"You sure you have everything?" Antoshi's worrying mother asked as he began to exit the front door.
"Yep!" he replied with enthusiasm, keeping his hands on the straps of his backpack, his best friend Fireball at his side.
"And you're sure you'll be all right?" she asked before having her husband's reassuring hand placed on her shoulder. She held his hand and sighed heavily, preparing to watch her only son leave for a journey to a far-off land.
"I'll be just fine!" he reassured her but it wasn't enough to stop her from hugging him tightly and smothering him with kisses. When she finally ceased, she pulled back a bit, gazing at the smiling face of her son whom she cared for all his life.
"Be careful," she spoke softly. He nodded.
"I will," he reassured her with a smile. She pulled away from him, into the reassuring arm of her husband.
"Ready to go?" Antoshi asked his partner, getting a nod from him as the Typhlosion waved the ticket in his hand. The two then began to march down the sidewalk, toward the bustling city of Saffron, just like when their journey originally began over a year ago. As his parents walked back into the house, his mother turned around once more, watching him continue to walk away.
For just a second, she envisioned her son and his partner suddenly disappearing from sight, leaving nothing but an empty sidewalk. She gasped, getting an odd feeling, as though he were walking out of her life. She swallowed nervously, unable to shake the feeling as she walked back into their home, shutting the door behind them.
Antoshi kicked his feet as he sat in wait for the Magnet train to return from Goldenrod City. Fireball stood next to him, leaning against a support beam.
"I can't wait to get on the train!" the boy exclaimed with much enthusiasm as he turned to his friend.
"But Antoshi," Fireball began, "we've been on a bus and sailed on a boat! How can this be so exciting?" Antoshi got a vibe that Fireball was trying to kill his buzz, but realized that his friend was mostly nervous. He folded his arms across his chest and playfully looked away.
"No lunch for you, then," Antoshi replied, causing Fireball to gasp in surprise, quickly sitting down next to his friend.
"I didn't mean it like that!" Fireball whined. "I'm sorry, Antoshi!" The boy grinned mischievously at his friend, playfully shoving the large Pokémon's arm. Fireball laughed and shoved him back, causing a harmless battle between the two until the train arrived. By the time it did, Fireball had Antoshi in a headlock, giving the boy a noogie with his free hand.
"Okay, I give!" Antoshi exclaimed with a laugh. Their antics did not seem to amuse the nearby people, who were too focused on getting to work than playing around. As Fireball let his friend go, Antoshi quickly realized people were boarding the train. He panicked and rushed for one of the many open doors on the various cars. They were stopped by the ticket collector's hand pointed at Antoshi's head.
"Ticket, please," he asked in a monotone voice, seemingly never opening his eyes behind his thick-rimmed glasses.
"Right," Antoshi replied, his tongue sticking out with determination as he quickly dug through his pockets.
"Don't tell me you lost it," Fireball muttered with worry.
"Got it!" Antoshi exclaimed, pulling out the ticket, much to Fire's relief. The collector ripped it in half and gave one half to Antoshi, letting the boy on board. He hopped on with a giddy squeal, followed closely by Fireball, who was also stopped by the ticket collector.
"Ticket, please," he reiterated. Since Fireball wasn't in a Poké ball, he counted as a passenger and therefore needed a ticket.
"Well, unlike Antoshi, I'm always prepared!" Fireball proclaimed, even though the ticket collector couldn't understand a word. Antoshi blew a raspberry at his friend for the remark. Fire just chuckled and reached for his side before coming to a startling realization. "Oh wait, I don't have pockets." Antoshi proceeded to slap his head in disbelief as Fireball spun around in all directions in search of his ticket, including getting on all fours and sniffing the ground for it. He then glanced over at where they'd been sitting, spotting the ticket laying right in the middle of the seat.
"Found it!" Fire exclaimed.
"All aboard!" the train conductor suddenly announced from the lead car. The duo panicked, causing Fireball to run as fast as he could to grab the ticket. The horn blew from the front car, letting the passengers know the train was about to leave.
"Hurry, Fire!" Antoshi urgently exclaimed. Fireball began running back while Antoshi stared at his legs. They suddenly became surrounded in the same purple-colored aura that Antoshi had given off before, causing the Typhlosion to run much faster.
"Whoa!" Fire exclaimed in surprise, realizing it was going to be a close save. He decided to rip the ticket for the collector and handed off one half before dashing into the train just as the doors closed. The ticket collector sighed and calmly walked off with ticket stubs in hand. Behind him, the train began picking up speed, heading off toward its destination.
"That was close," Fire breathily remarked. "Thanks for the help." Antoshi nodded, though hoping no one else had saw what happened. A soft humming sound was heard all throughout the train as it traveled along its pre-set path. Antoshi took off his backpack, placing it on the floor between his legs as the two took a seat next to each other, smiling as they watched the skyline of Saffron slowly fade away, giving way to a multitude of trees that zipped by in the blink of an eye. The train was fast, but still allowed them to get a glimpse of other towns and cities they had traveled to on their first journey, bringing bigger smiles to their faces as they recalled their adventures.
