Day 3 (Morning) - Who are you?

First nothing of importance occurs for several months, and then all of this happens at once. Such is life, it seems. There is a lot of work to be done, but until I know of any changes in any of these situations I will not be able to do anything else.
I heard the bell ring, and cooly said "Enter".
There he was. He showed his normal demeanor, but something was wrong. His face was one that you very rarely see - The kind where you can see that whatever news he might bring with him, you would probably be better off not hearing. But in a dire situation like this, such news must always be expected and and eventually dealt with.

"What is it?" I asked him, somewhat annoyed that he had not just told me but instead waited for my permission. Spineless creep.
"Sir, Loreli..." he said, "... We have lost contact with her, but her sensor does not show any signs of damage".

No... Did he really...? It would not have been his first time, it is fully plausible. But for a former member of the Elite Four to not only lose but also be killed so quickly... Has he gotten stronger? No, even for him that would be impossible.

"Tell me if anything changes" I said, "And until it does, send an undercover squad there at once".
"Yes, sir!" he quickly replied while straightening himself. Amused by the respect I was given, yet growing weary of his presence, I turned around and asked him about the perhaps more important matter at hand.

"Anything new about the boy?"

... Mother? Mom, is that you?

Wait, mom! Don't go! We can be together again! Why are you leaving? Don't go... STOP IT!

Edward opened his eyes, noticed that he was lying down and quickly sat up. 'Why did she leave...' he thought to himself. 'She didn't hear me? She didn't like me? Was it something I did? I don't know...'. "... Are you OK?" a voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts, "How long are you going to stare at your hands like that?".

He snapped out of it, and saw that indeed he was staring at his hands. When he looked up, he noticed that everything looked unfamiliar. He was in a room with brown wooden walls, a bed with blue sheets that he was lying on, a nightstand and another person sitting on a chair next to his bed. The other person was a middle-aged woman with a blue and red dress and a somewhat unusual haircut. The hair was colored purple, and looked sleek even though it stuck out at the top and the sides. She was rather thin but had a radiant smile on her face. The boy was lost for words, not because of her beauty but because he was trying to recall what had happened the day before. "Who are you?" he finally said, still trying to think of what happened. She observed him for a while before saying "My name is... Anne. What about you?". "I'm Edward..." he said, and finally remembered what happened.

"Ah! I remember! I... Um... Am I... Dead?" he asked as his eyes widened. Anne's smile unwillingly grew a bit wider as she said "No, you are still alive. It was a close one, though". "Close one...?" he asked, his face still showing traces of fear. "I was flying around the area when I suddenly saw something fall in the distance" she said, "When I looked closer I saw that it was a little boy! I sped up with my Pokemon and caught you in mid-air, but you were unconscious!". He looked at her with a bewildered expression for a few moments, before slowly saying "You... Saved me?". "Yes, I did" she replied, and then asked "You were lucky. But what were you doing all the way up there?".

Everything then burst for Edward. Relief was the last thing on his mind, as he recollected the pain, despair and fear he had felt the day before. Like a chilly Arbok, all these feeling flowed through his body as he felt his eyes tear up. "I..." he said under his breath and looked away from Anne. She wondered what he was doing, and when he suddenly looked back at her she noticed that he was crying. Without any warning he then moved forward and hugged her tightly, and started crying with all his might. "Waaaaaaaahhhh!" he went, all of the misery seemingly flowing out of him with the tears and sound. Although she was taken by surprise at first, she then patted him on the back and said "There, there... Just tell me what has happened".

Right outside the town in a forest, a ripe acorn fell from a tree and hit the already aching head of an Eevee named Kira, waking her up from a far from restless sleep. She looked at the acorn for a few moments, blaming it for her pounding headache until she recalled what had happened the day before. Although the fall had not been all that high, she had gathered up quite some speed by jumping from branch to branch and had accidentally rammed her head against a tree when falling down. She had not been deprived of all luck though, as she had fainted in some bushes and stayed hidden from anyone passing by.

