Chapter 11

Lavender Town

-Griffin-

"Oh, so your actually from the Sevii Islands but you moved to Celadon City." I said to Zoey after she explained where she came from.

"Yep. I really want to live there again one day." She smiled.

"When are we going to get to Lavender Town?" Liam asked while petting Sandy on his shoulder.

"We should reach the edge of town in maybe twenty or so minutes." Zoey looked at her map.

I sighed as I ran a hand through my brown hair,"Seems like its taking forever to get there."

"Pidgeooooooot!" A voice squawked from above.

We all spun around to see Pidgeot soaring through the sky. But the Pidgeot was very different. Instead of having brown feathers, they were right orange and the tips of its wing feathers were blue. It's usually long yellow hair was short and spiked instead. It's tail feather were more pinkish and the tips were the same blue as the wing feathers. The Bird Pokemon also looked bigger then normal.

"Pidgeot!" It chirped.

The strange Pidgeot pounded its strong wings as it started to land. Intense winds started to whip up. My hair was being blown back and the end of my jacket snapped in the wind. The Pidgeot landed and cocked its head at us.

"Something's different about this Pidgeot but I can't remember what." I said.

"It Mega Evolved, my lad." An old voice croaked.

A frail old man with a cane walked over to the Pidgeot. He stroked the Bird Pokemon's feathery back. A gray bracelet with a colorful gem in the middle, was wrapped around the man's thin wrist.

"Oh, that's right, Pidgeot can Mega Evolve!" Liam exclaimed.

The old man pulled out a Pokeball from his pocket and gingerly touch the Pidgeot with it. The Bird Pokemon was enveloped in a red light and was sucked back into the ball. The old man put the Pokeball away and faced us.

"What are your names, kiddos?" He smiled.

"My name is Griffin Black," I replied.

"I'm Liam Miller,"

"Zoey Sparks, and you are..."

"Everyone calls me Mr. Fuji."

I ran up to the old man,"We've been looking for you!"

"You have? Do I know you?"

"No, but do you know anything about my older brother? His name is Asher Black."

"Asher Black? Asher Black. Of course, Asher is an old friend of mine. I've known him since he was about your age. He always visits me every now and then."

"He's been missing for a long time. Is he in Lavender Town?" I questioned.

Mr Fuji shook his head solemnly.

"Did he say anything to you the last time he visited?"

Mr. Fuji grimaced,"He-he was searching for a friend of his and mine. Our friend is in grave danger and some thugs are trying to capture him. I'm sorry, that's all I know."

"Do you know where he went?"

"No, I'm so sorry but I don't know."

"Thank you. This has helped us more then you know." I said to him.

We were so close to Asher, now he's gone. I had such hope that I would see my brother again. Maybe I'll never find him. Besides, who was this friend he was going after?

My friends gave me sympathetic looks.

"How about I show you into town?" Mr. Fuji asked.

"That would be great." Zoey nodded.

Mr. Fuji lead us into town. I hung my head the entire time, still bummed out about not finding Asher.

"Here we are!" Mr. Fuji stabbed his cane in the air.

I looked up and saw clusters of quaint small houses. Paper lanterns hung from the houses and buildings. I also noticed people setting up stalls and putting up decorations.

"As you can see we are about to celebrate the Festival of the Dead. We do it to honor the spirits and the souls of dead Pokemon buried in Lavender Tower. Lavender Town used to be a dark and gloomy place but now things have changed."

"We'll have to come," Zoey said. "When is it?"

"Tomorrow evening. I must be off now. I have some Pokemon that must be starving back at home. Take care. I hope to see you tomorrow!"

"He was nice," Liam said.

"Yeah, except he doesn't know where Asher is." I grumbled.

"I'm sorry we didn't find Asher," Zoey put her hand on my shoulder. "We'll find, I'm sure of it. But how about we stay for the festival and hit the road after that?"

"I don't think I'm up for a festival."

"Oh, come on, Grif." Liam whined.

"Please?" Zoey now had huge manga eyes.

"Okay, I guess," I gave in.

"Yay! It's gonna be awesome! I promise you!" Zoey draped her arm over my shoulder.

"I'm so pumped! There should be plenty of cute girls there as well!" Liam grinned.

"Are you talking about the Festival of the Dead?" A boy older then us asked.

He had pale skin with messy jet black hair and piercings on his ears. He wore some band t-shirt and black leather jacket. He had skinny jeans with holes and he wore combat boots. A guitar case hung on his shoulder.

"Yes we are. Why?" Zoey removed her arm from my shoulder.

"Oh, just wondering. Name's Kristoff by the way. I'm going to be playing to be playing my guitar tomorrow night. I'm the Gym Leader of Lavender Town and I train Ghost-Types." He offered his hand to me.

I didn't want to shake it. Something felt weird about him. I decided to be polite and shook his hand.

