Pokemon Blue Core Waking Up

by my pen is better than my sword

I was a Pokemon trainer. Maybe. That's what I've been told...and I have to trust what I've been told becasue I know nothing else about myself other than what the few people tell me...and even that isn't enough...

3. Chapter 2

Star: Oh yeah. We finished.

I walked steadily up the hill that closed in New Bark. My legs had just begun to get tired, but I kept walking, ignoring the strain beneath my knees. But the strain was worth it; in the near distance, I could see the clock tower I had always watched before. There were Pokémon sitting on it again, poking around like that one Pokémon had done by my window earlier this morning. I smiled softly. I was still enclosed in a forest, but the spacing was clearing up, and I could see sunlight streaming through the leaves.

As I usually did when I was outside, I felt a lot calmer about myself and the feelings inside me faded away. My soul just seemed to lift up from the hole it had created when I was with my family. I pondered this for a few moments, as I continued walking. My family...I wouldn't be seeing them for…whoever knows how long…

No…My mind didn't accept this. I had been with them for months now…I couldn't imagine not waking up in that brown room, sunlight flowing in, gently waking me from my sleep. I couldn't wrap my head around not being with them anymore…It really didn't matter now; how my mother made me hate my very existence, made me guilty of something I could not help, punished me for something that I didn't do…

At that I frowned slightly. Why had I thought of that?

But, I thought, continuing to walk, a bit more motivated, the strain fading away. I don't regret this. Not one bit. I…I'm glad to be away from them…I took a giant step over a fallen tree and looked ahead at the building spread out in front of me. I just can't believe that this is happening…

I walked further up the path, heart beginning to pick up a bit of speed. The trees around me swayed as my pace advanced quickly. The building got closer into sight as I transgressed from the old dirt pathway to the concrete sidewalk. I slowed down on the sidewalk, and looked all around me. The bell tower was beside me as I walked up to the door. It was a light blue-white color. I looked up at it, squinting at the top. It stretched up to the sky, and from under it, it was much harder to see the top. It seemed so different from my little room.

The door approached me, and I took a breath and stopped. As I reached my hand up to the door, I realized I had no idea what to do. What do I do? What do I do? What am I supposed to say to Professor Elm? Ask him for my old Pokémon back? I don't even know how to get to Kanto…don't even know where it is!

I stood there, frozen, silently yelling at myself and restricting myself from banging my head or injuring myself for sheer idiocy when the door opened. A kind faced man held it open for me, smiling friendly at me. "Hello," he said, beckoning inside. "Did you wish to speak to the professor?"

I stared at him, eyes wide in surprise. I hadn't seen him approach the door. "Uh, yes I did…actually. I wanted to talk to him about training…I mean, becoming a trainer…" I was at a complete loss. I didn't know what to do. Jacob wasn't clear on how to approach this…I wish I could go back and ask him. My expression didn't change as I yelled back at myself in response. No; are you crazy? You can't just show back up, it'd be too weird. You can't go back, you wouldn't leave again; you'd chicken out. You've got to continue.

I smiled sheepishly at the man. He had short cut brown hair, and was rather short and frail-looking. His smile hadn't left his face. "That's quite all right," he said cheerfully, beckoning me in again. "We can help get you a good Pokémon," he added, following me in. "We help beginning trainers out all the time."

I looked around the room; there was a small reception desk with bookshelves and machinery splitting the room with one passage way to the back of the building. The man continued on past me, going through the passage way up the stairs on the other side of the room. "Professor Elm isn't very busy at the moment, he'll be glad to help you." He said, beginning to ascend the stairwell. He stopped, and looked down at me. "I'm his lab assistant, Dr. Arborvitae," he said, before continuing up the stairs. I followed up the steps quickly, resulting in a lot of noise. I winced. I'm so obvious.

The top of the stairs revealed another style of shelves blocking off the other side of the room. There was a hallway to my left, but nothing there told me anything about Professor Elm's whereabouts. I continued to look around the sunlight filled room as I followed Dr. Arborvitae through another passage way to the other side. I saw a tall skinny man hunched over a large machine, apparently trying to fix whatever was inside.

Arborvitae knocked on a shelf, and Elm's face appeared from the inside of the machine, caked in light brown dirt on his cheeks. He looked a bit fazed from being pulled away from his work. "What is it Henry?" he asked Arborvitae then glanced over to me. "Who's this? A trainer?"

I hope he didn't recognize me. I really hope my mom hadn't mentioned to them I had lost my memory. I didn't want to see that old Pokémon of mine. I didn't want to explain myself.

"She's a beginning trainer," Arborvitae started, but Elm began to walk closer to us, his face etched in skeptic thought. He was looking at my face, as though he had seen it before, but could not remember who it belonged to. I took a breath, praying he wouldn't recognize me…

He leaned away from me suddenly, as if from surprise. He continued to look, his muscles relaxing. He turned away, unable to face me as he said "Your croconaw isn't…here." I blushed a deep red, embarrassed to be recognized. Arborvitae looked from Elm to me and to Elm again. "You two…You…? That croconaw we got about four months ago was…?"

I stood there, eyes closed tightly. Elm walked over and smacked Arborvitae on the backside of his head. "This is what I get, having the 'new guy' working with me while the others are out." He said, gesturing to Arborvitae with his thumb. "The other assistants are out of field."

"Sir, please," Arborvitae said, rubbing the back of his head. "I've been a good aide for these past six months; there isn't any need for more teasing…" He turned to me. "I apologize for not recognizing you," he said seriously. "It's nice to meet you Emily Shigahiro."

"Formalities aside Henry, what Emily needs is a new Pokémon." Elm said, brushing past the both of us. He walked back over to the machine, pulling up a lever underneath it and lifting a panel off, revealing several Pokéballs, fitted into individual inverts in the machine. He turned to me, a smile etched onto his face.

"All right Emily," he said, moving aside for me to get a better look. "Pick your Pokémon; choose one from the seven here."
I tentatively walked over next to Elm, peering into the machine that held them. Elm outstretched his hand and put his hand on my shoulder as I got next to him. I put my head closer to them, seeing the tiny Pokémon inside each individual Pokéball.

There were several. Most of them weren't focused on me, only looking up at Elm monotone like, others happily; but there was one staring up. At me. It looked a bit like a fox-cat type animal, with long outstretched ears. It was brown, and had a tiny mane around its neck. I smiled at it a bit. Its eyes lit up at me, and it licked its paw.

"AH, so Eevee seems to be taking a likening to you huh?"

I jumped. I had forgotten that Elm was standing right next to me. It was if I had been in a trance, with just me and this Pokémon. He reached over in front of me, grabbing the Pokéball that contained the Pokémon. He held it up over my head and pointed it towards Arborvitae, and hit the button in the center.

Arborvitae stood there, clutching his clipboard, almost trembling, as a flashing ray of purple light emitted from the Pokéball. A white silhouette of the Pokémon appeared at his feet, and suddenly it was there, shaking its head from the after shock of the calling.