After shaking her head to regain some clarity, she walked by the side of the road. The memory of what she had seen the day before was still active in her mind. The fact that she could not detect the smell of the human boy anymore mattered little - She had seen something even more interesting. Following the road for a couple of minutes, she came upon a clearing in the trees. When she went through them, she saw that it was really the end of the forest, and that what she had seen the day before was just ahead.
She stared at the peculiar sight - There were a couple of trees spread out, but what really mattered was the massive amount of different things that she had never seen before. There were a lot of colorful boxes with pointy tops everywhere, and Kira had heard that these were supposed to be where humans live. But she had never expected them to be so big! They varied in sizes, but some of them were more than twenty times bigger than the biggest home in the area where she grew up.
Not only that, but around these homes were several different things that she did not know what they were. Two of the homes appeared to be surrounded by sharp and tall spikes made out of wood. It looked like some kind of trap. Another home had a shiny bowl that big, red flowers grew out of.

'A-Amazing...' she though, and could not care less that she was staring with her mouth open in awe. Not using her brain, she started rushing out of the forest to catch a better glimpse of the human village. What she saw when she got closer almost scared her to death - Humans, more than twenty of them wandering around the village, some of them looking her way! Immediately stopping and turning around, she dashed back into the forest and hid herself in some nearby bushes. Looking back through the leaves and tiny branches, she did not see any humans looking at her position anymore. 'Did they see me?' she though, still very tensed up. Three seconds later she relaxed herself by taking a deep breath. She spent the next hour just laying there safely hidden and spying on the human village with all of its inhabitants.

"So you are a Pokemon Trainer? Starting a little early, don't you think?" Anne said calmly. Edward looked at her with a face that told her that this was not the first time he had been told that. "I have a License Badge" he said, still feeling ashamed about the sad outburst he had earlier. "Even so, most people stay at home for a few years, learning how to take care of Pokemon. It is very rare for people to start traveling right when they get their License Badge" she said and waited for a reply, but it never came. Edward sat silently for a while, before saying "I... Thought I already knew everything about how to take care of Pokemon. But I didn't. The only Pokemon I caught doesn't listen to me, and even attacked me. I'm a failure...". Edward looked down, and jumped a little as he felt a hand lay down on his left shoulder.

"Don't worry" Anne said, "A lot of people, including me has had some trouble with their first Pokemon". Edward suddenly looked up and said "What? You're a Pokemon Trainer?". Anne's smile returned as she replied "Yes, yes I am. How do you think that I was flying around when I noticed you?". Edward's spirits rose a bit. "So... You had trouble with your first Pokemon too?" he said. She sighed deeply, and said "Not just my first Pokemon, but with a couple of others after that. I was inexperienced back then, and while none of them outright attacked me, they would usually ignore me."
His interest suddenly peaked, Edward sat up straight and said "So, how did you fix it?". She sat and thought for a few moments, before saying "Hmm... I think it was when the Pokemon accepted me as their trainer that they started listening to me". "And how did that happen?" he asked, getting more and more excited. This was not unnoticed by Anne, and she thought for another moment before continuing. "It... happened automatically. I just spent time with the Pokemon while just being myself and taking care of them, and eventually they started listening to me. I do not know why they were difficult to begin with, but..." she said, but instead of talking anymore she went silent because she saw that Edward was practically dying to say something.

