One Step Backwards
Tiny midget tree tops, dull coloured rooftops and rivers in freeze frame were all I saw before me as I stared out the window, my nose pressed against the cold glass. I could hear Minnie and Bella chattering loudly in the cabin. Sawyer was snoring, comfortably sprawled out on a chair. Kieran was reading a trainer's manual complete with worn edges and a faded red cover.
My mind took me back to the conversation I'd had with Kieran this morning.
"We need to get out of here," Kieran proposed as we hiked past the transport agency. I was both looking forward to the trek north to Floaroma town and dreading it. Still on edge about the battle with Roark, I was again unsure of my capabilities as a trainer.
"Okay then, let's stock up and get going," I replied, staring at the Pokemart's blue roof.
"I've got a better idea," Kieran marched over to one of the booths, speaking with the sales person quickly before returning with two tickets. "I knew there was a faster way to get to Eterna! The tickets were pretty cheap too!"
That was how I found myself on a blimp or 'airbus' as the captain liked to call it. It was a fairly large balloon with extra small cabins. Thanks to Kieran I was stuck what seemed like millions of miles above the ground, squished into a cabin with the idiot boy and heading to the land of the sun, closer to my hometown then I would have liked. Turns out Kieran did not acknowledge what he was paying for when he saw the word 'discount'. Instead of Floaroma's welcoming aroma of freshly picked flowers filtering the air and the dense forest looming over our heads, we were headed towards surf, sun and a gigantic and ugly light house that was Sunyshore city.
Sunyshore city was exactly as I expected it to be. Too hot and too sore on my eyes. After making sure Kieran acknowledged my complete disgust with him for bringing me to this desolate place, he gave me a tour of the city. Apparently, he had been here on another occasion.
The best and only good thing about the city was the market. For some odd reason, I really took to the small stalls lining the road. People were selling all sorts of different items, for Pokemon and people alike. I really liked these odd stickers that Kieran called 'seals'. He ended up buying quite a few of them and I watched with amusement as the boy stuck seven star seals onto Bella's oddly coloured Pokeball. They looked tacky and cheap but added a certain flair to the Pokeball, how I did not know.
While deciding what to do after crawling through the market place and picking up quite a few good deals on items for Minnie and Sawyer, Kieran and I found ourselves on the beach. The sand was warm and welcoming, despite my previous thoughts on Sunyshore's beaches and the water looked even more inviting. I watched contently as Minnie, Sawyer, Bella, Neeka the Meditite and Tigg the Poliwag headed straight for the water. Both being water types, Sawyer and Tigg both dove headfirst into the water, clearly happy to be themselves. Bella did seem hesitant about going into the crystal clear water and both Minnie and Neeka nestled themselves into the shallow water lapping at the shoreline.
Smiling, I drew my knees close to my chest, laying my head on my knees. My journey seemed to be going better than I had expected. Things also seemed more enjoyable with others around. I missed Mallory and Gala the twirling Roselia terribly but even Kieran with his odd spiky hair was starting to grow on me.
I half took that back when Kieran nudged me rather hard in my side.
"Hey Stella, look at that," Glaring at Kieran, I noticed that he wasn't looking at me, but rather out to sea. I followed his gaze across the smooth waves. Minnie, Bella and Neeka were still on the shoreline whilst both Tigg and Sawyer had paddled out a little further. I could clearly see Sawyer's yellow fur against the dark blue water; however Tigg was harder to define amongst the surf. There were two other figures who were easily recognizable though. They were floating quite close to Sawyer and Tigg. Both the figures had the yellow fur, extremely similar to Sawyer's own coat. They looked as if they were conversing, I wasn't too sure though.
"Are those other Psyduck?" Kieran said, shielding his eyes from the sun as he peered out across the surf.
"I'm not sure," I replied, although Kieran was right, they did look like Psyduck.
Not particularly worried about the situation, I closed my eyes for a brief moment, knowing that Kieran would be watching the Pokemon. It was only minutes later that I was interrupted again.
I heard the laughing, sneering and quacking before I saw it. My eyes fluttered open just in time to see a boy walk past, grinning at his two Psyduck. His two Pokemon did not look like Sawyer though. After being with the slightly chubby duck for the short time we had been together, I had been under the impression that all Psyduck were like that. But the two Psyduck that sauntered past where Kieran and I sat looked nearly invincible. I looked at Kieran and I knew our minds were thinking alike.
Turning my gaze towards the shoreline, Sawyer and Tigg were both wading back to the sandy beach with Sawyer looking mighty disappointed about something. I watched with confusion as Tigg and Minnie conversed before Minnie, beating her little wings against the air as fast as she could, come streaming over to where I sat with Kieran.
Wide-eyed, Minnie blurted out short sentences. I had no idea what she was going on about but ofcourse I suspected it had something to do with Sawyer's downcast expression as he approached us with the other Pokemon practically dragging him along.
"What happened guys?" Kieran asked. Bella started to babble on to her trainer.
Looking at Kieran, who looked straight back at me with a clueless expression, I realised we were not going to get anywhere with this. I watched the Pokemon for a little longer, noticing how distressed they all looked and how Minnie's frantic eyes searched the crowd swarming the beach. That was when I got an idea.
