Chapter Text
He was greeted by the comforting white ceiling of the Pokémon Center's hotel room when he woke up, the morning sun filtering through the forest green curtains and splattering across the opposite wall. Allen rubbed the crust out of his eyes before getting out of bed to open said curtains, looking at the elevated view of the forest behind the Center. He took a moment to bask in the sunlight before turning his head to look at Eevee.
She was still sleeping on the pillow, curled up comfortably and snoring softly, her long ears twitching every few seconds. It looked like she was having a nice dream, since she kept chirping and purring like a happy dog getting treats. Allen smiles and reaches over to pat her on the head.
Unfortunately, it was time for the dream to end, as they had to to go see Pichu. Allen was wondering how it was doing, considering the wounds it had yesterday. His own scratches and cuts were still aching, slightly itching, underneath the bandages and adhesive gauze Nurse Joy had slapped on him. There was one particular cut that had still been bleeding underneath his hair when Nurse Joy finally took a look at him. Allen himself hadn't noticed how badly the injuries were, since he was so focused on Pichu's wellbeing instead. The only uninjured part of him was his left arm, only because it was underneath his body when he was protecting Pichu from those crazy Spearow.
He rolls up his sleeve to look.
It was covered with large, reddish-purple patchy burn scars, starting from his shoulder and covering the rest of his arm. In the middle of the back of his hand was a crystal cross, and Allen remembers that, when he was younger, the Professor had gotten an expert in minerals and gemstones to take a look at the cross. Apparently, it was white tourmaline. When they asked how he had it, he had no idea how to answer. Even he didn't know where it came from, or why he even had it, but it had become embedded into his hand long before he could remember.
But none of that for now. They had to get going. He reached over to pet Eevee gently again, in an effort to wake up the sleeping Pokémon.
"Eevee, we have to get up now." He said, stroking the fur just between her ears. Eevee's voice squeaked as she yawned, getting up to do a full body stretch while Allen got himself into his day clothes. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Eevee groomed herself, smoothing out her own fur but struggling to reach a particularly difficult spot. Allen chuckled a bit and reached over into his bag to pull out a hairbrush, which had a bright red bow attached to it - courtesy of Barba - and sat back down on the bed.
"Come here, Eevee." He pats his lap, and the little brown Pokémon jumped in eagerly, purring in delight as her Trainer started to brush her bushy tail. Allen watched her ears twitch as he made sure to make her fur nice and soft, smiling to himself when he remembered the first time he brushed her.
He was around six, still unsure how to properly take care of a Pokémon, since the people who did most of the work was his father and his Master. When he first started brushing her fur, he had pulled too hard on a knot, which resulted in a bite on his hand. He was too scared to touch Eevee after that, and flinched away every time she came too close. It was Mime Jr. that brought them together, trying to gently coach Allen into being less afraid. And it worked, surprisingly, when Eevee came closer and licked him on the hand that she'd previously bitten as an apology. From there, they'd began their daily brushing activity, which slowly got him out of his room, and then got him to eat with Mother and Barba.
(As much as he hated to admit it, he only felt comfortable when his Master was around, even though that guy was pretty bad at taking care of children.)
Allen finished up his brushing on Eevee and reached over to the bedside table to pick up the yellow and pink star clip, sliding it back into place on Eevee's head. He held up a small mirror he found in the bathroom, and Eevee gazed at herself in the reflection, turning around to look at every angle. He put the mirror away once she seemed satisfied.
"Are you hungry?" Eevee barks excitedly, running in a tiny circle on the blanket. He'll take that as a yes.
"Why don't we get something to eat, and then we'll go see Pichu?" He slipped on his jacket and slung his bag across his chest. Eevee barked again, jumping off the bed to follow him out the door.
The restaurant in the Viridian City Pokémon Center was a separate building, with a menu that carried nutritiously healthy food for both people and Pokémon in the form of common meals. Normally, Allen would choose to take a seat and eat a nice, big meal, but he couldn't afford to do that at this moment. Maybe he'll just go for a muffin? Or a grilled cheese sandwich? Maybe both?
He feels a soft paw smack him on the side of the face, and glares at Eevee.
"What? I'm hungry."
She just huffed out a small 'vee' at him and sniffed at the air like she didn't just slap him for thinking about what he wanted to eat.
"Fine, fine. I'll just get a sandwich or something. Or like a cheese bagel."
Eevee turned away and closed her eyes.
"And a PokéPuff for you?"
An eye opened.
"It'll be Strawberry flavour!"
A satisfied mew. Sheesh.
The cashier at the front took their order, and readily gave Allen his food, the sandwich with a brown napkin and the pink PokéPuff already in Eevee's hungry little paws. He heard a vague 'please come again!' from behind him as he walked out of the restaurant, nibbling away at the sandwich - the ham was delicious - passing the sliding glass doors, and ramming into a solid wall, falling over on his butt-
And then the wall spoke.
"Watch where you're going, squirt." The wall said, all gruff and irritated. Squirt? That's kind of rude, isn't it? He's five foot four inches! That's plenty tall already, if he does say so himself.
"S-sorry," He stutters, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sunlight that suddenly decided to block his view.
In front of him was a much taller, dark haired boy with striking blue eyes. He had a black and white baseball cap with the classic Pokéball logo, and wore a red, zip-up hoodie that had gold edges - which didn't seem to fit his overall colour scheme, considering the rest of his outfit colours were like, black white and Edgy. But what caught Allen's attention most was the Pokémon on his shoulder.
It was an Umbreon! But it's stripes were blue? He's never seen a blue striped Umbreon before! This is so cool!
"Are you going to stay there and gawk all day?"
Oh, dammit.
"Um... No." Allen scrambles to his feet and dusts off his pants, then holds a hand out for a handshake. "Sorry. My name is Allen, this is—"
"Never asked for your name. And I'm *not* shaking your hand. You seem like an idiot." The other Trainer just... folds his arms and turns his head away?? Rude????
"Wha—"
"If you're planning to get far as a Trainer, you better start paying attention." Rude Hoodie Guy waves a hand at him dismissively as he turns and walks away, quickly disappearing behind the crowd of people that were running out and about.
"What the heck?" Allen mutters as he reached over to give Eevee her PokéPuff back, "that guy was so rude." Eevee chirps in agreement as she munches on the pink pastry.
Wait a minute.
"My sandwich!!" He spins around and looks at the sad mess of bread, tomatoes and lettuce on the ground. What the heck indeed! He was loving that sandwich! Eevee gently pats him on the back of the head as he mourning over his deceased sandwich, all the while eating the remaining pieces of her PokéPuff, the traitor.
Oh, well. It's not like he could do anything anyways... he was already late to his meeting with the professor. Plus, he had to see Pichu. So, he decided, woefully, that he would have to forego breakfast, and went back to the Pokémon Center to visit the tiny mouse Pokémon.
"Good morning, Chansey!" he greets the large, egg-shaped Pokémon, who greets him back with an enthusiastic 'Chansey!', noticing that Nurse Joy was nowhere in sight. "Where's Nurse Joy?"
"Ah, Allen!" The nurse in question appeared from behind him, pushing a small cart - a tiny stretcher, he realised - with who else but Pichu sitting on it, all healed and healthy!
"Pichu! How are you feeling? You're all better now, aren't you!" Allen runs over to the stretcher, a little hesitant to pet Pichu's head, but that was squashed when Pichu grabbed his hand happily, it's cheeks crackling gently with some bouts of electricity.
Aww... How cute.
"Looks like Pichu's attached to you."
Huh?
"What do you mean?" Allen looks up at Joy who just smiles knowingly.
"Pichu's fine now. Why don't you take it to go see Professor Oak?" She gently pushes Pichu towards him, and the yellow Pokémon didn't waste any time in jumping into Allen's arms, happily cheering from it's new favourite spot.
"Hmm, I guess so. I'm sure the Professor would be happy to see you too." He gently rubs the top of Pichu's head, right between it's ears, and a happy noise rippled from it's throat. "Then, we'll be off now. Thank you for taking care of us, Nurse Joy!"
