A Rare Sight

On the Road Again…

“…I can’t wait to get on the road again!”

“OH MY GOD SHUT UP!!!” I yelled at Chole.

“……Sorry, I just love this song, and this DEVICE IS SO COOL!”

I quickly swipe the Ipod from Chole before she turns on the song again.

“Now you can’t listen to it at all.”

Chole looks down at her hands then looks up at me with the biggest and roundest eyes I’ve ever seen.

“Aw that’s cute, it’s a shame I didn’t own a dog to CARE!”

“God, you’re such a fuckin’ buzzkill.”

We left Verdanturf Town yesterday and found our way out of Rusturf Tunnel just a few hours ago; we were now back outside with the tall grass.  I pulled out my Pokedex to see where we were, it turns out that we are only half a day’s walk to Rustboro City, so we were making good time.  Problem was that it was getting dark so we would have to make camp and make our way to the city the next day.  From there, we will head north until we reach Fallarbor Town, then Lavaridge Town where our 4th gym badge is located at.

“Ughhh, why can’t I just turn into a Charizard or some other type of flying Pokemon so we can just fly there?”

“Two reasons: one, because I don’t trust you with my life; and two, you’ll cause too much attention.”

“By who?  People fly around all the time.”

“We have not one but TWO organizations keeping their eyes on us!  I doubt that I’ll have some kind of contribution to the destruction of everyone, so that leaves you, the Mew who can talk and uses all these mysterious abilities.  That’s why I don’t want to fly.”

“Alright alright, fine.”

As we made our way to Rustboro, we began to encounter wild Pokemon, they were good, but they were better off when knocked out. 

This was going on for over two hours; walk, then get flanked by multiple Pokemon, fight, win, and then repeat.

“Eevee, Vee Eevee *huff* Eevee Vee.”

“Treeco *huff* Treeco Tree, Tree Tree Treeco *huff*.”

“Larrrrrrrrr Lar Larvi.”

“Linoone Li Li Linoone Li.”

“Garrett, I think we need to stop for the day, everyone is tired and needs to rest.”

“Thirty more minutes.”

“*Sigh* fine.”

Thirty minutes passed and we finally stopped, we decided to make camp under a tree surrounded by tall grass.

Treeco slowly climbed the tree and knocked down multiple branches; Chole then turned into a Charmander and made a fire.  No one wanted to eat or just “hang out” so I took out a few sleeping bags and we all went to sleep for the day.

Dream Time

I saw myself running, I don’t know why.  I was swatting the tall grass that got into my way.  All of a sudden the image of a body appeared on the ground, it was blurred so I couldn’t see who it was.

I quickly knelt down and picked up the body.

“Are you alright?”  I say to the body.

“T-they were *cough* they were h-here.”

“Who, who was here?”

It was the middle of the night when my eyes flip open; all of a sudden I began to hear a scream.  It was as if someone just got stabbed.

“Did you hear that?” I said to Chole.

“Hmm, not now mommy, I’m almost to level 10,” Chole mumbled in her sleep.

“Dammit,” I quickly put on my jacket and ran towards the sound.

It wasn’t loud but I could hear soft crying, it was getting closer every step I took

“Where are you!?” I call out to the crying.

Silence was all I could hear, suddenly I heard a voice

“O-over here,” I softly hear to my left.

I took ten more steps when I finally discovered the source of the scream.  It was a girl, about 18-19 years old; she was wearing a pink bath robe and really nothing else.  I quickly knelt down and checked her pulse.  She was alright, but her heartbeat was racing.

“Hey, hey there are you alright,” I softly slap the girl’s cheek.

The girl’s eyes slowly opened.

“Oh thank god,” I said.

“T-Those eye, r-red like blood,” the girl slowly says.

“Who’s eyes?  What are you talking about?”

The girl slowly pointed her finger in the opposite direction.

“T-they were *cough* they were h-here,” the girl said.

“Who, who’s here,” I slowly shook her.

All of a sudden, I feel four arms wrap around me and quickly brought me to my feet.

“HEY WHAT THE FUCK, LET GO OF ME!” I break free from their grasp but was immediately struck in the stomach.

“Oh damn, that hurt!” I grab the part of my stomach where it was hit.

I slowly look up to see who punched me; both strangers were wearing black hoodies but it was too dark to see their faces.

The two strangers brought me to my feet, it was my chance again.  I quickly shook free from their grasp and I swung a fist at their direction.  My fist was caught and I was struck to the face this time.  I went to my knees when I heard the click of a gun.

“Goodbye.”

I shut my eyes and tensed up for the bullet to kill me.

