Chapter 2

Japanese Names:

Akane = Whitney

Green Ookido = Blue Oak (rival from Pokemon Red/Green/Blue/Yellow/FireRed/Leafgreen)

Blue = Leaf (female protagonist from Pokemon FireRed/Leafgreen)

Disclaimer:The only thing we own in this fanfic is our own original characters and the personalities we projected onto the characters and pokemon. All items, actual locations, people, and pokemon belong to POKEMON and we are making this for simple and pure free entertainment and enjoyment. So please, do not go and copyright us. Thank you. The cover picture also does not belong to us and is drawn by Nintendo's Ken Sugimori.

Village

"Where are the pokeballs?" A young dark blue haired girl cried as she ran her hand through her yellow bag.

"Introducing the new Pokegear generation 5.0!" The male announcer blared that sunny summer afternoon. The sound was coming from a small television that was propped on a shelf in the living room. "Now selling at a more affordable price for trainers everywhere! Buy them now! They are customizable and come in multiple colors!"

"I thought I bought some yesterday," she mumbled as a brown fox like pokemon walked into the teenage girl's room. The evolution pokemon flicked its bushy tail as it watched its trainer frantically turning her head around the messy room. "You know where they are, Asahi?"

"Eee, vee, ee..." They're...over there... The female pokemon nodded her head and waved her paws at the foot of the door. The girl continued searching through the room, looking under the textbooks scattered across the room. Pokemon plushies were dumped atop of her bed with smiles on their faces.

"Silph Co. has designed them to withstand the harsh conditions of long journeys! They are waterproof, fireproof, electric proof..."

"Where?" She bent down and saw them. "Oh, I see them, thanks Asahi!" The girl pets the small fox and stuffed the pokeballs in her bag. Eevee beamed but abruptly froze and twitched her ears.

"...Snorlax proof, underwater pressure proof, and even extreme radiation proof! It can survive the aftermath from a nuclear bomb! All just for...!"

"Vee?" Asahi stood on her hind legs in attempt to pick up the sound over the obnoxious television.

"Chihaaaru!" The wooden door slammed open to show a boy, who appeared to be a few years younger than the girl, come in. "There you are!" He had messy brown hair and was still wearing his school uniform with a soccer ball in his arm.

The girl huffed, "Keigo? Why aren't you in school?" She flicked her short braided ponytail in annoyance. "What are you doing here?"

The girl checked the clock hanging above her desk near the window. It was only eleven in the morning. She wasn't ready to deal with people. The high school girl woke up this morning, ate breakfast, and pretended to walk to school midway before going back home. She had to make sure her parents were gone. Her father always left the house early, but her mother...

"Class got canceled," he sneered. "You're going to leave again, aren't you?"

"How did you know?"

"How would anyone not know? You're packing!" the kid stuck his tongue out at her indignantly. "And your stupid friend is here!" He pointed to another girl behind the door with him, who was out of her usual high school uniform, but was wearing black shorts and a long pink shirt instead. Her calves clomped on the ground as she approached the doorway.

"Mirei!" Chiharu cried. "Why did you bring him here?"

"I didn't!" The brunette looked unhappy and stared down at her boots. "He saw me and followed!"

Chiharu saw another Eevee peaking behind her friend and hopped happily to her Eevee to chat. "Vee, vee! Eeee!" Hi little sister! Hiii! The Eevee pounced on his sister with joy.

"Eevee..." Not now, Leo... Asahi mumbled and glanced at the arguing teenagers. She stayed close to her trainer. Leo gave her a questioning look, but got distracted by his own tail and chased it, trying to catch it with his paws.

"Are you ready to go yet?" Mirei asked. Her long side ponytail bobbed as she nodded to her friend's bag.

"You're leaving today?" Keigo whined. "But what about my birthday party next week?"

"You hang out with your friends for your birthdays," his sister accused him while petting the two Eevees beside her.

"If you leave, I'll tell mom!" He yelled and pointed at her.

"You can't do that," Mirei laughed. "We're still going to leave. Telling her never stopped us." In fact, there was one time when she and Chiharu went far enough to Violet City and even defeated the gym leader there before they were found by her aunt and uncle, who was passing by after a business trip.

