Leaf was too worried about the flame slowly coming to her from behind to say anything more. However, I knew what she would say in return.
She would go with me. But I won`t take her.
You don`t need her. You don`t need anyone! You have always been alone!
Still, I didn`t give her a chance to choose. I had to choose by myself. And for me I invented a third variant!
Dumpling behind me roared loudly, showing his worry for Leaf too and rushed forward to save her without any order. I had to pull my hand aside to stop him, making him growl very sadly. He is too young to understand it…
You don`t need him too. Get rid of him next!
Lie has never been something extraordinary to me. I honed this skill to perfection. Still, lying to yourself is really hard, because you know it`s a lie. But trying to trick yourself – to trick the one in your mind – is even harder.
This body is mine! This mind is mine! So shut up and get down until I need you again!
You will regret this…
The girl in burning house seemed to lose all hope just before the moment I snapped out of my own confusion, grabbed her hand and pulled out of the building, making both of us fall on the grass nearby. She remained completely intact … Not physically, at least.
The girl spent some time crying atop of me when the warehouse burns down like a match, showering us with ashes. The ashes of my old past released.
"For an International Police agent you gave up too fast." I said her playfully.
She immediately jumped off me and crawled aside, frightened as heck.
"Get away from me! You`re mad!" Leaf loudly yelled in shock.
"No. I`m not mad. 'Mad' – is not my level." I got up and swept my shorts from the dirt and grass. When seeing girl`s wicked face I could not keep myself from standing and spreading my hands with the loud yell. "I`m the craziest man in the whole damn world, AH-HA-HA-HA!"
She didn`t seem to appreciate this small performance of mine, so I decided not to break her nerves anymore and just waved hand at this boring woman.
"Ah, let`s get out of here. Dumpling Airlines, prepare to take off!" I exclaimed with pathos and grabbed the mentally paralyzed Leaf. We took our seats on Dumpling`s back and our transport headed up into the sky. "Hey, big guy, calm a bit down, okay? Don`t drop us, please." I asked my partner and he growled in return, a bit displeased.
You`re making a horrible mistake! This girl will lead you to your doom!
Maybe, I am. But I do not afraid of her! And thus I will not kill her.
How weak you are… Long ago you did the same thing, and this costed you all your family! How can you not see it?
At least, I can see something. You do not see anything at all! I have nothing to lose anymore but myself.
Damn, I managed to make him finally shut up. Now I have some time alone in my head.
Till the very end of flight Leaf didn`t say a word, I even began to worry if she is actually all right and I did not overdo anything. But when we reached Pokemon Center and landed on my room`s balcony, the girl suddenly slapped me and jumped down.
"You tried to kill me, psycho!" She yelled at me. "You damn maniac!"
"Thank god, I was worried about you!" I replied and jumped off too. "Let`s go, I`ll tell you one important thing.
I gently grabbed her hand and led back into the main room with couch. Leaf tried to resist me, but not too much. Dumpling carefully followed us inside too.
"You see, Leaf, this world is much more complex than you know." I began to lecture her. "I guess, you should be a bit older than you look, so you`re almost like me. But still, you are too inexperienced. Dangerous things wait for us near every turn. Do you remember the moment we met right before assault on Saffron City?" To this question she nodded unwillingly. "Of course, you do. That was the break moment of your life. You came to me to show you can be a soldier. Later you asked me to teach you. Well, you should have guessed that I`m still teaching you."
"Teaching me? By trying to burn me alive?" She yelled at me furiously, but for some reason this looked just funny from my point of view.
"Well, I could say yes. There was… another thing involved, but that doesn`t matter right now. That was a challenge… for both of you." I threw a quick glance on my still confused Dumpling too. "Neither of you passed, but that`s exactly what I wanted."
The confusion in my companions` eyes began to rise even more. Maybe, this excuse was really sorry. But I couldn`t think of any more!
"Ah, no, you will not understand me. Screw all this. For you two right now I just want to say I`m really sorry, okay?" I had to admit it. "I was too shocked by the news about my car, went out of control… Something bad gone into me." I just could not tell her the complete truth - she will never understand.
Leaf and Dumpling looked at each other, both confused by my behavior. Well this is understandable, neither of them knew about this side of me. I hoped they never know.
"You know, Dumpling… If something like this happens again, you have full permission to beat the shit out of me." I honestly said to Charizard, confusing him even more. But he unsurely agreed with a quiet growl.
"This is not good, Ven." Leaf made a risky step toward me. "This is dangerous! Maybe, you should visit a doctor?"
