Pokemon: Raised by Legends, Chapter 69-70

Chapter 69 - Arriving in Viridian City, Heading to the Haunted House!

The sky was growing dark. Across Viridian City, lights flickered on in every window.

On the road leading into town, Officer Jenny sat inside her guard booth, broadcasting the evening's daily announcement to the residents.

"Attention, all residents of Viridian City! Thank you for your hard work today! Dinnertime should be over by now. There have been frequent incidents of pickpockets and thieves kidnapping Pokemon recently, so please stay vigilant! Try to avoid going out at night!"

The moment she finished, she spotted a shadowy figure approaching from the far end of the road through the guard booth window.

"Hm? Another Trainer coming in?"

Officer Jenny quickly stepped outside and held up her hand to stop them for a routine check.

But when she got a clear look, her eyes went wide.

"That Pokemon is...! Hey, hold on a moment!"

Fuyuki and Entei stopped and looked at the woman calling out to them.

She wore a blue police uniform with a cap and a utility belt at her waist.

Officer Jenny?

Fuyuki blinked.

Officer Jenny's gaze was still fixed on Entei.

Its dignified, striking appearance drew her closer for a better look.

"What a magnificent Pokemon! It looks even more impressive than the Arcanine at the station! What kind of Pokemon is this?" she couldn't help asking.

Fuyuki answered with a smile. "Its name is Entei."

"What?!" Officer Jenny clapped a hand over her mouth. "You mean the Legendary Pokemon Entei from the legends of the Johto region?!"

"That's right."

Her eyes went even wider, but then something clicked.

Anyone who could tame a Pokemon like this had to be an incredibly powerful Trainer. How amazing, to have a Legendary this powerful and rare!

Officer Jenny looked up at Fuyuki sitting on Entei's back. She didn't underestimate him because of his age.

After all, this world had no shortage of prodigies. Some Trainers had won championships in just a single year, becoming Elite Four members or even regional Champions.

This boy might well be one of them, she thought.

She gave him a salute. "Hello, Trainer. I'm Officer Jenny of Viridian City. We've been dealing with a lot of thieves and pickpockets lately, so I need to verify every visitor's identity. Could you please show me your ID?"

Fuyuki nodded. He recalled that in the anime, Ash had been stopped here and questioned as a suspicious person too.

He pulled out the Pokedex Professor Oak had given him and handed it over.

Officer Jenny took it and pressed a few buttons. Professor Oak's voice played from the device.

"This Pokedex is entrusted to Fuyuki. Good luck out there, Pokemon Trainer! Also, this Pokedex cannot be reissued if lost, so please take good care of it! This is a message from Professor Oak of Pallet Town."

"Another Trainer from Pallet Town?" Officer Jenny said. "You're the fifth one today. Though I have to say, you're much more put-together than the last one."

"The last one?" Fuyuki asked, surprised.

"That's right. His name was Ash. He didn't even know his Pokedex was his ID! And he and his Pikachu were pretty badly hurt. They should be at the Pokemon Center right now getting treatment. If you head over there, you might run into them!" Officer Jenny said.

Fuyuki: "..."

"All right, your identity checks out. You're free to enter. Welcome to Viridian City, Trainer!" Officer Jenny handed the Pokedex back.

Fuyuki had never been to Viridian City before. The place was completely unfamiliar to him. Professor Oak had given him an address, but he had no idea where it actually was.

Viridian City was enormous. Even across all of Kanto, it ranked in the top five in size.

He looked at Officer Jenny and decided to ask for help.

"By the way, Officer Jenny, do you know where this is?" He handed over the address Professor Oak had given him.

"326 Butterfree Street..." Officer Jenny read it aloud, then looked puzzled. "Why would you want to go there?"

"That place has been abandoned for ages. It's practically a haunted house now. The neighbors say they hear strange things coming from inside all the time!"

"There's something I need to take care of there," Fuyuki said.

"I see..." A smile crossed Officer Jenny's face. "All right then, I'll take you there myself!"

"Huh? Wouldn't that be too much trouble?" Fuyuki blinked.

"Serving the public is our duty as Viridian City officers!"

Officer Jenny drove up on her police motorcycle and patted the seat behind her. "Hop on! Just return your Pokemon to its Poke Ball!"