*BOOM!*

Before the stranger could kill me, something exploded right in front of him and sent him flying, leaving a dust cloud in his vicinity.  I slowly opened my eyes to find him gone.

“What the…” I said.

Three gunshots were fired, and then the sound of a bone crack followed after. 

“G-get away from me!  Get awa*BOOM*”

Another dust cloud appeared after the explosion.  I covered my eyes so the dust wouldn’t hit them.  The whole time this happened, my mind kept on saying “déjà vu, déjà vu.”

Thirty seconds later, the dust cleared and the shape of my rescuer appeared.

“Eevee!”

“Oh thank god!” I said as I hugged Buddy.

“Are you alright?!” Chole said as she appeared from my right side.

“Linoone!”

“Treeco Tree!”

“Lar Lar Larvi Lar Larvitar!!!”  Ruby quickly ran to me and gave me a hug that could crush a rock.

“Ok Ruby, that’s enough you’re making it worse.”

Ruby slowly released her grip.

“Here, let me help you,” Chole’s hands began to turn green.

Chole then placed both hands on the two places that I got struck.  A few seconds later, the pain began to disappear.

“Thanks, but don’t pay attention to me, go to the girl,” I pointed to the girl lying behind me.

Chole floated over to the girl and copied her actions as she did with me. 

“Garrett, I got some bad news, the girl’s wounds are serious.  I can give her more time, but I think you need a hospital for this.”

I quickly picked the girl up.

“Back to the camp!” I said to the team.

We ran as fast as we could, after getting back to camp and packing up the sleeping bags, we made our way to Rustboro. 

We ran and ran, no one took breaks, no one didn’t even want one, we knew the risks if we stopped; it took over two hours but we finally made it to Rustboro City, just as the sun began to rise.

“Oh thank god!  I don’t think my legs can take it anymore,” Chole said in the form of a Houndour.

“Come on, we can’t stop now, the hospital is only three blocks away.”

“Oh god help me, I promise I’ll lay off the sweets if you let me live.”

Soon enough, we were running again, it took us five minutes to get there.

“Go!  We’ll wait out here,” Chole said, pointed her paw to the door.

“Fine,” I quickly run through the sliding doors and run up to the front counter.

“HELP…*HUFF* PLEASE!!” I said to the nurse as I fell to my knees with the girl in my arms.

“OH MY GOD!  You there, get me a stretcher NOW!” the nurse pointed to another nurse.

Two other nurses walked in front of me and picked up the girl and placed the girl on the stretcher, they then ran off with her to one of the hospital rooms.

“Sir….sir do you need some help as well?”

“No…*huff*….just…*huff*…some water please…*huff*”

The nurse from the counter walked over to the water cooler and handed me a cup.

I looked at the cup and tossed it away; I then got on my knees again and drank from the jug itself.

“Oh my, sir there’s…never mind,” the nurse just walked away and went back to her normal duties.

After drinking half of my body weight in water, I walked over to the counter to talk to the nurse again.

“Sir I have a few questions before you leave,”

“Shoot.”

“Is this woman related to you?”

“No, I just found her lying on the ground.”

“How did you find her?”

“Me and my Pokemon were making our way back here from Mauville City when we decided to make camp, it was about 2 when I heard a scream.  I followed the scream and found the girl just lying there.”

“Anything else you can tell me?”

I thought back to the scene where I saw the two men wearing black hoodies, I had a pretty good idea of who it was.

“No, that’s it.”

“Thank you, that’s all we need to know,” the nurse exited from the counter and began to walk down the hallway.

“H-hey before you go, do you think I can come back and check on her?”

“Come back this evening, we’ll have an answer for you at that time.”

“Thank you.”

I then walked out of the building to find my Pokemon sitting there, waiting for me.

“Come on, let’s go check into a Pokemon Center,” I said to the team.

We walked for twenty minutes when we finally got to the center; I went up to the front counter and asked for a room.

“There you go, anything else I can do?” the nurse said as she handed me a room key.

“Yeah, can you heal my Pokemon?  We fought a ton while coming here,” I returned Linoone, Ruby, and Treeco to their Pokeballs and placed Buddy on the counter.

“Of course, it’ll be about three hours,” the nurse said while taking the Pokeballs.

“Thanks,” I said, tired out of my mind.

Chole and I both made our way up to our room.

“Well that was fun,” Chole said.

“My legs are about to explode,” I said as I opened the door to our room.

We both dived onto a bed and immediately closed our eyes.  I was about to fall asleep when I heard Chole’s voice.

“Garrett.”

“What?”

“You do realize this is the Pokemon Center that charges you.”

My eyes shot open.

“Chole.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to kill myself.”

“Okay have fun,” Chole said as she drifted off to sleep.

