Hey guys, here's chapter 2 of the story! Because of school I don't have as much time to write as before so it will be at least another month until chapter 3 is ready.
Thanks to Species Unknown for agreeing to proofread for me!
Hope you guys enjoy!
6 months later….
Cameron ran down the alley from his pursuers as fast as he could, trying hard to ignore his legs' pleas for rest. A quick look behind him confirmed that the mob of fan-girls and autograph-seekers that had been chasing him for the past half-hour was indeed catching up to him. Desperate to evade his quarry he quickly broke into a side street and vaulted into a nearby trashcan in a last-ditch attempt to escape. Cameron huddled in the can, praying the mob would pass and leave him alone, trying his best to keep perfectly still.
"Come on you crazies, keep going; I'm not here." Cameron pleaded in his head as he heard the footsteps get closer. Suddenly, they stopped right in front of him.
"Where'd he go?" one of the fan-girls asked the mob leader, an autograph collector.
"I don't know but he's got to be here somewhere! Search everything!" The mob needed little encouragement and Cameron soon heard the trashcans and dumpsters around him being opened and searched. "Not here" "Nope" "No dice" "Where the heck is he!?" the voices rang out, the last of which belonged to the mob leader, who was beginning to feel rather irritated that his subject had seemingly vanished. "It's not fair!" he groaned, already looking as if he was about to cry "All I need is Cameron's signature and Ember's pawprint to complete my collection! I have the signatures of all the other top trainers in the region and their star pokémon except for his, but every time I track him down he keeps escaping!". The leader fell to his knees and sobbed "I'm never going to finish my collection now…."
"Geesh, this guy needs to get a life…" Cameron whispered from inside the trash can.
One of the fan-girls walked up to the grieving autograph hound and made the deadly mistake of telling him, "Hey man there's no reason to cry over a stupid autograph collection!" Hearing those words the other autograph collectors in the crowd quickly took a couple steps back, already knowing what was about to happen.
"Stupid?" the mob leader whispered as he slowly rose to his feet, "Stupid?" "STUPID?!" The autograph collector's grief immediately turning into white-hot anger as he turned to face her. "HOW DARE YOU CALL MY COLLECTION STUPID! I'LL SHOW YOU STUPID YOU AIR-HEADED #!?%$ !" He screamed as he lunged at the unfortunate fan-girl, his friends luckily restraining him before he could reach her and make good on his promise.
Cameron was trying with everything he could to stop himself from laughing, though while he couldn't actually see what was happening, the voices he heard pretty much told the story by themselves. One of the members of the mob heard the stifled giggles behind her and went off to investigate, heading straight for the trashcan they seemed to be emanating from.
Suddenly, Cameron heard a pair of footsteps stop right outside his trashcan. "I wonder if someone's in here…" he heard the voice above wonder.
"Shit!" Cameron swore in his head as he quickly detached Ember's pokéball from his belt and clutched it in his hand, prepared to fight his way out of the frenzy that he knew was about to break out.
Suddenly, one of the voices cried out "Hey, there he is over there!"
The mob quickly stopped watching the brawl in front of them and ran off in the direction of an unfortunate trainer that bore a passing resemblance to Cameron. The mob leader's friends immediately released him from their grip and ran off to join the others in the pursuit. The leader, his rage quickly forgotten, ran off after them screaming "Hey, wait up for me guys!".
Cameron waited a few seconds before slowly crawling out of the trash can and dusting himself off. He turned to the direction that the mob had rushed off and saw the unlucky look-alike trainer awash in the crowd, his screams of "I'm not the one you're looking for!" being drowned out in the sea of autograph requests and bear-hugs from the fan-girls.
"Man, I hate to say it but I'm so glad that's not me right now…" Cameron chuckled as he looked down at the pokéball still clenched in his hand.
"It's okay to come out now Ember, they're gone." The red beam shot out of the pokéball, soon solidifying to reveal Ember, the typhlosion exhaling in relief that she and her trainer hadn't been consumed by the horde of adoring fans. "Even if we had, my flamethrower attack would have made them think twice before messing with us!" she thought confidently.
Cameron saw the grin that had broken out across his favorite pokémon's face and could easily guess what she was thinking. "Yes Ember, I'm pretty sure you could barbeque the whole lot of them, but they'd probably just come back at us again later."
The typhlosion still wasn't convinced, but she kept her peace, telling herself that he was probably right considering these crazies.
Cameron casually glanced down at his watch and immediately shot up, "We better hurry Ember, we have to meet Taks at the café in less than an hour! It's been almost a year since we've seen him so we don't want to be late!"
Brendan, or Taks as he liked to be called, was one of Cameron's oldest friends. The two had grown up in the same back-alleys in the poorer parts of Lilycove and had similarly built better lives for themselves with their pokémon. Brendan, however, had never gone as far in the Pokémon League as Cameron had and thus had the anonymity that his more successful friend craved right now, but we'll get to that later.
