Natalia walked into Professor Oaks new lab established in Cherrygrove City as assistants walked to and fro; delved far too deep into their work to notice the girl. Oak was just as busy, and didn't notice her either, even after she had walked up to his desk. When he did pick up on an outside disturbance, he lifted and turned his head. "Oh hello. Are you a new trainer? You must be here for your Pokemon, but I'm afraid you're a bit late... We don't have very many left..." Natalia shook her head. "I already have a few Pokemon of my own, I'm here to get my trainer license so I can try the league challenge." She explained. "Oh, not from here are you?" The professor mused, standing up and turning to walk to a computer. "No." Natalia confirmed. "Well would you mind sowing me what Pokemon you have with you? Just an old man's curiosity." He chuckled, turning to look at her once again. Natalia obliged, releasing her team; A Vibrava, an Espeon, an Absol, and a Combusken. "Interesting... So do you come from the Hoenn region? Most of your team are natives to Hoenn." Oak deduced, and Natalia nodded once more. "Well, being that you are still new to the Johto region, I at least want to commemorate your journey here with a pokemon from the region... Unfortunately I don't have any more here... Hmm..." He thought for a monent. "I'll tell you what... I have a friend, they call him Mister Pokemon, for his profound interest and hobby in knowledge in Pokemon. I'm surprised he didn't become a professor like me. Ahem, sorry, my point is, he's been raving about some new pokemon egg that he's discovered and he wants me to have it, but I'm old and I don't travel that much anymore, an egg would be more suitable to a trainer such as yourself." Natalia nodded. "I understand sir, thank you." Oak smiled as she accepted. "Just keep it with you and make sure it stays warm, it will hatch eventually. When it does, would you mind letting me have a look?" Natalia nodded again. "Yes sir." "Very well then, let me register you for Johto; What's your name?" "Feyonn Marquee, but please call me Fey, Professor." She lied. That was her alias now, no one could ever know who she really was. "Alright Fey, here you are, your Johto trainer ID card, badge case, and pokedex. Here's a map chip for your Pokegear, apply that and you'll get a map of Johto. If you're taking the league challenge, you should start with the gym in Violet City, it's just a ways past Route 30, which is where Mister Pokemon lives, conveniently for you." Natalia chuckled slightly ." Yes, it would seem so. Thank you professor." She put her newly acquired items in her satchel and returned her Pokemon before heading out. "Gook Luck!" Professor Oak called out before she walked through the door. Looking at her map, she headed north through Route 30 as instructed. Eve, her Espeon popped out of her Pokeball when Natalia was on the road. "A Pokemon egg..? Sounds interesting... I wonder what Pokemon it could be...?" Her voice echoed within Natalia's mind telepathically. "I'm not sure... Honestly I have no clue how to hatch an egg either... I guess I just have to follow the professors advice and hope for the best." She mused. If she liked hatching the egg maybe she could start breeding Pokemon. Placing her hands in her pockets she looked around at all the new Pokemon around her. Furretts watched curiously from a safe distance, hoot hoots slept within the trees, Rattata scampered about the grass, but none seemed aggressive enough to challenge the newcomers in their territory. Soon enough, a house came up in the distance, surrounded by trees with strange colored berries. As she grew closer, she watched as a man climbed up one tree with a basket, and picked a few. However, he seemed to lose his balance on the ladder and began to fall. "Eve!" Natalia called, not needing to say much more, her Espeon already knew what it's master wanted. The purple cat dashed off towards the man and stopped his fall with psychic, causing him to hover just inches from the ground. Slowly, Eve set him down as Natalia ran to catch up. "Are you okay sir?" She asked sounding concerned. "Yes yes! Just fine thanks to your Pokemon here!" Natalia smiled and breathed a sigh of relief as the man stood back up, dusting himself off. "You may want to be more careful when picking berries from now on sir..." She suggested, and the man gave her a funny look. "Berries..? Oh no no no! There are Apricorns! Magnificent little plants that are used for making Pokeballs! I grow them here and collect them." Natalia looked curious. "You can turn them into Pokeballs? That sounds fascinating..." She looked back up at