Zach was not at the funeral for very long. He never liked funerals, for they made him feel uneasy. Several people gave him their condolences, but he left before everyone that was there could. Immediately when he got home he starting packing his bags.
"Shroom?" the walking mushroom sadly let out a low call as he walked into the bedroom where Zach was packing.
"I know you'll miss it here Shroomish, but we can't stay. When things like this happen, you can't dwell in the past. However hard it may be, you have to move on." Zach had finished packing his bag as he spoke. He then walked to the doorway, with Shroomish at his side. Thoughts and memories ran through his mind. He thought of all the good and bad times he has had in this house. "Farewell, old friend." With that, he turned off the main breaker for the house and walked out side.
Thomas was leaning against the fence at the end of the walkway when Zach walked out. He was still dressed form the funeral, wearing a nice black suit, his graying light-brown hair was neatly combed to the side.
"So you're finally leaving…"
"Yeah. I have nothing else holding me here, so I might as well." Zach was wearing black cargo jeans, with a dark blue t-shirt.
"Won't be the same here without you; you're a big part of this community, Zach. You've always been there when people needed help. You've also always been the person to turn to when people needed advice with caring for there Pokèmon, and if it weren't for you, there wouldn't be the small Pokèmon Center here."
"They'll find someone else to turn to for help once I'm gone. Besides, I'll come back to visit every once in a while." There was a brief silence as the two leaned against the fence. They were both watching Shroomish as it played with a group of Oddish in one of the gardens.
"It's hard to believe that she's gone," Thomas decided to beak the awkward silence.
"Yeah…" Zach started to reminisce about when he first moved to Cyan.
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The black rain clouds were slowly moving in on Cyan from beyond the forests. A dark blue car was parked in from of Annabelle O'Donnell's house. Inside the house, three adults were sitting at the table.
"Thanks for volunteering for watching Zach for us while we go on this research trip," the only man at the table said. He was slightly over six feet tall and looked quite tough. Despite his outward look, however, he had a very gentle tone to his voice. His jet-black hair was slicked back in order to keep it off his face.
"Tony and I should only be gone for a week or two. We're just going down to the Sea Foam Islands to study some odd occurrences that have been going on down there." A woman sitting to the right of the man was the next to speak. She was not much older than the man, who was apparently her husband. She was about five and a half feet tall and her light brown ponytail was about half way down her back,
"Do try to have some fun and relaxation while you're down there, Audrey. You two are always working, you need a nice vacation or a second honeymoon." The third woman was a woman in her early sixties. She was about five feet tall, and had the same light brown hair as her daughter, except hers was graying. She was sitting across form the couple.
"After this trip we're going to take a vacation to Fuchsia City," Tony replied. His brown eyes looked out the window at a boy that was playing with some Oddish and Rattata.
"Alright, just be careful. Zach and I will be fine here until you get back." Annabelle assured them when she saw the way her daughter and son-in-law looked at their son.
"We must be going now; I want to try to get back to Saffron before this storm gets too bad." Audrey spoke before the three of them got up and walked outside. "Zach, honey, we're leaving now."
The five foot-two boy ran up to them, his medium length brown hair being blown about in the wind, which was picking up a bit. "Alright, have fun down in the Islands. I'll be sure to take care of Grams for you while you're gone." The couple hugged and kissed their son before walking towards their car. Zach and his grandmother went inside once Audrey and Tony got in their car.
"You sure this is best for him?" Tony, who was in the driver's seat, asked of a green and white fairy that was in the back seat, looking at it from the rearview mirror.
"Yes, it will work out for the better in the long run," replied Celebi as she looked through the window at the house. "I will make sure he is safe until he is ready. You have nothing to worry about." Celebi teleported out of the car.
"I hope she knows what she's doing." Audrey was obviously worried about what Celebi had in mind.
"I trust Celebi, she's never put us down a path yet, and why would she start now?" Tony knew it was almost pointless to argue with his stubborn wife, but he also knew that whatever Celebi had in mind was for the better.
"I don't know…"
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Zach let out a long sigh. "After seven years of leaving here, I'm finally leaving…"
"I know you'll keep in though. Maybe even visit once you get famous." Thomas had an optimistic tone in his voice. "Oh yeah, before I forget, I got you a little 'going away' present." He pulled a small box out of the basket on his bike and handed the box to Zach.
"A present? Thanks," expressed Zach as he took the small book-sized box and opened it. Inside, was a book-like devise that resembled a Pokèdex. On the front, it had a pokèball symbol on it, and wrapped around the symbol were the words "Devon Corporation."
