Pokémon: A New Verse
Chapter 4
In a cave on the side of a cliff near Littleroot Town of the Hoenn region, a brown-haired girl covered in dirt lay peacefully on a bed of grass with her Torchic resting at her side. She was dressed in a skirt made out of long blades of grass leaves and an upper garment made of tree leaves.
An alarm next to her resting place started to ring suddenly, reminding the girl to get up. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up straightly before walking over to the edge of the cave.
"Today's the day, Chic," she said to her companion, pumping her arms heatedly. "We'll finally set out on our Pokémon journey and show prissy boy that battling is the way to go!"
Torchic chirped vigorously in response, bringing a smile to her Trainer's face. "Yeah, we'll show him!"
The girl nodded and clicked her Pokéball, returning the Chick Pokémon inside before diving off the side of the cave entrance. She plummeted downwards with a laugh and landed in a small lake with a great, big splash.
On the surface of lake, the remains of her clothing floated up to the top in shambles from the impact. Under the water's surface, the girl scrubbed idly at her skin, lightly washing off the grime that had collected, before swimming back to the surface and climbing onto the shore.
She grabbed a towel hanging on a nearby branch and dried herself off briskly. Next, she took a change of clothes from the backpack next to the same tree and put them on, now dressed in a stylish blue and black outfit with white and black gloves. She tied a blue bandana onto her right arm and let out a sigh.
The girl patted at her clothes with one hand while idly rubbing a single streak of blue in her hair, mumbling, "Well, at least he's good for one thing…"
The girl shook herself out of her daze and released from Chic from her Pokéball. The two met eyes and started running back to Littleroot Town. She didn't want to be late for their meet-up.
…
On the other side of town, a family was currently saying their farewells to their eldest. An eight-year-old girl, a five-year-old boy, and their mother were saying goodbye to their elder brother/son.
"Take care and don't forget to call," their mother said cheerfully. "And good luck with your Contests. I'm sure you'll perform fabulously, honey. Ah, if only your father were here to say goodbye."
"I'm sure I'll catch him when I pass by Petalburg City, mom," he said with a dry laugh. 'Yea right, I'm in and out of that place as fast as I can be… It's better if dad doesn't see me before I have my first five Ribbons minimum.'
"Don't forget about us, big brother!" the girl whimpered, her eyes watering. "I'll miss you lots! Make sure to come and visit, okay?"
"That's a promise," the elder boy laughed, ruffling his sister's hair as he re-adjusted his hat. He moved to the side and bent down in front of his little brother with a smile. "And what about you? Any words for me?"
"Yeah right," the blue-haired boy scoffed for a moment before rubbing his nose embarrassedly, "But, uh, good luck and don't do anything stupid."
The elder boy chuckled and straightened up before flourishing his hand and posing. "Of course not, how could your elegant and wonderful brother possibly do anything without beauty."
"Maybe by acting like an idiot and making a fool of himself all the time," another voice answered.
The elder boy nearly stumbled before turning around, his face slightly twitching. "Well, if it isn't my un-cultured neighbor. How was living the life of a wild animal for you?" he remarked scathingly.
The girl scoffed and walked up to him with her shoulders straightened out, butting her head against his. "Quite fun, actually. Maybe if you weren't so scared of a little dirt, you'd be less stuck up your own ass about beauty!"
The boy didn't dignify the sentence with a response, instead opting to push his head back against hers and growl…'elegantly'.
"Mom, shouldn't we stop them?" the younger sister asked, swearing she could see electricity crackling between her brother and their neighbor's eyes.
At the sound of her voice, the elder girl ducked her head to the side, leaving her rival-of-sorts to stumble and catch himself. "May, remember, don't let his bad habits get into your head. While he's gone is the perfect time to stop walking the dark path of a Coordinator and become a Trainer like me! You too, Max!"
The blue-haired, bespectacled boy nodded eagerly at the words of his role model. The brown-haired girl was hesitant, however.
"Don't listen to this witch," her brother shouted, shoving her out of the way and firmly grabbing onto his sister's shoulders. "Being a Pokémon Coordinator is a perfectly respectable profession, no matter what anyone says! Don't let her lies smother your dreams."
