Chapter 47; carving a new path, hatching a new plan
Sonic woke up earlier than his teammates and unwilling to be rude to Cosmo by being awake when she was not, he left to do his morning routine, leaving raichu still asleep.
As he went for a walk to help his body wake up, he watched the sun emerging from the horizon.
A new day. A new beginning.
"Will we leave town as a team?" he wondered as he continued on his walk.
After about an hour of walking, jogging and completing his morning routine, he grabbed breakfast for everyone and returned to Cosmo's house. Cosmo and Knuckles had woken up. Tails would have to have to wake up soon too, as Cosmo would eventually have to go about her day too.
"Morning" Sonic said upon entering.
Cosmo noticed the bag he was holding.
"Did you buy breakfast for everyone?"
"Yes. It's the least I could do for the hospitality".
"You shouldn't have" she said with a smile "Tails has indeed the best friends" she commented as she was petting Tails' sentret.
Sonic noticed it as well.
"Is that the sentret Tails was taking care of?"
"It is" Tails answered before Cosmo could, entering the room "I'll explain everything soon enough".
Cosmo knowing what team Sonic was about to discuss, excused herself, going to wake up eevee as well. Sonic and Tails sat at the table with Knuckles.
"Well" Sonic opened the conversation "I think we have a discussion due".
"We do" Tails confirmed.
"I'm all ears" Sonic invited Tails to begin.
"Sonic. You know I would follow you to the ends of the earth".
"Yes".
"And that I am all in on stopping the rockets before they harm anyone else. Or any more pokemon".
"I believe you".
"But I need you to understand me here. I want to stop them yes. But I don't want to hurt them. What we did to Proton is wrong, regardless of the context".
Sonic did his best to remain calm as he fully disagreed with the sentiment.
"Explain yourself further please. Why do you feel it was wrong?"
"It doesn't need any further explanation. It was just wrong".
"Tails" Knuckles intervened, hoping to act as the middle ground "I understand. As the one who carried out the act I do understand. I too hear his screams of pain".
Tails didn't immediately reply.
"But then… why are you so calm?"
"Because I believe he deserved more than we did to him Tails. I didn't mention it before. Do you remember how slowpokes evolve into slowbros?"
"Yeah. A shellder bites…" but then he paused as he finally understood why his friends weren't feeling any regrets "their tail".
"Exactly" Sonic took over "they cut their tails causing them excruciating pain. But there's more to it. There is a good chance some slowpokes will never regrow their tails. In other words they will never be able to evolve. All because of them".
Tails slowly nodded.
"I see but… even so. I can't help but feel sorry for Proton. He didn't need to suffer too".
Sonic closed his eyes and smiled.
"You were always the most empathetic of us Tails. Always there, ready to hear us out and help us out".
Tails didn't reply. He still waited to see where Sonic was going with this.
"I agree with you. We don't need to hurt them, as long as they don't get in our way. Most of those grunts tried to escape and only some of them fought back".
"Do you feel guilty about beating them up like we did?" Knuckles asked his friend.
"A little. But I can cope with it. It was necessary to keep them from escaping. But breaking Proton's legs… or electrocuting him… that was uncalled for. He wasn't a threat or trying to escape".
Sonic slowly nodded.
"You're right. But even so… I still believe he deserved what he got".
"He did. But just because he did, doesn't mean we should have given him what he deserved. We have to be better than them Sonic" Tails pleaded.
Sonic also remained silent for a while.
"I'm glad we got someone like you on our team Tails. But whether we like or not… our enemies are willing to commit horrific acts. We need to be ready to carry out stuff like that as well. Certainly not as severe and certainly not to pokemon. But we don't have the luxury of playing nice with them".
Tails wanted to object again. But then he remembered what the iron masked marauder had done to Knuckles. Sonic also had a point. Team rocket were indeed monsters. And the iron masked marauder was one of the worst.
"Tails" Sonic spoke again intending to suggest a middle ground "you have the kind of kindness that can keep us on the good side of things. I have the willpower to end the rockets once and for all but I will need your guys' help. Only together we can win. So let's do it together. Let's go forward together. As for how we treat the rockets… we will only hurt them if they really call for it".