"It's called a PokèNav. My brother who lives in Hoenn sent it to me," Thomas told Zach, "It was made by a company kind of like Silph. It has a digital map of the region."
"That should come in handy. Thanks; not just for this, but for everything that you've done for me throughout the years." Zach opened the front pocket of his bag. Contained in this pocket were several compressed pokèballs and the red Pokèdex. As he put the PokèNav away, a well-dressed man walked up to him and Thomas.
"Hello there, young man," the man called as he approached. He was wearing a very nice navy blue business suite, and a matching top hat covering his balding gray head.
"Hello," Zach replied, recognizing the man, "You're that man that had the Togetic."
"Yes, that would be me," the man chuckled. "The name's Harold," he shook hands with them. "I couldn't help but notice how well groomed and taken care of your Shroomish was."
"Thanks, he's been my only Pokèmon for five years, so I've had plenty of time with him. He's not trained for battle yet though"
"Neither is my Togetic." Harold paused as he got an idea, "Say, why don't we have a practice battle. It can be between two Pokèmon that have been raised for looks rather than strength."
"Alright! I accept you're challenge! Hey Shroomish, we're going to have a battle!"
The two trainers took their positions facing each other, roughly fifty feet apart. Shroomish ran to its position in front of its trainer while Harold threw a red and white sphere into the air. The sphere popped open, shooting out a white light, then fell back into its owner's hand. The white light shot to the ground and formed into the familiar ostrich Pokèmon.
"Toge? Tic toge?" The Pokèmon was unsure of what her trainer wanted her to do, seeing as this was not a pageant hall.
"Togetic, we're going to have a battle. This is just for fun though, so don't get too stressed over it," Harold informed his beloved Pokèmon.
"This will be an unofficial Pokèmon match between Togetic and Shroomish. Both appear to be ready, so let the match begin!" Thomas shouted as he took his position in the middle of the two, off to the side.
"Shroomish! Tackle it!"
"Counter with your own tackle, Togetic!"
The two Pokèmon dashed at each other and clashed in the center of the battleground. They exchanged several tackles before Harold saw that Togetic was starting to lose, since it had a less concentration of body mass.
"Togetic, hover above it and dive tackle it!"
"Tic" the ostrich chirped and nodded. It didn't even have to flap its small wings to get itself off the ground, where it hovered out of Shroomish's reach. It then started to dive down at the mushroom, who could do nothing but dodge or take the hits. Togetic took about six passes at Shroomish before Zach noticed something; the pouches at the end of Shroomish's mushroom were noticeably larger than normal.
"Just a bit longer Shroomish"
"Togetic, lets finish this. Make this next tackle count!" Harold saw that he hat this match in the bag, and wanted to finish it quickly. His Pokèmon flew to the side of the field opposite of her opponent and started flapping her wings furiously as she darted towards her opponent.
"Wait for it…" Zach called out. Shroomish did exactly as his trainer commanded and stood his ground.
"SHROO!!!" The mushroom was hit hard by the flying ostrich. The moment that Togetic hit Shroomish, however, his pouches burst open, sending out a cloud of spores.
When the spores settled, both Pokèmon were standing glaring at each other, both breathing heavily from the attack.
"To..." The ostrich cried as she fell to the ground, paralyzed.
"Togetic is paralyzed and thus unable to battle! Shroomish is the winner!" Thomas announced.
"Nicely played, lad," Harold admitted as he returned his fallen Pokèmon to her pokèball, "I did not anticipate that effect spore to have as much of an effect as it did." He walked to Zach and extended hi hand, "I was defeated fair and square. You knew what your Pokèmon was capable of preciously."
Zach shook his hand, "Your Togetic has a lot of potential. I got the feeling from it that it would go into any situation by your side. I hope that someday we meet again, except with full teams."
"Indeed. I wish you the best of luck on your journeys." Harold looked over at Shroomish, who was happily rejoicing his victory with some Oddish, "I would not be surprised if you won the Indigo Tournament someday."
"Just remember us if you ever do," Thomas chimed in, "And you will always be welcome here in Cyan, should you need a place to rest."
"Thank you both for your support and good wishes. I've got to go now, though." Zach put his backpack on and placed Shroomish in the basket of his bike.
"'Till we meet again," Harold said as he tipped his hat.
"Goodbye, for now." With that, Zach rode off towards Pallet Town. Once there, he will get his Trainer's Card reactivated and head off to fulfill his destiny.