"Of course! We hope to see you again!" Joy bids him farewell, mirroring his wave as Allen leaves the Pokémon Center, passing through the sliding glass doors.
At some point on the way to the Professor's office, Eevee had chosen to walk ahead of them, acting all proud like a little leader. Allen chuckled at how cute she was, wagging her fluffy tail excitedly as she took in all the scenes of Viridian City, watching as - Wow, was that someone's Flabébé?
"Eevee, don't stray away! We're here to see the professor, you know." He calls out to her, only to receive an indignant 'vui!' from the Eevee. Brat.
Allen looked down at the Pichu that sat in his arms, happily looking around at everything they walked by (including the Flabébé), waving it's own little paws - or hands? He's not sure, actually - excitedly.
It didn't take very long to reach Gary's office, being just on the outskirts of Viridian City. It was a small house with white walls and a red roof, with a nice garden in the front that was fenced off by a brown fence. It was a cute cottage-style home that wasn't very common anymore, and Allen wonders if this was Gary's style.
As the boy walked closer, he realised that a Bulbasaur was actually watering the plants— With a very cute Phanpy watering can. He pushed open the small wooden gate, watching Eevee squeeze in before him and running up to the Bulbasaur excitedly.
"Ah - Eevee, don't bother someone when they're working!"
"It's alright," Allen looks up to see Gary stepping out from the house, with Umbreon trailing behind his feet. He was looking somewhat dishevelled and tired, and clutched in his hands was a clipboard that had some words and drawings scribbled on it. And the circles under his eyes were definitely darker than yesterday. "This Bulbasaur likes meeting other people and Pokémon."
The Bulbasaur happily voices it's agreement, using one of it's vines to poke Eevee gently on the forehead.
"Um... alright. Are you okay? You look exhausted."
"Huh? Why would I be exhausted?"
Gary rubs his eye with the heel of his palm, and lets out a very non-convincing yawn. Allen raised an eyebrow, and both Umbreon and Bulbasaur rolled their eyes as if confirming his suspicions.
"... Okay, fine, I was up late researching something. None of your business." He waved his clipboard in front of Allen's face. "Come inside, I'll get some tea going."
Allen watched as Gary walked back into the house, leaving the door open for him to follow. After saying goodbye to Bulbasaur, Allen, Eevee and Pichu followed the Professor into the house, Umbreon sitting on the... Allen rattled his brain to remember what the elevated wooden floor at the entrance of the houses were called. Genkan? That's right, that was it.
"Make sure you take off your outdoor shoes!" Gary calls from wherever he was, and Allen quickly kicks off his shoes, reaching down to put them aside properly, but Umbreon beat him to the punch by rearranging them for him with Psychic.
"Oh, thank you, Bree." He reached over to give the dark-type a scratch between the ears, drawing out a small, satisfied purr, with Pichu imitating his movements. Eevee, meanwhile, quickly bounded down the hallway and into the living room on the left, excitedly exploring every nook and cranny the room had to offer. Because apparently, she never gets to explore or whatever.
The living room wasn't any different to the one back in his laboratory in Pallet Town, with two, lavender coloured mid-century couches on either side of a short, rectangular coffee table. There was a large window on the side of the wall that faced out towards the garden to the left, and directly opposite to it on the other side of the couches was a large television that was currently on. Ooh, what was Gary watching? Allen walked into the living room to take a peek at the television screen... It was a Pokémon battle! Looks like an exhibition battle, too! What is this from? Oh, is that a Pikachu? Wow! What about—
—And the television clicks off. Allen turns his head to look behind him at the doorway, and he sees an exasperated Gary holding the tv remote with his finger on the power button. He was carrying a pea green, ceramic teapot in his other hand, and Umbreon was using Psychic to carry matching mugs in with him, with Bulbasaur trotting in behind them.
"I was watching that."
"Too much television will rot your tiny little baby brain." Gary set the teapot down on the table, Umbreon placing the mugs down next to it. As the professor poured out the tea, Allen thought back to what he said last night.
"You mentioned this house was being lent to you, right?" He let Pichu hop onto the table with Eevee and Umbreon, watching out of the corner of his eye as dark-type pushed a plate of snacks towards the two of them.
"That's right," Gary puts down the teapot and hands one mug of tea to him, "he's out travelling right now, but he lets me use this place to do research in the city."
(Allen hears Gary grumble a "if the old man didn't screw off on his own..." but he decides to ignore it.)
Bulbasaur hops into Gary's lap, and he gently pets it on the head. "This little guy actually belongs to him."
"Really? I thought he was yours."
"No, I just take care of him sometimes."
Bulbasaur frowns and used a vine to smack him on the forehead, seemingly offended at the notion he needed to be taken care of sometimes. Allen agrees, actually, considering the state of Gary right now. Dark circles under his eyes, which were worse than what he had yesterday, a total mess of bedhair, and even his shirt buttons were buttoned wrong!
"So, what kind of person is Bulbasaur's Trainer?" He asked, a little curious at how high of a regard he seemed to hold him.
"Well, he's-" Gary starts, but then pauses for an awkward amount of time, looking towards the distance while he thinks. He tapped a single finger on the armrest, and then unilaterally decided "you don't need to know anything about him."
Okay. Well. Allen watches as Gary takes a sip from his mug, Bulbasaur comfortably napping on his lap, and Umbreon playing with the other two Pokémon.
"I don't?" He pressed.
"Since you're starting out your Pokémon training journey -" Hey, he just straight up ignored him! "- you'll need a few Pokéballs - which Tracey already gave you, I see."
"Yeah. He shoved them at me when I was getting ready to deliver your box to you."
"Figures. Anyway, as a Trainer, you'll get a monthly stipend of six-hundred pokédollars, a Pokédex, and— well, what else are you planning on doing?"
"Um...." Allen scratched his cheek, a little embarrassed. "I haven't actually thought that much of it. I just wanted to travel."
"Oh." Gary nods sagely.
"... I was interested in battling, though. I figured Eevee was too - we watched a rerun of last year's Vetress Conference." He thought back to when Eevee almost Swifted his closet to death in the middle of her excitement - he took a good moment to actually scold her for it.
"Ah!" He thinks Gary's eyes just lit up. "Well in that case, here."
He hands him a small, rectangular blue box. Allen opened it to see the inside was covered with some kind of velvet, and that there were eight small indents in it.
"You should try challenging the Indigo Plateau Conference this year then."
"Huh? Me?"
"Why not? It'all be a good goal to have."
"What if—"
The phone rings.
"Whoops! Sorry. I need to go get that. I'll be back in a bit." Gary gets up from the couch and hurries out of the room to get his cellphone - why didn't he have it on him? - and Allen just watched the older Umbreon bap Eevee on the forehead when she got too rowdy.
Him? Compete in the Indigo Plateau Conference? That *does* sound really fun... From what he could remember in his textbooks, if you win the Conference, you had an opportunity to challenge the Elite Four! And if you win against them... You could challenge the reigning champion! But even if he did win, would he stand a chance against him? He's reigned for ten years by now. If he hasn't gotten stronger, then he'd still be as strong as he was before. Barba had told him that he ran through every challenger from start to finish with relative ease - like it was as easy as just breathing - and with only one Pokémon to boot!
Before Allen could pick his brain even harder, the doorbell rings. Who was that?
"Allen! Could you get that for me?" He hears Gary call from another room, and Allen gets up to go get the door.
It was a girl, with dark twin tails and a yellow scarf around her neck. On her shoulder was a yellow purse and by her side was a... Pokémon he'd never seen before! Kind of! It was vaguely familiar!
"Hi, is this Professor Oak's house?" She asked, smiling as she waited for his answer.
Well, no, but - "Um... Yeah, it is."
"Great! I'm here to see him about something."
Oh, okay.
"Oh, you should come in, then." He steps to the side to let her and the unfamiliar Pokémon step inside, the latter of which he took a more clear look at. It was humanoid, mostly white except for it's torso which was a dark purplish colour, and on it's head was green... Hair? Whatever. It had two giant green pigtails, and honestly Allen really thought it looked a lot like it's Trainer. It also smells kinda sweet...