"Or if they really deserve it" Tails added as Proton's scream finally faded from his mind as his desire to bring the iron masked marauder to justice rooted itself in his mind.
"Then it is settled" Sonic smiled getting up "team Sonic is back in business".
"All the way" Knuckles said putting his hand on Sonic's.
Tails smiled copying him.
"One for all and all for one" he added.
As team Sonic reaffirmed their alliance, Cosmo smiled from the corner she was waiting at. She then pretended to have returned to feed sentret.
"Sorry to interrupt" she pretended to apologize.
"No worries. We're done here" Tails immediately answered.
"Really? And?"
"Team Sonic is back".
"That's great!"
Tails nodded.
"Is eevee around?"
As if that was the signal, eevee sprinted into the room. Tails turned back to his teammates.
"Yesterday we had a chat" he explained referring to himself and Cosmo "and Cosmo suggested that she take care of sentret. Our mission will lead us to dangerous encounters so carrying a baby pokemon that we won't actually train isn't advisable. But that's only half of the idea. Eevee here" he said as eevee jumped on the table at the sound of its name "wants to explore the world. It is adventurous and Cosmo cannot really grant that wish for it. But we can so…"
Sonic immediately understood. Looking at eevee he was reminded a lot of Jolty. Its death still hurt but remembered just how much of a help and what a great pokemon and partner it was for Mike.
"Say no more Tails. Ask eevee the question".
Tails was not expecting such a quick acceptance. Knuckles also nodded positively. Tails turned to eevee.
"Eevee, I thank you sincerely for helping us back in the forest yesterday. Cosmo tells me you're quite adventurous. We are too. Would you like to join us on our adventures?"
"Vee! Vee! Eevee!" the cute normal type jumped repeatedly in excitement.
Sonic smiled and tossed Tails a pokeball.
Tails pointed the pokeball at eevee and the latter touched it with its forehead. One wiggle, two wiggles, three wiggles and ding. It was caught.
Tails sent it out.
"Welcome to team Sonic eevee".
Eevee climbed on Tails' shoulder to everyone's surprise. Cosmo felt pure happiness that her companion was finding its path even though there was a small pinch of sadness.
She would miss eevee. Dearly.
As team Sonic was about to leave, Cosmo offered to guide them through the Ilex forest, joking that someone should keep an eye on them based on how their attempt their previous day had gone. Team Sonic laughed but all of them agreed, Tails especially happy.
As the four made their way through the woods, Cosmo describing the beauty of Ilex forest to Tails, as Knuckles and Sonic stayed a little further behind giving their friend space with his crush.
After a while Knuckles remembered something he wanted to ask Sonic the previous day but it slipped his mind.
"Hey Sonic. I was wondering. How did you find us yesterday? By the time I and Tails engaged the marauder you should have made it to Goldenrod city".
"What do you mean? I heard your calls for help and rushed to your aid".
"But… we never called for help. Neither I nor Tails".
"What?" Sonic asked greatly puzzled.
Hating to do this he approached Tails and Cosmo.
"Sorry to interrupt but Tails did you call for help yesterday when I was coming to your aid against the marauder?"
"Huh? No. And even if we did we would be too far away for you to hear".
"What?! Then who was calling for help? I heard someone call out to me in your voices. And…" he said remembering something else "I saw… something. Like a fairy or something".
Cosmo was rather intrigued.
"You heard and saw the voice of the forest?"
"The what?"
"Oh sorry. That's what Johtonians call it".
"Call what it?"
"Celebi. The protector of the forest".
"Celebi?" Knuckles asked in a bit of disapproval "it's a myth. It's not real".
"Oh but it is" Cosmo countered "many travelers have heard the forest talk to them. Some claim to have even seen it. Like, up close".
"It can't be real" Knuckles insisted "the myth says it has the ability to time travel. Such power can't possibly exist".
"Time travel?" Sonic asked next "like it can travel through time at will?"
"Yes. It is said to travel to many points in time, helping people and pokemon and restoring plant life".
