A Chikorita and Skorupi walked side by side, talking animatedly to each other. It was a warm evening, and the two were full of energy. They had just entered the town of Greenleaf, and were incredibly excited.

"I'm so incredibly excited!" the Chikorita, Paprika, chirped happily. "Today we meet our destinies, and form a pokemon rescue team!"

"You're awfully excited for someone who didn't originally want to join a rescue team," Scorpia, the Skorupi, teased.

"Hey! Remember, I was the one who came to you after our parents…" she gulped sadly and looked down. "…died."

Scorpia put a claw on her best friends shoulder. "Hey, it's all right. They died doing what they loved. And now, we can carry on their name." She gave a small smile to the grass type.

Paprika and Scorpia's parents had been on a pokemon rescue team 'd made quite the name for themselves, too. They were at the peak of their success when tragedy struck. They were exploring the famed Zero Isle, when they were ganged up on by pokemon bandits. The bandits were captured, and brought to justice, but it wasn't enough for Paprika.

Since she was little, she'd admired rescue teams, but had never wanted to join one. When the news reached her that her parents had died, her whole world flipped upside down. She couldn't be consoled, not even by her best friend Scorpia. Then, a week after they'd found out, Paprika approached Scorpia with an idea. The two would leave their home, and form their own rescue team. Scorpia would be the leader, with Paprika in second-in-command. They would carry on their parents work of helping pokemon in need.

Paprika nodded. "So, what's our first step, leader Scorpia?"

"Well, we agreed we need to add a couple more members. Ones who fit our criteria, of course."

"Duh! They have to be nice, sane, easy to be around, and… what was the last thing?"

"Unevolved. They have to be starting out, just like us. We can't have evolved pokemon bossing us around."

"Oh right… so, where do we recruit some new members?"

"I dunno… maybe there is a Gummi bar around here?"

They searched, and finally came across a building with a sign that said "Gravel's Gummi Shack". They walked inside, and found it filled to bursting with pokemon.

"Um, I think we'd better split up." Scorpia said, looking around at the massive amount of pokemon

"Okay. Meet you later!" Paprika said, before bounding off.

Scorpia watched her run off between pokemon, and sighed, before heading to the bar. Behind the counter was a Graveler. He was chatting with a Cottonee.

"Excuse me," she said hesitantly. The Graveler turned and smiled at her.

"Hey there!" he said in a low, friendly voice. "What can I do ya for? I'm Gravel."

"Do you know if any pokemon around here are interested in joining a rescue team?"

"I don't really know, myself. We haven't had too much luck with rescue teams in the past. Now that I think about, there's only one in the area now. People just leave things up to the police. You'll have to ask around."

"Ah. Thank you, Gravel."

"My pleasure! And good luck on your search."

Scorpia moved away from the bar, and thought to herself. If there aren't really any rescue teams around here, it should be easy to make a name for ourselves. The only proble is just finding the right pokemon to fill up our team…"

She looked around, and decided to get right into her search. Looking around, she had no idea where to begin. She was about to ask a Wurmple some questions, when she heard some loud noises coming from a corner. Curious, she walked on over.

There was a gap in the crowd of pokemon, all staring and cheering into a clearing. Scorpia pushed her way to the front, and watched what was going on. Two pokemon, a Machop and a Piplup, were wrestling. Scorpia was about to leave, figuring the Machop had this fight in the bag. But she stopped, and watched in fascination as the Piplup used the move Double Hit, punching the Machop twice in the face, and then swing wildly in a Flail attack. The Machop went down, and the Piplup struck a pose to his wildly cheering fans.

He's strong, we could use someone like him on the team. Let's see what he's like first, though.

Scorpia walked up to the Piplup, clapping soflty, as the crowd started to disperse.

"That was impressive," she said, sticking out a claw. The Piplup shook it with his fin.

"Thanks, but it was easy. Machop talk big, but they're really a bunch of pushovers," he said with a cocky smile.

Just then, the Machop stood up, and glared angrily at the Piplup. "No fair! You cheated somehow, I know it! Rematch, now!" Scorpia watched the Piplup closely, to see how he would react.

