Author's Notes: Okay my computo hates me. This is the second time I'm writing this Authors note.

Anywa we meet a new character yada yada JUST READ!

Chapter 7

Okay Greger didn't freeze me, yet. After I told him what this chapter was about he declined the offer. Apparently he didn't like a specific someone who comes in...

XxXxX

I'm very glad my tent doesn't allow the sunlight through. Unlike yesterday I decided to sleep inside my insulated tent. It was relaxing yes, but something about being out at dark warmed my spirits. But something was off. Like there was something nearby I wouldn't like.

"I do not understand why people camp out." A voice from outside said. "It's so dangerous. He could get mauled or someone could steal your stuff." What the hell?

"I have to agree with you." Another voice came, seemingly younger but easily distinguished as both male voices. "I don't understand why people would sleep out here then leave their stuff." I heard walking next to my tent.

"Excuse me sirs." The voice belonged to Greger. "May I ask why you're intruding on our camp site?"

"Oh, a mudkip." The older voice said. "Then this place isn't abandoned. Sorry little guy." I got up and stretched. Looks like I don't get to sleep in today. Wait didn't I tell Greger to wake me up when he did? What time is it? I unwrapped the sleeping bag and placed it on the ground. I always slept in my clothes, never had a thing for pyjamas.

"Greger is that you?" The younger voice asked. Must be a pokemon, that's why the other didn't answer him back AND why he knew Greger.

"Oh not you..." Greger groaned. Not friends? I exited the tent, the sun was rising so I guessing it is maybe five or six o'clock.

"Can I help you-" I then noticed the man in front of me. He had on bark blue shoes that stood out in the small grass. His green cargo shorts were slightly covered by his black trench coat. His red shirt showed through the opening at the top. From what I could tell, he had some kind of dark brownish hair but it was covered by his white baseball cap. "Are you supposed to be Silent Bob or something?"

"Silent Bob?" He stated. "Sorry never heard of him." Another person who seemingly doesn't watch TV or doesn't like comedy... Sigh.

"Okay." I started rubbing my eyes. I really need those sunglasses. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh ya." The guy started. "I was on my way to Rustboro when I came across your camp site. I thought no one was here so-"

"So you thought you'd get some free stuff." I finished for him. He nodded. "Well sorry to disappoint you." I really wasn't. "But all this belongs to me."

"Gotcha." He strolled around for a while. Shouldn't he be leaving? Then I notice his pokemon. It was taller than Greger and stood on two feet claw like things. It's feathers were a mix on orange and red.

"Oh Yes." Greger started. "Meet my incompetent ex-roommate Barry."

"Like he can understand us." Barry stated. "And what do you mean by 'incompetent'?"

"He means you re a complete moron." I stated. A very interesting face appeared on Barry. He seemed terrified and amazed at the same time. "And yes. I can understand you completely fine."

"Hey guy." Barry's trainer asked. I looked over to him. He's either thinking too much or is completely oblivious to everything around him if he didn t hear me. "Are you heading to Rustboro?"

"Suppose I am." I said with a shrug. "Why do you asked?"

"Well if you are can I travel with you?" Hmmm, tempting. Travelling in a small group could lessen the chances of random people trying to battle us and if we're attacked... But would it be worth dealing with these two's lack of intelligence? Sarah took the moment of silence to walk out of the tent.

"What's going on?" She asked. Barry's still unnamed trainer took notice of her.

"Oh wow you have an eevee!" He said excitedly. As he ran other I glared and tripped him. I don't like it when you try to mess with my friends if you haven't guessed. "What was that for?" He asked, annoyance laced his voice.

"Well it was either the trip." I said motioning towards my legs. "Or the claws." Sarah had backed up and was growling. "Sarah calm down please. He means no harm..." Sarah went from angry to happy in under half a second and jumped onto my shoulder.

"No one hold me but Dallas." She said head held high.

"This gives me a great idea!" The guy said shooting up. Doesn't hold a grudge, good quality. "I'll teach your eevee a move that'll help you in the first gym if you let me travel with you."

Hmm. "what move would this be exactly?" I asked. He could be lying after all.

"Well if you accept my terms." He started. "I'll gladly give you this TM for your troubles AFTER we get to Rustboro. It's a very powerful that could split a boulder in two." May be he's not as dumb as I thought. He has the leverage here. If he's telling the truth then that move could save me a lot of trouble. Decisions, decisions...

