The sun was up, the sky was blue, and it was as hot as a Magmar's summer home. Just my luck, Ryan thought miserably. The group trudged through the wild plains separating routes 16 and 2, feasting on Ryan's jackfruit haul from the farmer's market in Celadon City. Everyone got their hands sticky, but no one more so than Logan, who seemed to like the jackfruit more than even Ryan (and that's saying something since Ryan thought jackfruit is the sixth best fruit all-time). Rahul had assured them he knew where he was going, but if there was one thing Ryan knew about Rahul, it was that the big man liked FemShep the best. Around them, Fearow and Spearow flew; bands of feral Pikachus scurried through the sparse oak trees, and Diglett holes were scattered everywhere like it was a warzone. So many Diglett… Ryan glanced about at the hundreds of holes popping up from below the weeds and the yellow grass. I wonder if they have a cave nearby.

Indeed they might have, but Ryan will never go there because that cave is one of the worst things in Pokémon Yellow.

"It's, uh… this way!" Rahul said, fumbling with a map and pointing at a distant forest. Good to see him acting like his normal self again. That Hypnosis really did the trick.

"Are you sure?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, well like 90% sure, but still…"

Ryan shrugged. "That should be right. The Viridian Forest surrounds Viridian City, so if that's the forest, it means we're almost there! Besides, I'm dying to get in the shade. It's so hot out here!"

Alex followed them, all whilst playing the heck out of Fire Emblem: Fates. The kid was almost as obsessed as Ryan had been one summer when he had beat Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando thirty-three times in the span of two weeks because there's nothing else to do in North Carolina (but that is a story for another chapter).

When they reached the forest, Rahul licked his index finger and raised it to the sky before deciding which direction to take the group. This sorcery was akin to how Tauros can reproduce when there are only male members of the species. Ryan just hoped that the big man knew what he was doing, because if not, they were going to get lost in Viridian Forest again. And this time there's no Michio Kaku to lead us out.

Inside the forest, the heat diminished, though the air was still unbearably humid. It smelled of pine needles and blackberry jam, giving the forest a pleasant, welcoming feeling. Ryan trained his Pokémon on random wild Pokés, while Rahul and Logan debated which doctor was the best (the 10th doctor is, for those wondering - Rahul and Logan almost went to blows over that, since Rahul really loves the 12th doctor).

It was not long afterwards that the group came upon a Bug Catcher, as Pokémon trainers are wont to do in Viridian Forest. He was a child of perhaps six years, sprinting about with a bug net. Too bad it wasn't big enough to catch a Butterfree. The child was a portly fellow, and his body jiggled like jello on a hot afternoon when he ran and sang about a girl named Prudence (or perhaps it was the name of his Pokémon).

The boy eventually spotted the four travelers, though they were quite unhappy that he had. Better we don't waste any time with this kid. The boy ran over to them, waving his bug net (which was quite empty) before skidding to a stop just in front of the group. From his pocket, he took out a half-eaten slice of custard tart and engorged himself upon it.

"Hey," the kid said, his mouth full of pastry and cream. "Who are you? I'm Bug Catcher III, esquire. Wanna battle?"

"Not really," Logan muttered.

Rahul was singing the theme song to Psych.

Ryan shook his head lazily.

"Yay, whoop!" the kid screamed, spittle running down his mouth. "New Pokémon, I choose you!"

The child threw three Pokémon balls, and out from each came a Kakuna. Curses. Now I have to battle him. If I want to be a real Pokémon Master, I can't run from this challenge.

"Look what I caught," Bug Catcher III, esquire boasted. "My first Pokémon!"

"That's pretty sad if your first Pokémon is a Kakuna," replied the teal-haired trainer. He stepped forward and took a Poké Ball from his pocket. Logan, Alex, and Rahul just stood there like logs in the mud, watching with various degrees of interest. "Go, Myrrah. Use Blizzard!"

If there's one thing Pokémon battles had taught Ryan, it was that nothing was certain in life. He watched, in disbelief, as Myrrah's Blizzard went screaming over the three unmoving Kakunas and sailed away into the cloudless azure sky above the treeline. 90% accuracy may as well mean 50%, for all my luck.

