As soon as the two flags had gone down, James went immediately for the Poke Ball that he knew could easily deal with the situation. He had, after all, spent last night looking at Lance's team and probable tactics.
"Sparky, you're out!" he shouted as he threw the Poke Ball up into the air, releasing the Pokemon within. Once the light had disappeared, the crowd could see that it was an Ampharos – and a serious one at that, with nothing but a deep frown on its face. A picture of it appeared below James on the four screens. Lance appeared to be intrigued by the choice.
"I must say, that's certainly an interesting choice for your first Pokemon. Let's see how it deals with my Aerodactyl," Lance exclaimed. Before James could form an argument about the impossibility of using a long dead Pokemon, it appeared on the field before him. And it truly was one hell of a Pokemon. It was considerably much taller than Sparky, with large leathery wings, each with three claws on the end. It had a thick, powerful looking tail with a point on the end of it, and the predator (as that's what it undoubtedly was) was coloured grey all over. But the most distinguishing feature about the Aerodactyl was its head. It had green eyes that had a glint, which James didn't like the look of, and a long snout that appeared to contain hundreds of small, sharp teeth, that James knew could tear anything up within a few seconds.
All in all, it was definitely a creature to be feared.
Lance had a snug look on his face. "She's impressive, no?" he asked James, who was still getting over the shock of how such a Pokemon could possibly be alive. James could only nod as a picture of it appeared under Lance. But he snapped out of it. Such questions could be asked later. He decided what attack he was going to start the battle with, as he knew he couldn't change his Pokemon once they had been sent out.
"Okay, Sparky, let's use Signal Beam!"
SC
Heading onto Route 29 for the first time, James felt more than a little apprehensive about going out there all on his own. After all, when he and his mum had wanted to visit any of the cities or towns, they would simply use his mum's Pidgeot to get them there quickly and efficiently. But then, James looked down at Exbo, and knew that he was going to be protected from anything that decided to come their way.
Walking onwards, there was a strong, but refreshing breeze that helped to cool James down from the sun's rays. The tarmacked road that had led onto the route soon enough gave way to dirt and gravel, along with large areas of grass, where James knew there would be wild Pokemon hiding, waiting to ambush anybody who came along. From within the shaking trees on the outskirts, he could hear Pidgey cooing and Rattata gnawing at the bark, but ignored them for the most part. James was debating how to do this, and in the end decided to kill two birds with one stone, and put Exbo on the ground. Exbo looked up at his new owner, confusion plastered on his face. He was greatly enjoying that nap.
"Okay, Exbo, listen up," James said as he bent down to reach Exbo's eye level. "Now, I could tell that you were enjoying that, but this is serious business. I need you on the ground here, so that you can easily attack wild Pokemon when I give the command. Plus," he continued as a smile appeared on his face, "I don't want to have to lug around a pudgy Cyndaquil because he got too lazy." Exbo continued to look up at James, confusion still on his face. He hadn't understood too much of what had been said, but guessed that he wasn't going to get any more free rides, so he prepared for the worst that could possibly happen to him – having to walk everywhere.
With the matter settled, the two of them got underway again. James' confidence was at an all time high, as he believed in Exbo to defeat the wild Pokemon. And that was put to the test when they encountered a Sentret. It was a small Pokemon, although taller than Exbo, due to the fact that it was standing on its tail, in an attempt to make itself look taller. It was brown all over, except for the dark brown rings on its tail and the donut shaped ring on its chest. It was looking at them in curiosity.
James looked down at Exbo. "Okay, Exbo, this is it. Our first Pokemon battle together. Use a Tackle attack," he ordered, and Exbo did as he was expected. He ran forwards, flaring up the flames on his back for extra damage, building up as much speed as he could, before leaping up into the air. The Sentret looked so surprised at the course of action that it didn't move out of the way before Exbo smashed into it, dealing a critical hit and fainting it. Exbo turned around and went back to James, squealing in delight at his first victory. James certainly was proud of him.
"Well done Exbo, you did brilliantly. Have a treat as a reward," he finished as he took off his backpack and rummaged through it. He managed to find what he was looking for, and handed it to Exbo. It was a Poffin, a speciality all the way from Sinnoh. Exbo sniffed the treat, seeing if there was anything wrong with it. Deciding that there wasn't, he took a bite, and an expression of content appeared on his face before he gobbled up the rest of it. James laughed as a result.