He hears Bulbasaur greet her at the steps and receive a nice head scratch in return. The Seed Pokémon uses his vines to move her shoes to the side neatly, before guiding the three of them back into the living room, where Eevee and Pichu were back to happily munching on more Pokémon snacks - when did they get those. - with Umbreon watching to the side. When the dark-type saw the girl come in, it quickly used Psychic to pour another cup of tea for her, placing it next to Allen's and gesturing for her to sit. What a wonderfully polite Pokémon?
"Thank you, Umbreon!" She happily says, taking a seat to have her tea. Her Pokémon went off to greet the others, and Pichu offered it a pink macaron, which it cheerfully accepted. Allen sat back down on his seat, watching the Pokémon interact, while Bulbasaur hopped back onto the couch across from them to take a nap.
"So, why are you here?" The girl next to him asks, and almost startles Allen out of his thoughts. "Oh, by the way, my name is Lenalee Lee! This is my partner, Steenee."
Steenee turns to greet him with a happy little wave before going back to playing with the other Pokémon, and Allen nods slowly.
"Steenee?"
"Here!" Lenalee pulls out a rectangular shaped, pink device, which had a small point coming out of the top. Lenalee tapped a few times on said screen, and backed out of the current list to select a different list, then scrolled until she found Steenee. Lenalee passed the device over to him - which he realised was a *Rotomdex* - and looked at the entry.
"Steenee, the Fruit Pokémon. A Grass type and the evolved form of Bounsweet. This Pokémon is always bouncing around energetically. Other Pokémon are attracted by its lively appearance and pleasant aroma." Allen blinked as the device spoke on it's own with a robotic, high pitched voice. The dex continued. 'The sepals on its head developed to protect its body. These are quite hard, so even if pecked by bird Pokémon, this Pokémon is totally fine.'
Bounsweet? He backed up onto the previous entry to look at Bounsweet's data.
'Bounsweet, the Fruit Pokémon. A Grass type. It is always emitting a delicious scent from its body. Lured by its scent, many flying Pokémon mistake it for a berry.'
"Oh... Wow! It's cute."
"Right?" Lenalee giggled. "She's been with me since I was little. My brother brought her back from Alola as Bounsweet when he was a new Trainer, and she's been with me ever since."
Alola? Allen opened his mouth to keep asking questions, when he heard Gary stomp into the living room and yelling down his cellphone.
"For the last time, stop calling me GARE-BEAR. It's stupid. You're stupid. I hate you." There was loud, clamorous laughter coming out from the other end of the call, which seemed to make Gary even more pissed.
"I'M HANGING UP!!"
He jabs the red button on the screen and the call ends, leaving a red-faced, angrily puffing Gary standing at the doorway of the living room. The two teenagers were rendered speechless and confused, with five even more confused Pokémon. Except Bulbasaur, actually. Bulbasaur didn't seem bothered at all.
"Um... are you okay?"
"Oh yeah. Perfectly peachy."
Gary mutters something else under his breath before shoving his phone into his pants pocket not-so-very-gently. He reaches into his coat pocket on the other side and pulls out a dark blue device - rectangular with some small blinking lights to check the battery levels, presumably - and handed it to Allen as he passed him to get back to his seat on the opposite couch.
"Your Pokėdex. You're gonna need that."
"Thanks." Allen wasted no time in opening the 'Dex and using it on Pichu, who was sitting right in front of him, nibbling away at a cream coloured macaron.
'Pichu, the Tiny Mouse Pokémon. The electric sacs on Pichu's cheeks are small. If it tries to store more electricity than they can hold, Pichu will shock itself.'
As if in response, Pichu's cheeks sparked. Damn, that macaron must be good.
"Ah. And you must be Lenalee, right? Your brother told me you were coming. Is this the Steenee I've heard so much about?" The professor reaches over to pat Steenee's head, presumably wondering how hard the calyx was, but Steenee didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, she was so happy she did a little twirl, but the two tails on the side of her head almost smacked the plate of macarons and teapot off the table.
"Steenee! You must be careful!" Lenalee gently chides her partner Pokémon as she caught the plate before it slid off the table, with Allen grabbing onto the not-super-hot-anymore teapot. Steenee doesn't seem to care though, just giggling at what Lenalee said.
"It's alright. I have a lot more of those." Gary's face seem to grimace for a second before it returned to it's former lazy, but still tired, state. "We should get your Pokédex updated, Lenalee. I'll go do that right now, could you let me borrow it for a sec?"
Gary held out his hand and Lenalee handed her phone over to him without any fuss, even adding on a "yes sir!" while giving it to him.
"You guys keep chatting away. I'll be back in a minute. Come on, Bree!" The professor got back up to leave the living room for the second time that day, waiting a second for Umbreon to catch up before exiting, leaving the two teenagers alone together again.
"Are you a new Trainer, then?"
"Ah- Huh?" Allen turns to look back at Lenalee, who was looking at him expectantly, seemingly a little excited.
"A new Trainer. Starting on your journey?"
"Oh! Oh. Yeah, I am. I'm uh... I'm Allen, by the way."
"Nice to meet you, Allen! Are you planning on challening Gyms?"
"Uh... Maybe. I'm not sure yet. But Gary - uh, Professor Oak gave me a badge case today. He's recommending it."
"It's fun! Growing stronger with your Pokémon and challenging even stronger Trainers is amazing."
"You sound like you have a lot of experience...?" Allen raised an eyebrow, and she just smiles. Wait a minute. She looks very familiar.
"Well, I have had my fair share of gym battles."
Holy shit!
"You!" He realised, and she looks a little startled. "You were one of the final four of last year's Silver Conference!"
"Ahh, you've figured it out?" She looks a bit sheepish, putting her hands on her cheeks, and a little blush spreading across her face. "I've been traveling around to help my brother research more about Pokémon, and I figured I'd challenge gyms and the leagues to test my own strengths. But I haven't gotten to any of the Elite Four though." She shrugs. That's crazy. Allen can't believe he's sitting next to one of the most broadcasted Trainers of the past year, and she was so humble!
"So you're here to challenge the Indigo League?" He asks, now very very curious. She shook her head, looking at Steenee again.
"No, not this time. My brother wanted to learn about Pokémon in Johto, so I challenged the Silver Conference, but my Pokémon needed a break, so I figured I'd just come here for research instead."
Huh. "What's it like when—"
Unfortunately for him, he'd be interrupted yet again, because the wall facing the garden blew up, the shockwave from the explosion blasting everything back against the opposite wall. Eevee and Pichu were picked up by the blast, only safe because they were caught by Bulbasaur's vines.
"Pichu! Eevee!" Allen runs over to them, and they jump into his arms. "Thank you, Bulbasaur!" He can see out of the corner of his eye, as the dust cleared, that Lenalee and Steenee had taken a protective stance in front of them.
"Allen, Lenalee, what happened?!" Gary and Umbreon run into the living room, Lenalee's Pokedéx in hand. The blast actually seemed to startle him into more awakeness than before, almost like it eliminated the dark circles underneath his eyes! That's pretty amazing, actually.
"I don't know, the wall just exploded!" Allen exclaims, waving away the remaining dust that flowed towards his face. He squints at the light that poured in from the giant hole in the wall - if you could still even call it a wall at this point - seeing two human-like silhouettes and two tinier silhouettes next to them. Were those Pokémon?
"Who are you?!" Gary demanded, a Pokéball gripped in his other hand. The leftmost silhouette scoffed, and they could finally see their faces, and the Pokémon next to them. The one on the left had black hair, wore a white A-shirt with a red 'X' on the front and tight leather pants with corset stitching, with the left pant leg ending at his thigh. He wore a fur-lined leather jacket around his shoulders, and also had bandages wrapped around his neck. The other one was slouching so it looked like he - she? they? - was shorter, with long blonde hair, and looked like a human-sized ragdoll. His clothes were almost the same as the other's, but his belt was reversed and he wore no shirt. What would have been the same jacket is replaced with a leather vest instead, and both pant legs are full-length. On his head, he's wearing what looks like a weird adornment of red ribbons, and from the middle part protrudes a dangling, white lantern ball - a crazy Lanturn fan???
