As we walked into the area, I saw more of the gentle waterfall and that it led into the Whiscash Pond. As I entered in, I saw Pokémon having conversations. I didn't see anybody that I knew except that King guy, who was standing with his arms folded impatiently towards the pond. Out of the Pokémon there that I will mention and that will be in the story at some times later on, I saw a Snubbull, Lotad, and Bellsprout.
In the Pond was Whiscash Elder talking with some other Pokémon. I kept scanning the area and seeing the amazing place. Man, it was pretty. I looked as they continued to chat and my eyes gazed elsewhere.
But then, a certain Pokémon caught my eye. I looked over to see that there was a Lucario with a Riolu near him. They were talking together as the Riolu sat in his lap. Could it be… was that THE Lucario? I immediately tapped my brothers on their shoulders and was about to talk.
"I see you found Lucario and his son Batsu," Sasuke said smiling just as I was going to.
I sort of blinked in surprise, but whatever. I guess I was kind of predictable there.
"Batsu?" I asked.
"That's the name of the Riolu," Naruto said, "He is the tied as the strongest rookie of this year to be accepted into a Rescue Team."
"Wait… accepted?" I asked, becoming confused.
"Long story short," Sasuke explained, "Every year, the Pokémon Square holds the Rescue Team exams. These allow Pokémon who want to be Rescue Teams to be tested in order to be accepted. Naruto and I are about to register, so we can take the exams. And since we're here to get you to join the application, you're gonna take them with us."
He and Naruto smiled at me, causing me to as well. I was so honored about this. I couldn't believe it; they wanted ME to join their team. However, I couldn't help but look back at Lucario and Batsu. They seemed to be Pokémon of cool stature and wisdom. But it made my smile that they were laughing and smiling with each other. It made me happy for them.
"But then who's the other one?" I asked.
Naruto winked at me and said, "I'll give you a hint; he's the oldest of us."
My mind quickly scrambled inside of my brain's databases to find the answer. When I realized who it was, I widened my eyes and looked over to a blushing Sasuke. He was looking away from us as he couldn't stop smirking.
"Naruto, you know how I don't like that," he giggled.
"What? You are," Naruto replied, "You and Batsu are the two strongest rookies of this year."
"Congratulations, Sasuke," I smiled and said, causing him to blush more.
"Hee-hee, come on. Stop it," Sasuke giggled again.
It was then that Sasuke lost his blush as he and Naruto turned around when I heard a several Pokémon makes shushing noises. Lucario and his son stood up and acted serious. King brought his head up to see the Elder swim towards the edge. Sasuke and Naruto stood tall and straight as I stood with them.
"Welcome back, Sasuke and Naruto," Whiscash Elder said, "I'm glad that you are safe after your trip to Wish Cavern."
Sasuke and Naruto nodded with a smile and said, "Thank you, sir. We appreciate your concern for us."
The Whiscash nodded and replied, "Now for that matter at hand, you said that you have someone for me to be introduced to?"
Naruto then nudged me with his left paw and I walked forward, so I was in between him and Sasuke. The Elder then looked at me all over and nodded. The other Pokémon in the area especially eyed me. I must've have been a rare Pokémon in these parts. I noticed that King was still glancing at me too. Not only him, but Lucario and Batsu were as well. I knew King was glaring at me because he wanted too. But the way Lucario and Batsu looked at me… it's if they were looking for something… maybe potential?
"Hmm, a Pikachu in this area? That's strange," the Elder said, catching my attention, "Not a lot of Pikachus live in this general area. What's your name, my young man?"
"My name is Thomas," I answered.
"Where do you come from?" he asked.
Oh, boy. That's one of the things I'm NOT supposed to answer while I'm in the Pokémon world. This was bad. Stuttering and stammering though wasn't gonna help me. But Sasuke and Naruto looked so calm; were they covering up their nervousness? I decided to try to give an answer.
"Uhh…" I started to say.
"You see, Whiscash Elder, that's just it. He doesn't remember," I heard Sasuke say.
All the Pokémon in the area gasped and started to talk amongst themselves. I heard things like "Did he lose his memory?" or "What the heck is wrong with this kid?" King glared at me with an interesting yet surprised look as he looked over me up and down. What really had bothered me was that Batsu, immediately after hearing that, started to talk with his father in whispering. I wondered if that would be good or bad later, but I then I heard Whiscash Elder speak.
"Hm? He doesn't remember? What do you mean by that?" he asked.
Naruto spoke, "When we were traveling back from Wish Cavern, we witnessed a Monster House in progress. The victim was Thomas and he took a huge beating."
It was then all the Pokémon thus started to say things like "Oh, that poor kid," and "So, that explains it." But I was still a bit in the dark about what that means.
Upon seeing my confusion, Whiscash Elder said to me, "Considering I understand you lost your memory, I'll explain. Thomas, a Monster House is what we Rescue Teams refer to when a group of eight or more Pokémon launch a surprise attack on their target. It appears you seem to have lost your memory due to this attack."
Sasuke nodded and agreed, "Exactly. We were able to drive the Pokémon away, but Thomas had sustained critical damage to his head, as well as other parts of his body."