"Okay fine." I stated. He cheered up quite a bit. "But... If you're lying to me I expect full compensation. I'm going to be blunt. You're not my 'ideal' travelling companion." It's true I prefer logical talk and he didn't seem to be the one to talk about intelligent things while travelling. And his torchic, Barry... Arceus, I hope he keeps him in a pokeball. "And travelling with you could tamper with my schedule. So if your TM is nothing but a useless piece of space..."

"Okay I understand." He stated bringing his arms up. "But trust me when I say this move is worth your time." He's obviously smart when he needs to be. This would be one of those things. "Do you need any help packing?"

I shook my head and pulled out my little remote. With a press of a button the tent collapsed and was neatly laid on the ground. I walked over and placed my bag on the ground. I carefully removed the egg for them bag and placed it next to me. I picked up the collapsed tent the placed it back into the pack the egg followed.

"Wow, you have an egg too." The sudden speech made me jump. The guy was standing uncomfortably close to me, practically leaning on my shoulder.

"What the hell!" I shouted at him. He backed up quickly. I didn't shout that loudly did I? I looked over and saw the three pokemon covering their ears. "Sorry."

"Wow nice voice." He said. "You ever do opera?"

"Ha ha, you a great comedian." I stood up. "Anyway I never did get your name."

"Oh it's Jack." He stuck out a hand. "Jack Lindley." I took his hand and shook once.

"Dallas Hanes." I told him.

"Wait..." Oh no. "Hanes? THE Hanes! Awesome!" I was really trying to keep a lower profile. That plan just got thrown out the window. "Your Dad works for that corporation in Rustboro. He's some kind of scientist, helped bring back fossil pokemon." Yep that's my dad. Henry Hanes, scientist. He's got a nice cosy job and makes a lot of money. How else was I able to go to training school?

"Actually, no." I lied. The less this Jack character knew the better. "I'm not related to the Hanes. I'm sorry people at my school always said my name wrong. Kinda got to me. My last name is Hace." If he's as dumb as he seems he won't catch on.

"Oh man." He said sounding defeated. "I would have loved to meet Dr. Hanes." And that's why I'm getting the badge and going once I reach Rustboro. I'm still not thrilled that my parents sent me away. How would you feel being sent out five days before your eleventh birthday to some school you don't want to go to?

"Okay lets, go we're wasting daylight." I started heading towards the road. "And I don't feel like staying in the Petalburg woods overnight. If we get through it before night fall we'll camp outside if the exit on the other side."

"Do we have to camp outside?" Jack asked. I did over hear him talking about not liking camping.

"Well if you're lucky there may be a lodge or hotel on the other side." I said and continued walking followed by Greger and Sarah. "I have a map but it only shows the locations of major buildings. I'm pretty sure that a small lodge does not count." Jack and Barry quickly caught up.

"Do you know the way to the entrance?" He asked.

"Just about..." I noticed the small opening in the trees. "There." I paused at the opening. "Expect mostly bug and grass types. I hear that even zangoose sometimes make nest here so be on your guard." He seemed to understand and nodded. We entered the woods and the atmosphere completely changed. The wingull could no longer be heard and the ocean was drowned out by the various sound of the forest.

"I came through here once as a kid." Jack said. Maybe a story would help pass the time. "I was with my father. He told me he had business in Rustboro and took me along. It wasn't that bad, but then again my father had a powerful fire type with him out the entire time."

"Was your father a trainer?" I asked. Might as well get to know the person I'm travelling with for the next few days.

"From what I could tell ya." He explained, from what I could tell? "We made it through without a scratch. I stayed in the pokemon centre while he took care of his business." He paused but continued walking moving next to me. "What about you, any interesting stories?"

"None." I said.

"Really?" He seemed unconvinced. "You have no stories. Not even when you were a kid?" I shook my head. "What about recently." Well, I have the ability to bend other to my will and talk to pokemon... Oh and I hear voices in my head. Ya, that's GREAT story.

"I picked up Greger from Littleroot. Met a weird guy and his equally weird pokemon in Petalburg." I paused. 'Oh and someone decided that my camp site was ripe for the picking." I looked towards him.

"Okay jeez." He said. "You really have nothing interesting to talk about." Oh I have plenty of stuff to talk about but you'd probably wouldn't understand half of it. I wish I could talk to Greger right now, at least he understands most of my subjects and can even add on. But talking to my pokemon and seemingly understanding it probably wasn't a good thing to reveal to Jack.

