[Pokémon] Agents [PG-13]

[y stri]

Oh look, another fic. This time I've planned it out better than my last ones, so...

This is futurefic, so please don't complain about who had kids with who.

Chapter 1: Let's Go

"Joseph, get up!"

I groaned and opened my eyes. A boy with shoulder-length pink hair was standing over me and shaking my arm. I was tired, and I wanted to ignore him. When I closed my eyes, though, he clenched my arm. The one thing I hated about my parents being gone most of the time and leaving me in their friends' mansion was that I got Elias barging into my room at random times and annoying me. "What's wrong?" I asked irritably. It was only one in the morning, and I had only slept for two hours.

"Your mom."

"Shut up, Elias. You're not funny," I replied. Great. Elias was making stupid overused jokes, I just insulted my best friend for the first time I could remember, and I sounded like my older sister, Anna. I didn't care, though. I was tired.

Elias shook his head, and pulled on my arm, forcing me to sit up. "No, I'm being serious. Your mother is missing!"

That really woke me up. "But… how?" I could have said "why", but the reason was obvious. My mom was Kris, the Champion of Johto. Champions, the Elite Four, and gym leaders were high-ranking people, and therefore, more likely to become targets.

He didn't say anything.

"How?!" I yelled, shaking Elias' arm.

"I don't know!" he replied. "When I heard what happened, I looked all over the mansion and its surrounding areas. I even called the Pokémon League to see if there was an emergency meeting taking place. We found Typhlosion lying on the ground, paralyzed. She also had a big gash in her. I tried all the items I knew to cure paralysis on her, but nothing worked. She's currently in intensive care at the Pokémon Center."

This wasn't a good day for me.

Typhlosion was Kris' starter, and she was my playmate when I was little. Yeah, you heard me, the Champion's most powerful Pokémon played with a little boy. Anyways, she inspired me to get my own Pokémon. When the gardeners found a Budew hiding in a bush, they let me keep it. I still have him, and now he's a Roselia. I want a Roserade, but I don't have a Shiny Stone and frankly, I'm too lazy to get one. "I… I want to see her," I said quietly.

"All right, I'll come with you." Elias (thankfully) turned around to go out of the room. "You might want to get ready, though." He waved an arm at me. Yes, I was wearing crumpled pajamas and my hair was messy, but I didn't care. There were things in life that were more important than appearance.

I smirked at Elias. "You get your looks-obsession from your mom, don't you?" It was probably true. Whitney was vain. Her leader title was even "The Incredibly Pretty Girl", not that she's a girl anymore.

He didn't answer and walked out the door and out of sight. When I tried to go to my bathroom, a woman burst into the room and pointed a microphone into my face. A camera crew followed her. "So, what do you think about your mother, the champion, being missing or kidnapped? Any theories?"

I stared into the camera. "Uh…"

Elias poked his head into my room. "Oh yeah, some people from Interregional News are here to interview you."

Great timing, Elias.

"So?" The interviewer looked impatient. "Did I get the wrong kid? You look like her, but that doesn't mean that you're her kid." When I didn't respond to that she glared at me like I had made her the laughingstock of Kanto and Johto (which I probably did).

"Uh… No you didn't. Well, I just heard about heard about her disappearance a minute ago. There's a chance she just left for some reason, and I hope she returns soon." There. I said something. The reporter smiled and rambled on about the investigation that was currently underway while I stared at the camera lens. When it was over, she walked out of the room, being quickly replaced by Elias.

"Well, I think you'd be a great movie star!" he said, laughing.

"Still not funny," I grumbled. "Can you get out of here already? I'm going to take a shower so we can visit Typhlosion."

"All right," he replied, backing out of the room. "I'm just saying that they'll probably cut out most of your interview. When that lady asked if you were the right kid, she looked like she was going to kill you if you said 'no'."

"I said yes," I answered flatly "Now get out of here!"

"Okay, I'm going!" Elias walked out, but this time, he closed the door behind him. He had "left" twice already, so I expected him to come rushing in five seconds later. When the door didn't move, I walked into the bathroom.

CRASH!

"SCOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

A panicked scream came from some other room. Elias had probably started training with his Scoliopede, only to have her destroy something valuable.

Scoliopede probably broke something in Whitney's closet, I thought, smirking.

I could picture it in my head. Scoliopede was standing next to a smashed shelf of clothes. Hangers and clothes were being dissolved by acid, and Elias was looking at the damage, screaming his head off. Of course, if Whitney found out (and she would, if they really did break her closet), then… that would be scary. But I wasn't involved in it, so it wouldn't be that bad. However, Elias was my best friend, after all.

After I was done getting ready, I walked outside with Elias. "So, should we get in the car?" I asked. When I took a good look at the driveway, though, I wanted to take that back. The only car in it was Whitney's pink convertible.

"No way!" Elias retorted the second he looked at the car. "I'm not going in that… thing with you! The tabloids will have a field day!" That would be embarrassing, but my mom had just gone missing and Typhlosion was severely injured. Getting into a pink convertible with my best friend was the least of my worries.

Nice priorities, Elias.

I rolled my eyes. The thing Elias cared about the most was not having bad publicity. He always tried to justify himself by saying he "didn't want to be mobbed by people for the wrong reason" when he went outside.

He was a celebrity, in a sense. He was the son of the two richest Gym Leaders in Johto. He was training to become one of the Johto Elite Four since Kanto and Johto finally had separate Leagues. And for some reason, the girls found him absolutely irresistible. Yeah, because an annoying girly-looking guy with a destruction-loving Scoliopede is totally hot.