"Upon treating him, we asked him questions to determine just how badly he was injured," Naruto added, "He was able to tell us he was fifteen years old and his name, but that's all he could remember."
The crowd began to gasp and talk amongst themselves again. Whiscash Elder looked at me with compassion before turning back to my brothers.
"I might be a little pushy and if so, I apologize," he asked, "but just how badly was his injuries? How much of his memory is gone?"
Sasuke took a deep breath, had a sad look on his face, and said, "His injuries and memory loss were so bad… he couldn't remember how to walk. And now, he can't remember how to build up electricity or attack."
Everybody was shocked and surprised at this. I could hear stuff like "Dude, that kid got the stuffing beaten out of him! Literally!", "That's horrible, and he's an electric type even…", and "Geez, that guy is so lucky." I felt like smiling, since the alibi was working. It was then that all stopped speaking as Whiscash Elder cleared his throat.
"If I may, I'd like to see if his body has any scars," he asked.
AHA! THAT'S WHERE THE SMACK ON MY HEAD AND THE BUMP IT LEFT COMES IN! Again I say, very clever, you two…
Sasuke and Naruto gently led me to the elder as I then bowed my head, so he could take a closer look. He gently leaned forward and looked all over my body. When he got to my head, he saw the huge bump and gasped. He exhaled as if he had felt it and when I heard him swim to back up, I looked up. He had a face which showed more compassion.
"My goodness, Thomas. That's quite a bump on your head," he said to me, "It seems that's the only injury that hasn't healed yet. I can understand that you lost your memory from that. I'm truly sorry for you, Thomas."
I smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, sir. However, I am thankful for Sasuke and Naruto finding me and nursing me back to health. They've adopted me as their little brother."
The crowd had mixed emotions after that; some were happy for me and said sweet comments. Some were shocked that my brothers would do such a thing. But what caught my eyes was that Lucario, immediately after hearing that, bent down and starting whispering to his son. After a few seconds of this, despite him still whispering, Batsu looked at me and started to examine me from a long ways. I was getting a bit suspicious of those two. I mean, sure they might be good Pokémon and respected, but…
However, my thinking was caught off when I heard Naruto say, "That's why, sir, with your permission, we'd like to include Thomas into our Rescue Team. That way, he would be able to relearn how to fight and thus can stay with us."
Whiscash Elder nodded, and after a few moments of thinking, said, "Very well. Thomas, you are hereby now officially a part of Sasuke and Naruto's team."
I smiled and nodded, saying, "Thank you, sir."
Sasuke and Naruto couldn't help but smile too. I was happy that I could be with them. Sure, this fighting thing would hurt and it may be hard to pick up… but to me, it would be worth everything.
"SOMEBODY! HELP ME! PLEASE!"
Everybody gasped at someone's voice yelling as we all turned to see a Butterfree fly right into the Whiscash Pond area. I watched as she frantically stopped in the middle of the area, in front of the Elder.
"What's wrong, my dear?" he asked.
Butterfree said fearfully, "It's horrible! My Caterpie fell into a cavern! My poor baby!"
Everybody gasped in horror as Whiscash Elder replied, "What!? What happened?"
"A huge fissure opened from the ground, and my Caterpie fell in!" she said, "He's too young to crawl out of there by himself! I tried to go and get my baby, but Pokémon attacked me!"
Naruto widened his eyes and asked, "You were attacked!?"
"Why would the other Pokémon attack you?" King asked all of a sudden, interested in this.
"I have no idea why!" she replied urgently.
"Hmm… it may be that the fissure enraged them and they are out of control as the result," Sasuke said, calmly analyzing the situation.
"I'm not strong enough to fend off those wild Pokémon! Please, I need somebody's help!" Butterfree pleaded.
"Ma'am, please try to calm down for a bit so I can understand this. Can your child fight back at all?" Whiscash Elder asked.
"No! Like I said, he can't even crawl out of the fissure! Please! What am I gonna do? My baby…." she pleaded.
"Hmmm… alright, we'll get right on that immediately!" the Elder said, "We should send Team A.C.T down there and-"
"Whiscash Elder! Wait!" the Snubbull from earlier said, "About Team A.C.T; I thought they were on an assignment near Magma Cavern, attempting to rescue Minun and Plusle."
"That's right, I forgotten, Snubbull," he said, "They won't be back for some time…"
With that, he began to scratch his head with his whiskers as he thought out loud.
"Hmmm… Team Champ is also out on a rescue mission near Sinister Woods… Team Tactics and Team Justice are injured and recovering…" he said as he looked over at Lucario, "And I don't want to create all kinds of fuss by sending out Team Lucario…"
Suddenly, I felt some sort of rage, like a fire was building inside of me. What? How could he say that!? I got extremely angry all of a sudden, which was rare for me, as I stepped forward growling. Everybody was shocked at me; even Sasuke and Naruto blinked in surprise. The Elder looked at me and noticed I was angry.
"Thomas, is something wrong?" he asked me.
I took a deep breath, clenched my fists, and said angrily, "Are you freaking serious?"
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