Jason Creight awoke on a warm spring morning at Tohjo Falls.
His first thought was, *Whoa, that was a weird dream.*
His second one was, *Man, now I have to get into the chair. Glad I've got Gengar.*
As his Gengar helped him into his wheelchair, Jason spotted Gyarados shooting out of the center of the waterfall like a giant blue torpedo. He grinned; he knew that Gyarados was happy to be in the water for such a long time.
Jason had chosen to forego the Johto League for the time being in order to train his new Pokemon. Gyarados and Gengar were his only original ones now. He had traded Charizard in a while ago and had, in return, received a recently captured Skarmory; quite a rare find for Jason, considering the fact that he was restricted to his wheelchair for the most part.
It served him well, however, and he couldn't ask for better from it.
In fact, he couldn't ask for better from the rest of his Pokemon, either. He had been surprised at the amount of experience his new Pokemon had gained. They had shown initiative from day one; they went out into the wild grasses, never straying far from their master, and engaged in furious battles with other Pokemon. They had almost always come out victorious, as well. Jason knew that they'd had their share of falls, but he knew that they learned from it and kept going.
And that was just fine with him.
His Cyndaquil had evolved into Quilava fairly quickly, as had Mareep to Flaaffy and Phanpy to Donphan; all of these were developments that made Jason feel rather proud of himself. His Pokemon were learning new moves that allowed them to become stronger in their techniques.
But not *too* proud. He knew very well that it had been their own initiative, not just his, that had allowed them to evolve so quickly. It seemed to him, in fact, that Quilava and Flaaffy were having a good-natured contest to see which one would evolve the fastest.
And then he saw it.
It was in the water.
Jason couldn't believe his eyes.
Right in front of him, its eyes staring at him across the water, was a Pokemon Jason had always hoped to capture. He'd known it was rare, but he'd wanted to capture it so badly.
And now it was in front of him.
It was a Dratini.
But it was red.
"What the..." Jason muttered, not daring to make a move.
The Dratini left the water.
Jason abruptly realized that the Dratini wasn't touching the ground. It was floating in midair.
*A red Dratini? Approaching me?!*
It was indeed floating towards him.
Jason was captivated by its stare. He didn't know whether it was using a power beyond his comprehension, or simply because he didn't want it to leave his sight for an instant.
*Maybe it's both,* he thought.
Its eyes blazed a vibrant, electric blue, but the look in them was one of innocence.
And of some sort of desire.
Jason dared not move.
Its face was now within an inch of his.
And it spoke to his mind.
It spoke with the simple vocabulary of a child.
[I know who you are. You helped my mother and father escape from a big cage a long time ago. They keep saying they can't repay you.]
It turned to Gyarados, who had also stopped dead in the water and was now listening to its thoughts. [You made the big fires. You tore the cages apart. My mother and father say they can't repay you, either.]
It turned back to Jason. [But now I only talk to my mother and father when they come with people like you. People with other Pokemon in strange orbs. People who move with those.]
It looked at Jason's legs. [But you can't move with those.] It looked back up into his eyes. [Mother and father have those, too. Four of them. And long tails, and wings. I wish I had wings.]
Jason was fixed to the spot. He had to force himself to think.
"Do you really want wings?" he asked, hoping it could understand him.
[Yes, I really want wings. I want to fly into the sky, to see the world from a whole new place.]
"What would you say if I told you I could help make your wish come true?"
The Dratini made no facial expression, but Jason could sense its skepticism and the unbridled joy underneath it. [You can give me wings?]
"No. Only you can give yourself wings."
[How?]
"I can't explain. It's hard to understand."
[Can you help me understand?]
"I think so. I hope so. If I try to help you understand, would you like to come with me?"
The question had come unbidden from his mind, but now it was out in the open.
Now the Dratini had a physical response. Its brow furrowed just the slightest bit. [Go with you? Where?]
"Anywhere. Everywhere. Places that seem like a whole new world."
The Dratini didn't respond.
Even as he began to wonder if he was losing it, Jason continued. "And I can help you get wings. You'll be able to fly, to see the world. From up there, and down here, too. Your wish can be fulfilled if you let me help you."
It stared unblinkingly. [And if I don't want to?]
"I won't force you to go if you don't want to."
There was silence for a few moments.
[Then I will go with you.]
***
Jason knew that for its own safety, as well as to show "possession," Dratini would need a capture ball. Jason's only stock was Poke balls, but that wasn't a problem. After Jason explained the process to Dratini, it entered the ball without resistance. Jason then used his new Pokedex to send Donphan back to the lab, thus ensuring that Dratini would not feel dragged all over the place while inside the ball.
Jason wondered how Gyarados felt about the entire thing. Dratini's special attacks and original home both involved water, as with Gyarados. Jason thought Gyarados might feel a little put off to the side, while its master got a new water type.
After the business with putting Dratini in the Poke ball was concluded, Jason turned to Gyarados. "No Pokemon can ever replace you. Never forget that. I'll need you more than ever, now. I need you to help Dratini learn about its potential. It wants wings, and the only way it'll get them is by evolving all the way to Dragonite. It's gonna be tough. Think you can handle it?"
It nodded and growled.
"Glad to hear it."
Just then, Jason heard a rustling in the foliage nearby. Gyarados turned toward it and frowned.
"Hello?" Jason called. "Someone there?"
There was no answer, from either a person or a Pokemon.
Jason wheeled himself to the other side of the path and peered into the foliage.
And he was suddenly, violently knocked out of his wheelchair. He went sprawling and his chair tumbled to the ground a few feet away.
As he tried to recover, he noticed that a shadow was being cast on him.
A particularly large shadow.
He slowly moved his eyes upward.
Hovering above him was a Nidoking.
"Gyarados," he muttered, "a little help here?"
A multicolored energy blast boiled out of Gyarados' mouth and took the Nidoking in the shoulder. It hit the dirt and almost landed on top of Jason.
