Chapter 8

Kanto Safari Zone

29 Ananeosis, 20 Zenoheld / March 30, 20—

Early the next morning, Kaiser finally had the chance to go over the route to Vermillion City with Volt. Around nine o'clock, he gave Volt some Poké Balls and some money, then started to escort his guest out the door; Kaiser wanted to give Volt an early start on his journey.

"Well, it's time fer ya ta get outta here," said Kaiser. "But I've got one last thing fer ya. I have a friend in Pallet Town who happens to be well-known around these parts. His name's Professor Samuel Oak. I told him yer story—the plane-crash version, that is—while you an' Maya were out in the Safari Zone yesterday, an' he agreed ta have his assistant meet ya at the Fuchsia City Pokémon Center. Fuchsia City is just south of here; just follow the road an' yer sure ta find it. When ya arrive in the city, ya can't miss the Pokémon Center; it's the big half-sphere buildin' in the middle of Main Street. There's a purple stripe runnin' across it, and a large yellow letter 'P' on the front. Just wait in there until Prof. Oak's assistant shows up."

"Thanks very much, Kaiser. I'll be sure to wait for him," Volt said.

"See ya, Volt. An' good luck findin' a way back ta Vestal."

After the two men shook hands, Volt left the door and headed south, eager to begin the journey that would hopefully lead to Wardington, and from there, back to Vestal.

Fuchsia City

When Volt arrived at Fuchsia City, he immediately started feeling like he was attracting too much attention. Passersby, noticing Volt's unusual clothing, had started to mutter amongst themselves:

"Who is that man?"

"Maybe he's an actor? But isn't Schpielbunk in Virbank City this year?"

"Is he a Trainer at Koga's Gym?"

"Impossible: ninjas don't wear cloaks like that. And they definitely don't wear white."

"Maybe that guy's a Coordinator?"

"He'd be the bulkiest Coordinator I've seen!"

"Mommy, that man looks funny!"

"It's not polite to point, honey."

Volt's garb was certainly attention-grabbing; it was by no means common to Kanto. At first glance, Volt would seem to be wearing a long cloak. However, closer inspection would reveal that the "cloak" was actually two capes: one draped around his shoulders, and another extending from the waist. Both parts were white and had yellow fur lining, and the upper cape was collared and decorated with orange highlights. Underneath the upper cape, Volt wore a black shirt with a low neckline and a gold zipper up the middle. The shirt extended past the waist, where there was a wide brown belt with a silver pentagon-shaped buckle. His lower-body wear, however, was fairly standard—a pair of black trousers and white boots—but the capes-cum-cloak certainly made people notice.

The unwanted attention made Volt feel uneasy, but fortunately for him, he did not have to add to his embarrassment by asking for directions: after walking straight ahead for a few blocks, he saw the building Kaiser described, located right in the middle of the street.

Unbeknownst to Volt, however, there was one person in the crowd that knew more of the stranger than that he was strangely dressed.

Team Rocket Headquarters

"Boss, we found 'im!"

Butch and Cassidy, elated at the new development, were racing to Giovanni's office.

Once Butch threw the office door open, Giovanni snapped, "Butch! What could possibly be so important that you had to just barge into my office?"

"Sorry, Boss," Butch answered, head now bowed. "But we found Volt Luster!" he said, rebounding from the rebuke.

Cassidy, who had just entered behind her partner, continued: "An agent in the field just responded to your APB. Volt is currently in Fuchsia City. He seems to be headed for the Pokémon Center."

"Good," Giovanni answered. "Coordinate with that agent if you can and figure out what you're going to do next. But I had better not see you returning here without that robot. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir!" Cassidy and Butch replied.

Fuchsia City Pokémon Center

Upon entering the Pokémon Center doors, Volt saw a pink-haired woman wearing a lighter pink dress, white apron, and simple white headpiece with a blue cross standing behind a reception desk. A smiling Chansey in a similar headpiece stood to her right.

