Day 5 of the trip to Kanto: overcast.
Reiji woke up on the hotel's big bed with Amber curled up beside him. She'd slept through the entire night, and now it was time to bring her back properly.
The method was simple in theory: Darkrai would pull Amber—and the three starters—out of the nightmare realm and guide them into their bodies. Reiji didn't fully understand how it worked, only the basics. Darkrai had to press the idea into Amber's mind again and again: you have a body, you're only asleep, you can wake up, and the real world is waiting.
Right before she left the nightmare realm, Amber had clutched his hand in panic, terrified he'd disappear and leave her alone there again.
Reiji had promised her they'd meet again, no matter what, and told her to trust him. Then Darkrai put her under.
Reiji woke up first. He stayed quiet, watching Amber's sleeping face, smoothing her messy hair with careful fingers, and waiting.
"That's enough," Darkrai said when it returned. "She's ready. She'll wake up soon."
Amber's lashes fluttered. Her eyes opened slowly, and the first thing she saw was Reiji—exactly like in the dream.
"Rai-nii… you didn't leave." Excitement hit her all at once and she threw her arms around him, though her voice came out rough and dry, like she still hadn't figured out how to use it.
"I'm here," Reiji said, rubbing her head gently so she could ground herself in the real sensation of touch.
Amber stared at her own fingers, flexing them like she couldn't believe they were hers. "Rai-nii… where are Squirtle and the others?"
"They're here too." Reiji eased her back, then pulled the three starters in close and settled them beside her: Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur.
"Squirtle… Charmander… Bulbasaur…" Amber's hands moved from one to the next like she was afraid they might vanish. Squirtle peeked out of its shell. Charmander's tail flame burned steadily, bright and alive. Amber touched Bulbasaur's bulb; it was cool to the touch.
Squirtle looked around, decided there was no danger, then chirped twice at Amber like it was scolding her for making it worry.
Charmander kept glancing back at its own tail, fixated on the flame. Reiji didn't lecture—just told Amber the essentials as she watched. That flame was its life, and it also showed its mood. When it was energetic, it burned strong; when it was worn down, it weakened. If it ever went out… that was the end. In a quiet room, you could even hear the faint crackle. Charmander liked warmth, and if it got soaked in rain, the tip would steam—though a healthy Charmander could keep the flame blazing even then.
Bulbasaur nudged Amber affectionately, pressing close like it had never stopped being her friend.
"Hungry?" Reiji said. He'd already had the hotel send up breakfast. He scooped up a bowl of rice porridge first—something gentle for Amber's stomach before she touched any of the snacks Gengar had "borrowed" last night.
Amber hugged the three starters tighter and took a deep breath. Then her eyes went to the window—and the volcano outside, its crater still trailing dark smoke. That was the moment it really landed. She could breathe. She could see the world again. The nightmare realm was gone.
"This is… where am I?" she whispered.
"You're on Cinnabar Island," Reiji said. "And yeah—Ho-Oh brought you back. You even have its Rainbow Wing."
"The Rainbow Wing…?" Amber fumbled at her pocket, still dazed, until Bulbasaur flicked a vine out and neatly pulled the feather free. Amber's eyes went wide. "It's so pretty… this is Ho-Oh's feather?"
"That's yours," Reiji said, handing her the porridge. "Keep it safe. Don't lose it."
When he helped her sit up, he realized she had no shoes. The hotel slippers were the only option, but they were way too big. He still got them onto her feet, then sat with her while she ate.
While Amber focused on breakfast, Reiji quietly sent Darkrai and Gengar out again—this time to "borrow" a few pairs of children's shoes and a small backpack.
He didn't want to do it like this, but it wasn't a good idea to take Amber out in public yet. She wasn't ready, and she absolutely couldn't risk being seen by the wrong people. So for now, they had to improvise.
Before Gengar left, Reiji gave it one strict rule: steal from a stockroom, not from the front of a shop. One missing item in a warehouse might go unnoticed. A missing item on a shelf that employees stare at all day would get spotted immediately.
"Rai-nii, the porridge is sweet," Amber said, spooning it up carefully. She even shared a little with the three starters. It had been so long since she'd eaten real food that the taste hit her like a memory she'd forgotten she still had.
"Slow down," Reiji said, brushing her hair back again. "There's plenty. Your body's still catching up—you can't eat too much yet."
Amber smiled at him, bright and trusting, and pushed the bowl toward him. "Rai-nii, you eat too."
"Alright." Reiji nodded, then pulled out food for the Pokémon too—Pokéblocks, neatly packed by type. He set them in front of Amber. "Pokémon need their own food. One each per meal is enough."