"Hey, easy there boy, slow down. I don't want you being sick, okay," he said to the Cyndaquil. Once he had finished laughing, James became serious again. "In all seriousness, Exbo, we really need to get going if we're going to make it to Cherrygrove City in any reasonable time. So let's get moving."
The pair of them did so, ignoring many of the sights of Route 29, as well as the Wild Pokemon that stared at them as they passed by. Although Exbo wanted to fight all of the wild battles that crossed their paths, and thus get more of those delicious treats from his owner, James was having none of it. He tried getting Exbo to get into the Poke Ball, but just like earlier, the Cyndaquil refused to. In the end, James was forced to pick up Exbo and hold him in his arms so that they could make quicker progress. In truth, although James obviously did have a camping set and tent, he didn't particularly fancy the prospect of having to camp out when civilisation was so close. There were several other people of the route, but like the resident Pokemon, James ignored them. Some of them stared at James, curious as to why he was carrying his injured Cyndaquil, rather then it being in his Poke Ball.
It was this way that the two of them managed to reach the outskirts of Cherrygrove City by 10:00 pm, including numerous rests to catch his breath back. Although James had been preparing this journey for a while, including going down to the gym every day, he hadn't prepared to do that. It had been a very long and tiring day for the two of them, even without doing random battles every few minutes, and James just wished to get to the Pokemon Centre as soon as he could, so that both he and Exbo could relax. The only problem was, he had no idea where it was located. James managed to get out the guidebook whilst keeping an eye on Exbo, and found the relevant section. However, that wasn't much use, as the map was titchy and the streets looked like an absolute maze. Plus, there was so little light that he couldn't see much of anything anyways. James became angry at this point, and stuffed it roughly into his bag, yelling in frustration. Exbo looked up at him, a scared look on his face. He had never seen his owner get so angry before, and he wasn't completely sure of what to do. So he did the only thing that he could think of. He flared up his flames, and tackled James in the stomach. The teenager crashed to the ground, the wind totally knocked out him. He looked at Exbo with a mixture of shock and surprise plastered to his face.
"What the hell did you do that for, Exbo?" he exclaimed, anger clear in his voice. When he saw the tears beginning to fall down Exbo's face, he softened up immediately. James stroked Exbo's back a couple of times to get him to calm down. "Look, I'm sorry that I shouted at you before, okay. I was just really frustrated that it's so late, and I have no idea where the Pokemon Centre is. Can you forgive me?" he concluded. Exbo looked back, and then began to lick James' face, causing him to laugh from the ticklish sensation that it caused. He didn't care about the few remaining people on the streets looking at him and the scene in question – all he cared about was that his Pokemon was happy again.
After all that was over and done, James put on his backpack, picked up Exbo, and wondered around the city, looking around for the Pokemon Centre, or at least someone who could point him in the right direction. And that person - or rather, place - came when James very nearly passed a store that was still open at this time of night, despite how few people there were walking the streets. It was called 'The Guide Gent's – all your guiding needs sorted'.
"This is perfect," James thought as he entered the premises. Compared to the rest of the buildings that he had seen thus far, this place was much smaller, with only a few chairs and potted plants scattered about the room. The walls were a plain white colour, and hosted pictures of the attractions, such as the famous Onix Tower, where, on a good day, you could see for miles around the surrounding area. At the end of it, there was a desk that spanned the whole rest of the room, with tons of leaflets detailing many of the attractions that Cherrygrove had to offer. Behind the desk, there were two old men who were chatting about something whilst in the background; a radio was playing, although James couldn't tell what channel it was currently on. Once they noticed that James had entered, one of the old men stood up and went out back, whilst the other stood up and faced James.
"Hello there, young man. Now, what can I do to help you at this time of night?" the old man asked. James was infinitely glad that the man hadn't treated him as a child.
"Well, I was wondering if you could tell me where the Pokemon Centre is located?" The man laughed at his question, and James backed up a little.
"Of course I can tell you where it is. For a small fee, I could also physically take you there, so that you won't get lost." James thought that that was an awesome idea, so he paid the fee, and followed after the guide gent. They mostly walked in silence, the only sounds now being their footsteps and the hooting of Hoothoot on the outskirts of the city, who had woken up earlier, and were now out hunting for food. What felt like an eternity to James and his aching feet, but in fact was only 10 minutes, they had stopped outside of the Pokemon Centre. James thanked the guide man for all of his help, and promised to visit the shop again the next day.
