Chapter 2

Awkward Squirtle

There was light was coming through my blinds, I knew it was still early as my room was a light blue hue rather than a bright yellow which would have been brought by the afternoon sun. I looked over at my bedside table and 5am was staring back at me.

I felt like waking up Fetch and Squirt and going out for an early morning training session, but the tenderness of my shin made me think otherwise. For the past week the three of us had been getting up at 7am and doing battle training for two hours, going to work at 10am, training during my lunch hour, coming home at 6pm, dinner, and working in some more training before bed.

Over the past week I had never been as proud owning two Pokémon than I have been in my life. I could never have asked for two harder workers, and the work had paid off. Squirt had been getting stronger and stronger and was nearly giving Fetch a run for her money.

I had set up two obstacle courses in the garden; one for Squirt, with a mixture of water and land, and a balancing pole for him, and one for Fetch, with a mixture of hoops for him to fly through and targets for him to dive at. Soon Squirt found the course too easy and was on to shooting little targets I set up at different heights along the fence. Fetch wasn't too happy when Squirt got bored and started using her as a moving target, this soon turned into mini battles between them.

Fetch, being her cocky self, thought she could take it easy and not try as hard; this was the worst mistake she could make. Squirt had mastered the course I set up for him and could easily dodge any aerial attack Fetch was firing at him and was giving Fetch a tough match with his pin-point precision shots. Once Fetch started to take Squirt more seriously it was really good to watch, the pair of them started working the terrain; dodging around the obstacles, flying through the hoops, and hiding in the water.

We planned to set off that day so I thought the two of them deserved a break and left them both lying in my bed. Fetch usually slept with me, but recently Squirt had started to join us and the three of us drifted off to sleep together. I will admit though a Squirtle is not the comfiest Pokémon to fall asleep beside!

I stuck on a pair of shorts and a jumper and went downstairs to see if there was anything for a quick bite to eat, sadly there was nothing good to eat. I swear mummy never had anything good in this house, so I just grabbed a packet of crisps and headed out the door.

I loved this time of the morning, not a soul was about, and it was just after sunrise so it was light enough, the fog from the night before was just beginning to fade, and there was a nice chill in the air to help me wake up. So I decided to head down to the beach the long way and headed for the forest just off from my street.

As I casually walked along the dirt path I just felt so at ease with myself. There was not a person or Pokémon in sight, just me. I once read when you die that you got to an empty world and live forever in harmony with it and honestly that is how I felt right now. The forest was deadly silent as I walked along I looked back at all the times I had spent in this forest and how the whole place was just steeped in memory.

This forest was where we used to go after school, climbing trees, building forts, and just doing what boys did best, getting dirty. As I grew up though I began to move away from the boys and start playing with the girls, less dirty but just as fun. As we got older we moved from making 'potions' from all the flowers to talking about boys and planning out our dream weddings. I will forever be one of the girls and it will be sad to leave them, especially Emily.

Emily and I were best friends and before she started working in the Safari Zone we spent most days with each other. I told her everything and she was the first person I told that I was gay. Coming out was hard for me and I lost a lot of friends when it happened, basically the only people I was left with was my Mum and Emily. You would think I didn't have much to leave, but in a reality I had everything to leave behind.

I walked along the path and came onto a small clearing which overlooked the whole beach, directly below me was the cave that I used to visit every day to feed Fetch before she started coming home with me. I sat with my legs dangling over the sheer drop looking off into the ocean. It was coming up to 6am as I saw a few Blastoise's and a Lapras out on the ocean getting ready for the day to come.

It had been my dream in the past to take over this beach and run the lifeguard company we had here. Spending the rest of my life saving lives and training Pokémon to do the same, I thought my life belonged in the ocean. Now I had a new adventure ahead of me, a new dream to reach for, and an older dream to resurface. The next month was going to be life changing for me, but in the end it was all going to be worth it.

I climbed down one of the gentler rock faces on to the beach and started walking barefoot along the shore line. I let the ocean come in and wash over my feet. I didn't know the next time I would have the chance to be on this beach, or if I ever would again.

I pulled a necklace out of my pocket with two little bottle shaped vials hanging from it. The vials were about the size of my thumb and were sealed with small corks. I knelt down and filled one with dry sand and the other with sea water. I put the necklace on and held on to the two bottles.

"No matter where I go, the ocean will always be by my heart."

I stood back up and wiped away the tears that had started to fall against my cheek. I was really going to miss this place, Fuchsia was my hometown, I grew up here, and as much as I hated it I actually loved it and I couldn't imagine me growing up anywhere else.

It had been a week and a half since I told my mum I would go and talk to Emily about what I was going to do. Now I was going to tell her what I was going to do and to say goodbye. In the past few years Emily and I had drifted apart a lot and rarely saw each other anymore. We used to talk to each other about everything, get advice about everything from boys, to what we would wear that day, to what we were doing with our lives. Now we barely caught up once a month and literally just fill each other in and give updates. No matter what though I loved her and I had to say goodbye.

As I was leaving the beach I spotted Mr Randilyn out on the decking by the office, he gave me a wave and wished me luck. I had already been to see him yesterday to thank him again for letting my keep Squirt and allowing me to take him on my journey. Mr Randilyn really was a father figure to me over the past few years, and it was really sad to say goodbye to him, but he was the one who pushed me to go on this journey and I wanted to make him proud.

