Evening was arriving now. Joe and Winter continued their walk, though they were getting tired now. They had been walking for hours and where exhausted. They hadn't had anything to drink for hours and the day only got hotter and hotter. Ralph was getting tired, too. He looked ready to fall out of the air. At one point they had come to an area of river they had to swim across, so Winter had gotten back out her Staryu and poliwrath, Stream, to carry her and Joe across. This would have been a good place for them to rest and get a drink, except that the river was salt water. They continued on, still tired and parched. Once they reached the other bank they trampled back onto land and withdrew their water pokémon. The path continued on, passing mountains and small forests with all kinds of strange pokémon poking their heads out. Then, finally, they saw buildings in the distance. They exclaimed together in joy.

"Oh thank god! Civilisation!" Joe gasped.

"Somewhere to rest." Winter added.

"Croooo!" Ralph agreed. They picked up pace and hurried onwards, heading for their first destination in this new region.

From the outside this small countryside settlement seemed peacefull and tranquill, where nothing bad could ever occur. As they walked into the new town, however, they noticed quickly that something wasn't right. There were so many people out but not one of them looked happy or upbeat or even carefree. Every single one of them seemed to be worried and frightened about something. Their eyes darted around, their movements were jittery and quick, their bodies where slouched and defensive. They all walked quickly from place to place, not in a hurried manner, but more of a fearful and concerned manner. The group looked around, not sure what was going on.

"Why is everyone moving about so much?" Winter wandered.

"They seem agitated about something." Joe agreed. As they watched a woman and her husband passed by looking very saddened. The woman was sobbing her eyes out, her partner trying to comfort her the best he could. Beside them a small pudgy brown ferret creature followed after them, bounding along with its long fat tail flailing behind it. They walked away slowly and turned a corner out of sight, the sound of sobbing following them away. The group looked back at each other. "We should as someone what's going on." Joe decided. Winter and Ralph nodded. "But who would know?"

"What about her?" Winter asked. She pointed past him towards a row of houses, all with multiple simple coloured exterior walls yet all with the same shape and make.

"Who?" Joe asked as he turned. Then he noticed who she was talking about. Standing in the doorway of one of the houses was a young girl, about age eight, in a small red and white dungaree dress and small puffy bobble hat. Her eyes were red with tears and her cheeks wet. Her lower lip seemed to be trembling a little as she fought back tears. Joe looked at the distraught child and turned back to winter. "That little girl?" He asked. "Why her?"

"You'll be surprised the information you can learn from speaking to little children." Winter explained. "If they feel they can trust you they'll be honest, they'll exaggerate less when they're and when they do exaggerate you can always tell." She walked past him and slowly strolled over towards the young girl. Joe looked at Ralph who also looked a little unsure.

"Stay here for now." Joe told him. "You know… just in case she doesn't like big scary bats." Ralph looked offended, but obeyed his friend's request. Joe smiled at him and followed Winter.

The girl was now sitting on the front step of her home, her head in her lap and sobbing still. She looked up as she heard arriving footsteps to see a ginger haired older girl with green eyes smiling kindly at her. The girl felt a little nervous but just continued to look at her. Winter knelt down and kept up her disarming smile.

"Hey there." She said in a calm and sweet voice. "Are you ok?" The girl sobbed.

"I'm ok." She choked. Winter tilted her head.

"Then why are you crying?" She asked. The girl broke into tears. "Hey, it's ok. I only want to help." The girl continued to weep. "My name's Winter." She told the child. "What's your name?"

"Lyra." The girl said through snuffles. "Lyra Peterson." Winter smiled at her.

"Lyra." She repeated. "That's a pretty name. Where are your parents?" It was at this point Joe arrived on the scene. Lyra began to curl up into a defensive wall.

"What have you found out?" Joe asked Winter aloud. She shushed him immediately and he gave her a confused 'What?' expression.

"Joe, this is Lyra." She explained to him, keeping her voice calm and quiet for the hysterical child. "Lyra, this is my friend, Joe." Lyra looked up at the two of them, looking them both in the eyes and seemingly reading their facial expressions.

"Is he your, like, boyfriend?" She asked. Winter seemed to blush.

"Oh, no, of course not. No." She told her, seeming a little discomforted.

"No. Nothing like." Joe agreed, also blushing.

"No, we're just… just friends." Winter told her. She swallowed embarrassedly and flicked her hanging hair over her back. "We're both pokémon trainers. We've just arrived here from Kanto and we saw all the commotion in town so we came to see if we could help. Do you know what's going on here, Lyra?" She asked. Lyra shrugged.

"I don't think I know exactly…" She muttered slowly and unsurely.

"Could you just explain it to us anyway?" Joe asked. Lyra was about to explain when suddenly she notice Ralph in the distance watching them. Joe turned and sighed with disappointment. 'Now she was going to scream and run inside where we couldn't talk to her. Great. Nice job, Ralph. Floating like a lemon only a few feet away is a great way to hide yourself. Good work. Scaring kids is a new page in your book of useful skills.' But to his surprise Lyra didn't cry or scream when she saw him. Instead she started to giggle and clap. She pointed at the flying purple creature.

"What is that?" She asked. Winter and Joe looked at Ralph. Ralph looked back, confused.

"That's my friend." Joe explained to her. "He's a crobat."

"Is he friendly?" She asked. Joe nodded slowly.

"Yes." He smiled. "He's very friendly."

"Can I pet him?" She pestered. Joe suddenly looked unsure. Ralph didn't like it much when Joe patted him on the back. How would he react to a young child pampering him like a puppy?

