Shantel sat on the port located on Route 104. She still hadn't introduced herself to the young Mudkip yet. She rolled the contracted Pokeball in her palm contemplating how she'd do it. She shrugged and decided to go with the flow. The small blue Pokémon emerged from a flash of red light. The small Pokémon shook its head seemingly waking up from a nap. It took in its surroundings before focusing in on its trainer. They shared an intense look, as if analyzing each other, before Mudkip blew a stream of water in Shantel's face. Shantel fell backwards in surprise. Then Mudkip jumped on top of her as if to claim dominance over Shantel.
"Alright you win, I guess." Shantel conceded.
The small blue Pokémon seemed satisfied by her admission of defeat. It jumped off of Shantel and began to hop around the beach. Shantel rolled her eyes and began to chase the Pokémon. She wasn't big on physical activity, in fact she was almost a walking skeleton. She could only keep up the chase for a solid ten minutes before almost collapsing. Tired out she finally decided to leave this up to Serenity.
'I'm exhausted, could you contain Mudkip for me?' She projected toward her psychic Pokémon. 'We still need to enter that forest today.'
Serenity began to interact with the Mudkip. The blue Pokémon tried it's water trick on her, but she stopped it with her psychic powers. Angered by this turn of events, Mudkip tried to tackle Serenity, but she warped out of the way. They repeated this process for twenty minutes before the Mudkip finally calmed down. With her own energy recuperated, Shantel was finally able to introduce herself to this energetic Pokémon.
"My name is Shantel," She introduced. "This is my other partner, Serenity. We are trying to conquer the Hoenn region. You want to travel with us?"
The Mudkip acknowledged both of their presences laying flat on its stomach. It sat up, gave them a curt nod, then preceded to sunbathe. Shantel smiled, it was a little cute when it wasn't darting around. She had the perfect nickname for it, too.
"Alright Mr. Mudkip, these last thirty minutes have been absolute madness. We had no idea how much energy you would have. If you wouldn't mind I'd like to nickname you." Shantel explained.
Mudkip once again nodded rolling onto his side, and yawning. He was enjoying the coolness of the aquatic breeze.
"Alright," Shantel declared. "I hereby declare you Chaos the Mudkip."
Chaos gave her a smile before jumping into the arms of his new trainer. Shantel embraced the Pokémon before recalling him to his Pokeball. She turned around, and saw that boy from her house watching her.
"You're good with Pokémon." He commented. "That's awesome! You'll befriend a lot of Pokémon that way."
"Thank you," Shantel said gratefully. "Sorry I'm not the best with names. What was yours again?"
Brendan deadpanned. He hadn't expected himself to be this forgettable. Shantel was the daughter of a gym leader, so Brendan had tried to make the best first impression he could. He guessed he'd failed.
"My name is Brendan," He replied sighing in disappointment. "I was sent here by my father. He wanted you to have this."
He dug in his pocket and pulled out a red rectangular device. He handed it to her and began to make his way back towards Petalburg. Shantel could see that she had created an awkward situation, so she tried to change that.
"Thank you Brendan." She said. "What is it, though?"
"I'm not sure myself," He replied. "I just got one myself. Apparently it's an encyclopedia containing every recorded Pokémon in the Hoenn and Kanto regions."
"That's amazing!" Shantel exclaimed excited at the new device to tinker with.. "You're dad invented this?"
"No," Brendan answered. "He got it from an old friend of his. He tweaked the design of the dex to include information from Hoenn."
"Well, tell your dad I said thank you." Shantel said. "I'm headed towards Petalburg to take on the Hoenn league."
"Good luck with that." Brendan said. "I'm heading that way as well. I'm traveling the region as well. I want to discover more Pokémon in this world."
Shantel waved her goodbye to Brendan and continued on her way. She tinkered with her newly acquired Pokedex. After fidgeting with this new device for a little she figured out that you could check the moves of your Pokémon.
Upon further inspection, she saw there was a scanning function on the dex. It seemed like it could scan a Pokémon in a Pokeball. Shantel took Serenity's Pokeball from her belt and set it on the scanner.
"Ralt," The Dexter explained. "The Feeling Pokémon; It can use the horns on its head to read human emotions. Ralts rarely shows itself to humans, but may occasionally approach when it senses positive or happy feelings. This Ralts is Female. This Pokémon knows the moves Growl, Confusion, and Teleport."
Shantel put Serenity back on her belt and put Chaos's pokeball on the same scanner.