But that's not what got Allen's attention, no, and it definitely wasn't the fact they both wore punk rock makeup either (even if it *did* look kinda cool). His attention was snatched by the two, cat-like Pokémon that stood by their feet, long ears extended and enveloped in a white energy. Allen opened his Pokédex and pointed it at them, hoping to learn more about the two before anything else happened.
'Meowstic, the Constraint Pokémon. A Psychic Type. When faced with trouble, Meowstic will raise its ears and create enough psychic power to demolish a ten-ton truck. Its appearance varies, depending on gender.' Allen squints at the image on his screen, realising it showed the dark blue male version of Meowstic. Which meant the one that was mostly white was the female. Oh hey! There was another entry!
'The male Meowstic has defensive talents, and when protecting itself or its partner, can produce power of the highest level.'
Wow. Maybe they should run.
"Who are you?" He hears Gary demand again, and he sees that Umbreon had run to the front, next to Steenee and Bulbasaur, growling at the duo of suspicious strangers. "Team Rocket? Or another organization from outside of Kanto?"
Team Rocket?? What the heck was that?
"Team Rocket?" Black Hair Guy sneered, and put a foot on a rather large piece of wall that'd fallen in front of him. "We are nothing like those losers that lost to the same kid three times."
Um... Okay, maybe he had a point.
"So? What are you doing here for, then?" Gary drawls and - did he just relax?? Allen swears he just saw him visibly relax.
"Your Pokémon! Since this is the lab of Professor Oak, you must have great Pokémon here!" Lanturn Guy says while giggling gleefully.
What.
"You idiot! Don't tell them why we're here!!" A pink umbrella popped out from behind Lanturn Guy and smacked him on the side of the head with it's weird pumpkin head. The three of them were stunned into silence as the duo and the Pumpkin Umbrella Thing started bickering right in front of them.
"When we follow the path of evil, we don't monologue!!" Pumpkin Umbrella Thing's shrill voice pierces through Allen's ears, and he can tell the two it was yelling at also didn't like being yelled at.
"But it's cool! And it's not like they know what we're here for." Black Hair Guy retorts, and Lanturn Guy nods his head vigorously.
"Yeah! It's not like we said we were here to get the Champ's Pokémon!"
??? Are these two stupid? Because hello???? When you're keeping things a secret you don't just say it out loud!!
"You idiot!!" Umbrella Pumpkin Thing smacks his head repeatedly, and the rest of them are still at a loss for words. Then, the umbrella turns directly to them and clears it's throat (does it even have one?).
"We belong to the Noah Clan, and our organization's mission is to rewrite the universe, freeing Pokémon from the cancer that is human beings! Since these idiots blabbed, we are indeed here to take all the Evolution Stones and Champion's Pokémon! Hand em over!" It points it's handle at them. Before anyone could respond, Gary let out a loud, exasperated sigh, as if he were a hormonal teenager getting nagged at by his mom.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but this isn't my main laboratory."
"Huh?"
The trio looked shocked. Obviously, it wasn't his main laboratory! This wasn't Pallet Town!
"So there's no Pokémon here?" Lanturn Guy asks, dumbly. Gary nods.
"No Pokémon here."
"No Evolution Stones?"
"All used up."
"Is this not Pallet Town?"
"No. This is Viridian City."
The umbrella suddenly shrinks as it's two companions turned their ire towards it, glaring fiercely.
"You said this was Pallet Town." Lanturn guy scowls.
"Didn't you say you were an expert at navigation?" Black Hair Guy angrily grabs the umbrella by it's pink body and shook it around like a rattle.
"You guys owe me compensation for the wall damage, by the way." Gary interrupts their argument.
"No way!" Black Hair Guy protests, and then points an accusing finger at the Professor. "Since you tricked us by coming here, we'll take all the Pokémon you already have here anyway!" To which the Professor just released whatever Pokémon was in the ball he held in front of them.
"Uhh, okay. Anyway, Blastoise, Hydro Pump, if you'd please." He makes a shooing motion with his hands, as if brushing away some dust that got onto his desk. The giant shellfish Pokémon obeyed it's Trainer's words and levelled the two giant Cannons in it's shell, aiming precisely at the intruders, and fired a double blast of painful water. Allen watches with mild shock as the five of them were, quite literally, blasted into the skies, vaguely hearing a distant *my makeup is ruuuiiiined*!! before they blinked out of existence. That was... really something. The giant turtle Pokemon's powerful Hydro Pump was more impressive in person, considering most of what he'd seen were through videos and pictures.
"Are any of you guys hurt?" Gary turns his attention back to the teenagers after getting rid of the Noah Clansmen, as if none of that ever happened.
"Uh... Yeah, sure." Allen cringed at his nonchalantless, but considering what Tracey had told him about Gary's former life as a Trainer and travelling researcher, this probably wasn't super out of the realm of possibility for him. "But... What if they cause more trouble?"
"Don't even worry about it. I'll just call Officer Jenny about this, they won't get far. Besides, even if they did make it back to Pallet Town, Tracey knows how to deal with them swiftly." He really didn't seem worried about it. Okay.
"Al... Alright."
"Here's your Pokédex all updated, Lenalee."
"Thanks, Professor!" Lenalee takes Rotom Phone back and puts it into her pocket, seemingly just as unbothered by what just happened. Allen supposes she's seen a lot of crazy stuff, too, considering how many regions she's already travelled through.
"So, Allen, have you decided?"
"Umm, what?" He blinked for a second and looked up towards the Professor, who'd held a hand out to help him stand.
"Have you decided what you will do on your journey? We didn't get to finish having that conversation earlier."
"Oh." Well, considering how he had just been talking to Lenalee about her journey through multiple Conferences, and how he was already interested in battling in general...
He stands up, letting Eevee rest on his shoulder while still carrying Pichu at his chest. "I think... I'd like to challenge the Indigo Plateau." Allen takes a long look at Blastoise, then at Umbreon, Eevee, and then finally back to Gary. "Watching Blastoise use Hydro Pump in person was um... really cool."
Gary smiles, and gently patted him on the head, as if he were his child getting ready to head out on his first day at school. "I'm happy you have a goal now. Why don't you challenge Pewter Gym first? The Gym Leader there is pretty friendly to beginners."
"Huh? Isn't there a Gym in Viridian City?" Lenalee cuts in, sounding confused, and even Allen was confused too, since she was right, and there was a Gym here, so why wouldn't he challenge that one first?
"Oh. Well," Gary averts his gaze rather suspiciously before continuing, "the Gym Leader in Viridian is actually... Not in right now. He tends to travel around- he's actually in Sinnoh at the moment."
"Really?" She frowns, and her brows knit together in thought. "I see. Then, I guess you'll need to come back here, huh, Allen?"
Allen nodded. He'd heard it was a hard Gym too, so maybe that was a good thing.
"Allen, can you give me your Pokédex for a minute?" Gary holds his hand out, prompting Allen to give him the Pokédex without hesitation. He watched as the Professor pressed a couple buttons and the directional pad before then handing it back to him. When he looked to the screen, he realised it changed from it's default menu to what looked like a full map of Kanto, with coloured dots indicating each city, town and mountains.
"Oh, this is..."
"It's a new feature. A friend of a friend implemented it recently, so now you won't need to have a separate device to look at a map."
"Wow!!!" Lenalee squeals, taking a peek over Allen's shoulder at how nice the new map quality was. Oops, too close.
"Lenalee, you're here to do some research for your brother, right?" Gary turns his attention to the girl, and she nods. "Why don't you two go to Pewter together, then? The more the merrier."
Huh? Allen always assumed he'd travel alone - with his Pokémon, of course - but travelling with another person, and a person with more experience... Was a welcome thought, actually...
"That sounds like a good idea, huh, Eevee?" He asked the brown Evolution Pokémon, and she vocalises her agreement instantly. But of course, he needs Lenalee's permission first, since she is the one who makes that decision...
"Sure does!" She says, to his relief, "I haven't travelled with people in a while, so it'll be nice to do that." She turns and smiles at him. "I'm in your care!"