The Safari Zone, where Emily worked, was at the other end of the town so I decided to head home first and see if Fetch or Squirt had woken up yet and bring them along. Fetch wasn't there when I got back but that didn't worry me, she usually flew off without warning during the day, she was still a wild Pokémon at heart. Squirt was awake and just casually rolling about my floor, when he heard me come in he quickly jumped up as if he had never been doing it. I know Squirt always wanted to impress me, but he was still only young, and I didn't want him to grow up too fast.

"Come on silly, we are going up to the park to see Emily'

Squirt ran towards me with his arms outstretched.

"Squirtle, Squirt"

"No, I am not carrying you, either you get in your Pokéball or you are walking."

Squirt stopped dead in his tracks, gave me a really dirty look, and then walked out the door. Looks like Squirt was walking today. So off we went.

As we walked along Squirt ran on ahead, he spent most of the time walking off the path, chasing bugs and insects. As much as I loved Squirt, I worried about him. We never finished his lifeguard training, and had scarcely done any battle training with him; I am just not sure if he was ready. No matter what doubts I had though I knew Squirt would always try his best, and could never let me down.

Once we got up to the Safari Zone I let Squirt roam off by himself, he had been up here a few times and I knew he wouldn't get lost or anything, while I went off to find Emily. I found her in the front building up on the balcony overlooking the lake.

"Emily! How are you babes?"

Emily looked round at me, I saw in her eyes that she was expecting someone else and for split second I could tell she was going to turn her back on me. Instead she flashed a huge smile and reached out to hug me.

"Hiyah! Long-time no see, things are good."

This was typical of her. She always tried to make out that she was enthusiastic about seeing me, but in reality she never did, and didn't care about my life or how I was. She turned back around and looked out across the Safari Zone again.

"That's good."

I knew Emily and I hadn't been as close as we had before, but this was just a total awkward Squirtle moment. So was the silence that followed. Emily and I just didn't click anymore; it was like something was missing. I thought I might as well just tell her what was going on.

"So I am going to Cerulean."

"Oh that's nice."

I could tell that she didn't care for me anymore. She was more interested in a Butterfree off in the distance than what I had to tell her. Sometimes I wondered why I even bothered anymore, why should I be the one to keep a friendship going that is clearly coming to an end?

"Possibly forever."

"Wait what?" Emily turned round and looked at me, "What do you mean?"

"Well last week Mum and Mr Randilyn brought me into his office and told about Diana having a heart attack," and so I went on to tell her what happened inside the office that day…

"Honey, Diana has suffered a heart attack." I looked at Mum like she had just evolved into a three headed Pokémon, "She was the women who took over Cerulean Gym from Misty."

"Oh ye', but wasn't she only in the job for a year?"

"Yes," My Randilyn cut in, "We don't really know the reason at the minute. Parker has taken over the gym on a temporary basis."

I was still confused about this whole situation.

"Well what has any of this got to do with me?"

Mum pulled out the chair in front of me and told me to sit down and then handed me a leaflet. I sat down and read it. It was a leaflet advertising a competition to be the new Gym Leader of Cerulean Gym.

"Okay, so why are you giving me this?"

"Well your mother and I have been discussing and we think that you should go for it."

I said there completely dumfounded, my mum went off into this speech about how they were looking for all trainers over the age of eighteen to come and take part in a five part competition to become the new gym leader. The winner would become leader of the best Water Pokémon Gym in the country, live in the Leaders House in Cerulean and be able to run the gym how the pleased, the only conditions where that you had to be over the age of eighteen and have a mainly water based team.

"… and we would all be behind you and we all know that you could do it. Finn are you even listening?"

"Yes I am, but how is that even possible."

Mr Randilyn came over and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Son, you are my top lifeguard here, and it pains me to lose you, but I know you can do this. You have shown me nothing but passion and love for both Pokémon and the water, you have done everything with nothing but sheer determination, and you could be the best damned trainer if you put your mind to it."

As I was telling Emily what had happened in the office, I noticed that she was slowly losing interest in everything that I was saying. I loved her I really did, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that she didn't care about me anymore.

"So I am going to go off traveling for a month in preparation for the competition and then apply for it. What do you think? Emily?"

Emily snapped out of her trance like state and looked at me for a second.

"No of course I think it is great, but not for you Finn. You would never be able to do it." At this point Squirt walked out onto the balcony and lay on the ground beside me. "Like the only water Pokémon you have is that stupid little Squirtle, and it will sure as anything not do you any good."

At that point I realised that Emily was no longer my best friend, she was barely even my friend. I told her where she could shove her opinion and stormed out of the place. How could she even say that to me? Fair enough, all I had was Squirt and Fetch, but I was going to spend the next month catching and training new water Pokémon. I had a good a chance as any really. All I had to do was put my mind to it.

Yes it was going to be hard, but even I had confidence in myself with this. Finn, Cerulean's Water Gym Leader. My name would be known throughout the land and I would be part of the Pokémon League. All I had to do was go for it. After all, if I didn't succeed I could always come back here with a new team of water Pokémon and work again for Mr Randilyn. Either way it was going to be a great adventure, a great experience, and win or lose a great opportunity.