There was complete silence. It was quite uncomfortable.

Ethan and Lyra stared in between the other two, mouths agape. Mr. Pokemon pulled the brim of his hat over his eyes.

Awkward.

"You know him!?," they both shouted in unison.

"Ripley?," Oak questioned, almost as if he didn't believe who he was seeing. It was like looking at a ghost.

"You know her!?"

"Well, I'll be!," he smiled, brightly; "I would have never expected to run into you after so long! You've grown so much!"

Ripley scratched at her cheek sheepishly. "Yeah...," she replied; "you look well, also."

"It appears you are getting on well here since moving to Johto. You have a pair of fine friends that seem to care for you very much, from what they told be before you had arrived," he said, making Lyra blush and Ethan look away modestly.

"And what's this?"

He peered behind her at the Chikorita that pressed himself closer to his trainer, protectively. He gazed up at the man, skeptically.

"A rare pokemon?," he asked; "Well, it seems like it likes you very much! I'm not too surprised. You treat your pokemon with love and care. I'm happy to see you're starting over."

Her expression fell, then nodded slowly.

Oak frowned, then perked up, quickly reaching into his labcoat pocket. "I have almost forgot!," he exclaimed. Ripley knitted her eyebrows together, confused. Then, after finally peering at what he had in his hand, it almost made her shout for joy.

It was her old Pokedex.

He smiled, handing the piece of technology over to her greedy hands. "It still has the pokemon you caught registered into it while you were in Kanto. I had a feeling I'd run into you, so I kept it on me at all times should it ever happened. I never thought it'd be this soon. I also updated it for you for Johto."

She looked it over. Rattata, Pidgey, Caterpie, Weedle, Kakuna, Metapod.. They were all there. Then, her eyes trailed over a particular name that made her heart swell with grief.

"How is he..?," she questioned softly, almost in a whisper.

Oak nodded, "Your Wartortle is doing just fine. He misses you very much. As I am sure you miss him as well."

Ripley swallowed the lump in her throat. She had meant to return to Pallet Town one of these days to visit her old 'team'. Unfortunately, there were no means of transportation to get there yet. She gripped her Pokedex tighter, just gazing intently at her Wartortle's picture, along with the evolution chart from when he was a Squirtle.

It hurt.

Ethan watched Ripley closely. She owned a pokemon before, and even already started a Pokedex? Hell, he thought she was as clueless as he was until today. The only other person he knew that actually owned a pokemon was Lyra.

It was even a friggen' Wartortle!

This made Ethan feel small all of a sudden.

The look he was giving Ripley must have grown intense, because she had shrunken away a little. He flinched. Great, now he felt bad.

Oak looked at her. Then at the raven haired boy. He coughed a little, then revealed two more Pokedexes, handing them over to Lyra and Ethan.

"I had meant to give these to Elm to give to the next trainers who obtained his new pokemon. So, I might as well hand them over to you now personally. Don't worry, I didn't forget about you," he told them, offering a warm smile.

Lyra held the device in her hand, shocked, "Th-Thank you very much!" Ethan blinked, "Wow, thanks."

"You two look like you have the potential to raise your pokemon with love and respect, as well. How about you do me a favor? Find and collect as many pokemon as you can for my research. I am too old to make this adventure. But, you three can go at your own pace. I don't expect you to just head off into the unknown and start looking right away."

This surprised Ripley a little, knowing the 'you three' meant that she was included. He's actually giving her another shot at this? She looked at her friends, they obviously were already on board with the whole idea.

"Hell yeah I will!," Ethan answered, hyped up. Lyra nodded eagerly, to excited to even speak.

This made her smile.

"Grand! That's the spirit," Oak gave the two a thumbs up. He then turned his focus on Ripley, his expression softened; "It would give me nothing but joy if you decided to try again. But I can't force you. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable. I understand this is nothing like Kanto."

It's like he read her mind. She pretty much went as far as past Pewter City to Mt. Moon. It wasn't like she knew the whole region much like the back of her hand. She really didn't get a chance to explore further.

She had to think about it.

Oak had check his watch, "Oh dear. I had better get going, I have a radio show in Goldenrod in an hour, and it won't be easy along the way."

He gave Mr. Pokemon a nod in goodbye and thanks, then headed out the door, but not before giving Ripley an encouraging pat on the head.

"Yes, well," Mr. Pokemon interrupted; "It looks like your pokemon are all well and healed. I don't want to keep you waiting here any longer. Professor Elm must be getting more anxious by now with each moment you're not there. I know how he is..."

He gingerly picked up the egg, and out of the three, handed it to Ripley, smiling. This perplexed her.

"I know I can count on you to take good care of it."

This was all he said, before ushering the teens out.

All they could do was stare at the door that had just closed. Ripley raised an eyebrow, a little agitated now.

That was just rude.

"So...," Ethan began, wrapping an arm around her shoulders; "You have a lot of explaining to do." He eyed her, suspiciously.

She opened her mouth to counter his demand. Then the phone in her Pokegear went off.

Ripley rolled her eyes, shrugging the boy off with a smile, "Get off of me, Goof."

She reached into her back for her gear, pressing a button to answer her phone.

"Yeah, Prof.?," the pinkette answered, swatting the air in front of Ethan to shut him up of his laughter; "Sh! I'm trying to hear!"

"Oh dear! Ripley! This is a disaster! Something terrible happened! I tried getting a hold of Ethan and Lyra but they didn't answer. Please, head to the lab. Quick!"

Click.