the trees again, and sure enough the 'berries' didn't look like berries at all. The Apricorn collector seemed glad that he sparked an interest within her and handed Natalia a pouch. "Here, take this. It's a pouch specially made for holding Apricorns. They grow all over the Johto region so whenever you see some just grab some and put them in that little bag. See how many colors and qualities you can find!" Natalia smiled and took the bag, which already had a few Apricorns to start her off. "Thank you very much sir. You... Wouldn't happen to be Mister Pokemon would you...? I heard he lived around here." The man chuckled. "Oh no no... Mister Pokemon lives a little ways up farther along this route. People always come asking for him, and never about Apricorns anymore... I'm glad you've taken an interest though! Do me a favor and spread the good word would you?" Natalia nodded. "Absolutely." She promised, and put away the pouch. "It was nice meeting you sir!" She waved, walking further north. The path split in two here, one led into a grassy area, and the other seemed to have a commotion, although she wasn't entirely sure what was going on. It seemed like a battle of sorts between two rookie trainers. She shrugged it off though, uninterested, and went up the other path. Sure enough, just as the Apricorn man had said, another house appeared in the distance. The grassy path stopped here, a dead end surrounded by forest, so there was no questioning it, this had to be mister Pokemons house. Stopping only to pick up a few Pink Apricorns on the ground, she made her way up to he door and knocked. After waiting for a moment with no reply, she knocked again. After another round of silence, she tried the handle of the door, which turned easily and let her in. The inside of the house was like a museum, there were Pokemon artifacts everywhere displayed behind glass. A tablet of Mew and Arceus, books on legendary Pokemon, a brilliant red scale whose box claimed that it belonged to a Gyarados, and in the corner of the room, scribbling furiously, was a man in a brown suit and hat, who Natalia could only assume to be Mister Pokemon. She also saw the egg incubator next to him and smiled, clearing her throat to make her presence known. Mister Pokemon jumped and turned around in his chair. "What?! Hm?! Who's there?!" His anxious eyes landed on Natalia. "Who are you? What are you doing in my house? I didn't hear you knock! Don't you know that's rude?" Natalia looked a bit caught off guard. This guy was asking so many questions all at once she couldn't keep up without being interrupted by another. "I'm sorry sir, my name is Fey; Professor Oak sent me to get this egg you have for him?" She explained. At the mention of the egg Mister Pokemons eyes lit p, followed by a wide smile. "Ah! Yes Fey! The professor sent me an email about you! Why didn't you say so earlier?! Come come let me show you." He took Natalia's arm and dragged her towards the egg. "It is so strange, I've never seen any shell like it before. A Pokemon egg shell often helps show what Pokemon it contains, but I've never seen this pattern. Without a doubt this Pokemon must be rare. Therefore please take utmost care when tending to her alright?" He asked quickly, beady eyes seeming to scrutinize her every move. "Her...? Do you know the gender already?" Mister Pokemon laughed a little. "Oh no, it's just a educated guess. Female eggs are usually rounder than male, but who knows? This is a new egg, so anything is possible." He babbled happily. "Say, do you know Professor Elm?" Natalia shook her head. "He lives in new bark town with a research lab, I emailed him about the egg too but he's so busy these days. I'm sure he would love to egg-zamine it! Ha ha!" Natalia rolled her eyes a bit at the pun but knew where this was going. "You would like me to take her to the Professor yes?" She asked as Mister Pokemon continued chuckling. "Yes yes please. Here you are, hold her gently now." He carefully took the egg from the incubator and handed it to her wrapped in a small blanket. Natalia did as instructed, holding it gingerly in her arms and tucking the wrap around it. "Thank you sir. Would you like me to come back and show you when it hatches?" Mister Pokemon nodded fervently. "Yes yes yes! Please do little lady, I would appreciate it very much." Natalia nodded and headed out the door with one final wave. Eve followed her out and nudged her leg a bit. "Can I see it?" She asked telepathically, and Natalia complied, leaning down so that Eve could take a look. She gave it a few sniffs, rubbed her cheek lightly against it, and smiled. "It's such a cute