Subsequent to their journey through Kalos, another unexpected one begins. One that draws heartache from heartstrings themselves and passion from riots in veins. And new ambitions are formed, and new love is conjured, from all the unexpected people.
...
^^I feel like this song presents Elaina's feelings pretty well^^
So, this is most likely one of the last chapters to be written in Elaina's POV. It's seriously making me sad cause I've become very attached to these characters over the last 8 months.
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We spent six months sulking, splintering at the edges and then plastering ourselves back together again. But once we'd shed all our tears and weeped all our angers, we decided to move on.
Yes, we'd lost Ash, but we hadn't lost our dreams. Our aspirations. They still ran like stampeding riots through our veins. I hadn't lost my competitive edge and Serena, her compassion. It was time to move on and do greater things.
After I came to terms with acceptance --that Ash was gone and that he would never love me the same way he loved Serena-- all I craved was a battle. Sure, I didn't have the raven haired boy to challenge me, but I didn't need him. Not anymore.
The feeling became more prominent as days went by, bleeding energy and disire into every moving inch, until I gritted my teeth with antics. I wanted to battle my days away, turning anything I couldn't forget into strings of commands. It was an itch I fully intended to scratch.
And when the day came that Serena and I both decided we'd had enough of grieving, cramped onto her twin sized bed, at 1 o'clock in the morning, we took out her old world map and stretched it across her desk. A map had only ever been a picture to me before then. It was never the open opportunity I saw that night. My entire world had been Kalos, until I found myself engrossed with that map.
I could go anywhere I desired. Sweep my finger across the frayed paper with my eyes closed, then stop suddenly and travel to the region my finger landed, if I wanted. Serena pointed to a large island anchored in the middle of blue fibers.
"That's Hoenn, where I want to go. They have Pokemon Contests there, which are vaguely similar to Pokemon Performances." She explained, admiring the painted land mass. I was about to suggest I go with her, but I thought better of it. We both had very different goals to achieve. Personal ones, which would be better dealt on our own.
So instead, I pointed at another region, split exactly down the middle by a mountain range and capped with snow. It seemed perfect. A new adventure dressed in green and ringed with blue.
"I'll go there." I exclaimed. And it was decided. We booked our tickets the next morning and a few weeks later, we were at Lumious City again, saying goodbye to Clemont and Bonnie then heading to the airport.
I did indeed visit the very region I said I would. I went to Sinnoh.
Turns out, I was not a fan of flying. The entire concept has always been rather mind-boggling to me. Being trapped in a giant metal tube while thrust thousands of feet above the ground. Even as I raced down the escalators with such excitement in the airport, my fear of heights never crossed my mind. Not until the rattletrap was rocketing towards the heavens, nose first.
But none of that mattered once I touched down on land. To say the least, I loved Sinnoh. It was a perfect blend of sunny days and snowstorms.
Battling and acquiring a full team of six was my main priority, and I was fixated on it. I bounced from city to city, gym to gym, rounding up a diverse collection of Pokemon and badges. Every so often I would stay a few days in a clearing in the forest near Hearthome city, simply to train amongst the peacefulness of the meadows. Possibly, I could have competed in the Sinnoh league, but I decided against it. Instead, I wanted to contend my first league in my home region.
With all honesty, I'll confess it's extremely difficult to beat a gym leader with only one Pokemon. I learnt that the hard way. I didn't succeed with this goal until much later in my career.
Serena had taught me the basics of catching a Pokemon, things she had learned from Ash. However, I still wasn't very good at it, and my first few attempts made me thankful I was traveling alone. Yet still, during my visit, I managed to append two more Pokemon. It was a strenuous problem, learning to train and nurture them, but I got better with time. Admittedly, I looked to some of my remembrances of Ash to aide me.
My memories of Ash were always solid, although frayed at the edges every now and then. Those feelings that were once so briskly and zestful, faded, romantic and platonic alike. I began to wonder why I even had any of those romantic feelings in the first place. Perhaps, I was just so enthralled by the romance novels I used to read that I forced myself to fall for the first boy I met. Maybe I was brought up wrong. Maybe I put too much faith in fairytales. Maybe not.
All I knew, was that the feelings I did have, were gone. And I had no intensions of getting them back.
Serena and I kept in touch throughout our journeys, speaking on cell or even via the communications screen. We promised never to lose connection. That was a promise we kept very well.
After six months, I had accomplished many of the things I wanted in Sinnoh. I found myself just enjoying the city's more than pressing forward with my goal. So, inevitably, I decided it was time to move on. My next few months were spent in Unova, challenging the gyms there and adding another Pokemon to my team. That particular Pokemon is a story for later. He was extremely difficult and would continue to be difficult through out my entire career.
Unova was loses and wins, all the same. But just like Sinnoh, I loved it. I fell head over heels for the art of traveling. It was relieving, to run away for a moment. To focus on Elaina. I'll admit, it was strange at first. I'd never really been alone, to face the world by myself. But after a few mild panic attacks and nervous breakdowns, I eventually became accustomed to actually taking care of myself. To this day, I don't regret a single thing that happened.
Three months subsequent to my arrival in Unova, Serena told me she was thinking of heading back to Kalos. Homesickness had only just begun to creep up on me, but I decided to follow her anyways. And I'm glad I did.
Our dreams, though achieved with the help of other regions, were always centered around Kalos. We knew we would be back. And once we arrived, things eventually leveled into a normal routine. Serena chased after the crown again and I challenged every gym with hopes of competing in the Kalos league.
Life was good. Peaceful, laudable and beautiful.
Those two years of fighting my parents to get out of our old fashioned house, finally, meant something.