May simply nodded her head nervously, quickly glancing to her mom and asking for some help. Caroline decided to step in at this point before the two who were soon to set off on their first Pokémon journey didn't get held up for too long. Poor Professor Birch was probably already waiting at the lab for his daughter and her son.
"Sapphire, Ruby, you two should probably get going soon! You wouldn't want to keep the good Professor waiting for too long, right?" Caroline laughed as she ran forward slightly and stopped her son and potential daughter-in-law from butting heads again.
Every time she saw the two clashing so adorably, she could hear the wedding bells ringing. She let out a little sigh as she brought a hand to her face in thought of little grandchildren running around and giggling.
Seeing the familiar strange expression on Caroline's face, the two rivals shuddered and decided to get going. They rushed off into the distance with their Running Shoes™, not forgetting to wave back as they left.
"Bye Ruby, bye Sapphire!" the remaining family of three shouted to the pair disappearing in the direction of Professor Birch's lab.
When they finally stopped waving, Max saw a shadow moving quickly across the ground and looked into the sky for a hint at the source.
"Mom, May, what's that?" he asked, pointing out a blur passing overhead.
"I'm not sure, honey," Caroline responded before making an 'Oh, my' expression. "But it seems like it's heading in the same direction as your brother and Sapphire."
"Do you think it's a Pokémon?" May asked.
…
On a ship heading for and nearing the Hoenn region, a raven-haired boy wearing a nice orange and black shirt with black athletic shorts was standing on the deck, gazing out at the landmass that they approached.
"Why didn't we ride a ship before, Vermillion?" Joltik asked with a pleased sigh as he nibbled at a provided bowl of berry mix while sitting on a Joltik-sized cushion. "This is the life."
"I must agree with the little one," Salazzle giggled, relaxing into a small sun chair, fixing her sunglasses, and drinking some berry juice. "This level of comfort is just right for me…"
Vermillion smiled wryly with a shake of his head. "Well, don't get used to it. Professor Elm might've insisted on giving us a ticket for the ship this time, but we would've been here faster if we just ran…"
"Complacency will dull your blades," Fomantis hummed in agreement from atop Vermillion's shoulder, her arms crossed. "It would not do for my rival to weaken due to something as simple as leisure."
"For the last time," Salandit replied with a tired sigh, "I'm not your rival! Find someone else to harass about it!"
Fomantis turned slightly, her eyes glinting as she pointed a sickle at the salamander. "I shall redeem myself, wicked one. I have not forgotten the humiliation I suffered at your feet."
Salandit let out an exasperated sigh. "Whatever, you crazy mantis."
Vermillion chuckled before walking back to Joltik and Salandit. "Well, sorry to cut your time short, but I'll be returning you guys to your Pokéballs for now. I'm going to try and to have a little one-on-one with Misdreavus."
The spider and the salamander whined for a second before getting over it and consenting. Fomantis had no issue in the first place, so the three Pokémon were subsequently returned to their little sub-space homes.
Vermillion tapped the button of the fourth Pokéball on his belt, releasing the resident into the air in front of him. When the red light solidified, he found himself looking directly into the red and yellow eyes of Misdreavus.
The human and Pokémon had a staring contest with each other for a solid minute before the Ghost-type blinked first with a giggle.
"Wow, you're good!" she laughed, floating around in a small circle before coming to a stop on his shoulder. She peeked over to his face from there. "So, you're my Trainer now?"
"Yep," Vermillion confirmed with a chuckle. "Nice to meet you, Misdreavus."
"Nice to meet you too!" she chimed happily. "But I have something very important to ask you!" Misdreavus said seriously, floating in front of his face and butting her forehead against his.
"Do you like pranking people?"
Vermillion grinned.
"Who do you think you're talking to? Let me show you the intricacies of a master Prankster."
…
Chaos ensued on the ship. It was small things at first.
An unassuming woman who came out of the shower screamed when she realized her hair had been dyed a very interesting mixture of neon yellow and lime green, though she discovered that it didn't look half-bad once she calmed down.
The source of the sabotage was discovered to be her modified shampoo by the on-ship security.
In another room, around thirty minutes later, a rich kid touring the regions with the money of his parents cried up a storm as he realized his brand-name conditioner forced his flowing, golden locks into the shape of an afro.
Oh, the horror!
