Jen ran to the edge of the Tower as Gastly flew into her arms. Vulpix leapt off the Pidgeotto’s back and landed on top of Jen and Gastly, sending them toppling over.
Jen hugged her Pokemon close to her, while crying tears of joy. “I missed you two so much!”
Gastly and Vulpix were crying too. “We thought we would never be able to see you ever again!” Gastly wept.
“We thought you were dead.” Vulpix sobbed, burying her face in Jen’s shoulder.
After a few moments of tearful reunion, Jen looked up at the Pidgeotto. This Pidgeotto had bright blue eyes and almost seemed to be smiling at her.
“Could it be-?” Jen thought as she scanned the Pokemon with her Pokedex.
Pidgeotto: The second evolution of Pidgey. Pidgeotto is armed with sharp talons and dives from the sky to capture its prey. Unlike its previous evolution, Pidgeotto is more dangerous and territorial.
Jen frowned at the Pokedex. “Way to go, Mew. You managed to fool my Pokedex into thinking you really are a Pidgeotto.”
Mew flinched, and her Pokemon gave her odd stares.
“How did you know?” Mew asked as she shifted back to her original form.
Out of the corner of her eye, Jen could see her Pokemon gawking at her and Mew in bewilderment. Jen couldn’t help, but smile a little. “Mewtwo told me that you were coming, so I just figured it was you. Besides, I saw you transform from a Rattata earlier.”
Gastly and Vulpix looked at each other, seemingly hurt. “How much did we miss?” Gastly pondered aloud.
Vulpix shrugged and stared up at Jen. She sniffed Jen and frowned. “She smells singed. Why does she smell singed?”
She was directing the question towards Mew, who was now glancing around the Tower. She was looking for Mewtwo. “Pardon?”
“What happened to our master?” Gastly asked.
“Oh, she was attacked by Team Rocket. They had a Luxray attack her, but Mewtwo and I intervened before they could…kill her.” Mew replied, trailing off with the last few words.
“What’s wrong?” Jen asked, trying to sound oblivious to their conversation. “Did Team Rocket do something to you two? They better not have, or I’m going to kick their butts!”
Her Pokemon appeared to have been cheered up by her words. Vulpix nuzzled her arm and showed Jen the bandana that Misty had tied around her neck.
“Wait…is this the Cascade Badge? Misty gave you guys the badge to give to me?” Jen sounded disappointed.
Her Pokemon nodded in response.
“But I didn’t beat her! Yeah, we took out her Staryu, but we didn’t beat her! We have to go back and win the badge fair and square.”
Both Vulpix and Gastly shook their heads in disagreement. Jen could also see fear in their eyes.
“Don’t worry. If Team Rocket is still there, I’ll make sure that they don’t take you guys again. I promise.” Jen vowed.
“It’s not Team Rocket that we’re worried about, master.” Gastly tried to explain, believing Jen wouldn’t be able to understand. “How can we warn her, Vulpix?”
“I…um…hey, Mew, help us out will you? We’ve got to tell her our previous master is in Cerulean City. You know, the crazy lady we saw.”
Mew nodded. Jen tried to hide her surprise as Mew fed her mental images of her mom and Oak at Cerulean’s gym.
“Oh…” She looked at the water droplet badge in her hand and sighed. “I guess I’ve got no choice, but to accept this for the time being, huh?”
Her Pokemon nodded.
She pinned the badge to the inside of her bag. “Thanks, Mew, for-” But the pink Legendary was already gone. Jen sighed sadly. “She must be going after Mewtwo.”
Vulpix nuzzled her arm again. “Master, are you alright?”
Jen smiled at her. “Don’t you two worry about me. I’ll be fine.” She stood up with Vulpix still in her arms. “Now, lets go get our next gym badge!”
Vulpix cheered, but Gastly remained silent. He was looking at an approaching figure. Jen frowned when she saw the red and white cap, and the black messy hair.
“Ash, what are you doing here?” She asked.
