I got no idea how to pronounce Kanto (I believe it's Khan-toe). If you know how, please mention it in a review.
Chapter 20: Paying Respects
Jonathan had shrugged off that dream, dismissing it as just another nightmare. He was over it pretty quickly.
Currently, he was alone in his poke ball. Ember and Mark had gone off to train a little, Ziggy was going with Sam somewhere, and Rocky wouldn't come until the next day.
It was the first moment of peace he truly did have ever since becoming a Ralts. Yawning, he placed his head on his hands as he lay on his bed. As he did, he felt his hand brush something in his hair. Pulling it out, he found it only to be the relic.
Letting his mind wander, he thought back to that day when he got it. The antique store, the Ursaring, and the drop of oil that fell in his eye. Then he woke up and found himself in an egg.
Then he realized something was off when he hatched. Looking down at the relic, he thought, When that car hit me, I hatched in a place far away from where I was run over. How is it, then, that the relic was with me when I got out of the egg?
How is it that I hatched out of the egg in the first place? I should be wherever it is that people go when they die… yet I'm still here. Not to mention the design. Ziggy mentioned she saw it somewhere. Of only she remembered where.
Though he couldn't prove it, Jonathan was certain that the relic and his resurrection had to be connected somehow. Getting up, he headed towards the door to his 'apartment'. Putting the light blue object back in his hair, he left the poke ball to go to the antique shop.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He managed to sneak past Jennifer successfully, leaving her to think that he was still in his poke ball. He had no problem getting out undetected, his one foot four status assuring him that. The problem was that he had yet to find a route that didn't lead him to that damn corner store.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find the antique shop. A little tired from walking around for the past hour, he found an empty lot with a bench in it to sit down. He somehow felt like he had been here before.
Looking to his side, he saw a Laundromat. A spark of hope flickered inside of him. He remembered that there had been a Laundromat right next to the antique shop! Reaching further into his memory, he also remembered a shop full of instruments on the shop's other side.
And there it was! ...On the other side of the empty lot…. Something wasn't right here.
Right where Jonathan was standing was the former location of the antique shop where he got the relic, only the shop wasn't there with it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jonathan had spent well over an hour trying to decide what his next course of action would be. So far, nothing came to mind.
He was thrown off his train of thought that was leading him nowhere when he heard someone say, "Hey, look sis! It's a pokemon!"
Looking up, he saw a little boy whose eyes were full of wonder at the sight of a pokemon he had never seen before. The boy looked familiar. "Careful, Sam, it might be dangerous!" Oh, yeah. It's the boy I pushed out of the car's path. He owes me big time.
"What pokemon is it, Claire?" Sam asked.
"Who knows, I'm not a trainer yet."
"Do you think it wants to play with Ziggy?"
"Oh yeah, you're Ziggy's trainer!" Jonathan said.
"It talked!" Sam exclaimed.
"It said Ralts, that must be its name," Clair responded. "Go ahead and release Ziggy, she might know him from all the time she spends the time away from home."
"How do you know it's a he?"
"He's wearing a bowtie." Thank you very much, Jenny.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So what were you doing over in that empty lot all by yourself?" Ziggy asked.
"Not much. I was searching for something that used to be there. Got myself lost a couple of times."
"What were you searching for?"
"Kinda hard to explain. Either way, it's not there anymore."
"So what was it?"
"A two story high antique shop."
Ziggy laughed a little, "You're silly, buildings don't disappear into thin air!"
"This one did."
Sam and Clair stopped walking when they arrived at their destination. In front of them was a cross imbedded in the grass next to the road. Jonathan observed as Sam took out some flowers from somewhere and placed them next to the cross. Great, more sensitive moments, Jonathan thought as his horns began to act up.
"Remember when we first ran into each other the other day?" Ziggy asked.
"How could I forget?" Jonathan remarked, "There was a dead body nearby."
"Yeah… it was scary. I thought that I was gonna lose my best friend," Ziggy said, eyes beginning to water up. "Then that guy pushed him outta the way… but he (sniff)… we… we never got to thank him…."
Jonathan sighed, "Maybe if you say so right now he'll hear you."
"… Maybe you're right." Ziggy walked up to the cross, "Thank you for saving my friend mister. If you didn't, then I would have been very sad. I hope wherever you are you've got a lot of friends with you."
"Nice speech, Ziggy. I'm sure he has a lot of good friends wherever he is," Jonathan said with a smirk. He looked up at Sam and Clair as they paid their respects.
"I'm sorry that you aren't here right now. It's probably my fault that your (sniff)… I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going, and because of that you…you… whaaaaa!!!"
"(Sigh) Like trainer, like pokemon." Jonathan walked up to Sam and started patting his back, "It's not your fault, I-err he was the one who chose to push you out of the way. He wouldn't want you crying over him like this. Personally, I prefer being thanked over being apologized to."
The boy seemed to have gotten the message somehow and turned back towards the cross, "(Sniff)… Thank you mister for saving me. I wont let you die for no reason! I'm gonna become someone important someday, I promise!"
"Yeah, you do that. It's probably the best way to pay me back."
Clair looked at her watch, "Sam, it's time to go now. I think the guy gets it."
"(Sniff) Alright sis."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Do you remember what pokemon it was that my relic was shaped after?" Jonathan asked.
"What relic?" Ziggy asked. Jonathan pulled it out and showed it to her again, "Oh, that! No, I don't remember."
"(Sigh) It's alright, Ziggy, we'll figure it out eventually." As they passed the empty lot, Jonathan noticed a hole on the ground that he didn't notice before. Just as they were about to turn the corner, Jonathan decided to leave them for now. "See ya tomorrow, Ziggy. I'm gonna go check out something." He left before he got a response from her.
He looked down into the hole. It was fairly deep, enough to make a nice home. "Hello, is anybody home?!" he called down.
His call had attracted the attention of an old Sandshrew, who popped out to greet him, "Hello there, young man! What brings you here?"
"I was wondering if you knew what happened to the building that used to be there. You know, the antique shop."
The pokemon blinked for a while, "What do you mean? There never was any antique shop around here. I've been living here for about a year now, so I would know if there ever was a shop above my home."
The remark stunned Jonathan for a while, "Are you sure? I remember going into one around here about two weeks ago."
"Yes, I am sure. Now, if you excuse me, I'm gathering up my stuff to move out," he went back into his hole.
"(Sigh again) Sorry for wasting your time, then," Jonathan said before he walked off.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jonathan jumped into the window, relieved that he hadn't gotten caught. He took three steps before he realized just how wrong he was. "Jonny, what were you doing out there!"
"Swell, just swell," Jonathan mumbled to himself before turning around to face Jennifer. "You're probably wondering what I was doing outside on my own since I'm young and it's dangerous outside, but I don't have an alibi, so I'm just going to act like what I just said was an alibi."
Jennifer saw right through his scheme.