Chapter 25

Red saw me enter the room and stood. His eyes were an uncanny red that glowed so bright they had their own halos around them. He was slightly taller than me and had deep black hair that was sticking out of a red and white cap. I saw on his belt that he had five ultra balls. His black shirt was tight on his muscular chest. He walked up to me and gently tugged on the collar of my jacket. I took it off. The second it was removed, he put it in himself.

A perfect fit for him, a perfect match for his hat. Now I realized that Brendan had somehow gotten ahold of it without his permission, and he had taken it back for himself. He nodded at me in gratitude.

"Oh, um, you're welcome." He didn't say anything.

"C'mon, Mew. We have to have our battle!" Wally, completely oblivious to the tension in the air, pulled me outside. I was wondering what scent Wanda had used to keep her house smelling so fresh, but it turned out she didn't even need to use anything. The entire outside of her house, the entire town, in fact, was covered in flowers and blossoming trees. The people were either watering them or trimming them. There was a pokecenter, a pokemart, and even a contest hall. But I didn't feel in the slightest mood to try for another ribbon. What was going on then was more important.

Without even issuing a challenge, Wally sent out his kirlia. The pokemon started swaying with the grass in the background, humming a delicate tone. The look in her eyes were deep, almost dreamy. I was about to pull out Eve when a warm hand stopped me. Red grabbed the ball from my hand and instead handed me a different one from my belt: Plums' ball. I gently pulled away to look back at him, but he had sent out Eve without my permission. She got out of the ball, saw Red, and let out a squawk of happiness. She then proceeded to jump in his arms, where he let her gently and slowly. Having seen me stated, he gestured to Wally, who had his arms crossed in impatience.

"Right," I said. "Plum, I choose you!" My kirlia appeared on the battlefield, pumped up and ready to go. "Use disarming voice!"

"Kirlia, dodge it! Use magical leaf!" Wallys pokemon dodged the beams of pink light with amazing ease. As soon as she was out of the way, a barrage of purple leaves took Plum by surprise. He stood up and managed to dodge a small portion of it before dropping to a knee, panting. This kirlia was the real deal. If I wanted to win, I'd have to try something different.

"Plum, use psychic!" He did as told. As soon as the mind wave hit her, Wallys' kirlia closed her eyes and focused on blocking it out. "Quick, magical leaf! Use disarming voice to make the leaves hit even harder and faster!" Right as Wallys' kirlia heard my command, she opened her eyes. But she had already been hit by the blunt force of Plums' mixed attack. She flew backwards and landed on the grass. "Now! Growl! Really give her a headache!"

"Use growl, too!" Wally shouted. "Even louder!" The two pokemon took w breath in in unison before expelling the loudest, must bloodcurdling growl there was. They both lasted on two seconds before both being knocked unconscious.

We had tied.

"Cool!" Wally shouted, returning his pokemon. I followed suit and did the same. "Your pokemon was using that one move, and mine couldn't dodge, so we both, and then..." He sighed. "I love pokemon so much!" His joy lifted my heart a bit.

"Why don't you try and train other pokemon?" I suggested. The look on his face was confused. "You can have up to six pokemon on a team, you know. You can train others, too."

"Ohhhh!" He realized. "I didn't even think about that! Thanks!" Red appeared at my side again, Eve sitting on his shoulder. He tapped his wrist like he was in a rush.

"We have to get going, Wally," I translated. He looked disappointed. "But I promise we will battle again. Soon. And you better have a bigger team when I get back!" The determination in his eyes nearly filled the air.

"I promise! Next time I battle you, I will win!" Then he raced off towards the pokemon center. I was about to follow, but Red stopped me. He took the pokeball from my hand and started healing Plum with a max revive he had somehow gotten ahold of. When he was done, he handed it back to me. His finger tapped against his wrist again.

I stared at him. He stared back. The red in his eyes was scary, so I became the first to talk. "How did you find me?" He rolled his eyes, grabbed my hand, and started leaving me out of Verdanturf town. The route next to it was completely clear if trainers that must've left as soon as Mauville was overrun. "How did you find me?" I repeated when we were out of earshot of everyone nearby.

He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a PokeNav. Before I could grab it, he returned it. I stuck out my lower lip in a pout.

