Pokébook

Samuelle Park - Day 3, 6:45 PM, Goldenrod City Department Store

"TYLER!" Sam gasped as her friend fell out of the hole in the wall, flailing and trying desperately to catch his hand. She didn't, and he fell towards the ground below. Her throat, chest, everything constricted. Tears blurred her vision.

Twenty freaking floors.

Only Kite could survive that.

Sam squeezed her eyes shut, listening to Tyler's pokemon mourn their trainer. Everything about the moment was solemn except for one thing.

The Rocket behind Sam was screaming like the devil had caught him.

She didn't even bother to grace him with a glance. She simply ran off the floor, pushing past a blazing Rocket and several gawking bystanders who were crowding around the hole in the wall. She had to get downstairs and check on Tyler.

Down the stairs, no time to wait for the elevator - two steps at a time, a parade of Pokemon trailing behind her.

She burst out of the department store and into the bitter night air, but stopped dead. Where Tyler's body should have landed there was a Clefairy, and nothing else. Sam looked up to see several people leaning out the hole and returning her gaze.

Where was Tyler?

If he truly fell down and cracked his skull on the pavement, then he should still be around. Dead bodies didn't move on their own.

Sam stared at the Clefairy in silence before collapsing to the floor on her knees. The world spun around Sam. What the hell happened? Why was Tyler missing again? She crawled to the spot the Clefairy recently left and patted all around.

Where was he? Where was her friend? Tyler Tyler. Pushed out of a building should have landed on the floor, but didn't. Sam let out a weak, almost hysterical laugh.

"M-Miss? Are you all right?" A hand came down on her shoulder.

No blood, no body: just nothing.

"Baaaagon-"

"Char--"

Flashing lights, overpowering perfumes, the chinking of coins from a casino and missing friends who ought to be dead. Welcome to the big city.

Samuelle Park - Day 3, 8 PM, 13th Floor of Golden Rod City's High-Rise Condominium

"Are you feeling better?"

Soft. She was on something soft, and something was beside her, poking her in the ribs. She cracked open her eyes and saw Kite staring right down at her. Sam sat up suddenly, upsetting the pillows and Kite, who backed away in surprise.

Why was she in a bed? Last she remembered -

"TYLER."

"Calm down - you're going to stress yourself if you worry too much. Just lie down and relax."

Sam turned to see a gorgeous woman to her left. The woman had to be in her mid-thirties, but her dark brown hair shone as bright as her dark blue eyes. The kindest smile played on her lips. Sam instinctively reached for Kite and pulled the Bagon into a hug.

Who was this woman? Sam couldn't help but feel as if she'd already met the woman before, in some other time and place.

"Tea?"

"Where am I?"

"In my home." The older woman sipped from her own teacup and Sam sat still.

"What happened?" Kite snuggled up against his trainer, happy she was okay.

"You blacked out. I had someone help me bring you here. I couldn't just leave you alone on the street - there are Rockets running about, you know." The woman stood up and looked out the window, which displayed a brilliant array of colors - lights from the different buildings in Goldenrod.

"Thanks for the help, but I really need to go find my friend -" Sam moved to get off the bed, but the woman put a hand on Sam's shoulder.

"Not yet. Your Pokemon aren't ready either - I left them in the Pokemon center, and the reason your Bagon is still here is because I thought you'd feel better if you had one of your Pokemon nearby when you woke up." The woman's smile turned wistful. "I know my daughter did."

Great. Now Sam felt even worse. "Is this your daughter's room? I-I really shouldn't -"

The woman laughed and looked out the window. "I haven't seen my daughter in years. God knows where she is, but I hope one day I'll meet her again. I had to leave her behind."

Oh. Sam twiddled her thumbs, looking around the room. It was painted in soothing creams and browns. The entire room had a zen-like feel to it, and it even smelled like peppermint.

"My friend's in trouble," Sam said. The woman's story was sad, but Sam didn't have any time for it. Tyler was in trouble, she just knew it. "He was pushed off the twentieth floor -"

"Stay the night," the woman said firmly. "You're weak and what if team rocket has him? You can't help him then."

Sam sighed. The woman was right.

"All three of your other Pokemon are under Nurse Joy's care. I'll come with you to the Pokemon center tomorrow morning. We can pick them up and you can search for your friend. In the meantime, I want to know what your friend looks like. Perhaps I can help you find him."

Sam gaped at the woman, dumbfounded. Three? Blaze plus Piplup plus Tyler's Crawdaunt plus Ghastly was four.

"What Pokemon did you find?"

"A Crawdaunt, a Piplup, and a dirty Charmander. Why?" The woman seemed surprised that Sam even asked.

...Where was Ghastly?

Kent:315pm Day 3| Escaping Rocket Base

"Return guys!" Kent called, popping all his Pokemon, except the homeless Gible, into their balls. Everyone else followed suit before starting to run.

"They probably have an alarm somewhere, so, we only got so long before we're on our asses," Kent stated the obvious. "Keep your heavy Pokemon ready, just in case we need to maul some goons down."

Jack was having the most trouble, the Makuhita he had befriended was having trouble keeping up with him. "Here," Kent said and threw Jack a heavy ball. Hurry up and get that thing away." Kent didn't mean to be obnoxious, for once, but warranted a glare from the Pokemon.

Kent ran in place, twitching. Finally, the Pokeball twitched for the last time, Jack swooped it up, and the continued the escape. After another ten minutes it finally started. A blaring buzzer echoed through the entire cavern, acting as an amplifier. It was ear splitting, and pain full as being stabbed in the ear.

Kent was the first to give. He lurched over, and threw up. "I don;t know what that noise is, but it must be to get rid of us."

Jack and Kisa broke next. Kisa fell flat down on he stomach, clamping her hands over he ears. Jack lay their, as if numbed by the sound, while still aching in pain.Max seemed immune though. It was only after awhile that Kent saw the headphones. And after focusing his ears, he heard the steady beats of drums.

Kent searched his Bag, and pulled out his Pokegear, and blasted the radio, popped in his headphones, and told signaled for the others to follow. Kisa attempted to yell over the sound "NO POKEGEAR!"

Kisa didn't care though, and just clamped her hands tight over her ears and charged on. She figured it would stop eventually. And like magic, it did just that.

