Friends to Lovers
Chapter 2: Ancient Oldale Ruins
On Route 101, Ash and May were on their way to Oldale Town. Ash was walking quite clearly still going good, while May was lagging behind with her arms down in front of her exhausted since they had been walking for a while. Ash then turned to Pikachu who was on his shoulder. "Pikachu, since Oldale Town is so close, you want to race the rest of the way there?" Ash asked. "(Okay!)" Pikachu agreed, a bright smile crossing his face.
"Hey, hold up a minute!" Hearing that voice behind him, Ash stopped in his tracks and turned around to see that May wasn't following him: she had stopped because she was exhausted from walking for so long. "May, is there a problem?" Ash asked. May then stood upright since she lowered herself out of getting tired and started waving her arms as if to get Ash's attention.
"If I knew you'd run the whole way there, I wouldn't have offered you my help!" May called. "What are you talking about, May? I just want to make sure we get there before it gets dark." Ash replied. May stared at Ash with a frown of annoyance on her face, and then she looked to the side with her eyes having gone in the shape of black dots and commented "I did have a bike."
Ash nearly flinched upon hearing this: this was now the second time he was being reminded of a wrecked bike, and the first time was being shoved down his throat like no tomorrow. To avoid this incident from happening again, Ash smiled nervously. "I guess there's no harm in slowing down a little bit." Ash commented. "(Uh, yeah.)" Pikachu agreed, since even though it wasn't directly his fault, he was the one who destroyed May's bike in the first place.
"That's right!" May replied with a smile of satisfaction on her face. With this, the two continued on their way and then Ash turned to see that May had caught up alongside him. "Let's not forget that you also need to keep an eye on me on the way to Oldale Town. You wouldn't want me to end up lost now, would you?" May asked teasingly. Ash couldn't help smiling nervously and then he nodded: since May was just starting, it had to make sense that he had to be the one to keep an eye on her.
As the two continued their way down the route to Oldale Town, May figured that now would be an appropriate time to ask about something she didn't notice until now. "Hey, Ash?" she asked. "Yeah?" Ash asked in response, turning his head to look at her.
"I always thought that Pokemon were supposed to stay inside their Pokeballs, right?" May asked. "Yeah, but Pikachu likes it better staying outside with me. Right, buddy?" Ash replied, looking up at his little Partner Pokemon with a smile. "(That's right!)" Pikachu agreed sharing the same smile as Ash.
May had to admit she was a bit surprised by this, and she grabbed out the Pokeball that Torchic was inside. "I haven't gotten any complaints from Torchic yet." May said. She then realized something that hadn't crossed her mind until now. "Actually, now that I think about it, I barely know anything about Torchic." May added.
"So how about you look Torchic up in your Pokedex?" Ash suggested. May happily smiled and nodded in agreement at this idea, so she grabbed her Pokedex from out of her bag and opened it up, revealing a black screen and two buttons, a large green one on the bottom and a small red one on the top, to look up information on Torchic.
"All right, let's see. Torchic's a fire type and its moves are..." May started to read, but then Ash looked up and noticed something standing in their path.
"May, look at that!" Ash said. "What is it?" May asked, looking up with him. Standing on the path in front of them was a little blue ball-shaped Pokemon with small round white cheeks, big round ears and a long black tail that had a blue sphere on the end. "Wow, what's that?" May asked looking down at her Pokedex to find out what sort of Pokemon this was.
"Azurill, the Water Ball Pokemon. Azurill is able to throw its tail like a lasso using the momentum to move about." The Pokedex explained, with the voice sounding very feminine. Azurill slowly tilted its head to the side wondering what was going on. May immediately brightly smiled; this little one looked so adorable to her.
"Oh, it's so cute! I want it." May smiled, her excitement building up inside her as if she was a little child again. "So why don't you try and catch it?" Ash asked, noticing how excited May was by the sight of this little Azurill.
"All right then, I'll give it a shot!" May replied. With this, she grabbed a Pokeball out from her bag, while Ash watched on in surprise, and then she threw it straight towards Azurill. Ash stared in alarm: that wasn't the proper way to do it. The Pokeball bounced off Azurill's head and opened up, with Azurill going inside. After this, the Pokeball closed and dropped down on the ground starting to shake rapidly with its centre blinking red. "All right! I caught my first Pokemon!" May cheered, thrilled by her success. However, the Pokeball shook rapidly for a few seconds before it opened up again releasing Azurill. May stared in disbelief at this. "Hey! How come it didn't work?" she asked, not able to figure out why Azurill didn't go in.
"I was about to remind you, May. You need to battle the Pokemon first before you try to catch it." Ash explained: he had actually made the same mistake himself and he wanted to make sure that May didn't end up in the same position that he did.
"Oh, that's right. Thanks for reminding me. It's time for my first Pokemon battle!" May replied. She grabbed the Pokeball Torchic was in and threw it. "Let's go, Torchic!" May called. The Pokeball opened and Torchic came out, and then she jumped up into the air as if she was glad to be out of the Pokeball. As May was trying to remember what Torchic's attacks were since she was looking them up earlier, Azurill started to bounce away on its tail and Torchic gave chase. Coming to a tree, Azurill leapt away while Torchic ran into the tree.
"Torchic, are you okay?" May asked. Torchic jumped up on her feet, evidently unhurt by that head-first impact and quickly ran after Azurill as it bounced away using its tail to help it move faster. "Torchic, slow down! Wait for me!" May called as she and Ash quickly rushed after the two Pokemon.
Azurill bounced back and forth in between bushes while Torchic followed in hot pursuit. The two small Pokemon soon came to a small cliff face and Azurill stopped short before bouncing out of the way while Torchic ran head-first into it, leaving her eyes in the shape of swirls and bruises on her face. Since she and Ash now caught up, May bent down and picked up Torchic. "Torchic, don't do anything until I tell you to, okay?" May asked. Torchic looked up at May with her eyes having gone big and watering up, causing May to show an expression of worry. "Torchic, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" she asked, not wanting to see Torchic get upset.
"May, if you don't hurry, Azurill will get away!" Ash said. May then looked up to see Azurill standing there in front of a tree, having stopped bouncing around. Torchic then jumped out of May's arms and ran over, ready to actually start battling with this little runaway.
