The Man and The Maid

What is a human? How does one associate being human? Is it the revolution from Primal intuitions to becoming civilized individuals? Was it the transcendency from barbarism and development to become a civilization? What is humanity? Is it the commune or is it the Collective network of ideas that would procreate civilization?

These are the thoughts that I finger myself onto. Though I don't see myself as a human being, I can feel what it's like to become one. I know that it is impossible for a Gardevoir to transplant themselves into a human or to project the physical manifestation of an ideal human but I am happy for who I am. I am happy that I am surrounded by loving people, live in a thriving community, and am fairly open to such dogma.

I do admit that I don't like what happened that day but no time machine can stop such inevitable vigor. We've become ONE in the same but I feel like our morals were woven into separate sheets. I do envy the optimism and despise the tragedy. I just don't see myself into a vicissitude that opposes our ethics. But cheers for the future, I guess

Psst! The Soda can hissed as Yoake cracks up a cold one. He drank the fusing cola, refreshing himself after a delightful afternoon. He stares at the horizon - with the sun's rays reflecting onto the clear lake - contemplating himself, collecting his thoughts and forming a cohesive explanation as to what happened prior.

After finishing his drink, instead of throwing it away at the lake, he decides to keep it, turns around, and heads towards Claudine and Tepig. The Gardevoir was busy grooming such a fragile figure.

"Alright, time to train." Yoake interrupted them. "What?"

"We need to train, I feel like Ren is triumphing over me." His voice was serious and his tone was very alien towards Claudine.

'This isn't Yoake I know, what the hell happened to you?'

"Don't you think we need to take some rest first? We and Tepig had a rough day." Claudine suggested. She doesn't want to immediately brutally train Tepig at such dissonance.

"No. We must train. I must not get defeated by Ren; unlike last time." He gave them the cold stare as he turned around, trying to avoid contact with his only Pokemon.

"Why do you want to triumph over Ren?" She asked.

"I've always assumed that Karen taught Ren and saw more potential in her than me and considered me as the weakest."

"But didn't we defeat her during the championship battle? What do you want to prove?"

"That's not victory, it was reluctancy. She forced herself to make me win just for dad's sake. That day has no meaning to me."

"So why Ren?"

"To prove that I'm better than them. We need to train and find better and efficient ways to use Battle Bond." A radical Yoake said. Claudine was shocked and laid down Tepig as she stood up against him.

"Hold on for a minute, didn't we have a promise that we are no longer going to use Battle Bond?" And for the first time, the maid finally opposed her master though she is powerless in such a power struggle.

Yoake turned around and took out a Pokeball with utter frustration.

"That's enough. I'm done hearing from you, you're not Leaf nor my mom." He said as he reveals a Pokeball, it wasn't a regular but that of a special one, it was Claudine's.

"Is that my Pokeball, Don't you dare do it." She begged. Yoake was having second thoughts but decided to continue anyway.

"You're going to make the worst mistake Yoake." She warned. The boy pressed the button and a beaming light rayed out of the red shell and headed towards Claudine, grabbing her and capturing her back to her reluctant home.

Tepig was frightened by his actions, thinking that she found a safe haven but she fears that this might be worse than she ought to be. Yoake noticed the startled Pokemon and tried to comfort her.

"Sorry about that, things come up, an-" Yoake was interrupted as Tepig jumped out from his fetal position and ran away. Realizing his mistake, instead of getting Claudine back, he chose to pursue the Pokemon.

"Hey, wait!" He shouted as he watched the Tepig blindly run to New Bark town.

"This is why I hate training new Pokemon." Yoake sighed in annoyance as he ran and tried to catch up.

The clouds began to usher the grayness of a looming storm towards the peaceful town yet it didn't. The winds blew harder as the boy ran towards it, sliding from left to right as he tried to dodge the many obstacles in his way; as he was getting close, Tepig ran to obscurity as Yoake panted for breath. He was tired from running, ironic, but he wasn't ready to kneel such mortal weakness. He continued but there was a part of him trying to stop him.

