9. DREAMER
"The gift to dream and make dream real,
Is yours and mine."
I'm walking, walking leisurely across a vast black expanse. Every time I take a step, the air shimmers underneath my feet, forming wispy tendrils of silvery fog. Fog shouldn't be able to hold me up, but I never think about falling. As long as I keep my eyes trained on the darkness ahead, away from my hovering feet and the mist forming around my legs, I know that I won't fall. Not as long as I don't think about it.
I'm not sure where I'm going as I move deeper into the blackness before me. Gradually, small scintillating pricks of light appear in the darkness, faraway stars glimmering in a night sky. I try to play my little game, picking out pictures in the sky, but everything looks the same here.
So I pretend. I pretend the stars are growing and bigger, chasing away the dark until I am surrounded in a sea of light. And as I pretend in my head, the darkness around me disappears and stars swell until I am blinded by their radiance.
Something's coming out of that radiance. Two black eyes wink at me, a long lightning-bolt tail waves in my face. The Pikachu prances in a circle, nose quivering impatiently, before dashing back into the light from which it came.
Calling after it, I break into a run.
Reena, despite her renewed determination, quickly discovered that her rope-climbing skills had not miraculously improved since her last gym class. The rope burned her palms raw every moment of the climb. New footholds were difficult to find and even harder to hold onto. Gritting her teeth, Reena winced for the umpteenth time as the rope slipped from her hands, sending her crashing several feet back to earth.
"Pid-gee!" the bird Pokémon cheeped, wings fluttering impatiently in an attempt to rouse Reena up again. "Gee! Pid-gee!"
From its crouch at Richie's side, Chikai rolled its eyes at Reena's dirt-streaked face.
"I'll just try again," Reena said fiercely, tackling the rope with a clenched jaw and pounding heart. And, once again, falling into a heap at the bottom of the pit.
Twittering with irritation, the Pidgey shot into the air, leaving several dun brown feathers in its wake. Reena stared dumbly at the fallen plumage, a sudden realization dawning upon her.
"You really can't climb ropes, can you?" a young feminine voice came from the edge of the hole. Moments later, the Pidgey was flapping back anxiously, followed by a small girl shimmying down into the pit. This girl ignored the rope completely, effortlessly using the uneven groves in the hole's steep sides as handholds. Shoving thick, green-blue hair from her face and barely giving Reena a glance as she touched down on earth, the girl strode up to Richie's unconscious body and looked directly into Chikai's eyes.
"Beat it, cutie," she said, sticking out her tongue at the Pikachu. Black eyes flashing, Chikai grudgingly stepped away. Reena stared disbelievingly as the small girl's hand lashed forward, deftly pulling a PokéBall from Richie's pocket. The pale-blue star on its side caught Reena's eye before the PokéBall was flung into the air.
Its occupant screeched as soon as it emerged, its long navy wings crowding Reena and Chikai against the back of the pit. Reena gulped as the Swellow's yellow beak jabbed blindly in her direction, the unruly feathers of the Pokémon's head repeatedly brushing her jacket.
"Rose!" the girl cried, throwing a hand over the Swellow's neck. "Cut it out, Rose! Richie's in trouble, and you've got to calm down!"
Casting a shrewd eye towards the girl's small face, the Swellow quieted its distressed cries and tucked its wings against its sides.
Digging into her own pocket, the girl yanked out a PokéBall and popped it open with a flick of her wrist. "Megadit, Transform into Rose!" she commanded as the blobby pink Pokémon oozed onto the floor of the pit.
"Dit-to!" Small eyes narrowing in concentration, the Ditto's body took on a flickering pink glow. The Pokémon's indeterminate form stretched and contorted until an exact replica of Richie's Swellow was hovering in the air above them.
Exact, that was, save for the fact that it was considerably larger.
"You ever fly before?"
It took Reena several seconds to realize the question was directed towards her. "Not on a Pokémon," she replied, gulping.
The green-haired girl's small face cracked into a smile. "Then today's your lucky day," she proclaimed, shoving Reena in the Transformed Ditto's direction. "Go on, and take your Pikachu with you. Megadit doesn't bite."
Behind the girl's head, the Pidgey's miniature flashlight bobbed up and down as the Pokémon fought to restrain its twittering.
Lowering its neck as Reena and Chikai approached, the enormous Swellow let the two onto its back with little complaint. Then, with a shrill cry in its throat, it beat its long wings into a miniature whirlwind and threw itself headlong into the air.
Reena nearly choked on her own scream. Instead, she buried her face in the Pokémon's thick plumage, refusing to open her eyes as the air spun wildly beneath her. She didn't notice that the rocking had stopped, that they had come to a standstill only seconds later, until a sharp smack on the head sent her tumbling to the ground.
