On The Road

Chapter Eighteen

The sound of something moving outside made Wally open his eyes. He turned his head only to notice that Larance was gone. Realizing that it was still dark out, he hurriedly climbed out of the tent to search for his missing friend. The pale moonlight barely gave him enough light to see, but he was able to recognize the color of Larance's hair, even in the limited light. He carefully approached the boy as he seemed to be lost in thought.

"Larance?" Wally asked. "Why are you up? It's the middle of the night."

"Actually, it's almost dawn," Larance replied, not looking at his friend. "And I just guess I couldn't sleep well." He sighed before turning towards Wally. "Maxie knows about my dad."

"And he refused to tell you," Wally sighed.

"No. Well, not exactly," Larance replied with a huff as he folded his arms. "He said that he couldn't tell me about him. This is all just so..."

"Frustrating?" Wally chuckled a bit. "Yeah, we all are frustrated by this as well."

"I'm sorry," Larance apologized. "I'm sorry that I dragged all of you into this."

"You didn't drag us into this, we decided to help you. Besides, friends help each other out."

"Thanks, Wally."

The two friends grinned at each other before Larance spoke up.

"Hey, can you wake up the girls?" he asked. "We should all watch the sunrise this morning. It'll probably give me good luck when I go up against the Lavaridge gym."

"Okay, but I'm blaming you if Bina kicks me," Wally warned before heading off to the other tent.

Larance chuckled at this before his face fell and he looked at where the sun would rise. Hearing the sound of approaching feet, he put on a false smile as his friends approached him.

"Can you please explain to me why you made Wally wake us up this early?" Bina asked as she grumpily folded her arms.

"I believe that when the four of us watch the sunrise this morning, I'll finally be able to be hit with good luck," Larance explained with a grin.

"That just...what?!?" Bina responded, confused.

"Why do you believe that?" Arriete cut in as she rubbed her tired eyes. "Were you reading your horoscope or something?"

"No, nothing like that," Larance sighed as his grin vanished. "I...I just need some good luck. For everything." 

The others stood there silently as they realized what he meant by that.

"Well, why not?" Arriete suddenly broke the silence.

She made her way over to a large rock and sat on it, waiting for the sun to rise. Larance soon joined her, followed by Wally and Bina sitting on the rock next to them. They sat there, talking for a while, before the sun slowly rose above the horizon.

"Wow..." Wally breathed. "This is beautiful."

"And so calming," Bina muttered with a yawn as her head fell onto Wally's shoulder.

Wally stiffened at this and turned to Larance for help. Arriete had her head on Larance's shoulder, and all he did was give Wally a thumbs up. Wally gave a little smile back in reply and turned his head back towards the rising sun.

***

"Four badges down, four more to go," Larance sighed as the four of them walked out of the gym. "Where are we headed next?"

"Petalburg," Arriete replied with distaste.

"Are...are you going to be okay Arriete?" Bina asked, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.