Pokémon: Heroes of Time!

Chapter Two

"I'm not actually from Newbark Town, I moved here from Goldenrod when I was about six." Dice Sycamore was explaining how he ended up in Newbark to his travelling companion, Grace Lafonte. "We, my family, still own the house I used to live in Goldenrod. If we pass through there, we can stay the night." He turned to her. "You still okay to keep going, or do you need a break?"

She shook her head, black hair spilling over her shoulders. "No, I'm good to keep going for a while. I'd prefer to keep moving onto Cherrygrove, so we can get some training done when we get there. We could even do some when we stop for lunch, if you feel like it?"

Dice grinned. "That'd be fun. I'd like to see what else Cyndaquil can do." He turned to her. "Maybe you should let Totodile out of its pokéball for a while, just to let it have some fresh air." He pulled the pokéball from his waist too. "Cyndaquil can have a look around too!"

He threw the ball high into the air, and it split open, allowing a burst of white light to leave its meagre confines. The white light quickly took on the shape of a small blue and tan furred creature, which snorted smoke into the cold morning air. "C'mon buddy. You can ride up top, if you like?"

Dice bent down and held up his arm for Cyndaquil to jump up onto, which it obligingly did so. It then nuzzled into the side of his neck for warmth, before letting out a contented sigh and falling asleep. Grace laughed. "He's a real sleepyhead, that one." She too pulled a pokéball from her waist. "Okay, come on out, Totodile!"

A small blue crocodile like creature formed from the white light and ran around in excited circles before bumping into Grace's leg. "Toto-toto-toto-toto-diiiiiiilllee!" Totodile let out an elated cry as it recognised its trainer and danced up and down on the spot for several seconds.

Grace laughed again as she picked Totodile up and swung it around in an overjoyed dance. Clutching Totodile in her arms, she turned to Dice. "Come on, Slowpoke, I'll race you to the top of that hill!" She took off running up the shallow incline, with Dice tearing after her heels.

Despite her head start, Dice managed to reach the top at the same time as her, and collapsed in a breathless heap on a snow-covered tree stump, clutching at his side. "I think…that I'm going to have to improve on my physical fitness…if the whole Pokémon trainer lark…is going to contain…running of that nature." He flopped onto his back and stared at the sky. "On the flip side, the view is rather nice."

The weak morning sunlight wasn't exactly warming, but it was better than the harsh blizzards that had occurred over the winter. Snow covered copses littered the road towards Cherrygrove City, most of them home to hibernating Kakuna and Metapod. Tracks criss-crossed the snow in front of them, marking the trail of groups of Rattata and Sentret, whilst Pidgey and Pidgeotto chirped in the surrounding woodlands.

Grace began to nudge him with her foot. "You're right. You are unfit." She grinned. "However, if you keep walking, I'm sure we can start you on a diet in Cherrygrove City." Dice rolled over in excitement. "You can cook? That's FANTASTIC! Personally I burn toast, but if you can cook then we are sorte-"

"I didn't say I could cook!" She scowled at him. "I said we could find some food in Cherrygrove. Besides, I though you cooked."

Dice gave her a blank look. "Well I'm handy with a tin opener…" Grace pulled back a hand as if to slap him, and he hurriedly finished. "But I'm sure that we can extend our party into a third member who can cook and knows what to do if we get lost. And we'll definitely be able to find such a person in Cherrygrove, so no worries!"

Dice flashed her a cheesy grin, which mutated into shock as a voice sounded behind him. "Hey! You two are trainers, right?" The voice was deep, and came accompanied by a net and a wide brimmed hat. "Wanna take on my bug Pokémon in a battle?"

"See, Grace, I bet this guy can cook! All we have to do is battle him and ask nicely!"

"A bug catcher." She glared at him. "Hate to go all stereotypically female on you, but…"

"You hate bugs." Dice grimaced. "Could be a problem. Yeah, yeah, be with you, in a minute, okay?" He yelled the last part to the bug catcher, who was tapping his foot impatiently.