"Oh, so you'll tell her." The blue haired girl sighed dramatically. She picked up a pokeball and then said, "If you tell her, I guess I won't let you borrow my Machoke..." Chiharu put a few potions in the bag along with a few TMs she had bought for her and Mirei.

The boy's reaction was instantaneous with eyes bulged out. "W-what?" His voice cracked. "You can't do that! I need that Machoke to defeat Akane!" He cringed at the thought of having to battle the Goldenrod City gym leader again.

"Too bad," Mirei retorted. "It doesn't look like Chiharu will let you borrow him if you're going to get in our way."

"But...the gym leader! Her Miltank is horrible!" He cried. "It keeps spamming Attract on my team and flattens them with Roll Out!" The image of the giant black and pink cow appeared in Mirei's head with hearts flying out to flatten Keigo's team with a huge crunching noise.

"Rotate your pokemon in and out of battle until she runs out of moves?" Mirei suggested while chuckling at her own imagination of the cow pokemon, although the actual battle with the red-headed gym leader wasn't funny business. That Miltank was no joke.

There we go, Chiharu thought as she finished packing in the last few items before turning to her younger brother with a sly grin. "Tell you what; I'll let you have Machoke on two conditions." She held out two fingers in the air. "One: You let us go and don't tell mom. Two: You have to look after the ranch."

The boy groaned. "I have to look after your dumb ranch again? Stop catching so many pokemon! We're running out of room!" The idea of having to rotate Chiharu's PC everyday to feed and let the pokemon roam was troublesome and unnecessary. Some of the pokemon had little fights between themselves and would disappear for short periods of time in the forest before coming back at sunset.

"But I need to catch them to study them to become a pokemon professor!" She cried. "They need to get fresh air and exercise!"

"You don't need to release them every day! Everyone else just keeps them in the PC!"

Chiharu huffed and reminded him, "And remember to have the normal, dark, and ghost types out on Monday. Fire and dragon on Tuesday. Water and ice on..."

"Yeah, yeah, the usual." He plugged his ears.

Mirei tapped her foot with irritation and demanded, "So is that a yes or a no?"

"Fine!" the boy gave an exasperated sigh. He knew he had no other choice if he wanted to have any chance at finally defeating Akane.

"Great! Machoke will be pleased to hear that," Chiharu clapped her hands and beamed. "He has been flexing his muscles all day and nods when I mention your name." She heard her Eevee groan at the mention of the Machoke, who was a showoff and enjoyed the attention from the other pokemon.

"Really?" The brunette girl tilted her head. "I guess he must be that excited to meet his new trainer." Keigo mumbled. Chiharu slid on her short sleeved hoodie over her black shirt before putting on her brown hiking shoes. She bought that hoodie specifically because it resembled a Premier Ball, her favorite kind of Pokeball. It was white on the outside but had a red zipper and the inside of the hoodie was red.

"Here's your Machoke." His sister placed the red capsule in his palm. "Take care of him."

As Mirei and Chiharu left the house with their bags and pokemon, Mirei shouted "I can't believe how stubborn your brother can be!"

The other girl rolled her eyes, "That's my brother, all right. Can't believe we nearly got caught again."

"Vee, Eevee, Eevee, Eve, Vee-!" Leo yelped, running alongside with his trainer, Mirei. Hey, the other day, I was practicing my Shadow Ball, very pretty you know, and-

"Eevee!" Asahi, who was also running with her trainer, interrupted her brother. I don't care!

"What are they talking about?" Mirei wondered out loud as they ran past the Pokemart they went to the other day to stock items for the trip. That day, she felt the clerk's eyes falling on them with an all-knowing look of what they were up to. They were the Eevee girls, the girls who kept running away at the beginning of every trimester. They even got discounts on items because of how often they went there, thanks to Chiharu who always needed to restock on Pokeballs.

"No clue," Chiharu said. They picked up the pace and raced further into the forest, disappearing from view without looking back to where they came from.

Later that day, the sun was nearly down and the nocturnal pokemon were already coming out of their resting place. Mirei felt the cool summer breeze blow over their heads as she and Chiharu were walking through the thick concentrated area of trees. She saw several Hoothoot fly over the trees and a Stantler walking by on its way to a small lake nearby. The trainer squinted to make out the shapes of what was in front of her.

