"This…This is where you live?" Red asks, amazed.
Misty had led us to her house, and I have to say… it's more of a mansion than a house. I've never seen anything so large in my life! Well, personally. I've seen pictures, but they're nothing compared to the real thing. The building has several floors, too many for me to count, anyways, a gigantic garden out front, and… there's just too much to take in at once.
"Yeah; it isn't too much, is it?" She responds.
"I've never seen anything like it in my life!" Red exclaims.
"Neither have I…" I mumble to myself.
"Well, that's not surprising. Considering where you're from, there probably aren't many, right?" Misty asks.
"There aren't any where I'm from!" Red continues, still amazed.
"Well, hopefully you'll get used to it. Because I'm not sure how long we're going to be staying here for." Misty says. I don't want to stay here any longer than necessary. Not that I don't like Misty and all… it's just that there's a lot we still have to do.
We continue up the walkway and reach the front door of the mansion. Misty rings the bell and almost immediately several maids come rushing out to greet her.
"Lady Misty, you're home!" One greets her.
"My, my, my… You're filthy, Lady Misty!" Another exclaims in shock.
"Yes, yes. I know I'm filthy. Ladies, before we get into detail on that, I'd like you to meet two new friends of mine." Misty says as she points towards us.
"Hi, my name's Red! And this is Philippe!" Red says as he introduces us both.
"Hello, Sir Red. Hello, Sir Philippe." All the maids greet us at the same time. I have a feeling that there's many more inside.
"So, you two get washed up, while I prepare everything. Is that alright?" Misty asks.
"Yeah, of course. Let's go, Philippe." Red says, as he starts to enter the building.
"Uh… Red?" I ask.
"Yeah, Philippe?" Red responds.
"Do you have any idea where you're going?" I ask for what feels like the hundredth time.
"Oh… Misty, where should we go?" Red asks her directly.
"Susan, show the boys where to go, would you?" Misty says as she directs one of her maids towards us.
"Yes, of course, Lady Misty." She responds.
We follow the maid for what feels like an eternity. The mansion's so large that I'd probably get lost and never find my way out if it wasn't for our guide. I'd probably get lost making it back to the entrance without someone leading me. Eventually we make it to our guestroom, and the maid lets us be.
"So, Philippe. What do you think about everything's that's gone on so far?" Red asks me out of the blue.
"What do you mean?" I ask back.
"We've gone through a lot within the past couple of days, haven't we? Running for our lives for most of them… but that's a lot! What do you think about it all? Ever think this could've happened to you? Because I didn't think it was possible for me…"
"I've never felt like any of this could happen, either. Just my luck that it does the moment I decide to leave my 'safe little bubble.' Seems like luck's been against us this entire time, huh? Well… I'm not sure, actually. Luck's been against us by having us be chased by the bad guys this entire time, but luck's been with us for not letting us get caught. You know what I'm talking about?" He nods.
"Yeah. I don't know whether I should be happy or angry that all of this is happening… Just because of fate. We just so happened to be around that pink Pokémon when those guys showed up. If we had found her any earlier or later, then we never would've run into them. I guess it was a good thing that we had. Otherwise, we would've never had set off on this journey in the first place!" Red exclaims.
"You mean you wouldn't have burst into Professor Oak's lab and had all of his Pokémon break loose?" We both laugh.
We sit on the bed for a while and continue to make small talk. Stuff like how his Pokémon are doing, how Pikachu's doing. He also keeps bringing up how I figured out how to get out of the cave, and how he wouldn't have been able to do so. Red, I was only able to do that because of two reasons: One, I knew what was going to happen… sort of, and two, I always plan out scenarios like that in my head. Scenarios where everyone's in trouble and I have to think of a way to get out. I didn't plan out that exact scenario in my head… but I'm used to having to think things through, and quickly.
"But, Philippe! It's true! I don't care how many times you say that it's just because you had to, or else we would've been in serious trouble. I think it's just because you're smart! If it were up to me… I never would've been able to think of the plans you had. I hate to admit it… but Green's right. I'm too rash and too careless. I act before I think. But… isn't accepting the fact that you have a problem the first step to overcoming that problem?" Red says.
