"Thomas. Get up. Come on."
I was aroused out of my peaceful sleep by someone shaking me and speaking loudly. In a sleepy-drunken state, I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
"W-Who…?" I started to say.
Then I recognized what was going on and saw the person who woke me was Old Man Fellows.
"Get up, Thomas. You overslept. We need to get you going out of here," he said.
"Oh, geez! Thanks for waking me!" I thanked.
I shook my head and hit my face a few times. The pain shooting through the numbness woke me up. I looked down to see Buizel and Poochyena still asleep in the orange and white blanket. I gently ripped it off them, stuffed it into my backpack, and got dressed. Once all packed, I rushed over to them and began to shake Buizel gently.
"Buizel, wake up!" I said urgently, "We need to move!"
With that, Buizel shook his head and blinked, waking up. He widened his eyes, realizing we needed to move most haste. We both turned to Poochyena, who was snoring. I tried to shake him gently, but he wouldn't wake up. Dang it; Poochyena is a heavy sleeper.
"Come on, Poochyena!" I said, while Old Man Fellows waited for us.
Nope; still nothing. Just then, Buizel showed me his paw, telling me to stand back. With a big inhale, Buizel used Water Gun. It splashed Poochyena right in the face, causing him to yelp and shoot up onto his feet. He blinked dripping wet and then quickly shook his fur to get it a bit dry. Poochyena nodded to Buizel, telling him thanks and then both got off the bed. Thus with me putting on my backpack, we followed the old man down the stairs and to the others, who were waking up too.
"Dang, is it morning already?" Lyr groaned.
"It is. Now get up," Kaname said.
We all stood up, ready for the day. Well… all except for one snoring teenager who was laying limp on the couch like he had been shot.
"Oh, for the love of…" Jocinda groaned.
Tucker… of all the people to slow things down, it had to be him, didn't it? He was still asleep, snoring like a lumberjack cutting wood with achainsaw.
"Hmmm... now I do believe those stories about him sleeping during classes..." Principal Vicar folded his arms and deduced out loud.
"Tucker, wake up!" Jocinda ordered, "You need to be awake now! We can't afford you sleeping in!"
Tucker waved it off and moaned, "I'll be up in a miiiiiiinuuuuuute…"
A minute is exactly what we didn't have. Tucker, that son of a…. I mean, we're friends still… but at the time, he was pushing his luck.
"Grr, we don't have time for this," Purgy stated. "Let's just go over the details and tell Tucker later."
"No, I got a better idea to fix the problem," I said smirking, and then looking at Poochyena, "Poochyena, be a good boy and wake up Tucker with a friendly hello."
With that, Poochyena showed a devilish smirk and walked over to Tucker. Now, Tucker's body slumped on the couch so badly, his butt was sticking out while on his knees. Because of this, Poochyena leaned over and then opened his jaws. Then, with all his power, he chomped down hard on Tucker's rear.
Tucker's eyes shot open like a bullet going out of a gun from the trigger.
"YEEOOW!" he screamed.
He jumped up to his feet and started doing a silly pain dance, as Poochyena smiled proudly and trotted to me. Buizel and I giggled when he walked over to him. We started petting him gently with smirks.
"Good boy," I chuckled.
He sat proudly, wagging his tail with closed eyes and a smile. Buizel hid his laugh behind his paw. I glanced around the room to see the others either giggle or smirk too. Tucker rubbed his backside and muttered.
"Okay, okay! I'm up!" he said in pain.
Despite Tucker's mumblings, Principal Vicar nodded and said, "Okay, now that I have your attention, we are going to go over the plan one more time. Listen very carefully, because after this, we never speak of the plan again."
We all nodded as he then went over the gameplay, "Thomas will say his good-byes and then return Buizel and Poochyena to their Luxury Balls. Once hidden safely, he and I will head to the alcove to meet up with Paul."
"Paul?" Molly asked, "Who is that?"
Principal Vicar answered, "A friend of mine who will be joining us there. He's the man in charge of the small boat that will get Thomas across the ocean and into Hoenn."
"No offense, sir…" Matty asked, "but can this Paul man be trusted?"
"Do not worry, Matty," the principal replied, "Paul has been a friend of mine for over fifteen years. He won't abandon us, not even if a large sum of money is offered to him. Thomas, you can trust him with your life."
I nodded, feeling safe. I didn't care about myself as much as Buizel and Poochyena though. THEY were the reason I'm doing this. I wouldn't let anything happen to them. I watched as Principal Vicar sighed and then continued.
"I won't be the only one accompanying you, Thomas," Principal Vicar said, causing me to be surprised, "There are several undercover cops who are going to go with us. They aren't being bribed or given anything illegal to do this; they agree that you being forced into court over this lie is unacceptable. The reason they're coming is if Mr. Pepperridge or one of his "associates" tries to come onto the boat and stop us, they'll be arrested, giving us more proof supporting you."
I grinned at the idea. Bodyguards... Nice.
"While we do that… Tucker! Kaname! Jocinda!" he said, with my friends looking up, "You are to go to school today and act natural, so you are not to even speak about Thomas in general amongst yourselves. If you were to go with us or call in sick, Mr. Pepperridge will suspect we're up to something."
