29

Stepping onto the shores of Cinnabar Island, I'm instantly greeted by a small crowd of people. Everyone wants to ask me about my training and my battle with Koga, but I can't stay and chat. I tell them I appreciate their support and kindly push my way through the crowd.

"HEY! RED!"

Looking up the road, I see a man in a lab coat and thick framed glasses staring intently at me. Do I know this guy? What does he want with me?

"RED! We've been waiting for you. Please come here!"

We? But then I'm looking for any excuse to get off this busy street for a second. I nod and walk towards him then he motions for me to follow him into a very modern looking building. A sign outside the door reads "Pokegenetics: From History Past to Promising Future." Oh man, this ought to be good!

When I step into the lab, I'm greeted once again by a crowd of people, but this time people I know including Dr. Oak, Bill, and Dr. Fuji.

"Ah ha! I told you he'd be here!" says Oak.

"Well good, because he has some explaining to do!" Bill starts.

All I can think is "UH OH!"

"Hey, RED! I just got off the phone with my sister. Yumi said she was was excited to hear that you and I were old buddies! Apparently I gave you my tickets to board the SS Anne, but you know what's kind of funny? I just can't seem to remember doing such a thing!"

"Um...OK, I'll explain myself….when I was in Cerulean City, by your house actually, I heard someone crying for help. I went to go and see what was the matter and found you in your basement. Actually I thought it was you, but I found out later it wasn't."

"What are you babbling on about? I found you walking around my house and kicked you out. I remember that part, but I wasn't in the basement."

"That's true, YOU weren't, but there is a creature that can shapeshift, a Pokemon named…"

"Mewtwo...What do you know about him?"

"Not much to be honest, but he was there pretending to be you and told me to give a letter to Yumi and then gave me those tickets as a reward."

"Oh, how nice of Mewtwo! Do you even know what the letter was?"

"I never opened it, but when I gave it to Yumi, she did, and it was…"

"A letter written by her fiance right before he died asking for peace between them. I heard from her. But I never had such a letter, where did you get it?"

"I already told you! I got it from Mewtwo!"

"I think he's telling the truth, Bill," Fuji says. but then you all have something to explain to me, too!" I respond.

"But that means that Mewtwo would have had to have followed Everett across the ocean...he would do that...why?"

"Bill, isn't it obvious?" Oak asks. "Mewtwo has forgiven you. He tried to do something good by getting that letter to Yumi.

"But why give the letter to Red and from my basement. I don't get...oh no! A man came to my door offering me a letter from Yumi's 'lover' one day! Oh, he was talking strange, and I thought he was playing a prank on me. I told him to leave and then...Red showed up at my house the next day!"

"Yes, I've learned that Mewtwo is still learning how to speak like a human. He is a Pokemon. That strange man you saw had to be him!"

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe this! Mewtwo….and Everett really wrote it…"

Bill excuses himself from the group for a moment to wipe away some tears. I actually respect Bill more now knowing that he has feelings like the rest of us. But now it's time for me to interrogate people.

"You know Red. Those tickets were ones that I bought for Yumi and Everett to enjoy together. I bought them a week before he died, and I never did return them. I was so upset that my sister moved away. I'm glad you got the tickets after all."

"Thanks, Bill. You should go and see your sister after this. She's ready to see you now."

Bill reaches out and shakes my hand. With a quick smile and nod, I know now that there is no more trouble between him and me, but there are things that I need to ask Oak now.

"OK, well now that we cleared that up, I want to get some answers, too. Oak, I went on this journey for some self discovery, but you told everyone on the news that I was working for the Champion. How is that? What is the Champion's goal? Also, it seems like you all know about Mewtwo, but I want to know how."

"You make some good points, Red." Oak says. "Well...hmm…"

"Oh, just show him, Sam!" Bill yells.

"Fine! I will, but show some respect," Oak replies. "Mashmo! Come!"

Then to my surprise, the Champion of Kanto, Mashmo Cohen, walks right into the lab and stands before me, but something is wrong. Looking into his eyes closely, I can see that his pupils are not fixated on me or anyone in the room. It's like he is in some sort of daze, like he's sleep walking.

