"Oh! Resa! That's a cute Pokémon you have! Professor Elm must have given it to you?" Her mom grinned.
Resa looked at the mentioned Pokémon. "Yep, she's a pretty sweet Cyndaquil."
"Did you name her? Tell me!"
"Yeah, her name's Flare." Her mom's face whitened... And Resa groaned in frustration.
"Why does everyone start freaking out when they hear Flare's name? I mean... seriously!"
"Oh it's nothing... So what did Elm want?"
"Oh, yeah, that favor? He wanted me to have Flare, then he gave me this weird job all of a sudden."
"Hmm... A task? What kind of task?"
"Task is kinda a weird word, Mom. He just wants me to go get something from a Mr. Pokémon."
"Hmm... I see. That sounds a little difficult. But when someone makes a request like that, it must be important!"
"I guess I'll go along with that..."
"Oh! Resa! That's right! I almost forgot!" Resa's mom fumbled for something in her pockets. "Here you go! Your Pokégear came back from the repair shop!"
"Um... It wasn't broken before..."
"Eh...heheh... about that... Ethan's Marill soaked it before..."
"Grr... " Flare tilted her head. "Cyynnnda?"
Choosing to ignore Flare, Resa continued talking to her mom.
"Anyways, you remember to call me, okay? Don't forget..."
"I won't. Come on, Flare."
"Remember, Mr. Pokémon's house is on Route 130-"
"-North of Cherrygrove City. Bye, Mom."
"Oh...! Take care, dear." She watched her daughter close the door behind the Cyndaquil.
Resa and Flare were about to leave New Bark Town, but then Professor Elm dashed out the lab.
"Wait one second!"
Flare jumped, and Resa turned around in shock. "Huh?"
The professor walked up to the duo. "I almost forgot about this... Here, let me see your Pokégear for a second." Resa handed it to him, a little confused. "Here, I'll give you my number." He pressed a couple more buttons, then handed the Pokégear back to Resa. "I'll call you if anything comes up, Resa." He walked back to his lab.
"Haha! Flare! C'mon! Let's get outta here!"
"Cynda! Quuuiiiill!
They kept to the trail, and wove through the small paths, avoiding the tall grass as much as possible. Soon, before they knew it, they were at Cherrygrove City. A man walked up to them.
"You're a rookie Trainer, aren't you? I can tell!"
Flare was indignant, "Cyyynndaaaaa!"
"That's OK! Everyone is a rookie at some point!"
"Um... yeah, I really should-"
"If you'd like, I can teach you a few things."
Resa shrugged. Apparently, the crazy old guy won't listen anyways.
"OK then! Follow me!"
He ran off faster than Resa thought was possible. He backtracked. "What's the matter? Aren't you coming?"
He walked Resa to a building with an orange roof. "This is the PokéCenter. They heal your Pokémon in no time at all. You'll be relying on them a lot, so you better learn all about them."
She followed him to the building next to it. This one had a blue roof. "This is a PokéMart. They sell Pokéballs for catching wild Pokémon, along with some other useful items."
He dashed to a path heading North. "Route 30 is out this way. Trainers will be battling their Pokémon there. If you go a little farther, you'll get to Mr. Pokémon's house."
Resa made a mental note before following the man again. He stopped in front of the rolling tides, to the west of the city. "This is the sea, as you can see. Some Pokémon are found only in the water." Resa looked down to see Flare looking a little edgy.
Then they stopped in front of a house. Resa raised her eyebrow. "Here... it's my house! For taking the time to listen to an old man's rattling, I'll give you this!" He handed her a small object. It looked a little bit like a Pokéball, but it had a screen. Resa remembered Ethan had one... but this one had a black cover on it. On the back was a small etching of a majestic silver Pokémon. The man smiled. "This is a PokéWalker. You can put a Pokémon in it, and you as you walk around, it'll grow! Isn't it great? Anyways, I gotta go!" He went into his house, right as Resa realized that there was already a Pokémon on the PokéWalker. It had a star-shaped head, and it was a really peculiar Pokémon. Resa didn't recognize it. She clipped it onto her bag, along with her Pokégear. Then she and Flare started north. As soon as she stepped onto the path, the crazy old man came running.
"...Hffp... Hffp... I made it. I forgot about one thing. This is another token from me."
He held out an odd looking object. "Take it."
"Umm... what is it?
He sighed. "Give me your Pokégear." She unclasped it and passed it to him. He fiddled with it for a few seconds, then gave it back.
"What did you do?"
"I added the Town Map app to your Pokégear. Your Pokégear becomes more useful as you add apps. Anyways, I wish you luck on your journey!" He dashed off.
"Uhh... " Resa looked down to see Flare sniffing flowers, distracted. "Come on, Flare, we have to get going." Flare looked a little upset, so Resa tried to reason with the stubborn little thing. "Aww, come on. We have to finish up our job for the Professor."