Jason's hand flashed to his capture ball belt. "Gengar and Quilava, help me out!"
As soon as Quilava's energy form solidified into its physical one, it blasted the Nidoking with its flame wheel attack. It wasn't enough to knock it out, but it certainly was painful. Nidoking got to its feet and gave ground as Gyarados came out of the water to aid Quilava.
Gengar, meanwhile, helped Jason back into his wheelchair.
"Thanks, Gengar. Now go help Gyarados and Quilava scare that Nidoking off."
But as soon as those words were out, Jason began to think about what he'd just said. *I wonder why I want it to be scared off. I have never, not once, seen a wild Nidoking. That one has to belong to someone.
The question is, did that someone instruct it to attack me?*
It didn't really matter, at any rate. Jason knew that he didn't want the Nidoking around; obviously, it hadn't taken a liking to him.
"Gyarados," he called, "dragon rage attack! Quilava, help Gyarados out with another flame wheel attack! Gengar, psybeam!"
The air around Nidoking crackled with the burning rage of Gyarados' and Quilava's combined attacks, along with Gengar's psybeam.
And Nidoking ran away.
Jason had been holding his breath; now he let it out with relief. He had been confident that his Pokemon would take it out, but he was still nervous.
*What could have caused a Nidoking to attack me like that? A trainer?
Could it possibly have been released by a trainer and attacked me in a rage?
Or is more to come than just that?*
He recalled his four Pokemon and wheeled away from Tohjo Falls.
*I don't think it's safe to stick around anymore. Time to go to familiar territory.*
***
Three shadowy figures crouched in the dark, dense foliage of Tohjo Falls.
Watching.
"He's heading for Viridian City."
"I can see that. How's Nidoking?"
"Pretty bad. I need to get him to a Pokemon center, quick."
"No, you don't. I've got a max revive in my pack."
"Oh. Thanks."
More leaves rustled.
"So, what do we do about him?"
"We follow him. But not too closely. If he finds out from his Pokemon that he's being followed, we'll never catch him."
"What are you talking about? He's in a wheelchair, for godsakes."
"He's got a flying Pokemon, a swimming Pokemon, and a psychic Pokemon to help him onto either one of those. For all we know, it can teleport. Just follow my lead, and stay quiet."
"Nidoking is my best Pokemon. If it can't take his Pokemon out, what makes you think yours can?"
"Sending Nidoking was just a test, to see which ones he's got. He's always changing his team. Now we've seen four of his six. We'll get him in all due time. But for now, we're moving out."
"Fine. Nidoking, return."
A brief light shone across from the waterfall.
But no one was there to watch.
***
Jason looked longingly down the path to Pallet Town. That was where so many memories resided, where he'd spent four years devoting himself to Pokemon as best he could, wheelchair-bound though he was. It was where people like Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum lived and made lives for themselves.
And it was where Kelly had chosen to stay.
He shook his head, trying to shake it off. *I can't think about her now. After that Nidoking, I should probably stay at a city for the night, and Viridian's closer. It's also more emotionally distant.*
And that was when he saw it.
It was a statue, gleaming in the evening light. It was distant, and down a different road, but Jason saw it now.
*I've never been on that road. Wonder why that statue's there?*
He resolved to find out. *I can make it to Viridian on Skarmory if I have to.*
***
"I thought he was going to Viridian. Why's he going there?"
"Maybe he can see the memorial."
"That's impossible! I thought we were the only ones with that kind of ranged sight!"
"He's been hanging with Pokemon all his life. I'm willing to bet he picked up a couple things from them."
"You know what I think?"
"No, I don't. Why don't you go ahead and tell me, even though I don't think I want to know?"
"I think he's going there to destroy the memorial, so there won't be any way anyone will remember!"
There was a low growl. "If he is, he'll regret it. Let's go. None of us moves on him 'til we figure out what he's up to."
***
Jason approached the statue. It was a statue of two people; one was a young boy, crying. The other was a middle-aged man standing over the boy with his hand on the boy's shoulder. The statue was carved out of black marble and polished to perfection.
Inset into the base was a small brass plaque, also polished to a shine.
*In Remembrance of the Tragedy of Tirenza*
Jason raised one eyebrow. *What was the tragedy of Tirenza?*
He sat and contemplated the image.
Inspiration struck him a few moments later. He took out his Pokedex, opened it, and ordered, "Open history files. Search subject: Tirenza."
It responded a moment later. "Tirenza. Formerly a peaceful town between Viridian City and Fuschia City, it perished in a wildfire six years, two months, and five days ago. Files indicate four survivors out of a population of approximately two thousand."
"And here's one of them!"
Jason's eyes shot upward in the direction of the voice.
A Charizard was flying overhead, and a boy slightly younger than him was mounted on its back. The boy was wearing black clothes, had dark blond hair, and a sour expression.
"Oh, yeah, and the wildfire?" he sneered. "It looked a lot like this!"
On cue, the Charizard opened its mouth and spewed a stream of flame towards Jason.
He just barely managed to avoid it by wheeling himself out of the way. He pulled out Gyarados' Poke ball and tossed it, shouting its order before it had even materialized. "Gyarados, hydro pump!"
The instant it emerged, Gyarados followed Jason's order with a vicious spray of water aimed straight at the Charizard's tail.
The boy's expression turned from one of sadistic smugness to horror as he realized where the water was heading. By the time he thought of a defensive maneuver for Charizard to act on, it was too late; he and his Charizard were both dropping out of the sky like rocks.
Then they disappeared in a blinding flash of light.
Jason frowned. *They must have teleported. But he didn't have a psychic Pokemon active, and unless he's a powerful psychic himself, he couldn't have done it. And why bother attacking me with force when he could have attacked with his mind, if he were psychic?
Someone bailed him out.
But who?*
***
"That was sloppy."
"Sorry."
