Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or anything else, just the plot of this story. I make no money from this so now that my ass is covered here is the story.
Chapter 2: Six Years Later
"Why the the fuck am I riding in the trailer? Well, at least it's been a smooth ride so far." Ray said to himself as he looked around. It was dark, loud, and not the most comfortable place to be. He leaned back on the box he was sitting on and sighed. As if on queue, the truck hit a pothole causing him to be thrown on the floor. The truck suddenly stops as he tries to get up and a box of books fell on top of him.
"Fucking hell." Ray exclaimed as the movers opened the back of the truck.
"Ha, sorry about that kid." one of the movers apologized, watching him get up. "We forgot you where back there."
"Yeah well, it wasn't my idea to ride back here." he said as he exited the back of the truck.
"Well, this is it. Littleroot Town." Ray's mother said reminiscing, walking up to him "Cozy isn't it?"
"Sure, I guess. Where did Jarvic go?"
"Oh, he already went inside." she answered as a pair of vigoroth rushed passed, carrying boxes. "Wow the mover's pokemon sure do work fast, they already took your stuff inside."
"Yeah, so um, why did I have to ride in the back of the truck?" Ray questioned, slightly agitated, but not enough to show that he was.
"To make sure nothing fell or got broken of course." she answered with a smile.
"Sure, ok then." Ray said as he turned to enter the house. "I'm just going to put my stuff away."
"Ah Littleroot." she said to herself. "Its like I've never left."
Ray made his way up to his new room. As he entered, he noticed that Jarvic had already unpacked all of his stuff and was finishing putting his books on the shelf.
"Well, it looks like she final won." he said as he sat on his bed.
"Cu?" Jarivc asked as he placed the final book in its place.
"This is Hoenn. The ranger qualifications are different and we don't know the region."
"Bone?"
"The easiest way for us to learn the land and get the gym leader's approval is to take the league challenge." Ray explained.
"Bo."
"Lunch is in half an hour boys!" his mother shouted up the stairs.
As he got up, he noticed that his clock wasn't set to the proper time. As he was setting it, he saw that he had an email waiting of him from Professor Oak. As he was reading the lab reports about the many Pokémon in the labs care, a small notice caught his eye. It was about the Pokédex holders and how the latest update from Crystal put her count up to nearly 400 different Pokémon. At the end of the email was a small note for him saying to visit Professor Birch to pick up a package once the move was finished.
"Lunch is ready." his mother called from downstairs.
Ray immediately got up from his computer and headed downstairs to get some lunch.
"Sorry, it's just hotdogs and mac and cheese." his mother said once he reached the table.
"What? No filet mignon or caviar? I'm insulted." Ray joked.
"Smart-ass." she quipped.
"Love you to mother."
"So there was an news report with a interview with my brother at his Pokémon gym..." she began before being interrupted.
"Look, you have been trying for the past six years to try to get me to go and challenge the league." Ray said hotly as he placed his plate in the sink. "I give you the money to buy this house, you make me move with you to a region that has different ranger requirements, and your brother is a gym leader here. What makes you think after six years that I'm going to break down and go challenge the league?"
"First, thank you for the house. Second, I am your mother and you will do as I tell you. Thirdly, if you looked at the requirements you would see that you only need the approval of four of the gym leaders." His mother said loudly.
"Yes, I only need four of them, but I'm in a new region with Pokémon I have never even seen. I don't know any of the weather patterns or any of the terrain. The easiest way for me to learn all that would be to challenge all the gyms."
"You are too smart for your own good, you know that right?" she joked as she calmed down. "So, is this you breaking down and finally taking the challenge?" her tone having turned serious.
"No, this is me trapped like with Silph Co."
"I still don't get it. What did they make you do?"
"Never ask me that again." Ray said coldly as he went to the door and grabbed his hat. "I need to go see Professor Birch now. Tell Jarvic to find me once he wakes up."
"Um, where is he anyway?" his mother asked with a questioning expression.
"Sleeping on top of the refrigerator." he answered flatly.