"Vee, Eevee," it cried, opening its eyes and smiling over at me. I smiled back, kneeling down a bit. It ran over to me, nuzzling against my leg.
"Well!" Elm said pleasantly. "This is remarkable. Never before have I seen a Pokémon warm up to someone that quickly, even when you had gotten your first Pokémon. This Eevee and you sure have hit it off well."

I looked down at the Eevee, beginning to pet it. It responded to my touch, pushing its head into my hand. I smiled again, continuing to stroke its head.

Elm kneeled besides me, leaning in, observing the Eevee with me, his hand once again on my shoulder. "You can nickname it if you'd like," he said, smiling along with me at the Eevee. "Would you like to?"

I looked over at him, then back at the Eevee. A name? I had just met the Pokémon; how could he expect me to name it so quickly? Names were important; they determined fate and life and…and I didn't even know if this Pokémon was a boy or a girl!

Looking at the Eevee rubbing itself against my hand, I thought of how outgoing it was, and how I was almost the opposite. It warmed right up to me, while I was hesitant; with it and everyone else around me. It had the traits of a leader, at least, based on the descriptions I thought a natural leader should have. It was right to be my starter, the leader of my Pokémon team…

"Genevieve." I said suddenly, looking up at the bookcase. Elm glanced over at me, Arborvitae looking slightly confused. "This Eevee's name, I mean." I replied quickly, looking back down at it again, flustered. "It…is a girl…isn't it?"

Elm laughed, and leaned onto the floor besides me, looking at the Eevee from a lower angle. Arborvitae turned away embarrassedly as I watched Elm with my nose upturned slightly. He sat back up with a smile. "It's a girl all right!" he said almost too proudly. "And Genevieve is her name!"

He handed me the Pokéball that belonged to Genevieve, and reached into his pocket, pulling out a pink handheld machine. He hit a switch and it flipped open, revealing a touch screen with little switches on the bottom. "Your mother sent us this as well, your old Pokégear," he said, handing it to me. "But since you've come all this way, I figure you should have it back. It is, after all, yours."

I took it, looking at it. There were four different switches running across the bottom of the screen. I flipped it over, looking at the back. It was pink and white, but a yellow insignia was printed on the lock holding the two sides together. It looked like two halves of a Pokéball, connected through one side. I attempted to close the machine by pushing the two sides down together, but with no luck. Elm took it from me, hitting a button, the other side sliding back on. He handed it back humorously. I put it in my own pocket, pursing my lip back embarrassedly.

"If you go back down the main path, you'll reach a crossroad." Arborvitae said, approaching the two of us steadily. "Take your right and continue that pathway to reach Cherrygrove City." He looked at his watch. "There should be a boat from the Hoenn region arriving there soon, so you'll want to reach Cherrygrove before then to avoid any confusion." He handed me some spray bottles. "These are Potions. They can heal your Pokémon before they faint in a battle. Revives heal your Pokémon before they faint, and I'd give you some, but I'm all out." He shrugged. "Besides, it's much better to train without them to get used to battling carefully, putting your Pokémon before personal afflictions."

I nodded, putting the items given in my bag. I stood up, with Genevieve looking up at me, yipping for more attention. I picked her up and held her to me. "Thank you both," I said. "So much. Really," I said, looking down at the Eevee. "I…I'm really grateful."

"This isn't a time for speeches, go out to Cherrygrove!" Elm said jokingly, guiding me towards the passageway in between the shelves. I walked out, still clutching Genevieve to my chest. "Goodbye!" I called back happily, feeling content, Vivi rubbing against me. "Bye," I heard Elm and Arborvitae say in unison. I stepped down the steps lightly, the added weight making this more challenging.

I let myself out, putting Vivi on the ground next to me as I pushed the door open. When the fresh air blew onto the both of us she began to run around me, feeling everything outside in her reach.

I laughed and began walking slowly, keeping her close to me, hoping she wouldn't run off. "I don't want you to run off," I said, pulling out her Pokéball, "but I don't want to confine you into this tight space." I put it back in my bag and pulled out the Pokégear. I opened it and hit the app with the picture of a map. The screen went black for a few moments, but then a map spread of a large land mass appeared on the screen. Atop the image was a box with letters inside. Well, that's great, I thought sourly, I still can't read.

Thankfully there was a GPS installed on the Pokégear, and I was able to locate myself. Apparently I was still in New Bark, even though Elm's lab was on a hill out of the town. I kept walking down the path, engrossed in the machine, Vivi still at my side. I grew comfortable with her presence besides me, and did not continue to worry what to do if she ran off. I was walking the right way, so I just needed to walk through the correct crossroad when it came up…

Vivi suddenly turned right, scrambling away from my leg. I doubled back in surprise, and clicked the Pokégear shut, sliding it back into my pocket. "Vivi!" I called out to it, beginning chase. "Genevieve! Come back!"

Vivi ran past trees with no struggle; I, on the other hand, was having a hard time keeping the chase up, my side starting to ache. She didn't let up, until she stopped in front of a tree, around my height. She began to hiss at it, then ran over to me, then back to the tree, then to me again.

I walked over to the tree and pushed the leaves away, peering inside. There was a green seed inside it. I picked it out, looking at it. I put it up to my nose to sniff its aroma. It smelled oddly like grass, despite looking like it had never left the tree. I peered inside the tree again, noticing more of the seeds. I looked at the one I held. I didn't know what it was, but I'd better hold onto it, just in case. I looked back at the seeds in front of me. I don't really need more than one, I thought, contemplating whether to take another or not. For all I know, they could be bad to have.

I put it in a separate pouch in my bag, hoping it would resist damage. I snapped my fingers towards Genevieve, walking away. She bounded after me, completely forgetting what she had run over to the tree for.

I had walked away to the left of the tree, because a thick forest had surrounded the tree to the other directions. There was a little cliff ledge in front of me, and I picked up Vivi and slid down it, putting her and my bag onto my lap.

The ledge wasn't that far down, and I got up with not too much dirt on my pants. I put Vivi down and looked to my right. I could see the city entrance only a few meters away. I began walking towards it eagerly, Genevieve running after. Around the gateway I paused; looking down at Vivi, I pulled out her Pokéball resentfully. "Sorry Vivi," I said halfheartedly, clicking the button to call her back inside her Pokéball, "but I don't want you to get lost in all the confusion I'm about to go through…"

I walked into the town, looking around at all the sights. There was a main based color in New Bark, and that was light blue-green. It was so mildly noticed though, that no one ever paid notice to it. In Cherrygrove though, their color seemed too obvious and outstanding to ignore. Every house, every building, minus two buildings nearest to my right, were bright pink. Pink roofs, pink walls-heck, every house had little flower patches, with flowerbeds long every exit/pathway in and out of the city.

