Interlude III: Complicated
#16 of Love and Aura
Galen lay awake in his tent, starring up at the dark canvas. Ever since the Distortion World, he had been lost in thought. The images playing through his mind were of days passed, days he usually tried not to think about. They only served to remind him of emotions he would rather not re-experience. Though he didn't want anyone to know what was going on in his head, at that exact moment in time, he felt a strong desire to have someone to talk to.
As if on cue, one of his Pokéballs burst open with a flash of light, temporarily blinding him. When his eyes readjusted he found his Espeon, Clara, sitting beside him, a concerned sort of look in her eyes.
"Galen, what's wrong?" The Psychic-type asked with her telepathy.
"Nothing."
"Liar. I could feel how upset you are through my Pokéball. What's going on?"
He shook his head. "I don't really want to talk about it."
"Why?"
He hesitated, then said, "Because it's complicated."
Clara rolled her eyes. "Uh huh. You know, I'm pretty smart. I could probably keep up."
"I don't know, it's kind of...personal. I've never talked about it with anyone before."
"I can understand that, but don't you think you might feel better if you talk about it?"
Galen gave a sigh of defeat. "You're not gonna let this go until I tell you, are you? Alright then, get comfortable because this is gonna take a while."
Galen sat up, and Clara laid down, an expectant sort of look on her face. Galen took a deep breath, then began. "Today...seeing Valor and Tamash? together...and so happy to be together...it dredged up some really old memories. Memories...of the first time I fell in love."
Clara tilted her head to one side with an inquisitive sort of expression. "You mean with that blue haired girl that you now refer to as a 'crazy bitch'?"
Galen shook his head. "No. I didn't start dating her until almost a year later. This was back home in Twinleaf-or near it anyway. It was eleven years ago, I was only fourteen years old, and I had yet to set out as a Pokémon Trainer."
"You fell in love for the first time when you were fourteen?"
Galen nodded. "Yeah, I did. I've only ever really fallen in love twice, the second time being with the woman I married. But, the first time came with a rather...unusual set of circumstances."
Galen paused for a moment as he considered just what it was he was about to reveal. Taking another deep breath to steady his nerves, then he continued. "In those days, I often went for walks outside of Twinleaf, as it was really the only way for me to spend time around any pokémon at that point. I also enjoyed the experience of just...spending time in nature. But on one particular day, I had an odd sort of encounter on the shores of Lake Verity. As walked along the grassy upper part of the shore, something darted out of the nearby trees and bushes, tackling me to the ground. When I came to my senses I realised that there was now a growling Ninetales pinning me to the ground. For a minute there I thought she was going to attack me, but then, this strange expression crossed her face, as though she recognised me. She almost immediately backed off, and it was at that moment I noticed she was favouring one of her legs. She was hurt, some sort of sprain or something."
Galen paused, both for his sake and to make sure Clara was keeping up. "Even though I wasn't a Trainer yet, I usually saved up my money to buy potions so that if I ran into any injured pokémon, I would be able to help them. I offered to help her with her injury. She seemed a bit suspicious, but she agreed to let heal her."
"Wait, she attacked you, and you offered to heal her injury?"
Galen nodded. "I figured she was probably just defending herself. Anyway, after she was all fixed up, I simply told her to be careful, and as I was turning to walk away I said, 'And in case you wanted to know, my name is Galen'. I started to leave, but I barely made it five feet before she pinned me down again. My first thought at that point was 'why did I heal her?' However, that thought quickly changed to 'Why is she sticking her tongue down my throat?'"
Clara burst out laughing at that. "She did not do that."
"Yes, she did."
"Well, what did you do?"
"The first thing I did was get her off me. Then I very gently told her that I don't go for pokémon. But, she wasn't really taking no for an answer. She got this really pitiful begging sort of look in her eyes, and she sat back on her haunches...exposing herself."
Struggling to keep a straight face, Clara asked, "And how _did_you respond to that?"
