Pokémon: Lost in the Moment

Chapter 2 - Returning Home

The journey over to Alola was a surprisingly relaxed one. Usually, on trains, there's a lot of commotion and moving around, but throughout the whole journey, everything was quiet and chilled. As the train was nearing the region's only station, in Hau 'Oli City, I started feeling nostalgic for many of my old Sinnoh memories, and while not Sinnoh related, I was also feeling nostalgic for the team I journeyed with through the Alola region. Unfortunately, however, time was somewhat of the essence, so I couldn't just wander down memory lane with my Alolan team, and so I just headed straight for the nearest dock.

My luck was really good that day, it seemed because the boat I had booked a spot for was just about to leave, meaning there was no waiting time for me so I could keep being on the move.

Once on the boat, I proceeded to start making calls to people I knew around the Sinnoh region to announce I was on my way back, including Professor Rowan, of whom I informed to meet me at the airport with my old team, and my own mother, who I hadn't seen in so, so long. I was on the phone to her the longest, unsurprisingly, and when I told her that I was on my way back, I could hear her tearing up slightly, excited to see me in person once again after so long of being apart. I informed her of my reasoning for coming back to the Sinnoh region, to which she then went on about how the League's board of directors were meant to get in touch with me, first informing her of what had happened, but was unable to contact me before I made the decision to return myself.

My mom also told me how, despite everyone else knowing that my return was imminent because of all of this, Cynthia did not, going on to say how she's been tied down with a gigantic workload, so any information that was even slightly outside of her circle of focus was likely to be missed by her. Upon hearing this, I started feeling guilty, not knowing how much work I've left her with over the years, or how the system may have changed during that time to make something like that happen. Having said that, though, my mom was quick to, in a way, reassure me that it wasn't because Cynthia had taken on more work, but it was because of work that's piled up over the years, saying how she's been unmotivated in her position. When my mom said, I felt at ease, but... understanding at the same time, too.

I eventually had to hang up as we obviously couldn't talk forever while I was on a boat with other people, so I just said goodbye and that I was looking forward to meeting her again.

While waiting out the rest of my trip, I kept thinking about what I was told regarding Cynthia, that she's been unmotivated for years now. This was odd to me. From what I remembered of Cynthia, she always had her own tempo, not seeming like someone who could be unmotivated in any sense of the word, but I guess it happens with everyone at some point in their lives, even if only once.

The journey on boat was a total of forty-eight hours, but eventually, the boat docked at Canalave City and I was finally about to step foot in the Sinnoh region once more. I took a glance around my immediate surroundings and it looked like nothing had changed even slightly compared to the last time I was here. Or at least, maybe not in Canalave City anyway. But sight-seeing wasn't at the top of my priority list at that very moment because I was immediately greeted by a Staraptor - my Staraptor. She was so happy to see me once again as I was with her. Letting her perch on top of my right arm, I then look over to see Professor Rowan standing with my other Pokémon; Torterra, Luxray, Vaporeon, Rapidash, and Froslass, all of which soon came over to happily welcome me back.

It was quite overwhelming, in all honesty, being reunited with my first ever team of Pokémon after so long. Not to discredit any of my other teams, of course not, but you always remember your first after all. I spent so much time reminiscing and just playing with my Pokémon in the harbour that time just flew by. I soon apologised to Professor Rowan for making him wait so long for me to be done, but fortunately, he was very understanding about it and wasn't mad at all. He also then informed me that he was no longer "Professor Rowan" anymore as a childhood friend of mine had taken up the position instead because of how Rowan was getting on in years, Barry.

I was a little confused as to why my mother withheld that specific bit of information from me, but in all fairness, when you're so overwhelmed by a sudden development, such as, in her case, me returning home, it's easy to forget things. Nevertheless, after I heard that, I was all the more excited to journey around Sinnoh to see what else had changed, but my responsibilities had to take priority over my desires, which is what it means to be an adult sometimes, so that was out of the question for the time being.

I spoke to Rowan for a little while, with him giving me a rundown of everything that had happened recently, but in more detail so that I wasn't in the dark about anything. When Rowan had finished, he handed me my Pokémon's Pokeballs so I could return them, all except for Staraptor, of which I needed to fly over to the Pokémon League. And so, upon returning the rest of my Pokémon, I took flight with Staraptor, and the moment we got up into the air, the memories of doing this ten years ago came flooding back to me. It all felt so familiar. Not the fact I was flying with a Pokémon, but that I was flying with Staraptor over the Sinnoh region, and it appeared that Staraptor was loving it too, trying to savour the moment as much as possible, for we had been apart for so long and she missed me so.

Nothing can last forever, though, as eventually, we arrived at the Pokémon League. It was just as I remembered it: a grand piece of architecture overseeing a huge waterfall leading up to it, surrounded by light fog because of how high up it was. I returned Staraptor to its Pokeball before taking a step inside. When inside, I was greeted by a familiar sight, the same sight that greeted me when I first stepped foot into the league; a place to rest your Pokémon off to the left, bathed in orange, a kiosk to prepare for upcoming battles on the right, bathed in blue, and a straightaway leading into the League's chambers themselves.

Other than the sights themselves, I was immediately greeted by someone who was accompanied by a Lopunny, but I did not recognise them at first... However, after they introduced themselves, my memory came flooding back to me: It was Dawn. She was previously an assistant of the now-former Professor Rowan, who much like my childhood friend Barry and I, set out on a journey around the Sinnoh, though her goal was to fill in the pages of the Pokédex, while mine and Barry's was to conquer the League. Other than not having seen her for such a long time, I don't think I would've recognised Dawn even I had of seen her recently because she looked so different now, with waist-length, brunette hair (formerly shoulder-length, blue hair), black-rectangular glasses (formerly none), and now wearing light makeup. She was sporting a wide brim straw hat and a two-tone maxi dress, with white, elegant looking high heels.

After realising who it was I was talking to, I immediately apologised for not knowing, but Dawn forgave me as it had been an extremely long time and she admitted that she had changed a lot. We spent a few minutes catching up, and it turned out that Dawn was there to discuss the matter of Cynthia retiring. This confused me for a moment, but as she went on, I learnt that I had been dethroned from my spot as the champion of Sinnoh within the last two hours by Dawn herself.

Turns out, Cynthia was called in one last time to defend the title of champion on my behalf, despite her retirement, but only because the title defence had been arranged ahead of time, so I guess the board and everyone else involved had little faith in whoever the last challenger would be and so immediately tried getting in contact with me... Amidst all of the confusion, however, I was also just really happy that Dawn was able to take the championship for herself, seeing as, as she put it, "It was something she's been working towards for years now."

She apologised for thinking she had wasted my time in coming all the way out to the Sinnoh region again for a matter that was solved really quickly, but I reassured you that it was okay and that I was actually happy to be here again.

I congratulated Dawn on her win and even joked how I was actually glad that I finally lost the title of "champion" after almost a decade. And then, at that moment, I had an idea to challenge Dawn to a battle. Not to earn the title back, but just a simple sparring match and as a way to see how much she's grown over the years, to which she promptly agreed to, leading me through to the back of the Pokémon League to where we would be battling.