"All right. Torchic, use Peck!" May called: she was actually able to remember one of Torchic's moves before coming across Azurill. Torchic then leapt forward to start attacking, but Azurill jumped out of the way leaving Torchic to peck rapidly at the tree. "Torchic, Azurill's over there!" May said. Torchic turned her head to see Azurill bouncing away and quickly started to run after it. "Oh, not again. Torchic, come back!" May said as she and Ash gave chase after them. Azurill was hopping away while Torchic gave chase after it. Torchic then leapt out from behind a bush and shot out small blasts of fire from her beak, after which she could suddenly hear Azurill's cries from behind the bush up ahead. Torchic then happily smiled hearing this and ran over to find Azurill lying on the ground knocked out. As Torchic was looking at the downed Water Ball Pokemon, Ash and May both arrived and noticed this as well.
"May, now's your chance to catch Azurill." Ash said. Hearing this, May quickly grabbed out an empty Pokeball from her bag.
"Pokeball, go!" May yelled out before throwing it. The Pokeball bounced off Azurill's head and opened up, causing Azurill to go inside in a bright red light. After that, the Pokeball closed and dropped down on the ground shaking rapidly while its centre blinked red. Ash and May watched on anxiously while Torchic was just wondering what was going on. After a few seconds, the Pokeball stopped shaking and the centre stopped blinking: that meant that May's catch was successful. May stared in disbelief wondering if she was really seeing this while Ash brightly smiled, happy for May.
"May, you did it! You caught your first Pokemon!" Ash cheered. "(Great job!)" Pikachu added.
May slowly walked over and picked up the Pokeball, staring at it for a few moments still unable to register the fact that she actually succeeded in catching a Pokemon. "You're right..." she said to herself, realising that Ash wasn't kidding: she actually pulled it off. A little later, May opened the Pokeball to let Azurill out. Azurill bounced to look around for a few moments before she looked up at Ash and May. The little Pokemon and May stared at each other in silence, uncertain of what to do first.
"May, aren't you going to say hello?" Ash asked noticing May staring blankly at Azurill, which caused her to turned her glance to him. "Well, I would, but...I really don't have any idea on what to say. How am I supposed to talk to a Pokemon I just caught?" May asked in response.
"How about I give it a try first?" Ash suggested. With that he walked over to Azurill and bent down so he was close to her height while Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder, and Azurill bounced in Ash's direction and looked up at him. "Hi there. Nice to meet you, Azurill." Ash said. Azurill then bounced backwards and started shaking in fear: it seemed that she was a bit frightened by Ash. Ash looked at Azurill in surprise before he gently smiled. "It's okay, Azurill. You don't need to be scared. I won't hurt you, I promise." Ash softly explained. Azurill hopped forward a little bit hearing Ash's words and, seeing that he didn't mean any harm to her, brightly smiled before bouncing over. "Now that's more like it. My name's Ash and this is my friend, Pikachu." Ash said, turning to Pikachu who happily ran over to meet Azurill.
"(Hey there, Azurill. My name's Pikachu.)" Pikachu said. "(Hi. It's nice to meet you.)" Azurill replied, her smile growing bigger now that she felt more relaxed and confident.
May was watching this all the while, and she had to admit that she was impressed by Ash's successful efforts of befriending the new arrival on the team. "Ash really knows what he's doing." she commented, and she couldn't help but wonder if Ash had done things like this before since he seemed to be fully aware of what he was doing. She then walked over to see Azurill and bent down so she was close to the little Pokemon's height. "Hi there, Azurill. I'm May." May said. Azurill looked up at May and then shot a small blast of water from her mouth at May's face. After Azurill stopped, May was soaked; this was now the second time that she had been hit by a water type attack. May immediately shook herself off and glared at Azurill. "What did you do that for?! I didn't ask you for an attack!" she snapped. Azurill jumped back from fright at May's outburst and then she looked down with tears building up in her eyes.
"May, you're scaring Azurill. I think it was just trying to say hello to you." Ash said. May's frown faded upon hearing this and then she looked back down at Azurill who was about ready to start crying. Realising that she shouldn't have responded that way, May showed a small smile and bent back down to Azurill's height. "I'm sorry for yelling at you like that, Azurill. It's just that I'm not very comfortable towards Pokemon at the moment, so I might take a while to get used to them. You're not upset at me, are you?" May asked, gently stroking Azurill's head to try and calm her down. Azurill happily smiled as if she was saying that she wasn't upset at May for her outburst and then happily jumped into May's arms. "Well, that's good to know. You need to go back into your Pokeball now." May commented as she grabbed Azurill's Pokeball out of her bag and held it up to put Azurill back in. But Azurill jumped out of May's arms and landed safely on the ground before starting to bounce off ahead. "Now what's gotten into you, Azurill?" May asked, placing her arms on her hips in puzzlement.
"I think Azurill wants to stay outside and be with you for a little." Ash suggested. Hearing that comment, May looked down at Azurill to figure out if that was true. Azurill happily smiled and nodded in agreement before bouncing up in the air a few times using her tail to help her. May lowered her head to think for a few moments before she smiled and nodded.
"Well, I guess there's nothing wrong with that. You can stay out for a little. Just make you stay with us, okay?" May asked, bending down to Azurill. Azurill happily smiled and nodded in agreement. Sometime later, Ash and May continued their way down the road with Azurill bouncing alongside them. The two looked down at the Water Ball Pokemon that was hopping beside them. "Azurill sure is cute, huh?" May asked.
"Yeah." Ash agreed nodding. He then turned his head to May and found that he wasn't able to take his eyes off her; he wasn't sure what it was or why he was acting like this, but it was as if she had caught his attention. After a few moments, May turned her head to Ash and happily smiled at him and he couldn't help smiling back. This was almost like what happened when they met on the route leading to Littleroot Town: it was only the two of them and no one was there to interrupt them. In fact, Ash didn't even notice Pikachu staring at the two with a smile on his face, like he was noticing that something was up as well. As the two brightly smiled at each other, Ash looked up to notice something up ahead and an expression of intrigue crossed his face. "Hey, look at that." Ash said. May looked up with him to see what it was: just up ahead of them was a pile of brick walls still standing surrounded by several stone pillars circled around them. "What do you think that is?" Ash asked as he and May stopped to look at the odd sight.
"It looks like it might be some old buildings." May replied. "(Yeah...)" Pikachu agreed nodding slowly; he hadn't seen something that looked this strange before. Though coming across odd discoveries seemed to be a thing for him and Ash, this discovery seemed to be something different.
