Hello everyone. I apologize for this chapter arriving so late. Unfortunately college resumed for me and I had a particularly busy semester. Very little time I could set aside to write among the avalanche of assignments and assessments.

But I'm back at long last. Better late than never right? (BIG GRIN) *chirping crickets* Yeah I deserved that. Well anyway here's the chapter.

Disclaimer: Pokémon does not belong to me and I make no profit from this story. If I did I wouldn't be a poor college student burdened by tuition fees.

Chapter 4: The Dreaded Truth

I don't know how long I had ran for, didn't care too much either. My only concern was getting well out of range from Mystery Giftcorporated. Yeah that's what I'm calling it, now you can sue me. I had sprinted through the dense foliage that encompassed the building, through three or so streets, and finally ducked into an alleyway. Back against a wall, I allowed myself to catch my breath.

Now what was my next course of action? Let's see. I found out that a van had been hired to regularly stop off at the Pokémon Center. I also suspected that there was something amiss with this whole set up. First things first, I needed to find out if there is indeed trouble at the Pokémon Center.

While I could have just called them, I'm still going on a hunch. I need to see this for myself before I can make my next move.

After peaking out of the alleyway and scanning the straight several times, I was finally satisfied I wasn't being tailed. Now where was the Pokémon Center? On that note, where had I ended up? I was in such a hurry to escape that I hadn't payed attention to the direction. Meh, I'll just follow the main road until I find some landmark I recognize.

After 5 minutes of pacing down the street trying to look nonchalant, a building came up on my left that I recognized. It was a school facility. It had one main building serving as the main hall. It was about half a block wide, with several windows dotting the length of the walls, one door to the far left of the building's front. This was Viridian City's very own Pokémon Academy. It also happened to be the school that Ivy attended. The school was empty for the moment, as school would have ended several hours ago. Ivy had told me she finished early that day, but even a normal day the grounds should have been long been emptied out. Right now it was about 6 o'clock.

Having found this place I got my bearings back. The Pokémon Center was due south of here. I turned to the road perpendicular to the school and started sprinting. I was very close, at this rate I'd be there before the end of the next paragraph.

I followed the dirt road, passing by trees and shrubs before finally a welcoming a large building with a 'P' came into view. Sweet! Finally things seem to be going my way. Viridian's Pokémon Center was quite a sight to behold. It was dome shaped and silver in color, but had the frontal area of the dome absent almost like a Pokéball. There was a large red orb in the center of the... uh Center. There were stairs leading up to the actual entrance.

I made way up to the main entrance and walked through the automated doors. I then approached the desk where I was greeted by a familiar nurse with red hair.

"Welcome to our Pokémon Center!" Nurse Joy said greeting me cheerfully. "We heal your Pokémon..."

Ugh, why isn't there an 'A' button I could press to skip through all her dialogue?

"... Shall we heal your Pokémon?" Nurse Joy said, finishing her recital.

"Hi Nurse Joy, well actually..." I began, but hesitated. Was it wise for me to tell her the truth?

"Is something the matter young man?" Nurse Joy asked, a look of concern appearing on her face.

I met her eyes, seeing all the care and sympathy she gave out to all the injured Pokémon here on a daily basis. I decided I could trust her and she had a right to know what I suspected was going on.

"There's something I need to talk to you about. Something you need to know," I said, deciding to come clean with her. "Is there somewhere private we can talk?"

"Certainly." Nurse Joy said, taking note of my seriousness. She stepped out from behind the counter and walked towards a door to the side, gesturing me to follow.

Whoa! Just like that? It's almost like Nurse Joy was expecting this. So had something really happened here? I made way to the door and followed her through. She then led me down a hospital hallway, she glanced a few of the doors we passed by as if deciding before she finally settled on one. She unlocked with a set of keys she was carrying and held the door open for me to enter.

We headed in to a room which looked like one of the sleeping quarters with a bed that was made out. However it didn't appear to be one of the guest rooms. It had far too many personal belongings like a work desk with a computer, posters, and even a few Pokémon plushies.

Nurse Joy offered me a seat at her desk chair while she sat herself down on the bed.

"Now then," Nurse Joy said, all of her cheeriness replaced with a tone of seriousness. "What was it you needed to speak to me about?"

I took a deep breath, preparing myself. Should I launch straight into it? Perhaps I should make sure I have my facts right first.

"Nurse Joy, I have reason to believe there's a case of Pokémon theft." I began, but stopped when I noticed something. "You don't seem surprised by my arrival. Have you been expecting someone to show up?"

"Indeed I have," Nurse Joy said sighing. "It started a few weeks ago. We noticed we were short a few of the injured wild Pokémon that we take in. At first we thought it was a mix up in our records, but more and more Pokémon would go unaccounted for."

It was just as I feared. As much as I dreaded the truth, my suspicions had now been confirmed.

I quickly filled Nurse Joy on what I had discovered, of course leaving out the embarrassing (and illegal) parts of me breaking and entering. Luckily she didn't probe me on how I came across this information.

