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It was another nice and peaceful morning, another day on Gou’s first solo journey. The clear blue sky above him and the wide open meadows around the path he was on promised a great day ahead. Just like any other day, his trusted partner Sarunori was perched on his right shoulder.
Gou looked concentrated at his Rotom-phone, trying to find out which Pokémon lived nearby and, more importantly, which of them he hadn’t already caught.
He was so engrossed in that that Sarunori had to poke him with his stick to get his attention.
Gou stopped walking, put his phone away, and turned his head to look at Sarunori.
“What is it, Sarunori?”
“Roki!” Sarunori exclaimed, pointing forward with his stick.
Gou’s gaze followed his partner’s extended stick, returning to face his head forward again to see what his Pokémon wanted to show him.
In front of him, the road split into two directions, both paths enclosing a lone and huge tree.
“Ah, thank you.” Gou smiled grateful at his partner.
Happy about being thanked, Sarunori replied with a satisfied “Roki!” and a big smile.
“Now, which way should we go?” Gou pondered aloud while looking both ways.
His gaze eventually landed on the tree in the middle. Wanting to look at the tree in its entirety, he tilted his head towards the treetop and was immediately reminded of another crossroad similar to this one.
***************************************
It was the day he had to say goodbye to Satoshi, his first true friend.
Gou and Satoshi halted at another fork. They both looked around before they turned to each other again.
“Let’s both say it together!” Satoshi suggested pumping his right fist.
“All right!” Gou replied, copying Satoshi with his left fist.
“Ready, and…” Satoshi started, releasing his index finger from his fist, which Gou simultaneously copied.
“This way!” they both exclaimed at the same time while pointing in different directions.
They let their hands fall and turned towards each other.
“Looks like we part here.” Satoshi stated.
“Yeah!” Gou agreed with a smile.
Satoshi returned it with a small smile himself, though his eyes showed traces of sadness. However, it was gone as fast as it had appeared.
“Gou…” Satoshi began.
Feeling the importance of Satoshi’s next words, Gou gave him his undivided attention.
“I’m glad I met you.” Satoshi continued genuinely.
Hearing that, Gou’s eyes slightly widen in surprise.
“Thank you.” Satoshi proceeded even further.
At those words, Pikachu chipped in with a happy “Pika Pika.”, agreeing with his trainer.
“Stop it! What’s gotten into you?” Gou exclaimed frowning, not being familiar with this side of his friend.
“You’re gonna make me cry…” he continued, turning his gaze away from Satoshi.
He released a short breath before he focused his sad gaze up towards the treetop of the lone tree standing between the crossroads.
“Satoshi…” Gou began.
He turned towards his friend again and continued:
“Thanks for reaching out to me.”
Satoshi smiled sadly at that before he replaced it with a real one and replied:
“We could find something even more amazing waiting up ahead!”
“Right!” Gou agreed with a smile.
“And that future lies…” he started.
“Right!” Satoshi responded with a nod.
They both fist-bumped before finishing that statement in unison:
“… in our hands!”
Pikachu exclaimed an agreeing “Pika Pika!” at that, raising his left paw while Sarunori copied him, releasing a happy “Roki Roki!”.
“See you!” Gou said, being the first one to bid goodbye to his friend and turning towards his chosen path.
“Yeah!” Satoshi responded, also turning towards his path.
Satoshi turned right while Gou had chosen the left path.
***************************************
A soft poking at Gou’s right cheek snapped him out of that memory and returned his attention to the present again. He looked at the one responsible, receiving a concerned “Roki?” in return.
“I’m fine.” Gou said smiling even though he didn’t feel like smiling right now, trying to reassure Sarunori.
He assumed that his sadness must have shown on his face when he had looked up at the tree in front of him.
Despite Gou’s best efforts though, Sarunori didn’t buy his trainer’s act. He opened his mouth, ready to voice his protest, but didn’t get the chance because Gou began to walk again. And just like that day, he chose the left path.
*****************************************
Gou walked a few meters on his chosen path before he suddenly stopped, causing Sarunori to look at his trainer. He released a confused “Ri?” at his trainer’s action, wondering why they had already halted in their newly started journey.
