Long time no see. Don't really have a lot to say except that I've had this idea for a long time, but have been hesitant to post it. This story is inspired by the song "Somewhere Only We Know" By Keane. One of my favorite songs and I have a lot of memories behind it. Give it a listen if you'd like.
Anyway, I own nothing here. Pokemon, the song, all that stuff, nothing. Don't sue me.
So, here is chapter 1. Enjoy!
Age 6
"Mommy!"
The person in question, Grace Yvonne, closed her rental car door and turned around, before a little girl with honey-blonde hair nearly tackled her in a hug. Momentarily shocked by the display of affection from her young daughter, Grace stared wide-eyed ahead before smiling and wrapping her own arms around the girl. Similar displays from both young boys and girls with their parents happened all around them as the final day at the Oak Summer Camp was ending. Cheers and children loudly regaling their parents with stories of their week at camp were no doubt heard all around the local area.
Grace looked down at her honey-blonde daughter, who was peering up at her with happy tears brimming her azure eyes. "I take it the rest of summer camp went well?" The woman asked, and the young girl nodded furiously, sending a few tears flying down her cheeks.
"You were right, mom!" Serena replied loudly, earning a few jealous smirks from other parents who obviously wished their children would say something similar every once in a while. "I mean, I was right at first, because I didn't like camp just like I said I wouldn't." Grace noticed her young daughter's mood dip ever so slightly while saying that, but like a torrential wind, her great grin reappeared and a spark was in her eyes. "But I was in the woods after getting lost, and a boy came to rescue me!"
"A boy?" Grace said teasingly, choosing to ignore how her daughter supposedly got lost in the woods for the moment. She'd have to ask about that later. "Now now Serena, should I be nervous about this new boy that daringly rescued you?"
Serena tightened her stranglehold on her mom's waist, but her great toothy grin never disappeared. "Mooom! You're embarrassing. You know boys are gross and that I'm going to stay at home with you forever!"
Grace chuckled and gave her daughter's back a pat before prying herself free from her vice grip. It wasn't the first time she had heard her child say that she would stay home forever. Youthful innocence was adorable. Kneeling down to Serena's level, Grace ruffled the girl's long hair by moving her straw hat roughly. "What about this boy that you were just telling me about? Is he gross?"
Serena shook her head, swaying side to side now, her pink dress swinging with her movement and the slight summer breeze. "No, mom. He's different from all the other boys! Instead of teasing me, he actually helped me out of the woods when I hurt my knee!" Serena pointed down at her knee which now had a large band-aid on it, and then excitedly pointed at the handkerchief wrapped around her upper arm like an armband. "He wrapped my knee with this cloth and even let me keep it! He and I played together every day and I called him my best friend, mom!"
Grace was actually taken aback by her daughters' enthusiasm, and didn't respond at first. Serena was usually reserved and rather quiet, and didn't really have any friends her age, except for the neighbor girl that Grace sometimes forced Serena to hang out with whenever she had errands to run into town. Truthfully, the only reason why Serena went to this summer camp in the first place was because Grace was going to be out of town for a week and she couldn't find a babysitter. Her recently divorced ex-husband was on a business trip and her eldest child, Calem, wasn't old enough yet to be a reliable babysitter for a six-year-old girl.
To say the least, it was shocking that Serena had found someone that she could be so close to at this far away summer camp. So close that she would even say that he was her best friend. A small smile graced the woman's face, and she looked around at the other reuniting families. "I'm happy for you, dear. Where is this boy, so I can meet him and tell him how much I appreciate him being so nice to you?"
At this, Serena's once unkillable grin immediately fell into a frown in the way that only a small child could. "He's already gone, mom." She said, dejected. "His mom picked him up already because she had work stuff to do, like you do sometimes."
Seeing her daughter's fallen mood ignited the motherly instinct in Grace and she pulled the young girl into a hug. "I'm sorry Serena. Maybe someday you'll see him again?" She said, knowing that the chances of that happening were almost impossible. Kalos was a long way from Kanto, and the professor has already said that this year was the last year for these Pokémon summer camps, due to lack of funding from the local government.