"Not a chance, Leaf." I strictly shook my head. "Firstly, no doctor can cure it. And secondly… The Prison - is exactly the thing that let me survive for years."
The girl retreated back and turned away from me, all in tears.
"You`re a unique girl, Leaf." I approached her from behind and gently hugged her shoulders. "I have no damn idea what were they teaching you in that police academy of yours, but you seem to have no physical strength, no sports training, no ability to make right decisions…" For some reason by criticizing Leaf I felt myself lieutenant Surge… and I don`t know whether it is good or not. "But you have no need in that! You can charm strong people to fight for you! You can manipulate trained people to do what you need! You can whisper your thoughts to smart people to make choices instead of you. Because you`re a psychic! All you need now is to learn just one thing…"
I approached the poor girl and bended to her ear to make a whisper.
"Do not trust people."
After that I made a step back and looked at Leaf friendly and smiled.
"It was very nice to know you, Leaf. Since the very first day." I returned Dumpling back into his pokeball and headed to the exit out of the room. On the way there I grabbed a banknote from my pocket and a room key and placed them in Leaf`s hand. "Thank you for everything. The room is paid for a week forward. Use it as you need."
Only in the doorframe I stopped and said her without turning back:
"If you ever get the mission to catch me… You know what I`m capable of. Be ready to make right decisions."
With that I finally left her alone in the room. Maybe I should really hurry until she realizes that the room isn`t paid at all and the banknote I gave her is fake. This will definitely teach her not to trust people, and even more – never try to get me again. Our job is done – she failed to use me… and I failed to use her. At this point our connections are over.
I went down to the first floor and met with the worker of PokeCenter that appeared to be my old pal Peter. Just seeing him brought me back bad memories… He still looks very sad after losing his wife. He definitely doesn`t know the truth… Should I tell him about Sophia? Damn, this may just make things worse. He didn`t seem to recognize me, so I will act like nothing happened. Sometimes the truth just should not be told.
Well, all my pokemon were healed, but Harry was placed into a special storage room as he now is not linked to a pokeball. I was led there to have, maybe, a final confrontation with this green vigilante.
"Hello there!" I greeted him upon the entering. The room looked pretty comfy, a really five-star hotel for pokemon – large window for outside, lots of flowers, a plate full of specialized pokemon food… I would live there too!
Harry was sitting in the corner, and thinking. On my arrival he woke up, but didn`t move. From the distance I could see… tears under his eyes? Is this possible for brutal Victreebels to cry?
"Hey, I`m here! I did not abandon you, I would never do that!" I cheered him a bit and sat on a small chair before Harry. "But now we need to talk. Maybe, for the last time now."
Victreebel looked at me, expressing some… guilt, all of sudden? What`s happening inside his little… brain, wherever it is?
"Listen, everything ended. Giovanni is gone, Team Rocket no longer exists without him. In the end… we won, Harry." I informed him cheerfully. "Without their evil schemes these bastards won`t hurt your flock again. We did save some earlier, remember? You still have someone to go back to."
After these news Harry`s mood became a bit better. Maybe, if his mouth could show emotions he would smile.
"But I want to ask you… do you wish to go back? Go home to those who you saved? Or keep following me? There are much more menaces in the world that you can imagine. And I would need your help there."
Once again I took the free capsule from my pocket and placed between me and Harry. This time it was ultraball that I prepared for a special case. This case is special indeed.
"I understand that you wish to return back on Route 24 and protect your kind. But now we have a lot of people that can help us. Erika and other gym leaders will gladly take care of your home."
This time Harry did not hesitate at all. With a face like 'you already know the answer, idiot' he approached the ultraball and tackled it to open the device and be sucked inside. Without any shakes at all the small mechanism clicked and flashed.
"Thank you." I said with smile and placed the ultraball on its rightful place on my shoulder belt.
I left the room and met the Peter again to tell him that everything is okay now. After a quick payment for all the service I finally left the Pokemon Center and got to the street. For a brief moment I looked back at building and noticed Leaf staring at me in the window. Her anger and fear completely vanished, and now only sadness remained. She placed her palm on the glass and was looking at me with big beautiful and cried eyes.
So, another woman has fallen prey to this damn Red Contract… It`s been ten minutes and she forgot everything already! How bad do I need to be to get disposed of this curse?
I just hope this won`t get too far. She tells her to be from the International Police, and I`m intended to believe her – my eye did not indicate lie in that. But having an offended girlfriend in the International Police may have… lots of disadvantages, and may be dangerous. Especially considering my lifestyle and occupation.
