Chapter 6: The Kodomo Files

A week passed as TTT stayed with Mark Nadler. They hadn't begun school yet and Phoinex had avoided meeting his half-brothers, or his biological father. The day after they had arrived in Pewter City, Pisces had moved in across the street, but they hadn't had much contact with him. Now Phoinex was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling when Zoe rushed in.

"Phoinex! Pisces has something to tell us! Come on!" she said, before turning and running. Phoinex quickly stood up, and ran after her, straight to Pisces' house where they found Pisces and Selena standing in the kitchen.

"Pisces found something about Team Rocket!" Selena announced, when they were both in the kitchen too.

"What is it?" asked Phoinex, turning to look at Pisces.

"Well, I happened to find out that they're after some documents that are apparently here in Pewter. I don't know why, but I know those documents are about you three." Pisces said.

"Hmm… And you think we should get these files, right?"

"It'd be best. They have important information that may be of use to us." Phoinex turned to Zoe and Selena. He could see their eager faces, and knew they wanted to read all the special information about them. Then he looked back at Pisces.

"When do you think we should go get them?"

"This weekend."

"That would mean tomorrow, Saturday…" Selena muttered.

"We'll have to think about this later. I wanna explore the town now..." Phoinex said as he looked out the window. The day was bright and sunny, with Pidgey flying here and there from tree to tree. Cherry Avenue was very green with grass, and as the name slightly states, cherry blossom trees on every lawn shading the grass into a nice dark color. It so much different then Olivine. There was no sea scent or any water pokemon for miles around maybe.

"Me too! I wanna see what the famous Pewter has... I wanna see the pokemon." Zoe added eagerly, already at the door with her backpack.

"Let's go then." Selena said, as she grabbed her own backpack and handed Phoinex his.

"I'll stay here and do some err... research." Pisces said.

"Alright... We'll be out all day I suppose," Phoinex said, seeing Zoe's face again, "So we'll probably see you tomorrow."

"Right. Meet me at the gym."

"Ok..." Phoinex said as he ran out the door after his friends who had already left. He caught up to them fairly soon, and they began to walk on the sidewalk. They stopped outside the Pewter City Museum and looked at the size. It reminded them of the battle arena back at Hogwarts.

"'Ey! You three! You the new kids, aren't ya?" someone asked from behind TTT. They turned around to see a boy, all by himself. He had beach blonde hair partially covered by a backwards baseball cap and dark blue eyes and was wearing beige shorts with a blue baseball shirt. He was tossing a pokeball in his hand menacingly.

"Ya. What of it?" Selena replied. She could see this boy would be trouble.

"You're Johto trash. Too good for Pewter, aren't you?"

"No. We didn't say that, you over grown Cheez-It!" Zoe yelled angrily.

"I am not a Cheez-It, whatever that is, but it seemed like an insult to me." the boy replied calmly.

"Ya think?" The boy's face suddenly turned around into a frown. Zoe was making fun of his intelligence.

"Yes, I do. So I challenge you to a pokemon battle."

"I accept. Here? How many pokemon?"

"Here. 3 each."

"Fine. You start."

The boy threw the pokeball he had been tossing and shouted, "Go! Onix!" Out of the ball came the large snake like rock pokemon. It raised itself to its full height, casting a shadow on TTT.

"Ok, then. I thought you'd use a rock pokemon... Go! Corsola!" Zoe yelled, releasing the pink Corsola.

"Zoe! When'd you get a Corsola?" Phoinex asked.

"That day... Down at the pier before you came."

"Oh..."

"Onix! Bind!" The boy ordered.

"HEY! Can't you see we're having a conversation here? Corsola! Spike Cannon!" Zoe ordered back. Her Corsola began to glow just as the Onix was heading at it. Spikes flew in the direction of the Onix and his it right in the face, causing it to roar loudly in agony.

"Onix, shake it off! Use dig!" The boy ordered again. The Onix obeyed and disappeared into the ground, leaving a large hole.

