I hope you all enjoy this next chapter. I'll try to update as soon as possible.

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Jake yawned widely as he got up and stretched. Well, he tried to stretch. The rock attached to his arm didn't exactly permit much movement. "Stupid thing," Jake muttered, whacking it against another rock with no success.

Trying to ignore the large rock that probably weighed at least 25 to 30 pounds, Jake scooped up some berries for a quick breakfast before turning to his sleeping Charmander. "Hey, wake up," Jake said, nudging Charmander.

Charmander yawned, stretching with much more grace than Jake had been able to. His black skin shined in the early morning sunlight, causing Jake to blink in surprise at how beautiful his Charmander was. That beauty disappeared as Charmander gave an evil grin.

"I'm ready to leave as well. We're very behind and I want some action."

"You had action yesterday," Jake pointed out.

"Two days ago," Charmander pointed out with a sneer. "You were out for a day and a half, remember?"

Jake scowled at the teasing tone. "I guess you're right. I also hope I capture a new pokemon today," he said excitedly.

Charmander hissed in agreement and quickly finished off the half eaten Pidgey from the other day. Not exactly filling for either of them but they were both eager to leave. Jake put his clothes on and had a little trouble getting his shirt on since the rock on his arm was so big.

"What the heck is this thing?" Jake said out loud. He scratched at his arm, annoyed that the dry seaweed was giving him a small rash.

"Perhaps a pokemon center can remove it," Charmander offered, already walking ahead of him.

Jake jogged to catch up. "I hope so. I just don't understand how a rock of all things can be stuck to a persons arm.

"Who knows? Aside from that, do you even know where we are?"

"I haven't been up long enough to know," Jake said bitterly. "Maybe if we walk a bit more we'll find out."

And find out they did. Exactly thirty minutes later, Jake and Charmander were standing at the edge of a huge cliff. The cliff had to be over 500 hundred feet, making Pallet Town look incredibly small.

"I don't believe it," Jake whispered.

"So where are we?" Charmander asked, folding his arms and looking annoyed.

"Well, there's not exactly a name for this place," Jake said carefully. "Up from Pallet Town to Veridian City there is a huge cliff that's over 500 feet high. It's impossible to climb because there are no ledges, holes, anything to climb up with. The only way up is to fly up but it's very rare for an experienced trainer with a flying type that can use fly to come to Pallet Town.

The few that have come did a few tests for Professor Oak and have told him that stronger pokemon than on route 1 live up here. Also, if you were to fall, you would die since there's nothing for you to grab onto."

Charmander looked over the cliff and rolled his eyes. "No duh," he said sarcastically. "Anything else?"

"Jake nodded, suddenly appearing pleased with the situation. "If we continue straight on, we'll make it to the next town in only four hours instead of the usual day a half that it would take on route 1."

Charmander's smile was feral. "What a coincident."

Jake smirked. "I can't wait to catch up to that prat Shane and kick his ass into the ground."

"And I'll skin that worm of his alive," Charmander also said.

The started walking, cackling evilly along the way.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Finish it off with crunch!" Jake commanded.

Charmander rushed at the weak Sandshrew and bit it hard on the neck, causing it to cry out in pain. Charmander jumped away and allowed the defeated pokemon to run away.

"Great job," Jake said.

Charmander puffed up arrogantly. "I am the best, after all."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Don't get to confident. A buddy of mine almost got gutted for being too confident."

Charmander waved it off but Jake could tell the fire lizard would remember those words. The two had been training for a while now, having walked a little more than three hours. They hadn't stopped for lunch since they couldn't find anymore berries.

Training had been good for them both, especially since they needed to improve Charmander's attack. His special attack, which was different from normal attack, was a little low but Charmander had been growing. It was also a good way for Charmander to properly test out his egg move, crunch.

Jake had not captured any pokemon since all had either ruin away after defeated or were too weak for his tastes.

"The Sandshrew was a good battler," Charmander said thoughtfully. "That dig attack caught me by surprise, as well as that tackle and fury swipes combo."

Jake nodded in agreement. That was another thing he liked about Charmander. The fire type always went over a battle if it caught his interest so that he could learn from it.

"Yea, learning from combos like that is good. The first badge is supposed to be against rock types."

Charmander grimaced and suddenly swallowed rather loudly.

Jake looked at him strangely. "Are you ok?"

"Fine, fine," Charmander said, his tone telling Jake to drop it.

Jake shrugged. "I got it. Anyway, as for the rock gym, we'll just have to get you trained up some more. We have plenty of time."

Charmander growled in reply. "As soon as I learn metal claw I won't have a problem against anything."

"Except water types," Jake pointed out.

Charmander scowled up at him. "Thank you for reminding me of that," he said sarcastically.

"You know, there are things called TMs," Jake said thoughtfully.

"TM's?"

Jake nodded. "Its proper term is 'Technical Machine.' It can teach a pokemon an attack, such as swift or flamethrower."

Charmander looked intrigued. "How do you get one?"

"There are many ways," Jake said, kicking a stone they kept walking. "Some are human made, like hyper beam or flash. You can actually by them in some pokemarts. A lot are actually made by the elements themselves."

"What do you mean?"

"There are these metal disks that are literally all over the world. Unfortunately, or actually fortunately, they are so small that humans can't see them. Good thing too, especially since they are one of the scientific elements that help keep our world stable."

Charmander had nothing to say to that so he just stayed quiet.

"However," Jake continued, "when a certain element, such as electricity strikes it, there is a 1/1000 chance of it being transformed into a technical machine. The cause is because two elements are battling against each other. Not only that, but two more enter the fray. Air and dust, which I guess would count as the earth or sand, start to mold and transform the metal and electricity, thus allowing it to be tamed and remolded.

"It was discovered that those tamed machines could be given to pokemon and allow them to learn an attack either early or on e that they didn't learn on their own."