"Yes, it is Red. I don't think you're too careless. I think you're just… excited. That's all. This adventure's new to you, right? It makes sense that you'd be a bit careless at the beginning; who wouldn't be? I'm excited as well, but I always think before I do; I fear the consequences of doing something wrong, so I'm pressured into doing the right thing the first time. It's not at all good; it gets stressful sometimes. I wish I'd be able to make a mistake and have people tell me 'it's alright, they happen.' But whenever I used to make a mistake… they'd be huge ones that had severe consequences." I tell him.
"I can't think of something a person could do wrong that would lead to consequences like you're talking about. I mean, I know there are consequences to everything people do, but there can't be something that someone can do that has such huge consequences, is there?" Well, I can't tell you this, Red, but you did something with an even larger consequence than I could ever think of. And I don't even know what it was that you did! Not specifically, at least.
"There are some consequences that are horrible, some consequences that you could never think of. The only time that you'd ever be able to think of them is when they were happening right in front of your eyes." I'm happy that Red's this innocent. People living on Earth… aren't. Doesn't matter how shielded you are, eventually you get a taste of the real world, and after that, nothing's the same. At least here there isn't so much evil in the world…
Not yet, at least. Right now, Team Rocket's just starting up their operations to capture Mew, and after that, they'll be in Johto, then there's Magma and Aqua, then Galactic… but that's all in the future.
"I think we should change this topic… it's getting depressing." I nod in agreement.
"How about we get cleaned up? We just went through the entirety of Mt. Moon." He suggests.
"Yeah. How about you take the bathroom first, and I go in after? I have some stuff that I'd like to sort out before I go in, alright?" I suggest.
"Sure. I'll tell you once I'm done." He says as he starts towards the bathroom.
"Uh… Red? Don't forget to call for a maid to show you where the bathroom is. I don't want you getting lost." I tease. He blushes in return, then leaves.
I'm by myself for the first time since I've landed here. The times with Mew don't count, because… well, I was with Mew. I can finally think about what really has happened since I came here. The fact that I'm really here, and that this is really happening hasn't hit me yet, but I'm sure it will soon. And when it does… I just hope that I'll be able to face it. At least I know that I have Red if I need him. And I'm almost certain that I will. I like having someone else to be there, just in case I need to rely on them.
I don't know how long I sat there thinking to myself, but eventually Red comes back to the room in a bath robe.
"Philippe, I'm finished with the shower. You can go in now if you want. And let me tell you something. That shower is amazing. I can't even call it a shower! It's more like a hot tub! And a giant one at that!" Red tells me.
"Well, I'm sure I'll like it then. It'll help me relax after all that's gone on." I say to him.
"Yeah. Want me to show you the way there?" He offers.
"Sure." I answer.
Red leads me down several hallways, through several doors, and finally we make it to the shower room.
"Well, here we are! I'll be waiting in the guestroom for you to finish, alright?" He says.
"Sure. If I take too long, just go ahead and do whatever without me. I know that Misty will want to feed us, so if she says dinner's ready and I'm not, just go down without me." I tell him.
"No, I couldn't do that! I'll just continue waiting if it comes to that." So nice… I wish more people were like that back on Earth. Wow… it feels so weird saying that, "Back on Earth." Makes me feel like I don't belong here… I don't really know if I do or don't, so I'll just leave it at that for now.
I enter the bathroom, and Red's right. It is more like a giant hot tub than a regular old bathtub. It has multiple nozzles and faucets everywhere, some I know what they do because of labels, and some I'm scared to even touch. I step in and immediately feel relieved. Red had turned the water back on after he had drained the tub, so it had already filled back up by the time I got in. The hot water melted all my stress and tensions away, even if only for the moment. I felt completely at peace.
I sat in there for a while, and then decided it was time to actually clean myself off. Since this is the first time that I had stripped myself of my clothes, I haven't been able to closely and thoroughly inspect what Mew had changed about my body. Oh, and there were a couple of changes that I haven't mentioned either. One important one is that Mew had cleared my eyesight. Before, I was blind as a bat without my glasses, and now I don't need them at all! I'm positive that's what happened, because at around this age is when I first needed to wear them. Another thing is that Mew had gotten rid of all of the scratches and bruises that I had accumulated, both on Earth and in the past several days that I've been with Red. As soon as I gain one, it's healed and disappears. There are also some other, minor details that have been changed, and those I won't bother to mention.
