Pokémon is owned by game freak, Creatures and Nintendo
(*)
Pierre carefully turned the pages of the book he'd been given. For the most part the thing was fine, having been tucked away in someone's closet, but he felt nervous handling something so potentially valuable.
"Have you found anything?" Cynthia asked.
"Nothing important. Whoever wrote this was really into poffins." Pierre turned to her. "Poffins are these little cake things people in Sinnoh ‑ You know what? Never mind."
Cynthia chuckled and Pierre grinned, turning to carefully place the book on the pile of things they'd decided were important.
Once he'd made it back to town Pierre had wasted no time contacting Cynthia and telling her what happened. He had no idea who she'd spoken to, but a few days later she'd arrived at the port town and almost immediately had him show her and an Officer Jenny to the island. They'd spent 7 hours going through everything.
Officer Jenny turned the corner, holding a box of what looked like computer parts. "These were kept in the main lab. Some of it looked like it could be connected to the cloning machine."
Cynthia raised an eyebrow. "Add it to the pile," she said, waving towards the stack of Important Stuff.
Pierre scurried over and pulled the book, which was definitely a diary, from the top of the pile before Officer Jenny could try and stack the box on top of it. She looked at him suspiciously before placing the box on the floor.
"Good read?" she asked.
"Not really." Pierre flipped the book over and checked the back page. "Oh, it was written by an Amber. She some kind of scientist?"
"Not one I've heard of," Cynthia responded.
Officer Jenny seemed to think about it. "Not really. I knew a criminal named Amber, but that probably isn't relevant."
"What kind of crimes did she do?" Pierre asked.
"Performing without a licence mostly. I swear, she must have been a track star in high school or something..."
Officer Jenny left Pierre, muttering about physical fitness requirements, he carefully began packing things away for storage. If Amber had been a scientist at the lab, maybe her diary could give him some clues about where exactly they'd gotten Mew's DNA.
He kept paging through the book, stopping at the crudely drawn figures of Kanto's three starters. This didn't seem to be the book of a scientist. The language, phrasing and now the drawings made it almost seem like this was the diary of... a child.
"Hey," Pierre called out, "are there any records of children on the island?"
"There aren't records of anyone on this island," Cynthia answered. "If we still had the computer plugged maybe it would tell us something."
Pierre jumped a little as the diary was taken from his hands. "Hey! I'm here to review evidence."
Officer Jenny scoffed. "She's here to review evidence," she gestured to Cynthia, "while you're here because she's here. I have to make sure everything's properly contained and intact for when this stuff gets taken to headquarters."
Pierre glared but didn't say anything, choosing instead to leave the room and make his way to the courtyard outside of the main banquet hall. He leaned against the fence and looked up, catching sight of the Pidgeot dropping on him from above.
He screamed and jumped to the side, bringing his arms up and bracing for impact. Instead he heard a soft cooing, and opened his arms to see the Pidgeot looking at him, clearly amused after having landed.
Pierre stood up, bristling at the Pidgeot's almost giggle. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. What do you want?"
The Pidgeot bent towards its leg and Pierre saw the tube tied to it. The Flying-type pulled out a letter and handed it to him, which he snatched away, which caused it to snicker. As soon as he tried to open the letter the Pidgeot flapped its wings and took off, nearly knocking the letter from his hands.
"I swear..."
To Pierre,
My name is Kurt, and I am a traditional Pokéball artisan from the Johto region. It has recently come to my attention through Professor Oak that you are seeking the legendary Pokémon Mew. While I may have no knowledge of Mew myself apart from what was written in my old storybooks, I do know the exact location of an old monument put up by my ancestors to worship another Mythical Pokémon. If you'll agree not to poke and prod what is a national monument, I would be willing to act as a guide and supervisor for you to find any clues you think may be helpful to your own search.
Hope To See You Soon
Pierre blinked and tried to recall anything about a monument. Back when he'd been travelling with Amelia they hadn't done much in the way of actually exploring ruins and sites. He'd tried at one point to go to the Alph Ruins, but they'd been turned away since it had only recently been unearthed and was considered a historical landmark.
Looking back on it, there were probably plenty of sites and locations he'd already visited in Johto that he'd ignored in favour of training at the time. It'd definitely helped him when he'd chosen to take part in the Johto League at the time, but there was a lot he might have missed, and the thought that he might've missed his chance sent an icy chill to settle in his lower stomach.
Frantic, he dashed for the door and raced back to the room where they'd been sorting what they'd found. Officer Jenny and Cynthia both looked up, Jenny's eyes glistening and Cynthia looking dazed.
Pierre stared at them, confused, before pushing on. "I need to head back to the mainland. I think I have another lead on Mew."
Cynthia raised the pile of notes she'd been shuffling through, wiggling them in the air. "So do I. Apparently, they got its DNA from some ancient ruins, but I can't tell you where since I'm not sure these papers are in order. Or even if they're talking about the same thing. I'd give them to you, but…" she gestured to Officer Jenny.
Officer Jenny wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and glowered at Cynthia. "I'll let you copy down, or take pictures of, any relevant information. You can't take the originals, they're evidence."