"As am I!"
"Ah, and before I forget. Allen, are you planning on taking Pichu with you?" Gary points at the Pichu, who somehow managed to snag a non-damaged macaron from somewhere (because seriously how did he get that) and Allen takes a moment to think.
"Um... Well, I wasn't sure where else he can go." Allen holds up Pichu and looks into it's big, sparkly brown eyes. It stares back at him, completely unafraid. More curious, in fact. "Pichu, do you want to come with me?"
Almost as if waiting for this question, Pichu let out a loud 'Chu! Pi-Chu!', waving it's little arms and wagging it's tail happily- though shredded it may be. Allen laughed at it's excitement, bringing it back down to carry in one arm and using the other hand to ruffle the fur between it's ears. Eevee, still on his shoulder, eagerly reached down to high five her new friend and companion, just as excited. Watching their already strong bond, Allen felt his fears of them not getting along were calmed, and reached into the side pocket of his bag to pull out a red and white Pokéball, holding it in front of Pichu's face.
"Pichu, this is a Pokéball. I'm gonna use this so you can come with us, okay?"
Without waiting, Pichu decided to immediately slap it's paws onto the center button, disappearing into the Pokéball with a flash of red light. The ball barely shook before it immediately registered it's catch (and Allen hears Gary harp a quick "that was fast!"), and Allen, without hesitation, tossed the ball to release Pichu back into the world again. The flash of light poured out onto the ground and transformed into the shape of Pichu, before it the light scattered and became Pichu itself, whom immediately jumped right back into the arms of Allen.
(He doesn't notice the fond look on Gary's face.)
"Congrats, Allen!" Lenalee steps over to congratulate him, and he just smiles, a little shyly.
"Hehe... Thanks."
"Right!" Gary cuts in, "Since we got interrupted, I'll give you the basic rundown of being a Trainer." He pat Allen on the back rather forcefully, and then clipped a - was that an Xtransceiver on his wrist?!
"Trainers that are sponsered by Professors and other members of the League Association will have a monthly stipend of six-hundred pokédollars - I already told you this - and when you participate in Battles with other Trainers, the loser relinquishes an amount of Prize Money that you can transfer directly with that Xtransceiver, since you don't have a Rotomdex. Lenalee will show you how to do it." Gary taps the blue watch on his wrist with a finger. "Gym Leaders make the rules in their Gym so listen to them, don't steal anyone else's Pokémon, and always make sure you have enough Pokéballs."
Hey, wait a minute.
"Also, make sure you feed your Pokémon on time. And always visit a Pokémon Center when you get hurt. Don't skip meals, don't forget to do laundry since you only have one set of clothes, oh and -"
"You're using this opportunity to nag, aren't you?"
"I'm not nagging!" The professor defended himself, holding his hands up, "You've always been awful at taking care of yourself!"
Oops. Well. He's not wrong in that aspect.
"Also Barba called me yesterday."
What!
"Don't worry, Professor, I'll make sure he eats." Lenalee pipes up before Allen could spit a retort, and Gary nods.
"I trust you, Lenalee."
Hey!
"Well, besides those things, you'll be fine, Allen. Just don't forget to call Barba."
"Will do..." Allen knows the moment he calls Barba he'll ask him a billion questions.
"Then, let's get going!" Lenalee excitedly clapped her hands, "If we go now, we'll be by Pewter City before the sun sets!" She reaches out and grabs him by the wrist before dragging him out the gaping hole across the side of the house, waving a goodbye towards Gary.
"Goodbye, Professor! Thanks for the update!" She calls, and Allen struggles to keep up with her.
"Take care!" The professor calls back, and Allen feels a little betrayed. The jerk. He just knows he's laughing.
"Alright! I've heard there's a lot of bug types in here! I'd like to see them!"
"H-hold on, Lenalee..." Allen takes a pause to suck in some air, one hand on a knee and the other in front of him. "I think I need a minute..."
"Hm? Oh- Oh! I'm so sorry!" Lenalee quickly turned around, and finally realised she may have completely dragged him out against his will. "I just got so excited..."
"It's- It's fine, haha..." Is this what he is going to need to keep up with the whole time? Oh, man... He thinks only Pichu and Eevee can keep up with her, wherever they were. Ah, just in front of them, at the edge of the forest.
"Did you have anything else you needed to do? Oh, I hope I didn't drag you away from doing something important-"
"No, no, I was just a bit overwhelmed." Allen brushes the hair out of his eyes and stands up, readjusting his bag strap. "Let's go! I'm excited to see everything you mentioned, too!"
And with that, her excitement was back. "I'm going to catch my first Pokémon in Kanto!"
As they walked side by side through the forest, watching Eevee and Steenee explore the forest in front of them, with Pichu happily seated back in Allen's arms, he thought about that statement she made just a bit ago.
"You're not from Kanto?" He asked, curiously.
"That's right! I'm actually from the Kalos region."
"Oh! The region that discovered Mega Evolution?" That's amazing! "I've heard many Kanto Pokémon can mega evolve."
"Yep! The three starters can mega evolve, and are the most commonly known ones. Charizard actually has two different evolving forms, and only one of them take on a different type after evolving."
Wow... that's so cool. He'd like to see that someday, actually... Maybe he should consider going to Kalos at some point.
"Um, speaking of. I noticed you don't have any of the three starters, Allen. Is Eevee your starter?"
"Hm? Well, yeah, I guess. When I was little, Gary actually gave her to me."
Her eyebrows shoot up in suprise. "I thought children under the mandatory training license age couldn't raise Pokémon?"
"Well, not usually, but I was... Going through a lot." Allen thinks back to his childhood in Pallet Town, "I wouldn't leave my room to eat or do anything without freaking out after my Master left me here. I- I did have Mimey - my dad's Mime Jr. - but..."
Lenalee looks at him, and he's not sure if her facial expression was pity or sympathy. Or perhaps a mixture of both.
"... Anyway, Gary started coming by whenever Barba and Mother - they're my caretakers - were out of town, which was a lot, because Mother's a Pokémon Doctor who visits old and weak Pokémon, and Barba visits other cities and stuff to deliver medicinal herbs and vegetables from the farm,"
Actually, now that he thinks about it, Gary was kind of like his third caretaker. He'd let him play with the Pokémon at the Lab when he was brave enough to go outside, and also taught him a lot about his own research when he was bored.
"He came up with the idea of giving me Eevee to take care of, with Barba and Mother's permission of course, since she had just been hatched from an egg.
"We didn't like each other at first-" Allen watches fondly as Eevee led the way for them, proudly sticking her nose and tail up in the air while she pranced ahead. "- but Mimey helped and now we're best friends."
"You mentioned your dad...?" Lenalee asks, and he can tell she's being careful with her words.
"My dad, uh... He's not around anymore. He died a while back."
"Oh- I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me."
"No! No, it's okay. I don't... It's not that bad for me. I'm a little ashamed to say, but I don't really even remember his face."
That wasn't a lie- he actually really couldn't remember what his father's face looks like. Just his name, his voice and the colour of his eyes. But he didn't want to feel sad right now, so he continued.
"Raising Eevee was basically my studies for Pokémon School. I actually have a huge journal about what she likes to eat and stuff."
"That's amazing! I can tell she's very attached to you. You've raised her well." Lenalee smiles at him, and then looking at Eevee as well, and Allen preened a little bit at the praise because, yes, Eevee was raised well by yours truly -
- But that's a thought for another time, because Lenalee suddenly gasped out loud and pointed towards a small bush near the side of the dirt path, and he squinted to see a small, wiggling appendage poking out from it. After watching in silence for a few seconds, the rest of it's body stumbled out, and it was revealed to be...
'Bellsprout, the Flower Pokémon. A Grass and Poison type. Bellsprout loves high temperatures and humidity. It can be lightning fast when it extends its vines in order to grab something. It uses its root feet to soak up needed moisture.' Lenalee's Pokédex's - when did she pull it out - robotic, feminine voice said.
Was it really as fast as the entry says? It looked so... feeble.
Allen watched the creature wiggle in place, holding a blue berry.