Damn it. Why do I have to repeat this each time?! Why can`t I just keep myself in hands and resist their charms? Why does this have to happen EVERY DAMN TIME?!
Ugh… Fine, I need to calm down and pull myself together. Maybe, everything will be fine. Maybe, we will never see each other again. Maybe, after this she DOES forget me and have a normal life… somewhere far away. Did she mention Sinnoh earlier? I need to stay away from this place for a while.
Okay… Okay. Now I have a target. Not a primary target… but, at least, a target. Now I want to head into the Pokemon League, meet the strongest trainers of Kanto, defeat as much of them as I can and…
Damn, for the first time in my life I don`t have a plan. What a terrible feeling this is! Such emptiness inside... nothing can compare to this. I have terribly failed and now I have no goal to pursue and no purpose to follow… I may even not follow anything, I may do something else. Something new… Anything I want! This awful freedom makes me feel really uneasy.
Maybe I still have the chance of finding the case after I do something… Maybe the photos of my modified car is the only thing I have, but Bill has gone somewhere, so I have to wait until the plan appears by itself. Of course, I`m pretty good at improvising, but usually improvising is a vital part of my plan! Now it is not. Let`s try to head the way I have now and see where it leads me.
Then I suddenly realized that I have no frigging idea where even to go. The Pokemon League for me is some blur image that know almost nothing about. All I know that the League has the strongest trainers and they are rich enough to fund gyms, PokeCenters and many other things.
I looked up at the sky and wondered, who could help me with it…
The next day evening I was in Cerulean City before the doors of the only place that could accept me like home.
I carefully rang the bell, a bit hoping that she won`t answer me and I get the reason to refuse from this damn idea. But no, she opened the door and smiled widely.
"Ven!" Misty exclaimed happily and rushed to hug me. These emotional expressions still confuse me and make feel uneasy, but I surrendered to her and just waited.
"Yeah, I`m glad to see you too." I greeted her and followed her inside.
As a real hostess, she began running back and forth, quickly preparing tea, cookies and all needed for a nice chat. Meanwhile, I was telling her the story of my past days – how I uncovered the evil plan of Team Rocket and ended in Viridian City with a corpse before me. I decided to keep the second corpse a secret for a while.
Finally, Misty got everything done, exhaled and fell onto the couch right near me and stared into my eyes.
"You had a hard time, Ven." She pitted me. "But now it`s all over…"
"No, Misty…" I interrupted her seriously. "No, it is not. Until I find the case it will never be over."
"What case?" She asked again. "You were after your car, weren`t you?"
"Yeah, about that… All this time I wished only to return my car only because of the important case in it." I revealed Misty my dark secret. I didn't thought it to be important anymore. "Only that little silver shitbox matters."
"What so important is inside it?" She asked carefully, not expecting me to answer. This girl realizes that she may touch a very dangerous topic and so acts with cautious.
"Actually… I don`t know." I lowered my head and covered it with hands. "Something very, VERY important. And, possibly, very dangerous. I was only ordered to deliver it to one man in Viridian City. I failed my mission…"
Misty moved closer to me and hugged warmly.
"Oh, Ven… What did you get yourself into?" She quietly said and leaned her head on my shoulder.
We sat some minutes in this weird position until Misty moved back and looked straight at me with a smile.
"I know you can handle it." She cheered me a bit. "You can handle anything! Now you have strong pokemon that can protect you."
"Yeah, you`re right." I nodded and stood up, heading to the window. "This is the reason I actually came to you."
"Really?" Misty sounded a bit disappointed. Looks like she expected some other reason for me to come visit her.
"One day I will need to stand against my fears. I need to be ready, to be strong… To become even stronger, I need to battle stronger trainers. And, as far as I know, the Pokemon League has them." I explained shortly. "But I don`t have any idea how it works and what it is exactly. I need eight gym badges to enter, yes? Well, now I have them!"
"Wow, this is wonderful!" Suddenly Misty rushed from her place and hugged me again.
"Come on, don`t use Wrap on me, girl! I am low on health…" I badly joked. "Just tell me all about it. As a gym leader, you are part of this, yeah?"
Misty giggled, retreated back and fixed her forelock.
"Okay, I can tell you." She replied and took my hand to lead back to couch. "So, the Pokemon League is actually a huge international organization that arranges official pokemon battles. The Kanto branch is situated on the Indigo Plateau and is named the Indigo League."
