" Kai cried, grabbing his forehead with both hands. "Why'd you do that?"

"Because I know what you're thinking of. I'm not kissing you."

"No- I'm serious, I'm not! I mean, Yeah, it'd be nice, but, I was kidding, y'know? It was all in the moment- my brain was just all over the place, the adrenaline was kicking in, I was proving you wrong...It was all an act! Everything was..! To be honest- I didn't think you'd actually-"

Aeon turned and stared at Kai with a suspicious stare.

"Well, I mean," Kai said, blinking. "I wasn't-"

Aeon's suspicious stare became more intense as he leaned closer to stare. Almost immediately, a wave of emotion hit Kai as he started to blush came closer, closer than Kai anticipated.

"I-...I-..! D-Don't-... N-Not so cl-..!"

Aeon then bonked Kai on the head with very soft chop once again. "Caught you," Aeon said before pulling his own face away.

"THAT WAS CHEAP!" Kai cried. He pouted and stomped his foot on the ground. "THAT WAS SO CHEAP AND YOU KNOW IT!"

Aeon smiled a bit.

"I will use your words that you used against me when I was angry at you." Aeon said. "'Huh, I've never seen you this emotional. It's kinda cute.'"

Kai glared with frustration and embarrassment as his entire face became even redder than before.

"YOU WANNA GO TO THE MOON?! I CAN SEND YOU TO THE MOON IF YOU WANT, I'LL DO IT! DON'T TEST ME!"

Aeon's smile deepened, and he was seconds away from saying something else, but then suddenly- Arven cried out their names. Both boys spun to the older one. "I found the cave on my map!" Arven spun and tossed his Pokeball that contained Koraidon, and the Pokémon roared the moment he came out. He motioned for both Arven and Aeon to come with him with his hand. "Let's go," He said. "Before any other Pokémon finds that food and becomes big!"

"We'll continue this conversation later," Aeon said. He hurriedly ran over to Arven's side and joined him on riding on Koraidon. Kai spun to Miraidon.

"C'mon, let's get going, you ready?" Kai said. Miraidon shook his head to wake himself up, stood up and nodded. Kai mounted the large pokemon, and both Koraidon and Miraidon were on their way.

"This is it." Arven said, standing in front of the entrance to a cave. It was dark and unpleasant. "This has to be the cave Klawf goes into for hiding… and so…" Arven marched on, and the two younger boys followed, and so did Koraidon and Miraidon who lagged behind.

Eventually, the boys stumbled upon a moss-like substance hanging on the wall IT was green and sparkling bright. "There it is!" Arven said. He ran over to it.

"Wait," Kai said. "That's the thing we're looking for? That moss? You're gonna put that on a sandwich? That looks gross!"

"It won't be gross- trust me, it'll be the best thing you've ever tasted..! Now I need you guys to give me a minute-" Arven spun and pulled his backpack off his back. He crouched down and started digging into it. "You guys go outside, it'll take me a little bit to make the sandwiches… Go talk or something."

"Oooh- okay!" Kai said.

"All right," Aeon said, nodding. "I understand."

The two boys left the cave. Arven eyed Koraidon and Miraidon who were still standing there, watching.

"What're you two looking at!? Shoo!" He cried, motioning with his hands for the Pokémon to leave. Both Pokémon shrugged and left.

Arven sighed to himself in relief. He pulled a Pokeball out of his pocket and stared at it.

"Okay, buddy…" He murmured. "I'm gonna make the first one for you… okay?" He said.

Aeon and Kai stood outside the cave, staring at the starry night sky together. Kai turned to Aeon and smiled as he gazed upon him. His pale skin, white hair flowing gently in the wind… everything about him was majestic, and Kai was becoming awestruck.

"Allow me to continue from where we left off," Aeon said suddenly. "I-"

"Question-" Kai said. "Why're you talking all formal-like, dude? It's like you're a robot or something."

"I…" An intense anger showed on Aeon's face. He clenched his fists. Kai raised his eyebrows upon noticing his rage.

"Whoa, whoa, relax! I was just making a joke." Kai said.

Aeon's face suddenly loosened. He sighed deeply. "I'm not angry at you." He said. He slowly sat down on the grassy floor below. "I'm angry at myself."

"Why…?"

"...Can I trust you?" Aeon said.

"Huh?"

"This feeling that I am enduring… the pain is far too great. Before I can tell you a word, you must promise to me that you won't tell another soul.."

"Okay-"

"Swear it."

"Yeah, I swear."

"Okay." Aeon sighed deeply."….I'm worried that Arven thinks that I'm like a robot. I tend to answer him as though I am like one, even though I try not to," Kai watched Aeon's fingers dig into the ground. "I felt…true fear the moment he mentioned I was like a robot, but I hid my emotions well around him when he said it."