It really looked so feeble...
"I've decided! This will be my first catch in Kanto!"
Huh.
"Steenee! Use Razor Leaf on Bellsprout!"
HUH.
Steenee spun around while sending projectiles of razor-sharp leaves towards the wiggling Flower Pokémon, and Allen can see it panic a little before squeezing it's eyes shut and -
- summoned a green transparent forcefield in front of itself.
"Wow! It knows protect!"
"How are you supposed to get past that?"
"Just watch me! Leaf Storm!"
Allen watched in amazement as the leafy cyclone lifted the Bellsprout into the air, with the Flower Pokémon attempting to use Protect once again to avoid damage. Once it wore off, though, Bellsprout began to fall towards the ground, flailing it's skinny limbs as it scrambled trying to grab at something to stop itself from hitting the ground, but Lenalee was faster.
"Steenee, use Stomp!"
Steenee leaped in front of Bellsprout at a terrifying speed, and ferociously launched it with a heavy kick, sending the Pokémon flying into a tree trunk before it could recover from the Leaf Storm, completely disorienting it. It wobbled side to side, and Lenalee took this opportunity to enlarge a Pokéball in her hand, before flinging it towards the Flower Pokémon, and Allen watched as it spun in the air towards it. However, before it could hit Bellsprout, a yellow blur shot out of the bushes next to the tree and backhanded the ball right back towards Lenalee.
"Wha—"
Steenee kicked it back, and for a moment there was a few seconds of the yellow thing and Steenee hitting the ball back and forth between the two of them, before Allen really took a look at what said yellow thing was.
"Is that... A Pikachu?" He whispered, and Lenalee, who'd closed her eyes in preparation for impact of the ball coming back, reopened her eyes to take a closer look as well.
"You're... right, that is a Pikachu."
Right as she finished speaking, the Pikachu knocked the Pokéball back one last time, the ball flying past Steenee's head and smacking right into Allen's face with a loud thwack, knocking him off his feet and onto his back.
"A-Allen! Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm- I'm fine." He sat up and rubbed his face with his hand, eyes slightly watered from the impact. He felt Pichu jump out of his lap, and reached out blindly for it while he waited for his vision to return.
"Wait! Pichu, It's not safe- Come back!"
But Pichu didn't wait. Instead, it ran up to the tense Pikachu and called out to it, briefly startling the electric mouse out of it's hostility. The two engaged into a conversation, in which the Trainers could only hear their rapid pika pika pichu pichus, and Allen watched in confusion as Pichu waved it's arms around as if gesturing - oh! Gesturing to him!
"What are they saying?" Lenalee whispered. Allen shakes his head - because how was he supposed to figure out what they were chittering about? Pichu's cheeks sparked gently with electricity as it continued to pichu pichu pichu!! at the Pikachu, who's expression grew less and less hostile after each instance of Pichu, although it was still wary. Allen squinted as he eyed the neck of the Pikachu, noticing some dark, unnaturally coloured fur underneath it's chin...
"Wait... Pichu, is this your friend?"
At this, Pichu spun around and jumped excitedly, running back over to Allen and grabbing his hand. It yanked at him to follow, and he got up to stumble over to the Pikachu, who flinched a little when he got too close. Allen held his hands up in front of him to show that he was harmless, and only then did Pikachu step closer to sniff at him cautiously.
"By friend, do you mean part of the colony when Pichu was wild?" Lenalee carefully steps closer as well, but by this time the Pikachu was already relaxed by getting scratches under it's chin by Allen.
"Sort of. I dunno. See, Pichu managed to escape a Pokémon poacher, but I'm not sure how that happened. I found it afterwards." The boy frowns, looking at the fur underneath Pikachu's chin closer. It was scorched fur, most likely also from the shock collar Gary and Nurse Joy had mentioned the night prior. "Maybe this Pikachu was captured with Pichu and they somehow escaped?
"Though, if you go any further you end up at Pallet, there's no other way of leaving except the sea..."
Lenalee thinks for a moment, but it looks like she can't really figure it out either. "I wonder if they were planning on getting on a ship? Or maybe they lost Pichu when leaving. It was raining pretty bad a few days ago, so something might have happened on the way."
"Maybe..." Allen moved to take his hand back, and the Pikachu seemed upset that it's nice scratching time was stopped. "Did all of you escape?"
Pikachu suddenly looks sad and pika pika'd dejectedly, before turning around and using it's tail to gesture for them to follow, then disappearing behind the bushes with Pichu and Bellsprout.
"A-Allen! Quick! Let's follow them!"
Allen quickly scrambled onto his feet and ran into the bushes after the three of them. Pikachu stopped and pointed to a tiny opening they could look out of from behind the branches of another set of bushes, and the two Trainers crouched to look through. They were greeted by a large pickup truck, with what seemed to be a huge box on the trunk - covered with a white cloth to hide what was inside. As Allen squinted to get a better look, a small gust of wind blew past and lifted up the corners of the cloth, showing the caged Pokémon underneath, behind silver bars. They didn't have collars on - so the poacher must have taken them off before putting them inside the cage.
'Pika...' The Pikachu looked sadly towards the truck.
"Are those your friends in there?" Allen whispers, and the mouse Pokémon nodded. "I wonder if the poacher camped out here last night..."
"We need to do something about that." Lenalee whispers back, and Allen hums in agreement. However, just before they could leave the bushes, the door to the truck opened, and a large, bearded man stepped out of it, muttering something under his breath. The fur on Pikachu's back bristled the moment he came into view, and Allen watched as the man looked at a black, rectangular device in his hand - which he realised must be his smartphone - scowling deeply at whatever message he received. They don't know what that message was - which meant it could be anything, and that they had to work fast.
"If we could get him away from the truck for a few minutes..." He muttered under his breath. Eevee turned around to look at him with some kind of determined 'vui!', sitting down with her chest puffed out trying to look reliable. Allen raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what she was implying, and Lenalee leaned over to take a look herself.
"Is she saying she wants to be a distraction?" She guessed, and correctly at that, because Eevee stood up and hopped around.
"What? No. Eevee, what if you get caught?"
The Evolution Pokémon frowned, and shook her head, protesting against his worried words. However, the Pikachu and Bellsprout ran up and stood next to Eevee, both equally determined looking. The two Trainers looked at eachother, and then back at the three Pokémon.
"Okay, fine," Allen says, slowly, "but if anything happens, you run away. Your safety is the most important."
"And Steenee will come with you." Lenalee looked at Steenee, who nodded.
The trio cheered - silently, of course - before scampering off, and Allen had to grab Pichu to prevent it from following with them.
"Sorry Pichu, it's not safe for you. Let's leave it to them, okay?" He asked, a little exasperated as Pichu bit at his fingers. Allen put Pichu on his shoulder and looked back out through the bushes again, waiting for the right opportunity to get to the truck. He was starting to grow worried, as he couldn't see or hear the four Pokémon who went off to cause the distraction, but right as he was about to go off to look for them, he sees a small pebble smack the poacher on the head. He stood up straight and looked around, before spotting Steenee, Eevee and Pikachu standing a little further away, in front of a path that went deeper into the forest. The Pikachu grinned wickedly before turning around and slapping it's own butt, then sticking out a tongue and blowing a raspberry. That was apparently enough to rile the man up, and he shouted something obscene before chasing after the Pokémon, who all laughed at him and scattered off into different directions.
Once the man disappeared, Allen and Lenalee hopped out of the bushes and to the cage, pulling off the white cloth with some effort, and revealing some exhausted, hungry Pokémon, many of them forest-dwellers. There was even a Ursaring!
"Ugh, there's a lock." Allen grimaced, inspecting the padlock on the front of the cage. It was big, blocky, and they obviously needed a key, but there wasn't going to be enough time to look. He looks around before spotting a rather large rock, and picked it up with both hands, using the edge to hit at the lock, attempting to just brute force it open.
"What do you kids think you're doing?"
The two of them froze. That wasn't the poacher's voice, and it was calm, borderline chilling.