I was listening to her very carefully but could not help but notice how she is excited to talk about it. Maybe, this big party IS something cool.
"Each region League has its own team of four strongest pokemon trainers called the Elite Four and one supreme trainer that has the title of Pokemon League Champion. Once you have eight badges, you can head to the League and make an appoint to challenge it. Then you have to give everything you have… Because you need to defeat ALL of the Elite Four members and the champion in a single streak!"
"Wow, that`s really challenging." I said, very surprised. As I can understand, these guys are much stronger than any of gym leaders, so beating them all in a row is a very tough task.
"It definitely is. Once your challenge starts, you proceed from one field to another, battle Elite Four members with no chance of turning back until the very end. There is no healing machines, no nurses to help you. Can you imagine how strong should the champion be to defeat five strongest trainers in a row without a break?"
"I sure do…" I replied, imagining how all my plans on beating at least someone there fade away. No wonder the champions are so famous and important around the world. You sure don`t want to mess with them.
"But just imagine – a huge stadium full of hundreds of people, the battle will be broadcasted across the whole region, and even more! Even starting a challenge is a huge honor!" Misty exclaimed loudly with extreme excitement.
"What did you said that for?!" I shouted really displeased. "Now I can`t go to this damn League!"
"Why? What`s wrong?" She asked confused.
"Because I can`t have my mug broadcasted across the whole region! Remember snipers I told you about? I recently found out they exist! They will have a perfect aim on me after that!"
Misty went silent because she understood what I mean. All this time I was trying to go low, hide in shadows and keep quiet. Well, maybe I did not succeed in it too much. Now if I go to League and suddenly appear on all TVs of region, I literally start the countdown to the end of my life. And it will not tick for long…
"You may have a mask!" Suddenly Misty exclaimed joyfully. "The registration doesn`t need your passport, just the trainer ID. So you can easily wear a mask during the challenge and stay unnoticed!"
That idea sounded pretty cool. It still has some holes in it, but I could not think of any better than this.
"I don`t know… This is still risky. Maybe, I should really stay away from this."
"Don't you dare!" Misty stood up and seriously stared at me. "As a gym leader, I won`t let you stop on the half-way. Do you know how many trainers could not even get four badges? Do you know how many of them drop this career just because of it? You can`t even imagine the trainer`s potential you have!"
"But I never wanted to be a pokemon trainer!" I tried to protect myself from her unexpected onslaught. "I started all this just to get Team Rocket, and now it`s over!"
"Leave your excuses for someone else." She was unstoppable. "Stop lying to yourself, I know that you have passion for it! You love battling and you LOVE pokemon. You love your pokemon. You can`t just leave them alone because you don`t need them anymore."
Damn, she sounds right. I do feel kinda like battling now, and I have a gang of cool bastards that like me and fight for me. We may have problems, we may have disagreements… but we remain united, no matter what. These guys will follow me to the edge of the world. I think, I really need to visit the Pokemon League – at least, for them. To show them that many days ago they agreed to be caught for a reason.
I headed outside the house to the small yard behind house and released all my pokemon at once. They are rarely released together, so they understood the reason is special.
"So, guys, we reached the end." I addressed them with an inspiring speech. "We have been through a lot together. From the very first day I met Dumpling to the very last day of fighting our sworn enemy. We won, guys."
My pokemon began to hum loudly, talking to each other, roaring and squeaking.
"But our path does not end here." Nevertheless, I continued. "There is one specific place I would like to take you to. The Pokemon League. The place where only the strongest of them all survive!"
This actually interested my pokemon a lot, and they even went silent to listen to me. I smiled and approached them, standing in the center of group.
"Each of us had a specific goal to start this journey. Let it be making friends, like Lei Sheng, seeing the world like Moment, becoming stronger like Reaper, having fun like Loser, learning to protect his people like Harry…" I threw a quick glance on my awesome Charizard. "…or just following me around, because it`s cool, like Dumpling. Our life is full of danger, but together we can overcome anything. You knew where all this is going… So I`m throwing away my doubts and go to the Pokemon League. To show them that YOU are the strongest pokemon in Kanto. Are you with me to follow to the top?"
All my pokemon made a single loud roar. They were extremely excited to go with me to League and kick all butts that stand in our way!
"Shut your fiends up, we`re sleeping!" The distant voice of Misty`s neighbor reached us across the street.
"Screw you, asshole! You`re shouting at the future League winner!" I replied to him with a middle finger. "Let`s go back, guys."
I quickly returned all my pals back into their pokeballs until that idiot calls cops.
