Journey Through Createa

Robert sat down next to Luke after cleaning up, embarrassed that she had seen him acting so rowdy. He was always so careful to be calm and collected; how had he let Michael egg him on like that? He wanted to try and explain, but he had no idea what to say. He didn't want to bring it up again, though. He reached over and patted Ember, trying to think of something to say. He absently picked a feather out of her hair that had most likely come out of a pillow.

"Did you two get your talking done?" he finally asked lamely. His chest tightened. He really was no good at this stuff.

Fae hit the back of Michael's head lightly.

"You know better," she said with a grin. Michael looked at her innocently and threw a pillow squarely in her face. She looked at him for a moment, not sure if she wanted to hit him or kiss him, and finally just laughed. It was partially her fault too; she should have known better than to leave those two alone without giving them something to do. She tackled him into the bed and dug her fingers into his ribs. Michael began to laugh uncontrollably.

"Conleth, help me!" he gasped. The Charmander wagged it's fiery tail lazily and watched with an ornery smile.

Luke smiled as Robert patted Ember. She had a warm feeling inside, with her boyfriend right beside her and Ember comfortably on her stomach. Robert seemed a bit embarrassed by what had just happened, but she didn't see why. It really had been very cute.

"Huh?" Luke snapped out of her haze when Robert said something. Slowly, the words collected in her head. "Oh, yeah." She tucked her hands behind her head and looked over at Michael and Fae. They were really making a commotion over there. Luke tried not to laugh. She wished that she and Robert were that comfortable together. She didn't see why they shouldn't be, though.

Grabbing his arm, Luke pulled Robert down beside her. "You don't have to be embarrassed, you know." She giggled. "I don't suppose you're ticklish?" She stuck her tongue out at him. Ember decided that this would be a fun time to sandwich himself between their faces. He laid down between the two and got quite comfortable.

Robert blushed fervently as Luke pulled him in even closer. He was not used to things accelerating at such a rate. His mind raced to comprehend what Luke had said - it truly was hard to concentrate like this.

"I-I'm just not used to it," he stammered out quietly. "No, I'm not ticklish. Sorry."

He felt a knot forming in his chest. This was exactly the kind of thing he was trying to grow past. He took a deep breath. There would be no forward movement unless he made effort to create it. He forced a smile and tried to relax. Ember sandwiched himself between the two, giving Robert a small respite. All of the previous tension seemed to disappear as the little fire pokémon wagged his tail in Robert's face. He laughed. It was amazing how pokémon always seemed to know exactly the right thing to do.


"I give up!" Michael screamed from across the room. "Please, have mercy!"

Fae sat up, still straddling Michael's squirming body. She looked at him thoughtfully as he continued to plead with her. Finally she sighed and swung her leg over to one side.

"I suppose that's enough for tonight," she said with a wicked grin. "I hope you learned your lesson though."

Michael nodded, trying to catch his breath.

"You really are evil," he gasped. That only made Fae grin wider.

"We should probably get to bed soon," she commented lightly. "After all, we have a full day ahead of us tomorrow. We have to check out the town more, scope out the gym leader. . ."

"And look into what's making the pokémon in this town act out," Robert added. He stared up at the ceiling. Feeling unnerved all of the sudden, he reached out his hand until it clasped on to Luke's.

Luke smiled as Robert took her hand. Her mind drifted back to the Growlithe scene that she and Fae had witnessed. She didn't want to bring it up tonight; Robert was worried enough as it was. Still, she felt that she had better tell him about it tomorrow. She hoped it would help with their investigation. More than anything, though, Luke hoped that this strange outbreak of aggressiveness didn't affect their pokemon. Luke didn't know what she'd do if Ember started acting out.

Turning over, Luke looked at Ember, who was still sandwiched between her and Robert. She stuck her tongue out at her companion. He let out a small "quil" and jumped over her head and onto the floor. Curious, he took to sniffing around the room.

"This is really bothering you, isn't it?" Luke said to Robert. She was concerned about all of this, too, but it seemed to be really getting to Robert. She kissed him on the cheek. "Don't let it keep you up. You'll need your rest for tomorrow."

Michael groaned and scooted up to the head of the bed. He glanced over at Luke and Robert. They seemed to be having a moment. He sighed and closed his eyes. It was about time to go to sleep and Fae was right; tomorrow would be a long day. He smiled as he felt his girlfriend cuddle in next to him.

Robert looked at Luke. Of course it was bothering him; Pokémon weren't supposed to act this way. The more he thought about it the more tense he got. There had to be something at the root of it all. If they could just figure out what that was, then maybe the Pokémon could relax again too. As it was, no one could be happy. Luke was right, though. He wouldn't be able to do anyone any good if he stayed up all night worrying about it. He squeezed Luke's hand.

"You're pretty smart, you know that?" he said. "Alright, I'll try to get some sleep. We'll look into it tomorrow."

With that he pulled his glasses off and set them on the bedside table. He closed his eyes. His heart suddenly sped up as he realized that he was actually sharing his bed with a girl. His girl. He gulped. Try to think of something else, Robert. Just relax. Don't think about it. After a long time of nervous thoughts, he began drifting off.