After I'm done cleaning myself, I grab a towel and dry myself off, then get changed into the clothes that a maid – I presume – had left in there before Red had even taken his shower. I then proceed to exit the room and remember that I'm hopelessly lost. Luckily there's a maid nearby and she leads me back to the guestroom.
"So, how was your bath?" Red asks as I walk into the room.
"It was wet." I reply.
"So was mine!" He replies to me. I'm not sure if he meant it seriously, or was just replying in a joking manner.
"Do we just wait for Misty or one of her maids to come get us now?" I ask.
"Probably. What do you think there is to do here, anyways?" He asks back.
"I have no idea… how about we just sit?" I suggest.
"But that's booooooriiiiiiiingggggggg." He whines
"Well, do you have any ideas on what we could do to pass the time? Because if you did, I'd love to hear them." I tell him.
"Not exactly…" He replies.
"Then sit down and be quiet." I'm starting to feel like his mother again. Awkward.
That's exactly what we do. We just sit down on the bed, like before, and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. Until eventually, when it seems like we can't take it anymore, we hear a knock on the door. Red gets up and opens it, and it's one of Misty's maids.
"Lady Misty asked me to tell you that dinner's ready, and for me to escort you to the dining hall." She tells us.
We follow her through the maze of a mansion and soon enough we make it to the dining hall. And she's right when she calls it a "hall." It's one gigantic stretch of space, with a huge table in the center of it. Maids are running here and there, some carrying large platters, some carrying nothing. The ones with the platters are setting them down on the table and setting the table itself.
"Oh, sorry that it's not quite ready yet. I didn't think you'd be here this quickly. It'll only take another minute or two." Misty says to us.
"That's alright, take your time." Red tells her. Thinking to myself, Misty seems to be a much nicer person now than she was back in the cave. I think she was just worried for all of us, including herself.
"Gah! Misty, what are you wearing? You never told us that we had to dress up!" Red exclaims, finally noticing the fancy dress that Misty had put on.
"Ah… it doesn't really matter. If I had wanted you to come dressed like this, I would've asked the maids to leave you clothes that would match." She tells him.
"Phew… that's a relief." Red says with a nervous laugh.
"So, are you two hungry?" She asks, motioning us to sit down.
"I don't know about you, but I'm starved!" Red exclaims as he starts to wolf down the food.
"Red, manners!" I shout. This is just getting scarier and scarier. Usually, I don't care about manners myself, but for some reason I just feel like I have to protect Red.
"But Philippe, you must be starving as well! Dig in!" He says to me.
"Well, yes, I am hungry, because the last time I ate was the last time that you ate. But I'm not about to just scarf down everything at once!" I tell him.
"That's alright Philippe. You can go ahead and eat if you want to." Misty says to me.
"Well, if you say it's alright." I sit down and begin to eat.
Red makes conversation with the maids, telling them how he won all the battles he had in the cave, and all of them seemed impressed. Why wouldn't they be? An eleven year old boy beating even just one member of a criminal organization is amazing. I didn't mention that he had help from me; I want him to have his share of glory. I don't care if I get any or not.
"Yes, well, I would've been able to help as well, if the boulder didn't hit me in the face." Misty mumbles.
"W-what? A boulder? Misty, why didn't you say something earlier! We have to get you checked out! We have to-" A maid starts yelling and acting all flustered.
"It's alright. I'm fine now, see? There's nothing to worry about." Misty calms her down.
"Also, Red, Philippe, I need to talk to you two after dinner, alright?" Misty asks us.
"Yeah, sure. What's it about?" Red asks back.
"Well, it's something I don't want to talk about until after we're settled and comfortable. And you'll probably ignore me if I tell you while you're still eating." She's got a point there.
"Hey! I would not!" Red says, still while at the same time eating.
After we're done, we follow Misty outside into the garden. Now, one thing I must say. I've never seen a garden before, so I'm not sure how one's supposed to look, but this is magnificent. Many things I'm seeing here are. I think it's because this world's not as tainted as the one back home.