The incidents didn't stop there. By the fourth set of passengers who found their wardrobes either dyed various colors or replaced entirely with Pokémon costumes, the security team knew that the previously isolated incidents were the work of something much more threatening than they could have imagined.
A serial prankster. Maybe even a team of the foul demons!
The first thing the security team did was check on each passenger to see if they were unaccounted for and whether or not they were likely to be the heinous individual behind these crimes. Yet even this task was hindered.
One member of the security team was taken down when he first attempted to stand up after sitting down for the initial strategy discussion. With a mighty rip and tear, the fabric on his buttocks was ripped off, revealing his teddy-bear underwear. He ran off to his bunk in shame.
The other members of the team didn't laugh at their comrade, however, for they were guilty of wearing similar underwear and actually felt more united now that it was revealed. Instead, they focused on the fact that the prankster had set their sights on them.
Now, they had to proceed with even more caution.
The second victim was taken even more violently and suddenly than the first. As they left the meeting room in single file, as was traditional, the last to exit was bombarded in both the torso and back of his pants with berry pies. The man let out a wounded cry as he was felled by the deadly berry-age.
He reached his shaking hand towards his horrified teammates with a grimace on his face.
"G-go on…w-without me!"
He needed to go get a change of clothes, after all, before his pristine uniform was stained too deeply. He also needed to hope that his spares hadn't been replaced.
The security team continued through the ship, intent on capturing the culprit. Jane and Geoffrey, a policewoman and policeman who had been dating for about six months now talked as they continued along.
"Geoffrey, I'm scared," Jane shivered. "What if…what if they get me? What if I can never see you again…when my hair is ruined?"
"No!" Geoffrey cried, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Don't say that, Jane! I'll never let you go, no matter what color your hair is dyed!"
"Geoffrey!" Jane cried happily, eyes watering.
"Jane!" Geoffrey said with an affectionate smile.
However, just as quickly as the two found some happiness in this dire situation, disaster struck. In their brief conversation, some distance had created between them and the rest of the security team.
And in that small gap, a shadow approached the back of Geoffrey's head. A look of horror appeared on Jane's face, alerting to Geoffrey that something was wrong. He turned around swiftly, but the shadow was already upon him. He closed his eyes and spread out his arms, hoping that he could at least protect his loved one from the oncoming threat.
The feeling of a lithe figure shoving past him nearly shattered his will. Jane, in a burst of speed, pushed her beloved aside and brought her arms up as quickly as she could, intent on taking that bullet for Geoffrey instead.
A bang sounded out in the hallway, turning the heads of the security team members further ahead
"Geoffrey! Jane!" one of them cried out. "Crap, move, move, move! They need reinforcements!"
But it was already too late. When they arrived, Jane was downed on the ground and in the arms of a sobbing Geoffrey. Her arms were limp on the ground and her face turned away from them, unmoving.
Brian, Geoffrey's best friend, approached the distraught man slowly and put an arm on his shoulder.
"Geoffrey, I'm sorry. If only I was paying attention, this…"
Geoffrey simply shook his head, his tears flying all over, before raising his head up to the ceiling and shouting outwards to release his emotions.
"JANEEEEEE!"
As his arms loosened and the woman's head fell into his lap, the rest of the security team caught a glimpse of her face. They averted their eyes in horror, unwilling to look at what had become of poor little Jane, the newest member of the squad.
Her face had been painted a myriad of colors: blue, green, red, yellow, purple, you name it. It was one giant mess that was removable, yet never forgettable. And perhaps as one finishing, mocking touch, above her upper lip, was a pristinely drawn-on, brown mustache.
With this final loss of one of their own, the dispirited security team returned to their rooms and hoped that it would all end soon.
…
Meanwhile, back in one of the many passenger rooms on the ship, a disembodied head was rolling on a bead and laughing her soul out along with her Trainer.
Vermillion wiped a tear out of the corner of his eye and let out a satisfied sigh.
"I feel kind of bad about that last one, but once they wash all the paint off, I'm sure their relationship will be more secure than ever. I really didn't expect the policewoman to push her boyfriend out of the way and take it for him.
"Haha, yeah! That was really fun. I liked throwing the pies at the second one, the splat sound that they made was super satisfying."