"Are you going to talk at all?" Silence was all he gave me as an answer. He took the lead. Eve was still on his shoulder, but she looked so content, I decided it would be better to do as he implied. I followed him.

Mauville had been evacuated the night before, so it was as quiet as the night I had been killed for the second time. There was no longer any sign of jirachi. I was sort of relieved. He had created this, now I had to undo it. I paused that thought. Or did I create that problem? The thought of Steven or Brendan dying was heavy on my mind. Mew two had promised their safety, but it still made me uneasy.

Red walked me straight through Mauville and out without a word. It was then that I realized what I had forgotten.

"I didn't compete against the gym." He swiftly threw something small over his shoulder. I caught it right before it smacked me in the face. It was the Mauville city gym badge. He had gotten it somehow. "Isn't this cheating?" He stopped and looked over his shoulder. I don't know what it was, but I understood exactly what he was implying. "I guess the Dewford badge didn't really count either." He nodded once then turned back on the road. "How did you know about that?"

He threw a pokeball over his shoulder. A familiar espeon emerged, swishing her tail through the air. I blinked in surprise. Then, before I could ask her any questions, he returned her. I pulled up beside Red, looking for some answers in his eyes. He kept his focus directly ahead, ignoring me.

"So how did you manage to get her back after all that happened?" He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "You know, the whole abandoned ship sinking and whatever." Red took a quick moment to think. Without stopping, he drew attention to his hands. He held them up, showed me the front and back of them, and then did that weird trick where it looked like he was pulling his fingers off from each other through an optical illusion. He lifted his eyebrows several times while he did it, as if it was a hint. "Magic?" I guessed. He pointed at me, smiling faintly. Then he was set back on the trail.

For a while, all we did was walk in silence. When we were far enough north from the city, we came across a row of boulders that were too large and wide for us to fit between. I tried moving them to no avail. They were just far too heavy. They had cracks in them, but there was no possible way to crack them without the help of a stronger pokemon. Red sent out his espeon.

"Um, she doesn't know rock smash," I pointed out. I opened my mouth to say more, but the psychic type pokemon had jumped high in the air. She spun a few times and then took off rapidly back to Earth, where she shattered all four of the boulders with one sweep of her glowing tail. The rocks crumbled to bits and left behind were two geodudes, both of which had fainted in the process. Espeon landed, purring and rubbing up against Reds' leg. He returned her and started on the trail. "Pokemon can't learn more than four moves. Why does yours know five?" He rolled his eyes and did the finger trick over again, this time slower. "Ok, ok. I get it. Magic."

He did a little applause. We continued on the trail. I was tempted to ask him more questions, but he had his way of proving me wrong and making a joke about it. The dude didn't even talk and seemed to just breathe sarcasm. I've heard the stories: he doesn't talk, he just battles and battles. That's what it was like when he was the Kanto region champion, but he had grown bored of never being defeated and handed it off to his own rival, Blue. From then on, nobody really saw him. Word had it he was out in the world trying to catch every pokemon. That reminded me.

"How are you friends with Mewtwo?" I pulled up beside him to get his answer. Red took a deep breath, like he was getting annoyed, and held out an ultra ball. "You… you caught him?" He nodded. "But you let him do as he likes then? Why would you bother catching him?" He put the ultra ball away so he could pull out his pokedex. "Oh. You needed the information."

A warm breeze started to pick up around us. Red reached into his coat pocket and handed me a pair of goggles. I took them from him slowly. "We going swimming or something?" The look on his face expressed that I was an idiot in his eyes. He pulled out a pair of his own and wrapped them around his head. I did the same, somewhat embarrassed by him. As we started walking further and further down the road, I began to understand what he meant by giving me these. There was a sandstorm kicking up in the direction we were heading. It was getting so nasty that I was being pushed around, my footsteps like a drunkard. I tried holding my arms to try and balance myself, but I was too small and skinny to hold my own.

Red grabbed my arm right as I began to be pushed away and tucked me under his arm and into his jacket, where he began to pat my side: a sign to let him lead the way. I blushed. Was I annoying him by being so weak through the storm, or was he just doing this out of kindness?