"I guess they figured we're down then," Jack said, his ears still ringing."Come on, let's go!"

The group started to sprint again, off balance swaying slightly. Gible on Kent's head wasn't helping him much. "I'll check this way, you two split those hall," came a calm voice to their right. Crap, the hunt to find them was starting Bright side, no one thought they were out and about. Bad news, they were about to.

Kent had stopped too short in his dazed state, and Gible wasn't on tight enough. The little thing was flung across the hall, right into the line of sight of the goon. "What the heck!"

"Gheeb1" Fang wasn't happy about what had just happened, add in his now hatred for Team rocket, and you got one nasty ball of fire blown at the guy.

"Come on!" Kent yelled to Gible, and ran to where the Rocket goon was. He figured it be safer there, the rockets had left from where he came. I think I see the entrance!" Kent cried, picking up speed as he dashed towards the light."Brag!" Kent nearly died, by the way.

If Kent had been running in a straight line, he would have reached the turn, and gotten hit by a Hyper Beam. But he didn't, thanks to Gible jumping on his head, and asking him stop for a split second. An Improbable, but not impossible event

"Um..." Kent took several large steps back. "What the fuck?!?!?!"

Kisa charged forward. "Let me check," she said, she crawled over on her stomach, being careful to stay quiet. "Its a training area, they got a bunch of Pokemon over there."

"So, we went the wrong way?" jack asked.

"No." Kisa got up. "Its the right way, except the way out it through a small army of Rocket Pokemon, that we have to swim past."

_____________________________________________

"Okay, so" Kent paced back and forth. "We have no water Pokemon, and if Gliscor gets hit, he can't swim. So we need a way to somehow get around there."

"What if Rotom and Lady mess with them?" Max suggested. "They could phase out,, and throw some stuff around, and we could sneak out while they were distracted."

"That is a great idea," Jack said, Rotom cheered above him.

In a minute, Lady and Rotom were out and about. It started small, acting as strong winds, plowing hats away, and slowly evolved into them completely destroying the place. Targets combusted, rockets fell into the lake. It was chaos. Perfect.

"Go!" Kent commanded, and ran from behind the falls. Quickly rolling into the cover of bushes. Kisa came next, then Max, and finally Jack. "That was too easy, I feel like we should have something go wrong."

"This isn't a movie," Max said. "And we should be glad nothing is happening."

Tyler Cohen | 8:00PM | Goldenrod Gym

And he fell and fell and fell and fell and fell, and before he could hit the floor, he fell some more. And when he woke up, he hit the sheets in a convulsion.

"Easy, now..."

His head was spinning and his muscles were tight.

"That must have been some scare..."

But it wasn't a dream, was it? And he...no, I... I was alive, right?

"I can't imagine how awful it would've been..."

Yes, I... I... I had to be alive. I could hear someone.

"...if Clefairy hadn't have seen the blast from the department store..."

So this was real. And I was real.

"Are you awake?"

Hesitantly, I opened my eyes, my vision blurry and stained with the tears from earlier. Wherever I was... The room was pink and bathed in the lights of Goldenrod. The smell of sweaty Pokemon penetrated the senses.

Someone took my hand and squeezed, and I squeezed back. "Mergh...?"

She leaned in, smiling into my blurry eyes. And I focused and took in the environment, and I was alive again.

"Are you okay?"

That face... That red hair...

"You blacked out for a couple'a hours!"

I was in the gym, yeah... But...

"You gave Clefairy and I a fright!"

I didn't respond, just moving my head around to see where I was. Yeah, I was right the first time. Definitely the Goldenrod Gym. Being the brave boy that I was supposed to be, I sat up, finding myself on a bed made of punching bags.

"Sorry for the lack of a real bed... We don't really need those around here." She giggled and let go of my hand, gracefully standing to her feet. "I'm Whitney, the Goldenrod Gym leader."

I bit down on my lip, finally soaking the last of the shock in. "I'm alive..."

Whitney giggled again and nodded, stretching out her hand to help me up. "That you are, my friend!"

I slowly stood to my feet, staggering a bit as I regained my land-legs. "The fight... The store..."

She nodded, putting her hand on my shoulder. "It's alright, I promise. The police took care of the rockets in the store after the fight."

I slowly nodded, looking around again. The room was filled with punching bags, sand traps, and baseball launchers. She led me away from the main training room and back into a rest area that I supposed was her office. On the desk was a box full of Plain Badges. She caught me looking at how many there were and giggled again. "I'll admit it: I get beaten pretty often... So Lance sends me plenty of badges to hand out whenever I lose."

I leaned back in the chair I had sat in and nodded. "Would you mind," I murmured, looking at my shoes, "telling me what happened?"

She nodded, reaching down under her desk for a couple of energy drinks. "Of course not!" She tossed me one and leaned back in her chair, kicking her feet up on her desk. "So Clefairy and I were leaving the gym around 6ish when we saw this blast of light coming from the mall tower." She took a sip of her drink, rolling her eyes as if trying to remember details. "So we instantly rushed over to see what was happening, and there you were, falling head first from the top floor!" I cringed and she must've seen it, because she rushed the falling part.

"So we ran as fast as we could until Clefairy was in range... I had her use Metronome and imitate a Psychic attack." She smiled and made a note: "Clefairy is pretty darn powerful when it comes to heavy lifting." With a grin, she shook her head and pointed a finger over my shoulder, but I didn't look back. My neck was still sore from sleeping on route 34. I didn't even need to try.

"The shocking part came after that when this Haunter came out of nowhere--I mean nowhere!-- and scooped you up off the ground..." She snapped her fingers. "Oh, right! You passed out after we caught you." She laughed and took another sip of her drink. And I checked it...Lemonade flavored.

"So yeah, this Haunter-..."

"Haunter?"

"Yeah," she nodded, pointing over my shoulder again. "It refused to leave you alone. So it just scooped you up and followed us to the gym."

My eyes widened and I finally turned, my neck screeching in pain. "Oh God."

Out of the shadows drifted a ghost... And I realized it then that Casper...evolved.

"Hauntah!"

"Now, I'm going to guess that this guy belongs to you?"

I slowly nodded, standing up as Haunter grinned, showing off his newly-grown hands. "Y-Yeah... He's mine... But wow..."

She arched an eyebrow and gave me a quizzical look. "Did you not know he evolved?"