"Not the whackie bat," Reena croaked groggily from her sprawled position on the floor of the tunnel. She had bumped her head on something hard when she fell, and the pounding headache that was now slamming against her skull made it difficult to say much more.
"An Electabuzz fan's always got a bat or two handy!" Casey said, brandishing the accessory in question above Reena's face. All Reena could actually make out was a yellow and black blur, accompanied by the dusky blue blobs that had to be Casey's swinging pigtails. The yellow blur moved closer, sending Reena bolting hastily into a sitting position for fear of a second whack. As she did so, her hand brushed a smooth, round object nestled between her body and the wall of the tunnel.
What's this? she thought curiously, turning the object over in her hand.
"Free! Fer'ree!"
"Happy!" Reena yelled in surprise. A familiar wash of glimmering green powder filled the air as the Butterfree zipped past, swerving about in anxious circles as its unconscious trainer emerged from the pit, borne on the back of the enormous Ditto-Swellow. Rose, the real Swellow, hovered anxiously at his side. As for the girl with the thick green hair, she clambered up the side of the pit, not far behind.
"Casey, get Richie to the nearest city, pronto!" she barked commandingly. "Take Megadit; it's the best we've got!"
The other girl saluted promptly with her bat. "Yessir, Imite, sir!" Hopping nimbly onto the false Swellow's back behind Richie, Casey dug her heels not so gently into the bird Pokémon's side. The gigantic Swellow-Ditto shot down the tunnel, wings folded to keep them from clipping the sides. Happy went zipping after them, emitting a wave of glowing powder as it flew.
"You don't hafta look so worried, you know," the girl, Imite, told Reena. Holding out a hand, a blobby pink Pokémon squeezed out of a pocket and sprang onto her arm, followed closely by the flashlight-bearing Pidgey. "Richie's not dead yet. Casey's pretty loose-handed with that bat of hers, but she's steadier than a Golem in a barrel of Pikachu when she has to be. And for my big buddy Megadit, that goes without saying." She snuck a second glance at Reena's miserable face and shrugged, working furiously to brush a streak of dirt from her bright red shirt. "Of course, if you're still worrying about that li'l striped rat of yours..."
"Nibbles!" Reena exclaimed as the mini Furret poked its head from Imite's backpack. It gave a squeal of delight before leaping onto Reena's shoulder, giving her a stern, but joyful, lick. The words "It's about time you got here!" were accusingly written all over its furry face.
Turning back to the other girl with Nibbles on her shoulder and Chikai behind her feet, Reena gave Imite an accusing, but puzzled, look. "You've been following us, haven't you?" she said. "That Pidgey of yours; I saw it in the field after I caught Aeri. And Richie's Pokémon know you, too."
Grinning broadly, Imite took a deep, elaborate bow, the tips of her thick green hair brushing the prominent yellow star on the front of her shirt. "Allow me to introduce myself and my companions," she said with a dramatic flourish of the hand. "My blotchy buddy here is the clever, cool, and constantly contortin' Ditto!"
"Di-ditto!" the Pokémon squeaked, waving its pink limbs.
"And my avian amigo here, the Carrier Pidgey extraordinaire, goes by the name of Zeal..."
"Gi!" the Pidgey chirped, bobbing its head politely. Nibbles let out a chattering giggle in response.
The girl's grin widened. "And you, Satoshi Golden," she announced, "have the distinct honor of addressing the one and only Duplica Imite! Form one line, please, no shovin', no pushin', would you like your autograph small, medium, or to fill the entire page?"
Richie, Reena thought silently, you really do have some weird friends.
I've never been able to run so fast and so long before! Mist is streaming from my heels, leaving a milky white path in my wake, but I don't notice. At least, I don't stop long enough to take a good look.
The light flares across my eyes, blinding me temporarily as I speed forward. Then there's this sudden flash and the air twists in upon itself. I'm falling, plummeting feet first into space. Wind fills my ears in a deafening rush, but I don't flail my arms. Don't struggle. Keeping my arms perfectly still at my sides, I let myself fall into the light.
The air twists again, and this time my feet are resting firmly upon the vibrant green of a grassy hillside. The wind is balmy and light, blowing across my face and through my hair as I inhale, deeply and fully. Everything here is picture book perfect, from the crystal blue hues of the cloudless sky to the gentle dips of the emerald green hill.
The Pikachu appears again ahead of me, prancing against the blue, blue sky. And before my eyes, its gaze seems to grow brighter, the tuft of fur on its head seems to become more defined. It's Sparky, as carefree as it ever was before our battling days.
