The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Tommy and Nessa made their way over to the main office to register with the receptionist and once that was done, they headed to the rec center to meet up with Jonathan, Darius, and Aubrey.

The five of them spent their time goofing around and making jokes and before Tommy knew it, the end of the day came and it was time for school to end.

He said goodbye to his friends and went to go find his sister. She was waiting for him by the entrance to the first year’s building.

“Tori!” He waved and called out to her once he saw her.

She ran up to him and gave him a giant hug, almost sending him to the ground. He messed her hair up and asked, “How was your first day kiddo?”

“It was amazing, Tommy!” She said hopping up and down, “I made new friends, Josh and Claudia, and I learned so much and I just can’t wait to get to school tomorrow!”

“It sounds like you had a pretty incredible day!” He said, grinning from ear to ear. “See? You were worried for nothing. Now come on, let's go see if Mom is waiting for us.”

Tommy and his sister headed out to the front and saw Mom waiting in her truck. They hopped in and headed back to the ranch; Tori chatted ceaselessly the entire way home. They pulled up to the house and Tori ran inside to go find Dad and tell him all about her first day.

“Hey Mom, I need to tell you something important,” Tommy said as he climbed out of the truck.

“What is it?” She asked. “Is everything alright?”

I’m going to be a Pokémon trainer.

“Yeah everything is fine,” he sighed. “There was a new transfer student today, from a place called Galar. She’s really nice, she hung out with me and Jon, Darius, and Aubrey today.”

Dammit, I’m such a coward.

“Is Galar far away?” his mom asked aloud. When Tommy shrugged, not knowing the answer, she smiled and pulled him into a hug, leading him up the front porch of the house. “Well either way, that sounds like it’s an incredible journey to make.”

“Yeah, it sounded nice from the way she described it,” he smiled, wrapping his arm around her waist. “Hey, do you think I could maybe invite all of my friends out to our house for a study session? It sounds like our last year is going to be pretty difficult and it might be fun for them to see the ranch and all of the Pokémon. You know Darius has only been out here once and Jon and Aubrey never have.”

“I’ll speak with your father about it and we’ll let you know,” she told him. “Now come on, your father should have finished with dinner by now so let’s go eat.”

They headed inside and Tommy washed up for dinner. The four of them sat down to eat and once Tommy was done he excused himself. He grabbed his fishing gear and went outside to go sit under his tree for a while. As he was walking through the corral, he made sure to say hello to all of the Miltank. Each of them would low expectantly as he passed by and Tommy happily rubbed each of their heads in response. As he walked by the barn and out through the gate, he saw that the fence was destroyed again. Tauros had stomped it down in almost the exact same place; Dad was going to be furious once he found out.

Tommy spent the rest of the day resting under the tree again, still not really caring if he caught anything on his fishing pole or not. He saw Tauros walking around the pasture and coming to the pond to get a drink every so often. After a while Tauros got bored and headed back to the corral by the house, a single Miltank following behind him.

The slight breeze and the shady tree in the afternoon sun lulled Tommy in and out of sleep as the unmoving fishing pole lay slack in his hands - How could someone keep track of time under those conditions? When he roused himself, the sun was almost below the horizon and twilight was beginning to settle across the ranch. He quickly hopped up from beneath the tree, hoping he could make it back to the house before the last rays of light completely disappeared; it was a pain to walk around outside at night with no lights to see by. He hurriedly packed up his gear so that he could start off for his house.

With the last of the waning daylight he looked across the pond and saw movement in the corner of his vision. There was a copse of trees on the far side of the pond and all around their bases was densely packed underbrush. The bushes, vines, and leaves were rustling back and forth. At first he thought nothing of it until he noticed the pond itself was smooth as glass; he realized now that the wind had ceased when he roused himself earlier and not a trace of it could be felt or seen on the surface of the water now. He figured Tauros was walking around trying to get some water, but then he remembered Tauros had already walked back towards the house a while ago.

His heartbeat started to quicken as he felt goosebumps erupt across his forearms and scalp. He swallowed and tried to stare as hard as he could across the water to see if he could make out any shapes in the underbrush.

Eyes as red as blood stared back at him from the shadows.

“Oh fuck,” he yelled. Backpedaling from the glaring eyes and now visible teeth, Tommy’s foot caught a root from his shady oak tree sending him sprawling onto the ground. He scrambled to his feet, heart hammering in his chest, and looked back across the pond.