"Don't 'sorry' me. I said no one moves until we find out what he's doing, and what do you do? You go and get cocky. 'Oh, no, I don't have to follow his rules. I'll go flying up there with my Charizard's tail fully exposed so that his Gyarados has an even bigger chance of murdering it.' Don't you dare do that again."
There was silence for a few moments.
"As for you, make sure this teaches you a lesson. We need stealth right now, not a stupid show of force. It didn't work before, and it sure didn't work just now. Got that?"
"Loud and clear."
"Good. It looks like he's not going to do anything to the memorial; maybe he'll head back toward Viridian. Coward that he is, hiding behind Giovanni like that."
"He doesn't even know we're following him."
"He does now, thanks to your little tactic. I didn't want to see you die right in front of me, that's why I had Alakazam teleport you to safety. Oh, yeah, you cost us big time. Now let's get moving."
***
By the time Jason made it to Viridian, it was sundown, and the glow of the city lights made the sky orange. Jason wheeled down the sidewalk towards a local motel.
As he passed a dark alley, he heard a voice say, "Hey, kid!"
Jason stopped.
He saw a man wearing a black uniform, with a large red 'R' splashed across the chest. Standing next to him was a Raticate.
*Rocket grunt,* Jason thought. "What do you want?"
"I want all of your Pokemon. Now!"
Jason snorted and tossed three capture balls.
Out came Gengar, Quilava, and Skarmory.
"Think you can take these?" he sneered.
The grunt stumbled backward and ran down the alley, his Raticate at his heels.
Jason recalled his Pokemon and continued down the sidewalk.
*It's a shame, really. My Pokemon didn't get more experience.*
***
"He's heading for that motel. I'll go after him. You two go to different places and call me when you get there."
"Why do you get to go after him?"
"Because I'm the oldest, why else?"
***
After Jason had checked in and was in his room, he put the Do Not Disturb sign on his door and put all the locks to use. Then he brought Gengar out.
"Gonna need you to make sure no one tries to come in, all right?"
"Gengar."
"Good."
Jason turned out the light and tried to get some sleep.
***
It was midnight, long after Jason had lost consciousness.
Three figures stood outside the door to Jason's room.
"Shall we?"
"Yeah. Hypno, come on out."
A brief flash of light lit the hallway. No one was around to notice.
"Hypno, unlock the door, please."
***
Gengar was standing on the window sill, watching its master sleep. It was glad that Jason wasn't one to snore; this provided some silence so it could meditate.
And then it heard the locks being unlocked.
Gengar reached out with its considerable psychic abilities and discovered a Hypno was the cause. Not only that, but the Hypno was under orders from three people standing outside the door.
Gengar's mind raced. How could it warn its master of impending danger and keep the intruders out at the same time?
It shrugged.
And then it blasted the door down with a psybeam attack. The door came completely off its hinges and sheared away from the locks, slamming straight into the three intruders and their Hypno.
***
Jason was rudely awakened to the sound of rending metal and the sight of light flooding in. His head snapped up, and he saw Gengar in a battle stance at the foot of his bed. He also saw the door...
No, that was the doorway. He couldn't see the door.
"Gengar, what's going on?" he asked.
"We're what's going on," answered an unfamiliar voice.
Jason turned back to the door and saw three people stepping into the room. One of them tossed something towards him; the object landed on his bed.
Jason had no time to react.
The canister exploded, spewing smoke everywhere.
He scrambled out of his bed and tried to reach his wheelchair.
It wasn't where he'd left it.
"Looking for this?" a voice called.
He looked up and saw that one of the figures had taken the chair. The figure tossed it to the other side of the room, behind his two accomplices.
He groaned, grabbed his capture ball belt out from under his bed, and promptly tossed two balls. "Quilava and Flaaffy, a little help here!"
As soon as his Pokemon emerged, fire and lightning erupted from them and spewed to all corners of the room.
Jason was on the floor now, pulling himself with all his might toward the window. He was on the first floor, if he could just...
"Where do you think you're going?" yelled another voice.
Jason felt himself being dragged back toward the center of the room by his feet.
*I could really have used those right about now...*
He became vaguely aware that the sprinkler system had been activated by the fire now consuming the room, and water was pouring down on him, his attackers, and his Pokemon. He paid no attention, grabbed Quilava's empty Poke ball, sat up, and thrust the ball forward, hoping to hit his attacker through the dense smoke.
He felt a solid impact, and he heard a strangled "Agh!"
The attacker released him.
Jason turned back toward his goal and found the window. With Quilava's Poke ball in hand, he smashed it. Then he grabbed his shoe off the floor and cleared out the bottom ledge; he knew that he would be slashed otherwise. He then hauled himself across the air conditioning unit and stuck his body out the window.
His legs were being less cooperative. "Gengar, help me out here!"
Immediately, Gengar came to Jason's aid and dragged him the rest of the way out.
"Okay," Jason muttered, "let's get out of here."
He tossed Skarmory's Ultra ball, and out came the steel bird. Gengar assisted him onto Skarmory's back, and Jason turned back to the flaming motel room.
Quilava and Flaaffy were jumping out the window as well, intent on following their master.
There were no signs of pursuit.
"Quilava and Flaaffy, return!" Jason called. "Skarmory, let's get out of here. Gengar, get on!"
Skarmory took flight, not knowing where its master wanted it to go, but not caring one way or the other. It understood that they needed to leave immediately, and it did so.
***
The attackers were far away from the motel by the time the firefighters got there.
"Man, this really sucks."
"You're telling me. Hey, fearless leader, is there any other possible way your plan could have been blown?"
"Shut up," answered the leader. He turned to the younger one. "How's your head?"
"Well, let's see, it's got a knot the size of a Golem on the right temple, but other than that..."
The leader shook his head. "He was ready for us."
"Yeah, he was ready for us! You and your stupid Nidoking had to try and get the first strike in! Of course he's gonna guard himself! All you've done is tick him off!" yelled the older one.
"We did more than that."