He didn’t respond. Instead, he continued to walk forward silently until he stood a couple feet away from her. He seemed a bit taller…and clean-shaven.
“Where is Pikachu? Is he coming?”
The boy stared at her.
Jen frowned and studied him a little more closely. “Red?”
Red nodded.
“Oh my gosh! Red, it’s been forever!” Jen cried as she hugged Red, all the while still holding onto Vulpix.
Red hugged her back before pulling away.
“What’s wrong?” She asked. “Why have you not returned to Pallet Town after all these years? We were all worried about you, especially your mom and Ash.”
Red didn’t respond.
“Red, I know you’re mute, but you can also use sign to communicate. I still remember some sign.”
Red still didn’t try to communicate with her. Instead, he reached into his bag and took out an old folder. He walked towards the steps he had come up and sat down. Jen followed him and sat down next to him before opening the folder up.
Pictures of toddler drawn images, and old photographs fell out.
“What are all of these from, Red?” Jen asked as she picked up some of the fallen pictures.
Red didn’t answer. She was going to have to solve this on her own. Jen and her Pokemon studied the pictures together as Red watched on silently.
“Who’s this?” Jen asked as she held up a picture of a sleeping brown haired toddler. The child was hooked up to an I.V., and looked very pale. “Is this Libby?”
Red shook his head, and picked up another photograph from the folder. This one consisted of a younger version of Jen playing outside with Libby, Ash, Gary and Red. Jen took the photo from him and flipped it over.
LIBBY(8), JEN(3), ASH(4), Gary(4), AND RORY(4)
June 21, 1998
2 weeks afterwards
“I remember when we stopped calling you Rory, and started calling you Red. Wasn’t it when we found out that your name meant Red King?”
Red nodded.
“We all got jealous of you, so we began referring to each other based on colors. Libby was Blackie, I was White, Gary was Blue, and Ash was Yellow.”
This drew out a smile from Red.
Jen glanced at the writing again and pointed to the last line. “Two weeks after what?”
Red pointed to the previous photograph. Jen flipped the I.V. photo over and gasped when she read the back.
JEN (3)
June 5, 1998
Second year of ailment
Jen stared at the picture, rereading the writing over and over again. “I was sick…for two years?” She looked at Red. “How long have you known about this, Red? Did the others know about this too?”
Red shook his head, and showed her one of the stacks of drawings.
Jen flipped through the packet and laughed. “I drew these for Ash when he fell into that coma.”
When Ash and Red turned ten, they had both agreed to travel the world together with their Pokemon, but due to being struck by lightning during a Spearow attack, Ash was immediately put into a coma. Red continued on by himself with his Pokemon, while his brother, his twin, was trapped in a deep slumber.
Jen had drawn the pictures for Ash and came up with stories behind each one of them, which she in turn told to him during his comatose state. “I remember creating these only because I had dreams about them. Sometimes I would have multiple stories to tell Ash each day, and I would always make sure that he remained ten in the drawings and stories.”
She glanced over at Red, who was studying her reactions.
“Ash’s coma only lasted a couple of months, but when he woke up, the last thing he remembered was getting Pikachu. He…he didn’t remember starting his adventure with you.”
Red nodded as if to say, “I know.”
“So how did you get ahold of all of this? I’m sure my mom would have tried to hide this from me.”
Red smirked.
“I love you, Red!”
**Vulpix’s ears sudden flattened out and she growled at the two graves.
“Master, we should go now. There is something coming.” Gastly said as he quickly began nudging Jen and Red to their feet.
“What’s going on?” Jen asked as she looked in the direction of the graves.
Red took the pictures from her and packed them away back into the folder before handing the folder to Jen to keep.
“Red-”
She was immediately interrupted by a quick hug from her cousin before he gently pushed her and her Pokemon down the stairs.
“What? You don’t want to come with me? I might run into Ash.” Jen said giddily. “I’m sure he’ll want to see you again.”
Red looked at her sadly and shook his head slowly.
