Part #8 – About Shigeru

When Satoshi woke in the morning, his neck was hurting from sleeping in such a strange position. He stretched his muscles as he looked out the window. There was something outside, gazing at him. Surprised, he gasped and jumped up. Raimai fell out of his lap and woke up when he thudded onto the floor. The pikachu yawned and scratched himself behind his ear, staring up at his trainer. He then followed Satoshi's eyes to the thing outside the window.

There was a mew, that looked a lot like the one that had been at the Tree of Beginning – a solid pale pink – but it was clear to both of them that this was not the same mew, at least to Raimei. It looked not only slimmer, but also far older. Its big blue eyes seemed very interested in Satoshi. It giggled then started to float into the room for a better look.

"Yuga!" The pokèmon froze then looked down to the person that had called him, who sounded mildly irritated. "Would you get back down here?"

The little pokèmon did as he was asked and giggled at Ichibei, making a circle around him. The man was not paying attention to the mew, though. Satoshi had come to the window and was looking down. He smiled. Though he knew Satoshi from many years before, the trainer would not know him now. The time would come, though, when he would tell him and his friends who he was, though.

"It's time to be going, Satoshi," Eisen called up to him, standing slightly behind Ichibei.

"Alright. Hold on. I'll be right down with the others."

As he left his room, he stretched his aching muscles some more. He knocked on Kasumi and Takeshi's doors and told them to hurry up, that they had Eisen and the others waiting on them. Yawning, the other two emerged. After they all quickly brushed their teeth and got dressed, they ran down stairs and smiled at the three waiting on them. The mew, Yuga, was floating around looking very happy. Like the previous night, Kasumi left with Yuko and Takeshi, with Ichibei (though this time with Yuga following). Satoshi looked at Eisen, hoping that they were going to start the tour now.

Eisen started off towards the security building, where he was planning to start the newcomer's tour. "Sleep well?"

"Not really." Satoshi rubbed his neck. "Fell asleep looking out the window."

The head of security only laughed.

"So what're we starting with first?"

"Thought I'd show you the level three security room. Let you see how we maintain the goings-on on the island. That way you know how to stay out of trouble."

Satoshi laughed then felt rather embarrassed when his stomach growled very loudly. "Um…we going to get breakfast?"

"Yeah, I'll take you down to the cafeteria in the security building. They make a wonderful omelet there. Bet you'd like it."

"Omelet? Made with eggs? Though everything here was vegetarian?"

The head of security laughed. "Well, Lady Kira allows honey, dairy products, and eggs, so long as they're not fertilized, if it doesn't hurt the pokèmon and, of course, with the pokèmon's permission. But meat of any kind is strictly forbidden."

As they headed off down the cobbled street towards the lagoon, Satoshi could not take his eyes off the island at rising from the water. "Eisen… What's that little island out there?"

"Oh, that's Lady Kira's island. No one is allowed to go out there except herself and Shigeru, and the pokèmon, too, of course. It's the highest of high level security. I haven't even been allowed out there and I'm head of island security. There's tons of mew that protect it, though. I've heard it's very beautiful over there."

"How would I go about getting a mew? I looked them up last night and they're more amazing than I'd thought."

"They're the most powerful pokèmon. You can't catch one, though. Pokèballs usually can't hold them. They must choose you as a friend if they stay around you very long. Though Kira's been known to assign mew to watch over some newcomers, like she did with Shigeru."

"Well, I don't think I'd have much of a problem making friends with one." He scratched Raimei's chin, who was on his shoulder like always. "I'm friends with all my pokèmon and many of the ones I've had choose me to be their trainer."

"Mew do tend to attach themselves to people with psychic abilities," Eisen said, sounding more thoughtful about that point than offering it up as saying Satoshi could not every possibly get one.

"Well, I'm not psychic," the trainer said, laughing.

"Oh?" The middle-aged man stopped, looking at Satoshi curiously. "I thought I heard you could control Aura?"

He had almost forgotten that fact. "Well, yeah, but…"

"Aura is a psychic ability. Have you not tried to develop it?"

"Well, no." He gave an embarrassed laugh. "I never really thought much of it after I found out I could use it."

Eisen laughed as well then started off again. "Well, try to work on it. You might be surprised what accomplish. Maybe you should catch a psychic-type pokèmon, if you don't already have one. It's not uncommon that trainers will develop some psychic abilities, because all humans have them innately, they just have to learn how to use them. I've heard Shigeru even learned to used some psychic powers, though I've never seen him use them."

"Shigeru? A psychic?" Satoshi laughed. "That's a little hard to believe."

"It's true," Eisen said, smiling.

They soon arrived at a small building that overlooked the lagoon. Eisen had Satoshi use his pokèdex to unlock the door and it worked. Satoshi noted that his pokèdex said: "Level Three Security Clearance". They went in and headed down the hall, past a few other people that Eisen greeted by name, all of whom bowed to him. They went down a set of stairs and entered a small cafeteria. All the food there was so good looking that Satoshi did not know what to get. Eisen, though, got him an omelet.

"Didn't get an omelet, I see," Eisen said with a smile when Satoshi finally came to join him.