I shook my head and she beamed. "Wow!" She slammed down her drink and ruffled through her desk until she found a tiny book that was titled Your Pokemon Pal and You! by Professor Gary Oak of Kanto.

"That's very interesting..."

I raised an eyebrow and she explained.

"See, normally Pokemon evolve during battle or when exposed to certain items, stones, or whatever... But Professor Oak mentioned in here..." She rifled through the pages, pointing to a part she highlighted. "He says that if a Pokemon and its trainer are so closely linked spiritually, then if the trainer is in danger, even without another Pokemon or human being involved, the Pokemon will evolve."

She shook her head, turning the page. "There are even stories in here about Eevees evolving into Vaporeons without water stones to save their trainer from drowning..."

I nodded, fully intrigued. "So they break the laws of evolution for their trainer's sake..."

Whitney beamed and slammed her hand on the table. "Finally! Someone understands me!" She laughed and leaned back in her chair, tossing her drink into the trash. "So," she mused, "you're a trainer and all..." She grinned. "I bet you're here for a battle."

I nodded absently, looking off towards the training room. "Yeah, but..." I shook my head, looking back and forth between Whitney and Haunter. "My friend Sam is traveling with me, and I don't know where she could be..."

Whitney nodded, silently following. "I'd imagine she went back to the Pokemon Center, but there's really no telling." I checked the lack of a Pokeball on my side. "And my Crawdaunt... I have to find him."

Whitney nodded, scribbling something on a piece of paper. "This is my Pokegear number. I'll be up all night tonight re-reading this book because of you and your Haunter." She winked and handed the slip to me. "Call me if and when you're ready."

I nodded and held up Casper's Pokeball, drawing him back home.

__________________________
Pokemon Center | 8:30PM
__________________________

"I'm here to check on a Crawdaunt..." I drummed my fingers on the counter as the night-shift nurse, Nurse Hope, checked each Pokeball under the scanner to see what was inside.

"This may take a while," she chimed in a high Soprano voice, "With all the Rocket thefts going on lately and all the Pokeballs that end up here..." She sighed, picking the final result out of the batch of over forty. "The police are furthering an investigation about something that happened a few hours ago." She smiled when I took the Pokeball. "Will you be taking your Charmander and Pinplup as well?"

I raised my eyebrows and thought it over for a moment, finally nodding. "Yeah, yeah I will."

She handed me the two other Pokeballs and bidded me on my way as she turned back to her nursing.

Now, all that was left to do was... Find Sam...

Kisa: 330pm Day 3| Escaping Rocket Base

"Hush you two!" I whispered to them as I watched from behind the bush steadily. The two Pokemon were doing a wondrous job of keeping the Rocket's preoccupied. They were so dumb. Numbers are good, but I'd choose skill over them any day.

Once we had exited back through the waterfall, I sighed with relief and pulled Pixi and Poni out of their balls. They must be cramped. I wasn't about to let them out when there was so much water around! They get scared...

But, as soon as I stroked Pixi's fur, I gasped. "My mom! Mother was the only reason we went in there and we didn't even look!"

They looked at the waterfall, then back at me. "I'm not going back in there," Jack said, shaking his head.

The other two boys nodded in agreement.

I looked towards the waterfall and headed towards it. "Don't do that Kisa," Kent said nonchalantly, feeding a berry to his Swinub. "You know just as well as I do that you won't stand a chance alone. It's all water in there; your number one weakness."

I balled my fists, ready to shout. But, he was right. Why would I fight if he was right. I looked towards the cave and sulked. "I just want to know she's safe."

"Kisa, they have no reason to keep your mother. She's probably out there somewhere, waiting for you." All three boys nodded in agreement. I couldn't tell if they were being earnest, or were just bluffing so I would go. Either way, that last statement gave me something to believe in.

"Hey! What are you doing here!" I turned my head, and out from the shadows stepped two Rocket grunts. They pulled out two pokeballs. Out of each of them came a voltorb.

Kent stepped forward, twirling a pokeball in his hands. "I got this. Swinub, go! Use Take Down!"

The Swinub jumped towards one of the Voltorbs at full force. It crashed into it, sending them both flying back a few feet. "Voltorb is unable to battle," he said, smiling.

"What?" one of the grunts shouted.

"Wow," I whispered to the other two. "That Swinub is pretty strong to take that Pokemon out in one blow."

"He's had it for a while..." Max said, shrugging. He was barely paying any attention to the match.

"Voltorb, use Spark on that animal!"

Kent smiled. "Swinub is not affected by electric moves. Now use mud shot! Destroy that Voltorb."

Both Rockets, stunned, ran inside the waterfall, sulking about their beaten pokemon.

"We better hurry!" I said.

But, right when we were set up to go, Kent's Swinub erupted in a sea of color, that eventually boiled down to just white light reflecting from its pores.

"What is happening?" I said, shielding my eyes from the light.

"Swinub he's... he's evolving!" Kent said, smiling.

I, too, smiled. Seeing him so happy about his pokemon's level up made me realize once again why I had become a trainer; because I simply loved pokemon.

_________________________________________

5:30pm

"We've been wandering around for hours... and I'm hungry," Max wined, staring at his last berry. He was contemplating whether to eat it or save it for his pokemon. When we had decided to move forwards towards Goldenrod, we had forgotten which way. After minutes of arguing, we decided to head towards the setting sun.

I was on Poni's back. I had only been riding her for a few minutes. My feet were tired, and she was in that pokeball all day; she needed excersize.

Just then a small shadow flashed on my face. I looked around. "Did anyone else see that?"

The boys looked, too, but shook their heads.

Again, the shadow flew over my head. "I saw it!" Jack said, pointing towards the sky. In the air above us was a large, menacing Scyther.

"Pixi use ember!" I shouted. I quickly climbed off Poni so she was ready to attack... or defend.

The bug quickly dodged Pixi's flame and lowered itself to the grass in front of us. I was about to force another attack, but from behind a large tree stepped a small boy with a net. He pulled out a pokeball and called the Scyther back into it.

"What are you all doing here? And why are you attacking my pokemon?"

Max|Ilex forest|5:32

"What are you all doing here? And why are you attacking my Pokémon?" A boy stepped out of the trees and patted the scyther on the head.

“It surprised us,” I said.

