CHAPTER FIFTY ONE
"Hello? Wakey-wakey!"
Amy stirred from where she had fallen asleep on the beach, waking up with a dry mouth and sand in her hair. Glancing back at her was a young boy no older than five, his eyes wide and expectant. Dusk had fallen and with it, the night breeze that gave her goosebumps.
"What - how long have I been asleep?" asked Amy, massaging her aching face and glancing blearily up at the boy.
"Nathan! Don't disturb the young lady," cried a middle-aged woman who scooped her son up into her arms. "I'm sorry, dear - "
"It's OK," Amy tiredly got to her feet, noticing her Pokemon had curled up to sleep nearby. Cubone snored and snuffled, while Growlithe yawned and Nidorina was alert. "I can't believe I fell asleep."
"It was a hot afternoon," spoke the middle-aged woman. "But you look all the more rested for it."
Yeah, right, thought Amy irritably. My body aches and my face is creased and my scalp is sandy. Never mind the rugged clothes I'm wearing.
"Mummy, can I get a Pokemon like hers?" the little boy pointed to the Cubone, sound asleep. "I want that one!"
"You'll have one when you're older," the mother rolled her eyes and shared a smile with Amy. "You should see him when we travel up to Celadon City. He tries to chase the Rattata every time."
"I should be off," Amy gently woke Cubone and held him in his arms, wanting to stay and chat but exhausted from the uncomfortable nap. "It was good to meet you and your son. He's adorable."
Followed by Growlithe and Nidorina, Amy walked into Fuchsia City and found the hostel where she had shared a room with Daniel and Natalie. She saw the reception desk, this time manned by the father of the acne-prone kid who had served her last time and asked him if any single rooms were available.
"We only deal with group bookings, I'm afraid," he replied, patting his comb-over in affectation. "All our rooms have at least two beds in them, so you'd be paying extra for an unoccupied bed. This way, travellers can maximise utility while minimising cost."
"I understand," replied Amy, checking in her purse for how much cash she had available. She would have to visit the hotel across the block and hope their self-contained rooms weren't too expensive. As she turned to leave, she heard her name.
"Amy!"
It was Connie, the swimmer, with her blonde curls and gleaming teeth, wearing cut-off denim shorts and a white cotton shirt knotted around her toned navel. "What a surprise to see you here!"
"Well," Amy replied, discomfited by Connie's radiant confidence. "I was actually about to head off - "
"Oh, no!" smiled Connie, disarming the excuse Amy had on the tip of her tongue. "You just got here! Come and meet my friends!"
Quelling her envy, Amy noticed how brightly Connie lit up when she could make each day count like it was her last. Amy wished for some of that enthusiasm to rub off on her.
"Guys and girls, this is Amy," Connie led her into the common room, where at least ten others were grouped around the fireplace. All were bronzed, tanned and glanced up with smiles. Amy waited for Connie to introduce her further, feeling awkward that her unexpected presence warranted interrupting their gathering. But, to Amy's surprise, that was all the information the group needed to hear.
"How did you two meet?" asked one of the girls.
With horror, Amy realised their gazes had shifted to her and that, pending introductions, she may as well have been giving a speech rather than a formalised etiquette where names were exchanged. They were all casual and relaxed, displaying genuine interest for what she had to say.
"You tell them, Amy," smiled Connie encouragingly.
Amy froze. Procedure within a privileged background had entitled her to act superior and stereotype others so that she could remain emotionally closed off and give them all the same aloof, disinterested script which warded off potential suitors and condemned irksome shopkeepers to pamper her. She never allowed herself to be put in a social situation where she might do or say something to avail her of the chance for social progression, which was all that she had known growing up.
Meeting people from all walks of life during her travels in Kanto, Amy had seen the traits of others which she saw as in herself as weaknesses, most notably the trusting nature and open camaraderie that Daniel and Natalie embodied. Acting 'like a lady', conversing with 'people of stature' and dressing 'to fit in' had been among the many mantras Amy's mother had forced upon her, restraint against impulses and staying within the insular, rarefied circle of snobs whom only saw her as marriage material.
Used to being sized up for quality by her fickle peers, the group's collective gaze was completely welcoming. Emboldened, she began to speak,
"Well, I was on the beach with my Pokemon - "
"What Pokemon do you have?" interrupted one of the girls. "Come, let's make some room and get comfy. Tell us all about yourself."
Nervous and on edge, Amy took a seat between the girl and another guy. Posture erect, Amy was all too aware she was the only one who was self-conscious. These informal gatherings of candid discussion and equitable participation were alien to her, with their carefree tolerance and clannish energy.
Remembering Sabrina's words that she should let the mask slip, Amy's lip wobbled in the struggle to say what was really on her mind. To express without editing her thoughts.
"W-well, I'm Amy, and I'm from Celadon City - "
"Oh! Celadon! I love their shopping!" cried the girl beside her.
"Isn't it beautiful?" replied another girl dreamily, opposite. "How long have you lived there for?"
