"Come on Chey!" yelled the little boy as he started to run, laughing. The little girl giggled and ran after him. Suddenly, the boy stopped abruptly, causing the little girl to bump into him. He turned around to face her.
"I know, let's play Pokémon battle!" he said excitedly.
"Okay! I'll be Squirtle! Squirtle, squirt," said the girl.
"Then I'll be Bulbasaur. Saur, saur!" cried the boy.
The two children ran around and played for several more minutes, laughing and screaming. They both seemed to be very happy.
"Cheyenne, it's time to go!" yelled a woman to the little girl. The woman stood beside a van packed full of suitcases and boxes and cradled a newborn baby in her arms.
"Aw mommy, can't I play with Gary for a few more minutes?" the girl whined.
"No, if we don't get going we'll miss the ship. Now say goodbye," the woman replied, turning away to strap the baby into a carseat.
"I have to go now," the girl said glumly, turning to the boy.
"I'm gonna miss you Cheyenne," the boy said quietly, looking at the ground and kicking at a tuft of grass.
"I'm gonna miss you too Gary," she replied. "Do you promise to call me sometimes?"
Gary Oak looked up. "Of course I promise."
The young children embraced and Cheyenne climbed into the car with the rest of her family. As it drove out of Pallet Town Cheyenne turned around in her seat to look out the back windshield and wave goodbye to Gary. He waved back. She watched him until he became a tiny dot on the horizon when they turned a corner and was out of sight.
Even after Cheyenne's car rounded the bend and continued on its way to the port where they would board the ferry that would take them to New Bark Town in Johto, Gary remained standing exactly where Chey had left him. He was so immersed in his thoughts about losing his one and only best friend that he didn't even notice the black-haired young boy that was watching him shyly from behind Cheyenne's old house…