Tired

"Miro, hurry up, I'm already downstairs!" Grandmother shouted, impatience evident in her tone.

"I'm coming, I'm coming, wait." I quickly packed my most interesting books, giving myself a chance to revise during our little escapade.

Descending the stairs with a backpack containing a few books and a sports bag in my right hand with spare clothes, I reached the ground floor. I quickly looked around; Grandmother hadn't sold the house, it still belonged to her, so it wasn't a problem if there were still things here.

There, I found Grandmother waiting for me, but... how to say it? Well... with just a backpack, very light if you want my opinion for a move.

"Grandmother, didn't you pack your things?" I said hesitantly. A bad feeling emerged within me.

"Oh? Are you planning to dress up during our little walk? I see you've prepared spare clothes, it seems a bit heavy. A very serious mistake." A sadistic smile appeared on her face.

Her smile was starting to scare me...

"Shall we go?" The more I spoke to her, the more I felt something was off.

"Of course, let's go." She started walking towards the village exit.

Once at the village exit, I heard someone shouting.

"MIROOOOO!" A childlike silhouette emerged from the center of the village, under a beautiful sunset, making the scene somewhat epic.

"Oh, Clem, what's up?" I turned around and saw a little Clem out of breath. I was quite disappointed it wasn't a girl. Instead, I had a guy. Damn, I thought I was the protagonist and that there would be a girl with secret feelings for me.

"Where are you going?" He was, once again, speaking too loudly.

"I'm leaving the village. It's a bit sudden, but even I just learned about it. I'm the first surprised. Glad to have seen you one last time. Ciao." I resumed my walk after that statement, scratching my ear. I don't like goodbyes, and he talks too loudly.

"EHHHHHH ????? YOU'RE LEAVING LIKE THIS ???? WHERE ARE YOU GOING ???? WILL WE SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN ??" He threw me a teary-eyed look. I hope he doesn't think he can soften me up with that look. If he were a girl, it might have been cute, but there...

Honestly, this guy was sort of my best friend in this village, even if he had the bad habit of talking too loud. I think I should try to comfort him; after all, he's still a child.

"I'm going to a village called Pallet Town. Like I told you, even I didn't expect this sudden move."

If you can call it a move with just a backpack and a sports bag.

"The whole village knows; your grandmother warned the adults while we were in class, but I just found out and rushed over." He gave me a thumbs-up with a bright smile.

"I see, well, I think we'll meet again when we're older."

No chance.

I said, placing my hand on his shoulder.

"Why do I feel like you don't mean that?" He shot me an annoyed look.

Had he guessed that I wasn't planning to come back?

"What are you talking about? Everything I told you is the truth. Goodbye, my friend." I took my hand off his shoulder and resumed walking towards my grandmother, who was waiting for me with a look that said to hurry up.

"LIAR, YOU JUST DON'T WANT ME TO EMBARRASS YOU BECAUSE I'M GETTING MY POKEMON TOMORROW. YOU WANT ME TO BELIEVE YOU'RE LEAVING JUST THE DAY BEFORE I GET MY POKEMON? YOU THINK I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND ?? YOU'RE JEALOUS." He shouted and ran back into the village, gritting his teeth in anger.

I don't even understand why he's upset. As if he was looking forward to getting his Pokemon before me and taunting me with it.

But damn, this time, he really pissed me off. A vein appeared on my forehead. Grandmother also noticed that I was annoyed because of that kid's remark and chuckled discreetly. I saw her laugh, which irritated me even more. I continued my way, trying to ignore what had just happened.

"Where are you going?" She asked with a little smirk.

"I'm resuming our journey; hurry up, grandmother, it's getting dark soon. I don't understand why you want to leave now." My behavior was becoming a bit irritable.

"Okay, fine, but you're not taking the right path; it's on the other side." She laughed very loudly.

It was really embarrassing...

5 hours later

"Grandma, it should be 9 PM already, it's already dark. We need to find a hotel quickly." My body aches, my legs are tired, my arms are exhausted, and my sweat only accentuates my fatigue. I now understand why she only took a simple backpack with her; there's probably just the essentials for a few days of walking.

I see her whistling a little tune as she walks calmly, as if nothing happened. However, on the way, we encountered a group of Spearow that tried to attack us. We had to run for 30 minutes without stopping.

I don't understand why grandma didn't use her Pokémon. Just Venusaur with a good Sleep Powder could have put an end to that chase, but she didn't. I ended up with my arm injured from a fall, but nothing serious.

After that, we had to cross a river. After crossing it, we were attacked by Bellsprout, yes, those ridiculous Pokémon with a body shaped like a root and a yellow head.

In the anime and the game, they were super weak, but now, THEY HAVE DAMN POISON TECHNIQUES. They are super dangerous for us who don't have an antidote. Well, at least I imagine grandma, being a specialist in that type, must have plenty with her. We had to run for another 10 minutes, and here I am, finally exhausted. I'm drained.

"Grandma, I'm stopping. I can't go on. It's late, and I'm tired." Tears start to well up in my eyes.

To be honest, I'm tired physically and mentally. My body isn't very strong, and I couldn't go on for a long time. I think I'm starting to break from the inside. All this fear, the races we had to do, the risks of death I almost faced, the injuries I suffered. I can't handle all this pressure anymore. I CAN'T TAKE IT.

"Okay." Grandma no longer has that nonchalant impression but looks at me from the corner of her eye.

She stops, releases Arbok from its Pokéball, then starts setting up a camp.

"Arbok, scout the surroundings and eliminate any potential danger. You'll watch over us tonight." "Finally," I collapse from fatigue next to grandma. "What are you doing? Get up. After such intense effort over a long period, you need to stretch. Plus, you're dirty, you stink. There's a river not too far; you should be able to rinse quickly." She points a finger in a direction behind the trees.

"How do you know there was a river nearby?" She ignores me and continues to set up the tent and prepare dinner.

I have no choice; I have to go. I walk away courageously and stay very close to the river. It's super dangerous since I can't see much, but it's not completely dark yet.

After stretching and washing quickly, I jog back to grandma. The forest at night is scary, don't judge me.

"I'm done." Once close to grandma, I start walking normally as if I hadn't just rushed back, fearing something.

"Well, we can eat." Grandma Boa hands me a plate of food, and we start eating. "So? You're not explaining?" I ask her because I'm starting to get annoyed by the situation. We're leaving in the evening when, for this kind of journey, you should leave in the morning. We don't have many bags. Where are her things? Why didn't she use Pokémon during the day? I have a lot of questions to ask her.

"Well, I'll explain." She puts down the plate she had in her hand and looks around the forest.

"We are currently in a forest, but this one is not very dangerous. The path from the village to Pallet Town is not very dangerous, actually, although a bit long for someone young and fragile like you but not impossible. You want to become a trainer and travel when you grow up, right? I have already transferred all our important things to our new residence with the help of a company; don't worry about that. When you travel on your own, you will experience what we will go through in the next few days. In short, it's kind of a training to mentally prepare you for your journey and see if that's really what you want." She smiles gently at me and then starts cleaning everything to go to sleep in the tent she set up.

I think I understand better now. The reason she didn't use Pokémon when we were attacked was to make me feel the fear of wild Pokémon. After all, when I start my journey, I won't be able to fight them head-on with a starter. That answers a lot of my questions.

I think I'll stop thinking here. I'm very tired; I'll think about the rest during the journey.