Chapter 10 – The Sun and the Moon and the Starlit Sky

(A)

Growly landed back on the waving grass the same way she had left it; without a scratch on her, while Weepinbell seemed to shrivel from the barrage of fiery attacks he had endured.

"Weepinbell is unable to battle! – The match goes to Growlithe and Adam the challenger from Valencia Island!" The announcer declared.

"Yeaaaah! I got a Rainbow Badge!" I said, holding my badge high in the air with pride, its eight colours shining its namesake across my face as I did so.

"Well done Adam, you've really become one with your Pokémon, that's such a good thing to see." Erika said as she wiped Weepinbell's wounds with a herbal remedy on a cloth. Weepinbell's head was rested upon Erika's floral kimono; it was the exact same shade of green as the thriving grass she and her Pokémon were sitting on. As she smiled at me, her face caught the sunlight that shone through the glass roof, she had a genuine kindness and beauty that you could tell was much more than skin-deep, I'd never told her that before.

"Thank you." I said with a smile, "That stuff's really working on Weepinbell, what is it?" I asked as Growly circled my feet, eager to play.

"Oh, this?" She said looking down at her pokemon, his wounds almost fully gone. "It's just a herbal remedy we make here at the gym, we use berries, perfumes and various plants – it's really easy to make, and it could very much save someone one day, you should remember it.

"…Bell?" Weepinbell cried as he opened his eyes to be greeted by Erika's warm smile.

Weepinbell suddenly jumped to life and began bouncing across the grass calling its name, chasing a nearby Oddish as Erika began to chuckle with glee.

"So how many badges do you have now Adam?" She asked me.

"I'm halfway towards getting us to the Pokémon league - Just four more to go!" I said as I sat down beside her.

"Ah, good for you! But don't get too confident now." She said as she started to stroke behind Growly's ear, making her leg twitch. "You never know how tough your next opponent is going to be.

"Yeah I know, but one day no one will be a match for my Pokémon - right Growly?" I said as I looked over to her, too content with being stroked to respond.

"Well… clearly that day isn't today."

There was a strange silence in the air before I finally said, "So I love what you've done with the gym. It looks better than ever."

Looking around the giant greenhouse I could see dozens of families enjoying picnics, children running around and playing and Pokémon enjoying the fruits of nature all on top of a gorgeous field of grass that was decorated with flower arrangements, berry trees, and hedges cut into the shape of various grass Pokémon. Centre to all of this though was a two tier fountain that carried the clearest, freshest water I'd ever seen to various channels that led to surrounding flower beds of different colours that, if seen from above, would be almost identical to a rainbow badge.

"Thank you so much and doesn't it? After the fire the townspeople and everyone at the gym dedicated themselves to build a better, safer gym that could be a haven to people and Pokémon all year round. And thanks to them, we finally have it. ...So what about you, have you found somewhere like that yet, for April and yourself? Speaking of which, where is April, I thought you two had decided to travel together?"

"I've been searching, but I'm looking for something else. April's… taking her own path with a new friend she met. I think it's her way of dealing with things… or maybe she's just finally moved on with her life. To be honest, I thought it'd changed her, but now we're apart I think it was me that changed."

"You do seem… quieter than you used to be." She said as she looked up at me, into my eyes which made me both smile and blush. "But I know that deep down you're still the same person inside."

Erika could always cheer me up and make me smile. She was the person I could tell all of my troubles to without worrying that I'd be judged or rejected. We'd always felt at home together, even though whenever we were together, one of us was on foreign soil.

As I looked into Erika's eyes I could feel time passing by around us; we could often just sit together and not say a word, and then both feel like we'd had the most deep and meaningful conversation ever.

"You know…" She said as she clasped my hand, "whenever I feel troubled, I always find it helps to just lie on the grass and watch the clouds pass by."
I said that I'd give it a shot as we both lay back, the grass brushing against our cheeks as the clear blue sky came into view, dotted with puffs of white.

