After leaving the Viridian City gym and getting Clefable settled in, Astral announced that he wanted to show Red where he lived and to meet his grandma. Red, curious to learn more about the ghost child, agreed and soon they'd arrived at their destination.
"Grandma Agatha! Grandma Agatha!" exclaimed Astral as he phased through the closed wooden door, only to circle back when he realized the teen couldn't follow. "Sorry 'bout that."
"It's fine," Red replied.
"I'll go get Granny to unlock the door."
He disappeared through the door again and Red took the time to survey the property. 'Agatha...' he thought to himself as he took in the large dark lilac colored house and wrought iron fence. 'Could it be that Agatha?' A moment later the heavy wooden door opened to reveal a short elderly woman with greying blonde hair, a long-sleeved purple dress and white apron. Astral was floating behind her with a wide grin, eager to show off his new friend. Almost instantly, recognition filled her wizened dark eyes. "Champion Red..."
"Eh?! You know him already, Granny?" asked a surprised Astral. "And wait, did you say CHAMPION?!"
"That's correct," replied Agatha, an almost fond smile appearing on her face. "He and his Pokémon had given me the battle of a lifetime and then they swept through the rest of the Elite Four to become champion."
The young spirit smacked himself on the forehead. "That's right; I remember you telling me about a super strong trainer that managed to beat you while I was away in Lavender Town. Man, I wish I could've been here to see it!"
The elder woman's steely gaze leveled back on Red. "I wasn't aware that you had finally come down from Mount Silver," her eyes narrowed even more. "Nor was I aware that you had obtained the abilities to see the paranormal."
"I just got that ability, actually," the teen said a slight smile. "Right around the time I met them." He pointed to the three ghosts.
"How very interesting," Agatha said thoughtfully, looking like she wanted to say more, but decided against it. "Well, come inside." She moved back a bit to allow the teen to pass. "I'll go prepare us some tea. Astral, take him to your room until then."
"Yes, ma'am!" Astral said eagerly before taking Red by the hand and dragging him to his bedroom.
'Very interesting, indeed,' Agatha thought as she watched them go.
OoO
"I'm back, everyone!" Astral announced as he flew into the surprisingly well-furnished bedroom. Thankfully, the room door was already open, otherwise Red would have smacked headfirst into it.
The air in the room grew cold as three different colored orbs, one green, one blue, and one orange, floated into view and formed into the shapes of three different Pokémon. Red smiled as he recognized the Pokémon as Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander, but it faltered when he noticed something was off about them besides the fact that they were all ghosts. The Bulbasaur was missing a its signature bulb. The Squirtle had two large holes in its shell. And the flame of Charmander's tail had been extinguished.
"Bulba-bulba!"
"Squirt Squirtle!"
"Char! Charmander!"
Red watched as the three ghost pokémon happily greeted the spirit child and his Pikachu before they took notice of his presence. Almost immediately, they crowded close to Astral, their hollow eyes filled with wariness, fear, and hostility. The air in the room grew heavy, cold, and oppressive in a way that reminded Red of his encounter with the vengeful ghost Marowak in Lavender Tower. His heart ached at the possibility of them suffering a similar fate. Pika, in turn, readied himself for a possible fight.
"Hey, hey! There's no need to fight. These guys are friends!" Astral said quickly. He stroked each pokémon on the head in hopes of calming them down. "Don't worry, you can trust these guys. Just today, they helped me take down a group of poachers! Not to mention that these guys are the freakin' Kanto League Champions!"
"Pika! Pikachu chu pika!" Astral's Pikachu added, wrapping his arm around Pika to vouch for him.
The three pokémon seemed to settle down at the boy's words and even looked at them in awe at his champion status, their hollow eyes appraising them in a new light. Still, they remained close to the spirit child. "Forgive them," Astral said softly, continuing to pet the Pokémon to soothe them. "They didn't depart from this world in the best of ways."
"May I ask what happened to them?"
Astral closed his eyes, his face pinched as he recalled his Pokémon's' tragic stories. "Squirtle was the leader of a pack of Pokémon known as the Squirtle Squad. They had a habit of causing mischief around a small town to the point that the townspeople grew tired of it and armed themselves with rifles to scare them away. Unfortunately, a few of them didn't think just scaring them off was enough..." his words trailed off for a moment before a forced smile appeared on his face. "Thankfully, the other Squirtle managed to escape and are now in the protective custody of Officer Jenny as a firefighter team. So, I guess you could see it as a silver lining of sorts."
The older male tried to return the smile though he knew it must look more like a grimace. He nodded for Astral to continue.
"Next is Bulbasaur, who was a guardian of a secret little village in the forest that took care of weak and injured Pokémon there. Sadly, a poacher managed to find their sanctuary and Bulbasaur lost its life to ensure that the others could escape."
'And its bulb,' Red thought, but it went without needing to be said. He could only hope that the grass 'mon hadn't still been alive during its bulb's removal. "Did they ever catch the poacher?"
"Oh yes! There was a human caretaker who was able to make a positive ID to the Police and Pokémon Rangers! He's currently rotting away in jail, and I can only hope he stays there for a long time."
Red and the other Pokémon all nodded their heads in agreement.
"Last, we have is Charmander. He's a sweet and loyal pokémon who waited for his trainer who promised to return for him."
"But they never returned?" Red asked, already knowing the answer.
"No, they didn't. And poor Charmander lost his life in a thunderstorm that extinguished his flame. Still, Charmander waited for them dutifully even in death and its soul was bound to that rock his trainer abandoned him on. It took me and Pikachu weeks to get his spirit to leave that place."