"Oh, how stupid of me! We have his wheelchair. Well, how good is that! He can get another one, you know. With his bank account and his contacts, it wouldn't be all that difficult. You might have tried to get the wheelchair while he was in it, at the very least!"
"We'll get him. It's only a matter of time."
"Thank you so much, O fearless leader, for that statement. You are aware, ae you not, that the bad guys are usually the ones to say that? You don't consider yourself the bad guy, do you?"
"No, of course I don't. It was just a figure of speech. But we'll get him in time."
"Yeah, well, in case you hadn't noticed, time isn't exactly on our side! We've got exactly... 37 hours, 28 minutes and 29 seconds before the big kablooie!"
"Then we'd better get moving, hadn't we?"
The leader stood and his hand moved to his capture ball belt.
"No, you don't!"
Suddenly, six Pokemon appeared and surrounded the figures.
Alakazam.
Slowbro.
Gengar.
Jynx.
Gyarados.
And a red Dratini.
Jason was mounted on Gyarados' back.
"Alakazam, Slowbro, Gengar, and Jynx, take their Pokemon from them," he said, remorseless.
The capture ball belts of all three figures were ripped from their grasps.
"Now," said Jason, "you three seem to have a lot to answer for."
"Look who's talking," said the youngest one.
"The one who's talking is me, thank you," said Jason. "Who are you?"
"Our names aren't important," said the leader.
"They are to me," Jason responded. "I won't ask again."
"Very well. You can call me the Star Wolf. These are my brothers, the Flame Viper, and the Neo Blade."
Jason snorted. "This sounds like something out of a video game."
"This is no game. We are members of the Shadow clan."
Jason frowned. "You mean, the ninja clan that Koga founded?"
"The same."
"You're bound by a code of honor, then."
"We are."
"What honor is there in attacking an ally?"
"You're no ally."
"True enough. But there was a lot more of a chance of my becoming an ally of yours had you not bombed me in my sleep."
"There was no chance for it before, and there never will be."
"Why's that?"
"We don't consort with Giovanni or his scum."
Jason frowned again. "Giovanni? What makes you think I work for him?"
"Your father was the owner of a business that sold Pokemon to Giovanni. Giovanni lined his pockets, and yours, with money in return."
"You think I work for Giovanni because of what my father did?" Jason laughed. "You've got your lines crossed, Wolf. I hate the work my father did. And I hate Giovanni. If I never see the man again, it'll be too soon. I had to go battle that buzzard for a badge in the Indigo League, and I won, but he didn't give it to me 'til I almost killed him."
Wolf shrugged. "For all we know, it was a front."
"A front, eh? Yeah, right. There was one spectator. One. My girlfriend. And she doesn't like the man any more than I do. But that's not what I came here to discuss. Back to the main vein."
"Yes, by all means," Wolf responded dryly.
Jason ignored the comment. "If you didn't want to consort with such scum as me, why come all this way to attack me?"
"Assuming that you're not one of Giovanni's rats for the moment, I'll fill you in. Leader Koga's gym is in serious jeopardy. The gym was receiving large payments recently, payments that were helping the gym stay out of debt. Not knowing where the payments were coming from, Koga took the money and used it. For the most part, he used it wisely. But some of it was for frivolous use. Enough that we began to depend on it.
"Then the payments stopped coming. The gym was badly in debt, and Koga began losing to trainers in the Indigo League. He, and we, are about to be evicted from the gym. We discovered that the money was coming from Giovanni. Giovanni's wedged himself in tight enough now that when the clan is evicted, he'll take it over. He plans to destroy it and build a new one for his flunkies to train in."
Jason shook his head, trying to take all this in. "So what does all this have to do with me?"
"We knew that between your battles and your family's wealth, you had collected a considerable amount of money. We suspected that you were involved with Giovanni, perhaps heavily. Maybe even to the point where you would know where he hides when he's not in his gym. The goal was to get to you, force you to cooperate with us, and take us to Giovanni's hideout so that we could have a personal conversation with him and sort it out."
Jason shook his head again. "You're out of luck, Wolf. I have no information on Giovanni or where he goes. All I know is that he's associated with Team Rocket."
"That's all the information we have to go on, as well. Unfortunately, it seems that he's ordered his subordinates to go into hiding until the eviction."
"And when does the eviction take place?"
"In a day and a half." Wolf crossed his arms. "If you're not one of Giovanni's punks, how can you have such strong Pokemon?"
"I train them," Jason answered. He didn't like Wolf; the guy seemed to look down upon him, even from Jason's high perch on Gyarados.
"I see."
"I'm sure."
Jason suddenly remembered something. Something vital.
"I can help you," he said. "I think I know where you can start your search."
"Where?"
"Not so fast. There's a price."
"Oh?" Wolf raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. First off, I want my wheelchair back. You'd better have it."
Wolf turned to his youngest brother. "Viper?"
Viper sighed and said, "Your wheelchair is just down the hill there."
"Fine," said Jason, "go get it. Gengar, go with him."
Wolf turned back to Jason. "The information."
"Hold on. I want to get Giovanni back just as much as you do. He's done a lot of bad things to good people. He needs to be punished."
"That's why we're here, in case you hadn't noticed."
"If your Pokemon could bow to mine so easily, what makes you think you'll do any better against Giovanni?"
Wolf glared at Jason. He didn't like Jason any more than Jason liked him. "The plan is to catch him off guard."
"Like you caught me off guard back at the motel?"
Viper and Gengar returned with the wheelchair.
Jason pointed his finger at Wolf. "I'm coming along with you guys, whether you like it or not. And I'll prove to you that Giovanni and I have lost no love for each other since I worked for my father."
Wolf sighed, exasperated. "Very well. But when the time comes to make Giovanni pay for his crimes, you're not going to stand in our way."
"You're not going to stand in *my* way," Jason responded.
"We'll see," Wolf growled. "We'll see."