Running forward and calling out again, I catch another glimpse of Sparky, racing up the nearest hill. Always one step ahead of me, always one leap away. Laughing happily, I sprint after it, never growing tired, never growing angry or frustrated.
Suddenly, Sparky stops, ears twitching in the breeze. I stop, too, mind numbing at the sight before me.
At the very top of the hill is a little girl in a baggy yellow dress. So big and baggy that she looks almost lost underneath its folds. And as I stand there, all the laughter wiped from my face, the girl turns slowly and tilts her head back. Slowly, ever so slowly.
"Hi, Richie," she says, giggling in her little-girl voice. "You forgot, didn't you?"
"Comatose? Whatcha mean by comatose!"
Sighing irritably, the young Vermillion City nurse leaned one elbow over the counter and tried to catch a better glimpse of her reflection in the lobby mirror. Her neatly pinned loops were coming undone now, sending wisps of pink hair to float prettily about her face. Not that bad an effect, if she did say so herself. Of course, there was only so far one could go with this look without seeming shabby...
"Hey! You listening to me or what?"
The nurse rolled her eyes in annoyance as the speaker, a young girl in a hideously yellow outfit, began to jump up and down, blocking her view of the mirror. "Look, honey," the nurse said in a bored voice, "sometimes these people wake up from their comas, and sometimes they don't. Your friend is receiving the best of care as we speak."
"Best of care?" the girl cried, blue pigtails swinging across her shoulders. "He's lying on a couch in the lobby!"
"Honey, didn't you read the sign outside? This is a Pokémon Center. We treat Pokémon here, not humans." The girl started to blurt something out indignantly, but the nurse held up a hand. "Oh no, don't tell me," she said tiredly. "I know the hospital's full. It's always been full, thanks to that musclehead who runs the Vermillion City Gym. Lt. Surge, they call him. Well, don't mind me, but with the Lieutenant around, there's no need for a war to kill us all off. Surge sends half the people in this city to the emergency room every day, with his so-called Gym battles. Blew the roof right off the Gym once and buried the streets in shrapnel. You're not a challenger, are you, honey?"
Casey shook her head but said nothing.
"Thank the Champion," the nurse mumbled, scrutinizing her nails thoroughly and pulling out a bottle of polish. "That last one was a killer. Just this morning, too. A boy with the dirtiest red hair beat the Leader. Surge was so mad that he short-circuited the city power lines. And he didn't even bother to lend us his electric Pokémon so we could restore the power; we had to have some shipped in from Cerulean..."
She went on in this vein for quite a while, never once looking up from her careful application of the nail polish, never once noticing that Casey had disappeared across the grungy tile floor to the other side of the room. The Vermillion nurse had never been much of a housekeeper; indeed, the only thing in the Pokémon Center that was regularly cleaned was the spotless lobby mirror.
The upholstery, shabby and hopelessly lumpy, was no exception, but Casey made do the best she could. Taking a perch on the chair beside Richie's still body, she put her hands on her knees and leaned forward. "Maybe you've been batting mostly fly balls," the pigtailed girl said fiercely. "But we haven't made it into the bottom of the ninth yet. Like my grandpa always said, 'It ain't over till it's over,' and this is far from being over. Hear that, Richie? Well, you better have! I've got my whackie bat right here, and I'm not afraid to use it!" She brandished the object in question right above Richie's head.
Was it Casey's fanciful imagination, or did the edge of the trainer's mouth really curve downward in a faint grimace?
"Phew! It is hot, isn't it!"
Though she said it with a pronounced grimace upon her face, Duplica Imite's voice was bright and her gait bouncy with energy Reena couldn't help but goggle at. Pokémon journeys had never brought to mind endless fields and festering blisters before, leaving Reena to chastise herself repeatedly for being so naïve. Or not having a faster mode of transportation. At the sweltering, foot-aching, blister-bursting moment, she didn't exactly care which.
"Pidge-y! Gi'gi!" Zeal the Carrier Pidgey tweeted as it dipped through the air above Duplica's shoulder.
"Gi pid'gi. Pi, gey'pidge-gi!" Duplica chattered right back, imitation flawless.
"You understand what that Pokémon's saying?" Reena asked with perked interest.
" 'Course I do!" Duplica answered. "That's one of the things about learning how to imitate sounds, you gotta learn the language along with, or else you don't know who you're insultin'. Hey, could ya walk a little faster now? Don't know about you, but I'm opting for a nice juicy cheeseburger once we hit Vermillion. Haven't eaten since lunch, you know."
Reena's stomach complained bitterly about the skipped meal. From its renewed spot entwined about Reena's jugular, Nibbles yawned contentedly and smacked its lips.
