Chapter 21 – A Saffron History Lesson
"Where've you been?" David asked looking at Brad.
"Well, I went to go fight Erika again but apparently she doesn't except rematches. So I've just been finding random trainers to beat down." Brad shrugged.
"Again?" David asked a little confused.
"Oh right, I never did tell you did I?" Brad said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small case. He opened to up revealing eight separate gym badges.
"Whoa, when'd you get those?" David blinked in curiosity and confusion.
"I've had these since I met you." Brad said chuckling.
"Haunter." Haunter said.
"But…I've only seen you use Pokemon that your training…and when I fought you back in Pewter City it was a tie…" David said trying to calculate it all out in his head.
"That's because the Pokemon I'm using aren't every Pokemon I own." Brad explained. "Hell, I haven't even fought the Elite Four yet. Mainly because I met my friend here." Brad said pointing to Haunter. "And I found a rather liking to Ghost Pokemon, so I decided to go back with him and train him, along with Duskull and any other Pokemon I get along the way." Brad explained.
"I never would have guessed…" David said still a little stunned. Brad closed the badge case and put it away.
"At least traveling with you gives me a good reason to train my Pokemon and at the same time will get me ready for when I fight the Elite Four. Assuming that's where we are going." Brad explained.
"I actually never thought about fighting them…" David said thinking about the Elite Four. "If I get the eight badges in Kanto then I could go fight them couldn't I?" David thought about it intently.
"You should, if for no other reason than to make your Pokemon stronger for getting to the Legendary Pokemon." Brad explained.
"Alright, I will." David grinned.
"I don't think your going to stand a chance." Said a seemingly familiar voice. David and Brad turned to see Jake walking over to them.
"Yea, and whys that?" David asked.
"Because you're a lousy Pokemon trainer traveling with a bunch of failures." He chuckled.
"How bout I prove I'm not?" David growled at him, Jirachi getting into a battle position. David felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Brad glaring at Jake.
"Hold on David, this ones mine." Brad said walking forward.
"You again?" Do I have to kick your sorry ass again?" Jake grinned. Brad didn't say anything but raised a pokeball and out of it came a Magikarp flailing on the ground.
"Magikarp karp karp!" Said the flailing Magikarp.
"What good is that going to do?" Jake said raising an eyebrow at the Magikarp. Brad reached down and grabbed its tail, lifting it up over his right shoulder, before swinging it with great force, smacking into Jake's face and sending him flying into the sky.
"Whoa, nice shot." David said watching Jake twinkle into the sky. "Makes him look kind of pathetic though."
"That's good. He doesn't deserve to look cool. He's a bastard." Brad said before looking at the Magikarp in his hands. "Sorry Magikarp, hope I didn't hurt you." He said.
"Karp karp magi karp." Said the Magikarp as it returned to its pokeball.
"First time I've seen you use Magikarp though." David said. "I don't think you've shown him before."
"I haven't. I try to use him as often as I can so he'll become a Gyarados." Brad explained.
"How close is he till he evolves?" David asked curiously.
"Hell if I know." Brad said scratching his head.
"Haunter." Haunter replied.
"You always say that." Jirachi chuckled.
"There they are!" Came Zana's voice from behind them. David and Brad turned around and saw Zana, Janine and some boy walking over to them.
"Hey guys! Who is this?" David asked curiously at the boy.
"This is Matt. He's heading over to the Saffron City gym." Janine explained.
"Wow. I thought you'd be over there already." David said holding out his hand.
"What makes you say that?" Matt said looking at him curiously.
"Oh…nothing." David laughed. "Anyways, I'm David. Nice to meet you." He said as Matt took his hand and shook it. "This is my friend Jirachi." David said pointing to Jirachi.
"Hello." Jirachi said bowing.
"This is my friend Brad." David said pointing to Brad.
"Hi Star head!" Brad grinned at him.
"And his partner Haunter." David pointed to Haunter.
"Haunter." Haunter said.
"Ah. So Jirachi is your partner, and Haunter is his?" Matt said looking at both of them.
"Yup." Brad said rather frankly.
"Alright." Matt said grabbing a pokeball from within his black vest. The vest lay on top of a white shirt, going with his black pants and black sneakers. "Go Kadabra!" Matt said throwing the pokeball, a Kadabra appearing out of it.