Jason Creight glared on.
To Be Continued
His first thought was, *Whoa, that was a weird dream.*
His second one was, *Man, now I have to get into the chair. Glad I've got Gengar.*
As his Gengar helped him into his wheelchair, Jason spotted Gyarados shooting out of the center of the waterfall like a giant blue torpedo. He grinned; he knew that Gyarados was happy to be in the water for such a long time.
Jason had chosen to forego the Johto League for the time being in order to train his new Pokemon. Gyarados and Gengar were his only original ones now. He had traded Charizard in a while ago and had, in return, received a recently captured Skarmory; quite a rare find for Jason, considering the fact that he was restricted to his wheelchair for the most part.
It served him well, however, and he couldn't ask for better from it.
In fact, he couldn't ask for better from the rest of his Pokemon, either. He had been surprised at the amount of experience his new Pokemon had gained. They had shown initiative from day one; they went out into the wild grasses, never straying far from their master, and engaged in furious battles with other Pokemon. They had almost always come out victorious, as well. Jason knew that they'd had their share of falls, but he knew that they learned from it and kept going.
And that was just fine with him.
His Cyndaquil had evolved into Quilava fairly quickly, as had Mareep to Flaaffy and Phanpy to Donphan; all of these were developments that made Jason feel rather proud of himself. His Pokemon were learning new moves that allowed them to become stronger in their techniques.
But not *too* proud. He knew very well that it had been their own initiative, not just his, that had allowed them to evolve so quickly. It seemed to him, in fact, that Quilava and Flaaffy were having a good-natured contest to see which one would evolve the fastest.
And then he saw it.
It was in the water.
Jason couldn't believe his eyes.
Right in front of him, its eyes staring at him across the water, was a Pokemon Jason had always hoped to capture. He'd known it was rare, but he'd wanted to capture it so badly.
And now it was in front of him.
It was a Dratini.
But it was red.
"What the..." Jason muttered, not daring to make a move.
The Dratini left the water.
Jason abruptly realized that the Dratini wasn't touching the ground. It was floating in midair.
*A red Dratini? Approaching me?!*
It was indeed floating towards him.
Jason was captivated by its stare. He didn't know whether it was using a power beyond his comprehension, or simply because he didn't want it to leave his sight for an instant.
*Maybe it's both,* he thought.
Its eyes blazed a vibrant, electric blue, but the look in them was one of innocence.
And of some sort of desire.
Jason dared not move.
Its face was now within an inch of his.
And it spoke to his mind.
It spoke with the simple vocabulary of a child.
[I know who you are. You helped my mother and father escape from a big cage a long time ago. They keep saying they can't repay you.]
It turned to Gyarados, who had also stopped dead in the water and was now listening to its thoughts. [You made the big fires. You tore the cages apart. My mother and father say they can't repay you, either.]
It turned back to Jason. [But now I only talk to my mother and father when they come with people like you. People with other Pokemon in strange orbs. People who move with those.]
It looked at Jason's legs. [But you can't move with those.] It looked back up into his eyes. [Mother and father have those, too. Four of them. And long tails, and wings. I wish I had wings.]
Jason was fixed to the spot. He had to force himself to think.
"Do you really want wings?" he asked, hoping it could understand him.
[Yes, I really want wings. I want to fly into the sky, to see the world from a whole new place.]
"What would you say if I told you I could help make your wish come true?"
The Dratini made no facial expression, but Jason could sense its skepticism and the unbridled joy underneath it. [You can give me wings?]
"No. Only you can give yourself wings."
[How?]
"I can't explain. It's hard to understand."
[Can you help me understand?]
"I think so. I hope so. If I try to help you understand, would you like to come with me?"
The question had come unbidden from his mind, but now it was out in the open.
Now the Dratini had a physical response. Its brow furrowed just the slightest bit. [Go with you? Where?]
"Anywhere. Everywhere. Places that seem like a whole new world."
The Dratini didn't respond.
Even as he began to wonder if he was losing it, Jason continued. "And I can help you get wings. You'll be able to fly, to see the world. From up there, and down here, too. Your wish can be fulfilled if you let me help you."
It stared unblinkingly. [And if I don't want to?]
"I won't force you to go if you don't want to."
There was silence for a few moments.
[Then I will go with you.]
***
Jason knew that for its own safety, as well as to show "possession," Dratini would need a capture ball. Jason's only stock was Poke balls, but that wasn't a problem. After Jason explained the process to Dratini, it entered the ball without resistance. Jason then used his new Pokedex to send Donphan back to the lab, thus ensuring that Dratini would not feel dragged all over the place while inside the ball.
Jason wondered how Gyarados felt about the entire thing. Dratini's special attacks and original home both involved water, as with Gyarados. Jason thought Gyarados might feel a little put off to the side, while its master got a new water type.
After the business with putting Dratini in the Poke ball was concluded, Jason turned to Gyarados. "No Pokemon can ever replace you. Never forget that. I'll need you more than ever, now. I need you to help Dratini learn about its potential. It wants wings, and the only way it'll get them is by evolving all the way to Dragonite. It's gonna be tough. Think you can handle it?"
It nodded and growled.
"Glad to hear it."
Just then, Jason heard a rustling in the foliage nearby. Gyarados turned toward it and frowned.
"Hello?" Jason called. "Someone there?"
There was no answer, from either a person or a Pokemon.
Jason wheeled himself to the other side of the path and peered into the foliage.
And he was suddenly, violently knocked out of his wheelchair. He went sprawling and his chair tumbled to the ground a few feet away.
As he tried to recover, he noticed that a shadow was being cast on him.
A particularly large shadow.
He slowly moved his eyes upward.
Hovering above him was a Nidoking.
"Gyarados," he muttered, "a little help here?"
A multicolored energy blast boiled out of Gyarados' mouth and took the Nidoking in the shoulder. It hit the dirt and almost landed on top of Jason.
