You'd caught many Pokemon. You'd seen many sights and defeated many trainers in battle. You thought your journey was over, but there was always that longing. Stupid, yes, but it was there all the same. You wanted to meet your father.
Maybe you shouldn't have cared at all. Maybe he was always just a stranger and always would be. You cared all the same. You'd been told all your life that he'd left to become the best Pokemon trainer there ever was. The part that was left out was that he never returned.
You pictured him as looking a little like Bruno. Maybe he had hair like yours. Maybe you had his eyes. Whoever he was, he was surely strong and wise.
That is why you were in shock when you found him. That's why you left home after all, but you never expected to find the person you did.
You were at a coin laundry. You'd been on your quest for a couple of weeks and had gotten nowhere so far. Now you sank into a plastic chair and watched the few extra clothes you'd packed spin around and around in the wash.
Then he walked in.
Gary, your rival. You used to see him all the time, but not for almost a year now. You catch your breath. Does he want to fight? Has he gotten even stronger? You smile. You may have been rivals, but inwardly you were always friends.
The washer buzzer goes off and you dump the clothes into the dryer.
You begin to walk over to Gary, to catch up with him and ask how he's been, but you stop before you get to him, standing awkwardly in the middle of the floor. Someone has already struck up a conversation with him. You catch fragments of what they say and feel your mouth fall open. Triggered memories flicker behind your closed eyelids. You feel if you open them the room will be spinning. Your head will hit the cold hard floor. People are staring at you, staring at Gary, making a fool of yourself standing in the middle of the room and looking stupid. But you're in a daze, oblivious to your surroundings.
You don't even recall what exactly they said. Your name was never even brought up. But you watch memories as if on a movie screen in the back of your head. Memories you never even knew you had. You don't know how you know, but you know: Gary is your father.
At first time seemed to slow around you, but now thoughts come in a rush. How old is he? You'd always assumed he was 16. 16! More like 26. Older? How old does that make your mother? Professor Oak? Is Professor Oak Gary's grandfather… or his father? That would make him your grandfather. What else does this effect? How much of your life is a lie?
He looked so young, but now you see him in a different light. If he turns his head just right, he looks so much older. The spark in his eyes: you once thought it was pride, vanity, sheer boldness. Maybe it's something more like experience, wisdom with a hint of sarcasm. The more you look at him, the more you wonder how you'd ever thought he was 16.
This is awkward. This is awkward. This is awkward. That's all that's running through your head at this point. Your brain is like a record stuck on repeat.
Gary's conversation ends and the other person walks away. You are left standing there, awakened only by the sound of the buzzer. The clothes are done drying, you think vaguely, in the back of your head. You wonder how long you've been standing there, watching him. He hasn't seemed to notice. You turn, your heart thudding, then take the clothes out of the dryer and begin folding methodically, robotically, your mind empty. It's best that way.
This all feels so surreal. Maybe you'll wake up and it'll all be a dream. Maybe it won't be.
Most of all you wonder why. Why didn't anyone tell you?