"It's pretty chilly for July," Mirei commented and rubbed her hands together for heat. She had low tolerance for the cold and dug into her bag for her sweater.

"Nido, Nido, Rina." The short girl's Nidorina said quietly. Nidorina was a small turquoise colored pokemon that walked on her fours with fangs and poisonous horns. I would hug you, but I'm afraid that won't work.

"Ruff, ruff!" Chiharu's Growlithe said happily and pounced on the complaining trainer. But I can!

"Helios, stop attacking Mirei!" Growlithe's trainer scolded at the fire dog. Helios' ears drooped down as he settled down on the grass and whined.

"I don't mind..." The other girl said and gave Growlithe a pat on the head before he got off of her. Having a fire pokemon must be nice, she decided. Good for cold weather and for camping out.

Chiharu sighed, "He needs to learn that it's not okay to jump on people. He's already getting heavy from all that food he eats."

"Ruff? Woof, woof!" The orange striped pokemon protested. Me? Asahi eats more than I do!

"Vee? Eevee, Eevee!" Chiharu's Eevee tossed her head in annoyance. No, I do not! How dare you accuse a lady of eating like a dog? Does it look like I can possibly eat more than you already can?

Little do they know, the Eevee sometimes steals the fire Pokémon's food when he isn't looking or is too busy pouncing on his trainer. The normal type rarely eats in front of humans, but is not at all reserved to hold back with her teammates, or her brother for that matter.

"Ve...Ve, Eevee, Ve...Eee, Eee, Ve?" Leo replied to her statement. Well...That one time you took some of my poffins...isn't that right, Kisaki?

"Nido, Nido, Rina." The Nidorina hushed them. Stop arguing you guys, I hear something. Her huge ears peaked at the sudden movement nearby.

Before Helios could say anything in response, he heard a loud shriek, "Oddish? Oddish, Oddish, Oddd!" Where are the berries? Where are they, where are they, wheeeerrreeee? The sentence ended rudely when the Growlithe looked up to see something small and blue flew straight to his face.

"Ruff?" What the...

"Odd? Oddish, odd- ODDISSSSH! ODD, ODD, ISSSSSSSH!" The poor grass type screamed. Who, what, wher- FIRE POKEMON. NO, NO, NO, IT'S A FIRE POKEMON! Oddish tipped back and nearly fainted from the sight of a striped dog that was barely taller than itself

"An Oddish?" Chiharu stared at the panicking grass pokemon that had flopped on the floor like a pulled out dandelion. It had a small armless blue body with big green leaves coming out of its head. The Oddish hopped around the forest with hysteria, trying to get away from Growlithe.

"Why is that Oddish freaking out so much?" Mirei looked bewildered at the Oddish that was now inching away from Helios, who looked at it with curiosity.

"Vee, Eevee, Eevee!" Chiharu's Eevee pointed at the Oddish with its paws and then to Helios and imitated an expression of shock and fear before fainting.

"It's scared of Helios?" Asahi nodded. Chiharu somewhat understood what her Eevee had to say whenever the pokemon had to translate pokespeak. It was useful in disputing the occasional fights between the pokemon back at home and it was fun to guess what Asahi had to say. Challenging Asahi to a game of charades was never a smart idea.

"Ruff, ruff." I'm not that scary.

"Helios, use Leer!" The bluenette ordered the fire type. Growlithe nodded and glared at the already clumsy Oddish and watched it trip over on its own feet.

"Odd!" Hey!

Chiharu took out a Pokeball and aimed for the spinning grass pokemon. "Pokeball, go!" The Pokeball enlarged and released a red beam to enclose Oddish into the capsule. The ball wobbles a few times before coming to a complete stop.

"Ruff." She's caught. Growlithe stared at the stationary Pokeball. "Woof, woof." Weird pokemon.

"That's nice," Mirei mumbled when her friend showed the pokeball to her. "It's cold, let's camp out here." She dropped her bag and sat on the grass with her Eevee and Nidorina. "I'm tired."

Despite wearing only a thin short sleeved hoodie and a pair of jean shorts, Chiharu seemed unaffected by the cool summer breeze and said, "Okay then, I guess I'll go gather some firewood for dinner. You're fine staying here with your pokemon?"