little egg." Natalia giggled. "Yes, I think so too." She stood back up and ran her fingers down its smooth warm surface. Carefully, she took out her map and looked for New Bark Town. It was a little east of Cherrygrove, so not all that far from here. When she reached the beginning of the little town, she put away her map, and opened the top of her satchel so she could put the egg inside and keep it warm. However, in the process of zipping it up, she felt a sudden force plowing straight into her, and the egg went flying. Eve slowed it down with Psychic and Natalia scrambled to catch it in her arms again, breathing a sigh or relief as it remained safe. She turned to the clumsy red haired boy with a scowl. "Hey! Watch where you're going! You nearly killed my egg!" The boy looked around, almost nervously. "What's it to you? It's just an egg. It's not even a Pokemon yet. How useless. Besides, you were in my way." Natalia couldn't believe the arrogance of his guy. She stood up, dusted herself off, and put the egg back into her satchel, this time zipping it up completely. She saw something shining on the ground and picked it up, assuming it was hers, but it was a trainer ID card. 'Vulcan Black' it read, holding a picture of the redhead. "H-hey! Give that here its mine!" He growled, obviously unnerved. She pulled it even further away. "Apologize first." She demanded. "Make me." He retorted back. "Pfft... You are the most selfish, cocky, arrogant trainer I've ever met. I don't really think you need this card because you obviously aren't fit to have Pokemon." She stuck the ID in her pocket. "Oh really? Let's test your theory out then!" Vulcan yelled, tossing up a Pokeball. A Todadile came out, jumping about and spraying water. Natalia chuckled. "You want to battle? Fine. Prepare to lose. Let's get going Eve, teach this punk a lesson." Vulcan looked down on his Pokemon. "You'd better not lose." He growled, and the Tododile settled down, not looking quite as happy as before. "Let's go, water gun!" The Tododile let out a burst of powerful water from its mouth, and Eve dodged easily. She was fast for an Espeon. "Psychic!" She commanded, Eve nodded and lifted the poor crocodile into the air. It struggled, flailing uselessly as it tried to direct its flight before Eve flung it to the ground. Natalia felt some pity for the Pokemon, not wanting to cause it any more pain that what she could imagine it being in with it's 'trainer'. However it got up, not quite down for the count. Vulcan was about to make another command, but Natalia wouldn't allow it. "Quick attack! Let's finish this." Eve dashed up with blinding speed, tackling the Tododile to the ground, and it was down for the count. "Ngh... Return..." Vulcan growled, a red beam of light sucking in the defeated Pokemon. "Fine, one down, he was useless anyways. I still have two more!" He tossed another Pokeball, and this time a chikorita came bounding out. "Chika!" Vulcan looked unhappy. "Ugh... Really? It's so cute and harmless looking..." The Chikarita continued to bound about happily. Natalia couldn't help but notice that Vulcan almost seemed to not know what his Pokemon were, which was very strange. However, she tossed out her next Pooemon as well, Eve staying back in the sidelines. "Let's go Blaze!" Her Combusken coming out and chirping his name happily. "Busken!" He pumped his arms and stretched a bit before bouncing back and forth on his feet, raring to go. Vulcan looked even less happy. "N-no fair! You have a type advantage!" He complained, and Natalia smiled. "What? Not fair? This is a Pokemon battle, it happens all the time. If you train hard and love your Pokemon, they will pull through even under the worst situations." She suggested, knowing from experience. Vulcan snorted however. "Love. Right. Because Pokemon get more powerful through something as stupid as love." Natalia sighed. "Flamethrower." Blaze obliged, letting loose a stream of fire from his beak. The Chikarita however, dodged, but just barely. "Vine whip!" Vulcan commanded hesitantly, knowing that it wouldn't be very effective. "Burn them!" Natalia retorted. Blaze jumped back and as the vines came out, he blew out short bursts of flame at each vine, sending them back and away. "Keep going! Hit it! Why can't you hit it?!" Vulcan growled angrily at his Pokemon. Natalia shook her head. "Change of plans Blaze, grab a vine and get it close!" Blaze complied, and let one vine get through, gripping it tightly and yanking the Chikarita towards it. Vulcan had a bad feeling about this. "No no no no!" He yelled, as though that could stop them. "Flamethrower!" Natalia commanded. Another