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Hello, my apologies for the lateness (although it was a short month...). Anywho, to clarify, Apple's powers are not gone forever- what happened to Apple (powers getting taken) at some point happens to every Mew b/c they train by going back in time, Celebi takes them back in time, and Celebi needs this power to time travel. So sorry if that was not clear.
ChaosAngel4us- Yup, I'm glad Apple's back, too! See above explanation.
sloganlogan- See above explanation! Sorry! _
obsessed-beyond-reason2001- I HATE chemistry... so sorry you have to deal with that.
Thanks guys for reviewing! And thanks to all my readers! You all keep me writing!
Alright guys, kinda short chapter, sorry, but its necessary. I'm going to start doing this Previously in An Apple A Day thing because I know I don't update often, and it can get confusing. This one's long but others shouldn't be. So, here we go...
Previously in An Apple A Day
Anita Parkwood's set out on a journey with Apple, a Mew transformed into an Eevee for hiding purposes, in Acceber. Anita is gifted with psychic powers, which Apple has been teaching her to use. She's collected threebadges thus far and is traveling with Erin, an ex-research assistant; Mel, a boy with a ghost gift; and Liam, who is also a supposed research assistant.
Unbeknownst to Anita, the Master of Team Glop'emm/Gym Leader of Drape Town is attempting to find and destroy Mew. The Master (Master Mendol) had a horrific childhood in which most of his life was destroyed by legendary Pokemon, which has caused him to hunt down legendary Pokemon. The Master sent his relative-Liam Mendol-as a detective to watch Anita, because he suspects her to be Mew while the Master researches how to destroy Mew. The gym leaders are currently keeping an eye out for the Master, as they suspect him to be the leader of Team Glop'emm-though they have no evidence.
Team Glop'emm is currently developing a device that will be able to untransform Mew, the research for which is lead by Rita Teal, Team Glop'emm's head researcher. The Master left Jamie Arkle in charge, though Jamie appears to have intentions that differ from the Master's and plans to take over Team Glop'emm. Jamie has momentarily left Team Glop'emm (leaving Rita in charge) to find out more about the Master in order to destroy/find him. Jamie recently visited with the ex-gym leader of Drape Town where he found that the Master and his father previously lived in Vintage Village. Jamie travels places usually by riding his Togekiss.
A kind of side note: In her research to create a device that untransforms Mew, Rita has been working with several Dittos, one of which (Sticky) has been able to transform into a girl she thought of, not one the Ditto has seen. Sticky has also been fairly successful in learning English (this is evidence that Anita could be Mew).
ANYWAY, in the meantime, before Anita's gym battle with Sparky Storm, Apple disappeared. It turns out that because there can only exist one Mew at a time (every 5,000 years, Mew explodes and a new Mew is born from the ashes of the old), Mew and Celebi have the following deal: usually twice in Mew's life, Celebi will bring Mew back in time to train with older Mews. The first time is to learn psychic basics with a whole group of Mews from other time periods. The second time is more advanced one-on-one training. Celebi, however, lacks the power needed for time travel so takes Mew's powers. Thus, Mew provides the power to time travel (plus a little more so Celebi can time travel once or twice without Mew) and Celebi brings Mew back in time. All of this happened to Apple at an unfortunate time. Anita freaked out and her psychic powers got out of control. Now, however, Apple's back in the right time period so all should be well... right?
Next time I'll summarize all of the Master's flashbacks as it is more vital to the next chapter.
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Chapter 32: Bon Voyage
"Do you think she'll be mad when we tell her we've spent all the money she won from Sparky?"
"Who cares?"
"I care! I don't want to be psychically blown to munchable Erin bits!"
"Liam, Erin, look! She's waking up!"
My head throbbed as I opened my eyes. There was something heavy on my stomach. I looked down and smiled when I saw Apple, curled up and sleeping on top of me.