Vermillion nodded before grabbing his backpack and standing up. "Right? Do you understand what I meant now?"
"Yep!" Misdreavus said with an eager nod. "Pranks can be plenty of fun without hurting people!"
Vermillion gave the Ghost-type a thumbs-up and gestured for her to get in his backpack for a little bit. She nodded and plopped herself comfortably inside as the young man left his room with a whistle.
As he walked to the deck, he passed a rich boy with an afro who was observing himself in a mirror with a thoughtful expression.
"This might be the next fashion statement that the world needs…" the boy mumbled.
When Vermillion made it onto the deck, he spotted the people with Pokémon costumes and rainbow-colored clothes who had gathered together and put on a little play for some of the kids on board. He walked over to a side of the ship where nobody was watching and leapt off, peaking into a porthole as he did.
Inside, he spotted the security team gathered together and bonding over some drinks, while the couple were affectionately holding one another on the side.
Vermillion smiled as he landed on the surface of the water and darted off towards the town that was in sight. He dipped into the water and re-surfaced on a nearby beach before heading towards the city from another angle, just in case anybody happened to discover him.
Misdreavus phased out of the backpack and re-appeared next to him at this point, still giggling joyfully.
"So, how did you end up in Professor Elm's lab?" Vermillion asked idly as he jumped onto a nearby roof. Walking around in the streets was a bit inconvenient for talking to his Pokémon and nobody ever looked up, anyway.
The Ghost-type followed along while shaking her head around playfully. "The human with the glasses and all of the technology?" she asked. "Well, I used to live in Mt. Silver with a few other Misdreavus and the other Pokémon who were nearby. But, they kicked me out recently so I wandered around until I met you!"
Vermillion made a confused expression. "Kicked out?"
"Yep," Misdreavus hummed, not seeming to care very much. "I didn't really mind. All the others ever wanted to do was go out and find humans to scare!" the Ghost-type said, sticking her tongue slightly. "But I didn't think it was very fun, so I never went with them. And they never wanted to prank the other Pokémon with me either, so I pranked them a few times to see what it would be like. When they had enough of me not fitting in, they 'kicked me out'. They couldn't actually do anything because I was stronger than them, but I left anyway since it was boring."
The young man nodded in understanding. "So, what do you want to do now? I can let you go, if you want me to," he offered. "I don't want to force you to stay if you'd rather keep wandering around."
"Nah, that's fine," Misdreavus giggled mischievously, glancing at her Trainer as she floated in front of him and continued moving backwards. "I was getting bored of just trying to find a place to stay anyway. Besides, you seem like fun. Wanna be friends?"
"Sure," Vermillion laughed, holding a hand out. "My name is Vermillion. Nice to meet you."
The Ghost-type floated closer and grinned. Her 'hair' wrapped around and grasped onto his hand before shaking it emphatically. "Cool! We'll be besties! We can prank people, and then prank Pokémon, and then prank more Pokémon…and people!" she said excitedly, floating off to the side and into the middle of the street.
Vermillion smiled. "Are we only going to be pranking?"
Misdreavus made an 'o' expression before lowering her head in thought. "Oh, I know!" she laughed with a stroke of inspiration. "We can hang out, and then prank ourselves! Oh, but Trainers like battles, right? So, we could battle and prank our opponents during them too!" she gushed.
Vermillion tilted his head slightly, smiling wryly. "Well, she's focused for sure."
As they continued traveling atop the roofs, the young man kept track of the ideas that Misdreavus were discussing while he planned out how long he would be staying in Hoenn and where he would want to visit. Meanwhile, the Ghost-type continued floating around in random patterns in the middle of air as she spoke.
When she floated just far enough away from him to be out of the Pokéball's return range, Vermillion was alerted to a movement out of the corner of his eye. A Pokémon that had been resting on a nearby roof suddenly made a move.
Vermillion sighed as he kicked off of the rooftop and leapt towards Misdreavus. While he didn't like having Aura Sight active all the time due to how taxing it could be in cities and how much less fun everything was when he saw it coming, he really didn't like risking the safety of his companions. It seemed his concerns weren't unfounded thus far as well.
Misdreavus made a yelp of surprise as Vermillion grabbed her out of mid-air and pulled the Ghost-type into his arms.