"Uh, sure you can." Joe told her, without asking Ralph if he was okay with it first. He looked back at his floating four winged companion and waved a hand to him. "Ralph, come here." He called. Ralph looked around to make sure Joe wasn't talking to anyone else before pointing to himself, getting a bothered nod from Joe and flying across to join the two trainers and the young girl. Lyra smiled up at the man sized purple monster.

"Hi." She said, smiling excitedly. Ralph smiled back, revealing his fangs. Lyra giggled more. "He's cute." She chuckled. Ralph blushed.

"Ok, so, Lyra…" Joe interrupted as the little girl began petting the much bigger crobat as he perched on the step beside her. Ralph wasn't very happy about it but he put up with it to keep her calm. "Can you explain to us what you know of what is happing here right now?" Joe asked. Lyra seemed to think for a second.

"I'm not sure why everyone in town is scared, but it has something to do with my sister's disappearing last night." She explained.

"Your sister disappeared?" Winter repeated, stunned. Lyra looked sad again.

"Yeah. She ran off in the night. Everyone's been trying to find her all day. Mommy hasn't stopped crying since."

"Do you know why she would want to run off?" Joe asked her. Lyra shrugged.

"No. She was always so nice to me. She was the best older sister I could have ever asked for. She often gets into fights with mommy, though. They argue every night. Alan tries to calm the fights down but it never works. She gets into a lot of trouble at school, her and Azi. They misbehave a lot."

"Who's Azi?" Joe asked.

"Her azumarill." She explained. "She got him as a birthday present three years ago… before our daddy… passed…" She stopped, small tears appearing in her eyes. Joe and Winter looked solemn

"Oh, I'm sorry." Winter told her. Lyra began to cry again. She hugged Ralph's wing tight as tears began to strain her face again. Ralph looked at her, glumly. Even he, the great big beast that he was, couldn't help but feel sad after hearing that.

"Do you know anything else?" Joe asked, trying not to sound demanding. The kid was clearly very distraught at the moment. Lyra rubbed her nose and coughed a few times. Then she tried to speak again.

"That's all I can remember." She told him.

"Could you tell us her name, in case we happen to run into her?" Winter asked. Lyra nodded and swallowed, rubbing her eyes and calming down a little.

"She's called Crystal." Lyra told them. "She's hard to miss. She has the same hat as me, except she's a lot taller and older, too. She had long black hair in pigtails and blue eyes and has a very stubborn attitude. You can't miss her."

"Thank you, Lyra. That's very helpful." Winter told her. It wasn't exactly that helpful. It did describe for them what she looked like, but there where many other teenage female trainers with black hair in pigtails, blue eyes and stubborn attitudes. It was practically a requirement. And consider searching through a crowd of them for one girl in particular. Still, the name Crystal wasn't very common and would make it somewhat easier to search for her. "Do you know anyone else who may be able to help us more?" Winter asked her finally. Lyra thought for a second.

"You could ask the professor over at the lab at the north of town." She told them. "He may know a bit more than I do."

"Right. Thank you, Lyra. I hope your sister is found soon." Winter and Joe stood up again and waved their goodbyes. Ralph broke free from the young girls grip and followed after them, both delighted and sat to leave her behind.

"Hey, trainers!" Lyra called after them. They stopped and looked back at her. "If you find Crystal, tell her that mommy and Lyra want her to come home. We miss her." And then she walked back inside the house, shutting the door behind her. Joe, Winter and Ralph looked at each other, sadly.

"A runaway girl." Joe pondered. "Why would one want to run away from home?"

"Maybe she was abused." Winter thought. "Lyra did say her sister often had fights with her mother. Maybe she left because of that."

"Maybe." Joe agreed. But something about it all seemed suspicious. He didn't know why but he had this nagging fear and belief that, somehow, Team Rocket was involved. Knowing them they almost certainly were, even if it was in some non-direct way. "But I wouldn't be so sure."

They found the lab sitting at the furthest north end of the town, surprisingly enough still surrounded by houses. It was smaller than Professor Oak's lab in Kanto but it still looked just as clean and impressive. Like Oak's lab the walls were white with a large red door and windows, but the roof was flat and blue, rather than raised and grey. The door was also made of a tarnished wood. While Oak's lab had been all metal and plastic this lab was a lot more natural looking, with its small front gardens, hanging plants, pond, wooden door and stone wall motif and flat blue roof. As they approached the door they heard annoyed and pain filled yelling from the other side. It sounded like someone had just been bitten very hard on the hand.

"What the heck was that?" Winter asked. She looked at Joe.

"I don't know." He told her. He looked back. Ralph shrugged too. Together they pushed the door open and walked inside. The inside of the lab was exactly the way you would expect it to be. There were various desks covered in paper work, white walls, small windows, one big main room with no other smaller rooms in the building, various vials and alchemical devices, a bed, two fold-out medical benches, a healing machine and row upon row of glass display counters. It was almost exactly the same as Professor Oak's lab. The only major difference was the small rotating panel and screen at the far end of the room with two three small circular dips and two pokeballs in them. The third dip was empty. As it turned out this was because the local professor was having trouble getting the pokémon that was supposed to be in that ball back inside. At the far end of the room a man in a white lab coat was shaking his hand in pain while using the other to withdraw a pokémon from it. By the time the trainers had noticed it there it was already gone, so they never got a good look at it. The man shook his head exhausted from the scrabble had had made to catch it, turned and saw the two trainers and one crobat at the doorway. He smiled, rubbed the back of his head and called to them.

