Night could hide many things. Crime, desire, plots, and presences that went beyond common sense.
In the wasteland around an abandoned village, shadows gathered in an unnatural way. They flowed like dirty liquid and clumped into large black masses, enough to make anyone with weak nerves scream out loud.
The boy standing among them, Akira, showed no discomfort at all. Instead, he wore an excited smile, his red tongue brushing the corner of his mouth, an expression that looked frankly perverse.
The shadows seemed angered by Akira and surged forward, rolling as if about to spray straight at his face. At the instant before they struck, a sharp white light flared in the darkness.
The light was pure and clean, standing in clear contrast to the surrounding filth. Wherever it passed, the darkness retreated, carving out a clean space around the boy.
Akira looked toward the source of the light, his expression softening at once. "Thank you, Kirlia."
"Chiru~"
With a crisp response, a strange girl emerged from the light. She wore a white dance dress, and her limbs were slender beyond what humans could achieve.
Her hair was a vivid green, with red spikes arranged like ornaments, and her eyes were red as well, carrying a charm unlike any human's. Kirlia stepped lightly around Akira in a small circle, and though she made no sound, he understood her meaning clearly.
As she drifted to his right, Akira raised his hand with practiced ease and gently rubbed her head. "Don't hold back. It's useless now. Sorry for holding you down for so long. This time, let it all out."
"Chiru~"
Kirlia nodded lightly, her weightless body rising higher. Around the white light, space began to twist, rippling with uneven yet brilliant colors.
Unlike the earlier repulsion, the colors were forceful and direct. The shadows hidden nearby had no time to flee before being dragged in and ground down into dust-like particles.
A night breeze passed through, scattering the dust until nothing remained.
"Good work, Kirlia."
Akira opened his arms to the girl drifting down. She leapt lightly into his embrace, her repeated cries of Chiru carrying a clear note of affection.
Akira lifted her up first, then pressed his forehead against hers. His clear eyes stayed fixed on the being who had always been by his side as he spoke softly.
"This is the last time I'll call you that. The next time I call you, it will be by a different name."
After speaking, he closed his eyes. In the darkness, a familiar status panel appeared, the long-stalled number jumping from 29 up to 30.
"Level thirty, at last. Come on, I can't wait to see the new you."
"Chiru!"
Kirlia spun gracefully out of Akira's arms like a ballet dancer. Holding up her skirt with both hands, she performed a curtsy.
In the next instant, pure white light wrapped around her small body once more. When the light faded, the girl was no longer a girl.
Her height had grown from eighty centimeters to one hundred sixty, and her limbs had become long and elegant. The colors of her hair, dress, and decorations remained the same, but the overall look was far more mature.
If Kirlia before had been an underage girl, now she was an adult noble lady. Maintaining her formal posture, she greeted him in a deeper, more mature voice.
"Gar~"
Akira did not change his posture, but the excitement on his face was impossible to hide. Eight whole years had passed, and he had finally waited for this moment.
Her beauty, obedience, and strength all came together, filling a gap between different worlds by herself alone. The curve at the corner of his mouth almost slipped out of control again.
He managed to rein it in when he noticed Gardevoir's puzzled tilt of the head and her small step back. Whether as Gardevoir, Kirlia, or even her earlier form, she was unusually sensitive to emotions and preferred bright, positive feelings.
Akira did not want his stray thoughts to affect her. "Congratulations, Gardevoir."
"Gar~"
Those words seemed to flip some kind of switch, and Gardevoir pounced over with practiced ease. Now that she had an adult's height, she no longer needed Akira to lift her up, and just standing on her toes was enough for their foreheads to touch.
She did not stop there. After a moment of closeness, Gardevoir put strength into her arms and actually lifted Akira off the ground.
"Hey, hey, I'm not used to this."
At first, Akira wanted to refuse, but seeing Gardevoir's cheerful expression, he let her continue. "As long as you're happy. You used to sit on my shoulders, then I carried you or gave you piggyback rides. Now you're lifting me, and that's fine too."
Hearing this made Gardevoir even happier, and she tried everything he had done to her in the past. Sitting on shoulders like in her childhood, lifting him high, bridal carries, and carrying him on her back.
Even though Akira was sixteen this year and over one hundred seventy centimeters tall, it all felt natural. Gardevoir was known as the Psychic Queen, able to crush enemies with telekinesis alone, so lifting a person was effortless.
When they finally finished playing, Gardevoir kept both of them floating in the air and asked softly. "Gar?"
"Sure, let's go home."
Akira stretched lazily, and though his posture looked relaxed, Gardevoir could sense the energy beneath it. She had only seen him like this twice before.
Once was when she had just been born, when he jumped and shouted about his luck and how great Ralts, Kirlia, and Gardevoir were. The other time was now, with no need for words.
She did not really understand why her master was so happy, but she did not mind. If her master was happy, then she was happy too, because she was his most loyal Pokemon.
With a gentle pull of her hands, supported by telekinesis, the boy and girl moved together toward home. In the past, Akira had taken her home when she was small, and now that she had grown up, there were many things she could do in return.
Their home was nothing special, just a simple single-story house. A gravel path lay in front of the door, with flowers planted on both sides.
They were not rare flowers, but careful tending gave the plain little house a distinct warmth. Since they flew back, Akira and Gardevoir did not use the front door and instead drifted straight into his room.
With Gardevoir's psychic power, opening a window locked from the inside was not difficult and left no trace. Once their feet touched the ground again, Akira tapped her forehead lightly.
"It's late. Go to sleep first. Tomorrow I'll find a chance to come clean with Mom."
Before he finished speaking, the door across from the window was pushed open. A voice followed immediately.
"No need. Whatever you want to say, you can say it now."
Akira's body stiffened, as if rusted in place, and he slowly turned his head. Outside the open door stood a woman. She was a little over forty and looked somewhat like him, yet not entirely the same.
The resemblance lay in their black hair and eyes, their good looks, and the gentle curves at the corners of their brows and eyes. The difference lay in their features and the presence hidden behind them. Akira's gentleness was often a habit, a mask to look harmless, like a sword kept in its sheath.
The woman's gentleness, however, was the same inside and out. Her whole body carried a soft and graceful air, like the legendary Yamato Nadeshiko, refined down to the bone. And yet this very woman made Akira freeze like a mouse before a cat.
"Y-you, why are you here?" he asked awkwardly.
"A son sneaks out at night, and his mother worries. Is that not allowed?" She was Akira's mother, named Akemi Aki.
"It is, of course it is."
Akira nodded quickly and then stole a glance at the Gardevoir beside him. She had been standing across from him just moments ago, but now she was seated to the side, kneeling properly and looking exceptionally well behaved.