"Heh" Cameron thought "back when I was living on the streets most people wouldn't even look me in the eye, now they're chasing me down the streets in droves and I can't get them to leave me alone…" The thoughts of his early past brought that day on the hill 6 months ago to his mind.
"Man so much has changed in the last 6 months…" Cameron wondered idly as he and Ember slowly made their way to the café, expertly blending into the crowd in order to avoid another encounter with his fan club.
For starters, he and Ember were on their own now. In the past few months Cameron's urges to battle had continued to decrease and the urges to settle down had only grown more powerful. So four months ago on his 24th birthday, Cameron announced his retirement from the Pokémon League to his team. He had thanked them for all their hard work and tearfully reminded them that he would always consider them his family. The next day he went about the heart-wrenching task of releasing each one of them into the nearby Pokéreserve with the promise that they would all meet again someday. It had been hard for him to do but he had seen that most of his pokémon were getting the same urges as he was and he didn't want to keep them from fulfilling them by keeping them with him.
When he had gotten to Ember, however, the typhlosion had fervently refused to leave her best friend, staying by his side no matter what he did to try and convince her to go with the others. Cameron eventually gave up trying and the two continue to remain constant companions.
Unfortunately for Cameron his retirement had another painful consequence, as a famous Pokémon trainer retiring has the same effect as a well-known artist dying; everything associated with that trainer, including autographs, immediately skyrockets in value. And more importantly to the fan-girls, a retired trainer is often much more romantically available than an active one.
Thus the ravenous mobs of fans cease to give Ember and him any rest no matter where they go. Luckily none of the mobs happened to be the area at the time and the two reached the café without incident.
"Yo! Cameron!" the trainer heard from one of the small waiting tables. He quickly turned to face the voice and found that it belonged to his friend.
"Hey Taks, how've you been? We sure have a lot to catch up on!" he replied.
Taks stood to greet his friend and Cameron saw that little had changed physically about his friend; he still had the medium build, green eyes, and spiked blond hair he had always remembered him having, though it seemed he had gained a bit of a tan recently. After a quick bro-hug the two of them sat down in their seats while Ember laid down on a comfy mat right next to her trainer.
"What took you guys so long?" Taks immediately asked
"You know…stuff" Cameron nervously replied, not wanting Taks to know about his constantly reoccurring problem.
Taks instantly arched his eyebrows in a way that clearly showed that he wasn't buying it. "Oh? And does this 'stuff' have anything to do with that mob of fans that's currently tearing apart that trainer that just happens to look kinda like you?".
"You mean they're still going at that guy?!" Cameron exclaimed, taken by surprise at his fans' ferocity. He immediately cursed himself, however, when he realized he had just confirmed his friend's suspicions.
"Ha! So being Mr. high-and-mighty Pokémon Champion isn't as fun as you thought, eh?" Taks laughed.
Cameron just grumbled a quick "I guess" before picking up a menu in an attempt to ignore the smug grin that had broken out on Taks' face. The trainer ordered a Tauros burger for himself and some berry kabobs for Ember, while Taks just smiled at the waitress and said that he'd be fine with just a glass of water.
While they waited for their meal, Cameron realized that there was something else different about his friend that he hadn't noticed earlier.
"Wait Taks, where's your pokéballs? Don't you have your team with you?" he asked.
"Heh, I was wondering when you would finally notice." Taks grinned, "You're not the only trainer to hang up their pokéball belt recently Cameron."
"You mean-?"
"Yep" Taks replied, "2 months ago to be exact. Battling had just lost its luster for me so I decided that it was time to throw in the towel. Besides, now I have more time to spend with Eliza."
Eliza was Tak's girlfriend of 3 years. The two had been friends since they were 9 and when they both turned 20 Taks had finally mustered up the guts to ask her out. Much to his surprise she'd said yes and the pair had been together ever since. Cameron could see that the two were made for each other and judging from the way Taks talked about her the trainer knew that it was only a matter of time until Taks proposed to her.
Knowing better than to press into his friend's private life, Cameron quickly changed the subject after their food arrived.
"So what'd you do with your team?" he asked.
"I decided to release them," Taks replied, "it was sad to let them go but they've all settled down in the forest near our apartment, so I still see them from time to time…You?"
"I released them too, but I haven't seen any of them since."
"Sorry to hear that man," Taks said sympathetically "But hey, it looks like at least one of them has decided to stick around, isn't that right Ember?"
The Typhlosion blushed and hid her face in her food, casually thinking to herself that the kabobs at the café weren't nearly as good as the ones Cameron made for her.
