In this chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to find out what happened to Professor Elm's lab...it's unfortunate that someone managed to break into his lab and steal one of his Pokemon, isn't it? Maybe he should have set up a better security system.
Chapter 4: To The Lab
As soon as Lucy and Jake left Cherrygrove City, they suddenly received a phone call from Professor Elm. It seemed rather urgent.
"You need to get to my lab immediately!" exclaimed Professor Elm.
Apparently, there had been trouble at his lab.
Quickly, they began to wonder what was going on. Who exactly would want to rob Professor Elm? Was there something top-secret that he was working on?
Of course, people had attempted to rob Professor Oak in the past as well...though they hadn't been too successful. His security systems had sent them packing...or in Jessie and James' case, flying.
But apparently Professor Elm did not have those sort of security systems, did he?
"C'mon! We need to hurry!" exclaimed Lucy.
"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy. This was no time for a relaxing walk!
"I'm coming, Lucy!" nodded Jake, trying to keep up.
Immediately, Lucy and Jake hurried back to Professor Elm. Fortunately, they did not encounter any wild Pokemon that would impede them.
As soon as they entered the laboratory, they discovered that two police officers were inside. According to their badges, they were known as Officer Cutter and Officer Valiant respectively. Officer Cutter was white while Officer Valiant was black...and before you ask, both of them were wearing blue police officer outfits. Also, Officer Cutter was younger than Officer Valiant was.
To be honest, Jake was expecting Officer Jenny...but perhaps Officer Jenny did not have as many relatives living in Johto as she did in Kanto. On the other hand, there appeared to be as many Nurse Joys as ever. What would a Pokemon Center be without Nurse Joy? Of course, he had gotten used to the Chanseys too.
However, rumor as it that the Pokemon Centers were employing a Pokemon that was even better at nursing than a Chansey was, though due to the extra work involved in obtaining them the Chanseys were still in employment regardless. Jake wondered what kind of Pokemon that could be.
"Alright, what's the situation?" asked Officer Valiant.
"I've been robbed! Someone stole my Pokedex! And they stole my Totodile too!" exclaimed Professor Elm. This was the worst day of his career!
"That is a problem..." nodded Valiant.
"To be honest, I'm more worried about the kidnapped Pokemon than my stolen Pokedex...the criminal in question might be a bad influence on him..." acknowledged the professor.
"You're right, professor! I bet the culprit is treating him horribly!" exclaimed Officer Cutter.
Meanwhile in Cherrygrove City...
"Having fun?" asked Sarah.
"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. He certainly was having fun.
"It sure is nice going for a swim with you..." remarked the Team Shadow Grunt.
"Totodile!" cheered Sarah's Totodile.
"What? I'm your best friend? But I haven't known you for very long..." pointed out Sarah.
"Totodile?" inquired the crocodile Pokemon. Did that mean that they couldn't be best friends?
"Oh, what the heck. You're my best friend too!" exclaimed the girl, hugging Totodile.
"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. This was awesome.
Back at Professor Elm's Lab...
"Do you have any idea who could have done this?" inquired Officer Valiant.
"Hmm..." thought Professor Elm. Perhaps the culprit was someone that he knew...or maybe not.
Jake gasped in shock. Somehow, he knew who was behind this.
"Oh no...I should have warned Professor Elm!" exclaimed Jake.
"Huh? You know who did this?" inquired Lucy.
"It's Sarah! You saw her fight my Grimer with that Totodile, didn't you?" asked the male Pokemon trainer. All of a sudden he was feeling rather guilty about not warning Professor Elm about her earlier.
It was too late to do something about that now...unfortunately.
"You're right! It must have been her!" shouted the rich girl.
"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy. She sure hoped that the police would be able to catch her.
At that very moment, Professor Elm noticed Jake and Lucy.
"There you are! I had to check to see if you were alright..." answered the professor.
"What made you worry about us?" inquired Jake.
"Well, according to the police officers, there were footprints leading to Cherrygrove City where you two probably were...I was worried that you had run into whoever robbed me..." stated Professor Elm.
"As a matter of fact, we did..." answered Lucy. Fortunately, neither of them were harmed, though unfortunately the criminal in question had given them the slip.
"Strangely enough, the police officers found handprints as well...I wonder why the criminal was walking around on all fours..." questioned the scientist.
Jake recalled the fact that Sarah was rather clumsy, and sweatdropped.
"We managed to deliver the Pokemon Egg, like you asked..." answered Lucy.
