What Am I?

Reunions, Memories, and Bitter Pasta

Jen ran to the edge of the Tower as Gastly flew into her arms. Vulpix leapt off the Pidgeotto’s back and landed on top of Jen and Gastly, sending them toppling over.
        Jen hugged her Pokemon close to her, while crying tears of joy. “I missed you two so much!”
        Gastly and Vulpix were crying too. “We thought we would never be able to see you ever again!” Gastly wept.
        “We thought you were dead.” Vulpix sobbed, burying her face in Jen’s shoulder.
        After a few moments of tearful reunion, Jen looked up at the Pidgeotto. This Pidgeotto had bright blue eyes and almost seemed to be smiling at her.
        “Could it be-?” Jen thought as she scanned the Pokemon with her Pokedex.
 
        Pidgeotto: The second evolution of Pidgey. Pidgeotto is armed with sharp talons and dives from the sky to capture its prey. Unlike its previous evolution, Pidgeotto is more dangerous and territorial.
 
        Jen frowned at the Pokedex. “Way to go, Mew. You managed to fool my Pokedex into thinking you really are a Pidgeotto.”
        Mew flinched, and her Pokemon gave her odd stares.
        “How did you know?” Mew asked as she shifted back to her original form.
        Out of the corner of her eye, Jen could see her Pokemon gawking at her and Mew in bewilderment. Jen couldn’t help, but smile a little.        “Mewtwo told me that you were coming, so I just figured it was you. Besides, I saw you transform from a Rattata earlier.”
        Gastly and Vulpix looked at each other, seemingly hurt. “How much did we miss?” Gastly pondered aloud.
        Vulpix shrugged and stared up at Jen. She sniffed Jen and frowned. “She smells singed. Why does she smell singed?”
        She was directing the question towards Mew, who was now glancing around the Tower. She was looking for Mewtwo. “Pardon?”
        “What happened to our master?” Gastly asked.
        “Oh, she was attacked by Team Rocket. They had a Luxray attack her, but Mewtwo and I intervened before they could…kill her.” Mew replied, trailing off with the last few words.
        “What’s wrong?” Jen asked, trying to sound oblivious to their conversation. “Did Team Rocket do something to you two? They better not have, or I’m going to kick their butts!”
        Her Pokemon appeared to have been cheered up by her words. Vulpix nuzzled her arm and showed Jen the bandana that Misty had tied around her neck.
        “Wait…is this the Cascade Badge? Misty gave you guys the badge to give to me?” Jen sounded disappointed.
        Her Pokemon nodded in response.
        “But I didn’t beat her! Yeah, we took out her Staryu, but we didn’t beat her! We have to go back and win the badge fair and square.”
        Both Vulpix and Gastly shook their heads in disagreement. Jen could also see fear in their eyes.
        “Don’t worry. If Team Rocket is still there, I’ll make sure that they don’t take you guys again. I promise.” Jen vowed.
        “It’s not Team Rocket that we’re worried about, master.” Gastly tried to explain, believing Jen wouldn’t be able to understand. “How can we warn her, Vulpix?”
        “I…um…hey, Mew, help us out will you? We’ve got to tell her our previous master is in Cerulean City. You know, the crazy lady we saw.”
        Mew nodded. Jen tried to hide her surprise as Mew fed her mental images of her mom and Oak at Cerulean’s gym.
        “Oh…” She looked at the water droplet badge in her hand and sighed. “I guess I’ve got no choice, but to accept this for the time being, huh?”
        Her Pokemon nodded.
        She pinned the badge to the inside of her bag. “Thanks, Mew, for-” But the pink Legendary was already gone. Jen sighed sadly. “She must be going after Mewtwo.”
        Vulpix nuzzled her arm again. “Master, are you alright?”
        Jen smiled at her. “Don’t you two worry about me. I’ll be fine.” She stood up with Vulpix still in her arms. “Now, lets go get our next gym badge!”
        Vulpix cheered, but Gastly remained silent. He was looking at an approaching figure. Jen frowned when she saw the red and white cap, and the black messy hair.
        “Ash, what are you doing here?” She asked.
        He didn’t respond. Instead, he continued to walk forward silently until he stood a couple feet away from her. He seemed a bit taller…and clean-shaven.
        “Where is Pikachu? Is he coming?”
        The boy stared at her.
        Jen frowned and studied him a little more closely. “Red?”
        Red nodded.
        “Oh my gosh! Red, it’s been forever!” Jen cried as she hugged Red, all the while still holding onto Vulpix.
        Red hugged her back before pulling away.
        “What’s wrong?” She asked. “Why have you not returned to Pallet Town after all these years? We were all worried about you, especially your mom and Ash.”
        Red didn’t respond.
        “Red, I know you’re mute, but you can also use sign to communicate. I still remember some sign.”
        Red still didn’t try to communicate with her. Instead, he reached into his bag and took out an old folder. He walked towards the steps he had come up and sat down. Jen followed him and sat down next to him before opening the folder up.
         Pictures of toddler drawn images, and old photographs fell out.
        “What are all of these from, Red?” Jen asked as she picked up some of the fallen pictures.
        Red didn’t answer. She was going to have to solve this on her own. Jen and her Pokemon studied the pictures together as Red watched on silently.
        “Who’s this?” Jen asked as she held up a picture of a sleeping brown haired toddler. The child was hooked up to an I.V., and looked very pale. “Is this Libby?”
        Red shook his head, and picked up another photograph from the folder. This one consisted of a younger version of Jen playing outside with Libby, Ash, Gary and Red. Jen took the photo from him and flipped it over.