A/N: Hey guys, new chapter is ready! Sorry that it's kind of short, this was the best place for me to split the chapters. I've also been in a little bit of a slump with this story, but I'll do my best to keep from putting it on a hiatus.
And I'm a little disappointed in you who normally review. I only got four reviews since last chapter, and two were from one person. So thanks to Nanashi Chimera, AzureFlames, and ReLeeS for you reviews, and as for the rest of you who didn't review, review this time or I will not hesitate to call on the Legendaries to come and kick your ass! Thank you!
Chapter Nine – Meeting The New Guys
We arrived back at the tree house a few moments after Joey took off. We all quickly dismounted and looked around. We didn't see anything new or strange (of course, we couldn't see much at all since it was pitch black), so Joey returned to his normal-ish form and we all climbed the ladder into the tree house.
Inside, everything was still the same as it was when we left. Nothing had been moved or touched in our absence. It made me feel safer, knowing that no one knew that we were there.
Joey, who knew this place almost by heart, was able to find the switch for the large lamp. He flipped it, dissolving the shadows that covered the room in an instant.
Unfortunately, since we had been so used to the dark, our eyes hurt for about a minute or so.
Rubbing my eyes, I found my way to the bed and sat down on it. Joey flung himself down onto it, exhausted after flying all of us around the city. Koyuki jumped up onto my lap and curled up, ready to sleep. I nudged him and said, "Don't fall asleep yet, we've yet to meet the three Pokemon in those Pokeballs."
Lizzy and Stephanie had a short dispute about who would sit on the chair that went a little like this:
"Here, Stephanie, you can have the chair this time."
"No, Lizzy, I'm quite fine with the floor; you take the chair."
"No, I insist, you take the chair."
"It's OK, I'd rather be on the floor."
"Would you two just stop arguing over it and sit down?" (In case you can't tell, that was Joey)
Lizzy sat on the floor while Stephanie took the chair. End of argument.
The room stayed quiet for a while after that. We knew that Joey had been worn out by carrying us, so we opted to not poke the bear, and left him to rest for a while.
While he rested, I dug the three tiny spheres out of my jacket pocket. Turning each of them over in my hands, I carefully studied them. Each had the same color scheme, red on top and white on bottom. The narrow black line that ran in-between the colors was extremely thin and it looked like it was a crack in the ball instead of a painted on line. There was a single hinged on one side of the ball along the black line that confirmed my thoughts that the line was a split in the ball. On the opposite side of the hinge was a single white button. I assumed that this was the release function.
The balls were no larger than a marble, and I could hold all three in my hand easily. While studying them, I accidentally pushed the button on one of them. It quickly grew in size, going from the size of a marble to about the size of a baseball.
The sudden nature of the growth startled me as I jumped back, nearly dropping the balls. When it finished growing, Lizzy, Stephanie, Joey, and Koyuki were all staring intently at it.
"I had no idea that it did that…" Joey said sleepily.
"Me neither…" I said, taking a closer look at the ball.
With it being much larger, I was able to see two features that I hadn't seen before.
The first was what appeared to be a stamp that said, "Gym Leader's Pokemon". The message was in a circle, around the edges of what appeared to be another circle that was split in half down the middle, with a smaller, complete circle in the center. It reminded me of the front of the Pokeball.
Joey must have noticed the stamp, too, because he said, "Hey, that's the same symbol as the ones they found in the ruins!"
"I'll bet that there's some sort of connection…" Lizzy said.
I switched my attention to the other feature. It was a felt tip pen marking that spelt out "TAKESHI" right next to the stamp.
"What the heck does 'TAKESHI' mean?" Joey asked.
"Maybe it's a name?" Stephanie said.
"So Takeshi is the name of the Pokemon inside this Pokeball?" Lizzy asked.
"I don't know," I said, shrugging. "It's just a suggestion."
"Well, why don't we open it and find out?" Joey inquired.
"Aren't you still tired?" I asked.
"Not really," Joey answered. "More worn out than tired. I can stay awake and be a part of any conversation, but I probably won't be moving much."
"Alright. If you say so," I said.
I looked down at the other two marble sized Pokeballs. They paled in comparison to the size of the third. I wondered briefly about how much technology would need to go into this thing to make it be able to change size like that. Plus there's also the technology that turned the Pokemon into energy and contained them. Some of the technological advances of today seemed like nothing compared to the technology that these balls must have in them.
"Sometime tonight," Joey said, jarring me from my thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, right," I said, getting a grip on my wandering mind. I pushed the buttons on the other two and watched as they grew in size to match the third one.
However, I hadn't planned for the fact that I probably couldn't hold all of them in one hand, and the other two pushed the already enlarged one out of my hand. It fell to the floor, and I tried to grab it with my other hand. I missed, and it fell the rest of the way to the floor.
Out of some lucky twist of fate, the ball landed on the button, which activated it. It bounced up off of the floor and hovered in mid-air, using more of the amazing technology that the Pokeball had in it. Then, it opened along the black line, and a red beam of energy shot out of it.