"Well actually, these are the ruins of Oldale." Ash and May glanced up to see that a young man with short dark brown spiked hair wearing a yellow research outfit with a belt around the waist had walked over. "I'm Professor Alden, and I'm here investigating these ruins." The man explained.
"Hi, my name's Ash." Ash replied. "(I'm Pikachu, Ash's partner Pokemon.)" Pikachu said. "And I'm May. Nice to meet you." May added.
"It's nice to meet you two. Where are you off to?" Professor Alden asked. "We're looking for the Pokemon Centre." Ash replied. Professor Alden turned around and looked down where a hill was with a smile. "Well, you don't have too far to go. The Pokemon Centre's just over this hill." Professor Alden said. Ash and May both brightly smiled: that meant that they only had a short distance away.
"That's great. Thanks." Ash said. "Thank you." May added. With this, the two continued their way while Professor Alden watched on. Arriving at the bottom of the hill with evening slowly coming their way, Ash and May soon came to a big white building that had two stories with a big square on the top that had a big red P symbol that stood for Pokemon and there was also what looked like a plus sign on the top.
"So this is what a Pokemon Centre looks like?" May asked. "Yeah, this is the place. Trainers come here to rest as well as have their Pokemon treated while training. Come on, I'll show you inside." Ash responded, nodding in agreement. With this, he stepped inside with the automated door opening up and May followed behind him. A bright smile of surprise crossed May's face as she looked around: there were little round lights being held by long wires as well as potted plants placed around the walls. She then turned to notice someone at the front desk: it was a young woman with bright blue eyes and her red hair tied up in the shape of ringlets wearing a pink dress with a long white apron on top as well as small white shoes and a white nurse hat with a red symbol like on the front of the Pokemon Centre building.
"Ash, who's that at the desk?" May asked, tugging on one of Ash's sweatshirt sleeves to get his attention and pointing at the front desk. Ash turned to see who she was talking about and he brightly smiled before looking back at May. "That's Nurse Joy. She takes care of the Pokemon that are brought in here. And don't worry about charge costs: Nurse Joy's services are free, so Trainers can see her at anytime so she can look after their Pokemon." Ash explained. May sighed in relief: for a minute, she was scared that she would have to pay if she wanted to have her Pokemon treated.
Azurill, who had been looking around the inside intently, started bouncing up and down: she was feeling ready to do some bouncing around after standing still for so long. With this, using her tail to help her, she started hopping around the room while Ash and May turned to see this and stared in shock. "Azurill, stop that! You're going to break something!" May warned. Seeming to not pay any attention to her Trainer's words, Azurill happily bounced around the room fortunately avoiding the potted plants much to the two trainers' relief before hopping up onto the front desk surprising Nurse Joy.
"Oh! Why, hello little one. It's quite a surprise to see you." Nurse Joy commented, looking down at the little Water Ball Pokemon happily hopping up and down with a bright smile on her face. Azurill then turned around to Ash and May quickly coming over towards the front desk and May picked her up from the desk, and she looked down at Azurill with a frown on her desk.
"Azurill, don't do that. You could have knocked something over." May scolded. Azurill looked down sadly with her eyes growing bigger in size. May then looked up at Nurse Joy, her frown being replaced with an expression of concern. "I'm sorry about all of that, Nurse Joy. It's just that Azurill likes to bounce around everywhere." May explained, clearly hoping that Nurse Joy wasn't upset.
"It's all right. That just means that it's very active. You must take really good care of your Azurill." Nurse Joy replied. "Well, to be honest, I just caught this Azurill, so..." May commented showing a nervous smile while rubbing the back of her head with her spare hand. Ash couldn't help himself smiling as he watched this, and then he looked up at Nurse Joy.
"Nurse Joy, could you check to see how Pikachu is feeling?" Ash asked, taking Pikachu off his shoulder and placing him down on the front desk. "Certainly. Would you like to have your Pokemon taken care of too?" Nurse Joy asked, picking Pikachu up and then turning to May while asking that question. May looked down with uncertainty, so she turned to Ash to see him showing her a smile and, knowing that he knew what he was talking about, looking back at Nurse Joy and nodded before grabbing the Pokeballs that Torchic and Azurill were in out of her bag, returning Azurill into her Pokeball and handed them to Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy then placed the Pokeballs in two empty sockets in a machine behind her.
While Ash and May were both waiting patiently for their Pokemon, May turned to Ash: she still looked a little bit uncertain about all of this. "Ash, are you sure Nurse Joy knows what she's doing?" she asked, with an expression of concern on her face. Ash turned his gaze to May to see that she still looked a bit worried, and then he showed her a soft smile and turned to May. "May, I can safely assure you that you don't need to worry. Torchic and Azurill will both be safe in Nurse Joy's care: she has to take care of a lot of Pokemon that are injured, so I'm sure that everything will be all right." Ash explained. Hearing this, May's expression of concern faded being replaced with a smile and nodded; she knew that she could trust Ash. Sure enough, Nurse Joy turned to the two with May's Pokeballs and Pikachu.
"Here you are, you two. Your Pokemon are in perfect condition." Nurse Joy said. Pikachu happily jumped up onto Ash's shoulder and the two friends looked at each other. "That's great to hear, isn't it?" Ash asked. Pikachu immediately nodded in agreement.
May got both of her Pokeballs and threw them up in the air, causing them to open and release both Torchic and Azurill. "How are you two feeling?" May asked. "(I feel great!)" Torchic replied, jumping up into the air with a bright smile on her face. "(Me too. I don't think I've felt this good for a while.)" Azurill agreed. May brightly smiled hearing this from the two; she was glad to hear that they were in good condition, and that meant that Ash was right about Nurse Joy.
"I think a good night's sleep would do you two some good." Nurse Joy suggested. "Yeah." Ash and May agreed in unison. May turned her head to see that there was a small shelf of books beside her, so she walked over to see what there was and noticed that there was a guidebook of the Hoenn Region. May picked it up and flipped through the pages to see that there was information on each town and city of the region as well as places of interest. Figuring that maybe she might need it later, May opened up her bag and placed the guidebook in it. She then turned around and walked back over to Ash.
"Hey, Ash?" she asked. "Yeah, what's up?" Ash asked in response, turning to see May standing there behind him with both her hands behind her back like there was something she wanted to ask him. Sure enough, May did have a question for Ash.