"A pokemon straight out of nature" Tails surmised rather intrigued as well "but still… time travel? That breaks so many laws of physics. Like to even theoretically open a portal through space and time you would need to harness the hypothetical particle tachyon. And supposing tachyons exist, excluding all the countless calculations you would have to do to even get such a technology to function, it just doesn't seem plausible. Like, all the energy required to open a portal could very easily cause a quantum fluctuation which would mess with the planck scale and thereby triggering the deutsch proposition…" he rumbled on for a while until he realized Sonic and Knuckles were completely lost and Cosmo, even though she clearly understood very little, was observing with great interest.
"To put it simply, time travel technology has been attempted and has never functioned because of all the aforementioned facts. And you mean to tell me a pokemon actually has that kind of power? And if it has… can you even imagine the chaos that would ensue… if more than one of itself met? And I'm not talking about just 2 Celebis meeting. I'm referring to a Celebi meeting a past of future version of itself. Something like that could very well break reality".
Cosmo felt she could hear him rumble on like that for days.
At that same moment, they all came across a shrine. It had the shape of a fairytale house but it had a double door that seemed like double balcony doors.
"What is that?" Sonic asked as he slowly approached it.
"No" Cosmo stopped him "that is Celebi's shrine. The locals built it in its honor. You shouldn't touch it".
"Or what?" Sonic asked confused.
"Probably nothing but you never know. Celebi could be offended".
"Oh please" Knuckles said in frustration walking past them and touching it "see? Nothing. Celebi isn't real. I respect legends and myths but the difference is myths are unsubstantiated legends. In other words legends with no truth behind them. Acts like this shrine here make absolutely no sense".
Sonic was rather worried to hear his friend talk about a theme of his greatest passion with such disregard and somewhat… angry? Why would the theme of Celebi ever or rather could possibly ever make him angry like that?
Leaving the shrine behind, they finally emerged on the west side of the forest. On the distance the buildings of goldenrod city could be made out.
"Well here we are" Cosmo pointed out "and this is where I have to leave you guys. I got to go back to Azalea".
"Oh I see" Tails turned to her "thanks. For everything".
Cosmo smiled and approached Tails who was petrified.
"Is she gonna kiss me?!" he thought in panic.
Cosmo remained silent for a moment and then raised her hand, petting eevee on Tails' shoulder.
"Take care of them ok eevee?"
"Vee!"
Cosmo then grabbed Tails and hugged him hard. Sonic and Knuckles were anxiously waiting to see what would follow.
Eventually Cosmo broke the hug.
"See you around Tailsy".
Tails' cheeks became redder than a strawberry as Cosmo turned around and walked back into Ilex forest. Tails remained there staring.
"Hey Casanova!" Sonic joked holding in a laugh "we should get going!"
Tails turned around with an expressionless face and Knuckles gave in and laughed.
"Duuude! Your crush on her is visible from a mile away!"
"If only I wasn't a damn chicken" Tails said with a hint of regret "I had a chance to kiss her last night and I didn't take it".
"What?! During the chat you had about eevee?" Sonic asked in surprise.
"Yes. I had one chance and I missed it" he muttered putting his hand in his pocket.
He felt something inside the pocket. It was a folded piece of paper.
Unfolding it he read.
"Give me a call if you're around again. Or just when you feel like it. Cosmo".
A winky face and a phone number were also written.
"DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDEEEE!" Knuckles' voice echoed through the open field .
"Huh?" Ash turned around confused as he walked through Goldenrod city.
"Everything ok?" Brock asked him.
"Yeah. I just could swear I heard someone scream dude".
"Weird. Come on. The gym leader's waiting" Brock said as he and Ash moved forward.
"My dude! You meet her literally for the first time on day one and get her number and invitation to call her on day two?! You're an icon! I worship you!" Knuckles knelt and pretended to pray to Tails half-jokingly, half seriously.
Sonic laughed hard about the whole thing as Tails didn't even register Knuckles' act. His mind was still processing the contents of the paper.
After a while Sonic told Knuckles to pull himself together and get up as he approached Tails to snap him out of his existential funk.
"Well, looks like you were given another chance. Definitely call her later today".
"C-call her?"
"Absolutely. She's literally ready to serve herself on a silver platter for you. You can't miss that chance".
Tails would normally be encouraged but instead fell deeper into the trance.