Well, I can see why they called it Cherry-grove…

A large dong sounded ahead, and I looked up to see a huge cruise liner docking further back in the city, people already beginning to exit it, streaming to the sidewalks. I frowned. My detour in the woods had slowed me down. Instead of getting to Cherrygrove before the boat arrived, I got here at the same time! Great, I thought bitterly, shifting weight onto one side of my body, leaning to the right. Now I'm going to get stuck in confusion…and I don't know anything about the city anyways-or even Pokémon for that matter! Argh why does this keep happening…?

I sighed deeply, beginning to walk, bag slung on my elbow, arms bent upward. I went towards the only noticeable exit from the city, starting to pick up speed when I saw the boat passengers sprawling out all over the city. An arm extended in front of me and I doubled back, nearly running straight past it. An short old man sitting in a white park bench was who the arm had belonged to, and he grabbed my hand, standing up. "Hello," he said, smiling warmly. "You're a rookie trainer, aren't you?"

"Er, you could say so," I said awkwardly, looking over at the large group. They were starting to make their way over, and I wanted to get in front of them as soon as possible. The man seemed to ignore this.

"Oh so you are a rookie trainer? I can tell!" he exclaimed, shaking my hand, his eyes closed. He gave a slight chuckle. "But that's okay," he continued, just as cheerfully, "everyone is a rookie at some point!"

"Is that so…" I stated, staring off at the passengers. It seemed the stream headed off the dock wouldn't end. It pained me; I could see them headed this way. If I didn't hurry, the pathway leading out of Cherrygrove was going to be blocked off, and I'd be stuck here…

"Oh it is so indeed! Even I was a rookie once…" the man laughed again. "Of course that was a long, long, long time ago…Say, I've got an idea! I could teach you a few things, if you'd like. Would you like to learn from an old timer like me?"

I bit my lip in slight annoyance. "Oh that's…no, I've really got to…" I trailed off, watching the horde of people walk towards us.

"Excellent!" The man said, beginning to walk towards the building by the bench that we were standing in front of. I was dragged along, my bag sliding down to my hand. I reached over to pull it back up to my shoulder but the old man stopped, and I nearly ran into him for a second time. He looked at the buildings ahead of the two of us. "This building, with the red roof," he said, gesturing to the right, "is the Pokémon Center. You'll go here when your Pokémon need to be healed. You may come here more so than others or vice versa. Either way, it's important that you know about it, just in case an emergency occurs."

I stared over at it. "So the building with the red roo-oof!"

I was being dragged again, not too far, but still enough to make me loose my balance. I steadied myself and looked to the building the two of us were standing in front of now. It was about the same height as the Center, but was smaller, and had a blue roof instead of a red one.

"This is the Poké-Mart," the man said. "Mart is short for 'Market.' They sell everything a Trainer needs, like Pokéballs and Potions…"

I zoned out of what he was saying, due to the familiarity of the vocabulary he was using. Instead, I tried to avoid being noticed by the other people passing by us, some shoving, to get to the two buildings we had just learned about.

Some people gave me odd looks. I blushed, pulling my jacket tighter around me. In New Bark, it wouldn't have been weird to wear a jacket in August, as that was when the wind would act up and it would start to get a bit chilly. But here in Cherrygrove, I couldn't sense any wind at all, other than the kind made by other people. The sun was up high above, and the heat had intensified since earlier this morning in New Bark town.

The man made a movement to continue walking, and for once, I was prepared. Or so I thought. He didn't move from his spot. He turned towards me, looking rather depressed.

"Ah, but I had wanted to continue showing you the town" he said sadly, letting go of my hand. "But the passengers have blocked the way into Route 30…"

I extended my fingers in annoyance and frustration. I had expected this. This is what I was warned of…and now it had happened.

The man continued, again ignoring any facial expressions I had that would have hinted him to remain silent. "I wanted to show you the docks, and the sea, and then take you to visit my house…"

"Oh that's quite fine." I told him. Well, that's one good thing to the boat arriving the same time as me, I thought, slightly revolted at the mental image I got of this man's home. He smiled up at me, reaching into his pockets. "Here rookie," he said, pulling out a handful of tiny nearly flat squares. "Do you got a Pokégear that needs a map?"

I paused, pulling out my Pokégear. "A map?" I asked, flipping it open to show it to the man. "Yeah I've got a map; its how I got over here."

The man frowned, and looked up at me. "You've already got a map?" He asked with a bit of surprise and shock in his voice. I hadn't noticed it before, but up to this point, everything he had said before sounded slightly scripted, as if he had said this to millions of rookies before. Now he sounded genuine.

"Bu-but that's not possible," he stuttered, "You can't have a Town Map on your Pokégear if you're a rookie…unless…"

The crowd suddenly pushed, and I felt myself getting swept up in a group of people headed towards Route 30. I hadn't seen the crowd get so thick, and I let out a gasp in surprise, and struggled to keep up with the pace of the people, lest I get trampled. "Wait girl!" I heard the man call out. "Wait!"

I strained my head to look over at him, but three heads blocked my view. I turned around, embarrassed to be looking at them and continued forth with the crowd.

Once we went past the borders of Cherrygrove, only five trainers continued ahead. The rest of them seemed to realize they had made a direction error, and turned around back to the city. I let out a sigh and fell to my knees. I'd never been around so many people at once-minus the children living in New Bark. I'd get dizzy whenever they were around, but having so many people surrounding me at once, pushing me to an unknown place…I shuddered. That wasn't a fun experience.

I stood up, and began to walk forward. There was another ledge in my way, but instead of climbing it, I noticed a stairwell right by it, and climbed that up to the top of the ledge instead. There were two ways I could go through here, one with another ledge but without a stairwell and one through tall grass. I tilted my head, trying to see over the grass to the other side. I couldn't; the grassland was too vast. I shrugged; it made no difference to me, and began to walk through it. The grass went up to my shin, and I was once again grateful that I was wearing jeans. I continued on, reaching a bit of rocky terrain. The grass subsided away. I looked all around me, my pace not slowing.

There were hills around me, with only one way to go. I stared at the trees atop the hills, not paying attention to where I was walking…

"WOOH!" I exclaimed, the ground suddenly leaving my foot. I stumbled down into a crater of some sort, landing on my stomach. I squinted up and groaned, pushing myself back onto my knees. How much more dirt could my pants take?

"EEEP!" I heard a screech, and some shuffling. I looked over to see a lumped over bag, trembling something vicious. I stood up and walked over curiously.

"Wh-who are you? Please don't hurt me, PLEASE!" The bag squealed, the trembling continuing. I knelt down besides it.

"Is there a person in there?" I asked it.

"NO." the voice deadpanned, "there's a…a…tomato clefairy in here. Of course there's someone in here, there aren't random ditches dug out for fun! IftherewereI' WAAAHHH! I hate being laughed aaaaat!"

