We found ourselves having to backtrack all the way too Oreburgh City in order to get to our destination. Mt. Coronet...

Within the cave we encountered Cyrus but I had to hold my tongue. I may have been brash but even I realized that I couldn't take him out with my team, we weren't strong enough yet... after giving a few words of 'advice' that psycho departed, leaving myself to internally fume with anger... fun times.

Route 208 luckily wasn't as eventful, with the only thing of interest being us battling against regular trainer's and making bank against a bunch of rich kids and their Bidoof's. I entered Hearthone City a happy man... or at the very least a richer man. Anyways after staying in the city for a few days I didn't even approach Fantina's gym before I left for Veilstone City, since I hadn't forgotten about last time...

Along route 209 I encountered and had another battle with Paul and... yeah I still won and he was still oddly nice about it. Since we had time we explored the lost tower for a few hours and it only reminded me of what I had lost. It... pretty depressing honestly but umm... Solaceon Town was awesome! After stocking up on some much needed supplies we had heard rumours of a boy that had went missing in the nearby ruins and so I naturally went to go look for myself.

The ruins themselves weren't all that interesting but fighting against multiple unknown certainly was! After a few days I even managed to find the boy and return him to his family, which made me feel good. He even reminded of myself a bit. Maybe I should've stook around to get to know him better but... I was too busy feeling sorry for myself back then.

Route 215 was chilly, but I could say that about nearly all of Sinnoh. It was also raining so you could image how fun sleeping outside was... the team was feeling more like a family with Turtwig acting as a leader, Buizel as a quiet but determined fighter, and Rotom and Chatot as... I don't know but they did lighten the mood and I needed that... a distraction. If you haven't noticed by now I was quite depressed about watching my world die. I mean... Celebi was the only other being that remembered my world and at the time... I blamed myself. I know I've said it a few times but loathing is the correct word for how I was feeling, I... I eventually got better but until then I'm not going to pretend like I was doing fine during my journey because I was anything but okay.

During my stay in Veilstone City I encountered a trainer by the name of Bebe who had problems with one of her bred Eevee's, since it/she didn't want to socialize with anyone. I offered to help which was readily accepted and uhh...

I got to work. I mean I don't really how I did it but by acting like myself over the course of a few weeks I eventually got Eevee to first open up to me, then to socialize with my team, and then with all the Pokemon under Bebe's care. (Personally I think it didn't like being around others because it was self conscious of its white coat...)

I guess she was quite impressed since she immediately offered me the shiny evolution Pokemon as a gift which I, after some hesitancy, accepted. We spent another two weeks full of training and bonding in order to fully sync Eevee with the team and, though she still got shy, she fit right in.

Eventually I knew couldn't push it off any longer and I finally went to go challenge the gym leader. Or... I meant to. I really did but after hearing an old friend yelling I... I pulled an Ash. As usual I charged into a situation without thinking about the consequences...

Anywho, Dawn had been defeated by a group of Galactic grunt's who had stolen her Pokedex for all the information she had recorded and archived on it. Using Buizel and Rotom I managed to defeat the grunts and retrieve her Pokedex for her. It made me so damned happy to see her confused rather then angry. I... I missed her smile. Pretty embarrassing to write that out but what can I say? At the time I viewed her as one of my greatest friends! Of course that's changed since then, but... that's for later on. Anyways, I gave her back her Pokedex and after a semi-tense conversation we both left to carry out our quests.

Since two of my Pokémon were injured (and I didn't want to send Eevee out against a fighting type) I decided to wait one more day to challenge Maylene...

After finishing with introductions the both of us sent out our first pokemon. While she started out with her Meditite I led with Buizel, since he hadn't gotten a fair chance at a gym battle...

Luckily this battle went alot smoother then Buizel's previous, with the otter Pokemon quite easily knocking out it's opponent. With a slight glare Maylene sent out her next pokemon, a tough looking Machoke. Buizel fought bravely against it's opponent, and inflicted a decent amount of damage but a well timed close combat knocked him out.

After thanking him for his hard work I sent out Chatot, whom didn't disappoint in the slightest and quickly knocked out it's opponent but, seeing as Chatot was my ace, I decided to return her incase the next match went south...

With a wild look in her eye Maylene released her Lucario, a fierce beast that looked ready for battling against anything. I... as I was about to send out Rotom Turtwig popped out of his ball, since it wanted to battle. I... it wanted to prove itself to me...

Wearing one of the first real smiles since the loss of my home I ordered Turtwig around with the ferocity of a league winner, of someone who had beaten the battle frontier at the age of twelve, as someone who's taken on legendaries! I fought against Maylene as Ash Ketchum...

Feeling my raw emotions Turtwig wound up evolving into Grotle as it finished Lucario off with a well placed double edge! Both her and I grinned like mad as we thanked our pokemon for fighting as hard as they did. After returning our pokemon Maylene, with a tired smile on her lips, handed me the Cobble Badge and thanked me profusely for the amazing battle.

As I waited for my team to finish up healing I couldn't help but stare at Celebi's ball, but I couldn't bring myself to call upon her... it just didn't feel right. She was busy but... at least I'd have someone to turn to if I found myself at a dead end, so to speak.

That battle... I haven't forgotten it for a second. Even years later I recall my sense of awe at feeling like myself. I... was learning how to be me again.

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