"How do you know all this?" Charmander asked, completely interested.

Jake smiled mysteriously. "Because I found one."

Charmander gapped. "Gimme!" Charmander jumped in front of Jake, reaching up like a little kid that wanted to be held.

Jake laughed and patted Charmander on the head. "Let me finish. Some TM's can only be given to some pokemon. For instance, if I had the TM shock wave, it would be useless for a rock type because it can't learn an electric attack. It's just not in its capabilities."

Charmander lowered his arms. "That makes sense," he said with a whine. "What do you have?"

Jake pulled out a blue disc and showed it to Charmander. "I found it in the snow, actually. It was one of the few vacations I had ever gone on with my… family." Jake frowned. "I was young and easily side tracked so I got lost. I was in Snow Point City in the Sinnoh region. I wasn't exactly dressed right either and almost froze to death. A Glaceon actually came to my rescue.

"It had called out to a friend, and a Magmar came to my aid." Jake paused. "Don't ask why a Magmar of all pokemon was in the middle of a blizzard but if I had to guess, I would say those two knew each other for quite a while or belonged to a trainer at one point. Anyways, since I was several miles away from the hotel we were staying at, they led me to a cave."

Jake paused to take a breath.

"I stayed there the entire night and when we exited the cave the next morning, a shiny object in the snow attracted my attention so I grabbed it. Glaceon said something to me and I just knew I should keep it." Jake grinned. "And I did. I couldn't understand her, but I also knew she told me to keep it a secret. Glaceon then escorted me back to the hotel."

Jake suddenly giggled, an innocent, childish act that caught Charmander unawares.

"I got to ride on Magmar's shoulders. Now that I think about it, I wonder why I didn't get burned… Anyway, once I got back to the hotel, Magmar put me down so I could hug him and Glaceon goodbye. Then Shane saw." Jake's voice grew bitter. "He got jealous and called our parents out. They tried to capture the two pokemon so that Shane could ride them like I did. They got away though."

"Thank Mew for that," Charmander thought.

Jake seemed to read Charmander's thoughts and nodded. "I'm glad they got away. If I ever saw them again, I would love to thank them.

"I'm sure you'll be able to," Charmander said a little roughly since both their attitudes had gotten a little to sappy.

Jake noticed and cleared his throat. "Anyways, the TM is called ice beam." He frowned. "They didn't even notice I was gone the entire time.

Charmander tried to change the subject and said, "An ice attack. Too bad I can't learn it. How many times can you use these TM's?"

Jake noticed the change and was grateful. "Sadly, only once. However, there are other machines that are called HM's. Their real name is hidden machine and can be used as many times as you like. They're extremely rare but have powerful attacks like surf or rock smash."

"Sounds interesting," Charmander said, now becoming bored with the subject since he couldn't use the TM.

Jake, who had also gotten over, stayed quiet as they made their way through the thick trees and bushes, carefully avoiding a glaring Aridos. Jake inwardly smiled, proud of himself for remembering so much from reading and school and being able to share his knowledge.

"Do you hear that?" Charmander asked suddenly, causing Jake to break away from his self absorbed thoughts.

"What?"

"Shh!" Charmander hissed at him. "Be quiet," he whispered. "I heard a scream."

Jake listened intently and, after almost a full three minutes, he heard it to. It sounded like a pokemon's. "Let's go," Jake said, prepared to run toward the voice.

Charmander grabbed Jake's pants and dragged him back. It wasn't that hard to hold him back since Jake still had that rock on him. "Don't be a fool," Charmander said angrily. "We don't know what's out there. The best way to settle this is a sneak attack."

Another cry of pain, drained the color from their faces. "Fine," Jake agreed. "Let's just hurry."

Charmander nodded and the two jogged silently until they were near the sound. Jake peeked over a bush and nearly gasped at what he as seeing. A man in his twenties held a whip in his hand and was whipping an Alakazam. Jake held back a growl.

Charmander bared his teeth in anger. The only reason Jake hadn't jumped out and pummeled the guy into a bloody heap was because of the uniform that he was wearing. It was black with a large, red R on the front.

"Team Rocket," Jake whispered. The group had only recently reorganized but was still a feared group. The leader was a mystery because the old one, Giovanni, was in jail.

"Who?" Charmander asked.

"A group that steals pokemon for their own uses," Jake said quietly. "They'll do anything dirty to get what they want, and not like a street fighter."

Charmander had no idea what Jake meant by that and just nodded. They both watched as the Alakazam was whipped some more. "We have to do something," Charmander hissed, longing to spew the human's guts all over the forest for the Murkrow's.

Jake eyed their surroundings and noticed something in the tree right above the rocket member and smirked. He turned back to Charmander. "Here's what we'll do…" he whispered.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Being a grunt wasn't as easy as everything thought it was. Being a grunt meant you got the worst jobs out there and if something went wrong, you got the blame. Conner Mason knew all about that sort of shit, being a grunt of Team Rocket himself.

But today was a good day. He had finally gotten the device he had ordered from some of the scientists in Team Rocket and had put it on Alakazam. While the device couldn't exactly control the pokemon, it sent out painful shocks and could control body movements until it did as it was told.

Conner scowled at the weak Alakazam and glanced at his bloody whip. The stupid thing wasn't even worth a dollar, it was so weak. If it hadn't been shocked into using it's full psychic powers he would have never gotten anywhere to day.

"Looks like you'll get off easy today," Conner sneered, staring down at the quivering pokemon. He indicated to a bag that was bulging with pokeballs. "Because you did such a good job getting those entire novice trainers pokemon, I think I'll give you a treat. How does that sound?"

Alakazam didn't make a sound.

"I'm talking to you," Conner snarled. "Answer me when I speak to you." He pulled out a square box that controlled the metal suite on Alakazam and pressed the 'zap' button, making it cry out in pain.

