The area outside his secret base seemed isolated, no humans to be seen. She couldn't quite pinpoint the location, however the wild Pokemon looked nothing like she would see around Littleroot Town. Looking up at the bright sky, she could see what looked like a Tropius flying above them.

"How bloody far did you take me?" Amber grumbled, watching a Linoone scurry by. Finally, something recognisable. She never saw Tropius near Littleroot though.

"We're just by Fortree City," he responded as Ditto jumped on his shoulder, and Amber's jaw dropped.

"What- How did you take me this far from home?!"

He looked at the Ditto and they shifted into a Ralts. "Ditto can be anything, remember? A thief always needs a reliable getaway plan."

Amber tilted her head. "So… Did Mudkip go missing during teleportation?" She grumbled under her breath, "It could have ended up anywhere… What an idiot."

The thief tilted his head, a sweet smile on his disguised face. "What was that, Little Lady?"

"Little-" Amber took a deep breath to calm herself, watching Torchic and Treecko stare at each other. Treecko appeared frightened but Torchic was oddly cheerful. Must have thought this whole thing was a game. "My name's Amber, okay? Now stop calling me stupid things, Swiper."

He didn't even try to stop the snort. "Swiper? Alright 'Dora'," he sniggered at her irritated expression. "Let's play. Torchic, are you ready?"

Torchic stared at him with a tilt of its head before chirping and sending Treecko a playful glare. The grass critter gazed back at his trainer nervously and she swallowed hard. "Come on Treecko, let's go!"

Torchic looked expectedly at the thief. He blanked for a moment before coughing. "Hold on, what does Torchic know?" Amber brought her hand to her face and he shook his head. "Eh, fuck if I know. Torchic, do whatever the hell you want."

Torchic cheeped happily and lunged at Treecko, forcing him to dodge with a yelp. He shot his trainer a helpless glance as the bird's beak started glowing with heat. "Treecko, get ready to dodge then use Pound!"

Treecko threw himself to the side to avoid the roaring fire as it exploded from Torchic, dashing to attack. As he feinted to the left, the chick Pokemon leapt to the right before shrieking as the gecko assaulted it to the chest.

"How barbaric this is," the man drawled, idly flipping his hair and chuckling as Amber pointed a glare at him.

"If you think this is barbaric then how about we skip the cockfight and have a fistfight, eh?!"

Torchic and Treecko halted to stare at her as he laughed, snarking, "You really have one hell of a temper, huh? I'd love to see what happens when you meet Team Aqua again." Her brain crashed. What the hell would she do? Thinking about that first encounter filled her with dread. Would she be able to feel rage through the fear? If she met the man that took Meganium from her, would she have to fight him? And risk losing Treecko too?

She shook her head. The sneak was trying to distract her, she had to win this. "Shut up you prick, Treecko use Absorb!"

Obeying, Treecko zapped Torchic, watching the chick spin dizzily on its feet before throwing itself at Treecko again with a Scratch. And as the starter Pokemon continued to attack each other, the feminine-presenting man made a startling proposition. "You should join us at Team Magma!" Amber stared at him wide eyed. "We can help you find that pirate bastard, you know he's wandering around guilt-free after what he did!"

Swallowing hard, Amber shouted one last quivering order. Thankfully the quick training she did last night would have paid off. "Treecko, Quick Attack!" Before Torchic could act, Treecko slammed himself into its feathery chest, sending it plummeting to the ground with a weak cry. And as her opponent returned the tired Torchic back to its pokeball, Amber spoke up. "What did you just say?"

He flashed her a sweet smile, his gold eyes glittering in the sunlight. "I said you should join Team Magma. Team Aqua is as much your enemy as they are ours. If you join us, we'll make you strong. You'll be able to avenge Meganium, by our side."

Clenching her fists, Amber thought. She would never get that memory out of her head, that man's cruel smile as her Meganium froze to death. The terror that Meganium had gazed at her with as her body was slowly encased in ice. Yet… "But… Isn't Team Magma a dangerous gang too? Team Aqua's goal is twice as insane, but you're all criminals too, aren't you?"

He shrugged, and with a fluid motion he tossed Torchic's pokeball at her. Her hands fumbled to catch it and he laughed. "I'm not going to deny, I've heard and seen some fucked up shit from some of the grunts. But the admins are all reasonably sane, believe me." He snorted. "Not that I believe in our goals, expanding the land does sound like bullshit but… It pays well, you know?" Seeing the uncertainty on her face, he continued. "Don't worry, we're not a cult. You can leave whenever you want, no one will hunt you down if you feel uncomfortable. But you'll be safe. You won't be alone when you're facing that maniac, this time."

Amber bit her lip, as she looked at Treecko's pleading eyes. All those dreams they had discussed last night, the flashy shows she had shown him. The excitement that his eyes had sparkled with. And then she thought about all the friends she had lost on her journey. She needed to be strong enough to defend herself, but she couldn't put herself in harm's way. "I-I… I can't." The man stared at her. "L-Look, I get that you'll think I'll be safe, but I just can't take the risk. I promised Treecko I'll give him a fun life, flashing lights, showing off on the big stage. But I don't want to see that man again, I want to just forget, and do all the things with Treecko that I couldn't give Meganium. I'm sorry, but I can't join some dangerous team, no matter how much I want to avenge her."

Ditto peered at its trainer as he gazed silently at the ground. Finally he nodded, putting on a smile. "Well, I can't force you. It sucks, but that's what you want to do."

She tilted her head as he turned away, mumbling to his partner Pokemon. "Really? Is that all you're going to say?" she murmured, watching Ditto shift into a Kirlia. "I didn't think you'd see a problem with forcing me, considering you abduct Pokemon and all…"

"That's true," he said with a shrug. "But I'm not getting paid to kidnap little girls."