"Kadabra!" Said the Psi Pokemon. The red star on its head seemed to shine in correlation with Matt's star placed on his forehead.
"This is my Kadabra." Matt explained. "I guess you could say he's my partner. I've had him since I was a kid." He grinned. David blinked and looked down at the Kadabra.
"A…Kadabra?" David said pointing at Pokemon.
"Yea, he's a tough little guy." Matt said patting his head with a smile.
"Why not an Alakazam?" Brad said raising an eyebrow looking at it.
"That's…what I was thinking…" David said scratching his head.
"Well, he'll be an Alakazam one day." Matt chuckled. "He'll be a powerful Pokemon too." He grinned.
"Why not…already?" David said confusedly. Everyone looked at David curiously confused.
"Because…I haven't trained him well yet?" Matt said raising an eyebrow at David. "You're looking at me like something's wrong." Matt said turning his head a little still looking at David a little weird.
"Uh…" David said giving the situation a quick thought. "Don't mind me, I'm just…having a weird moment he said shaking his head quickly. Brad looked at David as if he didn't believe the story. "So, what're you doing with Zana and Janine?" David said quickly trying to change the subject.
"Well, they told me you where going to the Saffron City gym but couldn't since they are rebuilding it now. Which makes sense since it was destroyed." David shrugged.
"Well, the Gym is still functional. It fully survived the damage and Sabrina is still there." Matt explained.
"WHAT!?" David shouted. Everyone in the group stared at avid who looked in complete shock. He quickly turned his head and looked at everyone. He closed his eyes and coughed into his hand and cleared his throat. "I mean…oh good! I've been meaning to challenge her to a fight." He seemed to force a smile as he chuckled a bit. Matt looked at David like he was crazy.
"You are an odd one." Matt said turning towards Saffron. "Well, if you're going to the Gym, I am too. They sent me over here for a bit so that they could at least get the machinery in." He said walking towards the gate now.
"Alright, what's going on?" Brad said crossing his arm and turning to David.
"What do you mean?" David grinned nervously rubbing the back of his head looking at Brad.
"You are obviously hiding something. A blind monkey could see that." Brad said.
"Yea, your nervousness in your voice says you're hiding something." Janine said crossing her arms. "Not to mention you're dodging the questions."
"Is he really?" Zana said blinking. "I didn't notice."
"You're clueless." Janine sighed.
"Haunter." Haunter said.
"Yay! I have no idea what everyone's talking about!" Jirachi cheered happily waving his hands.
"No. Really. I'm not hiding anything." David grinned goofily, starting to sweat slightly.
"You're seriously not fooling anyone with that act…except maybe Zana." Brad said looking at Zana who was blinking in a bit of confusion.
"Err…you really think I'm hiding something?" David said trying to play it off as if nothing was going wrong. Brad and Janine stood there glowering at him. David played it off for a few seconds before he sighed. "Alright fine." He shook his head. "The truth is…I know about Matt." He explained.
"That doesn't explain your reaction." Janine said still glowering.
"Matt is the youngest Gym Leader to ever live. And if also one of the greatest Gym Leaders to ever be." David explained.
"That runt?" Brad said turning to look at Matt.
"Yea. Problem is…" David sighed. "He was supposed to be the Gym Leader a few years ago. Also, his Kadabra is supposed to be a powerful Alakazam already." He said looking up at Brad.
"Something going wrong with the timeline?" Brad said chuckling.
"Huh?" Janine said blinking in a bit of confusion.
"Are you guys coming or not" Matt yelled looking back at the group.
-----
"Wow, this place is empty." Zana said into the velvet hallway, her voice slightly echoing.
"Of course it is. The gym is sound proof to outside noises and is empty from the lack of people." Matt said starting to walk down the hallway. "Usually there are tons of people training to beat or be equal with Sabrina." He said noting the doors on the sides of the velvet hallway.
"Are they trainers or random people who live in Saffron?" Zana asked curious.
"A bit of a mix." Matt said.
"Man, I haven't had a chance to hang out with Sabrina in a while." Janine said thinking about it. "Us Gym Leaders really don't get a lot of interaction." She said crossing her arms thinking about it.