The Pokemon center located in Sunyshore city seemed no different to any other center I had been in. There were a few more pot plants scattered around the edges of the lobby and obvious sand grains imbedded in the carpet but apart from that, it was welcoming as the only consistent thing in my life at that moment.
I made my way to the counter, spotting the again familiar Nurse Joy seated behind the desk. Even though it was getting creepy that all of the nurse's looked very much alike, I let it slip my mind and focused on the job at hand.
"Nurse Joy?" I meekly attempted to converse with the pink haired nurse.
"Yes? Do you need something?" she replied, giving me a brilliant smile.
"I was wondering if there was anyway to translate a Pokemon's language into something I could understand?"
I briefly noticed a small pink Pokemon sitting at the desk with the nurse who held a white stone. I'd never seen a Pokemon like that before but it looked strangely similar to the Chansey I had seen with the other nurse's.
"Ofcourse," Nurse Joy tapped away at her computer before producing a small microphone. "The Pokemon just talks into this and the translation should come up on my screen; it's unfortunate that we don't have the best technology here at the center but this usually does the trick,"
I motioned to Minnie to talk into the microphone, as she seemed the most frantic about whatever had happened. She landed with a thud onto the counter before her words buzzed into the microphone. Nurse Joy read the translation, her face turning crimson.
"Uhh..." Something seemed very wrong. "You better read this for yourself," The nurse beckoned. I peered at the computer screen that displayed the words Minnie had spoken into the microphone. I felt my mouth drop and my eyes widen.
Turning to Minnie, I was still in shock.
"They said that?"
Minnie just nodded, looking as upset as Sawyer did. Determination flew through my mind as I stormed out of the Pokemon center, leaving behind a confused Kieran and an embarrassed Nurse Joy. My eyes moved through the crowd of people in front of me as I scanned the area for the boy and his dumb-witted Psyduck pair. Kieran had caught up with me by then, the Pokemon following behind him.
"Stella, what's going on?"
I turned to him before glancing down at Sawyer. The Psyduck I'd befriended just nodded sadly at me.
"I have to find those other Psyduck Kieran, the one's we saw earlier,"
I headed for the beach, hoping I'd find the losers there. Kieran's hand caught my arm though.
"But why? What did Minnie say?"
I knew I owed Kieran an explanation. If we were going to be traveling together, our discussion had to be open, right? My eyes narrowing, I whispered to him in a hushed tone.
"Minnie said the two Psyduck were giving Sawyer a hard time about his, uh..."
Kieran still looked expectantly at me. Exasperated by then, I blurted it out. "About his weight issue Kieran!"
Briefly looking towards the Pokemon who stood clustered in a group together, I watched as Sawyer hung his head in shame. I felt heavy headed and found it hard to breathe, for there seemed like there was nothing I could do. I had failed both Sawyer and Minnie.
The sky was a brilliant blue colour the day we left Sunyshore city, though it had never looked so grey through my eyes. I still hadn't managed to confront Sawyer about the incident with the Psyduck, though it had only happened two days ago.
"Shall we head to Veilstone then?" Kieran was eager to get going, telling me he had badges to collect and more Pokemon to catch. He had been really helpful with Sawyer and had tried his best to understand that I had in fact failed both my new friends but I could see he didn't. He didn't believe a trainer could ever fail their Pokemon under such light circumstances. And now that he wanted to travel home, I felt my brain about ready to burst.
"We're not going to Veilstone Kieran,"
Kieran's expression, with Bella wobbling about in his arms, turned into confusion.
"Why not? I want to get the badge; I've heard Maylene's pretty good,"
Stopping, I turned to face Kieran.
"I'm not going to Veilstone and that's that,"
"Stella, if this is about Sawyer, then I don't get it. What does he have to do with Veilstone?"
I almost laughed at Kieran's lack of brain cells but instead kept my sulking kid persona switched on a little longer.
"This has nothing to do with Sawyer Kieran; I just don't want to go home,"
"Oh," Kieran's face softened after that. I'd never told him anything of where I came from and who I used to be. I think he assumed I hailed from Jubilife or the small neighboring towns but I think he understood.
After walking in silence through the thick grass for what seemed like ten hours, we made it to the Valor lakefront. It wasn't too busy, but there were quite a few people with Pokemon at their side and ofcourse tourists. You can always tell them apart from everyone else.
This was where I presumed Kieran and I would split up for the time being, with Kieran and wobbly Bella heading north towards his next badge and I would be heading west for the swamping marsh of Pastoria. I seemed to be right.
"I think with us out of the way, you may be able to help Sawyer properly," Kieran started. "So we'll go to Veilstone and get that badge,"
Kieran almost looked upset to be leaving Sawyer, Minnie and I behind. I nodded slowly, before offering out my hand for him to shake. It seemed the proper way to end things for now. Kieran surprised me though as he stepped forward to give me a brief hug. That was something I wasn't expecting. It felt kind of gross too.
"See you then," he mumbled, before heading onto the northbound path that lead up past Lake Valor.
Lost for words, I turned, grabbing the strap of my bag subconsciously and made my way across the sandy grass, having taken a huge step back from the thing I wanted most in my life.
Together.