"Corsola! Wait for it!" Zoe told her pokemon. The earth began to shake and suddenly Corsola was shooting up into the sky, Onix right below it. It turned quickly and fired a water gun right at the Onix, then came back down to the ground.

Onix fell to the ground as well, only not as gracefully. His eyes were shut tight in pain.

"Grrr.... Onix, return!" Onix flew back into its pokeball in a beam of red light. "Go, Scizor!" He called, throwing another pokeball and releasing the next opponent. "Use metal claw!"

A silver coating rushed over Scizor's right claw. He flew at Corsola, who took a defensive position.

"Corsola, bubble!"

"Corsola, cor!" Corsola opened his mouth. Glowing white orbs flew out in Scizor's direction. Scizor put out its metal claw, causing the orbs to dissolve and hit Corsola directly.

"Grrr… not if I can help it… Corsola, bubble beam!" Corsola opened its mouth again, and let out a jet of bubbles. Scizor went to attack the bubbles, while Zoe called out, "Quick now, ancient power!" Four orbs of red light appeared around Corsola's head and flew out, two of them hitting Scizor and making it crash into the floor. "Finish it off with spike cannon!"

Corsola fired it's attack again, and Zoe's opponent was forced to call it back to Scizor back to its pokeball.

"How can you be beating me with only one pokemon… Go, Magcargo!" The boy yelled, throwing a third pokeball. Zoe gave a command before the pokemon had even come out.

"BUBBLE BEAM!" Magcargo was called back before the battle had even properly begun.

"You really are good… I'll see you some other time." The boy turned around and walked away. "By the way, my name's Landon." Zoe growled.

"Oh yeah?! WELL I BEAT YOU LANDON! You… you… YOU GIRLYPANTS!!" Landon turned around, his eye twitching.

"Girlypants? What the hell is wrong with you? Where do you get these names from, retard?" Phoinex clenched his fist.

"Girlypants is my own word! I'm the one that taught it to her!!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I'd challenge you, but my stupid pokemon lost to that stupider girl. I have to go now, later." This time Landon ran off as he turned around.

"Grrr… I really didn't like that kid…" Zoe muttered.

"I know, me neither." Selena added.

"Yeah…" Phoinex said, distantly. Something was on his mind.

* * *

Phoinex, Selena, and Zoe waited outside of Pewter Gym the next night. They looked around, expecting to see Pisces any minute now.

"Look, there he is." Selena was the first to say. Her friends looked in the direction she was pointing. Pisces was walking toward them calmly.

"Evening." He said as he reached them.

"What's the plan?" Phoinex asked.

"We're gonna go to the police station."

"… and break in?" Selena asked.

"Yea."

"Can we do that?" Phoinex asked.

"Not without some kind of punishment if we're caught…"

"I wanna do it! I sounds like fun!!!" Zoe interrupted. "PLEASE?!"

"I suppose it's alright if it means Team Rocket doesn't get it…" Phoinex said.

"I agree." Cheese Monkey said. Pisces nodded and walked around the gym, TTT followed. They found themselves at the police station.

"Oh… no wonder you wanted us to meet at the gym… it's reaaaally close to the police station…" Selena muttered as the group hid behind a tree.

"Uhhh… now what's the plan?" Phoinex asked.

"I'll calmly walk in and distract whoever's at the front desk. Then you guys sneak in through the air vent, into the file room."

"… pretty simple."

"It'll be a lot more nerve-racking then it seems, so just try to stay calm, and make sure not to make too much noise." Pisces walked out from the hiding spot, and went straight into the police station without even glancing back at it.

Inside, he walked toward a reception desk at the end of the short entrance hall. At the desk sat a woman filing out some paper work.

"Umm… excuse me, I'd like to report a robbery." he said, putting his hands on the edge of the desk.

"What was taken?" asked the woman, looking up from her work. Pisces tilted his head and looked around.

"My… dog?" Pisces liked that. He got an idea on how to distract the officers, and broke into tears. "My dog was taken! I'm so afraid for where he is… OH MURIEL! Where are you?! Come hooommmmmeeee!" Pisces banged his fist on the desk. The woman walked around to the other side and patted him on the back.