At this, Serena's mood instantly brightened up again, and she broke the hug while stepping back a few paces to look at her mother. "I know I will, mom! He told me so!"
"Oh?" Grace replied before standing up again. "Is that so?"
Serena nodded furiously. "Yeah! When he rescued me from the scary woods, he told me 'Don't give up until its over', and every day we were together whenever I wanted to give up on something, he would tell me that. I was really sad when his mom was walking away with him back to their house, but he told me that someday we'd meet again, and that I should never give up until the very end!"
Amazed, Grace couldn't help but admit that she was pretty disappointed she couldn't meet this boy. "Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?" Grace asked with a chuckle. Serena laughed and playfully hit her mom on the hip.
"Silly mommy! When do we get to go home?"
"Right now, honey." Grace said before pointing at the car behind her. "I rented this car to pick you up in. So all I have to do is tell Professor Oak that I'm here and ready to pick you up, and we can be on our way."
Without another word, Serena opened the backdoor of the car and plopped herself in it. She rolled down the window so she didn't roast in the summer heat while watching her mom walk towards the crowd of camp staff, easily identifiable by their matching "counselor" shirts. Her mind drifted to the boy who became her best friend over the past week, and of their future meeting that he promised her. With a giggle, she imagined herself meeting him in the woods nearby where they first met, all grown up and tall like real grown-ups. They'd never talk about boring adult things like her parents did, and instead would play in the woods just like they did this week at camp. Her mind drifted off in these fantasies as she waited for her mom to return from talking to the professor.
Meanwhile, Grace spotted the professor chatting idly with one of the other camp staff. Noticing her walk up, the professor quickly excused himself from the conversation and walked towards Grace with a small wave, who replied in kind.
"Good afternoon professor. How did the camp go?" She asked as she stopped in front of the lab coat adorned man.
"It was one of our best years, Mrs. Yvonne." Oak replied with a wistful smile. "It's a shame that we won't be able to have another camp like this again."
Shaking her head in disapproval, Grace looked at the ground. "It is. Serena is nearly a completely different girl after being here for a week. I was hoping that she could do it again next year so that she can be around more children her age and make some more friends."
The professor grinned widely and the nearby counselors who overheard this tidbit echoed his smile. "Serena was a joy to have here. For the first few days, she was really shy and didn't want to participate in any of the activities or games. But at the beginning of day three, we were playing hide and seek and she got a little lost. Thankfully the son of one of my personal friends went out of the way to bring her back and they were nearly inseparable since."
"So I heard." Grace replied with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "Who is this mysterious hero-child that my daughter couldn't stop talking about?"
"Ash Ketchum is his name. I know his mother very well, and he's a fantastic young boy. Always helping others whenever he can. I predict he'll be a great Pokémon trainer when he's old enough."
"Ash." Grace repeated. "Well, I'll certainly have to remember that name." With a smile and another small wave, Grace took a step backwards. "Serena and I have a long flight ahead of us though, so we'd better head off. Thank you for everything, Professor, and tell little Ash's mother that I hope we can meet someday so I can thank her for raising such a child."
Grace began walking off as Professor Oak nodded and crossed Serena's name off of his list of campers who had yet to depart with their families. She arrived at her car with Serena humming happily in the backseat and tapping on the outside of the car through the open window, and soon they were off towards the airport. The rest of the drive consisted of Serena telling story after story of her time at camp and Grace just smiled and nodded along with whatever her daughter was talking about. Ash's name popped up in almost all of the stories, and Grace couldn't help but feel a little sad because of the excitement that was in Serena's voice every time she told some story about her friendship with the young boy. She'd have to find a way to break it to her daughter that the chances of her seeing this boy in the future weren't high.
The excitement of the week finally caught up with Serena on the airplane and she slept almost the entire flight home and the drive from the airport back to Vaniville Town. It was late at night when they arrived back at the Yvonne household, and Grace carried the sleeping Serena inside. Grace laid the honey-blonde girl down in her bed and removed her straw hat carefully before placing it on the bedside table. She tucked her in before kissing her forehead and getting up to get ready for her own much-needed sleep. That is, before a small voice interrupted her as she was closing the door to her daughter's room.