"Yeah, tabloids," I muttered after we stood outside for a while. "Let's walk. The Pokémon Center isn't that far." Actually, the Pokémon Center was all the way across town (and by town I mean very big city), but I didn't want to argue with Elias when Typhlosion could be dying.

The mansion was built on two large hills just outside Goldenrod City. Well, the actual building was on one, but the other hill contained a large garden. The area was also fenced in, since rich people liked private residential areas. The road up to the house was on a gentle incline; and the stairs were on the steeper side of the hill. A bridge connected the mansion and the garden.

It looked like we were standing there for a while. When I walked towards the stairs, I saw that the sun was rising. "Better hurry before all the Trainers arrive," I told Elias. He nodded and gripped the banister. I wasn't so calm, either.

Those stairs are deadly. I mean it. They're very steep, and it's easy to slip and fall on them, and falling is lethal. If the fall doesn't kill you, crashing into the electric fence will (Elias' parents are extremely paranoid about criminals).

We got to the ground with no problems. What was a problem, though, was the gate. "The gatekeepers are on break for the next hour," Elias commented when he saw the empty booth.

I was going to explode. We were going to be stuck here for the next hour, and I would be forced to put up with Elias' bragging or weird small talk! "What?! Really?! I don't know about you, but this day is really sucking for me!"

Elias wasn't even listening. He was digging into his pocket, and I had the growing urge to shove him into the electric fence. Instead, I shoved my hands in my pockets and watched him pull out a key and unlock the gate.

"Thank Arceus!" I yelled, running out into the street. That earned me several annoyed looks from the few people out already. I also noticed some of them rolled their eyes and kept walking, like it was normal for me to do weird things.

I hope they didn't put my uncut interview on the news already. The pedestrians acted like they saw my embarrassing interview, so I pulled my hood over my head for the rest of the trip to the Pokémon Center. We were so close to getting there without me snapping…

And then they appeared.

A mob of teenage girls appeared from around the corner and converged (unsurprisingly) on Elias. They squealed and took pictures with their cellphones. That was normal, so I stood there, slightly amused by the fangirls. I was ignored until someone pushed me (most likely to get closer to Elias), which made my hood fall off.

"Hey, isn't that Kris' son?" a girl asked, pointing to me. There wasn't anything to worry about, so far. They had just noticed me.

"Yeah, he's the boy from that interview!" another girl confirmed.

Well, that was going to be fun.

They regrouped around me, calling me stupid nicknames that had to do with the interview ("Interview Boy" was the most common) and asked me questions about my appearance on television, all of which were insulting. I held my ground, though. Maybe if I didn't talk, they'd leave me alone.

Finally, a girl with long chestnut hair and sunglasses, presumably the leader of the group, spoke up above the overlapping chatter. "Quiet, girls! He's not saying anything. I'm going to try something." After that, they all shut up. I was relieved for a while, but I noticed that they weren't leaving. "Uh…" the girl stammered. Then, there was a long pause.

It sounded extremely familiar…

"Uh… Can you understand me now?"

The girls broke out giggling, and I realized why.

She was copying the way I talked on the interview! Stupid news people didn't have the decency to cut that part out of the interview… I thought angrily. It could have been live, but I was too upset to think about that. Elias looked angry, too. He was proud of his fan count (too proud for his own good), but he wouldn't stand around and let his fans make fun of his best friend. "You guys—" he began, but I immediately cut him off.

"Okay, that's it!" I pressed towards the Pokémon Center, and most of the girls stepped back. I shoved a few aside, hoping there were no cameras around. Everyone was already making fun of me as is, and I didn't need more camera time. "You think I act like that every day? I was not ready! I just got woken up at one in the morning and told that my mom went missing and her Typhlosion was dying! Then they just shoved a camera in my face! Sure it's embarrassing, but everyone shouldn't laugh at me for it!" Then, I dashed down the street, pulling my hood even lower over my face.

I had run for a couple of blocks until Elias caught up to me, and I slowed down. The rest of the walk was in silence until we got to the Pokémon Center. "Sorry about that." Elias waved to a couple of girls who let us go in front of them in the line to the counter, and I glared at him. "What? All my fans love me, so the least I can do is respond to them. You know, some of them even think of me as a man."

At this, I started laughing. For once, nobody stared at me. They were all to busy watching TV, getting their Pokémon healed, trying to see their Pokémon, or trying to get a room. "So, you're the man and I'm… Interview Boy?" I was sixteen and Elias was fifteen, but he acted immature most of the time. Well, a lot of people call me childish, but that's not the point!

"Pretty much," he replied. I decided to ignore Elias, which was easy since we were next.

"We're here to see a Pokémon," I told the nurse.

"Who are you two?" She knew who we were, but she had to check the list of Pokémon to see if any of them were ours.

"Joseph Cosca and Elias Anderson," I replied.

The nurse looked over her list. "There's no Pokémon in the building under either of your names."

"Well, we're here to see the Typhlosion belonging to Crystal Cosca."

"Okay, then. Follow me."

We followed the nurse down a flight of stairs into the hospital wing of the Pokémon Center. I could see visitors and doctors walking to and from rooms. There weren't enough of them to get in the way, but we still had to get close to the walls in order to let some paramedics bring in a stretcher with a badly burned Grotle on it. When we reached Typhlosion's room, the nurse forced us to sit outside while she checked on the Pokémon.

