Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

Chapter 6

Copper's POV

Whew! The journey through Mt. Mortar had been beastly! Typhlosion looked like he was about to fall over, he was so tired.

"Don't worry, Copper," AJ looked up at me, "Mahogany Town is not far at all from here!" Grinning, he picked up his Eevee and headed away from the cave. I followed, wondering how he knew this. Did that boy have a map card built into his brain or something?

A town soon came into view. The houses resembled small temples, almost, and there was an odd air about it. I soon saw what had cause that weird feeling. Antennae were on all of the roofs.

There had to be something funny going on.

I looked back at Typhlosion.

We had to heal before we did anything else.

We took a short walk to the Pokemon Center. Thankfully, the Center was normal. The nurse, named Joy like all of the others, was very kind to all of our Pokemon.

As soon as we exited the Center, much to the chagrin to Joy, we headed over to the Gym, which just happened to be next door. Bounding over, AJ excitedly scooted to the front door, only to instantly scowl. "Copper, the gym's not open!"

"Huh?" Are Pryce's Pokemon in bad shape, too? Did I need to fly back to Cianwood to get more medicine?

"Read the note on the door," AJ said.

NOTICE: Pryce will be gone until the issue with the Lake is resolved. Sincerely, the Johto Pokemon league.

"Well this stinks," I sighed as I took a step back. Typhlosion was pretty upset about this, considering it was an ice type gym, "Do you think I should go up to the lake?"

"Yeah! It's up the hill a bit!" AJ exclaimed, "I'm tired though. Do you think I could take a nap at the Pokemon Center and then meet you here after you're done with this little adventure?"

"I guess, kiddo," I plopped a kiss on his little kid forehead, his bangs making it hard to do so, "Tell Joy I said it's ok."

"Thanks Copper," AJ yawned, "I guess I'll see you later." He shuffled back to the Pokemon Center, his Eevee following him.

I then started to the Lake of Rage. I was thankful that we had just healed, because there were a lot of strong trainers and Pokemon on the way to the lake. It was even harder due to the fact that there was no Poke Mart in Mahogany Town. What kind of town doesn't have a Poke Mart?

Soon enough, there it was. The Lake of Rage. And boy, was it raging. Gyarados swam and jumped throughout the water body, making its tide almost as strong as that of the Whirl Islands. I was no longer wondering why Pryce was worried about the state of the lake. If this continued, the water could flow downhill and flood Mahogany Town.

I then noticed a man peering over the edge of the lake. He had flaming red hair….the same shade as AJ's.

And Silver's.

The world started to spin again, and I gathered that Celebi was taking me into Silver's memories again. Oh boy, how much more do I need to know about the poor boy? I felt like a stalker with how much I knew about him without his knowledge of it.

We stared at him, in a time that had to be close to the present.

He was running away from Lavender Town, tears streaming down his face. His left cheek had a fresh purple bruise on it. He tripped, the knee on his pants ripping to shreds. His backpack seemed huge in comparison to his underfed body.

How pitiful. I wanted to just give him a hot meal and a warm bed to sleep in.

And a set of parents that actually loved him.

Following him, I ran until I ended up in the metropolis that must be Saffron City. The boy ran straight…for the Magnet Train.

He ran toward the gate. "Sir, do you have your-SECURITY!" the ticketer yelled as Silver ran past him. He ran to just barely catch the departing train.

The world spun back to the raging lake.

So THAT was how Silver ended up here. He ran away from that school. And with good reason, given his physical state.

I walked up to the man with the crimson hair. It was spiked up, just like AJ's. He wore a cape, much longer than the little capelet that my companion wears to feel cool. "Sir..?" I ask.

"The Magikarp are being forced to evolve by some means," the man turned to me. He seemed very calm and collected, but had a ticked look on his face. "Including the one golden one in the middle of the lake. She is now a red Gyarados, and is horrified at her current form. Can you battle her to get ahold of her emotions? I would myself, but my Pokemon are much to powerful to do that without killing her."

"I can see what I can do," I said, determined to get to the bottom of this, "Dragonair, surf!" My Dragonair, excited, hopped into the water. She let me climb onto her back as we sailed towards the red Gyarados.

Who seemed to be angrier than the rest of the Gyarados.

I screamed, "Hey!" That got her attention. She charged at me. "Dragonair, use Thunder!" My dragon obeyed my command in an instant, summoning lightning from the sky to strike the sea monster. It fell, but did not appear to be fainted.

I then decided I needed a Gyarados. Taking an Ultra Ball from my bag, I threw it at the weakened Pokemon, catching it without a problem. "Thank you, Dragonair," I hugged my Pokemon, almost too big to cuddle like I did back when she was a Dratini. We sailed back to the island to find the older man had AJ piggy backing on his shoulders.

"Copper!" AJ exclaimed, "I couldn't sleep, so I came here!"

"I'm Lance," the older man said, grinning, "AJ here is my little brother. He's sixteen years younger. This little bugger found out where the funky signal was coming from. Turns out Team Rocket is behind this mess."

"Can we have cake later?" AJ asked his brother. I grinned. So AJ had a brother this whole time?

"We can after we stake out Team Rocket," Lance said with authority.

END.

So how was this chapter? I had writer's block, sorry! Plot twist yet again, huh…