Back in Unova
As soon as I had gotten off of the ferriswheel, I had shouted a quick 'goodbye' and 'thanks!' to Rosa. I transported to my room, thanking my abra as I stared to pack. Rushing, I almost forgot one of the most important things—my picture of Hilda and me together. Usually, I had it in my pocket, but I had looked at it a lot last night, and set it down on my night stand. Asking my abra to transport me once more, I got a ticket for the next boat to Kalos. And, of course, the boat wasn't leaving until tomorrow morning. So I went to Driftveil City's pokecenter to stay for the night.
In the morning, I took a quick shower, throwing on my clothes. I pulled my long hair back into a sloppy ponytail. Skipping breakfast, I started biking to the boat. I could eat there. It took me five minutes to get there, and I was panting. I felt like I looked like a likitung.
"Ticket?"
"Right here," I said, handing him the slip of heavy paper. He punched holes in it, stamped an 'OK' on the front, and handed it back.
"You can enter now."
"Thank you," I said, rushing on to the boat and to my designated cabin. I dumped my bags on the bed, and then went to find the cafeteria. I saw the breakfast buffet and got in line, filling up my plate, not paying attention to what was going on it. I went and sat down in the corner, next to a window. I started eating, slipping into autopilot. As I watched the waves, my mind drifted back to the week I had spent with Hilda and her friends before I left for Johto.
It was a terrific summer week. Hilda had just entered the Hall of Fame, choosing not to take the title of Champion. We had all spent a few days in Driftveil City, and we were heading for Nimbasa City. The amusement park we chose to go to was the one where I had rode the ferriswheel with Hilda. New stalls had been set up, increasing the variety of things a person could buy. Stopping at one particular one, I saw many types of cameras. One had a special type of film—you wound the camera up, and it would immediately print the picture out for you. Since it wasn't too expensive, I decided to buy it.
Once we got done looking at all of the stalls, we went to ride some of the coasters. This is when I started taking pictures. One while we were in line, one right before the coaster took off, and one right after the ride was over, with a green-faced Cheren in the background. We rode a few more that were less intense, and I was actually able to get a picture in the middle of one of them.
After that, we split up, because Bianca and Cheren wanted to take a break to eat and drink. I took a picture of them waving, looking back at Hilda and me as they ran off. Now that we were alone, we decided to ride the ferriswheel again. Climbing into the cart, we sat on opposite sides; legs stretched out and almost intertwined. As the wheel started to move, I took a picture of her.
"Let me hold it, I want to take one of you," she said.
I handed it to her, and she took one. I stood up, and then sat down next to her. Taking the camera back, I snapped two pictures of us. Shaking each one to make it develop a bit faster, I handed one to her. "Now we have a picture of each other," I said. "We should let Bianca and Cheren take one together, too," I added.
She snorted. "Maybe then they'll actually see that they were meant to be together."
I blushed at that. I felt the same way about her as Cheren did for Bianca. I don't know if she feels like that about me, though. That's one of the reasons I took a picture with her—I was leaving soon, and I wanted something to remember her by. And I hope she would remember me by that picture, too.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." We stepped off the ride, and went to find the others. We made them take a picture together, and Cheren wound up kissing Bianca's cheek for both of them.
We all went back to Nuvema Town. I spent the night at Cheren's, talking with him about many things, including how we felt about the girls, which was a bit of an awkward conversation. I was still getting used to talking about those kinds of feelings. I spent the next two days in that town, hanging out with the trio.
Then, the night after the second day, I left. Before that, I wrote a goodbye note, telling Hilda that I was leaving Unova, not telling her where I would go. I silently entered her room, leaving the note on her bedside table with some of the pictures I had taken. Then, on a whim, I left my necklace with her.
My heart ached as I left, but I resisted the urge to stop and turn back.
I realized that I had gotten lost in my memories for quite some time now. Everyone that had been in here for breakfast when I arrived had been replaced with other people. Putting my empty, dirty dishes in their designated place, I left. Not knowing what else to do, I went and sat on the deck. I watched pokemon fly above the boat; some of them belonging to trainers who were letting them enjoy the sea air. I smiled at that. I was glad that I had been wrong about trainers. I loved seeing the bonds between a pokemon and its trainer.
Some pokemon had initiated battles without their trainers; when the trainers caught on they started giving commands to them, lazily shouting upwards. When the pokemon started looking tired, they were called down from the sky and told to rest.
I sat there until I noticed my stomach growling again. And with that, I went to eat again.
In Kalos…
Hilda, the girl that had shown up last night, was staring out the window. Originally from Unova, she had traveled through different regions searching for the guy that looked like Wally. The guy she talked about could talk with pokemon, and had grown up thinking all trainers were abusive. However, with the way they continued to meet up, she had taught him the truth about trainers. She said he helped her become a better trainer, too, since the way he talked made her re-evaluate her bonds with her pokemon. To me, it seemed obvious that she loved him, but I decided I wouldn't ask. It was probably a sensitive subject. We went downstairs to let her check into our room, and then we went to bed.
Now that it was morning, I was spending some time with Brendan. I loved this boy so much. "Hey, Bren?"
"Yes, sweetie?" he replied.
"I want to help Hilda find this N dude she's looking for, if she will accept our help," I said.
He smiled. "I figured you would," he said, lifting up my hand and kissing it gently. "Both you and Wally are hopeless romantics."
"I leaned over the table and kissed his nose. "Well then, let's go and ask," I said, standing up. Brendan picked up our trash, and we walked towards her, hands intertwined.
"Hey, Hilda," I said, lightly tapping her shoulder.
"Oh. Um, hi," she said, a note of sadness in her voice. "What is it?"
"If you want, we will help you find N," I said.
And with that, she gave us a small smile. "Yes. I would appreciate that," she said, grabbing the charm on her necklace. "But today, I'd like to challenge the gym leader."
So, here's the second chapter. I actually added a decent amount of content while I was typing it up. (I write my stories down on paper first.) I feel like I did a decent job at slowing it down some. Anyway, I hope you liked it! :)