Conner laughed in obvious glee. Oh yes, things were going great. He had stolen a large amount of pokemon and could literally smell his upcoming promotion. That was why he was surprised when a bunch of flames shot out of nowhere and hit his arm, burning it rather badly.

Conner curse and glared at the spot where he assumed the flames had come from. "Alright, come out here!"

There was no movement, not that Conner expected any. He glared at the weak pokemon at his feat. "Get up," he commanded.

Alakazam got up weakly, panting for breath as blood dripped from its cuts. "Kazam."

"Use swift on those bushes."

Alakazam did nothing.

"Ignore me, will you?" Conner pressed the zap button again, causing Alakazam to cry out once more and even start to smoke.

Conner was so busy hurting his pokemon that he didn't notice another set of flames head at him. "Dammit!"

His hand had been burned twice. Whoever was out there would pay. Mocking laughter rang out through the trees. Conner watched as a kid no older than fifteen walked out of the trees. "Instead of abusing your pokemon, you should be paying attention to your surroundings."

Conner glared at the kid. "You're dead, kid."

Jake smirked. "Charmander, use ember again." Flames came at Conner again but this time he was ready and got out of the way.

"Alakazam, use psychic on these brats!" Conner roared.

Alakazam looked at the two apologetically before lifting the two into the air and slammed them against a tree.

Jake gasped as he slid down the tree. He hadn't been expecting that. He saw Charmander stand up but spit out some purple liquid that Jake would from now on just call poison since that what it obviously was.

Conner started laughing. "Well, isn't it my lucky day! A different colored Charmander and thirty other pokemon for the boss."

Jake growled at the man. "No way will you get Charmander!" He turned to Alakazam. "Alakazam, we can help you, just fight against that bastard!"

Conner laughed as the pokemon could only look on sadly. "Alakazam knows what will happen if he attacks me." He smirked as he showed Jake a button with a red X on it. "If I press this button, that suite will kill Alakazam."

"Disgusting," Charmander said savagely. He looked at Alakazam sadly. "And he's so old too, can barely battle anymore."

Jake furrowed his brow and looked at the Rocket's pokemon. It did look old, now that he thought about it. All those shocks and beatings certainly took enough out of it.

"I know this is tough, Charmander, but we have to knock it out," Jake said.

Charmander glared up at him.

"It's the only way. Don't forget the plan," Jake whispered.

"Are you two done yet?" Conner asked with a bored look. "Alakazam, use psybeam."

"Dodge it!" Jake said hurriedly, worried for his pokemon. Despite being old, this pokemon was probably at a high level. Charmander had just barely dodged as a second attack was thrown at him. "Ember it!" Jake ordered, watching the flames hit their mark.

"Hyper beam," Conner said calmly.

Jake's eyes widened. "Run for it!" he yelled. Charmander didn't need telling twice as he ran back to Jake. "Not at me!"

"Well, where do you want me to go?!" Charmander screeched at him angrily.

"Fire it!" Conner said, laughing insanely, as the powerful attack was launched at both Jake and Charmander and sent them flying.

Jake groaned, twitching slightly as he felt his aching muscles. That had really hurt. He tried to lift his head but a boot was placed on top of it, forcing his face to be in dirt.

Conner leaned down and sneered. "Did you honestly think a kid could defeat me? You got nothing on me kid." Conner peered at the kids arm. "And what's that thing on your arm, a growth?"

Jake made some muffled noises and Conner leaned closer and lifted his foot off Jake's foot. "What was that, brat?"

Jake lifted his head so that he could show the Rocket grunt his victorious grin. "Nothing, just that I wanted to—" whack! Jake managed to lift his heavy arm and slam it against Conner's head and causing him to tumble backwards with a cry of pain.

"You little shit," Conner said, eyes actually watering from the pain as blood started to pour out of his wound. "I'll kill you for that." Conner reached for something in his pocket, but stopped what he was doing as he heard the little brat laugh.

Jake smirked weakly, exhausted from the weight and bruises that was on his body. "I don't think so. Now!"

"Wha—oof!" Conner was flattened against the ground as a large, and very angry, Aridos landed on his back, it's stinger pressed into his neck.

Jake sighed tiredly as the Rocket finally losses consciousness. He turned to Charmander and grunted in annoyance. Charmander and Alakazam were still fighting, if not halfheartedly. It was sad to say, but even though the Alakazam was old enough to retire, it could have knocked out the small lizard long before now.

"Oi! You two cut it out; we got this asshole under control." When the two turned to him Charmander came bounding up to the grunt and proceeded to kick him, much to the amusement of Jake. Alakazam, however, fell to the ground crying, thankful that he would finally get away from his abusive trainer. Jake ran over to the psychic type and brought out a potion that he had. "Here you go," Jake said softly. "You'll be ok, soon."

Alakazam looked up weakly, the suit of army incredibly heavy. "Thank you," it choked out.

Jake nodded grimly as he sprayed the last bit of his potion on Alakazam's wounds. He turned back to Charmander, who had already reduced the grunt into nothing more than a bloody pulp, much to the happiness of Aridos.

"Hey," Jake called. "Enough of that. We have to take him to the police, after all. Wouldn't do to have a dead body."

Charmander grinned sheepishly and, after one good kick, stopped. "Sorry, but this guy really pissed me off." He turned to Alakazam. "Hey, old man, you ok?"

Alakazam whacked Charmander on the head. "I'm not that old, you little runt."

"Hey!" Charmander rubbed his head, scowling at Alakazam.

Jake ignored the two and turned back to the Aridos. "Thank you, Aridos," Jake said, bowing slightly. "This man will never be able to steal your eggs now."

The Aridos made a few clipping sounds with its fangs before leaving.