"Ah, hello there. I'm professor Elm. How can I help you children?" The professor was surprisingly young, much younger then professor Oak. He was almost sixty, while Elm looked passable for thirty two. His hair still had colour in it and he was wrinkle free. His hair was light black and short, with a small puff at the front over his brow. Because his hair was so short his ears stuck out like small satellites. They seemed to fidget about when he talked. He wore a pair of glasses, except his pair was nerdier looking than a normal pair of glasses with bigger lenses and longer hinges. He also had much, much smaller eyebrows then Oak. In total, he was an entirely different professor all together. The trio stepped forwards, walking into the lab itself.

"Um, hello." Joe said, holding an unsure hand up in greeting. "My name's Joe Glende. We've just arrived from Kanto and we've come in to have our pokedexes updated for Johto pokémon." The professor snapped his fingers.

"Ah, so you're the trainers that Professor Oak told me would be arriving at some point." He said. "Yes, I remember. Joseph Glende and Winter Kitoshi. He spoke highly of you both."

"Professor Oak told you we were arriving?" Winter asked. "But we never said anything to him about meeting another professor."

"He knew the route you were taking would bring you here and that you'd most likely need to stop by the lab for work on your pokedexes. Welcome to New Bark Town, by the way." Then he noticed Ralph. "Ah." He said with sudden amazed thespianism. "You have a crobat. Marvellous!" He rushed over and began studying Ralph, looking him over and poking and prodding him in multiple body parts. "Where did you get such a fine specimen like this?" He asked. Ralph looked concerned. He had no idea who this man was but he was throwing himself at him and poking him in areas he didn't want to be poked, mainly on the wings.

"That is Ralph." Joe explained. "He's my starter pokémon."

"How did you get hold of him?" The professor asked. "Crobats are rare enough here, they must be impossible to find over in Kanto."

"Well, I didn't exactly get given him, but then again nor did I catch him." Joe tried to explain. The professor looked intrigued.

"Then how did you meet him?" He asked.

"I saved him from a swarm of beedrill." Joe explained. "Professor Oak found us unconscious after the fight, healed us up and said that he'd found Ralph with his pokeball. Since no one came to claim him he gave him to me.

"Yes, that does sound like something Oak would do." Professor Elm said, slyly. "I shouldn't think many kids get the honour of having a crobat on their team, let alone as their starter. You and he must have been through tones of adventures."

Joe chuckled. "Yeah." He admitted. "We have."

"But now you are hear in Johto to start a brand new one." Elm added. "I imagine that with your new learning and skill this one will be even more amazing then the last. He held up his arms in a dramatic revealing manner. Then he lowered them again out of embarrassment when he saw the trainers just staring at him. He chuckled awkwardly. "Right, well if you both come over here and join me at my computer I can set up your Dexes with the right software straight away." They followed him to the end of the room where a simple but old style computer was sitting on a cluttered desk. The professor took a wire which was attacked to the back of his computer, pulled the free end around to the front and held out a free hand to the trainers. "If you'd pass me your pokédex, please." Joe reached into his back and handed the professor the pokédex. He took it gently and plugged it in. The screen began to roll coded information as it loaded the new data and software onto the portable pokémon data device.

"Will it take long?" Joe asked him.

"Oh, barely minutes." The professor chortled. "If you need, you can use my healing station to restore your pokémon to health." He pointed to the regenerator device nearby. "Oak said you may have a few battles on your way. I hope you're enjoying Johto so far." He said.

"We are." Joe replied as he placed Pippy and his new pokémon, Mar's, pokeball into the slots and switched the healing machine on. It whirred and flashed as it restored the pokémon's health and energy.

"Good, good. You caught any new pokémon yet, either of you?"

"Just the one." Winter told him.

"Oh. What was it?"

"A marill, I think it's called." Joe explained.

"Ah, the small round water mice?" The professor probed.

"Yes, that's it.

"Ah yes, they're quite common in this area, being by the river and all. They love the water's edge. Many trainers have them."

"Oh." Joe said, feeling a little down about this. Originally he had thought that this pokémon he caught had been somewhat rare. Now it turned out to be as common as sand on a beach. As long as it behaved and did well in battle then it was welcome on his team. The professor suddenly exclaimed, taking him by surprise.

"Ah ha! It's done." He said. Joe exhaled. He thought that something bad had happened. The professor unplugged the pokédex and handed it back to Joe. "You should be able to bring up information on Johto pokémon now. Go ahead and look up marill so you can see its data." Joe took the device and did just that. He scrolled through all the pages that had information on pokémon until he eventually reached '#183 – Marill' He opened up the page. The data on this newly caught pokémon scrolled down for him to read.

'Marill: The Aquamouse Pokémon. Type: Water. Size: 1'04 Foot or 0.4 Meters. Weight: 18.4 Pounds or 8.5 Kilograms. Its fur contains natural oils which keep its dry while in the water. The buoy on its tail stops it from drowning, even in strong currents.'

"Huh. Interesting." Joe said as he finished reading the page and switched his pokédex of again. At this point the professor had just finished updating Winter's pokédex as well and was handing it back to her.

"There, all done." He said with a smile.

"Thank you, Professor Elm." Winter said as she took her pokédex back. The professor smiled and got up from his seat, walking across the room towards one of the desks. Winter coughed suddenly as she decided to ask him a question. "Uh, professor, you wouldn't happen to know anything about this incident involving a girl running away, would you?" The professor looked up from the paper.

"Ah. You heard about that from one of the townspeople?" He asked.

"Yes." Winter explained. "Her younger sister told us about it. We just wondered if you could tell us more." He sighed sadly.

