Blood Diamond

Prologue

Life At The Loneroot Village Laboratory

"The Taifa Region! This island nation just south of the equator, is home not only to a diverse range of pokemon, but an equally diverse range of people. Along its tropical port towns and near its towering mountains, people live in urban sprawls together with pokemon in a harmonious industrial environment. Further out into the wilds however, the villages become sparser, and the pokemon more plentiful as nature reigns supreme over numerous ancient ruins and temples. Here, the Taifa Natives still hold true to their old ways, clinging onto tradition as they are slowly dragged towards the industrial future the larger cities have already embraced. Here in the Taifa Region, there exist not one, but two pokemon labs. The first, and larger one, is located in Badoret Crossing, a crossroads village almost smack dab in the center of the region. It's a popular starting destination because of how many areas are open to new trainers right away. The second is located here, in Loneroot Village, nestled nicely among the tropical hillsides of western Taifa! My name is Croton, and along with my wife Moringa, I have the honor of being a Taifa Pokemon League certified Professor. While we both do a lot of research on pokemon here in the Taifa Region, I am the one who more often gives aspiring trainers their first pokemon. Unlike other regions that follow a grass-fire-water trio of starters, we give our trainers the choice of the following three pokemon:

The Steel type pokemon, Cufant!

The Water and Ground type pokemon, Barboach!

The Grass and Ice type pokemon, Snover!

One of these pokemon is to be your first partner should you choose to start your pokemon journey conventionally at either laboratory! It is recommended, however, that you do not take your journey through our region lightly.

Our Pokemon League is still relatively new, only now celebrating its 25th year of establishment, and while the wild can be harsh and dangerous, even more dangerous are the drug cartels and poachers who work tirelessly to profit off of the misery, death, and black market dealings of our most endangered pokemon. The most powerful among these organizations is Team Jewel, who are household names due to their ruthless, brutal methods and use of deadly forces on civilians. If at all possible, the league recommends young trainers and coordinators travel in the company of a certified Pokemon Ranger, and to strive to always have someone on guard duty should they set up camp in the wilderness.

However, you can rest easy knowing that our cities are kept safe! Taifa has one of the largest networks of Pokemon Rangers in the world, working hand in hand with our police force to ensure that both people and pokemon remain safe and protected. And of course, our Gym Leaders are all trained to handle any emergencies that might arise in their respective areas. Please, always send a PC video message to your area's designated Gym Leader, Police Station, or Ranger Base if you notice suspicious or illegal activity.

With that out of the way, it's time to show you around the lab! As you can see, we're situated right in front of a small cave up there in that mound. That cave is also part of the lab's property. You see, our specialty in Taifa is researching pokemon fossils. What causes certain pokemon to fossilize while others do not? How fast does it happen? How specifically are we able to bring them back, and could the same science be used to resurrect pokemon from nothing more than just a couple DNA strands? That cave is where the majority of our fossil analysis and procurement takes place. As such, only Laboratory personnel are allowed inside. Inside the laboratory itself however, we can see the three conservation areas of our Cufant, Barboach, and Snover. Please don't tap the glass on that last one. While the Snover can photosynthesise to eat and stay nourished, they need a cold and snowy atmosphere to thrive, and because they are such amazing pokemon, they are able to make their own, but we can't have personalized hailstorms running amok indoors, you understand. Similarly, the floor around the Barboach area must be kept clean rather constantly. As they actually breathe through lungs like most land based pokemon and humans, they tend to kick up a lot of mud as the flop to the surface when they need to fill themselves up with air again. The Cufant here by far are the easiest to take care of in terms of tasks that need to be performed for them to remain happy, but they are by far the hardest to complete any tasks for. They have a playful disposition, but tend not to realize how much heavier than humans they are. You do not want a fifty pound pokemon charging into you, or jumping up on your leg, or ancients forbid, swinging their trunk towards your junk. As you can see the breeders and assistants working at this lab have to take every precaution to ensure that both the pokemon and themselves remain safe and unharmed during work. Ah, here is the Pokemon Center corner of the lab, hello Nurse Joy. Your sister in New Lune City got our care package, and she sends her warmest thanks!"

"Sister In-Law. I keep telling you, my younger brother married her and she took his name, we aren't actually related! But I'm glad to hear the care package was well received and well liked, I can only imagine how busy she must be down there."

"And here…" Croton kept moving as Nurse Joy waved goodbye. "Is our Trainer Inn. We don't get many passersby here in Loneroot, but every city, town, or village has an inn and a pokemon center in it, no matter how small, or how strange looking. As you can see, we offer choices of bunk beds, singles, or doubles, all in this nice open area with a sky light ceiling, allowing you to take in a view of our gorgeous night skies.

Finally...up on the second floor…"

Croton stopped at the door to the room he was standing in front of. He pointed as he put his face behind a sideways hand. "This here…" he whispered. "Is Loneroot's Ranger Base! I try not to bother Vicben too much, since he's our only ranger consistently here, and is kept busy with beat patrol and paperwork. I understand he keeps sending requests for reinforcements, but so far they haven't been answered. I like to think it's because the HQ at Kapso Summit has so much faith in him-" Croton stopped short as the door was suddenly opened by Vicben, a young, bearded man, with scars all over his face, messy brown hair, and crystal blue eyes.

"Professor!" He looked around before nearly having a heart attack as he saw the balding, dark skinned, bespectacled, lab-coated, bearded gentlemen right in front of him also having a similar near heart attack experience. "Oh, sorry Professor, if I had known you were outside-"

"N-never you mind that, Vicben. What is it?"

