"Is he… Is he dead?" Girl`s trembling voice broke the silence.
"No, in this state he can`t be dead." The woman answered her severely. "But he`s very close to it."
"So… What happened to him?" Another girl asked.
"I don`t know." The woman was confused. "You was there, you saw everything. Why wouldn`t you tell us?"
"I can`t remember it…" Sad but melodic voice replied to them. "I can`t remember anything about the last hours!"
"Damn, this is not good." Another woman swore. "We can`t leave him in this state. We need to do something!"
"We can`t do anything right now, as we know nothing of what happened to him."
"So… How can we find it out?"
The silence falls on the room again. The body in the center continues shining brightly but this means nothing good.
"They say, the whole live flies before the eyes when you`re almost dead." The second woman replied. "Maybe we could read his memories right now?"
"And how do you think we can do this?"
"Well, there`s someone who can read minds… Especially his one."
Everyone turned back.
"Me?" The sadness in voice changed to sudden fear. "But I… I can`t just do that!"
"You did it a million times before, we know that!"
"That was completely another thing…"
"Come on, maybe we can save him! Just look inside his head and find the correct memory! If you can`t remember what happened in the Citadel, maybe he can!"
"Well… Okay, I`ll try."
She comes closer to the body and puts her hand on the body`s forehead. Their eyes start to glow and the whole world disappears as her mind falls deeper and deeper in his…
It was just another day on my way back. At last I have arrived in my home region – Kanto. Not so many years have passed since I left it, but I already started to forget how beautiful the nature here is. Vast forests, large cities and crystal lakes – my home is great!
And yet it was still some time for me to make my way back to home city. I was driving my old but still strong car and watched over the trees passed across.
Soon I will reach Viridian City and will be able to have some rest at any local hotel, if there are any. The day was almost over, and I really tried my best not to fall asleep while driving. Fortunately, not much people drive this road, so I couldn`t crash into somebody. But into something…
Some dark silhouettes near the road attracted my attention. Three strangers in dark clothes were running, looked like they were really in a hurry. When I was near them, one turned around to me and shouted:
"Hey, you`re just in time, pal!"
Some bad feeling came to my mind. For some reason I had no desire to pick them up in my car. And still…
"We need some help, can you come here for a moment?"
I don`t know why I stopped, but I did. The bad feeling remained and ever grew stronger, so I decided not to come out of the car yet and just watch for them.
"What`s the problem?" I asked.
One of the strangers looked at the other two, nodded to them and headed straight to me. When he was going to my driver`s side I managed to observe him a little. He – as well as all of the rest – was wearing strange black uniform with big "R" on chest. Their hands were covered by black gloves, just like the criminals usually wear. One guy had his gloves without fingers. "That`s not cool for your fingerprints" I thought. Maybe, they were some young gang or just a bunch of hooligans? Well, the other two looked too old for regular hooligans.
And also when the first stranger was moving to me I noticed that he pulled a gun from his holster on the other side and tried to hide from my view. That thing made me a bit nervous, but it was too late to do something. I could just gas and ride away from here as fast as I can, but, on the other side, that could be interesting. For too long I haven`t tested my old skills.
Soon the stranger reached me and guided his gun right into my face.
"There`s something in our car. Get it out." The other two found this funny, and just laughed quietly.
I got my hands up and slowly started to open the door. Without any sharp movements I tried to move out. Really I waited the other two to come closer. They were really impatient, so I didn`t have to wait for too long – bandits came right to my door. I smashed the first man with the door, throwing him back to the other two. The pistol dropped out of his hand and fell under the car, distracting my foes and giving me enough time to give the rest two a good smash. Hooligans backed off confused from the unexpected turn of events.
"I have fought grunts twice bigger than you!" I shouted taking a combat stance. "Get over here, one by one!"
These bandits weren`t scared enough to run for their lives. Too bad, I counted on that. But instead, the first one put his hand in his pocket and got a small round red-and-white object.
A pokeball.
"This dude is crazy!" He shouted in return. "Ekans, deal with him!"
He threw a pokeball to the ground, and the monster appeared right in front of me. Ekans isn`t a very big pokemon, but still very menacing. THAT was an unexpected turn of events for me, and I was just standing there for a few moments.
"Come on, you big boy! Show us your pokemon!" One of bandits tried to provoke me.
"Wha… But… I don`t have any pokemon."
And this fact momentarily decided my fate.
"That is even better! Ekans, WRAP him and after that… Use BITE!"
Did he really just ordered a pokemon to attack a human? How dirty is this!
I tried to evade the Ekans` move, but he was faster than me and wrapped me tightly with its body. The grip tightened, and it was hurt. One moment later – and I felt his fangs on my neck and soon drop of blood flowing down. Almost losing my mind, I lowered my head to make them think I`m ended.
"That`s enough, Ekans. We have to hurry, return."
The Ekans was beamed back to his pokeball, and I felt on the road. I tried to open my eyes and watched powerlessly over the bandits taking places in my car. My dad`s car… The only memory of him I had.
The grunt sat on the driver`s seat and turned his head to me.
"Never cross the road to Team Rocket! If Team Rocket wants this old piece of metal crap, it gets it!"
And they left me laying on the road. The last thing I saw of them is the middle finger of driver sticking out of the window, pointed at me. With nothing else to do, I answered him the same way.
It was pretty hard to stand up in a condition like this. I pressed the bite on my neck with palm to stop blood and looked to the sky. It`s gonna be a long road…
At least I have one more reason to visit my old friend in Pallet Town.
