On the Road To...?

MADDIE: AGE 16

NOAH: AGE 10

After Maddie made up with her little boyfriend for the billionth time, he finally managed to stay for a whole meal without being chased off or totally embarrassing himself. Oh, and for the record, I don't care what she says. Grant's totally her boyfriend or she at least wants him to be. I mean, come on, it's pretty obvious they like each other. Oh well, my sister's kind of oblivious like that. My mom claims it's because she's like my dad, but I think it's just a Maddie thing. Excuse me, I mean Madeline. Blah.

Yeah, so anyways, the day I had been waiting for since, like, I knew what it was, had finally arrived. I could finally go on my own Pokemon adventure and kick some serious butt. I knew my dad was the Pokemon Master and all, but one day I would achieve my own dream and take his place, continuing the reign of the Ketchums.

For this special occasion, my mom had actually let me pick out what I wanted to wear without criticizing my choice, something she didn't do very often. After much deliberation, I had decided on jeans, a white shirt and my dad's old hoodie he wore in Hoenn. (I had always thought it was really cool) I was almost tempted to wear a hat so I would feel a part of my crazy hat-wearing family, but I decided against it, instead choosing to use the money on a good pair of tennis shoes. Since I was probably going to walking everywhere, I wanted to make sure I was comfortable.

Amazingly while I was gone getting my Pokemon from Uncle Gary, my dad hadn't spent his time pacing back and forth worrying over how long I was taking. If anything, I was relieved that he wasn't freaking out like he had when Maddie left. Unfortunately, she and her stupid boyfriend were still here. Since it was so close to me leaving, she had stuck around and, after getting the okay from his parents, Grant had stayed in the Pallet Town center while he waited. My mom had offered for him to stay at our house, but my dad quickly nixed that idea much to my dismay. I was looking forward to interrogating him and sharing embarrassing things about my sister.

"I'm home!" I yelled, opening the front door. I heard the kitchen chair scratch against the floor as my mom stood up and met me in the hallway.

"Hi, sweetie," she greeted me. "What did you pick? You picked a Squirtle, right?"

My poor mom. She was still dead set on me picking a water Pokemon just because her and I had been deemed similar. While people said Maddie was the spinning image of my dad, I was the spinning image of my mom.

"Sorry, Mom," I apologized. She frowned a bit, but that quickly faded away as she smiled at me still interested in what I had picked. "I picked a Charmander."

"That's great, Noah. I just hope that when it evolves, you have better luck with it than your father did. Thankfully you aren't irresponsible like he was."

"I heard that, Mist," my dad said walking up behind her.

"Well it's true," she teased him.

"Is not."

"Is, too," she huffed, setting her hands on her hips.

I just walked into the kitchen where my sister was finishing up breakfast. Don't get me wrong, I loved my parents, but they really did act like kids sometimes. They seriously could find anything-and I mean anything- to argue about. The other day they even started arguing about that darn bike again. Seriously? I was considering just buying my mom a bike and telling my dad to just shut it and and say it was from him. Anyways, the weird thing was that, somewhere in the middle of their arguing, they would suddenly start flirting with each other and than end up being all lovey dovey. When I had tried to ask my Uncle Brock about it, he just shrugged, telling me that my parents were weird like that. I had to agree with him.

"What'd you pick?" Maddie asked me, looking up from her bowl of cereal.

"A Charmander," I reported.

"Ooo, that's cool," she awed. "Looks like that's one Pokemon. Now all you need is...is...I forget how many there are."

"I don't know either, but you are mistaken Miss Madeline," I corrected her.

"Don't call me that," she snapped. "And how am I mistaken. I'm can count, dimwit."

"In case you've forgotten, you promised me a Growlithe if I kept your secret from your little boyfriend," I snickered as she starting fuming in anger. She couldn't deny what she had promised me. "Don't worry, though, I already got it from Uncle Gary."

"You..." she threatened, shaking her fist at me, but she had nothing to say.

"All right you two," my mom said as her and my dad walked into the kitchen.

And just as my parents were walking back into the kitchen, the dreaded doorbell rang.