"There, there, sir, calm down now. We'll get your pet back…"

"Muriel is not a pet! MURIEL IS FAMILY! Ohhhh! WHERE IS SHE NOW?! My poor baby…" Pisces ran down the hall in frustration, fake tears streaming down his eyes.

"Sir! Come back! We can help you!" the woman from the desk called out, running after him and completely falling for his act.

Meanwhile, outside, Phoinex let out his Typhlosion at the back of the building.

"Shhh…. Typhlosion, the weakest flamethrower you can." He whispered, pointing toward a metal slab on the wall. Typhlosion nodded, and turned to the slab, opening his mouth and letting out a jet of fire at each corner. "Ok, good, return now." Typhlosion was called back into its pokeball while Selena removed the slab and put it gently on the floor.

"Zoe, you're the smallest. You go in first." she said.

"WEEEEEEEEEEE!" Zoe screamed, jumping in the space the slab had left.

"Wow… she can jump high…" Selena said as she got onto Phoinex's shoulders. She got into the opening, turned, and helped Phoinex walked up. Then the two crawled quickly to catch up to Zoe. They caught up a lot sooner then they expected. Zoe had stopped halfway, and was looking down through an air vent.

"Oh my god! It's Landon!" she whispered urgently. Phoinex and Selena got closer to the vent, wide eyed.

The first thing they saw was the top of a brown haired man, sitting in a chair behind a polished wooden desk. The next thing they noticed were his dark blue eyes, that seemed to stick out the most. On the other side of the desk was another police officer. In a corner, Landon was playing jacks on the floor. Selena gasped.

"And that's Finney's father!!!"

"It is?!" Zoe asked, still keeping her voice low. Phoinex nodded, with a worried frown.

"But then what's Landon doing there?" The three watched Landon stand up and walk over to the desk, interrupting the conversation that was taking place.

"DAD, I'm hungry. Can't I get something to eat?" The man behind the desk sighed.

"Go to the cafeteria, get whatever you like and wait there for me. Ok? I'll be out in a few minutes, then we can go home."

"Ok." Landon gathered his jacks and left the room, closing the door behind him. Zoe gasped.

"THAT THING IS FINNEY'S BROTHER?!" This time she didn't watch her voice, and kneed the bottom of the air vent angrily. It caused the panel they were on to collapse and fall to the floor, with them right behind it. Selena fell in the lap of the person opposite to Phoinex's father, while Zoe and Phoinex had the pleasure of falling right on the desk.

"Who are you? What were you doing up there?!" he asked, standing from his seat with great fury. "This is a very serious violation, especially for kids your age! Answer me now!"

"Errmm… Nice to meet you, Mr. Halliwell?" Zoe said.

"WHAT?! Do you understand how serious this is?!"

"Really not as serious as your connection with the kid next to me… Ain' that right, Phoinex?!"

"… Phoinex? YOU'RE Phoinex?" Phoinex nodded shyly, looking down at the floor. "Well, last time I saw you, you looked just like every other baby. Now I can see… you got my hair and your mothers eyes… In fact, most of you resembles your mother, son." There was a soft thump at the door. Everyone turned around, and saw Landon standing there in shock. One hand was stuck to the door know, the other at his side with a donut below it.

"Son? HE's the son of your ex-wife?! That terd?!" Mr. Halliwell looked confused.

"Well, yes. If my memory serves me right, that was his name. Phoinex. Plus, you have to admit, there is a little bit of a resemblance. If only you hadn't gotten so much of your mother, you could see it easily. But I can see it in the shape of the eyes… it's there. Your last name is Halliwell, right, boy?" Phoinex nodded again. Mr. Halliwell laughed. "After all these years, it is you."

"He's not your son! Ben and I are!" A thought ran through Zoe's head. Ben?… he couldn't have a connection to… no…"

"Landon, I'm his father just as much as I am yours. Now please, try and calm down. You have to understand I haven't seen him since he was born. I've been with YOU since YOU were born. He's had to live with a stepfather." Mr. Halliwell looked down at Phoinex. "I'm sure you liked your stepfather, but you've probably always wondered what I was like. Right?"