Blushing profusely he continued his story. "At first I tried to look away, but my eyes were kind of...drawn to her. As I looked at her, I realised that she was...incredibly beautiful. Against everything society had ever taught me about how pokémon and humans should interact with each other, we found this secluded little clearing and, well...you know..."
For the first time since their conversation had begun, Clara was totally silent. When she spoke, she was still very quiet. "I just have one question. She was willing in that, right?"
Galen blinked in surprise at the question. "Have you been listening? She came on to me! Besides, do you really think I would have done anything if she wasn't willing?"
"Sorry. I just wanted to make sure. Please, continue."
"Alright then. Well, to say that we...'made love' would be a bit of an understatement. To this day I remember sex with her was the best I've ever had. We had some kind of instant connection, like we had know each other for years. After it was over, we went our separate ways."
Clara raised an eyebrow at him. "And that's why it's a bad memory for you? Because it only happened once?"
Galen shook his head. "No. I'm not done quite yet. A few days later I was at my home and for some reason I couldn't get her out of my head. So, I went back to see if I could find her. I did, and it seemed we had both been having a similar experience after our initial encounter. On that day, we started an actual relationship. Every opportunity I had to get out of town to go see her, I did. Though there was certainly a carnal aspect to our relationship, there were plenty of days that we just spent time together. It was wonderful. We came to spend so much time together that, even though I could never understand her exact words, I always knew what she was saying. And, even though I certainly wasn't a Trainer at that point, I began to think of her as 'my Ninetales'. We loved each other."
He stopped as the memories filled his mind. He could still see her bright orange eyes so clearly in his mind. When he remained silent, Clara asked, "I almost don't want to ask, but what next?"
With very obvious reluctance, Galen continued. "After...about six months of that secretive relationship...we had become unbelievably close. At the end of one particular evening of...passionate activities, I seriously considered spending the night with her, but we both knew that wouldn't end well, so fighting my desire to stay with her I returned home. The next day I couldn't get away until early afternoon, so when I went to the little clearing where we always met-"
"Would that be the same clearing from your first time together?"
Galen nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, when I got there I wasn't really surprised that she wasn't there. I figured she was out looking for food or something. I waited there for hours, but she never showed up. I went back every day for the next week, but she was never there. For some reason, she had just...left. As suddenly as she had entered my life six months prior, she was suddenly gone. I never saw her again."
With out a word, Clara stood up walked close to Galen, and gently nuzzled his neck. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I made you talk about this. I didn't realise just how much pain you were in."
Galen shook his head. "No. I'm glad in a way, because you were right. I do feel a little better having talked about it."
"Well, if you want, I could keep you company. You know, just so you're not alone while you're feeling like this."
Galen smiled. "Sure, I would appreciate that."
Galen laid back down, and Clara snuggled up beside him. Though it wasn't easy, he managed to fall asleep, his dreams filled with images of his lost love.
***
Deep in a little section of one of the forests of Sinnoh, a Ninetales woke from her slumber, raising her head slightly to see if something had woken her up. Seeing that nothing was there, she laid her head back down on her paws, intending to go back to sleep. But then, she remembered what she had been dreaming about.
It wasn't uncommon for her to dream about the days she had spent with 'her' human, as she missed him greatly, but tonight the dreams had been especially vivid. She had been dreaming of the day she had been forced to leave him. She could remember it so clearly.
She had woken up on the morning of that day feeling different then she usually did. It hadn't taken her long to figure out the reason why. By some miracle, she had gotten pregnant. Her joy had quickly evaporated though. She knew that if she stayed, it would probably cause a lot of problems for her human. It had been the hardest decision she had ever made, but she had left so as to protect him.
She had left without telling him, as she had known he would try to stop her. She could scarcely imagine how much that had hurt him, but she had stuck with her choice, knowing in her heart that it was the right thing to do.
The memory brought a tear to her eye, the single drop of liquid flowing down her muzzle to create a small dark spot in the soil before disappearing. She had lost him for the second time that day. "We never can seem to stay together, can we my love?"
She naturally didn't expect an answer, and thus wasn't surprised when none came. She fell back to sleep a short while later, her dreams full to the brim with her memories of him.