"Mudkip," The Dexter explained. "The Mud Fish Pokémon; Mudkip uses the sensitive fin on its head to take radar readings of its surroundings. This Mudkip is Male. This Pokémon knows the moves Growl, Tackle, and Water Gun."
Shantel pocketed the marvelous device, and noticed the amounts of trees in the path were beginning to grow. She was beginning to enter Petalburg Forest. She would be in here for a couple days, if this forest was the same size as Ilex Forest. Shantel wasn't nervous at all. She'd been on small escapades like this before. She and her sister would do these things for fun. Multiple times, they had gotten all the way to Azalea City. There they had met the young sub leader Bugsy. Shantel would have to let him know about the bug type Pokémon she came across in this forest.
Thinking of Bugsy, she remembered that she had not spoken to Whitney since they had moved to Hoenn. She took her Pokegear out of her bag and tried to call her older sister. The Pokegear made an interesting noise before burning out completely. Shantel groaned to herself. She had forgotten to look for a repair shop in Petalburg. Her only means of communication would be fried until she got to Rustboro.
Shantel's POV
'Are you sensing an exit anywhere?'
'Yes, we are around two hours away from the exit."
We had been in the forest for five days after all. Green and shrubbery got old once you stared at it long enough. There were many new Pokémon for her to see. From blue seagull like Pokémon, to the small worm Pokémon I'd seen in these woods. I'd have to learn about the Pokémon of this region to conquer it. Maybe I should have spent a couple days researching before I left?
'Shantel,' Serenity projected abruptly. 'There's someone heading in this direction,'
'It's probably just another bug catcher,' I thought back, mentally groaning. 'Guess this is more experience for us, on the bright side.'
I got Chaos's Pokeball ready. I'd dispose of this trainer, and then finish my journey to Petalburg. A figure burst from the bushes and ran towards me at a shocking pace. I sidestepped the person and allowed them to trip over a bush in their haste.
It was a girl who looked about my age. It was sort of amusing watching her struggling to pull herself out of the shrubbery. I helped her up, struggling not to laugh. it wasn't like I liked the fact that she'd had fallen, it was just that she looked so funny while doing it.
"Are you okay," I ask muffling my mouth. "It seemed like you had a bad fall."
"I'm fine," The girl snapped. "I just lost my assistant, that's all."
The girl dusted her clothes off in an angry huff. She was wearing what seemed to be a work uniform of some sort. She wore a white button up shirt with a red tie. She had black dress pants on, but the uniform seemed to be worn. Her shirt was grass stained, and her dress pants where ripped and torn. It had seemed that she had been running for awhile.
"Are you sure," I press. She didn't seem like she was in the best shape at the moment. I didn't mean to pry, but she looked like she was in trouble.
"I'm fine," she fired back. "I'm just looking for the Pokémon named Shroomish! I like the Pokémon, and my assistant and I came out here to look for one."
"Alright, well I hope you find it," I reply.
I began to walk away from the lady. She seemed distressed, but if she didn't want help, I couldn't be bothered to continue to press her. I had my own things to do. I called on Chaos to help deal with the wild Pokémon. Serenity need to get some rest, and Chaos needed the training. After calling on Chaos, I pulled out the Pokedex. I had yet to figure out all its functionalities. It was a pretty complex device when you got past the formalities. It actually had a finger print scanning device on it. It was there to make sure the original user was the only one who could access the data within the small encyclopedia. Another amazing function it had was that it could give you the location of Pokémon you've scanned. Whoever made this had thought of everything. A lot of love went into making this device.
'Shantel,' Serenity projected. 'There's someone following you.'
'Eh it's probably the lady from before,' I report back. 'She's probably lost, and trying to Petalburg as well.'
'Are you comfortable with that?' Serenity asked. 'She's been trailing you for a while now. I don't sense any malice, but there is distress.'
'It's fine,' I reply.
I sat down in that area to take a quick break. If we weren't delayed, we would make to our first destination before the day was up! Maybe we could challenge the gym leader today. I pulled out a makeshift stew I had made out of berries. In my haste, I had forgotten to pack food, but I knew how to make food out of wildlife. They had taught us that in the trainer school in Goldenrod. I released my Pokémon and allowed them to enjoy my makeshift stew. If I were being completely honest, I could really go for something a little more sugary at the moment. Out of the corner of my eye, I spied an intruder coming into the scene. The person looked…odd. They were wearing something that made them look like a member of a pirate crew. They wear wearing a black bandanna with some type of insignia on it. They were wearing a blue and white stripped t-shirt, with gray pants. They also had a blue and white stripped socks complete with black shoes.