Charmander gapped up at Jake. "Little sneak! You lied to that giant spider and told him this pile of shit would steal its eggs?" Jake nodded, causing Charmander to start laughing hysterically.

"Ok, that's enough," Jake said tiredly. "I have no idea how far we are from the next city and we need to get all these supplies to the police, as well as getting Alakazam to a pokemon center."

Charmander nodded, looking just a bit too guilty. "Hey, old man, how about we get that armor stuff off of you now"

"Please do not try," Alakazam said sadly. "The last pokemon that helped me was shocked and almost died, as did I."

Jake grimaced and picked up the device the rocket grunt had, but not before giving him a good kick of his own. Charmander gave him an incredulous look but Jake ignored it. "Hmm." The two pokemon looked at him, wondering if he knew how to deactivate the armor. "I don't know how this works," Jake said lamely after a full three minutes, causing the pokemon to the ground in disbelief.

Jake picked up all of the rockets supplies, which wasn't much, but still very tiring. Jake was pretty sure the adrenalin he had felt earlier was almost gone. "Do you think you can teleport us to the next city?" he asked Alakazam.

It nodded tiredly. "Only to the front gate, though. I'm ready to give at any moment."

"Just what we need," Jake said. He nodded and Alakazam used teleport, enveloping them all in a blinding light. When Jake opened his eyes, he was at the gate of Veridian City.

"Hey, you! Freeze!"

Jake turned around and grinned. "Officer, we need—whoa!" A gun in his face was not the first thing he was expecting.

"You are under arrest, Team Rocket!" Jenny shouted, producing a pair of hand cuffs.

Jake scrambled backwards. "Wait, wait! I'm not for Team Rocket, I swear."

"And how do I know you aren't lying, huh?"

"Because I wouldn't return with the unconscious form of another Rocket," Jake sneered. "Look, I really need to get Alakazam to a hospital, he's really hurt."

Both Jake and Jenny turned to the fallen Alakazam and ran to his side. "Oh, you poor thing," Jenny said, checking its pulse. "You wait here," she told Jake. She ran inside and came out a minute later with two other police.

"You two guard that man right there," Jenny said, pointing to the unconscious man. "Take him to the medical ward but keep him guarded. I need to take these three to a pokemon center."

Jake just blinked as he, Charmander and Alakazam were practically thrown onto a motorcycle. "How long will it take to get there?" Jake asked worriedly, holding onto the unconscious Alakazam.

Jenny winked at him. "With this baby, in exactly two minutes!" If the situation hadn't been so serious, Jake would have grinned at the speed they had been going. He was rather fond of being on motorcycles, having been on some before…

But this was an emergency, and grim faces were everywhere. Nurse Joy had a little screaming fit as Jenny made some skid marks on her floor. "What do you think you're doing?" Nurse Joy practically screamed. Her face suddenly softened as she saw the anxious faces.

"Joy, this a pokemon emergency. This Alakazam could die."

Nurse Joy gasped. "I need a stretcher ASAP! Now! Chansey, get the stabilizers and prepare a room."

"Nurse Joy," Jake called.

Joy turned to him with a glare. "As for you, young man, I'll deal with you later on how to treat pokemon."

Jake's face grew red with anger but wasn't allowed to say anything as Jenny said, "This kid actually saved it from Team Rocket. Don't be so quick to judge, Joy."

Nurse Joy's look turned sad. "I'm sorry, I really do let my emotions run out of control when I see an injured pokemon."

"It's ok, Nurse Joy." Jake handed her the device the rocket had been using. "This is what that jerk had been using to control Alakazam with that body armor. Please take it off."

Nurse Joy put a reassuring arm on his shoulder. "We'll do what we can."

Jake watched her disappear with a worried look. Jenny tapped him on the shoulder. "I'll need to leave for a while but I'll need you to stay here so I can get a statement from you about what happened."

Jake nodded tiredly. "Sure, I'll be here."

Jenny nodded and her face softened. "You and your Charmander should get some rest. You both look extremely tired." Jenny kneeled down to Charmander's level. "As for you, little guy, you have a beautiful color."

Charmander grinned arrogantly up at Jake who just rolled his eyes. The two made their way over to a couch and fell asleep before their heads landed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Hey, kid, wake up."

Jake groaned and rolled over.

There was some laughter. "Kid, I need that statement now."

Jake opened his eyes and saw Jenny's face. He yawned. "How long have I slept?"

Jenny pointed to a clock that said 2:30 P.M. "Just an hour. I would have let you sleep more, but I really need a statement."

Jake blinked slowly and nodded. "Sure. See, it all started when we heard some screams…"

Jake told Officer Jenny how he and Charmander had heard the screams and enlisted the help of an Aridos. He also told what the Rocket grunt had been doing and how they planned their attack.

When he was done, Jenny gave him a disapproving look. "You shouldn't of done that. Do you realize you could have been killed?"

Jake puffed up angrily. "And leave that Alakazam to defend itself? No way."

Jenny sighed. "I know this is hard, but you really do need to think about the consequences if a situation like this ever occurred again, got it?"

Jake nodded although he knew he would still do what he did.

"Now, as for that rock on your arm and how you got onto Death Cliff is another matter we need to talk about."

"Death Cliff?" Jake asked.

"It's where you were," Jenny told him. "How on earth did you get up there?"

Jake grew a little uncomfortable. "Charmander and I were down at the beach in Pallet Town. I had fallen off a smaller cliff and Charmander jumped in to save me. We were both dragged through a rough current and shot out of a small geyser." Jake paused. "I honestly thought that the place we were at had no name."

"In all honesty it doesn't," Jenny told him. "It's just a little nickname we gave it since it really does suite it."

Jake nodded and scratched his arm. "As for the rock, I had fallen unconscious when Charmander saved me from the water. At some point in time this rock got entangled on my arm with seaweed." Jake grimaced. "It's really itchy too."