"OK now Mashmo. I want you to Transform!"

And before my eyes, Mashmo glows a bright yellow then purple and shrinks in size and shape. I nearly half to cover my face the room becomes so bright! When the light fades, all I can see on the ground is a pink slime like creature with eyes.

"Meet Ditto," Oak says. "He was a failed experiment at a cloning procedure we performed ages ago and has been the face of the Champion for years."

"Ditto? Face of the Champion?"

"The truth is the real Mashmo Cohen died years ago during the war...but we kept that a secret from everyone until now."

"What? Why keep his death a secret? Wasn't he a war veteran? He deserves to be honored, not part of some conspiracy!"

"You are right, Red, we see that our hastily made plan only made things worse but don't misunderstand me. Mashmo died during the war but not because of it, not directly."

"...He was murdered!"

"Well...not murdered, but killed all the same...We were working on a cloning project to create an army of Mew with minimal upgrades if possible and…"

"An army of Mew? Like Mewtwo?"

"Actually almost exactly like Mewtwo!" Oak says.

He digs into his coat pocket and pulls out some pictures from the lab showing a small glass cylinder filled with liquid and a pink cat like creature with a tail three times the length of the rest of it's body. The caption under the tank reads "Mew Prime." Another picture shows a much larger tank with a cat like creature inside only this one is as tall as man and stands upright like one, too. With paw like hands and defined arm and leg muscles and plated chest muscles, this creature appears to a be hybrid of human and cat DNA. the caption under this tank read "Mewtwo." So that's what he really looks like!

"Mewtwo...he's part human? You made a being fused with different species DNA?"

"No, ha ha. I'm afraid that science simply wouldn't allow that though I'll admit we did try," Oak groans. "No, we actually cloned Mew and injected the clones with various enzymes and later Skills from other Pokemon to test the results. Most of our work ended up with dead embryos and lots of headaches, but one clone made it to adulthood, Mewtwo. He was however very scared of our lab and overwhelmed by his own Psychic Abilities. We tried to subdue him but only made him agitated and proceeded to destroy the lab."

"It was my fault!" Bill adds. "I told Mewtwo that he was a weapon, a clone of a powerful Pokemon meant to serve Kanto, and he just lost it!"

"Our old lab happened to be located in the sublevel of a famous attraction in Cinnabar called the Pokemon Mansion. A privately owned masterpiece, the Mansion was originally owned by a former Champion years ago…"

"I don't care about that! What happened to Mashmo?"

"Oh right! Well Mashmo and several others were enjoying a nice meal in the restaurant above us when Mewtwo began his rampage. He used his Psychic powers and leveled most of the building to the ground. How any of us survived the implosion and chaos I'll never understand, but there were several casualties including Mashmo. One point worth mentioning though was that Bill, Fuji, Blaine, and I were the only ones that were alive and present when his body was discovered."

"We had the thought that if word got out that we created an animal that killed the Champion not only would we go to jail, but the whole country would fall into chaos!"

"So you made this Ditto thing pretend to be Mashmo...for seven years?" I say pointing at the blob creature.

Ditto is so calm and unsuspecting. I can't imagine it having any ulterior motives. The poor thing doesn't even know what he's been doing all this time.

"Did they tell you that Bill the Inventor died that night, too? He was replaced by a Ditto, too."

Turning around to the door, we see an older looking gentleman enter the room. This man is bald with a big white mustache and sunshades on even though he's inside.

"Blaine, you showed!"

"Whatever, don't let me interrupt the high school reunion. I have a Gym to back to. Red, when you're done talking to these dirty old men, I'll be ready to fight you for that Belt. Come ready!"

And without a goodbye, the old man turns and walks back out the door. Blaine, he must be the City Gym Leader. And what did he mean about high school reunion? He used to work with them didn't he? And Bill's grandfather died?

"Bill, I was told that your grandfather died last year of old age."

"I wish that were true. Blaine was right. I couldn't face my family and tell them that I had killed my own grandfather by unleashing a monster onto the world."

"So you covered up your mistake by making a Ditto fake and that made everything OK? Why didn't you make a fake fiance come back home to your sister? You could have prevented her from grieving."