Jason's hand flashed to his capture ball belt. "Gengar and Quilava, help me out!"
As soon as Quilava's energy form solidified into its physical one, it blasted the Nidoking with its flame wheel attack. It wasn't enough to knock it out, but it certainly was painful. Nidoking got to its feet and gave ground as Gyarados came out of the water to aid Quilava.
Gengar, meanwhile, helped Jason back into his wheelchair.
"Thanks, Gengar. Now go help Gyarados and Quilava scare that Nidoking off."
But as soon as those words were out, Jason began to think about what he'd just said. *I wonder why I want it to be scared off. I have never, not once, seen a wild Nidoking. That one has to belong to someone.
The question is, did that someone instruct it to attack me?*
It didn't really matter, at any rate. Jason knew that he didn't want the Nidoking around; obviously, it hadn't taken a liking to him.
"Gyarados," he called, "dragon rage attack! Quilava, help Gyarados out with another flame wheel attack! Gengar, psybeam!"
The air around Nidoking crackled with the burning rage of Gyarados' and Quilava's combined attacks, along with Gengar's psybeam.
And Nidoking ran away.
Jason had been holding his breath; now he let it out with relief. He had been confident that his Pokemon would take it out, but he was still nervous.
*What could have caused a Nidoking to attack me like that? A trainer?
Could it possibly have been released by a trainer and attacked me in a rage?
Or is more to come than just that?*
He recalled his four Pokemon and wheeled away from Tohjo Falls.
*I don't think it's safe to stick around anymore. Time to go to familiar territory.*
***
Three shadowy figures crouched in the dark, dense foliage of Tohjo Falls.
Watching.
"He's heading for Viridian City."
"I can see that. How's Nidoking?"
"Pretty bad. I need to get him to a Pokemon center, quick."
"No, you don't. I've got a max revive in my pack."
"Oh. Thanks."
More leaves rustled.
"So, what do we do about him?"
"We follow him. But not too closely. If he finds out from his Pokemon that he's being followed, we'll never catch him."
"What are you talking about? He's in a wheelchair, for godsakes."
"He's got a flying Pokemon, a swimming Pokemon, and a psychic Pokemon to help him onto either one of those. For all we know, it can teleport. Just follow my lead, and stay quiet."
"Nidoking is my best Pokemon. If it can't take his Pokemon out, what makes you think yours can?"
"Sending Nidoking was just a test, to see which ones he's got. He's always changing his team. Now we've seen four of his six. We'll get him in all due time. But for now, we're moving out."
"Fine. Nidoking, return."
A brief light shone across from the waterfall.
But no one was there to watch.
***
Jason looked longingly down the path to Pallet Town. That was where so many memories resided, where he'd spent four years devoting himself to Pokemon as best he could, wheelchair-bound though he was. It was where people like Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum lived and made lives for themselves.
And it was where Kelly had chosen to stay.
He shook his head, trying to shake it off. *I can't think about her now. After that Nidoking, I should probably stay at a city for the night, and Viridian's closer. It's also more emotionally distant.*
And that was when he saw it.
It was a statue, gleaming in the evening light. It was distant, and down a different road, but Jason saw it now.
*I've never been on that road. Wonder why that statue's there?*
He resolved to find out. *I can make it to Viridian on Skarmory if I have to.*
***
"I thought he was going to Viridian. Why's he going there?"
"Maybe he can see the memorial."
"That's impossible! I thought we were the only ones with that kind of ranged sight!"
"He's been hanging with Pokemon all his life. I'm willing to bet he picked up a couple things from them."
"You know what I think?"
"No, I don't. Why don't you go ahead and tell me, even though I don't think I want to know?"
"I think he's going there to destroy the memorial, so there won't be any way anyone will remember!"
There was a low growl. "If he is, he'll regret it. Let's go. None of us moves on him 'til we figure out what he's up to."
***
Jason approached the statue. It was a statue of two people; one was a young boy, crying. The other was a middle-aged man standing over the boy with his hand on the boy's shoulder. The statue was carved out of black marble and polished to perfection.
Inset into the base was a small brass plaque, also polished to a shine.
*In Remembrance of the Tragedy of Tirenza*
Jason raised one eyebrow. *What was the tragedy of Tirenza?*
He sat and contemplated the image.
Inspiration struck him a few moments later. He took out his Pokedex, opened it, and ordered, "Open history files. Search subject: Tirenza."
It responded a moment later. "Tirenza. Formerly a peaceful town between Viridian City and Fuschia City, it perished in a wildfire six years, two months, and five days ago. Files indicate four survivors out of a population of approximately two thousand."
"And here's one of them!"
Jason's eyes shot upward in the direction of the voice.
A Charizard was flying overhead, and a boy slightly younger than him was mounted on its back. The boy was wearing black clothes, had dark blond hair, and a sour expression.
"Oh, yeah, and the wildfire?" he sneered. "It looked a lot like this!"
On cue, the Charizard opened its mouth and spewed a stream of flame towards Jason.
He just barely managed to avoid it by wheeling himself out of the way. He pulled out Gyarados' Poke ball and tossed it, shouting its order before it had even materialized. "Gyarados, hydro pump!"
The instant it emerged, Gyarados followed Jason's order with a vicious spray of water aimed straight at the Charizard's tail.
The boy's expression turned from one of sadistic smugness to horror as he realized where the water was heading. By the time he thought of a defensive maneuver for Charizard to act on, it was too late; he and his Charizard were both dropping out of the sky like rocks.
Then they disappeared in a blinding flash of light.
Jason frowned. *They must have teleported. But he didn't have a psychic Pokemon active, and unless he's a powerful psychic himself, he couldn't have done it. And why bother attacking me with force when he could have attacked with his mind, if he were psychic?
Someone bailed him out.
But who?*
***
"That was sloppy."
"Sorry."