Once inside, James went up to the desk, and managed to secure a room for the night from the resident Nurse Joy. Thanking her, James and Exbo used the elevator to get to the right floor, and managed to find the correct door. Upon entering, James put Exbo onto the ground, collapsed on the bed, and fell straight asleep.
SC
Lyra was doing her very best to open the window without also waking up her uncle or tripping any of the alarms that she knew were placed throughout the lab. In the end, though, the red-haired teenager shoved her out of the way and smashed the window with a brick he had found. Despite this abuse, Lyra looked at him with a smile on her face, happy that she had finally managed to find the one person who she loved, and who loved her back.
Or so she assumed.
Kamon, however, thought otherwise. He was a teenager of medium height, with long, bright red hair and piercing red eyes. He was wearing a purple, long sleeved jacket that had red lining, and well as purple trousers that he always somehow managed to keep immaculately clean and tidy. Him and Lyra had met when they had bumped into each other of the street, and they started fighting because the other had flat-out refused to accept that they had cause the accident. Due to this, they had been forcefully arrested by the police and put into separate cells for the night. Having been to prison many times before, Lyra managed to escape easily, and had released Kamon as well. It was at this point that the two of them had decided to steal the other two starter Pokemon and go on a rampage around town.
Luckily, none of the alarms had gone off, but Lyra secretly hoped that the smashing of the window hadn't woken Elm up. The two of them slowly made their way over to where the Pokemon were located, after Kamon retrieved the brick from the floor, and picked up the Poke Balls. With that done, they made a quick escape before anyone could come and see what had happened, but not before breaking the internal alarms to completely shut down the security system.
A short distance away, hiding down an alleyway, they released the Pokemon from the Poke Balls. They saw that one of them was a Chikorita, and the other was a Totodile. The former looked up at Lyra and Kamon, and started shaking on the spot, as well as shouting her name for anybody to come any rescue her, too scared to even think about running away. But nobody came. Lyra reached and picked it up, and tightly cuddled it in her arms, forcing her mouth shut; causing Chikorita to be in even more distress then it was previously. Kamon guessed that he was left with the Totodile, which as soon as it had been released, ran up to him, and attempted to bite him on the leg. Kamon solved this by bending down and hitting it on the head with the brick he had picked up. The Totodile stopped what it had been doing, a dazed look appearing on its face, before slumping on the ground, knocked out for the count. Lyra giggled at the display whilst Chikorita squirmed about more than ever.
"Well, you certainly do know how to deal with Pokemon, don't you?" she said between her fit of giggles. Kamon had a neutral expression on his face. On the one hand, he wanted to get rid of this annoying bitch as soon as possible and go solo again, helping to make himself less conspicuous. On the other hand, she could be a potential ally in getting rid of Team Rocket once and for all, as he knew that groups were popping up all over the place again, and he wanted to get rid of them before they got too big for their boots. Eventually, he decided that the benefits of keeping her around far outweighed the negatives of getting rid of her – at least at this stage of the proceedings.
"Okay, let's go," he said to Lyra, causing her to stop her giggling fit. He made to move off, but she wasn't following. He turned back round to face her.
"Where are we going?" she asked, curiosity in her voice.
"Out of New Bark Town, where there's less chance of us being caught with recently stolen Pokemon. Got a problem with that?" he question, an edge of menace entering his voice. Lyra rapidly shook her head, and they both moved out of the alleyway, and went in the direction of route 29. She really didn't want to leave the town that she had grown up in, but it looked like she had no choice in the matter.
They were now officially fugitives, on the run from the law for stealing a Pokemon and for escaping police custody.
SC
James stretched out and rubbed his eyes. He wondered why his alarm clock didn't wake him up, and then he saw Exbo sleeping on his legs. The events of the previous day rushed through his head, and he smiled at how lucky he had been to get his starter. James gently nudged Exbo to get him to wake up, and he nearly got his hand burnt when the flame suddenly appeared on Exbo's back and the Pokemon stood and spun around on the spot, looking for who had dared to wake him up at the early time of 8:00 am. It took James a few minutes to calm Exbo down before the Cyndaquil licked James' fingers as a clear sign of apology. James got up, remembered to take his tablets, had a shower and got dried and dressed in the same clothes that he had worn yesterday, before heading downstairs to get some breakfast.