"You aren't a vegetarian, are you?" Duplica said in the same breath, apparently not caring enough to pause for the answer. "Richie and Casey had this whole don't-be-cruel-to-Miltank fetish going a couple years back..."
From what Reena could gather (Duplica had a habit of talking a lot and actually saying very little), she, Casey, and Richie had all been friends for the past several years, brought together by their love of the incredibly unlucky, but extremely talented Electabuzz baseball team. Try as she might, Reena just couldn't picture Richie as an avid sports fan, standing up and screaming in a stand of bleachers. She had said so herself to Duplica, who, in turn, had rolled her eyes and given Reena an emphasizing shake of the head.
"See, that's just your problem, Satoshi!" she had insisted, talking so fast that several words slurred together. "You don't know Richie at all! You've only met him like, what, three days ago? That's why Casey and me had to watch out for you two, and make sure you guys didn't run into any trouble."
"So you were following us!" Reena had exclaimed.
Duplica suddenly became very involved in twisting a strand of hair about her index finger. "That's a rather strong accusation there, Satoshi," she had mock-pouted. "Besides, if we hadn't been watching out for you, Happy and li'l Nibblers would've never been able to find a way to get you outta that hole."
Remembering at that exact moment that she had had an alternate route out of the hole, her newly-caught Abra's Teleport attack, Reena colored sheepishly and kept her mouth shut. Let Duplica Imite think her ungrateful. Just as long as she didn't also think her stupid.
Duplica kept up the jaunty banter the rest of way to Vermillion City. As they passed a small lake at the edge of the fields, Duplica let out a whoop of delight. "Look!" she shouted, standing on the tips of her toes and pointing excitedly. "You can see the ocean from here!" Laughing happily, she broke into a run, Zeal chirping in objection as it pumped its stubby wings to catch up.
Huge expanses of wooden wharves rose above the stormy waters of the Vermillion Bay, all of which was covered in a flurry of moving crates, nets, and people. Numerous boats, from the tiniest motorboat to the grandest cruiser, were docked in neat rows at the edge of the docks. From her vantage point overlooking the ocean, Reena could see even more ships arriving, tiny dots across the wide bay.
"I bet you're gonna be challenging the Vermillion Leader," Duplica said to Reena as the two children and their Pokémon stepped onto the docks. "Watch out; people say Lt. Surge has got one of the meanest tempers of the Kanto Eight, and he absolutely can't stand losing. You got a strategy for taking him down, Satoshi, or are you gonna wait until we get Richie, so he can help you out?"
Reena winced, mentally hoping that Duplica had not seen the whole of her scantily-won Cerulean battle. "Richie's my coach, after all," she said stoutly. "It wouldn't be right to have a battle without him there to see it."
"And give you strategy tips!" Duplica teased, dancing away from Chikai's thrashing tail. "Oh, c'mon, lighten up already! That's what coaches are for, right? To help you out." Not waiting to hear Reena's response to this remark, the girl quickened her pace to a near run. "I'm starving!" she yelled back over her shoulder. "Soon as pick up Richie and Casey, we are so going out for cheeseburgers!"
Cheeseburgers sounded good to Reena. Calling for Duplica to slow down, she tore down the docks after her.
Both of them arrived at the Vermillion Pokémon Center flushed and out-of-breath from the sprint they had just taken. Duplica, energetic as ever, was in the middle of another novice trainer joke when the PokéCenter doors swung suddenly out. Unlucky Duplica was smacked in the head by the door and nearly knocked spinning into the sidewalk.
"This is what I get when I don't look where I'm going," she grumbled, putting a finger to the small bump on her forehead. "Somebody outta warn me when...oh, hey, Casey! What's up?"
One hand still on the doorknob, the pigtailed baseball fan looked immensely relieved to see Duplica and Reena there at last. "It's about time!" she said, grabbing Duplica by the arm and dragging the other girl forcibly into the Center lobby.
"Dit'di?" Duplica's Ditto inquired hesitantly from atop her right shoulder.
"Satoshi, you'd better come, too," Casey called to Reena, who was still standing outside the door. "It's about Richie."
Reena's breath caught in her throat all at once. A sudden, sickly feeling swelled coldly in her stomach, more acrid than even the worst of hunger pangs. As Casey stood there, head bowed and pigtails limp, Reena's heart began to throw itself against her ribs. Once, twice, growing increasingly faster until the pounding became a deafening roar in her ears.
Her own forced voice seemed very, very far away. "He's...he's dead, then," she found her voice squeaking out. "Richie's...dead."
