Chapter 6: Present Day

The newly caught Shinx bounced happily at its trainer’s left side. Occasionally Bree would float down to it and let out a sharp chirp, and the Shinx would reply by rearing up on its stubby hindlegs and swatting up at the Butterfree. Bree was too quick, however, and would always flap herself just out of reach. The Shinx would let out a few yips to let it know it wanted the butterfly pokemon to come lower so they could play together. On Sam’s right side, Vlam kept up with her trainer’s gait and ignored the other two more childish pokemon.

Sam couldn’t rationalize in his head why he felt compelled to capture the Shinx. He had already left most of his friends behind, in the comfort of neighbors and friends who pitied Sam and were happy to do what they could while he did what he had to do. Secretly, he suspected they all thought he was losing his mind, so perhaps they felt they were doing right by the pokemon to keep them out of their trainer’s mad hands. Whatever the reason, he left many of them behind and had decided only on bringing the two. Waiting two weeks for customs to clear just Vlam and Bree could have turned into an indeterminable wait if he had brought even more of his friends, and besides that, it felt right to just bring the Ninetales and Butterfree. But if that was the case, he wondered, why stop in the woods to catch the black and blue creature? Sam looked over to his left at Bree, then in the other direction to gaze at Vlam. When Sam had encountered the Shinx, it was in a forest where everything else that crossed his path fled at the sight of him. Starly and Bidoof zipped off into the high branches of their trees when alerted to Sam’s presence. But when he saw this underfed Shinx, it barely registered Sam’s existence. It had its head buried in a berry bush, live electric sparks snapping off of its tail as it crunched away. It had a small torso yearning to be filled with food, and it was not giving up its treasure no matter who was there…just like another friend he caught one day, Sam realized as Bree buzzed about his head. Was that all there was to it? He stood back and watched the Shinx trying to match Vlam’s pace on its much scrawnier and stubbier four legs. It was disinterested in Bree now, and yelped in the deepest voice Sam imagined it could muster at Tommy’s Ninetales. The elder pokemon refused to turn its head back in acknowledgment, but Sam saw her lightly flick her tail around to keep the Shinx interested. It felt good to be standing still while he watched them; he had taken a rental car to the end of the main roads, but since then he’d been walking for hours through these woods. The tall trees kept the sun off of him, and he realized, now that he was relaxing, just how sweaty he’d become. The Shinx was now swatting Vlam’s paws and barking back-and-forth, from Vlam to Bree; sparks were radiating from its tail just as it had been when he came across it. It dawned on Sam that the Shinx thought that Vlam was not aware of the Butterfree’s presence and was now trying to alert her. The name Chispa came to his mind; it seemed to suit the little girl. 

When Sam had woken up that morning in Professor Rowan’s guest bedroom, the professor told him that the assistant who would be helping Sam was already at Lake Verity. Apparently the assistant lived near to the lake and received word from Rowan to go there over night. Rowan had also been kind enough to set Sam up with a rental car. Sam asked what he owed for it, but Rowan waved him off. Sam indulged in an omelette and sausage and a warm shower after seeing the car; for the first time since arriving in Sinnoh, Sam did not feel rushed. He hadn’t realized how many meals he’d ignored lately not because he didn’t have the time, but because his mind was too burdened to think of regular sustenance. Everything seemed so imminent all of the sudden. Sam would soon find out the car was packed with tents and food and other necessities. He was taken aback by the professor’s generosity, and asked if Rowan had any final advice for him.

“Life is full of changes of plans.”

Those were the words Rowan had left him with late in the morning. The drive down Route 201 wasn’t terrible; it took Sam only two hours, and the weather just off of the Sandgem beach was impeccable. But where the road ended, the Verity Forest began. Sam had expected to meet the assistant there, but there was no sign of anyone. A quick call to Rowan confirmed that the assistant had already made it to the lakefront, but not to worry because the lake was a straight shot through the woods. Ninety minutes later, Sam was wondering just how much of a shot Rowan was talking about. The path was clear enough, and Sam did not doubt he was making his way there, but an endless expanse of trees gave no hint that a lake was before him. Starly who saw him called out in song to the rest of the forest, warning them to flee from possible predators. It was the only sign of life in the forest aside from when he’d encountered Chispa. The Shinx was nice, sure, but she wasn’t the Mesprit he’d come here to catch. 