"So, you probably want to know why I brought you out here, huh? Well, the fact of the matter is that if we want to beat those guys, we're going to have to get much better. The one that Red fought today was probably lowly ranked, so the next time we see them we'll probably have to fight ones much harder. Our Pokémon are almost healed, so I suggest that we train tomorrow. A lot." Misty explains.
"Yes! No matter what, as long as it's a battle I'm in!" Red exclaims.
"Well, I know that I'll need a lot more before I'm able to go against those guys." I tell them.
"That's why we're going to be training. So you can go against those guys." Misty says.
"Alright, well, that's all I had to tell you. You two can go up to your rooms and do whatever. Just make sure that you're rested for tomorrow." And with that, she leaves us be.
We both find a maid and have her bring us to our rooms. It seems that the guestroom we were in earlier was just a room for us to wait in until dinner, and that we each have our separate rooms. Now, I won't say that I'm not disappointed by that, but I can't say I didn't expect it.
I go to my room and change into my night clothes – provided by Misty – and do whatever it is that I need to do before going to bed. I slide into bed and right after I fall asleep, I enter another dream with Mew.
"Isn't this getting boring for you? I mean, every time I bring you here it's the same thing." Mew asks after a while of me just staring at her.
"Well, I've gotten used to it, but it's not boring. I actually look forward to coming here. It's the only relief I get from the day. I know that what's been going on right now isn't close to what's going to happen, but it's still new to me, I need some time to deal with it all." I answer.
"Well, that's good. I wouldn't want for you to not want to be here." Mew tells me.
"So… has anything else gone on?" She continues.
"Nothing much. It's the same as it's supposed to be. But I do have one question regarding that. Will it forever be the same to the plot? Or will there be some differences because I'm here?" That's been bugging me ever since I was brought here in the first place!
"Well, at first it should be the same. I mean, you haven't been here long enough to have done anything to majorly screw up the plot. The longer you're here, the more your actions will change, so the more the story will stray from its path." She explains.
"Ah. Do you know when that would be?" It's a long shot, but I decide to ask.
"Not really. Has anything strange been going on?" She switches the topic.
"Like my answer before, not really. Why do you ask? Are you expecting something to go wrong?" Sounds like she is, but I'm not sure.
"No, no, it's not that. Well, actually, yes, it is. I shouldn't lie to you, Philippe. I've been wanting to warn you for some time now, and I've decided that it's best to let you know. Philippe… even though you were brought here by Red and my power, there are still some people even more powerful than me who don't want you here. There's two sides: One side is the side that wants you here, which includes me and all of the other Legendary Pokémon, who you'll meet eventually, and on the other side… are other powerful figures who don't want you here. You'll hopefully never have to meet them, but… you might." Mew explains.
After Mew tells me that, something clicks into place. And with it in place, now I need to move something else around to accommodate for it.
"Mew, did you just say that some people didn't want me here, and that you and the other Legendaries do?" I ask.
"Yes, what about it?" She asks me back.
"I just have another question… The night before I was sent here… the night Red brought me here and you took care of me, Red said something. He said 'I wouldn't even remember that I did something to them if it wasn't for 'her'.' Is this 'her' one of the people who wanted me here?" I ask.
"Ah, you're still amazing me with how quickly you are to realize things. Yes, Philippe, the woman Red was talking about that night is one of the people who wants you here." Mew answers.
"Also… who exactly are the people who don't want me here? You said that you and the other 'Legendaries' want me here, so I'll just call them the 'Legendaries.' Is there a name for the people who don't want me here?" I continue to ask.
"Yeah. The people who don't want you here are called the 'Guardians'" I'm wondering who exactly the "Guardians" are, but I'll let her tell me on her own.
"I have one last question. Mew, why you? I mean, why were you chosen to safeguard me? Why was it you, and not another legendary?" I ask.
"Actually, it wasn't me who was chosen, but multiple legendaries. Didn't I tell you that when you made it to Johto, you'd be looked after by Celebi?" She says, "Let me explain the entire thing to you." She takes a deep breath.
