A/N: Time for a chapter that may be a bit longer than usual. Nothing for me to really say... here's a quote:
"What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets! But enough talk. Have at you!"
This chapter is in honor of Kirbyhalo83. Please get better! You're a much better writer than me, and those skills should be used!
Because Matt and the gang are going through the region the same way it was in the games, they did not go straight to Saffron City. Instead, they went towards Route 10 and the Rock Tunnel. Nothing much of interest really happened in Route 10, however the group was not exactly joyful when they arrived at Rock Tunnel.
"It's another overly long and confusing cave! NOOOO!" Matt did not like the prospect of having to go through what he did on Mt. Moon again.
"Hey, it's their fault for not making an actual tunnel here after 13 years." Scarlet was a bit annoyed by Matt.
"You DO NOT know what I had to go through on Mt. Moon." Matt was shivering at the memories of all the Zubats he faced, and how much he got lost.
"Fine fine, whatever. Let's just find the exit and leave this place." Scarlet led the group into the convoluted cave. They got a bit lost. And faced a lot of Zubats. And Geodudes. It was not a good experience.
"Is this a way out?" Matt looked around a corner. It was a dead end.
"How about this?" Matt got into another dead end.
"Maybe this?" Nope.
After about two hours of being lost in a cavern full of Zubats, the gang finally managed to find an exit.
"Yesss! Sweet freedom!" Matt was overjoyed to finally get out of the cave.
"I'm... kinda starting to see what you meant." Joseph said with a tired look in his face.
"Yeah... good thing we don't have to deal with this until Victory Road. Right?" Scarlet was a bit worried.
"Ugh, I hope so. I don't want to see another Zubat for a loooonnnngggg time." Matt just wanted to get on to the next city. However, there was something he wanted to ask. "Hey Scarlet. How's your journey been going since Pewter?"
"Oh. It's been... kinda boring? Brock and Misty were pretty hard to beat, but thanks to my Charmeleon's Metal Claw and Pikachu, I managed to defeat both of them. I just had to train a lot." Scarlet was not exactly happy about that last fact. "As far as Pokemon I've caught... I haven't gotten a single one since Pikachu back in Viridian Forest. There just hasn't really been any that interested me."
"Well, you know Lt. Surge is a master of Electric Types, right? It won't be very easy to beat him if all you've got is an okay Fire type and another electric type. Maybe you should catch something Grass or Ground." Matt said with a... something kind of look to Scarlet.
"There's just not really any Pokemon here that interest me. I want an Eevee! Or a Lapras! Maybe a Snorlax or something else." Scarlet said that with sparkles in her eyes.
"Wow, you really just want to replicate Red's team, don't you?" Joseph snarked to Scarlet.
"M-maybe..." Scarlet seemed a bit down at the mention of Red.
"Oh come on, cheer up! I'm sure we can do something nice by the time we get to the next city! We just gotta..." Matt was about to finish his sentence when he realised where the group had ended up.
It was Lavender Town.
"Spooky scary skelet-"
"No, Joseph. We don't need your references here." Now Matt was annoyed at Joseph.
"H-hey, let's calm down and go to the Pokemon Center! Our Pokemon really need to heal up, y'know?" Scarlet seemed a bit scared.
"What, are you afraid of Ghosts?" Joseph said with slight sarcasm.
"N-no! Of course not! It's just... I've heard stories about this place." Scarlet wasn't fooling anyone.
"Like what?" Joseph was curious.
"Like seizures, white hands, bitten off heads and other really strange things. It's so creepy." Scarlet was a bit shaken.
"And that's why they call it CREEPYpasta. You spent way too much time on the Net." Joseph was a bit disappointed at Scarlet.
"I did not! Well... maybe. But considering the town's reputation, I don't want to stay here that long." Scarlet really made it obvious she wanted to leave ASAP.
"Okay ScaredySkittie, we'll go to the Pokemon Center, heal, maybe stop by Mr. Fuji's, and then leave. Not a single footstep into the Radio Tower. That sound good?" Joseph looked like he actually WANTED to go to the ominous tower.
"Y-yeah... let's just go and heal already!" Scarlet quickly ran over to the Pokemon Center, while the other two were a bit slower getting there. They healed their Pokemon, but Matt noticed something (or someone) quite... interesting.
It was Lily.
Wait, why is she here? Matt was curious as to why Lily was in Lavender Town.
"Hey, Matt. Do you know that girl? You seem to be staring at her."
Oh, yeah, I forgot. They haven't met her yet. Guess it's time to introduce them. Matt walked over to Lily.
