Chapter One – Good Night and Good Luck
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The sky was a dark hue most comparable to a violet azure. The moon was high in the sky and a flock of Spearow were soaring overhead and into the horizon. And below this all, on a cliff overlooking Colloquy Village sat two teenagers gazing at the stars.
The first teenager is named Paul Weller. A blonde athlete and modern poet-at-heart; he is currently 16 years old and is ready to leave his hometown tomorrow and begin his journey through the world of Pokemon. His ultimate dream is and always has been to become the greatest trainer on the face of the earth. Not an entirely uncommon dream, he knows, but one that he is planning on pursuing and has no doubts about fulfilling.
The second teenager is his best friend (actually, only friend), Lorelei Chancellor. She is an auburn-haired beauty on the verge of turning 16 years old who has only recently began harboring a secret crush on the teen-man beside her. The two grew up together in the small village which they were currently seated high above; struggling through the thick and thin of youth and always coming out the other end with each other. But the year before, the friendship suffered a blow which was coming to a head on top of the cliff.
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Lorelei stood at the locker waiting for Paul to show up and say his morning "Hello". It was a routine established over five years before and every day without fail, the festively enthusiastic boy would slide over to her locker and give her the widest smile on the face of the earth; announcing that another day in their fantastic lives was commencing. She would chuckle at his steadfast joy and the two would walk together to whatever their first hour class was that day. Day in and day out for over a decade things had gone just like this with very little change in the principle and design of occurrence.
But today was different. Lorelei leaned against her locker and sighed deeply; the kind of oxygen release you see in a woman hiding a (quite-possibly) unrequited love unlike any emotion experienced by anyone on the rest of the earth and its history. She gazed off into space imagining the face of her lifelong best friend and thought about how in one night he had gone from being the friend in her eye to being the undeniable romance.
It had been a night to remember as the two went together to see a play at the theater downtown. Paul had dressed in his nicest tuxedo and Lorelei had adorned a showy yet elegant flowing black dress. If someone on the street were to see the two, they wouldn't see a simple friendship; they would instantly imagine something much more between the two teens. Anyway, the play ended and the two walked to their limousine before being escorted back home. Lorelei's house was the first reached and as Paul walked her to her door, she felt something stronger than friendship tickling her emotions. And when he stopped at her door and gave her a comforting hug goodnight, she felt like this was what the perfect date was always supposed to be.
Now she stood against the metal of the locker doors and had an internal quarrel about her emotions and the meaning behind them. 'Just because he came out looking like the perfect man last night doesn't mean he's the perfect man for me! Sure he's perfect in his own way, but he's my friend and my friend only!' She opened her eyes and stared down the hall. 'Right?'
That's when the long-awaited Paul came storming down the white tile floors with a look of sheer exhilaration on his face. Something had him in high spirits and he clearly had intentions of letting his best friend in on all the excitement. She pushed herself off of her locker and started making her way over to the anxious male running for her; hoping that he had come to the same realization as her the night before and was hoping to make her his once and for all.
But this (of course) was not to be. Paul stopped in front of Lorelei and balled his hands up in fists while clenching his teeth in an almost too-happy smile. "Guess what!" His voice was obviously being held back to conceal the already expressed joy and enthusiasm.
Lorelei smiled at the undeniable cute factor contained in the man before her. "What is it Paul?" Then sensing the lacking (if not, sarcastic) excitement in her voice, she began again. "Tell me, Paul! Tell me!"
He threw his hands out in a spastic release of pent-up thrill and proudly proclaimed, "My mom's letting me go on my Pokemon journey one year early!"
Instead of feeling happy for her friend and secret crush (which she knew she should), she felt disappointed. Disappointed because she knew that her mother would never go for a year-early leave. Her mother would want Lorelei to stay behind for the entire journey training just like every other kid her age. "Damn, Paul." She heard herself and didn't like the dismissing tone of her voice. "I mean, that's awesome!" She quickly corrected herself and plastered an obviously fake smile.