"Harden, Kakunas! Form a protective shield!"

"Blizzard again."

This time, Blizzard did not miss, much to Ryan's surprise, and the three Kakunas fainted. No worries, thought Ryan. Everything works out in the end. Myrrah screeched a cry of victory before returning to her ball, leaving Ryan face-to-face with the young Bug Catcher and his fainted Kakunas.

"Aw, no fair! I had three Pokémon."

"Yeah kid, but they were awful Pokémon. Kakunas are pretty much immobile, and only have the attacks they had as Weedles. You should've tried Poison Sting or Bug Bite or something…"

The boy wasn't listening. He was running in circles with his bug net. Doesn't he know that Pokémon won't just appear inside? He has to chase one down. He has to find one, see one… There were clearly no wild Pokémon anywhere nearby.

"I'll trade you," the kid whined when he ran of breath.

"Trade what?"

"My egg for your cool snot-rock Pokémon thing!"

Bug Catcher III, esquire produced a blue-green egg with yellow three-pronged spots coating it.

"Where did you get that?" asked Alex, looking up from his game for the briefest of moments.

"I found it somewhere."

"Oh okay."

"So what do you say?" the kid asked Ryan, eagerly.

"I've got a better idea," Ryan replied, taking something out of his pocket to show the kid. "How about I trade you this for that egg?"

In his hand was the golden chicken bone, shining in the light of the afternoon.

"Aw, that's not a Pokémon!" the kid complained. "No fair, I want a Pokémon! A Pokémon, eyo ahh!"

Ryan wiggling the bone in front of the kid's face. "It's made of real gold. Just think, with this, you could buy any Pokémon you wanted. You'll be rich! You could buy yourself a thousand Kakunas!"

There was wonder in the boy's eyes. "A… thousand?!"

"Uh yeah, but don't do that. That would be a serious waste of money. Buy yourself a Scyther or a Gengar or something cool."

"Buy a Golem!" Alex shouted suddenly. "That was my favorite Pokémon when I was your age."

The Bug Catcher reached for the bone, but Ryan pulled it back, just out of the shorter boy's reach. "Nuh uh. First you have to agree to the deal. Do you want to trade the egg for the gold?" The Bug Catcher nodded vigorously. "Alright, let's shake on it."

Once the transaction was complete, the shirtless, lumpy boy beat his chest, screamed incoherently, and disappeared into the bushes, waving the golden chicken bone above his head like a club.

Ryan held the egg in his hand, feeling its weight. "What Pokémon is inside, Dex?"

"Scanning… no known Pokémon egg signature detected."

"What?! Seriously? Come on you stupid machine. Your whole point is to be able to tell me about the Pokémon I find!"

"My apologies, kind and gentle master, but it appears Professor Oak did not program me with information on this species. It is either a new species of Pokémon or a species from a different region of the world."

"Whoa… so this isn't one of the Kanto type Pokémon?"

"That's what I just said master. I can repeat myself again if you need me to."

Ryan frowned and pocketed the Poké Dex with the mouth of sass.

Walking over to Ryan, Alex said, "Was that real gold you gave the kid?"

"I dunno. I mean it was shiny and looked expensive. Could've just been gold paint for all I know." I wouldn't put it past that weird Colonel Sanders wannabe. "Hey Alex, you wouldn't happen to know what Pokémon's in here, would you?"

"Nope. But it better be a rare and powerful one if you want to break even in the trade."

"I'm sure-"

At once, the bushes in front of the group began to rustle. Rahul, who had been playing with sticks in the dirt, stood up and scratched his goatee in puzzlement. Logan ran behind everyone else. Like there'd be any ghosts out here. Yet, when Ryan heard the bellow that followed the rustling, he too began to shake, and the thought of some spooky monster bursting out from the foliage seemed more likely than me ever finishing this story.

There it came, a hulking brute, dark-skinned, bruised, dirty, its eyes bloodshot, its pouch empty. The stuff of nightmares it was - as beautiful as a girl Ryan had once seen chasing a Dragonair, this beast looked thirsty enough to drink all of their blood.

