AN: Here's chapter 2 of Potential Investigated! Sorry it took so long to get up but I needed to figure out the direction I wanted to go. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Pokémon!

"Future shock is the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to much change in too short of time." –Alvin Toffler

"Everything can change in an instant. And then there is only before and after."

Chapter 2

Asher rode her bike toward the warehouse north of town. The warehouse was normally empty that businesses rented out for storage for a limited time. Last time there were artifacts that were going to be transported to Slateport City. Instead of going straight up to the building she took a detour toward the trees to hide herself. Stopping her bike about half a mile back she walked the rest of way. She knew for this she was going to have to get down and dirty. As she reached the bushes she took out her binoculars to try and see inside.

She couldn't quite see inside. She'd have to get closer to get a better look inside if she wanted to do some real investigative reporting. She carefully walked up the building hiding along the sidings. She carefully go up on a crate and pulled out her camera. She was glad she always brought it with her. Carefully standing on her crate she brought herself up to the window. Ashur's eyes widen seeing what she could see inside.

She might not like Pokémon in simple terms, but this seemed so wrong. This was clearly on the range of being a felony. Her camera and eyes were catching everything. No one was going to believe her. Three cages stacked high with sorrow faced Pokémon in each. Clipboards were attached to each one and she couldn't quite make out what any on them were saying. Lab equipment also scattered around the place on the metal tables. She needed a closer look and the window happen to be open. Ashur slowly pushed he window open further to get in and slowly slipped in before dropping to the ground. Luckily no human guards were inside or else they might have heard her. Looking around she went to the nearest cage where an Electrike laid. It slowly lifted it head and stared at her. Ashur paid no mind to the Pokémon and looked at the clipboard attached.

"Hm...Pokémon unaffected...To be determined. No bid? What are they doing?" Asher said before looking to the above it. "Pokémon determined successfully infected with the virus, bidding will begin next week? Are they auctioning them after experimentation?"

She looked to the table and saw a needle before looking to the Electrike who was still staring at her. She sighed. Sometimes doing field experiments were cool, but she didn't like this one. She raised the needle and showed it to the electric type. Instantly the Pokémon reacted growling at her and showing teeth.

"Grrrr."

"It's okay. I'm not going too." Asher said putting it back down. She made sure to get the response on her camera. "Don't worry."

Quickly taking her phone from her pocket she snapped photos of what she was seeing as well as the information on the clipboards. She needed to get out and call her boss. He needed to know right away as she also needed to call the police. As she took a last look around even she knew what whoever was doing to these Pokémon wasn't right. She slowly moved the camera around before saving the video and turned to leave as she placed it back into her bag.

As Asher turned around she bumped into a cage that proceed to fall to the floor. Unable to catch it in time at the risk of the camera it clanged against the ground. She winced and looked around. The only ones who heard that were the Pokémon. She quickly looked to the cage to find it...empty. She could have sworn she had a seen a Pokémon in this one a moment ago. Looking around for it she didn't see it. She shrugged her shoulders thinking she just imaged it.

"What was that?" a voice said from outside.

'Crap.' Asher thought made a break for the window. Apparently her sniff was over. She'd have to come back. She would come back. She made to the window and jumped grabbing the window seal. She cursed as she missed and tried again having better weighted herself. She didn't think her bag weighed that much with her camera and other items inside. She didn't put her phone in there this time as it was in her pocket.

"Hey! Stop right there!" a voice shouted. Knowing better than to turn and look at the two guards she crawled through the window. By the time they could have gotten any chance at grabbing her she was already gone.

"After her!"

Asher jumped to the ground and instantly broke out into a sprint back to where she parked her bike. If she got back there she would be okay and be able to make it back into town. She could hear shouting behind her and realized the people were on her tail. She smiled seeing her bike in sight and quickly hopped on and quickly rode back into town.

The guards could only watch as the intruder rode off on a bike toward Mauville City. They didn't have any chance catching her especially on foot or have means of a Pokémon attempt. They weren't provided Pokémon yet from the boss having just arrived in town. One of the guards pulled out his phone.

"Boss, we might have a situation here." He said to the person on the other line. There was pause as the boss was answering his guard. "Yeah, that's the one I'm sure."


When Asher reached the office what seemed like minutes later she was out of breath and exhausted. She collapsed on the bench in from of the office and took a minute to herself as she was coming off the adrenaline rush. That was insane and couldn't see how people do that daily. However, she had to admit that it was awesome. What wasn't awesome was what was happening a couple miles outside the city. She got and turned around and smacked into the door.

"Ow." She said rubbing her face to sooth it. She tried the door again and it wouldn't open. It was locked. "Weird."

MC needed to know about this now. Not tomorrow. This was important. She pulled her phone from her pocket and scrolled through her contacts finding his name and hitting talk. It rang a couple times before he answered.

"Asher? What is it now?" MC answered rather rudely.

Asher rolled her eyes before she answered quickly, "You were right, the missing Pokémon were there and even worse they are being experimented on or something."

"Slow down. What?" MC asked.

"You heard me. Those Pokémon are in danger. You want compassion well I'm telling you we need to set this up now. This isn't press news, but for the media."

"Asher, I know you worked hard, but have seen the time?" he asked.

Now that he mentioned no, she hadn't. She looked around for a clock and saw it on the wall beside her. It was eleven o'clock at night. Oh. That's why. The news was already over and everyone had gone home. Now that she thought about it more it made sense. She presented her rejected story before the afternoon press release and it take a little while to ride out. She didn't even realize it had gotten dark.

