Chapter 3
Kyle's eyes opened slightly. He glanced at his watch. 8:30. The sun was up, and Sara was awake, eating a sandwich.
"Good morning." He yawned.
"Morning!" Sara replied cheerfully.
"Man, I wish I brought some food."
"I would give you a sandwich, but this is all I brought."
"It's okay. I'm going to go find some breakfast." Kyle noticed that there were several berry trees growing in the area, and thanks to the BerryDex feature on his pokédex, he could find out which ones were the best to eat. He scanned the first tree, which had Rawst berries growing on it, but learned that Rawst berries were very bitter. Another tree had Cheri berries, which were very spicy. Another tree had delicious-looking pink- orange colored berries, which were called Pecha berries. Kyle decided that he'd collect them and take them back to camp. He also grabbed a few sour Aspear berries to round out their flavor.
"I got breakfast." Kyle said as he carried the bag of berries that he found. "Here you go."
"Thanks. I'm starving to death." Sara said, relieved. "That sandwich wasn't very appetizing."
Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes, and out popped a bird- like pokémon.
"Uh-oh." Kyle said. "It must've smelled the berries. Better consult the pokédex."
"Taillow." The pokédex said. "The Tiny Swallow pokémon. Taillow is young—it has only just left its nest. As a result, it sometimes becomes lonesome and cries at night. This pokémon feeds on Wurmple that live in forests."
"Taillow, huh?" Kyle said.
"Wait—there are BUGS in these forests?" Sara cried.
"Poké ball, go!" Kyle tossed his poké ball at the bird pokémon, but she dodged it.
"She's too fast. Better stop her in her tracks. Torchic, fire spin!" Torchic, already out of his poké ball, shot a cloud of flames out of its beak. The flames engulfed Taillow, and kept her from flying away, because if she did, she'd be barbecue. Kyle tossed another poké ball at Taillow. Taillow let out a cry as she was caught in the red beam of light that held her inside the poké ball. The poké ball fell to the floor. It beeped 5 times, and then finally stopped. Kyle had just caught a Taillow.
"All right, I caught a Taillow! Now we don't have to worry about anybody intruding on breakfast."
"That's a relief." Sara laughed, and the two started eating the berries.
"Hey, do you see anything?" Meowth asked as he peered over Jessie's shoulder.
"Not yet—oh, there." Jessie centered her binoculars on Kyle, Sara, Torchic, and Taillow.
"Do you see anything yet, Jessie?" James called from the tent. "Is it that twerp Ash Ketchum?"
"No. Team Aqua murdered him years ago. Remember?"
"Oh yeah." James could remember it like yesterday. Just minutes after being crowned champion, during his parade, Ash Ketchum was shot to death by a Team Aqua member. Team Aqua had long been an enemy of Team Rocket, and the Rockets were attempting to assassinate Ash at the exact same time. Also attempting to kill Ash were Team Magma, another rival criminal gang. Seconds after the attack, TV cameras rushed into the scene, and the headline "Ash Ketchum Murdered" ran on newspapers around the world the next day instead of "Ash Ketchum Crowned Champion".
"Boy, am I glad we got that twerp out of our fur." Meowth said as he was polishing the gold coin he wore as a headpiece. "The world's been a much better place without his kind."
"Well, what have we here?" Jessie said as she zoomed the binoculars in on Torchic. "That's a Torchic."
"Torchic?" Meowth put the coin back on his head. "You mean one of the rarest pokémon in the world, Torchic?"
"Yes. And it's ours." Jessie said. "We'll take them by surprise. Meowth, get ready to fury swipes that trainer into giving up his Torchic. Now!" Jessie picked Meowth up and tossed him directly towards Sara and Kyle.
"Wait, stop! I only used fury swipes once! I don't know how to use it again! -- HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEEE—"
"Well, that was a good meal." Sara said as she stood up. Torchic and Taillow gave a happy chirp and flew into the air. Kyle rolled up the sleeping bags and walked to the main path, joining Sara.
Suddenly, Kyle heard what sounded like a pokémon slamming into a tree. "Hmm. Wonder what that was. Must've been my imagination."He kept walking the rest of the way, and then eventually came to another gatehouse.
"Mornin'." The attendant greeted the two as they stepped inside. "Nice weather we're having, eh?"
"Yeah. It's been real sunny lately." Kyle said.
"Yup. You two from Littleroot Town?"
"Well, I am." Sara piped in. "He's from Steelgate City."
"What brings you to the Hoenn region, kid?"
"Well, my dad became the Petalburg City Gym Leader, so we moved to Hoenn in order to be closer to him.
"Ah, the father-son bond. I'm close to my dad, too. So, you visiting your dad?"
