"Letting go of the past is useless if you didn't make peace with it."
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“Look at him. Worthless little Eevee.”
I made a little pained sound as air rushed out of me. It has been about five times that I have been kicked in the ribs. Naturally, it was painful. I started to cry as I was lying on my side, hoping that the pain would subside. I only wanted this to end.
“Why did we bother stealing this Pokemon? He’s barely able to stand up after a little kick. He doesn’t even look fashionable.” I was hearing the human say as I was hearing the sound of a door opening. I was hoping that it was the human leaving the room and leaving me alone, but I was quite wrong.
“Oh, mister Xerosic! I’m sorry, but we weren’t able to find you any suitable Pokemon to help fight that Calem guy. Please don’t rip my suit as a punishment!” He begged the other human. Even in constant pain, I stopped a second to think about what he just said. If ripping his suit was a true punishment for him, I really fell deep in the looser barrel.
“Do not worry, grunt. After some calculation, I’ve determined that the required Pokemon needed to get rid… or simply delay him until the Geosenge device is ready.” I opened my eyes, only to see his face right in front of mine. What was the most surprising was that, even with that much fat in his body, he was able to bend down enough for his chin to hover a bit over the floor.
“The required Pokemons needed to be stronger than simple creatures such as Eevees. I’ve decided to go with a Malamar and a Crobat. Just send this Eevee to my lab. I always wanted to test Eevee DNA’s special property.” He said, straightening back up. My eyes grew wide as I imagined what his ‘testing’ would meant.
“But sir, only two Pokemon!?” The grunt exclaimed. The one known as Xerosic laughed and shook his head.
“As I said, my main mission is to slow down Calem enough for the Geosenge to be ready. When this millennium old cannon will be ready to fire, we’ll see if my calculations were correct. Now go, we need to get read-“ Suddenly, some kind of alarm rang around the base. The grunt, forgetting my presence, ran out of the room with Xerosic, leaving me on the ground, helpless.
“Vee…” (Why?) I asked out loud to myself, knowing that nobody would hear me or even understand me. As I started to fade into the unconsciousness resulting from pain and tiredness, I heard more humans going through the door.
“Oh sweet Arceus, look at the poor thing!”
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I woke up, feeling pain in my middle area. After getting my breath back, I realised it was just phantom pain from this horrible nightmare. I thought that those dreams were over weeks ago, but I guess that mental scars can’t be easily healed.
“Tenebre? Are you okay?” I looked beside me, seeing Neige, whom I now called Milady. I was looking at a young human woman wearing a pink beret and a light jacket. Her flowing blond hair was led by the wind and her sapphire eyes were looking deep inside me, trying to decipher why I woke up startled.
“Was it… the week before we met?” She asked me. I sighed, thinking that she knew me too much.
“Umbre, umbreon bre…” (Indeed, but it was more realistic this time…) I told her, knowing that she wouldn’t understand me anyway. Still, I knew that my facial expression was enough for her to guess my predicament.
“Oh you poor thing.” She sighed while petting me. “I guess that the mind takes longer to heal than the body. I still can’t believe what… They did to you.” She grabbed me and hugged me tightly, almost choking the air out of my lungs.
“Umbre umbreon, umbre.” (If you don’t want me injured again, I would suggest stopping with the bear hugs.) As if she understood me, she placed me down and stood back up.
“Well, it’s not the time to cry over spilled milk! We are a few walking hours from Anistar City and a few hours away from our seventh badge ever!” Then, like the young girl she is, she started jumping in circle while voicing her pure excitement.
While I didn’t want to ruin her time of enjoyment, I was still hungry and I was sure that the others were too. So, I pointed the other Pokeballs hanging from her belt. She stopped jumping and followed the direction of my paw toward her midsection.
“Oh, right. Let’s eat breakfast then pack our stuff.” She removed every ball from her belt and threw them out. “It’s eating time!”
I’ve decided to ignore her for a few seconds, staring at the red lasers of the mysteriously and, apologies for the unrefined statement, awesome device Milady called ‘Pokeball’. Those devices, using a technique unknown to me, were able to make Pokemon, big and small, fit inside a really small definite space. It was always a wonder to look at my friends come out of there. While I had mine on her belt, I was used to staying outside, walking beside Neige.
In front of me was the shining form of Brave, the first Pokemon she caught after me and the team’s leading (and only) transport service that isn’t on foot. That Talonflame was a bit annoying, but her heart was at the right place most of the time. The only thing I’m sure is that I’ll never get used to what she considers ‘pranking’.
Beside her was Excalibur. That Aegislash never talked, never reacted to anything, but when Milady was in danger, he was ready to get out of his Pokeball by himself only to protect her. While I still found him quite suspicious, as long as we aim for the same goal, I respect him.
Behind them all was Snap the Clawitzer. He was… something else entirely. He is violent, savage and ruthless. Yet, he was also kind hearted, respectful and loyal. The thing that made his stand out was that he seemed to switch those two categories from time to time, like if he had some kind of personality trouble.
