A Fresh Start

His Trainer and A Ghostly Friend - 10

Your POV
After cooking some curry and playing around with all of my Pokemon, I packed up all of my camping equipment and returned everyone except Violet and Bolt. I continued down Route 6, still wondering what that vision even was. All I remember seeing was a pink and purple sky and some weird sihlouette. I battled some trainers along the way, same old routine for every route. I talked about random things with Bolt and Violet as I looked at the ruin-like route.

As I walked along the route, I had a weird feeling. It felt like something really important and huge was coming up very soon. As I was talking to Bolt and Violet, I brought up the topic of the Stow-on-Side Gym Leaders. "Hmm...I wonder who I'll be battling. Allister or Bea? They do rotations where they swap places every day, kinda like Gordie and Melony in Circhester." I kept on rambling for what seemed like forever until I stopped talking. "Sorry, I like talking about stuff I've read." I said to the two Pokemon with me.

They seemed to have laughed, causing me to laugh as well. I noticed I was getting closer to Stow-on-Side, seeing as the Diglett statues were a dead give-away. Though, I did end up battling this weird and...kinda creepy artist. That's something I'll never forget. When I was officially in Stow-on-Side, reality hit me like Gloria did not too long ago. Bolt's home. I looked down at Bolt before crouching down, my hands on my knees.

"Hey, Bolt...We're here. All we need to do is find your Trainer and then you'll be home again." I told him. He seemed sad, which broke my heart even more. "...I'm gonna miss you too. We all will." I said, referring to the team and the rest of my Pokemon. I held back tears as I hugged him tightly, Violet nuzzling his leg after jumping out of my bag. I pulled away and rested my forehead on Bolt's. "It's ok. I'll never forget you. Just don't ever forget me...please?" I asked him. He nodded immediately. "Great." I smiled. The moment was bittersweet.

I got up, Violet hopping back in my bag, and looked around, seeing 'Lost Yamper' fliers taped and nailed to multiple walls and posts. I saw a girl with bright blonde hair and electric blue eyes putting up another missing Pokemon flier for Bolt. I looked at Bolt's collar that was still around his neck, even though he evolved and got much larger. I walked up to the girl and tapped her shoulder. She looked over to me, her short ponytail swaying at the movement. "Yes?" She asked. Her eyes had sadness and worry swirling in them.

"Um...I found your Yamper, but he evolved around halfway through the time of me having him with me." I answered, pointing to Bolt. The girl looked at Bolt, then his collar. "Yamper, it is you!" She hugged him. "I'm so sorry for leaving you back near Motostoke! I'm such a horrible person." She said to him. She let go and looked back at me. "I'm Elise by the way." She stuck her hand out for me to shake, which I did. "I'm an Electric type Gym Leader in training. I have these two friends who are doing the same, only with Poison and Psychic Pokemon instead of Electric." Elise informed after letting go of my hand.

"Thank you so very much for finding him. I really do mean it." The blonde girl said with a sweet smile. She then stuck her hands in her bright yellow jacket's pockets. "Are you also a Gym Challenger by any chance?" Elise asked. "Oh, yes I am. I'm about to challenge the Gym too." I answered. "Nice! Make sure to have some Ghost or Dark types with you too, Allister's working in the Gym today." The Electric user said. "Good to know, thanks!" I said with a smile. I then looked back at Bolt. "Bye Bud." I said, hugging him quickly before walking off quickly, trying to hold back the waterfall of tears that threatened to stream from my eyes.

I walked to the PokeCenter and had the team healed up, stocking up on potions too before heading towards the stairs that lead to the Gym. I saw the color scheme was purple instead of orange. "Yep, Allister's at the Gym alright." I mumbled to Violet. I then noticed Hop was in front of the stairs. "(Y/n)..." Hop looked to the ground. "I'm still not too sure what I should do about all that stuff I told you before...About me being weak and dragging down Lee's good name and all, yeah?" Hop said as if it was nothing. "Hop, you're not weak-" "But the only thing I can do is try to get stronger, right? So I'm gonna try out all kinds of different things against you and see what works!" The male cut me off.