After five minutes, Elias bolted out of his chair. "How long do we have to wait? We've been sitting here forever!"

Rich people amuse me.

"The doctors have to check if Typhlosion is okay for visiting," the nurse, having heard him from inside the room, explained. "The paralysis is finally beginning to wear off, so I think it won't do any harm for you two to see her."

Nodding, we walked inside.

The large badger-like creature on the bed wasn't moving her body, but her limbs, which were raised, twitched occasionally. An IV was attached to both of her arms. The dark blue fur on her back was covered with bandages that were stained dark brown. Her pupils were black pinpoints in her red irises.

I stared down at her sadly and rubbed her cream-colored belly. "How long has she been like this?"

"Six hours," the nurse replied, replacing an empty IV bag.

"Well, what can we do now?" Elias asked. "Hope she won't die? She's just twitching, and we're just staring at her. It's like when the guests look at the dead person before they get buried in a funeral."

Was Elias serious? That was the first time he said anything that indicated that he had something that at least resembled a brain.

"And besides, I have to go. I have to meet Karla Thomas, the girl who my parents said I was going to marry, today. I hope she's pretty…"

And there it went.

"Yeah, let's go," I replied dryly. "Can't pass up your opportunity to meet some girl."

"Well, since I'm being forced to marry her, it would be nice if she was pretty!" he exclaimed. He was a little too loud; as people stared at him. Then again, people always stare at him.

When we got back to the mansion, I collapsed onto a couch. "When is she coming?" I asked, trying to make small talk since the day had been so awkward.

"About two hours from now. My parents will be back from their gyms a little after she comes." Elias sat next to me and tried to fix his hair.

I lay down on the couch, kicking Elias until he got off the couch and onto a chair. "I hope nothing weird happens for the rest of the day."

Turns out, I couldn't even get that.

There was a knock on the door, and I knew Elias wouldn't get it since he was too preoccupied with the prospect of meeting his future wife. "I got it," I groaned irritably.

When I opened a door, I almost wet myself. A gigantic purple scorpion with fangs and large, crushing pincers was standing outside.

Now, if there's one thing I hate, it's bugs. I know Drapion's not a Bug-type, but that doesn't mean it's not a bug. If it looks like a bug, it is a bug. At least, that's what I think. Ironically, I have to live with bugs every day. I don't stick around near them too long, and there's plenty of other places to go in the mansion. Seeing one in the doorway made me yell, "For the love of Arceus! What is that thing doing here!"

A young woman stepped out from behind the Drapion, and I recognized her. She was wearing her usual black uniform, and her red hair was a little longer than I remembered. And when I say red, I mean actual red, not orange or auburn.

"Well, that's a nice way to greet your older sister after she's been gone for two years." She walked into the room, her Drapion following, and glared at me. Typical. Her gray eyes had a peculiar metallic appearance, and some even called them silver. Her sarcastic comment made her eyes glint even more.

"Like you've treated me better," I retorted.

She was about to open her mouth to say something when Elias burst into the room. "Hi, Anna!" he called, seemingly oblivious about our sarcastic exchange. "Looks like your Skorupi's evolved!"

"Yeah, she has." Anna turned and smiled genuinely, which I had never seen her do before. Jeez, does Elias have the power to get every girl in the world? Then, her expression grew serious. "Listen up, I have something important to tell you." Anna started herding us into the basement. When we were seated at the laundry table, a loud doorbell suddenly reverberated through the room.

Elias perked up. "Karla's here!" he cried, practically dashing up the stairs to meet her.

"Well, okay." Anna recalled Drapion, unaffected by Elias' leave. "Well, Team Rocket has figured out some things that may be related to Mom's disappearance."

Team Rocket is not a crime syndicate anymore. Now, it trains agents that watch and attempt to end suspicious activity having to do with the Pokémon League. My dad founded it, which is ironic because his dad was a leader of the original Team Rocket. Because of this, he let me and Anna become agents. I took the offer but didn't do anything, but Anna became a full member. She was away for two years at their Cinnabar Island base.

"Let's hear it then."

Anna pulled a notepad with hastily scribbled contents out of her uniform and began reading from it. "There's been suspicious activity at a lab facility in the Sevii Islands, Chrono Labs. Spies there have noted their interests in Pokémon and status conditions. Typhlosion was paralyzed but couldn't be healed normally, right?" I stared at her in disbelief. How did she know that already? "News travels fast, especially if you're an agent," she explained. "We're pretty sure that was the work of Chrono Labs. Now, I don't know why they kidnapped Mom, but they must have incapacitated all her other Pokémon in a similar way to have a chance, since they don't train that much." I nodded. How else could scientists with weak Pokémon kidnap the League champion of Johto? "And now a completely unrelated thing. When Elias said Karla, did he mean Karla Thomas?"

"I think so," I replied. I wasn't paying attention to her last name, but I definitely heard the name Karla.

"Her father's the head of Chrono Labs. And another thing. Some scientists of theirs showed up at the Team Rocket Cinnabar HQ. When they saw it was us, they said they had the wrong address. We saw them get on a boat and leave after that." She tucked the notepad back in her uniform and stared up at the door.

"Suspicious," I replied, not really interested in that unrelated information. Karla Thomas was in the mansion…and she was with Elias! I kicked the chair out and stood up, nearly whacking Anna in the head.

"Watch it!" she hissed. "What's wrong?"

"Elias is in danger!" I blurted out. Anna was impassive, as always. I would have yelled at her, but I heard the door at the top of the stairwell open.