"Ah, yes, I can tell you more." He said solemnly. "Young Crystal Peterson's disappearance." He turned back around to face the two trainers. "Well, no one knows as of now why she's run away. Apparently her and her mother had a big fight. I just spoke with her and her new partner, Alan, about it. She's quite upset. She seems to be blaming herself for her daughters running away. I wouldn't blame her. Crystal can be quite a hand full. Though you can't hate her. She's still getting over the loss of her father three years ago. He was a good man and he loved her to bits. It's a tragic loss, loosing someone like him."

"How did she loose her father?" Joe asked. Having lost a friend once before he could understand the pain of losing someone close to you, but he could never truly relate to loosing a father. The professor sighed.

"It was cancer that took him in the end. Leukaemia. It was so quick. One minute he was here and the next minute…" He stopped, feeling that he shouldn't go on. Winter held a hand to her mouth.

"Oh my god." She whispered. "That's horrible."

"Isn't it." The professor agreed. "He was always helping around town. And he was a great trainer. An amazing trainer in fact. There were few people in the whole world, let alone Johto who could rival him, except maybe Lance and Red. He caught her a marill for her tenth birthday and named it Azi. She took him with her when she ran away, I think. I just hope that they're both safe. Johto isn't the place to be lost in right now."

"Why is that?" Joe asked. The professor looked serious now.

"Team Rocket." He said simply. Joe cursed the name. They had brought nothing but trouble since he's become a trainer. And now that he'd made a strong enemy of their leader he was not going to stop hearing of them any time soon. "Word is they've snuck into Johto and are rebuilding an army of some kind. People have been disappearing all over the region. Usually they're unkind souls with criminal pasts but there's been reports of children running away in other cities, too. I just hope that this is all some coincidence and that Team Rocket isn't back. But if they are…" He stopped and sighed a heavy depressed sigh. Then he smiled, trying to lighten the mood again. "But enough about that." He said. "Now, since you're both new to Johto I feel that it would be in my best manner to offer you something to get your new adventure started." He walked back to the middle of the room and headed for the stand with the pokeballs on. "Now, because you both arrived at a fortunate day of the weak I happen to still have a few starter pokémon available. So I wish to offer you one of them as an arriving gift into this region. Of course you don't have to but consider it a new starter from me, Professor Elm." Joe and Winter looked at each other.

"We can both pick one?" They asked. The professor suddenly seemed taken aback.

"Oh, no. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to empty you both took one. I only have enough spare to give away just one, I'm afraid. Sorry but you'll have to decide between the two of you who will pick. I hate to deny either of you but it's not easy to come by starter pokémon anymore." Winter and Joe's eyes met.

"You take one." They both said at the same time. Then they blushed.

"I'm sorry. I think you should be the one to take one." The both said at the same time again. They blushed again.

"No, you should have one." Joe told her. "I had two starters on my team in Kanto. I can use other pokémon."

"No, you should take one." Winter told him. "You're the main battler out of the two of us, after all."

"It wouldn't be fare on you." Joe argued.

"I don't mind. You should choose it for yourself." Winter argued back.

"No, Winter, that won't be fare on you. I just caught a pokémon. You should be the one to have the next one."

"I already have five pokémon on my team." She reminded him.

"Yeah, but they're all Kanto pokémon. You should get yourself one from this region." Ralph rolled his eyes. This conversation was going to go on forever. He shoved Joe forwards with a wing and pointed at the stand demandingly, grunting and clearly trying to say 'Just choose already!' Joe looked at him stunned.

"Well, thank you, Ralph." He muttered. He turned to the professor and nodded. "So what pokémon are there to choose from?" He asked. The professor smiled. He reached to the machine and pressed a button on the top. As he pressed it the machine lit up and all three pokeballs positioned in it snapped open spontaneously. Onto the stand landed three very different, very unique, vary adorable little pokémon. The pokémon on the left side was a small dark blue skinned mouse with a pail underbelly and constantly shut eyes and long snout nose. When it exhaled smoke and flame puffed from its nostrils and from small orifices in its back. The second pokémon looked to be some kind of living green root plant with a face and legs. It had big adoring eyes as well as a row of small seeds ringing around its neck and a leaf sticking out of its head. It smiled at Joe with its tiny cute face. The last in the line was a rather excited and rather energetic tiny blue crocodile. It had tiny arms and legs, big eyes, a bigger mouth and small jagged red sails on its back. It grinned at the human before it and jumped up and down, clapping its hands and snapping its jaws excitedly. It was quiet proud of itself for having managed to bite the professor on the hand earlier. The professor glared at it annoyed and rubbed his sore hand.

"These are the Johto starter pokémon." He explain and gestured a hand. He gestured first to the pokémon on the left. "This is cyndaquil, the fire mouse pokémon." He explain. "It's a strong special attack and is quite quick. It's probably the easiest to train of all the three starters but doesn't have very good defence." He moved on to the middle pokémon. "This is chikorita, the leaf pokémon. It's the toughest of the three to train and isn't the best with attacks but it has a solid endurance and a move set that allows its defensive strategy to shine through." He moved onto the last pokémon, this time not gesturing so that it wouldn't bite him on the hand again. "And this last one is totodile, the big jaw pokémon. It's feisty, energetic and an all-around pest!" The professor glared at the grinning croc. "It's got a lot of physical strength but not much special attack, which is a problem for water types. Its best option it just to bite things." He glared at the tiny blue reptile again. "So that's all the Johto starters." He finished. "Now I'll let you choose which of the three you want to add to your team." He stepped back and allowed Joe to step forwards. "Take all the time you need." He added from the side.