"Yes… well, no… I was really happy with my step dad. My mom always told me to just forget about you…"

"Typical of her. Typical O'Nei-"

"Sheriff! Quick, this is urgent! There's a pokemon in town, and it's destroying everything in sight!" yelled another police officer as he rushed into the room. Phoinex came out of his shy state.

"A pokemon? Attacking the town? Impossible." Mr. Halliwell replied.

"No, it's true! There's more though! Some people say the pokemon is being controlled by Team Rocket!" Mr. Halliwell frowned.

"Another pokemon corrupted by Team Rocket… ok, I guess we'll have to beat it in a battle." Mr. Halliwell pulled out a drawer behind his desk, and took out from it a round pokeball. At that moment, a second police officer ran in.

"Sir, we've gotten word of which pokemon it is! IT'S THE LEGENDARY FIRE POKEMON ENTEI!" Mr. Halliwell grasped the pokeball tighter.

"ENTEI? Team Rocket? Not on my watch! I'm not letting them use such an honorable creature for their own evil purposes… Get a squad ready, we're going to make a few arrests." Sheriff Halliwell ran around his desk and toward the door. He paused and turned his head. "You kids wait here. Officers, come with me." He kept running, the three police officers following him. Landon stood at the door, his eyes narrowed at Phoinex.

"Stay away from us." he said, before turning around and chasing after his father. Phoinex sighed. When he looked up, Selena and Zoe were already at the doorway, slick smiles on their faces.

"Well, what are we waiting for? LET'S GO GET ENTEI!" Selena said.

"… What about the files?" Phoinex asked.

"They'll be here when it's all over, let's go now before it IS over!" Phoinex nodded, jumping off the desk as TTT ran out the door, and then out of the police station. As they walked out, their eyes were attacked by the bright, warm burning glares of the fire that was all around them. Apparently all of Pewter City was on fire.

"What's going on?!" Zoe yelled over the noise as she shielded her eyes from the fire with her arm. No one seemed to listen though, not even her as TTT saw a pokemon jump over the fires. Entei

Something about Entei bothered Phoinex though. There was a fancy red 'R' imprinted on the tip of the cloud on his back. Phoinex forgot his curiosity as there was an explosion behind him.

He turned around to see a black helicopter flying over the police station. A portion of the station's roof had blown up. The helicopter had a red 'R' on it's doors.

"Oh no… the files!" Phoinex cried, running back into the police station. Zoe and Selena followed him, even though they could hear Phoinex's dad behind them.

"No! Kids! Get back out here! DON'T GO IN THERE! It's not safe!" he said as the doors closed behind them. They came to a room that had it's door blown open. Inside, the ceiling was gone, and the helicopter was in sight. In front of them was a Team Rocket member, hurriedly searching through a cabinet.

"Stop right there!" Selena said. Phoinex grabbed a pokeball from his pocket and through it into the middle of the room.

"GO, AZUMARILL!" The blue pokemon came out.

"Azuuuu!" The Team Rocket member turned around. Zoe gasped.

"Mr. Nadler?!" Mark smiled.

"Yes, it's me, you're guardian." Selena opened her mouth to ask a question, but was stopped. "And yes, I'm a part of Team Rocket. I was supposed to kill you tonight before Pokemon 01 was released, but you weren't home. I figured you'd die from its attack, but it looks like you've survived. Now I can kill you personally like I wanted to."

"Is… is that why you volunteered to take care of us?" Zoe asked.

"Of course."

"My GOD, you're horrible… How could you do that? AND WHAT'S THIS ABOUT KILLING US?!"

"The boss needs you dead, so I kill you. Now I kill you."

"AZUMARILL, WATER GUN!" Phoinex commanded. Azumarill jumped into the air and let out a powerful squirt of water from it's mouth that blasted out at Mark.

"Go, PIDGEOT!" Mark yelled, throwing his own pokeball into the air which released the Pidgeot. "Gust!"

Pidgeot flapped its wings rapidly, causing a blast of wing to counter Azumarill's water, making it rebound toward him.

