A/N: Sorry for the slightly long wait. I just started my senior year at high school, and I wanted to get back to my P&F stories for a bit. But now, I'm back! :D
ENJOY!
The Ketchum City Train Tour Station
At Ketchum City
After his latest (possible) sighting of Curtis and Yancy, Nate couldn't help but take a look over his shoulder in caution. He now realized what the two mysterious siblings meant by the truth always hurting, and since it was evident that the two had known, for all of this time, that he was actually the son of the famous Ash Ketchum, then who knows what other secrets, and answers to these secrets, were being held in the confines of their minds? The next time he saw those two, Nate thought, then he shall confront them and demand for more answers, even if it meant challenging them to a fight.
"Nate, are you okay?" Nate turned and looked at Kelly, who was staring back at him with a worried expression.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied absentmindedly.
At this point, he followed the others out of the reception area into the train station, where many groups of tourists were crowded near the railway, either talking with each other or surveying the maps that laid out the transportation lines. A number of them turned their heads towards Marina, May, and Dawn as they stepped into the station, their jaws hanging open in complete, utter shock upon recognizing the three women.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Kelly asked.
"Look, I'm fine, alright?!" repeated Nate, agitated. Kelly gasped at his outburst and stepped away, her eyes shimmering. Nate merely looked away.
Just then, before the scene could get any worse, the blare of a whistle filled the air. Everyone watched as a long, white bullet train with a total of seven compartments effortlessly rolled into the station, a clanking sound emanating from the wheels as they glided along the tracks, the sounds growing progressively louder. It gradually slowed down to an eventual stop, as a final blow of the whistle signaled its arrival. Several children were the first to reach the train, excited for the tour.
Nate approached one of the windows of the sliding doors of the fifth compartment and glanced at it for a moment, staring at his reflection. He can clearly see his brown eyes, which he thought were physical traits that he inherited from Kelly, traits that he was proud to possess. But now that he was looking into the brown eyes that he treasured so much, the eyes that he once believed were something that signified his relation to Kelly, he began to wonder if these came from his true father...
For a moment, he saw, through the window, something flying across the skies. It seemed dinosaur-like and menacing, sporting disproportionate wings, a color scheme of white and grayish-blue, and two yellow eyes that seemed to actually pierce through his body, into his very soul...
Then, the window suddenly swirled. Nate stepped back in shock...
No, it wasn't the window itself that was swirling. It seemed to be the reflection, which was swirling in a vortex of sickening purple and black... Then, Nate could see the reflection of something else...another world...one where it seemed like the buildings and landscapes were the wax of a lava-lamp, shaped in distorted and tall columns that seemed to stretch to infinite heights... And he could see yet another mysterious being, which appeared basilisk-like with long, trailing, claw-like black wings, a red-and-black-striped underside, and a menacing face with glowing crimson eyes and an insect-like mandible...
The doors suddenly slid open with the soft ring of a bell, disturbing the vortex and causing it to disappear. Nate, still in shock over witnessing that unnatural sight, felt someone collide into him, as the tourists collectively began to crowd towards the doors, those nearest to them boarding the train.
"Whoa, watch it!" a man snapped.
"Sorry..." Nate moaned as he boarded the train along with the rest of his group. Rosa was watching him inquisitively.
"Are you okay, Nate?" she asked. "You've been acting very strangely lately..."
Nate glared at her angrily. "You think? First I find out that my mom isn't my mom, and now, I think I'm seeing things, for Arceus's sake!"
He ignored her as a bright crimson of boiling, white-hot rage flooded her face. A muscle in Rosa's eye twitched menacingly as she prepared to throw a fit at Nate, but before she could do so, she felt a hand place itself on her shoulder. She gazed at Hilda's face; she shook her head in signal.
"It's not worth it," she whispered. "Just give Nate some space. He'll accept the truth sooner or later."
Rosa opened her mouth, preparing to protest, but Cheren was now looking at her and shaking his head as well. In defeat, she closed her mouth and merely looked at Nate in anger and frustration...and also in some other emotion that she couldn't place...
"Can't you see you're making it worse for yourself and everyone else, Nate?" she asked in thought.
