Chapter 14

Heading home

Hey everyone thanks for reading please R&R It feels good to be back. Sorry I haven't updated in so long I promise to be faster from now on.

We stood in silence for a moment I smirked it felt like a victory against my father and I couldn't help but feel proud over this nothing.

"So that's dad." Ash said bitterness in his voice. I nodded.

"We better get some sleep." I said confidently. "Tomorrow I am heading back for my sister." They nodded.

"For all of us to get there it will take a few days. We can't just fly straight there there's too many of us."

"Then you and I will go." I told Lance. "What's the next city over?"

"Saffron city." Misty said.

"Good, Ash, Misty and Brock go ahead to Saffron city. Lance and I will use his Pokémon to fly back home and get Ruby, sound good?" I asked. They all nodded. "Good. Now let's get some sleep it will be a busy day tomorrow." They all nodded and we went to our separate rooms. The boys shared one room while Misty and I shared another room across the hall the beds were warm and soft with purple velvet blankets.

"Why are we leaving dad?" Ruby asked, her eyes bore into mine, so innocent and curious. How can I tell her father is evil? I couldn't, I just couldn't ruin her image of him. She loved him…we both did. Lance was on a Charzard ahead of us as Ruby and I began to take off on Dragonite. My father was in the doorway staring up at us broken hearted.

"Don't go!" he called. "Don't take Ruby! She's the only one who still loves me! You! Your mother! You all abandoned me!"

I bolted upright panting and soaked in sweat I looked across the room at Misty's bed where she slept peacefully. I flopped back down onto the pillow and pulled the soft blanket up, its soft material comforting against my cheek. I closed my eyes but all I could see was my father, my sister's gaze…it was too much. My eyes snapped open and I sat up again. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and slid to my feet. I quickly grabbed my clothes and disappeared into the bathroom. When I came out I had taken a nice warm shower, brushed my teeth changed and was almost ready to leave when Misty awoke while I was kneeling on the floor putting my boots on.

"You're up early, it's still dark out." She said through a yawn as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. I tightened the knot and sat back down on the floor.

"I just really want to see my sister again." I answered as I stood up. There was a knock on the door gentle yet distinct. "Come in." I called the door cracked open to reveal Lance.

"Hey Claire, are you almost ready?"

"Yup." I answered and sprinted towards the door. "Tell the boys I said bye alright?" I told Misty. Through the other door I could see Ash and Brock still passed out on the bed and couch. Misty nodded with a mumble as she slipped back down into sleep. I looked over at Lance. He smiled it was warm and caring, but I somehow knew it was fake.

"Let's get going." He said and we made our way towards the entrance.

"I feel bad leaving it to them to pay for our rooms." I said but Lance just shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. I left a considerable amount on the table, more than enough to pay for the hotel for all of us." I smiled at him. He was always three steps ahead. As soon as we stepped outside we were greeted with a gust of chilly night air. If I wasn't awake before I was now. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, breathing in the sweet aroma of the night. Nothing stirred and we were encased in complete silence. I could have stayed there all night under the shining stars and glistening full moon. When I opened my eyes Lance was reaching out a hand towards me he was standing on Charzard's back.

"Are you coming?" he asked and I silently took his hand and stepped onto Charzard as we took off the ground quickly shrinking behind us. The wind swished through my hair and left me shivering. When I looked up a hand was on my shoulder and I was wearing Lance's cape. He put his arms on Charzard pinning me between him and the Pokémon. We were so close I could feel the heat from his skin and I couldn't stop myself from resting my head on his chest. When I noticed what I was doing I blushed and looked up at him. But he didn't seem to mind. He was staring off into the distance ahead of us and I simply closed my eyes. That's all.

When I opened them again it was daylight and we were stopping in the middle of a green meadow. I looked around when we landed we both hopped off Charzard who let out a exhausted roar.

"Great job Charzard." Lance said. "Thanks for taking us so far." Charzard let out a satisfied yawn before disappearing back into its poke ball. I yawned and handed Lance his cape back, embarrassed that I still had it.

"So where are we?" I asked.

"The Viridian forest." He answered. "We can't just fly up to your front door." I nodded and looked at the meadow around us. There was a path at the edge that led through a thickest of trees and bushes. We walked through it. The day had turned out to be nice warm and sunny it was the perfect day for strolling through the woods. We stopped at the edge of town everything was so familiar. I could see my house, the gym, the Pokémon center, everything.

