After school, Duncan and Crystal entered their dad's car. "Dad," Crystal said, "I have to go to Mr. Pokémon's house. I'll walk home."

"Go ahead, Crystal," Dad replied. Crystal left the car and headed down the road.

"Dad, I think Crystal's getting too prepared for her journey."

"Well, she's got her path to travel."

Suddenly, Duncan's PokéGear beeped. "Ah! A phone call!" He pulled it out, and answered. "Hello, who's this?"

"Duncan, it's Professor Elm!"

"Hi, Professor Elm! How are things?"

"Not so well. Last night, I got robbed."
"What did the person take?"

"I think it's actually three people. Anyway, they took one of my Pokémon – Totodile! So I need you and Crystal to come straight home."

"But Crystal already left to Mr. Pokémon's house."

"Oh. Okay. I'll call her."

After a few minutes of travel through the town, she found a house with a sign saying, "Mr. Pokémon's House".

"Yes! I found it!"

She entered the house, and the occupant greeted her with, "Hello, hello there! You must be Crystal Caliduct. Yes, that's so. Professor Oak told me all about you. And Professor Elm said that you'd visit."

"What did he tell me to go here for?"

"I want Prof. Elm to examine this." He handed Crystal a strange egg. "I know a couple who run a Pokémon Day Care. They gave me that Egg. So, I sent mail to Profs. Oak and Elm. For evolution of Pokémon, Elm is the authority. Even Oak here recognizes that. If I am right, Elm will know it."

Another, older man noticed Crystal. "Ah-ha! So you're Crystal Caliduct! I know, because your cousin Karl told me about you."

Crystal exclaimed, "You're Professor Oak! The famous Pokémon Researcher in Kanto!"

"I was just visiting my old friend Mr. Pokémon. I heard you were running an errand for Prof. Elm, so I waited here."

"Elm gave me a Pokémon!" She called out Leafy, who materialized out of her PokéBall.

"Ah! A rare Pokémon! I see. Now I know why Elm gave it to you for the errand. To us researchers, Pokémon are our friends."

"I know. Leafy's my friend, too."

"You seem dependable. How would you like to help me out? This here is a Pokédex. I gave it to Karl last year. It's almost full. Around the 140s of Kanto Pokémon. There's a hundred more in Johto. And it automatically records Pokémon data, when the Pokémon is seen..."

"Though full info is obtained by catching them." Oak handed Crystal the Pokédex. It was like an encyclopedia, and it was filled with info on Kanto Pokémon.

"Travel, and fill that Pokédex!"

Suddenly, Crystal's PokéGear beeped. She answered it. "Hello?"

"Crystal, it's Prof. Elm. This is a disaster!"

"What?"

"Just terrible! What should I do... Please come back here!"

"It's Prof. Elm. He wants me back at home in New Bark Town."

Mr. Pokémon said, "So you must leave? Good luck." Crystal and Oak shook hands.

"Nice to meet you, Prof. Oak."

"Good luck, Crystal!"

---

Meanwhile, back in Goldenrod City...

"Axel, I think Dad might have left because he and Uncle Norman got into a fight, and said that he didn't care to see him anymore," Kamon told his Persian. "I heard he once run a criminal syndicate, but I don't know, and can't seem to believe that. He may be short-tempered, but he's really not such a bad guy."

"Kamon, there's mail for you," Norman said. He handed him a small package.

"Let's see what it is, Axel." Kamon opened up the package, and saw that it was a PokéBall. "But I didn't ask for one. Oh well." He opened up the ball, and out came a small crocodile Pokémon. "Hey, that's a Totodile! But I think it's Prof. Elm's, and I think it's stolen."

"Let's call him and let him know we found it in the mail."

"Good idea." He picked up the phone, and called Elm. A shaky voice asked, "Hello!"

"Hello, I'm Kamon Stelldox, and I found your stolen Totodile."

"Great! My Totodile is found safely! Where'd you find it?"

"I found it in the mail today." Kamon then noticed that Totodile and Axel were playing with each other. They must be friends now! "And I think it likes it here!"

"Oh, that's great! I was worried that it would end up in the wrong hands, and be victim to experiments."

