Rapture

Phantom

The lights never turned off… His internal clock told him it was mid-afternoon… but having no windows and these constant florescent lights meant the cell’s appearance was constant.

Blue lied on the cot and continued to stare at the ceiling. It was all he really had to do in this cell besides write or draw. At least the food was decent enough… He had long since examined the cell closely and realized there were no true structural weaknesses to use to escape. His only chance would be if someone actually opened the door.

Looking to the door of the cell Blue noticed Red standing right outside staring at him. It took Blue by surprise as he hadn’t heard him approach. Blue sat up and looked right back at Red and the two remained wordless. Something was going on; Blue could tell things were not well with Red. He hadn’t seen the other Pallet boy since he was first locked up, but he could tell the expression on Red’s face wasn’t normal.

“What’s wrong?” Blue’s voice seemed to reverberate in the awkward silence between the two.

Red’s eyes narrowed and he remained silent. He didn’t seem to be entirely focused on Blue; it was more like he was here thinking about something.

“Red… I want to help you. What’s wrong?” Blue asked a second time.

“Why?” Red asked coldly.

“Because I care,” Red didn’t seem to be showing the same aggressiveness that he displayed the last time, so Blue hoped approaching him from a compassionate angle might get through to him.

“You never have before…” Red’ voice remained monotone.

Blue closed his eyes and sat back, “That’s not true… I always cared… I just never expressed it right…”

Red didn’t respond but he didn’t look away either.

“When we were younger… I was usually the bully I know... In my childish mind I thought you weren’t prepared for the harshness of the world and that by pushing you it would toughen you up for anything that was to come. I didn’t stop to think that really all I was doing was pushing you away. I’m sorry…”

Red rested his head on the clear door of the cell, “I don’t know…”

“What don’t you know?” Blue asked.

“I don’t know…” Red repeated.

Blue got up and slowly approached the door by Red, “Please Red, help me understand you…”

“I DON’T KNOW!” Red shouted violently causing Blue to back off a bit.

Blue watched in shock as Red’s eyes squeezed shut looking as if he was holding back tears when he started banging his head hard on the wall.

“I DON’T KNOW! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? WHY DOES NOTHING MAKE SENSE? WHY DOES EVERYONE HAVE TO LIE? WHY CAN I NEVER DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT? I DON’T KNOW!” With each question Red banged his head harder on the door.

“Please Red, STOP!” Red sank off the door and Blue kneeled on the inside to remain at eye level with him. “Please Red… This life isn’t for you… You’re supposed to be free, not involved in all of this. I want to help you, get you out of here, get back to leading the right life.”

The two remained eye locked for a moment. Blue was hoping Red was thinking about his words. Red’s eyes slanted and he began to laugh, “It’s so funny how you talk as if you know me… Haven’t you figured it out? YOU KNOW NOTHING!” Red jumped up and stared Blue down, “You never knew me! You never cared to know anything about me! And I… I don’t care about you either…” Red turned coldly and walked away.

Blue remained on the ground and just stared at the spot where Red had been huddled a moment ago. He knew Red was hurt… so hurt and there was nothing he could do about it. Reeling his fist back he slammed it into the wall with enough force to crack the plastic sheet and split his knuckle open.

Red needed some time alone. He had packed up his backpack with a few things and left a note that he’d be back later in Giovanni’s room. He hiked through the mountain forests north of Kanto. The mountain trails to Sinnoh were considered very treacherous as they were subject to washouts during the rains were used so little that overgrowth hid most of the paths. The perfect place to be alone for a while…

Red had just climbed up one of the steep mountain sides and from here looked over all of Kanto; a small country, but amazing all at the same time. Red sat down and opened up his backpack. He had brought a few snacks with him and took a moment to eat through a few of them.

Amongst the snacks he had also brought his Aerodactyl’s fossil. He ran his fingers over it again letting the fond memories of flying high on the prehistoric bird fill his thoughts. He closed his eyes in silent gratitude to his old friend.

While Red’s eyes were closed an unusual hum sound filled his ears. Red’s eyes snapped open in recognition of the sound and he quickly put all of his things away in his backpack and ran towards it. It was louder the further west he ran. There were no paths so Red was ducking around trees and shrubbery of the wild forest.

A light became visible mostly dimmed by the many plants still between them, but still it was unmistakable. The phantom Mew was near.

A mild clearing was only a small ways off. Reaching to his belt, Red removed to Poké Balls and threw them quickly to the clearing releasing Pikachu and Venusaur.

Mew was surprised at first by the sudden appearance of the two Pokémon, but quickly resumed its’ playful demeanor. The moment Red emerged from the dense foliage he tapped Venusaur and pointed at the Mew. Saur immediately took queue and launched its Vinewhips with amazing speed. Mew barely saw the whips approaching before he was ensnared and slammed to the ground.

Mew cried out but was lifted again and thrown into a tree. Back and forth it was bashed around like a rag doll by the large Venusaur. Between flings, Mew’s eye finally snapped open glowing a bright purple in color. With an earsplitting sound, a great aura surrounded Mew and it broke free of Venusaur’s vines.

The small psychic lunged toward the Venusaur still protected by its’ aura of power. Venusaur was knocked sideways and rolled down the clearing.

Red looked over at Pikachu, “This is what we’ve been training for, ready?”

“Pika!” The small rodent acknowledged.

“Then let’s do it!” Red pointed at Mew who was still flying around the clearing encased in its powerful energy, “VOLT TACKLE! GO!”