Gou balled his fists at his sides, desperately trying to keep his emotions at bay. But no matter what he did, he couldn’t focus on anything other than the pain he felt from parting ways with Satoshi, his first true friend.
He closed his eyes and bit his lip, trying to prevent the inevitable.
That was until he heard a familiar voice calling his name.
Gou’s eyes immediately snapped open, and he looked towards the direction of the voice to find Satoshi waving at him.
“Satoshi…” he trailed off in disbelief.
Sarunori exclaimed a happy but quiet “Roki!” at seeing the other trainer.
“Make sure you find that Mew again and make friends with it!” Satoshi encouraged, while Pikachu agreed with his own words, waving his right paw.
“I will!” Gou replied determined with a smile.
“And Satoshi, make sure you become a Pokémon Master!” he continued, a happy “Rokiki!” accompanying his words.
“Yeah!” Satoshi responded just as determined while Pikachu pumped his right paw.
Gou smiled at that and nodded once. Satoshi returned that with his own nod before he faced his path again.
Gou’s shoulders relaxed after that short conversation, and with newfound excitement, he turned to his trusted partner:
“Let’s go, Sarunori!”
The Pokémon responded with a short “Roki!” in agreement, before Gou also faced his path again and ran off.
*****************************************
It’s already been six months since then.
A hard hit to his head and an angry “Roki!” abruptly pulled him out of his thoughts again, causing him to stop in his tracks.
“Ow! What did you do that for?” Gou complained while rubbing his head where he had been hit.
“Roki Rokiki Ro!” Sarunori replied angrily.
“I already said I’m fine!” Gou argued.
“Roki!” Sarunori exclaimed furious, and hit his trainer with his stick again.
“Stop that!” Gou demanded, looking angrily at his partner.
“I’m not lying!” he denied the accusation.
But Sarunori just returned his trainer’s look with the same amount of anger in his eyes, not believing a word he said.
Being unable to look at that fury for long, Gou was the first one to break eye contact, his gaze directed to the ground. He just couldn’t stay mad at his partner, and he didn’t even want to. Besides, how could he be angry with Sarunori when he knew that his reaction stemmed from worry about him?
Gou took a deep breath and looked up again, though he avoided looking at his partner and gazed at the path in front of him instead.
“It’s just…” he paused for a moment.
“I miss him.” he confessed quietly.
Hearing his trainer’s admission, Sarunori nuzzled Gou, trying to comfort him. Filled with relief at his partner’s action, it being a sign that he wasn’t mad at him anymore, Gou laughed happily and gave him a few grateful pets in return.
“Thank you. I’m sorry I lied to you.” Gou broke the silence after a while, apologizing sincerely.
Sarunori exclaimed a happy “Roki!” in reply and softly poked his trainer’s cheek with his stick, making him laugh again.
Gou’s laughter eventually faded, but the smile stayed.
He pulled his phone out again to check which Pokémon lived nearby, wanting to make up for the strange morning he had so far and to finally start catching new Pokémon. Though he immediately forgot about his plan, when his gaze landed on his message app. Gou hesitantly tapped the app to open it, finger hovering over Satoshi’s contact, before he shook his head. No, I won’t depend on him!
Having himself reminded of that again, he exited the app and followed his original plan. Once he knew which Pokémon he wanted to catch, he put his phone away and started running, trying to ignore the familiar ache that always appeared when he decided against texting Satoshi.
*****************************************
Gou let himself tiredly fall backwards on his bed for the night at the Pokémon Center.
After all the running and searching over the course of the day and not being able to catch a single new Pokémon, his luck having seemingly run out today, he released a disappointed sigh.
“Roki?” Sarunori asked quietly next to him.
Gou smiled at that and petted his partner’s head gently. Loving the attention he was receiving, Sarunori closed his eyes in content.
For a while, there were only these quiet little noises of contentment breaking the comfortable silence around them, until suddenly a loud ping echoed inside the room.
