Chapter 31
"Sleepless Night"
I couldn't sleep. I didn't know how long I had just been lying there, but I still couldn't sleep.
This is stupid…I'm tired…I want to go to sleep……
I rolled onto my stomach and hid my face in my pillow, hoping that might help…It didn't.
"Mewww…" I groaned.
I was getting annoyed, and I was very tired. It wasn't a good combination. I decided to give up on sleeping. I sat up and looked around. Everyone else was still asleep.
It's not fair…How come they're all still sleeping like babies and I can't even start to fall asleep!?
I got up and started walking around…I was getting bored too…and even worse combination…
If I can't sleep, I might as well go out and do something… I decided.
I left my room. The house was dark, which was expected…It did feel odd though…for some reason……I headed to the stairs, but I stopped by Mom's room……
…Mom?
I did a double-take and pressed my ear against the door. It was very quiet, but I could hear soft, sad noises coming from inside.
Is she crying…?
I wanted to go inside and find out, but I didn't want to disturb her if she didn't want to be disturbed……and I got a strong feeling that she wanted to be alone……
I backed up slowly and walked down the stairs. I was still getting used to the steps being so big, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Once I got down there, I realized there wasn't really anything to do…Except maybe watch TV, but I didn't feel like doing that…
For lack of other ideas, I went outside. The cool night air felt nice on my fur…I glanced around. It was a cloudy night, but I could still see the stars clearly in between them…They shone brightly without the full moon to outdo them…I felt more relaxed outside…I'd forgotten what being cramped inside of a house could do to you…
I started to walk around my house. The flowers in the garden had their petals closed up, but they were still beautiful…
Mom's a really good gardener…
Thinking of Mom reminded me of what I had heard in her room…
I wonder why she's crying……
I could think of a million possibilities…but how was I supposed to know which was right?
I kept walking until I saw the ash tree…
D+G…
I'd always wondered about that little carving……The letters "D+G" were written and circled by a clumsy heart…It was worn over the years, but still clearly readable……
……Deleila and Giovanni?
I blinked. Suddenly, everything became clear to me.
That's why she was crying……She does love him…………
I stared up at the ash tree. It was my favorite tree in the whole world. I knew every branch like the back of my hand. From the top, you could see all of Pallet Town…
I glanced back at the small carving.
…but she loves me more……
I bit my lip as a single tear escaped from me.
I looked up at the tree again.
* * *
"What about that one?" I asked Mom, tugging at her sleeve and pointing to the tree.
"Oh that one?" she asked, smiling, "That's an ash tree."
"Huh?!"
She smiled warmly. "That's right. You both have the same names."
I stared at her, then looked at the tree and back again.
"Wow…" I said in awe.
She chuckled. "Don't forget this, my little Ash tree…You may be a sapling right now, but some day, you'll grow and sprout into a tree even bigger and stronger than that one."
I was suddenly scared.
"Mom! I don't wanna be a tree!" I cried, hugging her arm tightly.
She laughed and carefully pulled me off. "Don't be silly, Ashura…You won't actually turn into a tree! I'm just saying that one day, you will grow up into a man…just like saplings turn into trees."
"……Oh."
"Now go bring me my watering can. The petunias look thirsty."
I laughed. I couldn't tell when flowers looked thirsty, but Mom could. She was good at that too. I fetched the heavy watering can, sloshing water all over the lawn in the process. She laughed again.
"Well, it looks like the grass isn't thirsty anymore!" she said.
"Heh…" I agreed.
I gave it to her and she sprinkled the water over the flowers in her garden.
"…They're not thirsty anymore?" I asked her.
She paused, as if listening to the flowers. Then she smiled at me.
"Nope! They're not thirsty anymore!" she said, "Now come on, Ash, there are more flowers out here that are thirsty!
"Okay!"
* * *
I had climbed up the tree to my favorite branch. The one where you could see all of Pallet Town from. I'd never come up there at night before. The whole town seemed to be covered with a blanket of darkness that was uninterrupted except for the two or three streetlights in the entire town. One of the streetlights was over the same place where I had usually met Gary or Mayo before heading off to do something else…
* * *
"May!? What are you doing here!?"
She stuck her tongue out at him.
"I'm talking to Asha. What's it look like?"
"Well, go away! Come on, Ash. Let's go."
"Um…" I began.
"I'm coming too!" Mayo interrupted.
"You are not!" Gary said, "Go home and leave us alone!"
"You never let me do anything with you guys!" she complained, stomping her foot.
"…Gary, I don't see why she can't-"
"Ash, tell her to go home!" Gary said to me.
"What…? But…She's your sister!"
"So? I already tried. She won't listen to me. It's your turn."
Hesitantly, I looked over at Mayo. She was giving me the meanest face she could muster, as if daring me to tell her to go home. I sighed.
"Mayo, I don't think you'd like this anyway. We're going down to the creek to catch a fish Pokémon."
"Why wouldn't I like that!?" she demanded, "I love Pokémon just as much as you two do! I'm coming and that's that. Come on! Look out creek! Here we come!"
She started marching off in the direction of the creek. I turned to Gary and shrugged.
"I tried."
Gary looked seriously ticked off, but he tried to hold it in.
"…Let's go……Maybe we can catch a Gyarados and feed her to it."
