As Dan raced down Route 30, his new running shoes allowed him to travel at a blinding pace. All the trees ended up blurring together, becoming one large streak of dark green resting on a mud-brown colour. Surprisingly, Aqua managed to keep up with Dan, sensing how important it was for Dan to be able to run as fast as he could. Even though Dan knew he had to race back to Professor Elm as fast as he could, it didn't stop any wild Pokémon from attacking him along the way. It was a difficult decision to make, go faster and attract more Pokémon or go slower which could leave the Professor in danger. As Dan was more concerned about the Professor's safety, he chose the former, but as he engaged in a battle with a Caterpie, he was worried that it may not make much difference.
"Aww, come on!" Dan let out a frustrated sigh. "Alright Aqua, we've dealt with this before, it shouldn't be too hard. Use Water Gun!" Dan explained as he pointed towards the green Caterpie. As soon as Dan issued his order, Aqua reared back, storing as much water as he could before unleashing a powerful stream at the Caterpie. Unlike last time, this Caterpie seemed to be able to take the attack without fainting. As soon as Aqua had finished, the Caterpie let out a string of sticky web-like fluid from its mouth, wrapping Aqua up and restraining his movement.
"Not String Shot" Dan exasperated. "We're trying to hurry up, I don't need a Pokémon slowing Aqua down! Quick, use Water Gun again." Dan exclaimed, pointing at Caterpie. Unfortunately, the String Shot had slowed down Aqua so much, the Caterpie attacked first. However, the Caterpie decided to use String Shot again, slowing Aqua down even more. Fortunately, this means that Aqua still had all of his strength left.
"Alright Aqua," Dan pondered to himself. "Water Gun didn't seem to work. Use Scratch instead." After hearing this new command, Aqua's right hand started to glow a brilliant white before he charged straight towards the Caterpie. Even though Aqua was slowed down by the multiple String Shot's, he managed to use all of his strength to attack the Caterpie fast enough before Caterpie could dodge. After Aqua's attack landed, the Caterpie looked visibly weak, but he refused to faint, and with Aqua right in front, Caterpie tackled straight into Aqua, knocking him back towards Dan. Luckily, Caterpie's Tackle didn't seem to do much damage at all.
"Dan, Use Scratch, quick as you can!" Dan commanded, frustrated that the Caterpie refused to stop. Because Aqua had been knocked backwards, he had to run towards the Caterpie. This was much easier as the Caterpie was so weakened, it barely had enough strength to move. As Aqua scratched the Caterpie with his claw, the Caterpie finally fainted.
"Finally" Dan gasped, "Come on Aqua, let's get a move on."Before Dan and Aqua set off, Dan released Aqua from the silk-like string surrounding his body. After releasing Aqua, They were fortunate enough to make it all the way from Mr. Pokémon's house to the Eastern entrance to Cherrygrove City. The Running shoes let Dan travel at blinding speed as he leaped ledges and sprinted down paths, appearing as a blur to onlookers while Aqua tried his best to keep up and doing surprisingly well. As they reached the entrance between Cherrygrove City and Route 29, he noticed the strange red-haired boy approaching. Before Dan could race past, the strange boy stopped him in his tracks.
As the stranger approached, he took a long, hard look at Aqua. "You got a Pokémon at the Lab" he sneered with a look of disgust on his face as he turned towards Dan. "What a waste. That's a Pokémon that's too good for a wimp like you."
This remark started a fire within Dan. Angrily, he stated "Hey, I'm not a coward." Dan grumbled, preventing himself from shouting at the stranger.
"Don't you get what I'm saying?" the stranger looked at Dan, with a slightly annoyed look on his face. "Well, I have a good Pokémon too. I'll show you what I mean." The stranger stated, pulling out a Pokéball from a strap attached around his waist, similar to a belt. "Chikorita, battle time." the boy finished, as the small, green quadruped Dan saw when he picked Aqua at the Lab emerged.
"Alright Aqua, this'll be our first proper battle, let's try and win this."
After Dan had finished his sentence, Aqua walked out in front of Dan, locking eyes with the Chikorita. Before Dan could issue a command, Aqua's body started to pulse with a light red colour before attacking Chikorita with as much Anger he could muster. Right before the attack, a white glow formed around Aqua, signalling a critical attack.
Stunned, Dan turned towards Aqua. "Was that Rage?" he questioned as Aqua seemed to calm down.
"Hah" the stranger snorted. "Your Pokémon's out of control, let me show you how a real trainer battles. Chikorita, Growl." the stranger remarked, slightly sarcastically. As soon as the stranger issued his command, the Chikorita let out a mighty growl, causing Aqua to slightly cower.
"Aqua, don't let him get to you" Dan attempted to reassure Aqua. "Use Leer."
As Aqua straightened himself out, he looked straight into Chikorita's eyes with a slight sneer on his face. This caused Chikorita to back up slightly, dropping his defences.
