Chapter 10
After healing at the Center, John pulled out his digital map.
"Ok, so we can't get to Eterna via the direct route to the north, since we would need a bike to travel through Cycling Road… Our only option would be to head back to Jublife and head north from there towards Floaroma Town… That sound like a plan, Rebecca?"
"Sounds good to me."
"Shi!" cried Gamma Ray.
"Let's do it, then."
The hike back to Jubilife was pretty uneventful. Besides a bit of training, the duo arrived in town without any incident at all.
"It's probably because it's still morning," John was explaining. "The Pokémon aren't fully awake yet."
"Besides the Zubat, anyway."
"Shi"
"Shinx!" The two Shinx gazed up at the flock of Zubats flying overhead, probably trying to find a spot to sleep for the day. After a few more minutes of walking, the two Trainers and their Shinx arrived in the eastern side of Jubilife.
"Ok, we need to find the Poke Mart. I want to stock up on supplies for the trip," John announced. "The trip to Floaroma is much longer and tougher than Oreburgh was, and I don't want to screw up simply because I wasn't prepared."
"That's fine. We'll wait for you at the northern gate. Don't be late."
"Yeah, yeah! I'm just the slave, right?" he mocked jokingly. "Just the slave who has a Gym Badge while you don't?!"
"Just go!" She stuck her tongue at him. "You're taking too long!"
He simply smiled and disappeared into the crowd.
That kid… He's gonna be a handful now, with his newly-found cockiness… She shook her head as she and her Shinx walked towards the nearby exit. Whatever, at least he has class… She stopped at the gate. Unlike these guys…
She was looking at two people, one guy and one woman, both with bright blue hair and bizarre, spaceman outfits with a giant, yellow G on the back of the uniform. The male was whispering something to the woman, and Rebecca strained to hear.
"…supposed to do in the meantime? He's not here!"
"Relax," the woman whispered back, kicking him. "He's probably somewhere else in the city. Remember, he lives farther south, right?"
"Yeah…"
"So," she insisted, "he wouldn't be here, now would he? He would be on the south end."
"Right…" He nodded in agreement. "Let's take that side path over here. We can cut him off when he does show up."
"Great idea. Hurry." Immediately, they took off into the nearby alley.
"What was…" she muttered. "Oh my god, Gamma Ray! They can only mean the Professor!"
"Shi!"
"Should we trail them?"
The little Pokémon pointed a paw towards the Poke Mart.
"We'll be quick. Come on!" She took off after them, making Gamma Ray only sigh and chase her.
The sun hadn't yet risen high enough to illuminate the alley, so the dark walls of the buildings seemed even more intimidating. Occasionally, a leaky pipe dripped water onto the stone ground, and Gamma Ray huddled closer to Rebecca as she tried to follow the sounds of the wierdos' footsteps. Suddenly, she stopped.
"Huh? Where'd those creeps go?" She looked around the dark alley. "I can't hear them anymore."
"Wow, you really are clueless."
Her heart froze.
"Only the truly gifted can hide in plain sight," a female voice continued, "And you're not one of them!"
Suddenly, he two oddly-dressed characters dropped from the rooftops, one on either side of the alley, blocking the only two ways out.
"After all," the male voice continued, "you're certainly not smart enough to realize we noticed you standing there."
She cringed inwardly at her stupidity.
"Well, do you know where he is?"
"Huh?" Rebecca's face paled. "I don't know who you're talking about!"
"Shi!" Her Shinx ran in front of her, glaring at the female goon in front of his Trainer.
"Oh, dear, your Pokémon is getting riled up…" the male goon groaned. "Come on, Zubat. Let's get this thing out of the way…"
A flash of white revealed a purple and light blue bat Pokémon with no eyes. The Zubat lunged at the angry Shinx, who made to Tackle it out of the sky. However, the Zubat flew underneath the little Pokémon and flew upwards, flipping the Shinx into the air.
"Shi!" Startled, the Shinx was unprepared for the dive, and began to panic as the tiny bat managed to raise him into the air.
"Hey, get back down here, you stupid bat!" she cried.