"I grew up there," brightened Amy. "I love Celadon in the autumn, when the leaves are falling and everything's so magical..."
Drifting off, Amy realised the smirks she was receiving were not sneers of derision. They were smiles of rapture, completely taken with Amy's breathless passion.
And Amy was off, comfortable in a way she had never truly been before, even with Daniel and Natalie with who she had been friendly, but not over sharing. In the midst of company where her contributions added to the fervour, Amy laughed openly as two guys shared a tale in which one compared the other's morning breath to that of a Koffing. Though Amy had few stories to tell, Connie and her friends managed to make Amy feel at ease.
"Come on, Amy!" smiled Connie, glad to see how carefree Amy had become. "We're interested in what you have to say!"
"Well, I could tell you about my incident on the Cycling Road," mused Amy, basking in the warmth of their attention that gathered from her ponderously secretive nature.
"Ooh, go on, then!"
"Tell us! Don't hold anything back!"
"I had just defeated Celadon's Gym Leader, Erika - " Amy paused, remembering that she had been next to homeless at the time. "And, uh, well I headed west of the city, towards Cycling Road so I could reach the next Gym in Fuchsia City. I approached the reception desk and remember seeing all these cyclists, geared up in tight clothing, strapping their helmets on and I just thought - I cannot do this. I have never ridden a bicycle before. And then the receptionist - "
"What did she say?" asked one girl, nudged quiet by her boyfriend, who was also listening intently.
"She asked if it was my first time," said Amy, red in the face for having uttered such blatant colloquial slang, which everyone ignored or didn't pick up on. "First time cycling. I told her, no, I'm fine, thank you'. Anyway, when I got outside, I saw the slope downwards and I froze up right there and then. I told myself, you must be an - an idiot to take this on."
Surprised that she had held their attention for so long, Amy continued,
"So I pedal my way to the starting position, noticing how deep the valley goes and then, all of a sudden, the whistle blows and I force myself to pedal. I'm about to throw up and I pedal like mad to get off that hill and then I'm flying, without a care in the world as wild Pokemon run past and the adrenaline's coursing through my veins - I tell myself, this is easy! I should do this more often - in fact, why haven't I done this sooner?"
Their smiles greeted her in return. Then, Amy became much more serious,
"Of course, there's a good reason why beginners should not race down a hill without prior practice. Only moments after riding down the hillside do I crash against a boulder and go flying through the air - " sharp intakes of breath from the group " - go rolling down the hill, and land face first in a massive pile of mud."
"Aw, man!" whooped several of the guys, grimacing. "Major wipe out!"
One girl placed her head in hands, shaking in horror as another commented, "No way! You are a mad woman, you know that?"
Grinning guilty, Amy bowed her head to hide her pleasure.
"So what happened after that?" asked Connie, concerned.
"I was hurting all over, couldn't move an inch and there was nobody around to help me..." Amy stiffened as she remembered how vulnerable she felt, sealing up to rid herself of the memory, but then beaming at her group. "It was the stupidest thing I've ever done. I mean - "
"Hang on," interrupted one girl. "You forgot one tiny detail! How did you manage to make it out?"
"Oh, um, well," Amy realised if she told the story, it might ruin the mood. "It's sort of a bad ending, but kinda good..."
"Don't let us down!" Connie implored, eyes shining bright. "Let's have it!"
Awkwardly, Amy replied, "Well, OK then. While I was lying in the ditch, two other cyclists managed to track me down - "
"See? That wasn't so hard," smiled one girl.
Hackles raised, Amy bit back the defensive retort and replied, "Well, that's just it. I heard voices I recognised and realised they were going through my purse. They were thugs, and I think they had been following me."
Shocked intakes of breath from the group. The girl who had spoken up looked shamefaced. Amy became tense as she realised the happy spell had been broken. Connie ventured, "A-and they robbed you, did they?"
"No," Amy felt brave enough to speak up again. "In fact, someone saved me... this guy who - "
"What great timing!" interrupted the girl, who hoped to cover her earlier outburst, but added quietly, "He wasn't a thug, too, was he?"
"No, no," said Amy, her smile widening as she allowed herself to remember. "He battled them with his Pokemon, two against one, he was doing marvellously against them. But then, one of the thugs ordered his Electrode to self destruct - "
"Oh!" cried Connie.
" - and the guy insisted I climb on his Nidorino - which was no easy feat, mind you - and his Pokemon took me to safety, just before the explosion rocked the hillside."
The guys slumped back into their chairs with shock and awe at the story's conclusion, while the girls looked sombrely at Amy.
"That must've been really traumatic for you," said Connie, reaching out to touch Amy's shoulder. "You were so lucky to avoid it."
Amy realised her mistake. She had unintentionally identified herself as a victim, not just a clumsy novice at cycling. Their concerned gazes rocked her core. Amy realised what she had been missing all these years - people who cared. Still, she rallied the self-control necessary to prevent breaking down in front of a room full of people she had just met.