"First off, you're with me. That's because I'm the legendary of Kanto. Next, when you're finished with what you have to do here, you'll move onto Johto and meet Celebi. She'll be your guide there. After that will be Hoenn and Jirachi. Then there's all three of the Lake Guardians, Mespirit, Azelf, and Uxie in Sinnoh. Finally, to your knowledge, at least, there's Unova and Victini. I won't confuse you by telling you the rest of them, but you'll figure that out on your own." She continues to explain. I'm finally starting to understand more of how this entire system is working.
"So, basically, I'm just going to be swapped around every time I go to a new region?" I ask for confirmation.
"Yes, that's pretty much it." She replies.
"Ok, I think I understand it now."
"Good. Now, there's one last thing I want to tell you before you go. Philippe, I think you should know more of this world's religion. Well, religion and mythology. Since you're going to be staying here for a long time, you should get familiarized with how this world came to be. Every time, from now on, that you come to visit me, I'll tell you a bit more of the story. This includes the Guardians. You must be wondering about them." She tells me.
"Yeah. I've been wondering about all of that. I've been wondering about a lot of things lately…"
"Well, that's what I'm here for. To answer any and all of your questions. That I'm allowed to answer, anyways." With that, we finish our conversation, and she sends me back to the world I'm just growing used to.
I wake up, get dressed – Again with clothes provided by Misty – and head out the door in hopes of finding a Maid to lead me through the mansion once more. I easily find one who was just on her way to the dining room. Misty has so many maids that's it's hard to not see one. I follow her through the house that I still haven't figured out to navigate on my own, and we make it to the dining room. Red's already up and eating, so I grab a seat next to him. He looks as though he didn't get any sleep.
"Red, you look tired. Did anything happen last night?" I ask.
"Well, someone broke into my room last night! I don't know who it was or why they did it, but all of a sudden the window opened and a huge gust of wind blew in! The only thing I could find afterwards was a scale." Red says. I'm petrified to think that someone was that close to hurting Red…
"Have you told Misty about this?" I continue to ask.
"Yeah, I told her first thing after I woke up. She also wanted me to tell you that after breakfast she wants us to start training. I think that, since we're already here, I should go to the gym and try to get my second badge! Since Cerulean Gym's a water type gym, I think Bulbasaur should have no problem beating the guy who runs it!" Red says enthusiastically. I hear the maids nearby snickering to themselves. What Red doesn't know yet is that Misty's the leader.
"You wanna come watch, Philippe?" Red asks me.
"Well, even if it isn't me battling, it'll be good to watch other people do so. It'll still help me learn new tactics, right?" I answer.
"Yeah! Let's go!" Red shouts. He's forgotten that I haven't had breakfast yet, but I'm not really hungry anyways. I follow him as he calls for a maid to show us out. I ask her for a map as Red heads out the door because knowing him, he'll probably get us lost.
As soon as I exit, Red starts heading east, and I follow. He leads me for several minutes, then stops.
"Uhhh… Philippe?" He asks.
"Yeah, Red?"
"Do you know where the gym is?" Of course he'd ask that.
"I really should be used to this by now, shouldn't I." I say.
"Well, do you?" He continues.
"I asked the maid for a map before exiting the mansion, so yes, I do." I've learned to prepare whenever I go somewhere with him.
"Hehehe… good." This time, I lead the way, and he follows. In a short amount of time we bump into Misty.
"Hey, so, where are you two off to? I thought I told you that you should be training today." She says to us.
"Well, I decided that what better way to train than to challenge the Gym Leader here! And Philippe's decided to watch. Now, if you'll excuse us, we need to find the place." Red tells her as he walks by.
"Well, if you want to go to the gym, I can show you the way. I can even introduce you to the leader. We're… close." She says with a slight smile.
"Really? That'd be great!" Red says, back to his enthusiastic self now.
We follow Misty the rest of the way there, and soon we're at the entrance to the gym. We walk through the front door, and it seems to be empty. Much different from Brock's gym.
"Where is everyone? There were many more people back at the Pewter City Gym…" Red asks, confused.
"Each gym is different. You can't expect all of them to be exactly the same, can you?" Misty answers.
"That makes sense, I guess." Red says, still seeming unsure of the fact.
"So, where's the leader? That shouldn't change from gym to gym. Is he even here?" Red asks, now getting annoyed.