"Clefairy..." stated Lucy's Clefairy. If only they were there to prevent the robbery from happening. Well, there was no used crying over spilled milk...though admittedly she did love milk. At least she had tissues.
"At least that's something..." remarked Professor Elm.
"We'll let you know if we find anything..." answered Officer Valiant.
"The perpetrator is probably doing something horrible as we speak!" exclaimed Officer Cutter.
Meanwhile...
Sarah stepped out of the pool and put her Team Shadow Grunt outfit back on. It had been fun while it lasted.
Likewise, Totodile dried himself off.
"That was a nice swim..." remarked Sarah.
"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. His trainer was a very good swimmer.
Well, it was time to head to Violet City now. They could get to Azalea Town from there, and then Goldenrod City...which incidentally was her hometown.
She heard that there was a shortcut...but for some strange reason there was a tree in the middle of the road. A tree that...moved.
It looked like she wouldn't be getting to Ecruteak City or Goldenrod that way.
On the way there, she encountered a Pokemon trainer that looked rather depressed.
"This isn't fair..." remarked Casey.
"Totodile?" inquired Sarah's Totodile. What was the matter?
"Some mean kid stole my baseball cards...they were pretty valuable baseball cards, too..." stated the baseball lover.
"Totodile!" exclaimed Totodile. They should really help her.
"Huh? You think we should help?" inquired Sarah.
Totodile nodded.
"Alright then...do you have any idea where he went?" questioned the Team Shadow Grunt.
"I heard that he's egging Mr. Pokemon's house..." stated Casey.
Sure enough, he was doing just that.
"Hey! Cut that out!" demanded Mr. Pokemon.
Jerry blew raspberries at Mr. Pokemon.
"What a naughty boy..." remarked the man.
At that very moment, Sarah approached him.
"What do you want? I'm busy!" exclaimed Jerry.
"You should give back those baseball cards you stole!" demanded Sarah.
"Never!" answered the youngster. They were simply too valuable to pass up.
"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. If he wasn't going to give them back, they were going to challenge him to a Pokemon battle.
"What? You think you can beat me in a Pokemon battle? You're joking...well, if you want to run home crying to your mother, that's fine by me!" bellowed Jerry.
"I don't think my mother's at home right now..." answered Sarah. Knowing her, she was probably at the Goldenrod Game Corner playing slots. There sure were a lot of prizes you could get from the casino.
Immediately, Jerry sent out his Totodile.
"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. It looked like Jerry had a Totodile too.
"Wait, how do I tell my Totodile apart from yours?" inquired Jerry.
Curious, Sarah decided to take a look.
She quickly noticed that while the two Totodiles were similar in appearance, they were not the same in personality. While Jerry's Totodile was aggressive, her Totodile was rather playful.
Not only that, but Jerry's Totodile was bigger and had larger fangs.
Immediately, Sarah instructed Totodile to use Tackle.
Sarah's Totodile nodded, and tackled Jerry's Totodile to the ground.
This had the side-effect of making Jerry's Totodile angry.
"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile.
In retaliation, he bit Sarah's Totodile in the arm.
"Totodile!" bellowed Sarah's Totodile. That hurt.
"You alright, Totodile?" questioned Sarah.
Sarah's Totodile nodded. Jerry's Totodile certainly had sharp jaws. He certainly seemed to be rather strong too.
In retaliation, he decided to bite Jerry's Totodile on the tail.
"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile. Unfortunately, it appeared Sarah's Totodile found his weak spot.
Sarah's Totodile decided to exploit it by continuing to nibble on Jerry's Totodile's tail.
"Totodile!" bellowed Jerry's Totodile.
"Don't lose to another Totodile when he's so much more pathetic than you! Use Water Gun!" instructed Jerry.
Jerry's Totodile nodded, and squirted water at Sarah's Totodile.
However, he simply caught the water with his mouth and gulped it down. It was delicious and fresh.
"Totodile!" cheered Sarah's Totodile.
In retaliation, he shot water at Jerry's Totodile, causing him to collapse once again.
At this point, Jerry's Totodile was feeling rather tired.
Knowing that his Totodile was rather frightful, Jerry decided to have his Totodile use Lure. Maybe that would intimidate his opponent and make him run like a coward.
"Use Leer!" ordered Jerry.
However, when Jerry's Totodile used the technique, Sarah's Totodile wasn't paying attention, so his defense wasn't lowered.
"Darn it!" bellowed Jerry. Sarah's Totodile was proving to be an unpredictable opponent.
