Our feet stepped off of the boat, a high summer sun sweltering over head while our group swayed with the hundreds of other refugees who moved to Island two. In my arms I clutched Copycat close, her head handing limply over my shoulder as the small child snored. The little child's arm hugged my neck tiredly as I pulled from the crowd, upstairs that guided up to an almost abandoned hill top, lined with a crashing waterfall. I settled under a lone tree that dug its roots deeply into the loam just beside an isolated ranch home.

Quietly I took her arms from around my neck and set her on the ground, giving a tender brush to her bangs from the child's face. With that, I twisted to look back where Red stood. He motioned with his hand to a port-side Bazaar back from where we came, each of the stands covered with golden threaded canopies, giving the signal he would pick out some food and be back soon. I gave a nod and shooed him to continue on without me.

He did so, letting me collapse beside the toddler who slept soundly. I gave a smile as I slid my hand over hers, "We'll find your parents Copycat. Don't worry," I began nodding off as my mind reeled with the past of the early morning.

The sun was barely risen when I had to wake up Copycat so that we could catch our ferry to Boon Island. She was a good sport for the first couple hours of the ride, playing with Vulpix, but then she had a small melt down. How badly she wanted to see her mom and dad. Her hands that entire time were clutching a small red and white sphere, most likely a pokeball. Still, after that incident, she fell asleep.

If you think about it, children are pretty bipolar.

I let out a sigh, pushing out my troubles with it as I let myself doze off into a cold darkness of dreams. Though it was all snapped away by a harsh voice of an older woman cackling.

"Twins?"

A natural reaction to spring up, my eyes flickered to meet ones who have seen much for their years. An old woman with jet black hair cut down just below her shoulder blades, the lady's skin was like a crumpled piece of paper after someone tried to unwrinkled it. Marks still left behind. Her garb was a long white dress to fit her more heavier-set figure, her waist sashed with a blood red ribbon. Her obsidian eyes fixated between me and Copycat, awaiting a sort of explanation.

Lazily, I had a theory of what the woman was speaking of, I turned my head to see Copycat curled up soundly. In the appearance of me. Letting out a breath I turned to look at the woman, "This is Copycat. She changes her appearance into other people when she feels so inclined. She is not a fifteen year old trainer, but truly a six year old toddler who lost her parents. My friend and I took her in on our travels to find her parents."

This woman narrowed her eyes, her lip sneering creepily before she nodded up into the tree, "Is he the friend?"

It couldn't be, I told myself. But sure enough, when I looked up, Red sat atop a branch roughly ten feet from ground. His shoulder leaning against the body of the tree as his hat laid just askew on his head, throwing his hair about like the ruffles of a Pidgey's feathers. The trainer's mouth somewhat parted as he took small and steady breaths, his chest rising softly before a gentle fall. Light tumbled down the leaves and struck Red carefully to illuminate him, It is.

"Red," I called emotionlessly. He didn't jump, his eyes just slowly pulling open to stare down at me. "You didn't have to sleep all the way up there."

The quiet trainer just nodded, like saying he did have to.

"Or you could have woken us up."

The trainer just pointed down to where Copycat and I were previously curled up, "Too peaceful," he said quietly, "Didn't want to disturb." From under his arm, I noticed a wicker basket and a checkered cloth hanging out.

Lunch, probably. It brought a subtle grin to my face.

I nearly forgot about the older woman until she snatched up a pokeball from my belt. I spun around to face her angrily, snatching air to grab the capsule back, "Hey! Give me back my---"

"Venusaur..." She hushed, jamming her elbow into my diaphragm to knock the wind from me. I cringed and watched the woman coo over the pokeball. Then she sharply spun to face me, "Fine. I will take your pokemon and teach it Frenzy Plant. I'll also babysit the child for you---"

I slid across in a guarding way to stop the woman from getting closer to the slumbering imitator, "No."

Reacting to her acknowledgement, Copycat rustled from her sleep and roused up, "Neh," She mewed, gazing up to us. Her new caramel eyes focused on the older woman. "Gramma?" Copycat mumbled.

"I sure hope not!" the elder protested darkly with her nose snarling up. Her lip curled back, "I never married! So I shouldn't have a grandbaby."

Despite the jagged personality of the crabby woman, a grin still burned across Copycat's face, her arms flinging around the old woman's waist, "Cranky grandma! Cranky grandma!" with one contact, the child transformed into the next copy of the woman.

The woman shot a look to me of confusion. I shrugged, "She calls me her big sis, and him her big bro. None of us are related."

The woman nodded before shuffling back into her house, Copycat still clinging to her hip like they were fused to one. Only difference in her perfect imitation was that Copycat grinned like a six year old while the old woman's eye twitched slightly.