A Few Hours Later

I was fast asleep when all of a sudden I heard someone knocking at our door.  Like a zombie, I drudged toward the door and opened it; it was the nurse with my Pokemon.

“Hello there, your Pokemon are all better now, here’s your bill,” the nurse handed me the Pokeballs and a bill then left.

I released everyone from their balls and slowly went back to bed.

“Buddy,” I softly say.

“Vee?”

“I would like you to hit me in the head so hard that I can’t see the number on this bill anymore.”

“Veeee?”

“Right now, I’d rather have a stroke than deal with this FUCKING TAB!!!”

“Woah wha-what happened?  Morning already?”  Chole quickly shot up.

“Nothing, the inevitable came,” I said while lying on the bed trying to go to sleep.

“Oh, the bill arrived, whatever I’m going back to sleep,” Chole said as she lied back down.

Buddy, Ruby, Linoone, and Treeco picked their beds and followed our actions.

Hours Later

It was around 3 in the afternoon when we got up.  I went to the front counter, had a scene, paid for the bill, then left.

“So where to now?  We can’t go back to the hospital now.” Chole said to me as we walked down the street.

“I feel like catching up with somebody,” I replied.

We made our way to the Rustboro Gym to find Roxanne sweeping the front steps of the gym.

“Well hello there, do I know you?” I joked.

“Garrett! Oh my goodness, it’s nice to see you again,” Roxanne said as she gave me a friendly hug.

“Same to you.”

“So how many badges do you have now?”

“Three, and one ribbon if you want to count that.”

“Wow, you’re doing contests as well?”

“Nah, I did it for this little girl right here,” I said, picking up Ruby and placing her on my shoulders.

“Awww, she’s so cute,” Roxanne rubbed her head.

“I thought you’d like her.”

“I do, she’s so adorable.”

Ruby blushed.

“So I’m guessing you came back to make your way to Lavaridge?” Roxanne said as she invited us inside.

“Of course,” I said.

We made our way to what looks like, a living room.  We all sat down.

“…And something else,” I followed after.

“And what would that be?”

It took me a second to figure out what to say.

“….How much do you know about Apocalypse?” I lean in closer to her as if I’m telling a secret; well, at that time I was actually.

It was quiet for a minute or two when Roxanne stood up and looked out the window.

“….I’m guessing you know about Purification as well?” Roxanne finally replies back.

“Yeah.”

“I’m telling you this because you’re a friend.”

“Fine, I just need to know more about them.”

“….Four years ago, when the government found out about Apocalypse, they formed Purification.”

“Yeah, I was already told about that.”

Roxanne grinned, “well what you don’t know is that along with forming Purification, the government hired trainers and placed them all across Hoenn to report any acts made by Apocalypse, these trainers were hired to spy upon Apocalypse when Purification wasn’t around.

“Where are you going with this?” I said.

“Don’t you see Garrett?  Rustboro, Dewford, Mauville, Lavaridge, Petalburg, Fortree, and Sootopolis.  Nine trainers were hired and placed in these towns and cities to help Purification go against Apocalypse.”

“Wait a minute, are you saying that…”

“Yes Garrett, we gym leaders are working for Purification.”

Silence fell upon us like a ton of bricks.  I was speechless, what could I say in response. 

“Speechless?” Roxanne finally broke the ice.

“Well y-yeah, wouldn’t you be?  But what happened to the previous gym leaders before Purification?”

“Sent off, no one knows where they are, not even Purification.”

“But why, why gym leaders?”

“Trainers like you are made everyday, besides keeping a lookout for Apocalypse, we gym leaders keep an eye out for special trainers like you, ones that are powerful with their Pokemon and never crack under pressure.  Every time we are beaten, we report to HQ about the trainer; over time, if they continue to hold onto this talent, we then send a member and recruit them to the team.”

“But what if they don’t want to work for Purification?”

“If they don’t we send them on their way, but before they go through an oath of silence to make sure they never speak a word of what happened.”

“This…is unbelievable.”

Roxanne giggled and sat back down on one of the chairs.

“I knew you were going to say that, what troubles me is why you would bring this up?”

“Oh; well anyways, after getting my third badge we decided to head back to Rustboro.  It took us a day to reach the outskirts of the city when we decided to make camp.  As we slept I was awoken to a girl screaming, when I went to her she was on the ground, pretty beaten up.”

“Go on,” Roxanne said with a serious face.

“As I tried talking to her, I was attacked by two men.  *Sigh* they were wearing black hoodies.”

Roxanne stood back up, “and then what?”

“Buddy saved my life before they had the chance of putting a bullet right here,” I pointed to my forehead.

“I then picked up the girl and ran here.”

