This city seemed more nature friendly, and had homey-looking buildings instead of tall skyscrapers. There was one tower in the distance, though, the beam of which seemed to tilt and wobble, though the building itself stood still.
"What do you suppose that is?" I asked curiously, pointing in the direction of the tower.
"That's Sprout Tower. The inner-most support beam wobbles on its axis, like how a Bellsprout would walk." Kakuzu explained. I nodded, and we continued forth. There was a Pokemon Center just ahead, so we stopped there first. "Right, so first thing we need to do is get you registered as an official pokemon trainer." Kakuzu said as we approached the front desk. I was utterly shocked to see Nurse Joy there.
"Hello, and welcome to the Violet City Pokemon Center. What can I do for you?" She asked, her voice matching the Joy's from the previous city. I gaped.
"Wait a minute, I thought you worked at the Pokemon Center in Trial City." I said questioningly, although it just made her chuckle.
"You must be talking about my mom's sister's uncle's brother's nephew's daughter's aunt's second cousin's niece." She said. My jaw remained slack. "You see, there are Nurse Joy's all over the place. We're one big family business." She said proudly. I took a breath and nodded, knowing I had no chance of following the family link between her and the one from Trial City.
"Anyway, we were wondering if you could register Nell so she can qualify for the Johto League." Kakuzu continued, ignoring the exchange. Nurse Joy nodded with a smile.
"Are you a beginning trainer?" She asked, pulling out something from under the desk.
"N-" Kakuzu cut me off.
"Yes, she is." He said, looking sternly at me. I gave him a what-the-hell look, but he just shook his head, a clear "I'll explain later".
"Alright then. You'll need this Pokedex. I'm afraid you'll have to enter the personal information yourself." Nurse Joy said, handing me a small device. I flipped it open and saw a screen and a few buttons.
"Initiating Default Pokedex entries." The device said in a robotic voice. "Default Set one: voice delta A. Default Set two: reset all pokemon entries. Default Set three: no trainer information." It listed.
"You can go to settings to add the information you need." Nurse Joy said, handing me something else. "This is just a case to help carry your gym badges, which you'll need to present in order to enter the Johto League." She explained as I took it. "And that's all you need. Once you've entered your information, you'll be identified as a beginning trainer." She said cheerfully. I nodded and we went to sit in the lobby as I figured it all out.
I went to settings and started filling out information as it spoke the steps. "New Voice Set: Delta W." It spoke in a female British voice, so I decided to keep that. "No new pokemon entries. Set Trainer Information: Name - Iranella Cresstorm." I blushed as it spoke my full name. "Age - Eighteen. Current Pokemon: Six - Mightyena, Houndoom, Umbreon, Skuntank, Honchkrow, and Noctowl. Space for one more pokemon." It said. I smiled. That was nice. "Entering six new pokemon entries..." It began to list my pokemon and their abilities, their levels, etc.
Apparently, Mightyena was already level fifty-five. Houndoom wasn't far behind at level fifty. Umbreon was next up at level forty-fix, then came Honchkrow at level forty-two. Skuntank followed up at level thirty-nine, and Noctowl came in last at level thirty-seven. All in all, they were a pretty good team.
"That's basically all there is to it, then." Hidan said, standing from his seat. "Oh, wait! There's one more thing." He said suddenly, darting away from us. He went to one of the computer systems lining a small section of the wall, beckoning us over. We came over and he turned the computer on. He guided me to sit in the chair in front of it. "You'll need a set point of access in case you ever get into trouble. A base, if you will.
"Basically, it's somewhere you can contact for proof of your identity. And you can even use it to keep your inactive pokemon safe when you have them in your active team." Hidan explained. "Now, just give me a second, and I'll hack into the main data base of Neborah's computer back in Trial City, giving us access to her mainframe..." He muttered, more to himself as his fingers flew across the keyboard. Images, letters and numbers flashed on and off the screen, so fast I couldn't keep up with them, although he apparently could.
When he finally stopped, a window popped up with an image inside of it. I gaped, recognizing the person's face. "Neborah?" I asked incredulously, leaning forward to get a closer look. Yup, that was definitely her.
"Nell! Ohmygosh, I've been so worried!" My sister practically screamed through the camera. "Where are you? Where did you go? Are you alright? What about your pokemon?" She asked, flinging relentless questions at me. If I could, I would have put my hand over her mouth. Unfortunately, this was happening via webcam, so there wasn't much I could do.