"I don't have all day here, midgets. There are Beedrill swarms around here just waiting to be caught, and as it's winter they'll be extra easy to catch!" Grace growled behind Dice. And then exploded. "LISTEN UP, MISTER!" The 'honorific' used was the full two syllables, not the cheap, perfunctory grace afforded customers worldwide. Two really angry syllables. Grace continued. "I am not a midget. You may not have noticed, but he is not exactly tiny either. I would like to take this opportunity, you blithering moron, to tell you I am of AVERAGE height and build for my mmmph mpph…"

"Really what she's trying to say is that she would love to battle you and would you by any chance be able to cook to any degree of proficiency?" Dice restrained Grace before she had the chance to eviscerate the bug catcher, or at the very least deafen him. Looking slightly dazed and confused, the bug catcher turned to him. "I don't cook, just boil up loads of ready meals and eat them." He pulled a face. "They taste pretty foul, too."

Grace was still struggling to continue her diatribe, bucking against Dice's restraining grip. "What's with her?"

"Nobody quite knows. All we've come to realise is it's chronic and painful." Grace had started stamping her feet and landed a lucky shot on one of Dice's toes. "And I would be much obliged if you stopped stamping your feet now, Grace. WE have a battle to engage in."

She glowered at him. "And no he can't cook." Glower turned to glare. "That's not my fault." More glaring. "Okay…battle now, yes? Then move on to the berating." He turned to the bug catcher. "What's your name anyway?"

"Charlie," said the bug catcher. "Pleased to meet you." He pulled two pokéballs from his belt. "Now lets do this."

The second potential cook came after the first potential cook (who had since turned into the first definite tag-team victory) and was not a bug catcher, but a young trainer without an official licence who promised that he really could cook. After fifteen minutes of constant pleading about how he wanted to see the world and everything in it, Dice promised him that if he could run to Newbark and back within five minutes, they'd take him on. The youngster was off like a shot, his Rattata scampering gamely behind him. Swiftly, Dice and Grace turned round and started walking very quickly in the opposite direction. "That was harsh, Dice."

"Yes, yes it was. However, do you really want to be travelling with a whiny young maladjusted trainer who will undoubtedly not be able to cook whatsoever?" Grace considered her options. After realising she had none, she replied. "No, he's probably not the best choice, is he?"

"Not the best choice?" Dice turned to her in incredulity. "He's not any kind of choice at all!"

The third potential cook fell out of a tree in front of them. The red headed girl could indeed cook it seemed, but her recipes were not to any sort of conventional taste. As appetizing as leek and pecan soup seemed after a period of eating nothing at all, they came to the simultaneous realisation that weird was not an item they desired on the menu.

"So what was your name again?" Dice felt politeness was the best way to go about leaving. The girl smiled broadly. "I'm Ori, and I'm pleased to meet you!" She looked around with a great deal of confusion in her eyes, and her brow creased. "You haven't seen a red haired boy with a Meowth named Yoru have you? I'm sort of looking for them." She indicated the tree. "It's why I was up there in the first place!"

"She seems oddly proud of that fact," Dice murmured to Grace. "I also think she's insane."

"She isn't insane, she's just very sweet. And…overbearing." Grace frowned at him. Dice frowned back. "Is this one of those spontaneous feminine bonding things, because I've heard about that happening ow yes that is my toe thank you kindly for not stepping any hard-ow ow ow…"

"Wow what's that dance you're doing there? It looks really FUN!" Mistaking the fact Dice was clutching his foot in pain after Grace stamped on it as some form of dance, the girl joined in. Five seconds later, after tripping over a protruding tree root, the enthusiastic redhead lay on the floor unconscious. Dice began to hobble away from her still form. "We shall now proceed to limp double time from the vicinity to avoid further encounters with Miss Inoue and her over enthusiastic approach to cookery and life."

"Isn't that slightly unethical?"

"Not if you think of it as self preservation."

Potential cook number four had a girlfriend. And he was very much attached to her. Between the crooning and caressing and the frequent cries at how adorable he was, they managed to gather, or rather infer, that they weren't looking for any more partners in their group. Grace looked rather relieved after they left. Dice simply looked sickened. "Too…much…sweetness…Must...pass…out…Go on without me…"

"Get up. Honestly, man up a bit Dice. How are you going to contend if you ever get yourself a girlfriend?" She arched an eyebrow. "Or is it Dice Sycamore, confirmed bachelor? Either way, I won't judge."