"Well looks like he'll be like that for a while" Sonic joked "let's go forward but be sure to keep an eye on loverboy here to make sure he doesn't go astray".
Knuckles still cracking up and letting out small laughs from time to time had Tails walking in their midst to make sure he would not get lost.
Slowly but steadily, Tails started coming out of the existential funk and immediately worrying about what to say to Cosmo when he called her. Sonic and Knuckles offered their best advice, Sonic telling him to just be himself and under no circumstance pretend to be anything else, and Knuckles told him to show interest in her, ask her about herself but at the same time let the conversation flow normally.
"Never try to force the flow one way, direct it if you can but don't force it" were his exact words.
After a good walk and several more banters as well as raichu and eevee bonding, raichu itself showing a particular feeling of familiarity for eevee as if it had met it before, the team reached a pokemon day care facility located on the outskirts of Goldenrod city.
Passing by the fenced area they could see several pokemon just casually walking around. Most of them were small pokemon like weedles and bellsprouts, though team Sonic noticed several ones they didn't recognize.
Passing by the office of the facility located on the edge of the fenced field, they noticed a pokemon egg left by the entrance.
"Look guys an egg" Sonic mentioned.
The team approached and Sonic knelt next to the egg.
"Who would leave this here?" he inquired.
"Could that be the same egg Misty was carrying?" Tails wondered.
"Doubt it. She took really good care of it. And plus she doesn't seem the kind of person to leave an egg behind".
The door of the office suddenly opened and an old man, most likely the owner of the day care peeked out.
"What are you three doing with the egg?"
"Oh nothing. We were just wondering why it's out here".
The man didn't respond straight away.
"It was left there by a trainer a few days ago. His hitmonchan mated while in my care with a machamp that also happened to be here. He didn't want it so he left it behind".
Sonic looked back at the egg. He didn't know a lot about eggs or how pokemon mating worked but one thing was clear; that egg contained a fighting type. Either a machop or a hitmonchan.
"What a jerk" Tails commented "their pokemon made this egg and they just leave it behind?"
"Do you have someone to take care of the egg?" Sonic asked the day care man.
"No. To be honest I was about to ask if you three would be interested in taking the egg".
"I'll take it" Sonic immediately jumped at the opportunity.
The day care man suggested he get a bigger backpack first chance he got so that it could fit the egg and store it safely if carrying it got much. He also warned to be very, very careful. Sonic didn't need to be warned. The sentret they had taken care of for a while was a prime example as to how a baby pokemon should be cared for.
Taking the egg with them, with Sonic carrying it in his arms being very careful, raichu looked up at the egg with interest.
"Rai?"
"New team member buddy" Sonic explained "I'll need you to really step up now. It will be a baby pokemon".
"Rai rai!" raichu cried out eager for that time to come. Sonic smiled and pet its head.
"You are the best, partner" he said.
"Hey what does that make us? Extras?" Tails asked joking.
"Ahaha. Funny. Just keep in mind this joke will come back like a boomerang when you grow closer with eevee" Sonic jokingly warned him.
"We'll see".
Finally reaching Goldenrod city, they were all taken aback by the sights. The city was much larger than any other Sonic had visited in his journey thus far.
Immediately Tails wanted to go visit the one place in Goldenrod he just had to visit; their experimental power station.
"No please not again. Don't you remember what happened last time you and I found ourselves at a power station?" Sonic joked pretending to panic.
"Yeah I do. Raichu evolved from Pikachu. You're welcome" Tails roasted his friend hard with a smile, causing Knuckles to scream 'ooooooooooh snaaaap!' directily in Sonic's ear.
"Ouch. Jeez Knuckles, you scream too loudly" Sonic groaned rubbing the side of his head.
Relenting the three friends made their way towards the power station. Raichu grew a little sleepy after a while so Sonic recalled it promising to call it out when it was lunchtime. With the egg still in his hands, team Sonic reached the perimeter fence of the power station.