"I bet." Matt said reaching the end of the hallway. "And behind these doors lies Sabrina." Matt said grabbing the doors and swinging them open. Inside the doors was a large spacious battle dome, four pillars lining the room and a Sabrina looking at the door, her body turned to the side.
"Ah, Matt. What brings you here?" Sabrina smiled.
"Take a guess mom." He grinned and jumped forward into the room.
"Mom?" Brad and Janine said rather surprised.
"Yea. Matt is the son of Sabrina." David said turning to look at them.
"How would you know that?" Janine said raising an eyebrow.
"It's a long story." David chuckled and turned back to see Matt pulling out a pokeball.
"Give me everything you've got Matt." Sabrina grinned before grabbing a pokeball and throwing it out revealing an Alakazam.
"Alakazam!" Said the Alakazam holding two spoons over its head.
"Go Venonat!" Matt said throwing out the pokeball, the small puffball appearing.
"Matt…you are thinking carefully about the Pokemon you pick right?" Sabrina said eyeing the Venonat in judgment.
"Of course I am! Use Supersonic!" Matt cried.
"Venonat!" Venonat said its eyes glowing, sending out signals straight at Alakazam.
"Calm Mind Alakazam!" Sabrina smiled.
"Alakazam." Alakazam said closing its eyes, its body glowing. The signals passed over Alakazam's body. Once the attack finished Alakazam opened its eyes completely fine.
"Alright then! Use Stun Spore!" Matt cried. Venonat's body began to shake as powder floated towards Alakazam.
"Psychic." Sabrina said with a calm ease. Alakazam's eyes glowed and grabbed all the spores in the air and sending it back at Venonat causing Venonat to become paralyzed.
"Oh no! Venonat!" Matt said shocked.
"Psychic again!" Sabrina said.
"Alakazam." Said the Pokemon as its body and eyes glowed. It grabbed the Venonat in its gaze and proceeded to raise the purple ball of fluff and slam it against the ground. Venonat's eyes darkened.
"Return!" Matt said returning the Venonat to its Pokeball.
"You where thinking with the bug part of him. But when it comes to fighting Psychic Pokemon, Poison types fall." Sabrina explained.
Janine crossed her arms and turned her head away from Sabrina.
"Fine. Then I'll use Golduck!" Matt said throwing out the Pokeball. The large bleu duck Pokemon emerged from it. "Use Water Pulse!" Matt said.
"Golduck!" Golduck said a wave of water emerging from around its body before launching at Alakazam.
"Psychic!" Said Sabrina, Alakazam's eyes glowing again. Alakazam glowed once more and the water was caught in its grip. The water reversed and hit Golduck sending it tumbling in its own water before lying on the ground from its own attack. It began to get up when it was gripped by Alakazam's attack and swing around the room smacking it into the pillars before throwing it down in front of Matt.
"Return!" Matt said returning his Golduck to the pokeball.
"Man, Sabrina's being ruthless." Zana said a little shocked.
"Even if a Gym Leader is able to own a trainer that badly, they aren't supposed to normally." Janine said looking at Sabrina curiously.
"Did you hold back against me?" David asked looking at Janine.
She was silent for a minute and closed her eyes. "I wish I could say I did." She said calmly.
"Awesome." David smiled.
"I got one left. Go Kadabra!" Said Matt and Kadabra appeared.
"Has he gotten any better from the last time I faced him?" Sabrina asked curiously.
"Just watch! Kadabra! Use Psybeam!" Matt instructed.
"Kadabra!" Said Kadabra as it raised its spoon and proceeded to fire a ray of multiple colors at the Alakazam. Alakazam stood there watching the beam fire at him. The beam hit Alakazam directly and seemed to spray off in multiple directions, but left Alakazam for the most part unfazed.
"A Psybeam? Surely you can do better." Sabrina grinned at Matt.
"Alright then…Kadabra! Psychic!" Matt commanded. "Kadabra!" Kadabra's eyes glowed and the Psychic attack surrounded Alakazam.
"It's a battle of the Psychic power now?" Sabrina grinned.
"You said I had to give it my all!" Matt said getting into a battle ready position.