Potential cook number five was too hyperactive. Too perky. Too…nice. Too…blonde. That was it: she was blonde and perky and nice. Horribly so, in fact. Grace was having trouble holding her temper in check. The poor girl had obviously had her morning coffee with breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses and luncheon, and was pouring out the java to accompany her afternoon tea. Which she made herself, and did look oh so very tempting, what with scones and jam and cream adorning the picnic table in front of them. Her Pokémon too were also far too energetic: a mad Buneary that hared around in circle after circle and a Spoink that couldn't even attempt sitting still (whilst for most sitting still was an impossible task, this one couldn't even approach vertical at any reasonable velocity). She had also taken a shine to Dice.

"You're a very pretty boy, you know that? Like really, really, pretty." She glanced sideways at Grace, who was staring at the sky and muttering under her breath. "Are you two together together, huh?" Nudge nudge, giggle giggle, mutter mutter (the last were from Grace, whose name was doing nothing for her temper).

Dice grinned uneasily. "We're just friends, travelling together, not really going anywhere…" Nudge nudge, and trailing hand on thigh. "Erm…wow that dinner looks lovely…" A light smack this time. Far too playful, thought Grace. "It's not dinner, silly. It's afternoon tea!" Giggle giggle. And more stroking!

Grace dragged her eyes away from the blatant molestation occurring not ten feet away from her and noticed an odd dust cloud forming further up the road. "Err…I hate to interrupt your little party, but there's something up there".

Giggle, giggle, and an embarrassed cough. "Really, people normally ask before they put their hands there…".

Another high-pitched giggle, and yet more awkward coughing. The dust cloud approaching acquired a soundtrack of ominous thundering.

Grace stood up and shielded her eyes against the watery sunlight, able to make out a shifting mass below the dust cloud. "Hey, lovebirds...you might want to-" Her eyes widened, and she glanced back at the delectable array of food.

The dust cloud rumbled closer. Close enough.

"Dice! Move, NOW!"

Rattata. Out of absolutely nowhere, small writhing bodies filled the path, kicking up snow and branches and leaves. With a shocked yelp, Grace grabbed for a low branch and pulled herself up out of the way as the path began to fade beneath the flow of Rattata. She breathed deeply as she looked up the path. Oh, yeah. Lots of Rattata, squirming through, swiping scones and cakes and jam and cream. A small team, like the Anthill Mob done in rodent, grabbed the cake platter and teapot and scarpered, jostling within the tidal wave of Rattata, a tsunami comprising several hundred furry bodies. And then she was clinging to him. Like some kind of damsel!

Granted, Dice looked fairly flummoxed by the situation and this bizarre turn of mass groping events, but he didn't have to carry her into a tree to get her out of the way of the surge of Pokémon. Which was something Grace had never anticipated seeing.

Just the sheer sight of so many Rattata, their light purple bodies massing together presumably to take this girl's food was at the least disconcerting and at the most terrifying and would presumably haunt her dreams for several weeks. And then she had to witness that utter limpet cling on and give him the gaga eyes and it made her want to vomit. The squeaking tide flowed past her hiding spot, so thick and fast the path was simply coated in purple, but all she could focus on was the hyperactive bimbo attached to Dice's arm and shrieking her head off.

Until it was gone. The mass Rattata pack, the doomsday attack of the rodents, had passed, and with them one of the more spectacular afternoon teas the world had ever seen prepared. The blonde dropped out of the tree and wailed piteously at the loss of her cookery. Dice simply stared in disbelief at the sheer volume of water being produced by one single girl over the removal off one lot of cookery from the face of the earth.

Grace wasn't staring at either of them. She was watching the last Rattata, the one that was chewing some kind of toffee scone, but in such a manner that not only was the jaw involved, but almost every single muscle group in its body. The end result was a general turfing up of the surrounding snow as the small rodent squirmed its way through its first pilfered meal of the day.

The Pokémon was moving so much that it caught the eye of Dice, who doubled up laughing at the hilarity of the situation, and the blonde girl, who flew into a murderous rage at the loss of her food to the small creature. Picking herself up out of the snow, she grabbed a piece of broken crockery and hurled it at the Rattata, who writhed out of the way whilst picking a piece of toffee out of its teeth. Making her way towards it, hell-bent on wringing its neck, the blonde girl found herself doused with a large soaking of pure chilled water, straight from the mouth of Grace's Totodile. "Stop right there, or I will personally make sure you drown in however much water my Totodile can produce. Which I believe is actually quite a lot, if my Pokédex is to be believed." Grace held up the small electronic device.

