Chapter 23: Stop saying Bro.
The three of us walked silently on a beaten path to Ash City. The city that I had went to before and had been gravely annoyed by it's lack of Pokemon Centers. We all had things on our mind. Cell, no doubt, was worried about protecting me and Latios in one of the hearts of the Wizard. Latios, was thinking about how to save his sister. And I, was a mix up of these two thoughts. How to protect both Cell and Latios, beat the gym leader, and somehow get Latias back.
But no matter how much I thought. I couldn't think of a single way to get Latias back.
Finally, Cell said, "How are you going to beat the next gym leader with only three Pokemon? Not only that Scyther is weak against electricity. Not to mention some of his Pokemon probably have a fighting type move."
I thought about it for a second before saying, "I was thinking about looking at how strong he is, and then, coming back for a second time with a fourth Pokemon in hand."
"That's your plan" asked Latios in my mind.
"Yup," I answered.
"That's stupid." said Latios. "Really stupid."
"Yeah, well. I've got nothing." I said with a shrug.
"Yo, bro!" said a voice from behind. I twirled around, and I could see a soft aura. "It's been a while man."
"What, who are you?" I asked, I looked over at cell and Latios. But neither one of them seemed to recognize the guy.
"Of course I'm talking to you Roukou." said the man.
"How do you know my name?" I asked in shock.
"Oh. Well looks like the amnesia is still in your system. It's rude to forget about your only older brother." he said. I stared at him. I could make out that he was wearing jeans, and a black polo. And some kind of . But I could tell from his aura that he wasn't lying. "Man, Ma, messed you up."
"Uh. Roukou. I don't know if you can tell, but this guy looks a lot like you." Cell added.
"Wait. This makes no sense. If you were my brother, where have you been all this time?" I asked while taking off my goggles.
"Of course, with the Wizards!" said my 'brother'.
"Then you've got to leave them alone. They have a plan to take over the world!" I announced with a hostile attitude.
"Yeah, pretty cool right?" my brother said this as if he was agreeing with me.
"That's not cool. That's terrible. The government should rule the world, not a tyrant."
I could sense my brother's aura go slightly hostile as he says, "Well. Unfortunately for me, I'm not enough to take over the world. The key is still you. So would you mind coming with me?"
Everyone quickly tensed up.
After a second my brother's aura released as he laughed, "Pfft! My goodness I got you all!"
We let our tension release, as he mocked us. "I unfortunately couldn't take you guys on even if I wanted to at the moment. However if I got my strongest team together, I could. But you know, at the moment, I'm training my real team. Hey I know, let's have a battle."
"Your brother is annoying," said Latios in my head.
"Before that maybe you should introduce yourself." I jabbed.
"Oh, my apologies." he replied. "My name is Shichi, your brother!"
I stared at Cell for a second, and he said, "Let's go. I don't like this."
"Neither do I, especially since we're at a city without a Pokemon Center. I should avoid fights if I can."
"Oh you're so boring." said Shichi.
"I have things to do, I'll see you later." I said, leaving Shichi. Then I sensed his aura, a sudden rush of anger. I felt goose bumps climb up my neck as I spun around.
"Come on now, one fight. If you don't, I'll have the Wizards follow you." The amusement in Shichi's voice slowly melting into annoyance.
Cell and I exchanged nervous glances before I said, "Alright. Fine, but only one Pokemon, because I want to battle the gym leader afterwards."
shichi shrugged, and said, "Seems alright to me." He put his hand in his pocket and took out a Pokeball. He clicked a button, and the ball quickly expanded. "Go!" he pressed a button and his Pokeball quickly expanded. His pokemon was a Shroomish.
"Go Eevee!" I said, hoping this was going to be an easy battle.
"As your older brother, you can have initiative." said shichi smirking.
"Eevee, make him regret it! Use Return!" I said.
Eevee slammed into the Shroomish with all her might. But the Shroomish didn't even seem bothered.
"Are you serious? Wow. You're weak. Shroomish, Shroomish, Poison powder! And kill her with Drain punch." Shroomish sprayed a purple powder on Eevee then kicked her. She was flung at me and I caught her in midair. Eevee coughed from the sudden loss of air.
"Wow. It's painful to know that we're part of the same family." said shichi. "Boring!"
I hugged Eevee while muttering, "Sorry. So sorry. I didn't see that coming. Are you okay?"
