"Please sir Noah! We will give you any other pokemon amongst our collection that you desire!" The grown man begged me while getting down on his knees.
"I said no. I found the fossil, Omanyte is mine." I told him tiredly for what must have been the twentieth time.
"B-but it's an ALPHA Omanyte! There have been no recorded records of any alpha Omanyte recovered until now! The data we could learn from it is invaluable!"
"Then it's a good thing I'm sponsored by professor Oak, who I think will be more than happy to study him on your behalf while I'm raising him." I replied, and doctor Adler could only suck up his latest complaint while looking between the professor and I.
"Don't look at me, it IS Noah's pokemon to do with as he pleases." The professor said with a shrug, and the doctor could only lament the lost opportunity to study my newest pokemon.
Currently we were all gathered on the dock, waiting to depart on the ferry that would take May and I to Celedon city, where the next Gym waited along with the largest shopping center in all of Kanto. And newly added to my team were the recently revived Kabuto, Anorith, Lileep, Tirtouga, and finally an alpha Omanyte.
Naturally, the researchers in charge of resurrecting my fossils were more than a little reluctant to part with an actual alpha. And just like them, there was no way I was going to part with an alpha pokemon unless I absolutely had to. And thankfully the professor had my back since I was the one who dug up the fossil, on top of his own desire to research an alpha fossil pokemon.
I shook my head while looking down at the grown man who was on the verge of sobbing at my feet, when I felt a sudden chill go down my spine while the hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
There was a sudden crunching noise as I slammed my foot down on the end of a mooring cleat with enough force that it ripped the cleat out of the wood and launched it into the air, before I grabbed it and spun around around to chuck it as hard as I could at the buildings behind us. I watched it sail between two of the buildings, before a crashing sound echoed as it seemingly hit a trashcan.
"Noah?! What on earth are you doing?!" Professor Oak exclaimed in shock, while doctor Adler recoiled as if he expected me to throw something at him next.
"I thought I sensed something..." I said while keeping an eye on the alley where I threw the cleat, but nothing else happened. "But maybe I imagined it..." I muttered while confused. After all, my instincts were usually razor sharp if there was something dangerous.
"What was that about?" May asked as she approached us with a couple bags in her hands from shopping.
"I thought there was something. But I guess I was wrong." I told her, and May cocked her head curiously.
"That's strange... Anyways, wanna see what I got us?" May asked while opening the first bag, showing me what was inside as we waited for the ferry.
***
"Th-that was close..." Janine uttered as her heart hammered against her breast.
Her hands were shaking, breathing ragged, and a puddle of her own making was spreading under her. Yet Janine didn't care about any of that as she slowly looked up at where the mooring cleat was embedded into the stone wall of the building her back was pressed against. Right where her head had been seconds prior.
If Janine had been even a half a second slower in ducking, her head would have been splattered across the wall and her mission would have been over. Just like that.
"Maybe I should tell dad that this job is a little too dangerous..." Janine whispered to herself as she seriously contemplated it.
Her current job was to follow Noah, the man who fell from the sky, as he traveled Kanto. And as she did so, Janine was supposed to report any information she learned to her father, the Gym Leader of Fucshia city, Koga. Pokemon he caught, people he'd talk to, where he'd go next. It was supposed to be a fairly simple job.
But no one told her that the man was fucking telepathic!
Or whatever it was he used to detect her! All Janine knew was that NO ONE had ever sensed her this easily before, and nearly killed her from such a distance with such ease. It put all of her training as a ninja of the Koga clan to shame!
And she was supposed to stay around him to gather information?
Janine needed to contact her father to figure out how to proceed if just being in the vicinity of her target was enough for him to detect her.
"..."
Maybe after she changed her clothes...
Janine gave the group one last look to confirm they were in front of the ferry that was headed to One Island, before creeping further into the alley to change. Both for more privacy, and so that she wouldn't risk another mooring cleat being thrown at her while she literally had her pants down...
***
"Again." I ordered calmly, and Stantler lowed in affirmation as he lowered his head.