"What's going o- Oh!" she said in surprise as she noticed the Pokémon that had been trying to ambush her.
Specifically, the three Pokémon who had been trying to ambush her. Three Honchkrow were basically right on top of them at this point, wings pulsing with dark purple energy and slashing them downwards at her and her Trainer.
Vermillion scoffed and waved his hand in the air, leaving behind a barrier of energy that flashed green as the three Night Slashes connected with it. The Honchkrow squawked in indignation as they were pushed backwards, unable to break through the shield.
"Ey, what's the big deal?"
"You're a human, see? Humans ain't supposed to be able to move like that, see?"
"Get back here!"
The Big Boss Pokémon cursed as they dove down to chase their prey.
Vermillion twisted in the air and prepared to land, but not before shouting "Watch out below!" as he did. He'd spotted a pair of kids running towards his landing zone.
Ruby and Sapphire heard the voice and instinctively dodged to the sides, watching as a person plummeted into the ground and kicked up a cloud of dust. Another trio of cries brought their heads up to spot the three Honchkrow diving down in pursuit.
Their hands went to their Pokéballs to fend off the Dark/Flying types, but the following flurry of motion proved that gesture unnecessary. Their ears barely registered a few instructions being spewed out in the cloud of smoke before four Pokémon darted out of the cloud of smoke, leaving trails behind them.
Joltik stopped and channeled electricity between its small mandibles intently as the other three continued moving. Misdreavus giggled as she projected four phantoms in her own image from the largest orb on her necklace into the center Honchkrow.
The large bird honked in confusion as it suddenly flew off-course and collided into the left Honchkrow, creating a pile of tangled bodies. The remaining Honchkrow squawked in irritation as it continued alone.
"We'll get you for that one, see?!"
Fomantis and Salandit rushed the remaining one, planning on intercepting the bird. The Honchkrow flapped its wings forward, shedding glowing feathers onto the Grass-type.
"Come at me, ya little mantis!" the Honchkrow said confidently, waiting for the effects to take place
Contrary to the bird's hopes, Fomantis's body glowed red instead of blue from the effects of Feather Dance, increasing her offensive capabilities. Her scythes flashed red as she hacked violently at the Honchkrow who squawked in disbelief. Her Fury Cutter grew stronger and further-reaching with each strike.
Salandit continued moving past the big bird now that Fomantis had it under control, but not before spraying some Sweet Scent and kicking some sand back into the general vicinity. Honchkrow's movements and counter-attacks became more muddled, while Fomantis's strikes became more on-point.
The salamander snickered. "You know, Swordswoman's Ability was unbelievably annoying when I was fighting her, but it's nice to see somebody else on the receiving end."
Salandit took aim and reared back before unleashing a volatile ball of flame from her throat. The Flame Burst exploded on the pair of Honchkrows that were still struggling to untangle themselves from one another, rewarding the Toxic Lizard with a pair of cries and the scent of burnt bird.
Misdreavus joined the salamander's approach, her eyes flashing red. Rather than using her telekinetic force on either of the birds, who would be immune to her powers as Vermillion told her, she grabbed a nearby trash can and tossed it at the left Honchkrow who hadn't been confused.
While it still wasn't confused, it definitely had a fierce headache now. Salandit took the extra time they'd earned to spray a cloud of Poison Gas into the downed Honchkrows, which was followed by a Hex from Misdreavus onto the middle Honchkrow that she initially used Confuse Ray on.
"All right, that's enough of that!" the Honchkrow screeched together.
"Uh oh," Misdreavus remarked. "I think they're mad!"
"Retreat!" Salandit screamed, heading back first.
Misdreavus followed giggling, as did the two maddened Honchkrow. As they passed by Fomantis who was slowly becoming disadvantaged by basis of type and natural power, the mantis joined them in their escape while the Honchkrow she'd been battering joined the chase angrily.
Focused entirely on the three small ones they were intent on hunting down, they forgot about the last one. As the three Pokémon split to the sides, they were stopped with the sight of a small Joltik with a disproportionately large yellow ball in front of his mouth.
They could see a sly smirk emerge on the spider's face as it launched the ball, which quickly ballooned into a large web of electricity. They did stepped back as rapidly as they could, but when they turned around, they were simply blasted in the face by a cloud of Smog, courtesy of a snickering Salandit.