"I...the thought had crossed my mind, but luckily this time the report of his death made it back to us before I could come up with the same stupid plan. Besides as good as Ditto can be at imitating people, they can't BE people. It would have been much harder to fool a woman that her husband was alive than to fool a camera."

"Well I'm glad you're ware of that, but here's something I don't get. Ditto appears on TV as Mashmo, but he doesn't decide on important political decisions for Kanto, does he? Who's been steering this ship for the past seven years?"

"I have," Oak answers. "I have acted as interim Champion for the last seven years though publicly I am only his advisor."

"What?"

"That is why I told the public that you were working on a mission for the Champion. I had commissioned you though you didn't know it at the time. I recruited three teens from Pallet with incredible ability for academics, quick learning, and good genes. All of you had family that were expert Monster Trainers, and enough spirit to move mountains, I knew if I just gave you a push you'd go anywhere."

"Well I should be flattered I think. I just realized the person I wanted to meet all these years was my neighbor. You're the man in charge...I wanted so badly to serve under you and do good for Kanto. I wanted to do something heroic like my father."

"And you have Red, you have given the people of Kanto hope!"

"But that's not the whole truth! You gave me that fancy Skillfinder with hopes I'd get stronger and face Team Rocket. You knew about them, but you didn't tell anyone! Why?"

"I did tell the IP about Kami Sakiki, their leader, and then I told them about you three. They were greatly troubled about his intentions but wanted to keep the public from panicking. Hearing about you made the IP feel reassured."

"That's why Yellow knew me, even when I just started my journey. He said he looked up to me, but I had no idea why."

"Yellow and many others all tried to ask me for my special Skillfinders, but I insisted on you three to the end. Question my methods if you must, but I think I made the right choice in picking you three."

"Well...but then...what did you know about Kami Sakiki? Why so secretive?"

"Well the short answer is because Kami Sakiki or as he calls himself Giovanni these days wants to expose not only us but several people in Kanto government."

"Can't say I blame him."

"Yes, but he wants to do it by attacking Kanto with the power of Mewtwo!"

"Oh! Oh, yes, that's right? I realized that after going to Lavender Town, but how did he even know Mewtwo existed?"

"He knew Mewtwo existed because he funded and requested the production of Mewtwo himself!"

"What? You made Mewtwo for the leader of Team Rocket!"

"I'm afraid we were duped. You see we had computer and telephone communication with Kanto government somewhat regularly before anything happened to Mashmo. Word had been going around that war which had been going on for several months at that time would soon escalate due to use of nuclear bombs. We received a request form Mashmo or so we thought for Mewtwo and were given the Mew specimen and some research into the procedure."

"We began making tests. We tried to clone everything and alter everything. It was mostly a waste, but some children were born."

"Like Summer!"

"That's right! And we did receive genetic information from a donor and successfully cloned him as well. We had no information with the sample other than a simple piece of paper with the word 'Silver' on it."

"Oh! Fuji you mentioned that name didn't you? Back in Lavender Town?"

"Yes, Red, I did. We would later do some DNA checking and determine that Silver was in fact the biological son of Giovanni. I regret that we weren't able to find him a home so we turned him into a local foster home, but somehow Silver got away. He's been on the run for the past two years and I doubt he's fully seven!"

"That's terrible! But wait, so Giovanni tricked you into making Mewtwo?"

"Yes, somehow he had the resources to hack our communications and pretend to be Mashmo. Looking back on the times, I think we were too focused on our egos to stop and think. Anyway that Mewtwo would escape, the real Mashmo made plans to come and see our lab and check on our projects. To us, that was the sign that we were doing Kanto some good. This wasn't just some mad scientist experiment!"

"But I don't get it! Why do this? Why build Mewtwo and attack Kanto, and what is his grudge against my Dad?"

"It's all due in part to the Big War. During those days, several countries got involved including Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola. We sent troops to the region outside of Kanto referred to now as Orre."

"It's a wasteland."

"Well it is now at least! Anyway we fought for nearly four years and the Mewtwo incident happened in the fourth year. What I'm about to tell you about happened in the first year of the war, and the details have never been publicly released."

