Chapter 4: An Ominous Call 

"We should let Nurse Joy check the health of our Pokemon before heading out," Anthony said after our plan developed. 

"Good idea," Amanda agreed. 

We all took our Poke Balls to the front counter which Nurse Joy seemed happy to accept. 

"Like I said, I haven't gotten to actually do much work in the past couple weeks," she reminded us, her pink hair bouncing as she took the tray of Poke Balls back to the examination room. 

"Now what?" Daniel leaned against the counter. 

"I'm going to have to exchange Cloud for another Pokemon. I'm sure Professor Gary will watch him for me," I answered. "I don't know what you guys want to do, but I'm going to make some phone calls." 

"Ok. We'll be around." Anthony waved.  

"I'm going to the cafeteria again." Daniel rubbed his hands together while the others complained that he ate too much. Chuckling, I went to the green computer systems along the wall. 

I typed in Gary Oak's number and waited as a Spearow flew across the screen while the call connected. Gary appeared on screen, looking tired until he saw my face. "Emmy-girl!" 

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Are you always going to call me that, Professor?" 

"Are you always going to call me Professor?" Gary mimicked. "I'm too hip for that. Call me Gary." 

"Sure you are, Gar-Beware." I continued before he could retort, "Hey, I need a favor." 

"The classic Ketchum tradition of asking me for favors," Gary said with irritated amusement before frowning. "What's wrong?" 

"Well, my Pidgeot, Cloud, broke his wing in an accident," I cringed at the word 'accident', "and I really need you to look after him and was hoping you could replace his bandages every couple days. I don't want him traveling with me while he recovers and I know you'd take better care of him." 

"Sure, I can do that." 

"Can you get Maple for me? My Heracross?" I asked. "I want to have a full team." 

"Sure thing, Emma. If you send me your Pidgeot I can send Maple. I just have to go get her." 

"Great. I have to get Cloud as well." With that, we ran off screen. I asked Nurse Joy for my Poke Ball to recall Cloud, who woke up as I flicked the lights to his room on. He was not very pleased by the disturbance, but cooed reassuringly all the same when I told him I'd see him in a few weeks. 

I jogged back to my chair in front of the computer to find Gary back on screen struggling with Maple, who flew around his lab, running into shelves of Poke Balls. 

"Maple! That was my grandfather's first- oh! Not the transferring machine! There's! No! Honey! In! Here! Stoooooop!" Gary caught Maple around the belly and pulled her off a table. 

"Return." Gary panted, holding up her Poke Ball. A red light beamed Maple inside. "How you deal with this Pokemon, I can't imagine. I really am starting to get old, aren't I?" 

"I'd say you're starting to get more like your grandfather." I grinned. 

"Yeah, well, everyone thinks he was brilliant, so I guess that's a good thing. I know I did get the chick magnet gene that he passed down, that's for sure," Gary said, then stared into space with a very vacant, content look. 

I awkwardly allowed him about a minute of strolling creepy memory lane before coughing. 

"Oh, right," Gary stammered. "Send over Cloud." 

I put Cloud's Poke Ball into the transfer system, which closed. Seconds later, his Poke Ball had reappeared on Gary's screen. "And here's your overly energetic Maple. Good luck with her. I hope she doesn't bug you too much. Get it, bug?" 

"You're hilarious," I replied sarcastically, grinning at him as Maple's Poke Ball reappeared on my end. "Great. Thanks, Gary." 

"No prob, kid. See ya later." Gary winked, then ended the call. I sighed, wondering what to do with the rest of my time before our big recon mission tonight. 

With everything that was going on, I decided it was about time to call my parents and let them know I was doing fine. 

Or at least that's what I told myself before actually getting a hold of my mom. 

Everyone who met me generally immediately called me "The Ketchum Kid". My parents were famous in the Pokemon world- Ash and Misty Ketchum. Ash Ketchum, the previous Frontier Brain and current Pokemon Champion of Kanto. Misty Ketchum, Cerulean City's Water type Gym Leader and water show specialist. They were known worldwide and, as soon as people heard my last name, their eyes would get wide and enthusiastic talks about some of my parents' adventures and their most legendary battles would be retold. 

And I knew they were the most amazing people in the world. Of course they were! I couldn't ask for better parents. Despite their busy schedules, they always made time for me and made sure I always had Pokemon friends to play and train with. They're the ones who had arranged my Pokemon journey and who had gotten me Zuko, Bella for Amanda, and Crikey for Daniel. 

Which is why I always kept in contact with them and made sure to tell them how I was always doing, which at the moment wasn't very well.  

"And then we teleported to the Pokemon Center. I was freaking out because Cloud was hurt so badly, and-" I couldn't continue and ended up with a lump in my throat as I tried to keep myself together. 

My mom's concerned blue eyes stared at me. I noticed her face had gotten awfully white. "Is Cloud ok?" 

I nodded to the camera. 