"Oh. Sorry." She apologized.

MC sighed, "It's fine. Asher, go home and get some sleep and come to the office early tomorrow and we'll get this settled."

"Shouldn't we at least tell the police?" Asher asked. They needed to save those Pokémon.

"Tomorrow. We can't do much about it now at this time and I want to make what we have to solid before we start something we can't back up. I don't want to lose my job based on your evidence." MC explained. "Asher?"

"Fine." Ashur reluctantly agreed. "Tomorrow."


Asher got home about fifteen minutes and tiredly put her key into her apartment door. She opened the door, turned on the lights, and tossed her keys and bag on the table before collapsing on the couch. She groaned and closed her eyes hoping sleep could claim her.

"Ra."

Asher quickly sat up and looked around. She could have sworn she heard a voice. She looked around her apartment and couldn't see anyone. She breathed thinking she was just hearing things. She experience so much today and she actually felt horrible that she couldn't free those Pokémon. She had no way to open the cage and even if so she would have been caught. She shook her head.

"Ral?"

Asher's eyes darted to her bag that was currently wiggling. Her eyes widen questioning why he bag was moving. She carefully grabbed the flap of her bag and quickly flipped it up. Staring back at seated comfortably in her bag was a Ralts looking up at her with its reddish pink eyes peeking out from under its head.

"Ah!" Asher screamed and quickly slapped her hand over her mouth realizing she screamed. She didn't want to wake her neighbors and get in any trouble. The Ralts squealed and teleported into a chair across the room. Asher breathed heavy for a moment before catching her breath. "What are you? How did you?"

"Ralts?" the Pokémon questioned. "Ralts!"

Asher instantly grabbed her head as her mind was flooded with images. Being a psychic type she was aware the type were able to telepathic communicate with others, but she didn't think Ralts was strong enough. Apparently she had been wrong about him. He showed her all that happened to him. She saw him being taken from his home off Route 102. She saw what exactly they were doing to those Pokémon and what they did to Ralts too. She could almost feel the pin pricks of the needles. She saw herself coming and knocking the cage holding Ralts to only have it break open giving the Pokémon a chance to teleport into her bag to escape. She felt a sense of overwhelming sense of relief. Shaking her head she stared at the Pokémon.

The more she looked at the Pokémon the feelings set in. She sat down on the couch on the couch feeling conflicted. She felt so sorry for those Pokémon, for Ralts, but at the same time she couldn't help think about all her past experiences with Pokémon that made her, well, not like them.

She wasn't obviously when it came to Pokémon. Far from it. She knew that the Pokémon in front of her was a Ralts, a psychic and fairy type. She was also aware Ralts only came toward people with cheery and positive disposition. Asher was sure that wasn't her especially toward Pokémon.

"Why?" she asked him.

"Ralts." Ralts said as he open his arms up.

"Free. Because I set you free and want to set your friends?" Asher guessed.

"Ralts." The Pokémon nodded.

Asher rubbed her eyes. She didn't know what to think. Now she didn't think she'd have a Pokémon in her life and here one was sitting in her chair. She didn't know what to do and scratched her head.

"Now what?" Asher asked Ralts. Ralts didn't answer except with a growl coming from his tiny stomach. Ralts blushed and grabbed his midsection. "Hungry?"

"Ral." Ralts answered carefully and slowly.

"Well then let's see if I have something you can eat." Ashur said walking toward the kitchen.

Ralts carefully looked into the kitchen at the human. She was interesting per say. He was well aware she didn't have the most positive outlook on Pokémon, but she was a million times better than the people he was with. He was safe here. She was sorting through her cabinets and he heard rustling. He figure she found something taking a package from a bigger box before throwing the said box away.

"Well I couldn't find much but I have this. It's a sweet bun. I usually have them on the go for breakfast but it should be okay for you." Asher said unwrapping and handing out the bun to the psychic type.

Using Confusion Ralts lifted the bun into his arms and smelled it. It smelled good and safe. He had seen her the entire time so there was no way she could have done anything plus she said she eats them. Cautiously he took a bite and instantly was overcome with the sweetness and softness.

"Ralts!" He cheered happily for the first time in months and gobbled down his treat.

"Glad you like it." Asher said calmly.

"Raaallllts!" Ralts yawned as he then looked up to Asher.

"Go ahead. You won't have to worry." Asher reassured him as he then curled on the chair and went to sleep. Asher knew what he was silently asking her. She didn't know whether or not this place was safe but it was for right now.

Asher stared at the Pokémon wondering what to do with him. She guessed she'd decided that tomorrow after she helped his friends that were still trapped in there. Looking at the clock to see it was after midnight she might as well turn in to get a head start on tomorrow. She could finally feel everything coming down and she just wanted to sleep. Taking a glance at Ralts she grabbed her cardigan and draped it over the sleeping Pokémon. Asher then turned and went to her room.

AN: Well that's the end of chapter 2! I already know what I'm doing for three so I hoping it shouldn't be too much longer of a wait for it. That just shows what extreme shock and becoming compassionate can do. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed and will Review, Favorite, and Follow in the meantime! Bye!

Words of the Chapter:

Investigative reporting: The pursuit of information that has been concealed, such as evidence of wrongdoing.

Felony: Serious crime punishable by death or imprisonment.

Field experiment: A research technique in which the reporter deliberately takes some action to observe the effects. For example, a perfectly tuned automobile could be taken to several repair shops to find out if the mechanics would invent problems that required fixing.

Sniff: The preliminary phase of an investigation.