Chapter 4

Brian:

I didn't sleep very well that night; I didn't wake up at all or anything, but I was haunted by nightmares. The things I had been through, the things I had found out about my father. Was his entire business just a sham? Was he ever a good man? Did something just go wrong along the way? Did…did he ever care about me at all? Images and memories swirled in my brain for hours until I finally woke up around 5:30 the next morning. A cool sweat was all over me and the sheets were a tangled mess. I used my shaking hands to wipe the sweat from my clammy face and stumbled into the bathroom for a warm shower. It made me feel a bit better but those images were there still. I got dressed in a new pair of clothes and dropped my old ones off in the laundry room on my way down for breakfast in the cafeteria. I ordered a bowl of cereal, milk and some toast and then sat at the same table by the window as the night before. The area was significantly less crowded than the night before, mostly a couple of people who looked like they had stopped in for a bagel before work and a few early rising trainers like me. I rubbed my eyes and my temples and tried to forget the dreams as I gazed out the windows and over to the fishing boats that were out casting nets in the lake, crewmen milling about the decks doing…well…whatever it is that crewmen on fishing boats do. As I was transfixed on the waters and ships the same Chansey brought me my food and I thanked it with a tip and a pat on the head. It smiled that always happy Chansey smile and then scooted off to pick up the next order. Phillip walked in at that moment and went to the counter to order himself something to eat after waving at me a little bit. I have him a half wave back and dug into the corn flakes in front of me. In a few minutes he sat down across from me.

"Well, good morning Phillip." I said, not at all enthusiastically. He looked and me and frowned a bit.

"Good and Morning don't go together if you ask me. Good morning is one of the world's biggest oxymorons." I perked up a little bit. This guy was making a lot more sense to me than anyone I had ever met.

"I heard that," I told him with a smile. I couldn't help but to chuckle inwardly a bit at the sight of his messy hair. He certainly was not a morning person. I could defiantly relate.

"So," he started after Chansey had served him a pile of pancakes and some sausage. "I was wondering, are you headed anywhere specific?" I thought about where I was actually going. At least this time I could be honest.

"Well not really, but eventually I'll end up in Vermillion because I'm gonna catch the ship to the Hoenn area." Phillip nodded.

"Hmmm…that sounds cool. Mind if I come?" I kind of looked at him funny for a minute.

"What, with me?" I asked stupidly. Phillip's face sank.

"Uh, yeah with you…if you don't want me to that's okay, I'll understand." He said with a small frown. But could I really let him come with me? I mean, my dad's people were probably after me. Could I knowingly drag another person into all this?

"It would be awesome, but…well…" I wasn't sure I could even tell them. Phillip leaned over.

"Look, are you like a crook or something? Are you on the run from someone?" Wow. I though. He's pretty insightful.

"Oh no…well…yes I am," I finally admitted. Then I realized what I had said. "I mean, no, I'm not a criminal...what I meant was…see…I ran away from home four days ago. And I think my dad is looking for me." Phillip nodded.

"Oh I get it now. Ah yes, it makes sense now. Lying, trying not to give anything away to maybe get caught." I nodded slightly.

"Yeah."

"Hey, that's okay man, but why did you run away? I mean, did your dad do something or what?" he asked. Something. I thought. Where would I even begin?

"Well, let's just say that I couldn't be there anymore," I told him. "It's…complicated." He shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah I get it. I needed to get out of my place too. Maybe the circumstances aren't the same, but I get what you're saying. I won't say anything to anyone." I smiled at him.

"Thanks. Well yeah, in that case, sure, it would be cool if you came along with me. But just, well, if my dad finds me…us…it could be bad, okay? I just need to warn you, okay?" He nodded after giving me a look.

"Yeah sure," he smiled kind of sadly. "My parents are looking for me too…"

"Well okay then, it's settled. Maybe we should head over to Cerulean before heading out of the country. I have a…um…a uh…someone…someone there I need…to say goodbye to." I wheezed. He gave me a little bit of a funny look but then nodded in agreement.

"Okay, sounds like a plan." We finished up breakfast and then headed back to the room. We packed up our stuff and after checking out we left the Pokemon center and Cyprus Town.