The grass gave way to sand and the air became thick with dust and sand. We were both slowed by the pummeling storm now. If we didn't have goggles on, we would both definitely be blinded. Red held me closer and pushed harder, the red gleam in his eyes unmasked. If I were to get separated from him, all I would have to do is look for that red glow. It was so brilliant and strong that nothing could hope to cover it.

There were trainers nearby with goggles of their own, but Red made sure to avoid them. He knew I didn't have any pokemon who could fight in this weather without being blown away. That or he didn't want to wait. Either way, we didn't engage in a single battle. I huddled closer to him from under his jacket and instinctively held onto his hand. He squeezed me gently.

The wild pokemon that came across our path didn't stand a chance against Red's espeon. Every time he sent her out it took a total of five seconds to end the battle. I feel like the only reason he battled them was because he knew the rest would see and stay away, which they did. They grew so scared of him and Espeon that when he drew near, they dove beneath the sand and didn't surface until we were well out of the way. I wonder if that was how everyone saw Red in Kanto. Fearsome, powerful, scary. I know I wouldn't like to be known like that.

The storm started to ease up. The sand grew shallower and it became easier to walk through. We began to exit the route that had trapped us in the flurry of sand and dirt. Grass began to appear beneath our feet. The air cleared and I could breathe without holding my sleeve over my mouth. Though we were now safe, Red refused to release me from his grasp. He started running his hand down my side delicately. It felt nice, but the look on his face was unchanged. It was like he was a statue. I wanted to ask him why he acted like this, but I lost myself while being held so close. I huddled closer and marched my footsteps to the beat of his. I wasn't sure if I imagined it, but he chuckled. When I looked to meet his eyes, his expression was unchanged.

By the time we were able to remove our goggles, so much sand had gathered in my clothes that I felt like a walking sand monster. It was irritating my armpits, my hair, and my shoes. Red was likewise covered, but he refused to show any signs of struggle. He did stop when he noticed my growing annoyance.

He held out an ultra ball and gestured for me to put my goggles back on. As soon as I did as told, he held out his hand, gesturing towards the ball. I assumed he was asking for permission of some sort. I didn't know what it was, so I just agreed. There was no telling what my mistake was until he sent out a blastoise.

"U-u-um, I don't think that's- BLARGH!" His blastoise, using the water he produced from his mouth instead of the ones from his canons, splashed me with icy cold water. It wasn't enough to knock me off my feet but it was plenty to open my eyes a little bit. I turned around a few times, allowing him to get every grain of sand off me. When the water pokemon finished, I was soaking wet and freezing cold. I stood there, shivering. Night had just fallen so a breeze was wafting through the air, freezing me. I thought the pokemon master was going to let me freeze until he called out his charizard.

He gathered up a few sticks from some trees nearby and set them up, tipi style, beside one of the larger rock formations to the side of the path. There was a slight overhang so if it did rain, which I'm sure it wouldn't, the fire wouldn't go out. Charizard helped him get some extra firewood and set the soon-to-be bonfire inside some rocks to keep it from spreading. As soon as he was done, his charizard used ember on the sticks, bringing it to life. Red sat down on some logs he pulled up from a dead tree he had found and looked towards me. I had watched them in silence. I was still dripping wet and cold, so his invitation for me to sit next to him was taken up right away.

Stars hung above our heads, most masked by the overhang of the cliff, but the rest far enough out of the way to see. Red returned Charizard and started prodding the fire with a stick, setting the rest ablaze. I shivered and held my hands over the fire. I even scooted closer and warmed myself up further. Ash started forming on the base of the tipi. I felt a gentle weight hit my back and realized that Red had tossed me his jacket. It had been shaken enough so there were no grains of sand left on it.

"Thank you," I said gratefully. He met my eyes and nodded once before returning to the fire. I undid my fanny pack, relieved that my items were not soaked, and pulled out two soda pops. I handed one to Red. He stared at me. "Don't act so tough. Every human needs to drink at some point in their life." Red smirked faintly and took it from me, undoing the lid with a flick of his finger. He drank the whole thing in two big gulps. "So you were thirsty and didn't tell me?"

"..."

"Are you hungry?" I pulled out a bag of berries I had kept when Steven and I had been mixing pokeblocks. I handed him a cherri berry, but his hand went right past it and grabbed a pecha berry instead. He started taking small bites from it. I took a pecha berry of my own and devoured it. He glanced at me sideways, a hint of a smile on his lips. "I haven't eaten since we left," I protested. "A few carrots does not make a full meal."