"Well...go on then."

"OK, so word came in one day. A man in Kalos had discovered a Pokemon whose raw power could be harnessed to level all of Kanto, and he threatened to do just that! The Silver Unit was tasked with intercepting a ship west of Kanto, interrogating the crew, and taking any weapons and intel on board. They thought the ship was supposed to hold a skeleton crew with supplies, but in actuality, it was a fully stocked destroyer loaded with weaponry to make half of Kanto disappear in the blink of an eye. How this mix up happened…I don't know."

"Go on!"

"Anyway, the Silver Unit Surfed out there and realized what a mess they had got themselves into and one of them got on the radio back to the base on Orre. Red Unit was bunking near by and responded first. Your father and some brave men went out with boats and tried to fish out the Silver Unit before they were all blown away. About halfway out there though, the base decided that it was a suicide mission and asked them pull back out. There was no hope for the Silver Unit."

"They turned around and left them?"

"Yes, they had received orders to pull out and defend another position. They could have stayed and helped more I'm sure, but fishing out Grey Unit with the destroyer there was a surefire way for many of them to get killed. So all of Red Unit bailed, all of them except one man, Satoshi Himura. He brought his boat out as close as he could and saved about a dozen men all by himself while dodging torpedo attacks from the enemy. He had actually turned his ship around and was coming back but a torpedo finally sunk his ship. Kami Sakiki somehow managed to survive out there and came home to tell the tale."

"Kami Sakiki was listed under the Silver Unit's roster, but his body was never found so they assumed that he died and sank to the bottom of the ocean. He probably would have come out of the shadows or been just fine being a phantom for all I know. That is until they released that terrible fabrication in the news!"

"Fabrication?"

"Well as it happened, the military didn't want to take a bad rap for leaving those Silver boys out in the water to die so instead of taking the blame they threw them under the bus. Silver Unit went "rogue" and went into a suicide mission against an opponent they had no shot of beating simply because they were hot heads, and in doing his best to right their wrongs, Satoshi paid the ultimate price trying to fix their mistakes. Of course it was a horrible, terrible lie, but all of Silver Unit died, or so they thought, so who would refute the story?"

"But...but there were other soldiers...There were several people that would have been aware of this strike and heard it over the comms!"

"Yes, well, that is one thing you can blame the real Mashmo for not us, of course we did start to hear of the news from the emails we had back and forth with our funder. We thought it was Mashmo giving us a confession to his knowledge of what happened three years earlier but it was actually Giovanni revealing the seeds of his anger. A broken man with no wife and left to die a shameless death in the sea by his own country. He even had a child, but he never did come for him."

"Then this man, this crazy man that tried to kill me and kill...Green. He really isn't that out there is he? He's just vengeful. He just wants payback for what wrongs have been done to him! I can't...I can't believe I ever looked up to you Dr. Oak. I used to admire the Champion and now..."

"And...I won't argue with you on that Red. I know I've made my mistakes. That is the very reason Blue...well…"

"What about Blue?"

"Blue started becoming suspicious of me as he got older. He could ask tougher and tougher questions that I simply couldn't answer without giving myself away, and he knew it. He asked me about Team Rocket, and I gave myself away that I knew about them towards the beginning of your journey. While you were shopping with Green in Celadon, he uncovered some old journals on a shelf of the public library for crying out loud! I couldn't believe it, but then no one ever reads books anymore so it shouldn't surprised either. He found out about this lab and some of our projects even though I had never told him or Daisy about them. He didn't have much time to snoop with you around, but when you both went off to train elsewhere for a week , he studied each and every one of us through and through. Then to make matters worse, he was captured by Team Rocket! He told me they put him in some kind of box, and he asked them about their motives and learned about the boat scandal years ago during the war. Putting the pieces together, Blue has gotten further and further into this anger. It doesn't help that now he's been...using something."

"A drug? OH! He gave me one to try out. I think it was called a Rare Candy!"

"OH DEAR!"

"What is it?"

"Rare Candy...those were experimental drugs given to soldiers to help boost their performance in combat. Of course they yielded incredible results but over time they cause increased growth and activity in the amygdala causing headaches, sleep problems, and bouts of manic behavior and irritability. We nicknamed them Rage Bars, but I had hoped they were gone for good."