Unfortunately the expression went virtually unnoticed by the obviously oblivious Weller boy. He jumped up and down and resisted the urge to run up to the top of Colloquy Peak and shout his good news for all the world to hear. The boy also didn't notice his friend lower her head and stifle back a stream of unwanted tears.
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It had been a tough and strenuous year on the two's friendship as Paul worked extra hard and stayed extra hours after school to gain his competence credits in order to legally train and wander the world over on his Pokemon soon-to-begin journey. Paul was always excited, while Lorelei was always hiding the extreme pain and internal anguish she was suffering as she knew how close she was to losing the love of her life and trying day-by-day to accept it. Every day brought Lorelei a fresh memory of the two's past. Be it the image of a summer day spent frolicking through the flowers in kindergarten or just last winter when the two built snowmen at Lindsay's house with her sisters and parents.
Lorelei looked over and stared into Paul's eyes while he looked up into the stars and pondered about his future and what was in store for him. Images of badges and congratulations galore danced in his head as he unknowingly began swinging his legs back and forth in uncontrollable excitement in its purest form; a youth preparing for the turning point in their life that is leaving home.
The beautiful girl by his side turned her attention to his swinging legs and wished that she could be so happy and carefree. Unfortunately, she just couldn't feel anything outside of dwindling hope in her current condition of anticipating confession. Yes, earlier that week, she had decided that she would take this last night with Paul to confess her feelings to him in an attempt to keep him in Colloquy with her forever. For seven days, she had been anticipating this exact moment; the moment under the stars and the moon with Paul and Paul alone to finally tell him how she felt for him. But now that the time had finally arrived, the moment that a week's worth of hours had been waiting for, Lorelei found that she just couldn't bring herself to do it.
She looked back up at Paul and said, "I'm really gonna miss you Paul."
The teenage boy turned his head so that he was looking into the eyes of his longtime companion and found that for just a split second, he almost didn't want to leave. He didn't want to leave his family and friends and home and everything he had ever known and begin roaming the world by himself, traveling from exotic locale to exotic locale in search of the next Pokemon or gym to triumph over. For a split second, he was caught in his friend's forlorn gaze and he didn't want to escape. "I'm going to miss you even more."
This was all that Lorelei could take before she lowered her head and broke down into tears. Paul took his teary-eyed blubbering mess of a friend into his arms and rocked back in forth with her by his side. She cried into his shirt and clung to his back, hoping somewhere in the back of her mind that her grip would be strong enough to keep the handsome and utterly lovable Weller teen from getting away. Lorelei wished that she could develop the strength and patience of a million Machamps and hold him in her arms forever.
Paul turned back to the moon and thought about his life without Lorelei. It would be strange—scratch that—it would be unbelievable and frightening going out into the world without his trusty partner in crime at his side, but the teen knew that this was what he was meant to do.
The two teenagers sat at the edge of that peak for three hours; Paul holding Lorelei while she cried her way through the pain. The two gradually grew to accept the fact that they would rarely get to see each other any more. Paul was meant to roam and Lorelei was meant to stay in Colloquy and grow old to her heart's content with the village. Somehow, the two never realized before that their friendship would eventually end because of this inevitable fact of life choices. At least until somewhere in this past year.
After three hours, Lorelei finally piped up. "It's getting early." The two shared a hearty laugh at the play on expressions, and at the fact that it really was almost five in the morning. "We should probably start heading home." She sniffled and finally pulled away from her friend. When she stood up and looked down at his shirt, she saw that it was covered in a large circle of drying tears and mascara. She started giggling, causing Paul to look down wondering what was so funny.
"Well this shirt will never get cleaned again." He smiled and looked up at Lorelei with that goofy look that she had fallen in love: an earnest, heartfelt face-wide smile that seemed to say, "Everything is gonna be all right."
Lorelei held out her right hand and helped Paul Weller up to his feet before turning around and leading their way back into town. As the moon slowly started setting behind them, the best of friends walked the long walk home, chatting the whole way of memories past and seemingly avoiding the topic of Paul's leaving as if it were the plague.