"Well, I suppose it could've been worse," Amy sniffed, as usual employing the defence of minimizing the emotional impact so that she would not revisit that particular stress, and employing the monotone that allowed her to offer a mechanical script that satisfied their minimal curiosity and the accompanying blank stare so that any further inquiries would be staved off.
Having progressed from initially nervous, then completely at joy for a while and suddenly defensive again, Amy didn't feel at all proud that she had interrupted this group gathering. But one girl, who either due to lack of tact or perhaps because she sensed the underlying pain and had to redirect the mood, asked,
"Did you ever hear from that guy again?"
Amy stared at her for a moment in confusion, before revisiting her feelings. "Well, he came back with me to the Pokemon Centre and checked that I was in the doctor's capable hands before leaving."
"He sounds like a pretty cool guy," said Connie, switching tactics to focus on the good parts, rather than console Amy over the bad.
"Yeah," Amy admitted, pausing for a second. "He was really great, actually. He's helped me out before - "
"You've met him before?" one girl's face lit up in a smile, causing it to become contagious among the others. "Who is this guy who keeps saving you?"
Among the group, the mood lightened considerably as Amy laughed a little, relieved that she could now comfortably return to the topic.
"When I first started my journey, I met him in Mt. Moon when I was lost," said Amy, something in the back of her mind niggling, but she ignored it. "He saved me from - from two Trainers who - "
It was as though the room had began to spin, suddenly upside-down and was she seeing double?
Worried at the vacant expression on Amy's face, Connie asked, "You look a little pale. Would you like a drink?"
Bringing herself back to reality, vastly aware her parched skin looked more than pale, Amy settled her posture and rose to stand.
"You're right," Amy repeated, grateful for the excuse to leave. "I'll be right back."
As she nimbly tiptoed through those of the group who had sat on the carpet to hear her story, lacking sufficient seating, one of the girls called after her,
"We'll be waiting to hear about your secret admirer when you get back!"
Finding solitude in a vacant corridor where the janitor's cleaning equipment was kept, Amy tried to control her breathing as she pressed her fingers to her forehead, trying to drown out the sounds of the cash till at reception, the jingle of the door bell as a new customer entered and the breathless, happy shouts of the children next door whose raucous voices filtered in through a nearby open window.
I met Joshua in Mt. Moon, and I battled two strangers... I battled two strangers with similar Pokemon in the Underground Tunnel, and Liam came to save me, but it couldn't have been him! I still had it on me after he took all my money to teach me a lesson... and then, on the Cycling Road, my fall from the bike must've made it easier for the two goons who now I'm sure have been following me since Mt. Moon. But how -
With a thrill of horror, Amy realised that Joshua had recovered her purse. There was no cash missing, just -
If the thugs have been after me, why has Joshua been present at nearly every ambush? It was as though it was planned, or perhaps to separate suspicion, the thugs intended to steal it, while Joshua intended to buy it... after all, when he recovered my purse, he could've also taken the money -
"This is crazy!" Amy blurted out, surprising the kids next door with her shout.
Has this all been a ruse? Has he been tracking me from the moment I took the Moon Stone? Why would he do such a thing?
Leaning with her back to the wall, Amy's mind needed no further thought other than the image of the Pokemon who had carried her to safety atop Cycling Road.
"Are you OK?" asked Connie, making space as Amy returned into the common room, feeling silly for having evoked such worry on their part.
"I should go, I need to find a place to stay," smiled Amy matter-of-factly, turning to them all in practised, desultory glances. "Thank you all for having me."
"No worries," said one guy, brow raised at her forbidding gaze.
"Yeah, come back any time," smiled one girl, her enthusiasm dampening.
"Hey - wait a second, guys!" said Connie, golden curls bouncing. "Amy, why don't you stay with us? We've booked a room of beds, but we're one short and we'd love your company."
Eagerly, the girls began nodding as Amy said, "I won't be imposing, will I? That's eleven people in one room - "
"We've booked separate rooms for the boys and girls, so we can all bunk in peace without their snoring," smiled Connie, as the guys shared half-hearted laughter.
"Like a Snorlax," insisted one girl, rolling her eyes. "It's unbearable."
Beaming, Connie turned to Amy. "So, what do you say?"
Hesitating on the fray, Amy relented and relaxed with a smile. "Sure. That sounds lovely."
Reclaiming her seat among her new friends, Amy took the initiative to find out the names of the girls with who she would be sharing a room. Glad to have found somewhere to stay and among pleasant company, their conversation took them well into the night until the night manager shooed them up to their respective rooms.
Six beds in cramped quarters made for claustrophobic sleeping, but it was worth it to split the bill down to frugal fractions and avoid sharing space with smelly, sweaty boys who snored loudly throughout the night. Curled up in bed, Amy watched the filtered moonlight peek out through the curtains and tried to quell her feelings of resentment, betrayal and hurt. But if she ever came upon Joshua again, Amy would ensure that he stuck around long enough to explain his side of the story.