The boy looked us all over as if appraising us. “You seem to be some strong trainers,” he said.

“Why are you out here?” Kent asked.

The boy gave us a sideways glance as he looked up into a tree as if looking for something. “I’m doing research. Bug Pokémon are fascinating creatures. They go though the most change and come in the most variety.

Kent stifled a laugh.

The boy gave him a dirty look. “You don’t believe me. I'm Bugsy! I never lose when it comes to Bug-type Pokémon. My research is going to make me an authority on Bug-type Pokémon! Let me demonstrate what I've learned from my studies. I’ll show you the true power of Bug Pokémon.”

“You don’t actually plan of fighting all four of us at once?” Kent asked.

Bugsy looked at us and smiled. “With my bug Pokémon I could take on all of you at once but I’ll be fair. I will battle each of you one on one. If you beat my one Pokémon, you’ll get the badge and I’ll take on the other.
We all nodded.

“So who want to go first?” he asked.

I decided to get it over with and go first. I stepped forward.

“Let’s end this quickly Lady,” I said.
She cackled and hovered in front of me.

“Then I’ll use scyther,” he said.

The fight started with Bugsy trying to use Furry Swipes but it failed and Lady was able to hit it with Confuse Ray. The Bug Pokémon tried to attack again but it ended up hurting itself. Then I ordered Lady to use Psybeam. The purple beam of energy hit the already injured Pokémon and it fell to the ground unconscious.

Bugsy looked shocked then smiled. “My research on him was not complete,” he said.
“Now who’s next?” I asked before sitting down against a tree.

Jack Preston
5:50pm Day 3
Somewhere in Ilex Forest

"At any other time I'd be glad to take you on," Jack said, "but right now I have something to take care of." As he spoke his fingers brushed the Heavy Ball Kent had given him. "Can you point me in the direction of the Pokemon Centre?"
"Uh... Through that gate," Bugsy said, a little taken aback. Was he offended? Go ahead and be offended, Jack thought as he turned and ran towards the small building. My friend needs me.

His friend? ... Yeah, his friend. He was sure he and Makuhita had bonded somehow in the Rocket building, though it had been such a short and hectic time. He reached the glass doors of the Pokemon Centre and pushed his way in, Rotom floating clear through the window. After a short chat with Nurse Joy he collapsed on a couch as Larvitar and Makuhita were taken into the back to be healed. Rotom plugged its prongs into a wall outlet and sighed pleasurably as it absorbed the energy.


7:00pm

"Heeta!"
"Lar!"
"Whut?" Jack mumbled. "Go away, Miror B..."
He opened his eyes. The grinning faces of Rotom, Larvitar and Makuhita slid into focus. "Oh, hey guys. How you feeling, Makuhita?"
"Mahh!" the Pokemon said loudly, flexing its flabby muscles.
"That's really good to hear," Jack sighed. "So... what do you want to do now? I mean..." Makuhita was staring at him, confused. "I kinda captured you unfairly - that is, I wanted to help you out, but... you know, I'll understand if you wanna go back to the cave..."
"Makuhita!" Makuhita interrupted, holding out his Heavy Ball. It placed the Ball in Jack's hand, grinned widely as it glowed a bright white and disappeared into its home. It had made its decision.

Samuelle Park - Day 3, 12:32 AM, 13th Floor of Golden Rod City's High-Rise Condominium

It was funny how some people said clocks went tick tock tick tock. In the deathly silence of the room, Sam could tell it was nothing like the steroid-pumped tick-tocking that she expected. It was more of a steady ticking intent on driving her mad by being as slow as it possibly could.

Kite pressed his face against the window, staring out into the brilliant night sky, as if searching for something in the dark abyss of the night. In cities like Goldenrod, where the artificial swallowed the natural, stars didn't exist.

This was a city that rivaled Nineveh. Every bit of it screamed independence from nature and sin dripped from each building. Avarice was a specialty, though, as exemplified by its casino.

Sam swung her legs over the side of the bed. The carpet tickled her feet but was soon replaced by cold marble. Sam glanced at her clothes on the chair in a corner of the room, then back at Kite. She couldn't stay all night. She had to get her Pokemon back.

The door creaked open. "I had a feeling you wouldn't be able to sleep."

Sam glanced at the woman, whose name was still unknown. The older woman had insisted on Sam simply calling her Kaye, but it was clear to Sam that Kaye wasn't truly the former's name.

"I can't. I just keep thinking about my Pokemon and about Tyler -"

"Well, what are we waiting for?"

Sam blinked at Kaye. "What?"

"If you can't sleep, there's no use staying here." The wistful smile was back on Kaye's face. "You remind me of my daughter. She loved her Pokemon very much too."

Sam smiled. "You mean it? I can go and -?"

"You're probably not going to get any rest until you find your friend, and I'm not stupid. You'll only be wasting your time by staying here. Give me a while - I'll change and drop you off at the Pokemon center."

Sam couldn't help herself. She flung herself at Kaye, engulfing the older woman in a hug.

Samuelle Park - Day 3, 12:52 AM, Goldenrod Pokemon Center

"I-I'm sorry but someone came by a while ago and took your Pokemon."

At this every single fiber of Sam's being quivered. "Wh-What?" She laughed nervously. "Someone -"

"There has to be a mistake," Kaye cut in. Her stare burned into Nurse Joy's eyes. Chansey shrank back in fear. "How can you just give away Pokemon like that? So if I were to ask for an Eevee you would just hand it over to me? Is that it?"

Nurse Joy whimpered and shook her head. "N-No, I - he seemed so sure -"

The Pokemon center's harsh antiseptic air stole all the oxygen from Sam and the room spun round and round and round.

"I-I have to go out - I need air -" Sam clung to Kite as if he could help her breathe. As if staying with him made everything else better.

What would her brother say after finding out she lost Blaze? Blaze wasn't just a normal Charmander; he was Sam's black charmander, and she would go so far as to say that perhaps Blaze was the only shiny charmander in all of Johto.

She crashed into a few people as she stumbled out of the Pokemon center, mumbling sorry all the while. Someone had gotten to her Pokemon. How could someone had gotten to her Pokemon? How could the Pokemon center just give them away?

Sam bumped into quite a few people as she walked around somewhat blindly. Everything around her was a blur of lights and sounds. This city deceived her.