"Well, I was thinking. Now that I'm in a Pokemon Centre, could you show me around?" May asked. "Yeah, of course. But I need to call to someone first before I do." Ash replied. Soon the two were at a row of computers that also had in-built phone systems to keep in touch with others. Ash was sitting in the seat with Pikachu on his lap while May stood beside him looking down at the screen.
"Hey, Professor Oak. I just now got into Oldale Town." Ash said. On the screen, Professor Oak was answering the call from his research lab back in Pallet Town all the way back in Kanto. "That's wonderful, Ash. It's always nice to hear from you." Professor Oak replied. May was watching the screen in surprise and then a bright smile crossed her face when she saw Professor Oak on the screen.
"I've just finished registering for the Hoenn League, so now I'm ready to go and get my first badge." Ash added. "It sounds to me like the start of another big adventure for you, young man." Professor Oak commented. "That's right!" May replied. Professor Oak's expression changed to surprise wondering who said that, so Ash got out of the seat while May hopped on so she could have her say.
"Hi there. We haven't been introduced yet, but my name's May. I'm travelling with Ash." May said. "Well, hello May! I'm Professor Oak from Pallet Town: it's nice to meet you." Professor Oak replied. May then leaned closer to the screen while Ash watched on in confusion.
"I know you. My brother never misses any of your radio lectures. And when he finds out that I got to talk you, he'll be extremely jealous!" May explained. She then showed a determined smile and added "Of course, I know that I'm only a beginning Trainer, but I promise that I'll work hard and do my best!" Ash couldn't help but smile hearing May's determination: it reminded him a lot of how he acted when he was starting his journey.
"Well, May, with Ash by your side I'm sure that you'll do very well." Professor Oak replied. May looked over at Ash showing her bright smile and he couldn't help himself smiling back. "And before I forget, there's someone who would like to see you, Ash." Professor Oak added. Ash sat back down on the seat upon hearing that. "Who's that?" he asked. His reply was given when the transfer machine behind him and May showed a Pokeball inside it. The two walked over at the machine and Ash picked the Pokeball up and threw it into the air, causing it to open and release a small Pokemon with light green skin, dark red eyes with small black marks underneath, a pointed head and a red shape on its belly with small black square marks around its body. The little Pokemon started looking around wondering it was, while Ash brightly smiled as he recognized who it was.
"Larvitar!" he said. Larvitar turned around wondering who said that and looked up to see Ash, to which it brightly smiled and started happily clapping before running over and jumping up into Ash's arms. "Hey, Larvitar. I didn't think I'd see you again." Ash commented standing up as he held the little Pokemon. Larvitar continued clapping clearly happy to be with Ash again. Staring at Larvitar in intrigue, May grabbed out her Pokedex to learn more.
"Larvitar, the Rock Skin Pokemon. Larvitar generally hatch deep within the earth and take a long time before coming to the surface." The Pokedex explained. May then looked up at Larvitar sitting comfortably in Ash's arms and walked over to see it, to which it turned around to notice the brunette. "Hi there, Larvitar. My name's May." May said. Larvitar stared at May in silence for a few moments before freezing up much to May's surprise. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked wondering what had gotten into the Rock Skin Pokemon.
"Larvitar doesn't really like anyone but me, so it hardens up when it meets someone it doesn't know or meets for the first time." Ash explained. May couldn't help but show a small frown and cross her arms: that seemed a bit upsetting that Larvitar didn't take a likeness to anyone but Ash. "Larvitar, how come you're here?" Ash asked, suddenly realising that he didn't give it much thought until now.
"Well, not too long after you left, Larvitar started to miss you. So Ranger Mason decided to transport Larvitar here so it could see you." Professor Oak explained. Ash nearly jumped as one thought immediately crossed his mind. "Was Tyranitar okay with it? I mean, after going through all the trouble to bring Larvitar back, I don't think that Tyranitar would want Larvitar to leave again." Ash said.
"After Ranger Mason explained everything, Tyranitar understood that Larvitar was ready to go out on its own." Professor Oak replied. Ash smiled in relief at this and looked down at Larvitar. "Well, since you're here, would you like to come along with me on my adventure through Hoenn?" Ash asked. Larvitar smiled and immediately nodded, clearly excited about being able to travel with Ash again.
"I also wish you two a safe and successful journey." Professor Oak added. "Thanks!" Ash and May replied in unison. "(Thank you, Professor!)" Pikachu added with a bright smile on his face. With this the screen turned off and Ash turned to May, while she looked at him as well.
"So, May, should we get started on that Pokemon Centre tour?" Ash asked. May brightly smiled and nodded in agreement, so the two stood up, with Pikachu jumping back up onto Ash's shoulder, and started to walk down the hallway.
Meanwhile outside, the Rocket Trio had crammed themselves into a phone booth and were calling Giovanni to let him know where they were. "What? You're in the Hoenn Region?" Giovanni asked. Inside the phone booth, the Rocket Trio had managed to stuff inside: Jessie and James were on either side, Wobbuffet, who had yet again come out when he wasn't needed, was standing in between them and Meowth had climbed up on top of him while James held the phone towards Meowth.
"That's right: still hot on the trail for that rare Pikachu so that one day that Pikachu will finally be all yours." Jessie replied. "And now that we've tracked them down, we're ever so close to the capture!" James added. "Cause when it comes to the honour of Team Rocket, there's nothing we wouldn't do for you." Meowth explained.
"Well, considering that you've taken the time to call me on my private line, I assume you have some good news, yes?" Giovanni asked. On their end of the line, the Rocket Trio started to look quite nervous.
"Well, the thing is..." Jessie started nervously. "Good detective work doesn't come cheaply, so our cash reserves are a bit low." James explained. "Could we... get an advance?" Meowth asked.
"No!" The Rocket Trio nearly jumped at the sudden harsh tone in that response. "You will not receive any more funds!" The Rocket Trio then sighed in dismay: that meant that they were going to be in some real trouble. "However, I do have an opportunity for you." Giovanni added, suddenly sounding less harsh.
"Opportunity?" The Rocket Trio asked in unison, their expressions changing to surprise at the mention of this. "Although Team Rocket are branched internationally, we haven't been able to set up operations in the Hoenn Region yet. So if you three are able to accomplish this, that's when we can talk money." Giovanni explained. After this, he hung up. Back on their end of the line, the Rocket Trio were starting to smile thrilled by what they were just told. "We're going to start a branch office?" they asked in unison.