"Very well then." Sabrina said closing her eyes. Her body was soon being surrounded in a purple glow. Alakazam closed his eyes in unison with Sabrina. The glow of the Psychic attack around Alakazam soon intensified and Sabrina's hair was soon beginning to float, as the aura around her grew stronger. Sabrina's eyes opened intensely, shining a light blue aura intensely from them. Alakazam's eyes had opened at the same time and shined with the same light blue aura.
And without even a word Alakazam raised its two spoon and soon Kadabra was trapped in the same purple aura that seemed to be filling the room now. Matt grit his teeth but closed his eyes and soon he was also being surrounded in a purple aura before his eyes opened glowing a faint blue aura. His eyes weren't nearly shining as intensely as Sabrina's and the two Psychic Pokemon where holding each other with their minds.
Almost out of nowhere, with a sudden burst, Kadabra smashed into the ground causing a large amount of smoke to rise into the air as if he had exploded on the spot. Wind rushed past everyone and before anyone could see anything they heard someone fall to their knees.
When the smoke cleared Matt was by his Kadabra holding it. There was a hole in the ground where Kadabra had stood as if Kadabra had hit the ground with a large impact after a great fall.
"You did good Kadabra." Matt smiled raising his pokeball and Kadabra returned to it.
"You got better than when we last battled, I'll give you that." Sabrina said walking over to Matt. Matt looked up at her, a little sad but still smiling. Sabrina bent over and rubbed his head smiling. "You're not yet at the level of a Gym Leader or better. But you have potential." She said kissing the star on his forehead before standing up and looking at the four other people looking at them from the doorway.
"Wow. She never did any of that when I battled her." Brad said rubbing his head.
"That's because I'm not supposed to use my full power to battle the trainers going for the Elite Four. That's what they said. But I am allowed to beat them if I don't think they are skilled enough." Sabrina explained turning around and walking back to the other side of the room and then turning back to face them. "So what brings you back to my gym Brad?" She asked curiously.
"Wow. You have a good memory." Zana remarked.
"I'm a Psychic user. I tend to have a knack at knowing who is who." Sabrina smiled. "Isn't that right Janine?"
Janine started walking forward. "Yea. Though don't go bragging about your battling skills. I have come close to beating you remember?" Janine said.
"Yea, you've come close. You've never actually won." Sabrina chuckled. Janine stood a few feet away from Sabrina now as Matt stood up and looked at the two girls talking. He then turned and looked at the three still standing by the door.
"Gee. Am I going to get to battle her now?" David asked curiously after having watched that performance. "I mean, is she willing to battle me? I may not stand a chance, but I would still like to try." He said to Matt.
"Trust me. She won't be that ruthless on you." Matt said walking over to them.
"Yea. She wasn't with me." Brad said.
"Oh, thank goodness." Jirachi sighed.
"That'd be a hard fight to win if she always fought like that." Zana said amazed.
"Haunter." Haunter said.
"I could beat her with my ghost Pokemon." Brad chuckled.
"Probably." Matt shrugged.
"Hey, where's Haunter anyways?" Janine said looking around the room.
"Hey, that's a good question." Brad said looking around. Brad's Haunter flew close to the chandelier in the room
"Haunter!" Said Brad's Haunter.
"Haunter!" Came the return sound of a Haunter. A Haunter materialized before Brad's Haunter smiling at him. Sabrina's Haunter was slightly bigger than Brad's, so it was easy to distinguish who was who.
"Oh, there he is." Janine said looking at him.
"So what brings you here anyways?" Sabrina asked looking at Janine.
"Well, I'm body guarding for my friend." Janine said closing her eyes.
"Your friend?" Sabrina said raising an eyebrow. "I was under the impression all your friends looked like you." Sabrina chuckled.
"Well yea…" Janine said rubbing the back of her head. "But…circumstances arose and…well…it's a long story right now." Janine said shaking her head.
" I see…" Sabrina said curiously.
"So Matt, I have a question." David said. Matt looked at him curious. "What was that fight all about?" He asked. Brad had walked towards the middle of the room and was watching the two Haunter's play, Zana was listening in to their conversation and Jirachi was curious about the situation.
"Well…I was fighting to become the Gym Leader…to be honest." Matt said rubbing the back of his head a little nervous.
