Hello! It's been a while since I posted for this story, hasn't it?

Well, I'm back with another chapter, so let's see what you guys think of it!

Chapter 6

"All right. May and Brendan Birch, Gold Heart, and Crystal Soul have been registered." Nurse Joy gave a nod to the children in front of her, then pulled out four small cards and four thin cases - one red, one blue, one silver with gold highlights, and one pink with silver highlights - and placed them on the counter. The corresponding colors of the cards seemed to not only match the cases, but the pictures of the Trainers on them, as well.

"Thank you," Crystal stated, picking up the pink card and case. A curious frown came over her face. "But...what exactly is the case used for?"

"Trainers use those to hold Gym Badges they get," Brendan explained. "Kanto and Jhoto don't use them because they have their badges as pins rather than thin pieces of metal."

"Really?" Gold tossed his silver case up and down in on hand for a moment. "Well, this may actually make it easier to keep track of stuff. Pins can fall off of people's clothes if they're put on the wrong way, after at." A frown flitted across his face. "Although, this means that I'm going to need a backpack..."

"That can be easily solved," Nurse Joy responded readily. "The PokeMart here has some backpacks and other supplies that beginning Trainers may have need of, if they need brand new items that would be able to survive the journey."

Crystal's invisible ears stiffened upward in surprise. "Really? That's pretty handy." She looked over at the blue counter, and caught sight of the merchandise that was hanging on the wall behind the two people in blue aprons. One hand drifted to a pocket of her jeans and slipped in, gripping one of the two items that resided there. "I hope I have enough in order to get a decent backpack. It would be bad if I didn't."

Gold nodded in agreement. "I heard of someone who got a backpack from a bad manufacturer. They lost all their items when the bottom fell out in the middle of a jungle." He strode over to the counter himself, pulling out what appeared to be a wallet that was stuffed full of bills.

"Whoa!" Brendan dashed over to the Jhoto Trainer, eyes wide. "Where did you get all that cash?!"

"I paid a visit to a safe and broke into it before I left," Gold replied coolly in a quiet enough voice that the cashiers wouldn't hear. He reached the counter and placed a small stack of the Poke on the counter. "I'd like to have one of those backpacks, six Potions, and ten PokeBalls."

The two men standing behind the counter looked at each other in surprise, then back at Gold before scrambling to get the items the gold-eyed boy had asked for. In seconds, Gold was putting on a black backpack with red and gold stripes along the openings for the pockets and the seams.

"That's better," Gold remarked, shifting the backpack around into a comfortable position. "Now I don't have to worry about filling my pockets to the brim."

Crystal blinked in bewilderment at Gold's sudden actions, then remembered back to when she had worked with him in Jhoto and shrugged. Then she walked over to the counter herself and pulled out her wallet. While she didn't have as much money as Gold did, the Mewthree knew that she still had a pretty impressive amount from battling Trainers who had decided to challenge her and random acts of kindness.

"I'd like a backpack, five Potions, and ten PokeBalls, please," Crystal stated politely.

"Which backpack?" one of the cashiers asked, motioning to the wall behind him.

A slight frown flitted across Crystal's face, but she quickly managed to make her decision. The blond-haired girl quickly pointed out a dark green backpack with pink highlights and a shape embroidered on the smallest pocket in the front.

"You two seem to have good taste," the cashier praised, grabbing the backpack and pulling it down from its hook. "The backpacks from this line are made to be able to withstand most of what Nature can throw at them. Nothing short of an unexpected natural disaster will cause these things to rip apart."

"Well, I doubt that it'll come to that," Crystal replied with a light smile. She paid for her items, then placed the empty PokeBalls and the Potion bottles into separate pockets for easy access later. Then, after fingering the pink Mew silhouette on the pocket in the front with a light touch, she slid a backpack strap onto her right shoulder, so that Richie wouldn't have to be thrown off his perch from the other side.

May and Brendan, a little surprised at both Crystal's and Gold's actions when they bought their items, stood blinking in bewilderment for a moment before coming forward and requesting their items at once, simply going for the backpack and a small number of Potions.

"Wow, you guys really decided to go all out with your allowances, didn't you?" May asked when they had moved over to a table at the other side of the room. She experimented with the pockets of the yellow, belt-like backpack for a moment before snapping it on, most of the pockets at her back.

"I didn't think that you guys would have been able to afford going after such expensive backpacks so early on," Brendan agreed, sliding the one-strap, dark blue backpack onto his back. "I mean, Gold explained where he got all the Poke from, but what about you, Crystal?"

"Just because I didn't have an official Trainer license before doesn't mean I wasn't challenged to battles," Crystal replied, smiling lightly. She looked down at the three PokeBalls at her waist that contained the stronger members of her team. "Besides, I made it a point to help out people so much, that people started considering ways of paying me back."

