A- Always
It had been years since they'd begun their journeys- about six, to be exact- but, as always, the four Pallet Town natives remained the closest of friends. It wasn't exactly hard to believe; they'd been nearly inseparable from kindergarten to the time they each turned ten. However, as it
goes on with everyone, time had changed each one to their own extent.
To go in alphabetical order, let's begin with Ash. Most of you reading this will know the basics of what he's gone through, as it could be assumed that you've watched the anime. Unfortunately, it never delves into what's going on in the raven haired's mind, so it may be surprising that he'd been struggling over what he really wanted since Hoenn. Sure, being a Pokémon Master would be great, but would he ever be able to achieve it? He'd been going for two years when he first started to wonder, and by the time he was fifteen, in Kalos, the thought hadn't dwindled in the slightest; in fact, it had increased. It started with only thinking it when he was absolutely crushed in battle, then when he lost a battle in general, and then when he was battling at all. He'd decided to take a break for a year and head back to Pallet Town after finishing up in the top sixteen in the Kalos Pokémon League. This is where he resides today; sixteen, continuing high school, relaxing as much as he could between homework assignments, and trying to decide what to do.
Now Curfy may not be as known as our Ash Ketchum here; she also started her journey at ten years old to become the Pokémon Master, but her doubts came much sooner than his. She gave up on it when she was twelve and jumped around between other Pokémon career options- Coordinator, Connoisseur, Breeder, even Researcher (though that was only to please her grandfather, Professor Rowan)- before finally settling down back in Pallet and deciding on being either a writer or an actor. In these past two years that she's been home, she's declared herself as bisexual, and has changed her looks in more ways than one. She'd dropped the cute little pigtails to let her brown hair fall to chest, started wearing a black beanie all the time, not to mention black skinny jeans and various other dark colors, and actually begun to wear make up (just eyeliner and mascara, mind you). She spent her (now plentiful) free time scrolling miles on Tumblr, making vlogs, and watching some SuperWhoLock online.
Troy hadn't changed too much since they'd gone their separate ways six years ago; in many ways, he was still the wimpy, picked on kid of the group. However, he wasn't exactly the same, as no one stays themselves when growing up. He was the only one out of the four to have stayed home and continue his studies. The soccer team he'd been on had done him well; his scrawniness had been shooed away for muscles, and when he was picked on, he'd stand up for himself (not that it stopped the teasing from his three best friends, but could anything do that?). His sweaters and khakis had been scrapped for tight t-shirts and jeans, and his limp, sandy hair had been no more since he discovered his brother's hair gel last year, leaving him to be one of the boys that girls threw themselves at. However, the one thing about him that hadn't really changed at all was his instant anger when someone referenced his name being the same as the Troy Bolton from High School Musical. His time was spent sketching girls and hanging out with friends. So, yeah, maybe he'd changed the most of the group after all.
Turner's ideas about things may not have changed too much, but she had definitely calmed down for the most part. No longer was the girl with endless energy and crazy t-shirts who wouldn't wear a dress for her life; the only Turner Imin that existed now was the seventeen year old one, who actually put an effort in to look nice every morning. She started wearing cute skirts and tops when she came home after doing only Kanto's journey. Her hair was always up in a very brushed out ponytail, the glasses had been replaced by contacts, and you couldn't catch her anywhere except her house without her favorite purple cross-body. She'd stopped throwing herself at every single cute boy she met and started criticizing others for doing just that. In fact, the amount she was judging increased ten-fold. She loved to spend her free time pouring over magazines and regular books.
The one thing that time hadn't seemed to change was the strength of the friendship the four endured. No matter what was going on, they'd made an effort to keep the other three up to date on their adventures. They all shared joy when joyous things happened, and sorrow when their was a tough time. They were all proud of how far they had come, and how far they were going to go. As unsure as they were of what was to come, they knew one thing- their friendship would always be there.
A/N: Sorry for the short chapter; it's just introducing everyone. Kinda cheesy ending too; sorry for that, as well. Hope to see you all for the next chapter!