"Nah." He had gotten some scrambled eggs and hash browns with peppers mixed into them, along with a bowl of fruit for himself and Raimei to share. "So, what can you tell me about Kira? I know so little about her."

The head of security laughed. "Well, what do you want to know? I'll answer it if I can, but, you'll need to remember, there's lots of stuff that only a level one person can know about her."

"Well, first off, how old is she? She said she had my dad work for her and she doesn't even look as old as my mom!"

Eisen could not help but laugh again. "Can't answer that one because even I don't know the answer. She's never told anyone."

Satoshi stopped his fork an inch from his mouth, looking curious. "Why's that?"

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough. Secrets, secrets, too many of them, if you ask me. But, some of them are necessary." He shoved a piece of his omelet into his mouth then sipped some coffee, keeping his eye on the young man eating across the table. "What else you want to know?"

"Well," he thought for a moment then scoffed, "what about her and Shigeru?"

"That's something that's an interesting little story."

"And I want to hear it!" He was dying to know if his hunch was right – if they were a couple or not – and, if they were, why Shigeru would be in a relationship with such an older woman. "Tell…"

Eisen laughed yet again. "Eager little young man, aren't you? Alright." He took another bite of his omelet as he gathered his thoughts. "Shigeru showed up here one night…oh…I think about five and an half years ago or so now. He came here against his will, you could say. He was up training in the mountains not far from Masara when he was picked up by Avasuke."

"Avasuke?"

"Check your pokèdex," he said, pointing at the young man's belt with his fork.

Satoshi took the suggestion. He pulled out his new, shiny pokèdex and looked up the pokèmon he had mentioned. The picture shown on the screen was one of a purple bird that looked somewhat like an articuno, the tail, though, had several feathers that had markings on them that looked like eyes. "Avasuke, the prophecy pokèmon. This psychic pokèmon is known as one of the most intelligent of the pokèmon. The one that is alive today is known to have predicted who the chosen ones were to be. Only said to appear before major changes in world events, the people it appears to will be the key players in these events. Avasuke's ability to se into the future the future, though, is limited to its lifetime and a short, varying period thereafter. There is only one of these pokèmon alive at any one time and each lives for exactly five hundred years before another is born."

"Wow, that's pretty amazing," he said, his mouth full of fruit.

"Yes, it is, Satoshi. When Lady Kira realized that it was Avasuke that had brought Shigeru to the island, she knew what was coming." The man took another few bites of his omelet, which was half gone now. "Avasuke flew him all the way here and dropped him off on her ladyship's island in the middle of the night. He stayed at my house for a while, but Lady Kira enjoyed his company on her island so he often stayed with her. She's the one that helped him develop what psychic powers he has. He's also the only person alive that knows all her secrets." Eisen paused for a moment and thought then said under his breath: "And Ichibei even knows more than me, too, doesn't he…"

Satoshi was not too curious about this last comment, he wanted to know more about Kira and Shigeru. "So, are they a couple or what?"

"Oh, yes. There love's always been there, almost since his arrival, but he had to get older, of course, before they could become lovers." Eisen smiled, looking a bit dreamy. "The lucky guy…"

Satoshi looked at him a little oddly. "Why do you say that?"

"There are many men here that would give their lives for such an honor." He leaned across the table some and whispered: "And I'm one of them, but don't tell my wife that" then went back to his omelet like he had not said it. "But her ladyship chooses her lovers carefully, and he is the one she chose for now, so all the rest of those dreaming men here have had to accept that. They have so much in common, though. And everyone knows why they're so in love, too – what with everything that's happened between the two of them."

"Like what?"

"That's not for me to tell," the head of security said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"So, she trained him to use these psychic powers he has? I guess, then, that she's psychic herself?"

"Yep, a pretty powerful one, too." Eisen finished off his omelet and then his coffee. "Satoshi was here about a year before she suggested he go off to the Jouto League. I hear, though, he went reluctantly. And, as soon as he was done there, he came back here and hasn't left much since, unless it was with her. He doesn't really come out of Lev One RC much because he's obsessed with his work there. He probably has more knowledge about pokèmon than anyone else that works here because of that and because he's spent so much time with her ladyship."

"Lev One RC?"

"Level One Research Center."

"You know, I never would have imagined that he was in a place like this for all those years…"

Eisen laughed. "Well, most people can't think of a place like this existing, most likely."

"I'll agree with that." Indeed, Satoshi had not thought of such a place before.

The head of security stood, smiling. "If you're finished, we can start the rest of the tour."

Satoshi liked that idea. He finished off his glass of milk, shoved the last bit of his hash browns into his mouth, then stood. Eisen told him to leave his tray, that someone else would be by to clean up, and they headed out of the cafeteria. They walked down a long, marble floored corridor. Eisen stopped at one of the doors, which was locked, and asked Satoshi to open the door with his pokèdex. When the door unlocked, Eisen opened it and gestured for Satoshi to enter first. The trainer was amazed at what was beyond.

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Just as a reminder in case you forgot or to clarify –

Satoshi - Ash

Shigeru - Gary

Kasumi - Misty

Takeshi – Brock

Ookido-hakase – Prof. Oak

Masara – Pallet Town

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.