jet of flame blazing from the Combuskens mouth with no possible escape from the Chikarita. She went down, badly hurt, but Blaze made sure that he didn't burn her enough to kill. He and Natalia had worked on controlling his powerful flames. A quick exchange was made with his master for approval in his decision. She nodded, giving a small smile as he walked up. "I'm very proud of you." Her smile grew wider, petting the Pokemon on the head as he chirped happily. Vulcan returned his second Pokemon rather unhappily. "Let's hope you're actually worth something." He muttered, tossing out a rather calm Cyndaquill. Natalia looked at Blaze. "Think you're up for one more round?" Her Combusken smiled. "Busken!" He chirped, flexing his arms, which made Natalia giggle. "Alright, let's go." Blaze hopped back out of the field, and prepared himself. "Ember!" Vulcan commanded, his Cyndaquill letting loose a volley of flames. "Can you take the heat?" Natalia asked Blaze with a small smile. Blaze smirked and lifted his arms in an X like fasion, letting the flames lick his feathers without so much as flinching. He looked back up, dropping his arms and waiting for his next order. "Double kick!" Natalia commanded. Blaze jumped into the air, and landed two solid kicks to the tiny fire hedgehog, sending it flying back into Vulcans arms. "Give it up." Natalia suggested sternly. Vulcan held on to his last Pokemon and glared at her. "Why? So you can mock me for backing out of a battle?" Natalia shook her head. "No. I'll give you back your trainer card and let you go to the Pokemon center. All I ask is that you take this as a lesson; You may want to get more familiar with your Pokemon before challenging anyone again, particularly a more experienced trainer." She tossed his ID onto the ground in font of him and returned Blaze back into his Pokeball before walking past, offering one last piece of critical advice. "When we next meet, you better treat your Pokemon better, or you have no chance of beating me." Vulcan remained quiet for a while. "Humph." He scoffed, and started heading for the Pokemon Center. When Natalia reached New Bark Town, what she saw was rather strange, there were police cars everywhere around what looked like Elms research lab. Curious, Natalia walked inside. Professor Elm looked rather disheveled as a male detective questioned him. Reporters took pictures of the mess surrounding a small broken glass case and scattered papers while Officer Jenny looked over some fingerprints on the glass. The detective questioning Elm looked over as Natalia walked in. "Aha! Its her!" Natalia looked startled for a moment. "I-I'm sorry..?!" She asked, taken aback. "It's her isn't it professor? Rule number one of investigating... Whoever did the crime always comes back to the site!" Natalia looked even more confused. "What?! What crime?!" She suddenly felt extremely nervous. Why did she walk in here? Had she forgotten that she had to stay away from police? It was just that this was a new region... Surely they didn't care or know about a small town in hoenn... Suddenly her skin was saved by Officer Jenny. "Hush you dimwit. Haven't you been listening to the Professor at all? The criminal was a boy with red hair! Does she look like a redheaded boy to you? I mean honestly! You are such a rookie..." She sighed, shoving the man aside. "I'm sorry ma'am, but this is a crime scene and we would like to keep it closed for a bit longer." Natalia calmed down some, relieved. "Wait... Did you say a boy with red hair? I battled a boy with that description a little while ago..." Jenny jumped on this information. "Did you get his name? How did he act? What Pokemon did he have?" Natalia put her hands up defensively. "S-slow down! Please!" Eve stepped forward in-between the two. "Allow me Officer..." She offered, closing her eyes, and projecting the entire encounter with Vulcan into the room for everyone to watch. After it ended and Jenny finished scribbling down her notes. "Thank you miss...?" She asked, waiting for Natalia to give her name. "Fey." Natalia lied again, smiling gently. "Ah, miss Fey. Lovely. You and your Espeon have been very helpful, thank you! Say... Have I seen you somewhere before? In another region..?" She asked curiously, and Feys heart stopped for a moment in time. "It's... Entirely possible, but everyone sees you everywhere Miss." She suggested with a small smile. Jenny laughed a bit and nodded. "That's true. Well, come on, let's go investigate Cherrygrove City." She suggested, her group following her out. Professor Elm still looked rather upset. "To think that my poor sweet Pokemon have fallen