"I don't think that's really necessary," the man explained. He ran towards her and quickly grabbed her bag from her hands.
"Hey!" She was backing up against the wall now in fear.
"Sorry, but we don't want you summoning your other Pokémon here, now do we?" He pinned her arms against the dark wall. "I suggest we get to know one another a little better."
She squirmed against his grip, going into a frenzy with his hot breath on her face.
"In fact, do you have any friends? Namely, do you know the Prof., by any chance? And if so, could you point us in the right direction?"
"And why," she groaned, gritting her teeth, "would I tell you creeps something like that?!"
The man blinked several times. Noticing the ruffled state of her clothes, an evil grin appeared.
"Hm… Perhaps you would be more willing to talk if we got some quality time with one another." Reaching over, he slowly began to pull the sleeve of her shirt up with one hand and pull the bottom of her shirt with his other hand.
"Shi!"
"Mega Man, use Ember!" Suddenly, a large cloud of tiny flames shot out of the sky, pelting her assailant.
"Waah! Fire!" He recoiled from the flames, backing away from her.
"Luke…" Rebecca looked up from where the flames came, and saw a young man with dirty blond hair with a Magby jump down in between her and the goon.
"Touch her and you're dead, Galactic," he seethed.
"Magby!"
"Hmph, so it has to be this way, then?" The man snapped his fingers, and Zubat dropped the Shinx.
"Gamma Ray!" Noticing the issue immediately, the Magby ran over and managed to catch the Shinx before he hit the ground.
"Fine, then, we'll battle you instead of the pretty lady," the woman continued. "It makes no difference to us."
"It does if you don't have her bag anymore," he noted.
"Wh-what?!" The Galactic goon looked around furiously, realizing that Magby was happily walking over to Rebecca carrying a large manila handbag. "That's it, we're taking you both down!"
Rebecca fumbled in her bag for her Ball stash.
"Return, Gamma Ray!" After the blue light, she pulled out another Ball. "Let's take them down, Penguin!"
"Piplup!"
"Ready, Magby?"
"Mag!"
"Zubat and Wurmple, let's get 'em!" In a flash, a pink centipede Pokémon appeared alongside the Zubat.
"Wurm!"
Rebecca and Luke just looked at each other.
"Let's do this."
John exited the Poke Mart just in time to see Prof. Rowan walking up the road.
"Hey, Prof. Rowan!"
"Ah, John! How's that Chimchar I gave you?"
"He evolved in Oreburgh, sir."
"Monferno!"
"Ah! Splendid! Great work, John." He looked around, concerned. "Where's Rebecca? Wasn't she travelling with you?"
"Huh? She's at the north…" He looked at the empty northern exit of town. "…exit…"
"My dear boy, did your father ever teach you to keep track of your women?"
"Sir…" His face burned a deep red. "That's not what we…" He shot a glance to the exit again, and noticed a flash of orange from the nearby alleyway.
"If I were to guess…" Rowan mused. "I would say she's over that way."
"I agree completely, sir…"
"Penguin, finish the Wurmple off with Water Gun!"
"Pip!" A burst of water shot from the Piplup's mouth, connecting with the poor Bug-type.
"Wurm…" The male goon returned his Pokémon angrily.
"Confuse the Zubat with Smog!"
A blast of purple gas enveloped the bat, causing it to lose its bearings.
"Now, ignite it with Ember!" A small spark from Magby landed in the smoke, and the whole cloud lit up in a spectacular fireball. The poor Zubat collapsed after only a few seconds, eyes swirling.
"Damn it, Zubat!" The woman returned her Pokémon to its Ball, steaming mad. "You little bitch!"
"Something I learned from a friend of mine." He glanced behind him. "Isn't that right, John?"
"John?!" Rebecca whirled around to see John and Prof. Rowan standing near the entrance to the alley. "John! There you are!" She ran up to him and bear-hugged him.
"Uh…" His face began burning up again. "What was going on…?"
"Well, we're Team Galactic!" the man explained.
