We All Have Secrets

Written by Arti Cuno

Part One

Forget almost everything you know about the pokémon world related to Satoshi and Shigeru's travels other then knowing they "hate" one another and have traveled across Pokémon Island and further entering several different leagues. The basics still stay, Satoshi meeting Kasumi, Takeshi, Kenji, and others. Things are going to be twisted in this fic a lot, and if you don't like Yuri or Yaoi (possibly yaoi, not sure on this one yet .) this might not be the fic for you ^.^

The first change you have to be made aware of is Satoshi, In this "what if...?" world he becomes a she and is now Satori, a flat chested tom-boy still out to be the best trainer in the world with her friends Kasumi and Takeshi.

However, you all know me and I'm not big on Sato-anything fics, this is going to be more of a Shigeru fic, or is it? =)

Shigeru sat at a small café with a cappuccino in front of him. He was admiring the scenery of the city he was in as he considered his plan of action for taking on the new league he was entering. The Astro League was one of the hardest leagues to join, you needed to have completed all the requirements for at least four other leagues then earn ten badges of the possible 13 in their own district. The down side was if you lost to someone, there was no rematches unless you proved you deserved it by beating another of the leaders.

Leaning over a map of the area, he decided it was the best to head east first and try for the Aquarius Badge. From there he could go for the Libra Badge to the south. He figured he'd plan the rest of after trying for the first two badges, he was definitely leaving the required Astro Badge. It was suggested to him before to save it as a last match. It was an extended twelve on twelve match, this league was by far different from what he was used to.

Shigeru folded the map up and finished off the cappuccino. He left enough money to cover the drink and the tip, if not more then needed, and proceeded to the pokémart. He'd run out of most of the things he usually carried with him on his way there, beating trainers who'd randomly popped out of nowhere and challenged, most with pokémon new to him. He figured they were common to the area and planned on catching some of them himself to send back to his grandfather.

He flipped the map over to look at the side with the major cities on it. Thankfully he had bought the map before entering the strange place, it was quite far from home, further then he'd ever been, but he figured it was time to be out on his own more, being eighteen now. He remember back when he first went on his original journey with Eevee and Charmander. Both now were evolved. Charizard and Celesteon. Celesteon was said to be one of a kind and many people had offered everything they had just to add the angelic white and blue eevee to their collections. No one knew what had caused Eevee to evolve, she had been badly hurt in battle, protecting Shigeru from a ringuma that had attacked, but something seemed to happen during the battle that did it.

He found where he was on the map and counted how many streets "up" he had to go before finding the pokémart before putting it away again. Shigeru then grabbed Celesteon's pokéball and let the critter out to walk at his side. As it was freed it barked happily and flapped her wings. It looked like an angel, and was one of the few celestial types out there. Celesteon rubbed against her trainer's legs and followed along, her halo leaning crooked over her head.

After the semi-long walk the arrived at their destination. The building was at least five stories high but the mart only occupied the main level. He walked up to the door and it slid open as the sensor above it caught his movement. Celesteon scampered in and sniffed the air, she was looking for the food aisle as she always did. Shigeru looked for the pokéballs, figuring his critter would be fine since there were people watching all around the building.

After gathering everything he'd intended to buy he went to find his mutt. As expected she was sitting next to a bag of pokéchow, Eevee brand, the kind she loved. Unfortunately she'd broken into the bag, another expense Shigeru would have to add to his already high list. As he approached the pokémon to scold it he realized it wasn't his Celesteon. The one there was too small and fluffier.

"WAHH!! BAD HALO! BAD GIRL!" a female voice cried out, it seemed obvious it was the celesteon's trainer.

The girl grabbed the pokémon, dropping the items she'd been carrying. "I told you I don't have the money for that! Grr... What am I going to do with you!?"

Gary was shocked to see someone else with the "one of a kind" pokémon only he was supposed to have. He was even more shocked at the owner's looks. Long blue hair, large red eyes, tanned skin, short being the only "downfall" he could spot right off.

His own Celesteon walked up to his side unexpectedly and pawed at his leg. She looked at the other of her kind being picked up and cuddled and seemed envious. Shigeru picked her up from the floor and looked at the other trainer. "Er, hi, I see you've got a Celesteon too..." his voice was slightly shaky, not really knowing what to say.

The girl looked up from her angel puppy and blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't even notice you." she smiled. "Aw, your celesteon's so cute." she reached out and scratched it under the chin. "But I'm being rude," she stuck out a hand, Shigeru reached out and shook it. "I'm Arti, But I'm not from here, only came to enter the league, I'm not doing too well..."