"If he isn't here, then why'd you even bring us? You said that you two were close, so you should've known if they'd be here or not!" Red continues to ask angrily.
"Red, why are you getting angry? There's no need to be angry at anything; The Leader might not be here, that's all." I try to explain.
"No, no. Let him speak his mind. Red, what do you think about the leader?" Misty asks. I've got a bad feeling about this…
"Well, if he doesn't show up soon, then I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" Red continues to shout.
"And what piece would that be?" Misty continues to ask.
"Well, for one thing, what kind of Gym Leader isn't at his gym when it's open!? That's just being absolutely rude! And another thing; why leave his gym in such a mess? Nothing's put away, nothing's clean; the gym's a dump!" Red continues on his rage, and I can swear I can see a vein on Misty's forehead.
"Red, why are you so angry?" I think I might have a reason; all the stress from being chased after and almost killed finally exploding?
"Red… Do you think that's any way to speak about a gym leader?" Misty asks, the anger clear in her voice.
"Who cares? He's not here right now, so I can speak however I damn well please!" Whoa. First time I've heard Red swear since I got here. And that's saying something, considering he's ten.
"I wouldn't say that the leader's not here… Because 'he's' right in front of you!" Misty says with a dramatic accusing point towards Red.
"What? He's not here! Unless… no… you can't be saying that Philippe's the Gym Leader! He didn't even have any Pokémon when I first met him!" Red yells at Misty.
"No, you dumbass! I'm talking about me! I'm the gym leader!" Misty yells back.
"What? You? Now, that's even more ridiculous than Philippe being the leader!" This time Red starts to laugh uncontrollably.
"Misty, I understand Red being angry and yelling, but why you?" I know that it could also be from being almost killed, but Red and I have been running away from Team Rocket for longer than she has. Although, her Pokémon was kidnapped and experimented on… I really don't know what's going on in her life.
"Why are you two fighting?" I continue to ask.
"Because Misty being the gym leader is ridiculous! If she's the gym leader, then why did she let herself be knocked unconscious back during the battle with those guys in the cave? If she's a gym leader, then she should've been able to take care of them easily!" Red shouts at me.
"Well, if you hadn't noticed, I seem to be missing my strongest Pokémon. And you seem to have it!" Misty shouts, talking about her Gyarados.
"Well, if you were a good trainer, then you wouldn't have lost him in the first place!" Right after Red says that, Misty gets a cold look in her eyes.
"You… take that back right now… you…" Misty says, her voice both low and feral.
"And why? It's the truth!" Red shouts back at her.
"Why can't you two just stop fighting? What's the point to all of this anyways?" I start to yell at the two. Looks like calmly talking about it isn't going to solve anything…
"That's it!" Misty shouts, sending out Starmie.
"Finally, you decide to fight!" Red shouts back, sending out Bulbasaur.
"Saur, charge Solar Beam!" For the first time Red doesn't start off a battle with Razor Leaf. But I think starting off with Solar Beam is even worse.
"Starmie, Ice Beam!" A blast of ice shoots from Starmie's gem, and hits Bulbasaur right on the bulb. The bulb's frozen solid, while the rest of him is fine.
"Saur! Gah… use Razor Leaf!" There we go with the Razor Leaves again. Since the bulb's frozen, nothing can come out. From that one attack, Misty's rendered Bulbasaur useless.
"Saur, return!" Red returns Bulbasaur and sends out Poliwhirl next.
I'm starting to panic at this point. Both Red and Misty are angry at each other, and both of them are fighting each other. With Pokémon. Giant creatures that can kill with one attack, if mishandled. I'm panicking for myself, for Red, and for Misty. It's never good if you fight while you're angry, but with giant beasts like these…?
I'm not sure what I'd do if things got even more out of hand than they already are.
After my thinking and contemplating, Misty's frozen Poliwhirl as well, and Red's out of Pokémon.
"Take it back… And give me back Gyarados!" Misty shouts.
"No! You lost it, and I caught it! Gyarados is officially mine!" Although, he did manage to forget it back at the mansion.
"Philippe, I don't have any Pokémon left; help me!" Red directs towards me.
"Philippe, if you do…" Misty threatens.
