Chapter 0.2 I couldn't get it out of my head, no matter how much I tried. The image of the pokemon being herded into cages and the dead charmander and pikachu were etched into my head. How could it be like this? I didn't know that people could be so cruel . . . uncaring . . .and heartless. Was Alex right? No, he couldn't be. It couldn't be the truth. My train of thought was halted when the rest of my family noticed the silence of Alex and I. "Matt, what was it that kept you and your brother behind that building for so long?" Mom asked. "Something interesting," I responded. Alex said without a hint of hesitation, "We saw pokemon being forced into cages, a dead charmander and a dead pikachu." Although I was looking towards the floor of the car, I could feel Mom, David and Gerald staring at Alex and me in mute shock. Dad's eyes were still on the road, but I knew that his attention was also locked into the conversation. Alex looked at me with a smirk. "I wonder what is the worse cage. The ones at the fair, or pokeballs?" Mom saw that Alex was mounting another merciless verbal assault on me and attempted to change the subject. "So how did Squirtle enjoy the fair?" she asked. My eyes widened as she asked me that. The realization hit me over the head. I had never let Squirtle out of its pokeball for the time I was at the fair. I began to feel a dull, aching pain in my stomach. Guilt. David said, "I don't think that Matt had ever let Squirtle out." Alex took the opportunity to promote his anti-pokemon capturing beliefs again. "Squirtle must have really enjoyed seeing the fair from his ball. So, tell me. How are you going to explain this to Squirtle? Are you going to say that you forgot about it until you saw somebody that you wanted to battle? Are you going to lie and say that the fair was cancelled?" I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't take the images of the dead pokemon anymore. I couldn't take what I had done to Squirtle anymore. Most of all, I couldn't take the way that Alex only made me feel worse than try to be a brother and comfort me. Alex, only caring about those pokemon…and not for his own brother! "Shut the hell up!!" I screamed at Alex with all of my strength. "I am sick of you! This is my birthday and you had nothing better to do than make it miserable for me! You can take you anti-pokemon trainer crap and shove it up your ass!" "Matt! Watch what you say!" Dad screamed in surprise more than anger. I responded, relaxing from the blast of burning anger that I had just released, "He needed to hear it." Alex clenched his fist and began to show his own rage, but David placed a hand on his shoulder, shook his head, and said calmly, "Leave him alone." Alex looked at me for a few more moments, before letting out a sigh and lying back in the backseat, hands behind his head. I looked out the window at the trees going by, appearing from the darkness of night and leaving into it. I knew that this would be a birthday that I would never forget. ---- It was late when we arrived home. We had split up the fast food that we bought on the way home and went to our own rooms. While I walked up the hallway to my room, a familiar picture caught my eye. It was Alex, Gerald, David and I. The picture was taken 2 years ago in Neon Town. I was 8, Gerald 7, David 15, and Alex 13. The family had gone there for Summer Vacation. It was like the fair, but 10 times louder, and brighter. I would look at all the bright, flashing lights while trying to hear my family over the noise of the cars and people. Mostly, we stayed on the slot machines. David did try to play Poker once. It was too bad that he didn't know how to play at all. I took my attention off of the picture and went into my room. The room had blue wallpaper and a blue carpet. On the walls were posters of the pokemon league and various pokemon. I made my way to the TV, turning it on while making sure not to step on the videogames on the floor. As I heard the soft click of the TV coming to life, I lied down on my bed, which was covered in a blanket that had pokeballs designed onto it. I dug into my bag while I grabbed the TV's remote from the bed and changed the channels. I took the hamburger, pop and fries from the bag while I changed the channel to the Rick Ruben show. They were in the opening jokes. Ruben said, "I present to you, the Peek-at-you Pikachu doll." It went on to show a pikachu doll looking at a woman while she was showering. The smile that had formed on my face from the joke faded when thoughts of Squirtle entered my mind. I had to make up to it for not showing it the fair. Anything to destroy the guilt that had gripped my heart. I took my pokeball from my belt, and dropped it while saying, "Squirtle, go." The water pokemon emerged from the ball, onto the bed alongside me. I said to Squirtle with sadness and shame in my voice, "I'm sorry Squirtle. I forgot to let you out at the fair." A sad look appeared on Squirtle's cute face. "I'm really sorry . . . . . .I will try to make it up to you." I broke my burger in half, took half of the fries, and gave them to Squirtle. The two of us sat on the bed, watching Ruben while eating the food. I smiled at Squirtle and asked, "Are you enjoying it?" I received a happy, "Squirt Squirtle," as a response. I laughed joyfully with Squirtle. The joy Squirtle showed made the grip around my heart fade away. Suddenly, a knock came to my door. "Come in," I said. Gerald stepped in. He smiled and said, "Isn't that cute? A boy and his pokemon eating burgers together. Mom wanted me to tell you that your friend, Clark, left a message for you. He wants you to call him tomorrow. He wants you to go with him while he catches some pokemon." Clark Silver. Out of all the people that I've known and befriended, he was the best of them all. His family was nowhere near as rich as mine, but that didn't stop us from being best buddies. I responded, "Thanks for telling me." Before leaving the room, Gerald said, "Night squirt...That's you, Matt." "Ha . . . . . .Ha. Just remember who is the youngest brother," I retorted as Gerald shut the door. I yawned before rubbing my eyes. I was tired