'I hate this.' He complained to himself. Though he would love to brash about the current circumstances, he would only blame one person for all of this, Ren. At first, he tried to reconcile with her for family and Leaf's sake but over time, his facade of a friendly face slowly diminish as it was clear that Ren was favored not just by Karen but also his friends as well; Claudine bonded more with Ren, Erika and Misty always invites her to seminars and trainings while he was reluctantly added, Brock and Ellix also invites her to join for some camping to Mount Silver yet he was always left behind.

Jealousy? Perhaps but if there is one thing for certain, Leaf spoon fed this kid and he became the dumbbell of the league. He may be the prince of Kanto but he is nothing more than a child or a pawn to someone's greater game, and that game was something that his kin would fear the most.

He doesn't deserve that victory, it was forced, instead of embracing such ferocity, he decided to rebel and prove that he is better - not just to Ren - but to everyone as well and he is ready to prove it.

He noticed that the sky was getting darker but it wasn't raining nor the clouds seemed to be interested. As he continued to walk he heard a voice, a feminine voice.

"There there now, no need to be shy." She had a Joht accent; she has a soothing voice yet a playful one. It was a combination of Leaf's tone with Misty's intonation. He began investigating the source of such a voice and it didn't take long and he found a girl. She was in her 15s, she was a brunette with twin braids and her ends were lying on her shoulders, she wore a red wine blouse with a black skirt, and from her skirt, ran a fishnet stocking from her waist up to her feet, and wore berry red sneakers. Yoake noticed a red ribbon tied to her left hand, though intriguing, he was more focused on the fact that she was feeding the small Pokemon with some puffins.

Yoake froze on the spot, he felt like small Butterfrees were on his stomach, infatuation of some sort. He was mesmerized by this beautiful creature, he couldn't tell why, was it her clothes? Her personality? Or something else? Either way, he tried to collect himself and be as confident as possible.

"Sorry to bother you but that's my Pokemon." He said as he walked up towards her.

'Oh really? If this is yours and why is it running away from you? And also, when was the last time you fed this little… what do you call it?"

"Tepig." He stated. "Listen, I'm not here to cause some trouble and I thank you for feeding it but we'll be taking our leave."

"Leaving so soon? Can I still feed him? He looks very cute." She adored the Tepig as she continued to munch on her pink puffin.

"It's a she." He corrected her.

"Oh really? Sorry for mislabeling you then." She apologized to the Pokemon. Afterwards, she decided to look at him and finally introduced herself.

"The name's Lyra, and you must be?"

"Yoake, the Kantonese Pokemon Champion." He said with confidence. Lyra's smile fades away and reveals a sense of disgust.

"Kantonese Pokemon Champion? Interesting. I wasn't told that there is a new one but where are my manners?" She stated.

"Yeah, I've been trying to find Johto's Champion and I was told that he is missing?" He asked her as he scratched his head. Lyra smirked as she looked at him with a stern look afterwards.

"Well, you'll find him out, eventually" She gave him the optimistic look as if she was trying to hide something.

"Are you affiliated with Leaf?" He asked her in utter curiosity. They were sitting on a bench together, staring at the nearby lake as they continued to know more about each other.

"A comrade. And I was told countless times that you are her… oppa?" She said as she nibbles on a strawberry puffin.

"Oppa?"

"Oh, it's a colloquial term here in Johto, it just means 'babysitted children' like Komori in Kanto." She gave him a simple Johto linguistic fact, which is something that Yoake should've done before going there.

"So why are you being babysitted by her? What about your parents?" She asked. Yoake's eyes widened and instead of giving an answer, he stopped taking a bite from his blueberry puffin and froze as if something triggered him.

Feeling a familiar answer, Lyra decided to change the topic.The Katsuragis are really delicate

"Sorry about that. I shouldn't talk about it." She apologized.

"No, no. It's okay." Yoake understands her curiosity and not answering it is a better alternative than that of doing so. Yoake pondered as he saw the clouds were still gloomy, it doesn't make sense.

As nightfall began, the two went their separate ways, with Yoake finding a nearby micro hotel to dig in for the night while Lyra walked towards the obscurity.

"Leaf and Karen were right. The two are special in their own ways."