Chapter 8

Gold Brings Ill Tidings

"Look," Ash said, pointing to a tall structure in the distance, "It's Olivine Lighthouse! We're almost there!"

"All right!" I exclaimed happily. "My feet are so tired!"

"Pikapi Pikachu!" said Pikachu from Ash's hat.

"Oh, what are you complaining about?" I said to him. "You've been riding comfortably up there all day!"

"Hey, go easy on Pikachu," Ash said.

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed, crossing his arms.

Finally, at long last, we entered the port city of Olivine! The air smelled of sea salt, sailors could be seen rushing here and there, fishing boats were anchored off shore… all the comforts of a port of call.

"Well this is a regular port city right out of a movie," I said, looking around.

"Uhh, yeah…" Ash said. "Come on, let's get to the harbor."

The harbor was a long dock at which ships regularly docked and pulled away. Several people were gathered, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the S.S. Aqua, the ship that would bring Gold into Olivine. Sure enough, at 4:15, the waters began to churn and bubble, and with a great whoosh, the fast ship S.S. Aqua pulled to a halt at Olivine Bay. Huge amounts of people began to disembark… trainers from all over the place: Gentlemen, Hikers, Campers, Picknikers, you name it. And then, we saw who we were looking for.

"Yo, Gold! Over here!" Ash called, raising his hand. Gold noticed us and came forward. He was a boy of about 16 with brown hair and a twisted around baseball cap. He wore a white sweatshirt with red sleeves, and a pair of baggy pants.

"Hullo, Ash!" Gold said cheerfully, shaking his friend's hand. "How goes it?" He looked at me. "Who's he?"

"Oh, this is Paul. He's been tagging along with me." Ash said. "Paul, Gold. Gold, Paul."

"How ya doin," I said with a smile, shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet you." Gold said. "You new around Johto?"

I nodded. "You could say that."

"Hmm…"

"So Gold, what was this big news you had to tell us?"

Gold glanced around nervously. "We should not speak of it here. Let's grab a bite at the diner, where there's less prying eyes and ears."

We unanimously agreed.

"What will you have, good sirs?" the waiter asked.

"I'll have a volcano burger, no lettuce," I said.

"Ash and I are going to share a super Slowbro corn beef sandwich."

"Very good sirs." The waiter said, and he left us.

Gold looked around to make sure there was nobody listening, and then leaned forward and said, "Okay, guys, here's the scoop. You guys all know that Cinnabar Island is the birthplace of Mewtwo, right?" We nodded. "Well, I found out that when they rebuilt the lab on Cinnabar Island, they created a psychic energy detector, which would react to strong psychic energy in the area. They were hoping that Mewtwo would return to the island. Well, a few weeks ago, the meter began reacting violently… it broke from all the energy it was receiving."

"So did Mewtwo return?" Ash asked.

"That's the thing!" Gold said. "They never saw him. Not a trace of him for miles!"

"Weird," I said.

"Yeah. So anyway, I was visiting some relatives in Kanto not long after that when I bumped into a few members of Team Rocket. Luckily I hid behind some garbage cans so they didn't see me, but as they walked past I heard them mutter something about Mewtwo and Cinnabar Island."

"Do you think they're after Mewtwo?" I asked.

"I didn't know," Gold replied, "So I did some sleuthing around. I asked some people at the tavern if they knew where Team Rocket was hiding out. Nobody knew, but then I saw this one guy… he wore a cloak and a hood, so I couldn't see his face… and he had a Wobbuffet with him. He told me that Team Rocket was staying at the abandoned warehouse until tomorrow morning, when they would move to Blackthorn City for a secret meeting in the Dragon's Den."

"How did he know all this?" Ash asked, flabbergasted.

"I didn't ask," Gold said grimly. "I was happy just to get any info at all."

"So what did you do?"

"What do you think I did? I hopped on my Pidgeot and tailed them to Blackthorn. I waited outside the Dragon's Den until they were all inside, and then I followed them. I didn't hear exactly everything they said, but from what I gathered, Boss Rocket, Giovanni, is planning some kind of huge search and capture mission, involving the forest protector, Celebi."

"So that's what the Rockets were doing in Ilex Forest!" I exclaimed.

"Shhh! Keep your voice down!" Gold whispered fiercely. "So anyway, they also said there would be a huge battle involving an army of Mewtwo's. Apparently, Celebi has become angry with humans for destroying forests and land, and is going to attack with an army of ten thousand Mewtwos."

This last bit of news draped a heavy silence over the table. This was indeed dire news.

"So… what should we do?" I asked finally.

Gold snorted. "What? You think we can actually do anything?"

"Hey, would you rather sit here and do nothing while Celebi plots against the world?"

More silence, and then Ash said, "The kid has a point."

"Come on, dude," I said, almost pleadingly. "Haven't you seen enough on your travels to see that even a small group of people can make a difference? If we rally enough help to our cause, I'm sure there's something we could do!"

Gold sighed, looked at me and Ash, and said, "All right, fine. We'll try to help the world."

"That's my boy!" I exclaimed, patting Gold on the back. Ash and Gold looked at me like I was crazy. And then the check came, and I began to feel two pairs of eyes glaring at me.

"Don't get stingy with us, Cricklin," Ash said. I groaned and reached for my wallet.

"So where are we off to?" I asked when we had exited the diner.

"I think the best move would be to go and see Kurt, in Azalea Town." Gold said. "He lives near the Ilex Forest and knows much of its history. Surely he can tell us something about Celebi."

"Great. So how do we get there?" I asked.

Ash pointed to the road. "That way. We must pass through Union Cave. It's about a half day journey."

I sighed, and said. "Well, all right, let's go!" We looked at each other and nodded, and then set off determinedly for the route that would take us to Union Cave.