Golden Rivals, Silver Friends

Chapter Two:

The Beginning

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Luckily, I managed to reach the Mt. Silver Pokémon Center before midnight, so I didn't have to camp out until morning.

"Ahh..." I lay down on the cool sheets. Even though I usually came across as a tough-as-nails Pokémon Trainer, I had to admit that nothing beat a soft bed at night.

I folded my arms behind my head and stared up at the ceiling, looking at the shadows that the bed and furniture cast from the light of the bedside lamp. It reminded me of being at home, in bed, looking at the familiar sights around my room when it was dark...

I sighed, turned the lamp off, and closed my eyes.

I couldn't stop thinking about that half-faded memory.

What happened? In fact, I wondered, when did it happen?

In the darkness of the room, I tried to remember...

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I was little back then... it had to have been a long time ago, especially since I could barely remember any of this...

Where had I met him? How long ago was it?

And what was I going to say?--

-- my eyes shot open. I couldn't think of it.

Sighing, I relaxed again. Maybe I shouldn't try to think too hard about that one incident.

Maybe the best place to begin... was back when everything started...

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The first time I met Satoshi, the entire town of Masara was throwing a huge celebration. Why? Because of his birth, of course.

Masara Town, as any visitor can plainly see, is a tiny little speck on the map. In fact, Grandpa's laboratory takes up nearly half the land it sits on. Compared to my hometown, Tokiwa City, which lies just to the north of Masara, Satoshi basically comes from nowhere. However, because of its size, Masara has a sort of rural, cozy small-town atmosphere that the big cities like Tokiwa just can't pull off.

In a place like Masara, you live virtually next door to everyone in the city, and everybody knows you and calls you by your first name. (Well, everyone except Grandpa, who everyone simply called Ookido Hakase as a sign of respect. After all, who wouldn't want to get on the famous Pokémon Professor's good side?)

Since my family lived so close to the town and Grandpa, we made a lot of trips there. Of course, I was just a baby then, so I can't remember much of what we did. All I know is that Nanami, my older sister, says that every other week, we, Mom, and Dad would pack up the car and spend the weekend at Grandpa's. In this way, we got to know everyone who lived in Masara.

One of those people was a young woman named Hanako (who we referred to, like everyone else, by her first name). She was a good friend of Grandpa, who looked after her almost like she was our older sister.

When I was almost a year old, Hanako had a baby. So, of course, the entire town of Masara had to throw a wild party to celebrate.

Since I was just a baby, I don't remember much of the actual party itself. But whenever I ask, Nanami and Grandpa always tell me how much I wanted to see the baby I kept hearing about, until finally Hanako came to me with it in her arms.

It was a little boy, like me... and his name was Satoshi.

According to Hanako, Nanami, and Grandpa, Satoshi and I hit it off, right from the start. How a couple of babies can "hit it off," I'll never know, but for whatever reason, every time we visited Grandpa for the next couple of years, we always made a stop by Hanako and Satoshi's house.

When I was around three years old, those "visits" ceased. But this wasn't the reason for my broken friendship with Satoshi.

The visits stopped... because my residency in Masara Town became permanent.

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At this point in my reminiscing, I felt a twinge of sadness rise up in me. Even though I was still a toddler, I could still faintly recall what happened that spring...

It was at night, and Nanami was babysitting me for our parents while they went out to do some errands. It was raining rather hard outside, but no one thought anything of it...

Back in the present, I drew the covers around me. This memory hurt me, but I didn't mind reviving it every now and then. Maybe it was because I was too young to fully understand what had happened... maybe because it was one of the biggest impacts on my life...

... maybe because I didn't want to ever forget my parents' faces.

Though the images are a little foggy now, I remember our neighbors coming over and hugging us, while Nanami looked pale and scared. Early the next morning, as soon as the rain stopped, Grandpa rushed over and silently took us back to his house in Masara.

I wouldn't understand until much later, but...

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Nanami was sitting at the table, crying. Grandpa was there, his arms around her.

The floor was cold to my bare feet as I walked in, thoroughly confused.

"Where is Mommy? Where is Daddy?"

Nanami stared at me, then without a word bent down, scooped me up, and held me tightly.

But I didn't understand...

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... my parents died that night in a car crash.

Grandpa was our closest relative, and he obtained custody of us. With that, we moved from Tokiwa to Masara, where all of the people welcomed us with open arms.

If anything good came from that night...

Maybe it was because she was little more than a child herself, or because she didn't have any parents, either... or maybe it was because Satoshi and I were nearly the same age, and she could visualize Satoshi in my position... For whatever the reason, Hanako always let me come over to her house whenever I wanted to.

When I was there, there were always dozens of snacks, freshly made, and plenty of hugs. That house became a second home to me, with all of its familiar sights and smells, the garden, the porch, and everything within kept neat and tidy (except for Satoshi and myself, of course). Hanako made herself like a surrogate mother to me, becoming that person that neither Grandpa nor Nanami could manage to be...

... and in that way, Satoshi became my brother.

My best friend.

Someone I could trust.

Someone I could tell everything to.

Someone I could...

... love.

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I felt myself growing more and more sleepy as the minutes ticked by. Before the darkness enveloped me and I drifted off into a well-deserved slumber, a question arose in me...

'Why did that all end...?'

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I was walking from my house. My house, not Satoshi's.

I had to... do something. I was going somewhere to do something...

I used the gate this time, instead of jumping the fence like I usually did. My feet were like bricks scraping against the sidewalk, unwillingly taking me somewhere...

I had no choice, though. I had to... I had to...?

What was it...?

But as soon as I strayed to that corner of my mind again, something shut me out, keeping me out as well as an iron door would.

Something was hiding from me...

... or...

... was I hiding it from myself?