I woke up just after the crack of dawn. My head was groggy and my eyes blurry. My senses were completely dulled. The alarm clock on the coffee table said it was 6:03 AM.
With one yawn I began to gain some of my senses, specifically the ability to feel. That's when I felt the arm of Caleb on my side. It wasn't completely draped over me. I turned my head around and saw that he was sleeping.
I was uncomfortable with the physical contact for some reason so I slid out of bed. This extreme burst of fear and adrenaline rushed through my body. My body reacted by causing me to sweat excessively.
I saw the reflection of myself in the mirror that was next to the TV and realized that the fear was caused by something else. Excitement.
I shook my head, went to the bathroom, splashed some water on my face, threw on a shirt and left the hotel room.
What just happened? Why did I feel that way? Why does it keep happening? Is this normal.
I rushed out of the hotel looking behind me and something hit me hard in my still tender abdomen.
"Hey, look where you're going!" The boy yelled. He had fair bright blonde hair with bright blue eyes.
There are papers littered all over the floor, presumably knocked out of this boy's hands. I got up off the floor and helped pick up the papers.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't looking."
"Yeah, I know. And you weren't listening either when I said 'excuse me'"
He said excuse me? Gees.
"Sorry," I said, voice trailing off to a whisper.
He stopped for a minute and looked at me. He took a deep breath as I handed him the papers I held in my hand. Before he spoke again I got a glance of something written on the paper under my thumb.
Ultra Beast.
What the hell is an Ultra Beast?
"It's fine, I guess." The boy said interrupting my thought.
He placed the paper back in some files and dusted off his shirt. "Um, I'm Liko."
"Cameron," I say back.
He nods, "I'll see you around I guess." He zips behind the clear, glass doors to the hotel.
I wonder why he had so many papers with him. It was like he was a researcher, but he was too young. He had to be my age at best. Did he steal those papers?
My mind was a little too over the place to think more about it so I put it to the back of my head and continued to walk. Where to? I had no clue. I just walked.
I made my way to this large estate near the beach. There was this large white sign that said "Hano Grand Resort" in gold letters. A resort, huh?
Nobody was stopping me as I entered the building. It was a very large building that used warm colors to have this inviting feel to it. It was in stark contrast to the Tide Song Hotel which was very white and pristine. Almost seemed too clean, kinda like a hospital.
This was more my scene, except for the absurd richness of the people. One look at the people and I can tell these are elite folks. Some of these folks are probably not from here.
This young girl with black hair approaches me. She seems to be confused about something.
Coming to me is a mistake if so.
"Hey, um do you know where Diglett Tunnel is?"
Um. She in the wrong region, right? Diglett Tunnel is in Kanto.
I must've given her a weird look cause she chuckled and said, "Er, I'm visiting from Kanto with my family. I heard there was a Diglett Tunnel just like the one in Kanto. I also heard the Diglett and Dugtrio are different here."
This was all new to me. Diglett and Dugtrio also have an Alolan variant? That's cool. I wonder what they look like. Will we finally get to see their legs or whatever is under the ground?
"I'm sorry. I'm new to Alola. I just moved here 2, almost 3, weeks ago and I just arrived on Akala Island yesterday."
She smiled and thanked me anyways. "So you must be on the Island Challenge, huh?" I nodded. "That's cool. Um where are your Pokemon?"
That's when I realize I didn't have my belt with me. Hmph.
"Left them in the hotel room."
Behind the girl I saw a man staring over at us. He looked older and had light green hair or dirty blonde, I don't know. He looked strange. when he caught me looking in his direction he walked away and exited through a side door. So strange.
"Is everything okay?" she asks. My eyes dart over to her after I catch myself staring off.
"Oh um. Yeah." She raised her eyebrows and glared at me. "No. I'm kinda scatter-brained right now."
She says, "I can see that," and chuckles. "Would you like to talk about it?"
The sincere and genuine tone in her voice warmed me, but I was hesitant.
"I'm sorry, but why would you want to hear about my problems? You don't even know me," I say almost despondently.
Her face dropped. "Hm. True, but does that mean I shouldn't try to help if I can? Does that mean I should just walk away from you right now without a care in the world."
She said it with conviction. Hell, she made me believe she believed what she said.
"Guess not," I respond.
"So what's your name? Where are you from since you moved here 2 weeks ago."