A lady who I assumed was Karla Thomas appeared in the doorway. She had wavy brown hair and blue eyes, and in my opinion (and probably in a lot of other people's opinions), Elias didn't have to worry about her not being pretty. The only clear thought I could form was, Whoa, Elias is marrying her? She couldn't have been younger than twenty-one. I knew I was staring at her, but I didn't care. Other guys probably stared at her all the time.

"What's the matter, Joseph? Jealous?" Elias, who was clutching Karla's hand, grinned down at me smugly.

"Nah, I feel sorry for Karla because she has to marry you. I mean, compared to her you're a little kid!"

Elias tried to rush forward into the basement, but Karla was in his way. A smile crossed his face. "Fine then. I'll be the better man and not respond to your insult, unlike someone I know who snapped at a crowd of girls over an interview."

I had already put up with enough with my interview and decided that attacking Elias wouldn't be a bad idea. However, the basement was unlit (Anna refused to turn the lights on so nobody would find us), and on my way to the stairs I tripped over the chair I had kicked.

"Smooth," he commented. "The landing was a little sketchy, though."

I was at the foot of the stairs, and could easily run up and throttle Elias. Before I could even move, Karla once again intervened, this time with a question. "I heard you yell that Elias is in danger. Why? What's wrong?"

I could literally feel Anna's eyes burning into my back. Granted, it could just be pieces of the chair embedded into my back, but… I couldn't tell the real story in front of Karla, especially since her dad was the head of the suspected group. Of course, she might not know about it, but the chances of that were very low. "I said Elias is in danger because… I think he broke something in his mom's closet earlier this morning." I hoped that was a good enough cover-up, since Karla knew nothing about what life was like with Elias' family. "Whitney's obsessed with her clothes," I added.

I looked around the room nervously to check everyone else's reactions. Anna looked like she didn't care, but her eyes were angry. Elias was nervous, and Karla was mildly perplexed at the most. "Oh, is that it?" She frowned. "So, you and your sister usually sit in a dark basement and talk about Elias' mom killing him?" She turned around and Elias stepped out of the room. "Want to go to a more comfortable room with us?" she offered.

"Sure," Anna replied. As soon as they had shut the door, she glared at me. "What kind of stupid cover story was that? Who would believe that?"

"Well, it worked!" I countered.

Anna sighed and stood up. "Okay, let's go up so they don't get suspicious."

We found Elias and Karla in a sitting room at the front of the mansion. I liked that room because the large window gave you a view of about half of Goldenrod.

"Hello, you two," Karla said. "I'd love to talk with you two, but Elias and I are going on a trip.

Elias didn't seem to be informed about that, and he was shocked. "A trip? To where?"

Karla smiled sweetly, and to me her smile was too wide to not be suspicious. Anna seemed to notice; but she didn't say anything about it. Elias, of course, was totally oblivious. "Oh, we're just going to Five Island."

"What, now? I kind of had an eventful day, and—"

"Yes, now!" Karla grabbed Elias' arm and dragged him out of the room.

As soon as they were out of sight and out of hearing range, Anna walked over to the window and gripped the windowsill hard. "Well, ****. This is worse than I thought! Was she standing at the basement door the whole time?"

I walked over to the window and looked down at the driveway. A black limo was parked there, and Karla was shoving Elias into a seat. "What?"

Anna frowned down at them. "Use your head. Five Island. They're going to the town Five Island."

I remembered only one thing about the Sevii Islands: The towns were named after the numbered island, and the islands were named after something completely different. One Island was on Knot Island, Two Island was on Boon Island, Three Island was on Kin Island, Four Island was on Floe Island, Five Island was on Chrono Island—

Chrono Island.

For a second, I was too shocked to speak.

"So?" Anna prompted.

"I get it," I said, watching the limo drive out of the open gates. "They've got Elias, too."

Author's Note: I liked Elias. Too bad we won't be seeing him for a while.

Silver is Joseph's and Anna's dad. Giovanni is Silver's dad. They got their last name from Giovanni. Cosca is a mafia term. OH LOOK ISN'T ELECTRICMUDKIP THE MOST ORIGINAL PERSON EVER?

Two questions: Did I get the semicolons right? If there's one thing I can't use, it's semicolons.
Can you guys figure out who Elias' dad is? If so, is it too obvious?

Okay, I'll get in a new update next week! (or maybe not... depending on how school goes.)
​

 

[Misheard Whisper]

On the whole, this is a story with an interesting concept. It seems that I've seen a lot of son-of-X-and-Y going on, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, I guess.

One thing I notice about this is that you tend to drop big chunks of information on the reader, and it's a little clumsy, especially this one:

Team Rocket is not a crime syndicate anymore. Now, it trains agents that watch and attempt to end suspicious activity having to do with the Pokémon League. My dad founded it, which is ironic because his dad was a leader of the original Team Rocket. Because of this, he let me and Anna become agents. I took the offer but didn't do anything, but Anna became a full member. She was away for two years at their Cinnabar Island base.

It stands out because it came somewhat out of nowhere. I'd almost prefer to be left in the dark here, wondering why Team Rocket is being law-abiding and useful, rather than having that dropped on me.

Semicolons . . . I didn't actually notice any, which is a good sign, because I tend to notice things like that if used incorrectly. I might've just missed them. But they're like full stops - you don't stop and go 'Wow, he put that full stop in the right place! Nice job!' Like speech tags, they kinda slip under the radar unless used glaringly wrong.