"Kind of. I'm actually out here to start my pokémon journey. I'm a trainer."
"Me too." Sara said.
"Well, you must be tired. Not many trainers I've known have come this far. Oldale Town's just beyond this gate."
"Good. We're just about out of food, and I'm starving."
"You should try the Corphish Café. They've got great seafood. Don't know if they serve breakfast though..."
"Thanks, but I think I'll pass." Sara said, her face turning green.
"Well, there's always McDonald's for them young ones.... anyways, I'm holding you too long. Nice talking to ya."
"Nice talking to you too." Kyle said, and walked toward the exit, but was stopped by a small kid.
"You're a trainer right?" The kid said.
"Yeah."
"Then you have to battle me. It's a rule."
"Sorry, but me and my pokémon are—"
"It's rude to refuse. You have to battle me."
"Alright, fine." Kyle realized this would be a good time to test out Taillow's strength. "Taillow, go!"
"Alrighty, then. I choose Pidgey!" The boy opened a poké ball, and a tiny bird pokémon came out. "Kurooko!" It squawked.
"Taillow, quick attack!" Taillow flew into the air; traveling so fast it was invisible to the human eye. Taillow then struck Pidgey once. Then again. Then three times. Then four. Pidgey was dazed and confused by the attack, but still managed to get a direct hit when it head-butted Taillow. Taillow fell unconscious, but came to, and growled at Pidgey, frightening and intimidating the pokémon. Pidgey was terrified. Taillow showed no mercy, however, and used another quick attack, leaving Pidgey motionless.
"Woo! I won!" Kyle said happily. "My first trainer battle, and I won! Nice job, Taillow.
"Great. That means I'll have to give you money, huh." The trainer said. He handed Kyle 80 pokédollars.
"Wow. Thanks." Kyle said, surprised. He didn't know that rule about pokémon battling. "I appreciate this."
"Don't mention it. Where are you heading, anyway?"
"Well, I'm taking the pokémon league challenge, so my destination is Ever Grande City, but I need to collect all eight gym badges to be able to get there, so really, I'm going all over Hoenn. What's your name, anyway?"
"I'm Jimmy. I'm also a trainer. I have other pokémon, but they're back at my house. I only took Pidgey with me because he's the only one that I caught in the wild, and all my other pokémon are afraid of the wild since they were bred in captivity. My dad's a pokémon breeder."
"Really? Where do you guys live?"
"We live on 36 Spearow Street in Oldale Town."
"Oh really? Is there a gym in Oldale?"
"Well, there's an unofficial training gym, but there aren't any official league gyms."
"Oh. I might pay them a visit, since I might want to pump up my pokémon in case I run into any more of those bastards that try to take our pokémon."
"Well, it's pretty exclusive. They've got 6 Olympic-sized pools, 12 relaxing spas, 4 saunas, 3 steam rooms...it probably costs fifty-thousand pokédollars to get in."
"So I see. It sounds more like a sports and wellness place rather than a gym, but I'd go anytime, if I HAD fifty thousand pokédollars." Kyle said.
"Just imagine, spending a day there..." Sara said dreamily. "That's what I need. A dip in the hot tub, a cool, relaxing swim, a back massage..."
"Right, Sara." Kyle said half-laughing. "We'll go sometime."
"Sometime." Jimmy said.
"But first, we'll need to find a place to sleep." Sara said, snapping out of her daydream. "Anybody know of any good five-star hotels in Oldale?"
"You guys can stay at my house." Jimmy said. "We always take in guests. We also have all of that stuff that the gym has, only for free."
"That's very kind of you." Sara said. "Who needs to waste all that money on a five-star hotel, anyway?"
"Exactly!" Kyle said. "Now, let's go!" The three of them exited the gatehouse and found themselves in a noisy, bustling town, where people were out and about, enjoying themselves.
"So, where's your dad's place?" Kyle asked Jimmy.
"Follow me." Jimmy said as he took a turn at Spearow Street. "It's right over here." He stopped at a three-story building with a sign next to it that said, "James Daniels Pokémon Breeding Center and Hotel."
"Your dad's name is Jim too?" Sara said.
"Yep. So is my grandpa. He founded the company, but he retired, and gave the company to my dad. Come on inside!"
Inside, there were two swimming pools, 4 hot tubs, a sauna, a massaging center, and a place for people to have practice pokémon battles.
"Who knew that a breeding center would be so...luxurious?" Sara said as she gazed in wonder at all of the many features in the breeding center.