Jenny prodded the rock with her pen. "Hmm, I can't really help you with this but I'm sure Nurse Joy can help."

"Yea, I'll ask her when I find out about Alakazam."

"Well," Jenny said with a grin, "Joy just told be he's doing ok and should be fine by tomorrow."

"Really?" Jake asked excitedly. "That's great. And what about that armor? Was it destroyed?"

"The armor was sent to the Pokemon League for some detectives to look over. It's not something you need to worry about."

Jake frowned. Shouldn't he? What if there are others with that strange armor?"

Jenny gave him a strange look and Jake suddenly realized that she didn't believe the part about him falling into the ocean by accident. "On another note, the man that you helped capture was Conner Mason. He's been wanted by the police for some time now. He'll recover soon from all the damage and poison he received but will be in jail for a long time."

"That's good."

"It is," Jenny agreed. "And as for you, you are in need of a reward."

"A reward?" Jake asked uneasily. He certainly hadn't been expecting that.

Jenny laughed at his face. "What, did you think you wouldn't receive a reward? There's a bounty on some Rockets and he's one of them. Now, take out your pokedex." Jake did so; unsure of what she was going to do. Jenny took out a credit card and allowed the pokedex to scan it. "There you go," Jenny said happily. "That's 8,000 poke-dollars for you."

Jake blanched. "That… that's so much!"

Jenny poked his forehead teasingly. "Don't spend it all in one place, kay? The money is yours and you can't get rid of it without spending it. Now, I suggest you have your Charmander checked up too. I have to go now."

Jake watched as Officer Jenny left, hardly believing it. He glanced at the sleeping Charmander and realized just how tired the fire type was. Jake picked Charmander up carefully, causing him to wake up.

"Where are we going?" Charmander asked.

"I'm going to have Nurse Joy look over you."

"Don't wanna," Charmander whined.

"Tough luck. After all that you've gone through, you definitely need a check up." Charmander whined some more but stayed silent as Jake drifted over to Nurse Joy who just exited the emergency room. "Nurse Joy?" Jake called.

Nurse Joy turned to him and smiled. "Oh, hello there. If you're wondering about Alakazam, he's doing just fine."

Jake smiled in relief. "Officer Jenny told me already. That's great news, but I was wondering if you could take care of Charmander here. He's been through a lot."

Nurse Joy noticed the black Charmander. "Oh! So you're Jake Reed. Professor Oak told me about you. I'm prepared to give your Charmander the treatment he needs."

Charmander growled lowly.

"Sorry, but Charmander doesn't exactly like his medicine all that much, although I don't blame him."

"Well, how about I just look him over? If nothings wrong I won't force him to take anything."

Charmander sighed in relief and hopped on the desk.

"Also, I was wondering if you could remove this rock from my arm," Jake said just a bit lamely.

Nurse Joy had apparently just noticed the rock since she gave a nervous laugh. "My goodness! I can't believe I didn't notice that. Well, let's have a look." Jake laid his arm of the front desk and allowed Nurse Joy to examine his arm. "This is strange…"

Nurse Joy pulled out some scissors and ointment. In less than a minute she got rid of all the seaweed, showing a red rash. Both winced.

"I'll give you some heal ointment after we get this thing off."

Nurse Joy continued to try and pull the rock off. She put ointment on it, pulled it with pliers; she even had Chansey help her out but to no avail. "This is harder than I thought," Joy said. She peered at the rock and noticed something they both hadn't seen. "Are those arms?"

"Excuse me?" Jake asked, completely bewildered.

"There are small, yellow legs. Hmm… do you think you could take out your pokedex?"

"Sure." Jake took it out, wondering if the Nurse had gone loopy. He pointed it at the rock on his arm and felt his eyes widen at what it started to say.

Kabuto the prehistoric pokemon. This pokemon is both a rock and water type and is known for tricking trainers into thinking it is an ordinary rock. This pokemon was once thought extinct until several colonies were found as well as the fossil centers that bring these pokemon back to life. Kabuto weighs exactly 25 pounds are have an extremely high endurance.

Jake closed his eyes. "I've been carrying around a 25 pound rock the entire time?"

Charmander whacked Kabuto over the head a few times but got no response.

Nurse Joy checked it over. "It appears to be in a type of hibernation. Fossil centers that are led by Gary Oak have not released any but there are some out there in the wild. You are incredibly lucky."

Jake eyed the sleeping rock. Although he didn't show it, he was pretty excited. Jake loved legendary and prehistoric pokemon since he was a child. The fact that he was seeing one up close was a dream come true. The only problem was that it wasn't exactly doing anything.

"Is it dead?" Jake asked.

"Of course not!" Nurse Joy said, annoyed that he would ask such a question. "Try dropping a pokeball on it and see what happens."

Jake pulled out a pokeball and dropped it on Kabuto's head, a small bubble of excitement rising in his chest. He would actually own a prehistoric pokemon!

His thoughts were short lived as Kabuto burst out of the pokeball with a flash of bright light and was once again wrapped Jake's arm. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Oh, well," Nurse Joy said cheerfully. "When it wakes up you can capture it. I'll just heal your Charmander now."

"Would I have enough time to walk around town?" Jake asked, still a little annoyed about the rock on his arm. "I need to get supplies and grab a bite to eat."

"Of course you do. I'll feed your pokemon so you don't need to worry about it."

"Thank you," Jake said gratefully. He turned to address Charmander. "Make sure you behave, ok?"

Charmander stuck out his tongue. "Whatever."

After watching Charmander disappear from view, Jake exited the pokemon center and lifted up his arm. "I guess you're stuck with me, Kabuto," Jake said quietly. Jake grimaced as the weight on his body made him feel unbalanced. Looking around for a store, Jake saw a pokemart and entered it.