Pierre grumbled but did as he was told, hurriedly grabbing a sheet of paper and a pen as Cynthia handed him the papers. Luckily for him he barely had to rearrange the papers, they were mostly in order and legible, but if he had to guess they'd all been down here trying to sort evidence out for too long without a break.
"Do you guys want to go up to the banquet hall and eat… whatever it is we brought with us? I just brought things we can put in a stew. Well, that and Pokémon food."
"I brought a sandwich, and we can't eat in the banquet hall, we might contaminate the scene."
"Then we'll eat outside the front door. I don't care either way, I just think we need to get out of this room."
"I'm with Pierre on this one." Cynthia stood and stretched her arms over her head. "A little fresher air might do us good. Oh, for the record, I brought Poffins."
Pierre blushed lightly and gave a nervous chuckle. "Right, so stew, sandwiches-"
"Just one sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly."
Pierre stared.
"I also have breakfast bars, in case we needed something to eat."
"Okay," Pierre continued, "so stew, breakfast bars and Poffins for dessert. I've had worse."
(*)
Pierre punched the numbers into one of the video booths of the Pokémon Center and waited. He hoped the number was the right one, but honestly if she'd changed it his only option was to wait for her to call his house. Or come home.
The phone beeped and connected, the screen showing a telephone and a call cancel button. He heard something scrambling through the speakers as if a sleeping bag was being hurriedly put away before someone spoke.
"Who is this? I had to get a new Pokégear, so if this is someone I know you should be aware that- Hold on. That's Pierre's number… Hey Pierre, how've you been?"
"Hey Amy. How'd the attempt at a Jangmo-o go?"
"…yeah so, you know how they live in social groups?"
"Yes…?"
"And you know how I technically only have 3 well trained Pokémon?"
"More like 2 and a half really."
"Yeah, so I tried to pick off one of the stragglers, got caught, ran away, then I got attacked by the straggler I tried to pick off!"
Pierre paused. "So, did you get it?"
"I did," she said, sounding relieved. "She's a handful, but I think once she learns not to clang at 3 in the morning we'll get along great."
"Clang?"
"She'll attack any tough materials wherever we are, and her scales are like metal. At 3. In the morning."
They both paused as he absorbed that information.
"So what can I do for you Pierre?" she said, startling him.
"Oh, uh, I wanted you to, um, accompany me to a new research site. Now, I know we spent a lot of time not getting anywhere, but-"
"I'm in."
"…excuse me?"
"I'm in," she said, sounding more excited. "I mean sure, most of your 'leads' were just people venting online, but I always had fun. Plus my Pokémon got to battle way more than if I hadn't tagged along, so this'll be a good experience for Jangmo-o."
Pierre stopped at that. He honestly hadn't seen it that way, but considering the times they'd been attacked by wild and trained Pokémon while travelling together he could see her logic. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to have another Trainer around now that Cynthia had left, though she'd given him her number 'Just in case'.
"Okay, so I'll meet up with you back in Pallet Town?"
"Sounds good. Just give me a week to get to Kanto."
"A week!?"
"Yes a week. I hiked into a canyon Pierre, I'm not going to make it back in just a few minutes."
"Couldn't one of your Flying-types bring you down?"
"They could, but they were all hurt fighting. So, I'm going to give them a week off, maybe try and teach Jangmo-o to sleep through the night, then I'll see you in Kanto."
"Okay, I'll find a library and get stuck there for a week."
She giggled at that. "Goodbye Pierre."
"Bye."
She hung up, and Pierre turned to look at Charizard and Raichu, both sleeping right behind him and partially blocking off some other video phones. He tried to slip around them and leave them resting, but bumped into both their tails as he did. He froze as Raichu seemed to wake up, rolled over and immediately curled into a tight ball, the new position putting more pressure on Charizard's chest.
He hurried away before either of them fully woke up, slipping into his room at the Pokémon Center and rifling through his bag. He found what he was looking for and quickly ran back to the phones, only to find that Charizard had woken up and was arguing with Raichu. Pierre guessed it was probably about Raichu lying on his chest.
He walked up to them and gestured for them to follow him outside. Confused, they did so, and he sent out each of his Pokémon so he could address all of them.
"I'm heading to the library. If anyone wants to rest in their Pokéball, I'll let you. If you want to come with me, you have to be quiet. And if you want to stay here, you'll have to wait in our room." With that he put down their Pokéballs, letting them choose.
Larvitar and Goomy immediately ran up and tried to climb him. Gyarados and Charizard tapped their Pokéballs, wanting to save their energy. Magmar and Raichu picked up Gyarados' and Charizard's Pokéballs and ran off into the Pokémon Center as he stared in shock.
"…If those weren't my Pokémon I'd have just been robbed."
(*)
Amy smiled as the call ended, laying back on the large rock she'd found. Vast Poni Canyon wasn't for anyone who didn't like sun, but she could easily see a Meowth or Persian just lazing about like she was now.
Most of her Pokémon were resting nearby. After the Kommo-o they'd fought it seemed best they relax and regain their energy. They'd probably be ready to travel in a few hours.
CLANG!
Of course whether she got any rest was another story.
(Chapter End)