Mirei waved her hand at her friend with a smile, "I'll be fine. My pokemon are enough to knock out any pokemon that dare attacks us!"

"They only attack if you disturb them..." Chiharu mumbled, but nodded and left her friend with Helios and Asahi walking by her side.

"Firewood, firewood..."

By the time Chiharu found enough firewood for the campsite, she was ten to fifteen minutes away from where Mirei was. This part of the forest had more pokemon out and about due to it being a rarely traveled path. A few Psyducks wobbled by, probably to that small lake to get back to their group. The trees were older and the forest floor was dry and cracked from July's heat. When she saw the stone pillars formed into a circle formation with ancient scriptures on it, she realized where she was.

"We used to play here as children," the girl whispered. Helios looked at the stony stage inquiringly. He walked up to one of the pillars to sniff it and decided that he liked the smell of it, but sneezed.

"Ee..." Asahi remembered. She and her brothers would run around the stage that was made of a white unknown stone that was still clinging onto existence. Like the pillars, the stage held old scriptures that had no meaning to the Eevees or to their trainers, who were all children when they found the place. The girls named it their secret hiding place and went there when they decided to ditch class.

"Mom always got mad cause we left the village's radius of the forest," she chuckled. She chased them out of the area with a briefcase and shouting out that she was grounded. Her mother's wild hair and light blue eyes always shocked strangers when they found out that she was related to her.

Chiharu was about to leave when she heard a loud groan. Her dark brown eyes darted to the side of the area where a tall but frail-looking girl. Her clothes was torn and faded like it had been washed too many times. Tilting her head to the side, Chiharu saw that the girl's rib cage was slightly bulging out while her abdomen sunk un slightly, like a teen's developing Adam's apple. She picked up a pokeball with her thin left hand; a red liquid reflected the dim lighting from the moon.

"Sa-Satsuki?" The catcher asked out loud, afraid that the person in front of her may just be a mirage.

It has been years, but there it was no mistake that it was her. The person before her had hazel eyes where it was a rusty hue at the iris' edge, but it held a dull shine, unlike its original brightness that stood out in the past. Eyes that reflected the light of the moon, giving the illusion that her eyes were silver in color rather than the lighter shade of brown. A small accessory that glinted in the dim light hung from base of her neck, underneath a metallic studded black choker.

The necklace resembled Mirei's Love ball made of rose gold and Chiharu's Premier Ball made from white gold. A small pokeball that resembled a Dusk ball, carved in a thin smoothed pendant made of silver. Each of the necklaces had a different quality of precious gems as its 'button', Mirei's deep red ruby, Chiharu's vivid amethyst, and Satsuki's the darkest hue of sapphire. They spent months doing odd jobs around the village to earn enough money to pay for the necklaces themselves. They were custom made and were a symbol of their friendship.

The trainer next to the large shadowed pokemon snapped her head to the sound, but kept a poker face even as the blood running down her arm had reached the enlarged pokeball in her hand. She slowly minimized the capsule and attached it to the nearest open slot of her belt. Leaning down lower to the head of the uncommon pokemon, Chiharu saw her mouth move thanks to the pale moonlight.

"H-hey... Why won't you answer me..?" Her voice shook as tears threatened to fall, blurring her vision. "It's been five years... So why? Why won't you answer me?! Satsuki!"

Without warning, the teen leaped onto the pokemon and dashed out from the clearing, the shadow of what seemed like a dense and solid cloud followed. Chiharu and her Growlithe raced after the two down through the ever growing thick expanse of the forest. They quickly merged into the darkness of the trees when the trainer suddenly tripped over an exposed tree root. She swiftly looked up after her fall to find nothing before her.

"Ruff!" Her Growlithe barked and whined. Hey, are you okay?

Satsuki coughed out a disgustingly familiar red fluid from her lungs as she gasped for the cool night air. The electric shocks had already stopped, but the twinge was still there, reminding her how little control she has of her own life. She looked up and saw the poor berry bush that had cushioned her fall off the leaping legendary; it was missing half of its original body mass, smashed into the dirt at its roots.

