Chapter Seventeen

"What did he mean by 'I see it hatched'?" Ellis asked Amanda.

They were coming to the edge of the bridge, just after the encounter with the man in the suit. He surely was a mysterious one…and Colby couldn't figure him out if her life depended on it. What did spark her interest thought was that the man knew Amanda. The two had met before they'd met Amanda…which meant that those two had an encounter before the journey had begun.

"Well…I was going to tell you guys this…but I thought it had been pretty insignificant at the time. But the way I got Citrus was by and egg given to me by that man," Amanda explained, setting Citrus on her shoulder.

He nibbled at her hair for a while but at the mention of his name, his ears perked up and he settled on her shoulder to look out over the landscape. The little guy was definitely smart if he already recognized his name at a couple days old.

"So…just out of nowhere the guy came up and handed you an egg?" Colby asked.

Amanda nodded, "Yeah, pretty much. I was walking to the Pokémon Center to meet you guys and at the town gate the man stopped me-"

"First of all, why would you stop for a strange man?" Josh asked, speaking for the first time since meeting the man on the bridge.

Amanda opened her mouth to say something, but closed it when nothing came out.

"The world isn't what it used to be…now Team Lunar is in power and not to mention gaining strength. My mentor, Dusty, who was a fifty eight year old man just vanished. If someone can pick up an old man, it wouldn't even be a challenge to pick up a girl. It's dangerous," Josh said, playing wise guy.

Though Colby couldn't argue, he did have a point… because anyone could be nabbed at anytime. Yes, the world wasn't what it used to be. From what Colby could remember about Hecate, kids smaller than them were running around on Pokémon adventures…

Now that she thought about it, they hadn't seen very many trainers out and about during their journey. Oh well…it was still early.

Amanda looked uncomfortable, "Yeah I guess it was pretty stupid of me. But anyway, he said this to me: I need someone who I know will take good care of this…It's a special Pokémon and has been saved from malpractice. Keep it safe and good luck."

Saved from malpractice? Of course she knew what the term meant…but what would that have to do with the Pokémon egg? The man didn't seem like a threat…but something about him just seemed off, though Colby couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

"Well…that's interesting. At least you got Citrus!" Ellis exclaimed, scratching the little Pichu's head.

"Is that all you have to say?" Josh snapped, glaring at Ellis, "There could be more to this guy. I think he know more that he wants us to. What was that about him working for Team Lunar?"

The visit from him at the Pokémon Center flooded her mind.

"Well, the first time we met the man he was sitting across from us at the Pokémon Center when Nicksy was getting healed. In case you don't know the back story behind Nicksy, I found him in a dumpster at Portsburg. He had radiation burns and other medical complications from being experimented on. According to the nurse, he was a hybrid Pokémon experimented on by Team Lunar. Anyway, this man told us a bit about Team Lunar and how Nicksy wasn't supposed to survive. He also talked about how I needed to keep him safe because someday your Pokémon may be all you have," Colby explained, getting chills from just thinking about what he may have meant.

"He also said something like he used to work for Team Lunar," Ellis added.

Josh frowned, "I don't know…for some reason I have my doubts."

Colby agreed with him…something just seemed odd about the man. For one, he was following random children around on their Pokémon journey…

A noise broke her thoughts that sounded like a deep wail. All four of them whipped around and came face to face with a Wailmer.


"Maaaaa!" The Wailmer called, facing Josh with a look of happiness and its tongue hanging half out of its mouth.

"What the hell. Is this?" Josh yelled as he looked at the at least six foot Wailmer. "Aw! It's a Wailmer!" Amanda said, standing on her tiptoes to pet its head.

"I think it has taken a liking to Josh," Colby snickered as the Wailmer was inching closer to him with a huge smile on its face.

Josh's eyes looked huge as the Wailmer kept coming closer and Josh kept backing up.

"Maaa!" It said again, sounding squeaky.

"I-I think it would be best if we kept on walking…" Josh stuttered, with huge eyes.

"Why is it this far away from water?" Ellis asked.

"The better question…is how it got this far…" Amanda pointed out.

Colby couldn't help herself from laughing as the Wailmer kept advancing on Josh. It was doing this in an interesting way…rolling on its side like a barrel. "Do a barrel roll!" Ellis yelled as the Wailmer rolled toward Josh.

"Maaaa!" It called, stopping before it could crush him.

Now they knew how it moved! Amanda grabbed her PokeLog and started to record the data, smiling as she went.

"Oh, Josh, a fun fact: Wailmer weighs around two hundred and eighty pounds, good luck carrying that," Amanda laughed.

Josh looked horrified and continued to stare the Pokémon down.

"I am not keeping this thing," he squeaked.

"You have to! He has bonded with you," Ellis laughed.