Fuyuki glanced at Entei, then shook his head. "That's all right, we'll follow behind."

"Suit yourself! Just keep up!"

Officer Jenny revved the engine and sped down the wide road. Entei and Fuyuki followed at an easy distance, passing through the city streets until they reached their destination.

They stopped in front of a lifeless, run-down mansion.

The building had clearly been neglected for years. Weeds had overtaken the yard, and the roof tiles were cracked and falling apart.

"Here we are!" Officer Jenny said, then paused as if remembering something. "It really is a sad story, actually."

"I heard that a happy family of three used to live here. They went on a trip one day, but the husband and wife were killed. Their only child disappeared. Though, given the circumstances, a baby not even a year old wouldn't have survived out there on its own..."

"After that, they never came home. The only one left in the house was a Pokemon."

"The neighbors tried to adopt it, but it refused to leave. It stayed in the house, waiting for its owners to come back. At first, people brought it food."

"But after it learned that its owners had died, it stopped eating. Then one day, it was just gone. Nobody ever saw it again."

"Some say it went out looking for its owners."

"Others say it died."

Officer Jenny let out a sigh. Back then, she had been a rookie officer fresh on the job. Everyone at the station had felt sorry for them when the case came in.

Fuyuki: "..."

"Thank you, Officer Jenny."

"The neighbors say the house is haunted! It might be Ghost-type Pokemon up to mischief, so be careful!"

She was about to say more when her radio crackled to life. Her expression turned serious at once.

"Understood, I'm on my way!"

"Trainer, a group of criminals that steal other people's Pokemon has broken into the Viridian City Pokemon Center. Watch yourself. I need to go apprehend them!" Officer Jenny said urgently.

With that, she jumped on her motorcycle and sped off.

Fuyuki: "..."

He looked up at the crumbling house before him, emotions churning in his chest.

A haunted house, huh?

Beside him, Entei stood in silent vigil. Its voice, steady and sure, rose in his mind through telepathy.

"Fuyuki, don't worry. No matter what happens, I'll be right here with you."

Chapter 70 - The Haunted House, a Second Pokemon?

Creeeak!

The front door, old and warped from years of neglect, let out a sharp, piercing groan as Fuyuki pushed it open.

A wave of stale, rotting air hit him the moment he stepped inside.

The interior was pitch dark. Fuyuki pulled a flashlight from his bag and swept it around, just barely illuminating the room.

Click!

A flash of white light burst from the Poke Ball at his waist. Squirtle had let itself out, worried that its Trainer might be scared, and now stood beside him.

"Squirtle?" Fuyuki looked down at the little turtle.

"Squirtle squirtle!"

But Squirtle couldn't help glancing around at the eerie surroundings. Its imagination conjured up images of terrifying ghosts lurching out of the darkness to snatch it away.

It grabbed the hem of Fuyuki's pants with its little hands.

Fuyuki: "..."

It was clearly terrified too, and yet it still insisted on coming out to keep him company?

Fuyuki patted Squirtle on the head and comforted it instead. "Don't be scared, Squirtle. Father and I are both right here."

"Squirtle squirtle!"

The ground floor was a living room. He could make out a sofa, an old television set, a dining table, a baby crib. Scattered across the dust-covered floor were some building blocks.

Looking at those toys, images surfaced in Fuyuki's mind.

His father from this life, Matsuda, holding these very toys up, making faces to get him to laugh. His mother, Yumiko, smiling gently nearby as she cooked dinner for her husband and child.

Back then, the family had also kept a Meowth.

His human parents in this life had been gentle, loving people. They had adored him.

Fuyuki's thoughts drifted back to the incident from all those years ago. Perhaps because his soul was that of an adult, his memories from that time remained unusually vivid, even now.

But back then, he had been far too small. There had been nothing he could do to protect them.

The thought that those gentle parents were gone made something twist painfully inside his chest.

"Father, I remember now..."

Entei said nothing. It simply stood guard over its child, a silent, steady presence at his side.

"Squir..."

Squirtle could feel the sadness radiating from its Trainer. Its little face crumpled with worry.

All of a sudden, a cold draft swept through the room. Then, from somewhere close, came an eerie, cackling laugh.

