Chapter Eight: Racing Minds
Leigh and the children were camping again. They had decided to take a southwest route out of Gooseberry Town towards a popular port city which was called Brineville. It was a bit out of the way on their cross-country journey, but Kata was avid on walking along the beach. The route went straight through Brine Forest, and Kata, Keiji, Travis and Leigh had set up camp right at its edges. Travis actually helped this time because he wanted to get back on Kata's good side.
Keiji was curled up in his sleeping bag, trying to not let himself blink so that he wouldn't fall asleep. He was tired, but convinced he was to stay awake in case Travis tried to pull another Contremo-theft incident. Earlier his mind had been racing of what Travis' real motives were for stealing his Rattata and what Leigh was hiding from them. Keiji and his sister had agreed to not ask questions of Leigh, but that didn't mean that he didn't have any. But now, all he could focus on was staying awake, keeping his drooping eyelids from shutting. Keiji pulled the edge of his thick green sleeping bag over his shoulders, and then, without even realizing it, fell asleep.
Travis' mind was racing, too, but he wasn't conscious. Images of when he still lived at home kept haunting him. He would hear his father's voice booming in his ears – "You're too young, you wouldn't understand". Over and over he relived a conversation between his parents that had occurred late at night when he was supposed to be sleeping. The memory was burned into his head. He had woken up, tiptoed to his bedroom door and creaked it open a crack. His mother and father were discussing Travis becoming a Pokemon trainer. They were happy – no, joyous – that their son would no longer be 'burdening' them. Travis realized his parents didn't care about him; they would be just fine without him; he wasn't important to them. It was a small event, but Travis would never forget it.
The twelve-year-old boy woke himself from the all-too-real nightmares, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead and tears from his cheeks. He had gasped rather loudly when he snapped out of his dreams, stirring Kata who was next to him and Leigh who was across the tent, but would be woken by the slightest noise. She didn't appreciate being a light sleeper, but she realized that listening in on the late-night conversations that seemed to always go on while they were camping seemed to have her gain a wealth of information.
Kata realized that it was Travis who had awoken immediately. He must have been having bad dreams again. She sat up and looked to her left, where just as she had expected, Travis was shivering and sweating simultaneously. Kata glanced around the tent – Keiji and Leigh appeared to be still sleeping. She caught Travis' glance and smiled. She didn't smile because she was glad that Travis was in distress, but because she wanted to remind him that everything was going to be okay.
"Nightmares?" Kata whispered as she leaned in closer to Travis so that he would be able to hear. Leigh could only make out parts of the word, but could figure out what she was asking because it was quite logical to ask if someone was having nightmares when they woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. Travis nodded slowly, still shivering and sweating.
"Yes… it was about… them again," he breathed to Kata in reply. Kata inclined her head in understanding and leaned in closer, wrapping her left arm around Travis while stroking his face with her right hand. Travis squeezed her in response, draping his head over her shoulder. Kata stared past Travis and looked straight at Leigh. Leigh's stomach lurched; had she realized that she wasn't sleeping? But soon Kata's glance drifted away, and after Kata and Travis had exchanged some words of comfort they fell back to sleep.
Leigh, still awake, wondered who 'they' were, and why Kata would give such an embrace to a boy who had stolen her twin brother's Pokemon. In fact, Leigh found everyone's reasons for traveling in the group quite amusing. She was only there because of a gut feeling Keiji had, Travis was only there because Kata pitied him, Travis was only there because he fancied Kata, Keiji was only there because he wanted to protect Kata, and Kata was only there because she wanted to be protected.
Leigh began to wonder if the group would become closer or drift farther apart, but she didn't linger on the thought because soon, she too was consumed by sleep.