"Kangaskhan, the Parent Pokémon," Dex told the group. "Raises its young in its belly pouch. Won't run from any fight to keep its young protected."

Logan's voice came first. "Huh?! What's a Kangaskhan doing this far away from the Safari Zone?"

"Its child is missing," Alex observed stoically. "It's probably looking for it."

Rahul stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Sup, Kangaskhan, whaddya say you become my new Pokémon?"

The Kangaskhan thundered a searing response and charged the big man. He doesn't look so big compared to that beast. Then Ryan, Alex, and Logan got to see Rahul fly; a ragdoll was he, screaming and spinning wildly and flying! And then he hit a tree and sunk into the bushes. Well that went about as poorly as it could have.

"Oh no!" Ryan's heart was in his throat. He wondered which Pokémon would be the best counter to this raging beast. NaVorro? No, Thurnax! No, Aegon! I don't know!

Struck with indecision and terror, Ryan didn't have enough time to take out a Poké Ball before a new challenger appeared to face the Kangaskhan. From the bushes to the left of the group came another hulking giant, though this one was not nearly as imposing. With its back to Ryan and the others, it seemed to be sent to protect the boys. Ryan instantly recognized what Pokémon it was, and he nearly laughed at the irony when Dex spoke:

"Snorlax, the Sleeping Pokémon. Will eat anything, even if the food happens to be a little moldy. It never gets an upset stomach."

"Where did that come from?" Alex spoke.

Logan was wailing. "From the trees! Help, there's Pokémon everywhere! I don't want to be in the forest anymore! I want to go home! Aah!"

"Snorlax, use Body Slam," came a voice from behind the group.

With lethargy, the Snorlax growled and rumbled forward, jumping into the air and slamming its massive tummy down upon the head of the charging Kangaskhan. The Kangaskhan screamed in pain and fury, causing nearby Spearow and Pidgeys to take flight from the trees. The Kangaskhan won't get up if it's hit again.

That was why, it appeared, the Kangaskhan decided at that moment to let out one last bellow before retreating into the thick forest. The Snorlax remained standing between the boys and the forest, waiting for its foe to return for another smackdown. The three trainers spun around in unison to see who had been commanding the Snorlax.

No way… all the way out here? What's he doing in the middle of the forest? Ryan was beaming. "Sup Quinny," he said, walking forward, his arms outstretched to either side, as if wanting to hug his best friend (but he had no plans on actually doing that).

Quinny had curly reddish brown hair, large brown eyes, stood a few inches taller than Ryan, and wore a blue shirt and black dress pants. He was smiling coyly. "Sorry about that," he said at last. "That's Shelby, or as I like to call her, Mama Kanga. She's been on a rampage ever since her child went missing. Someone took it, and now she fears all people. That's why she attacked you."

"Do you have any idea who stole the baby Kangaskhan?" Logan's voice was full of despair.

"Yep. I've been trying to rescue her child for more than a week, but the guy who has it… let's just say it'll take more than one person to break into his castle and get past his defenses. Trust me, I know. Come on, my place isn't far from here. Let's regroup, and I'll tell you what I know. I assume you guys want to help me with this problem?"

"We do," Ryan insisted. "We'll find that baby Kangaskhan, yeah!"

"Alright. Let's go."

And off they went, Quinny leading them the opposite way the Kangaskhan ran, into the deep forest. And no one even remembered that Rahul still lay in the bushes, probably dazed or unconscious. Oh well.

"Why are you out here? Last time I saw you, you were still living in Acapulco with your parents and your sister."

Quinny shrugged. "I got into gardening."

"That's random."

"Anyways, I moved out here and bought a greenhouse, and I've been growing peppers and jackfruit ever since."

Quinny was of course Ryan's best friend, the guy Ryan grew up with in his hometown of Acapulco. I haven't seen him since before I started my Pokémon journey. I guess a lot has changed since then. Quinny led them up onto a hill where a sprawling greenhouse stood, surrounded by jackfruit trees (many of them were quite young, but a few were just beginning to grow their famously sweet, spiky fruit. The sugary fragrance of jackfruit drifted through the sweltering air, mixing with the sharper scents of the various strains of hot peppers.