"Coward" the boy growled, "Use Tackle." At this, the Chikorita ran straight towards Aqua, showing how much faster the small green Pokémon was compared to Aqua. As Chikorita charged towards Aqua, a small white glow formed around its body, before damaging Aqua.
"O.K. Aqua" Dan thought. "Lets try Rage." After hearing Dan's command, Aqua started to get angry, his body pulsing with the same red glow, letting all of his anger rise to the surface, before furiously attacking Chikorita. Unfortunately, This forced Aqua to get as close to Chikorita as he could, leaving Aqua no time to dodge whatever attack Chikorita might unleash next.
The stranger also noticed this mistake and took full advantage of Dan's error. "Chikorita, Tackle." As soon as Aqua had calmed down, Chikorita tackled into Aqua, the white glow forming around Chikorita's body. The attack was so powerful, Aqua rolled backwards, stopping at Dan's feet. As Aqua climbed up, he growled in frustration, waiting for Dan's next command.
"Aqua, Keep using Rage" Dan commanded. As Aqua started his attack, Dan noticed the glowing red emanating from Aqua was becoming a deeper shade each time it was used. As Aqua started to build up his rage, he charged towards Chikorita, slashing and growling as he furiously attacked.
"Push him away Chikorita, Growl" the stranger commanded, noticing how much weaker Chikorita was compared to Dan. Chikorita Let out a fierce growl, strong enough to push Aqua backwards slightly and loud enough to cause Aqua to cover up his ears.
"Humph! You're doing O.K. for a weakling." the red-haired boy sneered. Before the Stranger could issue a command to his Chikorita, Dan decided to change tactics.
"Aqua, Scratch" Dan calmly ordered, a small grin forming in the corner of his mouth. As Chikorita was still pushing Aqua back, he couldn't use his claws, the growl was preventing Aqua from focusing enough to use Rage and Chikorita's Grass typing made Water Gun almost useless. Fortunately, he was close enough to use the claws on his feet. Realising this is exactly what Dan meant, Aqua kicked towards Chikorita, scratching him across the face with his foot.
"CHIII-" the Chikorita screamed, just before collapsing onto the ground in a pile. As the stranger looked on in shock, he withdrew Chikorita back into its Pokéball before turning towards Dan and Aqua.
"Humph! Are you happy you won?" the stranger asked with a look of disappointment in his eyes.
"Well, kinda" Dan replied, thinking the answer would have been obvious. "I mean, that was our first trainer battle and...we did win it." As he ended his sentence, Aqua jumped up towards Dan, giving him a high-five or, in Aqua's case, a high-three.
As the stranger looked on, he was curious why Dan would do that with Aqua. As he walked closer to Dan, he started to ask questions. "Do you want to know who I am?" he started to question, getting close enough to Dan, he could feel his breath on his face. "I am going to be the world's greatest Pokémon Trainer." As he finished his sentence, he pushed Dan to the side and continued onwards to Cherrygrove City. As he placed Chikorita's Pokéball back into his pocket, a small rectangular piece of card slipped out as he pulled out his hand. Dan walked over and inspected the mysterious object. It was his Trainer card. Every Pokémon trainer had to carry one of these to prove their identities and to allow access into Tournaments. It contained Trainer ID, a unique code given to everyone, Name, age, picture and signature.
"Hey!" Dan heard a voice call out. As he looked up, he noticed the strange boy was staring at him. "That's my Trainer card. Give it back, now!" the stranger was yelling as he walked up to Dan. As soon as he took the card back, the strangers face changed from anger to fear.
"Oh no...you saw my name." he muttered before running off in the Direction he had just come from. As soon as the stranger was out of Dan's sight, he suddenly remembered what he was doing before the battle.
"Oh no, the Professor,"Dan realised with a look of shock on his face before turning to look down at his reptilian partner. "Come on Aqua, double time" he ordered, before racing down Route 29. Dan had taken this route so many times, he knew of a special way to travel along that would ensure there were no Pokémon encounters. As he raced down, Dan took a different path, leaping over the ledges he couldn't climb over, running as fast as he could, turning left and right numerous times before reaching his home town of New Bark Town. As Dan entered, he made a beeline for the Lab, charging straight in to meet with the Professor and a Police Officer. As soon as Dan approached, the Officer stood directly in front of Dan and began asking questions.
"Who are you?" he asked in a gruff voice, "We're investigating the case of the Missing Pokémon here and rule number one of the crime scene states 'Whoever did it will come back to the site'." As the Officer finished his sentence, he noticed Aqua hiding behind Dan. "Oh my" he started, "you must be...the one who did it!" As the Officer finished his sentence, he reached for his handcuffs. Just before Dan could be arrested, a familiar face burst through the door. It was Lyra
"Hold on a sec," she frantically explained, "Danny has nothing to do with it! I saw it. It was a red-haired boy looking into the building."