A sharp smack on the head shocked Reena out of her momentary daze. "Don't say things like that!" Casey scowled, whacking Reena with her bat a second time, just to make sure she got the point. "Richie's not dead! That's the good news, at any rate."
Frown furrowing her normally cheerful face, Duplica folded her arms and asked Casey the question Reena could not bear to ask herself. "What's the bad news, then?"
You forgot, didn't you? Forgot, didn't you? Didn't you? Didn't you? You...
The girl's high-pitched giggle echoes in the air, along with her taunting words. Finding my legs at last, I take one step back, then another. The girl laughs again, walking forward to meet me. Trailing a few feet behind her, Sparky comes to stand by her side, head cocked and tail waving amusedly about in the air.
"I've been waiting, you know," the girl says, throwing back her head to see up into my face. "Waiting forever and ever and ever, thinking that you forgot. But you've remembered at last, and here I am!" Baggy dress trailing on the ground behind her, she takes a seat in the middle of the grass. She giggles as Sparky hops into her lap, the bright healthy yellow of its fur blending with the color of her dress.
"But I didn't forgot, you see," she tells me, clapping her hands together merrily. Instantly, the sky darkens into the heavy black of twilight. And all above us, tiny twinkling stars pop randomly into the sky.
Throwing her head back against the grass, the girl gazes deeply into the star-filled heavens. "That one looks like a Butterfree," she says, pointing with one hand. "And that one's a Pikachu. Definitely a Pikachu. And that one, way up there! That's a Pokémon trainer, a little Pokémon trainer running through the sky, just running and running and..."
"Stop it!" I yell, finding my voice at last. "Stop doing this to me! I need to go back now! I need to go back!"
The girl sits up with a start, her short, unruly curls swishing against her cheeks. "But, Richie," she says, eyes wide. "You can't go back. You can never go back."
Turning my back on her, I tear down the hill and across the field from which I came. But no matter how far or fast I run, I always come back to the hill. And the little girl is always there, her curls blowing in the wind, watching me out of her wide, bright eyes.
The ceramic bowl hit the cottage door with a loud crash, shattering into dozens of sharp clay fragments. A mortar and pestle set came directly after it, leaving twin dents in the doorframe.
"I told you already, I don't know anything!" the voice from inside the cottage yelled fiercely. "Leave me alone!"
Half-leaning, half-forcing his way against the wooden door, Tracey called out in an authoritative voice once more. "Miss, I just want to ask you a few questions. That's all, I promise you..."
"That's what the last one from the League said, too! They made me tell them about the boy...hurt my Parasect when I refused to tell them anything!" the voice sobbed from inside. "Get off my property!" the cottage's occupant screamed. "Parasect and I have agreed. We don't care what you do to us anymore; we're not going to help you hurt any more children!"
"Miss," Tracey said patiently, interrupted seconds later by another violent crash. He started again, louder than before. "Miss, I swear upon the Champion's name that I will ask you nothing about the boy. I have a sick Pokémon on my hands and need some information about Pokémon medicines that only a pharmacist of your specialty could supply."
This attempt was greeted by a single eye, peering suspiciously through a crack in the cottage door. Tracey stepped back as the door creaked open, revealing a teenage girl dressed in a stained work apron. She squinted through her puffy red eyes at Tracey before easing the door the rest of the way open.
"Aren't you that assistant of Professor Oak's?" she asked suspiciously. "Terry Sketchy or something?"
"Tracey Sketchit," Tracey corrected lightly. "And your name?"
The girl glared at him the way a person might stare at a glob of chewed-up gum stuck to their sneaker bottom. "Cassandra," she said gruffly, not bothering to shake Tracey's extended hand. "Before the League ordered the name change to Common, I was Kiyomi. But I don't expect any League officials such as yourself, sir, know a word of Sunspeak."
Tracey bristled at this bitter insult. "I was born as an Orange Islander," he explained deliberately. "I did not grow up in an environment that lent itself towards learning Sunspeak. As for being a League official, I'm afraid to say your charge is incorrect. As the Professor would say, I am a Pokémon Watcher. Nothing more."
"Then you're just like the rest of us," Cassandra said, face softening. "The League always gives non-trainers so much grief. If only somebody would stand up to them for once...but none of us are that stupid. " Laughing bitterly to herself, she spun around and started back into the cottage, beckoning Tracey after her.
Upon entering the small, dimly-lit room, The Pokémon Watcher was instantly overpowered by the strong, pungent scent of dried herbs. A mushroom-bearing Pokémon crouched in the center of the floor, sweeping up pottery fragments into a dustpan with its claws. It scuttled hastily into a corner as Tracey approached, round white eyes peeking fearfully out towards the new arrival.