"Heh, she hasn't changed a bit since you found her in that alley all those years ago, hasn't she?" he chuckled, "And don't worry Cameron, I'm sure your pokémon are fine."
"Yeah, hopefully they've all found mates of their own and are happy." Cameron replied, though a touch of bitterness bled through into his voice.
Taks had noticed that his friend hadn't been as happy and cheerful as usual recently and had a good idea why. The only reason he hadn't questioned Cameron about it was that he hadn't wanted to probe into his friends' personal life. Cameron's last comment, however, had given him an opening he had been looking for and he asked "Speaking of mates, Cameron, have you found anyone special yet?"
"Not yet" Cameron whispered, "Not yet…"
2 Months Ago…..
Cameron and Christie had been dating for a couple of months now and throughout the course of their many dates the trainer had become infatuated with her. After a little bit of soul-searching, he had finally decided that he was ready to take the next step in their relationship and ask Christie to move in with him.
For an occasion such as this he'd decided that he was going to surprise her instead of waiting for their next date the following day.
He hovered outside Christie's apartment door with roses in hand and was about to knock when he heard her voice from the other side of the door.
"Yeah darling he still hasn't asked me to move in with him yet but it's only a matter of time until he does."
"Only a couple of seconds in fact…" Cameron thought with a smile.
Her next words, however, stopped his heart cold.
"…Soon baby, soon. After I move in with him he'll eventually propose to me and then once we're married all of his money will become mine. Then I'll drop him like a hot potato just like we planned and the two of us will never have to work again!"
Christie then unsuspectingly drove the knife deeper into Cameron's heart by adding, "Heh, the idiot still actually thinks that I love him! But you know you're the only one I love baby…"
Cameron never heard the rest of her conversation; the roses slowly fell from his hands and hit the floor with a soft thud as he then started walking lamely back to his house in shock, his face displaying no emotion but that of pure unadulterated heartbreak.
Upon entering his home the shock subsided and the trainer quickly broke down into sobs as he flung himself into Ember's arms, the typhlosion desperately trying to consol her heartbroken trainer.
*End Flashback*
The next few girls Cameron dated he also found to be only after either his fame or the substantial amount of money he had accumulated from winning battles, and the trainer quickly found himself unable to trust any girl he met, effectively killing any future relationships. Watching his friends and pokémon settling down and being happy only added to his grief.
Seeing the look of pain that had passed through Cameron's eyes when he had answered confirmed to Taks that his suspicions had indeed been correct. He wanted to help his friend but knew that any relationship he tried to match-make for Cameron would fall through almost immediately and only cause his friend more pain.
The lunch quietly ended a few minutes later and the two promised to meet up again sometime.
As he watched his friend and Ember walk away, he silently prayed that his friend would be able to find someone he could trust and spend the rest of his life with like he had.
Darkness had fallen by the time Cameron and Ember finally reached home and the two noticed that the stars seemed to light the night sky much brighter than usual tonight.
"Wow Ember, look at the stars…" Cameron breathed.
Ember silently agreed, also noticing that the stars seemed to be in far different places than they had the night before. She also couldn't shake the feeling that tonight was going to be special, though she didn't know the reason why.
"Want to watch the stars for a little bit Ember?" Cameron asked. To which Ember agreed with a happy "Typh!"
The two walked to one of the many hills that surrounded their house and laid supinely on their backs, staring up into the star-studded blackness.
"Hey, maybe we'll see a shooting star tonight!" I sure could use the wish… Cameron thought as the two looked up to the night sky.
Ember already knew what she would wish for. Due to Cameron and her being the same age, she had also been struck with the urges to settle down and start a family. Cameron had noticed this and over the past couple of weeks had been "accidently" leaving her in areas where male typhlosion were known to be in abundance.
While Cameron's plan had worked in part, as Ember had encountered many male typhlosions her age, it also backfired on him because it had put Ember in a relationship situation similar to his own, as all the males she had met had either just wanted to get into her pants (or fur, the phrase don't translate well with pokémon) or just wanted to show her off to their friends to impress them.
"Why is it that all the males just like me because they either want to impregnate me or just want to show me off because I'm pretty? Why can't I find one that loves me for who I truly am, no matter how I look on the outside, someone who I can give all of my heart forever?" She thought longingly. The typhlosion had no idea, however, that her trainer was having similar thoughts.
"Why can't I find a girl that I can always trust and who doesn't care that I'm rich or famous but that just loves me for me and not just because of my fame?" he then added, "And if I ever find that girl, I promise that I will give them all of my heart and love them forever, no matter what happens."
Suddenly, a shooting star raced across the night sky. The two quickly closed their eyes and silently wished to the stars "I wish that I could find my soulmate, no matter what it takes…" neither of them knowing that the other had wished for the same thing.
Their wish was granted.