Finally, on top of a really small branch was Spike, a really childish Chesnaught. This one’s problem was that he seemed to forget that he is a 90 kilo tank and not fit for tree climbing and hill rolling. Luckily for us, even if he had a child’s mind, his physical proweses were still impressing me.
Still, I found it weird that Milady was refusing an obvious advantage that she could have over her opponents. The occasional trainer and ‘gym leader’ all had under the maximum amount of Pokemon one can have on them. Sadly, it seemed that this fact was going right over her head, repeating that she was waiting for ‘the one’.
While Neige detached from the group to make us some food, I saw Brave hovering toward me. “So, lover boy, how d’you sleep? I gotta tell ya’, those balls aren’t as comfortable as they seem.” She said, stretching out.
“I told you millions on top of millions of times that you only have to ask Mil-, I mean Neige to sleep outside.” I argued, tired of having the same conversation over and over again with this bird brain.
“Okay, let me tell you why I do this, why we are all doing this. It will be waaaay easier for you to ask Neige out with us out of the way. If you grow the courage, that is.” She said, pointing at me with one of her claws.
“You’re telling me that all of you are sleeping in harder conditions just because of my love life?” I asked the group whom I just realised were listening to both of us. They all turned to face us.
“Yup.”
“Mmm mmm.”
“Yeah.”
“Yes mister Tenebre.”
I stared at her speechless, the guilt growing inside of me. “You all know that you mustn’t sacrifice your ability to get a good night of sleep only for such trivial matters. Yes, I may hold some emotions toward out benevolent trainer, but it doesn’t mean that I want more than her friendship. That notion would be hard to take for her.”
“Why don’t you just ask her, mister Tenebre? I’m sure that asking can’t hurt, right?” Spike asked before the twig he was standing on broke, making him fall on his armoured back. Naturally, that got the attention of our trainer whom, upon realising it was only Spike being Spike, returned to her cooking.
I scratched my head, unsure how to explain the concept of pokephilia, or human love for Pokemon, to such a pure and uncorrupted (and yet older than some of us) soul. “Well, I heard from… a conversation between Neige and her parents that relationship between humans and pokemons going over the state of ‘friendship’ is not viewed as… normal.” I explained, pausing once in a while to find the right words.
“Oh, okay.” He simply said. Suddenly, I heard Milady’s voice calling us for breakfast. Knowing her, and the fact that we bought flour in the last town we walked in, she probable made us pancakes. The smell quickly place my assumptions correct.
“Today, my favorite breakfast ever, pancakes!” She announced in her cute voice. In front of her was six plates, each of them containing two of those yellow-ish fluffy meals. She sat down in front of her and grabbed her plate, digging fast through her share.
For myself, I dragged the plate using my mouth near Milady’s leg and, while cuddling with it, ate the perfectly cooked breakfast. It surprised me that, even though she is clearly of younger age, her cooking skills clearly surpasses whatever my mother used to give me.
That sudden thought about my old immediate family brought a frown. It’s been years since I saw them. Even their faces were shadows in my memories, being slowly replaced by the one who saved me from… my demise.
Last time I saw them was before I got lost in the forest near what I called the Rocky road. That name came from the multiple rock formations located in the middle of said road in a weird symmetrical pattern that is too perfect to be naturally made.
After sleeping there for a few days, I woke up in a bag with a hole in it, allowing me to see the outside world. I knew that I was far from the Rocky road, but I was still oblivious to the fact that I was pokenapped.
I remembered the city where I was caged. I never thought buildings could go that high! Still, the amazement was short lived as I was brought inside some kind of kitchen with dozens of table where all the walls were painted red.
The rest of the time spent there is simply a blur that my memory is trying to erase. I only remember pain, voices and the color red. Let’s not forget fire. Ever since I left that place, I never was able to look at fire without some kind of reflex fear reaction toward it.
“Tenebre? Are you seriously okay?” I snapped out of my memory lane as six pairs of eyes were staring at me. I realised that I was crying due to the wet spots under my eyes and on the ground.
“Hey, Tene? I know it may not be of my business, but are you feeling alright?” Brave asked between two bites of pancakes. I shook my head and resumed eating at a quicker pace than normal. I felt Neige’s hand going over my fur, slowly calming me down.
I looked up and saw her smiling. That made me start questioning if I really should keep my emotions from her. That’s when Spike’s words came to my mind.
‘I’m sure that asking can’t hurt, right?’
It sure couldn’t. What is the worst that could happen? She could…
I suddenly felt a cold feeling down my spine that made the worst case scenarios come out of my psyche.
She could abandon me and find another dark type to cover my absence. I mean, it’s not like anybody would care. Excalibur would shrug it off, Spike would be sad, but will survive, Snap will stay Snap. Only Brave would be truly affected by this, being my friend for so long.
That’s when the intelligent side of me slapped the other side, calling it ‘incompetent’. Why would Neige even consider abandoning me? We share the kind of bond that not even time or death can sever. Releasing me would be like releasing a part of herself.
Anyway, that’s how I think it would work.