The bag ended its rant in a burst of small short sobs and gasps for breath. I stayed there, kneeling, not knowing exactly what to do. I considered putting my had around what appeared to be shoulders but decided it would make it worse if a stranger had gotten in your personal space.

This…girl, lets say...looked like she had just put all her stuff out and set up a makeshift camp. Turning behind me, I saw there actually was a staircase and I had just taken the ledge into the pit. Looking in front of me again, I saw there was another set of stairs, leading back to level ground. There were personal belongings and supplies all over the pit, but there was a clean pathway leading from one stairwell to the next across from it. I leaned down, face to the clean path. The ground was solid, but I could see the trace of footprints etched into the rock. There were a lot of people that went through here…a lot…It looks like this girl just got off the boat, and wanted to get out quick enough to set up camp…but everyone just trampled through…

Maybe it's a good thing I didn't put my arm on her shoulder. Talk about a lack of personal space.

I stood up and backed away from her. Her little hysteria settled shortly, and she poked her head through the bag.

The first thing I noticed about her was that she was wearing a cat on her head. Obviously a hat, but…there was fur on it too. The cat looked about the opposite of her. Its expression seemed happy, ecstatic almost-she looked rather timid. She had black rectangle glasses, and black shoulder length hair. Her hands weren't shaking, but I noticed them just the same; they were really tiny. She had put them out to pull the bag from her head, but still held it close in case she needed to duck back under.

I looked at her face quickly. She was staring at mine. I looked down and blushed. I hope she wasn't looking at my traits. I felt guilty for doing it to her.

"Sorry," I half muttered, half said to her, continuing to look down at my shoes. "I uh…didn't see where I was going. A bit preoccupied with the…" I sighed deeply. There seemed no way around this. "With the…trees."

The bag covering her slid down so I could see her shirt and the rest of her outfit. She was wearing a red jacket with black cuffs at her hands. Her jeans were jet black, and her shoes were a dirty smoky red color. Her expression seemed to soften at my words, but she still seemed to be keeping a front.

I leaned back casually, picking up a twig and twirling it around aimlessly. I felt a bit like Marisa-my mother-while doing it, but it felt right at the moment. I cringed anyways, but looked back forward, smiling weakly. "I just got pulled through the crowd," I said absent-mindedly, not stopping my twirling. "They were really rough."

I received no reply. I leaned forward, arms around knees and smiled at her. "I'm really sorry about the intrusion." I said, pushing on my knees to stand up. "If I had seen the stairs, I definitely would have taken them instead."

She seemed to calm her expression subtly-I noticed a change-and I walked towards her, extending my hand. "I'm Emily, by the way." I said, kneeling down to her again. "Nice to meet you."

Her hand slowly went from her bag into my hand. "I'm...Michelle..." she said hesitantly, but still giving off a small smile.

"Hi Michelle," I said, grinning.

Something caught my eye off to the side. I turned to look, noticing a small black book beside Michelle's backpack... I leaned over to it skeptically, releasing Michelle's hand. It was familiar in a way...

My mind flashed back to my house, in the closet this morning, where my Pokemon trainer things had been. The little black sketchbook I had opened back there matched this one that Michelle had.

"You draw?" I asked, leaning back from it. Michelle nodded.

"All the time-ever since I was little."

"Sounds like me..." I trailed off quietly, more to myself than to anyone else.

I picked up the sketchbook, pointing it towards her. "Mind if I look at them?"

"Go ahead."

I opened up the book, feeling the rough texture of the cover. There were sketches of Pokemon and people interacting with them. I flipped through the pages, finding more sketches of such, some of the people and Pokemon repeating. No doubt she knew the figures she was drawing; they were drawn in such detail, no one could forge a person with their imagination alone to make them look that real...

"My gosh," I said, looking at the pages. "These are amazing!" I thought of the few images I had seen drawn in my own sketchbook, with a tang of jealousy. Michelle's face lit up.

"Really? Thanks! I'm friends with Burgh-the gym leader in Castelia City-and he taught me how to draw and-"

"Castelia?" I interrupted curiously. "Where is that?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot I was in Johto..." Michelle blushed at her mistake. "Castelia is where I'm from-in the Unova region."

"Unova?" I repeated, recognizing nothing from the name, "I've never heard of it. Is it far away?"

"Huh? You've never heard of the Unova region?" Confusion echoed this question. "It's kind of far...I did have to take three different ships to get here..."

"So you were on the ship that just docked?"

"Yep."

"Cool," I said, smiling again. "I'm from New Bark; I just got here to Cherrygrove when the boat landed. I was stuck in all that confusion," I laughed.

"Well, I'm sure it would have been a bit easier for you, having grown up in this area." Michelle laughed back.

"Uh...no actually," I said, crossing my legs on top of each other. "I…uh…"

I stopped. I'd never told anyone this; never told anyone about my memory loss. Of course, everyone I'd ever come in contact with had known it, but…how would she respond? How did I know that it was a good idea to tell her…that I had no past?

I looked at her. She seemed very interested in what I was about to say. I bit my lip and inhaled deeply. I was getting no bad vibe, nothing that told me to stop…but I didn't know what one felt like. I mean, I'd get them all the time when in the same room as Marisa, but…was this different?

"I've never really went this way." I said casually. It wasn't a complete lie.

"Oh…I suppose I'd like it, if I had come at a time when there weren't so many people." Michelle said. "That down-set things a bit."

"Yeah…" I said, trailing off. We seemed to run out of things to talk about. I wondered where the boat had set off from. Maybe it was in Kanto; I could get to Vermilion much faster if that was the case.

I was about to open my mouth to ask when I heard pounding footprints. I looked over to Michelle and saw she had heard them too; she was looking up the ledge of the pit curiously.

The sources of the noise were two little boys, probably no less than eight years old. Around the same age as the kids in the neighborhood at New Bark…

They were running, laughing loudly and obnoxiously to each other. I frowned. I snuck a look at Michelle, who turned out to be frowning as well.

The youngsters got to the pit, and silently jumped in, one on either side of Michelle and I, us against the wall of the pit, them blocking the stairs. Hands on hips, they stared down at us.

"Who do you think you are?" one of them sneered at Michelle. She shrank a little in her position. The boy continued, advancing towards her. "Sneaking ahead of all the trainers to get a head start?"

I stood up, blocking him from Michelle. He glared up at me, his eyebrows twitching in anger. He wasn't very tall, but I felt that his confidence changed drastically as I stood up. He wasn't as intimidating as before.

"And who are you?" He sneered at me this time. I noticed his over use of emphasis and snickered and rolled my eyes internally.

"How about you, brat?" I picked up some insults from the kids in New Bark. This one seemed to anger them the most. This kid, however, just scoffed at me.

"Why you even hanging out with the scared-ey cat there?" He thrust his head towards Michelle. "You don't look very tough; she sure 'aint gonna protect you."