I could see the psychic energy radiating off of him as he called it forth, no mean feat for a non-psychic type pokemon. Then, it began to coverge in front of him to form what started to look like a wall.
"Good. Now use Psyshield Bash!" I ordered him, and Stantler charged at his two opponents, Mankey and Tyrogue.
"KEE!"
Mankey shrieked as he launched himself to meet Stantler halfway, with Tyrogue ducking low right behind him.
"STAAAANT!"
Stantler roared as he tried to slam his psychic shield into Mankey as if he were attacking with his horns. Only, the second Mankey's foot impacted the shield, it shattered completely.
"!?!"
Stantler didn't even have time to react to the shattering of his shield, before Tyrogue hit him with a kick right to the side of his face to send him crashing to the deck.
"And time." I said tiredly, calling an end to the training now that Stantler had been knocked down for the tenth time in a row.
"Stantler... Stant!" He declared passionately while struggling to rise to his feet.
"No. You've already done enough for today. When we started you couldn't even form the shield properly. Just keep practicing even when you're at professor Oak's, but don't overdo it. Understood?" I told him sternly, and Stantler immediately perked up. He REALLY wanted to evolve.
Still at it?" May asked as she joined us, her Squirtle at her side.
"Just finished actually." I replied while dropping back into one of the deck chairs.
"And you really think that learning this move will make Stantler evolve?" May asked while glancing at the normal type, even as Mankey and Tyrogue started sparring against each other like the battle junkies they both were.
"Yep. And when he does, Stantler will cut quite the impressive figure." I told her with absolute certainty. But then I smirked while giving her cocky look. "Rethinking our bet?"
"No!" May said a little too quickly. "I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing."
"Is that so?" I asked with a sly smile. "So long as you're sure."
May opened her mouth to retort, only to remain silent as a sudden glow filled the deck of the ship.
"Key?!"
"Tyrogue?!"
"Yes!" I exclaimed as both Mankey and Tyrogue started changing size and shape, the former growing larger while the latter grew primarily taller until he was twice his previous height.
"Primeape!"
"Hitmonlee!"
Both of them cried as they finished their respective evolutions, evoling into Primape and Hitmonlee respectively.
"Hell yeah!" I declared while looking at the two of them, even as they began testing their new bodies. I was even secretly glad that Tyrogue evolved into Hitmonlee, as both Primeape and Poliwrath were both punch focused fighting types. Since Hitmonlee were kick focused instead, it would give us more variety in fighting style and attacks.
The two of them seemed to share my excitement, as they eagerly began testing their new bodies against one another without the slightest bit of hesitation. At the same time, I also began thinking of different moves to teach them to help them grow stronger, obviously Rage Fist was a must for Primeape if I wanted him to evolve into Annihilape.
And off to the side I could see Stantler looking at the two of them with envy from where he was still laying. Thankfully though, he seemed to take my earlier warning to heart and didn't insist of getting up to train some more.
"Maybe I need to train Squirtle some more..." May mused as she joined me on the chair, looking down at her newest water type.
"Squirtle?" It asked while tilting it's head curiously.
"We wouldn't want to fall behind Noah after all, do we?" She asked it, and Squirtle seemed marginally more excited.
"You don't have to compare yourself to me." I said while wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close.
"I know. Not all trainers are the same after all. But it's really amazing how quickly your pokemon evolve and grow stronger in general."
"Is it?" I asked curiously. May was only trainer I really had to draw a parallel with after all. Gary didn't count since he shamelessly used the professor's money to buy the best medicines and boosters that were available.
"Yes, it is!" May declared. "Even my team from Hoenn took most of my journey to evolve, and I had the benefit of being the daughter of professor Birch!"
"Huh." I muttered curiously as I thought about what she said. I thought it was normal how quickly my pokemon were growing stronger, as they usually trained while they were at the professor's on top of the training they got while they were with me.
"Well, I guess that will just make it easier for you to accomplish your goal." May said as she nuzzled into my side.
"So does traveling with a woman who wants to see the world and bring it to the screens of everyone else." I said back to her, making May smile as she gave me a kiss.
"Speaking of, the professor mentioned something to me before we left." I suddenly recalled.