"I... I think I know what's wrong with my Pokemon..." Edward said, "I think he doesn't want to have a trainer, any trainer at all. I think he wants to be set free. That's why he keeps attacking me". Anne sat quietly, trying to figure out what this all meant. "Well... Some Pokemon do not want to be captured, you know" she said, and did not expect to see Edwards face light up in surprise. "You see..." she said carefully, trying to find the right words to explain everything with, "Pokemon are not only for us humans, they have lives in the wild too. Usually that does not seem to matter too much once they are captured, but... Maybe there is a reason that your Pokemon wants to be set free?".
Edward was rather surprised by this, but not stupid enough to not understand it. "They want to be set free?". Anne nodded, and said "Sometimes. Who knows, your Pokemon might have a family somewhere that needs his help, and so he cannot spend his life with you. A Pokemon Trainer that cares about his Pokemon knows when to take care of them as well when to release them, you know". Edward sat quiet for a while, before once again feeling determined and saying "... You're right. That's what a good Pokemon Trainer should be like!". "I understand now!" he said as he jumped off the bed, searching for his backpack and saying "I'll bring him out, and..."
But he was interrupted by Anne saying "No, wait! You cannot bring forth your Pokemon in this village right now, they are currently spraying it with Repel to keep wild Pokemon out!". Edward stopped, and looked at her. "They do it sometimes, and urge people to keep their Pokemon in their Pokeballs, or else it would be very painful for them" she said, and saw Edward sit down on the bed again, clearly thinking. Then he once again sprung up and said "What about right outside the village? Can I call for him there?". "I think so..." she said. Without much of a warning, Edward put on his backpack, went to the exit and said "OK, thanks for all the help! I'll go do this right away! Really, thanks for all the help, and I'll see you soon!"

He opened the door and started leaving as Anne said "That is great... But shouldn't you put on a pair of pants first?"

Kira had seen what she had been looking for - An opening. Right behind one of the homes, there were a lot of objects that could cover her view. There had not been a single human there during her watch. As luck would have it, most of the humans were far away and would probably not see her if she decided to make a run for it. And she did. She stretched her legs rather quickly, and then sneaked slowly out of the bushes in order to have them make as little sound and movement as possible. As soon as her body left the leaves however, she ran at her highest speed down to get behind the human home. There was nothing to cover her in the wide open, so she dashed with all her might, knowing that detection could lead to some really unpleasant results.
Actually, most Pokemon would never be doing something like this in the first place, but Kira was different. Her curiosity of this human village was an urge so powerful that fighting it would prove useless. In order to inspect it better, she had to get closer. She just had to. Running into the unknown can be very dangerous, as she was just about to find out.

As if lightning had struck her, she suddenly stopped and reeled back. An incredibly powerful and horrible stench was coming from the human home! Although bad smells was nothing new to her, this one was unbearable.Without thinking, she turned around and ran all the way back into the bushes. When she got there she breathed heavily, trying to get as much fresh air in her lungs as possible. Not only had the stench been bad, it had also caused a weird burning sensation in her nose and eyes. 'W-What was that!?' she thought to herself, coughing a bit. Her throat was tingling strangely. 'Human homes really smell THAT bad!?' she said out loud, and coughed a bit more. Slowly, the pain and weird sensations started to wane until they disappeared entirely. Most Pokemon have a better sense of smell than humans, she knew, but this was ridiculous! It literally caused her pain, it smelled so bad!

Not one to ever give up easily, she decided to try to enter the village from another direction. Running from the forest at a safe distance from the village, she dove into some high bushes that seemed to move along the left part of the village. Tall grass is not that much of a good cover, as moving signals humans your position since the grass moves whenever you touch it. Luckily, by the smell of this patch of grass it seemed to contain quite a few Pokemon, meaning that it is somewhat safe. She moved through the grass, keeping her eyes on the village all the time, looking for another place where she could take cover. Not looking ahead of her, she bumped into something.

