The streets were pretty empty as I was walking back. Just the occasional person coming home from work. There seemed to rarely be any cars that passed by too. I saw maybe five of them. Everything just felt quiet, peaceful, and calm. It was rather nice. Maybe there would be more of this in the other areas of Sinnoh. I enjoyed the more quiet places, which was odd considering I grew up in the busy streets of Virbank. Or maybe I liked quiet places more because of that. I saw my apartment complex slowly appear over the other buildings.
After I had walked up two flights of stairs, the peace and quiet I had been enjoying was abruptly ended by the faint sound of yelling. I had listened for a little to see if I could make out the words. I walked up the third flight of stairs, and the words became clearer, and so did the voices. I climbed up the fourth, and final set of stairs that needed climbing. I could hear where the voices were coming from now, and the location was very clearly my apartment. I slowly peered around the door, trying to stay hidden.
"I think he's more than mature enough at this point!" My dads voice boomed. "I couldn't live with myself if I found out he got hurt training Pokemon! He's not ready!" My mom shouted, equally as loud.
It was weird hearing my mom yell so loudly. It never usually happened. It made me feel really bad, considering they were arguing about me.
I listened to my parents bicker for a little longer before making my presence known.
"...Hello?" I said, rather softly in the doorframe. They didn't seem to hear me so I tried again. "Hello? Mom? Dad?" They finally turned to me. That's when I noticed tears in my moms eyes. I immediately got a sinking feeling in my chest and stomach. She looked at me, then ran into her room with her face buried in her hands. My dad sat down on the couch with a long sigh, and I sat down next to him.
"...were you two arguing about me?" I asked, knowing the answer. I couldn't help but feel responsible.
"I know what you're thinking, and no, it's not your fault. I guess your mom just isn't ready to let you go out into the training world just yet," my dad turned to face me. "She just doesn't see Pokemon the way you and I do. When I left the house to begin training, I know my grandmother wasn't ready either, and I thought I would never leave the house. Finally I convinced her, but only under some conditions. She made me write to her every week, and I had to visit her at least every three months. Heh. I remember when she met my Pokemon for the first time. She thought my Dragonair was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen..."
Dad loved talking about his training career with me. He grew up in Johto and specialized in Dragon Pokemon. They were always his favorite. I had to give him props. One dragon was hard enough to raise, but my dad owned five. His dragons were still in Johto being watched by my dads cousin in Blackthorn City.
My dad seemed lost in thought before he snapped back to reality. "Anyway... Your mom just isn't very fond of Pokemon, no matter how much I try to change her opinion..." We sat in silence for after that. I wasn't very hungry that night either, so I skipped out on dinner. I spent the rest of the night watching Pokemon battles on TV, but I didn't feel as much excitement from them as I usually do when I watch them.
That night I didn't get much sleep either. I kept thinking about how my mom would feel if I left on a training adventure. But it was my dream, and I could finally achieve it. I was going to become a trainer no matter what. That's when I remembered the Pokeball. I looked down at it, and the white button in the center seemed to stare back at me. I wondered if my Pokemon could actually see me. I was contemplating whether or not I wanted to risk sending out my Pokemon now. I decided it probably wasn't the best thing to do right now. I tried forcing myself to sleep but couldn't do it. I tried listening to soothing music, counting Mareep, and managed to recite the Unova national anthem five times, but it didn't work. I only managed to get sleep as the sun was five minutes away from starting to rise, and it was still somewhat dark out. I was then woken up an hour and a half later.
I felt too tired to even function. Now that I actually felt tired, I couldn't sleep. I slowly slugged out of my room and poured myself some cereal. As I walked back to the dining room I noticed a backpack on the table. It looked like it was over stuffed and that it could explode at any second. My dad seemingly appeared out of nowhere behind me and rested his hand on my shoulder. "What do you think?" He questioned. I was too tired to process most of it, so I answered his question with a rather dumber question, "What is it?"
"It's your green card to become a trainer," my dad replied. "Everything in that bag is enough to get you started on your own trainer career. It has some food, clean clothes, soap, and even a few Pokeballs I still had. There are other things too that I packed that you might like." My dad seemed very proud of this bag. I was still trying to process everything in my mind. Was I leaving for my training career now? I was more than ready but...
"What about mom? Does she know about..." I started to trail off. My dad just sighed, looked up at the ceiling, then back at me. "Leave your mom to me. She'll warm up to the idea of you training soon enough, she just won't know it if you don't get out of the house."
I've never heard my dad so sure of anything before. It made me feel horrible. My dad hates upsetting my mom, and I know my mom will flip the entire apartment complex upside down because of how upset she'll be. I'll also feel horrible because I'm just leaving without giving her any warning. I've been waiting for this moment my entire life, and now I'm having second thoughts. My dad just gave me that "Everything will be alright" smile in response to my internal struggle. I knew I had to make a decision soon.
...
The bus going from Jubilife City to Sandgem Town arrived ten minutes later than scheduled on the ticket my dad gave me. I nearly fell asleep waiting for the bus. My sleep deprivation was pretty obvious. It was about a forty five minute bus ride, so I decided to use the time to take a nap. I had a weird dream where giant tempura shrimp were chasing me through a corn maze. I was abruptly woken up by the sounds of the doors opening again. Quickly I searched around looked for signs.
"Sandgem Town" I saw a sign say. I quickly scrambled my things together then rushed out of the bus, and managed to trip as I was stepping down. True elegance on my part. Now I just needed to find "The Pokemon Lab of Sinnoh: Where trainers get their start!"
It said exactly that on the sign across the street. Finding the Lab was pretty easy. Now I just had to go inside, apply for an official trainers license, then I should be good to go, right?
Simple tasks aren't always easy I guess.