"This is Pokémon food?" Amber glanced between the Pokéblocks and the starters, remembering in a rush that they had their own needs too.
"Yeah." Reiji opened the packaging and handed Amber one for each of them. Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur each took a single Pokéblock, and that was enough to settle them.
That was when Darkrai and Gengar returned.
Gengar produced the loot from somewhere it absolutely should not have been able to store it: several pairs of cute kids' shoes and a small, adorable backpack.
Reiji packed the opened Pokéblocks, Amber's spare clothes, and the rest of the shoes into the bag. He left one outfit and one pair of shoes out.
"Here," he said, lifting a pair of white cloth shoes. "Try these."
Amber held still while Reiji slipped them onto her bare feet. They were slightly loose.
"Socks would help," he muttered, then decided she could make do for a couple of days. Proper shopping could wait until it was safer.
Right now, the urgent problems were simpler and harsher: Amber's hygiene, the sticky cloning-fluid residue on her and the starters, how to disguise them, and how much Amber remembered—her parents, her hometown, everything.
"After breakfast, you need a bath," Reiji said. "Ditto will help you wash. And the three of you are getting cleaned too."
He wasn't exaggerating. Amber's blue hair still had clumped, grimy residue in it, and when he'd carried the starters earlier, his hands had come away tacky. Yesterday had been too chaotic to care. Today, he couldn't ignore it.
"Okay, Rai-nii," Amber said, but her attention drifted right back to the window. She climbed onto a chair and stared at the street below—people moving, voices blending, the real sun and real heat on the island air. Compared to the silent nightmare realm, it looked like a living miracle.
Reiji didn't stop her. She needed this. Then, while she watched, he asked the question that mattered most.
"Amber… do you remember your parents?"
Her posture softened. The street outside stopped being interesting.
"I remember," she said quietly. "My dad was a scientist at the lab. I don't know where my mom is. I haven't seen her in a long time." Her voice dipped further. "And Mewtwo…"
Reiji walked over and rested his palm gently on her head. "Do you trust me?"
Amber looked up at him, and the smile she gave him was pure and immediate. "Of course. You're the one who brought me back to this world."
"Then I'll help you find your mom," Reiji said.
He didn't know where her mother was. But if she was alive, she had to be somewhere.
Amber's father was tied to Team Rocket. After Mewtwo's rampage, he might not even be alive. Handing Amber over to Dr. Fuji wasn't an option either. If he stayed inside Team Rocket's reach, he couldn't protect her. To those people, Amber wasn't a child—she was proof a "successful human clone" could exist. That was the kind of thing they would tear the world apart to study.
"I want to," Amber said, her face lighting up for two seconds—then falling again. "But I don't know where she is."
"That's fine," Reiji said. "I'll find her for you."
He already suspected Amber had been gone for years. If she hadn't died, she'd be thirteen or fourteen now—not seven or eight. That meant the timeline was ugly, and the gap was real.
Still, there were ways to search. If he could figure out where Amber used to live, he could go there, ask questions, find her grave, watch for who came to visit. It wasn't fast, but it was a path.
Reiji had dug into the old Mewtwo Strikes Back background before. Different versions used different names—Dr. Fuji, Mr. Fuji—but the same person kept appearing in the same roles. The records said he'd lived in Lavender Town and Cinnabar Island at different times. Since they were already on Cinnabar Island, that might be the first place to pull on the thread.
"Amber," Reiji asked, "do you remember what town you lived in?"
She frowned and went still, searching through her memory. Then her eyes lifted.
"It was… Lavender something," she said slowly. "That's what the adults called it. And they called people from there… Lavender people."
Reiji let out a quiet breath. "So it really is Lavender Town."
He wasn't surprised she still remembered. The strange thing was how intact those memories were. In a normal world, you'd think memory lived in the brain.
But this world had Ghost-types. It had souls. A consciousness could carry memory on its own, and maybe that was just how reality worked here.
Reiji stood up. "Alright. I'm going to run hot water. Ditto will help you wash. There are clean clothes here."
He nodded toward the starters. "You three are getting washed too."
Then he added the next step, casually, like he wasn't hiding how much it mattered. "After that, we'll go check Cinnabar Gym. If I clear the Gym, we'll start looking for your mom."
"Cinnabar Gym…" Amber froze mid-step. A rush of recognition hit her so hard she grabbed the doorframe. "Rai-nii… that sounds familiar. I think I've been there."
"That's Blaine's Gym," Reiji said, already thinking ahead. In some versions, Blaine had worked on Mewtwo research too. If that was true here, then Blaine might have known Amber's father. They might have even been colleagues.
Reiji's eyes narrowed slightly.
If Amber really had a connection to Blaine, then today might not be a dead end at all.
[End of chapter]
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