Bill The Copycat (Red)

Cerulean City was one of the most beautiful cities I had ever seen. The houses were made out of maple wood with blue sloping rooftops, the streets were white-ish gray with a tint of cyan.

The city was one of the smallest cities in Kanto, but the most sophisticated and organized one. All the houses were located in the northern part of the city, while the shopping complex, Pokécenter and the Pokémon Gym was located in the southern half.

A huge fountain was located right in the middle of the city, with the topmost part of the fountain looked like a Pokémon spitting water out of it's mouth.

The city was surrounded by a blueish aura at all times. Leaf and I walked the streets aimlessly, overwhelmed by the beauty of city. Wherever I looked, I could see flowers of various colors. It was like Disneyland but real.

Leaf stopped walking. "Red! Look at this." She said. I stopped, staring at the board she was pointing at. The board was right next to an old house and read - 'Cerulean Bike Shop'.

"A bike shop." I said, fascinated. "I want a bicycle."

"Right, to break it like the last one?" Asked Leaf, making fun of me. She laughed.

"Stop teasing me!" I said. "Alright, let's check it out." I walked inside the shop. The shop was the perfect example of - don't judge a book by it's cover. It had brand new bikes that had a premium look, they looked very expensive too. It was a showroom, not a shop.

Each bike stood three meters away from the previous one, each having a different design, color and features.

"Welcome, trainers. I think we've got exactly what you need." Said one of the three employees that worked in the shop. "A foldable bike to carry in your backpack, it can also-"

"Sorry to interrupt." Said Leaf, interrupting the employee. "But how much does it cost?"

"20 thousand Pokédollars only." The employee smiled. Leaf and I exchanged looks, it was too expensive.

"I suggest you to think about it, you can't walk forever. A bicycle is cheaper than using a bus or taxi to travel too." Said the employee. "We're the only bike shop that offers a foldable bike. And we're moving from Cerulean to Goldenrod City soon. Decide."

Leaf stepped closer to me. "Let's get outta here." She whispered, she read my mind.

"We'll think about it." I said and walked outside without another word. "20 thousand Pokédollars, what a joke."

Suddenly, a kid walked to us. "Hi, are you Pokémon trainers?" He asked. He looked worried and clearly needed help with something.

Leaf smiled and crouched. "Yes we are, how can we help?" The kid explained us the situation, while we followed him to the northern part of the city.

"So I know this guy, he's a science whiz, I go to his house sometimes to check out all the cool stuff he has. And I myself, I'm very interested in everything he has. But today, I went there, his main door was open wide, none of the lights were on and moreover. You won't believe what I saw, I saw a Clefairy holding a screwdriver with blood on it. The guy was nowhere to be found. I panicked and ran away." Said the boy, while we stopped right in front of a bridge. "Can you go there and see if everything's okay? The police is preoccupied with a robbery and they won't believe me."

I was terrified with what the kid told us. Is it possible that a Pokémon could harm a human that way?

The boy was scared and went home.

"Do you think we should go there?" Asked Leaf. "It's just a story right? He's a kid, he could be making it up."

"What if he's not?" I asked, in a serious tone. "Be ready for a battle."

We just had to cross the golden bridge right in front of us. I could see the house on the other side of the bridge. The bridge had a yellow bricked road to match the color of the sides.

"Okay, Dorothy, let's go." Said Leaf, walking towards the house.

In a few minutes, we were outside the house. The house was very old and shabby, the house was made out of bricks and had an orange sloping rooftop. It was very different than other houses in the city. It stood isolated, away from the rest of the city. The house was surrounded by climber and creeper plants.

I rang the bell gently. "Red, the door is opened." Said Leaf. "Like the kid said." She walked inside, and I followed. The house was a mess, the furniture was here and there, crockery items lied broken on the floor, the curtains were broken. It was the most imperfect house I had ever seen.

The door behind us closed and we could see someone's shadow on the wall suggesting someone stood behind us. We froze. Leaf and I slowly turned around.

It was a Clefairy, holding a screwdriver with blood stains on it's sharp edge. My heart sank, while Leaf screamed in terror.

"No, no, no. You got the wrong idea." The Clefairy spoke. We screamed louder. "Oh my god."

"It can speak." Leaf shouted.

"It is possessed." I shouted at the top of my lungs. "And it killed someone."

"I am not possessed, nor did I kill anyone." Said the Clefairy. "Hear me out, okay?"

Leaf and I zipped our mouths and stared at the bloody screwdriver.

"I am Bill, a human, I used a machine that I built to transfer my consciousness into a Clefairy." Explained the Clefairy.

"But you killed someone with the screwdriver." Said Leaf. The Clefairy licked the blood off the screwdriver. Leaf freaked out.

The Clefairy pointed at the floor. A thick dark red liquid was spilled everywhere on the floor. "Ketchup." Said the Clefairy. "Just trust me. I'll walk into that cylindrical vessel, you activate the machine using that computer over there as soon as the door closes."

"Okay?..." Leaf hesitated.

"I don't understand what's going on." I whispered to Leaf.

"Me neither." She whispered back.

The Clefairy walked inside a cylindrical vessel and it closed. I hurried to the computer, it had cool interface with some kind of code written everywhere. In the middle, was an activate button. I clicked the button.

The house began to shake and vessel started glowing. I noticed a similar vessel across the room, both the vessels were connected with a metallic pipe.

Suddenly, the machine stopped and the lights were out. No electrical appliance seemed to work. Happily, the curtains were broken.

Both the vessels opened, and a Clefairy walked out of one, while a man walked out of another.

"I am Bill." Said the man. "Thanks for your help, really. Joel ran away after seeing me like this."

"Wow." I was surprised to see such an invention. "You're an inventor. And that thing is a scientific breakthrough."

"This is the second time it has worked perfectly. Otherwise it's very unstable." Said Bill. "Thanks for everything. Also do you like cruises? I bought a ticket for a friend of mine and his fiance but they don't wanna go. Here, take it."

Bill handed the ticket to Leaf. "Thank you." Leaf said, awkwardly.

"Alrighty, bye bye." Said Bill. We walked outside the house, confused about everything else.

"That was joyful." I said.

Leaf read the ticket. "A ticket for two. S.S Anne cruise party. Says it's in 3 weeks. I'm gonna give this back."

"Why?"

"Because it's in Vermillion, we won't reach Vermillion by that time." Said Leaf. "We need to beat the Saffron City gym first."

"Or we can just go to Vermillion first then come back to Saffron?" I said. "Let's keep it, Bill didn't want it anyways."

I tried to convince Leaf for a while before she agreed. "Okay, Sleepy Red."

"Don't call me that!" I said, annoyed.

Leaf laughed.