"Oh, it's an order from the Boss himself to achieve true greatness!" Jessie smiled, her eyes going wide from excitement. "He's practically saying that we're next in line to take over Team Rocket!" James added. "All those harsh long years of struggling were worth it because..." Meowth said. The three then cheered and said "We got a promotion!" Wobbuffet then popped up in front of them and blurted "Wobbuffet!"
Back inside the Pokemon Centre, Ash opened a door to show May what looked like a bedroom. "This room is where the Trainers sleep." Ash explained. May looked inside to see that there were two bunkbeds on either side of the room, a bedside table in the middle of the room between the beds with a small lamp on it and a window on the wall so they could see outside.
"Wow. It doesn't look too shabby." May commented. The two then came out to a larger area of the Pokemon Centre where they could see a group of Trainers on the seats talking to each other. "This area is the Lobby. Here, the Trainers who stay here meet up to share information." Ash explained.
"Really? You mean like where the malls are and the best places to eat and the best clothing shops and things like that?" May asked with a bright smile immediately crossing her face. Ash smiled nervously hearing May's near-endless question. "Well, not exactly. They're all talking about Pokemon and things like that." Ash replied.
"I've heard that there's a new Gym Leader at the Petalburg Gym." Hearing that voice, Ash and May both turned their heads to see that it was from a young man talking to a woman around his age sitting beside him. "Are you sure?" The woman asked. Ash then smiled in excitement and immediately ran over to find out about this while May watched him in surprise.
"Excuse me. Could you tell me who the new Gym Leader is?" Ash asked. May nearly jumped as she listened to this, so she immediately scattered over and grabbed Ash's hand pulling him back towards her showing a nervous smile. "May, what are you doing?! I'm trying to find something out!" Ash said, staring at May with some annoyance.
"Can't you tell that I'm starving? Let's go get something to eat." May suggested. Ash was still a bit puzzled, but regardless he nodded in agreement. So the two headed off to the tables to have some dinner. Once they got to a safe enough distance from the lobby, May quietly sighed in relief: if Ash found out who the Gym Leader was, she could probably get in big trouble. Soon the two were sitting at a table with their Pokemon eating dinner: Ash and May both had rice curries, Pikachu was sitting beside Ash with a bottle of ketchup and Torchic, Azurill and Larvitar were beside the table munching on bowls full of Pokemon food.
"You know, these Pokemon Centres are great. They have everything you could ever need in one place!" May commented with her mouth full of rice curry. "Well, don't forget that they're here for the Trainers so they can rest in between heavy training." Ash replied.
"But you're getting ready for heavy training and I'm training as well, right?" May asked. "Well, when you put it that way..." Ash replied, nodding in agreement.
"The two weary travellers. Glad you made it safely." Someone coming up to see them holding a tray with his own food on it said. Ash and May both looked up to see that it was Professor Alden.
A few miles outside of the Pokemon Centre, a large hole was being dug in the ground: the Rocket Trio was inside digging a tunnel. Holding a bucket, Wobbuffet was scooping up piles of dirt and throwing them over his shoulder outside the hole. James and Meowth were both being distracted by the scent of food coming from inside the building. "Something smells really good." Meowth commented. "Spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread-sticks on the side." James added, being able to recognise what the food was.
"Snap out of it!" The two then opened their eyes, clearly brought out of their own thoughts, and looked to find that Jessie was the one who said that: she was busy digging with her own shovel. "Work on being a good thief, not a restaurant critic." Jessie suggested.
"Oh, right. Thanks." James replied. "As soon as we set up a Team Rocket shop in the Hoenn Region, we're number one!" Meowth said. James then remembered something that had crossed his mind and then turned to Meowth.
"But since we're the only members of Team Rocket in Hoenn, we already are number one, aren't we?" James asked. "Sweet thinking, James!" Meowth commented, a bright smile on his face while James showed an equally bright smile clearly thrilled by what he just realised.
"If you two lazy good-for-nothings take that sort of attitude, Butch and Cassidy will just slide on in and take over!" Jessie retorted, prompting both James and Meowth to turn to her. Butch and Cassidy were both members of Team Rocket as well, but the Rocket Trio saw them as a hurdle to overcome in their plans, especially since they had run into the two a few times before in both Kanto and the Orange Islands.
"Jessie's right. Those no-good crooks." Meowth agreed. "Jessie dear, you're so good with those morale pep talks." James commented. Jessie stared at James in surprise at the compliment, before she smiled and nodded in agreement. With this, the Rocket Trio resumed their digging, singing to motivate themselves while Wobbuffet was dancing behind them.
Meanwhile, Ash and May were with Professor Alden in one of the back rooms which he had made to be his research lab and Ash was looking at a picture of the ruins he and May saw earlier up on the wall. "Professor, are those the same ruins we saw when we were up on that hill?" Ash asked, just to be certain that he was right.
"Yes, they are. And lucky for me, the Pokemon Centre has been generous enough to give me the usage of this room while I continue my research on those ruins. You know, there's a stone chamber within the ruins and legend has it that it's a sort of bridge between our world and the ancient Pokemon world." Professor Alden explained.
"Wow..." May whispered: she found that she was surprisingly awestruck by all of this information. "But because of its strange construction, any attempts to enter the chamber have caused it to begin to crumble. So the contents of the chamber remain unknown." Professor Alden added. Ash had turned his attention back to the picture of the ruins, so he looked over at Professor Alden.
"What do you mean by ancient Pokemon?" Ash asked. "(Yeah, what does that mean?)" Pikachu agreed, being held in Ash's arms all the while.
"Well, I'm not talking about extinct fossil Pokemon like Aerodactyl and Kabuto. I'm talking about ancient Pokemon that have been living since ancient times without changing at all." Professor Alden replied.
"Wow, how cool is that?" Ash commented. "Most of the details about ancient Pokemon such as where they lived and how they lived are still a mystery to the world. I guess it's all that mystery that makes it so fascinating." Professor Alden explained.
"There might be more to Pokemon that I thought." May commented: she was genuinely interested in everything that she was hearing, and she found that she actually liked it. Ash looked back at the picture of the ruins while May looked at it with him. "Ancient Pokemon... Can you imagine how great it would be if we could actually meet one?" Ash asked, turning his gaze to May. May found that she was actually nodding in agreement: here she was saying that she wasn't fond of Pokemon, yet she was now so drawn into the fascination of Pokemon like that existing.