Grammar-wise, I noticed a few errors while reading, but none that impeded my understanding of the text, so I'll let that pass. If there are errors I remember after reading the chapter, I usually go back and cover them, but there's no need for that here.

So . . . all in all, potentially interesting. But be very careful - I've seen lots of fics with offspring of Gym Leaders/player characters/rivals, and many of them go downhill quite fast, some even falling into the dreaded way of the Mary Sue. Just keep an eye out for that.

Oh, and for Elias' father, I'm going to guess

Spoiler:

Bugsy, because of the Scolipede.

 

[y stri]

Thanks for reviewing, Misheard Whisper!

That info-dropping's starting to bother me too, but I want to put stuff so people don't get really confused. My chapters seem to go:

dialogue

dialogue

giant paragraph of info

...and so on.

Yeah, I've noticed OCs with direct ties to canon characters can get Mary Sue-ish, and I've been guilty of it before.

My characters seem like specific stock characters right now. (stuck-up rich kid, mostly normal guy, angry/snarky person)

And about Elias' dad

Spoiler:

Yeah, you got it! Was I too obvious?

 

[Misheard Whisper]

Yeah, I've noticed OCs with direct ties to canon characters can get Mary Sue-ish, and I've been guilty of it before.

My characters seem like specific stock characters right now. (stuck-up rich kid, mostly normal guy, angry/snarky person)

The only thing to do, then, is to take those stock characters and make them your own. Give them a bit more personality, give them wants, needs, fears and dislikes. Build them up a bit at a time and before long they'll be more like friends than characters, if that makes sense.

And about Elias' dad

Spoiler:

Yeah, you got it! Was I too obvious?

Too obvious? Nah. I was reading through the story with the question of who it was niggling at the back of my mind (in fact, since you hinted at children of canon characters in your author's notes, I spent the whole time subconsciously figuring out who everyone was.), and it didn't actually. Then at the end I went 'oh hang on, I never worked out who that was'. I thought back to the clues left and it was easy to guess, but like I say, it didn't occur to me while actually reading.

 

[y stri]

Chapter 2: The 16-Year-Old Baby

I would love to say that I leaped out the window, got my Roselia to lay a spike trap in front of the limo, and saved Elias, but I didn't.

Instead, I just stood there and watched as my best friend was kidnapped by his fiancé.

In fact, I didn't even have my Roselia.

The limo sped down the road and turned, almost clipping a gray sports car that belonged to Elias' parents.

I wondered if they saw their son in the limo.

"Let's go," Anna said, heading towards the front door.

"Go where?" What were we supposed to do? Go to Five Island and lay an ambush for them? How was that going to work with only two people and two Pokémon of varying sizes?

"To Cinnabar Island. I'm going to request for us to take on this mission."

"But why?" Honestly, I didn't want to go up against that group of scientists who could incapacitate a powerful, skilled Pokémon easily. If they could do that, what could they do to us humans? "Besides, you're a good agent, but I've barely trained."

Anna sighed. "Isn't it obvious, Joe? They messed with our family. It's personal now."

"Elias isn't our family."

"That's not the point! And he treats us like family. He even lets us live at his house!"

I sighed. There was no way to get out of it, unless I reasoned well enough. "But Anna, I thought it's not a good idea for us to go on a mission just because of our personal—what was that word again?"

"Vendetta?" she suggested.

"Okay, that works."

"Well," Anna replied, "It would be bad if you weren't a trained agent. If Elias' parents wanted to go on the mission, they would be turned down the second they asked."

I sighed. There was no way out of it. Anna was going on that mission, and she was taking me with her.

"So, Joseph," she said, "Do you have your Roselia?"

I shook my head. Unlike the other members of my family, Pokémon training wasn't really my thing. The cause of this was an unusually vivid childhood memory.

Budew wasn't my first Pokémon. When I was seven, I got a male Nidoran from my dad. I liked battling him around the house. Once I started breaking things, Whitney suggested that I battle various trainers in her gym. He was doing great, since he knew Double Kick and Whitney's trainers specialized in Normal types.

Then, I wanted to battle a challenger. He had a Graveler. The Graveler started off with a Rock Throw. Nidoran easily shattered the rocks with kicks. He used Double Kick on the Graveler, but despite the advantage, Graveler looked unhurt. Its trainer commanded it to use Rollout, which was a direct hit. Graveler was large and heavy, and Nidoran was small and relied on speed rather than defenses. Anyways, Nidoran…

Nidoran died from being crushed by Graveler.

The trainer was very nice about it. He told me he should have had more sense than to use Rollout on a little Nidoran and gave me a generous amount of money, which was four times the amount I would have gotten if I won. I didn't care, though. My Pokémon just died.

Whitney tried to console me. She told me that Pokémon did die in battle, and there was nothing you could do about it except for getting another one.

Despite that, I decided to never pursue being a trainer again. When I got older, I realized that just keeping Budew as a pet wasn't good and I needed to train him. I would fight the occasional pidgey in the garden, but never tried to challenge another person.

"He's in the garden," I said. "Don't battle much with him."

Anna nodded. She knew about the dead Nidoran incident. "I know, but shouldn't you keep him with you? At least put him in his Poké Ball."

"He likes the fresh air and sunlight. He's a plant, after all."

"Okay, let's go to the garden." A lock clicked in the vicinity of the front door. "And let's leave that way, since Elias' parents are back."

It wasn't until we got outside that Anna decided to answer my question of why we needed to evade Elias' parents.