Gou lazily pulled his phone out and slowly unlocked it, only to abruptly sit up when he realized who had texted him. In his shock, his right hand had left Sarunori’s head, causing him to complain about the interruption of his pets.
He hurriedly opened his message app, only to confirm that it was indeed Satoshi who was texting him. Gou took one deep breath before he hesitatingly opened Satoshi’s contact.
What he found was a picture of Pikachu, who seemed to imitate some kind of Pokémon.
Seeing that, Gou burst out laughing.
His trainer’s sudden strange behavior caused Sarunori to forget his complaints and release a confused “Roki?” while he tilted his head to the side. The Pokémon just couldn’t understand why his trainer behaved that way right now. First, he had been smiling, then shocked and nervous, and now he was laughing.
“Look, Sarunori! It’s Pikachu!” Gou replied, showing him the picture.
“Roki Roki!” his partner exclaimed happily.
Gou smiled at that reaction before he turned the screen towards himself again, now focusing on the text beneath the picture.
Satoshi: Pikachu imitating the Fushigidane we met today.
That was it. The first text since they had parted ways. No hi Gou, or how are you? Just this. That was so… So typical Satoshi. Gou laughed at that, and the brightest smile in a while stayed on his face.
His finger hovered over the keyboard, itching to reply to Satoshi’s text. He hesitated for a moment though, not wanting to depend on Satoshi anymore. Gou shook his head at that thought. Satoshi had been the one to reach out to him first, not replying would be rude. Besides, if he left him on read now, he probably would do it again the next time, using the same excuse, and that could eventually cost him his friendship with Satoshi. And that was the last thing that he wanted. So he replied:
Gou: How does he do that?
He didn’t have to wait long before he received an answer.
Satoshi: Don’t know. It’s been a while since he last did that.
Gou: He imitated other Pokémon before?
Satoshi: Yeah, I lost count of how many different Pokémon he already imitated though. It’s also the first time I got a picture of it.
Gou: How so?
Satoshi: I didn’t have a phone until the Director gave me one, remember?
Gou: Ah, right. Forgot about that.
Satoshi: It’s okay. So, how’s your journey so far? Caught any new Pokémon?
Gou’s smile vanished at that. Texting with Satoshi so naturally somehow made him forget that they were both on different journeys. Don’t get him wrong, he loved being on his journey and still gets excited about meeting and catching new Pokémon, but texting with Satoshi made him miss his friend even more.
He eventually answered:
Gou: It’s great! Of course I did.
Satoshi: What’s wrong?
Perplexed by that question, he replied confused:
Gou: Nothing’s wrong. Why do you think that?
Satoshi: It took you a while to reply, and it didn’t sound like you at all.
Not understanding his friend’s reasoning, he frowned before he asked:
Gou: What do you mean?
Satoshi: You usually get so excited about every new caught Pokémon, every new member of your ever-growing family, but you didn’t even mention a single one. You just answered my question in one of the shortest ways possible.
Gou: Just because I kept my answer short doesn’t mean that something’s wrong. Really, I’m fine.
He really hoped that Satoshi believed him and anxiously waited for his reply.
What he didn’t expect was his phone to start vibrating and Rotom’s voice to announce “Incoming call from Satoshi, incoming call from Satoshi…”.
In all the time Gou has known Satoshi, he had only called him once.
He debated what he should do. If he didn’t accept the call, Satoshi would definitely know that something was wrong. But if he did, there was no way to know how he would react to hearing his friend’s voice for the first time in six months. It might even make the pain of missing him worse.
Gou took a deep breath before he shakily accepted the call.
“H-Hello?” he greeted inwardly cursing himself for stuttering.
“Gou?” Satoshi called in response.
Hearing his friend’s voice for the first time in six months, Gou’s breath hitched, and he tightly grabbed part of the blanket he was sitting on with his unoccupied right hand to ground himself.
A by now familiar ache settled in his chest.
He had been right. Hearing Satoshi’s voice had only made him miss him more. He had only said one word, just his name, but that had been enough to make it worse.