"You might just get your chance, you two." Professor Alden said. Ash and May both turned to him, wondering what he was talking about. "The way to enter the chamber is written on this tablet." Professor Alden explained, showing the two a brown tablet with some unintelligible writing on it as well as what looked like a carving of the ruins on the top.
"No way!" Ash gasped, a bright smile immediately crossing his and May's faces. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" May said.
"Well, there are four keys to enter that haven't been found yet. So we'll have to wait just a little bit longer." Professor Alden replied. Little did the group realise that they were being watched: just outside spying on them from a bush were a group wearing red outfits that had a big M symbol on them.
"I hope we find those four keys soon." Ash commented. The sooner they found those keys, the sooner they could enter the ruins. Just then, the lights went out much to the group's surprise as they looked up at the now gone out lights. "What happened? Are we having a blackout?" May asked. The three then looked to see a group of who looked like thugs wearing red outfits with Houndoom wearing gold armour.
"What is the meaning of this?" Professor Alden asked. The Houndoom were growling while the thugs stood there with sinister smiles.
"Who are those guys?" May asked, her expression of confusion immediately changing to worry. Without any hesitance, Ash stepped in front of May and spread one arm out in front of her: he wanted to make sure she was safe in case these guys had any business with them.
"Professor Alden, we would like you to accompany us on a little journey to the Oldale Ruins." One of the thugs, a male, explained. "I will not!" Professor Alden retorted. Ash stood there with a determined expression, with his arm still out in front of May to protect her. Just then, the group could see Nurse Joy come over holding a flashlight.
"I'm sorry, Professor Alden. When the power went out..." Before Nurse Joy could continue her sentence, she gasped in surprise to see the group of thugs and was about to run when another thug came from behind her and grabbed her by the arm to hold her back.
"Well now, Professor. Would you like to change your mind?" The thug, clearly the leader of the group, asked. Professor Alden was hesitant for a few moments before he replied "All right. I'll go with you, then."
A little later, Ash, May and Nurse Joy were thrown into a storage room. "Hey, let us out of here!" Ash yelled, pounding on the door even though it was locked from the outside which meant that they couldn't get out. "What do you think they want?" May asked standing up on her feet after being thrown in like that.
"To get inside the chamber, I'll bet." Nurse Joy replied. "Nurse Joy, do you know those people?" Ash asked, turning to her.
"No, I don't. But I'm sure that they're the ones who caused that blackout by cutting off the power here." Nurse Joy responded. Upon hearing her words, she then gasped at what this meant. "And that means that all of the Pokemon being treated here are in danger!" she added.
"Well, what are we going to do?" May asked. "We'll have to turn on the reserve power right away." Nurse Joy said. "We need to figure out how to get out of here first." Ash added.
"(Ash!)" Ash, May and Nurse Joy turned to see that Pikachu was pointing to an air shaft that had a cover on it. "(We can go through this way.)" Pikachu explained. It quickly made sense to Ash: if they went through the air shaft, they could head back to the front desk and turn on the reserve power.
"Pikachu, that's great!" Ash smiled. Pikachu showed a happy smile, glad that he could help out his friend.
Outside, the Rocket Trio poked their heads out from their finished tunnel. "Tunnel complete!" They cheered... only to realise that they had surfaced just a few centimetres outside of the Pokemon Centre. "Okay, so I was off by a smidge." Meowth commented. Hearing growling, the Rocket Trio turned their heads to see the group of thugs with their Houndoom out and Professor Alden in custody.
"Would you mind telling me what you're doing here?" The leader of the group asked. The Rocket Trio then smiled, clearly not intimidated by this group that they had never seen before.
"We're doing whatever we want to do." Jessie replied. "You're looking at this region's top Team Rocketeers!" James added. "Prepare for trouble and make it double and all that jazz!" Meowth finished.
With this, Jessie and James sent out their powerhouses that they had since Kanto: Arbok and Weezing. However, the Houndoom suddenly barking frightened the two so much that they returned themselves into their Pokeballs. Jessie and James both stared at their Pokeballs wondering what had gotten into them, until they looked up to see how threatening the Houndoom actually looked. The Rocket Trio stepped back in fear and then immediately jumped back into the hole they dug. "We…must have taken a wrong turn." Jessie commented. "Sorry for the confusion, boys." James added. "Bye now!" Meowth said before the Rocket Trio headed down into the tunnel going back the way they came.
Back inside the Pokemon Centre at the storage room, Nurse Joy was waiting anxiously: Ash had already gone into the air shaft with Pikachu following beside him. As Ash was crawling through the small tunnel, he suddenly heard someone call behind him. "Ash, slow down." Ash turned his head to notice that May was following right behind him.
"May, why are you coming?" Ash asked. "Why would I miss out?" May asked in response. Ash was silent before he figured to let May come along: he could use her help right now. The two continued their way through the air shaft until they came to a splitting tunnel leading two ways.
"Now which way do we go?" Ash asked as he and May looked down both routes, uncertain of which way to take. Pikachu's ears started to twitch and he pointed down the left route. He then ran off ahead and, after stopping to look around, pointed to the left again. "(Guys, this way!)" Pikachu called, happily smiling as he figured out their route. Ash and May both crawled over and bright smiles immediately crossed their faces when they saw that the way out just up ahead.
"There's the exit!" Ash noticed. "Wow. Pikachu is pretty smart." May commented.
Ash then busted the front grate off and he, Pikachu and May crawled out of the air shaft now at the front entrance. Ash reached behind the front desk to grab a key while May went to turn the reserve power on. "Here's the Master Key Nurse Joy was talking about." Ash said. Just then, he looked up to see that the lights had come back on and he turned to see May run over to the desk.
"The reserve power's on." May confirmed. "That's great. Thanks, May." Ash replied. The two then ran to the storage room to open the door and get Nurse Joy out. "Will you be okay, Nurse Joy?" Ask asked.
"Yes, I will." Nurse Joy replied. "Great. We're going to go help Professor Alden." Ash said. With this, he and May quickly rushed out of the Pokemon Centre to make their way to the Oldale Ruins where they were certain Professor Alden was taken.
Sure enough at the Oldale Ruins, the group of thugs had arrived with Professor Alden. "What is the meaning of this? Why did you bring me here?" Professor Alden asked. "Why do you think? We brought you here so you could help us get access to the stone chamber." The leader of the group responded. Professor Alden turned to see the entrance of the chamber behind him and then he looked back at the leader.