"What is it?"
"Well, he was asking if at some point we could visit the Orange Islands to investigate some of the different phenomenon there. Apparently there's an island where all of the pokemon are pink, a city being plagued by some kind of sewer monster, and rumors of an Onix made entiely of crystal instead of the usual rock." I listed off for her.
"I've heard about those!" May said as she sat up suddenly. "Whenever something like those pop up there's all kinds of discourse online about what they could be. Most people regard the pink pokemon as some kind of hoax, while others get into heated debates about the sewer monster and what it could be. And then there are all of the pokemon trainers who flock to try and find the crystal Onix because of how rare it is, but none of them have succeeded. Not only that, but it's also never been properly documented either!"
"Sounds like it would definitely be worth our time to investigate." I said, while also feeling like each of these topics were so familiar. Like most things were after I awoke in professor Oak's lab.
"When should we go?" May asked curiously.
"Maybe after we reach Fucshia city. If we make a big loop we can visit Saffron, Cerulean and Lavender after Celadon, before heading south to Fucshia. There we can probably catch a ferry." I said while pulling out my phone, and Rotom automatically began searching it before confirming my suggestion.
"Ooh! Then we can see the Waterflower show in Cerulean!" May exclaimed excitedly. "And the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town, and the Silph co headquarters in Saffron!"
I smiled wryly as May went on about every place she wanted to visit, along with all of the signature food she wanted to try while we were there.
...
It took the ferry we were on three days to reach Celadon city, even without stopping like the ferry to Cinnabar had at the reefs. I used the time to train all of the new pokemon I caught while we were exploring the island, Growlithe, Flareon, Cyndaquil, Houndour. All of which would be useful when we reached the Celadon ciy Gym where the grass type Gym Leader, Erika, was based.
I also started training Eevee and the fossil pokemon a bit as well, despite the fact that the former was more content to curl up in my lap than train seriously. She also seemed to have reached some kind of agreement with Vulpix when I decided to train her as well, especially when it came to Celebi.
With all the fire type pokemon I had, especially Charmeleon, my flying type pokemon, and Vulpix, I was feeling pretty good about challenging Erika when we reached Celadon city. Or, at least I was until we actually arrived there.
"What's with the commotion?" May asked as the ferry started pulling into the docks, and we could see numerous people running too and fro.
"I don't know. I hope it's nothing bad." I told her, even as I frowned in worry.
And my worries were well founded when we docked, and one of the officer Jennys came to meet us before anyone could disembark.
"Everyone needs to stay on the ferry for the time being while we try and sort out the current situation." She stated firmly while the Growlithe at her side sniffed the air suspiciously.
"What happened?" I asked as May and I flashed her our trainer IDs.
"League trainers? I'll need the two of you to come with me then." Officer Jenny said seriously, prompting May and I to share a look before we both disembarked and started following the officer out of the docks and into the city.
"Is this normal?" I asked May quietly.
"Depends on the situation." May muttered back. "One thing that sets official League trainers apart from regular trainers is that if the League calls on us for help we're obligated to answer. And if you refuse, then there is a real chance you could lose your license depending on the circumstances."
"So the fact that they immediately grabbed us the second they saw we were League trainers..."
"Means something bad must be going on." May concluded as the officer led us to a cop car.
"Take these two to the Champion's tent." She ordered the officer standing next to the vehicle, and May and I shared another look.
Lance was here too?
My curiosity was growing by the second as May and I got into the back of the police car before being driven into the city. But not enough that I couldn't even notice the beauty of the city around us.
Rows of flowers lined every single street and walkway in all of the most vibrant colors I had ever seen before. And growing amongst them were trees and shrubs that were either in bloom or heavy with berries, which pokemon and children of all stripes seemed more than happy to divulge in.
The buildings meanwhile all appeared to be covered in either some form of ivy or artwork that matched their surroundings, murals of people and pokemon in play within various scenic backdrops.
"I'd heard that Erika was working to make the city more beautiful and habitable for people and pokemon, but this is amazing!" May said before asking the officer driving, "did she do it all herself?"
