Secrets Without Shame (A Pokémon Fanfiction)

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"Oh, Deborah, please come along!"

"Non! I refuse to be treated like a child!"

"You're not, i-it's just that he, t-the man that agreed to teach you, is gonna help you interact with the humans!"

"Is he good?"

"Um...well..."

Margaret had been left taking Deborah to N for their first "social skills" lesson. Unfortunately, the only time Deborah could meet the fugitive was on the day before the Ambrette Town Pokemon Showcase. Though she'd rather work with her pokemon on the routine they planned out, Margaret was instead secretly accompanying the Gardevoir through the forest along the top of the ravine on Route 8.

"You didn't answer my question," Deborah snarled as she stomped through the forest undergrowth. "Is he good with these much needed social lessons?"

"W-Well...he's very polite, and he cares about pokemon..."

"So you're saying he's like you?"

"Oh, well...maybe a little, but that depends on how you see me..."

"I see you as overly quiet and shy, very polite and kind, and all the pokemon seem to like you." snorted Deborah in a flat voice. "You're technically a pokemon and boy magnet."

Margaret was taken aback by this, and stuttered uncertainly, "Oh...um...thank you...I think..."

After a minute, the Embrace Pokemon continued, "My trainer cares a lot about you."

"I-I don't think he said that..." Margaret stammered, feeling herself blush.

"No, he didn't," Deborah agreed. "But his emotions said it all."

"Oh...is that ok...?"

"Of course. I have nothing against you."

"That reminds me, how are you adjusting to being with Danny and the other pokemon?"

Margaret watched as the Gardevoir thought for a moment. A moment later, the Psychic Fairy Type told her, "It is alright. Samson hates me, and Loopy's still a little nervous, so only Spirit likes me. Too bad he's mute. We communicate through the linking of thoughts."

"How exactly does that work?"

"The sash on his handle is like, well, like a phone. He wraps his sash around someone's arm or front paw, and it transmits Spirit's thoughts to the person or pokemon on the end of the sash. The person or pokemon's thoughts in turn transmit to him."

"How many people know of this?"

"Just a few people. Maître Danny, myself, and Samson and Loopy mainly. By the way, the Honedge's name, Spirit, how did he get such a name?"

"What?"

"Why is he called 'Spirit'?"

"Oh, well," Margaret started, relieved that she was given a question she could answer. "He's the Sword Pokemon, and people like knights have always had a habit of naming their swords. Danny gave him the name Spirit because of the Sword of the Spirit in the Bible."

"Is there really a sword like that?" Deborah asked, and Margaret could hear the small bit of curiosity in her voice.

"Well, I've always thought that the Sword of the Spirit was a metaphor. The real Sword of the Spirit is the Bible. You're supposed to 'arm' yourself with a Bible. Once in the Bible, in the book of Revelations, they described a warrior with a sword for a tongue, and he knocked down people with his sword. The sword represents the Word of God."