"Well he has been trading Skills and money for them to keep a firm step or two ahead of me on his path to the top. Goody, he join you up there!"

"Oh, my gosh, this is terrible! How could I be so blind to what is happening to my grandson? I need to go! I need to find him!"

"Oak...I hope you talk some sense into him, but this isn't over. I was hoping after all of my training to find a man that could lead me in the good fight, but now it looks like I'll have to find someone else. I'll stop Giovanni, I don't know how, but I will, but then you will tell the the truth about what happened during the war. ALL OF YOU!"

The men all nod to me quietly. Oak turns and leaves at once to find Blue and the others follow behind him. Turning to my left, I see the scientist guy that asked me to come here in the first place. I completely forgot about him.

"Oh, hey!"

"Hi!"

"Hey, I...didn't know that was going to happen. I just started working here like last week. Ha ha. Uh...should I like quit or something?"

"I would unless like you working with dishonest people."

"Ah, I'm good actually. Hey, before I leave though, there is something that our lab wanted to give you."

"Give me?"

"Yes, you may remember that several weeks back you stopped Team Rocket from stealing some fossils from Pewter City?"

"Yes."

"Well you may not have known this at the time, but some of those fossils were actually just on loan to the museum. We were relieved when you recovered them because we were able to use the fossils to replicate active Element Skills of extinct Pokemon. We thought you might like this one."

He hands me a small stone with a picture of fierce, flying dinosaur on it that looks grey and hard as a rock. A caption under the image reads "Aerodactyl."

"Whoa! You can do that?"

"I understand my colleagues have been in some shady business, but I hope I can reassure you that science itself is about the study and appreciation of the world we live in. I would say most of it can be a good thing."

"Thanks!"

I take the Crystal and stow it away in my in my Bill Box. I can't explain it, but for some reason, I think Green would like this Skill.

30

Waving good bye to the scientist, I exit the lab and run down the streets in search of Blaine. The Focus stands to my right and to my left is a set of large marble walls, a memorial where the Pokemon Mansion once stood. Straight ahead of me is the rest of town. I keep running down the street taking in the sights and smells of different restaurants. I smell something really good. Maybe I should stop and eat first? One restaurant in particular, the Sea Growl, has a big facade of a Growlithe's face and seems to offer some fancy hot dogs. I've seen Growlithe before, little striped red and black dogs that use Fire Abilities. Arcanine, their evolved form, is much more menacing though at over six feet tall and well over three hundred pounds. I think by comparison Arcanine looks more like a bear than a dog, but that's besides the point. Should I get a hotdog? Oh wait! Is that Blaine? Yeah, there he is!

I spot Blaine at the end of one street is a small overlook and railing for people to stop and watch the waves. A rolling tide crashes against the rocks and makes his long coat fly up like a cape in the breeze before settling back down. Like a sixth sense, Blaine turns around in my direction just as I stop in place. His sunshades train on me like the eyes of a wild tiger.

Passersby that were once walking by and laughing all make their way to side of the street and watch as Blaine approaches me. Does he want to battle with me right here? Gym battles are supposed to be fought due to protocol with the exception of the Fuchsia City Gym which was in shambles. Looking off to the northwest, I can't help but notice a big white building that has to be the Gym. Blaine gets within inches of my face before he speaks a word. I can smell something like tobacco on his lips and see tiny veins bulging in his neck now. A single drop of sweat slides down his forehead, but Blaine doesn't bother wiping it.

"HEADS UP CINNABAR! YOUR ENTERTAINMENT IS HERE!"

The crowd erupts in cheers as Blaine points a finger straight ahead at me. Blaine smiles but am I sensing bitterness in that tone of voice? Looking all around us, it's clear that the way Blaine and his city feel couldn't be more polarized. I'm an attraction, a trend to them, and Blaine is bridge troll, the bouncer, the winnowing fork. He lowers his voice when he gets in arm's reach of me.

"They love you Red, and they don't even know who you are."

But you do?"

"I do. Well two options really," he says taking off his coat and throwing it to the ground then loosens his tie and throws it down as well.