"If we try to force our way in, the chamber will collapse." Professor Alden said. "But you yourself said that the way in is written on this little tablet, is that right, Professor?" The leader asked, holding up the stone tablet that Professor Alden was holding earlier.
"That's true, but I also said that I need to have the four treasures as keys." Professor Alden replied. With this, another member of the group showed a small case of four stones of different colours inside: one green, one yellow, one red and one blue. "What?! Where did you get them?" Professor Alden asked, reasonably shocked by the fact that the keys were here.
"You see, we have friends in high places. The only thing left to do is find out which key goes in which hole and you will help us with that." The group leader explained. "I will not!" Professor Alden retorted.
"We won't let you get into the chamber!" Hearing that voice, Professor Alden and the group of thugs turned to see Ash and May running over, with Pikachu sitting on Ash's shoulder like always: Ash was the one who yelled that out as they got closer to the ruins.
"Don't worry, Professor Alden! We're on our way!" Ash called. "You guys better let him go or you'll be sorry!" May warned. The two then stopped running as they approached the group of thugs.
"Do you two kids really think you can stop us?" The leader asked. After a few moments to catch his breath, Ash looked up with an expression of determination on his face.
"We aren't just kids. We're Pokemon Trainers. And we won't be afraid to let you know where you stand, especially when you try to get away with things like this. We'll stop you from getting into that chamber ourselves!" Ash called, pointing to the thugs with complete fearlessness. "(That's right! You'll regret messing with us!)" Pikachu agreed showing the same determination as Ash. May stared at Ash with a loss of words: she was immensely impressed by just how unafraid of these guys Ash was. She then turned to the thugs, figuring that maybe she should say something as well. "To be honest, I may only just be starting as a Trainer, but I won't be afraid to take you on if I have to!" May yelled out.
"Well then, let's see what you've got." The leader replied. With this, two of the members threw their Pokeballs out, causing them to open and release the Houndooms wearing golden armour that were out in the Pokemon Centre.
"You ready, Pikachu? Let's go!" Ash said, turning to his partner. Pikachu nodded in agreement and he immediately jumped off Ash's shoulder landing safely on the ground. Ash then turned to May noticing that she wasn't certain on who to send out. "May, get Azurill out here. Since Houndoom are part fire type, Water Gun will be effective against them." Ash suggested.
"Okay." May replied nodding. With this, she grabbed the Pokeball that had Azurill in it out of her bag. "Azurill, I choose you!" May called as she threw the Pokeball. It opened and released Azurill showing a bright smile, who bounced on the ground once and landed beside Pikachu ready for her first battle.
"You have those little Pokemon? Do you really believe they would stand a chance?" The group leader asked. Pikachu glared at the Houndoom with his cheeks sparking with electricity while Azurill showed a determined expression: she had a lot more power underneath her adorable exterior.
"Well, you're clearly underestimating how strong our Pokemon can be. Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" Ash replied. Pikachu then charged forward towards one of the Houndoom, jumping out of the way of a strong blast of fire sent in his direction from the Houndoom's mouth, and slammed into the Houndoom sending it stumbling backwards. May watched on in silence for a few seconds before she registered that she should actually do something as well.
"All right, guess it's my turn. Azurill, use Water Gun!" May called. Azurill bounced forward and shot out a strong blast of water from her mouth at the other Houndoom, completely soaking it and causing it to stare in disbelief. May then brightly smiled seeing that she was actually being successful at a battle. "All right! This is actually better than I thought it would be!" she cheered. Azurill bounced up in the air, thrilled that she was battling successfully.
Not too far away hiding behind a toppled over pillar, the Rocket Trio were watching this scene on after going back through their tunnel. "Are you seeing this?" Jessie asked. "Crystal clear, dear." James replied. Meowth turned his gaze and he immediately smiled when he noticed something of his interest.
"Hey, check that out!" Meowth said, pointing in the direction he was looking in. Jessie and James both turned to see what he found and noticed the case with the four treasures inside. The three then started to smile sneakily, knowing what exactly they would do.
Back on the battle scene, Ash and May were both busy taking on the group of thugs. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash said. Pikachu jumped up in the air and released a strong bolt of electricity at the Houndoom. Unfortunately, the armour they were wearing reflected the electricity causing the bolts to fly all over the place. "Look out, you two!" Ash warned. Pikachu's eyes went wide in panic and he quickly started to run out of the way as the bolts struck the ground while Azurill bounced out of the way.
"Azurill, be careful! You could get electrocuted!" May called. Just then, she and Ash looked up to see a helicopter slowly descend onto the ground. The thugs turned to notice and the leader of the group turned to the others.
"We no longer have business here. Let's pull out." The leader said. The group nodded in agreement and then they turned and started to climb on board the helicopter. As the leader climbed on, he turned to Ash and May who were wondering what was going on. "This won't be the last time you see us. Team Magma will achieve their plans, one way or another." The leader explained, before closing the door and the helicopter lifted up into the air before flying away. Ash and May watched before they looked down to see Professor Alden watching the helicopter leave and ran over to him.
"Professor!" Ash called. Professor Alden turned to see Ash and May and brightly smiled. "Are you okay?" May asked, with an expression of concern.
"Yeah, I'm just fine." Professor Alden replied. Ash and May both smiled in relief at this, and then Ash looked up at the direction the helicopter went. "Who were those guys? They said their name was Team Magma..." Ash said to himself. He then decided not to let it bother him and turned to May. "May, I've got to say that for your first battle, that was actually pretty impressive. We sure managed to teach those guys a lesson." Ash commented. Pikachu happily nodded in agreement.
"Wow, you think so? Thanks." May replied, looking down shyly with a bright smile. Meanwhile, the Rocket Trio poked their heads out from their hiding place: while everyone's backs were turned during the battle, they had managed to sneak over and grab the four treasures for themselves. "Just look what the Meowth dragged in: four shiny new treasures!" Meowth commented.
Wobbuffet suddenly popped out of his Pokeball and blurted "Wobbuffet!" a little too loudly for his own good. Ash, May and Professor Alden turned their heads to see the Rocket Trio while they were busy trying to get Wobbuffet to keep his mouth shut. "You guys?" Ash asked, reasonably surprised to see them since they weren't anywhere in sight until now.
"Hey! You give back those treasures!" Professor Alden yelled. In response, Jessie grabbed out a Pokeball and threw it, causing it to open and release Arbok. May then stepped forward much to Ash's surprise: she figured she could give this a shot.