He tilted his head towards his crony, who began to walk towards Michelle menacingly. I swung towards him, intervening his movement, and I saw the other kid swoop down and grab something small and black. Her sketchbook! I thought, gasping a bit. The two kids ran up the other steps, laughing mockingly. I turned around to see Michelle hovered over the place where her sketchbook used to be. Her face was scrunched in panic, and she jerked her head to face me.

"They took my sketchbook!" she cried. I looked after them.

"Were they on the boat with you?"

"Yeah they were with the other trainers getting ready to get out and cover the route. But please!" she pleaded, "I need my sketchbook back! I've got to have it back! Can you help me, please!"

I jumped back. "Yeah, I'll help," I said, turning to bolt after them, "I think they turned left up here."

I tore off, leaving Michelle behind. I soon reached the turn, and swerved to their path. I could see their silhouettes ahead. They had slowed down significantly. I didn't though.

I was about twenty feet from them before they turned around and screamed at the sight of me. They started to run again, turning another left, into the woods. I turned with them.

We went that way for awhile before they let up at a clearing in the woods. We were on a grassy cliff, overlooking the water. To the far left, I could see Cherrygrove. The boat looked like it was getting ready to sail out. "NO!" I called out to the sailors. "WAIT!"

The message was missed by them. I groaned, smacking my hand to my forehead.

I heard rustling behind me. I turned to see the two kids sneaking towards the way back into the forest, them pausing when we made eye contact. I also saw Michelle trudging along the entrance to the clearing. She was panting.

"For…future reference," she gasped, holding her hand up, her other hand on her knees, "do not…run ahead of me like it's a marathon…"

"Sorry."

She nodded and turned to the kids, who were right next to her at that point. "Now give it back to me," she said coldly, pulling out a Pokéball, holding it towards them. "Or I'll show you how much of a trainer I am."

The crony backed away, but his leader stayed put. His look of fear was wiped away at the opportunity of a challenge and he yanked out his own Pokéball with an obnoxious smirk on his face.

The two of them stared each other down when a blue sphere appeared behind the two boys. I jumped back in surprise, marveling at the sheer randomness of its appearance. Michelle had shoved her Pokéball back and stepped away quickly, leaving the two boys staring at her confusedly. They looked to each other and slowly turned their heads to see the sphere behind them.

At this point in time, the sphere had been moving up so quickly that its identity was more clear; it was a balloon, with a basket large enough to stand in hanging underneath it. I frowned in skepticism, and looked into the basket, now above the ledge. There were two men in all black, minus the two white symbols put on the front of their shirts, standing back to back in the basket. Both of them wore black newsboy hats, almost posing for a photo-shoot. The man on the left reached the side of the basket and threw down a weight, landing with a muffled klunk onto the grass on the cliff. The weight held the balloon in place with thick rope, which both men proceeded to swing out on, speeding down, grabbing their Pokéballs out. The Pokéballs opened with a red flash, and erupted into white powdered specks floating down towards us four.

I backed away instinctively, but leaned forward to get a better look. The two boys stood there, dumbfounded.

Michelle was the only one who acted as if she knew what the white dust was.

She jumped back with a gasp. "No! Guys, get back!" She exclaimed to me and the boys. "Get back! It's a move, it's Sleep Powder!"

I looked at her perplexed. The two boys gave a bit more of a reaction, and darted back to where Michelle stood.

By this point in time, the two men had reached the ledge. They were standing in front of me, glaring at the two boys cowering in front of Michelle. She was standing her ground, glaring at the two men. "It's illegal to attack Trainers unguarded," she spat out at them. They smiled casually.

"Unova girl, right? Perhaps you're not used to us Johto bad guys," the one on the right said, taking a step towards them. They both ignored me, as though I was invisible to them.

"No! I know exactly who you lot are," Michelle said coolly, "Team Rocket."

The man closest to Michelle laughed. He acted like the leader of the two person group. "Educated, are you? Aren't you surprised to see us then? After all these years-"

"Actually, no, I'm not," Michelle interrupted, stepping back and gasping a little when she saw there was no more ground behind her, only water below. "I-I…I'm not surprised, because you had disbanded nearly…some however years ago and reformed three years after."

"And were put back into our places again."

"Obviously not, considering you're standing here."

"We can play games any other time," the grunt's crony in front of me grumbled out. The man near Michelle smiled sinisterly. "I'll have no quarrel with you, being so well informed of our organization," he said, leaning away from her face, hand on his heart. "I'm honored by it, actually. Our little humble group, known by a girl from the other side of this depressing landmass. But our real business," he continued, looking down at the two kids with a dark look on his face, "is with this bunch. You! runt," he said, kneeling down at the kid who had taken Michelle's sketchbook. "What's your name?"

"J-Jaden," he squeaked. The boy beside him whispered "Michael."

"Well brats, you should've known better than to go around that boat bossing even us around!" The rocket grunt yelled at them, grabbing ahold of their shirt collars. He began to drag them off. Michelle grabbed their hands and the grunt looked back at her, tiny smile emerging onto his face. "You want to stop us? I'm sure these brats were snapping at you too, Skitty-kid," he said, adding in a pet name that Michelle didn't take to kindly. She let go with a gasp and the grunt continued dragging them off.

They had forgotten about me though. I stepped in between the crony and the grunt with the kids. The crony groaned. The grunt smirked.

"Can I help you in any way?" I gave no response.

He looked at me for the first time. "That's funny," he said, checking out my appearance. "I'd have remembered a girl like you on the boat. You from around here?"

I didn't answer. Instead I reached into my pocket, pulling out my Eevee's Pokéball. He looked up understandingly. He was looking up when he dropped the two kids, who were, by now, unconscious. He shoved his hands into his pockets, puling out two Pokéballs with a gleeful look on his face. "A snot-nosed teen verses my two Pokémon, whom I've had since childhood," he said, looking me in the eyes with gleam. "This should be quick."

A noise was heard behind and we turned to see Michelle holding a Pokéball out at the grunt, the Pokémon all ready to be released. The grunt readjusted his position to face the both of us, holding his Pokémon out to each of us. The three of us simultaneously released the monsters from our Pokéballs, each of them appearing on the ground in front of us. Michelle's Pokémon was a pink lamb, shooting electric sparks at the Pokémon owned by the Team Rocket member. His Pokémon facing Michelle's was a large blue rock. It was shaped like a human, but had red marks on its arms and a giant belt around its waist. The other was a sea clam of some sort, with a horn appearing through a tiny gap within the center of it. I could see eyes piercing through the hole deep within the darkness that engulfed it.

Michelle and the Rocket grunt's Pokémon were glaring at each other, already knowing that they were enemies. The giant shell Pokémon was gleaming menacingly at Vivi, but Vivi was bouncing around, eager to explore her surroundings, nipping at the grass, sniffing Michelle, poking its head towards the shell Pokémon.