"That's Grant!" my sister beamed, hopping of her chair, but not before she stopped at the door and tried to backtrack. "I mean I'll get the door."

I just shook my head at her retreating figure, thinking how pitiful it was for her to continue denying what we all knew. Sure enough, though, my sister walked back into the kitchen, Grant following behind her. Since we were all planning on leaving today, he was all packed up and ready to go. Thankfully, though, I wouldn't have to travel with them as I was going to go on my OWN journey.

"You kids ready?" my mom asked, grabbing her camera.

Ugh...I hated pictures. Just this once, because I loved my mom, I would put up with it. After this, I wouldn't know how long it would be before I was able to come back and visit her. Although I was ready to go on my journey really badly, I couldn't help feeling a little sad at the thought of not seeing my mom and dad everyday. It had been weird at first when Maddie left, but now there would be nobody. Similar to when Maddie left, we took a bunch of pictures with each family member and this time, for the family photo, Grant took it for us instead of Pikachu.

"Now make sure you and Noah call us when you get to Violet City," my dad instructed us.

Wait a minute. I wasn't even going to Johto, so how was I supposed to call him with Maddie there. I think my sister was thinking the same thing because she gave my dad a really confused look.

"But we're going to Johto and Noah's staying in Kanto. We were going to split up once we got to Viridian," Maddie explained. "How are we supposed to call you together?"

My dad looked at us kind of funny and then turned to my mom who looked just as puzzled. "You didn't tell them, Mist?" he asked.

"I thought you did," she whispered back, although it wasn't really a whisper because we could clearly hear them.

"Didn't tell us what?" I asked, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Your father wants you to travel with Maddie for a while," my mom told me.

"WHAT?" Maddie and I shouted at the same time.

"That's not fair, Dad!" she wailed.

"Yeah! You let her go off by herself, so why can't I?" I demanded to know.

"I really want you to travel with Maddie, Noah," he told me. "She could really help you out."

Help me out? Yeah. Freaking. Right. I knew EXACTLY what my dad was up to. I was only 'having' to travel with Maddie so I could be his little spy who would report back to him about Maddie and Grant. This was not fair. I wanted to go on my own journey without my sister. All she would do anyway is complain and get us lost in the woods. Plus, it was pretty clear she didn't want me around. I had a feeling I knew why, too.

"You can't fool me, Dad. I know exactly what you're up to." I glared at him, hoping that maybe I could change his mind. My efforts were futile, though.

"Yeah!" Maddie echoed. She had no idea what he was doing. "I don't have time to help him."

"She's right, Dad," I said agreeing with her. She seemed kind of shocked that I had agreed with her. "She'll be too busy hooking up with her boyfriend." I just loved making my sister and Grant feel really awkward. It always got a reaction from my dad, too, which was equally satisfying. He was WAY too protective of my sister sometimes. This whole me going with her my prime example.

"You little twerp! This is all your fault!" she sneered. "I should have taken you back to the baby store when I had the chance."

"Babies don't come from the baby store, Maddie," I rolled my eyes. "Even I know that."

"You know what I mean."

"Maddie! Noah! Enough!" my dad raised his voice. "Maddie, Noah's traveling with you, and Noah, if you want to go on your Pokemon journey, you will go with Maddie. End of discussion. There will be no debating this." So much for being the cool dad.

"Fine," I grumbled.

This was not how I intended my journey to be, but if I wanted to go on one, this was my only option. At least now I could maybe take the time to tell Grant all those embarrassing stories about Maddie I had planned to earlier. So as we set off for Viridian, Maddie and I glaring at each other while Grant remained silent, I couldn't help but think how much this really sucked. I really hated being the younger sibling. Even though my mom was also the youngest, she at least had gotten to go on her own journey. Now that I think about it, I should have just stormed off then and there, proclaiming that I would not return until I became a master of some kind. It had worked for my mom , so why not me? As we reached the edge of the forest that led to Viridian where we would catch our ferry, I started plotting my plan of how I would ditch my sister and go on my journey. I didn't care what my dad had said; I was fine on my own. It was my sister who needed me more than I needed her.