The plane trip to Kanto was monotonously uneventful. The only issue was getting Nova and Razgriz through security, but that was easily sorted out with a bit of paperwork. After an hour or two of sitting around waiting, they would finally be on their way to Kanto.
Jack had never been on a plane before, so it was an entirely novel experience for him. Nova and Razgriz had not been on plane in a long time. Even then, the idea was still very foreign to them.
"How does it work?" Razgriz asked, curious about the strange human contraptions.
Jack was staring at the planes as well, although he'd taken the precaution of doing some research beforehand; both to satisfy his own curiosity, and in case questions like these arose.
"It has to do with the shape of the wings, and how they're angled," he said, as if he hadn't just read up on it right before they left. "Their shape causes a pressure difference between the top and bottom which creates lift, and the angle deflects air downward beneath them which creates even more lift."
"... I'll pretend I understood half of that…" Razgriz muttered before looking back out the window at the planes outside.
"Same…" Nova added on.
Jack shrugged. "Fair enough. Personally, I think it's kind of interesting." He then leaned back in his seat and sighed. "Unlike all this waiting... How long has it been anyway?"
"How should we know?" Razgriz countered, shrugging his shoulders.
Jack groaned. "If I'd known it would take this long just to board, I would've taken my chances swimming…"
Eventually however, they did actually get on the plane. After another wait, the plane actually started moving and eventually took off. Jack, who had the aisle seat, strained to look out the window past Nova and Razgriz, who were slightly frightened by the loud noise generated by the plane's engines and the force generated by the accelerating plane.
Jack, who had developed a habit of falling from very high places recently, wasn't bothered too much by the plane's acceleration. He was more amazed than anything. Despite knowing the physics behind it, and even having seen it happening, it was still almost surreal to actually be inside an airplane while it was taking off.
Despite this, the sheer monotony of the flight soon bore down on Jack. Having hopped on the soonest flight he could book, it was already nightfall by the time they took off. Jack, still being a little fatigued from his last fight, soon fell fast asleep in his seat.
Jack woke to a lot of turbulence and a voice telling him to fasten his seatbelt and put his seat in an upright position. He hoped this was standard procedure, and not his luck catching up with him again. Fortunately it seemed to be the former, as it wasn't long before his feet met solid ground once again.
Jack stepped out into the gangway with a small sigh of relief, then looked back to make sure Nova and Razgriz didn't get left behind. The two Pokémon were following behind Jack, staying close to him as they were surrounded by people getting off the flight.
"I almost prefer jumping off the plane…" Razgriz said in a low voice, not liking the close proximity to so many humans.
Jack rolled his eyes. "I'm not even going to try to imagine what would happen if you did. I suspect global extinction."
"Why would you expect that?" Razgriz asked, puzzled slightly.
Jack mumbled something about a meteor and dinosaurs but dropped the subject. "Anyway, I'm just glad to have solid ground under my feet again. It's strange how much you take some things for granted…"
"Agreed, even though we have flown a few times, I much prefer solid ground. Though planes are definitely better than ships…" Razgriz noted as they continued to follow Jack out of the airport.
Eventually, after waiting in line for at least as long as they had before getting on the place in the first place, they finally made it out of the airport and were greeted with their first view of the Kanto region.
Jack's first impression was that they'd never left Hearthome. The city in which they'd arrived, Saffron City, was just as enormous and busy as the city they'd just flown from. On second thoughts, Saffron was even more enormous and busy. Jack had never seen such a bustling metropolis before, and honestly he found it somewhat intimidating.
He glanced back at Nova and Razgriz, hoping they could offer some emotional support. Unfortunately both of them seemed rather nervous as well; almost frightened in fact.
"How fast can we get away from here?" Razgriz said as he glanced around him at the massive city.
"Agreed," Nova added on. She could usually stand being around more people than Razgriz, but the sheer volume of people in this city was overwhelming.
Jack sighed. "So much for sightseeing... let's get going then."