"I just got this message on the PC, can you verify its authenticity?"

"Well now!" Croton smiled. "Let us in and we'll see."

Vicben gave him a look.

Croton stared back.

Vicben motioned his head towards the camera crew filming.

Croton shrugged. "Well…" He turned to the camera. "I'm sorry, but we'll be right back with you. Vicben's dutiful almost to a fault sometimes. Can't let cameras inside the base unless the Ranger in charge gives the go-ahead."

The two men walked through the door and closed it in front of the camera.

"Think we've got what we need, Gabby?" A male voice asked.

"No, Ty, I don't." A female voice replied. "What we need is half an hour's worth of footage. We have half that."

The door immediately opened back up, cutting the couple's conversation short.

"Alright." Vicben appeared in the doorway and held it open. "I needed to put some sensitive case files away, but you should be safe to come in now. Don't touch anything inside the base, and try not to say anything that could be construed as a threat. HQ pretends like they're too busy to watch me, but that doesn't stop them from showing up whenever I go even slightly unorthodox in my approach to things."

The camera bobbed up and down and then focused on Croton at the PC, having a bit of a hushed conversation with someone on the other end of the line.

"I just...I don't understand it…" He mumbled. "That pokemon shouldn't even exist in this region so how…?"

"Right?" Vicben asked, rejoining a little excitedly.

"Tyyyy" Gabby whispered forcefully in Ty's ear.

The camera slowly maneuvered its way around to get a glimpse of the shot.

For just a split second, it was clearly in the frame before the camera dropped to the ground.

A woman with long black hair, mahogany skin, and dressed in the garb of an ancient Taifa is excitedly pointing towards a humongous fossilized pokemon that many pokemon and people were working together to even carry around.

The fossilized pokemon was a Diancie the size of a Wailord, and right before Ty had been able to pull the camera back safely, he noticed that he'd also managed to capture the exact frame in which two of the workers and one of the pokemon carrying the thing all got shot squarely in their heads, and as the woman turned in horror and anger, and readied a pokeball, that is when Ty dropped his camera.

The camera went to static, before finally cutting out.

"Well, that's a Ranger issue if I've ever seen one." Vicben said as he quickly grabbed a styler, a ranger badge, and two pokeballs from a desk drawer.

"You own pokemon?" Gabby asked.

"It's prudent to." Vicben replied. "Sometimes a styler is the best way to handle things, sometimes it isn't. The reason I can man a Ranger Base on my own is because I recognize that. Anyways, Gabby, Ty, I think it's time you booked a ferry back to Hoenn. As of now, this is an official investigation, and I want civilians who know about it like you to stay safe."

"Excuse you," Gabby huffed. "I happen to have quite the powerful Exploud on my side and-"

"And it won't do you any good against a gun, will it?" Vicben raised his voice. "Thankfully, I took the liberty of catching a pokemon that doesn't have to worry about those things."

"Vicben, as much as I'd love to know you're on that case...you're forgetting something important." Croton stood from his seat. "Remember whose coming tomorrow."

"Your new assistants, yeah? What about them? They've been screened, they're clear to work."

"It's not about them, Vicben, it's about their daughter."

"No...you don't mean…"

"Yep." Croton nodded. "I'm afraid I do. She's only going to unpack and then she's coming right here for a pokemon. She needs a Ranger to escort her to New Lune City. 16 is still a minor after all. If it's any consolation, I'm sure she also doesn't want to have any unwanted company."

"Well, to New Lune is fine, I suppose." Vicben sighed. "But I'm losing a valuable 24 hours, and I can't contact Eosa, she's away in Almia."

"Then have Kelseir handle it. He'll be fine until you get there."

"But will Granni?" Vicben laughed. "Fine, fine, I do trust Kel. He's quite capable. But this is like the fifth favor I'm behind now in terms of how many times he's bailed me out of a jam."

"You wouldn't be a Top Ranger if you didn't understand it's better to be behind five favors than to be derelict in duty." Croton smiled. "Now calm down, write the report, send the request."

"At once, Professor." Vicben gave a salute and got to work.

"Unfortunately…" Croton turned to Gabby and Ty. "He is right about the two of you. You should board a boat to Hoenn immediately. If anyone responsible for what just happened manages to trace Granni's messages, they will come knocking, and they'll find you if you aren't clear across the sea. Thank you for coming all this way, and I'm sorry we couldn't properly finish the tour."

"Oh, that's fine." Gabby said sweetly as she forced Ty to his feet. "We'll get on the first ferry out of Kanucha Harbor."

"Well, time to go home, eh Gabbs?" Ty asked as the pair walked out of the lab.

"Are you kidding, Ty? Think of the scoop! Forget Hoenn, we'd be the most iconic news team in the world! We'll head to Kanucha like we said, but we won't take a ferry to Hoenn, instead we'll take a ferry somewhere else, pretend to be investigating a different thing...and then bam! Hit everyone with an emergency broadcast!"

"Has losing to that trainer really gotten to you this badly?"

"No one wants to hear about us losing to the same trainer for the 80th time!" Gabby snapped. "It's part of the reason we barely even have enough money to avoid coming to this place, let alone leaving it. I want to make sure we get our trip's worth of reel time!"

"And if we run into the ranger again? He'll recognize us!"

"If we run into the ranger again, we'll pool information." Gabby smiled. "By that time we'll have gathered some facts of our own that will undoubtedly be of help to him."

"There's no talking you out of this then…" Ty sighed. "Alright, let's get ourselves a scoop."