Gou opened his mouth to reply, but the forming lump in his throat prevented that, so he swallowed it before he tried again:
“S-Satoshi…”
He cursed his stuttering again and how weak his own voice sounded. There was no way Satoshi would believe he was fine now.
Suddenly, there was a warm weight on the right side of his lap, pulling him from his thoughts.
Gou looked towards the source and was immediately met with Sarunori’s concerned eyes. Seeing his partner’s worry, he released the still tightly grasped blanket in his right hand and started petting his Pokémon’s head reassuringly instead, calming himself at the same time. It also gave him an opportunity to distract himself from the ache in his chest.
“What’s wrong?” Satoshi asked again, breaking the silence and causing Gou to direct his gaze from Sarunori forward again.
“Noth-…” he began, but was interrupted by Satoshi.
“Don’t lie to me! Something’s bothering you!”
Gou stayed silent and absentmindedly kept petting Sarunori.
“Do you have a stomachache?” Satoshi suddenly asked.
Hearing that, Gou’s right hand stopped its movement in surprise for a moment before continuing.
“No.” he answered shortly.
“Did someone tease you?”
“No.”
“Did something happen to Sarunori?”
“No.”
“Did something happen to Aceburn, Inteleon, or any of your other Pokémon?”
“No, nothing happened to any of my Pokémon.”
“Did you argue with one of them?”
Gou shortly paused at that and looked at Sarunori before he replied:
“No.”
“Did you fail to catch a Pokémon you wanted today?”
“No. Well yes, but that doesn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Aha, so you finally admit that something’s bothering you?” Satoshi exclaimed triumphantly.
Gou’s responding silence was all the confirmation Satoshi needed.
“Talk to me. Aren’t we friends?” he asked light-heartedly.
Gou’s breath hitched at that, and his right hand left Sarunori’s head before he let it unceremoniously fall to his side again.
The last few words echoed in his mind. Aren’t we friends? They sounded way too similar to the question he had asked himself almost four and a half years ago. Weren’t we friends? Did he unintentionally make Satoshi feel the same pain he had felt all those years ago?
What Gou didn’t realize though, was that while these words were similar, they were neither said in accusation nor an expression of hurt. They were only a sign to show him that he could talk to Satoshi about what was bothering him, a sign that he cared about him.
He was so trapped in his thoughts that he didn’t even see the worried look on Sarunori’s face his reaction had caused.
“Gou?” Satoshi called concerned when he didn’t receive any kind of reply.
“A…I…” Gou started before he interrupted himself by biting his lip.
He tightly grabbed the blanket underneath him with his right hand again.
“It’s just…” he tried again, this time being stopped by the growing lump in his throat and his increasingly blurred vision.
He swallowed the lump and blinked a few times to hold the growing tears at bay.
“I miss you…” he whispered, tilting his head down while closing his eyes, finally releasing the gathered tears one by one.
Usually, he would be embarrassed by that admission, but right now he couldn’t care less about that. The only thing on his mind at the moment was how much he painfully missed his friend.
“I miss you too!” Satoshi responded without any hesitation.
Gou’s eyes snapped open at that, and he abruptly raised his head while simultaneously releasing the blanket in his hand.
“Really?” he asked hopeful, his tears slowing down before they eventually stopped.
“Of course! I miss all of my friends, and you’re my best friend. Well, besides Pikachu, of course.” Satoshi answered immediately.
That response left Gou stunned, and he only now became aware of the familiar weight on his right shoulder and a gentle petting on his head. He turned his head towards the source and looked into the worried eyes of his trusted partner. Sarunori.
Gou looked grateful at his Pokémon and petted him with his right hand a few times, thanking him for his comfort.
Seeing that his trainer had calmed down again, Sarunori stopped his petting but stayed on his shoulder.
Being much calmer now, Gou wiped the remaining tear tracks off his face and faced forward again before he replied:
“Thank you.”
“For what?” Satoshi asked confused.
For being my friend. For not forgetting about me. For caring about me. For listening to me. For believing in me. For being there for me. And…
“For reaching out to me again.” Gou settled on.