"Hello, there," the storekeeper said. "What can I help you with?"

"I'd like to get some potions and antidotes. Also, would happen to have any weights?"

The storekeeper rubbed his chin. "Weights? Sorry, kid. Try the gym next door. I'll ring you up on those antidotes and potions, though."

"Wasn't the gym closed down?" Jake asked. Ever since Giovanni had been sent to prison, the gym had closed down and stayed abandoned. No one wanted to buy it but no wanted to tear it down. It was probably left as a symbol or something.

"Not the pokemon gym, kid. A human gym. You know, running stuff and muscle things. I don't know much about that stuff since I don't need it to stay in shape."

Jake looked at the storekeeper dubiously since the man had a rather large pot belly but decided to say nothing. After paying for his things, Jake immediately went over to where the gym was located. He did pause to look at the old pokemon gym. He was enthralled by it and deeply wanted to enter it.

He couldn't though. At least without attracting attention. Instead, he just entered the normal work out gym and bought some weights for his other arm that weighed exactly 25 pounds so that his body would have equal weight. He did get some strange looks as passed through town. No doubt it was because they had never seen a rock attached to a kid's arms before.

"I can't wait until you wake up," Jake said tiredly as he stared at the sleeping Kabuto. He was already tired, not being used to weights before. Jake sat down on the pavement and looked around, wondering where he should go next. He really wanted to go to the library and check out some books.

He was hoping to purchase some that could help him on his journey. Jake was also hoping he could come up with a name for Charmander since the lizard really needed one. And it couldn't be a silly little nickname like Flame or Fireball. No, it would be a real name with a real meaning.

But the library was on the other side of town.

"Why does it have to be so far?" Jake moaned. He got up from his sitting position and began to move where he at least thought was the library. What he wasn't expecting was to see a bank.

Jake frowned, wondering why his mind was suddenly telling him to go inside.

"Let's face it," Jake thought bitterly. "Mom and Dad probably won't ever pay for me and someday I'll need money for when I'm older. I obviously won't get too much by only battling normal trainers. What about League's or competitions? That's another thing I'll check out in the library."

Jake entered the bank and, after receiving some more strange looks, was finally ushered into a private office. "How may I help you?" a man asked who appeared to be in his middle thirties.

"I would like to open a bank account."

"Obviously," the man said with a slight smile. "Anything else?"

Jake shrugged. "I'm not sure. For now all I want to do is open a bank account so I can have money later on after training."

"A very smart move, young man. I've seen many pokemon trainers go broke after less than a year of training. Now, poke-dollars works the same way as regular dollars. The only difference is that poke-dollars can be transported by pokedex's. Sort of like a flashy credit card or something.

"The only way to transport your poke-dollars from your pokedex into your bank account is to actually go the bank itself. There's no need to worry about coming back to this specific bank to put in more money. There is a Persian Bank in every main town. Any questions?"

Jake shook his head. "No, sir. I just wanted to know the basics and you've pretty much told me all I need to know."

The man nodded. "Very well. Just sign this form with all your information and expect to receive a credit and debit card by carrier within the next two weeks."

Jake filled out the forms and shook hands with the man. "Thank you. As my first donation, I would like to put 8,000 poke-dollars into my account."

The man whistled. "That sure is a lot of money for such a little kid."

Jake scowled. "I'm thirteen, not eight." He let his pokedex be scanned and was almost out the door when the man said, "Did you know you have a rock on your arm?"

Jake just laughed and exited the bank, not even bothering to tell the man what was really on his arm.

The next twenty minutes passed by pretty quickly for Jake. He had bought a burger and coke and was just finishing it off as he found the library. Jake stared at the large library and Jake couldn't help but feel a little nervous as he entered the library.

Jake immediately headed toward someone who could help him. "Excuse me," Jake asked an elderly woman. "But do you know if I can buy some these books?"

"The books that are for sale are all over there," she told him. Jake saw where she was pointing at and noticed a small corner with signs on them. Jake headed over there and started reading over the titles, wondering what he should get. He still had a little over 3,000 poke-dollars, more than enough to keep him going for a while.

"The force of Legendary's," Jake read. Sounded interesting. Jake was a huge fan of the legendary's and certainly would love to read about it. Looking at another book that talked about evolution was also added. That would be extremely helpful in the future.

"Types, Might and Fight," Jake read, horribly amused by the strange title. He put that one back on the rack he saw it on and grabbed a quick book on battle tactics. Thinking he had enough Jake almost turned to leave before he saw a book title "Legends of Legends."

"They really suck at making titles," Jake thought. He opened the book and read through it, enthralled at what he was seeing. Strange dragon pokemon and other types that were probably only thought up in fairy tales, myths and legends were in here.

A picture as well as a description was written to each one. Jake turned the pictures until he saw a large dragon. It was red on top but had black scales on its belly, legs and most of its face. Its wings were made out of pure fire and it tail had a flame at the end. Jake started to read what it had to say.

Tairon (Tai-Ron) is one of four dragons that were born into this world. Unlike the legendary birds that represent their element, it is believed that Tairon and his three brothers were born before them and were the ones who gave the gift of earth, wind, fire and water. There have been arguments on this case for sometime on this creature because, if it is in fact a pokemon, it has never been seen.

"Woah." Jake turned to see three other dragons. One was brown with leaf like wings and a tail that appeared to be made out of wood. One was made completely out of water and appeared to not be solid. The last one was completely white and had a see through look to it.

"This sure is interesting." Jake checked the price. "Dang, that's expensive." 120 dollars for a book was too much in his opinion. This was a child's book and, even if it was interesting, would not help him on his journey.

"At least I have a name now," Jake said happily as he purchased the other books. Mindful of Kabuto still on his arm, Jake carried the new books back to the pokemon center so that he could go over them.