Around Quinny's greenhouse were stacks of cardboard boxes from . There must've been a thousand of them. That's just like Quinny. He's always buying himself treats. I don't think he can go even one day without getting himself another gift.

"Look at this," Quinny told the group as they passed by one of his pepper beds. "Got a ghost pepper! Pretty sweet, huh?"

"Are you gonna try to eat that?" Ryan asked.

"I'm going to extract the flesh, since the seeds are where the real heat is," lil ol' Quinny explained, "and then put that into a salsa mix."

"Okay, whatever floats your boat, man."

"Look at this," Quinny said, taking out a yellow canister that had a skull and bones on it. "Roach spray. I made it myself. I'm at war with them. Those little buggers are everywhere. I can't sleep at night; they're climbing up the walls!"

"I think your fear of cockroaches is irrational, but okay."

"You don't get it. They're the most disgusting creatures ever! I'm going to get rid of them all with my newly-created Quinny Special!"

"What's in it?"

"Well, there's some lavender and some napalm."

"Are you serious?" Quinny nodded, as if napalm was something completely natural for him to put in bug spray. "You are a silly goose, my good sir. You are amongst the silliest of gooses."

Quinny ignored Ryan's jabs. "And I've been researching thermite too. That might be better against the roaches."

Ryan's face lit up. "You could try super thermite paint!"

Quinny looked at Ryan as if he was a retired conspiracy nut who was also a former fighter, governor, and Navy SEAL. The sun was bearing down on them, and Ryan was coated in sweat. I need to get out of this heat. A nap sure would be nice. The two decided to get some water from inside the greenhouse and admire all of Quinny's plants (Ryan found that he was a little less than half-interested in Quinny's sudden turn to being a master gardener. Being a Pokémon Master seemed so much more thrilling, so much more interesting, but he didn't bring that up to his best friend.).

While Alex and Logan had peeled away like leaves from a kale plant, perhaps to inspect Quinny's pepper beds or to harvest some jackfruit, Quinny poured himself a Red Bull and sat down in a lounge chair under the shade of his tallest jackfruit tree to decompress.

"You don't even have electricity out here," Ryan complained. "How are you surviving?"

"I know," replied Quinny with sudden hebetude. "Remember back in the day, we'd spend five hours trying to beat Regret or Great Journey on Legendary?"

Ryan smiled. "You dare to interrupt my sermon?!" he wheezed in his oldest of old men voices.

"Your very existence offends me, demon," Quinny spoke coolly, sipping on his much-needed caffeine. "Speaking of which, you never told me why your nickname was 'Sour', back in the day."

"Oh yeah." Ryan racked his brain, trying to remember. "I think… well, it's probably because I like sweet and sour sauce a whole lot."

"I thought it was because you were a pessimist."

"That's true too," Ryan replied. "I don't believe any of your jackfruit trees will live long enough to fruit."

"Nice. Some of them already have, so…"

Ryan brushed off that comment as he would a common mosquito. "Well, if you're going to ask me about my nickname, where did yours come from? Is there a really cool story about it?"

"Not really. My parents called me 'Peanut' when I was little, so that's what I used. The adventures of Peanut and Sour…" murmured poor tired Quinny. He sat back in his chair and drained his drink. "Those were the days."

The two continued to reminisce about the old days until Alex returned. Evidently, his 3DS was out of power, for he seemed serious now. "When are we going to find that guy who stole the baby Kangaskhan?"

"Oh yeah, him." Quinny sighed and leaned back further in his chair, closing his eyes. "I call him King Roach. He lives up on Melancholy Hill. Y'know, the one with a plastic tree? There's a fortified castle on top of the hill, and tons of mines and booby traps surrounding it. It's impossible to get inside, trust me. He has cameras and a whole army of Pokémon to do his bidding. He's a poacher, and he's been working around these parts for years. I've tried to stop him, but it hasn't been working out too well… King Roach is a smart little bugger, and he's got some really powerful Pokémon."

