Chapter 2

"Odd One Out"

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Edward awoke to the sound of the foghorn blaring nearby. After a moment to regain composure, he stood to get a look out of the window.

The ship was no longer moving, the only remaining motion being that of the rocking by the waves. Looking out the window he saw past the docking station to see a naturally worn path through vast green plain- in the distance, a small town with an abundance of smaller, comfy looking houses.

"So that's pallet? It's so much more different from Vermillion." He said in awe before he gave a small laugh. 'There's actually lots of grass here. It's dumb, but I'm kind of jealous. I never really understood why grass didn't grow back i-'

The horn sounded once again, reminding him what he was here to do. He grabbed his bag from the bed and bolted out of the room, in fear that the S.S. Anne might leave with him this time. The halls were cleared out, so he assumed that everyone had already began exiting, and quickened his pace. He reached the top deck and spun on his heels, running for the crowd slowly getting off board. He was about to slow his rate as well before he stepped in a puddle of soapy water, cursing whoever left the it there as he hit the wall of the ship, flipping over it to fall. The boy shut his eyes as he waited for pain to ensue, but flinched in shock as something caught him before he would've hit the earth.

That grip on his collar was all too familiar.

Edward opened his eyes to see that same man from before, the two of them sharing a commonness as they both exclaimed 'you again?'

The man raised him higher to meet eye to eye. "So what's the excuse this time?"

Edward stammered to find "Oh come on! I just slipped."

"You don't say…"

"Yea!" The boy went on, not even catching the sarcasm. "I was minding my own business- not being a troublemaker, by the way- when I slip in a puddle, of all things! I may have been liable the first time, but whose fault is it now?"

The older man dropped him to his feet once again. "Those new recruits messing things up already. Well, I'll deal with that later, for now you're free to g-"

Edward had already made it off of the ship by the time the man realized he'd run off.

In the near center of Pallet, people were already beginning to gather for the event. This was more significant than other times: instead of a small gathering, the citizens of Kanto made a much bigger, more flashy event- in recognition for the amount of trainers.

Instead of the usual couple of trainers, at least a dozen trainers were coming in from just about every city in Kanto, summing up for the largest amount of new trainers-to-be in nearly a decade. Naturally, every inhabitant of pallet town was already seated and prepared, as the other arrivals were still making their way to the small town. The location in pallet for this event was none other than the lab of infamous Pokémon researcher professor Oak. Edward gazed at the lab that made little effort to tower over the townhomes. How did the professor become known for such great lengths with such a subtle study space?

Coming back to earth from his thoughts, he came to realize something:

He was the only newcomer of Vermillion.

The seating had been separated into cities, and behold- Edward sat alone in the vermillion section in regards of children. His family wouldn't be coming, on account of his family be stretched and strew across regions, not to mention insufficient funds for coming here in the first place.

The trainer-to-be glowered as he looked off in a random direction, deciding to look at the other sections of seating, his eyes fell on the Cinnabar row, noticing how abundant the population was- namely how many of the trainers were girls. Edward rested his chin in his palm, gazing at them all with a mix of intrigue and boredom.

He couldn't help but think things like 'They're so lucky….', having known few to none in his hometown.

Well, there was one...

The boy shook the thought off quickly. She had been his friend; nothing more than a friend to him. Also she was older than him. If what the older children of vermillion said were true, then age mattered for maturity. He hated to admit it sometimes, but he knew with utmost certainty that Lunar had been more mature than him.

So mature, in fact, that she saw no reason to wait up for him two weeks ago, when she was departing for your journey.

'I'm not cutting you any slack just because you're younger,' she had said over her shoulder to him. 'You catch up on your own, and maybe your maturity will prove to go further than I thought.'

Edge pouted as he looked back on it.

"Big words for a 10-year-old." He grumbled. "She's only two weeks- wait, scratch that- 13 days older than me. Why does she make it sound like such a big deal?" He argued aloud, not really expecting an answer.

"Who on earth are you talking to?"

",,,!'

Edward jolted upright in the folding chair, turning to the voice at his left side. A girl sat there, only slightly taller than him, but he could tell she was younger. Her hair- tied back in a ponytail- was that cyan color, and her eyes were an odd but warm looking brown. She wore the frilled up blue shirt to match the color of her jeans, but other than that just wore basic green tennis shoes.

Her having showed up so suddenly by his side made him back away from her like she was something to fear.

"You're really strange…." She sighed. "Why're you so jumpy?"

Edward raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm strange? You snuck up on me! Of course that'd make me jumpy!"

"I've been here for a few minutes," she clarified, standing up to face him with hands on he hips. "You just don't know how to notice a girl, obviously."

"You're a girl?" He feigned shock, "Tch, could've fooled me. You're sizing me up like some bully. Besides, why are you getting after me? I don't know you and you certainly don't know me!"

"Right, right…." She said calmly. "Okay then, let's start over."

"Hi! I'm Tsunai Tomogaia, from Cinnibar Island." She put out a hand. "And what's your name, cutie?"