Joe looked at the three adorable pokémon in front of him. They all looked quite happy and energetic at the moment and all three of them seemed keen to have a trainer. It really wasn't easy trying to choose which he wanted to take with him. He was considering crossing out totodile because it was a water type and he already caught one of them, but then again he may not keep Mar on his team forever. As for cyndaquil and chikorita there was a free space on his team for them both. He was struggling at this moment to decide which he wanted to choose. He remembered having this same problem back in Kanto, before he'd met Ralph. He had been struggling to decide which starter pokémon he wanted to choose then, too. In Kanto he'd had the choices of picking charmander, squirtle and bulbasaur. If only then he'd know that he was going to get both a charmander and a bulbasaur on his team through gifts he would have probably chosen squirtle on the spot. But if he had done that he may have never met Ralph. He thought back to those good old days, when he travelled Kanto with his team. Sting the beedrill, Cinders the charmander, later to become charizard, Nami the timid vaporeon, Carter the bold hitmonlee, Sirena the serene lapras, and, of course, the naughty Pitt the bulbasaur, later to become venusaur. He missed them all. All of them had new homes now and new keepers. They had all meant something to him. They were his family. He felt an ache that he could no longer be with them. But it was something he'd had to decide. Only Ralph and one more could come with him, and in the end Pippy had been picked. He was the only one left without a home and Joe didn't plan to let him or Ralph go either. The more he thought about it the more he missed those times, when Pitt had been a bulbasaur and they had only just got his first gym badge and the world seemed a lot less confusing and crowded. Those were the days when Sting was still alive. He missed it dearly. He felt he should try and recapture them in some way. His mind snapped back to the moment as he realised he was staring at the chikorita, and the chikorita was staring back. It looked at him with big cute eyes and a friendly face. Its smile warmed his heart up. Joe smiled back. In the flash of a memory he made his decision. That memory was of him and Pitt when he'd first been sent him by his uncle after beating Rocky and Gordon of Pewter City. Pitt had been tough to train at first but when he calmed down and starter caring about his trainer and the battles he had proved himself to be a good friend and an amazing pokémon. He probably wouldn't have made it far into the elite four if Pitt hadn't been there. He wouldn't have made it if any of his pokémon hadn't been there. That image of the bulbasaur in the cardboard box will stay with him for many years to come. He made his choice.

"I pick chikorita." He announced. Totodile stopped jumping up and down and looked very saddened, clearly upset it hadn't been chosen. Cyndaquil looked disappointed but not upset about not being picked. Professor Elm smiled at Joe.

"Is that your final choice?" He asked. Joe didn't even pause to think.

"Yes." He said simply. Professor Elm clapped his hands.

"Ok then." He pressed the button again and the three pokeballs shut, withdrawing the three pokémon they belonged to. Elm took the middle ball, held it in his palm and handed it to Joe. "Joseph Glende, I hereby given unto you your first Johto starter pokémon, Chikorita!" Joe took the pokeball and held it in his hands. That was it. His fourth pokémon on his team already. He was quite surprised by how quickly it was happening.

"Thank you, Professor Elm." He said gratefully. The professor shut the stand machine down and stepped away, still smiling. It was always a great feeling for a professor to see a trainer take on their first starter pokémon, even if this technically wasn't Joe's first starter pokémon.

"Do you wish to name him?" He asked. Joe nodded. He had one name on the mind. It was cliché and obvious but sometimes you can't help but avoid those things. Besides, it suited this new pokémon very well.

"I was thinking, Leaf." He said. The pokeball in his hand seemed to shake slightly, as if the pokémon inside was happy with his choice. Ralph nodded in agreement, as did Winter.

"It sounds good to me." Winter told him. "I mean, it's not as odd as Pitt." Joe looked at her disapprovingly.

"Who's Pitt?" The professor asked.

"My bulbasaur." Joe explained. "Well, he's a venusaur now. I left him in Kanto."

"Ah. So that's why you chose the grass type is it? Fond memories and all that."

"Yes." Joe agreed. The professor pushed his glasses back up the rim of his nose.

"Arightey then." He announced, clapping his hands. "I'll have to go and order a new chikorita for the new trainers to choose from. I'll have to go talk to Mr. Pokémon about that. Till then, if you three want to stay in town the pokémon centre has rooms open for you to stay in. It's only midday but you might want to head over there anyway, just to grab a room in case it fills up." Joe and Winter nodded to each other. It sounded like a good plan.

"Thank you for the help, Professor." Winter said as they left for the door.

"Come back if you ever need anything." The professor called after them as they walked back out through the door and of into the town. When they were gone he sighed and sat down. "I hope that they find her ok." He muttered to himself, falling into deep worried thought. "For all our sakes I hope she's ok and that these stories going around aren't true."


In the Rocket Base locker room all the grunts were gearing up, grabbing various equipment, devices and pokeballs from their locker, ready to head out and fulfil their missions. In the middle of it all Crystal sat on a bench, Azi huddling nervously under her arm. See was a little confused. Everything had jumped into life so quickly. She had hardly been with Team Rocket a minute and already stuff was happening. Everyone was moving about and showing not one reason as to why. She looked around for a friendly face who she could ask what was going on, but not one face she spotted looked like they would be willing to speak to her. So she shied away, sitting on the bench in her new grunt uniform, scrunching her hat in her arms. Then she spotted Danning and rushed over to him.

"Danning!" She called as she pushed through the moving current of grunts, waving her hat above the crowd so he would see her. He looked and saw the teenage girl calling his name.

"Crystal, what are you doing?" He hissed, looking around at the grunt faces staring at him. They mocked his parental stature towards her, he could tell.

"Danning, what's going on? Where's everyone going?" She asked. Danning reached his locker and flung the door open, grabbing his pokeball belt and two pokeballs.