Shigeru returned her smile. "I'm Shigeru, and I'm just entering the league actually, I've already been though the Indigo, Orange, Jolt, and Star Leagues. Though I'm from the Indigo district by license."

"Really?" Arti asked, fishing about in her pocket. She pulled out her own license. "Me too, in the Prussian Town area." she looked down at the mess on the floor. "Er, excuse me, I've gotta deal with this, if I can... I don't think I have the money to cover a bag of eevee food this big..."

Halo's ears drooped down and she whined quietly. The pokémon looked like it had just been hungry and trying to get something to eat. As Arti began to search for someone to tell what had happened and attempt to pay for the damages the store manager approached them.

"What happened here?" the fat man asked, pointing at the spilled eevee chow and items Arti had dropped. "Someone's going to have to pay for it."

Arti attempted to explain hat happened but Shigeru cut her off. "I'm really sorry, my Celesteon got hungry and broke the bag open. And when I tried to stop her I dropped everything. I'll pay though." he pulled out his wallet to pay the manager. "Actually can I pay for this too?" he pointed to the other things he was carrying.

"Shigeru..." Arti protested.

"Yeah, I guess kid, pick it up and I'll ring it in at the counter over there." the fat manager pointed to his right and walked off waiting for Shigeru to gather everything.

"Why did you do that?!" Arti asked. "I can't pay you back for this you know!"

Shigeru shrugged. "Then call it an I Owe You, I don't mind." He helped Arti pick up what she'd dropped, all of it being pokémon food and a few pokéballs, then picked the busted bag up keeping more food from coming out.

He carried everything to the counter and paid for it, it was more then he expected, nearly fifty dollars. After reluctantly forking over the money he carried everything out, walking with Arti and the two pups. As they exited he set everything down to pick out what was hers.

"You on a tight budget or something?" he asked, handing her a bag with her things and another one with half the eevee food.

Arti sighed and looked at the ground. "Yeah, I was robbed when I was on my way here from home. The money I do have is from battling trainers along the way. It's not much but-." she reached into her pocket to pull it out.

Shigeru knew she was going to offer it to him, but he didn't want to accept it. If it was all she had he wasn't about to let her starve. "Keep it." he smiled. "You need it more then me. You'll just have to do me a favor in return..."

Arti raised an eyebrow. "You'd better not mean sleep with you." she warned.

Shigeru laughed. "No! I don't mean that, I'm not like that... I was wondering if you'd join me traveling to the next town where I plan to try for the Aquarian Badge. After that you'd be debt free."

"That's it?" Arti seemed suspicious. "Well, I guess I can go with you, I was going to head off to Aries myself but having someone to tag along with can't hurt."

The two rare eevee evos barked happily. They'd never seen another one of their own kind before and didn't want to part from one another.

"I've gotta go to the pokécentre to pick up my things first." Shigeru explained. "I left it there so I didn't have to drag it around the city with me. You can come with me or meet up somewhere later." He let Celesteon on the ground so he could carry his things easier.

"I might as well follow. I've got nothing to do, and nothing to carry. Everything was taken other then my pokémon..." Arti sighed.

Shigeru gave her a whack on the back. "Cheer up. At least you've got me now." he grinned. "Though you'd probably rather get rid of me. Anyways..."

They started off to the pokémon centre, Arti lagging slightly behind with her head hung low. Shigeru had a feeling something happened she didn't want to share, more then just being robbed. He didn't want to pry though, he just met her, and no matter how much he was attracted to her looks he had no right to ask.

Shigeru finally arrived at the pokémon centre, with Arti still trailing behind. He went in and figured she'd come in when she got there, he wasn't in a major rush. He walked up to where Joy was asking if his pokémon were ready to go. She gave him her usual polite smile and nodded as she went off to get them.

Shigeru grabbed his backpack at the side of the desk and flung it over a shoulder. He checked to see if Arti was coming yet only to lock eyes with someone else he didn't expect to see.

"Satori..." he muttered under his breath. "I see you actually made it here..."

Satori walked up to Shigeru's side at the front desk, waiting for Nurse Joy. With her Pikachu perched on her head Satori made a face at Shigeru. "I didn't expect to see you here, 'Shigeru'. I thought you'd be a mile ahead like you bragged back home."

"I will be." Shigeru sneered, "I just got held up a bit! You'll be eating my dust soon enough!"

"I doubt that, I've got a plan to beat you this time, like I did before in the Orange League." Satori quipped, grinning evilly.

"That was dumb luck," Shigeru snorted, Joy handed him his pokéballs, all nine which they were allowed to carry. He clipped them on his belt under his shirt and walked off. "I'll see you in the Astro League and this time you'll loose horribly."