The door shutting behind them, Red scaled down from the tree branches and stood beside me. His basket thrown over his shoulder while his gaze shot out to the endless sky where few clouds pulled across.

I gave a look to his blank face, his ruby eyes moving to meet my bronze ones. His passive expression suddenly snipping into a bland shock of his eyebrows raising, mouth like a lowercase 'o'. Receiving that, I sent him a somewhat confused expression and he sharply turned his head off to the tossing ocean that smashed against the cliff wall of Cape Brink.

"So, I guess we'll have lunch?" I asked, my nose catching the scent of ocean mist and food.

The trainer whose face kept away from my vision nodded, taking small steps forward. I followed until we found a more secluded area, the house still in walking distance, where Red pulled out the cloth. He flared it in the air before letting it drop to the ground gradually, blades of grass sticking out from all angles. Following in motion, Red set down the basket in the middle and spun back to me with an expectant gaze.

I smiled back and stole a seat by the corner, watching the sea only three feet away violently clap and war against the tall cliff, eaten away by time. I looked up to Red who still kept on his feet and shot a silly expression, "Aren't you going to sit down?" I sifted quietly, already opening up the basket of food while my stomach snarled.

Like usual, Red plopped down beside me in silence just in time for me to fish out a Spoink-ham sandwich and toss it to the trainer. I grabbed my own pulled-pork (Spoink) sub, unwrapping the plastic envelope before scarfing down the sandwich.

Other than the distant sound of the horde of people bustling around finding their places, the ocean playing with its waves and the distant cries of pokemon who soared above, it was tranquil. I just observed the ever turning ocean swell and sink in the distance while the light danced mirages in the distance. I took a light breath in, filling my lungs with the sea air before letting it go. My arm just slightly brushed Red when he flinched back, taking a scooch away.

Giving a funny look I spoke, "Sorry?" Gently I took a little move away from him, It was just an accident. Why get so buggy about it?

"It's okay." He mumbled, almost inaudible.

The stillness continued.

"Did I," I began quietly pulling out my vowels as I spoke, "do something? I mean--- I know you're not the most talkative person. But it's less... Well, like this. By that, it's just, you usually don't care if I bump into you. Um, you keep eye-contact with me. So, was there something I did wrong?"

"No," He answered quickly, his eyes still in the grass.

Convincing...

I nibbled my lower lip hesitantly before looking back at the trainer, "If it's the whole hacking thing," I said in a low voice so no one but him and the wind could hear. "I really am sorry about that. I-I didn't know that it would- well- I'm sorry."

"It's not that..."

"Oh," and the silence sunk in again, the ocean breeze throwing around my long hair as I listened to the words people carried who passed just out of sight.

"I heard Fortune Island has been getting hit with storms lately."

"Is it The Glitch?"

"Fortunately not."

"..."

"..."

"Don't ever make a pun like that again, Aster."

"...Got it, Rain."

A new couple walking about, "How come that player did this?"

"I heard she's here in the system now?"

"Ugh! If I ever find her, I swear---"

More voices chimed in, "The player this." "The Player that." "Her fault." "If I see that player---" "Player." "Player." "Glitch." "Her fault."

The tablecloth underneath my hand became crumbled as I muttered though bared teeth, "I know. I know."

A hand gently brushed mine in comfort. I felt at ease. But it was then jerked away suddenly by the person who extended it. In my heart, I knew. Back then, not really.

I stole a shaking breath, "Amber. Yeah, she was a ghost, I guess."

"Yeah."

"I wonder what her regrets where that kept that small child to this world?" I asked somewhat rhetorically. Really, ghosts didn't exist unless in fairy tales I thought. But this world has proven me wrong on many more occasions.

Red just inhaled softly before he hushed out an answer, "It was my fault."

"I doubt it was," I gave a ghost of a smile, trying to reassure him.

Though he just shook his head, curling his knees close to his face like a young and scared child, "She was my friend." Red squeaked. "I don't think it should be too hard for a genius like you... To know I was a 'subject' to my dad. You read the book... Well, Amber was there too. Kinda."

I curled my lips in, retraining the urge to speak. Just lending ears to Red is what he needed me to do now.

"She was the first clone. DNA of Mr. Fuji's deceased daughter. Mr. Fuji was a man who worked alongside my dad. But he walked out when he realized how cold and maddened my dad had become," Red's chin sat on his knees as he stared out to the horizon with glazed eyes. "Before... Mewtwo... She came. She was the first real success, they thought. Every day of my tests for DNA to make Mew's clone... I would see her watching. Back then... We were both kids."

His breath hitched with his lips just parted to try and catch it again.

He cringed as I dropped a hand gingerly on his shoulder, looking to me as if he had forgotten he wasn't alone. My caramel oculi telling him to take all the time he needed to. And the trainer gave a thankful smirk.