He then consulted a map of the city, before heading down a road that would lead them out of the city. The trio hastily walked towards the outskirts, though the large size of the city meant that it still took quite a while. Eventually they made it out of the city center, which fortunately meant that not as many people were crammed into the streets. This allowed them to look around at the city a little more, and Jack soon found himself astounded at how much trade and business went on in Saffron. He'd heard that Saffron was currently the tenth largest city in the world, as well as being the central business district for all of Kanto, but he hadn't really appreciated what that meant until now. The three of them kept walking, but the city continued to go on and on; still as compact and efficient as ever.
Then, as suddenly as it had hit them, the city simply seemed to end. It came as somewhat of a shock to Jack, who had begun to suspect that it went on forever. Still, there it was. A few rural neighborhoods, and then an expanse of heavily forested hills; along with patches where old trees had been harvested, and new ones planted in their place.
"That's more like it," Jack commented, half to himself.
"Quite the abrupt change…" Razgriz added as he looked around.
Jack took a deep breath of fresh air, then glanced back at the city. "Alright… now we just have to find out where Team Rocket's base is."
"I suppose someone around here probably knows something," Nova said with a shrug. Given how many people she had seen in the city, it seemed quite likely they could at least get their bearings straight.
Jack sighed. "Fair enough, although I don't really want to go back in there…"
Jack glanced around a little, and he grinned as he spotted an old-fashioned newspaper stand. "Bingo."
He walked over to it and started browsing the different newspapers, looking for anything related to Team Rocket. It wasn't long before he found what he was looking for.
"In the wake of the attack by the international crime syndicate known as Team Rocket," he read out loud, "The upper floors of Sylph Co. headquarters in Saffron City have been closed to the public."
"That… was easier than I thought…" Nova stated as she tried to make out the words on the newspaper.
Jack winced. "There are some sentences you should just keep away from… now Sylph Co. is bound to be a front for some kind of bloodthirsty smuggling ring, or maybe they've been taken over by face-sucking aliens…"
"Why… on earth, would you think that?" Razgriz asked Jack, highly skeptical of the human's claims.
Jack waved his hand dismissively. "Never mind. My point is that saying 'that was easy' is the single best way of ensuring that it'll get hard."
"Human's and your superstitions…" Razgriz muttered under his breath, though he was sure Jack still heard him.
Jack groaned. "Just you wait and see. It'll happen. Anyway, let's go try and find this Sylph Co. headquarters."
He payed for the newspaper with some of the little money he had left, and then headed back into the city with Nova and Razgriz following him. As he walked, he looked at the paper.
"There's a picture here of Sylph Co. headquarters," he said. "Looks pretty big, all steel and glass…"
"Shouldn't be too hard to find," Razgriz said with a smirk, glancing at Jack. "It's not like you just described every building in the city."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Well, maybe it's the one with 'Sylph Co.' plastered across the front of it?"
"Well, according to your own logic, since I said it should be easy, it won't be," Razgriz countered, still smirking at Jack.
Jack tossed him a sidelong glance and kept walking towards the center of the city. Before long, Jack stopped dead in his tracks; his eyes wide. "Woah…"
Sure enough, in front of them was Sylph Co. headquarters. It was the single largest building Jack had ever seen, and so tall he found himself wondering how it didn't fall over in strong winds.
Nova and Razgriz were looking around at all the people again. Since they had gone back deeper into the city than when they had arrived, there were even more people around. A lot of them giving the two strange Pokémon curious glances, since they weren't native to the region. Jack tapped their shoulders, directing their attention to the monstrous skyscraper in front of them.
"That is… tall," Nova said as she looked up at the top of the building. Razgriz simply nodded his head in agreement.
Jack took a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing."
He then walked up to the front entrance, where two guards in black suits were standing watch. They stopped him before he could enter the building.
"Sorry kid, no Pokémon allowed inside the building," one said. "Please leave all Pokéballs here before entering."