"Why?"

"...I don't want to talk about it," Aeon said. "I have no idea how to process or regulate emotions normally, like you, or other…normal people."

"What happened to you to make you like this?" Kai asked.

"I can't tell you," Aeon said. "If I told you the truth…"

Aeon stared at the arm he used to strike Klawf and send him flying, and opened and closed his hand.

"-You wouldn't believe me," He concluded. "Just understand that I'm different. I'm not like you or anyone else you know. All I know... is that I have to make Arven happy. No matter the cost. It was something I was told to do. And I have to do it. I want to do it."

"Arven seems to be pretty important to you..."

"Yes. He's a person who I can feel… normal around. He makes me feel… like I'm like you, or anyone else you know."

"He makes you feel alive?" Kai asked.

"Yes."

"I getcha, I getcha. I uh, I'm sorry you're feeling that way. And I'm sorry I don't know how to help you or I don't know anything I can say that'll help but uh, I'm here to listen if you need it. Since you said you gotta keep this from Arven, and all."

"I'd like that." Aeon said. "Thank you very much for listening to me. You...Are a good person."

"You're pretty cool, too!"

"I apologize for… yelling at you, back when you went to go fight Klawf."

"No, no, it's fine,"

"No. I insist on my apology. I yelled at you because...You and I barely know each other, and yet you were willing to do something stupid like risk your life for my sake. You could have been hurt, or worse. That was thoughtless, and extremely stupid, and so I responded with rage. Please forgive me."

"To be honest," Kai said, "you yelling at me made me wanna do it more, and so I just kept talking without thinking twice about it. I just thought to myself 'Man, it'd be super cool if I said 'because it hurt you, that's why I'm fighting', that's what my favorite comic or anime character would say.' Then I just found myself running in to fight the Klawf, and… I couldn't turn back, so I kept the act up," Kai scratched the back of his head. "Adrenaline makes me do stupid things, like fighting Nemona a billion times. That rush makes me feel alive, makes me do things that I wouldn't normally do. Makes another side of me come out. Can I tell you something?"

"You may."

"Back when I was younger, I was always told to stay on the books and keep studying to become a scholar,"

"I see."

"I used to be really bad with my confidence levels. I thought I couldn't live up to much at all. But I wanted to be like the heroes I see on my favorite comic strips. So whenever something big happened around me, I just pretended to be like one of them, the confident, cocky heroes who do things because they know they'll win. When I first fought against Nemona, I felt a rush like never before, Like... I could do anything. Like... I was a superhero. As I got to know Nemona, I felt myself becoming more comfortable with that confident me. But... it's all an act. It's always an act. Sometimes I worry about going back to how I used to be, before Nemona met me. A sad...pathetic boy who thought he'd never amount to anything. I don't want my act to be an act anymore. That's my true dream. I don't care about being a champion-ranked trainer, or anything like that. I just want to genuinely feel that confidence, and use it to be as cool as possible, and then beat anyone who challenges me. Including Nemona at her full strength."

Kai looked up at Aeon, who stared attentively. "Sorry- I, I kinda just went on without thinking. I didn't mean to go on like that."

"That's absolutely fine," Aeon said, smiling. "I found great enjoyment in this conversation. We should talk like this more often."

"Yeah- that sounds nice." Kai said, nodding. "And uh, also, uh, about me saying I wanted a kiss...? I didn't mean to say it, it was uh, a heat-of-the-moment thing. So, you don't... actually have to kiss m-"

"I never was going to."

"Hey! You don't have to be all cold about it!"

"I have a winter jacket on, how do you expect me to not be cold?"

Kai grumbled and pushed Aeon lightly.

Suddenly, Aeon started to chuckle. His chuckling became louder, and he started to laugh. Kai's eyebrows rose in shock as Aeon continued to laugh gleefully. After a while, he sighed and put his hand on his chest with genuine surprise in his eyes.

"I... haven't laughed like that bef-..." Aeon paused. "I- I mean... I haven't laughed like that in a while."

"I mean, it makes sense, you just like messing with me. I'm gonna get you back for that, you know."

"Back at me for what?"

"For getting all close to my face and pretending you were gonna kiss me... You're so gonna get it. I'm gonna embarrass you so much that you start blushing! I'll be all like, 'gotcha' And you'll be all like, 'Ohh my god- I can't believe you did that!'"

Aeon smiled lightly.

"If you ever do, then I'll be very impressed."

"GUUUYS! The food's ready!" Arven cried. "Come on!"

Both Aeon and Kai shared a nod before walking into the cave.