Her eye twitched. "Excuse me, but how old are you? You don't seem much older than me, Mister."

"It starts with a 2," he stated dismissively before turning to Ditto. "Teleport!"

Amber found herself back on Route 102, Treecko clinging to her side and Torchic's pokeball in her palm. As she quickly checked her bag to make sure nothing got lost in teleportation, her 'temporary companion' chuckled and looked to the smiling Kirlia-Ditto. "Don't worry, I'm sure I'm not unlucky enough to fuck up teleporting twice in one day."

"I swore I had more potions than this," Amber deadpanned, sighing in relief as she found Wurmple's pokeball.

"Actually, I did use one to heal Treecko after your 'bug attack' earlier."

"I bought ten potions yesterday, I only see six," she grumbled, glancing around her surroundings. No one around, other than some wild Pokemon minding their own business. "So… Thanks for giving me Torchic back." She wasn't going to question whether he'd get paid or not, she wasn't up to wrestling a Ditto with 10 years of experience if he changed his mind. "I guess this is where we say goodbye?"

He nodded, pulling out a pokenav out of his own bag. "Yeah… I'm going to have a bit of explaining to do to my commander. I'll see you later, Amber."

Before she could question, he teleported away with his Ditto. He said that as if he was certain they would meet again. And she had an odd feeling that they would, but would she be able to recognise him with his disguises?

Never mind that, she had a Torchic to return.

She doubled over as she fought for her breath back, realising how weird her day was and it was only two days into her new journey. She had been rescued by a thief, and almost recruited into a criminal organisation. One she should probably stay clear from, as well as Team Aqua. However, her curiosity still lingered thinking about that weirdo.

As Treecko patted her leg gently, she flashed a smile and stood up straight, looking at the laboratory. Through the window she could see the professor talking to an unfamiliar figure, panic clear on his face. She wondered if that was the new trainer.

Only one way to find out.

Amber stepped into the Littleroot lab and Birch practically tripped over himself to greet her, giving Treecko only a fleeting glance before stammering. "A-Amber, you're back! Did you find that woman?"

"No, she found me," she responded, and he quickly caught the pokeball as she threw it. "I battled her for Torchic back, but she got away after with Teleport, so I don't think the police will be able to find her." She sighed. "But she lost Mudkip. I don't know what happened to the poor thing, apparently teleporting makes you lose stuff."

Birch looked disappointed but nodded, sending Torchic out of its ball. As the weak chicken instantly collapsed, Amber flashed a weak smile.

"Sorry, I kind of had to batter Torchic to win the battle."

"At least she's back," Birch murmured softly, glancing at his visitor. Amber did not recognise the boy but he seemed to be her age with violet eyes, headphones flattening his mess of black hair. "We'll have to keep looking for Mudkip but… You were planning to pick Torchic as your partner, weren't you Alex?"

The boy nodded, looking at the unconscious Pokemon with a furrowed brow. "Yes, but I think she should get some rest first, then we can get to know each other." He tilted his head, looking at Amber. "So, this woman just let you have Torchic back? Did you find anything out about her?"

Amber decided not to mention the thief's true gender. Birch had clearly seen a woman on the camera, and he had looked like a woman in every way. Telling the police that they were looking for a man would indeed be useless. "Well, she had long purple hair and this pretty lilac dress. She had a Ditto too, she used it to teleport by making it shift into a Kirlia. That must have been how she got into the lab."

Birch sighed. "A Ditto… What a difficult thief she'd be to catch, when she could utilise the abilities of any Pokemon Ditto sees."

She pursed her lips. "I didn't see any Kirlia around though, can't Ditto transform without reference?"

"Must have been a strong Ditto." Alex crossed his arms. "So… Professor Birch said your name was Amber?"

She nodded. "Yep, and you're Alex?"

"My full name is Alexandrite, but that's a mouthful," he said with a shrug before the corners of his lips tilted up. "Thank you for finding Torchic, is this Treecko of yours her friend?"

Treecko chirped as he nodded and Amber giggled, patting the gecko's head. "Yep, we've just started our journey yesterday. We're hoping to do contests together."

"Contests huh…" Alex looked like he wanted to say something, but decided against it. Probably negative, Amber guessed. "I guess we're both late bloomers, starting our Pokemon journeys as adults and all."

"I guess so," Amber replied stiffly, as she glanced at Treecko anxiously. She was not up to correcting random people. She wished she was just a 'late bloomer'. She shook her head and put on a smile. "If you don't need me Professor, we're going to go. We're hoping to get some new team members today, isn't that right Treecko?"

Treecko cheered and Birch chuckled, shaking his head. "I'll ask the police to keep an eye out for Mudkip, thanks for your help."

Before Amber left, Alex stopped her. He had cradled Torchic into his arms, gently coaxing her awake so he could feed her some healing berries. "Next time we see each other, we're going to battle." Not a question, not a request, a statement. She was lucky Treecko had the level advantage and Torchic was following her own commands during the earlier battle, she would dread setting a grass type against a fire type on an equal footing.

At least Torchic couldn't learn OHKO moves. She looked back at Alex to give him a polite smile. "Good luck catching up to me then."

And as she and Treecko left the laboratory, she opened up her pokedex and displayed a hologram of a certain psychic type.

"Fancy looking for a Ralts, Treecko?"

However during that hour it took to find their newest companion, Amber could not stop her mind flying back to her conversation with the thief. That offer she had quickly shot down but could not stop thinking about. And as a shiver ran down her spine, she wondered what she would do if she encountered Meganium's killer again.