A Dream Realized 3
#3 of A Dream Realized
After John had returned home from his visit with Rose he had finished feeding the pokemon and cleaning out the shed that was put up to offer shelter. The whole time he was working though, Mist was by his side. When he was finally finished he picked Mist up and set her on his shoulder, earning a surprised yip as she had been facing away from him. With a chuckle John started back toward the house. "Well, the outside chores are done for the day, now all we need to do is get my room cleaned up and we will be set to leave tomorrow." Mist smacked John in the back of the head with her paw for scaring her but when he looked up at her she just smiled. John shook his head and opened the door into the house. "Smacked by my own pokemon." His mother stepped into the doorway of the kitchen and looked at him. "What did you say?" John smiled slightly. "Nothing. Mist just smacked me for surprising her." His mother laughed before going back into the kitchen, leaving John to go to his room.
When John finally got to his room and opened the door he found it was spotless. Setting Mist on his bed he turned in a circle, scanning every inch of the room. "What happened to the glass? For that matter what happened to my room? It's never been this clean." Stepping into the hall, John called down to his mother. "What happened to my room?" A second later his mom responded, confusion easily heard in her voice. "What do you mean?" John shook his head and walked down the hall to the kitchen. "My room is spotless. No glass, no mess, nothing." His mom glanced at him and shrugged. "I didn't do it so don't look at me." John shrugged and went back to his room. "Well.... I guess there isn't anything else to do but wait till tomorrow." Glancing at his clock, he found that he still had 4 hours to waste until he would have to sleep. "What do you say we go for a walk, Mist?" Mist stood up and held an arm out to John. John swung her up onto his shoulder and laughed. "You won't always be able to sit on my shoulder, so don't get lazy on me." In response Mist just smacked him in the back of the head, making him laugh.
John headed straight for the front door but before he could reach it, the door opened and his father stepped in. "Hey, I wasn't expecting you home for another hour or so." His father shrugged. "There isn't anything going on at the pokemon center so I came home early." Looking up his father smiled. "I see your egg hatched also, and a Riolu on top of that." John nodded with a half smile. "She hatched while I was out feeding." His father laughed. "Bad timing on that part huh?" John shrugged. "Not really. I was able to get in here pretty quick and once I got her calmed down I went and got everything set up so I could head out tomorrow and gave her some food and water." His father nodded a couple times. "Well, if you are headed out tomorrow did you get everything taken care of here?" John gestured to the back as he spoke. "Yea, everything is taken care of out back. We have some time to kill so I was just about to head out with Mist and see if Rose wanted to walk around for a bit." After a second his father nodded a couple of times. "Well before you go, I got something for you."
For a second John stood in the hall confused before following his father towards the back door. They stepped out and when his father started toward the shed, John frowned. "What's back here?" His father laughed. "A going away present from your mom and I." Again John was confused but he followed anyway. When his father opened the door to the shed, he reached in and pulled out a backpack with a tent and sleeping back strapped to it. "We didn't know when you were going to leave so we bought it all a couple days ago." John laughed and took the bag, setting it on the ground and opening it to look through the contents. "It looks like you thought of everything. Food for me and Mist, a canteen, potions...." After a second John smiled and looked up at his dad. "Thanks." His father waved it off and laughed. "You've worked around the house for the past 7 years without an allowance, you deserve it." Zipping the backpack up, John slung a single strap over his left shoulder. "I still appreciate it." After shutting the shed's door, John led the way back into the house and set the backpack by the front door. "I'm gonna go see what Rose is up to, be back in a couple hours." Once he heard his mom say ok, he stepped out the front door and looked up at Mist. "After today, life is gonna be a whole lot different for us." With that he turned and walked straight for Rose's house.
As they neared the house, John noticed that Rose was sitting on the steps up to her front door. "Hey, what's goin on?" Rose jumped slightly at the sound of John's voice then glanced up at him. "My parents don't want me traveling. Even with a pokemon." John thought for a second and knelt down beside her, letting Mist off his shoulder. "Do they know that you will be traveling with me and not alone?" Rose thought for a second before shaking her head. "I don't remember if I told them I was going to travel with someone or not..." John smirked and stood up again. "Well than lets see if we can change their minds." Rose looked up at him and sighed before shaking her head. "But I don't even have any supplies. Not even a tent." John laughed and held a hand out to her. "Don't worry about that. My dad bought me a tent that will hold 2 people. That will work until we can get a tent for you." Once Rose took his hand John pulled her up to her feet. "Or at least a second sleeping bag if you don't want to buy a second tent. Less money spent that way." Rose sighed but eventually nodded and led John into the house. They found Rose's mother in the living room watching tv and she glanced up as the two entered the room. "Hey John, how have things been going at the ranch?" John laughed and shrugged. "Well, we haven't had any problems with the pokemon fighting yet so I would say pretty well." Rose stepped up beside her mom and stared at the floor for a couple seconds befor looking at her mother. "About traveling..." Before she could continue her mother shook her head. "Your father and I told you before, we aren't going to allow you to go traveling alone. Even if you have your pokemon." John couldn't help but smile as his earlier question was answered and he stepped forward. "I'm sorry to jump in on this but she wouldn't be traveling alone. We had been planning on traveling together since we got our eggs." Rose's mother glanced from Rose to John and back again. "Has your egg hatched?" John nodded and knelt down, picking up Mist who had been leaning against his leg. "She hatched this morning." Rose's mother laughed at the sight of Mist. "I have to say I am surprised to see a Riolu for a first pokemon." She turned back to Rose and frowned slightly. "I guess if you two are going to travel together I will allow it. But if you are going to seperate, Rose has to come back here."