"We're searching for the power to create a new world" his companion continued. "We were going to find Prof. Rowan and have him help us with his research on Pokémon evolution, but that seems to have failed horribly!"
Prof. Rowan walked in front of Rebecca and Luke to face them.
"Quiet, you lot! Why must you be such a nuisance? Let me list some lessons you still need to learn. #1: If you don't get your way, don't raise your voice to be intimidating. #2: Don't think you've grown strong just because you're in a group. #3: What is with those outlandish outfits you have on? My goodness... You call yourselves adults?" He turned to look at the teenagers behind him. "You kids, don't grow up to be like these sorry specimens."
"Hey! We're still here, you know!" the Galactic man yelled.
"Then I guess you don't mind answering a few questions from the guy that kicked your ass," Luke explained calmly. About 13 years ago, a man named Ramos Garry was kidnapped by you morons in Sunyshore City. Where is he?"
"Excuse me?"
"Don't play games with me!" He stepped in closer menacingly. Mega Man looked at him worriedly. "You know who I'm talking about! Where is he?!"
"Luke…" Rebecca warned.
"Look, kid, we don't know things like that! Only the Commanders would know old history like that! We don't know!"
The gears revolved furiously in Luke's head. He gritted his teeth.
"…Get out of here…" The goons didn't hesitate.
"…Well," Rowan remarked. "Aren't you an interesting character?"
It took a few seconds for Luke to regain some of his cool. Magby climbed up his arm and rested on his shoulder.
"I apologize for that, sir. This girl here was being assaulted by some Team Galactic morons, so I decided to assist."
"Oh, and how did she get here in the first place?"
"…I heard them talking about you, sir…" she explained softly. "I tried to trail them, but I got stuck…"
"Rebecca, I was just about to finish at the Mart," John said. "Running off to chase criminals like that is really dangerous!"
"I know that! I just didn't realize they knew I was there…"
Rowan simply sighed.
"Regardless, you've done a great job, young man." He thought to himself briefly. "What's your name?"
"I'm Luke, sir."
"Magby!"
"Hm! I've decided!" He reached into his brown messenger bag and pulled out a Poke Ball. "I want you to have this Turtwig here."
Everyone's eyes widened.
"But sir," Rebecca exclaimed, "that's a valuable Pokémon!"
"Then why do you think I'm offering it to him, then?"
"Why would you do this, Prof. Rowan? I'm not even a Trainer…"
"You can be one," Rowan insisted. "Besides, the Pokémon Union recently eased some of its registration burdens, so only Prof. Assistants need to register specifically."
"How convienent…" John muttered.
Luke gingerly grasped the Poke Ball in his hand.
"C-Come on out, Africa!" In a flash of white, a small, brown-shelled, turtle Pokémon appeared. The two tiny leaves on its head twitched as it eyed his new Trainer.
"Turtwig!"
"Magby!" The red Pokémon hobbled over and hugged his newest friend.
"I don't deserve this, sir."
"That's why you deserve him the most," he insisted. "Besides, I think you'd be a valuable addition to my assistants here."
"Wait, what…?" John glanced at Inferno, who shared his confusion.
"You three can explore the world much faster than just two. In fact, I think you would be a good challenger for the Sinnoh League. You should work on those keen skills of yours." He started walking off. "Well, I'll be heading back to Sandgem. Take care, you three!" As he left, Luke could only gaze at his new Pokémon.
"Africa… Mega Man… I'm going to be a Trainer…?"
"Mag!"
"Tur!"
They barely managed to reach the town in time. His gold cap was starting to be blown away as he and his companion rushed towards the western gate of Jubilife City. We just had to get another round of food right as the boat docked, didn't we…? Crazy girl… They read the arch that read Jubilife City, and he renewed his efforts, with his friend struggling to keep up. At last, they managed to reach the center of town, his eyes darting all around.
"Hey, be careful…" she warned, panting. "You're…in public…remember…?
"Just a moment…" He caught a glimpse of three teenagers walking towards the Pokémon Center. "I think I found them…" He blinked, his eyes flashing a bright gold for a fraction of a second. "There you are…"