"Don't 'sorry' me. I said no one moves until we find out what he's doing, and what do you do? You go and get cocky. 'Oh, no, I don't have to follow his rules. I'll go flying up there with my Charizard's tail fully exposed so that his Gyarados has an even bigger chance of murdering it.' Don't you dare do that again."
There was silence for a few moments.
"As for you, make sure this teaches you a lesson. We need stealth right now, not a stupid show of force. It didn't work before, and it sure didn't work just now. Got that?"
"Loud and clear."
"Good. It looks like he's not going to do anything to the memorial; maybe he'll head back toward Viridian. Coward that he is, hiding behind Giovanni like that."
"He doesn't even know we're following him."
"He does now, thanks to your little tactic. I didn't want to see you die right in front of me, that's why I had Alakazam teleport you to safety. Oh, yeah, you cost us big time. Now let's get moving."
***
By the time Jason made it to Viridian, it was sundown, and the glow of the city lights made the sky orange. Jason wheeled down the sidewalk towards a local motel.
As he passed a dark alley, he heard a voice say, "Hey, kid!"
Jason stopped.
He saw a man wearing a black uniform, with a large red 'R' splashed across the chest. Standing next to him was a Raticate.
*Rocket grunt,* Jason thought. "What do you want?"
"I want all of your Pokemon. Now!"
Jason snorted and tossed three capture balls.
Out came Gengar, Quilava, and Skarmory.
"Think you can take these?" he sneered.
The grunt stumbled backward and ran down the alley, his Raticate at his heels.
Jason recalled his Pokemon and continued down the sidewalk.
*It's a shame, really. My Pokemon didn't get more experience.*
***
"He's heading for that motel. I'll go after him. You two go to different places and call me when you get there."
"Why do you get to go after him?"
"Because I'm the oldest, why else?"
***
After Jason had checked in and was in his room, he put the Do Not Disturb sign on his door and put all the locks to use. Then he brought Gengar out.
"Gonna need you to make sure no one tries to come in, all right?"
"Gengar."
"Good."
Jason turned out the light and tried to get some sleep.
***
It was midnight, long after Jason had lost consciousness.
Three figures stood outside the door to Jason's room.
"Shall we?"
"Yeah. Hypno, come on out."
A brief flash of light lit the hallway. No one was around to notice.
"Hypno, unlock the door, please."
***
Gengar was standing on the window sill, watching its master sleep. It was glad that Jason wasn't one to snore; this provided some silence so it could meditate.
And then it heard the locks being unlocked.
Gengar reached out with its considerable psychic abilities and discovered a Hypno was the cause. Not only that, but the Hypno was under orders from three people standing outside the door.
Gengar's mind raced. How could it warn its master of impending danger and keep the intruders out at the same time?
It shrugged.
And then it blasted the door down with a psybeam attack. The door came completely off its hinges and sheared away from the locks, slamming straight into the three intruders and their Hypno.
***
Jason was rudely awakened to the sound of rending metal and the sight of light flooding in. His head snapped up, and he saw Gengar in a battle stance at the foot of his bed. He also saw the door...
No, that was the doorway. He couldn't see the door.
"Gengar, what's going on?" he asked.
"We're what's going on," answered an unfamiliar voice.
Jason turned back to the door and saw three people stepping into the room. One of them tossed something towards him; the object landed on his bed.
Jason had no time to react.
The canister exploded, spewing smoke everywhere.
He scrambled out of his bed and tried to reach his wheelchair.
It wasn't where he'd left it.
"Looking for this?" a voice called.
He looked up and saw that one of the figures had taken the chair. The figure tossed it to the other side of the room, behind his two accomplices.
He groaned, grabbed his capture ball belt out from under his bed, and promptly tossed two balls. "Quilava and Flaaffy, a little help here!"
As soon as his Pokemon emerged, fire and lightning erupted from them and spewed to all corners of the room.
Jason was on the floor now, pulling himself with all his might toward the window. He was on the first floor, if he could just...
"Where do you think you're going?" yelled another voice.
Jason felt himself being dragged back toward the center of the room by his feet.
*I could really have used those right about now...*
He became vaguely aware that the sprinkler system had been activated by the fire now consuming the room, and water was pouring down on him, his attackers, and his Pokemon. He paid no attention, grabbed Quilava's empty Poke ball, sat up, and thrust the ball forward, hoping to hit his attacker through the dense smoke.
He felt a solid impact, and he heard a strangled "Agh!"
The attacker released him.
Jason turned back toward his goal and found the window. With Quilava's Poke ball in hand, he smashed it. Then he grabbed his shoe off the floor and cleared out the bottom ledge; he knew that he would be slashed otherwise. He then hauled himself across the air conditioning unit and stuck his body out the window.
His legs were being less cooperative. "Gengar, help me out here!"
Immediately, Gengar came to Jason's aid and dragged him the rest of the way out.
"Okay," Jason muttered, "let's get out of here."
He tossed Skarmory's Ultra ball, and out came the steel bird. Gengar assisted him onto Skarmory's back, and Jason turned back to the flaming motel room.
Quilava and Flaaffy were jumping out the window as well, intent on following their master.
There were no signs of pursuit.
"Quilava and Flaaffy, return!" Jason called. "Skarmory, let's get out of here. Gengar, get on!"
Skarmory took flight, not knowing where its master wanted it to go, but not caring one way or the other. It understood that they needed to leave immediately, and it did so.
***
The attackers were far away from the motel by the time the firefighters got there.
"Man, this really sucks."
"You're telling me. Hey, fearless leader, is there any other possible way your plan could have been blown?"
"Shut up," answered the leader. He turned to the younger one. "How's your head?"
"Well, let's see, it's got a knot the size of a Golem on the right temple, but other than that..."
The leader shook his head. "He was ready for us."
"Yeah, he was ready for us! You and your stupid Nidoking had to try and get the first strike in! Of course he's gonna guard himself! All you've done is tick him off!" yelled the older one.
"We did more than that."