"Mommy…" Serena called out groggily, which prompted Grace to reenter the room and sit down at the foot of her daughter's bed.
Scrunching her face up from fatigue, Serena adjusted herself so that she was facing her mom. "When will I see Ash again?" She said with half-closed eyelids.
Sighing, Grace looked at the wall to avoid Serena's expecting gaze.
"I guess I have to break it to her now…" She thought and returned her eyes to the young girl.
"Serena, honey, I don't know if you'll ever see him again."
There were a few seconds of silence as Serena pondered on her mom's words, no doubt hindered by her fatigue. "Yes, I will, mommy." She eventually replied. "He promised. You told me we shouldn't make promises we can't keep, right?"
Biting her lip and glancing away, Grace continued. "That's true, honey, but sometimes people make promises they can't keep even though they shouldn't."
"But he's my best friend, mom. I need to see him again." Serena replied, her voice teetering on the edge of becoming emotional.
Grace put a hand on Serena's head, running her hand through her honey-blonde hair gently to calm her and offer motherly love and support. "I know Serena. Maybe someday you'll meet him again." She paused, trying to carefully choose her next words as to not upset her tired child and still convey the message she needed to give. "Just…don't get your hopes up, okay? Kanto is far away from here, and you probably won't ever see him again. Be thankful for all the fun that you did have with Ash. I don't want you to spend a lot of time hoping for something that probably won't happen. I'm sorry. At least you'll always have me with you?"
It was silent in the room for a few seconds once more, and Grace was worried that she might have pushed Serena over the edge and she was about to have an upset and tired young child to deal with. Those were never fun to be around, especially when she was exhausted herself. Instead of crying or getting angry though, Serena simply giggled groggily, much to Grace's shock.
"I know you're just messing with me, mommy. He told me to never give up until the very end, so I'm not giving up. I'll see him someday." She said before finally being claimed by sleep.
Grace stared at her daughter for a minute, mouth agape, before composing herself and exiting the room. She absentmindedly got ready for her own much-needed slumber, her thoughts circling around this mysterious and kind boy—Ash—and how he could have affected young Serena so much.
Not that it was a bad thing. No, Grace hadn't seen Serena that happy since before the divorce with her husband and they were a family. Now ten-year-old Calem lived with his father a fifteen-minute drive away and Serena moped around all day, preferring to be by herself instead of playing with other children. Then there was the fruitless rhyhorn training that Grace had been trying to teach her daughter, who was very vocal about how much she hated it.
Sighing, Grace laid down in her bed and sunk into the mattress. Never before had she appreciated the ability to sleep on her own personal mattress instead of the hotel beds she had been forced to sleep on for the past week. With her mind focused on how she was going to get Serena back into rhyhorn riding practice after a week-long break from it, Grace started to drift off to sleep. Right before sleep claimed her at last, she thought she heard a laugh coming from her daughter's room. Figuring Serena must have been having a dream, she didn't think anything of it, until she heard her daughter laugh out the name of that boy she met during summer camp. Smiling to herself, Grace silently thanked Ash for being there for her daughter during her time of need, and fell asleep herself.
"I won't give up, Ash…" The young voice dreamily said into the night. Then silence ruled the house as mother and daughter slept, nothing making a sound except for the ticking of clocks and the sound of nocturnal pokémon through the open windows...
Ya know, I technically have this entire story already written. All the way up to the end. Just have to decide how Imma post it. I could do it chapter by chapter, or I could throw the entire thing up on here. Doesn't really matter I guess. I thought I'd add a little bit of realism to the Pokemon world too. You ever wonder about the economics of the Pokemon world? All that funding for these expensive pokemon projects has to come from somewhere. So I figured that a summer camp running out of funds wouldn't be too far out of the ordinary.
Capitalization rules for the whole Pokemon universe confuse me too, as everyone has differing opinions, so forgive me for any mistakes.
Anyway, I'm off. Thanks for making it this far!
Twilly