"We'll meet back here later ok?" he asked me. I looked up at him, his gaze suddenly serious.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"I have some work to take care of." He turned and strode off into the forest. I walked towards my house, my stomach twisting. I reached out to knock on the door, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead I left and wasted an hour or two in the Pokémon center having lunch. I had been starving since I skipped breakfast. Afterwards my stomach settled and I worked up the courage to go home. I knocked on the door and waited a moment before the door flung open. For a moment I expected to see my father. I imagined standing up to him and telling him I was taking my sister, how he would react. But Instead I was greeted by a tackling hug that knocked me to the ground, my sister lying on top of me.

"Claire!" she cried out as she buried her tear soaked face into my shirt. "I'm so glad your home!" I smiled and wrapped her in a hug and began to laugh, we both did, for no reason we just couldn't stop. I laughed until tears began to stream down my face and I found myself gasping for breath. all of the tension and stress that had built inside of me were rapidly fleeing and I felt at peace for the first time in a long time. Eventually we both climbed to our feet and looked at each other still giggling. I took a deep breath to calm myself and wiped my eyes and we headed inside. The place was a dump. There was a mountain of dirty dishes, the bed rooms were disorganized and everything seemed to be out of place. It was obvious my dad hadn't been home in a while.

"Are you all packed up?" I asked Ruby she smiled and nodded bouncing up and down on the heels of her feet.

"I have my toothbrush, and comb, and candy, and snacks, and snuggles (her favorite teddy bear) and my Pokémon, and I even found some empty poke balls in daddy's study!" I froze.

"Dad left his study unlocked?" Ruby nodded excitedly. I couldn't stop my gaze from shifting to the hallway where the room waited.

"Want to see?" she asked. I hesitated before shaking my head.

"No, it's wrong to go through dad's stuff without asking." Ruby shook her head sadly. I looked around. The place looked pathetic and it pained me to see it so messy. Whenever dad was home he made sure everything was neat and tidy but as soon as he left it quickly faded due to Ruby. I was like my father in that sense. I inherited his neat freakiness. If I was already taking Ruby from him, I could at least leave him one thing.

"Hey Ruby, where is dad?"

"He left last night after you called. He seemed to be in a rush." Ruby giggled, "He must have been late!" I smiled at her and saw the dry tear streaks on her face and quickly used a damp paper towel to clean them. It felt just like old times.

"Hey Ruby, what do you say we leave dad a gift?" she looked at me questioningly. "We'll since we wont be here and you know how he likes things tidy, why don't we clean up and leave it nice for him? You know how happy it used to make him when he came home after we cleaned." Ruby smiled.

"He always said pushing everything under my bed wasn't clean but nice try! It always made him smile though." The idea made us both feel warm inside.

"Well lets clean then, and no shoving everything under your bed." Ruby nodded and ran off and began in the living room which I assumed was as bad as the other rooms. I first took care of the dishes, unloading and reloading the dishwasher and hand washing anything that didn't fit. But my gaze kept shifting to the study and finally I put down the drying towel and made my way over. I slowly pushed open the door inside I found a dark quite room, it was clean and peaceful, bookshelves lined the walls and a desk sat in the corner a laptop sitting on top, closed but I could hear the faint hum, it was still on, and plugged into the wall. I found myself sitting at the desk. The red velvet arm chair seemed like a throne. I flipped open the laptop and a faint light washed over me.

Enter Password:

I stared at the screen for a moment.

'Family' I typed in only to be greeted with a large red X. my hands swiftly moved across the keybored as I tried again and again.

Claire

X

Ruby

X

Delia

X

I paused for a moment considering the other options. And a thought came to mind.

Team Rocket

X

I paused and thought for a moment.

Mew two

The screen cleared revealing files my father had left open. Documents, plans, blueprints flooded the screen. I quickly scanned them and clicked on one called mew two. Tons of information popped up, pictures, a blueprint and some text. I skimmed through the text, it mentioned world domination at various points and one word in red stood out above others. 'unstable' I clicked on the following link and another word document and picture popped up. Mew two was wearing weird metal things around its arms and legs.