"Well come on, let's go see the place," Ryan said. "If we're going to break in, we need to do some recon first!"

Quinny sighed again and cracked open a second Red Bull. "I'm tired, but you guys can go. The hill's that way," he said, pointing east. "You can't miss it. There aren't any real trees around it."

That's just like Quinny. His energy gets sapped faster than Alex's 3DS when a new Fire Emblem comes out. "Very well, Quinny. We'll see what we can do," Ryan said gravely. "Make sure you drink lots of Red Bull to recover your energy. You've had a hard day already."

And so off they went, Ryan, Alex, and Logan. Indeed, it did not take them long to find Melancholy Hill. The hill was so far removed from the rest of the surroundings that it seemed like someone had torn away a section of the forest and thrown down a medieval castle in its place. Around the castle, at the base of the hill, a barbed wire fence wrapped around the entire place in a circle, aside from the front where a barred gate stood. On the fence posts were 'Do Not Enter' signs and, paradoxically, 'Enter at Your Own Risk' signs, along with lightning bolt insignias below them. I wonder who King Roach really is.

Logan threw a rock at the fence, and at once, a mine exploded at the exact spot where the rock hit the ground. "Wow, this poacher guy's serious!"

Ryan looked up at the imposing castle, noticing how so many of the walls were covered in cameras. There's no way we're getting inside there without him knowing. We can't sneak up on King Roach.

"This place is heavily fortified," said Alex whilst eating dumplings with his chopsticks and leaning up against a tree. Ryan thought he looked so cool. If he keeps acting like that, I'll start calling him Big Green.

"Yeah, I don't know how we're supposed to get inside."

Ryan smirked, taking out a Poké Ball. I'm about to call in the submarines. "Don't worry. I've got an idea. Go, Spectre!"

Out came Ryan's Haunter from his ball. "Haunter, haunt!" he wheezed enthusiastically.

"そうですね, buddy. Now I have a mission for you, and it's super important."

"Haunter."

"I want you to sneak into that castle up there and find the poacher who took the baby Kangaskhan. See if you can rescue the poor baby Pokémon and bring it back here. Can you do that?"

"Haunt!" Spectre barked before turning invisible and floating off towards Melancholy Hill.

A lonely plastic tree stood next to the castle. I wonder what that's for. Why doesn't the poacher like trees? From a nearby loudspeaker, low, communist-style music was playing at an upbeat tempo. Ryan thought the tune was kind of catchy. While the three boys waited for Haunter to return, they reveled in the sweltering heat, even under the shade of the nearest tree (which was quite a ways away from the hill). A warm wind blew. A Spearow squawked and took flight. Ryan could taste habanero in the air.

"May Pagan's light shine upon you all!" came a warm female voice from the nearest loudspeaker.

"Huh, what was that?"

"Pagan Kim," Alex observed. "I knew him. He used to work at Smogon University. But he went rogue and disappeared, and no one's seen him in years. He was an expert in Pokémon breeding habits and habitats. I don't know if it's the same guy out here, or why he became a poacher if it is him."

The boys waited for many a minute, all of them arguing over who is the second best fire Pokémon aside from Charizard. Ryan thought it was Rapidash; Logan thought it was Flareon; and Alex thought it had to be Ninetails (in fact, he even though Ninetails was stronger than Charizard). The discussion almost became as heated as the Doctor Who one had when the door to the castle swung open and a man in a sparkling pink suit and dyed blond-gelled hair came running out, shrieking at the top of his lungs. He looked like an airdancer with some mad moves.

He ran all the way down the hill, past a manatee statue (Ryan named the beast Hugh, in his mind), and fumbled at the gate with a keychain before bolting out across the barren mine-field. The man began to wail as mines blew up around him, covering his precious head as he ran towards the treeline.

"That's him." Alex drew a Poké Ball. Ryan and Logan followed his lead.

