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Chapter - 32
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"Slateport City, the port where people and Pokémon crossed paths with nature." May read a poster on a gift shop. "This city is even bigger than Rustboro."

"I wonder if the Gym is bigger." Brendan was excited for his next battle. He quickly walked up to a woman. "Excuse me, ma'am. Where is the Pokémon Gym?"

She was startled as Brendan just jumped and shouted in her ears. She dropped several shopping bags that she carried. "Don't ever do that again to anyone!" She scolded Brendan.

"I'm so sorry. Let me help you." Brendan picked up her bags. "I can carry these for you, if you don't mind. They're just too much for one person."

"Um, sure. Thank you so much." Said the woman. "Whenever I visit here, I get carried away and buy too much."

"Yeah, I understand. This is a good tourist location. One of the best in Hoenn." Brendan agreed. "May? Would you come along for a while?"

"Yeah, sure." May hurried and started walking with the woman and Brendan. Leaving Red and Leaf alone.

Red and Leaf looked at each other. It's been a while since they've been alone and they realised that pretty quickly.

"Ahem ahem." Enid coughed, reminding them of her presence. "So what are you guys gonna do now?" She asked, pretending to take notes. She had to figure out what was going on, and she knew that somehow Red was at the centre of everything.

All her life, Enid had despised Team Aqua, but for the past few weeks that she had been travelling with the group. She had figured out that Team Rocket was a much greater threat.

"We're gonna find the Pokémon Gym. We have 3 gym badges, so once we get another one, we'll be half done with our journey." Red explained.

"And is there a time limit for you to collect badges? Explain this Gym system to me." She demanded. Enid was generally interested in how Pokémon Training works.

"I'll explain." Leaf stepped in. "Most regions have Pokémon League. The eligibility to enter being 8 gym badges. You get a gym badge when you win a gym battle. You're given 6 months to collect all 8 badges and at the 7th month, you have to register for the Pokémon League."

"That's the best explanation ever." Red was impressed by how well Leaf could explain everything. "You should write essays or blogs."

Leaf gave him a look. Red zipped his mouth, locked it and threw away the key.

"Excuse me, sir." Leaf tapped a man's shoulder. "Do you happen to know where the Pokémon Gym is? We've been trying to find it."

"Pokémon Gym? Slateport doesn't have one." He said. "A Battle Tent was built recently though. Gyms are fun, but Battle Tents are cool in their own ways. Do check that out." He walked away.

"Well, why not have fun while we're here, it's a tourist location." Red smiled. "We should have 4 gym badges by the end of December, which is next month. We already have 3."

"You're right. We've been too much into Pokémon Training lately." Leaf realised. "We should slow down and try to enjoy, that's the least we could do for ourselves."

"What do you guys know about Team Rocket?" Asked Enid. Red and Leaf stared at her for a few seconds before beginning to even think of a reply. It was so sudden and random.

"Well, they're the bad guys." Red replied. "I've faced them a lot of times and even defeated the leader, but he's planning something big. Something dangerous. But that's not a problem as FBI is taking care of it. It's not our responsibility."

"Not our responsibility, huh?" Enid whispered to herself. She closed her eyes for a couple of seconds, as if she was trying to sense something, or was just going into her silent introspective state. "Let's go to the Pokécenter."

Red and Leaf stared at her again.

"Alright." Leaf started following Enid. Red was suspicious of Enid's behaviour. He knew Enid had a heavy bag of secrets, secrets that she didn't want anyone to know of. He quickly dismissed his suspicion, it wasn't right to be suspicious of someone without any logical explanation.

The lot freshened up in the Pokécenter after the tiresome day. Red was ready for a long nap, he lied on the lower bunk this time, Leaf wanted to read her new book - 'To all the boys I've loved before'.

Red never really understood the idea of love and dating in general, but again, he was just a stupid 11-year-old. As Red was almost about to fall asleep, Enid walked into the room.

Red had no idea of her presence, her footsteps were as quiet as a feather falling on the Earth. She drew her hand and gently pointed at Red. A purple aura started building around her fingers which slowly floated towards and into Red.

Enid looked frustrated, the highest amount of emotions she had ever shown on her face. Red got up and sat straight on the bed, but he was half asleep. It was as if Enid was able to control Red's subconscious.

"Who are you?" Asked Enid. She was interrogating Red using her powers, anything she'd ask, Red would give an honest answer without being able to lie.

"I'm Red." He said. With a whispering voice, without any sort of energy.

"Tell me about yourself and your motives." Asked Enid.

"I'm from Pallet Town, lived there all my life. Dad passed away a few years ago, have been living with my Mom ever since. Last year I chose my starter Pokémon and was determined to become a Pokémon Champion, which I did, but erased that timeline now. Now I'm reconsidering my decision to become a Pokémon Champion. Getting pretty tired of this lifestyle, maybe I'll just do something in science field now. Dad was a scientist himself, and I just wanna be like him. He was an amazing person, and I'll love him for life. Continued to Hoenn Region because third time's the charm, right? Dad wanted me to become a Pokémon Master, so I'm thinking I'll go for that but the again, I'm not really enjoying all the travelling anymore as much as I did when I started off my journey and-" Red spoke in one breath.

"Okay wait-" Enid stopped Red from speaking any further. "Hmm. Alright, last question and after this you won't remember any of this conversation. What's your relationship with Giovanni?"

"Giovanni is Team Rocket's Boss. Team Rocket has always been this one barrier in my way I've always had to cross. I've fought against him a couple of times too. His motives are kind of unknown, but they could be disastrous, he's a very dangerous person capable of destroying anything that comes in his way. I personally hate him." Red started to rage, even though Enid's powers kept his emotions neutral. Which made Enid understand the anger he had towards Giovanni. "I believe that Giovanni had something to do with my Dad's accident."

Enid's eyes widened. "Goodnight, Red." She said, she waved at Red and the purple aura disappeared from around him. Red fell head-first on the bed and back to sleep.

Enid was disappointed in herself, disappointed in the fact that she couldn't trust anyone. She carried the weight of her past, which mentally affected her more than she realised.

She walked outside of the room, trying to distract herself from everything that has been going on in her mind. Secrets she couldn't let out to anyone (or that's what she thought).

She stood in the middle of a corridor, right at the door of the room Red was staying at. "That's not the right way." Said a soft, whispery feminine voice.

Enid looked in the direction of the voice. A silhouette of a woman was visible in the dark end of the corridor, a silhouette made by the moonlight coming from the large window behind her.

Enid's eyes glowed, as if she was trying to read the woman's mind. She got confused and her face turned pale. "Why can't I get through you?"

"We both share the same gift." Said the mystery woman. "Our powers have no effect against each other, or it's maybe because I'm a human and you're not. Whatever the reason, you can't do anything to me, Enid."

"How do you know who I am?" Asked Enid, her heart rushing.

"I know you, I know what you are, I know what you want." Said the mystery woman. "And tell me, how's Esmeralda?"

Enid's heart sank in the deepest corners of the ocean, she was frightened and enraged at the same time. Never has she been so irated in her life.

"But don't worry, I'm not gonna tell anyone about you. I'll let things be." The mystery woman smirked, as her eyes glowed purple. "For now."

"Who are you?" Enid asked, furious.

The woman walked out of the shadows to reveal herself. She wore a lilac top with white jeans and plum shoes. She had purple eyes and storm gray long hair.

"Sabrina." She said.