He was just about to welcome the change in attitude until that last part. He hastily pulled back the hand that was about to shake hers, his shock-ridden face looking a bit red despite having darker skin. The boy found himself stammering as he tried to say his own name. "Uh, I mean…"

She gave him a suspecting look before giggling at him. "A bit nervous, are we?"

"W-what? NO!" He denied, finally regaining the ability to speak. "I just don't like being called 'cute'."

"Jeez, touchy…I'm just messing around! Then again, you aren't all that cute anyway."

Ouch...Well same to you. The boy replied mentally, wondering whether he should be offended at all. "Well, that's enough of that."

The young boy's head cocked to the side as he tried to read her expression. Suddenly, he decided he really couldn't care anymore, and decided to drop it, not noticing the red shade of her face.

"…Edward."

Tsunai suddenly looked alert. "Hm?"

"Edward Jonestu," He repeated, adding his last name. "You asked for my name a second ago, remember?"

"Oh..wait, what?"

"What's the matter?"

"Didn't you just tell me?"

"Huh? No. I didn't…"

"Yes, you did! You said it was Edge! Or something like that."

He was left speechless for a moment as he tried to recall the moment. A while ago, he could only manage to stammer. Had 'Edge' really come from senseless babble?

Edward regained his focus finally getting back to the subject. "No-no-no-no-no you heard me wrong. Its just Edward, Ok?"

"Fine, but if it's okay with you, I'll just call you 'Edge'." She smiled. "It fits you."

He noticed she seemed really certain on the matter. And although he wanted to ask why, he decided to drop the subject as she wouldn't change her mind.

"Edge, huh?" He thought the nickname over, in the end giving a shrug. "Sure, why not? But I'm dropping it if I change my mind."

A person behind the two cleared their throat, causing Edge and Tsunai to spin around.

Another four girls were there with their arms crossed, all four giving the two a similar look of impatience.

"Are you two done, Tsunai?" the redheaded one asked. "I thought you said you would 'be right back'?" She emphasized the last part with the finger motion.

Edward turned to the cyan haired girl, who looked as if she'd just remembered. "Whoops…sorry Sheri."

"'Whoops'?" The girl repeated it like it was foreign to her. "Come on, Tsunai! You're better than that! What could have had you so caught up?"

Before she even had a chance to reply, all of their eyes fell on him. They stayed there for a moment before they exchanged a knowing look among one another.

The young trainer-to-be had a bad feeling in his gut.

The blond stepped up to him, looked him up and down- almost judgingly- and asked him his name. He almost replied when Tsunai covered his mouth.

"Don't answer that, Edge." She warned him. Realizing she'd let it slip herself, she slapped a hand over her forehead. He crossed his arms at her with a silent glare, as if saying 'Did you really just do that?.'

The group in front of the two joined in a laugh. Tsunai tried her best to make sense of the situation to them, as if knowing what was next. "No, no. It's not what you-"

"Tsunai, it's a little too early for boyfriends don't you think? "

Edward chuckled and shook his head as they continued joking around even as other children them began to snicker and join in too. However, when he looked over at Tsunai, she looked really red.

"What's the matter with you?" He whispered over to her. "You don't have to look so insulted." He joked.

She looked at him almost in disbelief. "How can you be so calm?"

"Oh come on! We're hardly friends. I haven't known you for more than five minutes! The idea is a total joke! Why be embarrassed, you know?"

"R-Right…" She hesitated, before gaining more confidence in his words. "If you say so."

For the first time, the girl with the lavender hair intervened. "Wow, are you hooked on him or what? Like, weren't you afraid of cooties, Tsunai?"

The girl in mention huffed in good humor. "Cooties aren't real, Hana."

The other girls suddenly looked as if they'd been shocked.

"T-that's not what you said last week!" They all reminded her, to which she could only offer an awkward laugh and shrug.

"Yep. She's hooked all right…" The fiery-haired girl murmured to Hana. The girl shook her head in disapproval at Tsunai. The cyan-haired girl was looking from the corner her worried eyes at the boy, twiddling her thumbs. He had his gaze averted toward the sky, as if in his thoughts.

"Like Goldeen on super rod." Hana added.

"Anyway," Sheri breathed loudly. "It's clear you two have something going on here, but do you mind if she comes back to sit with us again?"

Edward jolted his head back to face them. He had only heard the last part and nodded. "Not really. Go nuts, I guess." He said with uncertainty.

"Alright! Well come on then Tsunai. You can see your 'boyfriend' once we get our Pokémon."

The girls grouped around Tsunai, guiding her in the right direction with a gentle nudge. Her heels stayed stubbornly still for a moment before finally moving, but not before taking a moment to look back at him, Her expression a mix of worry and frustration.

Edward just stood there, his eyes following after her for a moment, wondering whether he should even be concerned about it all. Feeling more confused than he wanted to be about it, he went back to his section as the ceremony was finally getting ready to go.

There was only one thing that messed with his head.

what was such a big deal about him being a boy friend?

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