The red beam pooled about a foot in front of the ball, starting to form a shape. Once the shape had been formed, color seeped into it, banishing the red glow of the energy. Then the ball closed up and fell to the ground, bouncing back up into my open hand.
Now standing in the room was a large bug-like creature. It was green in color, and its head looked almost reptilian. Instead of arms, the creature possessed a pair of blades that glinted menacingly in the lamplight. It stood about the same height as me, but an inch or two shorter. I immediately recognized it to be a Scyther.
It looked around as if confused at its surroundings. Then it looked at me for a moment, as if sizing me up, trying to figure out who I was. Finally, it got a look of recognition in its eyes and said, "Scyther?"
"Um… I have no idea of what you just said," I told it quite bluntly.
"But I do," Joey said, getting the Scyther's attention. "It asked you if you were Vince Rodric."
Scyther's eyes grew large when he saw Joey. I knew exactly what he was thinking, and I decided to tell him before he could ask.
"Don't ask, he doesn't like to talk about it," I told the Scyther. "And whatever you do, don't insult his hair."
We had a laugh at that, all of us minus Scyther, who looked clueless.
"Well, I'm not Vince," I said, returning to Scyther's question, "but he was my great-grandfather."
The Scyther's eyes grew wider than before at what I said. "Scyther, Scythe?"
"Translation, please?" I asked Joey.
"He said, 'Your Vince's great-grandson?' And as a personal question, who is Vince?"
"Well, yes, I'm Vince's great-grandson. And Vince was the Gym Leader of Calbri City, which I learned only last Friday. I'm guessing that this Scyther was his."
The Scyther nodded.
"So, just wondering, would your name happen to be Takeshi?" I asked Scyther.
He nodded again. Then he said, "Scyther Scythe?"
"He asked us what our names are," Joey said as if on autopilot.
"Well, I'm Kyle. This cute little Eevee here is Koyuki, the girl on the floor is Lizzy, the one in the chair is Stephanie, and this strange looking teen here is Joey," I told Scyther, pointing to each of us respectively.
"Hey, I'm not that strange looking!" Joey said, faking an upset tone, which caused all of us, including Takeshi, to burst out laughing.
"OK, Takeshi, I guess that we should probably tell you about why you're here and what has happened since you were put in your Pokeball," I said after the laughter died down.
"But first, may I ask a question?" Lizzy asked.
"Sure, Lizzy, go ahead."
"So, Takeshi, why haven't you aged at all since Vince put you away?" she asked.
"Scyther, Scythe Scyther," Takeshi said.
Joey immediately began translating. "He said, 'I think that something about the Pokeball keeps Pokemon from aging while we're in them for long periods of time."
Lizzy nodded her head, and I asked, "Are there any other questions?"
Takeshi quickly said, "Scythe Scyther?"
Joey translated that into, "'Where are Tsurugi and Sasori?'" Then he added, "Whoever they are…"
"Do you mean the other Pokemon that Vince owned?" I asked.
Scyther nodded.
"They're right here," I said, holding up the other two Pokeballs.
"Scyther?"
"He asked 'Would you let them out?'" Joey translated.
"Sure, I don't see why not," I said. "Besides, they need to know the same things that I was going to tell you, Takeshi."
With that, I pressed the buttons on each of the balls and watched as they opened up. Two red beams leapt from the insides of the Pokeballs, forming two separate forms. After the beams faded, the figures were clearly visible.
The first one might have passed for a human if it weren't for the large extensions from its elbows or the ridge on its head. It was white and green in color, and had a fairly serious look on its face.
The other looked more like a large bat with claws at the ends of its arms. Upon further inspection, one could see that its wings and arms were not attached. It had a long scorpion-like tail with two barbs at the end of it. It wore a mischievous grin on its face.
I recognized the two as a Gallade and a Gliscor respectively. They had similar reactions to their new surroundings, as well as to Joey. Takeshi said something, probably along the lines of what I had told him earlier. Takeshi said some more, probably explaining who we were (I could tell that because both the Gallade and the Gliscor stared at me briefly, incredulous looks on their faces).
Anyway, I used this moment to look at the Pokeballs for their names. One said Tsurugi and the other said Sasori. I had no idea which name belonged to which Pokemon, so when Takeshi finished speaking, I asked.
"So, which one of you is Tsurugi?"
The Gallade stepped forward and bowed slightly. 'He acts as if he is a gentleman. I'll bet that he's a very formal Pokemon,' I thought.
"So, that must make you Sasori," I said, looking at the Gliscor. He nodded yes and let loose a laugh that matched his mischievous smile.
'Great, so there's a gentleman, a prankster, and a… You know, I really don't know what to say about Scyther's personality. He seems pleasant…' I thought.
"Shall I continue with explaining what's changed since you were put into that locked room?" I asked.
Scyther nodded, and I motioned for them to sit down. "This might take a while…"