Bridging The Gap; The Final Records In Unova: An Autobiography

Some Like It Hot

"If you're gonna start earning Badges, you should start catching some Pokemon, Gary," June told me.

"You don't say," I said sarcastically.

"Well, I'm just saying. Accumula Town isn't far away, right?" she asked.

I nodded. "I never really said I was going to challenge the Unova League. My mom was attacked in the middle of the night by one of your Pokemon, and then, the next thing I know, I'm pretty much homeless. Then, I run into my Charizard and Porygon-Z, the latter who attacks Prof. Oak, basically banning me from Pallet Town. And now, both Pokemon are missing. To top it off, I'm in some whole other freaking region I've never been to, with no Pokemon, and no access to any of my old Pokemon, and you want me to just go catch some new ones? Then what? If I catch more than six, I'm busted as far as what region I'm in. And once the Unova League is over, then what are we going to do? Where will we go?"

"I've thought about that," June replied, her eyes to the ground. "You're always welcome back at my place..."

I turned to her, scowling, getting even angrier as I noticed her red cheeks. "Oh, of course," I snapped. "Your place! Back in Gringey City. In Kanto! And exactly how are we going to get back over the freaking ocean to the Kanto region? Hmm. I guess a plane would work, right? Right. Oh, wait! I forgot! You didn't bring your freaking purse or anything to pay for the trip! The food you brought in your bag, and the food we'll get for free at the Pokemon Centers, are only going to be but so sufficient, June!"

"Will you stop getting so angry at me?" June yelled back. "Just shut up and listen! I already made a call at the Pokemon Center we came from. I'm getting a new card mailed to Striaton City. I checked out the Town Map in the Pokemon Center and I knew it might take some time to get to Unova, so I figured I'd send it a couple of towns ahead of us. So we just have to make sure we make it to Striaton City."

I sighed. "Fine. After Accumula, we'll go straight there. It's not far from there."

June smiled. "See? I've got everything under control."

I rolled my eyes.

The sun beamed from above. It was surprisingly hot for the kind of cool, easygoing weather we'd been having the past couple of months. The path we were on was guarded on each side by a light number of trees, grass stretching for miles beyond the dry, dirt ground beneath our feet, dirtying my sneakers slowly as they crunched the brown, dead leaves.

My hands were in my jacket pockets as I pondered taking it off.

"So, about Unova..." June said after a little while.

"What about it?" I asked cautiously.

"What do you think?"

"It's nice. Why?"
"Gary!" June said angrily. "Why do you think I'm asking? I wanna know if you're going to compete or if you want to leave?"

I turned my eyes to the cloudless, blue sky, thinking about her words. Staring at the blazing sun was making me feel even hotter, but I didn't look away as I pondered my future plans. After everything I'd been through in the past couple of days, this was the first real time I was able to call the shots. I could take the time to think and not act in haste.

Compete in the Unova League, or...? Or what?

I lowered my eyes to June, and then turned to... "Hey!" I said in surprise, looking around, blinking out the bright flashes lingering in my eyes from the sun. "Trixa! Where are you?"

"Oh, no!" June's head whipped around frantically. "Where's Trixa?"

"Let's just leave her!" I said impatiently. "I've had about enough of her and her craziness! We're not her babysitters."