'Ouch! Watch it!' a Pokemon's voice said, and as she looked ahead of her she saw a Rattata, shaking his head. 'I'm sorry...' she said, 'I wasn't looking ahead of me'. 'That's... Hey wait a minute, you're an Eevee, right?' he said, 'Where's your trainer?'. 'Oh, I don't have one' she said indifferently, and was a bit surprised by the look of utter astonishment the Rattata gave her. 'WHAT!? An Eevee in the wild, here?" he said, amazingly keeping the sound of his voice down while still shouting, 'Why are you here?'. 'I'm trying to find a way into the human village' she said while once again peering through the grass. 'WHAT!?' the Rattata once again shouted, 'Why on earth would you want to do that!?'.
Kira stopped and thought for a few moments. 'Um... I don't know. It's exciting?' she said, knowing that she had given the same excuse far too many times before. The Rattata had noticed that he kind of looked like a fool with all the shouting, so he calmed down and then said 'Well, don't bother. They just finished spraying the village with Repel, no Pokemon can go there for a couple of days'.
'What are you talking ab...' Kira started, but then realized what it meant. 'Oooh, so that's what it was...' she said, and then asked 'Is there any way to get past the Repel?'. 'Are you crazy?' the Rattata said, 'What's so important there, anyway?'. 'Just answer me!' she said with determination, staring the Rattata deep in the eyes. He stared back at her for a few moments, before saying 'Well, we don't know, do we? No one I know of has tried it before...'.
'Ugh! You're no help at all!' Kira said and walked away. She heard him say 'Wait!', but she ignored it and just kept walking.

Anne was staring out of the window, seeing at the boy she had just met leaving the village. She saw him turn around and look back at the Inn, and he must have seen her sitting there, because he started waving his right hand at her as a good-bye gesture. She waved back at him, and wondered what would become of him and his Pokemon. He had said that he would come back to tell her about it, although she would probably not be there when he returned...
That reminded her of something, and she went to her handbag and reached into it, pulling out a cellphone. 'Oh... When did it turn off?' she thought to herself as she turned it on. Not wasting any time at checking her messages, she immediately called a number that she had to remember since it was not allowed to ever be written down - She had a knack for remembering numbers, so it was no problem at all.

The phone beeped three signals before it was picked up. "... Who is it?" Anne heard a distorted voice on the other end say. 'Always so careful...' she thought to herself and answered "It is me, Loreli".
"Loreli! What happened!? Your phone has been turned off since yesterday!" the voice on the other end said, and she imagined it to be agitated, even though it was hard to tell with the distortion. "Sorry, I have been kind of busy and forgot to contact you" she said with a devious voice. The other end was silent for a second, and then someone there said "Did you find it?". "No, sorry" she said, "I went there, but it must have disappeared before I got there". "Curses!" the distorted voice said, and the it went entirely silent for a moment. When it returned, it said "The boss wants to speak privately with you. Are you prepared for this?".
"Prepared?" she asked mockingly, "As a matter of fact, I would like to speak to him as well."

After following the grass and carefully observing the area, Kira had started to learn the geography quite well. There were four main roads into the town, all from different directions which she assumed to be north, west, east and south. One of the roads led to the forest where she had come from, one road seemed to lead to another forest further away, one road lead to what seemed like empty plains and the last road appeared to lead to a mountain in the distance. A mountain that she had completely missed until now, yet instantly recognized.
'That's Mt. Moon!' she thought to herself. Instantly her spirits soared like they had been lying on a springboard, just waiting to be sprung up. After losing the trace of the human boy, sitting and looking at the human village, encountering both the Repel and the Rattata (Which was worse she could not decide) her hopes had sunk quite a bit. But that changed completely as she saw the proud mountain in the distance. Many times had she climbed the high mountains near her home and seem that very special mountain standing by the horizon. Many times had she heard stories about the many wonders it contained - Strange Pokemon, tons of secrets and even hidden relics that are said to come from the moon and might even prove the origin of all Pokemon!
And now, that mountain was within walking distance of her current position. She had to stop herself from leaping with joy and giving away her position. After all, if she was to make it to Mt. Moon, she would have to be sneakier than ever. Mt. moon is supposed to be filled with Pokemon, but with searching humans as well. Not to mention the busy road with very little cover leading up to the mountain itself.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she suddenly smelled something strange. Something familiar... She looked around to see where it was emanating from, and looking through the grass she saw someone walking cheerfully on the road leading up to Mt. Moon.

A boy named Edward.

