Heart of Gold

Luca and I took the pokemon inside, where the nurses took it in. They told us she was a female houndour and found her in a closet in one of the Pokemon Center's overnight rooms. They hadn't a clue she had been locked in there since they didn't hear any noises, and they hadn't sent anybody in to clean the room yet. However, the houndour was emaciated and probably had been abused longer than the one day it was in there. "I don't think she has a trainer," one of the nurses said. "We can keep her for a little while, but eventually we have to let her go."

"I'll take her," I said.

When the houndour returned from her checkup, she accepted my request to join my team. I gave her the name "Cupid" for love, bought pokeballs at the Pokemart just for her, and allowed her to choose her favorite one. She yipped and vanished into her chosen pokeball in a flash of red.

Luca and I stayed the night at the Pokemon Center. "I talked with Professor Elm before I left," Luca said and threw down his sleeping bag. Pokemon Centers had private rooms to pay for but also had a free community room for trainers to sleep on the floor together. They also had washers, dryers, and wall-sockets for charging electronics. Both of us didn't want to waste any money since we hadn't battled any trainers yet. "He gave me the OK to go out and do field research. He even gave me a camera!"

Luca showed off his shiny new Nikon camera and camera bag. I was impressed. It even had a variety of lenses to change out and a tripod. "He wanted me to record the growth of your pokemon," Luca said. I dumped my sleeping bag next to his. "They're going to grow a lot on this journey, you know."

"Don't get any pictures of me."

"I'll try not to. But I need a model for size comparison." He winked.

I let Ulric and Cupid from their pokeballs to sleep with me. I crawled into my sleeping bag, Ulric settled by my head, and Cupid dove into the sleeping bag with me. As a fire pokemon, her body heat felt like I lied next to a warm fire. "Did your dad reject you when you asked to go?" I asked.

Luca got into his sleeping bag. Buddy, for some reason, liked it when Luca used him as a pillow, so Luca rested his head on the marill's squishy belly. "Instantaneously," he said. "I hardly got the words out before he said no. Then he went on a ramble how I was being 'ungrateful' for him 'housing me' and 'feeding me' and that he knew that was the real reason I wanted to leave."

Luca told this in a joking manner, but he didn't look at me as he spoke. I reached out and touched his arm. He took that moment to take hold of my wrist, turn my arm, and expose my cigarette burn, which he'd put a bandaid over for me. "I thought you said those girls weren't going to bother you anymore," he said.

"I thought they were. I wasn't expecting to see them after graduation. You're changing the subject, too, Luca."

"My dad didn't do anything to me, if that's what you're asking." His grey eyes softened. "Once I get into college I'll be fine."

"You keep saying that."

"You're one to talk." He grunted and curled into his cocoon of a sleeping bag. "You always said 'once I graduate from high school, it'll be fine.'"

"I suppose we both keep saying what we wish for. Neither of us know if it'll happen though."

"Once we get going on this journey we won't have to deal with anybody. I know that for a fact."

"Sure." I smiled even though I knew that probably wasn't true. "The nearest gym is in Violet City. Let's go tomorrow."

"It's a deal."

We did our secret handshake across the space between us and fell asleep in Cherrygrove City.