~ Say Goodbye ~

...

One sunny day, my special friend Lombre Raindish sent me a letter that came with Pelipper the Wandering Postal Carrier.

Correction.

One sunny day, my "special" friend Lombre Raindish sent me a letter that came with Pelipper the Wandering Postal Carrier.

Note that I inserted air quotes in the second statement, because like I said, Lombre is my "special" friend.

My other friend Treecko Kimori couldn't understand it. He said Lombre and I were almost always arguing, whether it was when we were playing games, eating lunch, doing rescue jobs, or anything at all. But I'd retorted that because we often argue doesn't mean we can't be... Well...

Ahem.

Lovers.

STOP LAUGHING AT ME. I know you must think it weird for me, Tough Guy Breloom, to actually LIKE a girl. But hey, everyone likes someone at one point in their lives, right?

Besides, it's NOT weird if a Tough Guy likes a Tough Girl. Yep, Lombre's not the kind of girl most guys go for. She's always decked out in skull-patterned stuff such as a bandanna and a pair of black and purple combat boots that she looks half like a pirate, half a Goth or an emo, and half like some guitarist of a random metal band (three halves? I know that's impossible but so what?).

But she's cool. And she makes killer quesadillas. So there.

I slit open the letter. Lombre's letter simply read:

-»̶✽«̶-
Querido Breloom,
Meet me at the beach. Now. Urgent.

Su amiga,
Lombre Raindish
-»̶✽«̶-

Something was wrong.

I practically ran to the beach. I kept wondering what it was about. Something was definitely not as it should be. Lombre would never use her mother's stationary with the flowers on it. Ever.

When I arrived at the beach, I saw that Lombre was pacing back and forth across the sand, sometimes stopping and looking out across the sea and at the fading sunset.

If I wasn't sure of it then, I was sure now.

Something was very wrong.

Instead of calling out, I snuck behind her furtively and suddenly shouted, "Boo!" while grabbing her shoulders. Usually, Lombre would turn around and punch me (literally). But this time, she didn't even flinch, as if she knew I was going to surprise her. Well. Maybe she did already know, since she was the one who invited me over after all...

She only turned around and said softly, "Hey, Breloom..." with a weak smile. Then she turned away at the sunset.

Something was obviously very, very wrong.

I sat down onto the sand. "What's wrong?" I asked in concern.

Lombre sighed and sat down next to me. Dejectedly. Defeated.

Another bad sign.

"What's wrong?" I asked again in a gentler manner.

She only turned away. Nothing.

"What? Are you mad at me?"

"No! It's not that," she sniffled.

Wait. Sniffled?

"Come on. Please talk to me," I said, turning her face gently so that she was looking at me. "What's the matter? What's bothering you? Are you mad?"

"No! No," she said quickly. "It's not you, Breloom. It's not you. Everything's perfect. You're perfect. Our summer was perfect. The sunset... This beach... Our friends... Us... Everything was... Perfect..."

"So what's the matter? Why are you crying?" I asked, getting more concerned by the minute. Lombre never ever cries.

"Well it's just that..."

I waited silently.

"That..."

Silence.

It was broken when Lombre said something else. Dejectedly. Defeated.

"I'm going back."

...

Back where? You ask. Lombre saying that might not mean much to you. It might not even mean anything. Because, you don't know what it means.

But I do.

And as soon as I heard it, the world seemed to dissolve before my eyes.

Lombre's parents own this restaurant called Lombre's Quesadillas downtown. See, Lombre is Mexican.

Lombre going back means that she's gonna go home. To Mexico.

"You can't go," I said, snapping out of my daydreams. "What will I do without you?"

"I know," she sighed. "You'll be a wreck without me, I know. You'll have no one to pull you out of trouble on rescue missions. And no one to defeat you at Guitar Hero. And no one to teach you how to play a real guitar."

If we weren't in this situation, I would've argued with her head-on. Defeat me at Guitar Hero, indeed! And the "pulling out of trouble" part is also untrue. Lombre doesn't pull me out of trouble - she's more likely to get pulled in with me. Besides, we already have another best friend whose job is mainly doing the out-of-trouble pulling. His name is Treecko Kimori, and he's got the sanest head I've ever known. (But that's another story - this story is solely about Lombre and I.)