Roxanne walked to the window and closed the blinds.

“Did you kill them?” she asked.

“I didn’t kill them, Buddy did you kill them?” I turned my head to Buddy.

“Vee,” Buddy shook his head.

“Oh my, oh my.  This is bad, this is bad,” Roxanne walked around the room looking for something.

“What’s wrong?”

“They know you survived, and now they know there’s an eye witness walking around.”

“And?”

Roxanne grabbed my shoulders, “Garrett, they…will…kill…you.”

“…Well, it was dark out when it happened, maybe they didn’t get a good glimpse of my face.”

“Maybe, but we can’t take that chance.  I need to call HQ and tell them about the activity near Rustboro.”

“Well you do that, I have my own contact,” I held up the card Jade gave me a while back.

“Very well then,” we all walked to the front entrance.

“It was very nice to see you again Roxanne,” I gave her a hug.

“You to Garrett.”

“I’ll come back, we’ll talk again,” I said as I walked backwards.

“I’d like that, bye Garrett,” Roxanne waved as I turned around.

“Oh and Garrett, one last thing!” Roxanne called out to me.

“Yeah?”

“Be careful, you’re in deep water now.”

“I had to be careful the day I started my journey,” I waved back to her and walked away.

“So what now Mr. Livesontheedge?” Chole asked.

I checked my watch, it was around 7.

“Lets go to the hospital, I want to know more about this girl and what she has to do with Apocalypse.”

“You got that right.”

We all made our way to the hospital, not stopping at anytime.

It took us ten minutes to get to the hospital; I walked up to the front counter to find a different nurse working the front counter.

“Hi there…uh Cathy, I’m here to see…”

“MAY I HELP YOU?” the nurse asked in the deepest voice I have ever heard, it was as if she sucked a balloon full of Sulfur Hexafluoride.

My eyes expanded, Buddy and Chole were on the floor laughing their asses off.

“IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR POKEMON?”

“N-nothing, can I see the *chuckle* *sigh* can I see the guest I brought in at around midnight?”

“DOWN THE HALLWAY, FIFTH DOOR TO YOUR RIGHT.”

“Thank you,” I said as I picked up Chole and Buddy and covered their laughing mouths with my hands.

I followed the nurse’s directions and got to the room with the mysterious girl I found.

Slowly, I opened the door to her room.  Sounds of the heartbeat monitor flooded the room with its beeping.

I walked over to the bed and sat down on the chair next to it.

“Hello? Miss, can you hear me?”

The girl’s eyes slowly fluttered open and her pupils pointed in my direction. 

“Hey there, glad to see you awake,” I whispered to the girl.

“T-thanks,” she replied back.

“I’ve been waiting all day to talk to you.”

“I’m flattered?  W-Who are you?” the girl whispered with a tone that sounded like she had a sore throat.

“My name’s Garrett, this is Buddy, and this little Charmander here is Chole, we’re the ones that rescued you from those guys, well my Pokemon at least, I just brought you here.”

“It’s nice to meet you, my name’s Taylor.”

I stood up and walked to the door.

“Do you think I can come back later when you’re feeling better?”

“Of course.”

“Ok then, goodbye,” I said as I opened the door.

“Goodbye…after all of these years, it’s finally nice to meet you Chole,” Taylor then drifted off to sleep.

I shut the door without saying a word; we didn’t even say anything while walking back to the center.

It wasn’t until we got back to the room when I finally said something.

“Alright Chole, how does she know you?  Has she seen you before?”

“Never, that was the first time I ever saw that face.”

“Are you lying or telling the truth?”

“I’m telling the truth you dumbass!”

“Alright, I just want to make sure.  You heard what Roxanne said, we need to be on our toes from now on.”

“I bet she has something to do with Apocalypse and Purification.”

“Ya think?”

“Garrett, I think it’s time to call that friend of yours, they will want to know about this.”

“You’re right,” I pulled out the business card Jade gave me.

I then grabbed the phone that was placed near the bed and dialed the number on the business card.

“*rrrrrriiiinnnnggg…rrrrriiiiiinnnnngggg* Thank you for calling Pokecell Wireless, please enter your six digit password for further options on your phone.”

I look down at the card, in the bottom right corner of the card was a small print of numbers.  I then pressed the numbers.

“9…0…1…3…7…4,” I quietly say to myself.

“Please hold,” music begins to play. 

Two minutes pass, all of a sudden someone answers the phone

“Garrett, it’s nice of you to call.”

“Hey there Jade, look I kind of got a problem.  There’s this girl that I…hold on a second, someone is at the door,” I walked to the door and opened it.  Standing on the other side was Jade with the phone to her ear.

“I already know.”