As Ray stepped out of the house, he looked around. Littleroot was a small town with nothing but the Pokémon lab and a handful of houses, most belonging to the support staff at the lab. Ray stepped out onto the road heading towards the lab. It was a quiet afternoon with few people walking about. As he neared the large building, a pair of young trainers came running out of the lab to toward him.
"Hey you! Lets battle!" one of the kids exclaimed as he pulled out a Pokéball. "Once trainers make eye contact they must battle. It's the rules."
"First off, I'm not a trainer." Ray explained.
"What!? You look like one. Are you sure you're not a trainer?"
"Do you see any Pokéballs on my belt?" Ray continued, starting to get annoyed "Secondly, you don't always have to battle. It's really more of a guideline really."
"Oh."
"I will give you a piece of advice that you will probably ignore until you get older."
"Ok, what is it?" the boy asked.
"The best battles will find you."
"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. I'm out of here creep." he said before running to catch up to his friend.
"Moron." Ray muttered under the breath as the continued his way to the lab.
As Ray arrived at the lab, he entered through an set of double-doors and he proceeded to look around in order to find the professor. The lab was cluttered with stacks of books and filing cabinets overflowing with notes and reports. Many pieces of lab equipment where spewing readouts and other feedback at an alarming rate. After ten minutes of navigating through the piles of paper, he found a lone lab assistant reading a report.
"Excuse me?" Ray asked the man, startling him from his task.
"Hmm? Oh yes can I help you?"
"I'm looking for professor Birch. He has a package for me from Professor Oak."
"Sorry, he didn't tell me about any package so I can't help you there. The professor himself though is at the outskirts of town doing fieldwork. Either that, or he is at his home." the assistant explained.
"Okay, thanks."
"I would check to see if he is at home first."
"Will do." Ray responded while turning towards the exit. "One last thing before I leave."
"Sure what is on your mind?"
"How the hell do you find anything in here?" Ray questioned.
"Oh." The lab assistant chuckled. "Look on the ceiling. I put colored panels up there to help me find the different reports I need."
"Well, that's very clever." Ray said impressed while looking at the tiles. "Um, one last thing. Where is his house located?"
"Ah, you must be the one who just moved here. His house is next door to yours on the right."
"Okay, thanks again."
As Ray made his way to the professors home, he looked at the surrounding woods. Thick dense trees bordered the town cutting it off from the rest of the area. A good place to have lab, nice and quiet. Once he got closer to the trees, he noticed the telltale marks of bug Pokémon and trails through the overgrowth that scavenger Pokémon use.
"Well, at least it will be easy to track him if he isn't here." Ray muttered to himself as he knocked on the door.
"Oh, hello there." a woman said as she let him into the house. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, I'm looking for the professor and the assistant at the lab said to check here first." he explained.
"Oh, sorry he left about an hour ago. Hey you're Carol's boy aren't you?"
"Uh, yes. You know my mother?"
"Yeah, she grew up here in Littleroot. She never told you that?"
"No, she doesn't really talk about when she was younger."
"Oh, anyway you might want to upstairs to see if my daughter May is in her room. She would know where my husband is. Her room is up the stairs and the second door on the left."
"Okay thanks, but don't you think it would be a bit weird for me to go to her room? She never met me before." Ray asked when he got to the stairs.
"No, not at all. She would be very excited to meet someone new. You will be fine."
"Okay then." Ray said climbing the stairs to May's room.
As he made his way to her room, he found that it was empty. He looked around the pink and purple room and saw that it was just as cluttered as the lab was. The one thing that caught his eye was a dirty Pokéball on the floor. He walked in and picked it up, cleaning it of residue and he made sure that it was in working order. As he was doing so, the faint smell of her perfume reached his nose. He place the now-clean ball on her desk and picked up the perfume bottle and sniffed. He didn't really care for the smell afterwards and placed the bottle of perfume back on her desk and went back downstairs.
"Was she there?" May's mother asked.
"No, does she wear that perfume out in the field when she is helping at the lab?"