Mesprit, the Being of Emotion, as it was called in legend, was rumored to be a unique psychic type pokemon that had resided at Lake Verity for centuries. The stories were that when it and its brothers were hatched from a single egg, their mere existences gave human beings abilities that they had previously lacked. Mesprit found that it could fly above the world using its vast mental powers, and when it did so, it awakened base emotions in humanity. For the first time, parents loved their children and rivals hated each other and people mourned the loss of family and friends. Sam thought of Tommy’s eyes that were no longer capable of even recognizing his own brother. Changes of plans, Sam thought, were simply not on the menu. Sam would find Mesprit and he would restore his brother. That was all there was to it. 

“Halt! These are my woods, and if you want to pass, you’ll have to battle me!”

Sam had been so entranced in the thought of having Mesprit’s gifts bring Tommy back, he had allowed himself to be come upon from behind. He turned to see a teenage boy–not quite yet an adult–with wild blonde hair curling upwards on either side of his head. Fiery orange eyes stared into Sam’s, and the young man flung the arms of his scarf back dramatically. The weather certainly was not calling for a scarf, so Sam thought the boy must have been wearing it ironically. Shinx clawed at Sam‘s leg, clearly startled at the boy‘s booming voice, and even Vlam‘s tails had stiffened at the sound of it.

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t play dumb. You heard me. Battle me for the rights to walk in my woods!”

It was the silliest thing Sam had ever heard. The woods were apparently endless, and this kid just haphazardly decided he owned them?

“Look, I’m just looking for something. I really don’t–”

“You can use those three jokes for pokemon if you want, buddy.”

It would take more than that to insult Sam or get his ire up. “Get lost. Seriously.”

“Like you already are?”

“I know where I’m going. I’m following a path.”

“You know where you’re going. Right. That’s why you missed the turn about 15 minutes ago that would have put you right out on the lake.”

Sam was confused. At first that he had somehow missed an apparently obvious turn, but then at the fact that this boy knew he was trying to find the lake. “Wait…how did–”

“How did I know you were looking for the lake? Yeah, like I’d be such a good assistant to Professor Rowan if I wasn’t out here waiting for some dumb foreigner to miss his turn.”

“Assistant?”

“Yeah. You’re late, by the way. I’ve been here all day. Just for that, I’m fining you a million bucks!”

No way, Sam thought. There’s no way Rowan was working with some overeager brat like this. Was there?

“Yeah, I’m the assistant, knucklehead,” the boy replied as if reading Sam’s mind. “Name’s Barry, and I hear you’re the fool who thinks he can catch one of our legends.”

Sam made a mental note to talk to Rowan about the professionalism of his staff. He then made another one to talk to him about child labor laws. “How old are you, kid?”

“Old enough to beat your sorry butt in a battle!”

Sam groaned. Just talking to this kid felt like running a marathon. He wished he was back to being alone and lost. “Okay, I’m sorry I called you ‘kid’. How old are you, Barry?”

Barry straightened his posture, and tightened his scarf. “I’m sixteen.”

“Is that old enough to have some kind of internship with an established professor?”

“If you’re concerned that I’m not up to your standards, don’t. I’ve worked with Professor Rowan for years. He gave me my first pokemon! And I’ve helped him out of some jams.”

“What kind–”

“Anyway, the turn you missed is back here a ways. I uprooted some bushes and used them to cover it up. I thought it’d be funny to watch you wander on past it.”

Sam wanted to have Vlam set this kid on fire. It was suddenly the only thing he’d ever wanted in his life.

“Come on,” Barry continued, “I got a camp set up at the lakefront and everything. We can catch up on how much more awesome than you I am there.”

Vlam, use flamethrower. Those words tasted better in Sam’s mouth than any cake he’d ever eaten. But he swallowed them and followed the teen. Barry had fallen wordless on the way back to the missed path; he simply hummed to himself. Sam also remained quiet, but it was simply out of fear that if he opened his mouth it could only be to make his team attack the young assistant. When Barry revealed the missing ‘path’, Sam understood how he missed it: there was no way to possibly discern it! Barry must have torn up a dozen shrubs and planted them back right on the cleared walkway. What the heck was wrong with this kid? Just as gleefully as he must have placed the plants there, the youth knocked them all back out of the way. 

“It’s just about half a mile this way,” Barry announced after revealing the path.