Haaaaaaaa, the trainer heard from behind her. She turned to see a small and brown fox like pokemon stretch and yawn in the moonlight. You finally decided to let me out? Hmmmm, the night feels so nice~

"When did you..." she breathed out, her voice hoarse. She faintly recalled the sound of a pop and a red flash in the midst of her 'episode.' "Oh..."

Satsuki! Entei called out quietly, trying to not make his presence known to all in the forest. His head rustled its way out of a nearby intact bush and found his trainer with an Eevee. Are... Are you two ok?

Yo, Entei! The Eevee smiled. Isn't the night great? All the shadows, and it's not-

You do realize that Satsuki is puking up blood right now... the Legendary mumbled, causing the evolution pokemon to whip around.

Wha- Satsuki! OH NO SATSUKI! He began to panic and scurry around his trainer.

"Elliot, just shut up," she muttered, spitting out the last of the crimson liquid from her mouth. She looked up to see her Eevee wide eyed and beating himself up for not noticing earlier. She would have felt sorry for him when his smile dropped, but the tingling sensation from the earlier shock still felt raw and fresh underneath her flesh.

Suddenly, he is sitting in front of a tree, head down. A cloud of depression was almost visible as he said; I don't deserve to be here...

Stop beating yourself up, you idiot! A small orange fox like creature with multiple curled up tails hopped beside the Eevee. Vulpix yawned and looked up at the stars. She trotted over to Satsuki and nudged the teen with her soft head. If you beat yourself up all the time, then you won't be able to save her if it happens again.

"How many pokemon were released from their pokeballs?" the trainer asked herself as she watched the three canine resembling pokemon bicker about.

Is it dinner time yet? A young voice asked. I'm hungry! ...this smells good...

"DO NOT, EAT THAT TREE ROOT." Satsuki shouted, not bothering that Chiharu may actually still be around.

I don't think that's edible... Her Scizor calmly posed itself against a tall tree as it watched its noisy teammates bicker at each other. The small black-haired dragon tripped over as he walked towards the tree with his tongue sticking out. Pouting, really.

"You got out too, Conroy? Can you pull Kurosaki away from anything that might leave splinters in his mouth?" The little dragon pokemon stubbornly tried to eat the nearest branch as the bug pokemon held him up off the ground.

A little help here would be very...appreciated, Feebas whimpered as she flopped up and down on the moist dirt.

I need to see if you have any injuries. The red bug pokemon said, always cautious about his trainer's welfare in general. Although the scar on his left eye may have been the cause of his careful nature.

"There's nothing wrong," Satsuki said. "It's just a warning."

I'm not talking about that, I can clearly tell it's a warning, the steel type hybrid wrestled his metallic claw out of Deino's mouth; the dragon's attempt in regaining freedom. I'm talking about any that you could have gotten when you flew off Entei's back. You did land on your belt, did the pokeballs leave bruises?

Just let me eat one more tree branch! The blind dragon begged his babysitter. He nodded at another tree nearby. I promise I'll be done after that!

"No," both his trainer and teammate replied at the same time.

Suicune isn't in the forest, Entei interrupted the bicker. It appears that my brother has escaped, as always... He loves his dramatic entries as much as father did. It's likely that he ran off to search for him. The volcano pokemon paced around the area with heavy footsteps with his vision directed through the trees

"That's expected," Satsuki remembered the aurora Pokémon's theatrical exit when it stopped back to protect Celebi. Its habit of talking made her almost glad that she didn't have the chance to catch it. Almost.

We need to be more cautious, the legendary beast continued. A human girl saw Satsuki when it happened.

We should just rest here for the night, Scizor suggested while attempting to redirect Deino towards the berries.

"And give her a chance to find us here?" she clenched her teeth. "No. If we can't find Suicune in this forest anymore, then we may still have a chance to learn something about Ho-Oh... We still have the village."

Wouldn't she be back at the village...? Entei asked.

"No, then she wouldn't be wandering around this late. I think she is going towards the main cities. Kurosaki, Fial, Conroy, return!"

Begrudgingly, three red beams shot back into their respective pokeballs. After doing a head count, Satsuki realized that the only one that did not leave their pokeball was her Ralts, who was probably sleeping at this time of night.

