27 26: He was

It was at that moment that he knew. 

D-did this stranger just... flirted with him?

"W-w-waaa!" Wally held his face with both hands as he began looking up and down the strange man's body - tall, dark haired, and handsome. With a rugged appearance bit wearing clean and even somewhat stylish clothing! The few things he lacked were a leather jacket and sunglasses because he pulled out a cigarette from somewhere and started smoking it. Wally had always been warned by his mother and father that smoking was bad for your health and you shouldn't do it, but looking at the stranger's rugged face, with that short stubble beard, and his piercing eyes... W-wait, why are they glowing green? 'It just turned blue...' Wally watched a little entranced by the eyes of the stranger that began shifting from pink, to blue, to green, to this dirtier green color, to purple, to black, and to gold. 

He couldn't help but think it was beautiful. 

"So, kid-" Wally snapped out of his thought, seeing as the stranger was now talking to him: "-name's Darius, Darius Markus, what's your name?" Wally has learned a lot through life, mostly about Pokemon, but when it comes to a social situation, he was kinda awkward... Being homeschooled for most of his childhood and spending half of his high-school education being a loner slash loser slash weirdo slash anything bad you can think of, he wasn't good with talking with people he doesn't know: "Ah... M-my name's Wally." The stranger just looked at him as the smoke softly left his open mouth, his teeth holding the cigarette softly. "So, Wally, wanna tell me why you were in the middle of nowhere and dying?" Wally paused. 

"I..." He looked at his pale hands, his small fingers and thin arms, which he hated because it always made him look girly - one of the many things he was bullied for - and weak... His family... Are they okay? "My family." Darius lifted his eyebrow as Wally felt the tears slowly to drop from his eyes into his open palms, making him realize that he was crying. Only then the realization of what happened hit him. His mother... is she even alive anymore? Wally started sobbing then, he could feel his chest tighten as his heartbeat accelerated and his breathing began to come short and dragged. Almost as if he had just ran for his life - which he did - and was about to pass out from exhaustion. His hands started to tremble as he felt his whole world falling apart. 

"...lly-" A voice called out: "Wally." It was a deep and runbling voice, soft spoken and kind, making him pause: "Breathe with me, okay?" Wally audibly heard a long inhale, and automatically his body obeyed the request and he began breathing alongside the pace the voice wanted him to get as he was guided into it: "Can yoh hold it for me? Just five seconds, can you do it kiddo?" Wally did his best to follow what the voice was telling him to do, and held his breath. His heart was still beating fast, and seconds seemed like an eternity at that moment as he felt like the world was breaking around him. "Good boy, you're doing great kiddo... Now, exhale." With a loud sigh, Wally let out the breath he was holding. This went on for about 2 minutes, and slowly, Wally returned to himself. 

Slowly, he blinked. He felt his heartbeat come back to normal as this overwhelming tiredness overcame him and had to lie back down on the bed. "I... I don't know what happened." Struggling, Wally continued to cry: "My family... I-i don't k-know if they're alive!" Wally started to get frustrated: "I don't what happened, I don't know where I am, I don't known what I'm meant to do-!" A soft hand rested on top of his head as Darius said to him: "Shh... It's going to be okay, kid-"

"I'm not a kid." Wally muttered while pouting. His mother always called him a kid at all times, he was always annoyed that he was being called a kid when was at the age of owning his own Pokemon, and now he misses her voice. "I'm... legally, an adult." He lifted his head just to see Darius' face close to his, his forehead barely touching Wally's own forehead while he grinned: "Good for you, big adult." Wally maybe would've felt insulted if he wasn't too tired of being fucking conscious right now. As if sensing his lack of energy, Darius just pulled back and touched his forehad before saying: "Rest, you need it." 

'Well, don't tell me twice.' Wally thought as he snuggled and held the small Cottonee he named Cotton, sleep overcoming his sense of self and pouring him into the unconscious delight that is sleep.

-Scene Cut-

Wally: Ah yes, depression.

*dabs*

-Scene Cut-

Darius steadly held, with one hand and arm, a large boulder. On the other hand, he also had another large boulder, and both of them were in perfect balance while he stayed there, in one leg, keeping his balance. This was a strength training, instead, muscle control training, and energy control training! "Cerberus, if you'd be so kind." Darius called to his dog companion, and soon he felt something come for him from behind. 

You see, there's a little thing Darius has been developing. Or trying to, at least.

Project Spider Sense was a trianing regime that Darius has written and made to help him develop a sense for danger so good that it can act as his own Spider Sense! And how do you do this? Well, humans have a state called Hypervigilance, which isn't a very good state to be in (considering your subconscious mind is always paranoid about danger all around you) but a somewhat necessary state in the wilderness of this world. What he was doing right now was to stop his body from reacting to danger by making it concentrate on a task - read: equilibrium plus strength training equals tensed body - while Cerberus attacked him from behind his back. 

