Poke Saga - Between Life and Death - C6

Chapter 6

Have you ever heard of something called a "Shiny Pokemon"? I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't. They're really rare, and I mean really rare. Apparently, the special gene that causes a Pokemon to become "shiny" is such a recessive gene that only 1 in every 4,096 Pokemon end up becoming "shiny". Oh, but I never really explained what it means for a Pokemon to be "shiny", did I?

If a Pokemon is "shiny" it has an odd genetic defect in its skin or fur. This causes its body to actually reflect light off of it, kind of like a mirror does. This odd defect also comes with a severe discoloration. For example, something like a Charmander would be a brighter orange, or Sandshrew would be green. It's interesting to note that not all Pokemon with discoloration are shinies. A pink Butterfree, for example, would not be a shiny. It would only be one if its skin actually shines when light is cast on it.

So, why did I say all of that? I said all of that because after our little adventure in the Santalune City Gym, we headed off onto Route 22, also called "Détourner Way". I wanted to catch a Pokemon there before we went north to Route 4, also called "Parterre Way". As we walked through Route 22, I glanced here and there looking for a Pokemon to catch.

And there it was, in that moment, when a glimmer of light caught my eye. I froze, turning slowly towards the glimmer I had seen. It was gone at this point, but I was ever watchful. As my eyes searched the area for that glimmer of light, I caught sight of it once again as it quickly dashed across my vision. "Gotcha! Robin, let's go!" I shouted and tossed Robin's ball forward. "Robin, use Quick Attack!"

Robin shot forward towards the shining light I had seen. A moment later, a small Litleo had been flung out of its place of hiding and onto the Route path. Now fully standing in the sun, I could fully witness the shining fur on its body. A normal Litleo is a small lion cub that is a dark brown on its body with light brown ears and paws. A shiny Litleo, though, is light brown where it would be dark brown and on its ears and paws its almost a silver color.

"It's a Litleo!" Shauna shouted immediately. "But...there's something different about it."

"That is a Shiny Pokemon, Shauna," I spoke with a smile. "I'll explain more about it in a minute." I drew out a pokeball. "Robin, Gust!" Robin quickly hit the Litleo with a powerful gust of air that sent it tumbling backwards. "Go, pokeball!" I tossed the ball forward, which absorbed the Litleo inside. The ball shook, and I bit my lip. I didn't want it to escape. Sure enough, after a tense moment, the ball clicked and sealed.

I gave a sigh of relief, then stepped over to the ball and picked it up. "Well, looks like we have a Litleo on our team now."

"Isn't that a fire-type, though?" Shauna asked. "Doesn't that mean you have two now?"

"Yeah...and that's going to hurt me in making a balanced team...but I wasn't going to let something this rare escape." I put Litleo's pokeball away, then turned back to Shauna. I proceeded to explain to her exactly what a Shiny Pokemon was and why it was so rare.

"Wow, it's that rare?" Shauna asked, her eyes wide as saucers.

I nodded. "That's why I had to catch it." I smiled. "Come on, let's head on to Route 4. We should try to get to Lumiose City as quickly as possible so we can get through it."

. . .

We made a stop back on Route 3 because I had forgotten to catch anything while we were there. I ended up catching a Bunnelby, just like Calem had on Route 2. With my Litleo, I had named it Kirei, which was a Nipponese word for "Fire". Well, one of many we use for that anyway. As for the Bunnelby, I had used "Usagi" which meant "Bunny". I know, I'm very original with my names.

That said, we continued on to Route 4. I'll be honest here, Route 4 was like walking through a large garden. On both sides were hedge mazes, which both Shauna and I had some fun navigating for no reason other then because it was fun. In the center of the route was, well, another fountain. This one was massive, though. It was at least a good 30 centimeters in radius, and had to be at least the same amount tall.

Shauna stopped there and sat down on the edge of the fountain. We had been walking for quite some time now. During that time, we had spent a lot of it training our Pokemon, and had even done a trainer battle or two here near the fountain before we stopped to relax. I sat down next to her and she leaned into me. I smiled, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close. "So, do you like your Pokemon journey so far?"

Shauna nodded with a smile. "It's been a lot of fun, and I'm happy I get to go with you," Shauna spoke as she wrapped her arms around my stomach.

"You're a very cuddly person, aren't you?"

Shauna looked away, then nodded slowly. "Calem didn't really like it when I hugged him all the time...but I really like hugs."

"Well, then, you can hug me as much as you want." I scooped Shauna up and sat her on my lap, then wrapped both my arms around her. Shauna smiled, then buried her head into my chest as she wrapped her arms around me. I blushed a little at that, but smiled and began to pet her head. "You're like a little cat."

"Like a little cat?" Shauna asked as she looked up at me.

"Yeah. You like to get real close and get all the snuggles and pets you can." I continued to pet her head and she giggled.

"Yeah, I guess I do."

