Mary and I walked back to Heahea City. She was telling me about Kanto and how so much has changed. So many trainers have come to the region recently and have helped transformed the region. Celadon City has grown considerably as beautiful tourist town. Meanwhile, Saffron City has largely been rebuilt. Over the last several years Silph Co. has invested a lot of cash in Saffron City since the fall of Team Rocket.
I had seen pictures of Kanto. It's clear to me that it's modernize and taken in aspects from other regions, but Mary makes it sound like the changes were more drastic. I would love to go there. Maybe I'll be able to go to Worlds.
Maybe.
When we approached Diglett Tunnel it was time for Mary and I go our separate ways.
"I hope whatever is bothering you blows over. You seem like a good guy," she says with a broad smile. She walks over to me and hugs me.
"Good luck in your Island Challenge. Hope to see you again."
I watched as she walked into the cave. I looked to my right towards the city center and saw Tide Song Hotel stand above everything else.
"Me too," I whispered to myself.
It is empty.
Caleb isn't here. Skitty isn't here. My backpack isn't here. My belt with my Pokemon aren't here.
The room wasn't a mess. The covers on the bed weren't made. A pillow was on the floor, but that could've been by me when I freaked out this morning. But all of Caleb and I's possessions were gone.
I feared the worst.
It was still pretty early in the morning, 8:11. Caleb doesn't do early.
Could Team Skull be behind this? I hope not.
I quickly made my way back outside. I ran to the city center when I realized I had no clue how I was going to find Caleb. The lack of police really didn't help. I walked around the town look for an officer and nothing.
So the next step was asking people if they'd seen Caleb. I described him and my Skitty. Nothing. I grew more annoyed as I became more fearful.
That's when I saw 3 members of Team Skull trying to steal a street sign. I immediately ran up to them and grabbed the smallest one and threw him up against the building.
To be honest, I wasn't sure what I was doing exactly. My mind was racing. The adrenaline that coursed through my veins controlled my actions.
"Where is Caleb?!"
"Yo yo. I don't know what you on 'bout, bro." The grunt looked sacred. His body shook a little as I held him.
One of the other grunts tried to grab me but I pushed him away.
"You're lying. Where are my Pokemon!?" I was irate. I had no control of myself. A part of me yelled to hurt the grunt. To hurt him for what they did in Iki Town. to hurt him for what they may have done to Caleb. To Skitty.
"I really don't know whatcha on about." Fear rippled his voice. His bandanna fell off his mouth exposing his face.
He was just a kid.
I let him go.
"What are you doing with these thugs?" I asked without the anger in my voice.
Before he could answer the other two grabbed my arms and held them tightly.
"What you gonna do now, yo? You attack one of us, you attack all of us."
My eyes deadlocked on the young boy. He was younger than me. 12 or 13. I couldn't fathom why he would be apart of this gang.
"Let him go!" I hear a voice yell from afar.
Caleb and this lady with white hair appeared nearby. They both threw a Pokeball. Caleb's Litten appeared out of the Pokeball and a Popplio appeared out of the lady's thrown Pokeball.
Then out of nowhere I saw my Skitty jump in the air and knock down the boy who I had first attacked. The boy fell hard to the ground. When he tried to get up Skitty growled. Then Skitty turned towards the other two.
"Oi, look what we have here. A shiny Skitty. Boss'll like this," I hear one of the grunts say to the other.
"Let the boy go now," the woman softly says. "I will not tolerate this thuggery in my city."
There was an awkward standoff between the Grunts and Caleb and the lady. Skitty kept looking back at the boy on the floor making sure he stayed there. Meanwhile, my shoulder began to hurt from my arm behind held back.
Then they let me go by pushing me over towards Caleb and the lady.
The two Grunts tried to leave with the boy but Skitty wouldn't let them. They chuckled and left the boy behind, so I approached the boy and helped him up.
"You shouldn't be with those guys," I say calmly. I was still in shock that someone so young could band together with a group like Team Skull.
"You ain't my father. You can't tell me what to do," he says defiantly.
I sighed. "They burned down a home on Melemele Island. A Rockruff was inside and died."
The focus in the kid's eyes broke for a second. It wasn't much but it was something. Even so he wasn't convinced.
"They protect me, yo. They are my family." He turned away and ran.
I watched as the boy ran towards Route 4. What a waste of a life, I thought. It was actually sad to me.
I looked down when I felt something graze my leg. Skitty. He looked up at me and then laid down in front of my feet. "You're such a lazy little shit," I said chuckling. I bent down and rubbed his head gently.
When Caleb approached me, I stood up and looked at him. He smiled as he held out my belt and bag.
"I woke up and you weren't there. I got nervous so I kinda panicked and went looking for you. Didn't want to leave your stuff in the hotel."
I grabbed my belt and placed it around my waist and then put on my backpack. Caleb then handed me my Pokedex so I placed that in my pocket.
"Thanks," I said.
The fear that I had experienced earlier this morning had evaporated. I didn't feel those things that I once did. I don't know how to explain it really, but it's all very confusing. All I knew was that I was grateful for Caleb right now.
"May I ask what you were doing with that boy? We saw you holding the boy up against the building here," the lady asked.
"Oh um. Right. I, uh, went back to the hotel room and saw that Caleb and out stuff was missing. I freaked out. I thought Team Skull was behind it. I was worried." My voice shook a little. "I was wrong, I know this."
I looked over to Caleb who smiled. The lady nodded with a light smirk. She told Caleb and I to come with her.
I wasn't sure where she was taking us, but we were still in Heahea City. She told me her name was Professor Burnet. Caleb mentioned how he went to find her. She is Professor Kukui's wife. I thought it was strange that Kukui didn't tell me this on the boat ride over.
Anyways, we eventually walked up to this moderately sized white building. It was a research facility. Of what, I didn't know.
Inside I recognized the boy sitting at the desk. He was going through a bunch of files, organizing them. Liko. He looked up at me and seemed stunned. Burnet looked at us and caught on quickly.
"You two know each other?"
"Um yeah. We bumped into each other earlier," I answer.
"Literally," Liko says. He lightly chuckles. "I met him when I went to the hotel for that meeting."
Hmm so he was bringing those documents for an actual meeting. Here I thought he stole them.
Professor Burnet made us some tea and breakfast. I didn't realize I was hungry until I got a sniff of the pancakes she was making. Liko, Caleb and I started talking about Pokemon. Liko apparently started the Island Challenge 2 years ago but stopped. He realized his passion wasn't in becoming the best trainer. He wanted to research Pokemon.
Professor Burnet does research in inter-dimensional stuff. She didn't go into details, and I certainly didn't ask. Wasn't sure I'd understand.
Caleb was slightly distant as we spoke but he seemed to perk back up into his typical self. We didn't talk about this morning really. Even when we had a moment to ourselves it was like we avoided why I left the Hotel in the first place.
I was okay with this.
It is hard for me to understand why I freaked out. I know why I did, but I didn't understand. All I know is that I'm not quite right. Something is nagging the back of my head. The best thing for me, and I guess for Caleb, is to just stay calm about it. All I can do is, well, be myself.
Even though I'm worried, today showed me that I'm not alone. For some reason my mind reacts as if I am, but in reality I'm not. Caleb came for me. He was worried. For me.
That means everything.