“Wow. So it was nothing but a big misunderstanding?” June asked.

“Yeah. Charmander didn’t really mean any harm,” I said. “It wasn’t the best thing for him to do, but all in all, we got over it, and now, well, you can see we’re friends.”

“That’s nothing short of amazing, Gary,” June replied, wide eyed like a fascinated child.

We were walking through Route 7, on our way to Saffron City. The path had started out nice enough. Simple grassy plains and trees once lined our path, the sun shining down on us pleasantly on such a windless afternoon. But as night settled upon us and the temperature dropped slightly, the walk soon turned into a mountain climb! The trees and grass continued lining the way, but the path swiftly went uphill and rocky underneath us.

When she was done complaining about the extra effort it was now taking us to get to Saffron, June had decided to ask me about what Aly had told her when she said me and Charmander were having issues. “This is why I’m glad I got to be with you, you know?”

“I guess…” I didn’t always like her choice of words.

“You come off as cold sometimes, Gary,” she continued. “But you’re one of the sweetest-”

“This path sure is getting foggy,” I interrupted. I kept my squinting eyes ahead of me, trying to see through the fog that had suddenly crept in, and seemed to be getting thicker with each step we took.

“Gary?”

“Yeah?” I kept walking, waiting for her to say something.

She continued to be quiet.

“June?” I said, still walking.

“Huh?” a voice said next to me.

It wasn’t June’s voice.

“Huh?” My heart skipped a beat and I turned quickly. My eyes widened in shock and fear. “Kiwi???”

The young girl turned to me and squinted. “Gary???”

“AAAAAHHHH!!!!” we both screamed, our voices echoing in the mountains.

“What are you doing here?!” I said far louder than I needed to, still frightened.

“Whoa! What are you doing here??” Kiwi repeated.

“I-I-I was walking to Saffron City with June, and then I turn and see you here!” I stammered.

“I was on my way to Saffron City, too!” Kiwi exclaimed. “I just came from Chisel City and won my Alloy Badge there. I was going to head to Celadon City, but I thought maybe it’d be best if I try out the Psychic Gym in Saffron City instead and try to win a Marsh Badge!”

“Oh...” My heart was starting to slow down. My hand pressed against my chest and I took a deep breath. I swallowed and found myself more able to speak. “How many Badges do you have?”

“I have four Badges now!” Kiwi said happily. “If I beat the Gym Leader in Saffron, I’ll have five! How about you?”

My gaze lowered to the rocky mountain beneath me. “I have three so far…”

“Well, you’re not far behind! I’m only one ahead!” Kiwi said happily.

“Yeah...”

“No ‘yeah....’” Kiwi said sternly. “You’ll catch up! You and me, and Robin and Aly. We’ll get every Badge and meet up at the finals at the Pokemon League! And that’s where I’ll beat you all!”

I laughed.

Kiwi always had the most bizarre yet invigorating sense of humor.

I looked around. “But where’s June?” I wondered.

“June?” Kiwi stared at me in confusion.

“JUNE!” I called out. I could see very little through this fog. June had been right next to me, I thought. She couldn’t have just disappeared.

“Who’s June?” Kiwi asked.

“She’s a friend of mine,” I explained. “I met her in Gringey City and she wanted to travel with me so I agreed to it.”

“Ooooooohhh,” Kiwi said with a smirk. “So June is your girlfriend!”

“NO!” I said loudly, frowning at her. “June is just my friend! She used to be the Gym Leader in Gringey City, but she didn’t feel like she did well and wanted to travel and see what she could learn from more outside experience instead of being in a Gym, confined.”

“Suuuuuuure,” Kiwi said slyly.

I sighed. “Why can’t a guy and a girl be platonic?”

“Pffffftt.” Kiwi waved a hand at me.

I sighed again. “Anyway, I need to figure out where June is!”

“Gary, are you lonely?” Kiwi asked me, a sympathetic look on her face now.

“Lonely?” I asked.

“Yes. Are you lonely?”

“Um… No. I’m fine,” I replied cautiously.

