Chapter 9

The Imposter

-Griffin-

"Wake up!" Zoey threw open the door of my Pokemon Center room.

I groaned and ducked my head under my covers.

"Come on, wake up. We gotta get going." She opened the curtains of my room.

I peered out of my covers and hissed at the light.

"Just let me sleep for like twenty minutes." I mumbled.

"We should have hit the road about a half an hour ago." She insisted.

"I don't wanna get up." I complained.

"It doesn't matter what you want. You were the one that was all gung-ho about finding your brother. Besides, we need to dig up Liam. If he's alive."

"Asher and Liam can wait for twenty minutes."

Zoey quickly pulled my sheets off of me. I curled up in a ball to shield myself from the cold.

"Get dressed and get ready or I will end you." She glared daggers at me.

"Fine."

"Good." She walked out of my room to let me get ready for the day.

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"You look like hell." I said to Liam.

His hair was a mess, bags were under his eyes, his skin was sun burned, and marks were all over.

"Yeah, I know. It wasn't so bad after the Wingulls left but some Krabby's found me."

"Ouch."

"Then, the Kingler showed up."

"I hope you know that I was forced into helping them bury you."

"I understand. But I still wanna kill you."

"Just dig him up already!" Zoey shouted.

I pushed the sand away with my hands until I could pull him out. I helped him up but he immediately collapsed to the ground. We waited for him to adjust to not being buried. After that, we gave him his bag and briefed him about our new objective.

"We're going to Lavender Town?" Liam asked.

"Yep." I answered.

"Have any of you been there?"

"I have." Zoey raised her hand.

"What's it like?" I questioned.

"You'll see when we get there. Now lets get going!"

We set out past Diglett's Cave and onto the road again. I hoped we could have stayed longer at Vermillion but finding a lead on Asher was a game changer. I've only been on the road for a few days but I've gotten the real taste of a journey. It's shown me that actually being out here is different from what they told me back at the Academy.

We stopped for lunch and we decided to make stew. I went to get firewood. I still had my backpack with me because I didn't think to leave it at our campsite. I soon regretted it as I picked up branches for our fire. Once I was satisfied with my bundle of wood, I turned around to go back to my camp.

On my way back, I dropped some of the sticks. I got frustrated with my bag each time it slumped over my shoulder when I went to grab a stick. I threw it off of my shoulder to gather the rest of the wood.

I looked up from the sticks I gathered to see- myself? A complete lookalike of myself was standing right in front of me. I stared at it and it stared back. I slowly waved at my lookalike. He waved back. I jumped back. The strange reflection snickered. The snicker didn't sound like anything a human could make.

"Hi," I narrowed my eyes at him.

The lookalike went wide eyed and stared at me. He was completely silent. He glanced down at my backpack then back at me. He quickly kicked me in the shin and snatched up my bag and started to run away. I swore and dropped my sticks. I ran after him. He was fleeing in the direction of our camp. I was right on his tail. Literally, a small bushy tall stuck out from his jeans. The tail was black but was a dark red at the tip. I blinked rapidly at the tail.

I shook my head and ran after "myself". My lookalike pulled on a branch from a nearby tree and let go. The branch snapped back and hit my face. I fell back. I swore as I got up. My tailed identical twin was out of sight.

"Crap." I said to myself.

I started to walk back to our camp. I can't believe and imposter stole my backpack. I had everything in there except my Pokeballs on my belt, including and empty one I keep for catching.

I walked into the clearing that we set our camp up in. Liam was sitting on a stump near some bushes. I saw Zoey entering our camp as well with a pot full of water.

"Hey, Griffin. Where's the wood? I need to get the water boiling." She said to me.

Liam just waved at me. That's strange. You could never get Liam to shut up. He always had to make a joke or have a smart aleck comment to say. I peered through the bushes next to Liam. I saw what looked like to be one of the straps to my backpack.

"Griffin Black, don't you ignore me!" Zoey scolded.

I did the opposite of what she said and continued to ignore her. Black tail, can't speak any human language, transforms into people.....Arceus it's a-

"Zorua!" I shouted and unclipped the empty Pokeball on my belt and hurled it at the fake Liam.

The ball bounced off of the Zorua and sucked it in the Pokeball. The Pokeball rolled for a few seconds then finally clicked.

"Holy mother of Arceus, you captured Liam in a Pokeball!" Zoey exclaimed as she shook my shoulders, "I don't know if I should be happy or concerned."

"Happy, because I just caught a Zorua." I said cooly as I strolled over to the Pokeball.

I picked it up and tossed it in the air. A fox-like Pokemon jumped out. A tuft of hair stood up on its head with a red tip. It's fur was a purple and black mixture while its paws and the tip of its tail were red.

I bent down to my newly caught Pokemon.

"Hey, why did you steal my backpack?" I asked softly.

A large rumble came from the Zorua's stomach. The Pokemon whined.

"Oh, you were hungry. Well, you don't need to be worried about being hungry ever again because I'm your trainer now. I'm gonna take care of you. That is, if you want to join me and my friends."

A smile crept on the Zorua's face. The Pokemon leapt into my arms and giggled.

"Awesome! Now, what to name you?"

I pondered for a moment. The Zorua was a girl so, something feminine.

"How about Kit? Ya like that name?" I stroked the Dark-Type's fur.

"Zo! Zorua! Zorua!" She cheered.

"I'll take that as a yes, Kit!"

I sent out the rest of my Pokemon to meet her. As of now, I have five Pokemon but only four are legal.

They spoke to each other in Pokemon language and started to play tag.

"I have just one question." Zoey turned to me.

"And what is that?" I stood up and brushed myself off.

"How did you know that Liam was just Kit in disguise?"

"Many reasons. Including Liam, not running his mouth."

"Where is Liam?"

"Yo, Liam!" I called out to the trees.

"Yeah!" A strangled voice shouted back.

"Are you okay?"

"No," Liam grunted loudly, "What has this woman been feeding us? It hurts so much and it won't come out."

"Eeew!" I moaned.

"Gross!" Zoey screamed.

"Too much information, bro!"

"Also, my cooking has nothing to do with your-your-your problems!" Zoey declared.

"Yeah, it probably just you." I said.

"Thank you, Griffin. At least someone doesn't blame me for everything around here." Zoey said.

"I'm telling you, Griffin, she's poisoning us!"

"Liam, just stop!"

"I wish I could. Oh no!" Liam shouted.

"Ew! Ew! Ew!" Zoey covered her ears,"And this is what I get for traveling with two boys!"

"Yep!" I said, "Now how's about that stew?"

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Author note: Yep! I'm back(finally)! Sorry for the long period of not updating. Chapter 10 will hopefully be out in a few days because this one was kind of short and rushed and crapy. Ha! Poop puns! Just so you know, the next chapter won't be as gross. I have nothing left to say except Track practice will start next week so I'm going to become busy again. I will still try and find time for typing and updating. It might be slower and it might not. Also, inbox me or comment if you want talk about anything or need some advice or have some questions. I like to make friends and get to know people.

VOTE, COMMENT, AND NEVER PEE INTO THE WIND!!!!! Seriously, don't.