"Now, walk away. Walk to Newbark, walk to Mount Silver, hell, even walk to Kanto for all I care." Grace walked calmly over to her and glared right into her face. "If you ever hurt a Pokémon ever again, you will experience an immediate and painful cessation of existence."

The blonde whimpered. Grace continued. "You know how I know this? Because I will beat you to death with a shovel. My shovel." She motioned to her bag. "It's in there." Leaning in close to the girl, Grace let a manic look creep onto her face. "I sleep with it at night."

Grace dropped the girl to the floor and threw her bag at her. "Just remember: shovel." In a final fit of tears, the blonde ran screaming down the path, kicking up snow behind her.

Dice wandered over. "Not that that wasn't plenty scary enough, but did you have to be quite so, y'know, dark on the threat side." He paused. "And oddly specific."

"A vague disclaimer is no man's friend." Something nudged against Grace's leg, leaving toffee smears against her shoe. She looked down at the Rattata nuzzling her laces and immediately grabbed an empty pokéball. "Totodile," she yelled. "Let's do this thing!"

"Tell me you did not just say that." Dice pleaded with her from five yards away. "Nobody says that. In the history of ever, nobody has said that and survived with their self-image intact." He nodded fervently, adding another "ever" for good measure. Grace decided that ignoring him was the way forward in this argument and addressed Totodile. "Totodile, this is a thing, trust me, and it is to be done." She pointed at the Rattata. "Make it so!"

It was something of a landmark battle, not in the least that it was the first time either of them had ever caught a Pokémon. It was generally considered by all involved, especially the Rattata, that inanimate and non-sentient objects such as bushes, rocks and trees could not be sucked into the unknown confines of a pokéball. After a hard battle where Totodile coated the surrounding area in water and invented a whole new form of topiary by using scratch on the nearby foliage, the pokéball used to capture Rattata had hit no less than seventeen objects. On the eighteenth try, Grace finally managed to hit what she was aiming at and successfully captured Rattata, and celebrated with the customary grace of a drunken Donphan by cavorting round the small clearing whilst whirling her Rattata in an improvised waltz.

"So…I take it you're happy that you finally managed to capture the poor thing, rather than just showing it the pokéball for," Dice checked his watch whilst covering a yawn with the other hand, "Oooh a good twenty minutes." Suddenly he grinned. "Not that watching you attempt to capture a bush wasn't amusing or anything."

"Fine, you try and catch something. See if you can do better." She nuzzled Rattata. "Or cuter, 'cos I bet you can't."

"You want me to catch better than the rat thing." Still smirking he began to walk up the path. "This is going to be easy. All I need is a Sentret." Grace shuddered. "I hate Sentret. They're all slinky and weird."

"What's wrong with them? For a good, solid Pokémon, you can't beat it." Shrugging, he continued. "'Sides, I hear many older, and undoubtedly more mature girls find Sentret to be the epitome of cute." He stopped when punched in the arm. "Hey!"

"Don't even think about picking up a girlfriend, mate. Don't even think it." Grace growled. "I saw that blonde back there. Older maybe, mature no. And you can forget any form of female companion for a while, unless she can cook."

"Can I include you in that, because you can't cook and you're female, so technically and by your own admission you are persona non grata here."

"I am here because Professor Elm told you to help me. Live with it." Grace froze. "Oh, for Mew's sake, it's one of those slinky buggers." She rolled her eyes. "I gather you want to catch it." Dice's eyes lit up. "If only to annoy you, Gracie-poo."

"Call me that name again and I will eviscerate you with a toasting fork."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Watch how it's done." Twisting his cap back-to-front on his head, he called Cyndaquil into battle. "Cyndaquil, use Ember on that Sentret!"

"Quiiillll!"

Immediately, the Sentret froze and curled into a tight ball. Dice laughed. "And BOOM it's already over. Pokéball, GO!" The red and white ball sucked the curled Pokémon inside it and fell to the snow. As the light blinked on the front, it rocked gently from side to side, finally lying still on the icy ground. "And yes Grace, that is how we do it where I come from."

Striking a victory pose, he slipped on the snow covered ground and fell in a crumpled heap on the floor. Staggering to his feet, he saw Grace taking a picture and showing it to her Pokémon. "You see, Totodile, Rattata, that's how he does it. Remember, this is the correct technique fo-" She looked up, innocence plastered across her face. "I'm sorry, I thought I should take notes."