It was only after getting some cereal with freshly squeezed orange juice that James realised that he didn't know what Cyndaquil ate, and Exbo must have been starving as much as he was. Treats were all well and good, but they hardly constituted a filling meal. So abandoning the meal, he went back to the reception area to ask the resident Nurse Joy.
"The best thing to give them," she replied, "is charcoal. Not only does it give them all of the nutrients that they need, but it also helps to boost the power of their fire attacks. Here, let me go get you some," she finished as she went out back, and returned with ten charcoal sticks, bound together with a piece of string. James thanked her profusely, took out one of the sticks, and handed it to Exbo. He chewed on it for a little, before squealing in happiness. Heading back to the dining room, where a few other people, mostly trainers, were also eating, James found that his cereal had managed to go soggy, for he reordered, and enjoyed it much more then he would have before.
After finishing breakfast, James left the Pokemon Centre with Exbo in tow, and attempted to find the Guide Gent's place again, but strangely, he couldn't find it. Shrugging his shoulders in disappointment, he made his way to the Poke Mart, now that there was actually some light to look at the tiny map, to see if he could buy any Poke Balls to start catching some Pokemon. He found it easily enough, as it was near the Pokemon Centre, presumably for convenience sake.
Upon entering, he saw that the shelves were packed full of various different Pokemon merchandise, including Potions, Antidotes and Paralyse Heals. He did a quick scan of the shelves, but the only thing that he couldn't find was some damn Poke Balls. So he decided to ask a member of staff, but not before picking up Exbo and holding him in his arms. He didn't want him to get lost, or worse, crushed in the packed store.
"Excuse me," he said to a member of staff who was packing stuff onto the shelves. He stood up and turned to face James. "Could you please tell me where I could find the Poke Balls, please," he asked. The member of staff looked at him with an apologetic look on his face.
"I'm sorry, sir, but were currently aren't stocking them here at the moment." James had a puzzled look on his face.
"Why not?" he questioned.
"Well, they seem to be proving extremely popular with all of the trainers passing through the city at the moment, you see," the member of staff answered. James was beginning to get irritated.
"What, you don't compensate for something like this happening? What kind of Poke Mart are you, if you don't even have the basic amenities?"
"If you wish to come back in a couple of days, we should have plenty for you to pick from, sir," the staff member replied, trying to calm James down.
"Don't bother. I certainly won't be coming back here again to buy my supplies," James shouted, causing more than a few stares from fellow customers. In the end, he was thrown out of the store by security, and told not to return to the premises again, which suited him just fine.
Once he had managed to calm himself down, James made his way northward enter Route 30. This would eventually lead to Violet City, where his first Gym battle would take place. Just as he entered the route, however, he got interrupted by his mobile buzzing about in his pocket. Curious as to whom it was, James saw that it was from Professor Elm. He pushed the button to accept the call.
"Ummm, hello Professor," James spoke. He could hear a lot of noise going on in the background.
"Ahhh, good of you to have answered, James. Now, if you don't mind, I would like to detail a proposition for you."
"Okay, Professor, go ahead."
"Excellent. Now, I have a friend who goes by the name of Mr Pokemon." James thought this as being very bizarre, but he kept quiet for the Professor's sake. "He could be considered an all round expect on aspects of Pokemon, such as personality and how that affects growth and development. Anyway, I received an e-mail from him this morning saying that he had something interesting he wished to show me. Unfortunately, as soon as you left, I had to leave myself on a business trip to Saffron City, and thus, I won't be able to see what he wants to show me. Essentially, I want you to visit his house, and pick it up for me. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Professor. I'll do that right away."
"I knew I could count on you James. Now, I really must be going, as according to my wife, I have to be back at my lab as soon as possible, so I'll leave you to get on with the task. Ohhh, and one more thing. I sent you a map application via Bluetooth, so that should make your journey much easier. Bye, James, hope to see you soon." And with that, he cut off the connection. James stared at the phone, not entirely sure what had just happened. He just wanted to get on with the journey, but he couldn't do that now that he had given Professor Elm his word. And anyway, it wasn't that much of a deviation from the way he was going anyway. So James set off again with Exbo by his side.