Nothing.

He grabbed his rod and ran towards the house without looking back.

————————————————————————

A good night’s sleep eluded Tommy as his dreams were plagued by blood red eyes and glistening white fangs.

He had already been awake for a full hour when 5 o’clock rolled around and it was time for him to get up and attend to his chores. Giving up on trying to force any more sleep, Tommy rolled out of bed with a groan and a massive headache.

He dressed and headed down to the kitchen where he met his parents. His mom was getting started on breakfast and his dad was sitting at the table drinking coffee and eating a piece of toast while reading the paper.

Tommy sat down at the table and laid his head down on his arms, closing his eyes.

“You alright there son?” His dad asked. “Rough night?”

“Yeah, just had trouble sleeping,” he replied. “Massive headache brewing.”

His mom set a piece of toast in front of him with some water and medicine. She kissed him on the back of his head.

“For your headache,” she said. She sat down at the table in between Tommy and his father. “By the way, your father and I spoke, and you’re welcome to invite your friends out to study. Did you have a day in mind already?”

“Not particularly, no.” He said. He downed the pills and started on his toast. “We just mentioned it in passing. We have a test every Monday so it might be a regular thing. Would that be a problem?”

“I don’t see why not,” his mother replied. “So long as you still complete all of your responsibilities around the ranch. Do they really want to be coming out here every week though? It seems so out of the way.”

He shrugged. “Maybe not every week. We’ll probably study at school too or maybe sometimes one of their houses if you guys don’t care.

“Fine,” his mom said. “As long as there is always adult supervision and you still do everything around here.”

“Thanks mom, I will,” he told her.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Baby steps, he told himself. You can do it, Tommy.

“I may need a bike this year. I told Darius I would get to school early to work out with him in the mornings. Plus with all of the battling that is going to go on this year I’m sure the professors will be scheduling matches before and after school.”

His mom shot him a look as if daring him to continue with that line of thinking.

“Best not talk about battling in front of your mother, son,” his father sighed. He smiled at Tommy. “You know she’s not pleased with me about your schooling this year; she wanted to withdraw you from the school.”

“Well excuse me for being worried about my only son!” His mom all but shouted, rounding on Tommy’s father. His father put his hands up placatingly. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t want him to die or get horribly maimed fighting in a battle like you did!”

Tommy looked up from eating his toast so fast the room started to spin. “What did you just say?”

“Nothing,” his mother snapped. She got up from the table and went back over to the stove. “You two finish your toast and go milk the Miltanks. Hurry up.”

Tommy looked over at his dad who was pretending to read the newspaper and refusing to make eye contact.

“Tauros destroyed the fence again. Same place as last time,” Tommy said to his dad. “I saw it when I was heading out to the pond yesterday.”

Dad looked over at mom who had a worried look on her face.

“Did you see anything else out of the ordinary son?” His father asked.

Blood red eyes.

“No, nothing,” Tommy lied. “Just figured I would let you know.”

His dad grunted. “I’ll take a look around this week and see if I see anything. You ready?”

“Yeah, I suppose,” Tommy said. He stood and stretched while finishing the last of his toast. The two of them headed out to the barn and Tommy pointed out the fence to his father. After finishing his chores he opened the corral and let all the Pokémon out into the pasture to graze; he then went inside, ate the breakfast his mom had cooked, and showered.

It was 8:00 when his mother parked the car in front of the school.

“Step out of the car for a minute please Tori,” his mother said. “I need to speak with your brother about something.”

“Wait, are you guys going to tell secrets, that’s not fair!” Tori whined. “Are they about me?”

“Out. Now.” His mother said.

Tori grumbled under her breath but did as she was told. His mother turned to look at him and Tommy widened his eyes in alarm as he saw that her eyes were red and starting to water.

“Mom, is everything okay? What’s wrong?” he asked. “Is this about this morning? I’m sorry!”

“Just listen,” his mother said, wiping at her eyes.

“Your father is a wonderful man,” Mom started. She closed her eyes and smiled as she reminded herself of something that only she was privy to. “When I first met him he was a force of nature. He had strength to rival the strongest tempest and passion that exceeded a raging inferno.”

“If you ask your father he will tell you that he loves me and you two children more than anything in the world…” She trailed off. “But I know that he loves battling just as much as he loves us. I took that from him and it’s something I live with everyday. I don’t know how much he’s told you of his past...”