"Honey, it's not your fault," she said sympathetically. "Sometimes accidents happen." 

"We ran into something invisible, mom," I reminded her. "Two hundred feet in the air. That's no accident. Something's there." 

My dad appeared on the screen, or at least part of his face did considering he was inches away from the camera. "Oh, hey, Em! Are you talking about invisible things?" 

Pikachu popped into the picture too. Well, his tail did. My mom and dad were fighting with the screen a bit. 

"Let me talk to her, Misty. You've had your turn," my dad insisted. "I'll let you talk to her again once I'm done." 

"She's upset, Ash, and if you're not careful you won't have just one upset girl on your hands." My mom sounded annoyed. 

"Oh." My dad blinked and stepped away. "Can we share, then?" 

After a couple minutes of watching them struggle so that the camera could see them both (my mom sitting on my dad's lap with Pikachu right on top), we continued talking. 

"So, how's life, Em?" my dad asked. 

"Great, kind of. We're going on a scouting mission tonight to figure out what Cloud ran into. You know, the invisible thing." I informed him. 

My dad's eyes widened and he stood up so quickly that Pikachu and my mom toppled to the floor. "You're WHAT!?" 

"What's wrong?" I asked. I'd never seen him look so upset in my life. 

"Misty, you didn't tell me that-" he stammered off. Even Pikachu looked distressed. 

"What's up? I don't get it." I was so lost. I felt like a Walrein in the middle of a desert. 

"Did you tell her it's ok for her to go?" I heard him whisper to my mom. 

"It's not like I can tell her not to," my mom said back, standing up. 

Their eyes were locked and they started communicating with just facial expressions. 

"I'm still here, guys," I said, annoyed. "Why can't I go check it out, anyway?" 

"It's dangerous," my dad answered stubbornly. "You don't know what is it, you can't just go walking off in the middle of the night-" 

"What?" I yelled. "I've been out on my own for years at night and I'm fine!" 

"You're still just a kid," he snapped. 

I stopped yelling, feeling close to tears as I took in what he'd said. My dad had never yelled at me before. We'd always gotten along so well and he'd never said "You can't" in any way or form.... till just now. 

"Ash, stop it." My mom tugged on his arm. 

"Misty, if she doesn't go she'll still be safe." 

"You know what? You guys did all sorts of crazy things and you were even younger than I am now." My anger seared and I felt so frustrated that I couldn't take it. "You have some nerve to tell me what I can and can't do. I have my Pokemon with me and we've never backed down from a challenge. As long as I have my friends and Pokemon, I don't care what you think about me. I'm going to find out what hurt Cloud and I'm going to stop it." 

"Don't you dare-" my dad started, pointing a finger at the camera. I rashly turned it off, stood up, and walked to a guest bedroom that the Pokemon Center had for trainers to spend the night.  

I sat on the bed, feeling furious and hurt. My own dad didn't believe in me. He thought I'd get lost in the forest or something.  

What does he know? I thought acidly, feeling my stomach churn painfully as I began crying. The pain of the day just kept getting worse. My own father, who had always understood me to the point where I thought he could read my mind, had told me I couldn't handle a simple stake out. 

I'll prove him wrong, I thought, now determined. I'll prove I'm not just some weak Trainer who's not good for anything except battling.  

The Ketchum Home 

"Why didn't you tell me Cloud was hurt?" Ash slammed his fist into the table, making the computer almost fall over. 

"Ash, get a hold of yourself. You knew this day would come," Misty snapped back. 

"I thought it might not happen..." Ash trailed off. He took off his hat and wrung it between two hands, something he'd never done before. Pikachu and Misty gave each other alarmed looks- hats were practically sacred to Ash to the point where he'd battle his way through thousands of Tyranitar just to protect one and now he was treating it with contempt. 

"She'll be fine. She had her Pokemon with her, her friends... us." Misty trailed off, sitting down in the computer chair. 

"Yeah, well we were just stupid kids back then." Ash ran a hand through his hair. "I mean, we don't even know...." 

His voice trailed off as he became lost in thought. 

"We sure did a lot for stupid kids," Misty said solemnly. "Saved the world a couple of times, as I recall." 

"We got extremely lucky at the wrong place at the right time, as I recall." Ash sighed and turned toward his wife with an apologetic face. "I'm just worried, is all." 

"I know. Me too." Misty sighed as well. "Pikachu, what do you think?" 

He stared at the couple seriously. 

"You really think she'll be ok?" Ash asked.  

Pikachu nodded. 

"Well, let's hope Pikachu knows what he's talking about." Ash picked Pikachu up and scratched right between his pointy ears, just the way he liked it. "Because I'm going to be a wreck till we know for sure."

Hi everyone!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and the guest appearances. I love writing about Gary, Ash, and Misty. 

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Pokemon Question of the Day: Who would your first partner be? (Doesn't have to be a normal starter that a professor gives out)

Thanks for all the reads and support, guys! It means a lot :)

-Flips