Along the way, James allowed Exbo to fight many of the wild battles that they encountered along the way in the tall grass patches, gaining experience as they went along. These fights mainly consisted of Caterpie and Weedle, along with a Pidgey and Rattata scattered about here and there. Caterpie was coloured bright green with large startling eyes and an antenna on top of its head. Weedle, however, was bright yellow, with a huge purple nose and purple feet, with a vicious stinger on its tail. After one particular battle, where a Caterpie managed to tie Exbo up with its String Shot attack, before Exbo burnt the webbing away, the Pokemon managed to produce a copious amount of smoke without also producing fire from its mouth. James was so proud of Exbo that he gave him another Poffin as a reward.
Continuing on, the two of them came across a battle that was in progress. It was between a Pidgey and a Rattata, and neither opponent looked prepared to back down any time soon. James decided to watch for a while, but after 15 minutes, he grew bored when nothing exciting was happening any time soon. As they were blocking the way forward, James had no choice by to head to the right, where, according to the map on his mobile, Mr Pokemon was located. There were many patches of grass along the way, but James didn't mind, and neither did Exbo, by the look of things.
In the end, they did manage to find the house, and now James knew why Professor Elm had sent him the map application with it specifically pointed out. The house blended so well in the edge of the forest that if you didn't know that it was there, then it would be extremely easy to miss. It was entirely made of wood, with vines and other foliage growing around it, although James could see that they were controlled where they could grow. To the side of the door, there was a plaque, which said 'Mr Pokemon's House – Please Knock'. So that's exactly what James did. The man who answered the door could only be the man himself. He was tall – considerably taller than James at least - and had a big bushy beard. He wore casual jeans and a tee-shirt which said 'The Greatest Authority of Pokemon on the Planet' in a circle that surrounded a Bulbasaur.
"Well, you must be James?" he asked. Professor Elm had obviously phoned ahead in advance.
"Yeah, I am. It's nice to see you, Mr Pokemon," James said as the man held out his arm for a handshake. James took it, and practically felt all of the bones in his hand break. He tried to hide the pain that he was feeling at that moment, but the man apparently noticed as he laughed.
"There's no need to call me that. You can call me Adam. Only true boffins bother to call me Mr Pokemon," he said as he led James into the house. Or rather, cabin, as it consisted of one room, with a bed in the corner, a stove and what could be called a kitchen in another, whilst a desk was plonked in the centre of the room. Scattered about were loads of magazines from many different countries, such as Hoenn and Sinnoh, including the official magazine from each of the Region's Pokemon Fan Club. The only things that James could see that was remotely electrical was a laptop of the desk, where somebody was apparently working on it, typing furiously away; and the lamp by the bedside table, where there was a thumping big egg underneath. James wondered what that was all about.
"Welcome to my humble abode, James. As you can see, I don't exactly live a life of luxury, but I much prefer it this way then having the paparazzi constantly on your ass all day, every day. Anyways, I'm sure that you don't want to hear me go on and on about my personal life, so I'll show you what I want to show Professor Elm," he finished as he made his way over to the egg and brought it back and handed it to James. Now that he was up and personal with it, he could see that the white shell had blue and red triangles on it. James could feel it moving about a little, but not much to cause any concern. He wondered why Adam wanted Professor Elm to look at it.
"Not to be rude or anything, but this looks just like any other egg. What's so special about it?" James asked.
Before Adam could speak, however, the man in front of the laptop spoke up. "This egg is not from either the Kanto or Johto Regions, meaning that it must have come from either Hoenn or Sinnoh. Therefore, I am emailing Professors Birch and Rowan to get their opinion on the matter. I hope to get a reply shortly," the man concluded. When he looked up from what he was doing, all he saw was a young man simply standing there, opening and closing his mouth like a Magikarp, hands by his sides, with his Cyndaquil looking up at its owner in confusion. Luckily, Adam managed to rescue the egg before it smashed onto the ground. "I'm Professor Oak, the regional Professor from Kanto," he said, trying to get the young man's attention. That didn't work, so the man got up, and tried clicking in front of James' face. When the young man still didn't respond, Professor Oak wasn't sure what to do. So Adam went over to the kitchen area, filled up a bucket full of cold water, came back and threw it all over James. That seemed to do the trick.