"Hey, Lily. What are you doing here?" Matt asked.
Lily looked at Matt. She seemed a bit sad. "I... think that it's possible that I could find more info about my dad here." Lily noticed Scarlet and Joseph. "Oh, who are those people?"
Matt knew who she was referring to. "Oh, those are my friends: Scarlet, the younger sister of Red, and Joseph, younger brother of Blue."
"Younger sister of Red?" Lily got a surprised look on her face. She walked towards Scarlet.
"Hey, you're Red's sister, right?" Lily asked Scarlet.
"Oh, yeah, I am." Scarlet seemed a bit down. "But... I'm not nearly as strong as him."
"Oh..." Lily was disappointed. "I thought you would be able to help me..."
"Well, maybe I could. What do you need help with?" Scarlet seemed to like the opportunity.
"I was just looking for a strong trainer to help me with a certain task of mine right now. Since you're not that strong, I guess I'll look elsewhere."
"What's that task?" Scarlet was curious.
"Well... I'm looking for my father. And I think I could get a clue to where he is here." Lily said to Scarlet.
"Okay then. Where do you think you could get a clue to where he is?" Scarlet asked.
"I think I could get an answer to at least one thing... at the House of Memories." Lily's statement had shocked Scarlet a bit.
"T-the House of Memories?" Scarlet was worried. "Why do you think you can find out about him there?"
Lily turned away from Scarlet. "Because... he might be dead."
"DEAD?!" Scarlet (and Joseph) were very shocked to hear her say that. "Okay, I may not want to, but I'll go with you to the House of Memories. I think the three of us will be fine."
"Yeah, I know. Your friend there has taught me that." Lily pointed towards Matthew.
"Oh, yeah! If you're wondering how we met... that's a long story. Let's just be friends and help her out, okay?" Matt smiled a bit nervously.
"Alright! If there's anyone in need of help, we'll help them!" Scarlet said that with determination in her eyes.
"Thanks. Let's just go now." Lily left the Pokemon Center. After the others healed, they quickly left too.
The group arrived at a small building: The House of Memories. The building was built over 10 years ago after the Kanto Radio Tower had replaced the Pokemon Tower. It served the same purpose of containing the graves of Pokemon and even people, but it was considerably smaller in scale. Everyone went inside, and Lily walked over to a book that contained the names of every human and Pokemon that was buried there.
"Let's see... Is he here?" Lily was flipping through the pages. "C... D... E... F..." She was quickly looking through each page. After looking through the entire thing, she couldn't find her father's name. She was slightly relieved, but not completely. "*sigh*, I can't find him here. But that doesn't completely mean he's still alive. There are other places. But at least I'm a bit more sure he's alive." Lily managed to make a slight smile.
I wish I could help her out more, but I don't really know enough. Matt was a bit tired. "Well, if you can't find your father's name in there, let's just get out of here and get some rest. I'm sleepy." Matt yawned.
BAM! The door to the building was suddenly opened, and very forcefully too. A bunch of people wearing suspicious clothes started pouring in. It was Team Rocket.
Lily immediately turned back and got her Pokeball ready. "YOU..."
The leader of the squad that arrived spoke up. "So the Boss was right. Trainer M and B are here."
"Trainer M and B?" Matt was confused.
The Admin spoke up. "We're talking about you and the girl with the red sleeve on her arm. You've become our targets after interrupting our operations on Mt. Moon. Now, we're here, trying to get something quite valuable."
"What are you here for?!" Matt yelled with a bit of a raged tone in his voice.
"Why would I tell you, of all people?" The Admin looked back. "Grunts! Release all of your Pokemon. We have a job to do."
"Yes sir!" The Grunts immediately threw all of their Pokeballs, revealing a large amount of Rattatas, Fearows... and Zubats.
"How are we supposed to deal with all of this?" Matt looked very worried at what might happen to him.
Lily looked up. "Let's handle this in pairs. Matt and Blue Kid, go together." Lily looked towards Scarlet. "You're going to be with me. Get your Pokemon ready!"
The Admin had an evil smirk on his face. "Attack them."
All of the squad's Pokémon rushed towards Matt and Lily, and they looked like they were about ready to attack the trainers themselves.
"Joseph, get your Pokeball out!" Matt got his Pokeball ready.
"Okay!" Joseph pulled his Poke ball out from his pocket.
"Ivysaur!"
"Wartortle!"
The plant monster and blue turtle emerged from their Pokeballs, and looked ready to kick some serious Rocket tail.
"Use Razor Leaf!"
"Help him out with Bubble!"