"It's okay, Parasect," Cassandra said soothingly. "Terry's just a Pokémon Watcher. He's not going to hurt you."
"Tracey," the Watcher interjected.
Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Whatever." Sighing tiredly, she sank down into a chair behind the pharmacy counter, sweeping a cluttered pile of empty bottles off the seat and onto the floor. "You'll have to excuse my manners," she said, vaguely apologetic. "Ever since my grandmother and her Persian passed away last month, I haven't been myself."
Tracey lowered his head politely. "I'm very sorry to hear that," he mumbled.
"I'll take that for all it's worth. Now, you said you wanted some Pokémon medicine? Could you perhaps tell me what kind of Pokémon it's for, or maybe some of the symptoms it's been showing in the last few days?"
Pulling his sketchbook out and flipping open to the correct page, Tracey set the book onto the counter, turning it to face Cassandra. "I've recorded all I can in here," he said, pointing to the neat tables and labeled drawings that accompanied them. "The Pokémon is an adolescent Pikachu. Its trainer calls it Sparky."
Shaking her head in amazement, Cassandra squinted at page after page of Tracey's detailed observations. "These must have taken forever," she said, gazing at one full-page sketch of the Pikachu, shaded in lightly with pencil and meticulously labeled. "Sparky is your Pokémon, I take it?"
"I'm the one who's taking care of it," Tracey said brusquely.
Cassandra didn't bother to question him further. After several more minutes of scanning the Watcher's notes, she laid the sketchbook down, shaking her head in wonder. "It's surprising to me that the Pikachu's still alive now," Cassandra informed Tracey matter-of-factly, getting to her feet. "If you had only gotten it medical attention right away! No ordinary medicine is going to do the trick, at this rate. You need something strong, very strong."
"And you can supply the medicine I need?"
In response, Cassandra ducked through the low door and into the back storage room, her Parasect skittering hastily behind her. It clicked its long claws menacingly at Tracey as it passed, warning the Watcher not to follow. Tracey busied himself examining the aromatic leaves hanging from the cottage rafters, as well as several unlabeled bottles on the nearby shelves, before the pharmacist returned.
"This is the best I can do," Cassandra informed him, plunking a dark glass bottle down on the counter. "I just hope it'll be enough."
Picking the bottle up by the neck and holding it to the light, Tracey slowly read aloud the handwritten label. "Secret Potion? What's that, some kind of herbal remedy?"
Cassandra looked almost apologetic. "I'm not exactly sure what's in it," she admitted. "It's supposed to be a very, very strong potion specially designed to treat electric Pokémon. One of my friends in Cianwood City sent this to me several months ago. I experiment a lot with miracle serums, so she thought I might be interested in the Secret Potion. One of the first tests worked wonders on a sick Ampharos, or so I'm told. But knowledge of the side effects is still kind of hazy; I haven't had much chance to test out the Secret Potion myself, what with Grandma and all..."
"I understand." Setting the bottle back onto the counter, Tracey rummaged through his pockets until he came up with a handful of bills. "How much do I owe you?"
"Owe me?" Cassandra exclaimed in surprise. "I've already told you that the stuff in the Secret Potion is very strong. You could end up killing that Pikachu of yours! There's no way I could make you pay for that."
Tracey shrugged, pocketing both the money and the bottle of medicine in one swift motion. As he stood up to leave, Cassandra's Parasect clanked its claws threateningly in his direction. "But you're not leaving without us," Cassandra finished determinedly for her Pokémon. "Only an experienced pharmacist such as myself should be entrusted to administer that kind of medicine."
Raising his eyebrows at this, Tracey made no movement to stop Cassandra as she threw together a small pack and swung the bag briskly over her back. When she was ready at last, Parasect mumbling nervously to itself beside her, Tracey pushed open the door and waited patiently for them to exit. "If we take the Magnet Train branch out of Cerulean, we can be at the Indigo Pokémon Center by dark," he said, slamming the door shut behind them.
He watched, without a single trace of emotion, as Cassandra's tanned face paled in realization. "You still coming?" he asked after a moment's silence.
Without a word, she nodded and pushed ahead of him.
The girl is still sitting at the top of the hill when I collapse, exhausted, into the tall grass. I can hear her breathing as she takes Sparky in her arms and steps towards me, the folds of her dress billowing about in the wind. Slowly, she comes to a standstill over my body, extending a hand down to help me up.
"You really did forget, didn't you?" she asks softly as I struggle to my feet, ignoring her hand. "Oh, Richie, you promised that you wouldn't."
"I didn't promise anything," I reply through gritted teeth. "I didn't promise you anything!"
