What Am I?

Nimbasa City

Sometime later at night

        Red and Jen landed on Libby’s balcony and began knocking on her sliding, glass door. Libby appeared from her bedroom with her Whimsicott and Poochyena following her and opened the door for them with a huge smile on her face.

        “You guys are finally here!” She cheered, pulling them both into a hug. “Ash, I didn’t know that you would be coming as well…wait.”

        Red smiled at her awkwardly as she studied him a little more closely. His face was still slightly bruised from the beating he had received from the grunts back at the Tree.

        “You’re not Ash.”

        “Libby, you remember Rory, right? Our cousin and Ash’s brother.” Jen asked.

        Libby’s eyes widened with fright. “G-Ghost! Ghost!” She shrieked loudly.

        Whimsicott and Poochyena jumped in front of Libby and stood in a defensive stance. “Leave Libby alone! It’s not nice to scare her!”

        Red and Jen flinched at the volume in her voice and glanced over their shoulders to see pedestrians from eight stories below looking up in confusion. Libby was being way too loud. Panicking, they shoved Libby and her Pokemon back into her apartment and shut the door.

        “Libby,” Jen said as she grabbed her sister’s shoulders, forcing her to focus on Jen only, “you need to calm down. Rory is not a ghost. He is very much alive.”

        Libby seemed to calm down a little bit, but not very much. She glanced at Red, who smiled at her, and then back at Jen. “But…he died. I saw his grave. How--”

        Jen grabbed her sister’s shoulders again. “Lib, chill out. Red is alive, and that is all you need to know. Okay?”

        Libby nodded slowly and frowned. “But—What’s wrong with his face?”

        “We just need a place to stay for a little while. Is that alright with you?” Jen asked.

        Poochyena sniffed her bag and growled. “You’re hiding something in there. What is in the bag? And why are you wearing that uniform?”

        Jen had completely forgotten that she was still in the Team Rocket’s uniform.

        Vulpix and Rattata poked their heads out of Jen’s bag and stared at Poochyena. “Leave our trainer alone, bub.” Rattata snapped.

        Poochyena flinched, but resumed his defensive stance. “That doesn’t explain why you are dressed as a Rocket member.”

        “Yeah…sure.” Libby still stared at Red numbly.

        “Black, I was at Mount Silver the whole entire time. There was some accident that happened to my Pokemon and me awhile back and, I guess since I didn’t return to town, everyone thought I was dead.” Red lied.

        “Oh!” Libby exclaimed. “That would explain why you’re still alive. Phew! You two had me scared there for a moment.”

        “Nice one, Red.”

        Libby then pointed to the Rocket uniform. “But…what’s up with the scumbag team’s uniform? You didn’t join them…did you? And why does Red look like he’s been in a brawl with a Machop?”

        Jen shook her head. “The uniform, we stole it from Team Rocket when they kidnapped our Pokemon, and Red got into a fight with some of them.”