We stayed in that embrace for a while. Not too long, though, maybe only ten minutes or so, but I couldn't help it. I didn't want to let her go. I wanted to just hug her and hold her all day. I wanted so badly to just lift her head up a little, then plant my lips on her own. I resisted doing so, but even so, I wanted to really badly.

As Shauna stood herself up and pulled away from the embrace, she stretched a little, then looked off to the north. "How much further do you think Lumiose City is?"

"Not much, I'm sure. I think the map said this fountain was the halfway point in the route."

Shauna nodded. "All right, then we should get there soon."

"Probably just in time for lunch." At those words, Shauna's stomach growled and we both giggled. I stood up from the fountain and Shauna took my hand. We continued along Route 4, making our way off towards Lumiose City.

. . .

There they were, the gates of Lumiose City! We had been travelling about an hour since our stop at the fountain, and we were finally here. As soon as the gates had come into view, both Shauna and I had taken off at a full run towards them. When we arrived, though, we found two people standing in front of the gates, blocking the way. One was a guy dressed in a white suit. He had brown hair that was cut in a sort of bowl-cut style. Next to him was a girl dressed in a white dress. Her hair was dark, almost black. I noticed that her skin was also darker in color as well.

"Excuse me," I spoke up, but neither paid any attention to me. "Excuse me!" I spoke up a bit louder.

The boy, hearing me this time, turned his attention to me. "Oh, hello there!" He smiled.

"Ah, hello." I gave a bow. "Would you two mind moving out of the way for me? We're trying to get to Lumiose, and you're kind of blocking the gate..."

The boy and girl looked at each other for a moment, then smiled and turned back to me. "Sure, we'll move for you, but I have one question first."

"A question?" I looked at Shauna, then back at the boy.

"Are you two perhaps Shauna and Serena?"

"You know us?" Shauna quickly spoke up.

The boy nodded. "Yeap, we're two of Professor Sycamore's assistants. I'm Dexio, and this is Sina." He waved to the girl who gave a bow.

"Oh, well, nice to meet both of you, then." I smiled at them. I'll be honest, Sina wasn't bad looking at all. If I hadn't already been smitten with Shauna, I might have tried to go for her instead. Still, I didn't know how old she was either, and that made me a little worried. She didn't look much older then Shauna, to be honest, neither of them did for that matter.

"Another question, have you ever heard of Fairy-type Pokemon?" Dexio asked.

I looked at Shauna, who shrugged. "I...can't say I have?"

Dexio got a devious grin. "Fairy-types are an entirely new type of Pokemon that has been recently discovered!"

"THIS TURNED THE ENTIRE TYPE MATCHUP SYSTEM ON ITS HEAD!" Sina shouted so loud that it made Dexio stumble back.

"Not so loud, Sina."

"Sorry!" Sina bowed. "Anyway, apparently some of the matchups we thought existed were because Pokemon were actually Fairy-types. This changed a lot of things, like we now know that Steel types actually aren't resistant to Dark or Ghost-type moves."

"Really? I...wasn't aware they even were to begin with," I spoke up. "Well, I guess that does change a few things. So, what's so different about Fairy-types?"

"Well," Dexio began, "they seem to be really powerful against Dragon-types. They also seem pretty effective against Dark-types, too. At first, Professor Sycamore was going to call them 'Light-types', but he changed his mind after someone said they should be 'Fairy-types'."

"Do a lot of Fairy-types look like fairies?"

"Not really...but that's what was decided, so that's what the typing is called."

"Strange..." I shrugged. "Oh well, guess you can't win them all."

Dexio nodded. "Oh! You probably want to see Professor Sycamore, don't you?"

"Well...I mean...I wasn't planning to...but I could?" My stomach growled and I blushed, putting my hand on my stomach. "Maybe after I get some food anyway."

Dexio nodded. "Well, then, Sina, why don't you go with them? You can show them to the nearest cafe, then afterwards you can take them to see Sycamore."

Sina nodded. "Sure! I know this great place to eat. Come on." Sina rushed into the gates and I looked at Shauna. She shrugged and rushed ahead.

"I...guess I'll see you later." I waved to Dexio and rushed inside as well.

. . .

Sina, Shauna, and I had all been sitting and eating in the little cafe we were at for almost an hour now. We were talking and laughing and really just being girly. It was enjoyable, and I can't say I wasn't a little worked up since I was sitting next to two beautiful girls. As it turns out, Sina was about Calem's age which was good. I had worried she might be too young, but in the end she wasn't. Not that it mattered, I suppose, since I was still smitten with Shauna.

Then, something happened which really got me worked up. I looked up from the table we were sitting at and noticed a man sitting down nearby. He wore an entirely black outfit with orange trimming all over it. It consisted of a pair of leather pants, a leather jacket that looked somewhat like a suit coat but had white fluff around the inner edges, and a pair of black shoes and black fingerless gloves. He had orange hair which stuck up in just about every single direction possible, it kind of reminded me of fire.

