Chapter 2

Professor Juniper was looking through her field notes when the phone rang. "Juniper here," she answered.

"Oh good you're in." it was Devin on the other line. "This is Devin from the Ranch, there's been an incident… uh, all of the Pokemon on the ranch have been stolen or ran away or something."

"What? I have new trainers that need Pokemon tomorrow, what the hell am I supposed to tell their parents?" Juniper tossed her notes on her desk, scattering the pile.

"Like I would know, but I was hoping to get your help on this, if you're too busy then…" Devin trailed off on the implication.

"No no no no no. I'll be there in an hour, let me make a few calls."

Juniper flopped down in her desk chair and sighed heavily. "Great, another fiasco I have to bother Oak with.." She picked the phone back up.

"Today will be a new dawning of the Pokemon and human eras!" A man in white pants and a white jacket with light green hair shouted from a podium above the crowd. The crowd cheered at the man's final words of his speech.

The man walked out of view behind a curtain. He was greeted by a man in a purple and gold cloak with an eye piece covering one of his red eyes. "You did good N." He said as he approached. "The plan today went well, all of the Pokemon fled with persuasion except two, a Gligar and a Duosion, I'm sure they'll figure it out on their own though that their master can't provide for them forever."

"Humans are disgusting.." N mumbled under his breath.

"Indeed.." Agreed Ghetsis with a wicked smile.

Odette paced the living room, Charmander was looking at her anxiously. "Damnit Devin.."

"Problem? Well, other than the obvious." He replied.

She sat down by him on the couch. "There was something… I left out when Officer Jenny was asking questions…"

He looked at her expectantly.

"I heard in the city today something about Plasma, like it was a person or a group or something, and that they wanted to free Pokemon from the slavery of humans. I didn't want to tell her because.. well I dunno, I just didn't." She stared at her feet with her hands sandwiched between her legs.

Devin put his arm around her. "Do you believe in what this Plasma character does?"

"What..? No, I mean, Pokemon should have the same freedom as humans, we just offer them shelter and a life with us as partners, friends, allies, family.." She looked down at Charmander, Gligar and Duosion.

"Then you obviously have more sense than they do. We can't change what others think but we can change how they act on what they believe."

"Let's go after them. " She suddenly declared.

"What-? No way, it's dangerous out there, especially with mad cultists running around letting Pokemon free. The Pokemon who were freed could be more dangerous than wild ones since they've had more training and are better at fighting." Devin was trying to be as convincing as he could, but he knew there was no changing her mind once she got an idea in her head.

"I know that, but if we find some of our own rescues they will remember us and we can bring them back home, not only that, but we need to find Plasma and confront them."

"Okay wait, we don't need to do anything." Devin stood up and walked to the kitchen as if his last statement would solve everything. "What you need to do is stay here in your cozy little house while you let Officer Jenny and I do all the work."

"You're going to find them?" She walked over to him at the counter and gave him a long hug.

"I'll try as best I can, but no promises. My tracking skills aren't as good as yours." He was looking down at her, the coconut smell of her hair wafting into his nose as he breathed.

She looked up at him and quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek. "If you're going out, then the least I can do is stay here and investigate." She pulled away and started to head towards the stairs, little Charmander ran after her.

"Hey wait! Wha-." Devin was left stunned and a bit sheepish.

Devin was a year older than Odette and has had experience with women before; he just never expected this from her. She was hard headed and stubborn and would usually only show affection to her Pokemon. He didn't know much about her past; just that her grandmother passed away several months back. He was there for her for that and was there about four years previous helping with the Ranch. They quickly grew to be good friends, always making raising Pokemon to be a contest; except they were older now and grown. They weren't teenagers anymore and Devin was well aware… He just wondered if Odette knew.

Devin was about 6 feet tall, with shaggy sandy brown hair and a strong slender build. He usually wore plain black shirts so stains wouldn't show up from being around the Ranch. Some of his jeans were ripped from the Ranch which it seemed now to be the "in" thing to do anyways. He wore a brown leather braided bracelet on his left wrist; it was something that Odette had made him years ago, a few months after they first met. Whether she noticed he wore it every day or not, he did not know.

There was a time when Devin took time off for himself to travel and gain experience with other Pokemon in different regions. He and Odette often wrote letters back and forth via Pidgey. He came back to the Ranch about a year later with a whole new team of strong Pokemon and some new additions for the Ranch.

Devin broke himself from his trance and surveyed the room. Duosion was napping by the fire with Gligar. The coffee pot had some stale coffee in it from this afternoon when Officer Jenny was over. "Odette, you want some fresh coffee before I take off?" He asked loudly from the kitchen so she could hear. She didn't respond. "Odette..?" He climbed the stairs and immediately turned right, into her room. She was lying on her double bed, asleep. He smiled faintly and turned the lights off as he exited.

Professor Oak arrived at a red door belonging to the lab of Professor Juniper. She let the man in with enthusiasm and led him to her lounge.

"So what's this about Pokemon being stolen?" He asked her as he settled into a comfy looking chair. He discovered it wasn't really that comfy.

"Odette called me this morning and said something about Plasma." Juniper elaborated.

Oak developed a grim look on his face. "Nothing can go right can it?" He asked of no one. "Team Plasma I'm sure she meant."

"Team Plasma? Not Team Rocket?" Juniper inquired while offering Oak a cup of coffee.

"Thank you- yes, Team Plasma. Red has been following Team Rocket since we had discovered some suspicious activity in Kanto. So far they haven't done anything wrong but Red has been keeping an eye on them. He overheard a conversation they had with a man named Ghetsis. Apparently he holds a status in the Team Plasma association; we just don't know what kind. Threats were made between the two teams and something was said about 'Pokemon liberation.'" Oak explained while sipping from his cup.

"Then they're the ones that did this to the Ranch?"

"Most likely, but we better not jump to conclusions until we know more. Red calls me every few hours to let me know if anything has changed. He is in a very dangerous situation and is risking a lot by following Team Rocket like this."

"Hmm." Juniper thought on this for a moment. "I have someone that wants to investigate also. Devin, he's from the Ranch and I have a feeling Odette wants to go investigate also, just Devin says he won't let her and I'm supposed to stop her if she says otherwise." Juniper rolled her eyes at this. "That girl will do what she pleases anyways, so I don't see how saying anything will stop her."

Oak shifted in his seat, his discomfort began to show. "Devin can help Red if he'll accept it. I'll give you his location to give to him." Oak scribbled something down on one of the papers on the table in front of them. Juniper made a face, it was her field notes.