“You seem lonely. Climbing mountains by yourself, claiming you have a girlfriend, only collecting three Badges after all this time. I’m worried about you.” She patted me on the back.

I sneered at her and stepped back. “Ok, then, what are you doing here? Have we been walking together this entire time?”

Kiwi looked thoughtfully into the dark sky. “No,” she conceded, lowering her eyes back to me. “I have no idea where you appeared from. This fog just rolled in and suddenly, you were here!”

“Yeah. Same thing happened to me. Only, I lost my friend in the process and found you.”

“Well, let’s get out of here,” Kiwi suggested. “I’m sure this June person, if she exists, isn’t just hanging around here. She must be walking through here. Maybe looking for you.” Kiwi winked.

I shot her a dirty look.

But she was right. We did need to keep moving. And that’s what we did. We continued up the mountain, the fog thick as ever.

I gasped loudly at the same time Kiwi let out a “Eeek!” of surprise as a creature stepped out from the trees, stopping both of us from walking.

It turned to look at us, standing on two feet. “Abra...” It then started glowing and disappeared the next instant. It had used Teleport.

“Doggone it!” I was still shaken by the sudden appearance of the Pokemon. I was also mad I had just missed a chance to capture another Abra! Of course, with Pokemon who can Teleport, how could I manage to keep it in one place long enough to weaken and capture one?

“An Abra? Out here? Kind of cool, but odd, huh?”

I grunted a response and nodded before we both walked again.

An animated creature made its way easily through the trees to our right, making us both freeze again.

That’s a... I struggled to remember the name of the Pokemon that spun like a ballerina before us. “Kirlia!” I shouted.

Kirlia stopped when I screamed out its name and stared at us. Its eyes started glowing red.

Before I knew what was happening, a sharp pain shot throughout my body and I screamed out at the same time Kiwi screamed as we were thrown back to the ground by an invisible force.

As I sat up, I caught Kirlia using Teleport. Shaking my head, I turned to Kiwi. “Are you okay, Kiwi?”

She was sitting up, her eyes closed tight, groaning. “Why did that thing attack us?”

“I don’t know. We really need to get out of here. This place is dangerous. I hope June is okay.” I stood up and helped Kiwi to her feet. “Maybe we should walk around with our Pokemon out.”

“Yeah! Good idea!” Kiwi agreed.

We both reached to our belts for our Poke Balls.

“Hey!” I cried out.

“Huh?” Kiwi gasped.

My Poke Balls weren’t on my belt. I checked my pockets. They weren’t there. I got on my knees and opened my bag, checking all throughout it as best as I could in this fog. But they weren’t there!

Kiwi was on the ground, checking her backpack as well. She turned to me, distress in her eyes. “My Pokedex is gone, too!”

“What?!” I looked for my Pokedex, but it wasn’t on me, either. “Something bad is going on here, Kiwi. We need to backtrack or something.” I stood up and looked behind me, then turned back. Everything looked the same. I couldn’t tell where to go because of the thick fog. We walked one direction, I told myself. Just turn one hundred and eighty degrees and walk straight in that direction to head back to where you came from. “Okay, Kiwi. We just have to walk this way and we’ll get off this mountain and figure this all out.”

Kiwi started walking behind me, and then her footsteps stopped.

I didn’t stop walking, but I called out, “Kiwi?”

“Gary, wait.”

I stopped.

“This isn’t the direction we came from,” she said lowly. “Or at least, not the one I came from.”

“What?” I asked, my heart beating faster. “It’s too foggy here. How can you even tell?”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I was walking uphill. So, if I’m going back where I came from, shouldn’t I be going downhill?”

“Yeah…” I said slowly, my heart beating harder.

Silence.

“Then why is this path straight…?”

Silence.

“Gary,” Kiwi said, panic in her voice. “The path isn’t going uphill or downhill! It’s just going straight! I was climbing uphill! Were you??”

I couldn’t say anything. It just felt like my heart was in my throat. Tears were starting to form in my eyes from the fear filling my body.

“Gary!”

I cleared my throat and swallowed hard. “I’m here, Kiwi.”