"Ah, you're right; this is relaxing." I said as I stared up at the clouds in the sky, trying to find familiar shapes in each one. Despite being in near-enough the centre of the city, not a single urban noise could be heard; birds chirping, the laughter of children, everything I needed was here.

As we both gazed into the never-ending sky and were bathed in the warm glow of the sun, I edged my hand closer to Erika's until before I knew it, I was holding it – and she was holding mine too!

And then it hit me, I think I had found my haven – everything I needed was here.. except for April and the fact that –

"- Erika, Erika!" a group of young children cried as they ran over to us, interrupting my train of thought.

"What is it?" She replied as she sat up.

"Come and play with us pleeaaase?" a rather scruffy-haired girl asked.

"Ohhh, well if you insist!" She said playing along with them. "But you're not playing very well if I can see you now, are you? One… two… three.." She said as the children ran away to hide in a fit of giggles.

"Well I've got some very important children-catching to do as you can see." She smiled as she rose to her feet, brushing her kimono down.

"And I've got some very important badge-collecting to do – but I'll be back, just you see!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Erika said as she kissed my cheek and turn away on her heel to walk away.

"Oh and Adam?" she said turning back to face me.

"Y-yeah?" I replied, recovering from a sudden burst of euphoria.

"What you're looking for… It might not be what you expect, and you might not like it."

(B)

After bidding farewell to Pewter City, we'd decided that our next stop would be Cerulean. Saying goodbye to Pewter was harder than I had expected it to be; bidding farewell to so many new friends, I felt as if I'd been there a long time after so much had happened, and to tell the truth, I'd kind of miss it.

It was a sunny day along Route Three, at least that was what the trainers seemed to call it; the path that led up to Mount Moon and beyond. Spring was definitely upon us as the soft, pink cherry blossoms from the mountain trees delicately flowed through the air in front of us carrying not only the scent of spring, but the seeds for new life to flourish.

"Aaaahh- Achoo!" April cried from behind me.

"You okay?" I asked as I turned to face her.

"Sorry… Hay-fever." April said as she wiped her bunged-up nose.

"You don't have to be sorry; you didn't get any on my badge." I chuckled.

"Haha you and that badge! You haven't stopped about it since we left Pewter!"

"Yeaah I know, but I'm just so proud of it." I said, grinning ear to ear, gazing down at it as it
shimmered in the afternoon sun.

"But the thing is, when I battle with my Pokémon, it's like I'm a different person. I think quicker, I'm more confident and I can't think about anything else besides the battle."

"Adam used to say the same thing... I think it's the adrenaline that does it." April said stepping over a protruding tree root.

"Adrenaline, huh?" I said as I jumped up a small ledge, away from the beaten track that'd been walked countless times before.

I turned around to offer April help climbing up but I was met with a cold stare. April's eyes were wide, her pupils miniscule; looking in my direction, but not at me, at the forest behind me.

"We're going through… there?" April murmured, her gaze not shifting.

"Do you not want to?" I asked, sliding down the ledge as I did so. "It's alot quicker than going through Mount Moon - we can be in Cerulean by tonight."

And then it hit me – why didn't this occur to me earlier? This was the forest where we met. The forest where she was attacked – of course she'd be petrified of the place.

"Although… I have always wanted to see the inside of Mount Moon." I said, trying to feign a convincing and supportive smile.

"…Really?" April asked as she finally averted her gaze to me; her legs trembling.

"Of course, would I lie to you?"

Of course, I waslying, but it was a white lie. A lie I told to make her feel better, but it would be a lie that helped me to learn a deep secret kept in her heart.

"No… no you wouldn't." April said, sounding like she really believed me.

"So, Shall we?"

Mount Moon was meant to be a simple step on the road to Cerulean that every Pokémon trainer takes; no one seemed to mention how much of a maze it was. Chamber after chamber seemed to intertwine and entering in one end and exiting through another began to feel more like it was a challenge that you had to overcome.

The cave itself was very dark much like any other, hiding time itself from those within its walls. April took out a torch from her rucksack and switched it on to reveal a dense cavern with a wavering stream running through.