Shigeru stormed off, exiting just as Arti was catching up to him. "C'mon, we'd better get going." he advised, waving for her to follow.

Now on their way to Aquarius City, Shigeru and Arti trudged along hoping to make it at least half way before night fall, it was already starting to darken and Arti was beginning to slow down her pace. The same thing she'd been doing now and again the whole time along.

Shigeru poked Arti in the back a few times as she began to slow down. "Hey, speed up slowpoke." he teased. "Something wrong? You've been dragging your feet and moping along the whole time, you're not much fun you know."

"Sorry..." she apologized, adjusting the speed she was walking at so that she was by Shigeru's side. The celesteon were trotting in front of their trainers happily.

"Sorry doesn't answer if something's wrong." Shigeru insisted, not intending to force her to tell him her problems, even if it sounded like he was trying to.

She looked away. "Nothing's wrong, really. Just please don't ask again, I'm only here to help pay back what I owe, maybe I should just give you my money and leave..."

Shigeru cringed, he'd been too nosey and was scaring her off, not what he intended at all. "Hey, no need for that..." he smiled, giving her a nudge with his elbow. "I don't want you wandering off alone somewhere to get robbed again."

Arti stopped on the spot, turning back to him with her head low. That had been a comment too many he realized. Brining up the thieves was too much. Shigeru stepped up to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Arti?" he asked, concerned.

She turned away again, hiding her face. Shigeru realized she was crying, he knew for sure something bad happened when the robbers took everything from her. He didn't know how to comfort her though, she didn't want to be touched it seemed, despite how badly he wanted to hug her and try to make her happy.

"Arti..." he said again, putting his arms around her gently and holding her. "I didn't mean to make you cry..."

She spun again and clung to him, still crying. "It's not your fault..." she sobbed. "Those men that robbed me... They... They..." she broke into tears all over again, he words being muffed and cut up from her sobbing.

Shigeru rested his forehead against hers and sighed. "It's alright now. They're not here, and I'm not going to hurt you..."

Arti calmed down slightly and looked up at Shigeru. He smiled down at her and brushed her long bangs from her face. "Hey, I know we just met a few hours ago but I already feel attached to ya." he admitted, making her begin to smile back at him. "I'm not going to just leave you behind somewhere so don't worry about anything."

Arti nodded and stepped away from Shigeru. The two Celesteon were at their trainers feet looking up with worry in their innocent eyes. Halo flew into Arti's arms and licked her tears off her cheeks.

"Maybe we should set up camp here for the night..." Shigeru suggested. He let his backpack slide from his shoulder onto the ground where it landed with a thump. He proceeded to look though it for something, finally pulling out a box of matches and some newspaper. "Now, we'll need some wood to start a fire..."

He looked up at Arti who seemed to be slightly chilled. The sun was almost down and a cold breeze was starting to build up. He pulled out a blanket while he was digging in his backpack and handed it to her. "You can stay here, I'll go get some wood and be back as soon as I can. Don't worry, I shouldn't be long."

He went off into the woods to gather some broken off branches and twigs, enough for a small fire, keeping in mind he didn't want to be gone away from Arti too long. It wasn't that he was worried someone would come along and try to hurt her, it was more he was worries she'd take off without him. She seemed to think she was worthless and wanted to be alone. Shigeru thought it was typical for what he assumed happened to her, Even if she hadn't said anything. He knew what she'd wanted to tell him.

After collecting enough wood to keep a fire going for most of the night he returned back to the site they'd picked to stop at and dropped the wood in a pile near Arti. She was sitting with the blanket over her shoulders and around her with the two eons cuddled close to her.

Shigeru light one of the matches he had and in turn light the news paper on fire. He then set the flaming paper on the dry wood hoping the wind wouldn't blow it out before the wood caught fire too. Thankfully it did as he hoped and the fire began to give off heat as it grew. Arti moved closer to it, the pups still laying on or beside her.

Shigeru grinned from across the dancing flames, watching her pet the angelic animals around her. He was glade she trusted him enough to at least attempt to try and tell her what had happened, but he had to admit to himself he also had a secret he should have shared with her.

Arti sighed and yawned. The sun was now down and it was late, Shigeru didn't have a watch with him but he knew it was at least ten o'clock, he learned over the years to be able to give a good estimate of what time it was.

Breaking the sound of the crackling fire, a bush began to rustle, but the wind had calmed down. Shigeru stood up, intending to investigate what caused the sound when three male trainers stepped out from the bushes.

"So, we've found our next target boys," the apparent leader announced. Arti's eyes shot open as she heard the voice. "And lookie here, we've got a repeat customer!"