"We've got our missions." He explained to her simply. Crystal looked stunned.

"Already?" She asked. "What mission?"

"Luckily you're with me and my group." He told her. "We're going to Cherrygrove. There's a pokémon there we've been asked to steal."

"What kind of pokémon?" Crystal persisted.

"The rare kind." Danning said.

"Can't you tell me anymore than that?"

"No. Now do as I say and stay unnoticed. You don't want the guys round here seeing you mess up, especially if you're with me. It won't end well for either of us." He pushed her across to her locked, flicked the door open and pointed to it. "I'll meet you at the garage exit with the rest of the group, now get geared up already!" He commanded and stormed off, leaving the room and heading for the room in which they kept the transport jeeps. Crystal felt saddened that the one person she felt she could trust a little was getting angry at her, but then again he was a member of team Rocket. Danning seemed like a nice enough guy but he was too concerned about staying in everyone's neutral books to try and show it. However it was clear he was at least protective of her. He could tell she needed someone to guide her in this world because she'd never survive in it alone. Azi grabbed crystals hand in concern. Crystal smiled down at him and then looked inside her locker. As a new grunt she had been supplied with a few basic equipment's to get her tasks done. Inside the locker was a net gun, a scanning device for finding hidden pokémon, a collection of empty pokeballs, a pokeball belt and two full pokeballs. It seemed that Team Rocket had supplied her with new pokémon to defend and attack with as well. She took the gear and hurried out of the room, after Danning.


Time had crossed the world again and now it was night in the land of Johto. Everyone had gone to sleep, except for a few people still walking around, either trying to sleep or looking out for any more possible runaways or other criminals. The sound of owl hoots echoed around the woodlands nearby and several screeches indicated a hunt was happening. And in the small but comfortable sleeping quarters of the pokémon centre Joe had switched of his mind and drifted away into the void of slumber. After getting his newest pokémon, Leaf the chikorita, from Professor Elm at his lab Joe had decided to spend a bit of time getting to know his newest pokémon. He had gone to the park with Winter and Ralph and let all his pokémon out so they could get to know each other, too. As a battling trainer it was always a good idea to make sure your pokémon knew who their team mates were and who they could trust and rely on to help. Leaf seemed to get on well with all of them, even Winter's pidgeotto, Zephyr, who could be quite stubborn and unkind. This was a good sign. Because leaf was so mild in attitude he didn't try to start any unwanted fighting. At the same time he wasn't timid either. He was mainly calm, which was a good thing for him as a grass type. Mar on the other hand was another story. He was a lot more upbeat and bounced around all over the place. He was always smiling, always crying for attention and always trying to show off and make everyone smile. While this seemed to sit well with most of his pokémon there was one of them who so far hadn't really taken to the small round blue mouse. That pokémon was the other thinner fuzzy electric yellow mouse. Pippy didn't seem impressed. He seemed to consider Mar to be annoying and attention seeking, which is strange because when it comes to natures they are both considered as jolly pokémon. Maybe it was because Mar is new and Pippy was jealous of the attention he was getting, but he seemed to want to keep his distance from him and never looked happy when he was around. Joe would have to find a way to solve that argument. But now wasn't the time. He was tired, he was exhausted and he was asleep. On a bed in the same room Winter was asleep also and from the roof above them Ralph slept, hanging from a slightly loose pipe. The time was reaching midnight quick and everything was quiet.

In Joe's head his thoughts stirred and whipped up memories. They dissolved into his subconscious and formulated dreams. He had hoped to never dream again. During his Kanto adventure he had experienced several visions in his sleep brought on apparently by a rare legendary pokémon called Mew. They had shown him his past, his families past, the near future and what was coming soon. Each and every one had been different and they had all somehow pushed him into finally defeating Team Rocket's leader. But he had only ever had five. Just those five visions, and the last one had been a two days ago, the day before he left for Johto. It was because of that vision he had decided to leave. Fortunately Mew had promised him in the last vision that he would never experience them again, that after this last one they would stop. While it seemed that that promise was being kept the same couldn't be said for his subconscious.

In this specific dream Joe was watching many moments of his life, mainly ones from his adventure, play back in front of his eyes. It started with empty whiteness. Then he saw himself standing on the road to Viridian Town with Ralph beside him. This was when his journey had first started, on the day he and Ralph had met and saved each other's lives. The vision faded to him catching his first two pokémon, Sting as a weedle and Pippy. This then faded to him receiving Pitt the bulbasaur in a cardboard box from his uncle after beating the first gym. But at this point the dream began to change. Next he saw his battle with the Rockets in Mt Moon. Then he saw them in Cerulean City. Then at the Pokémon Day care. Then his brush with the slaving criminals on route 5. Then the S.S. Falcon. Then Rock Cave. And finally lavender town. He hoped he would never see that place again, not after what happened there. In the dream it faded into black. Then there was the sound of a gunshot, echoing around the entire void. Something faded into existence, frozen in its moment of doom. Sting appeared in front of his eyes, bleeding, and shot and about to die. He was crying. He was dying. There was nothing Joe could do. He had no way to save him. He felt the pain and grief he thought he had gotten over. He felt fear and misunderstanding as everything in the world stopped making sense. He desperately begged for everything to return to normal. Then he felt anger. Anger at the men who had done this. At the time he had blamed Team Rocket and he still did, but his dream said another thing. In the black background his vision moved up to the pokémon tower and a figure standing on the top. They looked at him and disappeared behind the roof. Who had that figure been? Why had they been watching? Why had they killed Sting? The dream dropped suddenly into a dooming black hole as flood upon flood of fear, anger, grief and confusion waved over him. Images appeared in his eyes. He saw Archer of Team Rocket taunting him as he won their battle. He saw the gun pressed against his head. He saw the storm after the calm. He saw the rage against the machine. He saw the embodiment of fear. He witnessed his whole conscience collapse in on itself. He saw the world disintegrate. Then he saw the face to blame it on. Archer. Team Rocket's grand and holy leader. Joe shivered with anger at his name. This man had tried to kill him. He had set out to destroy everything he had ever cared about, even his family. An image of his newly discovered father shot past for a second, then disappeared. Joe growled. He didn't care if the Rockets really were back or not. He would eventually find Archer and make him pay for the pain he and his grunts and commanders had put him through. Then it all cut to black, but not before his saw one final image. In the deep underground of the world he saw a cave with strange markings on the walls. And at the far back of the cave he saw, to his surprise, a large stone pyramid. As he watched, the pyramid began to shake and a large slit in the middle of the front side began to slide open.