"Delete it. Now. And we shall never speak of this again." Twisting his body from side to side, Dice grimaced. "I think I have snow in my boxers. Mew, but that is uncomfortable." He looked up and grinned, the late afternoon sun bathing his face in a soft glow. "You want a picture of anything, take a picture of that." Grace turned to see what he was looking at, and gasped in amazement.

Cherrygrove city was silhouetted in the sun, the buildings pale shadows against the blue sky. "And it only took the better part of a day too." Dice nodded thoughtfully. "We each caught our first Pokémon, we each got a bit of experience vis-à-vis this big wide world, I discovered you hate blondes, you discovered blondes like me."

"No cook though." Grace looked at him. "Got your tin-opener?"

"Yup. But Pokémon Centres will always provide food for any hungry, greedy or obese trainer so long as he or she still has his licence." He raised a hand towards the city. "Which we do. Onwards, my good companion-wallah!"

"Who says that? Really…"

"Nobody but me says that. 'Cos I are special, mm?"

"You're certainly something, I'll give you that. Stupid maybe." Grace settled on a smug smile as they entered Cherrygrove City. Muttering, Dice responded. "I still managed to catch my Sentret faster than you caught your Rattata." The smile faded.

"That was a fluke. All the way, that was a fluke."

"It was animal magnetism. Pokémon love me." Dice raised his arms to the sky. "All further confirmation of exactly how awesome I am, right? Never a bad thing."

"Wrong. Confirmation that the only women you could possibly ever score will not be of the human variety."

"Geez, Louise, for a fifteen year old girl, you sure do have some cynical issues to work out."

Grace scowled. "Maybe more than I want to tell you, Pokémon-whisperer. So lets lay off the personals until we can comfortably call each other friends, okay?" She glared at him as they passed into the outskirts of the city, walking past fountains and outdoor battle courts. Street lights flickered on as the sun began to set and curtains were drawn across windows in the apartments of the city blocks. Small groups of people dressed up for a night on the town started to wander in the streets, frequenting bars and pubs and restaurants and bistros. Through it all, people were talking and laughing, joking about their day's experiences and chatting amiably over drinks.

Grace looked at each of the groups as they passed them, the air heavy with silence after her last comment. Dice pulled a map out of his pocket, and flicked it over the section on Cherrygrove. "Map says we should hang a left after this bar, which might I add looks mightily inviting," he paused after another glare from Grace. "But we aren't in any hurry to get smashed today, so after turning left it should be only a few minutes to the Pokémon Centre, where we can get a room and some food for the night." He smiled uneasily at her. "Unless you want to get some drinks and talk about whatever's eating you from the inside out?"

"Look, Dice, on the basis that I've known you for a day, and we've kinda been thrown together by chance…I'm not sure I really want to get into anything personal with you." She shrugged. "Besides, it isn't that important. Might get a little more pressing if we head towards Olivine, but we can deal with that when we get there. If we get there." She looked at him. "There are any number of Gyms we could visit, I didn't know if Olivine was on your route."

"What makes you think I have a route?" Dice took on a hurt tone. "I could be one of those spontaneous people who never plans anything." Raising his eyebrows, he continued. "However, seeing as I quite like that city, yes I was planning on heading over there."

"So you do have a plan! You're a planner, I knew it." She giggled. "Nothing spontaneous about you."

"I can be spontaneous. I could go and get spontaneously drunk, if you like?"

"I'd really rather you didn't. Anyway, we're here now." Grace pointed ahead of them, to the Pokémon Centre standing twenty yards down the road. The large orange P on the roof illuminated the park opposite it, reflecting off leaves and lacquered benches. Bright light spilled out from the inside, as well as some low, pleasant music. "Let's go see if there's room left."

Inside, a Nurse Joy stood behind the desk scribbling a hasty note on a piece of paper. She looked up as Dice and Grace approached the desk and flashed a brief smile. "How can I help you two tonight? Do you need a room to stay the night?"

"I was hoping we could stay for a few days and maybe do some training on Route 29." Dice gave her his best charming grin. "Would that be okay?"

Nurse Joy beamed back at him. "Of course, sir! If you could just hand me your trainer card please?"

