Chapter 4: Lilac Town

Er...hi, my name's Christopher Parry," Christopher said, shaking her hand. "And I guess you could call me Chris."

"Okay, Chris," she said with a smile. "So, where are you headed?"

"I'm going to my grandmother's in Lilac Town," Christopher said. Then he remembered something he had overheard. "Did I hear the owner of the boat say that you had won a tournament?"

"Yeah, I just won West Amarill's last tournament. But those trainers were weak. Oh, did you see that giant cloud of smoke I made?" she asked.

"That was you?" Christopher asked, surprised. "What did you do to cause that to happen?"

"Well, I was battling this one weak sailor. I was winning three pokémon against his only one left: onix. I got bored and decided to make things interesting. So I sent out my electrode," she explained. "My electrode was too fast for the sailor's onix. Electrode played around with onix by quickly rolling around it in circles. Then I let onix get my electrode in a bind. The sailor thought he had won; he was jumping up and down and cheering." Katherine let out a short laugh and said, "Then I told my electrode to self-destruct. The look on that sailor's face as he saw his onix defeated was priceless."

"Wow, your pokémon must be pretty strong," Christopher said. "But isn't it kind of dangerous to use an attack like that up close?" Christopher imagined the boulders of onix's body scattered all over the stadium. He quickly shook the horrible scene out of his mind, thinking that it was just too terrible to think about.

"I guess, but I've trained my pokémon well," she said. "I've trained my electrode to know just how much power to use to get the job done. It would have been crazy to self-destruct with all its power while being held by another pokémon. By the way, what kind of pokémon do you have?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have any pokémon of my own," Christopher told Katherine, successfully making it sound like it did not matter. Christopher wondered why he had not gone through a depression yet after being asked this question so many times. He thought back to his home where most of his friends had already started their own pokémon journey while he stayed at home, finishing school. He was one of a greatly reduced class of 47. Even the students who still attend school had pokémon. "I never got my first pokémon. But my older brother did, and he's actually a really good trainer."

"What? You're kidding," she said with disbelief. "You're a teenager, right? Maybe even my age, and you don't have your own pokémon? How can you not have a pokémon? Who doesn't have a pokémon?" She calmed down and said with a light laugh, "Sorry about that. I was just totally surprised by that." Then she remembered something Christopher had said. "Wait. Parry? Your brother wouldn't happen to be Nicholas Parry, this region's Champion representative, would he?"

Christopher was not shocked when people asked him that. Everyone knew that many Parry's had been chosen to represent the Sohto region several times in the past. Christopher nodded and said, "Yeah, that's my older brother."

"Wow, that's really neat! Your family is known for having good pokémon trainers," Katherine said. "But that just makes this even weirder. Your family is known for great trainers. Yet you don't have any pokémon of your own. What's wrong? Are you not -" she caught herself before finishing the question. "Oh, sorry, I speak my mind too much."

"It's okay. I actually get that a lot back home," Christopher said, leaning over the side again to look over the calm river. "But I'm used to it. Then again, I guess it is kind of sad."

"Hey, everyone," the sailor yelled from the helm. "We'll be docking in a few minutes, so get ready."

"By the way, where are you headed?" Christopher asked.

"No where in particular. I just go wherever my journey leads me," Katherine said. "It's your summer vacation isn't it? Are you just visiting your grandmother or what?"

The sailor had turned the boat around and was reversing into the harbor of East Amarill Port. Christopher watched as his mother got into the car and prepare to drive onto the pier. Christopher decided to walk off with Katherine so they could talk some more. "Well, my grandmother's pokémon just laid some eggs a couple days ago. My mother and I are going there to watch them hatch and help take care of them."

"Really?" Katherine said. "That sounds like fun. What kind of pokémon does your grandmother have?"

"Her own pokémon is a vaporeon. The other used to belong to my grandfather before he past away. That pokémon is an umbreon," Christopher explained. "So I guess their eggs will hatch baby eevee."

Katherine gasped and said, "Eevee? Those are so cute, and so are their evolutions. I think eevee are so cool because they can evolve into five different pokémon. Your grandmother is so lucky. Hey, how many eggs did her pokémon lay? Do you think she'll be able to give me one of her eevee?"

"I don't know how many there are," Christopher said. "And she probably won't give you one because she doesn't even know you." Christopher laughed lightly when Katherine pouted jokingly.