We headed north northeast and crossed over the Oirtgud mountain range in two days and stopped off in another Pokemon Center in Maple City, which was situated at the foot of the other side of the mountains. We spent the night their and then moved on towards the Melog Bridge that connected the general Cerulean area to Gapton, a fairly large city on the edge of the huge Lake of Peace. Who knows why it was named that, but it's a positively massive body of water. It's nearly sixty miles across and the Melog Bridge was a huge project. It's about a mile wide and has room on each of the sides for stores, souvenir stands and a mall. I think they were even talking about putting a small amusement park up, but I don't know if they ever got those plans off the ground. There is even a Pokemon Center right in the middle of it. So as you can see, when I said it was huge I was not exaggerating. This thing was the biggest tourist attraction since…well…ever I think. We hadn't been walking across the bridge for maybe, oh, thirty minutes I'd say when a pair of guys in strange leather outfits and Mohawks came roaring up to us on a set of hogs and stopped us on the side of the road.

"Hey you, kids there, you guys Pokemon Trainers or what?" one of them asked with a sarcastic smirk. These guys were trouble, no doubt about it.

"Yeah," I retorted. "Who wants to know?" Both of them laughed.

"We're the Brothers Bash!" the both yelled. "And we challenge you to a battle!"

They were starting to get me angry but Phillip just looked amused.

"The Brothers Bash? Are you kidding me?" he chuckled. "Are your last names really Bash? So what are you, Crash and Smash or something?" he started laughing pretty hard. They both gave us icy stares.

"Laugh all you want kid, but we're gonna take you punks down! Let's go!" the one on the right yelled. Phillip looked over at me.

"Who are they calling punks? Well, what do you think?" he asked with a grin still plastered on his face. I was pretty upset. I mean who did they think they were?

"Let's take 'em." I growled. Then I shouted at them. "One Pokemon each, as a team. Last team with a Pokemon standing wins. Is that okay with you losers?" The yelled back at us.

"Fine by us, kid," he replied, despite the fact that I was a good five inches taller than he was. "Let's do it!" The guy on the right was pretty much the speaker for them and was a little shorter and plump. His Mohawk was bright yellow and he had an earring in his left ear. He was wearing a black leather jacket and a brown t-shirt with faded jeans and cowboy boots. His brother was dressed similarly except that he was in all black with a red Mohawk. Defiantly about the weirdest people I think I had ever met. The short one on the right threw out a Pokeball and released his Houndoom and his brother did the same to reveal his Machamp. Phillip sent out his best-buddy Ivysaur, which looked ready for a fight. I realized that using Scyther would put us at a huge disadvantage against the fire-type Houndoom so I went with good old Snorlax. The Machamp stood silently but the Houndoom looked almost rabid. It stood there foaming at the mouth and glared at us, it's eyes seeming to glow with bloodlust. I guess Phillip decided to take the first move because he had Ivysaur barreling over to hit the Machamp with a Headbutt. The big goon told his Machamp to dodge and surprisingly it was able to with what looked like little trouble. This Machamp, at least, would be a formidable opponent. Phillip realized this as well and had Ivysaur back off a bit and attack from a distance with Razor Leaf. The Machamp was staggered slightly from the hundreds of little leafs slamming and slicing at it and so I took the opportunity to have Snorlax rush it for a Mega Punch. Snorlax dashed forward and was ready to lay into the fighting Pokemon when I saw the Houndoom cut loose a Flamethrower, aimed right for Ivysaur. I knew I couldn't let him get hit with a fire move that could well have finished him off in one shot.

"Snorlax, back off of Machamp and block for Ivysaur!" I commanded. Snorlax made a fairly quick adjustment and was able to move in front of Ivysaur in time to take the attack. It was a pretty strong move but fire and ice type attacks didn't seem to bother Snorlax overly much. Even so though, I knew, I needed to get Snorlax out of there. Before I could do anything however, Phillip had Ivysaur actually jump over Snorlax and the Flamethrower and do a sort of diving headbutt that connected squarely with Houndoom's head. The fire breathing dog yelped and went down. It wasn't knocked out though, but we needed this time to deal with Machamp, who was rushing Snorlax.

"Machamp, use your Karate Chop on that Snorlax right now!" the trainer called to it. Machamp took off at a pretty good clip and was next to Snorlax in a matter of a second or two.