"I'm sorry about your Eevee," Nurse Joy said after hearing my recount. "But based on what you have told me, there is no definite proof on your theory."

I paused and thought about this. She was right; I had been doing a lot of guess work in my investigation. It's just I had a very strong feeling in my gut that I was on the right track. Or maybe it was the direction the author wanted to take the story in. Either way, I knew I had to go through with this.

"It's just a hunch at this stage," I admitted to Nurse Joy. "But I can procure proof soon with time. I am certain of this." I looked intensely at Nurse Joy, hoping my facial features conveyed the determination I was feeling.

"Alright," Joy agreed after studying me for a moment. "But until we have something solid, I can't ask the police to raid an obscure location on a hunch."

"Understood," I said nodding. "I will let you know as soon as I have something."

Nurse Joy led me back out to the foyer. A few more people had arrived since we had left the room, presumably Pokémon Trainers.

Nurse Joy resumed her cheerful demeanour. "Thank you! Your Pokémon are fighting fit! We hope to see you again!"

Huh? But I didn't bring in any... nevermind. I smiled back at her as I walked away. She was probably doing so to avoid suspicions and cause panic among the other trainers.

Now that I knew what was going on, it was time to set my plan in action. Yeah that's right, I've been working on a plan. I know this all started only a day or so ago, but it feels like I've been at it for months. Well on a meta-level at least.

I walked to the far right of the foyer. I passed by a guy looking down at his smartphone trying to catch Pokémon on a mobile game. Doesn't he realize we can catch the real thing in this world, without the use of that cheap augmented reality simulation?

I reached the end of the foyer where a number of PCs were situated. Sitting down at first one on the left, I punched my details into the keyboard. To undertake what I was attempting, I would need some help. My inventory came up on the PC screen, where I selected two Pokémon in storage to be transferred over.

I looked to the transfer device next to the computer. It had the appearance of a large metal tube positioned over a tray with a circular indentation, which is where the Pokéballs were placed or appeared. The Pokéballs materialized in succession, where I promptly picked them up.

"Alrighty then," I held a ball in each hand and threw them into the air. "Come on out my friends!"

The Pokéballs opened up, releasing red energy that materialized into a Vulpix and a Chikorita, with the latter immediately proceeding to leap into my arms in excitement.

I laughed, as the Vulpix licked my face while I held her with one arm. "I missed you too, Furfire."

"And good to see you Maple," I said, turning my attention to the Chikorita. Maple was a lot calmer and timid than Furfire, but still smiled up at me happily.

"Now then," I set the hyperactive Vulpix down. "As great as it is to see you two again, I actually brought you guys here for a reason."

This got both of their attentions as they caught wind of my seriousness.

So, you're probably wondering where these two mons came from and how I came to know them. Alrighty then. While I explain the situation to them, allow me to regale you readers on my history with the dynamic duo.

While Scoot the Eevee is my personal Pokémon, my family did have a few other Pokémon living with us.

Maple was originally the starter of my cousin who lived in New Bark Town of Johto. However health problems prevented him from being able to undertake his journey. But with the Chikorita still wanting to see the world and eager for adventure, he made an arrangement to have her spend half the time with us. Every week, Maple would be taken to the local Pokémon Professor, where she would then get transferred across regions. She would then wait at the respective Professor's Laboratory before being summoned from a PC. I was supposed to have picked up Maple yesterday, but it slipped my mind due to the whole Scoot going missing incident.

Furfire was a stray Vulpix that I came across one day when she was still a kit. She had been injured when I found her, so I had taken her to a Pokémon Centre. Once she had recovered, I put her into the care of the Kanto Pokémon Professor, in case her former owners did come looking for her. I never officially adopted her, but I was allowed to call upon her if the situation required it.

That about sums up how the backstories of Maple and Furfire. Just in time too. I'm almost done filling them in on what happened to Scoot. Who knew I was so good at multitasking?

"And now I'm going to set out to rescue Scoot from where I think she's being held captive," I finished up. "But I'm going to need help, and I've chosen you two. What do you say?"

"Vul-pix!" "Chiko Chiko!" were the determined answers I received.

I figured they'd be willing to help, after all Scoot was a good friend of theirs as well.

"Awesome," I smiled. "Alright then Poké Squad, move on out! We've got an Eevee to save!"

With that we all heroically dashed out of the Pokémon Center, or at least I hope that's the impression we gave based on the awkward looks we got from the other occupants in the Center.

Pheeew, went through so much writer's block with that final scene. Just wasn't happy with it and kept changing and tweaking it over and over. I promise I will be updating more regularly now, on a more fortnightly basis.

I figured people would be thinking, for a Pokémon fanfic I didn't actually have many Pokémon being featured. So meet Maple and Furfire, the newest additions to Zach's team. To which you'll probably say "What team? He was by himself before." Guilty as charged. But from now on Zach won't be going it solo. I had always planned on some Pokémon companions, but these two were introduced a little earlier than intended.

So hope this longer than usual chapter makes up for my hiatus. As always, if you like what you read, then drop a review ^_^