"Let's see if the adults still remember me," she said with a faraway look on face as she took the first step deeper into the core of the forest.

Viridian Gym

Green looked at his former rival. It was Red, the Kanto champion in the flesh. He was the same as Green remembered. Pale, thin, wore a red cap over his messy black hair and the same outfit he had been wearing for years: a red vest over his black T-shirt and a pair of jeans. When Red showed up after Youngster Joey's little battle, Green was shocked at his sudden appearance and stuttered at the Kanto champion to come in. The small dark haired trainer took off his cap and suggested that they would talk about the issue at a cafe nearby. Too surprised to give a proper answer, the gym leader nodded mechanically and walked out of the gym with his old childhood friend. Green unusually told his referee to take a day off and bid him farewell before following Red. Legendary pokemon. Disappeared. Gone. Wiped off the map. It was a sick cruel joke. Green waited for Red to uncharacteristically break into a wide grin and say "Just kidding!" Who was he fooling? When was the last time his childhood friend actually made a joke to him? Let alone utter a sentence that required more than one breath?

"Gone." Green said hollowly. Red nodded. The gym leader ran his hand through his spiky brown hair. His usual attire of a black jacket was gone because of the humid weather. "Are you sure?"

It was a pointless question, but Green wanted the other trainer to tell him that he was wrong and that this was all just a stupid getup set by him and Blue, like the old days. It was still early in the morning, so he and Red only ordered drinks. He noticed that Red had barely touched his drink since they came into the shop. It was a strawberry kiwi blast, a blend of strawberries and kiwis with other fruit like blueberries and bananas. He recalled the waitress blushing when she asked them for their orders. Green himself ordered a cucumber drink that had the aftertaste of apples and lemons.

The look Red gave him seemed to have said "What do you think?" with his raised eyebrow over his vivid red eyes. Red's Pikachu gave Green a look of sympathy as it was clear that this conversation was making Green uncomfortable. It was like Green's visits to Mt. Silver again where he did all of the talking. Green looked down at his shaking hands and gave a hard swallow.

"All of the legendaries are gone?" He asked. To his relief, the raven haired trainer slowly shook his head, but held up five fingers. "Five legendaries..." Green ran his fingers through his messy brown hair as he tried to imagine which pokemon had disappeared.

Red motioned his hand towards Green's bag. It took the gym leader a few seconds to realize that he was referring to the Pokedex. It was a red device the size of a small book with a with a control panel on the side. It was the newest version of the Kanto Pokedex with updated information of pokemon species. Green opened the flip screen, scanned through the page listing the different pokemon, and selected Articuno to see. Kanto's map popped up on the screen, revealing an icon of a blue bird hovering over Seaform Islands. He then went back to the listing page and strolled down for Moltres, who had a similar mark hovering over Mt. Silver, Mew had a question mark on the map as always, and then Zapdos and Mewtwo were...

"It's not there." Green said in disbelief. "But the other legendaries are still there."

Red shook his head, "Not for long." If Zapdos was already gone, there was a good chance Moltres and Articuno, and then many others, would soon follow.

"What do you mean?" Although the gym leader had a good idea of what that meant. A possibility that was very terrifying to think of. Legendaries from other regions were gone too?

"Mewtwo, Zapdos, Giratina, Palkia, Dialga, and possibly more have disappeared," a familiar voice answered for Red. Green looked up to see a young woman walk up to them. Her long brown hair reached down to her waist and she wore a grim smile. With Red, the gym leader barely saw him, but he saw her nearly every day due to her being a Trainer House employee. The building was located almost right next to Green's gym.

"Blue." Green greeted her. "So that's how Red knew about these legendaries going missing." He recalled his grandfather always speaking great of Red, but one of the few complaints he had heard was that Red barely put effort into completing the Pokedex or showing much interest in it. How often would Red checked his Pokedex? Not at all if he remembered correctly.

"Hi Green," she said. "Have you remembered to complete your paperwork?" Her voice cracked on the word 'paperwork'.

"How can you be talking about paperwork at a time like this?" Green raged, too accustomed to that tone, but still didn't react well to her anger. She wasn't angry right now, but concerning paperwork, it was a no man zone. What was the Pokemon League Association thinking about handing out paperwork to gym leaders? It was already hard work looking after the gym, the pokemon, making sure the junior trainers were getting paid, properly keeping the pokemon in tip top shape, and so on.