"Pika Pikachu pi ka?" asked Pika, gesturing to his fellow electric 'mon, as if asking what had happened to him.
At this, both Astral and Pikachu flinched. Pikachu's ears lowering as the bad memories rushed to the surface. "Team Rocket," the spirit boy nearly spat, his aura seemed to briefly darken before lightening back up, though a deep frown marred his features.
The news floored Red. "Team Rocket?! But they've been disbanded; I saw to that personally!"
"Oh, they were, for about three years, but now they're starting to creep back up again! While they're lacking their original numbers, they're no less troublesome!" He placed a hand on his Pikachu's head. "Pikachu had been captured by Team Rocket after Professor Oak made a publishing about Pikachu's immense power. They did countless of tests on him, pushing him to his limit and beyond before...before Pikachu's body eventually gave out." Astral sighed in frustration, his face turning to one of contemplation. "I know Team Rocket has always been bad, but they've never been this bad. It's like they're a totally new group!"
Red absorbed all of this and made plans to talk to Green about keeping an eye out for this new Team Rocket. "I'm so sorry you all had to go through that," Red said solemnly, his hand reaching out to touch them, but stopped and lowered it when he remembered that they weren't used to him yet. A familiar knot formed in his stomach as he once was again reminded of the cruelty of his species. He felt something cool nudge his hand, causing him to look down and see Squirtle nuzzling against it.
"Squirtle squirtle," said the water pokémon, looking up at Red with its hollow eyes and a small impish smile.
Red returned the smile and gently stroked the pokémon's head, happy to have been given the chance. Soon, the other pokémon came over and Red and Pika were properly acquainted with them.
"...Would you like to meet my other pokémon?"
"Would I?!"
OoO
"There you scamps are!" exclaimed Agatha as she walked into the backyard where Astral, Red, and their pokémon were. Gengar tailing after her while levitating a tray of tea and cookies.
"Sorry, Granny, but Red said he was going to show me his pokémon and it would've been too cramped in my room!"
"Is that so?" asked Agatha before looking around at the pokémon amassed in her backyard. Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Lapris, and Espeon were all out of their pokéballs and were happily playing with the spirits. She smiled softly at the scene, happy that everyone was getting along. She took a seat at her garden table, shaded by an overhanging tree, and watched the group interact. Venusaur, Blastoise, and Charizard practically took their pre-evolutions under their wing. Pika, Pikachu, and Espeon were playing a game of tag. And Misdreavus and Lapris were singing a lovely, yet solemn duet.
"Be careful, Astral," warned Agatha when she saw the spirit give the teen an impromptu flying lesson. "Remember what happened last time."
"I only dropped the guy because he was struggling too much!" Astral called back to the woman. "And since he'd been trying to steal people's pokémon he had it coming, too!" Even then, the younger boy re-adjusted his grip on Red as they flew higher into the sky. "Don't worry, Red; I'd never drop you."
Red smiled and nodded, trusting the younger. Soon after Charizard joined them in the sky, with Charmander riding on its back. The tiny fire lizard held its arms out as if it were flying too. It was a cute, yet bittersweet scene, knowing the pokémon had been robbed of ever having the chance to experience true flight itself.
The group of four flew higher and higher into the sky where the air was colder and thinner, but nothing Red wasn't used to. The ground and the people on it grew smaller and smaller the further they ascended and yet the sky remained endless above them. Astral's grip never once wavered nor did he appear tired, and Red was left wondering if the kid had a limit. Could he fly high enough to reach outer space, or maybe dive into the deepest parts of the ocean?
"What's the highest you've ever flown?" asked Red.
Something in Astral's demeanor changed at the question, a frown replacing his smile as he gazed up at the heavens before them. "The highest I've ever flown..." he mumbled hollowly before shaking his head. "Not high enough. Never high enough."
And with that, Astral began his descent back to the ground.
OoOoO
"Thank you for agreeing to spend the night with us," said Agatha as she gathered a towel and a washcloth for the teen to use. "And thank you for befriending Astral and his pokémon. They're really excited to have their first ever sleep-over."
"It's no problem and, thank you for having me. It's like having a younger brother."
"Oh? Do you not have any siblings, Red?"
"I had a younger brother, but he passed away when he was just a baby."
"I'm so sorry to hear that," the woman said, gently touching Red's arm. "How could such a thing have happened?"
Red began telling the woman about the sudden loss of his baby brother and what life had been like for him and his mother afterwards. Agatha listened with rapt attention. "He would've been Astral's age if he were still alive."
A strange look appeared on her face, but it was gone instant. She then squeezed his arm in a comforting gesture before leading him to the bathroom to wash up.
OoOoO
"Are you sure you don't need another blanket, Red? People always say they get super cold when they're around ghosts."
"I'll be fine. I spent three years on top of Mount Silver, so I'm used to the cold." Red lay onto the right side of the surprisingly soft mattress and watched as Astral settle onto the left. "Do you and your pokémon sleep?"
"We don't, but we can go into a meditative state. Grandma Agatha likes us to do this because she thinks we have too much energy and it isn't good for us to be up at all hours of the day and night. She calls it, "quiet time". As Astral finished explaining, three of the spirit pokémon each shrank into small glowing orbs just like when they first appeared. Pikachu, however, stayed in his normal form and curled up beside the other electric 'mon.
"Can you do that?" the teen asked the boy.
"Unfortunately not, but I can do this!" Astral's body glowed and soon his outfit changed from jeans and a hoodie to pajama bottoms and a white tee shirt, similar to what Red was wearing but blue instead of red.
"That's a pretty neat trick," said the champion. He then thought about what the boy had said earlier before asking, "What did you mean when you said you've never flown high enough?
END CHAPTER