"Anita! How do you feel?" Erin asked. I looked around the room. I was lying in the bed of a typical Pokemon Center guest room, with plain walls, a wooden door, and a small window. Erin, Liam, and Mel sat on a twin bed across the room, facing me. "My mom put you in this room when we brought you here yesterday. She said all you and Apple needed was rest," Erin explained.
I nodded and when I sat up, carefully moving Apple to my lap, I noticed I was wearing baggy hospital clothing. "I have a headache, but I think I'm okay."
"You looked really bad yesterday. When Wella and Griffy got you and Apple back to the top of the cliff, I thought you weren't breathing."
"Well, I'm fine," I said. Erin frowned at me. I reached my mind out to see what she was thinking—and found I couldn't. Liam's hand was a bit neat Erin's, but they weren't touching. I tried again. Nothing. I tried to sense my surroundings, but failed to perform even such a simple psychic task. Maybe I wasn't fine.
"So what happened to Apple?" Liam asked bluntly.
"Liam!" Erin slapped his shoulder.
"I'm sorry," Liam said sarcastically. "I'd like to know the reason behind all the unpleasantness I've recently experienced, including—but not limited to—being blamed for Apple's disappearance, being attacked by you, and my shrinkers being destroyed."
I took a breath and spoke the story I'd started preparing yesterday. "Apple used dig in the underground room Sparky had put my Pokemon in, and some of the dark material that prevented me from sensing the room got stuck to Apple's back paw. Apparently, she didn't notice the material until yesterday. Anyway, she fell into a cavern half-filled with water. She tried to dig her way out, but she stopped when parts of the cavern started to collapse from her digging—the cave was already eroding from the water. Then the cave started to flood. She was hungry and wanted to get out so she took a chance and swam out of the cave. She felt something dragging her back paw and finally realized why I hadn't found her…"
Erin gazed at Apple. "Poor thing."
"Why didn't your other Eevees know what had happened to her? They were all in the same room, right?" Liam asked.
Shit. Leave it to Liam to find a hole in my story. "Vanilla and Splash were in their Pokeballs," I lied. Hopefully, he wouldn't check with Sparky.
"Um, yeah. So my mom said you'd be better by tomorrow," Erin said, nervously tugging at the bottom of her white blouse.
"We've already determined that I'm fine." I concentrated on Erin, willing my mind into hers. Why wouldn't she spit out whatever she wanted to say? And why couldn't I read her mind?
"So now that you're done with the gym, we thought we'd leave tomorrow."
"Ok." I looked at Erin expectantly.
Mel turned his head from Erin to Liam. Erin was biting her lip. Liam looked bored. Mel threw his hands up and waved them at Erin and Liam. "You have NO idea what I've had to deal with without you!" Mel said. "These people are so stupid! What they're trying to say is that they used all the money you won from Sparky to buy ship tickets and a suitcase for Liam's stuff, and later today as long as you're okay we're all taking the ship to Vintage Village."
"Oh."
"Anita, I'm so sorry. We wouldn't have done it, but we thought you'd want to leave and the ship tickets were going fast. And then Liam was insisting on new shrinkers only they were all too expensive—"
"Erin, its okay. That makes sense."
Erin stared at me for a second and then let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Of course. I mean, I wasn't expecting otherwise." She glanced at the door. "I'm… I'm just going to go tell my mom you're awake." Erin quickly left the room, leaving the door not fully closed behind her.
"What's with her?"
"I think she was expecting you to explode at her," Mel said. "You've been kinda… uptight… lately."
"Apple was missing."
Liam let out a dismissive sniff.
"What?"
Liam sat down in a waiting room chair, folding his arms. "You say that like it's an excuse."
"But—"
"I'm not saying what happened to you and Apple wasn't bad, but you really wreaked havoc on the rest of us. You cannot expect everything, especially how we treat you, to go back to the way it was before."
There was a knock on the door. Because the door wasn't fully closed, it opened. Zach was standing in the doorway. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I? I just wanted to let you know Mrs. Ken—I mean, Nurse Joy will be with you in a minute." He stepped inside the room and started writing on a clipboard. "So, Liam, did you and Erin have a falling out or something?"
