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

Once Lost, Now Found

"Tympole evolved?" June asked, an excited look on her face.

"He evolved during the battle against Clay's Stunfisk and Golurk," I told her. "And then Pidove evolved later on. I explained this when we were leaving Driftveil City. You weren't listening."

"Pidove, too?" June gasped happily, her face lighting up even further. "Does he listen better, now?"
"Yes, June," I sighed with exasperation. "You haven't seen my Pokemon in a bit, huh?"

"Well, we all stormed out of Driftveil after beat you Clay, and our Pokemon have been in the Pokemon Center since we got here while we all were..." June lowered her eyes to the ground.

I glared down, my mind immediately focusing on Ella.

Last night, I had taken a long walk by myself outside. I had managed to hold back a wave of tears in front of June, several drips managing to escape my eyes, but alone, in the woods leading back to Chargestone Cave, I bawled on my knees, threw rocks, screamed into the sky, kicked trees, and threw a huge tantrum, feeling furious, depressed, alone, and completely worthless. Why would she go back to him after leaving him for cheating on her? I had thought furiously. Was I really that bad?

"You've been nothing but bad luck for me, Gary! I missed out on two badges, busted my leg, and got ditched on a date. Maybe us separating is a good thing." Ella had claimed that was just a joke.

"Complete crap!" I had screamed in the woods that night, kicking at the ground furiously. I knew she had left for those reasons. And because girls are just stupid. She's going back to her boyfriend who cheated on her, I thought angrily. I'd never do that to her! Why do girls always go back to the assholes? How come I can never find the right person for me? Why do I have to end up in this position? Maybe I'll just go around slapping girls and demanding they go out with me and then hit on their best friends in front of them! "Is that what girls want?!" I cursed in a rage and made a raucous in the woods, Pokemon scurrying and flying away from my wrath as I stormed around.

The only thing that took my mind off of the pain in my heart over Ella was a different pain in my heart that I had been holding back until it finally burst free from its cage and took over me, gripping my heart in a freezing, tight grasp that froze me on the inside and made my body shiver, causing me more pain than anything else in my life ever had. Alone in the woods, I could take the time to think about something that had been bubbling up from deep down inside of me, and now, it had bubbled over the top and into the forefront of my mind. I was now thinking about June's encounter with Fred, and I couldn't help but wonder about my dad. If a friend of June's could return from the dead to see her one last time out of love, where was my dad to do the same? Why hasn't he come back to see me? Did Fred know my dad?

And then I wondered: What about Aly...? Did neither one of them care enough to return to comfort me after all this time when I had been suffering from their losses? These thoughts and countless others made me cry harder than I'd ever cried in my entire life, a helpless feeling dropping me to the ground effortlessly, and I laid there, soaking the soil underneath my face with my tears. All alone, with no one and nothing but myself and my honest emotions, I realized that the situation that had occurred between June and Fred made me feel jealous. Unwanted. Unloved. There was so little I understood, and so much I needed to know. So much I felt I was entitled to know! But all I was given was nothing but an endless supply of tears to give to the dirt.

The sky was still dark but was starting to light up as I walked back to the Pokemon Center, dim signs of daylight introducing a fresh morning I didn't want to be given. I showered before going to bed at about six, and when I awoke several hours later, the look on June's face told me that she didn't have the best night's sleep, either.