"Option A: You're one with Oak and the others, a conspirator, a charlatan that will go through the motions of our government system to convince us you are one of us, but then one day, when we stop paying attention to you for just a moment, you'll do whatever you need to put your pieces closer to the finish line."

"And option B?"

"Option B: You're a crazy idealist trying to prove something, and you walked right into a web of lies, but now you're in too deep to find your way back out. One day when the dust settles, you'll be dead and forgotten just like your father."

"What...YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

I feel heat rising to my face. Some of the spectators even giggle a little. Why? Did he say anything remotely funny? No!

"HA HA, GOOD LINE KID! Come on, now, don't you want to fight me? You're not afraid of hurting a Gym Leader are you?"

"No...I…"

"Well what, come on don't tell me you don't want to take a swing at the only leader that didn't come to your little girlfriend's rescue."

Some people in the crowd gasps and cover their mouths in suspense.

"WHAT...what did you say?"

"I was asked if I could come and help fight Team Rocket in Saffron or Fuchsia, and I was about to say Saffron when I realized Green was in danger. Man, I thought you idiots would have been dead by now so all this hype would be over but noooooo, of course not, so when I heard that one of you might actually die I changed my mind and went to Fuchsia..."

SLAAAAAAAAASH!

Before I even process fully what he has said to me, I found myself standing over the Gym Leader with fingers extended like knives. Blood from his face drips to the ground the points of the blades. Slash is a more deadly ability than Scratch, but not as deadly as I feel right now. I don't care about a match with Blaine or Belts or about these stupid people watching me right now. I won't let him like this about the people I care about most.

"Ah, good hit, but is that all? You have to make this look real. We all know you'll go after Blue's sister the second Green dies!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

After a few seconds, I finally stop myself. Blaine is lying on his side with blood on his shirt. His crumpled up glasses are now somewhere under his back. I want him to take me serious, but he now he's smiling. He's smiling!

"THIS IS NOT A JOKE! FIGHT ME! FIGHT ME BLAINE!"

"Isn't this what you wanted for the cameras, Red? OH, I almost forgot!"

Blaine laughs and turning onto his stomach, he reaches out for his lab coat. At first I have no idea what he's up to. Maybe he isn't the Gym Leader? Maybe I am just attacking some random man? Maybe he's crazy? Is this some kind of scheme? But then he pulls his hand out of his lab coat pocket with a yellow belt, a red flame shining on the side for all to see.

"Here you go, Red!"

"Stop it."

"Oh, but Red, surely you know what this is? This is the Volcano Belt. You have to have this to become the Monster Champion. If you take it, you'll only have one Belt left to go, and you can clearly defeat me. Why, just look at me! GO ON EVERYONE! CLAP FOR YOU NEXT CHAMPION!"

But no one claps or says a word. Everyone seems to be getting this isn't normal. This isn't right. This isn't a game, and if it is, I'm not playing it. Maybe I'm the crazy one, but I won't feed into this talk any more.

I take a step back from Blaine letting his hand and the Belt in subject hover in place. I pull out my Bill Box then make it enlarge. Grabbing the six Belts I've gotten so far, I dump them all on the ground. That makes Blaine put his smile away. Looking at my wrist, I grab ahold of my Skillfinder and tug on it.

"Wait...you shouldn't do that."

"Shut up!"

"No, Red, seriously, that is going to hurt!"

But the Skillfinder doesn't come right off at first. It has spent the last two months linking to my body through my central nervous system, and my skin has actually sealed up around the places where the device punctured into my arm back at Oak's lab. When I finally dislodge it with a low "pop," I can barely stand it. In fact I fall to my knees overcome with pain and nausea. There is blood everywhere, so much blood. I'm feeling sick. I'm feeling so very sick. Don't close your eyes, Red, look at him. Look at Blaine in the eyes. And after a few moments I do. He looks horrified.

"Why...why would you do that?"

"My father...mock me...but not my father…let me die but not Omi...not Kyomi..."

"Red?"

"RED!"

"RED! RED! What happened to him?"