Liam and I exchanged looks of what-the-hell-is-this-kid-doing. I coughed to cover up a laugh.
"It's not your business. Weren't you leaving?" Liam said rudely.
Zach shook his head. "Nope, I've got to run through some preliminary checks."
"Like Erin's dating status," I commented.
Zach tilted his head downward towards the clipboard as he wrote, attempting to hide a blush. "It's a check," he muttered. Then louder, he said, "So, Anita, how do you feel? Any trouble breathing? Light-headedness? Headaches?"
"Headache."
"Anything else bothering you?"
"Well, I can't use my psychic powers."
Zach looked up from his clipboard and stared at me.
"She's kidding," Liam said hastily.
Zach looked at me for a confirmation. I rolled my eyes. "Lacking a sense of humor much?"
I swear I heard Zach mutter, "Possibly delusional" as he scribbled on his clipboard.
/ / / / / / / / / /
"Ugh, there's nothing in this book about why I can't use my powers," I said angrily, practically tearing the pages out of The Gift as I flipped through the book.
"Stop it, Anita. You'll wake Apple," Erin snapped. When I looked up to glare at her though, she was looking out over the metal railing at the ship we were waiting to board. It was a relatively small ship, maybe only half the size of a Wailord and its side read "S.S. Bezzle." The ship had three decks, staggered on top of each other at the front of the ship. Already, I could see passengers shuffling about the decks, waving to family and friends or pointing into the distance.
I glanced at Erin and then down at Apple, who was sleeping in a basket that hung from my arm. I hadn't had a proper conversation with Erin since I'd woken up yesterday. She hadn't returned to the room after fetching Mrs. Kendle, and this morning our walk to the peir had been eerily quiet. Only Mel attempted conversation, trying to ease the mood with pathetic jokes, like "Where do ghosts buy their food? At the ghost-ery store!"
At some point, I knew I'd have to confront Erin. Apple's health, however, seemed to be a more pressing issue. She had woken up a few times to eat, and had once nodded at me encouragingly, but for the most part, Apple continued to sleep. Mrs. Kendle had said she'd need anywhere from twelve to forty-eight hours to recover, but what could she know? Mrs. Kendle didn't know that Apple had been dragged back in time and had her psychic energy sucked up by a nasty Celebi.
Worst of all, I couldn't get into Apple's mind. I had tried when she was awake and asleep. It was almost like there was a dark band tied somewhere to my body that I couldn't find. Believe me, I checked—you never know with Liam.
"You'll need to deposit your Pokeballs here," a security man said. We had reached the entrance at the top of all the winding aluminum ramps. He handed out individual cloth pouches to Liam, Erin, Mel, and me. "You'll be given an ID tag that matches the bag's number so you may retrieve your Pokemon at the end of the ride." The man looked at me. "Excuse me, Ma'am. No Pokemon allowed outside their Pokeballs. You'll have to return the Eevee to a Pokeball to deposit it." I looked at Apple, still fast asleep in the basket. She didn't even have a Pokeball.
"She's sick," I said, tucking my book under my arm.
The security man adjusted his black cap and uniform, standing up straighter. "Well, I'm sorry Ma'am, but we have rules. You'll have to return your Pokemon to its Pokeball."
"I don't have any Pokeballs," Liam said. He flashed his ticket and walked aboard the ship. The security man nodded to a Medicham I noticed standing inside. The Medicham nodded back.
"Please enjoy the ride," the security man said. Liam was such a fudgecicle. He had to still have his Pokeballs, but his dark gift must have prevented the Medicham from sensing them. Why couldn't he have held onto all of ours, too?
I looked at Erin pleadingly but she shrugged and gave me a "what am I supposed to do about it?" look. She and Mel put their Pokeballs in pouches.
"Ma'am, there are other people waiting to board," the security guard.
What was I supposed to do without a—oh! "You guys go ahead without me," I said. People moved out of my way as I ran down the ramp. I searched the ground and spotted the small closed-off concrete area being used to store the luggage that was to be brought aboard the ship. All of the bags had magenta tags. I quickly spotted Liam's small, navy blue roll-on.