After eating the pancakes faster than I ever did to cover my daydreaming, Neige started cleaning the camp we set-up yesterday. Being one of those ‘easy to place, easy to remove’ tent, the task took only about 10 minutes.
“Okay, it’s time to leave. We’re about 4 hours from Anistar so I’ll get you all back in your pokeballs.” Milady said while bringing out said balls. One by one, my partners were returned to their energy forms until only Brave and I was left. When she aimed Brave’s ‘home’ at her, I stepped forward between the two.
“Tenebre? What are you doing?” Brave and Neige asked. “Do you want her to walk with us?” Milady continued. I nodded, going near Brave and placed a paw over her. “Okay then, let’s go!”
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“Why in the name of Arceus did you want me to accompany you?” Brave asked me while hovering beside me. I sighed, looking at Neige who was walking in front of us.
“I… wanted to talk to you. Is that some kind of sin unknown to me?” I answered. The phrasing I used confused Brave for a few seconds before she shook my head with her wing.
“Why didn’t you say so? So… what do you want to talk about?” I looked down at the floor, trying to determine a specific question that could start the conversation and lead to the subject of my obvious love for our trainer.
“Well, it’s about-“ I started before being cut by the bird.
“Let me guess.” She stopped and rubbed her chin like if she was searching for an answer she already had. “It’s about you and Neige, am I right?” She giggled while she shook my head again, only for me to push her wing away.
“Am I that obvious to decode?” I mumbled, just loud enough for Brave to hear me.
She landed and started to laugh while following us. “You’re as easy to read as an open book. Plus, you speak like one. Are you sure there is no book pokemon in your family?” She joked, returning to the skies.
“Har har har. Last time I’ve checked, there is no such thing as a ‘book pokemon’. Also… yes, it’s about my impossible relationship with the human whom shadow is engulfing us at the moment.” She sighed while shaking her head.
“Is it me or talking with you is like talking to a scientist. You over complicate everything. INCLUDING your love with Neige.” She approached me and placed her head beside mine. “You think too much. I may sound cheesy, but stop thinking with your head and start thinking with your heart.” She smiled as she said the last part.
To her surprise, I acted like if I was choking. “Lord Arceus, that was so cheesy it made me choke. Seriously, that’s not helping.” She stared at me and suddenly fell on the floor laughing. That’s when I thought that I should research her laugh threshold. It seems to be incredible low to laugh at such a pathetic attempt at a joke.
“Sweet lord, I didn’t know you had a sense of humour. Like, at all.” She cleaned tears from her eyes. “Still, if you don’t ask her, I’ll make sure that you’ll do it.” She warned me. I looked at her, confused.
“Two questions you seemed to have brushed off. First, how do I ask her such a thing if our speaking dialects are far from being the same? Second, how do you plan to force me into doing such an act?” After finishing the second question, she started grinning like a maniac.
“Well, just write a heart on the dirt and maybe try to get a kiss from her. For the second part, let’s just say that any humans will listen to an annoying bird pecking at their neck.” I saw a flash of malice inside her two eyes.
“You… wouldn’t dare.” I managed to say, trying to keep my stern mask on (and failing miserable). She nodded slowly, landing and opening her wings like if she was about to jump on Neige.
“OKAY, okay. You win.” I sighed, still trying to believe that I just got beaten mentally by a bird. Still, I have to remember that she used the cheap tactic of intimidation. Now, I either do what she told me to and draw a heart on the floor or find another way.
Deciding that nothing worst could happen, I’ve decided to go with what my partner told me to. “Umbre!” (Hey!) I shouted, getting the attention of my trainer. With the emotions getting stuck in my throat, I started drawing a circle under the curious eyes of the girl looming over me.
When I finished drawing that crude cartoony heart in a sand spot near the grass, I looked at Milady’s face to see if I would get any kind of reaction. Luckily (or unluckily) for me, she smiled and grabbed me by the middle of my body.
“Oh Tenebre, I love you too.” She said while placing my head against her. I knew that this ‘I love you’ was said in a ‘I am your friend too’ way and that, if I didn’t do anything more, it would stay that way.
When she made me look at her, face to face, my heart passed an order that my brain didn’t approve, but allowed anyway. I raised my paws, placed them on her cheeks, kissed her and closed my eyes.
That’s when I realised four things. First, I was actually kissing her. It was my first victory of the day. Second, her lips tasted like bubble gum and watermelon, which was a really good taste. Third, Brave was laughing while enjoying the fact that I listened to her and that her plan worked. Fourth…
Neige wasn’t breathing anymore.
My eyes shot open as Milady’s body started to fall backward. When the impact happened, I was launched a few meters backward and fell on my side. Brave immediately rushed beside me to see if I was alright. My first thought, however, when I stood up was more about Neige’s situation than mine.
I ran toward her to look if she was alright. Placing my head over her chest, I realised a scary fact. Her heart stopped beating. Brave and I started to panic before I felt a sharp pain in my skull. The last thing I saw before succumbing to the darkness was Brave falling in tandem with me.
“Rest now, my children, for when you awake, a whole new world shall be your home.”