"No, I'm not kidding," I said seriously. "What in the Pokémon world am I gonna do without you? And your quesadillas. But that's beside the point. You can't go. You can't leave me. No way. Not ever."

...But I could see from her hopeless eyes that it was already sealed. She was leaving, and there was nothing anyone could do about that. She only shook her head helplessly as the whole situation came sinking in.

Our other friends all had different reactions to the news that Lombre was leaving for her home country.

"Aww man, that freaking STINKS!" Staraptor complained.
"Well, you can't leave," Treecko said logically. "You're a vital part of our team. AND our circle of friends."
"Please no," Cleffy wailed.
"No. Way," was all Froslass said.
"Can't anyone do anything about that?" Tepig moaned.
"Nooooo," Oshawott said, drama king style.
"...No," Snivy said shortly.
"You just can't go," Roselio said matter-of-factly.

Then he added blankly, "Umm, where's she leaving to again?"

Staraptor rolled his eyes, but Lombre answered glumly, "Ciudad de Méjico. Next month."

Roselio said again in that same naïve manner, "Umm, where exactly is Ciudad de-"

"Mexico City," Froslass interrupted with a sigh. "Lombre's hometown."

"Oh," Roselio said sadly, only then discovering that Lombre wasn't only moving - she was moving far, far away.

The weeks passed by with such an astonishing speed. Sometimes I would go outside with the same spirit I used to have before I heard Lombre was leaving, before suddenly remembering what was going to happen, which definitely burst my bubble.

Treecko obviously thought that instead of sinking in sadness, it was better to make the most of the time while Lombre was still here. So we did more challenging rescue jobs and did more stuff together. I spent more time at Lombre's Quesadillas. (Have I told you that their quesadillas are awesome?)

Finally we came to that last night. Treecko and Cleffy were at the base, but Lombre and I were down at the beach. She was staring out at the sea, the silver full moon reflected on its surface. The Krabby were out, blowing bubbles out of their mouths. I love this place. It's very beautiful and romantic.

...But tonight, Lombre had her head buried in her knees and was sniffing again. Over these past few weeks, she had been more like herself, that is, until now. The sight of her crying very un-Lombre-like left me in a turmoil.

"Breloom, will I ever see you again?" she hiccuped.

"Of course you will," I reassured her. "You can visit me anytime at all. And if you can't come here, I'll come to you. I'll ride on Skarmory. Yeah! And I'll bring Treecko and Cleffy too."

Lombre only swiped at her tear-streaked cheeks and laughed bitterly. "You guys going to Mexico? Oh please." She shrunk down dejectedly. "What are you going to tell your parents? And for Arceus' sake, Skarmory will never fly that far despite the fact that he's an iron bird..."

"Well, we'll find a way," I said. "After all, we're Team Overgrow."

That was when it hit me. I'm sure Treecko had already mentioned this before, but it hadn't really sunk into my brain yet. If Lombre was leaving, she was going to quit the team.

To tell you the truth, I can't imagine Team Overgrow without Lombre. Even before Cleffy became a member, she was already there. She was the first and so far the only Pokémon to pass our team test and get accepted as a member. She was the first female member of the team. Before that, it was only Treecko and I, and her joining the team pretty much made things different. And both Treecko and I wouldn't have wanted it to be any other way.

But she was going to quit. She had to.

Lombre obviously thought that too, and she didn't like it. But there was nothing else she could do.

She cleared her throat. "Breloom-"

"Yes?"

She handed her rescue team handkerchief and her Gold Rank badge to me. "Here," was all she said. The golden badge glinted in the moonlight.

I didn't know what to say.

But finally, she broke the silence. "Well, I'd better be going home," she said, standing up. She looked at me for a long while, staring into my eyes. For a moment I was floating against a background of silver moonbeam, dancing with the bubbles. Light and free.

But the next second I may have as well been as heavy as chrome as her gaze lifted.

She turned away. "Buenas noches."