I looked around, making sure no officer was watching. Hopefully, any passengers watching me would assume I had forgotten something in my suitcase. I ducked under the security line and waded through the bags until I reached Liam's. I pulled the bag near the water and glanced up toward the ramp. The security man was still occupied with checking in passengers.
I unzipped the bag and hesitated by the water edge. Liam would be furious. Oh, well. He had ditched us at the front of the line anyway. I dumped Liam's stuff into the water, watching his polo shirts and jeans bob on the ocean's surface, dispersing. Carefully, I took Apple out of the basket and placed her in the suitcase. I prayed she wouldn't wake up.
They probably psychically checked the suitcases for Pokeballs, I decided. I wasn't sure if they'd check for Pokemon, but they wouldn't toss Apple off the ship or leave her behind if they found her in a suitcase. The shipline could be sued for something like that.
Smiling, I zipped up the suitcase and made my way back to the line to get aboard.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o
A short, hooded figure slowly opened the Master's office door. "Father?"
"What do you—oh, it's you," a larger, hooded man answered. "Tell whoever the challenger is that I'm busy. Or better yet, tell the challenger I won't battle him unless he beats you. Give you some good practice and teach these nobodies to think twice before challenging the gym. Ever since Darcleye stepped down last week, challengers keep coming… thinking they can beat down the new guy. We'll show—"
"Father, this is about the research."
"What research?"
"You know, about perfecting twining."
The father stared at the framed scripture on the wall.
"You're not even listening. I suspect I've found a way to prolong twining effects using stun spore and the absorbing part of solar beam you'd rather stare at the wall!"
The father suddenly rose from his seat behind the wooden desk. "I'm leaving. I've got to go to Zahavah."
"Are you even going to acknowledge me!" the boy yelled. He took a breath. Then quieter, he said, "You were just gone. You've told me a leader must be present as much as possible."
"I may be a leader in title and occupation, but it's not my goal—it's just a means. I'm putting you in charge of the gym this time. Can't have anyone winning again. Jamie'll still be in charge of Glop'emm."
"Can I come with you to Zahavah?"
"No. You're needed here." The father swiftly locked his desk and left the room, leaving the cloaked boy standing in the doorway. The boy knew his father was hiding something; his father was stressed and the boy no longer understood his actions. It was a long time before the boy left the office.
A clue. Maybe. My father had already been instated as a gym leader, and it would have been a week before the monthly gym leader meeting. So why would my father be going to Zahavah City?
o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Vintage Village was the most useless town in Acceber, I'd decided. There was a small pier that could hold at most two ships, and otherwise was made up of small stone houses. The Pokemon Center was comprised of an old lady who'd dyed her hair pink living in one of these houses. The lady didn't even have a healing machine—she made her own medicines out of berries. The town had no Pokemart, no gym, and no city hall.
The lack of a city hall was particularly irksome. It'd taken me a whole day to locate the mayor because his little stone house was indistinguishable from the other four hundred. Porygon2 hadn't found anyone who went by the name of Mendol in the city's records located on a desktop computer in the mayor's study.
I kicked a stone into the street, wondering what Rita might be up to at this moment. I had to get back there—her in charge for to long could cause major damage my plans, perhaps even reverse all the efforts I'd gone through to win Team Glop'emm members' loyalty.
A Rattata scurried into a bush. Maybe I could do a survey—go door to door—interview anyone who might have known the Mendols. I stopped walking a moment, realizing I'd reached a dead-ended street. It would take too long—I needed information now, damn it.
In the center of the roundabout turnaround, there was a giant stone carved into the shape of a flame. I could make out names carved into the rock…
A memorial. Quickly, I pulled out a newspaper clipping I'd kept in my pack since I'd had it stolen from the Tinted Town museum. The clipping depicted a picture of a pile of ash in front of several burning wooden houses. A Mew's head popped out of the ash. The newspaper article was about whether or not the picture had been forged.