Jack glanced back at Nova and Razgriz, then sighed. "Well, then maybe you can help me. You see, I'm looking for any information I can get on Team Rocket. I heard they attacked Sylph Co. a while ago, so I was hoping I could get some answers here."
The guards looked at each other, then one glanced back at Jack. "Well, Sylph Co. hired both of us on fairly recently to help bolster security so we don't know much."
The other scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, actually I do remember hearing something about Team Rocket activity in Lavender Town."
Jack furrowed his brow. Finally a lead. "Lavender Town? Can you tell me how to get there?"
The second guard nodded. "Sure. Just take that road out of Saffron," he said, pointing in the opposite direction from which they'd come, "And follow Route 8 all the way there."
Jack smiled. "Thank you so much."
"Hey, be careful kid," the first guard told him. "Team Rocket is dangerous, even for skilled trainers. Don't go getting tangled up with them if you can help it."
Jack nodded. "Thanks again, I'll keep that in mind."
He then glanced back at Nova and Razgriz, nodding at them to follow him as he started heading down the road.
"So, how easy was that?" Razgriz continued jesting.
Jack glanced back at him and sighed. "Okay… it has been fairly straightforward so far. Just keep in mind, we haven't found them yet."
"No, but it hasn't been the doom and gloom you were saying it was going to be right from the start," Razgriz countered.
"Besides, Team Rocket doesn't even know what is about to hit them," Nova added on.
Jack shook his head. "Let's just get going. Trust me, if this stays easy I'll be the happiest person here."
They kept walking, heading down the main road the other way until they eventually reached the edge of the city again. Jack felt he was almost starting to get used to it by now, almost. Either way, he was still glad to see trees again.
"Alright," Jack said, looking around. "The guard said to take Route 8."
"I am just happy to be out of that city. I don't know how you humans can stand living so close to so many other people," Razgriz said as he took a breath of the forest air.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Don't 'you humans' me. I'm with you on this one."
"Fair enough," Razgriz replied with a shrug. "You do seem more Pokémon than human sometimes."
Jack's expression darkened slightly as he was reminded that, on top of everything else, he still had no idea what he really was; or where his superhuman abilities came from. He forced that thought out of his mind for now. He had more important things to worry about.
"There's Route 8," he said, pointing to a signpost and ignoring Razgriz's comment. "Let's go."
He started walking, although he set such a brisk pace it was really more like jogging. The two Pokémon easily kept up with Jack's quickened stride as they made their progress towards Lavender Town.
As they walked, it quickly became clear that Route 8 was pretty well-travelled, at least compared to similar roads in Sinnoh. It seemed to be frequented by a wide variety of trainers especially, judging by the almost ubiquitous Pokéball belts most of them wore.
Before they'd gone more than a mile or so out of Saffron, the three of them heard the growl of engines behind them and rapidly approaching. A moment later, they were overtaken by a handful of rough customers riding rather expensive-looking motorcycles. Jack didn't pay them any attention, until they stopped and turned their bikes to block the path in front of him.
Jack blinked, then furrowed his brow. "Is there something you want?"
"When two trainers' eyes meet," recited the middle one, who looked meaner than the other two and was probably their leader, "They have to battle. You know the rules."
The three bikers grinned in a way which made Jack think this probably wasn't the first time they'd waylaid passing trainers. He was a little confused about what they said about two trainers' eyes meeting though, he'd never heard that before. Maybe it was a custom here in Kanto. If so, he might as well. It didn't look like he'd be getting past them without a fight anyway, so better to just beat up their Pokémon and get it over with.
He sighed and glanced at Nova and Razgriz. "Would one of you mind making it quick and painless?"
"Gladly," Razgriz said, accepting the challenge without any hesitation. He could tell by the aura of the bikers that they were not merciful people. Just the type of people he liked to teach lessons to.