She ignored his outcry. "Besides coming here to remind you of the work you never finished, I was the one who told Red to go check Sinnoh for me. My guess was right. The creation trio no longer exists on the map." She grabbed a chair from an empty table and joined Red and Green. Blue sat down and smoothed the red skirt she was wearing that day. The white hat sun hat she normally had was left at her apartment.

"How about Hoenn and Unova?" The gym leader asked. "I haven't heard you mention the weather trio."

Red then said, "It's hard to track them." His Pikachu cried out its name in agreement. It looked as sad as its trainer. The yellow rodent was munching on a red apple the kind waitress had given to it by request.

"Latios and Latias have a habit of roaming around, so it's hard to notice their disappearance," the female trainer lamented. "I had to visit Hoenn myself to check it out with a couple of trainers. Kyogre and Groudon haven't shown up on the map since the Hoenn incident a few years ago and Rayquaza never appears unless there is a conflict between the two."

"Someone is out there hunting them," the Kanto champion said blunt. "Why else would the timing be so perfect?" Pikachu was still sitting on his lap eating the apple and chirped happily.

Green blinked. "What do you mean?"

"We believe they were gone since for a couple years at most," Blue said. "But no one ever reported it until recently when more have disappeared so quickly. It can only mean that someone out there is deliberately searching them out for a reason."

"And Unova?" Why would someone try to catch so many legendaries? He wondered. One legendary was enough to cause alarm to the public. There was a reason why the very few who have owned legendaries in the past have ended up releasing them or rarely using them in battles. If the legendaries were indeed being captured, the person seemed to be somewhat efficient to have already acquired five legendaries. How many more was the person planning to catch?

"Nothing." Red interrupted Green's thoughts. Blue called the Unova gym leaders, only to get a rude no. The gym leaders who answered the call told them in broken Japanese that Unova was having its own problems with a villain team of some sort. Team Plastic? Something like that. The young man had to halt himself from laughing at the stupid name.

Green bit his lip. He was having a typical day, training his pokemon, playing with his pokemon, getting his college work done, and dealing with a certain youngster trainer again...and all of a sudden, both Red and Blue show up and deliver this bundle of goodies. It wasn't even lunch time yet. Red and Blue were going to different regions to fix this problem and he never knew it. He didn't like where this was going. Not at all.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" The young gym leader blurted out, glaring at his childhood friends. "Why now?" Red shifted in his seat and tried to find the right words, the very few words he would say.

"Didn't want you to worry," he thought he heard his old rival mumble.

"We weren't sure about this until Red got back from Sinnoh," Blue said quietly. "Red and I had to be sure before I told him to come to you." She tried to smile. "Besides, you have the gym and college to worry about."

"That's not the point," Green argued. "As a gym leader, I'm just as responsible about this problem as you two are." Although a small part of at him reminded himself that that wasn't the case eight years ago in Silph Co. A dark time he didn't want to recall, especially right now. The incident also involved him earning a hard slap from Blue with Red standing innocently as the bystander after he refused to help the two in defeating Team Rocket.

"We told the gym leaders, Elite Four, and the champions in the other regions," Blue said and folded her arms. "They'll keep an eye on them. They'll warn us when they see something suspicious. The police are looking into it too."

"We need to leave for Johto," Red whispered. His drink was half way drank. He swirled the contents of the drink and stared at the mixed fruit.

"Johto?" Green raised his eyebrow.

"The recent disappearances have been from Johto," the young woman said. "I figured that it would be a start to search from there. It's well known for its long history, so I wouldn't be surprised if several legendaries were to reside there."

Johto, huh? Green had only been to Johto a few times, mainly to go and catch a few pokemon and maybe visit some friends or a few of their historical sites. The main place Green had gone to in Johto for the past year was Mt. Silver to visit Red, but so did Blue. Both of them visited their quiet friend to drop books, clothes, and other necessary items and to give him updates on the world while their pokemon interacted.

"I'll go," Green decided. "I'll find the collector."

"But your gym-" Red said.