"So… which way should we go?" April asked as she looked around aimlessly.

"I don't know... Maybe if we follow this stream we'll be able to find an exit – it's got to go somewhere right?"

After following the stream for what seemed like hours, a strange sound echoed around us. It sounded like a very deep but at the same time a very relaxed roar.

"…What was that?" I asked, knowing full well that April wouldn't know the answer.

"I don't know but it sounded like it came from… wait a minute. We've already been in this cavern, I'm sure of it!"

I looked around to see the same rocky outlines that I'd seen all day, how could she tell which cavern was which? - They all looked the same!

"Great. So we've been going in circles this whole time? Where do we go now?"

"Towards the noise." April said as she started walking away.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You want to go towards the scary noise?" I said running in front of her.

"Yeah, think about it. Pokémon need to eat, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well they probably need to go outside Mount Moon to find it. So if we go towards the Pokémon, we'll probably find an exit. Didn't you think it was strange that we haven't seen one Pokémon since we've been here?"

"Oh. Well.. I… erm - Towards the noise!" I cried as I turned on my feet and lead the way.

As we walked further the noise became louder and lasted longer.

"Hey, what's that?" April asked, seeing light emanating from around the corner.

As we entered yet another cavern, we were met with pillars of moonlight that shone through three rather large holes in the cavern's ceiling. As the moonlight shone through onto the rocky walls and floor, the rocks themselves began to irradiate a minty green glow.

Suddenly the roar echoed throughout the caves again, causing April and I to cover our ears.

"Did that… sound like a yawn to you?" I asked looking at April.

"Yeah…" She said as she scanned the immediate area.

"Hey what's that?" April asked pointing to the corner where a pink and white Pokémon stood out from the green of the walls.

As we got close we could see that the small Pokémon was walking continuously into a wall, even though it wasn't getting anywhere.

"Slow…." It said as it sat down, staring at the wall.

"What's it doing?" April asked.

"I dunno…" I said as I reached for my PokeDex.

'Slowpoke, the dopey pokemon. Slowpoke is always lost in thought; its specialty is fishing with its tail, although when it is doing this, its mind often wanders. Every springtime, masses of Slowpoke journey to beaches to evolve.'

"Oh it must be lost, the poor thing…"April said as she picked it up.

"…Poke?"

"For a Pokémon that's 'lost in thought' all the time, he doesn't seem that with it."

"But it soooo cuuuute!" April said as she pushed the Slowpoke's face against hers. "I've decided! I'm taking him to a beach to evolve!"

"The next beach is a long way away.."

"Well I could always capture him..." April said, pouting her bottom lip, and widening her ocean blue eyes eyes. "…Pleease?"

April didn't have any Pokeballs of her own besides Mankey's, so she needed one of the ones I'd been given from Ivy - I couldn't really say no to her.

"Okay, okay." I said as I handed her a pokeball.

"Do you want to come with me?" April asked the pokemon as she gently tapped it with the sphere of red and white and it disappeared inside.

April held the pokeball in her hands as she watched it sway back and forth. The center button flickered a faded red until it the ball stopped moving entirely.

"Hey April, you've just caught your first Pokémon!"

"Yeah I did, didn't I?" April said as she let out a loud yawn.

"You wanna set up camp?" She asked.

"Yeah, okay." I cried as a yawn took me by suprise, and I forgot to cover my mouth.

"Well... That's a nice view."

As the moonlight beamed down on us, we looked through the holes in the cave to see the starlit sky above. Much like the sky, every inch of the cave around us seemed to shimmer from the power of the moon.

We both lay, wrapped up tightly in our sleeping bags. April was snuggled up closely to her new Pokémon, silently staring upwards while I tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable on the cold, rocky floor; eventually giving up.

While April stared at the sky, I was enchanted by the cave's radiance.

"You know..." I began, turning to face her. "They say Mount Moon is where some Pokémon arrived from outer space on comets…"

April didn't respond to my comment in the slightest. In fact, she hadn't even acknowledged that I'd said anything at all.