"You're the Professor Oak! I absolutely love your radio programme – you're always so informative and filled with useful information! I especially love the parts where you go over where swarms of particular Pokemon can be found. I'm your number one fan!" James concluded eagerly, leaving an awkward silence hanging in the air. The Professor wasn't exactly sure what to say.
"Ummm, thank you, I suppose. Appreciated. Moving on, as I was saying before, Adam here asked me to look at it after he received it from one of the Kimono Girls in Ecruteak City when he went to visit a short while ago. However, I personally have no idea what it could be, which is why it is being sent to Professor Elm via yourself. He is the ultimate authority on Pokemon breeding, and would definitely know about this kind of thing," Professor Oak finished. James nodded, the gravity of the situation becoming apparent.
"Okay, Professor Oak, I understand. You can trust me to look after it," James replied. Adam handed the egg back to him, and he made room in his backpack for it. After a while, it was firm and secure with absolutely no chance of it being able to fall out. Whilst this was happening, Professor Oak said that he had to leave to record another one of his shows in Goldenrod, and although James was greatly disappointed to see him leave, he knew that the Professor was a busy man. So, after staying for lunch and feeding Exbo some charcoal, James left Adam to his own devices, stating that he wanted to get back to Professor Elm as soon as possible.
Shortly after leaving, James felt his mobile vibrating in one of his trouser pockets. Wondering whether it was his mum after realising that he had broken his own promise to call her last night, he saw with some surprise that it was Professor Elm again. Accepting the call, he heard sounds of a lot of people moving about, and wondered if he was still on the Magnet Train. When the Professor spoke, however, he immediately became concerned.
"J-james, thank goodness that I managed to get a hold of you. Something terrible has happened." There was definitely a sound of distress in the Professor's voice. "The l-lab has been broken into." James let out an audible gasp. The lab was the most secure facilities in New Bark Town at least, primarily due to its importance. It had all of the latest security systems automatically fitted to it for free, and there was no way that anybody could have gotten in without anybody else knowing. James was stumped as to how it could've been accomplished.
"Did the bastards manage to steal anything, Professor?" James queried. That's when he heard the Professor begin to cry.
"T-they stole the other two s-starter Pokemon," he said.
With that, James ended the call and made his way to Cherrygrove City, Exbo following behind him, not understanding the situation at hand.
SC
Kamon and Lyra had finally made it to Cherrygrove City. They had spent last night traversing Route 29 in the dark, causing them to stumble and fall about a lot, as well as being attacked by numerous Hoothoot. Lyra had been forced to use her Chikorita to fight them off (as Totodile was still unconscious), but when the Pokemon had refused to attack, or do anything for that matter, Lyra gave her an incentive by clawing one of her long nails down the poor Pokemon's back, causing it to squeal out in pain and managing to draw blood. Kamon simply watched on, unconcerned by what was happening. After that, the Chikorita had been willing to battle, even managing to learn how to create leaves from the leaf on its head and throw them at opponents.
Once they entered the city proper, Kamon headed straight for the Pokemon Centre, Lyra followed behind, feeling totally exhausted.
"Can we stop and have a break soon? My feet are serious aching," Lyra whined, but Kamon ignored her. He was more concerned about whether they had been caught out yet. By the looks of things, they hadn't.
"It doesn't look like we've been found out yet," he whispered to Lyra, conscious about anybody overhearing them. "So heal your Pokemon, take a nap, and we'll leave as soon as." Lyra didn't say anything as she made her way over to the reception desk, where the Nurse Joy was waiting. She placed the Poke Ball on a tray where other Pokemon were waiting to be healed. Once done, she went over to one of the seats facing the large window, sat down, and was about to fall asleep when she saw someone running past. It was none other than James, with his Cyndaquil in tow. Suddenly feeling wide awake, she sensed an opportunity to cause him even more distress like she had yesterday. She therefore grabbed her Poke Ball from the batch of others and went outside to challenge him to a battle.
She called up to him and he turned reluctantly around to face her, as he knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything else otherwise.
"How's your Pokemon, James? Is it coping alright?" she mocked. James could hear Exbo growling menacingly at Lyra, flames popping up on his back. James bent down and scratched Exbo behind the ears.
"We're doing fine, thank you," he answered as he stood up again.