Luke awoke the next morning with her arms wrapped around her boyfriend, her head once again resting on his chest. She remembered giddily the morning before, when they'd both been so flustered to wake up cuddling. It was a perfect morning outside; already Luke could hear the birds singing. She buried her face in Robert's chest and inhaled deeply. His scent was incredible.

Warily, Luke began taking note of what had happened the day before. Right. They were in Peachpit and the pokemon were acting up. Today was a day of investigation. She began mentally psyching herself up for the day ahead.

Ember blinked down at Luke from his perch on the bedpost. Good, she was finally awake. He jumped off of the bedpost and directly onto her head. She let out a surprised squeal, waking Robert. Ember curled up into a ball in Luke's messy hair. If she wouldn't push him off, he would stay there forever.

Luke looked up at Robert, flustered. "Sorry that I woke you. Ember startled me, that's all." She swallowed the lump in her throat and kissed his cheek. "Good morning sweetheart."

Robert awoke to a loud squeal. He bolted up and looked around, his heart beating like a drum in his chest. What was going on? He groped around on the bed-side table for his glasses and quickly slipped them on. Ah. Luke and Ember were messing around already. A sleepy smile curved his lips. It was a bit early for him, but he could think of less pleasant things to wake up to. He blushed as Luke addressed him with a sweet term of endearment.

"Good morning to you, too," he stammered. "Did you sleep well?"

As he waited for her response he stretched, his arms pulling wide. Cookie had been watching quietly from the corner, having been switched from sleep mode at the sound of his trainer's voice. Mistaking Robert's action, it leaped forward and slammed squarely into his chest. Robert let out a small "oof."

Fae's eyes fluttered open at the noise from the other side of the room. Those two sure were rowdy. It was nice to see Robert coming out of his shell so much, though. It had taken her almost a year to get him to feel like a friend to her. She glanced over at her boyfriend and sighed. He was still sleeping, of course. A stampede of wild elephants wouldn't wake Michael when he was sleeping soundly. She began the long process of shaking him awake.

"I slept wonderfully." Luke pulled Ember out of her hair and cradled him in her arms. She thought back to how upset Robert had been the day before. "Did you sleep alright?" She pulled Ember close to her. She didn't want him to lose sleep over this. They had to get to the bottom of this today. "I mean, I know you were pretty upset when we went to bed...." She trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Luke kissed the top of Ember's head before setting him down. She grabbed her brush and attempted to tame her wild mane of hair. She wanted to get out the door as soon as possible; the sooner they figured out what was making the pokemon aggressive, the sooner Robert's worries would be relieved. Looking over at her boyfriend, Luke felt her cheeks turning red. She was just so lucky to be here with him. She thought fondly back to the first few messages they'd ever sent to each other: mundane little conversation starters between two people who never thought they'd meet in person. Now here she was by his side, on an adventure with him, kissing him, and sleeping next to him. It was too good to be true.

Ember squirmed uncomfortably on the bed next to Luke. He wanted attention, and he wanted it now. He pawed at Robert's leg. No response. He jumped in the boy's lap. No response. He climbed up Robert's arm and sat on his shoulder, nuzzling and pawing at the human's cheek. Luke sighed and pulled him off of Robert's face. The poor little guy felt a little neglected with all the other pokemon around to keep Luke's attention. She patted his head. This was going to be a long day.

Robert stroked Cookie's smooth body absently. The virtual pokemon made some happy clicking noises in response, which brought a faint smile to his lips.

"I slept through the night, at least," he answered truthfully. He didn't want to burden Luke with the details of last night. His dreams had been full of dark thoughts and vile people. The details were slowly fading away under the spotlight of daybreak, but the sour feeling in the pit of his stomach remained. He couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was going on in this town. He forced a smile.

"At least today we get to do some investigating. The people in this town seem to think the pokemon are to blame, but I just don't believe that's the end of it. We need to find out why they're acting so strangely. And, we'll get to see more of the town in the process!"

Fae sighed. Three minutes of shaking still hadn't roused Michael from his deep sleep. This was getting ridiculous.

"Jello, Transform into something hard, please."

The gelatinous pokemon smiled brightly before changing into a Geodude. Fae grinned. Perfect.

"Kindly wake up my lazy boyfriend."

Robert looked over at the other couple as a loud yell came from their side of the room. Michael was sitting up in bed and rubbing the back of his head with a sour look on his face.

Luke studied Robert's face. She could tell that he'd had a rough night, but she decided not to mention it. Instead, she sat cross-legged behind him and began to rub his shoulders. "Just relax, we can leave as soon as Fae and Michael are ready."

Ember looked up at Luke curiously before chirping and crawling up Robert's back. He settled on his head, turning around to watch Luke as she rubbed the boy's shoulders. Robert's head moved with each motion of her hand, so he had trouble balancing. Eventually he fall off backwards, landing in the boy's arms.

Luke laughed at Ember, enjoying his adorable antics. She was glad that he was around to keep her from being to serious. She rested her head on Robert's shoulder, looking across the room at Fae and Michael. "Are you two almost ready, yet?" She wrapped her arms around Robert's waist and squeezed him gently. She wanted to get going so that, hopefully, they could put his unease to rest.