“Well, say something!” she yelled.

“Where should we go? What do we do?”

“I don’t know,” Kiwi’s voice trembled. Her voice was breaking. She sounded like she may very well be in tears.

I myself felt close to breaking down. All of my Pokemon were gone. My friends. Dugtrio. Hoothoot. Beedrill. Butterfree. Primeape.

Charmeleon. My eyes began to tear up and I sniffled.

“Gary,” Kiwi said after a moment.

“Yes,” I responded.

“We can’t give up,” she said. “No matter what. Come on. Let’s keep going. We will find a way out of here. I know we will. But only if we keep on moving. We will find our Pokemon. And we will find June, too.”

I turned to look at her, but at this point, the fog was just too thick. She was just a voice. I nodded anyway. “Okay, Kiwi,” I said, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat. “Let’s get out of here!” I said that with more conviction. “But what direction?”

“Who cares. Let’s just move forward.”

I felt her grab my hand and I gasped in surprise. I couldn’t see her do that, so her touch scared me a bit.

She pulled me forward and then let go. “This way.”

I followed where she had pulled me.

We walked quietly for a while, her footsteps a comfort to hear.

“The fog is letting up,” Kiwi commented.

I didn’t say anything, but she was right. It was fading some. Soon, I could see the rocky path clear again. It definitely was no longer uphill or downhill. I could see the jagged path stretched out both ahead and behind us. But we kept on moving.

A strange croaking noise sang creepily through the woods in a kind of chant.

I turned to see a strange looking creature walking along the trees.

“It’s a Wobbuffet!” Kiwi pointed.

“Wobb?” the strange thing said, stopping to look at us.

It was the most bizarre looking thing I’d ever seen. I wished I had my Pokedex on me.

“WOOOOOOOOBB!” it cried out and ran out of the trees and onto the path. It ran right past us and into the woods on the other side.

I stared after it for a moment, then I turned to Kiwi.

Kiwi was staring back at me.

We stared at each other for a minute, confused, and then shrugged and continued moving.

My mind concentrated on the bizarre situation I was in as my hands dug through my jacket pockets, my right hand fiddling with something large. It took me a little while to realize my hand was enclosing around an object and moving along its frame, but suddenly my eyes widened. “Hey! I still have my Badge case.” I pulled it out and held the case out to Kiwi.

She took it from me and opened it. “Wow. I’ve never seen this Badge before,” she said softly.

“Yeah, that’s the Dimensia Badge,” I explained as she held up the bizarre Badge. “I won that in Obsidian City.”

“It’s pretty, in a strange way,” Kiwi said, turning it around.

“Look, the fog is gone!” I noticed.

Kiwi looked up from the Badge and gasped. “Oh!” She put the Badge in the case and closed it, keeping her eyes on her surroundings that were becoming more visible by the second.

In less than a minute’s time, the path had no fog on it at all. It was now completely clear!

“Gary!” I heard a voice from out of nowhere. Just above a whisper.

“Huh?” I looked around.

“What’s wrong?” Kiwi asked.

I turned to her. “You didn’t hear that voice? Someone just said my name.”

“I didn’t hear anything, Gary. Are you sure you heard that and you’re not just hearing things in this creepy mountain?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so…”

“Come on, Gary,” Kiwi urged. She started walking faster.

I picked up my pace, too.

Boing. Boing. Boing. A noise from behind me.

I was afraid to turn around. I was tired of all of this craziness. I picked up my pace, desiring to just get off of this mountain already.

Boing. Boing. Boing. Boing.

I tried to walk past Kiwi, but she seemed to move even faster. It didn’t take me long to realize that we both were hearing that weird noise and were both walking faster than ever to get away from whatever it was.

Boing. Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing!

Me and Kiwi were now running! But not for long.

A Pokemon appeared in front of us in a flash.

“Alakazam!” the Pokemon said loudly, clutching a spoon in each hand.

Me and Kiwi stopped in our tracks.

“A wild Alakazam?” I questioned.

Boing! Boing! Boing!

I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned around and saw what was making that weird noise behind us.