"Come on upstairs." Jimmy said. "You can meet my parents, my grandpa, my brothers, and my pokémon." Jimmy quickly ran up the stairs, followed by Kyle and Sara. Upstairs was like a normal house, with a living room, bedrooms, a kitchen, an office, and everything else.
"Hey mom. I'm back." Jimmy said. "These are my friends, Kyle, and his girlfriend, Sara."
Sara blushed.
"Oh, hi there. Are you two pokémon trainers?" Jimmy's mom was at the table, preparing lunch.
"Yeah. We're not that experienced, though; we just got our first pokémon yesterday." Kyle said. "We won our first battle, though."
"Oh really? Who did you beat?"
"...Your son." Sara said.
"Ooh, you must be a skilled trainer if you could beat my little boy."
"Mom!!" Jimmy protested.
"Jimmy, you're only seven years old! You've got a long way to go as a trainer." Jimmy's mom said. "Now. Could you hand me the salt?"
"Here you go, mom." Jimmy quickly handed his mom the salt, then went into the living room, where his dad was watching the KODT-TV 3:00 News Preview on television.
"Oh hey, Jim!" He said as he looked up from the TV. "New friends?"
"Yeah, dad." Jimmy quickly replied, but his eyes were glued to the television screen, as were Kyle's and Sara's.
"Good evening, I'm Chad Brinkman for KODT Television News. We bring you this live report from Petalburg City, where correspondent Jenna Castillo is reporting live.
"Thanks, Chad. A team rocket member is in custody this afternoon after having attempted to escape from the scene where mayor Gregorio Chavez was shot earlier today. The mayor is currently in serious condition. We are now getting a report... the attacker has been identified as a Team Rocket member named Robert Fredricksen Jr. Here's a picture of the man.
The television then showed a picture of a man in a black suit with an "R" printed on the front. The man had a bushy red mustache, the same color as his hair.
"That was the guy who jumped us outside of Littleroot!" Kyle exclaimed. "He raised a knife at us!"
"Although in serious condition, Chavez managed to answer a few questions for KODT Television."
The screen suddenly flipped to a picture of a man In a hospital bed. The man was slightly chubby, and had a bushy mustache.
"Mr. Chavez," An offscreen voice said, "Where exactly did this incident occur?"
"I cough was walking by the Oldale Town Bank, on the corner of Central and Main, when this guy with a scar on his forehead burst right out of this abandoned office building, and popped me in the shoulder a couple times. Then he got on this moped, and tried to escape, but a cop who saw him fleeing the scene shot out both of the bike's tires. That's all I saw before I fainted.
"There you have it!" The reporter said as the screen flashed to her. "The mayor's exact words. Back to you, Chad."
"Oh my god, that guy was an assassin!" Sara shrieked.
"What?" Jimmy said. "What are you guys talking about?"
"That guy... he came up to us just outside of Littleroot Town, and threatened us at knifepoint. Luckily Torchic here scared him off."
"Torchic!" Torchic chirped happily and did a back flip in the air.
"Wow. At least that guy was brought to justice!" Jimmy's dad said.
"Well I'll be damned..." An elderly man with a cane walked into the room. "Is that Rob Fredricksen's sonny on the T.V.?"
"Yeah, gramps." He just got arrested for trying to kill Petalburg's mayor.
"Rob and I go way back..." Jimmy's grandpa went into a daydream. "We been friends since we were preschoolers... I better call him up and see if he knows about his sonny."
"Um, dad?" Jimmy's dad said to the man. "Didn't Rob Fredricksen Senior die of a heart attack three years ago?"
"Oh yeah, same day that that Ash guy got shot..."
"Ash Ketchum?" Jimmy said. "I know tons about him! He was shot November 4th, 2009."
"I don't care about Ash Ketchum. All I care about is that this guys behind bars now."
"Don't start doing cartwheels, Kyle." Jimmy's dad warned. "Team Rocket has tons of followers..."
"TROOPS!" Walters barked. "I know that we've had a minor setback after the arrest of Personnel 629. But I assure you, after our operation to take over Dewford Town is complete, we will be much closer to the takeover of the Hoenn region, and once it is taken over, teams Aqua and Magma will be completely wiped off the face of the planet! And once we take over Dewford, all of you can enjoy a fun and relaxing time at Hoenn's trendiest city!"
Jubilant cheers echoed through the room. "HUZZAH!" The grunts said in unison as Walters raised his arm in the air, his hand balled into a fist.
WILL TEAM ROCKET'S PLAN PREVAIL? WITH KYLE AND SARA WELL ON THEIR WAY IN THEIR POKÉMON JOURNEY, HAVING JUST ADDED TAILLOW TO THEIR ARSENAL, THE JOURNEY GOES ON.
TO BE CONTINUED...