Just then, the train began to move, having just begun its daily trek, nearly startling some of the passengers in the process, Nate, Rosa, and Hugh included. The three Trainers, along with Kelly, Hilda, and Cheren, then watched as the lively trees and the many rows of rooftops pass by them in a slight blur. For a moment or two, Nate could've sworn that he saw the same mysterious vortex in the window, but very little could come out of it before the reflection was somehow disturbed.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and don't forget the boys and girls of all ages!" a pleasant-sounding voice announced on the intercom. "My name is Stan, and I am extremely delighted to be your conductor for the day. It is a very lovely morning in Ketchum City, if you can ignore that strange snow! Now, I am pleased to show you the first thing to see on this train tour: Ketchum Center!"
Everyone watched in awe as the train steadily went up a high surface, the trees essentially descending to make way for a lovely overview of numerous buildings and the large fountain of Ash Ketchum. In spite of his depression, Nate felt a bit awestruck by the nice view.
"Out of all the areas in Ketchum City," continued Stan, using a dramatic voice narration, "the Ketchum Center is home to a number of stores and stands selling the famous golden candles that our city treasures. In fact, the candle-making business is so abundant and successful here that many of the apartments you see, surrounding Ketchum Center, are occupied by some of the most well-known candle-makers in the business! So, in case you don't have a golden candle for the Ketchum Month celebrations, which, of course, is required here, you'll know where to buy one! Now, moving on..."
The train slowly picked up speed, and it began to move away from the Ketchum Center and into a dark tunnel. As it entered the tunnel, Nate sighed heavily and slowly slumped down in his seat. Dawn glanced at him, sighed, and sat down next to him.
"Nate, you shouldn't feel so hard on yourself," she said.
"I'm not being hard on myself," Nate replied grumpily. "I'm mad at Kelly. She should've told me sooner!"
"Why do you think she didn't tell you sooner? She did that because she thought the truth would've hurt you! Just like it's hurting you right now. And you're not the only one who's hurt now. Your mom's very devastated by your attitude towards her, and even your friends feel shunned, rejected by you. Now is that any way to treat your friends and family? They're the people that count the most in your life, Nate, and to let them go would destroy your heart and soul-"
"Why would you care, Dawn?!" interrupted Nate, staring at the blunette, his face red with fury. "Why would any of you care?! The moment I met you guys at Alto Mare, you all seemed to know SO MUCH about me, and you all seemed to act like I'm of some sort of use! What is it about me that makes you care? HUH?!"
Nate looked away and stared at the window, glimpsing what might possibly be the vortex again, but it disappeared the moment the train left the tunnel. However, he didn't care; he was so caught up in his anger and sadness over the revelation that he didn't seem concerned about anything anymore.
"You don't even know what the truth feels like..." he muttered, more to himself than to Dawn, but she heard it. Her lips tightened, and she let out a sigh of defeat.
"Yes...Yes I do know what it feels like, Nate..." she whispered. Nate turned around, an eyebrow raised.
"Really?" he replied, more out of curiosity than sarcasm. "What happened?"
Dawn took a deep breath and explained, "For my entire life, I never really knew my father. He wasn't there when I first entered the world. The only person I could call my family was my mom, who I looked up to very much. I didn't care at all if I didn't have a dad in my life, for as long as I had my mom, then my life was complete." The blunette hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Then, one day, I met him. My dad."
Nate's interest peaked. "What happened between you two?" he asked.
"Let's just say that we had differing views. He had a vision for a new world, but that vision involved the destruction of all the ideals that I know and cherish. I couldn't believe that someone like him was my father. It really tore a hole in my heart." Dawn sighed. "I was in the same position as you are right now, in the first couple days that I found out the truth. I even yelled at my mom. ...My mom, the one I looked up to in my life..."
"Wow... That's...that's terrible..."
"Yes, it was terrible. But I got over it. I accepted the truth after a while."
"How'd you do it?"
Dawn's face suddenly paled, but she replied calmly, "I don't really know. I just did it."
Nate looked away. "Well, I can't just do it. To know that my life's been a lie all this time is enough to make even the stupid ones go crazy."
"Trust me, Nate, the time will come when you'll learn to accept it, sooner or later. And besides, it doesn't matter if Kelly isn't your mother. No matter what happens, she will always be your mother, and you will always be her son. That you'll learn to accept as well."