The following electrocution was something they hoped they would never experience ever again, which was thankfully cut short by a Pokéball contacting each of them. They made the wise decision to stay inside their Pokéballs and didn't even struggle.
The entire exchange didn't even take two whole minutes. Vermillion walked out of the smoke and over to the Pokéballs before tossing the one that was disabled into his backpack. The other two were simply slotted onto his belt until he could free them up later.
Ruby and Sapphire were still standing on the sidelines, captivated by the same battle for different reasons.
It was obvious by how the four Pokémon were celebrating together that the teen next to them was their Trainer. The execution of and speed at which the skirmish was carried was simply amazing to her, even with her own life experiences and watching the highest-level of battling she could find online. Official battles went up to 3 vs 3 at best, however, and the difference that one extra Pokémon could make was fascinating. And while the Pokémon themselves were definitely to be praised for their capabilities, it all reflected back on the young man who enabled it.
He had to be a good Trainer to have such well-coordinated Pokémon. Sapphire was determined to at least get his name. A Trainer like him was sure to be some sort of amazing, even if obscure, figure in the Pokémon world.
Focused on a different aspect at hand, Ruby couldn't help but fawn over the appearances of the four Pokémon that he had the pleasure of seeing in real life for the first time. While Joltik and Fomantis held appearances that initially screamed 'Cute Contests' at him, there was an air of solemnity and pride around the mantis that caught his attention and a resilience that one wouldn't expect such a small spider to have, matching up with a hidden Cool and Tough attribute respectively. Meanwhile, he could see the potential that the elegant Salandit and playful Misdreavus held, especially with his knowledge of their evolved forms' appearances.
He made a habit of knowing the beauty and appeal of as many Pokémon as he could, after all.
The sharp and ferocious dance that Fomantis put on in her fight against her opponent. The confidence and willpower that Joltik displayed in his role of exceeding his limits and charging an amount of energy that went well-beyond the expected ability of his species. It made him almost like the idea of battles, if they could always be executed in such a controlled and appealing manner.
Their Trainer had be an amazing Coordinator. If not, there was still a style to the battle that he felt was unique and interesting. Ruby was set on getting to know the young man at least.
The pair quickly made their way over to the young man, who turned towards them with a sheepish expression and a hand scratching the back of his head.
"Hey there," Vermillion said in greeting. "Sorry for almost dropping onto you two earlier. My name is Vermillion."
"Oh, that's no problem. My name is Ruby," the boy answered with a smile before waving a hand at the girl next to him. "This is my neighbor, Sapphire."
"What happened with those three Honchkrow?" Sapphire asked curiously. "Why were they chasing you?" She looked back at where he came from. "For that matter, where did you come from?"
"Ah, I was travelling across the rooftops to practice my parkour, you see?" Vermillion explained, quickly weaving a little white lie. "I'm new to the region, just arrived on a ship, so I got excited at the sight of a new city to test my skills on. Misdreavus, here," the Ghost-type smiled in greeting, "was following me along, but the Honchkrow attacked her at some point. I dove after her to protect her, since she was out of my Pokéball's return range, and the rest was as you saw."
The two kids nodded in acceptance of that, given that Sapphire enjoyed doing similar things and the Ruby was accustomed to it because of the former.
"Well, it's good that you had it under control," Ruby said cheerfully. "But that was some really impressive battling! You must be a famous Trainer or Coordinator of some sort, right?"
Vermillion shook his hands and head with a chuckle. "No, nothing of the sort. I'm actually a rookie. It's only been around two months since I started. I've been travelling since to figure out what I want to do with my career, actually."
Ruby and Sapphire were internally surprised at that, but didn't let it show.
"We're actually just starting our Pokémon today, coincidentally," Ruby responded.
"Yes…speaking of which, I think we're a bit late," Sapphire remarked after taking a glance at her Pokégear. "Hope dad hasn't been waiting for too long."
Vermillion found that bit of information interesting, but before he could say anything, a shout sounded through the air.
"Sapphire! Ruby! There you are!"
"Oh, speaking of," Sapphire laughed.
Vermillion turned to see a bearded man with a lab coat and satchel running over, stopping in front of the trio and taking a second to catch his breath.