When Pagan Kim came to the forest, the three boys were waiting for him. Alex let out his Jolteon; Ryan brought out Aegon; and Logan released his Chansey. The three Pokémon rushed towards the man in the pristine pink suit, but he jumped over them, by like five feet, as if he were an Olympic hurdler. What the heck is up with this guy?! Mr. Kim looked like a god, sparkling in his semi-effeminate elegance as he sailed through the air.

Pagan Kim landed gracefully and faced the Pokémon trainers and their Pokémon with his back to the forest. Beside Ryan, Haunter materialized, cackling and grinning and having a swell old time. He must've scared the Pokéheck out of Mr. Kim over there.

"Boys, boys, what's the meaning of this?" Pagan asked calmly, his voice deep and soothing. He ran a hand through his hair. "Don't tell me you wanted to break into my home? That would be so… unfortunate, if that was the case. Come on, speak up!"

"You stole a baby Kangaskhan," Alex spoke. "Give it back to its mother and stop poaching the other Pokémon in this forest, and we'll leave you alone."

Pagan Kim laughed and dusted off his suit. "Really now, that's it? Alright, okay, okay. You want the baby Kangaskhan; I get it. But it's quite extraordinary… you went to all this trouble over a little baby Pokémon?" The man made a face, mocking the three, and then took a Poké Ball out of a pocket from the inside of his suit. "That's cute. Funny, really. I didn't think anyone out here cared. You want this Kangaskhan back?" he asked, waving the Poké Ball, "then come and get it. But I warn you, I have a legendary Zapdos here in my other Poké Ball," he said, pulling out another ball - its top half was colored purple with pink bubbles on either side of a large 'M' printed on the middle of the purple backdrop. "And you wouldn't want to get on his bad side."

He's bluffing, Ryan thought. "I don't believe you! And besides, even if you do have a legendary Pokémon, we outnumber you!"

"Numbers aren't everything, boy!" The man's face lit up with a cheeky grin.

"We'll attack him all at once. That way his Zapdos won't be able to hit all of our Pokémon before we knock it out," Alex whispered.

"Alright, sounds like a good idea."

"Fools!" Pagan Kim spat, holding the ball with Zapdos in it in his left hand and the Kangaskhan's Poké Ball in his right. "You don't know what you're getting yourselves into-"

From behind, in the foliage, came a scream. Pagan Kim did not even have time to turn around to see what it was when Mama Kanga came sprinting out from the bushes and hit him so hard with her Mega Punch attack that she sent him flying high (as a kite) into the air. Ryan heard the man scream like a little girl, his voice rising to a triple falsetto as he flew off into the distance, towards the burning summer sun, before disappearing in an expected twinkle. Man, that was brutal.

There, riding on the mother Kangaskhan's back was Rahul, the big man, the glorious fourth member of Ryan's crew. He dismounted from her neck and ran over to where Pagan had been standing. In the man's place was now a regular Poké Ball - he must've dropped it when the Kangaskhan hit him with her vicious attack. Rahul picked it up and let the baby Kangaskhan out of the ball, allowing the scared creature to reunite with its mother. It was a nice, cute scene - the mother and her baby Kangaskhan reuniting - and they cawed and cooed and cried, but Ryan couldn't focus on that, since Rahul used exactly that moment to shout:

"Are you serious?!" He stroked his goatee like an annoyed Meowth. "You guys just left me in the forest like that?!"

Alex folded his arms. "I guess we forgot about you."

"Come on, Alex, seriously?!"

"Don't worry Rahul, everything worked out in the end," Ryan said, trying to console his fellow trainer. "And besides, you helped take out that poacher guy."

"Ugh, you guys are hopeless," Rahul said, shaking his head. He looked away from his friends and off towards the Kangaskhan and her child. The mother was singing sweetly to her youngling, holding it in her arms, tears running down both of their faces. Ryan couldn't help but feel moved seeing them back together, even though he didn't know much about these Pokémon. "See how much you like it if you're the one that gets left behind next time!"

That incendiary remark broke the teal-haired boy out of his thoughts. "I'll never be left behind because I'm the protagonist," Ryan reminded Rahul, and Rahul had nothing he could say about that.