"Inside the main building there is an experimental reactor running on an early version of a self-sustaining energy conversion circuit." Tails explained clearly having the time of his life "the circuit is electrical, but when it started they used a small-scale nuclear reaction as jumpstart to create the necessary starting electricity. They then momentarily connected the main generator to the reactor to supply the circuit with more power then let it do its thing. The reactor creates electricity sending it through the city like any power station would, but here's the thing; it absorbs the natural heat of the sun by making its surface super conductive to heat. The thermal energy is then turned to electrical while whatever energy isn't converted to electrical is turned into chemical energy and stored".
"But what happens during the night when there is no sun?" Knuckles asked his friend.
"The stored chemical energy takes over. Since the surface is super conductive to heat, a lot of energy is gathered. More than required during the day".
"And what when there is no sunny weather?" Sonic asked without taking his eyes of the reactor.
"So far not much. In those cases, the workers use their electric type pokemon to generate electricity. They are looking for ways to harness more natural energy to jump over the weather hurdle".
"How many electric types are they using for this? Such a generator would require tens of them".
"Yeah they use a lot. You would either need a lot of normal ones or a thunderbolt struck by a legendary electric type, so Zapdos".
"Couldn't raichu do this as well? It did go toe to toe with Mike's Zapdos".
"Not really. Battle power output and standard electricity output are not one and the same. Raichu definitely has the ability to create enough electricity to rival Zapdos for a moment or for the duration of a battle but consistently? I don't think so" Tails explained.
"Oh I see".
After Tails admired the reactor for a while longer, the team went around the city touring and just enjoying the day, buying hot dogs for lunch, more specifically chili dogs after a dare from Knuckles. Tails ended up burning his tongue while Sonic could be described as having grown obsessed with the chili dogs, even going as far as buying 5 more for the following days. Or maybe just later that same day.
After a relaxing day of adventuring through the city casually and training a while with their pokemon, the team went to enjoy the sunset at the Goldenrod city port.
"This is one big port" Tails commented chewing down a normal hot dog.
"Yeah. Goldenrod city is in essence the capital of Johto so it only makes sense it has such a big port. This is also where the S.S. Anne docks from time to time during its long cruises" Knuckles explained.
"Wish we could see it" Sonic commented "we were in Vermillion city for a while back during the Kanto journey and didn't happen to see it. Would have been really cool to see it".
Tails agreed as he took in the sight of the setting sun.
"Wish more of the journey is like today".
"It wouldn't hurt if my journey through Kanto was a little more like it. But I regret nothing" Sonic added as he raised his hand to take another bite from his chili dog.
"We should try to repeat today as much as possible wherever we go" Knuckles suggested "we're on a mission sure but it isn't everything".
"I agree" Sonic said before attempted to bite the chili dog.
His hand was shaken by an external force and he missed his mouth. Confused he looked down and saw the egg he had taken earlier that day, which he kept next to him at all times, was actually shaking.
"YO GUYS!" he screamed causing a couple of port workers to look at them from afar momentarily.
"It's hatching?!" Tails asked in surprise.
"What will it be?" Sonic asked rhetorically.
"My money's on machop" Knuckles betted.
"I say hitmonchan" Tails countered.
"Deal. Loser buys the winner another chili dog".
The egg kept shaking and cracks started appearing on its surface. Eventually a head popped up from it. Arms and legs followed.
A pair of yellow eyes on a small grey head met Sonic's eyes. The baby pokemon's eyes bulged as it broke out of the egg completely and latched itself on Sonic by hugging him.
Team Sonic was left speechless.
"Well… guess we were both wrong" Knuckles managed to say.
"What is that pokemon?" Tails inquired.
"No idea" Sonic said as he had his arms reaching out trying not to touch the small pokemon hugging him "but whatever its name is, it probably now thinks I'm its mom".
"Dude that was so unexpected" Knuckles said reaching out to pet the small pokemon, which shook against his touch.
"Um… Knuckles I don't think it likes the touch" Sonic warned his friend as he got up.
Tails went online to find the pokemon's species but couldn't match anything.
"Wait I can try and scan it with my dex" Knuckles remembered "it must be a johtonian species".
He took out his dex and tried to scan the small pokemon but found himself unable to as the dex couldn't get a clear image of it while it still latched on to Sonic for dear life even though there was no danger.
"Sonic could you make it unlatch from you momentarily?"