It stopped a few feet away from us, bouncing in place.

Kiwi turned around and screamed. “What is that???”

“It’s a Spoink,” I replied, my eyes on the angry little piglet that bounced on the spring attached to its bottom. Then I saw something worse.

From the trees, a Grumpig, the evolved form of Spoink, stepped out and stood next to the first little piggy. It glared at us with the same aggressive look Spoink had.

Off to Kiwi’s side, another Pokemon appeared through teleportation.

I didn’t recognize this Pokemon. Behind me, a sudden noise made my head whip around and I turned to see a Pokemon I knew. Gardevoir, the evolved form of Kirlia, who we saw earlier.

More Pokemon started appearing around us, teleporting or walking from the trees. They were surrounding us. They all were giving us mean looks.

“Gary,” Kiwi whispered. “They’re all Psychic Pokemon. I think.”

I didn’t recognize everything in the barrage of furious looking Pokemon, but most of them were familiar to me.

Ralts. Wobbuffet. Kirlia. Gardevoir. Spoink. Grumpig. Abra. Kadabra. Alakazam. Mr. Mime. Espeon. Chimecho. Hypno. Slowking. Exeggutor. And a few others I didn’t know. A lot of the Pokemon were the same as the others. There were about five Hypno, and quite a number of Slowbro. But they all presumably were Psychic type Pokemon.

“What does it mean, Gary?” Kiwi whimpered.

I had no clue.

“ALAKAZAM!” an Alakazam yelled, raising its two spoons in the air.

Kiwi screamed and dropped my Badge case.

The other Pokemon all made a loud noise, saying their names. Their eyes started to glow either bright red or blue.

Kiwi screamed louder and covered her eyes.

We didn’t have our Pokemon with us or anything to help us out. We were completely defenseless.

June was gone.

I didn’t understand what was going on or why. I stared down the Psychic Pokemon, my fists balled up tight, my teeth grit together, preparing for the worst.

Their single cry got louder and their eyes flashed their angry colors as they prepared their attacks.

A bright flash of light from somewhere close by practically blinded me and I squinted hard, determined not to lose sight of the vicious Pokemon. The light went off almost as soon as it had come, and several of the Pokemon disappeared!

The other Pokemon still remaining flew backwards and hit the ground.

“Kiwi, look!” I said, grabbing her shoulder and shaking it.

Kiwi lowered her hands a little and stared at the Pokemon who had been knocked down. “Wha…?”

The Pokemon stood up and looked around angrily. They glared at us quickly and then ran away!

Me and Kiwi stared at the empty clearing in awe.

I turned to Kiwi, who was still looking at where the Pokemon had surrounded us.

There was nobody and nothing else in the area. Just me and Kiwi.

And my Badge case on the ground! My Dimensia Badge had fallen out and my Thunder Badge was sticking halfway out of the case, holding the closed case open partially.

I picked up the case and opened it to see my Rainbow Badge was still inside. I placed the Thunder Badge in it and picked up the Dimensia Badge.

Some kind of dim light, or shine, seemed to be coming from it, but as I blinked in confusion, the shine was gone.

I rubbed my hand over the Badge, wondering if I had imagined that gleam, or if maybe it was reflecting something. A slow turn around me showed that there was nothing else here. A Badge I won for defeating a Trainer who raises Ghost type Pokemon, I considered, my eyes returning to my Badge. Could there be more to this thing than just the look of it? Is some kind of Ghost Pokemon residue still on it that chased away those Psychic Pokemon and saved our lives?

“Gary!” Kiwi called.

I was torn from my thoughts as I turned to see Kiwi standing by the trees. I put away the Badge in the case and put the case in my jacket as I ran to her. “What happened?”

“Look,” she said, pointing at something a few feet away.

A Pokemon laying behind a tree! I didn’t know what it was, but I had seen one before. It seemed unconscious, maybe knocked out from whatever force had scared off the Psychic Pokemon.

“What do we do?” I asked Kiwi.

She turned to me. “I don’t know. I feel kind of bad for it.”