I winced, sweat dropping in the process. I'd never fought in a battle before…how am I going to get through with Vivi? She's never fought either. And these guys, sad to say, look really tough…I just hope Michelle is…

A clash went on besides me and I turned to see the two Pokémon battling it out. Michelle's Pokémon was sparking the giant blue human monster with electricity, coming from its horns, while the blue Pokémon was simply relying on its brute strength.

I pointed a finger towards the clam in front of Vivi and I. "Vivi!" I called out. "Attack! Use…er…" I lowered my finger a bit, trying to recall the things I heard my brother shout out to the little kids in our neighborhood. "Use…Tackle!"

Vivi gave me a look, tilting her head to the side, not comprehending what I commanded. Michelle looked over frantically. "You don't know your Eevee's moves?" she asked hastily, narrowly dodging a punch from the opposing Pokémon.

I smiled weakly, heart pounding. What did I get into?

Michelle commanded her Pokémon to attack again, and groaned at me. "I'm pretty sure that an Eevee can learn Headbutt…"

"Oh, yes! It can!" I cried happily, remembering part of what Jacob taught everyone. I turned back to the clam, it still glaring wickedly at Vivi. "Vivi, use Headbutt!"

Vivi responded instantly to this command, backing up and ramming her head into the bottom of the clam. The clam barely seemed to notice the attack, and smirked out of its barrier with a vacant expression.

"Uh…Vivi, do it again!"

The same results complied. I bit my lip frustrated, trying to think of some other way to go…

A yellow spark cut across me and Vivi, piercing the inside of the clam. It screamed out in pain, and swerved to glare out at Michelle's Pokémon, who had commenced battle with the blue Pokémon.

I can attack the other Pokémon? I thought to myself, glancing at Vivi attempting to further injure the clam. Since Vivi's moves aren't working on this one, they'll more likely have more affect on the one Michelle is fighting…

I pointed to the blue Pokémon."Vivi, use Headbutt!"

Vivi attacked, surprising the Pokémon a bit, but only a little. It glared over it, kicking her back over to me. I scooped up Vivi, looking at her head, concerned. Her eyes were bulging out from the shock of being hit, and she looked dizzy.

"What are you doing?" Michelle cried at me as the Eevee regained focus and jumped out of my hands. "Machoke is a fighting type; it'll wipe the floor with an Eevee!"

"Well, what's this type?" I asked pointing to the clam Pokémon, annoyed with the situation in general. "Eevee's attacks aren't affecting it at all!"

"Cloyster is partially a water type! It gives my Flaaffy, Crayola, an advantage that I took! You said you were from Johto, shouldn't you know this stuff?"

"Love the coordination girls!" The grunt called out, avoiding an electric spark from Michelle's Flaaffy. "But the fight is mine now! Cloyster!"

I looked over to the clam Pokémon. It seemed to have recovered from its attack and began to smirk again. Its smirk started to grow…I began to see some light emerging from within the center. It seemed to glow inside, the light becoming lighter and brighter. I frowned, fear coursing through my body. Looking over out at the corner of my eye, I saw the Machoke begin to reach back to attack me and Vivi. The Cloyster's light grew brighter still, as the Machoke approached as though in slow motion. "VIVI, USE COUNTER!"

She jumped, startled from the tone of the command, and began to glow a light orange. I grabbed her and held her up to my face right as the Cloyster sent out a beam filled with rays of color. The move bounced back instantly as it had come in contact with Eevee's counter move and slammed back into the Cloyster's inner shell. It did a double take as I wrapped my hands around Vivi's body, pulling her close. I knelt down and jumped out to my right side just as Machoke took one last step towards me to punch the empty space I had only recently stood in.

I rose up from my landing on the ground. I lessened my grip and Genevieve bounded out, running back and examining my wellbeing. I picked her up and stood up, gazing at the fallen Machoke. He appeared to have put a lot of power into that punch, and was lying on the ground. The memory of its fierceness before I had ducked out of the way flashed through my mind again, and I took a step back cautiously.

I turned around to see Michelle looking at me with an expression of concern mixed with fear of the Team Rocket grunt. "That's illegal!" she said harshly, turning to him. The grunt glared fiercely at her with such an aura coming from him that Michelle turned away almost on impact. "I'm overly aware of this," he spat out, and looked over at me with the same glare, perhaps a bit more passionately than his look to Michelle. I looked over besides him. His grunt was gazing at me, mystified by my lucky feat.

I heard a snap of a twig and whipped around to see the grunt thrust himself towards me. I gasped, and barely got out of the way of his sudden leap at me. He stopped as soon as I pulled away, reaching out to his side, in an attempt to hit me again. I dodged, just as barely as I had before. He reached out with his other hand, and I froze for half a second from shock, and then ducked. He made a move to kick me, and I jumped out to the side again, like I had done with the Machoke.

He continued to through punches at me, getting more and more frustrated. I remembered Jacob commencing to attack me only a few hours ago, the same fear running through my body. Oh, if only I had known that the fight back then wasn't real…I thought, almost helplessly, narrowly dodging a punch to the gut.

"What-what are you?" The grunt yelled out at me, continuing his attacks, me dodging them. I jumped back quickly, my hand zooming past his face. I'm only barely dodging him…I thought bitterly, how does he think I'm doing well?

I landed back, prepared to evade. He stood there dumbly, as if he was in a trance. I frowned. Why had he stopped..?

His eyes quickly refocused onto me, a look of shock and disbelief etched onto his face. "She's…she's…" he was unable to from anything other than that. He looked over at the second Rocket grunt desperately. "Marco! It's her…It's her! HER!"

Marco seemed to understand his cry, and reacted almost immediately. For one of his size, I found it a bit surprising that he could whip out a Pokéball so fast and launch out a giant mushroom that jumped straight into battle as soon as it had been let out of its Pokéball. It lunged towards me, snapping its large pincers towards my body in an attempt to seize me up. It was remarkably taller than me, and I cowered under its shadow it made. Jumping out of the way of its left pincer, I slammed into the pincer on the right. It began to open, and I stumbled in, losing my balance. I covered my eyes and curled up, praying to myself that I wouldn't be crushed…

I smelled something burning, and suddenly felt myself being flung out of the Pokémon's grasp. I slammed down on the edge of the cliff, scrapping my knee, thread coming through my pants. I looked out behind me and saw the mushroom on the Pokémon's back burning, and saw Michelle had pulled out another Pokémon, a small dark blue mole, with fire on its back. Michelle was glaring at the grunt again, anger tensing up her body.

Her expression was completely ignored by the grunts, however, as the Pokémon's trainer shouted out an intelligible command to it. It swiped at its burn, and then began to swipe out at me. I began to back up, to the edge of the ledge. I quickly evaded its swing, and turned to see the first Rocket grunt staring me down, about to grab me…

I flinched up inside, pulling myself away from him, eyes tightening in fear.

Don't…touch…me!