Her voice is softer than before, but steely with conviction. "Oh, but you did," she insists, hugging her arms tighter around Sparky's body. "Try to remember, Richie. Try to remember who I am and what you promised me so long ago."
"I don't want to remember." My voice sounds whiny and plaintive even to me.
The girl shakes her head at me, flyaway curls slapping against her cheeks. Scrambling for a hold atop the girl's shoulder, Sparky looks down at me. The Pikachu is as still as the stone carving I saw at the lighthouse, eyes glinting like flecks of obsidian.
"But you can't forget," the girl says. "Richie, you've said so yourself that we can learn a lot from losing. That's why you have to remember, or else you'll never learn from what you've lost!" Turning her small face into the wind, the girl inhales deeply, a smile tugging at the edges of her mouth. "You understand now, don't you?" she says expectantly. "Then you know what you've gotta do to save Gary and all those other trainers."
"I can't," I whisper weakly. "It's too late for me now. You've said so yourself that I can never go back."
"Is that why you're looking so sad?" Giggling merrily, the girl claps her hands again. The grass around us wavers and fades, replaced by the tattered upholstery of a Pokémon Center lobby. I let out a cry as my stare falls upon Satoshi, Chikai, and Duplica, crowded around an old couch by the wall. Casey sits slumped against a chair, eyes downcast.
Seeing my own body lying there on the couch, I reach a hand out towards myself. It passes right through my face, as if the scene I see before me is no more than an illusion.
Or as if the hand I hold before me is no more substantial than a ghost's.
Sparky jumps down from the girl's shoulder, scampering up to stand beside me. Face illuminated by a sad smile, the girl in the yellow dress takes one step backwards, then another.
"You can never go back, Richie," she says, voice fading away even as she speaks. "You can only go forward."
I gasp as Sparky's ghostly form grows translucent and flickers. My Pikachu gives me one final look as its body disappears into wisps of mist.
"Sparky's trying its hardest, you know," the girl tells me, voice now merely a whisper. "It'll be waiting for you when you remember. Help is on its way as we speak, Richie. But it does not always come to those who wait."
"What do you mean?" I cry.
"You can't do this alone," the girl says as mist begins to rise around her. "You'll need new allies...both you and Satoshi..."
"Where will I find these allies? How will I know them? Please wait!" I shout as the girl's form dissolves, leaving behind only an echo of her words and a growing cloud of mist.
You can never go back. You can only go forward.
Go forward.
Closing my eyes, I take one step through the thick mist that swirls about me. And the world slams down, propelling me into blackness.
Duplica was the one who saw it first. With a cry, she dashed back, grabbed Casey by the arm, and yanked her towards Richie's body. "He blinked!" she yowled, pointing triumphantly. "I swear, he just blinked! Comatose, screw that! Richie's waking up!"
"Pidgey!" Zeal twittered excitedly.
With a second flutter of the eyelids, Richie groaned painfully and struggled to sit up. Filled with relief, Reena lifted the ice pack she'd been holding to his head and let Richie hold it himself.
"How long was I asleep?" Richie asked anxiously, wincing as Duplica jumped forward and delivered an enthusiastic bear hug. "Ow! Sorry, I've got a major headache."
"I so told you he was gonna pull through!" Casey crowed, whipping out her bat and giving both Duplica and Reena a smack apiece. "This calls for a celebration song!"
"Even though you got hit real hard on the head,
The pain'll go away 'cause you're far from being dead!"
Grimacing, Duplica attempted to confiscate Casey's flailing bat, sending Reena into uncontrollable gales of laughter. Both Zeal and Duplica's Ditto looked vaguely embarrassed at the girls' antics, and Chikai rolled its eyes skyward with a bit of a smirk on its face. Shifting the icepack to another hand, Richie couldn't help but crack a smile.
None of them noticed as the back door of the Pokémon Center swung open forcefully, admitting a stormy-eyed trainer with long red hair into the lobby.
"What the heck is going on here!" he yelled, eyes falling upon Reena and Chikai. "Aargh, it's you! I should've known you'd be in charge of this freak show, Golden. Quit clogging up the aisle already!"
"What are you doing here!" Reena cried angrily, starting forward with her hands balled. Glancing nervously from Reena's glare to the newcomer, Duplica hastily dragged Reena backwards by the arm and forced her into an empty chair.
"I've got as much right to use the Pokémon Center as you do!" the redheaded boy retorted. "So shut up and get out of my way, Golden. I don't need wimps like you slowing me down and making me late for my Gym match in the next city over."
Reena's jaw dropped involuntarily. "You've already got the Cas...Bluebadge and the Vermillion City Badge?" she gaped. "But...you couldn't have gotten here that much earlier than me!"