"Listen buddy. First off, I never cheat. Never. I don't need to. If I'm outmatched, I'll take my beating like a pokemon. Second, I'm talking to someone, so I will not fight you. Third, if you aren't gone in the next two seconds, I'll have to throw you out. Which isn't fighting you, it's doing everyone here a favor." He finished this with a hard look at the Machop.

The Machop grit his teeth, and walked away, grumbling to himself.

The Piplup's expression relaxed, and he faced Scorpia once again. "Sorry about that. I enjoy a fight, but not against someone I can easily beat, like him. I never got your name. I'm Jet."

Scorpia smiled. He's polite, tough, and a little cocky. I like him.

"I'm Scorpia. And I've got a proposition for you…"


Meanwhile, Paprika wasn't having much success trying to recruit someone.

"Um, I have to go now…" she said awkwardly to a Bulbasaur.

"What do you mean, babe, you just got here. Come closer, and we can let our vines touch," the Bulbasaur winked slyly.

Paprika recoiled, and ran off. That was the third time someone had hit on her, though the other two hadn't been quite that straightforward about it. She hoped Scorpia was having better luck than she was. She sighed, and sat down on some hay.

"Um, excuse me… are you all right?" a voice asked.

Paprika turned her head, and looked at the concerned face of a Trapinch. "Oh, yes, I'm fine. I'm just looking for someone, I guess you could say."

The Trapinch moved a little closer. "Maybe I can help? Who is it that you're looking for?"

"Well… I don't really know. I haven't met them yet."

"Uh… I… see?" He cocked his head. "Okay, I don't see. What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm trying to recruit someone to join a rescue team with me and my friend. We know what we're looking for in a recruit, but I haven't been able to find anyone who matches what we're looking for; unevolved, reasonably nice, and sane."

"Hm. I may be able to help. That Ledyba over there is really nice. But she likes to collect buttons, you see her pile from here. There's a Caterpie right there! Actually, he swears a lot, you probably won't like him…"

Paprika listened as the Trapinch listed several more pokemon, giggling each time he found something wrong with them. Eventually she cut him off by asking, "How do you know so much about random pokemon?"

The Trapinch blushed. "I… I'm kinda awkward, so I tend to just sit back and watch crowds. You kind find out a lot about someone that way."

"Well, what do you know about me?"

The Trapinch paled. "Wh-what?"

"Come on, what have you noticed about me? You had to have seen me at some point while I was out there."

"Um, well… for starters, you've been in a few fights. But all with the same pokemon. They must have claws, because there are thin scratch marks and needle marks along your body. There are no sign of bruises, so you must prefer to fight from a distance. Unless you ram them with your leaf. It's thicker than what you see on most Chikorita. You also don't know the power of your own beauty, because…" the Trapinch clamped his jaws shut, and looked away quickly. "So, um, yes… I have noticed a few things about you."

Paprika smiled, and then asked, "Why don't you join the rescue team? Your really smart, we could use someone like you. Please?" She looked at him with big brown eyes.

"Well, I'd really rather… um, you see… Oh all right, why not? I'm in."

Paprika laughed gleefully, and then stopped. "It just occurred to me, we don't know each others names. I'm Paprika."

"I'm Drago. Pleasure to meet you."

"And I'm Scorpia. This is Jet. Nice to have you on board."

Drago looked up in surprise at the sound of a new voice. Standing there was Scorpia and Jet, who was looking at Paprika.

"This must be your friend, right?"

"Yup. Paprika, Jet. Jet, Paprika." Scorpia glanced around the group, and said, "How about we start off for the Rescue Team Center? It's pretty cramped in here."

The others nodded in agreement, and they all walked outside together.

And, there it is! My second story. This one is all mapped out, beginning to end, so A Ditto Story won't suffer. I started writng this to get over some writer's block I was having. If you liked it, tell me why! If you didn't... tell me why! Any and all feedback, including flames, are welcome.

Also! For random filler chapters, send me ideas for missions for them to go on! It can be through review, or PM. It doesn't matter. Just include mission specs and character details. So, with that, farewell until next time!