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Fabian’s first sword wasn’t all that sharp. It wasn’t even truly a weapon. It was a dulled fencing sabre, a gift from his father on his sixth birthday, along with his mothers promise of hiring a tutor to teach him the blade. She taught him herself for a few weeks, though Fabian could tell that his Mama’s heart wasn’t truly in it.
He trained hard. He was becoming an excellent fencer. His foot-work was often sure and his strikes did not shake as they thrust towards his enemies. Not that he really had any enemies, other than perhaps his first fencing instructor, who told Fabian he should be sticking to his forms, that they were fighting, not playing. That if he did not do exactly as he was told, he was a worthless student and would likely die in real combat with that attitude. He went to his father, holding back tears and asked him if he truly was going to die.
He doesn’t know what happened after that but he never saw the man in his house again. He did see him just once, with his Hitmontop buying poke treats at the Elm Valley Mall, but as soon as his former teacher caught his eye, he turned, dumping his entire wallet at the register and sprinted out of the shop and then the mall itself and though Fabian didn’t see it, he ran all the way out of the town itself.
When he was nine years old, his father gave him a rapier. He pricked his finger on the point just to see if he could. A single slow drop of red blood fell to the floor. It hurt, of course it did. He was holding a real weapon now, not just a flimsy thing meant for children and practice. He swung a few practice strikes into the air before his father caught the blade with his bare hands, creating a sharp slash all the way across his palm. Fabian almost dropped the blade in shock, before his father shouted at him to stop.
“This is life, my boy, it is wonderful and it is fleeting. Do not regret a single swing of your blade.”
Fabian didn’t know what to make of that, other than to call for Cathilda to bring bandages and antiseptic.
On Fabian’s tenth birthday, his mother tasked Cathilda with taking him to Bastion City, to a high-end pokemon nursery on the city's outskirts. The nursery was far larger than Fabian had ever seen before, with fenced-in fields stretched out for what seemed like miles in front of him. The woman at the front desk asked Cathilda what kind of pokemon they were looking for, and if it was for combat or companionship. Fabian was tall enough now to lay his hands on the looming desk and look over at her. He told her he wanted a pokemon that could fight beside him, to stand by him as he wrote his name on the face of the world. She quickly pushed down her shock and quickly nodded, turning to her computer. Fabian couldn’t tell what she was looking at but within a minute or so, she stood from her seat and opened the gate to let them into the back and follow her.
She led them to a large section of the field dotted with punching bags, ball launching machines and battered substitute dolls that the receptionist made a note to get replaced. Many pokemon scattered across this area, flying types swooping down to make attacks, psychic types sending battering rams of mental energy across the field. Some pokemon were even taking on eachother, standing in clearly marked rings on the ground sparring.
Fabian found himself walking to the centre of it all, watching as each pokemon attacked. Most were sure, striking with precision, and if it wasn’t, they did not falter, swinging back round to strike again. Yes, he thought, any of these pokemon could be my partner. But it wasn’t quite right. His father had told him the story of how he met his partner pokemon hundreds of times. Of being a lowly deckhand on a pirate vessel, of wandering up on to the ships deck at night, of seeing what would become his Dhelmise pull itself over the side of the ship. Of how they had fought together, rising to the top, how that pokemon was still by his side, all these years later.
So maybe Fabian didn’t find his partner here. There were other nurseries in the city and if nothing else, Elmville had one he could check out, though the pokemon would perhaps not be of such high quality. It was only as he went to turn away that he found what he was looking for.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a punching bag, shifting with small bursts as a pokemon attacked it from the other side. Fabian moved round to see the small pokemon, no taller than his hip, throwing fierce punches, as the headband like fur moved with each strike. The reception lady moved round to see what he was looking at, spotting the pokemon and giving a small smile. “Ah, Kubfu, I see.”
At their attention, the pokemon pricked up, startled by their presence. It immediately stopped its assault, shifting around to the opposite side of the punching bag, only poking its head out the side to stare at Fabian, studying him. Fabian, equally intrigued, looked up towards Cathilda, who simply smiled and nodded, gently handing him a pokeball.
Fabian lowered himself down the ground, crossing his legs and holding out the pokeball in front of him. He had never seen a Kubfu before, had barely even heard of them, but now? Now, he thought this creature was going to be in his life for the foreseeable future, damn the cost.
“It’s yours.” Fabian said, offering out the pokeball. “If you want it.”
The pokemon crept forward, inching forward in a moment that felt eternal to all present, until its hesitant paw pressed against the button at the front of the ball. It went in quickly, shaking only once before the ball settled gently in his hands.
The rest of it all was a blur. He hardly noticed Cathilda passing over the money or the short walk back to the maids car. He released his Kubfu beside him in the backseat and welcomed the company for the long drive home.