Lorenzo Ketchum saw the lights of Cerulean fade behind him with half lidded eyes, foot pressed gently on the pedal and hand limply on the wheel. The traffic around Saffron had been horrific and he was already an hour late home.

Delia would have some choice words for him when he got home that was for sure.

He hadn't had sleep in a whole week and it showed. His shirt was ruckled and messy with a scarlet ketchup stain messily adorning the centre. His blond hair was wrapped around itself, forming a matted mess. His crimson eyes had ginormous sags beneath them, a testament to his long work day and even longer drive home.

A tapping on the glovebox shook him slightly. He turned his head slightly to face his starter Pokemon, who was seated in the passengers seat. "What is it now?" He asked, too groggy to be annoyed at this point.

Having gotten his attention, the Mr. Mime fluttered his hands into a myriad of gestures. Even in his tiredness, Lorenzo could still translate everything that his starter was saying. He had been dealing with his antics for over a decade, after all.

"Want me to drive?" The Pokemon asked, nodding in the direction of the steering wheel. "You look like you could need some rest, especially after our little detour."

Lorenzo shook his head. "What'd the point be? We're way over halfway at this point. Besides, you're better at looking after the delivery than me. How are the eggs faring?"

Mime glanced down at the battery powered incubator that was nestled in the footwell beneath his chair before responding with a thumbs up. The act of sticking a thumb up in the air meant the same thing in Mime as it did in most human dialects.

Lorenzo let out a yawn. "That's good. Let me know if anything bad happens to them. We wouldn't want to cause the professor any trouble now, would we?"

Mime shook his head and they continued their journey in silence. After a while, the Pokemon felt thirsty and grabbed the thermos in the drinks holder, finishing of the lukewarm coffee in one swig. Out of the window, the grand old Pewter Museum came into view, a small portion of the many glass windows blaring bright yellow light from whatever idiotic scientist was working this late at night. The headlamps of the car revealed a Vulpix, which, upon seeing the mass of metal moving quickly towards it, picked up the Pidgey carcass it had been scavenging and made a run for it.

The museum got larger and larger and brighter and brighter until they were at its foot on the outskirts of Pewter City. Despite the change of scenery, Lorenzo didn't slow down, zooming through the town, no doubt waking some poor person up from their beauty sleep. Mime closed the window, which he had left half open, the psychic type reminding the human of the correct way to go. Lorenzo didn't notice his hand gestures, however, being too focused on the path ahead. They turned a corner, making a bit of a screech...

CRASH!

Lorenzo couldn't really tell what was happening. One second, he was driving normally, the next, he was sailing through midair, his shirt in tatters. There was an ever present pain that spread throughout his entire midsection, focussed on certain points in his chest. A soft buzzing filled his ears. Suddenly, the buzzing grew louder and a pink barrier gently shoved him to the right.

He flew through the side alley. When he hit the hard tarmac, his shoulder stung and his right arm was completely numb. He registered Mime landing squarely on his feet next to him, turning and nodding his thanks to the Psychic type who had probably saved him from further harm.

He tried raising his numb arm. Nothing. Not even a twitch. Ok maybe it felt like more than a twitch, his shoulder roaring up in pain. His chest felt wet. He looked down, noticing his own blood. There were at least fifteen scars covering his chest, many of which had something hard and translucent sticking out of them - was that glass?

That was the last though he had as he passed out. The last thing he saw was Mime running towards him on shaky legs. The last thing he felt was his head hitting the tarmac surprisingly softly. Then it was black.

Mime gasped as he slowly lifted his trainer's head down onto the cobbles, turning it slightly to avoid choking. He then cast his vision forwards, a tricky task being a species that specialised in barrier projection, checking his heart, lungs and spine. He sighed in relief, finding all three of these vital body parts intact and working. He then turned back into the street. Lorenzo needed help and he would have to find it.

Stepping out of the alley, he looked around and saw the car. It was squashed flat, the white roof dented beyond belief and the windscreen shattered onto the road. Now that he was a little less shocked, he noticed the black shape that they had collided with.

The Rhyhorn didn't actually look that fazed by the collision actually. It was a massive beast, easily larger than Mime at the shoulder, it's sinister eyes gleaming out of the shadows. A second figure stepped forward, scratching the beast behind the ears. The ground type grunted softly. The figure, unmistakably a male human, was muscly and was wearing a cap which played around with the shadows obscuring his face. He stood up, drawing out a sphere and releasing a flash of light, condensing into a somewhat shorter figure.

Mime didn't need to recognise the Pokemon. The mental power that he could feel emitting from it told him enough. The Kadabra peered around curiously and Mime tried to project the densest psychic shield he could. The behaviour of the man had told him enough and he now understood that the crash was not an accident.

The man pointed his finger forward and muttered a command. The Kadabra looked up and obeyed the order, it's eyes glowing azure from the gloom. Suddenly, the crumpled wreck started to straighten and expand, almost as it was being inflated. A flurry of glass fragments brushed past Mime's cheek, reuniting with the ones scattered across the road to form a full windscreen once more, fitting back into place on the front of the car. Tiny flakes of paint floated through the air and landed on the sides, obscuring all of the scratches that had been caused by the accident. The car now stood good as new, gleaming slightly in the light of the street lamp.

The man chuckled, and nodded at the psychic type. The Kadabra's eyes, which had returned to normal, flashed blue again. Silently, the passenger door of the car unattached itself and was placed softly down on the ground. The man clambered into the left hand side of the car and started to rummage around. Mime gasped. He knew exactly what they were going for.

Now is not the time for heroics, dumbass! He mentally scolded himself but it was to late. His legs had already kicked in and he was running full speed at the car, yelling silently due to his lack of vocal chords. The man exited the car, incubator clutched under one arm. He immediately collided with a glittering pink barrier, cursing incredibly loudly.

The Rhyhorn, seeing his master in pain, charged and was immediately hit with a blast of magenta light that launched itself from Mime's other hand. The ground type fell backwards, shaking its head in disorientation. Peace wasn't achieved however as, with a shatter, his barrier collapsed for no apparent reason, allowing the man to begin making a run for it. Mime turned to the Kadabra just in time to intercept the dismembered car door with another barrier, which he had to telepathically spin around in order to counter the Rhyhorn, which had got up and decided to try a second take down, and then call another barrier into being in order to stop the criminal's escape.

The figure turned and barrelled in the opposite direction. Mime stepped one foot out, causing him to trip up. On the way down, Mime sent a controlled blast of telekinesis, pulling his pokebelt away from him, the balls uncoupling and rolling around the pavement. The man stood up, wiping some blood from his sideburned cheek and reaching for his hat. He jumped for the incubator clutching it with both hands and reached out as the Kadabra lifted his spoon, floating the belt and balls back to him. Mime had little time to notice this as Rhyhorn managed to finally land a successful take down, winding him and knocking him backwards.

The criminal retreated the Rhyhorn and made a mad dash for the Kadabra. Mime had bigger problems than stopping him, as he noticed Kadabra beginning another psychic attack.

The car, which had been standing there minding its business throughout all of this, suddenly started floating upwards at a rapid pace . It's ascent stopped around six feet above the houses before tilting forwards as gravity took hold, pulling it down at an even faster speed. Mime ran backwards into the side alley, projecting a barrier to project Lorenzo and himself. He caught site of the man grabbing hold of his Kadabra's hand as the Pokemon teleporting them to safety. Mime turned back to his trainer, unsure of what to do next.