When We Were Younger. |Gladion X Moon|Pokemon Romance Novel|

-13-

Sunshine fills the tent as I stretch my legs and open my eyes.

I expect Gladion to be up already, but he is peacefully sleeping at my side. His platinum hair is limp and scattered across the pillow, it looks practically white against his slightly sunburnt skin. I slowly reach over and grab Rotem out of my bag.

"Be quiet, he's still sleeping!" I whisper to Rotem, hoping he will actually respect my orders.

To my surprise, Rotem stays completely quiet as I pull up the map and scope out my next camping spot. I still have two days before I should meet Lillie and Hau at the motel.

Ahead on the map is Route 13, Haina Desert, water Route 15 and Ula'Ula Meadow. I zoom in on Ula'Ula Meadow. The terrain is lush compared to the rest of my options, which sounds like a nice change after two days on an arid beach. It's far though, roughly a two-day journey on foot.

I contemplate flying Charizard, but I don't feel familiar enough with the Island to be taking Charizard anywhere quite yet. There isn't much for attractions on this side of the island, so Mudsdale would be the best mode of travel for speed and terrain.

Rustling on the other side of the tent catches my attention. Type: Null struggles to its feet, its heavy helmet seems to restrict its movement.

Once on its feet, it carefully stretches its legs. Its joints snap and crackle as it makes its first few movements. A long, pink tongue slips out of the mouth hole in the helmet as it studies me. It seems to be deciding if I'm a threat or not.

I let out a gasp as it creeps my way. I consider waking Gladion, but I freeze as the Pokémon's eyes lock with mine from deep inside the restraints. It's cold, grey eyes seem to be sad and tired.

Slowly, I lift my hand out for the strange Pokemon to sniff. I giggle as it's long, rough tongue licks my fingers. This display makes me relax, maybe it's not so frightening after all. It inches closer. Soon, it's claws are unintentionally digging into my legs as it begs to be touched.

It's strange, fish like tail wags. It seems to behave like a dog, but there are parts of its body that are scaly. I run my fingers through the long, grey mane around its neck. Underneath the fur and feathers, I can feel well developed muscles, this creature would be incredibly powerful if its movement wasn't so restricted.

It purrs as I massage its neck, carefully moving its helmeted head closer to my face. I hear a faint humming coming from inside the helmet. Is it possible that type: Null is part machine?

"Looks like you made a new friend," Gladion says, yawning.

"He's tamer then I imagined him to be," I say, continuing to pet the wiggling Pokemon.

"It's not a he," Gladion says, as he sits up, "Null is actually genderless."

"Genderless? How could it have been born then?" I question, "Not trying to be rude, I'm just really curious about Null, now that we've officially met."

Gladion bursts out laughing. At first, I don't understand how the question was funny, but then I feel a wet sensation on my head.

Type: Null has licked a chunk of my hair up into its helmet and is chewing it. Carefully, I pull my hair out. It's sopping wet with slobber.

Gladion whistles to type: Null and it comes to his side. He offers it a handful of berries from his hand, the Pokemon carefully licks them up one at a time.

"Null wasn't born. That is how it can be genderless. Null was designed, part chimera, part computer. It's a synthetic, man-made Pokemon. Its intended purpose was to fight powerful Pokemon from other dimensions, but the experiment failed and it went berserk. That's why it wears these horrible restraints. It was so dangerous that it was cryogenically suspended...until I freed it," Gladion explains.