Chapter 1: Forgotten Memories

"Are we almost there?" asked Jen.

Bobby responded with a slight nod of the head and a very breath-heavy "yeah". It was rare to get him to do even that much after his father died. Bobby wanted to be with him so he wanted his life to end, so taking a big breath might have actually been considered a step in the right direction. His Raticate was all he had besides his friend Jen Hopper, someone he had met almost 15 years ago. He casted a short glance at Raticate and called it back into its pokeball. It was the only Pokémon that he had after he left his home region of Kanto. He left the rest with his mother to protect her against any threat. Raticate was approximately level 56 by the time he had entered the Pokémon League. He came in 28th place out of the 1197 people who entered with teams ranging from rain dance to sandstorm teams.

Jen reached for the radio and turned it on to a rock station when they were stopped at a traffic light. The light seemed to hold an unusually long time when a car pulled up beside of them and the driver turned off the ignition and leapt out of his car with a Drowzee, apparently named "Sleeper". He came to Bobby's side of the car and motioned for him to let down the window. Bobby shook his head and looked forward so see the light was still red.

"Jen, stay in the car."

"Don't tell me you're gonna get out with that guy there, are you?"

"He's got a gun. Stay in the car and whatever you do, leave the windows down."

The mysterious driver looked at Jen and Bobby talking in the car. He looked up and grinned devilishly as the light continues to remain red. No cars were coming from either direction, so the light would normally turn. When Bobby stepped out of the car, Raticate popped out of its pokeball and hissed at the strange man who had the gun in his belt loop. Bobby motioned for Raticate to stop, but it didn't listen. Raticate had a fierce look in its eyes, almost as if he was ready to attack out of defense. Bobby held Raticate back with his foot, but when Raticate saw Bobby was trying to hold it back, it decided it was not going to be controlled that way. Raticate jumped over Bobby's leg and attacked the man, who pulled out his gun and aimed it at the rat Pokémon. Bobby returned Raticate to its ball right before the man attempted to shoot.

"You've got a pretty brave partner there. It got a name?" the man asked.

"No, it's just Raticate. I had him ever since I was a boy."

"Well that's a shame then."

The man aimed his pistol at Raticate's pokeball and shot at it. The ball fell off of Bobby's belt and fell to the ground, shattered. However, Bobby was not worried.

"Nice try, but that wasn't Raticate's ball. Raticate was in the one behind it."

"Okay, then I guess I'll have to shoot that one too-" The man stared at the loop the ball was supposed to be held on, but the ball wasn't there. It has disappeared, as quickly as lightning could strike a mountain summit.

"Where did it go?" The man asked in amazement.

"Well, I may not have introduced myself. I'm Bobby, the master illusionist. Of course that's just a nickname people gave me because when danger comes close, my Raticate does some pretty weird stuff.

"You son of a… Fine. Then I guess I'll just have to shoot YOU instead!" The man yelled. He aimed his gun towards Bobby as Jen looked on in horror as the man pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

The man pulled the trigger again and again with no further results, other than the understanding that his pistol had run out of bullets.

All of a sudden, Bobby's Raticate appeared out from behind the car Jen was in. Bobby yelled, "Raticate, use hyper fang!" Raticate obeyed and used its fangs to tear through the man's shirt and cause a potentially permanent scar on his chest.

"Raticate, finish him off with iron tai-"

"Stop it Bobby!" Jen yelled from the car. Bobby just barely heard her cry and decided to leave the man with at least his life. Bobby got back into the car, held up his middle finger to the man, and drove away. Then, Bobby noticed he had forgotten something incredibly important:

He never called Raticate back to its pokeball.