"We've have to get a good cover story so nobody knows where we've gone," she explained. "Go get Roselia and wait at the bridge. I have to use the bathroom."

She walked off into the mansion, and I walked across the bridge to the garden, which was my favorite place in the world. I wandered around the flowerbeds and past perfectly trimmed topiaries, wondering where Roselia had run off to. After a while, I stopped looking for him and just walked around absorbing the scents of the flowers.

"Roo!"

I looked down and saw a familiar figure. He was vaguely humanoid, but barely came up to my knee. There were three large thorns on his head, and a leaf with a yellow stripe on it. His rose-tipped arms were poised to attack, but he relaxed as soon as he saw my face.

"Hey, Roselia," I said. "We have to go somewhere, so I'm going to put you in your Poké Ball, okay?"

He stood still as I dug the sphere out of my pocket and pressed the button. The Poké Ball opened slightly and released a beam of light than engulfed Roselia. The light returned to the Poké Ball's interior, taking the Pokémon with it.

Now that I had my Pokémon, I headed to the bridge to wait for Anna, but she was already there. She was dressed in regular clothes and had a backpack on. Another backpack was in her hands.

"Took you long enough." She handed me the backpack. "Here. If you put this on, we'll just look like a couple of trainers."

"What if some people recognize us?"

"Well, put your hood up."

I opened my backpack so I could put my Poké Ball in, but I noticed a pile of black fabric. "What's this for?"

Anna turned the bundle slightly, revealing a large, red letter R printed on the fabric. "I got your uniform and ID for you so you can get in the base. For the mission, I also packed…well, see for yourself."

I dug around in my backpack and found a hidden pocket. The object inside was metallic. When I pulled it out, I was holding a handgun. "Whoa, a Glock?"

Anna seemed amused. "Yeah, if they're about to kill you, what are you gonna do? Send out Roselia and hope they shoot him instead of you? He's only a foot tall!"

"Well, I guess that makes sense,"

"Now come on, let's get out of here already!" Anna began to walk towards the garden.

I looked around. How were we going to get out without getting caught?

"So? Aren't you coming?"

I knew it was Anna speaking, but where did her voice come from? I didn't see her anywhere. I looked at the garden where I last saw her heading to. She wasn't there, but she was close by.

She was climbing down the side of the hill slowly. To avoid the possibility of sliding right into the electric fence, her toes dug into the slope and she gripped the uncut grass firmly.

Climbing down the hill didn't look that challenging.

However, when began, I started to think a little differently.

The side of that hill was steep, and it was hard to hold on to the tufts of grass. If I gripped it too hard, the grass would be pulled out. If I gripped it too lightly, I would fall. Everything was moist, which made the grass and ground too slippery. Fortunately, we were working with gravity rather than against it. If I tried to climb up the hill, I probably wouldn't even get a foot up.

After about half an hour, we finally got to the ground. Once again, the gate posed another challenge. It was shut again, this time because Elias' parents had finally arrived. There was no need for them to keep it open. However, I could walk up to the gatekeepers and ask them to open the gate. If I did that, they would notice Anna.

"Stay there," I told her. "I'm gonna get the gate open."

The three gatekeepers were talking, but knocking on the door got their attention.

"Hi, Joseph," one of them said. "Want me to open the gate for you?"

"Yes, please," I replied.

He nodded and pushed the button, and the gate swung open. Then, the gatekeeper went back to conversing with his coworkers. I stepped out and Anna sprinted up to me even though there was a low chance of anyone noticing her if she was walking.

I pulled the hood over my head as soon as the buildings started to appear, and for the most part, nobody noticed us.

"Hey, want to visit Mom's Typhlosion?" I offered after we had walked for a while.

"Why not? We should go to the Pokémon Center so we can make a plan, anyways."

​

We stood in Typhlosion's hospital room. Nothing had changed since my last visit. I stood there, dumbfounded by the transformation of my mother's most loyal partner to a twitching, wounded creature in the clutches of death. Without even really thinking, I unzipped my backpack and pulled out my Poké Ball. "Go, Roselia!"

The nurse and Anna glared at me like I was going crazy. They probably thought I was going to attack Typhlosion. Why would I? There wasn't any good in attacking her, except to maybe put her out of her misery. I wouldn't do that, though. There was still a chance of her full recovery.

"Use Aromatherapy!"

The roses on Roselia's hands grew larger and more fragrant. When the roses stopped growing, the smell of the flowers continued to go stronger. Everyone started taking deep breaths, trying to absorb as much of the aroma as they could. At one point, the fragrance grew so strong that it took on a physical form: a green mist. The mist converged on Typhlosion and she was shrouded by a dark green fog.

After a few minutes, I glanced over at Roselia. Aromatherapy was sapping a lot of energy from him, and he looked like he was going to collapse any second. The nurse had also noticed Roselia's condition and said, "You can make him stop now. The center has quite a few Pokémon who know Aromatherapy."

I returned Roselia, and the sweet-smelling green mist quickly dissipated. Fortunately, his fatigue wasn't in vain. When I checked Typhlosion, her once-contracted pupils had become normal again. Her breathing was less shallow and raspy than I remembered, and her limbs lay normally at her sides.

"Amazing!" The nurse looked over some monitors that the Pokémon was connected to. "She isn't fully paralyzed anymore!"

I smiled. "Aromatherapy heals all status conditions."

"Well, her wound is healing well, too. After a few more days of being in the healing machine and aromatherapy treatment, I think she'll be fully recovered!" The nurse unplugged Typhlosion's IVs and left the room.