"Griffin Black." I said.

"I'm Liam." Liam shook his hand.

"And who is this beautiful flower?" Kristoff cocked a grin at Zoey.

"I'm-I'm Zoey." She blushed.

Kristoff took her hand and kissed it. I felt my face get hot. I don't know what it was, but I hated him a thousand times more. Am I jealous? Why would I be? Do I like Zoey?

"Well, I've gotta go. I hope I see you guys around." He eyed Zoey from her shorts on up.

My fist balled up. I quickly jammed them in my jacket pockets before I punch Kristoff in the face. Kristoff winked at Zoey and strolled off.

Zoey's lips were caught up in a smile. Her face was red from all of Kristoff's flattery.

"He was cool," Zoey said dreamily.

"Whatever, are we gonna check into a the Pokemon Center for a room?"

"Yeah, now would be a good time." Liam looked at me weirdly and nodded.

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-Liam-

"Okay, what's the matter?" I asked as I dumped my bag next to my bed.

"Nothing." Griffin replied, obviously annoyed by something.

"It's obviously something. Now spit it out."

"Just leave me alone, dude."

"Did I do something? Did Zoey do something? Is it because we don't know where Asher?" Is it-" I was cut off.

"Shut up! I just need to be alone for awhile. I have too much on my mind." He stood up and went straight to the door.

What was his deal? I was only trying to help.

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-Griffin-

I walked quickly away from the Pokemon Center. Away from Zoey and Liam. But my troubles still followed me. The sun was dipping down and released the orange of it into the sky.

I realized that I liked Zoey. I liked her a lot but she was way out of my league. She was beautiful, smart, talented- she's the daughter of an Elite Four member for the love of Arceus. What was I? A nobody. Liam was my only friend back at school. I don't know why but people just didn't like me. I was just the guy she traveled with. I could tell she was totally into Kristoff. She wouldn't stop talking about him on our way to the Pokemon Center. She had every right to like Kristoff.

That didn't change the fact that I like Zoey or the fact that I'm jealous or the fact that I want to beat the living shit out of Kristoff!

Suddenly, I saw Kristoff walking towards me.

"Oh, hey!" he said,"You're Greg, right?"

"It's Griffin." I growled.

"Oh yeah, so is Zoey around?"

"No. No she's not."

"Bummer, so I was wondering if you could like put in a good word for me or something like that."

"I'm not doing anything for you."

"Come on, dude! Don't be like that."

"I know your kind of type and your just gonna end up hurting her in the end. And I wouldn't let that happen."

"I have no idea where you getting this, kid. I've been nothing but nice to her."

"Asher told me all about you and your antics."

"Oh, that's right! Your Asher's little bro. That would explain a lot. Both of you must've been born with a stick up your butt."

Rage built up inside me. My anger took over and I shoved him as hard as I could.

He stumbled back and fell on his butt.

"Don't talk about my brother like that and stay away from Zoey!"

"Not my fault that she digs me instead of a complete loser like you!" He got back up on his feet.

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

Without even thinking, I swung my fist and punched Kristoff right in the jaw.

"You shouldn't have done that!"

Kristoff punched me right in the gut and pushed me to the ground. I coughed and looked up at the Gym Leader.

"There's no use fighting," Kristoff said. "One, I'm way stronger and two, Zoey's head over heels for me and doesn't give a shit about you."

"You wrong about both!"

I planted my foot into his stomach. He was caught off guard and doubled over. I shot right back up and swung another punch to his face. Kristoff's lip was bleeding and he had a bruise on his chin. He lunged at me and pinned me against a wall of a nearby building.

He hit me hard in the face one or two times. He pushed me back against the wall raised his fist again.

"This one's for Asher!" He growled.

I squirmed free from his grip. He yelled as he punched the concrete wall. I kneed him in the chest and nailed him across the face. I uppercutted him. He fell back on the ground. I spit the blood out of my mouth.

I raised my fist and got ready to pound him to a bleeding mess.

"Stop! Both of you stop!" Zoey screamed.

Zoey fell down next to Kristoff.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

Kristoff took his chance and started to play the innocent good guy card. I couldn't stick around to watch it. I walked back to the Pokemon Center. I thought of what Asher would say.

"Good job, Griffin. But next time go for the eyes or the throat."

That's what he would say. I smiled. I threw up the door to Liam and I's room.

"Where were you?" He asked. "What happened to your face?"

I slammed the bathroom door shut. I looked at myself in the mirror. My lip was bleeding and I was just a wreck.

"I need to shower," I said to myself.

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Author note: So yeah, Griffin has some major issues! I was gonna make Griffin and Kristoff have a quick Pokemon battle but I was all like- Screw it! Just beat the crap out of each other! Do you think Kristoff can be trusted? Will they ever find Asher? Comment on what you think!

VOTE, COMMENT, AND EAT FOOD!