Once Lyra had finished her sentence, Dan started to put the pieces of information together in his mind.
"So that's why he had Chikorita" Dan quietly mumbled to himself. "He must have stolen it after I picked Aqua. I bet he wanted the Type advantage." Dan continued, "I shouldn't have let him get away after our battle."
"What?" the Officer questioned after listening to what Dan was mumbling. "You battled him. He must be the one who did it." He started pondering to himself before turning back to look at Dan. "Did you happen to get his name?" the Officer asked in a stern tone. Dan thought back to when he picked up the strangers trainer card and remembered what the his name was.
"Anthony," Dan replied "Anthony Sangria"
"I see" the Officer mumbled, writing down the name in his notebook. "So Anthony Sangria is his name." Once he had put his notebook away, he turned towards Dan and Lyra with a small smile on his face. "Thank you for helping my investigation" he stated as he nodded his head with thanks. "My next task is to search for this red-haired individual." Once he had finished, he started to head outside, on the lookout for Anthony. Once he had left, Lyra was actually the first to speak.
"Whew" she gasped, before turning towards Dan. "I'm glad they understand you're innocent Danny. Anyway, I gotta go. See ya!" she exclaimed, waving a hand behind her as she walked out the door. Leaving just Dan and Professor Elm who still looked distraught.
"Oh Dan" he muttered sadly. "This is terrible. Oh!" the professor exclaimed as he suddenly perked up. "I almost forgot, what was Mr. Pokémon's big discovery?" he asked as he turned towards Dan. As soon as the professor asked, Dan opened his bag and pulled out the glass case with the Pokémon egg inside.
"This" Dan simply stated as he carefully passed the fragile object over to the Professor.
"Hmm" the professor mumbled, curious about the item. This is an Egg, isn't it?" the professor asked in a seemingly rhetorical manner. "This Egg may be something I've never seen." he continued to himself. "Still, it's just an Egg. Mr. Pokémon is always fascinated by Eggs." he explained, turning towards Dan, before quickly turning back towards the Egg. "Well, since he gave it to us, we might as well find out what secrets it holds. I'll keep it for a while and find out what secrets it holds."
"Professor" Dan squeaked, trying not to interrupt. "I also met Professor Oak. He even gave me this." Dan ended as he showed Professor Elm the small, rectangular Pokédex. This seemed to cause the Professor to look at Dan with a surprised look on his face, causing Dan to get slightly nervous.
"He gave you a Pokédex? Wow" the Professor exclaimed, trying his best not to stutter as his look of shock changed into a look of wonder. "That's...That's...Incredible!" he finished, with a giant smile on his face. "Professor Oak is superb at seeing the potential inside people to become Trainers." Professor Elm explained. "Wow Dan, I always thought you might be special, in a good way of course. Things are looking up for you Dan." Once he had finished, he noticed how Aqua was looking up at Dan while Dan gently stroked Aqua's head. "Aqua seems to really like you." the Professor noted. "Why don't you Pokémon Gym Challenge?" Professor Elm questioned. After seeing the small look of confusion on Dan's face, he started to explain. "If you manage to defeat all eight Gym leaders in Johto, you will be granted access to battle the Elite Four and the Johto Champion. If you defeat all of them, you will become the new Champion of Johto...or not." He ended, trying to make a joke, before he continued on with his explanation. "Becoming the Champion is no easy task, but you can certainly challenge the Violet City Gym." Once he finished, he walked over to his laptop, before turning round to face Dan. "Dan," The Professor continued. "Challenging the Gym's scattered around Johto will be a long journey, make sure you talk to your Mum before you go.
"O.K. Prof" Dan assured him. "I'll go talk to her now. Bye." Dan said as he left the Lab, leaving the Professor alone to work. Once Dan had passed through the doorway, he noticed the sky was becoming darker, and the sun was setting behind the Lab. He walked over to his house, ready to tell his Mum what he was going to do. As he entered, he saw his Mum in the kitchen, preparing Dinner.
"Hi Dan" She stated as she raised her voice. Dinner's almost ready, it's your favourite, Barbecue Pizza with Stuffed crust." The mere mention of the dish started to make Dan's mouth water.
"Great. Hey, I've got some news for you. I've decided i want to head out on a journey around Johto and try to become Champion."
As Dan's Mum heard the information, she started to think aloud. "So, you're leaving on an adventure. O.K. then, if it's what you really want, I'll help you pack. Just promise me you'll be careful" she pleaded, with the most serious look Dan had ever seen on a person's face before.
"O.K. Mum, I promise." Dan replied, looking his mother directly in the eyes.
"Great, but it is getting dark, and tea is almost ready, why don't you head out first thing tomorrow morning?" she asked, still looking out for Dan.
"O.K. then. Tomorrow, the journey begins." Dan mumbled to himself, trying to imagine the adventures he and Aqua would discover in the world of Johto.