"So, let's eat lunch and get a room," Anna said, holding one of Typhlosion's hands. She seemed abnormally pacified as she smoothed the Pokémon's fur. Usually, if she was with a critically injured Pokémon she was close with, she was full of indignant anger. Instead, she stared sadly at Typhlosion like she was mourning her death.

When she let go of the Pokémon and left, I followed her silently through the hospital. However, when we reached the stairs going up, I asked, "Wait, why do we need a room?"

"It's a better idea to travel at night so nobody recognizes us or tries to follow us. Even if they do try, they'd most likely check the Pokémon Centers at nighttime. We'd be gone by then."

I nodded since Anna was probably experienced with this and I wasn't. Besides, I was in pretty miserable condition from lack of food and rest. Quite a few people shot us strange looks when we stood at the empty check-in counter. The desk clerk, who was surprised that people had visited him during the day, added our names to the list and handed Anna our room key. We then proceeded to the upstairs area of the Pokémon Center, which contained the buffet (which was free, of course) and the rooms.

I had never been upstairs before, and I couldn't help but be curious about it. When we reached the dining floor, I stared around the large room. The buffet and eating area took up the entire room. On the right wall was a pair of double doors that probably led to the kitchen. Two doors, probably leading to the bathrooms, were on the far wall, and a staircase and elevator were in the far right corner.

"How is this stuff free?" I asked.

"The Pokémon Center's a joint operation with the PokéMart," Anna explained, walking towards the seating area. "They get their money from there. The marts are pretty profitable. All trainers, even the Elite Four, shop at them. Now go get some food while I get us a table."

I grinned. "Great idea, Anna!" I hadn't eaten any food all day, and I found myself jogging to the buffet tables. I loaded my plate with food, and walked back to the seating area, unsure of where Anna was. I decided that trying to find her would be a good idea and started pushing my way through the crowded area. I had made my way to the tables near the bathrooms when I saw her waving her arm in the air. She was at a table on the other side of the room.

Just my luck.

I managed to push my way through the cluster of tables in the center, relieved that the table Anna was at was a considerable distance away from all the others. Of course it was. Anna had probably picked the table for that reason. Of course, it could also have been the only open table she could find.

Raising her eyebrows amusedly at the quantity of food on my plate, she said, "Don't move from the table. I'm going to get some food."

I sighed, leaned back in my chair, and began eating. I'm normally a picky and slow eater, but I was so hungry I was practically inhaling the meal. When I had eaten half of my food and Anna still wasn't back, I began eating slowly. Unfortunately, I noticed that the food I had taken would normally make me gag. I choked it down anyways, and found that if I ate slowly, the food actually tasted quite…good.

A plate landed in front of me, and Anna sat down. "So," she whispered, taking tiny bites of her food inbetween words. "First, there's a matter of getting to Cinnabar Island. I think the best way to get there without looking suspicious is getting on the ship at Olivine and going to Vermilion. Then, we go to Fuchsia and rent a Pokémon to get us to Cinnabar."

"And what if we don't get picked for the mission?"

Anna slammed her can of soda on the table. Her eyes shone angrily. "I'll make them pick us." Her face relaxed. "If not, then we'll stay there and help indirectly. We'll wait until news of Mom and Elias' rescue."

"You're dedicated," I said.

"Of course I am," Anna replied. "Now finish your lunch so we can sleep. We're leaving at seven-thirty."

I nodded, and quickly finished my food. I hadn't touched my can of soda, so I slipped it into a pocket on the side of my backpack. "I'm done," I told my sister.

"Good." She got up and walked towards the stairs. I trailed behind her, but she waited for me at the bottom of the staircase. She pulled out a card and squinted critically at it, turning the plastic rectangle around and around. Finally, she mumbled, "Our room's number twenty-four on floor E."

We walked up five sets of stairs, predictably leading to floors A, B, C, D, and finally, E. Room twenty-four was almost in the middle of the long hallway. Despite the distance from the door to the stairs being very short, I began feeling fatigue from lack of sleep. When I walked inside, I immediately sat down in the doorway and looked around the room.

It was extremely small, with just enough room for bunk beds, a bedside table with a clock radio and a lamp, a medium-sized window, a desk with a swivel chair, and walking space between everything. A TV was also mounted onto the wall, and the remote was on the bedside table. There was a closet to my left, and a door leading to the bathroom on my right. It would be a good time to take a shower…

Anna, who was still standing in the doorway, kicked me. "If you're going to sit down, at least don't do it in the doorway!"

I got up and tossed my backpack onto the top bunk. Anna might have wanted the top bunk, so I looked at her.

"You can have it, she said, putting her backpack on the bottom bunk and sifting through it. "I wanted this one, anyways."

"Yeah," I replied. "If you were on the top bunk, I wouldn't be able to sleep. I would be too scared that the bunk would break and you'd fall on me."

"Shut up."

I climbed up onto the bed and picked up the backpack. It looked oddly familiar…

After looking at it for a while, I realized it was my backpack. When did Anna get the time to go in my room? Was I in the garden for that long?

"How did you get my stuff?" I asked.

Anna laughed. "You were in the garden for an hour, so I had more than enough time to go up to your room and pack you some extra stuff."

"Yeah, thanks," I replied, opening the backpack and looking in it. Besides my Team Rocket uniform and ID, I found several sets of clothes and my pajamas. In the front pocket, I found my wallet and my phone. I pulled my pajamas out. "I'm taking a shower first," I told Anna.