"Mostly." He replied, though I could hear the tension in his voice. "When she became Gym Leader five years ago Erika began working on trying to change the image of Celadon city from the ground up, alongside all of the women she's taken in and trained in her Gym. They don't only plant flowers though, she and her trainers are responsible for the most captures of Team Rocket members than any other Gym Leader in Kanto. Even more so in the last six months."
"She sounds amazing." May said with awe in her voice.
"She is. That's why so many of us on the force respect her. But then yesterday..."
***
*The day before*
"Doduo is unable to battle! Gym Leader Erika wins!"
"NO! Doduo!" The boy cried as he ran out to his fallen pokemon.
"If you hurry to the Pokemon Center, then you can get your Doduo treatment before the poisoning becomes too severe." Said the woman with silky black hair styled in a bobcut, dressed elegantly in a red and green kimono as she maintained perfect posture.
"Grrr... Come on Doduo!" The boy said as he recalled his pokemon to it's pokeball, before quickly fleeing the Gym to seek treatment.
"A flawless victory miss." Said one of the women who had been spectating the battle, also dressed in a kimono like Erika herself.
"The boy has potential, but he tried too hard to rely on type advantages." Erika replied dismissively as she walked up to her own pokemon, a Vileplume. "Regardless, you were excellent Vileplume."
"Plume plume~!" The grass/poison type pokemon cried happily at the praise.
"Do I have any more challengers?" Erika asked the woman from before.
"No miss. That should be the last one for the day." She replied, and Erika glanced up towards the ceiling.
Like other Gym Leaders, Erika had designed her Gym to best suit her pokemon, making the entire main building a greenhouse that housed a variety of plants from around the world. Like her pokemon, they were beautiful, elegant, and in some cases deadly. And through the glass, Erika could see that the sun was still high in the sky.
"Very well. Please see to my pokemon. I'm going to spend some time in my office." Erika said, before releasing the rest of her pokemon to spend some time in the comfort of the greenhouse, grass type pokemon not only native to Kanto and Johto, but also several from around the world that she acquired from fellow grass specialists, like Gardenia in Sinnoh.
"Oh? Going to spend time with your 'boyfriend', miss?" She replied cockily, and Erika's cheeks burned with irritation.
"Don't spout such nonsense. Men hold no interest for me." Erika stated haughtily.
With the happy cries of her pokemon and the smirking face of her subordinate behind her, Erika turned and headed to the back of the Gym where the offices were located, the only part of the Gym that did not function as a greenhouse. Inside, Erika immediately focused her attention on the miniature model of the entirety of Celadon city that dominated the center of the room.
It was a full scale model that showed every single building, road, and even the flora that had been planted throughout the city for the last five years. The culminative effort of Erika, her pokemon, and the dozens of women she had taken under her wing to make the city a haven for both people and pokemon. Compared to when she first became Gym Leader, Erika knew that the air of Celadon was cleaner and sweeter, the streets were the cleanest in the region, and they had the greatest population of wild pokemon living amongst them as well.
There was just one massive glaring problem.
Erika glanced at the biggest eyesore, literally, on the model, the Game Corner.
Normally, Erika wouldn't begrudge how people elected to spend their time nor their money. But the Game Corner was one eyesore in particular that she very much wanted to see removed.
Not only was the building too large, bright and esthetically ugly compared to all of those surrounding it, but it had only brought out the worst in the people of Celadon city and beyond ever since it had been built three years prior. Gambling, drug addiction, alcoholism and prostitution were all brought to the extreme within it's walls.
Just stepping inside the building was enough to assault Erika's senses every time she had to do so, with all of the glaring lights and obnoxious noises. Meanwhile the air inside stank of alcohol, cheap cologne and perfume, and was filled with a haze of smoke from the drugs that left Erika feeling just slightly woozy for hours afterwards. And then there were the girls, all practically naked or as close to it as possible as they served food and drink to their patrons, along with their bodies if one of their patrons felt like it.
The entire operation disgusted Erika, and she had been fighting the business itself even before they began construction on it more than three years ago. But her pleas fell on deaf ears as the mayor of Celadon gushed over how much revenue it would bring to them along with the shopping center. On top of that, Erika knew that the mayor would often visit the Game Corner himself to make use of the 'services' they offered.