He awoke sweating to the sound of movement outside the centre.

"Whaa…!" He exclaimed as he sat up, drenched in cold sweat. "What's going on?" He asked. Winter and Ralph were already awake before he was, standing by the door and looking out into the pokémon centre.

"There's something going on up at the lab." She explained. Joe rubbed his eyes as his brain began to awaken to the news.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I don't know." She told him honestly.

"Well then we should get up there and find out!" Joe told her. Winter nodded.

"That's what I was thinking." She agreed. They rushed through the door, out the entrance of the pokémon centre and hurried up to the lab where police and news teams where swarming together to make a strange mass of people. The two trainers and crobat tried to push their way through the crowd only to find the professor at the front speaking to a police sergeant. They were standing by the entrance and the door seemed to be still locked. Professor Elm was beginning to get rattled.

"This is an outrage!" He shouted. "You can't hold me out here without giving me an appropriate reason. I demand I have access to my own Laboratory!" The policeman ignored him and began writing notes in his notebook.

"We're doing all we can to find out what happened here, professor." He explained. "Now, could you tell us if you saw the person who broke into your lab?" He asked. The professor huffed.

"I don't know. I wasn't inside when it happened. Someone must have snuck in through a back window somehow. I caught a glimpse of red hair through the door, if that helps." The policeman nodded.

"It does. Thank you professor." And then he stepped away, allowing the camera crews and reporters to shove their microphones in under his face again. Joe jumped above the crowd, holding his hand high and trying to be noticed.

"Professor Elm!" He called. "Professor! Over here!" Elm didn't hear him. Joe shoved his way past the cameras, with a little help from Ralph, until he eventually reached the startled scientist of the town. "Professor, what's going on here?" He asked. The professor looked at him and shrugged, uselessly.

"Someone broke into the lab." He explained. Joe gasped.

"What?" He asked. "Why?"

"Beats me." The professor told him, starting to get a little irate now. "I just hope they haven't messed with any of my data." Winter pulled Joe pack as reported began shoving her way past, demanding answers from both the policemen and the fuming professor.

"A break in." She repeated, thinking more on it. "Why would someone break into the professor's lab? What could they have to gain from it?" They both looked at each other with the same face of realisation.

"The pokémon!" They said at the same time. They slowly turned to the professor as the policemen broke through the door and into the lab. Everyone peered inside. The lab was empty, yet there were clear signs that someone had been there here where wet footprints on the floor near the window and papers on disks had been moved around and flung about in an attempt to find something, books had been overturned, lights had already been switched on… but the biggest piece of evidence was standing right ahead of them. The stand in which the two remaining pokeballs had been sat on was empty. Someone had broken in and stolen them. From the crowd there was a sudden yelping scream. The professor ran inside his lab, gathering up the loose pages and books, putting them back in their places and muttering to himself. The news teams followed after him, immediately focusing on taking pictures of the empty pokeball stand at the furthest end of the room. The policemen also followed him in, holding the news teams back and checking for any clues. The most obvious one was the footprints and, fortunately, they had noticed them quickly. Only Joe and Winter were still standing outside. Ralph seemed to be a little worried. If people were going around stealing pokémon from professors then he'd have to keep both his eyes fully open at all times in case someone had an idea of pinching him away. It was with thoughts like this that Ralph forgot how big and fearsome he looked to most people.

"The thief can't have gotten too far." Winter deduced. "If the professor saw someone break in and the police have only just arrived then they must have only just managed to sneak away. If that's the case then they could still be close by, maybe even watching." Joe hummed, uncertain. It all seemed so strange. If this was a Team Rocket act then they had changed their tactics a lot. They usually preferred to break in during the day and take hostages. In fact Team Rocket wouldn't be likely to even consider stealing from a professor. Mainly because they weren't smart enough to try that usually. Joe rubbed his chin. He saw Ralph's discouraged face out of the corner of his eye. He looked at his friend.

"What are you worried about?" He asked. Ralph looked at him with wide eyes, darting slightly as if looking for someone in the dark. Joe chuckled. "Are you worried that someone would try to steal you?" Joe asked, genuinely surprised. "Don't be silly. Who'd want to kidnap you? You'd probably eat them if they tried." Ralph didn't laugh. Instead he gave Joe a demandingly serious look. "Look, I'll protect you if anyone tries." Ralph grunted, raising a questioning eyebrow. "I promise!" Joe said, stoically. Ralph smiled. Then suddenly he stared at Joe, looking shocked, suspicious and a hint of mild fear. Joe looked back at him, unsure. "Ralph, are you okay?" He asked. Ralph didn't respond. Then Joe realised Ralph wasn't actually looking at him. He was looking past him at something behind him, maybe in the distance. Joe looked back and gasped under his breath. On the horizon, standing on top of the distant hill at the west end of town and watching the whole event unfurl, was a shadowed figure. At this distance detail was difficult to make out except for two things, a silver ring on a finger which glistened in the moonlight and a set of long deep red hair. Joe narrowed his eyes. Red hair. That must mean that this figure was the thief. "Winter, look." He hissed and pointed surreptitiously up at the hill. Winter followed his hand and let her mouth drop open.