As the sun began to set, Ryan and the others returned to Quinny's estate, where far too many peppers grew. He picked some cilantro he saw growing in one of the beds and ate it, wondering why it didn't taste soapy to him. The others told Quinny about Pagan and what had happened, and Quinny promised to go to the castle in the morning and let all of the Pokémon free that Pagan Kim had poached (if there were any left in there).

"Pewter City's like half a mile north," Quinny said. "You should stop by there and then take Route 2 down to Viridian. That'll be faster than traveling through the wild forest. I know Route 2 is also surrounded by the forest, but it's a heckuva lot easier to navigate, and there's a real path to follow."

"Alright, see ya Quinny," Ryan said. The others said their goodbyes too; then, they began to walk north to Pewter City, but Ryan himself stayed put, not yet joining them.

"Yeah… nice seeing you man. So you're going to become a Pokémon trainer? I thought your dad didn't want you to."

"Well, he didn't," Ryan admitted. That had been the only reason the boy hadn't been allowed to become a trainer at the usual age of 10. "I think that's because of his own experience. I heard him tell my mom once that he wished he had become a businessman instead of a trainer. I think he's just disappointed that he only won a single tournament match."

"Well good luck. If you make it into the tournament, I'll see if I can get up there to watch you battle."

"I will," Ryan promised. "I just need one more badge and I'll be in. But I only have nine days to get it."

"You better hurry then."

"Yeah. Well, see you around, dude."

"See ya."

And off Ryan went, leaving his best friend behind. The sun would soon sink behind the horizon; they had very little daylight left. We should get to Pewter at least, before nightfall. I don't want to sleep in a tent again. The day was becoming cooler again, much to Ryan's delight. He thought over what they had accomplished that day, and thought that he'd done pretty well. That Haunter idea sure paid off. I wonder if that Pagan dude was bluffing or if he really did have a legendary Pokémon. The thought reminded Ryan of the Mew Team Rocket had captured. His nails dug into his palms as he remembered the look that Pokémon had given him as it was being carted away. I have to find it. I have to set it free. Team Rocket won't get away with this. Just like Pagan, they'll feel my wrath in due time.

"It's okay, Rahul," Logan was saying, breaking Ryan out of his thoughts. "You did everything you could."

"Yeah, but I really wanted a Kangaskhan. They look awesome. I thought since I helped, y'know… helped her find her baby…"

"You saved her baby, but the Kangaskhan did not want to be caught. She'd rather live out here in the wild," Alex observed. "Some Pokémon are just like that."

Yeah, Ryan thought, thinking of the Scyther he had met in Pallet Town. I wish I could meet him again so that maybe I could convince him to join my team…

"Cheer up, Rahul," Ryan began, "we're almost to Viridian City, and we're going to make great time even with you getting us lost!"

Rahul's face contorted into a frown. "Really, Ryan? I didn't get us lost."

"We were supposed to be going to Viridian, not Pewter. You led us way too far north."

"I did not!"

"Easy, you two," Alex said. "Look, I can see Pewter City in the distance!"

Indeed, there it was: Ryan could make out the shape of the roof of the famous Pewter City museum just above the treeline. They would be there soon. And I'll get my last badge soon, he promised himself. At once, Ryan felt immensely tired, like a bout of Quinny's fatigue had hit him hard as a mama Kangaskhan. He wanted nothing more than to collapse on a bed and drift back into the dream world.

A twig snapped to the left of them, where the Viridian Forest spilled out of Route 2. Ryan paused for a moment, looking over at where he had heard the sound. He swore, for a moment, that he saw a pair of eyes watching him. I've seen those eyes before, he realized, and a cold shiver rippled down his spine. But where?

"H-hello?!" Ryan's voice was timid, but loud enough to cause the others to stop walking and look over at him. The eyes vanished, yet Ryan stood there for a few more minutes, still as a statue, trying to find any other sign of the creature that had locked eyes with him. When he was sure it had gone, he turned to the others and shook his head.

"It's nothing. Let's go."

In the distance, as the sun kissed the horizon, a Growlithe could be heard howling, its lonesome call carrying across the plains like a ghost on the wind.