Jack suddenly winced. "Actually… maybe Nova should do it. I don't want it to be that quick and painless…"
"Oh please… I wasn't going to kill them…" Razgriz muttered.
Meanwhile, the bikers were getting impatient; not being able to hear Jack's Pokéspeech. "Well, are you gonna send out your Pokémon? Or are you too scared?"
Jack blinked, then sighed. They had no idea what they were in for. "Nova, would you mind?"
"Personally, I would have loved to watch my mate do it, but this will do," Nova replied, stepping forward to battle the thugs blocking their path.
The two on the sides backed off a little, and the leader grinned. "What kind of weird Pokémon is that? Oh well, doesn't matter. Koffing, go get 'em!"
He tossed a Pokéball into the middle of the road, which released a cloud of noxious fumes. In the center of the cloud was a Pokémon with a face only a mother could love.
"Boy are you ugly…" Nova muttered as she looked at the Pokémon in front of her.
The poison-type snorted, which blew another cloud of toxic gas onto the road. "Take a good look sweetheart, cause I'll be the last face you see before you black out."
The Koffing then fired off a fairly potent Sludge Bomb at Nova, who made no visible attempt to dodge the attack. When the attack should have hit her, it simply phased right through her. Visible confusion flashed across the trainer's face. To both Jack and Razgriz it was obvious what had happened, but their opponent was clueless.
"What the…" muttered the Koffing, as his trainer uttered similar sentiments in fascinatingly colourful language. Before either could react further, the Koffing was slammed to the ground. An attack of blue flame seemingly coming out of thin air, landing a direct hit on the stunned poison-type. When the smoke cleared, Koffing was out for the count.
The bikers stared on in shock as Nova reappeared seemingly out of thin air. The leader growled and recalled his Pokémon. "What kind of dirty cheating is that?! There's no way my Koffing's attack didn't hit that thing, and there's no way that blue fire thing was a real move!"
The other two bikers revved their engines in what was obviously supposed to be a menacing display.
"We'll make you pay for humiliating the boss," one said.
"No amount of cheating will save you now!" exclaimed the other.
All at once, they released every one of their Pokémon. The final count was five more Koffing, and one Flareon who looked like he wanted to plug his nose and run.
"You morons realize you cannot fight what you cannot see, right?" Nova's voice rang through their heads.
The bikers held their hands to their head. "What's going on? Who is that?"
"Who cares! Koffing, blast them with Smog!"
All five Koffing nodded, and in unison they started blowing thick, purple clouds of toxic gas all around. Even the bikers had to hold their breath for a moment. Jack and Razgriz were safe from the toxic gas inside an auric dome that Razgriz had created. He was sitting down, concentrating on making sure the dome was airtight.
Nova however had no such luxury. Right before the poisonous cloud hit her, she took in a large breath of air and closed her eyes. She doubted it would be enough to completely protect her from such a concentrated blast, but it would prevent her from taking all of the damage. As the attacks hit her, the illusions surrounding her and Razgriz failed. Fortunately, the Smog was so thick that none of the bikers nor their Pokémon could see their true forms.
Using her aura vision to see, Nova could clearly see all five of the Koffings through their vile cloud. She pooled energy between her paws, causing a dark purple and black sphere to form between them. Two of the Koffings were practically on top of each other and she chose them as her first target. The Shadow Ball hit the first Koffing and the blast caught his partner as well.
Both of them were instantly knocked out cold, but that left three more. If she was watching them, she would notice all three of them starting to quickly back off from the battlefield. Even the bikers were turning tail and riding away as fast as they could. The loud noise of their engines caught her attention. She was surprised to see them running away while leaving their Pokémon behind. Then, all of a sudden she noticed one more aura signature. In all the confusion and smog, she'd forgotten about the Flareon. No sooner had she noticed him, than the Flareon opened his mouth and released a puff of Ember.