---

Meanwhile, outside Prof. Elm's lab, three people were looking in the window. A redhead female, a female with short, black hair, and a muscular male with a mullet were eavesdropping on Elm's conversation. The redhead said, "I can't believe it! It didn't work, guys."

"Becky, I think Kamon might not be a troublemaker."

"Courtney, I think you'd better shut your mouth!"

"Tabitha, please."

Tabitha, the male, said, "Now let's not get into a fight, girls. Okay, so Plan A didn't work. So now we've gotta to go to Goldenrod, and bag him!"

"Great idea, Tabitha," Becky said. "We'll just have to get him ourselves." She pulled out a cellphone. "Hey mom?"

"Hello, Becky," said Sandy, Becky's mother. "Did Kamon get Totodile?"
"Yes, but he didn't abuse it in anyway. Look, Kamon just isn't fit for Team Rocket."

Sandy then responded, "He's Giovanni's son, and I think Giovanni might come back if his son joined. If your plan didn't work, we'll have to kidnap him."

"That was Tabitha's idea. Tell her, Tabitha."

"Yes, my idea."

---

In Elm's Lab, Crystal had just came in. "What's the problem?"

Duncan said, "Last night, Elm had been robbed. The thieves took Totodile."

"Unbelievable how anyone would so such a thing! Pokémon are living things, not tools of war!"

Duncan sighed. "I wonder how that Pokémon is doing. I hope it's okay..."

Elm exclaimed, "It is okay! Kamon got it, and it's safe now."

Crystal said, "Well that's just great! It's good that Totodile ended up in the hands of a good kid."

Duncan added, "And if Totodile ended up in the hands of a bad trainer, it could have turned bad itself!"

Elm said, "The thieves were hidden, because it was really dark. I was able to make out some details though. One of them was a young female with long red hair, another was another young female with short, black hair, and the third one was a young muscular male."

Tabitha said, "Uh-oh, Becky, we'd better split!"

Becky said, "We're on it!" The three thieves ran off into the forest.

Duncan asked, "Anyway, Crystal, what was Mr. Pokémon's big discovery?"

"This." She reached into her bag, and pulled out the mystery egg. She handed it to Elm.

"This!" He jumped. "But... is it a Pokémon Egg? If so, then it's a great discovery!"

Crystal added, "Prof. Oak was there. He gave me a Pokédex, too."

Elm exclaimed, "What! Incredible! He is superb at seeing people's trainer potential. Wow, Crystal. You may have the potential to beat your cousin to become the Champion."

Duncan said, "Crystal, if you're going on a journey, I have to come along, Dad's orders."

Elm said, "Duncan and Crystal, you should both take the Gym Challenge."

Duncan said, "The closest Gym is in Violet City."

Elm trailed off. "...Duncan and Crystal Caliduct, the road will be a long one."

Crystal said, "We'd better let Mom and Dad know, so they don't get worried. But I think they're already worried, because of the theft."

Elm told Duncan, "Here is Cyndaquil."

"I'm calling him Ember."

---

Back in Duncan and Crystal's house, in the kitchen, their mom said, "Duncan and Crystal, those are nice Pokémon."

"We got them from Prof. Elm, to wish us luck on the Gym Challenge. And the stolen Totodile is safe now," said Duncan.

Crystal said, "It ended up with Kamon."

Dad told Crystal, "Crystal, use these on your Pokédex quest." He handed both of them five PokéBalls each. "To fill the Dex, you have to catch the creatures. Throw these balls to catch them.

Mom added, "We'll call you if anything comes up! And be careful. Pokémon are your friends. You two need to work together with them as a team."

Dad added further, "We're behind you all the way."

Crystal thought, Aren't they aware of the theft? Then again, since Kamon has Totodile now, it's probably not a problem.

Duncan thought, I can't believe we're leaving on a journey tomorrow, after school. I just wanted to get done with school, but there'd be nothing to do. The journey will take care of that. But with Crystal? This is ridiculous.

Meanwhile, in Team Rocket's Hideout somewhere...

"Conner, we've got to have Kamon here. Giovanni will come back if he knows that his son is in Team Rocket."

"Sandy, Kamon's not as easy as he seems. But since he doesn't plan on leaving home, we can bag him quite easily."

"No one tries to outsmart a Drayan. We're smarter than the kid. I mean we both have Master's Degrees! And he's still in high school!"