Dawn stood up and seated herself between May and Hilda, and the three women began talking, undoubtedly about Nate. The Trainer sighed and continued to look out of the window. He noticed that the train had reached its next destination, which appeared to be a large, prison-like fortress with many guards, flanked by a number of armored, ferocious-looking Fire-type Pokémon, standing at the entrance. Encircling this fortress was an apparently man-made, deep trench full of water. At the center of the fortress was a tall tower with a single window with bars made of rusty iron.
"Here is our next stop, Blacklock Prison," Stan announced in his dramatic voice. "Despite the fact that this is like any average prison, one thing that sets it apart from the others is the fact that it houses one inmate and one inmate only. I wish I can go into further detail about this person, but the laws of Ketchum City require that I do not even mention his name. The only thing I can tell you is that he is responsible for the death of the city's champion, Ash Ketchum."
Several tourists in the car glared hatefully at the prison, some of them muttering bitter insults that concerned the sole prisoner. Meanwhile, Nate looked the top of the tower, at the window. Some sort of magnetic-like force drew his eyes over there; he couldn't help but feel that someone was watching him from there.
A piercing gray...
"Alright then, moving on..."
The train drew away from Blacklock Prison, but Nate continued to stare at the tower...
A few minutes later
As Jimmy engaged in a conversation with Khoury, Hilbert, and Tory about the former's wedding with Lyra, Marina decided to have her own conversation with Lyra about the happy occasion. Ever since they first met ten years ago, the two saw each other as sisters, contacting and writing to each other whenever they could after the Mt. Silver crisis ended. The blue-haired woman glanced to her side and saw that Lyra had already begun talking to Dawn, Hilda, and May about something unknown to her.
"So, girl," Marina spoke up, catching the attention of the four other women, "what're you planning to do with your wedding?" She smiled and winked playfully. "Oh, I'm hoping you already have a good candidate for the maid of honor already in place..."
"Yeah, I do," replied Lyra quickly before resuming her conversation with the others. Marina was taken aback by the more-than-nonchalant response from her friend.
"Uh, excuse me?" she asked. "Hello, Earth to Lyra! This is your wedding with Khoury were talking about here! This must be the most exciting moment of your life!"
"Yeah, it is, Marina, it really is. But do you mind? I'm trying to talk about something with the others here."
"Oh, what're you guys talking about?"
"It's confidential," Hilda replied.
"Since when was anything confidential? Come on, girls, we just met after, like, ten years! You wanted to do some reconnecting, let's do some reconnecting!"
"We'll reconnect once we're done with our...other matters..." said Dawn. "Sorry, Marina."
"What is it that's so confidential anyway?"
"We can't tell you, Marina," May said. "That's why it's confidential."
Marina crossed her arms and looked away. "Fine, if you insist."
As Lyra, Hilda, Dawn, and May continued talking, Marina's ear caught several excerpts of their conversation. She couldn't really hear much, but it all had something to do with that Nate boy who was a part of that group that the girls befriended. The blue-haired woman glanced at the Trainer, who was sitting on the opposite side of the train car, obviously trying to distance himself from his friends as they looked on in concern.
She caught a glimpse of Nate's eyes... They looked so familiar, yet she couldn't place it...
Marina looked at the others again and asked, "Hey, by the way, girls, who's that boy sitting over there?"
"Who, Nate?" Dawn looked at the Trainer, a pitiful expression appearing on her face. "Yeah, he's a Trainer we met and befriended back at Alto Mare. He and his family and friends are accompanying us here because Nate's eager to participate in the Ketchum Month Tournament."
"Really?" Marina looked at Nate. "He doesn't look like someone eager to participate in anything..."
"He's going through a tough time. He just found out that he's adopted. Don't mention it to him."
"Oh, that blows. ...You know, for some reason, he reminds me of someone..."
"It's probably just you, Marina," Hilda said quickly. "Sometimes, even strangers can evoke a false feeling of familiarity."
"I guess..." But Marina wasn't convinced. She noticed a tight, strange tone in Hilda's voice, and plus the expression that Dawn was wearing when she looked at Nate, she couldn't help but feel extremely suspicious about what her friends were hiding from her.