"He's probably been to the Vermillion City before," Duplica said confidently. "He probably got the Crimsonbadge ages ago, Satoshi."
The boy's eyes flashed. "What do you know about anything?" he shot back at Duplica. "Don't butt in when you aren't even involved!"
As Duplica's face reddened, Richie's voice came softly from the couch behind her. "You know this boy, Satoshi?" he asked, craning his head around to get a better look. "Wait, I remember you from the Cerulean City Gym."
"And I remember you from your million Wanted posters!" Riddle retorted. "You're the fugitive kid! You think that lousy haircut fools anybody for one second, you're dead wrong!" That was a lie; the boy's hair was so mangled Riddle doubted his own mother would recognize him. But what other boy would be stupid, or desperate enough, to hang around Golden?
"I like his haircut," Casey defended quickly, pigtails swinging.
Riddle sneered at this. "You should talk!"
Still holding the icepack to his head, Richie rose to his feet and walked past the others. "My name's Richie," he told the boy, extending one hand. "What's yours?"
Rolling his eyes in disgust, Riddle folded his arms and started pointedly at Richie's outstretched hand. "Hold it out like that long enough and it'll drop off," he taunted as Richie stood there. "Name's Riddle. Call me anything other than that and I'll punch that stupid look right off your face."
"You've been collecting Badges long, Riddle?"
"Hardly," Riddle snorted, teetering on the edge of pushing past this strange pale boy and boasting to the assembled audience of his accomplishments. "I've only got two Kanto Badges, Blue and Crimson, now. But I bet that's more than this wimp here."
Reena colored at the truth of his statement.
"Next one on my list's the Gold Badge from Saffron City," Riddle continued briskly. "But the news just came in on the radio. All gates to Saffron City are being shut. The city's being barricaded; won't let anybody in or out. Screw that; I'm getting into Saffron barricade or no barricade." He sneered at Reena as he passed, heading towards the Pokémon Center doors. "I like to see you try to get into Saffron City, Golden," he taunted. "No way a wimp like you is gonna get the Gold Badge. Of course, you haven't even beaten the Gym Leader here yet! Don't know why you're even trying."
And with those departing words, he shoved open the door and stormed away down the street, the horrified look he had witnessed on Golden's face putting a small smile on his surly face.
He's just a wimp, after all, Riddle thought with satisfaction. Maybe he takes in fugitives and dives into pools to save rats, but he's still just a wimp. I don't know why I was ever scared of him in the first place, when he's obviously not even worth my time. When the time comes, Golden, I will beat you down so badly you'll never be able to pick up another PokéBall in your life.
If it were not for brother Lance, Riddle would have had his battle and been done bothering with Golden long ago. But Lance wanted Satoshi Golden out of the picture entirely, too broken to pursue a dream of Pokémon masterdom ever again. Riddle knew how to export Golden's weaknesses and insecurities, and did so frequently in sharp, biting taunts and threats. But the real blow, that could only be dealt when Golden was at the peak of his training career. That was when it would hurt him the most.
In this way, it's kinder, Riddle thought firmly as he raced along the street, dodging cursing pedestrians and protruding fire hydrants. I could have tried to be Golden's friend instead of his enemy. Any damage I do then would be multiplied tenfold.
Golden, you sucker. Don't you see I'm doing this the nicest way I can?
No, of course you don't. You hate me too much for that.
Well, kudos to you. I don't exactly like myself much, either.
Miles away in Saffron City, in a cluttered windowless room decorated with peeling pink wallpaper, a little girl sits atop a small white table. Large eyes glow bright red in her small face.
"You can't do this alone. You'll need new allies...both you and Satoshi..." intones the young woman with long dark hair kneeling behind the girl, eyes glued shut in intense concentration. Tongues of lavender radiance flicker about the girl's body as she repeats the words in a high, childish voice.
The aura flares suddenly, engulfing both the little girl and the woman behind her, before letting the room fade back into darkness. As the woman's startlingly golden eyes flicker open at last, the child's crimson gaze dims.
Slowly, deliberately, the woman takes her hands from the little girl's shoulders, letting the doll's body drop limply onto the tabletop.
"The gift to dream and make dream real,
Is yours and mine."
-"The Power of One"
Notes: Justification for Megadit? Well, if Ditto maniac Duplica found Minidit, why not? (is sheepish) This was actually written before I knew Richie had a Taillow, so I had originally given him a different Flying Pokémon that was big enough to carry a rider, which Swellow isn't. Yeah...well, I tried at least. Secret Potion is from the Pokémon G/S game; it's the medicine that Jasmine uses for the sick Ampharos.