"I'll try. I don't want to scare it" Sonic said as he carefully put his arms around the small pokemon and carefully applying enough force to break off the hug.
The baby pokemon was visible for a moment. It was grey and its body was shaped in a way that it looked like it wore blue pants and shoes. It looked like a baby version of a fighter.
Or rather it did as next moment it started crying causing the three friends to panic momentarily. Sonic instinctively tried to hug it again which actually calmed it down. Knuckles did get the picture though.
"Alright let's see what we got" he said as the dex loaded the info.
"Tyrogue, the Scuffle Pokémon. Tyrogue is the pre-evolved form of hitmonlee and hitmonchan. It has a small but very energetic body".
"Uuuuhhh…" Knuckles made a weird noise as he was processing the picture of the dex.
"What's wrong?" Sonic asked him.
"Well… Tails was partially right. This will eventually evolve into either hitmonlee or hitmonchan. But… this isn't what it should look like".
"What do you mean?" Tails asked.
Knuckles showed them the picture. Tyrogue was presented but the picture had a pinkish skin color with red pants and shoes.
"Different color? How is that possible?" Tails asked in surprise.
Sonic wondered for a moment then gasped.
"No fucking way!"
"What? What is it?" Tails turned to him.
"Guys. Either this tyrogue or the one in the picture is a shiny tyrogue!"
"Woah you mean like your nidoking?!"
"Yes!"
"But… which is which? Which is the normal and which is the shiny?"
"I know how to find out but we will have to first set camp somewhere. I will get this little guy to get more comfortable with us then catch it in a pokeball. If I send it out and sparkles appear…"
All of them went dead quiet. Was it possible that Sonic that somehow had found his way to another shiny pokemon?
Quickly making their way to the fields outside Goldenrod, they set up camp and Sonic brought out his other two pokemon. Wooper and chikorita alongside raichu, distracted tyrogue long enough for Sonic to get a moment of freedom from the hug, while also gaining tyrogue's trust. Sonic took out a pokeball and once the three pokemon explained to tyrogue what Sonic was going for, it touched the ball on its own, turning into red energy and going into the pokeball. Sonic winded up his hand about to send it out again.
"Moment of truth guys" he said to his friends.
Tails and Knuckles nodded, holding their breath in anxiety.
Sonic exhaled and sent out tyrogue. Immediately upon emerging, sparkles indeed appeared.
"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Knuckles' scream this time reached the city.
"Pika pika?" Pikachu's ears perked up as it picked up the scream.
"You guys heard that too right?" Ash asked Brock and Misty as they were touring Goldenrod one last time before going forward.
"I'm pretty sure I did hear something" Brock confirmed.
"Me too. Sounded like yo or something. Weird".
"I'm calling Jet right now!" Knuckles screamed back at the campsite before Sonic or Tails could react.
"Two journeys and two shinies? That is a clear improbability" Tails commented "what? I am well versed on the rarity of a shiny pokemon" he added as Sonic looked at him in question.
"Yeah. Weird indeed" Sonic agreed though something about the whole situation gave him a feeling of accomplishment that he couldn't quite grasp.
After a while Jet picked up and of course cursed at his brother in a most brotherly way upon realizing Sonic had found another shiny. He promised Sonic he would get one himself one day.
After that Jet hang up, leaving team Sonic to relax. Taking out the trash, he found, oh what a surprise, Amy outside their house.
"Is this how it's going to be from now on? You're going to stake out at my house waiting for Sonic?"
"I just want to talk to him".
"How about" Jet said opening up the bin and throwing the trash bag in "you do something useful and get in? This is where you belong after".
"Rude" Amy tried to play it off.
"If I'm rude you're a hypocrite. You should go back to Shadow before he actually realizes that your home is in a trash bin".
"Shadow left. For a faraway land. I think it was called Hoenn".
"That's a great idea. I'll even buy you the ticket there myself. Anything to get you away from Sonic" Jet had the final word and went back inside, with Amy eventually leaving as well.
"At least that's a bit of good news. Shadow is out of town. Hopefully for good. The air is finally clearing for Sonic here" Jet thought as he opened the TV to do some zapping for the night, wishing more than anything to have been with his brother, Tails and Knuckles in Johto.