Meanwhile, at the far end of the train compartment, two people sat silently in their seats. One was a woman with gold hair styled in two locks and purple eyes, while the other was a man with light-green hair and brown eyes. By the man's leg was a Raticate, which looked extremely impatient. The man was repeatedly looking at his watch, while the woman had a strange expression of determination on her face. After several minutes passed, she took a fleeting glance at the compartment behind hers, and from inside it, a shady-looking man wearing a black cap that cast his face in shadow nodded at her as a signal.
She nodded back at the man in response before glancing out of the window. At that point, the train was gradually slowing down as it approached a large three-story building in the eastern side of Ketchum City. The woman smirked, knowing that it was time to make their move. She looked at her male companion, who nodded at her.
The moment the train stopped, the two of them stood up and produced Poké Balls from their pockets, throwing them into the air. The woman unleashed a Houndoom and a Granbull, while the man unleashed a Mightyena and a Shuckle. They all joined Raticate as the Pokémon quickly took over the compartment. Elsewhere in the six other compartments, two of the passengers in each of the compartments unleashed their Pokémon and took it over.
"Everyone, don't move!" the green-haired man roared. "This is a holdup!"
"What is this?!" exclaimed an elderly passenger.
The gold-haired woman and the green-haired man smiled before pointing dramatically to the air.
"Prepare for trouble..." the woman said.
"...And make it double!" the man said.
"To infect the world with devastation!"
"To blight all people in every nation!"
"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"
"Cassidy!"
"And Butch, of course!"
"We're Team Rocket, circling Earth all day and all night!"
"Surrender to us now or you will surely lose the fight!"
"RRRRRATICATE!" the Raticate snarled.
"Oh no, Team Rocket?" Hilbert asked.
"Great, where's the other Team Rocket when we need 'em?" asked Dawn, rolling her eyes.
Elsewhere, at the Rocket Blimp
Jessie, James, Meowth, and Wobbuffet were inspecting the blimp's engine when James glanced at his comrades.
"D'you think we should check up on the twerps?" he asked.
"They're twerps, James," Jessie replied, rolling her eyes as she grabbed a wrench. "They can handle themselves without us."
"Wobbuffet!" agreed Wobbuffet.
Back on the tour train
"Now, give us all of your Pokémon!" ordered Cassidy.
"Otherwise you will suffer the severe consequences," Butch added in a menacing snarl.
"I'm willing to take that chance!" a man exclaimed boldly, standing up and facing down the duo of Team Rocket grunts. However, his courageous expression instantly turned into that of fear the moment Cassidy's Houndoom and Butch's Mightyena approached him, both growling, drool dripping from their lower jaws.
"You were saying, mister?" Cassidy asked, leaning towards the man with a triumphant expression on her face.
The man chuckled nervously and handed her two Poké Balls. "Since you asked so nicely..." he replied quickly.
Under threat and intimidation from Cassidy and Butch's Pokémon, the rest of the passengers were subjugated easily, all of them handing over their Poké Balls without incident; any of the Pokémon that were already out of their Poké Balls were restrained by high-tech devices carried by Butch. Within a few seconds, the villainous duo had reached Nate's end of the train compartment. Butch's eyes immediately set themselves on Dawn, Hilda, Cheren, and the others, and she smirked.
"Well, well, well," he said, "if it isn't the twerps from Mt. Silver. How long has it been? Seven, eight years?"
"Ten years, Hutch," Dawn growled.
Butch's eye twitched and he yelled furiously, "HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU, IT'S BUTCH! BUTCH, BUTCH, BUTCH!"
"Calm DOWN, Butch!" exclaimed Cassidy, crossing her arms. "We must stay on-task here! The boss expects a good payload-"
"Still up to no good, aren't you, Team Rocket?" May asked, standing up. "Well, we're not letting you get away with this! Go, Blaziken!" She threw a Poké Ball in the air, unleashing the Blaze Pokémon, which roared at Cassidy, Butch, and their Pokémon.
"Don't forget us!" exclaimed Dawn as she, Hilda, Hilbert, Cheren, Lyra, Khoury, Marina, Jimmy, and Tory unleashed their own Pokémon.
"Ah, so you wanna fight, eh?" Cassidy asked, her smirk widening. "Very well, then. Consider your wish granted! Houndoom, use Flamethrower! Granbull, use Bite!"
