***AUTHORESS NOTES***

Hey, guess what everybody?

As of today, I've been writing at TPT for 3 YEARS!

How scary... To think that three years ago today (I was 10), I started
working on Who Needs Him... Holy crap, I feel old!!!

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Chapter 3: The Journey to Orimo


     The car trip to Auroria was nearly silent. The city was bustling as
usually. It was a wonderful city, and Candace made a mental note to
visit one day. 

     Her father's Porshe stopped by the dock. "Well, good luck,
Candace," he said finally.

     "How could you make me do this?" she asked him.

     "Candace, you need to do this." She felt a tear slip down her
cheek. He was really sending her out. She couldn't believe it.

     "Bye, daddy," she said sadly as she opened the cardoor and stepped
out. It was the beginning of something new. Something that didn't
revolve around shopping, and money, and being something you weren't.

     She flashed her ticket at boarding and she could feel a lump in her
throat as she took her first step on the boat. This was really it.

     Her solitary bag was already in her room, and it looked like she
wasn't even going to be travelling by herself. Another bag was laying on
a seperate bed. At that moment, another girl walked in.

     She had dirty blond hair and hazel green eyes. She looked like she
was all business, and she didn't look too different from Candace in her
choice of dress. Candace wondered if she was also from Labyrinth
Terrace.

     Candace looked to the other side of her bed and noticed yet another
bed with yet another bag. She sighed. Her father hadn't even let her
travel to Orimo by herself.

     "Hi," said the other girl as she plopped on the other bed.

     "Hi," Candace replied as she sat on her own. 
     "Going to Orimo? Well, of course you are, it's the only place this
boat is going," commented the girl.

     "Yeah, I guess I'm starting a Pokemon journey," Candace said
quietly. She hadn't ever been a big talker.

     "Me too! I'm Chloe," she introduced. "I want a fire-type. I hope I
get an Adnap."

     "A what?" Candace asked without giving her name.

     "Adnap. It's pretty rare. And pretty cute. It's fire and dark."

     "Oh. Sounds cool," Candace replied and hesitated a moment. "I'm
Candace."

     "Candace... I like that name! Where are you from, Candace?" Chloe
asked her.

     "Labyrinth Terrace," Candace told her, thinking of the community
where she lived. She briefly thought of Astrid, Emily, Bree, Jenna and
Alana.

     "Oh, really? It looks really nice there. I live in DiManna City.
Very artsy. It was a blast."

     "I've never been there before. My friend Astrid says it's really
nice though. She told me that if the gym leader there ever gives up her
position, she's going to apply for it."

     "Astrid, as in the Labyrinth gym leader?" Chloe questioned.

     "Yes, that Astrid. I don't know any other Astrids."

     "Oh, well, then she's going to end up sticking to her position in
Labyrinth. Unless Divina dies or comes up with a terminal illness,
she'll never give it up."

     "Oh," was all Candace had to say. So much for small talk.

     Right then, a teenage boy walked into the room. "Is this room 4A?"
he asked the two.

     "Yes. You must be the last one of us in here," Chloe responded.

     "Okay, that's good. I've been looking for this room for the last
fifteen minutes." Fifteen minutes? That was all they had been on the
boat? Candace was in for a long ride.

     "Well, you found it," she replied. "Welcome, I guess." She pulled
her wavy brown hair out of her eyes and took a closer look at him. He
was cute, but there was no way you would ever guess he was from the
Terrace. He had longish brown hair, and he looked like a skateboarder.

     He was a long shot from the perfectly groomed boys from where
Candace lived with his ripped jeans and black Vans. "The name is
Jeremy," he said introducing himself.

     "I'm Candace," she said nonchalently.

     "And I'm Chloe," the other girl introduced herself in her usual
peppy splendor.

     "Where are you guys from?" Jeremy asked. 

     "I'm from DiManna City, and she's from Labyrinth Terrace," Chloe
told him.

     "Are you really? I've always wanted to see there. DiManna's fun, I
lived there when I was younger. But now, I'm stuck in Scarlet City,"
Jeremy informed them.

     "I used to live in Scarlet. And Canyon City. And Logan Town," Chloe
told them. "I move a lot. But my parents really like DiManna so I don't
think we'll be leaving anytime soon."

     "My parents used to have a house up in Broomfield Bay. But other
than that, I've lived in the Terrace all my life." Candace felt like
such a spoiled brat while talking to them.

     "The Terrace?" Jeremy asked with a raised eyebrow. 

     "It's what me and my friends have called it since we were about
eight," Candace told him.

     "You know what?" Chloe interrupted. "I'm travelling all by myself.
Are you guys?"

    "Yeah, I am. My dad decided for me to leave at the spur of the
moment yesterday and I didn't have any time to find someone to travel
with," Candace told them.

      "I am, too. I couldn't find anyone I liked enough to travel with
me." Candace wasn't sure of what to think of him. He was definetely one
of a kind.

     "Why don't we all travel together?" Chloe asked them.

     Jeremy shrugged. "Fine with me."

     "Fine with me, too," Candace replied. 

     The boat stopped then. "So I guess we're in Orimo. This is where it
all begins," said Jeremy.

He was right. This was where it all started.