Red sluggishly tugged his stare back to the distance, "We weren't technically allowed to meet because we both needed to be set in separate observation. But we found time. To meet every day. We didn't see it as harmful... But I started noticing... When she was too happy... Or laughing too hard... Or anything too much... She started to dissolve. Break apart... She wasn't stable. And she never would be. Interaction with humans just broke her down, she knew that. And she still continued."

"When Mewtwo came along, Mr. Fuji left. Abandoning his 'daughter'. He knew. Knew that if she as in the world, she wouldn't last a day. But Amber. She didn't know why, and cried. I had to stop her tears, I told her because she looked better smiling. But it was just because I didn't want her to fall apart. Mewtwo was my friend, but she was too. I just didn't want her to slip away... And then... I found she grew too fond of me... I was the one hurting her then. Just by being near her. So I visited less often. But that hurt her too. She cried more and more. I had to keep telling her she looked better smiling, and she just grew closer," he started whispering, voice fracturing like glass as the memories came back.

He inhaled sharply, holding back tears. Like he couldn't cry, "When my mom came to take me away... I don't know what happened to her after that. I suspect she died in the fire. Or cried herself to death," his head slumped into his arms, "It's my fault... That I was even there. Or that I left. Or---"

I don't know what it was, but I hugged him. My arms wrapping around the boy who tensed at my touch, "Red. It wasn't your fault. If you weren't there in the first place, the girl's life would have been even more horrific. And--- she died loving someone. Not alone. That's not a bad thing. You should be glad you got out of there. Please, don't blame yourself for something you had no control over."

Bit by bit, the broken boy bent to fit into my embrace. His head now sitting on my shoulder while my hand soothingly rubbed his back. "Don't be afraid to cry. Because it hurts. Left scars right?"

He nodded timidly, tears starting to dribble into my shirt.

"Yeah. That happens." I hushed quietly. "But the scars fade, right? You think they won't ever heal, but when you stop counting the days... You realize... That they have already been fixed. Fresh skin. It doesn't mean the memories are gone, it just means they don't define us. They are a part of us, but we healed when looking in a different direction..."

Mom... I know now.

"It will be okay."

Mom. I didn't understand back then how much grief you were caused.

"Sometimes it's good when someone can heal the scars for you."

I just thought about myself, mom.

"But sometimes, they just have to be there. While you fix yourself."

There were times you were harsh, that you neglected me, that I thought you hated me. Mom, when you turned away from me, I thought it was bad. That it was because I was like father. But you were just doing everything you could.

A voice from behind us cried out in laughter, "Big Bro! Big Sis! Granny Mou-Tou taught Venusaur a cool move! Granny Mou-Tou taught Venusaur a cool move!" Breaking apart rapidly, Copycat was suddenly flung into my arms. Her face nuzzling under my chin as she giggled.

Mom. You did forget to turn to me and say: "I love you too," but it's alright. Now. Because you did keep that roof over my head, you made me food, you did everything for my protection. I just never saw it in that light.

"A real energetic one you got there." The old sage woman said as she paced over, placing my starter's capsule back into my hand. "Move to the next Island. She and I decided to give you two more time to eat while we looked for her parents. Nothing." The woman though smiled to us, brighter than she had before. Probably happier since Copycat stepped into her life.

Mom, I now realize you didn't want me to fall in love and end up like you. That's how you protected me too.

"Mou-Tou?" was my only response to the elder who immediately flushed an embarrassed crimson, like Red's eyes.

She crossed her arms and stuck her nose to the air, "My name is Momo Tanami. She shortened it. Now, the next Ferry for Kin island leaves in two hours, I have your tickets here, but for now... How about we all have tea in my humble abode?"

Mom, I know you wanted me to grow up. I couldn't grow with you constantly staring over. So it's time I control my own life, and I'm sorry I had to do it in this way.

Red faced his back to the group, trying to quickly wipe his tears away like a child refusing to show he was crying. I just laughed joyously, "Tea with the strange old lady, Granny Mou-Tou?"

"I am not that creepy!"

"I never said anything about being creepy," I snickered, Red finally turning back around. "Sure, tea sounds great!" with that, the band of two teenagers, a toddler, and a granny move tutor staggered into her home, abandoning a picnic. Well--- more of leaving it for the next.

Mom, I can't forgive you. I can't find that in me after everything. But I will thank you.

And I love you.

I'm sorry we'll never meet again properly. That I will never say these words again.

But maybe, you're reading these pages and don't even realize it's you I'm talking to.

"By the way, Ms..."

"Leaf... Leaf Green."

"What move would you like your Venusaur to forget? It knows five right now and only should know four."

"Hmm... Razor Leaf."