She was aware of what direction she was heading to. But, it didn't stop her from every now and again peering at the map registered on her Gear. Chikorita was in the lead, keeping his guard up. There was something odd about his step, though. With each one, it would receive a wince. He was limping.

The battles on the way were a little more difficult than before. What could be worse than Pidgey, right? Oh yeah.

Weedle.

It was fine when Chikorita battled wild Pidgey. They only knew the move tackle. But Weedle were a way different story. The only attack that would be her downfall if she didn't take it seriously enough.

Poison sting.

This was starting to grow irritating.

It only added insult to injury when a direct hit resulted in poisoning her pokemon. Luckily, she had found an antidote that had been conveniently lying around at the edge of the tall grass. Ripley quickly treated to her Chikorita's ailments. Hopefully, nobody was going to miss it.

Ripley let out a groan. Encountered yet another damn Arceus forsaken Weedle! She thought of the unthinkable at this point. Without a second thought, she scooped Chikorita up, taking one last glance at the bug pokemon, then took off.

She ran away.

The creature let out a yell in frustration. Though, his trainer proceeded to walk on. With him still in her arms. He stared at her, with a, 'I totally had that battle' written all over his face.

She sighed, as if reading his thoughts and understanding his agitation.

"No," she retorted; "You didn't have it. I can't risk you getting poisoned again. And the fact that something like a Weedle can dish out critical hits like that doesn't ensure your victory. At least with Pidgey, a simple tackle can be less than lethal at this point. If anything bad were to come of that, I could easily patch that up with a potion. Whereas, I only had one antidote.."

Chikorita didn't do anything more after that, just sulked a little as he continued to be carried.

What a relief it was to finally meet their destination!

Ripley was hoping this time it was the right place. The last house she visited proved to be a simple mistake. However, the man seemed to touched, she couldn't bear explain that she meant to find Mr. Pokemon's house and this was all a mere fluke.

Coincidentally, there had been a sign nailed to the front door that read in bold lettering; 'Mr. Pokemon's House'.

...

Obviously, she wasn't the only one who got confused.

Ripley set her Chikorita down after reaching the end of the tall grass. Approaching closer, she had spotted a small tree. She beamed, sprinting toward the plant and kicking the base, where a decent-sized nut had dropped to the ground. Ripley reached to pick up the nut. It almost looked like a pokeball.

"Sweet, another Apricorn," she said proudly, Chikorita chirped happily in response.

She placed the pink Apricorn alongside a green one, into a collection box that the man had generously given her as a token for her visit. It was nice that there are Apricorn trees around this region. There hand't been any where she had lived before, so they were kind of rare. Either you found empty pokeball lying around, or you had to buy them for sometimes a ridiculous amount at the Mart. Having a local pokeball welder around these parts made it a great advantage.

The door had swiftly opened to reveal an anxious Ethan. Ripley, who had her fist up to knock at the door, stood there dumbfounded, blinking stupidly.

"And where the Hell did you wander off to!?," he asked, voice raising a little in volume. This wasn't new. He always freaked out like this when one of his friends were the last ones to show up after a while and all of a sudden disappeared. Even if was like a simple game of Hide n' Seek. He couldn't bear the feeling of abandonment. It's been like this since they were children. Lyra peeked over his shoulder, then shoved him off to the side to grab Ripley in a hug. He swore under his breath in response.

"We were worried! Where were you?"

Still dumbstruck, Ripley sputtered, "What in the Arceus? I wasn't even that far behind you.. At least. I didn't think I was."

Ethan folded his arms with a huff, "We've been here for almost an hour waiting for you. Where were you dawdling off to?"

Ripley gently pried Lyra off of her person, holding her away at arms length. "For the love of- Look I took a break to heal up my pokemon when I reached Cherrygrove, a nice couple took me in and showed me around. We made small talk, the Gent updated my map. On my way here I took a stop at another man's house to get an Apricorn box. On our way we encountered so many pokemon it was stupid. It didn't help that most of them were Weedle that happened to be super effective against my grass type. I wasn't my fault that I had to fend for myself and find my way here alone while two of my friends, who were supposed to lead me into the right direction, were too Hell bent on winning some stupid race!"

Ethan opened his mouth, then closed it immediately like a confused Majikarp. Lyra looked a little hurt.

Maybe that was a little bit much. But, hey. Was she lying?

"Okay, okay," she sighed; "That was harsh. Can you blame me? I only just got here and I'm already being interrogated."

She let go of Lyra, outstretching her arms away from herself to show there was no further harm, "But, look! I'm perfectly fine! And Chikorita has gotten stronger on our small journey here."

Chikorita let out a battle cry, swinging the large leaf on his head around. What a show-off.

A clear of the throat had made the three look the other direction of a man in a tailored suit and hat.

"Well, I am glad you can all make it here. Nonetheless," he interrupted.

Ripley smiled thankfully, "You must be Mr. Pokemon."

He nodded, "Indeed, I am. Now, on to business."

Mr. Pokemon took no hesitation to take out a silver briefcase, snapping it open to reveal an egg of creme color and decorated with green polka dots.

"This is what I want Elm to study for me. A friend of mine had found it and brought it to me from Goldenrod."

The teens looked at the egg for a long time. To Ethan and Lyra, this was really nothing to a surprise. There was a DayCare somewhere in the Region where they bred eggs there all the time. And the owners happened to be Ethan's grandparents. To Ripley, this was completely foreign to her. Pokemon eggs were indeed rare where she was from. And the pressure it gave off gave an eerie feeling in her stomach. It hadn't even hatched yet and already she could feel the power emitting from it. She stared intently at it for what seemed like hours.

"That reminds me, I must introduce you before you head off again," Mr. Pokemon's voice chimed in and rang in Ripley's ears.

Another had stepped forth, who Ripley wasn't even aware that was even there to begin with. Showed how much she payed attention. She turned, then froze.

"And with that, I'm-," he had cut off, staring at the girl in complete shock. She did the same. The name she spoke was almost breathless.

"Professor Oak?"