She didn't respond to me.
"What kind of Shroomish know's Drain punch?" said Cell in shock.
"With proper breeding, it's been known that certain Pokemon can learn unusual moves." I explained to Cell.
"You know you're going to fail that battle against the gym leader." explained shichi. I mean you didn't even deal enough damage against shroomish to leave a mark. He regained all the health he lost from drain punch. So sad. So much disappointment. You should just quit."
"Hey, leave him alone!" shouted Cell.
"What am I hurting his feelings? Face it you suck." said shichi with a shrug. He walked right past me disappointedly and left.
I ignored him and asked, "Eevee, are you okay?"
"Sorry." she moaned. She closed her eyes and started to breathe heavily through her nose. She started to burn up in my hands. Crud the poison!
"Shichi's right," said Latios in my head. "You need another Pokemon."
"Latios it's not like we have access to any Pokemon we want." I explained to him, feeling angry. "Otherwise I would already have six Pokemon."
I ran to a nearby tree and laid Eevee in the grass. I took off my bag and found an antidote to give her. I fed the antidote to her and scooped her up. She shivered even though she was hot.
"Sorry." She quietly whispered.
"No I'm sorry." I said holding her close. "I should've seen this coming."
"Yoshi." whispered Eevee. "I want to evolve."
"To which eevee?" I asked.
"Jolteon." she said.
I thought about it for a second before saying," I can't let you do that. If you're evolving for the sake of defeating the next gym leader then what will you do when there's a rock type gym leader. I cannot let you change yourself because of what's good for you at the moment."
"I feel weak and helpless." said Eevee.
I smiled and said, "So do I."
She fell asleep in my arms.
Cell and Latios stared at me and I looked up at them.
"You don't have it easy, do you?" asked Latios in my head.
I raised my eyebrows as he said, "You shouldn't cry. Eevee might worry about you."
It took a second to realize that I was back to crying again. I sighed and said, "I'm so weak."
Latios smiled a bit and said, 'As you said nothing you can do. What are you going to do now?'
I shook my head and said, "I don't know. I guess I'll train with my pokemon and try to defeat the next gym leader with a team of three. "
Cell sighed and said, "Well what can you do? I know it's a bit of a bad time to say this however, there's a safari back there."
"You couldn't have told this to me earlier?" I said to Cell.
"Well I thought you wanted to get your Pokemon from more memorably experiences. I mean, Eevee you had since you were young. Zorua, from your mom. Scyther you won from a jerk."
"That's true." I admitted.
"Unfortunately it's not like you have much of a choice anymore." said Cell with a sigh.
"To the Safari it is." I said.
The Safari was a fenced in area. Well mostly. Some parts of the Safari were open so that some Pokemon could leave if they wanted. I think the fence was more for the people than the Pokemon. Or perhaps it marked where the owners put down food to attract the Pokemon. And the area was tall and vast. The sign read thirty acres, with woods, lakes, and grass.
But the moment we entered the Safari building, I already sense trouble.
"Sorry sir, we're closed for the time being." said the man at the desk worriedly.
"Why what's wrong?" I asked.
"We've been having a strange fog lately. It's at one of the lakes. The fog has been there for a few days already. And there's a lot less Pokemon around here lately according to the other trainers. "
I looked at Cell and he nodded.
"I can investigate that." Explained Cell. "Official Pokemon Ranger at your service." Cell pulled out a badge from his vest.
"Wonderful!" shouted the man, standing up with a joyful smile. "Come I'll show you where the fog is!"
He opened the double doors behind him and we followed him through the doors and into the woods. It was almost hard to keep up with him, since he moved so fast with eagerness. After a ten minute run we arrived at a giant white wall of fog. It was tall, maybe the height of a tall apartment. And about as wide as a super market.
I quietly looked around and realized that the fog was only dense in this area. Everything around it was much more thin. I looked in and saw something moving. There were two auras, one yellow, one blue. Most likely fear and calmness.
"You've got to be strong." said a voice.
"What?" I asked looking around.
"Hm?" hummed Cell looking at me.
"Do you hear that?" I asked.
"Hear what?" said the man.
I looked at Laitos and he quickly said in my head, "I heard it too."
"Let's go in," I announced to Cell.
"Please be careful," said the man. "I'll be waiting out here to make sure you come back out unharmed."