I, Professor Joanne Pine, hereby endorse Oliver Clairmont/Moira Taylor to participate in the Allanza Region's 17th Annual Pokémon Gym Challenge.

Below that was Professor Pine's signature, underneath which was a faxed signature from their respective parents. They were both minors, after all. That done, both documents were placed in envelopes and handed to the two young trainers.

Oliver was shaking in silent excitement. Moira was still a little miffed by how the battle had turned out, but still pleased to finally have an official endorsement.

Professor Pine looked past them to see what Scarlet and Cassandra were doing. They were looking at the egg that was in the incubator while it appeared to be shaking, signaling it was about to hatch.

"Oliver, would you be so kind as to help Scarlet out with that? She's been my assistant for years but she always had trouble dealing with newly hatched Pokémon… something I think you're supremely qualified for." Oliver gave her a thumbs up and went to help out.

Moira started to follow him. "Wait just a second," Pine said, stopping her. "I wanted to talk about a couple things with you." Nodding nervously, she sat down in a chair opposite Pine's desk.

"First off, I know your Pokémon Trainer Card is technically valid, but I feel like we should print out an Allanzan card just to simplify things for the League staff."

Moira sighed in relief. She was worried this was going to be about her loss to Oliver, but she already got her endorsement, so she didn't know why she was so nervous. She handed her card over to the Professor, who began typing into a computer.

"Second, while we're here, I want to ask you something else. Come over here and look at this video," she said. Moira, confused, got up and walked around to see what Pine had on her computer.

Pine pressed the play button on the video and when Moira realized what it was, she went white as a sheet.

It was the video. The one she didn't want anyone in Allanza to know about.

"What- h-how the f*** did ye-?!" she asked quietly. "Oh, uh, s-sorry fer the language."

"I have relatives in Galar, and they sent me this." Moira's shoulders fell. Of course. It was an internet meme back home for a while. "I thought it was pretty funny when I first saw it, for all the wrong reasons." Pine's expression fell. "I feel really guilty about it now, though. When you showed up with Oliver, I thought you looked kinda familiar, and when I saw your choice of Pokémon, I had to check to see if it wasn't just a coincidence."

Moira nodded, then turned to see if Oliver had heard anything. Mercifully it would seem he hadn't, he was busy petting the newly hatched Growlithe while Scarlet and Cassandra cleaned up what was left of the egg. She turned back to Pine. "Please dinnae tell Oliver aboot this."

"Don't worry," she reassured. "I won't."

Moira sighed in relief, and sat there in silence as Pine began typing in the information for her new Trainer Card.

Unbeknownst to her, though, while Oliver may have been focusing on the baby Growlithe, Scarlet had overheard parts of it. She knew better than to ask about it but curiosity began to occupy her mind.

What the heck kind of video was it?

As Oliver and Moira left to wait at the Pokémon Center, Scarlet went over to Pine's desk.

"You really think they'll be able to handle the Gym Challenge? I mean, the two of them are 14 years old. Traveling across Allanza at their age sounds incredibly dangerous."

"Oh, I wholeheartedly agree," Pine said. "Which is why you're going with them."

Scarlet and Cassandra started. "Wh-what?!"

Pine stood up. "I have faith in them as trainers, but at the end of the day, they're just kids, and I'd rather they didn't have to walk through Neoshine on their own."

Scarlet nodded, knowing just how dangerous Neoshine could be.

"Besides, I have a job for you. It's about the Allanza Pokédex."

This got Scarlet's interest. Pine was one of the people primarily responsible for compiling data for the Allanza Pokédex, and Scarlet had been part of that project for the past few years as her lab assistant-slash-intern.

"See, the Pokédex is in need of an update. There's been some minor edits since the last one, but it hasn't seen a major update in years. So I want you to travel with Oliver and Moira. The Gym Challenge will take them all over the region, so you'll probably encounter every Allanzan species at least once. Besides," Pine added, "Cassandra hasn't really gotten out that much as of late. This'll be good for her. Maybe you'll even get to have a battle or two?"

Scarlet's expression darkened at this last bit, causing Cassandra to look up at her, concerned. "I told you already. My days of being a Trainer are over. I'm not battling anymore."

