Chapter 7!

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Although Lance calls Red ‘Ash/younger brother, they are not really genetically related. Just thought I’d point that out now.

Red – Ash are the same person

Chapter 7

Torrents gushed down from heaven as the floodgate opened.

Red stepped outside carefully. Ever since Lance had told him that he was a fire-type, he’d been more leery around water, which was a pity, as most of his team was water-type…

Well, Poli and Gyara and…. Vee was now permanently an Espeon with no more shifting forms, but he was happy, as form transformations from Team Rocket had a heavy price of pain. Aerodactyl was a good scout. Ah, but somewhere, he still missed Pika.

However, sorrow slowly melted to anger as time passed…. Venus and Snorlax made up the rest of his team. It was just too much of a hassle to switch….

Now though, he as being sent out. He had to find a crystal ball…. Which sounded a lot easier than it was.

Currently, he was heading off to an antique shop in Fuchsia, a well-known one, to see if there would be something useful there….

Honestly! Giovanni liked impossible things, didn’t he?

Lance watched through his scrying mirror. * Don’t fail me, otouto… *

Red talked to the prophesier for about ten minutes, before he was shown a small selection of crystal balls, none of them cheap. Now which one to get? Definitely not the sparkly pink one, Giovanni would kill him…

That left either light lavender or the regular glass one….

He reached for lavender, but stopped short when a slightly dizzy feeling crept up his arm….

Well, maybe it was a premonition?

In any case, he paid the necessary amount for the clear crystal ball and then left.

Something was up…

“Did you get it?” Lance asked, when he and Vee teleported back inside. Wordlessly, Red handed over the sphere, watching as Lance smiled.

“Excellent work. You chose correctly.”

“Nani? Lance… what was this mission bout anyway?”

“It wasn’t quite a mission, Red…” He smirked. “It was to test your instinct.”

“My instinct? How?”

“Well, as you saw in that, there were four crystal balls, correct?”

“Yes…. and I knew not to take the pink one just using common sense, but what about the purple one? Why didn’t that work?”

“Because that wasn’t real.”

“Eh? Then this one is?”

“Not quite, either… but it seemed to call to you, didn’t it?”

“No… but I felt repelled form the purple one.”

“Fascinating.” Lance said, and as he took the ball form Ash, light blue lines crawled over his body for a bare second. “This is a psychic’s ball, or used to be. You did well Red.”
“Arigatou, aniki!”

“Tis nothing.” Pity Red hadn’t developed his dark or fire powers, really. The Viridian Power, on the other hand, was now working fine.

It made healing a lot easier…

Red sighed. “Well, what’s next for today?”

Lance checked his schedule. “Since you’re back early, you’re free until two. Enjoy yourself. If you want lunch, it’s on the table.”

“I know.” He went back into their bedroom area and played guess the card with Espeon for a while, and then he finished reading his assignment for physical therapy.

Healing was hard, but he would learn. He promised… then, he went and heated the grilled chicken breast sandwiches Lance had left for him and ate.

After that and a quick shower, it was time to go to the ward again.

He was doing a lot better now. The other nurses appreciated his help, and evaluated him on his medical technique. He almost always passed with flying colors.

Yes, he supposed he was happy…

“Any sign?”

“No.” Green muttered in exasperation. They had gone into the damp catacombs of Mount Moon in search of Red, and now they were both regretting it.

“Ow! That was my foot!”

“Well I’m sorry, but none of my pokémon know flash!”

Green sighed as he released his Arcanine and lit up the tunnel. “Better?”

“Thanks.” Blue replied.

They continued deeper on inside, but sure enough, found nothing, except for a solitary moonstone, which Blue kept. She had many pokemon that could evolve via moonstone….

Now what to do?

He had to do something, but what?

Surely…. Well, maybe they could use the pokedex to find Red? But he hadn’t used it in a while… would it still work?

Team Rocket had taken possession of Red’s pokemon through some clever porygon hacking. Bill had no idea where all the pokemon had gone….

This was not good.

“Aniki?”

“Yes, Red?”

“Um…. Red looked down shyly. I don’t mind if you call me Ash.”

“Honto Ni?”

“H-hai… might as well, since Red is fairly well-known….”

“Then… I’ll be glad to call you that, Ash.” He caught himself from adding otouto just in time. Red - Ash might not appreciate that.... Better not pressure him…. Their relationship was fairly close though…

For his part, Ash just smiled shyly and went back to his homework.

“Nothing.”

“No word from him at all?” Green looked to his grandfather anxiously. “He can’t just vanish like that, can he?”

“I’m afraid he’s dead now, Green. There’s nothing else to infer… he’s been missing for so long.”

Blue shook her head. “I don’t think so. Maybe he’s in Johto?”

“Johto…. Perhaps. I have an associate there named Professor Elm. You may ask him if he has seen anyone matching Red’s description.”

“Can do.” Blue grinned. “Silver? Hi, yes…. listen, there’s something I need you to do…”

End Chapter

Completed 5/3/05

Lance: Red doesn’t seem to notice he has friends, does he?

Phantomness: Nope! Pity…. He’s a bit dense that way

Ash: I see.