"What do you expect me to do?" I straight out yell at them, "Do you honestly want me to pick a side in this? It has nothing to do with me, except for the fact that the two of you are my friends. And Red, don't give me that look. I know that I just met Misty yesterday, but I just met you three days ago! Do you honestly think that I'd be able to choose a side? I can't choose a side if I think both are wrong." I continue to yell, my throat becoming sore.
"And if you two think that I'm just going to stand by and watch you fight like this, then you're wrong. Misty, didn't you say that we needed training if we were to ever beat Team Rocket? Well, looks like you're advice has been thrown out the window. You know, I don't think we just need to train our Pokémon to beat them; I think we need to train ourselves as well. Because if you two are going to begin fighting over the smallest damned thing you can argue about, then we're never going to be able to defeat them!" I think that Red's and Misty's anger have rubbed off on me, because by this point I'm yelling at the top of my lungs, even louder than before.
"Philippe…" Red starts to say, but can't say anything else.
"Philippe, I'm so… sorry… I… don't know what came over me…" Red tells me. His voice now sounds so innocent. I can't believe that it was him yelling before; his voice sounded so angry.
Misty starts to walk forward, and also apologizes.
"Philippe… you're right. For once in my life, I was the childish one… I let my anger get the better of me." Misty says.
"Red, Misty… I just don't want either of you fighting. I know I said it's because of the whole Team Rocket thing and that we'd need to work as a team to beat them, but the real reason is because I'm scared. I'm scared that if you two fight, that I'll either be forced to take a side, or be forced to walk away from it and have both of you angry at me." I admit.
"Philippe, we'll never leave you. Even if both of us had continued to fight, and it ended up with us completely hating each other, both of us still would've been your friend. Individually, that is." Red tells me.
"But you wanted me to take a side in your argument. I hate taking sides. I want to help both of you, but I can't do that if you're on opposite sides. And I can't do that especiallyif I don't believe in what either of you are fighting for." I remind him. Red flinches a little.
"Ah, yes… I did ask that, didn't I. Philippe, I'll say this again. I'm sorry for how I acted earlier. Heh. I guess I am childish and foolish, just like both you and Green said." He says with a sad smile. He doesn't like admitting to it, but he's right. He's acting how Green and I both described him as. I tried to sugar-coat it earlier, but deep down I know that this is the truth. I know – or at least I hope – that he'll eventually grow out of his immatureness, but I'm not one-hundred percent positive that he will. I can hope, can't I?
"Well, now that we've made up, and we have made up, right? Anyways, now that everything's better, I think we should take to what Philippe said. If we keep acting like this, we'll never get anywhere with the men we met at the cave." Red and I both nod.
"Wouldn't a good way to become closer be training together? We'll be able to do three things at once! Train our Pokémon, strengthen the bond between our Pokémon, and strengthen our bonds!" Red's back to his enthusiastic self, and is acting like that entire scenario never happened. I'm glad for it.
We trained for the next several days, and nothing much happened. It was the same routine every day. Wake up, train, eat breakfast, train, eat lunch, train, eat dinner, train, go to bed. Misty was working us almost to death. I didn't complain much, however, because I knew that if we were to beat Team Rocket that we'd have to train much harder than this. The only thing out of the ordinary that happened was that on the last day, Red managed to defeat Misty in one of their battles. Misty gave him the Cascade Badge for it. Also, Red finally gave Misty back her Gyarados by the end.
"Lady Misty, do you think that they'll be alright?" One of the maids says to Misty after our last training session.
"Yes. Even though we had that little scene back at the gym, I think that those two will be alright. Philippe knows how to keep Red in check, and he's even taught me a little something as well." Misty tells her.
Red and I are now on our path to the next town, whichever one that'll be, with the knowledge and training that we have gained from Misty. I hope it'll be enough for Red to be able to defeat the next Gym, because there he won't have any advantages. Actually, he'll be at a disadvantage. He still only has two Pokémon that are battle-strong, and those are Bulbasaur and Poliwhirl. Bulbasaur won't do much damage to Electric Pokémon, and Poliwhirl's weak against them. Still, I won't know what'll happen until we get there. So I guess there's no sense in worrying about it now.