"Buenas noches," I echoed, staring as she walked away in her trademark combat boots and finally disappeared from sight.

I do not know when I'll be seeing those boots and the eyes-like-no-other again.

Today was the day.

Lombre came out of her house before any other member of her family did. She ran right to our base, and the second she went in through the door Cleffy directly pounced on her, crying, "You can't leave! You just can't!"

See, that's Cleffy. She sometimes does these things a little too late.

Lombre sighed. "I know, leaving sucks," she said. "But there's nothing I can do about that... We're leaving at noon. Right now my parents and brothers are still checking whether we've left anything behind, and they said I could come here to meet you guys... Before I go."

Cleffy whimpered.

But Treecko went right down to business. "We three have something for you," he said, producing something neatly wrapped (by Treecko the Perfectionist himself) from behind his back.

"Thank you," she wavered, taking the present from Treecko. "But what is it?"

"Open it," Treecko said.

She did.

It was a scrapbook. I admit it wasn't the tidiest scrapbook ever, but you could easily see that it was made by the three of us: detailed accounts by Treecko, cute doodles and bubble letters by Cleffy, and rather messy and sticky photos stuck in by myself.

"Th-thank you," she gulped, welling up with tears. "This is so... Sweet."

She opened to the first page, in which I'd pasted a photo of the four of us the day Cleffy joined the team. She half-laughed. "Look at your face, Clef." She pointed at Cleffy's tear-tracked face in the picture. Yup, Cleffy didn't exactly pass the team test, but she cried her eyes out long enough for us to take pity on her and let her into the team.

Cleffy glared at me. "Breloom! I thought you weren't going to choose that photo after all."

Treecko snorted with silent laughter, and even Lombre herself had to smile.

After that, Lombre and I found ourselves wandering in the yard of our base. I still had some other presents I was going to give her, which were what I was hiding behind my back. But even if I didn't, she wouldn't have seen them anyway because she had her eyes on the ground. When we finally reached the far end of the garden, she suddenly stopped. I did too.

"I've something I want to give you," she said abruptly. She handed me a tiny package, which I opened very carefully. My jaw dropped open the moment I saw what was nestled in it. It was a small guitar pick shaped like a piece of nachos dripping with cheese.

But I knew it wasn't just any random guitar pick. Lombre had got it while she was watching her favorite Gothic metal band perform at the Pokémon Square. The guitarist had thrown it into the audience and she was the very lucky one to get it. It had been her most prized possession since.

And now she's giving it to me?!

"You can't give this to me," I said. "You love this."

"It's mine and I have the right to give it to whoever I want to give it to," she said defiantly. "And I choose to give it to you. Keep it. I know you'll take good care of it."

"Thank you," I said softly.

But then she sneered. "Another reason I gave it to you is so that some of my awesome guitar skills rub off on you."

"Ha-ha, very funny," I rolled my eyes, grinning. If Lombre had a fault, it was that she wasn't very modest.

Then I changed the subject. "Um... I actually have a few things for you, too."

I produced two things - two familiar things - from behind my back.

She looked strangely at them. "My handkerchief and badge?" she said. "Why are you giving them back to me?"

"Because you're still a part of the team," I said confidently, going around her and tying her old handkerchief around her neck. I gave her back her proud golden badge.

I looked straight into her eyes. "No matter where you are, you'll always be a part of Team Overgrow."

I could see that her eyes were welling up with tears again...

...But she completely took me by surprise when she suddenly threw her arms around me and gave me a big warm hug.

"Thank you, Breloom," she whispered between tears.

"You're very welcome," I replied, finally hugging her back, knowing that it would jolly well be a long time until we could do this again.

After she released me, I went on, "I have something else for you. It's not much... but I made it myself. I hope you like it and we can still be friends even if we're far apart."

I gave her the last thing I'd been hiding behind my back. It was a friendship bracelet in her favorite colors (purple and black). There was also a skull charm on it (I was lucky to find something like it) and another one shaped like a heart. There were three simple words on it - but they were words that mean a lot.

BEST FRIENDS FOREVER.

"Amigos para siempre," she translated into Spanish.

"Para siempre," I echoed.

Forever.

~END~