"Good morning, ma'am," Volt said. He looked around the main room curiously. "Did, uh, someone come here looking for me?"

"Not that I remember, no," the woman replied. "Are you supposed to be meeting someone here?"

"Yes, someone who works for Professor Oak."

Her face lit up in realization. "So you must be Volt Luster!"

"How did you know my name?" Volt asked.

"Kaiser called ahead and said that someone with that name, who he described as, quote, 'a peach-haired musclehead with weird clothin',' would be coming here to meet one of Professor Oak's aides," she replied. "And you certainly look the part."

"Since you apparently know my name already, what's yours?" Volt asked.

"You can just call me Nurse Joy; everyone does," the woman replied.

Volt noticed a picture on the wall behind Nurse Joy. The picture showed a multitude of women, all wearing the same outfit, and all looking exactly like the nurse.

"What's that picture back there?" asked Volt.

"Oh, that?" Nurse Joy replied. "That's just a picture from our latest family reunion. It was a pretty small one, though; only the Joys from Kanto showed up."

What? There are identical copies of this woman all over Kanto? Volt thought. Even Vestal doesn't have cloning technology!

"Not that we didn't try to invite other Joys, of course. I remember sending out invites to my second cousin once removed in Nimbasa City and to my third cousin in Castelia City," Nurse Joy continued. "They also look like me, by the way."

What?! "That's quite an … interesting family you got there," Volt said.

Okay, so we're not dealing with clones. Either this family has some weird genetics or some pretty exacting aesthetic standards. Whatever it is, I don't think I want to know, and I hopefully won't be on this planet long enough to find out.

Noticing the Pokémon next to Nurse Joy, he quickly changed the subject, asking, "Is that a Chansey? I thought those were rare."

"They are rare, in the wild," Nurse Joy replied. "However, because they're such good healers, we have some people specially breed Chansey to work alongside Nurse Joys all over Kanto. She's the best assistant anyone could ask for!"

"Chansey!" the Pokémon added cheerfully.

"Anyway, while you're waiting for Prof. Oak's assistant, why don't you sit down at the reception area?" the nurse offered. "And what do you know? Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster is on!"

On the television was an image of an old man with sand-colored hair and bushy black eyebrows, wearing a lab coat over a burgundy dress shirt. The professor was behind a newscaster's desk, with a screen to his right on the wall behind him.

"Greetings, everyone! My name is Professor Samuel Oak, and welcome to today's episode of Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster!" said the professor.

"Today, we are going to be talking about some recent discoveries made in the Sinnoh region."

The screen behind him showed a Rhyhorn.

"Rhyhorn, the Spikes Pokémon," Prof. Oak announced. "When it was first discovered, scientists observed only two evolutionary forms: Rhyhorn, the basic form, and Rhydon, the form to which Rhyhorn evolves once it reaches level 42." The screen behind Professor Oak changed to show a picture of a Rhydon. Volt noticed that whereas Rhyhorn was quadrupedal and had a rough-hewn appearance, Rhydon was bipedal and had a much smoother-looking body than its unevolved counterpart. Volt also noted that the Pokémon's horn got bigger when it evolved.

Prof Oak continued, "So it came as quite a surprise to the local Pokémon community when word came out that there was a third evolutionary form! When Rhydon holds an item called a Protector, it may evolve further into Rhyperior." When Profesor Oak mentioned the "Protector," an image of a bunch of stone slabs arranged to look like the sides and roof of a house appeared on the screen. At the word "Rhyperior," the image on the screen changed once again to show the new Pokémon. Rhyperior was a lot more bulky than its pre-evolved form. It had a second horn on top of its first, and the first horn was now squarely between the Pokémon's eyes. Orange plates were all over its body, and there appeared to be holes in the palms of its hands. Its arms were a lot bigger than previously, as there were growths extending backwards from Rhyperior's elbows. At the end of Rhyperior's tail was a ball, which was not present when the Pokémon was either Rhyhorn or Rhydon.

