Trial with Fire, Chapter 3
#3 of Trial with Fire
Leaving Home
I hit my head on the ground and woke up, staring up at Blaze, who I had been using as a pillow. He snorted at me as Cinder woke up and stretched.
"You know, you could have just pulled my shirt sleeve or something. It's not like you had to stand up to wake me." I grumbled at him. I picked up the blanket and took it inside, noticing my mom was already making breakfast. From the smell, it was my favorite, cinnamon oatmeal with honey. I noticed two bowls were already on the table and filled with food. Taking a closer look, I saw it was pokechow, made just for fire types. "Thanks Mom," I said as I took Blaze and Cinder their food, sneaking out the honey bottle to give them both an added treat. Blaze was already munching on some grass and Cinder was chasing a leaf when I came out with the food, but they came running when I called for them. They were eating happily as I went back in for my breakfast.
"So what are your plans for today?" My mother asked as I sat down to eat.
"Well, at 10 o' clock I'm, um, going over to Arre's and then we're going to leave. You know, to get badges and stuff."
My mom looked at me with one eyebrow raised. "Arrenvanthas? When did this happen?"
"She came by last night and asked if she could go with me."
"And you're supposed to meet her at 10?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because you have half an hour to get ready. You might want to hurry."
I glanced at the kitchen's wall clock and realized she was right! I began to eat rapidly, almost choking once, and flew up the stairs to take a shower and get some fresh clothes on. By the time I was done I only had 15 minutes left, and had to hop on Blaze to get there in time, which had the added benefit of drying my hair. We stopped in front of Arre's house and I put Blaze back in his ball to rest before I walked up and knocked on the door. A man about the same age as my mom opened the door and looked down at me.
"Are you this Aidan guy that Arre wants to go traveling with?"
I won't lie, this guy scared me. He was really tall and looked pretty fit. It took everything I had just to look him in the eye.
"Yes sir, I am. Is she ready?"
"Hah, good lad, being able to ask me straight out like that!" He shook my hand as my face reddened and he called for his daughter. She came to the door in an orange shirt and blue jeans, tying her hair back. She took one look at my red face and glared at her father.
"I told you not to do that! Why did you have to go and scare him like that?"
"Because I'm your father and it's my job to scare the boys you're friends!"
"Next you'll be wanting to have a battle with!"
"Well, I did here about how he beat that Zane kid. Alright then Aidan, I challen-" Arre quickly shoved him back into the house and slammed the door. I could hear him laughing as she dragged me away from her house.
"Sorry about that, my dad can be a little.. overbearing sometimes. Just ignore him." She told me. "He means well, really, but I'm not sure he knows how to go about doing it."
"It's okay, my dad can be the same way. I'm sure he would have come with me to get you if he wasn't working right now. I guess all dads are like that." How in the world was I talking so steady?
"Yeah, I guess so."
We spent the rest of the walk out of Pallet Town talking about embarrassing things our dads had done, and only stooped once to see if Zane wanted to come with us, but his little brother said he had already a few hours ago, saying he wanted his next battle with me to be a total surprise. I was sad that he had left without me, but I glad he had a good reason. I resolved to beat him, no matter what pokemon he had caught, next time we meet.
Soon, we were looking down at the path that would take us out of Pallet Town to Viridian City, neither wanting to be the first one to step out on to it. I looked at Arre, ans smiled nervously. "Together?" I offered.
"Sure." She said as she grabbed mt hand and pulled me to the middle of the dirt road. The next hour or two are all fuzzy and hard to remember, because the only thing I was thinking was how Arre was still holding my hand.