"Mightyena, use Iron Tail!" ordered Butch. "Shuckle, Sludge Bomb!"
"Blaziken, use Flamethrower!" May ordered.
"Mienshao, use Force Palm!" Hilda ordered.
"Prinplup, use Whirlpool!" Dawn ordered.
"Stoutland, use Take Down!" Cheren ordered.
Blaziken, Mienshao, Prinplup, and Stoutland fired their moves, blocking the attacks of Houndoom, Granbull, Mightyena, and Shuckle, respectively.
"Playing tough, eh?" Cassidy asked as she surveyed her opponents' Pokémon. She then smiled upon seeing a vulnerable position. "Okay then, Raticate, use Skull Bash on the Mienshao, and make it powerful!" Raticate let out a ferocious snarled before charging at the opponent, its body becoming surrounded by golden streaks. It then slammed its head into Mienshao, sending it backward and colliding into Blaziken, Prinplup, and Stoutland.
"Great!" Butch exclaimed. "Mightyena, quick, Hyper Beam!"
An orange ball formed in front of Mightyena's mouth, instantly unleashing a beam that propelled itself towards the fallen Pokémon...
"PIGNITE, USE FLAMETHROWER!" a voice commanded.
A stream of flames suddenly appeared in front of the Hyper Beam attack, intercepting it and causing a violent explosion that ripped out the sides of the train, hurting no one fortunately. Everyone on the compartment instinctively shielded their eyes to shield them from the thick clouds of smoke. After a couple of minutes, the smoke cleared, revealing Nate and his Pignite, which snorted flames at Cassidy, Butch, and their Pokémon.
"Why you little-" Butch began, stepping forward.
However, a strange look flooded Cassidy's face the moment she spotted Nate, and she held her partner back.
"BUTCH, STOP!" she shouted.
"WHAT THE HELL, CASSIDY?!" roared Butch. "THIS KID'S INTERFERING WITH THE OPERATION-"
"I think it's time we blasted off," Cassidy snarled. "We have enough Pokémon as it is. There's no need to complicate things any further."
Butch growled angrily, but nodded. He pressed a button on his wristwatch and spoke into it, "Code: blastoff!"
The sides of the other train compartments suddenly exploded simultaneously, and the Team Rocket grunts flew out of them, equipped with high-tech jetpacks. Cassidy and Butch recalled their Pokémon before pressing something on their chests. Wings promptly extended out of their back. Nate instantly knew what they were doing.
"Pignite, use Flame Charge!" he ordered, pointing at Cassidy.
Quickly, Cassidy grabbed the passenger nearest to her. To Nate's shock, and to the shock of everyone else, it was none other than Kelly.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Cassidy commanded.
"Pignite, stop, stop now!" ordered Nate, stopping the Fire Pig Pokémon before it could begin its attack.
"Try to attack us," snarled Cassidy, "and you'll be saying goodbye to the innocent bystander." She smiled widely. "It's been a pleasure playing this game with you, but I believe it's now time to blast off!" She and Butch instantly activated their jetpacks and flew into the sky, with Kelly in tow.
Upon seeing the fearful expression on Kelly's face, Nate gasped. In every minute that passed, in every minute in which he knew that he wasn't her son, Nate had come to realize something: this was the woman who had taken care of him, who provided him the home and love that every child deserved, who was the mom he deserved in his life. It didn't matter if they were not related by blood. They were tied together by something even stronger than that. So what if she lied about his true heritage? She was just protecting him from the pain of the truth. And now, Nate had realized the stupidity and irrationality of his initial reaction... And it was gonna cost her...
Dawn was right...
"MOM!" Nate screeched, hopping off the train and running after the Team Rocket grunts as fast as he could, with Pignite following close behind.
A/N: AAANNNDDD CLIFFHANGER!
So, it looks like there's real trouble now, in the form of Team Rocket! Will Nate be able to get Kelly back? Or will Team Rocket succeed? Stay tuned!
I'd like to thank those who reviewed (cannot answer reviews right now):
ThirteenMoney
jg13145
Alpha B. A. 7
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random girlz
HP-DG-SB-HA-RR-KB-NT-TD-LL-AJ
Bezerker21
Well, hope you enjoyed this action-packed chapter! TheCartoonFanatic01 is out. PEACE!