I stared at the Pokemon for a while, considering what could be done. “Well,” I said finally. I reached in my pocket and pulled out a Poke Ball. “Our Pokemon may be gone, but our Poke Balls aren’t.”

“You’re gonna catch it?” Kiwi stared at me in horror.

I turned to her. “Duh. Why wouldn’t I?”

“It’s hurt!” she frowned.

“I can take it to the Pokemon Center once we get out of here. What do you expect me to do? Leave it here?”

“No. I guess not,” Kiwi said uncertainly. “It just feels… wrong. These Psychic Pokemon are really freaking me out out here. I feel like something is wrong on this mountain.”

I agreed with her, but I didn’t say it, and I turned back to the Pokemon. “Go!” I shouted and tossed the Poke Ball, watching as it hit the little thing.

The Poke Ball hovered in the air as it opened up, sucking the Pokemon inside. It dropped to the ground and rocked back and forth, the red light on in the center. Then, Ping! The red light faded to white. The Pokemon was captured.

I picked up my new catch.

“Can we please get out of here, now?” Kiwi pleaded.

“Definitely.”

We both ran.

Kiwi was the one to stop with a loud gasp. “SAFFRON CITY!” She pointed ahead.

“Where?” I stopped running when I saw it, right after I spoke.

“Come on!” Kiwi took off without me.

I stared in amazement at the city, not moving. It was rather far away. Kiwi and I still had a while to run before we got there, but even from here, I could see it was beautiful. And enormous. Maybe even bigger than Celadon City!

I ran to catch up to Kiwi, and out of nowhere, from out of thin air, I ran into somebody!

And that person slammed right into Kiwi!

I fell on my back. “What the heck?” I sat up, squinting in surprise, and I saw who I had just ran into. “JUNE!” I jumped up and ran to her. My hands grasped at her shoulders. “JUNE!”

“GARY!” June hugged me and I gratefully hugged her back. “Gary, where did you go?” She pulled me in for a much tighter hug.

“I don’t know. I’m just glad I found you.”

“I was so scared! You were right there one minute, and then in the next second, I was all alone! I’m so happy you’re here, Gary.” June sounded so weak. So fragile. Absolutely terrified, yet relieved.

“You see? I told you we’d find her,” Kiwi said cheerfully, already on her feet. “And we even got our Pokemon back!”

“Huh?” I caught myself and pulled away from June, straightening my jacket and fixing my hat, proceeding to act nonchalantly. “Wait, our Pokemon?” I reached down and saw my belt contained all of my Poke Balls!

At the last moment, I noticed that the Poke Ball in my hand, the one containing the latest Pokemon I had just caught, was glowing white! It then disappeared completely in the next couple of seconds.

“My new Pokemon!” My fist tightened over air.

Kiwi looked at my belt. Then she looked to me. “Was that your seventh Pokemon?”

“Well, yeah, I guess...?” I hesitated, wondering what her point was.

“Have you never captured more than six Pokemon before???”

“Well, no. Not really. Why??”

Kiwi raised a hand to her forehead and slapped it hard. “You have three Badges and haven’t even been capturing any Pokemon?”

“I mean…” I muttered. “I just…”

“Once you capture more than six Pokemon, any more Pokemon you capture gets sent to whichever Professor gave you your Pokedex.” Kiwi shook her head. “Where have you been?”

I was embarrassed. I really should’ve known that. “So Prof. Oak has it?”

“No, Prof. Crabapple has it,” Kiwi said sarcastically. “Whichever Professor gave you your Pokedex has it!”

I scowled at her. “Alright, alright!”

She smiled brightly at me.

I turned away from her and tossed my six Poke Balls into the air.

Butterfree. Beedrill. Primeape. Hoothoot. Dugtrio. Charmeleon.

Everyone was there.

“Are you guys okay?” I asked, running up to them.

They all nodded and cried out happily.

I hugged all but the Bugs tightly, since the two were in the air. “I’m so glad you’re safe!”

Beedrill and Butterfree lowered themselves onto me, Beedrill’s buzzing making my skin crawl.

I didn’t budge, but my eyes were wide with silent discomfort.

