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

Wicked Games

"Driftveil City looks pleasant," I commented cheerfully as June and Ella walked by my sides, looking around at the buildings surrounding us.

Several people were outside on this gray, freezing cold morning. The fog within the city was thin, a light mist of rain being blown all around, a light layer of moisture on our clothes and faces. A tree was planted every few feet apart in front of the buildings, their branches swaying lightly in the wind, the leaves rustling against one another, several of them falling off of their branches while the leaves already on the ground swirled into the air, meeting with the falling leaves, spinning together.

"Driftveil City?" Ella asked me.

"We can finally earn our next badges!" My eyes were focused ahead, looking for the Gym. "You said his name was Clay, right?"

"Yes, Clay is who runs the Gym in Driftveil City, Gary," Ella told me. "But we're not in Driftveil City."

"We're not?" I turned to her. "But, I thought it was right after the Driftveil Drawbridge!"

"Well, almost," Ella said, staring at her Town Map. "We should be there soon, but there's still a little bit of a walk to go. Not much further, though."

I sighed with disappointed as she turned her sweet eyes and angelic smile to me, immediately cutting my sigh short as I smiled back. "Great! No big deal, then."

"As long as you have Ella with you, everything will be fine, right, Gary?" June chimed in, a sinister grin on her face as she eyed me.

"Wha-? I... Well, she has the electronic Town Map, so, yeah, I guess with her around, we have no real worries," I replied nervously.

"Oh, I see," Ella said sadly, lowering her head. "This is all about my Town Map. Here I thought maybe it was something more special..." She whimpered.

She's joking, I was sure, and yet, I felt like a sucker as a regretful feeling filled my heart. "No, Ella, it's not that," I tried.

"That's exactly what you said." Ella closed her eyes as she held her Town Map out to me. "Just take it, then. You can use it since this is all that matters. Silly me, thinking we had something going." She turned to June and grabbed her shoulder gently.

June stopped walking and stared at me with a smile that showed she was on the verge of busting out laughing.

Ella leaned on the arm that was attached to the hand holding June's cane, and she started crying loudly, obviously faking.

"Ella, I'm sorry, really," I said, uncertain of how to act in this situation. "I-you-I..."

"No, no. I'll be just fine." She placed her hands, still holding her Town Map, over her heart and walked ahead of us, sniffling hard.

A couple of people were staring at us now, watching Ella and then turning to me and June.

I looked away from them and stared at the ground. Some people get shot in the head and die, I thought, a feeling of embarrassment mixed with sorrow and confusion swirling through me. Me? I get to deal with this... Some people have all the luck. I knew Ella was just playing, but it was a game I wasn't very good at. In fact, I was downright horrible at it, having exactly no experience in the field. Not to mention, I had no idea what Ella was going for with her game. I walked as quickly as I could after her, June hobbling after me.

"This sure is a cute little place," Ella said, touching her Town Map screen. "It has something called a Pokemon Performance Competition where Pokemon and their Trainers can perform and do all kinds of cool tricks using their attacks, or dancing, or whatever original ideas the Pokemon and their Trainers can come up with!"