The train ride turned out to be somewhat longer than they expected. Having gotten tired of staring out the window, Fireball was leaned over on Antoshi. The boy somehow managed to keep the much heavier Pokémon propped up as he snored loudly. Antoshi just kept a smile on his face, busy reading a children's novel about two long-lost brothers separated at birth who meet each other later in life after a tragedy befalls the younger brother. The boy sighed as he looked up from his book, glancing out the window. He became surprised when he realized they were slowing down, having entered a city strikingly similar to Saffron.
"Fire," Antoshi whispered, casually nudging his friend with his shoulder. The big lug came to life again, muttering something exhaustedly. "I think we're here." Fireball yawned and opened his eyes.
"Great!" he groggily exclaimed before stretching. "When do we eat?" Antoshi chuckled, waiting for the train to stop. It made a buzzing sound before a loud zap as the magnetized brakes hooked onto the rails. Antoshi picked up his backpack, he and his friend politely waiting for others to get off the train before they got up and exited as well. After an hour-long ride to traverse enough ground that would've taken weeks, if not months on foot, they were finally at their destination and on the verge of a brand-new adventure.
"So how come you're so tired?" Antoshi asked his partner as they left the train station, right onto the busy sidewalks of Goldenrod City.
"I didn't get enough sleep last night," Fireball replied, rubbing his eyes. "I couldn't stop thinking about today and it kept me up."
"I know," Antoshi agreed, side-stepping other people just as Fireball was. "I still have no idea what to expect here. I've never been to Johto."
"Well I don't know about you," Fire said, "but I can't go on a new journey without some lunch." Antoshi smiled in amusement.
"Good idea," he replied, looking around for a place where they could sit and eat. While distracted, the boy did not notice a young woman crossing his path and bumped right into her.
"I'm so sorry!" he quickly apologized, looking up at the girl, slightly taller and older than him. His jaw hung open a bit, immediately finding her quite pretty and blushed from ear to ear, unable to look away from her. She looked at him with a curious glance as though she saw something surprising about him. She quickly played it off and gave him a warm smile.
"It's okay," she replied and calmly walked past him, leaving him to watch her long, brunette hair sway ever so gently before disappearing into the crowd. Fireball looked back and saw his friend staring blankly into the crowd behind him. He casually glanced in the same direction, seeing nothing special in particular.
"Antoshi?" he asked, walking over to him, realizing the boy's gaze was affixed to nothing. He waved his hand in front of the boy, finally snapping him out of his trance. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he distantly replied. "... Let's go." They began to walk off, with Fireball noticing his friend was seemingly deep in thought.
The duo ate their lunch under a canopy in a nearby park — a perfect shelter from the midday heat. It would be the only meal they'd have packed for them by Antoshi's mother for quite some time. She prepared sandwiches for the two of them, knowing that Fireball enjoyed the food she made just as much as her son did. Antoshi was still unable to stop thinking about the girl he bumped into on the sidewalk. It was more than her simply being attractive, he felt an odd sense that she was special.
"You seem a bit distracted, Antoshi," Fireball said, breaking the silence between them after realizing he hadn't even picked up his sandwich.
"I'm sorry," he spoke up, unwrapping the sandwich from its plastic confines. He realized he should be more focused on his journey rather than some person he'd probably never meet again. He hummed curiously when he noticed a piece of paper on stuck to the plastic. It was a small, yellow note saying 'I love you.' A smile came over Antoshi's face, realizing who it was written by, and it made his lunch much more enjoyable. Fireball was quite relieved to see his friend back in good spirits, wasting no time continuing to eat.
Not too far from where the two were eating, a young man with sable hair rested on the thick limb of a tall tree.
"I'm so hungry," the boy muttered, rubbing his stomach, having not eaten anything since the previous day. No longer being kept confined to his prison-like cell also meant not being able to have food brought to him. However, since his escape, he had on a new set of clothes. A baggy green shirt and loose-fitting black jeans. His shoes were also pristine and white, despite not having any shoes on the base.
'Then steal some food,' the voice in his head suggested. 'You have more than enough power to do so.'
"I don't know," he nonchalantly replied. "I already stole these clothes, maybe I should wait before I steal anything else or people are going to start looking for me."
'You listen to me, boy,' the voice snapped, startling him. 'If you die of starvation, I promise you I will not show your soul any mercy.'
"Okay, fine," the boy sat up with a sigh. He hopped to his feet, having incredible balance on the tree limb, high up in the air as he looked around, his eyes able to focus on objects far beyond the scope of a normal person's sight. He casually glanced past a young man with blond hair eating lunch with his Typhlosion, finding a small grocery store closer to him. He smirked before hopping down from the tree, landing much softer than he should have from such a height. The young man then casually buried his hands in his pockets and calmly began to walk toward his destination.