"Snorlax, block the attack!" I managed to yell just before Machamp dropped his hand on Snorlax. My Snorlax was able to catch the fighting type's hand and the two started to wrestle and square off a little bit. I was about to tell Snorlax to break away, because after all it was a normal type and had the disadvantage against a fighting type, but before I could the Machamp's trainer called for a Seismic Toss. To my amazement and horror, the Machamp actually used all four arms and lifted Snorlax over its head and flung it about twenty feet across the street. Snorlax landed with a huge thud and the pavement started to fissure under it. I think all four of us trainers were pretty awestruck. It seemed that the Machamp's Trainer thought he had made a mistake by calling for the Toss and hadn't expected it to work, but the fighter had actually pulled it off. After the initial shock I called Snorlax.

"Hey Snorlax, are you okay buddy? Can you keep going? I asked it. Snorlax was able to rise to its feet, although a bit wobbly at first, but it seemed that there was no serious damage done. I knew that despite the fact that the attack had succeeded it really was a mistake to use it; the Machamp couldn't have looked any more tired and Phillip seized the opportunity.

"Ivysaur, tie it up with a Vine Whip and then give it a taste of its own medicine!" he told him. Ivysaur caught the exhausted Machamp unable to defend itself and sent it flying overhead to crash to the pavement behind us, down for good. "Nice job Ivysaur!" Phillip called to his Pokemon. But now the blasted Houndoom was back up and readying itself for an attack. I, for one, wanted to get this battle over with.

"Snorlax!" I called out to him. "Give it a Hyper Beam!" Snorlax braced itself as the intense beam of heat and light tore across the street and obliterated a stop sign. That familiar smell of burning atmosphere filled the air. Houndoom was still a tad disoriented and wasn't able to dodge the attack at all. The full force of the blinding Hyper Beam blasted it from it's feet and engulfed it in destructive energy. The only reason that Houndoom didn't go sailing off the other end of the bridge was because it was stopped by a railing…after blasting through a tree. Needless to say, the Houndoom didn't get up. We had won.

"Gah!" the brothers yelped in unison. Their Pokemon were recalled into the balls and they high-tailed it down the bridge on their hogs, yelling something about "Uncle." Phillip and I gave each other high fives and then I gave Snorlax a high five as well. He looked really tired though so I put him back into his ball.

"Wow, nice work Brian!" Phillip said, enthusiastically and tiredly at the same time.

"Yeah you too Phillip." I replied. "I think we should head for the Pokemon Center. I think Snorlax might be hurt or even burned a bit." Phillip looked a bit guilty.

"Yeah, thanks for blocking for Ivysaur, I guess I owe you one, for both of us." He told me with a concerned smile.

"Nah, forget it. C'mon, let's get a move on." We traveled to the half way point of the bridge and made it to the Pokemon Center in time for the clock inside the doors to strike midnight. We drug ourselves up to the counter and checked in our Pokemon with Nurse Joy and got a room. We didn't even eat anything before collapsing on the beds. Being held up by a couple of looser trainers who thought they stood a chance was no fun, and we had been awake for nearly twenty hours without a break of any kind. So we just collapsed and fell right to sleep.

I awoke the next morning due to the sunlight that was streaming into the window, which we didn't bother to cover with the drapes the night before. It was seven o'clock. I got up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes as best as I could and staggered into the restroom for a quick shower. When I emerged Phillip was up and took a shower himself. We went downstairs and were greeted by Nurse Joy as we trudged downstairs like zombies.

"Oh my," Nurse Joy said with a mix of amusement and concern. "Did you two sleep okay last night?" I sort of nodded as best I could.

"Oh, uh, yeah. We're just not…you know," I groaned. "Like, morning people." Phillip raised his arm wearily.

"Amen." He moaned. Nurse Joy just smiled.

"You know, this is what happens when you come trudging in at some horrid hour of the night. Honestly, you must take better care of your bodies." Phillip could see that I looked about ready to say something rude so he spoke up first.

"Oh, uh, yeah I guess you're right. We'll, um, remember that in the future." She nodded.