I forced myself to laugh, even though I was scared that he might actually do something like that…
* * *
I sighed. There may have been plenty of Magikarps in that creek, but we couldn't catch any…Forget what anyone says. Their Splash attack is vicious if you're eight years old and trying to keep them inside an old, falling apart fish net…
* * *
"Hold on tight!!" Gary cried.
We both held onto the pole with all our combined strength.
"Let me help!" Mayo offered.
"No way, Mayo!" Gary said through gritted teeth, "This is a man's job!"
"Er…Yeah…" I muttered, trying to hold on tight.
"What!?" she asked, "You've gotta be kidding! You guys aren't men!"
"Kaaarrrp!"
It happened fast. A Magikarp that was still in the creek Splashed us and left us drenched and the pole harder to grip. Then it jumped up and Tackled the pole that had the other wiggling fish inside. That was a strong Tackle. It caught me off guard. I lost my balance and felt myself slipping. Then the Magikarp Tackled again, and I fell in.
"Whoa!!" Gary called out.
I don't think he noticed right away what was going on. There was a splash to my right as the net, the pole, and the Magikarp all fell in the water with me.
"Ash!!"
"Asha!!!"
The current of the small stream was swift and I got dragged under. I bumped into a Magikarp or two, but at least I was able to hold my breath. I didn't get dragged along very far before my foot got caught on something. I opened one eye to see my foot was being held back by the pole of the fishing net. I kicked free then was quickly swept away by the current.
I knew how to swim. At the very least, I had that on my side. I swam up until I breached the water and gasped for breath.
"Ash!!! Ash, are you okay!!?" Gary called.
He and Mayo were both running along the side of the stream.
"Yeah!" I coughed.
"Hurry up and swim to shore!" he told me.
I tried to do what he said, but the water was only getting faster and stronger. I didn't think I could make it.
"Try to grab onto something!" Mayo suggested.
I kept swimming towards my left, but there was nothing to grab onto, and I was still going backwards.
Gary looked around in frustration. Suddenly he gasped loudly.
"Hurry up Ash!!!" he exclaimed, "There's a waterfall!!!"
I glanced behind me, but got knocked underneath for a moment. When I resurfaced, I could hear the roar of the waterfall.
"What do I do!?" I cried.
"Swim!!" Gary shouted.
I swam as hard as could, hoping to outdo the current. Before I knew it, there was nothing to swim against anymore. It was just me and the open air.
"ASH!!!"
"Asha!!!! No!!"
I closed my eyes and prayed for the best. I could still feel the water spraying painfully against me, and my breath got caught somewhere else along the way. When I hit the water again, I felt as if I had gotten hit by a car, or something else of about the same size. The suction of the waterfall pulled me under, and when I tried to breath, I got nothing but a mouthful of water…I thought I was going to die……
* * *
I winced at that memory. I was very lucky to have survived that…
You were even luckier to have survived twice, I reminded myself.
That had been the same waterfall that I'd jumped off to save Pikachu and myself from the Spearows on my first day of training…I'd figured, if I could survive falling off before, one more time couldn't hurt…
I sighed…I was really lucky…
…It wasn't all luck though……Didn't Gary jump in and save you? Was that luck?
…No…but having Misty pull me out was…
I smiled.
I'm sitting here talking to myself……I sure have come a long way, haven't I?
I looked up at the sky. The clouds had begun to fade away, and the stars were easier to see.
Hey…There's Onix……and Pikachu……
* * *
Pikachu was gone, and as long as it was still dark, there was nothing I could do about it…
At least Richie let me use one of his sleeping bags. It must be heavy for him to always carry it around though…
I heard him laugh and I glanced over, wondering what on earth could be funny at a time like this…He was staring at the sky and pointing at different places.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Mm? Okay. See what Pokémon you can see when you connect up the stars."
Connect up the stars?
He pointed out two chains of stars side by side.
"Uh…It looks like…an Onix!"
"Yeah…Now connect those two bright ones to the ones down over there."
That one wasn't as hard.
"Wow! It's Pikachu!"
"Right!"
"…I guess you think about Pokémon as much as I do…" I said.
"…Mm-hm. Pokémon are amazing. I think about their different personalities and strengths and weaknesses so much that I even dream about them!"
"Yeah?" I asked.
I looked at the Pikachu face in the sky. I wished that I knew how my Pikachu was doing…
"Yeah. And I'm gonna be a great trainer!"
I looked over at him, surprised.
That's it?
"…Well, I'm going to be the greatest Pokémon trainer in the entire planet!" I said with a laugh.
"The entire planet!?" Richie asked in surprise.
"That's right," I nodded.
"……It'll never happen," Richie said.
"Huh?" I asked.
What does he mean by that…?
"Cause I'm gonna be the greatest trainer in the entire galaxy!"
"Entire galaxy? Well, I'm gonna be the best in the universe!"
We both laughed at that. It was fun to imagine that that might actually come true.
* * *
…But it's not gonna come true, right? Why would it come true?
I yawned. I had forgotten how tired I was.
"…pidg…"
I glanced over at another branch. A small family of Pidgeys were sleeping soundly.
I should go to sleep too…
I hopped down branch by branch until I finally landed on the ground. I went back inside. I paused by Mom's door again…There were no unusual sounds coming from inside this time.
Guess she fell asleep.
I went to my room, settled myself, then finally fell asleep…