Several light popping sounds came from behind me. Kiwi was sending out her six Pokemon.

There was a Minun, a Gastly, an Arbok, a Pidgeotto, a Pokemon I didn’t recognize, and a towering, terrifying looking Gyarados.

Kiwi ran to her team and hugged them, extending her little arms as far as they could reach. “You guys are okay! Thank goodness.”

“You have an incredible team of Pokemon there, Kiwi,” I complimented.

“Thanks. Your Pokemon look great, too,” she acknowledged.

Our Pokemon stared at each other, but before they could greet, Kiwi returned her team to their Poke Balls. “Can we save the formalities for another time? I seriously just want to get out of here already.”

I returned my Pokemon back to their Poke Balls, too. “Agreed.”

She reached in her pocket and pulled out her Pokedex. “We can trade information when we reach the city,” she grinned gleefully.

My Pokedex was in my pocket now, too, and I pulled it out and smiled back.

“I’m not so sure that Saffron City is the place to go to get away from what we experienced on that mountain,” June spoke darkly, mysteriously. She was staring down the hill towards Saffron City.

“June?” I asked.

“I don’t know what you two went through on that mountain, but I saw a lot of Psychic type Pokemon,” June mentioned.

The way she was speaking made shivers run all throughout my body.

“There’s a lot of Psychic energy emitting throughout this forest,” June stated. “It’s like a magnet for Psychic type Pokemon. Strong, powerful energy has drawn all of these Psychic Pokemon to this mountain to live here. Psychic Pokemon can create illusions and tricks before your eyes. That’s how we got separated. Some kind of trick by these Psychic Pokemon. Their powers, and the powers of whatever psychic energy drew them here. It must get unstable from time to time and cause weird, bizarre things to happen. I had your Pokemon and your Pokedex. Both of yours.”

“You had them?” I couldn’t believe this.

“Yes,” June nodded, brushing aside her red hair. “I realized I had several more Poke Balls in my bag, and many of them didn’t have stickers on them, so I sent out one of the Pokemon. It was Charmeleon who came out. I ran into a big gang of angry Psychic Pokemon. They surrounded me. I saw their pain, and their confusion. All in their eyes. I had to battle with them and then I ran for it. The illusions are over and we’re all back together. I don’t find it a coincidence that we’re heading towards a city that’s home to a Gym that raises Psychic type Pokemon. Who knows just how powerful this Gym Leader is.”

There was a spooky silence for a while.

“Are you a psychic or something?” Kiwi asked June.

June turned to Kiwi and then smiled, softening her face. “Ha ha, no,” June replied, blushing. “I just can read Pokemon and their feelings very well.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet Gary’s girlfriend. He was telling me all about you and how he missed you and was so desperate to find you!”

June blushed very visibly. “He did??” she asked, sounding very surprised.

“I DID NOT!” I raged. “I did want to find you but I didn’t say all of that and SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!!”

Kiwi turned to me with a sinister smile on her face.

“June, this is the retarded bird of Pallet Town, Kiwi. Kiwi, June,” I introduced them.

Kiwi kicked me hard in my shin.

“OW!” I grabbed my pained spot.

“That is just such an adorable name! Kiwi!” June gushed. “I love it!”

“Really??!” Kiwi said with a huge smile on her face as she stared at June with mass admiration and love. “FINALLY!! After years of ridicule, someone likes my name! But your name is so awesome, too! JUNE! It’s just awesome!”

“Oh, no way. Your name is perfect! I want that name!”

“No, you don’t,” Kiwi laughed. “I think it’s cute but I have been ridiculed at school by people like Gary and our friend Robin and even my best friend, Aly.”

“I know Robin and Aly!”

“You do?”

“Yeah! Robin challenged my Gym back when I was a Gym Leader and I met Aly not long ago!” June told her.

“HEY! Gary told me you used to be a Gym Leader and quit because you didn’t think you were any good!” Kiwi was grimacing now. “I don’t like that kind of talk at all! You’re a great Trainer, I’ll bet!”