"Nurse Joy?" Jake called as entered the building.

"There you are," Joy said kindly. "Your Charmander is all cleaned up and ready to go, even if we did have some problems."

"Problems?" Jake asked worriedly.

"I tried to get Charmander to take his medicine but he refused. I certainly couldn't force it down his throat and I couldn't bribe him with any amount of food either."

Jake smiled. "Charmander doesn't really like his medicine. As long as he's fine, he doesn't really need to take it, right?"

"At the moment, no," Joy said with disapproval. "However, if he gets sick, give it to him right away."

"Got it." Jake grabbed Charmander's pokeball from the desk. "Would it be ok if I saw Alakazam? I just want to make sure he's ok."

"Of course you can. Just follow me."

Jake followed Nurse Joy into a room and saw Alakazam all bandaged up but looking much better. The horrible armor that had been on him was off and most of the cuts had disappeared thanks to super potions.

Jake sat on a chair next to the bed. "You doing ok?" he asked quietly.

Alakazam opened an eye. "Yes, thanks to you. I owe you my life."

"No you don't Jake said firmly. "it was the right thing to do and nothing more. You owe me nothing."

Alakazam was silent for a moment. "I am still in your debt and I wish to repay you."

"But…"

"Please," Alakazam said, breaking off Jake. "Allow me to come with you and let me share my knowledge, if even for a little bit. I am too old to battle but I can at least teach you things."

Jake was dumbfounded. This was one crazy day. First he runs into a member of Team Rocket, finds out he has a Kabuto on his arm, and now an Alakazam wants to come with him on his first day? Well, second or third, actually. Those days still didn't count.

"Are you sure?" Jake asked. "I mean, since your old and all, wouldn't you prefer to just live in peace? I will be traveling, after all."

Alakazam thought about it. "How about this. I stay with you until you reach your second badge and then you can send me off to wherever you like."

Jake grimaced at that. "It's not that I don't want you…"

"I understand," Alakazam interrupted. "I will stay with you until the second badge and that will be that."

"Fine with me. After we reach Cerulean City, I'll send you over to Professor Oaks. You two should get along just fine. He loves pokemon and would give a nice, relaxing life."

"Very well then," Alakazam said. The two shook hands. "Now, I would like some sleep. I will see you in the morning."

Jake nodded and got up. "Get some rest," he said. "We'll leave when you feel better." Alakazam was already asleep when Jake left the room. "Nurse Joy? May I have a room please?"

"Of course, dear. I'll give you a key. You have room number five. Would you like to go there now?"

"No, thanks. I'm going to make some phone calls first." Jake went over to the video phones after leaving the Nurse. He would call home, even if he and his parents didn't get along. They were still his family and just maybe they would be interested in what he had to say.

Jake dialed the number and watched as a Pidgey made a "Pid Pid" for each ring.

"Hello?" a woman with dark brown hair and eyes popped on the screen.

"Hey, mom," Jake said, smiling a bit.

"Oh, Jake," she said, peering up at him. "You look absolutely exhausted. Where are you?"

"Veridian City, mom," Jake said proudly.

"Are you? Shane already passed by there. Left around noon today and is in the Veridian Forest."

Jake scowled. "I was a little… side tracked on the way here."

His mother's voice turned scolding. "Now young man, if you want to be a trainer, you have to be responsible."

"I didn't exactly have a choice at the time," Jake said carefully, trying to keep his face neutral. "But forget about that. Mom, I ran into Team Rocket today!"

Alice Reece gasped. "Oh my gosh!" She turned away from the phone. "Honey! Brandon, get down here!"

Jake could hear his dad walking down the stair in their house. He felt his chest grow warm. His parents were worried about him!

"What is it?" Brandon asked.

"Jake said he saw Team Rocket today."

"Defeated them, actually." Jake really couldn't help but brag about that. It truly was an accomplishment and anything to make his parents like him was good.

His parent's weren't listening, though. "But Shane!" his mother was screaming. "Shane could get hurt out there!"

Jake's warm heart turned ice cold. "Mom? I'm sure Shane is ok…"

"Don't worry, honey," Brandon said. "I'm sure Shane is fine. "He's a tough kid. Nothing can knock him down!"

"Brandon," Alice scolded. "He's still my baby and I worry about him. Team Rocket was supposed to be nothing but a bad memory."

Jake watched helplessly as his parents continued to bicker back and forth. Finally unable to take it anymore, Jake said, "I found a Kabuto and have an Alakazam."

His parents turned to him, having forgotten about him. "Oh, Jake," Alice said with a laugh. "There's no need make up stories. It's a bad habit, especially for a trainer."

"I really do," Jake said angrily. He held up his hand. "See? It's even attached to my arm!"

His parents laughed. "That's cute, Jack," Brandon said. "Putting a rock on your arm like that, but this joke is getting old really fast and I need to go."

"It's Jake," Jake said bitterly as his father left.

"Goodbye, sweetie," his mom said. "Say hi to Shane for us if you catch up to him."

The screen went black, leaving Jake to stare at the blank screen with a look of pain on his face. Jake felt his breath quicken and he tried to get it under control. He grabbed his shoulder, as if in pain.

Charmander, as if feeling Jake's sorrow, popped out of his ball. "Chaar," Charmander growled softly, not speaking but just growling encouragingly. Jake allowed the fire type to comfort him for a while. He didn't move for a while and until he finally got himself under control he smiled at Charmander.

"Thanks, buddy. It's nothing too big, just another disappointment."

"Want me to burn them?" Charmander asked with a grin.

Jake grinned back. "No, but I just realized I'll never call home again…" He trailed off before shaking his head. "But I think I'll give Professor Oak a ring."

Jake dialed the number and waited for someone to pick it up.

"Hello?" asked an old voice, the screen still black.

"Professor?" Jake asked, unsure if it was the old man or not.