"Hmm, oh yes. Cherry rose sunrise I think it is why?"
"It has vileplume pheromones in it. It could be making the data that she collects skewed."
"Oh, how so?"
"Well for one it attracts Pokémon to her. She could be bringing Pokémon out of there normal habitat. Is this the professor?" he asked pointing to a picture on the wall.
"Oh my, I didn't think that a simple perfume can do that, and yes that is him." she replied.
"Well, that perfume and do more than that. It will make tracking him down easier."
"Why do you think that?" she asked looking at the picture as well.
"Well, he is over six feet tall, my guess is six foot six inches. About 250 pounds, and I take it that he wears shorts and sandals most of the time right?"
"Yes, he does." she answered, slightly stunned.
"Well, he isn't going to go deep in the woods in that. So he will be in the outskirts of the town, or up north following the road out of the town. His size will leave a good trail to follow if he does go into the woods so I think I can easily find him."
"Well, I think so. Oh wait, you're going out in the woods to look for him now?" She asked pulling out a Pokéball. "It's dangerous to go alone, take this." she held her hand out with the Pokéball.
"No thanks, I have a Pokémon already. I'm going to search north of here now. Bye."
"Good luck, and tell him he has a wife at home that needs some attention too." she said as Ray left the house.
Once Ray left the house, he looked near the edge of town and found a set of foot prints in the soft dirt. He followed them toward the road leading out of town, before he noticed a second set of tracks. He bent down to get a closer look and found that a Pokémon was following them as well. As he continued following, them he saw a little girl at the edge of town.
"Um, hi." the girl said in a small voice. "There are scary Pokémon ahead. I can hear it's cries! Could you go see what's happening for me?"
"Sure. I was heading that way anyway."
As Ray continued walking, he heard the cries the girl was talking about. He picked up the pace and found a brown bag on the ground. Inside the bag, Ray found research papers and three Pokéballs. He picked up the bag with the contents inside and he continued to follow the cries until he found the source. A rather angry zigzagoon was chasing Professor Birch around in a clearing.
"Hey you, help me!" Birch shouted as he was being chased up a tree. "Use a Pokémon from my bag please!"
Alright, lets do this!" Ray exclaimed, grabbing a Pokéball from the bag. "Go!" he threw the ball and it released the randomly chosen Pokémon from the three in the bag.
"Mudkip!" it exclaimed, it turned out to be the region's starting water Pokémon.
"Alright then, use tackle." Ray ordered.
"Kip!" The mudkip replied before charging at the zigzagoon, missing it by a great deal and slamming right into a tree.
"Well, that was, interesting." Ray said, deadpanning, before pulling out a pea-sized black orb and throwing it on the ground, causing a large flash of light.
"Zig!" the Pokémon cried, running into the woods due to the flash.
"Wow, that thing was bright." Birch said climbing out of the tree. "Why didn't you just use mudkip?"
"I did, although he's licking a tree." Ray said pointing at the mudkip who was licking the tree like no tomorrow.
"Well, he is nice at heart. So who are you and what was that thing anyway?" the professor asked, curious of the flash-emitting device.
"It was a flash pellet. It's used to help move Pokémon herds. You ever try to get a herd of tauros to move?" Ray explained, handing Birch his bag. "I'm Ray. Professor Oak said you had a package for me?"
"Hmm, oh yes, now I remember. Welcome to Littleroot. Sam sent it to me and I got it last night. Come on back to the lab with me and I will find it for you." Birch said starting down the path back to town.
"Uh, professor, are you forgetting something?" Ray said, deadpanning once again.
"Um, am I?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Your mudkip." Ray said, pointing to the water Pokémon, still licking the tree.
"Oh, right." Birch scratched the back of his head, recalling the Pokémon into it's ball. "Okay, now we can go."
AN: So thanks for reading part two. Thanks to The Constitutionalist for being my beta. I will try to have a chapter a week but if it goes longer than that so be it. Thanks for all that review and like I said this will mostly follow the game.