"Right!" the three said.
Principal Vicar then turned to Old Man Fellows and said, "Fellows, I need you to go to the Police Department when you're supposed to. I need you to act like nothing ever happened. You need to be convincing, because when I come back, we are heading to his house with other officers and Mr. Pepperridge to "retrieve" Thomas."
"I'll do my best, sir," the old man said with a smile.
I raised my hand and asked, "What about my house? What if someone tries to break in?"
"Don't worry," Matty waved to me and smiled, "Us trainers are gonna stay in the house and live in it while you're away. That way, we can keep it in one piece and make sure no one tries to get inside. We'll also be hiding outside when they come. When they leave, we'll slip back in."
"Of course, we will have to work super hard on the one piece thing, especially with Molly's A.D.D.," Lyr smirked, raising an eyebrow at the mentioned girl.
With an embarrassed blush on her face, Molly giggled and said, "I can't help it. Shiny things are so cool!"
Purgy shook his head and said, "Trust us, Thomas; we'll take good care of the house while you're gone."
I sighed a huge relief. My house was in good hands. I trusted Matty, Lyr, Molly, and Purgy. They would take care of everything while I was away. I smiled at them and nodded.
"I know you will," I said.
"All right, Thomas," Mr. Pepperridge said with a smile, "Go ahead and say your last good-byes to everyone. Then, we'll head out."
This was it... I really wasn't going to see these guys for a long time... I decided to at least make it last for as long as I could. I quickly shook the hands of the trainers and said they had my thanks. Then I was face-to-face with Kaname. I already missed his groans and complaints about having to do work. His intelligence and cleverness will get him far in life, I know it.
"Well, this is it, buddy," he said to me, "You be strong. Never back down and always do your best."
We hugged as I said, "I promise, slacker."
I heard him chuckle and say, "I now wish I could've not been so lazy now… and spent more time with you. But, you'll be back. I know it."
"I will… I promise," I said.
With that, I moved to Jocinda. God bless her soul, the poor thing was already crying. She has amazing abilities for caring, sympathy, and love. These attributes will make herself into a good woman one day. That will also affect the people around her.
"I'm gonna miss you!" she sobbed as she hugged me tight, not letting go.
It made tears come to my eyes a bit as I held her and said, "I'm gonna miss you too."
"Promise me you'll be safe… and I'll be okay," she said with a smile.
"I will be okay," I assured her as we broke the hug.
I then turned to Tucker. The poor half-awaken guy was sniffing and gritting his teeth, trying not to show those tears falling down his face. He may be rash and short-tempered, but his energy and drive will inspire Pokémon to have that attitude.
"Yo, Tucker… you crying, man?" I asked, getting choked up by the scene.
"N-No…. sniff…" Tucker said, wiping his eyes and grinning, "just something was caught in my eyes, man."
"I won't forget you, Tucker. I swear I will battle you when I come back. Just promise me your fire will never go out," I said, preparing my hand for our famous fist-pump.
Just then, he surprised me by crying and hugging me out of nowhere. It caught me off guard that I started to whimper.
"A-As long as yours doesn't go out, I'll always burn brightly like the sun! Scorch the world like no tomorrow, Thomas!" Tucker cried, soon having a grin show on his face.
After we were done hugging, I told Buizel and Poochyena to say good-bye to them while I did to one more person: Old Man Fellows. I turned to him tearing up and smiling at me.
"Well… sniff… this is it…" I said, letting tears fall.
Old Man Fellows closed his eyes and said, "I'm so proud of you…. Just look at yourself… a boy who wanted nothing to do with Pokémon… is now going off away from home on a new adventure with them…"
He opened his eyes and said with pride, "Your father…. Your mother…. And Manectric…. All of them would be crying in pride like me right now… at the man you've become…"
They… they would've been proud, wouldn't they? Those words… proud of me… they hit me again so hard. I couldn't help it. My eyes clamped shut as I shook. I just cried so hard, that everyone started tearing up. Old Man Fellows held me in his arms and rubbed my back.
"You're one of the greatest young men I've ever seen," he said smiling.
I grinned and replied, "It's… a-all b… because of you…. You're like the…. grandpa I never had…. Thank you…. for everything…."
With that, we ended hugging and let Buizel and Poochyena have their turn. They were tearing up too; it seems they really had a big liking towards Old Man Fellows too. With all of those exchanges done, I took out Buizel and Poochyena's Luxury balls and returned them.
"All right… this is good-bye…. See you in a while…" I said with a smile.
After waving to all of them and them waving back, I made my way towards the door with Principal Vicar, who was wiping his eyes from the tears he shed. As we opened the door, we saw two men and one woman dressed in casual clothes waiting for us outside. We shut the door behind us once we were outside.
"What's the word?" the principal asked.
One of the men, whose most distinguished feature was long brown spiky hair and blue shades, said to him, "We got Paul's notice. He'll be at the alcove in two minutes. We should head over there and get ready to get the kid on the boat."
With that, Principal Vicar nodded and said to me, "All right, Thomas; It's time we get you off of Kilyla City."
-