"We do not know how Rhyperior come about in the wild," continued Prof. Oak, "but we do know that if a Rhydon is holding a Protector when it is sent through a Trading Machine, that somehow kick-starts the process. Current speculation holds that there may be some similarities between the mechanics of Rhydon evolution and those of the evolution of Pokémon like Graveler and Kadabra, which also evolve when traded." As Prof. Oak continued his lecture, pictures of the two Pokémon and their evolutionary lines appeared on the screen.

So, the creature I caught can change into those forms, Volt thought. It looks like pursuing that Rhyhorn yesterday may turn out to be worth the trouble.

At that moment, the Pokémon Center door whooshed open. Inside came a young man holding a briefcase. The man wore a green T-shirt and brown shorts, and had an orange headband under his spiky dark green hair.

The man approached the front desk. "Hi, Nurse Joy," he said. "I'm Prof. Oak's assistant, and I'm here to look for someone by the name of …" He took an index card out of a pocket in his shorts and read from it: "'Volt Luster.' Is anyone by that name here?"

"Oh, yes!" replied Nurse Joy. "In fact, that's him right there in front of the TV; the one with the spiky, peach-colored hair. He's quite inquisitive; is he going to be another assistant?"

"That would be nice, but no; he's actually a Pokémon Trainer who's new in Kanto, and I'm here to give him his starter Pokémon."

"Ah! This I have to see," said Nurse Joy, who walked out from behind her desk.

Accompanied by Nurse Joy, the assistant went to where Volt was seated. "Mr. Luster?"

Volt, who had been watching the entire exchange, stood up and extended his hand. "That's me."

After a second's hesitation, the assistant shook Volt's hand. In a wavering voice he said, "My name's Tracey Sketchit, a Pokémon Watcher and Professor Oak's aide."

Volt noticed Tracey's shaking hands and suddenly bowed shoulders, but he wasn't surprised at the reaction: even on Vestal, the nineteen-year-old's muscular appearance turned a few heads.

On the other hand, Tracey looked nothing like what Volt had expected from a professor's aide. Instead of a pale-skinned stick of a man with a lab coat and glasses, Tracey was lean without being emaciated, and the fading traces of a tan betrayed that the young man before him was not the type to spend all his days in a laboratory.

"Pokémon Watcher?" Volt asked.

"Yeah!" Tracey said, taking a sketchpad out from the briefcase. "I observe Pokémon in the wild and take sketches of them. Would you like to take a look?" Without giving Volt a second to answer, Tracey brought the sketchpad in front of him. Flipping through the pages, Tracey continued, "You see, I'm originally from the Orange Islands, an archipelago south of here. The islands are home to species of Pokémon in colors you'd never see here on the mainland, as well as one or two species of Pokémon not native to Kanto. Of course, these are only sketches, so you can't see the color—"

Volt loudly cleared his throat.

"Oh! I'm rambling, aren't I?" Tracey said, quickly lowering the sketchbook. "Sorry; I'm just so passionate about Pokémon! But you didn't wait here to hear me just go on and on, did you?" Tracey replaced his book. "Prof. Oak told me yesterday about what happened to you. I'm sorry to hear about that plane crash. I hope everyone else got out alright."

"I hope so, too," Volt said. "I didn't see anyone else there when I came to."

"That's too bad. But they should hopefully turn up before long.

"Anyway, the Professor sent me to give you two things that'll be useful on your way back home to Unova."

Tracey then took a small device from the briefcase. The object was predominantly red and was eight and a quarter inches long and a bit over three inches high. The object was mainly rectangular, but on the left side was a circle, its three-inch radius contributing to the device's eight-and-a-quarter-inch length. To the right of the circle was a design that looked like a city street: there were two grey horizontal stripes, in between which was a thin black stripe, within which was a green dotted line. The "street" had curved sides, parallel to the near arc of the circle.

"This is a Pokémon Index, or 'Pokédex' for short," Tracey said. "It's a device that has information on every Pokémon discovered thus far, and it can give you information on any such Pokémon in front of you. Allow me to demonstrate."