Suddenly, Sarah's Totodile ran toward Jerry's Totodile and tackled him once again.
Jerry gasped. His Totodile had fainted!
Unfortunately, due to the fact that his Pokemon were getting fed up with him mistreating them, he had sent them to Professor Oak's Lab for the time being. That seemed to keep them relaxed.
In other words, he was out of usable Pokemon.
"Darn it! I came to Johto hoping to get away from those losers Ned and Chris and some other Pokemon trainer comes along and makes a fool about me!" pouted Jerry.
"I wonder who those two are..." questioned Sarah.
"Fine! You can have that little girl's baseball cards!" exclaimed the youngster, handing the baseball cards to Sarah.
"Totodile!" cheered Sarah's Totodile. They did it!
Immediately, he began to jump up and down.
Jerry left shortly afterward, grumbling about how he could never get a break.
Sarah then returned the baseball cards to Casey shortly afterwards.
"You got back my baseball cards? Thank you, thank you, thank you!" exclaimed Casey.
Immediately, Casey gave Sarah a hug.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Sarah.
"Totodile!" bellowed Sarah's Totodile. This seemed like something his trainer would do to him.
"I wonder how I should repay you..." answered Casey.
Fortunately, she had an idea.
Immediately, she gave Sarah some Pokeballs so that she could catch some more Pokemon.
"Huh? You're giving me Pokeballs?" questioned Sarah.
"I figure you should catch more Pokemon...that way you'll be a stronger Pokemon trainer!" exclaimed Casey.
"Totodile." nodded Sarah's Totodile. She did have a point there...and he would like to make friends with other Pokemon.
Sarah nodded. She wondered what Pokemon she should catch.
There were a lot of possibilities...
Back at Professor Elm's Lab...
"She's going to do something horrible, I know it!" exclaimed Officer Cutter.
"Right, of course..." nodded Officer Valiant. For some strange reason the things that Officer Cutter typically didn't turn out to be true. He wasn't sure why.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" inquired Lucy.
"Well, I suppose I did promise you Pokemon if you managed to help me with that little errand of mine...take care of them for me, will you? Make sure that they don't end up like my poor Totodile did..." answered Professor Elm.
Jake nodded. That seemed rather fair.
Immediately, Lucy and Jake picked up the two Pokeballs that were on his desk.
Lucy opened hers first. It was a Chikorita.
"Chikorita!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon. This one happened to be female...so she matched her feminine appearance.
Lucy scanned Chikorita with her Pokedex.
"Chikorita, the Leaf Pokemon. A pleasant aroma emanates from the leaf on its head. Also, it loves sunlight." read Lucy's Pokedex.
"Huh. That leaf does smell pretty good." answered Lucy.
"Chikorita!" exclaimed Lucy's Chikorita. She was glad that she liked the smell.
Now it was Jake's turn to see what Pokemon he got.
"Cyndaquil!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon. This Cyndaquil was male.
Jake noted that Pokemon professors had a tendency to give out Pokemon that were grass, fire, and water respectively. Maybe some things didn't change between regions.
He scanned Cyndaquil with his Pokedex.
"Cyndaquil, the Fire Mouse Pokemon. It is rather timid, and has a tendency to curl itself into a ball. It can defend itself using flames from its back." explained Jake's Pokedex.
Sure enough, Cyndaquil appeared to be hiding behind a tree.
"Do I look scary to you?" inquired Jake.
Cyndaquil thought about that. He didn't appear to be threatening.
Immediately, Jake picked up some Pokechow and handed it to Cyndaquil.
"Cyndaquil!" exclaimed Jake's Cyndaquil. Fortunately, it appeared that his new trainer was a friend...and not a robber like the crook that had nabbed Totodile.
"We'll be leaving the lab in order to investigate..." stated Officer Valiant.
"See you later!" exclaimed Officer Cutter.
Immediately, the two police officers left the building.
"We should probably get going too..." answered Lucy.
"There are some Pokeballs if you need some..." stated Professor Elm.
Jake and Lucy nodded, and picked out five Pokeballs each.
They then set out to get more Pokemon.
Well, it looks like Jake and Lucy have their own starter Pokemon. And once again Lucy got her hands on a grass type. However, Jake managed to obtain a fire Pokemon starter this time.
In the next chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to head to Violet City...also, they're going to get some Pokemon from Johto. Afterwards, they're going to spend the night in the city since they're getting exhausted...and then Chris and Ned will show up in the fanfic. Did you miss them?