"I refuse. Absolutely not," Josh insisted. "We need to just walk away right now-"

Ellis shrugged and continued down the path as the others followed. Josh seemed to be walking faster than them from beside her, and looked scared. "Maa!" The Wailmer called in a wail of distress.

"Josh, it doesn't want you to leave it," Colby said.

Josh shook his head back and forth, "I- No, I don't want it."

Colby heard something and turned around. From behind them the Wailmer was rolling on its side again trying to catch up.

"You're going to leave it like that? It's already too far from the water and if it's left like this, it will surely die," Amanda insisted, shooting the Wailmer a sympathetic look.

"Maaaa!" It wailed rolling toward them with its little arms flailing as it rolled. Josh looked pained, "No! Do you know what that thing evolves into? It becomes a forty seven foot tall Wailord! It weighs over eight hundred pounds! It will find its way back the way it came."

Colby's eyes got wide, it would be huge! Of course it was the biggest Pokémon…

"Still, it needs you Josh!" Amanda pushed.

Colby's eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw the beginnings of the tragedy that happened next. Out of the trees on the left, a Pidgey saw a worm poking out of the path. With a flap of its wings, it landed on the path…right in front of the Wailmer.

"No!" Colby and Josh yelled at the same time as the Pidgey couldn't fly away in time.

With a crunching sound, the Wailmer rolled over the Pidgey. Josh looked like he was choking on something and horror clouded his face. Amanda's mouth was hanging open and Ellis looked like he was going to be sick (his face going as green as his hair).

Level up! Wailmer is evolving!

Random words announced, coming out of nowhere.

"Oh God! Oh dear God! Press the B button! Where the hell is the B button? Someone press it," Josh yelled as the Wailmer began to change.

What was he saying about a B button…?

"How is it evolving already? We aren't at level forty!" Ellis yelled, running around in circles.

"We have to run!" Amanda squeaked, looking pale and backing off her 'save the Wailmer' speech.

Colby agreed and decided running was a great idea! The four bolted as the earth seemed to shake around them with the Wailmer's evolution.

"Maaaa!" It called in a much deeper, fog horn sounding voice.

Colby stopped and slowly turned around to face the Wailord in horror. It was the biggest thing she had ever seen in her life…It could blot out the sun!

Josh was simply standing there in silence with rage clouding his eyes. "Why? Why does this always happen to me?" Josh yelled, blowing a gasket. "You've had a Wailmer evolve before?-" Ellis started.

"No you dumbass! Why does everything bad happen to me? Everything that can go wrong will!" Josh raged, having quite a temper.

Amanda seemed shocked and didn't say anything. Looking up again, Colby realized that she couldn't even see the top of the animal. It reminded her of the skyscrapers in Portsburg…only wider, bluer, and more obsessive over Josh. The Wailord was grinning down at Josh with a smile almost literally busting its face. "Alright…Let's just handle this calmly-" Colby began.

"No! No, no no! How the hell can we think about this rationally? There is a forty foot tall Wailord that thinks I'm its mother! We just brought a Wailord on land!" Josh interrupted again, still yelling.

Well…he did have a point. Colby didn't even know how they were going to solve this one…besides if Josh took the Pokémon which didn't seem very probable at the moment…

"You know, according to my PokeLog here…this Wailord is forty seven foot tall, not forty," Ellis clarified, suddenly getting quiet because of the look Josh was shooting him.

"Woah, okay Josh, calm down. We'll figure this out," Colby assured him, stepping between the two to avoid a fight.

Colby's head was spinning as she looked between Josh and the Wailord. Why didn't he just take the thing? Josh looked at the ground and sighed deeply. The next move he made seemed to shock the three. Josh slung his knapsack onto his arm and reached inside one of the pockets, retrieving a Poke Ball.

Looking between it and the smiling Wailord he muttered some choice words under his breath and chucked the Poke Ball at the Wailord. The huge Pokémon delved into the Poke Ball with no fight put up at all into being captured. Rolling on the ground, the red and white ball clicked on the first roll, capturing the huge Wailord.

"You…you caught it?" Amanda asked.

Josh looked between the three of them and sighed.

"Yeah," he replied succinctly. "Now let's get out of here. We need to get to Sanville."

Colby couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. Josh not giving a snippy reply and being kind to a Pokémon in need. Maybe…just maybe he is changing. Maybe having friends that support him and care is softening him up. Colby smiled and caught up with the other three to continue their journey towards the ground gym of Sanville.


Colby leaned against a tree and watched Amanda log some more Pokémon. They had traveled a bit longer after catching the Wailord (which still shocked her) and were now taking a break so Amanda could log some of the wild Pokémon for Professor Daunte's project that they (and Riley Giaden) were selected to do.