"IvySAUR!" The Ivysaur created some leaves from thin air, and WOOSH-SLASHED the enemy's Pokémon.
"WARtortle!" The Wartortle created some oddly painful bubbles (FRIGGIN BUBBLES!) and popped them all around Rocket's Pokemon.
On the other side of the battle, the two girls got ready.
"Charmeleon!"
"Blaziken!"
The two evolved Fire starters were released and ready for action.
Wait she's got a BLAZIKEN?! Just who is she? "Alright Charmeleon, use Fire Fang!" Scarlet got over her slight jealousy yelled her command towards her Pokémon.
Why is everyone always so shocked to see a Hoenn Pokemon? "OK, Blaziken. MEGA-EVOLVE!"
Lily tapped her Mega Sleeve, and she raised her arm up high as her Blaziken mega-evolved into a flaming martial arts beast.
And it MEGA-EVOLVES?! Scarlet was quite surprised. Joseph wasn't very phased.
"Blaziken, use BRAVE BIRD!" Lily yelled out with all her might.
"BlazeIKEN!" Blaziken tightened up and rushed towards the opposing Pokemon in a huge bird-like aura. Pretty much everything got devastated. However, Blaziken took a decent amount of recoil, wounding it.
"Char...meleon?" Charmeleon was a bit confused, but soon came to its senses and FLAME BIT everyone of the remaining Pokemon.
"S-sir, they're too strong!" The Grunts were getting scared.
They're quite right... So, they were correct. The Admin made a slightly crooked smile. Well, I do have a "secret weapon". However, as long as those other three are here I can't use it. Oh well, I guess I'll use it for another time.
"Hey, are you going to do anything or what, oh mighty powerful Team Pocket Admin?" Lily had a slight look of rage on her face.
The Admin looked a bit annoyed. "Heh, such a rude one. Your father wouldn't like that."
Lily suddenly went from slightly raged to FULL ON HATE MODE. "W... WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Lily's Mega Blaziken turned towards the Admin, as if it knew exactly what she was thinking.
"I said, your father wouldn't like how incessantly rude you are." The Admin said that as if he knew that would make Lily super mad.
"Where... WHERE IS HE?" Lily was extremely enraged by the Admin. Her Mega Blaziken got closer to the Admin.
"Woah woah woah, no need to break the rules now. And sorry, but I can't say anything. Classified information, you know?"
Lily was super angry. The Mega Blaziken just got closer.
The Admin took out his Pokeball. "Inside this, is a Pidgeot. One with Pidgeotite, meaning it can mega-evolve. Even if you try using your Blaziken against me, I can easily faint it and all of your friends' Pokemon too. So don't try and think hurting me will do you any good."
Lily was quiet for a bit, then she spoke. "Can you at least tell me... is he still alive?"
"Sorry, can't say a thing. No no no, I can't. It'll just be too precious of a moment for when you learn the truth. I'll laugh oh so hysterically." The Admin got a but of a crazy smile on his face. "I will tell you one thing, though. My name... is Nova. And that's all you're getting! Say your whines to the others. Peace out!" The Admin left the small building with his team while laughing hysterically. Wow, isn't he a jerk?
Lily had gone quiet again. Matt and Scarlet went to her and tried to get her to say anything. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Lily spoke. "Nova... I heard that somewhere before. I just forgot WHERE! I just know that as soon as I saw him, tons of hatred started boiling up within me. Now though, he's gonna PAY! He knows something, and I'm gonna get that answer. I'm leaving." Lily started to walk out of the building.
"Wait!" Matt yelled towards her.
Lily looked a bit annoyed. "What is it?"
Matt was slightly nervous after seeing Lily's expression. "Where are you going?"
Lily turned away and gave a short reply, "Wherever Team Rocket goes, I'll follow them. I don't know where they'll be, but I'll keep travelling until I find them again." Lily then left the unstable House of Memories.
Scarlet raised a question. "Uh... Matt? Just what happened after you left Pewter?"
"It's a long story. I'll tell you about it. Let's just go to the Pokemon Center for now." Matt left the house to go to the Pokemon Center.
"Okay..." Scarlet was worried. Who IS that girl? She seems quite... interesting. Well, now's not the time. Let's just go get some answers. Scarlet followed the other two back to the Pokémon Center. That night, Matt told them just what happened. The group realised that something very big was taking place. And now they were wrapped into it.
A/N: Whoo boy, that was a longer one than usual. Hand cramps for days! Anyways, our adventure takes quite the interesting turn. What happens next? Find out next time (on Zekrom Ball Z)!