I heard an ear-piercing scream and I looked up to see the grunt being thrown back, at inhuman speed, slamming to the ground underneath the rope keeping the hot air balloon in place. He pushed himself up, groaning out in pain. "Marco…don't...don't let her…" he stammered out, standing up to point at me. His voice lost all traces of injury, and turned cold and serious. "Don't let her get away."

I saw the second grunt lunch at me in the same fashion as the first, headfirst, hands out towards me. I slammed my eyes shut and pushed my foot down on the ground on my side. I felt his grip on my jacket, and saw a flash of white beam through my eyelids. I looked up and opened my eyes to see the grunt suspended for a moment in mid-lunge. I saw him, frozen, about to grab me…and then he too flew back like his partner, landing where the first grunt had fallen. He made no attempt to get up, but lay there, like a sack of potatoes. The first grunt kicked at him, then knelt over, trying to check his consciousness. He turned sharply, glaring at me; there was anger but…somehow…something about his expression that said he…knew something about me…

I felt the need to break gaze with the grunt. His expression made me feel like I was shallow, that I could be seen through easily. I didn't have much to be seen through…but still, it wasn't a welcome expression.

There was fear in his eyes as well, perhaps because of how they had been launched back when they had attempted to approach me. They must have not known what had caused it, which caused their fear. But…that look in the grunts face…he had this look of knowledge about me. But…what was it…?

The grunt bent over to his partner again, and dragged him up. The size of the partner played a heavy factor in this, as he was sliding out of the grunt's grip. "You paralyzed him," he said darkly, still struggling with maintaining his partner's weight. "He can't move."

"That makes it sound like that Parasect just used stun spore on its own trainer," Michelle said matter of factly. The grunt just glanced boredly over at Michelle, with no response.

He pulled on the rope, and the balloon came down, the basket below the top of the ledge we stood on. He rolled his partner into the basket and jumped in, pulling the weight from its place in the ground. He leaned back as the balloon floated up, whipping out a black device. He hit a couple of buttons and held it up to his ear.

"G? We found her." After a brief pause, he added "It's undoubtedly her. Same hair, eyes, face, jacket…No, no she doesn't, but G, I saw her flash…"

The rest of the grunts words were blocked out as the balloon went up higher and higher, floating out over the water. I stared after it, the dark blue of the balloon contrasting with the light pale blue of the sky. I was still slightly fazed by the ordeal that had just occurred, and my opinion of the call the Rocket grunt just made hadn't formed yet; it didn't register within me. It was just…weird…

"I wonder…" I heard Michelle say, staring off into the distance where the Rockets had escaped to. "I wonder who 'G' is…It couldn't have been the previous Team Rocket leader…"

I turned to her. "Why do you think they…knew me?"

She shrugged, then threw her hands up in heated frustration. "I wouldn't know! I wouldn't know anything! I just met you, I don't know if you were some accomplice against Team Rocket! I just got off this boat when I wasn't even supposed to either way, then just got brought into this mess!"

I frowned at her curiously, brow raised. "You weren't supposed to get off here?"

She nodded sheepishly. "I was supposed to get off in Olivine," she explained, kicking her foot against the grass. "To stay with my cousin, Kayci." She added a look at hearing her cousin's name spoken aloud and I felt some distaste as she had said it.

"You don't like your cousin?"

Her face scrunched in displeasure. "No. She's just…awful," she finished, unable to find a word to fit the description. I sat down on the grass, arms bent over my knees. "Well…wait," I thought aloud suddenly. I jumped to my feet and looked over at her. "Where exactly is Olivine?"

Michelle frowned skeptically at me again, and pulled out a worn aged map. She unfolded it and pointed to a city by the coast, up and to the left where the center of the map was. I looked at it for awhile, rubbing my chin curiously. A few moments later, I turned to Michelle again. "Now, where is Cherrygrove?"

"Okay, that's it!" Michelle groaned out loudly, snatching back the map and scrolling it back up into its case. I glanced up at her, a sinking feeling going through my body. "What? What is it?"

She smacked her hand across her head. "You are! Why, didn't you grow up here? Even if you never left New Bark, you should at the very least know where Cherrygrove and Olivine are located.

"And what's the worst, gosh, what's the worst," she continued, getting a little more frantic in her tirade, "is that you don't even know how to battle~ When you were fighting that Cloyster you didn't even know what moves your Eevee possessed! It was all sheer luck that those grunts ran off like that! And they alerted some leader named 'G' about you! That's supposed to make you terrified if you really have no idea why they somehow recognize you! But no, you're just sitting there, as if everything was normal and that you didn't need to worry when, if you're 'innocent' you should."

I was at a loss for words. I couldn't think of a way to respond to her. Just about everything she had said was true. My stomach dropped just thinking about this Team Rocket.

And what if…Michelle was right? I had no idea who 'Emily Shigahiro' was based off of what I picked up from my time in New Bark. Her description didn't sound like…like me. So maybe she did have some kind of connection against Team Rocket…

Or maybe she had something they wanted…

I stood up, looking wordlessly at Michelle. "I don't know...what to say..." I trailed off. I raised my hands to grab my hair and turned around, growing frustrated. I stopped halfway, arms tightening. I sighed, releasing my arms from their position and they swung to my side.

I spun around. "I'm from New Bark," I said, making up my mind, a new confidence and sureness appearing in my tone. "But I've only been around...for four months."

Michelle raised an eyebrow. I continued. "Four months ago, I woke up in New Bark town looking up at strangers claiming to be my relatives." I paused. "Okay that sounds like I'm really cynical please don't see it that way because...it's really how I felt, waking up and looking at my mom and my brother..." I shook my head. "All right, I'm straying from my point. Basically, I lost my memory. And I literally just got this Eevee" I said, gesturing to Vivi who was running around in a circle, "which is why I didn't really know its moves. I had to do something though; I didn't want to just leave you and those kids even if they did take your sketchbook...Argh, straying from point again, its just that...wait, no scratch that, I'm not involved with Team Rocket in anyway now. I have no idea about before though...No one mentioned anything about it, or any traits about myself that I posses now that could have led me to...Dammit," I said, slamming my head down as if banging it onto a hard object.

"Sorry, I...never really told this to anyone before. This feels weird. Is the crawling in my stomach mean I'm messing up? Cuz I feel like I am, I've just never done this before..."

Michelle stayed quiet for quite awhile, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. Finally she spoke: "Ah...um...okay let me get this straight. You just woke up one day and you didn't remember anything? Did you get bonked on the head with something? Your story isn't all that far-fetched, but how did it happen?"

I laughed a little, easing my gut-clenching mood a bit. "I didn't get bonked on the head," I chuckled out, and then grew serious. "I mean...I could have been hit on the head or something...No one has any idea. I was found on a road to Fuchsia city unconscious with no injuries. My mom found me like that and brought me back to New Bark. I woke up there and that's where my life began." I left out the unneeded details of my 'new' life, watching Michelle chew on what I just said.