"Blue can look after the gym," Green assured him and looked at Blue. "I was going to say that I was going to find a substitute at the Trainer House, but they always send you." Blue was the only substitute who could deal with the gym leader's tendency of randomly leaving his gym for trips and errances. She was also the only one who had the patience to remind Green about his paperwork without running out in tears.

"Hey!" She whined. "Don't decide things without asking me!" She huffed before saying, "But I'll stay anyway because who else will look after your gym?"

"Then I'll go too," Red stood up from his seat. "Enemy must be strong for legendaries."

"I'll make sure Articuno and Moltres aren't next," she said. "People like this guy must want the whole collection."

"You sure you're okay with this?" Green never said this out loud, but he sometimes felt guilty of relying on his friend so much as his replacement. She was his substitute so often that challengers have mistakenly called him Blue at times.

"I can handle some newbie trainers," Blue stood up and laughed. "They may have seven badges, but I'll never let it be an easy win!"

"Annoying woman..." He groaned. "Just to warn you, there's this youngster trainer who has been battling me every day for the last month..."

"He can't be that bad," She put her hands on her hips.

"All he has is a Raticate." Green stressed on the Pokémon's name. "That's it. I would have been happy if he had a Furret, a Linoone, a Bibarel, or a Watchog too, but that's all he has. A Raticate." And the youngster would challenge him every morning at eight. Not nine, not eight thirty, eight o'clock in the morning. He never thought it was possible, but after battling the trainer so many times, he was sick of Rattatas and Raticates more than before. There was so much regret for living in a city where Rattatas are abundant.

"What's a Watchog?" Red gave his childhood rival an odd look. Pikachu raised its pointed ears in confusion as well.

"Pika, Pika?" Is that a real pokemon?

Green paused. "It's the evolved form of a Patrat."

"Which is...?" What a stupid name, the small champion thought.

The gym leader shook his head, "It doesn't matter, we won't be meeting any in Johto." There was no way the collector would have any interest in the most common mammal pokemon in a faraway continent. The three of them finished their drinks and walked out of the cafe to see the bright blue sky. It was a beautiful summer day with the white clouds hovering over them.

"You two should get going then," Blue said softly. "Today is Sunday. The ship will be leaving soon." She brushed her long hair to the side and looked at them nervously. The two former rivals were giving each other strange looks. Green seemed uncertain of what to say and Red wore his usual poker face.

"Yeah," Green said. He took out a pokeball containing his starter. "We'll be in Johto in no time." Red nodded in agreement.

She stopped herself from breathing out, "Please don't get into a fight..." They haven't had a proper full conversation since the beginning of their pokemon journey eight years ago. Leaving them alone didn't seem like a good idea, but she had no choice. Pikachu, on the other hand, was in a cheery mood thanks to being able to eat a full meal again. Food was scarce on Mt. Silver during certain seasons.

Red turned back to look at her and said, "We'll be fine. Just worry about Kanto for us." He reassured her with a smile. He took out a red Pokeball and threw it in the air. "Pte, Fly to Vermillion City!" A man sized pokemon with saw-like fangs came out of its container. It had a rough purple hide and had wings that spanned up to a several meters. Aerodactyl cried out its name and swooped down to let its trainer hop on its back.

"Charizard, follow Pte!" An orange dragon like pokemon flew out of its Pokeball and joined the prehistoric pokemon with Green on its back. "We'll be gone for a few months," he hollered at Blue. "Make sure you finish the paperwork on time!"

"I hate you!" She yelled back but cried. "Don't do anything stupid, you two!"

Green laughed at her comment. Red smiled. The gym leader's Charizard and Red's Aerodactyl looked at the small city of Viridian and flew off into the clouds with the imprint of the green city in their minds. A gust of wind blew in Green's face. Despite knowing that they have possibly signed up for a death wish, he smiled. For the first time in years, he began to feel the same rush of adrenaline and energy he felt at beginning of his pokemon journey when he was eleven years old.

Author Notes: As you have noticed by now, this story will have a few different points of views. They will eventually connect, as you can see by Chiharu's run-in with Satsuki. Question of the chapter: Who did you start with in Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow/FireRed/Leafgreen, who did you play as, and what did you name your rival? Until the next update, see you next time! Leave a review please.