Just then, a car honked and screeched to a stop. It missed her by a few inches, but Sam stood still.

Everything in the city seemed to die in that moment. The lights seemed to flicker and they didn't seem so bright anymore. The clinking coins of the casino was dull, and the music escaping its doors sounded tired.

Sam burst into tears and collapsed onto the floor, sobbing and clutching Kite tight to her chest.

"Sam? Are you all right?"

Great. She even heard Tyler in her head again.

Kent| 5:55pm| Ilex Forest |

"Kisa, you go first, I gotta go check some stuff out before I go," Kent walked away from the battles scene, all his Pokeballs in hand. "Come on out guys!"

"Piloswine- The Mud Boar Pokemon, Because the long hair all over its body obscures its sight, it just keeps charging repeatedly. Specific Pokemon- Attacks known- Double Edge, Avalance, Earth Quake, Endure, Mist, Ice Beam."
Gliscor- The Vampire Bat Pokemon,If it succeeds in catching even a faint breeze properly, it can circle the globe without flapping once. Specific Pokemon- Attacks: Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Metal Claw, Sky Attack, Cross poison, X-Scissor.

"Well," Kent paced back and forth for a few minutes. "Pilo, I'mma go with you for this battle." "Swiine!" "Gles....."


"Its Okay Glide, we got another six gym leaders to kick some ass with," Kent patted the tower.
Kent stayed in his little area for another twenty or so minutes, testing out his Pokemon's moves. Pilo was surprisingly adjusted to his new body, and was knocking trees out of the ground in no time.

"Kent in da house! Boy-oe!" Kent announced, in a mocking tone. Except it sounded exactly like he normally acted. "Move aside little lady, this guys gonna go down, hard." Kent pushed the recently finished Kisa away, Pilo next to him.

"Piloswine huh," Bugsy said. "Okay then, Yanma I choose you! Start this thing off with Bug Buzz!"

"Pilo, use Endure!" Piloswine glowed a bright red, shining under a protective shield. The red waves began piling up to Pilo, forcing him backwards. "Pilo, use Ice Beam, the follow it with an Avalanche!"

The bright beam of ice shot right towards Yanma, but only Grazing its wing, with no real affect. "Yanma, charge in with U-turn! Then Sonic Boom!"

"Pilo, dodge it and use mist!" The clump of fur collapsed onto its side and rolled under the attacks. A think dew them began to form around the battle field, constricting the view. "If Pilo can't see, then it won't matter much in here. Yanma will be on equal terms."

"Yanma, use Sonic boom, anywhere you can," Bugsy was getting desperate, exactly what Kent wanted. "Pilo, use Endure again, and listen carefully!"

Again the red shield formed around Piloswine, SSonic boos bouncing off it and disappeared. PIlo stayed focused with in it. His years twitched with every grunt of attack. "Now, use that noise to find Yanma! And Ice beam it!"

Yanma tried to move, but it didn't know where to move. Unlike Pilo, it had just been randomly firing off attacks, not paying much mind to anything. Now it lay, frozen solid by the mouth of PiloSwine. "I'll take that badge now, sir."

7:20pm

"So Jacky boy, why didn't you want to take Bugsy on? Free badge dude," Kent laughed as they walked through Ilex again. Kent was sitting on Pilo Swine, who was happy to be out and about.

"I don;t know, I was more concerned with Makuhita, I guess," Jack said with a shrug, ruffling his new Pokemon's hair. "So, where to next?"

"Well,we got to go through Goldenrod for the next--"

"No!" Jack yelled. "I mean...we should go back I want to get that badge, like now!"

"Okay...I guess we could," Kent said

"We should probably stay the night in Azalea in any case," Max said.

9:00pm

"A-ha!" Jack said proudly as he entered the Pokemon center, holding up his second badge. "And all thanks to these guys!" Jack smiled, pointing to no one Pokemon.

"Well, down side of it," Kent said. "Now we're set back two hours, and the Pokemon center has no rooms, a lot of trainers reserved them for when they come to get their Pokemon."

"...So we're going through Ilex at night?" Jack asked.

"Just a forest, not like anything bad could happen," Kent said with a smile.

Jack Preston
7:30pm Day 3
Bugsy's Ilex Forest arena

"So if you ask me," Kent began (Jack hadn't, but listened intently), "if Bugsy takes out Scyther, bring Rotom into the match. Otherwise, use Larvitar."
"What about Makuhita?"
"Well, Fighting isn't good against Bug. And even worse against Bug-Flying. Don't worry, Makuhita'll get its chance to shine."
"Ok, so what about when the battle begins?"
"Ok. Hit Scyther with Discharge as much as possible, and don't let him build up a Fury Cutter chain. Any other Pokemon he uses, Larvitar should be able to handle. Good luck, dude!"

As Kent made to leave, Jack asked, "Hey, wait. Can I borrow that Pokedex thing to scan my Pokemon? They might have learned some new moves."
"You don't have a Pokedex?" Kent exclaimed. "So that's why you keep nicking mine. Here, activate WiFi on your PokeGear."
Within seconds, Jack had installed the Poke Scanner software from Kent's Pokedex. Kent wished him luck once again and headed back towards Azalea. Jack lined up his Pokemon in front of him and scanned them, listening for the robotic voice.
Rotom's Attack List: Discharge, Ominous Wind, Thunder Wave, Confuse Ray, Signal Beam.
Larvitar's Attack List: Bite, Headbutt, Screech, Rock Tomb, Mud-Slap.
Makuhita's Attack List: Arm Thrust, Sand-Attack, Focus Energy, Endure, Return.

"Right." Jack checked the full list of attacks and their effects in battle, and when he felt he was as prepared as he could be he continued back to where Bugsy had been.
"Oh, there you are," Bugsy said with a smirk. "Going to apologise for bailing out on me before?"
"Uh, yeah... I had to make sure Makuhita was ok, he got kinda beat up before."
The smirk dropped from Bugsy's face. "Is that what that was about? Then that's a different matter, I can respect that." He smiled again, more gently this time. "I'd like to see this Makuhita in battle, actually. Would you be willing to bring it out?"
"Sure, I guess?" Jack agreed uneasily.
"Great! We'll each use two Pokemon in a one-on-one match. Go, Surskit!"
"Surskit!" came a high-pitched voice as a blue bug with four long legs appeared. Jack lifted the Heavy Ball from his belt and hurled it toward the bug with a shout of "Go, Makuhita!" Makuhita dropped with a thump onto the ground, psyched for its first proper match with Jack.