“Nothing,” Tommy leaned forward in his seat. “What was his past like? What are you even talking about?”

“I slipped up this morning,” his mother laughed. “Your father was actually a Pokémon trainer at one point, a pretty good one too. I won’t tell you more than that though, it isn’t my place. If he hasn’t told you yet he must have his reasons as to why that is.”

Tommy collapsed back into his chair and exhaled a big breath. He could hear a slight ringing in his ears as his mind was trying to process what his mother had just told him.

“Anyway, I’m beginning to ramble,” his mother said. Tears began to form in her eyes again. “Training is in the blood. No matter how badly I want for you and Tori to be safe and live on the ranch with us forever, I know in my heart that it won’t happen. I just need you to understand that the two of you mean more to me than anything in this world and that I’m scared.”

Tommy sat next to her in silence, not trusting himself to speak.

“I promise to try my hardest to support you this year,” Mom continued. “I’m just asking that you please be careful and that you maybe don’t tell me about all of the dangerous things that you’re going to have to do?”

Tommy leaned across the center console of the truck and hugged her as hard as he could. “Sure Mom, I can’t promise that I’ll always be safe, but I promise to try my hardest to be. I’ll make good decisions and I’ll make you proud.”

Tears were running down her face now as he pulled away from the hug. “I may not know much about being a trainer or battling, but I do know that courage is something that all trainers need.”

Tommy nodded his head up and down and tried to keep the tears from his own eyes as he watched his mother cry.

“So what did you really want to tell me yesterday?” She asked. “When we got home from school yesterday you said you had something important to tell me.”

He sat there like an idiot. She had known all along.

“I’m going to be a trainer,” he told her. He couldn’t keep the tears from forming in his eyes, but his voice was strong. “I wasn’t really sure myself until a few days ago, but it’s what I want to do. I can feel it when I watch a battle, when I hear the roar of the crowd at a match.”

His mother was sobbing now.

“I took Tori to a match on Saturday and that’s when I knew. The roar of the crowd just from being in the stands felt like fire in my veins. I have to know what it’s like to stand on the pitch in a real battle. Any punishment you or Dad decide on, I’ll take without complaint. I’m sorry for bringing Tori with me.” He told her.

She shook her head and wiped her eyes, her breathing shallow and ragged. “Tori told me on Saturday. Don’t worry I won’t punish you - not this time at least.”

“And if she hasn’t told you yet, that’s why she’s mad at you,” his mom continued. “She said she knew as soon as she saw your face at the gym that you had decided to be a trainer, even if you didn’t know it yet yourself. She’s sad because she thinks that you’re going to leave her behind. Although judging from how much she loved her first day yesterday she might not be that far behind you after all.”

“So that’s why she was mad at me, she knew I wanted to be a trainer even before I did,” he shook his head and reached for his mother’s hand. “Also, I wouldn’t be too sure about Tori yet; she loves Pokémon, but she really hated going to that battle. We left early because it made her sad to watch the Pokémon fight each other; maybe she won’t be a trainer at all.”

“Even if that isn’t true, thank you,” Mom smiled weakly. “We’ll get you your bike this weekend so you can get to school whenever you need to or stay late in the evenings. If you have to stay after dark please let me know ahead of time though. I don’t want you riding your bike home after dark without your own Pokémon, so I’ll come pick you up.”

Tommy nodded his head, “I will Mom. Thank you.”

“And speaking of you having a Pokémon,” she started. She reached into her purse and held out her hand. “A gift from your father and I.”

It was a Pokéball.

“It’s empty of course, your father said that your first Pokémon should be caught, not given,” she said. “I don’t know how he expects you to catch your own Pokémon by yourself but I’m sure he has something in mind and that he’ll tell you when the time is right. Do not run around in the wild looking for a Pokémon by yourself, do you understand me? If you do, I promise you I will make you work on the ranch for the rest of your life.”

Tommy just nodded his head and took the Pokéball from his mom. He held it in his shaking hands and stared at it saying nothing.

“Have a good day,” his mother told him. Her eyes started to well up again, “I’ll pick you guys up at 4 okay? Tell your sister I love her, I can’t see her right now. Do not show that to Tori, do you understand me?”

He hugged her as hard as he could, “I love you mom.”

“I love you too, Thomas.”