"Keh heh heh!"

"Who's there?!"

Entei's brow furrowed, its voice cracking like a whip through the darkness.

A wave of crushing pressure erupted from its body, rippling outward along with a blast of scorching heat.

In an instant, a small Pokemon that looked like a ball of purple mist was slammed to the floor by the sheer force of Entei's presence.

Fuyuki turned to look.

The Pokemon seemed frozen stiff with fear, paralyzed in place, staring at them with wide, terrified eyes.

That was... a Gastly?

What was a Gastly doing here?

Fuyuki pulled up what he knew about the species.

Gastly, the Gas Pokemon. According to some accounts, it was born when the lingering resentment of the dead inhabited gas emanating from graveyards.

Others said it was a new life created when a departed soul fused with toxic gas. They only appeared in old, abandoned buildings where no one lived.

At first, Fuyuki didn't think much of it. But then he recalled what Officer Jenny had just told him.

The family that lived here had kept a Meowth.

The Meowth had never left. It stayed in the house, waiting for its owners to return. But they never did.

After learning of their deaths, it stopped eating. And one day, it simply disappeared.

At that point, the Meowth had probably given up on living altogether.

Could this Gastly be... the reincarnation of that Meowth's soul? The thought struck Fuyuki out of nowhere.

He called out to the Gastly. "Meowth?"

"Gaaas...?"

The frightened Gastly looked over, confused.

Meowth? Was the human calling it? Gastly didn't know. As far as it was concerned, it was just a Gastly.

As expected... Fuyuki sighed. Even if this Gastly had been born from the departed Meowth's soul, it wouldn't have any of its old memories.

It wasn't Meowth anymore. It was an entirely new Pokemon.

"How long have you been living here?" Fuyuki asked.

Gastly didn't want to answer at first, but one look at the terrifying giant beside the boy and it answered, trembling all over.

"Gaaas..."

"Since as far back as you can remember?" Fuyuki asked.

"Gaaas..." Gastly nodded. But then it seemed to realize something, and its eyes flew wide open. "Gas!!"

This human... could understand what it was saying!!!

"Have you been living here all alone?" Fuyuki glanced at the stunned Gastly and asked again.

"Gaaas..." Gastly bobbed its head, dazed.

"I see. So you've been on your own all this time..." Fuyuki said. "Then how about you come with us? I'll take you out of here. We can go have fun together. What do you say?"

"Gas?!" Gastly's eyes lit up at once.

Have fun together? This human wanted to play with it?

It had lived alone in this place for as long as it could remember. People were afraid of it. Nobody ever wanted to come near.

Gastly was lonely. Deeply, achingly lonely. It spent its days drifting by the window of the dark room, staring out at the world beyond.

And now, someone was offering to take it along.

Gastly could barely believe it.

"Gas?" it asked again. Really? He really wanted to play with it?

"Yeah." Fuyuki nodded.

"Gas!" Gastly bobbed its head frantically. It was in! Absolutely!

From now on, someone was willing to be its friend!

"Father, I want to catch it," Fuyuki said to Entei.

"Mm." Entei had no objections. It thought the little Gastly was rather pitiful too.

Having it around to keep Fuyuki company and play with him was a fine thing.

In Entei's eyes, whether it was Squirtle or Gastly, they were simply playmates for its child. Peers his own age.

"All right, Gastly, hop in here!" Fuyuki held out a Poke Ball.

"Gas!"

Gastly happily dove into the Poke Ball. It wobbled twice, then went still.

Capture successful.

Fuyuki let out a slow breath. He opened his mouth to say something, but a violent explosion in the distance cut him short.

He turned toward the window. In the heart of Viridian City, a massive blast had sent fire and smoke roaring skyward, lighting up the dark night.

"Squirtle squirtle?" Squirtle couldn't help looking toward the window.

Ash was in Viridian City right now too... Watching the explosion, Fuyuki immediately recalled the events from the anime.

The Team Rocket trio had stormed the Pokemon Center to steal Ash's Pikachu. During the fight, Pikachu's electrical overload triggered a chain reaction in the Center's equipment, setting off a huge explosion.

It had been three years since he last saw Ash. Since he was here anyway, he might as well go over and say hello.