"You do that," she replied. "I'm going to watch the news to see if there's anything on Mom or Elias."

I walked into the bathroom and frowned at the small shower stall. It didn't even look like it had much standing room. There were bottles of shampoo, but they were in extremely small bottles. Likewise, the soap took up only one square inch. At least there is a shower in this room, I thought, getting in the stall.

After showering, I went to the sink counter to use the blow-dryer, but ended up staring at my reflection instead. The first thing I noticed was my eyes. The bright blue had grown even brighter, possibly because of the dark bags under them. My dark teal hair looked more gray than blue-green. I looked way older than sixteen.

And sleep-deprived, which I was.

Anyways, I got my hair and eyes from my mom, like how Anna got her hair and eyes from our dad. I looked older than Mom, though. Maybe I even looked like Grandpa.

Great. Not only did I do a stupid interview that everybody made fun of, but I looked like an old man in it.

Stupid Elias had to make me get up early… I thought. Then, I almost started crying when I remembered it was no time to insult him since he had been kidnapped. I quickly dried my hair and put my pajamas on so I could go out of the bathroom and Anna could take a shower. Come to think of it, she wasn't banging on the door like I thought…

When I went out, Anna was sitting on her bunk watching TV. I looked at the screen and instantly flinched. A recap of my interview was on. "So," a reporter's voiceover said. "This is the Champion's son, Joseph Cosca, speaking out about his mother's disappearance. He claims he has no idea how his mother disappeared, and he has not been put on the suspect list as the interview does not have any incriminating evidence."

"Has anything about Elias being kidnapped shown up?" I asked, climbing into my bunk.

"No, I don't think so," Anna replied. "Besides, why would they? He was last seen driving off in a limousine with his fiancé. There's nothing suspicious about that. We could claim we've seen his kidnapping, but who would believe us? We don't have any video or audio evidence that Karla forcibly took him to Chrono Island. Anyways, we're not supposed to reveal any of our information to others, since it's only known to Team Rocket."

She took some clothes out of her backpack and went to the bathroom to shower.

"All right," I said. I climbed down again to put my soda on the bedside table and turn off the TV. However, something caught my attention. The screen was showing a woman with magenta hair and a man with lavender hair. The only people I knew who looked like that were…the parents of my best friend.

Elias' parents, Whitney and Peter, were on TV. A female reporter with short brown hair was standing with them.

"First Kris…then Elias…and now Joseph," Whitney was saying. "What's going on? They're all missing!"

"Maybe Joseph and Elias are just out," the reporter suggested.

"They don't go out much," Pete replied.

"Then maybe they're out training," the reporter said.

Whitney shook her head. "No, Elias trains in the house or with one of us, and Joseph's…not much of a trainer." Her face suddenly lit up. "Elias was supposed to meet Karla Thomas today! Maybe she took him somewhere!" She added, "They're supposed to get married soon."

"Then what about Joseph? Do you know of any reason why he would be gone for so long?" the reporter asked. "Or is he actually missing? Did Kris' kidnapper see his interview and decide to go after him, too?"

Pete shut his eyes. I knew that he was thinking of a possible reason that I would be missing. "No, he doesn't have much reason to go out. Unless…he's visiting Kris' Typhlosion right now. Then, I think he'll come back soon."

"I hope he does," Whitney added quietly. Then she sighed, a long, wavering sound that echoed through my head.

I was shocked. They thought I was missing, too? They looked so sad, like all three of us were dead! Maybe they thought we were dead! Why didn't Anna want to tell them where we were going? They were in the Pokémon League. They knew about Team Rocket! If I felt extremely sad, how did they feel?

I heard the sounds of a doorknob being unlocked and turned, and I turned off the TV as soon as Anna walked into the room.

"Are you all right?" she asked, going over to me and staring at the remote in my outstretched arm. "What did you see on TV?"

I must have looked really sad if Anna felt concerned about my facial expression rather than snarking about it. Then, I started crying.

Anna patted my back. "Well?"

I wiped my face with my sleeve and climbed the ladder to my bed. "Nothing," I replied, even though Anna probably knew I was lying since I had started to sob.

"No, really." She took a step towards me. "Tell me!" she snapped.

I wiped my face with my sleeve and started mumbling into it.

"Speak up," Anna replied testily, like she was my mother.

My mother…

I started sobbing louder.

"Speak up!" Anna yelled.

I took the sleeve from my face and choked out, "I saw Elias' parents on TV, and they said Elias and me were missing! And they looked really sad, like we had died or something! Elias is missing, but I'm not! If they knew I was fine, they wouldn't be as sad. Maybe by a little, but anything's better! Why couldn't you tell them, where we're going, Anna?"

"They're in the Pokémon League, but they're not Team Rocket operatives or members. It's against the rules to give Team Rocket intelligence to people besides our operatives or members, even to a leader. They could be betraying the League. Of course, there could be double agents…" she replied. "All they know is that there's a group of people out there looking out for them. That goes for most leaders, unless they're part of Team Rocket."

"Oh. Can you get me a tissue box or something? I need to blow my nose really badly," I said.

Anna threw me a tissue box from the bathroom. Then, she set her watch's alarm to seven-thirty and put it on the bedside table.

I blew my nose messily, put the tissues and my backpack next to my pillow, and immediately fell asleep.


Author's Note: And now I try to show you Joseph's real personality, childish.

Is acting differently because of shock a bad excuse for his OOCness in the first chapter and most of this one?

Besides, people can be childish and sarcastic. *cough*me*cough*
​