The Mew clone considered adding some vague information about what she did between attacks from Team Rocket in Kanto and Jhoto, but decided against it. After all, the idea that Pokemon could form their own towns and manage to help each other out for such events would have to be pretty far-fetched to newfound Trainers who might not be able to understand PokeSpeak just yet.

"Well, I guess that makes sense," May remarked. "I mean, there are a lot of kids in the area who are given Pokemon by their parents so that they can learn how to be responsible."

"And prepare themselves so that they can travel around as a Trainer," Brendan added. He looked over the other members of the group. "So, what now? We can all travel together as a group, or we could split up and travel at our own paces while taking care of Team Magnus along the way. What do you guys think?"

"Well, we're going to have to do everything that Trainers would if they weren't us," May remarked. "Like Contests!"

"I am not going to follow you to that," Brendan replied dryly.

"Me neither," Gold agreed.

"I would like to try them, but at my own pace," Crystal admitted.

"I guess that settles it," Gold stated. "We'll split up and move along different paths." The Pikachu on his shoulder nodded in agreement.

"All right, then. I'll go on ahead." Brendan jabbed a thumb to his chest. "The Petalburg Woods are up ahead - Ruby and I used to go there all the time in order to play hide and seek with Norman and his Pokemon. I know that place like the back of my hand."

"Yeah, but that's not going to help us when we're going against the Pokemon in there," May responded. "We're Trainers now, remember? Every single Pokemon in that forest is going to want to join us now."

"Or train with us," Brendan argued.

"Either way, we should get going." Crystal looked over at Richie, who looked back at her with a curious expression. "I'm going to have to expand my team, like Norman suggested, after all. I doubt I'm going to be able to survive with just Psychic-Types for my teammates. But I'm not picking up any Dark-Types - that's for sure."

Richie shuddered a little, and Crystal nodded in agreement at the movement.

"Well, you have sixteen other choices besides Dark-Types, so you'll probably be fine," May replied. "I don't like Bug-Types myself, so I'm not planning on using them."

"I can handle bugs...somewhat." Crystal rubbed the back of her head, then looked over at Richie again. "We'd better get going if we're going to catch Team Magnus."

Richie cocked his head to the side. "You've mentioned them a few times. Why are you going after them?"

"They took something seven years ago that..." Crystal paused for a moment when she saw the other three watching. "...that was connected with the Mewtwo incident. Then people started to disappear half a year ago. Gold came to me and told me about Team Magnus and what he knew was going on, so we came in order to help."

Richie's red eyes blinked in confusion for a moment, but then he gave a nod, a determined expression coming over his face. "There are people disappearing because of this team? We should stop them."

"Exactly my thought." Crystal turned and started for the door of the Pokemon Center. "Come on. Let's go."

The Mew clone stepped out of the Pokemon Center and looked around at the area. The crowd that had been around before had long since disappeared, leaving Petalburg quiet and peaceful. Relatively, at least.

"You're hiding something," Richie murmured, frowning under his helmet.

Crystal looked over at the Ralts on her left shoulder. "You're right. I am."

"Why?"

"Because it don't want some people to know...a secret that I've been keeping for about seven years." Crystal's blue eyes gave Richie a curious look. "I'm willing to tell you, though, since you're a part of the team now. Alak, Ven, and Esmeralda already know about what I can do."

"They do?"

"Yeah. I'll tell you when we get out of Petalburg and we're alone."

Crystal started walking down the path that led out of the town, the Ralts hanging onto her tightly to make sure that he didn't fall off.

"You don't need to worry," Crystal replied, looking over at the nervous Pokemon. "If you fall, I will catch you."

"You will?" Richie looked at Crystal with a curious expression. He cocked his head to one side.

"I will."

Crystal had officially left the town, now, and was now walking through the trees that surrounded the city. The new-found Trainer could see what looked like water through the trees to her left.

We must be near the coast, Crystal noted thoughtfully. I didn't realize that Petalburg was so close to the water.

Richie suddenly let out a gasp. "I heard you speak just now! But you didn't open your mouth!"

Crystal hummed. "It must have been because we're on such a close wavelength with each other, being part-Psychic and all."

"Wh-what?!"

"Sorry about startling you, but..." Crystal gave the Ralts a friendly smile. "You can sense there's something different about me compared to other humans then, right?"

Richie blinked for a moment, then gave a hesitant nod. "Y-yeah. You're...nicer. More open. I can feel your emotions more clearly than with the others around us."

"It's an ability of mine that I've had for a long time - as long as I've been alive, in fact." Crystal hummed again, and she knew her tail was twitching in delight. She'd found someone who had managed to sense her initial ability - without her even having to expend so much energy as she had for Esmeralda.