"Surskit, start with Bubble!"
"Makuhita, Arm Thrust!"
Makuhita ran through the cloud of bubbles that was spewed at it, taking a little damage, and punched Surskit repeatedly with surprising speed. Finally Surskit managed to shift out of the way, and at a command from Bugsy flew at Makuhita with a Quick Attack.
"Makuhita, take it! Use Focus Energy!" Jack called. Makuhita stood stock still, barely even flinching as Surskit hit it, and pumped its fists with adrenaline.
"Now, Arm Thrust again!" Makuhita shot at Surskit again and slammed its fists into the tiny bug. It was too much for the blue critter, and it collapsed to the ground.

"Hm," Bugsy said, retracting Surskit. "Not bad. Round 2! Go, Scyther!"
An enormous green bug with giant blades for hands burst from the Ball and growled. Jack, remembering Kent's advice, recalled Makuhita and turned to Rotom, who was floating right next to his head. "Ready, bud?"
"Roh!" The ghost moved idly onto the battlefield. Bugsy smiled sinisterly.
"You can go first this time," he said. Jack shrugged.
"Rotom, use Discharge!"
Rotom unleashed its energy all over the battlefield. Scyther, however, was ready and leaped into the air, right over Rotom's forks of electricity. It landed directly in fromt of Rotom, who was too stunned to react in time.

"Fury Cutter!" Bugsy grinned. Scyther lifted a scythe and slashed Rotom hard. Rotom cried in pain, a sound that made Jack wince.
"Rotom, try to phase out! Hit Scyther with Confuse Ray if you can!"
Rotom vanished from sight. Scyther looked around in confusion as Rotom could be heard winding up the attack. Then, from out of nowhere, Rotom popped into view right in front of Scyther, unleashing a bright beam of light straight into its face. Scyther stood still for a moment, and then began stumbling about the grass.
"Good one, Rotom!" Jack grinned. "Now hit it with Signal Beam!" Rotom sent another bright beam at Scyther, this one glowing in several colours. Scyther was sent a few feet back from the impact of the hit, but stayed on its feet.

"Night Slash!" Bugsy shouted quickly. Scyther immediately faced Rotom and cut through it with a scythe that glowed with black light. Rotom's eyes closed and it dropped to the ground. Unbelievable.
"Signal Beam," Bugsy said, shrugging. "Though you didn't intend to, you sent Scyther a signal of Rotom's location when you hit it with that attack - and Scyther, being a Bug, could read it."
"Right," Jack muttered, making a mental note to remember this. He reluctantly sent Makuhita back onto the field. "Ready for another shot, Makuhita?"
"Heeta!" Makuhita shouted, pounding its fists together.

"Use as many Fury Cutters as you can!" Bugsy shouted. It was all or nothing, both trainers realised at this point. Jack followed suit with the command "Endure it, Makuhita!"
Scyther's blades whipped at Makuhita but the Fighter stood strong, absorbing the blows.
"Now, Arm Thrust!" Makuhita pummelled Scyther a few times: the damage wasn't much, but it did put some distance between the two. Jack checked Makuhita's attack list again.
"All right, now Sand Attack!" he called. Makuhita began running on the spot, kicking up a cloud of dust. Between the confusion and the veil of sand, not a single Fury Cutter connected with Makuhita from that point onward.
Hope you really like me as much as I think you do, Jack thought as he uttered his last command. "Finish it with Return!"
Makuhita shot towards Scyther and hit it with a solid punch to the belly. Scyther flew backwards into a tree and fell to the ground, unmoving. The battle was over.

Kent: 9:40 pm Day 3|Ilex Forest|

"I can;t wait to get to Goldenrod," Kent said. "I finally get to meet those two."

"Who?" Kisa asked.

"The Day Care couple," Kent explained. They live near Goldenrod, my dad does business with them. Most of our Horsea and Trapinch come from them. Along with the non dragon types they ask us to raise, when they're full."

"Ah," Kisa said, pretending to know what any of it meant, luckily for her Jack didn't pretend.

"What do you mean Daycare center?"

"Its a place, where people can bring their Pokemon to be raised. Mostly for younger trainers, who need to level up their Pokemon before their journey," Kent said. "Also for Breeding, and selling Pokemon. They breed the eggs, and then sell them to towns as starters, or to breeders. Like my dad."

"Ah...." Jack said.

"How big is this forest?" Max finally chimed in.

"They say it takes about three hours to get though, sadly." Kent rubbed his eyes. "I don't think I can make it to there in one drive."

"Pilo, come on out," Kent said drowsily. "I know this sounds sort of bad, but I think our Pokemon might need to bring us there."

Jack nodded. "But what about me?"

"Pilo can carry you too, he's pretty damn strong."

So they all climbed onto their Pokemon, Max's Milktank was too tired, so he hitched a ride on Ponyta, who took the weight well. The four of them went slowly down the path, taking turns directing the Pokemon, while taking half cat naps.

"Pilo!" "Taaaa!" Suddenly the Pokemon bucked up, and began to charge forward. "What the hell?!?!"

"Pilo, calm down...calm the F do---What is that?" Suddenly the Pokemon stopped transfixed on a bright light ahead. A small shadow present in it. It was perfectly still for what felt like hours, the light was overwhelming peaceful. A safe heaven. Suddenly the light broke. it faded slowly, as the shadow within began to stir. It looked like it was dancing in the light. The light died totally, and the shadow was gone. The only trace of what had happened was a small sparkling dust in the air.

"I think we just saw Celebi," Max said in awe. "Legend has it Celebi lives in this shrine, when though is unknown."

"What do you mean when?" Jacka asked, still transfixed on the scene.

"I mean, they say it can travel through time and space, and be anywhen it wants."

"That sound epic," Kent said, totally ruining the moment. "But come on, we better get going. Stand here forever won;t make it come back."

Piloswine began to move again, slowly walking away from the scene, followed by a even less eager Ponyta. It was only after there were out of site that the light flashed once more.
1245pm


"Finally," Jack shouted, as he sprinted for the exit. Kisa and Kent followed his lead, returning Pilo and Poni to their Pokeballs. Max followed behind, jobbing after them. "Where are we going to stay?"

