Desolate [Pokémon Arven x Protagonist]

Untold Anxiety and Embarrassment

I removed the pillow and saw what Quaxwell wanted. His chest was puffed up and ready to fight. I pet his feathery head. "You're right. This isn't the time to be thinking about all that." I stood up tall. "Today's our last titan battle. We'll find the last of the Herba Mystica, heal up Mabosstiff and Koraidon, and... and after that, we could figure things out, right?" I noticed the door was cracked. I could've sworn I remembered Arven shutting it behind him. I walked over and peaked behind it. Arven was struggling to carry two full paper bags, one in his hand and the other clenched in his teeth, and two bottles of fruity drinks. "Arven!" I took the glass bottles, and he thanked me between his closed teeth. "If I heard you at the door, I would've helped you open it."

He took his bag from his mouth. "I should've said something." I set down the drinks on the nightstand. Arven handed me the dry bag that wasn't speckled with his spit. "Egg sandwiches. It's probably nothing like mine, but it's free." I took my share and sat on my bed with a drink. Arven sat across from me on the out-of-place chair in the corner, facing the rest of the room. I read the labels on my drink. It was some sort of sparkling dragon fruit soda.

So are we going to talk about what happened? I felt like Arven was trying to avoid talking about it. He didn't look up at me once as he ate his breakfast. "When do you wanna go to the lake?" I tried to converse, straying as far away from the idea of our relationship as possible.

He squinted at me. "Hm? The lake?" I was worried he had forgotten why we were situated all the way in the north province.

"For the titan," I reminded him.

He almost choked on his bread. He coughed until he drank some of his soda to wash it down. "Right! That's today! Yeah...." There was something troubling him. I knew when he was holding back from something by now. "Do you want to train a bit before we get going?" He was stalling. For the other titans, he wanted to defeat them as fast as possible, but for this one, he wanted to wait an entire day, took that time to go on a date with me, and now he wanted to use this morning to train.

"Arven, are you feeling okay?" I didn't want to ignore his obvious anxiety.

"Yeah! I just think we should train some more with how badly that donphan kicked our butts," he clearly lied. "Can't be too safe." He gave me a huge, forced smile. I didn't want to pressure him any further, especially after the embarrassment not even an hour before. We ate quietly, not even Koraidon coming out to take a bite of the food. I supposed he understood it wasn't one of Arven's meals.

We hadn't packed any clothes for the day, not planning that we would stay in Medali so late and end up having to sleep at a hotel. The academy was on the other side of the island, opposite of Casseroya Lake, so it would be pointless to take a trip over there and back for a change of clothes. I guessed we would be facing the titans looking like a rich Galarian couple. We gathered our things and checked out before we left to a fenced area surrounded by groomed shrubbery to take out our Pokémon teams. Quaxwell, Lycanroc, Numel, Umbreon, and Pawmo gave a big stretch and prepared themselves for the quick battle while Koraidon stood off to the side to watch. Arven took out his team: Scovillian, Naclstack, Toedscruel who must have evolved earlier, Cloyster, and Greedent who I've never met. Mabosstiff stayed in his ball, still too weak to even stand. Five on five, it was an even fight. We rochambeaued to decide who got to go first and Arven won, his rock beating the scissors I always seemed to choose. I didn't worry, though, we both had a variety of typings: seven each.

He took a moment to figure out his strategy. He targeted Numel. "Cloyster, Hydro Pump!" Numel, being a duel fire-ground type, was four times weak to water and was absolutely blasted away back into his ball to heal. I gaped at Arven, and he laughed at how easily he eliminated one of my members. I had to think hard about my moves. Toedscruel was just as weak to ice-type moves, but I had a better idea. Three of his Pokémon were weak to water, and I knew a move that would hit them all at once.