"Azumarill, bubble beam!" Azumarill opened its mouth and let white orbs fly out. Pidgeot dodged quickly, and tackled Azumarill deep into the ground.

"Azumarill, return!" Azumarill came back to its pokeball. "Ok, umm, next…" Phoinex took off his backpack and dug through all the pokeballs looking for a certain one. TTT's backpacks had been filled with all their pokemon since they had left Hogwarts.

"Forget it, kid! I've got what I came for!" Mark raised a vanilla folder. "The Kodomo Files!"

"Guys, those are about us, aren't they? TEAM ROCKET IS GOING TO KNOW MY WEIGHT! I wont allow it! GO, Typhlosion!" Zoe released her pokemon. "Fire Spin!"

The fire on Typhlosion's back lit up, and spiraled high into the air, then down at Mark, who panicked and yelled a random attack.

"WHIRLWIND!" His Pidgeot flapped it's wings even harder then last time, and soon gusts of wind from every direction had gathered into a small, thin tornado in the center of the room. Typhlosion's attack was extinguished by a fire hydrant from the helicopter. Out of Mark's hand, the folder flew out into the tornado, and opened, letting all it's contents whirl out in chaos.

"NO!" Phoinex cried.

"Quick, we have to get them! ESPECIALLY ANY ONE ABOUT ME!" Zoe yelled.

"PAPER!" Phoinex called, extending his arm desperately. One of the sheets of paper in the tornado glowed blue and white, disappeared, and reppeared in his hand.

"FINNEY! You haven't used magic in ages…" Zoe commented. Phoinex ignored her. Selena was busy trying to get a sheet of the files floating near her, that the wind was teasing her with. Phoinex put the paper he had orbed to himself in his opposite hand, then called out again. "PAPER!"

Another sheet orbed into his hand as his father ran into the room.

"Kids, I told you not to come in here! GET OUT NOW! Let me handle this!"

"But dad-" Phoinex began, but was cut off my Mark.

"HAHAHAHA! Later, wimps!" he cried down from the helicopter, five sheets of paper in his hand. The rest had blown away in all directions. "Now you all die!" The helicopter flew higher into the night. Entei ran below it with it's awesome speed, leaving the mess of a town behind it to burn.

"Oh no… the station's probably gonna blow up. We have to get out now." Mr. Halliwell said, grabbing the kids and pushing them out of the room.

"Dad, the files!" Phoinex complained.

"THEY'RE GONE! We have to get out now!" He started to run, forcing TTT to run as well. Behind them, the file room blew up. The intensity of the explosion pushed them forward and seemed to have effected the entire building.

"Hurry, go, go, AHHHHHHH!" Mr. Halliwell hollered as a piece of roof fell on top of him.

"DAD!" Phoinex said, running back after him.

"No, no! Get out! Get your files! Forget me… I know you can do it! You can't possibly have feelings for someone you don't even know!"

"But…"

"Just get out! You and your friends there can stop Team Rocket! I know you can! Save your family's pride!"

"What?"

"Save your family's pride! Please! Take Landon with you!" Mr. Halliwell reached down into his pocket through the piece of the roof that had fallen on him. He took out a fastball with a fire sticker on its front. "Promise me you'll take him! Give this to him!" He rolled the fastball toward Phoinex, who picked it up. "Together, you can get back the Halliwell Lam-" More of the ceiling fell on Mr. Halliwell, covering him entirely, and most likely killing him as well.

"NO!" Phoinex ran forward to try and help, but was stopped by Selena and Zoe.

"There's no time, he's right, we're needed to stop Team Rocket! OUT NOW BEFORE MY ASS IS CRISPY!" Zoe said, forcing him out of the police station. They ran into the forest, and waited in the trees, watching the place that had temporarily served as their home burn to the ground. They thought about the betrayal their guardian had done. All the lies… they considered just running away, but Phoinex wanted to find Landon early the next morning. There would probably be someone from the orphan agency here the next day. If not, they would call. Whatever they decided to do though, their stay in Pewter City was coming to an end.