"Well…I thought you'd be the Gym Leader by now." David said trying to make it sound like nothing suspicious was going on.
"Nah. I'm not that good as you can see." Matt chuckled.
"Well…mind if I asked for a recap of your life? If you don't mind?" David asked. He wanted to know what went wrong with Matt's timeline. He had to figure out when it was that Matt's life screwed up and he didn't become a Gym Leader. That way when he found Celebi again he would be able to fix this as well.
"I suppose I could give you a quick recap…" Matt said thinking about it.
-----
"Momma…what happened to Daddy?" Said a younger version of Matt standing next to Sabrina. Sabrina was holding an umbrella as the rain was falling heavily. They where standing in front of a Grave. Sabrina's head was lowered. She was crying.
"That to me is the most vivid and first memory I have." Matt said sitting next to David and Zana. "I'd never seen my mother so sad before. She's never that sad anymore…but before I had left Saffron to train there where nights where I would hear her crying." Matt said sadly. "She never shows it on the outside, but she still misses Dad. He was the best thing that came into her life next to Haunter." He shook his head.
David lowered his head and closed his eyes. His mind seemed to put him in a similar situation, a younger version of himself standing alone before a grave, the rain falling on his head. He couldn't think of why he would be thinking about a scene like that, but it seemed to him that he could feel the rain falling on his head and shoulders right now…
"After that was when mom gave me my Abra." Matt said raising the pokeball that had Kadabra in it. "She taught me how to use some Psychic ability…but I could always tell she was never had her full heart into it." He sighed. "I raised my Abra into a Kadabra and decided that the best way to help her feel better about loosing Dad was that I would become the Gym Leader and she could go on Vacation." Matt said looking at the ceiling.
"Of course, mom smiled at me and said it was a wonderful dream to have. I said that I challenged her and she said that she would accept if I could beat ten trainers in a battle. So that's what I set off to do." Matt smiled. "I fought ten trainers. The last one though, was the most memorable. He used a large dark purple Pokemon he called Darkrai." Matt said.
David's eyes popped open out of sheer shock. He quickly turned to Matt. "A Darkrai!?" David said astounded.
"Yea. It was quite a scary Pokemon. It put Kadabra to sleep and tormented it. I had connected to it with my Psychic ability and…" Matt trembled. "I saw some horrible things with what that Pokemon did inside my Kadabra." Matt said still shaking.
"What did the trainer look like? Do you remember?" David said wit ha bit of urgency.
"He…" Matt was thinking about it. "He was…blonde I'm pretty sure. He wore dark clothes with red one…and I remembered he had this…really cocky attitude…" Matt explained. "He looked a bit older than you." Matt pointed at David.
David turned and stared at the floor in amazement. 'Jake went into the past?' He said in his mind stunned. 'But how?' He racked his brain trying to think of what happened. 'That's why Matt isn't the Gym Leader yet!' David said trying to think about it. 'Jake must've found a way to travel back in time and ran into Matt and beat him in a battle…and that's how he lost a majority of his Psychic ability…out of fear!' David said thinking about it.
"Well, after I lost the tenth match I asked mom if I could still battle her anyways. She agreed and I lost…so I decided to go train my Kadabra and any other Pokemon I got along the way so that I could indeed one day beat her." Matt explained. "And then Saffron was destroyed and I ran into you."
David stood up looking at Sabrina and Janine who where still talking. "Thank you." David said looking down at Matt.
"No Problem." Matt said standing up.
"That was an interesting story." Zana said smiling. "I'm sorry you had a rough past." She said a little concerned.
"Well, not much I can do about it now." Matt shrugged. "My mom said the last thing he said was something about being attacked by a Dark Pokemon." Matt said looking up again. "I'm pretty sure the Darkrai I saw was the same Pokemon he was talking about. But I have no evidence to support my theory…nor could I ever prove anyone was the trainer." He shook his head.
"There there." Jirachi said patting Matt's head. "Cheer up! Everything will be fine from now on!" Jirachi smiled happily.
"You're going to make a great Gym Leader some day Matt." David smiled at Matt.
"Ah, thanks you guys." Matt blushed slightly rubbing the back of his head.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Gym Leader to fight." He said turning to look at Sabrina.
-End Chapter 21-