and wanted to get some rest. After eating the last of the food, I picked up my pokeball and aimed it for squirtle, who was patting the stomach side of its shell contently. Just as I was about to put it back in, a thought crossed my mind. Why don't I let Squirtle sleep with me instead of in the ball? "Hey Squirtle, it looks like you're sleeping with me tonight!" I said with a smile. Squirtle immediately slipped under the blanket with a wide smile. I walked over to my closet's mirror and switched into my pajamas as I looked at my self in the mirror, admiring my brown hair. I looked at my blue eyes, which nobody else in my family, at least the family I knew, had. I had never seen any relatives on Dad's side of the family and tried to ask about it many times. Mom and Dad would just change the subject or send me to my room. Their constant evasion of the subject made me realize that my chances for an answer were slim. I pushed the thoughts out of my head as I climbed into bed, and held Squirtle close to me. Squirtle did his best to return the embrace with his arms, which were apparently small in comparison to mine. I set Squirtle down on his spot under the sheets before I rested my head onto my soft pillow, and allowed the sounds of TV begin to cradle me to sleep. But it wasn't the TV that I heard. Muffled under the sounds of the TV, and through the walls of the house, were Dad and Alex. "You aren't going to actually let him go? Are you?" "Yes, he can go if he wants, Alex." "Dad, you're just making him into another slave owner!" "Pokemon trainer, Alex. Pokemon trainer." "It doesn't matter how much you sugarcoat it! You are teaching Matt to capture these creatures and force them to fight! You should be against this!" "Don't tell me how to run my family!" "I hate this family!" "Then leave it! Nobody is stopping you! What are you going to do at the age of 15 anyway?" "I don't care what I do, as long as I don't have to be around people like you!" I heard footsteps coming my way, seconds before the door opened. Alex stood in the doorway, eyes locked on me. "Come with me, Matt." "Where?" I asked. "Away from these people. I know that I can make you see the truth," Alex answered. Dad walked to the scene and said to Alex, "Don't drag Matt into this! He is going to be a trainer and you cannot stop him!" Alex, ignoring Dad, asked, "What will it be, Matt?" I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just leave my family, but I didn't want to lose Alex, despite the hell that he had put me through this night. Alex's eyes pleaded for me to say yes, to give him some kind of support. How could I say no? Then, there was the family. I couldn't turn my back on the rest of my family for one person, despite that fact that he was my brother. It was probably just a small squabble. It would probably be over by tomorrow anyway. Alex would probably be a little angry, but everything would be okay. I knew that I couldn't face Alex or Dad when I answered, so I closed my eyes when I said, "I'm staying here." Alex's eyes immediately lit up with anger. "Fine Matt! Stay here with them! Become the best pokemon trainer out there! Catch all 150 pokemon! Destroy 150 families! Take 150 animals from nature and into the battlefield! You aren't my brother anymore! I'm not a part of he human race anymore!" I looked to see Alex give me the most hate-filled look that I had seen ever. He stomped away from my room, down the stairs, and to the front door. Dad followed him, trying to talk him out of it. I barely heard Dad say, "Think this over, Alex! This isn't a smart choice!!" Their voices became softer and unclear, until their speech, nothing but soft mumbles to my ears, became halted by the clear sound of a slamming door. I picked up Squirtle, who was awoken by what had just happened. I held its body close to me while I cried under the blanket of the bed. I felt shattered inside. The words that Alex screamed to me were all that I could think about, and only made my sobbing and wailing louder. I saw Mom and Gerald rush past my room, down the stairs. David followed them, before he stopped to look at me in my state of despair, and hopelessness. He entered my room and sat beside me. "Please don't cry," he said as he hugged me, rubbing the back of my head as I cried into his shoulder. I said with a shaky voice, "Alex is gone David. He is gone." "Don't worry Matt. It will be ok," David said. I said, still crying, "Who do I believe, David? Dad or Alex? Dad says that pokemon training is okay. Alex says that it is bad? Who?" David responded, while still holding me close, "Yourself." ---- Morning came. My eyes opened from the comfort of sleep, to allow the light of the day to shine into them. I sat up to rub my eyes while I thought about anything that was supposed to happen that day. I looked at the phone beside my bed when I remembered that I had to call Clark so I could go with him to catch some pokemon. I picked up the phone and dialed his number. It took 2 rings until I heard Clark ask, "Hello?" I responded in the most cheery voice possible, despite what happened last night. "Hi, Clark. I can go catch the pokemon with you today." "Don't bother," Clark said with sadness in his voice. "We were going to go to the fair to catch some pokemon the easy way, but the fair was broken into last night. All the pokemon were freed." The fair . . . . . . .Alex. I couldn't tell Clark what I thought, though. "That's too bad. Maybe next time. Bye," I said before I hung up the phone with a soft click. Not five seconds passed before a soft knock came to my door. "Come in," I said. David walked into the room, sat besides me, and rubbed my shoulder. "Are you okay now?" "Yea, I'm fine now. Alex could have rob-" David cut me off. "-We know. It was on the news. All the descriptions matched Alex." I looked down at the bed sheets. Squirtle was under them, sleeping peacefully. "Maybe if I went with Alex, I could have stopped him," I said as I clenched the bed's blanket. David responded, "Don't blame yourself, Matt. It was his choice. Don't worry, I'll always be here for you," David hugged me. "Remember Matt, I love you." End Chapter 0.2