The result left spots in Jack's eyes, as the smog ignited and went up in a massive fireball which completely engulfed Nova and scorched the road. Any plants along the sides of the path died instantly from the heat, if they hadn't already from the smog. Even the Flareon who had started the blaze was caught in it, and instantly knocked unconscious. The fire burned away all of the Smog, leaving behind a badly singed Nova. Her fur was badly burnt and the blue bits were mostly black as a result. She was breathing heavily as she recovered. While the attack had done some damage, it was far from enough to knock her out of the fight. Instead, it just seemed to anger her.
Her eyes started glowing bright blue as aura started surrounding her body, concentrating around her forepaws. She glanced up at the remaining Koffing, glaring at them before unleashing a powerful Night Daze, slamming her paws down against the ground. The attack surged forth from her in a quick moving dome. The three Koffing and unconscious Flareon were caught in the attack and thrown backwards by the blast of energy.
The bikers, who had turned around after they heard the explosion, were practically shaking in their boots as they recalled their unconscious Pokémon. Once Razgriz lowered his aura dome, Jack walked over to the bikers and crossed his arms.
"Well?" he asked, rather sternly. "We won, despite that last attack; which was reckless and dangerous to everyone involved, by the way. So, by the rules of the Pokémon league, I believe you owe me money…" He narrowed his gaze, implying that a much higher price would be exacted from them if they failed to pay up.
Once the bikers had ridden off, their wallets a fair bit lighter, Jack turned back to Nova. "Are you alright Nova?"
"Truthfully… that hurt… a lot," Nova replied as she laid down on her back, coughing some from the amount of poison she had been exposed to.
"You know, I am almost glad Jack had you fight that and not me," Razgriz said as he knelt down next to her. "Seriously, are you alright?"
Jack quickly knelt down on the other side of her and place his hand gently on her belly, furrowing his brow in concern. "She should be, once I neutralize the poison."
Jack's hand started to glow with aura as he started his unique method of auric healing. He'd studied hundreds of different poisons, toxins, and venoms in his training as a healer; although he didn't dare try to remember where he'd studied them. It didn't take him long to isolate the poison and start curing it. While he was at it, he also soothed some of the pain from Nova's burns.
"Ah… that feels good," Nova said with a content sigh as Jack healed her from the fight.
Jack sighed. "I'm sorry Nova, I should've seen that coming from a mile away. I must be losing my touch…"
"It's fine. Can hardly blame them for being creative with Pokémon moves," Nova replied with a shrug.
Jack didn't reply, and just continued healing her. By the time he was finished, he was sweating a little from the exertion. He stood up and dusted his knees off. "Anyway, let's get going. We've wasted too much time already."
"Hope we don't run into any other people like that…" Razgriz muttered as he extended a paw to Nova and helped her up. She smiled before realizing that the illusions around the two of them had dropped during the battle. She quickly put them back up, giving them the appearance of a normal Lucario and Zoroark. While it was hardly necessary a most people in Kanto had probably never seen either of their species before, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Jack froze and gave Razgriz a haunted look. He then sighed and started walking again. They'd barely walked for five minutes, before suddenly running into a man in overalls carrying a bug net. He glanced at them and grinned.
"When two trainer's eyes meet," he declared, "They have to battle!"
The man pulled out a Pokéball, and Jack groaned; tossing a dirty look at Razgriz.
Razgriz glanced at the man, looking at the aura of his six Pokéballs and sighing.
"I seriously think he has six Metapods…"
Jack blinked, then seemed to lose any remaining restraint. "Razgriz… you take care of this one."
Razgriz simply nodded before stepping forward to accept the trainer's challenge. As Razgriz predicted, a Metapod appeared before him. The bug type immediately used Harden, not that it would make much of a difference.
Razgriz stomped on the ground as aura surrounded his leg, causing a sharp piece of stone to launch out of the ground. Razgriz spun around and kicked the rock while it was midair and sent it straight towards the Metapod. Even with its Harden, the Stone Edge sent the small bug type flying backwards against a tree, knocking it out instantly.