It was another man - much bigger, and looked tougher than the truck driver. He even looked amused, arms folded and eyes looking at them with sick interest, a smirk on his face and a brow raised. Allen didn't think about the fact that the other man might have had a partner.
"Looks like my brother was stupid enough to leave them unattended. Drop that rock, now, will ya? My clients will be very mad at me if I lose all of them."
"Your clients don't deserve to have any of these Pokémon." Lenalee hissed, stepping forward to block Allen and Pichu from the man, and he sees the corner of his mouth twitch slightly.
"This is why I don't like kids." He previously fake friendly demeanor shifted, and his smile dropped. "Be good and come here." A white flash of light spilled out into a form in front of them, and the light revealed a somewhat fat, centipede-like Pokémon with bent horns on it's head.
"Allen, keep working at that padlock." Lenalee reached into the pink bag on her hip and pulled out a Pokéball of her own. "I'll keep him away!"
"That's cute. What can you do, little girl?" The poacher mocks, and Lenalee just glares at him before tossing the ball, the same light spilling out to reveal a bipedal, yellow fox-like Pokémon, who whipped out the stick it carried in it's tail.
"Not much, but I sure can keep you away from these Pokémon! Braixen, use Flamethrower!"
As the two went head to head, Allen returned his attention to smashing the padlock open. And it looked like it was working - the lock was getting close to falling apart!
"It's okay everyone, don't worry! I'll get you out of here!" He mumbles, raising the rock one more time above his head and -
"That's enough of ya, now, ya brat!" A hand grabbed the rock out of his hand and tossed it to the side, while another grabbed his wrist. Allen looked up and into the face of the poacher who'd been distracted earlier! Dammit! Not now! Not when he was so close to breaking off the padlock!
"Let me go!" He kicked and struggled against his grip, but he wasn't strong enough. He looked desperately back at the caged Pokémon, who had desperate looks of their own. He had to get them out! But what was he to do? Lenalee was busy keeping the other brother away - and if he had looked, she'd have been panicking a little as well. Allen kicked again at the man's leg, but he just holds him up by his arm and dangles him in the air with a sick smirk.
"You caused too much trouble -"
"Pichu, use Nuzzle on him!"
The man screamed when Pichu charged up electricity in it's cheeks and appeared in front of his face, rubbing a cheek pouch against his face and shocking him enough to accidentally drop Allen. He scrambled to his feet and reached for the rock, only for him to get grabbed by the back of the neck and slammed back into the ground.
"You little shit! I'll get you for that!" The poacher raised a fist and Allen squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for impact -
- before the man got slammed to the side. He opened his eyes to a blur of brown, white and green, and only when they stopped moving did he realise it was Eevee and Steenee, both kicking and scratching away at the man's arms. Pichu and Pikachu were next to him, both pikapika-ing and asking if he was okay.
"I'm okay. Where's Bellsprout?" Allen looked around for Bellsprout, and Pikachu replied to him in a way he couldn't understand. He looked back at Eevee and Steenee, seeing them glare fiercely at the man who had grabbed him. Whatever! This was his chance! The teenager scrambled back onto his feet and sprinted back over to the truck, even after he heard the man scream 'get back here!' He picked up the rock that had been tossed aside and slammed it down full power on the padlock, shattering the shackle and watching as it crumbled apart onto the grass underneath. He flung open the door and stepped to the side.
"You're free! Go! Get out of here!"
The Pokémon wasted no time in pouring out of the cage, all scattering into different directions of the forest, and out of the corner of his eye, Allen hears the older brother scream in frustration while Lenalee's Braixen used Swift for the third time, being unable to stop the horde of now free Pokémon from escaping.
"You- you brats!" He sputtered, red-faced and fuming. "You're going to pay for this! Do you know how hard it was shipping these Pokémon over the sea?!"
"So you did come off the ship in Pallet Town!" Lenalee points a finger at him. "How long have you had them?!"
"None of your business!" He snaps, recalling his now fainted Scolipede. The poacher reaches onto his belt to unclip another ball, only to be stopped when a looped rope suddenly appeared out of nowhere and tied itself around him, just above his elbows. He yelped, startled, as he was yanked onto the ground. The rest of them watched, stunned, as the person on the other end emerged from the trees right behind him was none other than Viridian City's Officer Jenny!
"Don't even try to struggle! You're under arrest for illegal poaching, smuggling and theft!" She exclaims, yanking the rope even harder. The poacher's brother tries to rush over, but an Arcanine got in the way and growled at him, while Eevee and Steenee stood on the other side to prevent him from actually running away.
It didn't take long for the other officers to arrive, Officer Jenny using the radio on her uniform to call in backup, since there was no way she would be able to drag the both of them back down to Viridian city on her own, even if Arcanine helped. Hmm. The Jennys were definitely a force to be reckoned with.
As the two criminals were hauled to their feet and dragged out of the forest towards the police cars, Lenalee and Allen both gave statements necessary to Jenny needed to convict them.
"... And he grabbed you while you were trying to break open the lock, yes?" She asks, while a younger police officer dragged the scolipede Trainer passed them. Allen nodded, and pointed to his forearm.
"Yeah, he grabbed me like this, and also shoved me to the ground." He makes a quick movement with his arm, and Lenalee is unsure what it's supposed to mean, but well, it sure worked, because Officer Jenny nodded and scribbled something down in her notepad, mumbling something like 'adding assault charges...' before putting it away along with her pen. "It's a good thing you two are safe, but next time, please call the police instead of doing it by yourself. It was very reckless."
"Umm... Yes, of course, but how did you know about the poachers?" Lenalee asks, and Allen realised that they hadn't told any other human about this, unless someone who was walking by saw what was happening... Which would be crazy, because that'd be too much of a coincidence.
"Ahh, well," Jenny smiles and looks down at the ground, and Bellsprout appeared next to her leg waving it's little leaf-arm happily. "This little one appeared in my office and dragged Arcanine out of the station. I followed them to the scene and recognized their faces immediately."
"Wow! That's- well, that's... Amazing." Allen blinked in surprise and stuttered a little, watching as the little flower Pokémon puffed it's chest - vine body? - out in pride. Lenalee giggled a bit before kneeling down and patting it on it's yellow, bulbous head gently.
"Thank you for doing that."
Pikachu suddenly hopped over next to Bellsprout and puffed out it's own chest too, squeaking with pride.
"Ah, Pikachu, did you tell it to do that?" Allen also bent down, hands resting on his knees, as Lenalee gave Pikachu a scratch under the chin, and it pika'd happily. "Thank you too, Pikachu."
"This was the Pikachu that showed you the way?"
"That's right. It tried to fight us at first, but Pichu convinced it to let us help I think."
The Pichu happily squeaked on Allen's shoulder, and Allen reached up to pat it on the head. "Pichu was one of the captured Pokémon and somehow escaped on the way here. I found it on route 1."
"I see... It's possible that they escaped first to get help."
To get help? Oh... So the reason why Pichu stayed with him was because it needed to find help...
"Is that true, Pichu?" He asks, and Pichu thinks for a moment before smiling and squeaking. Of course, he was happy to help, and now that Pichu's friends were saved, it could rest easy, but...
"A Pikachu, huh..." Jenny gets a fond look on her face, "I knew someone who had a Pikachu just like this one, willing to do whatever it takes to save his friends. His Trainer was the same."
"Really? How long ago was that?"
"Hmm, well... Last I saw him was about five years ago, but when I first met him... it was around sixteen years ago. But he's doing quite well now. Actually, he was the one who gave me a fire stone that allowed Growlithe to evolve into Arcanine." She scratched her companion on the head, whom made a happy noise in his throat, leaning into his Trainer's touch. "He just came back from Johto, actually, so you might see him around."
"Oh... Really?" Lenalee gained a thoughtful look, but didn't comment any further about it. "We'll keep an eye out for him, I guess!"
Jenny smiles and nods, and then points towards the edge of the forest clearing. "Then, you can get back onto the main path from here, and you'll be at Pewter City in no time!"
Allen looks in the direction the Lieutenant pointed towards. The path they needed to take was weaving between trees, almost hidden if they weren't looking for it.