"Maybe this place is a giant comet… that could be why it glows like this at night." I said again, but still to no response.

"Well that's what I think anyway." I said as I turned onto my back, resting my head on my folded arms behind me.

It was too quiet… April always seemed to have something to say, but at nights she would barely make a sound. She would just… stare. There had to be a reason.

"April, are you okay?" I asked.

She remained silent.

"You like to stare at the moon, huh? I've seen you do it for a while now; I like to look up at the sky too."

A single tear suddenly began rolling down the side of April's face.

"My parents used to tell me; 'If you miss someone who is far away, remember to look up at the moon. Because we all share the same moon in the same sky, and no matter how far away someone is, they will see it too.' So every night I look up at that moon and I see my parents, and for a brief moment it makes me happy…"

"Why only for a brief moment?"

"Because then I remember that they're not here – the Rockets made sure of that."

"Team Rocket? - The criminals?! What did they do to them?"

"T-team Rocket they…" April began but stopped to compose herself. "Adam and me… We're not from Valencia Island; we lived on Cleopatra Island until the Rockets attacked. They burnt down the town without any warning, looking for something… a clue to where someone was.

The night the flames spread throughout town Adam helped me into the woods to hide and just as he was about to go back for mum and dad we saw two Rockets drag them from our house while a third looked on with a sick look of pleasure on her face. She asked them where someone named Giovanni was and they didn't know. The woman looked down at them as she told her Arbok to constrict itself around them, making them scream out in pain while she asked the question again. Mum and dad pleaded with her, saying that they didn't know but the woman didn't believe them and… and… Arbok bit my mum.

It was just like she was going to sleep… Daddy was screaming and trying to get free and we wanted to get up and help him but we had to keep quiet and stay hidden. The woman asked him once more, but he just didn't care and yelled at her saying everything that we wanted to. The redhead looked down at him and chuckled, calling him pathetic. Adam must've known what was about to happen as he pulled me to my feet as he made us rush into the woods. I struggled to run back to see or even try and help but then all I heard was the redheaded woman yell; 'Constrict!' and then Daddy let out a cry of sheer pain the echoed through the forest.

It was… horrible." April murmured; her eyes filled with tears. Her eyes showed a sadness that far outweighed anything that I'd seen, and I could tell that this must've been the first time she'd ever confided in anyone.

I was blown away. I didn't know what to say. What could I say? Apart from:
"April… I'm so sorry."

"We just kept running until we couldn't anymore and eventually we found the dock and stowed away in the first ferry we found. We fell asleep among all the cargo and when we woke up we were surrounded by police and a woman in a lab coat. We were in pretty bad shape and were taken to rest at the woman's lab. When we were better she offered us jobs as her assistants for a while, and we stayed with her for a year and a half until we had the money to come to Kanto, to find Team Rocket."

"But April… didn't team rocket disband about a year and a half ago? They're not around anymore – it was on the news."

"That's what they say… but somehow I just know that they're still out there, and I'm gonna find them."

"Well then, I'll help too!" I declared, feeling determined to do anything I could to help.

"Really?" April asked.

"Yep, I'll give it my best!"

"Thank you Alex." April said as she leant over to hug me.

"No problem." I said, hugging her back.

"You wanna hear something funny?" April said in my ear.

"Shoot."

"The woman with the lab was Professor Ivy – your sister. That's why when I found out who you were I just… felt so close to you already and I knew I had to go with you when the time came." April said as she pulled away and looked me straight in the eye.

"So you knew each other before… is that how Adam got his first Pokémon?"

"Yeah, it was a present just before we came to Kanto, Adam didn't let me have one, saying that battling was too dangerous. He was really over-protective ever since it all happened, and I think he'll be better off on his own for a while..."

"I hope so…"

"Well anyway, I think we should probably go to sleep." April said as she leaned over and kissed my forehead, her lips warm and gentle to my skin.
"Goodnight Alex."

"…Goodnight April." I said, laying down suddenly feeling warm in the moonlight.

"And Alex… Thank you for lying to me."