"Just follow me," Kent said, and he lead them to a quaint little ranch. "This is the Day Care house, I'm sure I can convince them to let use spend the night here."

Kent rand the door bell to the main house making sure to look as desperate as he could. Then he made sure Fang was out of his Pokeball, Kent had re caught him."Hello? Who is it at this hour!" Came the shrile voice of an aging woman. The door cracked upon.

"Hi, my name is Kent, kent Warner." Kent pulled off his hat. "I believe you know my Dad, James Warner, he wor-"

"James Warner!" The lady yelled, and flung the door open. "Of course I know James, and now I know who you are too!" She lead Kent and his friends into the kitchen, where she put a kettle on and readied it for tea. "Your Dad used to bring you here when you were younger, you were such a cutie, always playing in the water pokemon pen. You loved the Horseas my husband raised."

"Yeah I remember those trips," Kent said with a chuckle. "been awhile though. But the reason we're here You see we need a place to stay for the night, mind if we do?"

"Of course not young an I'd be insulted if you didn't!" She hobbled out of the room, and yelled for them to follow. "The guest rooms are right here I hope you don;t mind sharing them with some eggs, its mating season and we need ore storage."

Jack Preston
1:00am Day 4
Johto Daycare Centre

Jack, unlike his Pokemon, couldn't sleep. He couldn't stop thinking of the close encounter with Celebi only a few hours ago. He'd never given a lot of thought to legendary Pokemon as a whole, but the sheer knowledge that he'd been not ten metres from one set off his sense of adventure.
He looked across at his sleeping party. Larvitar and Makuhita were snoozing in the corner, and Rotom...
Jack's eyes shot open. The washing machine across from his mattress (he'd had to bunk in the laundry for the night because of space constraints) was now orange with a blue glow - and it had a tail.
"Rotom?" Jack whispered. "You in there?" The washer sighed and transformed back to normal as the sleepy ghost floated out. "You looked like a washing machine. Can you do that again?"
Rotom flashed blue and became the washer again. Only this time it was separate from the real one.
"Wow," Jack muttered, thinking. "Hey, how about a fridge?" There was a flash of brighter blue and a refrigerator stood in the middle of the room.
"Interesting," murmured Jack, looking up Rotom's entry on the PokeGear. He probably wasn't going to get to sleep for a few hours.

Kent|1:15pm Day 4(?)| Day Care House

"Hmmm," Kent hummed while looking over his Pokemon. "Glide, Pilo, Fang, and Lax..what Pokemon would complement you guys." Kent slowly drifted off. He remembered his old favorite Flygon, but with Gliscor it was sort of pointless. Then there was Eevee, he had always wanted an Eevee, he loved every form is had. "I wonder."

Kent searched over the pile of eggs around him, flipping through them, looking for a certain pattern. Every Pokemon egg had a color, that matched what it would hatch too. He passed a Munchlax egg, and then found a Magikarp egg. Finally he came to a smaller pile. it was a group of Eevee eggs. Kent had to touch it, he had to hold one of them.

"Hey, I know you can hear me in there," Kent said, stroking it. "Names Kent, and if you ever hatch, maybe we can meet." Kent was about to put it down, feeling like an idiot for it, when it began to shake violently. Suddenly it exploded with a bright light, pieces going left and right.

"Vreeee!" squealed a small Pokemon. It was small, as newly hatched tended to be. It was also shivering, and seemed a bit scared. "Ve-Ve-veeeeee." It looked away from Kent team in pure fear. "Glide, return," Kent said, and brought it back away. "Don;t worry, none of them will hurt you, they're friends."

"it seems to like you," came the old, raspy voice of the day-care lady. "You seem to have a touch with eggs, reminds me of my own boy when he was your age."

"Well, I've hatched plenty," Kent smiled. "Think I could keep him?"

She nodded. "You hatched him, only fair." Kent was about to say good bye, and go to sleep, when suddenly two people smashed into the room. "So sorry to disturb you miss, but um...we lost out Pokemon eggs."

"YOU WHAT?!?!?!" she screamed, and literally grew in size from it.

"Yeah," the girl said, Kent was still laying on his ass, under a small pile of eggs. "There was this stuff with Team Rocket, and we think they might have been lost in the fight, or sto-"

"Oh, those eggs!" the lady said cheerfully, and opened her robe. "The officer brought it by not an hour ago, I recognized them, and thought you would show up, here you go"

Kent;s jaw dropped. This lady was bi-freakin-polar. Kent finally got up. His new Eevee scratching at him in fear. "Mind watching where you...Sam? Tyler?"

"Kent?!" Tyler asked. While Sam rolled her eyes in surprise, and agony. "Why are you here?"

"We're family friends, my dad does business with them. We're staying the night here, why are you here?"

"We were walking by, and we challenged them for some Pokemon eggs." Sam didn't even look at Kent.

Tyler Cohen | 1:20 PM, Day 4 | Daycare Center

"Kent?! Why are you here?" I took a quick step back as the klutz rolled back on his ass with an Eevee baby clawing at his chest. His shirt was already ripped open and I could see a bit of blood...not that he would notice, though.

"We're family friends, my dad does business with them. We're staying the night here." The idea of staying the night somewhere was all too welcome in my eyes.

The Eevee started calming down at the sound of Kent's voice; either that, or it had already worn itself out using struggle. It gave a yawn and rested its tiny brown head on his chest. "Why are you here...?"

"We were walking by and we challenged them for some Pokemon eggs." Sam chimed in while the old lady shuffled into the other room to grab our eggs. Kent gave Eevee a soft pat and smiled at the baby, but Sam's eyes were still half-burning and half-exhausted. Neither of us had slept, after all, in quite a while.

I fell down on the couch between a couple of pink eggs with black diamonds in the middles. Not even fighting it anymore, I let my head fall back and I stared at the ceiling, waiting for the exhaustion to stop pounding me. I couldn't decide if it was the battle with rocket, the fall from the department store, the passing out, or the battle with Whitney later that morning that had worn me out.

After all, a kid could only take so much.

But then I remembered Kent sitting in the pile of eggs and I jerked my head up, furrowing my eyebrows. "Where are the others, anyway?"