"Thanks, Officer Jenny." He says, as Pichu bid goodbye to the Pikachu and Bellsprout.
"Don't sweat it. Be careful out there."
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Along the pathway, a couple bug types had dangled down in front of Allen's face - and always his, for some reason - with Lenalee getting excited and snapping a billion photos with her Rotom Phone. At some point, she caught a Caterpie too, and started telling him all about the unique abilities of it's evolutionary line. And he was listening! Of course he was listening. It was... just that all of it was in the textbook already. Well, except for the fact about Vermillion flowers being their favourite thing to eat.
"Allen, you should catch another Pokémon!" She suddenly said. Allen looked at her for a moment, then at Pichu and Eevee, who were playing a little bit just ahead of them. She was right, he probably should. But right now, he...
"Aha! Pokémon Trainers!"
The stopped in their tracks when a kid in a straw hat and sandals leapt out of the bushes, pointing an intimidating (well, not really) finger at them. What the heck?
"Um... Can we help y-"
"Our eyes met, which means we have to have a Trainer battle now!"
Hello?
"Sorry, but we kind of have to -"
"Sure, why not!"
What.
Allen's head swivels to look right at Lenalee, who was already getting ready for a battle. If they stayed any longer, the sun was going to set!
"Awesome! You're going to meet the best, most awesomest Bug type!"
"Lenalee, we have to get to Pewter?" He whispers, and she just nodded, like 'yeah, we do' but still kept her eyes locked with the other Trainer.
"1-on-1, no switches allowed, yeah!?" The kid yelled from a little further away, and Lenalee yelled back at him, agreeing to his terms. Allen sighs and walks to the side of the path to sit down on a tree stump, putting Pichu on his knees to watch the battle. Looks like they'll have to wait a bit longer. Eevee sat next to them, excitedly watching as Lenalee put Caterpie down and - wait, Caterpie?!
"Okay, Caterpie! This will be your first battle!"
Caterpie got a determined look in it's eyes and puffs out it's... Whatever that is. Chest or something. The straw hat boy - whom Allen has decided to exclusively call Straw Hat from now on - pulled out a Pokéball from his pocket and enlarged it. He tossed the ball into the air, where it opened and released his Pokémon. Naturally, it was a bug type.
The Pokémon was furry, round, with large compound eyes, and purple. It had a pincer-like mouth with two fangs, stubby paws, and a pair of two-toed feet, with two long antennae sprouting from it's head. It hopped around the moment it was released from the ball, seemingly excited to get started with the battle. Allen never really thought about this, but it does seem that sometimes, Pokémon share their Trainer's feelings for battles. Or contests. It really seemed to depend. It was amazing, actually, for Pokémon and humans to have some sort of affinity with one another, even before they ever meet. Were humans and Pokémon closer than they realised?
Allen opened his Pokédex and let it scan the purple Pokémon, waiting a couple seconds before the device pulled up the information, reading it aloud in it's robotic voice.
'Venonat, the Insect Pokémon. Bug and Poison Type. Its eyes function as radar, allowing it to see in the dark. They can also shoot powerful beams.'
Um... Okay, wow, that's kinda cool. Maybe the kid had a point. Heavy emphasis on maybe. Allen sighed and put the Pokédex away, turning his attention back to the battle, which had already started.
"Venonat, follow that up with Tackle!" Straw Hat commands, and the Venonat launched it's entire body towards Caterpie. Allen's heart leaps into his throat as the Venonat barrels towards it. He knows Caterpie tend to be slow movers, as Lenalee had told him earlier, and considering their obviously differing levels in experience, Caterpie was going to get knocked out in one hit! He looked towards Lenalee, too see what she would do next. To his surprise, her eyes were calm, as if she comfortably wore a sense of tranquility. And she probably does - he could see her years of Training experience flowing around her like wind and aura, the way she watched the tiny battlefield as she prepared her next move, and it looks like the Caterpie really trusted her, even though they've only been together for a mere thirty-or-so minutes.
"Caterpie," She speaks, "Use String Shot on that tree branch!" Lenalee points at a branch to the upper left of where Caterpie's field of vision was, and without hesitation, the green caterpillar spat out a thin, sticky string that wrapped around the branch. It used the string to pull itself into the air, right as Venonat landed it's Tackle in the spot where Caterpie was only a second ago. Allen let out a noise of surprise (while Straw Hat made some kind of sound that was equivalent to a strangled cow), startled at the unconventional way of dodging - but, well, it worked, so unconventional isn't really the right way to put it anymore.
"Now, Caterpie! Tackle!"
Straw Hat blinks and realises that if he doesn't make a move, Venonat was going to take the Tackle.
"U-um, Venonat, use-!"
Before he could even call out an order, Lenalee's Caterpie slammed itself into the furry creature headfirst, having used the momentum of it's swing from the branch to power up it's Tackle, launching Venonat across the dirt and into the trunk of a tree.
"W-Wah!! Venonat!" Straw Hat yelped, panicking as Venonat wobbles about dizzily, disoriented from the impact of hitting the tree.
"Caterpie, let's finish this by using Tackle one more time!"
And before they even knew it, Venonat was K.O.'d and unable to battle. It took a few seconds for the end of the battle to register in Allen's mind, and when it finally did, he blinked, and then blinked again. What on earth?
"Man... You are a strong Trainer..." Straw Hat sighs, though he didn't seem discouraged. He was knelt next to his Venonat, who'd already recovered enough to be lucid. "That String Shot dodge was insane."
"Yeah, Lenalee, that was crazy, considering how you and Caterpie have known eachother for less than an hour." Allen comments as he walks closer. Apparently, Straw Hat didn't pick up on this, because his head spun around so fast Allen was scared it was going to fly off his neck, eyes as large as dinner plates.
"You what?! Seriously?!" Even Venonat imitated his shock, both of them running over to Caterpie and Lenalee with fiery eyes of wonder.
"Y... Yes, I just caught it just a little bit ago." She says, stepping back a bit when he got right into her space.
"How did you get it to obey you so fast? How did you get it to understand your strategy without speaking? What about -"
"Ooookay," Allen cuts in by stepping in between them, "Maybe one at a time, yeah?"
Straw Hat blinked before stepping back, nodding his head while he smiled a little sheepishly, realising he was spitting out questions like a malfunctioning ATM. "Sorry. But seriously, it's already so attached to you!"
Lenalee leaned down and stretched out her arm, allowing Caterpie to crawl up and rest on her shoulder.
"I guess we just had the same goals in mind?" She mused, scratching the caterpillar under it's chin, Caterpie letting out some kind of noise that was a cross between a cat purr and a dog whine. "That's what I think, anyway."
Like... Battling goals?
"Hmm. Well, anyway, I lost, so I'll transfer you the credits right now." Straw Hat taps his wristwatch - no, Xtransceiver - a few times, and a notification sound pinged from Lenalee's pocket.
"Thanks!" She pulls out her Rotom phone to check her the transfer - confirmed, obviously.
"You guys are going to Pewter City, right?" The boy asks, and Allen nods.
"Yeah, this guy's gonna go there to challenge the Gym."
Wow, Allen is feeling shy now.
"Good luck, the Gym Leader is pretty tough."
"How... How tough?" Allen inquires, his tone slow and somewhat cautious, fiddling with the edge of his sleeve.
"Real tough. A lot of beginner Trainers fail multiple times and then give up."
What... What the heck? Seriously? That didn't make Allen feel good. Like at all. What was he supposed to do then? What if he -
"We'll tough it out. Right, Allen?" Lenalee looks at him and smiled, and now it's too awkward to complain about it, so he just sighed and nodded along.
"Right..."
"Well, you guys got this! If your friend here can do a String Shot that crazy, then you'll be fine. Probably."
Allen doesn't think he'll be fine, but whatever. He looks up towards the sky for a brief moment, noting how it had become painted with oranges and soft purples during their talk. If they leave now, they should be able to get to a Pokémon Center by nightfall.
"Um... Lenalee, we should get going."
"Oh, that's right. Thank you for the battle!" Lenalee bids farewell to Straw Hat with a wave, and he waves back.
"Let's battle again, sometime!"
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