The article was dated November 3, 2005. I stepped closer to the memorial. The date scratched into the memorial's base was October 22 of the same year. Mendol had been tracking Mew for as long as I can remember.
Confidently, I swerved around. If Mew was about, Mendol had to be involved. When disaster struck Vintage Village, the police had to be involved as well. The police station was a block away, conveniently located in yet another small stone building. If both the police and Mendol were involved with the explosion, chances were the police still had records of it.
Shielding my eyes from the sun, I looked up at the police station. For a moment, I considered barging in with Hypno, Magnemite, and Porygon2. However, it was broad daylight and it was likely I could obtain the information I needed without my Pokemon's assistance. I pulled out a pen and a pad of paper from my bag and walked into the police station, trying to smile and look friendly.
The man sitting at the front desk was sleeping with his black boots atop his messy desk. Disgusting. This was a prime example of why the police had no right to run Acceber. "Excuse me, sir," I said.
Startled, the man awoke and nearly fell out of his chair. He sent papers flying as he dragged his feet off of the table, trying to appear composed. "What can I help you with?" the man asked in a gruff voice.
"I'm doing a report on the mysterious fire that occurred on October 22, 2005 and am looking for a few officers to give me complete accounts of what happened that day," I said.
The man turned his head and tilted back his chair, looking at the back few doors, which were all closed. "Looks like I'm the only one here… or awake," he mumbled. Louder, he said, "Well, I can give you my account. I was working here."
"Is there anyone else who was more involved I could interview?" I asked. No reason to waste my time talking to this moron.
"For your information, buddy, I was very involved. I was working right here, in fact, and when everyone else ran off to extinguish the fire, I was told to stay here and take care of anyone who stopped by."
Sticking my pen in a pocket, I fingered Hypno and Magnemite's Pokeballs.
"It was the strangest thing," the man said. "Some guy ran in here right after the fire started, telling me he wanted to take care of this little six-year-old girl in the middle of the crisis. I was like, I'm not a babysitter, and he told me he was going after who started the fire—"
I pulled the pen back out of my pocket. "Can you describe what this man looked like? What was his name?" Briefly, I imagined stabbing this babbling idiot in the eyes with my pen. If only he didn't have any information.
The officer scratched his slightly balding head. "Never did give me a name. The guy was wearing a long coat. Green eyes, black hair." Finally, a breakthrough. I smiled. I'd find out about the Mendol family soon enough. The officer continued, "The little girl was…" The man held his hand out three feet above the ground. "yea tall maybe."
"Are you sure it was a girl?" Maybe he was blind and stupid.
"Pardon?"
"Are you sure the kid with the man was a girl? What did she look like?"
The officer sounded offended. "Of coarse I know she was a girl. She had long black hair and dark eyes. Actually, she still lives in the town. Works at the local orphanage."
"There was no young boy?"
"Uh… no."
"Can I get this girl's name?"
The officer smiled sheepishly. "I don't remember." He was leaning back in his chair again, his belly sagging in front of him.
"Well why don't you look it up for me then."
The man typed a few words into his desktop computer. "Lillian Smith."
"What is the orphanage address?"
"2278 Willow Road. I thought you were researching a fire, not some girl."
"Undoubtedly, she'll be able to provide a better account than you." I left the police station and released my Togekiss. I was not going to wander about these streets for hours searching for Willow Road. We found the orphanage quickly.
"Skampi—" In front of the orphanage, I was about to return my Togekiss. On second thought though, the Pokemon would likely make me appear more trustworthy, especially to a young girl. I had Skampi jump on my shoulder when I knocked on the door.
An elderly lady answered the door wearing makeup that flaunted her wrinkles, instead of hiding them. "Yes?"
"Hello, Ma'am. I'm doing a report on the 2005 fire, and I'd like to interview Lillian Smith. I've heard she works here." I bumped my shoulder to try to get Skampi from digging in with his claws.
The lady looked me up and down before calling, "Lily! Someone's here to see you." The lady opened the door wider. "Come in and have a seat. I'm Helen." She held out her hand.