"Neither does a few scrawny berries." I stopped eating and looked to him. He blinked at me.

"So you can talk."

"When I feel like it, yes." He looked to the stars. "I don't speak to anybody. You just wouldn't shut up."

"You need to talk more. I'm stuck in the predicament and only you can answer my questions."

"Only me?" he hinted sarcastically. I stared at him. "You must understand, there are people and pokemon wiser in this world than me with answers."

"Mewtwo won't tell me anything," I argued.

"Maybe because you yell at him?" I was taken aback at his words.

"You know I do that? How?"

"Mewtwo is my pokemon. He tells me everything." I didn't say anything to that. "He's hard on the outside, but once you get to know him, he's actually a lot more likeable. Maybe you should try being friends with him next time you die."

"Next time I die?" The words were chilling. I didn't want to die again. I know eight lives was a lot for anybody, but it just didn't seem like enough for me. I was pretty careless with them, I'll admit that. "I don't want to die again." Red lifted his hat back and moved the hair from his eyes.

"Then watch your back. It's better to always know what's going on around you." I pondered his words and wrapped his jacket around me tighter. "You do possess a lot of power. Perhaps you should try using it?"

"I can't with people around."

"There's only me right now." He poked the almost dead fire with a stick before adding a few more blocks of wood. "Light this again. It's fairly easy. Even charmanders can do it." I stared at the wood sticks. Then I opened my mouth and blew. A little bit of a flame came out from deep in my stomach and dropped weakly to the wood. The spark was so small it went out before it even left a mark on the wood. Frustrated, I blew harder. The whole fire exploded to life with the flames I had procured. I fell backwards, surprised. Red chuckled. "You're like a newly hatched growlithe," he observed.

"I hope that's a compliment," I mumbled, righting my chair and sitting down.

"It is. Growlithes are naturally powerful so when they're born, there's so much potential they don't know what to do with it."

"You remind me of back home." He went silent. "Why are you here, anyways? Why are you helping me?"

"I have to keep a promise to an old friend." He looked to me. "You probably heard of him. The guy who made you part pokemon when you were just a fetus."

"You consider Giovanni an old friend?" I said in disbelief. "Didn't you force him to disband Team Rocket and go into hiding?"

"No," Red confessed. "He merely said he was sick of me meddling. So to put an end to it, we battled. If I won, he was to disband Team Rocket. If he won, I was to let him do as he please for the rest of my life. I just happened to win." He paused. "As soon as I did, he told me everything he had been doing as the leader of that terrible group. He told me all the pokemon I needed to release from his lair, all the people I needed to arrest, and lastly the experiment he would never be able to complete: you." He threw his stick into the fire. "He had hoped that when you turned 10 and got your first pokemon, he would be able to guide you into destroying this world he despised so much with the powers he knew you would have. But I watched you grow up inside that house in Saffron. You never had pokemon of your own, you never showed any sign of significant power. So I fulfilled my own dream while you were safe in Saffron. I became the Kanto champion. I beat my rival. I did everything I wanted to. When I realized that you had left for Hoenn, I came here, guided by Mewtwo. He told me of what had transpired while I had been gone. And now here we are."

"So you're here to watch me as an experiment?" I asked. He sighed.

"In a way, yes. In another way, it's a promise I had to keep. In a third, I think you'd make a good companion." I blushed. "You battle with such amazing ability. You might just beat your boyfriend one day."

"But it's not really my destiny to become champion, right?"

"..."

"I mean, don't I have to stop the world for being destroyed?"

"Haven't you thought about what comes after that?" I took a moment to think. "If you play your cards right, you might just have enough lives left after saving the world to become champion."

I wrapped his jacket tighter around my shoulders. "I better get to sleep. We have to travel a lot tomorrow if we are going to save the boys." He stood up off the log and propped himself up against the rock wall. I got off mine and lie in the dirt. I was so exhausted that I didn't even remember lying my head down on the ground.

The Storm Is Too Strong, You Cannot Continue!

Mew Received Go-Go Goggles!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!

To Be Continued…