"Hey little girl," He shouted in my direction. "Have you seen a girl in a school uniform anywhere around here?"
I just shook my head no. I didn't trust this man. He was definitely up to something. The lady had mentioned something about an assistant, but this man gave me a bad vibes. I glanced over to where the lady had been hiding before, to see if she was still there. Sure enough the bush slightly rustled as if to confirm my suspicions. I lazily turned my attention back to the man. He seemed to be fuming at this point.
"I saw what you just did," he commented accusingly. "She's hiding somewhere in this clearing isn't she?"
"…"
There was no questioning it now. I had my suspicions before, but this confirmed it. It looked like this man was after the lady from before. It still could be the assistant, but wouldn't that lady have come out into the open if it was?
"Ugh! You're making a mistake." He shouted angrily. "I'm giving you one more chance!"
"…"
"That's it Poochyena let's deal with this annoyance." He commanded sending his Pokémon out."
Serenity teleported in front of the small dog Pokémon to protect me. The small dog was growling at me angrily. It was a small Pokémon with black and gray fur. If I had to guess, it was a dark Pokémon. It stood no chance against Serenity. She was part fairy type. There was always the chance it had a poison type move, but I doubted that this man was thinking about type coverages.
"Do we really have to do this?" I ask. "Can't you just ignore me and do whatever? It'd save us both some grief."
"Poochyena attack with bite," He commanded ignoring my proposition.
'Serenity take it out with disarming voice' I project.
The Poochyena was blasted with the mythical energy, and almost fainted immediately. It would only take one more hit to incapacitate the small dog Pokémon.
"I don't have time for this," He exclaimed angrily. "I have adult things to do in Rustburo! I won't forget your meddling!"
The man took off into the woods. Once I was sure that he was gone, I recalled Serenity and gathered my things. Once I finally got out the woods, I stopped to admire the flowers on this side of route 104.
"Hey wait a moment." The lady called from a distance. She ran towards me panting.
"What do you want," I ask pretending to be ignorant of the situation. "Weren't you looking for a Shroomish?"
"I happened to find one," She replied. I raised my eye to let her know I hadn't bought her shit. She had been following me for the past hour
"I'm not lying," she exclaimed angrily. "I'll show you."
She released a small green mushroom looking Pokémon. Now that I looked at it, it did look a little interesting. I took out the dex to get information on it.
"Shroomish," The dex explained. "The Mushroom Pokémon; Shroomish is a mild tempered and inhabits piles of rotting leaves inside of forest."
"Woah what is that!" She exclaimed. "It doesn't look like anything like what Devon produces."
"It's a Pokedex," I explain. "It's an encyclopedia for Pokémon."
"That's amazing!" She gushed. "It could revolutionize Pokémon research as we know it! Where did you get it?"
"I got it from Professor Birch." I answer. "But he got it from another Professor in Kanto."
"Could I see it for a moment?" She asked eyes sparkling.
I shrug and hand the device over. It didn't seem like she had any ill will. It came from pure curiosity, which I could respect.
"If it came from Kanto, then it would have to be Professor Oak." She inquired. "This could be huge development! Devon had something in development like this, but it wasn't this advanced!"
She inspected it for a couple more minutes before handing it back to me.
"My name is Amanda Stone," She said introducing herself. "I'm the current heir to the Devon Company. What's your name?"
"My name is Shantel Haruka," I comment. "I'm just a trainer trying to become Champion."
"You are, huh."She replied. "It'll take a lot of training. Our champion is one of the strongest out there."
"Well it was nice to meet you Amanda." I say. "I'll be on my way."
"Wait!" she exclaimed. "I still haven't properly thanked you for chasing off that Aqua grunt. He's been persistently chasing me for hours!"
She took a pokeball out of her and handed it to me. Upon further inspection the pokeball had a small timer on it.
"It's a new pokeball in the works at Devon Corp." She explained. "It works better in situations where the battle is drawn out. To start the timing mechanism press the button above the timer during battle."
"Wow, thank you," I say.
"I'm heading towards Rustboru, too." She commented. "Hope to see you in the future. Stop by Devon Corp."
"Sure," I reply. "Once I get my badge I'll give you guys a visit."
I took a deep breath of the fresh air of route 104. It was only a little further now.