"Alright, Neborah, calm down. I'm perfectly fine, and so are my pokemon. I'm with Kakuzu and Hidan in Violet City." I told her with a small smile.
"Kakuzu and Hidan are with you? Did they talk you into this? Where are they? I need to talk to them." She growled angrily. My two new companions backed out of sight from the webcam, and I chuckled.
"They had nothing to do with me leaving, Neborah, don't worry. They're helping me. I decided to leave on my own." I told her, my smile fading just a little. She frowned as she listened. "I wanted to get out and see the world for myself. I don't want to stay cramped in those tunnels all my life. And, so far, I'm really enjoying my journey." I said, glancing back and smiling at Kakuzu, who turned away slightly. If I didn't know any better, I could swear the tint of a blush peeked out over his concealing mask. But oh well.
"Nell, I'm sorry if I upset you. I was only trying to protect you, and I really want you to come back home." Neborah said, her voice full of sorrow. I sighed sadly.
"I don't want to come back home, Neborah. Look, I miss you, I do." I assured her, though I had to cut her off before she could say something. "But this is my chance to really do something with my life, and I'm not letting it pass me by." I said stubbornly. She sighed and nodded.
"I understand, and I guess I have no choice but to let you, since you're already gone." She said, chuckling a tiny bit. "But, what did you call back for? Did you need something?" She asked.
"Uuuuhhhhh..." I glanced back at Hidan, who sighed and stepped into view of the camera.
"Hey there, Neb." He said with a teasing smile, which she rolled her eyes at. "Look, Nell's been registered as an official trainer, and she needs a base location." He told her. She seemed to understand immediately.
"I suppose that would be kind of necessary. But why set it up here?" She asked curiously.
"Well, Nell's lived there for most of her life, right?" Hidan questioned; Neb nodded. "Then it's perfect. She'll be able to trust you with her pokemon and information. As long as you think you can handle it." He said tauntingly. She stuck her tongue out.
"Of course I can. But I'm afraid I don't have the right equipment for this. I'd need a pokeball transporter." She said, seeming to move stuff around on her desk as if looking for something. "I don't really know how much one would cost..." She mumbled, still looking.
Suddenly, a pink figure popped up beside her, making us both flinch. It was just Delcatty, though, except she seemed to be carrying something in her mouth.
"Oh, thank you, Del! Just what I was looking for!" Neb said, graciously taking the envelope from her prized pokemon's mouth. "I still have the bonus money Kakuzu left me. Do you think that would cover it if I bought it legitimately?" She asked as Kakuzu stepped forward from behind me.
"If I remember correctly, that should be more than enough." The secluded man said. "There should be one available at the Pokemon Center near you. Stop by the Pokemart and ask for one." He told her. Then he started fishing something out of his pocket. "Contact me via Pokegear." He said, then proceeded to tell her his phone number. Neborah nodded as she logged it somewhere on her computer.
"Alright, will do. I have to go now, but Nell?" Kakuzu backed up to let me see her again. "Please be safe on your journey. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you." She said, her eyes pleading and worried. I gave her a reassuring smile.
"No worries, Neb! I got these guys here with me; I'm perfectly safe." I told her with a grin.
"They're the reason I'm worried." She said teasingly.
"Oi! Don't you trust me?" Hidan asked incredulously, though that just made us all laugh. Neborah gave one last goodbye before logging off, so I did the same.
"Alright. She should call me when she gets the pokeball transporter set up." Kakuzu said, pocketing his pokegear. "For now, we can move on. Nell, why don't you go back over to Nurse Joy and have your pokemon healed before we set out." He suggested. I nodded and rushed back over to the nurse's desk.
I gave her the pokeballs and she put them in an indented tray. Then she put that in a capsule of sorts and turned it on. It buzzed and lit up for a moment before she took them back out and handed them to me.
"There you go! Your pokemon are fully healed and ready to go!" She said cheerfully. I smiled and thanked her before heading off toward Kakuzu and Hidan, who seemed to be having a private conversation. I didn't feel comfortable eavesdropping, so I cleared my throat, sufficiently silencing them.
"Shall we head out now?" I asked, walking ahead of them out the door, though they followed quickly. I started walking down the street, but quickly found out that I had no idea where I was going. I slowed down my stride to walk next to Kakuzu, who chuckled and pulled out a map.
"The Violet City gym is just up ahead. We should reach it by the end of this street." He told me. I nodded, and took a deep breath. This would be my first gym battle, and as long as I kept my cool, I shouldn't have any trouble with it. Or so I thought to myself.