[SWC] There's Always Tomorrow

As the three trainers took a break during their hike down the mountain path, the stone buildings of Pewter City could be seen at the base of the hill. From where they were standing the sunset looked positively divine, but only one of them was paying any attention to it. His name was Jason, and he was the embodiment of an average trainer. He was fourteen years old, wore a baseball cap, had passed all the gyms, but had never gotten far in a tournament. As he stood captivated by the sharp hues in the western sky, he became slowly aware that someone was talking to him.

"…so at any rate, we've got to make a decision soon." It was Travis, who had been Jason's best friend since preschool. "Hey, are you even listening?"

Jason turned around to face Travis. "Of course I'm listening."

Travis didn't buy it for a second. "What was I saying, then?"

"You put it so well yourself that I don't think I could do it justice." Jason had used this line countless times before. By this point, it was just his way of saying 'Okay, I wasn't actually listening,' without making himself look too bad.

The third trainer, Krissy, decided to speak up. She had been traveling with Jason and Travis since they all first became trainers at age ten. To this day she still felt like an outsider, as she hadn't known the two of them as long as they had known each other. "We were talking about stopping in Pewter City and calling it a trip."

Jason raised an eyebrow, not thinking that the idea made a bit of sense. "We won't make it to the tournament if we stop now."

Travis groaned. "We won't make it to the tournament if we keep going, either. We've gone over the math on this before."

Jason replied, "So?"

Travis threw his hands into the air and turned away. He muttered under his breath, "I give up. This is pointless."

Krissy tried to be more patient. "Jason, we get that you really want to enter the tournament, but it just can't be done. We have one more day after this one's over to get there, right?"

"Right."

"Well, we can't go that far in one day. We might get to Viridian if we hurry, but that's it."

"I don't see how that's relevant." Jason made his answer with complete seriousness; there was not a trace of irony or jest in his voice.

Travis sighed, and entered a sarcastic rant. "Well, you're the boss. This may be a freaking waste of time, but whatever. If you want to get to the tournament before an impossible deadline, I guess we'll just have to walk a bit faster!"

"That's the idea. If we don't stop to do anything in Pewter, we should be able to reach the edge of Viridian Forest by nightfall."

Travis, resigned to following Jason to his futile destination, slung his bag over his shoulder. "That's exactly what we need: another night on the road."

The three of them began walking down the path to Pewter City, all aware that the ticking clock was an unbeatable obstacle.


There was no daylight left, and the trees allowed little moonlight to reach the trail. Krissy found herself nearly tripping over protruding roots and fallen trees. Unlike many other female trainers her age, she made a point to wear long pants in the woods, even during summer. On their first time through Viridian Forest, Jason and Travis had made fun of her immensely for stepping in large amounts of poison ivy while wearing a skirt. She could remember the ordeal with perfect clarity, especially Jason's laugh, which seemed to hide his Johto accent. She then became aware that she could barely see Jason in front of her. "Jason? Don't you think we should stop and camp? It's too dark to keep walking."

Jason kept walking for a few more yards before answering. "Alright. I guess we've gone far enough for today."

They found it difficult to locate a clear enough spot to lay out sleeping bags. Even with a flashlight on, the forest was so dense that one could never see very far in front of himself. Eventually they found a suitable place, and made ready to go to sleep. Travis, who was still greatly irritated, made sure to set up his bag as far away from Jason's as he could. Travis didn't say goodnight to anyone. He just punched his backpack and muttered to himself about how stupid Jason was being. In ten minutes, they were all silent. An hour passed, and Travis fell into an uneasy sleep.

Krissy was still wide awake; staring up at the ceiling of the forest and looking to find a star in between the leaves. She couldn't see any, and found herself thinking about Jason again. She needed to talk to him. It was a lousy time for it, but she felt it had to be done. "Jason? Are you awake?"

There was silence for a few seconds, and then she heard Jason's voice coming from a few feet behind her. "Yeah, I'm still awake. What's up?"

"We need to talk about something."

Jason waited a few seconds to answer again. "Go ahead."

"Well…When the doctor told you—"

This time, Jason cut her off. "I thought we agreed we weren't going to talk about that."

Krissy felt her throat getting tighter. "I know! It's just that we haven't really talked about it at all, and I don't want the next day to go by without us having talked about it at least once! Can't you understand that?"

Jason waited even longer before answering. When he did, his voice was drained of all emotion. "Okay. I understand. We can talk about it."

Krissy took a moment to calm herself down before speaking. "I guess I can't understand how you can be so calm. I mean, if I knew I wasn't going to be around the day after tomorrow, I think I'd lose it."

Krissy heard Jason sit up. She turned her head to try and see him, but she couldn't. Jason began speaking, still in an understated, unemotional tone. "I spent enough time crying my eyes out at the hospital. I don't want to spend my last days just feeling sorry for myself."

Krissy looked back up at the sky, trying again to find a star. "But, now you're spending your last days walking to a place you know we can't reach. We don't get why you're throwing the days away like this, as if you can always have fun tomorrow. It's like you're ignoring the fact that pretty soon you won't have any tomorrows left."

Jason sighed. "Yeah, I can see why you and Travis are pissed about that. But, to be honest, I don't think I'm really wasting my time at all."

Krissy didn't answer. She kept staring up, not knowing what to say. Jason continued speaking. "Sorry if this sounds corny, but I really don't know how else to put it. I heard once that if you know you're going to die, there's nothing better to do than spend time with those you love. You and Travis are the best family I've ever had, and we always spent most of our time just walking around like this. That's what always comes to mind of when I think of you guys, so I wanted to keep doing just that. If I decided to go anywhere that we could actually reach, then we'd have to stop, and I don't want to stop walking around with you guys.

"I don't think I could tell Travis that. He'd probably just laugh at me."

Krissy still had no idea what to say. She kept looking at the sky for another minute, and she finally saw a star. In a few seconds, though, the star faded out. She then found it harder to see, and noticed that her eyes were filling up with water. She tried to breathe, but all she could manage was a small choke.

"Don't start crying, Krissy. You know I can't stand to see you cry."
​