into the hands of that boy... Oof... I hope he takes your advice Fey..." Natalia smiled softly. "They'll catch him. If I ever see him again I'll catch him." She offered, and Elm smiled again. "So what are you doing here anyways?" He asked, and Natalia remembered the egg in her satchel. Slowly and carefully she pulled it out. "Mister Pokemon wanted me to show you this." Elm looked over the egg with great interest. "Oh my... An egg? I've never seen one like this before... He certainly is fascinated by eggs." Natalia nodded. "Professor Oak wanted me to have it and show him when it hatched since no one seems to know what's inside." Elm smiled again. "Would you mind showing me as well? I would offer to incubate it here, but it is probably better that the egg travels with you, it's more natural and healthy." Natalia nodded again. "I'll be in the area." She promised. "Are you taking the league challenge?" He asked suddenly. "Yeah, I just got registered for the Johto region." Elm nodded. "I see. You battle expertly. I assume you're going to head for Violet City?" Natalia nodded again. "Yes sir." "I wish you luck then." He smiled, waving her off as she headed out the door. She went north of Cherrygrove again, this time noticing that the rookie trainers on the left side of the road were done battling. One boy, the one who lost, was healing his Rattata, while the other stood over him gloating is victory. "Your Rattata is sooo great huh Joey? Well I have two pokemon, so it's only natural that I won. Joey grumbled something quietly and continued to spray a potion on his Rattata. "Hey, kid, quit bragging it makes you look like a jerk, for one, and then it makes you look stupid web. The information you're blabbing is incorrect." She suggested, walking up to the two. "Is your Rattata okay Joey?" She asked. "Hey! What's he big idea? More Pokemon more power! I just proved that to him! Don't go raining on my parade!" Natalia smiled. "Would you like to try your theory on me? I will use one Pokemon and beat all of yours. If you win I'll give you all the bragging rights, if you lose, you quit bragging and help Joey with his Rattata." The kid grinned. "Deal! Let's go Beak!" He called, tossing out a Pidgey. "Eve? Care to battle?" Natalia smiled to her Espeon who walked up in front and took a seat on the ground. "That Espeon is tiny..." The boy said, giving Eve a funny look. It was true, Eve as an Eevee was the runt of the litter, a rather small egg producing a small Eevee and a small Espeon. "Don't judge a Pokemon on its size." Natalia suggested, nodding to Eve. The jewel on her head flashed and sent a spiral of waves towards the bird. It fainted immediately from the Psybeam. "What?! Already? Well fine, that's okay, she was weak from the last battle. Tatty is still full health and ready to go!" The boy tossed another Pokeball after returning his Pidgey and a Rattata came out. "Quick Attack!" He yelled, and the Rattata charged forwards. "Dodge it with a quick attack of our own!" Natalia commanded, and suddenly Eve was on the other side of the battlefield. "Psybeam!" Eve let loose another ray of color at the mouse, causing it to faint as well. Eve returned to its masters side and the boy returned his Rattata. Joey smiled. "See Mikey? I told you! One Pokemon can be stronger than two! You just gotta train it right." Natalia nodded. "But it is a good idea to raise more than one, because you can have type advantages, but not only that. If you have a whole team of really strong Pokemon, you can be really powerful too. Now Mikey, why don't you and Joey go to a Pokemon center and heal your Pokemon?" She suggested. Mikey nodded and started off towards Cherrygrove, but Joey tugged on Natalias shirt. "Hey miss, can I battle you some day when me Rattata gets stronger? I'll give you my Pokegear number and I can call you when I'm ready!" Natalia nodded. "Alright, here." She held out her Pokegear and tapped it to his, exchanging trainer information. "I'll see you around Joey, take good care of that Rattata." She said with a smile and walking off. A little ways away, she saw a sign that pointed to Violet city as she passed a dark cave and smiled. "Almost there!" Exclaimed Eve happily, bounding along by her side as they dashed for the town. It was interesting to see the culture here, a tower filled with monks, a school for new trainers, ruins just on the other side of town, and she vowed to visit everything. First she headed for Sprout Tower. She didn't understand the name at first, but when she saw all the bellsprout she started to. However, all the bellsprout looked hurt, burned even. Several monks came running