31

Waking up with my face pressed into the dirt, I reach for the earth with palms and try to push myself back up and try to push myself up. I don't know for how long, but I think I blacked out. It can't be long because Blaine hasn't moved an inch or the rest of the people around us for that matter.

"OH MY GOSH! Look he is getting up!"

"Red? Stop this, be still."

"SHUT UP!"

"DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT YOU LITTLE BRAT! I'M THE CINNABAR ISLAND GYM LEADER!"

"Yeah?" I say ignoring Blaine's protest and getting up to my knees. I reach for my Skillfinder and set it back in place where it once connected to my body. To my delight,some of the skin has already started trying to clot and seal, and when I place the Skillfinder back, I feel it connect back into position. I get back up to my feet and wipe the dirt and dried blood onto my jeans smearing the rouge in and making black splotches.

"What are you thinking, kid?"

"Thinking? I'm option B, Blaine, the crazy idealist. I didn't know what Oak was up to when I signed up for this adventure," I say looking to the people around me.

"I'll be honest. I was just a dumb kid hoping to find meaning in life and be something like my Dad. He was my hero…" I feel tears form in my eyes, I don't want to cry now in front of Blaine, but I ignore the urge to stop myself. "but...but one day he went off to war and didn't come back. I loved him, and then he was just gone! I never knew all the details of what happened in the war just that he was a hero, and that if I met the Champion one day, maybe he could help me find out what happened to him and in the meantime I would follow in my Dad's footprints. Maybe that doesn't sound all that smart of an idea, but I just finished high school a few months ago and I've spent most of my life living in one town with my Mom. And maybe everyone knows that I have feelings for Green," I pause and look around the streets at everyone else, "but you probably didn't know I went to school with her. You didn't know I saw her nearly died twice now! I...I love that girl! I'm sorry that some of you think that I'm just here for show, but know that my life...it's real. And Blaine," I say looking back at the Gym Leader. "Maybe you won't take a fight with Red, the 'guy from TV' seriously, but will you fight me, Satoshi Himura. Jr. named after my father, Satoshi Sr? I started this whole journey because of him, and I don't need these Belts or any fans to honor him, but I won't stand here and listen to you slander his name on television and get away it."

"...fine…"

"What?"

"I SAID FINE!"

"FINE!"

Blaine rushes towards me, and I raise my fists to defend myself. When he gets in close, I lunge forward for another Slash and watch as my claws go straight through Blaine! Wait, it's like he's not there. It's...it's just an image or an illusion or something! Looking around me, it's clear now that Blaine is purposefully making images of himself all around me to throw me off. His Agility is so great that he is making an optical illusion as if he is in multiple places at the same time!

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

With powerful speed, Blaine is able to TAKE DOWN me and a bystander to the ground. I see Blaine grit his teeth, blood in his gums as he pushes in on my ribs. He won't make this easy for me now.

"GET BACK YOU FOOL! THE FIGHT IS ON!"

The frightened man behind me wipes off his business suit, turns and runs away whimpering. I Slash at Blaine making him jump back. He quickly returns to his Agility illusion around me.

Concentrating on his movements, I start to notice patterns in his movements and can even see where Blaine actually appears to be more solid for a second at a time. I think I can do this same ability if I just try it! I'm going to try. Closing my eyes for just a second, I can see the green bug Scyther whizzing around it's enemies like a small army of bugs. That's it!

I replicate the Agility move and for a moment, we move at a speed faster than any eye around can see. Try as he can to mislead me though, I finally pick up on a pattern that Blaine is on before he catches me and swing my arms through the air and clap them for a powerful Wing Attack.

CRACK!

Blaine takes only a second to catch his breath before he raises an arm and makes a ring of fire appear in the air. Like a small bracelet, the burning hoop of gas hovers just off the surface of his skin and by the look on Blaine's face, the hoop is very hot. I try to rush him, but he clenches his hand into a fist, and the hoop expands to the size of a life preserver and comes flying after me! I try to swat it away by instinct only to get burned.

"OWW! Stupid."

"ORDER'S UP SATOSHI! WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS FIRE SPIN?"