"I was waiting for the two of you to show up, but it was taking a while so I thought I'd come and look for you," the man said, wiping a bit of sweat off his brow before patting his satchel. "I brought the starters and your Pokédexs along so you could just take your pick wherever you were." He noticed the additional person and held his hand out in greeting. "Oh, hello there! Excuse my manners. My name is Professor Birch!"
"I'm Vermillion, it's a pleasure to meet you sir," he responded with a smile. "Don't mind me, please continue with your business."
"I take it you've met my daughter and Ruby already then," Professor Birch said with a smile. "Wonderful! Ah, yes. While the subject is on my mind, have any of you three, by chance, seen a trio of Honchkrow hanging around or making trouble?"
Vermillion smiled wryly while Ruby and Sapphire just looked at him.
"Yes, we have actually."
…
While Vermillion recounted the story of their encounter with the trio of Honchkrows, the small group made their way to the Professor's lab. By the time they finished, Vermillion was sipping a cup of tea across from Ruby and Sapphire after handing the three Pokéballs containing the Honchkrow over to Professor Birch.
"I really am sorry for the trouble they caused you," Professor Birch said with a sheepish expression. "We never imagined that they would cause such issues when we first imported them over for habitat adaptation research. We'll take care to keep a closer eye on any Pokémon we release so this doesn't happen again."
"It's all right Professor, it wasn't really your fault," Vermillion laughed. "If I hadn't been jumping around on the roofs, they probably wouldn't have even ended up targeting me and Misdreavus. In fact, I need to apologize for delaying Ruby and Sapphire here so long from starting their journeys."
"No, no," Ruby said suddenly, waving his hands, "It really wasn't much of an issue. Just seeing the battle made up for it."
"Yea! Besides, only prissy boy here needs to get his traditional starter Pokémon," Sapphire snickered while letting out her Torchic. "I already have Chic here, so I've only been waiting for my Pokédex."
"Hi there!" the Chick Pokémon chirped happily in greeting.
"Hello to you too," Vermillion said with a smile.
Despite how general the response had been, Torchic couldn't but feel as if the new human had understood its words. It quickly shunted that thought to the side in favor of walking over to the other Pokémon who were hanging out nearby. They looked pretty interesting.
Ruby groaned. 'Did you have to call me a prissy boy in front of a near-stranger?' he thought in frustration before glaring at Sapphire.
Professor Birch let out a laugh. It wasn't anything he'd never heard before. "Regardless, I must give you something for helping me re-capture the Honchkrow. Is there anything you'd like in particular…?"
Vermillion shook his head. "No, I couldn't take anything from you Professor, it really wasn't much."
"What if I insist?" the man chuckled.
The younger man just shrugged and looked around a bit before spotting something that would do. "In that case, do you have any spare flashlights I could have? I plan on visiting Granite Cave at some point and it escaped my mind to pick one up. It should be useful in the future, as well."
The Professor nodded, understanding that the young man probably wouldn't accept anything more. With that mind, he set out to find the best flashlight he could shove onto the Trainer with a smile.
Watching the man walk away on his quest, Vermillion let out a sigh of relief.
"Sorry about that," Sapphire giggled. "My dad can be a little pushy when he's determined."
"Oh, it's no problem," Vermillion responded, waving it off. "Saves me an extra trip as well."
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Ruby remarked before snickering.
Sapphire smacked the boy on the arm and the duo started bickering. Vermillion chuckled and scanned the two briefly before turning his eyes away. It was just his luck that he'd meet two kids who gave him the same feeling that Hilbert did not too long ago.
The tug in his gut that told him that the world had more in store for them than they had any reason to expect. He sighed, as it seemed there were far more players in this little game of life than there were when he first traveled through this world.
While he didn't mind the extra allies, it was the new enemies that concerned him a bit more. The world was a volatile one, after all. From past experience, Rocket would be the first one to make a move but he needed to make sure he was ready for just about anything.
New regions typically meant new evil schemes, for example.
With that in mind, he walked over to the PC in the lab and withdrew two Pokémon that had been relaxing in his personal storage. He turned back to the still-bickering pair with a smile on his face.
"Sapphire, Ruby. I have something for the both of you. A farewell gift, if you will."
…