Colby and Ellis had logged a few but Amanda was the most dedicated to the research and usually insisted on collecting the data herself. In Colby's opinion, Amanda would make a good Pokémon professor or someone who studied the nature. She was kind, gentle, and cared a lot about the Pokémon. These qualities were clearly shown with her own Pokémon that she cared for and loved more than anything in the world.

Colby reached down and scratched little Nicksy's in between the ears. "Murr, murr," he mumbled, leaning into her leg.

He had been in his Poke Ball most of the day and Colby decided that he may have been getting a bit stuffy, so decided to let him out. Mara was also by her other leg and seemed to tone it down a bit since the first time that they met. The Oddish seemed to n0tice that she was being watched and looked up at Colby with a questioning look on her face.

"Hello Mara," Colby said, petting the fuzzy green leaves on her head.

Mara muttered something and leaned back against Colby's leg to take a nap.

"Your Pokémon are really close to you," Josh muttered.

Startled, Colby looked up and saw Josh standing a few feet away with Mr. Mime and Slowbro standing beside him, looking bored. She hadn't heard them come up since she had been focused on her thoughts.

"Oh…yeah I try to take good care of the gang," Colby smiled, looking between the sleeping Mara and Nicksy who was dozing.

Josh nodded, looking at his two Pokémon and then at Ellis and Amanda who were logging a group of Budew a couple yards away.

"Didn't you have an Abra?" Colby asked, glancing at his Pokémon.

Josh held out a Poke Ball, "He's in here."

"You know…that was pretty nice of you to take that Wailord," Colby said, looking at him.

Josh gave her a glance but then shot his eyes to the ground shuffling his feet uncomfortably.

"Yeah…I guess…whatever," Josh stuttered, seeming not to know how to take a compliment.

"Hey guys! I saw a Stantler run into the forest over there so Ellis and I are going to go find it! It needs to be logged," Amanda said, running up to Colby and Josh, breathless.

"Okay, we'll be here if you need us," Colby told her, petting Nicksy who had now invaded her lap, napping.

Amanda gave her a smile and bounded off into the forest with Ellis hard on her heals, going after the Stantler.

"She's really caught up in the logging project for Professor Daunte. In my opinion she would make a good scientist," Colby said, making conversation.

Josh nodded agreement, "I agree with you. She is very dedicated to collecting the information. Speaking of scientists, my mom used to be one."

"Really? Who does she work for?" Colby asked, interested in getting any information about his parents.

Maybe somehow this would help her fit together the pieces of the puzzle that was his dad.

"I…I don't know that. She said she did something with genes, but has never mentioned who she worked for… At the moment she is in between jobs," Josh said, puzzlement clouding his face.

Hm…that was odd. Why wouldn't she tell him who she worked for? It's not like it would be a secret or anything.

"Huh…well, I think Amanda would make a good scientist. Maybe when we return to Ft. Jonova we can recommend to Daunte to possibly take her as an apprentice," Colby suggested.

"That's not a bad idea," Josh told her, watching the pack of Budew socialize a few yards away.

Randomly thoughts floated through Colby's head. Everything from her visions, The Dragon Trio, to Josh's situation just seemed to invade everything making her mind a jumble.

"Josh…what if we could find Dusty?" Josh looked at her, not expecting the question

He opened his mouth but no words came out and looked away again.

"I don't know…He's gone…I-I…" He stuttered, words not flowing easily.

"What if he is still alive somewhere?" Colby said, threading her thoughts to words.

Josh's brow furrowed in thought, "I don't know…It's been almost a year now since he disappeared. We…we could try."

Colby smiled, "It's not like I'm a detective or anything…but I have a feeling you and Dusty were pretty close."

Josh looked at her, sadness in his eyes but not saying anything for a while. "He was like…like the father I never had. He taught me all that I know, and taught me to appreciate Pokémon. To care for them when they are in need…and to help them even when I don't want to. Dusty was my best friend," Josh whispered, sadness filling his words.

Colby felt a pang of sympathy for him, "I'm sorry... We will find him. Is that why you took the Wailord?"

Josh nodded, "I know that would be what Dusty would have wanted me to do. I made him a promise, and I'm not going to break it."

"Hey guys! Look what we found!" Amanda called her and Ellis bounding up to them with Pokémon in each of their hands.

Ellis was holding a Charmander and Amanda was holding an adorable Eevee. Josh cracked a half smile, "Looks like you two found yourselves your next Pokémon."


Author's Note: Sorry I haven't posted a new chapter for this last week and a half guys. I've had a relative visit so I was busy with family and stuff. I am back and ready to kick out some more chapters for your enjoyment. :) Wow...that Wailord XD That was a late night of planning with Panda and we accidently woke up the family with our fits of laughter from deciding that Wailord was going to be on Josh's team. We were sooo close to picking Miltank (bahahahah XD) but then the suggestion of Wailord came up and we simply couldn't resist. :) Hope you enjoyed! Leave your comments in a review pretty please :P