Tracey then opened up the Pokédex. The device had two screens, one on each side. To the left of the top screen were four tiny holes in a diamond formation. To the left of the bottom screen was a cross-shaped button.

Tracey then pointed the Pokédex at Nurse Joy's Chansey. Both screens immediately lit up. On the top screen was a picture of Chansey. A mechanical female voice, higher-pitched than the voice from Volt's Gauntlet, spoke:

"Chansey, the Egg Pokémon. A kindly Pokémon that lays highly nutritious eggs and shares them with injured Pokémon or people."

Volt had an interested expression on his face.

"One more thing," said Tracey. "The Pokédex can serve as a means of identification. If you don't mind, let me help you set it up."

Within a few minutes, Tracey had the Pokédex take Volt's picture and set up its identification function. The Pokédex now showed a picture of Volt and said, "I am Dextra, a Pokédex programmed by Professor Oak for Pokémon Trainer Volt Luster of the Unova region. My function is to provide Volt with information and advice regarding Pokémon and their training. If lost or stolen, I cannot be replaced."

"Thanks," said Volt, taking the Pokédex from Tracey. "And what is the other thing?"

Tracey pulled three Poké Balls out of the briefcase. "Your starter Pokémon." Tracey then threw the Poké Balls into the air and said, "Come on out!"

Emerging from the Poké Balls were three different Pokémon. "These are the three species offered to Kanto Trainers as they start their journey," Tracey explained. "Feel free to analyze them with Dextra."

The leftmost of the three Pokémon was a green, vaguely frog-like quadruped with red eyes and a bulb growing on its back. Volt pointed his Pokédex at it experimentally.

Just like it did in Tracey's hands, the Pokédex activated and showed a picture of the Pokémon on its top screen. "Bulbasaur, the Seed Pokémon," Dextra announced. "A strange seed was planted on its back at birth. The plant sprouts and grows with this Pokémon."

Standing to Bulbasaur's left was an orange bipedal lizard with a beige underbelly, big blue eyes, and a flame at the tip of its tail. Dextra had this to say of the Pokémon: "Charmander, the Lizard Pokémon. From the time it is born, a flame burns at the tip of its tail. Its life would end if the flame were to go out."

Next to Charmander was a blue turtle that was just under two feet tall. It had big eyes and a red shell.

"Squirtle, the Tiny Turtle Pokémon," Dextra informed him. "It shelters itself in its shell, then strikes back with spouts of water at every opportunity."

"Now that you know what they are, pick one of them to accompany you on your journey," Tracey said.

"Just one?!" Volt balked.

"I did say two things, Mr. Luster, not four." Tracey replied, chuckling. "Besides, that's the rule: a Trainer only gets one starter Pokémon."

Volt was at a loss. Which to choose?

OK, which one is strongest? Volt asked himself.

There ain't no strongest type, Volt recalled from Kaiser's nighttime lesson. Each type has its own strengths an' weaknesses. Ya gotta learn how ta use yer Pokémon strategically.

Volt looked again at the Pokémon. So, we have a Grass/Poison-type, a Fire-type, and a Water-type. So a rock-paper-scissors situation as far as type advantage.

Wait a sec. Pokémon evolve!

"Tracey," Volt called.

"Yes?" Tracey answered.

"Can the Pokédex show evolved forms as well?"

"Oh, yeah! I neglected to mention that, didn't I? You can use the Pokédex to get information on any Pokémon, not just whatever may be in front of you at the moment."

Tracey acclimated Volt to the search and scroll functions of the Pokédex, then left Volt to his research.

"Each one of these Pokémon has two evolved forms," Tracey explained. Looking over at Dextra, which was currently displaying a picture of Squirtle, Tracey instructed, "Scroll to the next entry."