"Ohhh, are you now? Well, in that case, I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!" she shouted she threw a Poke Ball up into the air and released a Pokemon James recognised as Chikorita. He noticed that it was very worn out and tired, and that it had a scar on its back. James realised that she must have been the one to have stolen the two Pokemon. At the announcement, people were beginning to watch with interest. James was definitely getting a feeling of déjà vu about the whole situation.
"Ugggh, fine then, it looks like I have no choice. Let's go Exbo," he moaned as the Pokemon in question walked forwards.
"Chika, use Razor Leaf!" Lyra shouted, but all the poor Pokemon could do was feebly swing its leaf around and throw the resulting leaves only a few feet away, before collapsing to the ground, defeated. This caused Lyra to become extremely angry, and attempt to kick the Pokemon for its uselessness, before she remembered that she was in a public place, forcing her to have some restraint. This caused James to smile smugly.
"Well, it doesn't look like you're up to your usual standards, does it?" James rhetorically asked as Lyra beat and stamped her feet into the ground. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll be off to the nearest police station to have you arrested for stealing two Pokemon." And with that, James walked off, with Exbo in tow. But before he could get too far, he heard a male voice calling out his name. Turning around, he saw a red headed teenager wearing a purple jacket and trousers walk up to him. The teenager stopped a short distance away.
"I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that. The name's Kamon, and I'll be the one to beat you and your Pokemon into complete and utter submission." With that, he released the Totodile that had managed to regain consciousness within the Poke Ball. James guessed that he had worked with Lyra to steal the Pokemon.
"I'm guessing that you and Lyra stole those two Pokemon together, ehhh," James accused, pointing his finger at the teenager, loud enough for the entire crowd to hear. The teenager just 'hmphed' in response.
"What businesses is it of yours? Totodile, use Water Gun," Kamon ordered. The Pokemon stood up, and managed to master enough energy to produce a jet of water from its mouth, hitting Exbo where it hurt most, before either trainer or Pokemon could respond. He was thrown back from the impact, and slammed hard into the ground. He gave a squeal of pain, and James rushed up to him.
"Exbo, are you all right?" James asked, fear in his voice. Exbo managed to stand back up, evidence that he wanted to continue the battle. But before he could, James heard a girl yelling at someone. Turning around to see what was happening, he saw a girl slap Kamon right of the cheek, hard enough to draw blood.
"How could you do that to your Pokemon, you bastard? Making it fight like that when it's clearly hurt and injured." Turning towards Lyra, the teenage girl looked at Lyra right in the eye. "And that goes for you two," she shouted. Lyra looked like she wasn't sure what was happening, but she did know that she wanted to get as far away as possible. Kamon apparently had the same idea.
"Come on, let's get out of here!" he yelled as he ran past the girl, grabbing Lyra's hand in the process. She made no objections, and the two of them ran as fast as possible towards Route 30. Glad that that display was over, James picked up the injured Exbo, and made his own way over to Route 29. It wasn't too long, however, before he realised that somebody was following them. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that it was the teenager from before. Now that he had a chance to look her over, he could see that she was wearing tight, yellow spandex shorts, a sleeveless red tank top, and what appeared to be a lab coat on top of that. But it was her hair that truly caught his attention. It was bright blue, and the ponytails were gelled so that they stuck out behind her head.
James tried to hide the laughter that was trying to come out, but couldn't hold it in for very long, and let it all out. But she didn't appear to be in the laughing mood, and in fact, appeared to get even angrier then she already was.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, laughing at me whilst you're Pokemon's gravely hurt!" she yelled at James. That seemed to snap him out of laughing, and become serious again.
"For your information, I'm heading to New Bark Town to tell Professor Elm exactly who stole his Pokemon. And no-one – not even you – is going to get in my way." With that, he shoved passed the girl, and continued on his way. Having heard the explanation, the girl's expression softened, and she decided to help him in any way she could. With that decided, she ran after him, and once he had caught up, jogged beside him.
"Let me help you out any way I can," she requested. James looked sideways at her as he slowed down to a walk.
"And why would you want to help me?" he asked.
"That's easy. To make up to what I said to you back there," she responded.
"Are you a trainer?" he questioned. She nodded.
"Yeah," she answered. "I only have Marill on me at the moment, but that should be more then enough to deal with the wild Pokemon here."
"Okay, fine," James said. "By the way, what's your name?"
"Crystal. Crystal Elm."