“Chuuuuuu” Pikachu began to glow in incredible electric energy. Its’ eyes flashed a brilliant yellow before its body became encased in a large blue ball of pure lightning. Taking flight Pikachu launched through the clearing with thunderous speed and crashed into Mew with full force.

Mew was knocked back a bit quickly recovered and dashed back into the fray. The powerful auras of the two Pokémon crackled with energy with each point of contact. The two began to move across the sky tackling each other again and again with massive power.

The two began moving faster creating a light show in the sky leaving only streaks of light in their movement and bright flashes and booms where they tackled each other. Mew moved in to tackle Pikachu, but Pikachu managed to feign underneath Mew and in quick upward spike Pikachu crashed down onto Mew driving it into the ground sending an explosion of rock and debris into the air.

Mew slowly recovered from the attack and feeling sapped of energy decided to try running away from this battle. It flashed through the sky not realizing the sky had darkened considerably in the last few minutes. Almost clear of the battle zone, a tremendous Pokémon appeared in front of Mew and snapped its’ large jaw at the fleeing psychic. Mew barely stopped in time to dodge the bite, but its’ escape route was effectively blocked.

Rayquaza made no further aggressive actions towards the Mew which made it stare at the giant dragon curiously, “Your fight’s over here Mew!” Red shouted while Pika still sparked with energy.

Mew’s eyes narrowed and it stared at Red as if delivering a warning that if this went on it would not hold back anymore. Red grinned in response gladly accepting the challenge.

Red whistled and Pikachu resumed the Volt Tackle attack. Mew surrounded itself in its psychic aura and dove for Pika as well. Just as the two were about to meet Pika’s aura exploded into a shockwave electrical energy taking Mew by surprise. Mew was knocked back and Pikachu took the opportunity to roll forward and knock Mew sharply with his tail as he flipped through the air.

Mew began to fall from the air, but quickly snapped its eyes open and disappeared from sight. Sensing Mew’s short range teleport Pika quickly charged for an electric jump, picked a direction, and rode a bolt of lightning through the air.

Mew appeared just as Pikachu made a slight shift in direction and appeared right in front of Mew within a split second. “PIKA!” It shouted using Thunder causing a bolt of lightning to strike its body and channel it through to Mew. Mew screamed as it was forced to absorb all the voltage.

Gathering a great amount of psychic energy, Mew launched a Psybeam at Pikachu before the electric mouse recovered from its last attack. Pikachu took the full brunt of the attack and fell from the sky. Pika hit the ground with a roll and quickly bounced back onto his feet.

The two stared each other down for a long moment, Mew was definitely looking winded, but Pika stood as confident as ever. Without warning, Red’s Pikachu jumped into the air and in another Volt Tackle crashed into Mew. Mew barely had the chance to raise a protective barrier to shield itself from the attack.

Mew resumed the attack once Pika flew by. Once again the two began colliding with each other in midair with enough force to make the rocks on the ground rumble. The longer the battle waged on, the more apparent it was becoming that Mew was fatiguing much quicker than Red’s Pikachu.

The two kept ramming into each other again and again when Pika heard the whistle. Taking his cue, Pika charged toward Mew the same as he’d done plenty of times throughout the battle. Once he was close enough he changed strategies again and concentrated the power of his volt tackle into a single bolt of lightning. The bolt impacted Mew’s barrier with enough force to shatter it. Mew took another hard hit and began to fall from the sky.

Mew was about to recover again when Pika latched onto the falling Mew. Channeling even more electricity the falling Pokémon, Mew began to cry out. Pikachu ended the attack with a midair spin and kicked Mew to the ground even harder.

Mew hit the ground with a dull splat, and was very slow getting back up this time. Before it could make any further moves, it was wrapped up once again by Venusaur vines. Red slowly approached the bound Pokémon, bouncing an empty Poké Ball in his hand.

“That was one hell of a show!” Red exclaimed to the small psychic. Mew looked up at Red curiously, unsure of what was happening. Red was practically unreadable even to its abilities. “Were you surprised that a Pikachu was able to keep up with you like that? You sure looked surprised!” Red continued talking to it.

“Well then are you ready?” Red held the Poké Ball close to Mew. The Mew looked at the Poké Ball and then gave Red a pleading look as if to beg that it didn’t want to be captured. Red closed his eyes and nodded, stroking the cute Pokémon’s head, “Sorry, but too bad.” Red touched the Poké Ball to Mew’s body and the two began to glow in a bright white light.

Red dropped the Poké Ball and allowed it to work its magic. The ball rolled and vibrated on the ground attempting to dominate the captured Pokémon. With a ding sound the light on the Poké Ball turned green and Mew was successfully caught.

Red reached down and picked up the Poké Ball taking a moment to just admire it. The legendary phantom… the one hundred and fifty first Pokémon… one of a kind… was in his possession. Pika jumped onto Red’s shoulder and the young trainer immediately rewarded the Pikachu with a bottle of ketchup. “You did great Pika, I’m proud of you!” He said rubbing the mouse’s ears.

Pika smiled and let out happy “Chu” noises as it lapped at the ketchup.

“Let’s go back now,” Red recalled his other Pokémon to their balls and hiked back down the mountain.

Blue was mostly asleep on the cot in his cell just staring once again at the ceiling when he was disturbed by the sound of a door slamming shut. He quickly jumped and looked to see what was going on.

Red came into view in front of his cell with a wicked smile on his face. Blue was about to ask when Red started talking “Once a long time ago I knew someone who told me… “Know your limits” or something like that,” Red spoke in a voice that mocked authority. “Today I have a message for the person who told me that…” Red pulled out a Poké Ball and opened it calling forth his recently captured Mew, “I…. have… NONE!”

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