down the stairs yelling about needing a Pokemon center imediately. Curious and concerned about the tower being of fire or something, she head up the stairs only to find more monks and hurt bellsprout. When she reached to top floor, she found Vulcan fighting an older monk with his Cyndaquill. The inferno of flames died down and a Noctowl fainted. The old man looked very concerned as he returned his Pokemon. "Alright, hand it over!" Vulcan yelled angrily. "Very well... You are indeed powerful... But you care about Pokemon as much as you care about dirt. You should learn to lo-" Vulcan snatched the TM from the old mans hand and cut him off. "I'll listen to you when you can actually beat me with your 'love' and 'care' for Pokemon. Right now you're just another weak trainer who snivels every time your Pokemon gets beaten." He turned and saw Natalia, expression changing dramatically as she scowled his way. "First, you rob Professor Elm of his Pokemon, then you go and nearly set the tower on fire and hurt several Pokemon. Give me one reason why I shouldn't beat you down now and take you to the authorities." She growled, grabbing a Pokeball at he side and tossing it up. It released the Absol within who growled ferociously, raring for a battle. Vulcan took a few steps back, looking around. His Cyndaquill stepped forwards however, seeming to want to protect its new master. Dusk, Natalia's Absol, charged forwards and used Bite without command. "Dusk! No!" She yelled at her disobedient Pokemon, however the Cydnaquill dodged, sending a jet of flame Dusks way. In the meantime, Vulcan took out some rope and wrapped it around the tower's middle pillar. "I've got two reasons; Escape Rope." He smirked, replying to her earlier rhetorical question. "Dusk! Stop him!" For once the Absol obeyed, charging wildly after Vulcan who returned his Pokemon and slid down the pole. Dusk used pursuit, and jumped down as well. Natalia had no choice but to run down the flight of stairs to see what was happening. When she reached the bottom, Dusk was limping and growling at Vulcan as he escaped out the door. Natalia let him go for now, and went to tend to Dusk. "And that's why you don't jump down pillars haphazardly." She chuckled sadly, looking at his broken paw. Dusk frowned and looked out the door, ignoring his master. "It was a valiant effort though. Thank you." She offered, and the tiniest hint of a smirk showed up on the Absols face. A super potion later and Dusk was healed and back in his Pokeball. Before Natalia left the tower, the old man she saw earlier came down to check on her. "Are you alright?" He asked sounding concerned. "Just fine, though I should ask you the same sir..." She muttered, still unhappy with Vulcans escape. "I'm fine, and so are my Pokemon." He said with an uneasy smile. "I think you have proven your worth, take this TM." He handed her a disk and she accepted it, putting it away in her TM case. Waving goodbye, she decided to take a break and check out the Ruins of Alph that her map showed just outside of the city. As she passed through route 32 she saw some new Pokemon, cute little sheep with electric power. Maybe she could catch one later? It would certainly help against the flying type gym leader. For now she continued into the ruins. The scene was drastically different from the grassy town before- sandy, dry, rugged and decrypt. There was an advertisement right near the start of the ruins. "Ruins of Alph; Feel free to explore the ruin and become a fossil professor!" She chuckled slightly and made her way to the small cabin in the distance. The building was full of researchers, studying some of the hieroglyphs. Most of them didn't even look up at her, but one man, dressed much differently than the rest, came right up looking very enthusiastic. "Oh! Are you one of the new researchers? Please please come in and-" Natalia was swept towards a rack of lab coats. "U-um sir!? I'm just a visitor I'm sorry..." She tried to explain. Suddenly the man looked very sad. "Oh... I'm sorry, please enjoy the scenery..." He sighed and walked back to his desk. Feeling rather bad, Natalia decided to leave the building and actually take a look at some of the ruins. One cave of hieroglyphs contained a pedestal that held some sliding panels which piqued Natalia's interest. "May I...?" She asked, turning to the lady near the entrance of the cave. "You can try, but we don't really know what the end result looks like, so most don't even know where to begin..." Natalia smiled, feeling up to the challenge; she loved a good puzzle. Cracking her knuckles, she started sliding the panels, and soon the picture of