"My brother said there'd be a way to regain my memories. It requires going back to the place I fell and lost consciousness. But I don't even know where it is or how to get there exactly. All I know is what time it was and what the place looks like. It's the only thing I remember."

"Hm...So this is in Kanto, right?" Michelle asked. "The place you're talking about?" I nodded. "I might be able to help you get there."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking when I was looking at your map," I said. "Olivine has a port, so maybe if we went together to get there, you could stay with your cousin and I could board a boat to...Vermilion."

"Stay with my cousin? No way!" Michelle jumped up, making a face of disgust. "Psh, I'd rather go against those two grunts alone than stay with that brat!" Her tone changed as she continued, a little hopeful and seemingly timid, as if she was scared to ask. "Do you think I could...go with you instead?"

She looked at Emily hopefully, but after seeing no response, she continued. "I promise not to be too much trouble! And I know a lot about Pokemon, so I could actually help!" she added quickly. She raised her hand into a fist and, holding it high above her head swung it down into an outstretched palm, the thumb pointing upward. "You just have to let me stop to draw every once in awhile. So," she said, going back to a normal position, "what do you say?"

"What do I say?" I asked. I flushed a little, putting my hand behind my neck. I thought about my own mother's potential response, an image of her face gleering down at me, dark red aura surrounding her. "Uh...I don't want to get you in trouble with your mom or anything..."

"Ahahaha, it's a little late for that." She grinned sheepishly and adjusted the back of her hat. "I was supposed to go straight to my cousin's house and stay there when I arrived in Johto. I decided to get off early in Cherrygrove...because I hate her guts." Her eyes narrowed and she looked away. "So, really, I'm already breaking the rules, but what my mom doesn't know won't kill her."

"Okay, well..." My mind began brainstorming ways to avoid the mother, a skill I was pretty good at...until I couldn't buy any more time. "You could check in with your cousin and then go to Vermilion with me."

She started to frown, but then lightened a bit. "I guess we do need a place to stay while they're there..." she shrugged and sighed. "All right. So it's a deal?"

I smiled a bit. "Deal..." I looked over and sweat dropped a bit. "Uh...should we be worried about them?" I asked deadpanned, pointing to the unconscious kids.

Michelle jumped and ran over to the kids. "Oh my gosh I totally forgot! The kids were so scared they fainted," she cooed, feeling their foreheads, touching them as little as possible. "I could feel them shaking when those grunts got in their face and when I tried to grab them they were…oh the poor things…"

It was like she completely forgot that they were obnoxious little turd-balls who were just about to pick a fight with us. Like she forgot they stole their sketchbook… I shook those thoughts out. They were just kids. Team Rocket was intimidating to me…well, better example to use, they were intimidating to Michelle, a person who had been out on her own and her own independence for a long time. Those kids seemed like they had just gotten out of their parent's house and were exploring. That confrontation…like thought earlier, they were just kids.

I walked over, looking over at them. "What should we do with them?" I asked, realizing that I had nothing to say.

"We should help them, to start" Michelle replied, seemingly annoyed by Emily's lack of the seriousness of the situation. "Hm...Where should they go to rest up...?"

"Uh what about...okay if they were Pokémon we could take them to the Pokémon Center in Cherrygrove, but only Pokémon are worked on there so..."

"Actually they treat people too! They even double as a hotel," she said, matter of factly. "Why didn't I remember?"

"Maybe I'm contagious," I faked worry jokingly.

Michelle looked at Emily, concern all over her face. "Uh...what? I'm sorry but...that was kind of...random..." her face shrunk. "Uh...I, I don't mean to be invasive, but with what? I mean, I, I'm sorry but...the kids might...well, they might die if they catch anything now! And, and I'm really...I DON'TWANNAGETSICK!" After she had suggested that the kids could die, she had begun to rock back and forth, worrying more and more.

I winced a bit, absorbed in the idiocy of myself. "Uh...I meant my lack of remembering...by that..." I said slowly, a bit embarrassed. Michelle stopped and looked up at me. "What?" she asked confused, and then her face went blank, then apathetic. "Oh. I get it." she deadpanned, then burst out laughing hysterically.

Her laugh was a surprise, but then I smiled, and began to laugh with her. It was such a full laugh, full of energy and life, I couldn't help joining it. I hadn't heard such a full laugh...hadn't heard a real laugh before.

We sat and stood there laughing as Nurse Joy stepped out of the PokEEEEmon Center and saw us; laughing at the sheer amazement of it all, at our meeting, at our confessions, of Team Rocket and about how we've ended up traveling together after just twenty minutes of our meeting.

We're so screwed.

---

The kids lay on beds in a two room hotel/hospital accommodation, fast asleep. "They've been found to have no injuries at all, just fainted from exhaustion." Nurse Joy said to Michelle and Emily, closing the door to the room. "It turned out not being necessary to bring them here, but better safe than sorry."

"That's so great" I said, sighing a bit. Michelle sighed too, but then breathed in a gasp. She walked into the room silently over to one of the boy's bags at the foot of his bed. She reached in and began digging around. Nurse Joy and I peered in confusedly. Michelle pulled out her hand with the sketchbook in its grasp. "Here it is!" She said happily. I expected her to reemerge negatively towards the kids as she walked over to Nurse Joy and I. She pointed the end of the sketchbook towards Nurse Joy. "Can you be sure to let them know that I got this, so they don't have to worry?" she said sweetly. Nurse Joy nodded. "Of course." She waved us off. "Head straight to Violet city from here, you here? There's been a mess of people getting lost in the Dark Cave and it'd be a shame for you to walk almost all the way there and then have to walk back."

"We will!"

We exited the center, turning the pathway towards Violet city. "Well," I said, taking a breath. "Ready?"

"Yup," Michelle responded.

We giggled, and took our first steps out together.

Ew that makes me think of two things,

1) The way Bianca insisted on making Cheren and the main character take the first steps on the first route to their journey in Pokemon Black/White,

2) The way the last chapter ended, with Emily taking her first steps to her adventure...

Therefore, I concur this story has to do with fainting constantly and stepping. Fun.

OMG I ACTUALLY FINISHED TONIGHT LIKE I SAID I WOULD! :O (this was LAST night orz)

I'm late. I'm sorry. Pre-IB and getting math grades up sucks. Based on the amount of time it took this chapter to come out...either be expecting a bunch of super short chapters...or wait for awhile for a really big one. To make it FAIR, I've started writing everywhere, a skill I didn't have before.

I ASKED THE CO-AUTHOR TO COMMENT ON THE STORY, AND THIS IS WHAT SHE SAID:

Jade: "Ummm...I'm glad that i finally made an appearance and the story's finally going somewhere xD"

Star: Fills me with guilt for the wait. Like said, next chapter will either be super short…or really long. Either way…sorry, but you'll have to wait TT_TT