“No, I was terrible,” June said sadly. “I’m traveling with Gary, learning the ways of Pokemon. He and his team have a connection with each other unlike anything I’ve ever seen before!”

“Psh, whatever,” Kiwi waved me away. “Gary ain’t all that. When he first started, he could barely control his Charmander. My mom called me once, asking how I was, worried because of what Gary’s mom had told her had happened between Gary and his Charmander. It nearly killed him!”

“Gary told me about that earlier today!” June said excitedly. “It was just a misunderstanding. Everything is perfect between them now! I’m telling you, he’s incredible!”

Kiwi waved me away again with a roll of her eyes and a sneer on her face.

June laughed. “Hey! You’re going to Saffron City, right?”

“Yep,” Kiwi nodded.

“Then where will you go?” June asked eagerly.

“I haven’t really decided yet…” Kiwi admitted. “Probably to Celadon.”

“Well, Gary is going to Fuchsia City after he gets his Badge in Saffron, right, Gary?” June turned to me.

“Um… Maybe…” I answered.

“And to get to Fuchsia, you’re going to have to go through Celadon again! So we’re all going the same way!” June cried with a smile reminiscent of a child receiving the greatest gift in the world on their birthday. “Kiwi! Join our group!!”

“WHAT???” I bellowed, my voice echoing.

“Huh???” Kiwi said loudly.

“WAIT A MINUTE!” I barked, and I stormed over to June. “You can’t just be inviting people into this group! Having you is enough work! And me and Kiwi are rivals! We can’t travel together! We have to explore the Pokemon world on our own terms. Learn the ways of being a Pokemon Trainer on our own accord. This is what we agreed to. Even once we left Pallet Town, we took our own paths separately.”

“Gary, why do you want to be the loner so bad?” June said impatiently, crossing her arms. “You didn’t want me joining you and now you don’t want Kiwi! How about you open up for a change and stop keeping people out of your heart?”

I was silenced by the load of crap she had spewed at me just now.

“Come on, Gary. Kiwi is your friend,” June pleaded. “And I like her already. She’s awesome! Just wonderful!”

“No!” I refused. “No way! Under no circumstances. This isn’t what this journey is supposed to be like!”

“Then what is this journey supposed to be like, Gary?” June demanded. “Not making friends? Secluding yourself from society? Ditching everyone you used to know and facing the world on your own? Then meeting up with your friends once you’ve been hardened by your journeys to have one final battle and annihilate your lifelong pals? Is that what this is about? Is that what it takes to become a Pokemon Master? Because that isn’t why I joined up with you. That isn’t what I want to go through with my Pokemon. That’s not what I want out of life. I thought you weren’t that kind of a person, Gary. But if so, I’ll just travel with Kiwi instead.” She turned to Kiwi and smiled. “I mean, if you’ll take me along!”

“Of course I will, June!” Kiwi nodded hard. “You don’t need stinky old Gary anyway. I can teach you much more than he ever could. And you could tell me all about that ability you have to read Pokemon!”

Both girls giggled.

“I didn’t say that, June…” I started, feeling bad I had upset her.

“Then it’s settled!” June said brightly. “Kiwi, you’re in!” She raised her hand high and Kiwi slapped her a high five. Then they hugged and started jumping for joy, laughing.

I just watched in shock and utter confusion.

They let go of each other and giggled again.

“Well, I don’t know about what awaits in Saffron City, but I really would rather be there than staying here,” Kiwi told us.

“Race you there!” June challenged.

They both ran ahead, laughing as they ran full speed ahead, leaving me in the dust.

I stood there, watching them until they disappeared from my sight. Taking in a deep breath, I looked up into the pitch black sky. What saved us out there? I wondered. What happened that I didn’t see? What caused that flash that saved our lives? Was that flash what really saved us?

I turned back to stare at the mountain and trees behind me.

I turned back and stared at where Kiwi and June had last been seen, running downhill towards Saffron City.

I ran, too.

I ran after June.

I ran after Kiwi.

I ran after my new Pokemon I had captured that Prof. Oak was now keeping in his lab.

I ran.

Little did the three of us know, we were running.

Towards death.