a small bug Pokemon was completed. Natalia smiled, feeling accomplished, but then the ruins glowed faintly, and Natalia felt herself falling through the floor. "EVE!" She screamed, reaching out and trying to grab something. Suddenly she stopped midair and slowly landed on the floor, her Espeon jumping down beside her. "D-did you just fall from the ceiling?" A voice called out in astonishment. Natalia opened her eyes and looked over at the researcher. "You must have solved the puzzle!" Her gaze was fuzzy and mind numb after the fall, but she nodded subconsciously. "We really could use your talent in archaeology... Do you think you could solve some more puzzles for us?" Natalia nodded again. "When I have the time, sure..." She mumbled, rubbing her head and blinking a few times. "Wonderful! Here, take this and write down anything you find while solving puzzles." Natalia took the small notepad she was handed and put it in her satchel. "Alright, I'll let you know if I find anything..." She promised with a dazed smile. The researcher nodded. "Here, we'll call you if we find any more puzzles, since we're still in the process of uncovering everything." He touched a card to her Pokegear and registered a number into it. "I hope to see you around more!" He smiled and walked off. Natalia continued to sit on the cave floor, staring at the walls. At first she thought it was her eyes playing tricks on her, but... The pictures on the walls started moving. She only realized it wasn't a hallucination when Eve started backing up. "Natalia... You're seeing this too right...?" She asked nervously. Natalia blinked a few times, rubbed her eyes, and nodded. "Y-yeah..." She said quietly, watching the unknown float about the room and emanating strange little tones. Standing up, she backed up slowly, thinking she may want to leave for now. Suddenly her foot hit something and she tripped backwards before Eve could do anything. "Owowowowow..." She muttered, looking to see what she had tripped on, ignoring the Unknown that floated around her, only to find a pink and fluffy Mareep asleep in the middle of the ruins. That was strange though... Weren't the Mareep she saw earlier yellow? She frowned, not able to remember, but she wanted a Mareep anyways, and this was was sleeping like a log, making it easier to catch. She backed up, stood again, and took out a Pokeball. After debating whether or not she should try and weaken it at the risk of waking it up, she decided that she should try and throw the Pokeball first. She had plenty after all. Throwing the red sphere up in the air, it hit the sheep on the head and captured its essence, landing on the floor and wiggling violently before breaking open again. The pink Mareep yawned and looked around lazily. Her dull eyes landed on Natalia and Eve, and with a curious "Maaay?" She turned her head a little to the side. "Eve, use quick attack." Natalia commanded quietly, and Eve obeyed, dashing towards the little sheep and knocking it down. Eve made it back quickly, but suddenly she froze, small sparks of electricity moving along her fur. "S-static..." Eve said grimacing. The Mareep seemed more active now, sparks flying from its fur. It let loose a thundershock, heading quickly towards Eve, and in her paralyzed state it was near impossible to dodge. She braced for the hit and took it fairly well. "You alright?" Natalia asked worriedly. "Just fine... It looks worse than it is because of the Paralysis..." Eve replied telepathically, struggling to stand. "Use confusion, something non physical." Eve gave a small nod and sent a wave of psychic energy towards the sheep, disses fully confusing it. "Nows our chance!" Natalia said excitedly, tossing another Pokeball. It hit it's target, and once again trapped the Mareep, wiggling for a while, but then settling. She had done it, Natalia had captured her first Pokemon in Johto. Satisfied, she walked over and picked up the Pokeball, releasing the Mareep inside. "Maaarep~" It said in a singsong tone. "Electra... I think I'll name you Electra. Now what were you doing sleeping in the middle of these ruins?" She wondered out loud. Electra looked around, seeming actually rather surprised. "It seems she didn't even know how she got here... Perhaps she was sleepwalking...?" Eve suggested. Natalia chuckled. "Maybe... It's entirely possible but I don't think I've ever heard of a sleepwalking Pokemon. Then again this Mareep isn't the same color as the ones we saw earlier either, so I suppose anything is possible." She laughed again, and turned to head back to Route 32. "Come on, we've got some training to do." She said with a small smile.