This is a whole fantasy world, so he had to try to, at least, unlock some sort of supernatural sense of danger. Maybe those with Psychic affinity can see and perceive threats before they get close? Maybe those with Ghost affinity can turn their bodies intangible? Maybe those with Water- "Ack!" He lost focus, feeling the rock Cerberus threw hit his back, making him snap back to reality. "Okay... Again!" At least it was just pain. He was trying to increase his ability to sense things, but he just... can't very well. 

He can feel energies he has affinity to. At night, he feels the stronger Dark energy in the air alongside the Fairy energy that comes from the moonlight. Inside the forests he can feel Grass, Water, and Bug energies. 'Okay... Pure energy, no affinities, only energy.' He closed his eyes again, grasping at his own energy and making it flow through his body... It was painless now, painless and smooth. 'Let's see...' He used [Energy Technique - Energy Enchantment] to increase his body strength, speed, endurance, and much, much more. This technique used pure energy, but what would happen if he used typing energy with this technique? Well- 

"Ack!" 

Damn, another rock.

"...uhm." A soft whisper called out, making Darius open his eyes: "I- uhh... Bathroom?" Turning to look at the kid he saved - who was completely red again. Well, he either had a crush on him (which has happened before, with some of the kids he took care of) or he had a fever. And both aren't really that good. "Ah, right." Darius' arms that were stretched out in a t pose simply relaxed for a moment and both large boulders fell onto the ground. Darius flexed, using his Water Energy to push away all the sweat off of his body while also using his Grass energy to let out this soft scent from his pores. It was so he wasn't smelling that bad, instead he now smelled musky, like earth after a storm, sandalwood, and a little bit of a heavy masculine smell. "So-" Darius started to wipe his body with a towel Arachne made him, taking the dirt off of his body: "-follow me, I'll show you the bathroom." As he passed by the boy, he could clearly see how he was reacting to him, and that was not great.

He is not a pedophile. 

'Fuck, this is going to be awkward...' Darius groaned to himself - sure, he might be 20 years old and technically not even a full fledged adult (whatever that meant) but he was more mature than most adults, so he always felt older than his age. Which is why he doesn't think he should tease or lead on the kid into a rather disturbing spiral of grooming, something that makes him feel nauseous just thinking about it.

Bad experiences.

As he showed the kid - Wally - where the bathroom was, Darius stopped for a moment: "Listen, uh, kid..." Darius was about to just go for it, when Wally just looked tiredly at him: "I'm not a kid. I'm 17, almost 18-" Suddenly, he stopped. As if something just came to mind, he whispered: "-and my birthday is in two days..." Wally continued after a stuttering breath: "My first birthday without my parents around..." 

"You're going to be 18?" Well, that wasn't so bad then. But seeing as the kid probably just lost his parents and how he was away from home, Darius felt a bit bad... Maybe he should give him something for his birthday? "Geez... I'll, uh, help?" Wally looked up at him: "Well, right now we're on the Hoenn-Sinnoh long Regibridge, going towards Sinnoh, which will take a few months." Wally just nodded as he slowly let out this sigh, forcing himself not to cry. Darius knew this type, a kid who just lost the ones they love. He was once like this too, but that time shaped him into becoming who he is right now.

"Months!? Wait, you said that we're on the continental bridge between Sinnoh and Hoenn!?" Darius didn't really know what was so shocking about this. He's besn with the Torterra Herd for about... 3 months now? Shit, he forgot to count the days! Well, he wasn't really worried about time when he focused on himself and Pokemon around him. "It'll take use at least a year to get to Sinnoh..." Wally whispered, dread weighting down on his mind and body: "...I'll never see my family again." 

"Well-" Darius had a few experiences with this kind of thing, and his way to deal with it was simple: "-that certainly might be true, and I don't want to lie to you. Your parents, unless you saw them die right before your eyes, might mean they are alive." Darius knew what hope did to people. 

It turned them into a living version of Icarus. 

Hope is like wings that carry high, the higher you go the stronger the hope, but eventually your wings will melt and you'll plummet to the ground, dying. 

That's how Darius sees hope.

"Don't get your hopes up, ki- Wally, don't get your hopes up. Expect the worse, come to terms with it, and if the opposite happens you'll be surprised. Which is way better than disappointment." Darius always expected and prepared mentally to the worse. Sometimes, the opposite happened, and he would get pleasantly surprised. Like how he found Cerberus on his last breath on the place he simply popped into existence.

Oh, I never told you, did I? How Darius got into this world? Well... That's it. One minute he was in the orphanage, and in the other, he was in the middle of a savanna that was close to a lush forest of greenery and life. He walked a few steps and saw Cerberus lying there, hurt, bleeding, and dying. He rescued the little puppy, but he expected Cerberus to die - and hey, Cerberus is still here. 

"..." Wally had nothing else to say, he just looked down at his own hands before sighing: "I want to take a bath." 

Darius hummed before guiding Wally on the ways he could bathe. Soon, he gave the boy some clothes Arachne quickly weaved and made for Darius, and Wally now looked like he was a small child wearing his father's clothes. "Pffft-" Darius couldn't stop his laugh in time, snickering at the sight. Wally, seeing him and hearing him do so, pouted: "-sorry Wally, but you're just adorable."

He, indeed, was.