Searching Without Shame (A Pokémon Fanfiction)

Chapter 9

"So you're sure this will be safe?"

"Maître Danny, you are not allowed to put on makeup with a healing wound and everyone can tell you dislike the attention coming with the scars. I assure you, it's perfectly safe."

"I don't doubt your abilities, Deborah," Danny told the Gardevoir with slight hesitation when saying her name. "I just...ok, I do doubt them, mainly because you've never done this before."

Deborah raised a slim eyebrow before saying bluntly, "Do you want my help or not?"

Danny hesitated before seeing another young girl staring at him as the child passed by his and Deborah's table with her mother. He heard the girl chatter quickly about the man with the cuts on his face when she thought she was out of earshot. She was the third child to do so, and one of many to stare openly at him.

"Be careful when you do it," he finally told the Gardevoir with defeat. "I don't care if the others say the scars make me look cool and hardcore, they make me look like a hooligan to everyone else."

"Well at least we know the truth," Deborah sighed while placing her right hand on his scarred cheek. "Anyone who knows you well enough knows that you're actually a do-gooder. This shouldn't hurt."

The trainer felt a strange sensation over his cheek, like rippling water. He could see a light blue glow emanating from the Gardevoir's hand and even her eyes. A moment later she removed her hand and told him, "I believe it was successful. Your wounds are not as visible to other humans."

"How did you do that?" Danny asked with surprise after he lifted a spoon off the table in order to see his reflection. The scars were no longer there, though he could still feel the flaming sensation they emanated.

"I have been practicing certain psychic abilities with Alan," she explained while watching Danny closely. "I have mastered certain practices, including illusions. The scars are still there, but I placed a unique type of barrier over them so no one will see them unless there very close up. Only I can remove it. I understand what it's like to always see the unwanted reminders scars leave."

Danny looked up at Deborah at this comment.  His gaze at once laid on the visible scars on her own neck, left by the collar that controlled her every thought and movement. His scars weren't nearly as painful as hers. His might be more painful physically, but emotional and psychological pain is harder to recover from. He felt a little ashamed that he chose to hide his own scars while Deborah bore hers for everyone to see.

"Why did you want to speak to me?" Deborah suddenly asked bluntly, giving her trainer a sternly curious look.

"What?"

"Oh please, don't give me that. You left behind every other Pokémon you own at the Pokémon Center while you took me out to town, putting yourself out in an uncomfortable situation. You must have something you want to discuss with me, and only me. What's this all about?"

Danny was surprised at how quickly he had been caught. Then again, Deborah was the most observant of his Pokémon or even more so than any other Pokémon he knew. He probably wasn't even doing a great job at covering his true intention for taking Deborah out alone.

"Look, Deborah, the subject I wanted to talk to you about is rather...personal," Danny began slowly, choosing his words carefully. "You see, me and the others haven't just been looking for Team Flare, we've been finding stuff on your origin as well. A few days ago, we got a lead on a possible trainer from Hope. The trainer shared the history we thought you had, and...we just think we might've found your trainer."

Deborah was completely silent. However, she had become incredibly more stiff than usual and Danny could see her fidgeting agitatedly with her hands under the table. A moment later she said bluntly yet a little hesitantly, "Show me the information."