Pine smiled apologetically. "R-right. My mistake. Guess that wound's still fresh…" she cleared her throat. "In any event, I'd like you to follow Oliver and Moira on their journey and gather data both from wild Pokémon and trained Pokémon."

Scarlet huffed, before looking down at her Dark-type companion. She was looking up at Scarlet with big, pleading eyes. The assistant's expression softened and she sighed. She hasn't been past Route 2 and Neoshine in years, has she... "Sure, fine. I'll do it."

Pine grinned. "Perfect. Let me just get you the admin rights to the Dex real quick, then you can head over to meet those two. They should be waiting at the Pokémon Center by now."


While their Pokémon were recovering, Oliver was reading through the Crobatman and Fletchling trade he got for his birthday.

"How is it?" Moira asked, curiously. "I haven't read the past few issues myself."

Oliver put the trade down. "Well, it's definitely good. But I'm a little sick of seeing Mr. Crime as the bad guy all the time."

"But I thought he was the best Crobatman villain?"

"He is, but sometimes it's starting to feel like it's about Mr. Crime and not Crobatman. I mean, come on. There are other villains. Like Two-Face and his Morpeko. Or Banechamp. Or-"

"Ah, there you are!"

Oliver and Moira turned to greet Scarlet as she entered the center, Cassandra close behind.

"Scarlet! What are you doing here, didn't Pine have a job for you?" Oliver asked.

Scarlet explained what was going on, how Pine wanted her to gather data for the Pokédex and go with the two of them.

"Oh, so she had ye babysit us, that it?" asked Moira, slightly miffed. "We can take care of ourselves. We're f***in' trainers. She knows that, right?"

"No, I get it," Oliver said, causing Moira to raise an eyebrow. "I've heard some nasty things go on in the shadows of Neoshine City. Going there just the two of us, two kids, that's just asking for trouble."

Moira shrugged. "Well, ye've lived here longer than I have."

Scarlet sat down next to them. "So what's your guys' plan from here?"

"Well," Oliver said, "the opening ceremonies are in two days. Neoshine is just up Route 2, so we should easily be able to get there with a day to spare. Once we register for the Gym Challenge they should have accommodations for us… hey wait," Oliver realized, "What about you, Scarlet? You're not taking the challenge, are you gonna be on your own on getting a hotel room?"

"Oh, that's not gonna be a problem," Scarlet responded nonchalantly. "Since the two of you are minors they allow adult chaperones for things like this."

"Okay, that's good to know."

They were about to discuss something else when Moira just happened to look at the TV they had in the waiting room. Her eyes widened and she slumped forward. "Ye've got to be kidding me…"

"Huh? What's the matter?" Oliver asked, before following Moira's gaze to the TV. The volume was too low to hear anything but the news had captions turned on.

"A car accident occurred earlier today on Route 2 at about 3:26 PM. A pickup truck collided with a lumber truck, damaging both vehicles and scattering the lumber truck's contents across the road.

Both drivers were unharmed but the driver of the lumber truck challenged the other driver to a Pokémon battle. He won, but his Pokémon, a Rhydon, caused severe damage to the road."

The news report went on to talk about fines or something but they had caught the important part: the road was closed.

"Well sh**e!" Moira let out, exasperated. "How the f*** are we supposed to get tae Neoshine with the road blocked?" she continued, before noticing the dirty looks she was getting from the other trainers in the center and hanging her head.

Scarlet thought. "Well… there's always the Searrow Forest Nature Preserve. We could always walk through there." This got their interest.

Oliver considered it. "That's actually not a bad idea."

"What are ye going on about?" asked Moira.

"There's a forest just north of Searrow," Scarlet explained. "Route 2 goes right through it. There's also a few nature trails that go through there. It would probably take us an extra day but it exits near Neoshine."

"Plus, a forest means one thing: Wild Pokémon," Oliver said with a glint in his eye. "We could train our teams up a bit and catch some new Pokémon as well!" Moira liked the sound of that, actually.

"You both brought along camping gear?" Scarlet asked. "We won't be able to get through the forest before it gets dark."

Both Oliver and Moira responded in the affirmative.

"Right. Let's head back to my place first so I can grab my own stuff. Then we'll hit the trail."


Happy New Year everybody!

I apologize for this chapter being a bit short, but I thought it'd be best for the pacing of the next chapter.