Note from Super Shadowman: OK, because I feel like it, here's a quick side-story to the above chapter. It lightly touches some adult situations, but I doubt that it's anything special worth jacking the rating up one step for. You know the whole deal with side-stories, right? If you get bored, frightened or scarred for life (Kidding!) you can just skip it. Go down to the next long vertical line to read the Author Comments, or just jump to the next chapter. If you want to, however, go ahead and read the side-story!

Mewtwo: Caught!? Gaiden 1

In the Pewter City Inn, a tall and shabby-looking guy is cleaning the floors. 'So boring... Day in and day out... I gotta get me a better job soon... Woe is me...' he thought, but his thoughts were interrupted as he saw his friend come running down the stairs. "Brian! Brian! You got to hear this!" he shouted. "Shh! Mike, keep it down! You wanna get us into trouble again!?" Brian said with great hostility, "What's so important, anyway?".
"Have you seen the people in room 3 yet?" Mike asked, catching his breath. "Um... No?" Brian replied, "Unlike you, I have been working instead of stalking our guests". "Oh... Never mind that" Mike said, "I was actually cleaning the dishes, and I saw them through that little window, you know, right above the...". Brian then interrupted him and said "Get to the point". "Well... I was working on the dishes..." Mike said while closing in on Brian, "... When I saw the most beautiful woman I've ever seen walk in!".
Brian now became a bit interested. "A beautiful woman? Staying in room 3?" he said, and was shocked as Mike suddenly jumped and whispered "There! There, at the end of the corridor! She's at the end of the corridor!". Brian looked at the corridor, and at the end of it he saw someone walk by - A woman of shimmering beauty. He stared at her speechlessly until she disappeared down the hall after about ten seconds. "I told you, didn't I?" Mike said, also looking at where she had disappeared, "And that's not everything!". "Huh?" Brian said, still a little dazed from the one-sided encounter. Mike looked at him with an excited face and said "When she came in, she was carrying an unconscious little boy!".

"WHAT!?" Brian outburst, before subconsciencly clasping his hands over his mouth, "A little boy? Her son?". "I don't think so" Mike said, "They don't look anything alike!". "... Step-mother?" Brian said, but Mike just shook his head. "No, because when she registered at the counter and Carl asked for his name, she went quiet all of a sudden, looked at him for a while and then said that it was none of his business!" Mike said, "What mother doesn't know the name of her own son? Very suspicious!".
Brian stood stumped. "What, then what's their relationship?" he asked, but was only met by Mike's mischievous face, "Wait, you don't think...?". "They are staying alone at the same room..." Mike said while raising a finger and trying to look important, "And you really don't know about people's... preferences... these days". "W-What!? No way!" Brian said now blushing like crazy, "No, there has to be some other explanation... Come on, this is stupid. Let's forget about this."

Two minutes later, they were outside room 3, Mike putting his ear on the door. "Are you hearing something?" Brian asked nervously. "... I hear two voices, but they're just talking" Mike replied, stepping away from the door somewhat disappointed. "Hah! I told you so!" Brian said triumphantly, "You should never assume things too quickly". "I thought I was finally on to something too..." Mike said, "Nothing fun ever happens around here! What is this, Boreville?". "Don't worry, I've been thinking" Brian said, patting his friends shoulder, "They have need for workers like us everywhere, you know. What do you say that we move our operations elsewhere for exchange?". "... Like where?" Mike said, "You mean... Vermillion City?".

"Sure, why not..." Brian said, but was interrupted as the door to room 3 opened. There stood a boy, appearing to be around the age of 12 or so, without wearing any pants. Brian and Mike stood and stared with their mouths open as they heard a woman from iside say "That is great... But shouldn't you put on a pair of pants first?". The boy looked at them, then looked down and just said "Oh". He then closed the door and left the two friends standing completely frozen. There they stood for thirty seconds or so, before both of them at the same time clenched their fists and shouted "That lucky runt!". "HEY! Keep it down, you idiots!" they heard a voice coming from downstairs, "What are you two doing up there!? Get down here at once!". Exchanging a quick look, Mike and Brian ran laughing down the stairs.