Kent shrugged, looking around the small room. "I guess they're still asleep. We spent all night trudging through Ilex forest..."

Sam scoffed and sat down beside me and the Trapinch eggs. "If you only knew what we did last night..."

Kent gagged obnoxiously, shaking his head quickly. "I don't want to know."

I groaned and let my head fall back again. "Nothing like that, pervert."

The old lady shuffled back into the room and dropped the Horsey egg into my lap before I could catch it, crushing my crotch under its Pokeweight. I cringed and Kent laughed. But then I took the egg into my arms and just cradled it, half-asleep already.

"...so why did you guys leave?"

The question hung in the air. Neither of us answered because, in every way, it boiled down to Kent.

So, like all good boys, I lied my way out of hurting him again. "We weren't really up to dealing with Bugsy, so we just rode Crawdaunt up the ri-..."

"Crawdaunt?!"

I pulled my head up and nodded, a sly grin on my face. "Yeah... Both Corphish and Ghastly evolved."

Kent's eyes widened, and I knew what he was thinking: he wanted a battle. But I shook my head and held up my badge case, showing the new Plain Badge in slot three. "No more battles today. Tired. Exhausted."

Sam groaned and her head fell back on the couch. "So. Many. Rollouts."

I grinned, laughing softly. "It took Sam two tries to beat her Miltank."

Sam - Day 4, 1.30 PM, Daycare Center

Tyler and Kent called a truce, or at least, it seemed like it.

The sun, halfway done with its journey across the sky, blazed brighter than ever, as if determined to burn everything in sight. Sam fanned herself, watching Kite flail and contemplate jumping into the pond a way off.

"Kite, c'mere!"

The bagon looked up at its trainer before waddling back to her arms. She picked him up and went inside the daycare. The egg was tucked safely in her backpack, the others were asleep and Tyler and Kent were having way too much fun together.

She thought he wasn't kidding when he said they would beat Kent to the league. But it seemed as if he was after all. No matter. She would beat both of them to the league then. She was going to make it there before Kent did, whether or not Tyler was coming.

She didn't need him anyway. She could do this alone. She shifted Kite in her arms and looked around the spotless kitchen one more time before heading out of the house and into the main room where the couple conducted their business.

The room was empty. Sam breathed a sigh of relief. That old woman was a bit nosy, and she didn't want anyone to know she was gone until she'd gotten a good headstart. She slipped past the counter and pulled the door open, cringing when the chimes tinkled.

"You know, it's not nice to leave without saying goodbye. Actually, it's kind of rude."

Sam hesitated. If she just ran on the old woman couldn't catch her anyway. She should.

"Don't you even think about running out that door right this instant. You do that and I'll sic a Staraptor on you and we'll see how you like travelling alone when you're flying fifty feet in the air with talons digging into your skinny shoulders."

Would the old woman do it? ...Yeah, probably.

Sam sighed and turned around, a pout haunting her face.

"Don't you give me that face -"

Sam forced a smile, a big cracked one that was reminiscent of some insane mass murderer.

The old woman sighed and massaged her temples. "Why are you doing this?"

"What? Going?"

The old woman's frown deepened. "Don't -"

"Okay, okay! Look, I just want to beat Kent to the Pokemon league. So leave me alone, all right? I need to go before they go."

"Why do you want to beat him? I mean, he's not the nicest boy around but -"

"Just - don't. I need to go. Please?" Sam gave the old woman her best puppy-dog look and the woman shook her head.

"It's dangerous out there."

"I know."

"Be careful."

Sam gave a small nod. "Don't tell them anything?"

"I won't."

Sam slipped out of the cool house and into the burning sunlight. The road stretched on in front of her. If Tyler wasn't going to be there when she became the champion of Johto, then fine. She'd do it by herself, like her brother did it alone.

Kite wriggled out of her arms and ran flailing towards the tall grass. That was right. In order to get stronger she'd have to battle. Sam glanced one more time at the little house.

So long, Snorlaxes. She was going to make this journey on her own.

Kent-1:45pm, Day 4| Daycare House

"Your friend it gone," the day care lady said simply before closing the door to her room. It was very odd of her, the daycare lady, she usually was talkative, but at the moment she was both tired, and saddened by Sam's talk.

Tyler went bug eyes and was about to run when Kent grabbed him. 'Don;t bother, its late, you're tired, sleep. She probably won't leave Goldenrod yet."

"How do you know?" Tyler asked.

"Easy, Goldenrod is a place of fun, it has two of the biggest attractions around." Kent got up to make his next line more awesome. "This national park holds two of the biggest and best things around. Its firstly famous for the bug catching contest, an experience of thrill as you hunt down the elusive bug types of the world. And the Poke Dome, a place of wonder, where your Pokemon fight not just with attacks, but with their natural skills, as the compete in tests of skill, strength, and speed. Least that's what this tourist guide says."

Tyler wasn't sure what to say, and so silence just hung in the air for the next minute or so. Finally Kent pushed him into a bed and told him to take a cat nap, and told him he'd wake him in an hour, right before the bug catching contest started. After Tyler reluctantly agreed, Kent went off to train a bit.

"Pilo, Fang, Lax, Glide, ready to train?" Kent was pumped. He started to run the length of the farm area, with his Pokemon following him. Eevee was still napping inside, Kent needed to get it ready before it trained. "Okay guys, Glide, I want to you practice your flips and sharp turns, Fang help him out by firing some Dragon Rages for him to avoid, it will help your aim too. Lax, I want you to test your defense and strength, and Pilo too, so you two take turns tackling ach other."

Kent survived his Pokemon, and then quickly ran to get Eevee. "Okay, Vee, you ready to train? Want to get big and strong?" Eevee responded by yawning and falling asleep in Kent's hands. Kent sighed and put it down.

"Having a hard time with your new friend?" Kent looked up to see the Day Care man, with Jack and Max behind him, who were both holding eggs. "Is parent was holding an ever stone, my mistake. It was a very old and laid back Pokemon. It must have transfered over to your's." He walked over to Kent and pressed a weird rock into his hands. "Its part of a special rock near Snowpoint city, its how Eevee evolves into a certain form. If you give it too it, it will evolve. If you wish to that is."

Kent nodded and put it away. "So, Jack, Max, what you two got there....and why the heck is a fan following you, Jack?"