I don't get a chance to reply before he creates a half dozen more of these burning haloes with each hand and sends them flying towards me. If they touch me they burn a lot, and if they don't touch me they hover close around me until they do. It's inescapable! I have to stop this!

CRACK!

But my Scyther Skill breaks before I can think of anything, and I feel myself go faint for a moment. Falling to my knees, I try to focus, but the heat is so bad I can't concentrate. I can't breathe! I can't do a thing.

"GET UP AND FIGHT! FIGHT MY FIRE!"

Fire? Fire! I need to transition to my Water Skill, Gyrados. Yes, get back up Red! I get back to my feet, standing in the middle of of a cyclone of flames and concentrate power into my palms. Looking up to Blaine, he seems to recognize what I'm about to do and takes a step back. Hydro Pump!

GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSHHH!

Blasting gallons of water from my hands through the cyclone and at Blaine ugly face, I watch him fall over on the ground.

Crack!

He gets back up and sends more of his heinous Fire Spin blasts towards me. The heat is so much. I can smell skin and hair on my arms burning, and breathing is near impossible. Closing my eyes, I shoot another Hydro Pump at Blaine and knock him down once more.

Crack!

He's down. I should strike, but I can't move. Falling down to my knees, I grab at my throat and gas for air. Choking. I'm choking!

Crack!

I can't think as my second Skill breaks. Come on Red, do somethin! Haunter Skill. What's he doing? He's getting back up!

I watch in an exhausted stupor as Blaine gets back to his feet and pulls back a single hand behind his back. Then like he were about throw a volleyball, he opens up the palm of his hand with fingers down and thumb up releasing a giant flame into the air! The hand shaped projectile expands to nearly ten feet tall and hits me like me like a concrete wall.

CRACK!

"Ah. Ah. Ah."

I roll around on the ground patting out little flames off of my clothes. The fact that they endured such a strike is incredible to me, but oh how much that still burns! Oh, it hurts. I'm on the ground? What just happened? That has to have been Fire Blast, the deadliest of Fire Attacks! Thinking of Fire, I switch to my Charizard Skill. I don't know Fire Blast myself, but I'm going to beat Blaine. Somehow!

I open my mouth and project the strongest move I know, Flamethrower. Blaine stumbles back and smacks at some flames on his clothes then rears his hand back for the power move. Think!

At that moment, I see a small bird Fly by like it doesn't have a care in the world. That's it! I bound up from the ground with Fly and watch as the Fire Blast passes beneath my feet by mere inches. Blaine rears his hand back once more, and I know I have to act fast. I dive straight towards him with my arms back and swing them forward for a Wing Attack.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

Blaine trips and falls back losing the energy he was forming behind him. Opening his mouth, he spits Embers into my face making me drawback for just a moment. That's what that feels like!

He gets up on his toes and readies once more for Fire Blast so I push off the ground towards him and go for a Slash to his face. For just a moment, I watch as he brings the glowing hot hard from behind his back getting closer and closer to hitting me at close range. Would a blow this close at the power level kill me? The heat is so much that I start to get choked up again, I open my mouth to gasp for air then release my Flamethrower one last time. The hot hand falls back, and the flame disappears.

Blaine collapses to the ground, his left arm around me pulling me down with him to the ground by his side. Both heaving for air and clutching our chests, we don't try to get up. I can't move. It's over. I don't care if I win this match or not. I just want to rest.

"Well Red...I admit it, you proved me wrong...those things I said about your Dad...your girlfriend...I'm truly sorry."

"You...mean it?"

"I do...I what I said...I was talking to Oak and the others...I let myself think that your story was made up by them...but I did try to go Saffron City by the way...I was helping Fuchsia City, but I would've helped protect Green if I had the chance."

"Thanks Blaine...I think...I think I won't kill you now then…"

"Oh good...I would hate that...I...oh, is this a friend of yours, Red?"

"I open my eyes and look at Blaine next to me then up on the sidewalk to see a pair of boots in front of me. The boots connect to black pants and over the pants are a long brown coat. Looking up to the man's face at first feels like trying to turn my head around backwards, but I finally make it. Wait, it's not him? But it's...it can't be!

"Red? Are you two OK?"

"Mr...Mr. Hayashi!"