"Jamie." I shook her hand, flashed her a smile, and gestured toward my shoulder. "This is Skampi."
Helen led me down a clean wood-floored hall to a kitchen that was only slightly larger than my office. I peered into other rooms but saw no signs of any little brats. The kitchen table took up the most room in the kitchen—there were about twenty seats. Helen pulled out a seat at the kitchen table for me so I sat down.
A tall girl with waist-length, shiny black hair walked into the room. She glanced at me and then at Helen. "Yes, Gran?"
"Dear, this gentleman is here to talk to you about the fire. He's doing some report," Helen said, pulling a pot out of a cupboard and placing it on the counter.
I held out my hand as the girl took a seat across from me. "Jamie," I said.
The girl eyed me suspiciously and kept her hands to herself. "Lily. My parents died in the fire," she said matter-of-factly.
I don't give a shit, I thought, matter-of-factly. Instead, I said, "I'm trying to find who started it." Lily watched Skampi for a moment. "Would you like to pet Skampi, my Togekiss?"
"No."
A little freckled boy walked into the kitchen. "Gran," he said, "Freddie's throwing up again." Helen sighed. She gave me a stern look before following the boy out of the kitchen.
"I appreciate you talking to me."
The girl crossed her arms but didn't answer.
"On the day of the fire, a man left you at the police station, correct?"
"Yes."
"Can you describe this man?"
Lily stood up, gripping the table. "Mr. Mendol did not start the fire! I was with him—"
"I don't think he started the fire, Lily."
Lily sat back down. "Then why are you investigating him?"
"I think he knows and went after who started the fire. A description now, please."
"Mr. Mendol was pretty tall and had black hair. His eyes were a really creepy bright green. I think he was in his late thirties, but I always suspected he looked a lot older than he actually was. He was a kind man; he used to take me and his son for ice cream."
Bingo. "Do you know what happened to Mr. Mendol?"
The girl shook her head. "Never saw him again after that day."
"Do you know where they came from?"
"Slateport City. They moved here because of the flood, I think, though they never said for sure."
I stood up. "Thank you, Lily."
"Wait! Can you… can you let me know if you find out what happened to them?"
Nosy girl. I forced a smile. "Sure," I lied. I didn't bother saying goodbye to Helen. I was off to find the next ship leaving for Slateport City.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o
"Whisper, ice beam!" I ordered. Whisper opened her mouth and released a stream of ice that quickly took the shape of a cylindrical pillar. I walked up to the ice pillar and inspected it carefully, checking for any edges. I saw my silver hair and eyes in the ice reflection. I touched a finger to the iced. Perfectly smooth.
"Good work, Whisper," I told the Glaceon. She sat proudly at the ice pillar's base. I looked at the clock hanging from my gym wall. "Our challenger's late."
Suddenly, I noticed movement out the window. A kid with black hair ran behind a Pokemon Center. I'd seen that hair before. I knew every single person in Winsk City; the population was about a hundred. Nobody in the city, including the challenger who was staying at the Pokemon Center, had black spiky hair like that.
Quickly, I grabbed my ice skates, wool coat, and earmuffs. "Whisper, come on." I tied up my skates at the door and rushed outside, thankful for my gift as I froze the ground in front of me and skated forward. Whisper ran beside me through the snow. We followed the trail of footsteps behind the Pokemon Center.
The trail was short, ending abruptly on the other side of the Pokemon Center. Where could he have gone?
"Glace!"
I looked where Whisper pointed her nose. There was another set of prints in the snow leading nearly to where the boy's footprints disappeared. I looked closer at the prints. "Weavile footprints," I said. I noticed the Weavile footprints did not disappear, but turned around toward the direction they seemed to have been coming from in the first place.
"Whisper, follow these," I said. "I'll send out a search party and contact Tamara." Whisper nodded and leapt into action.
I looked across the snow bank to where the mountain cliff was. Softly, I said, "We're going to find you, Mendol."