"Is that the…" She asked. Joe nodded. As they watched the figure stood up straight, relaxing their hands to the side and stepping back slightly. They had realised they were being watched. The figure turned and ran.

"After them!" Joe yelled and ran across the grass, speeding after the escaping figure. Ralph shot past him a second later, his wings folded in and flying like an arrow across the night time background. Winter followed after the two of them a few seconds later, unsure whether they were either brave, daft or both. No one from the police for, news crews or even the professor saw them run off. Ralph was already catching up on the figure, gliding over the ground and up the hill. The figure was trying to run but was no comparison to Ralph's speed. He could see their back in detail now, wearing a blue-black jacket with red stitch outlines and grey jeans, their red hair long and slick and cut down to the collar. Ralph was almost on top of them now. He didn't know how he was going to stop them but he knew he had to. He'd probably just grab them with his wings and crush them to the ground till Joe and Winter caught up to him. Ralph sped up, his wings out and lunged. Suddenly the figure flashed and swung around. Something strong and metallic smacked him in the side of the face and his mind switched off.

Joe was running up the hill now, running as fast as he could to keep up with the thief and with Ralph. He had only just reached the hill when he was a few metres away the thief suddenly turn around and punch Ralph square in the side of the head. Ralph went out like a light, collapsing to the ground with a thud and not stirring for several minutes after. Joe felt an angry growl stirring in his throat. No one was allowed to punch his best friend, not even he.

"Hey!" He shouted furiously. The figure stopped rubbing their fist and looked at him. In the dark Joe saw the slight glint of brown irises. He also saw the small sign of a curse rom their mouth. The figure turned and ran again, now with a limp where Ralph's wing had struck him in the knee, leaving the unconscious bat where he lay. "Give those pokémon back!" Joe yelled after him. The figure ignored him. Joe sprinted after them, fury fuelling him. No one punches his pokémon! No one! He reached the figure, jumped forward with his arms out and grabbed them around the waste. The figure toppled forwards onto the grass, Joe pulling them to the floor and crushing their lugs under his body. Joe tried to grab the figure by the arm and prevent them from fighting back but they were putting up a very strong fight. They fought back, kicking and wriggling, trying to get free. Joe tried to hold him down. Suddenly he was flung back, hitting the ground with an 'oomph'. The figure stood up again and turned on Joe, glaring at him in the darkness. Joe inhaled painfully as his body recovered from the impact shock. He got up, looked up and was hit in the face with a smokescreen He coughed and choked, wafting the smoke away and trying to step out. Then he was hit by a strong wave of water, pushing him back in the shape of a beam. He tried to fight against it but it was too strong. He was knocked back, stumbling and falling out of the smoke cloud as it faded away. Joe rubbed his eyes, coughed, looked up, a fist with a silver ring came swinging in, there was a flash of blue… and then… blackness.

When Joe finally regained consciousness he awoke to see Winter's face which was welcome. Ralph's face suddenly came into view upside down which was slightly less welcome. He groaned as his eyes ached and blinked with the sudden light.

"Oh thank god he's okay!" Winter said gladly and moved the torch away from his eyes. Joe blinked. He was looking at the sky, the dawn was on its way, the moon was vanishing behind the horizon and he was moving.

"Wha…" He tried to say.

"Ssh. Don't try and say anything." Winter told him calmly. "You took a blow to the head. You may not feel anything in your arms or legs for a bit." Joe groaned.

"What… happened… I…" He tried.

"The thief person you chased punched you. Knocked you out cold. I didn't get there in time to stop them. But don't worry. You and Ralph are safe. Now help me stand you up." She told him. Joe suddenly realised that a pair of arms were holding him under the shoulders. They lifted him up with a few pushing grunts and held him up as straight as they could till his legs were standing properly on the ground. Joe stood up, wobbled and fell back into the arms. Winter grunted and nearly collapsed under his weight. "That's not helpful." She grunted. Joe chuckled embarrassed.

"Sorry. I can't seem to keep balance." He tried again and this time he just about managed to stand up long enough to try walking. "That… that was no punch!" He said. The swing that, presumable, the thief had made at him had felt metallic. That was probably the sliver ring on their finger. But there was something else. It had felt like some kind of electric shock. He remembered a flash of blue just before he lost consciousness. He had no idea what to make of it, but there was no way that a punch like that would be strong enough alone to knock him out instantly. "Is Ralph ok?" He asked. Ralph's face came back into view, this time the right way up and smiling.

"He's ok." Winter told him. "He was knocked out too, but for nowhere near as long as you were." Joe smiled at his crobat friend, grateful he was okay. Then another thought popped into his head.

"Where are we going?" He asked.

"I'm taking you to Cherrygrove city." She explained. "There's a pokémon centre there and we're not too far now. The pokémon at New Bark has shut while the police are searching the town so we had to move on. We'll be there soon." Joe nodded.

"What about the thief?" He asked. Winter sighed sadly.

"No. They got away. I didn't even get a good look at them before they were gone." She told him.

"And the pokémon?" Joe asked. Winter shook her head.

"They're gone, too."