“Master, we need to go.” Gastly sounded scared, and Vulpix was growling at the two graves.
“You’re…here…” An eerie, and decayed voice choked. Jen shivered at the sound but Red remained unfazed. “I’m trapped…”
Gastly and Vulpix were now begging and pulling at Jen to leave, but she was frozen where she was. Horrified.
“And I’m lonely…” The voice continued.
Red sighed and reached for his Pokeballs.
“So very lonely…”
Jen’s cousin slowly began to walk towards the graves, ready to battle the voice.
“WON’T YOU JOIN ME?!” A white hand, followed by a decaying corpse, shot out of the stone tiles and turned its attention towards Jen. The corpse ‘smiled’ at her, and tried to climb out from under the tiles, but the lower half of its body was still buried underneath.
Red threw his first Pokeball at the creature, releasing his Charizard. The corpse pulled its dead stare away from Jen and glared at Red.
Two White Hands appeared beside the corpse and flew at the Charizard’s neck.
Red tapped his foot twice on the ground, silently commanding his Pokemon. A large tongue of fire erupted from the Pokémon’s maw, engulfing both White Hands and burning them to crisps.
The corpse appeared to be greatly angered by this as it summoned a Gengar and a Muk. The two Pokemon looked alive, but their stares were void of life.
Red tapped his foot three times on the ground, and his Charizard nodded.
The two dead Pokemon raced towards Charizard; Gengar with a night shade, and Muk with sludge. Charizard easily evaded the attacks and rose into the air. The Pokemon stopped and tried to attack it again, but to no avail. Charizard blasted them with flamethrower, causing the Muk to faint.
The corpse was livid now. It slammed its hands against the tiles and roared at Red, who kept a calm complexion.
The Gengar howled at Charizard as it landed.
Red tapped his foot four times, and his Charizard nodded again. Red then turned towards Jen and turned her towards the stairs, but not before hugging her one last time.
“R-Red?” Jen choked.
“Goodbye…White.” Red said softly.
Jen’s eyes widened. She wanted to stay, but before she could protest, she blacked out.
Jen and her Pokemon came to minutes later. They were no longer on the roof, but lying in front of a couple of graves.
“Red? Red?” Jen cried out once she regained full consciousness.
Red was nowhere to be seen.
Her Pokemon stared at her, confusion on their faces. It was as if their memories had been erased.
“Where is Red?” She asked them. She climbed to her feet and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Red?! Rory!”
Her Pokemon looked around as well and began calling out for Red. Neither of them got a response.
“Who is Red again?” Vulpix asked Gastly.
Gastly shrugged and looked around the Tower. “I’m still wondering how we even got here. One moment, we are reunited with our master, and then the next, we’re here.”
“He must be on the roof!” Jen said aloud. Her gaze drifted towards the stairs that lead to the dreaded place. Her heartbeat quickened out of fear. “He didn’t back down against that thing. Besides…he was winning.”
She slowly walked towards the stairs and took each step one at a time.
“Gastly, look.” Jen heard her Vulpix say.
She heard Gastly gasp, but she didn’t turn her attention away from the stairs. Red needed her. She was almost to the roof when she ran into a couple of wooden planks. “When did these get here?!”
She tried to move them out of the way, but all of the planks were nailed down.
“Master…we…we, um…it’s-” Neither of her Pokemon could finish.
In Jen’s heart and mind, she already knew what they were about to say. She slowly trudged back towards the graves that they were in front of before and gazed upon them. Before her stood two graves.
She shook as she read the inscriptions.
Here lies Rory Ketchum’s loyal Pokemon and Partner, Charizard
And
Here lies Rory Ketchum
A Beloved Son, Brother, and Savior
Died Defeating BuriedAlive
Jen screamed and burst into tears. Rage and sorrow flooded her being like the night of her birthday. All she wanted to do was scream, and let the energy flow from her.
“RORY!!” She screamed louder and louder until she eventually collapsed onto Red’s grave and blacked out again.