Disclaimer: Fortunately, I don't own Pokémon.
Prologue
He passed through the market place swiftly and with ease. He didn't attract much attention and went unnoticed by the various sellers and buyers that currently inhabited the town square. His eyes scanned and observed each and every stall with precision and he mentally made a note of all the objects that were being sold. He came to a halt in front of the last stall for a brief moment as his eyes met with the helpless female Tropius locked in the cage. He ignored the voices of the potential customers who bargained with the trader for a fair price. He had stopped for only one instant and in that moment he had tried his best to convey a simple to message to the Tropius, that they will get her out of there.
As he continued his walk towards their current base, he passed a group of elementary school children who were singing chants in the praise of the king. He tossed some loose change into their collection basket, not out of appreciation for the king but out of mercy for the kids. These kids, who knew nothing about adventures and journeys, needed his mercy.
He exited the Trader's Avenue of previously Slateport City, which was now just another unnamed trading town in the state of Hoenn and walked towards North and entered the path that was known as Route 110 until a few years ago. He took a right from the T-junction and after a few minutes of walking on the long road, bending over water, he reached a small cottage, almost hidden by a line of trees on the side, overlooking the sea.
He unlocked the door and entered the dark cottage. He didn't bother to turn on the lights as he quickly shut the door behind him and took a walk around the house to check if all the windows were closed and covered or not. After making sure that no one would be able to peep inside, he walked towards the farthest corner on the right side, and knelt down to push the carpet back. A faint square outline could be seen on the wooden floor and the young man very effectively lifted the loose floorboard to reveal a makeshift wooden staircase leading down to a well-lit yet small room in the basement.
The room was filled with quite a few wooden boxes with labels on them. He climbed down the stairs carefully and hurriedly picked up the one labelled 'Ash' and had three small holes drilled into the lid. He sat down on the floor, with the box in his hand and quickly took off the lid, a flash of yellow jumped up at him and he cradled the electric Pokémon in his hand.
"Hey, Pikachu. Did you miss me buddy?" He whispered in an almost inaudible voice. Pikachu just nuzzled against his neck, too afraid to speak, "It's alright. I'm here now. The meeting doesn't start before sundown. I'll stay here with you till then, okay?"
-x-
A/N: I plan to include a lot of characters (Game and Anime) in this and will be using the English names for some and Japanese for some, so if it ever gets confusing please let me know. I would really appreciate your reviews!