As they followed the path, Sam found himself oddly impressed by the young assistant’s stride. It was very upright and very swift. Even though Sam was older and taller (not that much older, Sam thought before reassuring himself that he was in his physical prime as a man in his mid-twenties), he was having a hard time keeping up with it. There was a cockiness to the way Barry moved, as if nothing could be as important as what he’d set his mind to. Sam wondered if Barry would even have noticed something as mundane as a Shinx too caught up in its meal to acknowledge that it should be afraid of him. Noticing Chispa’s failing attempt to keep up with him keeping up with his new partner, Sam withdrew his friends into their portable homes. They didn’t need any more insults from this kid, anyway.

The lake was far bigger than Sam had imagined. He could see the other side, but it was quite a distance away and nothing distinguishable could be made out, and the length was enormous, as well. The eastern side actually disappeared into the woods, so Sam had no idea how much further that way went. Sam was not sure what he imagined would be here; perhaps a giant cave? Or a totem? Or just Mesprit itself floating above the water? But there was no sign of anything. There was a brief shoreline covered in branches and leaves, a calm lake, and then a far off opposite shore. Sam’s heart sunk in his chest; where did he go from here? The lake was unaffected by Sam’s heartbreak; calm water licked the shoreline as it was brushed in gently by the breeze between the trees. Sam could see minnows dancing in the shallowness by the shore. He glanced away from the water itself; maybe it was a red herring, he thought, so he looked all around at the trees and the shoreline. There had to be some kind of clue; some way to draw Mesprit out. 

“All right, what’s the plan, man?”

The words bounced off the interior of Sam’s skull. Initially, he planned to stay at the lake as long as it took to find Mesprit. But now with this impatient child with him, would that still even be an option?

“Well, we just got here. First things first, we’ll need to get my things out of my car and ready for the night. After that, obviously I need to explore the circumference of the lake. From there I’ll need to examine the surrounding area. I need to get some kind of idea as to what draws it out and how. We’ll move forward with catching it from there.” Sam hoped the confidence he was trying to project with his voice was there. Barry agreed–whether because of the confidence of because he was just agreeable–and they began to unpack for the evening. Night arrived faster than Sam had expected after getting all of his supplies out and integrated with Barry’s, and he still had no solution to the riddle of Lake Verity other than this idea of simply looking around. He thought that a fresh day might give him renewed perspective on how to progress from here, and Barry agreed. 

Tommy sat in his hospital bed with his sunken face leaning down, chin resting on his sternum. Sam tried to speak to him, but his voice was gone. The hospital room was black except for the light over Tommy’s bed, and Sam could hear none of the telltale signs of being in a hospital. There were no machines humming, no nurses ordering medications, no other patients talking to each other. It was just Sam and Tommy and this dark room. The silence suffocated Sam, but no matter how much he tried to call out to his brother, his vocal cords refused to obey him. When Sam tried reached out to take his brother’s hand, Tommy’s bed glided away from him. He slammed his fist down on the end of the railing near Tommy’s feet in anger at his own impotence, and his older brother’s head jumped. Sam leapt back with a start; had Tommy moved on his own, or had the force of the slam jarred it? He reached again for his brother, and this time the bed stayed in place, allowing Sam to stroke Tommy’s chin.

Tommy’s hand shot up and grabbed Sam’s arm. Sam yelped twice: once in surprise at Tommy’s reaction, and again when his older brother twisted the arm away from his chin. “Tommy, please!” Sam shouted, his throat finally back in control. “It’s me, Sam!”

Tommy’s face lifted to meet Sam’s; his eyes were solid black and his mouth was wretched into a scowl. As their eyes met, Tommy pulled himself out of the hospital bed. This caused Sam to fall backwards onto his rear and try to crawl away from his approaching brother. “You,” Tommy said. “Sam. You.” Sam’s arms pushed him back as rapidly as they could, but his previously crippled brother was gaining on him. “You did this.” Even worse than the accusations of his brother was the sudden beeping sound of Tommy’s hospital bed; a beeping that was growing in volume…

Sam’s eyes opened to find the beeping permeated his reality, as well. No, he thought, the beeping was real to begin with, and it had crawled into his nightmare. The next thought he had was that Barry was not only wide awake, but he was standing upright, staring across the water. As Sam regained more of his bearings in the awakened world, his ears let him know the sound seemed to be coming from the direction Barry was looking.

“What is that sound?”

Barry shook his head, but never removed his gaze from past the lake. “I don’t know.”