"I have a special thing for you!" Misty appeared behind me and handed over a small patch of something looking like…
"It`s my mask!" I excitedly exclaimed. "I had it during our school costume festival!"
"Yes, I saved it." She timidly replied and for some reason even went red. Maybe, she remembered how we had a first kiss during that festival… Too bad I don`t remember it.
"I wonder if it fits…" I said and took off my cap. The mask was just a piece of black rag with holes for eyes, so it stretched and perfectly fit me. Almost. "I guess, my eyes grew a bit since then."
"Then I will cut it a bit." Misty smiled and looked over me. "Get your cap back."
A bit surprised by this request I put on my cap back and looked at Misty, making her smile even more. Oh, I get what she wants. To please her I made an angry face and struck a heroic pose.
"Oh, you`re wonderful!" The girl complimented me and clapped her hands. "A man in black, a dark vigilante fighting crime under the veil of night… Like a hero from comic book!"
"Stop it, Misty, you`re embarrassing me…" I replied and tried to took off my cap, but suddenly girl attacked my lips with hers and grabbed tightly, pulling into her house. I didn`t resist too much and thus completely surrendered to her passion for the whole night.
Another morning with another girl once again woke up my conscience, but I had to fight through it and get up. The great things are about to come soon!
We had a quick breakfast, some more rest and another breakfast. Like a stereotypical granny, Misty tried to overfed me before leaving to make me change my mind, but she didn`t try too hard. After that she quickly repeated her instruction how to get to Indigo Plateau and wished me best luck. I said her a goodbye in return and once again left her, with my mood better than usually.
Now I have a long trip across half of region to Viridian City where I will get to Route 23 and proceed to the special path called Victory Road. The Indigo Plateau is situated somewhere among the mountain range near mt. Silver and the only way there, besides just flying, is crossing the so-called Victory Road. This is a huge cave tunnel lasting from Route 23 to the League itself and is used as the last training ground for the challengers. The strongest pokemon can be found there to assist in training… or to weed out the weakest. But also trainers themselves usually find there sparring partners to train even more and, of course, weed out the weakest too.
Seems like even getting to the League will be a challenge itself much harder than gyms. Of course, flying over this straight to the Plateau isn`t prohibited, so it`s just a question to yourself and your conscience. If you can`t pass Victory Road – then the Elite Four will sweep floor with you, Misty assured me in that.
Ugh, this is going to be extremely hard. Maybe even much harder than Team Rocket, harder than Giovanni… but not harder than the threat I`m going to face. Than the threat I`m going to get prepared to.
The trip to Route 22 was really long and boring. I decided to be honest with myself and do everything right – I will pass Victory Road by foot and get final preparations for the League. Maybe, I can battle more trainers, see more different pokemon, learn about new moves and abilities, and – who knows – maybe even learn new moves by ourselves. For the upcoming challenge I definitely need to invent more maneuvers and tactics. All this may blow my cover even with my mask, but if I somehow succeed – then this will be not for nothing. I will be finally ready for anything!
So I approached the huge building dividing Routes 22 and 23. There people get the new information about Pokemon League, have rest, heal their pokemon and get the final preparations before the Victory Road. After everything is done, they head to the archway and large gates that lead straight to the next Route. A tall man in security uniform stand there, observing the passers. I guess, this is where I need to go. Maybe, this is where my actual challenge begins… So I need to finish my style and head out.
I quickly took my mask and put it on before approaching the security guard.
"Welcome, fellow trainer!" He greeted me. "Are you heading to the Pokemon League?"
"Yes, I am!" I proudly replied and smiled.
"That is great! Do you have your badges with you?"
"Of course, I do!" I said and pulled my greatcoat to take out the badge case, but the man stopped me.
"There is no need. Just pass these gates." He said and invited me to step inside the archway. I shook my head and made a step forward…
The gates glow brown and the screen proved that I have the Boulder Badge.
"Wow!" I admired the technology. "How does this work?"
"Don`t you know?" He asked. "Each official badge has the small microchip inside that we can scan to prove its originality."
"Oh… That`s interesting." I was very surprised. Didn`t ever expect to have such things with me all the time. "Well, can I go now?"
"You may pass. Best luck to you there!" He gladly waved his hand and let me pass.
The Route 23 appeared to be a long but narrow valley with checkpoint gates where each of my badges was scanned and approved by the guard. I had to pass the road, then cross the lake and a meadow until I passed through all checkpoints, proved to have all gym badges and got to the entrance into the cave…
The infamous Victory Road starts here.