They had finally docked. Christopher's mother started the car and slowly reversed the car onto the pier. Christopher and Katherine walked off together and continued talking. East Amarill Port looked just like its sister city across the river, except there was no stadium. It still seemed to be busy, but it did not look like there was as much energy flowing through the quiet port town than the one across the river.

"Well, I guess you have to go," Katherine said with a smile. "It was nice meeting you."

Christopher looked at his mother waiting in the car and saw her smile and nod. "Hey, why don't you come with us," Christopher said. "You said you aren't really going anywhere. You could come with us and watch the eggs hatch."

"Really?" Katherine said excitedly. "That would be great. Thank you."

The both walked toward the car and Christopher opened the back door for Katherine. Then Christopher got in the front seat, and then they drove eastward towards Lilac Town. Christopher and Katherine continued to talk about pokémon and other topics as they left the port town. The crescent moon was already visible as the sun started its descent through the blue, clear sky.

* * *

"And there you have it, everyone," the president of the Championship said. "After many weeks of intense pokémon battles and the fiercest Championship battle in this competition's history, the Pokémon World Championship has finally come to a close. I would like to thank all those who watched or listened, and I would especially like to thank those of you who competed. Without you all, this competition wouldn't be possible. Good night, everyone, and I hope you all watch the 32nd Pokémon World Championship in two years." With that final statement, the Pokémon World Championship ended.

Christopher, his mother, and Katherine had been listening to the radio broadcast. They had stopped at a gas station in Florville City, a neighboring city of Lilac Town. Christopher's mother did not want to risk running out of gas in the middle of nowhere. She had forgotten just how far Lilac Town was because she had not been there in years.

"You know, that Erik has really strong pokémon," Katherine said after Christopher turned the radio to a music station. "If I had pokémon that powerful, I'd probably be unstoppable."

"I don't know," Christopher said. "Erik seemed to be purposely, and happily, hurting Alexzia's pokémon. It's like he didn't care if her pokémon were hospitalized for good, or even worse." Christopher then shook the thought of what "worse" meant from his mind.

"Well, he did seem to overdo it a bit, but I bet he knew what he was doing the whole time," Katherine said assuredly. "He probably just wanted to show off his pokémon. Who wouldn't want to show off pokémon like that?"

"Well, I guess," Christopher said with uncertainty. "But not in that way. That was too horrible for just 'showing off.'"

As Christopher and Katherine continued talking, Melissa Parry began driving down the road towards Lilac Town after refilling the tank. The sun was now just above the tall mountains in the distance. They were in the far countryside now. The prairies reached far in every direction and wild pokémon could be seen roaming. Pokémon trainers could be seen battling other trainers or playing with their pokémon.

* * *

It took about an hour to finally reach Lilac Town from Florville City. The sun was starting to creep behind the mountains. Lilac Town was a quiet and peaceful town surrounded by lush, green fields filled with many colorful, sweet-scented flowers, which seemed to be in the care and the play place of many pokémon, especially bug pokémon. Big trees were spread out throughout the surrounding fields, casting giant shadows good enough to lie under and look up into the diminishing, blue sky.

There were not many houses in Lilac Town. It was rare to find a town like this, with no big businesses or industries to disturb the peace. The town was more like a place where anyone could stay in without any disturbances, where everyone can relax and ignore the world outside the peaceful town. Many old folks found this quiet town an ideal place to spend the rest of their lives in.

Although it had been years since he last visited, Christopher thought that Lilac Town had not changed a bit. As he looked at the familiar sight, he recalled memories in which he used to play with his family in the fields. He remembered when he would also play with his father's pokémon. Christopher used to ride on his father's rapidash and, when his mother was not looking, Christopher would fly through the air by riding on the back of his father's pidgeot. Christopher remembered how frighteningly fun it was to fly through the air at high speeds without being able to get his arms around pidgeot's neck for a good hold. Fortunately, his father later made a soft, thin, but strong, neck-strap for pidgeot so that Christopher had something to grab on too.

"Wow, this place is beautiful," Katherine said, marveling at the scenery around her.

"Yes, it is," said Christopher's mother as she continued to drive through the town. She drove down further and stopped in front of a two-story house. This house was surrounded by a small, white picket fence with the gate right on the flat, stone walkway that lead to the wooden patio where the light blue front door was. Guarding the circumference of the house were several gardens, which contained berries, vegetables, and flowers of every kind.

"We're finally here," Christopher sighed, and then noticed as a light blue pokémon came out from behind the house, accompanied by a dark-colored pokémon with faint, yellow stripes.