"Okay then, that's good, let me get your Pokemon for you." She disappeared into a back room and emerged with our Pokeballs. Phillip took his Ivysaur and Ralts, his other partner, and I accepted my Snorlax and Scyther. "Brian," Nurse Joy started. "You're Snorlax had a fairly sever burn on its stomach," she reached into a drawer and produced a yellow spray bottle that read "Burn Heal" across it in big red letters. "Apply this to the burned skin once a day for the rest of the week and it should be fine, okay?" I nodded.

"Okay, thanks a lot Nurse Joy." She turned to Phillip

"Phillip, both Ivysaur and Ralts are doing fine, but Ivysaur is a little tired so I would suggest not battling with it for a day or two if you can help it, just to be on the safe side." Phillip nodded in understanding.

"Sure thing, sounds good." Nurse Joy smiled at us.

"Okay, looks like you guys are ready to get moving again. Have a safe trip you two!" She said cheerily. We both smiled back.

"We will." Phillip told her. We left the Pokemon Center and headed for the Diner across the street. After we dashed across the road like fools we took a seat in the restaurant. It was really new, although the atmosphere was made to have it look old. It had a sort of ancient Japan feel to it, with old Samurai armor and traditional Japanese music playing over the speakers. Very cool. I got some waffles and a donut and Phillip got some scrambled eggs, bacon and a few slices of toast with butter. I went to get some syrup and also some pepper for Phillip's eggs and we began eating soon after. We hadn't had any dinner last night after all. We wolfed down breakfast and ordered some more toast and milk after that. We sat there, maybe a bit too long, eating and talking.

"So where did you actually come from?" I asked Phillip.

"Oh, we lived in Magnolia City over on the other side of Lake Sarpal. That's where we had our fishing business." He took a drink of milk. "You probably couldn't have seen it from Cyprus though. The lake is too big." I nodded and jumped in after finishing a bite of toast.

"So, what are your plans? Any particular Pokemon you want to catch someday?" Phillip smiled.

"Well if I never get another Pokemon Ralts and Ivysaur make me happy, although I have always wanted…well…" he got this misty nostalgic look in his eyes. "One night I was tying up one of our boats at the dock and I got attacked by a Sneasle. It was a pretty well known trouble-maker in the area at the time. It never really hurt anyone, at least not too badly, but hey, I was like nine and was pretty scared. But then out of nowhere this Umbreon came up and started beating the stuffing out of it. It was awesome. The Umbreon saved me!" Phillip got all excited. "It was so cool! You should have been there Brian! It was so fast and strong! I can only hope that I get one some day!" He looked about at the point of weeping with joy but managed to contain it. After a minute he had come back down to earth and started eating again.

"I see, so what your saying is…you like Umbreon, right?" I said jokingly. He grinned.

"Oh, just a little bit, yeah. So, how about you?" I thought for a moment.

"Well I don't have any incredible story like that or anything, but I have always liked Crobat." I said with a grin. "I mean really, how cool is Crobat? It's just blindingly fast and so agile, it's like watching a vicious battle dance. I don't know, I guess I've just always saw them as being cool." Phillip nodded.

"Yeah, true. I can defiantly relate." We talked a while more and finished up our breakfast. We headed out side and released our Pokemon for their breakfast. After setting out various Pokemon foods and blocking the door of the restaurant from Snorlax's ever-hungry self, we decided to walk some of the way with out Pokemon out with us. We figured they could use some fresh air too. Snorlax got along pretty well with Phillip and his Pokemon, but Scyther made very fast friends with little Ralts. The two walked and talked for a long time. Who could understand what they were saying, but they seemed to be getting along really well. Snorlax made some conversation with Ivysaur, who would "laugh" every now and then at what I assumed was a joke. It was kind of interesting and I think Phillip and I enjoyed just listening to them talk to each other for a while. Scyther started carrying Ralts around on the flat side of its right scythe arm and even took her flying on its back over the water. It was cool to see because both my Scyther and Phillips Ralts usually seemed to be really quite and reserved. Snorlax and Ivysaur continued to chat back and forth for a while and so did Phillip and I. We stopped off for lunch at a burger joint along the way and continued over the bridge until we reached Gapton around 8:00 pm that night. We checked in and watched a little TV in our room before turning in for the night.