"Next…" Razgriz muttered, even though the bug catcher wouldn't be able to understand him.
The bug catcher blinked, then gritted his teeth as he recalled his Pokémon. "Don't get cocky kid, I've still got plenty of tricks up my sleeves!"
He tossed out another Pokéball. It was another Metapod.
Razgriz sighed as he shook his head and facepawed. He closed his eyes as his four dreadlocks rose behind his head. He reached out with a paw surrounded in blue energy. Just as the Metapod was using Harden, it too was surrounded in blue energy. Razgriz used Psychic to lift it up into the air before slamming it back down into the ground. Opening his eyes, he saw that the small bug wasn't making any attempts to get back up.
The bug catcher scowled. "I'm just getting warmed up!"
He sent out yet another Metapod. Jack groaned in something approaching despair. Razgriz groaned as well. This was well and truly ridiculously at this point. Not wasting time on any fancy tricks, Razgriz just repeated another Stone Edge attack. As with the previous Metapod, this one was instantly knocked out.
The bug catcher repeated the process again, and a fifth time, with Razgriz incapacitating each new Metapod with contemptuous ease. Jack furrowed his brow as the man then pulled out one final Pokéball. Razgriz glared at the trainer as he prepared to release the Pokémon inside.
"I swear if that is another Metapod, I will punt it into the next region," Razgriz's voice rang through the bug catcher's head.
The bug catcher blinked, hesitating a moment as he seriously considered his course of action. He took one look at Razgriz, and decided that it probably wasn't an idle threat. "Okay… I give up."
Jack sighed in relief.
"Finally…" Razgriz muttered before turning his back on the trainer and walking back to where Jack and Nova where standing.
Jack sent a rather cutting glance at Razgriz. "Have you got anything to say this time?"
"If I see another Metapod, I am punting it into the next region," Razgriz replied, the tone of his voice indicating he fully meant it.
Jack nodded. "I'll take that over more famous last words."
Jack quickly collected his prize money from the bug catcher, then started heading out down the road again. They ran into a couple more trainers, including a kid with a Magnamite and a couple on a date, but they were easily and quickly dealt with. Eventually however, it started to get dark.
"How much longer do you want to go?" Nova asked as she looked up at the sky. The last traces of the setting sun were starting to disappear and the stars were starting to shine through the sky.
Jack glanced at a road sign as they passed it. "We're almost there… I say we keep going. We'll sleep at the Pokémon center when we get there. If we wait until morning, we'll just run into more trainers…"
"Fair enough," Razgriz said in agreement. The number of trainers they had run into had dropped dramatically since the sun started setting.
Jack nodded. "Alright, let's keep going then."
And so they kept walking as night fell and the nocturnal Pokémon emerged from the trees. Those Pokémon made sure to give them a wide berth however, and it was far better than more trainers. Fortunately Jack could easily see by the pale moonlight, at least enough to stay on the path. They walked for at least another two hours after dark, before suddenly Jack saw a sign in front of them.
Welcome to Lavender Town.
Osean: So….
Me: Hey, we were better about it this time.
Osean: well, you are… I missed the last one, err… skipped.
Me: Hey, at least we had an excuse this time. We're both in college now, and you probably have way more work to do than I do; and I'm swamped.
Osean: yeah, senior design capstone project. Plus other pointless labs.
Razgriz: I am hearing excuses.
Nova: Excuses indeed.
Jack: Verily, for sooth.
Me: Et tu Brute
Osean: anyways, hopefully updates will be more regular than 3 to 6 months. My apologies for the sparsity of them recently.
Me: Yeah, same. We are honestly trying, but like I said, now we're having to slot writing in around other stuff.
Jack: Like blowing things up…?
Osean: Airsoft is a way of life.
Me: He's a Texan. It's like drinking or breathing.
Osean: Just like Canadians are made of maple syrup.
Me: Come over to the dark side. We have waffles.
