"Yeah, I think I've already figured that out." He rolled his eyes. He had actually gotten rather tired of this, even if it did usually seem to lead him on some really cool adventures. "It all started with that entire prophecy that dealt with Lugia in the…"
"No, no, that's not really what I'm talking about, Satoshi." She felt her hand being squeezed and she looked at Shigeru. She knew he was worried that his old rival would not believe what she had come there to say. She smiled at him reassuringly then turned back to Satoshi. "You see, I thought that it had been your father that was one of the chosen, but I was wrong. I was a generation too early. And so much of what had first drawn me to ask your father to come to my island, I can still see in you and all the things you've accomplished."
Satoshi did not say anything for a moment, trying to grasp all of what she had said so far, then something occurred to him. "You said, one of the chosen ones. Who's the other?"
"Shigeru," she said plainly, looking at the man beside her.
"Shigeru?" Satoshi laughed, not believing it at all. He had never heard of Shigeru having any sorts of amazing adventures. "What makes him so special?"
"You'll understand all that soon enough," Shigeru said, his voice was deep and very masculine and it surprised Satoshi since it was the first time he had spoken since he had been there.
Another long pause surrounded them while Satoshi mulled all this over some more. He did not believe a word of what she had said – and he was busy with other stuff anyways. He supposed, though, that he would humor her and act like he was going to go along with it all. "So, what do I have to do?"
"Come to my island. More will be explained to you there. There are many things I cannot tell you here because you must first swear to protect Umute and its secrets."
"And how do I get there?"
"Every pokèmon should know how to get there." She smiled at the pikachu on his shoulder. "Your pikachu will lead you there, I'm sure."
The pokèmon on Satoshi's shoulder nodded. "Pikka!"
After a moment, Kira stood. "I will permit you to bring Kasumi and Takeshi with you, if they would like to come as well. Friends are always good to have near you, especially with what you are going to be going through."
"When do you want me there," he asked, still not at all interested in going. And he was sure that Takeshi and Kasumi would not want to go either. This all just sounded too crazy.
"As soon as possible." She looked at the man still seated on the couch. "Come, Shigeru."
Satoshi watched her walk back to the balcony with Shigeru at her side. She whistled and a pokèmon he had never seen before appeared a moment later. It looked somewhat like a large eevee with cream colored wings. It landed on the balcony beside the pair and they gracefully got on its back. Kira looked at Satoshi one last time before the pokèmon flew off. Once they were gone, he stood and went up to the lab. He could hear them talking as he headed up the stairs.
"…go down and see what they're talking about," yelled Kasumi, Takeshi was holding her back from marching off downstairs. Apparently she was really interested in what was going on – probably more so than Satoshi had been. Togetic was right by the top of the stairs, hovering, staring down the stairs.
"We've already finished talking."
Everyone turned to him as he came in. Kenji smiled at him. He knew who Kira really was. His mother had grown up on Umute, actually, but left quite some time before he was born, though she had told him a great deal about Lady Reidan. He had a small hope that Kira was actually there to take him to her island. But he was just as proud of Satoshi as the professor, though he did not have any of the worry over the entire matter like Yukinari did – but that was because he did not know the entire situation behind it, like the professor.
"That was over a bit faster than I thought it'd be." Ookido-hakase looked at him. "So when are you leaving to go to Lady Reidan's island?"
That surprised Satoshi. The professor had actually expected him to be going? "I'm not going. I think she's a little crazy."
"She's not crazy!" It was Kenji who had spoken up in her defense, which surprised everyone. "She is renowned as the greatest pokèmon researcher, pokè-linguist, paleo-pokèologist, and pokèmon breeder worldwide. She knows more about pokèmon than anyone else does! She has some of the rarest pokèmon on her islands, so rare, in fact, that she cannot say what they are."
"Sounds like she's lying about it all to me." Satoshi was not in the mood to be played with. "I have more important things to do than going to work for some psycho!"
"Satoshi, I don't think you quite understand." The professor looked a bit worriedly at the young man. "No one, absolutely no one, turns down the Lady of Umute. You have to do this. You don't know the importance of…"
"Look, I'm not going to work for someone that admitted to my face she had a hand in my father's death." That statement got a lot of shocked looks from everyone, except the professor. "Granted, I'm not going to believe that anyways. I have no reason to. Why should my mom have lied about what really happened to my father?"
"Satoshi…"
"I don't have time for this! I have a pokèmon trainer's meeting to get ready for." He turned and began to leave. "I have better stuff to do!"
Satoshi hurried back down the stairs without Kasumi and Takeshi, who were still rather staring at him (or the spot he had been, rather) in shock. Pikachu clung to his shoulder as he ran back to his house. When he had gotten back to home and entered the living room, he stopped, looking at his mom, who was clutching a framed picture, staring out the window. She did not seem to have noticed his arrival. "Mom?"
When Hanako turned to him, she seemed to be rather surprised to see him. "I didn't expect you to be coming back…"
"Why?"
His mom gave him a weak smile. "Kira has a way of getting people to do what she wants." She looked at the picture she was holding then walked to her son and handed it to him. "That's your father…"
The picture was obviously old, for it had faded some and had a few little tears in it, like it had not been in the frame all this time. His mother was quite young in it. The man beside her, smiling broadly in front of the house he had grown up in, looked just like Satoshi, too, except that he wore glasses. After a moment, he looked back up at his mother. "I thought you didn't have any pictures of dad?"
"I lied." Hanako smiled weakly again. "I am sure Lady Kira told you that, though. She told me not to tell you the truth about your father. She thought you might not want to become a pokèmon trainer if you'd known what really happened to him. She needed you to become a trainer, though." She took the picture back and held it to her chest tightly. "I'm sure he'd be proud of you, though…if he were still here…"
Satoshi could not believe what his mother had just said. "Mom…?"
"I knew this day would come." She did not look up at him, still clutching the picture, as tears began to fall from her eyes. "I am going to miss you so very much."
"I'm not going," he said, his voice flat and dry. Why did everyone seem to think he was going to be leaving to go work for Kira!
"What?" She looked up at him, tears still falling. She shook her head. "You…you have to go."
That just made him mad at her. "No, I don't!"
"But, Satoshi…"
"I am not going!" Did no one understand that he wanted to stay home now? "She can find someone else!"
Pikachu, who had silently been on his shoulder since Kira had left, now jumped off his shoulder as he marched off to his room. The little pokèmon looked up at his trainer's mother, who was still crying, looking at her son's receding back. He knew the same thing she did. Satoshi had to go. He would probably end up going, too, even if Kira had to take him kicking and screaming. Pikachu knew that if Kira had made him the offer to work for him, there was really only one other choice for Satoshi if he did not go to Umute. He doubted his trainer would take that other option, though…
& & & & & & & & & & & & &
Just as a reminder in case you forgot –
Satoshi - Ash
Shigeru - Gary
Kasumi - Misty
Takeshi - Brock
Yukinari (Ookido-hakase) - Samuel (Professor Oak)
Hanako - Delia (Ash's mom)
All traditional pokèmon and characters are copyrighted to Nintendo/GAME FREAK/Creatures (and any others I've forgotten) from 1996-2006. Author's created pokèmon and characters, though, are copyrighted Sati.