Author Comments: I have to admit something - I really hate having to write dialog, so the first half of this chapter was torture for me. It's not that I really hate it, just that it is so tedious to make a dialog interesting. It is a bit hard to explain, let me show you what i mean. Here are two different versions of a specific conversation, one was easy to write and the other one hard.

Ex. 1 (Lazy version)

Edward: "What? You're a Pokemon Trainer?".

Anne: "Yes, yes I am. How do you think that I was flying around when I noticed you?".

"So... You had trouble with your first Pokemon too?"

"Not just my first Pokemon, but with a couple of others after that. I was inexperienced back then, and while none of them outright attacked me, they would usually ignore me."

Ex. 2 (Tedious version)

Edward suddenly looked up and said "What? You're a Pokemon Trainer?". Anne's smile returned as she replied "Yes, yes I am. How do you think that I was flying around when I noticed you?". Edward's spirits rose a bit. "So... You had trouble with your first Pokemon too?" he said. She sighed deeply, and said "Not just my first Pokemon, but with a couple of others after that. I was inexperienced back then, and while none of them outright attacked me, they would usually ignore me."

So? See the difference? They both show the same conversation, just two people talking to each other. Ex.1 has the exact same conversation as Ex. 2, but Ex. 2 is more interesting to read, right? That's because of the inclusion of body language and details. It makes quality work, but is VERY VERY TEDIOUS.

That aside, let's talk about the chapter in whole. First of all, Mewtwo is in it. He's hardly even mentioned. That is complete bullcrap, the story's name is Mewtwo: Caught! That's like the movie 'The Langoliers' only showing the Langoliers for 20 seconds five minutes before the movie's end. And it's 3 hours long! Plus, they look like hairy Pac-Mans.
Like the Langoliers, however, the story flows on smoothly without the title character. That's what i think, you'll have to decide, of course. And don't worry, There's going to be a lot more of Mewtwo from this point on. Otherwise I'll have to rename the story to

'Music References and an Eevee named Kira (With some minor instances of Mewtwo)'

... Where was I, again? Oh, right, the chapter. If you were wondering, they are currently in Pewter City. To the south is Viridian Forest, to the west are the mountains where Edward and Kira came from (And a large forest, apparently. Don't ask). To the north is... According to the games, nothing, but that's just stupid. There is something there, I just don't know what. Oh, and to the east is Mt. Moon.

By the way, these chapters just keep getting longer and longer. Sheesh, I wonder what day 42 will look like.

So to summarize the chapter - Edward learns a bit more about Pokemon and has an idea of what to do with Mewtwo, Kira discovers some new places (And odors) while Loreli pretends to be someone called Anne. To fill you in, Loreli was one of the Elite Four (Best Pokemon Trainers in the world) in the first Pokemon game. What she's doing now... You'll have to figure out for yourself, or keep reading this story.

And the side-story? Dunno. Guys will be guys, I suppose. I wrote it in the middle of this chapter.

OK, on with the Mewtwo: Caught!? Trivia!

8. The title of this chapter might sound somewhat dull and meaningless, but it's actually the title of the song Who are you by the band The Who. I like The Who, not as much as many other bands, but they have some pretty good songs. Actually, I would have named this chapter Dreaming from the waist cause it's a better song, just that it would make no sense.

9. Anne is named... Wait, Anne is really Loreli, right? Oh well, Anne is 'named' after the song Anne by Kayak. I have heard it about twenty times, and I'm still not sure what it's about. It's about Anne, that's for sure.

10. Brian, Mike and Carl are named after members of the famous band The Beach Boys. If you ignore the sad personal lives (and in one case, death) of everyone but Mike Love, the band actually seems cheerful. Ack! I forgot to squeeze in a 'Wouldn't it be nice?' reference!

So that's it for this time. I love the reviews you are posting about this story, can't wait to see what you'll say about this chapter!

So, until the next time, Tot Ziens!