After pressing a button, the picture on the Pokédex changed. Replacing the tiny turtle was a picture of a slightly bigger turtle with wing-shaped ears, a brown shell, and a long, fluffy, white tail. Dextra's readout showed that the Pokémon's name was "Wartortle."

Scrolling again, the picture changed to a big turtle with cannon barrels coming out of its back: "Blastoise", according to Dextra.

Okay, so the tiny turtle turns into a not-so-tiny turtle with a fluffy tail, which then turns into a giant turtle with cannons on its back. Interesting…

What about the lizard with the bulb on its back?

Starting at Bulbasaur, Volt scrolled through its evolutionary line.

Bulbasaur turns into … a not-so-little lizard with a flower on its back, which in turn becomes … a giant lizard with a tree on its back. That's just weird.

Volt then pulled up Charmander's entry and browsed through it.

Charmander turns into … hmm, quite a fierce-looking lizard. And this 'Charmeleon' evolves into…?

At the sight of the last entry on Dextra's upper screen, Volt's eyes widened. He could not believe what was in front of him. It was a wicked-looking red dragon with a roaring flame on its tail. The Pokémon had massive blue-undersided wings that gave it a wingspan longer than its height. It had a proud stance, its head raised in defiance of all comers. Were it not so puny—a mere five-foot-seven—it might have passed for some species of Dragonoid.

"I've made my decision," said Volt.

At those words, the three Pokémon perked up, eager to figure out which one of them the Trainer was going to choose.

"So, you're going with…?" Tracey prompted.

"Charmander," replied Volt.

The lizard smiled happily at the sound of its name. Squirtle and Bulbasaur pouted and turned away from Volt. Volt, seeing that, stooped down and patted each of them on the head.

"Don't worry, you two. I know you'll get the right Trainer someday. Just keep working hard."

The two Pokémon cheered up slightly at Volt's encouragement.

As Tracey returned the other two Pokémon to their Poké Balls, Volt turned to Charmander. "So, Dra—uh, I mean, 'Charmander,' are you ready to accompany me on my journey?"

"Char, char!" the lizard replied.

"Be warned; it's going to be a lot of work! I want to see you become a big, strong Charizard one day."

In response, Charmander shot a stream of embers into the air.

"It seems that you'll be getting along just fine," said Tracey. Chuckling, he added, "It's even starting to act like a Charizard!

"But don't think that I missed that slip of the tongue! Were you just about to nickname your Pokémon?"

"It was only a slip of the tongue," Volt replied. Internally, Volt corrected himself: It may evolve into a dragon, but it's no Dragonoid. A full-grown Charizard wouldn't even be able to pass as a baby Dragonoid on New Vestroia!

"Well, then. Now that you have your first Pokémon, why don't we have it battle?" Tracey asked.

Battlin's how we Pokémon Trainers get to know one another, Kaiser had said. An' it's good for the Pokémon, too; it gives 'em lotsa exercise, an' though it mimics what they do in the wild, it's in a controlled environment. I don't know what y'all Vestals did with yer Bakugan, but I can guarantee ya that ya don't need ta worry that battlin's anythin' like what ya might have been doin' back on Vestal.

"All right, let's battle," said Volt. "But where exactly are we going to do it? This certainly doesn't look like a fit place to have a battle."

"Follow me," said Nurse Joy. "I know just the place."

A/N: If you want to know how I came up with the description of the Fuchsia Pokémon Center, it appears in the episode Time-Warp Heals All Wounds (episode 157 of the Pokémon Advanced Generation series; episode 431 overall).

To make clear why Prof. Oak referred to the discovery of Rhyperior as "recent" (and also to fulfill my promise from last chapter's A/N), this fic takes place at the same time as the tail end of Ash's journey in Sinnoh. You may recall that this story branches off from the New Vestroia episode Volt's Revolt. That aired in the US on March 27, 2010. That day is the same air date as that of the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl episode Unlocking the Red Chain of Events, so I'm setting this fic as being concurrent with that part of the anime.

Special thanks go to Neshomeh for her help in drafting the description of Volt's clothing.