"Cynda! Cynda-quuuuuuiiiiiIlll."
They walked for a couple minutes, and then they came up to a house next to a Apricorn tree.
Resa laughed. "I bet this is Mr. Pokémon"s house! We're here Flare!" The rash little Cyndaquil rushed in. "Hey, Flare!" Resa stepped in after it. Inside the first room was a man who Resa assumed was Mr. Pokémon. He spoke.
"People usually come to my house looking for Mr. Pokemon's house."
Resa grabbed her hyper-active Cyndaquil. "Um... you mean-"
"You did mean to visit my house, right?"
Resa reasoned that lying wouldn't hurt, "Yeah... I guess."
He smiled. "How kind of you!" An odd look came over his face. "Do you... have any Apricorns? The trees bear fruit once a day. I have one growing outside."
"Yeah, Flare and I saw it."
"Apricorns are really something. You can make Pokéballs and other things. They're quite useful." He looked around and picked up a box from a desk. "I have a feeling that this was meant to be. I'm so happy that I'll give you this!"
Resa accepted the box and opened it.. It was quite empty.
"That's an Apricorn box. With that, you can carry so many Apricorns." He explained. "You'll be a decent Apricorn collector."
"Oh... Um... Thank you... sir..." Resa gently shoved the box into her bag. Then nearly ran from the house.
"Aw man! How embarrassing! That must mean Mr. Pokémon's house is further down the path." She paused to watch two boys in the middle of a battle.
"Go, Rattata! Tackle!"
The Rattata leaped at the opponents Pidgey.
"Dodge it!" The Pidgey didn't have enough time to, and the Rattata's tackle hit home. Resa tried to pass by, but one of the boys yelled.
"This is a big battle! Leave us alone!"
Resa stepped away, confused. Flare tugged her shoelaces. "What, Flare?"
"Cynda-Cynda!" It pointed its paw at a separate path.
"Way to go, Flare! Good job!" Resa beamed with pride. "C'mon."
They came to another house, and this time Resa knocked on the door. After a couple seconds, a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat opened it.
"Ah, you must be Resa! Come in, come in." Resa quickly noticed he seemed very... dramatic. "It was I who sent an e-mail to Professor Elm earlier."
He had Resa and Flare sit on wooden chairs. He walked over to a glass cabinet and withdrew a round object. He brought it over. "This is what I want Professor Elm to examine."
Resa accepted the object. It looked an awful lot like an egg. It had blue and red markings all over it. She very gently slipped it in her black bag.
Mr. Pokémon smiled. "A friend of mine from Ecruteak gave it to me. I bet you can't find this kind of egg in Johto. I thought maybe Professor Elm could tell me what this is. After all, 'He's the best when it comes to the research of Pokémon evolution.' That's a quote from the famous Professor Oak. I'm assuming you have to return to Professor Elm? Your little Cyndaquil friend there should have some rest."
"She's Flare."
Yet again, another person paled at the mention of Flare's name. "That's a great name, Resa." He managed to stammer. Another man walked up.
He smiled. "And with that... I'm Professor Oak, a Pokémon researcher. "
"Um... hi." She shook his hand.
"So you're Resa! I was visiting my friend, Mr. Pokémon here. I heard that you were running an errand for Professor Elm, so I waited here."
He looked at Flare. "Oh! What's this? A rare Pokémon!" He touched his chin in thought. "I see... You must be helping Professor Elm's Research... I think I understand why Professor Elm gave you that Cyndaquil. It seems you will treat your Pokémon with love and care." He looked back at Resa. "...Ah! You seem very dependable. How would you like to help me out?"
"Umm... I really-" She stopped when he pulled out a small red device.
"See? This is the latest version of the Pokédex. It automatically records data on Pokémon you've seen or caught. It's a high tech encyclopedia! I'd like you to have it." She placed it in her pocket. He closed his eyes. "Go meet many kinds of Pokémon and complete that Pokédex! But I've stayed too long. I have to get to Goldenrod for my usual radio show. Resa, I have a feeling that this is not the last time we'll meet... Here, let's exchange numbers, just to be on the safe side." Resa quickly entered the code into the Pokégear. Then the Pokémon Professor left.
Mr. Pokémon spoke again "Heheh. Sorry to trouble you, going back and forth. But please make sure to hand it to Professor Elm!"
"Bye, I'll make sure."
As she took a step outside the house, her Pokégear started buzzing like crazy.
She looked at the video screen. A frantic Professor Elm showed up.
"H-hello? Resa? It's a disaster! Uh, um. It's just terrible!"
"Calm down. Tell me what happened."
Obviously, Resa was ignored. "What should I do? It... Oh, no... Please get back here now!" The screen turned snowy.
"Oh gosh! Professor? Come on Flare! We have to hurry!"