"Oh! Jake, is that you?"

Jake nodded, but quickly said, "Yea, it's me," after realizing the old professor couldn't see him yet.

The blank screen turned into Professor Oak's face. "It's good to see you, young man! I've heard you had quite the experience with Team Rocket."

"How did you know about that?" Jake asked.

"Officer Jenny gave me a ring. It's thanks to you, actually, that half the trainers who started their journey with you got their pokemon back."

Jake's jaw dropped. "That bas… er, I mean jerk stole pokemon from the novice trainers who started out with me?"

Professor Oak nodded gravely. "It's very sad. Those who had their pokemon stolen but returned all gave up."

"But that's half the group!" Jake said, completely astonished.

"Pokemon training is a serious matter," Oak said gravely. "I'm afraid to say it, but if these children could not handle it out there, they should not be going on a journey. But Team Rocket's no small problem, mind you. It wasn't that long ago that Ash had temporarily stopped them."

"You mean Ash Ketchum?" Jake asked, thinking about the pokemon master.

"That's him," Oak said with a pleased expression. "But where were we? Oh, yes. Those twenty-five people who quit weren't the only ones."

"You mean there's more?" Jake asked with a grimace.

"Another ten stopped and decided to leave a bit later. Another five were forced home by their parents."

"So that means that's only ten kids from the original group?"

"Yes. But five of those kids decided to get a transporter system so that whatever pokemon they capture outside of their original six will be sent home. Only five, including you, will send your pokemon to me. I was looking forward to seeing all the pokemon you all would send me."

Jake stared at the screen. That many people already? For the first time that day, Jake truly wondered if he was ready for a pokemon journey. Charmander seemed to read his thoughts and bit him on the arm.

"Ow!" Jake scowled at the grinning Charmander.

"On a happier note, it's good to see your Charmander looking so healthy," Professor Oak said, leaning close to the screen.

Jake grinned. "Yep, Charmander has been doing great so far. And you'll never believe this! I found a Kabuto!"

Professor Oak started to laugh. "That's a good one, Jake! I had no idea you had such a sense of humor."

"I'm not lying," Jake said angrily. He lifted his left arm in front of the screen to show the professor. "See? I really did find one."

"My word," Oak said, staring at the rock pokemon. "I'll have to contact Gary and tell him about this. My grandson," he added at seeing Jake's confused face.

"That's cool…" Jake said, suddenly not knowing what to say. He stifled a yawn but heard Oak's chuckle.

"You've had a long day, lad. I think it's best if you got a nap."

"I'm not a little kid," Jake said stubbornly.

"Fine, fine. Don't let me stop you by staying up later than you should and have a bad day at pokemon catching the next day."

Jake scowled at the professor and realized he probably would need a nap, especially if he wanted to be full of energy tomorrow. "Goodbye, professor," Jake said.

"Goodbye, Jake. Have a safe journey."

The screen went black and Jake hung up as well. "We probably should get some rest," Jake said as he stood up.

"But we don't have to tell the old man he was right," Charmander said as he led Jake into the room that they were given.

"No. Oh! Guess what I figured out today," Jake said.

"I won't guess since I have no idea," Charmander said.

"I figured out a name for you."

"A name?" Charmander asked thoughtfully.

"Yea… You're not offended if I call you Charmander or give you a new name, right?"

Charmander shrugged. "It doesn't really matter all that much to me. You mean no offense either way since pokemon are so used to being called by their breed. But for me, a name wouldn't be so bad. Some pokemon might be against it if you give a stupid nickname."

"This one isn't stupid," Jake assured him. "It's not a stupid nickname like Charm or Flame either."

"Thank Mew for that."

Jake grinned crookedly. "The name is Tairon."

"Tairon?" Charmander repeated, testing out the name.

"It's actually the name of an elemental dragon that only lives in myths so I'm not sure if it's real or not. There was a picture of it in a library book and since it was black and red, it kind of reminded me of you, especially since you'll turn into a dragon as well."

Charmander grinned. "I guess I can see where you're going," he said, staring at his black claw. "But can we shorten the name or something? I don't really like the full name. So how about Tair or something?"

"Tai actually sounds good," Jake said. "How does that sound?"

"Sounds good to me," the newly named Tai said.

"That's good. Err, there's also something else. Alakazam is coming along as well."

"That old timer?" Tai asked. "What for? He'd be better off at a retirement home."

Jake bit his tongue to keep from laughing. "Alakazam said he wanted to teach me things or share his knowledge or something. Alakazam also talked like he owed me a life debt or something like that."

Tai's expression turned serious. "If the old timer was serious about that, then I suggest you let him stay and do what he wants. A pokemon who feels indebted to a human or another pokemon will stay until they've been told they repaid the debt."

"That's interesting. Well, the deal was that Alakazam would stay until we get to the town with the second badge. After that, I think I'll send him to professor Oaks so that he can live an easy life. No more battling for him."

"Sounds like we've got an interesting life ahead of us. I don't want to bring this up, but don't forget about Shane."

Jake's face turned dark. "I won't he," he said lowly. "I don't know what that bastard's problem is, but I'll get him back. It's not even like I can turn our parent's attention towards me so I don't think he's bothered by that. Whatever it is, I'll find out."

"Sounds like a plan," Tai said. "Now, I think I need my beauty sleep."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Goodnight, Tai."

"Don't you mean goodday? It's only five or six o'clock."

"Tai."

"Yes?"

"Shutup."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ok, for those of you who are wondering about the whole Kabuto thing. I believe that with Gary's research, hundreds have been bred to be released into the wild and of course some have escaped.

Remember, this is fanfiction so don't let it cloud your judgment. Alakazam also won't battle at all so don't think Jake will get any easy wins. Alakazam is just here to pay back a debt and nothing more.

So, tell me what you think!