'The creation of Mew two was a success however it does have it's flaws. When mew two awoke his power was unstable and it became upset in the confinement on our research island it appears as if in a single power surge it destroyed the entire island. Such raw power is incredible but without control, useless. When I retrieved mew two with the helicopter the island was in flames. I promised Mewtwo I could help it. That I could tell him the true reason for its existence, which seems to be a question that bothers it. The foolish creature doesn't know that it was created, it exists only to serve me. Attacks include

Confusion
Disable
Psychic
Swift
Barrier
Psychic
Recover
Mist
Amnesia

Mewtwo's power has random surges of energy at which time anything could happen. However I have developed a special kind of armor that trains Mewtwo how to control its power, it also slowly tames him, by the end of the year Mewtwo will be as loyal as a Growlith.'

I stared at the screen for a moment. Not beliving what I just read. I heard something move in the hallway and I quickly shut the laptop and walked out to meet my sister.

"Everything is all clean!" she cheered. I knew how she hated cleaning but she loved to make our dad smile.

"Good I said, lts get going." She picked up her back pack and we headed to the door and I looked around just in time to see Lance dash out of the forest. He was panting and he called something out wheen he saw me.

"What?" Lance tossed two poke balls and two charzards appeared.

"Hurry!" he cried out as he leaped onto one. My father appeared from the trees with a group of team rocket goons. I grabbed Ruby by the hand and jumped up onto the charzard who immediantly took off. My father didn't look broken anymore. Instead he stared at me intensely. Angirly. He clicked a strange looking pokeball and a very large Piggiotto came flying at me, clawing at me. Ruby stared confused and the charzard lurched to the side trying to lose it's attacker.

"Hold on tight." I told Ruby.

"Come back," I heard my father call. "Bring them back now!" we looked at each other and locked eyes for a moment. His were blood shot and had dark circles under them as if he hadnt slept well. But now his eyes had a deepness to them, not a rage, but he was upset with me.

"Hold on,"I repeated to Ruby, "and follow Lance." I let go of Charzard and let myself fall and I was swept away in the wind. My father's face tightened and his eyes bulged and he yelled order's to his Piggiotto who flew up to me grabbing at me. But I was to heavy. Finaly it grabbed me it's sharp talons peirced my skin and it managed to lower me to the ground unharmed for the most part.

"Claire, what do you think you are doing?" my father scorned. I looked down, the dissapointment and anger in his voice causing me to shirnk. "I understand you are angry at me but don't spread that to Ruby. I am dissapointed in you. I would have thought you would protect your sister from this. She's just a child, YOU are just a child. This is rediculous. Ruby cant survive in this world yet."

"That's why I'll help her." I cut in. "I will train her to be a pokemon master. We don't need to be locked up anymore. With someone who hides his true self from us."

"Fool!" my father called and I cringed. "you leaving was hard enough. Now you are taking Ruby? Do you even think she would fully understand the situation? I didn't tell you two yet because you werent ready. Because it's my bissnuss and not yours. What would you two have even done if I had told you? Would it have mattered back then? Would you have run away like you did when you found out the way you did?" I didn't answer. I had no answer. My father had been saddened and dissapointed the last few times I saw him. Now I faced his wrath for taking away something else he loved. "You two cant stay gone forever, you will have to come home eventually. I'll be waiting. You have no idea what I would give to go back to before all this crazyness." His voice softened and quickly hardned again. "You will not take ruby."

"She's my sister too. Not just your daughter. Shes mom's daughter and Ash's sister. Is it right to keep her from them? She wants to meet them. I'm going to take her. after she meets them…I'll bring her back…if she wants." Shock flooded his eyes. What was I thinking…he was right I couldn't explain this to her and I couldn't keep her. She needed a home so did I, one day this will all calm down…then what? "The deal is I wont tell her about team rocket, or about that mewtwo but, I am taking her with. And if she still wants to return homw then I will bring her back. But I will have my time with her, I will show her the world before you lock her up again." We stared at each other in silence a moment, nothing moved. My father slowly nodded. I couldn't belive what I was seeing. Where those tears forming in his eyes? My father opened his mouth to say something but before he could Charzard swooped in low and lance grabbed my hand wisping me away and he pulled me up. My father didn't do anything else. Just stared after us. Before turning and dissapeaing into the house.