However, while he caught my eye at first, it wasn't him that kept my attention. What kept my attention, or rather who kept my attention, was an absolutely stunning woman. She was dressed in a white jacket that flowed down to her knees. The front was open, revealing some kind of white V-neck top under it along with a pair of white shorts. The back of her jacket had large white things on it, almost like wings, and she wore a pair of gorgeous white shoes. Her hair was brown and kept up in a bun on the back of her head, and she had gorgeous blue eyes.

My jaw dropped to the floor.

"She's gorgeous..." I spoke without thinking.

"Who?" Shauna asked as she climbed on me.

I blushed as I realized what I said. "No-nothing, no one."

Shauna smiled after a moment. "So, which one is it that caught your eye? The hot guy in the black or the hot girl in the white?"

I blushed even more and quickly grabbed Shauna, sitting her down. "Neither! It's neither!"

Shauna giggled. "If you say so."

I looked away, but then realized I couldn't because in order to look away, I had to look at the girl in white. I quickly buried my face in a napkin.

"Seems Serena's super embarrassed right now," Sina giggled.

"I-I am not!" I protested.

"Then why are you all red?"

"C-cause..." I looked around. "Cause it's hot in here, that's why."

"Oh really?" Shauna reached over and grabbed my shirt. "Well, if it's hot, you could always take something off." She began to pull my shirt up. Now, normally I'd be fine with that. Hell, I walked through the Pokemon Center topless and let all three boys see my boobs and panties without even a thought to it. But I was so embarrassed that I actually refused.

"F-fine...you want the truth?"

Shauna and Sina got real close to me.

I took a deep breath and sighed. "That girl over there, the one in white... I've never seen her before but she's...well..." I sighed. "I think she's gorgeous."

Shauna wrapped her arms around me. "Are you a lesbian?"

My face turned even redder at that, and I'm not even sure why. "N-no!" I waved my arms frantically. "I-I mean...I'm not...fully lesbian...I'm kind of...bisexual...with strong tendancies towards women..."

Shauna smiled, then looked towards Sina. She then looked down, almost like she was embarrassed. "I...I'm bisexual, too...I've never told anyone, but it's true..."

"Really?"

Shauna nodded.

"Well, nothing wrong with being bisexual, right?"

Shauna smiled and nodded. "Yeah." She got close to me. "Serena...do you...do you think I'm pretty?"

I blushed once again at that, which seemed to cause a reaction from Shauna because she blushed as well. "V-very much so," I spoke up.

"Thank you..." Shauna wrapped her arms around me and I smiled as I pulled her close.

"But you're so beautiful!" I heard the man from before shout. I quickly turned, looking at the two of them. He had stood to his feet, his hand on the table. "How could you possibly want that to end?"

"What do you mean?" the woman asked.

"You said you would refuse to be young forever!"

"Youth and beauty are not the same thing, Lysandre. A person can be beautiful all the days of their lives, even as they grow older and their faces wrinkle. The fact is, even at that point, where the world sees you as an ugly old man someone will still think you're beautiful. My own fiancée tells me every day that I'll always be beautiful to her, and I tell her the same thing."

The man, who I could only guess was "Lysandre", growled. "But you're a movie star! You're required to be beautiful to your audience for all of your years!"

The girl scoffed. "I won't stay a movie star forever. One day I won't be 'beautiful' in the eyes of the world and I'll stop acting, but what does that matter? I've lived a fulfilled life."

"But you could be beautiful to everyone for all of time! Wouldn't you like that?"

"A world where I never change? Where every day is the same old routine? Where I play the twenty-year-old girl on television or in movies? No, I have no desire for that. I want to play new roles. I want to step away from playing the 'romantic woman' or the 'cute woman' and step into roles where maybe I don't have to be beautiful. I could star in an action movie, or even be a wizard in a school of wizardry. Roles like that can't be played by twenty-year-old women who are 'beautiful'."

Lysandre growled even more. "I've heard enough of this. In my eyes, when things are beautiful they should stay that way. I offered you a chance. When you grow old and become ugly, don't say I didn't warn you." He turned and walked out of the cafe.

The woman gave a sigh, then looked down at her drink and began to sip at it. Without even thinking, I stood up and walked over to her. "Are you okay, ma'am?"

She seemed to be a bit startled by the sudden approach, but she nodded. "Yes, I'm fine, just...dealing with old rivalries... I'm sorry you had to hear all of that."

"It's okay." I gave a bow. "My name is Serena Yuki. I'm a new Pokemon Trainer. Would you like some company? You could come sit with me and my friends." I waved to Sina and Shauna.

The woman turned and looked at them, smiled, then chuckled. "I'm surprised you don't seem to know who I am."

"Should I?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not important. You can call me Diane." She stood up and extended her hand out. I shook her head and smiled. "Well, then, shall we sit?"

Diane sat with us for the next few minutes. We had conversed about a lot of things while we were there, mostly girly things. I decided not to bring up anything I had heard between her and Lysandre, I just didn't feel it was my place. Finally, though, she had to take her leave, and when she left, we realized we should get up and move on ourselves. Sina still wanted to take me to see Professor Sycamore, so I agreed on that. And so, that was to be our next step on our journey.