"Oh, how stupid of me! We have his wheelchair. Well, how good is that! He can get another one, you know. With his bank account and his contacts, it wouldn't be all that difficult. You might have tried to get the wheelchair while he was in it, at the very least!"
"We'll get him. It's only a matter of time."
"Thank you so much, O fearless leader, for that statement. You are aware, ae you not, that the bad guys are usually the ones to say that? You don't consider yourself the bad guy, do you?"
"No, of course I don't. It was just a figure of speech. But we'll get him in time."
"Yeah, well, in case you hadn't noticed, time isn't exactly on our side! We've got exactly... 37 hours, 28 minutes and 29 seconds before the big kablooie!"
"Then we'd better get moving, hadn't we?"
The leader stood and his hand moved to his capture ball belt.
"No, you don't!"
Suddenly, six Pokemon appeared and surrounded the figures.
Alakazam.
Slowbro.
Gengar.
Jynx.
Gyarados.
And a red Dratini.
Jason was mounted on Gyarados' back.
"Alakazam, Slowbro, Gengar, and Jynx, take their Pokemon from them," he said, remorseless.
The capture ball belts of all three figures were ripped from their grasps.
"Now," said Jason, "you three seem to have a lot to answer for."
"Look who's talking," said the youngest one.
"The one who's talking is me, thank you," said Jason. "Who are you?"
"Our names aren't important," said the leader.
"They are to me," Jason responded. "I won't ask again."
"Very well. You can call me the Star Wolf. These are my brothers, the Flame Viper, and the Neo Blade."
Jason snorted. "This sounds like something out of a video game."
"This is no game. We are members of the Shadow clan."
Jason frowned. "You mean, the ninja clan that Koga founded?"
"The same."
"You're bound by a code of honor, then."
"We are."
"What honor is there in attacking an ally?"
"You're no ally."
"True enough. But there was a lot more of a chance of my becoming an ally of yours had you not bombed me in my sleep."
"There was no chance for it before, and there never will be."
"Why's that?"
"We don't consort with Giovanni or his scum."
Jason frowned again. "Giovanni? What makes you think I work for him?"
"Your father was the owner of a business that sold Pokemon to Giovanni. Giovanni lined his pockets, and yours, with money in return."
"You think I work for Giovanni because of what my father did?" Jason laughed. "You've got your lines crossed, Wolf. I hate the work my father did. And I hate Giovanni. If I never see the man again, it'll be too soon. I had to go battle that buzzard for a badge in the Indigo League, and I won, but he didn't give it to me 'til I almost killed him."
Wolf shrugged. "For all we know, it was a front."
"A front, eh? Yeah, right. There was one spectator. One. My girlfriend. And she doesn't like the man any more than I do. But that's not what I came here to discuss. Back to the main vein."
"Yes, by all means," Wolf responded dryly.
Jason ignored the comment. "If you didn't want to consort with such scum as me, why come all this way to attack me?"
"Assuming that you're not one of Giovanni's rats for the moment, I'll fill you in. Leader Koga's gym is in serious jeopardy. The gym was receiving large payments recently, payments that were helping the gym stay out of debt. Not knowing where the payments were coming from, Koga took the money and used it. For the most part, he used it wisely. But some of it was for frivolous use. Enough that we began to depend on it.
"Then the payments stopped coming. The gym was badly in debt, and Koga began losing to trainers in the Indigo League. He, and we, are about to be evicted from the gym. We discovered that the money was coming from Giovanni. Giovanni's wedged himself in tight enough now that when the clan is evicted, he'll take it over. He plans to destroy it and build a new one for his flunkies to train in."
Jason shook his head, trying to take all this in. "So what does all this have to do with me?"
"We knew that between your battles and your family's wealth, you had collected a considerable amount of money. We suspected that you were involved with Giovanni, perhaps heavily. Maybe even to the point where you would know where he hides when he's not in his gym. The goal was to get to you, force you to cooperate with us, and take us to Giovanni's hideout so that we could have a personal conversation with him and sort it out."
Jason shook his head again. "You're out of luck, Wolf. I have no information on Giovanni or where he goes. All I know is that he's associated with Team Rocket."
"That's all the information we have to go on, as well. Unfortunately, it seems that he's ordered his subordinates to go into hiding until the eviction."
"And when does the eviction take place?"
"In a day and a half." Wolf crossed his arms. "If you're not one of Giovanni's punks, how can you have such strong Pokemon?"
"I train them," Jason answered. He didn't like Wolf; the guy seemed to look down upon him, even from Jason's high perch on Gyarados.
"I see."
"I'm sure."
Jason suddenly remembered something. Something vital.
"I can help you," he said. "I think I know where you can start your search."
"Where?"
"Not so fast. There's a price."
"Oh?" Wolf raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. First off, I want my wheelchair back. You'd better have it."
Wolf turned to his youngest brother. "Viper?"
Viper sighed and said, "Your wheelchair is just down the hill there."
"Fine," said Jason, "go get it. Gengar, go with him."
Wolf turned back to Jason. "The information."
"Hold on. I want to get Giovanni back just as much as you do. He's done a lot of bad things to good people. He needs to be punished."
"That's why we're here, in case you hadn't noticed."
"If your Pokemon could bow to mine so easily, what makes you think you'll do any better against Giovanni?"
Wolf glared at Jason. He didn't like Jason any more than Jason liked him. "The plan is to catch him off guard."
"Like you caught me off guard back at the motel?"
Viper and Gengar returned with the wheelchair.
Jason pointed his finger at Wolf. "I'm coming along with you guys, whether you like it or not. And I'll prove to you that Giovanni and I have lost no love for each other since I worked for my father."
Wolf sighed, exasperated. "Very well. But when the time comes to make Giovanni pay for his crimes, you're not going to stand in our way."
"You're not going to stand in *my* way," Jason responded.
"We'll see," Wolf growled. "We'll see."
Jason Creight glared on.
To Be Continued
