Ch. 1 Supply of One

My office is not the prettiest place in the world. My desk is always cluttered, usually with bills and empty takeout containers. There is an old couch along one wall, it's covered in stains and it's got a few holes but a pillow and a blanket it make it as good as most mattresses I've had a chance to use. Across from the couch my antique of a TV is playing the news like always. Not that that's all I want to watch, it's just the only channel the damn thing gets anymore.

I sifted through the unpaid bills on my desk; lifting each one from among the clutter just long enough to let the bare bulb on the ceiling remind me I couldn't afford to pay it just yet before returning it to the mess. I needed to get another case real soon. Luckily, there is no shortage of trouble in Kanto. Unluckily, I'm never the first person people want to go to when trouble happens. I have a reputation. People don't want someone like me unless I'm the only choice they have left. Of course, my rates don't help with that but economics tends to win over for me there. After all, when there is a supply of one, demand skyrockets.

I was about to give up for the day. Once the clock struck ten people were more likely to be snuggled up in bed than out looking for someone to take care of their problems. Of course there's always an exception.

I sighed as the door opened. There were only four people on the planet who knew me well enough to walk in without knocking. Two of them would be out of the city for a while, catching a few 'mons for the local PD. Apparently a pack of wild growlithes had been raiding the food stores near the Saffron district. Not that it would take them both to handle it, but SilphCo's HQ always got special treatment. The third person and I had a falling out a few months back; chances are she wasn't stopping by any time soon. The last person however…

"Hello, Professor, how can I help you today?"

Professor Oak stared at me from under his messy bangs. He had stopped grooming himself after SilphCo let him go, no point in looking good when nobody was going to come calling I guess, but he still had the patent rights to some of the greatest technological advances in existence. The money didn't make him any less bitter though.

"It's the others Red. They're missing, all three of them."

I froze. If Oak had come to tell me this then there was no doubt about it. The others were missing. Three of the best trainers that I had ever seen disappeared at the same time. Somebody was making a move. This kind of power play didn't come cheap and there were only a few people who could profit from this event.

"What do you mean missing? How could all three of them be missing without a battle half the city would notice?"

"All I know is that Green and Blue never made it to the Saffron district and that Yellow's family hasn't seen her since this morning. All three of them just vanished. Hell, even Dex can't find them, and he keeps track of everything in the city."

"What about their 'mons? Are they missing too?"

"Yes. And there was no sign of a struggle, no evidence that a battle had ever happened."

"Brilliant! You know what this means right? One of them is making a move. With those three out of the way, any of the big eight could make a grab. If a war breaks out, even the Elite Four will have a hard time keeping the peace."

"Which is why I came to you. Right now there are a lot of people looking to profit from this, and if anyone can figure this out in time, it's you."

I didn't answer. I didn't have too. Oak was right and we both knew it. The four of us had saved each other's lives more often than I can count. Nobody messed with one of us without the others getting involved. Of course, that had been over a year ago, before I became a PI. Since then almost everyone had forgotten about the fourth trainer, the one who simply vanished into obscurity after Rocket tried to take over. Now I was just another face in the crowd, a stranger who looked years older than he should.

I got up and walked over to the TV. There was a small lever hidden behind the set which opened up a hidden door in the wall. I led the professor into the elevator and hit down. A small cart waiting at the bottom took us to my garden. The unpaid bills might not all be fake, but I was not quite as decrepit as I wanted people to believe. Of course, that didn't mean I wouldn't have to reach into some pockets I'd rather not be emptying to stay solvent for the foreseeable future. The garden was my own place. It rested about half a mile outside the city where no humans went and wild pokemon were kept out by a series of repel emitting flowers that I'd gotten from Erika in exchange for tracking down some thieves for her.

The Professor sighed as we entered the garden. "I still don't see why you stay in that crappy office when you could have become just as famous as the others. You threw away everything just to stay off a few people's radars."

"I grew up in that neighborhood. We all did. I live there because it's what I know and what I care about. The fancy districts don't have half the heart of Pallet."

"Pallet is a dump. Even the big eight don't think it's worth owning anymore, Red. The way things are now the entire district will be condemned in a matter of years."

"They'll have to go through me first."

Oak just shook his head. It was an old argument. He knew why I chose to stay in Pallet. After all, even after Rocket managed to destroy the lab in their attack, the reason for their attack was still there. The others didn't understand why I chose to stay there to guard it instead of moving to one of the better districts with them. After all, nobody knew how that thing worked, and even Rockets had given up on it. But I couldn't bring myself to agree with that. Whatever it did, it was bad. I could feel its aura from half a block away and if somebody got their hands on it, anything could happen.

I glanced at Oak's face, glad that he decided to drop the discussion for now. We kept silent as we walked to the center of the garden. A small house stood there. I'd had it built to look just like the one I'd grown up in, the one that Rocket's pokemon had burned to the ground. Oak waited outside while I got what I needed. My red jacket sat neatly folded on a shelf in my room. I didn't need it for the weather, but there were still a few people out there who recognized what wearing it made me. I grabbed my old cap and flipped onto my head, the closest thing to taming my hair I'd ever been able to do , and loosely adorned my belt. Lastly I grabbed my earpiece, my connection to Dex. Back downstairs I paused before going into the kitched and getting a pair of red-lensed sunglasses that I had bought a few years back. Yellow had hated how they covered my eyes, but today was not the day to be worrying about that.

Oak was waiting impatiently as I walked outside. He nodded at the jacket and gave the smallest hint of a smile. "I'm glad to see the old thing still fits. You never did seem right without it on."

I smirked at the old man and turned to the forest near my home. "Pika! We've got a job to do!"

My old friend bounded out of the forest and jumped into my arms. Pika was one of the first pokemon I'd ever caught, and definitely the best friend I'd made in my youth. The small mouse shouted excitedly as I spun with it in my arms. Even after three years together we were still the best tag team out there. After Pikachu calmed down and settled on my shoulder we went searching for my other pokemon. It had been less than a day since they saw me, after all I didn't sleep in my office when there wasn't work to be done, and most of them were right where I saw them last. Poli was swimming in the river, Saur was taking a nap in the clearing just a few yards downstream from him, Snor was sleeping right next to him, and Vee walked out of the underbrush when he heard me talking to the others. Lastly we went to get Aero, who stayed on top of the cliff behind my house.

Oak waited patiently for me to collect my pokemon, he knew that I wasn't just wasting time but he was still eager to get back to the city. He didn't talk on the cart ride back and I was grateful for it. I kept running my free hand over the pokeballs on my belt and making sure they were all there. Pika sat happily on my shoulder, feeling the wind on his face. I had explained to my pokemon what had happened and they all eagerly agreed to go with me. Normally I wouldn't bother to take them all, normally I wouldn't expect a serious enough fight to break out to need more than one or two of them. Today I wasn't taking that chance.

The professor and I parted ways when we reached the end of the tunnel. He was a genius but there wasn't much he could do to help me now and we both knew it. I watched him drive away and hopped onto my bike. The motor purred nicely beneath me as I revved the engine. Before the Professor's car disappeared I knew the first stop I had to make. It was time to see if the Boulder Gang knew anything about the others. I headed north to the Pewter District.