"What other pokemon do you have?" I asked. I noticed he had several pokeballs on his belt so I suspect he has more than one.

"Oh I have Barry here and." He picked a ball from his belt. "And Angela." He released the pokemon and kneeled down. I stopped and looked at it. It, or she as the name implies, had a small red gem like head band and green hair that covered it's eyes. It wore a small dress as well. A ralts, very interesting.

"Where did you find her?" I asked.

"On my way to Petalburg actually." He explained.

"And because of your kind nature and positive attitude you were like a magnet to this young ralts." He seemed shocked I knew so much.

"Ya how did you know?" He asked.

"At school I was called the human pokedex." I said. "I know more than an average pokedex does and could even tell you then gender of your pokemon." I paused. "But it was quite obvious what gender it was by the name."

"What school did you go to?" Jack asked.

"A very well-funded one." I stated. "Now shouldn't we be going?"

[Jack who is this?] A young girl s voice entered my mind.

"Angela this is a friend, Dallas." Jack explained. "He's going to be with us on our way to Rustboro."

"Yes, and we're losing daylight we must move quickly." I said and began to walk away. "Keep your ralts out. If we run into any battle don't have her fight, she's still too young. By allowing her to witness battles her skill will grow. Mind you it's a slow process but it ll help for when she's ready to battle."

"Are you sure you just started training?" He said. Angela was now perched on his shoulder staring at me. Great another psychic that seemed obsessed with me.

"Well knowledge is power, as some might say." I stated. "I happen to have a lot of it."

"You sound like an evil genius." Jack stated.

"I may be." I said in a threatening voice. "And you may be my next victim." I got a good laugh at his reaction. He didn't think my idea of a 'joke' was very amusing. For some time we were quiet until that same female voice entered my head.

[You re funny.] Angela said/thought.

[Why thank you.] I replied. She was a psychic so she should be able to easily read my mind.

[Why couldn't I read your mind before? It's so weird. Almost like a wall.] Interesting, maybe my 'ability' gives me psychic impunity unless I allow them to access my thought. Almost like a dark type.

[I don't like unwelcomed intruders in my mind.] I explained. [I found a way to keep even the strongest of psychics from accessing my mind.]

[How?] How indeed... I didn't think she'd be asking so many questions. She's definitely smarter than your average adolescent.

[I'm sure you heard me when I said 'knowledge is power'?] I couldn't look at her, didn't want to arouse suspicion in Jack, but I could mentally feel her nod. [Well humans and pokemon are not that different. Psychics are very smart individuals, I happen to be smart then them. This allows me to make my mind an impenetrable fortress.]

[Then how come I can hear you now?] She asked.

[Because I allowed you to make a mental link between us.] I stated. [If not then you'd still be wondering whether or not to trust me. I'm sure you've seen some of my memories. You know I'm not evil.]

[I have, and from what I could see then yes you're very kind when you want to be.] She paused. [Why do you...insult Jack?]

I sighed out loud. Jack must have thought I was tired and didn't do anything. [I'm a smart individual. I prefer intellectual conversation. From what I can tell Jack doesn t provide that.]

[You'd be surprised.] I raised and eye brow and dared a look at Angela. [He's very smart. Maybe not in what you know but he knows a lot about evolution. He can tell you what pokemon evolves into what or what stone you need to evolve it.]

[Well I'll have to test that.] "Hey Jack."

"Ya what's up?" He asked. Obviously the silence was getting to him. He almost jumped when I said something.

"What can you tell me about evolution?" And that set on about three hours of explaining different theories and explanations about evolution in pokemon. He explained that evolutionary stones hold power of specific environments. For example, a fire stone would represent volcanic areas. He even said that, in theory, if you through a pokemon that evolved with said stone, it would evolve. It seemed sketchy, that s probably the reason it hasn't been tested.

"But there are also locations around the world that can cause evolution because they emit a strange radiation." Jack explained. I had, even surprising myself, had absorbed every bit of information given and could even resight it back. Of course I didn't because that may be insulting to him, thinking I was mocking him.

"Take your eevee for example." He started.

I would not allow that. "Her name is Sarah."

"Sorry." he apologized. It was sincere so I could tell. "Say you took Sarah to northern Sinnoh. There is a location there radiating frozen energy. If she were to stay there long enough or even train, she'd turn into a glaceon." Interesting indeed. I think I m starting to like Jack's company.