Dice pulled the request item out of an inside pocket and handed it over. "I don't suppose it would be alright if you checked our Pokémon over while we get something to eat, would it?" Grace decided to chip in with her two cents. "We've been travelling since this morning. We just received our starting Pokémon from Professor Elm, and we each caught a Pokémon on Route 29."

"Congratulations!" Nurse Joy beamed at them. "I'm sure you'll both make excellent trainers! Be sure to look after your Pokémon well, and I'm sure they'll take good care of you too." She handed two maps over the counter. "If you're looking for something to eat, I can recommend the noodle house around the corner, Dojo. It's very reasonably priced too." She smiled again as she placed their Pokéballs into a complex looking machine. Dice turned to Grace. "Come on, let's go eat. I'm starving." He looked back over his shoulder as they were leaving. "Thanks for the help Nurse Joy!"

The air outside the centre was much colder now, as the sun began to set, still with people crowding onto the pavements in search of a night's entertainment. Snatches of popular songs floated out of buildings and clubs, mingling with snippets of conversation from people surrounding them. Dojo, the noodle restaurant, was easy enough to find and was still empty enough to allow them a private booth in a secluded corner away from a rowdy group of people and their pair of Loudred. They placed their orders and sat back into their seats, neither looking right at the other. Dice spoke first.

"I'm curious." He picked up a paper napkin and began folding it. "I'm curious," he repeated. Grace stared at him. "About what? The current geo-political climate? Why toast always lands butter side down? Why Glameow always land on their feet? What would happen if you strapped buttered toast to the back of a Glameow and dropped it?"

"Surprisingly, none of those things, although the toast-Glameow experiment has preyed on my mind for some time now." He paused halfway through folding his napkin. "No, I'm curious as to why you jump out of windows instead of the door, why your parents didn't see you off at Elm's lab, why a young lady such as yourself hasn't got a travel partner and exactly what emotional baggage you happen to be toting around with you."

More folding, followed by more pausing. "All of those. And you aren't exactly making it easy for me to figure it out."

"Maybe because it's none of your business, Sycamore!" Dice snorted. "Oooh…scary. The dreaded second name. And it is my business, because you're travelling with me." Still folding. "And I'd rather like to know who is that bothered about you that they'd show up at Professor Elm's and force you to exit the building out of a window."

He inverted some of the creases on the paper, taking it from two to three dimensions. Almost unconcernedly, he added: "What are you running from?" Grace turned red with rage and gripped the table edge hard. "For your information, what my problems are is still none of your business. So when I tell you that in future, respect it and talk about something else." Her voice was cold and unforgiving. Dice noted the tiny gleam at the corners of her eyes and the tremor in her voice, as well as the white knuckle grip her hands had on the table. Calmly, he looked her back in the eye, before speaking. "I'll let it go for tonight. First sign this is going to bite me in my perfectly formed behind though, I expect answers. You understand?" It was more of a statement than a question.

Without even waiting for an answer he continued. "So, the current geo-political climate…it's interesting, yeah, but only on a similar level to algal growth. If you want something really interesting, I'd say Ultimate Cage Cricket is where it's at…" A few minutes later, the previous conversation was now only a shadow at the back of their minds as they turned their thoughts to other matters. However, Dice knew that this was going to come back and bite him before too long. Probably sooner rather than later too. Eh, laissez les bontemps rouler, n'est pas?

The Whirl Islands facility hummed in the deep ocean waters. Shoals of Remoraid and Chinchou swam hurriedly past, dodging the odd mechanical protrusions that surrounded the crablike base. Inside, bright lights reflected off gleaming surfaces and lab benches, as teams of grunts and scientists marched towards some kind of general assembly hall. As they sat down, the lights dimmed slightly, allowing the assembled people to see a screen with a detailed map of the Johto region on it. Five markers, each numbered, were scattered across the map.

As they stared at the screen, one of the doors to the hall slid open, admitting a hard faced woman. An executive stood near the screen and yelled at the top of his lungs. "Commander on deck! Atten-shun!" The woman gave him a cursory nod as she made her way to the screen. She turned and looked around the room. "Good afternoon. As you may or may not know by now, my name is Commander Neptune." She raised her hands. "And today marks the first day of Team Galactic's exploits in the Johto region!" A cheer ran through the room. She let it build for a minute, before silencing them. "Quiet. Now, let us begin."