"And there's more to me than even any human you may have met so far," the Mew clone added.

"And it has everything to do with what happened seven years ago?" Richie asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Yeah, that's right." Crystal nodded slightly. "The Mewtwo project that I mentioned before."

"Mewtwo...?" Richie blinked for a moment. "What's that?"

"It's a...well, do you know anything about the Legendary Psychic Pokemon, Mew? The Pokemon said to be able to learn every attack in existence?"

"Mew?" Richie's eyes widened. "Oh! You mean the creature that the humans claim is a myth?"

"Right. I've seen two of them - my older brother and sister, Catzin and Rosa."

Richie's eyes widened. "B-brother and sister? How?"

"It all goes back to seven years ago. Some humans decided that they wanted to take a piece of their fur and use it to create a new creature of sorts. The fur had already been shedded a long time ago, so they only suspected that it was Mew fur - they didn't really know if it was or wasn't."

"Humans can do that?"

Crystal shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know all the details, but it seems that humans have the technology to do that. Anyway, they manage to make their original project - the Mewtwo project I mentiond. You see, these guys were bad guys who only really cared about getting their own way. The Mewtwo project was planned by them to be some sort...secret weapon, I guess. But Rosa and Catzin managed to put a stop to it, and I helped!" Crystal gave an encouraging smile. "You see, I was another project of theirs, too."

"Y-you were?" Richie became confused. "B-but...you're not bad."

"No, I'm not. Because I was rescued and trained by people who are good guys. They helped me get stronger so that I could help take on the bad guys and help save my other brother from being forced to work for them."

"...other brother?"

Crystal gave a nod. "Mewtwo. But we call him Mythos." To further add to her explanation, she showed her little friend a picture of the aforementioned Pokemon using her memories. "See? This is Mythos."

"Whoa..." Richie's red eyes were wide. "He's your brother?"

"Uh huh. He's actually really nice, and over-protective, too." Crystal chuckled. "You wouldn't believe how mad he was when he heard I went after our creators again when they tried to show themselves in another region. It seems that he doesn't want me to have to save him again."

"Really?" Richie blinked. "But..." The Ralts frowned. "How is it that you, the Mew, and...and Mythos are related?"

Crystal stopped walking for a moment, then looked around. She wasn't too far from the main path, but there wasn't anyone around that the Mew clone could see or sense.

"I'm hiding it right now," Crystal replied. "Watch the top of my head."

Richie blinked for a moment, then looked up at the top of Crystal's head. The Mew clone could see his eyes widen when her pink ears appeared - seemingly out of nowhere. Then her pink tail appeared, as well, and she tapped Richie on the shoulder with it.

"Wow!" The Ralts looked at Crystal's tail, then up at her shining blue eyes. "You're just like that other girl I saw before the guy with the sandals found me!"

Crystal's grin faded, and she gave a frown. "Other girl...?"

Richie nodded. "Yeah. And she was really nice, too." The smile that was on his face disappeared. "But she wasn't really happy, though...it looked like she was lost."

Crystal gained an unsure expression. "Another girl...like me...I didn't think it was possible..." Crystal's unsure look became filled with worry. "There's something wrong with this. Rosa and Catzin would have sensed that there was someone else like me out there. But...I haven't heard anything about that from either of them, and I'm sure they would have told me." The Mew clone shook her head. "I probably shouldn't worry about it. I wonder if we'll run into her later?"

"I hope so. I want to be able to help her as much as I want to help you."

"So do I. If she was lost, then she may have escaped from Team Magnus and she could end up getting caught again and turned fully to their side." Crystal's eyebrows became knit together. "We're going to have to find her as well as find out as much as we can about what Team Magnus is doing. Maybe there's someone in the next town who will know something about what's going on even more than everyone else we've met so far."

"I hope so," Richie agreed. "Can we keep going now? I want to be able to see what's in the...the Petalburg Woods that the other humans mentioned."

Crystal gave a smile and a nod. "All right." Her ears and tail disappeared like they were dissolving, leaving her with the appearance of a normal human. "I want to be able to see what's in there, too."

Crystal started forward again, a light smile upon her face as well as on the Ralts' on her shoulder. Neither one of them took notice of a strange figure standing behind a tree nearby, watching as they walked further away from Petalburg and into the forest.

Nor did either one of them look back when said figure pulled out a strange, communicator-like device and murmur quietly into it, "This is the sub-alpha of the Poison unit. We have a new Trainer leaving Norman's territory and entering neutral ground. Be prepared to stop her at all costs. Be aware - there may be others who have started journeys, as well."

::Understood, Sub-Alpha. We will watch out for her and her possible companions::

"Good." The figure gained a rather sinister look. "They will never make it out of our Poison Woods."

Oi, vey...well, there's that. What do you think's gonna happen next?