Her broad smile invited me to engage her truthfully. "My name is Cameron. I moved here from Hoenn."
Her face lit up. "That's cool. I have family in Hoenn. They live in Fortree City."
I had only been to Fortree City once. It was okay. Rained too much to be honest. My dad was going to take the place at the Gym for a little while. Winona had an emergency and was friends with my dad. She told my dad to go easy on trainers. He didn't. No trainer beat him.
I wonder if she knew my dad wouldn't listen to her. My dad didn't do easy when it came to battling. He never let Aaron win even when Aaron cried.
I never got to battle him.
"I'm Mary. I'm from Kanto. I came here to see the Kanto Pokemon that look a little different here."
"That's cool," I say plainly.
"Yeah, okay so now we know each other. Now will you tell me what's bothering you?"
I rubbed my eyebrow unsure of what to say. How the hell could I word what is bothering me? How can she even help? Ugh.
I just sat there unsure of what to say, then I just opened my mouth and words came out.
"Have you ever felt like you realized that you don't understand who you are and, um, are scared of it?"
I replayed each word in my head a couple times. I'm not sure I understood what I said but somehow it felt right. For some reason I just felt so scared and vulnerable.
Her face didn't give away how she felt. She was clearly pondering what to say.
"Hm. No. Why are you scared?" She asked.
"I don't know what to do? I don't know if I'm normal." Something dragged at my throat. Breathing became harder.
"Who cares if you are normal? What is normal anyways? Just be you Cameron. You may not know or understand who you are, but you will. Don't fight it."
A part of me felt she was right, but what the hell does she know? What the hell do I know? Ugh.
Before I could respond this lady came up to us.
"Excuse me, are you allowed to be here?" Her bright green eyes pierced through my body. She wore this overly clean white shirt and had long, straight brown hair.
"Um, what?"
"The Aether Foundation maintains this place to be a safe environment for visitors. You don't seem to have a wristband proving you belong here."
I swallowed hard.
"Um I'm sorry. There were no guards and I just..."
She interrupted me. "You just what? You just strolled in here like a thug!?" she yelled causing people to stare at us.
"Excuse me! He apologized. He clearly didn't mean to trespass. There were no guards outside checking people."
"And who the hell are you?" The woman's eyes glared at Mary as if she was trying to shoot literal lasers at her.
This lady was way too hostile. I put my hand up and proceeded to get up out of my seat.
"Claire, enough!" a young male voice barked behind the lady. The lady turned around and she immediately wore this expression of regret on her face.
The young man approached me. He wore a black shirt and black pants with a red pouch bag around his waist. His hair was bright blonde and arranged erratically.
He held out his hand and said, "I'm Gladion. I must apologize for my employee's disgusting attitude." He didn't smile at me, but he scowled as he glared back at the lady who was afraid to look up.
Good.
"I'm Cameron."
"I know. I was listening to you two talk after I already recognized you were trespassing." He glared again at the lady and shook his head. "Our policy is to treat trespassers with respect until they are deemed to not deserve it. I was going to approach you after you were done talking with this young lady."
His words were delivered with severe contradiction. His tone was dull, but his words were rather sincere. It was like he was tired. Not tired in the sense of needing sleep but more like needing a break from something.
"I didn't mean to trespass. I just needed to go somewhere and this is where I ended up," I said feeling helplessly pathetic.
He nodded. "I understand. Unfortunately we do have a policy around here."
"Right, of course. Um thank you for being nice about it."
He seemed somewhat bothered by the thanks I paid him. He walked with me out of the resort with Mary following us. She asked him where the Diglett Tunnel was. Apparently I walked right by the entrance. It back towards the city on the left.
After we exited the resort Gladion gave me a Pokeball. It wasn't like any other ball I knew.
"This is the friend ball. Any Pokemon caught with this ball will like and trust you more."
His mouth lightly lifted as I thanked him for the ball.
"Oh, and the girl was right. When you understand who you are, don't fight it." He looked away down towards the sea where a large white building stood on an island and looked pained. "You'll only find hardship if you do." An eerie silence gripped the air for a moment until he turned and left us. Mary looked over to me and shrugged.
"Something tells me he has mommy problems," she said.
I didn't acknowledged her. Gladion's words lingered in my thoughts for a bit. For some reason they weighed more in my mind than whatever Mary said back in the resort.
What am I going to do when I see Caleb later? Hopefully he is still sleeping.