"Also there s the 'friendship' evolution." I've heard of these before. If a pokemon and trainer's bond is strong enough, said pokemon would evolve in certain conditions, most likely in battle. "From what I can tell... Your eevee can't be too far off from evolving."

"Really?"

"Yes." He replied. "Your bond with her is exceptional. I can't believe she hasn't evolved already."

"Evolution doesn't happen at young ages, if I'm correct, unless caused by a stone." I said.

"Yes you are." He said. "Train her some more and you might have an umbreon or espeon on your team." Very good point. Either one could be a beneficial to the team. But part of me is leaning on to an espeon. They always interested me. All that pure psychic power, in such a small body. No, I'm not a power hungry maniac. I just want my friends to be as strong as possible. They'll have to be. No one knows what the future holds, well except a powerful psychic.

"Thanks for the information." I said. "Always helpful to learn more."

"Oh wells there's much more than that I could explain-" I raised a hand. There was something... Off. I could feel it. Something was coming towards them and fast. With a quick roll I dodged the attacker. Instead of hitting it's mark and rammed into a tree.

"Nice reflexes." Jack complemented.

"Thanks." I walked over to the now unconscious form. It had white fur covering most of it's body and small patched of red covering parts of it's face and hands. Zangoose. Why would it attack me? I know their territorial but we are nowhere near any nests. The pokemon started to stir awake.

"Jack, have Angela hold it down with some kind of psychic attack." he nodded and set Angela down. You could see the blue glow of her eyes through her hair. The zangoose's hands were covered with a blue aura and bound together.

[There.] Angela said. [Simple easy manipulation of shape and I don't even need to concentrate to keep it on.] Very useful but seeing as it's not an actual move, illegal in battle.

"Now Angela would you kindly translate what it's saying to us?" Now I didn t need her but I'm sure Jack would love to hear why it attacked. And it kept him away from learning my secret, a win-win if you will. "Now why did you attack me?" I asked.

[I what?] Said the zangoose. [I don't even know what happened. I was resting in the woods when something... took over.]

[He's not lying.] Angela said. [According to his memories he was attacked by some strange psychic. It took hole of his mind and commanded him to attack.]

"That's strange." Jack muttered. "Why would someone want to attack you?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea." That was a complete and utter lie. I had an idea. A strange pokemon 'convinced' this zangoose to attack me. Why? Because I told said pokemon to leave me alone. Obviously he found a loop hole and is exploiting it. His trainer, or what I presume is his trainer, is out to get me for some reason. And with his strongest pokemon out of commission he s resorting to different measures.

[Can I go?] Asked the zangoose. I nodded and Angela released it from her hold. It quickly darted off into the forest.

"Well that was an exciting little delay." Greger said. "I see the exit come on." He picked up his pace, which was about as fast as a brisk walk, and we followed. Like Greger said the entrance was almost literally around the corner.

And who would've guessed? Standing outside was a small inn with a sign that said 'All trainers welcome'. Jack seemed over joyed. Me on the other hand, I actually like the outdoors. It was fun just to sit outside and look up at the stars at night. It made me feel... Good.

Jack and I quickly got separate rooms, obviously we didn t completely trust each other yet. We were, at the moment, travelling partners and that s it. I laid my head on the pillow but before I fell asleep my pack rustled a bit. I dismissed it as just the egg shaking again. It was close to hatching. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

XxXxX

My first day with Jack was quite eventful. I learned a lot while travelling with him and I still remember everything he told me about evolution. It came in handy in the later months of my journey when my youngest pokemon first evolved.

Dude come one we got to go. Angela's going to be pissed off if you re late again.

Okay I'm almost done here. Well I'll see or rather, you'll see what happened the next day. At the time I believe it to be the worst day ever, but in time I found it to be one of the best.

COME ON! Angela will kick my ass if you're late.

Okay fine. Got to go...

Okay go read A Gardevoir and her Trainer, You'll get the reference with the ralts Angela in a heart beat. CURSE YOU LATIASFAN!

PS USE GOOGLE TO SEARCH UP Silent Bob IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD OF HIM! Trust me on this, you'll see a very close resemblence to Jack and Silent Bob.

Anyway, this is Raziel 'Eric' Beyon and I hope you have a nice day :)