“You don’t have to thank me for that. That’s what friends are for. Besides, you could have done the same, you know?” Satoshi teased lightly.
Gou frowned at that.
“No, I couldn’t have.” he responded quietly.
“What do you mean?” Satoshi asked confused.
Gou sighed before he answered:
“I don’t want to depend on you anymore. I already told you that.”
“But how does you texting or calling me make you depend on me? We’re still both on our own journeys, overcoming all the challenges ahead of us on our own. Just because you reach out to your friends doesn’t mean you’re weak or depend on them too much. Or am I weak for contacting you?” Satoshi countered puzzled.
“Of course not!” Gou immediately replied.
“But it’s different for you.” he argued.
“How so?” Satoshi asked still confused.
“You never depended on me, and you never had to because you already have experienced so much. I however, always needed you. I can’t even count how many times you had to encourage me or give me the last push to do something. Without you, I wouldn’t even have come so far.” Gou answered, getting more frustrated with himself the longer he spoke.
“That’s a lie!” Satoshi retorted seriously.
Gou opened his mouth, trying to object to that statement, but was interrupted before he could even speak one word.
“And before you argue about that. Remember when I lost to Saito for the first time and lost the following two battles too, dropping to the Normal Class again? You were the one encouraging me that time. Or the time when Pokémon in Galar daimaxed outside the Wild Area and stadiums and went on a rampage? You were the one helping Sonia-san decipher the old legend, and without that, we wouldn’t have been able to stop Mugendaina. And what about Project Mew? I don’t recall being with you at the time. Everything you did then was all you. You’re already more capable than you think you are.” Satoshi countered.
Hearing that declaration left Gou stunned. Have I been wrong the whole time?
“So… I could have reached out to you all along? And it wouldn’t have made me be too dependent on you?” he asked, understanding slowly dawning on him.
“Yeah.” Satoshi replied.
“I am so stupid.” Gou let out.
“No, you’re not.” Satoshi countered.
“Yes, I am!” Gou argued.
“Instead of contacting you when I wanted to, I just…”
Forced myself to not do that and bottled everything up. If I had just reached out to you every time I missed you, then it probably wouldn’t have hurt so much to begin with.
“You just?” Satoshi inquired.
“Never mind that. The point is, we could have talked to each other much earlier if I had just done what I wanted to do!” Gou answered, frustrated with himself.
“Well, we’re talking now. So tell me what you’ve been up to. Where have you traveled to? Which Pokémon did you catch? Tell me everything!” Satoshi demanded excitedly.
Hearing Satoshi’s excitement, a smile appeared on Gou’s face for the first time since this call had started.
“You’re sure about that? A lot has happened in these last few months. I obviously caught lots of new Pokémon. If you really want to hear about everything, it will take a while.” Gou stated lightly teasing.
“I don’t care how long it takes.” Satoshi responded.
“Even if you miss dinner?” Gou asked, his smile growing bigger.
The following silence caused him to laugh.
“Don’t worry, I won’t take that long.” Gou reassured still laughing a bit.
“I wasn’t worried about that!” Satoshi countered.
“Sure, sure. So where do I start…”.
Gou thought for a moment before he started to excitedly tell Satoshi which places he had been to, what adventures he had been on, and which Pokémon he had caught so far.
******************************************
Gou fondly stared at his phone. It’s been only a few seconds since the call had ended, and he still wore a smile on his face.
Unlike what he had thought at the beginning of Satoshi’s call, it really helped him. While it had made him miss his friend even more at the start, it now felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Gou still missed Satoshi, of course, but after the call, it became more bearable.
A soft “Roki?” from his right shoulder brought him out of his thoughts.
He turned his head, still smiling, towards Sarunori.
“I’m fine now.” Gou stated honestly.
Seeing the sincerity in his trainer’s eyes, Sarunori smiled widely and excitedly jumped from Gou’s shoulder to the bed, happily hitting the mattress with his stick a few times.
Gou laughed at his partner’s antics before he looked determined at his phone again. Next time… Next time, I will be the one reaching out to you!