But hopefully that would change soon.
Ever since becoming Gym Leader, Erika and the trainers under her had been fighting an endless battle against the growing activities of Team Rocket. And during all that time, she had noticed the trend of Team Rocket sightings being focused in the vicinity around the Game Corner itself, with a sharp increase over the last six months.
If the Game Corner was implicated with Team Rocket in any way, then the entire operation would be investigated by the League itself. And if there was the slightest hint of any sort of connection with Team Rocket, then the Game Corner would be shut down without the slightest hesitation.
Anticipating such an outcome, Erika turned away from the model to her computer in order to put some of her files on the matter in order. But as she did so, the Gym Leader paused in awe of the image she had recently applied as a screen saver.
On it, was a man.
This was surprising to all of the women that trained under Erika, as she was quite more critical of men than she was women. When they realized who it was though, many of them joked about how of course no man from THIS world would be enough for her.
Erika of course dismissed their japes, and insisted that the reason for her screen saver was the second figure in it. A figure that was small and pink that sat upon his shoulder.
Erika gazed adoringly at the pink pokemon, recalling her own brush with one when she was little girl, lost in the nearby forest. Though others told her she probably imagined it, Erika knew what she saw as a child back then. And it was that very experience that led to her specializing in grass type pokemon.
Taking only a couple seconds to admire the Legendary pokemon, Erika then opened the files she had been compiling regarding her and her girls' encounters with Team Rocket in the recent days, with the most recent having taken place only two days prior!
Time passed as she buried herself in her work, knowing that at the end of it was a safer Celadon city for all of those who called it home, people and pokemon. She only stopped when a commotion outside caught her attention.
"What could ever being going on out there?" Erika muttered to herself as she stood, only for her door to open suddenly.
"Miss Erika! We need you out here!" Cried the girl who opened it, one of the newer members of her Gym trainers.
"What is it?!" Erika asked urgently as she stood and hurried out of the office, to see three helicopters flying directly above and around her Gym. Helicopters with bright red Rs painted on the sides.
"Team Rocket." Erika muttered angrily.
The moment the words left her mouth, an ear-splitting Screech filled the air that drove Erika, her trainers and all of their pokemon to the ground as they tried to block out the terrible sound. At the same time, the glass panels forming the walls and ceiling of the greenhouse all shattered to rain shards down upon them all.
After, Erika saw several canisters shot out from the helicopters that began to emit thick clouds of green gas that quickly engulfed all of them, people and pokemon.
"Try and cover your mouths and noses! Don't breathe in any of the gas!" Erika quickly ordered while covering her own mouth and nose with her sleeve. But that brief window was still enough that her lungs began to burn, and her vision began to swim.
Trying to rise to her feet, Erika's legs gave out under her almost immediately instead to show the toxic gases were working even faster than she thought. Enough that even her pokemon that had a poison typing seemed effected, which shouldn't have even been possible to begin with.
"Do you like it?" Drawled a masculine voice that that belonged to a man that stalked towards Erika with all the confidence in the world. And even when she looked up at him she couldn't see what he looked like, both because of the poison affecting her vision, and because he was wearing a gas mask that covered his face.
"What....have you done?" Erika demanded with as much dignity and authority as she could muster at the moment.
"We took precautions. You've been a thorn in our side for quite a while a now, and now we hear that you plan to take your meddling up a notch. So we decided to be a bit proactive." The man said, before another figure joined him.
"Here you go sir. All of the data she compiled on our movements over the last several months." Said a feminine voice that passed a drive to the man, belonging to the same girl that came to get Erika minutes before.
"You're.....with them....?" Erika groaned as she gave the traitor the darkest glare she could muster.
"Why my dear miss Erika, that expression doesn't look very lady-like you know." The girl sneered down at her from behind her own mask, while Erika felt her own vision growing dark.
The last thing Erika saw was the two of them sneering down at her, before her vision went completely dark. And when she finally did regain consciousness, she was locked in a concrete room deep underground.