"I'll take care of this. Azurill, use Water Gun!" May said. Azurill shot a strong blast of water from her mouth straight at Arbok, sending Arbok flying backwards and slamming into the Rocket Trio causing them to drop the treasures which landed on the ground. Seeing that they were now distracted, Ash then decided to step in.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash called. Pikachu released a strong bolt of electricity, shocking the Rocket Trio and sending them flying into the night sky. Once they were gone, Ash turned to May. "May, I didn't expect you to step in. That was pretty good." he commented. May brightly smiled while her cheeks started to glow red.
Professor Alden bent down and picked up the four treasures, after which he looked up at the two. "So, are you two ready to enter the chamber?" he asked. Ash and May both nodded in agreement: that was what they were looking forward to since they learnt about them. With this, the three walked over to the door where Professor Alden placed the treasures in the right holes. After a few seconds, the treasures started to glow brightly in their certain colour and the door slowly moving forward revealing the chamber. Ash, May and Professor Alden stepped inside and looked around in awe: all around them, the walls were covered in unintelligible writing as well as carved pictures of various fossil Pokemon like Kabuto and Kabutops.
"Wow...this looks amazing!" May gasped as the three looked around the room. "Yeah. These panels depict ancient people and Pokemon living together." Professor Alden agreed, slowly nodding. As the three were taking a look at the various writings and pictures, May noticed that there was the door in the centre of the room. Her curiosity peaking, May ran over and had a look at the door and she noticed that it seemed to be covering something.
"Guys, look at this!" May said getting Ash and Professor Alden's attention. The two ran over to where May was to see what she found. "It's the door that led into the chamber. But it looks like there might be another hidden room in here: it looks like it might be shown if the four treasures are placed in the slots." May explained. Hearing that suggestion, Professor Alden placed the four treasures in the slots. Just then, the group could see sunlight coming into the chamber and they turned to see that the sun was rising over the horizon. "It's morning already?" May asked.
"I guess so. We were so caught up in everything that we didn't notice how fast time went by." Ash commented. Just then, the four treasures started to glow bright white sending the white lights streaking through the lines across the walls while Ash, May and Professor Alden watched on in surprise. As the white light streaked everywhere, the door slowly moved to reveal a staircase leading down into a hidden area.
"Well, let's take a look." Professor Alden said before heading down the staircase. Ash started to follow, but he stopped and turned to see that May wasn't following them. "Aren't you coming too, May?" he asked.
"I would, but..." May looked down at where the staircase was leading before taking a step back with worry. "Not knowing what's down there makes me feel a bit nervous."
Ash showed a soft smile before he stepped forward and offered May his hand. "That's okay. You can stay beside me if that helps you feel better." Ash said. May stared at Ash's hand in silence for a few moments before she smiled and took her hand in his. The two then headed down the staircase together and found that they were in what looked like a hidden cave with a large pool of water in the centre. "It's an enormous underground water supply!" Professor Alden noticed.
"It smells so fresh and clean." May commented. "You're right." Ash agreed. As the three looked down at the large water area wondering what was in there, a large fish-like Pokemon with a brown skin colour as well as grey spots on its skin and long fins on its body leapt out of the water much to the group's shock before landing back in with a large splash.
"It's the ancient Pokemon, Relicanth!" Professor Alden gasped in amazement. "That's an ancient Pokemon?" Ash asked while he and May were still staring in awe.
"It's true: these ruins are a portal between the present and the past." Professor Alden said. Ash and May both brightly smiled and then turned to each other.
"Ash, this is amazing. We discovered the secret of the Oldale Ruins! And it's even more impressive that I thought it would be." May cheered. Ash happily nodded in agreement with her. All the while, the two didn't notice that they were still holding hands, but they didn't seem to care.
Sometime later, Ash and May arrived back at the Pokemon Centre. "Nurse Joy, were you able to find out anything else about those crooks?" Ash asked.
"Officer Jenny is doing everything she can, but so far, no clues." Nurse Joy replied. "Well, that's too bad." May commented looking down in dismay. Ash then decided it would be best not to think about it for the moment and focus on other things.
"I guess it's time to head over to Petalburg City, right?" he asked. "(That's right!)" Pikachu agreed: they had their first Gym Badge to win.
"Ash!" Ash and May turned their heads to see Professor Alden run over to see them. "Leaving so soon?" Professor Alden asked. Ash and May both nodded in agreement. "Guess what? I've been doing a little more research over at the stone chamber, and every indication so far has lead to ancient Pokemon and man living peacefully." Professor Alden explained.
"Wow, that's great!" Ash smiled. "You've learnt so much about all of this, and so quickly too." May commented. Professor Alden nodded in agreement.
"I can hardly stop working, even to sleep! There are so many undiscovered secrets in the world of Pokemon." Professor Alden explained. May was listening intently: she couldn't agree more with him.
A little later, Ash and May were off continuing their way to Petalburg City. "Hey, I forgot! I never got to find out who the new Petalburg Gym Leader was." Ash said. May turned to Ash hearing this, and then she turned away with a nervous smile on her face.
"Well, I wouldn't really know about that." May replied. Ash turned his gaze to May wondering if she knew who the Gym Leader was, but wasn't telling him, but he decided not to ask her about it.
"I'm going for my first Hoenn Gym battle, and that first badge will be mine!" Ash announced. "(You know it!)" Pikachu agreed. Ash and May were now well on their way to Petalburg for Ash's first gym battle.
Meanwhile, all the way back at Littleroot Town, a ferry was pulling up at port. The two getting off the ferry were a seventeen year-old woman with bright blue eyes and orange hair tied up pointing upwards on the side of her head wearing a small yellow t-shirt with a blue button on the front with a dark red t-shirt underneath with matching yellow shorts, dark yellow shoes with an orange stripe on them, a red bag with a blue handle over her shoulder and holding a Togepi in her arms, and a twenty year-old man with light brown skin and dark brown spiked hair wearing a brown short-sleeved zipped vest with a green t-shirt underneath, grey tracksuit pants and dark blue sneakers with a white stripe on the front and a large bag with two handles on his back: they were Brock Harrison and Misty Waterflower.
"Well, we're finally here. This is Littleroot Town." Brock commented as he and Misty looked around at their destination.
"Yeah, this is it. And this is the start of a new adventure...just as soon as we catch up with Ash!" Misty said with Togepi happily chirping in her arms. With this, the two started to rush off: they had to catch up with Ash as soon as possible and there was little time to waste.