John laughed and nodded. "Yes m'am. Turning to Rose, he found her grinning at him. "What?" Rose laughed and shook her head. "I just can't believe I will finally be getting to leave and travel." Rose's mother stood and faced Rose. "You need supplies though if you are going to be traveling." John shook his head. "I have enough supplies for the both of us. After a few battles we can buy more when we reach Jubilife." For a second Rose's mother stared at John before answering. "You have a tent and everything for the night?" John nodded. "I have a tent that can hold the both of us. My dad knows I like a bit of space so he bought me a two person tent instead of a single." For a second there was silence before her mother spoke again. "What about a sleeping bag? Do you have two of those?" John shook his head. "It's the middle of the summer so I will only need a jacket to rest my head on that. I've spent more than a few nights out in the pasture with the pokemon so I am used to the weather." Rose's mother shook her head. "We will get her a sleeping bag at least by tomorrow morning and a backpack. All I ask is that you watch out for her." John removed his hat and rubbed the back of his head, trying not to smile or laugh. "I won't let anything happen to her." Rose shook her head. "I'm not helpless mom." John laughed and opened his mouth to say something but the glare from Rose stopped him so he settled for a smirk.
For a second there was silence before John cleared his throat, placing his hat back on his head. "I actually dropped by just to see if Rose wanted to get Orin to walk around for a bit before tomorrow. So that they aren't as curious about the outdoors when we start traveling." Rose's mother turned to face him. "You're planning on leaving tomorrow?" John took a small step backwards. "Well... I... I didn't know Rose wasn't going to be able to leave so I just picked tomorrow. If it's a problem than it can be pushed off to another day." Rose's mom slowly smiled and shook her head. "No, it's fine." John sighed in relief and lowered his head, the brim of his hat hiding his eyes. "So Rose, is there anything you're going to want before we leave?" Rose shook her head. "Though the walk you mentioned sounds good. I haven't had the chance to go walking around with Orin. Give me a second to get him." As Rose left the room her father walked in and looked at John. "Oh hey, didn't know we had company." John nodded to him. "Was just stopping by to see if Rose wanted to walk around with me and Mist." Rose's mother turned to him. "Rose is going to be leaving tomorrow to go traveling with him. She forgot to mention yesterday that she wouldn't be traveling alone." Slowly Rose's father's eyes narrowed and John began to feel nervous. "All I have to say is if anything happens to Rose, I will personally track you down." John's eyes widened and he swallowed hard. "No sir, nothing will happen to her." After a second Rose's father started to laugh. "I know. Just had to mess with ya." John leaned back against the wall and shook his head. "If this keeps up from y'all I may not live till tomorrow." Rose's father chuckled and sat on the couch his wife and just got up from. "Nah, we all know you and Rose are good friends. I don't have a doubt in my mind you will look out for her. So don't worry about it." John nodded slightly and looked up as Rose walked back into the room, Orin circling her feet. She noticed that John was sweating and frowned. "What has you worked up?" John just shook his head and gestured to the door. "If you're ready to go, lets get to walkin."
The two left the house and headed for the nearby trees. For a while they walked in silence until John looked at Mist. "I wonder what we will battle first." Rose shrugged and looked up as the stepped under the first trees. "Who knows? Better question would be, how are we going to train before we go battling other trainers?" John laughed. "That part is easy. We set up targets." Rose frowned at him. "And what exactly will we use as targets?" John gestured to the trees around them. "Small branches of course. But we can worry about that tomorrow. For right now lets just focus on the walk. This may be the only time for a while that we can just relax." Rose finally nodded and looked down at Orin who was jumping around, pouncing on large blades of grass or small branches and she laughed. "Seems at least one of us are enjoying this so far." John smiled at the small pokemon then glanced at Mist who was content to sit in his arms. "You want to go walk on your own and check things out?" Mist shrugged and looked up at John. As he started to lower Mist to the ground he suddenly heard a loud growl and looked up.